Start of the Chunin Exams Arc

Konoha was bustling. With the chunin exams approaching, a lot of the genin were on edge and shinobi from other villages were arriving to take part. Shiki had already hinted to the Hokage about a sinister plot about to take form but not much else after all, he had his own things to worry about.

Namely, he was getting ready for the notorious Konoha Crush. Not to stop it although he had several preparations in place to lessen the damage and was planning on boost both his and the Reaper's renown during the village's defence.

But no, Shiki had other plans in motion. Now then, if Orochimaru is taking all his capable subordinates to attack Konoha . . . Wouldn't that means all his facilities were terribly lacking in security forces compared to usual . .

Facilities whose secret locations and methods of access were all obtained by Shiki from Orochimaru's partial soul . . .

'Hehehehehe! Orochimaru, The Reaper will personally thank you for all the support!' Thought Shiki evilly as he prepared for multiple simultaneous raids on all of the snake's facilities as soon as the Konoha crush began.

But just as he was feeling good about himself while his soul clones did most of the work, Shiki came across a familiar situation. Familiar from the anime that is!

A guy wearing a Bunraku puppeteer's costume, a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front, a black hood which covered his head completely, and had cat-like ears and a Sunagakure forehead protector with a triangular face-paint design. He was also wearing gloves and carrying something covered in bandages on his back.

He was holding a tiny Konohamaru by his shirt while his teammate watched on and Naruto and Sakura joined by Konohamaru's friends Moegi and Udon were demanding for him to put the boy down.

Endeavoring to never miss a chance to show off, Shiki decided to intervene.

"Hey, hey, friend from Suna!" Called out Shiki but before anyone realized, Konohamaru was already by his friends' side while the guy from Suna was empty handed.

This made him and his teammates take Shiki far more seriously than the likes of Naruto.

"Now, you must understand . . . That when you come to another village you need to show some respect!" Said Shiki.

"Oh yeah? Or what?" Questioned the face paint guy, definitely.

"Or some insignificant genin might disappear under mysterious circumstances!" Said Shiki in jovial tone with a bright smile but one filled with killing intent that scared the trio.

Shiki had done his fair share of killing as the Reaper after all. And his deathly aura after binding the Reaper Contract Seal was quite frightening as well.

Blatantly threatened, the face paint guy was thinking of backing off before things escalated and affected his village's plan, meanwhile, Shiki had already moved on and with blinding speed stood in front of the guy's female teammate.

"Ah, It's a pleasure to meet you oh beautiful desert fairy! My name is Uzumaki Shiki, may I have the privilege of knowing yours?" Greeted Shiki with a completely different attitude, even taking her hand and kissing it. Clearly beauties had privileges not available to disposable males.

Naruto just looked on as he found nothing surprising with Shiki's attitude in fact, he was half expecting it already. Meanwhile, Sakura was thinking to herself.

'Shannaro! Why does Shiki-san never act like that towards me!?' After Shiki dumped her and Ino's training onto Tsunade, they met more often in the Senju compound and while she saw Shiki flirt with Tsunade, Shizune and various other women that visited, he never acted like that towards her.

Recently she had even stopped fangirling about Sasuke because she had switched targets to Shiki who was now much more handsome and pleasing to be around but he never gave her the kind of attention he gave other girls. The foolish girl even deluded herself into thinking he only acted like that because she was his true love therefore making him more shy and reserved when interacting with her.

Needless to say, if Shiki had bothered to read into her actions and figure out her thoughts, he would have her admitted into a mental institution.

The girl from Suna had teal eyes and sandy blonde hair, which was gathered into four consecutive pigtails. Her outfit consisted of a single light purple-coloured, off-the-shoulders garment that extended to halfway down her thighs, with a scarlet sash tied around her waist. In addition to incorporating fishnet worn over her shoulders and legs, specifically on her right calf and her left thigh, she also wore her black Sunagakure forehead protector around her neck.

She was currently sporting a full blush. A handsome guy just complimented her so poetically and kissed her hand after all but she still gave her name almost unconsciously.

"T-Temari. I'm Temari!"

Buts just as Shiki was about to continue the conversation, somebody else interrupted.

He had fair skin, green eyes, and short auburn spiky hair. He lacked distinctive pupils or eyebrows and had tanuki-like black rings around his eyes with the kanji for "love", carved on the left side of his forehead, which his hair is parted in order for it to be kept visible.

He was wearing a black bodysuit with an open neck, t-shirt-like sleeves, and almost full-length leggings with a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips. He had a wide leather band from his left shoulder to his right hip with which he carried a gourd and around which he wraps his forehead protector.

"How long do you plan on keeping this charade going Temari, Kankuro?" He threateningly questioned his supposed teammates while standing upside down on a nearby tree.

"G-Gaara!" They both exclaimed.

If there was one thing that annoyed Shiki, was when he was interrupted as he was flirting with beauties. Naruto was already praying for the departed soul of the idiot who committed this very crime while Sasuke who was hiding in the vicinity did the same.

Shiki turned to Gaara with murder in his eyes.

'Genjutsu: Sharingan' And just like that, the kid fell from the tree with his body paralyzed. Then as if nothing had happened Shiki continued talking with Temari.

"So Temari! Want to go on a date? I'll show you around the village and you can tell me about yours . . . It'll be fun!"

Part of Temari wanted to just accept in the heat of the moment and go but in the end, she knew she couldn't so she politely refused.

"S-Sorry Shiki . . . san. But I have to go!" Temari said quickly grabbing the paralyzed Gaara and telling Kankuro to follow her. Not even bothering to ask Shiki what he did to her teammate and if he could undo it.

'Oh well, there will be more chances!' Shiki thought as he turned away and left too after reminding Naruto, Sakura and the still hiding Sasuke who missed his chance to come out about the upcoming chunin exams.

The shenanigans of testing the rookies before they were able to attend took place but they passed with flying colors and now Shiki was watching with interest as Rock Lee, with his signature look, challenged Sasuke while making a poor attempt at wooing Sakura.

It was nothing like in canon. Even before activating his sharingan Sasuke could keep up with Lee's taijutsu but having been drilled by Shiki into never underestimating his opponents he still activated his two tomoe sharingan after the first few exchanges.

If Sasuke was handling Lee with skill before, he was curb stomping him now. Without removing his weights, Lee stood zero chance against Sasuke while Shiki was was all smug in his spot since it was all his handiwork.

Just as it was getting good with Lee opening the first of the Eight Inner Gates they were stopped like in canon so Shiki just thought to go ahead to the holding room were all the examinees were supposed to wait for the first exam but was stopped by Guy.

"Hold on a minute!" Shouted Might Guy into the air.

'Wow! He's good! Even though I wasn't seriously hiding, a run of the mill jonin still wouldn't be able to detect me. This must be the legendary and manly Guts Sensor!' Shiki thought to himself as he made his appearance.

"Sup, everyone!" He greeted while Guy called the other members of his squad and introduced Shiki to them.

"This here is Uzumaki Shiki, in case you didn't know, he's taking the exam with you all. You should learn from him since he is the prime example of what someone of your age can truly achieve!" Guy praised Shiki.

Meanwhile the man himself was thinking.

'Yeah right! As if they could ever reach my level considering all my hax abilities, well it's good to dream I guess . . .'

Team 7 was surprised to see him there but just greeted him normally while Guy's squad evaluated him in their thoughts.

'So this is the early graduate from two years ago I'd have thought he'd become a chunin already. Guess he is not that great after all.' Neji thought with disdain as he greeted the white haired boy.

Shiki reading him like a book was already determining his petty revenge for even daring to look down on him. The level of pettiness was truly high considering Neji didn't even put his disdain into words not that Shiki cared.

Rock Lee was just looking at him as a goal, a barrier to surpass making Shiki think smugly.

'Too bad this barrier will remain unbreakable and unsurpassable for all eternity!'

Meanwhile Tenten was fangirling over him in her head while greeting Shiki.

'Whoa! This is the adopted younger brother of Tsunade-sama, one of the legendary sannin! He must be strong! He's also so handsome!'

Flattered by her attitude since such straightforward admiration didn't come his way that often. At least not so honestly. Shiki greeted her more cordially than her teammates and flirted with her as well as it was his way. The favoritism for beauties was as clear as a sunny day, one could be forgiven if they mistakenly thought Shiki was sippin' of that simp juice.

Still, the deadline for registration was approaching so they all went on their way.