Chunin exam

"Hey! Hey! Did you hear?"

A youthful boy wearing a green spandex suit was seen doing a handstand push-up on a tree branch, sweats drenched his whole body as he forced himself past his limits. "For the first time in a few years, there will be many rookies in this year's Chunin exam!"

"Ho ho~ So what?" A girl replied, her black hair tied in two Chinese-style buns on her head with short fringe bangs framing her face. She wore a pink sleeveless qipao-style blouse with white flowers motive on her shoulder.

"Three of them are the students of Kakashi, and another three are the Ino-Shika-Cho combo," Lee answered with a hand folded onto his back, he now did a one-handed handstand pushup.

"This exam might be interesting this year..." said a boy who wore a beige-colored shirt with a dull blue shirt beneath that, coupled with dark brown shorts, blue shinobi sandals, and wrapped bandages around his right arm, chest, and right leg.

"If you said that, then it might be really become interesting, Neiji-san! By the way, let's have our lunch" Tenten cutely said and took a bento box, she gave the bento box to Neiji with a faint blush on her face.

"Don't forget about me, Tenten!" Lee did a backflip from his handstand position and shouted.

"Lee, don't you have two hundred more pushups?"

"Ah, I forgot! Then I'll join you guys after I'm done with the 200 plus another 100 handstand pushups with each hand as a punishment!"

---

Team Ten was currently having their lunch together in the Akimichi restaurant for the first time after their mission finished. Asuma was mostly healed and already healthy enough to move around the village adn do some light ninja activities, though he was not smoking like he usually does today, courtesy of his lover, Kurenai.

"How do you three feel? Do you get enough rest?"

"Good enough..."

"I'm good!"

"I'm miserable..."

They ate their favorite dishes, almost everyone was in a good mood, even Shikamaru was smiling and not as laid back as he usually was. Oddly, it was Chouji who was feeling gloomy.

"Stop complaining, Chouji! You look better this way, I guarantee! Why do you want to be fat anyway?" Ino said grudgingly. She was quite surprised when she saw the ripped Chouji for the first time, he was... way more attractive!

Chouji was currently muscular, he wore a sweatshirt that clearly showed his line of muscles with some armor on his body and limbs. His hair was cut and styled a bit messy on the right but combed back neatly on the left.

His stature is currently slightly taller than it was when he was on the previous mission, his light brown hair and his strong gaze gave people charismatic feelings. He's not the lean or the skinny kind, courtesy of his nutritious and humongous amount of protein he consumed. Neither Chouji is overly buffed as he is still in his early teenager age.

Though for a kid in his early teens, he could be said to have a overly good muscular body.

"You won't understand, woman. Fat is a man's romance-"

"No, it's not," Asuma interjected. "But it's indeed a problem, can you use your calorie control technique? Is there a problem when you use your clan's technique?"

"Hah~ I can use my clan's techniques just fine. But, no matter how many times I eat, the nutrition directly turns into chakra and not fats. My physique has gotten stronger every single time I eat, my Chakra also got denser..." Chouji's expression was gloomy, with no happiness apparent in spite of the advantage he has. It's like there's a dark cloud floating above him. "I event tried to eat a whole stall worth of sweets, fries, and lots of the others..."

"Well, no problem then. We'll check later." Asuma reached for his pouch and took three slips of paper. "Here are your applications."

"Huh? Applications for what?" Ino peeled her eyes from Chouji's now gorgeous figure and inquired her Sensei.

"Chunin exam of course, what else? Beauty contest?" Asuma rolled his eyes and his hand reached his hands to his chest pocket. 'Sh*t, I forget that Kurenai took all of my cigarettes.'

Shikamaru eyed Ino and Chouji from the side, 'With their looks, there's little chance that they're not winning it if they really participate...'

"Chunin exam? There will be another participant from other villages, right?" Chouji's eyes regained some of their lost light. 'I bet there's going to be a lot of strong Genins participating in the exam, I can learn various new stuff!'

Asuma stood and crossed his arms in front of his chest, and turned his body with his back facing his three students. "Anyway, those who wish to take the exam should fill and sign those papers and turn them in at room 301 at building B of the academy by 4 pm at the latest tomorrow." He waved his hand as he walked away from their table.

---

The next day.

"Good morning~" Shikamaru greeted both Chouji and Ino while yawning, a four-foot katana strapped diagonally on his back.

"Good morning, too!" "Yo, what's up." both Ino and Chouji replied with some enthusiasm. Chouji lifted his eyebrows as his saw the katana behind Shikamaru.

Shikamaru, realizing Chouji's gaze onto his newly brought weapon explained. "I was trying various new stuff these few day, I feel that I'm kinda comfortable with this katana."

Chouji and Ino shrugged, the trio then walked into the exam site to turn their applications in together.

Near the academy building, various people both from Konoha and outside of Konoha were seen. Some were nervous, some seemed jittery, while others mostly appeared calm. As they walked the stairs of the building, they noticed something. 'Genjutsu!'

Ino was the first to react and she dispelled the Genjutsu from the three of them. "Hoho~ they want to confuse us, they want us to think that the next floor is the third floor. Let's go!" Ino grinned, she marched full of spirit. Chouji and Shikamaru looked at each other, surprised and happy at their friend's improvement in Genjutsu.

After they reached the second floor, they passed a crowd full of Genins when they were on their way to the third floor.

"Hah! Do you plan to take the Chunin exam with just that? You better quit now!"

Everyone's eyes were centered on one person, Lee.

"Please, let us thro-" One of the participants, Tenten, was asking two men with Konoha headbands who stood guard in front of a door with number 301 above it. But, before she was able to finish her words, she was slapped by one of them.

Ino wanted to approach her but Chouji held her by her arm. "Let's go, I don't want to join this drama. It's annoying..."

"But...?" Ino hesitated before sighing and giving up her attempt to stick her nose in another's business. The trio then continued their little travel to the real room 301.

When they arrived, they handed in their applications and waited for a while.

"There's still more than forty minutes before the meeting begins, I'm gonna walk around for a while..." Chouji walked out of the room, he was bored and went to explore some more to meet more Genins from other villages. Shikamaru just waved his hand as he leaned on the chair and closed his eyes while Ino took a book and read it in the meantime.

---

"Hey, you! The emo guy with the dark eyes!"

Lee was currently called one of the Chunin exam participants from the Konoha.

"Who? Me?" "Ack! How dare you?! You thick eyebrows!"

Lee nodded to the who gave the former answer and flashed his best smile to the latter.

"Will you fight me? Right here, Right Now!" Lee looked at the one he challenged and he stared him right into his eyes.

Just then, Chouji who was strolling around, currently hidden on the side decided to watch the events ongoing before him. 'Like I thought, this going to be interesting! Shame, I didn't bring popcorns...'

'...Though chips are also fine' Chouji chuckled as he pried open a pack of potato chips.

---

A/N: Chouji's current appearance is kinda like a younger version Napoleon from Fate minus the facial hairs and the overly-grown sideburns.