14

/~/

The twin double doors opened with their characteristic squeal. As per the usual, the eyes of every genin in the room shifted to the newcomers, silently appraising.

Team Ten paid their counterparts no heed as they strode in without pause, Naruto in the lead; the trio not bothering to stop and stare at the dozens of genin already in the examination room. Eyes forward and strides confident, the Konoha team moved to a corner of the room that was unoccupied, on the left as they walked in. The three sat down in a line, backs to the wall and facing the door.

The eyes of the room stayed fixed on them for nearly a full minute before gradually going back to whatever had held their attention before. The silence that had held dominance in the room faded to the hum of idle chatter as the teams relaxed once more.

Almost directly across the room from the newly arrived Team Ten, a trio of nondescript Konoha genin observed.

"I count three," the only female of the three said.

"Four," the two boys stated simultaneously. They exchanged quick grins as the girl looked exasperated.

"Who'd I miss? I got the Suna team, one Kusa team, and the Oto squad."

"You're off you're game today, Yamanaka," Kiba snarked quietly from under his Henge. He neatly blocked the sharp elbow to his ribs that the disguised Ino sent his way. "You missed the Konoha team off to the back."

"The older ones?"

"Yup," Naruto spoke up from Ino's left. He was disguised as a tall boy with close cropped brown hair and a small scar above his right eye. "One of the masked ones was about to dispel the illusion before the silver haired one stopped him."

"Close call then."

"Mhm."

The genjutsu had been Ino's idea. Having discreetly bypassed the disguised room 301 on the floor below, the female blond of Team Ten had come up with the idea to cover themselves in a Henge and enter the real room 301, while an illusionary trio would enter later on. By checking the number of people or teams that recognized both a Henge and a genjutsu just by being exposed to it – not to mention the ones who connected the dots and suspected both the Henge'd Team Ten and their illusionary doppelgangers – the three could neatly identify many of the more formidable genin in the exam.

"Well, that shows us which ones can actually sense a genjutsu and which ones just kept on up the stairs," Kiba said again, a small chuckle escaping his lips.

"That was the idea, idiot. Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Ino's sarcastic reply drew an eye roll from Naruto. Here we go again…

"Hey! Don't be calling me an idiot, blondie. Me and Akamaru sniffed out the genjutsu down below just as quick as you did."

The red-headed Ino opened her mouth – a biting reply about relying on his familiar's heightened senses no doubt on her lips – but Naruto beat her to the punch.

"Shut up, both of you. You're gonna blow our cover if you keep this up." The boy's patience was thin with both of his teammates. His statement was met with a grudging nod from Kiba, but Ino scoffed lightly.

"Come off it, Naruto. No one's paying any attention to us anymore; us or us over there," she finished with a vague gesture in the direction of their doppelgangers.

Naruto's rebuke was as cold as ice. "We're in an exam with the best genin from every village. Someone's watching us, we just don't know it. And even if they're not, you really wanna attract attention in a room chock full of people who're probly gonna be trying to kill us pretty soon? I know I don't."

His fellow blond – under normal circumstances of course – grimaced with a nod. Her gaze turned back to the room at large, but not before Naruto caught the slight look of hurt in her eyes that couldn't be masked.

Naruto winced. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just on edge with this whole exam. Nerve wracking, you know?"

Both his teammates nodded, and Ino gave him a hesitant, reassuring smile. "We get it, Naruto," she whispered. She covered his hand with her own and gave it a squeeze. The boy couldn't help the quick smile that spread across his face at the contact.

To Ino's right, Kiba rolled his eyes as he noticed the byplay. "Please tell me you guys aren't gonna get all lovey-dovey on me now that you're making out. If you are, just lemme know and I'll kill myself."

His quip drew a glare from Ino and a flush from Naruto. Before either of them had the chance to retort, however, the telltale squeaking of the double wooden doors heralded the entrance of yet another team.

Naruto dropped Ino's hand and formed the cross shaped seal for the Kage Bunshin; his signal. The three Shadow Clones that were in the spaces that the illusionary Team Ten occupied stared back at their creator and nodded a single time.

Ino took her cue, layering an illusion over hers, Naruto's, and Kiba's current position. All three members of Team Ten executed a seamless Kawarimi with their counterparts, appearing on the opposite side of the room and staring back at their former disguises.

An impulse tingling, Naruto lightly tapped his fellow blond on the shoulder, letting her know that his clones had performed their own Henge's. Ino dropped her illusion without a word, her eyes swiveling to take in the forms of the new team, Naruto's Shadow Clones doing the same.

In the commotion of the doors opening once more, no one had noticed Team Ten's deception.

Naruto's own blue eyes looked to the doors, and the boy couldn't repress a smile when he saw Team Seven enter, followed closely by Team Eight. Chouji and Shikamaru were engaged in conversation at the back, while Shino and Hinata stuck close to each other. Predictably, Sasuke was the first into the room, followed closely by Sakura. The Uchiha paused just inside the room, onyx eyes calculating and seemingly surveying all the occupants with a single glance.

The imperious look that Naruto was so familiar with settled itself on Sasuke's face as the boy led the two rookie teams into room 301, and the blond couldn't help but roll his eyes. Sasuke will be Sasuke.

"Well, well, well; look what the cat dragged in," Kiba drawled loudly, eyes glittering. Naruto almost rolled his eyes at the ever-predictable taunt. Ino had no such restraint.

The eyes of everyone in the room immediately shifted to Kiba, Sasuke's included. The trademark, ever-familiar sneer fell into place as both rookie teams moved to join Team Ten.

"Better what the cat dragged in than what the dogs left in the kennels, mutt. How's your family?" Sasuke returned. His voice was bored but his eyes glittered at the prospect of one of his favorite pastimes.

"Play nice, you two," Naruto interjected, before Kiba had the chance to make a comment about Sasuke's family that would earn him a quick ticket to pain. "We're all friends here."

"Tch," it was Sasuke's drawl this time. "Though some of us are better friends than others, hn?" The words were said in the same bored voice, but Naruto easily caught the undercurrent of annoyance in them.

The blonde's mind connected the dots quickly, noticing his friend's pink haired teammate looking at Ino weirdly. Sakura must be more annoying than usual since she found out about me and Ino, Naruto surmised. He offered his friend a shrug for his troubles and nothing more. The Uchiha settled for rolling his eyes.

"How's Kurenai?" Naruto asked Team Eight at large, once the posturing had finished. He hadn't seen the injured jonin since Kiba had been discharged from Konoha's medical center. She had still been recovering from her stab wound when Naruto had last checked, though he felt she must have been out by now.

"Well, Naruto-san," Shino answered. Chouji was still talking pleasantly with Shikamaru, and Hinata was never one to speak unless she absolutely had to. "She is almost fully recovered from her injuries and wishes for us to pass on her thanks for your actions during the mission. I have no doubt she would like to do so personally at her earliest convenience, though I do not know when that is."

Naruto nodded his acceptance and thanked Shino quickly. Got the personality of a brick wall, that one.

Meanwhile, Ino and Sakura had managed to get themselves into an argument of some kind. The volume was quickly escalating, and Naruto moved to shut the two up before someone beat him to it.

"Can you guys shut up over here?" a quiet voice asked. The three teams turned to face the silver haired, pony-tailed genin who had stopped his teammate from dispelling Ino's genjutsu. "You're all rookies, right? Fresh out of the Academy. This isn't some school field trip, you know."

"And you are?" Kiba asked for the group. The dog-ninja was clearly unimpressed by the older Konoha nin's rebuke.

"Kabuto. Yakushi Kabuto," the older boy said with an easy smile. "And you guys outta start paying attention to your surroundings."

The nine rookies took their cue, and glanced about the room. Most of the occupants were absorbed in their own business, or watching their competitors, looking for an edge. There were a select few, however, that were eyeing the grouping of Konoha ninja like they were pigs ripe for slaughter. Among them were the Otogakure team that Naruto and Team Ten had pegged as dangerous earlier, and a few different Amegakure squads that looked to be on the verge of committing murder in the examination room.

It was the Rain-nin that Kabuto gestured to, a serious look on his face. "See those Ame-nin over there? They're rather well known for having short tempers. I'd suggest piping down before you cause a scene. Everyone's nerves are a bit frayed cause of the exam, and you never know when someone's composure might…slip."

"Good advice," Shikamaru grunted. The lazy genius was far from spoiling for a fight.

"My pleasure," Kabuto said, and the easy smile returned. "You guys remind me of how I used to be."

Sakura took the opportunity to pounce. "Kabuto, right?" She continued at his encouraging nod, "So this is your second time taking the exam?"

The easy smile faded into the range of self deprecating. "Seventh actually," Kabuto admitted, amid the myriad of scoffs and expressions of disbelief. "Twice a year for the past three, and now this one."

"You must be pretty experienced with these then," Sakura continued, though she seemed less enthusiastic about accepting any form of help from someone who had failed so many times. Naruto didn't blame her, as his first impulse was to dismiss the older genin out of hand for the exact same reason. The blond, however, was curious.

Weird. He should've passed by now. Or died, Naruto thought morbidly, mind racing.

The Sandaime had said that the exams were a replacement for war; a place where each village could show off its best and brightest to lure clients and exert dominance. One just didn't fail the exam six times. Eventually it became a waste of resources, sending a genin to other villages only to fail each time. Beyond that, Sarutobi had made it rather clear that killing was a large part of each exam – though the way it was gone about was different in every village. If Kabuto was skilled enough to not only be nominated seven times by his jonin instructor, but skilled enough to not end up dead…

"Well I like to think of each exam as a learning experience," Kabuto was saying animatedly. A deck of blank looking cards had made its way to his hands. "Every time I take an exam I get just a little bit better, and I get more information about everyone who takes them."

"Six times…you've gotta have a lot of info then, huh?" Naruto asked mildly. He was intrigued despite himself.

A proud smile fixed itself on Kabuto's face. "I'd like to think so, certainly. I keep what I've collected in these cards here. Everything from info on the different villages, to specific ninja, to even ninjutsu. I can keep it all here." He gestured to his deck of cards as he spoke, and laid one out on the floor for the rookies to see.

The Konoha genin gathered around just as Kabuto stuck a finger to the center of his card, presumably channeling chakra into it. A map of the Elemental Nations appeared instantaneously, followed by an easy to read bar graph that rose from each of the countries.

"This card, for example, shows the number of applicants in this exam, and their breakdown by country," the silver haired genin explained to his enraptured counterparts. "As you can see, Konoha had the most applicants in this year's exams, for obvious reasons. While on the other hand, Otogakure no Sato has only sent one team. They're a newer village, with fewer shinobi and resources to send out a larger selection."

Naruto was impressed. The technique was one that obviously required pinpoint chakra control, so as to both imbed the image and then to call it up at will. Kabuto also had to be able to remember the exact chakra pattern for each specific info card, no mean feat.

"You said you had info on specific shinobi?" That was Sasuke, and Naruto felt himself drawn into the conversation simply by virtue of his friend bothering to ask a question at all. The Uchiha was intrigued as well, it seemed.

Kabuto nodded, and Sasuke plowed forward. "Sabaku no Gaara of Suna," the Uchiha prodigy demanded. Naruto immediately registered the name as dangerous. Sasuke wouldn't have bothered otherwise.

A single eyebrow rose behind the older genin's spectacles. "Someone you're worried about? Shouldn't be too hard; you took all the fun out of it by giving me his name…" He flipped through his deck for a moment, before coming to a stop at a seemingly random card. "Ah, here we go. Sabaku no Gaara. Keep in mind that all my intel isn't perfect…" the genin trailed off as he channeled chakra into the card, and the image of a short, red haired boy – Naruto recognized him from the Suna team he and his squad had identified – popped up.

"Sabaku no Gaara: rookie out of Sunagakure. Has taken eight C-ranked missions and…damn, one B-ranked. That's downright impressive for a genin," Kabuto said. "Huh, it appears that he's come back from every mission completely unharmed…"

Nervous tittering passed through the group of rookies, each one considerably impressed and wary. The only ones unaffected were Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke because he had already met the mysterious Suna genin; Naruto because he had simply stopped listening to Kabuto the instant he had started talking about mission history.

Who is this guy? Naruto thought, his mind ablaze as theories were created and discarded at the speed of thought. Mission history is classified B-rank info for anyone in Konoha. And this guy has it on some random genin from Suna…

Naruto knew from his frequent trips to the Shinobi Archive that all mission history was reserved for shinobi of chunin rank or above – B-rank – and that was only in Konoha. For Kabuto to have such classified information about a genin from another village, allied though Suna was, it hinted at skills that the silver haired boy was concealing, and quite well. He also carried the information around freely, which while might be considered stupid by many – Naruto included – hinted at skill the boy wasn't letting anyone see. Kabuto had to be able to protect the same information that he flaunted so easily.

Infiltration specialist, Naruto concluded quickly. And a damned good one. Of course, Kabuto's hidden competence raised even more questions in the blond genin. He was a Konoha ninja – his hitai-ate said as much, not to mention he was helping a group of Konoha-nin – but what else was he. Was he an ANBU plant, sent into the exams to gather information about foreign ninja?

It would certainly explain why he was still being nominated for the Chunin Exams after having failed six times.

Naruto's mind, awhirl as it was, couldn't decide whether to trust or distrust the genin, based on his skill.

"So…are all the genin like that?" Sakura whispered. The pink haired girl, who had been content, if not brimming with confidence, was visibly shaken at the knowledge of Sabaku no Gaara's résumé. Chouji, Hinata, and even Ino looked to be feeling the same way, while Shikamaru looked even more annoyed than usual. Kiba and Sasuke were unaffected.

Kabuto's smile was all reassurance. "There are some standouts, yes. Kusa, Konoha, Suna, Ame, Oto…well perhaps not Oto – it's a new village – everyone in this room is one of the best and brightest from their village. That includes you guys, even though you're rookies. Keep that in mind and you'll be fine."

Heh, Naruto thought, concerns about Kabuto pushed aside for the moment as he scanned the room of hopefuls. Maybe Sasuke's right. Maybe this will be fun.

"Well, that's all I've got for now for you guys," Kabuto was saying. "Good luck to you all and –"

The silver haired genin cut himself off, eyes cutting to the form of a single genin who had launched himself into the air. The boy, garbed in grey camouflage and a mask style hitai-ate, drew and launched three kunai at Kabuto's unsuspecting form.

The elder genin retreated quickly to avoid a skewering, letting the blades thump harmlessly into the wooden floor. His attention on his attacker, he was unprepared for another genin to appear in his face and swing a brutal, gauntlet covered fist towards his face. The silver haired boy leaned back to avoid the blow and made space quickly.

"Nice dodge," the second attacker grunted, his voice muffled due to bandages that covered his entire face save for one eye. "But then…it really wasn't."

The rookies and Kabuto had only a moment to process the arrogant statement before Kabuto's glasses shattered, and the boy ended up on the ground vomiting as his inner ear was spun through a vortex.

"What a pathetic showing from a supposed veteran," the bandaged ninja condescended. He was joined by the boy who had thrown the kunai, and a girl with long hair who was dressed in the same grey camouflage. "Put this on your cards: the genin from Otogakure are sure candidates for Chunin."

"Don't be too sure about that," a voice whispered in the leader's right ear. The single eye widened almost imperceptibly as cold steel touched his jugular vein. The sound of light buzzing in the air filled his ears at the same moment he realized he couldn't move.

"Nice one, Shika," Ino complimented, her tanto drawn and poised to slit the throat of the lone Sound female. The Nara offered no response, focused as he was on the jutsu that had neatly immobilized the three foreign genin.

"You three come up in here, acting like you're hot shit. Didn't anyone in that hole you call a village ever teach you not to fuck with a ninja on his home turf?" Naruto asked from in front of the Oto leader. His clone pressed its knife harder against the genin's neck, causing a thin trail of blood to appear.

"The genin from Otogakure can't be sure candidates for Chunin if they're too imbecilic to attack a Konoha-nin when he's surrounded by allies." Sasuke's voice was as bored as his expression, though the Uchiha held the final genin by the back of the neck and a kunai at the base of his spine.

All the rookies were in similar states of alarm, Naruto noticed with a glance. Kiba had his claws bared; Chouji had his fists enlarged; Shino's bugs were all but invisible, but their buzzing was steadily increasing in volume; Hinata had dropped into a reflexive Jyuken stance, and Sakura held a kunai loosely even as she helped Kabuto to his feet. A feral grin broke across the jinchūriki's face.

The exams technically hadn't started yet, and Naruto realized that they would be well within their rights to execute the Oto genin right then and there just as a series of pops filled the stunned silence that had held the rest of the room captive.

"Shut up, you worthless maggots," a voice boomed. A group of grey garbed ninja appeared at the front of the room amid the smoke of multiple Shunshins . At their head was a scarred man with a bandana on his head and a trench coat over his torso.

"What's this?" the trench coat wearing man asked, incredulous. He pointed a finger to the back of the room, where the rookie nine held the Oto-nin captive. "You, back there! There is no fighting and no killing unless I specifically say so! Do you want to fail?"

Naruto's face was set in stone. "Just defending a friend, examiner-san." His clone dispelled just as Sasuke and Ino removed their blades and Shikamaru withdrew his jutsu. The Oto genin didn't waste time in making space.

An ugly smile spread across the examiner's face. "Heh, can't fault you for that. But don't let me catch it happening again, and that goes for all of you. Anyone who attacks another examinee will be out of here faster than you can blink."

The Otogakure genin scurried back to their places, but not before shooting Naruto and the rest of the rookies a glare that promised pain. Naruto returned it with a sneer that could rival Sasuke's. Fuckers.

"My name is Morino Ibiki," the examiner announced, the ugly smile firmly in place. "And welcome to the First Exam."

/~/

"Good crop this year."

The closed circuit feeds that were hidden throughout Room 301 flashed in front of the scarred man's eyes. No techniques went unobserved, no angle unseen. Ibiki stared at the genin under his thumb from the Academy's surveillance room, while an elaborate clone proctored. There had been the usual griping from the Research and Development department about having to imbed a full blown chakra network into a pile of mud with Ibiki's face, but caution had won out in the end. There was no sense in letting everyone in on the ruse should some chakra perceptive genin put the pieces together – or if some idiot decided to take his newfound failure out by attacking the head proctor.

"Tch, just the usual shit from these guys, Ibiki. You're slipping, that's what I think," the man's lone companion spoke up.

Konoha's head of Intelligence rolled his eyes at his subordinate's voice. "I don't make the questions, Anko, just the final one. Over half of this group will be gone by the time I'm done."

"Care to bet on that?" The purple haired woman tossed him a devilish smirk.

"No."

"Ah, come on…"

"No means no, Anko."

"You're no fun." She pouted, though the cuteness was entirely lost on Ibiki. It was likely because he worked with her. Beyond the otherwise pretty face lay a mind that was as twisted as any in the shinobi world; easily as twisted as his own or even more so. In his lower moments he wondered if such a thing was conducive to loyalty, before brushing it aside as he did with just about everything that was Mitarashi Anko. The woman wasn't worth much thought; it only ever led him in circles.

The scarred man couldn't help his smile as he watched his doppelganger dispatch another trio of genin.

"Izumo got that one," he heard Anko murmur from beside him. Ibiki nodded absently as he watched two furious wannabes join their shamed teammate. "Tch, missed it myself…"

"You're too focused on one detail without seeing the bigger picture, Anko," the superior lectured. "You'll never catch any decent number if you don't observe how things react with each other in that room, rather than looking at one particular genin."

The woman sneered. "Is that what you told those losers when you were teaching them?" She nodded to the group of examiners. His smug silence was all the answer she needed, and the sneer morphed into a scowl.

It transformed into disgust as she moved her eyes to a different feed. "God, I wish we could fuckin' disqualify the goddamn bloodlines. Fuckers don't have an original bone in their bodies."

Ibiki's own eyes moved to where Anko's rested, watching as two Hyuugas and the last Uchiha took full advantage of their eyes. Exasperation crept up the man's spine at his subordinate's familiar hatred of all things kekkei genkai. It was speculated that Orochimaru's ruthless pursuit of perfection had been largely due to the abundance of skilled bloodline users in Konoha. It was predictable that Anko, who hated everything that had to do with her former sensei, would come to resent the people who embodied the reason for the man's betrayal.

It was unreasonable, however, and Ibiki sighed. "They can't be blamed for using what they were born with. And if they're caught they get written up the same as everyone else."

"Two points, Ibiki. Your ridiculous fuckin' rule makes it so that they can openly use their eyes and not get disqualified fully. That's bullshit right there."

The man rolled his eyes. "You know the purpose behind the test, Anko. You know they're supposed to cheat. If they happen to be…genetically predisposed to doing well, then good for them."

His eyes flickered to another screen and his voice cut the purple haired woman off before she had time to retort. "I'm more concerned about these jokers." He pointed to a trio of Konoha genin who had been docked four times each, each time more ridiculous than the last.

One had had the gall to openly copy an answer from the Grass-nin next to him.

Anko watched incredulously as Ibiki played back the tape of the three on a separate screen. "Who the fuck are these guys?" She seemed caught between open disgust and humor at watching three wannabes take Ibiki's two point deduction rule to the limit. "Can you please disqualify these fuckers? I'm starting to get offended, Ibiki."

The head proctor snorted. "It's done. This one just got caught a fifth time." He pointed to a red haired girl who stood up. Her two Konoha teammate followed quickly, expressions of rage fixed on their faces.

Anko shook her head with a laugh. "They can't have seriously thought they'd get away with some shit like that? The hell is this village coming to? I'm tempted to go kill their sensei just for nominating them. How 'bout you?" The woman turned as Ibiki brushed past her and moved to a new monitor. "Ibiki?"

The scarred special jonin typed a few letters on a nearby keyboard, and a side-screen lit up with the image of the three disqualified genin walking briskly down the hallway away from room 301.

"I'm curious," was all the man offered.

"About three losers who shouldn't've been nominated in the first place? Tch, suit yourself."

Ibiki brushed aside his companion's criticism with practiced ease. His stubbornness was rewarded a minute later, and his eyes widened almost comically as the three shared a smirk before disappearing in identical clouds of smoke.

"Kage Bunshin," Ibiki breathed, stunned. His stupor lasted for a moment only before he burst into a flurry of motion and button pressing. The examiners hadn't bothered screening the genin in room 301, given that the location was known only to the genin, a select few jonin, and the examiners. And yet three Kage Bunshin had infiltrated the exam for some unknown purpose…

"Anko, bring up footage of the three who were just disqualified. I want them from the second they set foot in the building," he barked.

A smarted shinobi would have followed the order without question, yet Anko raised her eyebrows. "Those losers? The fuck you want them for?"

"Just do it!"

"Calm your tits, Ibiki," the woman muttered, sifting through footage of the examinees with trained eyes.

The image of the three in question came up, and Anko followed it backwards at a good clip – from their entrance to the room and earlier – until the three simply disappeared into smoke. "The fuck?"

"Slow it down," Ibiki ordered. Anko did as she was told, and froze the image of the three disappearing into smoke. Her superior moved in front of her, calling up the same image from a different camera that gave a better view of the side room the genin had been in when they were formed.

The screen blinked once, and the image of three Konoha genin standing abreast greeted the two proctors. A blond boy, a blond girl, and a brown haired boy with a dog.

"Asuma's Team Ten," Ibiki stated, having recognized both the Kyuubi Container and the daughter of his old boss. Anko nodded absently, watching intently as Naruto formed the cross shaped seal for the Kage Bunshin and three doppelgangers appeared in front of him.

The two proctors shared an incredulous glance, both at the kid knowing the technique and at the deception, before quickly moving to the screens that were streaming live.

"Got'im," Anko called, pointing to the blond boy sitting next to one of the Hyuugas she had disparaged earlier.

Naruto sat expressionless, carefully yet quickly writing nine answers down on his test paper.

Ibiki shook his head. The Kage Bunshin allowed for the user to absorb information from its clones instantaneously. The boy had gotten all the stolen answers in the span of a single second when his clones had dispelled.

Anko whistled appreciatively from next to him. "Goddamn…"

"The kid's good," Ibiki admitted.

Unperturbed and unaware of the awe he had inspired in his superiors, Naruto sat in room 301 having just finished writing the answer to the ninth question.

/~/

That's unhealthy.

The purple haired woman was insane. And it wasn't just your run of the mill shinobi insanity either. The female proctor was certifiably bat-shit crazy, in Naruto's esteemed opinion.

It wasn't the way she had announced herself – by hurling herself through a third story window with a banner proclaiming her as the second exam's proctor. It wasn't the way she dressed – a full fishnet bodysuit covered only by a beige trench coat that was doing a wonderful job of distracting most of the male applicants. And it wasn't even the glint of something in her eyes that let everyone who looked at her know that this woman was dangerous – and not just in the usual ways.

No one should ever look at the Forest of Death with that kind of familiar fondness, Naruto concluded, shaking his head. Training Area Forty Four was referred to as such by anyone who had had the honor of visiting it, Naruto knew. And it was held as gospel that if you were good enough to make it from one side to the other – avoiding the multitude of murderous beasts, plants, and leftover traps from hundreds of shinobi who had trained there in the past that no one had disabled – you were probably good enough to be considered for chunin.

"At least we won't be stuck behind a desk for this one," he muttered, rubbing his temples. His teammates nodded when they heard. None of the three were fond of written tests, and the one they had just come through had been more trying than usual.

"True that," Kiba agreed. "That was fucking annoying."

Ino scoffed. "Says the guy who had his dog get all the answers for him. Dunno how your stupid ass didn't get us all disqualified for that stunt."

"Two points, you dumb blond. Even if they saw Akamaru, they only could'a docked us two points for cheating once." Kiba was all smug satisfaction after having figured out the gaping loophole in the test's rules.

Ino wasn't about to let him stay that way without a fight. "Yeah, yeah, two points. That's two points that I wasn't docked, because I used something more subtle than putting my goddamn dog on my head."

"'Cause possessing Sakura is subtle? I'm surprised the bitch hasn't decked you yet."

"As if she could, idiot, and it doesn't have to be subtle to her. Just so long as the examiners didn't catch it," Ino replied with confidence.

Naruto rolled his eyes and sighed. He had little doubt that the examiners had caught Ino red-handed, and that the same "two point rule" had kept her from being immediately disqualified just like it had Kiba. But his head was throbbing – his stupid clones had dispelled all at the same time, the idiots – and he really wanted no part of his teammates' arguments on the best of days.

Absently, he wondered at his own chosen method to pass the first exam. Keeping his clones active throughout the first exam had turned out to be a stroke of genius, if an inadvertent one. And while they had made sure to be well away from the examination room when they dispelled, there was still the possibility that they had been followed or otherwise seen.

And it was as Naruto was lost in thought, only half listening to the crazy proctor describe their next torture, that he heard the whistle of a kunai through the air and felt the telltale signs of someone using Shunshin to appear behind him.

The blade stung as it neatly sliced his cheek, but Naruto disregarded it as he surreptitiously drew one of his knuckle knives in anticipation of what was by far the greater threat. The blond thrust his blade backwards quickly, and withheld a triumphant smirk as it softly pressed into the flesh of his attacker just as he felt the cold metal of a kunai touch his throat.

Naruto started as he felt warm breath on his ear, and only managed to refrain from activating his wind chakra and skewering the person when he recognized the husky voice of the proctor. As it was, he upped the pressure of his knife significantly when she licked his face. The fuck!

"Mmm, I do love the way blood feels as it rolls over the tongue," she whispered. "And that means you're not a clone." Naruto stiffened as his deception was revealed. "Thought you got away with that one, did you, runt? Lemme tell you something, kiddo, this is the big leagues, and it's tough guys like you whose blood usually gets spilled all over this forest." The last part was said loudly for the benefit of their audience: the entire assembled group of genin.

The message was received loud and clear, if the outbreak of muttering was any indication. It seemed all the proctors were gifted at making the genin doubt themselves.

Naruto stumbled a step as Anko roughly pushed him off of her. The blond re-holstered his drawn knife and met her eyes. There was a glint in them; it was different from the maddened one that had been there previously, though Naruto couldn't quite put his finger on it. She looked like she was weighing a decision. Definitely sizing me up for something. Distantly, the boy wondered if she knew that the Sandaime had all but promoted him already. The old man hadn't been clear as to who knew and who didn't.

His thoughts were shattered as a moment later, in an interesting role reversal, Anko palmed a kunai and brought it to rest on the stomach of a grass genin who had managed to sneak up behind her. Well there's someone to avoid, Naruto concluded swiftly. The girl was on the Grass team that Team Ten had identified as mildly dangerous, had breezed through the first exam, and had managed to sneak up on the examiner of all people.

Naruto turned back to his teammates as the tall girl handed the proctor her kunai back with her tongue, deciding that he had had enough craziness for the moment.

"We're avoiding the Grass team," he told Ino and Kiba. Both looked like they wanted to know what the hell had just happened, but Naruto's tone brooked no argument, and neither wanted to draw his annoyance at this point. Both of them knew they were on a short leash after the long bitch fest they had put him through with regards to Yamato.

"Listen up, maggots!" The proctor was talking again, passing out stacks of paper. "Each team gets one scroll, either a heaven or an earth. You have five days to retrieve the scroll that is opposite to yours and get to the tower at the center of the Forest. Only teams with both scrolls will pass this portion."

She stopped at the front of the group, having finished passing out the sheets of paper. Naruto received his as they made their way backwards. It was a waiver.

"Killing is allowed." The statement was met with renewed murmurs among the genin, but Anko didn't miss a beat. "The waivers in your hands need to be signed before you can enter the Forest. If the threat of death is too much for you, you can quit." The last sentence left nothing to the imagination as to what she would think of you if you decided to cut your losses.

"Finally: only a full team can pass. If a member is killed, the whole team fails. If a member is unable to continue otherwise, the whole team fails." A devilish smirk split her face as she surveyed the genin in front of her. "Try not to end up dead, kiddies."

"Now, one representative from each team will come up and receive their assigned scroll."

Naruto locked eyes with Kiba for an instant, and knew they were on the same page.

"Let's go, Akamaru!" the Inuzuka said. The dog-ninja bent down to pick up his puppy, slipping his free hand into a side pouch as he did so.

Ino rolled her eyes as Kiba bounded forward, pushing and shoving his way to the front of the crowd amidst more than a few grumbles from the other genin.

"Idiot's gonna kill us all with that attitude," she mused. Naruto shook his head a bit fondly, and turned to Ino with a slight smile.

"Funny, 'thought the same thing about you when we first started," he said.

It was a testament to how much Ino had grown that she was able to laugh. "People change. And Asuma managed to gimme a pretty solid wake-up call."

Naruto snorted. "Musta been big. You were ready to jump Sasuke's bones back in the Academy."

Ino shrugged. "Guess so. Like I said, people change, and there are other bones I'd rather jump these days." The girl's face was straight as a board as she said it, and she casually buffed her nails on her purple top. A raised eyebrow was tossed Naruto's way, and the boy couldn't help the flush that crept up his neck and across his cheeks.

He was saved from total embarrassment, however, as Kiba reappeared with their scroll and reasserted some form of sanity.

"Got it," he announced, drawing Ino and Naruto from their byplay. "Heaven," the boy whispered.

Both Ino and Naruto nodded, their attention fully on the coming task. "I'll take it for now," Naruto said. "We'll switch holders every hour, but there'll probly be a mad rush at the start." It went unsaid that Naruto was easily the most skilled of the team and thus was the most logical choice to hold on to their metaphorical meal ticket.

Ino and Kiba nodded resolutely, and the three moved to the nearest open gate. A single, nondescript chunin manned it, and he didn't react in the slightest to Team Ten's arrival.

"So how many did you mark?" Naruto asked Kiba the second they were out of hearing range of any and all genin.

"Thirteen definitely," Kiba stated with certainty. "I bumped a few more late, but I'm not sure if I laid enough of my stuff on them."

Naruto nodded and locked eyes with Ino, whose confusion lasted only a few seconds before she put the pieces together.

"Your nose?" she asked for clarification. Both Naruto and Kiba smiled at the girl, though Kiba was as smug as usual.

"You betcha, blondie. Me and Akamaru can find at least half of these fuckers no problem, now," the Inuzuka boasted.

His two blond teammates both rolled their eyes, but refrained from saying anything, electing to let him have his moment. The Inuzuka and their canine familiars were famous for their abilities to act as bloodhounds, if given a scent to follow. Kiba, knowing this, carried around a special concoction that he and Akamaru could recognize and sniff out from miles away. It was colorless, completely odorless to anyone without a nose of similar strength, and was laid on a target with a single touch if done correctly.

"Heh, so we're good to go so long as you didn't manage to bump the half that had entirely heaven scrolls," Naruto joked.

"Got it in one, Naruto."

"Hey! You down there!" the chunin gate guard called. "The exam is about to start." The man made three hand seals and the large lock that held the gate closed undid itself and fell to the forest floor.

The gate opened with a groan, and Team Ten burst forward into the darkness.

/~/