I'm SO SORRY I took so long to update! If you read Fruits Basket, imagine Ritsu on one of his apologising kicks… if you don't… well, I'm sorry, 'kay? Anyway… Welcome back to myself!!!!! Yes, well… I may have neglected to mention that I was going on holiday… But I'm back now, so here it is… the second test of the chuunin exams!

Disclaimer: Do you reckon I still have to do this now? I've said so many times before! Anyway, I own nothing, so… sorry? ^.^

Enjoy!

"Morning children! Ain't it a lovely day?" A dark-haired man grinned down from the top of a podium, as the girls next to Kakashi went wild,

"That's Takeo! Takeo from the ANBU! Oh Kami, he's looking at us! The God is looking at us!" Setsuko and Miu hyperventilated as the flashy man spun around and grinned at them,

"I hope you put as much energy into your fighting as you do into your stupidness." Kakashi muttered, and Setsuko slapped him around the head,

"Shut up, kid! You don't know anything!" She hissed, and then put on a sickening smile for the proctor.

"Heh. Kakashi, you'll never understand, 'cause you're a boy. Don't worry!" Miu smiled down at him, and pulled Setsuko away, before straightening his facemask, "You should probably learn how to tie this properly." She patted him on the head and he scowled at her,

'You only treat me like that because you think I'm some sort of plushie." He retorted, and her eyes flashed angrily, as she straightened up, turning her attention back to the proctor, who had begun to outline the second exam. He heard the words 'annoying child thinks he's better than us' before he tuned out of their wavelength and took a look around himself instead.

"This place is friggin' chaotic!" An older teenager to his right sighed, and the guy's teammate, an imposing woman in a lot of fishnet material, punched him,

"Do I not keep on telling you that swearing is not allowed in this team?" She said in an impossibly genteel voice. Kakashi eyed her warily, and she looked at him out of the corner of her eye, "Ah! The adorable child from yesterday! I'm honoured to make your acquaintance again!" She extended a hand out towards him, and he stared at her coldly,

"The exams are full of weirdos." He muttered under his breath, and she recoiled in overly dramatic horror,

"Darling? Darling! Did you hear that? Did you hear what that brat said to me?" The man called 'darling' turned around slowly, and Kakashi wrinkled his nose at the ugliness of that man's face. His nose must have been broken so many times that he'd lost count, and his left eye was covered with an eye patch. Scars criss-crossed along his bone structure. The man grunted, and Kakashi took an involuntary step backwards.

"I don't know why we are even here!" The woman sighed softly, having forgotten the small child already, "It's all so hopeless, darling!"

The man grunted again, in reply, and gave Kakashi a glare before turning back around.

Kakashi regarded the strange team for a minute, then, with a last suspicious backwards glance, turned backwards just in time to hear the end of the proctor's speech:

"So all you cuties just need to reach this tower here, ok? You all got that?" Kakashi assumed all of the girlish screams meant 'yes', and he tugged at Miu's sleeve,

"What do we have to do?" She rolled her eyes,

"You should have been listening! Look, Setsu-chan and me have this sorted, 'kay? There's nothing for you to do. Just keep up with us." She tuned back around to giggle with Setsuko and Kakashi tipped his head to one side, as he watched the proctor, Takeo, jump down and sling his arm around a blushing genin. Feeling the attention, the man's head snapped around and he did a slight double take at the sight of the small grey-haired child in a mask. Then he flashed a massive, fake grin and snapped his fingers at Kakashi,

"Good luck, kid!" he called. Kakashi wrinkled his nose in disgust and followed his teammates as they moved with the crowds towards a massive green tent.

Setsuko picked up a scroll from a table and signed her name off with the jounin there. It was coloured a deep blue and Kakashi's shining eyes followed it as the girl placed it in her shoulder bag,

"What do we do with it?" He breathed, unable to keep the awe from his voice. Setsuko scowled at him,

"It's nothing special, brat. It's called an 'Earth' scroll. Other teams have 'Heaven' scrolls, and we have to get one. Then we take them to the tower in the middle of the compound. But me and Miu-chan can handle it, so don't get in the way."

"Kami, I can't believe sensei actually allowed him on our team." Miu sighed, and they started to make their way towards the exit of the tent again.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at them, and then looked at the floor. He could see shiny lines moving like snakes just above the dirt and, suspiciously, he knelt down. Reaching out a finger, he tapped one and leapt back with a yelp as it burnt his hand. Hissing, he shook out the pain and squinted at light threads again. Then his eyes widened, as he followed the thread and noticed it come to an end in the middle of the back of one of the genin. The competitor, a blonde guy with electric blue highlights, didn't seem to be aware of the connection, and Kakashi doubted that it belonged to him, as the small boy began to notice trails leading to other genin in the tent. Then he made fists with his small hands, as the thought stuck him that the only people with these threads of light were the ones he'd already singled out as the stronger competitors. Could it be… a cheater? He bent down again and examined the light closely, realising finally that it was chakra. Some dirty fighter was going to do something to the better genin as soon as the second exam had started, Kakashi decided, and turned to see the proctor, Takeo, the flashy one, winking down at him.

"Hey, Mr. Takeo, there's-!" He was cut off as Takeo drew a finger to his lips in a shushing movement,

"There are no rules from here on out, son." He whispered, and melted into the crowd. Kakashi scowled, and stepped carefully over the lines, before weaving his way out of the tent to catch up with his teammates.

He caught up with the girls as they waited outside the main gate, searching for their names on a massive board that had appeared.

"Man, Kakashi, do you know how long we've been waiting for you?!" Setsuko scolded, as Miu suddenly leapt up,

"There we are! There we are! Gate 3! C'mon, let's go!" She tugged at her friend and they rushed off as Kakashi groaned and strolled after them. He took another look behind him to the teams of genin surrounding the main gate and sighed as he noticed the crossing chakra threads, too low on the ground to be visible anyone but a young child. He hoped that it wouldn't cause too much trouble, but something made him worry. He shivered slightly, and the loudspeaker crackled into life.

"All genin report to their gate. Repeat, all genin report to their gate! The second test of the chuunin exams is about to start!"

Kakashi's eyes widened, and he spun away after the retreating backs of the girls on his team. Behind the small boy a little shining thread slithered along the dirt, melted effortlessly onto the back of his spine.

Ooh! What do you think of that?! Next time… it's the second exam, people! Please don't hold how slow I updated against me! And please review… reviews are always nice ^.^ CANARYwolfXx