A/N: I am contemplating whether to do a mission that goes wrong after this chapter, or skip to when they learn about the Chunin Exams and leave, then work on the other versions.

Kazuki = Naruto

Tsukiko = Hinata

Chapter 6: Test

Kisame and Itachi walked among the ruins of the Hidden Whirlpool. Most of the building were little more than rubble, and some of the standing ones looked unstable and ready to collapse at any moment. There were bones of people long dead scattered about. "Well, this place is a dump," Kisame commented.

"It would seem the ones responsible for its destruction were quite thorough."

"Still think we'll actually find anything?"

"I'll admit, it does seem unlikely. There's no doubt this place has been ransacked by the other hidden villages as well as scavengers. But one must not underestimate the Uzumaki Clan. They were feared enough to warrant this kind of devastation for a reason." They continued to walk until they saw a huge building, still standing, though part of it had collapsed. On it was a broken white swirl, the emblem of the Uzumaki. "This must have been the clan's compound. Perhaps it still holds a few secrets."

"So what makes you think we'll find something the other villages didn't?" Kisame asked.

"We have something they didn't," Itachi responded, showing his Sharingan. Kisame grinned and nodded. The two stopped though. "We have company."

"Good. Things were getting dull."

"Kisame Hoshigaki!" The two turned around. A group of Mist Hunter nins moved to surround them. "We finally found you, traitor!" The guy they figured was the captain turned to the other missing nin. "And Itachi Uchiha. The man who murdered his entire clan. The Hidden Leaf will certainly pay well for your head."

Itachi merely turned back to the Uzumaki compound and walked toward it. He had gotten use to people reminding him of what he had done, even if they didn't know the real reason why he did it. "Deal with them."

"With pleasure," the shark man responded with a sadistic grin that made some of the ANBU back away.

"No you don't," said one either brave or foolish ANBU as he threw a kunai at the Uchiha's back. However, the moment it hit, Itachi burst into a flock of crows.

"Too bad for you. Itachi may be the stronger one, but he would have shown mercy and killed you quickly. Too bad for you I'm not as nice."
-

"So what do you think we'll learn today?" Naruto asked, excited. "I hope it's a really cool jutsu!"

"Who knows." Yumi said as they arrived at one of the bridges in the villages. "What do you think, Tsukiko?"

Hinata opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off when voiced said, "It'll be a lesson in pain."

The three rain genin looked at the other side of the bridge. There was a man wearing a black cloak. The hood was down to reveal his brown hair and eyes. On his forehead was the Hidden Rain headband, with a slash on it, indicating him as a missing nin. The children's eyes widened when they saw he was holding their sensei by the neck. "She put up quite a fight, but ultimately lost. So sad to see how far the Hidden Rain has fallen." He tossed her aside. "Now you brats!" He charged at them, fist cocked back. The others jumped away, but Naruto froze and was punched in the gut and thrown back. "What's the matter runt? Chicken?" Naruto said nothing. He didn't even move, but he was still conscious. The missing nin approached him

"Oi! Get away from my teammate!" Yumi grabbed an arrow from her quiver and drew her bow. She shot at him but the man dodged and threw a kunai at her. She blocked with her bow and was about to grab another arrow but the man quickly closed the distance between them before she could and punched her in the face, knocking her off the bridge and into the water.

The man now turned to Hinata. 'Oh no! He took out Yumi, Naruto, and sensei. What can I do?'

The man cupped his hands and shot water into them. It formed a whip, which he used to wrap around Hinata. He tugged hard, pulling her toward him before kneeing her in the gut. Hinata clutched her stomach, but the man wasn't done as he did a roundhouse kick to her head.

"Leave her alone!" Naruto shouted, shaking off the fear. 'I can't let myself be afraid! I need to fight, for Hinata and my friends!' "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five clones appeared and rushed at the man.

"Hmph, not cowering anymore? No matter, you're no match for me." He whipped one clone as it approached and dodged a punch from another. He kicked the third one hard into the fourth and whipped the one he dodged earlier in the back. The was only one more clone left. "This is too easy." The final clone charged. The man formed a one handed sign and the whip turned into a sword, which he drove into the clone's gut. However, instead of puffing into smoke like the other, this clone exploded, knocking him back. "What the…"

Naruto rushed to Hinata's side. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'll be alright," she answered, rubbing the side of her head.

"You find Yumi, I'll hold him off."

"Wait, shouldn't we get help?" Hinata asked. "We're in over our heads here."

"Oh, that would be a good idea," the man replied, overhearing their conversation, "if it weren't for that." He gestured all around them. The two looked around and saw a dome of water surrounding them, maintained by five clones. "It may only be water, but it's quite heavy, and the walls of it are too thick. You'd never make it to the other side. You're trapped!" He made more handsigns. "Water Style: Water Bullet!" He shot a large ball of water from his mouth at them.

Naruto quickly made his own handsigns and slammed his hand on the ground. Seal formulas spread and a small blue barrier formed in front of him. The barrier shattered when the jutsu hit, but it did it's job in stopping it. "Alright, I guess we'll fight! Find Yumi!" he told Hinata, who nodded and ran to the edge of the bridge. She found she had swam to land, but her arrows were scattered and she was picking them up. Hinata went to help. Naruto faced the man. "Alright, lets see how you handle this. Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A large amount of Narutos appeared. "Charge!"

The man was surprised by the number of clones. 'That many clones requires lots of chakra!' He shook off his shock and drew shurikens on each hand as the small army approached. "The numbers are impressive, but you made one major flaw." He jumped back and threw the ninja stars. Most of the Narutos they hit dispelled in puffs of smoke, but one blew up, causing nearby explosive clones to detonated, resulting in a chain reaction that decimated the small army until only the original and a handful of clones remained. Naruto looked wide-eyed at what happened as the man reformed his water whip. He used it to quick dispatch the remaining clones before wrapping it around his neck. He pulled Naruto in and spat out water. "Water Prison Jutsu!" The water formed a sphere around the redhead, with the man sticking his hand into it. "And now you're trapped."

However, he was forced to remove his arm when an arrow nearly struck it. He looked in the direction it came from to see Yumi with another arrow already notched while Hinata stood in front of her. "I don't know who you are, but we not gonna go down so easy!" Yumi declared.

Naruto coughed as he regained his breath and back away to where his teammates were. "Ok, anyone got a plan?"

"I do," Hinata said.

The man waited patiently for them to make their move. Yumi launched an arrow as Naruto created four clones. The man dodged the arrow and charged at the group of clones. He kicked one and hit another with a water bullet. He was about to take out another, but stopped when he was forced to dodge another arrow. The opening gave Naruto and one clone a chance to grab ahold of him. He press his palm on the man's gut and another set of formulas appeared. "What... the… Can't… move!"

"Hurry! The paralysis seal won't hold for long!"

"Alright." Hinata said as she appeared in front of the immobile man. "8 Trigrams:" she stated as she activated her Byakugan. She moved to strike, but stopped about a centimeter from him, a look of shock on her face.

"What are you doing?" Yumi shouted. "Finish him!"

"His chakra…" Hinata started as the bulged veins from around her eyes disappeared. "It's the same as sensei's!"

"What?" Naruto yelled.

"Guess I've been found out," the man said in a familiar feminine voice as smoke covered him. It cleared and the three genins' jaws dropped.

"Sensei?" all of them exclaimed. They looked where they thought their sensei was lying unconscious, only for the body to turn to water.

"I'll have to ask about those eyes," she said, looking at Hinata, who looked away, "but for now, let me just say this. You pass."

"Pass? Pass what? What's going on?" Naruto demanded.

"My test, duh!" Momoe answer as she dispelled the water clones maintaining the dome. The water fell and knocked the genin to the ground while she withstood it. "See, this whole thing was a test."

"You tried to kill us!" Yumi shouted angrily as she got back up.

"Oh please," the jonin said with a wave of her hand. "I was holding back. Otherwise Tsukiko would have at least been knocked out when I kicked her and my water style jutsus would have been stronger."

"So this whole thing was a test?" Hinata asked. "Of what? Our skill?" Yumi asked.

"Partially, yes. But also how you would react in a real situation," she replied in a serious tone. "You see, we sometimes get people who managed to pass even though they aren't really ready. Because there are some things that can't be taught in the safety of a classroom, thing important about being a shinobi. After all, this is not a game. You are risking your life. If you freeze up like Kazuki did earlier, either you or your comrades would have died." Naruto looked down. "However, since you recovered quickly enough when you saw your friends in danger, I'm still passing you. So I'm happy to say that Team 3 is officially a ninja team of the Hidden Rain!"

"Yeah! We're real ninjas!" Naruto shouted, jumping into the air with his fist pumped up. Yumi cheered too while Hinata simply smiled, glad she made it too. Soon Naruto pulled her into a hug, which she returned without fainting.

"We start our first mission tomorrow. Meet me at the central tower at 8," she told them.

"Come on! It's not even noon! Why do we have to wait?" Naruto complained.

"Because my water dome jutsu took up a lot of chakra. Plus there's all that paperwork I have to do to have us registered as an official team..." She sighed as she thought about all the procedures she'd have to go through. 'Here's to hoping you kids really are worth the hassle.'

As she thought that, none of them noticed the spectator of their match sink into the ground.
-

Kisame used a water jutsu to wipe the remaining blood off of Samehada when Itachi returned. "Took you long e…" He stopped when he looked at Itachi. His cloak was singed and covered in soot, and had cuts on it. The thing Kisame noticed the most though was the traces of blood under both eyes. That could only mean that whatever happened in there forced Itachi to use his Mangekyō. "That bad, huh?"

"Thankfully, my eyes gave me an advantage." 'Still, I only survived because of Susano'o.' "I managed to acquire this." He reached up his sleeve and pulled out a scroll.
-

The three genin of Team 4 arrived at the training ground to find their sensei waiting for them. "You're test is a combat challenge. The three of you will have to fight me. If all of you can land at least one blow, you pass. If not, you spend another year at the academy."

"Just wanted one blow?" Ryuu asked. "No problem."

"Is that so?" Kōri raised his eyebrow. "Well, let me give you this one little advice anyway. Come at me with intent to kill, or you won't have the slightest chance."

"Guys," Osamu whisper to his teammates. "Let's attack individually, see what he can do. Kōri-sensei is a jonin after all."

"Yeah, but you said his Clan uses ice, right?" Ryuu asked. Osamu nodded. "Then there's no problem. Cause fire melts ice!" He charged at his sensei and threw a punch, with Kōri dodged with ease. Ryuu turn quickly and performed a few handsigns. "Fire Style: Blaze Stream!" He put his fists in front of each other over his mouth and shot a steady stream of fire. Kōri quickly performed a series of one handed hand signs and raised his left arm. A round ice shield formed on it to block the flames. Ryuu smirked, knowing his fire would melt that shield, but when the jutsu ended, it wasn't even dripping. "What the… It should have melted!"

"Against a weak flame like that?" the jonin taunted. Ryuu grit his teeth and shot his jutsu again. And again, Kōri block with his ice shield. Ryuu didn't stop and kept pouring on the flames. Kohaku decided to attack while his sensei was distracted. He put his hand on the hilt on his blade and rushed over, intent on delivering a light wound with a quick draw of his katana. But Kōri saw him coming and formed a short sword of ice in his right hand. He successfully blocked the blade just as Ryuu ran out of chakra. And still the shield showed no signs of melting. "My ice isn't normal. Infused with my chakra, it has a much higher melting point and just as strong as steel."

Osamu rushed to Ryuu's side and gave him a food pill to replenish his chakra. "Well, we know what he can do now, but did you really have to go overboard like that?" he scolded.

"My clan prides ourselves on our fire ninjutsu. The fact that I can't even melt ice is an insult."

"Special ice," he reminded. "Something tells me Kōri-sensei spent years strengthening it."

"I don't care. I will melt it one day!" Ryuu vowed.

Meanwhile, Kohaku and Kōri were engaged in a sword fight. Kohaku swung his blade, but it was blocked by his sensei's shield. Kōri then stabbed at him with his ice short sword, but the young genin sidestepped it and spun around, attempting another horizontal slash. But the experienced jonin was quicker and spun to, shield bashing the young swordsman and knocking him back. "Not bad. Ōishi taught you well. But you lack experience. Also…" As Kohaku charged with his sword raised, Kōri reached into his pouch with his left hand, "he taught you how to fight against samurai, not ninjas. And we don't play fair." He crushed what looked like a black egg in his hand and blew a powder into Kohaku's eyes. The boy dropped his weapon and cried out as he put his hands over his eyes. His removed them and started blinking rapidly as his eyes started to water. "Be glad I didn't bring the ones with chili powder or crushed glass. That would be much worse."

The three genin regrouped. Osamu discussed his idea on how to pass. Once done, the two boys got in front of him as he performed a set of handsigns and slammed them on the ground. Suddenly, Kōri felt the ground shake. 'Earth style ninjutsu?' He noticed that Ryuu and Kohaku had no problem moving around the area despite the shaking ground, while he had trouble keeping his balance. Ryuu charged and threw a punch, which the jonin dodged, but nearly fell over. Kohaku took this opportunity to swing his sword at his arm. The Yuki Clan member just managed to raise his shield in time to block it. Osamu threw shurikens from a distance. 'How are they this good with the ground shaking? Even with practice...' His eye caught something and he knew the answer. "Release!" The ground stopped shaking and he stood before them. "Interesting. That wasn't ninjutsu, but genjutsu, disguised as ninjutsu. A clever trick, but it has one flaw. If one looks around, they'd see that nothing else is affected by the supposed earthquake. Like that tree." He pointed to a nearby tree. "Still, very impressive." The three genin got ready to try again, but their sensei raised his hand. "This test is over." This ice weapons turned to water and he pulled his hood over his head, turned, and walked away.

"What? No! We can do this!" Ryuu shouted.

"Meet me at the central tower tomorrow morning at 7 for our first team mission." The three genin looked shocked. "Oh, did I forget to mention you pass?"

"Wait, I thought the objective was to land a blow?" Osamu asked.

"Well, I really just wanted to see what you three can do. You're beginners, no match for jonin like me, but you have potential. So like I said, see you tomorrow at 7."
-

"You're back," Konan stated as Itachi entered. Kisame stayed outside. The Uchiha prodigy had changed cloaks so this one wasn't damaged. "I trust the mission was a success?"

"Possibly. I recovered this scroll, but it's sealed, and only an Uzumaki can open it."

"Only this?" Konan asked.

"It would not have been wise to stay longer. Much of the Hidden Whirlpool is rubble. Many secrets were taken, and those left behind are no doubt guarded with many dangerous traps like the ones that guarded this. In addition, our presence did not go unnoticed. We encountered a team of Mist ANBU, who no doubt reported our presence before engaging us. It was best to leave before we were involved in unnecessary conflicts."

Konan nodded, approving his actions. "I will take that. We have a way of opening it." Itachi handed her the scroll and began to walk away.

"Ah, Itachi." The young Uchiha turned around to see Madara swirl into the room behind Konan, who also turned around. "I see you're back in one piece."

"Madara," Itachi responded neutrally.

"You know, I'm glad I caught you. Zetsu was checking in on our resident jinchūriki's test. And don't insult my intelligence by acting like you didn't know he was here. You've always been more perceptive than others, even for an Uchiha. Plus, you watched over him in your ANBU days. If anyone could recognize him, it's you. Add all the time you've spent here as well as his rather loud personality, well, I sincerely doubt you could have missed him."

"True," Itachi admitted, knowing there was no point in lying. "I suppose this makes him easier to capture once the time comes."

"Yes, but Zetsu noticed something odd. During his test, he used a technique you developed. Shadow Clone Explosion. I wonder where he learned that." he said as he looked at his younger clansman.

Itachi's face betrayed nothing. "That is curious indeed. Then again, perhaps he developed the technique on his own. He wouldn't be the first to recreate someone else's jutsu." With that, he walked out of the room.

"You know, times like these I start to wonder if you two are conspiring against me." Madara said to Konan.

"I have every intention of capturing the Nine-Tails if it'll bring peace," Konan said with honesty. "Because that is Nagato's will. I am simply looking to prevent unnecessary deaths."

"I see," Madara responded. "As long as it doesn't interfere with the plan. Shall we go see Nagato, so we may know the contents of that scroll." The two walked over to one of the walls. Konan stretched out her hand and focused her chakra. The wall opened up into a doorway and they walked through. Inside the well lit room laid six bodies. All male, each with black piercings, the Akatsuki cloak, and all but one had orange hair. The other was bald. Though their eyes were closed, both Akatsuki members knew under each eyelid was the Rinnegan.

Konan paused when she passed the main body. Most of the Akatsuki knew it as their leader, Pain. But to her, it was the body of her love, Yahiko. She wished to lay it to rest, but Nagato wanted to use it as his main body. Because to him, Yahiko would always be the leader of the Akatsuki.

She moved past it to a door on the other side of the room. She opened it and enter a dimly lit room. On the far end was the only occupant. A pale, sickly man with long red hair and long black rods sticking out of his back. He wore no shirt and his entire lower body was hidden in a mechanical walker. "What is it?" he asked in a raspy voice, looking at them with his Rinnegan eyes.

Itachi retrieved this scroll. It can only be opened by an Uzumaki though," Konan explained.

"I see. Hand it over," he ordered as he stretched his hand out.

Konan did so, Madara watching from behind her. Nagato bit his thumb and smeared blood on the seal. It glowed red slightly and faded. Nagato opened the scroll and skimmed it's contents. "Well?" the Uchiha asked.

"This scroll contains a special Uzumaki technique, know as the Adamantine Sealing Chains," Nagato said.

"Ah, I am familiar with that jutsu," Madara said. "The caster can mold chains from their chakra to erect barriers or bind a target and it's chakra. One Uzumaki even used it to suppress the Nine-Tails and keep it sealed within herself, though her chakra was uniquely suited for the task. Still, if used by a strong enough Uzumaki, perhaps it can be used to the same degree, or at least be effective on the weaker tailed beasts. However, I doubt any of the other member of our little organization would be able to learn the technique, but perhaps it can be used through your other bodies."

"Perhaps," Nagato agreed. Konan was disappointed that it wasn't a safe way to extract the tailed beasts from their hosts, but hid it from the others. "Thank you, Konan. Tell Itachi and Kisame they did well." Konan nodded and left the room while Madara swirled away. Nagato turned his attention to the scroll, intent on learning the technique. "Peace will come soon. Not the way Jiraiya-sensei imagined, but it will come Yahiko. I promise."
-

Alpha: Done. A chapter with plenty of fight. Hope you enjoyed it!

Konohamaru: Not as much as I enjoyed that cake in the fridge.

Alpha: The cake in the fridge?

Konohamaru: Yep!

Alpha: The chocolate cake?

Konohamaru: There was no other.

Alpha: My cake?

Konohamaru: Huh? Oh, my bad. It was just so good.

Alpha: I see. I'll be back. (Leaves)

Konohamaru: That was weird.

Kakashi: Yo. What's going on?

Konohamaru: Alpha starting acting weird when I mentioned I ate his cake.

Kakashi: You might want to start running then.

Konohamaru: Why? (Alpha returns and stabs at him with a sword) What the…

Alpha: You ate my cake! (Swings the sword)

Konohamaru: It was just cake!

Kakashi: Thing is, sweets and Alpha are like Anko and dango, or Naruto and ramen.

Konohamaru: You tell me this now? (Ducks another swing and runs away, Alpha chasing him)