Me: I don't own Naruto! I only own the OCs!

Chapter 11 – Journeymen

Walking away from the council room, Takagi found himself completely speechless regarding the defence Kakashi put up for his students. However, he could not understand why they were biased mainly on Sasuke when Mimi descended from the same clan as he and performed more feats than he ever could. Although her attitude left much to be desired, ability-wise – taking down a Chasing Ninja wouldn't even require her to break a sweat. Gray probably had the biggest amount of maturity amongst all of them and yet he was denied. He and Hyuuga Neji could easily fight on par if he remembered talking to Gai and watching the male Hyuuga brunette train with Rock Lee. Unlike him though, Gray focused on enhancing his mind and his body simply coordinated with it. If fighting styles could be compared, he'd associate with Gray being the ocean. Without any wasted energy, he would bring out his attacks whereas Neji would be the calm before the storm; slowly unleashing a whole wave of energy with every attack.

Anyhow, Takagi glanced at the passes in his hand, nodding in affirmation. I better get these passes to the kids. I'm sure I'm in for some interrogation.

"Takagi," a smooth voice caused the shaggy brunette to turn around and face his fellow silver haired Jounin. "I forgot to thank you verbally for lending me Gray."

Takagi waved his hand dismissively, smiling graciously. "It doesn't matter; you practically gave him entrance to the Chuunin exams."

Kakashi continued to walk alongside him, glancing at the blue sky. "He had the abilities; he just needed a little shove from behind. But, his abilities are something. Have you ever considered putting him through ANBU training? Then again, you are the son of the third Getsukage so it shouldn't be so hard for both of you. It would make your team more feared."

"Gray and I both agreed on one thing: we refused to become ANBU," Takagi narrowed his eyes at the passes with their names scrawled across it. "The politics nearly made me puke and Gray would rather not. He says it goes against all his philosophies as a shinobi. Cunning, stealthy and feared yet life-preserving as well; the one you should be asking about that should be Mimi. Her skills probably would benefit the ANBU more. Gray would probably be the most rebellious one. Heck, I'm already having quite some time keeping all of them in line. Although they have shit for brains, they're still my kids."

Kakashi chuckled at the younger Jounin's description. "You truly are a family oriented man, aren't you?"

"Perhaps," Takagi smiled bitterly at the thought, watching little kids run around. "If there would be one thing we all have in common, it's that we understand the feeling of loneliness or have tasted true despair. We all learned how to bind with one another through threads called "strength" and "compassion". They are truly nakama to one another. They all had some pain in their lives that they bury deep with themselves. That's why people misunderstand them; they're too blind to see what made them what they are. I bet you were just as shocked as I was when Gray showed you the house at the Wave Country."

The silver haired Jounin gestured Takagi to follow him to Ichiraku Ramen. "Oh yeah, you never did tell me. Were you able to read the reports?"

"As a result of being the eldest, Gray shouldered the responsibility of being the team leader and solving other people's problems for them," Takagi remarked offhandedly, thanking the man for the ramen. "He knows how to call the shots but while he's too busy being a martyr for his own ideals, he forgets about himself. That's why I lent him to you, Kakashi-san. The others aren't ready for that kind of epiphany yet. I wanted you to show him that there are people who care for him even if they're not tightly knit to him. He's the type of boy who would keep on giving without demanding anything in return. Good hearted and mischievous, what a paradox."

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow at the shaggy haired male. "How are Taichi and the others? They seem pretty fine."

"Mimi's not as violent as she is now compared to when she was younger," Takagi mournfully played around with the naruto floating around in the ramen. "She used to be a very timid girl, according to Suzume-san. When I first found her trapped all alone in the basement, her eyes stared at me completely devoid of all emotion but she bared her teeth at me with a maniacal glare before tackling me to kill me. She started screaming "Give them back to me!" over and over again. Taichi never had parents either; he was sacrificed for his family's rise to power. The Yamato family may now be the biggest clan but for what price? All they know is – he's a weapon for the military. Manyama had been shunned in favour of all her cousins who placed better than her. Izumi probably is the only one who had a normal life but forever fighting for recognition. They feel each other's pain, Kakashi. We're only human after all."

Kakashi remained completely silent as he started rolling up the noodles. "Sasuke and Gray nearly started a brawl between one another."

"That's not surprising," Takagi chuckled lightly, sipping up some of the soup. "Sasuke's focused deeply on his vengeance that he would step on people also to do it. Gray would obviously object to that. No offense, Kakashi but Sasuke probably needs "corrective brain surgery" as Gray and Taichi say. The kid's ideals are so warped. I'm not saying Gray's perfect either; he's probably got more emotional outbursts than you can handle. Taichi on the other hand, self-explanatory, he causes more destruction than he intends."

Kakashi watched the soup heat the thinly sliced pork as he contemplated on Takagi's words. Sasuke definitely had some behavioural problems and Sakura's too blind to see that. Naruto on the other hand for every obvious reason was hated by the village. Unlike Takagi's team, they never confided anything in one another. They can't fight side-by-side without doubting one another.

"Well, thank you again for getting Gray and Taichi in," Takagi handed a handful of money, paying for both his and Kakashi's. "Don't bother paying; it's on me."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at the former Getsugakure ninja. "Jonouchi Ren, mind telling me where you got all that money?"

Takagi sighed dejectedly while ignoring the fact that Kakashi used his real name, shrugging his shoulders in defeat. "Let's say Mimi won a fighting contest and Gray's one devilishly talented and fortunate hustler."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Morning rolled by with the birds harmoniously chirping with one another. The morning breeze cooled down the rays of the sun as people continued busying themselves with their businesses. Children flocked near them and began playing around with one another while swinging their toy ninja weapons and pretending to compete against one another. Team Seven on the other hand had no time to idle as Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke found themselves walking towards the bridge, waiting for Kakashi. Naruto grinned cheekily at the other kids as he started playing around with them too.

Sakura yawned, stretching her arms. "I wonder why Kakashi-sensei called us out so early. Do we have another mission?"

Sasuke let out a disgruntled snort while leaning against the railing of the bridge. Naruto on the other hand began pacing around for a few seconds until finally letting out annoyed sigh.

"Where's Kakashi-sensei," Naruto whined before plopping unto the ground.

As if on cue, Kakashi appeared on top of the arches. "Ah good, you're early. Sorry I took so long. You see, my friend wanted me to walk her pet barracuda..."

Sakura and Naruto immediately bellowed together. "YOU LIAR!"

Sasuke scoffed while rolling his eyes sarcastically at the two. "Anyway, what did you call us out for?"

Kakashi smiled while landing on the ground. "Well, I was wondering if you guys are into getting promoted so," –he drew out three permission slips. "I got one for each of you."

Naruto immediately brightened up and tackled Kakashi into a big hug, squeezing him tightly. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei! This is the best!"

Kakashi laughed while ruffling the smaller ninja's hair. "You're welcome, Naruto. But the thing is; you guys have to be careful. We aren't the only village that's going to be here. There will be other villages taking their Chuunin exam with us. Regardless of who they are; you better make sure you're prepared to bring them down."

The three nodded determinedly in unison as a smirk graced Sasuke's face.

This ought to be fun.

"Just go to the Academy and get your registration done there at the third floor," Kakashi gestured to the huge building behind him. "I have to go get something done first. So you three go ahead."

Watching Kakashi vanish, Naruto grinned excitedly and punched his fist into the air. "Alright, we get to become Chuunin!"

Sakura nodded while glancing at Sasuke who showed no facial expression whatsoever only to get an "hn" from him. She sighed before coaxing Naruto to lower the volume of his voice, causing the blonde to pout impishly at them. With that, the three immediately began heading towards the academy until they heard a loud yelp.

"Hey, give that back!"

A woman immediately began pursuing one of the men who had suddenly snatched her supplies. Sakura instantly drew out her kunai to stop him until something shot through the handle of the bag and pierced it onto the wall. Naruto prepared to jump forward but Sasuke immediately stuck out his foot to prevent him from running anywhere, watching a thorny vine whirl up into the air.

"What in the world," Sakura blinked several times, staring incredulously.

A thorny whip appeared with a loud crack in the air and snaked towards the man before wrapping him up and flipping him onto the ground. Suddenly, Ino and Izumi appeared as the blonde kunoichi gave the woman back her supplies and the red haired Yamanaka member retracted back her whip.

"Ino, what are you doing here," Sakura shook herself out of her entranced state.

The blonde kunoichi sniggered at the pink haired girl. "Obviously, I was helping her get her things back, Billboard brow."

Sakura immediately fumed while bumping foreheads with her. "Shut up you pig; I had it all under control!"

"Yeah as if chasing him with a kunai was the best idea," Izumi scoffed arrogantly, dismissing her whip. "He was just going to shove you out of the way anyway."

Sakura flared up immediately, grabbing Izumi by her shirt. "Why don't you stay out of this and shut up?"

"Screw off, bitch," Izumi hissed venomously until she felt something burn her feet. "Ow, who the hell was that?"

The triple streaked haired kunoichi rolled her eyes before blowing the smoke from her fingers. "Sorry, I mistook you for Sasuke. Do note that we're going to be late if you keep fighting like a rabid fan girl."

Gray on the other hand showed up behind Mimi before bowing. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience my teammate has caused. Izumi, we better go."

The red head spat venomously at Sakura, flouncing away. "Che, you were just lucky! Next time, I'm gonna make you look so ugly that you're gonna wish you hid yourself under a rock!"

Watching them walk away, Sakura mimicked her behind her back mockingly before shoving Ino away. "Come on Naruto, Sasuke-kun, we can't disappoint Kakashi-sensei."

As the four other Genin headed towards the building, students suddenly started crowding at a single area. The three of them walked towards the crowd as one of the ninja shoved them aside.

"Beat it kid, you're not allowed to get in here!"

The fallen ninja snarled back, getting up on his feet. "They said it was the third floor wasn't it? Well, aren't we on the third floor?"

"No duh Sherlock, well guess what – you're not allowed to go in here," the bandaged ninja growled while grabbing the said boy by the collar before flinging him aside.

Sasuke immediately stepped in, watching the people carefully. "What's going on? Why the sudden block?"

"Even if you're the great Uchiha, there's no way you're getting in here," he scowled darkly, shoving Sasuke away. "Why don't you just go get screwed?"

Sasuke twitched slightly with an expression of complete irk as he whirled around for a kick and the other guy went for a punch while ducking. However, a boy in a green jumpsuit immediately intervened as he held back both Sasuke's kick and the boy's punch. Sasuke blinked several times in bewilderment; how was this guy able to hold back his kick? First of all, he showed no strain in his expression despite him throwing his weight into the kick. Secondly, he has bad leverage in his position.

"Who the hell are you," Sasuke narrowed his eyes as the boy shoved them both away.

"This isn't the place to settle things, do it outside if you must," the boy then stood up, watching Sasuke's and the other boy's eyes carefully.

As Sasuke backed up, he recalled how many flights of floors they all climbed up. Suddenly, a smirk appeared on his face while he folded his arms.

"With your reactions, it's obvious that this floor isn't it," Sasuke leaned against his left leg, triumphantly smirking at them. "It just looked as if it were three floors by extending the staircase and changing the numbers, right Sakura?"

Sakura blushed immediately, upon hearing that Sasuke now relied on her analysis. "Yes, it was quite strange that the staircase was longer than normal," –fighting her urge to squeal and maintaining a steely expression, "It was just a ruse to make us think it was the third floor when in reality – it's just the second floor."

Suddenly, the image faded and revealed the real number of the room. Instead of room 310, it became 210. Students stared in astonishment at Sakura and Sasuke. The boy in the green jumpsuit couldn't help but be amazed by the pink haired kunoichi's analysis.

"Haruno Sakura!"

The pink haired kunoichi suddenly swivelled her head towards the direction of the voice, lightly cocking her eyebrow. "Um... who are you?"

The boy then gave her a huge grin and thumb up. "I am Konoha's Green Beast, Rock Lee! Haruno Sakura, will you go out with me?"

Sakura visibly flinched at his sudden declaration, pondering on what to say.

Oh God, I definitely can't see myself with him!

Sakura waved her hand dismissively, restraining her urge to scream out her rejection. "Sorry, I can't. I have stuff to do."

Rock Lee stared at her back as she walked away with her two other teammates. He glanced at one side to see Uchiha Sasuke followed after her with his usual cold aloof boy image while Naruto disguised his snickering at how Sakura managed to reject him in one fell swoop.

Meanwhile, the two boys that had recently blocked Sasuke hid behind the doors immediately.

"So those are Kakashi's kids huh," one smirked while looking through the small peep hole.

"The one I'd be more terrified of would be Takagi's kids," the other one snickered to himself before shuddering at the thought. "Perish the thought of having us fight one of them."

Suddenly, their disguises fell away and revealed two Jounin. "We're excited to see who the examinees are this year."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Wow Sakura-chan, that was amazing," Naruto jumped up and down excitedly, similar to a sugar high boy. "How did you know it was an illusion?"

Sakura shrugged with a small smile, nodding in acknowledgement. "It was common sense."

Suddenly, Naruto spotted Taichi walking towards him with his teammates. "Hey Taichi, where were you guys?"

The navy bluenette boy grinned goofily, revealing his Chuunin exam pass. "My friends wanted to restock on materials before going in. I can't believe we're going to become Chuunin!"

Sakura smiled at Gray, noticing him with a new blue scarf covering his forehead. "How are your wounds, Gray?"

"Well, most of them healed," Gray smirked mischievously, checking on his now completely healed stab wounds. "But, they shouldn't prove to be a problem. I managed to fix most of them."

Mimi narrowed her eyes at Sasuke until she got a reprimanding look from Manyama and Gray. "Geez, now I have both of you tailing me."

"We're trying to make sure you don't become a serial killer, Mimi," the weapons specialist lightly chided the youngest female, glancing at Sasuke. "I know he needs corrective brain surgery but you're gonna look like you need it too with the way you're going."

Mimi folded her arms with a dark childish pout, scowling deeply right after. "Lucky bastard."

Sasuke darkly glared back at her before walking away. "Tch, annoying pest."

Izumi slapped the back of Mimi's head, earning her a slight yelp from the triple streak haired female. "Mimi, what did Takagi-sensei say about being nice to other people?"

Mimi, scowling darkly, reluctantly and begrudgingly smiled as sickeningly sweet as she could only to start choking. "Blech, it's disgusting!"

Taichi folded his arms before ruffling Mimi's hair with a teasing smirk. "Oh come on, smile a little bit for family will ya?"

"Fuck him, he's not family," Mimi spat venomously, averting her eyes away disgusted.

Silence settled in between them until they heard loud tapping from the upper floors.

"Uchiha Sasuke!"

The black haired male Uchiha swivelled around to see Rock Lee standing at the ledge, fiercely staring down at him. Few moments later, he jumped down while staring hard into Sasuke's jet black orbs. Silence tensed the two teams as Izumi blinked several times. Sakura staggered back a bit as Naruto and Sasuke immediately began battle positions.

"Who's he?"

Taichi stood in front of Manyama right away with Gray standing in front of Izumi and Mimi while the female Uchiha prepared to launch a ninjutsu. "I'd like to know too..."

"Uchiha Sasuke, I, Rock Lee challenge you to combat! Whoever wins gets a chance to date Sakura-chan!"

Izumi gaped before bursting into hysterical fits of laughter, hugging her stomach. "I don't think he would even try beating you!"

Sakura glared holes at the vermillion haired kunoichi, snorting darkly. "Che, as if Sasuke would want to date you!"

"Izumi-san is right about one thing," Sasuke snickered darkly before facing Rock Lee. "I don't even need to try hard to beat you."

Naruto, letting out a frustrated snort, started charging towards Rock Lee. "You're on!"

With very little effort however, Rock Lee spun around for an easy sliding kick which spent Naruto spiralling towards the wall until a stone hand caught him. The other six stared in amazement as Gray activated his Byakkugan watching Rock Lee's movement carefully. Mimi activated her Mangenkyou Sharingan only to stagger back, completely stupefied.

"It's definitely not Genjutsu," Mimi shut down her powers, recalling his movement carefully. "To be honest, it looks like pure Taijutsu. The question is – is that kind of speed possible?"

Gray relaxed his stance a bit, watching for any movement. "It depends on the training regimen. If this guy has been training all his life with weights then, I wouldn't be surprised."

Rock Lee smirked triumphantly, preparing to fight Sasuke. "Yes, you are correct. That was all purely Taijutsu. That technique just now was called the Konoha Seppu [Leaf Whirlwind Hurricane]. My goal is to become the best ninja without knowing any ninjutsu or taijutsu."

Manyama glanced at Gray, cocking an eyebrow. "Isn't that more your style?"

"Gray's too innovative for that," Izumi tossed her hair back haughtily, sniggering at Rock Lee. "Secondly, why would Sasuke-kun waste his time on an idiot like you?"

"I'll take you on."

Izumi whirled her attention towards the male Uchiha who walked forward with a smirk. "But I have to warn you, I'm not as stupid as Naruto."

Rock Lee smiled determinedly, preparing for Sasuke's attack. "Oh don't worry; I wasn't expecting you to be."

Sasuke rushed forward while throwing a punch to which Rock Lee easily dodged before throwing a kick at the champion. However, the current champion whirled around to dodge before performing a roundhouse kick to snap Rock Lee back. The green jumpsuit wearing boy launched himself at Sasuke again with a punch which the Uchiha male stepped back only to narrowly defend a hand-stand kick from Rock Lee. As Sasuke skidded back, he inhaled deeply until his eyes took on a new colour.

Moron, Mimi furrowed her eyebrows. "You idiot, you may be able to copy whatever shit he can come up with but that doesn't mean your body will be able to handle to power...!"

Although Sasuke managed to throw himself with ease at Rock Lee, the male Uchiha soon found himself lagging behind. The green jumpsuit wearing boy then kicked Sasuke squarely at his jaw and sent him spiralling up into the air. Naruto couldn't help but stare in awe as Taichi immediately yanked his blonde fellow jinchuuriki out of the way. Rock Lee soon unravelled his bandages and prepared to wrap them around Sasuke until a pinwheel toy pierced it against the wall. Sasuke still sailed in the air until Sakura ran over to catch him. Sasuke slid down a vine that Izumi immediately summoned before he crashed into Sakura's arms.

"Lee, that's enough!"

Out of nowhere, a turtle spawned with a Konohagakure symbol on a headband around its neck. "How dare you use the move for such a petty show! Did you learn nothing?"

Rock Lee landed on the ground, hanging his head low. "I'm sorry..."

Sakura stared in disbelief before noticing Sasuke landing in her arms. Oh God, even Sasuke's still trembling from that last attack...

"Hey Sakura-chan," Naruto tiptoed towards her, whispering. "Is it possible for an animal to become a sensei?"

Sakura blinked several times in disbelief and bewilderment until she glanced at the bowl-cut haired student speaking with the turtle. "I don't think so..."

Izumi narrowed her eyes at the magenta coloured turtle. "Whoever's familiar this is, he better show himself."

The turtle glanced up to the top of his shell. "He's all yours, Gai."

Smoke suddenly exploded in the middle of nowhere with a man with equally furry eyebrows and also a green jumpsuit appeared in a very awkward position. "Oh such is the foolishness of youth! What has my beloved pupil done this time?"

Gray twitched furiously. Who the hell is this guy?

Sasuke felt his jaw twitch in confusion and shock, trying to stabilize himself. Oh hell no...

"Rock Lee has used nearly used the forbidden taijutsu," the tortoise immediately scolded the younger ninja. "It was a mistake to teach him such a strong move."

Gai shook his head disappointingly at Lee, folding his arms. "Lee, what did I tell you about using that move?"

"That I should only use it when I'm very sure with myself," Lee repeated slowly as Gai dropped his hand on Lee's shoulder.

"It's alright! That is the beauty from the springtime of youth," he slung his arm around his student, pointing at the sun. "Now, let us go train m'boy!"

"Yes Gai-sensei," Lee excitedly punched his fist in the air too as some sunset suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Holy God they come with their own sound and special effects," Manyama blinked several times disbelievingly, twitching several times. "Who the heck are these people?"

"Oh you must be Kakashi's and Takagi's kids," –all eight of them spun around to face the older version of Rock Lee as he smirked.

"The name's Maito Gai and I'm one of Takagi's and Kakashi's rival," he chuckled mirthfully, ruffling Naruto's hair. "I've won a couple of times against Kakashi. But Takagi's pretty elusive. You kids have any idea what he does on his spare time?"

Now I understand why we often train alone and in secluded places, Mimi shuddered at the thought of simply looking at the guy. "Uh, I don't know what he usually does. He's a really hardworking guy, right Gray?"

Gray nodded stiffly while trying to maintain a phlegmatic expression. "Yeah, we barely see him at home..."

Gai pursed his lips before exhaling in disappointment. "Hm, and here I was hoping to have a good match with him today. Then again, Takagi's a really busy man. I'll just have to seize the opportunity next time."

Taichi winced at the volume of Maito Gai's voice, smiling sheepishly. "Please don't."

"Lee, why are you taking so long and where's sensei?"

They immediately looked up and found two other people: a girl with buns in her hair and a white eyed boy with long brown hair. Gray backed up a little, noticing the boy's demeaning gaze.

"You," his voice became dreadfully dark as he stopped dead in his tracks.

Gray narrowed his eyes for a moment until a kick went flying for his face. The coffee blonde immediately ducked before jumping for a circular crushing kick to which the boy dodged expertly. Gray wasted no time in pushing himself back while evading most of the boy's punches until he caught one, twisted his arm and made contact with the boy's chest using his elbow. The said attacker tumbled back as Gray casually shoved his hands into his pocket.

"You could at least introduce yourself before attacking me out of the blue," Gray lowered his voice into a fierce whisper, watching the boy's movements carefully.

Before the boy could lunge at him again, Gai immediately stepped in front of him. "Now now, Neji, you'll be able to fight him soon. We're not supposed to be picking fights with one another."

Taichi sweat-dropped at the irony, scratching his head. So, what the hell were you doing just now?

Neji scowled darkly before whirling around, following after his teammates. "We'll meet soon, Hyuuga Reject. You're nothing but an inkblot to the family..."

Watching him walk away, Gray suddenly heard a slight tear on his scarf as it slipped onto his face. He blinked several times as he tried to retie his scarf around his forehead. Taichi glared daggers at Neji's back before changing his black eyes into golden reptilian ones until Manyama placed her hand on his shoulder, shaking her head. Mimi remained expressionless while Izumi placed her hands on her hips.

"What's that guy's problem," Izumi raised an eyebrow questioningly at him before letting out an arrogant "hmph". "What a weirdo."

Sasuke chuckled darkly, walking towards the stairs. "You can't always have everyone liking you."

As everyone started moving towards the stairs, Gray remained frozen at where he stood in deep thought. He had never seen much of the Hyuuga members since he had been raised by Takagi but the only one he mainly had concern for was its heiress Hyuuga Hinata. She pleaded on his behalf to teach him the Hyuuga style in which she was to be the mentor. Much to her surprise, he caught on very quickly and both of them in the end started crossing references with one another.

Let's see what you got, genius of the Hyuuga clan.

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That's chapter 11! Please don't forget to review~! By the way, thank you for all the reviews! It keeps me working hard!