28 ~

The group of Kumogakure shinobi and Bulma arrived in Konoha the night before, and now the morning sun was shining through the window of their hotel room. All of the genin, plus Bulma were staying in one bedroom, while K and Master Roshi had rooms for themselves.

Goku was surprisingly the first person awake. He was sitting on top of the couch, staring out of the window. Something about Konohagakure made him feel warm inside, as opposed to the mountainous terrain of Kumo. The people seemed so nice and the village was beautiful. He actually wouldn't mind living there.

The boy couldn't stay asleep; he was far too excited to lie still for eight hours. Today was the beginning of the exams and he was more than ready to get started. He was already full dressed, equipped, and ready to run straight to the venue.

The whole room started to come to life after a few more minutes, and Goku turned to see Bulma yawning out loud. He grinned and jumped off the couch and stood over her as she groaned when she saw the boy staring at her. The boy pulled her up to a sitting position, "Today is the day, Bulma!"

"Today is the day for you," Bulma collapsed back into the bed and shooed the boy away with her hand. "I plan on sleeping."She hid her head under the pillow and prayed Goku went away sooner than later.

Goku rolled his eyes, and turned around to see Chi-Chi and Mao getting out of their shared bed. He grinned at his two teammates, "Are you guys as ready as I am?" The boy asked, running up to the two girls.

Chi-Chi flicked the boy on the forehead and he stumbled backward, "Calm down, Goku," She appreciated his enthusiasm though. The girl offered a sincere smile promptly after, "We're excited too, just let us shower first." Chi-Chi waved at the boy and entered the bathroom before Mao.

The saiyan was just getting to know Mao, who was recently added to their teams in wake of the events in Hoseki, and all of the teams were short. He wanted to get to know her better before they entered a deadly exam, but K kept that from happening the moment he opened the door unannounced. The man pointed at Goku and then gestured outside the hotel room.

Goku's eyes widened and he smiled sheepishly. He walked into the hall and looked up at his sensei, "What is it?" He was expecting that he did something wrong, trying to remember everything he had done in the last few days.

"They're here," K dropped a vague piece of information on Goku, which only got the man a confused expression in response. He wanted to groan and slap Goku, but that would be out of his character, so he simply shook his head in disappointment. The man shut the door of the hotel room and started guiding his student away, "The saiyans from Iwagakure."

"THEY'RE GENIN!?" He shouted out loud and K pressed his hand over Goku's mouth to keep him from waking everyone in the hotel up. The boy's shoulders slumped and the man moved his hand, "Are we still 'wanted'?"

"Yes, Goku, so I need you to stay away from them at all costs," K ordered his student and followed it up with the iciest glare he could muster. He needed Goku to know that he was deathly serious, "You're not ready for an all out battle with them."

Goku couldn't believe what he was hearing come from K's lips, and he was ready to argue with the man, but Master Roshi walked down the hallway and kept the conversation from going any further. K telling him he wasn't 'ready' to fight someone was appalling to his teenage brain, and couldn't guarantee that he would follow the man's instructions. A child as confident as Goku would fight against a Kage right now with the belief he would win.

"Good morning kids," A cheery Master Roshi greeted Goku and K, as he ruffled a hand through the genin's hair. After the boy held up his end of their deal, they were back on good terms, and he truly appreciated the pair of Mabui's panties to add to his collection. "Are you ready for the exams, Goku?"

"Yeah, I'm more than ready!" Goku exclaimed as he and Master Roshi bumped fists, shooting a glance at K while doing so.

K wasn't sure how he felt about being addressed as a 'kid,' but he'd let it slide since Master Roshi did him a favor. He folded his arms and gestured his head toward the door, "Get your students, it's time to leave." The man grabbed Goku by the arm and started dragging him down the hall way, "I need you to understand something, Goku."

"That I'm too weak to fight some kid from outer space?" Goku asked in a mocking tone, and K perked his eyebrows.

"Actually, yes," K let Goku walk in front of him and they fell into step. He patted the boy on the head like he was his favorite pet, "Don't be foolish, Goku. You'll get your chance at revenge." He pressed the button for the elevator and they stood in silence for a moment. K could feel Goku staring a hole through his head, and it was uncomfortable to say the least.

The elevator doors opened and they both stepped in. Once again, before any real debating could ensue; Chi-Chi, Mao, and Master Roshi were walking down the hallway, and the universe saved the Limitless K from the wrath of a hyperactive child once again. The rest of the Kumo-nin filled into the elevator and descended down to the lobby.

They filed out of the elevator and began their journey to the venue as a collective. The group was all sucked into their own thoughts, and could barely process a sentence. The civilians passing by were the only things making noise.

The genin were starting to get nervous as they approached the building their test was being held at. All the competing genin were crowded outside the building, since they were still preparing for the test, and they had no choice but to join the crowd. They were all talking amongst each other and barely paid attention to the group of Kumo genin that approached.

At first glance, the trio of Kumogakure rookies wasn't very intimidating. Goku was relatively short for his age, and had his hair tied up like his sensei. Chi-Chi was just as small as Goku and looked like an innocent girl, while Mao looked like someone who fit better in a library than on any battlefield. Compared to some of the competition, it almost looked like the three didn't belong.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Goku's face when eyes did start locking on him. The many sensors present to take the exam felt his strong chakra, and the eyes of a certain Hyuga clan member were firmly fixated on the child from Kumo. Goku caught wind of the Konoha genin staring him down and looked away, "What's wrong with that kid's eyes?"

K looked over to see the boy staring Goku down, and furrowed his brow when the boy shifted his gaze to him. He returned the glare to the child and then turned to look at Goku, "We killed his father," The man revealed nonchalantly and kept scanning through the crowd of genin. He remembered Kumo's failed attempt to retrieve the Byakugan like it was yesterday.

All three genin looked at K with wide eyes and shook their heads in disbelief. Konoha and Kumo historically had bad blood, and there were more than enough Konoha shinobi participating in the exam that it might become an issue. Goku looked at his forehead protector and smiled, ready to take on whatever they threw at him.

The doors to the venue opened and the proctors allowed all of the participants to enter the building. Master Roshi grinned, "We can't babysit you forever," He placed his hand on Chi-Chi's head and ruffled her hair. "Go in there and have fun!"

K shot a glare at Goku and the boy stuck his tongue out, "Don't be foolish, Goku."

All of the genin present left their senseis behind and walked into the venue. There was a large lobby for the building to accommodate all of the participating shinobi. Goku was stuck standing next to a team from Sunagakure, and a boy with cherry-red hair was glaring at him harder than K ever had.

It seemed like the foreign shinobis had a problem with him before even exchanging words, "Hey, my name is Goku," The boy bowed respectfully and got no response in return. He looked up and stared blankly at the boy who wasn't polite at all.

"You're a little short to be in the exams," The girl's teal eyes landed on the small form of Goku and smirked. She placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head, "We appreciate the respect, but this isn't really the time to make friends."

The red-haired boy was still staring Goku, which the saiyan boy definitely noticed, "Your friend's eyes seemed broken, so I thought I'd say so-" Chi-Chi dragged Goku away from the trio of Sunagakure genin, since the proctor had finally started talking.

The tall man with scars all over his face made himself known to all the genin present and smirked, "Welcome, for some of you this may be your first time taking the Chuunin exams, so allow me to introduce myself: I'm Ibiki Morino, and I'll be your proctor for this first test." He holds up a sheet of paper, "The first part of the exam is a written test. There is only one rule, and that is: you cannot ask any questions. The scores will be added up at the end to see which teams pass on to the next test. Do you all understand!?"

The whole room responded with a variation of yes', so that prompted him to continue.

"Very well then, let's get this thing started," Ibiki stepped away and various Chuunin working the exam started guiding the genin teams to the test rooms.

Goku looked at Chi-Chi and Mao with wide eyes, "No one told me there was going to be a written test! I thought this was all muscle." The boy comically cried out.

Mao placed a reassuring hand on Goku's back, "If you don't mind me saying, Goku-kun, I think you're going to be fine." She smiled at her teammate and walked off.

"Don't be such a baby, Goku, let's go!"

. . .

(Konohagakure ~ The Third Hokage's Office)

As the leader of one of the strongest nations on Earth, the Hokage was usually treated with respect. All of his appointments started on time, and ended in a timely manner, but not today. He had been waiting for nearly an hour for his guest to arrive. The Third Hokage was patiently smoking out of his pipe until the man did show up.

The gravity defying hair of Kakashi Hatake was the first thing to be seen by the old man, and the jounin's single visible eye crinkled as he smiled at the old man, "I apologize for my timing, Hokage-sama." He bowed as a show of respect for the leader, despite how long he made the man wait.

Hiruzen chuckled and set his pipe down, "I almost sent a search party to find you, Hatake," He said in a jokingly serious tone. The man interlaced his fingers and set his hands down on his desk, "Are you excited to finally see our friend Goku participating in the exams?"

"Yes, and I'm sure you're going to be watching him closely too," He hadn't seen the boy walking through the village yet, but should he make it to the final rounds; he'll be able to see the progress he's made since he infiltrated Kumogakure. The man raised a curious eyebrow, "That can't be the reason you invited me here today though, sir, with all due respect."

"You are correct, Kakashi," The man sighed as he began explaining his reasoning on summoning the copy-nin. "There is a storm brewing, here in our own village, and we need more insight on what's going on." There had been rumors spreading throughout the village that didn't go unheard by him, and he wanted to stay on top of things. The last thing he wanted was an outside altercation happening in Konoha.

"I'm assuming you spoke with Jiraiya today as well," Kakashi pieced together quickly, since the legendary shinobi paid a visit to him also. It was actually the reason he had been late to the meeting with the Hokage, "Multiple traffickers have gotten into Konoha and plan on using our village as their battleground, but why?"

"I have reason to believe one of the kingpins has been operating right under our nose," The Hokage closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After what happened with Naruto and Sasuke, he was paranoid to say the least, and would feel even worse if he uncovered another covert operation in his village. The man opened his eyes and focused on Kakashi, "I need you to get to the bottom of this, for right now it's simply reconnaissance."

Kakashi was confused, "Why me?"

"Other than Jiraiya, you're the only man I can trust right now," The words were heavy on Kakashi's brain, and he simply nodded in response to the Hokage.

After dealing with Gato in Nami no Kuni, he gained some insight about the dealing of arms and drug trafficking world that happened right outside the view of the ninja world, and now the two worlds were beginning to crossover to become one entity. It only made sense that Konoha had their own underground crime ring, and it was up to him to bring it to an end.

Before, it went unnoticed, but now there was so much power that came with trafficking; it made even the 'God of Shinobi' wary of the possible outcomes. Kakashi nodded solemnly, "I'll get right to it, Hokage-sama." The man bowed once again, "I truly apologize for being late as well, it won't happen again."

The old man laughed, "You don't have to lie to me, Kakashi."

. . .
(Konohagakure ~ Ichiraku's Ramen)

Normally the delicious taste of ramen could cure any bad mood that Naruto was in, but today it wasn't feeling the same. The boy was slowly picking at it with his chopsticks, and turned his head to see Sasuke simply staring at the bowl. He frowned, no longer wanting to sit there and sulk with his teammate, "Sasuke-kun, we need to do something!"

The Uchiha lifted his head and looked at Naruto with a raised brow.

"Let's train, or at least rip Kakashi-sensei a new asshole!" Naruto slammed his fist against the bar, and Teuchi shot him a glance. He grinned awkwardly at the owner and returned to his passionate speech, "We can at least make sure we mop the floor at the next exam."

Sasuke was confident in his abilities for this year, and was ready to compete against Konoha's other elite rookies, but Kakashi's insecurities robbed him of that chance. It didn't help that their situation with Danzo slowed them down as a team, and their recovery time fell into the time the exams were taking place, "You're right." He added his simple tid-bit to the conversation and paid for his ramen.

The two genin didn't believe they were too weak to compete, especially Naruto who felt like he had recovered from the major blood loss and other cruel experiments in the short time span. The only thing that made him wary was the thought of Danzo still being on the loose, since they never found him in the base, and has been declared missing.

Naruto suddenly devoured his bowl of ramen and paid for the bowl. He was a little down, but not enough where he would finish his ramen. The boy slowly eyed Sasuke's still steaming bowl, but the Uchiha grabbed him by the collar, "Hey what's the big deal!?"

"Hn, where's all that motivational talk now, dobe?" Sasuke questioned, as he tried to pry Naruto away from the ramen bar so they could at least do something productive.

"Why don't you two stay for another bowl, on me," The spiky white-haired man sat at the bar and gestured for the two genin to do the same. He extended his hand toward Sasuke, "I'm Jiraiya; you're the Uchiha gaki, right?" He snickered when the boy's face twisted in confusion and he slowly retracted his hand. "I'm just messing with you boy, have a seat, you too, Naruto."

Teuchi came out from the back to greet the man personally, "Jiraiya-san, what a pleasure to see you again!" He threw his towel over his shoulder and folded his arms, "What can I get for you today?"

Naruto and Sasuke were more than confused, and a bit worried. They knew of the legendary shinobi, learning about him in their academy days, but they wanted to know how he knew who they were. He was far out of their planet of skill, and it seemed he descended back to their level for a day to eat ramen with them.

"I'll take whatever these gakis had, some sake as well, and make a fresh bowl for them too," Jiraiya ordered and turned to look at the confused boys with a smile. "What, an old sage can't come hang with the youth?"

Sasuke sat down next to the sage and raised a curious brow, "How do you know us?" Everyone in Konoha had heard of all the things Jiraiya had done for the village. He was a living legend to say the least, "We're nothing but genin, we're not important."

A bottle of sake was placed in front Jiraiya with a glass and he cracked it open. He poured himself something to drink, "We have a mutual friend, with mutual interests regarding your future." That mutual friend was Kakashi, who he had spoken with not too long ago. He offered up the bottle of sake, "Care to share a drink?"

Naruto instinctively reached his hand out, but Sasuke smacked his wrist, "We're thirteen." In the Uchiha's mind, there were more important matters to be addressed at the moment. Jiraiya's surprise appearance didn't make sense to him. "What do you want with us?"

"You're such a buzz kill," Naruto pouted as he eyed the bottle of sake, but his opportunity to drink with a legendary ninja was shot down by a teenage boy.

"I agree, our friend Sasuke isn't really making this an enjoyable meeting," Jiraiya agreed with the blonde-haired boy. He took a sip of his drink and looked Naruto over, "Has anyone ever told you, you look like the Fourth Hokage, Naruto?" The man asked with a grin, and continued drinking out of his glass.

"No, never," Naruto started to think about it, but Sasuke flicked him on the head.

While he did start to notice that the boy looked eerily similar to the famed Hokage, he wasn't trying to get distracted by Jiraiya's antics, and the Uchiha turned to look at Jiraiya with a frown. He broke apart his chopsticks and prepared to eat the free bowl the man purchased, "You're avoiding the question."

"You're right," Jiraiya once again agreed with the genin and laughed to himself. He finished the little amount of sake left in his cup and turned in his seat to face the two boys. "I have an offer for you two, which I'm only going to make once. Well it's not really an offer," The man started to veer off from his point. This wasn't his first glass of alcohol today.

"Spit it out, old man!" Naruto slammed his fist against the bar like earlier, and got the same frustrated glance from Teuchi within the kitchen.

"Okay, okay, kid, calm down," Jiraiya raised his hands in a placating manner and continued to smile. "Since you didn't make the Chuunin exams this year, your sensei volunteered you two for a training trip with me to take your mind off of it." He heard about their incident with Danzo, and he at least wanted to help them.

Naruto's jaw dropped, not expecting one of the most legendary ninja to come from Konoha offering to train him and Sasuke. The boys exchanged looks and then turned to look at Jiraiya with wide eyes, "Are you serious?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"As a heart attack, gaki," The man had finished is ramen, and stood up, folding his arms over each other. "I'm not really giving you a choice either, so go pack your bags, and meet at the gate in an hour."

"How long are we going to be gone?" Sasuke asked the toad sage, but the man simply walked off.

"One hour, gakis!"

. . .

(Chuunin Exams ~ Konohagakure)

All the Chuunin hopeful were filtered into the classrooms to take a test and in the front of Goku's class was Ibiki Morino; ready to start the exam. The participants were still walking in, and Goku's eyes were stuck on a single boy who calmly walked through the entrance pulling on his drawstrings. The blonde haired Kirigakure-native looked up in seats and saw none other than Son Goku. He looked away quickly and went to his assigned seat.

Goku stood up, ready to march over to N and confront him about being with another team, but Ibiki opened his mouth, "Hey, kid, sit the fuck down." The boy slumped back into his seat and the man began explaining the actual test, "All of you have one hour to complete this test. There are ten questions on the exam, and your scores will be added at the end."

There were Chuunin on every side of the room, now passing out the actual exam. The genin picked up their pencils and Ibiki nodded, "You may begin." The led of the pencils instantly hit the paper and people were trying their best to answer the questions, except for Goku.

Goku was confused.

It was far more complicated than the exit exam from the academy, and he didn't know half of the material listed on the test. While Goku wasn't the most intelligent person, he was definitely positive, and he instantly started writing down answers with the utmost confidence whether they were right or not.

His confidence was so strong, other genin in the room were beginning their cheating antics on the boy. The two Hyuga's present were seated behind the saiyan and activated their revered Byakugan to see through his body and copy down the answers. There were others who did what they had to, to cheat off of Goku's test, and the boy was barely even noticing.

The mystery genin from Otogakure seemed to actually know the material, and the chubby genin had answered each question precisely. Sitting next to him was the Prince of all Saiyans, and he was steadily copying the snow-white child's hand movements. He mentally thanked the 'fat ass' sitting next to him for the answers.

While N had been declared missing from Kumo, he made an appearance in the exam working for the Akatsuki, and he was seated next to his previous classmate; Omoi. The boy had been staring at him the whole time, and shook his head in disappointment. They were sliding each other answers the entire test and had done so without getting caught.

The other genin had their methods of cheating to get their answers, a lot of them choosing to copy over the over confident Goku. When the test was beginning to come to a close, and all of the genin started noticing there were only nine questions on the paper; they all looked up to Ibiki with confused faces.

Forty five minutes had passed and the man decided to speak up, "It's time for the tenth and final question on the exam." He grinned and looked throughout the crowd of students, "You're free to not answer this question, but if you do; you automatically fail, so the choice is yours. Those of courageous enough to stay and answer the question have an ultimatum as well. If you get this answer wrong, you'll be barred from taking the Chuunin exams, and remain a genin forever. Once again," The man looked at the room full of frightened genin with a smile, "The choice is yours."

Chi-Chi took a deep breath, trying to make the right decision, and looked at Mao. The girl nodded reassuringly, and then she turned to Goku and frowned when she saw the boy opening his mouth, "I traveled for days to get to Konoha, I'm answering this question," He said loud enough for Ibiki to hear.

Some of the other teams present didn't feel the same way, and multiple groups got up to leave the classroom. The test was hard in its own right, and they barely knew the answers to those questions, so they didn't want to take chances with the last question.

More teams than Ibiki had ever seen before continued to walk out, and he was thoroughly amused. There was usually a loud-mouth who riled up the whole classroom, but Goku's remark mostly went unnoticed. Once people stopped leaving the room, he grinned, "Congratulations, you all passed." The whole room gasped and he nodded, "The written test was to measure your intellect and information gathering skills, and the final question was to see who was brave enough to stay and risk it all."

"That was easy," Goku said to the random genin sitting next to him and laughed. He kicked his feet up and placed his hands behind his head, but suddenly jumped up when a woman came crashing through the window, and landed on top of Ibiki's desk.

"Congratulations, gakis!" Anko was smiling from cheek to cheek as she dusted her coat off of glass, "I'm your second proctor for the Chuunin exams, and I'll be honest; some of you won't make it out alive. You will all meet me at the forty fourth training ground, tomorrow at 10AM for the second stage of the exams."

The whole classroom was dismissed, and all of the genin returned to their respective hotel rooms for the day.

While Ibiki went through the tests, he noticed that a good portion of the genin had identical answers to one lone student, and that was Son Goku. Not only were the answers identical, they were all wrong, "Amazing."

. . .

(Night Time ~ Konohagakure)

Kakashi had a long day to say the least, between his meeting with Jiraiya and the Hokage, and making sure his two students were fine with their sudden mission. He was ready to return home and get some rest, before hitting the streets once again and beginning his mission for the Hokage. The man was approaching the home he inherited from his father.

It was modest house built secluded part of the village, surrounded by trees. As he walked up to the door, he pulled out the keys he used to unlock the front door. The man stood on the porch and stuck the key into the lock, turning the knob, and entering his humble abode. He set his keys down on a small dresser not too far from his door, and left his sandals in the door way.

The house was pitch-black, and the copy-nin walked into the kitchen, turning his lights on as he did so. He opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water, shutting the door when he was done. When the man turned around, a woman was leaning against the wall of the entryway to the kitchen. He was instantly on the defensive, pulling a kunai out and prepared himself to kill whoever this calm intruder was.

Samui was holding a glass of wine in her hand, frowning when Kakashi instantly got ready for a fight, but she expected nothing less of a trained killer. She raised her glass, "You didn't have any wine, so I bought some," The woman ditched her usual outfit, and adopted a face mask and a form fitting black jumpsuit. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, and the woman was barefoot, since she had truly gotten comfortable in the man's home, "I only came here to talk, if that's cool."

Kakashi furrowed his brow, still on guard after discovering a random woman within his house. He looked her over and took in her features, the sizable bust was what caught his attention, but being practical; he saw no weapons on her person, and her dress was tight enough he would see any hidden items.

The man shifted uncomfortably and put his kunai back in his equipment pouch, "Have a seat, just know I'm watching you." He guided her to his small dining room with a table that had a single seat. The Jounin sensei usually ate alone, and wasn't expecting guests, "What do you want?" He asked the woman as he pulled the chair out for her to sit.

Samui sat down calmly and swished the wine around in her glass, "We know Konohagakure has intel about Goku," She took a sip from her glass and then set it down on the table. "We're willing to put everything behind us in exchange for information on Jirou."

"It seems like you already know something," Kakashi chose his words wisely as he leaned against the wall. They had only recently discovered Jirou in the Root base, and not much was known about him. The only thing he could confirm is the boy was a definite experiment, "I just met the boy, there's not much I can tell you."

Samui nodded and moved on, "What were your student's involvements?" She had made her rounds through Konoha during the day. The security was very lax at the hospital, and she managed to pull all kind of records while she was there. The only thing that was hard to retrieve was records on Jirou.

"From what I can see, involuntary blood donation," Kakashi once again chose his words wisely and tried to retain as much as valuable information as possible. While she wasn't armed, she was still a skilled kunoichi who could try to kill him through other methods, which is why he didn't open the bottle of water. He was going to replace everything in his house, "I believe they were helping keep the boy alive."

The blonde haired woman picked up her glass and took a big gulp. She let out a sigh after she had swallowed the wine, "I doubt you're going to let me waltz out of here without a fight." The man nodded and she rolled her eyes, ducking under the table and kicking it up to protect herself from the inevitable kunai that was thrown. It nearly tore through the wood table, but it stopped right before her nose and she let out a sigh of relief.

The women tucked and rolled into the kitchen and tried to make her way to the back of the house. The copy-nin was quick on his feet, and was hot on her trail. She made her way to the bedroom and sprinted full speed, so she could jump through the already opened window.

She had planned this out before he returned and was dashing across the field and went to blend in with the dark trees.

By the time Kakashi mimicked her and jumped out of the window she was long gone. The man cursed under his breath, and summoned his pack of nin-ken. He looked down on his tracking team, "A woman just escaped here, she can't be too far."

"That's no way to court a lady, Kakashi," The smallest of the pack joked.

"She's snooping around looking for classified information, I need her found tonight," Kakashi ordered and the whole squad of nin-ken disappeared to find the woman.

He dashed into the surrounding forest to find the woman as well, hoping she didn't get too far.

. . .

The first chapter of Boruto came out today and Agents of Shield was very lit. I'm very entertained so here's a new chapter to entertain you.

The participating teams for the Chuunin Exams are (as far as plot characters)…

Team Gai
Team Asuma
Team Kurenai
Team Baki
Team Nappa
Team Deidara
Team Samui
Team K/Roshi
Team Kabuto
Otogakure Team (Lapis, Lazuli, and 19)