"So you all know where to go, right?" Tsubaki asked, checking over her genin.

Each genin nodded.

"I've been warned that the exams will happen over the course of a few days," She sighed. "Be sure you have everything you'll need."

"Stop worrying, we'll be fine." Azumi scoffed.

"Yeah, we'll do fine." Kana chirped.

"You remember were to go?" Tsubaki asked.

"Yes, the Academy, big red building near the Hokage's building." Haku replied.

"Then get going, you have to be there by noon." Tsubaki smiled.

"We'll pass the first tests and be back before you know it!" Kana exclaimed.

"Goodbye." Haku and Azumi said.

The three of them left their hotel room, walking side-by-side down the road and towards the tall red building that could be seen from almost anywhere in the village. Attached to that part was the Academy, which is where the first part of the exam would be held.

"So, do we have a plan going into this?" Haku asked as they walked.

"Well, for starters I'm guessing that this first portion will be a kind of written test, and after that will probably be some kind of team vs team test." Azumi began. "There are two ways we can do this. One; we mask our true strength and blend in, be average. Or two; we show off our skills from the start and ward off the weakest teams."

"Both are good ideas, but personally I think we should go with your first idea." Haku said.

"Same, I like the second idea, but we don't know how many teams consider themselves weak and how many teams would still take us on after seeing our strength." Kana agreed with a sigh.

"I thought for sure you'd go for the second option," Azumi said, an analytical stare locked onto Kana. "Care to explain?"

"I don't like masking my strength, but it is the smarter option in order to play it safe." Kana explained to her teammates.

Kana came off as carefree and a happy-go-lucky kind of person, but she was smart, and she tried to make the right choices.

"Alright, so the plan is to underplay our skills until the last moment." Azumi said.

"Sounds like a plan." Haku grinned.

Kana's nose twitched twice and her eyes darted to the righ, catching a glimpse of something moving through the alleys and trees off to the side. She knew who it was by scent, and she subtly tapped her thigh twice, hoping he noticed her signal, saying that she saw him.

From the shadows, he smiled, continuing to follow them before splitting off.

~~~~~

When they finally arrived, it was around 11:30, meaning that they were around half an hour early, but surprisingly there were already quite a few people there. A desk was set up at the front of the building, with a woman sitting behind it. A sign at her left read 'information.'

"You three are from Amegakure, right?" The woman asked, not waiting for an answer before she continued. "Go to room 301, it's on the third floor, that's where all the other genin are meeting."

"Alright, thank you miss." Azumi replied, then turning to the rest of her team. "Let's get going then."

"Stairs are down the hall on the right." The woman added.

"Thanks!" Haku and Kana chirped.

Azumi lead their advance, leading them towards the stairs and up to the next floor. To her confusion, there was a crowd gathered there.

"What's going on?" Kana asked, also a bit confused.

Genin were flocked around the door of a room that had a sign reading '301' but two other genin blocked the way.

"Turn back now, none of you are strong enough for the chunin exams." One scoffed.

A girl with brown hair up in two buns was shoved back, and then quickly helped up by two boys, presumably her teammates.

"It's genjutsu." Azumi whispered to her team, her icy gaze narrowed at the sign.

"How can you tell?" Kana whispered back.

"Two reasons," Azumi replied. "I am intimately familiar with genjutsu, as I use it a lot, so recognizing simple genjutsus is easy. Secondly, we are on the second floor, and every other room has a number beginning with 2. Look at the rooms 202 and 203 for example. The first floor had rooms start with a 1, like the rooms we had passed, 101, 102, 103 and 104."

"You're right," Haku nodded. "But should be say anything?"

"No, we'll wait for someone else to break the genjutsu or point it out." Azumi said.

"We have to keep up our ruse..." Kana sighed.

"Exactly." Azumi nodded.

The horde of genin waited at the door, whispering amoug themselves as they waited for someone to do something. A voice floated over the crowd, calm, smooth and confident.

"Drop the genjutsu, it's way too obvious." None other than Sasuke Uchiha scoffed. "Sakura, Naruto, I'm sure you both noticed."

"... Yeah, such an obvious genjutsu..." Naruto mumbled.

"Of course, this is only the second floor, meaning that the room you're guarding isn't 301." Sakura explained.

The genjutsu broke, and the numbers morphed into '201.' Many in the group of genin looked ashamed they didn't notice, and a small majority looked unaffected, like they had seen it before.

Kana's eyes locked onto team Kakashi, and she watched Naruto with sad eyes as they trudged up stairs.

"Come on," Azumi said, bumping into Kana's shoulder. "Let's go."

"Right." Kana mumbled, heading towards the next flight of stairs.

~~~~~

Everyone slowly trickled into the exam room, finding a good seat and sitting down. All the Konoha genin were gathered together chatting happily with each other. All of them but Naruto that is. He sat silently at the back of the room, his blue eyes sad and empty instead of cheerful.

"You guys go sit down, I'm going to go talk to a friend." Kana said.

"Alright, we'll be over there." Azumi replied, jabbing a thumb at row of desks in the corner at the back.

Kana nodded and headed over to Naruto and approaching him slowly. She placed a hand on his shoulder and watched as he flinched away.

"Hey, Naruto." Kana greeted softly.

"Oh, Kana," He replied slowly. "I didn't know you were here."

"I said I would be here when I saw you yesterday." Kana corrected him.

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Naruto chuckled softly.

Kana watched his movements with concern. He had bags under his eyes and he looked awfully pale. He even forgot that she and Sakura had visited him yesterday.

"You should get back to your team, the exam will start soon." Naruto mumbled to her.

"Yeah," Kana nodded. "See you later Naruto, good luck."

Naruto nodded and stared at his knuckles, rubbing them in what she assumed was a nervous habit.

Kana walked back to her teammates, not noticing the pale woman that stared her way. A strawhat was pulled over her eyes, but black hair flowed from the hat, and anyone could see her lick her lips.

"I was wondering where she went."

A/N

Things are going to get wild soon. I have plans and it's only a little longer until canon Naruto gets thrown through the metaphorical window.

So look forward to that... '3´