It had been two days since Naruto entered Konoha and in the past two days all his image of a hidden village had been shattered to pieces. Konoha was not like the other two hidden villages he had visited… no, rather infiltrated in the past couple of years. But seeing that the time he had infiltrated the two villages, the villages were going through problems of their own which ranged from disputes between Kage and the Daimyō or a civil war. Still, he had envisioned a hidden village to be… how was he to say it… well hidden… and with ninjas moving from rooftop to rooftops around the village patrolling the village 24x7.

Konoha was certainly not anything like that. If it wasn't for their ninja attire and the way they carried themselves, Naruto was certain that he wouldn't be able to differentiate between the civilians and ninjas. He had learned of a few things of Konoha while he wandered around the elemental nations and even more from the old man, but to see it with his own eyes was something else. If it wasn't for the barriers, seals and the ninjas patrolling the walls of the village, he would never dream of calling Konoha a hidden village. But all things aside, it was certainly refreshing to finally visit the village.

Currently he was heading to a place which had come to be his most favorite place of all the places he had come across so far in all his wanderings. He had come across the place after he had submitted his registration form for the chuunin selection exams or rather he was drawn to the place by the sweet aroma of the god's food emitted from a nearby restaurant. And as always his nose didn't disappoint him as the place served the best tasting god's food he had eaten so far through his journey. Also to add to the god's food was the beautiful, curvaceous and brown-haired-eyes waitress that served the god's food adding a charm to the place.

Naruto was so much immersed in the thoughts of the god's food and the charming waitress that worked at the restaurant that he was completely oblivious to the world around him. He was so oblivious to his surroundings that he completely missed the brown haired, long blue scarf wearing 8-9 years old brat running directly towards his direction from his left. He only noticed the boy when finally the boy who also seemed oblivious to the path in front of him as the boy dashed pass him missing him by a few inches only to crash into someone else.

"Ouch"

"That hurts…"

…A few minutes earlier…

Uzumaki-Namikaze-Ran was currently making her way to meet her best friend/sister (only not in blood) Hyuuga Hinata. Just moments ago Kakashi-sensei had handed the team the application forms to enter the chuunin selection exams that were going to be held in Konoha in the next five days. Being the daughter of the Yondaime, she already knew that it was almost unheard of a rookie gennin team who has just passed out of the academy to enter the exams. But her team was not an ordinary team… heck, all the three teams of her graduating class who passed their jounin-sensei's test were not ordinary.

She just like her teammate Sakura was a bit nervous about the exams, but unlike Sakura it was neither because she doubted her skills nor she thought that she wasn't ready to take part in the exams but it was rather because of her excitement of finally stepping a step further towards her dream. Her dream was something which she inherited from her parents but mostly her mother and that was to one day succeed her father as the first female Hokage. It was not just the dream of being she inherited from her mother but also she was a chibi version of her mother or rather she looked similar to her mother when she was her age with the only difference was her blonde hair of the shade similar to her father and the whisker marks on her cheeks. She even wore attire similar to her mother when she was genin which consisted of short sleeve, kimono-like plain blouse with dark embroidered border with loose sleeves held close with a dark obi, a dark skirt and stockings that stopped at her thighs. And that is where her similarity to her mother ended as personality wise she was her father's daughter, she was calm and collected unlike her mother who happened to be a tomboyish girl when she was her age.

Finally she reached the meeting place which she had decided with Hinata and found her friend to be waiting there. She waved at her waiting friend and made her way towards her, but only to stop in her steps as she felt someone or rather a group of three dashed past her. One glance at those three and she easily recognized them as Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon. She didn't know what those three were running from so desperately but she knew one thing and that being the trio or at least Konohamaru was going to crash into the red-hair guy whom she recalled to be Naruto from the onsen incident two days back. She was about to call them to stop before they crash into the boy but didn't as she watched them miss him just by a few inches. But it seemed like luck was not on the side of the three academy students as she watched Konohamaru crash into someone else a few steps further from the red-haired boy. But she had to quickly rush to the boy's aide as she watched the person he crash into lift him by his scarf up to his face level.

…Back to the present time with Naruto…

Naruto had seen that the three who dashed pass him were kids around the age of 8-9 and also the trio seemed to be in some kind of hurry, either they were late for something or running from someone/thing. Though the brats were lucky enough to not crash into him but at the same time weren't lucky enough to avoid another passerby. Before he could turn his head in the direction where the brats crashed into someone, he turned his head to his left as he heard a girl shout someone's name.

"Konohamaru-kun!"

Naruto watched as two cute girls around his age, one with long blonde hair while the other with short, hime-cut, dark blue hair dash pass him. He clearly remembered the two from the onsen incident two days back but he quickly cut their images of his mind for the time being as he decided to figure what was going on seeing the angry look on the blonde's face. He turned his head in the direction which the girls ran at or rather the place where the brats crashed into some passerby. But the person of the brat crashed into and was now holding by his scarf was Kankurou and by his side stood his elder sister Temari which caused a mischievous grin to spread across Naruto's face.

…Normal point of view…

"That hurt you little piece of shit!" said Kankurou hoisting the boy who crashed into him by his scarf.

"Don't, we'll get yelled at later", Temari warned Kankurou as she watched her brother bullying a kid.

"Konohamaru-kun!" both the siblings heard someone shout.

They turned in the direction of the voice to find two girls rush towards them with the blonde girl looking a bit angry. Both the siblings could make out that the two were probably genins of Konoha. But Temari was able to recognize something which her stupid brother to notice was that one of the girls matched the description of the daughter of the Yondaime Hokage.

"Unhand Konohamaru-kun, Suna-nin!" said Ran as she stood few feet away from the Suna-nin in a calm tone with a small tone of anger in her voice.

"Ran-nee-chan! Hinata-nee-chan! " called the two other kids.

Temari's eyes widened as she heard the name the other two kids shouted as she thought 'Ran… So I was right! She is the daughter of the Yondaime Hokage! I hope you don't do anything…'

"What if I don't?" asked Kankurou in an arrogant voice.

"Kankurou don't? That's…" Temari tried to say something to Kankurou but was interrupted by her brother.

"Don't worry sis, I have everything under control…" said Kankurou to Temari.

Kankurou watched as the blonde Konoha kunoichi was now holding a kunai in her right hand while the dark blue haired kunoichi took a defensive taijutsu stance. But the two were no longer alone as they were joined by another blonde and a pink haired girl.

"What's going on here, Ran?" Ino asked her fellow blonde kunoichi.

Instead of answering Ino's question, Ran tightened the grip on the kunai as she glared at the cat-suit Suna-nin as she spoke in a threatening voice, "Unhand him!"

"To threaten me! You got some guts, girl!" said Kankurou with a mad grin on his face.

'What's with that guy…?' thought Sakura as she started to sweat seeing the grin on the Suna-nin's face.

But before things could escalate any further between the two parties, something struck the right hand of Kankurou making him drop Konohamaru, who unceremoniously fell on his butt. The thing that forced Kankurou to remove his hold on the brat was a stone as the said brat rushed towards his friends and Ran.

"What are you bastards doing in our village?" everyone heard someone say and looked at the source of the voice to find Uchiha Sasuke sitting on a branch of a nearby tree juggling some rocks.

"Sasuke-kun!" cried/chirped/screeched Sakura and Ino together seeing their knight in shining armour present at the scene.

"Show-off!" muttered Ran as she already knew that her third teammate was already present in the area and waited for the right time to make his presence known.

Both Hinata and Temari shared the same opinion as Ran, though Hinata also was thankful of him for saving Konohamaru-kun. As of Kankurou, the boy was currently glaring at the Uchiha as he held onto his right hand which was struck by the stone.

"Get lost!" Sasuke said as he glared back at the boy who was glaring at him.

"Kyaa! So cool! Get him Sasuke-kun!" chirped/screeched Sakura and Ino with eyes for their eyes while the kunoichis present there shook their head in disgust at the two fan girl kunoichis.

"Hey punk, get down here!" called out Kankurou directly facing the Uchiha. He just intended to have a little by bullying the brat who crashed in him and also bully those weak looking kunoichis, but now he was pissed.

"I hate show-offs like you the most", said Kankurou as he loosened the bandage which kept the bandaged Karasu (Crow) on his back bringing it in front of him to teach the duck-butt a lesson.

"Hey, you even going to use Karasu?" asked a panicked Temari to Kankurou as the situation seemed to be getting out of hand.

"Kankurou stop it."

Everyone heard the voice which sent a chill down their spine, especially because of the killer intent that washed over the area which was accompanied by the voice. All eyes traveled to the source of the voice to find a boy with brick-red hair and a gourd on his back hanging upside down on a branch of the same tree as Sasuke bu on the other side with help of chakra.

"You are an embarrassment to our village", said Gaara as he focused his killing intent on Kankurou which froze the boy in his steps.

Of all the genins present there, the minds of Ran and Sasuke calculated the sudden appearance of the brick-red haired boy. Both had come to one conclusion and that was the boy was someone to be watched during the exams as the boy showed Kakashi's level sneakiness.

Gaara took no notice of the stares and fear he had generated in the people in the clearing as he focused on Kankurou as he spoke, "Loosing yourself in a fight, how pathetic… Why do you think we came to Konoha?"

Finally Kankurou was able to speak as he quickly tried to defend his situation, "Listen Gaara, they started it and…"

"Shut up… I'll kill you…" said Gaara focusing a large dose of killing intent on his brother.

The dose of killing intent made Kankurou to start shivering along with causing him to sweat heavily as he somehow spoke, "Ok, I'm sorry…"

Temari also spoke to Gaara to try and defuse the situation between her younger brothers, "Look, Kankurou is sorry… I am also sorry… really…"

But Temari didn't get to finish her sentence as she watched her youngest brothers eyes glow with a murderous intent. It was not only her that saw that look, but only she and Kankurou truly understood that look which said that the Shukaku wanted blood. Both the siblings were frozen in their place as they watched the cork on the gourd to disintegrate into sand and sand shoot out of the gourd in their direction.

Ran watched with wide eyes as she watched the sand approach the two Suna-nins at a very high speed. She could tell that the boy who was named Gaara had every intention of killing the other two if the look in his eyes was anything to go by. She quickly started forming hand seals for one of the defensive jutsus she had knowledge of to interrupt the sand before it killed the two Suna-nins. She had no obligation to defend the two Suna-nins, but it was her conscious that had forced her to defend them because those three Suna-nins were siblings. Someone who had lost her twin brother at a young age and always wondered what having a brother actually felt like couldn't let siblings kill each other.

But to the shock of everyone present, especially Temari and Kankurou and relief of Ran (who was halfway through her seals) the sand shot pass the two Suna-nins.

"Sabaku Kyū (Sand Binding Coffin)!" everyone heard Gaara say as they watched the sand bind an invisible figure on the wooden wall behind the Suna siblings.

Finally the invisible figure that had been captured in the sand became visible or rather it was just his face which was visible to all. The Suna siblings along with the kunoichis of Konoha recognized the one caught in the sand.

'Him!' thought the four Konoha kunoichis with a small blush on each of their face.

"Him! This is bad!" thought the scared Kankurou and Temari.

"Sabaku Sōsō (Sand Burial)!", Gaara said.

Everyone watched in horror as the sand that was engulfing the boy suddenly crush him to death. But to the surprise of Temari and Kankurou instead of a fountain of blood flow out of the sand, a blast of lightning occurred with arcs of lightning sweeping the clearing forcing everyone to dodge the small bolts of lightning.

"My, aren't you eager to kill me Gaara!"

Everyone heard the new voice and turned towards it source, only to find the boy who was seconds ago crushed beneath the sand prison standing upside-down on the same branch next to Gaara. Even with the mask on his face, everyone could tell that the boy had a huge grin on his face beneath that mask.

'Damn! First the guy with the gourd… then this red haired, masked guy… I couldn't detect both…' thought Sasuke as he glared at the two boys who occupied the branch on the opposite side of the tree.

Inwardly Naruto sighed in relief for making a Raiton: Kage Bunshin (Lightning Release: Shadow Clone) for a Kawarimi if needed since he already predicted of Gaara being close by… and as he predicted, the moment the fellow red haired sensed him, he directly went for the kill.

"You wouldn't want to be disqualified even before the exams starts…" said Naruto as he watched Gaara's sand closing on him to engulf him for the second time in the day.

Naruto watched as those words surprisingly calmed Gaara as the sand receded back in the gourd, though he was still the focus of Gaara's killing intent. Naruto watched as Gaara used Shunshin to appear in between his siblings but still kept his killing intent focused on him.

"It looks like we got here too early but we didn't come here to play around. Let's go", said Gaara appearing in between his siblings his eyes still focused on Naruto.

"Hey, wait!" Sakura called out to the Suna-nins to the surprise of everyone present.

"What?" asked Gaara as he turned around to look at Sakura.

"Judging from your hitai-te, you guys are ninjas from Sunagakure right? You may be allies with Konoha but… It is forbidden for shinobi to enter each other's village without permission. State your purpose. Depending on it, we may not be able to let you go…" said Sakura making an intimidating (?) face.

"Don't you know anything?" Temari said clearly unaffected by the scary look on Sakura's face as she showed her pass to all "… You're right, we are genins from Sunagakure. We have come to your village to take the chuunin selection exams."

But before anyone could say anything further, Gaara spoke as he turned towards Naruto, "Are you entering the exams too?"

"Yes, I am", answered Naruto with a smile beneath his mask.

"Good! Mother will finally have your blood", said Gaara as he glared at Naruto which sent chills down the spine of the others.

"Before you present my blood to your so called mother…" said Naruto in a serious tone before suddenly disappearing in a burst of speed appearing next to Temari holding her by her waist with his left hand and spoke to her still in a serious tone "… How about I take you out on a date?"

Despite a visible blush could be seen on Temari's face, the girl somehow composed herself and answered, "No!"

A silence fell in the clearing to the extent they could hear the far away chirpings of birds as they watched the bright-red haired boy hung his head after the Suna girls answer and an aura of depression could be seen around him. But what happened next was something the Konoha-nins didn't expect as the boy disappeared again in burst of speed and reappeared in between Ran, Hinata and Ino with the cheerful expression on his face.

"Well since Temari said no… how about I take one of you three girls on a date with me…" Naruto said to the three surprised girls.

The three girls looked at the bright-red haired boy with wide eyes as he stood in between them with a grin behind the mask. Ran could only stare at the boy in utter disbelief. She had not sensed him move in between them and above all the boy was flirting with them. Hinata's face turned beet red as the boy asked one of them on a date, because she finally remembered the boy from two days back at the onsen. On the other hand, Ino was fighting hard to not say yes as Sasuke was in the vicinity.

"You… You…" muttered Temari as her face turned red because of anger as she clenched her fist tightly to stop herself from overreacting.

Since there was no response from the three girls, so he decided to try his luck further as he spoke, "… Or I could take the three of you on a joint date."

That was the final straw for Temari as she grabbed her Giant Folding Fan and charged at the bright-red haired boy with a war cry, "YOU FLIRT!"

Naruto was able to dodge the still folded Fan as it made contact with the ground where he stood causing a few cracks to appear on the ground. His eyes went wide as he watched Temari unfold her fan in its full glory ready to strike him with one of her deadly wind jutsus.

"I better take my leave…" said Naruto as he performed a half Hitsuji (Ram) hand seal with his right hand and disappeared in burst of speed.

"T… THAT BASTARD!" shouted Temari as she watched him disappear before she could hurt him.

The girls around her watched everything in mild amusement, though they couldn't help but agree with Temari that the boy certainly was a flirt. Meanwhile the three kids were truly afraid of the blonde Suna-nin as they watched her burn in anger and on the other side they were completely awed by the bright-red haired boy.

"If I didn't know better, I would say she is jealous…" muttered Kankurou as he watched his elder sister flare in anger.

"You say something, Kan-chan!" said Temari in a sweet voice as she looked at her brother.

"N… no! Nothing!" said Kankurou as he waved his hands in front of him to shield himself from his sister's wrath.

"Let's go!" said Temari as she walked towards her brothers to which both of them obliged without saying a single word.

"You with the gourd, what's your name?" asked Sasuke after jumping in front of the girls.

Gaara turned around to look into the eyes of the guy who asked him his name. Now that 'he' was here, Gaara had no interest in any other competition, but this boy's eyes were similar to his and he had hit Kankurou with just a stone thus getting Gaara's interest in the boy.

"Sabaku no Gaara…" Gaara finally answered "… I am also interested in your name?"

"It's Uchiha Sasuke…" answered Sasuke with arrogance in his voice as he stared at Gaara who just walked away after hearing his name which angered the Uchiha.

"Who was that other red-haired boy?" asked Ran, though she knew his name, she wished to know more about him since he certainly was skilled and these Suna-nin seemed to know him.

The three Suna siblings stopped in their steps as they heard the question. The Konoha-nins could feel the tension in the air increase with a considerable amount of killing intent being emitted by Gaara.

Flashback…

"Seems like you are not that invincible after all…" Gaara heard his opponent say.

Gaara looked at the boy with bright-red hair, dressed in blue and his face below his eyes covered with a light blue mask. He had been staying in Suna for the past month and was the only boy who showed no fear of him. Today he was asked by his father to capture him, but he was unable as the boy was more skilled than he had predicted. But the biggest thing was that the boy had bypassed his sand defense.

"Heh… not only did I bypass your sand defense, Gaara… but I also succeeded in drawing the crimson blood flowing in your body, -ttebayo!" said the boy pointing at his right hand.

And as the boy said, Gaara could feel and see his blood flow from a cut near his shoulder on his right hand. Not only had the boy been able to hurt him but also had been able to draw his blood.

…End Flashback.

"His name is Naruto…" answered Temari "… And in the Suna Bingo Book he is nicknamed as Hakushoku Raiu no Naruto (Naruto of the White Thunderstorm)…" and with that the three Suna-nins left the clearing leaving behind wide eyed Konoha-nins and the three children.

…That night at the Hokage mansion…

Today was a rather noisy affair at the dinner table in the Hokage mansion. Ran watched in mild amusement as both her godparents start arguing on something stupid again while Shizune-nee-san tried to defuse the argument between the two. Ero-jii-san never learned, just a couple of days ago he was beaten close to his death by Tsunade-baa-chan but still he was sitting there and arguing with her. While waiting for the food which was only going to be served after Dad arrived, she focused on the events of the entire day. Today was mostly uneventful aside from her team receiving the application forms for the chuunin selection exams and meeting the three Suna genins and the ronin. She already knew that her team was going to receive the application forms taking into consideration that her team consisted of the Yondaime Hokage's daughter (her) and the last Uchiha. But the highlight of the day was the encounter with the three Suna-nins and the ronin. She couldn't help but think of the ronin.

Ran was so engrossed in her thoughts that she completely missed the arrival of her father who was accompanied by the Sandaime Hokage. She also completely missed the arrival of the food and was so engrossed in her thoughts that she also didn't respond to them calling to her. She was finally brought of her thoughts as she felt someone shake her.

She looked to her left to find the one shaking her was her mother who looked a bit worried as she asked, "Something wrong, Kaa-chan?"

"We should be the one's asking you that, Ran", she heard her father's voice say.

She looked around the table to find that her father had already arrived along with O-jii-san and the dinner was already served while everyone was busy looking at her. Then it struck her that she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she completely missed the above events.

"Nothing, just thinking", answered Ran feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Hoho… so little Ran finally thinking about…" said Jiraya as a small perverted giggle left his lips which earned him a glare from the women in the room.

"I was not thinking of a boy", shouted a red faced Ran which caused every head turn at her in complete shock.

Than it completely struck to Ran as to what she blurted out as she went onto damage control, "No, I didn't mean that… I mean… I was thinking about the boy… no… I mean he seemed a potential competition in the exams… I mean the incident that happened today…"

One thing Ran knew and that was she wasn't doing a good job explaining herself as she watched Ero-jii-san laughing out loud while Sandaime-O-jii-san and Shizune-nee-chan smiling at her misfortune. But what scared her was the stern look on the face of her parents and Tsunade-baa-chan.

"Explain?" said the three in unison.

Ran took a few deep breaths to compose herself after which she started speaking, "Today after team meeting, I came across a team from Suna which consisted of a girl named Temari and two boys of which one was called Kankurou… I think… and the other was called Gaara…"

"The Kazekage's children!" added Minato as he heard those names.

Ran was surprised to know that information but decided to continue "… And the boy Ero-jii-san fooled to join at the onsen the day before yesterday."

This earned Jiraya glares from the women present in the room while the two men looked a bit confused. Both the men knew of Jiraya had tried to spy on the onsen the day before yesterday after they found his battered and bruised body dragged in the Hokage office by Tsunade. But no one had talked of a boy accompanying Jiraya.

"Boy?" asked the confused Minato.

It was Tsunade who answered Minato's question as she recalled the event when they caught on the pervert peeping on the girls and women in the onsen. The story caused the two Hokages to glare at Jiraya for trying to corrupt the mind of the young generation. Also, just like with the girls and women at the onsen, Jiraya's pleas that the boy was lying to save his own ass fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile the name of the boy caused an unspoken conversation take place between Kushina and Minato as their eyes met, causing a flood of emotions through the eyes of the two which was only the elder shinobis in the room were able to see.

With the adults finally settling down, they made Ran o continue with her story and so she did. She went onto tell them that how she came across Kankurou and Temari which caused a small amount of anger to emit from the Sandaime since he treasured his grandson. After assuring the Sandaime that she and Hinata had everything under control and also the Sandaime believing in her and Hinata's capabilities, she continued her story. She went uninterrupted until the point of the entrance of Gaara, even her jab at Sasuke as the Emo-king only caused a laugh to erupt from Jiraya and giggles from others as they agreed with her at his show-off entrance. She continued to tell her story completely missing the others eyes widen as she said that Gaara intended to kill Naruto, but with some sort of a jutsu the bright-red haired boy survived the brick-red haired boy's sand jutsu which caused he other's to relax. She then told them how Naruto went onto ask Temari first and then her, Hinata and Ino on a date after being rejected by the blonde Suna-nin which caused giggles to escape from Jiraya's lips and tick marks develop on the forehead of the three women. She finally ended her recount of her encounter with the Suna-nins and him by telling them his desperate escape from Temari which caused the audience to giggle and them parting with the Suna-nins.

"So this boy Naruto seems to be acquainted with the children of the Kazekage", said the Sandaime Hokage.

"Yeah, it seems so", added Minato.

"I asked those Suna-nins whether they knew who he was…" said Ran as every eyes turned at her "… It was the Suna kunoichi who answered the question as she said 'his name is Naruto… and in the Suna bingo book he is nicknamed as Hakushoku Raiu no Naruto (Naruto of the White Thunderstorm)'."

This caused the eyes of the three of the women in the room to widen. Though all three of them were active jounins of Konoha, two of them rarely took missions these days while the third hadn't given the recent bingo books much of a glance. While a knowing look crossed the face of the three males in the room as they already knew that piece of information.

…The day of the chuunin selection exams…

Naruto stood in his hotel room which was given to him to say during the period of the chuunin selection exams as one of its participant. He was currently going through his gears for the last time before he made his way towards the Konoha Ninja Academy where he heard the first part of the exams was going to take place. His mind had already processed the possibility of what the first test might be after he was informed of the place where the test was going to take place. For the first time in his life he wished that his Devil's Luck fail him as he had predicted the test to be something which he thoroughly hated.

After finishing his final check-up on his gears and scrolls, Naruto made a straight beeline towards the Academy. As he walked the streets of Konoha, he concluded one thing and that was this was a wonderful place to settle in his old age. At first he was hesitant to visit Konoha after the big information bomb the old man dropped on him and only did so because he had promised him that he would certainly visit Konoha at least once. He had avoided Konoha for more than two years after he promise and only decided to finally visit Konoha this time was because of some disturbing news had reached his ears.

All that things aside, Konoha had the best Ramen Restaurant throughout the elemental nations with a beautiful and curvaceous waitress serving ramen. He had seen that he visited the stand every day in past seven days and could be said that he was on a strict ramen diet. Also Konoha had a lot of beautiful, hot, sexy women/kunoichis which was a super plus factor for Konoha and most of all some really eye catching girls around his age.

Finally he reached the Academy and wasn't surprised to see the mass number of genins in the grounds of the academy doing some light workout. He didn't give them much glance as he made his way directly to the room 301 assigned for the first test. As he walked up the stairs he came across teams from various countries which he had come across the last week. Finally he reached the second floor to find a huge crowd of genins gathered around the room labeled 301. Due to his logic of him climbing only the second floor and his ability with Genjutsu, it was easy for him to predict that there was an area wide Genjutsu spread on the floor and the room. He intended to just walk past the gathered crowd to the real room 301 and he certainly would have left if his duty didn't call him.

Naruto flickered from his position to appear directly behind a falling girl whose long brown hair were worn in Chinese-style buns on either side of her head and halted the girl from falling on the ground. His sudden burst of speed didn't go unnoticed by a few of the shinobis present which also included the girl's teammate.

"You know it isn't wise to block a girl's path… especially someone with skills…" Naruto said the second part in a low voice which only the girl in his arms could hear.

A blush appeared on Tenten's face as she looked back at her unwanted savior, only for her brown eyes to meet with her unwanted saviors bright-blue eyes. But the blush increased the moment her unwanted savior defended her against those disguised genins and was even able to catch on her act.

"What did you say?" asked the spiky haired genin blocking the door. But he didn't wait for any answers as he along with his partner went on to explain how tough these exams are and the role of a chuunin and it was their kindness that they were blocking unworthy genins entering the exam hall.

Naruto already knew that the one blocking the disguised room were doing exactly what they said. Those were probably disguised chuunin proctors trying to decrease the number of genin participant entering the exams. He was about to make his way towards the room 301 but was interrupted as he heard someone opening his big mouth about the genjutsu on the floor and the room. He turned around to find it was the boy who he had seen when he had met Gaara five days back. Even one glance at him that day had made him believe that the boy was an arrogant bastard, but seriously if the boy was doing this to boast his ego then he certainly was going to kick the boy's ass really hard for the increased competition. But his anger towards the duck-butt was cooled a bit when he saw the blonde girl on his team join him in his arrogant speech which surprised him since he didn't peg that girl as arrogant. But their next words caused a smile to appear on his face as he saw the two did the act to boost the confidence of their pink-haired teammate.

As the genjutsu on the floor and the room dissolved, Naruto watched in mild fascination at the spike haired disguised genin and the duck butt moved forward to attack each other by clashing their kick. He was a bit surprised when he found the bun haired girl's teammate who wore a green jumpsuit slide between the two and intercepted their kicks and caught them with his bare fist. The surprise was not because of the bushy-brow boy's speed or his strength, but was because he thought that the team had decided to act to make the other's think they were underdogs or something like that. His thoughts were confirmed when he heard the third member of the team talk with bushy-brows.

"This is certainly interesting…" Naruto said as he watched bushy-brows go and ask the pinky to be his girlfriend in a unique way and a thousand watt smile.

Naruto's words drew the attention of the nearby ninjas and especially those of team 7 excluding Sakura. Naruto oblivious to the stares he was receiving watched as the poor bushy-brows being rejected just for his looks. Naruto watched as the bun-haired girl's third teammate ask the duck butt his name which resulted in an arrogant talk between the two, which made Naruto conclude that both were stuck-up bastards. Even through this little incident he didn't miss the glare which the long-haired arrogant bastard was giving the blonde who just responded with a smile.

"And who might you be?" asked the long-haired arrogant bastard asked looking towards Naruto.

"Who? Me?" asked Naruto pointing at himself and only received a nod from the bastard.

Naruto could feel the arrogance dripping from the boy's actions and words and he had decided to kick the boy's ass with his words. He looked around to find the eyes of every ninja on him and especially that of team 7 and team Gai (he doesn't know their names) and so he decided to make it epic. He had seen this introduction only once before and had dubbed it stupid, but even then he was in a small amount mesmerized by it and it also had it quirks.

"Glad you asked (with a grin behind the mask)… I am the one around whom the winds whirl, lightning shimmers and water dances as I strike with the force of a maelstrom! I am the bringer of storms! I am the valiant Naruto!" Naruto finished his introduction by taking a Kabuki stance similar to the old pervert he met a week ago.

A deadly silence fell on the floor as all the present shinobis watched bright-red haired boy with big sweat drops on their foreheads. But for Naruto the introduction did what it was meant to do and that was to annoy the two stuck-ups as they glared at him with tick marks on their forehead.

Uzumaki-Namikaze Ran watched with a horrified look on her face as she watched Naruto perform his introduction. She was certain that Ero-jii-san had only met the boy once and if this was the consequence of a single meeting, then she didn't want to know what would happen if Ero-jii-san kept stumbling upon the boy. Ero-jii-san always whined about how no one would be following his footsteps of the great novel writer of the thrash which he called literature. She determined her resolve that she would personally see that the boy never again meet Ero-jii-san and if he did, she would be there to straighten her godfather.

Ran was not the only one with a different expression; the other was Lee who was awed by the Naruto's Youthfulness as he shouted it loud for everyone to hear causing more sweat drops on everyone's forehead. Lee's speech of Naruto's Youthfulness would had continued if Tenten who was frozen by the introduction of her unwanted savior jerk herself out of her frozen state to smack Lee shut.

…In the real room 301…

After arriving at the real room 301, Naruto directly went by to stand by an open window which wasn't occupied any team. While he was busy viewing the scenery outside the window, he was completely oblivious to the stares he was receiving from the genins present in the room.

"So, he was indeed telling the truth. He is going to compete in the exams…" Temari said in a low voice to her siblings to which Kankurou just nodded in affirmative "… and seems like he is going to compete as a one man team."

"It's not like he needs help of teammates", responded Kankurou.

Meanwhile a grin had spread across Gaara's lips scaring the people around him as he spoke, "Mother will definitely have your blood this time."

On the other corner of the room the team from Iwagakure watched the bright-red haired boy with raised eyebrows. The reason was because the hitai-te the boy wore on his right shoulder had no symbol indicating that the boy was a ronin.

"What is Konoha thinking letting a ronin enter the exams…? And it also seems that he is participating as a one-man team", said the girl who looked about 15-16 years old with short brown hair and light gray eyes. She wore a purple kimono with pink trims and detached sleeves, a yellow obi, gray stockings and black sandals.

"Well, he does look strong Suzumebachi", said the second member of the team who was large boy with dark eyes and hair that spikes out at the back from underneath his hitai-te which he wore like a bandana. He was wearing red attire which closely resembles the uniform worn by Iwagakure ninjas and in addition wore a yellow scarf around his neck. He looked to be around to be 15 years old.

"Whatever…" said the now identified Suzumebachi.

"… What do you think princess?" Suzumebachi asked the third member of the team who had short, black hair and pupil-less pink eyes. The girl wore a red-coloured, raised collar garment that reached below her stomach region with a full length sleeve on her left arm while sleeves missing, fishnet tights and a skirt over them. She looked around 13-14 years old.

Receiving no response for her question, Suzumebachi turned towards the girl and found her staring at the boy in discussion. A wicked grin spread on her face as she spoke, "I never thought that ever in my life I would get to see the princess eyeing a boy… But I must say princess, you definitely have good eyes. The boy certainly is a looker and that mask adds mystery to him."

This earned Suzumebachi a glare from her pink-eyed teammate as she spoke, "Don't put me in league with you, Suzumebachi… the reason I am looking at the boy is because I am certain that I have seen him somewhere…"

Back with Naruto, the boy was trying to remain calm watching the ever populated streets of Konoha to shake of his nervousness. It wasn't that he was nervous because of his lack of skills… hell, that certainly wasn't the problem… the problem was the room… to be exact, his prediction of what the first test might be seemed to be on the spot so far. He seriously wanted some major distraction at this point or he was going to explode because of nervousness… that certainly wasn't a way to die for a shinobi. He seriously some better distraction than just gazing out of the window… and distraction did come in the form of shouts of two girls.

Naruto turned towards the room's entrance where he found two teams from Konoha of genins around his age with the blonde-ponytailed girl and pinky fighting over the stuck-up emo while the other blonde chatting with the other two boys. Th group of six was joined by another team from Konoha around his age join them and the group of nine continued to chatter/argue oblivious to the stares they were receiving. It was kind of refreshing watching the nine interact oblivious to the world around them. He being a ronin had never given a chance for him to socialize with boys and girls around his age to be friends like those nine and also as a child he had lived a life far away from civilization with the old man. But his eyes suddenly narrowed as h watched a grey-haired, spectacle wearing Konoha-nin around 20 approached the nine making them recognize the place they currently were.

His experience of about three to four years of a shinobi, Naruto had learned to somewhat gauge a ninja's capabilities and that grey-haired Konoha-nin was certainly way stronger than h was letting off with his behaviour. He couldn't exactly tell his skill level, but was certain that the boy didn't belong on this stage and his suspicion was further increased as he heard the teen show the nine his Nin-Info Cards. His suspicion solidified when he heard him say that he had information of every individuals participating in the exams.

…With the rookie nine and Kabuto…

A smirk appeared on Sasuke's face as this Kabuto guy affirmed of having information on individual ninjas participating in the exams as he said, "Gaara of Sunagakure, Rock Lee from Konoha…" he wondered for a second whether he really wanted info on the third but remembering his skills from that day he was forced to say "… and Naruto a ronin."

The rookie nine looked with anticipation at Kabuto for the info of the people that Sasuke called out especially the kunoichis for the info on the last ninja.

"Oh, you know their names, should be easy then", said Kabuto as he swept his hand over his deck of Nin-Info Cards drawing out three cards from it.

"Show me", said Sasuke as excitement could be felt in his voice.

"Ok, first is Rock Lee…" said Kabuto bringing forth Lee's card and went on to tell the nine rookies info on the green-spandex wearing boy. The information consisted from the boy's mission history, his skills and his team.

"Next is Sabaku no Gaara…" said Kabuto bringing forth Gaara's card and then telling the rookies info on the gourd-carrying boy. Just like with Lee, Kabuto told the rookies information on Gaara's mission history and team but not of his skills as he said that was because of him being from a foreign nation.

"… Also it seems he returned from all his missions without even a scratch…" said Kabuto shocking/scaring the rookies and the genins who were also listening on the conversation "… There is only one known incident when Gaara was wounded and that is supposedly marked as classified by the Kazekage."

This surprised the rookies even further, but amidst them a couple started to put the dots together. Meanwhile the Suna genins who were close by listening to the information slightly turned their heads toward the ronin who was participating in the exams the moment the information was brought forth.

"Finally, Naruto…" said Kabuto drawing the attention of the girls and Sasuke while the other boys looked a bit confused.

"… Amazing!" said Kabuto with awe in his voice which caused all the rookies eyebrows to rise.

Kabuto was silent for a couple of seconds after which he finally decided to speak, "There is no info of the boy's origin nor is he affiliated to any known shinobi village…" this surprised a few "… He is going to compete in the exam as a one-man team… But what is the most interesting info on the boy are his Bingo Book listings…" this caused the eyes of the rookies along with the eavesdropping genins eyes to widen "… He is nicknamed as Hakushoku Raiu no Naruto in the Suna Bingo Book and considered a…WH!"

The rookies and Kabuto watched as the Nin-Info Card which contained the info of Naruto was removed out of his hands and found the card to be pinned on the wall behind him by a senbon. It surprised the rookies as none of them had sensed the senbon, but they were further surprised and also shocked as they watched a sealing array appear with the card as the centre with the kanji for 'Fire' appear on the card… and a second later the card caught flames burning down to dust which was blown away by the wind.

"Information is the greatest weapon in the world of shinobis…" the rookies and Kabuto heard someone say and turned towards the source to find Naruto walk towards them with a small smile behind his mask as he twirled a senbon in the fingers of his left hand.

"… Don't you agree with me, Kabuto-san?" asked Naruto completely ignoring the shock of the rookies and the glare of Sasuke.

Kabuto answered after a silence of couple of seconds as he stood up, "Indeed… (Facing the rookies) Konoha, Suna, Taki, Ame, Kusa, Oto, Iwa… Many outstanding genins from the various hidden villages are here to take the exams. Well… Otogakure is a small village crated last year so not much is known about them, but the rest of the hidden villages are filled with talented youngsters."

"So basically… all the people here are…" said a nervous Sakura as she glanced at the bright-blonde haired boy.

"M… makes you lose your confidence… This certainly won't be easy…" said Hinata as she glanced at the entire room with nervousness.

"Nothing is easy…" said Naruto catching the attention of all present genins.

"… You just give it your best and never give up…" said Naruto with a smile behind his mask as he looked at Hinata which caused her to turn crimson red as she nodded in agreement while the others looked at the scene in mild amusement.

…With the Iwa team…

Suzumebachi's jaws were currently hitting the floor while her eyes had widened about the size of dinner plates. No words were forming on her lips as she heard the small amount of info about the bright-red haired ronin.

"So that's why he looked familiar…" said Kurotsuchi making her teammates head turn towards her "… I have seen his picture in the recent Bingo Books of Sunagakure and Kirigakure."

…Back with the rookies, Kabuto and Naruto…

"… And if you still feel nervous, then let it all out", said Naruto as he then faced the room full of genins confusing the rookies and causing a look of dread cause Ran's eyes.

"The names Naruto! I won't lose to you bastards, -ttebayo!" shouted Naruto as he pointed at the class filled with genins.

The eyes of the rookies were widened at the display of the supposedly Bingo Book shinobi. But none of their eyes were widened as that of Ran, for a split second she had seen a shadow of her mother's younger self stand besides the boy daring the class full of genins.

"That always feels nice", said Naruto with a huge grin on his face as he turned towards the stunned rookies.

…With the other genins in the room…

"He might have grown stronger from the last time we saw him, but he certainly hasn't matured", said Temari as she looked at Naruto with a small smile on her face.

"It's not that he hasn't matured, he is just plain stupid", deadpanned Kankurou which caused a giggle escape Temari's lips.

"He is certainly strong, but also… immature", Kurotsuchi muttered looking at the bright-red haired ronin, while Suzumebachi just looked at the boy with wide eyes.

"To be listed in Bingo Books, he certainly is strong…" said Neji as he looked at Naruto.

"… And he is very spirited", said Lee with a grin on his face.

"And also handsome", muttered Tenten with a small blush on her face to which her team looked at her with wide eyes.

…Back with the rookies, Naruto and Kabuto…

Some of the rookies seriously doubted that the boy in front of him was a ninja capable of being registered in a Bingo Book after his outright challenge to all as they didn't know whether to call it an act of stupidity or bravery.

But things were different with Naruto as he sensed an incoming attack in their direction. It was not just him who sensed the incoming attack as so did Kabuto. Both of them turned around to find a Oto-nin with spiky, dark hair jump in air using one of the benches as a leverage and hurl a couple of kunais at them which the two easily dodged. Naruto watched as a second Oto-nin appeared in front of Kabuto whose face was covered completely in gauze only leaving his left eye uncovered and with a strange device on his left arm.

It seemed to Naruto that the focus of attack of the Oto team was Kabuto. He watched with interest as the Oto-mummy-nin swing his left arm in the face of Kabuto, which the elder boy dodged with ease. While all looked amazed at the reaction time of Kabuto for dodging the attack, Naruto felt disturbance in the air between Kabuto and the Oto-mummy-nin which made him narrow his eyes. And as he wondered the reason for the disturbance of air between the two ninjas, his eyes widened as he watched the glass of Kabuto's glasses crack and fall.

The rookies were surprised seeing the glass on the glasses of the elder genin as they wondered how had that happened even after he elder genin dodge. They were further surprised as they watched the elder genin throw up. They were not the only ones who were surprised by this as the entire room of genins stared at the Oto-nins sanding in front of the elder genin wondering what exactly had happened as the Oto-nin spoke of their awesomeness.

"Idiots!" muttered Naruto as he looked at the Oto-nins as they speaking of their awesomeness to Kabuto. He had figured out the secret behind whatever jutsu the mummy-nin used seconds after the glass on the glasses of Kabuto cracked and fell. It certainly was an inventive jutsu and certainly would be an ace in the hole, but according to him it was arrogant of them to show off the jutsu even before the exam begin. Speaking of the exams a large booming sound was heard throughout the room.

"Quite down you worthless bastards!"

Naruto watched with a large boom and huge amount of smoke a huge number of Konoha shinobis appeared in the front side of the classroom. The head of the group proctors who began to talk introduced himself as Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the chuunin selection exam's first test.

…At the Hokage's mansion…

He group of five consisting of Minato, Kushina, Tsunade, Jiraya and Hiruzen were all seated around a crystal ball through which they were viewing the happenings inside the exam room 301 by the use of Tōmegane no Jutsu (Telescope Technique). Normally the first exams of the chuunin selection exams wouldn't have garnered the interest of the top five shinobis of Konoha, but seeing that one of the participants was a daughter of two of them and goddaughter of other two, while the fifth and the eldest consider her as a granddaughter.

The atmosphere in the room was a mixture of both happiness and sadness as they watched the happenings in the room 301. They had watched all the events that unfolded in a span of few minutes from the moment Ran and her team entered the room until Ibiki entered the room. The reason for the contrast of atmosphere in the room was the ronin Naruto, the similarities between the boy and Kushina were hard to ignore any longer. The boy had been observed since the day Ran talked of him at dinner where Minato learned that Kushina already met the boy and his actions just kept on reminding them of a young Kushina.

"It is certainly him, Minato…" said Kushina with tears flowing down her eyes as she faced her husband.

"But Kushina-kun, you were the first and the last person to hold his body that day", said Sarutobi which caused a sad look appear on everyone's face.

"I… I know… b… but… it's just… every time I see him… I… I want to hold him like I hold Ran close to me…" said Kushina in between her sobs as Minato held her closer to him.

"I understand, Kushina-kun! The similarities between you two jus can't be denied!" said Sarutobi as he gazed in his crystal ball with a smile on his face.

"Yep! Definitely Kushina!" said Tsunade as she watched the said boy ducked in a corner of the room with a aura of depression over his head and cursing his luck as he heard that the first test was a paper test which caused chuckle to escape every lips except Kushina who looked a bit embarrassed.

TO BE CONTINUED…