Chapter 10: The chuunin exams begin

The hokage looked at all of the shinobi assembled before him and cleared his throat.

"As all of you know then it is time for the chuunin exams. They will be held in Konoha this time so we will have to do our best to show everyone our hospitality and a good time. So I was wondering if any of the rookies would be entering this year?" he said looking at the rookie 9 senseis.

Kurenai stepped forward and said with her fingers in front of her face. "I Kurenai Yuhi hereby nominate Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga and Ino Yamanaka to take the chuunin selection exam."

Asuma then stepped forward doing the same with his team and then everyone looked at Kakashi since they knew that it was only 2 months ago that Sasuke had been acting up but eventually he stepped forward and nominated team 7. the hokage nodded and handed them passes and forms for their genin to sign and hand in when they started the chuunin exam tomorrow.

Team 10 was waiting for their sensei on their usual spot. Naruko and Shikamaru were sitting back to back napping while chouji was standing and eating chips. All of them were wearing their vests since Naruko had a new one made for her to replace the one that had been destroyed in wave.

Shikamaru and Naruko snapped awake when their sensei came to them and handed them the passes and forms for the chuunin exams.

"I think you guys are ready. But in the end its up to you whether you want to join or not." Asuma told his team before leaving. The three decided to go grab lunch and discuss this since they knew that they wouldn't be allowed to take the exam if they didn't all come.

"So do you guys want to take this exam? I think we can do it and all come out in one piece." Naruko asked as they sat down in their usual booth in the BBQ place.

"My mother wont stop nagging me if I don't. And besides it can't hurt us to try. We can quit when we feel that its too hard but I think we all have what it takes to become chuunin. We are the strongest rookie team and also the only team that relies on strategy instead of brute strenght. I think we should do it." Shikamaru said after some thought looking at his team-mates. They had come far, and grown hell of a lot stronger since they graduated and their team-work was superb.

"I agree with Shika and you Naruko-chan. It's a good opportunity to show everyone our strength too." Chouji said as their meat arrived and they dug in.

After that they walked around the village and when they were about to round a corner they heard a kid yell 'hey let me go you jerk!' and looked ahead seeing Konohamaru. Asumas nephew held up by his scarf by some cat suit make-up wearing suna nin. Naruko immediately ran at him and punched him hard into the stomach making him let go of konohamaru and fall down to his knees barely breathing.

"you should know better than to mess with the Hokages Grandson." Shikamaru said as he put Konohamaru down after catching him.

"I'm sorry I didn't know who he was. He ran into me and I was just going to teach him a lesson." the cat-suited man said and stood up.

"Apology accepted. I am guessing your here for the Chuunin exams?" Shikamaru asked and Naruko relaxed her fighting position.

"Yes. And sorry for my brothers behavior. We wont be trouble again." a blond girl with a fan on her back said seeing the blond whiskered girl relax.

"Sasuke and someone I don't know stop spying on us." Naruko said glaring at the uchiha and the redhead that was hanging upside down beside him. The uchiha looked startled that he hadn't noticed him. The redhead disappeared in a swirl of sand before appearing with his team.

"Kankuro, if you do something stupid again I will kill you personally." the redhead said in a monotone.

"i-im sorry Gaara. Please forgive me." the boy now named Kankuro said in a scared voice.

Sasuke jumped down and landed beside chouji.

"What are your names?" Gaara asked team 10 completely ignoring Sasuke calling him weak when the uchiha told him his name.

"I am Uzumaki Naruko, and my team-mates are Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji." Naruko said gesturing to her team-mates when she told their names before asking "what are yours?"

"Sabaku no gaara" came from the redhead.

"Sabaku no Kankuro" make-up dude.

"Sabaku no Temari." came from the blond fan-wielding girl.

Team 10 nodded and each team went their separate ways thinking that the exam would be interesting.

-team 9 training ground.-

"Have you guys heard?" Lee asked his two team-mates.

"Heard what?" the two asked.

"All of the Rookie 9 were nominated for the chuunin exams and will be in it according to what Gai-sensei told me." Lee said and punched a hole through the training dummy in exitement.

"It looks like we will have some interesting competition this year." Neji said and his female team-mate threw a kunai making it land centimeters above his head bulls-eye on the mark. "But I can't help but feel sorry for them since it wont be easy." he finished and smirked.

"some of them are stronger than most you know." Tenten told him and both of them nodded agreeing since they had seen her spar with Naruko and had seen the missing nins body in wave.

-The next day at the academy-

Naruko and her two team-mates walked up to the second floor and saw a huge group of ninjas gathered there in front of a door that had an obvious genjutsu on it making it look like it was the third floor. There were two chuunin henged to look like genin standing in the way and Naruko saw Tenten get punched when she was trying to get people to underestimate her and her team. Team 10 just snuck past and headed to the 3rd floor and heard when Sasuke tried to look cool and superior and they just shook their heads before heading to the exam room.

They were greeted by Asuma who was waiting there along with Kurenai and Kakashi. "Good all of you are here. Now you can take the exam. Good luck you three and remember to not show off too much." Asuma said before puffing away.

"good luck and be careful Naru-chan" Kurenai whispered when Naruko passed her.

Naruko nodded briefly and headed into the room. They were met with huge killing intent but due to how many times Naruko lost her temper they were used to it. They went to a quiet corner and waited for the exam to start. They saw team 7 and 8 come in and when they located them they joined them, Sasuke knew to keep his distance from Naruko though since she hated him. He got nervous from the killing intent and glares and Kiba yelled that he wouldn't be beaten by anyone.

That was when a silver haired four-eye came up to them telling them that they were pretty loud and offered them info on anyone in the exam after telling them that his name was Yakushi Kabuto.

"Give me information on Uzumaki Naruko, Sabaku no Gaara and Rock lee." Sasuke said making everyone glare at him for the naruko and lee part.

"gimme a moment and ill have the info." Kabuto said before pushing chakra into the ninja info cards. "lets see Rock Lee, genin of konoha. Uses only taijutsu. His team-mates are Higurashi Tenten and Hyuuga Neji. He has finished 365 D- rank missions, 5 c-rank and 1 b-rank mission."

"Sabaku no Gaara, genin from suna. Nothing known about his skills other than that he uses sand to attack. His team-mates are his siblings Sabaku no Kankuro and Sabaku no Temari. He has finished 20 D-ranks, 30 c-ranks and 20 b-rank and 10 A-rank missions. He has never gotten hurt on a mission. Always returning without a scratch. "

"and finally Uzumaki Naruko. Rookie Genin of konoha. There is nothing known of her skills for some reason except that she was the rookie of the year. Her team-mates are Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. She has finished 40 D-rank missions, 2 c-rank and 2 b-rank missions."Kabuto finished listing off info making Sasuke seethe that he couldn't get info on Narukos skills.

Naruko and her team decided to activate a telepathic jutsu that let them speak through their minds since they didn't know if they would be separated and have to do something alone and they would be able to help each other that way. There were several poofs at the front of the classroom which they were in.

"Alright maggots! Listen up. Those who havent gotten a number and sat down after 5 minutes are disqualified!" a scar faced man that Naruko knew from her past. His name was Morino Ibiki.

She and her team drew numbers and sat down in their seats and they thanked god that they had been smart enough to find a way to communicate through their minds with Inoichis help. He had taught them with the promise that the jutsu would go with them to the grave.

When everyone was seated Ibiki started the exam which was a written one. They had 45 minutes to finish it and then they would move on to the 10th question, they weren't allowed to cheat and if they got caught doing so 5 times they would be disqualified, if one of their team-mates answered something wrong 5 times they were disqualified and if they didn't answer at all they were disqualified also. Shikamaru was quick to figure out what the exam was about and used his shadow to copy a chuunins hand on his own paper and then passed the answers to Naruko and Chouji before they all sat back relaxing for the last 10 minutes.

"Alright stop writing." Ibiki said leaking out huge amounts of killing intent. "Now. You have a choice to make. You can choose to answer the 10th question or not."

"Of course we will choose to answer it. What do you think we are?" Kiba yelled and there were some voices of agreement.

"Silence. Let me finish. If you choose to answer it and answer wrong then you will never be allowed to take this exam again and you will remain genin forever with your team-mates. That is why you are allowed the choice of leaving or staying, if you choose to leave then you and your team fail.." Ibiki finished.

"there are many here that have taken this exam before!" Temari yelled making Ibiki chuckle.

"you are just unlucky that I am proctor now and make the rules." Ibiki said and many stood up at that and left not wanting to risk it. When Naruko saw all of the competition go she felt kinda bad. So she raised her hand before slamming it down startling everyone.

"Common ibiki you can do better than that. There is no way anyone is going to be fooled by this trick!" she yelled and her team-mates smirked knowing what she was doing.

Ibiki sweat-dropped at the blond and tried to intimidate more but but when no one budged he cursed her in his head and looked over the group. There were 78 people left in the room. The blond had blasted away all doubt and hesitation.

"Good decisions. Now to all of you that are still here I say: you pass!" Ibiki said. Naruko and her team smirked while everyone else went into uproar asking what about the 10th question and Ibiki went on explaining that the choice was the 10th question. By staying they had shown that they would do what it takes for the mission even if it cost them something.

That was when the window was broken and a black cloth came flying through it with a woman in a trench-coat, a fishnet shirt and a orange skirt. "I am Mitarashi Anko, the proctor of the second part of the chuunin selection exams!" the woman now named Anko said making Naruko blink and everyone else sweat-drop.

"78 people? You must be growing soft Ibiki" Anko said to her fellow interrogator.

"we have a good bunch this time." Ibiki said in his defense.

"Whatever. I will cut the number in half." Anko said before making the people in the room follow her to the forest of death.

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An: Each exam will take a chapter. So next chapter will we skip to when the teams are inside the forest. I am feeling lazy and this goes just like cannon so if you wanna hear what happens before the forest go read the manga or watch the anime. Its tiring to type it up. and yes, i know its short.