Chapter 2: Becoming a Genin


It had been a month since Kakashi had started training Naruto and Sasuke, and while the two still don't see eye to eye, they found respect from one another.

Naruto groaned as Kakashi told him to run another lap. The man was not even paying attention to Naruto or his training. He was more into his smut, which Naruto believed was called Icha-Icha. From what Naruto could deduce from the cover it was a book about something that he had not learned in class yet. He would have to check up human biology with the old man, as he saw that the man and woman on the cover seemed to be doing weird things and wearing very revealing clothing, and most importantly they were connected at the hip.

Sasuke was being drilled into the ground by running through trees avoiding jutsu that Kakashi's clone was hurling at him. The Uchiha was hard pressed to dodge, and what made it even worse was that the boy was wearing the same amount of weights that Naruto was. It was absurd, no wonder the blonde got significantly better in two months of training.

However, Naruto had more important things to think on, like what Anko was doing. The woman caught onto what Kakashi was doing and decided to tag along. She loved scaring the living shit out of fresh gaki's, plus the extra training would make them even more awesome.

She had left saying that she was preparing her "Training from Hell," supposedly. He highly doubted it could be training from hell, however from the way Kakashi paled and the way Anko grinned, he was starting to doubt that. No sane person who knew Anko would not blame him.

Naruto continued to run his fiftieth, sixtieth, seventieth lap? Naruto could not remember. He had been running so much his legs burned and he would kill to do anything, ANYTHING, other than what he was doing right now. He looked back at Kakashi, who somehow knew he was finished and waved his hand at Naruto, signalling him to do another lap. Naruto groaned until a kunai flew by his cheek, shallowly cutting it.

The blonde turned towards Anko with a nervous expression.

"A-Anko-sensei," He asked quite nervous.

"Hey gaki! Time to meet my training from hell, then back to Kakashi and then you get to hit the sack, but until then it's training time, follow me."

Naruto nodded and followed Anko. She headed quite the distance, before she landed upon a gate with a sign on it that said, ''The Forest of Death!" Naruto stepped back when he saw it.

"So gaki, first off welcome to my home, or dubbed by us, 'The Forest of Death,' or dubbed by the people who have died in here, 'That Crazy Bitches Home,' their thoughts of course. Now, thus place is just awesome. Despite the dull metallic fence that surrounds it to keep the many dangers lurking within contained, there is a river in the forest. However, the most important thing is the radius of the forest. It's about ten kilometers. You may ask why this is the most important, well that's because you're going to running it, while dodging attacks from me, and all the giant tigers, leeches, bears and other criters that lurk in this forest, isn't that fun?"

"It seems you're giving me training like what teme is doing over there with Kakashi-sensei. I can agree to the people that called you 'That Crazy Bitch,'" Naruto mumbled, however Anko heard him.

She drew a kunai and began leaking killing intent. In all reality she was not angry, she knew he was just complaining, but it was to much fun to tease him.

"What was that brat," she whispered lowly.

Naruto backed up slowly, very slowly.

"Nothing, Anko-sensei!" He shouted out.

She smiled. "Good, now get going gaki!"

As soon as Naruto took off Anko was at his heels, purposely going slower than him.

'He's rather fast for a small little brat,' She thought as she kicked him into the forest. "Stop trying to cheat gaki!"

"But you didn't even tell me where the entrance was," Naruto grumbled before he lunged to his right.

A giant tiger stood there, saliva dripping from its mouth and fangs and a look of desperation in its eyes.

"Great, a wild, starving, giant tiger. It would be my luck."

He had to roll to the side to dodge some kunai that were thrown at him by Anko before he stood up and sprinted off into the forest, followed by Anko and the tiger. He jumped over a fallen tree branch to see a giant centipede next to it, and from the looks of it just woke up.

'Shit!'

The centipede lunged towards Naruto, apparently hungry after it's nap. Naruto rolled into a ball in midair and landed on its back before drawing a kunai. He slammed the kunai into it's back before he jumped over its dead corpse and continued his running. He continued to run before the giant tiger appeared in front of him again and he knew, he just knew that Anko was behind him, preparing kunai. The tiger lunged just as Naruto ducked. The tiger flew over him and Naruto used the kunai he used to kill the centipede and stab it into the tigers gut, causing it to gurgle out blood as it's gut was pierced. Blood flowed from the wound as it did from the tigers mouth. Naruto groaned and left the kunai there, looking at his now bloody clothes.

'These are my only pair,' He thought before he used the tigers body to shield himself from a barrage of shuriken and kunai. 'Crazy bitch.'

Naruto threw the corpse of a tiger away before taking off running again. He had done this for a little over an hour before he was told to stop by Anko.

"Y-y-y-you crazy b-bitch," Naruto said trying to catch his breath.

"Aw, I love you too gaki," she said before she rubbed his cheek with hers affectionately. She then proceeded to grab both of his arms and force him to hang on to a tree.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)," Anko said after she bit her hand, drawing blood, and flowed through the hand seals: Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, and finally, Ram. A small, yet intricate seal appeared on the ground below her hand before a puff of smoke appeared from it. When the smoke cleared there were two snakes where the seal once was.

"You called us, Lady Anko," the snakes asked.

Naruto was immediately fearing for his life. Snakes that could talk. That was not a good sign.

"Yes. Ariko, Manabe, I want you to try and eat that boy over there," she said pointing at Naruto. "If he tries to slack off feel free, otherwise just scare him."

The snakes nodded and coiled around Naruto.

"I want 300 pull-ups brat, GET GOING!"

"These snakes won't eat me, you don't have the guts," Naruto roared back at her.

Anko smiled sadistically while Kakashi appeared next to her.

"Trust me Naruto she does, she has no problem with it. Sasuke, drop and give me 300 push-ups, then sprint through the forest while dodging projectiles from me."

Sasuke groaned and did as told. As long as the training got him stronger, he would do it without hesitation.

From the seriousness in Kakashi's tone of voice Naruto got to work. He knew the man was rarely serious, at least he had been told so by Anko during their little death chase. He was mainly a lazy bastard, however he was a very powerful bastard, although Anko thought it was just a guise.

Naruto however began to pull-ups anyways as the snakes playfully bit the air near his shoes, worrying him greatly. However the entire time he was shouting one thing, "YOU CRAZY BITCH!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Kakashi-sensei! Anko-sensei!"

The two jonin walked out from the nearby trees, both with smiles on their faces…well Anko had a smile; Kakashi was doing his traditional eye smile.

"Yes Naru-chan," Anko said.

Naruto growled at the woman but continued to talk to them. "I want a jutsu."

Kakashi's eye smile deepened. "We thought you might say that. So we got a jutsu, a basic one, but a jutsu nonetheless."

Naruto was immediately more engaged in the conversation. "What is it?"

''Before I hand you a jutsu scroll, I need to know what your elemental affinity is. Take this sheet of paper and channel your chakra into it. If it burns to ash, then you're fire, dampens then water, crushes then earth, cuts in half then wind, and if it wrinkles then lightning. I myself am a lightning type, now I want both of you to do so,'' explained Kakashi as he tossed the two academy students chakra paper.

Naruto channeled chakra into his paper and as a result the paper split in half, then dampened much to his amazement. Sasuke's paper on the other hand wrinkled, then burned to ash. It seemed Sasuke's primary affinity was lightning, which was a shock in of itself. The Uchiha clan main affinity is fire, and it was rare to see and Uchiha with a lightning affinity.

"As I thought, Sasuke just like me. But to already have two elements is amazing, especially when you aren't even a genin at the moment. Okay Naruto, here's your jutsu. It is called Suiton: Teppodama (Water Release: Gunshot)."

Kakashi threw him the scroll that the jutsu was contained in and Naruto grabbed it and opened it, revealing its contents to himself.

After a few seconds of reading Naruto understood the basics of the jutsu. Basically, all he had to do was knead chakra and convert it to water, and finally spit it out in the form of condensed balls. It was a high-speed water ball attack that possessed a lot of power to kill. It also held a warning on it. It was best to use where there were areas of water, however you could use your own water supply, inside your body, to create the technique, however you would want to keep a high level of water in your system to do so, as using to many could prove fatal, as you would die of dehydration.

"It is a C-rank jutsu, so it's pretty good, around low chunin, high genin level. Get started," Kakashi instructed.

Naruto smiled at Kakashi.

"You got it sensei; I'll have this down by the end of the day."

''What about me, I want a Jutsu as well,'' Sasuke complained.

''I haven't forgotten about you, Sasuke. Here's a C-rank Jutsu as well. It's called Raiton: Raikyu (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball).''

Sasuke skimmed through his jutsu with sharp eyes catching every single description. The Uchiha had to knead his normal chakra then change it into lightning chakra after doing the respective hand signs. Then an orb of lightning will form around his hand, with the center at his palm. The jutsu is meant to be thrown at those with minimal to medium speed. It can shock opponents from up to five meters at a time. The downside is that if you perform the jutsu incorrectly, you'll electrocute yourself on accident. The attack power is dependent on how much chakra you put into the jutsu, it can range from just a mere shock to possible death.

The Uchiha smirked a little. He was starting off at a good start with another jutsu to add to his relatively small arsenal.

''Hn. Thanks,'' The Uchiha said as he zoomed to an area where Naruto couldn't see him. Kakashi did his signature eye smile.

XXXXXXXXXXX

It had been months since Naruto and Sasuke had received new jutsu's. Naruto groaned as he laid his head down on his table. Iruka was giving another lecture, and to the same person. When would he realize that none of the boys in the class ever truly listened to his lectures, only the girls did? After all they had to look good for their Sasuke-kun, however Naruto still thought of him as more of a teme than anything else. Though he had to respect the Uchiha, as the blonde orignially thought Sasuke got everything easily and didn't work for it. In the end, it was the exact opposite. Sasuke worked for everything with a work ethic that rivaled his own.

Naruto frowned as Iruka started to scan over the class to see if any of them were paying any attention. He sat upright as he passed his area, as he did not want to get in trouble. Once Iruka stopped looking his way he laid his head down on the table again and began to nod off.

"Naruto-kun, y-y-you should r-r-really pay a-a-attention," he heard a gentle and soft voice whisper.

Naruto smiled at Hinata. "Sorry Hina-chan. It's just that this is so boring. We're getting the Genin Exams tomorrow, and reviewing basic stuff like this is so dull."

Hinata looked the same as she did earlier in life; she even wore the same clothes only they were a larger size, with only her hair being longer. However, things had changed about her. The major change was that she was no longer exceedingly timid. While she did not voice her opinion all that much, and was still very reluctant to go against anyone, her stuttering had happened less and less in her sentences and she seemed more confident, even if only slightly, in herself.

Naruto meanwhile had changed a lot. He wore a sleeveless dark orange shirt with dark orange bandages going up the entirety of his right arm. On those bandages was the blue Konoha leaf symbol, which was directly on his shoulder. He sported black, baggy pants that reached his black shinobi sandals. There was a black belt holding up the pants which had a weapon holster attached to it. Lastly, he wore a short two-tailed dark orange scarf around his neck, with mesh armor underneath his entire outfit. He had also grown to near eye to eye level with Sasuke. The blonde was still a bit shorter, though he would catch up eventually.

However Naruto had not just changed in terms of clothing. No his personality had changed also, as well as his skill. While he still tended to act rather brash, hyperactive, and sensitive, he also had his moments of genius, and silence. He also had gone leaps and bounds in his skill. When he first started his training with Kakashi he was not even genin level but now he was high genin-level, or in a rival sense of things Sasuke's level.

"Naruto-kun I-I-if y-y-you want to be H-H-Hokage you have to pay a-a-attention in class. Hokage's have t-t-to manage t-t-the A-Academy after a-a-all." Hinata whispered.

"I know Hina-chan. I can't forget. You keep reminding me," Naruto said as he pouted at her. Hinata just smiled faintly and started paying attention in class again.

Naruto instead decided to scout out all of his possible teammates that would be useful. Of course there was Hinata, Chouji, and Shikamaru but he knew he would not get them. Call it a gut instinct but he doubted they would be on his team, no matter how much he truly wanted them to be. There was Shino, who was actually someone Naruto found rather creepy. He was exceedingly silent, even quieter than Sasuke and Shikamaru combined, and that was saying something.

Shino was fair-skinned and actually the tallest out of everyone in the class. He had dark, bushy, brown hair and dark, narrow eyes. He wore a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar with dark sunglasses. He wore brown pants that stopped just above his ankles leading to his standard blue shinobi sandals.

Then there was Sakura and Ino. Naruto only wanted Sakura, as he still had a crush on her, although something about that crush was changing. Although she stopped physically rebuffing his date offerings, she now resorted to completely ignoring him, just like the villagers do. However, he couldn't deny that she'd become more of a kunoichi if anything in the past months. She was hardly fawning over Sasuke anymore due to being told off by Sasuke that he only wanted strong kunoichi to be by his side, not fangirls or weak kunoichi. She is definitely the second best kunoichi in the class, after Hinata of course. She had even caught Sasuke's attention when she went toe to toe with Hinata for a few minutes and trashed Ino in a sparring match.

People had told him to give up on her, and that she was not even girlfriend material but he refused to do so.

There was Kiba, who had, like Hinata, only increased his size and still wore the same style of clothing. Lastly, there was, begrudgingly, Sasuke. While Naruto would not deny that Sasuke was a very skilled and competitive rival he also could not deny, nor would he attempt to, that Sasuke was a complete asshole. He did not listen to what anyone said bar Kakashi, and more often than not ridiculed you for appearing weak. He barely changed since last year besides growth. The only thing that changed about him was that he wore straps around his arms instead of arm warmers. His and Naruto's weights were in the form of resistance seals, which were incredibly useful. Apparently their 50-50 record had not humbled him in the slightest.

Iruka frowned at the class. None of them were truly paying attention, save Sakura and Hinata. They were too excited about tomorrow, when the Genin Exams took place. He knew this would happen, and honestly he could not get angry at them. He had done the same thing after all.

With that Iruka just let class end early today, after all, no point in teaching them, plus they got out early today anyways so it truly did not matter. The other classes would be getting out soon too. As the class walked out he saw Naruto and Sasuke glaring at each other, and they were surrounded by girls. While he could tell the majority were fangirls he also saw Sakura and Hinata in there trying to defuse the upcoming fight. With that in sight Iruka walked up to the brewing fight.

"Is there a problem here," he asked in a stern voice.

Sasuke replied with his usual, "Hn."

Naruto actually answered. "Yes, teme thinks that he can beat me in a fight, and just asked me to a full on fight. Too bad he doesn't know he's gonna lose and I'm gonna make my wins one higher."

Ino screeched out a, "NO WAY NARUTO-BAKA!" and was soon chorused by the rest of Sasuke's fangirls.

Iruka was just about to speak when he saw a grin come to Naruto's face, the prankster grin. It was well known around Konoha that Naruto was a prankster in heart and soul and loved pranking people. Luckily the Hyuga's did not know who sold their underclothes out to the public with their names on it, or else Naruto would have been six feet underground already.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry for insulting the great Sasuke, Ino. Ya know, he said that he wants to go on a date with you sometime."

With that Naruto grabbed Hinata and ran as Ino blushed madly and gave Sasuke a massive glomp.

"Really Sasuke-kun, oh I've been waiting for this. I have everything set up…" her speech was cut off by the rest of the fangirls realizing what was said and starting to fight over Sasuke, who was thinking one thing. 'Damn you Naruto!'

XxX

Naruto sighed as he walked down the village. It was night and he had had a boring day. Nothing truly interesting had happened, except for his prank on Sasuke. He would regret that soon. However, the day was still boring even considering that. His training with Hinata went great, as per usual, and she managed to shut down a couple of his tenketsu. Things would be interesting tomorrow, and that was more than likely killing his good vibe.

With that he continued to walk around the village before coming upon something he was not expecting. It was Sasuke. The ever brooding Uchiha was walking down the streets with that same superior look he usually had. However, only a person like Sasuke, who had lost everything they cared about deeply, or Naruto, someone who had faced the harsh realities of life, would ever see the sadness that deep in Sasuke's eyes. It was very well hidden, so much that Naruto doubted that even Iruka had noticed Sasuke's sadness. He was willing to bet that very few had, and those few, if he knew their names which he thought he did, he could count on one hand.

"Teme, you look down. Some fangirls rape you today?"

Sasuke looked up and saw Naruto standing in front of him, his prankster smile on his face. Sasuke growled.

"They might have if I didn't know Kawarimi (Body Replacement Technique). As for you, you SET THEM ON ME!"

Sasuke drew a pair of kunai and growled however Naruto's grin only widened.

"I'm afraid you're so called 'cool' persona did that. But you know if you want me to get them I can, I'm pretty sure Ino or Sakura's house is right-"

"Sakura's not a fangirl anymore, Naruto. I've helped her train when she helped me a bit on my chakra control. As for you,'' Sasuke stopped. Naruto was cut off as Sasuke tried to jam a kunai into his foot, not a lethal blow, just enough to make Naruto stop talking.

"I swear to Kami if you do that I will shove your face so far up your ass you'll be shitting from your mouth for years."

"Oh, big bad Sasuke thinks he's so scary," Naruto instigated.

''Hn.'' was Sasuke's only reply.

Sasuke growled and threw his kunai which Naruto blocked by throwing a shuriken at it. The two charged each other both with a fist raised. Sasuke let his fly towards Naruto's head, however Naruto's punch was a fake and he caught Sasuke's fist and sent a front kick towards Sasuke's groin. Sasuke looked shocked for a moment before he jumped in the air, avoiding the kick as Naruto stopped it so he did not hyperextend his knee, and slammed his feet down on Naruto's foot, making the blonde haired shinobi-to-be lose his balance and fall to the ground.

Sasuke tried to punch Naruto's head; however the blonde turned his head to the side before he slipped his legs under Sasuke's armpits and pushed, sending the Uchiha flying off of him. Sasuke landed a good distance away, but as soon as he landed Naruto was already charging. Naruto's legs tensed before he jumped in the air and attempted a flying side kick, however Sasuke rolled away just in time before going through handsigns.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)."

A massive fireball sprang from Sasuke's mouth towards Naruto, heating up the area. Naruto frowned.

'Yeah, that's not good.' Naruto thought as he flew through his own handseals.

"Suiton: Teppōdama (Water Release: Gunshot)."

Naruto opened his mouth and out sprang a liquid bullet that slammed into Sasuke's fireball, extinguishing it and causing a cloak of steam to descend over the area. Sasuke tensed and kept his eyes wandering, never keeping them in one place to long, in a mad search to find Naruto, however Sasuke did not look behind him, and Naruto was behind him.

"Peek-a-boo ASSHOLE!"

Naruto slammed his foot into Sasuke's back causing him to fall, however Sasuke turned on his fall and grabbed Naruto's foot, slamming into the ground next to him. As the cloak of steam arose the two arose before landing a punch square in the others faces sending both of them stumbling backwards.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The Anbu had already been sent to see who was sending out such high chakra signatures at such a late time and were surprised when they came upon two boys who were not even genin. It was rather interesting to see genin shoot off jutsu that they should not be capable of doing yet.

"My money is on the Uchiha. Anybody wanna go against me?" one Anbu member asked.

"I do," said a man.

The Anko member turned at a near invisible speed, lashing out at the man with a kunai, however his attack was halted when his wrist was grabbed, by none other than Kakashi.

"Woah there Fox, calm down," Kakashi said in his usual bored tone.

Fox, the Anbu member, growled at Kakashi. "Don't sneak up on me senpai, it's annoying."

Kakashi eye smiled. "Right. But just so you know, its gonna be a tie. I taught them myself for nearly a year."

"Doubt it. The Uchiha will win."

XXXXXXXXXXX

As soon as Kakashi said that Naruto decided it was time to let lose.

"Sorry bout this Sasuke, but I'm gonna hit you with everything I've got! Fuuton: Kūki no Uzu (Wind Release: Air Vortex)."

''Hmph, then so will I. Katon: Kita no Jutsu (Fire Release: Aerial Explosion Technique).'' Sasuke jumped high into the air and released undetectable flammable gas in the air to counteract the Kuki no Uzu.

Naruto slammed his hands on his stomach and from his mouth came a giant spiraling ball of air. It was launched towards Sasuke, and grew in size as it came towards him. Sasuke frowned when he got a good look at it. It was now larger than he was, and he doubted he had a strong enough Katon jutsu to beat it besides his current jutsu, or strong enough to absorb it. So the Uchiha generated lightning chakra in his hand to ignite the flammable gas, creating a massive flame to counter Naruto's jutsu. The flame grew even more intense due to the wind in Naruto's jutsu.

Shit! Thought Naruto as his jutsu was effectively countered by a deadly Katon Jutsu. ''Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique).'' 20 Naruto's appeared around the original and charged towards Sasuke while the original used a Kawarimi to escape.

Sasuke saw the clones Naruto had produced and was a little shocked. It seemed the dobe had much more chakra than what normal people his age should have. Granted, he had more chakra than everybody in his class bar Naruto, he didn't have nearly as much as Naruto possessed. The Uchiha estimated that he had enough chakra for three more decent jutsu before he would have to push his body to the limit.

''Raton: Raikyu." A ball of electric chakra formed into Sasuke's right palm. The Uchiha pumped more chakra into it, then he cocked his arm back to give him leverage when he throws his jutsu. Finally, the raven let his jutsu fly.

The clones were annihilated on the spot from the jutsu whilst Naruto charged through the smoke to engage Sasuke in a Taijutsu battle. The Uchiha charged back at his rival with ferocity. The two hit eachother with a swift but powerful fist square in the face. The duo rolled over on the ground, glaring at eachother with intensity.

"You know Sasuke I don't get you," Naruto began as he stood up completely. "You have everything you could ever want in this village, a nice house, money, girls throwing themselves at you, everyone basically worshipping you, yet you always refuse them. I could understand it if you accepted them all and acted like a stuck up asshole, which you do act like by the way, but you always refuse everyone, why?"

Sasuke growled. "None of your business."

"YOU BEST DAMN BELIEVE IT'S MY BUSINESS! If we're on the same team I won't be able to cooperate with you as you always want to do things by yourself. I understand that at certain times you need to do things by yourself, but unless you explain it to me I can't really help you now can I!?"

Sasuke had a shocked, yet still defiant, expression on his face. He had not expected someone to care about him so much, unless of course they were his fangirls, but he knew for a fact Naruto was not one of them. It was strange, yet comforting. However, he had no right to try and force it out of him. Who did he think he was? He had never lost his entire clan before and be forced to relive that over and over, forced to by none other than your own brother. Who did he think he was?

"You have no right to order me around!" Sasuke roared, however Naruto grabbed Sasuke's shirt and lifted him into the air, but his hands fell to his sides when Sasuke slammed both of his arms on them and forced his down. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH! You don't know what it's like to lose everyone, EVERYONE you hold precious to you be ripped away from your idol in one night! You've never been forced to relive that through a genjutsu for 72 HELLISH hours! You can't help me."

Naruto was shocked at the relevation. "Its true, I have no idea what its like. I've never had anyone from the beginning. However, we've always been enemies, but you know something Sasuke I've always wanted to be FRIENDS with you! Ever since that day I saw you sitting alone on that pier I realized you were like me, you were alone and sad, covered in grief! I wanted to befriend you so we could support eachother! Yet you always rebuked me, and told me I was incapable of doing anything, just accept me for who I am!"

"Why should I even bother being friends with you!? You're weak," Sasuke hollered.

"So a weak person just went blow fo blow with you in combat. What does that say about you?" Naruto teased, he couldn't resist it.

Sasuke growled and slammed his fist in his palm. "You wanna for round two?"

"As long as you don't mind losing this time," Naruto hissed.

Sasuke was about to punch Naruto until his hand shot out, for a handshake. "But as friends this time okay?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto's hand before looking back up at Naruto. Did this guy really want to be friends with him? A person who had looked down on him his entire life? The Uchiha barely knew Naruto, other than the fact he was in his class, a hardworker, alone like him and a great rival, not that he would ever admit it.

Sasuke looked back at Naruto's hand. He had been rather bored lately, after all, all he did was train by himself or with Naruto and Kakashi While that had its perks he still did miss companionship, after all his only friends were in the clan, and they were all dead. Plus, from his point of view, Itachi had killed his family for three reasons. One, to test his power, two, he always hated the family, and three to make Sasuke live out a life of loneliness. Therefore, why should Sasuke play by Itachi's rules? Itachi would not play by his. He would also have more allies to take down Itachi when the time was necessary, and by that he meant deal with the grunts. Sasuke shook hands with Naruto. He would no longer live in Itachi's shadow.

"Fine."

And with that, their second fight began anew.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto groaned as he awoke from his very long nap. He had gone to the Academy early, as he was too excited to wait and fell asleep while he was there. As he awoke he saw Hinata sitting next to him, as well as Sasuke sitting to his side, glaring at all of the fangirls that were swarming the desk. It seemed he was still sore from his bout with Sasuke, though most of his cuts and bruises were already healed.

"I thought you wouldn't want to let everyone know we're friend's teme," Naruto commented.

"It was the only seat that didn't have another one open next to it, dobe" Sasuke responded.

"Sure," Naruto said, however the dreaded fangirls had heard Naruto's earlier comment and processed it by now.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN FRIENDS NARUTO-BAKA?!"

Sasuke smirked. "Good luck, dobe."

"What do you-OH MY GOD!"

Sasuke's fangirls had literally dragged Naruto away by the hair to berate him with questions about how he became friends with their Sasuke-kun and how they could, also including the common insult on how he could never become friends with someone of Sasuke's status. They began to ignore everything he said afterwards; not believing a loser and orphan could ever become friends with someone as prestigious as on Uchiha. They did not know they were giving up on free advice, as Naruto would have been more than happy to tell them, if only to make Sasuke's life horrid.

Naruto walked back over to his seat only to see the fangirls fighting over it, with Sasuke and Hinata looking absolutely annoyed at the entire thing, although Hinata tried to conceal hers. Naruto sighed and easily got away from the girls and sat in his seat, however they noticed this and glared at him.

"What are you doing Naruto-baka," they began to hiss, however the loudest one was Ino.

"I'm sitting in my seat," Naruto mumbled tiredly.

"AND WHO SAYS YOU GET TO SIT NEXT TO SASUKE!" Ino screeched, making all of the boys hold their ears. Ino cocked her fist back and threw a punch at Naruto. However her fist was caught by a pink figure.

''Leave Naruto and Sasuke-kun alone,'' Sakura spoke up.

''What're you doing, Billboard Brow?'' Ino asked, trying to break away from Sakura's iron grip.

''I've realized that punching Naruto won't solve anything. He just sat in his seat, no need to beat him just for doing that. Leave Sasuke-kun alone, he doesn't want to be bothered with fangirls, I learned that months ago.''

Ino was released from Sakura's grip and heeded her words. "Thanks Sakura-chan.'' The pinkette promptly nodded when unexpected props came from an unexpected person.

''Hmph. Thanks Sakura,'' Sasuke said casually. This got the pinkette to blush a bit, before going back to normal. ''It was nothing much.''

It was at that moment that Iruka walked in, ironically.

"Everyone sit down," he said in his usual stern voice. The fangirls gave one more scathing glare at Naruto before finding a seat, obviously as close as they could get to Sasuke.

With that done Iruka looked at the nearby Mizuki who nodded. Iruka nodded back and waved his hand upwards. The entire class stood and walked out the door to the training grounds.

"Okay, first off it's the kunai and shuriken throwing part of the exam. You will have five of each in your hand and must hit your targets, scoring at least a six or above to pass this part of the exam."

As everyone went Naruto became even more disappointed in the fangirls performance. Every girl, save Hinata and Sakura, got a four or lower, and Naruto was pretty sure the fours were just luck. Hinata scored an eight, completely blowing all of them out of the water bar Sakura, whom had scored a 7, especially considering the fact that Hyuga's were usually taijutsu orientated fighters and did not fight at long range. It was then the boys turn. This was much better as Shino scored nine, Kiba scored eight, Shikamaru, being lazy, only scored six, enough to pass although Naruto knew he could have done better, Chouji scored a seven, however that was when all the decent, or exceptional in Shino's case, scores ended. Sasuke went up, and as expected, his fangirls cheered for him. When he was given the kunai and shuriken he threw them all simultaneously, each landing with a bull's-eye.

"Nicely done Sasuke, perfect score," Iruka said. "Lastly, Uzumaki Naruto."

Sasuke walked away smirking all the while, while he fangirls fawned over him, however when he passed Naruto he said one thing.

"Dobe."

"Teme."

Iruka handed Naruto his kunai and shuriken, however instead of the usual standing in place and throwing them Naruto ran in a circle so he got dizzy before throwing them at the wooden post. He scored a eight.

"HAHA, NARUTO-BAKA CAN'T BEAT MY SASUKE-KUN!" Ino roared, forcing everyone to cover their ears at the sound of the shrill voice of a banshee.

"She has a slight point Naruto. You could have scored a ten, why didn't you," Iruka asked.

"Because, in combat we won't have the luxury of our enemy standing still, therefore I made myself dizzy to counteract this affect," Naruto said.

Sasuke growled at Naruto; however what he said made sense. He should have thought of that. He was an Uchiha after all.

Iruka nodded. It made sense, and was quite true; still the old Naruto would not have thought of this and only threw the kunai and shuriken, matching Sasuke. He wondered who'd helped the boy mature or train.

"Okay, next up, the written exam."

They walked back into the Academy and sat down, Sasuke sitting next to Naruto who sat next to Hinata. As the exam was passed out Sasuke looked fine as did Hinata, however Naruto looked dead.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked over at Hinata, looking at her timidly.

"Y-y-you can u-u-use my answers if y-you w-w-want," she offered.

Sasuke and Naruto both looked at her, surprised, although for different reasons. Sasuke because this girl was willingly offering NARUTO a way to breeze pass all of the questions, as Hinata was one, if not the smartest, not counting Sakura, girl in the class. However, he then became aware of Hinata's crush on Naruto. Naruto on the other hand, was surprised because Hinata was willing to sacrifice her own clan's honor, if she got caught, and her only purity to help him out. It was sweet of her.

"Thank you Hina-chan, but I can't do that. It's too much to ask."

Hinata nodded but looked away sadly. Naruto noticed this and felt a strange sadness overtake him as he noticed her sad, for some reason he hated seeing her like that even more than he usually did. He gave her a side hug.

"Truly thank you Hina-chan, you're a great friend."

Hinata began to blush madly and think the same lines over and over again in her head, all along the lines of, 'Naruto-kun is hugging me! Do not faint! Do not faint!' She managed to stay conscious and subconsciously scooted closer to Naruto, although he did not notice.

Naruto removed his arm and started the test. As soon as he saw the first question his head hit the table. He knew he would fail this right off the bat.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was surprised as he turned his test in, and the class finally sighed. He had taken three hours alone to complete that test, while the rest of the class finished it within an hour. But, Naruto was well, Naruto and while he was middle of the pack in terms of brains he still hated studying and because of that he did not study during his late night yesterday, resulting in a brain fart which resulted in him freaking out. However, he was positive he managed to scrape by, if only barely.

However now was the final part of the test, the jutsu portion. Naruto watched as many people went into a nearby room, some coming back with headbands, and some coming back with sadness all over their faces.

"You're going to fail dobe," Sasuke whispered while smirking.

"In your dreams," Naruto responded.

Sasuke just smirked before going back to his usual brooding attitude. Naruto frowned at that but then shrugged. It would take time, he was actually opening up faster than Naruto thought he would.

It took a while, but Sasuke's name was finally called and after a couple of minutes he came back with a headband, followed by Hinata who did the same thing. Naruto's name was called afterward.

"G-good luck Naruto-kun," Hinata said.

Naruto began walking down the steps and gave Hinata a thumbs up. "Thanks Hina-chan."

With that Naruto walked into the nearby room. He stood in front of Iruka and Mizuki, both of which looked at him sternly.

"Perform a Kawarimi (Body Replacement Technique) Naruto," Iruka said.

Naruto did so and switched places with Iruka. Iruka nodded and switched places with Naruto before looking at him again.

"Henge (Transformation Technique)."

Naruto transformed into the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Once Iruka nodded Naruto let the jutsu dispel, returning him to his normal form, enough time to prepare for the one thing Naruto knew would be on the test and something he was dreading.

"And finally do a Bunshin (Clone Technique)."

Naruto decided to do the Kage Bunshin instead of the regular one to pass. A perfect replica of Naruto appeared beside him.

"Well, albeit barely on the written portion, you passed the Genin Exam with an average of 90 out of the maximum one hundred you could have gotten. Great job Naruto," Iruka congratulated.

Naruto smiled as Iruka handed him his headband. It had light blue cloth with the metal plate with the Konoha leaf symbol in the center of the metal plate. Naruto smiled and tied it around his forehead.

Naruto walked outside proudly, surprising everyone. They were honestly not expecting him to pass, save Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Chouji. However as the last people came in and out they had no time to wonder how Naruto passed as they had to go and take their own tests, some coming back with sadness all over their faces. Naruto sighed as Iruka came out, absolutely pleased with the outcome of the test.

"With that we will announce the Rookie of the Year, who is Sasuke Uchiha, with a close runner-up being Naruto Uzumaki."

The entire fanbase of Sasuke cheered, celebrating his victory over Naruto, however the boys were impressed. Naruto had climbed the ladder up to Sasuke's level fairly quickly. They wondered what was next from him.

"And with that you guys are dismissed, congratulations."

The class began to filter out of the classroom until Mizuki walked up to Naruto and led him away.

"Naruto I have some information for you."

"What is it Mizuki-sensei?"

"Do you want to learn how to make better Bunshin (Clone Technique), ones that you could use effectively?"

Naruto looked bored.