Chūnin Exams (VIII).

The other boy had no time to react before her hands grabbed the back of his head and slammed it into the ground, ending the rather one-sided fight.

"Un-fucking-believable," Kuina, one of her teammates muttered. "They seriously teamed up? All of them?"

Yugito suppressed a grimace at what they had learned a little less than an hour ago. Apparently, the thirteen teams from Iwa decided to form a single group, meaning they now outnumbered everyone else by a wide margin. They had found out about that from the team from Amegakure whose members stood not too far away from them right now.

They had been suspicious of this information when they had been told about it, but it was better to be safe than to be sorry. So, with the possibility in mind that this might be a trap, they agreed to temporarily team up with each other until they could find some proof for that claim.

That proof came in form of three Iwa Genin who, going by the dead animal one of them carried on his shoulder, had just found something to eat for their group. They only needed to listen for a few minutes to verify that they had indeed teamed up with the other teams of their village before deciding to take them out before they could return to their base. Outnumbered and surprised by their attack as they had been, they didn't stand a chance.

"We told you so, didn't we?" the leader of the Ame team spoke up, his voice deepened by the mask he wore. "All thirteen of them work together to make sure that no one else aside from shinobi of their own village reaches the finals."

"Only twelve now," Kuina corrected half-heartily. "And you surely understand that we needed some proof before we could believe you."

"Of course," he agreed easily. "And now that you have it, we might even work together without fearing that we will backstab each other."

The only reason we can be somewhat sure of that is that we both have the same coloured pearls, she thought sarcastically, just barely stopping herself from saying it aloud. After all, we're that not the case, both they themselves and the Ame-nin would have wanted to take each other's pear and get out of this exam as fast as possible.

"Well then," her remaining, male teammate joined the conversation. "I say we forgo resting tonight and instead search two other teams to steal a blue pearl from. If we wait too long, we run the risk that there are no other teams left."

The other boy nodded. "That would be bad. I doubt we would stand a chance if we need to fight them."

Kuina snorted. "Nonsense, we can't lose as long as we have Yugito here. Maybe we should just attack their camp, they're never going to expect that!"

The calculating eyes of the Ame shinobi turned towards her. "Oh, are you really that strong?"

Kuina didn't give her the chance to reply for herself. "She's a monster."

In that context, it sounded almost like a compliment, and that was what the other team doubtlessly thought, but she knew better than that. After growing up with the wary eyes of the people from her village on her back and the whispers that were always just barely too far away to understand, she could read other people's emotions very well. She knew better than to believe that this was a compliment. No, this was what Kuina truly thought of her. Her other teammate for these exams thought so as well, even if he was less vocal about it.

Yugito wondered if the other team noticed that her team kept their distance from her just like they did from them, or that they eyed her even more suspiciously.

Probably not.

Kumogakure treated their Jinchūriki better than most other villages. There was no outright bad treatment, no neglect. In fact, some treated her with the highest regard, knowing her as one of the most powerful protectors their village had. When she was younger, she had enjoyed the attention, but she didn't need long to understand how shallow their admiration truly was. In the end, she preferred to be seen as some kind of dangerous element that needed to be avoided rather than being treated like a weapon or a precious tool because that way, they at least left her alone.

That didn't mean she enjoyed being watched with animosity by her teammates, though.

Nothing I can do about that now, she thought as she went through the mental exercise that Bee-sensei had taught her to stay calm. I wish he was here instead of this second-rated idiot.

While the Raikage had judged the risk of sending her to this exam as small enough to be worth it even with her status as Jinchūriki being known to the other villages, he decided against sending his brother with them. After all, one Jinchūriki might be fine, but no need to tempt Iwagakure with two of them. No, instead she was put on some random Genin team under their instructor who could never hope to live up to her real sensei.

"Alright then, we hurry and get the pearls as fast as possible before-"

"No," she interrupted her teammate, hiding the surprise she felt at her own action.

He blinked before glaring at her with narrowed eyes. "What do you mean, 'no'?"

"We will not just go for a pair of pearls and flee," she said with more confidence than she felt. Where did this come from?

"And what do you propose we do then? Fight them?"

That might be a bit risky. After all, even she wasn't confident that she could win against 36 enemies. It would be a close call, even with the support of her team and the one from Ame. Of course, it kinda depended on their strength. If they were as weak as the team they just beat, well, then they could probably do it on her own. If not though…

She could use the Nibi's chakra to even the odds, but if there were several strong enemies, she might be forced to use more than she could handle.

Yugito held no doubt that she could beat every Genin in these exams in single combat, and even most groups stood no chance against her. They were only Genin, after all. But if enough above-average talented enemies allied against her and she accidentally used too much of that chakra and lost control…

She didn't necessarily want to be responsible for the outbreak of another war.

"What about you?" she asked him right back, ignoring his question for now. "Are you alright with them stealing everyone the show? You can't possibly believe that this wasn't their plan from the very beginning. It's so obvious in hindsight! The reason they entered such a ridiculously big number of Genin was to guarantee that as many as possible reach the second stage! This way, they can team up as they did and then kick out everyone else."

Kuina opened her mouth to argue with her, probably not even because she disagreed with what she said but because of who –of what she was, but fortunately, one of the Ame Genin was faster.

"Stealing the spotlight like that…," he said with one hand on his chin. "It would certainly make them appear strong in front of all those daimyos and lords that come of watch the finals. If their shinobi are the only ones there, they will look superior to everyone else."

"If you think about it, they probably already teamed up with each other during the first exam," she continued. "They only needed to send a lot of weak teams in there whose only job was it to lose. They give up their scrolls to the strong teams that actually qualify to be here who then pass the exam without needing to fight anyone." They probably sent a few too many weak teams in, though, allowing other villages to beat their weak teams for an easy win as well. Not that she was complaining, mind you.

"But there was a rule against teaming up with other teams. If what you say is true, they would have been disqualified."

Yugito looked at Shinji, who was the official leader of her team, as if he was stupid. "As long as there are no witnesses, there is nothing that stops them from acting as if nothing happened. Iwa is already cheating, so what does a bit more even matter?" She blinked as she noticed something else. "I wouldn't be surprised if they had as many of their Genin teams as possible shadowed by instructors all the time. That way, they could simply disqualify other teams that attack them before handing their scroll to their own teams."

"That would explain why there was always someone close by when we found a team from Iwa," the Ame Genin said.

"Exactly," she agreed before straightening up. "This is why I propose we find as many other teams as we can to ally with them against Iwa!"

There was some surprised muttering from everyone present, but Kuina replied first. "Are you crazy?" she exclaimed. "Even if we manage to find every other team and make them agree, we would still be outnumbered! Iwa doubtless eliminated a good number of them already, how the hell do you expect us to win?"

"But you said it yourself," she replied with a sharp smile. "I am a monster. As long as there are enough allies to stop them from swarming me, I will be more than enough to beat them all up."

Shinji might be the official team leader, but both he and Kuina knew that they couldn't do anything once she made a decision. Not only were they weaker than her, meaning they couldn't forcefully change her mind, but they couldn't even go complaining to anyone either. Their sensei had no real authority over her and the Raikage, if they actually dared to approach him, would side with her.

"I generally agree with that approach," the leader of the Ame team said. "However, how are we gonna find the other teams? It's not as if we have unlimited time. If we need too long, there will be no one left to ally with."

She opened her mouth to reply even though she didn't know an answer to that herself when a new voice interrupted her.

"We might be able to help you with that."