Naruto couldn't stop himself from sneaking glances at his teammates, watching their expressions as they talked, looking for the slightest hint that they were just pretending to have accepted him for who, or for what he was. No matter how often they said it, no matter how much he wanted to believe them, one look at Hinata's covered arms, and all of their reassurances melted away.

All four of them, five counting Akamaru, sat around his newly furnished living room. As if the recently cleaned walls weren't big enough of a surprise.

They had collectively decided to buy him welcome-back gifts, of which he thought himself undeserving of. Their teacher had arranged for him to receive a significant amount of furniture, which now decorated his otherwise bare home, Kiba had expanded his wardrobe even further than before with all manners of jackets and long-sleeved shirts, many of which helped to hide the seals that now covered his body, and Hinata had given him a bag full of products for his hair, which sapped away his previous desire of cutting it short.

"We've moved on to water-walking since Kiba and Hinata have already mastered the tree exercise, and..."

Kurenai sounded easy-going, but sometimes Naruto caught her looking at him differently. Not in anger or fear, but concern. It wasn't that surprising to him, considering she had been the only one who saw his transformation and the aftermath of it. Those events were still blurred to him, his words, his actions... he could only assume what he had done, and his assumptions weren't pretty.

'Still, I wonder if she'd be this calm knowing what happened between me and the old - the third Hokage earlier.'

In retrospect, running out of Sarutobi's office as if death itself was chasing him seemed to have been a glaring overreaction, but when he was actually there, staring at the old man's face as he lost his temper in with him for the first time? The sheer pressure in the room couldn't have been equated with anything else Naruto had ever experienced. Even facing down the ninja in Yakegake had been a more digestible experience.

"Naruto, are you listening?"

"Huh?" He said, looking up at Kurenai. "Oh, sorry. Got lost in my thoughts for a bit, what were you saying?"

"She was asking you about that," Kiba said, gesturing at the sword tied to his hip. Naruto blinked, almost having forgotten about Natsuki's gift after that day's commotion. He grabbed the sword and put it on top of his desk so that everyone else could get a look at it.

"Natsuki gave it to me as a get-well gift. I don't know how to use it, but she told me it's one of the best weapons they had."

"She wasn't wrong," Kurenai said with an approving nod. "May I?"

"Go ahead."

The glint that reflected off of the jet-black blade momentarily showered the room as Kurenai pulled back its sheath. There was a lighter-toned, almost grey line running along its edge, giving off the impression of incredible sharpness, and he noticed a strange mark by the hilt for the first time, made to look like a leaf that had been cut in half.

"Ah, just as I thought," Kurenai said, turning it around to get a better view. "She must have really liked you. This is a masterfully crafted weapon, made by a blacksmith that used to supply our forces during the war. He died shortly after the cease-fire, and I doubt there's more than a dozen of these still around."

He took it back from her, staring at the edge and the odd mark for a few seconds before sheathing it and tying it back to his hip. "This feels weird... I mean, I appreciate it, obviously, but I don't even know how to use a sword. Wouldn't it be better for her to give it to someone who could actually use it?"

"I have a coworker who can help you," Kurenai offered. "There's not enough time to learn until the chunnin exams, but it's still a good skill to cultivate for the rest of your career. Especially with something like this by your side."

"I'll take any help I can get, I guess." He said uncertainly. It wasn't as if becoming a swordsman had been a priority of his, but the hope in his teacher's voice had been so tangible when she made the offer that he felt compelled to accept it. "When are those happening, by the way?"

"It'll be one week from now," Hinata said. It was still surreal to hear the Hyuga speak without stuttering, even after spending almost an hour talking to her before Kurenai and Kiba returned to his home. "And there's a good chance there'll be a pause between stages, so we'll have even more time to train."

"One week, huh?" He hadn't realized just how much time he had spent with his recovery until then. The exams seemed to be an eternity away when they set off for Yakegake. "Are we going to be ready?"

"Trust me; I think all three of you are more than ready right now." Their teacher assured. "There'll be some surprises, of course, but the average applicant should be much less experienced than any of you as of right now."

Naruto was reminded of his interaction with Shikamaru's team. If even half of what he had heard about the exams was accurate, then it'd be downright sadistic to let a team like theirs compete in it. 'A real trial by fire, huh?'

"Say, sensei, there's something I've been meaning to ask," Kiba said, drawing their attention to him. "What are the qualities the examiners are looking for in a chunnin?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow. "A chunnin's stronger than a genin, so if we beat everyone else, we'll win, right?"

She smiled. "Not exactly. While chunnin can often decide to operate in one-man cells for the remainder of their careers, they can sometimes be called on to lead squads on C and even B-ranked missions. This means that the judges often prioritize someone's leadership skills and situational awareness over their fighting strength, although obviously that's also taken into consideration."

'Welp, there go my chances.' Naruto thought bitterly. 'At least we'll have two members in Team 8 who'll pass.'

Speaking of which, Hinata was the next one to talk. "Sensei, does every village send their ninja to the exams?"

"Another good question. The answer is no - some of the smaller villages prefer to test their candidates at home to keep their secrets hidden away from everyone else. Kiri's a good example of this, and Ame too, until recently."

"Shouldn't we do the same, then?" Naruto asked, perplexed.

"Nah, it's different for us," Kiba answered before she could. "It's almost the opposite, really. We try to show off so that everyone else knows we're stronger than them."

"To discourage war, yes," She said, nodding. "That's why the major villages - us, Kumo, Iwa, Suna - tend to only send their best ninja to these things. Some people that are twice your age are still ranked as a genin, just because they never impressed their leaders enough to participate."

"Man, all these politics are a pain in the ass," Naruto said, leaning back on his seat. 'Besides, I thought we were supposed to be more experienced than these guys? And now she's saying we'll be going up against the best they have to offer.'

"It's only going to be worse this year. Watch out for Suna in particular. Rumor is they're sending a trio of the Kazekage's children to participate this year, and with the current situation between us, there's no telling what type of thing they'll try to pull."

"So, we're going to have to deal with those guys and our classmates at the same time, huh?" Naruto said. "That's rough."

"We should obviously help Shika and those guys if they get in trouble," Kiba said. "Not that sure about Sasuke, though. Maybe if he asks nicely."

"You shouldn't be that mean to him," Hinata said with a frown. "Especially after everything he's been through."

"Oh please," The Inuzuka said, rolling his eyes. "Sasuke's not some glass doll, okay? If anything, I bet the people who pamper him are what gets on his nerves.

"Speaking of which," Naruto interrupted before they started arguing about the boy. "Do you guys know how the other teams have been doing?"

"Team 7 went through something similar to us, from what Sakura told me," Hinata said. "Their mission was upped to an A-ranker after they encountered Zabuza Momochi and had to fight him twice, although she couldn't really tell me anything else about it. I think she's been shaken up pretty badly because of it."

Kurenai grimaced. "A formidable opponent, to be sure. I've been saying we should be rougher on people who diminish a mission's ranking when posting it." She blinked as if suddenly remembering something. "Speaking of which, Naruto, Kiba and Hinata told me you can sense people now?"

He sighed and went on to give her an explanation of his sensory abilities and newly placed seals, removing his shirt so that she could have a good look at his tattoos.

"So, what would happen if you used one-hundred percent of your chakra as of right now?"

"We haven't really tested it," He said with a shrug. "But Jiraya assumed that I'd get messed up pretty badly if that happened. The most I've been able to do so far is fire out the Suidan while using around thirty percent, but I've figured out how to make my taijutsu stronger with it too."

Mentioning the jutsu brought something he had previously forgotten to the forefront of his mind, and the grin that surfaced as a result clearly put Hinata and Kiba on edge. Things only got worse when he threw a long glance at the Inuzuka's exposed wallet.

"Say, speaking of that jutsu, I just remembered something. Didn't we make a bet on who'd master it first?"

"Ah, well, you see-"

"Seems like I have a free lunch at Yakiniku's waiting for me."

They both sighed, resigning themselves to their fate. Kurenai seemed to be amused but thoughtful. "So you've managed to use it already, huh? Well, maybe your elemental affinity is closer to water than Kiba and Hinata's. This will be a good opportunity to teach you three some more jutsu before the exams come up."

"Sounds good to me." He said with a shrug. When neither Kiba nor Hinata complained about the extra training, he came to realize just how much things had changed after their first and only real mission.

'You're all more than ready.' Kurenai had said. Suddenly, he couldn't be so sure.

Naruto shifted on his feet while waiting for Kurenai's so-called 'coworker.' She had told him to simply wait for him on top of a deserted building, but it was already well past sunset, and the man still hadn't shown up.

That's when something entered the limits of his 'radar.' His eyes widened, and the boy barely had enough time to jump out of the way as what seemed to be a gust of wind struck the place he had been standing in. He came out of it unharmed, but the ground was cut through as if a blade had hit it.

"What the hell?!" He shouted at the man who had attacked him. He was taller than Naruto, and for that matter, taller than most people in Konoha, had a scruffy brown beard, familiar-looking eyes, and a white piece of cloth that hung off his belt.

"You actually dodged it. It was a bit too slow for my tastes, but not too shabby for a genin, I suppose." The man said, nodding his approval. "As for who I am, the name's Asuma. Kurenai asked me to watch you over for a bit and teach you how to use that thing." He nudged at the tanto tied to his hip by the end of his sentence.

'Asuma?' His mind raced. 'Wasn't that Shikamaru's teacher? And what type of fucking psycho starts a lesson by trying to cut someone up?!'

"As I'm sure you know, we won't be together for long." He said, removing a trench knife that was just a tad shorter than Naruto's own weapon from inside of his vest. "And truth be told, when it comes to stuff like this, I'm not the best teacher in the world. So here's what we're going to do. We'll be sparring over and over again from now on until you can land a hit on me. Sounds good?"

"Hey old man, I don't know what the fuck's your problem," Naruto unsheathed his sword and held it like a kunai. "But if you think I'll just stand around here and let you cut me up-"

He was interrupted when Asuma crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye with a vicious swing meant to slit his throat. Naruto didn't have time to deflect it, so he stepped back in a desperate attempt to compose himself, only realizing how that had been a mistake half a second later when the older man stepped on his foot, preventing any other maneuvers while pressing the tip of his knife against Naruto's throat.

"That'll be one for me, zero for you." He said with a mocking grin while stepping away from him. "If that had been a real fight, you'd be dead by now. And you want to fight Kushina with this level of skill? Give up, kid."

Naruto saw red. He leaped at the jonin without any thought for his own safety, blindly swinging his sword with every step. Asuma simply and calmly stepped back, waited until he over-extended himself, and then delivered a harsh kick to his ribs.

He fell to the ground gasping for air, at which point Asuma simply held the knife up in front of his face, mere inches away from his right eye.

"That's two for me, zero for you. Get up."

Time passed slowly. By the time they were finished, Naruto was lying down on the ground with several surface-level cuts running through his body while Asuma picked out a cigarette pack from his vest and turned away from him. "And you're supposed to be a 'fighting prodigy?' Bah. You better step up your game tomorrow, kid, or you're going to be dealing with much more than those paper cuts."

And with that, he was gone, leaving Naruto to stew in his hatred.

"Goddamnit!" He yelled while flipping to his feet, punching the ground until his knuckles were red. "God-!," the stone cracked. "Fucking-!" blood splashed over. "Damnit!"

He wasn't going to leave things at that. Oh no, next time Naruto saw Asuma, the man was going to pay.

"Hey kid, I know you know I'm here," Asuma said while walking through the same rooftop as before. "And hiding isn't going to help you."

He paused when nothing moved for a solid fifteen seconds after he spoke. Asuma scratched the back of his head. "Damn, did he give up this easily? Kurenai's really going to have to make this up to me somehow-"

He was interrupted in mid-sentence when the ground underneath him exploded with smoke. Simultaneously, Naruto emerged from his henge, having transformed himself into a pebble while waiting for the jonin to arrive. He swung the already unsheathed tanto at Asuma's throat, but the experience gap between them once again proved itself to be too big to cross.

Asuma grabbed Naruto by the wrist, twisted it until he was forced to let go of his weapon, kneed him on the solar plexus so that he'd run out of air, swept his legs from underneath him, and slammed him into the stone floor while drawing his knife and once again pinning it above the boy's throat.

"Nice try, kid!" He said with a grin while Naruto squirmed under his grip. "That was better than anything you did yesterday. By the way, the count's at sixty-four to me, zero to you. Come on, let's keep going."

'That bastard. I'll get back at him today, he'll see-'

Naruto was drawn out of his thoughts with a groan of pain as Kiba slammed him on the ground during one of their daily taijutsu drills. He sat up, dazed, but clearly not as surprised as the boy himself, or Hinata and Kurenai, who watched from a distance.

"Hey man, are you okay?" Kiba asked while pulling him to his feet. Naruto took his hand with gratitude before shaking his head. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit distracted, that's all. Training's been kinda late recently, you know how it is."

"Asuma's not working you too hard, is he?" Kurenai asked. "He can be a little bit overzealous when working with something he loves. I think that's why he didn't try to teach swordsmanship to any of his students..."

"Oh? No, everything's perfectly fine." Naruto denied while going back into his stance to prepare for another round with Kiba. "Just haven't had enough sleep, that's all."

To say that Asuma was infuriating would be an understatement. He knew just what to say and when to say it to drive him mad, but Naruto knew better than to fall for it by that point, even if his constant remarks about Kushina and his goal to fight her never ceased to make his blood boil. Instead of reacting outwardly to it, though, he convinced himself to focus all of that hatred into his thoughts, silently watching his 'teacher' for any slip-up in his stance or misstep, no matter how miniscule.

'There!'

He leaped at the opportunity when Asuma seemed to have lost his balance after parrying one of his attacks, roughly pushing one of his arms aside while trying to stab him in the stomach.

Just as it seemed that he would manage to pierce through his vest, Asuma spun in a perfect circle, rolling along with the short sword's momentum and preventing any real damage at the same time that he freed himself from Naruto's grasp, grabbed him by the side of the head, and slammed him down into the ground.

"That was close!" He complimented. "But your movements are still way too obvious. You should have feinted with something else before going for the stab, as it was I could tell what you were going for ten moves before you did it. Here, let's try that again. Oh, by the way, one-hundred-and-ten to zero."

Naruto growled.

Nothing was going through his mind while fighting Asuma for the fourth night. Naruto let all of the man's jeers and insults slide off of his shoulders like water and instead focused on letting his muscle memory do all of the work. He hadn't managed to win just yet, but the fight had been going better than any of his other attempts.

He swung for Asuma's head and missed, cutting off a few strands of hair instead. The man quickly reacted, shifting his feet while bringing his own knife back, and soon both of them held their weapons to each other's throats. Naruto allowed himself to relax with a smirk.

"Guess that's two-hundred wins, zero losses, and one tie, huh?"

Now it was Asuma's turn to grin. Before he knew what was happening, the man had weaved underneath his knife, grabbed him by the arm, and twisted it behind his back until it was almost broken.

"Who said we were finished? No, I believe it's two-hundred-and-one to zero, Naruto-kun."

"I fucking hate you."

"Oh, I know."

"...So in the final scene, the bad guy's sitting on top of a building talking to the main character, and he's telling him about..." Kiba stopped talking and turned away from Hinata as Naruto fell face-first into his untouched bowl of ramen. "Naruto!"

"Huh?! I'm awake!" The boy shouted, lifting himself off of the table while his face and hair were drenched in water. "I'm totally awake, what were you saying?"

"Jeez, man, I've never seen someone fall asleep while eating before," Kiba said with a touch of concern. Hinata nodded. "Are you okay, Naruto-kun?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." He said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "I just really haven't had the time to sleep lately with all of that training, you know? Don't worry about it, I'll be ready to go by the time the exams come around."

"If you say so, man," Kiba said with a frown. "You know, you could just ask for Kurenai-sensei to talk to this Asuma guy and ask him to give you a break if things are so tough."

"Nah. The guy's a dick, don't get me wrong, but I really want to beat him at this point, you know?"

Naruto grinned as he stepped back and felt the air fly by his face as Asuma's knife narrowly missed its target. Most of their duels would have already been over by then, but they had been fighting for five minutes straight, and neither party seemed to have been making any significant progress.

He had never taken Shikamaru up on his offer to play shogi, but he imagined the game was more or less like his fights with Asuma. It wasn't anything like the typical hand-to-hand combat he was used to, he realized. Both of them weren't preoccupied with hitting the other fighter as much as slowly leading them into making mistakes they could exploit.

He raised his elbow one degree higher than he should have, creating an opening on the right side of his chest. Naruto knew that Asuma loved kicking or punching him there when they grappled to knock the air off of sails, so to speak, and the man didn't disappoint, immediately going for it as they stepped closer to each other.

Suddenly he let go of the short-sword. Asuma's eyes widened when he saw it, but it was already too late for him to correct his ongoing attack. Naruto softly guided his wrist so that he'd miss his punch with one hand while grabbing the tanto in mid-air with the other, twisting them around so that he was holding one of the man's arms in a lock while posing to cut his throat with the other.

"What now, huh?!" He demanded. "Going to try and sweep my legs from under me? Or maybe throw me with your shoulder? I'll cut your throat if you so much as think about it, old man!"

"Hah, fair enough, kid," Asuma said, raising both hands in a gesture of surrender. "That'll be two-hundred-and-sixty-five to one. You win."

"Hah! I...told you... I could...win."

Asuma turned around when the boy's body hit the ground with a loud 'thud.' He panicked for a brief moment, crouching over him while checking his heartbeat with two fingers. "Hey, kid, are you alright? I didn't even hit you this time-"

"I don't... want to go to school, mom..." The boy interrupted while talking in his sleep. "Just... five more minutes..."

The jonin sighed in relief while stepping away from his body, lighting another cigarette with a smirk. "Yeah, I guess you really earned that sleep, kid." He said, blowing out some smoke. "Who in the world would let go of their weapon in the middle of a fight like that? Crazy bastard..."

He turned around and began to walk back home. "I guess Kurenai was right; he really is a genius. That being said, I might have been a little too rough with him..."

Asuma paused and turned back to see Naruto, who was peacefully sleeping in what had previously been their battlefield. He braced himself against the cold while leaving, not even thinking about the jonin vest that now served as the kid's blanket.

After spending two days doing nothing but recovering from the training lessons with Asuma, Naruto was fully refreshed and prepared for whatever the chunnin exams threw at him. He was on his way to meet up with his friends so that they could set off for the exams together when something tingled in his spine. He had already grown used enough to his senses to the point where even encompassing a crowded street wasn't an issue, so when he felt someone who had the same chakra output as Hanayama standing around him, he immediately turned to look in their direction.

He saw two boys and one girl, all of them around his age, if not slightly older. He acknowledged the yellow-haired girl who carried what seemed to be a weapon on her back as well as the boy with black clothes and purple face-paint, but he was intently focused on the red-haired boy with 'love' written in his forehead in kanji. The boy's cyan eyes met his own bright blue, and for a second, they just stood there and stared at each other as the crowd walked by them.

'Definitely a Jinchuuriki.' He thought, taking note of the forehead protector tied around his neck. 'And from Suna too. Fuck.'

He took the opportunity to disappear when a wagon drove itself between the two, hiding behind it before leaping toward the buildings surrounding them and heading toward his teammates. Kurenai's numerous warnings about watching out for anyone who came from Suna reverbed in his mind.

It wasn't only the beast's chakra that set him off, but the feelings that were associated with it: namely an intense, almost psychotic blood-lust that encompassed the boy and everyone around him.

He gripped the tanto's hilt, just in case he was being followed, but nothing came after him. With a shudder, he forced himself to move faster.

Kankuro stilled as Gaara suddenly started looking at a random direction with the typical intensity that came before one of his killing sprees. Temari seemed to notice as well because she carefully took a step back from their sibling.

"Something..." He wetted his lips. "Something wrong, Gaara?"

Kankuro regretted those words as soon as they came out of his mouth. Neither of the twins had ever been injured in one of his rampages before, despite being repeatedly threatened and warned to watch their step. He wasn't naive enough to think that was due to some brotherly love Gaara fostered for them. The boy was a complete monster, devoid of any and all human emotion.

The best way to stay alive would be to keep out of his radar at all costs, and he had just asked him a question.

But he didn't murder him on the spot for his insolence. Instead, Gaara simply continued to stare into nothing for a few more seconds before shaking his head. "Nothing at all," he said. "But things have just become much more interesting."

Kankuro was so shocked to hear his brother say so many words that he didn't notice he had started to walk away until he and Temari were well behind him. "Gaara, wait up!" He called, running up to him just as the weight of his words settled in. Whatever the boy found 'interesting' couldn't bode well, not for them, and certainly not for anyone who lived in the village.

"So this is Konoha, huh?" Kin, a kunoichi from Otokagure that had been specially selected for their mission, said as they walked among its crowds. "Not that impressive if you ask me."

"Appearances can be deceiving," Her master said, patting her on the shoulder. She resisted the urge to shiver. The feminine tone that coated his voice and the woman's face that stared back at her when she turned to look at him did nothing to hide who it really was she was talking to.

"F-forgive me, master. I forgot myself."

"There's no need to be so harsh on yourself. Just remember that by all means and purposes, we're in enemy territory right now. It'd be best for us to tread carefully."

"And what do you think about this place?" Zaku, the man who had served as her teammate ever since they first joined the village, asked while turning toward their new squad-leader.

He was a mountain of muscle, standing even taller than their master and barely covering any of it up with his slightly under-sized white shirt. He scanned the people around him with indifferent blue eyes, nicely complemented by his almost completely shaven blonde hair.

"I agree with Kin." He said with a soft-spoken tone that was oddly unbecoming of such a large man, especially considering who his allegiances rested with. "Nothing stands out to me. Besides the men following us, of course."

"Don't look." Their master told them, clearly directing the order toward Zaku and Kin. "I've noticed them too. Six of them, maybe more. Konoha seems to have gotten particularly cautious in these last couple of years... Not that it will help them, of course."

"No... of course not," Kin muttered. Her team was supposed to give off the feeling of a bunch of newly minted genin, excited to test themselves in front of a foreign audience.

How could they, when she knew what would happen to the village in the days to come?

Miles away from the arriving dignitaries, deep down in the forbidden forest where no sane man or woman dared to venture, a tiger died.

The killer proceeded to unceremoniously rip off its skin, discarding whatever couldn't be used before cooking the rest in a cauldron made of stone. Several animals, leagues larger than most people could imagine, decided to keep their distance from the alluring flame. Their decision wasn't born out of rational thought, but the survival instinct that was deeply ingrained in every living being.

The clearing was filled with noise as the previously great beast's flesh was devoured, and then quiet again once it was done.

Green eyes peered out of the cover provided by bushes and leaves as the woman wiped her lips, which soon parted to reveal a pointed white grin.

"So, it's finally here..." She said. "I've waited long enough, Naruto.

Show me what you're made of."

Naruto shivered, rubbing his arms to try and protect himself from the perceived cold even though the sun was high in the sky. 'Today's just not my day, I guess.'

"Ah, you're finally here," Kiba said as he leaned against a wooden pole together with Akamaru and Hinata. "What took you so long?"

"Met some people I shouldn't have," He said while approaching them. "Where's sensei? She probably needs to hear about it."

"She said the Hokage called for a special meeting before things began," Hinata explained. "Who did you meet?"

"The Suna trio." He let the shocked looks in their faces subside before continuing. "And it's worse than that too. I think their leader has a..." He gestured to his stomach. "Like Hanayama and me."

"That's just great," Kiba whined. "Any idea on what it could be?"

He shook his head. "No, I could only tell that had one."

"We'll have to keep our distance from them," Hinata observed. "Just like Kurenai-sensei said."

"That's easier said than done." Kiba crossed his arms. "This exam could have some stage where we're forced to fight each other. Hell, that could be the entire thing for all I know. The best thing to do would probably be giving up as soon as we come across them."

Naruto realized at that moment the precise reason Kiba was more likely to be passed than he was. He understood that the boy's logic was correct; there was no use fighting someone who harbored a demon inside of them when the mission didn't require it after all. Could he make that choice in the heat of the moment, though? After all, demon or not, the Suna trio wouldn't be anything compared to what his final goal was.

But then again, he had promised himself not to put his team in danger anymore after what had happened, and Hinata and Kiba's safety came first and foremost as far as he was concerned.

Still...

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Kiba said, separating from the post and patting both of them in the shoulder. "Hey, we've made it this far, right? We get through this, and we'll become chunnin, one more step after that, and it'll be easy to get that promotion to jonin, and then I'll only have to work my ass off or a few years before becoming Hokage."

"You'll need some people up there to support you," Hinata said with a smile. "Or are you already forgetting about us?"

"Why, I thought I already had that in the bag! I'll have a Hyuga clan matriarch on one side and the strongest guy around in the other, what more could I ask for?"

"Flattery's not going to get you anywhere," Naruto said, turning around to hide his face. "Dumbass."

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say." Kiba had an infuriating grin in his face. "We should get going to the academy before the time limit runs off."

"So they're actually holding the first stage in the academy?" Naruto asked as they walked side-by-side. "Jeez, what are the chances it's going to be mind-numbingly boring?"

"Probably something like fifty-to-one, but you never know. Maybe it's just meant to inspire some fake confidence in the applicants or something."

Naruto came to realize he had no idea about the sheer amount of genin in Konoha when they came across the academy gates. It was filled to the brim, more people trying to shove their ways inside than when they graduated.

"Okay, so where exactly are we going here?"

"Sensei said we should go to the third floor. Man, I'm not looking forward to going through that staircase. You better stick close, boy." He put Akamaru inside of his coat, who growled in response. "Yeah, I know you can handle yourself just fine, but I don't trust any of those morons not to step all over you without even noticing, and I really don't need you to bite them right now."

"I know not attracting attention right now is important and everything..." Naruto began. "But why don't we just-"

Kiba raised an eyebrow, and Hinata grinned at his suggestion. "Why Naruto, that's the best thing you've said today."

And so the first thing all of the foreigners and fellow ninja saw of Team 8 in the chunnin exams were all of them walking up the building's side and going into the third floor through an open window.

Their reception was hostile, to say the least. Kurenai's words about genin that were almost twice their age never getting an opportunity for a promotion came back to Naruto as he looked around and saw their competitors' faces glaring back at them while brandishing their weapons and muttering among each other.

The idea of Kiba or Hinata being harmed by some disgruntled ninja who wanted to make an impression infuriated him, and so Naruto made sure to glare back at each and every one of them until they backed off. Surprisingly enough, that seemed to work just fine, and they were soon left alone as the others went back to talking to each other or dodged away from his glares by taking a renewed interest in the floor or ceiling.

Kiba patted him on the back in a show of support.

"You've made quite the impression already." A silver-haired Konoha ninja said with a frank smile as he stepped closer to them. "I don't think most people here really appreciated it, though."

"If they've got a problem with it, they're more than welcome to step up and do something about it."

The man raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I meant no offense. My name's Kabuto, you could say that I'm a veteran around these parts."

"A veteran?" Kiba asked. "How long could you have been taking these?"

"Oh, this is my ninth time already."

Those words immediately set off some alarms inside of Naruto's head. Kabuto had stepped into his range while approaching the group, and he could clearly tell his capabilities weren't anywhere near weak enough to merit so many failed attempts. If anything, he ranked just above Mizuki in terms of sheer power, not to mention his sublime chakra control.

'A hidden examiner, then? Wouldn't surprise me if things have already started.'

His attention was mostly taken away from the man as the room's doors opened and Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji walked in. Now it was their turn to be glared at and scorned, and he was curious to see how they'd handle it. Choji seemed to falter under the pressure, but Shikamaru just pat him on the back, and they walked through the crowd while Ino glared at anyone who dared to badmouth them.

Kiba waved for his friends, and they were quick to come, although Ino and Choji shot some uncomfortable looks at Naruto. The sight made him feel somewhat guilty, but not enough to reconsider anything he had said. If the girl wanted something 'real' to do, she'd have no better opportunity than the exams.

"Hey man, good to see you here." The Inuzuka said, shaking Shikamaru's hand. Naruto and Hinata exchanged some nods with the other team's members, although Ino's was less than cordial. 'I guess she really is upset about that, huh? Not my problem.'

Kabuto proceeded to introduce himself to them, again revealing his previous failures with a smile and a wave of his hand. Shikamaru didn't have Naruto's sensory abilities - as far as he knew - but the dark-haired teen also seemed to notice something was off about him.

"And since I've had so much experience in the field and everything, I thought it'd be a good idea to share some of that with you guys. You know, village solidarity and all that."

"Should you really?" Shikamaru asked, crossing his arms. "Don't get me wrong, the information would be useful and all, but we're still competing against each other here. Whatever you say might bite you in the ass if we meet later on."

"Yeah, besides, should we really be taking advice from someone who failed this thing nine times in a row anyway?" Naruto said with a raised eyebrow. His stance somewhat faltered at seeing the alarmed looks Kiba and Hinata sent him, but they didn't know about what Kabuto was hiding. He'd have to pull them aside and tell them as soon as possible, hopefully before the test began.

"Hey, there's no need to be rude!" Ino exclaimed. "I'd love to hear what advice you have to say, Kabuto-san. Some of us here don't think that highly of ourselves."

Years of dealing with disgruntled villagers helped Naruto avoid rising up to the blonde's bait, but the damage had already been done. Kabuto smiled and nodded, taking out what seemed to be a regular deck of cards from inside of his jacket.

"These are my info cards." He said, shuffling them. "Simply ask me about anyone's name, and you'll learn everything about them once I infuse these with my chakra."

"Really?" Kiba asked skeptically. "Alright, I'll bite. Tsume Inuzuka."

"Coming right up." Kabuto's hand glowed blue, enveloping the blank card he was holding before it suddenly changed in front of their eyes. It displayed a young woman, presumably Tsume, with face tattoos similar to Kiba's. There was also a myriad of text underneath the picture, too small to read from where Naruto stood.

"Tsume Inuzuka, thirty-six years old. A Konoha jonin and matriarch of the Inuzuka clan, she operates with the dog-nin known as Kuromaru. Her mission record consists of twenty D-ranks, thirty-eight C-ranks, fourteen B-ranks, ten A-ranks, and five S-ranks."

Kiba could be surprisingly stoic when the need arose for it, but Naruto had been around him for long enough to know when he was only pretending to keep his cool, and that was definitely one of those moments. A complete stranger having that much information about his clan had clearly unsettled him, and Naruto couldn't blame him for it.

"Wow, that's cool!" Ino said. "Oh I know, why don't you do-"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Everyone present turned to see Sasuke Uchiha and the rest of Team 7 approach from the door. Almost nothing about the boy seemed to have changed since they last saw each other, which only served to make Sakura's transformation stand out that much more. Her hair was cut short, revealing a sizeable forehead that was completely uncovered by her headband, which had been tied around her neck instead.

Shino followed behind them, sending a respectful nod to Naruto that was quickly answered in kind.

"Still want to know so much about me?" He asked Sasuke as he joined in on their corner.

"You've never answered my question."

"Yeah, and I'm sure there's plenty of things about your past you wouldn't like to be talked about either, right?"

"Naruto!" Hinata exclaimed, scandalized. Even Kiba gave him a look after that, although his was much more impressed than their teammates'. Sasuke only glared at him in response before gesturing for Kabuto to get on with it.

"Ah, let's see, Naruto Uzumaki." The process with the card was repeated, and soon Naruto saw his own face looking back at him. The only difference was that this one didn't have his post-transformation hair or lack of scars, clearly having been taken out of the village's archives.

"Ah, here we go. Naruto Uzumaki, a member of Team 8 under Kurenai Yuhi. Forty-one D-ranks and... one A-rank? Impressive. Oh, and what do we have here, son of-"

Naruto was about to jump at him right there and then, but someone else did before he got his chance. Kabuto was interrupted midway through his speech when a large and muscular hand grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him to turn around, which was when he and all of the present genin got a good luck at what was essentially a mountain made flesh.

He wasn't as tall as Hanayama, but the man in front of them was still every bit as muscular, if not more so.

"Some things," The man said, and the pressure he was exerting on Kabuto's shoulder was strong enough to be heard by anyone in the room. Naruto noticed that everyone else had stopped speaking too, only looking at their interaction in a mix of bewilderment, surprise, and fear. "Shouldn't be advertised in a place like this, don't you think?"

Kabuto didn't have an opportunity to answer him before the man pushed him aside, causing the faux genin to fall on his backside without any real effort. The man took a few steps toward Naruto, but Kiba and Hinata stepped in front of him before he could be reached.

"Naruto Uzumaki." He was surprised at how commanding someone could sound while having such a smooth voice. "I've come a long way to see you."

"Is that so?" He asked, trying to keep the trembling out of his voice. He gently pushed Hinata and Kiba aside so that nothing stood between them, looking up at the man's eyes. "Why go through so much trouble just to see little old me?"

"Don't be naive," He reprimanded. "To have a good fight, of course."

There was something about the man that just set his nerves on edge. It wasn't his chakra output, and while the man still plainly powerful, it was nowhere near the level of Gaara or Hanayama. And yet, Naruto couldn't help but think of him as the biggest threat in the room.

"Yeah?" He asked. "Then you must be sick of waiting. You can come at me at any time, big guy, I'm ready whenever you are."

"Don't be hasty." The stranger reprimanded. Suddenly his hand moved between them, and before Naruto knew what was happening, they were locked in a handshake. He hoped the sweat dripping from his head by that point couldn't be felt through it. "We'll have plenty of time later. Something like this shouldn't be rushed."

"Hey you bastard, get your hands off of-!"

"HEY, YOU MAGGOTS BACK THERE!" Someone else shouted at them, interrupting Kiba. Everyone turned to see a man with a black bandana covering the top of his head and his troupe of assistants, all of them wearing chunnin vests, walk into the room. "NO FIGHTING BEFORE THE EXAM OR YOU AND YOUR TEAMS ARE ALL DISQUALIFIED."

"Very well." The large man said, finally letting go of Naruto's hand and stepping away from them.

"Hey!" Naruto called before he got too far. The man stopped and turned back to him with an inquisitive gaze.

"What's your name?"

"Jack," He said. "Jack Kamon."

"Are you okay, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked by his side, clearly alarmed. He nodded in response, half-turning to her as he watched Jack walk away. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine, Hinata, don't worry about it."

'I can't feel my right hand at all...'

"Alright, the rest of you!" The man with the black bandana yelled out. "Into room 406, NOW!"

They were forced to walk into the room before Naruto could say another word. It seemed that, much to his dismay, the first stage of the exam really was going to be realized in a classroom.

A glance at his friends was enough to tell they understood as well. He sat next to Kiba in one of the middle rows while Hinata sat in the far back.

He allowed his senses to stretch out until it filled the entire room. His fellow Jinchuuriki and his twins were sitting on the far-left corner. Jack and what Naruto presumed to be his teammates were in the front rows, and the other Konoha genin were scattered around without any real organization. Or that's how it seemed to him, at least. He doubted someone like Shikamaru would come without any real plan for a situation like that.

"Alright, let's get started." The same man who had interrupted Jack and Naruto's handshake said, standing in front of a blackboard. "My name is Ibiki Morino. From now on, I'll be your proctor during this stage, but you can just think of me as your worst enemy."

Mutters spread across the room for an instant before being silenced by his gaze.

"The rules are as follows; there will be no combat between participants without being given express permission from your instructors, and even then, lethal force is strictly prohibited. Whoever disobeys these commands will be immediately disqualified."

His smirk widened when no one else dared make a sound.

"Good. If you will?" He asked, turning to one of his coworkers. The man began to spread a turned-over piece of paper together with a pencil and eraser around the room until everyone present was supplied with what they would need.

"There will be some rules before we start. I won't answer any questions, so pay attention from the start. Rule number one: the test is going to follow a point-reduction system. Unlike what some of you are used to, everyone will start the exam with ten points. One point will be discounted for each wrong answer."

'Pretty standard so far.' Naruto thought. 'I think.'

"Rule number two: teams will pass or fail according to the overall grade of all three members."

Sakura Haruno, who sat a few rows ahead of Naruto, seemed to be about to jump up and protest against that decision before thinking better of it and settling back down on her chair. That was a shame; he felt the sight would have been quite entertaining.

"Rule number three: the men you see sitting around you are there to carefully look for any signs of cheating. For each observed incident, two points are going to be reduced from your score. Of course, if you're caught five times, you and your team will be failed automatically."

'Wait... why wouldn't they just disqualify us immediately if they caught someone cheating?' Naruto felt a smirk similar to Ibiki's growing in his face. 'I guess Kiba was wrong; they're way softer than we thought.'

"Any idiot caught looking doesn't deserve to be here in the first place." One of the instructors sitting by their side with a bandage running through his nose sneered. "I got my eye on you, boys."

"Oh, and just one more thing. If any participant reaches a score of zero, they'll be eliminated, together with their entire team."

This time the people around him couldn't hold in their protests. Sakura was one of the girls who shot up to their feet indignantly, but she wasn't the only one. Ibiki continued, utterly unaffected by their protests.

"The final question will only be given fifteen minutes before the test's over. You all have one hour, starting now. BEGIN!"

The people who had been trying in vain to argue against Ibiki and the system he had devised quickly scrambled back to their desks, desperately writing down their answers. Naruto took a deep sigh, closing his eyes while pretending to prepare himself for what was coming, but really focusing his radar on Hinata.

'Hey, listen.' Kiba had told them one day during the week they had been given to prepare for the exam. 'We have to consider that there's a chance the first stage of the exam's going to be a written test.'

'So now we're going to have to study too?' Naruto said, dropping to the ground after running a marathon around the village. 'What a pain.'

'Nah, we're ninja, not scholars.' The Inuzuka said with a grin. 'Chances are this entire thing is going to be revolved around cheating. After all, information gathering's an essential part of the job. And I doubt we'll have to be perfect at it, considering the proctors are all going to be chunnin and higher and we're just a bunch of genin. All we have to do is be creative and somewhat inconspicuous, so here's what we're going to do...'

Hinata activated her Byakugan. As expected, none of the examiners around the room marked it down as an infraction on their part, despite obviously having noticed it. Naruto focused on her chakra signature, how it felt, how it changed, how it looked...

Her eyes moved around the room before settling on a student who was already answering the third question with a cocky smile on his face. She wrote down his answers using deliberately slow movements, taking over a minute just to finish a sentence.

Of course, Naruto felt her imbue the pencil and paper with her chakra signature, simply mimicking her gestures until the answer was written down in front of him. Kiba, who also had his eyes closed, focused on the sounds of his pencil scratching the paper before doing the same.

By the time they were done, none of the instructors had called them out or written down a point deduction. Naruto's smirk widened. 'Complete success.'

Some of the other teams weren't as lucky. Five minutes into the first stage and the bandaged man who had spoken earlier threw a pebble at one of the attendees. "Numbers eight, ten, and fifteen, you're all disqualified."

Their attempt to contest the decision was short-lived, giving up as soon as Ibiki glared at them before walking out of the room in silence. That trend continued for the next forty-five minutes as countless genin were caught cheating in increasingly elaborate ways, some of them trying to conserve their pride while others didn't even bother and simply walked out of the room, half-heartedly dodging the mocking looks other participants sent them.

It was hard to feel bad for them, Naruto thought, considering that things could have been much, much worse. Embarrassment was infinitely preferable to being tortured and murdered after failing to properly gather information out in the field. He doubted anyone there should have been made a genin in the first place if they couldn't even accomplish such a simple task.

He discreetly looked around the room after Hinata had been finished, intent on checking out some of the competition. A member of the Suna trio, the kid with war-paint all over his face, had returned after a lenghty break to the bathroom and was now contently filling in his answers.

Their Jinchuuriki had taped one of his eyes closed and written the rest by himself. Naruto was somewhat surprised to see a floating eyeball next to another applicant after sensing his chakra somewhere else in the room.

Jack, on the other hand, didn't seem to be cheating at all. He simply read his questions, took a few minutes to think about it, sometimes scrabbling calculations on his desk, before answering them and moving on to the next. 'Booksmart and strong? some bastards really have it all.'

"And now we'll begin the tenth question," Ikibi said, harsh voice cutting through the silence that had been inundating the room. Naruto sat up straighter in his seat, almost having forgotten about that part of the process.

"Before we get to it, I'd like to go over some added rules for this question. First, you must decide if you want to take it or not."

"Decide?!" The yellow-haired girl from Suna exclaimed. "What happens if we decide not to?!"

"In that case," Ibiki continued, not at all sounding bothered for being interrupted by an examinee. If anything, he seemed rather pleased. "Your points will be reduced to zero, and you'll fail along with your teammates."

"THEN OF COURSE WE'LL CHOOSE TO TAKE IT!" Another genin shouted, having a considerable number of participants nod their agreement.

"In that case, we'll continue onto the next rule. If you decide to take it but answer incorrectly, not only will your points be reduced to zero, but you'll never be allowed to retake the chunnin exams again."

"Wait a second!" A boy whose headband had a sound note inscribed into it, apparently one of Jack's teammates, exclaimed while pointing at Kabuto. "That's bullshit! there are a bunch of people here who've failed the exam before!"

Ibiki simply chuckled. "You guys were unlucky. This year, we're playing by my rules. But I'm giving you a way out, don't you see? Those who don't think they'll pass may simply refrain from answering and try again next year."

'So basically if one of the three doesn't take it, everyone fails, but if they do and get it wrong, they'll be a genin for life.' Naruto thought before shrugging to himself. 'Fuck it, I probably won't be promoted anyway. There's no way I'll drag Hinata and Kiba down like that, not after... what happened.'

"Now, if any of you wish to give up on the tenth question, raise your hand and leave with the rest of your team once your numbers are confirmed."

It seemed like most of Naruto's competitors didn't share his mindset. He watched impassively as hand after hand was raised in the air with so many people leaving at once that the exits became crowded. Of course, neither of his teammates did, nor did any of the other competitors he had already set his eyes on.

Ibiki smirked once no one else raised their hands. "Very well. Now, to the seventy-eight remaining examinees... congratulations on passing the first test."

"What?!"

"What the hell?!"

"What about the tenth question?!"

Ibiki grinned in a manner that was utterly opposed to his earlier behavior. "There was never a tenth question to begin with. Or I suppose you could say those two choices were the tenth question."

"What was the point of those nine questions then? Were they pointless?" The suna girl asked. Ibiki shook his head and went off to explain what Naruto already knew - that the real purpose of that portion of the exam had been testing for their information gathering skills, rather than any actual knowledge.

"But those that cheat poorly..." The man reached out and began to undo the bandana tied around his head. "Fail, of course."

He removed the cloth, showing many scars that graced the top of his head, from holes that had been clearly screwed in, to long cuts and extensive burn marks.

Despite having lost his scars after the transformation at Yakegake, Naruto still felt a fickle brotherhood with the man for going through similar experiences. He could only assume that the wounds he hid behind his leather gloves were much worse.

"The purpose of the tenth question was, to put it simply, a leap of faith. You could either choose to fail and have to retake these exams four years from now or put your entire career at risk. Say you guys become chunnin," He began wrapping the bandana around his scars again. "And your mission is to steal a secret document. The amount of ninja you'll be facing, their abilities, traps, all of that's unknown to you. Now, do you accept that mission or not? Some say that they wouldn't because they don't want to die, or because they don't want their comrades to get hurt... that isn't good enough!

In this life, there are plenty of missions that you won't be able to refuse. The ability to be courageous and survive hardship and barrel on regardless is what it means to be a chunnin captain. Those who can't put their destines on the line, who cling to uncertain truths like 'there's always next year,' those people won't ever have the right to become chunnin!

You made it through the entrance. The first step of the selection exams are now finished, and I wish you good luck."

Naruto barely had any time to celebrate with Kiba and Hinata when Ibiki suddenly turned to face a window, just as it exploded, throwing shards of glass everywhere. Four kunai came through it together with a piece of cloth pinned to the wall behind him.

He almost gaped at the familiar figure. Anko stood there, with her long coat and fishnet shirt, while pointing at the ceiling.

"You'll have no time to celebrate, brats! I'm the examiner for the second stage, Mitarashi Anko! Now, let's go!"

A/N: Finally out! Sorry for the delay, was having some connectivity issues yesterday when I got this chapter done.

NOTICE: I've said this before, and I promise this will be the last time, but the earlier chapters of this fic are being re-written right now. As I mentioned when releasing C1 for the first time, this is my first project working in anything like this, and I think I've learned a lot in the few months since this story started. The story progressed in ways I hadn't really planned at the start, and the way those chapters coincide with things as of right now may have felt a little disjointed, so I went back to fix that as well as some grammatical errors I couldn't have seen before (I've since purchased Grammarly's premium program to try and help out with that.)

The new chapter 2 and 3 should already be out by the time this one is uploaded. While obviously anyone who's made it up to this point doesn't have to go back and look them over again to understand what's happening, I think you can still get something out of them, mostly with more development aimed at Kurenai, Hinata, and Kiba.

Thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites. If you have any issues with the story so far, or how it has been presented, please let me know so that I can address them.

See you next time!