The sound of munching filled their corner of the examination hall.

Sasuke was scowling at Naruto, who was folding a sheet of paper covered in seals into a three-dimensional fūinjutsu matrix.

After the paper was folded into a small fourteen-sided closed figure, Naruto channelled chakra through the black-inked writing.

The matrix glowed blue and Naruto tossed the paper object at Sasuke.

Sasuke reached a hand out to catch it, only to look on blankly as the thing passed through his hand. Immaterial and elusive, it did not slow as it phased through his body and continued its path in a clean arc unaffected by air resistance. He glanced back at Naruto, and saw the blond jerk his wrist as if tugging on an invisible string.

The paper construct tumbled through the air towards Naruto, and remained still as it hovered over the Uzumaki's palm.

"This isn't genjutsu?" Sakura remarked, studying the seals painted on the paper in curiosity.

Sasuke corrected her absently, "It's still fūinjutsu, but it contains the fundamentals of a space-time law. It's a modified version of a toy that we used to play with when we were kids. This one exists on a different plane from us -- we can see it but not touch it."

"It's a little gadget to practice chakra control with," Naruto translated Sasuke's explanation into a comprehensive statement.

"I think you're oversimplifying things again," Sakura huffed.

"You want it?" Naruto asked Shikamaru, catching the yearning in the latter's gaze as he scrutinised the paper construct.

Shikamaru knew better than to beat around the bush.

"I want it," said Shikamaru, frankly.

"I'll give it to you," Naruto replied agreeably, retracting his chakra from the seals.

The glowing mystical pentagon-derived figure dimmed and the paper object landed gently in his hand.

"Just send chakra into the matrix and it will become intangible. You can play with the controls if you move the chakra that you have placed in it," Naruto briefly instructed, placing the toy in the Nara's hand.

Shikamaru did not hesitate, running his chakra through the circuitry of seals and watching them light up in sequence.

He twirled the paper structure and started messing around with it.

He finally understood why Naruto was always fiddling around with these things.

It was a form of stress relief. It helped one to think. It even allowed him to study fūinjutsu.

"Awoo," a low howl reached the ears of the six genins huddled around the glowing paper toy.

Naruto traced the sound back to its source and saw a white puppy with black markings on its floppy ears. The puppy was comfortably lying on the fluffy hood of a boy with narrow, upward-slanting eyes and maroon triangular markings painted on his face. He recognised this boy as a classmate of the same graduating class, and the two following him were also acquaintances.

The jōnin senseis seemed quite confident this time? All nine rookies of the most recent batch of Academy graduates were sent out. The Chūnin Exams was not a cakewalk -- many people would die every time it was held. These children were all inexperienced. Shikamaru aside, Naruto could not imagine any of the other genins passing this time.

"Yahoo! Found you!" Kiba yelled boisterously.

Naruto thoughtfully rested his gaze on the boy's canine companion.

"Hello..." Hinata greeted awkwardly.

She snuck a glance at Naruto and then the two kunoichi.

"Hi... Naruto-kun..." she whispered, blushing furiously.

"Hello, Hinata," Naruto welcomed her warmly. "Come join us."

"Y-Yes!" Hinata squeaked, shuffling between Ino and Sakura. "It's very nice to see you again, Ino-onee-sama, Sakura-onee-sama..."

"Hinata-chan, is there a need to be so stiff around sisters?" Sakura teased gently.

Hinata opened and closed her mouth, then squeezed her eyes shut and forced out, "Ino-nee-sama, Sakura-nee-sama."

Ino squealed and squished Hinata's soft cheeks. "You're so cute!"

With Hinata there, the friction between Ino and Sakura was smoothed over.

Disgruntled by how he was being disregarded, Kiba did not take it lying down.

He drew his classmates' attentions back onto him by speaking loudly, "Well, so everyone is here. I see... all nine of this year's rookies are taking the Exams. Don't you wonder... how far we'll get?"

"No, we're not interested," Sakura answered coolly. "You think you've trained a lot, but so have we. We've suffered through training you wouldn't even be able to imagine. I don't think you can win against us."

"Ah?" said Kiba intelligently. "Sakura...?"

The puppy could not hold back anymore. "Ao..."

"You want the ball? What are you talking about, Akamaru?" Kiba addressed the puppy on his head, his momentum lost.

"This?" Shikamaru drawled, manipulating the paper construct that he had been tossing up and down to land on Akamaru's nose.

"Arf!" Akamaru barked, pawing at the object in vain.

"Huh? What's this weird illusion?" Kiba, the latecomer, asked in bafflement.

"It's a fūinjutsu gadget -- a toy Naruto made for fun," Sasuke thoughtfully pointed out.

"Akamaru wants one," Kiba turned to Naruto.

"How about a ball?" Naruto asked, pulling a rubber ball engraved with seals out of his sleeve.

Kiba stared dumbly at the blond.

"What's the matter? You don't like it?" said Naruto, doubtful.

"Where... did you get that from?" Kiba questioned, foolishly walking around the blond.

"It wasn't sleight of hand. I just have a storage seal here," Naruto clarified graciously, showing the youngster the seal on the cuff of his jacket.

"It's tiny!" Kiba exclaimed in amazement.

As a child of a shinobi clan, he has seen countless storage seals in his lifetime. Even then, he still could not help but be impressed by the uniqueness of an Uzumaki's personal seals. For a storage seal to store something, the size of the painted seal usually had to be comparable to the object's size. A seal the size of a fingernail should only be able to store things like pencils and erasers, but Naruto even managed to stuff a ball the size of an apple in there.

"Inuzuka, do you want this ball?" Naruto asked quizzically.

"Yes!" Kiba took the toy out of Naruto's hands. "So I just put chakra in it?"

"I don't recommend for you to do that here..." Naruto warned, but it was too late.

"Huh?" Kiba turned around. "Why?"

Kiba's chakra control clearly left much to be desired.

The ball, energised after being charged with chakra, shook and shot out of Kiba's hand.

"Wait, wait, wait! How do I control this?!" Kiba cried out, chasing after the ball as it bounced around.

"Calm down and stablise your chakra first," Sasuke advised prudently.

Kiba's face scrunched up slightly, and the ball stopped moving.

"Then you grab it and discharge your chakra from the seals," Sasuke concluded.

Kiba grappled with the ball, his wavering control over his chakra causing the ball to dart out of his reach.

The ball was finally retrieved by an excited Akamaru, who held the ball in his mouth and safely deposited it in Kiba's hand.

Shikamaru leaned closer to Naruto as the rest were concentrated on watching Kiba figuring out how to deactivate the ball.

"The book?" he whispered.

Naruto condensed some chakra into a small glowing point between them -- proving that he was not using natural energy at the moment.

"I left it in the grove. Do you have an answer for me yet?" Naruto whispered back.

"I'm getting there. World peace... is a difficult goal," Shikamaru admitted, his gaze drifting to the compressed chakra in the air.

It was morphing into an adorable miniature fox.

"I don't look like that, Naruto," came the protest of the oversized fox in Naruto's mindscape.

'Ah, I missed a few tails,' Naruto solemnly amended the feature.

A chibi Kyūbi no Kitsune was presented to the world.

Kurama snarled and flooded Naruto's body with bijū chakra, disrupting his chakra flow and causing his control over the chakra construct to slip. The little nine-tailed fox fell apart sadly, dissipating into misty tendrils. The remnant chakra gravitated to the immense chakra source of the owner, and was deftly reabsorbed.

'Kurama, behave,' Naruto admonished, taming the volatile bijū chakra and reining it into his core.

Not even a wisp of it leaked out, but Shikamaru sensed it.

As a jinchūriki, he discovered in himself many new qualities. Moreover, the gentle stimulation of cooperative bijū chakra caused his own chakra reserves to grow. He even found that his chakra sensitivity had increased. When Gyūki spoke, he occasionally slipped and started rapping. It was grating on the nerves, so much so that it had Shikamaru taking the initiative to influence the bijū with his own manner of speech. He did not feel displeased about having to do so -- putting aside his habit of rapping, Gyūki was a pleasant conversation partner. Following the ushioni's advice, his manipulation of his clan's hiden jutsu became more fluid and unpredictable. The shadows that he controlled grew increasingly agile and flexible under Gyūki's influence.

Shikamaru chuckled despite himself.

He could guess at the Kyūbi's displeasure of being portrayed in such a manner, even if he found it quite adorable.

The big commotion drew a number of onlookers, observing from afar without any intention to approach them.

Naruto noticed a man he had just glimpsed chatting with a group of Oto-nin suddenly striding towards them.

He watched this person curiously.

Ash-grey hair in a low ponytail, scheming onyx eyes muted by the black circular-rimmed glasses that framed them, a dark-purple get-up with a visible loose white undershirt, a pale yellow cloth waistband, a pair of dark purple arm protectors and a blue hitai-ate with a familiar leaf symbol... This young man was a Konoha-nin. His face was somewhat plain -- depending on his expression he could look dependable, kind, stern, cold or dangerous.

Naruto determined that this person was untrustworthy.

"Hey, you should lower your volume," said the unfamiliar Konoha-nin, butting into their circle.

It was no longer just Naruto peeking at him, now all nine genins were eyeing this nosy person guardedly.

"You lot should be the rookies fresh out of the Academy? Seriously, you scream like schoolgirls..." the unknown man chastised them. "This isn't a picnic."

"Who do you think you are?" Ino questioned him, discontent at being told off by some random stranger.

"I'm Kabuto," the rude stranger introduced himself briefly. "But rather than that, you should look behind you."

Nine children simultaneously turned to look at a group of grown shinobi with vicious faces. The insignia emblazoned in their hitai-ates was the symbol of Amegakure. A few of them noticed the fearless cubs looking their way and were glowering back sullenly. 

"Those guys behind you are from Amegakure. They have short fuses. Everyone here is nervous about the Exams, so quiet down before you cause a scene," Kabuto identified, his tone grave.

Naruto heard the smile in Kabuto's words, conflicting with the severity of his mannerism.

"They're not that young," Sasuke said abruptly, choking Kabuto into swallowing his next line. "It is not only that. Considering their physiques, gear and chakra levels, they aren't much of a threat to any of us. We shouldn't underestimate our foes, but that doesn't mean we should undermine our own skills."

Sakura picked up where Sasuke left off. "Kabuto-san, right?" Without waiting for the other party to affirm or deny this, she continued, "This is your second time here?"

A good question. If this was Kabuto's second attempt, it would make sense that he would worry for his juniors -- even if his attitude was a bit bad. If it was his third time, he would be harbouring resentment towards these rookies that got the chance to participate when he had failed so many times before. However, considering his build and chakra level, he should have no issues passing the Chūnin Exams -- this was a jōnin-level combatant. If he had tested four or more times, he will instantly become suspicious. It was not abnormal to slip up once or twice, but to fail the Chūnin Exams so many times with his skills was ridiculous. Unless he had poor character or was failing it on purpose, that is. Whether it was the former or latter, this man was dodgy.

"Nope... It's my seventh," Kabuto replied heartily. "This exam is held twice a year, so this is my fourth year."

The warning bells were tolling.

So many failed attempts... If they considered this person a radical factor, Konoha would not have allowed his continued participation in the Chūnin Exams. This was his second time taking part in the Chūnin Exams in Konohagakure. This reeked of hidden motives.

This person was not just suspicious.

He was dangerous.

"Wow, so you know a lot about the Exams?" Sakura probed, knowing there was more to it.

It would be best if she could fish up useful information while she was at it.

"That's right," Kabuto informed. "Heh... I'll share some info with you cute rookies... with my nin-info cards."

"Nin-info cards?" Naruto queried, raising an eyebrow.

"They are, essentially, cards which have information burned onto them using chakra," Kabuto explained magnanimously. "I have four years' worth of information here and over two hundred cards."

'He's trying to gain our trust,' Naruto inferred from this series of actions. 'But he exposed himself instead. The skill of writing using chakra requires outstanding chakra control. Someone capable of casually making such a thick deck of nin-info cards would be one of three possibilities. He can only be a medic-nin, genjutsu specialist or seal master.'

The most probable choice was medic-nin.

"Show me Sunagakure's Fū," Naruto said decisively, "and the information on the genins from Kusa. That kunoichi's staring at us very hungrily."

Kabuto followed Naruto's line of sight and blanched.

"She's quite scary. You think so too, right?" Naruto pressed, seizing the opportunity to test this man's bottom line.

Towards this madwoman, Kabuto seemed to feel fear, respect and greed.

Naruto found this medley of emotions quite intriguing.

Who was this person to Kabuto?

"Since these two are newcomers from foreign countries, I don't think I have much on them," Kabuto explained, picking out two cards from the deck. "Okay, first is Fū. Her mission history includes seven C-ranks and three B-ranks. I don't have her stats but it seems that she was in a two-man unit until the Chūnin Exams. The only weakness we know is... there might be gaps in her cooperation with her teammates. But wow, she did three B-rank missions as a genin..."

Naruto was surprised. 'She was paired with Gaara?'

He calmed down after the initial shock. After all, it was efficient to put both jinchūriki in a place where they could be seen. Their performance as a team was likely much better than that with a normal genin team anyway. 

"The woman you were talking about... seems to be Shiore from Kusa. Her record includes one hundred D-ranks and thirty C-ranks. Kusa-nin are typically known to be quite peaceful..." said Kabuto, cautiously sneaking a glance at Naruto.

Naruto did not make any further comment, and busied himself with a blank card that was twice the size of one of Kabuto's nin-info cards.

Kabuto felt tangled at this sight. It was one thing to fear being seen through and read like a book by someone, but something else altogether to be ignored after providing the other with info that they wanted. He did not know whether to feel relieved or frustrated.

"I'm next! I want information on these two. Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke of Konoha," the bubbly Kiba piped up without inhibition.

Kabuto was about to refuse -- he had no reason to entertain these brats after all, but suddenly found the thought a bit... tempting. He remembered the two's information by heart; he had painstakingly filled in the data on these two young geniuses while risking his identity and safety. He knew how far ahead of their peers they were. They have caused him so much suffering, and here was a chance to show off the results of his hard work.

Kabuto turned towards Naruto and Sasuke, opening his mouth to ask for permission...

His mouth snapped shut.

They were both hunching over the blank card now, not caring at all that they were now the topic of discussion or that their feats would be revealed to their friends.

He felt his eyelid twitch uncontrollably, and he spitefully fished out their info cards.

"Uzumaki Naruto, he's your classmate. Mission history: fifteen D-ranks, four C-ranks and one B-rank, all completed successfully. His sensei is Kakashi. Gen, tai, nin, tool and blood. As you can see, all of his stats are maxed, except genjutsu. His skill in fūinjutsu is categorised under tool and is off the charts. This is his first time participating in the Chūnin Exams. His teammates include Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke," Kabuto enunciated clearly, striking fear into the hearts of the genins... or not.

These brats were not the least bit scared.

"So Naruto's weakness is genjutsu..." said Kiba, wracking his brain for ideas.

Determined to plunge these fools into despair, Kabuto added, "His chūnin-level genjutsu skill is entirely based on his ability to resist genjutsu. He does not actually have any skill in genjutsu."

Hearing this, Naruto finally looked up.

"I should learn genjutsu, huh?" he said ponderingly.

Kabuto choked on his words once again.

Kiba wilted at last. "So you mean to say he has no weaknesses?!"

"I have a weakness," Naruto interjected merrily. "This guy. If anyone dares threaten him, I'll kill them -- no questions asked."

Kabuto looked from Naruto to Sasuke.

He felt like his chest had been hollowed out.

Not saying a word, he slammed the card that detailed Sasuke's information on the floor.

It was a familiar sight, a copy of Naruto's nin-info card with the exception of their respective specialties. While Naruto's tool stat went beyond the limit, it was Sasuke's blood stat that went off the chart. Naruto's self-proclaimed weakness could hold his own -- Sasuke was not much of a liability at all.

"SasuNaru, SasuNaru, SasuNaru," Sakura chanted under her breath.

Kabuto inhaled deeply, suppressing his agitation, and exhaled.

"Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki, Oto... Many outstanding genins from the various hidden villages are here to take the exam. Well, Otogakure is a small village that was created just last year so there isn't much information... but the rest of the hidden villages are filled with talented youngsters," Kabuto told them, stowing away his nin-info cards neatly in his weapons pouch.

Then he fled before Naruto could continue to infuriate him -- he was at risk of getting a stroke or going into cardiac arrest if his blood pressure continued to rise.

~♡~

Scattered throughout the examination hall in randomly assigned seats, the members of Team 7 flipped the question paper at the same time and started to read through the questions.

Compulsory shinobi knowledge -- for a jōnin that is.

And the calculation segments required mathematical understanding as well as field experience. This was a paper that was designed to be failed. The questions were intentionally set so that no ordinary genin could figure out the answers to them. Besides the chūnins who have been mixed into the crowd who had memorised the answers, there were only four legitimate genins who are able to complete the paper off the top of their heads.

Of these four genins, only one of them started honestly answering the questions. The other three saw through the goal of the written examination component -- they were being tested on their information-gathering skills. Espionage was key to shinobi. Beyond the genin level, shinobi were entrusted with the task of gathering vital information for the village. They needed to be able to obtain the necessary documents without being caught. The method did not matter -- only the results did. Of the remaining three, one was too lazy to solve the questions, one was sticking to the method that the examiners clearly wanted them to use to answer the questions and one was curious about the level of the chūnins in the current age and wanted to test them.

As such, Sakura was using brainpower to answer the questions, Shikamaru lazily attached his shadow to that of the chūnin who sat diagonally across from him and Sasuke was copying a chūnin's wrist's movements using his Sharingan.

The fourth one, who wanted to check the perceptiveness of Konohagakure's chūnins, summoned a fox.

Instead of the usual brown-furred messenger that conveyed his messages to Itachi, the one that appeared on his lap this time was a snowy-white arctic fox.

"I need answers to the questions on this paper," Naruto expressed, stroking the fox's fluffy coat.

He felt the weight lying on his legs disappear and sensed the medium-sized fox prancing among the examinees with the invigilators being none the wiser. Naruto closed his eyes, indulgently allowing the fox to run amok. No one could stop it -- they did not even notice it when it passed right under their noses. Naruto found it remarkable that it could conceal its existence so well -- it almost made up for his own lack of study in that area. Scent, presence, sight and sound were all hidden so perfectly by the illusion that none of the three dōjutsu users who were cheating in the exam spotted it. Even Naruto would not be able to sense its chakra if not for the bond between a contractor and summoned beast.

This was no longer a matter of testing the chūnins. It seemed that he had underestimated the intelligent foxes of the kitsune contract. He should make use of his foxes more often from now onwards.

"Naruto-sama, these are the answers. I cross-checked between those who looked certain about their responses," the fox alerted Naruto serenely as it landed on his lap, peering up at the blond with sparkling blue-green eyes.

Naruto pet the arctic fox as he skimmed through the answers that the vulpine spy had marked on his answer sheet in ethereal foxfire. He noticed the white tail that was at attention and the anticipation with which the fox looked at him. He quickly wrote down the answers that the fox obtained for him with the hand speed of a fūinjutsu master. He knew he did not need to check the answers.

Naruto lowered his head, meeting the eyes of the arctic fox.

"Well done," he praised lightly.

The fluffy white tail began to sway happily.

"I'll call on you again. How do kitsunes refer to one another?"

The happy tail began to swish even harder.

"We are named based on the colour of our coats. Since I'm silver in summer, they call me Gin."

"It's my pleasure to meet you, Gin," said Naruto, smiling warmly.

"We are always happy to be of help to Naruto-sama," Gin replied modestly, its tail becoming a blur of white.

The overexcited fox vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto suddenly noticed a vaguely familiar chakra signature within the examination hall.

It should have been someone he was acquainted with, but it was muddled -- as if its owner had dabbled in the forbidden arts. The feeling came and went, and the source of the chakra was no longer giving off the somewhat nostalgic feeling. It was quite different from anyone he has ever known in his three lives, the familiarity impossible to place.

He chose to dismiss it.

Even if it was someone he knew, the other was clearly different now. As for himself, he has long since reincarnated and matters of the past no longer concerned him. If the other party changed so much that he could no longer recognise them directly, he had no reason to go out of his way to reach out to them.

"Alright. We will now start the tenth question."

~♡~

The seventy-two genins remaining at the end of the first phase of the Chūnin Exams have been gathered before Training Ground #44, the Forest of Death.

"...You'll soon find out... why it's called the 'Forest of Death'," said Mitarashi Anko, sinisterly.

Naruto held out the blank card that he had been working on since before to Sasuke.

Sasuke wordlessly placed his index finger on it, writing his name there using chakra.

Naruto then turned to Sakura, gesturing for her to do the same.

She imitated Sasuke's actions, then mouthed, "Is this thing like Kabuto-san's nin-info cards?"

Naruto nodded minutely, filling the card with chakra and setting it on the ground between them.

It enlarged and an accurately-coloured three-dimensional model of Konohagakure appeared on it -- this was a map, and there were brightly coloured pinheads scattered throughout it.

Naruto waved a hand, panning, then spread his fingers out. The figure zoomed in on a forested area that had a building nestled in the middle. Numerous magenta pinheads crowded the forest and a few yellow pinheads were swiftly traversing the treetops. On the grounds situated in front of the forest, the space was packed with yellow pinheads and the three cyan pinheads enfolded within caused Sakura to realise.

"Those are people!" she gasped.

The activity here did not escape the tokubetsu jōnin's notice.

She threw a kunai at Naruto accurately.

He tilted his head to the side, causing the blade to sweep past him harmlessly and fly into the distance.

"Sharp reflexes, kiddo," Anko complimented, smiling wickedly.

Naruto did not respond, while Sasuke glared at the woman harshly.

He could not sense the kunai coming in. There was no sense of threat and no killing intent, but Naruto could have gotten injured. Naruto might not care, but Sasuke was upset in his stead.

"You T&I Bureau folks keep some bad habits," Sasuke scoffed, placing Naruto behind him.

Naruto, bemused, simply reached down and reverted the card into its original state.

Anko suddenly drew a kunai from her weapons pouch, in time to block the approach of a tall long-haired woman with dead fish eyes wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat.

This woman's hand was supporting the edge of her hat, and the discarded kunai was held by her extended tongue.

Naruto scrutinised this strange kunoichi. It was Shiore from Kusagakure, the very person that he had picked out of the crowd before. She was the person who had directed a ravenous look at his brother and had been the source of the twisted chakra.

"Here's... your kunai..." Shiore lisped, speaking past her outstretched tongue.

Anko allowed Shiore to pass the kunai to her, accepting the knife that was returned to her.

"Why thank you," she said smilingly. "But you know..." Anko's voice took a malicious tone, "don't sneak up behind me..."

Naruto noticed a flash of emotion that crossed Shiore's face.

A touch of sentimentality. A hint of tenderness.

There was a one-sided sense of closeness between her and the indigo-haired Konoha-nin.

'They knew each other,' Naruto deduced, 'but Mitarashi does not recognise this person. A change in appearance?'

All of this passed in a flash in reality.

Anko was just saying the next line, her eyes narrowed in a catlike grin, "Unless you want to die, that is."

"No... You just cut my precious hair, so I couldn't help myself..." Shiore spoke, dragging her words out.

Naruto almost thought Shiore sounded indulgent -- as if she was letting a child have her way.

'So this person is stronger than Mitarashi? That doesn't leave many people,' Naruto mused. 'An S-rank shinobi.'

"Sorry about that," Anko apologised perfunctorily.

Shiore walked away, returning to her group docilely with her long black hair swaying behind her.

"Looks like we have a lot of bloodthirsty ones in this test," Anko giggled. "This should be fun!"

Anko held up a thick stack of papers she seemed to have pulled from an unknown space.

"First, sign these agreement forms," Anko mandated. "There will be deaths in this one... and if I don't get you to sign these, the responsibility for your lives will be on me. Hehe."

Her giggle sounded silly, but no one dared to laugh at her.

"I'll explain the second test. You will sign this and check in with your team at that booth later on. Alright! Simply put, you will attempt the ultimate survival game! Of course, this isn't much of a game at all. You will be staking your lives on this. This is the area in which it will take place." Anko unfurled a scroll with a simple map of Training Ground #44. "Around Training Ground forty-four, there are forty-four locked gates. There's a forest, a river and a tower in the centre. From the gates to the tower, it's about ten kilometres. During this survival game, you will be asked to complete a certain task.

"Using your many weapons and jutsu, you will be competing in a no-rules scroll battle," Anko explained with relish.

"Scroll?" a genin asked.

"Yes..." Anko pocketed the map and pulled out two scrolls.

One was black, with the kanji for "Earth" on it.

The other was white, with the kanji for "Heaven" on it.

"You will fight over these two scrolls. There are seventy-two people here... twenty-four teams. Of these teams, half will receive the 'Heaven' scroll and the other half will receive the 'Earth' scroll. There will be twelve of each scroll in this test. To pass, your team must make it to the tower with both scrolls," Anko elucidated, conveying the specifics of this phase of the Exams.

"Half of the teams will definitely fail," Sakura murmured pensively.

Unnoticed in the background, Naruto had snuck to Shikamaru's side.

The spiky-ponytailed genin was writing his name on the card using chakra.

"But! There is a time limit," said Anko. "This second Exam will last one hundred and twenty hours -- exactly five days."

"Five days?!" Ino exclaimed in disbelief.

Chōji, who had been busily munching on chips the whole time long, finally cried out in horror, "What about dinner?!"

"You're on your own," Anko replied, unsympathetically. "The Forest is full of food. Just watch out for man-eating beasts, venomous insects, poisonous plants, et cetera. All twelve teams passing is not likely. As the days pass, the gap between you will lengthen. Your rest time will shorten, and the area will be crawling with enemies. As such, not only will some fail by losing the scroll. Some of you will die from the harshness of the environment."

The sounds of gulping could be heard.

"Now let's talk about the disqualification criteria. One, you don't make it to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit. Two, you lose a teammate or your teammate is dead. As a rule, you are not allowed to quit halfway through. You will be in the Forest for the whole five days. Three, you are prohibited from looking in the scroll until you reach the tower," said Anko.

Naruto mulled it over.

Then he chuckled.

'If you want to give up, open the scroll. You will be removed from the Exams if you open up the scroll. If you are in trouble, the scroll is your last resort.'

From the viewpoint of the examiner, this would be the meaning behind the last rule.

Mitarashi Anko pretended to be sadistic and cruel, but she was soft-hearted. She actually went out of her way to create an escape route for despairing examinees. Those who were on the last straw could withdraw from the Exam if they just opened the scroll.

"A chūnin will be asked to handle classified information. This will test your trustworthiness," said Anko. "That's it for the explanations. Exchange your three forms for a scroll, then select to gate in preparation for the start. A final word of advice for you... don't die."

'Another hint to the hidden withdrawal condition,' thought Naruto.

He reappeared between Sasuke and Sakura, seeming as if he had never left.

~♡~

Between Gates 6 and 7.

"You four..." A crimson-haired shinobi carrying a large gourd on his back.

A sandy-blonde haired kunoichi coughed, "Yes, yes, we understand. We stay put and look pretty."

"At least we don't have to be together with him for five days," whispered a shinobi with purple face paint.

"You know he isn't deaf, right ~ssu?" An androgynous shinobi, with mint-green hair.

In front of Gate 27.

"Aww, such a cutie!" Ino squealed.

The small brown fox dodged the blonde's grabby hands and nudged Shikamaru lightly.

The Nara noticed the slip of paper held within the fox's mouth.

He held his hand out to the fox, and a small note was pushed into his palm.

"Heaven," it wrote.

Shikamaru realised that Naruto wanted to keep an eye out for the scroll his team needed to pass.

He smiled despite himself.

He took out a pen and scrawled under the beautiful calligraphy on the note.

"Heaven."

He felt a little guilty after the fact. His sloppy handwriting seemed to ruin the beauty of the single kanji above it.

The vulpine creature did not share his concerns.

It yipped at him, took the note and disappeared with a poof.

Chōji was still depressed over the fact that food will not be provided.

On the other side, Naruto took the note from the small brown fox and pet it.

Satisfied by Naruto's stroking, the fox disappeared with a puff of smoke.

"Hmm... We need to find two 'Earth' scrolls," Sasuke muttered as he read the note.

"That's not an issue. Let's rush straight to the tower," Naruto suggested, burning the message.

"Let's set a secret code..." Sakura proposed carefully.

"We have this," Naruto reminded, handing Sakura the map. "You can open a smaller version of it if you use the minimum chakra required to activate it."

Sakura took it without thinking, then hesitated.

"You... You made this. I can't just take it," she stammered.

"That's for you. We can tell each other apart. I added Shikamaru just now. He's an ally," Naruto replied patiently.

Sasuke was standing on Naruto's other side, keeping a distance from their female teammate. He did not understand how Naruto could feel so comfortable speaking to her. Considering her poor attitude towards him back when she thought of him as a rival for Sasuke's affection and how she now treated him as a pair with Sasuke, Naruto was truly broad-minded. Sasuke found it amazing how Naruto could just ignore all of that.

Sasuke, who was left out of the conversation, did not care that much.

He idly contemplated the feasibility of a plan he called "Project Hashirama-cells 2.0".

He knew he would be able to unlock the Rinnegan with his past experience if he used Naruto's cells, but that was a terrible idea. Its abundance of vitality aside, Mokuton chakra was actually poisonous to most humans. It could be utilised in healing but had to be controlled completely. Should it be injected into someone without the aptitude for controlling Mokuton chakra, they would die. The most important part: it required an affinity for Yang Release. That was the only chakra nature that Sasuke had no affinity for. This limitation never existed before in his lives as Indra and Madara, but his current body could not handle Yang chakra.

"Rinnegan..." Sasuke mumbled under his breath.

Sasuke considered Naruto's new skill of speaking to plants, and once again felt that using the other's cells was a terrible idea.

Would it be a good idea for him to tell Naruto his concerns? Knowing his brother, Naruto would definitely go above and beyond to deliver if he knew Sasuke wanted to gain more strength. His own desire for power was lacking, and he never tried to compete with Indra or Madara. Always looking for Indra to spar was simply Asura's way of showing his aniue how he has grown. When he was Hashirama, he tried to give Madara the seat of Hokage when he knew the other wanted it. He was so selfless that Madara had almost mistaken this idealist for an idiot.

Little did Sasuke know, he had run out of time to make his choice.

Naruto's keen hearing had captured the word uttered by Sasuke.

Naruto silently took it to mean that Sasuke missed having the Rinnegan. After all, Madara did not keep those eyes for long before giving them to a descendant of the Uzumaki clan. He must have had many things he still wanted to do with the Rinnegan.

"I'll... research it," Naruto murmured.

"Huh?" Sakura uncomprehendingly asked.

Naruto shook his head, hushing her with a finger to his lips.

She did not understand the gravity of the situation. A hyperactive Uzumaki making the choice to knuckle down and study was a world-shaking matter. Neither Asura nor Hashirama had been bookish either -- Hashirama was even traumatised by the endless paperwork and administrative matters that were the responsibility of a Hokage.

As such, this line was overlooked by her.

There was a clatter as the chūnin supervisor of Gate 12 unlocked the padlock, dropping the chain on the ground.

As the last second ticked by, at exactly half-past two, Anko bellowed, "The second phase of the Chūnin Exams starts now!"

Team 7 bolted through the gate and hopped their way onto the treetops.

"Cha, Gin," Naruto summoned with a flare of Kurama's chakra. "Go out and grab two black scrolls of similar size to this one from the other examinees. They should have 'Earth' on them and contain modified summoning arrays."

The two foxes swiftly disappeared from view, carrying out the order without question.

The trio sprinted along the treetops, leaping between branches as they made a beeline towards the tower.

A mere ten minutes later, they were crossing a swamp and rapidly closing in on the tower when Naruto noticed a presence with Kage-level chakra hurtling towards them.

"Someone is coming," Naruto notified them, causing his teammates to skid to a stop.

"I'll use genjutsu," Sakura offered, immediately starting to do hand seals.

Activating his dōjutsu, Sasuke shouted, "The ground is solid there. Let's switch to a more favourable terrain!"

They suppressed their breathing and hid their chakra, crouching in the underbrush as they waited for their pursuer to appear.

A long-haired Kusa-nin who was dressed eccentrically in a tunic with a thick purple rope around her waist appeared, stopping after stepping into the bog.

Naruto recognised this woman as Shiore -- the kunoichi that he kept noticing ever since the Exams started.

"Oh?" said Shiore, who was ankle-deep in the yielding wet soil.

She surveyed her surroundings, quickly grasping the situation.

She admired the ingenuous genjutsu of the three genins huddled together in front of a map in the middle of the bog. It was very realistic, an illusion so well-woven that she was tempted to take the technique for herself. Such a genjutsu that had no observable flaws even after she was able to determine that it was false was indeed covetable, and certainly beyond the ability of a common genin. Even now, she could hear them discussing the locations of the nearby teams...

She dodged a kunai and freed herself using a Doton technique.

"Colour me impressed... You actually set up such a trap in the short time I took to get here."

Shiore sped through a series of hand seals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu," she intoned.

With a billowing cloud of smoke, an enormous reptile appeared before her.

"Eh?" Naruto was confused. "Snakes... You're Orochimaru?"

This messy clump of chakra that was only slightly familiar at times... was Orochimaru, Hiruzen's genius student?

Naruto knew as soon as he sensed this person's chakra that this body was a shell, and that it did not truly belong within this vessel. However, he never imagined the soul attached to this chakra would be that of this genius formerly of Konohagakure. He should have known -- a mad scientist would go to any extent for their goals.

"That's right," Orochimaru answered readily, full of praise for Naruto's acuity. "You're very sharp, Naruto-kun. You noticed me from the beginning, didn't you?"

Naruto lamented Hiruzen's poor guidance -- how was it that none of the three children in Team Hiruzen remained in Konoha's forces after growing up? A gambler, a rogue and a pervert. Why was none of them a decent, respectable shinobi? What happened to the Will of Fire that he had hoped to pass on?

Orochimaru directed the snake to attack the hidden genins.

"Sasuke, I'll handle this snake. Hold that guy off," Naruto moulded chakra while moving his hands through the relevant signs. "Fūton: Shinkūgyoku."

Spherical masses of wind chakra coalesced and blasted towards the snake.

"A B-rank jutsu?" Orochimaru discerned in awe. "It's a shame that I can't have you, Naruto-kun."

The snake was repelled, and the scales dented in at the points of impact.

"Do you really have time to look away?" Sasuke mocked as he appeared behind Orochimaru, flames in his mouth. "Katon: Karyū Endan."

Another B-rank.

Three tongues of flame resembling dragons surged forth, attacking Orochimaru's left, right and front at the same time.

Orochimaru jumped a few paces in the opposite direction and bent her body backwards in an inhuman show of flexibility, successfully avoiding the brunt of the damage. Even so, the white-hot flames managed to scorch her face. Her face melted and started peeling off slightly... Ah, it was a human-face mask.

The distorted face was starting to drip, and Orochimaru swiped it off in annoyance as she straightened her body.

"Showing off? I fear your chakra won't last..." Orochimaru was forced to cut short her monologue when a bunch of kunais and shuriken started flying at him from several directions.

She dodged them with difficulty, receiving several lacerations from the shuriken that flew unpredictably.

Sasuke managed to finish another set of hand seals in that time.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu." 

Naruto, whose actions caused the snake to fall into unconsciousness and thus be unsummoned, chimed in timely, "Fūton: Daitoppa."

Orochimaru managed to escape in time, only bearing singes on her clothing.

She frowned. Their teamwork was seamless and she could not find a gap from which their momentum could be broken. Team 7's weakest link, the pink-haired kunoichi, was nowhere to be seen -- proof that the user of the genjutsu from before had been her. She probably knew from experience that she would not be useful in a fight and had hidden away from the start.

"You really are brothers. I sense a power in your eyes that surpasses Itachi's," Orochimaru remarked.

She was disappointed by the Uchiha's impassivity. Why did he not react? Did he care less about his brother than she had previously thought?

She smeared the blood that she had spilt on a seal matrix on her forearm and called once more, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

Another huge snake appeared, this time twice the size of the previous one.

It assailed the duo with vigour, freeing Orochimaru's attention to mould his chakra into an uncanny pattern.

Naruto realised it was a form of fūinjutsu.

A cursed seal.

"Sasuke!" he yelled in alarm.

Orochimaru was still a few metres away, but her neck suddenly began to stretch as her head rapidly approached Sasuke at a speed that left Naruto helpless from the other side of the snake.

Fortunately, Sasuke sensed the hazard to his well-being.

Instinctively, he shifted out of the way and Orochimaru's bite met air.

Within a fluid motion, his body twisted to avoid the bite aimed at his neck and the kunai in his hand swept towards the offending head.

Orochimaru retracted her head, vexation surging within her heart.

She failed to leave her mark on Sasuke and was almost stabbed in the forehead for her efforts.

It seemed Sasuke, like his brother, was out of her reach. It was infuriating -- she had waited for Sasuke to grow up for nought. She should have kidnapped him sooner, raising him like a lamb to be fed before the slaughter. Sasuke and Naruto were both worthy vessels. It was a pity that they had to be given up for different reasons.

Given a bit more time, Sasuke would be able to completely suppress Orochimaru as his brother had.

"Farewell, Sasuke-kun. It's really such a pity..."

Reluctantly making her exit, Orochimaru disappeared into the ground.

After verifying that Orochimaru had truly retreated, Naruto turned his back on the snake.

He no longer put up a pretence of struggling to fight against it, carelessly de-summoning it with a few strokes of his brush.

"How dare she try to mark you," Naruto groused. "To guard against the weirdos that go around forcing curse seals on people, you can't let anyone else leave seals on your body. Understand?"

Sakura, who came out of hiding at some unknown time, blushed when she heard those words.

"Which cursed seal in this world can you not unravel?" said Sasuke, exasperated. "'If there's a seal, there's a way.' Who was it that said that to me before, huh?"

"We're not taking any chances," Naruto insisted. "Other than Orochimaru's chakra, that thing... seemed to be able to harness natural energy. It should allow the marked individual to use a form of artificial Sage Mode. I can tell that Orochimaru cannot even harness the power of senjutsu. If a seal created by someone like that was placed on you..."

"He didn't succeed anyway," Sasuke tried to coax the blond. "I believe in you, so I don't need to fear some run-of-the-mill fūinjutsu user."

Naruto sighed wearily.

"Forget it. Just be careful with seals of unknown origin, got it?" Naruto muttered.

"Of course," Sasuke assured. "I'm not so reckless."

"Naruto-sama, we're back," a snowy-white fox transmitted as it appeared in front of Naruto.

Naruto took the "Earth" scroll from Gin and directed Cha to deliver the additional scroll to Team 10.

"Okay, we've delayed long enough. Let's continue on our way and rest when we reach the tower. I would prefer not to sleep in a forest," Naruto decreed, ignoring the wails of the trees that heard his words.

He appreciated their efforts to help him repel insects and wild beasts, but it was highly plausible that the plants were going to expose him in front of Sakura.

"In the end, what was this map for?" Sakura asked, pulling out the card that Naruto had stuffed in her hand at the beginning.

Only seventy-five minutes have passed since the start of the exam and the sun was still high in the sky. In such a short time, they already had the two scrolls they needed to pass and were just over a kilometre away from the tower. They were about to dash across the remaining distance -- the map would not help them when the straight path from Gate 12 to the tower had virtually no obstacles in the last 1-kilometre distance.

The little brown fox appeared timely, reporting, "I have delivered the item, Naruto-sama."

"Good. Now bring this card to him. He should be able to figure it out when he sees it," Naruto instructed. "You can return once that is done. You have both worked hard, Cha and Gin."

"We like helping you, Naruto-sama," Cha bashfully admitted, then ran away.

"Could I stay to accompany you, Naruto-sama? I'll behave!" Gin asked hopefully, blue-green eyes gleaming.

Naruto considered it for a moment -- there did not seem to be an issue -- and promptly consented.

Team 7, with the addition of a white fox, thus marched into the tower and opened both scrolls, completing the second stage of the Chūnin Exams in eighty-three minutes.

After the smoke from the summoning technique dissipated, the room fell into an awkward silence.

Three calm genins were staring at a chūnin who had a tan complexion and a long scar across his nose bridge.

This chūnin was not a stranger either.

He was their Academy instructor, Umino Iruka.