Now, the first stage of the chunin exams. Here we go. Now the updates start taking longer. Oh, this chapter contains the secret behind Tenten's name. Or at least, my theory on it.

And i skipped the rules. there's no real point in saying them, seeing as everyone knows them

I don't own Naruto

One week later

"Wow, there's more people here than I thought."

The trio walked up to a large mob outside of the door where the first stage of the exam was being held. The door was being blocked by two people, apparently Chunin. Up front, two familiar people, Tenten and Lee, were arguing with them. They watched as Lee took a punch that sent him backward.

"There is no way he couldn't have dodged that." Stated Shiori. They saw Tenten try, with the same results. Then, they saw Sasuke and Sakura walk over and point out that the sign was actually a genjutsu. A week ago, Hideko would have probably run over, saying how Sasuke was the greatest. As it was, she stood there, attempting to pretend he wasn't there, but doing a terrible job. Shiori and Shinsuke looked at each other, and it took all of their willpower to not burst into laughter. They replayed the event in their heads.

Three days ago

"Hey Hideko, I just thought of what you can do!" Hideko looked away from her Ramen towards Shiori.

"What? Trust me, I've probably already thought of it."

"Oh no, this is sure to work." Shinsuke looked at the two, curious. "So far, you've been acting way too interested in him. So maybe if you tone it down a little, it'll work better. You know, act indifferent around him. Eventually, maybe he'll miss the attention and realize his feelings towards you." Shinsuke was almost positive that this would result in another shouting match. He couldn't be more wrong.

"…That might actually work."

Later on, after Hideko left, he decided to ask about it.

"So just to be clear here, you told her to shut up around Sasuke, and she actually agreed."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"You know, she's going to kill you when this doesn't work." She laughed.

"That's the beauty of it. Whenever she tries to stop, I just have to tell her that it'll take time. Then, when she finally ditches it, she'll stop asking for advice."

The three walked towards their fellow ninja as Lee was getting shot down by Sakura. They saw Neji step toward Sasuke.

" What's your name?" Sasuke turned toward the Hyuga.

"I'm not obligated to answer that. Besides, you should introduce yourself first." And with that, he walked off. Or rather, Sakura dragged him and Naruto off. Hideko decided to speak up.

"You guys are here this year, then?" Team Gai, suddenly aware of their presence, turned. Neji spoke first.

"You three aren't ready for this. You should quit now." And with that, he walked off. Tenten looked a little nervous.

"Sorry about that, he can be kind of rude sometimes." She started after her teammate before turning around. "Lee, are you coming."

Lee turned, looking at his teammate. "You go on ahead. I'll catch up later." He started down the hallway that Sasuke's team had gone down. The three turned toward Tenten. Shiori spoke up.

"Well, anyway, I guess we'll go with you." However, Hideko didn't agree.

"Actually, I'm going to go check something." Her teammates looked at her, confused, before saying anything.

"Alright fine." Said Shiori "But be sure to get to the exam on time." And with that, Hideko turned around and ran after Lee.

"So Tenten, can I ask you something?" She turned toward Shinsuke. "What kind of name is Tenten, anyway? I mean, that really doesn't sound normal." She laughed.

"It's not one. That's just a nickname. As in, ten for ten. Like my accuracy, get it? It stuck, and I've been going by it ever since." The ninja kept walking down the hallway. They could see Neji waiting for them at the door, as well as Gai and Etsuya. He looked towards them.

"Where is Lee? They won't let us through the door until our whole team is here."

"Hideko and him went off after Sasuke's team." Answered Shiori. She could feel Gai staring at her as she said this.

"WHAT!" Etsuya put his hand on Gai's shoulder before he could continue.

"Don't panic, there's plenty of time. Just go find him. I'll keep them out of the room until then."

"Hey Lee! Wait up!" He slowed a little, letting her catch up. "You want to go fight Sasuke, right?" He looked at her as they ran.

"Yes, but how did you know?"

"I just had a feeling. Mind if I watch?" He looked straight ahead.

"Yes, OK." The two continued down the hallway until they reached a large room. They could see Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura below. "Stop!" The three turned as Lee landed. "My name is Rock Lee. You said to introduce yourself first. Sasuke, would you fight me, right now? I want to test my abilities."

Hideko watched as Naruto charged, only to get spun into a wall. 'Huh, no wonder Shiori lost. Still, Sasuke can handle this.' She felt someone behind her and turned around. Gai had walked over to her from the hallway.

"It seems my extremely youthful pupil is winning." Hideko turned back in time to see Sasuke get kicked into the air.

'How is that possible? Sasuke can't lose!' She didn't want to believe what she was seeing. Sasuke was getting beaten. Badly. Gai was surprisingly silent the entire time, though clearly happy to see his student win. However, he didn't really react until he saw Lee start to unwrap the bandages on his arm, and then kick Sasuke into the air. At that moment, he summoned a giant turtle, which then jumped down, stopping Lee from completing an attack and sending him into the ground. Sasuke was unable to right himself in the air, so Sakura caught him on the way down.

"What took you two so long? And where's Gai?" Asked Tenten, clearly annoyed about having to wait outside of the test room. They both looked at her.

"Oh, Gai was talking to Kakashi's team." Said Hideko. She hadn't been entirely certain what to expect when they came back. She figured that her team wouldn't exactly be happy about having to wait. She wondered if Lee was thinking the same thing. Shinsuke didn't seem to mind very much, but Shiori did.

"Is this about Sasuke again! Seriously Hideko, there's a time and place for this kind of thing! Do you have any idea of how degrading this was, watching all of these teams go in there, and just sitting here, waiting for some love-sick idiot! And don't think that they were quiet about it, Either!" Hideko was just staring blankly at her. This was a bit more than she was expecting. She could hear Tenten berating Lee, but she was nowhere near as loud. Etsuya, having watched this, decided to interject.

"Well then." Everyone, suddenly remembering he was there, turned. "Since your whole team is finally here, you can go in." The teams turned towards the doorway. Shiori looked back towards her teammate.

"You had better concentrate on this, Hideko." And with that, she opened the door.

The room was about half full of Genin from a number of villages. They couldn't see any form of proctor in the room. The six of them could feel the stares as they walked in. They quietly made their way into the room and sat at two tables, one behind the other, and began waiting, quietly. They watched as more teams showed up, including two of the other Genin squads. Then, the last squad, Kakashi's, showed up. The other Genin went over to him and started talking. Loudly.

"Are you going to go up there, as well?" Asked Lee. The three ninja in front of him turned around.

"No" Said Shinsuke, "I don't feel like making myself a target." Shiori agreed, though Hideko seemed disappointed. They turned back towards the ninja gathered at the door. It appeared that some other Konoha Genin had joined him. Something seemed strange about Naruto, though. He was staring straight towards the ground, shaking. However, to the surprise of everyone, he quickly turned around, pointing towards the room.

"I'm not going to lose to any of you!!!" As he said this, Sakura placed her hand over his mouth before attempting to placate the crowd. Everyone was staring at them.

"Is he an idiot?" Asked Tenten. Shinsuke turned around.

"Yeah, that's a pretty good description. To be entirely honest, I didn't even know he passed until I heard him get put on a team." Shiori turned her head.

"Wait, you either? Does anyone know why he's with a squad?" She heard something behind her. She turned and saw that the Genin that was talking to the rookies in the back was on the ground, surrounded by a group from another village.

"There's no fighting before the test starts. Return to your seats." It seemed that the test was finally about to start.

Hideko looked at her paper. 'There is no way that they can expect me to answer this.' Out of the nine questions on her paper, she couldn't answer any of them. She glanced around her. It seemed like everyone around her was running into the same problem. In the room, only around six people were actually writing anything. Then she realized the point of the test.

'Wait a second, they want me to cheat! Great, I suck at this kind of thing. Unless...' She thought about the actual rules. She could get caught several times before she officially failed. So she only had to cheat once, get all of the answers, and then she would still pass even if she was caught! She turned her head, slowly. She looked at the waterfall-nin next to her's paper carefully. She had a feeling the Jounin around the room knew, but it didn't matter as long as she only looked once. Then, she heard something. A kunai flew out of nowhere and hit hers and another kids paper. They both jumped up. They looked at the proctor that threw them.

"Alright, you to cheated five times. You fail. Leave." There was no way that she was going to let this go without an argument.

"No I didn't, I cheated once!" In retrospect, that probably wasn't the best argument to make.

"Each question stolen is considered it's own cheat. Besides, you completely violated the spirit of the test. Now then, you two and your teammates. Leave." It was easy to spot the other persons teammates; they were the only ones with their heads in their tables. They then stood up, along with her own teammates, and headed towards the door. She walked out behind them, along with the other person that failed.

"So let me get this straight, not only did you fail the first stage, you also were the first one to do it!?" Etsuya was clearly annoyed. He hadn't expected any of them to pass, but he was expecting better than this.

"Well, technically, we were the second." Stated Hideko. Shinsuke looked at her.

"Your an idiot, Hideko. The only reason we weren't the first is because you were the farther from the one who actually threw the kunai."

"It doesn't matter when you did it," Stated Etsuya. "The point is that none of you managed to pass even the first stage." He was trying his best to hold back. He knew that she would probably be angrier with herself than anyone. Except maybe Shiori. Still, he couldn't help but be annoyed that his day off was ruined. "Alright, I guess that I should probably worked with you guys more on stealth, anyway. I have nothing else to say, so unless someone else has anything we are done for the day." No one said anything, so he took his cue. He walked out of the building, leaving his students alone.

They sat there for a little longer, in complete silence. Hideko finally spoke up. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm really really sorry. Neji was right, wasn't he?" Shiori looked at her.

"Don't say that. Neji's opinion means absolutely nothing. In fact, nobody's should mean anything. How many times do I have to tell you, stop thinking about what other people think. Their opinions don't matter. I'm disappointed, not angry. I had a feeling that we weren't going to pass. I even said so. So stop whining, get up, improve yourself, and try again. Your a ninja, so start acting like it." Her reaction took both of her teammates by surprise.

"Are you okay?" Asked Shinsuke. "You seem a bit...weird."

"Yeah, of course I'm alright. But, getting angry won't really help anything." She really meant it. After they walked out of the door of the exam, she was angry. In fact, she was beyond angry. But now, she had had time to cool off. "So then, I guess we, and I mean we," she looked at Shinsuke for a moment, then back to Hideko "are going to try to help you with your stealth. And we're starting tonight, so get ready."

And seven is done. Always wanted to have them fail the first stage. Always figured that someone without some kinda special jutsu for that kind of thing was screwed. Read and Review