"Get up right now or I'll- "Ino screamed only to be cut off by the boy who was strewn out on the couch in front of her.

"Or you'll do what? If you didn't want to deal with this, maybe you shouldn't have woken me up so early." Shikamaru murmured, shuffling back into the couch like it was his bed.

Ino fumed, practically ready to punch her teammate should cooler heads not prevail. She stored the option in the back of her mind, favoring a more bargain-focused approach when dealing with Shikamaru.

"Just nudge over a little bit. You can keep the other two spots, just give me one!"

Shikamaru cocked an eye open at the suggestion. For a brief second, she became convinced that he was actually going to budge and let her sit down. That was before, with the same condescending, drowsy tone he always spoke in, Shikamaru said:

"How much?"

She saw red.

"I'm not paying you for a fucking couch seat!"

"Well then you're not getting a couch seat. I can't just give them away to anybody, can I?"

She was about to ask who died and gave Shikamaru the deed to right of the couch when Choji emerged from behind her, pockets packed with the snacks that had previously lined the shelves.

"Hey Shikamaru, scooch over."

He did it instantly, showing absolutely zero commitment to the toll he'd insisted upon literally a second ago. The fact that it was Choji made Ino even madder, considering Shikamaru now had to give up a spot and a half to accommodate the other boy's fat frame, whereas he only would have had to give her one. Steam may as well have been blowing out her ears as she stomped her foot on the ground, jolting her finger out at the two.

"That's it! You two are the laziest, stupidest people I've ever met in my life. I'd rather go sit on that couch with billboard brow then you morons!"

Choji stayed blank-faced, munching on a pork rind while Shikamaru shot her a droopy eyed stare.

"Do it then."

"I will!" She shouted, stomping off to said couch.

Shikamaru and Choji continued to not care, the latter shooting the former a humorous look.

"These exams are seeming super easy, huh?" He laughed, to which Shikamaru nodded.

Judging from the glazed-over look that the Nara boy had, his brain had essentially gone on autopilot for the last few minutes, which Choji recognized. The plump boy returned his gaze onward, realizing any attempt get more conversation out of Shikamaru would probably result in five-minute headache of mumbles and one-word answers. It was par for the course when interacting with Shikamaru, he supposed. The boy was his best friend, but he wasn't switched on at all. That as Choji's thesis at least. However, his thesis was wrong, incredibly wrong. Shikamauru's eternally-calculating eyes locked themselves upon the doorway to the next exam, running over its details completely before turning over to the clock. An unnoteworthy amount of time had gone past.

Just socialize for forty-five minutes and we'll pass you. What a joke.

From what he knew about the chunin exams, a general rule of thumb was that its fail conditions were often swift, brutal and bordering on unfair in how they tricked you. If they were "just getting to know each other" like they'd said, why did they have a suna squad in their group? It would've been more practical to place one of the other Konoha groups in their place, as they would've actually been a recurring face after the exam finished. With that in mind, how could they not realize that a majority of the teams they'd placed in this group were in the same Academy class? It seemed to defeat the purpose of the whole "getting to know each other" when sixty percent already did. From a certain point of view, it was very easy to perceive the padding the group with familiar faces as an easy way of making the exam feel safer and more comfortable than they really were.

Also, if the aim was really to introduce everyone to each other, why were the rules so specific? Exactly forty-five minutes until they were led into the next section of the exam, but why the clock? Only two people allowed in the private room? Why the connection between this area and the area for the next part of the exam? Shikamaru hoped he was wrong, but it had become pretty clear to him that the rules of the game were not as they had been told. If he were to guess, the timer was simply ticking down until they were all failed.

Uh, I knew the exams were going to be a drag, but this is next level.

He stood up from his spot on the couch, walking over to a shelf that had caught his eye earlier.

"I'm going to look at the shogi board." He said, waving at Choji.

"Okay." The other boy replied.

Shikamaru had spotted the design of the shogi box as soon as he'd entered the room, but now, he was more interested in a different purpose for the box. He slid the tightly-packed container of the shelf, observing it's cover for a specific line of text.

Includes gambit trackers. He read, finding it printed in small font at the very top of the box.

Gambit trackers were nowhere near as cool as they sounded, simply being small slips of paper that you could use to make notes of plays and positions. In his opinion, they were detrimental to the shogi experience and were not to be used in proper games, but in this case, they actually helped him. He reached into his satchel, retrieving a pen and biting the lid off. To think he almost forgot to pack this, stupid Ino. Speaking of which, she was really what this was about. He partially regretted not telling her about his theory earlier, but Team 8 was well within the range required to hear even the slightest whisper. He supposed he could've maybe told them as well, but he didn't know how many teams would be allowed to pass. Say there was a key or something, maybe only the team that used it would be allowed to move onto the next segment.

He lazily scrawled a message onto the note, handwriting surprisingly neat though the speed at which he wrote also being critically lazy. He stuffed the note into his pocket, looking around to make sure the coast was clear as he put the board back onto the shelf. He did this sluggishly, barley even checking the full perimeter before walking off. If he had, he would've seen the piercing red eyes that had just seen his exact hand motion.

Sasuke's sharingan flickered in the dim light. Though it may not have had the ability to store the copied motions like Kakashi's did, he could track said motions all the same. Using just the sight of Shikamaru's scrawl, he was able to decipher the note's contents, reading the words back to himself in his head.

"It's a trick. If we don't break out into the next room in the next forty-five minutes, we fail. Meet in private room to discuss strategy."

"Billboard brow?" Tenten asked, eyes slanting in confusion. Her breath smelt of fizz, courtesy of the soda she'd just retrieved from the shelf and promptly chugged completely.

"Yeah, because she has a big forehead." Ino explained, motioning to an incredibly annoyed Sakura.

Tenten turned over to the other girl, analyzing the point of interest for a second before turning back to Ino unimpressed.

"It's only, like, two and half centimeters bigger than average." She shot back, taking the wind out of Ino's sails. That same wind flew past the Yamanka girl and right into Sakura, who nearly jumped out of her chair with excitement.

" That's right! Plus, it'll look smaller when I'm older!" She clarified with a shiny smile, while Ino groaned upon being subjected to the same trotted out excuses she'd heard since the fifth grade.

"Yeah, but you still look ugly now."

She tried to amplify the insult, but the fact that Sakura had been, for the first time ever, vindicated instead of ganged up on by a third party in this dispute meant the blond had no chance in getting through to her.

"Do not, two and half centimeters is not the make and break for attractiveness pig!" She nearly screamed, pushing a jittering hand in Ino's face.

At this point, the Yamanaka realized it was a lost cause with Tenten somehow managing to be the only girl in Konoha that was lamer than Sakura. Well, then again Hinata also existed but at least Hinata had a fancy clan. Tenten, as far as she knew, didn't even have a surname in the first place, let alone a clan connection.

Neji pressed folded his hands over his face, shuffling further to the side. He didn't know why Tenten had dragged him over to the couch. It was something to do with "showing that they were unified" but he didn't know why they his teammates thought he'd want to seem unified with them. If it wasn't bad enough that he had to listen to the rest of these idiots talk, he was also sat next to Lee, meaning every time the other boy got into a conversation, he had to duck to try and get out of the way of his flailing arms. He was truly surrounded by idiots, but unfortunately for him, this problem was about to be compounded.

"H-hey, Kiba." Hinata murmured from across the room, watching as the genin on the couch triangle conversed.

"Hm?" He asked, one eye on her and one eye on Shino, who was crouched down on the ground for no discernable reason.

"D-do y-you want to go sit on that couch?" She pointed a shaky finger over to the area, which made Kiba instantly laugh.

"What, cause Naruto's there and you've got a big crush on him?"

Her face went bright red, much to Kiba's delight. While the boy wasn't a bully by any means, he did enjoy teasing people, and Hinata provided a reaction every time. She was too nice for her own good. The only reason he didn't do it more often was that, one, he wasn't a total asshole and, secondly, in the teasing hierarchy, she was the lowest of low hanging fruits.

"N-no! I just w-want to sit down!" She stammered, only to be cut off by Shino.

"Hinata." He said, bluntly delivering her name. Even through his spectacles, she could make out a stern gaze. "Do not crush him. We cannot fight our opponents until the proctor instructs us to."

Hinata's embarrassed features became confused, whereas Kiba just frowned.

"No dummy, that's not what it…whatever, you're hopeless." He sighed, before wiping the frown off his face. "You wanna come sit down too?"

Shino robotically shook his head.

"No. I am doing something important." He vaguely said, gaze turning back to the wall as if there was some invisible anomaly that had caught his attention. Kiba grimaced at his friend's oddness, before leaving him be and walking over to the couch while motioning Hinata to come with him. Of course, as soon as he entered the other ninjas' range of sight, he felt a sporadic need to introduce himself as loudly and obnoxiously as possible.

"Sup bitches." He said, slinking down on the same couch Ino was sitting. Hinata followed his lead, completely filling out the furniture's space. The Yamanka girl sneered at his presence, eyes displaying little respect for the Inuzuka boy as they peered back at him.

"Hey Kiba, where's your dog?"

Ino (who had not priorly been privy to Akamaru's presence), made the simple assumption that the dog would be barred from the exams and attempted to insult Kiba accordingly. Unfortunately, the boy just shot her a small smile which was echoed by a small white face popping out of his hoodie.

"He's right here." He laughed, stroking a finger through his pup's smooth coat. Ino scowled at the dog's sudden appearance, eyes swelling up with a questioning glance.

"I was being sarcastic! How come you're allowed to keep him with you?"

"Cause I'm an Inuzuka dumbass!" Kiba shot back, becoming completely defensive as Akamaru was insulted.

"Yeah, well I call that clan bias!" Ino shouted. Kiba's defensiveness faded in favor of a slight confusion.

"Wait, in the academy you said the Inzuka's were the loser clan."

"They are."

"So how can we have any bias against us if we're the loser clan?!" He shouted back. Anger coursed through his core, so much so that he nearly slammed himself into Hinata as he attempted to dispose of the energy that was building up.

Speaking of clans, Naruto thought, looking over at Hinata and then Neji. They did have the same eyes! Identically so, down to the lavender gradient! Surely this would be a good conversation starter that could not lead to any undue stress early in the exams. Afterall, the two were family, they probably got it a lot.

"Hey, why do you guys have the same eyes?" He asked out of the blue.

The randomness of this question completely silenced anything else going on, including the petty arguments of Ino and Kiba. Unfortunately, the residual anger of this argument still lingered inside one of them.

"Who, Naruto? You can't just say that and then not point out who you're talking about." Ino said, prompting Naruto to further explain.

At this point, he'd captured everyone on the couches' attention so he began to feel a little bit self-conscious about his mistake. Nevertheless, he pushed onward, thrusting a finger out towards Hinata and Neji. The symmetry between the two's expressions was non-existent. Neji looked aggravated, Hinata looked frightened. They were so different, that for a minute, you'd be excused for thinking their eyes didn't look at all alike.

"Look, they've got the same eyes."

"Oh, shut the fuck up. You can't even remember her name but suddenly you're an optometrist?" Ino yelled, ignoring the fact that literally anyone could look at the two and see that they had identical eyes. It was clear her motivation was more centered around shitting on Naruto than anything, which had probably aggravated at her last two swing and miss attempts at bullying people prior. Unfortunately, Naruto stumbled into the bait, defensiveness shoving rationality out of the way and taking full control of the wheel (It would've helped if he didn't have the memory of a goldfish and had remembered that Sasuke had literally said her name no more than some ten odd minutes ago)

"I do so know her name."

"You didn't before." Sasuke idly commented, more focused on Shikamaru's prior writing than anything else.

"My name is- "Hinata tried to start but she was quickly cut off.

Even removing her self-consciousness and timid nature, her voice was just naturally quiet. In the oncoming storm of sound that was an argument between Naruto and Ino, she had no chance of getting a word out (even if the conversation was literally about her).

"Damn Naruto, she sat next to you every day for nearly the whole academy. That's fucked up dude." Kiba said sternly.

He may not have meant to fan the flames of a volatile conversation, but that's functionally what he achieved, so intent was really a non-factor.

"I do know her name!"

"Then what is it?" Ino asked, clearly confident that he couldn't achieve the goal.

This confidence turned out to be well-founded, as Naruto spent the next few seconds gob smacked and silent, looking as if he had just been asked to create a functioning world peace instead of saying his classmates name.

"…. Uh…I don't have to prove anything to you!" He growled. Sakura and Sasuke both grimaced at the reply, knowing that it was blood in the water for the sharks that were surrounding him.

"My name is- "Hinata tried to speak again, only to yet again be cut off by Ino shouting in her defense.

"I'm not asking you for the theory of reincarnation here, just say her goddamn name." The Yamanaka growled, flustering Naruto further.

"I-I-I-" He stuttered, struggling to even get a word out in the face of the scrutiny that was being layered on him.

His arms flailed around him like a drowning man, and that analogy was actually more pertinent to the situation than just the visual. Not only was he drowning in the pool of shame, who's water level grew higher and higher every minute he spent wriggling around the subject, but he also spoke like he was literally drowning. However, the law of a flustered Naruto Uzumaki dictated that for all the time he spent flustered, his response would convert said embarrassment into angered yelling.

"My name is- "Hinata tried to step in, voice uncharacteristically annoyed but despite this change in tone, it was silenced all the same.

Nothing could stop the oncoming force of an agitated Naruto Uzumaki.

"Her names Hinaba Hyugi or something like that!" He blurted, butchering her name so badly that Kiba couldn't help but burst out laughing while Ino looked at him with a glare.

"Oh, big surprise, you got it wrong. Seriously Naruto, that's so inconsiderate!" She growled.

Her scolding spree actually ended up getting an unexpected ally in the form of Rock Lee, who spoke up from across the couch.

"I agree! How could you neglect a comrade like that Naruto? I have spent approximately twenty seconds talking to her and even I know her name is Hinata Hyuga!" He said, recalling an exchange the two had had in the hallway.

Naruto stammered at first, before firing back with what may have been the worst response he could've said.

"Well I was close, wasn't I?" He barked, before immediately realizing that being close did not even reach the bare minimum of standards that came with remembering someone's name.

His scowling features quickly began to soften, creating a downward drooping effect with his whiskers. His eyes shot downcast, focusing on the ground even if his attention was fixated towards Hinata. "Sorry for not remembering your name Hina-Hina."

His voice was low in its tone, the sincerity he was obviously speaking with managing to negate the fact that he had once more used the nickname that had been born out of the same necessity he was not being scrutinized for. In an act that could either have been described as kind or spineless depending on how you looked at it, Hinata simply shot a gentle smile back in his direction.

"It's o-okay Naruto. It's really no problem- "

"This is pathetic."

All eyes shot onto towards the voice that had just cut Hinata off. It actually took a little while to find the speaker, because his voice was such an anomaly at this point that nearly no one recognized it. Thanks to Lee and Teten however, the perpetrator quickly became clear. Neji had spoken in more than murmurs for the first time that day. Hinata's eyes sunk down into her hoodie in an attempt to try and hide her reaction to the comment, whereas everyone else flashed simultaneous glances of confusion around each other. That was, except for Naruto, who smiled now that his initial thought of the two being related seemed to have become at least somewhat justified.

"Ah, I get it! You guys are brother and sister, right?" He asked. His voice rippled with a misplaced joviality that was not returned by Neji.

"Shut up. We're cousins and nothing more. To share more blood with a main house pig than I already have to would be a fate worse than death." He sneered, the sheer venom in his words sending Hinata burrowing even further into the collar of her coat.

"Oh, come on Neji."

"Neji, that's no way to address a fellow ninja!"

"Who the fuck are you dude?"

Tenten, Lee and Kiba tried to argue but were completely ignored for the time being. Neji's withering gaze was completely fixated on Hinata. It was outstanding how much hatred he could fit into a glare when he didn't even have pupils but the sheer spite that was pouring from his eyes was unmistakably palpable.

"A main house pig?" Naruto asked, not quite understanding the insult.

Unlike the other responses, Neji was quick to give an answer to this as it gave him a chance to further demean Hinata.

"In our clan, the Hyuga clan, there are two houses. The main house, chosen favorites that run through the pure bloodline of the Hyuga ancestors. The branch house are the siblings and descendants that didn't get so lucky as to win the clan's favor. They say it's set up this way to "protect the secrets of the byakugan" by creating a defensive force subservient to the main house but all it really is is a safe haven for failures like her to be allowed chance upon chance upon chance to thrive, even if she has firmly cemented the fact that she is incapable of doing so." The boy spat, eyes never leaving Hinata. This was punctuated even further by the fact she couldn't even raise her own to try and meet his, not even for a second. Unfortunately for Neji though, someone else would soon demand his attention.

"Failure? Hina-Hina isn't a failure! I remember she finished really high on the end of year exams." Naruto interrupted. Finally, Neji

"She was a direct descendant of a Hyuga clan leader and couldn't even make it to the top three. She was ranked fifth in her year level, which I suppose to the boy who spends his time painting the Hokage Rock may seem like a grand accomplishment, but it was an unprecedented disappointment to the people who allow still allow her to coast on the clan's name." He growled, giving Naruto pause.

Hinata just breathed a sigh of relief for the moment. She felt cowardly for doing so, but she couldn't help it. Having Neji lock his ire onto Naruto instead of her for the moment meant she was involved in less confrontation.

"Hokage Rock? Wait, how do you know about that?!"

"Because you painted the Hokage Rock." He said back plainly. Naruto felt dumb for a few seconds, before shifting back into the grove of aggravation.

"So, what anyway? It'll make a cool story when I become Hokage!" He grinned, only for that same sunny grin to become entrenched by corresponding moonlight as Neji insulted him in the worst possible way he could.

He didn't belittle him or call him deluded, no, instead he laughed. Sure, Naruto had been laughed at before, in nearly the exact same context, but there was something so demeaning about the way Neji did it. Maybe it was because the Hyuga boy was not even forcing it out of himself. The laugh had been so quick, and so different to the tone he had previously been speaking in, that there was no doubt in Naruto's mind that the boy's hilarity was genuine.

"Oh my god." He groaned to himself, an undercurrent of giggles still lingering through his words.

His attention once again became laser-focused upon Hinata, ignoring Naruto's presence completely for the time being. "That's why you're obsessed with him, isn't it Hinata? At first, I thought it was some childish schoolyard thing but no, I get it now. You are able to parasitically feed off of his energy because it feels nice to know someone exists who is somehow more of a loser than you."

It was in that moment that Neji found himself being smacked over the head by an incredibly angry Naruto. In the short term this worked, the arrogant laughter being physically struck out of Neji's face. While it wasn't anything more than a slight hit, it did give Naruto time to stand up, leering over the Hyuga. His eyes had been set ablaze with the will of fire, strands of which sizzled up from his core and imbedded themselves within his gaze.

"Shut the hell up. Don't you ever- "He attempted to monologue, only for the speech to be ended prematurely.

See, Neji was, surprisingly, not willing to get slapped over the head and then proceed to listen to some rambling speech from the person who had slapped him. Instead, he leapt back up to his feet and delivered a palm strike into Naruto's face with enough force to nearly break his nose. Unlike Naruto's own attack, which simply left a red mark on the other boy's face, his attack hit hard enough to send Naruto spiraling to the ground. The Uzumaki's cognitive abilities shattered in time with his body dropping, his senses beginning to meld together in a serve bout of nausea.

Through the nauseating mix of sight, sound and smell, Naruto could make out a few things. The first was blurry figure, who was presumably Lee judging from the green that bleed into Naruto's eyes when he looked at him, dragging Neji away. On the other side of the couch was another silhouette (maybe Sasuke judging by the barley-audible voice), yelling something aggressively. Then he felt the hands of someone begin dragging him backward, though their touch felt strangely light against the collar of his jacket.

"Hinata, can you get some water?" A voice called out from behind him. His fuzzy mind made it tough to decipher the person speaking, its softness being the only trait he could really make out outside of vague feminine qualities. In this state, could only really narrow it down to Sakura and Tenten, most likely the former considering what they had said was slow enough for him to understand (Although, in all fairness, he may have been so out of it that anything anyone said would be slowed down form him). A sharp hit of drowsiness began crawling through his head a few seconds later, drawing him closer and closer to his subconscious plane. He blinked a few times in an attempt to keep a stable grip on his surroundings, but the flashing blackness only served to induce the opposite effect. As he drifted to unconscious rest, he heard one final voice speak out to him. It was equally as drifting as the others, but with one key difference. It was coming from inside him.

Wow, very impressive Uzumaki. If I didn't know better, I'd say you've got the Hokage position in the bag.

Naruto's face scrunched up into a frown before he finally passed out.

Shikamarus's eyes flickered, adjusting to the dark of the private room. The main area hadn't been well-lit, but this place literally had no illumination at all. He rifled around in his pockets, digging through them in hope of his hand hitting cardboard.

"Naruto got hit hard." He commented, continuing to riffle through his pockets.

"Whatever, he threw the first punch." Ino murmured back, clearly not that concerned with the Uzumaki's condition.

"First punch? He threw out the lightest slap imaginable and then the other guy went ape-shit."

"He still threw something."

"Yeah, not enough to justify knocking him the fuck out."

"Bullshit! He was totally asking for it!"

"What, because he- "Shikamaru's train of thought froze as he finally retrieved the small cardboard box he'd been looking for. In the face of this, he decided there were more important things to discuss then this. Afterall, they were running on limited time. "You know what? Forget it."

He flicked open the lid of the carboard, retrieving a small match and scraping it against the side of the box. A flame lit up on its end, small and slight but powerful enough that the Nara boy could just about make out Ino's facial features.

"Devils flare." She said, reading the tightly woven typography that was written on the front of the matchbox. Her expression suddenly became irritated at this. "Hey, those are cigarette matches. You stole those from Asuma-sensei, didn't you?"

"Yeah, so what? Looking back on it now, it was probably a good idea." He muttered.

Ino nodded in agreement. Her mind had become focused on trying to keep the conversation moving, so she didn't stop and ask why Shikamaru had stolen the cigarette matches. Or maybe this was just because the answer to why he had stolen cigarette matches was obvious.

"So, about that note? Are you messing with me or- "?

"I'm about 85% sure that the we fail if we don't get out of the room before that clock runs itself down." He cut her off.

Ino grimaced, her downtrodden expression expected when the security of the situation had been ripped out from underneath her.

"How do we get out then?"

"Dunno. Doors completely locked, so we probably need a key or something. I don't know if it's hidden around here or a few rooms over though. Maybe the ninja has it on him, which is why I needed to tell you." Shikamaru rambled, the implications of his words not being lost on Ino.

The Yamanaka girl frowned, shooting a questioning glance over to her teammate.

"You really want me to just bust out a body possession? We'd get caught."

"No, see, here's the plan- "

Shikamaru proceeded to launch into a detailed and analytical description of his plan, not realizing that for the second time that day, his actions were being recorded and watched by someone. Now, unlike the incident with the sharingan, this was by no fault of his laziness. He'd priorly made sure that the you couldn't hear from the bathroom, and kept his eye upon the tiny gap at the bottom of the door, making sure that no shadows lingered over it. The reason he got caught this time was far out of his control (especially in the dim lighting), but he still got caught nonetheless.

A group of bugs watched the pair from the safety of the celling, knowing full well that the ninja wouldn't be able to generate enough light to see them. Their tiny eyes would have glimmered if there was any lighting, but for now had to settle for simply taking in the information they were being given. Interestingly, this was similar to what Shino was doing from just outside the room. All he had to do was wait, and his bugs would relay every detail coming from the inside…

"What's your name?" Sakura asked.

"Naruto Uzumaki." He said back.

His voice was tinged with the slight awkwardness that came with Sakura stretching his eyelids outward. The girl was proceeding through the first-aid training Kakashi had taught them, making sure Naruto was not concussed or suffering from a similar injury. He'd only been out for a minute, but the fact remained that he had been out. If Neji had given him a bad head injury or something, it was for the best that Team Seven just call it a day and come back next year. Sasuke, Lee, Tenten and Hinata watched over Sakura's shoulder, observing as Naruto went through his motions of recovery.

"What team are you on?"

"Team Seven."

"Where are you right now?"

"The chunin exams. I just got shit-mixed by Neji Hyugo"

"Hyuga." Tenten quickly corrected, only to quickly apologize as she received a glare from everyone else.

That was, except Lee, who was too busy holding in his tears to do anything of note. He had not been able to "protect Naruto with his life" like he said he would, and was now about ready to unleash a tidal wave of sorrow onto the ground. Everyone else (even Hinata) couldn't help but find it a little bit over the top, and the fact that he seemed to be genuine in his emotions only made it worse.

"What's your goal?"

"To be the greatest hokage."

Sakura looked back at the group behind her, expression turning from analytical to lackadaisical.

"He's okay."

Lee jumped forward with enough force to physically blow the girl to the side, gripping around Naruto in an iron-clad hug. The Uzumaki swore he could nearly feel his eyes bulge out of his skull from the pressure, his intake of breath dropping drastically as the other boy gripped onto him.

"I'm so sorry Naruto! I promised to protect you with my life two times over, yet I couldn't even protect you once! What fellow ninja am I that I cannot even protect my comrade?!" He cried, tears running down his face like waterfalls.

"'s okay" Naruto replied, words barley being able to squeeze out from the crumpled mess that Lee's hug was making his insides.

Before the embrace could completely cut off all oxygen to his brain and really give him a concussion, Tenten grabbed a hold of Lee's collar and began dragging him away. His arms shot outward towards Naruto as he skidded along the ground, eyeline so tear-filled that it more closely resembled rippling ponds than anything than actual eyes.

"I'm sorry Naruto!"

"Come on dunderhead. Get off before he blacks out for the second time today." Tenten berated, treating Lee much like an owner did to an over-enthusiastic dog.

In the meanwhile, Sasuke and Hinata (two actually functioning humans) took their places in front of Naruto. Their expressions were polar opposites of each other, with Hinata's being nervous and concerned whereas Sasuke looked almost like he was about to laugh.

"How's your nose?" Sasuke asked, smirking as he did so.

Naruto looked up at him with a toothy grin, his first positive expression since getting into the argument with Neji.

"Alright."

"Good to know. I was pretty sure he broke it."

"Right?! Dude didn't hold back, that's for sure." He said, rubbing a hand over the injured spot in question.

His eyes suddenly switched focus from Sasuke to Hinata, though they didn't lose any humor as they did so. In fact, they might have gotten more jokey when they made that switch. This went a long way in calming Hinata, who up to that point had been practically hyperventilating. There was just something about the combination of Naruto's eyes and smile that were reassuring and, above all else, comforting.

"Hey, Hina-Hina, your cousin's a dick." He laughed, which actually managed to get a giggle out of Hinata as well. However, the Hyuga girl quickly turned serious when realizing that she may have been somewhat to blame for his current position.

"I'm s-so sorry N-Naruto, I s-should have- "

"No, no. It's my bad, I shouldn't have forgot your name…I also, ya know, probably shouldn't have slapped him." He said, still smiling. Soon after, he stood up to his feet and began walking towards a shelf. Then he paused. "I'm gonna go get a drink, you guys want anything?"

Sasuke and a now recovered Sakura shook their heads, while Hinata nodded.

"Well, I don't know what stuff they've got, so you're going to have to come with." Naruto said casually, beckoning the Hyuga girl to come with him. She quickly followed, though nervous jitters quivered through her steps much like the stutters in her voice.

Sakura watched the two with a sly smile, noting how different their posture was from one another. Hinata was shaky, looking like a breeze would be enough to send her toppling to the ground whereas Naruto solidly crossed his arms behind his head, almost as if he was anticipating that very breeze.

"Sakura."

Sasuke's voice came suddenly, lacking the jovial tone he had had when speaking to Naruto previously. Instead, he seemed very serious, eyes lingering over an event on the horizon that was seemingly invisible to everyone else.

"Hm?"

"I needed to talk with you in the private room."

"Oh, okay."

She was surprised by the request. When Niro had introduced the room, she had struggled to see the point and definitely hadn't thought she'd be going in at any point. The fact that Sasuke had somehow found a reason to use it, with her, sent her brain into an avalanche of theories and possible explanations. What could he have found out in the last few minutes that he couldn't risk saying out in the open? Maybe something about-

"I'm going stir-crazy!"

Ino's voice boomed out through the room as if she was shouting through a loudspeaker. Any attention in the room that had not been on her previously (which was most of it) was now specifically fixated upon her wailing figure. She had closed her eyes, draping the back of her hand over her forehead in an entirely over-dramatic fashion as she edged closer to door which they had entered from. The one that Niro stood on the other side of.

"Oh! The stress of these exams is way too much!" She screamed.

Her words were practically dripping with a rich theatric edge, her actions being closer to a stage actor than what you would expect of a person who actually had any reservations about the exam. It was almost contradictory in that sense, because someone who had gotten stressed out by this section of the exams would most definitely not be running up to the very front of the room and screaming about just how stressed they were.

"Sorry Shika, sorry Choji! I just can't handle this anymore; we need to drop out."

Despite being told that his chances of moving up a rank were going to be dashed for what had to be one of the stupidest reasons possible, Choji just smiled a big dumb smile and flashed a thumbs up.

"That's okay Ino, we'll get it next time!"

This was followed by an incredibly uncomfortable silence. The words that had previously flown out of Ino's mouth with such spectacle and emotion were silenced completely. Much like a theatre performer, she had been snared by an actor who had forgotten his lines. Well, not forgotten his lines as much as forgotten he needed to say said lines in the first place. No better sound elucidated this fact then the sharp crack of Shikamaru's fingertips picking at his nails, consequently causing Ino to bite down into her cheek in an attempt to prevent a murderous glare from overtaking her features. Soon enough, she realized that Shikamaru was completely apathetic to a plan that he himself had organized and needed to be reminded of that. In a perfectly timed moment of comedy, she cleared her throat out, only earning a bored gaze from the boy in response.

"Do whatever you want, I don't care."

In all fairness, this was actually a pretty in-character response, so much so that for a brief second Ino thought that Shikamaru may have actually faked the plan so that he could drop out of the exams without actually having to be blamed for doing so. Then she realized that with what was supposed to happen next, it wouldn't have made sense. She snapped into position, gripping onto the doorknob like it was the only thing keeping her tethered to the land of the living.

Knock!

Knock!

She slammed her fist against the wood frame, hard enough that a few of the genin thought she was attempting to beat the door down.

"Ah, I'm feeling light-headed…" She groaned, adding the prescient for the next step.

The door slung open, Niro peering into the room with his beady brown eyes. His face was mostly obscured, the only visible parts being his eyes, nose and (partly) mouth but that was all Ino needed.

"What is it?" He asked, never getting an answer.

Ino made a small triangle with her hands, aiming it towards Niro's eyeline. Chakra began pulsating through her palms, manifesting outward in an invisible but deeply powerful force. It was too quick for the jonin to even notice, because by the time he looked down far enough to see Ino's hands, he already had lost consciousness. But when the word "lost" was used, it did not mean forsaken to fate unknown, but instead, his consciousness put in the hands of a specific owner. Ino's body hit the floor mere seconds after this bizarre interaction, a feat that everyone in the room owed to her light-headedness.

"Oh no, the girl has fallen ill." Niro stammered, not sounding quite like himself. "You there, ponytail boy. Please help her rest up."

He had motioned to Shikamaru, who "begrudgingly" followed the order (though what wasn't faked was was how lazily he dragged Ino over to the couch, nearly dropping her completely on multiple occasions.). Niro made one last perimeter check of the area before nodding his head slowly and closing the door. Except, the person who did this wasn't Niro at all. It may have been his body doing the actions, but there was a different mind behind the wheel.

Ah! That was actually pretty easy. I can't stay in here too long though, or I'll drain myself completely by the time I'm back Ino thought as her wants and needs took full control of Niro's subconscious.

The Yamanaka clan had always specialized in the techniques of the mind and were revered for their various sensory techniques. The most prominent of these was the mind transfer jutsu, in which the Yamanka clan user would transfer their consciousness into the body of another. The targets mind would be suppressed for as long as the other persons thoughts occupied its space. However, there were many weaknesses to this technique. Firstly, as displayed before, Ino lost all mobility in her own body during this process, meaning she was a sitting duck in combat situations. Secondly, it was incredibly finnicky and hard to control. For a genin like Ino, even simple actions such as basic motor functions and movement were hard to control. This wasn't even taking into account the resistance that most shinobi had. From what she could tell, this guy's psychological endurance was pretty slack for a jonin and she could already feel her grip on his psychosis starting to slip. This meant she had to act quickly.

"Hey, strange seeing you so soon again huh Niro?" Hisume waved over to the "man", walking over with a freshly minted stack of papers in his arms.

Shit! Ino growled inwardly.

It was hard enough to keep this guy under her control while he was doing nothing, having to navigate through a conversation with some rando she didn't know the name of only exacerbated things. Wait, maybe she could use this to her advantage. Afterall, she didn't even know if Shikamaru was right in his thinking. She could try and confirm that at least.

"Hey- "Wait, what the fuck did boys call each other? "-dude, how are you going?"

Hisume shot her a strange look. Clearly Niro was not one to usually call others "dude". Luckily, he seemed to shrug it off, quickly smiling.

"Not great, this paperwork's killing me. How are those kids doing in there?" He quickly shifted the conversation forward, a curious glint present in his eye.

"Pretty good. I'm sure they've already figured out that you need to actually escape through the door on time if they want to pass, right?"

Once again, Hisume became weirded out by Niro's uncharacteristic behavior.

"Yeah, I'd assume you knew since you were stationed to work there and everything."

Noticeable beads of sweat began to run down the jonin's face, both as the body's natural reaction to a different mind occupying its top slot and also because Ino was now absolutely sweating bullets, even if she didn't have a physical form. She'd gotten the info she wanted, but had set the man's suspicions off one too many times.

"Are you okay?"

"No, I'm a…fucking idiot and I need to go to the bathroom." (S)he stammered, Ino beginning to lose her grip upon the older man's consciousness.

She had, at most, a minute or two left before she lost any control over the man but she had yet to achieve her primary goal. She bolted off in search of the bathroom with zero care for Hisume's concerns. When she found it, she practically smashed through the door of the cubicle and began rifling around the man's pockets in search of the key Shikamaru had mentioned. It was in moments like these that she really began to despise the number of pockets the average ninja had. Seriously, did the chunin flak jacket really require this many pouches? There was literally nothing in them and these stupid straps kept getting stuck. She ran a finger under his tongue, coating it with spit in what was a futile attempt to try and excavate the key faster. If it even existed in the first place, he didn't have it on him…that was unless maybe it was down lower. She pat down around the pockets of his legs, still coming up blank on the location of the object, which left only one option: maybe he had inside pockets as well. After all, apparently every ninja in Konoha needed to be equipped with the storage space of a fridge, it wasn't like it was that silly of an idea. She managed to get his hand down his pants before a sensation not to dissimilar to that of having your hair pulled, except it was not just your hair. It was your very subconscious being yanked backwards. She always hated this part.

Ino's astral form began to disperse around her, thoughts and memories temporarily aligning with Niro's in a blur of consciousness that was too bright and heavy for either of them to possibly comprehend. The usually dreary, nearly-pitch black mindscape became filled with a blooming struggle for control, or more accurately, would have had Ino not relinquished the jutsu. The chances of her managing to further suppress the man's mind were slim and far above the capabilities of a genin Yamanaka like her. If she did attempt it, she ran a serious risk of causing permeant damage to his (or possibly her own) psyche, which would obviously be bad. An escape was the only option that made sense, and she decided to follow reason.

"Ah!" Niro came to with a slight scream, mind still fuzzy.

It took a little while for him to recover his general senses, the man using his left hand to massage through his hair. He peered down at his other, noticing, one, the wetness of his fingers and, two, the fact that his right had been stuffed down his pants. And he was in a bathroom cubicle...

A few sharp breaths later, Niro made a mental note to never tell anybody about what had happened here.

" Eck!" Ino exclaimed, teal eyes snapping open.

Upon regaining her bearings, her stunned expression quickly let go in favor of a more disappointed one. Naruto had gotten a crowd of four (five if you counted Sakura, who was playing a nurse) to gather around him when he'd been knocked out but all she got were Choji and Shikamaru? And out of those two, Choji was the only one who actually even cared?!

"Hey! Ino, are you okay?" Choji asked, legitimately seeming concerned for her health. She didn't bother showing the same level of emotion back, waving him off with a clearly dissatisfied pout.

"Yeah, I'm fine Choji."

"Cool." He said, flopping back onto the couch as he had before. For all of the boy's compassion, he was also rather uncaring after the peace had been reassured.

Her eyes darted sideways, looking at Shikamaru. The Nara boy wasn't at all concerned with her though, gaze locked towards the clock on the wall. She was about to make some sarcastically snide remark about being hurt that he wasn't worried, but her attention was quickly drawn to the same point of interest as his: the clock on the wall.

Twenty-five minutes left. Shikamaru mentally noted, before returning Ino's already fleeting look.

"No key?" He asked.

"No key." She nodded.

Damn it. He liked a good puzzle, but he more so loved solving the puzzle early. It seemed that in this situation, the latter was off the table.