Chapter 36

I casually turn to Sasuke. "We're doing the Chunin Exams again. I hope nothing crazy happens. Holy crap I sound weird. Stupid voice changing. I hate that, I sound like an annoying brat."

He scoffs at me. "It's us, of course something crazy is going to happen. I just hope it isn't too crazy. Don't worry about your voice. It's no more annoying than usual."

"Great. We're becoming self aware. We're literally planning around things going wrong because we know it's just our luck. Isn't that a cheerful concept?"

"Do shut up. You're going to ruin the mood."

"Yeah well you sound weird too so take that!"

"...That was the best comeback you could think of?"

"NO!" I say with way too quickly to make it believable. "Maybe. Okay fine, I'm a bit off my A-game right now since we have the exams and... yeah."

Sasuke lets out a deep sigh. "Let's just go onto the field now."

Sasuke and I boldly stroll onto the field. We're not the first ones here, I'd wager we're one of the last. There must be at least a hundred other contestants here, probably 130. I'm suspecting that the numbers are in order and not random. I wonder what that means.

A very curious thing happens as Sasuke and I get closer to the rest of the gennin. It gets quieter. Talking dies down as people openly stare at us both.

Particularly the Konoha and Suna gennin.

Some of them have anger displayed on their faces. Others have fear. Few have indifference. The ones that concern me are the people with hope etched on their faces. They are the ones I need to avoid. They are my friends.

"And you thought I was going to ruin the mood." I blandly throw Sasuke's words back at him.

"It's definitely not a warm welcome." Sasuke dryly says to me.

"What did you expect? Smiles and hugs for everyone? You have to remember that Sound's invasion of Konoha is the latest major incident. We're going to be very popular."

We both stop a ways from everyone else. We purposefully segregated ourselves to hopefully avoid unwanted contact with others, whether the contact be physical or words. We really don't want to cause a scene before the exams start. I can't imagine how furious Orochimaru would be if we got kicked out before the Chunin Exams started.

Our strategy works for a half hour. Slowly the others got used to our presence, their wariness left them as they observed us do nothing. Conversations started back up, people willingly turned their backs to us and the atmosphere isn't anywhere near as tense as before.

It didn't last long enough, as the shinobi here got used to our presence they also got their courage back. Not entirely unexpected, we're approached by a group of three Suna shinobi who have an air of violence about them. Honestly I'm more surprised that it isn't our friends who are the first people to approach us.

It's a group of three gennin, by the way they move in unison it's obvious they are all part of the same gennin team. Two of them are definitely submissive to the third, so that makes him the leader of their merry band. The two sidekicks are decked out in standard shinobi gear for Suna nin with only a few stylistic changes to it. The leader is also dressed in standard Suna shinobi gear except he has an addition of a sword strapped to his back. One that is eerily familiar.

Don't kill him! Don't kill Fujita! Not him! Please!

I flinch backwards. Memories flash through my head almost too quickly to decipher but slow enough to force me to remember.

The sun glints off the raised blade of the Suna shinobi. He swings it down.

"Green?"

My tou-san's head rolls off his body and falls to the ground.

"So, you two are who Oto decided to send into slaughter." The leader of the group addresses Sasuke and I. He's a tall imposing teenager, probably around 18 years old.

We always loved you.

"Suna shinobi talking about slaughter. Ironic." I aggressively say back to him. If it is a fight he wants, I am more than happy to oblige.

~They will learn their place. Teach them to respect their betters.~

"The little puppy can bark!" He jabs back at me.

"Oh I can do much more than bark." I step forward and take a battle stance. I will not be insulted by these murderers!

~Yes! Show them what we can do! Use me like before, remember what they've done to you! They deserve death, give it to them!~

"Green!" Sasuke's firm voice comes from behind me. He grabs my shoulder and crushes it. "You know they didn't do it."

"Didn't do what?" One of the sidekicks asks.

"Murder my family." I venomously spit out.

"Quiet! You know they had nothing to do with it, don't blame them for the actions of others. You've already had your revenge. Or is your trophy not enough? Since when do you lash out at people?" Sasuke attempts to talk reason into me.

They didn't do it, I know they didn't. I can't get rid of this pit in my gut, this growing knot of tension. Just seeing these Suna shinobi has set me on edge, made me paranoid. I don't know if I can let it go.

"Fine. I won't attack them." I still don't relax my battle stance. Sasuke doesn't remove his hand.

"You think you're the only one who lost someone important? Oto is responsible for the death of our Kazekage! You deserve to be punished for that!" The leader falls into a battle stance to match my own.

"I wish they sent more. I don't think I'll be satisfied with only two." One of his cronies chimes in as he falls in line beside his leader.

Adorable, they're trying to scare us. They have no idea that they are facing a monster. I can kill them in seconds.

~Yes, just let me out! Let me kill them for you! It is like you said, all it will take is seconds!~

"Leave the Oto shinobi alone." A voice I didn't expect to hear anytime soon cuts into our conversation before anything can happen. "This proves nothing."

Sand swirls both menacingly and protectively around the Suna nin. Before us is none other than Gaara himself. He's flanked by Temari and Kankuro. The Sand Siblings are here, probably to save their idiotic allies.

"They killed our Kage!" The leader roars at Gaara through the swirling sands. "They deserve to die for what they did!"

"Are you forgetting that it is my father that died?" Gaara says in his monotonous voice. "Are you forgetting who you are talking to? Who is standing beside me?"

The leader cringes away in fear. "O-of course not. If anyone should kill them it's-"

"No one is going to kill them." Temari cuts off the scared leader. "They didn't kill my father, our Kazekage. Orochimaru did. Only he will be punished for that crime. A friend once told me, I will not condemn you for something you had no part in. Do you really think gennin had any influence on Orochimaru's plans?"

"Fine. They'll get to breath a little bit longer." The leader straightens up and walks away with his head held high. I can't wait to see him fail these exams, in fact I might make him fail myself. That would be very therapeutic.

"They couldn't kill us if they tried." Sasuke finally had enough of being ignored.

"That remains to be seen." Kankuro blandly says. "Who knows, maybe they are more skilled than you give them credit for."

"I doubt that. If they had any skill they wouldn't have caused a scene."

"Enough. Temari, Kankuro we will leave the Oto shinobi alone. I do not blame them for our father's death, but I don't like being in their presence." Gaara orders his siblings as he starts walking away from us. Kankuro is soon to follow, but Temari hesitates for a moment.

"Does the name Alvarcus Mar mean anything to either of you?"

Sasuke and I both tense. Since when does Temari know that I went rouge? What could possibly inspire her to ask hostile shinobi about me? Did I have that big of an impact on her?

"No. It means nothing to us." Sasuke replies.

"Thank you for your time." Temari walks away to rejoin her brothers.

"That went well." I sarcastically say to Sasuke.

"It would have gone much better if you didn't react so badly. Since when do you ever react badly? I've seen you handle much worse than three gennin with a smile. Hell I've done worse to you and you laughed it off!"

"You know how you get tunnel vision when it comes to your ambition? Same thing." Itachi killed Sasuke's parents. A Suna nin killed mine. Surely he can relate to that.

"It isn't the same. You know they had nothing to do with it."

"What about our teammate? We never found out what exactly happened."

"Those idiots couldn't have done it. What the hell is going on with you? You're the level headed one, you're the one who is supposed to reign me in."

"They made me see it again. The leader has the same kind of sword that was used to cut off their heads."

"Oh." Sasuke's voice softens. "I never knew how it happened."

No one else has the courage to approach us. After another half hour wait the proctor appears.

He lazily strolls out from the stands with his hands shoved into his pockets. He's giving of a strong Kakashi vibe, someone who comes off as lazy yet is really hiding behind that to mask their strength.

"Alright gennin, quiet down." He calls out to the crowd. "I'm your proctor for the exams. You don't need to know my name, most of you will fail this first test anyways. I'm going to be sitting at that table over there." He gestures to a table near the filled stadium, "How you pass is simple. There are around 150 of you here. You'll need to bring me three badges. Any three will do."

The unnamed proctor starts lazily walking over to the table.

No one moves. Everyone is on guard, waiting for him to say start.

There are only a few exceptions to that, both Sasuke and I instantly start moving towards the other gennin. Orochimaru has taught us both that playing fair is something you should never do. The others who aren't waiting are the Suna team that confronted us earlier. They're seeking us out, cutting through the crowd to get to us.

"Will you be okay on your own?" Sasuke asks me.

"Yeah. I got it out of my system earlier. Now that I know what to expect I can control myself." Hopefully, if I can't then Suna will be down three gennin and I'll need to haul ass out of here.

"Good. There are some Konoha nin that need to be taught their place. Don't kill them." Sasuke says to me as the Suna nin finally stop before us. He vanishes into a swirl of leafs.

"Don't kill them either!" I call out after him. I feel sorry for those poor Konoha gennin. They pushed Sasuke's most delicate button. They questioned his strength and are about to get a first hand lesson in how strong he really is.

By now all of the other gennin have started to move, they've figured out that the proctor isn't going to tell us to start. There are already scuffles playing out around me, yet the Suna shinobi and I are being given a generous birth.

"All alone this time." The idiotic leader says once he's close enough to talk. "Are you ready to pay for the deeds of your village?"

"Are you?" I ask him.

"Suna did nothing wrong. Your Kage took advantage of our generosity and manipulated us! We would have never attacked Konoha if it wasn't for Orochimaru!"

"Are you going to say anything different? All I'm hearing is the same thing over and over." He's starting to really piss me off.

"I'll be taking your badge." He slides smoothly into an offensive stance. His teammates mirror him on his sides. "Unless you want to hand it over."

"You'll have to take it." I casually tap my badge. "I rather like it."

"Attack!" He roars. The Suna team lunges at me at a ridiculously slow speed. The cronies pull out kunai and the leader draws his sword.

~Do not let them take from us again!~

"Enough." I quietly say, yet everyone near me instantly goes still at the softly spoken word.

I casually stroll towards the now shivering Suna team, they're frozen in fear. Their eyes are wide, their skin is pale, their legs are shaking. Fear doesn't do it justice, they're terrified. Absolutely mind boggling horrified.

It isn't just them either, the surrounding gennin are still too. All movement in a ten meter radius from me has ceased.

I stop right before the leader and calmly reach out and delicately unpin his badge. I take his two teammates as well. They don't try to stop me, they don't even breath heavily in my presence.

"Disgraceful." I walk past them to the waiting proctor. "You're not cut out to be chunin. Go home before you get yourselves hurt."

No one tries to stop me, no one gets in my way.

"Well?" The proctor says when I get to his table. "Got the badges or not?"

I calmly reach into my coat's pocket and pull out my three stolen badges. "These three plus mine."

"You pass with an extra badge. Keep yours, hand over the rest." The proctor scribbles down something on a clipboard. Probably the badge numbers.

"Wait behind me, once everyone else is done the second task will be explained." The proctor orders.

I move behind him and join Sasuke. He beat me here, good for him. I'm the fifth person to pass, only Sasuke, Gaara, Neji and a shinobi who I don't know beat me here. Damn, I took too long to get my badges.

"Green, ease up on the bloodlust. You're scaring the others." Sasuke orders. "It's almost as bad as our first C-rank."

Huh, I didn't know I was still radiating killing intent. He's not lying either, everyone around me is wary. They are looking at me as if I am going to lash out and try to kill everyone here. Ah crap, I'm the crazy loose canon in their eyes. That's not good. Even Gaara seems mildly on edge.

"Didn't know I still was. It is a force of habit now, my teacher constantly emits his own so I started to in response. In training my teacher never seems phased by it, I didn't think it was that strong."

"Really? You know who he is, why would he react to something so meager?" Sasuke says.

"Fair point." My killing intent is nothing compared to Orochimaru's.

We fall into a companionable silence now that I've got my bloodlust under control and watch the other contestants. There's a flood of gennin who have managed to obtain badges, basically they're going to be the strong ones, our competition. In their number is all of our friends and the rest of the Sand Siblings.

I was hoping that some of them wouldn't make it past the first task. I guess that was asking for too much. I'll just have to live with the knowledge that the stupid Suna team won't be continuing.

After the flood of the strong, comes the rest. They trickle in slowly, none of them have the overwhelming force that those that have passed have. They need to plan their moves and bank on an unhealthy amount of luck.

Unfortunately for us, the slower gennin took too damn long to get their badges. Our friends are walking towards us, they're using this chance to speak to us while we can't evade them. Dammit Kakashi, weren't you going to explicitly tell them to not do this?

We're confronted by Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Ino, Choji, Neji, Tenten and Lee. We can't get out of this, I hope we can get through this without causing a scene.

"You're Oto shinobi?" Kiba barks out the second everyone is before us.

"Actually we're Kiri shinobi in disguise." I scathingly reply. "No shit we're Oto shinobi. Stupid question."

Kiba bristles at my words. Luckily Hinata places a hand on his shoulder and calms him down.

I shouldn't have lashed out at him. The Suna nin must have really gotten to me if I'm acting this rash. Okay, deep breaths and calm down. You can do this. It's easy, if you can worm your way around Orochimaru a bunch of gennin should be no problem.

"No need to be rude, we just want to ask you something." Ino speaks up. She casually flips her hair over to one side and strikes... a scandalous pose? Is she trying to weaken our resolve with her appearance? What is it with females suddenly trying to use their bodies against me? First Tayuya and now Ino? "Actually, it is more about someone than something. Two people really."

Sasuke and I don't visibly react. We've both dreaded this moment. The fact that it is Ino asking us makes it so much worse, Sasuke won't want to lie to her and of all of our friends she'd be the one to recognize us. She's practically Sasuke's secret girlfriend and she's been inside my head.

"We will not talk about Orochimaru-sama." I aggressively tell her before Sasuke has a chance to say anything. "Do not ask us to betray him, you'll fail."

"No!" Ino vehemently assures us. "No, it isn't about him. It's about our friends that went to Sound. We want to know if you've heard about them. Seen them. Maybe even talked with them? Their names are Sasuke Uchiha and Alvarcus Mar." Ino's eyes take on a hint of desperation. She's grasping at straws and she knows it. "Anything at all. We will be happy with rumors."

Sasuke and I share a look. He waves a dismissive hand at me to handle it. Great, now they expect a response. To them it looked like he said go ahead.

"Never heard of them." I briskly reply. "Although, there is a rumor going around."

The Konoha gennin instantly zero in on me. Each and every one of them has a glimmer of hope that they didn't have before. Telling them I know a small little rumor has given them hope. How desperate are they all for news about Sasuke and me?

"Orochimaru-sama is rumored to have taken on two pupils, apprentices. He keeps them close, only those he deems worthy ever get to see them." There, that should give them hope that we're still alive and imply that we're not here at the same time. Two birds, one kunai.

Relief floods through most of the gathered gennin. Ino and Neji both look skeptical. Not good. There isn't a hole in my story, so what could it be?

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Choji presses forward. He wants more information. I can't blame him.

"No. That is all. Now leave us be." Sasuke interjects. Everyone turns to him in mild surprise, these are his first words they've heard. They must have pegged him as the strong silent type.

Sasuke and I both turn to walk away.

"Wait!" Ino urgetly calls after us. "What are your names?"

"We don't have names, we haven't earned them yet." I say over my shoulder. "For the duration of this outing, he's Red and I am Green."

Sasuke and I walk away from our friends to be alone again. It is surprisingly difficult.

"I don't like this. I can't see through their masks." Neji says once he thinks we are out of earshot. Luckily for me the Jiongu enhances all of my senses, hearing included. Eavesdropping is much easier when no one knows just how good your hearing is.

"What can you tell us?" Tenten asks.

"The one called Green doesn't have a chakra network. It's like chakra flows freely throughout his body. I've only seen something like it once before, but it wasn't this extreme." Neji tells everyone.

That's interesting. I didn't know that, I thought the Jiongu replicated it along with everything else.

~There was no need. I can regulate and direct the flow myself. It was inferior.~

"He's right. I didn't look at him with the Byakugan until now. I've only seen one person that has a network like his. I don't even know if I can call it a network, it's not there." Hinata speaks up and confirms her cousin's observations. Her stutter is gone, good for her. I wonder who brought her out of her shell? "But he didn't have anywhere near this amount of chakra. This Green is like a beacon, he easily has the chakra of two jonin, maybe even three."

"Who has the same chakra condition?" Asks Lee. "Things like this aren't common. I know that firsthand."

"Alvarcus." Neji and Hinata say at the same time.

"There's something they aren't telling us. He has to know Alvarcus if they have the same condition! If he knows Alvarcus you can bet he knows Sasuke, those two always stick together." Ino's voice is filled with hope. "We need to talk to them again. We have to. This is the best lead we've had since... ever!"

"I agree. They were too quick to leave. It's like they have something to hide. I have the red one bugged so we can find him later. My insects won't go near the green one. They say he's a predator." Shino speaks for the first time. When did he manage to tag Sasuke? I'm impressed, Tsunade was right. I wasn't the only one who has improved.

"Good thinking. Akamaru and I can track the green one by scent if we need to. The red one is hiding his somehow." Kiba offers.

Crap! Do I still smell like I did before? I can't, there's no way. If I did Kiba would have told everyone by now. I wonder if my hearts caused my scent to change? And Shino has a bug on Sasuke somewhere? I'll have to fix that.

"Perfect! We have a way to track each of them. Now we just need to corner them again and get them to talk." Ino smacks her hands together. "We'll have to wait and see what the second exam is. Any ideas?"

I quit listening in now that they're talking about the next exam. That was a very informative conversation and an extremely alarming one.

"Red, there's a beetle on you somewhere. Make sure you get rid of it soon."

We'll have to be very cautious during the next exam. I might have to insist that we work together, I don't want them to corner Sasuke alone.

"Alright gennin! Everyone here has passed the first exam. Congratulations." The unnamed proctor lazily informs us.

A few cheers sound throughout the less seasoned gennin. Any gennin here worth anything wouldn't react for something so meager. Who knows how many exams are left?

"Quiet down. Since you all passed I should properly introduce myself. I am Eito." Eito takes a quick half-assed bow. "It is time for the second exam. Will the first six who passed come to the front?"

Sasuke and I instantly turn to each other.

"Something feels off." Sasuke seriously says.

"Agreed. Why the first six? Fair warning, if we have to face each other you're going down." I idly jest at him as we walk forwards.

"Whatever."

We are joined by Neji, Gaara and a Kusa and Konoha shinobi and then we all stop before Eito.

"Congratulations, you six are the impromptu leaders for the next portion of these Exams. We have around 60 gennin that passed the first test, we need to cut the number in half at the least so we came up with a team game you're all going to play. It's our take on a shinobi version of Capture the Flag. Each team will be given a colored flag to protect, to pass you need to have two flags. It doesn't matter which two, but you must have two. Now come and pull out a flag from this box to figure out who has which team." Eito pulls out a scroll and unseals a box.

I boldly walk up to the box first. I reach my hand and spawn an eye on the palm of my hand. I know what color I want.

"Green." It's a perfect fit.

"Red." Sasuke dully says while looking in my direction. The jerk rigged it too, he totally copied me!

"Yellow." Gaara went third.

"Blue." Neji drew fourth.

"Black." The Kusa shinobi is fifth.

"White." The Konoha shinobi says. Holy crap is that Sai? Ridiculously pale, brushes and paper strapped to his belt, dark blank eyes. Yep, that's Sai.

"Glad that's over." Eito tosses the now empty box over his shoulder. " Alright, now we form up the teams." He unseals a much larger box this time. "Alright gennin! Come up one at a time and draw a cloth. There's an even amount of all colors in here, the color you draw is the team you're on. Also we're recording who draws what so there is no trading!"

They're leaving the teams up to chance? Interesting, I hope I get a stacked team. Too bad Sasuke is one of the leaders, we would have dominated this exam.

Hold up a moment, they aren't leaving it up to chance. They're seeing if any of the gennin here have the skill to manipulate what team they're on, exactly like how I chose what color I wanted. We're shinobi, we don't leave things up to chance if we have the means to control the outcome. That's sneaky, they're already testing us.

What's the point of this exam? We already showcased our skills in the first one so I doubt it's entirely combat based. I'm going to guess that this is to see how we work in teams with people we don't know. In the life of a shinobi you'll never know who you'll end up working beside and this is quite the example of that. How ironic, in a single entrant Chunin Exams they're testing us on teamwork.

After a ridiculously long time the teams are finally determined. On my team is me, two Kusa shinobi, a Konoha kunoichi I've never met, Temari, Hinata, a Kiri shinobi, an Ame shinobi, a Taki shinobi and an Iwa shinobi. We've got a little of everyone.

"Alright everyone, you're going to be escorted to your 'base.' You will have one hour to get a plan together and four hours to get another flag. Good luck. Oh, also anything goes for this Exam. That includes lethal force, though it is strongly discouraged." Eito blandly tells us.

They should really pick a better proctor next time, this guy is just weird. Who casually mentions that lethal force is allowed?

A Kusa shinobi approaches each group. He must be our escort.

"Let's go." Immediately he starts running away. Definitely our escort.

We all follow him into a young forest. This is perfect for me, a forest is where I'm best a fighting, it's where I learned how to fight. Not only that, the majority of our shinobi are from Konoha (if you count me as from Konoha) so we will have a home field advantage.

He stops in front of a flagpole in the middle of a generously sized clearing.

"Hang the flag on that, then wait for the bell to start. Have fun." He shunshins away in a swirl of grass.

Silence reigns supreme in the clearing. Well, I'm supposed to be the leader here. It's time to step up and lead.

"Alright, we know next to nothing about each other. Has anyone here worked together before?" I break the awkward silence.

No one answers. Great, I'm working with a lot of unknowns.

"Okay, so much for that. Split into three groups, those who are better at defense with me and those who are better at offense over by the pole. Those who are in the middle or can't make up their minds stand by that rock."

I'm joined by the Iwa shinobi and the Taki shinobi. The offensive group has Temari, the Kiri shinobi, the Ame shinobi, the two Kusa shinobi and the Konoha kunoichi. Only Hinata goes to the middle ground.

"Hyuuga-san, why pick the middle?" I ask. I'm surprised no one has stepped up and tried to usurp my leadership yet.

"The Byakugan can be used either offensively to scout what's ahead or defensively to survey our defenses and surroundings. I will go where you decide." Hinata submissively tells me.

What the hell? Why is she submissive to me? I haven't earned her respect yet, she shouldn't bend to my will. Actually this whole thing is progressing too smoothly. Why is everyone doing exactly what I tell them to without complaining?

"Hmm... I have minor sensing capabilities so we don't need you for defense. Knowing exactly where and how our opponents are set up will prove invaluable, go on offense." I order her.

She quickly obeys me, almost like she's scared of me. If I didn't know her I would have missed the hint of fear she has around her. That's why everyone is falling in line, they're scared of me.

"You really want seven on offense and only three on defense?" Temari harshly asks. Finally! Someone stands up to me. Leave it to Temari to not be scared when everyone else is. "That's stupid. I'll join the defense."

"How dare you question Leader-sama!" The Taki shinobi furiously spits out at Temari.

Everyone looks at him in confusion, myself included. Leader-sama?

~Keep an eye on that one. There's something... familiar about him.~

"Well... that was weird. Anyways, the only people in these Exams that I think can get past me is your brother or Red, my teammate. I know that Red won't attack me and I'm banking on your brother not wanting to attack you either. Plus we have around forty five minutes to trap the hell out of this forest, defense will be fine with only the three of us." I assure her.

She backs down a little, but I can tell she's not entirely convinced.

"Besides, I want you to lead the offense." I blandly inform her.

"What! Me? You want me to lead? Why?" Temari sounds confused. Her eyebrows are scrunching together as she tries to figure out my logic. She looks adorable right now like a puppy trying to play with a string and getting tangling itself up.

"You have experience leading if how well you helped corral your fellow Suna nin earlier means anything. Sure they're scared of your brother, but they respect you. Respect is earned, respect is a sign of a competent leader. So, how about it? Want to lead the charge into the enemy defenses?"

"I... but shouldn't... arg! Fine, I'll do it." Temari caves.

Good, I need her on offense. She's going to be a powerhouse with her wind jutsu. We're probably the only team that is skewing our numbers. The logical thing to do is have an even split, but I know we don't need five on defense. I'm just a tiny bit overpowered for this. I doubt I'll even need to use jutsu. I can probably overwhelm anyone who gets here with pure speed and taijutsu alone.

"Alright, go ahead and start planning an attack. I'll leave it all to you."

"Wait really? You're not going to tell me who to attack? You're leaving it all up to me?"

"Yeah, I've got to set up some defenses. All I'll say is don't attack the Red Team, you'll lose. Alright defenders, over here!" I walk away from the flabbergasted Temari.

I trust her to come through, that being said I'm going to have Shirokumo tail her and make sure. If she fails then I'll have to get creative.

"Alright defenders, what are your names?" I ask them.

"Leader-sama, I am called Hiro." The Taki shinobi says with a glorious bow.

"Uh... nice to meet you?" Wow this is awkward. I hope Hiro isn't always like this.

"I'm Ikki." The Iwa shinobi says. Short and to the point, I can respect that.

"Nice to meet you too. Call me Green." I get questioning looks from both of them at the unusual name. I don't bother to elaborate. "Alright, defense. What are you two capable of? The more I know the better plan I can come up with."

"I have access to Earth Release and Wind Release techniques. I can use Earth to make barrier walls and wind to push enemies away." Hiro happily tells me. He's completely ignoring Ikki.

"That's a strange combo to have." Ikki says. "I use seals. I can make exploding traps, kunai launchers and I've recently made a barrier seal that can be activated by me from a distance. They're a bitch to make, so I only have a few." Smart, he didn't tell us exactly how many he has.

"Wow, that's actually really cool." I really should start looking into seals if they can do stuff like that. Once I've truly mastered incorporating the Spiders into my style of combat it will be the first thing I do. I'm sure Orochimaru would be more than happy to teach that branch of shinobi skills.

"What about you?" Hiro eagerly asks. He gazes at me with big wonder filled eyes. Creepy.

"Oh, it'll be better if I just show you." I walk a few steps away from my temporary teammates. "Summoning Jutsu: The Weavers!" I slam my hand to the ground.

A massive cloud of smoke surrounds me.

"Summoner?" A familiar scratchy voice asks from the cloud.

"Summoner? Did she say Summoner?"

"We get to meet the Summoner!"

"The Summoner is here! He summoned us!"

"I've been hoping for this forever! The Summoner!"

"Murasakino? You in there? I thought I heard you." I ask.

"You remember me!" A bulldog sized spider with a purple scarf rushes out of the smoke.

"Of course I do! Excellent job on the hammocks." I kneel down closer to her level. The smoke finally clears.

"He's got a contract! Amazing! He can summon so many at once!" Hiro is idolizing me. I can't wait to ditch him.

Hiro's not wrong though, I summoned ten spiders at once. Every one of them is around Murasakino's size, some are a little bigger or smaller. Each one has a different colored scarf that accents their unique color schemes. This is more than I expected, I was hoping for three or four!

"Oh please, those hammocks are dreadful! You should have let me prepare!" Murasakino bashfully swats a leg at me.

"So she wasn't lying."

"Wow, I want to make something for the Summoner too!"

"You made his socks."

"Next time I will." I say to Murasakino as I ignore the byplay from the other spiders.

I stand up to address all of the Weavers. "As much as I would love to meet you all, I have a task for you that takes priority. I need you to trap the surrounding forest. I want you all to make this forest into a labyrinth of webs. I want you to make it impossible to make your way through. I want you all to make a Nest here."

Silence falls on the summoned spiders.

"Well ladies! You heard him! Let's get to it!" Murasakino scuttles off to the treeline and disappears into the foliage.

"OI! Murasakino make sure to leave a path for my teammates to get through!" I call after her.

"Come on! We can't be out done by her again!" The rest of the spiders scuttle off to different parts of the forest.

"Well that settles that. You two can have free reign to trap the clearing. It's best to stay out of the forest if you don't want to get stuck in a spider web."

"Dude. That was..." Ikki trails off.

"Cool! Amazing! Awesome! Inspiring!" Hiro happily chimes in. He's really impressed. About damn time someone recognizes the talent of the Spiders!

"Horrifying. Absolutely horrifying." Ikki says.

"Oh shut up and trap the clearing. We only have 30 minutes till the start." I order Ikki. How dare he say that about my Spiders!

"You know, now that I'm seeing him in person he doesn't seem that bad." I hear Temari say to Hinata with my enhance hearing. "I mean, that's the same guy who was ready to slaughter one of Suna's teams before the first task but he's giving me a leading role? One moment he hates Suna then the next he doesn't. I don't understand him at all!"

"I know. He seem completely different than before. We tried talking to him before the second exam. He was brisk and rude, but now he's assuming the leader role almost perfectly. He's not trying to micromanage everything, he's letting us think for ourselves. It doesn't make sense. Were you near him during the first exam?" Hinata asks.

"No, I wasn't. Gaara led us away from him. He didn't want to cause a scene. Well, any more of a scene. As much as I hate to admit it, Green-boy over there did us a favor by knocking out that particular team. They needed a reality check. Why do you ask?"

"I was close to him. The bloodlust he radiated was... indescribable. It felt like I was facing down a monster. No, like I was being toyed with by a monster. I wasn't even close to him, I can't imagine what that poor team felt."

"Alright, enough about our mysterious leader. We need to get a plan together. How are we going to get a flag?" Temari asks. "If they're in forest like us, I can cut down a good chunk of it and that should remove a lot of their planned defenses."

"You're not a monster." Hiro's voice startles me so badly I visibly flinch. "You heard them too, didn't you?"

"I did. It's alright, I won't blame them for telling the truth." Right now I'm glad they don't know who I am.

"You're not a monster. Believe me I would know."

"How can you be sure I'm not a monster? You don't even know me."

"I know a real monster." He says with a faraway look in his eyes.

"Kid, you don't know shit. Go set up some traps." I order and he eagerly obeys.

He must have been referring to Fuu, Taki's jinchuriki. Jinchuriki aren't monsters, hell the bijuu aren't monsters either. He doesn't know a damn thing about monsters.

"Hey Suna girl, need any help?" I call out to Temari.

"No. We've got it." Her voice is brimming with confidence. That's good, I don't want an unsure subordinate.

"Awesome. Cuz if I'm right we have about five minutes before the start. I'll summon a guide to get you through the webs."

Poof

"Sup?" Shirokumo lazily asks from on top of my head. How did he get up there? I put my hand on the ground!

"Hey. I need you to take these gennin through the webs. Also let me know if they need help."

"That it? Simple enough." He hops off of me and crawls over to Temari. "When are we leaving?"

"Uh... once the bell rings." Temari is pale, ridiculously pale. "Anyone else find this strange?"

"If by strange you mean terrifying, then yes. I hate spiders." Says one of the Kusa shinobi.

"Spiders hate humans so it's an even trade. Now shut up until you have something important to say."

"Shirokumo, don't antagonize them. They're temporary partners for the second exam. We need to cooperate if we want to pass."

"Fine. Doesn't mean I'm going to like it." My summon huffs in annoyance.

"I don't like it either." The Kusa shinobi speaks again.

DING DONG

"Oh thank Kami. Let's get this over with." Shirokumo bolts towards the trees.

"Let's move!" Temari calls as she sprints after him.

The offensive group leaves. I hope they succeed, I don't know what I'm going to do if they fail.

"Alright guys. It's just us three now. My summon's webs should stop all but the most skilled and crafty opponents. Then they have to get through all of the other traps. Then they face us."

"Pfft! No one will make it to us. I have a ridiculous amount of seal based traps on the edge of the clearing, only a seal master has any hope of getting through." Ikki is brimming with confidence.

"That's not to mention all of the kunai traps I made. They may be one of the oldest tricks in the book, but they work." Hiro gleefully adds on.

"We'll win this no problem!" There isn't a single person that could get past the webs unscathed. I'm confident in my summons. Even if they do, they'll be tired and spent from weaving through the maze. Should be simple enough to defeat them after that.

~Host, there are five shinobi approaching from the north.~

"Five incoming from the north. They'll smash against our defenses." I warn my rag tag teammates.

We wait in a tense silence. This is the first test of our defenses.

~They've stopped moving, they're caught in the webs.~

"They're caught in the webs."I haughtily smirk. I knew that was a good idea.

"Ha! Didn't even make it past the first layer." Ikki happily says.

"Leader-sama is so awesome! To have already caught five shinobi! Incredible!" Hiro chimes in.

I wonder who fell prey to my webs. Definitely not Sasuke's group, he has enough common sense to avoid me like the plague. Gaara is probably avoiding me too, he'll want to give Temari the best chance possible. Neji would have seen the full extent of the webs with his fancy eyes then turned around. Sai has been trained too well to attempt to go into something so ridiculously dangerous. Must have been the Kusa nin's group.

We go back to silence. There really isn't that much to talk about, plus we're all on high alert. No one wants to get distracted.

~Host, five shinobi are approaching rapidly from above!~

"Five approaching from above us!" I yell out to my team. How are they coming from above? How can that many shinobi fly? They're going to go right over my webs! I didn't expect this!

"Oh come on that is so unfair!" Ikki pulls out two pieces of paper, one in each hand.

"Let them come! I haven't had a good fight in ages!" Hiro's eyes glint with bloodlust.

It takes thirty seconds for the five shinobi to land in our clearing. They're riding giant black and white birds. This is Sai's group, he drew them birds to ride. How did I overlook that?

In unison the five shinobi jump off of their mounts. Sai himself is here, so is Ino, an Ame kunoichi, and two sword wielding Kiri shinobi twins.

"Hello Green-san. We've come for your flag. Will you hand it over?" Sai politely asks with a disturbingly fake smile.

"Why would I do that? You'll have to take it." I banter back to him.

"You sure? We've got you outnumbered." Twin #1 says.

"We'll get the flag either way, one involves pain. The other doesn't." Twin #2 adds.

"He said no." Ikki grins demonically. "But you're right, there will be pain. Activate!"

The ground under the second twin lights up, he's standing on a seal. A jade prism quickly forms around him. Ikki you magnificent bastard! You caught him in a barrier seal!

"What the hell?" The caught twin says.

"So much for being outnumbered." I taunt. "One down."

Ino falters for a moment, like she saw something she didn't expect. She's quick to recover and it seems that I am the only one to notice her moment of distraction.

The four remaining opponents burst into action. Ino and the Ame kunoichi leap across the field to attack us, the twin tries to free his brother and Sai unfurls his scroll.

"Hiro! Stop him!" I point to Sai. I really don't want Sai churning out artwork animals to attack us. We can handle a three vs four, but a three vs ten? Not as likely.

Hiro leaps across the field, but is intercepted by the free twin. Dammit, there goes that plan.

Ikki faces off against Ino. She looks frustrated. She must have wanted to fight me, she probably wants to try to weasel more information out of me.

"You're mine!" The Ame kunoichi lunges at me with her fists raised.

I casually step backwards out of her range. A kunoichi that specializes in taijutsu, that isn't something you see everyday. Usually they're more support fighters or healers, it is what they're naturally inclined towards. That could mean that she has an equalizer, something to make up for her lack of desired taijutsu traits. I wonder, does Ame have shinobi clan that has a bloodline that requires physical contact?

I dodge a flurry of punches and kicks, all with a lazy amount of effort. Is this really a gennin? Was I this slow when I took my first Chunin Exams? Just how far has Orochimaru's training pushed me? This isn't even a challenge now, hell this is less strenuous than my training warm up routine!

"Stay! Still! Dammit!" The kunoichi is getting mad.

"ROAR!" A black and white lion lunges at me from behind and it rakes its claws down my back.

"Got ya!" The Ame gennin cheers. "Just had to herd you into the trap."

"Not quite." I calmly say from behind her. She starts to turn around to face me but the moment the cold steel of my kunai touches her throat she freezes. "That was a clone in case you were still trying to figure that out."

"But how? I never saw you make one. You never had the chance."

"Simple, I made a spider clone once I knew you were coming. I replaced with it before the lion hit me. It was child's play."

True to my words, the lion that tried to flay me is being swarmed with countless spiders. Spider clones are fun, when they take damage they burst into thousands of spiders that attack. I'm so glad I figured out how to do that, it's the stuff of nightmares. They're way better than water or earth clones.

"ROAR!" Another lion leaps at me and I lazily pull out another kunai and chuck it at the airborne feline. My projectile lances a hole right through it's chest and inky black blood pours out for a moment, then the entire construct bursts into lifeless ink. Those lions may look scary, but they can't take a hit.

"Release my teammate and I'll release yours." Ino's stone cold voice cuts across the clearing. She has a kunai to Ikki's throat just like how I have one to this kunoichi's.

"Ikki, come on! You got caught already? It's been like three minutes!" I childishly whine. "Dude you sounded so cool when you talked about your seals and stuff."

"She tricked me! Not my fault!" He blushes in embarrassment. Serves him right!

"Yeah, yeah, you still got caught. Sure Konoha girl, I'll take the trade." I withdraw my kunai and shove my ex-hostage forward. Ino does the same with Ikki.

"Ikki, take the Ame girl." I order.

"ROAR!" Another damn lion. I punch this one in the face and it bursts into ink. His lions are pissing me off.

I dart past the Ame kunoichi, past Ikki, past Ino and straight at Sai. I move to fast for him to dodge, all he can do is raise his arms in defense. That was the wrong move to make, I don't plan on hitting him.

I grab onto his arms, which he just made very accessible, and pull him in the air. I plan on throwing him into the forest.

"Hello Spider." Sai whispers as I spin him around.

Oh fuck me. He's here to talk.

I throw him into the forest. More specifically I throw him into my webs. He's trapped now. Finally his damn lions won't bother me again.

"Don't go anywhere!" I call after him. I need to talk to him. He knows who I am, I need to find out what he wants with me. I need to know if my cover is blown or if he's offering help. Either way this isn't good, if he knows then Danzo knows. If Danzo knows then-

"Mind Body Switch Jutsu!"

A cold hand grasps my head. Shit, I got distracted. Only for a moment, but it was enough for Ino to capitalize on.

I can feel her trying to gain access to my mind, prying at my mental defenses. I'm losing, she'll break in at this rate.

"Stay out of our head!" I can't let this happen! This is the worst thing that could possibly happen!

"No! Show me your secrets! Your fears! Your nightmares! Show me where my friends are!" Ino crazily demands.

We're pulled into my mindscape.

"Ino you need to leave." Those are the first words out of my mouth. This is the worst possible situation.

"Where's Alvarcus?" Her words spark memories, images flash past us.

Me laughing with vivid yellow eyes. Us sparring in the Academy. The day we got our team assignments. The day of the first Chunin Exams. The day my family and Sakura died. The fight we had with the ANBU. Hopefully it moved too quickly for her to see.

"That doesn't matter, you need to leave! Ino there's something here besides us!" I desperately plead.

~You again?~

"No." Ino's voice lost all of her crazed demanding tone, now she sounds full of disbelief. "No no no. I know that voice."

~Are you afraid, girl? Do you remember what happened last time? Your screams were exquisite! I wonder what I should show you this time!~

"You'll show her nothing!" I desperately shout into the darkness that is my mindscape. "Ino leave our head! It isn't safe here!"

"Al... Alvarcus?"

"Shit."