Apologies for taking more than a month to upload. I've been preoccupied with several other tasks recently, including drawing a new cover for this story. It's meant to be Obito's goggles, but again I'm not really an artist so I couldn't make the drawing incredible. It's drawn on plain old paper as I am awful with digital art. I've tried to make this chapter and the next as good as they can be in my absence. The Chunin exam will be covered in this chapter and the one after. They're both of importance, to the characters and the story itself. I've no idea of the currency rate in Naruto; all I know is the currency they use is called Ryo. I'm just going to use the rates of japanese yen if I need to describe the specific value of something. But I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, I had fun writing it! Thanks to all who left a review, fav or follow, knowing that people enjoy this is wonderful.

I strode through the village on a winding path with a couple of other leaf genin, gazing with a mix of fear and excitement at the large building we were approaching. There was a white banner hung above it's entrance which loudly proclaimed in black:

Chunin Exam Part One: Literary Test

I automatically merged with the crowd waiting outside. Today was the day-everyone here would be competing in the Chunin Exam. Not all of them would pass. Some wouldn't be able to handle the strain, others would be disqualified, some would simply fail. I was a little antsy myself, wanting to just get the exam over with either way. The first part was a written test of some sort; I had been fueling my knowledge for it, but I was still worried nonetheless. I twisted the hem of my jacket as I imagined a series of scenarios in which I'd fail.

'I could forget something important, or the test might be too hard, or not make sense or I could be distracted-'

"Hey!" I was snapped out of my increasingly ridiculous imaginings by a feminine voice

It was Rin, waving at me from afar. I squeezed past a few genin and met up with her. She didn't seem to be a bundle of nerves like myself, at least on the outside; her clothes and hair weren't unkempt like mine and she was smiling.

"Excited for the exam?" asked Rin when I stood before her

I answered with a strained smile "Um... 'Excited' isn't really the word I'd use. More like 'Extremely anxious'. Because seriously, any number of things could go wrong.." I folded my arms to prevent further fidgeting

Rin reassured me "Don't worry, we should be fine! I think we can both pass if we give it our best."

"I really hope so.." I mumbled, stealing a glance at Guy and Genma who were talking close by

Rin acknowledged it "They're not bad teammates, those two. Even though we argue sometimes, we can still work pretty well together.."

I gained a look of slight dismay as I replied to her "My teammates are good, but man... they don't get along too well with each other. It kinda gets on my nerves sometimes."

"Obito and Kakashi... I hope they can be friends someday." Rin mused optimistically

I pondered the thought with a bit of hope "Yeah.."

A stray memory prodded at me like a pin 'Unless..'

As I shook my head, I heard grumbles and mutterings-someone was wading through the crowd to us. It was Kakashi; Rin somewhat adopted my nervous body language. I patted her shoulder in sympathy.

"Have either of you seen Obito?" asked the grey-haired prodigy, causing Rin to slump in disappointment

I raised an eyebrow "No... Shouldn't he be here by now?" I peered through the mix of people for our teammate

'I'm pretty sure Obito wouldn't be late for this..'

Luckily, I wasn't worried for long. Yet again the air was filled with sounds of disgruntlement as people were nudged aside by the boy we were seeking. Unfortunately, his presence affected my anxiety further-I decided to remain silent to prevent embarrassment.

"Hi guys-" Obito was about to greet us cheerfully, but stopped when he saw Kakashi

The rivals stared analytically at each other as Rin and I paused.

After several seconds of silence, Kakashi broke it "You're not late."

"Yeah, so? I've been training really hard for this exam, and I'm ready!" Obito pointed to himself in a gesture of cockiness

"With your current skills, I doubt it." Kakashi retorted, shrugging

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"See what I meant, Rin?" I whispered as the rivals continued their visual and verbal battle

Normally, I would break off such arguments when they occurred. But at the moment, I wasn't really feeling up to it. My body and mind were permeated with anxiety, sapping me of useful reasoning. I decided to avoid the situation to some degree by staring at the building entrance-in retrospect, not a very good idea. The banner above it just reminded me of the exam.

After drifting my eyesight from one boring object to the next, I at last began to notice the silence stretching between us. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I willed myself to break the awkward moment.

'God, where's a tumbleweed when you need one?'

To my relief, seconds later we were at last called into the building. A man wearing the typical chunin getup opened the doors and announced that we were to enter. Some of the people milling around began to move.

"Let's go, guys!" I called, taking the chance to ease the tension

We joined the flow of entrants quietly-at last, it was time to begin the exam.

I flicked glances around the classroom I and the others were now seated in. It was a large-ish room, long desks arranged in rows and facing a blackboard. Lights on the ceiling hummed quietly, illuminating the scene below. A few instructors stood around the room, watching the students and glancing around every so often. We were currently doing the written part of the Chunin Exams-I could see a few rows in front of me that poor Obito was quite stressed, clutching his head in his hands while the rest of us scribbled frantically. The rasping of pencils-on-paper was continuous and unceasing, like some kind of urgent background music.

My previous anxiety had dulled to jittery boredom. The written test was difficult, but manageable-it just wasn't that interesting. I glanced around again, my leg jiggling under the desk habitually.

My eyes snapped to the left as I heard a scraping sound-Kakashi got up from his seat, the first one to finish.

"Finished already?" wondered the head instructor

"Yes."

'Not surprising. He's pretty good at this stuff.'

My eyes returned to Obito, who now looked even more worried than before. I sighed softly, empathetic. Deciding to help Obito out, I grabbed a piece of paper from my pocket and scribbled some answers on it along with a note:

I'll help you out if you need it. Tests are so boring, right?

Cautiously, I scrunched it into a ball and rolled it forward under the desks. I broke out in a nervous sweat while attempting to be inconspicuous, terrified I'd be called on at any moment.

I held my breath as I returned to writing on the test sheet, peeking out of the corner of my eye so I didn't arouse suspicion. When I saw Obito was writing, I breathed out in a sigh of relief. Fortunately I appeared to have gotten away with it, as nobody mentioned me when time passed. After I was finished, I handed my paper in and waited for Obito to finish his. We'd been told that after the written test we'd go see the results-who passed and who failed. I was fairly sure I could make it, but again paranoia diminished my confidence.

Obito was the last to finish, so some minutes after he handed his test in we both had to run to catch up with the others.

After turning down a couple of corridors we skidded to a stop in front of a board, where the others were looking at the results paper that had just been put up. Some of my worries left me with a sigh as I saw my name written on the sheet around the middle.

"I made it.." Obito and I shared a smile for a moment, before he looked back at the sheet and his expression soured

My eyes scanned the paper to find the spot he was looking at-it was Kakashi's name around the top.

"Well, what did you expect?" came the voice attached to said name from behind us

'Speak of the devil..'

Obito glared at him, then began to argue animatedly.

"That was just a written test!" turning to face the sheet, he examined it

"I'll find my name, just you wait..."

Obito's expression gradually became more flustered as he scanned from top to bottom. When he hadn't found his name at the end of the list, he bowed his head with a defeated sigh. I poked him to get his attention, then pointed at a note that had just been scrawled below the list.

"Look there, Obito.."

Somewhat comically, a last-minute sentence announced Obito's name.

THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN ACCEPTED DUE TO A VACANCY:

Obito Uchiha

Like a wilting flower being rejuvenated, Obito's posture changed until he was jumping in the air with joy.

"I did it!"

Kakashi chimed in with a vague insult "A vacancy, huh? That's so like you.."

Seeing Obito about to retaliate, I waved my hands

"Guys, not today.." moving to put one hand on my hip, I tried to be motivational "It's the Chunin exam, for Pete's sake! We've gotta get along and work together so we can pass."

Before the conversation could continue, we were interrupted by a stern voice. A gaunt-faced instructor was looking at us crossly, arms folded.

"There's no time to be celebrating! If you passed, go to your assigned classroom. The second part of the exam will be explained.." the group of genin groaned and began shuffling down the corridor, myself included

My team and several others were seated in another classroom. Each team sat together, forming rows of three facing the instructor. I noticed a lot of the other genin had postures indicating their feelings-some were tense, others fidgety, a couple were unreadable-Genma was slouching casually across from me. Kakashi had his arms folded, sitting straight. Obito had one arm on the desk, listening with interest. I was leaning back on my seat, tiredly regarding the instructor as he spoke. He was rigid, hands behind his back and looking stoic-he reminded me of an army commander.

"Part two will commence three days from now. This will test your physical skills. Use everything you have learned about taijutsu and ninjutsu to get through this exam!"

"All right, I got this!" whispered Obito with a grin and a fist-pump

"However, this test pits your team against others." continued the instructor-Obito sat up in surprise

"It's not an individual competition?"

"Obito, were you even listening earlier?" I muttered with slight exasperation

He wasn't listening then, either; he turned to Kakashi with disdain

"Hey Kakashi, you'd better not drag us down!"

Kakshi retaliated "Right back at you."

When Obito stood up with an angry exclamation, I decided I was sick of all the arguing. I stood and grabbed both boys' collars in each hand, yanking them forward.

I spoke in a cool, low voice "Right, guys. We've really gotta shape up for this exam, and if you keep going at each other like cats and dogs.. We. Will. Fail. Okay?"

Kakashi stared at me with a frown; Obito blushed in embarrassment. Taking these as replies, I released them. They mirrored one another-arms folded, eyes looking away.

"Don't be late.." muttered Kakashi

"I know!" grumbled Obito, turning away from his rival

As the air stayed heavy with unspoken barbs, I adopted Genma's casual pose.

'Three days..'

Over the course of the first two days, I stuck to my usual training routine. Get up reasonably early, have breakfast, go to the training fields, grab lunch then continue training, come home in the evening for dinner.

At the end of the third day, I found myself viewing the village from a scenic altitude-that is, I was standing on top of The First Hokage's stone image. Okay, scratch that, I was sitting on it-after the journey preceding my arrival at the monument I was rather sore.

As for how I ended up on that journey, it involved three things: clothes shopping, a coin toss and the color green.

I was taking a break from training for lunch. I was also planning on getting myself some new shirts, as a few of my current ones were getting a bit tatty. One of the lighter burdens of being a shinobi.

I went to the clothes store first, since it was closer to the training fields. It was a small building that opened out to the street, like many other shops. It was mostly for second-hand stuff, not the sort of place you'd go for a fitting or expensive raiments. Inside, it was host to several bins of various clothing items and a single changing booth wedged in a back corner.

I examined one small bin for shirts, grabbed three that looked to be my size. I lined up at the checkout counter, taking note of who was in front of me.

It wasn't a huge surprise to see Might Guy; he came to the store every now and then since his intense way of training would wear down his clothes rather quickly. What did surprise me was the garment he was holding.

'Look out, Konoha. The Green Beast has found his stripes.'

After the man in front of him had paid for a pair of shoes, Guy speedily folded the green jumpsuit he had and placed it on the checkout countertop. The store owner raised an eyebrow at his choice of purchase.

"I would like to buy this amazing outfit, please!" Guy exclaimed, holding out a number of dollar bills

The store owner took the dollar bills, counting them and glancing at the suit's price tag. Satisfied with the payment, he passed Guy the green jumpsuit. He didn't realize the significance of the gesture for the overjoyed kid.

So, he was rather surprised when said boy glomped him rather emotionally. A sparkling sunset materialized behind them, god knows how-it's a mystery I have yet to solve. The man who was walking out with his shoes had paused at the door, watching the strange exchange curiously. Guy was in the process of thanking the helpless shopkeep, tears streaming down his face and accentuating the background's effect.

"I-uh, appreciate it, kid, but I've got a customer waiting." interrupted the shopkeeper, pointing at me for emphasis

Guy paused in his gratitude "Oh, of course sir, you must return to your important duties.."

The shopkeep wheezed out a breath as he was released from the tight hold, the mysterious sunset vanishing as fast as it had appeared. Guy zipped right into the small changing booth, presumably to put on his newly acquired fashion statement.

"Ah, miss?"

I blinked when the shopkeep prompted me; I was caught up in a ridiculous daydream in the wake of what I'd just witnessed. It continued in the background of my thoughts as I paid for my new-old? shirts.

"You really have no idea what you've done.." I mused out loud, smiling merrily as I turned to leave

The shopkeep simply looked at me skeptically, before the sharp ring of a bell alerted him to a new patron. The same sound accompanied my departure. I tucked my recent purchases under one arm, intending to grab lunch, drop off the shirts at my house, then head back to the training fields. Unfortunately, that's when my schedule for the day took a nose-dive.

Once again I heard the ringing of bells, instinctively turning to the sound's origin. Guy was already changed, trademark blinding grin working in tandem with his soon-to-be-trademark outfit. I decided to reaffirm his fashion choices-who knows what could happen if Might Guy never wore his green suit? Probably nothing concerning. But, screw it, I wasn't gonna take that chance.

"Nice outfit. It suits you!" I gave a double thumbs-up in what I hoped was an encouraging gesture

Guy met my gaze with an oddly intense stare.

"So, you approve of my attire, my eternal rival? Well, I'm glad. Because..."

There was a pregnant pause; I was waiting for Guy to say something dramatic.

"I think we should go test it out!" he exclaimed jovially, pumping a fist in the air

"Well good luck with-wait, we?" I paused mid-sentence in surprise

"Of course! It's been a while since our youthful spirits have clashed."

On one hand, I had to take my shirts home and continue training. On the other hand, competing against Guy would be much better than training alone. I considered what to do for a moment, then got an idea of how to settle on a decision.

"Wait a moment, we can resolve this the old-fashioned way."

I dug around in my pockets with one hand, quickly pulling out a small copper coin. It was of different design to the coins I used to know-it had a minute square hole in it's center, for one thing. On one side, the hole was circled by a pair of dragons; on the other, the hole had a shuriken next to it's left and right side. Characters of varying significance were also stamped onto the metal.

"Heads or tails?" I asked, balancing the circle of metal atop my hand

"Tails." replied Guy automatically; we'd done coin-tossing before

There was a brief metallic resonance as I flipped the coin with a flick of my thumb. It somersaulted fleetingly, before being secured on the back of my hand with my other palm. I lifted it to see the outcome; twin dragons revealed themselves. Tails.

'Well, there goes my afternoon.'

"Tails. So, what's involved in testing out this new suit?" I asked, genuinely curious

"The challenge is simple: a race."

'Hm, okay. Doesn't seem-'

"To the Hokage monument!" Guy finished, pointing at the stone visages high above the village

'Um.'

The idea was a bit disconcerting. Sure, I liked to admire the artisan carvings from afar, but I'd never considered actually climbing all the way up there. But hey, if a 12-year-old Naruto could not only get up there but vandalize the faces to boot, I could too. Not the vandalism part though-while humorous, that would be a bad idea.

"Okay. I'm in." I nodded, briefly pondering what I was getting into

We did a ritual fist-bump, before crouching into positions for a running start. My second-hand shirts were tied around my waist, since running with them tucked under my arm would've been rather awkward.

The pair of us had nabbed a bystander to start us off after a minute-even after accepting the random request, the fellow still looked rather confused. I didn't blame him.

The young man awkwardly cleared his throat before beginning the countdown

"Okay, um. 3... 2... 1.."

He paused to cough; my rival and I were frozen, completely focused on what we were about to do.

"GO!"

The moment the man finished saying go, both of us shot forward. I briefly heard him cough again behind me, likely due to the cloud of dust we'd left in our wake.

We were racing side-by-side, arms trailing behind us in typical running fashion. We were headed towards the side of the mountain, where a series of steps lead to the Hokage monument. It wasn't a smooth racetrack, though. Both of us had plenty of obstacles, ranging from fences to civilians. All of them posed different problems.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, suddenly ducking under a plank of wood shouldered by two men

I stumbled as I recovered from bending backwards so quickly, noticing my opponent was getting a lead on me. Absently blowing a bit of hair out of my line of sight, I veered to the left and ran atop the rail of a bridge. Guy was nowhere to be seen now; I decided to just push on and try to make it to the finish line first.

I hopped off the bridge rail and back onto the ground, weaving through a couple of passerby clumsily. Spotting an approaching crowd of yet more people, I decided it would be better to just go up higher and avoid them. It was a stupid idea.

I started by jumping onto a nearby awning; the uneven tarp almost made me slip off. After regaining my balance, I hastily clambered up onto the roof of the building. Mostly by utilizing windowsills and pipes Assassin's Creed style. Like in said video game, a few gawking people were wondering why I was trying to scale a building. I ended up with a few bruises after making it to the thankfully flat roof.

I broke into a run again, preparing to jump across onto the roof of the building in front of me. I did so relatively well, since it was below me and there was only a small gap. No, it was the next jump that put me off doing the race above the village.

Heart pumping, I sprinted and got ready to jump over the larger gap I saw coming up. I hopped up onto a vent to gain more distance; bad idea. I overshot my jump and painfully skidded onto the gravelly concrete of the new roof.

I brushed off the dust and stones on my face and clothes. I realized that with the varying building structures and heights it would be faster to run through the streets below.

So, I gave up on jumping to my destination and carefully hopped down onto the ground. I continued to dodge villagers and swerve around corners for about a minute. Luckily, my path was becoming wider and clearer as I neared the mountain. After a few more minutes of dodging pedestrians and various architecture, I made it to the base of the steps.

I stopped, panting, to study them. I gulped as my eyes followed how high up they went; it was going to be a long uphill run. Squinting, I could see something green moving a ways above me. I was losing.

Steeling myself and sucking in a deep breath, I started my ascent up the stairs. It wasn't so bad to start, as the steps were essentially the same and I managed to slip into a rhythm. There are drawbacks to rhythms, however. You get so comfortable in them that you forget to notice things you otherwise would have.

Thus, I missed a broken step and tripped. My body was jostled and prodded by the stone as I slid backwards; mercifully, I managed to stop myself from falling all the way down. Deciding further recklessness would lead to broken bones, I proceeded forward with caution.

After around two tiring minutes I at last made it to the top of the steps. A narrow dirt path stretched before me, surrounded by bushes and grass. Continuing forward at a jog, I looked around and noticed another set of steps to my right. They appeared to lead over the top of the mountain, to the Hokage faces. The idea of even more stairs was almost nauseating, but compared to the ones I'd just overcome there weren't many of them.

I pushed on arduously until, at last, I made it to the finish line. How did I know this was it? Guy was calmly stretching on the carved stone in front of me.

I let out a long sigh and promptly slumped onto the somewhat round rock. I rolled my shoulders while sitting down, a measly effort at mimicking Guy's set of rapid and complex contortions.

"Well... looks like you beat me. Congrats." I puffed, futilely wiping sweat from my face

Guy did a thumbs-up "Nice Guy" style "This is indeed the perfect outfit for me. I shall wear it from now on, so that my inner youth may blossom to it's fullest!"

"Okay.. but, be sure to get a couple more of those suits. It'd be really gross if you just wore that one and didn't wash it." I said, only half-joking

I didn't get a response to the question. Instead, my friend walked over and sat down beside me. He stretched out a fist, leading me to automatically do the same.

"Thank you for the race, my eternal rival." said Guy with sincerity

Grins flashed across our faces as our fists came together, signifying the end of another challenge. Guy was already up again after half a minute, intending to head back down and continue his strenuous training regime. I decided to remain on top of the rocky visage for a bit. After all the effort of getting up there I didn't want to leave too quickly. The view was pretty amazing as well.

After waving goodbye to the green-clad boy, I lay down and ruminated on how the day had gone. A sudden grumble accompanied by gnawing hunger reminded me I'd forgotten about getting lunch. Thoughts of midday caused my eyes to trickle across the horizon; judging by the sun's descent, it was the afternoon.

'Hmm, no point in training after that race. I'm pretty sure it's not illegal to sit up on the Hokage faces... at least, I hope it's not.'

I sat up again, rifling through one of my pouches. I was relieved to find I still had some emergency snacks on me, quickly pulling out a rice ball. Throwing etiquette out the window, so to speak, I began gobbling it rather noisily. I wiped some stray bits of rice off my face after finishing, glad to have filled some of the void. I felt oddly contented sitting way up high above the village. It truly was an amazing sight; in the sunlight the buildings boasted soft, warm colors, interwoven with a menagerie of movement from all their inhabitants. Surrounding all of this were the leafy trees which the village's name was derived from. They too were moving thanks to the wind, though less obviously than the people. It really was a living, breathing landscape.

'Incredible.'

The day after my little misadventure, I stood with the other exam participants in front of a wire fence. On it was a banner reading "Chunin Exam Part Two, Team Competition". We had been separated into our teams; worryingly, it was just me and Kakashi in ours.

"I knew he'd be late." sighed my grey-haired comrade, folding his arms

"He'll be here. I'm pretty sure.." I was picking at my jacket sleeves anxiously

'C'mon, Obito, of all the times to be late..'

Fifteen minutes crawled by-it was time for our match. Our team was still just two, no sign of the third. I was distracted from my frantic thoughts when I read who our opponents were:

Obito, Kakashi, Yoku

vs

Genma, Guy, Rin

'What are the odds? But then... Genma, I've been looking for an excuse to really fight you.' my mouth curled into an eager smirk

The smirk was gone later, when I stood waiting once again. Kakashi and I were now in front of a gated fence, in a clearing. An instructor was behind us.

"Team Minato, you have five minutes left. Will he make it?" he asked with a glance at the nearby clock

I gnawed my lip, unable to keep still. I was still hopeful, at least a little bit.

"He should be here in a minute." I ground out for what must have been the third time

"If time runs out, you'll be automatically disqualified." despite his composed stature, I could hear the growing impatience in his voice

"I knew it! Didn't I tell you?" Kakashi exclaimed angrily, gesturing to the clock "You're too easy on him. That's why he'll never break this habit of being late!" despite his scolding, I kept faith

"He'll be here. He's probably run into someone.. I bet you he'll come skidding in at the last second!" the last bit was an attempt to inject some humor into the atmosphere; it failed

"I wouldn't be so sure." Kakashi turned his head and closed his eyes in annoyance

Several minutes passed-the clock clicked as it struck 12.

"Three pm. It's time to begin." sighed the instructor

"Damn it, all because of him!" Kakashi growled

Moments later, I heard the distinct sound of rapid footsteps. The corners of my mouth lifted in a smile.

"Three, two, one.."

"Sorry I'm late!" Obito yelled, running towards the gate in a desperate sprint

Kakashi sighed, my posture relaxed.

"I told you.. the last second!" I quipped; Kakashi shook his head, then pointed furiously to our puffing teammate

"Hurry up, before we're disqualified!"

That's the end of the first half for the Chunin exam! The next chapter shouldn't take as long to be uploaded as this one, I just need to write in one more scene for it and then edit it. I hope you guys liked it, sorry again for taking so long. Also wow, the story's past 100 favs and follows! I sincerely thank all of you who've looked at this, your support is very encouraging. Thanks again, and see you next chapter!