AN: I totally meant for this to be a chapter, like for real I did, but... it's not, and it's gonna be like two of them? I guess. I'm mostly trying to get something out this week and hopefully next week too but uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh we'll see!

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"Ok Sasuke I know he said he wanted to fight you" Naruto had pulled him away from Lee. "But just trust me, the vibes on this guy are not great for you."

"What does that even mean?" Sasuke did want to fight him since he was kind of bored. "He's just dressed kind of oddly."

"But it really reminds me of Gai."

"Who?"

"Gai?"

"What guy?"

"No no, not guy, Gai."

"Whatever you figure out who that guy is" shifting Naruto out of the way he turned back to Lee. "And I'll fight this guy."

"Oh you know Gai?" Lee stopped his stretching hearing that.

"No no he's just talking about some guy."

"No it's not some guy it's Gai!" Naruto really assumed people just knew who Gai was, but this seemed to happen every time.

"Yeah Gai!"

"See he gets it!"

"Again, whatever" Sasuke got into a ready stance. "Let's fight!"

"Yeah!" Lee vanished from sight.

"Oh shit."

Sasuke immediately turned his sharingan on, this gave him exactly enough time to see Lee beat his ass, but not enough time to do anything about it. The barrage of attack threw him into the air.

"I'm sorry to say but this was probably the worst possible matchup for you" Lee appeared below him. "By using only taijutsu your sharingan can't grant you any advantage against me."

"This sucks" Sasuke was now going to go into the exam after getting his ass beat by this guy.

"That's enough Lee!"

Before he could finish trying to put Sasuke into the ground a turtle pulled Lee away. Sakura caught him before he could crash into the floor.

"Ninja turtle" Naruto was staring at the turtle. "It just, it feels so on the nose for some reason?"

"You could've mentioned the vibe he gave off was that he was going to kick my ass" Sasuke bonked him on the head.

"I didn't know he'd actually do it, he just reminded me of Gai."

"WHAT GUY!"

There was a loud explosion from the turtle as Gai appeared on its back.

"That's Gai."

"Ah hey it's Naruto!" Gai had Lee in a chokehold and came over to them. "You've kept up on the regime I gave you right?"

"Uh, yup!" Naruto was visibly panicked hearing that.

"Great! Sorry about Lee, he's got something to prove and is a bit too gungho."

"Well he certainly proved it" Sasuke gave up on playing it cool after losing that fight.

"Thank you!" Lee tried to give him a bow while still being held. "But I won't count it unless we battle again in the exam."

"No I think it's fine" he didn't know how the exam would work, but Sasuke didn't want this guy coming after them for another fight.

"I'm gonna bring this troublemaker back to his team" Gai headed out. "Goodluck you lot, and I'll be sure to check up on your training after the exam Naruto!"

"Guys we gotta leave town" Naruto whispered this to them. "I have definitely fallen behind on training."

"You reap what you sow Naruto" Sakura pulled him along towards the exam room.

"Oh great you all showed up" Kakashi was waiting for them by the door.

"Well, it's a team exam right?"

"I definitely tried to avoid saying that, but yes."

"Mom told us."

"Of course they did, anyways, uh, you'll all do great I'm sure. Also I need you to beat Gai's team."

"Uh" Sasuke didn't feel too sure about that one. "Is that the same guy we just met?"

"It's Gai not guy, it's really not that hard" Naruto wasn't going to drop this anytime soon. "And yeah."

"Sorry Kakashi I think we're gonna be letting you down on that one."

"What no way, you're all my students you can totally beat his lame kids. I think. I don't know who's on his team, so it's mostly my pride talking now."

"Yeah no Sasuke just got mixed by the one kid."

"Was it close?"

"No" he was hoping to put that loss behind but had a feeling that wouldn't be happening.

"Shit, I've got twenty riding on this guys! Sakura you can beat that kid right?"

"I mean" she paused and thought it over. "Am I allowed to cheat?"

"Yes we're ninja."

"Then yeah totally."

"I'm glad I can depend on one of my students."

"This talk makes me kind of want to drop out of the exam now" Sasuke was not feeling particularly motivated.

"Too bad, get in there my little child soldiers!" Kakashi ushered them into the exam room.

None of them were prepared for the horde of other genin in the room. Apart from the five big villages Sasuke couldn't recognize most of the headbands. He was hoping to avoid any kind of scene before the first exam, but the familiar faces that surrounded them killed that plan.

"Our whole class is here!" Kiba was the loudest.

"We definitely had a bigger class than this" Shino helped reign his volume in.

"Well I already forgot about anyone else so this is the whole class to me!"

"Does anyone know what the exam is gonna actually be?" Sasuke aimed this towards Shikamaru's team.

"It changes every year" some new random guy had joined them all. "And you guys are making a lot of noise, you know that right."

"You just get used to this general volume level" Shino gestured to where Kiba and Naruto were talking.

"Yeah, anyway who are you?" Sasuke felt like he had something in common with Shino now.

"I'm Kabuto, but you should probably be worried about the crowd of anxious ninja behind you."

"I'll worry about them after the exam starts, I'm guessing you've taken it once already right?"

"I've taken it, hm, seven times now?" Kabuto scratched his chin. "Give or take one I guess, you lose track of it."

"And there's never been any common things across the years?" Sakura took over questioning him.

"There's usually a direct elimination tournament at some point, but the first few stages are up to the proctors."

"And I'm guessing no one knows who the proctors are ahead of time?"

"I'm sure someone does, but it's a well kept secret."

"Hopefully we have a team portion at some point" Sasuke didn't want to immediately lose to Lee again. "You know, for Naruto's sake."

"I'm not the one who got my ass kicked five minutes ago."

"Like I said, Naruto's sake."

"It's ok when I get promoted and you don't I'll only make fun of you for it a little bit" Naruto fully abandoned talking with Kiba to annoy Sasuke now.

"That's pretty big talk for a first timer you know" Kabuto pushed his glasses up at Naruto. "Most people don't pass till their fourth or fifth try."

"It's a good thing I'm a lot better than most people then" Naruto stuck his tongue out at him.

"We'll just have to see once we're in the direct elimination rounds then."

"Alright you shits" with a loud cloud of smoke the examiners entered at the top of the room. "I'm your first examiner Ibiki Morino and these are my fellow proctors."

"Hey is that Zabuza?" Sakura squinted up at the group.

"I think it is" Sasuke followed her gaze.

"Hey neighbor!" Naruto waved up at him.

"Goddammit" Zabuza looked away from them all as Ibiki gave him a look.

"Are those the kids who kicked your ass?"

"No I lost to Kakashi, not the children."

"No we definitely gave him the work!"

"Can I fail them now or do I have to wait for the exam to actually start."

"I'll overrule it since I think it's funny, funny coincidence aside, everyone come grab a number from the box. Once everyone's seated we'll pass out the exams."

"Oh no" Naurto and Sasuke looked at each other.

"You two forgot everything from the academy already didn't you" Sakura watched the color drain from them both.