We knew we were talking about spies. I knew he knew I knew. I was digging my own grave.
-Christine Keeler

Chapter 20: Digging My Own Grave

Kei wondered how she got herself into this situation. "Dango! Dango!" The blonde flew along the streets with Kei in tow. Kei tripped along behind Ino, chest heaving as she went. Kei was not particularly fit, nor did she pretend to be. She was decently good at evading people, but tripping along busy lanes of traffic was not her style. She slammed into a man and barely got out an apology before being hurling into a woman ambling by.

"Yamanaka-san! Please slow down!" Kei called out as she tumbled into another person, mumbling a hurried apology on the way. Kei wasn't exactly a people person. It was taking her all of her restraint not to try and escape Ino's grip and run for some lonely tree. If she climbed up into the branches, no one could disturb her there.

"We're almost there, Kei-chan!" Ino giggled as they made their way through the commercial district. They skidded to a stop, well, Ino skidded to a stop and Kei collided into her. "See? That wasn't too bad, was it?"

Kei had her hands on her knees, her notebook having fallen on the ground. She wheezed in and out, trying to catch her breath. "It was bad." Kei moaned before picking her notebook from the ground. She dusted off the binding before looking up to see Ino sticking her face directly into Kei's. Kei started back before sighing. She had to remind herself to keep her temper around Ino. "So, where is this dango stand?"

"Hehe! It's right over here! Isn't it fun going out to eat together, Kei-chan? It's the big day after all." Ino winked as she skipped along the stone paving towards the stand across the plaza. Kei gave a dejected sigh. That was right. It was the chuunin exams. Kei was not nearly as excited as her counterpart was.

"H-hey! Stop it! We already gave you everything!" Both girls looked over at the sound of the weak voice to see one of the stand owners quivering beside his small shack. A lean man loomed over the owner with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"Oh, is it now? I highly doubt that. Wretches like you always try to get away with something. We protect your bloody lives at the cost of our own. I think we deserve something a bit more than this measly amount of money. Now where is it?!" The shinobi yelled angrily, his spit flying onto the shopkeeper's face. The small man squealed in fright and backed into the wooden structure, rapidly realizing there was nowhere to go.

Kei frowned and took a step towards the man, about to ask him to stop. However, someone moved faster than her. Ino's smile fell off her face and a kunai slipped into her hand. "Disgusting." The blonde said quietly. Ino increased her pace as she headed towards the shinobi, "Miserable, disgusting, pathetic, lying, cheating, treacherous..." She muttered the words under her breath as a dark haze entered her eyes.

She walked up right behind the shinobi and raised her kunai, about to stab him in the back when Kei snapped into action. "Gyoushuku Mizu no Hari no Jutsu!" She flew through the handsigns, feeling the chakra run through her arms. She held out her hands before her as a single water needle formed in the air before sending it at Ino. The senbon flew, striking Ino's wrist with enough force to get her to drop the kunai, but not enough to hurt her.

The kunai clattered onto the stone, and the shinobi whirled around to see the glowering girl. "You had better leave," said Kei as she approached Ino, grabbing the girl's wrist. "I don't think it's wise for you to stay here or to ever come back." The shinobi snarled, but looked from the girls to the kunai on the ground.

"This will not be the end." The ninja said to the shop owner before shoving past Kei and Ino, heading back into the busy streets. When Kei lost sight of him, she pulled Ino away from the shopkeeper before turning on her.

"What did you think you were doing, Ino? You could have killed him! Don't tell me that you weren't thinking about it. A kunai stab at that angle could have severed his subclavian. I don't know if we could have hauled him to the hospital fast enough or if they'd have enough time to treat him. You should have just told him off!" Kei said in exasperation. She had never seen this side of Ino before. No, she had. She recalled the distant memory of when Ino's personality had turned dark, and she had insulted her teammates. Was this an extension of that time?

"I don't understand what you're talking about." Ino snorted. "He's a shinobi. It is his duty to protect the people, not hurt them. No, he's not a shinobi. A real shinobi would never act so disgracefully. If he died, what worry is that of mine?"

Kei was astounded. Was this really Ino? "That doesn't give you a reason to take the law into your own hands!"

"If I don't take it into my own hands, then no one will." Ino shot back. "But I'm tired of this. Let's go eat our dango, Kei-chan." Ino reached down, picking up the kunai from the ground and slipping it casually back into her pouch. She patted the weapon's pouch daintily before smiling happily at Kei. "Aren't you hungry too? Let's go!"

Kei looked at Ino with a worried look in her eyes. She wondered if she was wrong about not telling anyone about Ino earlier. What if Ino wasn't fit to participate in the exams because of this? If Kei didn't tell, she could get in trouble or she could accidentally kill someone. But she also knew that Inoichi would hate her and think that she had purposefully disqualified his daughter. Kei bit her lip and nodded. "Mm. That sounds good."

-TSUME-

After finishing their dango, the two headed over to the examination building. There, Shikamaru and Naruto were chatting outside the doors. Kei and Ino immediately headed towards them. "Hey, hey! How are you guys? It's been way, way too long!" Ino chirped as she came closer to the ground.

"I'm good, Ino-chan! How about you?" Naruto said cheerily. He smiled broadly, but he knew something was wrong. There was this subtle downturn of Kei's lips that meant something had happened. He wanted to know what it was, but he couldn't while Ino was there. With any hope, the other blonde would leave them soon.

"Good, good! Kei-chan and I had some dango before coming over here. It was awesome, wasn't it, Kei-chan?"

Kei had a moment's hesitation before saying, "Ah. Yes, it was." It was blatantly obvious to both Naruto and Shikamaru that something must have gone badly wrong for Kei to fail to put up any front of caring whatsoever.

Shikamaru looked from Naruto to Kei before saying, "How do you think your team is going to do, Ino-san?"

Ino's head turned from Naruto over to Shikamaru, and she quieted for a moment, just staring at him. A queer expression entered her eyes, as if she was trying to recall something. She opened her mouth before shutting it again, looking down at the ground. Shikamaru took a step closer to put his hand on her shoulder, but she whipped her head up again and said, "We're going to do fine. I mean, I'll be pulling all the weight because of the two slobs I have on my team, but we'll do well enough."

Shikamaru blinked in confusion before trying to continue as if nothing as if nothing was wrong. He couldn't help but wonder, was this what worried Kei? "I'm sure Chouji-san and Hanagaki-san are not that bad. They've been training alongside you as well, so I bet you've all improved."

"Yah, but I've been doing a ton of outside stuff. Reading Dad's books and stuff." Ino said flippantly. She looked around the crowd before groaning. "Oh no. Here comes fatty and weepy. Please, strike me dead."

Chouji had a wide berth around him, for his size took up a significant portion of the entryway. What Shikamaru noticed was how Chouji stared directly at the ground, not bothering to look up. Shikamaru headed over to his friend and looked him over. Chouji had to have gained 40 pounds at the very least. Now, it wasn't strange for an Akimichi to gain weight, but Chouji had gained it so quickly. He should have only gained half as much as he did. Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder if it was a sign of depression in his old friend.

He glanced back to Ino before looking over at Chouji. The three of them had been great friends since their parents had been so close. Ino had never insulted Chouji back then, so why did she do it now? She knew very well that it was a part of his clan jutsu. She didn't realize how hurtful her words were on the giant, and she clearly didn't notice Chouji's change in behavior. "Hey Chouji-san. You feeling ok?"

"Uh huh. Fine." Chouji replied despondently. Something inside Shikamaru clenched and his teeth gritted. It took all that he had not to go yell at the blonde girl. He'd have to talk to her later. It would do neither of them any good to make a scene out here.

Ryuu had crept up on them, casting wary glances around as he shuffled up to the ground. "They're out to get me. I know they are. They're all around with their lies and knives. They're going to kill me if I don't." He muttered under his breath as his head whipped around whenever someone walked by.

"Oh shut up." Ino complained callously. "No one here is going to kill you. You haven't even gotten in the arena yet, and you're acting like a baby. Be a man, why don't you?"

"But they're here! All around us, and they want to kill us!" Ryuu exclaimed with wide eyes as he turned to look at Ino. "Don't you see and hear them?"

"Oh, do not pull me into your delusions, Hanagaki-san." Ino complained with a sneer. "You're just going to make yourself ill, though admittedly, that isn't really a bad thing."

Naruto look at Ryuu carefully. He knew that Ryuu sounded crazy – no one could deny that - but something in his words rung true to Naruto. Ever since he had received his mission, he heard things differently. Now Ryuu's blabbering didn't sound as much like insanity as it did well-placed suspicion. Could Ryuu know about the rebellion?

"I believe you, Hanagaki-san!" Naruto said merrily, slinging an arm around the smaller boy's shoulder. The blue haired boy started at Naruto's approach and stammered while Ino groaned.

"Please don't encourage him! We're never going to get him to stop rambling about death and destruction at this rate!" Ino moaned, rubbing her face with the palm of her hand.

"Y-you believe me?" Ryuu said in utter shock. Blue strands of hair fell in front of his face as he stared at Naruto. No one had ever believed him before. They all just called him mad or they told him to quit with the conspiracy theories.

"Sure I do! Come over here, and we can talk 'bout it in quiet!" Naruto dragged Ryuu away from Ino and asked, "Have you heard anything else recently?" He had a smile on his face, but his heart was beating fast. This could be the break they were looking for. No one would ever suspect Ryuu because he was, well, Ryuu.

"People have been saying that the exams will be the beginning of something big. I'm scared, you know? I've heard voices that a lot of people are going to die, but that it has to be done. But I don't want people to die, you know? I tried to tell people, but no one listens to me. They just tell me to shut up and quit worrying. You're the only one that has tried to listen, Uzumaki-san." Ryuu nodded urgently, his normally dull eyes brightening ever so slightly. They still retained that slightly crazed look, but Naruto's mind was occupied elsewhere.

If this was true, then it confirmed that the rebellion would happen in the chuunin exams. The revolt they had worried about was now becoming a reality.

-TSUME-

"I'm serious, Hinata-sama. You're being so naive right now." Neji said as he walked with his team towards the chuunin exam area. "Do you really think that ninja don't ever abuse their powers?"

"That is not what I'm saying, Neji-nii-sama!' Hinata exclaimed, waving her arms around emphatically. "I'm just saying is that the capacity for good is better than the capacity for evil! What has gotten into you anyways? It was almost better when you just kept quiet instead of talking so much."

Neji snarled at Hinata, sending her a venomous glare. Hinata had gotten a lot more brash and annoying recently. It irritated him because she didn't respect her position. She was fortunate to be a part of the main house, yet she continued to act like some sort of common rabble. She didn't walk with dignity, nor did she act with it. It was better now that she talked some, but now she took no care with her words. "I suppose you're glad that I have the seal then. Trust that to be like you main house people." He snorted, turning away from the exasperated Hinata.

"Ugh! This is just so stupid." Hinata grumbled, marching ahead of the small group.

Teru perked up when he saw Hinata marching off and turned to Tenten and said, "Looks like I must depart, eh? I'll get to talk to you later, right?"

Tenten nodded and smiled sweetly, "I certainly hope so, Teru-kun!" Teru was such a nice boy. He was very engaging, but he also took time to care about what she thought. Only, it seemed that he only cared what girls thought, but that wasn't particularly important.

"Let's go, bug boy!" Teru said, whacking Shino on the back. Shino stumbled forward and turned to look at Teru. It was impossible to know if he was staring, but something in his body language told that he was infuriated. Or perhaps it was the loud hissing sound that his bugs were making. "Gross as usual, eh? Well come on, we gotta hurry on!"

"Insufferable boy..." Shino murmured under his breath. He gave a curt nod to Lee, who had been trying to engage him in conversation for the past ten minute, before walking ahead into the exam building.

-TSUME-

"Oh shut up. Your brain must be smaller than the one that mutt of yours has if you seriously believe that," Sasuke snarked, rolling his eyes. Beside him, Kiba fumed, clenching a fist angrily.

"Shut up Uchiha-san! Your parents must have all died because they were tired looking at your disgusting face!" Kiba retorted, pleased at the anger that crept onto the other's face. Sasuke shook in fury, his face turning slightly red. He stormed past Kiba and into the doorway, but not before the other called, "And you're too cowardly to stand up for yourself! How they would have been disappointed!"

Sasuke stomped a foot on the ground, and turned back to stare at Kiba, his sharingan whirling. "You imbecile!" He ran at Kiba, lifting up a fist to punch him in the face, only to screech to a stop as Sakura threw herself in-between the two, her arms above her head.

"Stop it!" She screamed, drawing the attention of all those around. She shook in place, obviously terrified of what she was doing. "Y-you could both be disqualified if you strike other competitors on the grounds. I-it's in the rule book that they handed out for participants."

Sasuke stared down at her, an annoyed frown on his face. His gaze flicked back up to Kiba, and he hissed, "This isn't over, Inuzuka-san."

Kiba raised his hands up in the air and smirked, "Never expected it to be! Bring it on whenever you're not too chicken to right me! Oh wait, I mean crow. Right." Sasuke growled before whirling around on his feet, and marching into the building.

-TSUME-

The teams made their way up to the upper level, all easily bypassing the genjutsu hidden at the bottom of the stairs. Some genin solved the clue on their own while others had a little bit of "help" along the way. All of the teams had heard the exact same thing from their mentors: get to know the other competitors. This was a chance to make connections with the other countries, and that was not to be underestimated. However, some of the genin had different purposes. Tsume looked around the room quietly, observing how all the other genin interacted.

Kiba and Sasuke immediately went over to the genin from Oto. To be honest, Kei found them a bit creepy. She didn't like how they looked as if everyone around them were ants or even pieces of meat. She made a mental note to be careful around them. Shino had gone over to the Ame team, leaving his teammates, Teru and Hinata, to chat up the girl from Oto.

"We should try to spread ourselves out over the other countries' teams. Naruto-san, you go to Suna. You seem to get along with them better than any of us." Shikamaru snorted at that. He could hardly call Naruto's tentative relationship 'getting along with them', but it was more than the stares that he and Kei received. "Kei-chan, you go to Kusa. That girl looks a lot like your type, so your personalities would mesh together well."

Kei looked over to see a girl with bright red hair talking with her teammates. Kei turned to Shikamaru and nodded while asking, "Where are you going then?"

"I'll be talking to Kiri. No Konoha genin are talking to them currently, and it would seem awkward if we overcrowded Oto and Ame. We'll split up and meet fifteen minutes before the exams start." Shikamaru looked over to the clock and saw that it was 9am. That meant that they had an hour and fifteen minutes before the games began at 10:30. "Let's split."

Naruto and Kei nodded before dispersing over to their respective groups. Naruto weaved his way through the crowd before stepping into a large opening. He looked around and noticed that all the other genin were giving the team from Suna a large birth, probably because of Gaara. Naruto laughed weakly. He had to say that he sympathized with the other teams. He wouldn't particularly want to be near Gaara either if not for feeling a kind of kinship to the other jinchuuriki.

"Naruto-san." Gaara said blandly, signaling that he noticed Naruto's approach. Gaara scrunched his face up before looking down to the ground. Naruto walked over, slightly confused by the other boy's actions. "We..." Gaara stopped, trying to formulate his words. "We are allies, you and I."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and let out an intelligent, "Huh?" Then it clicked in his head. "So, you've talked with Hokage-sama?" He tried to phrase it vaguely, just like how he knew Shikamaru would do. If Gaara was bluffing, which Naruto doubted because of Gaara's lack of fluency, a slip up could mean that he would slip the whole plan. He shifted slightly, trying to get a read on Gaara's face like he had done with so many others. Unfortunately, Gaara had perfected the poker face, and Naruto couldn't glean a single scrap of information.

"Mmhmm." Gaara said uncomfortably. He looked over to Temari pointedly before turning away from the blonde, preferring to enter a staring contest with the wall. Temari sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Right, right. First you demand us to shut up when we talk to them, the next you order us to speak. Make up your mind, won't you, Gaara?" Temari complained. She looked over to Naruto and said, "The Hokage contacted us a few days ago, just after we confronted you. We're to be working with you from now on. Don't get us wrong. We aren't doing this because we like you or anything, but the Hokage promised to subsidize the economy of Suna and to write up a new trade agreement." She huffed in annoyance. She loathed the dependence that Suna now had on Konoha, but she just had to deal with it for a bit longer.

Naruto nods, a sigh of relief escaping him. Finally, they had their first allies. They had been so long without any that it had been beginning to worry him. He was a bit disappointed that the Hokage had to make their allies for them, but an ally was an ally in the end. "So, how has your stay been? Talked to anyone interesting?" Naruto slipped back into his general speaking, causing Temari to make a face. It took her a few moments to catch on, but then she opened her mouth in realization.

"Ahh, yes. We've been talking with some of the civilians. They're quite interesting you know. They quite idolize the clan heads, you know. There were two in particular, but I can't quite remember their names..." Naruto furrowed his brow. He had rather hoped that the betrayal hadn't gone up to the clan heads.

With the clan heads involved, it meant that their children would probably also be coerced into joining the traitors side. He turned his head to look around the room. His gaze landed on Kiba, Hinata, Neji, Chouji, and Shino. Absolutely any of them could be involved at this point. He mentally crossed Shikamaru and Ino off the list because Shikamaru was a known ally, and Ino couldn't be manipulated through Inoichi. So that left the Inuzuka clan, the Hyuuga clan, the Akimichi clan, and the Aburame clan. A one in two guess for picking a traitorous clan, but it wasn't enough.

"It's a pity considering all the clan kids are participating in this exam. You could have met them and learned more about the clans then. You can talk to them later if you want." It was Naruto's silent way of asking that they try to figure out more about the clan traitors. Temari inclined her head, meaning that she got the message.

"When we checked in with the Hokage, we noticed that some of the guards were performing some sort of rituals. Are all Konoha residents that strange or is it just the one's we've met?" Naruto resisted the temptation to say some snarky remark in return and instead thought about what she said.

She was probably referring to the Hokage Guard Platoon. So did that mean that there were also traitors in the Hokage's guards? Naruto's eyes widened a fraction. That could be incredibly dangerous if not dealt with immediately. "No, we aren't all that weird. Except perhaps for Shikamaru-kun. I think he worships the god of sleep and laziness." Naruto smirked a bit before saying, "I had better be going now. The exams are going to start soon. I wish you luck."

"And you too, brat." Kankuro finally spoke up - utterly annoyed by the fact he had been so ignored. Naruto gave a cheery wave before worming his way through the crowd and back to where he could see Kei and Shikamaru mulling over what they had figured out. They waved Naruto over and then headed over to an uninhabited part of the room. Kei sat herself down on a chair and looked at the two boys with a slight frown on her face.

"Karin-san was a bit of a blabbermouth, so it was surprising all the things I learned from her. Not many of them were good things though." Kei began. "There are at least forty jounin to ANBU level bodyguards from all the shinobi villages, excluding Konoha of course. However, I know on average that each dignitary is assigned two body guards, one for day and one for night shifts. They range from jounin to ANBU level depending on importance. There are less than twenty five important leaders including secretaries and public relations officials. The number's abnormally high. It's a worriso-," she looked over to Shikamaru, "troublesome thing."

"Karin-san also said that she's worried about the shinobi from Oto. She feels as if they're a bit too slimy, but it's just a feeling." Kei said with a shrug. "I thought I had better mention it anyways, but there's something else." Kei's face fell into a frown. "Karin-san told me as a girl to girl thing, but she said that Inuzuka-san boasted that he'd kill anyone that got in his path during the games." She paused, looking at her two comrades. "Anyone. I doubt that he'd stop himself just because we're from the same village."

She rapped her fingers on her notebook anxiously. It was the last part that worried her. It could be a simple boast, but it could also have much graver implications. All genin entering were required to sign waivers saying that it wasn't the host country's fault if someone died in the exams, but they were also not meant to strike for the kill. However, it didn't have any rules or laws demanding that they weren't allowed to kill people. It was just an unspoken rule. But perhaps, if Kiba wanted to get rid of counter-insurgents then maybe he would try to kill as many as possible...

Shikamaru sighed and looked at the clock, "I don't have much to say. Kiri was exceptionally well guarded. They kept the conversation on the climate and on tourism. Whenever I tried to talk about people in the village or imply anything, they steered the conversation away."

A loud bell rung at the large doorway at the end of the room, and all the genin turned to look. A large man stood at the end of the doorway. A black cap covered his head, and an overcoat shielded the rest of him from view. Two long scars ran down his face, sending chills down some poor genin's spines. "You're all to come with me now. But before we go in to begin the first part of the exam I will allow you the chance to back out. I cannot guarantee that you will exit the same way that you enter, so if you value maintaining your current state, I'd advise you leave."

His cold eyes drifted over the crowd before landing in the corner of the room where Tsume was sitting. His eyes lingered there for a moment too long before drifting around to other corners of the room. A team from Sunagakure raised their hands along with a team from Amegakure. The two teams were shuttled out of the room, leaving 28 teams. Ibiki grunted, and thundered, "All of you come with me. We'll get you all nice and comfortable." There was something about the way that Ibiki said comfortable that raised the hairs on Naruto's neck. He swallowed anxiously before following Ibiki.

The first exam room was... a classroom? "Take your seats. All teams must split up so that they don't have a partner in a desk near them." Ibiki said gruffly, walking to the front of the room. All the teams moaned at this before slowly dispersing around the room. Naruto took a seat in the middle while Kei sat in the back left corner and Shikamaru in the back right.

Soon enough, all the students sat in their respective chairs and waited for the exam to start. "Right. Now I'm going to give you all a second chance to leave." Naruto screwed up his face. This was repetitive wasn't it? "But I'm going to tell you something I didn't tell you earlier." Ibiki raised his hand and hit it against the chalkboard, "This test is standardized for the year. If you fail this test, you won't be able to participate in the next exams during winter." Ibiki sent a harsh glare around the room. "With this in mind, will any of you volunteer to get out of this room?"

Well that threw a kink in everyone's plans. Especially now that everyone had been separated, each genin had to act on their own. "I'm sorry, but I want to leave!" A Suna genin shot up from her chair, followed by four more genin asking to withdraw. Two withdrawals were from Konoha, another from Suna, and one more from Ame.

"If you want to leave, take your teams and get out." Ibiki snorted as the five teams evacuated the room. As soon as the door closed came a muttered "Pathetic." He looked back to the rest of the teams and said, "Now let's work on rules." He pointed two fingers to the back of the room and summoned two chuunin to the front of the room.

The gray clad chuunin carried large stacks of papers and dumped them on a desk in the front of the room. They took some of the sheets from the top, and began passing them out while Ibiki spoke. "This is a ten question test. If you're smart, you have realized there are only nine questions on your test. This is because I am going to give you another at the very end. Also, because I'm nice. I'll give you an extra credit question to see if any of you maggots actually have brains."

"You all have your exams on your desks. You are going to answer them and get at least half of them right. If you fail, then you're out just like the other kids. Tough luck. If you cheat, you are immediately kicked out as well. I'll have people watching you because you miserable brats always think you're so smart. We'll be keeping an eye out for you cheaters, so be on your guard." Ibiki said low. "You have one hour!" He walked through the center aisle, his chuunin following him.

"I'll be back for you then." He walked out, slamming the doors shut behind him. The two chuunin stood silently by the door, and the genin could feel their stares boring into them. Kei had already started on the quiz, it containing things like mixing affinities and chakra pressure. Basically, she didn't see the big deal about it. She did worry about Naruto, but she knew that he'd do well enough. It was Shikamaru who she was worrying about.

Shikamaru was slowly writing his answers down on paper. As soon as he got to the sixth question, he dropped his pen and laid himself over his desk, closing his eyes. He only needed 51% to get over the limit, so why bother writing more? He could just conserve energy and wait for the next part of the exam.

"Suna in row five, three desks in. You're out along with your team." A blonde boy stood up sheepishly, walked out into the aisle along with his teammates. They could hear his profuse apologies until the door swung shut again.

Naruto groaned. How on earth was he supposed to know the trajectory of a kunai flying at a 45 degree angle with a wind affinity pushing it at ten miles per hour faster than normal? He didn't know, and he didn't care! He stabbed his paper multiple times, dearly wishing that the paper could just burn away and leave him alone.

A few minutes turned to twenty, and Naruto lost hope. He doodled aimlessly with his right hand, casting glances around the room. Some of the genin were obviously struggling. A few had their arms over their heads and were silently screaming. Others were agitatedly scratching out what they had written. Then his eyes landed on a Kusa nin just a seat in front and to the left of him. The ninja was calmly writing out answers before placing his pen on the table.

Naruto scrunched up his face. How on earth did the ninja feel that relaxed? Everything on here was obviously far beyond their learning level, so there was no way he could have known the answers... Then something clicked in Naruto's mind. If it was impossible for them to know the answers, then there had to be plants for them to get the answers from.

Naruto burst out laughing, sending heads swiveling in his direction. "Shut up, brat! And all of you, get back to work!" Ibiki yelled, annoyed that something had come up to distract the genin. He glared at Naruto who was now hunching over his paper, trying to stifle his laughs.

Naruto looked up from the desk and scribbled messily at the top of the page, "Whatever the "Kusa ninja" from the third row, two seats over wrote." Satisfied with his work, he didn't bother to do much else. Instead, he continued his doodling on the back of the page. The doodles took a strange form, though Naruto didn't particularly know why. They looked a bit like the storage seals that Inoichi carried along with him, but Naruto couldn't tell if they were the same.

Naruto scratched his chin, trying to figure out if there was anything else for him to add. Eventually, he shook his head and finished off his handiwork.

"Time's up!" Ibiki bellowed, causing some of the genin into dropping their pens. "Flip your papers over and prepare for the extra-credit question and the tenth question!" Naruto didn't quite care about this tenth question, but he cared about what this extra-credit was. He hadn't ever heard of extra-credit in any of the previous chuunin exams. He made quick note of it, and looked intently at Ibiki.

"If you answer the extra-credit right, it'll make up for some of your pathetic mistakes. So, I'd advise you to at least try." Ibiki snorted. "Considering this is a test, it's a good idea to see how smart you maggots are. Ninjas have to learn how to solve riddles and clues on the fly, so you have five minutes to solve the extra credit." Ibiki cleared his throat, "Sweet yet sour, vibrant yet black, warm but cold. What am I?"

From his spot in the back, Shikamaru's eyes slipped over to where Sasuke started slightly in his chair. The Uchiha's eyes lit up in recognition and he bent over the paper to write down. Sasuke smirked as he scribbled down the answer. "A Lie".

Author's Note: See! I promised it would be longer! /waves with a flourish/ I haven't had a chapter this long in ages, so I hope you like it! I'm finally moving onto the chuunin exams! I've waited for these for so long, so I hope they'll be just as fun for you as they are for me!

Result of the Poll: Thanks so much for giving me all of your opinions! Team Tsume will be a no-pairing story. :D If I decide to write a sequel, which I think I will, I might add a pairing then. They're really just 13 now, so it would be a bit awkward to write romance anyways. Thanks so much for voting and telling me your opinions! I really appreciate it!

Thanks to Pokepikachu1 for continuing to put up with me! ;-; I'm a writing wreck at times, and I appreciate your support!

At the Guest reviewer: I'm sorry if the story makes you uncomfortable, but I'm going to continue writing it this way. Spying is a legitimate form of combat, and knowledge is power. It was an awful period of time, but militarily, I think any dictator would do the same. I hope you'll continue to enjoy the story! (: