Author's Note: uh…guys, I have to cut my time for writing, and browsing internet short or I'll be truly a goner. My assignments and final exam…I think I don't need to say anything else. For those readers who want me to update soon (this and for other fics), please understand.

Naruto won't be suspicious of Orochimaru who disguised himself as a grass genin in first exam. He suppresses his chakra, so Naruto, Ibiki, Anko, and sandaime don't notice it.

Part Eighteen

While his bunshins were wreaking havocs by biting people and causing them to be kicked out of the room, Naruto was frowning and tapping his table softly. The tense silence was occasionally broken by some yells and Ibiki's shout.

The kyuubi vessel was in a predicament. He had thought that with answer sheet full of unanswered questions he could pass the exam, but…and this was why he was growling softly, causing one of his former classmates by the name of Hyuuga Hinata looked at him nervously. There was a possibility he wouldn't be able to pass this first exam even if he had answered those questions because he knew some if not most of the examiners were biased. Not to mention why he was sure that he could pass the first exam without answering those questions before.

What to do? What to do?

Asking his animal bunshins to relay the answers to him? He looked at Kiba and Akamaru who barked. Naruto's eyes went toward the examiners and noticed they were ignoring Akamaru's barks.

'Well I'll be damned. They didn't take him out? The dog's barks are practically screaming 'I want to take a peek on your answers!' and they just let it go?'

He should've brought his foxes to aid him! They didn't need to bark in order for him to know what they're thinking about. He could practically see using their eyes!

He then looked at the ceiling when he heard weird sounds and noticed there were mirrors at the ceiling, controlled by that weapon specialist. Who was her name again? Twotwo? Tutu? Tonton? Ah yeah, Tenten.

Naruto's eyebrows twitched. They didn't mark her for the obvious so-called information gathering techniques? By the demons of hell! She practically craned her neck and head to look up at the ceiling, as if saying 'Look up, please. And you'll see something interesting there!'

The Kyuubi vessel didn't need to look behind him to see Sakura was answering the questions using her own intelligence, while Sasuke was copying the answers using his blasted sharingan. He was sure as hell that none of the examiners missed the oh-so-obvious red orbs of the Uchiha boy. But they still ignored it and happily chucking out other chuunin candidates.

'Oh yeah, I remember that they won't want their last Uchiha (discounting the murderer itself) to be stuck in the first exam. At least this way I know I will be able to pass. Being teamed up with the asshole has its perks…its rare perks.' With that Naruto waited, leaving his answer sheet blank.

"Alright, brats. Put down your answer sheet. It's time for the 10th question," Ibiki barked suddenly, causing the participants to jerk. "If you feel you won't make it, you should give up."

"Why would we want to give up? I'm certain that I will pass this exam," a brave genin…or perhaps you could call him naïve and suicidal spoke up, causing his teammates to glare hard on the brown haired boy.

Instead of kicking him (and the rest of his teammates) out, Ibiki smirked evilly. "Felling high and mighty, aren't you?" the brown haired genin swallowed. "Well perhaps if you didn't interrupt me, I can tell you the rest of the rules," he paused for an effect. "If you can't pass this exam, you won't be able to be a chuunin for the rest of your life."

"WHAT?" chorused most of the genins. They quickly shut their mouths, so the examiner wouldn't have another reason to kick them out.

"However, if you decide to give up, you'll be able to compete in another chuunin exam. So, think carefully."

"B-but you can't do that!" a genin cried out, no longer caring whether he would be kicked out or not.

"Oh, believe me, I can do it. It's unfortunate for you that I'm your examiner this year. So, what's your decision?" his eyes were observing the nervous genins.

Naruto rolled his eyes. Ibiki was sure convincing with his act. Destroying the potential chuunins just because of a stupid written exam? Yeah, right. He would sooner eat his foxy hat before he believed it. Not to mention the riot it would cause when the other villages heard it.

Still, he turned his head and saw several teams gave up.

Fools, the lots of them.

He blinked when he saw Sakura bit her lip and in the process of lifting her hand.

What the fuck was that girl doing? She should understand that she could pass the written exam, and so was with Sasuke…but not with him…

Damn!

And she thought that he wouldn't be able to answer the stupid questions, so she wanted to give up.

Double damn!

True he couldn't answer them, but still!

Naruto's eyes narrowed. One of his bunshins, a fox-shaped one, bit her on her ass, causing her to cry out.

"OUCH!" all eyes were turned toward her causing her to swallow, especially when Ibiki was scanning her. The eyes turned toward the scarred examiner.

Sakura turned when she felt someone watching her. Unlike others, it was so intense. She found herself looking at Naruto who was glaring and make a silent motion of slicing his throat. The pink haired girl swallowed and put down her hand.

While all eyes were on Ibiki, waiting for him to say the word, Ibiki himself was looking at a glaring Naruto, or more precisely on his unrolled scroll.

Kick my team out, and I'll charge 1000 percent of the normal price of my goods! And NO new products! Was the writing written in the scroll. P.S. And I'll take revenge on your squads. And I assure you it will be quite memorable!

Ibiki sweatdropped when he saw the threat and coughed when he stared back at the other people' eyes. "Anyone else wants to give up?" there were some out cries of rage, yelling why Sakura and her team weren't kicked out. "I said…is there anyone else who wants to surrender?" he growled menacingly. Two more teams gave up and exited the room.

"Well then, congratulation, you all pass!" Ibiki said after no more genin team quitting the exam..

"WHAT!" there were cries of shock, but it was muffled soon when they saw him glare at them. They certainly didn't want to be kicked out after being told they passed.

Temari lifted her hand in question.

"What's it?"

"What do you mean we pass?"

"Just like what I had said. That question was the tenth question. As a shinobi sometimes you have to make a decision whether or not to take a mission which probably will be difficult or hard. Only genins who have the will and potential can be a chuunin. The rest should've stayed as a genin or better yet just retire from shinobi rank. You can't be a shinobi if you're a coward, but then again bravery can be shown in many weird ways."

"Then what about those 9 questions?"

"They can be used as either distraction or they way to see whether you can use your potential or not. The first exam is about information gathering. You can gather information by using your own knowledge, or by tricking others. Of course most of you are using dismal tricks. We noticed many of them, but we only weed out the worst attempts." The genins were looking around them and noted that their numbers were cut down more than half. "Why the worst attempts? You're just genins and obviously we noticed most of your attempts. If we cut all of them down, there won't be a single team here, because we notice the attempt at least one of the members of all teams," he let it sunk to their petty brain.

"For example: Team Neji, Lee, and Tenten of Leaf. The white eyes boy was using his bloodline limit, while the kunoichi was using mirrors with wires, with Lee being helped by her. We notice your pathetic attempt," Tenten clenched her hands, while Lee felt ashamed. The other member of the team was frowning. "But we let it go because you're no chuunin yet. And of course there the matter in which I won't notice the Hyuuga boy used his eyes if I didn't see the vein on his eyes myself. The examiners were afterall alerted and searching for your attempts. And of course we have to understand that not all ninja have stealth needed for reconnaissance mission."

"Another example…Team Temari, Kankurou, and Gaara of Sand. That boy with painted face," Kankurou looked affronted by this. "Was using his…pet (his doll of course, but Ibiki wouldn't say it) to cheat and helped the girl on his team. And while I don't know what technique the red haired kid was using, I felt uneasy and being watched. Not exactly good technique for reconnaissance, because you're supposed to not make your enemies alerted by your presence. Now I don't care if you understand that explanation or not, although I have to say that you've to be dunderhead if you don't know it, so by all means you all can go to where the second exam was held. After the examiner arrive, of course. You can join your teammates or others as long as you're not noisy or I'll kick you out myself," the scarred face man glared sternly.

Teams were grouping while they waited for the second examiner's arrival. It has been 45 minutes but there was no sign of the examiner.

Sakura's eyebrow was twitching. "Do you think that somehow Hokage rope Kakashi to be the 2nd examiner?"

"Hm…there is always that possibility," Sakura groaned when she heard Naruto's impassive reply. Just as he said it, the door of the room was opened by a black haired Leaf kunoichi with indecent clothes who was…eating dango?

"You're late for…47 minutes 23 seconds," Ibiki looked at his watch, but she just waved him off.

"Well I kinda forget about it and I'm hungry and I saw this nice dango restaurant and—"

"Just do your job to scare the rest of the kids," Ibiki muttered.

"—And I don't think I have to hurry it because my dango will fall off," she finished. "So how many teams passed the first exam?"

"Eighteen teams," he said.

"Eighteen? Hm…not bad, but I'll still cut half of their numbers. Ok, you brats, follow me!"

Kids were murmuring what she meant by cutting half of them. Would it be a tournament?

Twenty minutes later they were facing one of the gates of Forest of Death.

"Your second exam is to survive in the woods for 5 days. What you have in your right now will be your weapons. You aren't given time to buy or bring them from other places right now. If you're not prepared, that's your own problem," she grinned. "Forest of Death, just like its name, is full of dangers. I won't tell you the dangers to make it more interesting."

"And to make this exam much more exciting, you have to compete with the other teams. Why? Simple, really. In my hands there are 2 scrolls. Heaven," she lifted a scroll on her right hand. "And Earth," she lifted the other arm. "Each team will be given a scroll, be it Heaven OR Earth. To pass this exam you have to get 2 scrolls: Heaven AND Earth. After you get the scrolls, head to the center of the forest. You'll find a building there. Enter it, show the scrolls, and you'll pass the exam."

"You're allowed to kill in this exam, so if you chickened out and want to back out, that's fine with me. You have to fill these forms. On it, you're agreed that Leaf isn't responsible if you're dead. Your team's name will be called in a moment, and you have to get into that booth," here, she pointed toward a wooden place with closed curtain, "And received your scroll."

"Rule for this exam?" she grinned, seeing their expressions. "One, you are not allowed to open and take a peek of the scroll before you arrive at the tower. Failure to comply…well, you don't want to know what will happen," the combatants were sighing in disappointment, because they were quite curious of the punishment. "Second, you try to survive in the forest on your own. Slacking, and you die. It's that simple," she chuckled when she saw the glares sent on her way. "Three, killing is allowed. Fourth, if any of your companion is disabled, dead or alive, and unable to continue the next test, you're out of the game even if you have the right scrolls with you. Fifth, whether or not you have the scrolls, if you're unable to arrive at the tower before the designated time, you're out of the game too. You can however arrive before the deadline, with the right scrolls of course. Sixth, you're not allowed to go outside this field during this exam. Failure to do so means you forfeit. Now…you already know that the first exam was about information gathering, but for this second exam it will be tracking, hunting, and survival, all in one package. Nice deal, huh?" she smirked. "Good hunting in the forest! Give the forms to the chuunin who will give you the scroll."

"Tracking and hunting, huh?" Kiba swung his dog around. "We'll rule this one!" His team was a tracking team, afterall.

"ARK! ARK!" the puppy barked out in agreement.

"Humph, easy job," Naruto commented and whistled soundlessly. A couple of foxes nearby heard the calling and dashed toward the source. "No this is my forte," the blond smiled wickedly. "Why don't I make this into a more interesting exam?" Sakura saw his expression and was quite glad at the moment to be on his 'side'. This time it wouldn't be her to get pranked. That didn't mean that being his teammate was safe, especially after this exam was over. At least now she had the guarantee that he wouldn't kill her or Sasuke, because he needed them to pass this exam.

And she thanked God for that.

Team 7 was waiting in front of one of the gates of training field 44. The gate was opened by a Konoha shinobi when there was a red signal flare on the sky.

"Good luck," the shinobi said and closed the door once again after they dashed off.

"Which way?" Sakura asked her teammates.

"The tower, of course. Full speed. And I'll do the rest."

"What do you mean? We haven't gotten an Earth scroll," the pink haired kunoichi asked, confused. They only have a heaven scroll in their hold.

"True, but we'll have it soon," he smirked. "Getting a scroll is easy. But I have to make sure the others are…virtually challenged," Sakura groaned although inwardly she was awed when she saw Naruto making 1000 or so bunshins. His foxes also scattered throughout the forest.

"So, we just need to wait?" the girl didn't like the prospect of Naruto doing all the works, while she sat doing nothing.

"That depends on you. If you're hungry, hunt. If you're thirsty, go find a river or something. We'll camp outside the tower," he leapt to another branch. Sakura and Sasuke were following him.

"But she said—"

"We're not going to enter the tower, just outside it, and she sure as hell didn't mention anything about it," the pink haired girl sighed but nodded. "Aren't you going to comment or something, Uchiha? You're too quiet."

"Hmph."

"Suit yourself," a red fox leapt toward Naruto. It followed the jumping blond and yipped. "They've found victims already?" Naruto grinned, before he took a small scroll and threw it to the fox. The animal caught it with its mouth and leapt away. His teammates looked at it curiously.

"What is that scroll?" Naruto gave another scroll to another fox.

The boy only smiled mysteriously. "You'll know it soon. Be happy that you're my comrades that I needed to pass this exam." Ten minutes later as they headed toward the tower, the forest was filled with screams. Sakura gulped and looked around her nervously.

"What is that?" she asked to no one. "Remember the way you scream in team 7's first days (and the days afterwards)?" Sakura's and Sasuke's eyes widened. They both winced when they remembered the memory clearly.

"You didn't—"

"I did. Hm?" he sniffed the air. "Someone…or perhaps I should say two people, follow us. They are one of the Mist-nins…and one of the Grass-nins," he had learned the scents of the combatants who passed the first exam. Even with his enhanced senses, Naruto was barely able to hear the Grass-nin's footsteps. He remembered well that he caught the Grass-nin's scent on that gray haired genin who was most likely a spy. At first he thought that the Grass-nin only bumped the What's-His-Name-Again, but now that he thought it the scent was too strong, telling him that the older genin was in the Grass-nin's presence for quite long time. He concluded that the gray haired-nin was a spy from Grass. "Let's just make them kill each other first," with that he speeded up and created more clones, just in case, to distract them.

As he continued his journey, Naruto couldn't wash away the feeling of uneasiness. And for some reason he thought it had something to do with the Grass-nin. He had an instinct that he wasn't ready yet to face that…genin.

Was he really a genin? Naruto cocked his eyebrow in question.

With Kimimaro

Kimimaro who was disguised as a Grass-nin dispatched another barrage of kunais with his bones. This was starting to get ridiculous. Five minutes or running and the traps were still continuing. He wondered if this was the examiners' idea of survival test. Hearing the screams throughout the forest confirmed his deduction.

Kimimaro growled.

With Neji, cs

"There is a trap 10 meters ahead. Afield circled with explosion notes. We better change our course," there were veins around his eyes, indicating that his byakugan eyes were activated.

"That will take too long! We have to pass through it and show the examiners our fiery youth spirits!" with that Lee dashed toward the trap.

"Lee, it isn't like we have to finish the exam in a day!" Tenten yelled in irritation.

The explosion that followed 2 seconds later resulted in other teams knowing their positions. Lucky for Gai's team that those other teams were busy with their own traps to care.

With Gaara,cs

Kankurou and Temari were cautiously following Gaara who was in the lead, setting off all traps on his way. Thankfully for the Shukaku's host, his sand was ready to defend him of anything.

To the fan and puppet users, Gaara was the traps' cleaner. For once they were thankful to have Gaara on their team.

In their mind they cursed the examiners who they thought to be the ones behind the traps. This might be a survival exam, but that didn't mean they could just put up those booby traps in every spot!

With Ino-Shika-Cho team

"INO!" Ino's body froze. Her foot was dangling dangerously in the air as Shikamaru stopped her with his shadow.

"What's the big deal?" she asked angrily.

The shadow user only put her 5 meters from her original spot. He took a rock from the ground and threw it to a spot 10 centimeters from her previous spot. A group of sharp wooden stakes was launched toward the spot and another one 5 meters from the spot in a second.

"That's the deal," he pointed at the terrified girl. She was almost being a grilled meat afterall. "It seems that whoever built the trap calculated that we will move from the first spot. That's the use of the second group of stakes. Very clever. Though I'd say that this exam is still too troublesome," he finished.

With Hinata, cs

Shino was listening to his bugs' buzzes before he turned to his teammates. "There are some people following us and my bugs said this place reeks of dangers."

"Byakugan," Hinata activated her bloodline. She gasped.

"What is it, Hinata?" Kiba asked her, frowning.

"It-It's like everything around us is a m-mine field. The whole place is l-littered with traps. (AN: I want to know whether Hyuuga can see through the ground) Even the ground we already pass through," she said in a small voice.

"What's that mean?" he asked confused with the last part.

"It means that someone placed the traps after we pass through it," the bug user answered. Hinata nodded nervously and twiddled with her fingers.

Akamaru sniffed the air carefully when the wind blew to team 8's way. The dog growled a little when he smelled the scent. "Ark! Ark! Grr. Ark!"

Kiba's eyes widened incredulously. "You smelled Naruto's scent around us?"

"Ark!"

"No fuckin' way! He's too…he's too dumb to pull this out! You must be wrong, Akamaru!" he argued with his puppy.

"Rrrr, Ark!"

"Fine, I'll show you that you're wrong. If it turns out you're right, I'll spend half of my next month's allowance to buy your treat! But if I'm right, you must not complain when I train you for a month!" Akamaru slapped Kiba's offered hand with a small paw.

There was no way he passed up this rare opportunity of getting good doggy treats.

"If you're quite finished, we still have to think of our escape route," Shino said.

"Er, right!" Kiba scratched his head.

With Kabuto, cs

Kabuto fixed his glasses as he stared in annoyance at his supposed comrades. It was the fourth time he healed them after they were being careless and not quick enough to avoid those friggin' traps. If not because he needed them to pass the 2nd exam, he would let them rot.

His investigation didn't include a whole trap field for the exam. Perhaps Konoha was increasing the chuunin's standard condition.

"If you keep this up and hold back the team, I'll make sure you'll be truly disabled after this exam," he threatened venomously. His teammates visibly gulped.

Back to team 7

Nearing the tower, Naruto felt his shadow clones were dispatched quicker by that Grass-nin. It was unusual to find someone managed to destroy the teamwork of his shadow clones.

There was no way this man a genin. With his power, he wasn't supposed to stay as a genin.

Looking at his teammates behind him, he could see Sakura was starting to breathe heavily, while Sasuke was winded a little. They had run for twenty minutes, all the while avoiding the beasts inside the forest and took a longer route. Naruto's bunshins cleaned up their way. So far they haven't met with another team yet.

"Uchiha, Haruno, speed it up," Sakura was glaring a hole through his head. It was already her top speed and he wanted her to run quicker? She stopped giving him a glare however when she saw something on his eyes.

Was it just her imagination or was she truly seeing anxiety on his eyes?

She let out a muffled shriek when her body was caught and lifted from the ground. Green eyes stared at a blonde tuft. "What the? Uzumaki, put me DOWN!" she shouted embarrassedly and struggled.

"You're too slow," she blinked when she saw another blond was running ahead. Turning back to the one who hauled her to his back, she found another Naruto. "And for clarification, I'm the real one," the blonde 4 meters ahead spoke. "Keep moving, it won't be long before we reach the tower," Naruto shifted when he felt some of his foxes were coming toward him. The foxes caught up with him. There in their tiny mouths were 1 Heaven and 2 Earth scrolls. "We've gotten our tickets," Sasuke was having hard time to catch him up. H was starting to get irritated by the blond's bossiness, although he didn't speak it out loud.

Naruto relayed the next mission for his clones. They were commanded to retreat and helped him distract the Grass-nin. He could no longer feel the Mist-nin's chakra or smelled his scent. Either the Grass-nin killed him or he couldn't follow them.

He threw exploding notes to the trees while running. He could feel his clones engaged the Grass-nin. With more numbers, the ninja seemed to be having problem.

Naruto wondered why the ninja seemed to be persistent by chasing after his team.

He saw the bright light in the end of the woods. Naruto leapt from the tree and landed on the ground, his bunshin with Sakura, and Sasuke followed his lead. There, stood in the center of forest of death was their destination.

The jinchuuriki snatched the scrolls from the foxes, as he slammed the gate open. The animals trotted back to the forest.

Just as he took a step inside the tower, the forest blew up. No wonder that it was the deed of his exploding notes. He could feel the last of his clones was destroyed. After the explosion he could no longer feel the man's chakra, but that didn't mean he thought he was dead. The Grass-nin could suppressed his chakra afterall and he hadn't felt it one bit.

He created another hundred bunshins to continue sabotaging the other teams and building up the traps around the tower.

His clone had put Sakura down and joined the bunshis' foray. "Let's go."

After a quick reading of the 'Heaven and Earth' thingy, the 4 scrolls started to smoke. Naruto unrolled the scrolls and threw them to the floor. Two burst of smoke and they found themselves staring at two confused jounins.

"What the?" both jounins looked at them in shock and then one of them checked up his watch.

"..." the jounins looked at each other questioningly. They have never thought that someone would be able to gather the right scrolls and arrived at the tower in such short time, not to mention that the team had 4 scrolls instead of the intended 2.

"You…pass the second exam," one of them managed to say. "You can rest here until the exam is finished. Food and rooms will be provided for you," Naruto separated himself after the explanation. Sasuke went toward the opposite direction, while Sakura stayed on her spot, not knowing what she should do.

"Uh…where can I find my room?" she asked them.

"I'll escort you," the other ninja said. "Follow me," casting a glance at her retreating teammates, Sakura sighed and followed the Leaf jounin. The other one went in a poof of smoke to report it to Anko.

At least her team passed the 2nd exam without a hitch.

Outside the tower Orochimaru who was still disguised as a Grass-nin, although his clothes was singed by the big explosion that would no doubt attracting the Leaf shinobis' attentions, was seething. This wasn't on his plan. That blonde teammate of Sasuke proved to be a nuisance with his clones and traps.

His snakey eyes narrowed.

He had failed this time, but he still had many other opportunities. The chuunin exam wasn't finished yet.

With that, Orochimaru turned around and walked away from the tower.

TBC…

Very different from the real story, because this time team 7 doesn't engage Orochimaru (at least not directly, cuz he was fighting Naruto's clones).

Orochimaru won't be able to enter the preliminary, however, because the leaf found the real Grass team's bodies. He still goes there as a Sound jounin.

Do not forget to send me your review.