"And just what's it got to do with you?" Ino asks the stranger, huffing.
"Sorry," the newcomer chuckles. "I mean no offense, just looking out for some fellow Leaf Ninja."
The young man's eyes scan everyone in the surroundings, and he asks, "You're the rookies, right? Fresh out of the academy?"
"So what?" Menma asks, voice filled with arrogance.
"Take a look around. You all made quite the impression," the young man said, directing the attention of the rookies to their surroundings.
The Genin finally look around themselves to realize the noise their group has been making has attracted some unwanted attention.
Hinata, Choji, Sakura, and Ino shift uncomfortably, growing nervous faced with the glares. Yayoi simply huffs while Mito crosses her arms, showing no other outward reaction. Shino displays no outward reaction at all, while Shikamaru's trademark nonchalant expression remains in place.
"What a drag," Shikamaru whispers to himself.
"Nice work, Ino and Sakura," Kiba grumbles.
Sasuke's face remains blank, the Uchiha not intimidated by the glares. while Hisateru chuckles a bit.
Menma turns around and scans the room, meeting the Genins' glares head-on.
"Anybody here got a problem?" Menma questions loudly. The room falls silent, all eyes on him. He slams his foot on the ground in front of him.
"If anybody in here has a problem with me or any of the people standing behind me, step right up right now and let's solve it," he shouts. The room remains silent, Menma scoffing.
"Bunch of posing cowards," Menma mutters, turning back to the group of rookies.
"Gosh, Menma, you're so cool!" Ino exclaims in admiration while Shikamaru's eyebrow twitches.
"That's your big solution? Making things worse?" Shikamaru said, dragging his palm down his face in a gesture of exasperation.
With Team Guy.
"Huh, isn't that the other 'rookie of the year'?" asks a boy in his early teens with long dark brown hair and white eyes with a slight lavender tint to them as he sits with his teammates, the three having arrived discreetly so as not to attract attention.
"Indeed. He is one of the famed 'Hero Three of the Leaf,'" Lee responds to his teammate.
"Son of the Fourth Hokage. I look forward to testing the limits of my youth against him," Lee added, eyes on the black- and red-haired boy, a few foreign ninja overhearing him and gasping and murmuring in shock.
"Hm," Neji simply grunts, eyes also intently on the boy.
Typical Lee, ready as ever for a fight. He recognizes the boy now. He is indeed the Fourth's son. His father and the boys' own are friends, but the two themselves have never spent any time together. He seems quite brash. He wonders if the boy has the technique to stand behind his words.
"So that's Menma Uzumaki Namikaze, huh?" Tenten whispers to herself.
With Keimei, Satsuki, and Naruto.
Keimei stared at where most of the rookie Genin of the Leaf were standing with slight annoyance in her eyes before turning her head towards Naruto.
"Are you sure that Menma didn't receive all the stupidity in your family?" Keimei asks in a low voice.
It was clear to anyone that whatever Menma did didn't help in their situation. In fact, he just targets himself and other Leaf Genin, especially after seeing the eyes of foreign ninja who are from the village with a bad relationship to the Leaf.
Naruto slightly raises his eyebrow, staring at Keimei.
"How should I know how he and others think?" he responds, his voice filled with indifference.
For him it doesn't really matter what others do as long as it doesn't affect him in any shape or form. He was satisfied to watch the drama unfold.
'Do they not care about what happened to them? 'Satsuki thought inwardly for a moment.
A realization then comes to her mind. Keimei's team didn't go near the group for some reason, so one can be understanding if she didn't care what happened to the group if the worst situation came to life—if that were even possible.
Meanwhile, Naruto didn't care, as he could easily deal with the problem with his unmatched prowess. He was, after all, the strongest.
Satsuki slightly hit her head for thinking too deeply about the situation since their action was probably caused by laziness.
Satsuki still remembers Hitomi mentioning about Naruto being extremely lazy from time to time, while she also saw previously Keimei's lazy nature.
With Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro.
Temari simply scoffs at the display, seeing nothing but a loud-mouthed brat eager to get himself killed.
"Hm, lots of loudmouths and smart-asses in this village," Kankuro said, looking at the red- and black-haired boy after he turned away again.
"At this point I'm itching to shut one up," he added with a smile.
The Sand Shinobi turns to his siblings to see Temari with her arms crossed, looking unimpressed, and Gaara looking in another direction completely, showing no interest in the boy.
Meanwhile, with Leaf rookies
"Woah, the guy's been a B-rank as a Genin and has never been injured!?" Shikamaru utters in much the same shock all else present in the group seem to be in, seeing the information on the Sand Ninja Kaori had asked about.
"Is there anyone else you'd like to know about? I can provide you with intel on shinobi from pretty much any village, apart from the Hidden Sound. They're a small, young village from a relatively uninfluential nation, so I can't give you much on them," Kabuto calmly said.
"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze," Sasuke says, earning surprised looks from all the rookies present.
"Right," Kabuto nods, shuffling his cards once again. He stops placing his index finger on the top card, spinning it. As he turns it, three shinobi spring in front of the group suddenly.
Satsuki, who notices the Sound Ninja approaching the rookies, immediately beelines towards Hinata.
Hisateru jumps in front of Kaori, pulling out a kunai, with Sasuke meanwhile flipping out a kunai of his own. Yayoi, Mito, and Menma jump into a triangular formation, backs to one another.
One of the Sound ninja throws a punch at Kabuto's face, who dodges it. Suddenly the glass of his spectacles cracks into two spiderwebs of shards. He hunches over, clutching at his ears, wincing and crying out in pain, coughing up a bit of bile.
The masked Sound ninja doesn't get much time to examine his handiwork, as a fist to the face from Menma sends him flying back. He lands with an unceremonious thud. His teammates look on in shock for a split second before attempting to retaliate in anger, but before they can do so, a burst of smoke fills the front of the class.
"Alright, listen up, you baby-faced degenerates." The smoke clears to reveal several Leaf Chunnin flanking a male with scars stretching across his face, wearing a bandanna with the Hidden Leaf forehead protector on it.
"I am Ibiki Morino, proctor for the first round of the Chunin Selection Exams," he declares. He casts his glance to the group of Leaf and Sound ninja only steps away from him.
"Any unsanctioned combat will result in immediate disqualification for those partaking in it, as well as their teammates. This is the first and last warning any of you will receive," he said sternly.
"Apologies, sir." Mito apologizes on behalf of the group of leaf ninja, bowing her head.
Dosu, by now having just sat up, frowns, narrowing his eyes at Menma, who isn't even looking at him anymore. His teammates help him up by an arm each, the three walking away.
"That brat's going to pay," Zaku vows, staring intently at Menma, eyes full of venom.
Satsuki, who was in front of Hinata with Sharingan Awakened, stared at the Sound Ninja for a moment before deactivating her Sharingan.
She places her kunai back in her weapon pouch and turns towards Hinata, who is also in a fighting position.
"Are you alright?" Satsuki asks, voice slightly filled with concern.
"Yes," Hinata nodded before slightly turning her head to see Naruto still leaning his back on the wall with his eyes closed.
Keimei was already in her teammates' location, preparing to fight anyone who dares to get close to them.
Hinata's action wasn't gone unnoticed by Satsuki, as she had even stared at Naruto. Both Satsuki and Hinata had slight disappointment in their eyes; still, they glanced at each other before getting closer to Naruto, preparing for the proctor to announce the test.
"What's just happened?" Satsuki asks in a low voice.
"I don't know." Hinata slightly shakes her head before continuing, "That Kabuto guy said something about the Hidden Sound. All of a sudden they showed up. They must have been offended."
Hinata and Satsuki turn their heads towards Kabuto, now being tended to by Mito and Yayoi. Most of the rookie Genin from the Leaf did the same.
"Are you sure you don't need a medical ninja?" Mito asks.
"I'm fine, really," Kabuto assures while glancing at Naruto, who has been at the corner of the room.
For whatever reason his instinct was telling him that Naruto was an incredibly dangerous person, but it didn't match with the information he gathered about him.
'Interesting.' A small smile appeared on his face, but no one noticed this.