Disclaimer – Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters therein.

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Memories Of Others

Chapter 25

The Teams Assemble

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"Good luck." Tsunami said, giving Ino and her team a smile and small bow. Inari was less restrained and shook both Shikamaru and Choji's hands before hugging Ino.

"We'll be back to see you kicking ass in a month!" He grinned up at her and Ino smiled despite herself.

"I'll look forwards to it."

"We have to go now." Tsunami said after a moment and Inari sighed as he released Ino.

"Be good." Ino smiled. "And remember those exercises."

Inari nodded, then waved as three of the six Naruto clones who had been waiting nearby took position around him. A few seconds later, he and his mother vanished in flashes of golden light.

"Damn, missing him already, the annoying little brat." Ino muttered under her breath, then she inhaled deeply and squared her shoulders. "Alright! Let's get going!"

"I agree." Shikamaru yawned as he ambled forwards. "After all, you don't want to diappoint your toyboy. Yipe!"

Choji shook his head as Shikamaru sprinted off, showing far more energy than any other Nara, pursued hotly by a cursing Ino.

"Hey, guys!" He shouted as he broke into a deceptively fast run. "Wait for me!"

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"I'm here!" Kiba shouted as he bounded onto the training field. "Sorry, had to deal with a slight issue. Mom was trying to get me to tell her where I got the meat."

"Why did you not divulge that information?" Shino asked and Kiba smirked.

"Because the way I see it, I can get her to pay me to get more, then I can hire Naruto to get it. He gets paid, I get a slice of the cash and some of the meat and mom gets what she wants. Total win!"

"Clever." Hinata said in approval. "Are you ready?"

"Let's kick ass!"

"I believe myself to be suitably prepared for the task ahead of us."

"Then let's do this." Hinata stated, leading her team towards the distant Academy.

"You know," Kiba mused, "You're really starting to use more Naruto-isms."

"I also have perceived the ongoing modification of your vocabulary."

Hinata blushed as she tried to ignore the gentle teasing of her friends.

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"Yosh! Let us show our flames of youth!"

"Lee!" Tenten growled, grabbing her team-mate by the shoulder. "Remember the plan! We pretend to be weak until we can see which of the other teams could be a threat to us. Remember that!"

"…hai."

Neji smirked slightly, then his face went blank as Tenten turned her glare onto him.

"I am not concerned." He stated. "We are fated to win, it is our destiny."

"Unless we have to go up against Op Force on his own turf." Tenten pointed out, causing both boys to wince in memory.

"I have been studying the manual of traps." Neji admitted. "For an Uchiha, Madara was indeed very inventive, a most unusual thing given the way the Uchiha operated back then."

Tenten raised an eyebrow and Neji took it as his cue to expand on his comment.

"Back in the Clan War days, before Konohagakure was founded and showed the way for other Hidden Villages, the Uchiha and the Senju were often fighting each other. The Senju had a tendency to use unique jutsu which the Uchiha copied with their Sharingan and used against them. However, the ability to copy jutsu meant that very few of the Uchiha ever actually attempted to create new jutsu for their own use. Why should they expend all that effort when they could simply watch someone else? Madara was one of the very few who were known to actually innovate, which is why he was such a fearsome adversary. Unlike the majority of the Uchiha, he was not predictable."

"Huh." Tenten finally managed. "Any idea where I can get a copy of that book from?"

"I shall consult the clan archivist after the exam." Neji promised.

"Thanks, Neji."

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"Sasuke." Sakura said in greeting.

"Sakura." Sasuke replied.

The two genin nodded at each other, then a third voice shouted a name.

"Tobio!"

Both genin stared at their team-mate who shrugged.

"What? I was feeling left out."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, then turned to look at the building they had gathered in front of.

"There seem to be quite a few teams here from other villages." He mused. "I wonder how many of them have techniques I can copy?"

"As long as you don't copy mine." Tobio shrugged. "Or Sakura's."

"We've already discussed this." Sasuke pointed out. "Anything I copy from you, I won't use without permission."

"Just checking." Tobio shrugged. "After all, during that mission to Tanzuka Quarters, you had to use the Oriok-umph!"

"That. Never. Happened." Sasuke growled and Tobio nodded. A moment passed, then Sasuke removed his hand from Tobio's mouth.

"Can we go in now?" Sakura asked and both boys exchanged glances before nodding.

"Where is the exam?"

"Room… three zero one." Sakura said, checking the application form. "There seems to be quite a queue forming on the main stairs… detour round? There's a second set of stairs around that way which cross-connects."

"She's the brains." Tobia agreed and Sasuke nodded slowly.

"Sakura, you have lead."

Sakura glanced round to see if anyone was watching them before scurrying to the corner of the building.

"The door's locked." She reported, glancing round.

"I got this." Tobio smirked as he pulled out a roll of fabric and unrolled it to reveal odd-shaped bits of metal in small pockets. "I learned how to pick locks back in the orphanage, the matron kept us on short rations to try and pocket extra money for herself. Heh, rumor had it that she sold some of the kids to a secret organisation to be brainwashed… come to think of it, I never did find out what happened to Shin and his younger brother… easy does it… according to the older kids, Naruto was once at the orphanage as well, but he was taken away after being locked outside one time too many, and then the matron… aha!"

The lock clicked and Tobio returned his tools to their pockets as Sasuke peeked through.

"Clear, but I don't remember this corridor…"

"I do, it's one that's only used to get to the storerooms." Sakura supplied as she slipped past him. "The stairs we want are this way."

"I wonder how the others are doing?" Tobio mused.

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"Damn morons." Suigetsu groused as he shoved his way through the crowd gathered outside the door, glancing up at the number. "Get out of our way!"

"Suigetsu…" Haku said warningly and the white-haired genin cringed.

"Heh, what a scaredy-cat." One of the nearby genin sneered. "If you're the strongest that the Hidden Mist has, that civil war must have pretty much destroyed your forces. Heh, means more missions for us."

"Yeah?!" Suigetsu half-shouted. "At least we of the mist don't get fooled by a half-assed genjutsu that changes a two into a three!"

The mob of genin went silent and Haku face-palmed.

"Dammit, Suigetsu! When will you learn to keep your mouth closed!"

"Thanks, kid." The Kumo genin sneered as he and his team headed towards the stairs. "Keep it up and your own team-mates'll take you down to stop you from stabbing yourself in the foot like that."

Suigetsu shuddered as he met Haku's gaze. "…help…"

"Haku, you can slap him down later." Chojuro said as he stepped up. "Let's just get to the real exam room."

"Why would they even have a crappy illusion like that, anyway?" Suigetsu asked as they joined the flow of genin.

"So that those who don't know how to detect such things don't get to the proper exam, since they obviously aren't prepared." A voice said and Suigetsu looked round to see a boy with pineapple-style hair slouching along beside him, his arm-mounted Hitai-ate boasting the swirled leaf of Konoha.

"Oh. I… didn't think of that."

"I think you could drop the last two words and it would be more accurate." Haku stated and Suigetsu winced.

"I'm going to be hearing about this for a long time, aren't I?"

"Your team-mates seem to be almost as troublesome as mine." The Konoha genin sighed. "Well, see you round."

The boy dropped back and Suigetsu swallowed nervously as he saw Haku twirling an ice senbon between his fingers.

"…I'm sorry?"

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"Over there." Sasuke stated and his team made their way through the milling genin to where two other teams were standing in the corner.

"Hey, you made it!" Kiba exclaimed. "Great!"

"It would have been troublesome if they hadn't." Shikamaru sighed as his shadow snapped out and snagged Ino before she could glomp Sasuke.

"Thanks, Shika." Sasuke said as he stepped to one side, allowing a grinning Tobio to take his place. Ino stared in horror as Tobio spread his arms ready to hug her, then Shikamaru released his shadow-hold and Ino stumbled forwards, unable to avoid crashing into Tobio.

"Nonononono… get off me!"

"Awwww, and there I was thinking I was finally getting a fangirl of my own." Tobio mock-mourned as Ino wriggled free, then he ducked Ino's punch. "Hey!"

"Enough, Ino-pig." Sakura said as she caught Ino's fist. "Only I am allowed to hit him like that."

"Yea… hey!"

"You know, you are attracting attention." A new voice said and Ino half-turned to see an older teen-aged boy with white hair and glasses smiling gently at them. "You wouldn't want to make yourselves into targets before the exam starts, would you now?"

"Who are you?" Kiba asked and the new arrival bowed slightly.

"Yakushi Kabuto, at your service. This is my seventh genin exam… I've had a bit of a run of bad luck over the last few years."

"Sounds like it." Tobio agreed. "So… any tips for us? Things not to do?"

"Well, you've already attracted quite a bit of attention," Kabuto sighed, "So how about I help you learn about your competition. I made a set of ninja info cards containing information about all the genin entering the exam. Are there any you want to learn about?"

The nine genin exchanged glances, then Hinata blushed slightly.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Kabuto pulled a small deck of cards out of his tunic pocket and quickly riffled through them.

"I don't seem to have him… are you certain he's participating?"

"He's an Independent Genin." Sasuke supplied. "We've all gone up against him…"

"Ah, you mean Op Force!" Kabuto exclaimed, putting away his deck of cards and puling out another one. "Let me check my Important Shinobi deck… here we are. Uzumaki Op Force Naruto."

Kabuto put the card down on the desk and everyone looked at it.

"Parents unknown, skills are taijutsu medium to high, ninjutsu high, genjutsu low, no known bloodlimit and his weapons-work is medium to high with an emphasis on traps. He has done a hundred and fifteen D-ranks, three C-ranks and two A-rank missions. His primary techniques are the Kage Bunshin and… the Hiraishin."

Tobio whistled. "Deyaaamn. Hey, what about Hinata here? He's engaged to her, right?"

Hinata nodded as Kabuto switched his cards and pulled one out.

"Hyuuga Hinata, parents are Hyuuga Hiashi and Hyuuga Hitomi, deceased. My condolences. Team leader is Jonin Yuhi Kurenai, team-mates are Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and his ninken Akamaru. Skills are taijutsu medium to high, ninjutsu medium, genjutsu medium to high, medium to high level of control over her bloodlimit of the byakugan and weapons-work low to medium. I see that you've done a dozen D-ranks, two C-ranks and an A-rank. Primary technique is a modified version of the Jyuuken fighting style."

Hinata nodded in confirmation. "If we have time, Kabuto-san, can you tell us about the red-head over there? He has a great deal of chakra, more than most adults."

Kabuto glanced at the indicated boy, then shuffled through his deck.

"Red head from Suna… red head from Suna… red head fr-aha! Here we are. Gaara of the Desert, the youngest member of the Desert Siblings led by Jonin Baki. The other two are Kankuro and Temari. I don't have that much data on him since he's from Suna and this is his first exam, but he's done one B-rank mission and eight C-ranks. As the exams progress, I'll be able to update the card, but I have heard that he performed every single mission without getting a single scratch."

"He uses sand." Hinata supplied. "I saw a layer of sand covering his entire body, infused with his chakra. I couldn't see below that."

"Sand armor." Shino mused. "That would give him a considerable advantage under most circumstances… logically, his weaknesses would be raiton and suiton jutsu."

Kabuto put his cards away and looked round.

"I can see that there are representatives from almost every village here, even the new ones like…"

His comment was interrupted by a flash of golden light at the front of the room and everyone turned to see a tall man in a dark trenchcoat glaring at them from the front of a group of identically-clad examiners.

"Settle down!" He growled.