"It is that time again. Do we have nominations?"

The Hokage sat at the head of a large table. Jonin-sensei sat around it, with other jonin and chunin standing around the back of the room. Everyone was interested in hearing who would be put forward into the chunin exams. Not only was it good, non-confidential gossip, but it would help them decide who to bet on at the bookies.

Kurenai raised her arm. "I nominate all of team eight: Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba."

Muttering arose from the onlookers. It certainly wasn't unheard of for first year teams to be entered, but it was uncommon.

Asuma wasted no time. "I nominate all of team nine: Akamichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino."

The muttering increased. Heads swiveled towards Kakashi. He looked bored.

"What are you all looking at me for?"

Someone coughed.

"Sorry. I was going to nominate my team. I thought it might motivate them. I don't need to now. The exams will just slow them down."

The muttering stopped as everyone processed that, then doubled.

Hiruzen rolled his eyes. "Yes yes… Silence." A hush fell.

"Very amusing Kakashi. That is your prerogative of course. Now, I find it hard to believe we only have two rookie teams entering."

Gai raised his hand. "Team ten is now ready," he stated. His eyes were still on Kakashi however.

Kakashi just grinned back from behind his mask, as several others chimed in.

•••••••••

Kakashi appeared on the bridge. His students were floating on their backs in the river below. Sasuke opened an eye. "Yo."

Kakashi snorted in amusement. "Yo."

The three teens stretched before standing up and jumping onto the bridge.

"Have you had time to see Haku?" This was directed towards Naruto.

"Yeah. After I got out, I took Hinata to meet her. They got on pretty well, and Haku is doing better. Still a long recovery, but she definitely needed a hospital."

"Got out of where?" Sakura asked.

"Oh. Um, after we got home, everything kind of caught up to me. I, uh, may have had a panic attack. Checked myself in to see my head shrink. I'm better now."

Sakura and Sasuke shared a glance. "Well, after everything that happened, I suppose that's not too surprising. I stopped in," Sasuke admitted.

"I've got a few appointments lined up about my second personality."

"Ah." Naruto nodded, and turned to his sensei. "So-o. How 'bout them chunin exams?"

"Ah yes, the chunin exams. A magical time in a young genins life, full of mayhem and fighting. I can remember mine like it was a decade ago."

"... Yeah. So, are we in?"

"Nope."

"What."

Kakashi sighed. "Let's play underneath the underneath."

His students groaned.

"What differentiates a chunin from a genin?"

"Oo, let me step on the first landmine sir! Is it bad-assery? The amount of whoop-ass in your can?"

"No, Naruto. Serious answers now?"

"They're more experienced, and can be relied upon for more responsibilities," Sasuke stated.

"Usually they're more experienced. What responsibilities?"

"They can lead genin in the field."

"Sakura gets a gold sticker. Think about that for a minute. Chunin have the responsibility of leading others into operations or battle. Calling the shots, making the plans, keeping people alive."

He paused while they thought that over. "Does that have any correlation with jutsu, technical skill, or whoop-ass? No."

"Things are changing. You three don't have time for silly contests to amuse lords and clients. You'll gain the skills needed to lead in time, but a rank is not important right now."

"Jiraiya said you always knew which way the wind was blowing," Naruto said.

Kakashi looked at him. "And I'm right this time, aren't I?"

The blond paused, before nodding. "Probably."

"Well then, I'm afraid you'll have to get your promotions outside the exams. You aren't ready to lead yet, and entering the exams has nothing to teach you after what we just went through."

The three nodded.

Kakashi smiled, "Proctoring the exam, on the other hand, could be very educational indeed," he thought.

•••••••••••

"Very well then. The nominations for the exams are concluded. I would like the following people to stay behind: Morino Ibiki, Mitarashi Anko, Gekkō Hayate, Hatake Kakashi, Nara Shikaku. Thank you."

After all the others had filtered out, Jiraiya walked in through a back door.

"With that out of the way, we can get down to the important business," Jiraiya said as he sat down.

"And that is?" Hayate asked.

Nara spoke up. "We've been gathering some interesting intelligence recently. We couldn't make heads or tails of it, but Jiraiya showed up, and we were able to pool our knowledge. What it adds up to looks grim."

"Orochimaru has been silent for a long time," Jiraiya started. "Apparently, that's because he's been rather busy founding the entirety of the Sound ninja."

"Anko. Calm yourself," Hiruzen called out.

Anko stilled herself, and looked down at her hand. Two of her fingernails had sliced into her palm from the fist she was making.

"Apologies."

There was silence.

Ibiki sighed. "Well, I'll state the obvious so we can move on. We have sound ninja in our exam."

"Yes. Though we expect them to be, at most, a distraction. I suspect Orochimaru is going to use the crowds of the exam finals to infiltrate teams," Jiraiya explained.

"So? Everyone uses the exam finals to infiltrate the host nation. It's part of the game. Are you saying he's going to do something overt?" Hayate asked.

Nara answered, "Yes. Although he probably has multiple objectives."

"Orochimaru has clashed several times with Itachi. He obsesses over the sharingan. The older brother has proven too powerful to be worth the effort, but the younger brother is now growing up."

Jiraiya continued, "On top of this, Sand has entered the kage's three children, one of which is the one-tail jinchuriki."

"So we have a complete clusterfuck on our hands, and because of international attention, we can't cancel."

"Masterfully summated, Anko."

"That is why I'm not having my genin enter," Kakashi spoke up.

"And you didn't think to warn Asuma or Kurenai?" Hayate asked.

"Not at all, you misunderstand. Two of my students are targets. So we make them bait. They will all be helping to proctor the exam."

•••••••••••

"So, we eating together for lunch?"

"Hn. Why not." A shuriken spun, balanced on the tip of his finger.

"As long as it's not ramen," she said, flicking her hair.

A long, melodramatic sigh filled the air. "Fine. What then?"

"... Gyoza and dango?"

"Ha! Street food after all. It's not ramen, but I've still corrupted you."

"Shove it. I've always liked street food."

"But you girls couldn't eat it because you were always on diets. As if I'd want to date a girl who only ate salads. Hell, dates would be so boring. And how did any of you expect to get muscles or breasts if you only ate rabbit food?"

Sakura grit her teeth, "Yeah, well… we've established that we were stupid, alright? Now I'm making up for lost time, OK?"

"Works for me."

"Sounds fine."

•••••••••••

"See? Gyoza and dango."

"Yeah, yeah… Still not as good as ramen. But it's good."

"Hey, what stall did you get those from?"

A tall, older teen stood in the road, wearing a black cat-suit, almost like the traditional garb worn by stage hands in plays. This was further accentuated by his face paint. He had an odd, large bundle strapped to his back.

He wore a sand hitai-ate.

"Are you really bothering random people in the street for advice?"

"I've told you before, locals always know the best places to eat. It's not like we have a tourism brochure, even if I was inclined to use one."

A blond teen, also from sand, had caught up to the first one. She was perhaps slightly older than the other, and also had some sort of ninja tool strapped to her back.

The three konoha genin looked at each other, then back.

"Are you both here for the exams?" Sakura asked.

"That's right. Sorry for bothering you."

"But seriously, where'd you get that food, it smells great."

"Doesn't matter. We're getting yakitori."

Everyone turned to see a younger red-headed teen with an enormous gourd on his back.

"Gaara, nobody is stopping you from having yakitori. We just want something different for a change."

Gaara snorted, and scanned the three konoha nin.

Naruto stiffened a moment, as he heard a voice. "HIM."

Gaara stared at Naruto a moment, winced, then shook his head.

"Um, if it helps, most of the food stalls are pretty close together," Naruto began. "We can show you."

"We can?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto shrugged. "Well, in the spirit of international diplomacy and whatever. Anyway, it would be cool to talk to some foreign nin that weren't trying to kill us, or viceversa."

The young woman looked uncertain. "We don't want to be a hassle-"

"You know where the yakitori is? I need meat."

Naruto paused briefly as the statement sank in. "... Uh, yeah. This way?"

Naruto turned around, Gaara immediately following, the others rather more reluctantly.

•••••••

"How did I end up here?" Sasuke thought.

They had all ended up at some public tables, sharing their meals after introductions.

"Is this your first exam?" Sakura asked. She was trying to avoid watching Gaara, who was gnawing on one of a large pile of yakitori in a rather aggressive manner.

"Yes. We've been a team for a few years now, but this is the first exam in a friendly country for a while."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I don't think we send any teams to Earth. Rain hasn't held any for years… It can be slim pickings."

"Are you three entered?" Kankuro asked.

Sasuke frowned.

"We only became genin less than a year ago. Sensei says it would just be a distraction at this point," Sakura explained.

Temari nodded, "Oh, bad timing then. Yeah, it's supposed to be pretty rough. I'm excited though."

"We could handle it. There's just no point in entering if we're not ready to lead."

"Don't mind Sasuke, he's just grumpy he won't get to show off."

Gaara stopped tearing bits of chicken off the skewer. "Yes. It will be a good exercise. Lots of violence."

In the ensuing silence, he pulled a seal out of his pocket, and retrieved a can.

"Oh, hey! We're soda buddies!" Naruto exclaimed, seeing the beverage. "Man, I haven't had any since before our last mission. Good stuff, huh?"

Temari blinked. "That can of soda has a gram of caffeine in it."

"I know! You need a prescription for anything better."

"Yes," agreed Gaara, "... I have issues with sleep."

"Anyone would if they drank that stuff," Sakura said, eyebrows raised.

"No, you misunderstand. The issues begin if I fall asleep."

"If?" Sasuke asked.

"I try to keep it to about once a month."

"... Oh."

Gaara tore off more chicken before looking at Naruto. "I wonder what it is that's different about you."

"You know, I hear that more often than you'd think. To be frank, I was thinking the same about you."

"... Perhaps it is a good thing you aren't in the exam. I think it would be too much fun."

"... I'm flattered?"

"Gaara," Temari said softly, a note of caution in her voice.

He blinked, before managing a weak grin that looked out of place.

Sasuke looked at their side of the table and found it was empty of food.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed your lunch, but we have some duties to attend to."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke. "Oh, right. We probably shouldn't be late for that."

"No problem, thanks for your help," Kankuru said with a smile.

•••••••••••

As soon as the three were definitely out of earshot of the sand nin, Sakura asked, "So what duties do we have?"

"Getting away from the freak with the gourd," Sasuke said as though it were self evident.

Sakura nodded. "Fair enough. He was…" she fished around for a good term.

"A jinchuuriki," Naruto finished, barely audible.

The others flinched, "Are you certain?" Sasuke asked.

"Not certain, but let's look at the facts. He can eat as much as I can."

"So can an Akimichi," Sakura interrupted.

"He drinks the same borderline dangerous soda as I do."

"Could be a bloodlimit thing. Or medical, you take it for attention whatever deficit."

Naruto nodded. "Yes, but my ADD is as extreme as it is in part due to big and fuzzy. And speaking of my gut-passenger, he keeps shouting 'HIM' every few minutes."

"... That's fairly compelling."

"We should talk to Kakashi," Sakura suggested.

"Unless you want to leave a message at the Mended Drum, I don't know where he is. I do know where our kage is, and I'm pretty sure he'd want to know there's an extra container running around our village."

"Oh. That's why we're headed towards the tower I suppose."

•••••••••••

"The Hokage isn't here, he's in an important meeting."

The special jounin that was one of the personal assistants for Sarutobi was used to Naruto turning up, though it had become much rarer since he graduated. While the teen had a lot of leeway, he couldn't just barge in whenever.

Naruto frowned. "I'm not here for fun, we have information pertaining to the safety of the village."

The PA sat up. "In that case, there is a chain of command, genin."

"I have reason to suspect I'm not the only jinchuriki in the village. This might be time critical."

The PA ran a hand through his hair. "That's…" He let out a deep breath. "Fine." He knew some of the details regarding the team's most recent mission, and was certain that as usual, there was more going on than he was allowed to know. If Naruto had awoken the Kyuubi, he may well be able to discern others like himself.

"Do you know where Konoha Office Briefing Room A is?"

"KOBRA? I've seen the door."

"Take this." He scribbled a note for the guard and stamped it with his seal.

"Thanks!" Sakura said over her shoulder as the three ran out the room.

•••••••••••

"... Two of my students are targets. So we make them bait. They will all be helping to proctor the exam."

The door opened, and the three appeared as if summoned.

"... What are you all doing here?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura held up the note with the stamp on it. "Naruto thinks we just met another jinchuriki in the village."

There was silence, before Ibiki started chuckling.

"I'm serious!" Naruto declared.

"We are aware," Shikaku replied. He glanced at the Hokage, who shrugged. "Both of your seriousness, and of the other bijuu container."

The teens slumped, the wind taken from their sails. "Oh. Well, I feel really stupid now. We'll, uh let you get back to it," Naruto said.

"Get back here Gaki," Jiraiya called out. "How did you find out?"

Team Seven sweated as they were debriefed by a room full of movers and shakers. Ibiki and Shikaku kept asking for small details that they could barely recall.

Finally it seemed they had enough, and Anko started a dark laugh. "Of all the dumb luck."

"Does this actually change anything?" Hayate asked.

Shikaku frowned. "Unlikely."

"They may be able to recognize them as proctors, even behind the masks."

"That would make them suspicious, but what could they really do? There aren't rules about who can be procters."

"Give blondie and pinkie wigs, sunglasses to the other, and have them all wear platform shoes, problem solved."

"That would make them less useful as bait."

"Not against anyone that matters."

There were nods around the room. "True."

"Sit down, brats. You might need to know some of this, and you're already here," Ibiki said.

There were a few shrugs around the room, as no one could think of any specific objections.

"Ibiki, would you share your plan for the first test?"

"Certainly…"

•••••••••••

"It sounds like a good first test to me," Hayate said.

There were a few nods of agreement around the room. Kakashi shrugged.

"Hmmm…" Naruto was going over it in his head.

"You have a comment, genin?" Shikaku asked.

"Um, it takes multiple times getting caught cheating before you lose. What would happen if I just walked over and took one of the plants' tests after they had finished? Would that count as one instance of cheating?"

Ibiki blinked. "That's stupid. It goes against the whole idea."

Anko guffawed, "But the rules as written would give it a pass. He'd be home free."

"Would you be able to even think of that in a high pressure situation like I have planned?" Ibiki growled.

Naruto shrugged. "No clue. You seem pretty intimidating."

"We are supposed to reward creative thinking," Hayate reminded everyone.

"Not if it means that everyone does it and passes," Ibiki scowled. "Once one person tries it, everyone would. What if I say that each proctor that notices an act of cheating counts against them, then we secretly ignore any duplicates unless it's blatantly obvious?"

There were nods from around the room.

Sakura raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"This is also kind of stupid, but technically, you don't actually have to do anything to pass. If you just fell asleep until after the last question you'd pass, wouldn't you?"

Ibiki sighed. "... Yes."

"Sakura, no one would be stupid enough to do that though," Sasuke said.

She shrugged. "I suppose so. That would be incredibly dumb."

"Meh, let's keep it. 'I'd rather be lucky than good'," Kakashi grinned.

"I approve of the first test, with the amendments," Sarutobi agreed. Ibiki frowned, but didn't argue. "Anko, what do you have for the second test?"

"The classic broken talisman trial," Anko explained. "Only inside the forest of death, no rules. The two halves will be a summoning scroll. Bring them both to the central tower in three days."

"That could get bloody."

"True, but second rounds usually are a bit. And the forest gives plenty of opportunities for people to try and bite at bait."

"I know we don't get to complain about being bait, but might we know who we're bait for?" Sasuke asked.

"We shouldn't toss them in blind," Hayate said.

"It wouldn't make any difference."

"It would buy ANBU enough time to get there," Kakashi disagreed.

Anko let out a loud snort. Sasuke noted the way it affected her chest through her mesh top… Purely for science. Or something. "Really? These three can 'buy time' against him?"

"You haven't fought against a jinchuuriki. Yes, I think they could buy more time than he would suspect. He'll be playing with them. At first. Won't he?"

Anko frowned, then nodded in agreement.

"Orochimaru wants your eyes, boy," Jiraiya called out.

Sasuke's mouth dropped. "... Would that even work?"

"Your sensei is known as Sharingan Kakashi."

Sasuke blinked a few times. "... Oh, right… Of course." He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, damn."

"We're not throwing you to the wolves. We're trying to arrange it so that if something happens, it will be on our terms, not his."

Sasuke nodded, blinking, still shaken by the news.

"And I suppose everyone wants me for something or other," Naruto mused.

"Basically," Anko agreed. "Anyone who actually knows would love to take you out, it would destabilize things."

"That's assuming they don't have a specific plan, of course," Jiraiya said.

"Are there plans?" Hayate asked.

Jiraiya shrugged. "He's a powerful piece. Removing him weakens Konoha. Some might try to take his power for themselves, but…"

"Suddenly being an average genin doesn't seem so bad," Sakura whispered to Naruto.

"Maybe, but you're still stuck with them," Anko snorted, having heard her anyway. "If there's too many left, we'll have some preliminary rounds. Then toss what's left into the third stage."

"Which is the one on one bracket matches," Hayate finished. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

Sarutobi nodded. "Right. Any other business? Then this meeting is adjourned."

••••••••••

A/N: Sorry this is short, but hey, it didn't take me six years this time! I'm also doing some basic editing of my old chapters. I made the mistake of reading the first chapter and... I want to rewrite it, but my writing style is drastically different. I would have to start from scratch basically. And that would change the whole thing. So I'm sticking to basic clean up.