Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me

Chapter 11: Exams, Seals and Mayhem

35 reviews for the last chapter? And growing? With a total of 1,675 Favourites? 2,262 Alerts? So far. This is so amazing. This is so overwhelming, and I love you guys so much. I can't believe the amount of traffic on this story. Thank you all so much.

A/N – Alright, so about the Gai-date, honestly, I feel like it was completely in character for him. It wasn't like I think he'd be a bad date, more like it is in character for him to try really hard to impress Willow. To him, he could always impress others with his accomplishments. Willow on the other hand, is used to being famous and other people fawning over themselves in a vain attempt to impress her. Leaving her with no apparition for anyone who she sees is trying to talk themselves up.

Gai and Willow's friendship will get better as they understand each other more. Thank you.

Hermione POV

London

Hermione Granger unfolded her newspaper for the thirteenth time, a nervous tick that was just beginning to develop. The words 'BRITIAN'S SERIAL KILLER: AT LARGE' flashing before her eyes, a picture of Zackary Smith – a Hufflepuff if she recalled correctly, frowning up at her from the Daily Prophet.

This was something, perhaps, a bit bigger than the missing Willow. "Don't know how they can call this person a serial killer," she said, her voice sounding oddly tight, but she couldn't remove her sight from the picture in front of her. "They have patterns. I don't see this one. Do you think it's…?"

"Another Dark Lord?" Draco snorted, sitting awkwardly on her couch, alternating between glaring at Ron and eyeing the newspaper in her hands with speculation. "Hardly. There is a connection. He's only killed Pure Bloods."

"I just feel like there's more to it than that," Hermione insisted, refolding the paper and throwing it at the centre of the table. The paper sliding a few more inches, nearly falling off the small thing. It was the only way to get Smith's sneering face out of her mind.

"You think it has to do with Potter?" Draco guessed, only to have the only red headed male scoff at him loudly.

"You think Willow's doing this? You said yourself that she could only be released by someone pure of heart," Ron scoffed, his anger already rising. Hermione rolled her eyes, she couldn't understand what it was about Malfoy that got Ron so worked up. Yes, he was a bit of a prick when they were younger, but now, now he was helping. "People who are pure of heart don't just go offing every bloody pure blood around."

"Maybe it's a muggleborn Dark Lord, who wants to overturn all the pure blood supremacy?" Ginny chimed in, and Ron threw her an exasperated look.

"That's stupid Ginny."

"No, it sounds plausible," Hermione intervened on the younger Weasley's behalf. "Remember what I said last week, Ron? I don't think that Willow's even in this dimension anymore."

There was silence, and Draco was the only one brave enough to break it, though he did sound rather hesitant. She had broached this idea with Ron the past week, he hadn't sounded too enthused about it. But, it was still one of the only things that made sense. Why they couldn't track her – it was because she wasn't there. "You do realise that any time exposed to another dimension can kill you, right?"

"Yes," Hermione responded grimly, ignoring the looks of panic fly over the Weasley's faces. "Though, I do think that Willow is somehow connected with this. I think, that whoever is doing it, is doing it in her name. All it would take would be for her to publicly denounce it."

"Granger," Draco said slowly. "That doesn't make any sense. Nothing has indicated that they're doing it for Potter."

"She's the Slayer of the greatest Muggle Hater out there," she shrugged her shoulders. "Who else could it be for?"

"One more problem," this time it was Ginny to intervene. "We don't actually know where Willow is – just that she's tied to a lamp. She can't publicly denounce anything."

Hermione grimaced, a humorous light entering her eye. "Actually," Hermione said, holding up a dainty little brush that was covered in bright red hair, a colour that couldn't be mistaken. "She can. Also, a public announcement might be just what we need to terrify the Minister into thinking whatever plan he has doesn't work."

"How old is that?" Malfoy asked hesitantly. "Don't tell me you broke into Potter's house to get that."

"I didn't break into it," Hermione said slowly. "She left it to me."

Willow POV

Naruto's Apartment

There was a thing that Willow was beginning to get used to, the strange nature of this universe. The whole idea of chakra confused her, even though she somewhat understood its applications, she wasn't very sure she understood how it worked. She was absolutely sure that Hermione would be entranced with the ideas of it, but when it came down to it, learning about the concept from a source that actually knew what he was talking about, and not just studying dry pages of books, she was left more confused.

"The thing about Sealing, is that you're either good at it, or you're not," Kakashi was saying, his voice was distracted but his gaze was still focused. "It's a thing that it is personalized, and there's no rigid way of it working. You have your basic Seals, which I've shown you, but you add on these with your own intent. Being halfway decent with Sealing is all about natural talent; it grows with the creativity that you have in your mind, to make connections and simply understand it on an instinctual level."

"I take it you're not very good with them then, Copycat?" Zabuza interpreted with a snicker, his jesting smile wide on his face, and Willow's eyebrow twitched lightly. Honestly, she didn't understand why the man's continued presence was necessary. And what was with the strange nickname that Zabuza imposed on Kakashi, anyway? Copycat?

"Not really," he allowed slowly, shrugging his shoulders like this didn't bother him in the slightest. "I have my knowledge because I've been taught by three different Seal Masters before I was twelve. I didn't particularly take to it very well."

"So, you pretty much can't do it if you have no natural talent for it?" Willow asked, wondering what he meant by personalizing a Seal. Honestly, the way he explained things mostly made sense, but, she had always been one to learn by actually doing. She was hesitating though, because he'd warned her over six times about creating Seals without supervision.

She assumed he was referring to Naruto though, and not her. The one with no way the control her chakra, that she didn't even actually have, so really, he shouldn't worry. "Essentially," Kakashi nodded his head, unperturbed. "You need to be able to make choices about things like line thickness, and length, and things like that come based on personal perception on what could work."

"Oh come on," Zabuza began to complain, once again rolling his eyes, voice loud and demanding. "You can't say things like thickne-."

Without any sort of hesitation, Willow leaned over and rather rudely stuffed her spare roll of paper right into his mouth with a slightly harsh glare. "Don't say it."

Zabuza gagged before removing the wad of paper out of his mouth, he glared back at her, coughing along the way. "You're no fun, Genie-chan. You can't expect me not to comment when you're talking about length and thickness."

"You don't need to be here," she pointed out, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her voice, before turning back to Kakashi and his red ears. He got so embarrassed so easily, and honestly, she thought it just encouraged Zabuza and his comments so much more. "Back to the point, how does that work with the Seals like the storage one; which you've already shown me with its set design?"

"The level in which it works varies for each person, and most tend to personalize the Seal to make it more powerful when they themselves use it, which may not work if anyone else uses the same Seal," Kakashi explained, twisting his hands in his lap, and his eye firmly placed on a spot just above her head. He was feeling awkward again, she huffed in annoyance, and he wasn't nearly as sharing when he was feeling embarrassed.

"I bet you've had your fair share of that particular problem, eh, Copycat?"

"Indeed," Kakashi responded blandly, and the comment, she realised, completely intrigued her.

"You have to explain what you mean by that now," Willow complained, back straight, wondering if Naruto knew the answer this.

"Not important, really."

"Aw, come on Copycat, you finally have a chance to impress the pretty lady with your strengths!"

Willow glared at the ex-missing Nin, deciding that she didn't care anymore. She would talk to Naruto about it when he got back from that stupid training exercise the silver haired Ninja had him on. Wait, did it have anything to do with what Zabuza called him? Copycat, wasn't it?

Stifling a yawn, Willow stretched her arms, sparing a moment's glare at Zabuza. "Send Haku over next time, I think I prefer his presence."

Naruto POV

The Forest of Death

There were three things that Naruto was very quickly beginning to learn about his team. One, having Hinata as a teammate was the best, because she could always find the best spots, filled with water and tree cover. He had a better understand of the cool eyes she had now, and was glad that he would always have Hinata-chan on his side, other than the other way around.

The next thing he had learned in the last week, was that Sasuke was good to have his back. The black-haired boy had more than once, stopped a few scary animals from killing him, on more than one occasion. He was staring to see the boy as less of a Bastard, and more of just a socially stunted arsehole, but he would help him with deadly animals trying to kill him.

The last thing was, that Naruto was really starting to appreciate his team. He certainly did have a good one, and he felt like they were actually starting to be… friends. Such a strange thing to come from several near-death experiences, but Naruto was starting to feel warmth with his teammates, and he was… happy. Certainly happy with having two friends, two real friends his own age.

Well, he amended, that and Kakashi-sensei was a vindictive teacher that should never be allowed to be in charge of their training exercises. He'd almost been eaten four times. "Naruto-kun… we need to move again, today is the last day," Hinata-chan said, smiling over at him, and Naruto returned the timid looking smile with a wide one of his own.

Though, the forest had also been good to Hinata, she wasn't stuttering as much, and Naruto was glad. Cause' he could totally understand what she was saying to him now. "We should wait by the gate for Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke interjected, calmly from his position high in the tree. His voice carried down, so even though they couldn't see him, they certainly could hear him. "There's less chances of Naruto getting eaten by something by the gates as well."

"Hey, you bastard!" Naruto yelled, shaking his fist in the air, even though he knew the other boy couldn't see him. "It was only three times! And remember the wild pig thing that tried to eat you, huh? Huh!?"

Hinata's quite laughter rang past his words like a pretty symphony, counteracting his rather baleful yells. The other boy's head ducked down from the tree, so that onyx eyes could glare at him with the fire that only the Uchiha could manage. His lips pulled back, so the boy was left baring his teeth at the blonde, though, with Sasuke being upside down, the scariness wasn't as pronounced. "We aren't mentioning that again."

Naruto snorted. "Yeah, like I'd ever agree to that."

In the end, he was glad to be going home in a few hours, and he couldn't wait to tell Genie-chan all about his adventures in the forest. About Sasuke fighting a massive pig, or a snake almost squeezing him to death, or the story about how he and Hinata almost drowned when trying to fish.

He had so many stories to tell!

Willow POV

Ichikamaru Ramen

"So, then right, there was actually a bear inside the cave, though none of us could see it cause it was really dark, but I thought there was this funny smell," the boy's words were animated, though not as animated as his hand gestures explaining them were. "So I said; 'hey guys, can you make some fire-light' cause' it smells really funny in here', and Sasuke bam, and makes this fire ball! So in the end there was a family of bears in the cave, which chased us out, and Sasuke pushed me into a lake. Which he said was because a bear was close to me, but I couldn't smell the bear so…-!"

Willow's smile turned indulgent as she watched the animated boy speak, using his hands to further accentuate what he was trying to tell her. She had so far, managed to hear stories about fishing, a wild boar, scary trees (complete with a snake), and very recently, a bear. Willow was really, really starting to question the sanity of these ninja. Maybe having chakra messed with people's minds? Wasn't that a thought? "—and, and, what did you do Nee-chan?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing really," Willow smiled wanly, trying not to think about the days spent holed up with Zabuza and his innuendos, mixed with Kakashi as his sheer embarrassment by those said innuendos. Honestly, the two weren't a good mix. "Just waiting for you to come back, I guess. It's pretty boring without you."

Naruto beamed brightly, before a frown formed on his face – giving her these wide blue eyes, that almost imminently, put her on edge. "You're bored aren't you? Not being able to do all your… y'know G' stuff?"

Light pink lips turned upwards with Naruto's claim of her G' stuff, which clearly, he was referring to her magic. And even though the kid was spot on, and she did miss the freedom, and the understanding that she got with others of her kind, she wasn't going to let him know that. She didn't want to worry him, he was so young, so sweet. He didn't need to be burdened by her problems. "A little," she conceded, forcing a grin to her face, which she felt was more indulgent than anything else. "But, I'm more interested to learn about how your week as been!"

There, topic avoided. The blonde kid's eyes lit up, ready to launch into another animated spiral about the forest, and how amazing Hinata's eyes were. Whatever the kid meant by that. "…and it was so amazing, cause y'know she knew where everything was, like, all the time! And I think we're gonna ace the Chunin Exams!"

"The what?" Willow interpreted, slowly, looking down at the boy. Slowly, the pair were standing up, ready to pay her old boss and began their trek down the path to their apartment. Wait, their apartment? Shaking her head lightly, back to Naruto's apartment, that was, and she focused her attentions on the slightly flustered boy.

"Yeah Kakashi-sensei wants us to take them, it's for a promotion, saying that we're better ninja now, and I really think I can pass with Hinata-chan, and Sasuke-baka," he tittered, sounding almost nervous to be discussing the issue with her. "Believe it!"

"I do believe it," she humoured, before shrugging, really, she had no idea what would constitute moving up to a higher level. Naruto, was pretty much a trained body guard, thief, and stuff like that right? She mused, slowly, maybe he could benefit from learning a bit of strategy then?

If only Ron was here to teach the brat chess, he would have enjoyed it. Willow sighed, realising that the task, as always, was going to fall on her. Kakashi might be able to, but then again, she severely disapproved of many of his training methods, so maybe not. "Really? I mean, yeah! Of course you- hey! What do you think you're doing!?" his off-beat tone, rounded into an angry one, with his gaze fixating on something that her eyes couldn't quite make out.

That didn't mean that she wasn't following the angry stalking of the young orange-clad boy, on whatever journey he had set himself out on. Thought about teaching him strategy could wait for later. She needed to follow the irate blonde. "Hey! Put that kid down! You can't just go grabbing people off the street and beating them up you bastard!"

By the time the redhead had caught up, Naruto was already shouting insults at another, slightly taller boy with purple lines stripping his chubby face. And manners, and how to address people he didn't know, she resolved, watching at the older looking boy – next to Naruto, shook his fist, hand still enclosed around a brown haired kids shirt collar.

"He ran into me you little runt," the boy sneered, and Willow was reminded very strongly of Marcus Flint. "Get lost."

The blonde girl next to the boy, looking at the purple-faced boy warily, though she didn't say anything to counteract what he was doing. Willow frowned at the blatant display of bullying, could it be called that? Or was it just another Konoha tradition that she failed to understand? Judging by Naruto's anger though, perhaps not.

"You can't just beat kids up cause' they run into you, bastard!" Naruto yelled, once again – face going bright red. She really, really needed to teach him manners – though, she thought fondly, he was kind of like a younger version of her.

"What's this?" the boy asked, sneer on his face, and his brown eyes narrowed dangerously at Naruto, and Willow could feel her hackles rise, and her urge to protect the boy increase. "A bloody shrimp. Look kid, go find your mummy or something. Leave the big kids alone."

Naruto froze, and Willow started to get annoyed. "Hey, we can be civil here, can't we?" Willow spoke up, her green eyes narrowed at the boy, her lips creating a firm thin line – like she'd seen Professor McGonagall do on numerous occasions.

The boy looked over at her, back at the blonde girl, before sighing and dropping the brunette boy on the ground. "Tch, not worth it," he mumbled, causing the blonde to roll her eyes.

"Kankuro," a voice sounded from the trees to her ide, and Willow glanced over curiously, to see the figure of a small red-haired, green-eyed boy leaning against the tree trunk. His eyes, she mused, kind of reminded her of Snapes'. Like she was traveling down looming tunnels, with no end in sight, no warmth. "If you're finished making an idiot of yourself, Baki needs to see us."

"U-uh, yes Gaara, sorry."

Naruto was leaning back, a look of blatant disbelief on his face when the trio of them just walked away, ignoring the blonde boy presence. Naruto glanced back at her, as if to ask, 'what just happened?' And Willow shrugged her shoulders, now eyeing the little kid who was struggling to stand up; and looking at Naruto with an adorable smile, and a little gap between his teeth.

"Thank you for saving me," the boy said finally, trying overly hard to properly pronounce his words. "As you should have. I will let Gramps know of your good deed towards me!"

"Whose you're gramps?" Naruto asked hesitantly. Willows lips quirked, wondering if they'd managed to inexplicably, save another Draco Malfoy.

"The Hokage, obviously," the boy rolled his eyes, and with his attitude, she decided that he was officially demoted from cute.

"Oh, you're Old Man Hokage's grandson?" Naruto asked, his voice changing to a brighter and open more one. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And this is Genie-nee-chan! What's your name!?"

"A-ah, Konohamaru?"

"Hey," Willow said brightly. "It sounds like you were named after the village, huh?"

"Yeah," the boy snapped, his face could have been black storm clouds for how happy he looked. "Gramps named me after the village. You can both go now."

With that, it was that strange little boy who left, huffily making his way down the street. This time, it was Willow to look at Naruto uncertainly. Naruto just shrugged his shoulders and said; "I think you offended him, Nee-chan."

Naruto POV

Naruto's Apartment

"Ah, nee-chan?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"What are you making?" the blonde asked, eyeing the older girl, who had a stick in her hand – ("it's a wand Naruto.") – and was waving it over things like bolts, screws and a piece of paper. Naruto didn't care if she was cool, Willow-chan is weird.

Hesitantly, he leaned over to grasp a little thing that used to be a bolt, but now kind of looked like a mini castle; there was another three of them, but two were red, and two were orange. "It's a game from where I come from, a strategy one. If you're going to be taking that test, I think it's about time you started to learn some strategy."

"…I don't think strategy games will help Nee-chan."

"Actually," Willow-chan said, smirking, though she kept herself eyeing another screw, this one turning into a horse-like shape. "Chess is more like a battle strategy. The goal is to kill all the other pieces on the board, and force the king into submission by boxing him in."

"Oh," Naruto said slowly, looking at the shockingly tacky red and orange checked board she'd just created. "It sounds hard."

"It is," she muttered agreeably. "And I've never managed to win a game, so you've got some good odds."

"Why are the pieces different colours?" the boy asked again, still not really set on the whole game idea – he had so many more game ideas that he thought were better. "Can't we play a prank? Or eat some Ramen?"

Willow sighed loudly, and Naruto felt kind of bad for ruining all of her plans to play her Genie game with him. "Let's make this deal; if you can beat me five times – you get Ramen, and ten, we can play a prank."

Play a prank with Genie-nee? "I'll totally win ten rounds, believe it!"

"Oh, I already do."

Naruto and Willow's Prank.

3rd Person POV.

Silently creeping up towards the apartment, Willow glanced down at Naruto wearily, but the boy had such a huge grin of excitement on his face, that forced her to keep going with the silly promise she'd made the boy. Naruto hadn't thought that Genie-chan would actually go through with her end of the bargain, and was still reeling from her easy acceptance, and her ideas!

She was truly, a pranking genius. Using the fact that Zabuza still hadn't been bothered to fix the key issue, Willow easily pushed the door open, ensuring that they were both covered with invisibility spells first. They crept into the apartment, before Naruto departed to find the bathroom.

The blonde snuck into the room, making sure to squeeze equal amount of orange hair dye in each bottle of shampoo, conditioner, and the funny shaped one, before he snuck out, not before catching sight of the Ramen cups in the kitchen. A wide smile lit up his face, when he started to boil the water already in the kettle, and cook himself some Ramen.

Yeah, a prank and ramen!

Meanwhile, Willow had taken it upon herself to sneak into Zabuza's room – which turned out to be exactly how she thought it'd be, messy, and dark. With a wicked grin, and an attitude to get back at him for the past week, she raised her wand and started to colour all the walls a bright Gryffindor red.

To match, she made all his bedding a glittering gold, and transfigured his dresser into a very girly sort of vanity with little stars. He would be so confused with how she managed it, and at this moment she didn't care, though making sure, to leave no trace of herself behind, she left the now overly bright and sparkly room.

Walking a few steps down the hall though, she was greeted by the sight of a pair of chopsticks feeding the thin air some ramen, and she rolled her eyes. Making sure to feel her hand out till she caught him by the collar, she dragged him out of the room. Still not sure why she was surprised that he stopped for Ramen.

The next morning, Zabuza woke to a monstrosity of a bedroom – how the hell had someone managed to paint the walls red without him noticing? And… how had they changed his sheets? And where did his dresser go!? Resolving to figure out this mystery after he had a shower, he got up and ready for the day.

After the brief shower, the ex-missing nin was staring at himself in the mirror. Or more importantly, the bright shock of orange hair. Then it clicked, red walls, gold undertones – an unbearably girly dresser, honestly, and this shock of hair.

It could only be one person.

"You've challenged the wrong missing-nin to war, Genie-chan! I will destroy you!" he claimed to himself, his narrowed, fist raised and glaring at the roof.

It just so happened, that at that moment, a young boy with long brown hair entered the hall that Zabuza was standing in, and started to back away slowly. Whatever Genie-san had done to incur Zabuza's wrath, he didn't want a part of it.

Willow POV

The -… Naruto's Apartment

The morning of Naruto's exam, Willow had woke unexpectedly, the feeling of dread creep into her stomach. Not able to shake the strange feeling, she got up, got dressed, and slipped into the little shoebox of a bathroom. Eyeing herself in the mirror, she thought that maybe she did look a little pale.

Creeping out so she didn't wake up Naruto, she crept into the kitchen, only for it to become apparent that it was three in the morning. She hadn't even had a dream, where was all this dread coming from? Trying to shake the feeling, she began to fry some eggs for herself.

Hey, maybe she was hungry? "Nee-chan? W-what are you doin'?" the sound of a young boy's voice echoed from behind her, getting interpreted by a rather cute yawn. Willow paused, halfway through cracking the egg, and turned around to see the boy rubbing his eyes, and looking at her blearily.

She felt a stab of guilt, but not enough to wash away her dread. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up kid. I'm making myself something to eat, hungry?"

"It's okay," Naruto yawned before shuffling over to the table, and plonking himself down. "I couldn't sleep anyway, and now we can not sleep together."

Willow smiled warmly at the boy, content in ignoring her own feelings of doom. "That sounds great. I'm frying eggs," she continued, turning back to crack the egg over the pan. "How many do you want?"

"Five," he said slowly. "I'm not too hungry yet."

Willow smiled fondly, only Naruto could think five of anything was a light snack. Quickly though, she fried up about nine eggs, a pouring two very large glasses of milk before sitting down with Naruto at the table. "Thanks nee-chan."

"It's okay," Willow mumbled, feeling oddly like Mrs Weasley feeding a younger Willow at that moment. "Want to tell me why you can't sleep?"

"Mmph," he attempted to say, before she hit him on the hand lightly, and he swallowed his mouthful before continuing. "I'm kinda nervous about the Chunin Exam. Cause' my teams great but… I dunno…"

"You're not sure if you deserve to be there?" she asked quietly, and the by hung his head sheepishly, before giving her this wide grin, that looked a bit too forced for her liking.

"I'm gonna be the future Hokage y'know, and… I've just…"

"Never passed a test on your own before?" Willow guessed.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry kid," Willow said, her voice as soft as she could make it, and her hand resting on his shoulder, forcing him to actually look at her. "You've got this. You've been training so hard, and you've grown up so much since I've known you. You'll do great," she reassured, before adding. "Believe it."

His bright blue eyes widened drastically, a glittering look towards her, almost had her regretting her words before a set of tiny arms wrapped themselves around her waist, and his head buried itself in her stomach. "Please don't leave me."

"I never said I would," Willow commented lightly, though she could feel the dread in her stomach twisting and turning.

"But that's what Genie's do when they grant all of their wishes. They go onto the next person," the sound of Naruto's muffled voice, danced across her ears. "Can I wish that you'll never leave me, and really be my sister and stay in Konoha forever?"

Willow didn't say anything for a good few moments, knowing she couldn't promise to never leave Konoha. That was the purpose of all her time holed together with Kakashi and Zabuza, wasn't it? She had the intent on leaving the lamp; on leaving Naruto. She started cringing before she muttered. "I'll always be your real sister."

But was that enough to stay?

"Always?"

Was it enough to leave everything she loved behind?

"Always."

This was one promise, that she wasn't sure she would keep.

Naruto POV

The First Exam

"What a bunch of wet nosed brats!" a voice cowed from over the small crowed of Genin milling about the room. "If you can't even get passed the door, what makes you think you'll be able to pass the test!?"

Naruto glanced up to the man who was speaking, his eyes focusing on the three plaque. Why was this bastard blocking their entrance into the exam? Did he not think them good enough for it? Before Naruto could so much as say a word, Sasuke grabbed his arm, shaking his head, before looking pointedly at the stairs. Why was he… oh! They'd only walked up one flight of stairs! That's have to make this the second floor!

Genjutsu! Sasuke made a 'come on' motion with his head, Naruto only throwing one glance back at the fake door, before he paused, and barrelled to the front. Sasuke sighed, and Hinata smiled a soft looking smile, before they followed him, battling through the crowd. "What. Are. You. Doing?" Sasuke said, teeth gritted, sounding annoyed.

"Hey Lee! Are you okay?" Naruto asked ignoring his teammate, in favour of the green-clad boy, who looked seriously beat up, sitting on the floor. "Do you want my help to beat someone up?"

If they'd beaten Lee though, Naruto really didn't want to have to face them. Though this is what friends did, protect. "Ah, Naruto! It's good to see you here, battling to promote your youth," he was beaming, and Naruto decided he was okay.

"Oh god," Sasuke said, voice disgusted as he looked between the two. "It's another Naruto but in green."

"Shut up bastard," Naruto snapped. "The jumpsuit is cool."

"Make me idiot."

"Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun; please, don't fight," Hinata said, her kind voice just enough for the pair of them to freeze in their tracks. Hinata was scary when she was really nice. Lee's eyes erode in on Hinata before he grinned.

"Neji! It's a member of your esteemed family!" Lee said, drawing himself out of his pathetic slump to offer Hinata his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet a relative of Neji."

"It was your idea to not draw attention," a bored voice drawled, and blue eyes narrowed. Ah, this bastard. He'd forgotten he was related to his teammate. "Hinata-sama, I see you're team has made it to the exam. Do not worry, it is not in your fate to get very far."

"Shut up Neji," Naruto commented offhandedly, causing the boy to glare at him darkly. "Hey Buns-chan!"

"Naruto!" Tenten stepped forward to ruffle his hair, a smile on her face. "Don't call me that. And where have you been for the last week? Lee missed having you around."

"Oh, sorry, Sensei locked us in the Forest of Death for a week," he tried to explain, not knowing why Sasuke was starting to hit his head with his hand. "He didn't really warn us so I couldn't tell you. Sorry."

"Um, that's fine?" Tenten asked, hesitantly. "It's a pleasure to meet you both," she finally deferred to the two Genin behind Naruto. "Naruto told us all about you."

"Naruto," Sasuke said warningly.

"Uh," the blonde's voice came out as a squeak. "We uh, um – need to go over there!" he pointed at the staircase, and without a glance back at the black haired boy, bowled over the unsuspecting Genin wannabees that were milling around the wrong door.

Naruto ran for the correct door the second he hurled himself up the correct flight of stairs, though he could hear the distinct sound of Sasuke and Hinata's footsteps behind him. Finding the right door, he wrenched it open, and catapulted himself into the room.

Ignoring the judgemental stare he was receiving from all the other ninja in the room, who were much older, and bigger than he was, and he dove behind a desk, hoping that Sasuke wouldn't see him – nor would he attempt to kill him. Of course though, the second his teammates entered the room, they're eyes zeroed in on him. Of course, he had to have the two teammates that nothing escaped their notice.

Sasuke and Hinata, both ignored the glares they were receiving as they entered the room too. It was like it washed over their shoulders, not even noticing. "Sasuke! How've you been, cutie?" a pair of twin voices yelled, and from two sides, a blonde and a pink haired girl lunged for the Uchiha, only to have him side-step the pair of them and continue on towards Naruto.

"Sasuke!?"

"You," he stopped in front of Naruto. "What did you say?"

"Just that you were a bastard," Naruto lied brightly. He didn't want Sasuke to know he –gag- enjoyed his presence and thought of him as a friend!

"Bullshit," he snapped. "You wouldn't have run then. Hinata?"

"Um, I don't think it matters Sasuke-kun," Hinata said slowly, though she too looked interested. "Perhaps we should focus on the exam… and everyone's staring at us."

"Let them," Sasuke scowled, glancing over at the Konoha genin – and avoiding eye contact with Ino and Sakura. "Mindless sheep, they'll give up once they realise we can't be intimidated."

Hinata nodded slowly, and Naruto grinned happy that Sasuke seemed to have forgotten they're slightly running problem. Sasuke turned his sharp eyes back to Naruto, scowl present on his face, though, he didn't utter a single word. Just crossed his arms over his chest and huffed.

Silence reigned over the three of them, but that didn't include the rest of the room. Naruto let his eyes wander around the room, of course he could see the people he went to the academy with; and then there was Lee and his team who just snuck in. The only other team he noticed was the one he got into a fight with a few days ago. The blonde girl, with the purple faced prick and the creepy redhead.

Shuddering at the memory of the kids voice, he didn't really notice when a white-haired guy started to approach the rookies; though he did notice when half the sound in the room started to dim down. "Huh? What's-"

Sasuke held up his finger and then gestured to a guy who was sitting cross legged in front of their old classmates. Naruto shifted uncomfortably. "That guy," Hinata started to whisper, turning her head so she was talking directly into his ear. "Has something called a Shinobi Skill Card. He's asking if they want any information on any of the candidates. Everyone's listening in."

"Oh," Naruto responded, focusing on what the guy was saying.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Kiba asked bluntly. Naruto blinked, looking sideways at his teammate, honestly, why was Kiba interested in knowing Sasukes?!

"Alright," the older Genin sounded excited to be saying, though his focus wasn't exactly on the group; but looking through the group? Was he looking for someone? Naruto turned to Sasuke, as if to ask if he got the same vibe. Naruto wasn't sure if he was frowning because his name was called, or because he thought this guy was odd. "Uchiha Sasuke, graduated a year ago, as the rookie of the year. He's done 35 D ranked missions? And one B rank. He's exceptional in all areas, excelling in Ninjutsu. Wow, graduated for six months with a B rank?"

"As if he's done a B rank!" Kiba scoffed, before barking; "Uzuamki Naruto!"

This time it was Naruto to frown, not wanting his information to come up on those cards. The guy shuffled his cards again, picking one up and looking at it briefly. "Again, graduated six months ago. With 35 D rank missions and one B rank. There's nothing on his skills though, huh? That's odd considering he's a Leaf Genin."

"No way did Naruto do a B rank!" this time it was Sakura who chimed in. "And how'd they manage 35 D ranks!? We only did 7!"

In unison, Sasuke, Hinata and Naruto all shuddered. "Well, it says here that their Sensei is an ex-anbu captain."

Kakashi-sensei is a what!? Naruto looked to Hinata to explain but she looked just as shocked as he was, in fact, she was frowning rather heavily. Sasuke looked back at the pair, before raising an eyebrow. "The identity of anbu is meant to be a secret," Hinata muttered as low as she possibly could. "Even ex-anbu… No one should be able to know."

They all sat in silence with that. "I knew Sensei was a sadistic bastard."

"It does explain a lot," Sasuke responded dryly. Before any of them could utter another word, a ninja that was sitting behind them, lunged over them, Naruto ducked rather fast, but his target seemed to be the man dishing out about them. Good, Naruto thought annoyed.

The silver haired guy simply moved his head to the side, allowing the knives he'd thrown to fly harmlessly over his head. "We don't trust that guy," Sasuke muttered in the confusion of the battle. "We don't trust anyone that isn't one of us three."

"Not even Lee and Buns-chan?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "What part of 'no one' don't you understand, idiot?"

Kakashi POV

The Hokage's Tower

Kakashi, had not once been to meeting where they were electing newly promoted Genin to become Chunin, and, to be completely honest, he had no idea how it was going to come to pass. All he knew was that he was going to send his student's into that exam, and he didn't particular care that normally, you had to wait a year.

He based that assumption on himself, having become a Chunin a year after making Genin. He felt, that this honestly, could be used as a reasonable baseline. Kakashi watched as his co-workers, and a few acquaintances (that might have been closer to friends than not), entered the room, grim looks on the face of all of them.

They knew what this exam was about, they knew what they were signing their student's up to. This exam, pushed Ninja into actually being a real assets to the country. Many Genin, weren't allowed to anything of importance, Chunin however, had earned the right to 'spread their wings', so to speak.

The Hokage eyes each of the Jonin Sensei, which, Kakashi admitted, were far more of than he had originally thought. "It is again, this time of year. I will be asking you all right now. Do any of you wish to enter your student's in the Chunin Exam."

"I believe my students have managed enough, to enter this contest of youth," Gai, the enteral bane of his existence, (even if he admitted that he somewhat liked his light-hearted nature, when he wasn't annoying him that was), stepped forward, his thumbs turned upwards, and that grin full of dazzling white teeth on his face. Kakashi, could not figure this man out, at all.

So he stopped bothering to try. Some people, like Gai, were just not meant to be dissected the way he always did with people. Because unlike most people, Gai wasn't clear cut in his words, or motives – but he digressed, watching as a few more of the teachers of the older students stepped forward.

It was a Konoha Exam, so they weren't exactly limited by the amount of candidates they could spend. Kakashi slowly raised his hand, faking his smile, showing it through his curved eye, his words cutting through the next person who wanted to speak up. It took talent, to be as annoying as he was, he mused eyeing the angry Jonin that was currently glaring at him. "I want to enrol those kids I teach."

The Hokage sighed, already sounding tired, but this seemed to rile up the brown haired man seated next to him. To this man, Iruka's, credit though, he didn't sound very annoyed with his response. "Your Genin, Hatake-san, only graduated six months ago. Don't you think it's a bit, ah, shall we say premature to be thinking that?"

The silver haired ninja imminently squashed down the response that could have been counted on from Zabuza; this really wasn't the sort of place that the ex-missing nin's words would be useful. Instead of doing anything, he just shrugged his shoulders, and ignored the mummers of the other Jonin behind him.

Gossip about how he was training those kids really didn't bother him all that much. Half thought he threw them to the wolves, and let them learn on their own, and the other half thought he trained them like ANBU. He wouldn't lie, had had given them exercises from his Anbu days, but that was only because those methods worked.

Couldn't argue with results, right? "I think they'll be fine," Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, already knowing that his students would grace that exam – it was nothing a Chunin Academy teacher could stop.

"Six months ago, those kids were my students, and I know what their capable of, and this, this isn't something they can handle!" the man's voice had reached a stage of high strung stress, and Kakashi rolled his eye. Seriously, had he seen those minions of his lately?

They were more than ready, he didn't expect them to pass, not really. Though, he knew that this would give them the much needed insight to how this whole thing worked, and they needed to know – before it was too late. "Eh, I've been teaching them for the past six months, they'll be fine."

"Their mental capabilities-"

"Look," Kakashi said, cutting him off with a rather unimpressed air about him – one that normally inspired a rant about how 'hip' he was from Gai. "I don't really care what you think. They're my soldiers, and I think they're ready."

The Hokage sighed as the irate brunette turned to him for support – a commonality of those that have to argue with him about something. When would they realise he simply didn't care for their opinion? He had never much cared for those, and he wasn't about starting to care either.

Caring was exhausting, and he didn't like doing it. "It was well within Kakahi's rights to nominate his team, and if he thinks his team can manage it-."

"They can't-!"

"Sasuke was the rookie of the year," Kakashi responded blandly, ignoring the curious looks from the Jonin next to him. "He has the best control of his chakra I've seen in a Genin. Hinata, had the best scores for physical fighting within her year," he continued, watching the man flinch back slightly, and he wasn't about to stop there.

"I've never seen someone so ruthless in a fight," whilst not exactly true, she was rather adamant about protecting her teammates, and she was rather brutal with her Clan's chosen Taijutsu when she had reason to be. Locking them in the forest of death had convinced him of that.

"And Naruto had the highest test scores, since, well, forever," he continued, ignoring the finch he got the second the blonde boy's name was mentioned. Ah, the problem was with Naruto being in the battlefield, was it? "He might as well be the strongest Genin in this room."

With the power of the Kyubi, he had no doubts about this. The sore throb of the scar that was embedded on his chest was testament of that. It had been nearly a month since that mission, and the wound Naruto had inflicted was still as red and raw as it had been the day he'd gotten it.

He stared to desensitise himself to the pain. "Do I have any more objections?" he asked, false humour lacing his decidedly not amused self. Honestly, Kakashi did not like having to explain himself that much. "No? Excellent! Who's next?"

"…I want to nominate my team!" two voices cried out in unison the second the words left his lips. "If Kakashi can nominate his team, so can I," Asuma continued.

"My team, are also ready," Kurenai agreed, red eyes flashing at both of them. The Hokage sighed again, and that was the moment he knew that he had to stay behind for a chat, the look the Hokage flashed him, always indicated that they were in for a chat.

Damn, was the window a viable option? They had just recently gotten it fixed, but windows were made to be broken, in his humble opinion.