Vash14: ok whatever. I'll keep that in mind for future reference.

Akira had been sitting on the tree stump meditating for the past two hours. He was brought out of his trance by a nearby presence. Without opening his eyes, he spoke. "May I help you?"

Upon not receiving a response, he opened his eyes and peered into the woods around him. He looked at the trees around him, trying to find the other person. After a while, he sighed and pulled out a kunai in his right hand. He then brought the knife up and cut his shoulder. The genjutsu was dispelled and he found himself looking at his pink-haired sensei. "You should really teach me how to use the dispel jutsu so I won't have so many scars on my shoulder."

Sakura reached over and touched his shoulder. In moments, she had closed the cut and replied, "I probably should. You might actually be able to use it because you will probably be the only one on your team to become a chuunin. As you've probably realized, you are the strongest one of the three of you. Hanabi's loud and thinks that being a Hyuuga will make up for her lack of a work ethic, and Antonio is too hotheaded during a fight to think up a strategy."

Akira looked at his teacher. "Is that all you came to say?"

Sakura smiled. "Never one to beat around the bush, are you? I was wondering what you could remember about the group of gennins you guys met yesterday."

"From what I could tell, the three were pretty strong, even though I only saw one fight and another use a jutsu I didn't recognize. He seemed to have sent a path of ice across the ground and trapped the girl's feet in it."

"So he just created ice out of thin air?"

"So it would seem."

Sakura sighed. "You three are going to be in for a rough time. Especially if any of that group makes it through to the finals. I might as well teach you the dispel jutsu in case you guys need it."

"Thank you, sensei." Akira replied.

The silver-haired genin looked out the window of his hotel room at the village of Konoha. He had sharp brown eyes, always seeming to be full of malice towards whoever held his gaze. He was about 5' 9", and his hair down past his shoulders, seemingly in wild disarray. He wore a lightweight teal jacket with the collar slightly folded down so that it didn't touch his face for his shoulders. He had a simple string necklace that had a golden ring containing a pyramid with an eye inside the pyramid. He wasn't surprised when a figure appeared outside the window, upside down.

"So how are things among you three?" the person asked, not out of care for them, just to see if they had attracted any unnecessary attention to themselves.

"We are fine. As you instructed, we have been very careful not to attract too much attention. So far, we have seen the teams from Konoha as well as Hidden Spectre. The Konoha team should pose no threat to us."

"And the Spectre team?" the figure asked.

"Truthfully, we might have a little bit of difficulty with them. They won't be as easy to take down. The female on their team broke through the Bringer of Darkness genjutsu and was only stopped by what appeared to be a variation of the Water Prison no Jutsu except using ice instead of water," the genin said.

"And the third?"

"I don't know. He did not participate in the fight. After the fight, the Spectre team entered the ramen stand next door and the Konoha team left."

"You and your team have done well Bakura," the man said.

"Thank you sensei. I was wondering, sir, what our plan was for this? I realize that you want to-" Bakura was cut off.

"You don't need to worry about the plan. You just do as you have been instructed and make it to the third round. Outside of that, I don't care what you do. Just don't get in my way," the man outside the window said sharply.

"Yes sensei."

One week later

"Are you ready to do this?" Akira asked him teammates.

"Yeah, just don't screw this up," Antonio replied.

"There is no need for you to worry about me screwing this up. You of all people should know that," Akira replied.

"Let's go guys. We can't be late, especially not today," Hanabi said, much quieter than she usually was.

"Right!"

"Let's do this, and do it right. You guys ready?" Ghost asked his teammates.

"Of course," Rayna replied.

"Alrighty then. Lets go," Auzzie said.

"Stick to the plan. We don't need to screw this up. Understood?" Bakura asked his teammates.

"We're ready to do our part," they both replied.

"Good. Let's not disappoint our teacher."

The clock in the academy struck 4 o'clock as 9 teams of gennin and, in some cases, their Jounin teachers accompanying them. They each reached the academy at different times, and all had been admitted into the room for the first test without much of a fight. However, they confiscated Ghost's Tupperware container of ramen before he could enter, and that was kind of ugly. A "Caution! Icy floor" sign was necessary afterwards.

Well, that's it. Next chapter: the first test. Including some of the most original ways of cheating ever come up with.