A/N: And the chunin exams begin! Thanks for all your support, everyone!

.o.o.o.

Chapter 20: Morino Ibiki is not Pleased...

.o.o.o.

"I can't believe so many people fell for that thing on the second floor," Naruto scolded.

"It thins the herd," Sakura said. "Less opponents for us."

"All right, my dad said we need to try and be pretty innocuous for the exams—you know, not draw too much attention. A lot of people are retaking, so nine 'rookies' will be frowned upon," Ino said.

"Innocuous?" Shino asked.

The group glanced at each other, taking in Naruto's neon orange jacket, the Uchiha crest on Sasuke's sleeves, Sakura's bright red shirt, Ino's purple outfit, Akamaru on Kiba's head, Lee being Lee, Neji's bright green hiate…

"Well, we've failed that already," Sasuke said. "So let's just try to keep our heads down and ears open."

The group headed into the exam room, where other teams were just milling about. They sat down close to each other, trying to relax a bit before the test.

"Sasuke. Huh, thought that thing on the second floor would get you for sure!"

"Hello Arashu," Sasuke said, sinking in his seat a bit. "Um, guys, my third-cousin. He and his teammates are sixteen."

"And not about to lose to some kids who got put here because a ton of them are heirs or potential heirs," Arashu said sternly. "…Or because Big Brother likes them."

"Shut it," Naruto said. "Or Sakura-chan can shut you down." Sakura cracked her knuckles.

"Don't talk about Itachi like that," Sasuke said darkly.

"Uchiha-san, your presence here is aggravating. Please leave," Neji said blandly.

"Whatever, Branch House," Arashu mocked.

Hinata stood up and jabbed him in the chest, "As heiress of the Hyuuga clan, I say you will respect Neji-niisan or deal with the consequences."

Arashu rolled his eyes and walked away. Hinata sat back down, nervously tapping her fingers.

"Whoa, you never invoke the 'heiress' thing," Kiba said.

Hinata flushed and started sinking in her seat. Neji calmly pulled her back up.

"And now everyone's glaring. Great," Shikamaru said. "No, no, Hinata, stay up, I'm not mad at you. Neji, stop the death-glare, please."

"Ah, it's fine," a genin with a musical note on his hiate said. "We're being looked down on too because Sound's so new." He held out his hand. "Haruki Mora. These are Misumi and Yoroi. So, are six of you really the two teams that completed the mission in Wave? You have a bridge named after you, you know—plaque and everything."

"Huh? Saw the bridge, did you?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, Sound's north of Wave, that's how we got here," Mora said. "Still, pretty cool, having a bridge named in your honor and doing an A-rank as genin. All we've got is some farmers who like us defending their sheep and said they'd pay us to come again."

"Hey, if it pays it pays, D to A," Shikamaru said, cutting in. "Any scope of the competition?"

"I'll tell mine if you tell yours," Mora said. "Steer clear of the Kazekage's kids—they're totally brutal. Oh, and avoid that rain team in the yellow suits if you can—creepy genjutsu from what sensei knows."

"I see," Shikamaru said. "The Grass ninja seem rather cocky this time around, and I can inform you that one of the Waterfall teams is on their fourth try—they're likely to be very desperate."

"Thanks," Mora said.

"You too," Shikamaru said. He sent a quick look to Sakura, who nodded. "Well, excuse me, Chouji owes me some chips for waking me up too early."

Chouji quickly handed some over. Sakura hissed, "The fact that it was A-rank was classified. Leaf Ninja only."

"Understood," Shikamaru said. "I'll make sure it gets looked at."

"Good," Sasuke muttered.

.o.o.o.

"Now, get to work!" Ibiki said as the kids started on their papers.

Sasuke wished he had the Sharingan right now—he could copy that way. The questions weren't too bad—Sakura probably had most done, and that obscure history question was probably from one of Mizuki's messed-up bedtime stories for Naruto or something Iruka said once, but he was stumped.

Naturally his cousins all had their eyes going…as did Neji, Hinata, and several other Hyuuga.

He was getting really worried when what felt like a tiny paw tapped his foot. Sasuke pretended to drop his pencil.

Cappy was under the desk, a tiny note in his mouth.

Sasuke smirked, took the note with his pencil, and sat back up.

Sasuke—17, Rydomo Mountain, Bakuton, "The Tale of Ten Rogues", 189, heat of the sun, three colors, 172, False, Snow Country—Sakura

Nice, very nice.

.o.o.o.

Lee squirmed slightly as Shikamaru's shadow connected with his. He was relieved when the answers started coming, though.

Ino pretended to slump in frustration, and quickly transferred her mind to someone she'd seen doing well. She memorized the information and got out fast. She then entered Chouji's mind to relay the information.

Shino finished spying with his bugs, and lent Tenten some aid with her mirrors when he was done.

Naruto answered two questions and stopped there—it was all he needed anyway. Who knew Mizuki's bedtime stories would answer as many questions as Iruka's books had?

Hinata and Neji cheated and then calmly pretended to be struggling over various answers anyway, so people wouldn't cheat off them.

Akamaru spied for Kiba. It was a bit obvious, but it only lost him two points.

.o.o.o.

Ibiki had to admit, the rookies were doing better than expected…though he still wondered where in hell Haruno not only found out how to summon a squirrel, but train the thing to deliver notes.

Konoha squirrels were notoriously fickle, after all.

He'd been a little surprised Uzumaki hadn't had to cheat, but then again he guessed that having two academy teachers as older brothers helped with stuff like this. The Inuzuka was edging a little close to overbold, but he'd let it slide and simply inform Tsume that her kid needed better spy skills. Shikaku's boy surprised him though, writing the whole time instead of doing the minimum and going to sleep.

He'd have to look at that paper for sure.

.o.o.o.

"All right, time's up!" Ibiki declared. "Time for the tenth question!"

Everyone handed in the papers. Naruto looked around the room—over half the teams hadn't been kicked out yet.

Hoo boy. He hoped the tenth question solved that—without kicking out him or the rest of his friends.

"All right, before I give you the tenth question, you must know: if you fail here, you will never be allowed to retake the exams," Ibiki said.

"But tons of people retake the chunin exams!" an Uchiha said. Sasuke and Arashu both nodded in agreement.

"Well, I said if you fail here didn't I?" Ibiki asked. "So, I'll give you all a few minutes but remember—one member leaves, so do their teammates."

Sakura frowned. She tapped Cappy on the head and handed him a small note before signaling him to go to Ino.

Ino stared at Sakura's squirrel, but took the note. 'Make people forfeit!'

She gave Cappy a thumbs up before settling down in her desk and calmly entering a Grass boy's mind and making him stand. "I-I give up!"

"Umeshi!" one of the boy's teammates complained. Ino quickly walked him out the door before returning to her body, leaving one confused boy in the hall. She repeated it with a Rain team and then a Waterfall one.

"I don't know why everyone's being so freaked out," Naruto told Hinata. "You take risks as a ninja, especially risks to yourself for your team. So?"

He didn't see Ibiki nearly face-palm at him so innocently describing the point of the test to another genin.

"T-that makes sense," Hinata said. Now two of the proctors were trying not to laugh.

Tenten and Shino—the boy between them having been thrown out—pulled out some cards and started playing poker with Kiba, who'd turned around in his seat.

Okay, now they were just being pains.

He still waited the full ten minutes before announcing, "All right, here we go: the tenth question: you all pass!"

Naruto jumped onto the table. "Called it!"

"Off," Ibiki said sternly. The kid sighed and got down. "All right, for those wondering, ninjas must be willing to risk themselves and their futures for their villages and comrades-"

"So called it," Naruto hissed to Hinata and Sakura.

The window shattered.

"It's Anko-sempai!" Ino and Sakura said.

"Darn it girls, let me do my own intro! This is what I get for helping out Academy kids…" Anko huffed. "Okay, I'm your sexy new proctor Anko! Ibiki, how dare you let this many pass!"

Ibiki glanced around—there were only about twenty teams, why was she complaining? Thirty, maybe… "Good year."

"I'll cut 'em in half!" Anko declared. "Everyone, follow me—to your doom!"

"She's had too much dango again," Ino sighed as they all headed out.

Ibiki watched them leave. "All right, who has Nara Shikamaru's paper?"

The chunin shuffled through the tests, Koetsu finding it and handing it over.

Ibiki's eyes widened. In the space for question one was a sarcastic poem—in the traditional Nara Cypher style. He immediately sat back down and began decoding the long lament about how troublesome the exam was.

As he finished, quietly impressed with the kid's ability to keep to the cypher and proper rhyme scheme and syllable count, Ibiki read the message. "Suspicious Sound named Mora knew more than he should. Thought I'd mention it. This is troublesome."

"Um…should we go get them?" Izumo asked, worried.

"Are you kidding? It's been twenty minutes—he used a hard cypher, even for someone who knows it," Ibiki said. "She's thrown them into the forest by now. If he makes the finals, then we'll be watching. As for now, get me everything you can on the Hidden Sound Village."

.o.o.o.

"This place doesn't seem so bad. Not really to the 'of Death' moniker anyway," Sakura commented as they headed into the forest. Sasuke walked behind her, quickly pulling her long hair into a braid so it wouldn't snag on anything.

"Okay, according to my super-awesome tracking seals, we are…closest to Team 8, then Team 4, then Team 10," Naruto said. "If everyone follows the plan we will rendezvous…that way." He pointed east.

"Good," Sasuke said, trying off Sakura's braid. "Most teams will head in deep early, try to get themselves in a trapping position. We'll just overpower them with numbers." He grinned. "Oh, and Sakura, thanks for the help on the test."

"No problem," Sakura said. "I wanted to see if Cappy could follow orders by now."

"Still, would have been easier with the Sharingan," Sasuke sighed.

"You don't need it," Naruto said calmly. "You're just fine. For all we know, a lot of enemies have plans for Sharingan users."

"Yes Naruto. I'm sure someone in this forest has an entire plan that hinges on the fact that I have a Sharingan," Sasuke said dryly.

"Okay, I wouldn't go that far," Naruto said. "I mean, if there was, they sure wouldn't be pleased, huh?"

"Who'd make a plan like that, anyway?" Sakura laughed as they headed off to meet up with their comrades.

.o.o.o.

A/N: As you can see, Mora isn't Kabuto—Kabuto never would have done something that stupid for a slip-up. next time: Chapter 21: ...And Neither is Orochimaru