Please be kind about the first exam! I tried to think of something I hadn't seen done- and I've seen such cool ideas- but something that would potentially trick competitors if they didn't focus on teamwork. I'm not sure if it would work in real life against anyone, but let's just suspend disbelief for a few minutes, please. :)

The sun finally rose over the tops of the stone faces and officially declared the day of the first Chunin exam as begun. However, the proctors and the kages had been skittering about since before day break in a last minute rush to make everything perfect. Outside, just after 7 am, the students began to line up to register and Naruto finally stopped for the first time that morning to scan the crowd for his son. After a moment, he spotted his bright hair in the sea of opponents.

He watched as Boruto opened his mouth to laugh and wondered what someone in the group crowding him had said to make him laugh that hard. His mind filled in the sound, silent through the glass of the window, with the imprint of ones committed to memory; he remembered the way Boruto used to belly laugh as he chased him through the house, picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder, or his mouth wide in laughter as he'd barricade himself in his father's safe arms after Naruto would return home from a mission in the time before he was Hokage. He yearned now to lean out the window and listen, to be a part of his son's world. It had been such a busy few months- especially the last week- that he had barely seen his child. Normally by now Boruto would have spat some backhanded comment, but since his accident he had been so much more mild mannered in the few times they had passed each other. He wondered if maybe he did hit his head hard enough to jolt or change him. Or was it the fact that Boruto was maturing and he just now stopped the grind of his life to actually notice?

"Lord Seventh?" Naruto turned from watching his son to see Shikadai and Konohamaru standing attentively. "May we discuss the first exam?"

"Of course." Time to get back to work.

"We're going to lie to them," Shikadai began, "if that's okay."

"Lie?"

"Yes, lie. We're going to tell them that they are working separately and we are grading them separately as a way to fuel distrust."

"And what specifically is the point of that?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Well, if they decide to listen to the rules over believing their comrades, then they fail; if they trust their teammates then they pass. They have to decide what's more important: listening to the rules and being right for the chance to become chunin even if that means leaving their teammates behind, or listening to their teammates no matter what. Do they want personal gain or do they want to be a part of their team? What's more important as a shinobi?"

Naruto smiled at the two of them. Shikadai was turning out to be so much like his father, looking more like him everyday, and Konohamaru proved himself to be such a worthy sensei for his son. He was proud of their objective for the first test, even if he didn't know all the details. He admittedly had left it up to them with the hopes they'd figure it out while he focused on his own job, and he felt confident now that he put the right people up to the test. He hoped his son would be following in their footsteps at the end of these exams.

All he had time to say was "I'm proud of you both" before being whisked away for approval on another minute detail.

"I'm proud of you. You work so hard." Earlier that morning Hinata had stood in her son's doorway with the look of pure joy radiating from her face.

It made Itachi feel even guiltier for living the lie. They had discussed the night before if he was truly ready or strong enough for it since his memory hadn't completely returned, but of course he maintained that he couldn't let his team down. It was too late. Even if he didn't only have the promise of the Akatsuki watching them, he overall felt like if there was any slim chance of Boruto being alive out there, then he couldn't mess up the normalcy of his life and ruin his opportunity of becoming a chunin. He owed it to him to keep his life running as usual.

By the time he arrived for registration that morning, a long line of students were already buzzing with the electric energy of excitement, anxiety, and determination. He stood quietly in the back then watched in wonder as a few groups of students bounded up to him one by one.

"How are you?" one boy with glasses cried. "Every time I've come to your house you've been gone! You must be doing okay then, right?"

"Oh Boruto we have been so concerned!" another boy in a green jumpsuit lamented. Itachi immediately noted that he resembled Might Gai particularly strongly, but didn't remember him ever being involved with anyone to have a child.

"Yeah," Itachi admitted sheepishly. "I'm okay."The boys' names hovered just under the surface of his memory. He smiled graciously in hopes that one of them would introduce themselves.

"Iwabe, Metal, Denki." Mitsuki appeared suddenly beside Boruto. "How are you three doing this morning?" He nodded at the group then at Itachi as if to say You're welcome.

"We're doing great!" Denki grinned. "Are you ready? We definitely have it this time!"

"This time we'll all become chunin for sure!"

Itachi could feel vague memories of Boruto's bubble to the surface of his own mind and he let out a loud laugh at the warm feelings of love that accompanied them. The academy. Burgers between missions. Here he was, finally meeting his friends, and in just a few minutes they'd be competing against each other. Such was life, he guessed.

"Hi, guys!" Sarada was now next to Boruto. He noted that she was smiling; maybe she wasn't mad at him anymore for the debacle two days before. "Feeling ready?"

"Yes! And if Boruto is healed after his surgery less than a week ago and ready to take the exams, then I know we all have this!"

Itachi laughed again at the excitement surrounding the exams. His friends were so eager, so encouraging. Even though he was a jonin by this age in his past life, he couldn't help but feel more sure about his skills in this exam, all because of the friends surrounding him.

"Next!" The registration table called the next group up. Team seven shuffled their way forward.

"Names."

"Boruto Uzumaki, Sarada Uchiha, and Mitsuki…" Itachi said, unsure of his last name.

"Just Mitsuki." Mitsuki smiled.

"You will all start in the same room," the man recited blandly and handed them each a small scroll. "Do not look at your scroll until you receive directions. Your proctors will unseal it. If you peak before it is time it will explode and you will be disqualified. Good luck."

The three made their way to the room to find other teams already there; everyone vibrated with nervousness. Itachi wanted to ask Sarada about the other night, or at least apologize, but for now it seemed so long ago- she was content, smiling and laughing, and it felt years behind them. Now they were back to being a team.

"What do you think the test is going to be this time?" Mitsuki asked.

"Yeah, there are no tables…" Itachi noted. Usually the first test was some sort of written aptitude test, albeit with a twist. The room, however, was empty, and getting smaller as it filled up with more teams.

"Okay, everyone, welcome!" Konohamaru's voice suddenly boomed from the front of the room. Instantly the chatter silenced.

The genin turned to the front of the room to see a stoic Shikadai and Konohamaru scowling at them. Play time was clearly over- the exams had begun.

"This year's Chunin exams will be a little different than in years past," Konohamaru continued. "This year you will be graded individually on the exams, meaning that you can move onto the next test without your teammates. You can, however, also move on with your team if all three play correctly. Today we will be assessing how well you know your teammates and along with your interrogation skills. Can you spot a lie?"

He gestured at their arms. "Each of you holds a scroll. Inside your scroll is either a red dot or is empty. Your goal is to figure out who has the dot. However, you may not admit if you have it.

If you have a red dot, you have to convince your teammates you do not have it; if you don't have the red dot, this should be easy- you are telling the truth. If you have it, we are assessing how well you lie. For the rest of you, we are assessing how well you can detect the lie. If your team is a bad liar, this may be particularly easy, but here is a catch: if you get the answer correct too soon because of this, you will also lose- that is telling us you cannot keep classified information a secret for long." He paused to let the information seek into the participants' brains.

"So you may lose if you do not see through the lie and you may lose if you give away your answer too soon. You can move on if you detect the correct teammate, and you can move on, red dots, if you correctly deceive your teammates.

"We also know what you are thinking: if you guess the right person and he admits, then all three of you move on. If we see you admit to your team, even after they detect you, you are instantly disqualified. Remember, this is an individual test. Do your best with your assigned parts.

"At the end, you will bring your results to us along with your specified scrolls and we will determine if you pass or fail by if you correctly guess who has the dot."

Someone raised their hand. "But how do we all progress together if we can't admit it?" she asked.

"We already answered that: play correctly," Shikadai responded.

Murmurs erupted across the room: nothing in the rules dictated what they needed to do to play correctly to all advance. All they said was "play correctly." It really was an individual match; it was teammate against teammate to see who finishes. They could trust no one.

"Take out your scrolls," Konohamaru dicated.

Each person unraveled their scrolls and held it secretly in front of themselves; they suddenly popped to life for five seconds to reveal what was on it- red dot or nothing- then resealed itself to hide it from prying eyes.

"You may begin!" Konohamaru barked.

Team seven turned toward each other, unsure of where to start. Around them groups began to fizz over with accusations, and within seconds the room lit to life with excited- and some angry- voices.

"Well, I don't have the dot," Itachi started unsurely. His scroll was blank.

"I don't either," Sarada and Mitsuki said simultaneously.

"So who do we think is lying?" Mitsuki asked.

Sarada stared hard at both of them and said, "Well, I know what each of you look like when you're lying…"

Behind them someone yelled, "You lied to me about taking the last gyoza and I know you're lying now! You're always like this! I think it's you!"

The three turned to stare as the accused kicked the accuser. A fight broke out now, but all Konohamaru and Shikadai did was stare grimly.

"Wow, people are really taking this seriously," Itachi noted.

"Well yeah, we want to move on," Sarada replied.

"I don't want to move on without either of you," Mitsuki admitted. "It's not exactly fair, now is it. What's the point of the Chunin exams if we don't do it together?"

Sarada shrugged. "Rules are rules. They can say whatever they want." She turned back to Itachi now and narrowed her eyes. "You've been more quiet than usual. You'd have jumped in by now to accuse one of us."

"I'm just trying to observe."

"I think it might be you, Boruto," Mitsuki said then. "She's right. You have been acting differently after all. Are you hiding something?"

"No," Itachi admitted. What if he ruins Boruto's chance at chunin?

Behind them, another group interrupted. "It's you! You've always been a dirty liar!"

Another chimed in over top: "You've always wanted to move on without us! Of course you're lying to get us to fail!"

"Don't you just wish you were Inojin," Sarada asked, "since he has the mind transfer jutsu?"

"But if his teammates are strong enough, they could also be good liars and trick him if they want to move on."

"Well it's not me," Itachi said again. "Is it you Sarada?" He wished he could see through his teammates' lies more- he didn't know them well enough to see their quirks, the way their eyes move when they lie. Instead they all squirmed and stared at each other, trying to work out their thoughts before making a heavy accusation.

"You have been acting so weird lately…" Sarada began.

Damn. Was she going to start in on this again? Itachi guessed it would only be fair; around them, most teams were in a screaming match trying to claw down the lie.

"It would only make sense if you have it," Mitsuki said innocently.

"Why me?" Itachi asked.

"You've been so secretive lately. It just feels right. You'd be much more passionate if you didn't have it."

"No but really," Itachi pushed. "I don't. How can I prove it to you?"

"Well, that's the point you can't, right? We're using our interrogation skills and you're using your lying skills. If it's you."

Itachi looked back and forth between his teammates. He didn't have it. They wouldn't move on if they were wrong. He had to convince them somehow so they could be on the lookout for the real teammate to have it to save their chances to move on.

"I don't have it," he tried again.

"I'd bet you do," someone spat from behind him. He turned to see someone from another village glaring down at him. "I'd bet the Hokage kid has it and wants to selfishly move on. Why wouldn't you?"

"Why don't you mind your own business and look at your own team?" Sarada asked, placing a hand boredly on her hip.

The boy scoffed then turned back around to the chaos in his own group.

Around them the cacophony of accusations rose: people yelled stories of a time a teammate lied to them and how that proved they definitely were lying now, that they had selfish tendencies and they were finally showing themselves.

"Sarada, you have to believe me, I don't have it. I'm sorry if you've been thinking I'm off but…" Itachi stopped. It would be so easy for her to yell. To lash out. To yell at him like she did before, just like everyone else around them. She had the excuse to.

He stared at his teammates' narrowed eyes as they probed his own. They could see something he couldn't, but whatever they were seeing was wrong- he was not lying.

Inside, he could feel words bubbling up his throat that didn't belong to him. "Fine, if you want to accuse me, that's fine. You've thought I've been in your way since the very beginning. You didn't want to be on my team, and no matter how long we've been together, I guess the feeling has stuck. This is your chance to move on without me, Sarada. Accuse me, I don't care anymore."

Itachi was shocked at what came out of his mouth, but he was more shocked at the sudden change in Sarada's eyes.

SARADA'S DIARY

It would have been so easy to let myself be overcome like everyone else. To yell at him for being so weird and secretive. But no matter how he'd been acting, I knew I needed to take a chance on him, because no matter what had happened between us this week, I knew deep down that he wouldn't lie to me for this Chunin exam… No matter what happened between us ever I had to admit that Boruto would never lie to me just to win. I just knew from his face, the pleading look in his eye. Then he lashed out, dredging up our own past, to cover up the hurt.

...And then it finally clicked. The real reason for the test.

"Wait. Boruto, shh," Sarada shushed urgently. "I don't want to move on without you two; no matter what we're a team. How do we move on together?"

"What are you talking about?" Mitsuki asked.

"What did sensei say about us moving on together?"

"He said to 'play correctly.'"

"Exactly. Boruto, I believe you. You don't have it."

"Wait...what?" Itachi asked. "I'm not following."

"Mitsuki, you don't have it either," Sarada said excitedly.

The boys watched her face light up. "How can you be sure?" Mitsuki asked.

"Listen, they said that we have to play correctly to move on together, right? Well, how do we normally play?"

The boys stared blankly; even Itachi wasn't following.

"Life isn't a test like this," she continued. "There are always different rules. The point is to give us a test but also make it realistic in the sense that they can see our skills. So, if that's the case, how do you play correctly through every single mission? By working together. That's always the right answer no matter how it goes or whatever is in our way."

Mitsuki sucked in air as the truth dawned on all of them. "Missions aren't always this black and white with well-thought out rules," he said, "so what do we deem 'correct' if we don't have rules like this on missions? We have to think about the one rule we always live by..."

"You save your teammates no matter what," Itachi breathed. Of course! It all made sense! The exam was to test their real-life skills in a test format; they couldn't let the test get in the way of how they'd really act in a mission. They had to prove they were strong enough to be chunin, and that meant focusing on their actual skills and values and seeing through the lies in the test set up to deceive; it meant trusting one's teammates above all that's set in front of them.

"I'm not moving on without you guys." Sarada stared definitively in each of her teammate's eyes then held out her hands for them to take. "We're doing this together. If you say you don't have it then I trust you."

The three stood as a silent pillar as some teams began to quiet, which told them that the teams had finally set aside their pasts and the test to look at each other more logically. These groups had decided to finally trust each other, while others bit each other's throats until the clock finally wound down to zero.

Each group, one by one, silently handed over their scrolls and wrote their answers down in front of the proctors. Sarada proudly wrote "No teammate had the red dot."

Shikadai made his way to the front and a hush fell over the room again. He announced, "If you accused any of your members of having the red dot, you fail."

Some groups immediately began to fire off. "What?! That's not fair! You said if we found out who had the dot then we'd win!"

"Yeah," Konohamaru shot back, "and you didn't just trust your group when they said they didn't have it? You'd listen to us, who most of you have never met before, over the people you risk your life with everyday?"

Shikadai continued. "You have to trust each other no matter what. You're going to let someone else's rules break the bond you have formed in your group? I said play correctly for you all to move on, and you should only be focused on doing it as a group. Rules separate people and you fell for it; your team has to be stronger than the rules people impose to break you apart. You are definitely not chunin material if you choose to believe rules blindly and leave your teammates behind."

"This concludes the end of the first test," Konohamaru announced. "If you failed, you may be dismissed. If you passed, be back here tomorrow morning. Congratulations."

Itachi stood back and watched groups all over the room embrace each other.

"I knew you wouldn't lie to me!"

"You'd never leave me behind!"

"I couldn't do this without you!"

He felt someone put their hand on his shoulder and turned to see Sarada with her arm around Mitsuki. "I'll always have your back," she said. There was a peculiar look in her eye, one he couldn't quite place. "We won't leave you behind."

Itachi just smiled gratefully. I won't leave you behind either. No matter what happens.

"Team seven?" someone suddenly called from the back of the room and shattered the moment. The three turned their heads to see a jonin holding up a scroll. He spotted them and handed it over. "This was left for you downstairs," he said and walked away.

"There's no name on it." Sarada unrolled it. It read: Congratulations on exam one. Tomorrow will be tougher, no doubt. In the forest of death you will come across a team of ours, but you will not know who we are. Be prepared and on your guard. We look forward to seeing your skills.

"How did they see us?!" Mitsuki asked. They turned but saw no one except excited groups; even Shikadai and Konohamaru had vanished to leave the teams to themselves.

Itachi felt his stomach drop. In all of the excitement he forgot about the Akatsuki. He even forgot how the afternoon before they dropped off their (lack of) intel on Cho Cho and Inojin, and how they said they expected better, but that they understood that team seven was "learning." Were they being watched now? Was there a possibility that they were being watched when they were out spying on Cho Cho and Inojin?

"We have to be ready." Sarada had cast off her relief and immediately donned her armor of determination again. She rolled the scroll up and stuck it in her pocket, effectively ending the conversation.

They followed the other teams back outside where groups of parents were waiting. Konohmaru intercepted his group before they could go embrace their friends, all of whom had made it to the next exam.

"Congratulations!" he cried. "I knew you'd see right through us!" His face fell when he saw Itachi. "Boruto, are you okay? I thought you'd be bouncing off the walls by now."

Itachi forced his cheeks to raise into a smile. "Yes, sensei." He lifted his eyes to Konohamaru and fed him a line he was sure all sensei wanted to hear. "We couldn't have done this without you."

But deep down, he couldn't allow himself to feel that joy. He worried about what tomorrow would bring.

Hopefully that wasn't too much of a train wreck! Very excited to get into part two of the exams...we're one step closer to someone else, who is very close to Itachi, finding out! :)