"Chunin exams?! What's that?!" Kaeru asked, bouncing slightly as they walked back toward Konoha. Obito had just brought up the fact that he believed the team was ready to participate in the Chūnin exams once they got home, and was bouncing the idea off of Kakashi as they walked.

"It's the exams they hold every year to see if the previous year genin are ready to be Chūnin and further their studies as a ninja," Obito said as he nodded towards his students. "And I believe that this team is ready to go through that."

"That sounds so cool, Obito!!!" Kaeru said happily, skipping slightly when he walked. "I'm glad you have that much faith in us!!!"

"Yeah, that is pretty cool," Shisui said, smiling at the silver haired boy continued to skip towards the village.

"So it's settled? You're entering?" Obito asked, and the Hatake and Uchiha nodded their heads.

"Yes!" They both said, and that's when Obito smiled at them.

"Okay, you guys will be going without me though," Obito stated, and Kaeru stopped in his tracks and turned around to his sensei.

"WHAT?! WHY?!" Kaeru screamed, earning a dirty look from his older brother.

"I have no one to watch Naruto the month that is going on. You have to enter the exams in three men squad-..."

"Which means we can't enter then, sensei!" Shisui said, but he was met with a smack to the back of his head.

"Don't interrupt me! As I was saying, you have to enter in three man squads, so I am arranging for you two to have a female companion during the exams. More than likely, it's going to be Anko."

"Hell yeah!" Kaeru said, throwing his fist up in the air. "Anko is my best friend!"

"Ouch," Shisui mumbled, and Kaeru looked over at his teammate.

"Other than you, Shisui!" Kaeru said, pouting slightly at the man.

"I know, I'm just playing with you, Kaeru."

"Are you two done? I'm trying to explain something to you both," Obito said, rubbing his temples slightly.

"Yes." The two genins have their attention back on their sensei, nodding their heads.

"Okay, as I was saying. It will most likely be Anko who will be accompanying you two. I just have to double check with the Hokage once we get there, but after that, you guys are being sent to Kumo almost as soon as we get home. So, sorry about that." He chuckled, and his teammates whine slightly, causing yet another dirty glare from the older Hatake.

"Deal with it!" Obito said, laughing as they continue to walk towards Konoha in a kind of silence, other than Kaeru humming to himself.

| × | × | × | × | × |

It doesn't take long before the group arrived at the Hokage's office, the two genins walking in without knocking as usual, while Kakashi only glared at it.

"Yo! We're back, Old Man!" Kaeru yelled, along with Shisui. Kakashi swore he heard the Hokage muttered 'Oh, Kami, why so soon...' but he didn't say a thing. Instead, he only bowed and placed the alliance scroll on the desk.

Hiruzen nodded, as he opened the scroll and began to read. His eyes narrowed in confusion, and he let out a deep breath, turning his gaze to the two genins in the room.

"These aren't planned, are they? Heavy rain in a desert, vultures inside the arena, and making fun of the village's elder."

"Wait. You did WHAT?!" Obito's attention was instantly back to his students, "Making fun of the village's elder?! Do you even know what you were doing?!"

"We do," Shisui replied with a shrug, "She's too... How should I say it?"

"To put it bluntly, she's an annoying old hag," Kaeru said, "He insulted Dad and Konoha, so we played around for a bit. No big deal."

Obito shook his head. "You know what? Let's pretend that never happened."

The two boys laughed, until Kakashi cleared his throat, "Back to the main topic?"

"Ah, right." Hiruzen pulled out a scroll, and handed it to Shisui, "Chūnin Exam is coming up, and I'm quite sure I don't need to ask if you would like to participate."

"Of course we do!"

"Exactly. But the thing is, each team must consist of three genins, so you'll have Anko on your team, just for the Exam. Any objections?"

The two shook their heads.

"Good. Now you'll give that scroll to the Raikage, and leave for Kumo tonight. I'll see you after the exam. Just find Anko, she'll most likely be hanging around the T&I sector."

Shisui gasped, faking a horrified expression. "That's all?!" he exclaimed, "Don't you care about us?! You just kick us out of here?!"

"I already informed Fugaku, and besides, your luck is too good for you. You'll be alright. Now go, and bring me back 3 new Chūnins for Konoha."

| × | × | × | × | × |

"What's wrong, Kaeru? You've been silent," Shisui stated, as he followed Kaeru towards the T&I building.

Obito had left to watch over Naruto, after giving them so many last-moment instructions. The two boys spent literally 5 minutes packing each of their own stuff, before meeting up in the middle of the village to find their last teammate.

"It's nothing."

"Bullshit~" Shisui sang, "You hardly said anything since we started talking about the Exam at the Hokage's office," Kaeru slowed his pace, and Shisui quickly went up to walk beside him, "Is it... your brother?"

"... Why do you think of that, Shisui?"

"He's kinda annoying, that's what I think. Did he said anything before you left?"

"All he told me was 'Don't die', and then he went to his room," Kaeru explained, sighing heavily, "Well, actually, that's a not that unusual. It's just... We have to pass, Shisui. We have to."

Shisui raised his eyebrow. "Why do you-..." the Uchiha stopped in his mid-sentence as a girl suddenly appeared in front of him. She held a kunai towards his face, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she let out a growl.

"Who are you, stranger? What are you doing near Kaeru?" she growled, before turning to the silver-haired genin, "And hello, Hatake! Good, you look alive and well."

Kaeru snickered, not saying a thing since he felt like something will happen.

"What about yourself? It's not safe to play around with this thing," within seconds, Shisui had already taken the kunai from her, grinning as he twirled it around his fingers.

"The name's Anko Mitarashi! And now I need your introduction!"

"Shisui Uchiha, at your service, princess," Shisui bowed, "So this is her, right, Kaeru?"

The Hatake nodded, "Exactly! Now the team is complete!!"

Anko cheered, giving Kaeru a quick hug before she threw her hands up in the air, and let out a loud yell.

"Alright! Now onwards to the Land of Lightning!!"

| × | × | × | × | × |

"Kaeru I swear to Kami, if you don't slow down, I'm going to cut off your legs. You took a 4-day trip and made it a 2-day trip," Shisui stated, earning a quick smack from Anko.

"He's just excited!" Anko said, watching as Kaeru bounced up and down slightly as he walked ahead of the group, his eyes glancing around quickly as he looked at all the trees and things they were passing. He had been outside of the village before, obviously, but every time was like a new adventure for him.

"But I'm so tired," he complained, whining quietly as Kaeru turned around and looked at Shisui as he stopped moving.

"Aren't you excited though? We're going to pass and be chunin!" the silverette asked in excitement, "Then he'll be proud of me!" he finished, referring to his brother. Shisui nodded his head slightly, giving his childish teammate a reassuring smile. Kaeru returned the smile for a moment before he glanced up when he heard a branch cracking above them.

When he looked up, he saw a man in an Anbu mask standing in a tree above them. Kaeru tilted his head to the side slightly as he looked up at the man. "Who are you?"

"I was sent to make sure you made it to the Land of Lightning." The man said, the voice familiar to Kaeru but he couldn't put a name to the voice. He shrugged his shoulder slightly before turning on his head and starting to bounce back in the direction they had been walking.

After they walked for a little while longer, Shisui made them stop for the night to camp. They set up and made a fire, each one of them settling into a sleeping bag except for Anbu. He sat down and kept watch as they all slept. Kaeru would be the last one to fall asleep, his excitement keeping him awake.

| × | × | × | × | × |

The next morning, Kaeru woke them up extremely early. They started walking, even though Shisui whined the entire time. Kaeru smacked the man in the head once or twice on the way there, and when they arrived, Shisui finally punches Kaeru back.

This caused Anko to hit Shisui as well, and the Anbu to have to break out the small war that broke out between the two. The Anbu sighed heavily as he looked at the team.

"Can I leave and trust that you won't kill each other?" he asked, and the two glared at each other but nodded. They said their goodbyes and the Anbu left. Kaeru smiled at his teammates as they headed towards the Kage's building.

When they arrived, they were lead to the office of the Raikage. Shisui places three knocks on the door and was answered with a 'come in.'

The three Konoha shinobi entered and the Raikage glanced at them and nodded. "One of the Konoha teams for the Chunin exams?" He asked, and Shisui took a step up, looking at him with the scroll in hand.

"We're the only team from Konoha. Here, from the Hokage." Shisui stated ever so formally, smiling as he handed the Raikage a scroll.

"Oh? Where is your sensei?"

"Uh... He's not here..." Anko trailed off, cringing a bit, scratching the back of her neck.

"And why is that?"

Kaeru shrugged, "He has to babysit his little brother."

"... He's sane, right?"

"I'm the crazy one! Kaeru Hatake, Konoha shinobi, sir!"

The Raikage first seemed to be taken aback, but soon enough he let out a booming laugh. "Very well, Hatake-san. And how about your teammates give their introductions as well?"

Kaeru nodded, turning to look at his friends. Anko immediately pulled him into a side-hug, giving the Raikage a salute.

"Anko Mitarashi! Another soon-to-be chunin!"

"I'm Shisui Uchiha and I'm suffering."

The Raikage gave Shisui a look of pity (and amusement), "What an interesting team. I'll be looking forward into seeing your results." He pulled out a small piece of paper and handed it to the Uchiha, "Here's the schedule of the whole exams, and anything else you will need along the way. If there's something we can help you with, don't be afraid to say so."

"Understood." Shisui bowed, "We'll be taking our leave, then. Thank you for your hospitality, Raikage-sama."

The three Konoha shinobis walked out of the room. Shisui scanned through the whole schedule, quite pleased to find that there's a lot time to spare despite the exams. With it also comes a map of the village, three ID-cards, and also an address, which he assumes to be the inn the village prepared for the competitors.

"Alright, now listen to me, you two." Shisui placed his ID on his chest, and secured the remaining documents in his bag, "I don't want you to start wrecking havoc-..." his words faded into silence as he realized that his teammates had disappeared out of his sight.

"Already? For Kami's sake, I should have been paid for this." He was about to go their inn's first, but realization soon dawned upon him, and the annoyance turned into panic.

His teammates were gone; a half-insane boy and his devilish partner-in-crime. They were gone, in a village they've never been to before, where so many people from so many countries have gathered to compete against each other and show everyone else how powerful they are.

And those two idiots are more than likely to start something chaotic for the sake of having fun.

"That Hatake-- no, Mitarashi! She's going to get me killed in her stead!" Shisui growled in anger, now itching to kill a certain purple-haired kunoichi.

"I'm so gonna teach her; why everyone fears the Uchiha name. She shouldn't have messed with me, that bitch."

| × | × | × | × | × |

Sharingan really is a powerful dojutsu, proven by Shisui himself. It took him no more than half an hour to find the devil duo, and that's quite a feat, considering the non-familiar area.

And well, he's glad he didn't find them any second later, because it would have been messy.

As Shisui dragged Kaeru and Anko out of the shop, his rant started, "My eyes weren't on you for just a second. Just a second, to check for our documents!" he roughly shoved the ID cards to his teammates, "And I'll make it clear once again: stay by my side unless the exam requires you not to. You guys are troublemakers, and that's understandable, but keep in mind that we're not in our own village right now!"

"Yes, Shisui..." Kaeru muttered, but Anko merely huffed and crossed her arms.

Shisui took a deep breath, "We're getting lunch now, then going to our inn. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

Anko was still glaring at the Uchiha, who managed to ignore her as he began to talk to the Hatake. "So, what were you going to buy in that shop?"

"Fireworks," Anko snapped, "We were going to buy fireworks, and place this sneezing powder inside them before we lit them up."

"Confiscated," Shisui stated, quickly grabbing the white powder package from Anko's hand before he read the label. "In summary, you were going to send the whole village sneezing around."

"Not the whole village! Just anyone watching the said fireworks! It would cut down our competitors by at least one fourth!"

"One-fourth? More like half of them, and two third of the villagers!"

"I'll use them in my bombs, then," Kaeru said, causing his teammates to turn to him. Shisui was left speechless when he saw the package in Kaeru's hand -or now, his weapon pouch- and the grinning silverette.

"Don't forget to share, Kaeru!"

"Where the hell did you even get the money to buy those, and fireworks?"

"We didn't buy the fireworks!"

"But we almost did, Anko."

"Whose side are you on, Kaeru?!"

"Just answer my question!"

"We went to the bar and Anko won lots of drinking competition there!" Kaeru quickly explained, as he was getting scared of Shisui. The Uchiha sent him a grateful nod, before his attention returned to the only girl in the team.

"So you were drunk."

"Excuse you?! I'm fully sober here!"

"Yeah, that you almost hospitalize a whole village for sneezing," Shisui retorted, "That's just batshit crazy. You'll be kicked out of the exam before you even started."

"There's no rules about postponing the whole exam if the participants got sick, right?" Anko asked, "A real strong shinobi will be able to get away from a simple trick like this."

Shisui growled, clenching his fists, "Are you trying to-..."

"KAERU IS SORRY JUST LIKE ANKO!" the young Hatake suddenly yelled, covering his head with his hands, "... Please don't hurt us. Don't hurt Kaeru."

His teammates stared at him in surprise. "... Why would I-..." Shisui paused, soon realizing what was going on. The scars in his arms told everything, it's just about what had happened to him.

"Nevermind. Should we find something to eat?"

| × | × | × | × | × |

2572 words, I hope that's enough.

It has been exactly a year since we updated this story, RAVEN IS SORRY JUST LIKE HAL-CHAN! Things have been hectic, we've been busy and all. Hal-chan hardly has any time to write, too. Again, sorry for the late update.

But well, things are getting interesting! The three of them, alone in Kumo, will they be alright? I'm concerned for Shisui's well-being.

Tell us what you think! Any guesses? Predictions? Bets are acceptable! Vote?

See you guys later!

-Rae

*I edited our profile bc I was bored- any thoughts?