3/4

Hatake Sakumo had noticed pretty fast that she hadn't been using her chakra to make many of the jumps and runs they had went through the first few days of their training trip, now that he didn't have to worry about two other squad mates and how to complete the ANBU mission they had been assigned. Her old ANBU captain had looked like he wanted to smack either himself or her when he worked out what she had been doing instead, and to be fair Natsumi wanted to run her head into a tree a few times herself after that conversation.

Her shot legs hadn't been the problem with speed she had when she was in ANBU. Ninjas' used chakra to ease the burden of extended running when they didn't have to be stealthy or avoid sensor types, like they did to increase the information the eye could take in or how far they could hear. Since chakra was partially physical, it could keep tendons from snapping, muscles from seizing, and bones from breaking in a taijutsu fight. With the spiritual part, they should be able to perceive more of reality through genjutsu than a normal human.

Natsumi… hadn't known that.

Oh, it had been covered in the academy. The last two months of review only touched on chakra based body enhancements and advanced tai- and ninjutsu theory, since that kind of knowledge was considered something only a jōnin sensei would decide if a genin team would need. That was, if the genin hopefuls passed whatever test they wanted to try their prospective jōnin candidates with.

The last two months of the academy that Natsumi hadn't done and the jōnin sensei she never got because she had been in ANBU before her last year in the academy ended.

She had been working up to realizing that by herself with her Yin release recognition, but the assassination jutsu she had made had stopped her from trying any kind of chakra based enhancing on herself. The conclusion she reached before ANBU had been that muscle control and stamina had been worked up almost to an insane degree, and that had hampered her for the last year and a half by keeping her from trying to enhance herself with chakra on her own to ease the process.

Sakumo had been impressed that she had done all of it before without that general shinobi trick to develop that strength easily and suggested that with her unusual chakra composition it might have been a moot point to know before that, but it didn't make up for the embarrassment of having to have that pointed out to her by her captain just before her chūnin examination.

The one bright side they had figured out about the misstep was that Natsumi had more speed now that it was boosted with chakra than any other genin would probably have and she also had more strength available without chakra than usual for her muscle mass. One of the downsides she noticed was that taicho was never going to let her live that down.

Kami-sama help her if Jiraiya-sensei ever learned of it.

Right now it was almost ludicrously easy to keep up with her team. On missions she was always the last one to meet back up with them, and the Toad Sage had probably thought it was some kind of ANBU habit of one last check around before calling it done, but it had really been because she was that slow. Good thing sensei preferred to walk when he could, or that problem of hers would have been exposed in front of her boys a lot sooner than it probably would be.

Now she had to consciously check to make sure she wouldn't overshoot her position at the back of the diamond quick-pace formation, the sannin in front because he knew the way and Natsumi in back because she had the experience to be a vicious threat if need be.

\V/

"This sucks." Chouza plucked at the green vest issued to all chūnin that he couldn't wear.

"That we got a field promotion before they made us take the annoying exams for it?" Shikaku gave his best friend a sardonic look from under his tree. "Or that you can't wear the damn vest because Akimichi's have their own supply to issue standard shinobi gear from?"

The heir to the body-size jutsu clan hunched his shoulders as he fiddled with the zipper of the vest three times too small for him. "No, that Natsumi-chan's going to be gone even longer. I was really looking forward to the next cuisine she was going to show me."

Shikaku rolled his eyes, internally swearing at the events of the last two months and that it would take two more for the team Jiraiya-sama lead to return. Chouza was going to sigh about the food he was missing out on until the team was resorted into a chūnin configuration of either three or four teammates and gave him something else to think about, and that had to wait until this next Chūnin Exam was over and Konoha knew who was going to be promoted and who needed more training. By that point Natsumi would be back in the village anyways, so there wasn't much the Nara heir could do about his friend's troubles.

Damn it all, she hadn't finished teaching him how to play chess and Chinese checkers and they still had a shogi game to finish. Who had given her permission to disappear like that, anyways? Jiraiya-sama?

He was going to sic the moping Kushina on the man for this.

Slumping back on the grass of their empty training grounds, Shikaku scowled up at the sky. He couldn't even take a nap now because a Hyūga was coming this way and probably wanted the training field. He agreed with Chouza, this sucked.

"Excuse me, Chouza-san. Shikaku-san, may I have a moment of your time?"

The Nara heir tilted his head to the side just enough to identify who it was talking to them. A dark eyebrow raised up, this was unexpected. "Hizashi-san?"

"With Natsumi-chan out of the village, we need one with some tactical knowledge to assist us with a small… problem."

Shikaku hauled himself upright, sharing a look with a surprised Chouza. Chan? That had never come out of either twin before.

For that matter, what small problem? The one that cause the falling out between the twins?

"Uh… sure?"

"I happen to know a good tea house. Will you come with me?"

(ooo000ooo)

Shikaku blinked slowly at the twins seated across from him. Then, just because the situation was that unreal, he did it again.

"So let me get this straight. Natsumi-chan brought you here when you asked for privacy, the tea house over ANBU headquarters that has so many privacy seals inked into it she shouted on top of her lungs and the proprietress didn't even hear a whisper of it. Then once she proved that no one would be able to overhear you two, you told her about some seal used on half your clan, that would kill you if you ever went against said clan, and about their plans for your kids; and then she basically told you that someone had to start protesting or it would never change. Is that right?"

Hiashi nodded sharply once.

The Nara heir groaned and slumped over the table, ignoring the tea at his elbow. Screw Natsumi's sanity, he was now worried for all three of them sitting here. "How has no one in your clan protested this seal before?"

"The branch house members dislike the seal, but with the control the main house has over it no one has dared to raise any concern." Hizashi didn't even had the grace to sound regretful over the impending doom the tactical genius could now feel coming over them.

"Perfect." Knocking his forehead against the rather nice table they were seated at, Shikaku wondered if there was a mini-Inoichi hidden away in his clan somewhere. The help in declaring them all insane would be appreciated right about now.

In his personal opinion, the Hyūga clan was full of control freaks.

Even ignoring the twisting in his guts over the idea that one disgruntled clan elder could kill one half of the Hyūga twins easily, this problem was so full of holes he would of avoided the hell out of it if he could.

He couldn't though. Natsumi was a bit of a blunt object when those she cared for were threatened, you just had to look at the damage she had done when some Kumo-nin just threatened Kushina and Minato to see the greater degree shown, and killing off every clan elder that might harm a friend of hers was something the genius could easily see her doing even if he couldn't see a way she would survive it.

He didn't know if the ex-ANBU assassin had been planning to pull him into this mess before Jiraiya had sent her off for a month and a half long training run, but he was here now and there had to be a way to sneak a solution through before anyone thought to argue about it or Natsumi, who was a good soldier but a young kunoichi assassin, did some lethal and premeditated homicide against one of the founding clans of Konohagakure.

On one side of the problem, Shikaku could admit the Cursed Seal of the Caged Bird had its uses. Anyone looking to gain a Hyūgas' byakugan eyes would fail if they targeted a branch member because the seal rendered them useless upon death of the original owner of the eyes. Another side of the problem was blatantly obvious. It could harm or kill on the whim of the main house members.

…maybe all the Hyūgas needed a new seal. One the main house wouldn't see as much different and one that wouldn't threaten the branch house.

For that, they needed an Uzumaki fūinjutsu user let in on this issue.

"How against are the two of you to the possibility of Kushina-chan being involved in this?"

\V/

Jiraiya had noticed the former ANBU assassin slowing down bit by bit as the terrain changed. There was still miles to go before they hit the desert, but the trees had fallen away about an hour ago and the grass and underbrush was now scrub land and barren rock so it might have to do with her little phobia of sand.

He blew out a sigh and fell back a little ways, waving the two blond boys on when they hesitated and settling into a stride that would keep him with the girl-woman.

Natsumi had a distracted frown on her face and didn't look like she was dreading the desert. That was his third clue.

"What is it?"

"We're being followed, sensei."

He had already figured that out himself, but it was always nice to get independent confirmation. "How do you know?"

"We're caught in a genjutsu. We passed this place three hours ago, and we should have seen the start of the desert by now if your map is right."

Rubbing his eyes like a tired sensei she as the curious student had just asked something of that he needed to explain in detail, he let a little senjutsu spread out and caught the origin shinobi of the genjutsu he could now feel teasing the very outer edge of his normal senses.

Kirigakure shinobi, probably. They had the best special ops branch out of all the villages, and this didn't have the feel of anything less than jōnin woven casting. Jiraiya would have said senior ANBU level skill if they were Konoha.

It was really good, though, like his female student had said the genjutsu user had used an actual place to base the illusion off of and there was very little wrong that hinted at a genjutsu. "Take the boys to the target. You do know where that is, right?"

"Theoretically."

"Good enough. I'll catch up."

"Hai sensei."

Kami bless ANBU threat protocols. No known names, no hard answers, give nothing away to the enemy they can't get themselves.

It was a lot easier to deal with than an actual genin's questions before combat.

(ooo000ooo)

Natsumi sped up a little to draw even with her teammates. "Don't look around, and don't question me yet. Sensei is going to break the genjutsu and we are to run to the target until he catches up with us."

Minato clapped a hand over Inoichi's mouth before he could ask anything, feeling a familiar icy feeling starting to climb up his spine. The last time he heard that tone of voice from his sempai had been when Kushina was kidnapped and Natsumi was in ANBU, and had to mean they were in as much danger right now.

Something tickled his developing chakra senses, signals or the genjutsu she spoke of flexing just beyond his sense's reach, before the girl-woman took off like a shot and he followed, pulling Inoichi along with them.

Reality snapped back into place with a lurch and he followed his sempai up a dune of sand that hadn't been there before as sensei turned and took on one of the shinobi trying to sneak up on him.

Natsumi twisted suddenly to evade the kunai held in a kunoichi's hand, gripping her bokken with both hands and bringing it down on the woman's arm with a sickening crack. The figure screamed, clutching a badly broken arm and staggering back a few steps as the three of them dashed off and left her behind to be dealt with by the sannin. Minato may or may not have tossed an exploding tag at her as he passed on by.

It took two hours before Jiraiya-sensei caught up with them, grimly satisfied. "Nice work, Natsumi-chan!"

His sempai whirled around and planted herself in the way, neither letting the tired blonds at their teacher nor the teacher to advance to them. "What's my mask's animal?"

Jiraiya looked confused, and Natsumi snapped out a quick hand sign before replacing her hands on the hilt of her wooden sword. "You're not sensei."

"I call you neko-chan because your mask is Panther." Another Toad Sage punched the first before he could say anything else, and the henge dispelled with a small pop.

As the unknown shinobi slumped to the ground, Minato looked between the two of them and the third shinobi face down on the sand.

Damn, he hadn't thought of that.

"Just checking, sensei." The former ANBU agent chirped, sliding the bokken back between her travel pack and her back. "Well, that was fun."

Jiraiya shook his head as he crouched down to check the ninja he had punched out. "That really is a nasty jutsu, Natsumi-chan."

"He was only focused on us, letting you have enough lee way to catch up without tipping him off was easy."

The white haired sannin grunted, stripping the shinobi of any and all tools before tying him up with his own razor wire. If he tried to struggle, he'd probably slice a few things off he'd rather keep attached. "We'll leave them here for Suna's desert patrols. Not sure how Kiri is going to try and explain this, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are no mist genin in the exams."

"Less fun for us maybe, sensei, but less humiliating for them."

Inoichi, a little annoyed by how slow he had been to catch on to the danger sneaking up on them, slung an arm around Natsumi's shoulder and gestured around. "Look at the bright side. Wind Country is here and no panic attacks in sight."

The former assassin with mismatched eyes looked at the dunes around them and rapidly paled.

\V/

Kushina stared at Hizashi's bared forehead. "That's foul."

Shikaku, lying face down on a picnic bench situated on top of the Hokage's monument, snorted at that massive understatement. "That isn't the worst of it."

The Uzumaki kunoichi made a face. The curse seal she was currently inspecting was pretty bad already. "I'm not sure I want to know."

"We need you to make up something that will keep a Hyūgas' eyes secured in case of death, but lose the controlling aspects of the seal."

Kushina opened her mouth, intending to bite out something scathing about demanding fūinjutsu from her, but shut it without saying a word. She was still staring at the cursed seal, working out all the twist and turns in it. "Um… yeah. I see something I can work with."

If it was for Hizashi-kun and any family he wanted to have, she could work with something like this even if it made her skin crawl. The whole premise behind the cursed seal was absolutely horrific, and since they really were only asking from her for another way for it to work without the pain and death she could see in this one, she would at least try.

"How long, Kushina-san?"

The kunoichi gave Hiashi a distracted look. "Maybe a few weeks? I'll have to test it too, you know, and I have no idea how to do that."

"Of course."

The Nara heir sighed and pushed himself upright. "If Kushina-chan's working on the seal now, we need to work out how to sneak it in without alerting or alarming your clan elders when she's done. There really are only two others I can think of who deal with that kind of clan politics on the level we're going to need, and I need to know if either of you object to the Uchihas knowing."

Why the hell was he doing all this, anyways?

\V/

"You have a girl for a combat specialist?" The sneering face was shoved in Natsumi's, and the still pale girl-woman raised one eyebrow at the teen glaring at her. "How pathetic."

Minato looked between the Kumo genin and his sempai, wondering just how long she would tolerate the attitude before smashing his face in with the bokken slung onto her back.

The team was currently waiting on the start of the first part of the Chūnin Exams, some test based around intelligence gathering when being watched. They had just been told that each team started with ten points and you needed at least fifteen to pass, one point was rewarded for each of the ten random riddles you could attempt to answer. Each team also started with three boxes, which each held one clue to a riddle. Attacking another team or individual was grounds of dismissal of your team. If any proctor caught a team with more than three boxes, or with a box clue issued to another team, your team was docked two points. The whole exam would only take one hour.

The Yamanaka clan heir on their team was already plotting out how to get them pass this test and on to the practical survival portion, after snickering to himself for the first five minutes while the protectors set out boxes at numbered stations.

This Kumo genin was getting in Natsumi's face about her gender, probably in an attempt to bait her into disqualifying their team before the exam even began. Any physical fighting before any part of the exam was firmly against the rules, not to mention Minato wasn't sure if his sempai would ignore the obvious bait or respond violently.

The former ANBU assassin had not been happy after Inoichi pointed out their location in the desert after the incident with Kiri shinobi, her steadily worsening temper was obvious to them if not to anyone else outside their team and the lack of sleep was finally getting to her. She had made it to Suna without snapping at them, even if Jiraiya had pointed her to a training grounds open to foreign genin for the duration of the Chūnin Exams as soon as they registered at the village gates.

She was adapting, Inoichi cautiously told his fellow Konoha genin, but she would probably have a bit of a hair trigger temper while in Suna.

His sempai finally smiled, and Minato hid a shudder under an impassive expression. It was the same one she had when sensei had told them any and all means.

"Threatened?" Natsumi purred as she narrowed her mismatched ghost eyes, which were no longer strange looking to Konoha shinobi but now probably creeping out the Kumo genin, all but gleamed with sadistic glee at his paling complexion. "Do you know what I can do with just a bokken in my hands? I can rupture your organs, break bones, and cave in your tiny little brain. Why not try surviving and not pissing off the predators in the room, little sparrow."

Minato had the feeling that the Kumo genin teams this idiot was grouped with wasn't going to make it to the second part of the exam. Sempai was going to make sure of it.

Honestly? He hadn't forgotten what they had nearly done to Kushina-chan, and he was all for the assassin making their lives hell for a little while.

\V/

Fugaku and Mikoto stared at Hiashi and Hizashi. Shikaku sighed and let his head hit the little table they were crowded around.

It was a good thing Natsumi had shown Hizashi this particular tea house before she left Konoha long before her team, or there would be a lot of uncomfortable rumors going around.

Additionally, as happy as he was to learn the Uchiha clan didn't have the same internal problems the Hyūgas did, this was getting beyond troublesome to deal with if you took into account the fūinjutsu angle and now the political one that needed to be solved.

"That's… um, right. Okay."

The Uchiha girl did a little blinking herself, swallowing uneasily while tightening her grip on her clan heir's arm as she digested the problem posed to them by the twins and the Nara heir.

"Why… why not simply suggest it as a response to some threat you've identified, not confronting it like an issue?" Mikoto slowly suggested after another shocked moment of staring. The Uchiha clan had been a little jealous of the Hyūga clan's lack of internal strife, but if this was how they did it she never wanted the same thing for her clan.

Fugaku rolled his betrothed's initial suggestion around his head before firmly nodding his agreement with her. He could work with that, just like he could deal with advising just these Hyūgas for the moment. This was a very steep problem the two of them were facing, and the twins were some of the better opponents to have when sparing, losing either one would see an impact on his own taijutsu development.

Yeah, he really didn't believe that for a moment even if it was only in his own head, but there were some appearances to keep up with and the near hate-rivalry between their clans was one of them.

"Since there are more fūinjutsu users in this next generation of shinobi, it would be likely if one of them caught sight of the seal to work out how to use it. If you claim to have recognized that may happen with hostile shinobi as well, allowing one to take advantage of the seal for their own use or finding a way to circumvent it, then approaching someone with the skills to solve the problem without letting them know of why would have been your next step regardless of your view of this older seal and it's uses."

"And instead of making a confrontation to push the seal through your clan laws, simply slide it through like a simple procedure change any new head of the clan would do when threats are identified. If you do not make it an issue of how the branch members are treated, why should they become concerned over a threat to their control?" Mikoto finished, her genjutsu trained mind swiftly turning over what little she knew of the Hyūga clan elders and their views on the right way the world worked.

It was shaky, but there was promise in the idea. It would take some careful wording when presented, but unless some Hyūga elder was smarter than Nara Shikaku then they might get a new seal through Hyūga clan law without protests being raised until way too late.

Shikaku raised his head just enough to see the twin's considering expressions. Thank kami-sama for Uchiha clan politics.

The irony of that they were using the heir to a rival noble clan to solve the problems in another noble clan for its heir and brother was not lost on him, he just didn't care beyond fixing the issue so it would never rise up again.

\V/

"Hey, Inoichi-kun, sempai? Remember what Jiraiya-sensei said just before we left the village? I've got an idea on how to do that."

\V/

Kushina set three seal arrays before them on top of the Sandaime's stone hair spikes.

Shikaku looked sideways at one, still unable to see what worked with what to enable it to do what the Hyūgas wanted. There had been a reason he suggested the Uzumaki preteen's inclusion, after all.

"I think one of these are what you're going to want to go with. They still need testing, I can't really tell you how well they will work without that done you know, but technically these are what you asked for. They're just worked in three separate sequences; identifying the death of the sealed, triggering the calcifying of the eyes, and burning out the sockets. Which, by the by, eww."

The Hyūga twins inspected each one in turn, though the Nara heir couldn't say what the two of them were really looking at since he was sure they had just as much fūinjutsu training as him. That is to say, none at all.

"How does one test a seal like this?" Hiashi tapped one of the seals, the largest of the three laid out for him.

All three seals were designed to destroy human eyes upon the death of the sealed individual through whatever means. Which had to mean three humans were going to have to be sealed and then die in order for them to know if they were going to work as needed and how long it took the seals to take effect. Creepy.

Kushina puffed out her cheeks, crossing her arms over her chest. "Normally? We'd submit these to the research division department that looks at fūinjutsu. They take care of testing seals like this and instantly lethal jutsus only on war criminals and those convicted of high treason against the village. But that kind of thing hasn't been done in years, you know, according to what honorable Mito-baa-sama told me before teaching me fūinjutsu. And before you ask, no I don't like any of you that much to do it with the penalties doing that yourself carries."

Shikaku sighed yet again as the Hyūgas did their silent twin communication thing, wondering exactly how many ninjas did it take to change a shinobi clan.

Still, he couldn't blame the Uzumaki preteen in refusing to try testing it out herself.

At least Orochimaru-sama would probably hear them out first before tossing them out the door.

\V/

Jiraiya was trying really hard not to snicker as he stood around with the other jōnin sensei in the waiting room Suna prepared just for this kind of occasion, watching the others from Iwa, Ame, and Kumo leave in a huff so the rest of them could get the information on the final part of the chūnin exams being held in a month.

Really he was.

For some odd reason, both of the Kumo genin teams presented for the chūnin exams had failed the first part of them. There was no sabotaged method identified, each member had failed as a team because they simply didn't get enough points to pass the intelligence portion.

That would have been embarrassing enough alone, but now four of the five Iwa genin teams that passed the first test and two out of three of Ame's seemed to have just finally shown up on the edge of Suna's Training Ground Twenty-Three, appropriately known in Suna as the Dunes of Time, and had thereby disqualified themselves from the survival portion because they were all out of bounds and missing the deadline for the test by a good forty-eight hours.

All the jōnins responsible for the genin teams effected by that were clamoring about sabotage, not simply plotting how to make their student's lives hell for embarrassing the hell out of their respective village.

The training grounds that the second part of the Chūnin Exams had taken place in and had a very specific method you had to travel by to either enter or leave. Kind of like Suna's version of Training Grounds Forty-Four, also known as the Forest of Death in Konoha. It was the largest training grounds in Suna, patrolled normally by the elite of the shinobi available and used for jutsu experimentation when needed.

Each genin team was confused when questioned after being rescued, they had been chasing another examinee who had stolen their part of the test and they hadn't known they were getting that close to the edge of the training grounds nor that the time limit had passed them by two days ago. There were so many holes in that it was ridiculous, but all the testimony gathered collaborated on the major points.

Meaning the same team of chūnin hopefuls had to be the ones to ambush and completely disorient the competition before setting them up to be disqualified well after any possible attempt could be made to remain in the exam.

The Suna exam proctors couldn't find any evidence of tampering in either part of the exam besides the obvious one knocking out a good portion of the competition, which had been within the rules of the survival test. The jōnin-sensei accompanying each team had demanded to see that for themselves and were forced to admit they couldn't find any themselves, despite looking over all of it with a fine toothed comb.

Not to say they weren't accusing Suna of underhanded tricks, but still.

The Toad Sage could see Minato's cunning, Inoichi's influence, and Natsumi's little paws all over these series of unfortunate events. What other team had the resources and talents to confuse and disorient other genin teams like this and get away with it under jōnin noses?

Officially, the Kumo teams had failed on their own merits and the rest of them had failed due to being unable to break a genjutsu, however well done, placed on them.

Unofficially, Jiraiya was sure the Sandaime Hokage was going to be pleased with his team when he arrived for the final part of the exam, and the Sandaime Kazekage was going to be less annoyed with whoever it was once he was told why when Hiruzen-sensei got to Suna.

He just wanted to know how his two blond gakis and the kunoichi of odd circumstances had kept the Kumo genin from passing.

\V/

Orochimaru's nearly nonexistent eyebrows rose up when Kushina presented her fūinjutsu seals to him after the Nara heir gave him a concise summery of what they were for. "So now you want them tested?"

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama. We need to know which will work best for the Hyūgas." The kunoichi nodded as she spoke, her anxiety obvious to them by how hard she was gripping the man's guest chairs in his office.

They had taken the three seals drawn to replace the Cursed Seal of the Cadged Bird to him as one of the lead researchers of R&D, the only one any of them really knew. Nara Shikaku was there as the Hyūga twin's proxy, they couldn't afford word getting back to their elders about this yet, and Uzumaki Kushina as the fūinjutsu user consulted for a new seal. They were all hoping the sannin would consent to testing them out without alerting the Hyūga clan elders about it, or would at least listen to why they wanted them before tossing them out.

The Snake Summoner traced the elegant lines the Uzumaki preteen had drawn with a finger. "I can do that, as long as I can keep the two you are not going to use. The fees for independent testing need to be covered, after all."

"Thank you, Orochimaru-sama." Shikaku's shoulder slumped in relief. He really hadn't counted on the sannin actually agreeing to help them out. Maybe his time of running around like a Konoha messenger-nin was over?

Fugaku really had been the one to insist on asking but he couldn't do it himself because of the public opinion on relations between the two founding noble shinobi clans, and if it ever got out that the Uchiha heir had represented the Hyūga heir and brother in anything both clans would demand to know why in various tones of pissed off. The tactical genius was pathetically grateful his clan didn't have the members to need internal politics.

"May I give you one word of advice before you leave? Hiruzen-sensei does deal with the Hyūga clan elders often, he may be able to help you sound out problems on that end before you try to sneak this in."

\V/

Sarutobi Hiruzen warmly smiled down on his student's team of genin. They had performed admirably so far, with knocking out a fair chunk of their competitors without leaving the evidence behind to implicate either Konohagakure or Sunagakure in sabotaging the other villages they had been at war with not too long ago and in reaching the third phase of the Chūnin Exams without major injuries.

He had to admit it really was expected of this team, considering they should have gotten a field promotion already like the rest of the small group of younger ninjas they belonged to, but the results were satisfying even if they were carried out by a little overqualified shinobi to begin with. There had been some nitpickers in the lower ranks who didn't know Mesuji Natsumi had been in ANBU before being placed on the Toad Sage's team, and so the team of supposed genin had to go through the motions to get their rightful ranks awarded them since technically one of them didn't have the genin team experience needed.

There also were the signs that this team hadn't been content just to wait for the third phase to knock the rest of the competition out; Namikaze Minato's fingers were ink stained, Yamanaka Inoichi had the slightly too wide gaze that marked his clan's jutsu use, and Mesuji Natsumi had to bandage her fingers before this meeting with their village's kage.

There was also a unfortunate rumor the Hokage had heard on his way in to meet the two Konoha teams to attempt the Suna chūnin exams, one about the last Iwa genin team and a run in with Suna's version of ANBU.

Hiruzen exchanged the formal greetings between jōnin and kage with Jiraiya and Tokjin Karsu before heading to his meeting with the Kazekage. He figured he had better clear up some interesting facts before the other kage became paranoid.

He also had some curious news to give his student when they had the time.

(ooo000ooo)

"They did what?"

Jiraiya attempted to explain to Natsumi again what had occurred in Konoha while they had been gone from the village, but he had to stutter it out between gales of laughter that he suppressed when he had heard the news first from Sarutobi.

Apparently, after chatting to her and not too long after a fight with his own twin, Hizashi took the idea of getting help and talked to Shikaku, who asked Kushina and the Uchiha couple for more assistance. Then the Nara heir and the Uzumaki princess took that help to Orochimaru on Fugaku's insistence, and finally the sannin told them to take all of it to the Hokage himself for even more help.

The misplaced soldier had to admit the results of it all was a hell of a lot better than what she had been planning to do once she was back in Konoha, she really had hoped neither twin were very attached to their clan elders, but it was still the Snake Summoner that her head tripped over first before trying to understand what had gone on.

What did Orochimaru gain from this to ensure his help?