Author notes:

My OC characters are Naruto's twin brother Arashi, and a girl who grew up an orphan, Tsubane. They are on Yamato's team, with Sai. To know more about them, I highly suggest reading Mission: Saving Arashi, focusing on this team.

For anyone not familiar with my series, Kakashi, Shikaku, Team 7, 8, 10, Team Guy, Sai and the Sand Siblings are time-travelers. The Fourth War went wrong, and they returned to a time a little bit before Naruto's birth. We're at a point in the story where Minato, Kushina, Hizashi and the whole Uchiha clan are still alive. Orochimaru and Danzo are dead. Obito was brought back to his senses and is living freely in the village.

Thanks to my Beta reader Feiris for correcting mistakes I made as well as helping me with ideas and improving my text as a whole.

Kakashi came back to his home after a successful C-ranked mission with his genins. He walked down the streets to get there, already thinking of the warm shower waiting for him. The kids were tasked to do the report, so Kakashi had a bit of time before having to meet with them and review their work to make sure they didn't give a badly written summary to the Hokage. But his plans changed as he crossed paths with his former teammate, Obito, smiling at him.

"I was sent to let you know that Minato sensei is calling a meeting with other jonins. It starts in fifteen minutes."

Kakashi complained. He just wanted to go home and rest a bit. "Mahhh. How did Minato sensei know we were back?"

"Well, actually, he doesn't yet, but I heard Asuma talking to Kurenai about a jonin meeting and worrying you might miss it. I was with Kushina when Naruto came back."

Kakashi grinned. His own house was further from the entrance than the Hokage's house. It made sense that Naruto was already back to his place, hopefully starting on that report.

"Then, I guess I'll get going. Thanks for letting me know."

Whatever this meeting was about, it must be important, if Asuma cared he missed it or not. He speeded up his walking pace. If no one knew he was back, they wouldn't wait for him to start, even counting his usual habit of being late.

He rushed into the meeting room. There were a few empty chairs still. Kakashi sat next to Kurenai at the end of the table.

"My eternal rival! I wasn't sure you were going to make it today, I'm so glad you're here!" A voice said from behind Kakashi. He didn't need to turn around to know it was Guy. He rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"I was told there was a meeting I shouldn't miss, but I just got back to the village, do you know what this is about?"

Kakashi looked around the table, to recognize that every jonin called had a genin team in their charge, plus Umino Iruka. Kakashi suddenly had a flashback of his previous life, when he nominated his team to participate in the chunin exam. Was that what the meeting was about? He tried recalling when the last chunin exam was. They were happening regularly enough that Kakashi should have known it was coming. They were in the same month as his previous life.

Asuma let a little laugh out of his mouth and confirmed Kakashi's suspicions. Guy looked at him a little too much.

"Are you making your team participate, Kakashi? Are your youthful genins already ready for the test?"

Kakashi bit his lips. He thought they were more ready than their previous life. They took team bonding and training more seriously than their first time. But he was the only sensei knowing that thirteen genins were time-travelers. And surprisingly, he had gone nearly thirteen years without the secret to spill. Minato sensei had questioned his assistant and formerly favorite Anbu's acts from time to time, but he never theorized anything aloud. It was quite surprising that Naruto of all people never told his father. Or Kiba to anyone.

The Hokage entered the meeting room and started the meeting. He mentioned there were three villages competing this time. Konoha, Suna, and a village Kakashi had never heard of in both of his life, named Yama. His chest tightened. The last time something like that happened, it was the sound village and Orochimaru's doing. But Orochimaru has been dead for years now. Kakashi had been sent on that mission, and confirmed the man's passing.

Kurenai was the first one to question who they were and where they lived. Minato mentioned they were newly established, they were a village hidden in the mountains. They took a lot of missions lately, especially difficult ones no other village wanted to do. Assassinations. He mentioned it was why they wanted to participate in the exam, because they needed even more qualified ninjas. Kakashi found it suspicious but didn't dare talk.

Of everything his time-traveling squad wanted to solve when they turned back time, only the Akatsuki was left to deal with. Obito wasn't in it anymore, so Kakashi had no clue who their leader was now, nor their goals. Itachi and Orochimaru had never joined them either. Jiraiya was probably still an informer, so Kakashi hoped Shikaku had been carefully getting some news about the organization. Kakashi wondered if some butterfly effect might have made a new organization or enemy come to place who wanted to hurt Konoha. But he pushed that in the back of his mind. He was likely wrong.

Minato finished explaining the preparation of the exam, letting the jonin in the unknown of what the tests would consist of. It made sense, he didn't want the genins to learn about it by somebody slipping up information. Kakashi wondered if Anko would send them to the Forest of Death this time.

"How many of you plan on letting your team compete?"

Guy raised his hand immediately. Asuma looked at Kurenai. A little nod from the woman, and both had their hands raised. Kakashi hadn't hesitated and already did as well. Some other jonins Kakashi didn't know as well raised their hands too. The sensei of the genin teams that graduated with the formerly known Rookie 9 teams kept their hands down, their students weren't ready yet. But those weren't time-travelers, nor coming from major clans. It felt normal that these teams' jonin leader kept their hands low. Iruka crossed his arms.

"Wait. Asuma, Kakashi, Kurenai, your teams are barely out of my class. Are you sure?" He spoke. Iruka looked ready to fight for his point of view, just like in their previous lives. But Kakashi knew his team was even more prepared than before, and they had done well the first time, despite not being promoted.

"I confirm that Hinata, Kiba and Shino are ready. They seemed very excited to participate when I asked them," Kurenai said, with more self-assurance than Kakashi remembered from his previous life. The woman was not a time-traveler, but her team probably was more motivated and confident, and it seemingly helped Kurenai's insecurities.

"Same for me," Kakashi said, omitting to say he did not talk about the exam to his team yet, but he knew them. He was sure it would be an obvious yes from his three teenagers. "I believe they are a strong group, Iruka. You shouldn't be surprised. What about you, Yamato?"

The man seemed to hesitate. He probably didn't expect his colleagues to raise their hands. Yamato's team had qualified with the number of missions, but barely, because of one of his genin being sick for a while. But if Naruto was competing, chances were that Minato would insist on Arashi being there too. From what Kakashi had gathered from Naruto, Arashi was back to full health and was doing well now.

"They have shown me a good growth in their abilities. Arashi's sickness brought them even closer. If your teams are participating, I don't see why I would prevent mine from taking the exams."

Kakashi smiled under his mask. He didn't know how much Yamato's team would change the tournament from the first time. They were a team more, but Orochimaru wasn't there to mess up everything and make the exam more complicated than it was meant to be.

Kakashi left the meeting with the intention of talking with his team about the exam before they heard about it from another genin. He found Naruto first, because he was still at his home.

"Last-minute team meeting. Can you come with me?"

"I haven't finished the report yet, Kakashi sensei."

"Take it with you, we'll finish it after. The meeting is not about it anyway."

Before Kakashi could leave, Arashi made his way inside. "Were you at the jonin meeting? Yamato sensei wasn't sure about letting us compete."

Kakashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as Naruto immediately questioned his sensei, "What is this about?"

"The exact thing your brother just said. I'll explain the details once Sakura and Sasuke are with us."

Arashi let out a little laugh. "You were not made aware of the Chunin exams?"

Naruto's face immediately brightened. "Kakashi sensei, are we participating?"

He nodded, and a smile spread across his face, closing his eyes to make sure Naruto knew he was smiling under his mask. They left in the direction of the Uchiha compound, getting Sakura on their way. As Kakashi suspected, they were all thrilled to know the Konoha 12 and Team Yamato were participating. After all, a few of them haven't had a proper Chunin Exam before.