And since i haven't updated it in a month, I'm doing a double upload! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 11: Chunin Exams? Hell YES!

Naruto and Sasuke had fully recovered after a brief spell in the hospital. They were up and about, back to weeding and catching Tora again in no time. Talk about dull.

Other odd things were happening as well. Sakura was a bit different around her male teammates. She was clingier with Sasuke because he almost died in Wave. She was also a bit nicer to Naruto. The poor idiot didn't know why though. Ammy was different as well. She hadn't been with Team 7 for half of their recent missions. Her injuries from while in Wave were apparently more severe than they had thought. The doctors were trying to help her recover properly. The few missions she did participate in, she was slower and weaker, steadily getting worse over time. She also didn't eat nearly as much as before, often saying she was full before vanishing to wherever it was that she went when she left.

Kakashi had called them this morning, saying that he had a very important announcement for the whole team. So here they were, on time and no Kakashi to be seen.

"The guy will be late for his own funeral," Ammy growled weakly. She looked way too pale and thin lately. Sasuke grunted his reply 'What's wrong with her…'.

"Yeah yeah!" Naruto cheered, "he'll even be late for when I become Hokage!"

Sakura tapped her foot impatiently. "We should put an alarm clock in his bedroom or something," she mused aloud.

"Wouldn't work."

Everyone jumped and spun around to see Kakashi standing behind them, one hand held up in apology. "I saw a cat in a tree and I had to help it down," Kakashi lied lamely. Ammy snickered at the stupid lie while everyone else ran a hand down their face. "Anyways, I brought you four here to tell you that I am recommending Team 7 for the Chūnin Selection Exam that are coming up, which are conveniently being held here in Konoha," Kakashi said as he held out some papers, "just fill out these forms and report to the room that is listed if you wish to take the exam."

Sakura looked the paper over and noted the date of the exam. "The exam starts in an hour! Why did you wait so long!" she shouted.

"Well, if you do decide to take part in the exam, meet me outside the room marked on the page," Kakashi said as he shunshined away. Sasuke took off, as did Naruto. Ammy rushed after them, yelling at them to slow down a little.

'Are we ready for this? Am I ready?' Sakura thought as she sifted through the memories of what they had accomplished. Wave was mostly Kakashi, though Naruto and Sasuke had done some things a normal genin shouldn't be able to do. What did Sakura manage in that time? She learned how to climb a tree with chakra and she got to taste a hint of what it would be like to lose someone important to her. Add into the mix that Kakashi wouldn't help them during the test and Ammy's declining abilities; it didn't help her confidence in whether or not she was strong or skilled enough to even enter the exams. She was no better than an academy student, even Naruto knew advanced jutsu. She was the weakest link in team 7.

"What!" Ammy said as she crawled between Sakura's legs from behind, getting a squeal of surprise as Naruto and Sasuke came back to see what was happening. "Is!" Ammy growled as she suddenly stood up, using her above average strength to knock Sakura off balance. "Wrong with you?" Ammy finished as she quickly adjusted herself to catch Sakura on her back, hands under the taller girl's thighs. It was a piggyback ride.

"Noooooo!" Sakura wailed in embarrassment as she lightly hit Ammy's shoulder. She didn't want to be carried around by Ammy. She wanted Sasuke to carry her! Naruto blushed at the cute noises his crush was making while Sasuke just grunted.

"Shut up!" Ammy snapped, "you know all of us are near useless at genjutsu without you. Also, we're lucky to have a full brain between the three of us without you around." Sakura's blush vanished as she looked at the top of Ammy's head. Her gaze then shifted to Naruto, who was smiling at her in his usual fashion. Sasuke scratched at his cheek as he looked away while blushing lightly, not wanting to admit that the eldest member of the group had (partially, in his mind) spoken the truth. Sakura smiled, happy that her team would support her like this.

"Ammy..." Sakura said quietly.

"Yes?" the child-like teenager asked.

"Put me down?" Sakura pleaded.

"No~" Ammy chimed and started walking, not listening to Sakura's protests and wails. Naruto listened, the blush on his face never leaving. He decided right then and there: Sakura's embarrassed voice was extremely cute. Sasuke grunted. 'I thought she was good at genjutsu…'

Sakura continued to be carried, her strength proving to be nothing in the face of Ammy's. They climbed the stairs and came upon an interesting scene.

In front of the room they had to go to was a pair of rough looking genin who were just finishing beating on a green spandex wearing genin. He had black hair was bowl cut and he wore bandages on his arms. He had round eyes and...!

'OH MY GOD! ARE THOSE CENTIPEDES ABOVE HIS EYES!' Naruto and Sakura mentally screamed as they saw the young man's thick eye brows. Ammy turned as white as a ghost when she noticed his jumpsuit and hairstyle.

"Weaklings like you should give up!" the genin with a pair of giant kunai on his back said as he kicked a girl wearing a Chinese outfit in the shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing?" Naruto shouted.

"What does it look like?" the other asked, "we are just weeding out the losers who will just take up space."

The other chuckled. "We've gone through this exam a few times and we know you aren't worth the time since we have failed time and again. If we are stronger than you, that means you have no hope of passing."

Sasuke turned around and went to the stairs.

"H-hey!" the kunai wielder yelled after the heir, "where are you going?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to the room we need to go to for the test," Sasuke explained before leaving.

Sakura smiled from her position on Ammy's back. "Anyone can see through that pitiful genjutsu."

"Yeah! This is the second floor! We need to go to the third floor!" Naruto cheered as he ran up the stairs.

"And you guys are defiantly not fooling me with that henge. You guys are really chūnin already aren't you?", Ammy grinned cutely.

Sakura poked the smaller girl's cheek. "How can you tell?" The smaller girl replied and spoke while carrying her up the stairs "Cause. No normal genin would have the guts to confront stronger looking people. Well, except for Naruto." she said bluntly. "HEY!" Naruto's voice could be heard from above. The other genin followed their example and went up the stairs.

Once everyone had left, the two genin were consumed in a cloud of smoke to reveal a pair of chūnin, the genjutsu on the door sign fading away. "Well damn. Leave it to Kakashi to train some monsters," one said to the other, "of course, he has a real monster on his team."

"This year is going to be a lot of fun," the other said before they vanished into the shadows.

Team 7 was making their way to the exam room when they were interrupted.

"Uchiha Sasuke! I challenge you!"

They all looked up to see centipede brows standing on a railing. He then jumped over the edge before vanishing and reappearing on the ground.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, wondering how someone could move at that speed.

The boy struck a pose. "I am Rock Lee! Konoha's Beautiful Green Wild Beast and the strongest of Konohagakure's genin!" he proclaimed with a smile that emitted a tiny sparkle.

Ammy freaked out. "I know that introduction style," she whimpered as she let Sakura's feet fall to the floor. "Ammy?" the pink haired girl enquired as Ammy got behind her and cowered in fear.

Lee noticed Sakura and his face lit up with a blush. "Sakura-san! Tales of your beauty pale in comparison to the real thing! My love for you is as undying as the Flames of Youth that burn within my heart! Let's go out after the exam!" he proclaimed loudly.

"No. Way. In. Hell," Sakura stated bluntly, "You're so lame you make Naruto look awesome."

The boy crumpled under the extreme insult, but came back alive in no time. He winked at Sakura and blew a kiss in her direction. Sakura dodged the 'attack' by falling backwards and banging her head on the ground, almost crashing into Ammy behind her. "Stop throwing dangerous things at me!" she yelled at the boy.

Lee didn't get to say anything in response because Sasuke appeared behind him and attempted to smash the boy over the head with his left hand. To everyone's surprise, Lee vanished and appeared next to Sasuke with his foot raised. Sasuke dodged it and attempted to grab Lee's leg, but the green clad boy twisted in mid air and swung his other leg into Sasuke's face, barely missing. Before Sasuke could regain his balance, Lee flew in with a third kick to the base of his jaw and sent him flying backwards.

'What the hell is with this speed?' Sasuke thought as his incomplete Sharingan proved worthless during the whole encounter, 'I can't track him.'

"That's right, Sasuke. Your Sharingan can't track my pure taijutsu," Lee said as he appeared underneath Sasuke, the bandages on his arms loose and fluttering underneath him. Before he got the chance to attack, Ammy appeared underneath him and grabbed the collar of his jumpsuit, tossing him away to a wall as she briefly turned into a tornado of dark colors. Sakura caught Sasuke before he hit the ground.

'So fast!' Sasuke thought as he watched Lee fly at the wall, his gaze shifted to Ammy as she wound down the spin to crouch on the ground, 'her too. This is the fourth time that she had displayed her speed like this. They were both faster than even Kakashi.'

Before Lee met the wall, a blast of smoke appeared and an older, even bushier browed version of Lee appeared to stop him from slamming into the wall. Once Lee was safely down, the man struck a pose. "So much YOUTH!" he boomed.

Three genin from Team 7, those being Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, were freaked out that his eyes brows could be so thick. Ammy was staying completely still after having tossed Lee away. She was sweating a lot and looked scared out of her mind.

"Lee-kun! You know that jutsu is forbidden!" ultra mega brows said as he pointed at the boy.

"B-but Guy-sensei! I wasn't going to use the other one!" Lee protested.

"No excuses!" the man, Guy, shouted, "now accept your punishment!"

Lee nodded just before Guy slapped him...with a glowing hand! Both were crying while staring at each other. "I'm sorry Guy-sensei!" Lee warbled. "It is alright, Lee-kun! It was the Flames of Youth burning brightly within you!" Guy said as tears streaked down his face. The two went back and forth with each other's names, then hugged, freaking out everyone present. Sasuke couldn't believe he had lost to Lee and was tempted to ask Sakura to kick his ass since he could save more dignity with that loss. "It's good that my eternal rival, Kakashi, was there to stop you from using that technique," Guy said after the creepy moment with his student that everyone wanted permanently erased from existence.

"Uh," Naruto said as Ammy's eyes pleaded no, "that wasn't Kakashi-sensei. "

"What?" Guy shouted, "only three people have ever managed to learn my techniques so well! If it wasn't Kakashi or Lee-kun, then it must have been..." His eyes locked on Ammy, who dropped the statue act and tried to scramble away on all fours, panicking. Guy appeared behind her and lifted her up by the back of her shirt, causing the poor girl to flail around like a naughty puppy on its scruff. "I knew I sensed you nearby," Guy said as he turned Ammy to face him, "it is good to see you again, Ammy-kun."

Ammy was engulfed in a burst of smoke. When it cleared, Guy was holding a rag doll by it's the back of its dress with CREEP written in big letters on it. Guy blinked, then chuckled. "That is just like the youthful Ammy-kun I know, substituting herself with a cute doll when she isn't in any danger."

"Guy-sensei! It is time to go," a black haired boy with pale skin called down. When Team 7 saw his eyes, they knew he was a Hyūga. A girl with brown hair tied into buns on either side of her head was standing next to him. Guy shinshined up to them, signaling Lee to follow.

"Sasuke. I must apologize. I lied when I said I was the strongest genin in Konoha. It is likely that he is on my team though." With that warning, Lee left to catch up to his team.

"Are they gone yet?" Ammy asked as she peeked out from behind a small potted tree.

[Exam room]

Sakura was relieved and angry all at once. Kakashi hadn't bothered telling them that full teams were required to participate in the exams. When Sakura had mentioned Ammy taking her place, Kakashi said that the small ninja was part of the exams regardless of Team 7's participation, she would have just been placed on another Konoha team. She didn't get a chance to ponder this because they went into the room and she had to restrain herself from trying to kill Ino. The blonde pig was all over HER Sasuke-kun after all. Ammy pulled Ino off Sasuke and acted as an anti-Ino barrier. Sasuke silently thanked her, hiding a blush.

"Wow, looks like all the graduates are here," Kiba said as he walked up. With the nine graduates of their year present, it meant that rookie genin were part of the exams. This was incredibly rare too.

"So, you ready to drop out in the first part, Naruto?" Kiba asked, grinning. He was surprised that Naruto even bothered to show up. He was probably forced to by the Uchiha prick.

Before any more conversation could happen, a trio of Suna ninja shoved through the Konoha ninja. "Out of my way," the redhead, probably the leader, muttered, "I have no time for weaklings."

Kiba started growling, as did Akamaru. "Who are you calling a weakling!" he barked.

"Stop," Ammy commanded as she put her arm in Kiba's way, "he is far stronger than you."

The redhead glared down at Ammy for a few moments. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Kaneko Yue of the Kasai clan," Ammy stated as she glared right back into his eyes, not flinching or looking away at all.

The redhead's eyes widened slightly at her introduction and unwavering gaze. "That clan...so that is why I smell so much blood on you... I am Garra," he greeted, "I look forward to killing you."

"As if she is worth your time," Sasuke muttered as he glared at the redhead. Garra looked at him and saw the clan outfit of the Uchiha. "An Uchiha? I will use you to prove my existence as well." He glanced at his teammates, who flinched. They all walked away to take seats of their own.

"Why the hell are so many people interested in you?" Sasuke asked while frowning.

"Because I'm adorable and I should have my own line of plushies?" Ammy offered with an innocent smile.

"More like you are one of Konoha's most secretive prodigy, already at jōnin level, Kaneko Amaterasu-san." a young man with grey hair and glasses asked as he walked up to them. Ammy's glare was only seen by Sasuke and it sent a shiver down his spine. So much blood lust and hatred. It was like someone who looked exactly like Ammy had taken her place, someone with a violent streak that would have robbed Zabuza of his will to fight.

"I have gathered data on all the ninja gathered for the chūnin exams and I am willing to share it with you if you wish," the boy stated as he pulled out a deck of cards.

"Grrrrr… And what is the price, multiple time failure, Yakushi Kabuto?" Ammy asked with an edge of anger.

Kabuto grinned gently. "No price whatsoever."

"Garra, Rock Lee and Hyūga Neji," Sasuke stated. Knowledge was power and three of his five targets were almost completely unknown to him.

Kabuto drew the cards and activated one. "Hmm. Rock Lee graduated the academy with almost non-existent skill in genjutsu and ninjutsu, still non-existent too. He had adequate taijutsu, which he has improved drastically. He may be difficult to face in a close range battle." He activated the next card. "Hyūga Neji is a member of the Hyūga's branch family, but seems to be as talented as a main house member. I can't say too much about his abilities other than saying that he is also someone you don't want to get too close either." He activated the final card, which was almost blank. "Garra from Suna. All high rank missions, but no data on his abilities. One interesting fact is that he has always returned to his village without a single scratch on him. He may have some powerful defensive jutsu."

"One more," Sasuke said, "Kaneko Amatarasu."

Kabuto drew out the card and activated it. Unlike the others, there was no picture of the ninja. A glance down made Sakura pale. Ammy had high end skills in taijutsu and ninjutsu. She also had high speed, strength and stamina rating. And that was it. Everything else they already knew.

"Kaneko Amaterasu, genin. Above average in close range combat with taijutsu and with genjutsu. She also possesses a few powerful katon and futon," Kabuto then looked at the girl herself.

Ammy didn't give him a second glance; she just stomped away and sat down. "Butt-head we're on the same team. What did you really have to know?" She didn't want them to find out about her past if she could help it. She could feel a number of people glaring at her, planning on taking her out as quickly as possible if they got the chance. Sucks.

A man walked in and stood at the front of the room. "Sit down you meat bags!" he shouted. Once everyone was seated, he continued. "I am Morino Ibiki, the proctor for the first part of the chūnin exams. Welcome to one of the worst days in your life."

Sweat drops all around! A few shivers here and there too. Of course, a few people (Sasuke, Neji, Garra, and Shino) showed no reaction to the man's words.

Ibiki then explained the rules and what was expected of the examinees. Ammy knew Naruto was dead meat. She had already figured that this was a test to see their information gathering skills. There was a fundamental problem with that. Naruto was a pure combat type, meaning he was a complete moron when it came to the more intricate stealth techniques most ninja had access to.

When Ibiki told them to start, Ammy dropped her head onto her paper, not even bothering to flip it over. Instead of putting in unnecessary effort, she glanced at her teammates.

Sakura was writing like a woman possessed. Exactly what Ammy expected from a person with a library in their head.

Sasuke had figured out what was going on and used his Sharingan to copy a man's motions. The bastard was getting by with minimal work. Looking at the victim of the Uchiha, Ammy noted he was far too relaxed for a person who was trying to pass the test. A chūnin in disguise...

A glance at Naruto almost had Ammy laughing her ass off. The expression on his face was hilarious. His eyes were wide and his lips were pursed in confusion. Ammy knew that he couldn't make heads or tails of the strange script on the paper before him AT ALL. Then again, his brain might be able to work some of it out that she wouldn't. All she read was the place she put her name and the ninth question. She decided to lay everything on the line with that one question. She was too lazy to do fancy string work or to near invisibly send a henged shadow clone to spy on other people. Sasuke's target to be exact. No that would be way too much effort. That left her with a great option that she loved.

Nap time!

[Forty minutes later]

Thunk!

"I'M AWAKE!" Ammy shouted as she jumped up. When she noticed all the chūnin (who weren't convenient targets for information theft) staring at her, she looked and noticed the person sitting next to her had been eliminated. A kunai stuck out of the girl's paper. That is what had awakened her. She chuckled nervously and sat down again. No way could she fall asleep again after that.

The next minute was so boring that Ammy picked up her pencil and started drawing something that had come across her in the dream she had while napping. A huge snake in a frightening forest… hmmmm…. Weird. Where did that come from?

"Drop your pencils!" Ibiki bellowed. Ammy accidentally snapped her pencil in two. She glared at the man with all her anger, making the man shiver for a moment, before she remembered what was going on. She had completely forgotten she was taking an exam.

"Before I ask the final question, I must warn you of a few things," he said, "first, the nine questions you have already sweat, bled and cried over are now meaningless."

Murmurs were heard around the leftover genin. Ammy felt happy that she didn't bother with the written work.

"If you decide to take this question, be prepared. Answering wrong will not only cause you and your team to fail, but you will not be allowed to attend another chūnin exam ever again." With this, Ibiki inwardly smirked at the panicked looks that many genin were shooting around at each other. Unlike a certain woman he knew, he preferred to see them sweat, not bleed and die.

Ammy was interested in this. "Hey Morino!" she shouted to get his attention. The look of recognition on his face was something Ammy wished she could photograph it. Seeing Ibiki with his eyes wide and his jaw hanging open slightly in surprise was seen as often as Naruto getting trained by Kakashi. "How are they going to become chūnin if they can't enter another chūnin exam?"

Many of the genin wondered that as well. "It's simple; they don't," Ibiki stated with a dismissive shrug. Now the genin were sweating so hard that there would be rivers in the room if they stayed for about an hour.

It started.

"I quit!" a genin shouted as he got up and stalked out of the room. His two teammates quickly followed. With that, the floodgates were opened and genin teams were leaving in droves. What started as a room filled with at least sixty genin, which got reduced during the first part of the test, had been whittled down to about thirty or so. Without counting it was difficult for Ammy to tell.

SLAM!

"Bring it on!" Naruto challenged.

Once more, Ibiki stared at the second surprise of the day. "I don't care what you do or say. You cannot, will not stop me from becoming Hokage! Fail me if you will, but remember that I will be your leader one day!" Naruto declared.

All hesitation and worry was blown away. For Naruto's former classmates, it was a relief to hear that Naruto was still firing his dream around like it was possible. Then again, none wanted to hear him cheering about getting to the next part when they had chickened out. He did have Sasuke and Sakura on his team after all. From what had been seen so far, Ammy was as dumb and useless as Naruto. Three people knew better though, having witness to the girl's capabilities.

For those from outside of Konoha, they just wanted to either see Naruto squirm or make him squirm during the next test. Plain and simple, they wanted to see the loud ass genin get beat.

Ibiki stared at the group. He was thoroughly surprised. Not a single one looked ready to leave now. "You all pass," he said.

"WHAT?" Naruto, Ino and Ammy shouted/shrieked.

Ibiki rubbed his right ear, deciding to hunt the three down later so he could record their shrieks. They would be excellent tools for interrogations. "The tenth question was a test of your resolve," Ibiki explained, "I take it that all of you noticed that the first nine questions were there to show us how good your information gathering skills are, which is a must with any chūnin on a mission. Chūnin will also be entrusted with making difficult decisions under stress, which is what the tenth question represented. Of course, the result of your decisions could be a successful mission or your name appearing on the memorial stone along with your team." Ibiki let that sink in before trying to tell them about the next part of the test.

Operative word: trying!

SMASH!

Everyone looked in shock as a brown bundle flew through a window before it unfurled with four kunai, revealing that it was actually a banner with writing on it.

Mitarashi Anko

Tokubetsu Jōnin

I love Dango

"I'm Mitarashi Anko!" she shouted, "prepare to go through Hell!"