Making it to the tower was barely an inconvenience for the group of 6, only encountering one other team. Even then, they fled immediately at the sight of 6 people instead of the normal 3. It was even easier to avoid the genjutsu trap the Rain Team had set up.

Basuto had reprimanded Jade slightly that she didn't remember that happening in the show, her only excuse being she only watched part of the show once.

Now inside the tower, they debated whether opening both teams scrolls at the same time was a good idea.

"No, let's not. These are summoning scrolls to summon our sensei's, and I don't think they would take kindly to our teams teaming up. Let's open them separately." Basuto said to the rest. He knew of the tension between both villages.

Simply smirking in response, Jade threw both of the scrolls she was holding forward, a puff of smoke announcing their sensei's arrival.

Goddamnit Jade. You love to piss me off don't you?

Basuto didn't get the chance to voice his displeasure.

"Yugito-sensei! Good to see you again! We kicked ass and did awesome!" The relationship between the genin and sensei was apparent.

Yugito gave a cat-like grin, clearly amused by her student's declaration. That grin was quickly taken over by a look of confusion as she took notice of the genin team standing next to her own.

"Yeah, it's good to see you guys too, but why is there a leaf team here?" She asked them. It was peculiar to see leaf and cloud in the same room, let alone actually getting along. Then again, they were just children, so they probably didn't know about the... strained relationship of Konoha and Kumo.

"Due to unfortunate circumstances during the exam, we had to make a temporary alliance." Basuto explained diplomatically, cutting off any response from Jade. He knew what she was going to say, and he did not want their relations be known. He could use that information later.

"Ah, that explains it. Anyways, thank you guys for watching out for them. I know they can be quite the hassle. Hope to see you guys in the next exam, but you might want to go meet your own sensei first." She replied in a similarly passive way.

She sighed internally, thankful at least one person in the group was caught up on politics. Hopefully that meant he knew better than to create any sort of connection between the teams that would extend past the exam.

Basuto nodded in understanding, and turned around to head to a different room. Just before exiting the room, he turned back to stare at the Kumo team. His expression seemed as blank as before to all other occupants of the room, but she could see beneath it. There was a glint in his eye, as if he were about to go all in on a gamble.

"It was nice meeting you, number 2."

Her eyes widened, and she could see his lips twitch upwards in response. For a split second, she could see that grin on his face, the predatory action resounding with her. As though she was being watched by a fellow feline.

She rose to his challenge, her own feline instincts demanding she show him who was the superior. In that moment, both knew of the kinship between them. Finally, his trek out was continued, leaving all but one confused.

"Yugito-sensei, why did he call you '2'?" Yoshi asked her blonde sensei.

Yugito just smiled at her.

"Oh, it was nothing to worry about. You guys still have about 4 hours of break left. Let's go eat some food."

¤◇¤◇¤◇¤◇¤◇¤

Bāsuto's P.O.V

We had moved to another room to prepare to summon our sensei, much like the Jade's team had done.

Even though it's most likely going to be Iruka, me being here could change that. Maybe Kakashi might want to keep an eye on me, but probably not.

I remembered my most recent interaction with Iruka. It had been when he came to test me, henged as a shinobi of the Rain Village.

I walked along the path towards my apartment, having nothing else to do in the day. The chunin exams were soon, and I was well aware of that fact. My plan was to do a maintenance check on everything in my bag, even though I knew for certain everything was already in peak condition. It seemed even more pointless considering the unlikelihood of me even using most of the items within, but that's what it meant to be prepared.

It was almost a struggle to force an emotion other then boredom on my face when Iruka ambushed me. The guy had been my teacher for 4 years, the least I could do was let him think his attack was effective.

There was feigned shock and hesitation expressed from me as I withdrew a kunai to counter his own. The kunai clashed with a volley of sparks, both of us struggling for dominance even with the clarity that he was holding back.

Despite how brief our encounter had been, it was already drawing on too long for my taste. A quick glance around as if noticing something was off and my act had been sold to him completely.

There was a fidget in my step, as if I wasn't completely sure of myself. A final glance around and my features settled back into a more neutral expression, one that could easily be mistaken for determination instead of the boredom and mild annoyance it was.

"Kai!" I shouted, not too loudly, just enough for him to hear. He had realized what I was about to do when he had seen me make the hand sign, and quickly fled the scene in a bodyflicker, before I was able to see that he was actually Iruka.

He was quite annoying. Had he kept pushing closer towards taijutsu, there was no doubt in my mind of its outcome. That is, a complete one sided pummeling to me unless I revealed some of my cards. Not that I would anyway, it's better off to lose a small fight like that then reveal my hand.

Brought back to the present by the sound of a summon, it was no surprise to see Iruka standing before My teammates and I.

"Iruka-sensei?!" Naruto exclaimed in shock. He had been expecting Kakashi after watching the other team, I could tell.

"Congratulations Naruto. I'm proud of all three of you. When the opportunity arose for me to be the one to be summoned, I took it in a heartbeat. You guys scared me you know." He said to us, though it was clearly aimed at Naruto in particular.

"Ha! As if we could ever lose to the losers here! We're the best one here!" Naruto exclaimed to his former teacher. Iruka chuckled at his antics.

"As fun as it was meeting you three, I'm simply here to inform you of the where and when of the next exam. It will be in about 2 hours in the main arena. There's a few spare rooms for you guys to use while you wait, and good luck in the rest of the exams!" It was truly a wonder how Iruka managed to explain things in a way that even Naruto could understand it clearly, but I supposed that comes with being a teacher.

Instead of each doing our own thing, we decided to all chill in one of the rooms for the remainder of the time. Naruto took a nap while Sasuke and I just sat around waiting. It was a stark contrast to canon, where team 7 had arrived more minutes before the time was up.

Eventually, the time came for us to leave. With only a delay to wake Naruto up, we headed out the door.

Sasuke took the lead, moving down one of the halls into the biggest area in the tower. It was the arena where the preliminaries were going to be held. We were one of the last few to arrive, Jade's team being only about a minute behind us.

None of my attention was sent to the sickly jonin in front of us, nor to the wizened hokage that spoke after him. To those around me, my full attention was on them. The truth was a different story. All the possible matches and possibilities were running through my head, everything had to be thought out. How many extra people their were, who would win any given fight, I was trying to calculate it all.

Well, since I took out Kabuto, neither of his teammates will be in it. Hinata's teammates, the 2 Hyuuga might he a problem. Then there's also myself, as well as Jade, Yoshi, and Sachi. With that many extra variables, the only certainty is uncertainty.

"Sasuke Uchiha and and Zaku, please cough, stay. The rest of you cough, head to the balconies cough, above." Hayate called out to us, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"I'm going to destroy you this time Uchiha, you don't have anyone to hide behind now!" Zaku's mental state was an easy read. He was out for Sasuke's blood, and he wanted it spilled now.

It had been hopeless to assume the matches would stay the same, but this first match being different was simply the nail in the coffin. An odd thought, I could tell you how any given match would end, but I couldn't tell you which matches would actually happen.

From my view in the stands, I could see the clear victor of the match, even if it wasn't obvious at first. Because Jade had knocked him out, Zaku's arms weren't broken, so he will be able to use them to their fullest potential. Despite that, Sasuke's taijutsu abilities were good enough to win. Not only that, but because his chakra wont be drained, he will be able to use jutsu in this fight, unlike his original fight.

"Cough, Winner, Sasuke cough Uchiha." The sickly jonin announced.

I had predicted it almost perfectly. The fight began with Zaku on the offensive, pushing Sasuke back and keeping any attacks of his own at bay. The game of cat and mouse continued for near 30 seconds, the Uchiha acrobatically dodging any and all attacks sent from Zaku. In a small moment of rage, the sound genin gave up any pretense of defense and moved to obliterate Sasuke in a single move. A costly mistake that nearly burned him to death on Sasuke's Fire jutsu. He blocked with his arms, barely saving him from the fireball and leaving him complete open to the Uchiha's signature (and totally not copied) taijutsu move, Lion's barrage. It was over, Zaku's unconscious form a testament to that.

As expected, the curse mark hadn't been brought out at all, much to the ire of the 'grass nin' next to me.

Kakashi quickly retrieved Sasuke, and both left the arena soon after.

"My deal is still on the table you know." I barbed to the person I knew was Orochimaru.

He glanced back with what was probably the closest thing he could come to surprise, though it was replaced by a predatory smirk. with a simple nod, he continued on his way.

The second match was dull, though it did answer a small irrelevant question. It was Shino against Kankuro, and it was blatantly easy to identify the winner. It was over in under 2 minutes, Shino used his bugs to climb up the chakra strings, and quickly locked up the joints of his puppet. That left a defenseless Kankuro, who easily surrendered with the knowledge that he couldn't use his puppet. While it was a boring fight, it did finally give an answer as to who would have won should their match have actually happened in the chunin exams.

with that, the third round could begin, and also the first canonically correct one. It was practically fate that even through everything, Ino and Sakura were still going at each other.

"Ha! Billboard brow thinks she has a chance to beat me?"

Sakura's retaliation was immediate. "As if. The only thing that's going to happen here is your going to get destroyed Ino pig."

Hayate was a godsend, stopping them before their argument could descend into banshee screaming.

"Are both cough fighters ready? Then cough cough begin." With a single leap, the proctor was gone from the perimeter of the arena. All eyes were on the 2 girls now.

Sakura began by throwing multiple shuriken at the Yamanaka in front of her. A simple dodge to the side, and Ino was throwing some of her own in return.

It's pathetic, genin who barely even know any jutsu, trying to become chunin... In my old world, I gave them slack because hell, I couldn't do anything at 12 either. now though I can see this for what it's worth. 2 girls unprepared for the road ahead. In the future they eventually become people I can respect, but as it is I can't see anything but children. Ha, I think my true age is showing itself. How old would I be now, 23?

In my musings, the two had managed to empty their kunai holsters just by lobbing them at each other. Those things were supposed to last a weeks worth of fighting...

A bold move was made by Ino, as she charged at Sakura. Her motive was clear, she was initiating a taijutsu fight.

While both knew Sakura was the better fighter when it came to hand to hand, at this distance Sakura had no chance to dodge should Ino use her mind control.

A punch there, a kick there, each was getting hits off, but nothing decisive. Sakura needing to avoid the mind control seemed to perfectly balance the scales, as they were in just as much a stalemate as before the scuffle had began.

It was Sakura's mistake to not push Ino when she retreated. She wrongfully assumed they would both need time to recover before launching into another fight. This gave Ino the perfect opportunity to use her clan's infamous technique.

Sakura had known Ino long enough to recognize what that handsign meant, and she could only stare with wide eyes at her impending loss.

"Do it Sakura!"

Kiba's shout seemed just enough to shake out of her stupor, and she immediately made to do whatever 'it' was. as it turned out, 'it' was her slide tackling into Ino, not only blinding her with sand, but sending them both tumbling across the arena floor. Sakura took the opportunity by the throat (literally) by grabbing Ino into a headlock until she passed out.

The sounds of Kiba's cheers nearly deafened me, though he didn't seem to care while looking at the huge smile on Sakura's face. Even Shino nodded in recognition of her skill.

"Winner cough, Sakura Haruno cough."

Well, they might be unprepared, but looks like at least Sakura has a better team to start her off.

"The next participants will be Kiba cough cough Inazuka and Temari."

This was an interesting fight. Temari was definitely favored, but if Kiba and Akamaru could preform a good enough pincer maneuver, it could easily go to them.

"Are cough both fighters ready? Begin!"

Temari leapt back as Kiba sped forward. Each jumped back as kunai clashed, though this gave Temari the opportunity to unsheathe her fan.

"Is that all you got dog boy? If that's the case, let's see how you handle this!" Temari mocked, unfurling her fan so that one of the moons were revealed. Kiba growled in response, popping a soldier pill in both his and Akamaru's mouth.

"First moon!" She shouted, a swing of her fan emphasizing her words. Razor winds came from the fan, slicing toward the Inazuka and his dog.

He jumped out of the way, only to backpedal lest he get impaled by kunai. Temari had predicted his move, and preemptively thrown them in that direction.

He barely managed to dodge, getting multiple kunai in his arm in the process.

"Argh, I need to end this quickly! Man beast clone!"

Akamaru jumped into the air at his shout, quickly transforming into a copy of his partner. both now had razor fangs and sharp claws.

It didn't take a genius to see the double attack coming, and she unfurled the fan till a second moon was showing.

"Second moon!" Temari shouted again, and once more a large wind attack was hurled at Kiba, even more powerful than the previous. This attack also forced him to dodge left, closer to Akamaru. Now bother were in front of her and well within her line of sight.

While this got rid of the possibility of being struck from behind, it also opened the possibility of a combo attack.

Temari wasn't the only one to realize this, and her opponent quickly moved towards his clone.

"Fang over fang!"

With a string a of hand signs, himself and Akamaru turned into a barreling mass of destruction.

With little time to react, and even fewer to dodge, Temari only had one option to beat this.

"THIRD MOON!"

Both attacks struck, the wind going straight into kiba, while his fang over fang crashed into Temari. Both attacks kicked up a fair amount of dust, leaving the audience wondering who won.

While not a 100%, the winner seems pretty clear. Had Temari tried to dodge, she would be the loser of this match, however she didn't. She stood her ground and attacked with her fan. the attack hit, decreasing the speed of fang over fang. She's quite smart, probably the third smartest of the genin, just behind myself and Shikamaru.

"The winner is Temari! cough cough." Hayate announced.

That was interesting. Outcome was the same, but who will Naruto's opponent be now?

Kiba limped back up the stairs, a sleepy dog on his head. I took it as a great opportunity to gain good reputation from him.

"Good job. Had you stayed separated and double teamed her, you definitely would have won. Remember it for next time."

It was the cliché response you'd expect as response from the 'cold hearted' character, but it did the job perfectly.

"I hope you do good in your match too Basuto." His smile was practically blinding, even as he slumped against the railing. He was basically Naruto without plot armor and talk-no-jutsu .

God, way too much emotions,

"Shikamaru Nara and Kin Tsuchi, please come down to the arena." Well this fight was canon I'm not even going to bother with it.

I stared at the rest of the competition, a thought coming to mind as I noticed a certain someone in nearby. I placed a small optical genjutsu over Gaara, Judging his reaction his reaction. When I noticed none, I took a small note and wrote a short message on it, discretely placing it on the railing in front of Gaara. I seemed to have moved just outside his sand's range, as I was immediately choke slammed by it.

I Stealthily moving back to my place, no one the wiser. By now the current match was basically over, and I watched as Shikamaru placed a kunai to his artery vein, kin doing the same at the same time.

Wait what?.. I guess that makes sense, slightly different situations will lead to a different thought process.

"Forfeit or you die. If you'll notice, your arms are slightly larger then mine, even if only by a millimeter. While this may not seem important, it means if I lower my hand enough, while still not touching mine, your artery vein will be cut, while mine will not. Forfeit." Shikamaru explains, bringing his hand closer to his own. By now, kin's kunai was touching her skin, while Shikamaru's was not.

Clever. I wouldn't have noticed the small difference in the size of their arms.

Kin glared at him, but as her own kunai drew blood, she knew it was over.

"Procter! I forfeit." Kin finally conceded, Shikamaru's jutsu dispelling in response.

She stared numbly at the ground as she walked back to the stand her bloody kunai withdrawn into her pouch once more.

"Winner, Shikamaru Nara."

With that, I believed I understood the difference in intelligence between myself and Shikamaru.

While he may be more intelligent, it reinforces something key in my success. Knowledge is power. No matter how smart, skilled, or lucky you are, with enough time and knowledge, nothing else will matter.

)-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-(

-JustSk8n

edited 9/30/2020