"It's so cold…" Naruto groaned as he rubbed his hands together to make heat for himself in the frigid temperament of the Tetsu no Kuni climate. To adjust to the climate, most of the shinobi were wearing tan cloaks over their regular clothing. Naruto on the other hand had opted to merely switch his short-sleeved blue shirt under his windbreaker to a long-sleeved one with some extra padding in it. Was it warm and comfy? Yes it was, but then again this was a harsh winter climate, "This wind is disrespecting the hell out of my jacket."
Team 10 was in the midst of a convoy of Konoha ninja heading towards the exams in the foreign country. There were 21 Konoha teams that were travelling to take part, all in all making it 63 genin from the village heading out to try and get themselves promoted. If that was what Konoha was sending then who knew how many others the rest of the villages would be sending?
Ino rolled her eyes as she watched Naruto pop a cigarette in his mouth and light it up, "What?" He said in response to her reaction, "It's freezing out here, let me get a little bit of heat. We all can't afford those nice little ponchos you know... I've got bills to pay."
From over elsewhere, Kiba took a whiff of the air and smirked, "Kurenai-sensei, Naruto's smoking again."
Kurenai turned her gaze over towards Naruto who wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was smoking. As he looked over at her red-eyed glance he gave her a deadpan look, "What are you going to do in the middle of nowhere Kurenai-sensei? Are you going to make me smoke a ton of them again?" He let out a chuckle, "I might like that actually."
Asuma smacked Naruto on the back of his head and tried to alleviate the situation, in vain, but trying should count for something, "Kurenai he doesn't smoke that much. Seeing him have more than one every few days is rare. It's more of a comfort thing than anything else." He didn't add that Naruto was merely subsisting off of the cigarettes that Kurenai had bought to 'teach him a lesson', as he hadn't bought a single pack himself. As funny as that would be to see the expression on her face it wouldn't make anything any better, "Besides, it is colder than hell out here."
Naruto shoved Kurenai's disapproval of his smoking to the back of her mind. It was kind of her fault anyway, not that he was complaining, he didn't hate it. The genin traveling that he knew of, not counting his team were Sasuke, Sakura, Chouji, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Lee, Neji, and Tenten. That would be a stiff enough challenge, but then there was the fact that there were 51 others from his village alone. His heart was starting to beat a little faster just thinking about it.
Kiba grabbed Menma in a pseudo-headlock as Akamaru yapped on top of his head, "So you ready to get dusted off in the exams?"
"Whatever…" Menma muttered as he freed himself and kept walking along, blowing smoke into the air, "You're going to be going home a little earlier than me if you're unlucky enough to go up against me. I'm at the top of my game for this one."
"You think you can beat me?" Kiba growled at him while Akamaru yapped at Menma from the top of Kiba's head, "Me and Akamaru would tear you apart, perverted swordsman."
Menma normally would have been all up in arms about the whole pervert thing, but why would he be? From the looks of the other genin that weren't his team or Team 7 who knew better than to assume Menma was weak because he didn't talk much or he was a pervert, hearing Kiba call him out for being a perv made them feel safe with him in the running, that he was easy pickings. If any of these people here were as good as Zabuza then why were they still genin, and if they weren't then he could beat them.
Asuma picked up Menma by the back of his collar and deposited him on his opposite side, away from Kiba, "Knock it off you two. Man, the exams haven't even started yet and you're all fired up."
Ino took this moment to chime in, "How is that surprising Asuma-sensei? This is Menma after all, he probably jumps out of bed in the morning ready to start sharpening his Kubikiribōchō. But then again that's our Menma-kun isn't it?" She finished, pinching Menma's cheek teasingly.
Menma growled and positioned himself away from her in the procession, not needing anyone to see his cheeks redden as he slipped back out of sight of his team. He didn't care if he was out of their sight or not, it wasn't like he'd lose them. Naruto was with Asuma, Ino was arguing on and off with Sakura about Sasuke, Shikamaru was with Chouji and that meant that they were all around the rest of Team 7 who was also near Team 8.
Naruto had been walking alongside Asuma using his sonar jutsu to sense where everyone else was, the rookie genin were sticking together for the time being, easy to locate. Though the thing about Hinata looking at him must have meant she could see how awesome he was. She was trying to find a weakness in his greatness before she ever needed to face him. Good for her to know a powerhouse when she saw one, he respected that, "How have you been Hinata?" He asked her suddenly, getting an 'eep' out of her. He had just gotten through messing around with Kiba, almost resulting in physicality, and Shino creeped him out. If Hinata was one of the rookies here then she was pretty much the only one he hadn't spoken to yet.
"I'm fine Naruto-kun." Hinata said quietly, so much so that he had to strain his ears to hear her. Why was he talking to her? He never did before out of the blue, but maybe since they had more common ground he thought it would be a good idea to. Of course she knew already that when it came down to it Naruto was exceedingly friendly and easily bored so it might have just been a combination of that, "W-What about you?" She asked, pointing at his uncloaked person, "Aren't you-?"
"Cold? Nah." Naruto replied confidently before a wind blew through the group that nearly froze him solid, "W-Whatever gave you that idea? I'm good." He said, doing his best to keep his teeth from chattering. He made sure to turn away from her when he blew out his smoke since after being hit once by Ino after blowing smoke in her face he learned to not ever do that again.
Hinata was about to reply when she was cut off by Kiba shouting to her, "Hey Hinata, you should get away from Naruto and get back over here! Don't you know you secondhand smoke is still harmful?" He joked, getting a satisfying growl that he heard from a distance out of Naruto.
"I wasn't even breathing in her direction dog breath! I don't breathe smoke on other people!" Naruto snapped back, shaking his fist angrily at Kiba.
Hinata giggled at how offended Naruto seemed by Kiba's words, "Naruto-kun is very considerate." She said before realizing that he was now looking at her, bringing a cherry red blush to her face as he made eye contact, "I h-have to go now Naruto-kun." She said, fidgeting with her fingers before moving back towards her team.
Naruto squinted his eyes at her back as she left, scratching his head, "Strange girl." With a shrug he kept walking through the mass of genin moving in route to the host village of the chunin exams
As he moved through the crowd, slipping further and further back he noticed that the other genin were all sizing him up, most of them smirking at him arrogantly once they got a full view of him. He obviously didn't look very special of intimidating to them, but he should have. Why would a twelve year old be there if he wasn't damn good? They were five years older than him, some older than that.
"Naruto-san!"
Naruto turned his head and saw a bushy pair of eyebrows in his field of vision, "Aah! Don't try to kick me again, I'm totally serious!" Naruto said, jumping almost ten feet back away as the rest of the figure in the green bodysuit came into view, "What's up Lee?" Naruto asked, having not seen the older genin since he blindsided him two days after he had graduated from the Academy.
"You're in these exams?" Lee asked him curiously, getting a nod from Naruto that put a blaze in his eyes, "Yet another opponent for me to test my flames of youth against! I will not fail to defeat you as well!" He grabbed Naruto around the wrist and began to drag him before Naruto could protest, "Yosh! I have found Naruto-san and he is indeed one of the genin in the exams!" Lee called out loudly as he deposited Naruto in the vicinity of his team, "Good eye Tenten!"
Naruto noticed that Tenten was giving him a stern glance forcing him to shrug. Could he get a moment to enjoy his cigarette? It was probably the only one he was going to get that day, "What? Was I supposed to tell you I was going to be doing this?"
"Yes." She said in return.
"Why?" Naruto said, blinking in confusion, "Besides, ever since I went to your store I've been busy, that was my day off. When was I supposed to find you anyway?"
Before she could try to answer that well posed question, a seemingly larger version of Lee positioned himself between Naruto and Tenten, giving Naruto a smile that much like Lee seemed to shine… which was funny because there was no sunlight peeking through the cloudy skies of Tetsu no Kuni, "I see that you're familiar with my splendid team of genin students!"
Naruto wasn't really listening however, instead opting to stare at the eyebrows that were on the man's face, 'Holy crap what the hell do you have to eat to get eyebrows like that? Someone needs to tell me so I can stay away from it!' He was so engrossed in wondering how both Lee and this random sensei of theirs both had massive eyebrows that he didn't pay attention to what the man was saying, only noticing when he stopped talking, prompting him to try a response, "Uh, yeah sure whatever you say."
"Excellent!" The man said, scaring Naruto into standing up straight, "I Maito Gai will be eagerly awaiting to see how you measure up to my youthful team Naruto-kun!"
Lee stepped in front of Gai, tears streaming down his face, "Oh Gai-sensei you're a shining example of just what a true shinobi should be!"
"Oh Lee you make me so proud to be your sensei!" Gai responded, crying just as heavily.
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
Tenten's eyes widened as she seemed to know just what was about to happen. With the knowledge in her head she ran up to Naruto and began shoving him away as fast as she could, "Go, go, go, go, go!" She said frantically, "Go and for the love of Kami do not look back this way!" She said, giving him a boot in the rear to make sure he kept walking, "We can talk later!" She said in closing to the very confused but obedient Naruto.
It was a good thing he followed Tenten's instructions to the letter, and whether he knew it or not he owed her a thank you, otherwise he would have found himself staring at a rocky sunset-clad beach with crashing waves as the two shinobi that were strong in the way of the eyebrow hugged it out on shore. He didn't need something like that poisoning his mind before he was to compete.
By now Tenten had been numbed to the staggering effect that this event would have on people, as did her teammate who walked up to her while the other teams who had seen Gai and Lee begin to hug it out found themselves frozen in place with their eyes affixed to it, "I don't see why you keep associating yourself with that loser Tenten."
'Here we go again…' Tenten thought to herself. She liked her team despite their quirks, but Neji's little habit of looking down on others was rather annoying. It was pretty hard to be friends with other genin when Neji would tear into them with his sliver tongue if he didn't think they were worthy of his station, "Neji there's nothing wrong with him. What's your problem?"
"He's a failure…" Neji said as if it were a fact of life, "You don't need a hanger-on like him, you're better than that. He'll merely drag you down, and that will drag the team down as well." He said as he turned his attention back on the path ahead of them, leaving her with one more comment, "We can't afford to help along weaker people that are 'friends'. This is a competition."
As much as she tried to get him to lighten up it was pretty obvious by now after over a year on her team that this was just the way Neji was. No amount of her chiding him on his lack of people skills was going to change anything about him. It didn't give him the right to be a dick to people that were friends of hers though…
Meanwhile with Naruto, he wandered his way back to his team and fell into line as the sight of the village that they would be residing in for the duration of the exams came into view. A trio of mountains that towered over the others in the area seemed to be their destination, with the three separate mountains looking like large open mouths with large sharp teeth. Menma saw Naruto looking and explained to him, "The Three Wolves, the famous mountains of Tetsu no Kuni. Our destination…"
XxX
The site of the chunin exams looked to be in a country comparable in size to any hidden village. Most of the buildings were grey in color though they varied in size. They all shared the same stone construct though, and the same snow covering.
As they entered the snow covered village that they would stay in for the duration of the chunin exams, the Konoha contingent came to a grinding halt upon finding about fifty samurai in their imposing plate armor and heavy helmets with masks blocking their way.
A single one of them, the only one not wearing a helmet, came forward towards the shinobi. He was of advanced age, had long grey hair and bandages wrapped around the top of his head to go with a grey goatee and mustache, "I am Mifune. I would like to welcome you visitors from Konohagakure no Sato to Tetsu no Kuni, and I would just like to warn you of the repercussions of acting out of order in our lands. We will be watching you as we will be watching all of the other villages here to represent themselves."
Taking initiative and surprising the genin on Team 7 and 10, Kakashi walked forward to Mifune respectfully, "We understand, and you have nothing to worry about as far as the shinobi from our village are concerned."
Mifune nodded, "Do not take my words as overtly threateningly. It's the same warning that all of the others have received as well. If we were that worried about things we wouldn't have allowed your chunin exams to take place here." Mifune bowed slightly and moved back towards his line of samurai, at which time they separated and cleared the way for the Konoha crowd to pass through, "We will escort you to the hotel that you are to be stationed in. I hope there are no issues with you inhabiting the same hotel as Suna ninja, since you are both allies I figured it would be for the best."
All of the jounin seemed to be fine with this arrangement. Konoha had heat with Kumo and Iwa, one because of war another because of mistrust and treachery that was still fresh in the minds of many.
As they walked past the Samurai Mifune noticed Menma and smiled, "It's been a while Menma hasn't it? You've grown a bit too last time I remember you were barely at my shoulders now you're almost as tall as me. Hiruzen should've told me that you were taking the chunin exams I would've set up a feast upon your arrival."
Menma looked up at the man and rubbed his head sheepishly, "Yeah I've missed this place alot."
"Are you still chasing after that goal to be the greatest swordsman?"
"Yup!" Menma nodded.
"Anyway good luck and make sure to stay out of trouble."
As they began moving through the village towards their hotel even the people seemed to reflect their environment. They didn't seem to be in awe of the foreigners coming through their town, nor did they seem to care too much. This place really was the correct venue for an impartial exam, favorites weren't even being picked by the people.
Observant of her surrounding as she tried to take in anything she could that might be useful, Sakura spoke up with a frown on her face as the teams kept walking, "This place doesn't look very fun."
Kakashi responded to her, "I don't think you'll be having very much time for fun Sakura, the exams begin tomorrow. You'll need to be ready as if you were preparing for a mission, but that shouldn't be any problem, you all have your packs with you anyway."
Sasuke smirked, sharing roughly the same sentiment as Naruto did about the exams, "What'll be fun is passing these exams. We've got this in the bag." He looked over at Chouji who looked at him and nodded confidently, "We'll beat everybody in this thing."
"Don't be so eager to fight Sasuke." Kakashi chided half-heartedly, "If you go in with that kind of mindset you'll be putting yourself at risk. This isn't to show who's the best fighter, it's to see who has the ability to handle all the responsibilities that come with the title of chunin." Sasuke's good mood vanished as his face took on the same usual stone look, he nodded to Kakashi to show that he understood.
XxX
The Konoha group all got themselves checked into the hotel set for them. Some teams were taking time to relax after the long trip, others were working out last minute plans and the like. Anything that they could do with the resources provided to them since none of the jounin sensei were telling the genin about what they would have to do during the exams.
The incredible lack of any possible competitors out on the streets of the host town showed that everyone was taking the samurai warning not to cause trouble very seriously by keeping their genin inside until exam time since everyone knew that things wouldn't stay cordial for long with genin from every village there. If fireworks were going to happen it would best be served to keep things as low-key as could be expected until tomorrow.
"Tomorrow you all will head to the main meeting building in the village to begin the exams." Asuma instructed his team from their hotel room. He was sitting on one bed next to Shikamaru and Menma while Naruto was sitting on the other one next to Ino. Asuma saw Naruto raise his hand and rolled his eyes, "Yeah Naruto?"
Naruto grinned and asked his question, "You're talking about that huge building that looks like a huge pyramid made of boxes?" Asuma palmed his face at Naruto's description of the building in question, "That's the building he's talking about." Naruto said to Menma with a firm nod, confident that he knew what was the intended point of meeting.
"Yes Naruto…" Asuma said with a sigh, "The huge building that looks like a pyramid made of boxes. You guys have to be there by 9 am to begin the tests so good luck."
"Wait that's it?" Shikamaru said incredulously, "No last minute warning? No briefing us on what we're doing? Not even any hints or words of advice to help us out on this one?" He really didn't believe that they were supposed to go in half-cocked like this and get through everything. Were all the chunin exams supposed to be like this?
Asuma shook his head, "It just so happens that I happen to have none of that for you. Your guess is as good as mine as to what the actual exams are going to be like. You've just got to be ready for anything and deal with it accordingly. If it makes you feel any better everyone's in the exact same boat that you are."
Ino let out a sigh as she pulled her legs to her chest on one of the beds, "We're not coming back to this room again are we?" She asked before thinking of something else, "What will you be doing the whole time while we're gone?"
Asuma pointed to himself, getting nods from all of his genin, "Well that's easy. I'll be sleeping, smoking, betting with the other jounin sensei on you guys when I can, and just doing nothing of any real importance really."
"-And trying to hit on Kurenai-sensei." Ino finished for him with a smirk on her face, getting a glare from Asuma in return, "Look me in the eyes and tell me that you aren't going to. I'll call you a liar right to your face sensei."
Asuma grumbled before turning back to Naruto, "Are you adequately prepared for winter conditions now Naruto?"
"Yep!" Naruto exclaimed happily before hugging himself, "I'm wearing so much stuff under this windbreaker and this blue sweatshirt, I could stand outside all night if I had to." He then switched to a stern glare, "If you make me go outside to test that I will destroy your life when we get home Asuma-sensei."
"How could you possibly do that?" Asuma said with a lazy yet amused look on his face.
Naruto pointed at his own head, "My mind is scary."
Shikamaru shook his head with no shortage of amusement on his face, "As loathe as I am to be here I really don't feel like getting beat up or killed. Good thing we're supposed to be at the top of our game huh?"
Asuma stood up and made to leave the room with a smile on his face, "Get your stuff together for tomorrow. I'll just be in the room that's provided for mebeing the famous powerful jounin." He felt Ino glaring at him because she had to share a room with two boys while Asuma apparently got his own, not that he cared. As long as she stayed out of his head with that jutsu of hers he was fine.
Ino switched off her glare with a sigh as Asuma left the room, "Oh well…" She said before returning her attention to squeezing the uncomfortable genin she had her arms wrapped around, "At least I get my bookworm teddy bear for the night." And with that she had to hold back a laugh as a red-faced Menma began to try and struggle to escape her grasp.
"Couch… couch! I'll take the couch!" Menma exclaimed in vain, with Ino seemingly having an iron grip on him from behind. If Jiraiya was there at the moment he would probably be giving him a thumbs up, as a matter of fact Menma was absolutely sure he would be after the run-ins with the man he had been having all week, "Shikamaru make her let go!"
Shikamaru stared at him for a moment before blinking and laying down in his bed, turning his body away from Menma and Ino, "Nah, I need my chakra for tomorrow. I'm not a walking battery like you are, you'll be fine."
"Ino let go!" Menma shouted as he tried to wriggle free. And if Jiraiya had seen him trying to actually get out of Ino's grasp he probably would have kicked him for it. Why did she like messing with him so much?
Ino's eyes quivered with false crocodile tears, "Menma-kun doesn't want to spend the night with his Ino-chan?" Damn it, such a painfully pretty face should not cry, even if it was faked in order to get him to cave into something, "I thought we had something special."
So easily flustered… how could Ino pass up such a target? And besides, despite having everything as ready as they could make things she had nerves about tomorrow's exam. It was just some harmless messing around, she would only have so much longer to find it effective before Menma became immune to her playing with him… and admittedly she would miss it, because with Sasuke it was like throwing yourself at a brick wall. At least Menma responded, and it let her know that she was rather pretty to get something like that from him. She'd never say it out loud but it was nice.
But she just had to break him out of that being so timid thing. Stuff like this had happened hundreds of times already, one would think he'd be used to it by now. At least his face wasn't so red anymore, but he was still struggling, "Ino we should be resting for tomorrow." He said lamely. Man even he knew how much that excuse sucked. Since when did he have to rest for anything?
"And we will rest." She replied falling backwards with him still in her grasp, making him lay down as well "You're going to rest right here with me. Consider it training." She caught his disbelieving look and with a huff blew a bang out of her own face, "What exactly are you going to do if an enemy kunoichi pulls this kind of stuff on you Menma? It's for your own good you know. You've got no bluster when it comes to girls."
"Whatever…" Menma grumbled, "I do too. Trust me, hanging out with Jiraiya-sensei for most of the week was… well I don't think I can repeat it out loud. And hearing what you wish Sasuke would do to show you how much he really loved you…" After saying that, Menma had to block a dry heave. As if Sasuke would ever say any of the stuff Ino thought about regularly, "I think I have a general idea. Besides Ino, it's just you. No one else could make me even flinch." He finished confidently, although that confidence broke to confusion when Ino seemed to hug him against her tighter.
"Oh I knew you loved your Ino-chan! Does Menma-kun want a kiss for being such a sweetie?" Ino's teasing came back full force once again, big doe eyes and all.
"Ye-. I mean no! No! Now let go!" Menma cried out, wishing he could reach his hands to form his Kage Bunshin hand-seal. Maybe some extra manpower would get him free.
Naruto rolled over in his bed and rubbed his eyes, "Both of you pipe down. I'm trying to get some shuteye over here." He complained, yet he didn't lift a finger to assist Menma and end things there.
XxX
(The Next Day – Assembly Hall)
Shikamaru let out a massive yawn as he and his team walked into the massive building intended to test their capabilities, "Why'd you wake us up so early Naruto? Asuma said we didn't have to be here until 9."
Naruto looked over at the lazy genin with a twitching eyebrow, "It's 8:30…"
"Exactly." Shikamaru said, taking in the grand looks of the hall they had just walked into. Many pillars and the place looked like it was made of marble. And then his eyes locked onto all of the others that were already there as well as them, "Oh hell…"
Ino just blinked at the pure sight of all of the humanity in the room, "Um… headcount?"
"Good luck with that." Menma said, having stopped trying to count all of the people that were just standing around in the massive front room of the main building of the village, "I don't even count my own clones, do you really think I'm about to stand back and count all of these people out." He let out a short chuckle, "It doesn't matter because they're all going down anyway."
Ino frantically shushed him, noticing that quite a few eyes cut towards them when Menma said his last sentence, "Are you trying to get them to kill us before this thing even starts Menma?" Her eyes panned over the room. The insignia of Konoha on the headbands were only a small amount of what she saw, "Kumo, Iwa, Kiri, Suna, and there are villages I can't recall out for the exams too."
Menma nodded sagely as he took in the information from Ino, "More victims…" He was then rapped hard enough to snap his head down, "Ow."
Menma was saved from Ino's verbal wrath by the arrival of another fellow rookie team, "Man this is a big-ass room. And look at all of these people!" Team 10 turned around to see Team 8 heading right for them as they hadn't gone far into the room before they had initially come to a stop. Kiba and Akamaru looked more excited than ever to be there, "Check it out Akamaru, victims from all over the world…" He then noticed Team 10 standing in front of them, putting a smirk on his face, "And from home too." From within Kiba's jacket Akamaru yapped.
Before Naruto could loudly begin an argument with Kiba, a calmer voice broke into the scene, "Kiba took the words right out of my mouth." And with a turn of their heads, both rookie Konoha teams turned to see Team 7 led by Sasuke walk up to them.
Shikamaru turned his eyes toward Ino and prepared to plug his ears to stave off the squeal of 'Sasuke-kun!' from his female teammate, but for some reason that never came to pass. Something that seemed to confuse Sakura too as she had been prepared to come to her Sasuke's defense from the blonde harpy that used to be her closest friend, putting her off slightly when nothing happened.
Sasuke looked over at Naruto and let off a smirk similar to the one from Kiba, "Looking forward to beating you up again dobe."
Naruto would have felt put off by that if he had indeed lost to Sasuke in Nami no Kuni, but because he knew he had done a magnificent job, light-years ahead of how he would have done when he was still in the Academy. As far as he was concerned he had won that little fight, and he had only gotten better since then, then Menma spoke up, "Naruto's not scared of you, he's looking forward to marking the bottom of his shoes into your face again teme." He said with a grin.
Ino slapped Menma on the arm and put her hands on her hips, "What did I tell you about provoking people? Don't pick fights for no good reason, that's not the smartest thing to do Menma."
Menma grumbled and crossed his arms, turning away from Sasuke, "Fine whatever. You're way bossier when you're infront of Sasuke, you know that?" He said, getting him another playful knock in the arm.
XxX
Over in a certain part of the room there stood a team from Suna consisting of an older girl with her hair in four spiky pigtails and a light purple garment that extended to her knees and cut low around her shoulders revealing the mesh clothing she wore underneath, an older boy wearing a black bodysuit and a hood that looked like it gave him cat ears to go with the face paint he had on as well, and the last member was a boy that looked to be around the age of the Konoha genin. He had messy red hair, dark circles around his eyes, a red kanji for love on his head, and wore a black bodysuit with short sleeves, a white cloth over his right shoulder, a leather band over his left shoulder that had a large gourd over his back that also had his headband tied to it, and black pants.
The boy with face paint glared over at the Konoha rookies, wanting to spit on the ground in front of them, "Stupid brats… they're just wasting space. All they're going to do is help someone else along that doesn't deserve to be here."
"Calm down Kankuro…" The girl with pigtails said, "Don't get Gaara agitated with your complaining." She said, shooting a quick look at the smallest member of their team, "We'll just have to walk all over them when the time comes won't we? There aren't any treaties to uphold in these exams."
"Kankuro… Temari…" The smallest of them said, his eyes not looking anywhere interesting in particular, "Be quiet."
Kankuro held back a gulp and nodded, "You've got it Gaara."
XxX
In a separate area leaning against one of the great white pillars there was also another team glaring at the new genin of Konoha, but for abjectly different reasons than the team from Sunagakure. This team was from Iwagakure instead.
"Look at those tree hugging bastards…" One of the Iwa genin said. He had a black fauxhawk and wore red overalls with a grey shirt underneath, "They think a bunch of babyfaced runts of theirs can take on experienced genin? Especially a hardened team of Iwagakure's?"
Another one of them, a genin with a shaved head and a long brown poncho who also wore long black gloves, noticed something else of substance about the Konoha rookies, most notably a few members of Team 10. Something that made his blood boil at the sight of it, "Look at that punk in the orange Masaru and the raven haired boy with the big sword, you too Jun. Who does he look like?"
The third member of the squad, Jun, was wearing a red long-sleeved shirt with the Iwa insignia on it along with brown pants. He squinted and looked at Naruto and Menma and went wide-eyed, "Whoa they look just like that Namikaze guy…" A smirk crossed his face as he looked towards the second Iwa genin that seemed to be seething at the sight of Naruto and Menma, "So are we going after them Hisashi?"
"The very first chance we get…" Hisashi muttered lowly, his eyes never leaving the two Uzumaki twins, 'They look like they jumped right off the page of a textbook. They looks like a chibified version of Namikaze Minato, Iwagakure's most infamous butcher.' The boy thought at his fists shook out of sight, "Go tell the others…" He finally said to his teammates who went off to correspond with the other Iwa genin in the area.
XxX
By now the more alert Konoha rookies like Shino and Shikamaru were well aware of the fact that they were being given a wide berth away from the other participants. Every eye in the room was directly on them because they were the youngest and looked to be the easiest pickings due to inexperience. By this time Sakura had realized that they were being sized up as well by generally everyone there, something that shook her up a bit, "What's with the death stares?" She asked to no one in particular in their little group.
Naruto noticed what she was referring to, and while he wasn't scared or shaken up it was honestly starting to piss him off. Still it was better than the other stares he got on and off when he was at home. At least these were saying, 'We know you exist and are confirming that you do by trying to punk you out.' With a confident grin he turned to the pink haired kunoichi, "Don't worry about them Sakura. They're just scared or jealous or something. A friend of mine named Shiho told me we were the first rookies to be in these exams in five years."
Sakura blinked once she received that information, "Wow, really? That's actually pretty cool now that I think about it. And Kakashi-sensei thinks we're ready for this?" That was something of a confidence booster.
"Heh." Kiba smirked, "Naruto's right. These chumps are all just trying to get into our heads." Akamaru yapped from his place in Kiba's jacket excitedly.
XxX
A boy with spiky black hair wearing a snake patterned scarf around his neck, a yellow shirt with the kanji for death on it, snake patterned pants, and a headband a faceguard under the cloth scoffed at the sight of the kids that everyone seemed to be paying attention to, "Konoha must really be high on these punks to let them in on this one. They might just get themselves embarrassed or killed out here."
"Whatever happens happens Zaku." A girl with very long black hair said. She also had a snake patterned scarf, a pale green vest, and snake patterned pants, "What do you think Dosu?" She asked the third member of their team.
'Dosu' had bandages covering most of his head, leaving his left eye visible. He also had a snake patterned scarf and pants, but he also wore a poncho with long sleeves and a straw raincoat. He had a hunched appearance, "I think we should all focus Kin. There's no need to worry about the runts, they'll just get themselves put out of this anyway. See to it that none of us wind up in the same predicament."
XxX
"Man you kids sure know how to attract attention."
All nine of the rookies turned to see a young man with silver hair in a ponytail coming towards them. He wore a purple sleeveless shirt over a grey undershirt and purple pants with a white obi around his waist. The Konoha headband on his head diffused what might have ended up being a tense moment, "I know that it's probably your first time this far from home doing something like this, but you guys should know how to keep a low-profile."
Ino bristled at his remark, as if they were babies or something, "Well who the hell are you anyway and why do you even care?"
The newcomer let out a chuckle and held his hands up in a defensive placating gesture, "My name is Yakushi Kabuto, an ally from Konoha. And you could say that I'm here because it would hurt my conscience if I didn't try to help the cute little rookies from my village along."
"That's great!" Sakura said, happy that not everyone seemed to be out for their throats the way it had seemed when they walked in, "Someone actually doesn't want us to drop dead."
"Wait…" Menma said giving Kabuto a squint-eyed look, "This whole thing is a big competition, so how are you just going to walk over here and say that you want to help us when no one else does? Where's your team even at anyway?" He could be trying to sabotage them, or maybe slip them some sucky information, or maybe he did want to help them because he thought they would be pushovers, easy to get rid of later in the exams when things got harder… or maybe Menma was overthinking this whole thing… or underthinking it. Oh, he didn't know, 'Man, being suspicious makes me jumpy…'
Shikamaru could see the gambit of thoughts running across Menma's face and probably would have let out a chuckle if he wasn't completely right to be thinking that way. Shino felt much the same, without the chuckling part, 'Troublesome. Who goes up to other teams in front of everyone and starts talking like we're old friends? He's going to turn the whole damn room against us more than they already are.'
'Maybe we should test him?'
Whether they knew it or not, Menma and Shikamaru thought the exact same thing.
Menma walked up to Kabuto as he was talking to the others about how this was his seventh time taking the exams and tapped him on the shoulder giving the older genin a big wide grin to play off his own suspicion, "So since we're supposed be allies and everything is there anything you've got for us? Anything interesting to tell us?"
Kabuto smiled at Menma as he pulled out a deck of cards, "Well I do have these…"
Menma just looked at him with a confused squinty-eyed glance, "Are we really going to gamble before we start this test? I mean I'm all for it, but that's keeping it a little too loose isn't it?" He then noticed Kabuto stare at him with a twitching eye, "What?"
"These are Ninja Info Cards." Kabuto said, getting his composure back, "I have all kinds of things stored onto these cards. Information on the villages along with climate and terrain-."
Menma rolled his eyes at hearing that, 'Yeah, because by now we all don't know the fucking terrain.' He thought sarcastically, 'It's fucking cold and there's snow and ice everywhere! It's wildery as fuck in this country!'
"-I even have information on you guys too…" Kabuto finished with a smirk.
'Gotcha.' Shikamaru thought, narrowing his eyes on Kabuto's form.
'Gotcha bitch.' Menma thought himself, 'I wonder what kind of stuff he has.'
"Like what kind of information on us?" Kiba asked. Was it anything that everybody didn't already know? Because most of them were from clans, so an astute ninja knew of them already, especially since they were from the same village as the guy who seemed to have it all.
Kabuto kneeled down and placed a blank card face down using his fingers to channel chakra into it, "How about a little something on our blonde friend here?" He turned the card over and began to read, "Uzumaki Naruto. Age 12. Teammates are Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru, and his twin brother Menma Uzumaki. He has completed 17 missions: 15 D-rank, 2 C-rank, 0 B-rank, and one mission under A-rank that was upgraded from a C-rank. Very skilled at ninjutsu, very good at taijutsu, he's a good little rookie." He finished with a smirk that got a growl out of Naruto, "Anyone in particular that you're interested in?"
Sasuke then spoke up, "Any information you got on Menma?" Kabuto kneeled down and placed a blank card face down using his fingers to channel chakra into it, "Menma Uzumaki. Age 12. Teammates are Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru, and his twin brother Naruto Uzumaki. He has completed 17 missions: 15 D-rank, 2 C-rank, 0 B-rank, and one mission under A-rank that was upgraded from a C-rank. Very skilled at ninjutsu, extremely adept with taijutsu, a master at kenjutsu and using lightning style chakra....hmm....it also says you defeated Zabuza Momochi-" Everyone in the room eyes widened when they heard that, "-and were raised and trained in Tetsu No Kuni for most of your life." He finished with a smirk only to see Menma staring intently at him almost giving him a death stare, "Anthing else you want to know?"
Naruto blinked and looked out at the crowd of amassed genin, "Yeah actually. What can you tell me about a guy named Hyuuga Neji?" He noticed Hinata let out a gasp but before he could look too much into that, Kabuto got to work.
Kabuto let out a low whistle, "Even for a showing of each village's best and brightest, someone's shooting high around here." He said as he channeled his chakra into another card, "Hyuuga Neji. Age 13. Teammates are Tenten and Rock Lee. He's completed 34 missions: 26 D-rank, 6 C-rank, 1 B-rank, 1 A-rank, and 0 S-rank. Immense skill with taijutsu which shouldn't be a surprise considering how he's heralded as a genius of the Hyuuga Clan. The best talent to emerge from their ranks in quite some time. He was the Rookie of the Year of last year's graduating class."
Sasuke smirked at hearing how there was someone else that many thought to be a genius, "Sounds like a good fight." He looked over at Naruto, "What dobe, are you making a habit out of trying to beat geniuses or something?"
Glaring at the card of Neji, Naruto let out a humorless chuckle, "Yeah I'm trying to go for a complete set, I've got one hell of an axe to grind. I'm not stopping until I personally beat the piss out of every single Rookie of the Year in this test." With that he turned to the large crowd of genin, "Is there anyone in here that's called some kind of genius of their village or Rookie of the Year for their grad class?" He shouted out to the people.
The amassed genin were confused at first until they realized he was actually waiting for an answer. A few hands went up here or there, some people pointing them out all over, and Naruto counted them out, "-Forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four… Forty-five of you." He said to himself before nodding, "Okay, chances are I'm going to wind up kicking all of your asses before this test is over with, dattebayo! Uzumaki Naruto, remember the name!"
The sound of Ino, Menma, and Shikamaru facepalming went up through the silence of the room.
XxX
"Omoi stop pointing at Samui already." A dark skinned girl with long red hair and amber eyes said irritably. She had a Kumo headband with a white cloth worn in the style of a bandanna on her head and wore a long grey dress with short sleeves. On her back she carried a rather large katana with a white handle, "That kid is obviously off his rocker."
Omoi, a boy with short white hair wearing a hooded sweatshirt and dark pants frowned as he stuck a sucker into his mouth and shifted around his own katana, also with a white handle, on his back, "But Karui what if that guy is a proctor out here to give byes to the next part of the exam for teams with a Rookie of the Year on them?" He then gasped silently, "Or what if he's eliminating teams with a Rookie of the Year on them? Shit." He pointed over to the third member of the team, "This is all your fault Samui."
"Idiot!" Karui said as she hit Omoi over the head, "That's completely asinine!"
Samui, a girl with neck length blonde hair and sharp blue eyes simply looked over at Naruto who was done with his little outburst. She wore a low-cut grey blouse that did very little to hide her impressive bust for a girl her age, a short skirt in a darker shade of grey, and high heeled boots. Horizontally on her lower back she had a tanto strapped to her person, "You two are seriously going to argue over something a blowhard kid said? That's really not cool." She said calmly, 'Still that name Uzumaki seems very familiar for some reason…'
XxX
For a few more minutes the teams were all in glorified stand-off mode until the massive set of doors at the farthest end of the room opened up wide enough for a person to walk through. A tall dark-skinned man with shaggy white hair and a laid-back look on his face walked into the main meeting room. He wore a high-collar sleeveless black zip up shirt and black pants with a Kumogakure white flak jacket. On his right and left shoulders he had tattoos of the kanji symbols for water and lightning.
The man stopped in his tracks and looked over the room full of international genin, "There are now 158 teams comprising 474 genin. Sixty-three from Konoha, 66 from Iwa, 48 from Kiri, 102 from Kumo, 51 from Suna, and the rest of you know how many of you there are here. Sorry guys I'll just get to the point." He gestured to the hall that they were in, "Welcome to the chunin exams. This is your shot."
"Trying to inspire the brats Darui-san?" A gruff voice said as heavy footsteps rang out. Through the open doorway a large imposing man with a Konoha headband in a full bandana style on top of his head walked out. He wore a black uniform underneath an open black trench coat that he currently had his pockets in, "Alright punks shut up and listen! As I've just said my colleague from Kumo is named Darui, I am Morino Ibiki… and as of now I own you all until this test is complete." He and Darui looked at each other before nodding and turning on their heels to head through the doors, "Get off of your useless asses and follow us." Ibiki ordered.
Darui shook his head at his fellow lead proctor's rashness, "Stay with your teams and prepare to get into lines as you come through the door." He informed the genin. Thus they did as instructed and stood side-by-side with their teammates as they walked through the doors that had been opened wider to accommodate the coming crowd.
As the teams entered through the doors they found themselves standing in a very long corridor with multiple doors lining the walls on both sides, each with a number pinned to it and with chunin of multiple nationalities standing guard in front, one for each door, "This is the first test." Darui said as he began to calmly explain how things were going to work for the first exam, "It's easy, but it's going to suck for one person on each team. Sorry." This gave ways to looks of confusion on many faces, "You will all be given a password that will open the door to your room from the outside by way of the proctors standing out front. Two of each team will be posted in the room while the third or fourth member will be in the room across the way."
Ibiki gave the genin a manic smirk that unnerved many of them, "It's so good that there are an even number of teams. It means that no one gets a bye. The member that is alone in the room with another team's pair will be bound in some way keeping them from escaping. From there the team that has the hostage will proceed to… 'coax' the password to the room that has their own teammate trapped across the way." His smirk turned into a full-blown grin, "The only restraints on getting this information are that you cannot kill or maim your hostage. No permanent damage can be done. You have 45 minutes to get the password needed to free your teammate. If you fail to free your teammate in the allotted time, if your lone teammate cracks under whatever pressure he's put under before he is freed, if you lose your hostage then you fail the exam. This way the numbers will be immediately cut in half… at least."
"What?"
"That's not fair?"
Ibiki sneered at the simpering protests, "The ninja world isn't fair. If you haven't realized that yet then you obviously aren't ready to be promoted. If you choose to refrain from taking part then you are automatically giving the team you are assigned across from a free pass to the next round." He turned with his trench coat flowing dramatically, "The choice is yours in the end."
Darui shrugged and tried to follow up, "The entire team has to take part… and I know that it sucks, but it'd be dull for you to come all this way and cop out without even trying just because you're scared."
Shikamaru was sweating as were Ino and Naruto hell even Menma was slightly nervous, 'Troublesome… why didn't he just come out with it and say that the one team member separated from the others will be getting tortured? It's so not my day today.' His train of thought stopped as he and his team were handed a plain closed scroll per person. They all opened their scrolls and got their room number and password from the scroll.
Menma looked at his scroll and nodded before shutting it and patting Shikamaru on the back, "Well I'll see you guys in a few." He said as he immediately marched to the room directly across from the one they were assigned.
"Wait!" Ino shouted, moving in front of him before he could get there and get tied up by the other team, "Why are you the one that has to go? Send Shikamaru instead!"
Shikamaru paled before glaring at Ino, "Why don't we just send you?"
Ino looked over at the team of all male Suna ninja giving her creepy looks that made her skin crawl, "Um… no?"
"Exactly." Naruto said with a dry look on his face, "What's the worst that can happen? They mess him up for a good thirty minutes until we get the password out of the guy they send. Menma can do that." Menma waved it off and rubbed the space between his nose and mouth absently, "I'll heal from whatever they do in like ten minutes anyway won't I?"
Shikamaru sighed, 'I guess that just means that me, Naruto, and Ino will have to work double-time to get him out… alright Menma. I don't like it but whatever.' He finally decided that it was the best course of action. As shitty as the ultimatum was, someone had to go and Menma was volunteering. It wasn't like they had a better option anyway.
Darui waited next to Ibiki for ten minutes and allowed the genin to work out who was going. There were still arguments going on, teams were falling apart all over the corridor over who would be sent as the hostage. Others looked prepared, albeit grim… but they looked ready to go.
Ibiki then looked at the door that had Team 10 in front of it looking at the Suna team across the hall that they would be swapping hostages with. Shikamaru, Naruto, and Ino looked deadly serious, but Menma was just stretching out as if he was about to exercise, not a hint of apprehension on his face, 'That kid's either got a poker face that could clean a casino out or he's got no nerves at all… or he's crazy.'
Darui sighed and called out in the hall with a massive echo in his voice, "Hostage swap now!"
Menma gave one last confident look to his team before walking across the hall, an older Suna genin taking his place as Ino quickly bound his hands and feet as the guided him into their intended room. Before shutting the door, Ino looked back at Menma who had been tied up, only with his hands tied behind his back, and had been led into the room, turning to give her one last wink to assure her he'd be fine.
"The moment these doors close you have 45 minutes to extract the information you need!" Ibiki bellowed to everyone competing, "Remember your rules and parameters! And may Kami help you…"
With that the doors closed and the first test began. Ibiki looked over at Darui who was rubbing his temple, "What's the matter?"
"Kind of a messed up test isn't it?" Darui responded.
Ibiki chuckled, "Yeah, it's great isn't it?" His chuckles grew to full laughter after a moment, "Did you see the looks on a few of their faces? What's the over-under for the first person to quit? I give the first one 5 minutes."
Darui took a step away from Ibiki and the proctors guarding the rooms all shivered at the intimidating Konoha ninja's amused laughter.
XxX
(With Menma)
Hanging off of the ground by his hands which were bound behind his back, Menma had to admit that this was a pretty uncomfortable position to be hung off of the ground in… for people that didn't have his stamina, because he could just hold himself up in a position that didn't feel like he was tearing his arms out of the sockets. He wondered how long he could hold it for. Sure as hell not 45 minutes with his life not on the line.
The room was bare with white walls, the only thing there was a sturdy wooden chair. That was probably what he was meant to be initially bound to, but his captors decided to waste five minutes being creative by turning him into a party favor. And the sounds of thuds from other rooms could be heard… probably someone getting physical with their torture.
Speaking of physical torture…
"Oof!" Menma let out another short grunt of pain as another fist bounced off of his face and had him swing around like a piñata.
"What's the password, sword brat?" The Suna genin standing off to the side asked calmly as his partner administered the beating to Menma. Why not? Bruises, cuts, and busted bones weren't permanent.
Menma's stinging cheek wasn't even inconvenient yet. His clones hit harder than this, "I'm sorry, I can't understand bullshit." A timeless classic witty response. Unfortunately, this answer resulted in Menma taking the blunt metal ring of a kunai bouncing off of his dome. This split him open over the eye, "Ah, bastard!"
The one that hit Menma looked at his teammate who was giving him a distasteful look, "What? It's just a little wound. How's that permanent damage?"
"Why don't you tell us the password?" The Suna genin standing off to the side suggested again.
"I don't know." Menma said, shutting his right eye so that his blood didn't drip into it directly and irritate it, "I wasn't paying attention."
Both Suna genin's jaws dropped at hearing that admission, "Why the fuck weren't you paying attention?" One of them snapped, "Are you just going to let us kick the shit out of you the entire time?"
"Well that's a good question." Menma said, smirking. One thing he had learned from Jiraiya over the course of one week was how to piss other people off by just talking… even though he was pretty good at that in the first place. It's just that this week expanded his lexis of insults and slurs, "I was sidetracked…*chuckles* You see the thing is your mom, and I'm sure you've heard this, gives the best fucking blowjobs, and she's waiting in my team's hotel room… and I was just so excited to just get back there and get some of that, I completely spaced out on the whole password thing. I mean your mom is an absolute pro."
The two Suna genin just stared at Menma in complete shock. This kid was five years younger than them, tied up, and with the largest satisfied smirk on his face that they could have ever thought possible for the situation he was in. And then he took it to a whole other level when he opened his mouth and poked the inside one of his cheeks repeatedly while rolling his eyes. The only thing that would have made it worse would have been if his hands were free so that he could make the hand gesture to go with his facial gesture.
Smart? Hell no, he was tied up and his hands were put in a position where he couldn't make a single hand-seal to save his life.
Was it satisfying to see their faces turn red since he never specified which one of their moms he was referencing?
Yes. Yes it was. And it stayed satisfying right up until the sturdy wooden chair ended up getting acquainted with his head.
CRACK
'It's only been 15 minutes…' Menma thought as his head started swimming after the first shot. Was this his first concussion?
CRACK
Well if it was then why half-ass it? Go all the way with it, "That chair's really sturdy… Maybe I should sit in it while your mom is-."
CRACK
Thanks Jiraiya.
XxX
(With Ino and Shikamaru)
"Password please?" Shikamaru asked lazily as he stood up, looking at the Suna genin they were intent on getting the information from.
"Fuck you!" He spat back. He was not tied up. He wasn't bound by anything at all… unless one takes Shikamaru's shadow into account. Also, he was holding a kunai in his hand. That's very important for the chain of events currently taking place.
"Your choice, but I wanted to avoid this part." Shikamaru said as he raised a hammer fist high above his head, forcing the prisoner to do the same, "Last chance." Despite the sweat beading the Suna genin's head in trepidation he didn't waver.
Shikamaru shrugged and brought his arm down as dead weight directly towards his own testicles, stopping short just an inch away… just enough distance for say the ring of a kunai to fill the space with.
"Gah!" Tears sprang to the Suna genin's eyes, "No! No more! Not again!" He said as he saw Shikamaru stretch his legs further apart forcing him to do the same, "No! Ahh!" And then Shikamaru did a deep squat… forcing him to do the same. Needless to say, after 15 minutes of this it was a testament to his endurance that he was still going.
"There you go." Shikamaru said in a bored voice, still holding the position to torment him more.
Ino sat in the chair provided to them tapping her foot impatiently and stood up angrily, stomping over to the Suna genin as she fished through her pouch, "Listen up asshole…" She pulled out a single senbon and placed it near his junk, "This is a powerful paralysis serum." She then proceeded to stab him in the groin area with it, "Enjoy."
"No permanent damage allowed!" The genin cried out as he could feel it taking place, "This is illegal!"
"Can't prove we did anything." Naruto said with a smirk, "You still have everything, and for all anyone else knows you were always impotent." He stood back and crossed his arms, "But I do have the antidote. Because even if we fail you'll never get it up again."
With that, his eyes widened, "The password is Menma!"
Ino, Naruto, and Shikamaru's faces both registered shock. So much so that Shikamaru dropped his jutsu, enabling the Suna genin to finally fully collapse to the floor in a twitching heap, "Bullshit." Shikamaru uttered, not believing that for a moment.
"It's true!" The Suna genin cried out, rocking back and forth from his side on the floor as he held his goods, "Now what about the antidote?" He asked hysterically.
"It'll wear off in a few hours, there is no antidote." Ino said snappishly as she walked outside, rather angry, "That's some kind of messed up joke! After all that, and all we had to do was say Menma-kun's actual name to get him out? What the fuck?" She marched up to the proctor guarding the door, forcing him to back up at how angry she seemed, "Menma." She said simply.
"You pass." The chunin proctor said in response as he turned to unlock and open the door up, "Whoa…" He said once he opened the door.
Ino looked inside and had to blink at what she saw, "Wow… hi Menma-kun."
"Hey Ino." Menma said, sitting on the chair that had just been used to bash his skull. He had a band-aid over his eye and on his adjacent cheek, places where he had suffered wounds while two of his clones were angrily getting their licks in as they kicked at the downed Suna genin that had been tormenting him.
"Um…" Ino walked inside and looked around, "How did you get yourself free?"
"It's a funny story." He said with a laugh before stopping abruptly, "And by funny I mean painful."
(Flashback – Five Minutes Prior)
CRACK
'Fuck this…' Menma thought. Enough of having his brains scrambled by these two Neanderthals, he needed his brain for thinking good, and speaking of thinking good, "The password scroll is in my windbreaker! Just stop already!" He yelled, blood streaming down his face.
The genin holding the chair smirked and tossed it aside to search, pulling out a scroll just like Menma said, "Jackpot. Sorry kid. Twenty minutes is a long time to take an assbeating though." With that he opened the scroll and smoke engulfed the room, obstructing everyone's view as the sounds of a beating could be heard.
When the smoke cleared, Menma was being cut loose from his bonds by a Kage Bunshin while another clone was beating the two Suna genin with the chair… while they were unconscious already.
Menma ignored that clone in favor of the one that freed him, "Suckers… Jiraiya-sensei knows his stuff when he said I could seal jutsu. I didn't think it would work on you guys though. Don't you guys need to breathe?" He asked, getting a shrug from the clone as it set him down carefully against the wall, eliciting a groan from Menma, "So what was it like inside of that sealing scroll anyway?"
The clone's eyes glazed over as it spoke in a monotone manner, "We saw everything… We know everything… And we still know nothing." And with that it began to fix Menma's injuries like a zombie.
Menma just stared at his clone. One clearly had developed manic claustrophobia issues due to the aggressive beating it was still doling out to his captors while the other went insane inside of the sealing scroll he used to seal them in due to whatever the experience was like, 'I wonder if I'm going to get the backlash for that when I dispel them?' He thought to himself.
(End Flashback)
Ino, Naruto, and Shikamaru walked with Menma down the corridor toward the two main proctors as Naruto tried to get Menma's story straight, "You had a scroll already booby trapped with clones in it? How'd you know this would happen?" He asked.
"I didn't." Menma replied, "It wasn't supposed to be a booby trap. If we got into a fight I was going to give the scroll to one of you so that you could at least have a clone or two to help out. But I didn't know how many I could seal, and it keeps my chakra split up, plus I didn't know how long they would last in there… I still don't. And I think sealing them messes with my clones' heads so I'm not sure about doing that again."
Ibiki saw the Konoha Team 10 walk up to him, "You're all here? You pass." He then yelled down the hall to the proctors, "The genin of Room 39 are disqualified! Get them out of there!" He jerked his thumb behind him, "Go and wait in the next room until the next phase begins." He looked over at Menma, "You're going to need the rest kid."
"You'd think so…" Menma muttered under his breath since Ibiki kind of freaked him out. He then said something that made Ibiki smirk, "I just got beaten up for 20 minutes… how much harder could this exam get?"
Ibiki chuckled quietly to himself as Team 10 left towards the waiting room, "Oh you poor bastard you have no idea. *laughs* No idea…"