"Thanks for the food, Mebuki-san!" The bundle of energy that was Naruto hugged her tightly. The woman chuckled and patted the boy's head like one would do a pet. "Think nothing of it my boy, take care of my Sakura-chan for me will you?"

The annoyed look on Sakura's face wasn't lost on her mother but she chose to ignore it anyway, Mebuki always felt like she was too old to care when it came to teasing her daughter.

"Will do ma'am." Replied Naruto with a smile.

Today was the day, the day they had been waiting for ever since their sensei had informed them of their recommendation for the Chunin Exams.

Today was the day they got to prove themselves.

Sakura had decided to invite Naruto over for breakfast the first day of the exams so they would be able to get to the academy together. She didn't want to admit it but she was very nervous. It was hard not to, after months of arduous training, the moment to prove that it was all worth it had arrived.

The fear of failure was hard to avoid.

Naruto on the other hand was just thinking about how much he loved Sakura's mom, she's a great cook and she's great at telling embarrassing stories of the pink haired girl.

The fact that Mebuki told Naruto embarrassing stories about her annoyed Sakura to no end.

It's not that he isn't nervous at all, he's just too good at hiding it, he had decided the best way to avoid feeling nervous was acting like there was nothing to feel nervous about.

Is denial truly denial if you know you're in denial?

The pair of Genin were now walking together on their way to the academy, they still had some time left to spare so they were walking at a slow pace, taking in their surroundings and appreciating the atmosphere.

They definitely weren't stalling.

"Naruto-kun, did you see the squared rock following us?" There was indeed a rock in the form of a square following them around, it had been trailing them for so long that Sakura had begun to think she was imagining things.

"Yes Sakura-chan, I saw the rock." Replied Naruto.

The blonde in question was just so tired of being stalked by weird shaped rocks at this point. He stopped in his tracks before taking a deep breath and turning around to address their stalkers.

"Konohamaru, I've told you already… THERE AREN'T PERFECTLY SQUARED ROCKS IN NATURE DATTEBAYO!" Explained Naruto calmly.

Muttering was heard from inside the rock and it was only then both Naruto and Sakura noticed the rock had three pairs of eye-holes.

"What the f-"

"TADDA!" Yelled a small group of children jumping out of the rock before going into a fit of coughs because of the colored smoke they used in their presentation. Naruto was trembling in annoyance.

How could they mess up such an easy entrance?

"We used too much smoke." Explained Konohamaru sheepishly.

"Who are your friends Konohamaru?" Anger momentarily gone, Naruto found himself analyzing the new faces.

The three kids jumped into a pose and started going through what Sakura assumed to be rehearsed introductions.

"My name is Moegi and I'm the sassiest Kunoichi in Konoha!" The girl has light Orange hair tied in two pigtails on the sides and a permanent blush on her cheeks.

'The sassiest?' Wondered Sakura with a frown.

"My name is Udon and I love Math!" Said a Dark haired boy with glasses and a running nose.

'Lame' Of all the things he could've said he chose that? Naruto really doesn't understand kids these days.

"I'm Konohamaru, the strongest shinobi in the village and together we are…"

'Debatable' An amused smile made its way in Sakura's face as she compared the boy to her own teammate.

"THE KONOHAMARU CORPS!" Yelled the three of them together.

Both Naruto and Sakura sweat dropped at their presentation, it still amazed Sakura how Naruto seemed to be a magnet for weirdness.

"Play ninja with us Boss." Asked Konohamaru.

"A real ninja playing ninja? Oh my!" Sakura was aware that Naruto sometimes plays with the young Sarutobi, at first she was a bit saddened by it, to think little children were capable of appreciating him without much trouble while she rejected his advances for years…

And not just the romantic ones.

Ignoring Sakura's mocking, Naruto smiled at the children. "I can't today Konohamaru, the Chunin exams will start soon."

"Oh right, I heard the old man talking about that, I didn't know you were going to be there." Said Konohamaru.

"The old man?" Asked Sakura.

"He means the Sandaime." Naruto sometimes forgets that not everyone is as familiar with the Hokage as he is.

Konohamaru had just now noticed Sakura was even there upon hearing her question and his childlike imagination started running through the possible reasons why they would be together right now.

He picked the dumb one.

"Is she your girlfriend, boss?" Asked Konohamaru, giving Naruto a suggestive wink.

"No… and not because of a lack of trying y'know?" Said Naruto rubbing his head sheepishly.

Naruto started feeling a dangerous aura emanating from his teammate after he made that comment and decided it was probably for the best to correct that.

"I-I mean Sakura is a g-great friend and esteemed teammate whom I love very much 'ttebayo." Explained Naruto quickly while waving his arms frantically in front of him.

"Oh… makes sense, she's flatter than a plank." The silence that followed the bold and stupid statement Konohamaru had made was so defeaning you could hear a pin drop, the only show of a reaction being Sakura's trembling body.

"WHAT?" Said a raging Sakura slowly walking towards the boy with clear intentions of beating him down very very painfully. Naruto jumped in the scene and grabbed Sakura from the back to try and restrain her long enough to give Konohamaru a chance to run for his life.

"RUN KONOHAMARU!"

"LET ME GO NARUTO!"

Konohamaru decided Naruto was right and ran. At some point Sakura managed to squirm off of Naruto's hold and started chasing the boy, she wasn't going to really injure him… much. But she was going to politely explain to him what's appropriate and what's not.

The young Sarutobi ran as fast as he could and was finally feeling like he was going to escape his pursuer when he accidentally bumped into someone.

"I'm sorry s-" He tried to apologize before being interrupted by a hand picking him up, it belonged to a teenager wearing what appeared to be a full cat bodysuit and purple makeup on his face.

"That hurt you little punk."

"Let him go Kankuro, you're going to make Gaara mad if we're late." Said a blonde girl who carried a gigantic fan on her back.

"Relax sis, Gaara isn't here and I want to teach this punk a lesson." He said.

"Whatever, just be quick."

Kankuro was about to teach a lesson to the very frightened and trembling Konohamaru when both Naruto and Sakura emerged in the street being followed by Udon and Moegi.

"Oi cat-boy, let the kid go." Said Naruto with a playful smirk, he loved pissing people off.

"It's a battle suit!" Yelled Kankuro.

"With cat ears?" Sakura joined in Naruto's game, giving him the perfect distraction to swiftly get Konohamaru out of danger.

"What's up with the makeup? My friend's mom could give you a few lessons if you want to learn how to do it right y'know, no shame in wanting to look pretty." Said Naruto, purposely angering his opposition even more.

"It's warpaint you imbecile!"

"Okay okay, let's calm down, put the kid down and we'll let you go." Naruto raised both of his hands in surrender as he tried to negotiate with them.

"You'll let us go?" Scoffed the blonde girl.

Naruto knew this wasn't going to be easy so he grabbed both of his staffs while Sakura grabbed a Kunai from her pouch. "You're going to attack me while I still have the kid?" Asked Kankuro with a smirk.

Naruto smirked back and asked "What kid?" as the Konohamaru he was holding burst in a cloud of smoke.

Kankuro was distracted enough by the disappearance of the kid that he didn't notice the second Naruto creeping up behind him and putting the tip of one of his staffs in the back of his head at the same time the real one made electricity run to the ones in his hands.

"Stand down." Ordered Naruto, making sure Kankuro knew exactly what could happen to him if he didn't.

The blonde girl quickly reached for her fan in hopes of freeing his brother but a Kunai placed on her neck stopped her from moving any further.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The girl whose voice belonged to burst in a shower of cherry blossoms, revealing the Suna girl had been under the influence of her genjutsu.

"You know…" Said Sakura, Kunai still firmly in place. "Attacking the Hokage's grandson is more than enough grounds for a full on war." Both Suna shinobi started sweating when they found out who the kid was.

Suddenly, Naruto's head turned to look at a tree in the back of where they were.

"Aren't you going to show yourself?" He asked, to seemingly no one.

Suddenly a swirl of sand formed in the middle of the confrontation, revealing a boy around their age as the sand settled.

"Kankuro, you're a disgrace to our village." Said the red haired boy who emerged from the sand. He was a fairly menacing individual with no eyebrows and a big gourd on his back.

"I-I'm sorry Gaara t-they-"

"Shut up or I'll kill you." He interrupted.

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and nodded before releasing both of their 'captives' and backing off.

"I apologize for their behavior" That was the fakest apology Sakura and Naruto had ever heard in their lives.

Naruto was put off by this boy, his presence was troubling, his chakra felt dangerous and aggressive, the way both of his teammates appeared to be terrified of him did nothing to calm his nerves.

"I take it you're here for the Chunin Exams." Said Sakura receiving a nod from the red hair.

"We'll be taking our leave now." They started walking down the street as he said that, both of his teammates on guard. He stopped halfway much to the confusion of his teammates and stared at Naruto.

"You, what's your name?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, what's your name?"

"Sabaku no Gaara."

Naruto's only response was a nod. He didn't really care about his name but it seemed to him like that was the polite thing to do.

"I'll be seeing you in the exams Uzumaki." Said Gaara before walking back with his teammates and disappearing in the distance.

"Konohamaru…" Called out Naruto, making the hidden boy emerge from the bushes along with his friends.

"Go tell Jiji what happened, now."

Konohamaru had never seen the young ninja look so serious before and it honestly made him feel even more nervous, he decided it was best to comply and ran off as quickly as he could along with his friends to see his grandfather.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Question Sakura, catching up on her teammate's sudden mood change and it put her on edge.

"That guy's chakra, it's not normal." Replied Naruto.

"What do you mean it's not normal?" She asked in return.

"It's powerful and aggressive… " Explained Naruto with a concerned look on his face, "and there's two of them."

"There's two of what?"

"Two chakras, he has two different chakras in his body." Naruto's confused expression tells Sakura not even he knew what it meant.

"How is that possible?" Asked Sakura with something akin to concern in her voice.

"I don't know, I've never felt anything like him before…" Naruto was rarely scared, he was pretty confident in his abilities and he didn't doubt he could give Gaara a fight if he really wanted to but… his presence was screaming of danger and death.

"I think we should avoid them, Sakura."

"Well, we might as well go in." Said Sakura looking at the main entrance of the academy building.

Naruto nodded and both teammates walked in together, they made their way through the other applicants all to the main stairs of the building. They reached an upper level that had the room they were looking for and Naruto was about to make his way there until he noticed something.

"There's chakra in the air." Muttered Naruto and Sakura nodded.

"It's Genjutsu, that room sign says 301 but this is the second floor. This must be a part of the test." Explained Sakura, earning a nod from Naruto.

They both decided it was for the best to simply ignore what was going on and move forward, it was a very basic genjutsu, if these people couldn't figure it out they probably aren't up for the task in their opinion.

"Please let us in!" Begged a green-clad boy.

"I said no, you freak!" Exclaimed one of two Genins who were stopping some of the aspiring chunin from entering the door.

"Do you think that's a part of the test too?" Asked Naruto quietly.

Sakura shrugged, "I think so."

"That's my friend Lee…" He pointed out. "I'm going to tell him, even if it means letting stupid Neji pass." Grumbled Naruto as he made his way to Team 9.

He was just about to get there when one of the 'guards' kicked Lee and sent him flying. Normally that would be something to worry about, but after being beaten to a pulp multiple times in their taijutsu spars by the deceptively fast teen, Naruto knew the bushy-browed genin could've stopped that kick without so much as batting an eye.

Why was Lee letting himself get hurt?

"Lee, Are you alright?" Mumbled Naruto to his fallen comrade.

"Naruto-kun! what youthful pleasure is finding you here in this youthful competition." Declared the boy standing up instantly and giving Naruto his trademarked Nice-guy pose. "Yes I am alright, thank you for asking."

Naruto got close to Lee and put a hand on his ear to speak quietly to him "Why are you letting that guy hit you?" Asked Naruto with some concern.

"Oh, so you noticed?" Said Lee with a smile. "Neji figured out this isn't the right floor so we're making ourselves look weak"

That explained why Tenten was currently begging to be allowed in still, Naruto was kinda hoping to see Neji begging too. 'Like that asshole would purposely make himself look weak' Thought Naruto biting his lip.

He couldn't stop himself from being riled up by Neji's mere presence ever since the Hyuga first belittled his abilities and called him weak the day they met. Naruto had grown leaps and bounds in making himself more centered and calm but people like him still made some of his old habits resurface, still, he knew better than start a fight right now.

"Well… Sakura and I will be going now, I guess I'll see you the-" Half said Naruto before being interrupted by Lee rushing fast like a bullet to stand in front of his teammate.

"Oh Sakura-san… I love you!" Announced Lee.

"WHAT?" Yelled both Sakura and Naruto together

"You are an angel sent from the sky." Said Lee sending a kiss to Sakura that somehow managed to become real?

Sakura dodged Lee's… kiss? Only for him to start sending more and more of them until she ended on the floor.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA I WILL KEEP DODGING THEM MORE AND MORE!" Yelled Sakura after standing up.

"You didn't have to dodge them all like that." Said Lee while looking at the ground in defeat.

"I think it's best we go, see you later Lee!" Said Naruto, grabbing Sakura by the arm and rushing to the appointed room.

After Sakura recovered from her encounter with Lee, both members of Team 7 made their way through the academy's corridors in search of the room where they would be taking their first exam.

"Yo!" Said Kakashi with an eye smile and his all too familiar orange book in hand.

"Sensei?" Asked Sakura.

"I'm glad you both made it, though I had no doubt you would." Declared Kakashi.

Both young shinobi beamed at their sensei's praise and smiled brightly at him. Kakashi chuckled and addressed them once more "Stick together and you'll do great, Ja-ne!"

He was proud of his team, there was no doubt in his mind that they were going to ace the exams and reach the finals, he had trained them to guarantee it. Hence the reason why he actually made a bet on it.

They better meet his expectations or Kakashi would be losing a decent amount of money.

After saying goodbye the silver-haired Jounin poofed in a cloud of smoke as was his preferred method of exiting pretty much every room.

Both teens looked at each other one more time before nodding and entering the room together. The doors of the room opened to reveal a gigantic crowd of people already waiting there for the exams to start. How many of them would there be without the Genjutsu filter in the lower floor? They wondered.

After going in, Naruto and Sakura walked to a corner of the room to wait for the exams to begin, Sakura suggested he get a feel of everyone around him and Naruto complied.

Not a single chakra stood out for him, he had already felt Gaara's before and as disturbing as it was, there was nothing new about it, he was just about to stop focusing on everyone around him when he noticed a signature in the multitude that somehow felt familiar he knew he hadn'tfelt it before but it reminded him of something, someone?

He was interrupted before he could focus on it.

"Oi Sakura! Naruto!" Called Ino who had just entered the room along with her teammates.

Ino's loud entrance made the whole room turn their attention to the rookies, some of them even letting a little bit of their killing intent slip out. The Rookie genin that gathered were immediately on edge except for Ino seemed oblivious to it.

"Quiet down you troublesome woman!" Said Shikamaru, making Ino realize the situation they now where in giving her friends a sheepish smile.

"It's nice to see you guys here." Said a now smiling Naruto.

Shikamaru for his part just stood lazily once again and sighed "You're a part of this too? What a drag."

"You could try and be a little more excited, Shikamaru." Remarked Ino.

The lazy Nara just looked at her and took a deep breath "... no."

Sakura, Naruto and Choji all chuckled at their friend's behavior, those two could act like they hated the other's very being one minute and magically turn into an old married couple in the other.

At least it was fun to see them bickering with each other, this was hardly the time though.

"How are you feeling Choji?" Asked Sakura looking for something to change the topic.

Choji seemed to catch up on it and got ready to answer "I'm a little nervous but I thin-"

"THE STRONGEST ROOKIE TEAM HAS ARRIVED!" Declared a young shinobi wearing a gray hoodie, he has dark brown hair and two red fang-like marks in both of his cheeks; Smugness clear on his visage.

Absolutely everyone in the room turned to the door and glared at the arriving team.

"Kiba, I think it's best that you shut up now, why? Because now everyone's attention is on us." Said Aburame Shino, one of Kiba's teammates, he's wearing a long trench coat that covers half of his face and a pair of dark sunglasses.

Kiba gave his teammate an apologetic smile and walked to his former classmates.

"It looks like the whole gang's back together." Said Kiba before adding jokingly, "Well, almost all of us."

Team 10 immediately turned their faces at him as well as his teammates, they just couldn't believe he would go and say something like that to Naruto and Sakura, even Kiba seemed surprised by what he just said if him covering his mouth was anything to go by.

He really didn't mean to say something that would hurt either Naruto or Sakura, they weren't exactly friends but he cared a great deal for them.

He just had a moment of idiocy.

"You better watch your mouth mutt." Said Naruto looking angrily at him, Sasuke's death was still a sore spot for both of them especially Naruto and while it didn't hurt either him or his teammate to talk about their fallen teammate, Naruto didn't appreciate people making fun of the last Uchiha.

Kiba knew he had been the one to mess up but Naruto's comment got him riled up and now was too invested in their little fight to stand down or apologize, even if it was his fault.

He might care for them but he is an Inuzuka, and they're a clan of prideful people; granted, the Inuzuka are people perfectly capable of admitting their mistakes but that seemed to slip Kiba's mind.

Before it could all escalate, Sakura decided to intervene. "Calm down Naruto-kun, he didn't mean it like that." Said Sakura turning to look menacingly at Kiba while a dangerous aura started emanating from her. "Right?" She asked with a devious smile, promising of danger.

Kiba just gulped and quickly nodded.

Sakura was of course not happy with Kiba's joke but she knew he didn't mean to insult them, she was surprised no one in his team had managed to water down his attitude though.

Not her problem she figures, she's convinced that eventually Hinata will snap at him and that will certainly calm him down.

With their little confrontation over, Kiba and Naruto finally realized how much unwanted attention they had gotten on themselves and their teams.

"You should all quiet down." Said a tall guy with silver hair tied in a ponytail while adjusting his glasses. "You're already the main target as it is."

"And why would that be?" Questioned Shikamaru, having noticed him approaching before his friends.

"Take a look around you." He motioned to the rest of the room. "You guys are the only rookies, they think you're an easy target."

That earned him a few scoffs.

"Who are you?" Asked Shikamaru.

"My name is Yakushi Kabuto." Just after Kabuto finished introducing himself Team 9 entered through the doors making Kabuto look quickly at them before going back to what he was doing.

"I have information on the exams and everyone in it and I'm willing to give it to you." Said Kabuto.

"Why would you say anything to us?" Asked Shikamaru raising an eyebrow.

"Because we're all Konoha ninja and we should help each other." Said Kabuto with a smile, "Just tell me anyone you wish to know something about and I'll tell you what there is to know using these" He pulled out a deck of cards.

"What are those?" Asked Naruto.

"These are my shinobi information cards, they contain information on everyone in the exams and only work with the use of my chakra." Kabuto spiked Naruto's interest, those cards seemed like Fuinjutsu and Naruto was a sucker for Fuinjutsu.

To demonstrate, Kabuto activated a card that revealed a map of the elemental nations, in it you could see every village that had sent participants to Konoha and how many of them they had sent.

"So… anyone in mind?" Asked the Silver haired.

"Sabaku no Gaara." No matter how hard he looked in his brain for an answer, Naruto had been so far unable to figure out how or why he had felt two different sources of chakra in his body, he was hoping Kabuto had something that would help him understand.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Kiba didn't like feeling left out, so he asked for the first name that came to mind, still not over their little confrontation.

All the rookies turned to look at him, he knew it was probably rude but in his mind Naruto had been rude too so it was fair.

"You know their names? That's taking the fun out of it but okay." Said the older teen looking through his cards.

Shikamaru didn't trust this guy at all and he couldn't understand why his friends did but he decided to just watch it all play out before jumping to conclusions.

"Sabaku No Gaara from Suna, Teammates: Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Kankuro, his own siblings. Has a record of 27 C-rank, 48 B-rank and 8 A-rank missions; hear this, he's never been hurt before." Said Kabuto with something akin to admiration in his voice.

You could read everybody's thoughts when looking at their faces after that revelation, even Neji dropped his stoicism to look surprised.

"I don't have anything on his fighting style unfortunately, he is from a different village after all." He added.

Shikamaru was even more skeptical of him now 'Knowing that much is already way more than he should know, especially of someone from a different village' Thought the Nara.

"Uzumaki Naruto from Konoha, Teammates: Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke - KIA - he's a known user of one of Konoha's kinjutsu the Kage Bunshin and has been spotted using Futon and Raiton jutsu, his preferred weapon of choice are the twin staffs." Everyone made a pause to look at their friend, Naruto was uncomfortable with people knowing that much about him.

"He has a record of 22 D-rank, 1 B-rank and a single A-rank mission; pretty impressive for a Genin if I do say so myself." Finished Kabuto making Naruto stop dead in his tracks when the older teen mentioned a B-rank.

"You're more involved in this than I would like Naruto, this incident will be classified as a B-rank mission on your record, you helped track a spy which means this mission will be kept a secret known to only the people involved, is that clear?"

'How? Why does he know about that?' Asked Naruto in his mind.

Shikamaru was seemingly the only to notice Naruto's inner turmoil, but even if he didn't understand exactly what it was, he knew Kabuto said something he shouldn't have known, furthermore proving his suspicion of him.

'He knows stuff he shouldn't, that's obvious, but why? Is this a part of the test? No, we're the only people that have been approached by him or anyone else for that matter, Is he a spy? If so, a spy for whom? This whole thing is troublesome' Thought Shikamaru with clear annoyance in his face.

"What can you tell us about our competition?" Asked Neji with his forever stoic voice.

"There's only 4 countries competing in the exams, Konoha of course, Suna, Ame and some shinobi from a village named Otogakure no Sato, they're a new and small village so they only sent one team." Said Kabuto.

A group of three shinobi wearing headbands with a musical note on them heard Kabuto's comment and found it insulting so they decided to show him a lesson.

"Who are you calling small? Hear me out you imbecile, after this whole thing is over Oto will come up on top and show you all who's boss." Said a Genin from the sound village with a heavily bandaged face and a large jacket with fur.

The oto Genin launched forward and attacked Kabuto, the silver haired genin reacted in time and got a Kunai out of his tool pouch. The Oto genin swung at him with one of his arms but Kabuto managed to dodge the hit by leaping back, he smirked at him but suddenly he dropped to the ground and started shaking, his glasses shattered and then he started vomiting.

Everyone was looking in concern because no one understood just what exactly the Oto genin did to him, before anyone could react the doors of the room burst open and in a cloud smoke a man wearing a long black trench coat and a black bandana entered the room followed by several chunin wearing gray uniforms.

"Listen up you maggots! From this point any kind of fighting is prohibited unless given strict permission by a proctor, failing to abide by the rules is grounds for disqualification, is that clear?" Asked the man with a menacing tone.

"Everyone get in line, leave your forms here and go to your assigned seats." Said the proctor.

After everyone had turned in their paperwork and moved to their assigned seats the man addressed them all once again.

"My name is Morino Ibiki and I'm your first proctor. The first part of the exam will consist of a written test. After you're given your paper you will have 45 minutes to answer the nine questions written in it. When the 45 minute mark is reached I will give you the tenth question and explain its rules. Do I make myself clear so far?" Asked Ibiki and received nods from everyone in the seats.

"You will begin the test with 10 points, fail to answer a question or answer wrong and you lose a point. You will also be graded as a team, that means that if one of you fails your team fails with you. The chunin in the room are here to monitor you the whole time, if you're caught cheating you will be deducted two points every time you do so. Any questions?" Asked Ibiki getting some raised hands from the applicants.

"No questions? Excellent! You may begin."

Everyone started going through their tests only to see the questions were incredibly hard to answer if not impossible, save for a few who knew it all in the room (Sakura being one of them) no one in this room could hope to know the answers to all these questions.

Naruto was concentrating hard, there had to be something else he wasn't noticing.

Hinata who was seated next to him noticed his struggle and realized he had written nothing in his test.

"N-Naruto-kun." Muttered Hinata getting Naruto's attention.

"Y-You c-can copy f-from my exam if y-you want…" Hinata was blushing furiously and Naruto barely managed to catch what she said in between stutters, once the words registered in his mind he felt touched that she would try and help him just to be kind.

He was about to take her up on her offer but suddenly thought of the consequences of cheating, he didn't want Hinata to get in trouble for him, he isn't that desperate, there were a few questions he could actually answer.

"Don't worry Hinata, I wouldn't want to get you in trouble y'know?" Said Naruto giving Hinata a smile.

'He worries about me.' Thought Hinata, blushing at the implications of her beloved crush being worried about her.

'I should've taken her up on her offer, I wouldn't want her to lose points though… wait, lose points?' Asked Naruto to himself.

'Iruka-sensei would take our test if we were caught copying from someone, it's almost as if they wanted us to cheat.' Giving himself a mental high-five for figuring out the test Naruto started to brainstorm ideas.

That was it, they are supposed to cheat, that is the point of this test, Naruto should've known; Kakashi has been drilling the whole 'Look underneath the Underneath' mantra for quite a while now.

The question was how to cheat, he could just copy from Hinata but he would be easily caught that way, he looked around and noticed a guy in front of him who seemed to know all the answers, Naruto then noticed he would write them all, erase them and start again.

'He must be a part of the test'

He figured out how to cheat, it is risky but he knows it's hard to spot among the crowd unless people were looking for it. He brought a hand to his face in faked desperation and used the opportunity to move some of the hair covering his right eye. He then opened said eye revealing a two tomoe sharingan, he used it to copy the motions of the guy in front of him and was able to fill in all the questions. He then closed his right eye and covered it once again.

He had to find a way to use his eye without having to go through the trouble of making his hair stay in place, he was glad he managed to grow it out to be able to cover it however, the only downside was that he couldn't wear his headband on the forehead lest his closed eye would be exposed all the time. He wore his headband tied around his neck much like Hinata's, if only a little tighter.

He did intend to start wearing his headband like he used to when the knowledge of his sharingan became public, he'd have to suck it up in the meantime.

"It's time for the tenth question, before I give it to you, you have the option of either answering the question or not." Said Ibiki.

"What happens if we don't answer?" Asked a random Genin in the background.

"You and your team will fail and you'll have to take the exams next year" Answered Ibiki.

"Then we'll just take it" Answered the genin and received a devious smirk from Ibiki.

"If you choose to answer and you do so incorrectly, you and your team will be banned from ever taking the exams again."

"WHAT? YOU CAN'T DO THAT" Yelled Kiba, "There's people here that have taken the exams before".

"You're out of luck, I'm making the test this time which means I make the rules" Answered Ibiki. "Everyone who wishes not to answer and try again next time raise your hand and you will be escorted out."

Tons of people started to leave the room and Naruto was now getting nervous, he turned around looking for his teammate and found her looking as worried as he was until Shikamaru who was sitting next to her muttered something in her ear which caused her to to light up in understanding, she in turn gave Naruto a thumbs up and shook her head, instructing him not to drop out.

Naruto wouldn't question whatever it was that Shikamaru said, he knew he was smart so he just calmly remained in his seat and waited for this part to end.

Naruto then noticed Hinata was visibly shaking, he knew he couldn't talk to her to ease her nerves but he couldn't think of any other way to calm her down, Hinata then started to raise her hand and Naruto knew he had to do something to stop her from quitting, she had tried to help him so it was only fair he helped her as well.

So he did what he thought was the most logical and safest way to stop her from quitting.

He stomped her foot.

Hard.

Hinata almost yelled in pain but managed to cover her mouth with her hand and turned her head to look at Naruto who gave her an apologetic smile and muttered the words 'Don't quit' to her.

Any other person would've reacted aggressively and rightfully so.

She just did as he said.

"To every one of you who remains here I have just one thing to say, you all… pass"

"WHAT?" Shouted almost everyone in the room.

"What was the tenth question?" Asked Temari.

"There was no tenth question, or you could say that choosing to stay or not was the question." Said Ibiki but received looks of confusion.

"As Chunin you will be put into situations where you won't like what you have to do, situations where you know you probably can't survive, will you skip out on them? Will you decline when asked by your Kage? The answer is no, you will have to do things you won't like because that's what your village needs you to do and that's the only thing that matters."

"What was the point of the other questions then? Were they pointless?" Asked Temari.

"Those were to test your information gathering skills." Answered Ibiki, taking off his bandana and showing his very scarred head to everyone in the room.

"Information is the most valuable thing for a village, it is of the utmost importance that you manage to get it safely and to keep information from your village safe as well." Further explained Ibiki.

"Either way, congratulations on passing the first t-"

Suddenly one of the windows at the left of the room shattered and in came a ball of black cloth that extended to reveal a sign that read 'The Sexy and Single proctor of the second exam Mitarashi Anko' followed by whom everyone assumed was Mitarashi Anko.

"You're early Anko… again." Said Ibiki causing Anko to deflate, she quickly recovered however and started counting the people left in the room.

"35 genin left Ibiki? You must be going soft in your old age." Joked Anko

"Maybe there's just a good batch this time." Replied Ibiki with a challenging smirk on his face.

"Whatever, when I'm through with them their numbers will be cut at least in half" Anko smirked and everyone started getting nervous.

"Follow me kiddies, we have work to do" Yelled the second proctor before jumping out the window, making everyone in the room follow behind her.

After all the 'Chunin to be' left the room Ibiki started going through the tests until he got to Naruto's, he was reading over it and was surprised to see it was done to perfection 'he definitely cheated' figured the proctor and was about to move forward until he found a note hidden in one of the questions.

Ibiki-san, Ibiki-sama? Whatever…

There is a guy in the exam, Yakushi Kabuto, he knows something, Hokage-sama said only he, a few ANBU and I were supposed to know about and I swear I didn't tell anyone. I'm only telling you this because Hokage-sama mentioned your name.

I might be overreacting and I'm sorry to use you as a courier but I would appreciate it if you could tell my sensei, I'm sure he will know what to do, I'd do it myself but we're not allowed to talk to our senseis.

-Uzumaki Naruto

Ps. I think you're cool 'ttebayo.

"What an interesting kid."

A Young man with silver hair tied in a ponytail was making his way through a series of underground tunnels below the village, making sure not to be spotted by the guards.

After minutes of silently walking he found a small hidden room in one of the walls, a tall man with dark hair and white skin waiting there for him.

Without even bothering to greet him he asked the question he had come here to ask. "Are you sure this is the way to proceed, Orochimaru-sama?"

"Very Kabuto-kun, the loss of the sharingan is a detriment to my plans but that's hardly the only thing I want, Sarutobi-sensei will die and Konoha will fall with him." Orochimaru, one of the Densetsu no Sannin and fallen apprentice of the Sandaime Hokage.

"I take it you won't be infiltrating the second part of the exams as you originally intended." Said Kabuto.

"Kukuku…" Chuckled Orochimaru. "Of course I will, while not my first option, the Sharingan isn't the only Dojutsu Konoha has to offer, I might as well make the best of what I got while I'm here don't you think?

AN: Hello there!

So Orochimaru wants another Doujutsu now? Who would've thought?

Orochimaru's goal in Canon was to learn every jutsu there was and he saw the Sharingan as the means to that end, while the eyes he wants this time around don't have the ability to copy jutsu, they have the ability to see through them.

Do keep in mind though, that this is fanfiction and I get some creative liberties, don't expect this to follow canon all the time even if it does follow the canon timeline… mostly.

That would be it for this time, please do leave suggestions if you have some, I appreciate it very much.
Also, I would greatly appreciate it you guys follow and favorite the story.

Be safe!