Chapter 18

"Finally, room 301!" Karma said. "There's a big crowd though..."

"Ibaraki, Sai, Rin." They heard a voice and turned to see a smiling Shisui Uchiha. "And you should be Himari's team? Since you're all here you can enter."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Rin asked.

"Only three-man teams are allowed in. If one of you didn't show up, you wouldn't be able to participate." Shisui explained.

"Good job, guys! First test: Passed!" Ibaraki praised her team. "And you-" she began, but as she turned to look Team 12 had already left. "After them!!"

Karma and Ailane had grabbed Kushina to escape into the exam hall. "Wow, there's a lot of people!" Kushina exclaimed. "But we'll beat all of them, you know!"

"Of course we wil-" Ailane started.

"Karma!! I knew you would show up here!" Ino exclaimed as jumped on Karma's back.

"Yes. Not like I told you guys about the Chunin Exams early, and that Team 12 would be taking part..." Karma replied sarcastically.

"Ka-chan! Wait for us!!" Ibaraki yelled as she and her team ran in.

"Man, I knew this was gonna be a drag, but I didn't know it would be this much of a pain." Shikamaru spoke from behind. Choji was eating chips next to him.

"Karma!! Is it true you can already do nature transformations that involve the combination of two elements?!" Naruto yelled when he saw Karma as he walked in.

To this Karma, his team, Ibaraki's team, Team 10, Team 8, who were still approaching, Team Guy, who walked in just before Team 7, and even the rest of Team 7 face palmed.

"Naruto. Have I ever told you how much I like your Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu? It's especially great since it's the only technique you know." Karma responded.

"Don't fight Karma then unless we have to, got it." Shikamaru remarked.

"Naruto. You're stupid." Kushina said.

"Eh?" Naruto was confused. "What did I do?"

"Naruto. Come on, even you should know not to give away information like that." Kiba said.

"Eh? I didn't!" Naruto denied. "Karma just told everyone my technique!"

"That was only in retaliation. It's okay!" Ibaraki said.

"It's not okay regardless..." Rin sighed.

"Hi, Karma." Hinata said as she walked over to Karma and his entourage of women.

"Hey, Hinata. How's your training going?" Karma replied.

"I-It's great!" She blushed.

"You really have made progress though. I remember when we were much younger, you couldn't even speak a full sentence before getting to shy. You couldn't hold eye contact either. Now, you only stutter sometimes."

"You guys too? Everyone's here for this stupid thing." Shikamaru grumbled.

"Yeah, all 12 rookies. Back together again! This is gonna start to get fun, at least for those of us who make the cut." Kiba smirked.

"You're one to talk. You're probably the weakest here. Be careful not to get knocked out early." Kushina joked. Kiba, and Shino were the only two not to join them. Shino didn't attend because Ailane didn't want him to, Hinata however explained chakra control to him. Kiba simply didn't want to since he thought Karma was incapable of teaching him anything.

"Your team will struggle to make it past the starting line. You have the first and third lowest scorers in your team. And you were only middle of the class. We'll blow you away." Kiba smirked.

"We'll see." Karma said.

"Sorry, Karma. Don't mind Kiba..." Hinata said.

"And who are you?" Kiba asked Team Guy and Team Shisui.

"The strongest team!" Ibaraki exclaimed with a dumbs up. Behind her Sai and Rin had embarrassed smiles.

"The real strongest team!" Lee exclaimed. Following her lead.

"Hey, you guys." Said a man with silver hair and circle-rimmed glasses, Kabuto, as he approached the group. "You might want to try keeping it down a little. I mean, no offense, but you're the 12 rookies, right? Fresh out of the Academy? Though, there's more than 12 here. But I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves. Just cool it. This isn't a class field trip."

"We know. Who are you?" Shikamaru asked.

"I'm Yakushi Kabuto. Take a look around. You've made quit a spectacle of yourselves."

"We don't really care. Nor do we need your help. I can tell we're stronger then everyone in this room put together. Why would we care what they think? They aren't our opponents." Karma stated while the others looked around.

"Is this your first time taking the exams?" Ailane asked.

"It's my seventh. Exams are held twice a year, so this would be my fourth year."

"Cool! You can give us all the inside tips!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You guys can listen, we don't need the extra help." Karma said before he and his team left for their seats, being glared at the entire way through for Karma's arrogance.

'This isn't like him.' Kushina thought. 'Well, at least he isn't this rude. He must have a plan though, I have to trust him!'

"We don't need help either!" Ibaraki shouted and ran off to her sit, followed by her team.

"We also don't need it." Neji said, likewise departing.

5 minutes later,

"MY NAME IS NARUTO UZUMAKI! AND I'M GOING TO BEAT ALL OF YOU!! BELIEVE IT!" Naruto's shout resounded throughout the room.

"That idiot..." Kushina whispered.

"Yup, so I was super arrogant to grab their attention first. Think you can handle it?" Karma smirked.

"Of course! I'll show you the results of my training!" Kushina grinned back.

Behind them they heard:

"You heard what he said about the Sound Village?" A male voice asked.

"Yeah, he called us little. A mystery." A sharp female voice replied.

"Time to clear up some of the mystery for him. Update his information." Another male voice spoke. "Let him know that if you insult Sound shinobi, you'd better be ready for the consequences."

"You ready?" Said the original male voice.

"Let's do it." Replied the second.

"Oh no you don't!" Kushina roared as chains made of chakra appeared out of thin air and coiled themselves around the Sound ninja who were talking. "I don't care about him personally, but he helped Naruto. I have to help him a little." She explained as everyone in the room looked at her.

"It's fine. Let them go. They can't actually do anything here. At least not if they don't want to risk starting a war." Karma said.

"Huh? You think the Leaf would start a war wirh the Sound just for some genin?" One of the capture ninja, Dozu, said.

"No. My clan would though. As the most likely to be heir of the Nekotsume Clan, I probably have that authority."

Just then, a puff of smoke appeared in the front of the room. "Alright, you degenerates!" Came a mans voice. "Pipe down and listen up." As the smoke cleared a scarred man could be seen standing in front of several others. "It's time to begin. I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor. And from this moment on, your worst enemy."