TADAM! I made it! A chapter before Easter! (okay, not exactly, but still)… and the third exam officially begins! This one will take longer then the two, previous ones. And some things will be straighten during it.

As usual, thanks to everyone who reviewed! It means a lot.

Not many questions this time around, so the only one I can really answer is if there will be Sasuke's kids in here. Well, that's a yes, however the older one has only eight years old at the moment the story is now, so none of them will play a really important part I'm afraid. If you want to read my fic with Sasuke's kids, you might wanna check "Those Who Inherit the Will of fire".

ANNOUNCEMENT: just wanted to inform you about something… well, for some time now I've being writing my original story that is influenced by manga… and I finally decided to place it on the web… you can find the link on my profile page… as for the details, it's a fantasy story with a lot of action and quite a lot of humor and drama… plus romance later on. If you feel like it, do try it out and leave a review if you can. Thanks in advance.

Now, without further delays:

Chapter #36: Separation

Title Page: Takaru is playing the flute and in front of him a small snake is raising from the poaceous basket

Kiba just finished his sandwich as he laid under the tree. With the last swallow he turned to his canine companion and with a smirk asked: "What do you think, Akamaru? Should we get going to the tower already?"

"You haven't changed much… Kiba…" he heard a voice coming from behind.

Without even turning around, the dog jounin's smirk widen as he replied: "Like you're the one to talk… Shino" and with that the bug user came to stand beside him. "I guess you're curious about your subordinates, aren't you?" the sunglasses wearing jounin didn't move. Kiba only sighed internally as he continued: "Well, they just entered the forest, so I don't think you should be expecting them finishing this test sooner then in few hours… from what I heard, they got the earth scroll… so did Hinata's students…"

"At least there's no need to worry they'll be facing each other in this test then…" announced Shino. "But I was asked to give you an important report… you should keep an eye out on the examinees… there is suspicion Konoha might get attacked soon…"

"Not again…" dog jounin left out another sigh. "Is there any information about who the attackers might be?" and a second later the bug user gave him a small stack of papers. "I see… okay, I'll stay alert… and I guess I can send for you when your students will reach the tower, if you want…" Shino only nodded and then disappeared. "He's really not a talkative guy…" the dog jounin sweat dropped as he prepared to go to finishing line of the third exam.

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"Well, as planned, we took care of the supplies first…" began Kumiko. "Now we should think off a good strategy to get the scroll we need… since everyone's heading for the same place, the best thing to do would be setting traps around the tower…"

"Possibly…" nodded Takaru as he took a bite on an apple. "But there's also a treat that there will be more people thinking like that… what's more, by setting traps before the opponents arrive, you get a handicap even when fighting a stronger enemy… it's a good opportunity to eliminate people who present a treat in later exams…"

"Did you heard that?" Ibuki asked suddenly as she turned around towards the trees behind them. "I could've sworn I heard some weird noise…"

"You're imagining things, Ibuki…" assured Kai with a smile. "I didn't hear…" he began, but didn't finish as a huge tidal wave came right towards them. "What the…? Where did that came from, dammit!" yelled the blonde as he began to ran away, trying to get to the tree tops in time.

In an instant the place they were standing got covered by water, which ripped some of the trees from the ground: "Shit, that speed and power…" Kusari cursed as the water close in on him. "We won't escape this!" and with that thought he got hit by the wave and disappeared under the water.

Takaru coughed out water as the wave finally went through. "Where are the others?" he thought to himself while looking around for his teammates. A moment later the bushes to his left moved and the son of Tsunade instantly reached out for his kunai. He let a sigh of relief as the one who came out to the open was Kumiko.

"Takaru, boy am I glad to see you…" announced the kunoichi as she walked closer to her teammate. "Have you seen Ibuki and the guys? I already looked around a bit, but I didn't found them…" and then she froze as the boy pointed his kunai at her.

"You know the drill, Kumiko…" he said calmly, ready to throw the knife.

"What is your problem?" responded the girl. "You think anyone could copy my beauty?"

The scar-face put away his kunai: "Well, at least you're the real thing… we should go look for others… Ibuki and Kusari are most likely alright, I don't know about the dope though…" and with that they went into the forest. After a little while they manage to find another member of their team: "Ibuki, is that you?" asked the son of Tsunade with his kunai ready.

"What, you do believe your eyes?" replied the young assassin. "You think anyone could copy my beauty?" at hearing that the scar-face smiled and lowered his knife… just to throw it right at the surprised girl a second later.

The kunoichi bended over in the last second, avoiding the weapon, which flew right above her. A moment later the genjutsu got dispelled and right before Takaru's and Kumiko's eyes stood Akira, the boy with his eyes closed: "So that wasn't the code phrase?" he asked simply.

"It was…" replied the kunoichi. "Mine… Ibuki got a different one… you think that we're as stupid as to give everyone the same code phrase? With five members on the team, if all of us gets separated, we'd have to repeat the phrase several times… the possibility of someone hearing and using it increases that way, so I purposed to give everyone different entries…"

"I see…" replied Akira. "So not only you choose a code phrase that seemed like a typical reply, but you even thought of making a double security… clever…"

"If I recall, you're a teammate of Ibuki's brother, right?" noticed Takaru.

"Your memory serves you well…" nodded the older boy. "Guess sneak attack didn't work, so you guys can come out anyway…" and instantly his four teammates appeared before the rookie gennin.

"Heaven's scroll…" stated Hitomi simply. "You got just what we need…"

"Huh?" Takaru's eyes widen. "How the hell did she know what scroll I have?" and with that thought he reached out for several kunai. "Look, I don't care if you're older then us or not… get away or I'll be forced to kick your butts… crap, I'm starting to sound like Kai…"

"Well, isn't that cute?" asked Funbo with a smirk. "The brat actually thinks he stand a chance against us… tell you what, shrimp, I'll take you and your girlfriend or whatever, by myself… I'd prefer to go against Ibuki, but since she's not around, you'll have to do…"

"Funbo, this is not the time to fool around…" reminded Horohoro. "Even if they are just kids, they still manage to reach this point, so they must know few tricks… Keep in mind that underestimating your opponent is the worst thing a shinobi can do…"

"Horohoro-kun is right…" agreed Taki.

"After creating that tidal wave you don't have much strength left anyway, Taki…" replied the assassin. "Leave those two to me… this shouldn't take longer then five minutes…" and with that he charged right at the two rookies.

Takaru instantly unleashed the kunai he held at the incoming opponent and began forming hand seals. Funbo however reached out for his stick and deflected all the knives coming his way with it. Before Kumiko even noticed he was aiming his stick at the son of Tsunade.

As he attacked the scar-face, Takaru jumped into the air, avoiding a direct hit and finished his technique: "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" In a instant a huge fireball left his mouth and came right at the older Tanken.

"Even though he had to avoid the attack the way he did, he didn't got distracted and still finished the technique?" Hitomi thought to herself with a smirk. "Quite impressive for a brat…"

Funbo jumped away just in time to avoid being burnt to a crisp. However his eyes widen as he moved his stick to the right in order to block the incoming kick with it. As he gave the new opponent a quick glare, he noticed a boy with spiky, blonde hair.

A second later another flash of blonde appeared before his eyes as the exact replica of the boy who still had his foot on his stick was charging at him with his fist ready. As the boy launched the punch, Funbo instantly used his left hand to grab the hand of the blonde and tossed the boy away. He wasn't prepared to block nor dodge the third blonde however, who landed a powerful kick in his stomach, sending him flying back a little, before he landed on his feet safely.

The two blondes, whose attacks failed to reach Funbo disappeared in a cloud of white smoke, leaving only one boy standing. "Kage Bushin?" the older Tanken's eye brow went up. "That's a jounin level technique… how did this brat master it?"

"Sorry for being late…" the blonde apologized, turning around to Takaru and Kumiko. "That wave took me further away, I guess… I don't have to bother with the code phrase, do I?"

"Well, took you long enough, dope…" replied the son of Tsunade. "But don't get too happy, this guy is pretty good… we have to take him down fast…"

"Consider it done…" responded Kai with a smirk.

"Brats will always be brats…" stated Funbo as a smile appeared under his nose. "Three against one… this might be interesting…"

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Kusari walked through the forest, looking around. "Where are they? Did something happened after that damn wave pushed me that far?" just then he sensed someone on the tree top and without a second wasted lunched his chain at the spot. To his surprise, Ibuki jumped down, avoiding his attack: "Oh, it's you…"

"Oh, it's you?" repeated the young assassin. "You fired your chain at me! You want me to kill you?" and with that she made an angry face, reaching out for her knives.

"Chill, I see the code phrase is right, so this must mean you're the real one…" the chain user tried to calm down his teammate. "Do you have any idea where Kumiko-chan is? Or the other two?"

"No, I lost track of them…" replied Ibuki. "It seems however that we got carried the furthest away… what was with that tidal wave anyway? Something like this had no right to appear here! You think it was an attack?"

"Most likely…" nodded Kusari. "But we shouldn't worry about that now… let's just find the rest and then we'll think what it was…"

"Sounds like a plan…" they both heard a voice and as they turned around to see where it came from, they was Futatsu stepping from behind the tree with his teammates following him. "However it's realization can prove difficult…" and with that he reached for his katanas. "It seems that I'll get my rematch sooner then expected…"

And that's that for now. Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review once you're done. Thanks.

No jutsus this time around, but there will be plenty soon, so no worries. At least the character profile can be easily placed. And since I was asked to do Senkou this time, so here you are, the profile of the Hokage's son:

Name: Hatake Senkou

Name origins: his last name means simply 'field', but since he's the son of Kakashi I didn't had much choice here… when it comes to his first name, Senkou has many meanings, but in this case I choose 'flash'… why I picked that one you'll learn in the right time

Age: currently 13 years old

Birth Date: 8th of April

Blood type: 0

Height: 148,2 cm

Weight: 45,2 kg

Favorite food: dango

Village: Hidden Leaf (Konoha)

Current rank: gennin

Team: team led by Hinata; his teammates are: Igaku Mikka, Inuzuka Tsume, Benda Kokoro and Kobushi Galu

Bloodline limit: none I'd know about

Family: his parents are Hatake Kakashi and Mitarashi Anko… no info about other relatives

Techniques (used so far): none

First Appearance: 29th chapter

And that's really it, I believe. With that I'd like to wish you all HAPPY EASTER1

Take care and until next time, hopefully.