Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Other than the stuff in my house I do own, which isn't much. lol.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it! You guys are helping a lot!

Oh and, for those of you interested I drew up a quick bust of Naruto in his current outfit I explained in the last chapter. The link is in my profile.

Chapter 2: The Future of the Past

(Flashback: Kaze no Kuni borders)

"We're good," Naruto heard the voice over the radio. He and his squad were currently crouched behind a fairly large sand dune, and they were in radio contact with another squad a kilometer away; closer to the objective. "Don't move yet though, wait for taichou's signal!"

The platoon was currently split up into three squads; the first squad and captain was currently scouting the entrance of what could be a possible field HQ for the Akatsuki to be working out of: A conspicuous cave stuck inside of a massive rock formation in the middle of the desert. The second squad was in the direct 100 meter vicinity of the first squad as back up while Naruto and his squad were to move once the others were in and had found another possible entrance.

Neji and Samui stood at the mouth of the cave, being extremely cautious. The Hyuuga's byakugan was activated and he was trying to follow the tunnels deeper into the ground.

"It's impossible for me to look further in as the tunnels stretch for kilometers. I'm afraid we'll have to go in and check ourselves." Neji stated solemnly, "It's up to you, Samui-taichou."

He heard the large breasted woman sigh. "I suppose so." She motion for squad two to move into her vicinity as she put a hand up to her radio, "Naruto, you and squad three are going to keep watch as we scout the cavern out. If you see anything suspicious out here I want you radio in and report it immediately." He heard him sigh over the channel, "and remember: we're the only platoon in this area at the moment."

"Gotcha Taichou," the Uzumaki's voice crackled over the radio, "We'll take care of anything up here!"

"Good." She replied, "All right, First Division, let's go!"

(with Naruto)

Naruto and 5 other shinobi were simply just sitting in the Sand idly. It was in the dead of the night and the only sounds heard were from the occasional breeze or one of his men shifting around nervously.

"Fuku-taichou," said a younger Hyuuga chuunin with his Byakugan activated, "I see multiple chakra signatures coming from the southwest..."

"Approximation of numbers and distance!"

"Twenty plus inbound about 6 kilos away; ETA 5 minutes!"

Naruto swore before addressing the Hyuuga, "Jiro, radio in the situation to Samui-taichou. Everyone else get into formation B-7 with a 50 meter spread around the sand dunes." The six shinobi quickly split up into several inconspicuous spots around the sand dunes in a spaced out, zig-zag pattern. "Tenten, get some of your mines set up in the sand up there, we're gonna light these fuckers up into kingdom come!"

"Roger!"

"Jiro, distance!" Naruto ordered over the radio in a harsh whisper.

"500 meters! We got a minute!"

"Perfect, everyone brace yourselves!"

Several white Zetu and a couple of cloaked ninja came into view as they leaped over a distant sand dune. That's... Yagura? Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the incoming shinobi.

Several explosions rocked the ground as the Akatsuki passed over the mines, obscuring the incoming ninja from view.

Tenten quickly saturated the massive fireball with a hail of sharp weapons, and Naruto would follow in suit.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow clone)!"

His squad stood on edge as the smoke from the explosions started to die down. The entire group of white Zetsu were laying on the ground, burnt or had kunai and shuriken sticking out from multiple places on their bodies.

The ground started to shake, and a massive tidal wave emerged from behind a few sand dunes.

"What the fuck?" one of his teammates called out.

"Shit, it's the Yondaime Mizukage!" Naruto said, recognizing the sanbi jinchuuriki standing on top of the tsunami. "Hold your breaths!"

The next thing the squad knew, they were all 30 meters deep in murky water trying to swim their way back to the surface. It was easier said than done however, as powerful and massive spike-shaped pulses zipped passed them as they frantically swam their way to the top. One by one his team was impaled by the invisible force, blood starting to cloud the water and his vision.

The lieutenant and Jiro were the only ones to make it back to the surface alive, the rest of his squad floating on top of the water face down, bleeding from massive holes in their abdomens.

Naruto's now-golden eyes glared at the revived jinchuuriki, who was standing on the other side of the man-made lake passively.

Tendrils of water suddenly erupted from beneath their feet; the Uzumaki managing to jump high enough to avoid it in time. The young Hyuuga was not as lucky, as he was dragged down in the murky depths and impaled multiple times.

Time slowed as Naruto was in the air, and he watched two massive water dragons break out of the water and rush towards him. Luckily for him he was plummeting faster than the dragons were approaching, and he used to his momentum to deliver a sage mode empowered punch to tear through the dragons and landing onto the water with a huge shockwave.

The next thing he knew, Yagura was above him with his special sword-staff reared back. Naruto blocked the slash with a kunai in his right hand, and a Rasengan popped into his left. He shoved it into the short Mizukage's abdomen; Sage mode eyes met Rinnegan eyes once again, until the other jinchuuriki was launched backwards and sent skipping across the water.

The large man-made lake slowly drained, and soon the bodies of what used to be his squad were scattered around him in puddles forming from their own blood. The red liquid glistened in the moonlight. The Uzumaki fought back tears as he went around to each of their mutilated bodies, closing their eyes and saying a small prayer for each of them. The last body he went to was Tenten's. Her brown eyes stared up at the moon lifelessly, a trail of blood trickling from the corner of her lips.

His tears came down silently as he closed her eyes too, I wonder how I'm supposed break this to Lee, Gai and Neji...

(Present)

Ever since Naruto was sent back in time, he frequently had nightmares of the war. They were in a random jumbled order, and they always depicted a random battle he had participated in. To him, the war was always the same shit in different days. People always died, and they were always bloodied and battered.

After the first month he no longer cried over his fallen comrades. Every new mission he was sent out on always had casualties, and his friends were always a part of the statistic. The war made him cold, hard and brittle, but it strengthened his mind in a way no other experience ever could. There were several instances in the war where he deemed his survival pure luck, however. And after watching all his friends die there was a point where he wished he had too.

There was one thing he discovered during the war though: the enemies fell just as easily as his comrades did. He used his super-human regenerative abilities and stamina to full advantage as he was always capable of sustaining at least one fatal hit before weakening. This always gave him enough time to crush his enemy and then some. Even against an enemy of the Mizukage's caliber; once Naruto had found an opening no one was invincible. It was just a matter of stretching the battle long enough for him to find that weakness. The blonde wasn't as strategically gifted like his Nara companion, but even he had to admit he was ingenius in his own right.

He was currently sitting on the edge of his bed, drenched in sweat. It was always like that after a bloody nightmare. The room was still dim; the moon setting itself just below the mountaintops. The blonde glanced at his clock. It faintly glowed an eerie monochromatic green colour, flashing 4:21 am.

The room was cold, probably due to the fact that it was that he left his window slightly ajar and it was in the middle of November. Konoha's mild winter was just around the corner. It was fine; Naruto happened to enjoy the cold.

He padded into the washroom, stepping into the shower and letting the warm liquid wash away his past… er, future. He sighed, No time like the present though… er, past. Whatever.

Today was the first day of the Chuunin Exams, and he was slightly nervous. You'd think after taking it already and knowing what's gonna happen I'd have grown a pair by now… What was the first test again? Oh right, that stupid written test in the academy. It's going to be fun fucking around with the system this time around.

The other day, Naruto had taken the liberty to go over his skill set. One thing the blonde did not want was using one of his mega-powerful techniques to use as a trump card (or to show off…) and have it blow up in his face. He sneaked out of the village using a technique Jiraiya had created that allowed him to turn transparent (or appear transparent) by bending the way light hit him using chakra.

It worked, albeit for a short time and it was used again two sleeping chuunin gate guards, but it still worked.

He tested most of his offensive and defensive techniques in a rather large and secluded clearing in the forest a few miles away from the village. Naruto was rather disheartened to find out all his techniques were severely toned down.

His earth walls were still massive and sturdy, but it took a much larger amount of chakra to perform, not to mention his mastery over the earth element was horrible since his younger self had never ventured into any elemental techniques at all. The earth dragon he created was smaller and a shit ton harder to control, not to mention the massive chakra drain he had experience right after. After that, he decided not to test anymore earth techniques since he was left fatigued and sweaty.

He was relieved to see that the elements he had a natural talent with, wind and fire, were much easier to control and a lot less taxing on chakra. He shot out massive fireballs with relative ease, although their size paled in comparison to the goenkuu's he could spit out during the war. His wind techniques were downgraded from massive, clear-cut forest-rending tornadoes to just bursts of surface-wounding wind blades.

Naruto was proud to admit that he had fully mastered his Rasenshuriken with only two hands: one hand to provide the shape and chakra and the other to provide his element. When he tried it here however, he found his jutsu just dissipating before it even became a wind-infused Rasengan. It would start to screech, but then disappear with an ear piercing pop. He tried it with a clone, but when the technique would reach its full size, he could literally start to feel the intensity of the technique tear through his arm. He would dispel the technique before he could cause anymore self-harm. It had ripped right through his bandage-gloves and made countless tiny cuts in his forearm, looking like one big bloody ring of flesh.

He expected no less of an outcome, considering he had no mastery over any of the elements, and trying a technique that required full mastery and control of oneself was great foolishness on his part. It was all right at the moment however; he wouldn't need any major firepower for another year or so. The Uzumaki would definitely find a work around by then.

The only thing he needed to worry about at the moment was the brief run-in they were going to have with Orochimaru. If he could defeat, no, at least stall the snake bastard long enough for the ANBU to show up then he would be one step closer to preventing his bastard of a friend from defecting.

Clad in only a towel, he rummaged through his refrigerator looking for breakfast. As he grew older, Naruto learned that the best way to grow strong and healthy was a good variety of food and a big breakfast. He dropped a carton of eggs, a package of bacon, and a package of miso on his counter top. Nothing like a great combination of food to start off your day.

"Itadakimasu." He said quietly, ready to feast on the rather large meal he had prepared for himself. He was slurping down his miso soup when he heard a faint knock on the door. Puzzled, he padded into his room to slip on undergarments and his pants, all while the repeated rapping on the door increased in vigor and loudness. Who the hell could be visiting me at 5:30am? "Yeah, yeah hold on I'm coming!"

He swung the door open to find his one-eyed sensei looking down on him. "Ohayou, Naruto." Kakashi said, his cheerful voice contradicting the time of day it was.

"Kaka-Sensei?" Naruto said before being moved aside as the jounin let himself in, "What are you doing here? And I'm surprised you didn't come in through the window this time."

"I just came here to remind you to be at the Academy at 8am sharp!" He began, pulling a carton of milk and an apple from his fridge, "I figured you wouldn't be able to wake up in time, so I decided to be a good sensei and wake you up for you. It seems my favourite blonde genin is more responsible than I thought." He turned around and faced the kitchen window, an audible crunch being heard.

"Hey!" Naruto huffed indignantly, reclaiming his seat on his kitchen table, "I'll have you know I'm a lot more responsible than people give me credit for." He popped a slice of bacon into his mouth. "I mean look at how clean this place is! You wouldn't expect an orphan who doesn't get any visitors to clean up after himself do you?"

Kakashi was leaning against the counter, taking a rather large swig of the 1L jug of milk he had stolen from Naruto's fridge, "I suppose not. I was actually expecting to find underwear and ramen on the floor the first time I broke into your apartment." He threw his apple core into the small chrome trash bucket in the corner of the kitchen.

"Thanks," the blonde drawled, "Your confidence in my ability to be clean and independent makes me feel amazing." He stacked his bowls on top of each other, "And hey, what do you mean the first time? You broke into my apartment?"

"Of course I did," the scarecrow replied off handedly, "Where do you think these fruits and this fresh carton of milk came from anyway?" He pulled out his orange book, "Besides, I thought you would've known with those motion detecting seals you placed all over the place anyways."

Naruto dropped the china he was holding onto into the sink with a clatter, "W-what… How did you even see those?"

"I'll admit, for fairly simple seals the craftsmanship and handwriting used to make them was master-class." Kakashi admitted, "It almost looks like the Yondaime's handwriting. I wouldn't have noticed them to begin with had I not been familiar with the seal's faint chakra leak beforehand." He eyed Naruto suspiciously, "Where did you learn how to create fuuinjutsu?"

The blonde returned with his own narrowed gaze, "I might've read up on a thing or two from a few books I pulled out in the library."

Kakashi was unphased, "Of course you did." He flipped his book open, returning to his cheery morning disposition, "Well, I suppose this isn't the time to prod and pester you about it, so we'll continue this talk after the exams." He opened the front door, "If you ever need tips on fuuinjutsu, don't hesitate to ask me. I might know a few things."

Naruto nodded warily, holding the door open as his sensei stepped out of the apartment.

"Remember, 8am sharp in room 301! Don't be late." Kakashi gave him an eye smile before poofing from the hallway.

Naruto sighed, before slamming the door shut. "You're one to talk, you tardy perverted bastard."

Note to self: Never underestimate your old jounin sensei that knows you better than you do.

(Konohagakure Academy – 7:33am)

Naruto was sitting on the swing (which he had affectionately called his 'Lonely Swing') underneath the large tree in the front yard of the academy. He watched genin teams from all over the continent walking in and out of the rather large building as he patiently waited for his own teammates.

The first of his teammates to arrive was the raven-haired Uchiha, who just walked past the swing and towards the main entrance, "Dobe."

"Teme." Naruto replied just as nonchalantly. "Shouldn't we wait for Sakura-chan?" He asked as he noticed Sasuke on autopilot about to enter the first exam without his teammates.

"Hn," He replied not stopping, "I'll meet up with you two inside, it's cold out here."

Naruto snorted, "The king of being cold is phased by mere winter weather and morning dew? Astounding! Next thing you know that stick in your ass will finally come out, huh?"

The Uchiha simply sighed, entering the building whilst muttering, "Idiot." Under his breath.

The blonde smirked before he leaned against the wall of the academy next to the main entrance, resuming his patient waiting. He closed his eyes, deciding that rest would be a good idea until his pink-haired teammate finally showed up.

Huh? Said pink-haired girl thought as she approached the building, Who's that cutie leaning next to the doors… He has the Leaf headband but I don't think I've ever seen him before…

Naruto opened a single eye, taking a quick glance at the girl, "Finally Sakura-chan! You take forever; what if we ended up being late, huh?"

WHAT? Sakura guffawed inwardly, There's no way that's Naruto! "A-ahh… I'm sorry, I take a while to get ready in the morning…" She replied lamely, "Kaka-sensei actually had to knock on my window to get me up."

Naruto chuckled as he held the door open for her, "Well as long as you're here." He snickered as he caught the faint blush the girl was trying to hide with her hair as she walked past him, "At least he didn't wake you up at Six in the morning." He squinted, "Hey look, I see Sasuke down there." He pointed at the stairs at the end of the hallway, waving with his other hand. They regrouped before heading up the stairs together.

The trio walked down the hall way of the second floor, noticing a rather large commotion happening in the middle of the hall.

"Come on, just let us in already!" shouted a girl with the familiar double-bun hairdo. Tenten charged at the two boys blocking the door, only to get kicked down swiftly.

"You'll never become chuunin with attacks like that!" Said one, a bandage across his face.

"Kids like you die in the chuunin exams, you're clearly not ready if you can't get past us!"

"That is what you think!" said a boy in bright green spandex. He moved at an incredible speed with his fist cocked back. He threw a swift punch, only for it to be avoided and he promptly re-introduced with the floor.

"Sheesh, that's brutal." Naruto commented. He and his team were currently at the rear of the crowd, watching the two getting beat down by the chuunin guarding the door to room '301'. "Come on guys, let's keep moving."

His teammate paid him no heed as Sasuke asserted himself to the front of the crowd. "You will let us pass." The Uchiha commanded, "And you will release that silly genjutsu you have surrounding the area."

The chuunin smirked, "So you noticed it huh?" The sign reading '301' warped slightly, before showing '201'. "Not bad for a genin like yourself…."

His partner quickly lunged at Sasuke, who was also preparing to knock the older ninja out.

"Enough!" The bowl-cut brandishing genin shouted. He had blurred inbetween the two, catching both of their attacks with his hands.

He caught my attack with his hands… Sasuke thought, slightly impressed, He's almost as fast as Naruto… He remembered their brief encounter with the Sand trio.

"This is such a waste of time." Naruto muttered under his breath, walking ahead up the stairs.

"Sasuke-kun, let's go!" Sakura said nervously, "We don't wanna be late right?"

"Hn…" He said nothing, shoving past the crowd and up the stairs. Sakura let out an exasperated sigh.

The green-clad ninja stared curiously at the departing team seven. "Lee, let's go!" His bun-haired teammate called out, standing beside the Hyuuga.

"I will catch up with you guys," the gouken student replied, "There is something I must do first."

(5 minutes later)

"Uchiha Sasuke!" Lee called out, "Fight me! I must test my techniques against a genius of your caliber."

"Sasuke-kun…" The pink-haired girl began, but she was quickly interrupted.

"Don't worry, this'll take five minutes." Sasuke confidently slipped into his stance, his Sharingan flaring to life.

"It is an honour to fight against the Sharingan." Lee stated, before blurring into action. He appeared above Sasuke, in the midst of a spinning kick he was going to bring down onto the Uchiha's head. "Konoha Senpuu (Leaf Whirlwind)!"

To his credit, Sasuke managed to get his arms up in time, but he regretted it when the crushing force was brought down on him. He grunted, pushing the boy off of his arms. Lee did a series of somersaults before landing swiftly on the other end of the room.

"You will not be able to dodge this attack!" Lee announced, untightening the bandages wrapped around his forearms. He blurred from his position, reappearing in front of the Uchiha. He delivered a jaw shattering kick from underneath Sasuke, launching the boy into the air.

Kage buyo? Sasuke said inwardly as the taijutsu user appeared underneath him.

"Goddammit!" came an irritated shout from the side. A black and red figure appeared above the two, grabbing the raven-haired genin by the collar and delivering a devastating kick that sent Lee crashing through the floorboards. "I leave for like five minutes and you're already in shit with the other genin before the exam even starts?" Naruto sighed exasperatedly, dropping the Uchiha unceremoniously on the ground.

"N-Naruto…" The Uchiha grunted, "You bastard! I was about to finish him!" He growled at the blonde, his Sharingan spinning wildly.

"No, you were about get your brains smeared on the ground by his taijutsu!" Naruto countered heatedly. He turned to the other genin who was slowly picking himself up off the floor, "Lee-san, I don't think it's very wise to be fighting before the exam starts."

The green-clad ninja was just staring at the blonde, his mouth slightly agape. "H-hai…" He bowed his head at the trio, "I am sorry for causing any trouble. We should probably head to the exams now, it would not be wise to appear late!" He gave a salute before running off, "Good luck, I will see you during the test!"

"What a weirdo…" Sakura muttered as they watched the exuberant teen run off. I have to admit, the way he broke up the fight was pretty impressive though.

"Dammit!" Sasuke shouted, his fists shaking in anger. He looked at his teammates before sighing in defeat, "He's right, let's just go."

Naruto gave a small appreciative smile, and the three walked off towards the large door with '301' written on top with large letters. As they came near, a large poof of smoke stopped them from moving any farther.

"Ohayou team!" Kakashi greeted with an eye smile.

"Kakashi-sensei?" The trio stated in unison. "What're you doing here?" Sakura asked.

"I just wanted to wish you guys luck is all!" He said. Kakashi looked at the three of his genin before continuing, "You guys have a hard road ahead of you. Don't give up, always keep your head up and remember," He smiled at the three, "You have teammates for a reason, don't forget to rely on each other for help!"

Team Seven looked at each other, each one sending each other a small smile (Even Sasuke!)

"Good luck, I believe in you guys!"

And with that, they swung the doors open with great confidence.

(Jounin Lounge)

"Sheesh, you sure know how to give a good motivation speech." Asuma stated off handedly, taking a puff of his cigarette.

"Hey, it's part of my job." Kakashi replied just as nonchalantly, flipping through a page in his book. Asuma shrugged, enjoying his cigarette.

That is, until it was smacked out of his mouth by an irritated Kurenai, "I really wish you smoke indoors, it smells disgusting in here!"

"Hey, you know wha-"

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" shouted a voice at the top of his lungs. Kakashi was promptly sent crashing into wall by an extremely powerful kick to the face from the one and only Maito Gai. "This makes it 53-53 my eternal rival Hatake Kakashi! I shall now take the lead by having my genin team beat yours in the chuunin exams!"

Kakashi sighed, picking himself and his book off the ground, "I'm sorry Gai, did you say something? I'm afraid you knocked away my hearing with that kick."

"DAMN YOU AND YOUR HIP ATTITUDE, KAKASHI!" Gai screamed at the ceiling.

Now this brings back memories, thought Naruto as they entered the classroom filled with chuunin-hopefuls. He gave a smirk as he surveyed the room. There were hundreds of genin already sitting there quietly glaring at the group of rookies, giving them their best dose of killer intent.

"Sasuke-kuuuuunn!" cooed a blonde girl, ditching her teammates to run up to the Uchiha.

"Hey, back off Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted heatedly, jumping in front of her teammate, "He doesn't want your ugly pig face!"

"Well he can't see my beauty if your big-ass billboard forehead is in the way!" Ino growled back.

Sasuke and Naruto sighed at the two's antics, making a great effort to ignore them. They joined up with the more quiet group of Konoha genin, who were clumped up near the front of the room.

"Oi, Naruto!" Kiba called out, waving his arms back and forth. "You finally made it huh!" The blonde grinned as he ran up to his group of Academy friends.

Now I haven't seen these guys in a long… He thought rather sadly. Kiba and Chouji had met bloody ends if Naruto remembered correctly. Shikamaru was one of the only ones of the original Konoha Eleven to survive the great war. "Of course, I wouldn't miss out on such a great opportunity to whoop your ass now, would I?"

They shared a barking laugh before they were interrupted by a silver haired leaf genin, who had seemingly popped out of nowhere. Naruto growled as he saw Kabuto approach, "Hey, you rookies gotta quiet down," He began, "You're gaining all this unwanted attention from everyone in the room."

Naruto eyed him warily as Sasuke spoke up, "And who might you be?"

"I am Yakushi Kabuto." The spectacled 'genin' began, "I'm just trying to help some fellow Leaf-nin out."

"How could you possibly help us?" Shikamaru asked, suspicious.

"I've failed the chuunin exams seven times," Kabuto stated, "But that means I've gained information on most of the ninja in this exam with these." He pulled out a set of cards.

"Uhh… Is it really wise to be gambling our money away before the exams start?" Sakura said.

"No, these are Ninja Info Cards." He stated matter-of-factly, "By channeling a little bit of chakra into them it shows current information on most shinobi in this exam."

Sasuke quickly seized this opportunity, "Give me information on Rock Lee and Sabaku no Gaara!" He then glanced warily at his teammate, "… and Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto was slightly taken aback by this, and Sakura was more than a little surprised.

"Rock Lee," Kabuto began, "He's been a Genin for a year now, his teammates being Higurashi Tenten and Hyuuga Neji. His jounin-sensei is the renowned Taijutsu master Maito Gai. Lee himself is extremely proficient in Taijutsu. He has completed 168 D-rank missions, 23 C-ranks and a single B-rank mission."

The Uchiha was satisfied with the information. "Sabaku no Gaara." Kabuto continued, "He's a rookie like you guys, his teammates being his brother and sister, Kankuro and Temari. Not much is known about his abilities, other than his complete control over sand. He's completed 0 D-rank missions, 0 C-rank missions, 30 B-Rank missions, 58 A-Rank missions and 1 S-rank."

The rookies were stunned, the same thoughts going through their heads, an S-Rank?

"And Uzumaki Naruto," Kabuto started again, "I don't see the usefulness in asking me about your own teammate, but here goes. He's a rookie like you guys, his teammates being Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. His jounin-sensei is the renowned Sharingan no Hatake Kakashi. Naruto finished dead-last in his graduating class. He's average in taijutsu and ninjutsu, and has no talent in genjutsu whatsoever. He's done 133 D-Ranks, and a C-rank that was upgraded to an A-rank mission."

Current information my ass, the Uchiha thought, going back to the incidents where the Uzumaki had shown amazing speed.

Kabuto was about to speak up when a large booming voice came from the front of the room.

"All right, listen up you maggots!" shouted a scary looking bald man, "I'm Morino Ibiki and I'm you first proctor for the first part of the Chuunin Exams! Everyone get the hell to your designated seats."

After a couple minutes of rustling the genin were all seated in random spots around the room.

"All right, this first part of the Exam is a written test!" He announced, "First and foremost, whoever disobeys whatever I say fails! No questions asked." He held up a stack of papers, which he handed to a bunch of chuunin that passed them around the room. "You will not turn the paper over until I tell you to do so, is that clear?"

Sakura paled, Oh no… This is the worst possible test for Naruto! He won't be able to handle a written test…

"Now, the test is made of ten questions, each one counting as one point…" Ibiki began, "But this test uses a subtraction system. Basically, if you answer all 10 questions you keep your original 10 points. If you get 3 wrong for example, you'll be brought down to seven points."

So failing outright would mean zero points… Sasuke thought.

"And secondly, this is a team test!" The scar-faced man said, "Each team will be competing to see who can hold the most points of the original thirty."

So even if Naruto fails completely, we'll still be able to pass… Sakura thought, relieved.

"Any persons caught cheating will have 2 points deducted from each offense! If one of your teammates loses all their points, that person and his team will be asked to leave!"

We're screwed. The pink-haired genin thought, lowering her head in shame. Naruto caught this out of the corner of his eye and facepalmed.

I wasn't that bad back then was I?

"We'll be keeping eyes on you punks!" Ibiki continued scratching things on the board, "The test will last for one hour. The tenth and final question I will announce 45 minutes into the exam. Everyone ready?"

Team seven, minus Naruto, gulped.

"Begin!" And with that, the scratching of pencils and the occasional coughs filled the air.

Naruto flipped his paper over, chuckling inwardly as he scanned the nine questions, Even after all this time, these questions are still gonna give me a little trouble. I don't even think I've ever even encountered the situations depicted in the questions! What blasphemy…

I see… Sasuke thought, scanning the room, They're encouraging us to cheat… a good chuunin wouldn't get caught. He smirked, Sharingan! I hope you've figured it out by now, Naruto!

Sakura glared at her sheet, I doubt anyone in this room can even answer these questions other than myself! Come on Naruto… She glanced at the blond, who was currently face down on his desk. Oh no… he's given up!

Hinata glanced over at Naruto, who was currently sleeping on his paper. Light snores could be heard, and she could've sworn there was a small pile of drool seeping from the corner of his mouth. Oh Naruto-kun… she giggled.

The room was completely silent, other than the occasional rustling. It was a purposeful silence, as many of the genin had started to figure out the true purpose of the exam, cheating in their own unique ways.

As they all began furiously writing down answers, the clock kept ticking closer and closer to the forty-five minute mark.

Done! Sakura thought proudly, slamming her pencil on this desk.

She glanced at Naruto, who still had his head on the desk. He's been like that for an hour… what's he doing?

Said blond, however, was having a rather pleasant day dream consisting of him, the beautiful Mizukage, Gaara's sister, Anko and a large bed. He let out a quiet, sleep-induced perverted giggle before reverting back to small snores.

"All right, genin, listen up!" came Ibiki's booming voice from the front once again, "It's time for 10th question!"

This awoke the blond from his slumber, who's head bolted off the desk. The test sticking to his face via drool was ripped off as he wiped his mouth off with his sleeve.

Finally… Sasuke thought.

"Now before I tell you the final question, I'd like to go over some added rules for it." Ibiki said, "You must choose whether to take it or not."

"Choose?" Came Temari's voice from Naruto's right, "What if we decide not to take it?"

"Then all your points are reduced to zero, and you and your team fail!"

"Obviously we'll choose to take it!" A random genin shouted out.

"But there's a catch…" Ibiki continued, "If you choose to take it and answer incorrectly, you will never have to the chance to become chuunin ever again!"

The genin guffawed at the scar-faced jounin.

"That's fucking retarded!" Kiba shouted out, "There are plenty of people here who have taken this exam before!"

"You guys are just unlucky," The proctor laughed, "They didn't have me proctoring the exam those other years; these are my rules this time around! I'm giving those of you not confident to take it a way out: Raise your hand and you will promptly be escorted back outside."

Sakura gulped, Oh no… This is bad. She glanced at Naruto, Why isn't he raising his hand? What about your dream to become Hokage you idiot…? She gave a small smile, I don't want it to be crushed… If you aren't going to lift your hand, I will. Just as she made to lift her hand, her blonde hair teammate spoke up.

"Sakura-chan, don't do it." He said, turning around to face her. He gave her a look and a small smile that made her turn redfaced, "Have confidence in me, I guarantee you we'll make it through this without a hitch."

"W-what?" She stammered, unable to bring her hand up. He gave her a heartmelting smile before turning around to face the proctor. How did he… He turned me into goo just by smiling at me! She growled inwardly, I wonder what happened in the last few days to make him so charming. She huffed, crossing her arms.

One by one, various genin stood up, caving under the considerable pressure.

"50, fail. Take your teammates with you."

"103, fail. 111 and 75 fail too."

"I'm sorry Gennai, Inoho! I can't do it!" "43, fail!"

Soon, there were a lot less than half of the genin originally seated. They were sweating bullets and quivering under the extremely thick atmosphere.

"Well, all you brave souls that decided to stay…" The torture expert said, "Passed!"

The genin were slackjawed. "We pass? Already?" Sakura cried out, "What about the tenth question?"

"There was no such thing," Ibiki said with grin. "Or you could say those decisions were the tenth question!"

"Are you saying the other 9 question were pointless then?" Temari asked.

"No, they had already served their intended purpose." Ibiki began to elaborate, "They were to test you individual information gathering abilities. As you could tell, these questions were not meant for mere genin to answer. Thus, most of you came to the conclusion that in order to pass, you had to cheat! So, we had a few chuunin in the classroom who already knew all of the answers to help you guys out."

Hn… As I thought. The last Uchiha thought with a smirk.

"But those who cheated poorly failed, of course." He started to undo his hitai-ate, revealing a gruesome set of scars, burns and screwholes on his head, "Information is at times more important than life, and on missions and on the battlefield, people risk their lives to get their hands on it. If you're noticed trying to gather that information, you never know if it's going to be accurate or not!" He glanced around the room. "Remember this: Information is a powerful tool for you and your village. This clearly segregated those that didn't have the right abilities."

"But I still don't understand the 10th question." Temari asked again.

"Ah, the 10th question was the true purpose of this test." The proctor said, "Obviously there were two painfully difficult choices. To remain a genin forever or take the exam next year; a true leap of faith." He turned around, drawing a diagram on the board, "Take this situation for example: Your mission is to infiltrate an enemy stronghold and steal a secret document. The amount of enemies and the level of their abilities inside is unknown."

Naruto's visage darkened, as he had experienced countless of these situations in the war, burning buildings and agonizing screams flashing through his mind.

"Do you refuse it because you don't want you or your comrades to die?" He gave a hard look at the genin, "Of course not! In order to be a chuunin, these are the decisions you will be forced to take. Those who don't take chances and put their destinies on the line, constantly walking around with mindset of 'taking it again next year'…" He paused, "Are pieces of trash who don't deserve chuunin!"

The genin looked at Ibiki confidently, a new resolve blazing in each of them.

"Congratulations on making it through the first test of the Chuunin exam, I wish you guys all luck in the next test!"

No one had time to at least digest the words when a black ball burst through the window, sending shards of glass everywhere. A large banner was unfolded behind a woman attached by kunai and wires reading, 'The Proctor for the Second Exam: The Sexy, Single and Dangerous Mitarashi Anko!'

"All right you brats, I'm Mitarashi Anko and I'm your proctor for the next exam!" She stated in a loud and obnoxious voice, ignoring the leers she was gaining from the male populace in the room, "Everyone follow me outside."

Good grief… Sakura thought, following everyone else out the back door, She's just like Naruto.

As exuberant and outgoing as ever, Anko. Naruto said, looking at her with a thoughtful and longing gaze.

The mission to extract Anko and Yamato from Akatsuki's mountain base had been completely successful… but completely disastrous. He was a Captain then. Naruto honestly could not count how many men had died under his command, but at the same time he could not count how many more had survived due to his success in most of the important missions he completed.

It's always about the mission… When one of my men die, I always told myself it happened to save the lives of 2, 10, maybe 20 others. That was how he rationalized; he bit back the deaths convincing himself itself it was for the greater good.

You can't save everyone. Jiraiya had told him once. He didn't realize how true it was until being placed in the middle of the most intense war the Elemental Nations had ever seen.

Before he knew it however, they were outside of a large fenced off forest with various signs plastered along it. 'Keep out!' 'Danger!'

Anko chuckled before she turned around to face the genin, "This, kiddies…" She began, pausing for dramatic effect and waving her hand towards the imposing greenery, "is the Forest of Death."

Chapter 2 end.

Character Statistics: Uchiha Sasuke (Pre Time-warp)
Age: 21
Rank: International Criminal (S-Rank)
Affiliation: Akatsuki, Uchiha clan
Signature Jutsu: Chidori, Mangekyou Sharingan, Kirin

Biography:

A member of the once powerful and once prestigious Uchiha Clan. He always walked under the shadow of his elder brother, Itachi. A once cheerful and happy-go-lucky boy, everything changed the night his brother decided to murder the entire clan. He would then defect from Konoha in the future, becoming an international criminal after attacking all five Kages at the Five Kage Summit before the start of the War. Once Naruto's best friend, even the Uzumaki himself gave up on trying to bring Sasuke back to the Leaf. Sasuke would then go on to become Madara's (almost) second in command during the war, becoming feared on the battlefield due to his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.

Stats (Out of 5):
Ninjutsu: 5
Taijutsu: 4
Genjutsu: 5
Intelligence: 4
Strength: 3
Speed: 5
Stamina: 3
Handseals: 5

Total: 34

Ye. How'd you like it? Sorry if there wasn't much action, but I was able to explain what was needed to be explained. So it was kind of a retelling of the original first test buuut the next chapter should be action-packed and filled with all kinds of bloody twists.

Don't forget to give me any ideas and suggestions you might have!

Read, review and favourite if you like it so far.

Breezie, out!