27 ~

Konoha was already a busy place, but with them being the host village for the Chuunin exams; it was overflowing with life. People from all over the world would come stay in the village to experience the exams first hand. Businesses loved all of the traffic, but the civilians weren't that fond of all the visitors. They usually weren't 'Konohagakure material' so to speak.

One of the many tourists that came to see the exams was a young man with long hair, his face framed by bangs. He wore an orange bandana around his neck, green haori, and a trademark smirk that could only be associated with the boy that hailed from the desert. It was his first time in Konoha, and he was enjoying himself so far.

He wasn't a shinobi, nor a regular citizen, but a petty thief that funded his whole trip by stealing money from those unfortunate to trust his 'services.' The teenage boy couldn't pass up the opportunity to make even more money pulling his same tricks on the traveling shinobi, and more importantly; gullible rookies who would do anything to pass.

The traveling thief had racked up at least 6,000 ryo selling answers to the written portion of the Chuunin exam. He wasn't even sure if there was a written test, but he planned on making more money before the day was over. The boy was currently counting his cash out loud as he walked through the streets of Konoha.

"Hey, that's the guy that sold me these fake ass answers!" Someone screamed out from around the corner, and his head swiveled in that direction. He immediately took off running so he wouldn't be caught by the foolish kids and be forced to give his money back, but crashed into a woman was coming from the opposite direction.

He froze in fear, being sized up the Kumogakure native Samui, and from the other direction came her two students. She furrowed her brow, "Stealing from kids isn't cool." The woman grabbed the man by his wrist and he instantly started to freak out, his face getting red and trying to get away from the woman.

"That's the asshole! He told me his name was Yamcha," Karui stomped into the scene and grabbed all of the money from Yamcha, who was too frozen in fear by Samui touching him. The genin thumbed through the money and smiled, "Thank you for the money."

Yamcha's fear of women took him over, and seeing Samui's chest that close to his face nearly made him explode. The woman tossed him onto the ground, and he scrambled away with his tail between his legs, leaving the team to stare at their newly acquired money.

Omoi was entertaining the thought that Yamcha could come back and try to kill them for the money, but Karui smacked him on the head with the cash when she saw him in deep thought. The boy rubbed at his head gently, "It's weird being the only ones from Kumogakure here." He was wondering why it was taking so long for Master Roshi's team and Goku were taking so long to arrive, maybe they got lost?

"You know K is always late to everything," Samui reminded her student and brought the two of them into her embrace. She started them walking away from where they had just stolen their money back from and began leading them toward the restaurant district. The woman didn't ask why they were trying to cheat on the test, because she knew how nervous kids could get before the test started, "They'll probably be here in few days, if they're smart."

Yamcha was not too far from them, hiding behind a wall, and watching Samui walk off with his money. She was lucky that she had a vagina or else he would tracking them down and driving a knife through their throat, but his crippling fear of women would never let that happen. He let out a deep sigh, "I'm never going to get a girlfriend like this."

"You're right," Another surprise voice made Yamcha turn around, and start backing away from another woman who made herself known to the young thief. She had her hands stuffed in the pockets of her tan overcoat, rearing her head back to get a good look at the retreating Yamcha. She took her hand out of her pocket and a snake fell out of her sleeve and slithered up to the boy.

It slithered up his leg and bared its fangs, threatening to bite him, and he froze in even more fear, "W-W-W-W-Wha, what did I do?" He asked, trying to play the innocent role as long as he wasn't accused of anything.

"You've been selling answers to our test, and I can't just let you get away with that, honey," The woman stood over him, placing her foot over his stomach and folded her arms. "You're coming with me; I think we can have some fun together."

The only thing any one saw or heard in passing was the woman dragging Yamcha away, and the boy screaming at the top of his lungs for someone to help, but it mostly went ignored, since no one had the guts to try and get him away from the feared woman.

. . .

(Elsewhere in Konoha)

The blonde haired genin sat on top of the First Hokage's head, next to his teammate Karin, and the newest addition to their team was Pepper. They all sat there in collective silence, with different things on their brains.

N wasn't particularly brought into the Akatsuki bounty hunter program on the most polite of terms, so he was frustrated to say the least. His original plan was to escape to Konoha and meet up with the groups from Kumogakure that were participating and return home with them, but he was trapped working for one of the few people on Earth despised, and that was Deidara.

Pepper felt the same way as N, being downgraded from his rank of lieutenant to 'genin' while he was representing the Akatsuki in the exams. There were plenty of youth in the Akatsuki's many programs, but apparently Deidara chose him for the mission, and it infuriated him to no end. The freckle faced bomber sighed and tried to shake his thoughts of murdering Deidara off.

Karin wasn't as mad as the two gifted children she was working with for the mission, her deal with Akatsuki was special, and had no problem working for them. It was also nice to be outside of the barely operational infirmary in their base.

Deidara groaned out loud, standing over the three children with a frown on his face, "Are you three really just going to sit here all day?" He had never been to Konoha, and was slightly satisfied that he was chosen over Itachi to oversee this mission for obvious reasons. The boy could get away with being in the village because everyone roaming the streets for the exam was a criminal to a certain degree, so he would be fine as long as he didn't cross paths with any Iwagakure natives. "Let's hit the streets, un!"

"No, we're staying right here," Pepper shot a glance back at Deidara and shook his head. "You're a fucking S-ranked criminal; I'm not trying to fight off any of those rock-head idiots you pissed off today." He wondered everyday how he or Bali weren't the leader of the explosion corps, because Deidara's intelligence made him worry more often than not.

Deidara didn't enjoy his authority being in question, especially in front of the newcomer in Karin. Him trying to flex his authority in front of N was a fruitless endeavor at this point, the boy had seen first hand him failing to control Bali and Pepper. The blonde haired 'sensei' placed his hands on hips, fuming with anger, "Fuck you, we're going down there right now, un!"

N knew Deidara was an idiot, as well as a criminal, but he never knew how he garnered the title of 'criminal,' let alone S-rank. He watched Pepper and Deidara bicker with each other for a few minutes, before he finally opened his mouth, "Slow down, what did you do in Iwagakure?" He remembered his friend Goku had recently returned from there with wanted status over his head too.

"Stole one of the village's kinjutsu, killed a few guys on my way out, nothing big," Deidara waved it off as he started to walk off the stone head, so he could roam the village like he wanted to. He didn't care what happened to his make-shift genin team until the exams actually started.

Pepper couldn't let Deidara roam the village alone in his mind, so he jumped up and ran after the captain of the explosion corps.

N had no choice but to stand up, dusting himself off, and then offered a hand to the still sitting Karin, "We have to make sure those two idiots don't get too far." He helped her off of the ground and walked off, pulling at his drawstrings like he always did as he paced behind the two higher ranking Akatsuki members.

Karin furrowed her brow, already being able to tell she'd be quite annoyed by their antics while she was in Konoha.

. . .

(Konoha Again)

Vegeta always thought of himself as a calm, rational, and level-headed person, but today that opinion was thrown out the window by the general population of Konoha. When he left the hotel, his plans included taking a tour of the village, restocking on his weapons, and getting something to eat with his team.

No where on that list was choking the air out of a preteen human boy, but it still managed to happen.

He had his hand firmly wrapped around Uzumaki Naruto's throat, holding him in the air, and prepared to end the boy's life right there. There was a great crowd in the street, surrounding the two boys as he continued to suck the life out of Naruto with a frown on his face, "You will never disrespect the saiyan name again!" The boy had insulted the prince's tail the instant he saw it, and he didn't plan on taking it lightly.

Sakura couldn't believe what she was seeing, but didn't jump out to help Naruto immediately, because on one hand she quietly feared the saiyan boy, and on the other; she felt like he deserved it. Their trip to Ichiraku ramen had been delayed because he was caught gawking at the boy's tail, and when asked 'what are you looking at, boy?' His response was 'are you like, an actual monkey?'

Yeah, it was safe to say he deserved this one.

The short, ill-tempered saiyan had been choking the life out of the blue faced Naruto ever since, and no one cared enough, or had the guts to step up and save the ignorant boy. The majority of the spectators weren't even from Konohagakure, so they didn't have a say in the matter.

Late to the scene as always were Kakashi and Sasuke. The team had arranged a small gathering at Ichiraku's, and it was impossible to pass by the large crowd watching Naruto get choked to death. The copy-nin walked through the crowd and focused his killing intent on Vegeta, which made the saiyan turn his head, "I'll have you know, killing my friend Naruto here would automatically eliminate from the Chuunin exams, and I'm sure that's not what you want, right?" Of course there would be other repercussions, but Vegeta didn't seem like the one to care about them.

Vegeta still kept his grip on Naruto's neck, the boy's hands were slowly ceasing trying to pry them away, and he turned to look at Raditz. The boy nodded at him and he hesitantly dropped Naruto on the ground and walked off with his entourage. The thought of pissing the Tsuchikage off replayed constantly in his mind, since they had indeed traveled all the way to Konoha for a reason.

Naruto rolled back on forth on the ground, grasping at his throat, and his lungs were filled with fresh air once again, "Next time I see that asshol-"

Sasuke looked down on Naruto with a frown, "You're really talking tough right now, dobe? He almost killed you in seconds." He helped his teammate off the ground, the crowd of foreign shinobi slowly dissipating after the 'fight' was over.

Kakashi shook his head in silence, watching as a trio of genin walked off from the scene. Two of the members were twins, one boy and the other being a girl. Their other teammate was a fat boy with completely white skin, a otogakure bandana on his head, and icy blue eyes that caught a glimpse of the copy ninja as he walked off.

He furrowed his brow, and turned his attention back to Naruto, who had recovered after his little incident with Vegeta. The man looked down on the boy with a friend, "It's not polite to make fun of other people's flaws, Naruto." Kakashi knew full and well that it was no flaw, and Vegeta was extremely powerful, "You never know what they may be capable of."

"That doesn't mean he has the right to be a dick," The boy rubbed his throat soothingly. The only thing on Earth that could truly make him feel better was a steaming hot bowl of ramen. "I hate people like that."

Sasuke was intrigued by the Iwagakure genin's potential strength, and was highly disappointed that he wouldn't get a chance to fight him first hand in the exams, "Is it too late to rejoin the exams?" He asked somewhat optimistically.

"Yup," Kakashi said as he patted the boy on his head, walking off to their destination.

"Don't you think it's weird how he changed his mind," Sasuke wondered aloud, turning to face his two teammates who didn't seem as upset as him about the exams. Their whole graduating class would be participating, except for them, "Kakashi knows something we don't."

"He just wants us to be more prepared, we'll make it next time," Sakura tried to cool down the irritated Sasuke, but the boy simple groaned and walked off after Kakashi. She visibly deflated, hoping her optimistic statement would cheer her teammate up, but she failed miserably.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan, me and you will come back better than ever next time!" Naruto tried to do the same thing she did with Sasuke, but only got a groan in return, and she too walked off like Sasuke had done with her. The boy sighed and followed after his team.

Ramen never treated him this way.

. . .

(Hi no Kuni)

Orders kept coming through, and it was safe to say business was booming. There multiple imports being delivered to the port in the morning, and he was currently keeping track of everything that was passing through his port. The man recorded it in a small notepad and then came to a stand.

He wore a white shemagh that covered a majority of his face; the only thing being visible is his green skin and fierce onyx eyes that sized up the men entering his office. The man stood there in silence and waited for them to state their reason for stopping by.

"Junior," his subordinate spoke up, his voice shaking as he did so, "the shipment came early." The men present were obviously scared of directly dealing with 'Junior,' and he calmly nodded.

Junior walked by the nervous men and stepped onto the port and walked onto the ship with his hands behind his back. He scanned everything; making sure things were running like they were supposed to. When his father passed on his multi-trillion ryo operation to him, he didn't back down, and made sure things kept running like he had never left.

His father was widely known for his trafficking, garnering the name 'The Demon King,' supplying the whole continent with the vice of their choice. Multiple organizations made the kingpin their main priority to take down, so he decided to stay low key, and let his son run things until he could safely return.

The boy dubbed as Junior lifted the lid of a crate, nodding to himself when he saw thousands of vacuum sealed packages that were full of the notorious senzu powder. He shut the lid and turned to face one of the men present, "Transport this to Konoha immediately." The demand for senzu powder was great in Hi no Kuni at the moment, and with the Chuunin exams falling in Konohagakure this year; he was set to make another billion in the next month.

There were plenty of products to sell, but the powder was a fan favorite, and his family was the only person with the connections to get it. While it was originally a sacred healing property on his planet, his father had no problem distributing it as a stimulant for the stressed out shinobi looking for an exciting fix.

The boy walked off of the ship, and one of his subordinates followed after him, "Where are we headed next, Junior?"

"Konohagakure, I need to address something," Junior informed the man and left the man standing there with a confused expression. He walked off to act on his words, heading to prepare a bag, since business called him to be in Konoha for the duration of the exams.

Since people were trying so desperately to find the 'Demon King,' he would give them what they wanted, and make a long overdue appearance.

. . .

(Shimo no Kuni)

The group of Kumogakure natives was running behind schedule in their already late journey to Konohagakure. Master Roshi, K, Goku, Chi-Chi, and the only remaining person from N's team were strolling through Frost Country, and it was as cold as advertised. Somehow, Bulma had convinced them to take her with them to Konoha, so they were considerably slowed down by her constant need to stop and eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom.

It was a decision K was constantly regretting, and at the rate they were moving; Goku would miss the first day of the exam, and then he wouldn't be able to participate. They were currently waiting outside a restaurant while Bulma got something to eat, and he was leaning against the wall.

"If you don't mind me saying," N's last living teammate, Mao spoke up to the Limitless K with a ghost of a frown on her face, "At the rate we're moving, we won't arrive in Konohagakure until Saturday, and the test begins Friday."

"I'm aware," K took a deep breath, his eyes locking onto Bulma as she walked out of the restaurant with food she ordered to take on the go. He walked up her, his cold glare fully fixed on her, "You're slowing us down."

"I thought you shinobi liked traveling this way," Bulma laughed as she held the bag of food against her chest. "I was just letting you guys do your thing."

"No, we usually move way faster than this," Chi-Chi was obviously frustrated like her fellow shinobi, and was ready to leave Bulma in Frost Country to fend for herself. She wasn't even participating in the exam, only coming to sight see and watch the event from the stands.

"We can get there by tonight," Bulma had adopted the practice of carrying around an equipment pouch similar to a shinobi to hold all of her capsules. She pushed her food into K's grasp and he dropped it onto the ground, and the moment she was about to yell; his icy glare sent a chill up her spine. "We can take one of my daddy's vehicles."

She obviously had to show her worth to the group, lest they left her behind to navigate her way to Konoha all by herself. Bulma pulled out a few capsules and pressed them down, throwing them, and the same model of ATVs that Goku had fallen in love with in Iwa appeared in the middle of the Shimo no Kuni street.

The saiyan boy instantly ran up to one of the ATVs and hopped on, "ATV-chan, you're back!" He hugged the vehicle and was quick to rev the engine and start burning rubber.

K stared at the ATV with his usual blank stare and then looked at Bulma. It was unconventional method of travel, but they were pressed for time, and he had to make sure the team was registered for the exam. He hesitantly got on the ATV, and gestured for Mao to ride along with him, while Roshi and Chi-Chi rode together.

Bulma pushed Goku off of the ATV and got on herself, the boy having no choice but to jump back up and latch onto her. She turned and nodded at K, pretending she wasn't mad at the man for ruining her dinner, and watched in awe as the man popped-a-wheelie before driving off at a high speed.

"Seems like K-sensei is a show off," Goku rolled his eyes.

As he rode off, leading them to Konohagakure, a ghost of a smile appeared on the otherwise emotionless man's face.

He was secretly enjoying himself.

. . .

All the cool kids are in or on the way to Konoha, so that means things are about to get fun.