21 Let the Test Begin

"You mean to say, he possesses the Byakugan." Sasuke asked.

"Yes….." Lee replied as he stared into the sky.

"You see...I have fought over a thousand times, but I have yet to beat him" Lee continued.

Sasuke was stupefied.

..

"He also has a cousin entering the tournament this year, She also possesses the same eye bloodline, though I am not sure what her strength is….."

"But from what I have heard She is from the Head family…." Lee continued as Sasuke became more shocked.

"You mean to say this Neji guy, he is only from a branch family….?"

"Yes, Some say his cousin is stronger, while others claim that Neji was someone who was actually a part of the main family….. Neji does not prefer me talking about this so I am going to stop now…."

"What is the name of the other one, who is entering this year?" Sasuke asked.

"Her name is Hyuuga Hinata."

"She was from my class in the academy….." Sasuke said.

"Then I am sure you should be able to judge her strength for yourself…" Lee said as he got up.

…

…

..

The following day

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura turned up in front of the academy.

Sasuke turned towards Sakura and said "Sakura, you're late!"

"Yeah…Sorry…."

"Let's go.." Naruto said as the trio departed for the 3rd floor.

…

…

In one of the floors, there were a lot of people waiting watching a pitiful beat down of a boy in green suit.

"So are you sure you're going to attempt taking the chuunin Exam with that skill?"

"Maybe it would be for the best if you runts quit"

"You're green assed rates after all" The two men who were blocking the door commented one after another.

"Please let us through" a girl in pink stepped in.

"That's mean…." One of the guys at the back of the crowd commented.

"Listen! We're being nice to you!"

"The Chuunin Exam is a high hurdle. Many times we have seen people quit being Ninja…as well as people being dibbled for life just because they took the exam..." One of the men at the door explained.

"Also, a chuunin is at the level of a unit leader…"

"Mission failures, death of subordinates , its all part of the responsibilities of a leader!"

"A brat such as this as Chuunin?"

"What's so bad about weeding out those who won't pass anyway?!"

At this moment Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke had entered the floor, but Naruto waited at staircase and said,

"Where are you guys going? This is the second floor…"

"What?" Everyone was surprised while the two men at the door unraveled their genjutsu, changing the door sign back to the No. 201.

Tenten lifted up Lee while Neji walked towards Naruto

"Hey, you there. What's your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto said being extremely happy on the inside ("I always wanted to do this back then. He snickered until he realized, that Sasuke did not answer Neji at all in the past when he asked these questions….")

"You are a rookie right? How old are you?" Neji asked.

("CHANCE!") Naruto screamed internally.

"You haven't introduced yourself yet, aren't you being a bit rude?"

"When asking someone his name, give your own name first."

Naruto said.

Neji's expression almost twisted as he said.

"I am the previous rookie No.1, my name is Hyuuga Neji."

"So how old are you?" Neji continued.

"I am not obliged to answer." Naruto said with a smile as he walked away with Sasuke and Sakura.

Meanwhile Sasuke turned back to look at Neji, trying to judge how strong he could be…..

…

…

…

In front of Room 301 Kakashi stood waiting

"I see Sakura, you've come, too"

"Now, you can formally register for the chuunin exam."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Actually from the start of the chuunin exams, only three man squads could apply and take the exams."

"But Sensi, you said that the decision to take the exams was up to the individuals…."

"Yes…I did"

"Were you lying?"

"Yes I was…" Kakashi said as he stared out of the windows by the side

"Sasuke and Naruto would probably convince you to take it. Even if you didn't have the will to apply, If Sasuke had asked you, you would have attempted to take the exams half-heartedly."

"For Sasuke's sake and Naruto's sake as well"

..

"What if only Naruto and Sasuke had come here?"

"I would have stopped the Exam here…." Kakashi said.

"I wouldn't have felt like letting them go beyond this point…." Kakashi said as he looked towards Naruto and Sasuke.

"But.. you guys came here on your own will."

"Sakura!, Naruto! And Sasuke!"

"I'm glad you came. You're a team that I'm proud of….." Kakashi said as he stepped away from the door.

"Now then, go on!"

"Okay, let's do this guys" Naruto announced as the team walked past the doors.

…

…

…

"W-What's with….. this?" Sakura asked as she stared at the room full of ninjas she did not know.

"There are soo many of them….."

"Could it be that they're all applicants?"

"They…all look….immensely strong…." Sakura said as she gulped.

Meanwhile Naruto saw the scene and felt a sense of Nostalgia.

("The chuunin exam…..") Naruto thought back to how this exam had changed his life.

"Sasuke-kun, You're late….." A sweet voice was heard as Ino ran towards Sasuke and jumped onto him while hanging on his neck.

"I thought I'd be able to see you for the first time in a while…So I was waiting in excitement…." Ino said while Sasuke glared at her.

However she did not notice the Sakura beside who had turned into a pink demon.

"Get away from Sasuke! Ino Pig!" She screamed.

"Oh, my if it isn't Sakura… Your BillBoard of a forehead hasn't changed eh Ugly!"

"What did you say?!" Sakura asked in an angry voice.

Naruto felt unwanted as he turned around looking for a particular figure.

At this time a duo came by

"Are you guys going to take this bothersome exam too?" Shikamaru asked while Chouji was busy eating chips beside him.

"Yo Shikamaru, How have you been doing?" Naruto asked.

"Not well….my team dragged me into this useless exam…." … "It's such a drag…" Shikamaru said as he stared at Ino who hung around Sasuke.

"Sasuke is mine!" Ino said as she made a mocking face at Sakura.

"Yahoo, I found you!" Kiba said as he approached the group along with his team.

"My my, everybody's here." Kiba smiled.

("Wow, I never expected to see silent Shino again!") Naruto thought as he turned towards Hinata.

"Hinata" Naruto called as he arrived next to her.

"Please forgive me for that day, I swear nothing happened..." Naruto said

But what he didn't realise was Hinata turned red again before she had finally passed out.

"Hinata"

"Hinata!"

"Oy Hinata!" Naruto tried his best to wake her up.

..

Meanwhile Sakura walked over to Ino.

"Hey, I think there is something going on between them" Sakura said as she pointed out towards Hinata.

"Now that you mention it." Ino said as she saw Naruto trying to wake Hinata up….

..

"This means all nine Genin rookies are taking the exam, eh...!"

"Now then how far can we go?….." Kiba said as he looked towards Sasuke

"eh? Sasuke-kun…"

"You're mighty confident Kiba…" Sasuke replied back.

"We've trained lot more than you guys have…." Kiba replied.

"Oh yeah, I don't know about Sasuke, but I sure won't lose to the likes of you!" Naruto said.

"Says the guy who cheated on the test to become rookie No.1" Kiba countered.

…

Meanwhile Chouji approached Kiba, looking at Akamaru as though it was food.

But Shino interrupted.

"Don't step on it…"

Chouji looked down to see a bug crossing his way as his eyes followed it

"You're gonna eat that?" Chouji asked.

…

"Hey you guys!" A voice called out to the group.

Naruto saw a man walk through as his expressions twisted ("Its Kabuto.")

"You should be a little quieter"

"You guys are the 'rookie nine' fresh out of the academy, right?"

"Carrying on like that with cute faces… Man."

"This isn't a field trip." Kabuto said as he faced the group.

"Who're you? Acting all haughty" Ino asked in a displeased manner of speech.

"I'm Yakushi Kabuto"

"Anyway, take a good look around you"

"Behind you… They're from the Hidden Rain Village"

"They're hot tempered"

"Everyone's tense before the Exam."

"I thought, I'd war you guys before you get your butts whipped…"

"But I guess it can't be helped…You rookies who don't know left from right…All remind me of my old self" Kabuto said as he pitied himself.

"You're Kabuto right?" Sakura stepped out.

"Is this your second time?"

"Nope, this is my 7th time" Kabuto replied causing the group's expression to change.

"Huh!" Shikamaru reacted.

..

"This Exam is only held twice a year so it's now my fourth year."

"Then that means you know a lot about these exams?!" Sakura asked excitedly.

"But you haven't passed yet?" Shikamaru asked.

Kabuto scratched his head as he said "Yeah well, that is the case, yes…"

"Is the chuunin Exam that high a hurdle?" …"Man, this is even more troublesome than I thought" Shikamaru sulked

("Well, I did not attempt the exam properly, yet I became a jounin") Naruto thought.

"Then, maybe I'll give a bit of information to my cute juniors…"

Kabuto continued as he took out a bunch of cards.

He started giving out the demographic of ninjas across the villages after which he started giving out details on a few important ninjas.

Sakura stepped in and asked "I need information on Gaara of the sand and his teammates."

Sasuke also asked "information on Hyuuga Neji"

Kabuto started compiling the information

"First up Hyuuga Neji….He's one year older than you guys, His mission experiences include twenty D-Ranks, eleven C-Ranks…His squad leader is Gai."

"In just this year, his taijutsu has drastically improved as well as his other skills."

"Last year, He'd attracted a lot of attention as the No.1 rookie with his ability but for some reason he did not participate in the exam"

"This is his first time taking the exams, same as you guys…."

"Tenten and Rock Lee are on his teams" Kabuto concluded as he took out the next card and injected his chakra into it.

"Next is Gaara of the sand"

"His mission experience is eight C-Ranks, and ONE B-Rank as a Genin wow eh!"

"He is a. Ninja from the sand village in the wind nation and is a rookie, so there is no further information on him…"

"But there is one thing…."

"It seems he has returned from all of his mission uninjured" Kabuto concluded.

"B-Rank as a Genin…. But uninjured?!" Shikamaru was shocked

While Sasuke asked Sakura "who is this Gaara that you asked about, he seems to be no ordinary genin?"

Sakura replied "Me and Naruto came across him and his teammates is all….."

(POOF)

A smoke appeared after which slowly a number of silhouettes were visible.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting"