The village was buzzing with life. Vendors were peddling their wares with more excitement than ever. Security was tighter than ever with chunin and jonin ninja doing regular patrols, and of course Anbu watching from the shadows. There was an influx of visitors to the village. Yes, it was that time again, the Chunin Exams had returned to Konoha.

Gathered in the Hokage tower were all of the jonin-sensei's ready to report on whether they're entering their students into the exams. For the most part all of the older teams are being entered, finally he gets to the elite jonin that currently have students. "Gai?"

"I, Maito Gai, jonin-sensei of Team 3, now known simply as Team Gai, put forward Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten." It wasn't surprising to most in the room, elite jonin almost always put their genin forward by the second year of teaching. Hiruzen turns towards Kurenai.

"Kurenai?"

"I, Yuuhi Kurenai, jonin-sensei of Team 7 put forward Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruko." Murmurs erupt from the jonin in the room, this team had both the dead last and the handless heiress. The woman must be insane.

"Silence. Now then Kakashi?"

"I, Hatake Kakashi, jonin-sensei of Team 8 put forward Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura, and Inuzuka Kiba." The murmurs erupt once more, now much louder. Two rookie teams had been put forward! With a look from the Hokage they quiet.

"Asuma?"

"I, Sarutobi Asuma, jonin-sensei of Team 10 put forward Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino." The room couldn't take it any more, this hadn't happened in years. All three rookie teams apprenticed under their elite jonin were put forward!

"I see, well I trust all of your judgment's. Keep in mind this is the first Chunin Exam in the past decade with all five major villages attending, be on alert." Iwa hadn't attended in years, and Kumo stopped coming after the Hyuuga Affair. The wind was changing and they all knew it. The jonin all quickly disperse, most of them leaving to gossip. Hiruzen didn't mention the fact that Ame had sent five teams this year. Previously they only had been sending one a year, but with them coming out of isolation it would seem they're interested in showing off their strength. Or getting their genin in contact with Uzumaki Naruko.

Kurenai finds herself outside with Kakashi, Gai, and Asuma. She speaks to the three of them.

"Any of you interested in betting on the exams?"

"And what would this bet entail Kurenai-chan?"

"Don't speak with such familiarity to me Sarutobi-san." Her voice was cold, she still hadn't forgiven him, despite his best efforts. She had resolved herself to never let his betrayal go. "But to answer the question I want to bet on our teams performances."

"Sounds interesting my most youthful teammate." Kakashi nods, he'd be down to make some easy money.

"Great, then I wager my entire team will make it to the third phase. And to go even further one of them will win it." Asuma scoffs.

"Talk about wasting money." The other three collectively glares at him and he coughs realizing his mistake. "I'll take that bet, I bet my team will make it just as far. Hell I bet yours will at most have the Uchiha make it." The dead last demon and handless heiress would never make it past the preliminaries.

"If this is the bet we're making than I think my team will make it, they're nothing if not efficient." And always on time, he had thoroughly drilled the importance of being on time to his team. Though the Inuzuka was resistant to the idea. Kakashi sighed, his team was a piece of work, but he had gotten through to them in the past five months. Though the Inuzuka was still brash, but that's just in his clans nature.

"Yosh! I'm sure my team will put their youth on display for all of the world! They will win it all!" Gai was willing to get in on this bet. His team was older and more experienced, though he knew not to underestimate Kurenai's team. He had seen them first hand, and knew they were strong.

"Great, minimum wager of 1000 ryo?"

"I'll raise it by 3000." Wow Kakashi was confident.

"Alright I'll put down 4000 on my team." The others murmured in agreement. With that the four dispersed to go track down their teams.


Naruko was currently holding hands with her girlfriend and staring down a square rock. The two had been on a date and had notice Konohamaru was following them. He had been doing this a lot in the past three weeks. The kid was funny and all, but it was getting annoying that he wouldn't stop. Not to mention Hina-chan was getting frustrated with him. She's pretty sure she was about to force the kid to stop. Naruko speaks, "Kono, I know it's you." The rock goes up in a puff of smoke and three kids pop out. Well that's surprising, she had only been expecting Konohamaru.

The two knew kids were aiding Konohamaru in some weird introduction. They named themselves off. The girl was named Moegi, she had her hair in a weird style of pigtails and had a permanent blush on her face. And the boy was named Udon, who wore glasses and had snot dripping down his nose. Naruko realized more and more people were giving her weird introductions recently. She hoped the trend stopped. "Naruko-chan will you play ninja with us?" The redhead shakes her head.

"Sorry Kono, I'm on a date. Maybe some other time." The boy pouts.

"Why do you like her anyways? She doesn't even have two hands!"

"Love is hard to explain, I hadn't even thought about my own feelings for her when she first asked me out. Honestly while I have definitely realized I'm attracted to girls in the past several months, I probably would have said yes to her regardless of her looks or gender. I just love her. I couldn't imagine anyone else I would want to spend the rest of my life with. So in the end her number of hands won't ever matter to me." Hinata blushed at that, she didn't say anything in response just squeezed her girlfriends hand. Her girlfriend really was very sweet.

Konohamaru didn't really get it but he shrugs. All he can tell is he has lots of work to do if he wants to win the redheads heart. He missed the sigh Moegi gave at his look. Hinata didn't. So the little girl had a crush huh? She could work with that. Anything to eliminate another rival. "I love you too Naru-chan." She leans in and gives her girlfriend a kiss. The kids watching collectively say gag and run off. The two are interrupted as not even thirty seconds later they hear Konohamaru cry out. They sigh, that sounded annoying. But they'd have to deal with it.

They quickly round the corner and find Konohamaru being lifted off the ground by some kunoichi. She was about Hinata's height, and had short hair. She also had black eyes, which kind of made her look like an Uchiha. But more than anything they noticed the foreign headband, more specifically Iwa, on her head. "Watch it you damn brat!"

"You should look where you're going you hag!" Naruko rolls her eyes, Kono really didn't know how to shut his mouth. She missed the irony. Hinata speaks up.

"You should let the boy go kunoichi-san." The kunoichi turns to look at them and scoffs upon seeing them.

"Yeah and why should I listen to a handless loser?" These kids looked weak, and she'd always take the chance to crush some tree huggers.

"Because he's the Hokage's Grandson." The kunoichi looks down at him and scoffs again.

"You really do raise them to be weak here in Konoha, when I was his age I was already able to take on genin."

"And who are you exactly?" Naruko was curious what could she say.

"Kamizuru Kurotsuchi." Hinata recognized the surname.

"So you're the Tsuchikage's granddaughter then?" The girl nods. "You should still let the boy go."

"And if I don't?"

"Then the boy wrapping the sand around you will probably use it. Oh and I'll probably be forced to cause an incident." Not to mention Naru-chan was standing stock still, she was already prepared to snap the girls neck. Naru-chan never liked people hurting her friends.

The girl looks down and curses jumping away and releasing the boy. She looks around and spots a redheaded boy standing on a tree branch. "And who are you supposed to be?"

The boy smiles charmingly, "I'm Sabaku no Gaara. But please call me Gaara." Kurotsuchi spots the Sand forehead protector and scowls.

"And why are you interfering?"

"I thought I'd make good on Suna's alliance with Konoha." The woman clicks her teeth.

"Whatever I'll just kill you all in the exams, assuming you're even strong enough to be participating." Naruko looks at the black eyed girl.

"I can kill you here and now if you prefer not to wait. Because you've already insulted my friends and my girlfriend. And attacked a Konoha civilian while on foreign soil. It'd be a shame too because you're pretty cute. Though not as cute as Hina-chan."

"At least you have good taste in women." If she found Kurotsuchi attractive she wasn't as stupid as she looks.

Hinata was less impressed. "Don't compliment women from outside Konoha, they're all skanks."

"Why's that?"

"They'll only ever want you for your body, and I heard most people in Iwa are inbred because they die too much in wars, they're forced to marry their siblings. You don't want to be apart of that." Naruko nods in understanding. Though wasn't that the case with most clans in general? Hitomi and Hiashi were both Hyuuga by blood and Sasuke's parents were both Uchiha. And her grandparents on her moms side are probably all Uzumaki. So aren't they all a little inbred? Man now that she thinks about it the whole marrying in the clan business is kind of weird.

The Iwa Kunoichi was red with anger. That was blatantly false! But before she can respond a new voice speaks. "Now there's no need to be rude, just because Iwa inbreeds more than the rest of us doesn't make it nice to mock them. Don't you think it's better for everyone to get along?" The group collectively looks at the new arrival. It was a fairly pretty girl wearing a kimono and a Kiri forehead protector. Though Naruko is having trouble telling if it's a boy or not. The chakra she was sensing felt male, but the person looked so feminine.

She figured she'd just ask. "Are you a boy or a girl?"

"I'm a boy." Gaara pipes up now.

"Damn and I was just thinking about how pretty you are." Oh well, there were other pretty foreigners he could meet. Like the two fine specimen from Konoha standing before him. "What about you two, you seem like you'd be fun to play with."

"Sorry not interested in boys."

"Fair enough, if you ever want to experiment give me a call."

"Aren't you a little young for this?"

"Appreciating the feminine form requires no age limit." The Kiri nin nods his head. "Not to mention in Suna we're encouraged to start dating early, we know we're ninja and our life spans are short." Not to mention the desert was ever unforgiving, and the need for the next generation was always important.

"Man Hina-chan foreign cultures are weird. So what's different in Kiri?"

"We have legal polygamy, both with taking multiple wives and husbands." It was to help propagate their many bloodlines. Though it was also a taboo to bring up marriage in front of the Mizukage.

"Weird, I could never imagine loving more than one person with all my heart." The Kiri nin shrugs, it's what they grew up with.

"I could say the same about not treating relations ships as only involving one person."

"I can certainly second that thought."

"How many new people are going to show up? We're only in an alleyway." Naruko didn't get it, is there something special about this alleyway. This time it was a blond woman with the biggest boobs Naruko had ever seen. She was wearing a Kumo forehead protector. Hinata couldn't help but tense up.

"So how is Kumo different big tits?" The woman seemed non-pulsed by the name. Hinata could feel herself relaxing at the way her girlfriend so casually addressed the woman.

"We have open relationships."

"How's that different from polygamy?"

"We have one significant other, most of the time, but we're allowed to see others freely while we date or are married, essentially there is no concept of cheating. Which by the way, you the handless Hyuuga and the redheaded girl are just my types. Going on a date with me would be pretty cool. Or we could do something a little cooler." She refused to call it hot just on principle.

"Sorry but the redheads all my mine, I won't be sharing her with anyone."

"A shame, I'm Samui by the way."

"And I'm Yuki Haku." It was the Kiri nin who spoke now.

"So you're all here for the exams?" The four foreign nin nod. Hinata smiles viciously. "Then I can't wait to show all of you just why Konoha is the strongest village." She had no pride in the village, but she was going to win anyways and teasing them is fun.

Gaara smiles, "I like the way you think, but a fair warning. I'm not good at sparing my enemies lives. So try not to die or get maimed. It'd be a shame to ruin your pretty faces."

"Whatever shorty, Iwa's going to show all of you up."

"Oh I didn't notice you. You're my type too Iwa kunoichi, you should definitely go on a date with me. It'd be cool. Not to mention I can show you how great Kumo is on the battle field and in the sack." Naruko couldn't help but wonder if all foreign nin are forward about their sexual desires. Fuu was like that too.

"You're forgetting the fact that Kumo has never beaten Kiri in a war before. If you really want to see good battle then you can watch me in the finals."

Konohamaru was looking at all of the genin weirdly, they had started ignoring him and he wasn't sure what was going on anymore. Though he whispered to Naruko. "What does she mean by in the sack?"

"It's about making babies."

"Isn't she a little young to want kids?" True but Naruko wasn't going to tell him it was actually just mindless sex.

"To each their own I guess. Now I think we should probably get going, you have friends to be playing with and I have a date. See you later foreign nins." Most of them wave goodbye, though Kurotsuchi just grunts.

The redhead and the Hyuuga leave them in the Alleyway and walk off. A few minutes later Naruko calls out. "So what do you think of them Sasuke?" She had sensed him watching the whole thing.

"I think the world is dead set on making me watch people flirt with you two, including yourselves. But they're all pretty strong as far as I can tell. By the way Kurenai wanted me to tell you to meet her at the training ground. It's probably for the chunin exams."

"Well let's just go get it out of the way, we can resume our date after Naru-chan." The redhead pouts but nods anyways.


The three found Kurenai waiting at training ground 14. She noticed them immediately and smiles. "Good you're all here. I'm not going to beat around the bush. I've entered you all into the the Chunin Exams. If you're interested in participating go to the first academy at 9am tomorrow." She was about to say something but seeing the looks on their faces she sighs. "You know I was gonna tell you it's your individual choices but seeing your expressions you'll all go anyways won't you?"

The three nod and Hinata speaks. "I guess now that you've entered us I should stop keeping this a secret."

"What secret is that?"

"If Hina-chan doesn't win the finals then she'll either be forced into the branch family or forced into an arranged marriage."

"Why haven't you told me this?"

"I know the exams are deadly and I didn't want you to force the other two to compete for my sake. I want to win but it's not worth getting them killed if you don't think we're ready. Clearly you do." Hinata could never forgive herself if her own desires got Naru-chan hurt. Hell even Sasuke, he was one of her closest friends.

"Alright I can understand that reasoning. Well here are your exams forms, bring these to the academy filled out. More information will be available upon officially entering." They nod and she continues. "Alright well, you three should relax, it is still your day off."

"Yeah Hina-chan and I have a date to get back to." The Hyuuga nods and takes Naruko's right hand in her left. "See you later Sasuke and Kurenai-sensei." With that the two walk off leaving the other two.

"Kurenai-sensei what do you think of them?"

"I think Hinata is too focused on protecting Naruko. Wave was a good wake up call for her, Naruko can protect herself. But outside of that I think they're great. You as well you know. When you came to this team I was expecting you to be a sexist prick, what with all the fan girls. But you've grown into a respectable young man in these past five months. So let me ask you the same question Sasuke. What do you think of them?"

"I love them, they're like the sisters I never had. They brought me out of my grief without making me feel like my memories of my family are a burden. They're both incredibly blunt with me and it's great after having been the object of peoples plans and desires for the past six years. Though Naruko could use some common sense."

"You know, I think if she did have common sense we'd all probably still be tip toeing around you."

"Perhaps you're right."

"You know I heard Hinata used to hate you."

"Yeah when we were six, I had a crush on Naruko and she knew it. She's been staking her claim for years."

"So why'd you stop crushing on her?"

"The massacre made me feel the need to cut out my connections."

"And you truly don't feel that way anymore?"

Sasuke had to think for a moment before shaking his head. "I couldn't imagine cutting my connection with the people I care for anymore." He hadn't realized how miserable he had been until he became friends with the other two.

"And what of your goals, have they changed?"

"No, I will still kill Itachi. But you and the others will be right there with me right?"

Kurenai smiles, "Of course, you're one of my precious students. My goal is to help you all fulfill yours. Though you're on your own when it comes restoring the clan." Sasuke splutters.

"Ew, Kurenai-sensei you may be hot but that's weird."

"Why must all my genin comment on my body."

"You just made a joke about my sex life, are you really one to talk?"

"I guess not."

Sasuke rolls his eyes, "I'll see you later Kurenai-sensei." He left smiling.


The three genin found themselves standing outside the academy at 8:30 am. The three nodded at one another and then headed inside. The academy to no surprise hadn't changed a bit in the past five months. They couldn't help but contrast just how much they had grown in the past five months since they graduated. They had all grown taller in the past few months, With Hinata standing now at 5'1", Naruko standing at 4'7" and Sasuke being the tallest of the three standing at 5'4." They hadn't really changed the way they dressed, still wearing the same garbs as before. Of course they had also grown as ninja, given that they were all chunin level now, if their being entered into the exam indicated anything.

They bring their filled out forms to a chunin at the front desk. He looks them over and then says. "Head up to room 301, don't wait until the last minute. There are only so many seats, and extra genin will be turned away." The three genin nod and quickly head up the stairs. They had always had class on the first floor and only really thought about it now, but why does this stairwell only go to the second floor? It seemed odd. They shrug and walk down the corridor, as they do they notice an odd commotion going on outside of room 201. Well, it said 301 but they weren't stupid enough to forget they've only climbed one set of stairs. Plus Kurenai-sensei would never settle for them being unable to dispel one of the simplest Genjutsu.

Oddly they notice Lee seems to be having trouble entering the room. It's weirder to them that he's even trying. He's not that stupid and Neji certainly would recognize the Genjutsu with the Byakugan. The team decides it must be an act and quietly decides to ignore the older team. They don't want to waste their time by dealing with this. They could have sworn they heard Lee talking about Sakura as they pass but they shake it off as pre-exam jitters. How would Lee even know Sakura?

They arrive at the exam room on the third floor and find Kurenai-sensei standing outside waiting on them. They look at her quizzically. "Good luck you three, remember what you've learned under me and you'll do fine." They nod and she steps aside to let them in.

Entering the room they notice the killing intent radiating out from the other genin in the room. They are largely unfazed, having experienced worse in their childhoods. And in the case of Hinata and Sasuke, they had also felt worse from their very own teammate. The second thing they notice is the shrill cry of one Yamanaka Ino as she glomps the Uchiha heir. "Sasuke-kun! Did you miss your Ino-chan?"

Naruko sees an opportunity and whispers to Hina-chan. "Do you wanna mess with Ino and Sasuke at the same time?" Hinata looks at her and nods, it sounds like fun. "Good, then follow my lead." They turn their attention back Sasuke who had just managed to break free of Ino's grasp. Naruko quickly rushes forward and latches onto Sasuke's arm. Hinata catching on quickly does the same for his other arm. "Sasuke-kun, are we not enough to satisfy you?" He looks at her dumbfounded. He had never heard her call him "kun" before or use a tone like that. It was weird and he didn't like it. Not to mention the implication.

Hinata pipes up before he can respond. "Yeah Sasuke-kun, after everything we did last night are we really not enough?" Sasuke curses in his head, these two were stirring trouble just to watch him squirm. Two shrill screams erupt, one from Ino and the other from Sakura who just arrived. Sasuke decided he was wrong about his teammates. He hates them.

"Looks like Sasuke taught them how great cock is."

"Of course you would know just how great it is to take some cock Kiba." He may hate his teammates at the moment, but he wasn't just going to let dog boy insult them.

"What was that you bastard?"

"Aren't dogs supposed to have good hearing along with their noses? I guess the runts are typically just to trashy to inherit that trait. I'm surprised your sister didn't set you straight." By this point Naruko and Hinata had let him go, seeing as he wasn't reacting to them anymore. Oh well, hearing him insult Kiba was equally fun.

"My sister is too busy fucking the snake woman to care." That's not true, she and his mother had beat his ass for his treatment of the two girls. But he didn't regret it, he just regretted being caught.

"You realize that snake woman is going to kick you're ass for insulting her girlfriend right?" Team 7 had met Anko a few more times over the course of their careers and if they learned anything, it would be that Anko was crazy the vast majority of the time.

"You guys are already bickering, this is such a drag."

"Shikamaru you haven't changed at all. If anything I think you got lazier." Hinata shoots back.

"And you three have changed a lot." He had noticed immediately that Hinata was lacking a hand, and that Sasuke was far more talkative than their academy days. Naruko seemed to have some indescribable change about her, he couldn't put his finger on it. "How'd you lose the hand?"

The rest of the rookie nine turn to Hinata and see that indeed she is missing a hand. Gasps ring out from Ino, Sakura, and Choji. Shino was ever stoic and Kiba scoffed. "Probably lost it because she's a worthless ninja."

"If protecting my girlfriend makes me worthless then yes I suppose I am. After all what genin team would get injured fighting two A-rank nins and an S-rank nin." It was a bit of hyperbole, they hadn't actually fought Fuu, and hadn't fought Konan at the same time as Utakata. But it wasn't technically a lie.

"Yeah right, as if. You'd be dead if you actually went up against an S-rank." They would have if Konan had been trying to kill them, but she wasn't.

"You all should quiet down, you're drawing attention to yourselves." A gray haired boy with glasses says, interrupting them. As if to prove his point the rest of the room glares at them. "This must be your first exam or you would know better."

"Is this your second?" Sakura asks curiously.

"No, actually this is my seventh."

Kiba scoffs, "So this guy is just a loser who can't pass."

"Or these exams are more difficult than we were expecting." Still Shikamaru couldn't help but feel seven attempts is a little excessive.

"Fortunately with all of my failures I've managed to gather information of pretty much every one here."

"Really do you have anything on Yuki Haku?"

"You know his name, that's so boring." He goes through his cards and quickly finds the one on Haku. "Says here he's from Kiri and is a student under one of the seven swordsmen of the mist, Momochi Zabuza. He is also a member of the Yuki clan and has Hyoton. Anyone else you'd like to know about?"

Shikamaru speaks at this point. "Uzumaki Naruko." Team 7 looks at him surprised. "What? You're still competition." They shrug, fair enough.

"Uzumaki Naruko, says here she's proficient in Genjutsu and Fuinjutsu. She has two unknown techniques that allow her to change her hair, she powers up considerably when using them. She has directly fought an S-rank nin on her first C-rank mission which turned A-rank. She killed the A-rank missing nin Utakata." Team 7 immediately goes on edge. They knew the Hokage had kept her use of the Juubi's chakra under wraps. The number of people who should know about it can be counted on two hands. Likewise her use of sage mode shouldn't really be known to people. This is no ordinary genin. He also shared information specifically to make her seem like a powerful target. No they cannot trust him. Not to mention the fact that Team 7 hadn't been in a Chunin Exam before so he couldn't have gotten info on them by meeting them in another exam.

Shikamaru speaks again, "I didn't ever catch your name."

"My apologies, I'm Yakushi Kabuto." Sasuke recognized the surname, Yakushi was the name of the second in charge of the hospital, right after Noihara Rin. So then this Kabuto character was likely a medic of some kind. Though that's assuming he follows in his fathers footsteps. "I don't know if you realize but these exams are pretty historic, it's the first time in years that all five major villages are participating in the same exams. Not only that but Ame has finally come out of it's isolation and is sending more than one team to the exams. And there is a new village participating, though since they're so new they're pretty weak." Team 7 couldn't help but wonder if they would meet Konan again, since Ame was here. Would Fuu have officially joined as a ninja? Guess they'd have to wait and find out.

There attention is drawn to the ninja rushing toward Kabuto, with a forehead protector they didn't recognize. Guess that's the new village. They watch passively as the genin misses Kabuto, only for the gray haired boy to puke his guts out. Well that's an interesting technique, it's worth looking into how to avoid it. The genin who struck forward was wearing a gauntlet that they assumed caused it. He said something about Otogakure being strong or something like that, but Naruko was more interested in how his technique worked.

She distracted from her current train of thought as a man bursts into the room with a puff of smoke. "Silence! Degenerates!" The man wore a black trench coat and was covered in scars. "I'm the proctor for the first exam, Morino Ibiki." Hinata recognized the name, Anko-san had mentioned him when talking about her work before. "Any fighting will not be tolerated, failure to comply will be met with instant disqualification. Now come up and take the number cards I have down here. Then go to the matching seat."

One by one the genin head down and take their cards. Naruko got number 27, and looking at her girlfriend she sees that she got 26. That's pretty lucky. It seems Sasuke is further in the back, with a 63. They quietly take their seats and await further orders. "Good, the first exam is a written test. It has a total of ten questions, each is worth one point." That's pretty simple. "Your points will be scored as a team, any team with less than 21 points fails." So in other words everyone on a team has to get at least one point. "The tenth question will be delivered separately. Finally cheating is prohibitted, everytime you're caught cheating you lose a point. Get caught five times and your whole team is disqualified."

Naruko couldn't help but notice how odd that seemed. In the academy the rules were that they would instantly get a zero if they're caught cheating. And she doubts the message the proctor is trying to send is that things become more forgiving as time goes on. She's cut from her musings as the tests are passed out. She quickly flips it over and sees a whole lot of random shit. Why does she need to find the derivative of the velocity of a kunai traveling in an arc of 30 degrees to the ground. Looking over the other questions she notices it's all mostly just worthless math or literature from higher level civilian courses. Though interestingly she does notice a problem of Fuinjutsu that she quickly answers.

Looking to her left she spots her girlfriend with her Byakugan active and a mostly filled sheet. Ah, so the whole point is to cheat then. Subtly glancing back at Sasuke she sees he's cheating too, his Sharingan was blazing. Then they're fine. She's answered one of the questions already, and the other two will get perfect scores so it should be fine. Though maybe she can do another way. Looking for someone who seems mostly done she subtly weaves a Genjutsu around them. The boy suddenly stands up and shouts out the answers to his first three questions. Naruko quickly copies them down. All she had done was show him a Genjutsu of Ibiki telling him to call out his answers, he had done the rest for them.

Ibiki was swift and ruthless "Number 19 and his teammates number 87 and 102, you three are all disqualified." Ibiki was looking right at Naruko as he said that, and she instantly knew he was aware of her trick. He seems to be letting it slide for now, but likely wouldn't let her get away with it in the future. That's fine she got all she needs.

As the exam goes on Ibiki calls out more and more numbers, by the time the timer rings roughly a third of the room was empty now. "Alright it's time for the tenth question. But there are some extra rules for this one. You may choose not to take the question and be instantly disqualified." A girl from Suna with a large fan calls out.

"Then why wouldn't we?"

He glares at her and continues, "As I was saying, you may choose not to take the question and fail; however, if you choose to take the question and get it wrong you and your teammates will be barred from ever entering another Chunin Exam." Outrage erupts from the room.

Kiba shouts out, "Bullshit! There are people here who have failed multiple times."

"Shut up maggots! These are my exams and my rules, it's your shitty luck that had you try and become a chunin under my watch. Now then if you don't want to take the exam simply raise your hand so I can mark it down." A minute passes by in tense silence before a genin raises his hand. "Number 35 and his teammates 48 and 56 you are disqualified." The group leaves silently and the tidal wave of others leaving starts. People start raising their hands left and right, it doesn't take long for the group to be halved. Naruko and her teammates never would have quit anyways, Hina-chan has to much riding on this exam.

Hinata is watching the room carefully, she had noticed during the test that there were chunin planted in as genin. The one she had been copying off of had been the first to raise his hand. All of the first people to leave were the chunin she realized, but they had set the standard for the unsure genin. She notices out of the corner of her eye that it seems a cloud genin was about to raise his hand, he was muttering something fierce about how his staying in the exams would lead to nine great monsters being created and then collected together somehow creating the Fourth Shinobi War. That seemed a little outlandish to her.

It seemed he wasn't the only one to notice as Samui speaks up. "Ugh, Omoi continuing to raise your hand would so not be cool." And that was it, just like that the tension in the room broke and people stopped leaving. Hinata didn't think for a second that the blonde actually wanted to help the room but it was necessary to stay in the exam. The boy nods his head and lowers his hand.

Ibiki eyes the room for a little bit longer before saying, "Is there anyone else who'd like to quit now? You won't get another opportunity." He's met with silence. "Then you all pass." Like before outrage erupts from the genin in the room.

"So there was no question?" Naruko was curious.

"No I just asked it without telling you. The question was 'will you proceed knowing it could be dangerous or will you turn your backs on your village and your comrades?'" Ah, when he puts it like that then yeah he asked the question implicitly.

A boy from Suna in a weird catsuit speak, "So then what was the point of the first test?"

"It was to test your information gathering skills. The ability to get good information without being caught will be crucial in your careers as ninja." He removes his bandanna style forehead protector and reveals his scarred head. "This is what happens when you get bad information." He looked like he wanted to say something more but a cannon ball comes crashing through the window.

It turns out to be a container of some kind as Anko pops out. Behind her is a banner that says "Proctor of the second exam, the sexy and taken, Mitarashi Anko!" Ibiki sighs and says.

"You're too early Anko." She ignores him as she counts up the number of teams.

"Wow, you must be going dull Ibiki, you passed 20 teams. Ah well I'll be sure to cut that in half. Alright you brats, follow me to training ground 44, don't be late!" And with that she jumps out the window.

"She didn't tell us how much time we have to get there!" Ibiki smirks and says.

"Then you better get going." Team 7 quickly leaves the room, they had never been to training ground 44 before but they knew it's rough location. Though Naruko had to admit, she feels like she should recognize the name.

They're the first group to arrive and find Anko just standing around outside of the gated forest. "Hey Anko."

"Well if it isn't Nai-chan's brats. Try not to get eaten by the deadly animals inside, it'd be a shame, I do like you three." Relief instantly floods the team. Hinata asks curiously.

"Are deadly animals the only thing we have to worry about?"

"Well there are also man-eating plants and the other genin." Oh this is great then, plants seem to like Naruko for some reason and animals are afraid of her because of the Juubi, so the only threat in the forest will be other genin. Naruko had a contemplative look on her face. The other genin quickly arrive and Anko speaks. "Welcome to training ground 44, or as I like to call it, The Forest of Death."

Kiba scoffs, "It doesn't look so tough." A kunai whizzes by him, leaving a cut across his cheek.

"You know Kiba, Hana-chan would be pretty sad if you died in there. Well maybe only a little. But for her sake try not to get killed, it's brats like you who die first." She spins as someone comes up behind her. It was a genin from Kusa, she had her kunai and was handing it back to her. "You should be careful, coming up behind me is normally a death sentence." Unless it was Hana-chan, but that's different.

"Sorry, I just got so excited by the sight of blood." The Kusa genin backs away.

"Right well before we begin I'm going to need all of you to sign these waivers." She says holding out a stack of papers. "Don't worry these are just to make sure that from this point on in the exams Konoha can't be held liable for your inevitable deaths. Those of you from Konoha don't need to bother, you already signed the waivers by being our ninja." That was roughly a third of the teams who didn't need to sign anything. So she quickly hands them out to the foreign genin. Once all of the waivers are submitted she continues. "Each team will be receiving one of two scrolls. Your objective is to get the other scroll and make it to the tower in the center of the training grounds. Don't open the scrolls."

"What happens if we do?"

"Not only will you be disqualified but you'll also get a nice little surprise. Each team will be starting at a separate gate, It'll be your job to track down another team for your scroll. If you make it to the tower and any of your teammates are dead or missing then you fail. Killing is permitted."

Suddenly Naruko smacks her hand into her palm and says to her white eyed girlfriend. "I realize why I recognize this place now. I slept here a few times after getting kicked out of the orphanage. I was always so disappointed that the giant tigers wouldn't let me cuddle them. Or eat them." Most of the genin are looking at her like she's grown a second head. "The plants with teeth were pretty cool though, they always gave me shelter when it rained."

Hinata sighs, she remembered now, this was training ground "four four" that Naruko mentioned when they were four years old. By the time she could count to forty-four she had stopped caring about it. "Naru-chan try not to paint a bigger target on us."

"Why should I? Most of the people here are two weak to be a threat anyways. Not to mention I'm feeling, I don't know this weird longing for my childhood." Which was odd given how terrible her childhood was when she had to stay here. Hina-chan was the only good aspect of her childhood.

"Nostalgia is the word you're looking for."

"Ah right, I just didn't know that was the feeling it described." Naruko was plenty smart, but she has trouble with most words concerning emotions. Ah well, that's part of the reason she loved Hina-chan. She always helped her learn more about what she was feeling. She gives her girlfriend a quick peck on the cheek.

Sasuke sighs, why must they do this. He notices the glares the team is receiving for their casual attitude. Whatever they were weaklings anyways.

"Right well, Naruko's odd childhood aside. You all need to go into the tent and get your scroll, one at a time." They quickly do as ordered and once again are standing around outside the forest. "Alright then, we'll be moving you to your gates now." Several chunin appear and escort the various teams to different gates. Team 7 is left with Anko at the first gate. "You three will be given some time to plan, I'd suggest using it."

"Way ahead of you, Hinata did you see who has the earth scrolls?" She had activated her Byakugan as soon as she entered the tent. She nods and quickly describes the teams who have them. "Good Naruko, enter Sage Mode and find out which of those groups is the weakest." She would be able to tell their relative strength based off the way their chakra feels. It's not absolute, for example Rock Lee feels weak according to his chakra but is incredibly powerful. The good news is that suppressing chakra won't help the enemy teams hide from this.

She does so quickly and says. "Do we want to target Konoha teams? Because Team 8 is an option. If not then then one of the team from Suna works, one of the ones that don't have Gaara."

"No, we shouldn't fight Konoha teams if we don't have to."

"We should avoid Kusa at all costs."

"Why's that Naru-chan?"

"I hadn't felt it before now, but the woman from Kusa is way to strong to be a genin, easily as strong as Jiraiya. Not to mention she gives off the same feeling as Anko's curse mark." Anko goes on alert hearing that, she had been eavesdropping on the brats.

"Can you tell if she's marked, or is she the source?"

"I can't tell, we're too far away, and I don't want to get close." The other two nod at that. They would avoid Kusa then. "Oh Fuu is here too. Looks like she's being put in as a genin." So she's a wringer then, because she was at least jonin level in strength.

"If she goes near you I'm gonna kill her."

"Calm down Hina-chan, you know I love only you. Though you know you're pretty hot when you're jealous, or when you're angry or all the time really, but especially when you're angry."

"Are you two seriously flirting when we might be walking into our deaths?"

"Well what if we do die? Then we'll have missed our last chance to flirt." He sighs, he hates them but he loves them.

"You two are the worst."

"Naw, we could be like Anko and Hana, remember the time Hana started groping Anko right there at dinner?"

"Don't remind me." As a straight teenage boy, that had been hard to watch and maintain his cool. What could he say, they were both attractive. "And don't ever do that in front of me or else."

"Or else what?"

"I don't know I'll abandon the village for some guy whose into young boys or something."

"That seems worse for you then anyone else."

"Fair point."

"Hey Sasuke?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how Kurenai-sensei taught you the Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique) in wave?"

"Where are you going with this Hinata?"

"Do you ever wonder why she didn't use it to heal your hand?" The three go silent as Sasuke stands there with a look of shocked betrayal.

"Wow Kurenai-sensei is a sadist huh."

"That's it, Kurenai-sensei is officially on my hit list, right there at number one."

"Wow she replaced Itachi?"

"She stabbed me for fun, not even to test herself. She must be evil incarnate."

"I'm telling Nai-chan you said that." The three genin turn to Anko, they had forgotten she was there.

Sasuke begs, "Please don't Anko-sama, I don't want to be stabbed again."

"Hey Hina-chan now that I think about it aren't I due for a hand wound? Cause Sasuke already got stabbed through the hand and you lost yours."

"Don't Jinx it Naru-chan, I was hoping if we don't talk about it then it won't happen."

Anko couldn't help but laugh, these kids were great.

"Alright kids, it's time for the exam to start." She grabs a mic and the speakers along the fence ring out as she speaks. "Alright the exams begins on three. . . Three." The gates swing open and twenty genin teams rush in. Anko immediately sets out to go find the nearest Anbu, if Orochimaru is here, or connected to the team from Kusa then they need to be on high alert.


A/N Well the chapter came a little late, but I'm pretty happy with it. It would have come yesterday but I had to work on a paper for school that I've been putting off. Anyways, I can't wait to hear what you all think of the chapter. Oh an by the way the poll is actually up now, I forgot to make it appear on my profile page when I made it, but it's there now. There will likely be another delay on the next chapter since I have another paper I have a final paper due Monday that I need to work on. Speaking of finals I'm going to go ahead and say that when finals come around I will be putting this story on a temporary Hiatus to focus on studying. But that's not for another few weeks. Again it's just for school and not because I'm bored or experiencing writers block. Well that tangent aside I'll be curious as always to see what you guys think? What do you think of the change to Gaara? I figure he would have to be different if he never had Shukaku.

Oh one more thing, I'm considering rewriting the first chapter (I probably will) but I want to know do you all think I should focus on doing that before writing the next chapter or save it for a later date?

CM 11/17/2018