~♟🎲~The Chuunin Exams~⚔🥇~

It was late morning, early afternoon, and Ukai and Sarada were walking along toward Exam venue A to meet up with Boruto and Mitsuki. Today was the day... day one of the long-awaited Chunin exams... One of the biggest days in a young Ninja's life, the day where all their training is put to the test, judged to see if they have what it takes to become a Shinobi.

"Sooooo you ready for this?"

"Of course, just you watch big brother!"

"Hmm, I know you'll do great, you little brat," Ukai ruffled Sarada's hair playfully.

"Hey don't call me that! I'm going to be Hokage one day," Sarada swatted Ukai's hand away, fixing her hair with a playful scowl.

"Just get going will ya... Your teammates are waiting," Ukai chuckled, motioning Sarada off.

"You aren't gonna come and watch?" Sarada asked, tilting her head.

"Hmm, I'll be around..." Ukai smirked, placing his hand on his hip.

"So don't die ok, how embarrassing would it be if I had to step in and save your little butt," He added, giving his little sister a closed-eyed smile.

Sarada gasped slightly, her eyes going wide for a second before she smile widely and chuckled. Closing her own eyes and fist-bumping the air with a light flush.

"You'll see, I'm gonna ace this Exam!" She cheered looking up at her brother with sparkling eyes.

She then ran off to go join her friends, leaving Ukai standing there.

"Do your best. I'll be rooting for you..." Ukai mumbled to himself, his bright smile falling into a soft one.

"Ukai! There you are, are you ready?"

Said male turned his attention to a tall brunette woman walking toward him with boxes in her arms.

"Of course Lady Tenten, here, let me help you," Ukai offered, stepping toward the older Ninja and taking two boxes from her hands.

Heading toward the forest where all of this equipment needed to be set up, the two ninja wondered laying traps and snares and explosion tags all around, on the ground where the path ran, in trees with branches strong enough to jump on, anywhere someone might run into one.

"All done up here Ukai!" Tenten called down to the younger ninja.

Looking up, the young Uchiha gave his superior a thumbs up as he covered up the holes and trap pits with leaves and twigs. The only things left were traps they couldn't manually set up. Those were the traps Tenten needed to summon, but they were the backups in case the Genin found the other obstacles too easy.

"Well, that should do it. Are you ready for this? I think it's just about time to start." TenTen asked her helper as she jumped down from her tree.

"Ready when you are,"

"Well alright then, let's find somewhere good where we can watch," TenTen smiled, looking over the tall trees for a good hiding spot.

"How about you survey the last few miles, I'm sure your summoning will be more effective for the Genin actually able to get that far. I will focus on the first half, monitor basic traps," Ukai suggested.

"Sounds like a solid plan, well, let's do this," TenTen smiled, jumping away into the trees as the exam began.

Ukai flickered to the forest front, jumping into the trees and crouching down as he watched dozens of children run this way, first of which were three Genin from the Hidden sand. Ukai immediately singled out the shorter male cloaked in grey and black sand. His face was set in a bored, neutral look while he ran ahead of his teammates.

The Uchiha watched the team run through the trees, using only their Taijutsu skills to overcome the obstacles and traps.

'They're not using any jutsu...' Ukai thought tilting his head as he watched.

'Clever...' He smirked slightly.

Ukai's attention was then drawn to the blonde, black, red, and blue that streaked passed him. Sarada, Boruto, and Mitsuki flew through the trees with ease, cutting down logs and avoiding nets like this was just another day of training.

'That's my brat,' Ukai chuckled to himself, jumping after team 7 as the rest of the Genin made their way to Exam venue B. Stopping short of the tree line, Ukai sat down on one of the tree branches, watching his sister and the rest of the Genin pant and take a breath as they relaxed, thinking they had passed the first exam. However, their relief was short-lived as Sai walked onto a stage set in the far right of the venue. He called out that the hour the teams had to make it to said venue was now over, and any teams not there were disqualified. He then proceeded to tell the Genin teams that there was a true or false question that needed answering and that the teams had to decide together and take the stand on the answer they thought was correct. Ukai propped his legs up on the branch, turning to lean his back against the trunk as he listened to the question. This Chunin exam was much different than his, though they follow the same basics, survival, Intel gathering and Evasion, and then combat, each exam was "phrased" or executed differently, so each exam was a new sight.

"Answer wrong, and pay the price. Namely, those who turn black will fail..." Sai explained.

'Huh... soo, there's gonna be something black in color that will dye the kids, but those who manage to avoid it will stay on in the exam,' Ukai thought to himself as he continued to survey the Genin.

"You have 3 minutes to decide." Sai finished and a clock above his and Shikamaru's head began to count down.

Ukai turned his attention to Sarada and the boys as she watched them talk. See, this book series the question was about had 7 volumes, but Sarada only owned the first 4. Ukai himself had read them all, but many years ago, only vaguely remembering some of the passwords, but he didn't remember one about a flower.

So Sarada, Boruto, and Mitsuki decided they'd have to guess, having not read the book gave them a 50-50 at passing or failing. Nodding to each other, Ukai watched the team run toward the 'True' stand, joining all the other Genin who thought it to be correct as they waited for Sai's judgment.

"Your time is up... the answer is..." Sai called out, raising his hand to the board above his head which sprung to life, flashing between the true sign and false sign. All the Genin watched with bites breath as the board paused on an answer, showing both signs at the same time.

"Huh?" All the Genin gasped, as the thin pieces of material holding them up disintegrated, sending the team's falling into the deep pits below.

Ukai blinked... the test was rigged. It didn't matter what you said, both were wrong...

'So the dyeing agent must be at the bottom of the pits, and the Genin able to realize and save their team will remain in Exam... Huh... that's clever,' The male Uchiha concluded in his head, silently applauding the adults for coming up with such an elaborate test.

And with that, the Chunin Exams First round was over. The next round would be in three days, so the Genin had that time to rest up and prep for whatever the grown-ups had planned next.

"Sarada!" Ukai called from the pathway leading back to the village.

Sarada turned away from her friends to look at her brother, seeing him wave her over with the sun setting fast behind him.

"I've gotta go, see you guys tomorrow." Sarada waved to her friends and teammates as she jogged over to her sibling, stopping beside him.

"Ready to go?" Ukai asked.

"Yip, I'm ready for some food and bed," Sarada smiled, stretching her arms.

"You did well today, I'm proud of you," Ukai ruffled his sister's hair before putting his hands in his pockets.

"See I told you I was gonna pass!" Sarada cheered.

"Of course you would,"

"So are you going to celebrate with us?" Sarada looked up at her brother as they walked.

"Not tonight, I have plans with Kazane," Ukai answered.

"Oh, ok," Sarada turned back to the path.

"Next round for sure though..." Ukai placed his hand on Sarada's head once again, smiling down at her.

"Promise,"