Ok I'm just saying that it has been 6 months since the last chunin exams. Oh and fans of Shino? He gets the 2nd longest fight scene in this chapter or the longest I don't remember.

Chapter 10: the Preliminaries

Naruto sat in the Hotel room looking over the scroll coughing. There had been a seal on the scroll but Naruto cracked it easy. As he looked over the scroll he thought about the snake mark.

Flash back

Naruto was standing at a table where Orochimaru and Kabuto were talking

"Orochimaru"

"Yes Naruto-kun"

"The snake mark that appeared on my neck what is it"

"It's a mark I put on my subordinates, it either tells them to come to me or for my more treacheries minions" The sannin smirked "It releases a poison"

end flashback.

Naruto coughed and dropped the scroll

"You know" Anko began "you should probably get that checked out"

"I'm fine"

"So what does the scroll say?" she asked

"Basically they were supposed to cause some trouble here in Suna and frame Iwa"

"Is he trying to start another war?" the older girl asked

"Looks like it"

In a stadium

"Congratulations to all of you for passing the first exam" one of the proctors called out. There were the three teams from kohona, a few teams from Ame, Iwa, Kumo, and Suna. After getting the same speech they got in the last exams the fighting started. An Amen in won the first match, then a Kumo nin. After that sand nin won the next two matches and lee was to fight another Sand ninja.

"yosh I shall show my burning youth by defeating my opponent. The person lee was fighting was a short boy wearing sand colored sweatpants and a matching after hearing lee he sweat dropped.

When the match started and several earth spikes rose from the ground lee proved himself to be a formidable foe. He dodged the spikes easy and knocked out the other gennin even easier. TenTen's opponent was a puppeteer who used a monkey like puppet to knock her out but she cut the strings and won fast. Neji landed three blows on the girl he was fighting and she passed out.

Kiba's fight didn't even constitute as such. He fought a taller girl with long brown hair and green eyes. She wore yellowish shorts and shirt that showed off her midriff.

"You're going down girl" Kiba taunted

"I don't think so dog-boy" the girl countered. As the match started Kiba ran in and the girl kicked him in the nads. Every guy in the room simultaneously sweat dropped. Shino had a real fight.

His bugs were couldent stick to the boy who was repelling them with a strange burst of wind. He kept speeding behind the leaf nin and launching wind powered punches into his back. A bug clone charged towards Hiro ( the sand nin) who tripped it and it exploded back into bugs. The bugs flew trough the air and were knocked back by a strong breeze. Shino Jumped trough the cloud of bugs as they flew back and hit Hiro with a side kick.

As his opponent recoiled the Aburame Hammer struck (An:) him on the chest. The wind user stood on his hands on pulled himself down for a powerful axe kick. Shino narrowly dodge when he realized how he was fighting. He's manipulating the air around his body to hit faster and harder but how do I beat that?

Hiro launched foreword again catching him with a series of round kick. Shino slammed into the wall and his opponent made several (regular) bunshins. As they dashed in shinos bug bunshin reformed. The two shino's ran trough the bunshins, Shino's clone tried a roundhouse kick but Hiro ducked it. The clone's leg destabilized and changed back into bugs that drooped towards Hiro but were blown away. The clone then attempted a punch that was dodged and once again the bugs were knocked away. When the Remiander of the bunshins body turned back into shino's colony and swarmed him. He tried to force the air around his feet to come up and block.

It was at that moment he realized Shino had tricked him into forcing the excess air away from his body so he would be unable to use it without running out of oxygen. He could knock some of he insects away but a good portion began to sap his chakra. Shino landed several kidney shots while the wind user was trying to knock the swarm off himself.

"Nice job you win" Hiro said as he dropped to his knees then passed out. After a few more matches Ino was up, but lost when the girl she was fighting threw her to the ground and put a kunai to her face. Chouji was up next and everyone found out that genjutsu's barley work against a rolling mass of fat.

Sakura's fight was after that. She fought a sand ninja. He had very pale skin and wore all black. He was bald and most identifying feature was his wooden club. Sakura Tried to keep him off balance with kunai, but he blocked them all and landed some solid hits on the girl. She used a kawamari (sp?) To dodge his next strike and get behind him, but the follow up swing knocked her on her back. His final swing knocked the girl out cold.

"Don't be you'll do fine now go back to sleep"

Hinata went up against a Kumo nin with a long brown pony tail and brown eyes. She glared at Hinata

"It's about time I get some payback" the brown haired girl said

"I-I'm sorry" Hinata asked

"Your dad killed mine now I'm gonna kill you" She yelled as she fired Kunai as fast as she could. Hinata's dojutsu allowed her to dodge them all and she was slowly closing the gap between her and the kumo nin. She was knocked back by a low level fuiton jutsu. After another fuiton attack Kari(kumo nin) landed a string of taijutsu blows while avoiding jyuuken retaliation.

Hinata held back tears as she was knocked on the ground. Kari was kicking her in the ribs and saying something but Hinata couldn't hear. I knew I couldn't win no one thought I could.

Flashback

Flash back

"Please stop crying," he said as he brushed his hand against her face "you're much prettier when you're happy."

Flash back

"You just have to learn to believe in yourself, and then you'll realize that you didn't need him to make you feel good."

End flashbacks

Inshi believes in me I won't let him down. Hinata rolled out of the way of her opponents kick and shakily pulled herself up. She rolled her shoulder back to dodge a punch and landed several strikes on the girl she was fighting. The kumo nin jumped back and threw some shurikens. Hinata moved trough an opening in the projectiles. She landed a long chain of strikes and elbows the girl in the face. She had sealed the tenkentsu (sp?) in her legs and she couldn't get back up.

"Winner Hyuga Hinata"

Elsewhere…

Naruto was in his room trying to seal the hebi mark with the help of some kage bunshins. Anko was in her room thinking about Inshi's performance in battle. He had attacked efficiently and slid under his opponents guard like a snake. She had seen only one other person do that her old sensei Orochimaru. She had also seen on Inshi's neck a snake that was curled in a spiral fashion. That same mark was a tattoo on Orochimaru's lower back. Both of these things lead Anko to believe he was affiliated with the sannin.

Some where in Oto

Kabuto walked around in the ruins of an old building. It was one of Orochimaru's old labs that had its walls caved all of the information and work lost. He made his way trough one of the rooms by crawling under a fallen rock. He made his way to an old grey door. He slammed into it forcing it open. He looked around and saw a small green glow coming from behind a rock. He grinned as he moved it

"No way"

Back in Suna

Naruto sat on his bed using his version of one of Kabuto's medical techniques, to treat the poison in his system. Each of the gennins walked into there room. Kiba had taken all of the guys out somewhere to do something (AN: very specific) Hinata went into Inshi's room to tell him she had gotten pass the prelims.

"I did it Inshi-kun I'm in the finals" She said as she put her arms around the jonin. They both blushed but Naruto's was hidden. Hinata took a step back and hastily apologized

"S-S-Sorry"

"It's ok Hinata-chan so um…you're in the finals" He asked

"Hai I have a m-month to train"

"With whom"

"Neji-san is helping me w-with my dojutsu and jyuuken Kurenai-sensei is going to teach me a genjutsu… but I don't have any one to help me with ninjutsu"

"um..I could help you there if you want" the semi blonde offered

"I-I'd like that" The raven hiared girl said with a small smile.

End chapter

Okay another chapter out and I'd just like to say if you add this story to your alerts or favorites (a surprising amount) please take the time to review. Oh and I need a beta reader so um…tell me if your interested. Okay until next time Ja ne.