-Yoshide's office-
Uzumaki Yoshide was just finishing with his final task for the day, eagerly looking forward to a quiet evening with his family and a day off the next day. Signing his name to the letter he had just written, he quickly sealed it inside of a secure envelope, wrote the addressee's name on it, and placed it in a basket along with the regent's other outgoing messages for a messenger to pick up the next day.
Just as he was about to exit his office, he felt the flare of a chakra signature as someone shushined to him. Immediately, Yoshide was on alert, one did not simply shushin into the office of the Uzumaki Clan head. The seal masters of the clan had secured the room with fuinjutsu to prevent just such intrusions. Even ANBU personally sent by the Hokage were unable to enter via their preferred jutsu.
Pivoting around to face the intruder, Yoshide very quickly realized that his visitor was not there for malicious purposes, and that in fact his guest was one of the very few non Uzumaki that the seals would allow to use such a jutsu to enter and exit Uzumaki land.
His visitor was kneeling before him. A woman in her twenties, she was dressed like a Konoha ANBU but her long, flowing purple hair easily made her identity known to those that knew her. Additionally rather than wearing her mask, she held it at her side. A show of respect and an indication that she was not on official duty.
"You wished to see me, Lord Yoshide?" The woman asked, eyes to the floor in deference.
"Ah, yes. Please stand, Yugao."
As the now revealed Uzuki Yugao stood, Yoshide made his way back to his desk and sat down.
"How my I serve Clan Uzumaki, my lord?"
Before answering, Yoshide ran through a series of hand signs, activating an extra level of security beyond what was likely the most secure office in the village. Uzumaki had been hired to use seals to secure many rooms throughout Konoha, but they had saved their best work for their own compound.
"I'm sorry, Yugao. What I'm about to ask of you...some might consider it treason against Konoha."
"That is of no concern, Yoshide-sama. The Uzuki have been vassals of the Uzumaki for centuries. It's true that I was born here, but only because my parents were Lady Kushina's personal attendants. Rest assured that I was raised a true Uzuki, even though I was orphaned at a young age my loyalty to my lieges in the Uzumaki outweighs what loyalty I feel to Konoha."
"I'm glad to hear that. May I ask if you are working in the upcoming chunin exams?"
"I am. Specifically I've been assigned to the second exam as an assistant proctor. Normally Lady Hatake oversees the second exam, but since she is on maternity leave a substitute proctor has been assigned."
"Yes, I'm well aware of that. The only thing I don't know is the identity of the ANBU serving as assistant proctors. Thank you for clarifying, I am glad to hear you will be working the second exam."
"You wish me to take some action during the second exam, my lord?"
"Only if necessary. My greatest hope is that your services will not be needed. Should you do take action and be caught, I will of course deny ordering you to take action."
"Of course, what should I do?"
Yoshide took a deep breath, thinking about how to word exactly what he wanted. After a brief pause, he spoke.
"These exams are critically important to the Uzumaki. Three genin from the clan are participating, the most since before the 2nd Shinobi War, and Lord Naruto is among them. While domestic exams are safer, the rumors about Orochimaru are disturbing. I'd like you to watch over the Uzumaki that will be in the forest. Do not steal scrolls or actively help them, just make sure they all make it to the tower alive."
"Of course, my lord. Do you require anything in any of the other exams? I can't really help with the first exam, but my lover is proctoring the third, I could probably convince him to let me in."
"There is no need to involve Hayate in any of this. Speaking of him, does Hayate even know of your loyalties to the Uzumaki Clan?"
"He is well aware that the Uzuki are vassals of the Uzumaki and that I am quite proud of my heritage. However I suspect that he thinks the relationship between the Uzuki and the Uzumaki is the standard vassal relationship that Konoha clans have. I doubt he suspect how deep the bond between our two houses is my lord."
"I see. Have you given any thought to bringing him into the fold?"
Yoshide's not so subtle implication caught Yugao off guard, and the woman was forced to collect herself and beat down a deep blush.
"I...I love Hayate my lord, and I do wish for the Uzuki line to continue. The noble sacrifice my relatives made to allow the few Uzumaki left in Uzu to escape the destruction, the sacrifice my parents made to attempt to protect Lady Kushina, I do not want those sacrifices to have been in vain. But I cannot ask that of Hayate. I cannot ask him to take the oath that I have."
"As long as your children take the Uzuki name and oath I see no need for Hayate to do so. We'd of course welcome you both and provide you a home here in the compound." Yoshide was clearly pushing now, but he knew that he couldn't push too hard. "I don't mean to pressure or rush any decisions you make, I simply want what is best for the Uzumaki, and what is best for the Uzumaki is the survival of the Uzuki."
"As I said my lord, I wish for the Uzuki to survive as well. Nothing would make me prouder than to see my future children swear the same oath of fealty and service to the Uzumaki that I have, that my ancestors have. I just...I don't know how to approach Hayate about it."
"Of course, as I said take your time." Yoshide said. "And speaking of time I've taken too much of yours. You understand what I ask of you?" Seeing Yugao nod in response, the regent continued: "Then I'll let you go. Have a good night, Yugao."
"You as well my Lord."
Just as quickly as Yugao entered Yoshide's office, she left, leaving Yoshide alone to reflect for a few minutes before he finally headed home.
-Konoha Academy-
"Congratulations to those of you still here. You've passed the first exam." The words that came from Morino Ibiki, proctor of the first round of the chunin exams left the assembled genin speechless.
After a 9 question exam where the takers had been forced to cheat, Ibiki had revealed that participants had to opt in to the 10th question, and should they get it wrong they would be barred from participating in future exams, forever to remain a genin.
This had whittled down the number of exam takers a fair amount, and when the time to choose was finally up Ibiki had congratulated those that remained. The 10th question was actually whether or not they were brave enough to take that risk, those that chose to remain despite the possible consequences had passed.
As Ibiki left the room, assuring those that had passed that the proctor of the second exam would be along shortly, Naruto surveyed the remaining participants, making sure that all of his friends had survived the cut.
His teammates both had looks of quiet confidence about them. Sakura had almost yielded to the pressure, but reassuring looks from Sasuke and Naruto had strengthened her resolve and she chose to attempt the 10th question. Team 7 was fine.
Teams 8, 9, and 10 had also passed, meaning that all three teams with Uzumaki on them had passed, as had Naruto's friends Shino and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Naruto let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, while also lamenting the fact that Team 11 was not participating.
Speaking to Daisuke the day before had revealed that Genma, sensei of Team 11, had determined that his team was not ready, and that they would need more seasoning and experience before attempting an exam. It was a shame that all 4 Uzumaki genin weren't participating, but it couldn't be helped.
Content in knowing that all of his friends and fellow Uzumaki that were participating had made it to the next exam, Naruto allowed a smile to break through the blank and neutral expression he'd been trying to maintain since he entered the academy as he settled in for the supposedly short wait until the next proctor showed up.
-3 Hours Later-
As the assembled genin continued to wait, Naruto couldn't help but frown. He was bored, frustrated, and tired of waiting. As if wanting his displeasure publicly known, he flared his chakra. To his surprise, absolutely no one reacted.
He had expected to be at least non-verbally chided for his actions, patience was an important element of being a shinobi essential for stakeouts, intelligence gathering, and tailing possible targets. Surely, someone, one of his teammates, one of his fellow Uzumaki, maybe even Ino or Shino would have reacted to his admittedly immature action, but no one did. Suspicious.
Again, Naruto flared his chakra, this time paying close attention. Again, there was no response from anyone, but out of the corner of his eye he caught what looked to be a slight ripple. Perhaps it was just someone adjusting their position and causing their clothing to wrinkle a bit.
Flaring his chakra for the third time, Naruto watched the area that he had seen the ripple, only to see it again. It was not on any clothing, rather it was on the floor under Kiba.
Genjutsu! Naruto thought, mentally groaning as he came to the realization that he was stuck in what was his ultimate Achilles heel.
Uzumaki genetically have larger chakra reserves than the vast majority of shinobi, most Uzumaki Genin had the same amount of chakra as a low level non-Uzumaki jonin. This made members of the clan extra susceptible to Genjutsu, especially if they hadn't drilled chakra control to the level that someone like Karin had.
However, as a Jinchuuriki Naruto's reserves were even bigger and so he was that much more exposed to the illusory arts. Most Uzumaki could at least dispel a genjutsu once they realized they were stuck in one, not so for Naruto though. His only means of breaking out was to inflict severe pain upon himself.
Rolling up a sleeve and bracing himself, Naruto bit down on his arm, hard. The pain was great, but it had the intended consequence of dispelling the genjutsu, causing many other exam takers to disappear, these people, including all of Naruto's friends and teammates, had apparently already dispelled the genjutsu.
Quickly, an assistant proctor approached Naruto and instructed him not to break anyone else out, leading the bleeding Uzumaki heir out of the classroom and into a small side room.
This room functioned as a waiting room for genin who had already broken out of the genjutsu and were waiting for their teammates, so Naruto was quickly reunited with Sakura and Sasuke. As Sakura began to heal his arm, Naruto learned that what had been 3 hours under the genjutsu had only been about 45 minutes in reality.
As an Uchiha, Sasuke had easily detected and dispelled the genjutsu with his sharingan, making him among the first to break out, and as such he had been waiting for his teammates for quite a while. Sakura, an expert in chakra control who was studying genjutsu a bit herself, had detected the genjutsu and dispelled it after 10 minutes. They suspected that they had been placed in the genjutsu simultaneous with the door closing behind Ibiki.
With his arm healed and his initial questions answered, Naruto walked with his teammates behind the assistant proctor as they were led to another room, this one filled with 27 exam takers, now 30 counting team 7.
Standing in front of them was a man that got an immediate reaction from Sasuke, his older brother Uchiha Itachi, heir to the Uchiha clan.
Motioning for Team 7 to sit, Itachi spoke. "10 teams, that's enough. Break the others out of the genjutsu and inform them that while they did officially pass the first exam, they have failed to qualify for the second."
As his assistants went of to follow his instructions, Itachi then addressed the 30 exam participants in the room.
"And to you all, congratulations for qualifying for the second exam. My name is Uchiha Itachi and I have the pleasure of being the Substitute Proctor for the Second Exam. Traditionally when Ibiki conducts the first exam, his colleague Hatake Anko conducts the second. As some of you may know she recently gave birth to her second child, and is on maternity leave for the foreseeable future. As such, I was asked to fill in."
The Uchiha Clan heir then paused a moment to allow for questions, but when no one spoke up Itachi continued.
"The genjutsu based preliminary was of my own design, but from here on I will be following the plans Lady Hatake set out. You are to meet me in front of Training ground 44 in 4 hours. You are free until then, but I'd advise you to spend your time preparing for a 2 day mission outside the village."
As if anticipating a question, he smiled as he spoke his final words: "And no, I will not be hiding, nor will any genjutsu be involved. I will be standing out in the open in front of the training grounds beginning 1 hour from now, waiting for the exam start time."
With that, Itachi's bodyu dissolved into a murder of crows which flew out an open window, leaving 30 genin to silently process everything they had just learned.
The more experienced genin stood first, heading out of the room quietley discussing their plans with their teammates. This prompted those attempting the exams for the first time to follow suite, and Team 7 quickly devised a plan for what supplies each member would bring before splitting apart to head home and pack.
This led to a rather awkward situation where Naruto, Tenten, and Karin walked back to the Uzumaki compound together, but in complete silence. Unsure exactly what they'd be facing, the trio were afraid of accidentally revealing to much information to their clan compatriots.
-Roughly 4 hours later, in front of the Forest of Death-
True to his word, Itachi was standing out and in the open for all to see in front of Training Ground 44. Those exam participants lucky enough to have an Uchiha or Hyuuga on their team were easily able to get the peace of mind that no genjutsu was involved.
4 hours on the dot after he flew out of the exam room, Itachi spoke again.
"Welcome to Training Ground 44, affectionately nicknamed the Forest of Death. It's a personal favorite training ground of Lady Hatake, and is her preferred location to use when she proctors chunin exams. It's a very dangerous forest, quite unlike the rest of the forests around Konoha. There are many dark and powerful creatures that love to turn unsuspecting genin into snacks."
A small few genin seemed a bit intimidated by this new information, but as far as Itachi could tell, most remained steadfast in their resolve.
"Each team will be given a scroll to take care of. 5 teams will receive heaven scrolls, and the other 5 will receive earth scrolls. In order to pass, your team must bring both a heaven and an earth scroll to the tower in the center of the forest by noon 4 days from now. If you take longer than that, show up with only one type of scroll, or open your scrolls prior to arrival, you will automatically fail."
Reactions varied. Choji predictably complained that they had only been told to prepare for 2 days, he didn't have enough food for 4 in the forest. Itachi coolly responded that there was plenty of edible vegetation to be found and game to hunt. For resourceful teams food would not be a problem.
Shikamaru's observation that the design of the exam meant that only 5 teams could pass prompted Itachi to instruct the genin to direct all complaints to Anko, causing amused expressions to sprout on the faces of Team 7, imagining how their sensei's wife would react if some genin did come up to her and complain.
Though their grins were quickly erased when Itachi told the assembled genin that he thought 5 teams passing was quite optimistic. He would be surprised if more than 3 teams passed.
"Because this is a domestic exam, and is smaller than international exams, Lady Hatake and I made a few adjustments to the exam format" Itachi was saying. "One was to cut the amount of time you had from 5 days to 4. Another involved the use of lethal force. You can kill, and you will not get in trouble if you kill another competitor, but since we are all Konoha here we strongly discourage such actions."
As he spoke, assistant proctors, all ANBU, went around distributing forms to the exam takers.
"Again, killing is allowed in chunin exams, and you won't get in trouble for killing a member of another team, hence why we need you to fill out these consent forms. But I do again remind you that we are all Konoha. Killing your comrades is not likely to show the judges that you are chunin material."
When each team had their forms, the assistant proctors began distributing flares.
"Since we really don't want fatalities, we use these flairs in domestic exams. If your team incapacitates another team please light a red flair on the battlefield. This will summon an ANBU to watch over that team until they wake up. You do not have to wait for the ANBU to show up. On the other hand, you can use the green flares if your team needs immediate attention or help. ANBU will show up, render any necessary medical attention, and escort your team out of the forest. You will forfeit should you choose to light the green flare, but if you die then your hopes for promotion die with you, forfeiting is clearly the better option. Be smart."
Finally, Itachi motioned to a tent. "I'll be in there. One at a time a member of your team will enter, turn in your teams' consent forms, and take your scroll. I suggest you hide it before leaving the tent. I should also point out that in an international exam we would not be using the flares and I would not be cautioning you against killing. However, you'd also have an extra day, so don't think that we are simplifying things down too much for the domestic exam. Domestic exams are always a fine balancing act of reducing the lethality without reducing the difficulty. By knocking a day off of the time limit, Lady Hatake and I are confident that we have found a good balance."
With that, Itachi turned and made his way to the tent before quickly disappearing inside.
Their briefing out of the way, Team 7 huddled.
Sakura sent a tentative glance to Sasuke. "Do you want to go, Sasuke? He's your brother."
"No. I'm sure some will already accuse him of favoritism because of me. It would look bad if I go in there."
"I'm touched by your concern for your brother" Naruto quipped. "I'll go then. I don't think I've actually been introduced to your brother yet. Given that we are both destined to lead a clan one day, I think it's high time I introduce myself to him."
A short time later the assistant proctors started calling teams one by one. Everyone watched who entered the tent. That person would be suspect number one when it came time to search another team for scrolls.
Choji went for Team 10. Neji for Team Gai. Shino for Team 8. Finally, when team 7 was called, everyone watched as the red-headed future ruler of Clan Uzumaki stepped forward and disappeared into the proctor's tent.
AN: I cannot take credit for the idea of Yugao and the Uzuki being vassals of the Uzumaki. I've seen it on this site before, though honestly I have no idea where I first saw it, nor which of the stories I've seen it in was the first to think up the idea.
It does work surprisingly well though, Uzu being present in the family name and all.
Thanks for reading!