Chapter 16: Before the First Test

As soon as team seven walked through the main doors of room 301 they were met with a room full of intimidating looking applicants.

'They're all here to apply?' Sakura thought nervously, gulping the vast amount of people in the tiny room.

"SASUKE! WHERE'VE YOU BEEN CUTIE?" Ino squealed jumping onto Sasuke's back in an affectionate manner. You could feel the flirtation rolling off her in large waves. Sasuke looked more than annoyed at this point, glaring up at the perky blonde on his back. "I could hardly wait! It's so exciting, seeing you again after all this time!" She gushed.

"Ino, you pig! Get your hooves off Sasuke!" Sakura screamed pointing a finger at her supposed best friend. "Can you believe her, Kira. Thinking she can just jump on my Sasuke!" Sakura huffed hatefully.

"Hello to you, too Sakura. Still hoping the big, mutant forehead look is going to come into fashion, huh? How sweet." Ino chimed in pointing out her insecurities. Naruto and Kira looked back and forth between the bickering girls.

"Man, I'm sure glad you don't act like that." Naruto muttered scratching the back of his neck nervously. Slowly backing away from the girl fight over Sasuke. Though Naruto knew his best friend had a crush on Sasuke he was just glad she didn't act like that.

"Why embarrass yourself over a guy if he doesn't show any affection in return. It would be different if I was dating the guy, I wouldn't stand having an army of fan girls waiting to maul at my man." Kira announced, shrugging her shoulders in the process.

She let her eyes roam around the room till she caught sight of the cute red head and his team watching from the side lines. Kira felt a small blush etch itself onto her face, her heart started to flutter when they locked stares. She raised her hand in a small wave, her way of a silent hello. Gaara nodded his head in his greeting.

"What did you say?!" Sakura screamed the vein at the top of her head starting to show at Ino's last comment. The loudness caught Kira's attention, quickly returning to stare at her group that was slowly growing with numbers.

"Why don't you three save yourselves the embarrassment of flunking this test? Go die, okay?" Shikamaru called in his greeting Choji not far behind him.

"Well, if it isn't the three stooges!" Naruto greeted not taking Shikamaru's comment to heart. He couldn't wait to show off how powerful he's gotten to them.

"Stop calling us that." Shikamaru groaned annoyed. Choji was munching on his bag of chips todays flavor was barbeque.

"Hey Shikamaru, Hey Choji you guys excited for this test?" Kira called smiling at both boys. Kira might not have been best friends with Shikamaru and Choji but they were decent acquaintance's. They were always nice to her, she never had any reason to not like them back.

"What a pain in the butt." Shikamaru whined annoyed, he'd rather be off sleeping somewhere than here at this moment. Honestly Kira couldn't blame him for wanting a nap, Ino was draining her of her energy making her want one too and she was attacking Sasuke!

"I'm gonna make Sasuke mine!" Ino swore. Sakura and Ino had a glare off giving Sasuke the perfect chance to slip away from the two crazed girl, making himself comfortable next to the lovely Kira. She briefly glanced his way before looking back at Shikamaru and Choji.

"Hey! There you are!" Kiba called walking up with Hinata and Shino! Hinata instantly locked eyes on Naruto's form a faint blush coating her pail features. Her lilac eyes looked so soft with her doll like features. Kira squealed staring at Hinata. She was the absolute most beautiful girl she'd ever met.

"Looks like the gang's all here." Kiba announced, he looked like he was trying to be a leader of some gang trying to act all intimidating. It really didn't work what with Akamaru sitting peacefully on top of his head.

"Including you, unfortunately." Shikamaru scoffed rolling his eyes annoyed at another Genin team being here.

"Hey Hina!" Kira called waving to her friend. Naruto looked over at Hinata causing the girl to blush harder than she was before and look away embarrassed. The poor girl had it bad for Naruto. Kira wasn't any better. They both loved the same boy and they both thought the other girl would get him.

"Hi Kira," She called a faint smile on her lips.

"So I guess all three of this years newbie trios decided to apply, huh?" Kiba questioned aloud. "I wonder how far we'll all get. What do you think Sasuke?" Naruto rolled his blue eyes annoyed at that. It was always Sasuke this or Sasuke that.

"Trying to psych us by acting cool, Kiba?" Sasuke almost laughed at Kiba's attempt to scare his group.

"Who's acting? The way we've trained, no way you can beat us." Kiba laughed at the idea.

"Oh shut up! You guys won't even beat me, much less Sasuke!" Naruto warned growing louder and louder with his volume.

Hinata brought her fingers together playing with them in one of her nervous ticks as she spoke. "I-I'm sorry Naruto, Kiba didn't mean that the way it sounded." Kiba rolled his eyes knowing full well how Hinata got with Naruto involved.

"Why's Akamaru on your head?" Kira asked changing the subject briefly.

"It's just easier to carry him around that way, why?" Kira shrugged her shoulders reaching up and petting the cute pup's head affectionately.

Kiba shrugged looking up at Akamaru enjoying his pets. He was a cute pup, he was glad she thought so too, but Akamaru wasn't just a cute face. He's show them all what Akamaru was capable.

"Would you guys do us all a favor and just shut up?" A teenager with light gray hair and round glasses asked. It was strange. 'I've never seen him in our village before…I feel like I'd remember him…right?' Kira thought confused staring at the teen and his head plate.

"You three gangs of would be hotshots are all Genin, right? Kids barely out of the local ninja academy? All wet behind the ears and runny nosed. This isn't a school field trip, you know." The gray haired teen pointed out like it was really important. Not caring if he sounded like a jerk.

"Who the heck do you think you are." Ino snapped glaring at the guy, sizing him up.

"Names Kabuto. So what? You kids need to open your eyes." Kabuto informed looking directly behind our group of ten. Well eleven if you're counting Akamaru. Behind our group almost everyone was staring at us. Glaring, judging, annoyed, all sorts of looks.

Sasuke's eyes traveled across the room noticing Gaara staring at his woman. Thinking he intended to harm the love of his life, Sasuke stepped closer to the girl blocking Gaara's view of Kira. Sasuke sent a glare of his own directly at Gaara just warning him to try anything.

Kira would see Sasuke as a hero for protecting her against that bastard. She had to, they were destined to be together.

"Watch out for the group behind you. They're Amagakure, those who hide in the rain and they've got short fuses. Everyone's on edge waiting to take the exam. I've wanted to give you a heads up before someone snaps and beats the crap out of you." Kabuto smirked, he sounded like a complete know it all but it might come in handy. "But it's probably unavoidable. Like all rookies, you think you already know everything. I remember what it's like."

"Kabuto?"

"Yeah."

"Are you saying this is the second time you've applied?" Sakura asked looking up at the taller male.

Kabuto gave off a strange vibe that screamed cockiness when actually he sounded like one to hide away from a large fight. Two complete vibes. Strange boy. "Seventh. Twice a year for, hmm, going on four years now."

"Wow, then you've got a lot of experience with what we can expect." Sakura mused. Did no get strange vibes from this guy?

"I guess so." Kabuto smirked.

"All right! Kabuto, buddy, you are my man!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly smiling up at the older boy.

"Cute. Okay, the least I can do is give you sweet little babies some vital intelligence on what you're in for. With these Shinobi skill cards." Kabuto flipped out a stack of note cards that were blank on the one side and on the back it looked like some sort of signature or seal.

"Shinobi skill cards?" Sakura was the only one asked questions, while others like Sasuke and Ino looked like they didn't care.

"To put it simply, they contain information about the skills we use, transformed into symbols and burned into the cards using Chakras. It took me four years to collect all the intelligence needed for this exam. In all there are almost two hundred cards." Kabuto patted his cards affectionately. "They look blank, don't they? The only way you can read the data on the cards is by using my own personal chakra. Each set is linked to it's possessor. For example, cards like this one."

Kabuto fused some of his chakra into the card on top of his deck, the once blank card now had a map and some sort of bar graph.

"Its some kind of combination map and bar graph, in three dimensions. What kind of Intelligence is this?" Sakura asked shocked. No. Astounded.

"It shows how many applicants each shinobi nation is sending to this session of the chunin journeyman ninja exams." Kabuto explained effortlessly, almost as if he's had this sort of talk before.

"Do you also have dossier cards? Cards for each individual applicant?" Sasuke asked questioned this time, hoping he could find some sort of weakness with them.

"I'll admit these are far from complete, but I've burned a set of dossier cards for the current pool of applicants including your team. If you share any data you have on this person who interests you, I'll be happy to look him up and let you know what I have so far." Kabuto offered.

"Gaara from Sunagakure and Rock Lee from Konoha." Sasuke replied effortlessly, he watched his love glance around the room growing nervous.

"You know their names? No sweat, then!" Kabuto quickly searched through his cards at incredible speed, at a matter of seconds he had pulled out two cards showing us the blank faces.

Naruto was so confused, 'What are these guys talking about? I'll play along for now but still.'

"Let me see them." Sasuke practically demanded glaring down at the teen. HIs expression said he was better than him and that Kabuto should do what Sasuke says.

"First up is Rock Lee. He's a year older than you four. Missions to date: twenty D-ranked, eleven C-ranked. HIs team mentor is Might Guy and his Taijutsu physical skills have grown exponentially this past year. He has no other talents worth mentioning. He was considered a standout among last years genin but he didn't apply for the chunin exam. He's a first timer, like you four. His teammates are named Hyuga Neji and Tenten."

Kira's eyes widen as she heard that name. Neji! Of course! That was Hinata's cousin! Of course he looked like Hinata.

"Next is Gaara of the Sand desert country. Eight C-ranked missions, One B. Wow! Not many rookie shinobi get B-ranked assignments. Since he's from way out in the desert, I have less on him, but it's interesting. He's come back from every mission completely unscathed. Without a scratch…" Kira locked eyes with Gaara again, she felt herself smile at the cute red head.

She was glad he didn't get hurt on his missions, though that was impressive. He must be very strong to not get hurt. Kira's group was in a B-ranked Mission but that doesn't mean anything, her team had almost died trying to stop Zabuza and Haku.

"Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki, Oto, this year every hidden village has sent outstanding junior leven genin here to compete. I don't know much about Oto, the village hidden in sound. It's part of a new, small nation, so intelligence on it is lacking." Kabuto informed again surprising the group. Though it was nice to see Hinata and Sakura seemed to be uncomfortable now too.

"Anybody besides me suddenly feeling kind of outclassed?" Hinata asked a small waver in her voice. Kira nodded in agreement.

"What you're trying to tell is, everyone here…"

"Oh, yeah. They're all like Lee and Gaara. Elite hand picked shinobi, the best young ninja in the world. They have to be. The test is pitiless."

Naruto was shaking but not from nerves like anyone would think. He was shaking with excitement, his adrenalin was pumping through his veins. He's beat these people no problem.

Sakura thought Naruto was nervous just because they were beginners. She placed her hand on his shoulder comfortingly as she spoke. "It's all right Naruto. Nothing to worry about." She really should have just stepped back away from Naruto's loud voice that decided to scream throughout the entire room.

"MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO! AND NONE OF YOU ARE GONNA BEAT ME! YOU GOT THAT?!" Kira and Hinata giggled at Naruto glad that even though the odds were against him he'd still be himself and give it his all.

"Whats his problem!" Ino screamed at Sakura demanding that she explain.

"Yeah, that felt great!" Naruto laughed with the two girls. "Naru you dork." Kira laughed linking her arm though his giving him a hug.

"How else would they know I'm gonna beat them?" Naruto called making the girl holding him giggle even harder. Sasuke felt a blush coat his face as he stared at her laughing so hard over something as stupid as that.

"Oh please." Sasuke called though he was glad Naruto was able to lighten the mood in the large group. Though no one else seemed to think it was funny. Everyone glared at or rolled their eyes annoyed at the blonde for being so stupid.

Gaara glared at Naruto and Kira, they were too close to his liking. He also didn't appreciate how Sasuke blocked his view of her. Or how he was looking at her now.

"Gaara?" Kankuro hesitantly asked his brother. Gaara only growled in response. He watched as her head rested on Naruto's arm, her giggles slowly died down leaving a smile on her face. She looked pretty, though he preferred how she looked last night. A large red blush staining her face and the stutter that appeared every now and then.

'She likes us.' Shukaku spoke suddenly. Gaara rolled his eyes why would she like him? He was nothing. 'It would be easier if you accepted it.' Shukaku growled to him.

Gaara watched as her head lifted up confused, her eyes roaming across the room curiously. Sasuke reached over shaking her shoulder, shaking the confusion away from her face.

"What?" She called staring at Sasuke confused.

"You were spacing out again." He called pulling away from her warmth.

"Oh…sorry." She pulled away from Naruto staring at the group. She needed to keep an eye on her surroundings now. Naruto might have made her laugh but the whole room looked ready to attack them now.

" 'And none of you are gonna beat me!' the nerve of that kid! Little show-off!" Kiba mocked rolling his eyes annoyed. Akamaru let out an 'arf' with his input.

"That idiot turned a room full of strangers into a room full of enemies with just one sentence." Shikamaru sighed staring at the blonde idiot.

"What are you blathering about?!" Sakura screamed putting Naruto into a sleeper hold for embarrassing her.

"I'm telling the truth!"

"Pay no attention to my friend he's you know special-ed ninja…" Sakura tried to explain before facing Naruto again whacking him on the head repeatedly. "What were you thinking!?"

Kabuto shrugged his shoulders muttering an 'oh well' turning to return to his group. He paused momentarily glancing behind him. Three sound nin's launched at Kabuto ready to kill. Though Kabuto looked to have dodged the first attack. He was quickly attacked by the second sound nin. It was incredible how fast he moved out of the line of danger.

A high pitch sound echoed around the room, so loud that it made Kira cringe in pain clutching her ears as if someone was screaming. Across the room Gaara gritted his teeth annoyed, it seemed he wasn't the only one who being affected by the attack. Kira was relieved when the sound went away, slowly removing her hands from her ears she saw that Kabuto's glasses had cracked.

"What was that?" Kira whispered nervously.

"Whats going on? He dodged the blow, but something broke his glasses!" Sasuke announced shocked like the rest of us.

"His nose probably got grazed serves him right for acting all superior." Kabuto started to barf up the contents of his stomach not a moment later.

"Aw man! He's hurling!" Naruto yelled rushing to the teen's aid.

"Kabuto?" Sakura cried rushing forward. "Kira come quick!" Kira rushed to Sakura's side looking over Kabuto, he was pale. "You can do something right?" Sakura whispered nervously. Glancing up at the three sound nin's in front of them.

"I think he just needs a minute. Sasuke toss me my water." Sasuke dug in Kira's backpack for a moment till he pulled out a dark blue water bottle, tossing it. Kira caught it with ease, crouching down beside Kabuto offering him the water.

"Here, it'll get the taste out of your mouth." Kabuto took the bottle with his thanks.

"You're a pushover aren't you? Pretty sad for someone who's been an applicant for four years now." The leader of the group called.

"Better add this to your cards. The three applicants from Oto will make Chunin this year." Another member of the sound nin called looking so smug at beating up a guy. Two against one. Not fair.

"Would everybody please just shut up?!" an instructors voice called. Smoke exploded from the front of the room, almost as if a large bomb was set off. Startling almost everyone in the front row. As the smoke cleared everyone could see at least fifteen instructors.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting. My name is Morino Ibiki. I'm the proctor and chief examiner for the first part of the exam." The name alone sent fear throughout the room. Ibiki was known for his interrogation.

Ibiki pointed toward the back, directly where the Sound Nin's were. "You, the kids from hiding in the sound! You cant carry on any way you please when the exam is about to start, or do you want to be disqualified?" Ibiki warned sizing up the group.

"Sorry sir, it's out first exam, and we got a little carried away." The leader lied easily.

"Is that so? Then it's high time someone laid down a few ground rules. From this point forward, there will be no more fighting without the express permission of the examining officer. And even if that permission is granted, anything that endangers another applicants life is strictly forbidden." It felt as if the room just got colder, was there a blizzard going on now?

"Any of you little piglets who break that rule are out. Disqualified no second chances. Got that?" Ibiki warned though it sounded like he'd so something much more terrifying if we didn't listen to him.

You could cut the tension in the room with a chopstick. "So this is a test for little girly men?" The one sound nin asked in a sarcastic tone. Not showing any respect toward the man who could end your life at the snap of his fingers.

Ibiki smirked to himself when he spoke again. "As you wish. The first part of the selection exam is about to commence. Turn in your written applications, take one of these seating assignment cards and report directly to the seat indicated. When everyone's seated we'll pass out the written part of the test."

Written test? Oh no. Sakura, Sasuke, and Kira quickly turn their heads to Naruto watching him. It took him a few moments to register what Ibiki said. "A-A paper test?!" Poor Naruto.

And to make matters worse everyone was separated. Naruto got number 53, Sakura got 72, Sasuke got 23, and Kira got 47. We were all over the room. 'Shit this isn't good. Naruto might need help…' As much as Kira believed in Naruto, she knew he wasn't test smart. He thought better on his feet not for something like this.

Kira sat in her seat glancing back at Naruto nervously, wanting to give him all her luck. "Don't worry about him." Kira practically jumped out of her skin. She wasn't paying attention again. She clutched her chest where her heart would be facing Gaara.

"Scared me," she laughed smiling at the boy. Gaara stared at her like he was used to it. "I guess you got back to your hotel room safely," he nodded studying her. She was worried about him…strange.

'I told you she finds you attractive.' There was that voice again. Kira stared at him confused. Was the voice really coming from Gaara?

"My siblings...they enjoyed the food as well." Gaara called out to her bringing her attention back to him. Kira couldn't help the small smile form.

"I'm glad," she whispered softly.

Sasuke stared behind him glaring at Gaara, not only that but Kira was chatting with him! Why would she conspire with the enemy?! They've only met once! Though it doesn't take long for anyone to fall for her in his opinion. It took him a few hours and he was hooked. Sasuke figured that almost every boy she met would fall for her.

That bastard. He started seeing red when he reached over brushing her bangs away from her face. That was his job! If Sasuke was holding a pencil it would have snapped from the sheer pressure.

"Your hair is different." He heard that bastard state.

"Yeah…Sakura wanted to do my hair today for some reason…" she muttered blushing to herself. Sasuke would kill him. How dare he!

"It's nice," Kira looked away flushing to the extreme. How did he make her feel like this? Like a giggling school girl who would give up her dignity over some guy. This wasn't here. What spell did he put on her? It wasn't a jutsu so it had to be magic.

"Good luck on the test." Kira muttered biting her lip to calm herself down. Calm down Kira. It's just a boy. Besides don't you like Naruto? 'When have you ever felt this way toward Naruto? He didn't even say anything about my hair.'

"Papers face down until I give the signal. Now listen up. There are a few big rules that pertain to this first test." Ibiki tapped some chalk on the chalkboard. "I'll write them on the blackboard and explain them all, but I'm not taking questions, so listen carefully. I will say this only once."

"Rules?" Sakura whispered confused. 'And no questions? Why not?'

"Rule number one! Each one of you starts out here with ten points. The test has ten questions, each other one point. For each question you get wrong, we subtract a point from you." Okay so it sounds like a normal test.

"Get all ten right, and you retain the ten points you have. But if for example you answer three questions incorrectly, we take your ten points subtract one point for every wrong answer and your total drops to seven." Okay that wasn't too hard. Kira just had to get ten points and she would have a perfect score, but it felt like there was something else to it. It seemed too easy right now.

"Rule number two. This written test is still a team event. Passing or failing will be determined by the sum of the points held by all three or four members of each team." Sakura's head slammed on the table. Kira slapped her head annoyed 'shit.'

Naruto would need to work hard. "The object is for each team to have as few deductions as possible from its joint thirty point trial.

"W-wait a second!" Sakura cried throwing her hand up in the air. "The whole concept of the starting point and the deductions is hard enough to follow but what is this 'team total' you're talking about?"

Ibiki didn't give Sakura the pleasure of glaring at her. "Did you not hear the part about 'no questions'? We have our reasons. Shut up and listen. You might learn something. This next bit is crucial." Kira felt her fingers worm through her thick gray hair, gripping at the roots, staring at the desk wide eyed,

'This isnt' good at all.' Quickly she glanced back at Naruto and saw his pale features. He looked frantic glancing at his teammates for some sort of help. Kira and Naruto locked eyes she saw his worry. 'Shit! I have to rely on Sakura, Sasuke, and Kira again.'

No. Naruto could do this. Kira had to remind herself that Naruto could do anything if he put his mind to it.

"Rule number three. If, during the course of the exam, a candidate does anything out of the ordinary in other words anything that leads the proctors to determine that he or she has cheated we subtract two points from each member of the cheaters team."

Shit, there was more than one way to lose a point, just great. This is going to be difficult. "Exactly in all probability, some of you will run through your entire allowance of points during the test. If so, you'll be failed and asked to leave."

"I'll be looking over your shoulders when you least expect it." One of the proctors announced smirking at the fear written across a majority of the rooms students.

"If you let the proctors cat you cheating, you'll bring yourself and your friends down. If you aspire to become Chunin, if you want to be the best shinobi you can be, then you'd better start acting like you already are."

Naruto has to be able to get at least a few questions right. But Sakura and Sasuke are both smart, Kira will have to do her best in order to help her team. They could pass this! Kira smirked already determined to show these people how awesome Team seven really was.

"One more thing." Ibiki called "If any individual loses all ten of his or her points, that persons entire team, regardless of how the other two members do will be disqualified!"

'WHAT?!' Kira almost shot up screaming.

"I can feel them from here, they're wanting to kill me already…" Naruto cried sweat dripping down his face from nerves. This wasn't good at all. 'Sasuke, Sakura, and Kira are gonna kill me if I fail this.' Naruto thought helplessly.

'Naruto you won't fail. I'll make sure of it.' Kira thought to herself. Naruto jumped staring at kira shocked. Did he just hear her? Kira gave him a strange look.

'Did I just hear her?'

Kira's eyes widen in surprise 'You can hear me?' Naruto was shocked to see his best friend talk to him without moving her mouth. 'Do it again. Something I know is you.'

Kira stared at her desk smiling to herself. 'I once dared you to lick a swing set and you got sick from it. We were six and I ended up taking you back to my house so you could get better.'

Naruto slammed his hand on the desk shocked.

'This is great when did you learn this?! Can I learn this?' Naruto yelled excitedly momentarily forgetting about the test.

'I'll explain later. After we pass this test.' Kira smirked she could practically see Naruto's smile spreading. They'd pass for sure.