Chapter 11

The next morning, Team 7 met at their usual training grounds for their team meeting. Hinata and Naruto arrived hand in hand, as usual, and greeted Chouji. After a few pleasantries, they sat down underneath their favorite tree in the training ground. After a few moments, Ibiki arrived like all the other Jounin, in a cloud of smoke and a poof.

"'Mornin."

"Good morning, Ibiki-sensei." Hinata was the first to speak up.

"Ok, let's get down to business. As you know, the Chuunin exams have been moved to Kirigakure. It has been decided that Konoha will only send 3 teams. Many have been nominated, but the three that will be going have been chosen by the Hokage himself. We are one of them. Now, just take these forms…"

"Ibiki-sensei, who are the other teams?" Chouji said before he continued snacking on his chips.

"Ah, yes, the other teams will be Team Gai and Team 9 from your year."

"Hah, Sasuke-teme won't be going this year."

The other two on his team grinned. Sasuke wasn't exactly the most popular person amongst most of the Genin, except for his fan girls, and even some of them were growing farther and farther away from the Last Uchiha.

"No, he probably won't, but his team is first in line if any of the three chosen teams drop out of the selection. Anyway, like I was saying earlier, you need to fill out these forms and turn them in, as a team, to the Hokage's office by 8 o'clock tonight. We'll have about 5 days to train here in Konoha before we set out. Then we'll have about two additional weeks to train before the exams actually start. All in all, we'll be gone for about a month and a half, maybe more depending on how things go, so pack accordingly. Use sealing scrolls, if you have them and you can use them. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I got one."

"Go ahead then, Naruto."

"Is there any chance that we can go in disguise and with false names?"

"Why would you do that?"

"Because word has probably gotten out about our accomplishments, and most Genin would just give up without fighting any of us. So… I think that, if we truly want a challenge, we should go in disguise. Besides, if anyone from Sound is there, they'd be out for revenge, and I'd rather keep a low profile."

Ibiki thought about it for a moment. He weighed the pros and the cons, as well as the possible repercussions if they're discovered.

"I think… you should ask Hokage-sama about that tonight when you turn in your papers to him."

"Ok."

"As for now, I want 100 pushups, 250 sit ups, 500 jumping jacks, 10 laps around Konoha, and at least 3 hours of sparring on the lake in a free for all between you three. Understood?"

Remembering their training days, the three stood at attention. "SIR, YES SIR!"

Ibiki grinned uncharacteristically. "Get going then."

And they did.

After their training and an hour's worth of resting, which they used to fill out their forms and think of possible disguises, they made their way to the Hokage's office. After greeting the secretary, climbing the stairs to the top, and nodding to the guards in front of the office door, they knocked.

"Enter"

Naruto pushed open the door and strode foreword, bowing politely. The others followed suit before they all sat down.

"No need to be so formal, Naruto-kun."

"Sure thing, Hokage-jii-san"

The old man smiled.

"Now, I believe you're here about the Chuunin exams, ne?"

"Yes… we have our papers here"

"Ah, good, good."

"Um… Hokage-jii-san, I was thinking that maybe we should go in disguise."

"Oh?"

Naruto then explained to him his reasoning behind his idea. The Hokage just sat there, nodding and thinking. By the time Naruto had finished, Sarutobi was ready to speak.

"Naruto, I personally think it's a very good idea, but I do think that the other Villages will take it as a sign of weakness if our most honored team is not there for the exams. Should you wish to wear a disguise during any time you are not taking the exam, feel free to do so, but I want you three to be seen in action."

"Hai, Hokage-sama"

"Naruto… I told you not to be so formal" He said with a half-serious expression.

"Sure thing, old man."

Sarutobi sighed happily and in mock exasperation.

"Be sure you're ready. Oh, and one last thing before you go. Team 9 dropped out of the selection and Team 8 has taken their place."

"Heh. Looks like I get to kick Sasuke-teme's ass, if he can make it to the third exam."

Everyone in the room grinned. Naruto used his chakra to create a hologram of sorts which depicted a swarm of Naruto clones beating up a chibi Sasuke, who sat there crying anime tears after the clones had disappeared. They laughed at the sight.

Kirigakure lived up to its name. It was perpetually surrounded in mist, partly because of the special seals in the village walls and partially from the low clouds that constantly passed over the island, rolling in from the ocean. The few times it was clear was either in a heavy rain or a typhoon. All three Konoha teams were… uncomfortable to say the least. The mist was constantly condensing into little water droplets, which ran down their necks and into their shirts, soaking them through and though. They kept on having to use a minor Katon jutsu that collected heat to their skin, keeping them warm and dry until the mist condensed again. It was… annoying.

They approached the gates that looked much like the ones in Konoha, only with the symbols for Mist on them instead of fire. The Chuunin and Jounin that guarded the gate stood there to greet them.

"Halt. What is your business in Kirigakure?"

Ibiki stepped forewords and let out a small amount of killing intent, just enough to make him look even scarier.

"We're here to take the Chuunin Exams."

The less experienced Chuunin paled, while the Jounin just brushed it off as one would a fly.

"I need to see your papers and your passports."

The Genin and their senseis lined up and presented their official documents, which each had a seal on them that repelled moisture, and continued inside the gate after they were approved. Naruto was in the back of the line under a Henge that made him look completely different. He reached the Jounin and handed him his papers. The Jounin was smart enough to see the difference between the boy standing in front of him and the picture on the passport.

"Your picture does not match you."

Naruto grinned quite maliciously and dropped his Henge slowly, making it look as if his features just melded into his true form. He released a fair amount of killing intent directed solely at the Jounin holding his passport.

"If you know what's good for you, let me in. I'm sure you've heard on my exploits, ne?" Naruto's voice was dark and promised pain exponentially more than even the seventh layer of Hell could give.

The man read the name on the passport and the papers again. He paled instantly. His hands were shaking and it was taking almost all of his will power to stop himself from pissing his pants and running away, screaming like a little girl. He was still a young Jounin, but the chakra he felt in this boy was barely under that of the Mizukage.

"Y-y-y-yes s-s-sir. R-right a-away."

He carefully stamped the paper and handed them back to the boy, who smirked and caught up with his team mates.

"Oi, Renji, what was that all about?"

"That was the Genin that single handedly killed two Sound ANBU and set the traps that killed at least 4 Jounin, 9 Chuunin, and 13 Genin from the Sound Invasion."

His fellow guard paled before fainting. His Jounin friend wasn't too far from that point and was forced to sit down until he had collected his thoughts.

A lone figure sat atop a tall building overlooking what little could be seen of Kirigakure. The breeze played with his orange-red bangs, uncovering the red tattoo in the shape of the kanji for 'Love' that adorned the left side of his forehead. (That's HIS left side, not the left side of your perspective) The gourd strapped to his back along with his rather strange style of clothing made for a very intimidating figure. What truly stuck fear into the hearts of his enemies was the way that his black-ringed eyes stared at you. Their blue-green depths seemed to show you the future, and it always was pain, torture, and an eventually long awaited death…

'Hyuuga Naruto… I'm coming for you.'

He continued to stare at the waxing moon in the sky.

Naruto was grinning his huge foxy grin. His team was at his sides as they walked out of the Mist's ninja academy, happy with their progress on the first test. Sure the questions were hard, but other people knew the answers. It was almost too easy to cheat… In any case, they'd passed the test easily. Then, there was the second part…

(Flash back)

"Now, for this part, you will each be given a tile. When everyone has a tile, they will all turn a certain color. If you get blue, your team gains two points. Purple gets you one extra. Green is neutral. Red will loose you one. Orange will loose you two. And finally, if you get one of the three black tiles, your team looses all your points and you are disqualified from the rest of the exam. Understood? Good. Let's get going then."

After a few moments, all the remaining people in the room had a tile.

"Now, we'll reveal the colors."

The examiner whipped through a few hand seals that were too fast for even Sasuke's partially awoken Sharingan to copy. After a few seconds, the tiles each started to turn into their respective colors.

Naruto looked on in horror as his own tile started turning black. Thinking fast, used a hand seal-less Kawarimi to switch it with the tile of the person next to him. There wasn't even the usual poof of smoke or even a noise. They just switched places, faster than any of the Chuunin could have detected.

The tile he got was Green. He sighed in relief, looking around for his team mates. Hinata was grinning excitedly at her Blue tile, while Chouji was frowning at his Red tile. All in all, his team still had enough points to easily pass. Unfortunately, the Rock Nin sitting next to Naruto wasn't so fortunate.

(End Flash Back)

The three Genin followed the crowd of other Chuunin hopefuls to the location of their next exam. When they got there, the second Examiner hushed the exited ninja.

"Ok, this is your second exam. Welcome to the Badlands. This area is the lowest part of the island, and actually averages 100 meters below sea level. This thick swamplands will be difficult to navigate through, and then there are the snakes, gators, spiders, and other such dangerous critters. You'll need all your skills to survive. Now, before we start, I need each person to turn in a release form. There will be deaths here, and I don't want to be held responsible. It's an ass load of paperwork…" Here the man trailed off while the entire group sweat dropped, bringing the water of the swamps up at least an inch…

In the end, everyone managed to sign the forms and get… an object.

"Ok, now for the rules. As you see, each of you have received an additional headband. It either has the kanji for 'Predator' or "Prey' on it. The objective is simple. Each 'Prey' team will be given a specific message, a piece of information. Their objective is to get to the other side of the Badlands and tell this information to the instructor there."

Here he paused.

"As for the 'Predator' teams, their objectives are to start at the other side and capture and either interrogate a 'Prey' team, or bring their captives back here. Those who succeed in their objectives will proceed to the next exam. 'Prey' teams, you start here. 'Predator' teams, you follow me."

With that, he took off at a rapid pace, skirting around the edge of the Badlands. The pace was difficult for many of the Genin to keep up with, but most managed decently. About half of the teams were winded by the time they got there, and several of the weakest Genin (Sakura and Ino for example) were already dead tired and had to dig into their soldier pill stash.

"Ok, when the exploding note goes off, you're free to go. Good hunting." The man smirked and did the poof thing.

After a few tense moments, the note started burning. They watched in eager anticipation as it slowly was eaten away by the very slow burning flame. Time seemed to slow down, everything in slow motion. Finally, with just the smallest of explosions (think a gunshot) they Genin teams took off. Each person wore their new headband things in an obvious spot, making sure that they were visible.

In a mad scramble, for the less graceful of the bunch, they separated and went their own ways.

Naruto, while freigning indifference, was carefully observing all the 'Predator' teams before they left. 'Hmm… looks like Sasuke-teme's team is with us, but Neji-nii-san's team isn't. Personally, I'm relieved that Suna team is a 'Predator'. He seems… creepy. Like, more than Ibiki-sensei creepy. Let's see… there's a Sound team, the only one in this exam, two Mist teams, a Grass team, and… looks like the last remaining Stone team. Hmm… looks like they separated us in equal terms of power… an even amount of powerful 'Prey' and 'Predator' teams… This should be fun.'

They made their way to the topmost branches that would hold their weight and made their way slowly. After an hour of traveling, they sat down for a small rest.

"Hinata, I need you to look as far as you can in each direction, and move in a slow circle. I need you to scan for any 'Prey' team you can see. Ok?"

"Hai."

"Chouji, I want you to take an inventory. Keep most of the kunai and shuriken with yourself and Hinata, but leave me most of the trap items. I'll be farther back, so it'll be easier for me to set traps."

"Gotcha"

"I'll keep a closer scan going so that, in case Hinata misses someone approaching us, I'll see them and we can react. Any questions?"

"Nope."

"None."

"Good."

And so they did, waiting an hour before moving on to a new location. During their third stop, they finally found a 'Prey' team, who appeared to be from Cloud.

"Finally" Naruto whispered, "A 'Prey' team."

They'd already encountered several 'Predator' teams, and none had been too eager to fight them to reduce the amount of teams moving on to the Third Exam, due mostly to their reputation, but some of it had to do with the nearly 100 shadow clones that both Naruto and Hinata had made.

Moving slowly through the treetops, Hinata and Chouji shadowed them while Naruto set up a fair amount of traps in a clearing that Hinata was leading them to with a rather effective and nearly undetectable Genjutsu. Finally, when things were set, Naruto contacted them through the small radios each one carried.

"Hinata, Chouji, attack them from behind and drive them towards me."

"Roger" they said in unison.

The three Cloud Nin were slowly making their way along a deer trail that had been 'enhanced' by Hinata's Genjutsu that made it seem like a very safe place to be. They didn't even notice anything. To their credit, they remained silent and moved with low Jounin level stealth. Hinata and Chouji made their way behind them.

Without warning, Hinata reached out of the ground and grabbed one of the three's legs.

"What the…"

He was pulled down up to his neck and a hand hit him in the neck, knocking him out very easily.

Before the two had a chance to react decently, the hands disappeared. Their eyes widened and they screamed in horror as both a tsunami of mud and a gigantic fireball flew at them. They turned and ran haphazardly into the clearing where Naruto had set the traps. In their panicked frenzy, they didn't even notice the well hidden loops or the trip wires. One was unfortunate enough to activate a trap that sent senbon needles into several pressure points, knocking him out instantly. The other was pulled up into the treetops by the rope, only for some very strong ninja wire to wrap around him, pinning his arms at his sides.

By the time Hinata and Chouji made it to the clearing, Naruto was halfway through the 'interrogation'. 'I'm glad that Ibiki-sensei taught us some of the more effective techniques for interrogation.'

The poor Cloud Nin was being thrown up and down, much like a yo-yo, yelling in terror the whole time, while Naruto was jerking the rope up and down with a bored look on his face.

After a few more moments of this, Naruto pulled the man up and looked him in the eye.

"So, you ready to spill, or do I need to continue?" as he said this, he pulled our a very wicked curved dagger. One side was serrated, almost like a saw, while the other smooth, but obviously extremely sharp.

"AHHHHHHh, no more, please!"

Naruto stood there as the man slowly calmed down into… well, now they could understand him, and he was no longer incoherently babbling.

"So, what was this message?"

"The message… is… " Here the man whispered something that only Naruto could hear. He sweat dropped.

"Don't mess with me. There's no way that could be it."

"I'm telling you the truth! Please believe me!"

Naruto looked over at Hinata, who nodded.

"Heh, you got lucky. I'm not taking a chance, though. You and your team are coming with us."

With that, and the evil grin Naruto flashed him, he blacked out.

Within a few hours, with the help of Kage Bunshin, Team 7 arrived at the group of Examiners. With a nod to each other, Naruto walked foreword to speak with the examiner.

"What was the message."

"The message was… The Mizukage is a… pervert… and regularly reads Icha Icha Paradise and peeps at women in the hot springs."

Team 7 instantly blushed deeply red, including Naruto.

"Well… your information is correct."

They looked at him disbelievingly.

"Yup. We made it so that no one could guess it. Besides that, it's true… "

They all sweat dropped.

Several hours later and most of the teams had returned. The ones left were disqualified and teams of Chuunin were sent to look for them. Not all of them were found, and fewer were found alive.

After a while, they arrived at a plateau that looked like it had been a mountain that had been cut smoothly by a gigantic sword. A small arena was in the centre of the area, and they were lead into it.

It turned out that all the Kage used the exact same speech… and all the examiners interrupted in exactly the same way, except without the cough the Hayate usually gave.

At the end of the decently long explanation, several people quit, leaving only 16 Genin remaining.

"Now, we'll be holding a preliminary tournament. If you'll look at the screen over there, we'll see who our first fighters are."

They all stared intently at the names rapidly cycling, so fast that only a few could follow its motion. Finally, it started slowing down before coming to a halt.

"First match….."

MU HU HO HA HA HA HA HA HAH HACK COUGH COUGH HACK. Ahh, dammit, I hate bronchitis. Meh, oh well, got some more done. FEAR MY CLIFF HANGER! Although it's not as good as the last one, it still leaves you in suspense… Meh, oh well. You'll just have to wait for the next fight. As for a few questions in my reviews, Naruto will receive a couple of scrolls that once belonged to his father, although in my story, Yondaime didn't teach Hirashin to Jiraiya, and the scroll was destroyed in the Kyuubi attack, along with many of his other scrolls. So I'm going to have…. Umm…. I'm not gonna say…. Don't wanna ruin the surprise… but to tell the truth, its kinda cliché… maybe ill do it tho…. Meh, oh well. Also, Neji was warming up to both Hinata and Naruto, but because they were honored, he believes it's only because they're main house, so he's….. jealous. That, and they're going to be married, and he wont be able to marry the one he loves because he'll prolly be in an arranged marriage inside the Hyuuga clan like most other branch members… oops, told you a bit too much, didn't I? oh well, Review! Laters!