Dexter's POV;

The report was finished quickly, we only had to retell what we saw and why we did what we had done. Basically only a short summary. The annoying part came after that.

Fist Yuugao-nee crushed me with her hug when she heard about our encounter. And then she asked me in a really concerned tone how I was. I explained that I didn't think about the dead during the fight, as I had no time for that. And at a later time, I simply reasoned that they deserved what happened to them. They killed and raped. She let me promise to speak with someone if I have problems and I did so quickly. I have Kura-chan to speak with.

Training continued like nothing happened and the Chunin exams approached quickly until some day Guy came to the training area with three sheets of paper.

“My youthful students, it's again time for the Chunin exams and I decided to enlist all of you. You've grown strong since the academy and I think you are ready to take the other Genin on”. He waved with the papers around like mad and cried tears of joy while doing so.

Each of us got a sheet and read it.

The application said that it's possible to die, that we only might gain the rank of Chunin and other things like how we will be housed. I looked up and saw that the others also finished reading.

“What do you say? Should we go?”.

“We could show the other villages how strong our flames of youth burn!”, said Lee.

TenTen however, frowned lightly; “I don't know, it might be better to wait for another year, I heard that these exams are often deadly. We would have a slight advantage if we go next year”.

“I think we could at least look what we will expect. It's not like we couldn't quit anytime we want”, was my opinion. We spoke more about the whole thing and agreed to participate.

The next week went by with constant training and no missions, as a small preparation for the exams. And then one week later we all were waiting at the western village gate.

“It's good to see all of you. I would have been forced to send the others away if one of you weren't here”, said Guy who came with a leaf shunshin.

“The exams are in Iwa, we aren't really on good terms with them, so behave”.

It took us a week to reach Iwagakure and the village looked way cooler than Konoha. I always was a fan of building cities inside mountains and the guys from Iwa did exactly that. Bridges connected mountains and entrances inside large caves were visible all over the city.

We gave our passports to the guards and were led to a hotel. It was comfortable and well equipped.

“What do you thing will be our first test?”, asked TenTen. She was drinking some soda and jumped on the large sofa that was placed inside our room.

Lee, who was readjusting his weights answered her; “I don't know, I hope it is something that includes strength”.

“There are three parts of a Chunin exam”, said Guy who listened in on our conversation; “the first one can include information gathering or simply showing a higher ranked Jutsu. It can be basically anything that a Ninja would need in his career. The second one is often a survival game and the last one is always a tournament”.

“So we have to be ready for almost anything but fighting”, was my conclusion and Guy nodded.

“Wonderful”, protested TenTen and Lee agreed with a nod of his own.

The next day we three left for the academy and saw a lot of other Ninja. Some looked dangerous, others normal and then there were those who you wouldn't have noticed on the street.

“Look at how many of them there are”, said Lee in awe.

“Yeah, better be silent, let us not give anything away. The first thing is to keep your enemy uninformed of you”, said TenTen and shoved Lee further inside.

We found a nice little seat and watched the competition, there were not many I knew. Only Kabuto and his team, Kumo's team with Samui, Karui and Omoi and the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage. There were even a few side characters that were never seen again after the invasion.

Then, with a loud thud, the door opened and a group of Iwa Ninja walked inside. They weren't Genin and as such must be our examiners.

“All right, the exams starts now, so shut up”, shouted one of them and then made room for another one.

“The test is fairly simply, each team gets a prisoner and you have to extract information from him. They are all sentenced to death, so you are allowed to do whatever you wish. Follow me, those who get left behind are disqualified”. He then simply walked out and we had to follow. Each of us got a room and we got four hours time to learn what this prisoner did. Our only clue was that he is a bandit.

“I don't like this, it's unyouthful to interrogate a prisoner”, said Lee.

“How should we do this?”, asked TenTen, she too didn't look to well with the idea.

“I can do it, you just have to help me at the start”, I suggested and they both smiled thankfully.

“Well then, Lee, you will go inside and blindfold the prisoner. After that you leave the room”, I said and Lee did as I instructed.

“Now you two will go down this corridor, I don't know if this room is soundproof. Might be good not to hear what I will do”, was the next thing I said. I didn't wait for them to answer and walked inside.

The room was small and only had a table with torture utensils and a chair with the prisoner inside.

He was blindfolded and bound to the chair.

He didn't look frightened or troubled at all. He even looked calm. I can't imagine that they use a Chunin for this as well, too many risks. He must've been informed about us Genin and surely got a promise to get free if he says nothing. Too bad for him.

I checked the room and found four cameras and two microphones. They were quickly disposed of. But you couldn't be save enough, so I enveloped the room inside a shadow Genjutsu as well.

After that, I blindfolded myself and activated my Rinnegan. I placed a hand on the head of the prisoner who looked still as smug as before and asked my first question. The Human path was already activated.

“Tell me what you have to guard against the Genin”. The guy said nothing and I didn't want to wait longer, so I yanked his soul out and quickly learned whatever I wanted to know about him. It was similar to the information flush I get after dispelling a clone. It's more like a movie.

He is a bandit and was part of a larger group. They pillaged through the country and were ultimately arrested a week ago. The thing he was tasked to keep secret was his last attack on a village. They burned the houses and raped a few women before killing them as well.

All in all a normal bandit. This task is likely not to see if we can gain the information, but how. Excessive use of force isn't the best way and doing nothing at all won't do as well. Well, bad for them that I stopped them from spying.

I walked out of the room, the now deceased bandit was still shackled to the chair, and meet up with my team.

“And?”, asked TenTen unsure.

“They were normal bandits, the same as in our first C-rank mission”, I replied nonchalantly and walked up to the examiner.

“Already giving up?”.

“No, we finished. The bandit was part of a larger group, they were 56 men strong and were arrested after burning down the village called Grana. He was then thrown into prison and got the offer to resist our torture. He was tasked to not tell us about his last attack. He initially planned to tell us about some of his earlier things, so that we would leave with false information”. The examiner looked a little stunned but then gave us a sheet that stated that we passed and told us to go to the next test.

“Do I want to know what you did to the prisoner?”, asked TenTen after we left the building.

“You might ask, but I won't answer”, was my reply and we continued in silence.

“I mean you aren't bloody, this means that you didn't hurt him. But how else would you get the information? You aren't a Yamanaka. And your Genjutsu isn't so good as well”, she further said.

°These stupid memories woke me up, what happened?°, asked Kura-chan suddenly.

°We are participating in a Chunin exam, I used the Human path on a prisoner we had to interrogate and TenTen is now trying to fin out what I have done°, I summarized.

“Maybe he convinced the bandit about his flames of youth?”, suggested Lee. He didn't sound sarcastic at all.

°And? What do you think about this exams?°, she then asked.

°Not much, TenTen isn't strong enough and Lee isn't intelligent enough. As for me, I probably won't get promoted until next year. I haven't seen the next heirs yet and Sarutobi wants me to be their friend. Stupid old fucker, keeping me behind for his small little plan. He should have adopted me from the start if he really wishes for me to stay inside the village°. We reached our next destination during my rant and had to wait for four more hours.

I took the time to speak with Kura-chan. My seal to get her out is making progress, even if it's only a little bit. She can now take control of one of my clones. Be it shadow or blood clone. However, the strength of her is still inside me and we both would die if I die.

My current plan is to simply create a second force that will replace her. But I'm not strong enough to do something like this, yet.

Still, in thoughts, I didn't notice how Lee spoke to me until he touched my shoulder; “Dexter?”.

I looked up to him and saw that there some other groups. The waiting time must be over.

“The next part starts in a few moments”, said Lee. He then turned around and eyed the competition. The guys I mentioned before are still there, but many no names were gone. Some of them didn't look as confident as before and there were even a few that had blood on their hands.

“Alright, the next part starts in a few minutes. Please sign this declaration of disqualification. It basically says that you are alright with your possible death in the next exam”, yelled an examiner. Each of us got a sheet and we signed at the right places.

The proctor then addressed all of us; “The task is simple, you have to go inside this tunnel. Each team will go through their own entrance. After that, you simply have to find your way out on the other side. The time limit will be three days”.

We all got into position and the stone doors opened for us.

Once inside we stopped to reorient ourselves. It was dark as fuck.

“And now?”, asked Lee. He stood slightly forward and to my left.

“We could make a fire”, suggested TenTen.

“Which will tell anyone who isn't using one where we are”, said Lee as a counter.

“TenTen, did you train with Chakra threads as I suggested?”, I asked.

“Yeah, I can use them with ten Kunais up to twenty meters now”, she answered quickly.

“Let's use them. We have eight threads left if we use two to connect ourselves. The remaining threads can be used to find a way or an enemy”. They agreed to my plan and TenTen threw her threads out. I used my own, which amounted to 230. It's a good Chakra training and part of Uzu's curriculum.

The whole cave was now 'lid' up and we were good to proceed. I also made five clones that henged into mice. They have the Rinnegan activated and will report to me in case they find something.

Our pace was slow but steady and after ten hours we found a camp of other Ninja. They haven't noticed us and were easily visible to us by their fire.

I signed to TenTen that she is to use her Ninja wire and trap them inside paper bombs. She gave me an okay and got in position. A few seconds later she started with her attack and the group of three was successfully trapped.

We took their rations as well as their equipment and then left them behind.

Another four hours later and we had to rest for the night. We anchored hammocks into the wall and slept for a few hours before continuing on our way. We didn't find any other teams and managed to get out of the cave at the end of the day.

Guy was waiting for us and told us that we had one day rest before we are going to proceed with the next test.

The Kumo team, the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage and Kabuto's team got through as well.

There were two other teams as well. One of them from Suna and the other from Kiri.

We all were gathered inside a large dome. It was almost like in the anime, just with the difference that we were in Iwa and that the design of the arena was less green.

The Tsuchikage was also present and gave us his speech about war and us being the other means of showing our power.

After that, we were told that we had to fight before we could proceed to the finals.

Lee was hyped about the possibility of finally fighting someone and TenTen was nervous.

And, like in the anime, Kabuto surrendered. Only this time his whole team surrendered.

This left only five teams each with three members, so one of us got an instant win. The lucky one was a guy from Kiri. He looked kinda happy.

Anyway, the first fight was between the second Kiri guy and one of the Iwa Genin. The Kiri Genin used his water Jutsu, while the Iwa one had his stone Jutsu. They both hammered one Jutsu after the other out and were then too tired to continue. They both got disqualified.

The next fight was between the granddaughter, Kurotsuchi was her name, and the last Kiri member. A small girl that used Senbon and mist. She got squashed by a large boulder. Nothing really interesting.

°They are either too weak or use whatever heavy weapons they have°, commented Kura-chan after the fight of Samui. She cut a Suna Ninja down with her sword.

°Yeah, but they are young and reckless. Oh, it's TenTens fight and she has a Suna Ninja as her opponent. She's fucked if he's using wind-based Jutsu. She can't cope with them yet°, came from me.

And luck wasn't on TenTen's side. He first knocked her weapons out of the way with a wind storm and then punched holes through her arms with wind bullets. She wasn't able to use her weapons after that and had to surrender.

Lee's fight came after that, his opponent was Karui. The redhead from Kumo. But Lee's stupidity was stronger than him and he refused to fight her because she is a woman. That earned him a beating and he got disqualified.

The next fight wasn't mine but the two Suna Ninja against each other. They had a good sparring but decided to end it without real injuries. This showed some intelligence. The girl got into the next round.

Now only my fight was left and I had Omoi as an opponent.

“What if I win and he is crippled? Or what if he's the son of an important Konoha Ninja and this fight starts a war between Kumo and Konoha and the Raikage might die during this war and...”, rambled Omoi the moment he heard I was his opponent.

“Shut up and fight him stupid!”, shouted Karui. She then kicked him over the balustrade and he landed in front of me and the proctor.

“Are you ready?”, asked the proctor after Omoi managed to stand up. We both nodded and Omoi chose to get some distance between me and himself before doing anything else.

“My name is Omoi, I hope I won't start a war by winning against you”, said Omoi now. He took his sword out and got into a stance.

“I'm Dexter Uzuki”, I simply said and infused my muscles with Chakra. After that, I took my weights off and placed them at a corner. Omoi waited for me to finish.

“Thanks for waiting. Let's start”, were my last words before I sprung into motion. Omoi's eyes widened. He quickly lost sight of me and I managed to get behind him before could react. I punched the nerves in his right arm and he had to let go of his sword.

However, Omoi wasn't like any weak Genin. He didn't even try to keep his sword. On the other hand, he let go of it fully and spun around. He was now facing me and used his left hand to grab the still falling sword.

He then tried to cut me with an upwards swing, but I already side stepped and kicked his right kneecap. The force was enough to send him to his knees, however not enough to break his knee.

A fast horizontal slice forced me to jump back. The increase of our distance was quickly used by him. He started to make hand signs for a lightening Jutsu, but I hindered him from doing the hand signs by capturing his hands with Chakra threads. He looked chocked but regained his composure almost as quickly as it was gone. A Chakra infused slice of his sword cut my threads and he was free again.

My threads weren't strong enough to stop him wholly.

But the distraction was enough for me to reach him again, and this time he was even wider and slower than before. I used another few Chakra enhanced punches against his nerves, only this time in his left arm and he had to let go of his weapon for the second time.

“I surren...”, began Omoi, but I interrupted him by giving him a knee to the face. Strong enough to throw him away, but not strong enough to knock him out.

“I surrender”, was then said. But to the shock of most, not by the beaten Omoi, but by me.

“Okay... contestant Dexter surrenders, Omoi from Kumo wins”, said the proctor after a pause. Everyone looked at me as if I was crazy, so I decided to enlighten them.

“This whole exam was only for me and my team to see how a Chunin exam will be. It was never our intention to win, so it would only be counter productive to go into the finals where I risk being promoted. I don't want to get separated from my team yet and as such, I have to stop now.

That was a good fight Omoi. I would suggest training your eyes, you were too slow”.

After that, I left with TenTen and a crying pair of Guy and Lee. Both praised me about my youthfulness and the strength of my burning flames of youth. The others watched us leaving, still stunned by my actions. Kura-chan needed almost half an hour to come out of her laughing fit.

A few days later we were back in Konoha and everything went back as it was. The only difference was that Naruto became Genin under Kakashi. I now officially know about Kura-chan.

Guy also started to teach both Lee and me about the Gates, something I already knew, the instructions to them are in the library for Jonin. My summons fetched them for me.

And then finally, two months later I got the message that Naruto and his team left for Wave. The plot now officially starts and I can start with the second phase of my plan.

I left a Blood Clone and got back into my real form. My mask over my face and the false Rinne-Sharingan blazing. Next destination Wave.