Chapter 15: Expose and Destroy

Only one more team made it with minutes to spare, lead by Kabuto Yakushi with his two covered teammates.

Absolutely filthy compared to the others that had the time to shower and fix their clothing, all those that have completed the second exam have arrived and were set into lines of three. Variances of excitement and nerves bounced through the air as all their jonin sensei's and previous Proctors stood there, with a sickly man arriving next to the Third Hokage in a large cloud made up of shunshin and clearly his smoke.

The room was extremely large and open, a statue of the hand sign forming Ram pushed against the furthest wall from two doors, one leading to a small infirmary and the other leading to the rest of the tower. Two walkways with long stairways leading up to them, were several feet high above the ground. Carved into the paved wall, there were three different, yet subtle rises on the ground. Two platform-like raised lead to the third, where the Ram sign statue sat with all the proctors patiently waiting in a line.

Staring up at the higher ranking group, the six teams that survived were impatiently quiet. Naruto was, however, frowning. She knew what her sensei meant by everyone taking a trip to the hospital.

It meant that she needed to do the female physical exams, Sasuke needing his sanity evaluated, and Sakura learning about their DNA in depth and what seals could do to get over her fear over her two fellow teammates.

Naruto also knew that when her own chakra was being used, the seal on her stomach glowed. Mind feeling like it was almost tortured as her body rejected Orochimaru's seal as memories were pulled out of her mother's forcefully, the feeling of waking up to a twisted hat made her wonder on which seals Sakura knew about in the first place - as it wasn't a S-rank secret to figure out her prisoner. As long as she didn't tell anyone else who didn't know, though the Head Doctor did know.

That still did not help the nibbling betrayal from the oldest man in her life, updating her gender onto her public information without her permission. Now she didn't even know who knew.

"First of all, congratulations on finishing the Second Exam! Didn't expect so many of you to be left, but heh." Mouth piece wrapped around her ear with her voice echoing through speakers in the ceiling, Anko's smirk was partially hidden as she leaned to her side. "Anyways, listen up! Hokage-sama will explain the Third Exam to you, so you better pay attention carefully!" Pointer finger reaching underneath a thick purple lock, the microphone was shut off though her voice carried to everyone's ears. "They're all yours, Hokage-sama."

Grunting in acknowledgement as a cloud of smoke left his lips, the elderly man in white stepped forward. "First, before I tell you what the Third Exam entails, I want to explain something about the test itself. Listen closely now, as it is something that you all need to understand. I'm going to tell you the true purpose of these exams."

"True purpose?" Hand on his stomach, Choji both hungrily and tiredly mumbled loudly, cheeks flushing when his voice and stomach lightly echoed in the wide room.

"Why do you suppose our countries hold these exams in conjunction with our allies?" Taking hold of the front of his hat as Kiba vocally hummed I dunno, Hurizen sighed. "To raise the ability levels of the Shinobi and increase friendship between allied nations, to be sure. But it's important that you understand it's true meaning, the exams are so to speak.." Attempting to find the correct words, he shifted in his spot. "They're a representation of the battles between allied nations."

"What's that suppose to mean!?" Stepping out of line behind her teammate Lee, Tenten worriedly spoke up before her mind could catch up with her mouth.

"Now, if we look at all the countries we are allied with, they were once neighboring nations that continuously fought with each other for power. In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly, those nations would pick champions to battle on behalf of their countries in a mutually selected location. That was how the chunin selection exams originally began."

"Why do we have to go through the exams then, I mean it's not like we're doing it to pick chunin to go fight?" Arms crossed her chest, Naruto saw Sasuke shift in the corner of her eye to attempt to silence her.

"Actually, there's no question that part of the point of these exams is to select shinobi worthy enough to become chunin, that's just not the whole story. These exams also allow for a place so shinobi can carry the pride of their nation on their backs, and fight against other ninja for their very lives. Many leaders and people of prominence countries are invited to attend this exam as guests and also to possibly seek shinobi to work for them later." Eyebrows raised unimpressed as Naruto's eyes found the Hokage's, she emphasized her frown despite the free political lesson. "This exam, could determine the course of your ninja work from here on out and more importantly, those future customers will watch your battles and take note of the strengths that each ninja and each nation is developing. If there is a gap in power between the countries, the strong nations will increase with requests for their ninja and the request for countries deemed weak, will decline. Therefore, the stronger our nation is, the better our position when it comes to negotiating with neighboring countries. So it's important to show how much military strength our village has."

"Why is it important for us to risk our lives for all this then!?" Fangs barred as Akamaru yapped, Kiba clenched his fists as Hinata flinched from his loud voice.

"The countries strength is the villages strength. The villages strength is the shinobi strength, and the true strength of the shinobi is when they're pushed to their limits such as in a life and death battle. This exam is a chance for each nation to display the strength of each shinobi and hence, the strength of the nation itself. It's because this is an exam where your life is on the line, that it has meaning. It's for this very reason that for the strength of the nation that you growing genin fight in this exam. To do so is truly a dream worth striving for." Resting his pipe on his bottom lip, the Sandaime closed his eyes as Tenten once again shouted.

"But then why did you use the expression of friendship before?"

"Then you only remembered half of what I said! You also mustn't have the wrong idea of the exams meaning. This is a custom in which balance is preserved by fighting and dying, as in the world of the shinobi, that is friendship. The Third Exam is a fight for life with the pride of your village and your own dreams at stake."

"Well, you sure convinced me," Naruto plainly said, the words being picked apart in her mind. 'I have to show my skills as they are to all the influential, future customers that won't know me for anything else besides a Uzumaki. Rally support, show off all that I got and hint at what I can be. Me leading later will only bring in more support. Any strength I show with what's left of my family behind me will not completely scare everyone. This has only been a test on if I'm serious enough to go through with everything they throw at me for my promotion."

"Any test is fine. Just tell me what the details of the exam are already, I can handle anything you throw at me." The familiar flatline that sent shivers of fear up the other genin spines only made the fire-like girl rise to her tip toes to see the back of his red hair.

"Listen closely then, I'll be telling you exactly what you'll be doing for the Third Exam then."

Beginning another long huff, he was interrupted by the sickly man that had arrived with him. "I apologize, Hokage-sama. I - auck - do believe that we have too many contestants left before we begin the third phase." Voice scratchy and thick with nonexistent mucus growing, he hid his mouth behind his hand and began coughing.

"Hm, I suppose you're right." Giving a once over to the gathered group, Hurizen gave a small wave of goodbye as he disappeared in another cloud of smoke. Turning to face the impatient and growing irritated crowd, the sickly man sighed.

"What do you mean there is too many of us?" Lee shouted, Tenten nodding behind him as Kiba loudly groaned in agreement. Shikamaru could only sigh and hide his face in his hands, Naruto's jaw dropping at the man.

"Oh shit, that's Hayate Gekko!" She whispered excitedly, bouncing on the tip of her toes as she announced his name for him loudly. "Holy shit, I can't believe it."

"Who?" Sasuke actually lowly uttered to her, his body twisting to barely meet her hidden eyes. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed to her however, fingers spreading as he analyzed the tattoo on the back of her neck while she face-palmed.

"A preliminary exam will be held first, before the third one can begin - auck." Coughing in between his words with steadying breath, he tiredly rubbed at his vest. "There are just too many of you left, and - auck - as Hokage-sama said, there - auck, will be several important guests and we can't afford for them to keep them there all day," turning his body so he could point up to the wall behind the giant Ram Seal, a rumbling in the ground shook the room as an electronic panel came into view. Blank until the ground was stable once more, Hayate turned back to the small crowd.

"From here on out, none of your decisions will effect your teammates. If you choose to, you - auck, ugh - can raise your hand to drop out right now. You will be escorted out, of the Forest and can return to your life - urg - otherwise." Nobody moved, everyone holding their breath as they waited for someone - anyone to leave. "Auck - what is your name?"

From just the corner of her eye, Naruto saw who she thought to be an obvious spy, raise his hand.

"Kabuto Yakushi." Hand raised as the other sat on his shoulder, he smiled abashedly and almost ashamed of himself. "Admittedly, I'm out of chakra. I don't think I'd be able to win, so I'd rather not just waste everyone's time."

'Liar, I can feel all your chakra.' Not saying it out loud, she sneered at him as he gave a wave to his teammates. "Anyone else?"

Not seeing any of the others raise their hands, Hayate shrugged and raised his arm to flick his wrist above his head.

The board began flickering through the remaining names, flashing over each and every single one until it slowed. "The two opponents are - auck - chosen completely at random, so if there's - urk - nothing left to be said, then let us begin."

Sasuke Uchiha vs Kiba Inuzaka

"Awh yeah! You ready to finally beat the Uchiha's ass, Akamaru!?" Shouting excitedly as he strutted to the center of the floor with said pup jumping out of the front of his jacket, Sasuke only turned to Naruto and frowned, her snorting with a passing comment under her breath as they went their separate ways.

"Nobody will bet with me on this one, 'cause everyone knows you're gonna win."

Taking his place across from Kiba close to the proctor, said man pointed to the two walkways lining the walls. "Everyone else can wait up there, until - auck - their own names are called." Waiting for them to trudge up the stairwell, Sasuke felt anticipation grow at the shuffling silence and the Inuzaka's confident grin.

Behind the Uchiha's back, the Sound, Sand, and what was left of Kabuto's team gathered with their sensei's loosely spread across the average sized place as a tense air floated above them. Before him, the rest of the Konoha teams were completely scrambled together to lowly speak their comments on the fights - with Naruto and Kakashi the only two technically beside their team in their own silence.

Feeling the interested and menacing eyes of Gaara glare into his back, a small sigh escaped through his nose at the trouble being considered close to Naruto was beginning to give him.

Coughing especially hard once to gain their attention, Hayate glanced between the two. "Auck - are the two contestants ready?"

"Hell yeah!" Kiba shouted, falling into his stance as Sasuke only nodded, kunai in his hand once more.

"The battles - auck, ugh - are only over when I say so, when one forfeits, or - auck - if one of the contestants die," eyes sweeping side to side, an eyebrow quirked at the red gleam in the Uchiha's own pair. Taking a step back as Naruto leaned forward in her spot, Kakashi tugged her back as she nearly fell forward in surprise at the sickly man's sudden shout. "Begin!"

Immediately Sasuke blurred out of existence, Akamaru being kicked backward into the wall behind the creature as he aimed a chakra'd kick to Kiba's stomach, sending him in the opposite direction. Twitch of pain in his left arm at the curse mark flaring up, the Uchiha roughly picked up the white dog and held his kunai to its neck in a quick move of desperation. "Forfeit or lose your mutt!"

Several heads reeled back in shock, Naruto's jaw falling open as she felt her stomach drop with it. 'That's fucking insane,' she thought as she observed Kiba rise to his feet, a clear panic setting in his slitted eyes. 'This is the first thing he does, but he won't really do it, will he?'

The dog hung loosely by the skin and fur on the back of his neck as he was held at arms length, unable to escape or bite without his partners assistance, the gleam of Sasuke's kunai reflecting the light above them. "I'm not kidding, Kiba. I have better things to do than to deal with your wannabe top-dog attitude to settle your academy days jealousy."

Nearly growling as he faked confidence, the Inuzaka stood on his two feet properly and tilted his head with a forced smirk. "You've been too scared to even come near the rest of us, the kids you once treated like shit because you thought you were the best! I bet you've just become weak, and don't want anyone to find out." Shrugging cockily, he took a shaky step forward - Sasuke only lightly pushing the tip of his kunai into Akamaru's neck.

"I only win when you're defeated, not your dog. Do you really think you can fight without him, though?" A bead of blood dropped downward, following the curve of the blade as the smell quickly reached Kiba's nose.

Freezing in his spot, the Inuzaka began shaking with anger as his mind forcefully flashed back to times with his furry partner. Barring his sharpened canine teeth as he took a step back, he shakily sighed in defeat as Akamaru whimpered pitifully.

They hadn't interacted too much in the Academy, Naruto being the one who always challenged Sasuke day in and day out, each time ending with Naruto being put into what everyone thought her place was.

It was a shameful, embarrassing place to be in and each time Kiba sparred with the Uchiha in class, he was put into it instead.

He wanted to win to pass and become a chunin, being the first match as well, he didn't have the time before to think about wanting to win against the Uchiha as a true personal goal to later recall fondly until their rankings came to play from his mouth, but the want returned full force at the reminder. 'What a piece of shit,' Kiba thought. 'Sakura was right about you, man. Poor Naruto, being close to you of all damn people.'

"Proctor.. I give up."

Stares of disbelief, levels of betrayal, wariness and even interest gazed into Sasuke's form, who dropped the dog uncaring. "Winner of the first match: Sasuke Uchiha!"

A single medic made their way across the floor and after noticing the deep indent in the wall, had a hand cover the battered dog as he read off the condition of the small pet. "Two broken ribs, a single nick on the neck, otherwise he'll be fine."

Making his way to his teammates that stared at him in their own disguised manners of disappointment, Naruto quickly bumped chest with Sasuke. "Teme, what the hell!?" Leaning into his face for her breath to fan across his face, Sasuke only stared back into Naruto's face. "You went too far there! I don't like him either, but I wouldn't kill his dog to win a match!"

Voice echoing as Kiba followed the medic into the infirmary to attend to the injuries without causing delay in the matches, even Hayate remained still in his spot as he joined everyone in listening on the scold.

"He was an asshole, I get it. Hell, he still is! But he didn't do anything to deserve for his best friend to die just for a promotion!" Grabbing his shoulders for the Uchiha to attempt to push them off, she tightly gripped onto his shirt. "Whether you were just faking it to get the match over with, you still could've done it some other way, like beat him into passing out like you use to - "

"He needed to learn, Naru." Hissing as he gripped her wrists to fail in forcefully removing them, he leaned his head in further to stare behind the tint of her goggles. "It's time to grow up. Hanging onto what happened in the academy and applying it to now just to appeal to his ego when it doesn't mean a single thing, is annoying."

"You're the one who brought it up first! That makes you a hypocrite!" Twisting his shirt in her hands, a gloved one sat on top of her and Sasuke's shoulders and gently eased them apart from each other.

"Naruto, Sasuke, enough." Book back in his pouch as he leaned his head downward to disrupt the glaring contest, his voice was soft and gentle - attempting to not be heard by those who knew his current probation from personal time with his students. "Naruto is right, as you shouldn't have threatened your comrade in that way. Ano, you could've at least waited until a less public place to set him straight." Patting both their shoulders as he slowly drew back, against the wall once more to continue discreetly observing, the Uchiha heir stared down at his feet as Naruto stared up to their sensei silently, him finally meeting her gaze head on.

There was a gentle noise that came with the panel choosing the names. It barely made her flinch, Sasuke only glancing upward to see the names roll up in time.

Shikamaru Nara vs Dosu

Feeling his leg nudged gently by Sakura, said lazy boy finally took a moment to observe the panel in his sleepy haze.

"What a drag," Shikamaru complained under his breath, taking his time to stand up from his place on the floor as the tense air from two comrades attempted to clear. Thinking out loud as Asuma and Ino gave him dirty looks, he ignored them. "If I win, there'll be more work for the Third Stage, but if I lose.." Pushed toward the stairs by Ino, he grunted before slowly making his way down to the makeshift arena. Not bothering to look at the board, only in the general direction of his competition, he groaned loudly at who it was. "You, again."

Lips twitching as a dangerous look passed in his eye, Dosu immediately jumped over the railing and landed on a knee. Waiting almost impatiently as Shikamaru took his place with his shoulders slouching, the lazy male sent a smile stuck in between irritation and amusement. Hand fisted around an object already from his pocket, Dosu's lone eye attempted and failed in trying to place the object as Hayate felt the familiar air of a Nara's dislike.

Not saying a thing, only swallowing the wad of never-ending mucus in the back of his throat, he rose his arm once more - it falling with his word. "Begin!"

Finally breaking the stare, Naruto turned curiously to watch the match, a snicker escaping the back of her throat at what Shikamaru had - the lazy male popping them into his ears immediately.

Ear plugs.

Walking forward to lean onto the railing to peer directly down onto the backing up Nara, her head rested onto her hand as she fell into the old habit of ogling in blant admiration - the action caught by several others and the grinning Ino.

Back against the wall as his hands found his pockets, Shikamaru raised his eyebrows as he waited for the Sound Nin to make his first move.

Scowling at the ear plugs, Dosu rose from his one knee casually before holding a bandaged arm out. To those above, the waves emitted from his arm could almost be seen as Shikamaru only leaned to the left, the small chunk of a wall behind his head rising dangerously fast.

The swinging lights above casted an off shade of white, the shadow of the great statue growing and shrinking every other second, the railings throwing small shadows flickering back and forth over the tips of his own clothing, and watching Dosu watch him attempt the next move, the Nara gave his own smirk.

Barely muttering his family's signature jutsu - his shadow expanded quickly to tickle the length maximally reached right before Dosu's feet before he jumped backwards - Shikamaru leaping forward suddenly as bumps in the ground attempted to throw him off his balance. Obvious underestimation of the Nara's shadow length from their last match in the Forest, Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes at Dosu's visible and loud grunt of surprise when he quickly caught him.

Voice louder from not able to completely hear, the sound nin's arms imitated Shikamaru's as he crossed them. "You manipulated the sound waves before, in both the ground and the inner ear canal. Unless you had any other tricks up your sleeves, I would win, no matter what."

Twitches in attempts to break the act of mockery, the pineapple lookalike released a lazy grin as Dosu shouted in irritation at him. "You can't do a single thing unless it hurts you-"

"You're wrong." Easily reading the lips and not caring for the other's offended look, he cut him off loudly as he spun around - Shikamaru to stare up at his comrades and Dosu into a concrete wall - the two boys gave a bow as Dosu went instantly limp as his head violently slammed into the wall.

Cutting the flow of his chakra and righting himself, Shikamaru slouched his shoulders tiredly before giving one last glance to the Sound nin, a squad of three medics coming in with a stretcher to drag his body to the infirmary. Ear plugs pulled out, he caught the light applause and impressed filled murmurings of his devised plan while Hayate made the announcement. "Winner of the second match, Shikamaru Nara!"

Making his way up the stairs onto Konoha's dibbed walkway, Naruto grinned at him from behind her goggles. "Nice, Shikamaru!"

Nodding and muttering his thanks as he attempted to walk by the two, the quickly arriving Ino roughly pushed him backward to stand between Naruto and Sasuke, him searching for a new way to walk past the bossy blonde to his original spot against the floor. "And here I thought you didn't want to win, to get out of all the extra training?" Arms crossed with a knowing smile, she leaned forward on her tip toes to cover her mouth as she yelled in a whispering tone for Sasuke to face palm in irritation and Naruto's nose to scrunch in confusion. "Is it because.. you did it for a certain member on Team 7?"

A blank look was the only thing she was gifted and as the Uzumaki heiress was distracted with trying to silently ask the others in the rookie 9 with outrageous hand gestures on Shikamaru's sexuality and his prediction of the Sound nin, Ino's shifting and pointing eyes made the said boy fall to the floor and scoot himself around their legs in exasperation and outright desperation for distance from the matchmaking blonde.

"I don't think Sakura is all that interested in someone like him, but I wanna know how he even knew he was gonna fight a sound nin anyways!" Rubbing her chin as the electronic board began shifting through their names again, the blonde could only cross her arms and scowl at her crawling teammate and at what she thought once was her fellow blonde.

Ignoring her whispers of where the Nara went, Ino blew up. "No! God, even forehead girl has a better taste in men than that! I was talking about another.. member." Leaning in to invade her personal space, Naruto was backed against the railing as Ino smiled like a predator.

Avoiding the nervous connecting dots in her own mind, the fire-like girl turned to catch the names of the chosen two for the third match.

Temari vs Kin Tsuchi

"I didn't know Shikamaru was interested in males," Sasuke casually interrupted. Arms crossed as he cooly leaned against the wall beside Kakashi whose face deeply buried behind his book once again, Ino finally turned to him and sent a mixed look toward him, glancing back at Naruto in almost concern.

"No, I'm sure he's into girls." Finality on the boys sexuality as Naruto covered her face and groaned, fingers curling onto her hat at the realization of what the fellow genin was doing, her mouth opened to begin yelling, only to be interrupted once again before given the chance.

"We may not personally know either of the two, but it is rude to talk over the twos matches." Eye-smiling over his perverted novel, the three were left silent with Ino nodding as Hinata, Choji, Shikamaru and Asuma watched the interaction. Walking back to the mismatched group of rookies embarrassed to be quietly scolded awkwardly by her sensei for being mysterious on what gender someone may identify as, Naruto fell to her bottom and finally gave into staring upset at her reading sensei. The underbelly of betrayal ate at her stomach from the older men in her life, so far.

Behind her, the two females of Sound and Sand stared at each other intently. Two different smirks that reflected the confidences in their abilities, chances to win and continue forth, Temari's hair bouncing with the small wind current caused by hidden vents, her large and opened fan held in both hands.

"Begin!" Leaping backward as Kin threw several senbon and Temari's large fan swung, chakra sent through her feet was the only thing that kept the black haired girl in place as her own senbon nicked at the edge of her clothing.

"She's already lost," Neji spoke up quietly with his doujutsu activated, his voice ringing in the Rookie's quietly dibbed area in awe at rarely seen before at the silent wind technique.

Humming in disappointment, Tenten nodded in agreement as several of the other genin looked over confused. "Who did?" Sakura spoke up, avoiding to look the Hyuuga in the eye.

Surprised to even be spoken to by the greener genin, Neji pursed his lips into a long frown before deactivating the Bakuygan. "The Sound nin, Kin Tsuchi. Unless she has fire or earth jutsu besides her subtle genjutsu, then her attacks will be fruitless or harm herself."

"That is very unyouthful of you, Neji-kun." His own voice low as he was focused on the two females, Lee bowed his head as Neji sent a heated glare into his side. Not saying a thing more to the Hyuuga, Lee turned to weed his way to sit beside Naruto. "If I may ask, Naruto-kun!" Eyes large as he invaded her personal space, leaning onto her as she leaned the other way, a bead of sweat dropped down her cheek at his folded hands.

"Yeah, whatcha need bushy-brows?"

"Why did you use such unyouthful language toward Proctor-san?"

Giggling almost manically at the nice distraction, she finally leaned back against him as Kin let out a large cry of pain, wind ripping against her hat harshly. Catching Kin attempt to dodge the wind by jumping into the air to run to the statue, she was only pinned against the wall - her head releasing a splattering blood stain. Face scrunching up in disgust as she slid down the wall, Naruto shivered before focusing once more on the question.

"It wasn't in a bad way, ya know? Just couldn't believe he got roped into being a proctor at all." Waving it off as she caught the attention of the others, Kakashi peering over his book as Gai stared on with a soft smile, a twitch returned to Asuma's left eyebrow at where their conversation was heading.

"Is it because he is unwell?" Lee asked, voice full of concern as he began to quickly mutter about sending get well flowers, counting the cost on his fingers and challenges to do if he could not send flowers - before she snorted.

"Nah, he's actually another pretty big deal like your sensei. Sword master and all that, on par with the Seven Swordsman!" Winking at the eyes somehow widening even further, Ino interrupted with a hand on her hip.

"I've never even heard of him! How would you know?"

Ears turning red as she scratched at the back of her head, chuckling awkwardly as she began to scoot on her bottom backwards to the stairs, Shino shifted in his place, drawing the attention with a loud swallow. "Naruto-san has always been quite adventurous as a child. Before deciding to become Hokage, he would aspire to become a master at different skills. He would end up observing several of the chunin and jonin, becoming quite stealthy despite his orange jumpsuit before."

Eyebrows raised as all heads turned to her, she shrugged. "Asuma probably remembers me, don't ya?"

"Asuma-sensei?" Ino muttered in disbelief, soft blue eyes bouncing between him and Naruto. "He was worthy enough to be stalked by you!? Wait - how does Shino even know about that?" Spinning on her heel to point at Shino, he walked by her briskly, forcibly high fived by Naruto as he made his way into the arena. "Hey, don't ignore me!"

"It is his turn to compete, Ino-san! Against the lovely Sakura-chan!" Lee cooed, hopping from his spot to lean over the the railing wildly to ogle Sakura.

Shyly leaning from side to side, having jumped down in the excited talk as if she was invisible, the distracted shinobi checked the panel, some of them having completely missed the announcement of who truly won, despite the obvious missing Sound Genin.

Shino vs Sakura

"Go Forehead-girl, kick his butt! Maybe we'll compete in the next stage if you win!" Ino called down in encouragement at her unsure expression, smiling as her rival stood just a little taller.

"I still can't believe you use to stalk shinobi, Naruto," Shikamaru complained, attempting to scratch for information. "So difficult, so troublesome.."

Shrugging, the girl turned away from her teammates match, outright planning to ignore it as Lee proclaimed his love as his own encouragement. "Ehh, I took it as a challenge, ya know? We weren't learning about finding our own styles in our first few years and I didn't know what mine was gonna be, so I tried finding it by following some of the coolest shinobi I could find. Found out a lot 'bout what I shouldn't know, what I should, that kinda stuff."

Behind her, Hayate shouted begin and Naruto could feel the nervous chakra of Sakura.

She knew how the match was going to go down, no offense to her ignorant and civilian raised teammate, but Shino knew about her stalking habits because they were once close. 'His insects suck up chakra so unless she plans on setting them with fire something, she's already lost. Not to be all negative, but whatever.'

"Who all have you stalked, dead-last?" Mouth opened to form a small and disgusted O, Neji stared at her from the corner of his eye. Rolling her eyes at his insult, she shrugged.

"Long list, if ya really wanna hear it."

"Is this seriously why you skipped so much class?" Tenten asked, brow gathered as she huffed.

"Wait, how do you guys know Naruto?" Ino asked, head turning back and forth between Team 9 to her sensei and said girl as she tried to keep up with Sakura's match all at once. 'Forgot she was a gossip queen - actually, this could help later on.' Naruto thought with a sideways glance. 'Even though this part doesn't matter in the end, other than to let her get to know me.'

"I took three different graduation exams, but to do that, there's sort of a catch to it. Two months in that class to actually find a rank other than dead last, catch up if you're trying to graduate early, actually get to know your future teammates to pass kinda thing. Even though I was apart of your class officially and failed, I got transferred to two others for my first two exams," grinning at the fond memories of a new sensei to prank at the times, she added more as an after thought. "Probably didn't notice me missing 'cause I skipped so much class anyways."

"Back to Neji's question, who did you stalk exactly?" Tenten asked, feeling unimpressed with the match that so far only contained dodging and running.

Fingers out as her eyes rolled up the ceiling, Naruto began counting on each finger. "Well, first it was Asuma. Practiced my stealth on him for a long while, until I got good enough that he didn't realize I was around anymore -"

"Goddamnit," Asuma muttered with disdain around his cigarette, the speed of taking a drag and releasing speeding up immensely.

"Then it was Ibiki Morino, Might Gai, Hayate Gekko, couple different of ANBU's." Shrugging as she leaned back onto her palms, she glanced down in time to miss the interested look of Kakashi, his mind racing to several oddities happening in the headquarters when he was operating.

"What interested you so much about them, Naruto-san?" Kurenai spoke up, ruby eyes focused on her student though her ears paid attention to the conversation going around her. "I realize we haven't met before and I don't mean to eavesdrop, but I am Kurenai Yuuhi, sensei of Team 8."

"Nice to meet you, Kurenai-sensei! But ya know, they had their quirks," shrugging as she leaned further back onto her hands, she felt quite self conscious at everyone staring at her with deep interest, recognizing the emotional chakra in them all. "Asuma was ojisan's kid who talked about his plans a lot, Ibiki Morino was already head of T&I, Might Gai is a friggin taijutsu master and Hayate is a kenjutsu master." Turning her head to catch Sakura's chakra sputtering as it fell harshly with her body, she sighed before continuing lowly, Hayate checking her pulse. "They had different views, different opinions, different lifestyles. People said things about them all the time, and ya know."

'I wasn't being taught in school, even on the days I tried so hard. I needed to learn, even if it meant to teach myself through others,' she translated quietly to herself.

"Winner of the fourth match: Shino Aburame!"

Sakura's body was picked up by two medics holding a stretcher as Shino quietly returned to their side of the walkway, nodding respectively to all the members of Team 7 as he made his way to his original spot. Twisting her body around to hang her legs between the bars, her forehead leaned onto the railing as she felt several eyes stare into her back and at the panel, the topic changing quickly.

"Poor Sakura-chan," Lee sighed mournfully as the board landed once more onto another pair of names.

Ino Yamanaka vs Hinata Hyuuga

"This may be interesting," Shikamaru murmured, yawning into his hand as Choji nodded in agreement. The two girls gave each other passing looks, not saying a word from their missing personal history.

Leaning back in her spot, Naruto gave an encouraging wave as Hinata passed on her way down, her brows quickly furrowing as the Hyuuga flushed red and ran the rest of the way, Ino simply jumping from the railing and taking point with her back towards the other genin teams. Encouraging words were sent to Hinata on her way, but the Konoha majority otherwise kept quiet on who to root for.

Ino fell into the academy's fighting style, leg muscles tensed and ready to move as Hinata formed the Ram handseal and whispered her doujutsu, before hesitantly falling into the Gentle Fist. Hayate, the bag under his eyes emphasized further as he took his time in observing the two very different girls, rose his hand at their readying stances. "Begin!"

Ino instantly sprinted left as Hinata's expanded view followed her, her breath becoming unsteady with her nerves. Watching the blonde pull out a set of shuriken and throw them loosely before her fingers began to race - the flying stars ranging from aiming at her body and way off to her complete right - Hinata ducked below them and charged forward as Ino gasped and jumped upward into the air before attempting to land a kick down onto the back of the other heiress' head.

Jerking her body left in time for Ino's shoe to slide down her jackets sleeve, a tap on a pale ankle sending the blonde flipping backwards to run and create distance.

Eyes peeled open in interest at the two polar opposites, one loud and brave, the other quiet and shy, Naruto couldn't help but grin at the match.

"You figured it out, huh? That I was trying to get you to move into a predictable spot so I could use my jutsu?"

"Y-Yes, I d-did." Swallowing and taking deep breaths as her opponent raised once more, Hinata's back straightened hesitantly as she waited.

Readying herself once more, Ino stood tall with a dramatic flick of her hips as she leaned onto her right leg. "Ino and Hinata-chan never really talked before, right?" Naruto listened for her former classmates confirm it quietly, themselves staring intently at the two.

"I can see this going one of two ways, Hinata! You sealing all my chakra points or me getting into your body and forfeiting defeat for you," Rolling her shoulders as she hunched forward, she sprinted to her right and made it half way around the Hyuuga before two kunai from her pouch were pulled out as she turned to head straight for the shy girl. "So what is it going to be!?"

Blinking quickly to catch the surprisingly fast fists of Ino, Hinata spun back and forth wildly in her place as she attempted to dodge the obvious stabbing attempts, her lethal finger taps barely reaching home at the blonde's fast swings and twitching-like body movements. Watching the shy girl finally spin her body into a position to use a powerful kick to push the blonde away, Hinata paused as she watched Ino lay there for a moment, coughing as she regained her breath.

To Naruto, the air felt different between them. Their chakra's were hostile only toward each other and Ino's mouth frequently twitched with words wanting to spill themselves forward, none of it truly being said for their almost polite conversation instead. "Do they not like each other or something?" She asked out loud, turning her head to catch surprised looks from Shikamaru and Chouji.

Swallowing everything in his mouth, Chouji asked before Shikamaru could. "What?"

Blinking at them and seeing nothing from Shino that gave it away, she shook her head before turning back to the match. "It just seems all, fake here. Like they have something they want to say, but aren't because of what happened earlier between dog-breath and bastard."

Chouji returned to his munching on his bag of chips as Shikamaru answered for them both. "You're not completely wrong."

Waiting for him to continue, he didn't even bother giving her another glance as she returned her attention back to the match, where Ino was rising from the ground finally and staring at Hinata intently. Watching the blonde adjust her headband as Naruto felt her chakra focus into a single point, Hinata shook for a moment before taking and releasing a low breath.

'They're ending it now.' Naruto realized, before frowning in her unanswered curiosity. 'What's wrong with all of us for to take it out on each other now?' Referring to the breaking moments of her team and the silent anger somehow held of all the Konoha genin here, she held her breath as the two heiress shot at each other.

Watching the Yamanaka heiress run her fingers through her family's signature jutsu, shouting the name just as Hinata picked up her speed, the shout and usual action of falling limp onto a comrade only spelled both of their ends as several shinobi winced. Sending Ino's body flying back at the impact, Hinata fell onto her knees before her head made a thick clunk on the pavement. Poofs of smoke in the stands only allowed to the two sensei's of the girls to appear near them, both of them worriedly checking for their pulses and any sign of consciousness as Hayate held his hand in the air.

"What's happening?" Naruto whispered, Shino answering for her just as quietly, their voices still heard by everyone nearby in the silence.

"Hinata-san struck quite randomly in Yamanaka-san's chest as she finished her mind transferring jutsu. If she had struck an important organ, Yamanaka-san will die and Hinata-san will have won the match." Frowning at the idea of killing for a promotion once again, Naruto's shoulders fell in relief at the thumbs up Kurenai and Asuma sent to the proctor.

"Fifth Match: Double knockout, - auck. " hand falling at the finalzation of said match, he coughed into his other hand while his tired eyes wandered. "Before we continue with the sixth, we will have a - auck, ugh - 15 minute break. Use the restroom, visit the canteen for a - ahem - snack, whatever. Just be back before we - auck - begin again."

Being the only male left in the bathroom, Shikamaru took his leisure time washing his hands until the door leading in was opened.

"Shikamaru, I've been looking for you man!" Turning his head with a heavy sigh, he shook his hands over the sink before wiping his hands on his pants.

"What is it, Naruto?"

Fiddling her fingers inside her pockets, Naruto shrugged as she leaned onto the wall. "You said I wasn't completely wrong about Ino and Hinata. What'd you mean?"

Sighing heavily again, the Nara boy walked over to the opposite wall of the hidden carrot top and slid down. "You know, you're really oblivious."

Squinting at his words, she stared at him silently until he finally sighed and answered tiredly. "You know how back in the academy, Hinata was sometimes missing from class?"

"Uh, sort of. I mostly saw her around town whenever I was skipping anyways though.."

"Yeah well, she had permission to from her father, the Hyuuga Clan Head, and all of the teachers for it. Heard they were for private lessons to help with her confidence mostly, but even when she was there, she still received some special treatment from the staff. Ino just didn't really like it."

Rubbing her hand across her face, Naruto tried to remember if she had caught any of the apparent special treatment. "I always thought that was just because she was really shy and gentle?" She muttered, only to catch Shikamaru shaking his head.

"If it was, it's not the way that Ino took it. She typically believes in that, girl power, if you catch my drift." Wincing at the confused expression, he sighed again. "You're hopeless, Naruto. Girl power is when girls encourage each other to do stuff, sometimes just because they're another girl. She believes in empowering more females, especially when it comes down to being a shinobi since there are more guys in this profession naturally. I guess to her it just looked like a lot of things were being handed to Hinata because of her last name."

"Pfft! You're joking, right?" Rolling her eyes and sticking out her tongue from his irritated look, she threw her hands up. "If she doesn't like Hinata for that, then she shouldn't be fangirling over Sasuke-teme!"

Only nodding in silent agreement did Shikamaru wonder why Naruto was in the boys bathroom if she was apparently a girl.

Unable to see where her eyes were, her stiffening posture gave it away that it finally crossed her mind as well.

"Eh, Shikamaru?"

"..Yeah?"

Fumbling with the collar of her jacket, he barely caught the drop of sweat sliding down her face. "So.. you know I'm a girl?"

Watching her reaction, he chose his words carefully. "If you are one, then alright, you're a troublesome girl." The tensing in her shoulders only eased halfway back down, so he distracted himself in the awkward silence by standing up to begin heading back to the makeshift arena. "Why'd you come to ask me about all this anyways?"

Naruto's easy-going grin crinkled her whiskered cheeks as she snorted. "You're Shikamaru, man! You know everything 'cause you're so observant." Following his step out of the bathroom and into the now mostly deserted hallway, the clock on the opposite wall showed they had three minutes left of their break.

"Ugh. It's almost as if we're back in school. Doesn't mean I always have the answers," he mused out loud in the beginning stages of irritation.

"No, you don't." Naruto stepped around him as he paused in his spot, surprised at the already missing amusement from before as she sighed almost mournfully. "But sometimes, you help me figure them out without even trying."

Not knowing what else to say as he watched her walk away, Shikamaru took another glance at the clock before following her slowly. In his mind, he felt as though he was staring at a mislabeled puzzle. Meant to be made up of only 10 pieces for an easily done picture, it appeared as if the two missing zeros meant to be behind it have faded from the boxes cover. He wasn't sure if he was up for the task of figuring it out, considering who it would evolve around - 'A loud, troublemaking girl of all things.' - but he was growing concerned of what would happen if he didn't.

Naruto was however, once again feeling down as she drowned in her worries and thoughts. She may have felt like she made an epiphany yesterday, but she still had a request to follow through with to make yesterdays less daunting. 'This exam is bringing out the worse in everyone.' Frowning as she made her way down to the stairs leading to the makeshift arena, making it in time for Gekko to unlock the doors, Ino's dancing eyes between her and Shikamaru forced worry to begin eating at her stomach. 'Then again, I guess it already brought out the bad in me.'

I was really hesitant on posting this chapter. I don't really like it to be honest, but I don't know how else to write out the first half and you guys deserve the next chapter at some point.

Posted: 9/15/17