I don't own Naruto.

Chunin Exams

Yamato proved to be a good teacher, giving each one of team 7 a certain training program to follow. As we trained he would either immerse himself in a book or train diligently himself, and several times I caught him weeping silently or staring off into the distance silently.

He's deeply affected by Kakashi betraying Konoha…

Nevertheless, he soon stopped grieving over the loss of his role model, turning it into intense focus on making us stronger. Soon, I quickly came to value the little free time that I would have.

One day, as I was aimlessly wandering around Konoha, I came across the Yamanaka flower shop and decided to enter. There weren't many people inside due to the fact that evening was approaching, so I found that Ino, who was at the counter, had nothing to do, so I walked up to her.

When she heard my footsteps she looked up, and her face lit up when she realized who it was. "Naruto-kun! Finally, someone can save me from this boredom!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Boredom?"

She nodded convincingly. "Yep. Usually I love working here, but today there were barely any customers."

"Fine, I'll do my best to entertain you."

In reality, that consisted mostly of just listening to her rambling on and nodding in appropriate moments, but I didn't mind, because I learned something about the differences of this world with the anime.

So Asuma actually took their training seriously from the sounds of it… what's up with the jonin? Are they all really that different from how they were portrayed in the anime? To be fair though, they are acting how they should be acting as jonin, as in they are training their genin…

"So Naruto-kun, how are things on your end?"

"Well… we have a new jonin sensei called Yamato, and he's a good sensei… ah, of course! You'll be interested in knowing about Sakura's new dream."

She shook her head with a knowing smile. "I already know that she wants to become Hokage. Was it you who motivated her?"

I smiled wryly and nodded. "Although I didn't think she would develop a dream as great as that…"

Ino shrugged. "So? It'll be good for her, having such a dream to dedicate herself to." After a few seconds of silence she sighed and looked down. "… You know, she used to be bullied when she was a kid for her large forehead…" She glanced up to see how I would react to this.

I nodded slowly. "I came to a similar conclusion after she confided in me about her weakness."

"She confided in you!?" Ino gasped. "Although you may not know, Sakura doesn't confide in anyone! I'm the only person she's told her deepest feelings to!"

I declined from commenting, spotting a customer approach the desk to purchase a flower. After the customer had left I turned to Ino with a serious look on my face.

"Ino, I'll say one last thing before leaving, so listen carefully."

I didn't mean to say it in a particularly demanding voice, but it still came out as an order rather than a request. To my surprise, instead of commenting on my demanding tone, Ino simply put all of her attention on me, her eyes marginally wider than usual in an attempt to listen carefully.

"Konoha… is peaceful. That much is obvious. This peace… it's what we seek; it's what all ninja seek when they become ninja. Unfortunately, this peace comes with a price – the lack of knowledge and preparation for the outside world.

Ino, the shinobi world is a brutal world. Genin like us – although I hate to say it – are usually the first to die. More experienced ninja from other villages will know about our experience and will come for us like we're missing ninja.

But why am I telling you this? I mean, I'm sure you already know about this, after all, so why am I bothering to repeat something like this again?"

At this point I stopped speaking and placed my hand under her chin, lifting her head up to force her to look into my eyes.

"Because, you see, you don't really understand just how brutal the outside world is. Someone like you, a candle in the wind, could get blown out at any moment. … But it doesn't have to be like that. It's your choice. Choose wisely."

I let go of her and retreated, making my way to the exit of the shop.

"Ino… I didn't say all this to scare you – I just said this because I don't want to see you die."

This caused a slight blush to appear on her face, but I forced myself to ignore what that implied.

"So please… don't die."

This time the blush fully manifested itself on her face, but at the same time she nodded fiercely, eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar in shock.

As I walked back home I thought about why I had just given that speech.

… Do I really care about her life? Isn't she just an anime character? … Does this mean that, after spending time with the people of this world, I no longer view them as anime characters? Then… what about my old universe, and the people inside there? What are they to me now?

… I'm spending too much time pondering over pointless questions. Why does it matter? I live in this world, so I'll deal with the problems in this world! Simple as that!

…

After a few weeks of training in solitude, Yamato finally gathered team 7 together during a training session.

"Up until now, you have only been taught to become an all-round ninja. While it's true that this is beneficial in itself, eventually you will come to realize that having your own style allows you to excel in what you're best at, developing a fighting style that lets you utilize your strengths to the limits. I want you to start thinking about making your own styles from now on, and you can gradually change your training programs to fit these styles."

After a few seconds of silence Sakura raised her hand. "But, Yamato-sensei… what if you don't know how to make your own style?"

He nodded in understanding. "In that case, try to base your style on another ninja, preferably a ninja whose style you know well."

"… Check out the styles of Tsunade and Tobirama Senju if you're stuck; I think those two would suit you the most."

Yamato looked at me quizzically.

"Well, Tsunade was famous for her chakra control and medical ninjutsu, and Tobirama was famous for being intelligent, so…"

He nodded once again. "And Sasuke? Any idea who you'll take inspiration from?"

He smirked. "Of course. My brother Itachi-nii is enough inspiration."

Yamato finally turned to me. "And you?"

I shook my head, and he nodded in acceptance. "Alright. I want you all to start working on your styles from now on, okay?"

As we left the training ground, I couldn't stop a smirk from emerging.

You want me to take inspiration from someone else!? Please!

…

"… That's all. You may leave now," the Hokage said, and Yamato got up to exit the office.

"… Hokage-san?" Yamato stopped upon hearing my voice, and the rest of my team, along with HIruzen, turned to me. "Are there any C-rank missions we can accept? I'm tired of constantly doing D-rank missions that require no skill."

Yamato frowned. "Naruto, don't presume you're ready for C-rank missions on your own."

Sasuke huffed audibly. "But we are ready, aren't we? Besides, Naruto's right about D-rank missions requiring no skill."

Sakura said nothing, choosing to nod silently in agreement.

Yamato sighed and was about to reprimand us, but Hiruzen held his hand up and began to speak. "I see you can't take the boredom anymore, huh? Very well, I will allow you to accept this C-rank mission." He handed a sheet to Yamato, who skimmed over the briefing quickly. "You're lucky, because this is the only C-rank there's been for several days now, and I was hesitant to give it to any team. I'm sure you can benefit the most from the experience you'll gain."

The mission indeed did turn out to be escorting Tazuna to the Land of Waves, just as I had hoped for. We met up the next day near the main entrance to Konoha, finding Yamato and Tazuna waiting for us.

After introductions and a short briefing from Yamato we set off, leaving Konoha in our wake.

Finally, I'm leaving Konoha…

I didn't expect much from the trip, and I was proven correct as the journey itself was virtually uneventful. Occasionally Sasuke would challenge me to a spar, which Yamato limited to taijutsu only to stop us from tiring out, but even these spars were boring as Sasuke himself wasn't trying hard, preferring to anticipate any enemy attacks. Similarly, I also remained wary, looking for the puddle that signalled the Demon Brothers' arrival.

To my surprise, we didn't come across a puddle in the entire journey, and in a week we were able to arrive at Tazuna's hut.

… What's going on? Why weren't we attacked, not even by Zabuza?

The next day we set off to protect Tazuna and the builders while they built a bridge, and again nothing happened.

… Why is no one attacking!?

This continued for several days, and soon Tazuna had one more day to complete the building of the bridge. By this point Sasuke and Sakura had visibly relaxed, and even Yamato didn't show any signs of tension.

Although that could be because he never shows it anyway…

However, I remained vigilant until the last day, confident that Gato would send Zabuza and the rest to attack us. I got jumpier and more irritable, barely able to stop myself from shouting at my teammates to stay alert.

As the builders continued working on the last day, a thin mist began descending. At first it was barely noticeable, and even several hours later it wasn't as thick as I thought it would be, but it was enough to get my hear racing and convince me to pull out a kunai.

"… Why are you pulling out a kunai?" Sasuke asked. "You don't actually think that we're going to get attacked?"

I narrowed my eyes. "When… have I ever been wrong?"

Just as Sasuke was preparing to reply to that comment a scream ripped through the eerie silence hat had fallen, and Yamato immediately rushed to the location.

"What was that!?" Sasuke exclaimed, and Sakura came running towards us a few seconds later.

"We're being attacked by a group of mercenaries!" she cried out, and almost simultaneously a man jumped out of the mist behind her to swing a sword towards her.

Sasuke, his Sharingan already active, had anticipated the attack and threw several shuriken at the man, forcing him back. Sasuke proceeded to charge at the man, shouting at Sakura to get her to help. "Sakura, move! Cast a genjutsu or something!"

As the two attacked the man two other mercenaries approached me from the other side, forcing me to focus on them.

… Where's Zabuza? And why are these henchmen attacking now?

I sidestepped several swings from the first attacker and swiped at his head, but the second mercenary threw a kunai at me and forced me to move back. At the same time, a third mercenary arrived next to the first two.

Damn it! I need to finish this fight quickly!

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!" I spit out a decent quantity of water, overwhelming the mercenaries and making them drop to their knees. Wasting no time, I immediately closed in and knocked them out by delivering several blows to their heads.

Turning around, I found Sasuke finishing off a mercenary who had been trapped in a genjutsu, with Sakura moving on to find Tazuna. Sasuke turned to me and held his hands out. "What should we do now? Just go around defeating the mercenaries?"

I shook my head. "That will take too long, especially with this mist. I'll try clearing this mist away with a wide-range Wind Release, and you cover me while we make our way to Tazuna and Yamato-sensei."

He nodded and immediately made a shadow clone, which began circling around me 10 metres away.

"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"

As I gradually cleared away the mist Sasuke took care of any mercenaries we came across, leaving a path clear of mercenaries in our wake. Soon, the mist had been mostly cleared from the bridge, and we found Yamato and Sakura defending Tazuna from a large onslaught of mercenaries.

Argh! Where's Zabuza!?

As I frantically searched the bodies on the ground I spotted the Demon Brothers along with many mercenaries, but Zabuza and Haku were nowhere to be found.

What is going on!? Is he waiting for us to tire out?

As we joined in the fight, Sasuke gestured for me to look towards the far end of the bridge, where I could see Gato watching the fight, surrounded by several bodyguards.

He's too far away to capture without having to kill his bodyguards… will I have to kill him? … Can I kill him? Won't that make me a murderer?

"Naruto! What are you going to do about him!?" Sasuke shouted, blocking a kick while he did so. "He'll get away if you don't do anything, and he's obviously the boss of this group!"

… He's right. Guess I'm going to have to…

"Sakura! Attach a wire to this kunai!" I tossed a kunai to her, and she immediately began attaching the wire.

"Everyone! Get back for a second!" Yamato called out, and we moved back a few paces. "Wood Release: Great Forest jutsu!" His arms quickly turned into wood, which grew at a rapid pace and twisted unpredictably, stabbing many of the mercenaries in the area.

"Naruto-san! I'm done!" Sakura quickly gave me the kunai, which I immediately launched at Gato, using chakra to propel the kunai. His bodyguards caught the kunai, but that was only the start of the attack.

"Sasuke, fire!" Surprisingly, both Yamato and I shouted the same thing at the same time for different reasons, but thankfully Sasuke already had a clone.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire jutsu!" The clone spat some fire at the wires, which rapidly made its way to Gato's group before they could react, causing an explosion when it reached them.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball jutsu!" Meanwhile, the real Sasuke set fire to the wood which Yamato had detached from his body, causing more mercenaries to drop in defeat.

Soon enough the rest of the mercenaries were defeated and restrained, and Tazuna quickly explained the situation with Gato taking over the Land of Waves and terrorizing the people with his henchmen – that we had just defeated.

"… So we just solved your problem?" Sasuke pointed out.

Tazuna chuckled nervously. "Haha, yes, indeed you have. I must thank you very much."

Yamato frowned. "That means that you lied about the nature of the mission then, doesn't it?"

Tazuna nodded shamefully.

"But Yamato-sensei, it's alright, isn't it?" Sakura asked. "I mean, we didn't get hurt or anything…"

Yamato kept his stern face for a few seconds before sighing and nodding. "… I guess you're right. Fine – I won't report this. This will be kept a secret, understand?" We nodded silently.

While we stood watch over the mercenaries and Gato one of the builders rushed to the village, returning after a few minutes with a large group of villagers, who immediately began thanking us before tying up the Gato and his henchmen securely and taking them back to the village.

After they had mostly finished, Tazuna turned to us. "Once again I must thank you immensely for your help – I don't know what we would have done without you."

Yamato sighed and motioned for team 7 to start moving. "Well, I guess it's time for us to go now."

"Yamato-sensei, can I just quickly ask Tazuna-san something privately?"

Yamato raised his eyes at me but nodded nevertheless, and the rest of my team began walking to give us some space.

"What's up?" Tazuna asked me.

I leaned in and whispered into his ear, "Do you know of a mercenary hired by Gato called Zabuza Momochi?"

"Zabuza Momochi? ... No, can't say I've heard that name…" Tazuna replied, scratching the back of his head in an attempt to remember.

I kept back a sigh and waved goodbye, jogging to catch up with the rest of my team.

"… What did you ask him?" Sasuke asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing important…"

…

Yamato had already informed us of the Chunin Exams which were due to take place around a week after we returned from the mission, so we spent the week training in the forests instead of in a training ground as usual to avoid being spied upon by rivals. On the day of the exams I made my way to the location, finding Sasuke and Sakura waiting for me.

"Aren't you nervous, Naruto-san?" Sakura asked me.

I shook my head. "It's just a test. I'm confident I can pass." Sakura marvelled at my confidence while Sasuke huffed and looked around. "… Also, my name is Naruto, not Naruto-san…"

It didn't take long for us to get to the place where the undercover chunin were holding back several genin with a genjutsu, and I quickly stopped Sasuke from announcing that he could detect the genjutsu.

"It's meant to be a secret test…" I murmured, causing Sasuke to nod and proceed silently.

Soon we had reached the room where the participants were gathered, and Sasuke stopped us just before we entered.

"Just before we enter, I'm going to say this – I plan to pass this exam and become chunin. I don't care how hard the test is or how strong our rivals are. I will pass. So you'd better not hold me back!"

I smirked and nodded, while Sakura raised her fist in the air. "Of course!" she exclaimed. "We'll all pass this test!"

"That's right… after all…" muttered Sasuke, pushing the door open and splaying his arms out wide as he walked in with a confident smirk. "… We're not here to take part – we're here to take over!"

Annoyingly, he had his fully developed Sharingan blazing as he entered, so the first thing the competitors noticed about him was the colour of his eyes.

"That's… the Sharingan!" I heard a contestant mutter, causing several others to begin conversing.

As we walked to where the rest of the Konoha genin were gathered a ninja slammed his hands on the desk in front of him. "Don't get cocky just because you have red eyes!" he roared, attracting the attention of all of the other contestants.

That's… no way! What's he doing here!?

As soon as I glimpsed his unruly orange hair and savage looks I instantly recognized who it was.

Why!? Why is he an Iwa ninja!?

Not only that, but the girl next to him, with her obsidian eyes and short hair, a confident look on her face as she sat back relaxed, caused alarms to flash in my mind.

… What's going on!? Why are Kurotsuchi and Jugo participating in the Chunin Exams!? Why isn't Jugo with Orochimaru!? … Or is Jugo working undercover to help Orochimaru during the Konoha Crush? But that doesn't explain why he's with Iwa, and why Kurotsuchi is participating!

As Sasuke and Jugo began sparring verbally I looked around the room to see if there were any other inconsistencies with the anime.

That's… that's Kimimaro! And Haku! And Chojuro! And Suigetsu! What the fuck's going on!? Why is Kiri's main team so overpowered!? Why aren't Kimimaro and Suigetsu with Orochimaru!? And Kumo's main team has Omoi and Karui… Suna's team is the only normal one! Although I can hardly call the Sand Siblings normal… And that's Fu! Although she's sleeping… but hang on! Karin isn't from the same village as Fu! Aah! My mind is going to explode!

I barely had enough time to calm down before Ibiki Morino walked in, followed by several proctors.

"Quieten down! The test is about to begin!" his voice rang out, causing the noise level to gradually drop. "Get into an unoccupied seat!"

What followed was an explanation of the first round, but I already knew the rules so I didn't bother listening, choosing instead to check out the new contestants. Soon the test papers were handed out and the test had begun. Since I didn't want the proctors to think I already knew the purpose of the exam I attempted to answer the questions, but I didn't try too hard.

After an hour Ibiki called for the attention of the participants, signalling the end of the written exam. After introducing the last question and explaining the rules for this question many participants opted to leave the exam, reducing the number of participants by a significant amount.

Thankfully, none of the Konoha ninja or the main players from the other villages gave up or even looked like giving up, so there was no need for me to raise their morale the same way Naruto had. As a result, the number of contestants left was quite little – less than half of the original number.

As Ibiki was preparing to leave the windows were suddenly smashed as Anko came flying in from outside, wielding a banner stating: 'The amazing proctor of the second exam: Anko Mitarashi!'

After a bright and loud introduction she ordered us to follow her down to the courtyard overlooked by the room we were in, proceeding to jump out of the window to get there. As the participants made their way down the stairs two stood out: both Jugo and Suigetsu chose to jump out the window just as Anko had.

Oh?

It didn't take long to reach the courtyard, where we found the two being questioned by Anko.

"Well, you told us to follow you…" Suigetsu shrugged nonchalantly.

Anko smirked at this answer. "You got me there. And what abou you? Same reason?" She turned to Jugo.

"Hey, listen here! I don't follow other people! I jumped out because it was faster!" he exclaimed. He was about to keep speaking when Kurotsuchi appeared behind him, her hand clamped around his mouth and her face portraying her irritation.

"Not another word. Do you want me to take the seal off?" she muttered angrily, although it was quite loud. Surprisingly, Jugo immediately stopped struggling and went white, so Kurotsuchi let him go.

Seal…?

Soon, all of the participants had gathered in the courtyard and Anko had explained the rules, so the teams split up to sign the necessary papers and obtain their scroll.

"So we need an Earth scroll…" Sakura muttered, looking at the Heaven scroll in her hand.

"How fitting," smirked Sasuke, "that the team that will come out on top gets a Heaven scroll."

"I'm not so sure about that…"

He turned to me. "What do you mean?" Sakura focused on me as well.

I narrowed my eyes. "I've done a lot of research, and I can tell you that there are at least two ninja from each village that realistically could defeat us in one-on-one fights."

Sasuke's eyes widened before relaxing. "… So? Just because they can, doesn't mean they will, does it?"

Sakura was about to voice her opinion when a shout cut throughout the courtyard. "Who here wants to be my friend!?" I was unsurprised to find that Fu had shouted this.

"… Friend?" Now it was Gaara. "… You are one of us, yet you mention that word?"

'Us'? … Does he mean Jinchuuriki?

"What do you mean by us?" Jugo asked, voicing the thoughts of the surrounding genin.

Gaara paused for a second before whipping his head round rapidly, staring at Jugo with a tilted head. "… you wouldn't get it…" he almost rasped.

Jugo was about to explode again, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him, and as he turned Kurotsuchi was revealed behind him.

Again with the seal…

As the genin conversed with each other while they waited for the exam to start I looked around, spotting what I was looking for lurking in the shadows of the classroom we had left – although I had to squint.

Good, Itachi's in place…

Soon the exam began, and we immediately made our way into the Forest of Death.

"What's our plan?" Sasuke asked. "Shall we just head straight to the centre, where all the other teams will be heading?"

Sakura nodded. "That's the best plan I can think of, but it will only work if we're quick."

"Then let's step on it!" Sasuke urged, and we hurried forwards faster than before.

While we ran Sasuke had his Sharingan active, and it was with the Sharingan that he detected something and ordered us to slow down.

"What is it, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, slightly fearful at the sudden change in pace.

"Look for yourself…" he pointed in a direction, and soon we could see three ninja stood still on the ground.

"… What are they doing? Why aren't they moving?" Sakura asked.

That's… Orochimaru and his followers in disguise! Itachi must have already trapped them in a genjutsu, so he must be nearby…

I instantly rushed forwards to the three, ignoring the cries of my teammates. After rummaging through the pockets of Orochimaru I found what I was looking for – a scroll.

And it's an Earth scroll, no less! Lucky!

As I returned to the two I showed them the scroll, and they stared at it incredulously.

"No… way… we're so lucky…" Sakura muttered.

Sasuke frowned as we sped to the tower in the centre of the forest "But… what were they doing there?"

I shrugged. "Who knows? Let's just be thankful that we could pass this test so easily…"

Anyway, you're going to need to conserve your strength for the upcoming battles…

I wasn't surprised when Sasuke and Sakura gave each other a look to confirm the strangeness of the situation, but they didn't say anything further.

…

We ended up being the fastest team to the tower in the centre by quite a margin so we had the entire tower facilities to ourselves for the first day. Gradually more participants arrived, and after 5 days we were called to the large training room in the centre of the tower. The Hokage and Hayate Gekko introduced the next phase of the exam – the preliminary battles – before allowing participants to give up.

There's no Kabuto… I guess Shisui must have captured him as well.

You see, I had thought this out carefully. I knew exactly where Orochimaru, Kabuto and Orochimaru's helpers would be during the exam, so all I had to do was get Itachi and Shisui to either get a holiday that day or simply pretend that they were ill. Granted, that took quite a while especially with Itachi, who was an ANBU captain by now, but all he had to do was talk to Hiruzen and pretend that he was tired from the constant missions and needed a break - the Sharingan helped him in that.

All the two had to do after that was to sneak into the Forest of Death during the second part of the Chunin Exams, and, let's be honest, for two Uchiha who have all fully matured their Sharingan to the three-tomoe state and had two of the strongest genjutsu in existence; it's not exactly hard for them to do that.

After that they proceeded to roam the forest, avoiding competitors and searching for their targets. All it would have taken was a single glance and both Orochimaru and Kabuto would have been captured instantly.

Anyway, back to the preliminaries. The first fight was being announced on a large screen while the contestants walked up to the balconies, and I only found out after I had reached a balcony.

Interesting… these fights might actually be amazing!

AN: Are there any suggestions for fights you would like to see in the preliminaries and final rounds? I'll seriously consider these, as I'm stuck on fight pairings.

These are the competitors to choose from: Rookie 9, Team Guy, Kimimaro, Haku, Suigetsu, Chojuro, Kurotsuchi, Jugo, Fu, Karin, the Sand Siblings, and a character I'll introduce next chapter.

Thanks for the suggestions.