Two days flew by with Uchiha Sasuke getting beaten up.
He'd been worked over so badly that now, whenever he saw Uzumaki Naruto, he had the urge to walk up and sock him. Sasuke even saw that face in his dreams—though he couldn't tell if it was the real Naruto or Kitazawa transformed.
By Wednesday, he finally got a breather. It was December 1—the day the Chūnin Exams began.
Kitazawa showed up at the Hokage's office first thing in the morning.
"Why the sudden urge to be a squad leader?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked, surprised by the request.
"I'm just doing a favor for Nono-senpai," Kitazawa explained. "You know—her adopted son, Yakushi Kabuto, still hasn't made chūnin."
"I see." Hiruzen immediately understood. Kabuto was from Root; his strength had long since surpassed chūnin level, but he'd never been given the chance to take the exam.
"And your other two team members?" Hiruzen asked casually.
Strictly speaking, showing up on registration day like this wasn't by the book; normally you applied in advance. But for Tsunade's sake, this little breach could be overlooked.
"Aburame Torune and Uchiha Izumi," Kitazawa said.
"Oh?" Hiruzen lifted his brows, then chuckled. "Quite the trio."
He found himself thinking the same thing Kabuto had. Tsunade's raid on Root to rescue Aburame Torune probably wasn't just at the Aburame clan's request—Kitazawa must have been involved as well. No wonder she'd brought him along. It also showed how much weight Kitazawa carried with Tsunade now.
"No wonder Fugaku came to see me a few days ago," Hiruzen added, shifting the topic with intent. "He asked me to dissolve the squad Uchiha Izumi is currently in."
Forming and disbanding ninja squads required the Hokage's approval. Izumi already had a jōnin leader and teammates; to join Kitazawa's squad, her original team had to be dissolved first.
Kitazawa was genuinely taken aback. He couldn't help marveling again at how much his status had changed thanks to Tsunade. For Fugaku to go that far just to make Izumi his student—that was beyond what he'd expected. It also explained why Mikoto had so readily agreed on Izumi's behalf.
"The Uchiha are rarely…settled," Hiruzen said bluntly. "Since you get along with them, keep up the dialogue."
Kitazawa paused—he hadn't expected to be given free rein to interact with the Uchiha. On second thought, it tracked.
In the original timeline, Hiruzen had always tried to stop the clan's night of annihilation. Even when the Uchiha were set on rebellion, he didn't move directly against them; he had Itachi try to persuade them. Danzo's intervention turned persuasion into slaughter.
How to put it… The aging Hiruzen and Uchiha Fugaku were alike in some ways—hesitant, not decisive enough. Nowhere was that clearer than in the Uchiha affair: courting Itachi with one hand while not reining in Danzo with the other.
"Understood, Hokage-sama," Kitazawa said, coming back to himself. With Tsunade as his backing, he had no fear of being seen with the Uchiha.
"Go on, take the Chūnin Exam," Hiruzen waved him off.
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kitazawa bowed slightly and left, then headed with Kabuto and the other two—who were waiting at the door—toward the Anbu compound.
This time, the exam site was the Anbu base. In the original joint exams, the written test was held at the Academy—but that was because there were so many genin. At Anbu HQ, Kitazawa spotted signboards pointing the way and followed them to a building.
"Kitazawa-senpai?" Hagane Kotetsu, on door duty, stared in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"This is the Chūnin Exam, right? Izumo and I applied to proctor the written test," Kotetsu said after glancing over Kabuto's trio. "Since when are you a squad leader, Kitazawa-senpai?"
"Today," Kitazawa smiled. "Last-minute."
"Got it." Kotetsu understood immediately—teams thrown together just for the exam happened all the time.
"Can we head in?" With test time approaching, Kitazawa kept the small talk short.
"They can go in; you can't," Kotetsu said, winking meaningfully.
"Right." Kitazawa caught on. "Go ahead," he told his three.
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei," they replied and went inside.
"Before the written test there's a little pre-check," Kotetsu said once they'd gone. "They have to pass it to qualify."
"Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique?" Kitazawa asked evenly.
"You can tell from here?" Kotetsu sounded impressed.
Just as Kitazawa expected; the joint exams in the original story had pulled the same trick.
…
"It's a genjutsu," Kabuto said as soon as he stepped in. Six genin had gathered outside a first-floor classroom, but a signboard not far away clearly pointed to "Exam Room—3rd Floor."
"Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique," Uchiha Izumi said after one glance. "Pretty low-level."
"Agreed," Kabuto said, turning to head upstairs. Izumi and Torune followed.
…
"As expected of Kitazawa-senpai's students," Kotetsu breathed. "Fastest team to spot the trap."
"They're not bad," Kitazawa answered modestly. If not for the system's mission, he wouldn't even have bothered coming; the outcome wasn't in doubt. Even in the original joint exams, a team of Kabuto, Torune, and Izumi would have been top tier—assuming they didn't run into the two jinchūriki.
"Know what the second round is this time?" Kitazawa asked idly.
"Yeah," Kotetsu said without hiding it. "A speed race."
Round Two was a team battle in the Forest of Death: reach the finish line as fast as possible. Only the first five squads would advance. The forest would be full of traps and interference from other teams.
Kitazawa nodded. Harder than the joint exams' second round, maybe—but, as always, strength decided everything. He chatted about the other squads but didn't recognize anyone. With Kabuto, Torune, and Izumi, he felt he might be overkilling the problem—but caution never hurt when there was a mission on the line.
At 10 a.m., the genin who passed the written test followed Kamizuki Izumo to the Forest of Death. Kitazawa tagged along as a spectator.
He watched Round Two—the team battle—and the summary was simple: total sweep. Kabuto, Torune, and Izumi took first place with ease.
"Nice work," Kitazawa told them. "Go rest up and be here on time for Round Three tomorrow."
Unlike the joint exams, which added prelims between Round Two and Three and pushed the finals a month out, Konoha's internal exam didn't bother with the extra steps—fewer candidates meant the whole thing wrapped in two days.
Thursday morning, 9 a.m., Kitazawa arrived at the training field in front of the Anbu base on time. Kabuto, Torune, and Izumi were already there. Under Chief Proctor Shiranui Genma's direction, they stood with the remaining genin.
A quick headcount: only nine remained—three teams. Barring any disasters, all of them would make chūnin, unless someone was truly subpar. That was the usual difficulty level.
Genma noticed Kitazawa but didn't come over—the exam was about to start. Kitazawa's attention was caught by another familiar figure: Hatake Kakashi.
"Kakashi," Kitazawa walked up. "Any students of yours in there?"
He remembered Kakashi had led a few squads before Team 7, but none had passed his test and they'd been sent back to the Academy. And right now Kakashi was still in Anbu gear—hardly the look of a squad leader.
"No," Kakashi said, shaking his head.
"Then you're just bored and came to watch the exams?" Kitazawa smirked. "Doesn't sound like you."
"Hokage-sama asked me to notify you," Kakashi said, dead-fish eyes and all. "He wants to see you after the exams."
"Got it," Kitazawa said, light dawning on his face.
"How does it feel being a squad leader?" Kakashi hesitated a couple seconds, then asked.
"Watching students grow is pretty fun," Kitazawa said. "Thinking of taking a team yourself?"
"Mm." Kakashi didn't hide it. "At the Hokage's request."
"If you're not in a hurry, you could wait for my students to graduate," Kitazawa said offhandedly.
"They've got five years," Kakashi mused. "I'll probably take a class before then."
Kitazawa thought, Nice idea, but your standards are too high.
"First up is Kabuto, huh?" Kitazawa looked toward the field. Kabuto's opponent was a young ninja with a sword strapped to his back.
Kabuto's approach was simple: he formed Chakra Scalpel, sliced through the man's blade, and won.
"Chakra Scalpel?" Genma, as proctor, looked like he'd seen a ghost. Since when were genin this terrifying?
Kakashi wasn't surprised. He'd gone with Kitazawa to pick up Kabuto; he knew the boy's strength.
For Kabuto, the exam was a stomp. Same for Torune—he didn't even use his poison bugs. He was worried a normal genin might die on the spot if they got infected. They were all from the same village; no need to go for the kill—point made was enough.
What did surprise Kakashi was Kabuto's Wind Release. He hadn't used wind when they fought Iwa-nin before, which meant he'd learned it recently. No doubt he had a knack for it—and just as surely, Kitazawa had taught him. Kakashi's thoughts drifted to Asuma; he wondered how Asuma and Kitazawa's wind styles compared.
"Round One over—fifteen-minute break," Genma announced.
Nine genin fought in pairs, with one lucky bye. Round Two began with five genin left—including Kabuto, Torune, and Izumi.
"My guess is they'll get matched against each other," Kitazawa said as the five drew lots.
Kakashi only nodded.
"Round Two, Match One: Yakushi Kabuto vs. Aburame Torune!" Genma called.
Kitazawa arched an eyebrow, interested. Kakashi perked up too. The earlier genin bouts had been soporific, but Kabuto and Torune were Root prodigies—different league.
"Secret Technique: Poison Dust!" Torune didn't hesitate. He extended both hands; a swarm of nano-poison bugs gathered between them, and he blew—sending them out like a gray mist.
Against Kabuto, he couldn't afford to hold back. Besides, he knew how strong his teammate was, and with Kabuto being a medical-nin—and Kitazawa one too—any poison would be cured quickly.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!" Kabuto clapped his hands; a blast of wind scattered the bugs. When the haze cleared, Torune had vanished.
Unruffled, Kabuto formed another set of seals and flicked a shuriken upward, spinning into the sky. The training ground had nowhere to hide; the only way to pull off an ambush was from above. And Kabuto knew Torune. The moment he used Wind Release on the shuriken, Kabuto Body Flickered away. A tide of bugs burst from the ground, finding nothing where he'd been.
Up in the air, Torune's heart skipped. The sneak attack had failed—and he was exposed. He dropped the offensive for the moment, raised both hands, and sent a cloud of bugs to smother the spinning shuriken. The wind-chakra-edged blades shredded them, but there were too many, and the shuriken slowed.
Torune took the chance to control his fall—easier to move on the ground than midair.
Kabuto wasn't about to let him off. While Torune was using his insects to corrode the shuriken, Kabuto formed seals again.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" He exhaled, and a violent gust roared across the field.
"Rinkaichū!" Torune pulled his bugs tight over his body, but it didn't help much. The gale blasted him backward.
"I forfeit," Torune said, raising his hand. He'd seen the problem clearly: his insects were deadly, but Kabuto's control of the fight never let him get close. From start to finish, he'd been kited.
"What do you think, Kakashi?" Kitazawa asked with a grin. Kabuto was Kabuto, after all.
"They'll both be excellent jōnin one day," Kakashi said. In his eyes, their level already exceeded most chūnin, and they were still so young—bright futures, both. He wondered whether, as a future squad leader, he'd ever get students this gifted.
Uchiha Izumi's fight was far easier. She activated her Sharingan and ended it with a single "Genjutsu: Unknown Fire."
Because one genin had a bye, Genma arranged a repechage between Torune and the bye candidate. Torune won and advanced to Round Three.
"Congrats," Kakashi said mildly. "Every genin in Round Three is one of your students."
"Thanks," Kitazawa replied with a smile.
"Round Three, Match One: Yakushi Kabuto vs. Uchiha Izumi!" Genma called after glancing at the draw.
"Please go easy on me," Izumi said solemnly, fully on guard now. She'd once worried her two teammates were weaker than her; now she knew they were both stronger. If she so much as touched Torune's nano-bugs, she'd die. And Kabuto—an absurdly capable medical-nin with serious combat prowess.
Izumi snapped her Sharingan open. She couldn't match Kabuto in taijutsu; her only chance was genjutsu. She started to weave signs—only for Kabuto, eyes closed, to charge with Chakra Scalpel. Root training had drilled him in all sorts of counters—up to and including how to hunt Uchiha. Danzo had always dreamed of wiping the clan out; Root, his own faction, was naturally his favored tool to do it.
Izumi was immediately put on the back foot. She couldn't get a genjutsu off, and the Chakra Scalpel kept her completely constrained. She lost quickly.
Round Three, Match Two was also Izumi—this time against Torune. She lost again. Thankfully, she wasn't the stereotypical Uchiha about it; she took the two losses calmly.
[Current Mission: Lead Yakushi Kabuto to pass the Chūnin Exams.]
[Reward: Hydrification Technique.]
[Mission Completed. Reward Granted.]
When the exams ended, the system window popped right on cue. Kitazawa nodded, satisfied. The Hydrification Technique was an excellent life-saver—huge in a pinch.
"Come on, let's go see the Hokage," Kakashi said, eyes leaving the field. For him, the only fights worth watching today had been Kitazawa's three students.
~~~
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