Temari had just come to stand in the middle of the arena for her fight, partially wondering where her opponent was and partially still uncertain how Suna was going to pull off the insanity that was soon to come.

Trumpets blared loudly, making everyone flinch. Around the entire upper wall of the arena, fireworks shrieked into the sky before exploding gallantly in a shower of sparks and color.

All the ninja had hands on their weapons, eyes wide as they searched for an attack while the civilians oohed and awed over the display.

A massive cannon blast went off, and a HUGE colorful ball shot into the sky. It exploded into a massive display of fireworks and confetti, and out from the very center...something dark dropped, spinning towards the ground in a flurry of movement. Just as it reached the top of the arena, the object unfurled and a figure landed with a thunderous *BOOM!* twenty feet in front of Temari.

Said blond was huddled behind her fan, startled by the loud bold entrance and by the fact that the individual had created a small crater beneath them.

The figure stood from their crouch, and the crowd as a whole seemed to inhale sharply at the same time.

"You?!" spluttered Temari.

A set of black ninja sandals trailed up to a baggy set of black pants that were taped from ankle to calf. The waist had a wide elastic band that reached the individual's ribs with a burnt orange sash marked at one end with Kakashi's henohenomoheji. Poking out beneath the sash was a small array of pouches and a weapons holster. A well toned chest and shoulders were bare to the world, tan skin glistening in the noon sun. On his right bicep was a two inch wide burnt orange armband with a trademark swirl in black, effectively hiding a seal beneath said band. Strapped diagonally across the teen's back was an oversized dao broadsword with his forehead protector attached to the front of the harness across his chest over his heart. Bunched around the teen's neck was a burnt orange gaiter. Sunshine golden hair was buzzed on the sides close to the head, while the top still had a couple of inches of hair dancing freely in the wind.

Kakashi felt a little shiver travel down his spine at the uncomfortable likeness the boy had to a previous missing nin. The kid did look kickass, however. And the high waisted pants would hide the Kyuubi seal nicely.

Naruto shot Temari a wide mischievous smile. "You know, these things are all about the entrance." He hopped casually out of the crater he made so that he was properly in position for the match to start. He completely ignored the confetti still raining down in the arena.

Everyone was gawking.

Temari tsked. "Figures that you would be flashy." She stood up from her defensive crouch and slung her large fan across her shoulder.

Sasuke would never audibly admit that Naruto's entrance was cool and scowled hard at the two competitors...even as he mentally debated if his entrance or Naruto's had been the most badass.

Sakura fist pumped in victory. "Cha! New attire is a go! No more orange monstrosity!"

Ino looked at her childhood friend in complete disbelief. "How?!" She waved incredulously at Naruto. Pretty much everyone in Konoha had been aware of Naruto's odd obsessiveness about his orange jumpsuit.

Sakura crossed her arms and preened. "That's for me to know and you to never find out."

Hayate sighed. What was with these kids? Jeez… "Are you ready?" he drawled. He gave both blonds a flat look.

"Always!" cheered Naruto.

Temari rolled her eyes. It was hard to keep a smile from appearing. "Ready."

"Begin!" Hayate leapt back.

Temari let out a small blast of slicing winds.

Naruto weaved through them easily before pausing. He held up his hands and released a spike of chakra. "Hey Mari-chan, wanna play a game?"

The white strips of confetti that had fallen into the arena started spewing large quantities of mist, quickly filling the arena. As it moved forward and started to envelope Naruto, his grin spread with manic delight. "You're it."

His voice faded away into an ominous echo as the mist swallowed him until he completely disappeared.

Temari stared at the spot he was last at in disbelief, trying to shrug off the sudden chill that ran down her spine as the area surrounding her became so thick with mist she couldn't see past five feet. "Tch, quit being ridiculous! I'm a wind user!" She whipped open her large fan and let out a vicious cutting wind that tore through the arena.

The mist ate it, swirling around the attack before seemingly becoming even denser.

Naruto's chuckles bounced around the arena, making it impossible to pinpoint his location. "I'm well aware. But this mist is special."

Temari kept her eyes peeled, despite the fact she couldn't see very far. Five feet was still enough to give her a decent reaction time.

"It's full of my chakra," whispered a voice in her ear.

Temari pivoted sharply, leaping back even as she swung her fan with cutting force.

She watched wide eyed as Naruto's dark form jumped back safely, shooting her a wink as the mist once more gobbled him up. Temari wouldn't admit that she felt a small flush rise to her cheeks, startled the brat even had the gall to taunt her like this.

Kakashi's grip on his book was tight. He knew this trick very well. He'd been practicing against it for a couple months now. He hadn't known that Naruto either picked it up...or he'd been taught. The fact that the mist was completely saturated with Naruto's chakra...Kami-sama, not even water users would be able to use or dismiss the mist! Not many people had enough chakra to overpower Naruto's own giant stores, and that meant that this was an incredibly dangerous and effective technique for his student to have in his arsenal.

Gai decided he wasn't going to bet Kakashi that Tenten would trounce his rival's genin. Gai knew his students were youthful, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that Kakashi's might...might, just be even more youthful. The fact that Haruno already wiped the floor with Neji was...an eye opening example. Maybe he would renege on the spar idea he'd been eager to arrange after the exams were over. Maybe he would train his team a bit before he put that idea back on the table.

Zabuza was cackling. Haku had tried to shush him multiple times, but the man wouldn't be deterred as he watched the blond brat use one of his more renowned techniques.

Hiashi...rubbed his eyes. He squinted down at the arena, grunted softly, and rubbed his eyes again.

He still couldn't see anything. Kami-sama, who the hell taught that brat such a dangerous technique?!

Zabuza sneezed twice, blinked, and cackled even harder. Haku let out a disparaging sigh, even though he couldn't help the proud smirk that pulled at the corner of his mouth. It was nice to see Zabuza's skills being put to adequate use.

Naruto burst out of the mist, fist soaring towards the back of Temari's head. Her eyes widened and she spun and swiftly brought around her fan. Naruto managed to veer off at the last moment, barely dodging her counter attack. He grinned as he landed in a crouch and sprang forward at a lower angle for her ribs. Temari used her momentum to continue her arcing attack and swing it down to clobber him on the head. He pivoted sharply and the attack brushed past him harmlessly as he shot his foot out towards her knee. She jumped back and sent out a small wind attack. Naruto leapt back into the mist, his laughter filling the arena ominously.

Temari was impressed. The blond had seemed like a dunce. Their unexpected encounter in the market piqued her interest, but she still thought he was, at best, a class clown. Now, it was starting to look like it was part of his personality he hammed up in order to trick people into dismissing him.

He was also someone other than Kankuro or Baki that had taken her seriously in a fight. She hadn't even had to bash him around beforehand either!

Excitement hummed through her as she grinned and readied her fan. "Two can play that game." She started fluttering her fan back and forth, making it look effortless. Within no time, a dust cloud rose up and started to surround her. It was a taxing move, as she had to stretch her focus and chakra pool to keep the dust in the air, but really, she was having too much fun to think about keeping the trick hidden.

Naruto whistled in appreciation, well knowing that it had to be a more challenging move for her than for him. "Impressive." He intentionally flexed his own chakra, letting the chakra infused mist press down on Temari's chakra infused dust, putting stress on it. Temari's eyes widened, realizing that the pressure being applied was measured, controlled. In this specific game of hide and seek, she was completely outclassed.

He let up on the pressure, and Temari's shoulders relaxed a bit from the strain of trying to compete with his overwhelming chakra. "Ready to play?" His voice was still playful and jubilant.

The distinct sound of a weapon being drawn filled the arena.

Temari's eyes widened as she felt the dust around her shift. She automatically brought up her fan behind her back.

*CLANG!*

Naruto paused, oversized dao broadsword bearing down on her fan and pressing her back a step. "Tag." His grin split his face as his teeth flashed in the dimmed light.

Temari grunted, shoving him back. He used the force to disappear out of her dust cloud and back into his mist.

This process repeated itself several more times before suddenly, three Naruto's burst into her dust cloud and swung decisively at her. She cursed, ducking under one strike and lashing out with her foot and fan at the same time as she spun away horizontally. Two of the Naruto's burst into smoke, only to be immediately replaced by two more. For a moment, she felt the tingle of fear skitter down her back as she reacted on instinct to dodge and deflect the three opponents now attacking her. She owed Kankuro a new carving kit. Sparring with him and his various puppets was the only reason she didn't hesitate dealing with two solid unexpected opponents joining the fray.

Everyone watching was surprised to see the mist immediately lift, revealing a dust cloud in the center where flickers of shadows could be seen in the midst of battle. Naruto's form was standing off to the side, arms crossed, focused intensely on the dust cloud. He showed no signs of chakra exhaustion or any real reason for dismissing his mist.

...unless you were a jonin or up. Then it was obvious that Naruto was giving them all a chance to see both of their skills so that they both had a shot at becoming chunin. It was stupid. It was brilliant. It showed a consideration and forethought that no one had expected of the blond brat. He was showing just enough to be clearly powerful for his age, but he was also obviously smart enough not to be showing everyone all of his talents. That he was also clearly assisting an ally get promoted…

One silver haired jonin was sure that somewhere, his own sensei was beaming with pride. Jiraya was stuck between being dumbfounded and struck with an eerie sensation...like he was witnessing something more profound than it seemed.

Hiruzen was mentally cursing. He'd thought Kakashi had been joking when he'd said he wanted his genin, soon to be chunin (in Kakashi's humble opinion), to stay together as a team. He'd thought Kakashi was getting ahead of himself. Some of the (incredibly complex) reports Kakashi had given him hadn't seemed plausible (stupid paranoid bastard was so cryptic it was like trying to solve a sudoku puzzle, mixed with a crossword puzzle, and tricked out with hangman guessing games. It always took a huge amount of effort to try and translate Kakashi's rambling disguised reports into layman's terms that could be understood). Naruto's showing (he didn't even bother pretending that Sasuke and Sakura hadn't proven to be chunin quality), was looking to put them on a board he hadn't really thought they'd reach for another year.

They'd also be the only team he knew of to all have a chance to get promoted to chunin at the same time, in the same exam.

Kami-sama… the paperwork! Hiruzen was mentally bemoaning his soon to be suffering. It would obviously only get worse, as chunin always had more paperwork in general. After all, a chunin had to individually submit their own reports, as well as keep a regularly updated list of skills they used actively in combat (this only applied if there was a survivor on a mission that witnessed said skill and the Hokage needed to know if it was a skill that could be continued to be "public" knowledge or something that needed to be restricted and added to one of the higher level secret files. These "secret" skills were only used in desperate measures or during assassinations. Public knowledge ones were, obviously, kept in a secure location but not airtight security that more important paperwork was kept. These were important lists, especially to help weed out and mislead spies). It meant Hiruzen would have to deal with Team 7's ridiculous paperwork in quadruple parts, without even including all the other stupid paperwork those who hated either Naruto, Kakashi, or Sasuke added to the mix. Some ninja thought Sasuke was being unfairly raised on a pedestal and had not earned his glory. Naruto, obviously, had to deal with anyone in Konoha with a foolish grudge against a sealed fox. And Kakashi...well, it's Kakashi.

He supposed he should be glad that Sakura was from a civilian clan and hadn't made any enemies inside the village yet. It was a small blessing, but he'd need to remind himself of it when the rest of Team 7's paperwork was threatening to smother him.

Naruto smirked before racing up the wall.

As soon as he was half way up, the dust cloud in the arena blasted apart, sending three clones of Naruto sailing, where two landed roughly and popped and the last one managed to land on its feet safely.

Temari was panting lightly, having not expected quite the amount of close range fighting she'd been forced to endure. Unlike Gaara, she'd prepared for it, but she still wasn't a specialist in the area. She was in a bit of a pickle. The kid had easily dodged most of her wind attacks, and the one he hadn't had been sucked into his stupid mist.

She paused, blinking when she realized the mist was gone. The (unknown to her) clone across from her was still grinning widely, his oversized dao gleaming as he held it aloft in a ready position.

Her eyes narrowed, realizing he'd done it intentionally and not because he'd run out of chakra.

She sighed, barely withholding a groan.

He was setting her up for promotion.

"You're crazy," she accused, settling into a firmer stance.

The clone burst out laughing. He sent her a cheeky wink. "Maybe just a little."

The clone launched itself at her, and she easily deflected the attack and attempted to counterattack with a backhanded swing. The clone ducked and lashed out with a foot. Temari sidestepped and swept her fan out, catching the clone in the side of the head.

She blinked when it went up in smoke, cursing as she quickly backpedaled and scanned the arena alertly.

"Looking for me?" asked a voice in her ear.

She lashed out with a kick, frustrated he kept getting behind her like that.

Her foot went through an illusion, the blond grinning at her widely as her foot remained sticking in his gut.

"Which one's real?" asked another copy of the blond male. She lashed out with her fan, and once again, it swept right through the clone.

"Wrong," intoned a third copy.

Temari hesitated, and the clone promptly attempted to flick her on the forehead. She squawked and swung, causing the solid clone to dissipate.

The entire arena erupted with smoke, suddenly filled with Naruto clones.

Temari grit her teeth. What the hell was with these damned Konoha nin?! Were they all secret badasses?!

The Suna nin's eyes narrowed, automatically scanning the clone's feet for a shadow to try and help differentiate between the solid and the illusionary clones.

That's when she realized that all of the illusions were standing over orange confetti and had no shadows. The rest were standing over blue confetti and cast shadows.

There were thirteen solid clones in the fray.

She was getting sick of this game.

She unfolded her fan elegantly, spinning in a controlled twist as she leapt up into the air. "Take this, brat!" She unleashed one of her most powerful attacks, a tornado that scoured the clones and confetti around her. The clones were instantly dispelled and the confetti ripped to shreds.

Temari landed, definitely winded now. The kid was seriously giving her a run for her money, and she was equal parts excited and equal parts pissed.

A whistling sound sent a chill up her spine, and she barely had time to notice that her shadow seemed abnormally large and strangely, growing, before her body reacted out of instinct and rolled forward.

Naruto's dao crashed down, cleaving a huge crevice five foot long where she'd been standing seconds prior. Naruto calmly stood, lifting his sword casually and resting it over his shoulder.

Kami-sama, Kakashi was going to beat the snot out of Zabuza for tainting his student. It didn't matter how kickass his cute genin looked, Naruto was his, damnit!

Zabuza began cackling again, startling Haku, who found himself leaning a little too eagerly towards the fight. The older teen shuddered. Naruto was just as good at posturing as Zabuza...maybe even a bit better.

Haku promptly glued himself to Zabuza's side, a hidden pout on his visage. He would not be tempted!

Zabuza was gloating too much to notice his apprentice's odd behavior.

"I'd hoped you wouldn't notice the confetti," admitted Naruto, drawing everyone's attention once more. "But I'm not surprised."

"It was a nice trick," Temari grudgingly admitted. She would have to hunt some down later to inspect. Hopefully there were some that hadn't gotten shredded by her attack. She wanted to know how he did it. "All your showboating wasn't for nothing."

Naruto's teeth flashed as he grinned savagely. "Of course not." He lifted his oversized blade and spun it lazily. "After all, my Sensei's favorite saying is 'look underneath the underneath'."

Temari scoffed, secretly taking the words to heart. She sent out a quick succession of three cutting blades and one larger gust of wind to try and destabilize the other blond.

While Naruto was dodging those, Temari kicked a rock into the air.

Naruto lifted his dao and cut through her air bullet as Temari swung at the rock with her fan.

Naruto wasn't expecting a rock to implant itself into his forehead just as he paused to preen over cutting through her attack.

His head snapped back and he staggered a bit to keep his footing.

Temari launched herself at him, whipping out a handful of cutting winds to reach him first while she charged in behind.

Naruto grunted as he contorted awkwardly to try and escape the sudden barrage. One of the attacks slashed his forearm, and another his shoulder and cheek. He barely had enough momentum to swing the dao up in time to semi deflect Temari's fan as it bore down on him. It ended up clipping his shoulder and sending him to his knees.

Temari tried to take advantage of his weak position, but he somehow managed to smack the flat of his blade and send her fan swinging wide. It gave him just enough of an opening to spin and mule kick her in the gut, sending her flying. She spun midair and landed in a crouch, wheezing a bit to try and catch her breath as he had forcefully expelled most of it.

They both stood up, Naruto rotating his injured shoulder a bit to test its integrity.

Naruto chuckled. "I think that's plenty, yeah?" His eyes darted meaningfully towards the Kage box.

It instantly put Temari on guard.

The faint flutter of paper at the nape of her neck made her eyes go wide. She attempted to duck, to pivot, do anything

But the clone at her back already had a kunai to her neck while two more grabbed her arms to still them. "Game over."

She growled, screwing her eyes shut as her hands clenched painfully on her fan. "How?" she grit out. She could damn well hear the smirk in his tone.

"I may have ensured that some of that confetti got caught on your collar."

She mentally swore. "This whole time?"

She could feel the clone shrug. "Pretty much."

He could have ended it in the first couple minutes. Kami-sama...she'd been played.

"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki!" intoned the proctor. His tone sounded faintly impressed.

As the clones went to release her, the real Naruto strode forward while sliding his dao blade back into its sheath. Just as he was passing her, murmured "You're going to rock that chunin vest."

Despite herself, Temari found her cheeks flushing. "Damn brat," she muttered, thankful that the smoke from the clones dispersing hid her from view.