Our remaining time before the exam was set to be filled to the brim with training, we started out that way at least. Genma oversaw us when he could, and I generally ran off Ichiyo's sensei whenever possible because the woman was a menace. She scoffed when Sai helped us improve our skill with weapons, citing that it was useless for a Yamanaka, who wouldn't serve a purpose in combat anyway. Every time her mouth opened my blonde teammate's self-esteem took a hit, and it made me want to throat punch her all the more. In the end I didn't even get to give her the initial request to leave. Sai, bless his stunted little heart, simply put on the most plastic of smiles possible and turned to her,

"Yamanaka-san, perhaps it would be best to take your bad attitude elsewhere. Asuka-chan tells me that it is a common saying that 'if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all', and I find myself agreeing with her. Constructive criticism is a must, but you are being a, what is the word...bitch."

He turned to me, frowning slightly, "Is that the phrasing that I'm looking for?"

"...definitely."

She was livid, but seemed to think we didn't deserve her help after that. None of us complained. She still showed up every now and then trying to tell us we were wasting our time trying to bring Ichiyo up to combat readiness, but each time she was convinced to leave in some manner or another.

In an effort to increase Ichiyo's confidence I convinced him to teach both Sai and I a low-level genjutsu. For the exchange to be equal all around I then had to come up with something to teach the two of them in exchange for the genjutsu as well as Sai's shurikenjutsu tips. Anything at all involving fuinjutsu would take too long, much longer than we had to prepare for the exam. That was the exact reason Sai had decided against instructing us to wield the same sort of tanto that was constantly strapped across his back. In the end I hit upon something that might kill several birds with one stone, particularly the Orochimaru bird. Well, he wouldn't be killed, but he'd be pissed and Sasuke-less at least. The idea actually came to me when Naruto was going on about the weirdo's who threatened Konohamaru, and how they were also in the exams. The light bulbs fired, and just wouldn't shut off.

Four days before the exam was set to start I enlisted the help of Naruto to track down the entire Rookie Nine, convincing them somehow in that magical Uzumaki way of his to meet us at the usual Team Seven training ground. I tracked down Team Gai myself, luring them in with the promise of a training exercise. They all swarmed together around the training ground and I observed them for several seconds, perched on top of the middle of the three logs, hidden under a light genjutsu. The Hyuuga would have noticed my presence, had they bothered to check with their Byakugan. Neither did.

Before Lee could issue the challenge to Sasuke that I sensed coming I dropped the genjutsu and stood up straight, clapping my hands together loudly and flaring my chakra out so that even a civilian standing in the clearing could have felt it. All of them swiveled towards me, Ino's hands around Shikamaru's neck for some reason, the shadow-nin looking only mildly grateful that I'd indirectly stopped her.

I beamed down at all of them, putting my fisted hands at my hips ignoring the way Ino was eyeing my different hair color.

"Thank you for showing up, and welcome to hell!"

I may have channeled Anko a bit for the last part. The Team Seven genin wisely took a wary step back, Sasuke voicing what was no doubt on everyone's minds.

"Why are we here?"

"A training exercise of course! The chuunin exams are no joke, and most of us here are rookies, barely six months out of the Academy with most of their missions being housework at best. What all of you need is a simulated mission to put you into the right mindset for the exams!"

Shikamaru didn't bother raising his hand as Sasuke did, instead just pulling away from Ino and rubbing his neck slightly,

"And why exactly are we doing it together? Once the exams start we'll be competing against one another. Is this some ploy to get everyone's secrets and skill sets out in the open? Not something I'd expect from you."

I shrugged with one shoulder,

"On one hand you're right, and we will be competing against one another, on another hand you're completely wrong."

It isn't often someone dares call out a Nara, but he'd known me for long enough that he only mildly raised an eyebrow, motioning for my explanation.

"Well, go on, we're listening."

And they were, all of them. Kiba wasn't goofing off, Hinata wasn't staring down at her feet, Neji hadn't decided this wasn't worth his time. They were all patiently standing there, waiting for brilliance. I really should start answering questions with 'I don't know', this was bound to get, as Shikamaru would say, troublesome.

"The Chuunin exams are much more than a test and chance for promotion, they're war games. Civilians and shinobi alike pay close attention to the exams, both through betting rings and scouting out new talent. The bingo book often gets a slew of new entries after it's all over because of the up and coming C-ranked shinobi that are 'discovered' by the masses in the examination. It isn't only about furthering your individual ninja career, or even the prestige of your team. You're representing your entire village, showing off to potential clients and convincing them that Konoha would be a better ally than, for example, Iwa."

I took a moment to breathe, looking them over for signs of realization. Shikamaru was definitely following me, nodding absently as I continued. "This exam is the most important of all of them in recent history. It's the first large-scale, multi-village event held in Konoha since she lost a Kage. We have to prove ourselves to both our clients and to other nations. We have to dominate the first two tests and make up most of the numbers in the finals. If we do badly, even with the home-field advantage, then the political repercussions won't be kind. But, if we can manage to stomp on every twenty-year-old genin plant from here to Kiri, even with a majority of rookies, then it will go a long way to stabilizing our position amongst several other villages."

Kiba shouted up at me, "So we cheat?"

"It's not cheating. Nowhere in the rules does it say we have to be enemies once the exam begins. The only time that applies is when and if we're pitted against each other one on one. But if there's a team-centered free for all then it would be in our best interests to leave other Konoha teams alone unless there's no other option. But enough of this, you don't have to participate in this training exercise, so if you don't want to I won't waste your time explaining it to you. This is your chance to leave."

I was slightly surprised that no one left. Well, Neji attempted to but TenTen caught the back of his shirt, forcing him to stay still. Ino looked between her teammates nervously before standing her ground, and all other reactions were lost to me as Naruto punched the air, beaming at all of us.

"This is going to be so great, BELIEVE IT! Um, Asuka, what exactly are we doing?"

I rolled my eyes at him fondly before jumping down from the log to be standing in front of them, "This is a team exercise, with our normal teams being combined into two sides, A and B. This is basically ninja hide-and-seek turned into an escape and evasion drill combined with tracking and running down a target. The sides will switch of course, as well as who's on which side, but the point is for us all to get practice against certain types. A tracker team like Team Kurenai is more used to finding than avoiding being found. The switch is a good example of the purpose of this."

And if it helps them get away from teams that outclass them in the forest of death then I'll count it a win.

There was a bit of a snag as we drew teams out of hats and decided what to name my own team seeing as we had no one sensei. Neither myself nor Sai had last names, so we were going to call it Team Yamanaka, but that would be as if we were choosing Ichiyo's sensei as our leader, and none of us wanted that. I did learn the little tidbit that Sai's sensei was actually dead, which is why he was put with us in the first place. I had to wonder if he considered Danzou his 'sensei'. In the end Shikamaru got tired of the arguing and offered a solution.

"Why don't you choose who's had the most high ranking missions as the team leader and stick with their name."

Ichiyo immediately bowed out, having spent most of his apprenticeship whiling away his time experimenting in T&I. I looked at Sai, measuring if his S-class sneaky sneaky Anbu shit was going to count, shrugging one shoulder.

"Well, out with it."

This could actually go pretty badly. If Sai won, which was likely, then he could protest he was the leader later in the forest of death, and his old conditioning could interfere with whatever it was I may have to do to help Sasuke. On the other hand, I didn't want to be the leader. I wasn't much of a fan of responsibility.

He smiled at me blandly,

"My highest ranking mission was A-rank, completed with a few of my fellow trainees. I have completed eight of them."

I sighed explosively, stretching out in preparation for the games to finally start.

"Ah, man, I've only done six A-ranks. Team Sai it is then."

I turned in the utter silence to find the rest of the rookies looking at us blankly and I pegged their surprise before grinning.

"Apprenticeships for the win."

Things only devolved from there. I found that it was near impossible to evade a Byakugan, and the 'steal our teams bell' method that we'd put together after round one to add fighting into it was tricky in that I couldn't tell who had it. I assumed that whenever we got to the forest of death I would be able to sense the scrolls seeing as they each held a piece of a summoning seal in them. When Anko held them up to showcase I planned on memorizing which scroll had which half of the seal in order to expedite the entire process.

After eight solid hours all of us were lying in puppy piles in the clearing we'd started in, some feeling satisfied and others realizing how woefully unprepared they were. I barely avoided being beaned in the face by a sandel, giving a panting Sakura a doleful look.

"What was that for?"

She scowled at me, "You're worse of a slave driver than Kakashi-sensei! I don't think I've run so much in my entire life!"

Chouji groaned from where he was splayed out on the ground beside his team, Ino drapped dramatically across his legs.

"Tell me that food was a part of this deal? We didn't even stop for lunch…"

There was clapping from one end of the clearing that had most of us, still hyper-alert from the chase, to leap to our feet or go for knives. Most of us didn't make it to standing up, including me, my legs had magically been replaced with noodles. Iruka-sensei stood at the edge with the rest of the jounin-sensei, all holding baskets of some sort.

"That was quite a show all of you put on, well done! I'll admit I was wary of you entering so soon after graduation but...you've managed to put my mind at rest!"

Okay, so I may have had many more reasons for this than I'd first admitted. One of those being to reassure Iruka-sensei, and another to bring the jounin-sensei in our plot to make Konoha look good. Most of the genin had noticed their sensei hanging around at some point, especially after the increased awareness from the game kicked in. We split apart into teams from there, mostly. We still sat clumped close together, the sensei pointing out flaws and praising success amongst just chatting amongst each other. Genma was out on a mission, and we weren't inviting Yamanaka-sensei even under pain of death, so the newly dubbed Team Sai ended up squashed in amongst Team Kakashi.

Seeing everyone together like this, it was a warm moment, filled with so much potential. I knew the exam itself would be of little to no issue to us, we were all ahead of where we had been in that other reality where the exam had been mostly passed anyway. But I could only hope we were ready to avoid the whims of a mad Sannin.

All of the rookies avoided the genjutsu on the first floor, sticking quietly to a corner and eventually absorbing the scuffed-looking Team Gai into the fold. There was good-natured ribbing and amiable jokes all around; I was near the outskirts of it, keeping half an eye on the others in the area, but keeping most of my attention on the chakra in the room. There was no doubt at all that a few of them were low-jounin level, or above. The demon writhing in Gaara had been on my mind from the moment it set foot in the village and I'd clamped my senses down closer to me to keep away from that feeling of madness that radiated outwards. I could feel the break in the seal at this point; no matter how strong Orochimaru was, his chakra levels didn't compare to even the weakest of the demons. They were made entirely of chakra after all.

Of course, in a fight against the Ichibi container Orochimaru would win simply because of the restraints placed upon the young human it was stuck inside of. But the image of Orochimaru getting squished by a large chibi raccoon demon did put me in a better mood, right up until a silver-haired Konoha genin approached us in response to Kiba and Naruto's loud booming laughs at Shikamaru's expense, his glasses glinting as he smiled at us indulgently.

"Hey, keep it down you guys, it isn't such a good idea to draw attention to yourselves like this. You're mostly rookies, aren't you?"

Shikamaru regarded the genin blandly,

"Well, no one knew it until you said so."

I gave the kid a mental high five, promising myself to give him a new shogi set for his birthday or something. A flare of chakra from outside the room distracted me and I noted that Ibiki had arrived and was speaking to Kakashi and Gai for some reason. An elbow nudged me in the side, bringing me back to the present and I blinked, noticing that the Konoha twelve and Kabuto were looking at me. I was slightly surprised that I felt no hatred or fear for the traitor in front of me, and put it down for much the same reason I had slipped up and believed Kakashi's act of lazy near-senility. What I remembered of him was vague, only that he worked for Orochimaru, and that he'd left Root long ago, which is probably why he hadn't been found when Danzou had died. After a second I gave up,

"I was paying zero attention to anything at all, what's going on?"

Sasuke and Sakura shared a look I couldn't decipher and Sai filled me in, with the same bland smile as always on his face.

"Yakushi Kabuto-san has taken the exam many times and is offering us advice, as well as information on our fellow competitors. Naruto-kun has insisted that you probably already know whatever information Kabuto-san has to offer for us."

I rolled my eyes, shooting an unrepentant Naruto a 'look' before turning to the group at large.

"Who are we even after information on?"

None of us would ask about fellow Leaf shinobi, mostly because we knew one another and our skill levels at this point. Sasuke was the one to finally speak, jerking his chin in the direction of the awful chakra I'd been trying to ignore.

"Gaara of the desert. I want to fight him."

Kabuto began shuffling his weird little cards but I jerked around to look at him, schooling my expression to blankness.

"You will do no such thing."

The Sasuke of another reality would have bristled, and even this Sasuke probably wouldn't have taken kindly to being ordered around, but he froze at my tone, Naruto stilling as well. Finally, the orange-clad ninja gulped, glancing over at Gaara.

"Um, why not? What's wrong with him?"

I glanced over at the Jinchuuriki myself, suddenly unsure about what to share.

"He's the Kazekage's youngest child, and in a league all his own."

Kabuto bobbed his head from where he sat, legs crossed, on the floor.

"She's right! He's run all sorts of B and A-rank missions, and he always returns without a scratch no matter the state of his teammates!"

Some things needed to be said to my fellow Konoha genin, and I really didn't want Kabuto, and by extension Orochimaru, to know exactly how much research I'd done into sealing, specifically into tailed beast sealing. So I stiffened slightly and moved to block him from the glaring sound-nin's sight, using the excuse as best I could.

"Thank you for your advice and information, but it would probably be best if you returned to your teammates now, I don't like the looks of those three glaring at you. Otogakure is still new enough that there's very little information on them to be found."

I had to hand it to him, he was a brilliant actor, seemingly appropriately thankful as he skittered off to look as if he was hiding behind allies. I turned back to my classmates and friends, lowering my voice further,

"Now that's settled, listen closely." I hadn't realized I had their attention already until they leaned in closer. All those intense looks being centered on me was slightly unnerving but I powered through. "There's a seal on the redhead, and it's unstable. Supremely powerful, but dangerously weak in other ways. If you encounter him, run. Right now the seal is poisoning his mind, there's no reasoning with him."

Tenten was the first to speak, eyes wide.

"Can you tell what the seal is? Is it something you have experience with, like maybe you could fix it if he attacked us?"

I blanked for a second before shaking my head profusely.

"I prefer life, thanks! The amount of preparation it would take, without extensive practice and study of the seal...please just run."

Sasuke nudged me, brow furrowed with Uchiha style worry and I decided it was time to drop the hint. I glanced at Naruto, then Gaara, then back to Sasuke before raising an eyebrow. He got it immediately, eyes growing wide before we were all distracted when Ibiki poofed into the room, roaring for silence.

"My name is Morino Ibiki, and I'm your proctor for the first part of the exam. Pick a number and sit your asses down."

We all traded one last look before separating. The exams had begun.

Sorry for the delay, life sucks, take a chapter. I'm trying to do more for all of my stories lately, wish me luck.

~TimeLordOfPie