Promise Me
Chapter 1
*Author's Note: I do NOT own Naruto, although it would be nice if I did ;)*
"Oh come on Iruka-Sensei! One more bowl! PLEASE!"
The yellow haired leaf genin always pulled through the same routine every Thursday when they catch up.
"Not this week, Naruto, I'm kind of in a rush today. Lady Tsunade called some of the chūnin in to the mansion to discuss this year's chūnin exam. That includes me. Speaking of which, are you going to be trying this year?
"PLEASE Iruka-Sensei? Just one more bowl?"
Naruto batted his eyes at his former sensei and pulled a puppy-dog face, begging his for more ramen. Iruka knew he couldn't be there much longer, so with a sigh he struck a deal with the young shinobi.
"Tell you what, Naruto, I'll make you a promise. If you promise me that you'd enter the chūnin exams this year and pass, I promise I'll treat you to all the Ichiraku Ramen you can eat for a week, how does that sound?"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU'VE GOT YOURSELF A DEAL IRUKA-SENSEI! I'll become a chūnin in no time, and then I'll become Hokage! Believe it!"
A wide, devilish grin spread across his face. The type to make Iruka slowly regret what he just said. But he quickly brushed the thought off, as he had to get going.
As the two parted ways, Naruto thought it would be good to re-familiarise himself with the village so he took a stroll through the alleys of Konoha.
It wasn't long before he bumped into a mysteriously familiar figure,
"Naruto. I see the rumours are true, you have returned from your training with Master Jiraiya."
"Wait, who're you again?"
"You do not remember me?"
"Umm, can I get hint? Oh wait, no you're, uhh- don't tell me…"
"You know Naruto, you should at least try to remember your comrades, or otherwise, you might crush their feelings."
"That weird way you talk, you must be, umm… errr…"
At that point a small insect flew out from behind his tall collar, when it all 'clicked' for Naruto,
"You talk weird, you're really quiet, and you have bugs on you, bugs, umm. Oh! You're Shino!"
"You recognised me by speech patterns and insects? You haven't changed a bit, Naruto"
Shino replied with a hint of sadness when just at that moment, a huge white dog dropped from a tree, with a spiky haired ninja riding on top of it looking at Naruto with a grin.
"Well look who it is, Naruto Uzumaki! It's been a while, kid."
"Hey, Kiba! It really has been a lo- Hey who are you calling 'kid'? We're the same age!"
Shino then turned his head, as what appeared to be a small rain cloud appeared over him, soaking him wet, as he mumbled,
"He recognised Kiba straight away, why not me?"
"Because no one can tell who you are under all those layers Shino!"
Naruto yelled back,
"So why are you guys here, Kiba?"
"Oh, we're here waiting for Sakura so we can all go see Tsunade about helping with the chūnin exams."
"Wait, so I'm guessing you three are all chūnin now? And what about Hinata?"
A mutter came out from behind the dog tamer,
"You even remember Hinata, and she's not even here! Why are you so cruel to me, Naruto!?"
"He's still sulking!?"
"Never mind him, Naruto. While you were gone, Sakura became an honorary member of team 8 because Hinata was borderline 'forced' to stay within her clan's compound for 'special' training. And so, Shino, Sakura and I all became chūnin. Which leaves you, Choji and Hinata as the only genin from our class."
"Oh, I see"
A shadow just then, blocked the sun for a brief second before a sharp pain inflicted upon Naruto's head, rendering him unconscious for a moment. When he woke up, he wasn't surprised to see that none other then the 'Cherry Blossom' herself, Sakura Haruno, inflicted his pain.
"Naruto! What are you doing here!? Aren't you supposed to be making a squad to train with for the upcoming chūnin exams?"
"Nice to see you too Sakura!"
"Don't you dare try and talk to me like that!"
"Y-yes ma'am! I mean Sakura! But how am I supposed to create a new squad when there's no one I know to take the test with?"
"There's Hinata and Choji!"
"Wait, Choji? Didn't he pass with Shikamaru and th-that blonde girl? Ino?"
"No, Naruto, he didn't, remember? He was eliminated from the exams during the preliminaries. And now they both need to become chūnin, and if you want to be Hokage like you say you do, you need too as well. Now go grab them and train before I smash you into the ground again!"
"Y-ye-yes S-Sakura!"
And with that, the genin was off in a flash to the Hyuga Clan's Compound for Hinata.
*Thus ending chapter 1 of this story.
Some things I should mention here for now, so you don't get confused:
This isn't canon to the original story's timeframe, and thus the Akatsuki are a ways away from being introduced into the story Choji was knocked out of the exams by Rock Lee. The Chūnin Exams are to be taken in squads of three, but by the final stage becomes more independent
Thanks for reading, hope you've enjoyed this, I will be uploading more to this,
Some feedback would be great and reviews would be appreciated
BizzHopp, Ghost ;)