Chapter 11

The Chuunin Exams are here! I honestly couldn't wait for this arc! So much is gonna happen! I'm super excited for you to see it! ~LeViAcKeRmAnN

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Tenten carefully avoided grabbing at one of her teleportation kunai, instead fingering a senbon. It was more discreet. Much better.

She blinked as she recognized the two gate guards under henges to make them look like genin. They weren't even good henges.

She knew Neji and Lee had a weird plan to ensure everyone underestimated them, but she honestly didn't care at the moment, and dragged them on. They were only at the second floor at the moment, even a moron could see it if they just looked out the dang window.

She was pretty sure Neji had seen through the genjutsu on the sign, although she wasn't sure about whether Lee realized that it had been wrong or not.

It was most likely he had recognized the gate guards. He was somewhat scarily good at facial recognition.

She recognized the proctor for this section, Ibiki Morino. She'd seen him a couple times while training with Genma. They'd been introduced exactly once, but it had been a memorable experience. Ibiki was imposing and very scary. Being in T&I long term just did that to you if Genma was to be believed.

"He's scary," Lee commented blithely.

"He's the foremost interrogator in Torture and Interrogation, Lee. What did you think he'd be, friendly?" Tenten snapped, mildly exasperated.

"Fair point," Lee admitted sheepishly.

They settled down with their tests after the Rookie Nine caused a ruckus, and Tenten stared blankly at it. It looked like someone had taken a bunch of books from the jounin section then picked random questions and changed the numbers. It looked ridiculous, questions about math interspersed with questions about history and japanese.

She could answer the math questions without too much problem, seals required a fair amount of math, so she was pretty familiar with it. She was pretty sure she had at least one of them right, so right now, that was the biggest thing.

She pretended to be struggling over it so she wouldn't be cheated off of, absentmindedly doodling in the boxes and doing extra equations to make sure the math ones were correct. She had no doubt the boys would be just fine. Neji would probably cheat, and Lee would probably survive with one of these easier history questions. The boys would be fine.

Tenten waited for the end of the test and the tenth question, keeping an eye on the teams around her. She'd need to keep an eye on those that would pass since their team would likely face them in the next round.

Tenth question came, and her team waited it out patiently. Tenten did have to restrain herself from facepalming when Naruto started yelling, however.

When Anko decided to show up, Tenten did facepalm. She was vaguely familiar with the existence of Anko, also through Genma, although hadn't met the woman personally. She now knew why Genma had avoided letting her meet the woman.

Still, she followed her team and the other teams out to the Forest of Death or training Ground 44. She was familiar with the training ground, of course, she knew about all of them, but she hadn't actually been able to go inside this one. You had to be chuunin level or higher and even then you needed at least one other person with you just in case. Jounin level you could go alone, but it was a bit iffy.

They got their scroll, then headed in.

"Where first?" Tenten asked, once they were safely in the trees and Neji was keeping a close look out.

"We should collect a couple of scrolls first," Lee said, pumping a fist. "Then head for the tower! If we collect extra scrolls on the way, all the better! Fewer teams to go against us later!"

"Neji?" Tenten asked, although personally, she agreed with Lee. It would make sure they had the scrolls they needed and with the chance to collect extra on the way, it'd be even better.

"Fine," Neji said shortly. "There's another team, Konoha, but not one of our year. They're nearby and heading in our direction. I doubt it's friendly, they're ready for a fight."

"Clans?" Tenten asked practically while Lee readied for a fight.

"None. As far as I can tell, all civilian born."

"Just means they're less predictable," Tenten noted cooly, palming several kunai and readying her chakra to pull out the bow.

"Coming...now." Neji fell into the gentle fist stance on the massive tree branch they were still standing on, and immediately took on the leader of the team that had jumped out at them.

Tenten leaped back to another branch, throwing the kunai at the one that had attacked her, pulling out her bow and aiming the second she was on the next branch.

Non lethal places would be best, so she shot the other one through the calf and shoulder, pinning them against the tree branch they'd been standing on with the chakra arrows.

The boys were similarly finished with their opponents, so Tenten hopped down and knocked out her person, quickly patting them down for the scroll. She didn't find it, so the boys patted theirs down to find one.

"Aww, it's the same as ours," Lee pouted when he found it.

"We'll need to find another team then," Neji grunted, activating his byakugan. "There aren't any in my current range, we should head towards the tower."

"Let's go then," Tenten replied, sealing away the bow. "Oh, and let's not go after the kids from the year below us. That'd just be rude. They're only babies."

Lee snickered. "Yes! Let us find worthier opponents!"

Tenten kicked the body next to her foot lightly. "Right, worthier." Maybe they should find a different village's team if that was what Lee wanted.