A/N: A brief moment to recognize the thoughts and comments to a few dedicated readers… (you stuck with this story for this long and that makes anyone dedicated). Thank you all.

Reaping Shadow, Mangolyfe, & Killa Bee 8: Thank you for the positive feedback. It is always appreciated. Shadow: I sent a reply to your PM on the Ino/Naru rift (but tried not to spoil the story for you).

K1B4ND: There is a lot going on behind the deep blue eyes. Things are about to get very busy for the Uzu heir.

Thor94: I can't say much about your review and NOT spoil what's coming up in the story. Hang in and let's see how it all turns out.

Tigrezztail: Ino's affections started because of a mission. Are they something real? Only time will tell.

Pop2699: Nope, you didn't miss anything. Lots of dirt is being discovered at this point in the story.

Dancingrage: Thank are readers that don't have the patience for the whole "Shadow Game," as you put it, but isn't that what being a shinobi is all about? I would like to think my use of it is improving so I am thankful to hear that you like the style of writing.

BlackDragonShinigami: All will be made clear as mud in this chapter.

777torn777 & BJJF691: Thank you for hanging in with me. More is on the way after this, promise!

Plums: You assume that Naruto is going to get screwed over. All I can say (like I quoted to someone else before), is that deception is a shinobi's best tool. Never assume he's out of the fight until you see his cooling corpse.

Let's continue on with the Chunin Exams, shall we?

~Siva'a-tasi

P.S.: You'll want to read the "Previously On Nore More" section to find out more about Ino's seduction mission and how she got it.

~III~

Chapter 36: Enter the Chunin Exams – Part I

~ Previously on No More (Afternoon After Team Ten's First Real Meeting - Nearly a Year Before Present Day) ~

Ino walked away from that first day of real team bonding more confused than when she started it two days previous. Naruto Uzumaki was even more of a puzzle but to be bold enough to claim relation to a noble clan of shinobi, a royal clan no less?! He had to have more than a few bolts loose in that banana yellow rock sitting atop his shoulders. The baka probably didn't even know it was a capital offense, not that she'd rat him out. That was Asuma-sensei's job now.

She absently nodded to the fine folks of Konoha, both the title and the shiny belt buckle making her smile brighter, as they greeted her along her familiar delivery route. Glancing down to the vase in her hands to make sure there were no imperfections, Ino's bright eyes shot up to greet the tall figures wrapped in white outside the door to Councilwoman Utatane's office. A curt nod followed by a short, "Agent 115," saw her past the heavy wooden door and into the comfortably lit room beyond that smelled of polished cherry wood and mild incense.

The closing of a book near the large bay window across from the mostly barren desk distracted her from the obvious lack of paperwork, her eyes drawn automatically to the sound made by the wrinkled woman reading by the light of day. Dropping the vase on the shelf, pocketing the envelope with small bills, and hefting the former collection of wilted pansies being replaced, Ino turned to leave as quietly as she arrived.

"So, young Yamanaka." She paused to address the soft-spoken elder despite her growing sense of unease. "I would like to know your impressions from today's activities." It was not a request.

"There's not a whole lot to say at this point other than what I shared with you after our first tragic meeting." Koharu nodded but her sharp eyes never left the young kunoichi.

"He's stronger than I thought he'd be, much stronger to be honest. It shouldn't be possible to change so much in just a week, especially not for the dead-last of my class." Ino chewed her lower lip thoughtfully as she weighed her next words.

"Is that all? I was hoping for a more detailed type of report, something akin to the standard format I know they trained you in at the academy."

The old woman's tone was strict and no-nonsense jerking Ino out of her casual frame of mind, her shoulders squaring up as her voice lost all sense of familiarity.

"Naruto Uzumaki is a promising ground fighter that specializes in Bukijutsu, as discovered during his initial conflict with Asuma-sensei. It is clear that he harbors enormous chakra reserves given his facility with Shadow Clones. It's also clear that he still harbors great mistrust of not only our sensei but our entire team, this substantiated by his refusal to share lunch today when provided by our instructor as a form of team bonding. Subject's desire to self-isolate does not fully hint at symptoms of APD but does present symptoms of some early form of psychological abuse or trauma. His trust will be difficult to obtain."

Here the older nin brought her to a brief halt with a quick, "APD?"

"Sorry, Antisocial Personality Disorder. Meaning he has little to zero inhibitions when it comes to displaying hostile or violent tendencies towards others often leading to the violation of the rights of others without fear of consequence. In other words, he would show zero regards for the societal norms of 'Right and Wrong' so long as he felt justified in being violent."

Koharu nodded and Ino continued on smartly.

"Subject did display a radical shift in what was deemed his primary goal in life, that being becoming Hokage."

"Oh? Please explain." The Councilwoman shifted the book in her lap to accommodate both hands. Ino absently noted it was a translated copy of "The Count of Monte Cristo."

"Subject simply stated that he feels isolated and hated by the vast majority of the populace and that he no longer wanted the job. Subject has changed focus to becoming accepted by ANBU, specifically the covert wetwork elite referred to as ANBU Black."

Koharu sat for several minutes and stewed on the revelation. In fact, she sat long enough for Ino to angst over whether or not to reveal the Uzumaki Clan claim by her teammate, decide that it wasn't important (yet), then wonder if the older woman had dozed off.

"Councilwoman?" Nothing. "Councilwoman Utatane?" she asked a bit louder, jostling the woman from her daze.

"This will not do," the aging kunoichi whispered almost to herself. "This simply will not do at all." The older woman's beady little eyes opened up just enough that Ino could see their soulless centers sparkle while sizing her up, making her spine shiver.

"Councilwoman, I don't-."

"It is not important for you to understand at the moment. Your analysis is remarkable. You do your family proud." Ino didn't have time to preen before the old woman shattered her entire world.

"We need to change your mission slightly as previously discussed when I assigned you this important task. You will be compensated for the previous mission assignment, of course."

Ino was floored, her mouth going dry almost instantly.

"Wait, I'm not a trained Injutsu expert. You can't expect me to-!"

"I can and I do. You are a kunoichi of Konoha now and fall under the Council's jurisdiction." The old woman was hoping that the young nin was too far offended to catch her slight unofficial modification to the girl's chain of command. She was not to be disappointed in the self-professed Uchiha lover.

Ino immediately bristled, all professionalism long gone. "I am focused on the Uchiha Clan heir, not some Uzumaki pretender with delusions of grandeur!"

"Oh, he learned about his heritage, did he?"

Ino gaped and sputtered for a half-second but she was always quick on her feet mentally, mostly. "You mean HE'S NOT LYING?!"

"Control yourself and lower your tone, girl." Ino's jaw clicked closed like a trap door. "Of course, he is the sole surviving Uzumaki, that we are aware of."

"That still doesn't change the fact that I am NOT a Chunin and, by Konoha law, cannot accept a seduction mission!"

Koharu rose gracefully from her seat without assistance from her cane resting near the window and paced to stand before the smaller female, an action that forced an involuntary step in retreat for the young Yamanaka.

"You would rather the single greatest weapon of this village flee to another? A more willing hidden village that would seduce him with promises of more willing women, power and respect?"

"NARUTO?! He is a JOKE of a shinobi!" Ino was clearly irate, her growing anger taking over her rapidly fading fear. It still sputtered once the older woman continued speaking in that annoyingly soft tone dripping with malice.

"Oh, he may seem that way, but didn't you say that his armed combat skill surprised you?" Ino goggled but the older woman soldiered on. "Who is to say that he didn't hide other skills from us all? You do know what the Uzumaki Clan was famous for, don't you?"

Ino nodded mutely before rote memorization took over. "Fear for their mastery in Fūinjutsu, Ninjutsu, and Kenjutsu, the Uzumaki Clan was one of the great Three responsible for the founding of Konoha near the end of the Warring States period despite refusing to settle here." Even as she spoke them, the words left ash in her mouth. "They were so feared for their prowess that three major villages banded together to destroy them during the second shinobi war. It is because of their loyalty and strength that we wear their symbol as part of our uniforms to this day." Her fingers numbly reached up to brush the swirl on the plate she used as a fashionable belt buckle decoration making her wince briefly.

"The boy's education was hampered in the academy by jealous fools but imagine if he'd been helped as much as any of you were. Imagine how powerful he'd be today." Koharu's words were like an unwanted rain shower on an already muggy day and it made cold sweat trickle down the spine of Ino's back.

"So, as I said before, we'll be… altering… your current mission. YES, I realize you are not trained in seduction but I'm not asking you to sleep with him. All you need do is become his friend. Get… close… to the boy and win his loyalty. The Uzumaki were famed for it for a reason and young Naruto has demonstrated that trait in spades since his youth. Befriend him and he will love you for life, what's left of it."

"Mitarashi." The name came almost unbidden to the young blond but her father, much like his seemingly unimportant lessons about the curriculum-omitted Uzumaki Clan, had more than once conversed with her mother about the odd relationship between his apprentice interrogator and the unwanted orphan. Koharu offered a short nod to accompany the decidedly unfriendly smile at the corner of her wrinkled mouth.

"Like I was trying to say, we'll need to alter your mission. You'll still make monthly reports to me, but you'll meet three times a week with Anko Mitarashi, as it should raise no eyebrows since your family is already familiar with her. Never fear, another is already speaking with her at this very moment and she will become your mission handler moving forward." The smile turned into an evil grin Ino decided she hated very much.

"Here's what I'll need you to do specifically…"

~III~

~ Konohagakure no Sato, Training Area Ten ~

~*0*~

"'Tis in my memory locked, and you yourself shall keep the key of it."

~William Shakespeare

~*0*~

Day Before the Exams, Present Day

What Asuma heard had his jaw hanging wide open and his mind screaming for answers. "Say… that again, Naruto?"

Naruto's eyes, normally so full of life and sparkling like the choppy waves of the northern bay on a clear day were dark, murky, and entirely unwelcoming. Getting them calm enough to stop murdering each other was fairly easy once an authority figure broke them apart, with a little help from the body-snatching Nara. That's about as far as the truce went and the Jounin had to marvel at the way the anger fled from the kunoichi's body like a deflating child's balloon. She tried righteous indignity only to have her second wind snatched out from under her with Naruto's next rebuttal.

"Whoever set up the Olive Branch as the place for housing village guests had a brilliant idea. They were really on to something."

Giving the atmosphere such a simple phrase was spoken into, it produced three very confused people. The almost placid look on his slightly bruised face, the mild yellowing of his left cheek fading to a dull tan right before their eyes.

"Is everyone calm enough to talk without killing each other?" Asuma followed up the question with directed looks to both blonds holding each until an affirming nod answered his query. With a silent command to Shika, Ino and Naruto both enjoyed the full return of their freedom of movement.

"Now, what does Konoha's biggest hotel have to do with Ino trying to ventilate your spleen, Naruto?"

The target of everyone's confused attention stepped back and away to lean on the nearest tree, his eyes never leaving his now homicidal girlfriend even as the lean muscles of his arms folded across his chest. Despite her confused rage, Ino still fostered a mild rosette hue to her cheeks even after noticing how he refused to relax his guard.

"It's a great place really, located in the perfect chunk of land near Konoha's heart. It's a stone's throw from the stadium, easily reached by everyone from the clans to the little people." The confusion was beginning to turn into concern, his two teammates glancing nervously to each other trying to figure out where he was going with this.

"For a down to earth shinobi like me tasked with keeping an eye on the Kusa teams while they wander around, there are any number of places where a guy could take his rest and have a bird's eye view of the hotel lobby." Ino's rage was beginning to die a slow death to be replaced by another emotion she hated: worry.

"But… but you were briefing the Hokage," Ino sputtered out weakly trying to interject logic in a world of shadow clones. Naruto continued on as if he hadn't heard her.

"Ichiraku's doesn't work because you'll only get a view of the rear wall but there are lots of shops and stalls on two sides. Michigumi's Hardware has a good solid two stories if you, or one of your clones (here he threw a pointed glare in Ino's direction), need to get high above the crowd." He noticed Ino's eyes growing uncomfortably large as she reached the same conclusion.

"The Dango Stop is good when they want a sweet treat but want to stay 'amongst it all,' so to speak." With a slight puff of chakra, two shadow clones flickered into being and glared angrily at the stunningly sexy kunoichi, an act that made her flinch heavily.

"Naruto, what-." Ino's question never saw the light of day as a perfect copy of Anko Mitarashi and Ino Yamanaka materialized through two more puffs of [Henge] smoke. When they started reenacting her tableside chat with the angry Tokujo, Ino wanted to shrink to the size of a mouse and slink away but there was no hiding from this. Instead, she found a spot in front of her feet and tried to mentally will herself into the earth.

Anko Clone: "I'm not your handler."

The damnable clones even had the voices right.

Ino Clone: "But they said-."

Anko Clone: "It doesn't matter what they said for your seduction mission. They don't run the village. It's only an A-ranked and we're not at war. If it were an S-rank, it would be an entirely different plate of dango, but it's not. I don't have to accept their mission and I haven't."

"Please stop." Ino's voice was small, not full of her normal bravado.

Anko Clone: "I was ordered to step aside by my superior and that's all I did. That doesn't make me your accomplice..." Ino was having a hard time focusing on the conversation.

"Please." Ino's voice was barely a whisper this time but it was enough that the clone impersonating her turned to glare at her before delivering the next line almost as if it was meant just for her.

Ino Clone: "Chickenshit."

The clones did not let up, however, and the rest of the team bore witness to the rest of their horrific conversation, the next few lines delivered in remarkably accurate pitch and tone.

Ino Clone: "You claim that you love him but…!"

Ino's vision was beginning to blur, her legs feeling a bit shaky.

Anko Clone: "You still planning on abandoning him once the exams are over?!"

Ino Clone: "Pfft! I was crystal clear when I accepted this mission that my loyalties stay with-."

"Don't do this… please." It was a strangled plea from the mind walker for mercy that went unheard.

Anko Clone: "I warned you what I'd do if you hurt him for that piece of shit Uchiha, didn't I?"

Ino couldn't see the harsh glares being sent her way by both her sensei and her affronted teammate. A quick glance to Shika confirmed there'd be no help from that quarter. Before she knew it, Ino was busy backing away slowly, her head down and shaking marginally from side to side.

Anko Clone: "After all he's done for you, after everything he's shared with you… things that were supposed to be…"

At this point, Ino turned and fled the field without looking back as the Anko clone roared the final line to her fleeing back. "You do this, you smash his heart for that pink-eyed bastard, and I'll skin you alive, Yamanaka!"

Once the teary kunoichi was beyond sight, the Anko clone viciously sucker-punched the Ino clone into a blotchy cloud of smoke then slung one arm over her creator's shoulder while thumbing her nose in victory. The two then trudged off into the humid Konoha morning.

"Are you involved in this at all, Shikamaru?" The Jounin needed to make sure there were no more surprises waiting to blow up in his face.

"This is beyond troublesome." Asuma glanced over at Shikamaru's understated truth of the moment before grunting out an affirmation and stalking off, remaining team in tow, to pick a bone or three with his father.

~III~

~ Office of the Sandaime Hokage ~

Hiruzen Sarutobi was sitting as his desk stunned into silence.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, was shocked.

At his son's, and his son's one remaining student's, behest, he deployed two full, heavy combat ANBU squads to retrieve two Genin. One squad led by Neko, per young Shikamaru's request, would be needed to convey the seriousness of the situation to Naruto, otherwise, he wouldn't come peacefully. The other squad was needed to convince Ino's father that her presence was indeed being requested by the Hokage and no, he couldn't protect her under the "angry parent" umbrella to keep his Princess safe from harm.

It didn't matter to the nearly-retired Jounin that his little darling had wormed and weaseled her way into the life of one of his more dangerous patients risking undoing all of his hard work and unleashing the second Kyūbi-geddon on them all. She was still his little girl and fathers, good fathers at least, had an ingrained instinct to protect their little princesses; it was the bad ones that tended to go overboard into manic overkill or murderous rampages.

That, of course, did nothing to appease the scrambling mind of the Sandaime.

Twenty minutes later and he was still sitting gap-jawed at the story just finishing up through the teary-eyed confession of Ino Yamanaka. A quick glance to Shikamaru concluded that they were both in on the problem, both having been assigned long-term B-Rank missions, by the Council at the behest of his now-deceased advisors no less, to observe, coerce, and, if necessary, seduce the Kyūbi jinchūriki previously identified as one Naruto Uzumaki.

The Sandaime was wishing he could kill those two fools a second time.

Glancing over to his favorite Genin, Hiruzen saw the pain in his eyes and the unasked question behind them.

"No, Naruto, I did not authorize this, ANY of this." The words were heartfelt, but the stone-faced youth turned silently to glare at the threatening wall directly across from himself. When Ino opened her mouth to protest in his defense, the old man stopped her with a raised palm and tried to limit the fallout as best he could. They were on the brink of war and he needed all of his soldiers to fight, a heart-crushing thought that nearly forced him to rip the heavy hat from his brow and throw it out the nearest window.

Instead, he buried his feelings of familiarity and donned the official cloak of the Hokage one more time rising to his less than impressive height of one-hundred sixty-three centimeters with a heartfelt hope that the boy would forgive him someday.

"It is a fact of shinobi life that you will work with people you do not wish to, some you may even despise at the moment." All eyes, even Naruto's reluctant ones turned towards the village leader. "They say all pain fades with time. Unfortunately, I cannot give you the time you need to mourn and sort through this mess in order to come to a peaceful resolution as the very safety of our home hangs in the balance." The more he spoke, the more the Kami of Shinobi surged to the fore, his presence draping the room like a heavy blanket. The old man hated forcing the hand of his adopted grandson whom he loved, but the invasion would not give them the peace they needed at the moment. The best he could hope for would be the stress of the exams pushing them back together into an uneasy partnership of sorts.

"I still need the two of you to fulfill the mission you were given during the exams and I need you," here the tired eyes of the Hokage bore into the confused eyes of the Nara heir, "to support them without question."

Shikamaru pushed aside the comment about Konoha at risk for the moment.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru countered, "but aren't the exams voluntary?"

"Yes, Shikamaru, they are for most Konohans. In this case, these two have been tasked to support a larger plan and I need them to be the professional shinobi and kunoichi I know they can be." The Sandaime held both teens in his unflinching glare until, one by one, the two of concern nodded mutely in obeyance.

"Pops, you can't possibly believe that this will turn out at all okay? We're talking major breach of trust issues. Teams have imploded in non-lethal situations for less!"

If his father heard him, he gave no indication. "Have them fill out the forms, Asuma. I need them in place and on time."

The Hokage turned and stalked calmly back to his chair knowing full well that his well-trained nins would accept the dismissal for what it was. Once they were gone, the air fled his lungs with a heavy sigh even as he reached for the stashed bottle in his desk.

It was for… medicinal purposes, of course.

~III~

It was late and Karin was looking up from her spot on the floor of their adopted meeting room with a very unhappy frown on her face. Behind her, the tiny dining table surrounded by four chairs, played host to the only two other Kunoichi from Kusa almost as if they were her guardian angels.

She fought the urge to huff out loud at the irony; no one in Kusa saw her as more than a handy first aid pack.

In front of her stood, sat, leaned, squatted, or paced the rest of their four-team contingent, the Genin members taking up the far side of the very crowded hotel room to allow the more senior members the more cherished seats of comfort. Unfortunately, her eyes were currently being filled by the overbearing, thick-necked Jounin appointed as lead for this excursion as he tried to impress upon her the importance of her job.

It was even harder to keep a semi-straight face as she stared into the soulless, pupil-less, dark grey eyes of the bastard responsible for ordering the death of her mother as Kusa drained the very soul from her body with their teeth. For that reason, her hatred of the man was absolute as he'd been the sponsor assigned with assimilating them into Kusa's kunoichi culture, his willingness to do whatever it took to help Kusa succeed the primary factor driving them to bleed her dry of chakra leading to her death.

Now Kusa was trying to do the same to her.

Furthermore, Zōsui knew how she felt about him. He just didn't care as he had zero reservations about ordering her to do the same thing for the shinobi with them in the room if it came down to it. He was that much of a zealot and zealots never asked for forgiveness for their actions.

It was one of the reasons why Karin secretly wanted to impale him on her chakra chains someday.

Now, however, was not the time for grand delusions of revenge. Sitting on the posh carpet of their hotel room, Karin was trying to look impressed at the flat nose and slicked-back hair of their leader for the mission as he waved an enlarged picture of a certain blond Genin before her face. That face made her warm inside and that meant she needed to fight the growing urge to smile at his picture.

She absolutely loved those blue eyes of his.

~III~

~ Next Day - Morning of the Chunin Exam, First Phase ~

The meetup for Team Ten, as Naruto was now calling it in his mind, started off with a quick stumble. Amongst the gaggle of foreign nin ambling to Training Auditorium Two of the Academy, Team Ten assembled just outside the entrance and glared briefly at each other. Well, Naruto glared at his two treacherous teammates while refusing to speak to either of them and, despite her underhandedness, Ino glared back as if she had a fresh boy-related-reason to be angry with him.

Then it hit him, and he chuckled, which made Ino's face scrunch up a bit more.

"What?" Shika barked out hoping they wouldn't come to blows again without Asuma around to break it up.

"She realized something I did yesterday during our argument." Naruto's tone was jovial, but the Nara couldn't see the humor in whatever he was talking about just by glancing between the two. Ino spared him the pain of another brawl by turning away and storming into the building.

"Forget it, Shika! It's not worth the drama right now."

Outside she seemed blasé about it but inside she was truly hurt, especially after what she went through to get the regulator seal controlling her resistance arrays. She'd bared her chest to him, her soul even, as he applied the chilling ink to her freshly scrubbed skin. All the more for the fresh blush to her cheeks at the intimate memory, she hadn't even realized Naruto had neutralized the array until after she'd showered that night, the brief memory of his two fingers jammed between her breasts instead mistaken for a way to rile her up even more during their fight. Nevermind that it worked enough to make her grab a kunai for an impromptu vasectomy on the young Genin.

For the briefest moment, another flash of searing heat flushed up to her cheeks before she could force the memory away, a memory of better times. Not even her motivational Sasuke-kun chant made her feel better so she kept walking off to the third floor and the equally unknown Chunin Exams.

She still had the resistance seals on her extremities even without the handy Uzumaki regulator, so it wasn't a total loss. With nothing less troublesome to contend with at the moment, the two males followed after her, the blond one making sure to keep the pineapple-haired one to his front much to the Nara's heavy sigh.

"Are we going to survive this?" Shikamaru asked to no one in particular, his eyes watching with concern the stiff shoulders of his smoldering female teammate.

He wasn't expecting an answer and the grim silence from both teammates only made him more uneasy. With one angry person in front and another angry and untrusting one at his back, Shikamaru led his team into the Academy foyer hoping they wouldn't self-destruct in whatever the first test was of the exam. He'd worry about the second phase if and only if they passed the first one.

~*0*~

The three stayed near the back of the Genin horde after entering the building just shy of twenty minutes before the three o'clock deadline. From the looks of it, Konoha invited every nation to attend - if the massive influx of bodies was anything to go by. Grass, Plains, River, Waterfall, Mist, Sound, Tea, Fang, and of course Sand insignias mixed in liberally with Leaf swirls sprinkled about every three meters. Surprisingly enough this was just the entryway.

Ghosting up to the second floor they found a gaggle of students near the entrance to what should have been room two-oh-one. Ino gasped as she spotted Team Seven near the thick of it only to have Shikamaru stay her nervous lurch forward with an arm thrown out to bar her way. With a heated glare at the impetuous blond, he stared her down until whatever mess was brewing over there began to clear itself up and they were able to follow the rest of the students up the stairs to the third floor only to be met by their grim-faced Jounin sensei.

None of them noticed the angry pink-eyed kunoichi drifting in their wake, at least outwardly.

"Wasn't sure if you three were going to show up." Three sour faces glanced back up at him, but Ino voiced the general consensus.

"Why would that matter, Asuma-sensei? It's not like we have a choice to compete or not."

"That's simple, Ino. The Chunin Exams are a group event." He paused to light a burner and take a deep drag before exhaling. "If one of you failed to show," he paused to glance meaningfully at Naruto, "I'd have to turn the other two away."

His words sunk into the current two-thirds of the Ino-Shika-Cho combo he was responsible for and both snuck a glance at their stone-faced third member. The blond taking an avid interest in the double doors leading to the exam room never once so much as blinked in their direction.

"Well, for what it's worth, do your best and watch each other's backs." He was sure to meet two of them eye-to-eye. "Regardless of where the three of you are right now, remember that I am proud of you, win or lose, and that Konoha needs your heads in the game." 'Especially you, Naruto.'

Having said his bit, Asuma vanished in a familiar cloud of smelly cigarette smoke leaving his brooding team to push open the double doors leading to their chosen testing site. What they saw inside the half-circle room filled with stadium seating took Ino's breath away.

Faces. There were hundreds of faces talking, grumbling, snarling, and glaring at each other. More obviously, a good chunk of the angry faces sporting forehead protectors from other villages was glaring at two of the rookie teams already in the room making the air oppressive with Killing Intent. It made what she was about to do even harder, but it had to be done if she was going to make a "clean break."

Taking one last glance at her former boyfriend, Ino squared her shoulders and strode over to her academy classmates right before glomping the Uchiha's back. She didn't squeal, and she didn't cry out. She just wrapped him in a strong hug and squeezed.

Reactions throughout the group were an interesting mix as Sakura blinked stupidly before shooting an open-mouthed look over to the Uzumaki now leaning against the wall like it was a normal Tuesday, his eyes looking off somewhere across the amphitheater-sized room. She did note that the cold look in his eyes showed he clearly wanted to gut them all and hang their pelts out to dry despite his feigned disinterest.

Hinata's shocked face turned quickly to rage. Her teammates noticed and glanced worriedly over to the Uzu native right before they both leaped to restrain the clenched fists of their own teammate.

Ino appeared to catch her rage, and flinched, but did not release the stunned Uchiha.

The rest seemed embarrassed at the male Genin's plight showing some form of pained expression. Choji lowered his head and dug into a fresh protein bar. Though both Shino and Kiba were still wrangling a very upset Hinata, both seemed extremely interested in the floor at their own feet. Shikamaru leaned up against the wall next to his male teammate, his brows furrowed in annoyance. None, to Naruto's obvious non-surprise, spoke in his defense or outrage until Sakura began spewing her normal filth about how Ino realizing Sasuke was the better man all along would not give her a chance in hell to win.

Through it all, Sasuke's pout never changed.

"Can't you folks read the atmosphere better? If I were you, I'd keep the noise level down just a bit." Seven pairs of surprised eyes pivoted to the new arrival.

And just like that, the tension broke with the silky voice of Kabuto Yakushi.

~III~

Above the room was ringed by angled mirrors, all of them one-way. Unknown to many of the Genin below, those mirrors blocked from the contestant's view the written exam's observation gallery consisting of additional Chunin examiners controlling cameras before a panel of screens, the Jounin sensei from each competing team, as well as a dozen or so dignitaries allowed to observe this early stage. The intent was to help minimize the outcries of unfair play during the exam often levied on the hosting nation, an idea that was growing amongst the other major nations here for the early stages.

Everyone understood that the "home team" had the advantage when hosting. Familiar terrain played a great deal in the success or failure of the participants, which was why the event rotated every six months. It was an advantage each Kage cherished as much as they prized their small armies of dedicated killers. In a game of seconds, every split-second advantage made or break a mission victory, and, for lack of clearer admission, the Exam was a huge mission for each village.

War, even mock war, was not something you could afford to lose and hope to survive.

It was advertising that staved off an invasion and drummed up new business despite the routine accusations of trickery and foul play. Kind of ironic and hollow when you considered the occupations involved but that meant little to the Third Shadow Flame. He was too busy trying to hold his fragile forces together while staving off imminent peril.

As a means to alter the standard course, Hiruzen's announcement of changes to the final stage of the exam went further to easing those outcries of unfair play than anything else. He'd barely spit out the two-day final exam announcement before excited cries about the "Exam Festival" started buzzing around the nobles looking for any reason to party in Konoha. Despite the added boon to Konoha's revenue, it was a very necessary part of the plan. Now he just had to find a way to secure the extra dignitaries, a thought that drew his eye to a very quiet pair of ladies huddled by themselves whilst peering down into the examining room.

"A Ryu for your thoughts, Shizuka-dono," Hiruzen whispered at the young beauty peering around the edge of the sill overlooking the entire floor below. No one was particularly worried about where to sit as each individual chair, large and comfy as they were, had small monitors mounted to a swiveling arm allowing them to observe the goings-on at their leisure. The merest flick of a dial and their screen could tap into any of the twenty cameras recording the testing audience.

For now, her attention was focused clearly on the unhappy face of the blond Uzu royal directly below her, her fingers gently tracing the outline of his jaw and shoulders across the glass.

"Is it true, Hiruzen-san?" Her voice was quiet, timid almost, making the adjustment to her ascension as a national leader all the easier a pill to swallow; she had been trying to assault said Genin not more than months before. Without asking for more information, the old man knew exactly what she was referring to but couldn't for the life of him understand how she'd found out so quickly.

"I'm afraid it is, dono." He did not feel reassured by her happy sigh of relief and even less so when the Daimyo from the Land of Snow next to her tittered happily at his confession.

'Oh, we need to fix this somehow before we lose him completely,' Hiruzen lamented until he remembered a certain lavender-eyed heiress and her current situation involving the daimyo of his own nation, a daimyo that happened to be peering and pointing alongside his Suna counterpart through a one-way mirror panel not ten paces to his left.

~III~

"Naruto, do you mind…?" Shika's eyes were still glued to the huddle gathering around the medic-nin newcomer.

"It's none of my business what you do, Nara," he hissed out acidly making the taller nin flinch. The blond folded his arms but made no other movement. His eyes weren't even focused on the Konoha throng near the back of the expansive chamber, but his ears were. Instead, he was lock-stare with a pink-eyed kunoichi he knew all too well from another edition of his twisted life; Kurotsuchi of Iwa had arrived.

Shikamaru nodded once, a whispered "Troublesome" finding its way into the air as he sauntered off to join the group. He had to find a way to at least break the ice because, as the way things were at the moment, he didn't know if he could trust the powerhouse Genin to watch their backs when things eventually turned violent and he maintained little confusion that things would indeed turn very violent very soon. His father wouldn't break confidence in the exam phases and what they entailed but everyone knew that people died during these exams. That didn't happen unless things got real up close and personal at some point and there was an enormous amount of folks with glares on their faces indicating an extreme desire to get "personal" with the Konoha Genin.

Pushing such gloomy thoughts aside for the moment, he shuffled up in time to hear Kabuto wrap up his nin info cards explanation. Then the wheels began turning before the pale-haired medic started asking whether the eager Uchiha had someone specific to be concerned about.

Something seemed off. Kabuto's personality seemed too polished. The man's words were too rehearsed to belong to a Genin despite the number of years he'd been one. Shikamaru was a very shrewd judge of character and he found the bespectacled nin's lacking, a very unpleasant reminder coming in a memory from Naruto's clan reveal to the Council.

"… Gaara Sabaku of Sunagakure and Lee Rock of Konohagakure," Shika heard the perpetually pouting Uchiha bark out.

Kabuto nodded once, his finger absently pushing his glasses up along the bridge of his nose before preparing to pull the necessary cards until Kiba threw his hat into the snooping ring.

"Don't forget Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure." Several disappointed faces shot glares to the brash Inuzuka heir, but he plowed on unaffected. "I want to know how in the hell the dead-last dobe of our class cheated his way into this exam, so sue me."

He nearly fell forward once the shy Hyūga heiress yanked her arm free from his grasp, his shocked face clearly not understanding her fresh rage shoved by the bucket full in his direction.

"That takes all the fun out of it," Kabuto chuckled out. "You know their names already. Where is the mystery in that?" Despite the mild joke, he shuffled the cards before dramatically swiping his right hand across the deck, his fingers holding up three cards spread into a makeshift fan.

"Let's see what we have, shall we?"

Subconsciously the Rookies crept in to get a better view. Kneeling in the center of the half-circle of bodies, Kabuto's finger spun the first blank card until a puff of smoke burst color and shape into form. Glancing up at them was the same face of the bowl cut Genin responsible for the fresh bruises on Sasuke Uchiha's face, the same Genin Shikamaru could see several rows below the back of the room with the rest of his team. Flicking his narrowed eyes back to the hunched form at the center of the huddle, Shikamaru assumed his "thinking pose" and withheld his trademark commentary.

The information bubbling up for their consumption was a bit risqué for a med nin to have on active shinobi operatives and Shika knew it. Mission counts? Skill sets? Weaknesses (even if he had to briefly read between the lines)? It was information that should have been beyond any medic's access. The fact that he had any information on the Suna Genin, limited though it was, only raised his suspicions further. There was more to Kabuto than met the eye, not an unusual sentiment among shinobi, but far more obvious to someone clever enough to peek beneath the camouflage.

Despite his own precarious situation, Shika knew this was a nin not to be trusted.

~III~

Ōnoki read and reread the abbreviated script clutched between his stubby sausages. Briefly lowering the tiny scroll, he flipped it around to look at the backside hoping to see more words claiming this to be some sort of extravagant hoax.

He did so for three minutes before rubbing his eyes and reading the missive for the third time. No matter how much he softly read out loud the same ninety-plus words (he actually counted them), nothing on the parchment changed and that made him all the angrier at his off-again-on-again comrade from the Land of Clouds.

"Thank you for your continued partnership and kind words, Ōnoki-dono. I appreciate the heads up and will do what is necessary to ensure the safety of my shinobi. Trust me when I say that we'll happily look into this 'discovery' of yours.

Now on to the second issue you brought up. Cloud will not, for reasons I cannot expand upon just yet, participate in this round of the Chunin Exams. We have extenuating circumstances that prevent it. However, I will be on hand personally to observe. We can discuss the ramifications then.

~A

His first reaction was to rage. Instead, he snorted back-to-back and chucked the worthless parchment across his office much to the "not-surprised" observation of the bearded redhead standing on the far side of his desk. At most, Ōnoki got another raised eyebrow from the veteran right before he waved him off.

'I will be on hand to observe'? That didn't sound like the meat-headed bruiser he remembered. Clearly Mabui was still editing the lunk's correspondence.

He refused him! The fool refused to help as if his hands were clean! The short Kage's scowl was working its way up through his neck to his face, the rest of his skin slowly changing to match the ever-present glow of his rather bulbous nose.

Well, help or no he'd go this alone. With a healthy growl he flopped up and into his boosted chair (one that allowed him to see the top of his desk) and pulled out a fresh scroll.

He could take care of his own problems, thank you very much.

~III~

"No fucking way!"

Several faces were glaring at the puffed-up Inuzuka much to his oblivious concern. Right now, he was too involved contesting Naruto's six B-ranked, four A-ranked, and one S-ranked mission record. Slaps to the back of his scruffy head? Not a concern at the moment.

Hinata was trying to Jyūken the boy into unconsciousness, Kiba's former post now occupied by the burly Akimichi while he growled in futile jealousy at the blond Genin paying absolutely zero attention (outwardly) to the shocked mob of Konoha's best and brightest. To be fair, he wasn't the only one as Sasuke's almost-green stare was trying to bore holes into the side of his head.

"I don't care what you say," the angry dog-nin bellowed. "There's no way this fucking loser is doing B-ranked and higher missions on the regular! An S-ranked?! Who fabricated that lie to make him look good?!"

The air temp immediately dropped twenty degrees and the once bold but now shivering clan heir went from posturing to kneeling, the ninken perched on his head whimpering and cringing right along with him.

Into the growing silence came the steady footfalls of one Naruto Uzumaki as he sauntered up to stand just before the embarrassed, yet ghost-white face, of Kiba Inuzuka. Everyone in the back half of the room instinctively backed away from the two males, even Kabuto who, while he wasn't paralyzed with fear, felt a shiver briefly run up his spine and backed away once he noticed the reaction of the other Genin. 'Amazing.'

"Besmirch the image of your Hokage again, and I'll rip your guts out, flea boy." Angry though Naruto was at the old man, he couldn't allow one of the village shinobi to publicly belittle him. It set a bad precedent in front of foreign shinobi.

Three people in the testing room caught his reference to their Hokage not being his, those being his teammates and a very shocked Hinata Hyūga, her rage slowly fading to confusion.

Naruto stood over the still kneeling boy for all of two minutes daring Kiba to rise. Perhaps they would have stayed like that for the remainder of the day but a bright flash followed by the hugely billowing cloud of black smoke from the front center of the auditorium fifteen rows below them caught everyone's attention and broke the oppressive KI being emitted by the blond Uzumaki.

"That's enough of that nonsense up there." The gravelly voice of the man speaking wasn't loud at all, it being barely above conversational levels. The acoustics in the room allowed it to carry but as he continued to speak his volume dropped bit by bit forcing the unruly mob to grow still and concentrate in order to hear him.

"Unless you'd like to join me in the heart of my cherished workplace, you will cease and desist unless given permission to randomly kill one another." The black bandana holding his forehead protector and matching trench coat over a black button-up shirt gave the impression of a dark man about an even darker purpose. The scars across his face told of a man no stranger to pain. The almost silk-like and extremely menacing quality of his voice told of a man that expected to be listened to and obeyed.

Without having to work for it and with hands clasped behind his back like a schoolroom professor, Ibiki had their full attention without the need to raise his voice even as his own bone-chilling brand of KI stole the warmth from their bodies and forced young bottoms into uncomfortable chairs.

"Take your seats, maggots," he hissed, "and welcome to the first test of these Chunin Exams."

~*0*~

There were literally hundreds of shinobi in the room, row after row of the tiered room filled with young faces and glittering forehead protectors now properly sorted by (not-so) random seat assignment. Ibiki enjoyed the fear his presence generated and cranked up the heat on his fresh audience. Hands still clenched behind his back and KI leaking steadily from his body in waves, he slowly and silently paced up the stairway leading to the back of the room while the soft timbre of his voice forced every pair of eyes and ears to follow him lest they missed something vital in his explanation of how the test was going to be conducted.

Up in the observation room taking notes next to his Hokage, Iruka marveled at how effortlessly the Jounin held their attention and wondered if the same dark persona could work in an academy classroom. Hopefully, it wouldn't leave too many mental scars, maybe?

"Cheating will not be tolerated. Repeated attempts will cost your team points…" Ibiki's voice continued through the speakers of the observation deck, the daimyos in attendance equally riveted to his bone-chilling performance.

Below, Ibiki paced like the nightmare juggernaut that he was, and all captive eyes continued to follow - when they weren't sneaking the occasional glance at the Chunin proctors lining the wall of the large room. Konoha had an easy method of telling apart the ranks of their shinobi at a distance when not in combat; Jounin wore vests (usually) and Chunin wore long-sleeved jackets made of similar material. The military-style jackets afforded slightly more protection to the less skilled mid-level nin giving them an opportunity (with the included Kevlar mesh weave) to survive the occasional deadly strike and live to reach the ripe-old rank of Jounin, where greater mobility and skill made up for the more encompassing jacket.

"You will have forty-five minutes to complete the first nine questions," he droned on, his deep voice almost hypnotic as eyes slide back and forth from his gliding form to the silent statues lining the wall.

The Chunin in the room were clearly specialists wearing black jackets matching the interrogator's black trench, the embroidered symbol on their collars of an eye sporting a sword stabbing into the bloodshot orb a common theme among them symbolizing unit affiliation. Ino recognized the "Eye for An Eye" motto of Ibiki's unique branch of the Intelligence and Torture Division but no one else did. It didn't really matter as they were plenty intimidating on their own even without the clipboards to take notes with during the exam.

Three minutes later and Ibiki Morino, perhaps the most feared interrogator in the elemental nations, wrapped up his monologue with a creepy serial killer smile plastered to his face.

"If there are no more questions," Ibiki summarized, an odd comment that caught the large room by surprise since he'd clearly stated at the beginning of his speech that no questions would be entertained, right before his body burst into a snake-like column of black smoke before that same smoke billowed in a direct line to the bottom of the room right to the desk set up to accommodate the proctor and reforming his body comfortably in the high-backed chair.

"You may begin."

The rush of papers turning over in the once tomblike auditorium was nearly deafening as the first stage of the exam officially commenced.

~*0*~

Dragon released from a sharp Flicker with the grace of a predator. Without breaking stride, the shrouded figure stepped in through the rear patio doors, through the sunroom and into the living room proper. Once inside, the doors slid closed without her help and five heavily armored members of the Komodo Squad dropped to one knee with a crisp, "Taichou!"

"Report."

Taifu responded promptly, her mask held in nervous palms. "The repeated incursions of the Root dogs have long since quieted, however, there is still the occasional Konoha mongrel attempting to break-in. Most pose no challenge and are driven off without a problem."

Dragon was curious even if she figured the Council was hiring professionals to breach the Namikaze estate. Fat chance of that happening, however…

"Most?" the modulated voice queried.

"Three particular humans made repeated attempts. Umi silenced them and Ishi buried their bodies beyond the clan lands in the deep forest."

Dragon nodded and prepared to remove her mask now that she was inside only to notice Umi twitch, just the barest of motions in his right hand.

"Is there something you'd like to add, Umi-kun?" Beneath her mask, an eyebrow rose slightly as the thickly muscled half-kin twitched again.

"By your leave, Taichou." Once the clicks and hissing wheezes of her mask releasing ended, Keina nodded her permission.

"She is becoming too bold, Taichou! We need to-." A raised palm halted him in his tracks even as Keina's brows knitted together.

"That is the Walker's decision, not ours. We've discussed this before, Arashinoumi." The blue-skinned wyrmkin dropped forward until both palms slapped flat across the polished wooden floor he kneeled upon. Taichou using his full name meant he'd crossed the line, again. With a sigh, she moved further into the house for a long-desired bath, the two females of the Squad trailing along behind her to assist. With Naruto in the middle of the written test, and the survival test tomorrow, she had time to relax for a bit.

"Prepare for his trip to the Grotto once this phase is over," she called out as her foot crested the lowest stair. "We will have thirty days to begin his training, his real training." She glanced back to the three broad backs still parallel to the floor. "He needs to be able to survive the final stage of the Exam. I don't plan to lose our next clan leader to either the invasion or the petty schemes of the villages out to kill him."

She resumed her trek upstairs to the rousing cries of, "HOU!"

~*0*~

This exam was a surreal experience for Naruto. Ibiki's viperlike presence unnerved nearly everyone in an exam seat the entire time he randomly patrolled throughout the room. Adding into that uncomfortable shadow crossing by your desk the spinetingling sensation of the Chunin monitors scribbling odd notes onto their clipboards and you had a steadily increasing pressure cooker that wigged out more than one panicked hopeful. It would get worse when the man paused near a student and hovered just behind their seat so he could read over their shoulder.

Naruto didn't even look up from his paper as another freaked out Genin cracked from the strain running from the room, while screaming at the top of his lungs, never to return. Almost with practiced ease did the Chunin proctors call out the poor soul's remaining teammates before confirming their identity, by seat assignment, before escorting them post-haste from the room. This was the tenth such occurrence and it was hardly worth the effort to lift his eyes from his test as he finished his computations on the ninth question of his exam. Between those that cracked and those that got forcibly ejected for cheating too many times, it was becoming a very common event.

"You have ten minutes until the final question is given."

That announcement produced another round of furious activity, most of it scribbling backed by muttered cursing. Not two minutes later, the standard pink eraser blocks the Chunin assistants were flinging through the chamber like shuriken began to fly yet again unerringly striking the bowed heads of students outed in their failed attempts to steal test answers.

'BLAP!' "Number one-fifty-two! You're done! Pack your shit and get out," came the dreaded challenge from the nearest test sentry. Despite the Genin's hotly professed innocence, he and his two teammates soon joined the growing cemetery of test failures.

'BLAP!' 'BLAP!' 'BLAP!'

They were dropping like flies. Naruto did a quick count and still saw over seventy teams in the opera hall-sized room. There would still be plenty of chaff for the next stage.

Content, he closed his eyes and waited for the final question.

~*0*~

Team Ten exited the academy amid hundreds of angry, cursing Genin. Since the prohibition of fighting was still in place, there was no imminent threat of violence to flee from and that provided plenty of time to observe the dispersing mob of competitors.

Shika stood patiently off to the side of the entrance as they herded themselves out to find their instructors who, according to Ibiki's menacingly whispered, "Your Jounin have the clue needed for your next challenge. Leave now before I take an unhealthy interest in you," indicated they would receive a brief reprieve from the horrors of the exams, at least for the night. As his eyes swept the crowd, they took in Ino's attempts to reingratiate herself with the Uchiha heir, who was rapidly departing the scene before his reinvigorated fangirl mob could accost him and he pitied her. Hers was not a position he envied even if his own wasn't much better. Then his eyes turned to the subject of their current schism…

~*0*~

Naruto had exited the building and simply never stopped moving. Hands thrust deeply into his pockets, he kept walking off into the heart of town and never looked back, even for the pair of lavender eyes watching the unbent angle of his back and shoulders.

He wanted to end this as quickly as possible in order to prepare for tomorrow's exam.

As he strolled without an outward care through Konoha's Market District, four Shadow Clones shimmered into existence without noise or smoke walking behind him in a narrow "V" formation, a jolt that caused many of Konoha's fine citizens to start with shock, cry out in surprise, or scuttle off to the sides in order to give the now multiple "Demons of Konoha" a wide berth. Many made holy signs and symbols with their hands as one-by-one the demon's evil copies leaped off to perform some unholy act of terror.

Unphased, the original sauntered into the entrance of Asuma's favorite barbeque place and, despite the hostess's strangled cry of objection, stalked right past her to an open seat around a circular table prepared for a half dozen people. With his back to the nearest wall – just as Asuma knew he liked things – he folded his hands together atop the table and waited. Ten minutes later, the last of his teammates plopped down into a seat right before their sensei joined them.

Three slips of paper disappeared into three separate hands before a smiling Asuma leaned back and called to their server for his first order.

"Well, tell me what you guys thought-." His question was interrupted by the blond male of their team vanishing in a fairly impressive [Body Flicker].

"Troublesome. This next phase is going to be rough if things don't improve." Shika paused to rake Ino with a horrific glare. "It might help if you'd stop hanging all over the Uchiha prick long enough for us to survive."

No one at the table had to guess about whom he was speaking even as she stood up abruptly from the table with a huff.

"You're not my father, Shikamaru Nara." She stuffed the slip of paper into her belt pouch and stormed off with a casual, "Stay out of my personal affairs."

Shika turned to face his frowning teacher and stated plainly, "If I die, I'm coming back to haunt you."

It was a very terse meal for two from that point on, one that only could have been made worse by the fact that other teams were having meetings at that same moment about the same blue-eyed Genin.

~*0*~

"Thoughts on the objective?" Zōsui's voice was flat and unemotional, just like his personality.

"Hmph, he's not that impressive!" Shigeri was trying to bluster but the snickering responses of his fellow nin were chipping away at his nervous front, something Karin could see clearly in his eyes.

"Is that why he left you unconscious in a puddle of your own piss the other night at that ramen stand?" came the expected reply from one of her only two supporters.

"Bah!" Shigeri angrily waved an arm and flopped down in one of the corners to pout.

"He's strong." Everyone turned to the sound of Hisahito's voice, the soft-spoken nin an odd but talented poisoner that preferred plants to dealing with people. He was also a good reader of people, however, and Zōsui nodded for him to continue.

"He has a powerful presence to be able to cow the dog nin the way he did." The small boy glanced down to the carpet as he fiddled with his fingers, a sign he was composing his thoughts. "Also, he was not broken when the scary proctor stood over him for almost three minutes. He yawned, which made me smile." Hisahito shook violently once then settled into a quiet humming to signify he was done.

Hito-kun had been right behind the blond boy and Ibiki's presence had been giving him terrible fits until the terrifying man moved on.

"There is a serious rift between him and his team. I think it centers around the kunoichi of their group," offered up Hari-kun waiting for a prompt to continue. "The Nara seems to be the group leader and, for now, the target appears to follow direction. Every once in a while, the Nara glances between the two as if considering something serious and the girl stays clear of them both unless they need to talk as a group. Even when she's hugging on the snobbish Uchiha heir, she keeps sending nervous glances his way."

"That means little. She might be trying to make him jealous or something," offered up the second female Chunin.

"I don't think so," Hari-kun countered. "She was very angry with him when they first arrived and while they are together. She only gets nervous once she goes over to the Uchiha."

Zōsui nodded once to acknowledge the input before looking around expectantly for more.

"He was able to answer every question on the exam without cheating," Karin offered up almost as if talking about the weather. The statement itself caught the attention of several folks including Zōsui.

"None that you could see?" the older man inquired clearly interested. Powerful shinobi were one thing; powerful and smart shinobi were geniuses of an entirely different story.

"I sensed no chakra fluctuations nor expenditures. He bowed his head and didn't raise it again until he'd answered the last question." The only redhead in the room smiled softly to herself as she remembered the extremely pleasant feel of his chakra, the hateful bijū notwithstanding.

Her comments killed several arguments from the peanut gallery. They all knew of her capacity as a sensor and, if she said he used no chakra, then he used no chakra. That meant he knew the answers to Jounin-level problems. That meant he had a sharp mind but what else of worth did he have? Was he worth the risk of this entire charade? Their mission lead seemed to think so.

Zōsui nodded once tersely, the only sign he ever gave at being pleased.

"Tomorrow the survival test begins. Karin," his pupilless eyes locked onto her crimson ones, "try to win him over if you can in the forest. Keep to the plan and try to strike an alliance with our Konoha allies." The grimace on his face was not missed by anyone.

"If all else fails, Hisahito-kun knows what he needs to do."

The introverted nin nodded once and began rummaging through his herb bag lost in his own world of plant lore.

~*0*~

Kurotsuchi's eyebrow was twitching as she watched her fellow Iwa nin jostle each other about the floor of her hotel room. Sitting atop her bed like an emperor, the only other female nin sitting across from her on her bed, left the rest of her crowded space available for the seven remaining Genin and three Jounin to vie over for best seating. Seeing as the Jounin took three of the four chairs around the tiny dining set, that left one chair and very limited couch or floor space for the rest.

"Thoughts on the target?" Her voice brought the jostling and swearing to a dull murmur as they began plotting to kill the mini-Yondaime Hokage, a nin she didn't recognize wearing a leather skull cap throwing up a snarky answer to show his contempt for all Konoha nins.

"He's a single nin hated by his own peers. What can he do by himself except die quickly?" Most of the bodies in the room chuckled, even the conceited Jounin that looked down on her as a shinobi.

"His father was a single nin that managed to wipe out the entire Second Division and fractured the First by himself," she retorted, her comment wiping the insufferable grins from all their faces.

Afterward, their discussion proved to be much more productive. And humble.

~III~

A/N: Manga purists will hate what I did with Ibiki but I don't care. That's how I see a master interrogator adept at playing mind games with inexperienced shinobi.

Ja ne!