-I don't own Naruto. Naruto was created by Kishimoto, please support the official release. Thanks for reading my first attempt at fan fiction-

Italics are thoughts. -Italics inside hyphens are the setting-

-The Next Morning-

At 4:30am all of the 9 teams were waiting outside the hotel when Moroi appeared in front of them. "Good Morning, the 1st thing I need everyone to do is find a proctor and fill out a release form. Fighting, and even killing is allowed during the 2nd exam, so I need your consent that neither I, nor any of the other proctors or participants, nor Kumogakure itself can be held liable should you die."

Once everyone had filled out and turned in a waiver Moroi continued. "The last exam tested your speed, team work with those you are familiar with, and intelligence gathering. This exam will again test your speed, in addition to your tracking, locating, and hunting skills, and your ability to work with a team you aren't as familiar with." A murmur of concerned voices rose up as Moroi finished explaining what the test was measuring.

"Quiet down, Quiet down, and let me explain the procedure to you. We have placed you in a new squad. The only thing we purposely did was make sure that none of your normal teammates are in the same squad as you, other than that the process was random. I should let you know that in at least one instance an Iwa nin and a Konoha nin will be in the same squad, so I hope those people's teamwork skills are good."

I'd hate to be in a squad with both Iwa and Konoha, I'd probably be so busy stopping them from killing each other that we would never get anything done thought everyone not from Iwa or Konoha, while the representatives of those two villages just glared at each other. Moroi broke the tension by continuing with his explanation.

"Your new team will be going on a scavenger hunt of sorts. You'll be given a scroll with everything that you must find and bring to the Raikage's tower. Some items will have more than enough for every team to have one, but for some items there will be fewer than 9, meaning not all of you can pass. For 1 item only 5 of them exist, so at maximum only 15 of you will be moving on to the next round. Some items are here in Kumo, others you will have to leave the village to find. Within Kumo there will be absolutely no fighting, doing so will get you disqualified, outside of Kumo there are no rules. You will have exactly 72 hours from when I say go. If you show up later than that you will fail, if you return with fewer than 3 living members you fail as well. Since you will likely be traveling in and out of the village you should be aware that the gates close at dusk and open at dawn, and remember no fighting inside the village. When I call your name come up to meet your new team and receive your scroll. Do not open your scroll until I say go."

Naruto watched as other exam participants were called up to form their new teams. Karui was paired up with two Konoha kunoichi, Sakura Haruno, and Ino Yamanaka. He had met Ino prior to the first exam and new a bit about her personality. I'm glad I'm not on that team, too many bossy girls thought Naruto. Omoi was paired up with an Iwa shinobi and a Snow shinobi.

Ran ended up with a kunoichi from hidden Star named Hokuto and Shino Aburame, whom Naruto had also met prior to taking the 1st exam. Nurui and Kyoji were paired up with an Iwa Kunoichi, Domon was paired with the arrogant Hyuga, Neji, and another Konoha shinobi named Choji. Rain was on the same team as a shinobi from Iwa and a Star shinobi, Yukai found himself paired up with young shinobi from Iwa and Snow.

Naruto was growing impatient, when finally he heard: "Next team, from Kumo Z Yotsuki, from Iwa Kurotsuchi, and from Konoha: Tenten!" Crap! It had to be me paired up with both Iwa and Konoha, not only do the two villages hate each other, but they would also both have a good reason to want me dead if they knew who I was! At least I already know both of these two girls thought Naruto.

The final team was announced as Naruto walked up to meet his new temporary teammates, but he couldn't hear it over the sounds of Kurotsuchi and Tenten screaming at each other. "I can't believe I got paired up with some Konoha trash. Me, the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, working with some trash from Konoha? Never!" "I don't get what your problem is, we were either babies or not yet born last time our villages were at war. Konoha's moved on, why can't Iwa be mature enough to move on too?" countered Tenten.

"Ladies, please, stop fighting or we are never going to be promoted." pleaded Naruto. "Z, tell the proctor to get us a new teammate, I can't work with this bitch!" shouted both Kunoichi at the same time, while pointing at each other. Naruto took a deep breath and looked around to see sympathetic glances from his friends before trying to reason with the two irate kunoichi.

"Look, ladies, Iwa and Konoha aren't currently at war are they?" he asked. "No." they both responded in unison while glaring at each other. "Do you want to be a genin forever?" "No." again they both responded. "So do you want to get promoted this exam?" "Yes." "So isn't the best way to do that by temporarily working together? The next round is probably a tournament, so you can always fight then."

"Fine." said Tenten before extending a hand to Kurotsuchi "truce?" Kurotsuchi glared at both Tenten and Naruto for what felt like several minutes, thought it was actually only about half a minute, clearly weighing her options. "Fine, only until the next round though, and I still think you're a piece of Konoha trash." said Kurotsuchi taking Tenten's hand, though still glaring at her. Phew, glad they calmed down thought Naruto as he let out a deep sigh of relief and wiped his brow.

So the kid was able to deescalate the situation. I'd heard rumor that he was very personable and hard to dislike, that seems to be the case thought Moroi before turning to face the teams. "If everyone is ready then we will begin on my mark, Good Luck! 3...2...1...Go!" Some teams ran off to open their scroll in privacy, others tore it open right on the spot, the 2nd exam was on!

-With Omoi and his team-

Omoi found that he didn't really have much to complain about with his team. Like him they were both fairly calm individuals, and they were deferring to his leadership since he was local and knew the terrain. This would never happen on Team 2, Omoi thought. Karui, Naruto, and even B-sensei are all so stubborn and hot-headed. I love them all, but it's kind of nice to not be the only sane one on the squad. I hope neither of these guys are secretly Crab-people.

His team had decided to gather all of the things they could only find outside the village first. That way it would be more difficult for other teams to steal those items while they were finishing up inside the village, where fighting was prohibited. They were currently about half a day outside of Kumo, heading towards the Genbu, where a couple of different items on the scroll could be found.

"So you're saying this, Genbu, is a giant turtle? That sounds like a conspiracy theory!" commented the Iwa nin on the team. "I'm telling you, it is, and there are a lot of dangerous ninja animals there, it is pretty standard for the 2nd exam to at least partially involve Genbu." "How do you know that?" asked Omoi's Snow teammate. "Easy, I'm a conspiracy theorist! I did all sorts of research on the chunin exams to make sure I was prepared!" grinned a triumphant Omoi.

-With Karui, Ino, and Sakura-

Kumo's gate guards were truly in awe of how much time 3 genin could waste arguing. It was early evening and Sakura, Ino, and Karui had found a couple items on their list, but had spent the last hour and a half just inside of Kumo's gates arguing about what item to get next. "No Ino-Pig, we should go get the Porn book. It'll be easy, all we have to do is ask Kakashi-sensei for his copy."

"Shut up Forehead! I can't believe stupid Kumo would even put something so disgusting in this scavenger hunt, we should save that for later and go get the Raikage's Academy scores, there probably aren't enough copies for every team, so we need to get one quick. Isn't that right Tomato Head?" Ino asked Karui, using Konoha's standard derogatory nickname for people with red hair.

At first Karui had tried to stay out of the argument, but she was just as hot tempered as her new teammates, and it had only taken a bit of prodding for her to join in as well. "You are both stupid. Pinky we can wait on the book, and Skank how dare you call my village stupid. As I've been saying we should start making our way towards the mountains, It'll take at least half a day to get there and a couple of things on our list are out there!". I can't believe these three thought Kumo's gate guards, with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

-With Neji, Choji, and Domon-

While most teams were getting set to camp out for the 1st night Neji, Choji, and Domon were taking advantage of Neji's Byakugan, and Domon's familiarity with the area, to try to ambush other teams and steal any items they may have found. "I see another team inside a cave about a half mile away, looks like they are sitting down to dinner. It's a Kumo nin who looks like he should still be in the academy, an Iwa nin, and a Snow nin." observed Neji

"Yukai must be the Kumo-nin. He's young but he's a genius. He skipped a couple of grades and ended up graduating with me in the academy. Really dangerous with a sword." responded Domon. "Can we steal their dinner as well? I'm hungry." said Choji. "You just ate." "Yeah I just had supper, now I'm ready for dinner." "Domon-san, you should know that an Akimichi is always hungry, he won't ever pass up food." said a smirking Neji, "Now let's go."

They silently crept up to the cave entrance before Neji whispered: "you two hit them fast, then I'll come in and clean up with my Gentle Fist. Go!" With that Choji let out a cry of "Expansion Jutsu" followed by "Human Boulder" as he grew in size before turning into a large boulder-esque ball and tearing through the cave.

Meanwhile Domon had started spinning, and soon he was spinning so quickly that the only part of his body that was visible was his head, which somehow was staying completely stationary. "Launch Me!" he cried and Neji shoved him into the cave, with the spinning motion providing Domon with the rest of the momentum he needed. Yukai and co. were caught completely off guard by the twin attacks, though Yukai was able to evade both of them. Neji had darted in right behind Domon, and quickly disabled the opposing team's chakra points using his Byakugan.

-20 minutes Later-

Yukai awoke to find he and his teammates restrained while Neji and Domon were sorting through their packs looking for items to steal. Choji was happily munching on their dinner. "It's bad enough you guys are stealing our stuff, did you have to let the fatty eat our food too? shouted Yukai's Iwa teammate." Neji looked horrified, while Choji, whose back was to the captured Genin stopped eating.

"What did you call me?" he asked. "I said stop eating our food fatty." responded the Iwa shinobi. "How dare you! I'm not fat, I'm just Chubby!" roared Choji as he raced towards the bound genin. Neji looked away while saying to Domon "Domon-san, let this be a friendly warning, never call an Akimichi fat." "Domon simply nodded, with a truly terrified look on his face. The screams from the helpless Iwa nin and his teammates could be heard well into the night.

-With Naruto, Tenten, and Kurotsuchi-

Naruto and his two Kunoichi teammates were finishing up in a small town in the mountains. They had run hard to get to the mountains, and had spent most of the day searching for items on their scroll, finding quite a few. Their plan was to finish in the mountains the next morning before heading to Genbu, and then finishing up in Kumo itself. Kurotsuchi and Tenten had hardly said a word to each other, often using Naruto as a go-between.

While it was definitely an upgrade over screaming at each other Naruto was still concerned about how their blatant animosity would impact their teamwork if combat was necessary, so he had gone out of his way to try to encourage the two kunoichi to get along. The mountains in the middle of the Land of Lightning were known for both Resort Towns full of hot springs, and mines producing precious metals.

After they had ended their searching for the day near one of the mines Naruto had taken the team to the nearest resort town, treating his teammates to dinner at a Ramen stand. After much convincing he had also gotten Kurotsuchi and Tenten into a hot spring together, while he went to try to find a spot near town to make camp. He thought about getting a hotel, but paying for the girls' dinner and relaxation had put too much of a dent in his wallet.

Kurotsuchi and Tenten stayed pretty quiet in the hot spring, trying to ignore each other's presence. After a while some of Naruto's words from earlier in the day started to drift into Tenten's mind. "You two need to find a way to get along, we could be killed in this round, so we all need to have each other's backs" He's right she though, I don't really have anything against this girl other than the fact that she hates my home. I wonder why?

"Just so you know if we end up in a fight this round I've got your back, but only for this round." said Tenten. "Yeah, I guess I can't make it to the next round if you're dead, so for now I've got your back too trash." responded Kurotsuchi.

"If you don't mind my asking, why do you hate Konoha so much, you couldn't have been more than a year or so old when the war ended?" "That bastard, the Yellow Flash, your 4th Hokage, he killed my mother, he single handedly murdered her and thousands of others from my village." "Well I'm sorry you lost your mother, but a lot of people from Konoha died in the war too. My dad died in the war before I was even born, then my mom died in the Nine-Tails attack. I was only a year old when she died. I grew up in an orphanage with no family. Be glad you at least still had your dad and your grandpa."

Kurotsuchi's eyes went wide before she quietly continued "Wow I'm sorry to hear that, not even Konoha trash deserve to grow up without a family, except for the Yellow Flash's family of course."

After a few minutes of awkward silence Kurotsuchi extended her hand. "We got off on the wrong foot, but we are working together, and while I don't trust you it seems that Z-san does, so let's try again. Kurotsuchi, future Tsuchikage, nice to meet you." Naruto had left a shadow clone in the men's side of the hot springs, not to peek, he wasn't a pervert, but to listen and be able to step in if the two tried to kill each other. Hearing that Kurotsuchi and Tenten were getting a fresh start the clone smiled. Seems like those two are finally starting to get along, thought the clone, I guess I should let the Boss know, and with that the clone released itself and disappeared in a poof of smoke.

-4:30am the next morning, 24 hours down, 48 hours to go-

Ran, Shino, and Hokuto were up bright and early. They had a very successful first day, in no small part due to how easily the team jelled. While Hokuto and Shino didn't know each other personally they had several mutual acquaintances due to a mission some Konoha shinobi had recently undertaken to help the Hidden Star Village, so Hokuto trusted Shino.

Shino didn't say much of anything, but he was an excellent tracker, and his bugs had flown ahead to keep an eye on enemies and hunt for the items on their list. Ran was a fairly relaxed person, and found both of her temporary teammates endearing. In addition to getting along fairly well the team's abilities were well suited to the exam.

Ran was particularly skilled with her Tanto, and was point woman in combat for the team. Shino's beetles made excellent scouts, and their ability to drain chakra was useful in a fight. Hokuto was a decent sensor ninja, and her particular manifestation of Hoshigakure's signature Kujaku technique was to create chakra ropes, useful for restraining enemies or helping to retrieve items.

Hoshigakure's signature Kujaku technique involved the shinobi absorbing radiation from an ancient meteor, and had been banned by one of the village's previous leaders, before being reinstated after a coup overthrew said leader. The reason for its temporary ban was the devastating effect radiation poisoning was having on its citizens.

During the brief rule of Akahoshi, who had led the coup, Hoshi and the Land of Bears had tried to pivot its foreign policy away from the Kumo-Iwa alliance to the Konoha-Suna alliance, and as such had contracted out a mission to Konoha. The team assigned the mission, led by Might Gai, had unintentionally uncovered the coup and helped restore order in the village, which had the unintended side effect of pivoting Hoshi back into Kumo's sphere of influence, but not before Konoha's Hokage, the famous medical-nin Tsunade, had developed a pill that helped to prevent radiation poisoning, allowing Hoshi's ninjas to safely use the Kujaku technique.

Even though they were loyal allies of Kumo, Konoha's kindness had clearly rubbed-off on Hoshi, as Hokuto was delighted to be working with a Konoha shinobi, even if it wasn't one she personally knew. "Shino-kun, Ran-chan, Let's get going, I think if we run fast enough and don't run into any other teams we could finish this mission before we go to bed." "Yeah, Hokuto-chan, we're kicking ass on this 2nd exam, aren't we Shino-kun?" "I too am pleased, that's because not only are we doing very well, but even I am enjoying the camaraderie of this team. I believe we can be one of the first teams to finish."

The fact that Shino spoke multiple sentences at a time was indicative of just how much he was enjoying the team chemistry. Hokuto seemed to have paid special attention to Shino's mannerisms: He doesn't say much, and it's hard to tell what he really looks like, but what I can see looks very attractive, and what he says is always insightful, he's just one big mystery she thought, and I like mysteries.

-8am, Kumo's Jonin Lounge-

A small corner of Kumo's Jonin lounge had been walled off to create a space for the jonin leaders of the various teams taking the Chunin exams to have a meeting place while they were in town. The jonin were bored. They had nothing to do all day but sit around a wait for results, and Kumo had chosen a 1st exam that took several days to complete.

As was often the case when bored jonin from various villages were crammed together in a tight space tensions had started to rise. Due to the extra tension of having Konoha and Iwa in the same exam the Raikage had ordered the Kumo jonin leaders to "buddy up" with the Iwa and Kumo leaders, making sure they had Kumo peacekeepers with them at all times. This is how it came to be that Kakashi and Asuma found themselves in the company of Killer B.

Kakashi was flipping through his copy of Jiraya's book "Make Out Tactics" and seemed oblivious to all that was going on around him. Asuma and B sat in awkward silence, with Asuma smoking on a cigarette. Seemingly out of nowhere Kakashi broke the ice. "So B-san, which of the adorable little genin in this exam are yours?"

"It's Hachibi-sama to you, ya fool! But the rapper Killer-B, that be me, with my students Omoi, Karui, and Z!" "Oh, Z-san is your student eh? We met him in a restaurant the day before the exams started. I can't quite put my finger on why, but he seems like the kind of kid I want to keep my other eye on." said Kakashi while motioning to the eye covered by his leaf headband. "Kakashi...did you just try to make a Sharingan joke?" asked a slightly bewildered Asuma. This is bad, this isn't rad, does Hatake suspect Z, that the 9-tails Jinchuriki is he? I gotta talk to Bro, He's gotta know, thought B.

-With Omoi and his team-

"Cloud Style: Crescent Moon Slice!" yelled Omoi as he swung his sword in front of him, cutting through several wires. "I know you're there Nurui, you may as well come out and fight for once. Don't let Kyoji and your other teammate do everything." Omoi took a quick moment to survey the battle field. Nearby Kyoji was unleashing a fearsome taijutsu assault on Omoi's armor wearing teammate from Yukigakure, Argo Kazahana.

"Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu" came the response, forcing Kyoji back. On the other side of Omoi two Iwa genin, normally on the same team, were clearly enjoying the opportunity to test themselves against each other. "Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu" called Omoi's teammate, who left his kunoichi opponent with only her head showing above the ground. "Earth Style: Hidden Mole Jutsu" came her response as she dug her way out of the ground.

This isn't good. Kyoji's been trained by the best Taijutsu master in the Land of Lighting, Argo's barely able to keep up. The two Iwa ninja are too evenly matched, they could fight forever. I need to deal with this now, before Nurui comes up with a plan to beat us. Sorry B-sensei, I know I'm still learning this jutsu, I know it drains too much of my chakra, and I know it's letting my cat out of the bag a little too early, but I don't have a choice. Omoi began running through a series of hand signs. Tiger, Snake, Tiger, Bird, Tiger, Ram. All right, here goes nothing "Raiton: Thunderbolt!"

Bolts of Lighting shot out of Omoi's hands engulfing Kyoji and the Iwa Kunoichi, who both screamed in pain before falling to the ground. As Omoi's teammates moved to restrain their opponents Omoi himself fell to his knees, breathing very heavily. Yep, this thing takes a lot out of me, I won't be able to help against Nurui. "Watch out for the other one, he doesn't like fighting but he's great with traps and is really smart. Take him out while I recover some of my chakra from that attack."

-With Karui, Ino, and Sakura-

The battle for dominance amongst the three short tempered Kunoichi had finally been settled. Over breakfast Ino had expressed her disgust at herself that she ever found the traitor Sauske Uchiha attractive. This was too much for Sakura, who was still in love with the rouge ninja. While she had only been Tsunade's apprentice for a couple of months, and had no where near the same lever of strength as her master, her strength was still far beyond that of a normal genin, and she tried to hit Ino with a powerful fist.

Ino had quickly dodged out of the way, yelling "Mind Transfer Jutsu" as she took over Karui's body. Using the blunt end of Karui's sword Ino had knocked Sakura unconscious and returned to her own body, only to to be knocked unconscious herself by a furious Karui.

It was now early afternoon, and the three were making great progress in locating items on their scroll, but even though the question of who was in charge had been settled the insults hadn't stopped. "Where to next, Tomato-sama?" asked Ino, putting a fair amount of sarcasm into the "sama". "We're heading to the mountains Skank-baka, maybe if you and Pinky-chan behave I'll let you have some time in a hot spring tonight. After all, all the dust and sweat from these last couple of days is making you look absolutely disgusting." Karui was cackling manically as she ducked under two Kunai thrown by her irate teammates. These girls are crazy, easy and fun to manipulate, but crazy. I wonder if everyone in Konoha is so easy to mess with?"

-With Neji, Domon, and Choji-

Neji, Domon, and Choji had finished finding items in the Mountains and on the Genbu, and as the afternoon wore on they were making their way back towards the Hidden Cloud village, with a plan to try to get into town just before the gates closed. "I must say Domon-san I've been quite impressed with your taijutsu, I think we must be fated to fight at some point this exam, seeing as we are both labelled as geniuses."

"What can I say, I'm lucky enough to have been instructed in 'The School of the Undefeated of the East' by the King of Hearts himself. You're Taijutsu skills are also impressive, Neji-san, but I'd expect nothing less from a genius of the Hyuga clan who is also a student of Konoha's legendary marital artist the Green Beast." "Hmn." smirked Neji.

"Gai-sensei is indeed a Taijutsu master, but he is a complete idiot as well, and he can't really help me with my gentle fist. The only person on the team who is even worth more than a second of my time is Tenten, and even then only so she can help me train my agility and visual prowess with her weapons. Team 9 is mostly just a waste of my time. It's my destiny to make chunin at this exam and finally escape those failures that are my teammates." "Guys do either of you have any food? I didn't get to have Second Breakfast, Bruch, or Elevenses this morning, and it doesn't look like we will be stopping for Tea time either. I'm hungry." complained Choji.

-With Ran, Shino, and Hokuto-

The sun was just starting to set as Ran, Shino, and Hokuto confidently walked into the Raikage Tower. Seeing Moroi at a table off to the side of the lobby they quickly approached as Ran pulled out a sealing scroll, and began to unseal the various items kept inside. After confirming the authenticity of the items Moroi addressed the three genin. "Ran of Kumogakure, Shino of Konohagakure, and Hokuto of Hoshigakure, you three are the first three genin to pass the 2nd exam, congratulations."

-With Naruto, Tenten, and Kurotsuchi

"Nice work ladies, all we have left is to gather up the few items in Kumo that remain." said Nartuo as he and his two teammates raced through the Land of Lighting. While still tense the mood of the team had lifted since the day before, as while the two kunoichi still did not trust one another they were no longer openly antagonistic, and were at least willing to speak to each other, albeit in as few words as possible.

With Naruto's knowledge of the Genbu from his time training there with Yugito they had breezed through their objectives for the day. Their biggest success was picking up a very rare egg laid by one of the Ninja animals that inhabited the Genbu. Naruto suspected that this item was the of which only 5 existed, and had been ecstatic when he realized that his team had obtained the last one. They were now racing back to Kumo as quick as possible in order to finish the mission. It was night, and while in a hurry the trio was fairly relaxed, feeling confident that they would advance to the next round. They were perhaps too relaxed, as they didn't see three pair of eyes watching them from afar.

The trio had set up camp for the night just inside a cave. Naruto had the 2nd watch, and it was nearing the end of his shift. Having checked the back of the cave at the beginning of his shift he had spent most of his time sitting just inside the cave looking out over the surrounding areas. Suddenly Naruto heard a call of "Earth Style" from behind him, and found himself encased in stone up to just under his nose, rendering him unable to move or warn his teammates. The call of the jutsu had however woken both Kurotsuchi and Tenten up, and a battle ensued, as the two kunoichi fought the team consisting of kunoichi from Snow and Star, as well as a shinobi from Iwa.

Tenten had summoned a staff, and was in a furious battle with the Snow genin. Tenten was using the staff to keep her opponent at a distance. She had the upper-hand in the one-on-one fight, and was close to winning when the star kunoichi joined in. "Kujaku" the Hoshi genin called, as purple chakra came pouring out of her, slamming Tenten against the wall, and binding her to said wall as the chakra took the form of a rope.

"How did you get past Z-san?" Kurotsuchi called out to her countryman while fighting him. "Pretty easy actually, I just used Earth Style to tunnel under the entrance of the cave and come out in the back, now please let us look through what you've got and take what we need, I'd hate to have to hurt you, Kurotsuchi- chan. Tsuchikage-sama would not be happy with me."

The two Iwa-nin were engaged in a furious Taijutsu battle. Kurotsuchi landed a kick to her opponent's stomach before clocking a barrage of fists from her opponent. "Give up, Gramps trained me himself, there's no way you can win" taunted Kurotsuchi. Her opponent just smiled at her "You might be right, but both your teammates are restrained, let's see how you do in a 3 on 1" he responded as he was joined by his two teammates. "Maybe if I win you'll go on a date with me, Kuro-chan?" "Don't you dare call me Kuro or -chan you creep. You're one of the biggest pervs in the village, no way I'd ever go on a date with you, I'm the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, I have to have standards."

The Iwa shinobi's expression went from one of playful taunting to absolute fury as his teammates joined him in a furious assault on Kurotsuchi. Kurotsuchi was skilled, but even she couldn't handle 3 on 1, and she had promised not to use her own Kekkai Genkai until the finals, so she quickly found herself bound and restrained by the Hoshi genin, watching as her opponents were rummaging through her team's stuff.

They quickly found the storage scroll containing all of the scavenger hunt items and inspected them, before taking the rare egg from the Genbu. "We'll be taking this, hope you don't mind you cold bitch", said the Iwa shinobi, still livid at having his invitation to a date turned down. He was unable to fathom how anyone could turn down someone as "awesome" as he was. "You'll regret friend-zoning me, Kuro-chan." "Who said we were even friends jackass?" came her defiant response. "You'll pay for that bitch" He screamed. Blinded by his rage he wasn't fully aware that he had thrown a kunai straight at his kage's own granddaughter's face, and that she, being bound and restrained, was unable to dodge. He didn't realize he had done any of this until the Kunai was already in the air Oh shit! What have I done? I just killed her! Tsuchikage-sama's gonna kill me!

-A couple minutes earlier-

Tenten woke up to find herself restrained by that strange purple chakra the Hoshi genin had used against her, however the restraints weren't particularly tight, and she was able to reach an emergency kunai she kept strapped to her stomach. As she attempted to saw through the chakra that was restraining her she surveyed the situation. Z-san's almost completely covered in rocks, he's not going anywhere anytime soon. Looks like Kurotsuchi-san is is the same situation, though her mouth isn't covered. Probably because the other team has an Iwa shinobi on it, he wouldn't want to do anything to bad to some one related to the Tsuchikage.

Tenten watched in dismay as the other team took the egg they had found on the Genbu. Damn! Supposedly there's only 5 of those, and we took the last one from the hiding place, if we don't show up with one there is no way we will pass. Her dismay turned to anger as she heard the conversation between the two Iwa genin.

This jackass doesn't seem to realize that no means no, and doesn't he realize there is no such thing as the friend zone? A girl can't consciously demote someone from possible romantic interest to friend if she never had romantic feelings for a creep like him in the first place, and what's wrong with just being friends with someone of the opposite gender? Having broken free from the restraints Tenten rushed forward to help her fellow kunoichi, and mid stride watched in horror as the young Iwa shinobi pulled out a Kunai and flung it at Kurotsuchi. With out thinking she slightly changed her course.

-Present-

Well, this is where I die I guess. Sorry gramps, looks like I won't be able to force you into retirement thought Kurotsuchi as her brief life flashed before her eyes. All of a sudden a white blur flashed before her, intercepting the Kunai. "Oh thank god" exclaimed the young man who had thrown the kunai. "Tsuchikage- sama would have had my head if I killed his granddaughter, but he'll probably promote me on the spot when he hears I killed some Konoha scum."

"Tenten!" screamed Kurotsuchi as recognition dawned on her face. As the other team fled the tunnel with their prize in hand Kurotsuchi summoned all of her strength to break through the purple chakra restraining her and dashed to Tenten's side. The Kunai had embedded itself in Tenten's chest, and her once white shirt was quickly turning blood red. Kurotsuchi had some medical skills, but she was no medic-nin. She was able to quickly analyze what happened, but she wasn't quite sure if she could save her teammate. The Kunai just missed her heart, that's the only reason she's still alive. The wound itself isn't fatal, it's blood loss that will kill her. I need to stop the bleeding quickly.

"Kurot...suchi...I'm...glad...you're...ok." Tenten said weakly, struggling to speak. "Konoha-baka what were you thinking?" "Gai...Sensei...and...Kaka..shi...sensei. They say...those who...abandon their com...rades...are worse than...trash. I'd rather...be a piece of...Konoha trash than...something worse than...trash." Tenten tried to smile after using one of Kurotsuchi's derogatory nicknames for her, but her attempt at humor failed as she ended up coughing up blood instead.

"Shh...trash-chan save your strength." Kurotuschi joked trying to force a smile back to Tenten. "Let me focus on trying to save you." "Th-thank...you." "Baka, we can't advance to the next round if you die on us." Kurotsuchi joked. Her smile quickly dropped and her tone changed to a serious one. "I'm the one who should be thanking you, you saved my life. I owe you big time."

Kurtosuchi fought back tears before quietly continuing. "If-If I can't save you...I'll still owe you. Who should I payback?" "G-gai-sensei...He's an idiot...and r-really...annoying, but...he's the closest thing...I've ever had...to a father." With those words Tenten drifted into unconsciousness, no longer possessing to strength to stay awake. "Konaha-baka! Trash-chan! Come on Tenten stay with me!" screamed Kurotsuchi, frantically working to stop the bleeding and save the life of the person who saved hers.

The chakra in the jutsu holding Naruto in place finally dropped. He had been facing away from the fight and his only clue to what was happening was what he had heard. Turning around he was appalled to see Kurtosuchi frantically working to save a dying Tenten. Though he didn't have any medical skills he raced over to help.

-The Next Day, 4:30pm. 60 hours down, 12 hours to go-

"The gates will close in 3 hours. They won't open again until after the exam ends. I think we should stake out the gates. If another team comes by we ambush them and take what we need. If not we get in right before the gates close and try to find a team we can steal from without fighting." said a male voice. That sounds like Z-san, but the exam ends tomorrow? What happened? Why am I in so much pain? As Tenten tried to sit up both Naruto and Kurotsuchi rushed to her side.

"Tenten! You're awake." shouted Naruto. "Tenten, stop moving, we aren't medics, if you re-open those wounds you'll bleed to death." Yelled Kurotsuchi. "Z-san, Kurotsuchi-san. What happened. And what happened to me being trash?" Tenten asked, directing the 2nd question towards Kurotsuchi, who could only wince in shame and embarrassment.

"Tenten you- you saved my life. Some idiot was mad that I wouldn't go on a date with him and threw a Kunai at me. You jumped in the way, you were bleeding out. You almost died. Someone like you...isn't trash, or scum, or anything like that. Even if you are from Konoha. I'm sorry Tenten, I hope we can...we can be friends." "It's fine, Kurotsuchi-chan. I forgive you, I'm just glad that creep didn't kill or rape you." Said Tenten with a weak smile, while the ease with which she forgave made Kurotsuchi feel even more guilty for all the things she had said about the girl.

"Yeah well, thanks Trash-chan. I owe you one" said Kurotsuchi with a smile, though it was obvious to all that 'trash-chan' was a term of endearment, and that Kurotsuchi would never seriously call the girl who saved her life trash ever again. "No, you saved my life to, so we're even." responded Tenten. "No." Kurotsuchi shook her head. "I didn't really do anything, Z-kun is the only reason you are still alive."

"Z-san? I thought he didn't have any medical skills?" "I don't Tenten-chan. I do know some Fuinjutsu though, and I put a seal your arteries to stop the bleeding and restore some blood flow. That being said I'm no seal master, and if you move around to much the seals could break. That's why we want you to be careful until a medic-nin can patch you up."

"Z-kun. May I call you -kun?" Naruto nodded and Tenten continued "It seems I owe you for saving my life Z-kun. Thank you. A true Konoha-kunoichi always repays her debts, if there is anything I can ever do..." "Hahaha, don't get me wrong trash-chan, I'm glad you're ok, but that was ridiculous. Do you know how much money your 'true Konoha kunoichi' Hokage owes to various creditors for her gambling debts?" Tenten frowned at Kurotsuchi for both interrupting, and poking a whole in her statement, and insulting Tenten's idol.

"Anyways..." Tenten gritted her teeth and continued "What's our status, I heard you say we only have a few hours left." "Yeah, you were out for almost a whole day Tenten-chan." Naruto responded. "They stole our egg, but I saw them leave, and they weren't heading back to the village. We've been keeping an eye on the road, planning to intercept them when they come back to get it back." he said. "And no trash-chan, you are in no condition to fight." added Kurotsuchi. "True, but I'm a Ninja-tool and weapons expert remember? I have some great traps we can set for them." said Tenten with a devilish grin.

-One Hour Later-

The team that had ambushed Naruto and co the night before was now racing back towards Kumo from the mountains, they had everything they needed to advance to the next round, and were feeling confident. So confident in fact that as they jumped from Tree to Tree they didn't notice the paper bombs. As the snow kunoichi landed on a tree brach it exploded, sending all three of them flying from the trees and into the ground.

As soon as they hit the ground they heard a call of "Lava Style: Quicklime Jutsu" and found their arms and legs bound to the ground by a cement like substance courtesy of Kurotsuchi's Kekkai Genkai. "Wow Kurotsuchi-chan, that was really cool." said Naruto as he stepped out of the bushes. "And Tenten-chan those paper bombs were really powerful, more powerful than any I've ever seen. How'd you do that?" he asked the girl on his back.

"You're not the only one who dabbles in Fuinjutsu Z-kun, I make them my self so that they are more powerful than the store bought kind." responded Tenten, who then smiled upon seeing the shocked look on their victim's faces.

"So you survived huh Konoha-bitch?" scowled the Iwa genin. "Yes she did, now we'll be taking the egg back before I report you for attempted murder of a fellow Iwa shinobi. I broke my promise to Gramps by using my Kekkai Genkai just now, but it was worth it to take you down" said Kurotsuchi as she retrieved said item from her opponent's scroll, and pulled out a few items that would be located in Kumo as well.

"Now then, let me teach you a lesson about respecting women." Kurotsuchi grinned evilly while pulling out a Kunai. The screams from the Iwa genin could be heard in Kumo, causing confusion amongst the gate guards, and Naruto subconsciously moved his hand toward his groin, as if to check that everything was still there and that Kurotsuchi hadn't done the same things to him.

-20 Minutes Later-

Naruto and his teammates ran through Kumo's gates, with Naruto still shuddering from what Kurotsuchi had done to the other Iwa genin. "Kurotsuchi-chan remind me to never piss you off. I'd like to be able to have kids some day, unlike that guy." said Naruto. "No promises Z-kun." said Kurotsuchi with a playful wink. "Now then, back to business. The only thing we have left on the list as a copy of the newest book in the Make-out series". "I'll handle that, take us to the hotel Konoha is staying at, we need to find Kakashi-sensei" said Tenten from Naruto's back.

10 minutes later Kakashi was reading his precious copy of the newest book in the Make-out series for the 6th time I wonder when Jiraya-sama is going to finish the next book he thought, when his thoughts were interrupted by a call of "Kakashi-sensei!" Looking up Kakashi was surprised to see Tenten on the back of the young Yotsuki boy he had suspicions about.

Her clothes were drenched in blood. "Tenten, what happened?" "I took a kunai to the chest and almost died. Only reason I'm still alive is that Z-kun used Fuinjutsu to temporarily restore my blood-flow. If you could have a medic meet us at the Raikage's tower that'd be great, but in the meantime we need that book."

"Tenten, I'm glad you're alive, and I'll certainly get some medics to look at you, but almost every team with a Konoha genin on it has asked me to let them borrow this for the exam. What makes you think you're any different?" Tenten grinned evilly at Kakashi "Because if you don't I'll tell Gai-sensei that you confessed that you secretly love his rivalry challenges and wish you could do them more often, and that the only thing that prevents you from challenging him is your need to keep a 'hip and cool' appearance."

As Kurotsuchi and Naruto frowned in confusion Kakashi's one visible eye took on a look of absolute horror. "No, anything but that, If he thinks that I'll never get any reading time, just take it. I'll go get you a medic." said Kakashi with a panicked tone of voice as he practically threw the book at Tenten and ran off to flag down a medic-nin or doctor.

Another 10 minutes later Naruto and Co were standing in front of Moroi as he examined the results of the scavenger hunt. "Congratulations Z Yotsuki of Kumo's Yotsuki clan, Tenten of Konoha, and Kurotsuchi of Iwa's Kamizuru clan. You are the final team to pass. That means that the 2nd exam is now over and the next round will begin immediately, please follow me."

-End Chapter-

Original Commentary:

I tried to get a good mix between light hearted and serious vignettes in this chapter. The short fights were a warm up/practice for the serious fights I will have to do the next chapter(s). Before I start writing said fights I'll be reflecting on what worked and what didn't in this chapter to try to improve my writing. This chapter wasn't perfect, but that being said on a whole I'm fairly proud of it. Hope it was as entertaining to read as it was to write.

To the guest reviewer enquiring about Jiraya: Jiraya's absence during Naruto's childhood is for the same reasons as it was in the show. Some combination of his spy network, grieving over Minato, and being a pervert. He'll be appearing in this story sometime soon, and around the same time you'll find out that I've given Kumo their own spy master, whose duties included ensuring Naruto's location remained a mystery to the Sanin. Also since you're not the first person to mention Hinata I should tease that the next Interlude will include some news on Hinata, along with the remaining members of the Leaf 11. That Interlude will probably come out within a chapter or two of the chunin exam ending.

References from the Previous Chapter:

The Title: "Chunin Exam. Ready? Go!" is a reference to Mobile Fighter G Gundam.

Kumo team 1 is also a reference to G Gundam. The 3 members of the team are named after some of the primary protagonists and antagonists in the series (Domon, Kyoji, and Rain. Their sensei is codenamed "King of Hearts" which is a reference to the character Master Asia, who in G Gundam is known as King of Hearts before passing the title on to his student, Domon.)

Naruto's personal summon, Mimi, is named after the Digimon Adventure/Adventure 02/Adventure Tri character of the same name.

Kurotsuchi mentions that Naruto "knows the importance of being earnest" in reference to the Oscar Wilde play: "The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People".

Updated Commentary: Yeah, No. That Interlude I teased in the original commentary? I was right that it can't be published until after the Chunin Exams are over, but I had a backlog of interludes, and two more were published, so technically I was wrong when I said it would be the next one published. As of my writing this it still hasn't been published. Probably not until mid to late January!

Thanks for reading.
-Col. Bogey