I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, I'm just a fan I enjoyed the anime but I love the fanfics even more, they made me fall for the whole franchise.

Chapter 39

This was it, every genins time to show the world they had talent and their village had to invest in their growth. Not every ninja became great because not every ninja is great. Some are born for that greatness, they are talents like Kakashi Hatake, Legends like Minato Namikaze, the prodigy's like Itachi Uchiha, and maniacs like Orochimaru who showed their blaze in these exams to become household names in the future.

You were either it or you were not and Naruto Uzumaki planned on being it, there was no second place here no runner ups, sorry Hinata but this is another one of those stepping stones. Naruto Uzumaki had plans he needed to accomplish and he didn't plan to stick around the village never having seen any other place, no more fucking D-ranks. The hype was on.

Naruto's soul burned with passion with a big ass grin that could split his face stretched onto his visage, scaring some prospect Chunin with how strained it was he locked eyes with every contender there one after the other in a straight line before moving to the next row and so on challenging anyone who would be brave enough to be the first eliminated.

Then he saw bright red and his heartbeat skipped, the girl at the receiving end of the stare was scared shitless, that grin and those mischievous eyes reminded her of a snake she knows and the chakra she felt coming from that particular 'boy' only made it certain to her this was Orochimaru in the disguise he spoke of.

'Mom.' Naruto called out in his head barely catching himself from saying it out loud staring at the girl who looked ready to run with the way her eyes darted around the room. Naruto shook his head and narrowed his eyes in concentration.

'Not mom, but an Uzumaki maybe." Hope flourished in the Uzumaki's chest he was ready to hop up there and confront the situation just as a man with glasses showed up, a teen, maybe Itachi's age Naruto figure. The teen looked down at him smiling, Naruto saw the leaf forehead protector and didn't buy that smile for a minute.

Nobody he didn't know personally who stayed in Konoha had the right to smile at him like that, especially not from this age group, they grew up in the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack they had it personal for him, if a parent died you best be sure they are the older brothers or sisters who experienced the sight first hand.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked the taller boy who still smiled fondly at him somehow weirding him out.

"Oh sorry, my name is Kabuto Yakushi a fellow genin of Konoha." Naruto looked the boy over not buying the story one bit. A 19-year-old genin, that was cool with being a 19-year-old genin enough to smile in these exams with kids, he was looking for easy pickings Naruto knew it.

Kabuto has onyx eyes and ash-grey hair, which was kept in a ponytail. His most consistent feature is his black-rimmed circular glasses. Kabuto wears a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt, dark purple pants with a white cloth waistband and he wears dark purple fingerless gloves with armored plates on the back of the hand and a blue forehead protector.

"He asked you what you want man." Kiba came up next to Naruto, wondering the same thing, he came to the same conclusion as Naruto that this guy was spying for the other team to take out the rookies plus he smelled like snakes which was a stamp on his intentions if any ever came.

"I am just here to offer some advice." Kabuto said with an easygoing smile taking the two brash boys' rudeness in strides in actuality he was just selling them the opposite of what he wanted his smile to accomplish.

"Hn, I don't think a loser like yourself can teach us anything." Sasuke came around next throwing his third cent in there, in Sasuke's eyes this individual should have been sent to border patrol a long time ago he was the same age as Itachi but he stood here saying he had advice for them.

"How old are you anyway?" Shikamaru came up next, every word that just came out of the glasses-wearing 19-year-old genin making no conceivable sense to him. Then he behaved like the useful big brother of the exams, Shikamaru didn't like his intelligence being undermined.

"I'm 19." Kabuto replied he could act all he wanted Hinata felt his anger at Kiba and Naruto who laughed at the disgrace of the title at such an age, his fury at Sasuke's smirk and taunt when he mentioned his older brother was Jonin sensei while he went on D-ranks with his 12-year-old genin teammates.

"How many times did you say you were in these exams again?" Choji came up asking, thinking he just didn't hear when Kabuto mentioned that detail, Kabuto felt ashamed and Hinata felt it. It was the shame of admitting to something out loud even if your reasons were good enough.

"For 4 years." Kabuto's smile was twitching now the little bastards were making him the laughingstock of the exams with some participants already laughing at his history of the exams.

'It's fake dammit!' Kabuto cried inwardly because if he said it out loud he would be visiting Torture and intelligence in the next hour. Naruto whistled at the count 4 years times 2 exams a year making 8 exams in total. Naruto looked Kabuto over and saw him for what he was, Shikamaru too saw him for what he was, a rat.

The question was, is he a Konoha-issued rat or was he an outsider's rat? Sasuke only saw the man as the greatest meaning of talentless to grace the land of fire. Kiba still smelled snakes on the man like he lived with them but decided not to judge a person by how they smelled.

"You said you had advice for us." Naruto asked clearly looking to humiliate Kabuto more Kiba snorted next to the blonde knocking his shoulders not even doing a good job of hiding it. Kabuto only smiled friendly and took out some cards from his pouch.

"These are Ninja info cards, I use them to store data I collect. I thought I would give you guys some info on some contenders to make the experience of the exams easier." Kabuto explained and Naruto listened carefully but never heard any mention of money there so this wasn't a trade. It was a goodness-to-my-heart type of shit, to kids who were still in the process of degrading you to your face.

'Definitely a rat.' Naruto thought convinced, he didn't care how cynical the thought was this Kabuto character was 'too' nice and too great an actor.

"You hoping we will protect you, are you that wimpy?." Kiba asked the man who froze in the process of shuffling his cards at the boy's question.

"You are a disgrace to the leaf village, you should quit while you are still alive somethings are not for everyone." Sasuke told Kabuto sagely making the man wonder what was wrong with these rookies. They behaved like the rest of them were newbies in these exams.

"Give me information on Hinata Hyūga." Naruto froze at the voice behind him and made an effort not to look behind him. Kabuto smiled at Ino and looked through his cards to find one that he applied his chakra onto before reading its contents.

"Hinata Hyūga, heiress of the Hyūga clan born with a deformation in her eyes that slowly took her eyesight. She is said to be a genius of the Juuken and a swordswoman at that, though her swordsmanship hasn't been evaluated yet. She has completed 22 D-ranks and 1 A-rank where she was able to Neutralize a missing-nin in two moves. Her teammates are Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki who couldn't defeat her since their academy days, her sensei is Itachi Uchiha." Kabuto said looking to Ino for approval but only received a glare from the Yamanaka heiress.

"Is that it?" She asked in anger and Kabuto's sweat dropped, was his information not good enough, he was about to ask the girl that question but she beat him to the punch line.

"Worthless, go play with your genin team." Ino dismissed Kabuto like a peasant before throwing Naruto a look. Ino turned around and headed back to her team uninterested in the older genin.

Kabuto blinked and wondered if this was the day his cover was blown, these newly minted genin were like a never-ending ball of contradictions and pride. They tried to degrade him with every word they spoke, Kabuto wanted to kill them all there and then.

"Give me info on Naruto Uzumaki, and be loud about it" Naruto asked grinning, of course, he would be conceited enough to ask about himself and gutsy enough to tell the speaker to be louder so the rest of the people around would hear, Hinata shook her head with a smile and Sasuke groaned it was like Wave country all over again.

"Naruto Uzumaki member of team 7 wielder of the sword of the thunder spirit a weapon he has reclaimed from a defector of Konoha in his first C-rank turned A-rank mission, oh wow!" Kabuto exclaimed and Naruto Just wanted to laugh at the obvious fake shock. It was fake because Kabuto was the one who compiled the information in the first place, Naruto wasn't gonna disturb him though he was putting on a nice show.

"The sword is said to be the second Hokage's preferred weapon, It also says here he has a bridge named after him and is known there as the hero of Wave. He has completed 22 D-rank missions and one A-rank is said to have a once-in-a-generation natural talent for stealth and espionage. Oh wow!" Kabuto stopped again, Naruto shook his head at the genin spy but it was in gratitude he wanted to drop a tear of joy Kabuto was like those announcers on civilian street fights, people looked ready to challenge Naruto there and then. Naruto accepted those challenges one eye at a time at every contender even the redhead wasn't exempt from this.

"He spied on Both Zabuza the demon of the hidden most an A-rank Jonin missing-nin of Kiri and his underling for a week inside their hideout in plain sight and he is quite adept at fuinjutsu as well." And seize Naruto wanted this man, he was perfect that was a 10 out of 10 performance he needed him on his side doing just that, performing.

'Can I clap hands?.' Naruto wondered with his hands already twitching to do just that. He looked over at Hinata who was glaring at him already knowing what came next.

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Hinata knew this was going to lead to something like this the moment Naruto asked about himself. Hinata didn't understand Kabuto though he was being genuinely pleasant at the same time he was not, he got genuinely angry at the degrading words but he was still pleasant.

He is just a pleasant guy but he has secondary emotions he doesn't share that pile up. He was so angry at everything but he was still sending out pleasant emotions. The pleasantness behaved almost artificial and yet it came out true as real emotions do.

'Like he doesn't believe their his so he doesn't project them like it's his. They just sit there and rot.' Hinata thought thinking Kabuto might just be the most controlled person she has ever met, which coming from her was a testament because she stayed with the Hyūga clan.

Hinata did smile a little when she felt Naruto's happiness rise, she always liked telling him how great he is, so having it be pointed out to the people present made her happy that his ego could be stroked by an outside source.

'He deserves it the most in this world.' Hinata's heart sang at the thought of her precious person showing the world he would be great one day no matter his circumstances. But when that ego began inflating past safe levels Hinata knew the 'brat' was about to make his appearance.

'You better not even think about it Naruto-Kun.' Hinata sent a glare his way from behind feeling Naruto's feeling of 'gratitude' that meant he would clap and say a few words to really put the nail in it. Naruto Uzumaki left nothing half-done it was his ninja way that meant never giving up until it was done.

Naruto stiffened before looking back at Hinata she knew this by the tinge of Love he now carried in all his emotions associated with her, she blushed at the thought of her love being reciprocated she couldn't believe that's what it felt like.

'Oh, he noticed, good.' He was trying to plead with her but she had already 'built' an immunity to his big blue eyes. So she narrowed her eyes at him and he felt fear, meaning he saw her glare when fear surfaced in him with a twinge of love in there.

'I might have let it escalate too much, I should have stopped the ego trip sooner.' Hinata inflated her cheek even more when the sigh fought back trying to escape from her lips. She felt the tough guy persona every male had start peering through the gaps of love he wanted to challenge her, and assert his 'authority'.

she could feel Naruto's joy rising at the disbelief she felt come from some genin now feeling overwhelmed at him, some of them never having seen a missing-nin in their lives, actually taking the warnings in the bingo books, he might have looked away from her Hinata figured. He felt scared, Hinata's right Cheek inflated from the sigh she was holding back when she felt how sorry Naruto became before the sigh came out long and audible.

Naruto raised his hands.

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'Dobe.' Sasuke thought, wondering how he was still associating himself with the blonde. Sasuke watched as Naruto gave Kabuto a standing ovation, with a big fat smile on his face walking over to Kabuto who smiled pleasantly in confusion as Naruto took his hand in both of his and shook it many times before kissing the back of his hand.

Sasuke looked over at Hinata who sighed very loudly, looking down with a twitching brow, Naruto proceeded to lift Kabuto's hand in the air like the winner of some match to the death. Then Naruto took a deep breath ready to give a speech.

"Do something Hinata-Chan." Sasuke told Hinata quietly and she looked up with determination in her eyes, walking up to him like a blind bat with sonar waves leading her to the 'dobe'. She proceeded to grab his cheeks from behind and pull them, his cries were music to Sasuke's ears. Hinata dragged the blonde away from Kabuto by the cheek and dragged him back towards Sasuke.

"Ouch ouch ouch, dammit Hime can't a man have even one thing?" Naruto asked in outrage and Sasuke wondered how the blonde can always talk like he was the one being wronged unfairly. Luckily it didn't work on Hinata who proceeded to pull the blonde's cheeks again.

"Sometimes you are more trouble than you are worth Naruto-Kun." Hinata told the blonde with a shake of her head. Naruto rubbed his cheeks when they were released but the smile he plastered on his face, Sasuke had seen it once before and that was on Itachi's face when he and Izumi thought they were alone.

"But you still love me." Naruto told Hinata in a carefree sort of way that would make anybody think it was just teasing but Sasuke knew better. He knew that she did love Naruto, he heard it with his own ears and remembers the scene like an event that happened a second ago.

Sasuke looked to Hinata who only rolled her eyes at the blonde and looked to the other side of the room Sasuke caught her look and saw it led back to team 10 specifically Ino who was glaring at the scene between Hinata and Naruto.

'Ino Yamanaka.' Sasuke deduced, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Sasuke would have thought about it more but a puff of smoke appeared right in the middle of their group. Many chunin flanked a man with a trench coat figure with scars. The imposing figure was with a rugged head and face covered with old wounds and scars. He wore a darker version of the standard uniform of the Intelligence Division, along with a black trench coat and gloves.

"Everybody to your seats, your numbers are behind your pamphlets, get a move on." The man was strict not even gracing them with a glance as he moved to the front and stood in front of a podium. Everybody began shuffling around the room making a ruckus to find their sits and by the time the scarred man was facing them they were settled.

"Good, My name is Ibiki Morino, and I will be your proctor for the first Chunin tests. Which will be a written exam to test your knowledge of Chunin subjects, the test is out of 10 with 10 questions available." Ibiki explained to the rest of them and Sasuke heard Kiba groan in the background and Naruto sigh audibly saying he didn't study.

"There are 9 questions in your test papers do everything in your ability to answer them correctly." Ibiki continued as the Chunins walked into the room and began handing out test papers face down before those Chunins took seats along the walls of the examination room when they finished.

"These Chunin are here to keep an eye on you, if you are caught cheating 5 times you and your entire team will get eliminated." Ibiki gave an evil smile now looking like he was enjoying himself when some kids got fearful of the simple paper in front of them.

"I don't care about your questions!" Ibiki bellowed at a random genin from Iwa about to open his mouth. Sasuke smirked at that, at least someone was showing those losers from Iwa Konoha were the best, a village founded in part by the Uchiha clan.

"Is everybody ready? Good, you have an hour." The genins stood there waiting for the instructor to say start and waited until they heard scribbling, they all looked to the creator of the sound and found one blonde-haired genin who challenged every soul around, writing.

"That's your first warning except for contenders Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyūga, Sasuke Uchiha, and Gara of Suna for not trying to cheat by looking at a fellow contender's answers." Ibiki explained in a heavy military-like voice. The contender who began scribbling was Naruto Uzumaki who was just writing down his name on his test sheet big and bold.

"Begin!" Ibiki bellowed and everybody began their journey of groans, sighs, head-scratching, table banging with their heads, and nervous sweats. These questions were crazy how was Sasuke supposed to know at what degree a great fireball technique is supposed to reach before impacting an opponent to be most effective?

Another asked him why ninjas call out their jutsu. Sasuke had to really think about that one, this was some kind of philosophy he heard about in passing. Maybe Because it makes them stronger, and helps you visualize them? Because it's just is.

'Fuck this.' Sasuke looked around and saw many people suffering as he did, but there to his left, two rows in front of him was a boy writing like he was casting hand seals. Sasuke saw his target and smirked, the proctor said they had chances to get away with cheating what was there to lose?

Sasuke looked down at his sheet to obscure his eyes as he activated his dojutsu and quickly made hand seals using a genjutsu to cast an illusion on his eyes to make them appear normal.

'Now how to do this?' Sasuke wondered and a second later a strategy came to him as a metaphorical light bulb lighting above his head. Sasuke concentrated on bringing out his killing intent to get the attention of the Iwa genin in front of him. At first, the Iwa genin only slapped his neck like a mosquito was buzzing in the area.

Sasuke grits his teeth and poured his frustration and anger into his intent glaring at the Iwa nin who now stiffened before quickly looking back only to lock eyes with a Sharingan. Sasuke put his Sharingan training with Itachi to use and performed a Sharingan hypnosis genjutsu.

"Copy the student in front of you." Sasuke commanded in a whisper his two tomoe spinning slowly with an ominous red glow.

"Contender from Iwa, second warning look away from the Uchiha." Ibiki's voice rang out, and the genin turned around and without a second thought began cheating on the one in front of him with Sasuke copying his movements with his Sharingan writing down what the Iwa nin wrote by reading his body language alone.

"Contender from Iwa third warning look away from the Konoha genin." Ibiki bellowed to the boy again when Sasuke reached question 4. The Iwa nin looked at Ibiki before moving his head to the side and looking at the answers once more and continued cheating.

"This is your final warning contender from Iwa." Ibiki warned again actually getting angry at the Iwa genin who wouldn't listen to him. Many other contenders refrained from looking over at the commotion going on for fear of getting caught with the Iwa genin's teammates seating separate from him panicking.

Sasuke smirked when he finished copying the Iwa genin's answers and deactivated his Sharingan relaxing in his chair with a smirk on his face. Now was the time to watch the show. Ibiki walked over to the genin who had just got disqualified since he continued copying even as Ibiki was giving him his final warning.

"Team from Iwa disqualified." Ibiki announced when he reached the Iwa genin, when Ibiki placed his hand on the genin's shoulder he twitched and looked up in confusion with the genjutsu breaking.

Ibiki didn't want to hear anything even as the boy rambled on about his team being targeted because they were from Iwa but really, everybody knew he was cheating he did it live and in the open. Sasuke Uchiha liked his eyes, they were the coolest and he knew the dobe knew it too.

Sasuke relaxed as he watched the people with his eyes behave suspiciously but he couldn't discern how they were obviously cheating in their own ways. Naruto was napping so Sasuke assumed he was done and Hinata had her Byakugan it was the perfect cheat code for information gathering.

AN

The exams have began i know the cool fights are not far away so just enjoy the detailed first test, we saw how Sasuke cheated like a pro and found out his progress on his ability to cast hypnotic genjutsu. In his fight against Haku it was useless because he was not proficient enough with the dojutsu.

Kabuto, Your a talented man, Danzo saw it, Orochimaru saw it, Sasori saw it, so you better bet your ass Uzumaki Naruto has now seen it too and he wants your talents no questions asked.

Crime lord Naruto be feeling like a happier Orochimaru some times and that ain't een intentional a reviewer said they would work well together I laughed that was like the best compliment my Naruto has ever gotten how many FanFictions can make a Naruto who could actually work with Oro boy...