The Chunin Exam - 11

Naruto often called it 'Gaara's pet peeve'. The mere mentioning of Sasuke seemed to plaster a scowl on the red haired boy's face for hours on end. Haku had tried to discover the roots for his extreme detestation but there seemed to be no motive.

That was, until recently, they had gained a rather ominous clue.

Things began to go downhill with Gaara's mood swings as Sakura had been placed on the same cell as the young Uchiha. Sakura and Sasuke seemed to share an unidentifiable bond, as subtle and obscure as it was. Gaara noticed it better than anyone, and he spat on and shunned the idea of the two actually being friends...through glares and silent protest.

In short, both Haku and Naruto had concluded that Gaara felt at least slightly threatened by Sasuke, with regards to Sakura.

'Though I guess it's got to be more complicated than that...' Naruto assumed, 'Gaara-kun won't say a word about it. When he was ranting about Sakura a while back...he didn't say anything that proved he likes her. He can be such a prick sometimes. I guess I'm used to it by now.'

Gaara kept walking silently, sensing his teammates' anxiety. He chose to ignore it.

Naruto slid open the door on the far end of the hallway and his expression turned to one of astonishment. The same could be said for both Haku and Gaara as well.

The auditorium was packed. Teams of shinobi from many different villages were seated at desks or standing along the walls, huddled together talking, scheming, praying and other such activities to pass the time. The cacophony of the room was deafening.

"Wow, a lot of ninja turned out..." Naruto muttered, still visibly amazed so many people could fit in one place. He and his teammates ventured inside, keeping a wary eye on the foreign shinobi hanging about.

The blonde boy's shock turned into fascination at all of the different headbands he was seeing, "Grass, Cloud, Sand, Sound, Rain..." He grinned at Haku, "Hey! Maybe some Mist ninja showed up too, Haku-kun!"

Gloomily, Haku shook his head, "I wish. The Hidden Mist Village has had its own Chunin Selection Exam for quite some time, Naruto-kun. I don't think they're fond of interacting with other countries."

Naruto sighed in defeat at the news. There just seemed to be no way to cheer Haku up with the idea of being reunited with his kindred.

They lingered near the back of the room, where thankfully, a cluster of Konoha genin resided. Naruto didn't overlook Hinata seated between Shino and Sato at a desk in the far right corner. He shouted and waved, "Hey! Hinata-chan!"

Her cheeks tinged pink as he approached, followed by a smirking Gaara and Haku.

"Hello Naruto-kun," She said softly, smiling, "Hello Gaara-kun, Haku-kun..."

Shino nodded to them as well, which was something uncommon on his part. The blonde boy turned to see Sato next to Hinata, his head buried in his folded arms on top of the desk. He frowned to himself in puzzlement, having never seen him in such a state.

"Is Sato-kun feeling well?" Haku asked, not wanting to disturb him.

Hinata glanced over at her silver haired teammate, "He's been sleeping since w-we arrived. I'm not sure what is troubling him, but Sato-kun hasn't been v-very anxious at all over the exam."

"His unusual lack of energy may be attributed to matters that we are not permitted to discuss." Shino added cryptically, which was little help. Hinata, however, only nodded in agreement, giving a worried glance to their less-than-perky teammate.

"That's gotta suck, being sick on the day of the Chunin Exam..." Naruto assumed he was ill, "Hopefully he won't hold you guys back!"

"I'm sure he'll catch a second wind..." Hinata said softly, hoping that was the case.

Gaara had his arms folded and he gave a thoughtful glance to the young Hatake. He too found his lack of liveliness to be disconcerting.

Haku looked to his left to see Kiba and his teammates approaching, along with the members of Team 10. Sakura and Ino appeared to be having a heated argument already. 'So many are participating...it seems that a majority are actually Leaf shinobi as well...' Haku was trying to get a head count on their competition.

"Hm, it looks like you're all a bunch of newbies this year..." A voice came from behind them, and they turned around to see another Konoha genin, straightening out his glasses, "You better watch your step! This is one tough crowd."

Naruto gave him an odd look, "Eh? Who are you supposed to be?"

The boy smiled back at Naruto, "Me? My name is Yakushi Kabuto," He then chuckled, "And you are Uzumaki Naruto."

The blonde boy was startled, "How'd you know that?"

Kabuto smirked, "I know all there is to know about the genin participating in this year's exam," He paused, glancing over to Haku and then Gaara, "That is to say...I'm an old pro. I've failed this exam seven times."

"Seven times?" Haku and Naruto spoke in unified disbelief.

He nodded gravely, "Yes. This isn't a game. The Chunin Selection Exams are the dividing line between Academy students and true ninja, and it's no easy line to cross. It's a test that many rookies take lightly and well..." Kabuto sighed, "They come to regret it."

Shikamaru, with Chouji munching a bag of pretzels beside him, gave a suspicious glance to the strange Konoha genin, finding his words to be a bit theatrical. He reflected on how the difficulty of the exam could prevent him from advancing, especially when he lacked the full incentive to actually pass it to begin with.

Ino and Sakura had ended their loud discussion and took a moment to heed the seasoned genin's advice.

"All my time spent taking the exams hasn't been wasted," Kabuto smirked to himself, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, "From my experiences I've compiled these Ninfo cards," He displayed a deck of cards, whose faces appeared blank, "They contain information on every genin here."

Sakura's eyebrows knitted into a frown, "But those cards are blank."

He nodded, "They are now. But once I pump a bit of chakra into them they become more useful..." Kabuto demonstrated by squatting down and placing a single card on the floor. He tapped it with his index finger, injecting a small amount of chakra.

After a moment an image appeared on the once-blank card. Haku took a mental note of the trick, finding it interesting.

Again, Kabuto smirked, very full of himself, "These cards are the fruit of all my toils. There's not one ninja around who I don't have details on."

His audience at that point had no doubt about it, having never witnessed something like it before. Still, proof would help the skeptics rest easy.

Sasuke frowned. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets, "Then you have information on the rookie genin as well?"

"Of course," Kabuto again readjusted his glasses, "Name anyone. I have them."

Sasuke was thoughtful for a moment and Kiba and Sakura both gave him contemplative looks. "Rock Lee," Sasuke suggested, thinking of his most recent encounter. A moment later a small smirk appeared on his face, "And Gaara."

Naruto felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end before he turned to his redheaded friend. Both he and Haku stole a glimpse of their teammate. He seemed outwardly relaxed, almost as if he hadn't heard Sasuke's request. Yet beneath the façade Naruto could tell he was barely leashing the killing intent that often radiated off of him in waves.

After a short search through the deck, Kabuto retrieved a blank card and fed it chakra to make the information visible, "Here we are: Rock Lee. It looks like he graduated a year before you did. He is the student of Maito Gai and his teammates are Hyuga Neji and Tenten," He blinked and then continued, "Hm...it says here that he's improved greatly in taijutsu, but has no talent for either genjutsu or ninjutsu. His team has completed 30 D-rank missions and 12 C-rank missions."

Sakura held her breath as Gaara's card was also found and she stole a glance at Haku and Naruto. They also looked a bit nervous. The red haired boy was silent as he watched, wondering what his own stats were.

"This is it: Gaara. Wow, looks like he and his teammates are being trained by one of the Legendary Three, Jiraiya," Kabuto was impressed, "His teammates are Uzumaki Naruto and Haku. He well-rounded in taijutsu and has potential for genjutsu. His ninjutsu far exceeds genin skill..."

Naruto and his teammates relaxed, seeing that there was no critical information listed on the card.

"His team has completed 33 D-rank missions, 4 C-rank missions and...whoa! Get this: one A-rank mission lead by Mitarashi Anko!" Kabuto read the last of the information with an air of incredulity.

Stunned, the rest of the rookie genin turned to give a hearty stare to Team 2, unsure if what Kabuto had listed was even accurate. Sasuke and his teammates were clearly baffled.

Naruto, Haku and Gaara only snickered, not expecting their mission to the Land of Waves to be recorded. The Hokage must have posted the results immediately upon their return.

"Well, it looks like Konoha has some of the toughest competition this year..." Kabuto concluded, stowing away his prized Ninfo cards, "Some other ninja to watch out for come from Sand and Rain, but I wouldn't worry too much about any Grass or Sound shinobi; they're pushovers. Cloud ninja are a force to be reckoned with; however there are few participants this year."

A short distance away a team of Sound ninja listened in, not liking Kabuto's viewpoint on their village's strength.

"It's surprising though, I didn't think Cloud would participate with us at all," Kabuto went on, gesturing towards a team on the far side of the room that seemed to be chatting idly with each other, "And the Sound village is relatively new and not very large," He added, smirking, "I feel those ninja won't be much of a threat."

Naruto was about to ask him why that was before one of the eavesdropping Sound ninja nearby rushed over to Kabuto with an incredible speed. He was nearly unable to block the incoming punch that forced him back a few feet. Hinata gave a small chirp of alarm while other Leaf genin flared up their senses for a fight.

The bandaged Sound nin stood warily in front of Kabuto, unwilling to back off. Kabuto tried not to appear intimidated. Haku, with the exception of Shikamaru, was the least inclined to start a riot over the assault, 'We can be disqualified before the exam even begins if we cause trouble now...'

Other ninja seated nearby looked on curiously, wondering if things would get ugly.

The Sound ninja's voice was a low growl, "You'd do well to not underestimate the shinobi from my village, cur."

Kabuto readjusted his glasses, smiling at him, "Perhaps I will, but this doesn't prove much to me you know...I simply-" He stopped speaking and fell to his knees retching. The lenses in his glasses had cracked and it was evident there were signs of a silent attack.

"Kabuto?" Naruto reacted the most sympathetically, as was his nature, "Are you alright?"

A few other Leaf genin helped him stand as the Sound ninja stalked off, fuming. Kabuto wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, muttering, "I see...so it was that kind of jutsu. I should've been more cautious."

Gaara merely blinked at Haku, feeling that the know-it-all genin had brought it upon himself. Haku sighed. He was grateful they had avoided an all-out brawl. As the noise level in that part of the room began to steadily increase once again, it seemed as if the incident had been forgotten.