I'm sorry for taking so long to write another chapter, I've just been out of it lately, getting a job, finishing up high school, all that crap on top of my writing funk. I've been sticking all the work on my co-author, and I even started writing another fic that I haven't started posting yet... Don't worry, this'll be my primary, and I'll try to get it updating more regularly, and frequently. It's odd, but I want to see how this ends just as much as you guys do.

(We only have an outline of the fic's plot up to the timeskip, after the timeskip is still blank though... And for the record, yes. We intend for the plot of this fic to continue until the end of the canon Naruto plot.) Now that it's heating up, getting more interesting, it should be more fun to write, and thus, get written faster.


"You all pass!" Ibiki yelled. Silence reigned as confusion filled the room. The silence, however, was promptly shattered in the form of a question from Sakura.

"Wait...what do you mean? What about the tenth question?" She asked shakily.

"There never was such a thing," Ibiki said, his face splitting into a large grin which Kayuu immediately deemed extremely unsettling. "Or, you could say that the choice to take the question or not to take the question was, in fact, the tenth question." This caused an outburst from the Sand girl, Temari.

"What!? Then what were the first nine questions for!? Were they pointless!?" This prompted Ibiki to explain that the test was actually a test of their information gathering abilities.

Makes sense. These guys really mean business. Kayuu thought to himself, before looking over at Ateshi, who seemed to be shuddering for some reason.

Of the three, Rikka seemed to be paying the most attention to Ibiki's words. The room held the same atmosphere for the next few minutes, Ibiki continuing to speak, to another outburst from Naruto, until a black mass crashed through the window.

The ball unfolded itself, bits of the cloth tied to kunai sticking into the ceiling and floor, an odd woman in the center of it. "EVERYBODY! There's no time to be happy!" She yelled. "I am the second examiner, Mitarashi Anko! Let's go to the next exam, follow me!"

At this, Ateshi fell back in his chair, laughing hysterically. "It's...too...funny!" He managed between breaths.

So that's what it was... Kayuu thought, sharing the disgruntled look spread throughout the room.

"...Baka..." Rikka muttered under her breath.

Anko sighed heavily before looking over the crowd. "81? Ibiki, you let 27 teams pass? The first test must've been too soft." She said.

"There are a lot of excellent students this time." Ibiki said.

"Oh well... I'm going to make half of the teams fail in the next exam." Anko muttered casually.

At this, a chill went through the room. Ateshi and Kayuu thought the same thing; Finally, a challenge!

Rikka sighed in the back of the room. This is turning out to be more trouble than it's worth... She thought.

"I will explain the details tomorrow. We will go somewhere else, so ask your Jounin teachers about the rally point and time. That is all. Dismissed!" Anko said, almost angrily. After she had said this, everyone in the room started to rise out of their seats and leave.

When the three met back up outside the testing room, Kayuu immediately erupted with "Hey Ateshi! It's your girlfriend!" Pointing over to Tenten, who was standing with her teammates, receiving congratulations from their overzealous sensei. Immediately, Ateshi knocked Kayuu's legs out from under him, and kicked him across the room, ironically, landing in front of Gai-sensei. "...Hey... it's you. You need to teach me how to do that... kicky... thingy..." He muttered, before losing consciousness, having just received his second major head injury that day by landing on the hard floor face-first before flipping onto his back.

"'Kicky-thingy'?" Lee asked, perplexed.

"He probably means whatever you hit him with... back when you showed up out of nowhere." Ateshi said as he and Rikka walking over.

Several odd looks passed between the six of them, eventually ending in Gai asking "...How old are you?"

"Old enough!" Ateshi instinctively shouted. "Well, what about them? they can't possibly be much older than Rikka!" He added, pointing to Gai's Genin team.

"Sorry, my friend's an idiot." Rikka said, giving Ateshi an ugly look that told him the question was to her before continuing. "I'm twelve."

"Well, he's right... she's not that much younger than us." Tenten said, an odd note of motherly concern in her voice as she continued, "You sure she should be taking the exam?"

"She's got us." Ateshi said, kicking Kayuu's side, "She'll be safe no matter what the next tests are."

"How can you be so sure of your abilities? If you fail-" Lee started, Rikka sighing at how frail they thought she was, before Ateshi spoke up.

"If you want, we can take this outside, and I'll show you how I can be so sure of my skills." He said, before grabbing the back of Kayuu's coat to sling his limp body over his shoulders.

Very little was said after Lee gave a nod of acceptance, and they all walked to a nearby training field. Ateshi set Kayuu up against a tree, and Rikka, Gai, Tenten and Neji stood next to the unconscious boy as Lee and Ateshi took up opposite sides of an open area. "I shall let you make the first move. Strike me if you can." Lee said, shifting into his standard fighting stance.

"You know, underestimating the enemy gets you killed in a real fight..." Ateshi said, dropping low to the ground, almost on all fours, "Just be glad I don't want to kill you." At this, Ateshi dashed forward, at a speed only a shinobi could see. Lee barely had time to block as Ateshi's knee crashed into his chest. Lee slid back about twenty feet, while audible gasps of shock could be heard from the few spectators as Ateshi dashed forward, this time at a far slower pace to begin a barrage of blows.

"I will admit..." Lee said, his voice was strained as if he were having difficulty blocking the attacks, but Ateshi could not land a solid strike against him. "You are both strong and fast, but your attacks lack discipline." He added, landing subsequent blows to Ateshi's stomach and chest, before kicking his chin in a back-flip, knocking him to the ground.

Ateshi leaned up, and said "Well, I was trying not to kill you, y'know..."

"But, you were trying to at least do some harm, am I wrong?" Lee said, what would be considered smug words from anyone else rung with a cold truth coming from Lee.

"Lee is a Taijutsu specialist. You won't be able to beat him in hand-to-hand combat, no matter how strong you are." Gai said, his voice brimming with pride.

"Well, I'm not a hand-to-hand specialist anyway..." Ateshi said, drawing the short swords from the sheaths on his lower legs as he rose, moving into an offensive stance.

"That's enough!" Tenten said, running out between them.

"OI! Let the boys kill each other. Rid the world of at least one of these idiots." Rikka said, almost shouting, as she nudged Kayuu with her foot, indicating she was talking about her teammates.

"'Ey! That really hurts you know!" Ateshi groaned.

"We don't know what kind of exams are next, beating each other up may be the worst possible thing right now..." Tenten said, reasserting her position as the voice of reason in the conflict.

"Okay... Boya, I'm lettin' you off easy now, but after this damned exam is over, I'm beatin' the hell outta' ya'." Ateshi said, as he sheathed his blades.

"I would say the same to you, if I knew your name..." Lee said, his arms lowered back to his sides.

"Ateshi." He said, "Kensukai Ateshi. That's Rikka, and that lump over there is Kayuu."

"Well then, Kensukai-kun, I look forward to our battle after the Chuunin exam." Lee said, bowing, when a small stone struck the back of his head.

"Never take your eyes off the enemy." Ateshi said, as the foot he used to kick the rock returned to the ground. When he turned to walk away, he added, "Combat 101."

"Now... how to wake this one up...?" Rikka asked, smiling broadly as she pulled a kunai out of the pouch like pocket of her hoodie.

"GRAAAH! What the hell!?" Kayuu yelled, falling over himself to roll away from Rikka, who had just poked the side of his stomach with her knife. "Am I... Is that blood? You stabbed me!"

"No I didn't. You'll be fine." Rikka said, pocketing the blade.

"You're making a terrible fuss over a scratch." Tenten said as she and Lee walked over.

"Oi... Why is your girl making fun of me?" Kayuu asked while tending to his various wounds.

"What's with all this 'girlfriend' crap I keep hearing from him?" Neji asked, irritated.

Tenten blushed and immediately spoke up. "There's nothing! I don't know what they're talking about! Why do you keep saying those things!?" She asked, obviously flustered for some reason.

"Heh... why not ask lover-boy?" Kayuu asked, grinning maliciously.

In moments, all eyes fell on Ateshi, who began scrambling for coherent words. "I-I said she was cute, all right!? I didn't mean anything by it! He's just being an ass over it, and won't lay off!"

"Tch..." They heard, and all turned their heads to Neji. "You actually think she's cute?"

Ateshi inhaled slowly, and said; "Yes, I do. What are you, blind?" Neji glared at him, and at the sight of his abnormally light eyes he added "You are!?"

"No, I'm NOT!" Neji yelled, the intensity of his glare multiplying tenfold.

Ateshi sighed heavily. "That's good... and here I thought I'd have to hit a blind boy..."

Neji ducked as Ateshi's left arm quickly took the space his skull had previously filled, administering a few quick jabs to various points on his arm. As Ateshi's arm fell limp at his side, Neji said, pridefully; "Tch, you really are too slow..."

After shrugging a few times, his left arm flopping at his side, Ateshi frowned, and began running through hand seals with his functional hand. "You can't use that!" Kayuu yelled, kicking the back of Ateshi's knee, the boy collapsing instantly, his jutsu interrupted. "You'll kill him!"

"Bad for diplomacy." Rikka said solemnly.

"You, kill me? You'll never be able to kill me." Neji boasted, turning to leave.

"Buddy, I'd help you up, but... injured." Kayuu said smugly, laying back, smiling broadly as he propped his head up with his hands. Ateshi sighed, and leaned up using his good arm. He glance up at Tenten, his shameful defeat reflected in his blood-red eyes. She blushed slightly before running after Neji. "You've got some way with women, y'know..." Kayuu added, resisting the urge to chuckle at his teammate's misfortune. The act earned him a light kick in the ribs from Rikka.

"Thanks." Ateshi said, sitting up.

"He deserved it." Rikka replied.

Lee bowed, saying "That was a good match, I look forward to our next fight Kensukai-kun." before leaving to follow his teammates.

When his Genin were gone, Gai stepped forward, asking "That was a single-handed jutsu, right?"

"Yeah, so what if it was?" Ateshi asked, working his way to his feet.

"That's quite rare. In fact, I've never seen anything like it before... I'd suggest you speak to the Hokage about it after the exam." Gai said, despite sounding more solemn than usual, there was still something about his voice that seemed unsettling to the trio.

"Okay, we'll do that." Kayuu said, still laying peacefully on the grass, Ateshi nodding shortly afterward.

Uneasy of Kayuu's halfhearted reply, Gai disappeared in a gust of wind. "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Ateshi asked, grabbing Kayuu by his coat, flinging him over his shoulders again.

"What're you doing!?" Kayuu asked as he struggled in Ateshi's grip.

"You're too injured to get up, right? I'm just helping you along." Ateshi said smugly.

"Dammit! This is embarrassing!" Kayuu yelled, continuing his struggle.

"We should be home before sunset." Rikka said, leading the way along the path back into the urban area of the village.

"And we need to start now to do that." Ateshi added.

"You know... some of us actually like being up after dark... Hello? Ugh... I give up..." Kayuu rambled, eventually going limp as the three headed home to rest up for the next day.


The basic structure of the OC team follows the more common team schematic found in the series, Kayuu, the balanced leader of the team (Orochimaru, Sasuke, or Kakashi) Ateshi, the power-house pain in the ass (Jiraiya, Naruto, or Obito) and Rikka, the genius kunoichi healer that keeps the team working (Tsunade, Sakura, or Rin)

I'd like to make sure it's known that Ateshi did in fact hit Lee, but when he did, he never could with enough force to actually hurt him. I know, it's sad, but they don't know Lee's gonna wind up messed up after the prelims. Eh, we'll see what happens...

Yes, Ateshi could've killed Neji if Kayuu hadn't kicked him. At that distance, Neji wouldn't've been able to use his Kaiten in time. If Neji DID have time to use his Kaiten, then no, it wouldn't. You'll get to see what the attack is, in due time. Ironically, the first time he uses it is to defend Neji. evil chuckle

No, Kayuu wasn't too injured to help Ateshi up. He was just being an ass because it was Ateshi who injured him. Put simply... they don't get along... at all.

Gai meant 'after the exam' as in, 'the first point at which he can that the exam is not currently underway' as in, in about five days. Not 'a month or so from now' when the exam'd actually be over. And yes, it has been proven that single-hand Jutsu are both rare and possible. Haku used a Jutsu (albeit a Kekkei Genkai related jutsu, but the point remains the same) against Sasuke, and Kakashi notes that he's never seen a Jutsu performed with a single hand before. If Kakashi hasn't seen it, it's rare, and that's that.

To be completely clear about this, Rikka's personality was completely mapped before we ever really started into the fic. If she could summon anything, it'd be some sort of cat. She was always planned to be the 'lovable bitch'. Stern and evil most of the time, but warm and nurturing when it really matters. However, she never seems to show the latter side around Ateshi and Kayuu... Really, she talked a lot more than I planned for her to this chapter... hmm...

Boya - It's actually Japanese for 'boy', in katakana, but where I used it, I'm not using the Japanese version, it just sounds like what he'd say there...

Kaiten - Heavenly spin (Referring to Neji's Hakkesho Kaiten, or 'Eight Triagrams Palms Heavenly Spin')