Chapter 8: Only Cheats Prosper

Minato was uncharacteristically late to the meeting that morning, for the first time in months he had allowed himself to indulge in some much needed sleep. The stresses of the law few months had begun to take its toll and he felt he had earned his extra hour in bed. Although, he had already made a note not to make a habit out of it, lateness was something that was pet peeve of his, even after associating with Kakashi for so long.

When he entered the room, there was a lot of chatter and excitement in the air. This wasn't surprising at all; Minato had expected that they would have figured out what was going on. The Chunin exams were always an exciting event, especially when it was being held in your own country. The people of Konoha were always especially proud of their competitors, with memories such as a 6-year-old Kakashi stunning the 5 great nations still talked about years later.

Minato walked to the front of the room, looking over at the expectant faces of the Jonin. He sat down and momentarily shuffled the papers in front of him. He took his work seriously, but sometimes he did like to have a joke as well.

"So, first order of business" Minato said, keeping his voice as bland as he could. "We've ordered some new headbands recently and according to-"

"Oh come on Minato, just tell us what we want to hear!" Inoichi yelled out from the back of the room. "Then you can excite us with the headbands later!"

Everyone laughed, although they still looked over at Minato expectantly. He made an overly dramatic sigh, before finally divulging the information they had been waiting for.

"As I'm sure you've all guessed, Konoha will be hosting the Chunin Exams" Minato said, which brought a bit of a cheer from the group. "The first exam will begin one week from today."

"One week?" Kurenai gasped. "That's not a lot of time to prepare."

"That's true, but we all know how many unexpected things happen in the world of the Shinobi" Minato pointed out. "Besides, you've had enough time to assess your Genin and you should all know by now if your students has what it takes to participate. Now, all of the Genin that have completed the required amount of missions will automatically be offered the chance to participate. The three rookie teams will only be given this privilege if nominated by their Jonin instructor. So, will the three of you please step forward now?"

The next few minutes went just as Minato had suspected they would. He asked each of Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma in turn to respond and each of them nominated their entire team for participation. This re-started the whispering amongst the group, although Minato couldn't blame them for being shocked. Just one rookie team participating in the exams was rare; having three was unheard of.

"Lord Hokage, I must protest!" Iruka said, stepping forward. "Listen, I taught all three of these teams in the Academy and I know what they're capable of. This is just too early for them; it's unfair to place them in such an environment so soon. It would be far better to have them wait a year."

Minato noted Gai nodding enthusiastically behind Iruka as he spoke and he found himself supressing the urge to laugh. He knew that Gai wouldn't be pleased about his rival's students entering a whole year ahead of his own. As for Iruka, it was rather heart-warming to see how much he cared for his former students, how passionately he spoke about their wellbeing. Still, he knew he would have to step in before Kakashi did.

"You are of course entitled to your opinion Iruka, but the fact is that you do not know of their progress since they left you" Minato commented. "I trust the judgement of the three instructors and I think you should as well. You should just put your faith in those kids; I think you'll find that you'll be pleasantly surprised."

Minato could tell that Iruka wasn't completely satisfied with the response, but he made a weak smile and retreated nevertheless. He noticed Kakashi looking over at the young Academy teacher and suspected that he would find a way to ease his fears.

"Due to the time restrictions, I'll have to ask you to take the application forms placed at the front and have the Genin sign them immediately" Minato said. "Return them to me as soon as possible. You are all dismissed."

Everyone began to filter out of the room, apart from Asuma who was purposely hanging back once again. Minato had to wonder what he wanted to talk about this time, he'd assumed that the tensions that had arisen after the Land of Waves mission had subsided when he had apologized a couple of days before.

"I wanted to hand this back to you" Asuma announced, holding out the kunai Minato had entrusted to him a few weeks before. "I figured that, once Naruto passed the exams, I won't be the one going on missions with him anymore."

Minato raised his eyebrows at the explanation.

"You have that much confidence in my son?"

"Well, not just Naruto, I'm completely confident that all three of them will be wearing those flack jackets when all is said and done" Asuma said defiantly. "It's strange you know, I was never really that close to my Genin team. They were just two other guys; I just saw them as temporary teammates. These guys though, they get each other. They care for each other and it motivates them to get stronger, even Shikamaru has put in something resembling effort recently."

Minato couldn't help but grin as Asuma spoke, each word like music to his ears.

"Anyway, enough of my babbling, if I don't get these to the team, there'll be no exam for them anyway!"

Asuma grabbed the application forms and waved goodbye as he went out of the door. Minato was about to follow him, and go home to Kushina to tell her what he had just heard, but stopped when he heard a sound behind him.

"Camouflage jutsu I presume?" Minato asked, knowing whom the person was without even looking. "I should have realised, I still have nightmares over how you forced me to watch as you utilised that particular skill for research."

"Of all the things I tried to teach you, that was the one thing you never picked up" Jiraiya chuckled. "Guess I'll have to try my luck with Naruto to see if I can get it right second time around."

The conversation carried on with that tone for several minutes, before moving on to more serious business.

"So, you didn't tell them about Kumo and Iwa?"

Minato shifted uncomfortably at the question. In truth, he had been waiting for the right opportunity to break the news but in the end, he felt that no such opportunity presented itself.

"I thought that they could at least have the excitement for the exams for a little while" Minato answered slowly. "The news that both of those villages have pulled out of this exam would only increase their worry and they don't need that right now. I will tell them soon, heck they'll probably figure it out themselves first."

"Have you had any more contact with them about it?"

Minato shook his head regretfully.

"Onoki has always been unresponsive anyway, he's never liked me since I took this post" Minato replied. "As for A, his contact has been lessening for years now, his letters became far shorter and took longer to arrive. It seems that he wants to cut of all ties with us now."

Minato didn't even want to think of what that could possibly lead to, of all the possible permutations not many of them would give a result. Jiraiya seemed to pick up on this, and looked to change the topic again.

"It'll be strange watching another small blonde kid in the Chunin exams again" he commented. "I just hope he doesn't cause as much uproar as the last one."

Minato perked up at this.

"Well, that wasn't really my fault" Minato pointed out. "They said we had to steal the scroll from that Chunin as fast as we could, I'm not to blame if they happened to pick someone who was slower than me."

They both laughed as they remembered the ten-minute argument Jiraiya had with the exam proctor, who was completely convinced that Minato had somehow cheated, even though he couldn't prove how that was possible.

"Does this mean that you're going to stay for the exams?" Minato asked hopefully.

"More or less" Jiraiya replied. "I'll probably have to duck out for the month break between the second and final exam, but I'll be here more than usual. I'm hitting a bit of a wall with my information gathering as of late, the Akatsuki are possibly the most mysterious outfit I've ever gone after and that's also making Orochimaru tough to follow."

The very thought of an organisation that even Jiraiya couldn't find information on made the hair on the back of Minato's neck stand on end and filled him with panic. Just what were they after and how will he stop them?

"Wonder where Asuma Sensei was today?"

Naruto, Shikamaru and Hinata were walking back from the training field, after deciding that they had waited long enough for their Sensei to show up. Of course, it had been Naruto's idea to leave early after getting frustrated.

"I'll finish that training without him anyway" Naruto insisted.

"Yeah, because it's been going so well so far hasn't it?" Shikamaru snorted. "Or are you going to pretend that you haven't spent the past week repeatedly saying that it's impossible?"

Naruto was going to retort, but he knew that Shikamaru had a point. Ever since he had managed to convince Asuma to begin his Futon training to master his element, he had experienced nothing but frustration. He had hoped to be able to channel the nature through the trench knives by the end of the weeks but despite the fact that Asuma had given him smaller and lighter knives to use, he had gotten nowhere.

"It's not like you've gotten much stronger recently either" Naruto snapped back.

"Yeah, but the difference is I don't care" Shikamaru said. "Actually, Hinata is probably the only one who's done some training and actually got something out of it."

"Oh yeah, you've been training with that guy haven't you?" Naruto said, remembering back to when he and Shikamaru had seen her with a longhaired Hyuga who looked a little older than them. "Who was he again?"

"My cousin" Hinata said, as usual her voice barely above a whisper. "He's a little enthusiastic though, I don't think I'm keeping up as much as I should be."

Naruto exchanged a meaningful glance with Shikamaru. They were both fully aware of the difficulties that Hinata faced with her father but Naruto knew that it was best not to interfere. Being son of the Hokage he learned a few things and one of them was to not meddle with the business of historic clans like the Hyuga.

They carried on walking and talking for a couple of minutes and ended up at the gate to the village. Having grown up in such a busy village, Naruto didn't usually look at the coming and goings of the village when he walked past the gate. However, that day something drew his eye. He noticed the large group of Shinobi wearing grey gear and in particular the red headed boy at the front.

"I knew it!" Naruto yelled, to his teammates' confusion.

He then ran over to the approaching Shinobi, his finger extended and pointing straight at the youngest of the group.

"Gaara, you're here for the Chunin exams aren't you?" he screamed excitedly. "I knew they were coming up, I just knew it!"

As he usually was whenever confronted with the hyperactive Naruto, the more quiet and reserved Gaara was a little unsure of how he should react. They hadn't seen each other for a year or so and Naruto could tell it had made a difference. He had always been slightly taller than Gaara but now they seemed to be the same height. He was dressed in all red robes, which matched his hair, and had a bigger gourd strapped to his back. He appeared to have filled out a little more as well, meaning he didn't look as physically weak as he once did. Still, there was one thing that Naruto wanted to test out.

"Think fast!" he said, as he threw a punch. Predictably, the sand quickly escaped from the gourd and blocked Naruto's fist. To his credit, Gaara didn't seem fazed by the attempted attack, almost as if he expected Naruto to do it. Although, that didn't stop what was about to happen next.

"Hey! What have I told you about doing that?"

Naruto had learned that the one downside to Gaara is that wherever he went his siblings were bound to follow. This time, it had been Kankuro that had tried to stamp his "authority" on Naruto. It wasn't that they were cruel, just incredibly overprotective despite the fact that Gaara was far stronger than both of them. Temari simply scowled at him, although Naruto knew that if he tried something like that again, he'd probably have to face the wrath of the giant fan she carried on her back.

"Now now, please try to be nice to each other."

The first time Naruto had seen Yashamaru he had been convinced that he was a woman. There was still an element of doubt in the back of his mind but he let it go, especially as Gaara was particularly defensive when it came to his uncle. He was a nice guy though, even more so when compared with the Kazekage, who could be quite harsh and intimidating.

"It's just some harmless fun" Temari reassured her uncle, before turning back to Naruto. "So, are you entering the exams as well?"

"You bet I am!" Naruto exclaimed, despite the fact that he hadn't even been officially told about the exams yet. "Here's the rest of my team as well!"

Naruto called out to Shikamaru and Hinata, who were slowly making their way over to him. He began making introductions, but was interrupted by the arrival of Asuma.

"Oh, so I guess you don't need me to tell you about these then?" Asuma said, as he pulled out the three forms.

Naruto practically jumped around in delight, while Shikamaru and Hinata seemed unsure of how to react.

"All right Asuma Sensei, that settles it!" Naruto declared. "Let's go, I need to get this training finished in a week!"

The next week seemed to drag in Naruto's mind. Each day more and more Genin filtered through the village gates, although he did notice that none of them bore the Kumo or Iwa headbands. Still, that thought was relegated to the back of his mind as "something Dad has to deal with" and he concentrated on his training. Sadly, despite many hours in the training field with Asuma, he made no more progress with his Futon training. This lead to a rather nervous feeling on the morning of the exams. He simply sat at the table, his breakfast remaining uneaten in front of him and a pair of trench knives in his hands.

He did notice his parents walk into the room and he only acknowledged them with an anxious glance. His excitement over the exams had quickly evaporated over the course of the morning; so much so that he was didn't even bother concealing it as he usually would.

Kushina was the first to walk over. Taking the seat next to him, she wrapped her arms around her son and gave him a comforting peck on the forehead and a hug only a mother could give. Instantly, he could feel his worries begin to fade slightly. She had done this as long as he could remember, he never felt worried or scared in his mothers arms, as if he was protected by some kind of barrier.

Minato knelt down in front of him, so their eyes were roughly on the same level. He smiled, gave a wink and ruffled Naruto's hair playfully.

"Just remember, no matter how it goes today, we're both so proud of you" he said, as he reached behind his back. "I've got something for you as well."

He pulled out one of his kunai; the type Naruto had seen hundreds of times over the years. The special shape of the blade had always intrigued him but he had never been allowed to use one because of their importance.

"Take a quick look at the seal, you'll see it's a little different to the rest."

Naruto hadn't noticed it at first but instead of the usual text that marked Minato's kunai, there was a message wrapped around the handle.

"We will always believe in you."

"I know you always say that you don't like this kind of stuff, but it's not everyday that your son takes the Chunin Exams is it?" Kushina whispered in his ear, as she smiled down proudly at her son.

"Thankyou" Naruto responded, doing his best to maintain his composure and keep up the cool façade he'd constructed.

"Just make sure you don't lose it" Minato chuckled. "That kunai is special in more ways than one, hopefully you'll find that out as the exams go on."

The touching family moment was ended with a knock on the door. The relatively long pause between each of the dull knocks let Naruto know who it was.

"I guess that's Shikamaru then" Naruto said, as he slowly got up from his seat. "This is it, time to go."

He did a quick check to make sure that he had everything he'd need with him. After stalling for as long as possible he made his way to the door, turning around to look back at his parents, who were stood side by side, arms around each other and staring back at him caringly.

No more words needed to be said, especially with that kunai now resting in the pouch attached to his hip. Filled with his parents pride and love, he opened the door and stepped outside, ready to face whatever challenge lay ahead.

It seemed to take Naruto so long to open the door. Hinata initially wondered whether Shikamaru had knocked too quietly, after all his laziness tended to translate into everything he did, including something as simple as knocking on the door. Yet, she didn't say anything. She never did. She didn't know why though, both Naruto and Shikamaru were friendly enough and always encouraged her to speak out about things. She just didn't have the confidence, even when she was around people she knew very well.

Finally, Naruto opened the door with a huge grin on his face. It wasn't a surprise to Hinata; Naruto was always filled with self-confidence, sometimes to the point that it became a tad grating. Still, it was nice to have that balance in the team, with Shikamaru being the way he is and Hinata herself filled with worry and self-doubt, a charismatic Naruto was a must.

"So, you guys ready or what?" Naruto said, as he practically skipped past them and took off towards the academy building, where the first exam was scheduled to take place.

Hinata and Shikamaru went after him, although neither showed anywhere close to the same level of enthusiasm. Sometimes, Hinata had to wonder if Naruto's attitude was all just an act, his way of shielding his insecurities from the world. In fact, she was almost positive that it was. Before, back in the academy, she had only thought of Naruto as an arrogant brat, a kid that took advantage of his parents esteemed positions like so many others. Yet, as she got to know him a little more as a member of Team 10, she saw that he could be kind and considerate and that his behaviour wasn't quite as annoying as it was before.

"You sure your ready for this Hinata?" Shikamaru asked, as they approached the exam room.

Hinata simply nodded her head as enthusiastically as she could. She'd got a good grasp of Shikamaru and knew that, while his concern may have been genuine, his real motive was to try to get out of the exams if he could.

"Of course she's ready Shikamaru, we're all going to kick ass in these exams!" Naruto declared.

"That's what I like to hear!"

As the three of them turned the corner, Asuma, who was stood next to the door, met them. He was chewing his fingernails, probably itching for the cigarette that he was not allowed to smoke indoors. Asuma had been another that had gone against Hinata's initial impression, although it was in the best way possible. Despite his intimidating appearance and gruff voice, he was a very patient and caring Sensei, finding a balance between pushing Hinata as far as she could go and being able to encourage her at the same time. Unlike the Academy teachers, who had too many students to be able to focus enough on each individual, she felt like she had a connection with him.

"That's right Asuma Sensei, just you watch, we won't be your students much longer!" Naruto yelled out, giving Asuma a high five.

"I'm not sure how to react to your excitement over that" Asuma joked. "So, how about you two?"

Shikamaru gave a typical response, merely saying, "I guess so" under his breath. Hinata responded with a meek "yes" which was true all told. Just because she wasn't as vocal about things as Naruto didn't mean that she had no confidence at all.

"Well that's great and for what it's worth I believe in you all" Asuma said proudly. "Just remember everything you've learned, work as a team and no one will be able to stop you. Oh yeah and as an added incentive, I have a bet with Kakashi so you can't let me down!"

The last line caused all three of them to laugh, even Shikamaru who usually rolled his eyes at jokes. They all then walked into the next room clutching their admission forms tightly, buoyed by their Sensei's praise.

However, as soon as Hinata stepped into the room, her confidence completely plummeted. The room, which was quite large, was absolutely crammed with Genin. If the sheer number wasn't frightening enough, the other competitors themselves were enough to make her feel ill. Everywhere she looked there were various weapons being sharpened, masked figures staring at her and Shinobi twice her size flexing their huge muscles. She felt completely out of her depth.

"Well then, look who finally turned up."

Kiba stepped forward, with his trusty dog Akamaru resting on the top of his head and his teammates, Choji and Sakura, standing either side of him. Judging by his line of sight, it appeared that he was talking to Naruto in particular.

"Oh, were you waiting for me Kiba? Or maybe you were hoping that I wouldn't walk in, then you'd maybe have half a chance" Naruto sniggered. "Surely you haven't forgotten what happened at the Academy whenever we fought."

"Hang on to the past all you want Naruto, I'm stronger than you now and I'll prove it!" Kiba declared angrily. "In fact, I'll prove that I'm stronger than everyone here."

Kiba's shouting appeared to attract attention and Hinata noticed that several other teams were now staring in their direction. It wasn't a surprise, when they walked in the room it was almost silent apart from some very low and nervous chatter.

"That's quite the statement Kiba" Sasuke said, his team having just walked in. "Lets hope you can back it up, or it'll get pretty embarrassing."

Over the next few minutes, the three teams split in the way they usually did. The boys had their own conversation and three girls were left with each other. To make things worse, the two girls Hinata was left with were Sakura and Ino. It wasn't that she didn't like them, they were overall nice girls and hadn't shown her anything but kindness in the past. It was just that they liked to gossip and judge others behind their backs, something Hinata found difficult to join in with. It also made her wonder if they spoke about her like that when she wasn't around.

"You two are so lucky" Sakura moaned, as she tried to comb more of her hair to cover her forehead. "You get to be on the same team as Sasuke and Naruto, I'm stuck with Kiba and Choji."

"Looks like you and your forehead are losers again" Ino sniggered, to Sakura's annoyance and Hinata's confusion. "It is a pretty cool deal though, Sasuke's so awesome and dreamy too. It even makes up for having to be around Shino all the time. So Hinata, what's it like being with Naruto? Is it as awesome as I could imagine?"

Hinata didn't know what to say to that. Despite what every other girl in the Academy thought, she just didn't like Naruto in that way. Sure, being on the same team made her closer to him and she even saw him as a friend. There was just nothing there that made her like him romantically; it took more than good looks and prestige for her to like a boy in that way.

"Lady Hinata!"

Usually, Hinata would have been grateful to anyone that saved her from that conversation. However, this time she was faced with an even worse prospect, her cousin Neji. She understood the complex way of the Hyuga clan and that it was his job to look out for her, but she hated just how serious he was about it. He was around all of the time, even taking it upon himself to help train her in Gentle Fist. It was sweet how dedicated he was and how much he cared but she just wanted some peace from him once in a while. Heck, even her father thought that Neji could be a little full on.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Oh no, it's fine" Hinata said quickly, worried about the provocative looks he was getting from Ino and Sakura. "You should just concentrate on your own team, after all we're supposed to be competing against each other in these exams."

Neji shook his head resiliently.

"Despite their importance, these exams do not negate my duties towards you" Neji pointed out. "Although, you are right that I should be getting back. Remember, if you need anything I will still assist you."

With that, Neji walked away, leaving Sakura and Ino pining after him.

"Who was that?" Ino asked desperately. "He was so-"

"Attention!"

Ino was cut off by a large roar from the front of the room. Hinata hadn't noticed the older Shinobi walk out, although she supposed that was probably the point, to show how quiet they could be.

"My name is Ibiki Morino and I will be the Proctor of the First Exam."

Hinata could feel her heart practically smashing into her chest. Ibiki made the other Genin look like first year academy students in comparison. He was very tall and dressed in dark robes. His muscular physique, combined with the scars on his face and black bandana on his head, made him incredibly frightening. Even his eyes were menacing, his penetrating stare brining on a sense of nervousness.

"Now then, each of you will be given a number" Ibiki began his explanation. "That number will correspond with what desk you will be sitting at in the exam room."

"Why are we sitting at desks?" someone shouted out.

"Because it would be difficult to perform a written exam standing up now wouldn't it?" Ibiki said, as he pulled out a huge stack of papers from behind his back.

A huge groan went up around the room. Hinata moaned internally, even though she wasn't completely terrible at written exams she still didn't like the thought of it.

It took around ten minutes for everyone to take their number and find their seats. Hinata was sat by herself off to the right of the room, with Shikamaru sat a few seats behind Naruto on the far left. Despite the fact that they weren't even allowed to communicate in the exam anyway, this still made her feel rather alone.

"Now, listen up everyone, I'm only going to explain this once!" Ibiki barked at the Genin. "These are the rules of the First Exam!"

On the other side of the village, Minato found himself at yet another council meeting. While he still didn't exactly look forward to them, the meetings had become far more bearable ever since Danzo had left the village, especially in the last couple of years when Fugaku had lightened up just a tad.

"Still no word from the Land of Lightning then?" Koharu asked, although judging by her tone Minato could tell that she already suspected the answer.

"Nothing, they didn't even give an explanation for why they were pulling their Genin out" Minato sighed. "I think the best thing we can do now is not to put any pressure on. It's a delicate situation, as long as we don't act aggressively there's no excuse for the Raikage to act aggressively in return."

"Sounds like a good idea" Homura said, nodding in agreement. "A likes to act the victim, it's best not to encourage him. There's not really a lot we can do other that not increase the tension."

Minato nodded slowly as he glanced over at Fugaku, who was unusually quiet. He noticed that he was glancing up at the clock every few minutes and looked slightly anxious.

"Fugaku, do you have any more news?" Minato asked.

Fugaku took a second to snap himself out of the trancelike state he had been in before he answered Minato. He quickly shuffled through an assortment of documents in front of him as he spoke.

"Itachi's team arrived back this morning," he said, before he seemed to find the paper he was looking for. "They followed up on the lead provided by Master Jiraiya but unfortunately, they found no trace of Danzo at the supposed hideout."

"Well, it was always a long shot" Minato pointed out, trying to defend Jiraiya from any possible accusations. "Still, I'd appreciate if Itachi could submit a written report."

"He's doing it as we speak" Fugaku replied, before glancing at the clock once again.

Minato grinned as he realised what Fugaku was doing.

"The exam started about twenty minutes ago," he said. "Well, that's as long as everyone did as they were told. I would suspect that they did, nobody crosses Ibiki and gets away with it."

"Ibiki? He's the Proctor for the exam?" Fugaku asked, sounding appalled at the very idea.

"Hey, he's not as bad as his reputation makes it seem" Minato chuckled. 'Okay, maybe when he's interrogating suspects he is. However, he's quite fair when it comes to the exams, he told me what he's up to and I think it's suitable."

"Well I would hope so" Fugaku said. "I'll be making a complaint if I think what he's doing in inappropriate."

Minato shook his head and laughed once more; although he made it obvious that it was all in good nature.

"I wouldn't worry about Sasuke if I were you" Minato commented. "This test is very suitable for him with those eyes of his."

Shikamaru yawned loudly, loud enough to attract some attention from nearby students. Tests like these had always been boring to him; there was no stimulation in the questions. Of course, he knew the answer to all of them; most of it was rather basic tactical work. Although, he did know that it was far above what a Genin should be expected to understand.

"I wonder whose figured it out" Shikamaru wondered as he looked around the room. "The Chunin around the room watching us, the exam stipulating that cheating only loses you a mark, the incredibly hard questions. It's pretty obvious that they want us to cheat."

Shikamaru looked over at the people he knew, looking to see what they were up to.

"Kiba has Akamaru giving him the answers, pretty smart but also completely selfish, we are boring scored as a team after all. Seems that Sakura knows the answers herself, I wonder how she'll give them to Choji."

Beside him, Ino slowly slid down onto her desk and he noticed that Sakura had stopped writing; she was only looking at what she had written.

"How clever, surprised that Ino had it in her. Shino will be using his bugs no doubt to spy on the others and judging by the fact that he's writing without even looking at the page, Sasuke's copying with his Sharingan. Well colour me impressed, maybe there's some hope for them after all."

Shikamaru turned his attention to his own team, figuring that he should probably be more concerned about them. First he looked over at Hinata and was pleasantly surprised to see that she was already writing, appearing to be going okay.

"Of course" Shikamaru thought, as he noticed the raised veins around her eyes. "She's using the Byakugan to copy the answers from people around her, I should have known. I guess that just leaves Naruto, someone like him will have figured something out by now."

Shikamaru looked over at Naruto, who was sat there completely still. Puzzled, he examined him for another minute or so, trying to figure out what he was up to. He thought that it might have something to do with his headband, which was placed on the edge of the table. However, its position meant that it was unlikely that he would be able to see anyone's paper.

"Oh well, he must be up to something. Guess I should start my own work now, if I finish quick I might be able to take a nap before the tenth question."

Shikamaru went to pick up his pencil and out of the corner of his eye saw Naruto doing the same thing. At first he thought it was a coincidence, so he moved to write. Once again, Naruto did the exact same thing.

"Is he copying my movements?"

To check, Shikamaru made several other movements, which mostly consisted of moving his pencil around the table. Naruto did the same thing each time. It took a minute or so but Shikamaru eventually caught on to what he was up to.

"I guess he isn't as good at everything as he thinks" Shikamaru thought. "He wants me to use my jutsu on him so that hell' write the answers as I do. It's not like him to admit that he needs help, guess that teamwork thing actually sunk in."

"Kagemane no Jutsu!"

Shikamaru had to time the speed of his shadow well, make sure it was slow enough to not attract attention but quick enough to get to Naruto before his chakra ran too low. He was successful with this and the next half an hour was spent writing. Genin after Genin was sent out from the exam after being caught cheating one too many times until there was less than half remaining.

"Okay, it's time for the final question" Ibiki declared. "However, there are additional rules with this one. The first is that you are free not to take the question but if you do so, you will fail this test. Secondly, if you opt to take the question but get it wrong, you will not only fail but you will be barred from taking these exams ever again!"

That declaration soon got everyone chatting. A couple of the Genin shouted about how he can't do that, how others have failed the exams before and been able to have another go. He answered these accusations by reminding them that he was in charge and could make any rules he wanted to.

"So, who wants to leave?"

It took roughly half a minute before one poor Genin slowly raised his hand in shame. After that, the floodgates opened and team after team walked out the door. This continued until only around a quarter of the original group remained.

"No more?" Ibiki asked.

The Genin all stayed firm, determined to win out over Ibiki's mind games, confident that they would be the ones to correctly answer the question.

"All right then" Ibiki grinned. "Well, I'm happy to tell you that-"

CRASH

The window to the left shattered as a figure zoomed inside of the room. Several of the Genin screamed out, others jumped to their feet. Shikamaru stayed seated initially, willing to analyse the situation first.

"Is this part of the exam? Or has something gone horribly wrong?"

He didn't have to wait long for an answer, as the figure put up what seemed to be a huge banner, with the words "Second Exam" printed on it. The woman stood up charismatically, her beige jacket swinging behind her like a cape and her eyes filled with excitement.

"This is no time to be celebrating!" she declared, pointing out at the group. "I'm Anko Mitarashi and I'll be the Proctor for the Second Exam. Now everyone, follow me!"

Everyone sat still for a second, not sure how to react to this. What about the tenth question?

"You're early," Ibiki growled, as he stepped in front of the banner. "I hadn't even told them the result of the test yet."

Anko's face fell as she realised what she had done, a small red line appearing around her cheeks.

"Oh, well then I can tell you!" Anko shouted, clearly trying to save face. "You all passed, congratulations. But don't celebrate! Like I said before, the second exam is just around the corner."

"What? I don't get it!" Kiba yelled out and he was backed up by several of the other Genin.

"Well-"

"It's not important" Anko said, cutting off Ibiki. "It's something to do with working together as a team, seeing how well you could collect information, see through a mission to the end blah blah blah. If you want more info you can see Ibiki in your own time, this is my exam now!"

"Oh man, she's going to be a nightmare," Shikamaru groaned internally. "Whatever this second test is, I hope we don't have to be around her too much."

"Now then, enough of the explanation" Anko continued. "The point is, you've passed and now it's the time for the Second Exam. Everyone follow me and try not to have a heart attack when I tell you what the exam is."

Deep in a forest, a hooded figure laid waiting in the shadows. He had been there for hours, but he still had no desire to move. After all, this was all part of the plan, all part of the mission that had been given to him and he would act it out in the exact way he was told.

"Soon" he whispered, as he checked the height of the sun to estimate the time. "He is coming very soon."

A/N: Sorry this one was a little late, I'm trying to stick to an update every two weeks but it's tough to keep up given everything else I'm doing. Hope everyone is still enjoying this story because I'm still enjoying writing it!

Next Chapter: Intruder in the Forest of Death