Song Recommendation: "Mr. Brightside" By The Killers

- I know you think it's not worth your time to go and take the two seconds of your day that it takes to look it up on youtube but I promise

It's worth it


"Hey! Kid with the attitude. Hold on a moment." Lee shouts from the balcony of a training dojo. The green spandexed ninja jumps down from the balcony and lands in front of Sasuke. "My name is Rock Lee. It's nice to meet you... Sasu-ke Uchiha."

"So, you know me?" Sasuke says.

Lee forms a fighting stance. "Everyone always talks about how great the Uchiha Clan is. I, Rock Lee, challenge you to a fight to see if it is true!"

"I'll teach you about the greatness of the Uchiha Clan the Hard Way!" Sasuke falls into a fighting stance, ready to receive the challenge.

"Hold it!" Naruto yells. All three look to the blonde. "Don't let pride get the best of you, Sasuke! Back off! We can't let him see your techniques."

A pause, as Sasuke makes his decision.

"Well well. When did you become the smart one?" Sasuke says to Naruto, turning back around to join his teammates. "Looks like you're not getting your fight... for now. I'll just have to educate you during the exams." Sasuke says to Lee, and the three walk away towards the exit of the dojo.


We burst into a large, cavernous classroom, followed by Team 7. Man, those candidates look tough. My eyes sweep around the room, checking out the competition. There's Gaara. I suppress the urge to wave to him. Where's Choji?

Looks like Team 7 were the last to come in- I hear an invisible shinobi lock the door behind us. I don't think anyone else noticed except Kaito, who is an impressive sensor, among other things, watches the invisible proctor walk all the way back to the front of the room.

"Oh, Sasuke!" Ino screeches, throwing her arms around him. "Where've you been? Boy, have I missed those brooding good looks of yours..."

"Back off, porker! He's mine!" Sakura yells.

"Don't yell too loud, your big forehead might fall off!" Ino retorts.

Rolling my eyes, I walk past the two bickering morons. "Hey, Choji. So you discovered the genjutsu?" I ask, casually.

"Actually, Shikamaru did." He says. "Did you pack any extra barbecue chips? I accidentally ate mine on the way here."

"You know I only like salt an' vinegar." I say.

"Hey, it's you guys." Shikamaru finally joins the group.

"Oh, so all three stooges are here!" Naruto jokes, pointing at Shikamaru's Team.

"This one's especially stupid." I say, punching Choji in the shoulder.

"Hey!"

"What a waste of time, this is all such a drag."

"Well, well, whaddya' know? Looks like everyone made it!" Kiba walks up, flanked by Shino and Hinata.

"Ah... Hi, Naruto." Hinata says, slightly hiding behind Kiba. She blushes horribly.

"Hey, Hinata."

"You guys too, huh? Man, it looks like the whole gang is here." Shikamaru says.

"Yeah, this is gonna be fun!" Kiba says. "At least... for those of us who can make the cut, right, Sasuke?"

"Be careful what you say, Kiba. I might have to neuter you." Sasuke warns.

"We've been training like crazy. We're gonna destroy you guys!" Kiba says.

"What do you think we've been doing, playing with puppies?" Naruto says. "You don't even know what training means!"

I decide to back him up. "It's not his fault that he doesn't know what 'training' means- his first language was 'Woof', not English." I say. Naruto and I share a high-five.

"I- I'm sorry Naruto- I'm sure Kiba wasn't trying to be mean." Hinata says nervously.

I feel a chakra approaching. It feels a little off, walking towards us. I turn my head. It's Kabuto.

I feel the urge to kill him right now, when he doesn't think anyone knows about him. I put my hand behind my back. A chakra blade grows out of the knuckles of my enclosed fist.

"You guys might wanna keep things down a little. I mean, you're the twelve rookies, right? Cool it. This isn't a class field trip, the chunin exams are a big deal."

The chakra blades retract. I can't kill him yet.

"Well who asked you?!" Ino shrieks. "Who even are you!?"

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi. I'm a friend. I'm from the Leaf Village too." He points at his headband. That seems awfully suspicious. But maybe I only think that because I already know why he's here. "But look around you- you've made a lot of enemies already." Kabuto says.

We glance around the classroom. People look at us with evil sneers, thinking we're easy prey. They're in for a nasty surprise- most of those kids won't even make it to the second exam.

"This exam makes everyone tense. You don't want to rub them the wrong way." Kabuto explains. "But, I mean, you're just rookies. You don't know how things work yet. Well, I guess you're lucky you have someone so experienced to give you a few tips."

"This isn't your first time?" Sakura asks.

"No, actually... it's my sixth. I've taken the exams six times over three years. This'll be the seventh time I'm taking the exams."

"If it's your seventh time, you must be very experienced." Sasuke says.

"You must be an expert! You can give us all kinds of hints!" Naruto says.

"Some expert- he's never even passed!" Shikamaru says. "But I guess the rumor about the exams being tough are true, huh? What a drag."

"Hey, well the past three years haven't been entirely wasted- I have these ninja info cards." Kabuto pulls stack of orange cards. "I have over two-hundred of them with information about everyone here- including you guys, of course. Got anyone in mind?" He asks.

"I do." I say, stepping forward.

"Who would you like to learn about?" He asks.

"How about Naruto Uzumaki?" I ask.

"Hey! Whaddya wanna know about me!" Naruto complains.

To see if they know if you're the nine-tails jinchurriki.

"Okay..." Kabuto pulls out two cards. "Well, I'll start with Naruto. He is a descendent of the Senju, and the Uzumaki. He knows the Shadow Clone technique, he's fairly good at taijutsu and ninjutsu but sucks at genjutsu. His mission experience is twenty D-Ranks, two C-Ranks, and one A-Rank as a genin, pretty impressive. And... maybe I shouldn't say the rest out loud. It might compromise his safety."

"Whaddya mean, compromise my safety!"

So they do already know.

"So, who's next?" Kabuto asks.

Sasuke steps forward this time, giving me a weird look, as if to say, 'He's your friend! Shouldn't you know him?' "Do those cards of yours have info on everybody here?"

"They might. Got someone else in mind?" Kabuto asks.

"I might." Sasuke says.

"Sasuke, stop being such a smartass!" Naruto chides him. Ino and Sakura give him death looks. "What?"

"Well, I've got info on just about everyone. Including you guys, of course." Kabuto says.

"He's Gaara of the Desert. And Rock Lee from the Leaf Village while you're at it." Sasuke says.

"Aww, you already know their names? That's no fun." Kabuto pulls two cards from the deck. "Rock Lee's first- a second year genin, student of a jonin named Gai. He's very good at taijutsu, but not very good at genjutsu or ninjutsu. He did eleven C-Ranks and forty-six D-Ranks over the past two years. In the last twelve months, his taijutsu ratings have gone through the roof. For some reason, he didn't participate in the chunin exams last year. His teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyuuga. That's all." Kabuto replaces the card into his deck.

"Next up, Gaara of the Desert. It's his first time at the chunin exams. For mission experience, he's done five D-Ranks, Twenty C-Ranks, and get this- one B-Rank. I know that's not that impressive compared to an A-Rank, (Naruto snickers) but he came back after the mission without a single scratch. In fact, he's never even been injured. Nobody knows what his jutsu is like, because no-one other than his comrades have survived it. Other than that, there's not a lot of information on this guy."

"You're telling me this guy has never even been hurt?" Shikamaru says, impressed.

Kabuto pulls out another card, a diagram of the major shinobi lands. "All of the villages have sent their best genin. The Leaf has the most candidates this year, but just barely. Although, the village I'm most interested in this year are definitely the Sound village. They're quite small and they just sprung up recently, so nobody knows anything about them. They're a mystery." Kabuto puts his deck of cards back into his pocket.

"How tough do you think it's gonna be?" Sakura asks.

"It looks like this year, the exams are gonna be really hard. Out of all the exams I've taken, I've never seen such a strong group of candidates." Kabuto stands.

"Well, that's only 'cuz I'm here!" Kaito says.

"Now you're starting to make me lose my c-confidence." Hinata says.

"Well, it's too late now!" Ino says.

"That's right- they've already locked the doors. We can't leave." Kaito says.

Everyone just kind of stands around for a moment, looking around at the other candidates.

"Don't worry, guys!" Naruto suddenly yells, a little bit too loud. "We can do this! We're from the Leaf Village, and we're not gonna go down easily!" Naruto coils his fist tight. "You can't just give up now, we haven't even started our real careers yet! Just you watch- I'll leave a legacy on this world, whatever it takes!" Now, he turns to the other candidates. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! But this won't be the last time you hear of me. By the time my time is done on this Earth, everyone will know my name!"

Suddenly, I feel inspired. The other Leaf genin seem inspired too, a little more confident after Naruto's speech.

"You got some big dreams, kid." A rain shinobi from the crowd of ninja says. "I used to be that way too. But then, I met Reality." A few people chuckle, good-naturedly.

Well, I guess not everyone here is a bloodthirsty killer.

"Hey, Naruto! You're too loud!" Sakura smacks him, and then gives me a nervous look to see if I'm going to do anything. I just watch.

"What an idiot." One ninja says.

"Well, at least he's got passion." Another comments.

After a few moments, the chatter of the shinobi turn away from Naruto as people resume their hushed conversations. Suddenly, I feel a burst of chakra from the crowd of ninja. Somebody's planning a move.

Two ninja jump into the air, one in front of and one behind Kabuto. The first throws kunai at Kabuto, which he dodges, which places him right in the path of the second Sound ninja, Dosu, who swoops in with a punch from his right arm. Wow, he's fast. The anime doesn't give justice to the speed of shinobi.

A chakra string just barely reaches him in time. Four strings grab on to the vibration device on his arm, and I throw his heavy body against the wall hard. He lands with a heavy thud.

"Dosu!" His teammate jumps over to him, but I stand in the way. Invisible strings attach to Dosu's collar, and I lift him off his feet into the air, choking him. I put my index finger under his chin while I lift him, making it seem to all the people who can't sense the chakra strings (which is probably pretty much everyone) that I'm lifting him with one finger.

I lower my voice. "Do Not Touch my comrades, or I'll break so many of your bones, you'll have to retire as a genin. Permanently. Got that, Mummy-face?" I toss him to the ground. Everyone stares in silence. And I mean everyone.

His teammates run over to him. "You don't know who you're messing with." The other guy in his squad says, cracking his knuckles. Dosu gasps for air, the visible portion of his face pale.

"What, are you gonna shoot a little breeze at me through those tubes in your arms? Cause' it looks like you're all full of hot air."

"What the- how did you know?" He asks.

"I'm good at knowing things. In fact, I know exactly why you're here. You aren't here to become a chunin, are you? You're after someone in this room, and I know who it is."

He looks at me in shock, and even Kabuto seems a little surprised. "Who the hell are you?" Dosu's teammate asks.

I smile. "Just someone who's a little smarter than you think."

I turn back around, even though I can feel the eyes of the entire room on me.

"Thanks! You really saved my neck there." Kabuto says, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I probably could have dodged that hit, you didn't have to show your technique like that, whatever it was. I mean, it's not that I'm not grateful, it's just that-"

"ALRIGHT, YOU BABY-FACED MORONS!" Two doors burst open, drawing the attention of all the genin. In the doorway stands the torturer Ibiki, flanked by chunin exam proctors. One is Ebisu. "THERE WILL BE NO VIOLENCE UNLESS A PROCTOR HAS ALLOWED IT. UNDERSTAND? MY NAME IS IBIKI MORINO, PROCTOR OF THE FIRST EXAM."

Great. We've got a drill sergeant over here.