Not much to say here…. Please enjoy!


Deidara sat on top of a giant clay hawk looking extraordinarily pleased with himself. It was a lovely creation, if it wasn't for the coloration and size it would be unrecognizable from a true hawk. Deidara patted it's head affectionately and hummed a cheery little tune. There were no clouds in the sky there where even a couple early-morning thermals that would make flight easier. The conditions were better than any Deidara could have hoped for! Well, except one….

Said 'condition' stumbled out of the gates of Suna carrying a large backpack and wearing brand new-machine shrunken clothes. "Oh, stop looking so damn pleased with yourself." Naruto said groggily. Deidara simply gave him a winning smile and waved serenely. "Stop the cheap shit."Naruto growled.

"My, aren't we a morning person?"

"3AM isn't fucking morning. It's still night." Deidara laughed and Naruto gave him another sour look. He clambered up the hawk's back and curled into a ball. "Drop me and I'll kill you." He grunted.

"I'm sure you would." Deidara snorted. At his command the bird spread its wings and took off, flying at high speed to Konoha. Deidara glanced over his shoulder at the snoozing Naruto and the hawk's tail curled protectively around the kitsune. Deidara really didn't want to drop Naruto.

It was past noon by the time they caught up with Sasori just inside the land of fire border. From the back of the hawk, Naruto had noticed a large boar that Sasori had stabbed with his tail and the two had tracked him on foot after that. Deidara signaled for Naruto to be silent as soon as they heard Sasori shuffling around ahead. They needed to be careful when approaching the puppet master, Sasori had a bit of a stab first ask questions later mentality.

The two ninja separated and moved quickly to either side of Sasori, who was still trudging on ahead as if nothing was amiss but the two ninja knew he was aware of their presence. They tailed him for the better part of an hour before Naruto felt like his head would explode if this went on any longer. Why were they stalking Sasori? The longer this went on the more suspicious the puppet master would become!

"Oh, screw this!" Naruto complained loudly and walked boldly out from the cover of the greenery. "Hi Sasori." He said to the surprised puppet. Sasori had suspected that he was being tailed by enemies and seeing his partner's younger brother was quite a shock. Deidara was having a similar reaction in his hiding place. Why hadn't he taken Naruto's impatient into consideration? It wasn't as if he had a plan but he was positive that Sasori would shish-ka-bob Naruto! Much to Deidara's surprise, that was not what happened.

"Naruto, why are you here?" Sasori asked.

"I met up with Deidara in Suna and we came up with a better plan to capture the one-tail than just attacking Konoha."

"Oh, really?"

"Yep!" Naruto put one hand behind his hair and gave Sasori a wide grin.

"So where's the brat?" Deidara sighed and emerged from his hiding place. There was no point in staying there since Naruto had blown their cover.

"Hi." He said. Sasori stared at Deidara with an unreadable expression before speaking.

"So, what's your plan?"

"Oh no. First we have to get lunch! There must be a Raman stand somewhere around here!" Naruto drew Sasori's attention back to him and even Deidara felt a little exasperated with the young ninja. Food? Again? Really? But much to the blonde's surprise, Sasori relented. Naruto grinned and ran a few circles in excitement before he took off. There was a few seconds lull before Deidara realized that Naruto had run off and he charged after him, leaving Sasori behind. The puppet master watched them disappear into the foliage before he began his slow walk after them.

Sasori found the two of them in a curry house a few miles away. Naruto was deep into his fifth bowl and Deidara was chugging water to get the taste of his first bite out of his mouth. Sasori just loomed over the table and watched them while he waited for them to finish. Deidara found this behavior disturbing and he shifted uncomfortably while Naruto started on Deidara's own bowl of curry. Deidara cleared his throat a few times before he said, "Aren't you going to eat anything, Danna?"

"I don't need food." Sasori said blandly as Naruto continued his noisy slurping. Deidara lifted one of his eyebrows in disbelief. It was true that he had never seen Sasori eat but surely he needed food! Sasori saw Deidara's skeptical look and elaborated, "I don't need to eat or sleep often. Once a month is all that is necessary." Deidara was stopped from commenting because Naruto slammed his bowl onto the table.

"Thanks for the meal!" He said loudly. He turned to look at the two older ninja and said, "Okay so, let's explain the plan!" Sasori grunted approvingly and Deidara leaned back in his chair.

"Sasori, the major flaw with obtaining the one-tails with force is that it would draw a lot of attention to the Akatsuki and obtaining the other demons would be much more difficult because they would all know about us." Naruto explained, "We know that the one-tail's host is entering the chunin exams and will be remaining in Konoha for several months so what if I infiltrated Konoha under the guise of entering the chunin exams and befriended the host? That way I can lure him away from Konoha and we can capture him easily." Deidara was impressed with Naruto's explanation, he had made it seem like the most logical option there was! Sasori, however, was ever the skeptic.

"That would take too long and a lot of things could go wrong."

"Like what? No one knows that I'm with the Akatsuki and the worst possible outcome is that I can't become his friend! And anyway, isn't it worth the wait if we don't get found out?" Sasori grudgingly agreed with Naruto's logic.

"We'll have to send a message to Leader-sama and the brat and I will remain stationed around Konoha in case of an emergency." Naruto nodded in agreement with Sasori and the puppet master continued, "You are far beyond the level of a mere Genin already and even normal chunin are weaker than you. I am confident that you will do well."

"Thanks Sasori!" Naruto said, delighted to have been complemented by the normally disapproving ninja.

"The exams start in six days, Naruto and I will go ahead and arrive at Konoha tonight and get an application. Naruto can use the time before the exams to study the one-tail." Deidara interjected and the others agreed. Naruto and Deidara stood up in unison and put money on the table. "See you later." They said in unison and then they left Sasori alone in the middle of an empty curry house.


"Goddamnit!" Naruto snarled as he barged into the hotel room. Deidara and Sasori didn't even look up at him.

"Still no luck?" Deidara asked as he worked his chakra into a large chunk of clay.

"It's like he doesn't exist! The exams start tomorrow and I still don't have any information on this bastard! Or his siblings!" Naruto kicked the room's stand up wardrobe hard enough for his foot to get stuck in the wood. He sat down and started trying to tear his foot out.

"Well, maybe it'll be fine. You befriended almost everyone in the Akatsuki in less than a month, remember." Deidara said and Naruto grunted in reply. He finally managed to yank out his foot and he glowered at the wardrobe as if he blamed it for all his problems.

"Have you acquired an application yet?" Sasori, who was in his 'human' form, asked as he ground up herbs to be used for poison.

"Yeah." Naruto said glumly as he held up a small sheet of paper. "I stole it from the Konoha records building."

"Good. Hurry up and sigh it."

"Fine, fine." Naruto shuffled over to the one desk in the room and rummaged around for a pen. "So…what should I expect for the chunin exams?" Naruto hazarded the question that had been bothering him for the past five days.

"Do you know how long it's been since I took those exams?" Sasori snorted. "They change it every year." Naruto looked hopefully at Deidara but the older blond just gave him a sheepish look.

"Sorry Naruto. All I know is that there will be and information gathering test, a survival test, and a fighting test. That's how it always is." Naruto found a pen under pile of discarded take-out boxes. He curled his lip in disgust and whipped the pen on his pants before he scribbled down his signature. Naruto knocked the empty boxes off the desk and into the overflowing trash can before he sat down on the desk chair. He gave Deidara a frustrated look and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I know, Naruto! But there isn't anything we can do about it!" Deidara was apologetic but on the verge of exasperation. There had been nothing for him to do the past few days but speculate and wait for something to happen and it was starting to wear on his nerves. Naruto looked at the floor and pursed his lips. He felt useless for having been unable to find out anything about the one-tail. He didn't even know the host's name! Deidra started kneading his clay viciously and Naruto squeezed the pen until the ink exploded out.

Sasori looked up from his poisonous concoction and watched the two younger ninja carefully. They were both way too cocky and this recent inactivity was bothering them like a thorn. Sasori cared because if either of them did something rash he'd be stuck with clean up duty. Naruto stood up and smeared the ink on his hand across the wall.

"I'm going to get food, I want an early night." Sasori nodded approvingly and went back to grinding the herbs. Deidara, on the other hand, watch Naruto leave miserably. He would have given almost anything to be leaving too!


Kiba, Sasuke, and Sakura walked boldly into room 301 and were all shocked by the sheer number of people inside. They stared into the room for a few seconds before Kiba and Sakura started to stutter things like 'wow' and 'holy hell'. So many people! Are they all here for the exam? Sakura thought to herself. The trio all heard a delighted squeal and they whirled around in time to see Ino envelope Sasuke in a hug.

"Sasuke-kun! You're almost late!" She purred, "I haven't seen you in such a long time, I was just sooooo excited!"

"Ino-pig!" Sakura yelled. "Get your hooves off Sasuke!"

"Oh, hi Forehead Girl. Hi Kiba."

"Um, hi?" Kiba had been looking from girl to girl during the exchange and he had been nervous that saying anything might instigate more high pitched wails. Akamaru barked a couple times from his perch on Kiba's head but other than that he didn't move.

"What did you call me?" Sakura challenged and Ino stuck her tongue out.

"Hey guys." Shikamaru sighed as he walked up behind team ten's only female member with Choji trailing closely behind him. "So you guys have to take this stupid test too? Don't die…."

"Hi Shikumaru, Choji." Sasuke and Kiba said in disharmonious unison. Sakura was too busy glowering at Ino to great either boy.

"Man…this sucks." Shikamaru griped to no one in particular. Kiba noticed Choji eyeing Akamaru hungrily and he shifted further away from the chubby ninja.

"Well I guess this makes all of Konoha's nine rookie ninja." Said a new voice from behind Kiba. The dog ninja glanced over his shoulder and grinned at team eight.

"Geez…You guys too? How troublesome…"

"S-sorry" Hinata stuttered as she pushed her index fingers together. Shino remained as impassive as ever, he didn't even move his head to indicate a greeting.

"Well I'm glad that we're all together!" Said the final member of tram eight stubbornly, "We were all in the academy together and we should become chunin together as well!"

"Didn't you only join the academy a few months before we all graduated, Haku?" Kiba challenged.

"Yes but I was still there." The ice-ninja said brightly and Kiba just smirked. Nothing in the world could dampen Haku's spirits.

At a nearby table, Naruto rubbed his temples in irritation. Why were all the Konoha rookies so damn loud? Naruto was almost grateful when a white-haired Konoha ninja told them all to be quite but his happiness was short lived as said white haired ninja struck up a conversation. He didn't really feel like moving but the Konoha nin were really getting on his nerves.

"Who do you think you are?" Ino challenged.

"I'm Kabuto but that's not important. Why don't you look behind you?" Naruto's hackles raised as all nine rookies turned their gaze on him. Naruto noticed that some of them had perspiration on their faces after they looked at him and he wondered if he was really that scary. "He's an Iwa ninja without a team and he's clearly annoyed. Everyone's nervous about the exam so why don't you shut up before you cause a scene?"

What am I, a zoo animal? Naruto wondered as the nine rookies continued to stare. Just to spook them, Naruto let his eyes glow crimson and he grinned at them. Very slowly, he licked his lips and was pleased to see some of them look terrified.

"Well I can't blame you rookies for being completely clueless," Kabuto continued in his annoyingly imperious voice. "You remind me of how I used to act."

"Kabuto-san, was it?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah."

"Is this your second time taking the exam?"

"No, it's my seventh." Naruto's eyebrows vanished under his hair. Whoa, he must suck! Anik-Deidara passed on his first try! And that was before we stole the art of a single moment scroll! "The exam is twice a year and this is my fourth year." Kabuto explained.

"So you know a lot about the exam then?" Sakura asked but Kabuto didn't answer.

"I think I'll share some information with you cute rookies. With these nin-info cards" Naruto stifled a snicker. He's kidding, right? Naruto listened to Kabuto's explanation of his nin-cards with growing amusement. Oh my god, he's serious! I have to tell Deidara about this dude! Although, Naruto reflected, Deidara had probably met him already if this was his seventh time.

Naruto's intrest in the conversation returned when Sasuke asked about card information on individuals and Kabuto said yes. "Can you give me information on Rock Lee of Leaf and Gaara of the Sand?" Sasuke asked.

Kabuto waved his hands over a couple cards and the nine clustered around to look. Naruto couldn't make out Kabuto's hushed explanation but he was intrigued to say the least. He wondered if the Kabuto-fellow had a card for the one-tail.

Kiba grinned as he looked at the cards. Kabuto was amazing! "Hey hey!" he said, "Do you have any information on…" He glanced back at the one man team Iwa nin. He had felt a powerful déjà vu when he looked at him but he couldn't place the familiarity and it was bothering him. The Iwa ninja looked made eye contact with Kiba and the dog-ninja was surprised that his eyes were blue. Had the red been a trick of the light? He tore his eyes away and looked back at Kabuto only to see he had a blank look on his face.

Sasuke, who had followed Kiba's gaze elaborated. "That Iwa ninja with blond hair and a scratch in his forehead protector; do you have a card on him?" Before Kabuto could speak Kiba and Sasuke both felt an iron grip on their shoulders. They turned their heads and say the face of the Iwa ninja only inches away from theirs. Sakura shrieked and fell backwards and the other rookies looked shocked and afraid. He had one hand on each of their shoulders and they felt the power in his fingers.

He could tear through my flesh like tissue paper Kiba thought the same time Sasuke thought; He could shatter my shoulder he wanted to! The two boys felt a shameful fear boil in the pits of their stomach. In a trance they took in every inch of the Iwa nin's features. They saw his lips twisted into a demonic smirk and the three scratches on each cheek seem to become darker. His eyebrows were low and his slanted eyes were calculating and obviously blue. "Yes, Kabuto-san, don't you have information on me?"The ninja said without emotion and all the rookies (except Haku) felt their skin crawl.

Kabuto gave the blonde a calculating look but shook his head. The Iwa ninja's grin widened. "Very well then. You two, Kabuto doesn't appear to have any information on me at all! So why don't you go ahead and ask me what it is you want to know?" Kiba gulped and Sasuke glared but both held their tongues. Neither believed that they could ask any questions without being killed.

"We didn't mean to disturb you, I am truly sorry." Haku was the only one bold enough to speak and Naruto looked at him with interest. "My name is Haku, you are…?"

"Naruto." The Iwa ninja spoke only to Haku and he took his hands off Kiba and Sasuke. Haku smiled nervously but Naruto's attention had been captured by one of the cards lying on the ground. Gaara of the Sand, he thought. Looks like I might have found the one-tail.

"Take care now." Naruto said to the group at large and he strode back to his seat. He noticed that the room was deathly quiet; everyone had been watching their little transaction. He scanned the area for Gaara and found him sitting with a couple of other Suna ninja. They made eye contact but Gaara diverted his gaze before Naruto could read any emotions in them.

Kiba rubbed his shoulder and watched Naruto sit back down. "Anyone else got the feeling that they've met him before?" He whispered and the other rookies, except Haku, nodded. Slowly the chatter in the room started up again but the Konoha genin continued to whisper.

"That kind of behavior is normal here. Everyone here is an elite genin from their own village." Kabuto told them.

"Makes you lose confidence." Hinata muttered.

"Do you really not have information on Naruto?" Sasuke asked and Kabuto smiled.

"I don't have a card on him but I can tell you what I think I know." The nine rookies leaned in as Kabuto again dropped his voice. "He's stronger than you can probably imagine. I think he could beat Gaara without breaking a sweat. You saw all the scars he had and the scratch in his headband, right? He must have been in a lot of battles and he can back his cockiness. This exam won't be easy with people like him, you're out of you league."

Kiba started to quiver slightly and Sakura gave him a worried look. Even Kiba seems nervous and I don't blame him. Every one here's a genin but we're at the bottom of the bottom… But it's weird to see Kiba like this. I'll cheer him up a bit. She thought and she reached out and gently touched his back. "H-Hey Kiba, don't be down okay? We all…"

She was stopped midsentence when Kiba straightened up and bellowed, "Listen up! My name's Inuzuka Kiba and I won't loss to any of you bastards! You got that?"

"What does he think he is?" Ino complained to Sakura but the pink ninja was equally exasperated.

"Ahh, that felt great." Kiba said. Sasuke, Haku, and Kabuto smirked at his words. Naruto covered his mouth to keep his laughter down. I think we might get along well. He's like me before… Although he didn't admit it, leaving Iwa had drastically changed Naruto. He had become less interested in people he would only know for a short while and the constant fear of being hunted had made him more powerful than he would have been otherwise. But he kind of missed the person he had once been, naïve and foolish but he was also pleased with who he had become it was just... Kiba was exactly like looking back in time at himself. Naruto forced those thoughts down. What good would it do him? He was who he was and he could never go back.

Haku glanced around the room at all the smirking ninja. Kiba seemed to have made himself a lot of enemies. He hazarded a glance at Naruto and was unsurprised to see the Iwa ninja barely containing his laughter. Hake diverted his gaze quickly and continued to scan the room but he saw no other immediate threat. Slowly the chatter started up again but everyone kept an eye on the Konoha rookies. They were turning rapidly into a prime source of entertainment.

"What a moron…you know that you just turned everyone in here into your enemy?" Shikamaru snorted, "You're just so troublesome…"

Suddenly there was a huge poof of smoke in the front of the room. A deep voice made the window panes reverberate when it bellowed, "Quiet down you worthless bastards!" Everyone in the room stared as the smoke cleared to revile a huge man with a scared face and many ninjas dressed in white. The scarred man gave them a ghastly smile and said in his deep voice, "Thanks for waiting. I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the first chunin exam section."

Several people gulped as Ibiki looked around the room. His eyes rested on Naruto and he pointed at him. "One-man-team-san, please refrain from instigating any fights. Fighting is not tolerated during my exam and even if you get permission killing is strictly prohibited. If you disobey you will be disqualified." Naruto made an apologetic gesture.

"We shall now start the first exam. Instead of your current seating arrangements, please come forward and select a tile and sit at the seat with the same number as the tile. Then we will hand out the tests."

All the ninjas filed into some kind of line and picked up their numbers. Hinata's number was fifty-two and she shuffled nervously to her seat. Haku gave her an encouraging smile as he walked past her and Hinata's insides stopped squirming so furiously. Haku could calm Hinata better than anyone else which was why she was in the same team as him. She took a few breaths and looked confidently forward until the person number fifty-three sat down next to her.

She quailed at the mere thought of the Iwa ninja but having Naruto so close to her made her feel faint. She scooted nervously away from him and shivered. Hinata had never seen a more terrifying person in the world, not even Neji could make her quake in her boots the way Naruto could. The blond glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes and she flinched.

"Oh for the love of god! I'm not going to eat you, girl!" Naruto said. Why was everyone so afraid of him? The Konoha rookies were scared of him even before he nearly crushed the two annoying brat's shoulders. And now freaky-eyes-girl was acting like he was some kind of demon! Well, I am a demon… but it's not like they know that!

"U-u-um, s-sorry, N-Naruto-samma." Hinata was nearly in the lap of the very uncomfortable ninja next to her but her fear overcame her embarrassment. Naruto rubbed his temples and ignored her.

"Get off me." Grumbled the ninja in seat fifty-one though truth be told he didn't mind over much having such a cute girl so close to him. Hinata reluctantly slid back into her part of the bench but she kept one eye on Naruto. A couple examiners handed out the tests facedown and Ibiki started talking as they did so.

"Do not turn your tests over," He instructed. "Listen carefully as I explain the rules. They are important so I'll write them on the board as I explain but questions are not allowed." Naruto lifted an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest. Ibiki was really a no-nonsense type person.

"First, the test is worth ten points. Each question you get right gives you a point and each one you get wrong will lose you a point. Second, this is a team test. Whether or not you pass is determined by your team's combined points. So each team, except one, can get a total of thirty points." Ibiki glanced at Naruto when he mentioned the exception but other than that he addressed the class.

There was a loud thump behind Naruto and he turned his head to see the Konoha rookie he had dubbed 'pinky' had slammed her head against the table. Pinky's a.k.a. Sakura's hand shot up and she blurted out, "Wait a second! I get the point thing but why is this a team test?"

"Shut up. I said no questions." Ibiki said and Naruto was amused to se Pinky deflate slightly. "The third rule is that for every time you are caught cheating you will lose two points. If anyone loses all their points during the test they and the rest of their team will be asked to leave."

"First up is information gathering." Naruto murmured under his breath as he remembered Deidara's words from the night before. This test was so easy to see through! Ibiki was testing everyone's skills at information gathering. Hinata looked at Naruto out of the corner of her eye. She was the only person close enough to hear his whisper and it intrigued her.

"And the final rule is that if any one member fails, the rest of their team will fail as well. The exam will last for one hour. Begin!" Everyone flipped over their tests and began to read the questions. Naruto began to scrawl down answers. The test was all information he knew and he'd be done in ten minutes, tops. Throughout the room, people stared at the paper in horror and confusion. Only a few people had realized that the test was a test of their spying skills and had started cheating the way ninja should.

Naruto finished question nine and turned his paper over. He would have to wait until the rest of the time was up before he got to here the tenth question. He doodled on the back of his paper and watched Gaara out of the corner of his eye. He needed to find out everything about the one-tail's host that he possibly could.

There was another loud noise and Naruto looked back and watched a random ninja stand up. "I'd just like to know something," he said. "How many teams do you plan will pass this test?" Naruto's turned back to the front of the room so he could see Ibiki's reaction.

Ibiki chuckled slightly and then his gaze hardened. "It's not like knowing will help you, or do you want to be disqualified?"

"Sorry." The random genin said and he sat back down. Naruto smirked and turned his attention back to Gaara. The Suna ninja reached his hand forward and Naruto was unsurprised to see partials of sand gathering around his limb. There's no doubt now. He is the one-tail's host. He watched as Gaara quickly created an eye out of sand and sent it to look at other tests. So that's how he does it he thought to himself. He turned back to the front of the room and planned out his next move.

Naruto was greatly amused whenever a team was kicked out, especially when the cheater got up in arms about it and the examiner and had to get physical. Damn. When did I become such a cynic? He wondered but he shrugged it off. I guess Deidara's personality really has rubbed off on me. He glanced at the clock again and was happy to see that it was time for the tenth question. Right on time Ibiki cleared his throat and everyone gave him their undivided attention.

"Before we begin I'd like to go over an added rule." Ibiki ignored the groans and continued on talking, "First, I want you all to choose whether or not to answer the tenth question."

"Choose?" A girl Naruto believed was one of the sand siblings said, "Why on earth would we choose not to?"

"If you choose not to answer your points will be automatically reduced to zero and you fail. However if you choose to take it and you get it wrong you will never be allowed to take the chunin exam for the rest of your life."

"What kind of stupid rule is that?" Kiba challenged, "There are plenty of people who've taken the exam loads of times!"

"You all are unlucky to have me as an examiner. I have a higher standard than most people." I think Sasori would like this guy. He's got the same sadistic tendencies. Naruto mused. He wasn't worried about the question; he didn't care if he became a chunin! But if Gaara dropped out he would too. Then the Akatsuki would capture him by force. However, Gaara of the sand remained as impassive as ever and neither he nor his siblings dropped out.

However more ninjas than Naruto expected to dropped out. When the group had been dwindled into a small group of seventy-nine very determined looking ninjas, Ibiki smiled.

"To the seventy-nine that remain…congratulations on passing the first test!"


They passed! Who didn't see that coming? I know that I made Naruto a cynic but I blame that on Deidara. Well, review!

~Abarat Fox