Here's the next chapter, so Happy Holidays. It's the only present you'll get from me. Sorry I don't have more for you, but I'm poor. Any donations will be appreciated. Infinite thanks go out to my new beta Dark Machine and his quick turnaround time. He's the reason this chapters so much better than the last ones that I beta'd myself. Read and Review.

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Naruto leapt over the rooftops of Konoha, coming to rest outside the academy, he waited for his teammates. Five minutes later, Sasuke and Sakura turned up, Sasuke willfully ignoring the pink haired creature latched on his arm.

"About time," Naruto said.

"It takes time to look this impressive so early in the morning," Sakura answered with a glare, Sasuke just grunted noncommittally.

Naruto didn't say anything further; he didn't feel like being subjected to the horrors of an angry fangirl. As they walked through the academy, they saw a crowd surrounding the door on the second floor. Naruto was about to say that they should just keep moving, when Sasuke and Sakura walked straight toward them.

Intent on grabbing his teammates before they made a scene and got them more competition, Naruto saw something that made him forget all about it. Team Gai were confronting the two guarding the door. Suddenly the guard with his head wrapped in bandages backhanded Lee to the floor.

Tenten stepped in to shield her friend, and when Naruto didn't see her moving to block the strike, he reacted. He wasn't sure why, as he recognized the tactic they were using, making people think they were weaker than they really were. But at that moment, he didn't care. They were picking on people who weren't fighting back, and that wasn't something Naruto was going to put up with.

And that was how Naruto found himself standing in between two shocked ninja. Tenten was shocked that she hadn't been hit, though she almost glomped Naruto in happiness when she saw who it was. The bandaged nin was shocked that he hadn't detected Naruto approaching, his backhand had even been caught.

"Knock it off," Naruto growled, his killing intent slowly leaking out. Sakura and Sasuke were stunned at Naruto's actions, but when later asked about it, Naruto wouldn't be able to give an answer as to why he did what he did.

The disguised chuunin (though all were oblivious to it) moved forward with a strong cross to Naruto's chin, that he just barely dodged. Naruto jumped back for better range, when Lee superimposed himself between the two fighters.

"This is not what we are here for, Naruto-san," Lee said disapprovingly.

"He's right," Sakura agreed, while disbelieving that she actually did agree with him.

"You shouldn't have even tried to fight Naruto," Sasuke smirked. "He's a lot weaker than me, and he could still kick your ass all over the place. So why don't you just leave, and undo this genjutsu field while you're at it. I'm going to the third floor."

The crisis averted, and an extra twenty contestants let into the exams, Team Seven continued trekking to the testing room.

"Sasuke-san!" Lee shouted as he stood on top of a banister, fists on his hips. "You refused to spar me in Wave Country, but now, I request once more! Fight me, here and now, as a sign of who is better, a natural born genius or a genius of hard work. Or do you refuse once again?"

Sasuke grunted. "Fine, I'll fight you, but only as a warm-up. I doubt you're even worth my time."

"You will see that a genius of hard work can be much stronger than you believe, Sasuke-san." Lee's eyes suddenly turned to hearts. "And I can prove to the beautiful Sakura-san that I deserve her love!"

As Sakura shivered in disgust, Naruto remembered the training sessions from in Wave. He was usually exhausted by that point in the day, having created and maintained hundreds of clones over the course of the day in order to practice against mass attacks, so he wasn't much of a sparring partner, but from what he remembered; Lee was one of the most devastating taijutsu users he had ever seen. Naruto smirked as he spotted Tenten hanging around the corner. Apparently, she wanted to see Sasuke get his ass handed to him as well.

Naruto snuck over to Tenten once Sakura was absorbed in the fight. "Are you here to watch teme get beat up?"

"Maybe," she grinned impishly, before turning serious. "Mainly I don't want Lee to give up too much. He shouldn't show his abilities like he does."

Naruto winced as he saw Lee get a kick inside Sasuke's guard, catching him on the chin. He may not like Sasuke, but he was still his teammate, and he didn't want him getting seriously hurt.

In the fighting arena, Sasuke smirked. "Guess I finally have someone to use this against. I activated it in Wave, but haven't found anyone worthy of it yet. You should feel lucky I'm using it against you. Sharingan!"

Naruto was confused. "He activated his bloodline? When? We were in Wave too, and he never said anything there."

Tenten looked at her crush, and wondered why she liked him, even when he said things like that. "Probably when he was off training with your sensei when we were all up at the bridge doing the job we were hired to do."

"Hey, it's not so bad if he wants to train to get stronger," Naruto countered, trying to defend his teammate, even if he didn't like him.

"It is if he ignores the mission," Tenten argued, a little more heatedly.

Naruto didn't have an answer for that. He wanted to justify his teammate's actions, but he couldn't. He settled for glaring at the girl he had known since childhood. One of his favorite things to do was pick on his teammate, but he didn't want someone else cutting him down with actual venom. That was his job.

Even with his Sharingan, Sasuke found he couldn't beat Lee. He could track the boy's movements, but he couldn't tell what kind of jutsu he was using to beat him. He couldn't even detect any genjutsu or ninjutsu he was using. Maybe his eyes weren't strong enough.

"I see you are wondering what technique I am using to beat you," Lee said as he started to unwrap his bandages. "I am using neither ninjutsu or genjutsu in my attacks. It is all taijutsu."

"The Sharingan can track all taijutsu," Sasuke spat, his lip slightly split.

Lee smiled in a knowing way. "I have dedicated myself to defeating natural born geniuses, especially those geniuses born into a clan with bloodlines. As such, I have learned all about all the bloodlines I could. I know all about your Uchiha bloodline, and I have figured out how to beat it!"

"And how's that?" Sasuke demanded, looking as if he believed he was entitled to the information.

"It is true that the Uchiha bloodline can copy ninjutsu and taijutsu, as well as see through genjutsu, but there is one major flaw that is not taken into consideration. And since I have trained extensively in taijutsu, I can exploit it to its full extent." Lee was getting a lot more excited now. Naruto and Tenten were both surprised he hadn't mentioned youth or something similar yet. "The Sharingan may be able to see my movements, but if you aren't fast enough to catch up with me, there is no way to defend against them. Kage Buyo!"

Lee shot across the floor faster than most could see. He kicked Sasuke in the chin, sending him straight up, soaring in the air. Lee leapt up after his opponent, in the same arc, wrapping his loosened bandages around Sasuke, binding him tightly.

Before the attack could be completed, a thrown pinwheel caught the tail of one of Lee's bandages, pinning it to the wall. A large turtle poofed into existence as both Lee and Sasuke landed roughly. Tenten grabbed Naruto's arm, pulling him away from where he could see what was going on. "That was Ninkame, Gai-sensei's personal summon, and with your luck, you'll probably get caught in the genjutsu when they hug, cause you know it's gonna happen."

Naruto pouted, a look that made Tenten want to kiss him right there, but restrained herself. He let himself be pulled down the hallway, closer to the testing room.

Unexpected by the two, Kakashi was already there, waiting for them, along with Neji. "So, you're already here," Kakashi said lazily. "I wouldn't have thought you would have gone ahead without your teammates, Naruto. But if you were following a pretty girl, I suppose I can understand why," he added with a perverted giggle.

WHAM!

Tenten brushed her knuckles off, having just punched Kakashi into the ground. He recovered fairly quickly though.

"What are you still doing out here Neji?" Tenten asked. "You didn't have to wait out here like this."

"Actually, he did," Kakashi corrected. "The Chuunin Exams can only be taken in teams of three, and since you and your other teammate weren't here yet, he had to wait outside."

"Ah, my rival," Gai proclaimed from behind the genin, shocking them all. "It is good to see you advising my team on the procedures of the exam in my absence. So very youthful of you!"

"Hmm, you say something Gai?" Kakashi asked without even looking up from his book.

"Ooooh, my rival's attitude is so hip! I must train harder to attain his level of hipness!" Gai started ranting about exactly what training he would do in order to accomplish his goal, but everyone roundly ignored him until Lee ran up. Luckily for everyone there, Tenten and Neji dragged him inside before anything could come of it. Minutes later, after Sasuke and Sakura walked up, and after Kakashi explained the 'teams of three only' rule, Team Seven joined them.

"Naruto-kun!" A blonde blur slammed into Naruto's chest, squeezing him tightly.

Naruto pried Ino off him, not that he didn't like the feeling he was getting when she was nuzzling his chest, but he didn't want to attract any undo attention to her. He didn't care much about himself, but didn't want anyone getting the idea she would be an easy target.

"Jeez Ino-pig, I always knew you would one day realize Sasuke is out of your reach," Sakura jeered, "but I never thought you would go after a baka like Naruto. I thought you had better taste than that."

"Shut up forehead-girl, you don't know anything," Ino hissed. "Naruto's always been there for me, unlike Sasuke. Even when I was being annoying about Sasuke all the time, and if you've been on his team and still don't see his good points, you never will," she finished seriously.

Sakura stood stunned for a moment, unsure of how to respond the blunt announcement rather than the usual screams and insults. "W-well, fine."

During the exchange, Naruto maneuvered himself over away from the arguing kunoichi and over towards Team Eight, or as he preferred to call them sometimes, Team Jacket. "Hey guys," he greeted.

Shino nodded in response, while Hinata blushed and stuttered. Kiba merely snorted and turned around to keep talking to Shikamaru and Chouji. "H-hello, N-naruto-kun."

"How do you guys think you're going to do?"

"Our team has gotten much stronger since the academy, considering the amount of time we've had to train," Shino said dryly. "However, we are rookies, and it would not do to get our hopes up merely because we are stronger than we were in the academy."

"Oh come one Shino," Kiba objected, having been listening to the short conversation out of the corner of his ear. "I bet I could beat most everybody in here. There's no doubt I'm going to be a chuunin, even if I am a rookie."

Shino let out a small, barely audible sigh and adjusted his glasses, a sign Naruto recognized that meant Shino was irritated, most likely with Kiba. "Kiba, I will respect the fact that you have grown a great deal stronger than you were in the academy, but that does not make you the strongest person here, nor does it mean that you will automatically make chuunin. While I would like to believe that we will all advance, however, logic states that as we are all rookies, we will likely all fail before getting too far into the exams. Furthermore, the likelihood that any of us will be promoted is slim, to say the least."

"What?" Kiba was confused. Despite being on the same team with him, Kiba hadn't made much headway in deciphering Shino's words.

"Do you really think we will f-fail, Shino-kun?" Hinata asked, suddenly even more nervous than before.

"As rookies, it is highly likely we will not pass the exam. However, we have grown strong enough to put forth a good showing, which is the most anyone could reasonably ask for." Shino looked at Hinata seriously behind his dark glasses, though Naruto could tell he wasn't angry. Naruto didn't know exactly what Shino was talking about, but figured he was trying to boost Hinata's confidence. Which was something Naruto had no problem helping with.

"Don't worry Hinata, you're plenty strong to take out anyone you come up against," Naruto laughed. "I doubt you'll even need to fight most of them. They'll probably get knocked out fast, before the fighting even starts."

A silver haired genin walked over. "You know, you guys should probably be quieter. There're a lot of people here who would kill you for saying something like that. Those rain-nin over there, they're known for their short tempers." As the Rookie Nine turned to look at them, the rain-nin's killer intent was brought to bear upon them. Most shook it off, while the braver among them sent back their own.

"Being that this isn't my first time taking the exam, you probably ought to listen to my advice," the silver haired genin said. "I'm Yakushi Kabuto, by the way."

"Uh, Kabuto-san, is this your second time taking the exams?" Sakura asked. "You said this wasn't your first time."

Kabuto laughed lightly. "Oh no. This is my seventh time taking the chuunin exams."

Everyone's mouth dropped at that, though Naruto and Shino stored it in the back of their minds. Taking the chuunin exam seven times and not getting through was suspicious, no matter who or how bad a ninja you were. Most likely, if you hadn't passed after that many times, you would either give up ninja life altogether, or your sensei would stop allowing you to take it.

"Wow, so you must have a lot of information on the exam," Sakura commented.

"More like he knows how to lose," Shikamaru muttered.

"Yeah, I've learned quite a bit." Kabuto held up a stack of cards. "I've even made these special info cards that react only to my chakra. I have information on every genin in the exam. Since you're rookies, I could give you a hand. Do you have anyone you want information on?"

Sasuke immediately spoke up. "Rock Lee and Sabaku no Gaara."

"Oh, so you know their names. That'll make it too easy." Kabuto set the cards on the floor, and his hands blurred as he plucked two out. A quick infusion of chakra later, and they showed the information on Lee and Gaara.

"Rock Lee of Konoha. Sensei, Maito Gai. Teammates, Higurashi Tenten and Hyuuga Neji. He graduated dead last in his academy class, but his taijutsu abilities have grown immensely since he became a genin. He's completed twenty-two D-rank missions, twelve C-rank missions, was apparently called in as reinforcements on a mission with bad intelligence. I don't have the rank.

"Sabaku no Gaara. Sensei, Baki of the Sand. Teammates, Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Kankuro, his brother and sister. He's the son of the current Kazekage. I don't have much information on him since he's a new genin and this is his first time taking the exams, but I do have his mission history. Eight C-rank missions and a B-rank – wow, a B-rank at his age, that's impressive. Oh, and there's one more note here. It says he's completed all his missions without even a scratch on him. I think I'd steer clear of him if he's as good as all that."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Everyone looked at the blonde curiously, but Kabuto pulled the card anyway. "Any particular reason you wanted to see your own card?"

Naruto snatched it from the silver-haired genin and looked it over. It had all his standard information, his sensei, teammates, mission history. However, it also mentioned he had been raised by Ibiki and Anko, and was responsible for bringing Zabuza and Haku to Konoha. It didn't mention his status as a jinchuuriki, or the fact that he had merged with Kyuubi (of course, no one should have that information unless he personally gave it to them). It also had nothing on his ties to Tsunade or the fact that he was responsible for her return. Overall, not as much information as there could be, but…

Naruto ripped the card to shreds. "Not totally complete, but information can get people killed. I'm not going to let anyone else have information on me if I can keep it from getting out."

A dark look passed over Kabuto's face as Naruto destroyed his card, but it was gone just as quickly. He shrugged and smiled politely. "I wish you wouldn't have destroyed my card, but guess I can understand where you're coming from. I suppose I would want to remain as unknown as possible too. Not like those Oto ninja who came here for the exam. They're a small village, but their ninja have been making a lot of noise about how they're all going to be the strongest and all the Oto ninja are going to pass. Personally, I think they're all just trying to intimidate the other teams. I've seen their mission record, and it's not that impressive."

Naruto caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, but it was quick and with so many other people in the room, hard to detect. As such, he was only able to get himself out of the way of the Sound ninja's attack. Kabuto didn't fair so well. He dodged the kunai that flew towards his head, but it put him directly in line with the attack from the bandage-wrapped ninja. It looked like Kabuto had gotten out of the way of that one as well, but as soon as everyone relaxed, Kabuto collapsed to the floor, vomiting.

"Quiet down you worthless bastards!" an angry voice commanded from the front of the room. Ibiki and a group of chuunin poofed in, all with either scowls or smirks on their faces. The chuunin started to move to the edges of the room, taking up places in chairs around the perimeter of the room. Only two chuunin remained at the front with Ibiki, but the most interesting thing was when mirrors of ice started forming in between the chuunin's chairs, and a person appeared in each one. A person in a greenish battle kimono and hunter nin mask. Naruto noticed that instead of the Kiri symbol, Haku had buffed the mask smooth and left it that way, not putting the Konoha leaf there. Which made sense, considering Haku wasn't actually a hunter nin.

"Thanks for waiting…" Ibiki said with a sadistic smirk. "I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the chuunin selection exam's first test." He pointed to the back of the room where the Rookie Nine and the Oto team were standing. "Team Oto, stop doing as you please before the exam. You're guests of Konoha…unless you want to fail already?"

The one who seemed to be the leader, the one with the bandages, spoke for his team. "I apologize…this is our first time…I admit we got a bit carried away. But no one could expect us to stand by as a weakling badmouthed our village."

"Bah…deal with it. There will be no fighting without the permission of the examiner, me. And even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Any pigs that disobey me will be failed immediately and sent back to their villages. Do I make myself clear?" Near everyone gulped. Being sent home early was a disgrace.

Ibiki went on to rearrange the seating so no team members were in close proximity to each other, as the two chuunin who had remained at the front passed out the tests.

"Do not turn your tests over. Listen closely instead. I know that might be hard for some of you, but there are many important rules to this first test. The rules will be written on the board, but questions will not be allowed.

"Rule one: Everyone starts with ten points. The test has ten questions and each one is worth one point, but this test uses a subtraction system. If you answer all the questions correctly, you'll keep all your points. But if you miss three, you'll end up with seven.

"Rule two: This is a team test. Your combined score is what determines if you pass or fail. So, each team will compete to see how many points they can hold on to from the initial team total of thirty."

"Wait a second! I don't understand this initial points system either, but why is this a team test?" Sakura yelled out.

"Shut up. You have no right to question me. There is a reason, so listen. And now for the most important rule of all.

"Rule three: Anyone caught cheating by any of the testing officers…will have two points subtracted for every offense." Sakura deflated hearing that. 'So there's other ways to lose points.'

"And the final rule: Any that lose all their initial points during the test and those that don't answer any questions correctly…will be failed along with their two teammates."

Ibiki smirked mentally as he stood at the head of the testing room. He had been doing this for a long time, and only the strongest would get through, he would make sure of that. He had long developed the technique he was using now, one he used often. It didn't have a name, mainly because most never take the time to figure out how to do it, and he didn't care what it was called. By the time a shinobi reached chuunin, they had learned how to produce killing intent; at least they were supposed to. However, most could only do it in an on/off method to start with, or could only use it when feeling a negative emotion, and when done that way, the amount of killing intent depended on what the emotion was. Only experienced nin could use it effectively enough to summon it up at will, and control how much they used. However, those that could produce a large amount usually only did that. They just let loose their killing intent in one burst.

However, Ibiki's technique wasn't like that. He used in when starting an interrogation, most of the time. It started out by releasing a small, unnoticeable amount of killing intent, and gradually increasing the amount. The usual effect, provided you could keep the victim occupied on something else, would be that they wouldn't notice the rising intent, and would become increasingly nervous and paranoid, making mistakes and tripping themselves up. Its effects were subtle, but frighteningly effective when used correctly. Sadly, not many bothered to learn how to do it. Surprisingly, Naruto could, even if he didn't use it all that often. Actually, it wasn't that surprising. Naruto sucked up pretty much any technique you put in front of him, and wouldn't stop until he figured it out. Most other shinobi however, preferred learning physical interrogation if they were going to learn it at all. Ibiki knew that was limiting them, but to each his own. The technique also didn't work as well on a group as it did on an individual, but it was more than enough for a genin who wasn't ready to advance. Only those who had a chance of becoming chuunin would make it past his test.

However, as Ibiki looked out over the group, he noticed that there were a lot who could potentially make it past his test. Naruto had told him about the team from Suna and their confrontation a week ago. As long as they didn't get caught cheating, they were more than capable of passing. Beyond his test, he wasn't sure, but he knew his ability to produce killing intent wasn't as good as a demon lord's. And if they spent any time around a jinchuuriki whose demon was constantly close to the surface, they had nothing to worry about. At least from him anyway.

Ibiki knew Naruto's team would pass. He had taught Naruto how to break someone mentally (even if he hadn't been in a situation to actually do so yet), and knew his little brother knew enough about the exercise to recognize it and pass. The Uchiha was smart enough to figure out some way to cheat. It would be easy if he had activated his bloodline. And Haruno was simply smart enough to pass, period.

Shino's team would pass. If the recon and information gathering team couldn't pass, no one would. But he had a feeling they would be fine, as long as they weren't too intimidated by the last question.

Ibiki knew Team Ten well enough that he already knew how they would cheat. Ino would use Shintenshin no Jutsu, probably on Haruno based on where the two were sitting. Shikamaru was more than smart enough to get past the questions, and he would use Kage Mane no Jutsu to make sure Chouji had the right answers.

Gai's team was ready too. Neji was using his Byakugan, and Tenten had a fairly good set up going with Lee. She was using near invisible wire to manipulate a mirror on the ceiling. It wasn't too obvious, and his team had set up the mirror before the genin started coming in. He had expected someone to use the mirror, but only someone who was prepared and could be subtle enough to not get caught. Tenten was doing well.

SHPTT!

Haku had just thrown a senbon from one of her mirrors and pierced one person's test. Kotetsu shouted out that he and his team were disqualified for failing.

SHPTT! SHPTT!

Two more teams gone.

Naruto knew what was going on with the test. Ibiki had taught him psychological games, and he knew this one. Only the truly smart people would be able to answer the questions, and Naruto knew that way was out. But he also knew how this test was going to end. Everyone would be forced to make a decision on whether or not to continue. He didn't know what his adopted brother was going to use as a motivator, but Naruto did know it would be good. He also knew that Sakura could see him from where she was, and if she thought he was going to fail the team, she might quit instead. The only way Naruto saw for this not to happen was for her to see him writing down answers. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't have a particularly sneaky way of getting answers at the moment.

Kage Bunshin was his primary intelligence gathering technique, because of its ability to send everything it learned back to him once a clone dispersed. However, there was no good way to use it here. He had no way to hide them as they poofed into existence, and even if he did, there was no hiding the clones once they were there. Naruto sighed as he turned to his next best option.

'Fuzzy, can you lend a hand?'

Kyuubi groaned as if just waking up. "Bah, what do you want? I'm still sleeping off my hangover from last week."

'I thought your healing ability would fix that, shouldn't it?'

"Hangovers are about the only thing it doesn't heal," the fox demon moaned. "I think it's Kami's way of saying he hates me. So leave me ALONE!"

'I can't do that.'

"Why the fuck not?"

'Because if you don't help me, there's a good chance I'll fail the exam, and then how will you live down the shame of having your vessel seen as an idiot?'

"Hell, I've been trying to figure that out for the past twelve years."

'Come on, give me a hand. Or are you afraid you won't know the answer to a few questions a human came up with?' Naruto taunted.

"Worthless brat. No pitiful ape-rat could come up with a question that can stump me. And for this, you have to give me another day on the outside soon. I don't care if you just let me out, I'm doing you a favor."

'Yeah, yeah, yeah, what's the first answer?'

Haku stood in her mirrors and watched the testers. She had been briefed on what would be considered 'cheating', but she had her own ideas on that. Most of these people would never be able to fool an experienced nin with the methods they were using. However, she was told what was good enough, and she would have to abide by that.

Haku hadn't really wanted to do this, but after Naruto had made some choice comments to Ibiki, the scarred man had offered her the equivalent of a C-class mission to come in and help pick out cheaters for the test. The use of her bloodline mirrors, as well as her hunter uniform, was mostly for intimidation. It wasn't particularly nice, but the sight of her hunter outfit was probably the deciding factor on several teams. Hunters were known as the most deadly nin, simply because all they did was take out the most dangerous criminal nin for their entire careers. Once they saw her, their fate was decided. They got scared, and got sloppy. By the same token, other teams were heartened by the fact that a hunter nin was in there, proof that they were being taken seriously, and their movements tightened up and allowed them a pass through where before they were probably going to fail.

She sent a fond smile over to Naruto, not that anyone could see it for the mask. Nothing against him, but he wasn't smart enough to answer the questions. They were supposed to be out of the range of a genin. It looked like he had found a way to get the answers, but even more impressive was that she couldn't see how he was getting them.

Leave it to Naruto to find the most original way of getting information she had ever seen. Of course, no one else had befriended a demon lord either.

Once forty-five minutes were up, Ibiki started speaking again. "Now for the tenth question. I'm sure you've noticed that we've hidden it from you. Before we reveal it, I need to go over the additional rules for this particular question."

'More rules…' thought Sakura despondently.

"These are the rules of desperation. First, you must choose if you will even take it."

"Choose? What the hell do you mean by that?" the blond sand-nin, Temari, Naruto said her name was.

"If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero and your entire team will fail, due to your indecisiveness."

"Of course we'll take it then! What kind of choice it that?" Kiba shouted.

"And now the other rule…" Ibiki smirked sadistically. "If you choose to take it, and answer incorrectly…you will lose the right to ever take the chuunin exam ever again. You'll be stuck as genin forever."

Muttering broke out all over the room. "I know what some of you are thinking. There're people here who have taken the exam before. But they were lucky. They didn't have me as a proctor. This year I'm running things. Just be glad I'm giving you a way out. If you don't think you can make it, you can quit and try again next year."

Indecision filled the room as Ibiki upped the killing intent once more. Teams started dropping like flies. More than a dozen had dropped before Naruto looked back at his teammates. Seeing Sakura starting to raise her hand, Naruto didn't even think. He slammed his hand into the desk and shouted. "Don't underestimate me and my team! I will never run!"

Everyone gawked at Naruto's actions. "I'm going to take it! I don't care if I can never take the exams again, because I'm going to be Hokage no matter what!"

Even more shocking than Naruto's proclamation, Shino stood up. "Additionally, you have no right to forbid us from taking the exams again. You may have rights to fail us now, but the only person who can forbid us from taking it again is the Hokage. And that only applies for the Konoha genin. Not to mention none of the other villages would uphold such a rule. They would not forbid their genin from advancing just because of your rule."

Shino adjusted his glasses. "However, even if they did, there are many methods for advancing through the ranks other than this exam. If there weren't, there wouldn't be nearly as many chuunin as there are."

Any nervousness that had filled the room had left now. Naruto's words had filled the other testers with confidence, and Shino had pointed out the flaws in the rules that were almost always overlooked. There was no point in dragging it out any longer.

"Is that your final decision? This is your life on the line after all. If you're wrong, you have just thrown away everything you've worked toward."

"I will follow my unbending words," Naruto growled harshly. "That's my nindo!"

Ibiki smirked. He would have to put Naruto through his paces for this later on. "Alright then. Everyone left…passes!"

At the shocked looks on everyone's faces, excluding Naruto, the scarred jounin explained the true purpose of the test. They were testing information gathering prowess with the first nine questions, and if they had the heart to go through with a mission with the last question. Some were suitably upset, but before they could truly react, Ibiki noticed the next proctor barrelling towards him. He took a step back.

The window shattered as a large ball shot through it. It exploded outward at the head of the room, kunai pining the corners of the large sheet up. On it, the words read, "The proctor of the second exam, the sexy Mitarashi Anko!" In a side note at the bottom, "Ibiki, remind me that we need milk."

"I'm your next proctor, and for that reason, you shouldn't be celebrating right now." Anko paused and looked out over the remaining teams. "Seventy-eight? What the hell? You losing your touch, scar-head?"

"There's just a lot of outstanding teams this year," he reasoned with a shrug.

Anko waved it off. "Bah, I'll cut this number in half, at least, by the time the second exam is over. Now, since I'm getting kind of excited, follow me."

After the teams were gone, Ibiki collected the papers alone. Once he got to Naruto's, he paused. All the answers were correct, extensively so, but there was an extra answer, in the space for the tenth question.

Aniki—

You should pay attention to that Kabuto guy. I don't know what's up with him, but he knows way too much to be a genin, and he smells like snakes, like nee-chan. I know Anko hasn't been teaching him, so I can't think of any reason why he would except for some reasons I don't want to say if I'm wrong. But I think he's really suspicious. He apparently had the stats on everyone in the exams, detailed information, including mission logs. I know a genin shouldn't be able to get their hands on another village's mission books. And he was spreading it around. If he really is good enough to get that information, he more than knows to keep it to himself. What do you think?

Naruto, future Hokage

Ibiki read it over twice before destroying the paper. He didn't need any spies finding out that they were onto Kabuto. "Kotetsu," he spoke into the air. Not a second later, the elite chuunin appeared in front of him. "Find out everything you can about Yakushi Kabuto. He might be a traitor for Orochimaru."

"Hai, Ibiki-san."

Anko stood in front of the fence of her favorite training ground. 'The Forest of Death', the deadliest training ground Konoha had, surpassing even 'The Tower of Pain', or 'The Dungeon of Many Sharp Pointy Things That Stab and Pierce as They Cut You into a Really Stupid Amount of Very Small Pieces'.

The naming committee probably never should have gotten drunk before deciding on that name, but most of the more eccentric jounin seemed to like it.

"Alright maggots, this is the site for the second exam. Some of you should probably back out now, because once inside, you'll find out exactly why we call it 'The Forest of Death'."

Naruto didn't scoff at this statement. He had the first time he heard about it, and Anko had thrown him in there for three days before showing him the way out. He hadn't made fun of it since.

Sasuke, however, had no such experience. "Pft, I doubt it's really all that bad. If you go in there, how bad could it be?"

Naruto had started backing away from Sasuke the moment he started talking, and he was now directly in front of a black haired grass nin, who was watching the proctor with malicious delight, not that anyone noticed.

"You've got some attitude there," Anko said as she appeared behind Sasuke after cutting his cheek with a kunai. "Mmm, Uchiha blood, tasty, but so hard to get a hold of nowadays."

Sasuke bristled at the comment, but didn't retaliate because he knew he was outclassed. He hadn't even seen the kunai being thrown until it was cutting his cheek, and she was behind him before the kunai had hit the ground. He also remembered the beating she gave Kakashi in Wave.

Once Naruto had retrieved Anko's kunai, the instructions were given. Each team was given one scroll, either Heaven or Earth. You had five days to reach the tower in the middle of training ground, after getting your scroll's opposite from another team. You failed if you failed to make it to the tower, obtain two scrolls, or if you lost one of your team members. You also failed if you opened the scroll before getting to the tower. You weren't allowed to quit in the middle of the exam, either. It was all or nothing.

"One last piece of advice…" Anko caught Naruto's eye purposefully. "Don't die!"

Team Seven signed their release forms and made their ways over to Gate Twelve, waiting for the signal to enter. The fence finally dropped, and the genin bounded into the forest, heading for the tower.

Half an hour into the forest, and Naruto motioned for them to stop. "What is it, dobe?" Sasuke asked irritably.

Naruto laughed sheepishly. "I, uh, I need to go to the bathroom."

Sasuke shook his head as Sakura looked vaguely disgusted by the fact that he said that out loud. "Fine, but don't make us have to come look for you."

Naruto nodded his assent and hopped off out of the clearing. In the next clearing over, Naruto unzipped and started watering the trees. The chakra he had been feeling started to close in and Naruto smirked.

Chakra sensing was actually an advanced technique that most people didn't learn until they were chuunin, and didn't master until they were jounin or ANBU. Naruto, however, felt the need to master it early on, if only to detect people who wanted to ambush the 'demon brat'. It was also an extremely useful skill when avoiding detection whilst setting up a prank. If you knew someone was coming from their chakra, it was easier to hide. Of course, this skill could be fooled by manipulating your chakra correctly, but not even Ibiki was paranoid enough to do that all the time.

Just while he was awake was enough for the scarred jounin.

However, right now Naruto felt three foreign chakra signatures closing in on him. As well as that, mist was starting to rise in the clearing.

Once the mist was dense to the point that Naruto couldn't see, the enemy nin started talking, using Onsei Touei no Jutsu (voice projection) to mask his presence. Not that it did much. Naruto knew right where they were.

"Bet a little rookie like you is pretty scared right about now, huh? Can't even see a foot in front of you face, huh? Why don't you just hand over your scroll and any equipment you have, and me and my team might let you live, huh?"

Naruto flashed a fanged grin and released some killer intent into the area. When he spoke, he used the same Onsei Touei no Jutsu his opponents were using. "I bet you're from Kiri, am I right? Your technique is a give away. But do you know the drawback to this technique?"

"This technique doesn't have any weaknesses, brat! You can't even see right now! Be glad we don't kill you here and now, huh! Now where's your scroll, huh?"

Naruto shook his head as he confirmed the locations of the Kiri genin. "Now, you should always know the weaknesses of your jutsu. I'm just trying to help."

A harsh grunt sounded through the mist as one of the genin went down from a strike to the back of the neck.

"You seem to be forgetting that I have more senses than just sight. And that I can still use them to track you down."

The team leader heard another grunt as his other teammate went down.

"And what you didn't know before attacking me was that I've trained with Momochi Zabuza, the master of the Kirigakure no Jutsu, and even he can't evade me completely with this technique."

The Kiri nin's strangled cry as Naruto took him out was only louder because of the fear he felt of the rookie he had attacked.

Three hours later, the Kiri genin team woke up, bound to a tree. Their packs were gone, as was their Earth scroll. The leader breathed a sigh of relief that they weren't dead. It was just like a stupid tree-hugger to do something like leave a potential enemy alive, but he wasn't going to complain. Anyone who had trained with one of the Seven Swordsmen could have definitely beaten them easily, and they were lucky they had just had their stuff stolen. They could steal more off another team, but they made the mental note to stay away from that Konoha team. They weren't likely to get a reprieve a second time.

Naruto had just made it back to the clearing when he saw Sasuke threatening another Naruto. He knew he hadn't made any clones; so that meant it was someone under a Henge. Naruto decided to wait for the best time to reveal himself. Not only tactically, but when it would look the coolest.

"My vessel is an idiot." Kyuubi shook its head from inside its cage, hearing what Naruto was planning.

Before Naruto could pull off a dramatic entrance, a huge gush of wind from the newly revealed grass nin blew him off into the distance.

Halfway through his flight, Naruto looked down and saw the team from Kiri he had tied up. They still weren't awake. Granted, it had only been a few minutes, but he must have hit them harder than he thought.

Naruto hit the ground at a bad angle and skidded to a stop thirty feet away. He lay there for a moment before kicking up and shaking away any dizziness left. Once his eyes focused, he realized what he was looking at. A giant snake.

"Fuck," Naruto said simply. There was no anger, barely any emotion at all, just resignation.

The snake snapped out just as soon as soon as the word left Naruto's mouth. He was still moving half speed from his crash, but was reorienting himself quickly. Naruto quickly bit his thumb and stuck it down his shirt, swiping blood across the weight seal and deactivating quickly.

Unfortunately, Naruto wasn't quite quick enough. Just as the gravity around him lessened, Naruto was swallowed whole by the enormous purple snake.

Sliding down the snake's throat (or whatever the hell part he was in at the moment, he wasn't entirely sure how snakes worked), Naruto was subjected to his tenant's rants.

"You stupid ape-rat! You are the dumbest person I've ever been sealed in! You're also the only person I've been sealed in, but that's beside the point! Get us out of here now before I do! I'll flood you with so much youki that you'll burn your way out of here, but won't be able to move for a week! Dammit, fix this now!"

Naruto shoved the Kyuubi's voice to the back of his mind while he frantically tried to think of a way to escape. He had faced one of Anko's giant snake summons before, but he had never got eaten by it. Instead, he had covered a log in exploding tags and threw it in its mouth when it got close enough.

That's it!

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The snake, which had been on its way back to report to its master, stopped suddenly as it felt something bulge. Seconds later, it exploded in a mass of gore and blood before dispersing into smoke, returning to the summoning realm, wherever that may be.

Naruto gagged when he smelt himself, there was no hope being stealthy when he smelled like this. Even worse, he squished when he stepped. Even with his considerable sneaking abilities built by years of pranking shinobi, he couldn't eliminate it altogether. He knew he needed to get back to his team, but there was no way he could be any kind of help if he couldn't hide his presence at all. Cursing his luck, he made his way to a nearby stream, not bothering to reactivate his gravity seal.

Sasuke and Sakura froze under the killing intent that was bearing down on them. Sasuke shakily cut his leg just in time to avoid the kunai the insane Kusa nin had thrown at them, barely saving his pink-haired teammate. After just one exchange, Sasuke knew he was outmatched, for the second time in a single day. It stung, but Sasuke much preferred admitting to defeat to a superior force (not that there were many) to dying any day. But the worst thing was that Naruto had convinced them to let him carry their Heaven scroll, simply because most wouldn't believe he would be allowed to carry it, so he couldn't even give it up as a trade for their lives.

Of course, there was a small voice in the back of Sasuke's mind screaming that they would be killed even if they did give up the scroll, but Sasuke didn't want to even think about that.

So, Sasuke had no choice but to fight.

The Sharingan blazed to life, the world suddenly slowing down somewhat. Sasuke knew it would get better, but he hadn't had his bloodline for long, and it was already advancing quickly. The Kusa nin obviously took this as a sign to start fighting again. Even with the Uchiha bloodline, Sasuke was having trouble keeping up. It was like fighting that damnable fool in the green spandex again. Even if he was able to see the movements, he wasn't fast enough to react to them. And what was worse was that as soon as he sped up to compensate, the Kusa nin just got faster!

Orochimaru was somewhat pleased. He wanted Sasuke's body for himself, but it wouldn't do if the boy was weak. He had no need for weakness. He was currently testing the boy on his taijutsu skills, and while sloppier than his were at that age, they were still good enough to pass inspection. Coupled with the Sharingan and they were even better. The boy would do well.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Mmm, the boy was somewhat skilled with his ninjutsu. He shouldn't have wasted the chakra thinking he could hit him, one of the Sannin, but against a lesser ninja, it was a good plan. He had been boxed in enough for the fire attack to cover his area completely. A well-timed Kawarimi with a Tsuchi Bunshin saved him from even have to run to get out.

Orochimaru kicked Sasuke in the back, sending him flying, while he was still trying to determine if the fire blast worked as planned or not. Orochimaru followed up by speeding past him and hitting the young Uchiha with a forearm strike that had him careening into a tree.

Sasuke recovered halfway through and rebounded off the tree trunk. Descending towards the snake-like nin, he flashed through a familiar set of hand seals. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!"

The small fireballs flew towards Orochimaru, who smirked. Knowing he wouldn't be able to see if he used the same attack again, he adapted. However, it wasn't near enough to beat him. He placed himself on a tree branch and let the fireballs pass on either side of him. It wasn't until the attack had passed him did Sasuke's true plan come into play.

The shuriken that had been hidden in the fireballs arced around the tree and the wire attached to them caught Orochimaru. Before he could escape, Sasuke threw three windmill shuriken, with stronger wire this time, and Orochimaru was bound tightly to the tree at this point. Still controlling the wire in his hands and teeth, Sasuke ran threw a last set of handseals.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" The intense fires ran down the length of the wire and completely covered the area, even causing a small explosion when it hit. When the attack finally calmed down, Sasuke was left panting from the chakra expenditure.

But when the fires cleared, Sasuke was in shock. His opponent from Kusa was still standing there, only slightly singed by the devastating attack, and half of his face was melted off. Sasuke knew there was no way he was coming out of this alive now.

"Kukukukuku, very good, Sasuke-kun," the newly revealed man chuckled, as sinister sound that chilled Sasuke to the bone. "To be able to use the Sharingan so well at a young age, you may just surpass your older brother Itachi someday. I had fun testing you today. Allow me to give you a gift."

Faster than Sasuke could even think about reacting, the Snake Sannin's head shot out and bit the last loyal Uchiha on the neck. A volcanic burning erupted from the mark, and Sasuke immediately began to waver. "You seek power. That is just a taste of the power you can get from me. Find me when you learn this village has nothing left to teach. My name is Orochimaru, and I will make you powerful beyond your dreams."

Partway through his speech, Orochimaru became aware of a large chakra source speeding towards him. It was faster than he was expecting. Not as fast as him, but definitely faster than an average chuunin, approaching jounin level in speed alone. The source of Orochimaru's pondering revealed itself in a high branch above the rest of them, and he felt a huge amount of killing intent bring itself upon him.

Orochimaru smiled. It was good to see genin weren't forgetting the old tricks of simply terrifying opponents into submission, rather than just relying on flashy jutsu. However, he had gotten what he had come for, and had no time to spend playing around here.

"Orochimaru! You're gonna die for what you've done! Not just to me, but to Anko-nee-chan as well!"

Well, that was certainly interesting. He didn't remember doing anything to the Kyuubi brat (for he had recognized who it was by now), but it was interesting that he called his former student sister. Oh well, no time to think on that now.

Naruto saw the snake bastard below him, and knew he wouldn't be able to take him on by himself. He still couldn't even come close to Tsunade, the one called the weakest of the Sannin (not that anyone said that to her face), so he knew he would need help. Fortunately, Naruto knew just how to do that. All it took was six handseals and some blood.

"Kuchiyose: Kitsune Shoutai!" (Fox platoon)

More than a hundred foxes appeared in a mass of smoke. "Sakura!" Naruto yelled. "Get Sasuke to safety! I'll hold him off as long as I can!"

Having just seen Naruto pull off something that she had never seen him do before, she didn't argue. She grabbed Sasuke and dove into a hollow at the bottom of the tree she was under, hastily constructing a genjutsu to hide them. She could wonder about Naruto's new power later on, right now she had to protect Sasuke, who was now completely unconscious.

The summoned foxes ranged from the size of a large dog to the size of a large horse, all with either one or two tails. They were wearing metal combat armor over their vulnerable parts, and their claws and teeth seemed sharper and more vicious than a normal foxes would be. At the head of the group, next to Naruto, there was a single three tailed fox, the size of an elephant, wearing classic samurai armor, sans the swords.

Kyuubi had once told Naruto that the snake and fox clans had never been on good terms, he remembered that now. "That man is the head snake summoner, and the one who was the reason your lord was sealed! Rip him to shreds!"

The foxes gave a terrifying battle cry as they launched themselves at Orochimaru. He was faster than them, but the sheer number of enemies was overwhelming. He was certain he could beat these useless summons, but that would require he use more chakra than he was anticipating. If he used more than he planned, he was sure to be found out before he was ready. And that would not do at all. Orochimaru sighed. He never thought he would have to bring this out against a simple genin.

What Orochimaru didn't acknowledge was that Naruto has never been a simple genin; in fact, he has never been a simple anything.

"Kusanagi no Tsurugi: Kuu no Tachi!" (Sword of Kusanagi: Long Sword of Sky)

Orochimaru's form blurred as he grabbed hold of the legendary sword. The fox summons started to poof out of existence, returning to where they came from. The more powerful two tailed foxes formed a defensive perimeter, but Orochimaru tore through them like they weren't even there, slowing only slightly.

"I'll be sure to tell Anko that you proved a bit of fun before you died. I'm sure she will be happy to hear that," Orochimaru gloated before cutting a deep line from Naruto's right hip to left shoulder, then sinking into the tree branch.

"Find the snake!" Dachi, the three-tailed leader, commanded the remaining foxes. "I will get Naruto-sama to help!" Dachi picked up the fox summoner and dashed down to the forest floor where Sakura was waiting with the unconscious Sasuke. He moved straight past the genjutsu, as paltry human illusions could barely even touch the senses of a kitsune, and stuck his head in the hollow. The pink-haired girl screamed, but was silenced quickly.

"Help him, teammate of Naruto-sama," Dachi ordered. There was no room for argument. Already, Naruto was passing out. And for someone who could sustain as much damage and take as much pain as Naruto; that was serious.

Sakura didn't know what to think. Foxes were something of a taboo in ever since the Kyuubi no Kitsune attack twelve years ago. They were portrayed as evil in the village, and a sign of bad things to come. As such, she never much liked the furry mammals. However, after working with Naruto and Gintoku for so long, she had gotten more used to foxes. Even so, Gintoku was nothing like this imposing armored kitsune. Naruto had left Gintoku at home so he would be safe, and after seeing that Naruto could do something like this, she could see why he wasn't hesitant about leaving his partner at home. She wished she could summon someone to help her at times, though certainly not foxes.

But at the moment, she was being ordered by a fox to do something. A talking fox. She had never seen one of them before. The only talking animal she had seen before was once during a training session where Kakashi told them to evade capture then summoned a pack of dogs to sniff them out. One of those dogs talked. Perhaps it was just a characteristic of summoned animals. She'd have to read up on that later.

"I-I…I don't have the proper materials to help him," Sakura said weakly, ashamed. Due to the way she was raised, she didn't like foxes, but she wasn't above helping one if it meant saving her teammate. Unfortunately, she really didn't have anything that could fix that kind of injury. There were some bandages in her bag, but she didn't have enough to stop this kind of blood flow.

A large one-tailed fox leapt down and stood next to the samurai armored leader. "Dachi-taicho, I have found several bags that have Naruto-sama's scent on them. It is somewhat faint, and other scents are more prevalent, so we believe Naruto-sama took the supplies after defeating his opponents."

Dachi nodded his head. "It is good to see Naruto-sama was thinking ahead." He turned back to Sakura, who was staining her hands with blood while trying to keep the wound closed. "Use these to heal him." Again, it wasn't a suggestion.

"Gather the others and send them back here. We will stand watch until our chakra wears out." The younger fox nodded and bounded off. Dachi nodded approvingly as Sakura fed his summoner a blood replenishing pill and began using the recently gained supplies to stop the bleeding.

Anko stood between two chuunin, staring at the dead bodies before her. Dead bodies were nothing, she'd seen so many she was mostly unaffected by them now, but these were different. They were victims of one of Orochimaru's jutsu, and it scared her that he could be so close and not have them know it. She straightened and ordered the chuunin to contact ANBU so they could send some teams into the forest. She didn't know how much good it would do against Orochimaru, but it would be better than nothing. As soon as the chuunin were gone, Anko disappeared into the forest, her thoughts on her traitorous former sensei, and what she would do to him once she found him.