"Blah": Talking
'Blah': Demon speaking/Inner Sakura
'Blah': Naruto's thoughts/other people's thoughts
'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto
Here it is, the third chapter in of the re-write! I sure hope I can earn back all those reviews and followers from the previous version soon.
AZ44: Well… You can hope for that.
K: I suppose so. I feel bad for not waiting a little bit to let other people out there know.
AZ44: Well… I'm sure the readers out there will be able to find it.
K: I hope so… Wait a minute… You're being supportive?
AZ44: Yeah.
K: What the catch? Where the explosion?
AZ44: What explo-
(KA-BOOM!)
(Audio recording) Please enjoy the new chapter until Azeroth44 fixes the lair from his randomness. Remember to review and tell me what you readers out there like.
Reviews are welcome and wanted!
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto
Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling
Batman characters mentioned belong to DC Comics and Warner Bros
Chapter 3: Iruka vs. Kakashi
{{The Goblet of Fire by Patrick Doyle}}
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, sat down at his desk in the central office of the Konoha Administration Building. He had summoned numerous jounin-level shinobi and several of the chunin and various other ranks in order to spread the word of the latest and most urgent news that concerned them all. The room was then filled with countless shinobi of all shapes, sizes, colors, and genders. But as the room started to fill, all of them couldn't help but wonder what their esteemed leader wanted to tell them. Several of the older shinobi in the room had an idea what the Hokage wanted, but remained still and waited as the rest of those that were summoned arrived one at a time. Several of the chunin in the room were oblivious to the curious new faces that had arrived in the village, but would soon be brought up to speed on the events that were about to unfold.
The wise old man cleaned out the burnt tobacco from his infamous oak pipe and replenished it with fresh tobacco and was able to light it without the use of a match or even a fire source. The shinobi were curious as to how he was able to do that, but it could be assumed that since Hiruzen Sarutobi was considered the strongest shinobi in the world, he could have easily generated enough heat with his chakra control alone to ignite his tobacco. Soon, the wise and warm-hearted leader of the shinobi took a breath and addressed all his soldiers and children in attendance with a firm and familiar voice once all those that were summoned were now in the chamber with him.
"I have summoned you all here for a very important purpose," the old man did not smile but his voice assured his soldiers that there was no serious threat at hand, "Seeing your fellow jounin and chunin here, I can only be sure that you all realize what it is that I am about to talk about…"
Kakashi was the first of the shinobi to talk to their leader as he mused, "So soon? I thought we'd have a little more time…"
"I take it that the other lands have been notified of the coming event," asked Asuma Sarutobi, "I noticed that some of their genin have started showing up all over the village."
One other kunoichi named Kurenai that stood close to Asuma asked their leader, "When does it start?"
Sarutobi hesitated with his answer as he took another breath of smoke and took in the smell of the dense smoke and tasted the subtle flavor that was added to it that forced him to relax.
"We will begin in one week," he told his tall children.
Kakashi almost looked a little nervous as he commented, "That's a bit short-notice, sir…"
"Nonetheless, in exactly seven days from today. At the start of the month, the genin from around the world will be gathered here and tested," he informed the shinobi that stood in surprise and then anxiousness, "But only those who are able to prove themselves will be worthy to become chunin of their native and respected villages. As of next week, the Chunin Selection Exams will begin."
Several shinobi in the room swallowed and listened to their leader and took note on each detail and order that was given to them as he listed their duties. The old man informed them that extra hands would be needed to assist in the festivals that would attract the civilians. He also took note to the chunin that he would need volunteers to assist in the exams as proctors or assistants, but that all of them were required to make sure that they would be available to help and clear their social calendars should someone choose to help. But soon, Sarutobi turned to the shinobi in the front row that included one of his sons, the one with the beard named Asuma.
"Now then. We shall select several of the latest candidates. Will the jounin in charge of this year's rookie genin step forward," the three shinobi that stood closest to their leader stood closer and listened to the old man as he addressed their names, "Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma. What do you say? Are there any students on any of your teams that you would like to recommend, who are ready for the exams, despite their inexperience?"
In the back of the crowd, Iruka stood and listened to the old man and was shocked that he would ask them this so soon.
'Why would Hokage-sama ask something of this from genin that young?' he thought as he felt a little nervous, or rather anxious, 'It's too soon… None of them have even been shinobi for eight months...'
The old man reminded the shinobi, "As it has been established before, a rookie shinobi that has carried out eight or more missions is eligible for the examination. Aside from that, it is the instructor's that must decide if one or all of their students are up to the task. Of course, most genin require a much longer training period before they can enter the exams; at least twice the amount of recommended missions would be more appropriate."
Iruka nodded to the leader, as did most of the men and women in the room around him. The other shinobi were a little concerned that their wise elder would ever ask the newest instructors to recommend their students. But like Iruka, all of them didn't think that Kakashi, Kurenai, or Asuma would even let their students in. Iruka let his eyes wander around a little for a moment and couldn't help it when he noticed a woman with violet hair that he recognized and almost blushed when she sensed someone stare at her and looked back at him. But soon, the chunin looked back to the old man and the rookie instructors, hoping the woman he saw didn't notice him and recognize him as well.
Sarutobi cleared his throat and motioned to the masked shinobi, "First, Kakashi. You can begin."
"I lead Team 7, comprising of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno," the silver-haired man said with a clear tone, "I swear upon the name and honor of the Hatake clan, that all of them are ready to take on the Chunin Selection Exams."
Iruka blinked when he heard the decision and looked on as Kurenai stated the names of her own students.
She stated with a calm and clear voice, "I lead Team 8. Which consists of students Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. I, Kurenai Yuhi, swear upon my family's name that they are all ready to take the Chunin Selection Exams."
Asuma smoked on his cigarette and made a small solute to his father and said in a more relaxed voice, "I instruct and lead Team 10. Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara. I swear upon the Sarutobi clan and all that I own that my students are ready to take the exams. I recommend all three of them."
The rest of the shinobi in the room were shocked and started to murmur to each other. No instructor ever recommended genin as fresh as the current rookies for the most dangerous and excruciating exam to ascend the ranks. Iruka stood motionless while the other shinobi and kunoichi around him whispered to each other and expressed obvious disapproval and confusion over the matter of the decisions of the instructors. While the shinobi made it obvious that the decision was unwise, none of them had the courage to take a stand. Iruka soon thought about Naruto; he imagined him marching into the Forest of Death and saw him vanish into the darkness, he then heard his little brother let out a shrill scream that echoed out from the woods. He then thought back to when he entered the exams and faced the horrors and terrors that haunted him and countless other chunin. He could still hear the sounds of fists slamming into flesh and blades slice through skin and bone, like the sound of war drums. The tan-skinned chunin couldn't help it as he imagined his precious little brother face those same terrors and remembered the promise he had made to Harry when he and the wizard first met back in the mindscape; back when the two of them watched the orchestra. Where the wizard would be unable to protect their little brother, the chunin would succeed.
Iruka soon marched through the crowd and called out, "Hold on for one second here!"
The older jounin turned around and stared at the chunin that interrupted their formalities, as did Sarutobi, but the old man looked more interested.
"What is it, Iruka?" the old man asked.
The chunin told him in a reasonable tone, "Forgive me, Hokage-sama, but most of the names that were mentioned were my students back in the Academy. I understand that each of them is unique and have incredible potential to become excellent shinobi. But I feel that this decision has been made too soon. Those kids still need more time and more familiarity towards the shinobi life. If the instructors let their students enter the exams this soon, and with such little experience, those kids could fail or even die."
Kakashi frowned in irritation as he stared at the chunin. He was tired of this man and didn't want him to intervene in these matters. Not to mention, he masked man could see through the chunin and deduced his true reasons for his sudden outburst. He turned to face the tan-skinned shinobi and stared him down.
"When I became a chunin," he stated as he talked down to man like he was a child out of line, "I was six years younger than Naruto is now."
The chunin was soon infuriated at the masked shinobi and stated as he took another step closer, "Naruto is nothing like you, Kakashi! What are you trying to do? Are you trying to get him killed?"
"Well, I don't see why not," the masked man shrugged and sounded like he smiled as he teased the chunin, "If he failed the exam, it could teach him a lesson. He's wanted a challenge so bad; let's see if he can last. Let's admit it, breaking him would be so much fun!"
Iruka turned livid as his hands were clenched into brown fists, while he was reminded about the events of Naruto's miserable childhood where he was almost beaten to death on several occasions, "You sick, insensitive, bastard! What the hell is the matter with-"
"It was a test, Iruka," he sighed as he stared at the man, "and it looks like I was right."
The chunin held back his frustrations towards the masked shinobi and soon calmed down while he still looked confused but still a little bit frustrated, as the other instructors stood firm with their decisions.
"The only reason you're so concerned with our decision is because this effects Naruto as well. You concerned yourself, claiming that you are speaking for the sake of all of our students, because you don't want little Naruto to get hurt. You're smothering him and it isn't doing him any good."
"But I," the chunin tried to talk.
But Kakashi boomed at him with his voice set in a condescending tone, "Stop interfering with matters that don't have anything to do with you anymore, Iruka Umino."
"Alright, Kakashi, knock it off," the kunoichi Kurenai tried to dissuade the masked shinobi and leave the chunin alone, "You said enough."
But he insisted that he should finish and stared down at the chunin, "No, Kurenai. He needs to hear this... You have to stop thinking that Naruto is still some defenseless preschool student. He's a shinobi of this village, now. He is not your student anymore. He's mine now."
Iruka stared back at Kakashi in complete contempt and even let out a low and subtle snarl. Asuma looked irritated and couldn't care less about the chunin that irritated him at the moment, while Kurenai looked a little bit more sympathetic towards the protective chunin. Sarutobi waited for the argument to deteriorate soon, but Iruka wouldn't let it end while he tried to remain calm and civil.
"Alright," he said as he calmed down but was still frustrated at the masked man, "I will admit that I am concerned for Naruto a little bit more… But I can't stand aside on this. I don't care if those kids under your care now, Kakashi! None of them are experienced enough to ensure their survival and make it out of the exam! I don't see why you won't give them more time! Those kids could get killed! People die in this competition! You and I and all of us here have been through it!"
Kakashi was about to tell him to leave with the use of some swear words that would've shocked the old man behind them, but then another, much more charismatic voice broke out from behind the chunin that forced Kakashi to listen more.
"You know, he's got a point, my eternal rival…"
Iruka turned around and looked a little bemused when a tall and muscular man broke through and stood close to him to face the silver-haired instructor. He had thick caterpillar-like eyebrows and shining black hair cut in a classic bowl. The man wore a skintight, forest-green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers, and the standard green Konoha flak jacket, but it was unzipped and he wore it loose so that he was comfortable. His headband was tied onto a red cloth that he wore around his waist, like a belt, and he wore normal sandals, as did most of the shinobi in the room. His outfit was ridiculous, but no one spoke out against it, since he wore underwear, otherwise his privates would have been almost visible. The man that supported Iruka soon beckoned to the masked shinobi, which soon made it obvious that the two men knew each other well.
"You're putting a lot of pressure on those kids, Kakashi," the man motioned to him with a deep and charismatic voice, "Why so impatient? I held my team back for at least a year, so that the three of them can hone their skills and mature better as teammates. If you rush them into it, none of them will last in the exams and the team will collapse in failure, due to a lack of teamwork and field experience... Let them bask in their youth while it's still there," the man said with a deep voice.
Kakashi chuckled in amusement, "You're concern is touching, Gai, it is. But are you sure it's not that you know that your kids don't stand a chance against mine?"
The man named Gai looked at the other man in surprise and then he looked frustrated at him, as did the tan-skinned chunin. When Gai was about to talk back at the masked man, he was silenced as well as all the shinobi in the room when the voice of their wise elder boomed out.
"Alright. That is enough," Sarutobi acted like an irritated father and looked to all his children one at a time, "Iruka, I understand your concern for the others. But that decision is not yours to make. That is up for the jounin instructors to decide, and all of them have made their choices…"
Iruka looked defeated and frustrated, but was silent and calmed down out of respect for his leader.
"The matter of the rookies participation is now closed," the old man ended the discussion and moved on to the other matters that concerned the shinobi and the instructors whose students would be admitted into the exams.
But before the old man went on about the other matters, Kakashi looked over at Gai and Iruka. The man that wore the weird suit was still infuriated with his rival, while Iruka looked more determined as he was still frustrated with the masked shinobi. But then the silver-haired shinobi told the two of them, "I know what I'm doing here. Trust me."
As soon as the summit was finished, all the shinobi were sorted out of the office, one man and woman at a time. The old man had the three instructors remain for a little bit more as soon as the others had left. He had to inform them of the locations and dates of the events that would concern them. But once all the information had been briefed, Kakashi was the last to leave as he waltzed down the corridor to leave. As he turned the corner, he ran into Iruka, leaning against the wall while he waited until the masked shinobi came around. The chunin still looked determined as he crossed his arms and stared at the jounin. He soon walked over to the shinobi but remained strict and restrained to some degree. It was obvious that he was still ticked that Kakashi had called him out like he did in front of all the other shinobi, embarrassed him.
"Listen here," he said with a stern voice, "I don't know what it is that you're trying to do, but if anything happens to-"
But then Kakashi interrupted the chunin and told him off again in a more confident tone, "Just leave it, Iruka. I'm sure Naruto will be fine."
Iruka was still not convinced in the slightest, while most people would have been relieved or re-ensured at that point when Kakashi used his relaxed-charm. But that trick didn't work on him. He knew all too well what it was like to be in those exams and be forced to fight to the death in order to survive, let alone become a chunin. The first portion of the exams was often the least severe, but it was the other two exams that forced the worst out of a genin. Iruka didn't want Naruto or his teammates be thrown into that, not at their age. None of them would be able to come out of the exams unscathed or unshaken. The chunin then tried to calm down some more and tried to reason with Kakashi and convince him to reconsider his decision.
He sounded a little more vulnerable but still sounded serious as he told him, "He's a kid… All of them are still kids, and you're sending them out to die, Kakashi…"
Kakashi was taken aback a little as Iruka made that last statement. He almost sounded more like a desperate parent that wanted their child safe. But soon, Kakashi shrugged the theatrics aside and looked a little bit more insulted than he should have felt.
"I find it insulting that you have such little faith in a person you're supposed believe in," the shinobi told him back.
But then Iruka said with a cross voice, "Well, I find it disgraceful that you would be willing to send him out to fight a battle none of them could come back from."
"I have faith in them, Iruka…" Kakashi said in a relaxed voice, "I believe those kids have what it takes to make it through and win…"
The chunin threw his arms into the air in defeat and turned to leave and let Kakashi do whatever he wanted. He started to leave, but not before he turned his head and told him, "I will admit, I have been over-protective. And I might seem like the one at fault for trying to stop Naruto from entering the exams. But I'm like this for a reason, Kakashi… He's all I have left of the life I lost…"
The chunin then looked dead serious as he shot one more look at the older shinobi.
"But since you're going to go through with this decision," he pointed at the silver-haired man and stated, "Whatever happens to those kids out there, is on you…"
With that said, the chunin walked out to leave Kakashi to absorb what he told him while he thought about the news about the exams with his students.
When the sun rose the following morning, the streets were flooded with life as the civilians and shinobi moved about with their lives. Meanwhile, Naruto and his teammates waited for their sensei to arrive and show them to their next mission. Kakashi took his time as he did when the team was first formed, leaving his students irritated or in some cases tired. Naruto was hunched over the rail of the wooden bridge while he tried his best to remain awake and wait for their sensei to arrive. But the sound of the reservoir made him feel even more tired as he started to lose focus and fall back asleep.
'This is an insult... If he wanted you kids to wake up so early, then why doesn't he do the same and show up like a professional? One or two times it's funny, yes, but this is ridiculous now… The man is over four hours late.'
'Could you keep quiet for a couple minutes? I wanna see if I can sleep a little bit…'
'Look at this. I told you to go to bed sooner, Naruto. You were up all night for a stupid little comic book. You could have read it some other time. Like, later after this mission, or later this weekend where there's time to read and waste time.'
'But it was Knightfall Part Two! I had to see it to the end!'
With that little argument won, Naruto relaxed and let his head rest over his hands while he listened to the water below him and slip into dreams about more comic books, heroes, and Quidditch. But soon, his dreams were interrupted when his female teammate screamed out at random that caused Naruto to fall down and hit his head on the rail.
"RAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
"What! What's happening?" the blonde shinobi soon stood on his feet and realized it was his teammate, "What was that about?"
The kunoichi shouted, "Why? Why? Why? Why doesn't Kakashi-sensei ever show up on time for once? Jeez!"
Naruto looked at her with a more tired look and tried to be a supportive teammate, "I agree that it sucks, Sakura-chan, but I was aslee-"
"He makes us wait for hours like this all the time," she ranted, "I was in a such a wicked rush to leave home, I didn't even have enough time to for a little makeup for once! Just a little bit of blush! Is that too much to ask?"
The blonde shinobi decided to go along with her rant this time and said while he motioned to his moistened armpits, "While we're on the same topic, I had to rush here so fast, that I forgot to put on deodorant. I can feel the wetness settling in right now."
"Ewww…" his female teammate commented as she tried to slide toward her other teammate.
Naruto nodded his head with more enthusiasm, "I know, right? It's gross!"
While their rants continued, their more silent teammate looked irritated with both his teammates as each of them complained a little bit more about their teammate's constant tardiness, which was soon ended when Naruto told Sakura that he believed that their teacher told the truth about the time he said he saved a bunch of children from a fire. She then hit him in the head when he likened Kakashi to Batman. This soon led to Naruto to whine and tell Sakura to cut it out and insisted his opinion about their mentor. This drove the kunoichi to call her teammate an idiot, meanwhile, Sasuke looked irritated while he was lost in his thoughts.
'It's the first thing I have to deal with in the morning, and already I want to hurt them both so bad…'
But soon, about fifteen minutes later, Kakashi made his eventual arrival and smiled down at his students with a small wave and remembered the forms he had hidden in his weapons pouch. He couldn't imagine how Sakura or Sasuke would react to the news, but he had an idea what his enthusiastic blonde student would do, but that's what he was a little bit afraid of. The masked shinobi was thankful that the wound on his chest was sewed and sealed. Kakashi then looked down at his students as he called down to him.
"Good morning, kids" he called out, "So sorry that I'm late. I'm afraid I was lost on the road of life."
Sakura screamed back at her sensei, which caused Naruto to recoil, "YOU LIAR!"
Once he had recovered, Naruto watched as his teacher vanished out of thin air and then reappeared in front of them with his incredible speed. Once he watched him land, the blonde child smirked at his sensei and crossed his arms while his smile stretched across his face; "You used that excuse last week, Kakashi-sensei."
"Well," the shinobi shrugged, "I like to use it."
"Ha! You do not," the preteen then pointed at his sensei and stated, "You're running out of excuses, sensei!"
Kakashi decided to act a little childish for once as he placed his hand over his heart, as if he had been shot, "No! You've discovered my only weakness! Its limited excuses!"
Naruto laughed a little bit as his sensei stood straight again and cut right to the chase, and dove into a lecture-like mode.
"Well, I know that this is a little bit out of the blue, but I've decided to recommend you guys to enter in the Chunin Selection Exams. Here are the application forms."
Kakashi then withdrew the three small parchment forms he had written out last night and offered them to his students.
"What?" the blonde student in the middle tilted his head.
Sakura looked at her sensei and asked, "Application forms?"
"You're repeating me again, Sakura," their mentor teased, "This entire examination is voluntary. If you don't want to compete with the other shinobi and become a chunin, then you don't have to. You can take it again next year."
The students remained frozen in silence but it was soon broken when Naruto raised his hand in a flash as if he were in a classroom. His invisible older brother watched and smiled as his little brother reminded him of his friend Hermione for a moment and then he watched as he anticipated Naruto's next move once Kakashi motioned to his blonde student.
Kakashi asked his student, "Yes, Naruto?"
"Would you hate it if I gave you a hug, sensei?" he asked.
The masked shinobi froze but it was too late, "Wait! Naruto-"
"Too late! You're getting one!" he shouted.
Naruto cried out as he launched at Kakashi and embraced him with all his strength. Kakashi felt the air breeze out from his lungs and the pressure of Naruto's arms against his ribs and chest and almost overwhelmed him. The masked shinobi was almost thrown off balance but was soon lifted into the air almost an entire foot above the sidewalk. Kakashi couldn't breath as the last of the air inside of him was rushed out. All the while, his precious little student rubbed his cheek into his teacher's chest while his teammates were shocked at his unexpected feat of raw strength. Kakashi had to be at least triple his own student's weight.
Naruto cheered out with cute little roses in his cheeks, "Oh, Kakashi-sensei! I LOVE YOU!"
The shinobi teacher tried to talk but all he was able to do was choke out as his face started to turn a subtle shade of red, "Naruto-I-can't-breath!"
Soon, the blonde shinobi heard him and released the embrace so that his mentor could breath. Kakashi took several breaths and coughed once or twice as he felt his feet touch the floor. Naruto rubbed the back of his head and sweatdropped as he realized what he had done as his teacher tried to recover.
"Gomenasai, sensei," he laughed, "You know me."
Kakashi shook his head as he couldn't believe his student's strength and checked his torso for broken bones and then instructed his students, "Well then, aside from Naruto's little outburst, whoever wants to take the exams; fill out these applications and come to Room 301 at the Ninja Academy. Be there at three o'clock in the afternoon in one week from now. Got it?"
Naruto and his teammates nodded to their instructor and soon Kakashi dismissed his students and vanished out of thin air. He mentioned that their missions were cancelled and that he had to meet with an old friend of his that had arrived in town.
{{Enter Your Name by Patrick Doyle}}
Naruto walked back home with a smile on his face while he examined the form in his hands, written in red and black ink and branded with the official seal emblazoned with the leaf that represented Konohagakure no Sato. The blonde shinobi couldn't wait to be home and write down all his information and be entered into the tournament he had heard about all his life, though he never once watched other shinobi battle whenever the exams were hosted in the village.
'Chunin Exams, huh? It sounds like fun! I can't wait for next week!'
'Sure it sounds like fun now. But all that will last until someone is killed. Your life will be on the line, Naruto.'
'What?'
'The Chunin Selection Exams are an examination to see what genin are most worthy and responsible to advance to the chunin-level. That means that there will be a lot of danger and competition to the end of the tournament. The whole thing sounds very similar to the Triwizard Tournament. Only it's more dangerous and there's no Yule Ball… Shinobi can die in these events, Naruto. These exams are designed to test you to see if you can handle the responsibilities that a chunin must take on. This is a serious competition. And most shinobi from other villages are willing to kill in order to win.'
'Alright then… You think I should spend the next couple days brushing up on the skills I need to hold out and win?'
'Yes. But first, we are going to need to some new clothes. The exam might test you on stealth; so let's get you some newer, more appropriate garments for survival exercises. Then we will brush up on some ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu resistance, and even some spell casting practice.'
Naruto clenched his fists in excitement as he ran down the street and found the closest shinobi clothing store he could find, which was around the corner. It was a modest store that he hadn't noticed until now.
Suzuki's Weapon's and Clothing for All Occasions and Purposes
The blonde-haired shinobi looked into the windows and saw manikins wearing common shinobi wear that included the basic chunin and jounin uniforms along with ANBU armor that was on sale at a reasonable price. There were also blades and countless varieties of tools and weapons that included swords, knives, wooden and steel staffs, kunai, and countless shuriken. Naruto stared at a set of dual swords and his curious mind forced him inside. The blonde shinobi walked in, toned the bell when the door closed behind him and was surprised as it would seem that the store was much larger on the inside than it was on the outside. There was so much room to move around and there were over two more levels above Naruto and twin sets of wooden stairs that led to the levels mentioned. One side of the store on the first level was dedicated to clothes and fashion while the other side was dedicated to blades, shuriken, swords, kunai, and armor. There were countless rows flooded with small white boxes filled with shuriken and swords where the customers could hold them and test them a little bit. There were curved blades and blank scrolls that stocked one shelve and another but with miscellaneous items, such as nun-chucks and iron balls with chains. Whatever blade or tool Naruto could think of, it was there in the store on a shelve around him, and to think there were loads more to see on the other levels above him. On the other side of the store, there were countless uniforms to choose from, made of all the colors that a shinobi could use to blend in to their surroundings; from red to black and gold to silver. There was no color that wasn't included in the endless selection as Naruto stared out in wonder and excitement. It was all he would ever need in his shinobi career and so much more.
"Oh man…" he smiled, "It's like Honeydukes, but with swords… I'm in heaven…"
Naruto looked around for a clerk to aid him, but no one was around. He looked over the desk and shrugged while he examined the collection of swords and curved blades. He noticed one kunai looked a lot like the same blade Zabuza had used on Kakashi to draw his blood. It was locked inside a small scabbard, so Naruto decided to leave it be as he checked the reasonable prices on the boxes that contained kunai and shuriken. The blonde smiled, as he remained oblivious to the kunoichi that had entered the store from the back room. She remained hidden when Naruto tucked the boxes where he found them and looked over to the clothes-section and examined some jackets and survival cloaks.
The kunoichi followed him and soon appeared around him and smiled as she was announced at last, "You look like someone that's in need of some new clothes."
Naruto turned around and saw the kunoichi that was no older than he was. She had brown eyes and long brown hair that was gathered in a Chinese chignon. She wore a pink sleeveless blouse and dark green pants with a weapon's holster tied around her left and right thighs. She was rather beautiful for her earlier teens, in a more simplified manner, like she was aware of her attractiveness, but never flaunted it around. She was a modest marvel of a modern kunoichi.
Naruto looked at her and asked, "Huh?"
"Your clothes. You came here to get some replacements, right?" she asked examined Naruto's hideous attire, "Those aren't the best clothes for a shinobi to wear, man."
The blonde shinobi rubbed the back of his head and said, "Yeah… I need something a little bit more… practical to wear for a while. See, I'm going to be entering the Chunin Exams this week and I need to get some clothes that will better suit me for the tests. Do you have anything that can help me?"
"Sure! We have loads to choose from," she then introduced herself, "Oh, excuse me, I'm Tenten Suzuki. Just call me Tenten, everybody does. Mom and dad run this store and I sometimes work here when I'm not on missions or with Gai-sensei and the rest of the old team."
"I'm Naruto Ignotus Uzumaki. You can call me Naruto. It's a pleasure," the blonde smiled as she nodded to her.
Tenten looked at him with a curious look, "Wait a minute… You… Naruto... I've… I've seen you once… Back at school… Naruto Uzumaki... You were the one that did all those tricks on Daikoku-sensei! I remember it now! You sandwiched his desk chair that one time! That was hilarious!"
"Yeah, that was me," the blonde smiled and confirmed, "I would have felt remorseful about it, but Daikoku-sensei was a maniacal moron."
Tenten smiled as well and nodded, "Yeah, I remember that bastard. Man, he was such an awful teacher... A total ass."
"You won't believe this, but I ran into him last week. The bastard was about to assault me for all those tricks I did to him in school. Could have knocked me in the face."
Tenten looked intrigued, "You're kidding! What did you do?"
"I kicked him in the nuts and ran," he answered her.
The warm kunoichi smiled and said, "You didn't."
"Yeah, I did. It was last week. You should have seen his face," he told her, "He screamed like his nuts were on fire!"
"Oh, I wish I were there to see it," she smiled some more as she told him, "I bet I was on mission at the time or out on the fields. Gai-sensei slaves us sometimes."
Naruto nodded, "Heh! I wish I had the old camera at the time. It could've made headlines," the blonde preteen then he turned his attention back to the clothes, "Yeah, so… um… about these clothes. Well, I don't have a sense of fashion whatsoever. You think you could assist me here, since I don't know much about this stuff?"
"Sure!" she answered.
Tenten showed Naruto around the store and showed him loads of different clothes that he could wear that were about his size. She tried to suggest darker fabrics but advised him not to wear solid black or obsidian since it would stand out when it wasn't dark out. The blonde shinobi was tossed more and more clothes and Tenten had him try them on and walk around a little bit, which made him feel a little bit foolish while she determined if it suited him. Once all the standard clothes were tested and thrown out, she asked Naruto what colors he liked, to which he answered with scarlet, gold, black, and blue. Tenten stared at him for a minute and circled around him as she determined his choices and visualized him with those colors. Soon, she faced the blonde shinobi and told him what she thought.
"Gold is a color that reflects light too much for stealth missions. Red is not a bad color choice. We can work with some dark red and other dark colors, but I'll have to check to see if we have those two colors available with a functional outfit for missions. I think all we have at the moment are normal clothes, like the ones for civilians. I'll also have to make sure the black isn't too bold as I said earlier; solid black is one of the worst colors to wear if the mission is not in the dark. Hold on here for a moment, I'll check in the back, Naruto."
The blonde shinobi nodded and smiled, "Ok. I'll stick around here then."
Once the kunoichi had vanished somewhere on the second level for the clothes, Naruto focused on his thoughts and communicated with his older brother while he waited.
'This has taken more time than I intended, Nii-san.'
'If you think this is bad, try going to Madam Malkin's for a few minutes. You'll be there for at least three hours…'
Naruto was stuck there for almost an hour and Tenten had created a stack of clothes that didn't meet her standards. She sat back in a chair in exhaustion and tried to think of other combinations while Naruto removed the latest fashion failure and started to look at other clothes that the mannequins wore. While the blonde shinobi waited for the older kunoichi to make another decision. Naruto walked around a little bit and observed the dummies for clothes that he hadn't had the chance to wear until he found one that wore a new outfit that he liked. The cloned shinobi looked down at his old tracksuit and then the outfit he found and then smiled. Naruto called over to Tenten and wanted to know what she thought about the survival uniform he discovered.
"Tenten," he asked, "What about this one?"
The kunoichi tossed aside some other clothes and walked over to her new friend and looked at the uniform he stared at with excitement on his face. Tenten looked over the outfit and then looked over at Naruto over and over again. She then started to smile as she imagined what he would look like with it on.
"Well," she told him, "This looks like a find here."
Naruto looked over at her and then the uniform and asked her, "Is it new?"
"Yeah," she nodded, "We received these last month. I think this is the last one we have available. We should restock on them soon."
Tenten reached out and examined the articles and found the size and then she beamed as she removed it from the mannequin and almost shook with excitement while Naruto stared at her and tried to smile at her somewhat awkward behavior.
"Good news," she told him, "You're the same size as this one!"
Naruto smiled at her and said, "Excellent!"
"I think this will work fine," she told him and them motioned for him to switch clothes, "Let's see it in action."
A few minutes later, Naruto came out of the changing room for the millionth time and showed his new clothes to Tenten. She walked over to him and circled him once more as she studied at the details of his outfit. She nodded and smiled as she circled him for the tenth time while she was silent and then she started to shake like she did earlier.
She told him, "It looks fantastic!"
"You think so?" he asked as he beamed to her.
Tenten nodded and then told him, "You should take it, Naruto. It looks awesome!"
"I'll take it then!" he announced as he started to remove the articles.
Naruto went back into the changing room and changed back into his normal tracksuit and headband while Tenten took the new clothes and boxed them behind the counter. While Naruto was at it, he took some boxes of new shuriken and kunai and waited as she counted the cash he had with him and returned his change. Once he was done and had his new blades with him, Naruto wished Tenten farewell while she offered him some extra facts about his new clothes and what he should do if the shirt or coat were ever stained with mud or blood.
"The coat will be useful on missions, since it's fire-resistant. It's made of the same materials as the famous coat Minato Namikaze wore once he became the Yondaime. Make sure to not use bleach on it in the wash or else the colors will fade out."
The blonde shinobi nodded and took the boxes, "Alright. Thanks a lot, Tenten."
"Oh! Naruto," she stopped him, as he was about to leave, "Good luck in the Chunin Exams. You might see me at the Ninja Academy next week."
He smiled at her and said, "Yeah, I'll see you there then. Thanks so much for the clothes, Tenten."
"Later," said waved as he walked and tolled the bell again, "Good luck!"
Later next week at around dawn, massive crowds of genin students from all over the world arrived in the village as the sun beat down against their necks. The main roads were crowded with foreign shinobi from all the five main shinobi countries. Headbands with various marks embedded on them shined while other rookies intimidated the few civilians that were out as the masses marched on to where the first exam was to be held. Shinobi and kunoichi from Suna and Kiri scared the life out of some unfortunate civilians that stared at their tough faces or their razor-sharp teeth. At the same time, other rookies from the other villages acted like stone soldiers and marched on towards the Ninja Academy and focused on their exams. There were other shinobi from Suna that had exited from their hotels and also marched with the other shinobi from Suna and entered the old school.
At the same time, at the reservoir where Kakashi's team met for missions, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno waited as their third teammate arrived without their notice. Naruto used his chakra to soar across from a rooftop and landed on the same arch that Kakashi would land on when he welcomed his students and told them his latest excuse. Naruto smirked down at his teammates as neither of them noticed he had arrived and then he announced himself when Sasuke looked over his shoulder.
{{Draco's Troubles by Patrick Doyle}}
"Good morning, fellow teammates," called down to them.
Sasuke and Sakura both looked over at the arch to see the sun and a dark figure hunched on the arch. Their teammate Naruto then fell from the arch and landed on his feet in front of them. When Sasuke and Sakura's visions were restored, both of them were shocked to see their teammate dressed in an all-new survival outfit; Naruto now wore a black crew-neck t-shirt, olive-colored cargo pants with cuffed ankles and pockets all over, a wide utilities belt with a metal buckle. He also wore a double-lined hoodie autumn coat with multiple features, which made him feel warm in cold conditions and cool in warm conditions. The coat he wore also had a nice color-design to it as it had a reasonable black-shade base to it with scarlet stripes that ran down his arms, across his shoulders, and along the back and spine. On the back, Naruto had outlined a lion of his Hogwarts house on the back of the coat but made sure it wasn't too obvious so he wouldn't attract unwanted attention from other shinobi or kunoichi should there be an exam that tested him on survival skills and stealth.
Overall, Naruto looked like a modern version of what a rookie shinobi should look like as he wore his kunai holsters and headband with his reasonable but still fashionable clothes. Sasuke was a little bit bothered that Naruto had outshined him with his new stealth clothes, since he still wore his cerulean-blue shirt with the Uchiha clan mark on the back and the other white clothes. It was too late for Sasuke to look for better clothes at home, so he stood there and stared at Naruto's apparel and tried to look unmoved towards his new outfit. Sakura, on the other hand, was almost in shock.
"Well, that outfit is… different, dobe," the Uchiha heir commented.
Sakura smiled at her teammate and told him, "Well that's… a little bit out of character to wear that, Naruto."
"Is that bad, Sakura-chan?" the blonde shinobi asked as he looked down at his own shirt.
She shook her head and was honest when she said, "No… Not at all… It looks nice…"
Naruto smiled and stood close to his crush for a while. While the trio made their plans to head to the Ninja Academy and turn in their filled out applications, Sasuke continued to look over at Sakura over and over again. She seemed nervous and even listened to Naruto as he told her to make sure she reminded them where the three of them had to turn in their individual forms. The Uchiha heir stared at the kunoichi even while the three of them walked down to their old school for the first time in months.
When the three of them arrived at the school with all the other shinobi and kunoichi, the trio made it to the entrance hall. The team walked through the crowds of the other genin and tried to reach the doors that lead to the staircase. Naruto looked around and took in the various faces of the different shinobi from all over the world. All of them had their own unique clothes, headbands, hair-styles, weapons, and other unique traits and features that made them all so curious to look at, like colorful candies in a store. Naruto almost felt like he was in the middle of an anime convention.
Naruto looked around and then Harry called out to him when he saw two shinobi and one kunoichi the two of them were familiar with.
'Look over there, Naruto. It's those three genin from Suna that gave you and Konohamaru all that trouble.'
The blonde shinobi followed his teammates but still looked around to see Kankuro and his siblings walk over to some other Suna shinobi. Naruto furrowed his brow a little bit at Kankuro when he scared some other Konoha shinobi and assumed he was about to do the same antics he tried to use on Konohamaru. The blonde wizard then smirked at the shinobi while he shook his wand hidden inside his sleeve and made a smooth wave towards Kankuro that went unnoticed as he used a certain charm he had mastered when he was little.
Naruto murmured under his breath, "Diffindo!"
{{Supermassive Black Hole by Muse (subtle in the background)}}
The effects of the Severing Charm were effective as Kankuro's trousers were torn at the waist and fell to the floor without a sound and without Kankuro to notice as his boxers were shown to all the shinobi and kunoichi around him in the entrance hall. He wore blue boxers with cartoon ducks decorated all over them, which was odd, since ducks were not a normal animal native to the lands around Suna. It took several teens around them to notice that his black trousers had fallen and soon the first laughs were heard across the hall and Kankuro still did not notice.
But soon, as the laughs started to become more loud and more people looked over at the oblivious shinobi, did he feel a little bit weird and he asked his teammate, "Did it get cold in here all the sudden?"
His teammate and sister Temari soon looked over at her brother and looked down to see his unmentionables. She soon elbowed him and then pointed down at his underwear while she also laughed with the crowd and could have cried while her other brother stared and was not able to show emotion towards the otherwise hilarious situation. Kankuro looked down, as he wondered what all the shinobi around him laughed about and then blanched white when he realized that his trousers were down at his ankles and covered his shoes.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH," the teen screamed as he reached down and held his trousers to his waist as fast as he could to cover what all the men and women around him had seen, "WHO THE HELL DID THIS?"
Kankuro looked around the room for the one that had torn his trousers as he could tell from the clean cut that it must have been intentional. Naruto, with a shameless attitude, cleared his throat and branded a shuriken from his weapons pouch as he waved over and smirked at Kankuro while he followed his teammates towards the stairs. Kankuro snarled at the blonde troublemaker and could have bolted towards him, had his trousers not fallen down to his ankles one more time when he was about to make a break for it. He reached back down and held them to his waist and tried to hide his boxers again but still roared over all the laughs and watched as Naruto scaled the stairs with his teammates.
He roared through his teeth over all the voices, "THAT-KID-IS-DEAD!"
As the trio climbed the stairs towards the third floor, all of them noticed that a lot of shinobi surrounded a classroom that was numbered as Room 301. Naruto and his teammates investigated the scene and noticed two normal shinobi that must have been a little bit older than all three of them that blocked off the other genin outside the classroom. One of them had slammed a shinobi that wore a green jumpsuit, orange legwarmers, and had a black bowl haircut. But then Naruto noticed the kunoichi beside him and realized it was Tenten from earlier in the week, which meant the two of them were teammates. There was another male teen that stood close to Tenten and her teammate that had long and smooth brown hair that reached down to the middle of his back but was tied close to the end. He had fair skin, pupil-less lavender colored irises, and he wore a khaki shirt and dark-brown shorts. He also had bandages that were tied around his right arm and left leg, and had a black-clothed headband that he wore tight with two straps that framed his handsome statue-like face.
One of the teens that blocked the classroom asked the team with a cruel voice, "You kiddies want to take the Chunin Exams with that kind of strength?"
"You little brats should just quit while you still can," the teen's friend laughed with him.
Then the first one laughed, "These three are total brats."
Tenten tended to her wounded teammate while she tried to beg to their aggressors in a voice that sounded much weaker than the one Naruto heard when he talked to her last time when he was in the store.
"Please, let us inside," she beckoned to them.
She stood against the two-shinobi teens, but was smacked in the face so hard that she fell and hit the floor. The one that had hit Tenten smirked down at her weakness and almost kicked her a little bit while the two of them smiled down at her and the other students in the crowd looked alarmed and started to itch back towards the exits.
"Listen here, kiddies; we're doing a untold kindness here," the first teen told them, "The Chunin Exams are more difficult than you can possibly imagine."
The second guard continued for his partner, "We've seen countless bold brats enter and then come out from these exams damaged beyond repair."
"A chunin is a commander of a team. You are weighed with the responsibilities of other people when you're a chunin," the first one said and then let his friend banter down to the students some more.
The second shinobi told them to warn them, "You kids are not up to this exam. Get out while you still can, if you don't want to live with regret and a lost limb."
Naruto looked back at the stairwell and noticed that all the students in the hall outside the classroom were still on the second floor. He then noticed as one of two more teams from the entrance hall downstairs escalated towards the next floor. Naruto looked dumbfounded as he looked back to the classroom and then to the other students all around him.
'Why are all these other genin still down here for? The exam is supposed to be upstairs.'
'Look at the room number, Naruto. Do you notice something strange about it?'
The blonde preteen noticed the room number and observed the letters and numbers. When he stared at it for a while, he realized that the number wavered. The numbers wavered and flickered with life for a moment and then returned to normal, but Naruto had noticed the inconsistencies.
'It's a genjutsu!'
'Fantastic! You three should head to the real room and leave these other rookies behind.'
'What for, Nii-san?'
'I know it's a little cruel. But you'll have an easier time in the exams with less shinobi to fight. It would be a wise move and become a chunin a whole lot sooner.'
Naruto nodded and was about to whisper to his teammates the idea and leave the others behind. But then Sasuke marched towards the door with his usual smirk. Sakura followed and Naruto tried to follow them both and tell them to move back towards the stairs, but Sasuke marched on and started to talk to the two older shinobi and made a decision that made him look even more foolish than he did when he acted like an ass in front of Gaara and Kankuro earlier in the week. Naruto stared at his male teammate the entire time and smacked his own face when he tried to over-compensate for his earlier misbehaviors.
"This isn't even the right room. You morons used a genjutsu to trick other genin from entering the correct exam room," he then stated to all the other shinobi and kunoichi, "This is Room 201. Not Room 301."
One of the older shinobi looked shocked, "You saw through it?"
"You noticed it first, right Sakura?" the Uchiha heir smirked at his female teammate.
She looked to him and stared at him like a doll and asked, "What?"
"Your skills in seeing through genjutsu are more affective than mine," he told her at random and even winked at her, "Your observation skills are the best in our team."
Sakura blushed until her whole face was flooded with warmth. Naruto observed Sasuke's face, so he and his older brother deduced that Sasuke decided to show off and then turn it around so that Sakura could have a boost in moral, since it looked like she had her doubts about the exam. At first it would seem selfless for him to do for once, but in truth, Sasuke wanted to ensure that she wouldn't bail out on them. It worked as she stood at his side and then smirked at the older shinobi and then showed off to the other teens around them that were tricked with the illusion. All the while, Naruto scowled at Sasuke and wanted to bash his head in with the blunt end of a kunai, or set his smooth black hair on fire as he almost itched for his wand.
"Of course Sasuke-kun! I noticed it at once! We're still on the second floor!"
Naruto moaned in silence as soon as the illusion was reversed and the classroom was revealed to be an old broom closet. A lot of the other students soon moaned and turned back towards the stairs to enter the real classroom above them. The blonde shinobi stood where he was, as Sasuke had killed whatever chance there was to make the exam a little bit easier for them. The blonde shinobi and his invisible dark-haired companion stared down at the back of Sasuke's head as the two of them wanted to hurt him so bad, it almost hurt them both to not to hit him for his idiotic and self-centered actions.
The blonde shinobi seethed at his rival, 'I hope that Sasuke gets kicked in the head for that…'
Less than one moment later, one of the two shinobi that blocked the fake classroom made a sudden move to attack Sasuke with an incredible kick to his face. Sakura stood there and screamed, while Naruto beamed and waited for his teammate and rival to be thrown into the wall from the sudden but deserved attack.
'Look! Dreams do come true!'
But Sasuke reacted in a flash and was bout to kick at the unknown shinobi, but then the teen with the weird haircut ended the fight that was about to start. The unnamed teen that was Tenten's teammate moved with such incredible speed and showed remarkable strength when he blocked both of their kicks at the same time with both his arms. Naruto was a little bit shocked, as were most of the witnesses when moments earlier, he had been beaten to the floor with Tenten. The unknown teen looked fierce as he held both their legs and then released them. The unnamed roadblock shinobi fell to the floor while Sasuke stood back and marveled at the genin's strength, as did Sakura and Naruto. All the genin noticed as a visible heat radiated from the teen's arms, like his chakra simmered out of his skin and clothes.
Sasuke stared at him and thought, 'He was able to block me… That can't be… No one as lame as he looks can amount to me…'
The teen sighed in relief that he prevented what could have been a violent fight and dusted off all of the dirt on his hands and huffed. Harry looked surprised as he saw the bruises on the teen's face start to vanish as if the wounds and bruises were absorbed into his skin. Naruto looked over at the two unnamed Konoha genin and then his head started to hurt a little bit. He then had a small flashback to when he was a toddler in the times before he discovered he was a wizard and could remember these two exact same shinobi. He had seen them both multiple times back when he used to live with the Sarutobi clan and a little after when he was forced to move out. These two were some of the better nannies he had back when he started to live on his own. He could remember these two were not full-time nannies, but were still kind to him. But those two shinobi should have been a whole lot older now. When Naruto last remembered them, the two of them looked about as old as both of them looked now. Naruto returned to the real world and then he remembered their names.
"Izumo and Kotetsu?" he asked as he started to remember them and the two shinobi stared at him at the mention of their real names, "You both work for the Sandaime Hokage… What are you two doing disguised as younger versions of yourselves?"
As soon as Naruto told the other students who the two of them were, both shinobi ran towards the closest exits. It would seem that the roadblock to the fake classroom was a small test for students that wanted to take the exams to see which rookies were not able to make the cut and become chunin. Naruto and his teammate as well as the other students remained in the hall as their brows were raised at the two shinobi that fled the scene. But some of the students, the ones that knew Naruto, were a little bit more shocked that Naruto knew those two shinobi. But to be honest, Naruto was a little bit shocked that he knew them too.
The blonde shinobi chuckled a little bit as more and more memories came back to him, "I remember them both now! Both of them were a laugh back then when I was little! Oh! I think it was those two that first introduced me to pranks! Oh, Izumo and Kotetsu… How could I forget them?"
Once the two revealed chunin had fled the scene and the dust had settled, Tenten and her other teammates cornered their third teammate with cross faces.
"You idiot, Lee," she scolded her teammate, "It was your idea to act like we were weak just so we could make a false first impression to make our opponents underestimate us!"
The other teammate, the one with the statue-like face stared down at his teammate but did not talk. At the same time, Naruto overheard them and walked over to Tenten once he had realized their idea to cause their future enemies to underestimate them. A method he had used for the better half of a decade.
The blonde shinobi walked over to Tenten and said, "That was a clever idea! Shame that it backfired. Feel free to shout at Sasuke over there, since he's the one that caused it to backfire."
The teammate with the stoic face looked over at Naruto and stared at him with a look that resemble hatred or irritation. He seemed to know him or rather he remembered him, while the blonde shinobi was oblivious to his looks. Meanwhile Tenten turned to see the blonde rookie she had assisted earlier in the week and smiled at him.
She waved to him, "Oh, hello, Naruto! You made it to the exams then?"
"Yeah," he smiled at her, "I feel a lot better about these tests with these new clothes on. So these two must be those teammates mentioned last week then?"
The kunoichi nodded and introduced her teammate to her new friend, "Yeah, this over here is Neji Hyuga. He was the best rookie that graduated from our class a while back. Over here is Rock Lee, he's obsessed with martial arts but he has a lot of talent with hand-to-hand combat. I swear, he'll die in battle if these exams don't kill us in the end."
Naruto smiled and moved over to Lee to shake his hand, while he studied his clothes and hair and likened him to almost all the actors he had ever seen in all martial arts films he had ever watched.
"Hello then, Lee. It's a pleasure," he smiled as he reached out his hand, "You wouldn't happen to watch a lot of Bruce Lee movies?"
Lee took his hand and almost crushed it without the intention and talked to him with a lot of enthusiasm in his voice, "It is also pleasure to meet you too, Naruto-kun! Yes, I do watch a lot of Bruce Lee movies! Yosh! They're awesome!"
Naruto smiled and nodded and then moved over to talk to Neji. But the teen did not move or even utter one word to the blonde shinobi. Instead, he decided to stare at him like he was vermin. It wasn't the same hatred he felt from the vindictive citizens of the village. His obvious resentment towards Naruto felt different, like he hated him for another reason he was still oblivious towards. Naruto felt a little bit awkward while the teen stared down at him but he felt like he had seen him once or someone else that looked similar to him. But he couldn't remember even one face that came to mind
Tenten reassured her new friend, "Please excuse him. He's not the friendliest man in the world."
Sasuke and Sakura walked over to Naruto but soon shoved him back to confront Tenten and Lee. The blonde shinobi scowled at both his teammates for once, as both of them were rude to shove him back for whatever reasons. Lee looked over at Sakura and started to blush while he observed her. He feel for her almost as soon as Naruto did when he was little and marched over to her to talk to her.
"Hello there! The name is Rock Lee," he introduced and then asked her, "You're Sakura, right?"
The kunoichi nodded to him and looked at the older teen like he was a venomous insect. Soon, Lee nodded and smiled at the kunoichi and gave her a thumbs-up. His white teeth shined and then he winked at her and raised his rather large eyebrows while he also tried to flex all his visible muscles at her and attract her attention as much as he could.
"Would you like to go on a date with me Sakura-chan? I WILL PROTECT YOU WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL!"
Sakura stared at the teen and looked like she must have seen a ghost or had her soul sucked out from her mouth as her skin turned white and she shivered close to Sasuke as much as she could. She then answered Lee with a voice that sounded cold and almost lifeless.
"Never… In… Your… Life…" she answered.
Lee looked crestfallen and deflated his over-flexed muscles. He felt like a thunderstorm cloud hovered over his head and rained down on him while he floated back towards Tenten. At the same time, the teen named Neji walked over to Sasuke with a new look on his face. He looked interested with the dark-haired teen and wanted to learn more about him. His voice was calm and collected, but sounded reserved like he had been raised in a house that must have had a lot of wealth or sanitation.
He asked the black-haired teen, "Excuse me? What is your name?"
"You have to tell me your name first," stated Sasuke as he was as rude as ever, "You must have been taught some manners."
Naruto looked at Sasuke and wanted to hit him for his absurd behavior, his attitude, and his blatant moronic choices when he decided to create more enemies to face later in the exams should the students be forced to fight each other. It was obvious that Sasuke's massive ego had suffered some blows between the incident in the Land of Waves and the confrontation with Gaara and his older brother, but it was no excuse to act like a total moron and be so rude and selfish like he was now. It was ridiculous and Naruto had to have a word with him as well as Sakura as soon as the three of them were alone.
Neji then asked the Uchiha heir, "You mind telling me how old you are?"
"Piss off, loser," he answered back.
The older teen almost snarled at the Uchiha and then returned to his teammates. Soon, Sakura told Naruto and Sasuke to follow her and turn in their applications form on time and walk to the real exam room. Naruto waved Tenten and Lee farewell and wished them luck on their tests, which earned a smile from Lee and another wave from Tenten. Once the team was too far for them to hear, Neji stared at the Uchiha and then looked over at the blonde rookie as the trio headed towards the stairs. The older teen observed his clothes and noticed the faint but obvious lion he had added to the back. He crossed his arms and continued to stare at the two fellow students he had met.
"You sold him those clothes, Tenten?" he asked his female teammate.
She nodded and smiled, "Yeah. He's nice and a little bit cute. I liked his accent. With all that blonde hair and those faint whisker marks on his face, he almost looks like a lion. Like the one he stitched into that coat. I like it."
"If I didn't know better, it almost sounds like you have a crush on him, Tenten," said her other teammate Lee.
Tenten flushed insisted, "I do not! That Sasuke fellow was a hot fellow too… But he wasn't nice like Naruto… But with all those features and those clothes, he does look a lot like a lion…"
"He does have a taste for that animal…" the older teen then added and insisted, "He looks to me like another idiot… He won't win in these exams… Fate will not favor him..."
{{Rita Skeeter by Patrick Doyle}}
Team 7 was soon lost inside their old school as none of them had been around and couldn't remember where the offices were located to turn in their forms. The three of them soon traveled around the entire school several times and had to check all the offices until a new teacher named Hikaru Furi told them that the office the three of them needed was located close to the western side entrance hall. While the team walked over to the other end of the school, Naruto stared at his male teammate with a cross face and was determined to talk to his teammates about their obscene behaviors, even if he had to shout over both of them. It was when the trio had arrived at the western entrance hall that Naruto decided to talk to his teammates, but started with a statement he had wanted to make back when the Uchiha had increased the number of shinobi that made discovered the true classroom.
"Sasuke Uchiha. You are the most insolent inconceivable wanker in existence," he started loud and clear.
The Uchiha twitched and looked at Naruto in surprise, "What?"
"Why the hell did you announce the genjutsu in front of all those other rookies? We could have had a lot fewer enemies in the exams to think about! You went ahead and doubled the amount of shinobi and kunoichi we have to face later! What a move. Now we have to-"
But then a loud voice then boomed from above the trio, "SASUKE UCHIHA!"
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked over their shoulders and saw Lee on the floor above them as he stared sown at the Uchiha. Naruto looked bewildered while Sasuke looked bored and Sakura looked terrified as she blanched at the shinobi that had asked her out and almost declared his love to her. Sasuke almost looked amused as he anticipated a confrontation, when the older shinobi stared down at him and clenched his hands into iron fists.
The Uchiha heir asked, "What? You want to fight me or something?"
Lee hurdled over the rail and landed down on their level and stared down at Sasuke while he crackled his knuckles and nodded to him, "The name is Rock Lee! Yosh! Unlike what Neji did when he was introduced, I addressed who I was!"
"Then I am Sasuke Uchiha. Heir to the famous Uchiha clan," he announced in a dramatic voice.
Naruto smacked his face hard and then moaned while he listened to Lee announce his infatuation towards Sakura and offered her a seductive wink. Lee told the threesome that he desired to fight Sasuke in front of Sakura in order to impress her and he also wanted to fight him to see how true the rumors were about the fearsome Uchiha clan members. All he wanted was a tasted, to which Sasuke answered with another dramatic voice that made no one other than Sakura Haruno shiver.
"You don't even know what it takes to be an Uchiha…" he said as he stared down at the older teen.
The blonde wizard had heard all he needed and told his idiotic teammate and reminded them all, "Sasuke. No one in the world cares other than Sakura-chan. We have to leave now. We should be in the exam room."
"Shut up, dobe!" he shouted back at him.
Naruto dismissed his teammate and tried to talk to Lee, "Listen, mate. You're wasting too much time with Sasuke. You should return to your team and get to the exam room like we're supposed to. We're almost out of time."
Lee ignored the blonde shinobi and insisted that he still had time to fight Sasuke Uchiha. The two of them were soon about to clash as Naruto and Sakura backed out of the area and watched as Lee and Sasuke were about to battle. Sakura looked excited while her teammate looked irritated and decided to let it be and wait until Sasuke had ruined their chances to be in the exams and have an excuse to blame him and call him the idiot for once. He and his invisible companion almost couldn't wait to tell Kakashi that Sasuke had ruined it for them and couldn't wait to see him chew out his rival and teach him some manners.
But as soon as the battle had started, Naruto was shocked to see how fast Lee could move when Sasuke stormed at him. The Uchiha tried to attack Lee, but the older teen was so much faster and moved with such incredible ease. Sakura had cheered for her crush and then she froze in shock when Lee struck Sasuke in the face with his foot. She started to shout at Lee each time Sasuke recovered from a blow, stormed at the older teen, and was then smacked back down to start all over. The two of them continued to rumble, all the while, Sasuke was beaten and bruised over and over. Which made Naruto feel a lot better as his rival received what he deserved. Soon Naruto wanted to drive his teammates to the exam room and forget about his earlier desire to let themselves fail and have Kakashi chastise Sasuke for his selfishness.
After he had been beaten a little bit, the tides were about to turn in Sasuke's favor when he activated his Sharingan. Sakura was amazed and felt that her beloved crush would now win against Lee as he stared at him and he noticed its activation. But Sakura did not realize that Sasuke was not on the same level as Kakashi with his own Sharingan. So when he was about to attack Lee, the Uchiha was not able to anticipate Lee's next move when he vanished and then kicked Sasuke in the chin, which sent him over seventeen feet into the air and he continued to soar higher. Sakura was shocked while Naruto almost laughed and then looked over at the clock and worried a little bit. But while the Uchiha was still in the air, Lee had come out of nowhere and was behind Sasuke. The much more advanced rookie shinobi was about to use a new move on the black-haired teen, but then a new and loud voice boomed from across Naruto's location.
"LEE! THAT'S ENOUGH!"
Sakura and her teammate saw a man that looked so much like Lee that he could have been his father. As soon as he had heard the voice boom at him, Lee vanished once more and landed in between Sakura and the man that looked a lot like him. Sasuke started to fall towards the floor, but then Sakura screamed out his name and was able to catch him and soften his fall. As soon as the trio had recovered with Naruto, the three of them watched as Lee's sensei slammed him in the face as a form of punishment for his use of the secret martial art move he was about to use on Sasuke Uchiha. He told him that it was a secret and that he should never use it on an unofficial battle. But then Lee had tears run down his face in rivers and then his teacher knelt down to his level with fat tears of his own rolling down his face. Soon, the teacher apologized to his student and the two of them embraced. Sakura and Sasuke both shivered at the scene and the drama, but their teammate Naruto smiled at the scene and acted a lot more normal than his outrageous teammates.
The blonde shinobi smiled and said, "Oh…That's so sweet…"
"You idiot," his female teammate shouted at him, "Those two are suspicious! Two of them could be spies or even aliens to act like that!"
Naruto chuckled and said, "Somehow I doubt that…"
"Lee! You must still break some sweat as soon as the exams are over," the sensei named Gai announced.
The identical student nodded to his teacher, "I understand, sensei!"
"You must run around the arena five hundred times, and then do it again," he shouted as he aimed towards the skies.
Lee saluted to his mentor and shouted, "Yes, sir!"
Gai-sensei soon turned towards the other three students and studied their features and characteristics. He saw the thin blonde one, the outlandish kunoichi with the red sleeveless dress, and the black-haired Uchiha with the bad attitude. Based on what his rival had told him several times about his own students, all three children matched how he had described them, minus the nerd-like antics that were to be associated with the blonde-haired child. Gai smirked at the three rookies, which caused Sasuke and Sakura to twitch while Naruto tilted his head like a curious child.
He thought as he observed the three students, 'It looks like these are Kakashi's kids…'
Gai rested his hands on his waist and smiled at the three students and let his flawless white teeth shine and he stated then asked, "Yosh! You three kids! How is Kakashi?"
The Uchiha asked back, "You know about Kakashi?"
"Hmm…do I know him," the man asked as he put his hand up to his chin, he then froze and Sasuke stared him down, but then Naruto watched as he and his teammates watched as Gai vanished out of thin air and then the three of them heard him when he was behind them less than a second later, "I do. We are eternal rivals…"
The three of them all whirled around and stared at Gai in amazement for his unbelievable speed. He must have had some of the best chakra control to be able to move that fast. Not to mention some incredible muscles hidden underneath his legwarmers. Sakura looked to him out of fear and amazement while her blonde teammate looked a little bit more daunted, and the Uchiha looked a lot more unsettled. Naruto soon calmed down and crossed his arms while he was lost in his own world for a little bit.
The blonde shinobi thought with an honest voice, 'I think that Kakashi-sensei has him beat in coolness… Those clothes are a little bit... ridiculous...'
'Those thick eyebrows of his are fantastic,' the other wizard said to break the tension, 'Both of them look so warm, I almost want them too…'
Sasuke thought while he stared at the eccentric teacher with tension, 'Is this man even human? He's so fast and those eyebrows are so weird…'
'Oh, Sasuke-kun, please take me out of here,' the overwhelmed kunoichi wished, 'This whole exam so far has been one massive freak show and it hasn't even started…'
Gai huffed out his chest and then announced to the three students with a wide smile as he tried to end their conversation since time was almost out, "The score between us still stands 50 to 49 wins. In other words, I am much stronger than Kakashi… But back to the matter at hand… Please forgive Lee for starting that whole fight earlier. I suppose I forgot to teach him a little bit more about self-control. Please tell Kakashi I said hello! Farewell and the best of luck on the exams! Good luck, Lee!"
Lee saluted him as he vanished and then went to work on his arms as he tied his bandages back onto his hands and arms. Naruto had bad vision, but he still noticed that Lee had loads and loads of bruises, scars, and stitches all over his hands. He soon covered them while Naruto started to wonder about their odds in the exams and then started to think about what he was about to tell Sasuke and Sakura and act like Iruka did for him whenever he didn't listen and needed a lecture. It would seem that his time with Iruka and the lessons he had learned could assist him now. But Lee was still there, and didn't leave until he was done when he faced Sasuke one last time.
He told him in a clear and honest voice, "For the record, Sasuke Uchiha. I wanted to blow off some steam with our battle. But I also wanted to fight so that I could know that you are not the strongest rookie shinobi in the exams from Konoha. It looks like the strongest rookie shinobi in the village is someone from my own team. It looks like I will have to focus on him from now on."
Sasuke started to seethe at Lee for his honest comment and would have attacked him had he not realized how fast he was. The older shinobi still nodded to the fallen Uchiha.
"Thanks for the honor of a short battle," he said, "I wish the best of luck on the exams. Farewell for now."
Lee saluted to three students and then he left them in the entrance hall while he zoomed to the correct classroom with his teammates. Sasuke soon fell back down and sulked while he tried to contain his collected frustrations from the last several months as well as from this latest battle. He tried to hide his face with his hair while Sakura worried about him and dotted him. Naruto was sick of this ridiculous behavior from both his teammates and decided now was the time to end it. All the frustrations and all the tension and hatred that was created and felt because of their selfishness and their own childish desires would ruin them. Naruto decided it was time for a lecture and to kill his title as an idiot.
Naruto looked down at his teammate and said, "Well, he was right. You did get your arse kicked, Sasuke-teme."
"Shut it, Naruto-baka!" screamed his female teammate in an obnoxious voice.
The blonde shinobi did not submit to her and started to scold Sasuke for his actions, "That's what happens when you let your ego take control and want to dominate other random shinobi to fuel that ridiculous superior attitude. You had it coming."
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Sakura yelled again.
Naruto did not listen to his teammate when she screamed at him and was about to slam him in the head. But then he stared at her with a livid look on his face that forced her to hold her arm back and stand where she stood out of fear. He then talked to both his teammates and he almost sounded like Iruka as he scold Sakura and then Sasuke, "NO... Sakura Haruno. You listen to me right now… You saw that Lee kid, right? You saw his hands?"
Sasuke and Sakura stared at Naruto but did not see what he saw or understand where his new leader-like attitude had come from. Like he had turned into an adult from the moment Sakura had screamed at him.
"His hands were bruised and covered with stitches," he told them both as he forced them to realize what other shinobi the three of them could face and forced them both to realize how immature the two of them were in recent events, "He's had a lot more time out there on the field than we have… You know it. He's older than us… I understand that this makes me sound harsh, but the two of you have acted like idiots ever since those other shinobi from Suna arrived and before that as well. You two acted like little kids back there, like Konohamaru and his friends would act. That's pathetic… We have to do what Kakashi-sensei told us to back in the bell-test and start to act more like a team. If we want to become chunin then we have to be teammates. No more rivals and no more random strikes to the head for no reason. I won't have that. None of that stuff will help us in these exams... This isn't school, this is real life…"
Sasuke and Sakura looked at their teammate in shock as their attention was stuck to him and the two of them listened for once. Sasuke removed his hair from his face and stared at his teammate as he scold them both but then calmed down as he tried to reason with them now.
"We have to put our pride and our egos aside and focus on our mission to become chunin. If we want to pass these exams and advance to the next level, then we have to work as a team and work with each other now more than ever. We can't afford to fight with each other and fail when we're this close."
Both of them stared at the blonde preteen and soon the tension and resentment felt earlier vanished as Sasuke stood on his feet and Sakura started to soften her face when she looked at her once-idiotic teammate. Naruto looked over at his male teammate and rival and decided to manipulate him in order to motivate him to listen and work as a team.
"Sasuke," he started as he earned his undivided attention, "You want to show Lee for that little fight earlier, huh?"
The Uchiha nodded to the blonde shinobi and he continued as he criticized him one more time and showed him his forms to remind them of their deadline.
"Then, let's turn in these damn forms and head to the classroom. We're almost out of time. You wasted too much time earlier, now start to act like a real shinobi and let's move out."
The black-haired rookie looked down at the floor and cleaned the blood on his mouth and started to think about another confrontation with Lee and his sudden desire to beat him for his recent defeat. Soon, the Uchiha heir followed his teammate as well as Sakura while he led them over to the correct offices to turn in their forms and head to the classroom for their exams.
Sasuke Uchiha then muttered in a low voice as he followed his matured blonde-haired rival, "The next time I see that idiot… He's dead meat…"
{{The Train by James Newton Howard}}
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura were able to turn in their forms and still had a little bit more than one minute to waste as the three of them arrived at the floor to Room 301. The trio turned the corner and marched down the hall to see their sensei Kakashi was at the doors and waited for them to arrive. Once the three students were close to the doors and their sensei. Kakashi hid his hands in his pockets and smirked at his bewildered students and nodded to the one kunoichi.
He then said, "You decided to come after all, Sakura,"
The kunoichi was lost as she stared at her teacher, as well as her crush. But then Naruto sighed since he was tired of his idiotic mask and decided that his older brother was right and that it was time for him to come out of his shell and shine. So he smirked at his teacher and looked over at Sakura and Sasuke as he shocked them both as well as his sensei with what he had determined about the start of the exam.
"It's the teamwork again, sensei?" he asked, "You wouldn't have let us get through those doors unless we entered as the three-man team. Is that correct?"
Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi were all stunned and a little bit dazed when Naruto decided to come out and show his true intellect. The masked shinobi stared at his student, as he did not think even for a moment that he would understand what he was about to elucidate on with the three-man teams rule. But he had deduced it almost as soon as he had the first hint. Sasuke had figured it out earlier, but he didn't think Naruto would ever be able to. The blonde shinobi acted so smart and decisive when contrasted to how he used to be when he had first started on the team.
"Uh…Yes… That's correct, Naruto," the masked shinobi breathed and then smiled, "I wouldn't have let any of you guys enter the exam without one of your teammates. The exam only allows groups of three students to enter. That's how the exams are set and how it's been run ever since I was a kid and entered too… I also wanted to test Sakura's true devotion to the team, and not feel pressured to take the test in favor of Sasuke. I wanted her to come here based on what her heart told her to. You passed, Sakura. Well done."
Kakashi smiled at each of his students and smiled at them all with pride in his heart. He wanted the best for them and all he had to do was wait until the four of them would be reunited should all his students finish the first test and then survive the second one. He was certain all three of them would come out well in the end, and so he told them, "Sakura… Sasuke… and Naruto… I am proud of each and every one of you… Good luck…"
The masked shinobi stood aside and let his students enter. The three children walked over to the doors and opened them wide and into a massive classroom as their sensei remained behind and watched the door close.
To Be Continued...
Yeah, I know, Naruto was a little bit super-smart when he discovered the true purpose of the three-man teams rule of the exam, but I thought it was a nice start to have Naruto start to show the world what he can do in this universe.
Naruto: That was nice! I sounded like such an adult back there with Sakura and Sasuke! I mean I whipped that teme! I owned them! I love that stuff!
Iruka: (with tears of pride) So mature… He was so mature…
AZ44: Hahahahahah! You did nice with the Kankuro-pants-thing. The argument between Kakashi and Iruka was also good. I still can't understand how that scene and the one in the last chapter was what inspired millions of yaoi material on the internet.
K: That is odd.
Iruka: Tell me about it.
AZ44: Also the design of the clothes is so much better for Naruto than the previous version. Back then he wore Harry Potter's First Task clothes and robe from the Goblet of Fire film. It was nice in the movie, but it was described like it was taken out of the wizarding world. It was too… out-of-world to be worn in the Naruto universe. The clothes in this version are so much better. I assume this one was inspired by what the tributes wore in the Hunger Games, right? Books or movie?
K: Yeah, it was. But it was much more suitable than the Triwizard Tournament outfit. But I changed the colors and still had him stitch the Gryffindor lion on the back, but I made it a lot less obvious.
AZ44: I'm impressed.
K: Which reminds me, what clothes will Naruto wear in Lord of Time?
Naruto: Yeah, what will I wear?
AZ44: SHUT UP, GUYS! SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTHS!
This is fun! But I know in the end, Azeroth44 will do something insane as soon as we've teased him enough. But it doesn't matter, since I'm having so much fun with it! Please be sure to review if you are reading this, it took a lot of time to fix this chapter. Thanks!
