Amongst the Chunin Exams Madara found a particular lack of interest in the fellow competitors about him. A bored express had been painted unto him, nary identical to his natural stoicism. By boredom, he had taken to wandering the borders of the fencing surrounding while giving brief, uninterested, glances to the large groupings of potential chunin amongst him; Often wearing upon him an exasperated -unintentional- stare which could be easily mistaken for a challenging glare. None looked upon him however, so it was not seen. He stood well camouflaged within the masking corners of the eye which those whom were not trained did not glance.
Originally, Madara despised the idea of attending the testing as the Hokage had mainly for the tactic the man had used to gain his acceptance; the Sarutobi had chuckled low within his throat rasping with sound of a smoke changed breath about how Madara could not gain Jonin ranking without first becoming chuunin. Which had -naturally- made Madara internally cringe at the thought and accept with a murmur, on the bases of ego and Dominant status alone. Later the begone Uchiha had recognized the method as that of Hashirama's coy nature, and had nearly slapped himself for his own arrogant, childish, vanity.
Now, he stood in a place he hadn't wanted to be, in a self-made situation of having wanted to prove an ability he knew he already possessed. Among those barely capable of providing him a challenge; indeed he snorted at the concept, for the very circumstance did sound ridiculous to a man raised of war such as himself. Many of those around stood with showcased nerves and held their kunai poorly.
However, before he could take to sighing in complacency upon the situation he had tripped himself into, a burn upon his chest came to distract him. A burn which was certainly not brought upon by fire nor the sting of a jutsu; however, it was one Madara could easily recognize with a mere vague understanding; twas the burn of his soulmark having found his soulmate. It angered his wit a slight bit, as the ache had never arisen priour whilst he had lived an entire life of depravity, and the possible circumstance of finding his destined now was a ridiculous thought which the veteran had trouble accepting. He nye laughed, before his iries came to catch a light within the distance; wherein a blond -and obvious Submissive- stood amongst others his age, joyful and conversing, young and uncaring for the bright death of orange he wore upon himself, of a small make and an obviously malnourished frame. Perhaps within the bounds of foolish impulsivity Madara came to an easy comprehension: The boy his soul had chosen stood would be useful, and if nothing further, he could provide him with a limited amount of chakra to aid in the completion of his plans.
Madara adjusted himself, reforming his slouched positioning and stretching his neck slightly to be rid of the tick which had formed along his spine. He glimpsed once more in the blond's direction, taking notice of the teammates around him, the Haruno mark was upon the girl -though Madara was near certain in the past they had been wiped away priour to the village's construction- the other was from his own clan and bore the Uchiha crest proudly, naturally, a Dominant as himself. However, in watching, Madara took notice that the girl was hardly speaking to his chosen and had focused her attentions upon the Uchiha beside her, whom was avidly avoiding her gaze whilst he glared to the ground with a hallowed express.
In the normal manner of strategist, the former patriarch made careful observance of the interactions between the comrades; becoming more aware of the pinkette's distaste for the blonde standing beside her and the conversation he was easily providing, while the Uchiha among them occasionally made a one worded response unto. Madara was curious of this, as the immediate conclusion he could derive from simplistic observance was that the team cared not for one another. Now, within his own time it would be a regular occurrence, however, as the village became further entangled amongst itself the bonds of comradance had grown extensively -par Hashirama's desires. Even more so after Tobirama's development of the team system currently in use.
His eye twitched narrowing in thought, a discrete, but visible, frown forming onto his features and ruining the stoicism which he had formerly possessed. He had several options open unto him, yet he knew several of them were foolish and could not be used in logical mind -the one involving kidnapping in example.- There was the simple option of a continual observance, at least until he could gather enough information on the blond, in order to use him to his full potential. Otherwise, there was the choice of merely approaching the boy and asking to speak with him; but alas, within the boundaries of the chunin exams it would do nothing but put himself into a suspicious appearance. He choose the former option, not wanting to be forced to deal with the underlings about him more then he would already be made too.
Sighing at the boredom impending, the ANBU woman spoke plainly of the rules for the first challenge and as she did so Madara found himself wondering at the state of Konoha's shinobi if such a simplistic task had become a challenge. His shoulder was then gripped tightly, under the strength of a man who had to be above him in height and mass. Being as his body was merely fourteen, Madara waited for the statement which was to follow rather then killing the man as he would have were he in his adult form.
"Boy, giv'me your scroll an' this won't get messy." The snort escaped him involuntarily as he shot his gaze to the man grasping him.
He gave his reply rather quickly, that is if he were to kill the stranger."No." Instead in his disinterest, he choose to make the entire affair short: Tensing the muscles of his shoulder so that the height of the grip changed slightly, he relaxed suddenly, and within the moment of confusion for the -in Madara's candid opinion- unenlightened shinobi, gripped the pale fingers clutching him and rolled his body into the other mans to adjust the weight distribution, flipped him to the ground. It was only in a moment of afterthought that the Uchiha decided to break the man's arm instead of simply leaving him on the dirt.
As he walked towards the gates Madara did wonder -albeit briefly- as to why a shinobi would scream so loud after merely getting his arm broken. Though as it was not something he considered worth his attention, he focused himself on the observation mission he had given himself earlier, partially relieved that his minor distraction hadn't cost him the location of his target within the forest. He had no sense of the boy's chakra so he could not follow it, yet the vivid colours his soulmate wore serviced well enough to keep him within sight.
Madara knew little of soulbonds: He knew the opinion his kin held and had kept that opinion of mind himself as he grew. By Uchiha tradition they were precious and to be held in heightened regard. Naturally, by the simple manner of the time it was far from common to find one's destined; thus such a thing was to be cherished, at least in accordance to his clan's beliefs. Madara was also aware of the fact that only those born of particular clans received a soulmark in birth; those clans being the noble clans of Konohagakure. Meaning; the Uchiha, Senju, Sarutobi, and Hyuuga. Not all persons were blessed with a soulmate which is what had crafted the clans into nobility within Konoha -though the Hyuuga did consider the blessing a curse upon their heritage, they did value their title so they spoke little of it.- Madara could admit to himself that he knew little of the traditional blessing, only the meager common knowledge which even a civilian would be aware of for the most part.
Agitated, he pult at the fabric covering his chest and momentarily glanced upon the large sunflower covering his right pectoral, his soulmark. It was ever so slightly inflamed, reddened by the presence of its other half and the colours were becoming more vivid, there was no other flower growing near it yet. Madara sighed unto himself, slightly irate that he should be disappointed by the knowledge, a second flower only blossomed after the first touch of a soulmate -according to his mother's advocation.
He halted and hid behind the trunk of the tree he was upon as the members of his soulmate were stopped. After allowing his chakra to flare in order to get a proper understanding of the situation, Madara decided that going higher within the branches would be the best option. By aura, he knew a fight was brewing and he had the keen want to observe such an occurrence if only to gain a vague understanding of his Submissive's prowess.