REWRITTEN
(Konoha Training grounds)
"Good job, Ten-chan!" Sasuke said as he let go of the grab she was held in. "In a few years you might be up to my level!"
"That's good to know," Tenten sighed, landing on the ground, with Sasuke following close behind. It was midday, and it had been about three weeks and a half since the both of them had gotten together. It was only a couple of days until the Chunin exams would be occurring.
Gaara, and more importantly Orochimaru will be coming soon. Sasuke looked up towards Tenten, "I have to get going now. This is the last day I can train you as well, I need to prepare for the Chunin exams myself."
"But you're already Chunin, why would you prepare for it?" She asked.
"Because I will be one of the many people watching over the exam as it goes on. I'll be there to make sure you and everyone else will be safe." He said, giving her a smile.
She nodded, "That makes sense." She got up and helped Sasuke get up and said, "Well, I guess we won't have much time to see each other after today until the exams end." She looked slightly down.
"Don't worry," Sasuke lifted up her chin and kissed her, "I'll watch out for you."
She grinned and hugged him, "I know you will, just watch out for yourself too, because I'll be too busy to do it myself."
Sasuke nodded, "I know, and don't worry about that. I'm more than skilled enough to be beaten by anyone."
"Don't let all that power go to your head now!" She giggled slightly and tapped his head.
"Of course," He sighed and began to walk away, "Tenten, please be careful. The exams will not be easy."
Tenten rolled her eyes, "Yes Sasuke, I will. I promise."
Sasuke nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
(Hokage Tower)
Sarutobi sat at his desk once more like he would any day. In front of him stood Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, and an empty spot was for Sasuke. This meeting would be to discuss the future plans of what to do during the exams, for the four, soon to be five people, in the room were the only ones who knew of the things that were going to pass.
Suddenly, several leaves flew into the room and twisted around one spot to the left of Naruto, who stood with Sakura on his right and Kakashi behind him. He, Sakura, and Kakashi all wore their ANBU gear, and like his students, Kakashi had removed his mask, finding no use of it any longer, for if his students were willing to let everyone know who they were, he was too.
Kakashi had advanced further in this Timeline than the last, or so his students told him. He had built upon his skills he had previously let rot if he hadn't been placed back in the ANBU as the captain of this small squad. He of course, could not say he didn't enjoy his time with the children.
Once Sasuke appeared in the room Sarutobi spoke, "Welcome Sasuke, you took your time."
Sasuke, who had taken a little extra time to get his ANBU uniform on replied, "Yes, I was busy helping Tenten out. This is the last day we had together and I wanted to review all that she had learned."
"And probably 'other' things as well." Naruto smiled at Sasuke's blush.
"LOOK!" He shouted at Naruto, "I didn't do anything with her that night! I just stayed the night at her house and slept with her!" Realizing what he said he sighed, "Not in that way!"
Naruto nodded,"Sure Sasuke, whatever you say."
When the silence came Sarutobi began to speak once more, "The Chunin exams are going to be held within three days, I'm sure you all are aware of this."
"Yes, Hokage-sama." All of them spoke professionally.
"Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke." He turned his gaze on them all; "Once this meeting is done I am going to place you all in charge of finding this years participants, and giving them this slip to write their name, village, and age. After that give it to me and I'll look them over. I have already given them to all the rookie team leaders and several other Genin squad leaders, I'll be sure to give you the list and name of them when they come in so you won't go to the same person twice."
Sakura spoke up, "Hokage-sama, what if we don't find anyone, or what if they enter the village just hours before the exam?"
Sarutobi smiled, "I'm surprised by how much you underestimate your own power. I believe you will find them all, and if worse comes to worse, simply hire more people to help in the search. Those that come late will not be listed for the exam, and thus will not participate this year."
"Thanks." Sakura said, knowing that what Sarutobi had said was a compliment.
"Ok, we've our assignment. Now we need to speak about what is going to occur." Sasuke said, "I suggest that you have your entire ANBU force active during the exams, for maximum security."
Kakashi nodded, "Yes, and from what I am told, I'll make sure to lead the outer wall defenses if the need comes for it."
Naruto also took this moment to speak his mind, "We need Jiraiya to come here and be with you when the third stage of the exams is taking place. If we could also somehow find Tsunade and get her to come here as well, that would help immensely."
"I don't know about Tsunade, but I can get Jiraiya to get here. I haven't seen or heard from Tsunade in years." Sarutobi rubbed his head, "She has lost hope in this village and-"
Sakura interrupted him, "Sorry for being rude, but we know this already."
"Oh, yes." Sarutobi said grinning, "How could I forget where you all are from."
"This Gaara child. How big of a threat is he going to be?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto looked down, "Unlike Orochimaru, we can't kill Gaara. He's too important for the future of the Sand village, so that narrows down our options." He looked towards the ceiling, "I can't use Kyuubi's chakra at all during the fight, or else Shukaku will go full power and try stopping me, last time I managed to get lucky, but I don't want to take that chance again."
"Naruto," Sasuke said, "I remember that fight, I recall you with your giant toad friend turning in a Kyuubi look alike, why wouldn't that make Shukaku go to his full power?"
"It surprised Shukaku enough to lower his defenses so we could get in close and knock Gaara back into the world of consciousness." Naruto sighed, "This time, if I fight him, let alone all three of us, he won't be as easy to surprise because he'll be expecting many more things."
"A giant toad?" Sarutobi asked, "Are you talking about Gamabunta?"
Naruto smiled, "Yep. I tried summoning him, but it appears I can't do that in this timeline yet until I sign Jiraiya's toad contract in blood."
Sasuke sighed, "It's going to be tough getting the snake contract from Orochimaru this time around."
Sakura looked happy at the thought of seeing her summon again, "I can't wait to see Katsuyo again, she's such a sweet and kind summoned animal to have."
"Tsunade's slug contract?" Sarutobi guessed, to which Sakura nodded in confirmation.
"Wow. It seems you kids get more interesting everyday!" Kakashi laughed, "And to think that I thought I learned all about you already. I was about to offer you all my dog contract, but since you all have your sights on other things, I guess I'll take back my offer, seeing as you can only have one summon at a time."
Naruto grinned, "Thanks for the thought sensei."
"Back on topic now," Sarutobi said, "During the third stage, I am assigning you three to deal with Gaara." He pointed to Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke. "Kakashi, like you said, you will help with the village defense, try to make sure nothing comes in, Sound or Sand."
They all nodded, "Please, during that time I want all of you to be careful. While I fight Orochimaru with Jiraiya, I will pray and make sure you all will be ok."
"Hokage-sama," Sakura said, "Orochimaru is going to appear during the second stage and try to find Sasuke."
"Don't worry about it," Sasuke said, "I plan on killing Orochimaru before the invasion begins."
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, if all goes well, that snake bastard won't be doing anything important in this timeline at all, besides rotting in the Forest of Death."
"Remember though, do not underestimate him. He will still be very powerful. Stick together and I believe you three will be fine." Sarutobi said, "I believe we have all of the stages covered however. You three are dismissed, do not forget your assignments."
"Yes Hokage-sama." They all said before taking their leave.
Kakashi nodded at Sarutobi, "So, are we going to assist them in their hunt for Orochimaru in the second stage?"
"If they do end up finding Orochimaru and engage him in combat in the Forest of Death, wait several moments before going in yourself, we want him to be weakened before our main forces go for the kill, I don't want any more deaths than necessary, and I trust those three to deal with him until help arrives." Sarutobi said, "And do nothing about Gaara, he's the Kazekage's son I doubt he'll like it very much if his son is suddenly assassinated, even if it's Orochimaru in disguise, it could spark the war that they are planning."
Kakashi nodded, "That's true."
"I hope this will go according to plan." Sarutobi sighed, "I haven't the desire to see this village in ruins."
"Who else would?" Kakashi asked, "beside Orochimaru of course."
(Outside of the Uchiha District)
Naruto walked out of the Uchiha district wearing his Chunin vest, allowing the sunlight to hit his face as he let out a content sigh. Looking for all these kids entering the exam was going to be such a pain, but he knew that the old man was counting on him.
"What are you two waiting for?" Naruto called out to them.
Sasuke stepped out with Sakura barely a step behind, "This is going to be a pain in the ass, but to prove to Sarutobi we can be trusted, we have to do so." Sasuke sighed, "We should get to our task now."
"Yeah, let's do this as fast as possible," Sakura said. Suddenly a box exploded near them, three figures could be seen in the smoke.
"HA!" One yelled out, only managing to sound weird when it began to cough, "I think there's too much smoke." It said through its fits of coughing.
Naruto's eyes lit up, "Konohamaru is it?"
The kid jumped out and threw several wooden shuriken, "I am surprised you have heard of me!" The shuriken bounced off Naruto's chest easily, "It seems even enemy villages know us very well! You spy!" Konohamaru pointed at Naruto, "I heard everything that kid," He pointed to Sasuke then, "Said, you all are spies!"
Two other figures jumped to the side of Konohamaru, "I'm Moegi! The most beautiful female ninja to walk the earth!" A little girl cried out, her hair tied into two very weird looking shapes on her head.
"And I'm Udon! The most intelligent ninja to walk the face of this earth!" The kid to the other side said, he wore huge glasses and looked sick.
Sakura held in her laugh, and Sasuke faired no better. Naruto grinned as he went and patted Konohamaru's head, "I'm guessing you are going to try and tell Sarutobi this then?"
Udon got a good look at the three laughing ninja in front of them and said, "They look too young to be Chunin, they're probably just Genin pretending to be one."
Sasuke nodded, "Of course. You saw right through us, and now we'll leave." He turned to walk away, and turned back around when he noticed both Naruto and Sakura both staying to entertain the children. "We can also stay here for a little bit." He mumbled in annoyance as he walked back to his teammates.
"Who are you?" Konohamaru asked, his eyes widened, "Where did you steal the vest from? I want to play too!" He asked in rapid session.
Naruto laughed and said, "Heh, no Konohamaru, I didn't steal this vest, you can't get any, and I'm not playing." He got up and stood next to Sakura and Sasuke, he then flung his arms across both of their shoulders, "We're all Chunin of Konoha, we can all be considered very advanced students under Kakashi, otherwise known as Sharingan Kakashi."
Konohamaru gasped in recognition of the name, "You must be powerful! Can you train me?" He got in front of Naruto and began to beg, "Please Naruto-sensei!"
Udon and Moegi both got in the same position behind Konohamaru and began to chant what he was saying now,"Please Naruto-sensei! Please Naruto-sensei!"
"Ok." Naruto smiled, "The first lesson is to see how far you can run before any of us catch you." Naruto stood up, "You have a minute to get out of here before we chase you, and the one that lasts the longest will be considered your team leader." All of their eyes widened and looked at each other.
"We'll do it sensei!" Konohamaru shouted, Udon and Moegi were only one step behind him in his actions. "See you in a couple of hours Naruto-sensei!" they all shouted when they left the immediate area.
Sasuke sighed obvious amused by the children, "So, shall we begin our job now?"
"We have the capture the three of them first." Naruto spoke up, "Then we can begin our job. Has it been a minute yet?" He turned to Sakura.
Sakura stopped her mental time watch and said, "thirty seven seconds left. Who's going to catch who?"
"I'm going to get Konohamaru." Naruto said determinedly.
"I'll get the smartest kid on the planet then." Sasuke said.
"And I'll get the most beautiful woman on the planet." Sakura said as she held in her laugh once more.
They waited a little longer before Sakura shouted, "Now!"
The three of them split from their location all sprinting to the location they saw their target running. They could easily catch these children, but they figured they'd do this to befriend the children once more in this timeline, for it was a brotherly friendship Naruto and Konohamaru had in the previous timeline.
Naruto landed in a tree and his eyes widened at the sight he was seeing. It was a narrow road, and there was a large wooden fence going along the whole right side of the road, and it would eventually lead to the Hokage tower. Naruto quickly jumped down.
A boy stood holding Konohamaru in his hand; he wore a weird looking black suit with something on his back wrapped up in bandages. He wore purple face paint and looked quite annoyed with the child.
The girl next to him had a huge fan on her back and blonde hair that was tied in four different places giving it an odd look. Her blue eyes quickly went from the boy next to her and turned towards Naruto.
Konohamaru was struggling to get out of the grip he was held in by the boy in the black suit, "Let me go!" He turned and noticed Naruto, "Naruto! Help me!"
"Put him down now." Naruto ordered, his silliness was now gone for the moment, "he's the grandson of the Hokage, and you can get into huge trouble if you do any harm upon him, Kankuro."
Kankuro looked up in surprise, "How do you know my name kid?" He then noticed the outfit Naruto was in, "You're kidding me? You're a Chunin? You're only like twelve!"
Naruto closed his eyes and reopened them, they were now red and his world's view suddenly gained a red hue to it, "I am one of them." His eyes narrowed and he showed the fangs he now had in his mouth, "And I can be quite deadly."
Suddenly two figures appeared behind Sasuke and Sakura stood with their assigned targets in their hands, they noticed how serious Naruto seemed to be at the moment, so Sasuke quickly activated his Sharingan, and Sakura began to gather chakra at her hands just incase.
"What's going on here?" Sasuke asked.
The girl next to Kankuro began to say, "S-sorry, my brother can be quite idiotic next time! We don't want to fight you; we're here for the exams."
Naruto laughed, "Is that so, Temari?" Her eyes widened when he said her name.
Kankuro dropped Konohamaru who ran to his two friends. Kankuro then was pulling the large item on his back saying, "You think you're so tough? I think I'll kick your ass and-"
Sand suddenly flew down and circled in an area near them all. Suddenly a red headed figure appeared there. His eyes had black surrounding them, because of lack of sleep, and he wore a huge gourd on his back. He looked at Kankuro and said, "You're an embarrassment to our village." He then faced Naruto and his friends, "I apologize for his behavior. He doesn't know when he's out powered."
Kankuro glared at the red haired child, but ceased to do it when he glared back, much more intense than before. "Gaara, I was only playing with their friend."
Gaara glare still held, "You were being a fool, like always. I don't understand why we need you in this team." Once he turned back to the group of three he focused and felt their chakra signatures. He quickly explored their power and said, "These three, they have to be lying. They could be part of the ANBU if they wanted to be, I can feel how strong they are by the amount of chakra they're pushing out, and they don't tire at all from it."
"So you three who claim to be Chunin are as powerful as ANBU? Wow, that's pretty impressive." Temari said, shock evident in her voice, when she saw Sasuke she blushed slightly and was about to ask him something but Gaara beat her to it.
"What are your names?" He spoke, "I like to know the names of my victims." He whispered, only loud enough for Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke to hear it.
So he's already got all three of us targeted, Sasuke thought glaring at the boy with his Sharingan still up, "Uchiha Sasuke." He spoke.
"Haruno Sakura." Sakura said the next second, following Sasuke's lead.
"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said, "You better not forget it, Shukaku." He whispered the last part so only Gaara could hear it.
Needless to say, Gaara's eyes widened considerably, "This will be a fun exam after all," He turned around, "Temari, Kankuro. We're leaving." A smile formed on Gaara's face, which was usually a sign that something involving him and someone's death was going to happen soon.
Both nodded and began to follow Gaara.
"Gaara!" Sasuke shouted, throwing three forms at the boy, sand suddenly flared up around him and caught them, "They're entry slips." Sasuke informed. Gaara only gave him a nod and walked off once more.
Naruto sighed in relief and turned towards Konohamaru, "You ok?"
"S-sensei?" Konohamaru asked, Naruto looked at him questioningly, but when Konohamaru pointed at his eye, Naruto realized what was wrong.
"Oh! My eyes, I forgot to change them back!" He closed his eyes and his fangs were gone, and his eyes were back to their original sky blue color.
"That was so cool!" Moegi shouted and hugged Naruto's leg, "Sensei! You're the best ever!"
Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and sighed, Of course, give him all the credit, Sakura likewise powered down the chakra held in her hand.
"Well, we have a job to do you three." Sakura called to the three children, "We're going to be very busy setting up this exam, so please don't come looking for us once they start."
Konohamaru gave her an annoyed look, "Who's she?" Naruto grinned at him and Konohamaru grinned back, "Ah! Is she your girlfriend?"
"How did you ever guess?" Naruto said, patting Sakura's shoulder, "She's also a very good teammate. Also," He dropped down to the three children and beckoned them all closer, he then whispered, "don't piss her off unless if you want an early death."
Naruto managed to get all the children off his legs and waved, "See you later, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon!" Sasuke and Sakura waved too before jumping off in the distance.
"Ok, how should we do this?" Naruto asked as they continued to jump on the rooftops.
Sakura glanced over and saw a green blur jumping towards the Hokage tower, without missing a beat she sighed, "Looks like Gai's team is going to be in it again."
"Why wouldn't they be?" Sasuke asked, "We hardly even interfered with their team."
Sakura shook her shoulders, "Well, you did say all that stuff to Neji several weeks ago, it might have changed him, who knows, and you've been training Tenten."
Sasuke nodded, "I did that because," He paused, "she means a lot to me now." He could feel a blush as his two teammates gave him a knowing smile, "Should we intercept Gai and tell him to give the slips to us so we may deliver them?" He asked, praying that they'd change the subject.
"Nah." Naruto said, "He's so fast that by the time we reach him we'll be in the Old mans office."
Sasuke nodded, "Ok, so where do we go now? Head to the front gate and greet everyone that comes in the village?" He asked sarcastically, "Because, you know, that will be loads of fun."
"How about we go see the other two Genin teams and um, 'Encourage' them to join the exams?" Sakura said with a mischievous smile on her face.
Naruto and Sasuke nodded, having nothing against the idea.
They all focused on the many threads of chakra within the village. In such a large village, it would be nearly impossible to find the correct chakra signature and manage to follow it to the person's location, but the trio was not weak in any form.
Sakura opened her eyes first and pointed in the direction of the training field, "Kurenai's team is over there, and," She pointed in a direction towards several busy buildings, "Asuma's team is in there eating, of course."
"Ok!" Naruto shouted, obviously excited to see his friends again, "Who are we going to see first? I want to show them my awesome power!"
Sasuke sighed at Naruto's behavior once more, "If possible, try to keep your 'power showing' to a limit Naruto, we don't want our possible enemies around the area to know our weaknesses and strengths." Naruto nodded, "Ok, since Asuma is closer, we'll head to him first."
"Who died and made you leader of our team?" Naruto asked, glaring at Sasuke, but lifted it a second later, "Kidding, I'm kidding." Sasuke gave him a glance before jumping in the direction of Asuma's team; Sakura and Naruto quickly followed him.
(Konoha Restaurant district)
The trio entered a small building with the smell of barbeque fresh in the air. Naruto wiped the bit of drool that was slowly going down his face. "Ok So Asuma is over there." He turned his head and felt himself sigh as he watched Choji eat most, if not all of the food right when it was done being grilled in the middle of their table.
The three walked forth, and when Asuma noted their presence he asked without glancing at them, "What have I done to bring the ANBU to me?"
"We're not ANBU Asuma-sensei." Sakura spoke up, Asuma quickly turned around after hearing her voice, surprise evident in his expression, "We just wanted to know if you've entered your students for the exams."
"Sakura?!" Ino said, slamming her hands down on the table, "Why are you here? Coming to show off that you're a Chunin again?" She looked at Naruto and Sasuke who were standing behind Sakura.
Asuma shook his head, "Are you three sure you're only Chunin? This chakra I can feel from you tells me otherwise." He grinned as he saw Sasuke shake his head to the side very slightly so only he noticed it, "So you three are going around giving slips to everyone? I hated it when the old man made me do it."
"Yeah, we all ready learned that it sucks." Naruto said with a grimace on his face, "Finding all these people is really boring!"
"It is impressive that you found us though." He noted, "You have never seen us in here, and you managed to feel our chakra from wherever you were."
"I'm really advanced in that." Sakura admitted, "I can find a lot of people within almost a five mile radius."
"Like I said, I am impressed. You three will certainly advance through the ranks quickly." He then leaned on his hand and looked out the window.
Is he getting onto something? Naruto thought, not letting his facial expressions betray his thoughts, he replied, "Thanks."
Choji didn't say a thing, but only glanced at Shikamaru's face, which seemed to be in deep thought and shook his shoulders. He did say something very brief when his mouth wasn't stuffed with food, "Nice to see you guys." He then went back to eating.
Ino couldn't help but stare wide eyed and mouthed and Sakura and the other two, who she only a little while ago could have decided she was stronger than Sakura. "Why were you chosen to become Chunin and not anyone else? Especially Naruto, he was dead last in class, right?"
Naruto gave her an annoyed glance, but Sakura answered and said, "Kakashi-sensei watched us in the academy and decided we were whom he was going to train. That's all there is to it." Sakura knew it was a weak explanation, but there was really no other card to play.
Shikamaru gave her an odd look and went back to his thoughts.
"So, why was it that you came here?" Asuma asked, grabbing some cigarettes from his pouch.
"We wanted to see if you were entering your students in the Chunin exams." Sasuke explained.
Asuma nodded, "Now that you mentioned it, that's why I brought my team her." He looked thoughtful and turned to his team, "Team, I brought you here to see if you wanted to enter the Chunin exams. I know you all are probably scared to do it, and there is a slight possibility you can die, but I am positive that you all are a strong enough to team get pass it and become Chunin yourselves!" He then took a long drag of his cigarette. I hope that was enthusiastic enough for them.
"We can die?" Ino asked at once.
"Don't worry." Sakura said giving her an encouraging smile, "We'll be watching the entire exam process. Our job is to make sure the participants don't get too rough. Death is very possible, but it will be at a minimum."
Ino looked deep in thought. At this time Shikamaru gave Naruto a questioning glance. Naruto caught it and gave Shikamaru a confused look. "Naruto," Shikamaru said, "Do you think I should enter?"
"Eh?" Naruto gave him another look, "Y- Yes, Shikamaru. With your intelligence, I am very sure you can become Chunin easily."
Shikamaru nodded, "Ok, I'm entering Asuma-sensei."
"Me too!" Choji said right afterwards.
"If both of them are doing it, I can't have myself look bad," Ino said, "I will enter as well!"
Asuma smiled, "Great! Now where did I put those damn little slips," Naruto handed him some, "Ah, thanks. Sign these."
Each of the students grabbed a slip and wrote their required information on it, and handed it back to Asuma who handed it to Naruto, "Can you handle taking them back to Sarutobi?"
"Sure thing." Naruto said grabbing the slips, "I hope you guys do well in the exam."
The three of them waved their farewell to the team and exited the building. Sasuke glanced back at the place and said, "Shikamaru is definitely suspicious of us, we have got to be careful what we say around him."
"He seems to know something is off about us." Sakura said. When they were a decent distance away from the place Sakura said, "So, to Kurenai next?"
"Yep." Naruto answered, "Is she in the same spot?"
Sakura only focused for one second before saying, "Yep." It is much easier to find the location of a person if you know where to look and what their chakra signature feels like.
The three then jumped off to see the other Genin team.
(Konoha Training Grounds)
"So, do you three believe you have what it takes to enter the exams?" Kurenai asked as she handed her three students the exam slips. "Remember, this is no game, if you fool around death is a possible price to pay for it."
Kiba grabbed the slip and quickly patted all over his body, "Damn, do I have anything to write with?" A pencil suddenly dropped on his head, "Eh, where did this come from?"
A figured landed right in front of him, Kiba had the decency to scream and land on his butt as the red eyes of the person glared right into his, "I want that back when you're done Kiba." He spoke, and Kiba looked up straight away.
"Naruto!" He shouted, "God damn! Don't you EVER scare my like that again!"
Shino looked up, "I assume Sasuke and Sakura are with you?"
Naruto deactivated his eyes and said, "Yeah, they're behind you."
Shino managed to look a little surprise as he turned to see both of them standing behind him, smiling, "What are you up to Shino?" Sakura asked.
"Entering the exams." He slowly answered back.
Hinata who stood by Kurenai asked, "W- why are y-you here, Naruto-kun?" Kurenai looked like she wanted to ask the question as well.
"We're here to see if you're going to enter the exams!" Naruto answered.
"Yeah we are!" Kiba yelled, "And we're going to dominate it too so we'll be up to your level – then we'll surpass you!"
Naruto laughed, "Hah! Thanks for the laugh Kiba."
Kiba sent him a glare, but otherwise stalked over to Shino and looked at his sign up sheet.
"So! Hinata-chan!" Naruto said throwing his arm around Hinata, this caused Sakura to give him her trademark death glare and Hinata to blush as red as a tomato, "You're going to enter the Chunin exams right! I'll cheer you and your team on the whole way!"
Hinata only weakly nodded, He called me chan! Is there a chance?
She glanced up and noticed Sakura and smacked Naruto on the head, "Idiot." She muttered under her breath.
"Hey! What did I do? I was trying to be supportive!" Naruto sighed, "I did something wrong, didn't I."
Sakura nodded, "You sure did."
Naruto sat on the ground cross-legged and arms crossed as well, "What to do?"
Sasuke watched the scene and sighed, "Not again," He smacked his face at what was about to unfold, At least Tenten and I aren't so public about it. He whined within his mind.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto said, standing up, He wrapped his hands around her waist, "I'm sorry! Maybe I could take you out sometimes?"
"Will you pay for the whole meal?" She asked, still a hint of anger in her voice.
Naruto laughed, "What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't?" Sakura twisted around in his grip and gave him a kiss, effectively crushing Hinata's dreams, making Kiba holler and cheer, and Shino doing absolutely nothing.
"Hm, that wasn't as bad as they normally are." Sasuke said, relief echoing in his voice, "Ok, You three entering the Chunin exams or what?" He said speaking up so they all could hear him.
Kiba shouted, "Hell yes!" And quickly wrote his information down. Shino did so as soon as he got Kiba's pencil and wrote his information down as well.
Shino turned to Hinata, "Hinata. Will you be entering the exam so we all may participate in it?"
"Y- yes." She whispered, her heart had shattered once more at the sight of Naruto and Sakura. She wanted to hate Sakura, but couldn't manage to do so, and she didn't want to break them apart when they seemed so close together. I have to see Shikamaru-kun, She mentally noted to herself.
Naruto nodded and took all of their slips, "Thanks guys, I know you all will do excellently!" Both Sasuke and Sakura nodded showing their support before they all left with the slips.
(Three Days Later, Ninja Academy)
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all entered the academy. They all wore their black ninja gear and Chunin vest for they were going to be watching the students in the first part of the exam. They then wandered into a hall filled with Genin, and screaming about entering the appropriate room in front of them. Sasuke only sighed at how they couldn't figure this out.
There was a small Genjutsu over the sign above the door, making it appear to be the room that they were suppose to enter, when actually it wasn't. If it weren't for Naruto coming back this time around he would have never learned what was really in there, but it was really only a Chunin waiting room.
"You guys hardly deserve to even be Genin." Naruto yelled to the crowd a smile on his face, he knew this would piss them off more than anything.
Kiba tore through the crowd and got in his face, "What's that Naruto?" Naruto quickly gave Kiba a glare worthy of being as scary as Kyuubi, including the red eyes, so Kiba backed down when Naruto released him.
"I'll just be going now," Kiba said and walked away to his team.
The whole crowd was gathered around two 'Genin' who would not let them enter the exam room, and both of them only gave the trio a grin, "Ah, it appears some more of the staff is here. You want in?"
Sasuke nodded, "Please." He walked right through the students who all had veins visible in their foreheads.
"Arg! You Konoha Chunin think you're so cool doing this!" A boy jumped towards them, he wore very weird gear, and had bandages wrapped all around his face along with the Sound Headband on his head, "Take this!"
When he was about to strike the Chunin, he disappeared, as did everyone else in the room. The Genin looked around, "Genjutsu!" He was about to dispel it, but felt a gigantic force against his cheek, the Genjutsu canceled, but Sakura's fist was right in his face, adding her super strength, he was in a world of pain at the moment.
"Anyone else wants to try taking us?" Naruto questioned mockingly, "Or, are you all afraid now?" He could see Gaara in the back of the room giving him a glare. We better get out of here before Shukaku tells him to murder us all, "Have fun all of you!" He said as he grabbed Sakura and Sasuke and pulled them into the room the two Chunin were standing in front of.
Another Sound Genin walked up to the one that was just punched by Sakura, "Hey, Dosu, I wouldn't recommend picking fights from people of higher skill than you."
"Shut up Zaku," He replied, still lying on the ground, "Give me a few seconds to get out of this daze."
A loud voice suddenly boomed from within the room, "Finally you three are here." Ibiki glared at the three, "You children have fun out there?" He was the same as the three kids remembered him, he wore a bandana around his head so his scars and such wouldn't show, and wore a huge trench coat. He was tall, and very scary to look at even if he was on their side.
Around Ibiki was another batch of Chunin who had entered the room. The place was simply a small waiting room almost, and it looked quite odd with the three children being the only children in there.
"Sorry Ibiki." Naruto said, "It seems the Genin are having a hard time realizing that this isn't the room they're suppose to be in."
"It's good though, If they can't see pass that Genjutsu then they deserve to not be able to enter the exam." Sakura sighed.
Sasuke nodded, showing his agreement.
"So, Orochimaru is coming to this exam is he?" Ibiki said, a grin was on his face as he saw the shock on the three children's faces and the other Chunin in the room, "Hokage-sama is always so full of useful information." The three could have sworn that Ibiki winked at them.
Did the Old man tell him?! "Eh, wow." Naruto said unintelligently.
"So, when are we going to begin the exam?" Sasuke asked.
"Start the exam? We have to go kill Orochimaru!" one of the Chunin yelled, many others yelled their agreement.
Ibiki glared at him and calmly stated, "No. Do you really think the Hokage doesn't already have a team of ANBU on the job already?" He again looked towards the three children, giving them the rest of the hints they needed, "We'll proceed as planned, if we don't then it could harm our relations with other villages." He glanced at Sasuke, "We'll begin whenever those idiots out there realize that this isn't their exam room."
"You're kidding right?" Sakura asked, "There was a huge horde of them out there that didn't see it."
Ibiki sat down in the chair and checked his watch, "We've thirty minutes. Make yourselves at home." He motioned to the tables and chairs scattered across the room that they could all wait at. The trio sighed dejectedly and went to sit at one in the far corner.
It took only another twenty or so minutes for the noise to quiet down and the door to open and the two Chunin that were guarding walked in and sighed.
"One of the moronic kids decided it would be a good idea to yell out that it was a Genjutsu so all those no talent idiots could get into the exams," He sighed, "It was fun while it lasted I'll admit."
Ibiki nodded and stood up, "Finally. It's almost time for the exam to begin."
Sasuke stood up, "I'd like to go into the exam room before it begins to see someone important." If Ibiki really knows who we are, he'll definitely have to let us. He and Ibiki stared for several minutes before Ibiki shrugged.
"Be ready to punish them when I get there." He only stated.
Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura and all quickly disappeared into a swirl of leaves once more.
(First Exam Room.)
Three people just appeared right in the center of a small gathering of Genin all from the Leaf village. They all jumped back at the disturbance, and only looked up when they saw three people that were almost exactly like them – besides the fact that their skill was much higher, and they wore Chunin vest.
"What are you guys doing here?" Kiba asked, obviously annoyed at the interruption, "Shouldn't you be preparing to fail us?"
Naruto smiled at him, "Of course not, I wanted to come and say hi to all my good friends who will be taking this exam!"
Ino grabbed latched herself onto Sasuke and squealed, "Sasuke-kun! You're finally here to admit your love to me now!"
"No." He said as he worked his way out of his grip, he looked around the room and made eye contact with Tenten, who he smiled at and motioned over. Tenten quickly got her teams attention and made them all come over to the rather large group speaking.
"Hey Sasuke!" Tenten said, and gave him a hug, making Ino glare at her.
Sasuke hugged back, to piss Ino off even more, "Hey Ten-chan! You prepared to take the exam?"
She shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."
Naruto and Sakura both were just chatting with Shikamaru and Choji when suddenly a green blur knocked all of them but Sakura away, "You!" Lee shouted in all his glory, his fuzzy eyebrows, tight green jumpsuit and teeth shined with a slight sparkle, "I love you! Will you go out with me?" He asked Sakura, kneeling down in front of her.
If Sakura hadn't known Lee, she probably would have kicked him in the fact and called him a freak, but since he would become a rather powerful ally she decided to simply say, "Eh, sorry Lee-san. I'm already taken."
Lee looked shocked, "The angel knows my name yet claims she has been taken? Tell me; what is your name and the name of the vile one who could possibly take you away from me!"
"Heh, I'm Sakura." She began, but Lee quickly interrupted.
"Sakura-chan, quite a beautiful name for one such as yourself!" He grabbed her hand and kissed it, probably something Gai taught him to do.
Sakura quickly wiped her hand on the nearest person, who happened to be Shikamaru, and said, "Thanks Lee-san, remember what I said, I already have a boyfriend, so stop going after me."
"Ah yes!" Lee got up fire burning in his eyes, "The vile one! Who is he?"
Naruto stood next to Shikamaru who was busy looking at the 'Lee-spit' on his clothes and finally sighed and didn't think anything other of it. Choji continued to eat his chips and said, "Naruto, shouldn't you like, go hold Sakura so Lee gets her point?"
Naruto grinned and said, "I would, but Lee's a good guy, I wouldn't want to ruin his fun already."
"Do you know him?" Shikamaru asked, in his thinking pose again, like he was three days ago when he learned more information on the trio.
"Not really," Naruto dragged on, and then said, "Tenten just tells me a lot about him, and he sounds really powerful, you have to respect those with power in their hands."
Shikamaru nodded, "True."
"Like you," Naruto turned to him, "I'm sure you could easily beat me with your intelligence." When Sakura's knuckles began to crack at a rather loud volume Naruto sighed and saw the vein about to pop on her head from Lee, "I better go defuse the Sakura bomb."
"That would be pretty wise." Shikamaru nodded, "See you later Naruto." Naruto waved at him before he went over to the two.
Sakura glanced at him and sighed, "Lee-san!" She shouted, getting his attention from him ranting, "This is my boyfriend." She showed him Naruto, "He's Naruto; I think you've heard of him before?"
"No, I haven't! However, I would like to challenge you once this exam is over for the love of Sakura-chan!" He struck a good-guy pose, "In an all Taijutsu fight! Whoever wins gets to continue going out with her like you have been!"
Naruto looked at him disbelievingly, "You acknowledged that I am going out with her, but you still want to fight for her? She's not an object who can simply change who she loves you know."
Lee looked dejectedly, "I guess you're right. I always figured that the male should be the taller of the two in the relationship." Lee sighed.
"What!" Naruto shouted, "I'm not that short! Maybe a few or so inches, but that's it! You want me to kick your ass!" Sakura who only sighed at his antics was holding Naruto back.
A figure walked over to the whole group and exclaimed, "What the hell are you children doing? This isn't a party; you don't just chat here without thinking someone won't come to kick your ass!"
Sakura and Naruto both looked up, hatred filling their eyes. Kabuto! They both thought at the same time. They had to hold themselves at bay before the urge to completely crush him came over both of them, Lee noted a silence from both of them, and focused his attention on the new comer.
Kabuto still was the same as before when the exam first went on in the old timeline, he wore glasses, and the same purple clothes. Naruto almost felt the need to scratch his forehead protector to indicate his true status.
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all tried to hide their emotions, to limited success. Sasuke fortunately was able to hide everything, while both Sakura and Naruto were glaring at the boy.
Kabuto coughed and said, "I'm Kabuto, I have done this exam for three years and a half. It's not a simple walk in the park, you," He noticed the Chunin vest of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, "Nine, should know the difficulty of this exam is very high, and you can possibly die in it!"
Shino and Shikamaru said nothing besides absorb the information.
"Luckily for you all, I will help you." He pulled out some card, "With these information cards. They don't show anything, but when I put my chakra into them it shows the data of every ninja who has entered the exam."
Ino looked curious, "They show anything about the person?"
Kabuto nodded, "Yep, anything that is recorded about that person is shown. Even things that they can possibly hide and isn't written down anywhere are shown."
Neji walked forth from the corner he was hiding in. He only gave Hinata a glance before turning towards Kabuto, "Show me all the information you have on Uchiha Sasuke."
"And Haruno Sakura!" Ino shouted.
Kiba then added, "And Uzumaki Naruto!"
The trio all said select curse words within their minds.
"You have their names!" Kabuto exclaimed, "That will make this much easier then." He placed the cards down on the floor and quickly shuffled until he found the correct one and quickly swiped it away while adding in his chakra. "Uchiha Sasuke. Primary elements are Fire and Lightning, his instructor is Hatake Kakashi, and his two teammates are Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura. He's done…" Kabuto whistled, "No D-rank missions, seventeen C-rank missions, fifty-two B-rank missions, Twenty-four A-rank missions, and two S-rank missions. That's quite a lot of experience you have under your belt, especially for a Chunin." He shook his head at Sasuke.
He put the card away, "You have to be at least a Jounin." He said to Sasuke, "Care to explain?"
"No. I don't care to explain." Sasuke merely said, Tenten looked at him in wonder, he whispered, "Maybe later." She only nodded.
Kabuto took another card and read, "Haruno Sakura, Primary element is Earth, second one is unknown. Her instructor is Hatake Kakashi, and teammates are Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke." He glanced at her, "Same amount of missions as Sasuke, side information says she's an expert in Genjutsu, and medical jutsu, almost enough to rival Tsunade, wow."
Everyone was again silent, and Kabuto quickly traded cards, "Last, but not least, Uzumaki Naruto. His primary elements are Wind - that's pretty rare - and the second one is unknown. His teacher is Hatake Kakashi; teammates are Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. His side information says, that he knows many of the fourth Hokage's jutsu's and is the container for-"
Sakura quickly snatched the card and crumpled it to tiny pieces before dropping the remains on the floor. "You learned enough." She sneered at Kabuto.
"Is there a problem 'Chunin'?" Kabuto said, a smirk hidden on his face. Sakura was about to turn around to punch him, but Naruto managed to get to her side and calm her out of it.
Before any more discussion could go on, a large amount of smoke entered the room, suffocating the children for a little bit. When it cleared the Leaf group looked around and couldn't see the three 'Chunin' within their group, but when they looked up towards where the cause of the smoke came, they saw Ibiki in the middle of about twenty Chunin, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke among them.
"Listen up brats! Sit down so we can begin this stupid exam!" Ibiki called out, to which all the participants all entered different seats scattered about the room.
Ibiki began to explain the rules of the exam, which were as followed: You have ten questions on your exam. If you're caught cheating, you lose two points. If you're caught five times you're out, and the tenth question will be said at the last fifteen minutes of the exam.
"Sounds easy enough." Kiba muttered, he glanced at the wall and saw Sasuke next to him, who merely gave him a wave.
"The Chunin around the room will be watching you to see if you're cheating, do not get caught. With that said, let the tests begin!" Ibiki shouted to the class, and the exam then began.
Hinata glanced next to her to see Naruto was right next to her. She couldn't do it often, for it might be misread as cheating by some of the Chunin so she tried to ignore him. She put her hands together and thought, Byakugan! She noted Naruto smiled and wrote down a note right when she did it. She nearly gasped, but kept it to herself.
Ino was not having a good time with this, All these questions are impossible! It's stuff that I'd expect only Sakura to know! She looked around the room and tried to find someone who was writing quickly, but her face fell when she saw next to no one getting anything done.
Shikamaru was leaning on his desk, a soft snore coming from him. Choji, who was sitting next to him only laughed a little at it, and proceeded to eat. The Chunin near those two only sighed at the sight, they couldn't boot them out because they weren't cheating, but they weren't doing anything else either.
Heh, the purpose of this test is to cheat, Neji hid his hands and activated his Byakugan and looked around, Most of these people don't even know the answers, it's obvious that only a Chunin or higher would know these questions. So that means that someone must be in here that is writing down the answers to be cheated off of. That's the purpose of the test.
Neji kept his head looking down, but had his eyes looked frantically everywhere until he finally spotted one person who had two answers down already, here we go. He began to write down what he was reading on the 'Genin's' paper.
The silence in the room was only interrupted by the periodic tapping of pencils as the participants frantically tried to find answers. Many had found out how to do the test, but couldn't figure out the correct method to cheat, it was only a matter of time before people would begin to be booted from the test.
Sakura stood from her chair, "Numbers, sixteen, forty-two, and seventy-five, you're disqualified."
The said team stood up and it was obvious that they were pissed as they slammed their chairs in as they proceeded to leave the room, and shot Sakura angry glares, to which she only smiled at, probably aggravating them even more.
"Numbers, four, thirty-two, and fifty, you're disqualified!" Naruto said, standing up, walking forth close to Hinata who was beginning to breath heavily because of how close he was, she would have slapped herself and said 'stop it', for she knew he didn't like her and her admiration of him infuriated Sakura, but she couldn't bring herself to not like him anymore.
I'll have to speak to Shikamaru-kun again, she glanced at her paper, and saw that three of the nine questions available were finished right now; I can't think of this right now, I have to do this for my team!
Gaara, who had only been sitting with his arms crossed took this time to focus, and brought two fingers up to his forehead and began to materialize an eye out of sand, and out of view of the Chunin. Naruto glanced at him, but knew he couldn't write his name down if he didn't see any physical form of his ability.
The sand eye traveled under the desks and came upon one of the Chunin disguised as Genin writing the test. It quickly shot up fast enough to where no one could see it, but left enough of a sand trail to have it get in the mans eyes, the eye then quickly gathered the information and brought it back to Gaara.
I must pass this. Mother wants so badly to meet Mr. Uzumaki. He felt a grin coming to his face, but quickly stopped and began to write down what he saw from his eye. Not yet mother, not with all these people watching.
Tenten had invisible strings attached to her finger tips and began to move them so she could see the test, she knew that if she looked up, then the Chunin would write her name down for they'd see the mirror system she had set up for herself and Lee.
Ok, pretend to lean back and relax, only look up for several seconds, and don't let your eyes move too much. She stretched her hands and yawned, leaning back to see the ceiling and the mirror, Ok, time to gather data. She only stayed like that for near four seconds before coming back forth.
She wrote down several answers and began to rearrange the mirrors so Lee could see them. The signal was for Lee to put on his forehead to protect on his head. This was easy enough, for she was behind Lee. After several seconds he did so, and proceeded to write down the answers.
"Numbers, Forty-nine, sixty-five, and twenty-one, you're all disqualified!" Sasuke called out. It was now at a point where a lot of people on his list had four strikes, a massacre was about to occur very shortly.
"Numbers, Two, forty-eight, and fifty-three, you're disqualified!" A Chunin shouted. The massacre had begun. After that announcement, the Chunin were taking only about ten second breaks before another team of participants would be disqualified, It was obvious by Ibiki's sadistic smirk that he was enjoying the events unfolding in front of him.
Soon, only about two-dozen and half teams were remaining, or in other words ninety students left.
"You got it Akamaru?" Kiba asked the dog sitting on top of his head, which barked at Kiba, who seemingly understood all the things the dog was saying and writing down all the answers. Shino had used his bugs to get answers, in a similar fashion to Gaara actually.
Ino put her hands in front of her and mentally said, Shintenshin no Jutsu! Her body fell on the desk in front of her, and Naruto simply sighed and wrote a strike next to her name, the first one. He knew exactly what she was doing.
She entered the body of one of the Genin and began to read his answers and grinned, Thanks, sucker! She then went back to her body and began to write the answers down. When she got them all that she could remember, she memorized them, and targeted Shikamaru with her technique, and did it once more, to which Naruto marked her twice.
Ino glanced at Shikamaru's paper, and was surprised to see it was all filled out. She checked her clothes and hands to make sure she landed in the right body. What the hell? Shikamaru knew all of this?! She shook it off, why am I bothering to stay in here? She canceled the jutsu and traveled back to her own body. Shikamaru glanced at her and gave her a look.
I was only trying to help you fool! She wanted to shout at him, but simply turned her sights to Choji, Here we go! Naruto got nervous as he wrote Ino's name down a third time.
Ino inside of Choji's body noted his empty paper, and quickly got to work on writing down the answers for him. She knew he probably didn't like how it felt with her being in control of his conscious, but he'd appreciate it eventually. Once she wrote down what she remember, which was only three questions, she transferred back to her body.
Naruto sighed in relief as she finally put her head down and stayed still.
Kankuro raised his hand, to Ibiki's annoyance and asked, "Can I head to the bathroom for a moment? I need to-."
"Fine." Ibiki called out, "I don't need to hear the details of it. Take a Chunin with you." Kankuro nodded and a suspicious looking Chunin went out with him.
After a few minutes, he came out and tossed a piece of paper to Temari, which Sasuke quickly wrote down as cheating, a strike for Kankuro and Temari. The rest of the exam went well, with more teams getting out, until there were only twenty-six teams left.
"Ok brats!" Ibiki called out, "It's time for the final question! Before I give it out however, I'm going to change some rules…" Various cries came out from the participants, to which Ibiki quieted down with a, "SILENCE!" everyone shut up after that.
He looked around and continued, "Now, if you take the tenth question and fail it, you'll forever stay a Genin for the rest of your ninja career!" Multiple cries occurred, music to Ibiki's ears. "If you pass it, you will continue the Chunin exams!"
"That's not fair! Some people in here have taken this exam more than once!" Kiba shouted.
"Well, they were lucky to not have me as their first exam instructor," He smirked sadistically, "Now, those of you who want to quit, say so now so you can run like the cowards you are!"
It was silent at first, but suddenly a hand raised, a Genin called out, "Sorry team, but I don't want to risk it!" He was quickly called out as the rest of his team, who didn't look very mad themselves, and looked a little relieved.
That, however, broke the ice. Many teams began to quit, and by the time Naruto stood up and yelled at Ibiki in the previous timeline, over half the teams were gone from what there once were. Now, only thirteen remained.
"You all are sure you wish to continue with this?" Ibiki asked, "It could risk your whole career."
Hinata was terrified; she glanced at Naruto who gave off no emotion at the moment, probably part of his job, so he was of no support. Should I quit? What would father think of me if I were to stay a Genin for the rest of my life?
Neji eyes widened as he noticed Hinata's hand slowly rise, she isn't going to is she? When she was about to call out, Neji stood up and slammed his hand down on the desk, quite out of his character, "We are all strong enough to continue. I could see all of these people's chakra signatures, and I can feel that they're prepared to continue onto the next part." He gave Hinata a glance and sat down.
What the? Naruto was shocked, he didn't expect anyone to do something he had done in the past, but if someone had to do it, he expected Kiba or someone, not Neji of all the people in his mind, I thought he was still an asshole right now.
Hinata looked at her cousin, with probably more shock and surprise than Naruto did. She knew he hated her, so why would he have cared if she quit? Neji, She thought, why?
"So," Ibiki smirked, "It seems your words have had a positive effect on the rest in here." Ibiki grinned, "Does anyone else wish to quit?" Silence answer him, "Then I am proud to say that you thirteen teams have passed the exam!"
Everyone looked shocked at that, besides the Chunin of course.
"You all were excellent. You managed to avoid the eye of some of the most skilled Chunin in the village. The point of this exam were to see how well you information gathering skill were, if you were horrible, it cost you team dearly, like on any real mission." Ibiki said, "Information is worth more than anything on the battlefield. If you're caught, you mustn't crumble under your enemies grip like a coward. You have to hold your own!"
He then began to take off his bandana. Naruto's eyes widened, and he turned his head away from the sickening image that was about to be revealed, I don't need that to be in my nightmares again! He heard everyone gasp in terror; Sasuke and Sakura did something very similar to him, as did every other Chunin.
"This is how you must defend information! Even if it costs you your life you must retain it from the enemy!" Ibiki sighed, "That's it. I hope you all proceed to do well in the exam, and-" Suddenly a loud crash occurred, and the window next to Ibiki shattered and a large poster was put up with Kunai saying, 'Mitarashi Anko'.
A woman flew in afterwards and exclaimed, "Hello children! I'm your second exam proctor! Mitarashi Anko!" Everyone sighed, for they already read it on the poster behind her, "Now! Follow me!" She counted the numbers and smirked, "Nice work Ibiki."
"I did my best." He smirked, "A lot of them were cowards, you have only the toughest ones left to play with." Ibiki walked away, "Good luck brats, you'll need it."
Anko began to walk out with the group of Genin behind her, "You all will come with me, you'll have an hour break before the next part of the exams, so you might want to go say good-bye to all those you love, you may never see them again!" She grinned.
She's worse than Ibiki, Sakura thought, a look of disgust crossing her face.
Hinata caught up to Neji and quietly asked, "N- Neji, Why d-did you do t-that for me?"
"You're the clan head. You must never falter under fear or anything within your path, as a branch member, it is my job to make sure you take the right path." Neji simply said and walked onward.
Hinata nodded, and the rest of the Genin were out of the place. The Chunin began to go out as well after all the Genin were gone as well, leaving only three Chunin left.
Naruto and Sasuke walked over to Sakura, "That was fun!" Naruto said, "So, what do you guys want to do for an hour before we need to go watch the kiddies fight it out in the Forest of Death?"
Sasuke grabbed a Kunai, "I know of a certain snake I want to meet."
"Don't we all." Ibiki called from the front of the room, "Don't you guys have jobs as proctors for the next part of the exam?"
Sakura smiled, "I guess Hokage-sama told you of us?"
"He did! You think I really wanted twelve year olds running the show here?" He looked rather annoyed, "Now, before you brats leave, help me pick up these papers at least."
The trio sighed and did as they were asked.
(Within the Forest of Death)
Kabuto traveled deep within the forest and looked around; once he was sure no one had followed him he continued his journey into the forest. He jumped into a small clearing, and called out, "I'm here, master."
From one of the trees, a man materialized himself and walked forth, "So, Kabuto, what information do you have on their status?"
"They definitely trained a lot. They're going to be quite a match for both of us, if all three of them fight me I know I'd die; you may make it out alive, with plenty of scratches though."
Orochimaru lashed and held Kabuto by his throat, "You made us come back far too late! You foolish boy, I should kill you right now!"
"Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto wheezed out, "They d-don't k-know that we're b-back yet!" Orochimaru released Kabuto.
Orochimaru walked out, "For your sake Kabuto, I hope you're right. I'm guessing the three of them warned the Hokage that we'd be here?"
"The whole village is filled with rumors of you being here. It's not safe to go with our original plan!" Kabuto said, "They'll come and kill us, they probably have ANBU looking for us right now!"
Orochimaru shook his head, "No. We've set too much into motion now for us to stop."
"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto looked surprised, "So we're going to proceed as planned?"
He nodded, "I will attempt to give Sasuke the Cursed Mark again, and if I succeed, I can modify its power to make him work for us again. Sarutobi-sensei is alive and well, and I simply can't have that."
"Orochimaru-sama," Another person came into the clearing, "Kimimaro is back at the Sound village in the room you requested."
"Thanks, Sakon." Orochimaru grinned, "With our new knowledge of his disease, we can possibly remove it. He was quite the useful asset to our forces last time."
Kabuto nodded, "Indeed he was."
Orochimaru stretched his arm out, "Go now! And proceed with your duties!" The remaining people jumped out of the clearing.
---END---
Documented changes:
-Grammar fixes.
-In the original version I had them reveal that they were ANBU, now I don't want that to occur, so I had to change a lot of dialogue and exposition at the part when they leave the Hokage Tower and meet Gaara, and every other team, and in the classroom.
-Changed ending dialogue between Orochimaru and Kabuto.
This was an annoying chapter to rewrite I will admit, because I changed something that was pretty much the central theme of this chapter, which in the previous one had them reveal their ANBU selves, and it shows how the rookies and everyone dealt with it.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. See you all in chapter 11.