"Thanks for the vote of confidence Pain." Hodan said dryly rolling his eyes as he saw the twinkle of amusement in Pain's crimson eyes.
Giving his old friend a nod, Hodan then turned on his heel before he and his team headed off, following the signs which led to the first stage of the Chunin Exam.
...
Naruto waited a few seconds, watching as his team headed upstairs, he was not at all worried about whether or not they would succeed either in this part of the exam or the next.
The three of them were handpicked for this mission after all, Mei herself had vouched that both Chojuro and Suigetsu were High Chunin level, whilst Naruto knew from experience that his old friend Hodan was probably Low Jounin level.
As long as at least one of them made it to the finals that was all that Mei needed, even so if any of them did fail to get into the finals though he would feel nothing but embarrassment for them.
"I have to say Pain, you really know how to inspire confidence in your genin." A sweet melodic voice spoke up from behind Naruto.
Glancing around, a bemused smile crept across his face as he saw Kushina Uzumaki standing behind him, a slight smile on her face as she met his gaze.
The beautiful red head was standing a half a dozen steps behind him, her own genin team consisting of Mito Uzumaki, Erza Uzumkai and Sasuke Uchiha waiting patiently behind her.
Glancing over them Naruto was amused to see that both of his sisters were looking at him curiously, whilst Sasuke was glaring daggers at him, the little shit.
"Negative reinforcement, it works every time." Naruto said blandly, as he turned to fully face her.
"Hmm, maybe I should try that with my own team." Kushina replied, her lips quirking upwards as she gave her team a sweet smile, getting a shudder from both of her daughters, and a scowl from Sasuke.
Naruto chuckled at that.
"Right then Team Seven you should all head upstairs and do your best, this first part of the exam should be starting soon." Kushina said as she smiled encouragingly at her team, reaching out and squeezing her daughter's shoulders comfortingly as she did so.
"Both Yugao and I have every confidence in you."
"Right." Mito said with a wide grin as she shoulder bumped her sister, before she turned to the staircase and began heading up to the exam room, giving Kushina and Naruto one last glance as she did so. "We're definitely going to make it to Chunin."
Erza smiled faintly as she saw Mito's enthusiasm before she turned to Kushina, giving her a respectful nod before she turned to follow Mito upstairs. "We won't let you down."
"Hn!" Sasuke grunted in reply, not even glancing at Kushina as he turned to go, though he did spare a single nasty look for Naruto before he followed after the other two members of his team.
"A real eclectic bunch you have there." Naruto said dryly as he watch his sisters and Itachi's little brother leave.
Kushina nodded as she heard that, sending her daughters a proud yet worried look as they headed upstairs. She had absolute confidence in her daughter's abilities and knew that both of them were more than capable of becoming Chunin, still though she was worried.
The Chunin Exams were not an easy task, especially the second part, where they would go into the Forest of Death and competing against other genin teams.
This part of the exam had effectively no rules, anything went which meant that there were always dozens of deaths every year.
There were of course proctors for this stage of the exam, but their job was more to explain the task and ensure that the teams received no external help. They weren't expected to make sure that the teams didn't kill each other.
Tearing her mind away from that particularly morbid string of thought, Kushina glanced over at the young Kiri Jounin. She had only met him once before when they had eaten Ramen together, but even so she felt a connection with him.
They had gotten along very well and Kushina found herself liking the boy's dry and cynical view on life, as well as his humour. "So what are you going to be doing now?"
Naruto blinked in surprise as he realised Kushina was talking to him. "Not sure, will probably head up to the teachers' lounge and see how my brats do. I was told they had a live feed for the first stage of the exam up there?"
"Yeah you're right they just use the Academy security system. I'll come with you if you don't mind, I think a group of Konoha Jounin are meeting up there to watch as well" Kushina said with a smile.
"You can join us if you want."
"Sure, maybe" Naruto replied noncommittally with a shrug before he began to head upstairs, Kushina walking at his side. A smile on her face as she turned to him, trying to engage him in meaningless small talk as they slowly made their way to the teacher's staffroom.
...
(With Team Seven)
As Team Seven entered the testing room they were greeted by a wave of killer intent that hit them like a wall as all the other genin currently waiting for the exam to start turned to them.
Unlike the other genin in their year group however who would be cowed, all three of them shook it off. Both Mito and Sasuke were easily able to ignore the weak killer intent sent their way, having felt far worse in Wave, both when Grimm and Kakashi fought and when Mito had lost control and attacked Grimm head on.
In comparison the killer intent they were receiving from the assembled genin before them was almost laughable.
Erza was just as capable of ignoring the killer intent as her team mates, this was because she like them used to far worse.
Unlike Mito who spent most of her time on her Fuuinjutsu, Erza had during the last month under her mother's careful watch, started to learn how to draw on and control upwards of four tails of the Kyuubi's chakra, it was very hard going both physically and mentally, especially since the Kyuubi's chakra was literally dripping with rage and hatred.
Which is why, like the other two she found the other genin's attempts at intimidation almost laughable.
Even so, although they were not negatively affected by the killer intent they could still feel the building tension in the room as more and more people entered and the time for the start of the exam drew closer.
The room was currently full of more than a hundred genin, all of them from multiple Shinobi Villages, and looking at them it was clear to see all of them wanted to pass the exam and become Chunin just as much as they did.
"Sasuke!" A loud voice suddenly called out, breaking the tension and gaining the attention of all three members of Team Seven.
Mito let out a snort of amusement as she heard the familiar voice call Sasuke's name, it appeared the more things changed the more they stayed the same.
Turning around Mito watched on bemused as a pretty blonde haired girl around her own age, wearing mesh under armour and a stylish purple skirt and top ran up to them. This was Ino Yamanaka, a fellow Shinobi from their year group and one of Sasuke's 'fangirls'.
Following behind Ino, Mito could clearly see Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara, the other two members of Ino's team, Team Ten, resignedly following the blonde.
Mito grinned slightly when she saw the look of irritation of Shikamaru's face as Ino threw her arms around Sasuke with a squeal, gaining their small group the attention of the entire room.
"Troublesome… it looks like you guys got roped into competing in these exams as well." Shikamaru said lazily as he and Choji, who was eating from a bag of chips, joined Team Seven and their teammate, glancing around warily as he felt the attention on them.
Erza let out a small sigh as she heard how unenthusiastic Shikamaru sounded about one of the most important events in their Shinobi career so far. By her side Mito let out a slight giggle, as she heard Shikamaru's comment.
"I suppose it is nice to see how somethings never change." Erza said with a small smirk spreading across her face, before she turned and dragged Ino off Sasuke, leaving the boy red faced and embarrassed and the girl most put out.
"Also can you keep control of your teammate?"
"Trust me it is too troublesome dealing with her." Shikamaru sigh, getting a disgruntled "hey" from Ino as he did so.
"Well there goes the neighborhood! It looks like you guys are taking the exams too! Not like you are going to win, right Akamaru?" Kiba Inuzuka, another of Konoha's rookies said as he approached the others.
Closely following along behind him was the boy's canine partner, Akamaru. Following closely behind Kiba was also Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuuga, two other rookies from Mito and Erza's academic year and the final members of Kiba's team, Team Eight.
Unlike Kiba though who was both loud and brash, the two of them were much more subdued and as they met up with the others.
"Of course we are, like we would miss a chance to show you up dog breath." Mito said with a fiercely competitive grin, getting a scowl out of Kiba before he loudly retorted.
What followed next could best be described as a chaotic mess as Kiba and Mito began arguing loudly and Sasuke attempted to shake off Ino who had once again attempted to cling to him, the others all watching on with amusement.
_____________________
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