We had a week before the first stage of the chunin exams would start. Nearly everyday I would disappear in the morning to spend time with Naruto and his friends that he has introduced me to. They all treat me better than anyone from Kirigakure has, which at first made me uncomfortable, actually it's still awkward. I've gone nearly my whole life being rejected by my own village, it's going to take some time before I get used to people being nice to me. I guess there is Sasuke, he doesn't trust me, but I'm under the impression that he doesn't trust anyone really. He's also rude to everyone, maybe it's because of the fact his brother killed their entire clan and then defected from the village. I wouldn't trust easily if I was him either if that was the reason for his actions.

There were some opportunities this last week for me to get to know my temporary team, I'm really just talking about my observations of them because I know that none of them want to have anything to do with me. Our team leader Shozouki is in his mid-twenties with light brown hair and lavender eyes. I know he is part of the Hozuki clan and he has mastered their Water Gun Technique. Other than that, I have no idea how strong he is being that we don't rank our ninja in Kirigakure. I have a feeling that we will start ranking everyone officially after this years chunin exams. Uncle Yagura hasn't said anything about it to me, but I'm almost certain that my team is some kind of trail run. I don't know what it could be for exactly, but it's the only thing I could think of. Uncle did say he would tell me when I made it to the final round though, so I'll find out then.

My teammate, Jiro, has dark brown hair with eyes to match. One day I was observing him and Mitsuru training together. I learned that Jiro can absorb others chakra, but he doesn't rely on that alone, he also fights with a katana. I'm not sure what his range is for absorbing others chakra, I do know that he is light on his feet and he looks to be proficient with his blade. For a ninja from Kirigakure he is really supportive of helping his team mate advance their skills, which I just find odd.

My last teammate, Mitsuru, has black hair and blue eyes. He utilizes a water dragon as his main defence and offence. I'm not sure what any of his and Jiro's other abilities are, honestly I didn't care to learn what I did. It looks like I might have some useful information to give to uncle Yagura. Having us work together in squads of three might actually be beneficial to getting missions done faster and more efficiently. First I'll have to see how my team performs together before I suggest all Kirigakure ninjas be put in teams. I still believe this may fail all because of their fear of me.

Together the three of us left the apartment to go to the location of the first test, at the ninja academy in room three-hundred-one. We walked with myself in the lead and Jiro and Mitsuru following behind me on either side. They didn't say anything and I didn't think they would say anything either, so I decided to speak up. "Listen, I don't want either of you getting in my way of passing this okay? I'm still not sure why the Mizukage wants us to be here, but I will succeed just as he wants me to whether or not you help me. Just stay out of my way and there won't be any problems."

Jiro was the one to reply, "Mitsuru and I are here because we want to be chunin, we're not sure why you're here but we'll make sure not to get in your way." It seems like they are some of the very few to care about their ninja rank. Almost nobody cares anymore, maybe I was wrong about them.

"Actually," Mitsuru spoke up. "I think we should try doing this as a team. Neither of us has ever been on a team before, because that's not the way ninja of the land of water do things. If we just work together towards this common goal this one time I'm sure we'll succeed."

"That doesn't seem too bad and once this is over we can go our separate ways," Jiro agreed. "What do you think Ketto?"

"I suppose I would be willing to work as a team." Even though I've never actually been on a team before. I've always only went on solo missions. "I watched the two of you training the other day. It seems as if we are all offensive types."

"You were watching us?" Jiro asked seeming a bit anxious.

"Of course I was, how else was I supposed to be able to gauge your abilities? I wouldn't have wanted to have been placed on a team of weak ninja that I would have needed to protect throughout the whole of the chunin exams." I explained.

"That's harsh." he muttered.

"Actually, Jiro, I was wondering something." I said.

"Hmm?"

"I've seen that you can absorb your opponents chakra, is it possible for you to give that absorbed chakra to a teammate to resupply what they have already used?" I know how to transfer some of my chakra to another person, but I would rather not have them wonder where all of that chakra is coming from. I've taken too many precautions to keep it hidden.

"I don't do it often, but I could. Why do you ask?" he questioned.

"Mitsuru's water dragon takes up a lot of chakra and it seems as if that is his preferred method of fighting."

"Oh, I see. Yeah, I could help out." he said.

"Also, this isn't our graduation to be genin, we're on the same team so relax." I said. That graduation exam was eliminated the year after I took it. I was the second child to kill their entire class, that was when the elders finally deemed the exam too ancient and barbaric to continue. Together, they overruled uncle Yagura's decision to continue it.

"Heh, sorry about that." Mitsuru said sheepishly.

"I could care less. I just don't want your feelings for me to dictate your actions in the exam."

"Got it." he replied quickly.

"Look, it's the academy." Jiro pointed out. "Room three-hundred-one is probably on the third floor right?"

"It seems to make sense. Let's go." I lead them into the building and up a flight of stairs. We were unable to continue to the third floor due to the commotion happening around room two-hundred-one. I could sense a genjutsu being used and concluded that the number on the door was switched to what our testing room should be. I shrugged my shoulders and continued to the next stairwell thinking that my other two teammates were following me.

That is until I heard Jiro. "What the hell man! Let us in we have a test to take!"

I stopped in my tracks and sighed, "So he's weak against genjutsu, huh?"

"It looks like it." Mitsuru also sighed.

"I've got this." I said leaving Mitsuru to go after Jiro.

"Wait,"

I didn't listen to whatever else it was Mitsuru had to say. Knowing that my hardened skin could cause some damage to Jiro, I proceeded to punch his face into the ground. There were some gasps from the other genin and even a few whispers.

Jiro groaned while lifting himself off of the floor, a red welt already forming on the right side of his face. "You idiot." I started. "You said you wouldn't cause trouble for the team and right after that you get tricked by the genjutsu placed in this hallway? You were the one that said we needed to go to the third floor, this is the second."

"Hehe, S-Sorry Ketto." he said sheepishly while holding the right side of his face. "It looks like I got caught up in the moment."

"You did." I turned around to walk away from this gathering of ninja and continued to the third floor. All of the other genin were staring at us, watching our encounter. "Let's go, we don't want to be late."

"Got it." Jiro groaned.

The two of us joined up with Mitsuru again and proceeded to the correct room on the next floor. When we got to the real room we were met with Shozouki, which surprised us a bit. We thought he would be waiting for us after the first phase of the exam.

"I see you've all made it here together." he stated looking impressed.

"What are you doing here Sensei?" Jiro questioned confused. He was still rubbing his cheek were I punched him.

"I'm here to make sure all three of you came." Shozouki replied. Upon seeing the confused looks on Jiro and Mitsuru's faces he continued, "The chunin exams can only be taken in squads of three, so if one of you decided to not be a part of the squad then all three of you would have been disqualified."

"On the way here we've come to the mutual understanding that we would work together to pass the chunin exams and then we would go our separate ways. If anything we are just using each other." I said.

"Be that as it may, you will still have to get along." he said. "I must admit that most other ninja from the Mist don't make it this far. It's the sole reason why we don't rank our ninja anymore." he changed topics, "Anyway, good luck in the exams." he stepped aside to let us pass.

Upon entering the classroom all of the ninja occupying the room turned to stare at us. They were probably scoping out the competition as they came. I walked to a side of the room where there would be space for us, Jiro and Mitsuru following. All around the room we heard whispers of 'Bloody Mist' and 'Demon of the Mist', which I mostly ignored. I settled myself on the top of one of the desks, I took my sword off of my back and placed it in front of me, my teammates were still standing around me.

Sometime later and Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura made an appearance. That was when all of the newer genin from the Leaf started drawing more attention to themselves. It all started with a blonde girl jumping on Sasuke from behind and it escalated from there.

"What do you think of the newbies?" Mitsuru questioned while observing them.

"Not much of a challenge, I wouldn't worry about them." Jiro shrugged.

"I don't know about that." I said. I still suspected Naruto of being a jinchuuriki, but I didn't have any real proof other than the chakra I can sense coming from him. "The loud blonde one, Naruto, he seems to have a strong resolve. He could be a challenge. Maybe not so much for us, I think he's more concerned with showing up the other Leaf genin." I didn't bother telling Jiro and Mitsuru that Naruto was my friend. They wouldn't have believed me anyway.

Naruto and the other genin that started a spat were silenced by someone with their grey hair in a low ponytail, he also had glasses on his face. "You might want to try keeping it down a little. I mean no offence, but you're the nine rookies right? Fresh out of the academy. I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves. Just cool it, this isn't a class field trip."

"Well who asked you?!" the blonde girl that was just hanging on Sasuke snapped. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi, but really, look around you." Kabuto said. The rookies turned to see that all of the other ninja in the room were staring them down. I was only watching them because I thought there would be some entertainment value, but Kabuto stepped in before a fight could break out. "You've made quite an impression. You see these exams leave everyone a bit tense, so I would tread carefully if I were you, but then you wouldn't have known that because you're rookies."

"Kabuto, is that your name?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

"This isn't the first time you've taken the exam?"

"No, it's my seventh." At the confused faces of the rookies he added, "Well they're held twice a year and this will be my fourth year." To the right of me Jiro scoffed, he must have continued to listen too. I must admit it is pretty pathetic that Kabuto failed that many times yet he still won't give up. I suppose that could also be admirable, what would I know about people taking the chunin exams? Kirigakure hasn't participated in years, so I have no idea how long it takes someone to become chunin.

"Wow, a veteran, you must really be an expert by now." Sakura said in awe. That's one way to look at it.

"Yeah, sort of." Kabuto replied.

"Cool! You can give us all the inside tips." Naruto cheered.

"Yeah, some expert, he's never passed." a lazy looking rookie stated. "So that means the rumors about the exams being tough are true, oh man, I knew this was going to be a drag."

"Wait, don't give up hope yet, maybe I could help you kids out a little," Kabuto suggested while pulling a stack of cards from his pocket. "With my ninja info cards."

"What the heck are those?" Sakura asked.

"It's kind of hard to explain, these cards are chakra encoded with information I've gathered the last four years. I have more than two hundred of them, so you see, I haven't been completely wasting my time. They actually appear blank until I add some of my chakra."

There was a poof and Sakura exclaimed, "Cool! It's a map, of what exactly?"

"This shows a map of the elemental nations and how many ninja are participating in the chunin exams from each nation." he explained.

"Do those cards of yours have any info on any of the other candidates individually?" Sasuke asked.

"They might." Kabuto said. "Do you have someone special in mind?"

"I might."

"Well, I can't promise my information is complete or perfect, but I've got something on just about everyone. Including you guys of course, so which one is it? Tell me anything you know about them, a description, where they're from, whatever. Anything at all."

"He's Gaara of the desert." Sasuke said, honestly I'm curious about Gaara too. He's not normal, and he strikes fear in his teammates, which makes me wonder why that would be, I wonder if he's killed in front of them before? "There's also Rock Lee of the Leaf and Ketto Momochi of the Mist while you're at it." Why would Sasuke be interested in me? We only really met the one time, could he already see me as a threat? Then again, I was willing to fight Kankuro to save that Konohamaru child without knowing either of them.

"Man that's no fun, you even know their names, that makes it easy." Kabuto sighed, almost as if he was looking forward to the challenge of finding each name. He pulled out three cards declaring, "Here they are."

"Show them to me." Sasuke demanded.

"Okay, first is Rock Lee." I didn't know who that was, so I decided to scope out some more of the competition. None of them really seemed to be a threat to me or my team. I tuned back in to what Kabuto was saying when he said, "Next is Gaara of the desert. Mission experience eight C ranks and, get this, one B rank as a genin. There's not much more information on this guy, he was a rookie from another land originally, but there is this, he survived every mission without a scratch."

"As a genin, how is that possible?!" the lazy boy exclaimed.

"Just wait until you see the next one." He took out the last of the three cards, mine. "Ketto Momochi, eight C rank, twenty-two B rank, three A rank and three S rank. I don't have any information on her strengths, but she's never been injured either. Oh, she's also the only one here to be listed in the bingo book."

"What do you mean, what for?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"You are aware that up until the last several years the village hidden in the Mist was known as the Bloody Mist?" Kabuto started.

"Hmm." Sasuke voiced.

"As a way of dispelling any trace of emotions so that their combat efficiency may go up, the academy students would be pitted against each other, whoever survived was able to become a genin. I heard that the Fourth Mizukage had Ketto graduate when she was seven and without any academy experience. Much like her older brother, she killed every last participant." The rookies all gasped. "Her own village is responsible for her name being in the bingo book. They all call her 'The Demon of the Mist.'"

I scoffed and turned around in my seat. I didn't want to see any of the looks on their faces. Or the faces of all the other ninja around that were also eavesdropping. It's not like I would change the past. The goal of the exam was to kill at least one classmate. My brother, Zabuza, was the one who told me to just kill them all. My results were already predetermined with both my uncle and my brother along with the other swordsmen of the Mist training me. Zabuza and uncle Yagura have always had an interest in training me when it was discovered that I was able to wield all seven of the swords of the Mist, the swordsmen all became interested in training me too. I was destined to be a ruthless ninja from the start.

"That was the last year they had that for a graduation exam, right?" Mitsuru asked.

"Yeah, the Mizukage wanted me to go through that exam because he was curious. He wondered if I was going to complete it in a similar way my brother did." I replied.

Offhandedly Jiro said, "I knew someone that participated in the graduation that year."

"Everyone knew someone who participated that year." Mitsuru mumbled. "It was the biggest graduating class in decades."

"Hey!" I heard Naruto shout from behind me. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to beat everyone of you!" Did he not listen to anything that was just said. He could potentially be killed.

"Naruto you idiot!" Sakura grabbed him in a headlock from behind. She calmed down suddenly, noticing that everyone was staring, as if they stopped staring before."Sorry about him. He's mental and should probably be on some medication or something."

I noticed the three ninja from the Sound village plotting something and then they took off. I sighed, "Normally I would let this go, but there is nothing I hate more than a bunch of nobodies trying to one up someone. Jiro, watch my sword." Then I also started moving at a fast pace, due to Isobu allowing me to swim at very high speeds that also correlates to my time spent on land. I was able to move faster than the three Sound ninja and shove them into the wall. I maintained my stance with my right elbow buried deep in the one boys abdomen, behind him was the girl and behind her was the other boy. The boy who faced my elbow coughed up blood while the other two were groaning. "Kabuto was right you know, you are newer and you may not have much experience as ninja."

"What the-" someone started, but was cut off by another.

"Alright you baby faced degenerates, listen up!" I backed away from the Sound ninja and they all fell to the ground. "I am your proctor, Ibiki Morino, and from this moment, your worst enemy." he smirked. "First off, you Sound nin there is no fighting. Do you want to fail before we've begun?! And you Mist nin, I'll let it go this once because you stopped the Sound nin from fighting."

"Understood." I said nonchalantly.

"Good, now to begin. You will each turn in you paperwork and in return you'll each receive a number, this will determine where you sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated." Ibiki informed us.

I walked back to my teammates to collect my sword. "You two better not fail." I said.

"Of course not, heheh." Jiro said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.

"We'll be fine." Mitsuru assured me. He looked far more confident than Jiro did. For a second I wondered about their test taking abilities. If Jiro's response is anything to go off, I would say that he's not very good at taking tests. He could also just be afraid of me still, so I shouldn't worry about it now.

Together we handed in our papers and recieved our numbers. I sat down at my assigned seat and detached my sword from my belt to have it lean against the desk. I looked for the other two to see that we were all farther away from each other than I expected. I did notice Gaara was sitting to the right of me. He was already looking at me, his teal eyes watching. I wondered why he had a kanji for love on his forehead. It was a curious thing to do to yourself.

"Everyone, eyes front." Ibiki called. Breaking eye contact with Gaara I looked up to the chalkboard Ibiki was gesturing to. "There are a few rules you need to be aware of and I won't answer any questions, so you better pay attention the first time around." No one said anything so he continued, "Alright so rule number one is this, for every question you get wrong you will be deducted one point. Everyone will start with a perfect score of ten, so if you miss three your final score will be seven. Rule number two, teams will pass or fail based on the total scores of all three members." I really hope Jiro and Mitsuru don't drag me down. If I have a perfect score we'll at least have a chance.

"Wait a second, so you're saying we all get scored as a team?!" Sakura shrieked.

"Silence, I have my reasons so shut up and listen. Rule number three, the sentinels you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating. For every incident that they spot they will subtract two points from the culprits score. If they catch you five times before the test is up, they will dismiss you before the test is even scored. Anyone fool enough to be caught by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here. If you want to be shinobi then show us what exceptional shinobi you are. One more thing, if any of you have a score of zero then the entire team fails." I've decided that I won't even worry about Mitsuru and Jiro until one of us actually is disqualified, which I hope doesn't happen. "The tenth question will be given out fifteen minutes before the end of the testing period, you'll have one hour total, begin!"

I flipped over my sheet of paper to start. I read through all nine questions before I realized I didn't know any of this. Why should I care to know the trajectory of a shuriken thrown from the top of a tree at a ninja in three different locations? Who attacks like that? In Kirigakure that is seen as cowardly, if you are going to engage in combat it is face to face. A lot of ninja from there train in weaponry, but the shuriken is a weapon most don't use anymore. We all focus on close ranged combat as an assurance that we will take down our opponent and have less chance of them escaping with information that could be detrimental to our village.

All of these questions seem ridiculously hard for a bunch of genin. Then there was also that thing Ibiki said earlier, 'only those fool enough to be caught don't deserve to be here,' but what kind of real ninja gets caught? Back home it's a disgrace. Actually if ninja from Kirigakure are ever caught while on a mission, especially infiltration missions, they would rather commit suicide than have someone manipulate their minds to get the information they need. I see the logic in that decision, I wonder why we wouldn't be kicked out for being caught cheating the one time… Unless that's what they are grading us on, that's the real test.

But for that to be the case means someone taking the test must have the answers. I looked around, trying to spot someone who was writing with confidence until I found one. He was seated several rows in front of me. I should have sensed him sooner, his chakra does not match one of a genin, but I could tell he was trying to suppress it.

I observed my surroundings one more time to make sure none of the sentinels were watching me before I started. I didn't need to perform any hand signs, I was just worried that if I was caught focusing in one spot for too long that I would get caught. I'm not too worried though, I think they are focused more on the genin that are more obvious in their efforts. It's not like they would be able to tell that I'm doing anything out of the ordinary anyway. I could just be contemplating the answers, obviously I'm not.

I started condensing the water particles in the air that was above my target slowly making it soak into the paper just enough to absorb some of the lead of the pencil being used. Then I drew that water out of the paper into a mist and had it float back to me and settle onto my paper. It was faint, but still legible and that was fine by me. Once the paper was a bit more dry I could rewrite over the answers.

I looked to my teammates to see if they were struggling, only they didn't seem to be. Hopefully that means they figured out this test is about information gathering. Next to me Gaara had his finger over his left eye. Hovering in the air next to him was an eye made of sand. I was impressed by his ability, knowing that I would never be able to do that even if I was to use the coral Isobu gifted to me. I did wonder how it was possible though. Is it his actual eye that is being transformed into sand outside of his body? Or could it be something else?

A kunai whistled through the air and pierced itself through the test of a ninja four rows in front of me. "You're disqualified! Leave along with your teammates."

"Huh?!" the guy ended up being dragged out of the room by either arm. His teammates walked themselves out. Looks like Jiro and Mitsuru are doing better than I gave them credit for.

The time ticked away and one by one many teams were asked to leave. Eventually we only had fifteen minutes left, which means we would be given the tenth question.

"Alright, listen up. Here's the tenth and final question." Finally, observing other people was becoming boring. "First there are some more rules you need to be aware of." Kankuro came back from the bathroom with his fake sentinel, it was easy to spot because it didn't have any chakra. "Ah, I hope the trip to the bathroom was enlightening. Well, take your seat." Kankuro slowly walked to his seat, Ibiki continued after Kankuro sat down. "These rules are unique to question ten, try not to let them frighten you. Rule number one, each of you has the decision to not be given the final question. It's your decision."

"So what's the catch?!" demanded the blonde Sand nin. "Let's say we don't want to do it, what happens then?!"

"If you choose not to take the tenth question regardless of your answers to the other nine you'll get a zero." Upon hearing that I sighed. What are the odds of my teammates choosing not to take the tenth question? Actually, they might just take it anyway knowing that I'll probably do something to them if they don't.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jiro start to raise his hand, maybe the pressure did get to him. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I closed my eyes and sighed silently, uncle Yagura expected me to get to the final round, but I'm stopped in my tracks in the first stage.

Suddenly there was a sound of a fist coming into contact with something solid. I opened my eyes to see Jiro punched the desk in front of him. He was now standing and his head was tilted forward so that his dark brown hair was covering his face. "You think I would risk something like this? She'll kill me if I don't continue," he growled, he looked to the proctor with determination, "so give out the question already old man!"

I should have known that his fear of me would be his reason to keep moving forward. We may have agreed to work as a team, but that didn't mean we had to trust or respect one another. Hell, we didn't even have to protect one another. In Kirigakure it's every ninja for himself, if you're not strong enough to protect yourself then you didn't deserve to be a ninja. It doesn't matter if we are on a temporary team together, Jiro is doing what he thinks will keep him alive in this moment. I smirked at Jiro's determination to continue. He has his mind set on continuing with this exam and nothing will get in his way.

Ibiki raised his brows at Jiro's exclamation. Even I'll admit that Jiro will make a good ninja, with a resolve like that how could he not be? Everyone started at Jiro even as Ibiki called, "Well? Those of you that don't wish to answer the question may leave and those of you willing to stake your life on a pass or fail question like this Mist nin may stay."

Many people left, not willing to give up what Jiro was willing to. I was not surprised to see that all of the rookie ninja from the land of Fire remained. If they have the same will as Naruto I bet they'll all make it far, not only in this exam but in their careers as ninja as well.

When all of the ninja that chose to drop out left Ibiki spoke again, "You, what is your name?"

"Jiro Matsuo, sir." he said confidently.

"And Jiro, could you share with us why you are willing to put your life on the line for your team?" Ibiki asked.

"That is what it is to call yourself a ninja. You put your life on the line for your team all the time. As ninja our lives also belong to our country." Jiro responded.

"How about the rest of you? Is that also how you feel?" Ibiki asked everyone.

"You better believe it!" Naruto shouted, he also rose from his seat determined. "I'll never give up on being a ninja!"

"That means there's only one thing left for me to do." Ibiki said. "You all pass the first exam." My eyes widened a bit at that, we're done already?

"What?!" Sakura exclaimed. "What do you mean we passed?! Where's the tenth question?"

Ibiki started chuckling, "Actually, your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question."

"Wait a second, so the other nine questions were just a waste of time, is that what you're saying!" the blonde sand nin yelled.

"No not at all, quite the opposite. Their purpose was for you to strategically gather intelligence under the most adverse circumstances." Ibiki responded.

"Oh, well that explains everything." the blonde said.

"Let me explain, my goal was to not only test you as individuals but also as a team and of how well you function as a part of that team. That's why the test was scored on a team basis. You would know that everything you did or failed to do would directly affect your teammates I wanted to see how you would handle the pressure. As you know the first nine questions were ones that no genin would know, so you would have to cheat and not cheat clumsily." Ibiki raised his hands to untie the cloth on his head revealing several deep scars. "Information, it can be the most valuable weapon in battle. How well you gather it can determine if a missions a failure or a success. There will be times you have to risk your life to get it." He started wrapping the cloth around his head again. "Of course you must always consider the source of your information. Intelligence gathered from an enemy is not always accurate. Bare this in mind, disinformation can be worse than no information at all. It can lead to the death of comrades or a loss of a village. There is also the protection of information, if you are ever captured you will most likely have to endure torture which will also result in what you have just seen. However, there is one village participating in the exams that deals with that differently, will one of you Mist nin explain?"

Mitsuru slightly raised his hand to direct the attention over to him. "If ever caught by enemy ninja, a Mist nin has orders to take their own life."

Sakura and a few other people gasped at the thought. Little do they know that there is more to that. I decided to inform them all, "However," everyone turned to listen to my voice, "Sometimes a captured ninja will forget their duties and not take their life. In that case one of his or her comrades will take it for them so as to keep the villages secrets hidden." More people gasped at that.

The blonde sand nin exclaimed, "You would kill your own teammate?!"

"If it's to protect the integrity of the village, then yes." I replied. "Ninja of Kirigakure are proud and honorable, we care more about the village than we do for ourselves."

"So either way you look at it a ninja has to sacrifice something in order to keep their villages secrets." Ibiki informed. "For this first exam, you all pass. Good luck on the others."

I could sense a ball of chakra coming for us. I glanced to the window only to see something come crashing through. Glass shards flew everywhere and a couple of kunai were lodged in the ceiling and floor to hold up a tapestry saying 'exam 2'. There was a woman standing in front of it wearing a mesh bodysuit and a brown skirt with a tan trench coat. Her hair was black and was thrown up in a messy ponytail.

"Heads up boys and girls, this is no time to be celebrating. I'll be your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi." she said. I have the feeling that she's early, we literally were just told that we passed the first exam and here she is for the second? "Are you ready for the second test? Good, then follow me!" she threw her fist into the air trying to get us pumped up. I'm not all that excited about the second test, but I guess I can be ready to take it now.

Ibiki popped out from behind the tapestry, "You're early, again."

Anko blushed, "Wait, how many are there? Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy! You must be getting soft."

"Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year."

"Hmm." she hummed. "They sure don't look it. Trust me, when I'm done with them more than half will be eliminated. This is gonna be fun. Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far. Things are going to be different first thing in the morning, I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me. Dismissed."

I stood out of my seat and grabbed my sword to reattach it to my belt on my back. Then without waiting for my teammates I left. I made it as far as the academy entrance before a voice called out to me, "Ketto wait!" I almost didn't stop, but it was Naruto, he was probably going to say that he didn't need a friend like me. I might as well get it over with.

"What do you want?" I stood still, not turning to face him. I just wanted him to say it, to say that he didn't want to be friends with a killer like me. I could always hear him say it and feign nonchalance before walking away.

"I want you to know that I don't care that you're a known as a Demon of the Mist, I've met one before and he was one of the best ninja that I know. He died protecting his friend and trying to bring peace to the land of Waves. I bet that you're going to be just as great of a ninja as him! So don't go thinking I don't want to be your friend!"

I wasn't expecting him to say anything like that. He still wanted to be friends with me? He knew Zabuza? It was quiet for a moment before I said, "You knew Zabuza? You were there when he died?"

"Huh? How did you know I was talking about him?" he questioned.

I turned to face Naruto before saying, "There are only two that are known as the Demon of the Mist, he was my older brother."

"Now I know for sure you're going to be a great ninja just like him!" he exclaimed. "So, you'll still be my friend?" He looked at me expectantly. I could tell that he wanted me to say yes. It's like he really wanted to be my friend.

"Uh-" I hesitated, but decided there was nothing wrong with having a friend. "Yeah, I'll still be your friend." For some reason, I felt as if a weight was lifted off of me. I didn't realize that having a friend was something that I wanted. Not having any didn't seem to bother me, but when I thought Naruto didn't want to be my friend I felt like I've lost something valuable. I think I'm going to try and hold onto my friendship with him. He seems to understand what it feels like to be alone. I don't really think any of his friends see him as a friend, they only interact with him because they have too. Or at least I felt as if they saw him as an inconvenience.

"Great, let's go do something!" he grabbed my hand and started pulling me, which surprised me a bit. "How about some ramen?"

"Sure, Naruto?"

He looked back to me, "What?"

"Could you tell me more about my brother?" I asked. I hadn't seen Zabuza in about six years, I would just like to hear more about him even if Naruto doesn't have much to tell.

"No problem, you can even talk to Kakashi sensei if you want. He knows Zabuza better than I do." he had a big smile on his face, which I couldn't help but let a small smile appear on my face too. "Now let's go get some ramen!"