I'm glad every one enjoyed the chapter with Anko. We now move on to Sasuke's Jonin Exams Arc, which will, hopefully, be full of badass-ery. Basically, the arc is to show off Sasuke's new abilities and jutsu, as well as fulfilling my urge to write fight scenes.

Guest: Why not? ;)

seti31: I'm sure he'll actually enjoy being used :P

FrozenFlamingFire: Hahaha your review cracked me up!

AlleyCAT19: It's great you're working on it, but to be honest how do you 'work on account set-up'? Don't you just create an account and do it? O.o

Lin: Thank you for that awesome review as usual! Yes, they could always bond over dango :P

The Lady Avaritia: Sexy snake lady indeed! Thanks!

zarethuzumi: Thank you so much for this brilliant review, hahaha! Indeed, Itachi will kinda be like Hinata, and Anko... an over-aggressive Naruto :P

Tara Terra: And your feeling is correct! Unfortunately, as I said I want to get to Shippuden quicker but I will always welcome other authors to adopt the idea. I might even get to writing it again if I have time to kill :) Watch this space!

Keyser S: A reader from Brazil! That's awesome. I watch football all the time and Brazilian footballers are complete, absolute beasts. Haha! Getting back on topic, I really love your review. 'Pet snake' indeed ;) have a good day at work!

WaterDrop: Thanks for the review! The Flying Thunder God...? Maybe...? ;)

Pyr00tje: Glad to see a review again from you! Unfortunately I'll not be getting to Shippuden until this filler arc and Itachi Gaiden is complete, but of course, I will eventually get to doing it. Yes, you should totally try doing that. Girls dig amusement parks ;) For now, my Shippuden plan doesn't have the idea of Naruto getting some, but then of course I could always change that. :P

akasukifangirl: Indeed!

Thanks to zarni htet 7,ZabuzasGirl,Guest, S.R.457, seti31, airnaruto45, FrozenFlamingFire, XxBunniLuvXx, Arch The Ripper, AlleyCAT19, Lin, The Lady Avaritia, zarethuzumi, Tara Terra, Keyser S, hi1235, WaterDrop, Pyr00tje and akasukifangirl for the reviews!

Itachi folded his arms, surveying the surroundings of Konoha's Fifth Training Ground. His gaze then swept towards his opponent of the day.

15-year-old Sasuke Uchiha stared back at him determinedly.

The older Uchiha spoke. "Come, Sasuke. Show me what you've learnt."

Sasuke nodded, somewhat eager. His Sharingan blazed into life and he made a mad dash forward, ready to take down his brother. Doing hand seals, the Chidori crackled to life in his right hand.

"His first move is... a Chidori?" Itachi frowned. "How unusual." He jumped back, as Sasuke narrowly missed him with his attack.

To Itachi's surprise, the Chidori started to lengthen into what could best be described as a spear.

"Chidori True Spear!"

Thanks to his speed built up from being a shinobi for years, Itachi dodged the surprising attack. The lightning spear crashed into a tree and exploded, blowing the tree to bits.

"So I see you listened to me and practiced on Shape Transformation," Itachi noted.

Nodding with a smile, Sasuke's Chidori appeared again in his hand, once again forming into a spear. This time, the tip of the spear was pointy and sharp, presumably designed for impaling enemies, unlike the spear from earlier which seemed to be based more on electrifying opponents.

"Chidori Sharp Spear!"

The spear shot towards Itachi.

His two katanas wielded, the Jonin defended himself with his dual weapons.

Sasuke cancelled out the attack, rushing towards Itachi himself.

He jumped into the air, making hand seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Seeing the fireball, Itachi made hand seals of his own. "Water Style: Liquid Bullet."

The Water Style attack doused out the fireball. Sasuke emerged from the smoke, aiming a punch at his brother with a yell. Dodging and grabbing onto his fist, Itachi threw Sasuke onto the ground.

However, Sasuke's body started to turn blue.

Itachi frowned as he felt electricity starting to run up his wrist. Hastily, he released his hold on Sasuke, just in time as Sasuke's body transformed completely into a mass of Lightning chakra.

"Lightning Style Shadow Clone," he mused.

The smoke cleared completely, and the original Sasuke within made more hand seals.

"Lightning Beast Running Jutsu!"

Lightning chakra on Sasuke's hand was thrown to the ground, where it expanded and took the shape of a hound. With a yell, the technique's user diverted the lightning hound towards Itachi.

Backing into a tree, Itachi then jumped away, and the beast crashed into the tree, sending electric shock waves running up it's trunk.

"Looks like Kakashi has been teaching you some new tricks," he commented, upon landing. Making the Shadow Clone hand seal to summon a clone of himself, Itachi proceeded to do the Fireball Jutsu with his lookalike. "Fire Style: Uchiha Giant Flame!"

The clone dispersed, as a fireball two times the size of a normal one flew towards Sasuke.

Looking on as the oncoming flame threatened to engulf him, Sasuke closed his eyes. Black marks, from the left side of his face, flew across to the right side, and soon his entire body was covered in these peculiar black marks.

He ripped off his shirt, and two seconds later, brownish wings sprout out from his back.

Crouching down, Sasuke then flew into the air. The giant fireball flew into the trees, destroying a number of them.

Itachi looked up. A partial transformation into the level two stage. Interesting.

From his aerial position, Sasuke made the hand seals for a Chidori again.

"Chidori True Spear!"

He threw his arm forward, and his attack just barely missed Itachi, exploding upon hitting the ground.

Flying back down to the ground, Sasuke's wings disappeared. The black marks on his face moved slowly until they only covered one half of his body.

He charged. Lightning chakra materialized in his hand, first being a Chidori, and then shaping into a sword.

"Chidori Blade!" Sasuke cried, as he reached Itachi and swung his weapon.

Swiftly, Itachi unsheathed his dual katanas, parrying the attack from the lightning sword.

Both Uchihas engaged in a short battle of swords, and finally, Sasuke jumped back, his sword disappearing.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

He proceeded to bite his left thumb, but stopped as Itachi held up a hand.

"That's enough for today," he smiled. "You are getting way into the battle. You should be saving your energy up for the exams."

"I just wanna give you a good fight," Sasuke stretched. "Anyway, I'm going to practice my Lightning Style jutsu with Kakashi-sensei."

Itachi nodded. "Remember to come back for dinner."

As Sasuke ran off, Itachi chuckled.

He's always so enthusiastic when it comes to being a ninja... But I hope he doesn't exhaust himself too much today. The Jonin Exams are tomorrow, after all...

Sasuke walked towards a familiar training ground.

The Forest of Death awaited in the distance.

Jonin hopefuls gathered outside, Chunin from every village, talking among themselves.

Sasuke had no idea why the promotion exams were always held in Konoha. He wondered who decided these things - as in which village held what, but decided not to exhaust his brainpower too much at the moment.

Continuing to walk, he kept an eye out among the Chunin crowd.

Menacing shinobi from foreign villages glared at him, as if directing a warning. Sasuke didn't care. He kept looking for the one he wanted to find.

Jonin Exam rules stated that instead of three-man teams, there would be two-man teams. Basically, each Jonin hopeful had to find a partner to partake in the exams with them.

Itachi had not told him who his partner was, preferring to keep the element of suspense.

There were no familiar Konoha ninja in sight. Was his partner someone he didn't know?

In the words of a certain Shikamaru Nara, that would be extremely troublesome.

"There you are..."

Sasuke turned.

"... Sasuke Uchiha."

Neji Hyuga gave him a smile and a polite nod, something rare for a Hyuga clan member.

"You're my partner, then?"

"Indeed," Neji confirmed.

Sasuke shook his fellow Chunin's hand. He didn't know Neji all that well, but was confident they could work together. An acquaintance is always better than a stranger, he told himself with a smile.

"Alright, participants, listen up!"

Sasuke and Neji looked up immediately.

Asuma Sarutobi stood on top of the fence keeping the village out from the Forest of Death. The son of the Sandaime had a bright smile on his face.

Nothing like the instructors in the Chunin Exams, Sasuke thought with a scowl.

"There will be three parts in this year's Jonin Exams," Asuma informed. "The stage set for the first and second round, will be..." He gestured towards the dark, unwelcoming scenery behind him. "... the 44th Training Ground, otherwise known as the Forest of Death."

None of the Chunin flinched.

Asuma smiled.

Sasuke wasn't surprised. They were all Chunin, after all!

"So tell us what the first part of the exams is about, already! We've been waiting here for an hour!" One Suna shinobi complained.

Although ignoring him, Asuma did not ignore his request. "In the first part of the Jonin Exams, all of you will start at one of the 44 gates situated around the area. Your partner, however, will be at a different gate."

Sasuke nodded, digesting this information slowly.

"Both of you will be handed one of these each..."

Asuma held up what seemed like an amulet split into half. The design of the Konoha symbol was on it.

"Your finishing point will be at the tower within the forest... but you will only be permitted to enter..." The Jonin instructor pieced the two amulet halves together to form one complete amulet. "... once you have a complete piece."

So we all get a half of that thing... and we have to find our partner to retrieve the other half... wait! Neji's hand shot up.

Asuma noticed. "Yes?"

"Can we attack the other exam participants for their half of that amulet?"

"Good question," the former Guardian Ninja nodded. "Of course, yes, you can do that, but you cannot enter the tower without your registered partner by your side."

A Mist Chunin then spoke up, evident frustration and boredom laced in his voice. "Does that mean there will be no battling or fighting in this first part?"

Asuma grinned. "Here comes the fun part... There will be ten Jonin in the forest stationed at various positions, and will attack anyone they see. Their amulet half will be stolen if they're defeated."

Quite a number of the Chunin gasped.

"But of course, if you are defeated by one of the Jonin mentioned, you can attack and steal the amulets of other participants."

Sasuke smirked. Things just got interesting.

"Now all of you have been filled in, go over to that booth, and submit your registration form." Asuma pointed over to a booth, where two Konoha shinobi signaled with a wave.

Sasuke and Neji walked in together, placing their forms down.

"Sasuke Uchiha... 15... Partner... Neji Hyuga... Right, you're all set. Good luck for the exams," the Leaf ninja smiled. Sasuke and Neji both nodded in thanks, and patiently moved to the side, waiting for the other Chunin.

Sasuke looked up at his gate number. The number 39 stared right back at him.

He was gathered at the gate along with a few other participants - two from the Mist, one from the Sand and one from the Leaf.

The two Kiri shinobi were talking incessantly about the exams.

"These Jonin Exams are going to be so dangerous...!"

"Yeah. You know who my partner is so you better not go attack him if you see him!"

"Of course not, heh. Anyway, I've heard someone from the Uchiha clan is taking part in the exams!"

"The Uchiha clan? Of Konoha? Wow..."

"Yeah! We've gotta watch out for him. If he's an Uchiha he must be one of the best Chunin taking part in this..."

Sasuke smirked. Some people can be so dense sometimes...

But then again, the Uchiha symbol sewn onto his back was hidden by the flak jacket he wore. However, he had one symbol on each sleeve.

"You have one and a half days to reach the tower," Asuma's booming voice declared from a nearby speaker.

"One and a half?" The Suna ninja gasped.

"And now... begin!"

The gates opened.

Apologies for the ridiculously short chapter. I wanted to kick things off before we started.

I hoped the first chapter of this filler arc satisfied you, and Sasuke's new abilities. Just a tad bit better than a mini Kakashi. And yes, Sasuke knows the Summoning Jutsu! :O

Question of the Day: What do you think Sasuke's summoning is? ;)

Want a hint...? It's an animal :P

In the next chapter, Sasuke fights his way through the Forest of Death. See you all :)