A/N: Sorry for the uploading trouble this morning. I'd originally written this chapter with several striked-out sentences but this site doesn't allow for them. -Although the doc manager allowed me to input them, when I previewed this chapter, they were erased along with a lot of formatting.

With that said (and fixed,) here we go!

Quick Chapter Summary:

- Nagisa's not making friends - and is driving Naruto crazy

- Naruto's sneaking around training and trying to avoid attention

- Lots of surprises and a special guest appearance as the Chunin Exams begin

Naruto didn't have time to investigate exactly what happened to the guy she and Kakashi had dragged to Sakumo-sensei; the one Kakashi's father had tossed in his root cellar. She was busy. The Chunin Exams were set to start soon.

Not having answers about the nin's fate, Kakashi had only shrugged about the potential ROOT guy they'd captured, making Naruto wonder if Hatake Sakumo often threw people into his cellar. She chuckled to herself (and then pouted miserably, nearly whining,) remembering a frequently cross Jiraiya having toads swallow rogues, bandits, or people that simply got on his nerves. –Her included. It amounted to the same thing, she guessed. Surely Sakumo-sensei pitching a guy into his off-limits cellar was better than feeding the dude to his summons, the wolves.

Not that Naruto believed that the wolves ate people. –Necessarily…

Shikaku-sensei was being kept in the village with his old Genin teammates since they all had students and it was so close to exam time. Minato, Sakumo, and Kushina were out on missions and from what she'd heard from Kakashi, the Chunin Exams Final would be a closed event to minimize the risk of Konoha being infiltrated. That was a shame since Naruto (and Kakashi) planned to teach Nagisa a lesson she'd never forget.

Maybe it wasn't nice… but humiliating Nagisa on the world stage would've been appealing at this point. Things had gotten past the point where pranking would be enough payback (although secretly, Naruto still considered another insane prank an option.)

Hyuuga Nagisa was turning out to be a chibi of unparalleled proportions of… nastiness! She made everything so dang difficult, to the point that Shikaku-sensei lost it and shouted, then dismissed them all for today, looking completely stressed out.

It had been another terrible day. In the afternoon, they'd been on a D-rank babysitting mission and Nagisa had said that the client's home was "gauche" (whatever that meant) and also mentioned - before the client left - that she was surprised that the family had been able to afford a D-rank; that she'd always assumed the "lower class" left their children home alone.

The client had a baby and a three-year-old(!) and was hardly "low-class." It made Naruto wonder what Nagisa's home was like. She'd been to the Hyuuga compound but never to Hinata's or Neji's house. The compound is pretty swanky, though. And anyway, Naruto felt that even if someone didn't have money, it didn't mean they were low class.

If anyone's low-class it's Nagisa, considering the way she acts.

The client had understandably fired them but was eventually talked into allowing Shikaku-sensei to babysit her kids (as long as the three Genins left) since the mother had to go to work. The Jonin had been furious and had yelled at her and Kakashi, too, although they hadn't said anything mean or complained once. They were just as embarrassed by Nagisa's behavior as he was.

It almost seemed like Nagisa wanted to be in trouble; that she wanted to sow chaos.

Earlier in the day, just before their blown mission, they'd been practicing formations again and Nagisa demanded to take point - even though with her dojutsu, she could see behind them. (Neji always took the rear position in missions they took together. From what she'd observed, it was a common Hyuuga thing.) Even though she was older and taller, Nagisa wasn't quite as fast as she and Kakashi were. Maybe that was why she wanted to be in front? So that she wouldn't be left behind?

She and Kakashi might despise the Hyuuga girl, but they wouldn't do that!
Well… the current Kakashi might.

Nah! –If only because his father would be disappointed in him if he did, plus Naruto would beat him up.

Nagisa wouldn't speak to Naruto, only addressing "Hatake-kun" even when she needed to relay something to her. It was annoying as hell, especially since it drove Kakashi up the wall and made him even testier. Naruto knew she should consider herself lucky for not having to converse with her but the way Nagisa treated her… hurt.

Sort of. Maybe her skin was just too thick by now. Insulting her was fine but the last time Nagisa nastily referred to Jiraiya, Naruto's fist wound up getting stuck in the older Genin's split mouth before she got all her vicious words out.

Bitch's teeth cut my skin!

Naruto took a deep breath, calming herself and voiding her presence as much as she was capable as she watched some Chunins headed down the street Jiraiya's house was on.

The Hyuuga, Nagisa, was enjoying taunting Naruto too much for it to affect her like this! Naruto had dealt with bullies: most of her old Konoha when she was young the first time, most notably the shopkeepers, Mizuki-sensei (and early Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, and Sakura) or… Yamato-taicho, she thought far more lightly (in amusement more than anything) - whom she really needed to find. Surely he'd been born by now. Just because today Nagisa had pointedly mentioned to Kakashi (again) that she seriously doubted the Yellow Flash was her brother (she's right) or that Naruto was in any way "related to that other foreign Jonin," smirking at her the entire time, it was no reason for her to worry or get so angry about it.

It was fine. Old news even: being shit on.
I mean, Nagisa pompously asserted daily that Naruto had no talent. –That it would be a "miracle" if they survived the second phase of the exams.

It'll be a miracle if you survive, ya nasty wench!

Naruto was also playing into it, wasn't she? Other than her vicious taijutsu and the use of a few shadow clones, Naruto hadn't shown her skills to Nagisa. Naruto and Kurama had put a lot of thought into this exam and what would happen afterward, and whether foreign teams were involved in the battles or not, she had certain skills she needed to keep on the down-low. With that chakra suppression belt, she could make a Rasengan, but doing so would openly link her to her much more powerful 'brother.' Plus, it wasn't like Kakashi was going to let her borrow his belt. Pushed, she could make "bastardized chains: GAH! They look like tails, 'tttebane," but that might link her to Kushina and the Uzumakis.

Naruto was proud of being an Uzumaki but had no desire of being kidnapped by a village like Kumo. Worse, they or others might want to kill her and she was so damn limited in power right now. Stupid, tiny body.

Shikaku-sensei said that the Genins would be registered for the exams under first names only, even though Nagisa was obviously a Hyuuga.

Goddammit: Naruto had even suggested that Nagisa wear sunglasses or henge her eyes and the witch's lips pulled up so hard as she looked down her long nose at her that it made Naruto flinch.

Stupid, mean… Ugly bitch!

Closed to foreign teams or not, the Chunin Exams are bound to bring spies looking for intelligence on interesting Genins or worse.

With the sunglasses idea, I had been trying to help that Hyuuga witch! Kurama began chuckling in her mind.

"Mou!" Naruto turned around in her mindscape, hiding her reddening face. She was supposed to have left all her hatred at the Waterfall of Truth on Turtle Island a short lifetime ago. It was No Fair that she had new hatred now that this dumb Hyuuga was around. "Stop reading my mind!"

The fox covered his snout, tamping down his amusement. "You're too easy." Naruto slumped, looking particularly cute, tiny, and pathetic. "I can't always read your strange, undeveloped mind, Brat, but I do know you've been moping or stewing in revenge plots for hours every day after training with that awful child." He would've preferred her to focus on ending the Uchihas.

"She IS awful! Even you admit it!"

Kurama shrugged: awful was awful.

Naruto pouted harder, unintentionally softly growling furiously. The fox hushed her, directing her attention back to Jiraiya's house, which she was staking out.

"We're clear."

"Yosh!" Using Jiraiya's camouflage jutsu, Naruto hid her crazy chakra as much as possible and sneakily made her way back into his taped-off house. Channeling chakra to her eyes in the dark, she carefully moved into what she was pretty sure was supposed to be either a library or office - which was filled with boxes of jutsu scrolls. The boxes all had her name on them, though. "Hm. Where do we begin today?" This wasn't her first trip here.

"Grab that box of Katon jutsus." Kurama was practically fire itself so those should be easy enough for Chibi Naruto to manage. By looking at the scrolls, (hopefully,) he could figure out how to avoid burning out the kit's mouth and lungs - and all the other human garbage in between them. "We'll need to find a place to practice; preferably close to a body of water." He rolled his eyes when Naruto found a misplaced file of wind jutsus, prancing from foot to foot in her chibi excitement. "Fine, fine," he agreed, unable to resist the big puppy eyes she'd otherwise hit him with. "Take those, too - but remember where they came from. …Look for some water techniques, as well. I would think fighting well and displaying that you can use three chakra affinities would show that you're worthy of promotional consideration."

"Un!" Following her partner's advice, Naruto excitedly did exactly as he requested, planning to take the scrolls to the Senju Complex and see if Shizune would let her hang and crash there since they had a large, private training area. If not, she had a key to Minato or Kushina's flats, the latter of which is where she was keeping the less risky seals she'd previously snatched.

It would've been nice and easier to simply stay here, the place she and Jiraiya should be living now, but she thought the village was looking for a safe way into Jiraiya's wards and Naruto didn't want them to know that she might very well be their key inside.

Sarutobi had… fucked up when he (nearly killed: AHEM) held and manipulated her, she guessed. Every day that passed, she felt increasingly bitter about it and was waiting for the other shoe to drop, surprised that she'd been allowed to basically run free in Konoha lately.

Why wasn't she being questioned more?

Naruto might understand why the Hokage did what he did to her, but that didn't make her… especially loyal to him any longer. Loyal to Konoha and its leader? Yes. –Sure. I guess.
I'm more loyal to my mission of making lasting peace.

Loyal to the man she used to call Jiji? No. Or not so much, anyway.

Putting aside such treasonous thoughts, the blonde decided that if Jiraiya had wanted the Hokage to be allowed into his home, he could've easily ensured the man could get in. Naruto would not help the Hokage. She owed Jiraiya more than she did the Third, or it felt that way now.

She knew she owed Jiraiya in this life, for sure. Where are you, Ero-otou?!

The little blonde sealed up the scrolls she and Kurama were interested in, hid the scroll in her jumpsuit, and snuck back out, winding up at Kushina's homey place. She missed her - and hoped that she and everyone else precious to her were okay.

Days later -

Naruto walked to the Academy, raising a hand to lazily wave at Kakashi (and sighing miserably when she saw Nagisa headed their way in the distance, too.) "Today's the big day, ne?"

"We have to pass," Kakashi muttered from under his mask and scarf, stopping in his tracks when Naruto was in front of him. "Otherwise we might get stuck with her!"

Naruto nodded hard enough to rattle her peabrain, she agreed so much. Kakashi looked over her shoulder and growled. Naruto assumed it was because of Nagisa but then when she turned, noticed where his eyes were focused: slightly to the right, on a group of gossiping girls who were still in school.

"Is that… Ami?" Ami-hime, Naruto wanted to call her. They had met when they had that interrupted mission with Kushina-sensei at the palace. The Daimyo's daughter's eyes went wide and shifted away from Naruto's blues guiltily for some reason. Naruto assumed she was worried they'd out her as a princess, something NONE of them was allowed to mention.

If Ami was still here, though, that must mean that Daimyo-sama (or the princess) was still under serious threat, right? Naruto couldn't imagine their daimyo allowing his youngest child to train to be a ninja otherwise. She'd felt sure Ami was brought here so that she was constantly protected - plus Konoha was the one place Ami probably wouldn't try to run away from.

The blonde led Kakashi slightly farther away from the nervous-looking princess. "Did your dad ever tell you what happened with Daimyo-sama?" Kakashi stepped away from her and shook his head, looking embarrassed. She closed her eyes when she heard giggling and hisses from some girls about Kakashi being forced to marry her. For fuck's sake. "Considering that some people are so on about a war starting, you'd think they'd be too busy for that kind of nonsense." She hadn't thought about those dumb rumors in a week or more. "Whatever. Let's go inside."

Kakashi silently agreed and trudged along beside her. –But not too close. He closed his eyes upon hearing Nagisa's haughty voice somewhere behind them, speaking to the other nuisances, he guessed.

"Don't be absurd," Nagisa was snarking loud enough for everyone to hear. "Hatake-kun comes from a small but important clan. Uzumaki's the child of a…"

Naruto let out a low, slow, inhuman growl and Kakashi grabbed her arm, (rolling his eyes,) and sunshinned her up the half-flight of stairs. "Screw her, Naruto."

Naruto huffed but gave him a snarky grin. "Whatever you say, 'Hatake-kun.'"

Kakashi groaned. He'd asked her not to call him that, even in jest, since that was how the Hyuuga constantly referred to him. "Let's get this over with."

Naruto swallowed hard, ignoring the childish laughter behind her, and nodded, continuing up the stairs to the same room her first Chunin Exams were assigned to. She peeked her head in and winced upon realizing it was set up differently than what she'd expected. Rather than being set up with individual desks, there were around two dozen square tables set up, each with three chairs to a table. "A group exercise or test."

Fuck.
Naruto had thought they would be tested individually on their ability to cheat (or be smart: that had been and would be terrible.) It looked like things were different this time.

Double fuck! This meant she'd have to work with Nagisa even on this part of the exams!

Fortunately, the worst Hyuuga ever didn't immediately enter the room. Naruto spoke quietly with some of her friends when they entered in a large group before dispersing to the other tables, then spent another few minutes looking around, noticing a couple of girls she'd never seen before with an older dark-haired Genin. There was something weird about one of them. The team looked nervous but that was to be expected, right?

There were also a lot of older Konoha Genins entering the room.
Naruto didn't know any of them, but several of their chakra signatures were somewhat familiar.

The unknowns sitting a couple of tables away, however, were also sporting Konoha hitai-ates, hung sideways on their biceps and tucked into their rolled-up sleeves. Weird. She'd never seen the girls before - although something was familiar about the little one. Even Kurama was observing them curiously from behind her eyes. "Her chakra," Naruto internally began to muse to her partner. She was sure she'd never felt it before but she HAD. "I don't understand what I'm sensing."

"...Ha," was all that Kurama said when the girl looked up, his smile vicious but… happy?
Naruto did an internal double-take. It was always so damn weird when the fox was pleased; it set off all her warning bells.

Nagisa entered before Naruto could interrogate the fox, pushed forward by a large group of Chunin proctors who quickly surrounded the room. At the end of the line (and after Nagisa sat down, sneering at her,) Uchiha Fugaku entered. Without saying anything, the entire group quieted.

The clock outside struck 0900.

The intimidating man took a deep breath and observed each of the Genins, taking his time about it, his arms crossed over his broad chest. When the nine chimes were over, he finally took a breath and spoke. "I am Konoha Jonin and Military Police Vice-Chief Uchiha Fugaku…"

Damn, Naruto thought. In front of a group, this guy has presence. His fiery chakra was hot, heavy, and intimidating. NOBODY was playing around with Fugaku. She grinned to herself as he began to list the rules for the exam, amending her thoughts. No one plays around with Uchiha Fugaku except for me and Kaa-chan! She glanced back over at the table with the unknown Genins for a second and nearly gasped when she saw one of the familiar-feeling young girl's eyes burn yellow. It could've been a quick reflection of the light but…

No.
Naruto was sure she now knew who that girl was! She heard Kurama chuckle in the back of her mind confirming it. "Holy shit. Her seal must be really tight."

"So it seems," Kurama replied.

Naruto scratched at her ponytail holder, still shooting glances at the girl. WHAT was Ni'i Yugito - and thus Kumo - doing at the Konoha-only Chunin Exams? "Are you able to reach Matatabi?" she asked Kurama.

"Not here."

Kakashi stomped on Naruto's foot and she snarled, paying attention again. "WHAT?" she hissed. That hurt!

"Did you listen to anything Chief Fugaku said?" he whispered viciously. Nagisa scoffed and Naruto's whiskered cheeks burned; she hadn't been listening! And now they were passing out files!

Files! –Not just a paper!

"Sorry."

"You could've gotten us disqualified," Kakashi steamed hours later.

"What do you expect?" Nagisa sneered. "Uzumaki has only made it this far because of us and the misplaced affections of certain members of Konoha's Jonin community!"

Kakashi substituted with Naruto so that he wasn't between the two. Naruto didn't stumble but frowned at him, looking miserable as they walked to Training Ground 44.

"I apologize," Naruto mumbled tersely, staring at the ground again. Kakashi sighed and ignored Nagisa's continued whispered ranting to him about Naruto being an idiot - or about his teammate amounting to canon fodder in the upcoming war she kept hissing about.

He was going to shove Nagisa in the root cellar with a kunai up their ass if it/he/she/they didn't knock it off.

Naruto was NOT an idiot. But she did have too many ideas. In the Academy, she'd done well at breaking codes but for some reason, her mind (and mouth, which was worse) kept coming up with more and more outlandish possibilities for deciphering and breaking the extremely difficult cipher suite they were given. That had led to him and Nagisa second-guessing themselves and not finding an answer to their assignment.

Naruto eventually said that maybe there wasn't one answer for the decryption/encryption exercise. Maybe she was right, his mind whispered. Things turned at the end of the 90-minute time period they had been allotted, and Uchiha-san had made them be silent and write a paragraph, each, on how they came up with their answer(s.)

Following that, they had to sit in silence while their papers were graded individually and as a team. Kakashi still wasn't sure how they passed. He knew the proctors were observing them closely. Several teams were tossed for obvious cheating or something. He, Naruto, and Nagisa used hand signs as much as possible but eventually began arguing out loud. The room had gotten increasingly noisy as others began to talk, too, which was probably how they managed to pass to the next stage of the exam, knowing Konoha's emphasis on teamwork.

They were obviously not a great team. Maybe they were still being tested. Maybe there weren't three completely distinct stages of the exam, after all…

"We can take a shortcut over this way," Naruto said, interrupting his anxious thoughts.

Naruto led her team (and a couple of others following behind them) toward the Forest of Death. "Listen," she whispered just loud enough for both of them to hear, looking behind her team to ensure she wasn't overheard, "we need to stay away from a couple of teams I've noticed."

Nagisa narrowed his eyes at her, making Naruto huff. Then she looked at Kakashi. "Do you concur? Which ones are Uzumaki referring to?"

Naruto rolled her pretty blue eyes. How would he know? "Y'all ever seen the Genins at the table that was two over from us, on the right, before today?" she asked about Yugito and her team. "The one with two older kids and a girl about our age?" Kakashi shook his head, frowning. Nagisa only shot a harder glare at her.

Kakashi worked the inside of his cheek, observing Naruto's expression carefully and refusing to look behind him. "No. ...Maa, I thought it was weird that I didn't recognize someone our age competing in the exam." Naruto nodded knowingly. "We should be the youngest Genins, period. –By a couple of years, right?"

"We should be," Naruto agreed. There could've been ROOT plants their age in the exam but Naruto was sure that one team was from Kumo - or the one kunoichi in their group was, anyway. "But it seems we're not."

"Hm. I guess she could be short," the silver-haired boy commented about the unknown girl, not believing it. The unknown dirty blonde Genin was about his height but something had seemed off about that team. (He'd noticed some of the other Genins that he knew eyeing them, too.) "Their hand signs weren't standard."

"I didn't recognize over half of those in the room," Nagisa commented to Kakashi, still managing to sound condescending. "Hmph. Their team may have come up with their own call signs."

Naruto's lips twisted. Nagisa might not have been able to make sense of their hand signals because they were Kumo's - but wouldn't that have tipped the proctors off? Naruto hadn't noticed their signals, and she couldn't exactly proclaim that the team was from Kumo without all kinds of suspicious attention and questions about how she would know such a thing.

Think fast, Naruto, she demanded of herself.

Nagisa sniffed, putting his nose in the air. "If Uzumaki says we should avoid them, then I say we should target them." Hatake-kun began snarling about how he trusted his sensor teammate not to mislead them but he was determined. Oddly, Uzumaki didn't say anything, still looking as if her mind was a thousand clicks away. "You cannot say it's a poor idea to target our youngest kunoichi opponent!"

Naruto sighed and soon signed her life away on one of those stupid forms saying Konoha couldn't be blamed for her death as she did in her previous timeline, trying to think of a way that she could dissuade Nagisa and possibly alert her comrades that they'd been infiltrated while NOT getting Yugito killed. "If we're thinking that way, I should probably act as bait, ne?" Kakashi grumbled but Naruto thought it was a solid idea. She pulled out her ponytail, deciding to go for pigtails, hoping to look even younger than she was.

The kids she'd graduated with would know she wasn't a great person to target, but to the older Genins, she might look appealing to move against.

Once they were at their gate - Gate 1 - waiting to be sent out into the nightmarish Training Ground 44, Naruto beckoned her teammates closer. "This war you've been going on about," she began in a low voice, ignoring the way that Nagisa rolled her pale eyes. Her question about this was valid: the only things they were hearing about the war were rumors. And those rumors were all over the place. "Our supposed war is against Suna, right?"

Kakashi nodded. "That's what I've heard," he said quietly "But Suna isn't strong or resourceful enough to take on Konoha alone."

Naruto figured that had to be true; especially the resources part. "So you think they've partnered with another major village." But they'd heard NOTHING about that.

"Of course," Nagisa sniffed into the air while Kakashi jerked his head in the affirmative.

Naruto knelt down to the ground the way her father had shown her to do. She pressed her fingers into the ground and felt the chakra signatures of everyone, just as he had instructed her to. When Minato had shown her how he did this the first time, she mainly felt the fire of so many shinobis around her. But today? "Whoa. –Lightning." Now she had Kakashi's full attention again. "Oh… Oh, man! Three teams have strong lightning affinities."

Nagisa sucked in a breath and Kakashi dropped down to meet Naruto's gaze, looking freaked out.

"That is not normal, Naruto," he swore, knowing how few in not only Konoha but in Hi no Kuni had lightning affinities. His father talked about it a lot. "Are you sure?"

Naruto knew it to be true. She hadn't noticed anything strange about the other two teams but she could feel three teams that were heavily lightning-oriented using her dad's technique. Three teams with three members, each, with lightning affinities. She could feel them lighting up the earth underneath them as they moved away from their position. "I am sure. Uh… Ano…" She focused more on those nine individuals, their chakra likenesses lighting up more in her mind as if she was examining them from binoculars or under a microscope, zooming in on their presences. "One person also has an earth affinity in addition to the lightning." She winced; Kakashi was staring at her, wide-eyed, and Nagisa was frowning - but Naruto saw a subtle tremble in her hands before she fisted and hid them in her traditional white Hyuuga kimono. "...Another person has what feels like fire, too." –That was probably Yugito, Naruto figured, remembering those weird hairballs made of what felt like blue fire Matatabi was capable of blowing (through Yugito's reanimated corpse in the Fourth Shinobi War.)

Yes. That Ni'i Yugito had been dead. It was no wonder Naruto didn't quite recognize her chakra signature. Matatabi must've somehow projected something akin to Yugito's chakra imprint when she finally met the other tailed beasts and their (mostly deceased) jinchuurikis within her mindscape.

What to do?
...What to do?!

Naruto hated it, but she couldn't risk one of her Konoha comrades fighting a jinchuuriki. What if someone was killed because of her inaction? What if… What if this was a Gaara-like situation? –As in, back at her old Chunin Exams when Gaara went on one of his old killing sprees? Dammit! Her stomach turned as she remembered Lee being so horribly injured, his arm and leg crushed by Gaara's sand.

Lee's screams had been… inhuman. Agonizing, obviously. The stuff of nightmares. "We should… tell a proctor, huh?" After a brief and tense discussion in which Naruto felt absolutely sick, it was decided that she should be the one to do it.

She didn't know the lead proctor of the second exam, an Inuzuka Jonin in his mid-twenties she feared might be Kiba's deadbeat dad. The Inuzuka was headed to the other side of the deadly Forest anyway, so when she saw Uchiha Fugaku close by, she quickly snuck over to him, mostly ignoring the hisses she got from a couple of Chunin proctors who were milling around, ensuring the Genins participating in the tests didn't leave their assigned gates like she'd done.

His answer to her information?
"We are aware," Fugaku stated, only looking irritated with her. "You will keep your mouth shut about this and proceed as if you didn't know, Genin Uzumaki."

As if! Naruto glared at him (after openly gawking at him for a couple of seconds,) highly displeased. "I hope you know what you're doing!"