Team seven walked through the doors of the real room 301, and were instantly met with an intimidating sight. The room was full with shinobi, most of which looked way older than them, and way more dangerous. Sakura gulped. Her knees almost started shaking. She was afraid. Very, afraid.

But a sudden bump brought her out of her thoughts. Cei, who had resumed hanging on Sasuke like a white sack, had bumped her. Sakura could see the concerned purple eyes peeking through the curtain of white hair, and her heart soothed. She wasn't alone.

She had Sasuke, Ceiren and even Naruto, not that the last two would be much help, but they'll be there. Moral support really can make a difference.

Sakura gave Cei a reassuring smile and was met with a cute blink, think white lashes fluttering. Sakura's face flushed slightly.

Since the incident five days ago, she had completely changed her world views. Firstly, she no longer disliked Cei. Cei was a very nice person, and the CUTEST BEING ON EARTH!

Secondly, sure, she still liked Sasuke, and hoped beyond hope, that he would notice her. But, she also really, really wanted to see him and Cei being intimate. That would be, like, the most beautiful scene ever! And she could make quite some cash if she were to sell exclusive photos...

Sakura drifted off into her own little dreamland, weird giggles escaping her from time to time. One could practically see the dollar signs flashing by in her eyes coupled with a blushing expression and near drooling state. All in all, lets just say all the very intimidating shinobi filling the room retreated a step back.

The very next moment, Sasuke's back, which was already occupied by the white sack, was assaulted by a loud blondie.

"Sasuke~ Where have you been? Boy, how I've missed those broody little looks of yours!"

Ino tried clinging onto Sasuke's back, but the white sack came in the way. She fell down, and glared at the sack with vicious eyes. Just as she was about to get up and forcefully remove the evil sack, she was interrupted by the arrival of her team.

"Oh, it's you guys. I knew this was going to be a drag, but I didn't know it was going to be this lame."

Shikamaru and Choji came up to them, Choji carelessly munching on his chips. Shikamaru's insult got Naruto's blood boiling, and the blond instantly retalited.

"Eeeh, lookie here. All three stooges are here!"

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at Naruto, the look in them dangerous.

"You know what pipsqueak, forget it! You're a waste of time."

Before Naruto could retort, he was interrupted by a voice he found even more annoying than Shikamaru and Ino, INO put together. That's saying something man.

"Well well, what do you know~ It looks like the whole gang's back together!"

Kiba, with Akamaru sprawled out on his head, joined the group followed by his teammates. Hinata stuttered a quiet greeting to Naruto, who just gave her a clueless look. Shino just stood there. Quiet as ever...

"Man, you're here too? Freakin' everyone is here for these stupid exams..." Shikamaru sighed, looking positively done with life. (AN: I feel you ma boi)

Kiba just laughed.

"Yepp, here we all are, the ten rookies." Kiba laughed again.

"This is gonna be fun! At least, for those of us good enough to make the cut..."

Kiba was going to say something else, but Ino cut him off, her expression confused.

"Speaking of the ten rookies, where's Cei? Oh, wait, don't tell me she didn't come, because she was scared? Or maybe because you are a four man team, the weakest had to stay behind? Well Sakura, at least there's someone worse than you! Hohohohooo"

Ino laughed like a true fat lady, her expression arrogant and her hand covering her mouth as she looked down at Sakura. But a freezing feeling instantly filled the air, and Ino's laugh was cut short. She slowly turned her face to look at Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura, who were all seething. Before anyone could say anything, another voice spoke up.

Cei lamented in her heart, whats with all the noise, my precious sleep! Come on!

"Guys! You might wanna try keeping it down a little."

A guy with a leaf headband neared the group. He had silver hair put up in a ponytail and a pair of round glasses. He had a slight smile on his face.

"I mean, no offence, but you're the ten rookies right? Or nine? Fresh out of the academy though, right? I wouldn't go making a spectacle if I were you. This isn't some after school get-together."

Ino glared at the man.

"Well who asked you! Who are you, anyway?!"

The man ignored her disrespectful tone and responded with a dignified expression.

"My name is Kabuto Yakushi. But really, look around you. You've made quite an impression! Do you see those guys? They look dangerous, right? Well they are touchy. They all are. The exams make people tense, and you don't want to rub them the wrong way. Trust me."

The rookie nine (Cei not included, she isn't doing shit) looked at the intimidating bunch of people that were glaring daggers at them. At that moment, all nine intimately felt Shikamaru's words touch their very souls;

What a pain!

But Kabuto just laughed it off. The rookie nine turned to look at him, their eyes questioning. Kabuto calmed down before reassuring them.

"But I really shouldn't judge you for that! It's just your first time after all, so it's obvious you wouldn't notice these things..."

Sakura gave him an inquisitive look.

"Kabuto, right? Judging from the way you said that...this isn't your first time taking the exam?"

Kabuto lowered his head and scratched the back of it in embarrassment.

"Well, no. It's actually... my seventh."

Shikamaru groaned, like his worst nightmare had just come true.

"So all those rumors about the exam being tough are true! I knew this was going to be a drag... *sigh*"

"Hey, don't give up hope yet. Maybe I could help you kids out a little..."

As he was talking, Kabuto reached into his pouch and pulled out a deck of orange cards. All eyes were fixated on the cards, but suddenly they were startled by a soft melodious voice that could make seraphs kill and plunder, just to hear its sweet resonance.

"Hmmm. Don't worry Shika. It's only this year's exam that is going to be a royal pain... and Kabuto's a bastard by the way~"

Everyone turned to Sasuke, whom the voice seemed to be coming from. Even Kabuto looked up in interest, hidden frost in his expression. The white sack on Sasuke's back moved, and a white head surfaced. Everyone's breath caught. The rookie nine were shocked for a moment, but seeing team sevens exasperated expressions, they could figure out what happened. The rest of the people in the room were completely out of it, all sound and movement gone from them. That included Kabuto.

Ceiren slowly blinked, her thick white eyelashes with teardrops stuck to them fluttered, and she opened her mouth in a cute yawn. Then, she completely ignored all the flushed faces, frozen bodies and heated stares, and focused her pale eyes on Kabuto. A corner of her mouth tilted slightly upward in a mysterious smile.

"Well, please do tell us more about these cards of yours, snake-man 2.0."

The rookie nine looked at her in confusion, while Kabuto's eyes flashed, the heat in them instantly turning colder than arctic ice. They stared at each other, one stone faced and cold, the other with dancing flames of mirth in her eyes and a slight smile on her face.

Kabuto wasn't sure what she meant by that, weather she knew or not, but either way it didn't seem like she had any intention of saying anything. So he just looked down at his cards and started explaining.

"These, are my Ninja Info Cards. These cards have been chakra encoded with everything I've learned over the past few years. I have a little over 200 of them, and they might not look like much, in fact they are blank. After all, we don't want just anyone seeing this stuff..."

Kabuto put the deck on the ground and took the top card, putting it on the ground and started spinning it with his finger. Soon, an image emerged on the cards blank surface. It was a map, and a diagram over how many shinobi from different villages have come to participate in the chuunin exams this time.

The genin all followed his actions with interest, except for Ceiren, who was watching with a condescending smirk on her face.

"...so I just put my chakra into them, to reveal the info. Like that."

Ino let out a sound appreciation while Sasuke just stared at the cards, his face taking on a contemplating look.

"These cards of yours... do they have any info on the other candidates? Individually?"

Kabuto's eyes narrowed in satisfaction. He looked up at Sasuke and his lips stretched into a mysterious smile.

"They might. You have someone special in mind?"

"I might," Sasuke's tone was challenging.

Kabuti just sighed and gathered all the cards back into the deck, shuffling it as he looked up at Sasuke with interest.

"Well, I can't promise my information is complete or perfect, But I've got something on just about everybody. Including you guys of course. So tell me, who do you want to know about? You can tell me their name, where their from, anything really."

Sasuke only took a moment to decide.

"Gaara, of the desert. And there's Rock Lee of the Leaf Village while you're at it."

"Aww, you already know their names, thats no fun! That makes it too easy."

As he got to work with the cards, Ceiren watched him with laughing eyes.

We already met the snake-wannabee~ We're even going to meet the pedo soon~ oh so fuun~

Kabuto showed the first card.

"Fist up, Rock Lee. He's about a year older than you guys, and this is also his first time participating in the chuunin exams. Mission experience, 11 C-ranks and 20 D-ranks. His squad leader is Gai. In the last twelve months, his taijutsu had radically improved, but his other skills are pretty shaky. His teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyuuga."

"Gaara of the Desert, mission experience, 8 C-ranks and, get this, 1 B-rank! There's not a lot more information on this guy, but there is this; he completed every mission, without getting a scratch on him."

Shikamaru's eyes were opened wide in shock, and his voice even trembled slightly.

"You're kidding, this guy has done a B-rank as a genin?! And has never even been injured?!"

Everyone was silent, shocked over the reveal. Kabuto looked at them solemnly, but just as he was preparing to put his cards back, Sasuke stopped him.

"Could you do one more?"

Kabuto looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, but his lips stretched into a smirk.

"Sure, who'd you have in mind?"

Sasuke glanced to his left. Ceiren just tilted her head cutely, a kind smile on her face. Her eyes were wide open, looking right into his, but there was no threat there. She just seemed... amused.

Sasuke cleared his throat slightly.

"Ceiren Yami."

Suddenly the whole rookie nine sprang to attention. The girl had only been their classmate in the academy for a few days before becoming a member of a four man squad. Four man squad. They knew nothing about her, and it was high time they found something out.

Kabuto threw the girl a victorious look as he drew another card from the deck, but she just smiled at him, her smile never once faltering as she gazed at the blank card in his hand with curiosity.

Kabuto laid the card on the ground, put his finger on it and hid a hand sign with his other hand. As the card started changing, he lifted it, showing it to the others.

"So lastly, Ceiren Yami..."

And he stopped. Everyone stared at the card he was holding. It seemed like it bled ink. From the middle, it bled out into the edges, making the whole card turn a dark, oppressive black. A few spots on the card were left untouched by the ink. It took the genin a while before they recognized it as letters. On the ink black card, "Ceiren" was spelled in jagged, white letters. The rookie nine didn't know what was going on, so they turned to Kabuto.

Kabuto was also confused. Nothing like this had ever happened before. He turned to look at the girl in question, suspicion dripping from his eyes but was met with laughter. It was a laugh so twinkling, like bells and birdsong ringing through a forest. Beautiful and refreshing.

When she finally managed to calm down, Cei gave everyone an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, I had really hoped that would work. Seems like it doesn't...so, anyone up for pizza?"

Everyone just gave the sparkly eyed beauty a deadpan look while wondering in their hearts.

Ceiren Yami... just who is she?