Underlined - English

'Italicised' - Thoughts

In Text Bolded - Tailed Beast

"And, most importantly - you pissed me off-!"

"NOA!"

NARA SHIKAMARU

In a puff of chakra dust, one of the tallest people that I have ever seen appeared - yelling Noa's name. He was even more scarred than Tou-san, and was backed up by at least twenty intimidating chunin.

Noa didn't seem to care though, and in the eerily silent room the only sound was Kabuto's rough breathing.

Kabuto. That was another mystery. Noa never really hated someone - always tolerant but wary - and definitely never without reason. When she had first heard Kabuto's voice, her immediate response was one of wariness and dread.

Dread changed to unparalleled fury as Kabuto began to reveal information about her - I would've stepped in if I hadn't known that she could've handled herself.

As she proved that she could.

I can't remember her every that furious -

Noa still has Kabuto pinned, so the proctor takes a single step forward - intimidating most of the room into taking a single step back. "Noa. You were provoked, but I will show no favoritism. There will be no fighting without the permission of an examiner. Even if fighting is permitted - killing your opponent is not tolerated. These rules apply to all, and those that disobey will be failed immediately."

Noa still hasn't moved, so Naruto and Sasuke move to pull her off Kabuto. Once he's free, Kabuto immediately scrambles up and away. Noa still looks murderous, and the proctor doesn't seem mollified.

"Am. I. Clear?" He repeats, KI leaking off directly at Noa.

"Clear, Morino-san." Noa bites out, anger still radiating off her frame. "I apologize for any disruptions I caused, sir."

The objective of the exam is to cheat.

As troublesome as it is, I play along. I have to. I can't be lazy here.

Noa is on the line.

I sigh and scratch out the answers to the nine questions provided right away on the test. I put my pencil down with a decisive click and sit back as I prepare for Ino to enter my mind and copy my answers.

As I feel my childhood friend take over my body, I take the chance to mentally sit back and think.

At this point in time I have one goal: to ensure that Noa lives.

If only it was that easy - just saying that I would. There were two main threats to Noa - her Kekkei Genkai and her career.

Noa's bloodline limit is killing her; she is genetically unable to make a Yin Seal. Artificial Yin Seals are practically unheard of, and even the Nara library has little to no information on them despite the Nara techniques being Yin based.

There was little that he could do - he simply didn't have the resources to access any data on that. So he had to get those resources. And access came with rank.

Noa was becoming a chunin.

So I had to be there right along with her.

No matter how troublesome it was.

UZUMAKI NARUTO

"And now … We will begin the 10th question."

Shit - I my disqualified henge-d clone team only managed to get four of the nine possible answers. At Sasuke must've been able to use his Sharingan to get at least that many, and Aneki was smart enough to answer all of them on her own and double check her answers against everyone else's.

God I love my team.

"Now - before we get to it - I would like to go over the added rules for this question."

I sit back and glance at my teammates - added rules?

"First, for the 10th question … you must decide whether you will take it or not."

"Choose?" A Suna kunoichi - the one that was with the cat-man who threatened Konohamaru a couple days ago - cries out. "What happens if we choose not to?"

Morino-san didn't look amused, "If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero, and you'll fail! Along with your two teammates."

Outrage sounded through the room, but Morino-san (who I still haven't figured out how Aneki knew) cuts through it easily. "And now the other rule. If you choose to take it and answer incorrectly - that person will lose the right to take the Chunin Selection Exam again."

Damn there had better be a loophole here.

Noa and Sasuke - I have to have confidence in them, just like they have confidence in me.

According to Kabuto's cards, 153 genin walked into the exam. After 13 minutes, that number been cut to less than half. So far, all of Konoha's Rookie 9 plus Team Gai was still here - but Hinata looked on the edge. Carefully - as to not tip off the examiners - I reach over and give her hand a squeeze, looking at her reassuringly.

She turned a rather alarming shade of red, but I ignore that in favor of giving her a winning smile - my message coming across clear as day.

'Don't worry, Hinata. You'll do great.'

MORINO IBIKI

54 genin. 18 Teams. Impressive.

Especially considering that that number would've been 51 had the Uzumaki brat not calmed down the Hyuuga heiress. Points to him for that.

"I congratulate you on passing the first test!"

I drop the overly intimidating act and begin to explain mechanisms of the test - gauging the reactions of the genin. The Kazekage's daughter seemed quite indignant, and Konoha Teams 10 and 7 seemed unsurprised - understandable considering the Nara heir and Noa. The Oto nin were simply apathetic.

As I remove my hitai-ate, I continue to examine their reactions. Some are unimpressed - the arrogant ones - but most are filled with disgust or fear.

Except Noa. She wasn't even looking.

She was glaring at Yakushi Kabuto.

As Anko comes in - dramatic as ever - I signal to one of the chunin proctors, a kunoichi I haven't worked with before. "Tell Tsubasa Noa to see me before the Second Exam."

"Noa."

"Morino-san."

I look her over. Her increased training with Gai is clear - her hands worn and muscles built. Her stance is lose - as if expecting a fight - and her posture angry. She was wary that something would happen - and that something had to do with some unremarkable Konoha genin.

And she was calling me Morino-san. Noa never used someone's formal title unless she was angry or trying to alert someone of danger - I had heard that much from Kakashi and Gai.

"Do you have something to ask or say, Morino-san? Because I have the second part of an Exam to risk my life in."

I'll play along then.

"Tsubasa-san. You were in an altercation with another Exam Participant. Do you wish to explain your actions?"

Of course, I had been listening in on the genin entering the exam room - and I'm sure Noa knew that - but I saw no reason to verbalize it. Noa only leveled an overly malicious glare at the door where I knew Kabuto to have exited.

"It was nothing, Morino-san. Kabuto cited information of which he had no right or reason to know, and I told him that he was a either a fool or a spy for knowing so much about his own allies and giving the information out so recklessly."

"ANBU Boar," I call out watching from the window as Noa meets up with the rest of her team outside Training Ground 44 - the Forest of Death. When the silent guard appears, I don't even bother looking over at them, "Put a watch on Leaf Genin Yakushi Kabuto. Report any suspicious characters, interactions, or actions directly to either me or the Hokage."

TSUBASA NOA

"I have a bad feeling about this," I mutter to Sasuke, "Ruto can feel someone coming - that Kusa nin who picked up the knife that Anko threw at Kiba. The one with the tongue."

Orochimaru. The Snake Bastard.

He looks appraisingly at me, and then over to Ruto - who's setting an insanely large number of traps. "A threat to us? At our level?"

I shake my head a frown, scanning our surroundings. "Ruto says that they have levels like a jounin - at least."

He simply frowns and begins to help Ruto set his traps as I stand guard.

A wave of KI so strong I'm forced to my knees washes over us, and before a full second passes - the three of us have simultaneously plunged kunai into arms and legs to rid of its influence.

We're in a back to back triangle formation when the Kusa nin - (who is actually Orochimaru) - begins to chuckle evilly from a branch far above us. "Ohohohoho … Prey knows how to fight back."

The wave of KI redubles, and my knees buckle under the force of it. I tighten my grip on my kunai and grit my teeth, "You're not a genin."

A cruel smile exposing disgusting teeth, "No, Tsubasa-chan. I am not."

And he's done monologuing.

Kunai. Ninja wire. Katon jutsu. Ruto's clones. Kick. Punch. Drop kick. Scale tree. Dodge. Shuriken. Snake. Tongue. Kunai. Ruto. Kyuubi chakra -

I'm in front of Ruto, taking the hit of the five point seal - my chakra is useless anyway.

Sasuke - second tomoe. Worry mixed with fear and anger.

Orochimaru. Anger. Snark. Interest.

My head spinning. Ruto yelling - and fear. So much fear.

And suddenly Orochimaru is right in front of me and-

Everything stops.