-AN

The chunin exams are here! How will our team fare? And will a dedicated Hinata or a strangely interested Ino get a chance to check up on our happy blonde?

-Story Start-

The day was bright with a clear sky and warm winds that welcomed all the visitors to the village hidden within the leaves. And today was a special one as a certain lazy jounin's team readied themselves as they made their

"So are we all full on kunai and shuriken?"

"Hai hai Sakura, we're good." Sasuke was patting his own pouches just in case.

"You got your transformed clones and plenty of sealing ink just in case?" Pinkette now turned to the black and orange blonde.

"Yup, and some extra stuff just in case we need a big distraction." Said blonde had a huge grin on his face.

"Not everything can be solved with explosions Naruto." Sasuke's deadpan tone had Naruto chuckling.

"Nonsense, that just means you haven't made a big enough explosion yet."

As all three reached the front of the testing building, it was Sakura who stepped ahead of the boys and turned to face them with a fist held out, "I know I'm not the combat type like you two, but I think we're a great team. Let's watch each other's backs, do our best, and come back alive."

Bumping a fist with the girl much to her barely held back delight, Sasuke had his patented smirk on his face, "Let's do better than that. With all these veterans, lets at least make it to the finals. Show em we mean business."

Naruto bumped his fist into his teammate's own, mismatches eyes switching between them both. "Screw that, let's aim to win this thing! We're way to awesome to do anything else." His friends shaking their heads, the team made their way inside. Finding no one and making their way up the first set of stairs, they found a large crowd of attendees arguing with that looked like guards to the exam room. There were plenty of teams there, including a few come Konoha, and Sasuke was ready to intervene. But it was Sakura who held him back.

Keeping her voice low she nodded back to the hallway, "The exam is supposed to be on the third floor, not the second. Com'on, let's not bother with this." Seeing Sasuke think it over and then nod, they took the hallway to wrap around the building and take a second set of stairs, reaching the third floor without further incident and were surprised to see their sensei waiting for them.

Holding up a hand in greeting, the masked ninja was all smiles, "I see you made it! I'm glad, if you hadn't come all together I would have had to send you back home."

All three looked at each other before turning back to the sensei, Sasuke taking the lead, "You're the one that taught us. We're a team, either we all go, or no one goes."

Nodding with pride, Kakashi stepped aside, "Then good luck, and I'll be seeing you again soon." The three genin walked by their sensei, each offering him either a salute or a smile. And then they were inside the exam room, and greeted by the disgruntled faces of older genin and out of village teams.

Naruto and Sasuke unconsciously stepped slightly ahead of Sakura, casually keeping a hand near his weapon pouch while the other twitched his fingers in anticipation. But, when no attack came, instead they were met with more of their own rookie genin.

"Yo ho, forehead! Long time no see!" Ino made her appearance, dragging Shikamaru and Choji behind her. "Almost didn't think you'd make it."

Rolling her eyes and crossing her arms the last member of team 7 scoffed, "If they let you in here pig, then we for sure would be ready to go. Try not to get in the way."

Another team, Hinata, Kiba an the quiet Shino made their way over, Kiba all grins and swagger, "Look what the dog dragged in. What happened to your eye dobe? Sasuke have to come save your ass or something?" Not having kept up with his former classmate and ignoring an annoyed Hinata, he still fist bumped the blonde.

"Oh you know, took on some missing ninja, learned some neat tricks. Can't wait to show ya." While Naruto was working on being actually confident in his own skills. Having Kiba rib him like that cut a little to close to home.

Turning to the boy, it was Hinata who bowed, "Sorry Naruto-kun, I didn't know if it was okay to tell them about your mission or not. I wanted to ask you first but hadn't had the chance." Seeing the boy's face soften, he nodded.

"No sweat, feel free to boast about me all you want Hinata-chan."

"Oi oi, you lot are too loud. Can't you read the room at all?" Walking up to the group of 9 was an older Konoha ninja. Wearing glasses which he adjusted and have silver hair, he stood over them all by a bit.

"Who are you to tell us what to do?" Shikamaru was half paying attention now, which for him was more than enough.

"My name is Kabuto, and I'm a veteran of these exams, why I've participated several times so far. Though I've failed each one."

Wondering why they would listen to an apparent serial failure, it was Sasuke who piped up next, "So you must have some useful information at least. Wanna help out your kohai?"

Pretending to mull it over, Kabuto pulled out a set of blank cards. "Well these are my info cards. Locked away with my chakra I have information on just about every ninja currently participating in these exams. Just give me a name and I should be able to help you out."

Kiba worked his way forward again, "Ok then, let's go with Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki." Singling out both the best in the class and the worst, he wanted to see where he stood between the two.

"Add in Sabaku no Gaara." Sasuke lifted a finger, wondering why Kiba was so interested in his team.

Nodding Kabuto shuffled his cards, "It takes a little fun out of it if you have their full name, but I got em." Pulling one out and flipping it around, the older boy read from it, "Sasuke Uchiha, sole heir to the Uchiha clan. Member of team 7 under Hatake Kakashi. Multiple D rank, but there is a C-rank turned A rank. Special abilities include an unlocked doujustu, the Sharingan." Shuffling through the cards again, he pulled forth another. "Naruto Uzumaki, apparently the last of his clan as well and an orphan since birth. No special skills mentioned, same team as Sasuke Uchiha and completed the same mission turned a rank. Unknown damage to left eye changed it's color. Boring." One last shuffle and he pulled forth a third card, "Sabaku no Gaara, son of the Kazekage and leader of his team. Several C, B, and A rank missions, where he has always returned without a scratch on him. Obviously a foe to be concerned about." Stashing his cards away with a sigh Kabuto felt like ribbing some of the foreign teams, "Not like the new comers from the Sound village. Nothing of value on those teams."

Overhearing the boy and growling, one boy wearing gauntlets was ready to make Kabuto eat his words, "Wanna say that to my face you leaf trash! Come get some then!" He and his team ready to start a brawl, they were interrupted by an explosion from the front of the room.

"All of you better sit down and shut up! Your proctor is here and if I see any fighting without my go ahead I'll toss you out myself! The large bandanna wearing man was both large and loud, quickly cowing anyone thinking of speaking up against him. "Now chunin assistants are going to come around and give you numbers. Those numbers are seats. Take your place as we will begin the first round.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all nodded to each other before allowing themselves to be led away to their seats. It was a few minutes of everyone getting situated and settled before the now named Ibiki listed off their rules.

"It's real simple, 1 point for everything incorrect answer. 2 points for every time you get caught cheating. If you have no points left you and your team are out. When there are 10 minutes left I'll be asking a 10th question. No talking. You ready? Don't care, you have 1 hour, begin!"

Naruto had been sat next to Hinata and some no name guy he'd never seen before. Grinning at the flushed girl he focused on the task at hand. After writing his name and thinking the rules over, he didn't have much of a clue on how to go from here. A quick glance showed that these questions were way out of his league for the most part. Well, except for one about explosive note yield. He knew that one. Writing out his answer, he took a subtle look around and noticed just what everyone else was getting up too. A floating sand eye, someone using mirrors, and was Kiba talking to his dog? So everyone else figured out to cheat was the way to go huh? Well, he could play that game too. Making a mental command to a couple of his bug transformed clones, he sat back an waited. He could see Hinata's furtive glaces at him from the corner of his eye, but he decided to ignore her for now since he didn't want to get them both in trouble for now trying to reassure her that he was fine.

"Candidate 41! You're out, you and your team are to leave at once." A chunin called out, escorting a 3 man cell from stone out of the room. And it was there that Naruto sat back and relaxed for a bit, listening to teams get culled and removed. While he waited for one of his clones to dispel. Which after a few minutes one did so, providing him answers from Sakura's test who he figured for sure wouldn't need to cheat on this test. Quickly jotting his answers down with a pleased smile on his face, he finally could relax for real while crossing his hands behind his head. Man clones ruled.

Fiddling with his pencil and waiting it out, Naruto was brought out of his half daze as Ibiki drew everyone's attention again, "Alright! This is your ten minute warning, and with it, we have your final question. But there's a catch. Take the question and get it wrong and you're out for good, never to take the chunin exams again. Or you can back out and try again next with with a weaker proctor! Make your decision before your time is up."

Naruto went back to ignoring the proctor and the test in general. Kakashi sensei had told them to treat it like a mission. Well you didn't always get choose what mission you could and couldn't take. Sometimes you just had to role the dice, and live with the consequences of that. Knowing that his teammates would be of the same mind, or at least Sakura would follow Sasuke's lead, the blonde decided to relax. If he had paid attention to the heiress next to him, he would have noticed how she herself was taking a small confidence boost from her relaxed crush. But around them candidates were beginning to crack and drop like flies. By the end of the ten minutes, more than half of the teams had dropped out and Ibiki was grinning.

"Well how about it? Are you lot sure you want to take this question? Fancy being stuck genin forever?"

Finally getting bored and needed to speak up, Naruto slammed a hand on his desk. Oh come on already! Either give the question or don't, but don't waste out time. I know if I fail I'll just have to be the first genin to Hokage ever. Believe that you old goat!"

Frowning and looking directly at the blonde with odd eyes, Ibiki went silent for a moment. Though after a bit and with a savage grin he started laughing. "Good kami you've got some stones on you kid! Well don't worry! Everyone left here passes the test!" Ignoring the various outcries and protests from everyone left, Ibiki removed his headband with bandanna and began to explain the reasoning behind this information gathering test. How sometimes a mission could and would be compromised because intel could be lost or leaked. That you didn't get to choose not to take the mission at all unless you wanted to be a traitor and leave your village. It was a hard lesson some ninja sometimes had to learn the hard way, and using his scarred and tortured head as an aid, he showed he was living proof. Before he could go further however a large mass broke through one of the windows. Spinning and launching kunai at the floor and ceiling, a banner unfurled next to a grinning and scantily clad woman.

The banner proclaiming her as sexy and single, the newest jonin to grace them was pointing in the air, "Your next proctor Anko Mitarashi is here!"

Leaning from behind the banner, Ibiki sighed, his carefully built up aura of menace suddenly gone, "You're early, again."

"Well you're to slow and I was bored." Looking back among the genin, adjusting her jacket just so and relishing in the attention, she scoffed, "To many passed again."

"We have a talented group this time, what can I say?"

Turning back to the genin Anko had a full blown smirk, "Well I'll be knocking those numbers down to less that half. Listen up, everyone meet up at training ground 44! You've got 15 minutes!" Seeing no one move, her eye began to twitch.

"I think I made a mess…" Some poor soul muttered out.

"She is pretty hot."

"If you don't get moving I'm gonna start launching kunai!" Anko was back in a good mood as every team was forming up and out the windows in a flash. Turning back to Ibiki she shrugged, "Anyone I should be worried about?"

"No one you shouldn't expect already."

Waving a salute, Anko was out the window as well.

Ten minutes and several panting teams later, Anko was standing before the assembled group. Holding up a sheet of paper, she was ready to begin explaining. "Listen up! Behind me is my own personal playground affectionately nicknamed the forest of death! Inside you will find plenty of local floral and fauna that are just dying to keep you company! Your team will be given one of two scrolls, one or heaven or one of earth. You're task is to take another team's scroll and make it to the center of the forest to the exam tower within 5 days. Any questions?"

A plump hand rose from the crowd, "What about food?"

Anko's grin only grew, "Why the forest will provide. Either it'll feed you…Or you'll feed it." Motioning to a tent nearby while the gathered teams murmured to each other, she held up a piece of paper, "Everyone will be provided a consent for that they must sign before being given a scroll. The form is jus to release the village from liability if you should do. There are no rules inside the forest, so some advice?" She paused while looking them all over, "Don't die."

Team seven signed their forms and handed them in, retrieving a scroll of heaven for their trouble, which Sakura immediately handed over to Naruto with a nod from Sasuke. Sealing it away on a storage seal marked on his left should that he could just reach without taking off his jacket, he was suddenly reminded to release his weight seals. Doing so and feeling the associated seal paper burn away, he felt both the restriction on his chakra and his body lifted. He didn't realize the seals were drawing enough chakra for him to notice it, but he'd have to look into that later.

Seeing the blonde moving with a new bounce in his step Sakura sighed, "Do we even wanna know what crazy seal you just released?"

Shrugging Naruto followed behind Sasuke as they found their gate and waited for the start of the test, "Nothing crazy, just a weighting seal. Something for training that I forgot about." He bounced in place and waved his arms this way and that. He felt like he could fly at the moment.

"And yet somehow I just know you over did it." Sakura wanted to smack the oblivious blonde for his antics sometimes, but let this one go. Naruto was a training freak after all, so at least this was somewhat expected. "Anything else experimental we should be concerned about?"

Tilting his head from side to side in thought, Naruto donned a foxy grin and gave his friends a thumbs up, "If you see me running full speed away from something either smoking or something I just threw, you'd better just start running with me, no questions."

Sasuke sighed, "That's just our standard procedure now you maniac. Training with you has clued us in to your nonsense."

"Explosions are life."

"Explosions are going to get you killed."

"But it'll be flashy as hell."

Hearing a buzzer and their gate open up, all three looked into the darkness of the forest, and it was Sakura who punched both boys in their arms, "Let's go, you can argue about who's a bigger idiot after we get to the tower. I don't wanna spend any more time than I need to in this shitty place." Jumping into the trees, Sasuke and Naruto high fived and followed after her.

"How long do you think it'll take before she figures out we do it on purpose."

"Give it a few years, she's book smart, but to trusting." Catching up to the long haired girl and flanking her, Naruto immediately set about making a few dozen clones who immediately set off into the trees. "So what's the idea? Hunt down some teams right away and get our scroll or make our way closer to the tower?" Naruto was now fully in battle mode, and the others were learning that this Naruto was much better at on the fly plans.

Sakura twirled over a branch and launched herself a little higher for the hell of it, "Given our manpower advantage, we should try out hunting while heading toward the tower. If we don't get a scroll by then, we'll hide out and wait."

Sasuke as well agreed, "Plus if we get to the tower early we'll have an advantage against the other teams. Of course, again, if we don't get a scroll first."

Naruto nodded and they continued on in silence for the next hour, casually making a serpentine path towards the tower. Eventually Naruto frowned and motioned ahead of them, waving 3 fingers, "Rain team ahead, I've got a group of clones on em, wanna take em out?"

Sasuke nodded, "Do it, try for nonlethal please."

Naruto nodded and created a clone that immediately dispersed, slightly confusing Sakura. "What was that one for?"

Naruto poked his head, "Sending simple mental commands isn't to bad. You know, go here or stop there. But making a battle plan takes more work, so it's easier to make a new clone with my memories that then disperses and sends the information to all of my clones."

Nodding and understanding how it worked now, Sakura fell behind the two boys while producing a kunai in her right hand. As Naruto dropped down to the ground level, weaving through the trees and vines, Sasuke and Sakura followed after him to come upon a group of struggling and hog tied Rain genin. Four clones were surrounding them, who all saluted Naruto before jumping back up into the tree cover.

"Where'd you get the rope?"

"Trade secret."

"Baka."

Knocking the other ninja out and rifling in their pockets and packs, it was Sasuke who came upon another heaven scroll. "Wrong one, but we could keep it as a bargaining chip if we run into a leaf team."

"Sounds good to me." Naruto was already looking around and scanning the trees.

Sakura sighed as she helped Sasuke drag the three genin against a tree and leaned them up against it. They'd be pissed when they awoke, but that was the exam. "Let's get moving then, we still have a lot of day light after all." Both boys nodded and they were quickly back into the trees and onto their meandering path toward the tower. Naruto frowned and twitched for a moment drawing the other two's attention, and he mimed a fist crushing something.

"That Gaara kid, he can control sand. Crushed one of my clones with it."

Sakura nodded, "Being from the Sand village that has to be an amazing skill to have. Better steer clear of them."

"Yeah, having the memories of getting crushed once is more than enough. But-" Naruto didn't get to finish as a large burst of wind knocked him away from his teammates.

"Naruto!" Almost instantly they were set upon by a grass ninja, who was going after Sasuke like it was his only goal in life.

Naruto however was trying to right himself and return back to his team. Some was trying to split them up, and he was going to show them why that was a bad idea. Something large hissing at him however had him looking over his shoulder, "Oh you gotta be kidding me!" A snake easily 3 times as tall as he was already had it's mouth open wide, ready to swallow him whole. "I blame the teme!" Disappearing from sight, Naruto vanished into the maw of the jungle predator. The small clearing was quiet while the snake swallowed and looked around lazily for it's next meal, before something stung from inside it's gullet. Retching once, twice, before bloody foam began to escape it's mouth, the reptile began to thrash and twist into the trees and dirt while obviously in pain. And just as suddenly as it had swallowed it's easy meal, a black and gleaming sword carved it's way out from it's soft underbelly. With furious motion, the sword twisted and turned several different ways before in a shower of blood and gore, Naruto burst free from the snake's belly, landing on a knee while holding the sword over his shoulder. Standing and shaking himself free of snake guts and saliva, Naruto pouted. "Well, no one saw that, so maybe getting eaten by a snake can be my own secret. Man I'm just wracking up once in a lifetime events here." Pulling his sword to look at it, the balance throwing him off a bit, he noticed it was much longer than before. The tip was still missing, looking like the start of the circular cut out was just beginning. Trying to puzzle it out, Naruto decided he didn't have the time right now. Retying it on this back with a roll of bandages, he crossed his fingers, "TAJUU, KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!"

Sasuke was already panting and aching from where this extremely skilled ninja had him on the ropes. Even with his Dojutsu active, he was having a hard time keeping up at all. And the enemy nin hit like Kakashi sensei. Frowning as he saw a clone of Naruto flit behind a tree, Sasuke relented that this was indeed, an opponent they should run from.

"So this is the vaulted Uchiha, I'm not impressed, but I guess I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up leftovers."

Quickly squashing down the rage that fired up in his chest, Sasuke leapt from one tree to another, twisting in midair and launching several shuriken at his attacker. Catching them by surprise, the trailing ninja wire locked them against the tree Sasuke had just fled. Without missing a beat Sasuke molded as much Chakra as he could and let loose this technique, "Katon: Gokakyu no justu!" The larger than normally fire ball slammed into the ninja following the ninja wire. Sasuke pumped more chakra into the technique until he was sure the other nin was down and out before releasing the seal and panting for breath. However that was moot as a sandled foot slammed into his gut and tossed him to the ground.

"Oh my, struck a nerve did I? Oh well." The nin's voice slowly changing as he kept talking, Sasuke and a freaking out Sakura looked on as their face was literally peeling away. With a yank, the skin was pulled away to show a pale skinned man with purple tattoos on his face.

"Who are you! Do you even want our scroll or not?" Sakura's mind was racing. The nin hadn't asked for the scroll and they didn't seem to be with a team. The fact that they were so much better than Sasuke was also something bothering her.

"Scroll? What use would I have with that? I'm just here to test out little Sasuke-chan, and I'm finding him very lacking." Ripping the rest of his disguise away, revealing a dusty tunic with an purple obi rope tied around his waist, the intruder was licking his lips with an unnaturally long tongue. "Let's see if we can…spur…some quick improvement to-" He didn't get to finish as a fist connected with his face and launched him away.

The real Naruto landing in the middle of his teammates, he had both by the shoulder. "What do ya say, time to go?"

Sasuke nodded, pride losing over survival this once, "This guy is definitely not a genin. Something is majorly wrong with him." As one, all three turned and booked it.

Having to dodge another clone that lunged for him and dispersing it, Orochimaru frowned, "You can't run from me for long kiddies!" However he had to dodge yet another clone that attempted to grab him, dispersing it with a knife hand to the neck. Then another dodge from a kunai with an exploding tag. From there is was a running battle, the older ninja trying to catch up to the genin while clones delayed him however they could. At first he applauded the boy for smart use of the clones, but after 5 minutes of this he was beyond annoyed with them. Any longer and he wouldn't have time to give Sasuke his seal, which was out of the question. Waving back and launching several wads of mud at a group of clones, Orochimaru missed one that had just materialized from behind him. "How?!"

What Naruto hadn't paid attention to in his training, was exactly why the shunshin wasn't good to battle. Simply put, the chakra needed to move a human body was very noticeable, and any nin worth their salt would see it coming from a mile away. However clones had no real mass, and as such needed very little chakra to properly shunshin. That also meant, anyone looking out for the technique wouldn't be able to detect it unless they were a sensor type, because it was like looking for particles of light at that point. So when the lone clone shunshined behind Orochimaru and successfully latched on, those memories were going to be invaluable to Naruto later. "It's been a blast asshole!" This clone just armed with the specially made bracelet was grinning as they both exploded.

Tumbling in a hasty kawarimi, still smoking slightly, Orochimaru was now on the back peddle as multiple clones tried to perform the same feat. Three appeared directly under him with hands raised already and that explosion sent him tumbling into a completely different direction to land in a heap on the forest floor. Twisting to his feet with a murderous glint in his eye, a slightly charred Orochimaru looked through the trees, "Oh I'm going to enjoy killing you!"

Several clones materializing around and above him, each one armed with several vials of a slightly yellow and brown liquid, and one of them was giving him the finger, "Doubt that teme!" The resulting conflagration of light and sound rocked the very earth.

Running as fast as they could, shielded by a brace of clones, while two more clone groups each with appropriate copies of Sakura and Sasuke all peeled away from each other and cut their routes over each other's before breaking away completely. The real group were quick to find a hole and essentially bury themselves in it. Panting but slowly catching their breath, Naruto commanded his clones to conceal themselves and wait for orders. While they hadn't heard or felt anything since that last major explosion, the team still held their breath as they waited. After an agonizing half an hour passed them by, they finally allowed themselves to relax in their hidy hole.

"Who the hell was that freak? He was waxing you pretty good there Sasuke."

To tired to argue Sasuke choose instead to give the blonde his finger estimation of his IQ.

"Well who ever that was, we need to stay far away from him."

Naruto nodded, "No problem there. He's either in a training ground sized crater in pieces, or at least hurt enough for someone else to deal with him." He was definitely using that Nitroglycerin stuff more from now on. "And I told you all problems could be solved with more explosions."

"Hai hai, much boom, very safe now. Thank you lord Naruto." Sasuke was laying on the sarcasm thick, but he was happy he was alive.

"Ah yes, please, praise me and my explosions more, it's my fuel."

"Just what we need, a Naruto with an even bigger ego." Sakura was smiling all the same, happy that for the moment at least they were safe.

Twisting his head quickly in a different direction, Naruto's eyes were wide, "You've gotta be kidding me."

"Yup, I take it back, you're still an idiot."

Naruto nodded without any other reaction, "One of the decoy teams is down, same guy. Was able to get out his name though. Orochimaru. For some reason he tried to bite your neck, well the clones. You get it." Naruto couldn't remember how many fake teams he had made, but hopefully it'd be enough. Wincing as one particularly (un)lucky clone slammed head to tits into their exam proctor and paid the price, he knew he was going to be feeling this in the morning.

Sakura looked over to the slightly shaking boy before reaching into her small pack and handing him a ration bar. "Just like we planned, zone out and concentrate on your clones, we got things here." The hole they found themselves in was barely big enough for the three of them as it was, and the entrance would force anyone to have to crawl on the belly like they had to get in.

Nodding and scarfing the bar down, Naruto laid back against his sword and closed his eyes, "I'll try directly the guy either away from us or maybe to that sand team. See how he deals with Gaara." After that he was quiet, eyes moving rapidly behind his eyelids.

"It's creepy when he does that."

Sakura shrugged, "It's the best way for his to coordinate with a massive amount of clones. How many do you think he made?"

Sasuke shrugged, rubbing a sore shoulder, "Bet it was close to a thousand with how depleted his chakra feels. Bet he didn't even notice it himself." They had come up with this plan with one big drawback. Naruto making to many clones would either have them run free uncontrolled, or he'd have to pretty much shut his main body down so he could give detailed mental orders. He'd only done it once before in training but this was a real field test that was holding up so far.

"So, he said Orochimaru didn't he? Name ring any bells?" Sasuke was looking at Sakura directly now.

Thinking about it and paling as her mind came to an impossible conclusion, she nodded slowly, "One man comes to mind. One of the leaf's greatest defectors. Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin, legendary ninja trained by the hokage himself." Looking at Sasuke, the girl's heart dropped, "And he said he was after you."

Leaning back against tree roots, Sasuke nodded, "Gotta be my eyes. I'm good, but I'm just a genin. So he's someone to stay far away from."

They both nodded and looked at the busy blonde beside them. "Guess we're here for the night. Better settle in, no fire." Sakura was already trying to get comfortable.

"I'm having a clone cover the entrance with bushes and branches while some others set traps. We should be good here." Not opening his eyes, he fell deeper into his concentration.

"It's so creepy when he does that."

"I'll take this over the sexy no jutsu."

"Point."

-AN-

And cut. A certain pedo snake is on the prowl and the we've made it to the second exam! Woohoo!

-OMAKE-

Konohamaru was used to a lot of things in his life up to this point. Ebisu chasing him and trying to get him to study or focus on classes. Boring villagers calling him honourable grandson and not by his name. His tag along friends who he valued just as much as the boss(Naruto) though he wouldn't admit it, yet. But after joining up with his friends and hunting down his rival, he could honestly say what they found was not what they expected on this hot summer day.

Gasping and panting for breath, Konohamaru noted two new additions to Naruto's daily afternoon training. Both older girls were in sleeveless tops that were rather loose on their developing frames. They both were doing push ups while Naruto himself was between them and facing the opposite direction, none of the approaching kids knew if the blush on the boy's face from from the exercise or his view. Though from the lack of bindings on either girl, Moegi was insightful enough to assume it was the view and pulled her friends into the bushes.

"You know, I am really glad you two took me up on my offer to train together. But uh, are you sure you're okay? You're both getting pretty red." Naruto himself was doing his best to keep his eyes firmly latched onto their own. He wasn't a pervert damnit, but, he was still a growing boy!

Gasping as her rep count reached the hundreds, Ino shook her head, long pontytail swaying behind her and bangs plastered to her forehead by sweat, "I'm the one who said I wouldn't mind getting all sweaty with you whiskers. So I'm here to stay. Hinata might bow out though." Though her arms were on fire, she wouldn't lose out to the slip of a girl next to her.

Her own blush coming more from her wardrobe than the activity, Hinata had to give Ino points for the innuendo. But two could play at that game, "We're almost done here, so maybe you could help, stretch me out, Naruto-kun?" Oh maybe that was to bold. If her father ever heard her she'd most likely never see the light of day again.

Watching the trio continue their workout from the bushes, Konohamaru looked at his friends, "Should we go out here?"

Moegi shook her head quickly, "Don't you dare, there's a major battle going on and we can't interrupt." Mentally she was taking notes, these girls were good!

Udon looked at Konohamaru and sighed, "They're just working out, what battle?"

"It's a different kind of battle, I wouldn't expect you boys to understand."

"I hope I never do." Udon sniffled.

"You said it buddy."