First story. Don't own Naruto. Formatting is hard. I got line breaks down!
Prologue: The decision
He always hated the Uchiha. From the ungrateful son of the sage to the disgusting piece of filth called Madara Uchiha. Unfortunately those bastardized eyes gave a lot more than madness, capable of withstraining even him.
His rightful ire was drawn from the dying Uchiha to the Senju's wife. Throughout his immense and incomprehensible existence, he encountered more than enough seals to know that he should not allow that technique to finish. He had no desire to be confined in anything, let alone a human.
There was only one problem.
The fight he was forced into aiding him along with the Senju's suppressive abilities had left him weakened. Not by very much, as he was the most powerful being in existence. He just had no wish to be within a human for any given amount of time.
His lifespan is eternal. He could wait a century to reform.
Ch 1
A very different world
Sarutobi Hiruzen was old. No amount of denial will change this. He was old when he stepped down, let alone 12 years after his late successor's death. Yet he couldn't retire until one who was worthy and ready appeared. He sincerely hoped one day it would be Naruto.
Preferably sooner rather than later.
The boy had ended up as close to him as his own grandson, Konohamaru. Sarutobi knew he should've adopted him as such.
The aged leader knew why he couldn't, despite what his thoughts implied. After the Attack of Konoha's supposedly safely sealed biju the council amassed more power than he'd previously thought possible. He thought they'd been a thorn in his side before. He'd barely kept the boy from mobs and they claimed it was favoritism. If only they knew who his parents were, then-
"Hokage-sama?" A Chunin he vaguely remembered asked him, head poking through the cracked door.
"Proceed, Chunin."
"The Takikage has accepted your offer and has sent a team for the Chunin exams, they are expected to arrive within the day." He informed, leafing through a stack of papers in his arms before handing a wax sealed scroll to his superior. "The details are here."
The Hokage broke the the wax and unfurled the scroll. "You're dismissed," he rumbled, eyes scanning the contents with a slight crease to his brow. Once the Chunin left he set the message down and relit his pipe using a low powered Katon jutsu.
He could only hope his fellow Kage was as friendly as he wrote.
A haze of nervous paranoia was prominent in the older shinobi of Konohagakure. The upcoming Chunin exams were the first in the villages history to have Taki attend. That is, the first time when hosted by Konoha.
It was no secret the hatred Taki held for the leaf. Their grudge spans back to the creation of the hidden village system, when the Waterfall leader was a friend of the leaf's first Fire Shadow.
As a show of goodwill and friendship, the Shodaime had promised the Nanabi no Kabutomushi to the village, in hopes it would foster relations and deter invasion by a larger country.
The purpose of the alliance was twofold. With a hidden village containing the Seven tails as an ally, no other country could accuse the leaf of hoarding Biju while also giving the very same advantage by alliance. Not to mention Taki's strategic placement as a buffer for earth country.
The Village Hidden in the Waterfalls needed the deterrent to keep Iwa and Kumo away. The country was in a precarious position. Like Amegakure they were surrounded by three world powers, though with a significant barrier of smaller countries between them and Kumo. They did not have that luxury for Iwa.
When Hashirama failed to deliver the Seven tails, the village broke all ties with Konoha. This move was not in their best interest however. Whenever Iwa was at odds with Konoha, Taki became the battleground. The previously Kageless village ended up electing the most experienced Jounin as their commander. They used Stone's hatred of the leaf as an excuse to ally during the Third Shinobi War.
'If only that was the last of it,' the elite Jounin, Hatake Kakashi, mused with an internal sigh. The source of his worry laid in his Genin team. He had no doubt they were among the top percentage of rookies, but if Taki was sending a team, it wouldn't be a low level one.
For all he knows, the team could've been kept from promotion for this exact situation. With a rustle of his Icha Icha, he pondered his cute little Genins' success in the event of an encounter.
Kakashi winced.
Perhaps it was his own experience with teams that lead him to conclude they'd fail, but he knew Taki was second to no one in their opposition of the leaf. More so than the fence sitters 'dislike' of the Yondaime.
If only he had known Taki would be coming when he signed them up for an unintentional curb stomping.
In contrast to their sensei's gloom, team seven was nearly celebrating. Even Sasuke was happy, at least with that douchey smirk of his.
Naruto couldn't be further from his teammates' calm was practically dancing with joy. Okay, he was dancing with joy, but could you blame him? He'd become a Chunin already! At this rate the Hokage's hat would be resting on his head by the end of the week.
"Take that old man!" He yelled, wide grin nearly splitting his face in two. This earned him a glare from the teme and a rap (or in this case axe kick) to the head by Sakura. He didn't care that his internal monologue was no longer quite so internal, he was going to become a Chunin!
Hopefully, anyway.
Despite how he acted, he wasn't stupid. Well wasn't that stupid to believe it would be easy. Though the A-rank to wave -can you believe it! An A-rank mission!- certainly boosted his confidence. Not that he was lacking in that, though.
He'd ace that test tomorrow. If only he had that confidence in finding his kunai pouch. 'Where'd that even go, anyway?'
Said pouch had been commandeered by a certain young Sarutobi.
"Won't boss be surprised when he gets a load of knife tomorrow!" Konohamaru giggled, brandishing his pilfered kunai like it was the key to becoming the Hokage. He ignored his friends' nervous looks in favor of swinging them and making sound effects.
"Tomorrow is gonna be great!"
A/N Hopefully their will be action in the next one