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Chapter 3.16 [39]

We arrived early to an almost empty room when a strange vertigo hit me immediately. The sputtering ceiling lights cast a dim orange glow over the aged wooden tables. I hadn't been here in months—it was familiar, yet completely changed from my memories. Strangers filled the space, wearing symbols of villages I knew only from lessons taught in this very room.

Some huddled in groups, leering at the two entrances and each other. Others sat casually atop the tables, their easy posture betraying none of the tension that prickled through the cool air.

"Relax, relax," I heard one of the Leaf genin say. He was older than us—eighteen at least—and placed a comforting hand on the shoulders of two younger genin while their third teammate nibbled at her bottom lip. The older genin's teammates wore easygoing smiles. "I've done this before, so trust me, alright? You're gonna want to stay as calm as possible. It wouldn't do to lose your nerve this early on. Here's a spray I picked up from the Land of Hot Water. Some fancy feudal lord's daughter said it's supposed to improve mood and lower anxiety."

I leaned closer, straining against my brown flak jacket to get a better look.

"Don't," Hinata whispered, veins bulging around her eyes. "There are faint traces of his chakra dispersed in the solution."

We walked away and I glanced back. "Genjutsu, huh?"

"I wonder what they're planning," Choji muttered.

A frown tugged at Hinata's lips as she deactivated her Byakugan. We took a seat near the middle of the room. "Whatever it is, it's none of our concern."

Sometimes, I forgot that this life of mine was more than life-or-death battles. The subterfuge got lost in the mind-numbing classes of my childhood, the endless training sessions, and my worrying about the future, only for me to ironically walk face-first into it.

"Aye," I murmured, leaning back to glance under our table at the squared locket bunched in my fist. "You're right."

I scanned the room, keeping my eyes peeled for a head of crimson hair. To my knowledge, Karin Uzumaki only ever fell into Orochimaru's clutches after these Chunin Exams.

There wasn't much I could do to effect real change in the world in the present, but I had to start somewhere, and right now, that was these exams. I was so taken with the idea that I almost forgot that there was no way for me to know she was an Uzumaki in the first place.

Luckily, there was a handy way to remedy that.

"Hey, Hinata?" I tapped her shoulder. "Do me a favour and look at everyone with your Byakugan. I want to know if there's anyone with chakra levels to worry about."

She nodded, pulling her fur-lined battle hoodie—courtesy of the Akimichi twins—over her head. It was a lighter flak jacket, with handy pockets and all. Choji was rocking a similar hoodie, except it was ripped at the sleeves for the sake of mobility.

I, on the other hand, ended up whittling them down to a furry shoulder cape I never planned on wearing—but maybe I'd give it to Haruto as a graduation present or something.

Team 3 entered the room not too long after I asked Hinata to keep an eye out for people. I waved at Lee and Tenten, catching the deep glare Neji threw Hinata as they took their seats on the far side of the classroom.

Hinata ignored him, for the most part. "Naruto, I've found one."

I stiffened. "Where?"

"Right entrance. She's a Hidden Waterfall shinobi with bright hair."

"Hidden Waterfall?" I scanned the room and nearly had a heart attack.

The Hidden Waterfall shinobi she was talking about was Fuu, a fellow Jinchuriki—but it wasn't her who caught my eye. I'd recognise that face anywhere but couldn't reconcile my memories to that forehead protector.

What the hell was Rukia doing here? And as the teammate of Fuu, Jinchuriki of the Seven-Tails no less. If I wasn't secure in the knowledge that Fuu wasn't a lunatic like Gaara, I would've been far more terrified—but I wasn't… at least, not yet.

I was confused. Who the hell was Rukia and what reason did she have to visit the Hidden Leaf under disguise as a Hidden Waterfall shinobi?

"I've found another person."

"...Who?" I asked, grudgingly pulling myself out of my head to look over my shoulder at Hinata.

"Red hair, left entrance, wearing Hidden Grass forehead protecto—"

I was moulding chakra before she could even finish her sentence, placing a steadying hand as I felt the jutsu take hold. The warmth from my chakra—slightly chilling as I transformed it into wind chakra—travelled up my throat, settling in my voice box.

"Hey you," I said, no audible sound leaving my mouth. Karin twitched, looking over her hunched shoulders. "On your left."

She met my eyes and then froze.

"Keep walking, otherwise you'll look suspicious and don't talk—I won't be able to hear you." I leaned forward. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. This is going to sound extremely strange, but do you know anything about the Uzumaki clan? Blink once for yes and twice for no."

To my frustration, she blinked twice.

"Okay…" I stopped scratching the back of my head. "Look, we'll talk later. Long story short, you're part of a clan of people with massive chakra reserves. Some can use chakra-sealing chains or sense the chakra of others as well as its quality. I'm part of that clan and think you are too—you've got the red hair and the massive chakra reserves."

Doubt warred with recognition behind Karin's red-rimmed glasses. She wasn't buying what I was selling yet and dragged her long sleeves lower down her arm as if I could see through them at the bite marks underneath.

…Well, that was true, to an extent.

One of her teammates barked at her and she trudged after him. I broke the connection I'd created by modifying Wind-Release: Frequency Disruption. I'd tacitly started calling it Whispering Wire, even though the volume I spoke at mattered very little.

Our short conversation had gone as I'd hoped. There was no reason for her to believe me, even if I'd hit her chakra-sensing ability on the head. It was why I'd brought my locket—though I didn't know when I'd be able to show her it.

"Her chakra isn't the only thing strange about her," said Hinata, "There are bite marks all over her body—and I mean everywhere."

I frowned. "Is that so."

"So, why did you talk to her?"

I could see her Byakugan was still active under the shadow cast by her hood. That was the one pitfall of Whispering Wire. It used wind chakra to compress the sound waves leaving my mouth into a thin wire, invisible to the eye and audible only to the person whose ears I connected it to—but as usual, dojutsu were bullshit.

I sighed. "You saw her chakra reserves, right?"

"Smaller than yours, but bigger than everyone's here… except the girl from the Waterfall, for some reason."

"Look at this," I murmured, gesturing to the locket in my hand.

She looked down and gasped after a moment. "...No way."

"Maybe."

Choji leaned forward. "What happened?"

I used Whispering Wire again to catch him up to speed and he looked ready to get up and talk to Karin immediately.

"What are we waiting for guys? We've got a bit of time until the exam starts."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but her team's not going to make it easy and I don't want to be too pushy about it. There's no way the Grass has kept her in ignorance for no reason. If she knew what she was, she'd have no reason to stay there."

"That's all well and good, but Team 7 is here," said Hinata. "Let's greet them."

I knew she'd never admit it, but Hinata seemed eager to escape Neji's gaze, or at least distract herself by talking to our ex-classmates. She lowered her hood and slid out from the table to lead us down the stairs. Sakura noticed us first, relieved at finding some familiar faces out of a pretty unsettling crowd.

"Hey, guys," she said with a smile. "I was afraid we'd have to sit with Team 3."

Choji shrugged. "What's wrong with that?"

"Uh…" Sakura's green eyes flickered over to where Team 3 were sitting and her smile strained. "Lee's… revealed some news that I don't know how to process yet."

I snorted. "He confessed, after all. Hinata, give me my money."

"I thought he'd do it after the exams," Hinata grumbled, fishing through empty pockets. "I'll give it to you once we're done."

"...Man, am I glad I stayed out of that," said Choji, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke had an amused smile on his face. "The shoe is finally on the other foot."

"Sasuke!" Sakura whined, betrayal on her face.

Shino made his presence known with a quiet clearing of his throat. "Say, have you three seen Team 8 by any chance? It's growing dangerously close to the agreed-upon time and they're too capable to get caught in the genjutsu downstairs."

"They might not even be here," said Hinata.

"What do you mean?

"She's right," said Sasuke. "Unlike us, they've had no combat experience since the joint training exercise."

I grimaced at the certainty in Hinata's voice. Sasuke was right, in a way, but their combat experience didn't matter nearly as much. They weren't in any state for an exam as dangerous as this one if they couldn't trust each others' decisions. Not that it would matter—they'd find themselves fighting off an invasion in a month.

I just hoped they sorted out their issues before then.

"Hey, you guys." We all turned to see a white-haired, glasses-wearing guy approaching us with a smile. "You should be more considerate of those around you. Aren't you rookies fresh out of the Academy? Man, you're still going about all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed… just so you know, these exams aren't a field trip."

Sakura frowned with her hands on her hips. "And who are you?"

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi and you should really take a good look around you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What, talking is suddenly outlawed before the exam even starts, eh?"

Kabuto's smile widened. "Of course not—but everyone's always tense before the exams. Tempers flare at minor annoyances and I'd hate for you guys to tap out before things begin. You kids going around without a care in the world remind me of myself, is all."

"You've taken these exams before?" Hinata asked.

"Seven times, to be precise. I've been doing these exams for four years now. They're hosted twice a year in allied countries, with the genin of allied villages invited to participate. Quite the time-consuming deal, I'm afraid, but it's the easiest way to progress one's career in peacetime."

Sasuke moved forward. "You must have something else to tell us. I doubt you came all the way here to warn us about tempers."

"Well… something like that. I thought I'd offer some help seeing that you're first-timers." Kabuto laughed, fishing through his pockets. "Oh, here they are." He bent down, placing a stack of orange cards on the ground next to him. "These are cards I've created over the past four years of exams, gathering intel on potential examinees in allied villages as well as our own."

"Why can't we see anything on it?" Choji asked.

"That's because—"

"It's sealed," I replied.

Kabuto smiled at being cut off without a hint of irritation on his face. "Precisely—but it's not any old seal. Only my chakra can unseal the information I've got on these cards. To put it plainly, it's a lock with my chakra as the key."

"Couldn't someone with enough chakra overpower it?" asked Sakura.

"Of course," said Shino. "But most shinobi don't have overwhelming chakra reserves. People like Naruto are in the minority, so why would anyone spend their time or chakra forcing through a deck of sealed cards?"

Pulling a card off the top of the deck, Kabuto placed it down, leaving his index finger on its surface and channelling his chakra with a hand seal. A small cloud of smoke burst forth from its blank side, revealing a labelled map of the participating villages. Underneath the map was a legend of the village sigils, detailing the number of examinees from each.

"The Hidden Sound?" Sakura frowned. "I've never heard of a Hidden Sound before…"

Kabuto chuckled. "I wouldn't worry about them too much. As far as the Hidden Sound goes, it's a small shinobi village of a small nation that popped up a few years back. There isn't much information on them besides the number of their participants for now. That said, if they've been selected to enter these exams despite that, they're the best their village has to offer."

I slowly slid my right hand into the holster strapped to my leg. Kabuto knowingly provoked the Sound genin to cause a spectacle, showing off the Sound village's cream of the crop genin, but the bastard was enough of a loose cannon in my future that I wanted to be a thorn in his side.

At least once, anyway.

As expected, one of the Sound ninja vaulted over the final set of tables, propelling himself high enough to hurl two kunai in offence. Kabuto dodged it by leaping back clumsily, and as he leaned forward to regain his footing, I saw the hurtling figures of the other two genin closing the distance.

I sprinted into a front kick that knocked one into the other and positioned myself before Kabuto. "There's a way to act in someone else's village and it's not like this, people."

Kabuto sighed in audible relief from behind me. "You saved my bacon, Naruto."

"I don't remember telling you my name, Kabuto."

"My info cards, remember?"

I snorted. "Remind me to check up on what you know about me at some point."

"Sure, just focus on those three, please."

Dosu Kinuta, the only Sound genin whose name I could remember, started to chuckle. "Yakushi… seems like you're nothing special, even though you're a veteran examinee."

The only girl on their team chuckled mean-spiritedly.

"Write this on your fancy info cards, Glasses," said the genin who'd thrown the two kunai. "The three Sound Village genin will be chunin by the time you flunk out of these exams."

I smiled, letting my hands fall to my sides. "Gonna ignore me right until the end, huh…"

I fixed my eyes on them, letting the weight of my presence settle like a noose tightening around their necks. Their shoulders stiffened, and I could see the moment they realised what was happening—the slow crawl of fear widening their eyes. I didn't need to lift a finger. The way they stood there, frozen, told me enough.

I leaned in ever so slightly, and their breaths hitched. I knew they could feel it, the unspoken threat wrapping around them like a vice. "What's wrong?" I asked, still smiling. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

Dosu Kinuta's single visible eye narrowed as I increased the pressure, exuding more chakra with each passing second. His two teammates' faces paled, shimmering with sweat, unable to move their feet.

That fear… I knew it well. It spread to the rest of the class. I saw people freeze under its grip, others tensed and stared at me like deer in headlights, some looked ready to fight—and Gaara grinned like Christmas had come early.

I was going to press harder, see how much the Sound genin could take until they replied, when a deafening explosion shattered my focus. Thick smoke—thick enough that I couldn't see a thing beyond myself—enveloped the front of the class.

"Quit the pissing contest and get to the front of the class, you degenerates!"

I looked over my shoulder at thirteen shinobi outfitted in standard T gear. Their leader, scarred and draped in a flak jacket, wore an unsettling smile, disturbing the lines of faded scar tissue on his face.

"My name is Ibiki Morino, your proctor for this first exam." He pointed at the Sound genin, who'd returned to their seats in the confusion. "Control yourselves, Sound Village brats. Act up again and you won't like what happens."

Dosu Kinuta raised his hands. "Apologies, Proctor Morino. It's our first time here; we got a bit too excited, you see."

"And you, blond brat."

I straightened. "Yes?"

"Tone down on the killing intent. There'll be no butchery in this exam." He swept his eyes across the room. "Matter of fact, from here on out there won't be any fights, competitions, pissing contests, or anything of the like without permission from your proctor. See this box? Come here, one by one, pull a number out, and go to the corresponding seat, so I can begin the exam."

Once everyone was settled, he explained the rules. I was sitting a considerable distance away from Choji and Hinata, but that wasn't a problem. With our test papers in front of us and an hour to answer nine questions, I picked up my pen and got to work.

The questions themselves weren't impossible to answer, but for the vast majority of genin, they might as well have been. Then again, the proctor had pretty much told us that cheating was the name of the game here by instructing us to act like shinobi and that we'd be deducted two points for each instance of awkward cheating rather than disqualifying us outright.

Not everyone caught onto that, though, nor did they have any special methods to aid their cheating.

"Hey, Choji," I whispered, directing my words to his ears three rows down from me. "Don't panic. I'll give you my answers for this test." His shoulders lost all tension and I smiled. "Question 1 is—"

"Numbers 11, 56, and 2, you've failed."

I stopped, looking up to see who'd been kicked out this time. In the last fifteen minutes, seven people had been caught and dismissed from the exams, but this was the first time three people went out simultaneously.

"Sir!" a brown-haired boy wearing a Leaf forehead protector exclaimed, gesturing to his two teammates. "I don't know what happened, but I didn't do anything! Isn't it suspicious that my two teammates went out at the exact same time as me?"

The proctor scoffed. "That's none of my concern. Once again, 11, 56, and 2, you're out—leave the classroom."

For a moment, I thought he might fight the decision, but he and his teammates clenched their jaws and walked towards the nearest exit. Halfway down the staircase cutting between the rows of seating, the boy stopped with wide brown eyes.

"I-It was genjutsu!" He pointed at someone in the row to his right, and when I leaned forward to see who, it was the older genin from before. "Sir, we were sabotaged by him before the start of the exam, can't you see?"

The proctor appeared at his side instantly, throwing him down the staircase and glowering at the boy's teammates. "Do I have to do the same with you two?"

"H-He sabotaged us!" the boy exclaimed from the bottom of the stairs.

"And that's your own fault. Do you remember what Proctor Morino told you at the start of the test?"

Understanding—and then shame—contorted his face. He rose to his feet and left, followed by his equally frustrated teammates. I turned away and continued relaying my answer to Choji, unbothered by the steady flow of participants being kicked out of the room.

Seeing that Kankuro was allowed to add an entire proctor to the exam, I didn't think they'd kick me out for seemingly whispering to myself. For all Ibiki Morino knew, I could've been calculating one of their needlessly difficult maths problems—he probably knew that I wasn't, but that was beside the point.

As the promised hour time limit drew closer, I noticed the classroom was far emptier than I thought it would be—and with the arrival of the tenth question, I was sure it'd become even emptier. With the announcement that failing to provide an answer would disqualify us from the Chunin Exams forever, the noose around our necks tightened.

And so it began—people continued to lose nerve as the minutes dragged on, declaring they forfeit and leaving the room while the atmosphere plummeted at what the dreaded tenth question could be. The number of people raising their hands to back out decreased until only an awkward silence remained.

"To those who remain, well done!" Morino's grin was more terrifying than reassuring. "You've passed."

"E-Excuse me, Proctor Morino?" Sakura asked. "I'm sure I misheard you."

"No, to the sixty-three of you who remain: you've passed the first stage of the Leaf Village Chunin Exams."

One of the foreign genin didn't take kindly to that announcement. "Then was the point of this hour-long shitshow?"

Morino raised an eyebrow. "There are quite a few points to this so-called hour-long shitshow. The first is that it weeded out those who—"

His explanation on how he toyed with the minds of one hundred people and barred thirty of them from progressing past genin-rank was interrupted by a vaguely human-shaped blur careening through the window. In a split-second, the intruder erected a flag, throwing attached kunai into the ceiling and floor.

With the banner announcing the presence of our new proctor, Ibiki vanished from our sight, replaced by a boisterous trench coat-wearing woman. "Yo, you wet wipes, I'm Anko Mitarashi, your proctor for the second exam!" She pumped her fist, wearing a trench coat over a mini-skirt and short mesh onesie. "Follow me!"

Morino poked his head around the side of the flag. "...You're early."

"...H-Huh," She flushed slightly, scanning the room. "Twenty-one teams, huh? Perfect—come with me, you lot." Leaving her flag where it was, she jumped through the broken window without looking back.

Ibiki Morino stared back at us for a long moment. "She's not joking. If you take the stairs, you'll miss her."

As if a spell had been broken, people scrambled out of their chairs, booking it for the window. After a few short seconds of chaos, they organised themselves into a line in front of the broken window.

Sasuke scoffed, tossing a kunai through a perfectly fine window before plummeting after it. Shrugging, I jumped through the hole he'd made, landing softly despite the three-storey fall, and avoided the shower of glass shards as everyone else decided to destroy the Academy's windows.

"I like you guys already!" Anko Mitarashi howled in delight from behind us as people tumbled down the building with varying degrees of finesse, followed by the proctors from the first exam except Ibiki Morino. "Alright, follow me, people!"

Having long since signed the stupid consent form, Fuu propped herself on her hands, stretching her right arm out of the shade and into the sunlight.

Chomei's voice buzzed between her ears. 'Oh, look! Someone's coming over, Fuu! He's… he's a Jinchuriki like you and that Gaara guy too. But man, his luck stinks even worse than Gaara's—the poor guy's locked up with Kurama.'

Fuu's jaw nearly fell. What kind of luck was that? For there to be not one, but two Jinchuriki—two potential friends who understood her like no one else. It was a dream come true!

It surprised her so much that she gasped, alerting Rukia.

"What's wrong, Fuu?" her friend asked; she sat further back, spine against the thick tree embracing them in its shade.

It was only the two of them for now. Shuji had wandered off to scout the enemy, leaving his waiver with Rukia, or so he said.

Fuu smiled. "Nothing's wrong—believe it or not, it's more like everything's going right!"

"...Is that so?"

She sat up completely, eyes pointed forward at the advancing figure. "Yep!"

Fuu could see him better now: blond hair lazily tied back, a brown flak jacket, and cool whisker marks on his face. He was a little too serious for her liking, but that was fine; once they became friends, he'd be smiling a lot more.

'I don't blame him for looking so glum,' said Chomei with a low chuckle. 'Kurama was never… how do I say it? The friendliest? Always grumbling and glowering. He took Dad's death the hardest. Only Matatabi could get away with making fun of him. Though by the looks of it, that jinchuriki seems fine.'

"What do you mean?" Fuu muttered. Rukia looked over, tilting her head, but Fuu shook her head with a smile. "Just talking to myself again."

Rukia accepted the explanation with a light nod and returned to staring at her consent form, taking glances at the approaching Jinchuriki with a complicated look. Fuu noticed it but didn't quite know what to make of it. The girl had been tight-lipped about her past despite their friendship.

'I don't know why you enjoy pretending to have lost your mind by answering me aloud.' Chomei snorted. 'Anyways, this guy seems less loopy than that Gaara fellow, I think. His seal's in a way better condition too, so maybe he might actually want to be your friend.'

The thought sent a grin racing across her face. Gaara had been... less than enthusiastic about her offer of friendship and his counter-offer wasn't something that sounded friendly. Hopefully, this other Jinchuriki would be a breath of fresh air after all of the fiddly mind games the Leaf Village chunin had pulled.

Honestly, these Chunin Exams were far less fun than she'd originally thought. Even if the survival exercise sounded fairly exciting, five days was too much. She was only here to make friends and tour the Leaf Village, which she intended to get back to doing in the afternoon until she found out she'd be stuck in a dark forest for five days.

She sighed, getting up and meeting the blond Jinchuriki in the sunlight with a broad smile. "Yo! I'm Fuu. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Naruto," he replied, seemingly surprised that Fuu had approached him. "Naruto Uzumaki."

'As in… the food?' Chomei remarked. 'His parents have got to be ramen lovers, otherwise that's just mean.'

To stop herself from laughing, Fuu's smile widened to the point that Naruto broke eye contact and his gaze slid to Rukia.

"You here to figure out what gate we're headed through so you can make us your first victims, Naruto Uzumaki?" Fuu asked.

He blinked right back at her without so much as a twitch. "I'm… scouting the opposition, actually."

Perhaps she'd have to change her mind on Shuji's tactics, after all—but at the moment, her sole interest was the boy before her. "And does that opposition include Gaara of the Sand, perhaps?"

He blinked again, this time visibly swallowing his shock. "...You know?"

"I do."

"How?"

"Well, my buddy is sort of like my conscience, if that makes sense. Technically, I'm not even meant to be telling you this, but Gaara sort of already knew because of his buddy, and you turned up out of nowhere."

"You talk to…" He trailed off, not quite finishing, leaving the question to hang in the air.

"Yep! I couldn't hear him at first, but we got closer over the years and now it's easy peasy." Fuu tapped her chin with a hand at her hip. "You're not like that, huh? Gaara seems to be, even if his has made him a bit… well, Chomei says loopy, and I can't lie, that Gaara needs to get his head checked."

A dark look passed over Naruto's face midway through her explanation but, like lightning, it vanished as quickly as it struck his face. He shook his head with a low exhale and said, "No. Me and my… buddy… aren't like that."

"Have you talked yet?"

"Once."

"You probably should do it more often. Company aside, they can be a real pillar when things get tough in a scrap."

"Where's your other teammate?" Naruto changed topic with about the same subtlety as Shibuki when trying to comfort her after his father's scathing lectures despite doing nothing to stop them. "There are only two of you here."

"Well, Shuji's scouting the opposition too, I guess. As for my other teammate… Hey, Rukia!" Fuu turned back and raised her arm high. "Get over here! I've got someone I want you to meet."

Bemused, Rukia folded her consent form, slipping it behind the black obi tied around her midnight-blue battle qipao's midsection. In the meantime, Fuu decided to ease up on the questions because whatever his experience with Kurama was like, it was obviously a sore topic.

While that sucked, he seemed to be an interesting sort of guy, so scaring him off would suck even more.

Rukia bowed to Naruto, all prim and proper, hands clasped in front of her. "Greetings, I'm Rukia of the Waterfall."

"Exam aside, it's nice to meet you too." Naruto considered her as if she was some kind of puzzle before returning her bow. "My name's Naruto—Naruto as in maelstrom, not the ramen topping."

Rukia gave a small twitch, but Fuu thought nothing of it. Naruto was a funny name, ramen topping or not, but the amusement faded when the two stared at one another in silence.

Awkward silence—maybe not for them, but for Fuu.

"Oh come on," she said, folding her arms. "No small talk? Rukia, I told you, right? That paper test put me off these exams completely! I'm here to see the Leaf and talk to its people, damn it. Here's a Leaf person, so let's talk to him!"

Rukia turned to her, tight-lipped. "Fuu… we're this close to starting the second stage of the Chunin Exams. Are you sure it's wise to be making friends with likely opponents?"

"...You're taking this way too seriously," Fuu replied, placing both her hands on her hips.

For that, she received an eyebrow raise in warning. She never intended to push things further, but she was so annoyed with her friend's stubbornness that she had to say something.

Rukia wasn't even a real Waterfall shinobi! Of course, once Shuji came back, there'd be no such thing as going off and making friends with people.

That's what being the village's genius got you.

'Am I sensing bitterness there?' Chomei asked with thinly veiled amusement behind his question. 'You declared that you were done letting people choose what you got to do, right? Wasn't that why you put yourself on the recommendation sheet for this exam even though you knew it'd land you in hot water with Shibuki's old fart of a father?'

It wasn't as if she expected it to work! Old Hisen was completely off his game for some reason that day. Coincidentally, it was the same day Rukia arrived, but that was beside the point.

"She's right," said Naruto, looking at Fuu with a similarly tight-lipped smile. "For all we know, we could be hunting you down for your scroll soon."

"Oh yeah? That sounds like you think you can win," Fuu shot back, just to be indignant.

Rukia coughed lightly.

"What, I can't even banter now?"

"No, that's not it," Naruto started to say, but he was cut off by a speeding kunai that he sprung out of the way before brandishing one of his own.

"Shuji!" Fuu whirled around, jabbing a finger in his face. "What the heck was that? You need to keep your pants on!"

He put himself between Naruto and the two of them, long brown hair tied into a loose bun and his bangs framing his needlessly intense face.

"I tried to warn you," said Rukia, returning to the shade.

Shuji pointed another kunai at Naruto. "What did you want with my teammates?"

"Nothing much. In fact, I'll be off now. My intention wasn't to cause a misunderstanding, but I can see how this looks." He bent down, picking up the thrown kunai and inspecting it for a second with a strange carelessness despite the weapon pointed in his direction. "But let me make one thing clear before I give this back to you."

Rukia slipped her hand into the pouch at her back and Shuji clenched his hand around his kunai.

"Oh, come on…" Fuu slammed her palm to her face, unfazed by the chakra literally howling out of his body.

Naruto frowned. "I don't appreciate you picking a fight with me this close to the second test. For all you know, I could hold a grudge and come after you just for that. Don't you care about your teammates—or, failing that, even think ahead?"

Shuji stuck out his jaw, but there was an apprehensive flicker in his blue eyes. "What's your point with all of this? I don't know what you're playing at, but I won't fall for it."

Naruto sighed, muttering something under his breath, and tossed the kunai to Shuji. After a lingering glare at the Waterfall's genius, he stared at Rukia and turned to Fuu. "It's a shame our chat was cut short, but there'll be plenty of time after the survival exercise. See you around, Fuu… Rukia."

He made a hand seal and a strong draft ripped through the branches above, pulling the discarded leaves towards his body. They swirled around him, a rustling emerald vortex until they dispersed with a second blast of air with Naruto nowhere to be seen.

'...I'll admit, that was pretty damn cool,' said Chomei. 'But did you notice, Fuu? That guy was no slouch to avoid Shuji's attack.'

Fuu nodded, addressing her teammates with a grin. "Well, wasn't that neat?"

"Hmph," Shuji sniffed. "It's a simple variation of the Body Flicker Jutsu. Nothing to ring home about, but you'd be one to be impressed by anything foreign."

"Always gotta bring the mood down, huh?"

He sniffed again.

"Now, now, don't fight." Rukia smiled her usual smile—the one that meant she was taking great amusement in their arguing but didn't want to say it. "Have you signed your waivers?"

Shuji nodded and Fuu did the same after a moment.

"Great. Let's move closer to the exchange area. I believe that loud proctor will call the start of the exam soon; we've waited long enough."

Fuu sighed.

'Don't be like that, Fuu, it'll be fun.'

"Yeah," she muttered, dragging her heels behind her other two teammates, "fun. Five days of fun in a dark forest supposedly full of man-eating beasts and people who'll happily kill me for existing."

Chomei snorted. 'That last one's not anything new.'

"I guess not," Fuu replied, sniggering. Rukia and Shuji stopped to look at her and she bit the inside of her cheek for being so loud. "Just talking to myself," she replied, once again tagging a dazzling smile on the end of the excuse.

The oh-so-lovable, stuck-up village prodigy scoffed and Rukia fired back a smaller smile. Both continued walking, leaving Fuu to trudge behind them with the so-called Forest of Death looming overhead like bad weather.

Talking to Fuu was… an experience. There wasn't a negative bone in her body and she was so candid about everything that it initially threw me off. We'd just come from an exam where sabotage was hidden behind friendly faces and some comfort. In that case, her teammate's reaction wasn't out-of-line, but it was irritating when it occurred just as I made some progress on figuring out Rukia's true identity.

One thing was clear, she wasn't the peasant she'd introduced herself as when we first met.

She'd given a reaction when I introduced myself—and I purposefully used the same phrasing as when I first talked about my make-believe father. Granted, I didn't think she'd remember a conversation from a few years ago but it was a shot in the dark instead of some calculated chess move.

Did she care so much about Totsugi, or was I missing something here? Whether she did, her remembering the phrasing only begged the question: why enter the Hidden Leaf with a false story despite being from an allied village? Something wasn't adding up here. I didn't know what yet, but it was enough to keep wriggling at me like an itch I couldn't scratch.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I let three people get within striking distance of me. They couldn't touch me yet but with shinobi, being within arm's reach was laughably easy. Before me stood three people I honestly wasn't expecting to see again. The Sound 3 seemed to want revenge after I'd thwarted their dramatic act with Kabuto, but to what end?

The one with the holes in his palms snickered. "All alone are we? Isn't that a shame, guys?"

"I wouldn't say it's a shame… more like it's a stroke of luck for us," said the long-haired girl.

Their one-eyed bandaged leader chuckled, and only then did I notice that all three of them were wearing snake-skin patterned combat pants, scarves and shirts. Though, the girl wore a vest-type flak jacket and the two guys decided to turn themselves into third-rate villains of some sort with their getups.

"Well, if it isn't the trio of soon-to-be chunin," I said, greeting them with as warm a smile as I could muster with the knowledge they were Orochimaru's lackeys. The details on their gear weren't something I'd noticed before—never took Orochimaru for a fashion man, really.

Through my narrowed eyes, I peered at our surroundings. They'd picked an area with relatively no people in comparison to some other populated areas outside the grounds. Unfortunately for them, the no-fighting rule continued across the stages, something Anko Mitarashi had heavily stressed with some serious killing intent to hammer it in.

"So," I tapped my chin, "what could you three scary Sound ninja want with me?"

Dosu gave me a one-eyed smile straight out of Kakashi's handbook with none of the warmth. "Just a friendly warning from us to you as fellow examinees."

"Please, do tell."

The girl and boy chuckled—part of me wanted to ask for their names, but none of us were on a first-name—or any name—basis.

"I don't know if you've read the consent form thoroughly, but death is a real possibility now. I'm sure you know better than us that this forest is full of dangerous things, but none more dangerous than your fellow examinees."

I grinned, letting a sliver of the chakra I'd moulded throughout our discussion seep out of my tenketsu. "Is that a threat?"

The spiky-haired guy with death plastered over his shirt scoffed, and he and the long-haired girl fired back with killing intent of their own.

"As I said, friend, it's simply a warning."

With that so-called warning, Dosu Kinuta added his chakra to the mix. I slowly ramped up the intensity of my own, dead set on nipping this thing in the bud before it became a problem. Instead, a killing intent far viler than anything I'd experienced slammed into me, as sudden and dense as a wave.

It receded instantly, but the three Sound genin were left pale and clammy and I wrestled my breathing back under control. As if we were still under its effect, the four of us turned to the source. Further ahead down the path I was initially walking before they'd cornered me stood a familiar figure.

Those long, pale garbs, the black collar… it was an outfit I recognised in a heartbeat. Just the sight of her—him? Who was he even possessing at the moment?—made my blood run cold. Those eyes were dead, no light nor life within them, just an endless empty pit more twisted than anything I'd ever known.

Straight hair flowed out from beneath a sedge hat and a ridged purple obi twisted and writhed like twin snakes around their midsection. "Apologies, gentlemen, lady—it's my nature to act up when so much killing intent is being hurled around. The feeling works me up like nothing else in this world."

Dosu Kinuta was the first among his team to gather his wits enough to speak, and just barely at that. I opted to stay quiet—rather, I didn't want to say anything that would draw that monster's interest in my direction.

Although I seemed to have failed on that count from the start.

"J-Just an argument heating up is all," he said, cautiously positioning himself in front of his teammates.

"Hmm…" Orochimaru tipped his sedge hat back, flashing the Hidden Grass forehead protector. "In any case, the proctor has announced the scroll exchange. It wouldn't do to spoil the fun before it can begin, right?"

He met my gaze and I suppressed a shudder.

Something in his tone immediately cowed the three Sound genin, so much that when he vanished from view, they walked away without a sound—though once they were far enough, Dosu Kinuta looked back, his expression too hard to read given the distance.

I exhaled long and hard, doing a final check of my supplies. I'd made sure to needle Asuma into grabbing storage scrolls for us; the big one I'd strapped to my tailbone with a securing function attached to my flak jacket, and then the small ones stowed in the various pockets inside the jacket itself.

My weapons were fully stocked, my chakra flow felt great despite the shadow of death that had passed over me, and it took a few moments, but my mind cleared. Rukia's identity, Orochimaru's fuckery, Dosu Kunita and his grudge… all of it ceased to matter.

The Chunin Exams were a non-factor after this stage; this was our chance to prove ourselves within the metrics of an exam. I wasn't sure if there were any records for this seeing that the Chunin Exams were a relatively new thing and their content and location changed with each one—but we'd break them.

Everything I'd learned, all my years of practice, was to make sure I put my best foot forward, and if ever there was a time to do that, it was now. So, placing one foot in front of the other, I walked towards the scroll exchange hut, the forest and its forebodingly dark trees growing broader until they blotted the sun from the sky.