I really don't have much to say, save for sorry for the long wait. So I hope you enjoy the fic.

Have you ever wondered why people are at their most thoughtful in the morning? For some inexplicable reason, people are more willing to dwell on thoughts before the sun is up. This time of day was Kimbo's favorite. He would often get up around 6:00, quietly pad in front of his uncle's room, fix a bowl of ramen, and eat breakfast while waiting for the sun to rise. Kimbo always liked his uncle's house, even if it had a slightly disheveled appearance, and one of his favorite features of it was the fact that the door faced east, so he could always watch the sun climb into the sky. He just liked to sort out his thoughts of the day while watching it come into existence.

Thoughtfully slurping up a couple of noodles he aimlessly peered into the still dark sky. He had a lot to think of. He started with Hiromaru. Kimbo couldn't stand the guy. He was contemptuous, snide, and was the third most intelligent kid in the academy. Kimbo's two friends Akira and Gasa tied for the smartest. This always got on Hiro's nerves because they often directed their impressive IQ's to coming up with insults for him. He was disapproving of most people, but was especially so to people associated to Gasa and Akira, which happened to include Kimbo. Kimbo didn't care. He was smart himself, and used his intellect to concoct the most dastardly pranks for Hiro. The problem was Colleen. Although he hated to admit it, it was partially his fault Hiro was going after her. She sat with him, and they often talked. Unlike the boys, who relished trading insults with Hiro, Colleen always tried to be as unassuming as possible; this made her a prime target for Hiro. He went too far to call her demon girl though, just because the new village of Oyamadagakure had tengu.

"I'm going to punch him as hard as I can in the face," Kimbo finally concluded. Satisfied that he had found an answer to his first order of business, he focused next on the thing really weighing on his mind: the genin exam.

Kimbo wasn't one to be worried about tests. He usually enjoyed them more than other forms of work as they lasted only one day, you took nothing home, and they usually had more value then regular grades. The main problem was that he had no idea what to expect this time. The teacher, Lee, was without a doubt the best teacher the academy had seen since the legendary Iruka sensei had left, and was the first jonin to keep his post as teacher when he was promoted, but he was rather eccentric. He worked his children to the bone in everything they did, from basic physical training to the practicing of ninjustsu. The end result was a class of kids who for the most part had the utmost respect for Lee, and who knew everything about being a ninja that can be stuffed in a tiny kid sized noggin, but who all had nothing but pure anger, not hate, but anger for what he put them through. One of the first changes he made was that the genin exam was always completely random. The kids had no idea what it was, so he forced them to know how to do everything. Kimbo wouldn't mind if it was taijutsu or genjutsu, but if it was ninjustsu, he would be worried. His chakra control was a bit erratic, and he didn't have the patience to learn the hand signals required for most basic jutsu well. Nonetheless, he wasn't really worried. He finally decided just to wing it.

Finally, he thought about his punishment. Naruto Sama had only said that it was going to have to do with helping an elder. Kimbo normally wouldn't have minded this, but the Hokage's eyes had glinted a bit too brightly for what ever it was to be a normal punishment. He thought about it for a moment. In all honesty, this was the least of Kimbo's problems. Difficult people had little effect on him, and even the most ornery old man wasn't in the "torture" category of punishment. So whatever. Finishing the last of his seafood ramen, he looked up to see the sun start to break over the horizon. He smiled. Today had the makings of a good day.

"Mornin' kid," the sleepy voice of Kiba. The dude looked like a mummy, his comforter was partially wrapped around him, and his eyes were all red and crusty. Kiba wasn't one for mornings.

"Sleep well?" Kimbo grinned.

"Ahhh, shut up you," Kiba said while rubbing his eyes. "I don't know what demon you made a deal with to be as fresh as a daisy at six in the freakin' morning, but most people need sleep."

Kimbo laughed and helped his uncle untangle himself. "Well, at any rate, I'll have to get going soon Uncle Kiba."

"Yeah," said Kiba, looking kind of sheepish. "Hey kid," he started, "look, despite what happens, I know you'll do great." Kiba smiled slightly and continued, "it's kind of hard for two bachelors like Akamaru and me to raise a boy, but all I have to say is, well," he paused for a second, "if she was here, your mother couldn't be prouder of you."

Kimbo looked at his uncle and at Akamaru. Kimbo felt and immense pride to have had these two raise him. Most people were kind of perplexed when he said he was raised by his uncle and his dog. But it was true. Kiba was a nice guy and really laid back, but Akamaru was an enforcer, and he made sure that Kimbo toed the line. He couldn't have asked for better parents. He looked at his uncle and though about his mother, Kiba's sister. From what Kiba said about her, she was a Black Ops tracker like him and was killed by a rogue ninja. Kimbo had no idea who his father was, all he knew was that he was not from Konoha, but he didn't care much. Kiba and Akamaru were the best parents a guy could ask for.

Kimbo flung himself onto his uncle. "Don't worry Uncle Kiba! I'm going to nail that test and then I'm gonna kick the Hokage Sama's butt and take his place!"

Kiba warmly embraced his nephew. His wild hair and eyes were his, but when he looked at him, he saw Kimbo's mother, a woman of strength and intelligence. He had no doubt in his mind that this bright eyed youth would be a great ninja; he might even become the Hokage like he said. "I know you will, kid. Now scoot. The exam will be starting soon."

Kimbo grinned and ran off as fast as he could, only to trip over a very surprised stray cat.

"There are times I worry about the kid," Akamaru barked to Kiba.

Kiba grinned as he watched Kimbo frantically run away from the crazy feline. "Naahh, he'll be fine. He's a good runner."

Nursing battle scars from his fight, or should I say flight, from the evil stray cat of death, Kimbo made his way into the academy. Looking upon the sparkling windows with malice, he made his way into his classroom. About fifty or so students were in there, with looks on their faces ranging from boredom to the final stages of shock. Kimbo glanced around and saw his two friends Akira and Gasa near the front.

Akira and Gasa are the oddest couple (not in the romantic way, as you'll see later on, they're both straight) you could ever imagine. At a glance. Akira was tall, with dark, almost swarthy skin and curly black hair that was very rarely seen because of the sash tied around his head. His skin tone and head scarf made him look kind of like a pirate. He wore a massive jacket with about ten million gazillion bazillion pockets in it full of God knows what . He once claimed he had a legion of Iwagakure lawyers in it, and nobody doubted him too much. Behind his half moon glasses were eyes that were the light brown color of copper, and they seemed to glint metallically as well.

Gasa, on the other hand was short, and was often called "fish belly" by Akira because of his ridiculously pale skin. He wore a massive rain hat, his namesake, which essentially covered up his face, but every now and then, you could see his piercing blue eyes hidden behind glasses and his short blonde hair. He wore a long gownish kind of black shirt with blue rain clouds and a severe collar.

They seemed like an odd couple, but they were in reality like butter and just about anything edible. Perfect for each other. (I would like to stress again, the two are not gay; it's just kind of hard to describe best friends without making it sound like they love each other. Well, they kind of do, but not that way, more of a brotherly love. Whatever, back to the fic.)

So as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by… myself. Hmm. I think I've gone mad. Oh well. So Kimbo sidled up and sat beside his two buddies.

"So, how are you two feeling today?" Kimbo asked them.

"Like when we went to Sunagakure," Akira said.

"You mean at the hotel?" Gasa asked.

"Yeah, and the Komodo dragon. Remember, you woke up in that tub full of ice!"

"I still don't know where my kidney is."

See? This is what I mean when I say that they are perfect for each other! Though this conversation was completely illogical, they both understood it perfectly! Behold the two weirdest weirdoes of Konoha!

Of course, Kimbo was all like "WTF, guys!" To which, Akira and Gasa burst out laughing.

"We're fine," Akira said after catching his breath, "although working the night shift at Chouji's left us a little drained."

"Yeah, but my sources tell me that the first part of the test is a written exam. Mostly history and some ninja basics. We should do fine."

Kimbo smiled. Gasa was talking about his shinobi crows. Gasa's clan was rather druidic, and his particular affinity was of the air. Among other hobbies, Gasa kept an aviary of shinobi birds he had trained, most of them being crows, though he had two young hawks and even an old raven as well.

"Have you managed to make that Summoning scroll yet Gasa?" Kimbo asked. Gasa was going on about making it so he could summon his birds like the legendary Kakashi could summon his pack of nin-ken.

"Almost. I have Akira putting the finishing touches on it. It should be done before I become a genin."

Akira grinned. "At any rate, beetle brow sensei's here, so the test is about to begin."

Lee sensei never so much "arrived" as he did "come into your field of view so violently and garishly you almost have to respect him", and in true form, Lee appeared in the middle of the classroom in a cloud of white smoke in his standard nice guy pose. He had actually came in so fast that a miniature tornado had sucked up all of Akira's calligraphy tools he had been using to write Gasa's summoning scroll.

"Terribly sorry Akira, my youthful pupil! Were you in the middle of something important?" Lee asked with an exuberance that almost made you cringe. Lee hadn't really changed at all since his genin days, or he changed dramatically, depending on how you saw it. Physically, he was still the same. Tall, fit, with creepy eyes and massive eyebrows, though he had grown out his hair a bit and now wore it in a loose braid. His clothing, on the other hand, was something completely new. He had eschewed his hideous green jumpsuit of his youthful days and opted instead for a Chinese style long sleeved shirt with matching pants. Of course, he still had the orange leg warmers, and unfortunately everything was still the same horrid green that made your brain hemorrhage and your eyes burn.

Akira grinned and said it was fine. Lee nodded to his student and faced the entire class with fire burning in his eyes.

"Youthful students! Today is the day! It will be upon this day that you will take all you have learned from me and forge this information into a sword that will allow you to cut through the forest of inexperience and be bathed in the eternal light of knowledge and youth!"
"I shall make a perfect score on this test, Lee sensei, or I will do two hundred pushups with a hundred pound boulder on my back!" came the fervent response of Pensuke, who honored Lee to the point of fanaticism, and who looked at him like a father. Of course, this was nothing new. As a matter of fact, the students often were curious when he didn't do it at least twice a day. They all greeted this overflowing profession of fanaticism by moving themselves three feet away from Pensuke in unison.

Squeeaak! The chairs said.

Of course, Lee was moved by this as if this was the first time this had ever happened, and everyone prepared themselves for the second faze of this love fest.

"Oh Pensuke!" Lee tearfully replied.

"Oh Lee sensei!"

"Pensuke!"

"Lee sensei!"

"Pensuke!"

"Lee sensei!"

The two embraced, and Kimbo got the oddest feeling of crashing waves and cheesy inspirational music. After this sickeningly heart felt moment, Lee continued his explanation for the test.

"The test shall have two parts, one written and one applied! My former teammate Aburame Tenten shall detail you on the first part of the test!" (yes, you read the name right. Maybe one day I'll write about how Shino and Tenten got hitched. It's quite hilarious.)

A pretty woman of about thirty nodded to Lee. She had her brown hair pulled back and held together by pins. She wore a Chinese style sleeveless skirt and the standard issue shinobi pants. "Well, students," she started out; "the first part of the genin test is a written exam. It is made up of basic questions that you should know as a ninja academy student. The questions range from village history to basic techniques to problem solving. I will be the proctor for it, and if I see any of you cheat, Lee has given me full permission to pin you onto the wall with thirty kinds of weapons," she finished sweetly. Just about every student stared at this unassuming woman, imagining if she could honestly do that. "So, here is the test. Good luck, everybody."

Kimbo took out his pencil and looked at the test.

Question 1: Name the three basic jutsu types

Question 2: Who was the Sennin that made a pact with toads?

The test went on like this for about a hundred questions. Kimbo smiled. He knew he would pass this part at least with flying colors. Kimbo finished up pretty quickly and observed his fellow classmates. Akira and Gasa were also done, as was Hiromaru who had a bored look of contempt on his face. The three friends grinned and Akira took out a small fat box. Opening it up, it was shown to be his personal weapon of choice during school break wars, where the kids would "play ninja". They were in actuality, just regular pushpins. Akira had made the amazing discovery of the aerodynamic design of pushpins, and nothing made him happier then to peg people in the butt with them. Yes, he is easily amused, but come on, what were you like at thirteen?

The two other friends grinned and took a few as well. Today, they were going to get their revenge on Hiromaru. Gasa and Akira had been poring over some old scrolls in the Ninja archives in the academy as they often were, and had noticed an old file in the section for old hospital cases. It was a medical chart for Hiromaru's uncle and now head of the Hyugaa clan, Neji. It showed when he had fought against one of the Gates of Sound Village. The chart showed how the Sound nin Kidoumaru discovered the blind spot in the Hyugaa's Byakugan it also showed where the wounds were. Using this information, they realized how they could use this knowledge against Hiromaru.

Hiro wasn't much liked by his classmates, and was often being pelted with apple cores, wadded paper, pencils, and many, many pushpins launched from Akira's thumb and forefinger. None hit him. Because of his eyes, he seemed to be able to see in the back of his head, but the information from the medical chart showed that the Byakuugan had a blind spot just above his first thoracic vertebra. And so, a plan was formed. It was called operation "stick Hiro with so many pushpins he'll cry".

Gasa took the first shot. Waiting until Hiro had looked away; he took careful aim and launched a pushpin towards the Hyugaa's back. Hiro saw it before it stuck into him, but couldn't dodge it completely in time. It hit him in his right shoulder, and he jumped up and gave a yelp.

"Mister Hyugaa, please note that others are still taking the test," Tenten said rather sharply.

"But Gasa…" Hiro looked to see Gasa gazing innocently into space, the pushpins nowhere to be found. "Yes, Mrs. Aburame."

Hiro now faced the three, determined not to let them get another chance at sticking him. The three grinned and huddled together for a second, whispering to each other. Akira then pointed behind Hiro and made a surprised face. Hiro looked behind, which gave Kimbo enough time to launch a pushpin at Hiro at his blindspot. Once again, Hiro tried to dodge, and once again, it was futile. Kimbo's pushpin hit him in the back of his head. Hiro bit back a howl of agony and stood up.

"Mister Hyugaa!" Tenten scolded. "What did I tell you about standing up?"

"But didn't you see Kimbo…" Kimbo stared innocently at Hiro. "I apologize again, Mrs. Aburame."

Hiro sat down and stared directly at the three, willing himself not to get in trouble again. Akira grinned and whispered something to the other two. They grinned, and each grabbed a pushpin. Kimbo and Gasa each launched one in two different directions, but both were aimed at Hiro's head. Hiro smiled and dodged both easily. What he hadn't noticed, though, was Akira's pushpin, which was traveling in the same direction as Gasa's. Akira was an excellent pool player apparently, because his pushpin ricocheted off of Gasa's to Kimbo's, which then bounced of Kimbo's and went straight to the back of Hiro. The Hyugaa didn't even have enough time to dodge before it lodged into his bum. Now you must know that the pushpin didn't hit his posterior, it lodged into it. He jumped twelve feet in the air and howled.

"I've had it with you, Mister Hygaa!" Tenten cried, and took out a scroll. Using it, she summoned about thirty different weapons, ranging from battle axes to spears to regular kunai to even what looked like Cloud's buster sword. She threw all of them at the still airborne Hyugaa, and pinned him to the ceiling. "Now I'm afraid I'm going to have to fail you for disrupting the class."

"Please, Tenten san," pleaded Akira, "I don't think Hiro deserves that. If you can, please allow him to continue with testing."

Tenten thought about it. "Very well, I suppose I could let it slide. You are lucky to have such good friends, Mister Hyuuga." You could see Hiro's face pale with pure anger at the three.

About twenty minutes later, everyone else finished. Tenten took up the papers and placed them on Lee's desk. "Well, that concludes my part of the test. Now Lee kun's going to talk about the applied section of the test."

Lee got up from out of his desk. "Very good! Now, Tenten chan, if you would be so kind as to help me dislodge Hiro from the ceiling, I would appreciate it!"

So I left y'all at a cliff hanger, but only because I'd appreciate it if you all came back. So this is the second chapter, and we learn that things have changed a lot in the past thirteen odd years since we last seen the Naruto gang, yeah? Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this. I would really appreciate someone reviewing, even if it's a flame dripping with hate. Well, I haven't much to say today, although would you all think it would be cool if I started posting Bios for the new characters, because I've been thinking about it. So whatever. Take care, and Ed, why haven't you read this yet? You hurt me.