{Five Days Later ~ At The Academy} ~ Third Pov:

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Time went by fast after training my body and mind, preparing for the chunin exams. Yet remembering what Kurenai informed us about, left me questioning alot.

They expect us to not know anything at the beginning?

Giving the circumstances with having a few tests, I wonder if it's in groups or separately...?

"Hey Cub........Cub!"

Knocking me out of my own thoughts, Kiba was tapping my shoulder annoyingly. Turning to him, I furrow my eyebrows.

"Huh, what is it?"

"Look," he gestures, making me following where he's pointing at. My eyes soon follow seeing so many genin gathering all together within the academy. "Damn, so many genin.......and to think it's gonna be easy."

Pinching his cheek, I gave him a 'you for real look'

"Come on Kiba.....we're told whether with more or less competitors," I began. "It all depends on the judges and scores."

"Hey, that hurt," he rubs his sore cheek.

Finally walking down the hallways to room 301, we finally arrived before entering the room. Soon revealing what's behind, there were so many than before we even predicted. Yet all their eyes were more dark, dangerous and quiet. I myself, can admit it was rather intimidating.

Feeling a few eyes fall upon us, I usher my squad to the side so we're not in the way of the door and the centre of attention. All them looked like they meant business, which gave me an idea how desperate most of these genin were. Some looked older than I was, some seem to already know what's to come.

"Hey, don't you think they look....a little older than us?" Hinata whispers softly, as I nod discreetly.

"Yeah,"

Suddenly a felt three taps against my shoulder, recognising that person I turn to see Shikamaru, Choji and Ino.

"Oh....Shikamaru,"

He slightly grins but then falters, "So.....you applied?"

Nodding he nods.

"Yeah, assuming you guys chose too," gesturing to Choji, still snacking as usual along with Ino looked rather ticked off the moment we locked eyes.

"Hey, why are you here fat pig?" She demands angrily, when Kiba stood in front of me holding his arm out.

"Don't call her that," he scolds her, quietly trying to not cause a ruckus.

"Just be quiet Ino," Shikamaru sighs in annoyance, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Names are just lame, such a drag...."

"Wel--"

Before she could speak we hear the doors opening, making my head turn to see......team seven? There stood Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura who looked rather intimidated by the large crowd of dark looks. Narrowing my eyes upon Sakura's frightened look, Ino knocks me out of thoughts hearing her rush towards the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, where have you been?!" The blonde exclaims, ignoring the stares she's given by the outsiders.

Shikamaru steps towards me, "You know, I was hoping you would be here," He admits, making me smile.

"I appreciate it,"

Ino drapes her arms around Sasuke like she owned him, "Boy, you have no idea how much I was hoping you would show up here," her whiny voice echoes in the room. "I've missed those brooding good looks of yours."

Sasuke grimaces in disgust, rolling his eyes.

Soon that grabbed Sakura's attention before throwing a finger at the blonde, "Hey you porker, back off he's mine!"

"Ms forehead they let you in, still got those big frown lines on your bill bore brow I see?" Ino remarks, hiking up an eyebrow proudly.

"Arghh.....leave my forehead out of this!" Sakura snaps.

Ino drags the bottom her eye and sticks her tongue out, making me sigh heavily with their childish behaviour.

Soon Shikamaru walks over hands in pockets, "Oh it's you guys, I knew this was gonna be a drag but I didn't know it's gonna be this lame," Shikamaru comments.

Naruto turns to the lazy ninja, with a smile.

"So all three stooges are here?" Naruto assumes.

Shikamaru eyebrow twitches for a moment with irritation, "Hey, you know what pipsqueak......." he trails off, being sighing. ".....you know what, forget it, you're a waste of time."

*

(Naruto's thoughts:

* Shikamaru Nara, always complaining, never does anything about it and the laziest kid in the academy....

*Choji Akimichi, Akimuchi is more like it....I think he'd eat his own head if he could......

*Ino Yamanaka: Now she's annoying, and not just because she's got the same stupid thing for Sasuke, that Sakura's got.......

*

Kiba nudges me, "Let's go over,"

Nodding quietly, we move towards the three hoping to keep things down a notch. Soon when we arrive both the girls notice my presence, while I fold my arms in annoyance.

"Could you girls just keep it down, fighting over a guy is a waste of time," I scold them, while tapping my index against my bicep. "Seriously, can't you see he's not interested.....leave him alone."

"Why you--" Ino began, when Kiba cuts her off.

"Well looks like the gang's back together," Kiba smirks, grinning while baring his canines.

Hinata shyly glances up to meet her gaze with naruto's, "H-Hi Naruto,"

*

(Naruto's thoughts:)

*Hinata Hyuga: She's okay but I don't know why she gets all shy and embarrassed every time I even like look at her. It's kinda weird...

*Kimi Senju: She's decent I guess and doesn't fawn over boys, but damn she can get really scary if her patience is snapped instantly, but she's usually calm and collected, so I'm glad not to mess with her. Overall, she's the strongest girl I know.........

*Kiba Inuzuka and his dog Akamaru: Forget about what i said about Ino, this guys the most annoying of all. Thinks he's so cool, and he seems to have close ties with Kimi too.....

*Shino Aburame: Well he's just weird, kinda of a mystery but that doesn't mean he isn't annoying too.

*

"At least we have someone else trying keep us in check," Shikamaru gestures towards me. "She is strong, and dependable."

Kiba grins in response, before wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

"Heck I'm happy she's on our team, so here we all are," He smirks. "The ten rookies, this is gonna be fun.....at least for those of us that are good enough to make the cut. Right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke smirks, "Kiba, careful you don't get overconfident,"

Kiba nudges me closer to him, "Just wait, we're gonna blow you guys away," he exclaims. "Plus we've got Kimi, so I'm not worried."

Finally getting annoyed with their confidence, I pull away and swat the back of his head.

"Kiba.....keep those canines shut," I hiss, quietly. "Don't just rely on me, this about all of us....remember?....and don't boast about yourself, okay?"

He rubs his head in response, pouting back.

"Kimi.....I assumed you would be recommended, I like a good challenge with you," Sasuke turns to me.

"Same, I assumed you would," I reply.

"What?! How come he talks to her like normal?" Sakura exclaims, clearly ticked off. "That fat pig!!!!"

"Yeah!" Ino agrees, before storming towards me. She taps my shoulder accusingly, "You know what, Kimi? You're full of it, you really are....no guy would want a fat pig like you here, so don't you dare think about wasting Sasuke's time and wo--"

Kiba stood in front of me, flicking her finger from my shoulder.

My eyes widen in response, "Hey, just lay off will ya!" Kiba snaps, clearly mad by their words. I mean......I am fat, but I couldn't help being a little chubby and toned. "Anyway she trains harder than you, so just back off.....and we''ve been training like crazy."

"What do you think we've been doing?" Naruto questions rhetorically. "Sitting around picking daisies? You don't know what training means!"

Sigh heavily my eyes angle towards the blonde boys eyes, "Naruto, to say the least about you, Kiba actually improved a lot in the past few weeks of training," backing up my teammate. "Anyway who really cares about who trained the most, just forget that."

"Hey, you guys!" someone calls out, making me slowly turn with everyone to see a young boy no older than about nineteen or so. He had ash grey hair, with onyx eyes with purple attire.

He walks over towards us, before standing near Shikamaru.

"You might wanna try keeping it down a notch? I mean no offence, but you the ten rookies right? Fresh out of the academy. I wouldn't go making a spectacle out of yourselves. Just cool it........This isn't a class field trip."

"Well who asked you?" Ino remarks. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi, but really.....look around you," he gestures to behind us, as my eyes scan across the thick crowd of genin. All their eyes were upon us, but I couldn't give a damn what their thoughts are about our ruckus.

"You've made quite an impression.........See those guys, they are from the rain village. Very touchy, they all are. This exam makes everyone tense, and you don't wanna rub them the wrong way right now."

"Y-Yeah...." Sakura stammers.

"You can't help it, I mean how could you not?" Kabuto trying to understand, coming from our new we are to this. "Nothing works, you're just rookies. You remind me of myself a while back."

Suddenly his eyes fall upon me for a moment, glancing from head to toe. Making me raise my eyebrow, i fold my arms feeling slightly uncomfortable, "What's your deal?" I bitterly question, still not understanding this guy.

"Nothing......you're quite the sight, that's all," he comments, as my ears tinge red from second hand embarrassment.

"E-Erm......"

"Kabuto....is that your name?" Sakura asks him again, just to clarify his name. He nods in response, "This isn't your first time you've taken the exam.....I'm assuming."

"No, it's......my seventh,"

"Huh?"

"Well they are held twice a year, so this will be my fourth year," He replies, as I stood there unfazed knowing big brother informed me, that some repeatedly keep going as they fail.

"Whoa, veteran, you must really be an expert right now?" Sakura assumes.

"Yes, sought of,"

"Cool you can give us all the inside tips!" Naruto exclaims.

Shikamaru scoffs, "Yes, like some expert.......he's never passed,"

Kabuto sheepishly rubs the back of his nape, "Yeah well, seventh's time the charm," He laughs nervously. "That's what they say, huh?"

Shikamaru didn't seem hopeful now, but he was never hopeful in the beginning.

"So I guess all those rumours about the exam being tough are true?" Shikamaru assumes, his voice dragging as well. "Oh, i knew this was gonna be a drag."

Kabuto holds his head out, allowing us to hear him out.

"Hang on, don't give up hope yet," Kabuto says, turning back about the exams. "Maybe I can help you kids out a little? With my Ninja info cards."

He pulls out these orange cards, spread out in his hands.

"What the heck are those?" Sakura questions, walking forward to him.

"It's hard to explain, but these cards have been chakra encoded with everything i learned for the past four years," He replies, as he kneels down.

He places the pile on the ground.

"I've got more than two hundred of them, so you see I haven't been completely wasting my time. They may not look much to the naked eye, in fact....they appear blank. Don't want just anyone seeing this stuff."

Soon he flips a blank card over, I could sense chakra being extracted, kneading into the information. "You see.....I'm using my chakra to reveal their secrets," he continues. "Like this for example."

Suddenly a small poof quietly explodes, before a small map appears upon the card.

"A Map!" The cherry haired female exclaims. "......of what exactly?"

"It shows the geographical distribution of all the candidates of coming to take the chunin exams," he explains. "What villages they come from, and how many from each village. Why do you guys think they all came here to take the exams together at the same time?..........It's to foster friendship between nations of course. International brotherhood and all that, and it's true enough as far as it goes."

"But theres another reason," Sasuke assumes, nodding in agreement with him.

Kabuto nods in response.

"Yeah, you see the important thing is that this way they can carefully regulate the total number of shinobi that end up in each village," Kabuto further explains. "They, by maintaining the balance of power."

"Oh yeah, balance of power," Naruto repeats, thinking he knows.

Shikamaru rolls his eyes.

"Balance of power, big deal it's all a drag," Shikamaru sighs.

Kabuto soon releases his chakra from the small card, becoming blank.

"If the balance isn't maintained, one nation could wind up with many more shinobi than it's neighbours," Kabuto replies. "And it might be tempted to attack them. So they tried to maintain this status quo, makes sense.......I suppose."

Sasuke leans a little, "Do those cards of those have any info on other candidates?" Sasuke questions. "Individually?"

"They might, you have someone special in mind?" Kabuto surmises, catching the eye upon the Uchiha.

"I might,"

Kabuto places his card back upon the pile, tapping it gently to align.

"Well I can't promise my information is complete or perfect, but I've got something on just about everyone........including you guys of course," He grins, making me narrow my eyes upon him sternly. "So which one is it? Tell me anything you know about them, a description, where they are from, anything at all."

"He's Gaara of the desert....." Sasuke replies. "....and there's Rock lee of the leaf village, while you're at it."

"Man that's no fun, you even know their names," Kabuto playfully whines. "That makes it easy."

With one swift motion he swipes two cards of the two ninja, having decked out for Sasuke. Remembering the small incident about five days ago, my jaw clenched slightly.

"Here they are," he held both cards in hand.

"Show them to me," Sasuke demands quietly.

"Okay first up is Rock lee, looks like he is about a year older than you guys," Kabuto began, as he reads the card.

I've never seen him before, probably I have but rarely so. He has a black bowl haircut, along with two large eyes along with a green leotard suit.

"Mission experience, eleven C rank and twenty D ranks. His squad leader is Guy, and in last twelve months his tai-justu radically improved. But his other skills are pretty shaky, last here he got a lot of attention as a genin for some reason, he chose not to participate in the chunin exams. This will be his first time as a candidate, same as you guys........his team mates are Tenten, and Neji Hyuga."

"Hyuga?" I whisper, before my eyes fall upon my comrade who held concern within her eyes. "You alright, Hinata?"

She nods timidly, "Y-Yeah,"

Soon Kabuto places the second card down, and began kneading the chakra into the card.

"Okay now for Gaara of the desert, mission experience eight c rank....." Kabuto began, when his eyes slightly widen. "....and get this, one B-rank as a Genin. There's not a lot of information for this guy, he was a rookie from another land originally. But there is this.....he's survived ever mission without getting a scratch on him."

"The dudes done a B-Rank as a genin?!" Shikamaru exclaims, in shock. "And has never even been injured?"

Sighing deeply, my eyes focus upon the card.

"Gathering from the looks as well, I can sense a heavy dark aura around him as well," I comment, observing the boy from earlier this week. Seems like people have darker pasts, which is painful to see. Yet I saw this sense of loneliness, within the sand ninja's eyes.

"What's the deal with this guy?" Naruto questions, when I saw Kabuto place another card down infusing his chakra into the card.

"Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, Sound....from the looks of it," Kabuto began, listing the villages. "They've all sent exceptional skilled candidates to the exam this time around, of course the hidden sound village is small. It's sprang up recently no one knows a thing about it. Those guys are a mystery.........Well you get the point, the competition will be intense this year."

"So it would seem, it's almost enough to make you lose your confidence?" Hinata assumes, softly.

"It's a fine time talking like that!" Ino scolds Hinata, as I gave the blonde ninja a cold glare towards her.

"Do, you really think it's gonna be tougher this time?" Sakura questions, her voice slightly wavers.

"Oh yeah, in the four years I've been coming, I've never seen a crop of candidates with this as much potential as this bunch," Kabuto replies, before looking up into my eyes. "Yep we've got our work cut out for us."

My eyes soon drift to the ground, feeling the intensity of chakra within the room. Being a sensory ninja causes myself to feel each other's feelings in and out, especially in a crowded room where it's mostly effective.

Soon I could sense Naruto getting riled up, when...

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna beat everyone of ya.......believe it!" he shouts, proudly while pointing at the intimidating crowd. Soon he was done, he exhales, "Yeah.........I feel a lot better now!"

Let's at least get pumped and ready for the challenges ahead, because what's the point of my recommendation if I don't give my all.....

"Uhh could you say that again a little louder, didn't quite catch it," Kiba smirks, teasingly.

"You moron, are you trying to get everybody in the place to hate our guts or what?" Shikamaru hisses.

Soon without a second Sakura begins to strangle naruto, yelling and scolding him. Stepping away from the two, I didn't want to be included as an idiot right now. Suddenly I could sense something off, before sensing someone coming directly towards Kabuto.

Suddenly I spot a ninja with the sound symbol on his helmet, as he jumps high whipping out a few kunai. He throws them towards kabuto, but he jumps away skidding across the floor. Suddenly another sound ninja appears before Kabuto, swiftly punching towards him but misses right near his face.

A moment of dead silence Kabuto smirks, when his glasses break within seconds. My eyes slowly widen along with doing the same, when he hunches down coughing out blood.

"But he missed," I confirm sternly, yet only assuming that's the case.

Naruto and Sakura rush to Kabuto's side, "Kabuto!" Naruto exclaims, while helping him stand back to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Sakura asks, being able to feel a little hopeful with how kind she can be despite the circumstances we're in right now.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he assures them, staggering up a bit while trying to adjust his eye sight.

"Are you sure?"

"Not such a tough guy after all I guess," the creepy sound shinobi comments, an evil glint reflects within his eyes.

"Write this on your little card, punk!" the guy that threw kunai knives at him smirks. "The genin from the sound village, will be chunin when this is over. Guaranteed. After everyone went silent, I hear a poof of smoke appear turning to see him.

Assuming they overheard our conversation.

"Alright you baby faced degenerates!" The man yells, as the smoke starts to disappear revealing a large amount of jonin behind him.

My eyes caught sight of my big brother also within the big bunch of jonin, right beside the scarred ninja.

"Pipe down and listen up! It's time to begin, I'm Ibiki Morino....your proctor, and from this moment your worst enemy."

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