Kuroda left the Uchiha compound early that morning. He had been too excited about the chunin exam to sleep, even if he didn't show it. The whole night before, his father had talked non stop about Kuroda's older brother had done during the exams. And for the past year, his father had been on his ass to take the exam, because his brother had taken it when he was two years younger than Kuroda was now. When would the old man learn that Kuroda was not like his brother? At least he would be out of the house and away from him for awhile.<br/><br/>The young Uchiha had shown up a bit on the late side, but was still technically on time. He began to scan the crowd casually. He saw some of his old classmates from the academy, and some other genin he'd seen around the village. Every time he saw a face he didn't recognize, he frowned. These were most likely genin from outside of Konoha. He didn't like that they were wearing the symbol of his home, though he did understand the Green Shadow's reasoning for it.<br/><br/>He turned towards Izuka the Mad Hermit at the sound of the whistling. It wasn't a signal for attention though. Kuroda was about to turn away from him and continue waiting patiently when he saw the wave of shuriken being released. Reacting quickly, he moved behind a tree to shield himself from the deadly projectiles, slipping a bit on the mud but controlling the chakra flow to his feet to stay standing. After they flew by, he peeked around the trunk and saw the massive wave of mud heading for the group. Focusing more chakra into his feet, he leapt up and landed on a branch, out of the attack's reach. Taking in his surroundings, he saw other genin doing the same as he was. The less fortunate were swept up in the muddy wave, or worse, were getting the shit beat out of them by the Mad Hermit. Seeing some of the others who had made it to the trees helping those stuck in the mud, he shook his head. This was obviously a test designed to weed out the weak; helping them out and keeping them in the exam longer would just be a waste.<br/><br/>His attention was caught by a small group that seemed to be planning their next move. Watching them from his branch, he saw them hit Izuka. That didn't seem right. As a sanin, he should have been able to dodge the attack easily. Unless he meant to be hit...<br/><br/>That's when the grotesque face was revealed, and Kuroda couldn't help but recoil a bit at the sight of it. It was pretty gruesome. As the genjutsu was dropped and the forest revealed itself, he mentally cursed himself for not seeing that it was a genjutsu right away. But the only way he could have known that is if his Sharingan had been activated.<br/><br/>As the other genin grouped together and began to argue about a course of action, Kuroda quietly dropped from the trees and watched the conflict develop. He was also weighing his own options. There was safety in numbers, but a group as large as the ones that were forming seemed too big. It would be easy for conflict to happen with so many opinions flying around. There was also the two groups forming, and who was in them, to consider. The group that wanted to take action was being lead by some ninja that he didn't recognize at all, which made him think that they were not from Konoha. Possibly just leading those who joined their group into a trap. The group wanting to stay behind was filled with nin he recognized, but staying put didn't seem like something that you would be rewarded for in the chunin exams. Deciding to go with the action group, he quietly made his way over there, trying to not draw attention to himself.<br/><br/>When he reached the edge of the pit with the others, looked down, unable to see into the pitch blackness. He considered activating his kekki genkai to see if that would help any, but decided against it for the moment. No need to activate it just yet. As Kyo dropped down into the hole, he just stared. Jumping into a dark hole without knowing what was inside? Not the smartest move.<br/><br/>Glancing around, he saw a low hanging branch. Kuroda walked over to it and snapped it off. It was a decent sized branch, and was dry. Walking back to the pit, he stripped away at it until only the thicker central part remained, and thrust it into the hands of a random ninja he didn't know. "Here, hold this for a second." The confused ninja looked at Kuroda, then the branch, then back to Kuroda. By that time the Uchiha had completed his hand seals and blew a small fireball from his mouth. It struck the end of the branch and caught on fire. "Thanks." Taking hold of the makeshift torch, he held it out over the pit. "Heads up down there." He released the burning stick and let it fall, the soft orange glow of the flames penetrating into the darkness.