It was finally time for the chunin exams, and Naruto could not have been more relieved. After the last week, the exams were going to be a piece of cake.

'Note to self, never order Saber to help me with exams again.' Naruto thought as he woke up. The past week Saber had forced Naruto to work twice as hard as he ever did during the training camp. Not only Had Naruto been forced to train his jutsus, but Saber also had him work on sneaking and stealing.

One of the challenges Naruto had to do was blend in with the crowds and keep hidden in plain sight. Saber had forced Naruto to wear a brown cape over his clothes and had it come up over his head. The end result had him being able to walk, following the flow of crowds keeping his profile to a minimum.

It had been hard to blend in with the crowds as many adults would look down at him trying to blend in. saber had constantly found him and hit him with the stick. Yet, after a week, Naruto was now able to blend in about half the time with the crowds and was able to evade Saber for a few minutes. Of course, Saber could always tell where he was soon enough. The man had spent a great deal of his life tracking down rapists, murders, and thieves. Yet, Saber did admit that Naruto was doing well for someone who couldn't blend in before. Naruto was proud that he had earned praise from Saber.

Over the week, he had dreamed of the Death of Caster by the other Archer in golden armor. The revelation by Ria that this Archer had participated in the previous Grail war. Naruto had dreamed of Saber's conversation with Kotomine about the oddness of Ria's situation and how Ria could have a second life with the grail.

Of Rider, Naruto had dreamed of many flights upon Pegasus and the adventures she had. Naruto watched as the sisters looked on Rider with worry as she spent more and more time with the God of the Oceans. They even barred Poseidon from entering their temple. It was clear that the sisters did not trust him. So, Rider began to sneak off to see him more and more. And always, Poseidon was looking at Rider with that strange predatory look.

Finally, the week of training ended. Saber assured Naruto that there would be few problems during the exam, whether they were tested on their infiltration, combat, stealth, or tracking, Naruto would do well. Naruto and his Servants had been instructed to meet at the bridge at 8:00 am, therefore, knowing Kakashi he showed up an hour and a half late. Sakura and Sasuke had been waiting a bit longer, but they had also shown up late.

Seriously, the man inspires bad habits.

Sure enough, at 10:00, Kakashi popped up in a puff of smoke. "Yo,"

"You're late." Sakura and Naruto said.

"Ah, sorry, you see there was this pretty little girl who wanted me to dance for her." Kakashi said.

Saber snorted, "Prettier than Rider?" he pointed a thumb at the other Servant.

Rider blushed a bit causing the others to smirk.

"Anyway," Kakashi said as he pulled out several forms. "Here are the registration forms for the chunin exams. Though this is just a nomination, you three all have the option of backing out. Those of you who want to participate need to report to the academy in room 301 by noon. That is all" With that, Kakashi disappeared in another puff of smoke.

Saber looked at the three critically, "If you three back out now, I will be most disappointed. You are as ready as you possibly can in the limited time we had to train."

The others nodded, they had trained till the sweat blood in the training camp. There was no way that they would not want to participate.

Sakura saw the exam as one step closer to having a relationship with Sasuke. If she became a chunin, Sasuke would have to acknowledge her strength, and maybe, just maybe, he would ask her out. Oh, he'd probably just ask for a sparring match, but it would be a step.

Sasuke thought of all the other genins he had trained with and knew that many of them were strong. Lee, Neji, Shino, heck, even Naruto had their own strengths. Through this exam, he would be one step closer to killing Itachi. Each person he stepped over would bring him closer to his target.

Of course, Saber would be the ultimate test. Once he beat Saber, Sasuke was sure that he could beat Itachi.

Naruto, for once, was not thinking about being Hokage. He instead saw himself researching on his parents and his lost clan. Perhaps, being chunin would allow him to find out the whole story of his family and their fates. Maybe, their might even be other members of his family alive, in other villages maybe, but alive.

The three genin headed towards the academy, while Saber excused himself and Rider to discuss something. As soon as the kids were out of range, saber turned to Rider, "One of us will need to be near them during the exam."

Rider nodded, "Will you do it or should I?"

Saber considered it, "Hmm, probably you. I'll be able to watch from a distance, but you need to be close to him to protect him."

Rider nodded, "Very well." With that, she became invisible as she shifted to her spirit form and dashed after her master. Saber shifted as well, but headed for a high building to keep watch over his little master. If Berserker attacked, Saber would kill him from long range.

Saber was sure that his little master was ready, what could they possibly throw at his Master?

Room 301

"Say what?" Naruto yelled when he was handed a paper test. 'Oh shit.' Of all the things they tested him on, it was a written test. How the hell had that happened? Naruto had been certain that he had the exam in the bag. Instead, they threw this at him. If there was one things that Naruto had no confidence in, it was written tests.

Looking back, Naruto had been too confident when he entered the academy. He and his team had easily seen through the genjutsu on the second floor. 301 was on the third floor, not the second. He and the rest of the genin quietly walked up the steps and met their teachers. They had been told that if one person on their team had refused to come, the team would not enter the exam. Of course, anyone who went through that boot camp would have been insulted if one of their team members had refused to enter. The Konoha twelve were more than ready for the exam. Of course, Lee wanted to challenge various people before the exam, but TenTen grabbed Lee by the ear and dragged them into the room.

Inside, they ran into a leaf genin named Kabuto who offered to share what info he had on the competition. Naruto, out of curiosity asked about Gaara and Saber. Kabuto had been confused about Saber, as he wasn't in the exam, but Naruto asked out of curiosity to see what level Saber was considered. Kabuto was able to tell that Gaara had 8 C rank missions, and 1 B rank mission, and had never been injured in any of the missions. The other genin had been surprised that Gaara wasn't injured, but Naruto figured it had to do with the Demon inside of Gaara. After all, Naruto was a fast healer, what was to say what Gaara could do.

The information on Saber was amusing to the rest of the genin however. Kabuto was able to tell them that Saber had completed an A rank mission, 200 D rank missions, and a C rank turned A rank mission. According to the card, Saber's nickname was the 'Handyman Swordsman' due to his skills on repairing houses. The only other information that kabuto had was that Saber was considred at the level of Hunter nins at tracking and one of the best weapons users in the village.

Nothing new really.

Kabuto ended up insulting a group of nins from Sound who attacked him and broke his glasses, but they backed away from the collective glares of the Konoha twelve. The spirit of unity had been beaten into the genin deeply during the boot camp, which was one of it's major functions.

Then the proctors had shown up and ordered everyone to take numbers and be seated. Naruto had ended up near the front by the window next to Hinata who was blushing deep red for some reason that Naruto could not figure out.

Like Master, like Servant, the two males were terrible at seeing the obvious in front of them.

Naruto was so caught up on his reflections he almost didn't hear the rules about the written exam.

The First rule was that they all stared out with ten points. For each question wrong, they were deducted a point.

The second rule of whether they pass or not depended on their team's collective score.

The Third rule was that each time they were caught cheating, they were deducted two points. Therefor, some of them would use up all their points before the exam and be told to leave immediately.

Finally, if anyone of their team failed the test, they were all failed.

At that moment, both Sasuke and Sakura felt a sinking feeling in their guts as they looked at Naruto. The orange boy was always the bottom of the heap when it came to written tests. The room was suddenly filled with killing intent as both Sasuke and Sakura directed their hate at their teammate.

Ibiki was amused by the hate the two were sending towards the jinchuriki. He had head about the dead last of the academy. Ibiki considered himself a practical man. According to the information he had extracted from Mizuki after the incident with the missing forbidden scroll, Naruto had been sabotaged during the academy by Mizuki and several other teachers. Yet, here was the boy now with all the other rookie teams. Anko had bet that every one of the four teams she had trained would pass the exam. She had even out money down that the four teams would pass everything till the third exam.

The betting pool in Torture and Interrogation had grown from there. The favored odds were that none of the teams would pass the first exam, much less the second. Ibiki had bet several thousand ryo that he would knock out at least one of the teams during the first exam.

'Looks like I'll win the pot,' Ibiki thought with amusement. "You all have one hour." He looked at the clock and said, "Begin."

Naruto turned over the page and blanched. He couldn't figure out a single answer.

Unseen by anyone but Berserker, Rider stood by her master's side and vowed that she would cheat for her master.. She promptly jumped up to the ceiling to get a good view, not to mention, keep an eye on Berserker.

Neji and Hinata activated their Byakugan and were almost blinded at the sight of a brilliantly bright figures on the ceiling and by the wall. 'Gah' they both mentally screamed. At first, they thought it was Saber, but the color was different. Saber was brilliantly blue, the one on the ceiling was purple, while the one by the wall was a mixture of red and black.

It was apparent that they were in the presence of two more people like Saber. Hinata and Neji were able to recognize Rider's color, but the one that was Red and Black was new, and it seemed to promise death. Neji and Hinata both watched it warily, but saw that Rider was keeping an eye on it as well. As long as she was there, they felt like they could relax a bit and begin to gather the answers from everyone around her.

Akumaru on top of Kiba's head looked around and gave short intermittent yips telling Kiba the answers. Shino sent his insects to scout the pages and send him the answers. Lee and TenTen used a mirror to reflect answers back to each other. Ino used her family jutsu to enter Sakura's mind and copy the answers that sakura was filling out on her own before Ino possessed her teammates and began filling out their answers as well.

Kankuro manipulated his puppet to gather information for himself and his sister while Gaara used his sand to spy upon the answers of others. Gaara could tell instantly that a Servant was in the room, but it was clear the Servant had no interest in him at the moment. Mother wanted to kill her now, but Gaara needed to finish the test before he could feed mother.

Ace watched Naru's hand in front of him as she made discrete hand signals on her test slowly telling the answers. From there, Ace did the same so that Tamaki could get the same answers.

Hinata was about to try to show her answers to Naruto silently, when she saw through Byakugan, Rider descending and leaning down next to Naruto. At first, Naruto jumped in surprise from somthing, but then he began grinning as Rider was silently telling Naruto something. Naruto nodded and began filling out the answers with ease. Hinata was conflicted if she should be upset that Naruto was getting help from Rider, yet happy that Naruto was going to be okay.

Before the test was halfway done, Naruto flipped his paper over and leaned back, putting his feet up on the table. Sasuke saw this as he was using his Sharingan to copy one student's work and smiled. Using that Stance, Naruto was telling his team that he had not only figured out the test, but had all the answers. Sakura saw this too and felt relief.

All around them, various teams were disqualified as they were caught cheating. Finally, it was time for the tenth question. With Rider by his side, Naruto was sure that he could pass with flying colors.

"All right you brats," Ibiki said, "It's time I explain the rules of desperation for this last question."

'Rules of Desperation?' the various genin teams thought.

"For this last question, you must all choose whether you wish to answer the question or not."

"Choose," Temari yelled, "What happens if we choose not to?"

"If you choose not to," Ibiki said, "Your points will be reduced to zero. You fail, and your entire team will fail."

"Then why the hell would we refuse to take the question?" various teams yelled out.

"Because," Ibiki said dramatically, "If you choose to take it and answer incorrectly, then that person will lose the right to ever take the chunin exam again."

"What kind of rule is that?" Kiba yelled, "There are plenty of guys here who have taken the exam before."

"Hehe hehehe hehehehe," Ibiki chuckled, "You guys were unlucky. This year, it's my rules."

Several people felt a shiver crawl up their spine as they saw the evil grin on Ibiki's face. The Konoha twelve, however, had seen far worse grins on Danzo and Saber. This shabby imitation barely fazed them. Ibiki saw that too and was mildly uncomfortable. It looked like he would be losing money after all.

"But I am giving you guys a way out. If you're not confident you can chose to not take the question and come back next year." Ibiki said using his best glare.

'So basically, if one chooses to not to take it, the team fails, but if you take it and fail, you're stuck a genin forever.' Sakura thought grimly. 'Those are both bad options.'

"Now, let us take the tenth question. Those that do not wish to take the question, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, leave." Ibiki said silently praying that one of the four genin teams would leave and let him win the pot.

There was an ominous silence as each person contemplated the choice. If they backed out, they would fail, but if they failed the question they would be stuck as genin forever. Naruto felt a bit of despair from the thought of never finding out about his family or being Hokage. Yet, he also didn't want to quit when he had done so well during the rest of the exam.

"I will support you no matter what you choose Master." Rider's voice whispered in her ear. Truly, her spirit form was useful.

"I-I won't take it." a random leaf genin with fear in his voice. "I'm sorry Gennai, Inoho."

"Number 50 fails. 130 and 111 also fail" A proctor calls out. The other two genin stood up and followed their teammate out the door. All around Naruto, many genin raised their hands and failed themselves and their teammates from the thought of being stuck a genin forever.

They air was becoming heavy with despair as more and more teams were leaving lest they be stuck as genin forever. Sakura looked on at her blond teammate. Sakura thought back on the blond teammates antics. The hard work he put himself through to follow his dream of being Hokage. It would crush him if he failed the last question. What else could Naruto live for if he couldn't follow his dream? Saber would do what he could, and Rider would support Naruto, but Naruto would live a hollow life.

'Forgive me Naruto, but I don't want to see your dream crushed.' Sakura thought as she began to raise her hand.

"Master," Rider warned, "Your pink teammate is beginning to raise her hand. You must make your choice now."

Naruto suddenly rose his hand, shaking violently. The slammed it down hard in pure rage. "Don't you underestimate me. I will not run!" The air of despair vanished with the outburst of the blond genin. "I'll take it. Even if I become a genin forever, I will find out about my clan and become Hokage anyway. I am not afraid of you or your stupid question. Bring it on scarface."

'He's not even thinking about it at all.' Sasuke thought. 'What an idiot.' Sasuke had quietly dismissed the turmoil that was brewing inside of himself. If the dumbass was willing to risk it, how could an Uchiha do less?

Sakura placed her hand and smiled quietly, 'Yeah, he's that kind of idiot. Defying the rules of the world with his very breath.'

Rider felt a stirring of pride in her Master from his speech. Upon her oath as a Servant, she swore to find the answer for this question or die trying. If there was any chance of success, Rider would find it and pass it on to her Master.

"I'll ask you again." Ibiki said solemnly. "You're life is riding on this decision. This is your last question to quit." 'Please don't do this. Please don't do this. Please don't do this.' Ibiki prayed. He really wanted to win that pot. There was over a hundred thousand ryo riding on this.

"I follow my unbending rules. That is my ninja way." Naruto said. All around the room, the proctors remembered a certain Habanero who had said the same thing countless times.

'It seems that he takes after his mother.' Ibiki thought fondly. He looked around the room and saw that his carefully created atmosphere of doom was gone. Not one person here would flee his question. 'Seventy six left. Way more than I expected. Stretching this out won't make any difference.'

"Good decisions," Ibiki told them. "Now everyone still remaining..." The air became tense again as they all wanted to hear the question. "I congratulate you on passing the first test. "

"Eh?" the various genin said. They were all stunned by that statement. They must have heard it wrong, they hadn't even been given the question yet.

"To the seventy eight of you left, I congratulate your passing." Ibiki said again.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Sakura asked, "We already pass? What about the tenth question?"

"There wasn't one." Ibiki said grinning. "Or you could say that the two choices were the question."

"Then what the hell were the other nine questions for? They were pointless then." Temari said outraged. She and her brother had worked hard to gather the information.

"They weren't pointless," Ibiki said, "They had already served a purpose, to test your individual information gathering ability. The whole test was based around the team doing well, thus placing pressure on the individual. Though, it seems like one person here had a great deal more pressure than the rest."

Naruto could see Ibiki looking at him and mentally nodded. The killing intent form his team had been huge, though nowhere near as powerful as Saber when he got serious.

"Yet," Ibiki continued. "The questions on the test were not ones that a mere genin could answer. Because of that, most of you came to the same conclusion, you were supposed to cheat to answer the questions."

The various genin began nodding, though Sakura began to feel a bit stupid for missing the point of the exam as she had answered the questions on her own.

"The whole point of the exam was to cheat, therefore, we placed in a few chunin who knew the answers into the exam for you to steal from." Ibiki said as a few individuals raised their hands. One of them was right in front of Naruto, who began to feel a bit stupid for not having looked at the guy and instead relied on his Servant. Naruto wondered if he would have taken the risk of the tenth question without even answering a question, but shrugged, the past was done and he had to move on.

"Of course, those who were too obvious in their cheating failed of course." Ibiki said as he removed his head protector and the cloth over his head. "Because at times information is worth more than your life. On missions and battlefields, people risk their lives to get their hands on it." The air was silent as the people saw the damage done to Ibiki's head. It was covered in burns, scars, and screw holes. The man had been tortured, brutally.

"Remember this," Ibiki said, "Information may be all that protects your village and can be a powerful weapon against your enemies. Through this exam, we tested each of you on your individual spying ability and separated those who had no abilities." Ibiki then put his head protector and cloth back over his head

"I still don't understand the last question" Temari said.

"In the end, the tenth question was the true purpose of the exam." Ibiki said. "You will find missions where you have to choose between two difficult choices, abandon the mission or risk your life. Those who are not willing to risk their lives are not worthy of being chunin. Yet, you all have chosen to risk everything on an unknown and uncertain future. I am proud of you all. Only ninjas like you are worthy of being chunin."

There was a sense of pride in each of the genin as they felt the impact of the speech. They had been tested, and had not been found wanting.

Ibiki suddenly turned to his left as a black blur smashed through a window and came in front of Ibiki. The Konoha twelve had a sudden flash of fear as they swore they had seen this entrance before...

The black blur ended up being a sign that was attached to the wall with Kunai and a woman in a trenchcoat, orange miniskirt and fishnets stood in front of the sign that read SUPER SEXY ANKO, PROCTOR FOR THE SECOND EXAM

Everyone of the Konoha twelve except Neji pointed their fingers at the familiar sign and yelled, "No way!"

Anko snickered at the response she was given by the twelve. She quickly counted off and was disappointed that twenty six teams were still in the exams. Ibiki hadn't been able to even reduce the numbers by half. "What were you doing Ibiki? There's still seventy eight left?"

Ibiki poked hie head out from the banner and said, "Blame the orange gaki."

Anko looked quickly and saw that it was Naruto. "Gaki!"

Naruto wanted to crawl into a mouse hole. 'Oh sweat merciful kami, please don't do this to me.' he prayed. The last thing he needed was Anko to take notice of him. There was enough problems when she was after Saber.

All the Konoha twelve grew increasingly nervous as they looked on at their proctor. As if they hadn't had enough of her during boot camp, the sadistic bitch was their proctor for the second exam. This was not good.

Anko looked around an smiled before turning to Ibiki. "Looks like you lose." She said referring to the betting pot.

"True," Ibiki said a bit sadly, "But it doesn't mean that you win either."

Anko smiled, "Nonsense, you guys all lost as soon as they passed the first exam."

Everyone else was confused by the banter going on between the two proctors.

"Ah well, I'll get rid of half the teams soon enough Ibiki-san, though I know four of them who will pass." Anko said with an evil smile.

"Oh Kami," Choji whimpered, "Don't make me eat centipede stew again. Anything but that stew again."

The rest of Konoha twelve nodded their heads. That had been the most disgusting food they had ever eaten, but they had been desperate that day and Anko had assured them that it was edible. Edible or not, the food had tasted terrible and caused everyone to throw it up.

Anko smiled, "Oh, but we had so much fun back then gakis."

"More like you had fun and we suffered," Naruto mumbled.

A senbon needle flew towards him, but Naruto caught in on reflex. He hadn't spent three weeks in her care for nothing.

"What was that gaki?" Anko asked dangerously.

Naruto pointed out the window randomly and said, "Saber's watching."

Anko instantly turned and beamed in the direction he pointed. Way off in the distance, Saber hated how a Master could tell the general direction of his Servant. That woman scared him like few could. Saber (Ria), Rin, Luvia, Illya, Acruied, Yumi, Aoko...actually Saber had met more than a few who could scare him.

"Ahh," Anko said shivering, "It seems I can't stop myself from being excited. Looks like I'll have to explain everything once we change places."

Those who were unfamiliar with Anko were mildly scared of the woman.

Those that knew her were terribly scared of her. When Anko got excited, blood was sure to be shed. The woman had a sadistic streak a mile long.

Anko lead the genins out and all the proctors except Ibiki left the room. Ibiki began collecting all the tests and gathered them up looking at each person's test. He paused for a second at Naruto's test with a bit of wonder. All the other students except that pink girl had to cheat for the answers, yet, as far as he or the other proctors could tell, Naruto had not cheated in any discernible form. Oh, the others were clever enough to get through the exam, but Naruto had seemed to be listening to someone.

"How did he get these so easily?" Ibiki thought. The boy had been amusing to watch as he panicked at first, yet, he had relaxed and quickly filled out the test. The only hint that he had cheated had been when he jumped in surprise for a moment. Ibiki shrugged, the boy was interesting. All Ibiki's hard work building an atmosphere of despair had vanished instantly from the room. The boy had a way with people to place their trust in him. "It will be interesting to see what he can do in the future." Ibiki said. He hoped that Naruto would pass the second exam. Ibiki really wanted to see what the boy could do.

Looking over from a distance, Saber watched his little master head off towards the training grounds. 'That was a little nerve racking.' Saber thought. Spying had been a great weakness for Naruto as the boy had a hard time keeping silent. It was a bad sign that Naruto had to rely on Rider to give him the answers. Saber swore that he would work on Naruto at a later time. The boy could have made a shadow clone form into an innocuous item like a pencil and used it to spy on nearby papers. Yet, Naruto had relied too much on his Servant. That could mean death to a Master when the Servant was occupied.

Saber shook his head and began to follow his charge in spirit form. Though the test was made to push a ninja to the limit, Saber was not willing to risk an attack by Berserker or an unknown Servant on Naruto. Rider would be best used to get Naruto to safety, while Saber would deal with the enemy. It was going to be necessary to be on guard at all times until the other master's left.

Saber just prayed that the Second exam would not catch him off balance like the First had.

Outside of Area Forty Four aka Forest of Death.

"FUUUUUUCK" Naruto yelled.

The rest of the survivors of the brutal boot camp were thinking the same thing, though Naruto's outcry was overpowering anything the rest of them might have said. And truth be told, that one word was probably all they were going to say either.

Three weeks

For three weeks they had endured that training area with all it's dangers and horrors. From the flesh eating bugs to the giant leeches. From the wolves to monstrous insects, they had endured and had finally broken free of the training area. Now, after a week off, they were being thrown back in again.

"Welcome to training area forty four, also known as the Forest of Death. As you can see here we have several veterans who have survived this place, but don't be fooled. This place is filled with more dangers than you can imagine." Anko said happily.

"Oh dear Kami no," Naruto shouted, "Don't tell me your going to test us here."

"What's the matter gaki? Afraid?" Anko said sneering.

"Of this place? No. You testing us here? Yes. You threw explosive tags like they were water balloons." Naruto said. The rest of the genin nodded their heads. They remembered the explosive tags, and the needles, and the snakes, and the guillotine. Don't ask about the last one, the less said the better.

"You know kid, I just love to see you bleed." Anko said as she threw a dozen kunai at Naruto. Thanks to the boot camp, Naruto blocked every one of them, though one did end up ricocheting into a grass nin and cutting a few of her hairs.

The grass nin grabbed the kunai with her tongue and held it out to Anko. "I believe this is yours." the grass nin said.

"Why thank you," Anko said with narrow eyes as she retrieved the knife, "But you know...if you keep that killing intent up, I'll have to kill you."

"Apologies, it's just that you cut some of my precious hair and I can't help it." the nin apologized. Anko was sure she had felt this aura before, but wasn't sure.

"Ah, sorry about that," Anko said insincerely. "Looks like we've got several bloodthirsty ones this year. Should be fun."

'You're the most blood thirsty one here.' the Konoha twelve thought collectively.

"Now then," Anko said as she pulled out a handful of papers, "Each of you need to fill out these agreement forms. There will be plenty of deaths in this exam, and if you don't sign these it will all be my responsibility. Tehe."

'Tehe my ass.' Naruto thought. The woman would have figured a way out of it somehow.

"Fill these out while I explain the test. Afterwords, hand in your forms to the convenient booth behind me." Anko said as she handed out the forms. "Simply put, these test is the ultimate survival test. Here's how it goes. Around this area are forty four gates. From these gates you will head towards the tower that is ten kilometers in the direct center of the training grounds. During this test you will be given a certain task. Using all your skills, there will be a no rules scroll battle."

Anko pulled out two scrolls, a white one and a black one. "You will be fighting over these scrolls heaven and earth. Half will be given an black earth scroll and half will be given the white heaven scroll. To pass this test you will need both scrolls. Take the two scrolls to the tower within the time limit of 120 hours or five days to be exact."

Choji remembered the food they had found in the forest and was not optimistic on having a good meal in a long time.

"What will disqualify you is simple. First, not making it to the tower within the time limit with both scrolls. Second losing a team mate or a teammate killed disqualifies your team. As a rule there is no quitting in the middle. You will all be in there for five days whether you are disqualified or not. Oh, and one last thing, don't open your scrolls until you're in the tower." Anko said with an evil smile.

"She's serious." Naruto warned, "She's probably rigged the scrolls with some of her custom explosive tags or poison needles."

Those that knew her began nodding their heads vigorously...again. The rest of genin were unsure if this was a group ganging up on them or that this was a real threat. Most figured that the twelve rookies were serious and took the warning to heart. Those that didn't...would learn the hard way soon enough.

"One last piece of advise," Anko said, "Don't die." With that, the others headed off for the booth to turn in their forms for scrolls.

The Knoha twelve were uncertain of what to think of this exam. They had survived the boot camp, but the whole thing had made them wary of the danger inside. There had been several areas that they were forbidden to go as the area was too dangerous for anyone but jonins to enter, and they went in pairs.

Team Kakashi headed towards gate twelve to await the signal to start. As they looked at the forest, the recognized part of the terrain. In front of they would have been the monkey bars of doom as they had refereed to. It had been a crude monkey bar system with greased bars and kunai sticking up from the ground. One slip and the person would fall and potentially skewer themselves. Poor Choji had fallen several times, but only cut himself once.

"There's a clearing not to far from here," Sasuke said to his team. "Bad location for an ambush. If we head northwest, we'll find that fallen set of logs where Saber killed that boar."

Sakura nodded, "It would be a great place to place some traps."

Naruto shrugged, "Or we could see if the swinging log course to the northeast is still set up. We all know the danger that was."

Sakura waved her hand dismissively, "No way, the instructors would have torn it down after the camp. Besides, I saw Saber working on it on the last day."

The team considered potential ambush sites as they waited for the gates to open. They would have to move swiftly, but they were confident that they knew the terrain and planned to use it to the fullest. They would have to be fast before another team came near them, but they and trained themselves to be fast, silent, and deadly during the boot camp. They were sure that they could defeat anyone in the forest...

Silently, Rider stuck close to her little Master and knew that Saber was also nearby. They would not interfere unless they had to, but if things were too dangerous, they would stop anyone that tried to harm their master.

All around area forty four the various genin were preparing to enter the forest.

Lee, Neji, and TenTen at gate 41 waited with various degrees of eagerness.

"Yosh, I will show off my fires of youth to my nest opponent," Lee declared causing Neji and TenTen to sweat.

"Lee," Neji said silently, "Tone it down until we get through the exam. We don't want to give our location away. In fact, it would be best if we split up for a while and meet up in a designated area."

TenTen nodded her head, "Got it, we'll signal each other using Gai-sensei's hand signals." Tenten was as eager as Lee was, though she at least was able to keep that fact hidden. The last thing she needed was for Neji to think of her as a stupid fan girl or worse, a female clone of Gai. TenTen was glad that she had learned a bit of sword work from Saber. The forest in front of them would be thick and reduce visibility. Only in certain areas would long range attacks work.

At gate 16, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata were glad for getting this gate. It had been the same one they had all entered when they first started the boot camp. They had been given the choicest gate to enter as they knew the area like the back of their hand as well as they were sure of their survival and tracking ability. Kiba and Akumaru thought with eagerness about how easy they were going to win this exam. Shino was as stoic as his clan always was, though he too was eager for the test. Hinata felt a bit nervous, though she too knew the area well and had figured out two areas where they could ambush other teams and a fall back spot if things got too hot.

At gate 27, Shikumaru was feeling that the whole thing was too troublesome, but at least he knew a good spot to hide was. Ino was a bit worried about her rival and former friend Sakura. The girl was still not ready for the exam in her opinion. Though she was unaware of the extra time Sakura spent with Anko. Choiji, Choji just prayed he would not have to eat centipede stew again. Bring on a hundred enemies, just don't ever make him eat that food again.

At gate 6, Temari and Kankuro were nervous about Gaara. After the incident meeting with Rider, Gaara had spent almost every minute muttering with the Ichibi promising plans of death and retribution. That Uzumaki boy had better never run into Gaara, or the boy was going to die a slow and agonizing death the next time Gaara found him. Passing the exam would be a breeze, but the two older siblings were wondering about Berserker. As always, that killing machine was far better hidden than any ninja that the two had ever seen, but Berserker would show up at a moments notice upon the orders of Gaara. Temari prayed that Gaara would keep Berserker a secret lest the proctors find out and disqualify them.

At gate 21, team Yugito, consisting of Naru, Ace, and Tamaki were nervous about the ominous forest in front of them. Naru was almost shivering when she saw the giant centipede hanging onto a tree. She remembered the outcry that fat boy from Konoha had yelled. 'Don't make me eat centipede stew again. Anything but that stew again.' Now she understood why the boy had cried out. The thing looked disgusting to eat. Ace was worried that Naru would be harmed during the exam and swore to protect her. If anything happened to Naru, he would never forget himself.

"Cheer up guys," Tamaki said, "If we can survive Kirabi's rapping, we can handle anything." The joke didn't do much for the moral of the other two, so Tamaki had to use his last card. "Think of this, what would Archer do?"

"Blow up the forest?" Ace said

"Burn the forest to the ground before he entered it?" Naru said.

Tamaki scratched his head, "Yeah, that to. I meant he'd go in without a trace of fear."

"Because he'd blow up the forest," Ace said. While Ace admitted that he idolized the man, there was no denying that Archer would never let himself go into a disadvantageous area. Archer would first make the to his advantage before he entered it.

The moral for their team was rock bottom.

Finally, at gate 15, the female grass nin who was neither female nor a grass nin plotted with 'her' 'two' associates. "So, we go after the rookies first boss?" one of the 'two' asked.

"Indeed," the 'woman' said. "We're allowed to kill them here, so it makes things easier."

"You really want those eyes boss," the first one said.

They original members of the Hidden in the Grass village were now dead and hidden in a ditch. The three members there were actually five people. Former Sannin Orochimaru and his bodyguards the Sound Four. The sound four had henged themselves into the two fellow members of the Grass team, while Orochimaru used a forbidden technique to rip the face off of his victim and placed it over his face.

"With those eyes my goal will be far easier to accomplish." Orochimaru said and chucked evilly. Yes, with those eyes, not even Itachi could kill him.

Jonin lounge

Kakashi was kicking back with his fellow instructors while they waited for their teams to pass the second exam. All instructors, even those who were from foreign villages were instructed to remain in the lounge during the exam lest they instructors give unfair aid to their students. Only instructors who had teams that failed the exam were allowed to leave and pick up their students.

Kakashi was smiling at how well his team was doing as well as all the rest of the teams that had gone through the boot camp. Originally, Kakashi had planned on sending his team into the exam to see what level they needed to be when they failed. Looking back, it had been a terrible idea. Like throwing lambs to the slaughter. Thankfully, Saber would have none of that and had Kakashi and all the other instructors send their teams through that boot camp. Now, the teams all had a good shot of getting to the third exam.

Kakashi and Asuma had been a bit worried when they found out about Ibiki was the proctor. Kurenai had been ignorant of the guy, but wised up when she was told that Ibiki was the head of interrogation. Hearing that, Kurenai was nervous as well.

Yugito hearing this had groaned in agony. Why did the Raikage do this to her. Her team was not ready, and all attempts to determine the strength of the village had failed as the Hokage had discretely kept two Anbu to watch over her since Archer's battle with Saber. At least the tension between the two had not escalated to a second battle. Yugito wasn't sure if she could handle a third battle between Servants. The first two had been terrifying enough. And yet, they were expected to battle until there was only one Servant and one Demon left? The whole thing was insane.

'Niibi? Why did Saber spare us?' Yugito asked.

Niibi shifted nervously, "It's complicated kitten, but it seems that he believes that this ceremony is a sham and we will not uphold our bargain and grant him a wish at the end."

'Will you?' Yugito asked.

Niibi flared with anger, "Of course we will. We are not charlatans, we uphold our bargains."

"Keep telling yourself that." Archer muttered. Yugito was glad that Archer was where she could see him. The last thing she needed was for Archer to battle near her students. If Archer ever did anything to them, she would kill him herself, no matter the cost.

Yugito was amazed that there were three rookie teams that were fresh out of the academy in the exam. She was sure that those three teams from Konoha would have failed the first exam, yet, they were still in exam.

Sharingan Kakashi had pumped his fist in the air upon being told and began a betting pool with his fellow instructors on who would have the most students in the third exam. Twin knife Asuma, Mistress of Illusion Kurenai, and Green Beast Gai all pitched in to the pot with several other instructors. Yugito held off on it as she was unsure if her team would even pass through the second exam. Mentally, she was angry that the four teams had taken their teams to the site of the second exam weeks ago to train them, but she had to admit that it was fair. The teams had trained in the worst training area in Konoha for three weeks and if reports were to be believed, came out a great deal stronger.

Mentally, Yugito wondered about the Uzumaki boy. If he was a Master, how far would his Servants go to advance his career? If all else failed, the Raikage would need to know that there was still one Uzumaki still alive. Forces from Kumo and Kiri had done their best to rid the world of that clan back in the Third Great Shinobi War. The Raikage would either send an assassination squad to finish off the last of the clan, good luck to them since he was a Master, or the Raikage would try to recruit the boy for access to clan records.

Yugito was skeptical that the boy was able to access any such things, however. The boy had looked surprised when she knew his clan name. Besides, jinchuriki were always treated differently. The boy was probably never told his heritage and probably treated with a great deal of mistrust. Kirabi and herself had suffered the same thing and had to spend years to get the village to rethink about the hosts. Now, Kirabi was the guardian of Kumo, and Yugito was considered one of the brightest tactical minds of the village, though Archer still thought her tactics were infantile.

Again and again that man infuriated her, she once again wished she had gotten Saber, at least that man or clone or whatever he was was more helpful than Archer. Yugito shook her head, this wasn't a time for wishing for something that would not happen. Saber was the Uzumaki boy's and would not switch his allegence. Thhough, if they were able to recruit the boy, Kumo would gain Saber as a bonus. Rider, Rider was a mystery. Archer said that Rider was either a second Servant of the Uzumaki boy or an ally.

Archer had told Yugito that having a secodn Servant was redundant usually as the Prana transferred to the Servants was split in half. Unless the Master had rediculous amounts of Prana, it was best to have only on Servant rather than split their strength. The other option was that Rider remained near the Uzumaki while her Master stayed hidden. That would make sense in a way as they would focus on the Uzumaki and never notice the master unless they got close to the mysterious Master.

Yugito would keep her eyes open and her weapons sharp if that was the case, but right now, she was stuck here waiting for her team to wither pass or fail. Mentally she hoped her team would fail so that she could go home and report to the Raikage rather than stay here. The air was getting tense for some reason and reminded her of the war time feel during the Third Shinobi War.

Only time would reveal how accurate that feeling was

Author's note: Yes, this chapter ends here just before the Second exam. How will things change with Servants involve? Will Sasuke gain the cursed seal? Will the sound nins be able to harm Sakura? Will Naruto get eaten by a snake? Tune in next time on FateNinja Storm.

Honestly I should have called it FateStorm Ninja so it would have the same abbreviation like FateStay Night (FSN). Ah well, too late now.

Once again, I must remind my readers that I have College finals this week and next, so updates will be few and and far between until I get through them. Wish me luck.

L33t Horo is my Beta and I don't own any franchise so don't you dare sue me, I'm broke.