A/N: Sorry that my writing is rather rubbish at the moment, just I haven't been able to concentrate recently. It'll get better once we get into the exams, especially the second. Thanks to my first and only reviewer, which should hopefully set the grounds for many wore to come. Hopefully... If not I might have to abandon this. I mean, if no-one's actually reading it then what's the point of doing it? But never mind... it'll hopefully never come to that.

"-fail. You used the same genjutsu with the floors thing last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. I just asked around, not cheating I hope? Really gives meaning to the saying 'sooo' last year."

The three young genin were standing on the so called 'third floor', which was in fact the second as Oki sensei had warned them as she sent them off (what? A little favouritism isn't cheating exactly). Kaida had just about finished showing off her 'amazing genjutsu detecting skills', in form of a tip from Oki an hour or so earlier.

The pair of menacing and slightly recognisable ninja grimaced angrily and then skulked off back to where they had come from (probably the leaf village gates by the look of it) leaving Kaida to stand, grinning triumphantly as many other ninja glared at her from other directions, ashamed they were fooled by such a basic trick and beaten by the only three rookies there.

"Chiko, Mareo, come on. Let's get going. We're sooo going to win this thing," Kaida grinned again and headed off up the stairs to the real third floor, only to be hurriedly followed by Chiko trotting behind her obediently a bit like a little puppy and Mareo skulking in both silence and self pity as he swaggered towards the other two of his team members, reluctantly dragging his feet behind him.

All eyes seemed to follow them as they moved out of the room and up to the third floor, swivelling to trace their movements. A triumphant smile broadened across Kaida's smug face as she realised all the attention they were getting.

"That showed them. Now every ninja in the Chunin exams knows who we are and what we're capable of."

As she spoke those words she just happened to shove open the double doors to be confronted by a room filled with ninja. And by filled I don't mean one or two, by filled I mean at least a hundred ninja crammed together in one tight space, glaring each other down as they sat on different levels with an assortment of bizarre and exotic headbands covering their foreheads. And the ones they seemed to be glaring down the most were three dark figures in the middle of the room, dressed from head to toe in sweeping green robes and their faces covered by masks, each one plain black with only slits for eyes.

"Yes, every ninja knows who we are," sighed Mareo reluctantly at the sight of all the attention the three ninja in the middle were getting and the fact that absolutely no-one had noticed they were even there.

"Who are they?" snapped Kaida enviously, examining their full body length robes.

Compared to her deep purple dress which went up to her thighs with a large cross symbol which flickered several shadows after it, printed onto the fabric so it appeared in several layers yet looked just like an effect of the life, the clothes they were wearing may have not been as stylish but they certainly demanded an awful lot of attention. Bright white shorts settled comfortably under her dress too, where the zigzagged edge could comfortably fit onto it.

Chiko wore a baggy white t-shirt with a strange navy blue diamond on the back and some simple black trousers to finish off his weak and rather pathetic image which was a whole lot more than that. He also had an itchy woollen jumper which looked almost identical to the t-shirt except it cut off at the wrists.

Mareo, however, had a jacket a bit like the ones a johnin would wear, only navy blue, filled with pockets littering it. Underneath that he had a plain red shirt settled by his skin, sitting there comfortably. A swell he had black trousers underneath, also littered with pockets as if he could never get enough of them. A maze of pockets and holes were throughout his outfit, several random gaps which just cut through the fabric for no apparent reason and even one pocket which, when you stuck your hand in it, made your hand get stuck in there and ensured you were snared and unable to let go from it.

"Err... I-I think they're grass ninja. Their... their headbands dictate so anyway," Chiko stuttered.

"I don't care who they are," hissed Kaida angrily, "they're evidently the ninja we sooo need to look out for."

"I wouldn't say that if I were you!"

A strange and taunting voice called from behind them and they turned to see a young girl who looked just a few years older than they were with swaying blonde hair tied in a single swinging plait behind her back, deep blue eyes set underneath her hidden leaf headband and a sweeping lilac robe reaching about to her thigh, a mini skirt concealed beneath it. She also held and unmistakable air about her and an all too familiar smile.

"You look just like-" gasped Kaida.

"Oki?" the girl smiled, a dazzling and illuminating smile just like the ones Oki would give them before she'd pulverise them for misbehaving. "Yes, I suppose I do look like her. After all, she's my aunt."

"Your aunt?" gaped Kaida in surprise.

"Yes, I believe she's your sensei. I do pity you if that is the case..."

"Oh, she's not sooo bad," Kaida dismissed with a wave of the hand as if trying to keep the ball of the conversation rolling.

"Not 'sooo' bad?" Mareo asked in disbelief, yet it only seemed to come out as yet another one of his dull and sarcastic statements rather than one of awe that Kaida could say that. He was about to add 'she's a lunatic' when Kaida spoke first.

"She only has this lame rainbow gen and ninjutsu though-" Kaida continued, only to be cut off by a sudden shriek from Oki's niece.

"Lame rainbow gen and ninjutsu? Rainbow gen and ninjutsu is the best the hidden leaf village, no, the whole of the world, has seen! Don't you understand? Rainbow gen and ninjutsu is the precise way that you can defeat an enemy with style and glamour-"

"You sound just like Oki," Mareo dryly stated, causing the girl's skin to turn a rather horrendous shade of maroon.

"I do not sound-"

"Ayame, stop messing with the rookies and come over here," a posh and uppity male voice called, the type of voice which seemed to say that it was very above everyone else and was used to getting its own way.

"Ayame?" Kaida snorted in disbelief. "You have the same name as that girl who works in Ichiraku?"

"Our parents are good friends," stiffened Ayame, glaring at Kaida hostilely again, "Anyway, Masanori calls."

"Masa-Masanori?" Chiko mumbled quietly.

"Yes, Masanori. My teammate. With him and Kin we make an inseparable and unforgettable team. You remember that, okay?"

"Ayame, Masanori and Kin. I-I've got you," Chiko stumbled over his own words, quietly stuttering until he got his message out.

"Great," Ayame grinned again, another of those grins Oki would give them which would make her seriously unpredictable and lethal at the same time. After she made sure the team had got the names down, repeating them once again, she took off to join her teammates. Just as she arrived back with them an unnerving silence suddenly settled around the room and all eyes swivelled to the hidden leaf ninja which was getting all of the attention.

"I-I know him," murmured Chiko, trying to keep his voice down which only made him sound even more quiet, if that was even possible. A stitch of recognition trickled across Kaida's face as Mareo's stayed as blank as ever.

They stared up at the man, a deep frown across his face and a cigarette hanging from his lip, puffs of smoke weakly steaming out as if the cigarette itself had started to die.

"Hello and welcome to the beginning of the Chunin exams. I, Asuma, will be your proctor for the first exam. Do you want to go in then?"

"Of course!"

"Y-yes, please."

"I can't wait."