Notes: Okay, so the pairings are: since no one bothered to give me any: Kai/Hyuga Rain, Lee Taichi/Hyuga Hotaru, Rai Aquarius/Azuki Riku, Aburame Kinji/ Ketsueki Shinri, Sao Brad/ Uchiha Fei, Yamamoto Akiko/Kazama Jin and Dakegi Max/Kuromori Ali, and if anyone disagrees, please raise objection now, these pairings will come into effect in chapter 11…this chapter is just kind of giving background on the chuunin exam.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I need 6 more characters for the next chapter!! Please email them to me at or if one or the other doesn't work. You can choose either Itachi or Gaara to be your sensei and it doesn't matter if you already have a character. Thankies! PLEASE DO NOT PUT CHARACTER PROFILE ON REVIEW BOARD, or I'll have to repost this whole fic and that will be annoying.

9. Teacher's Conference

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Two months later…

The eight Jounin sensei's gathered into Kakashi's office, where the Hokage was waiting for them with a carafe of sake, "You all made it, good." He sounded satisfied, after all, he got his books back, and this was the first time the eight of them actually listened to him and showed up on time. "Topic of discussion: Chuunin Exam."

"It's too quick." Naruto protested at once, "And plus, we don't even know if the other villages are ready."

"Hm," Kakashi regarded his former student with mild surprise, "As I recall, Naruto, you were the most enthusiastic one when it came to taking the exam, even though you practically failed the first test."

Sasuke sniggered as Naruto flushed a brilliant shade of lavender, "One can't live on luck all the time."

"But," Hinata was quick to Naruto's defense, "Hokage-sama, he's right, it is too early, have you even consulted the other village kages?"

"I was thinking about just doing Leaf Exclusive this year." Kakashi scratched his head thoughtfully, "I mean, you know what happened last time we did the international version, right?"

"Yeah…" Neji stared straight ahead at seemingly nothing, "Last year, Lee picked a fight with Gaara again, even though he can't inflict anymore damage than a newborn, it ended more like a free for all than a chuunin exam…"

Sakura placed a hand on Neji's shoulder, "It's not his fault, I mean, if you suddenly were told that you can't fight anymore, and all this time, you've worked so hard to prove yourself, you'd probably be pissed too."

Neji turned pale, but stayed silent. Truth was, it really wasn't Lee's fault that he couldn't be a ninja, but now he was genuinely sorry for that hot-blooded fool, after all, he, Neji, had virtually just about taken everything from Lee, his crush, his honor, his power… "You know," he said finally, "I agree, it would be a lot less troublesome to do it just for Konoha."

Shikamaru, who had been dozing on the chair beside Shino, opened one eye, "Stop stealing my lines."

"I wasn't," Neji returned, feeling more than a little put out. "All you ever say is, "That's so troublesome." He got to his feet and faced Kakashi, "Is this meeting over now? If it is, I got better things to do than nothing." Without another word, he took his leave.

"Um," Hinata started to follow her cousin, but Naruto stopped her.

"That guy has his own issues, and they are complicated enough as it is." He said, and pulled her back down again, "He'll come back in due time."

After this abrupt departure, the group sat around in silence, until Sasuke said, "Kakashi, if you are really that lazy, screw the whole exam altogether and just do a tournament."

"Hey, now that's a rather interesting idea." Kakashi took an unnecessarily long swallow of sake as he considered the suggestion.

It was not very often that Shino ventured to offer a suggestion, but when he did, it was usually a good one, "We could do three on three and let the kids decide their opponents by selecting a captain. It would be less work for us anyway."

"Yeah." Ino agreed enthusiastically, then with a worried glance at Sasuke, added, "Don't you think so, Sasuke-kun?"

"Whatever." Sasuke poured himself another glass of sake and ignored Ino completely, "Who are the captains going to be anyhow?"

"Whoever you think deserves the stupid title, obviously." Naruto replied saucily. "Use your head."

"Oh, and I suppose you do?" the Uchiha glared at his long time rival.

"Guys." Shikamaru yawned, "Cut the crap, get a new program and then I can go home and take a nap."

"Right, okay then." Kakashi looked to Naruto then to Sasuke, "You guys can just nominate your captains now and I'll document it to make it official, you first then, Naruto."

"Kazama Jin," Naruto said at last, "even though he is a pervert, not unlike you, of course."

Kakashi scribbled it down on a piece of paper, probably hiding his red face, "Sakura?"

"Uchiha Fei." Sakura answered after a minute.

"Shino?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean I don't know?" Kakashi looked up, "just say a name and get it over with."

"Fine, Kuromori Ali then."

"Sasuke?"

"Sephiroth Sekimb." Sasuke announced with a sigh, "the kid who thinks everyday is Halloween."

"Ino?"

"Erm," Ino examined her newly polished nails for a good while before replying, "Hyuga Rain."

"Hinata?"

"Um…um…Kai." Hinata looked horrified at the very thought.

"Neji?" Kakashi paused, "wait, no, he's not he—"

"I'm here." Neji reentered the office wearing the sourest expression possible, "I'll have Hotaru."

"Shikamaru?"

"Seiya." Zzzz…

"Good," Kakashi looked around, "the 78th annual chuunin exam will began on the afternoon of August 4th, and of course, before that, we'll have to have the chuunin exam ball, of course… and everyone is required to get a date." he grinned wickedly, "meeting adjourned."

"But, Hokage-sama." Hinata ventured pleadingly, "They're too young."

"Too young, huh?" Kakashi raised a questioning eyebrow, "Some of you here." he said with a pointed glance at Neji, Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata, "Married and had kids at 16, so I don't think it will matter..."

Everyone groaned.

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Uchiha Itachi looked hard at Gaara, from across the table, "You will listen to me." he repeated calmly.

"It is not ready." Gaara countered, "We must wait for the blood to be spilled."

"The Leaf Chuunin Exam will begin in less than a month, according to my sources." Itachi replied evenly, "If you want to take revenge and kidnap the genins, I am the leader of the Akatsuki, so I decide on how things are done here, even if this is your village."

Gaara just glared back and said nothing, biting his tongue so hard that he tasted blood.

Itachi took that silence to mean agreement, "Rest assured, Gaara of the Desert, our students are well-trained to kill at need, you will get your wish for bloodshed, and my wish for seeing my brother." With that, he left the room.

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A/N: That was short, but with a violin competition coming up, I don't have as much time as I use to, remember to email the characters. More next time!