Aki and her team were standing outside of the room 301 as Kakashi stood in front of them.
"Glad you came, Sakura, for your sake, and the others." Kakashi said.
"Huh?"
"Now, you can all formally register for the Chunin Exam."
"Why? What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"You see, normally only groups of three are allowed to apply for, and take the exam. That's the way it's always been. But since I have a team of 4 we're an exception."
"But Sensei, you said the decision to take the exam was up to the individual."
"That's right, I did."
"Was that a lie?"
"Sort of. It is an individual decision but it affects all of you. I didn't tell you before, because I didn't want the other guys pressuring you." Kakashi said. "At the same time I didn't want you to feel obligated to participate because of any feelings you might have for, Sasuke, Aki, or Naruto."
"I wanted you to come to a decision of your own free will."
"Wait a minute. Do you mean if the others had shown up, but I decided not to come with them—"
"It would've have been the end of the line. If you hadn't come along, I couldn't have let the others in." Kakashi said.
"But even if Sakura did come with us it would have still have been a three man squad, wouldn't it?" Aki said. "So why wouldn't we be able to enter?"
"Unlike the others we're a group of four not three, all four of you would needed to come. But you're all here, and for the right reasons."
"Sakura. . ."
Sakura smiled.
"Naruto. . ."
Naruto smirked.
"Aki. . ."
Aki grinned.
"And Sasuke."
Sasuke smirked.
"I'm proud of you. I couldn't ask for a better team." Kakashi said as he stepped aside. "Good luck."
"We won't let you down, Sensei!" Naruto said as both Sasuke and Sakura opened the door.
"You can count of us!" Aki smiled.
"Believe it!"
~~~
"Wh— What's this?" Naruto shuttered.
"Gee, I guess we're not alone."
"You can say that again." Aki said as she avoid the looks of the other competitions.
'Man, I had no idea there'd be so much competition.' Sakura thought. 'If being scary-looking was on of the tests, they've got me beat!'
"Sasuke, where have you been?" Ino shouted as she hugged Sasuke firm behind.
"Wha?"
"Boy, you have no idea how much I was hopping you'd show up here." She said. "I've missed those brooding good looks of yours."
"Hey, you porker! Back off! He's mine!" Sakura growled.
"Miss Forehead. They let you in?" Ino said. "Still got those bug frown lines on your billboard brow, I see."
"Leave my forehead out of it!" Sakura yelled as Ino stuck her tongue out.
"Can't you guys get along?" Aki asked.
"No!"
At least she tried.
"Oh, it's you guys. I knew this was gonna be a drag, but I didn't know it was gonna be this lame." Shikamaru said.
"So all three stooges are here." Naruto said.
"Hey, you know what, pipsqueak?" Shikamaru yelled. "Ah, forget it. You're waste of time."
Shikamaru Nara once's the man of my dream but was stolen from me by his beautiful wife the Princess of the Sand Temari.
Choji Akimichi, he eats a lot, he's bigger than the last time I saw him, but don't tell him that I like being alive.
"Sorry, but Sasuke's all mine." Ino stuck her tongue out.
Ino Yamanaka, her crush on Sasuke is as big as Sakura she even married someone with black hair and black eye, but I can't be doing my man Sai dirty like that.
"Well, what do you know? It looks like the whole gangs back together again." Kiba said.
"Oh. Hi, Naruto." Hinata blushed and looked away once Naruto's lauded on her.
Hinata Hyuga, my beautiful sister and wife to the Naruto Uzumaki. I was rooting for you since day one.
Kiba Izuzuka and his dog, Akanaru, let's leave it at that, but he was totally annoying at a kid though.
Shino Aburame, I wonder what he looks like under that mask of his, it's like Kakashi all over again.
"You guys, too, huh?" Man. Everyone's here for this stupid thing."
"Yep. Here we all are. The Ten rookies." Kiba laughed. "This is going to be fun. At least, for those of us good enough to make the cut. Right Sasuke."
"Kiba, careful you don't get overconfident." Sasuke said.
'Could say the same for you too.' Aki thought as she toned out the conversation. She had better things to do, like looking for her future man.
"Hey, you guys. You might want to try keeping it down a little. I mean, no offense, but you're the ten rookies, right?" Kabuto said. "Fresh out of the Academy? I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves. Just cool it. This isn't a class field trip."
"Well, who asked you? Who are you?"
"I'm Kabuto Yakushi, but really, look around you. You've made quite an impression." He said at this point everyone was glaring at us.
"See those guys? They're from the Rain Village. Very touchy. They all are. This exam makes everyone tense, and you don't want to rub them the wrong way right now." Kabuto said.
"There ugly" Aki whispered, because like damn, what happened to there genes.
As Kabuto continued to talk the the rest of the Nine rookies, Aki was busy looking for her man. Sure would using the Byakugan make it more easier, yes it would but she didn't want catching anyone's attention yet.
The moment Kabuto mentioned Gaara, Aki's was quickly in front of him and focusing all her attention on him.
"Mission experience, eight C ranks, and—get this one B rank as a Genin. There's not a lot of more information on this guy. He was a rookie from another land, originally, but there is this. He survived every mission without getting a scratch on him."
"As expected of my beloved." Aki praised.
"Beloved?"
"You've only meet a few days ago, Aki." Sakura said.
"Yes. First love at first sighted is truly amazing." Aki squealed.
"Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, Sound."
"From all the loos of it, they're all sent exceptionally skilled candidates to the exam this time around. Of course, the Hidden Sound Village is small. It sprang up recently. No one knows anything about it. Those guys are a mystery." Kabuto said.
"Well, you get the point. The competition's going to be intense this year."
"So it would seem. It's almost enough to make you lose your confidence." Hinata said.
"It's a fine time to start talking like that!" Ino shouted.
"A small village? I wonder what they have to show." Aki said. Was she trying to buy a target on her back, no not really, but did she forget the reason why Kabuto was attacked? Yes, she did.
"Do you really think it's going to be tougher this time?" Sakura asked.
"Oh, yeah. In the four years I've been coming, I've never seen a crop of candidates with this much potential as this bunch.
'You know, it's kind of hard to image Kabuto being who he is with how he's helping is right now.' Aki thought.
"Yep, we've got our work cut out for us."
~~~
'I think we'll be okay. The only thing we'd have to worry about it the snake obsesses with children, especially Uchiha children. Then we should be fine.' Aki was broken out of her thought as Naruto loudly proclaims that he won't lose to anyone, and the rest of the room reacts to his words with equal parts shock and annoyance.
"Oh my."
"Hey, what's that idiot trying to do, get us killed!" Ino screamed.
'I should've known. He's not smart enough to be scared.'
"Tell your boyfriend to keep his big fat trap shut!"
"Whose boyfriend?" Sakura yelled back.
"Oh, I forgot. You can't get one!"
"What'd you say!"
"Yeah! I feel a lot better now." Naruto grinned.
"A lot better my ass! You just bought a target on our back!" Aki yelled.
Aki:
As if they didn't already have eyes on them already, now everyone would be targeting them. They were like bunnies in the middle of hungry wolves!
"Can you say that a little louder. Didn't quite catch it." Kiba said.
"You moron. Are you trying to get everybody in the place to hate our guts or what?" Shikamaru asked, as Sakura quickly launched herself at Naruto strangling the life out of him as she tried to defuse the situation that he created.
Suddenly two kunai's hit the ground Aki was once standing on. It looks like the big guy was going after Kabuto while the girl went for Aki.
'There from the sound village, aren't they?' Aki thought to herself as dodged the girl while covering her ears with some chakra.
"Aki!"
"I'm fine, but I can't say the same for Kabuto." Aki said as Kabuto glass cracked.
'She dodged that! No, she knew about the attack was before I could go through with it.' The girl thought.
"Hang on, I saw it all. He dodged the attack. How'd that happen?" Sasuke asked.
"It must have come closer then it looked. Look at him acting like it was nothing". Shikamaru said. "Real tough guy."
"No, even if he did dodge the attack he would have still been injured. I was lucky I was against that girl." Aki glared as Kabuto fell to his knee and throw up blood.
"What? Did he just?"
"Kabuto, what's wrong? What is it?"
'Attacking with sound, I wonder if I could learn that. . .' Aki thought, she had taken a liking to strings maybe she could do what that sound girl does.
"Not such a tough guy, after all. I guess." Dosu said. "Maybe that's why he's on his seventh try."
"Write this, in your little card, punk." Zaku mocked. "The Genin from the Sound Village will be Chunin when this is over, guaranteed."
'Didn't they all die?' Aki thought.
A huge smoke screen flooded the front of the room.
"All right, you baby face degenerates. Pipe down and listen up."
"It's time to begin. I'm Ibiki Marino, your proctor. And from this moment, your worst enemy."