A day late, but that's better than a couple of weeks late, right?

Disclaimer: I wish.

They met at the usual crossroads a week later. The morning was crisp with a light breeze. The crossroads were clear of people at the moment. Though Sasuke was sure that would change in an hour or so when the village woke up fully.

Sasuke glanced over his teammates with a critical eye. Both of them looked normal, though judging by the slight sagging of Naruto's jacket he had an arsenal of pranks and trapping equipment tucked away. Naruto looked like he was barely containing his excitement. His eyes bright and fidgeting incessantly. Natsuki, on the other hand, seemed relaxed on the outside but there was a hint of trepidation in his eye. They nodded at each other in greeting and continue down the road towards the building where the first part of the chunin exam would take place.

"Hey." Natsuki started, his voice low.

Sasuke eyed him out of the corner of his eye, wondering if he was finally going to tell them what had obviously been on his mind all week. He had wanted to confront him sooner, but Naruto held him back with some excuse about letting his brother think it and come to them himself.

"Be careful of that red haired Suna shinobi, Gaara, ok?" Natsuki stared resolutely at the ground in front of him and there was a tightness in his voice that Sasuke recognized.

"This has something to do with the fox doesn't it?" The fact that both of his teammates had a demonic fox that had previously tried to destroy the village was something he was still trying reconcile with his perception of the two, but he was getting there. It definitely explained a few things.

Natsuki nodded slowly. "It's not like the whole sharingan thing though…I think…"

He trailed off glancing away. Naruto was soaking up each word, patiently waiting for his brother to find the words. Sasuke just rolled his eyes.

"Spit it out. You wouldn't be warning us if it wasn't important."

Naruto sent him a look, but Sasuke just raised his eyebrow. He wasn't going to waste time waiting for their teammate to find the words.

"I think he's like Naruto and I. The…fox, it seemed to recognize him or at least his chakra. And, well, he had two different types of chakra. One of them is very…angry…"

Sasuke fought back against an automatic shiver. He had been witness to both the twins losing control though he didn't know that's what happened the first time. Sasuke only had vague memories of that time back in the academy. He had only just got out of the hospital after the massacre and had froze at the sight of Natsuki's blood. The release of that corrosive chakra had only heightened his panic and scrambled his mind. The second time, he had been on the brink of unconsciousness, unable to move when Natsuki lost control on the bridge. But he still felt that chakra. Malicious and imposing. It had clawed at his heart and made his lungs short of breath. He grimaced and shoved those thoughts away.

"Great so there's another one like you guys, what'd you call it? Jinchuuriki?" He knew the answer but just wanted clarification that he said it correctly. As soon as he returned he had dug through any information he could find on the subject. He did not want to be blindsided by his teammates anymore. The Konoha shinobi library was unsurprisingly barren on the subject.

Natsuki nodded smiling faintly. "There are actually ten of us since the Kyuubi was split into two."

"Nine biju, ten jinchuuriki." Sasuke murmured.

It was his clan's old district that he had found some answers to his questions in the form of an old and brittle children's book tucked away in the corner of his father's old office. Sasuke had read through it with a skeptical eye only having vague memories of his mother reading it to him. While he was doubtful of some of the information, (A God Tree gave a woman enough power to become a goddess? And was the origin of chakra? Really?) it was obvious that it seemed to be correct on the existence of nine powerful tailed beasts.

Natsuki glanced at him, surprising lingering in his eyes. Sasuke shrugged at the unvoiced question.

"What, you think I wouldn't try to find more information when both my teammates are jinchuuriki?"

Naruto laughed and slapped him on the back. "True, true, but where'd you find that information? The Hokage told us, but there wasn't any other info in the library."

Sasuke took a step away. Why was the blond so touchy? "Found a book in the Uchiha compound."

Natsuki blinked at him. "They didn't clear it out?"

Sasuke shrugged uncomfortably, the bodies and perishables were gone but everything else remained untouched. There were old laws protecting the place from outsiders and Sasuke, as clan head, had refused any attempt to try and remove anything from the compound. "No."

Naruto opened his mouth to obvious ask another question, but Sasuke cut him off. "Never mind, so what's the plan for him then?"

He supposed Natsuki's creepy power was good for something because the boy nodded and changed the subject. "Stay away from him. He's definitely unstable. The less contact we have with him the better."

They stopped in front of the designated building and looked up at it silently for a moment.

"Well come on! Let's go show them what we're made of!" Naruto swooped in between them and tugged them forward.

"Let go!" Sasuke snapped looking at Natsuki for help, but the orange haired boy just laughed waving his free hand in an idle 'just go with it' gesture. Sasuke growled lowly. Kakashi had drilled it into their heads that a major part of this exam was presentation. The proctors and Hokage himself didn't just look at whether you succeeded or failed the tasks, but how you conducted yourself in all three task and even outside of them throughout the duration of the exam.

He was sure Naruto was going to ruin it for them, acting like this!

He yanked his arm away and scowled at the two. Naruto stuck his tongue out at him but relented and continued at a calmer pace. They made it to the second floor with no sign of anyone else.

"Why do the stairs only got to the second floor?" Naruto muttered, looking puzzled. "The building is at least four levels and the room we're supposed to meet at is on the 3rd."

"Illusion," Natsuki replied eyes roving over the ceiling and walls. "The entire place is cover in them. It's really subtle to the chakra is spread out so thin…"

"So a test before the first task?" Sasuke questions bringing his hands up to dispel the illusion.

Natsuki stopped him with a sharp gesture and a sly smirk. "Wait a moment, we still have time. Why don't we go look and see who's creating these illusions and who fell for the trap?"

"Take a look at the competition?" Naruto grinned.

They both turned to Sasuke, who shrugged. There was really no point in arguing with them. It pointless when they were like this and it was a decent idea. They opened the door to the second floor and strolled down the busier hallway. Sasuke's eyes roved over the scene taking in all of the potential opponents and trying to guess at their relative skill.

Most looked weak.

He tried not to let his eye twitch when he caught sight of bright pink hair.

"Sasuke!"

He ignored her and eyed the boy that was thrown to the floor raising an eyebrow at his appearance. He glanced at his teammates. Natsuki was looking vaguely amused while Naruto was squinting at the two shinobi who were arguing with the fallen genin.

"Aren't those the guys who guarded the gate when we left and came back from our mission?" Naruto tilted his head to the side.

Sasuke glanced at Natsuki who shrugged. "Well, they seem to be the origin of the illusions."

They glanced at one another before raising their hands in unison.

"Kai!"

The hallways ripple and wavered, like a mirage on a hot day before the illusion faded completely. They were left in a hallway distinctly marked as the second floor with two adult chunin grinning from ear to ear.

"Well looky here Izumo, we have a group of showoffs." The one with the bandages on his face grinned, swinging an arm around the one with his hair over his right eye.

The other chunin smiled blandly. "And here I thought things were getting interesting with some deception among the genin."

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke noticed the strange boy in green leaped to his feet looking no worse for wear. His Hyuuga teammate had his eyes narrowed in irritation while the female looked amused. Apparently, they weren't the only ones who decided to investigate rather than move on.

"You tricked us!" Snapped the shorter blond standing near Sakura.

He must have been in his class in the academy, but Sasuke barely remembered him.

"You were easily tricked." The one apparently called Izumo replied back looking amused.

"You!" The taller boy apparently also on Sakura's team held the blond back from leaping at the two chunin.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and gestured at his teammate. "Come on, we proved out point. There should be another stairway down the hall that won't be as clogged with participants."

They nodded and went to follow him.

"Hey."

Sasuke glanced back at the Hyuuga. He definitely didn't recognize him even vaguely.

"What." He saw Natsuki rolled his eyes and he refrained from scowling at him.

"What's your name." The other boy demanded.

Sasuke tilted his chin up, automatically wanting to spit out a snide remark for the rude tone, but Natsuki put a hand on his shoulder and Naruto step forward slightly.

"We're team seven. That's Sasuke Uchiha and my brother Natsuki Uzumaki. And I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Nice to meet you." Naruto tilted his head slightly, his grin was wide and expectant.

"You're the one who wanted to make a good impression." Natsuki murmured under his breath, his lips barely moving. "It's best to be polite for now."

Sasuke refrained from sighing.

The Hyuuga glared, whether from Naruto butting in or Naruto's unvoiced but still pointed question Sasuke didn't know. He opened his mouth, but the female in their team stepped forward.

"These are my teammates, Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee, and I'm Tenten." She bowed politely.

"Nice to meet you!" Naruto exclaimed.

They walked away from the group without any more interference and wandered down the halls in search of another staircase. They made it to a large open room before pausing. Sasuke glanced around. The only staircase was the one that they had walked down. Ahead of them was a line of windows with the blinding morning light shining through. Well…

"So, are we lost?" Naruto started.

"We're not lost." Sasuke scowled.

"We're definitely lost," Natsuki replied.

Sasuke glared at him.

"Hey! You!"

The three of them turned to find the green-clad shinobi from the hallway. Rock Lee? Yes, Sasuke was sure that's what the girl said. Strange name for a strange guy.

"Sasuke Uchiha! I want to challenge you to a fight!"

"Right now? Why?" Sasuke frowned as the boy leaped over the banister and landed lightly on his feet.

"Yes, right now. I wish to test my strength against one known as a genius and a member of a great shinobi clan." The boy clenched his bandaged wrap fist in front of him.

Sasuke's eye twitched.

"The chunin exam will start soon." Natsuki cut in. "Don't you think it's best to wait for a chance to challenge him during the exam or even better after it?"

"No!" He cried. "I must prove my point that hard work is better than genius!"

He glanced at his teammates. Both Naruto and Natsuki were looking bemused. Natsuki raised his eyebrow at him, and Sasuke rolled his eyes. He turned back to the green-clad shinobi with a scowl.

"I'm not fighting you."

"You too look down on the value of hard work and think I am an infer opponent?"

"N-" He couldn't even finish the word before the weirdo flew at him faster than he could track.

"Sasuke!" He heard Naruto shout, but was too focused on blocking or trying to block.

As soon as Lee's leg came in contact with his arm he knew there was no way he'd be able to completely block. He turned his body to the side and tried to change the block into a grab, but Lee twisted midair and his other foot came up forcing Sasuke to jump back or receive a direct hit to the head.

His scowl deepened and he activated his sharingan to in hope of figuring out what jutsu he use to move that fast. However, even if his eyes saw the boy move towards him he couldn't force his own body to move in time to counter a direct kick to the jaw. All he could do was clench his teeth.

But, his teammates were there in a flash.

Naruto had about twenty clones grab at Lee, while Natsuki pulled Sasuke away slipping a coil of ninja wire in his hand. He glanced down, his eyes automatically seeing through the illusion hiding the wire. He glanced at Natsuki and nodded.

They charged under the cover of another group of Naruto's clones replacing the one's Lee dispersed. Sasuke shadowed a clone hiding from Lee's line of sight until the boy kicked the clone and dispersed it revealing Sasuke. He didn't attack, though he saw the boy tense in preparation. Instead, he slid past hooking the ninja wire over the boy's left foot that was still in the air from dispersing the clone. At the same time, Natsuki did the same with Lee's right hand.

"Wha-" Lee started before Naruto slammed into him with a punch to the gut.

A slight tug was all it took to throw him off his balance and send him toppling to the floor. Sasuke and Natsuki quickly circled him wrapping him tightly in the wire.

Lee frowned up at them. "I told you I wanted to fight Sasuke Uchiha!"

"Sorry, thick eyebrows," Naruto replied cheerfully. "We come as a packaged deal."

"And besides that." Sasuke snarled lowly. "I already told you I didn't want to fight you."

"But, I told you I want to prove-"

"Even if you beat me, you would have proved nothing." Sasuke snapped. "Of course hard work is important. Of course, it's worth more than something as arbitrary as being labeled a genius. You think I don't work hard? Just because some people I barely know said I was a genius? You're wrong. I train just as hard and anyone else, even more so! I have to, to keep up with these idiots."

"Aw, we love you too, Sasuke."

"Shut-up, dobe!" He glared at the blonde.

"Such passion! Lee, you must admit your defeat in the face of such youthful expression!"

They all turned towards the new arrival. Sasuke's eye twitched again. It was an adult version of the weirdo.

"Yes, Gai-sensei! I apologize Sasuke Uchiha! I should have noticed the passion of youth in your eyes!"

Sasuke took a step away from the suddenly not tied up weirdo who now had tears streaming down his face.

"Kakashi said you'd three would give us a show! I must say, I regret ever doubting my eternal rival!"

"You know our sensei?" Natsuki asked, looking entirely too amused by this turn of events.

"Yes! We are eternal rivals! 50 wins vs 49 losses!" The man struck a dramatic pose with a grin that seemed to shine unnaturally.

"Really?" Natsuki with an innocent expression that Sasuke could tell was entirely fake even without any special emotion sensing abilities. "Eternal rivals? He's never mentioned you to us before."

Now there were tears running down his face. "Kakashi is so cool!"

Naruto sidled up next to him looking disturbed.

"Sasuke, what is going on?"

"I…have no idea anymore."

Team seven was the last to enter the room catching the attention of everyone, however, the three barely glanced at the rest of the room. Shikamaru ghosted his eyes over them trying to determine how far they may have come since last seeing them. It had been a long time, after all, and they were the students of Kakashi Hatake whom both his father and his sensei spoke highly of.

Sasuke looked more irritated than usual. Natsuki was hiding a wide grin behind his sleeve. Naruto, on the other hand, didn't bother hiding his snickers.

"Youthful Sasuke Uchiha! Let us both do our best in this exam!" Came a shout from the crowd.

Shikamaru glanced towards it with a raised eyebrow only to find a strange looking Konoha shinobi. He blinked. Was that the team that graduated the year before them? Why…

He turned an incredulous gaze back towards the three. Sasuke looked murderous, while both the Uzumaki twins were cackling in unison on either side of him. He almost cracked a smile himself, if it wasn't so troublesome. There was something about seeing the usually unflappable Uchiha looking flustered that lighten his mood somewhat.

"Sasuke!" Twin shrieks from his teammate and pink haired former classmate made him wince.

Ino jumped at the poor guy.

"You're late, Sasuke!"

"We got lost." Naruto grinned.

Natsuki exchanged a glance with him and smiled blandly. "On the road of life."

Naruto's grin widened. "Yup! A black cat crossed our path so we had to take a different route."

He elbowed Sasuke. "Come on Sasuke, tell 'em about the old lady!"

The Uchiha shrugged off Ino with a scowl. "I want new teammates."

Shikamaru smirked and leaned back to observe as everyone got reacquainted with one another. When they were approached by the stranger he took a moment to observe him as well. There was a slight slump to his shoulders and a nervous jitter to his movements, that initially made him suspicious. He glanced over at Natsuki, but the boy's eyes were elsewhere. Scanning the room and looking a bit twitchy even as his teammates engaged the stranger. He turned back to the gray-haired shinobi, who had a sliver of shame in his expression that he tried to hide behind a smile as he admitted to how many times he had taken the test.

So, someone who was just genuinely trying to be helpful then.

He tilted his head to the side. Interesting. He didn't expect that from this exam, given the way his sensei and father talked about it. He turned his gaze back to team seven as they blurted out a name in unison.

"Gaara."

He raised an eyebrow. He had seen a few of the shinobi from other villages around but hadn't interacted with them. It was too much trouble to engage in conversation with strangers, especially with the large probability of them being hostile. Judging by the tense expression on their faces they had a bit of an encounter.

He rolled his eyes. Leave it to the Uzumaki twins to stir up trouble. He almost felt bad for the Uchiha.

"Get this, he completed a B-rank mission as a genin!"

Shikamaru watched as the three exchanged looks, while the rest of the rookies looked suitably impressed by such an accomplishment and narrowed his eyes. His sensei had mentioned Kakashi being arrogant over his student's success in this exam and had offhandedly told his team to make sure they didn't lose to them. Ino and Choji didn't really take him seriously, but Shikamaru's interest was peaked. Watching their expression and interactions with one another and everyone else only made that interest stronger.

(They stood like a well-seasoned team. Sasuke in the front with Naruto and Natsuki flanking him. When they moved, they moved together. Watching one another's backs. They pay attention to the conversation, but at least one of them kept an eye on their surroundings at all times. They stood with an unshakeable confidence despite the slow rise in panic among the rest of the rookies.)

Sensei ran us through the typical teamwork exercises that I'm sure everyone else went through as well. So, what exactly did this Kakashi Hatake do differently to make them this close?

He felt a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

"So, troublesome." He murmured, ignoring Choji's curious look.

"Hey."

Choji and Ino glanced at him along with half of the other rookies, despite him not speaking very loud.

"We're not going to lose."

Team seven grinned.

The message was clear.

Shikamaru finally allowed himself to smirk.

Bring it on.

Kurama frowned as he glanced over the questions again.

He could answer the first one and had a good idea about the third one, however, the rest might as well have been written in gibberish. He glanced around the room discretely, eyeing the line of chunin observers on either side of the desks. Every once in a while one of the would form a hand signal muttering "kai" to cancel out any illusions the genin might have put up to help them cheat.

"Number 42, you have failed for cheating."

Kurama watched as the scowling male left the room in a huff. He tried not to wince as the tension in the room spiked again with another person failure. He refrained from reaching up and rubbing the growing headache at his temples. His biju brother's container didn't help with his malicious emotions leaking out of him at a constant rate. He grimaced pulling his chakra closer to him when he felt Shukaku's chakra spike minutely as the boy used it to undoubtedly cheat.

He sighed. He had figured out quickly enough that this test was actually about the genin's stealth and information gathering skills, but he was still at a loss for how he was going to manage to get his answers. A familiar movement caught his attention.

Sasuke had reached up and tugged lightly at his left earlobe.

Kurama frown. Eye on target?

Could that mean he had the answers?

They had just started on creating silent communication signals after Kakashi surprise activity at the beginning of the week, so they only had a few signals that could work for a situation like this. Kurama lowered his head shaking his bangs to conceal his eyes and watched for another signal.

Sasuke ran his hand through his hair.

Need distraction.

Kurama was behind both of them and couldn't signal, but he noticed Naruto let out a large, obnoxious yawn making the genin on his left glare fiercely. Kurama fought back a smirk threatening to take over his face.

Hokage's birthday.

Naruto insisted on that signal and now he had a chance to use it.

Kurama almost felt sorry the test proctors.

He let out an exasperated sighed and thumped his head on the table like he was giving up. He folded his arms over his desk and buried his face in them, trying to shield his eyes and nose as much as possible without it being extremely noticeable. With a minute the room suddenly exploded in a ruckus of flash bombs, smoke bombs, stink bombs, and noisemakers. Kurama covered his nose and lifted his head just in time to catch the small projectile thrown his way.

While the room was still in a panic he quickly unfolded to scrap of paper, most likely torn from the bottom of Sasuke's test and copied that answers onto his own sheet. When done he shoved the scrap into his mouth and swallowed to get rid of the evidence.

He saw his brother do the same and finally allowed himself to smirk.

"ENOUGH!" Ibiki shouted once the prank had ended leaving the room smelling like rotten eggs. "WHEN I FIND OUT WHO DID THIS YOU'LL BE BANNED FROM THE CHUNIN EXAM COMPLETELY! YOU'LL HAVE NO DAMN CHANCE TO EVER BE A CHUNIN, YOU HERE ME!"

Kurama forced his face back into a neutral expression as the man's eyes raked over all of the genin present, his eyes lingering on Naruto's playfully innocent face. Kurama wasn't sure if the man was aware of Naruto's history with pranks, but in an official exam like this if he couldn't prove it was the blond then there was nothing he could do to him. Ibiki knew that, which undoubtedly made Naruto's exaggerated look of innocence even more upsetting for the man. Naruto made a show of turning back to his test and pretending to fret over the answers.

Kurama's smirk was fighting to make another appearance, so he turned his gaze away to try and stem his amusement only to meet the steady gaze of the man next to him.

Kabuto.

His mind supplied the name to the face quickly even if he had been distracted by Gaara when the man was talking to his group.

Kurama wondered if the man had been watching him the entire time. He felt his heartbeat speed up as panic replaced shock. How could he have not noticed he was being watched so closely? He reached out briefly for any negative emotions only to recoil at the oddness of the other man's emotional state.

It was almost as though he didn't have any emotions at all.

Kurama glanced down uncomfortably, noting the completely filled out test in front of the man, before looking back up to meet his stare again. The man smiled, a softer one in comparison to the polite grin the man wore earlier when he showed them some of the shinobi stats, and winked before turning back to his test.

Like Naruto, he pretended to fret over the paper, but unlike Naruto, it looked like he was actually struggling. If Kurama hadn't already known the test was filled out, he would have been completely fooled. The man was even projecting anxiety and slight depression.

Haku had presented an admirable straight face when he talked with Kurama in the woods, but his emotions had given him away when Kurama revealed that he was a chakra sensor. This human, however, gave nothing away. Not in his facial expression nor his emotions.

Kurama turned back to his own completed test, his mind reeling.

Why was he still a genin?

Sakura scrubbed at her watering eyes with the back of her gloves in annoyance. The smell of rotten eggs still hung in the air making her wrinkle her nose in disgust and she was still blinking away stars.

She grimaced.

As annoying at that prank was, at least her suspicion was confirmed. This test was definitely about cheating. She stared down at the mostly answered test in front of her trying to formulate a plan. She had worked out most of the problems herself and at least had a guess for those she wasn't certain of but she didn't know how her teammates were doing. She knew both of them were terrible with tests and were probably feeling the pressure right now to cheat, but as far as she knew they didn't have any specific skills or jutsus that would help them. And she didn't even know whether they had figured out they were supposed to cheat or not.

She eyed the back of Hasegawa's head.

He was bent over his paper, his shoulders stiff.

She turned her gaze to Kenta.

He was leaning back in his chair shoulders slumped.

She bit her lip.

She had the answers, but how was she supposed to give them to her teammates? She was on the outside isle, right next to the protectors. There was no way she'd be able to get the answer to them without being caught! The giant prank, she was sure was caused by Naruto would have been the perfect cover if she had known, but at that point, she still hadn't been certain on what the test was actually about.

She scowled and slammed her hands down on the table, ignoring that way it shook.

"Bathroom!" she exclaimed as she glared at the closest proctor.

She was fairly certain she heard Ino snickering, but she didn't let her embarrassment show on her face. She had to be loud to catch her teammate's attention.

The proctors stood slowly. "Right. Follow me."

"You're not going to follow me into the ladies room, are you!? You're a man! That'd be perverted." Sakura asked pointedly and still very loud.

The proctor looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"No. I'm just following you to make sure you don't go anywhere else and can't cheat." He replied.

Sakura nodded trying to hold back a blush as more snickers joined Ino's.

This was for her teammates. Hopefully, they'd catch on, or this was all for nothing. They walked out of the room and down the hall to the bathrooms. She gave the proctor one last glare before disappearing into it. Once alone she took a deep breath and created a clone, making it as perfect as possible. She instructed it to leave after a normal amount of time and listened closely as the footsteps faded away.

She grinned.

Everything was going well so far.

She slipped into the men's bathroom with a wrinkle of her nose. If her mother found out about this she'd never hear the end of it. She looked around for something to write on, tugging loose some paper towels she wrote out two copies of the answers.

Hearing footsteps she slid into the middle stale to hide by crouching on the toilet seat.

"Aw come-on." She heard Hasegawa complain. "Why ya gotta go in with me? This is totally lame, I bet you let that girl go in the bathroom alone. This is discrimination!"

"Just shut up and go to the bathroom."

"Fine. Fine. But, it's going to take a bit, so why don't you relax?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. Even without seeing it, she knew he had a shit eating grin on his face. She grimaced. Probably not the best analogy for their current environment.

She focused on the task at hand. There were only three stalls and she had claimed the middle, so no matter what Hasegawa would be in the one next to her, allowing her to give him the answers. He entered the one on her right, closest to the wall. Sakura carefully leaned down, and flicked the answers underneath the stall. Hasegawa caught it before it hit the ground.

She curled herself back onto the toilet trying not to laugh as Hasegawa proceeded to make loud exaggerated noises pretending he had some constipation before finally leaving.

Kenta came in next, and Sakura repeated the process.

She grinned to herself as Kenta left, refraining from shouting in joy.

She did it!

She got the answers to her teammates!

Now they just needed to answer the final question and they'd be good!

She focused her attention on her clone. Carefully instructing it to ask to use the bathroom once more as she ran out the door to slip back into the woman's bathroom.

She froze when she got out into the hallway.

In front of her stood one of the Suna shinobi and a proctor.

"Oh hey, weren't you the one who..." He blinked slowly before his face cleared in understanding. "You had a similar idea to me!"

The guy grinned.

"Um…" She glanced at the proctor.

The guy waved his hand. "Don't worry about him, he's a plant I used to get the answers."

She blinked and looked over the proctor critically. Her eyes widened.

"A puppet!" She exclaimed. "That's so cool! How did you sneak that past them?"

He rubbed the back of his head. "Well, you know, I just dressed him up and had him stand with the proctors when they appeared. Nothing fancy or anything like that. Uh, my name's Kankuro by the way."

"Sakura." She replied with a grin. She froze when she heard a door open down the hallway.

Her clone and another proctor!

"I have to go now! But good luck." She whispered and slipped into the bathroom just in time.

She managed to switch with her clone without any trouble and make it back to her spot in the exam room. When Kankuro came back, just in time for the final question to be revealed he winked at her as he passed. Sakura ducked her head to hide a grin. She had been worried at first about competing against other village's shinobi, but meeting Kankuro put her worries at ease. They were just genin like her and her team who wanted to become chunin just as much as them.

Of course, the scary guy running the exam had to try and ruin her good mood with the rules to the last question. She watched as Kenta's shoulders relaxed and smiled to herself. She was fairly certain he was going to take the fall for them, but Naruto of all people managed to calm everyone down with a loud rant and stubborn glint in his eye.

She shook her head as her smile turned rueful.

I guess I owe that knucklehead one.

She and her teammates had passed.

She clenched her fists, her new gloves crinkling with the movement.

Now it's time for the second task.

I bet some of you thought that Kakashi's little activity about silent communication was just for funsies. Nope! It was actually important to the team's success during the first task. lol

This one was fairly lighthearted, but that was on purpose. The Forest of Death is...well, let's just say things go bad real quick. Wolf Guard Miestwin, you had the right idea with that comment! Speaking of the forest of death and next chapter, I'm leaving for a trip next Thursday and won't get back till 9th of July. I'll continue to write and will try to get as much as the chapter done as possible before I leave, but I may not have decent internet to upload. Hopefully, I will but just a heads up if I don't.

Thanks for all the reviews! Let me know what think about team sevens interaction with Lee and Gai! That was fun to write. Hopefully, it's just as fun to read.