Isaribi, that was the name of the girl I didn't know. I would like to thank my readers for telling me the name, when in doubt ask the readers. For those of you who are wondering why I didn't respond right away I'm afraid to say that every three months or so my e-mail decides to stop sending me my reviews, alerts, ect; for an extended period of time. It is the most annoying/frustrating thing I have ever dealt with. Start the fic.
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Naruto was only half listening to the Hokage's speech about why the Chuunin exams were held. He didn't care why they were held, all it meant to him was one step closer to being Hokage.
He saw Sakura timidly raise her hand only to have Sasuke angrily pull it down.
"Don't you dare tell them about this mark! All the people I want to fight are in this very room!" said Sasuke.
Sakura looked hurt at Sasuke's actions.
"But Sasuke…"
"Sasuke you jerk!! She's only worried about you!!" steamed Naruto.
"Naruto!! You're one of the people I want to fight the most." Said Sasuke.
Naruto looked surprised for a moment but suddenly started to smirk.
"Damn straight! If I wasn't then there would've been something seriously wrong with you!" said Naruto.
Kabuto had quit but that was okay. Naruto didn't really care, the guy smelled like snakes and mud for some reason.
There was a coughing sound and the members of Team 7 were brought to the attention of someone who must have been the referee.
"Alright now, the matches will be decided at random with the board behind me."
The board settled on Sasuke fighting some Sound Nin.
"Would everyone except the two fighters please leave the area." Asked Hayate.
Naruto started to go up the steps when Ino suddenly grabbed his wrist and ran all the way up the stairs.
"Hey! Ino, what do you think you're doing?!" asked Naruto.
"I need to talk to you alone for a sec!" said Ino.
Ino led Naruto down the cat walk until they reached the end.
"Alright now what is so freaking important?" asked Naruto.
"I need you to help me!" said Ino.
Naruto stared at her confused for a couple of seconds until a scowl appeared on his face.
"Look, if this is some type of offer for me to try and hook you up with Sasjerk…"
"No! That's not it, I want you to help me not be a fan girl anymore!" said Ino.
0-0
"I'm sorry but I think I had something un-Ino like in my ear." Said Naruto.
"I'm serious! Sasuke's actions in the Forest of Death made me realize something. He's not the same Sasuke I knew when I was a little girl. When I really sat down and thought about it I realized I didn't really know that much about him, and he didn't really know that much about me." Said Ino.
"So why come to me about it?" asked Naruto.
"I heard about what happened between you and Sakura, I figured if anyone knew about how to get over someone it would be you." Said Ino.
"Well you're already on to a good start. I guess the best thing I could really say is try to find someone who will treat you the way you deserve to be treated." Said Naruto.
"Great, now where am I going to find a guy like that?" asked Ino.
"How about Shikamaru?"
"He's too lazy to be a boyfriend to anyone."
"Kiba?"
"His dog keeps pissing on my leg."
"Chouji?"
"Get real."
"Neiji?"
"Hyuuga version of Sasuke, Naruto."
"Right, how about Lee."
"Hell no!"
"Shino?"
"Not into bugs!"
Naruto started to list off all the guys with his fingers and an anger vein appeared on his head.
"Damn it, Ino! That's every guy I know! If not them who?!" asked Naruto.
Ino shrugged causing Naruto to sigh.
"Oh well, I'm sure you'll find someone. Just remember what I told you about finding someone to treat you right and you should be fine." Said Naruto.
Naruto walked back to Sakura shaking his head.
"What did Ino want to talk to you about Naruto?" asked Sakura.
"Oh it's nothing you need to worry about Sakura-san." Said Naruto.
Sakura involuntarily winced.
"You know Naruto…I will do what it takes to get you to call me Chan again. I'll make sure of it!" said Sakura.
"Don't just tell me, show me!" said Naruto.
"SHI SHI RENDAN!" shouted Sasuke.
"Oh right, Sasuke's fight. Forgot about that." Said Naruto.
"Winner; Sasuke Uchiha."
"About time Cockatoo head! I was able to hold up two conversations your fight took so long!" said Naruto.
An anger vein appeared on Sasuke's head.
"What did you call me?!" asked Sasuke.
"The back of your head kind of looks like the back of the head of a Cockatoo! Don't tell me you never noticed!" said Naruto.
"You know I never thought about it but Naruto does kind of have a point." Said Shikamaru.
Kakashi came down the stairs and said that he was going to go and try to fix Sasuke's little 'problem'.
The board started scrambling random names until it settled on two.
Zaku Abumi
Vs.
Shino Aburame
The bug user faced off against the man who's arms Naruto saved. Shino eventually won by sticking some kakai bugs in the holes in his hands causing his own back to backlash him.
"He uses bugs…that is kind of creepy. But then again who am I to judge? I'm a friggin werewolf." thought Naruto.
The next match was Kankuro against someone or another, Naruto didn't really care.
Kankuro smirked as he faced off against his opponent.
In a puff of smoke Kakashi appeared.
"Hey."
"Don't you 'Hey' us! What about Sasuke?! Is he…?" started Sakura.
"Oh don't worry about it Sakura, it's been taken care of. He's sound asleep at the hospital." Said Kakashi.
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.
"However, he is being guarded by several ANBUs." Said Kakashi.
Sakura's face became worried again.
"Smooth move Kakashi-sensei. You really know how to put someone at ease you know that?" said Naruto dripping with sarcasm.
Naruto heard a scream and looked down to see that Kankuro had won his fight with a puppet.
"Oh…so that's what he was carrying…a puppet." Said Naruto.
"Cough. Winner of the match is Kankuro. Cough." Said Hayate.
Once again the billboard started up again until it finally landed on two.
Sakura Haruno
Vs.
Ino Yamanaka
"Well this should at least be interesting." Said Naruto.
Sakura smirked as she went down the stairwell, she had a plan of action on how to deal with Ino.
While Ino and Sakura were making their way to the floor Tenten was staring at Naruto.
What did Ino want with him? She couldn't have decided that Naruto was a better target than Sasuke could she? Tenten was just starting to realize her feelings towards him, and she would fight for him if she had to.
"Hey, Tenten! Don't telling me your staring at that blonde failure!" said Neiji.
Tenten quickly turned to him with a glare.
"What if I am? He's certainly been a lot nicer to me than you have!" said Tenten.
Tenten poked him in the chest causing him to take a step back.
"He's been kinder…"
poke.
"Sweeter…"
poke.
"And more respectful to me than you ever were!"
poke poke poke.
"So you can forget about me being your little fan girl from now on because I just might have found someone better!"
With one last poke she accidentally pushed him down the stairs.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!" yelped Neiji.
"Tenten, it is not youthful to push Neiji down the stairs!" said Lee.
"Shut up, Lee! Hey, I know why don't you go hang with Naruto for a while? He's probably pretty hard working himself if I heard right." suggested Tenten.
Fire started to burn in Lee's eyes.
"That is an excellent idea! From what I have seen in the forest I know that Naruto also possesses the power of youth!" said Lee.
As Lee ran off Ten Ten couldn't help but smirk.
"Maybe he'll even throw in a good word about me." Thought Ten Ten.
Sakura and Ino stared at the fallen Neiji for a moment.
"Well that was weird." Said Ino.
"Cough. The next match is between Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. Begin."
Ino and Sakura jumped apart to keep their distance.
Sakura smirked, it was time to put her plan into action.
"You know Ino, I'm not going to fight you over Sasuke. It's pointless." Said a smug
Sakura.
"Oh you can have him." Said Ino.
"What?" asked Sakura.
"What?" asked Shikamaru.
"What?" asked Chouji.
"What?" asked Asuma.
"I'm through with Mr. Ice King. You can have him for all I care." Said Ino.
"Then who will you…"
"I don't know, I'll find someone. Alright, less talking more fighting huh?" suggested Ino.
Sakura tied her hiate to her forehead symbolizing that she was going to go all out. Ino smirked and did the same.
At the respond of some unforeseen signal both charged towards each other.
Sakura started to go through hand signs and created three bushins.
Ino wasn't too worried, if they were kage bushins then she might have something to worry about. But with regular bushins all she had to do was decipher the original.
Unfortunately she bet on the wrong horse and got a kick to the head. After that the two merely started to exchange blows.
Neiji limped up the stairs cursing himself for letting his guard down. Now he had a handicap.
Sakura broke apart from Ino gaining some distance from her. Okay so getting Ino mad about not having Sasuke wouldn't work but that didn't mean she couldn't still get her mad.
"Ino just give it up already!" said Sakura.
"What?"
"You're not fit to be a ninja, the only thing you care about is being social and where you get your next outfit." Said Sakura.
Ino scowled. "What did you say?"
"Uh-oh. Ino, you can't lose it now!" thought Shikamaru.
"You heard me, you probably care more about your precious hair than completing a mission. I bet that if you lost it somehow you wouldn't even be here." Said Sakura.
Ino took a kunai and cut off her ponytail gripping it in her right arm.
"I DON'T NEED THIS HAIR TO BEAT YOU!"
"She lost it." thought Shikamaru.
Ino threw her hair forward scattering it towards Sakura.
She did a few hand signs and settled on having her hands forming a box.
"Don't tell me you're going to try that whole Mind Transfer thing on me?" asked Sakura.
"You got it Billboard Brow!" said Ino.
"You'd have to be able to catch me first." Said Sakura.
Sakura tried to move but something was holding her feet in place. That was when it hit her, Ino had thrown something at her that tied up her legs when she threw her hair at her.
"Shintenshin no jutsu!"
Ino's body fell limp and a very Ino-like smirk appeared on Sakura's face.
Naruto blinked in confusion.
"What the hell just happened to Ino? And what is wrong with Sakura's face?" asked Naruto.
"It's over." Though Shikamaru.
"The energy from Ino's shintenshin mind transfer technique struck her head on. She's finished." Said Kakashi.
"Mind transfer…?! Then Sakura's not even…" started Lee.
"Exactly, Sakura's psyche has been overtaken and supplanted by that of Ino. Right now, Ino is inside Sakura. So…her goal is probably to…" started Kakashi.
Sakura/Ino timidly raised her hand.
"I… Sakura Haruno… wish to withdraw…from the match." Said Sakura/Ino.
"Don't do it! Come on Sakura-san!" shouted Naruto.
"What the…? I thought he didn't care about her anymore…" thought Ino.
"You said you were going to do what it took to get me to call you Chan again!! Now prove it to me!!!" shouted Naruto.
"So that's why you want to help her. Well sorry Naruto but she won't be able to prove herself this time."
Sakura/Ino suddenly started shaking.
"What…? I feel so cold…Naruto is so loud! And he's right…I can't let Ino beat me!"
"Sakura?! But…that's crazy…"
"What's wrong? Are you withdrawing from the match?" asked Hayate.
"ARE YOU KIDDING? I'M STAYING IN!" shouted Sakura.
Naruto scratched his head.
"What the heck is going on?" asked Naruto
Soon both Ino and Sakura were huffing and puffing.
"This fight is weird." Said Naruto.
"There were two different psyches inside you before I got there! What…What on Earth are you?!" asked Ino.
"Heh…Don't you know? Even the sweetest girl needs a hard center, or she's not gonna make it out there!" said Sakura.
Ino and Sakura charged at each other in one last kamikaze attack each land a punishing blow to the face knocking both their hiates off.
They each landed opposite of each other far away.
"Neither candidate is able to continue. As a result of simultaneous knockouts neither one moves past the preliminary round!" said Hayate.
"WHAT?!" shouted half the people.
Both Kakashi and Asuma leapt down and retrieved their students before heading back up.
"Neither one is hurt badly enough to need treatment from the medical corps. They should both regain consciousness within the next half hour. But I'm impressed by both of them." Said Asuma.
"Yeah…" agreed Kakashi. "Naruto and Sasuke were both doing well and now even fragile little Sakura has shown amazing strength. I know you've all been through a lot, but…I'm glad I enrolled you all in the Chunin exam. I mean that from the bottom of my heart."
Naruto looked around for a moment as if searching for something.
"Hey, where'd Tenten go?" asked Naruto.
"The fifth match of the preliminaries is about to start. Tenten against Temari, please step forward." Said Hayate.
Naruto looked down and saw Temari and Tenten ready to face each other.
"Damn that woman's sneaky!" said Naruto.
"Hey, look… another candidate from the land of the sand! This should be fun!" said Neiji.
"Begin."
Tenten jumped back and threw three shurikens at her opponent. Temari seemed to flicker for a moment before the shuriken fell to the ground as if hit by something.
"What? But I always have perfect accuracy!" thought Tenten.
"THE FAN TENTEN! SHE'S KNOCKING AWAY YOUR ATTACKS WITH THE FAN!" shouted Naruto.
"The fan!! Of course!!" thought Tenten.
Tenten turned to Naruto and gave him a wink causing a blush to form on his face.
"Hey! You done flirting with your boyfriend yet?" asked Temari.
"I never said he was my boyfriend." Said Tenten.
"Never said he wasn't." said Temari.
"Can we just fight?" asked Tenten.
Meanwhile Sakura was just starting to wake up.
"So you finally came to eh, Sakura?" asked Ino.
"TENTEN, USE THE POWER OF YOUTH!" shouted Lee.
"THAT'S THE SPIRIT! KEEP CHEERING HER ON!" shouted Gai.
"Our match is over and done…" said Ino.
"I…lost…?" stuttered Sakura.
Sakura looked like she was about to cry but this only raised a sigh out of Ino.
"Hmph…I'm the one who should cry! It's a disgrace…a tie! You fought me to a standstill!" said Ino.
Ino pulled out Sakura's hiate.
"Here! I think this belongs to you! By the way, you've blossomed, into a lovely flower." Said Ino.
Sakura took her head band and gave a sad smile.
"Ino, now that were not fighting over Sasuke anymore…do you think we could be friends again?" asked Sakura.
Ino smiled.
"I think I'd like that." Said Ino.
Naruto winced as Tenten landed on Temari's fan. That was a low blow.
"How dull. It's a shame really." Said Temari.
"Well we weren't about to let ourselves be defeated in a place like this, now were we?" asked Kankuro.
"The winner of the fifth round match is Temari." Said Hayate.
Naruto leapt down onto the floor.
"I'll take her Temari." Said Naruto.
"You want her? Take her!" said Temari.
Temari flung Tenten off of her fan only to have Naruto just barely catch her.
"What the fuck is your problem?!" shouted Naruto.
Naruto glared at her for a moment but then it changed to a face full of disappointment and pity.
"If you keep treating people like this, you're just going to end up all alone; and you'll only have yourself to blame." Said Naruto.
Temari scowled. This moron should keep his opinions to himself.
"Just take her and go." Said Temari.
Naruto shook his head and wrapped Tenten's arm around his shoulder.
"Thank you, Naruto." Said Tenten weakly.
"No problem, you're one of my friends now. I help my friends." Said Naruto.
She somehow managed to muster a small smile. However, it only lasted for a moment.
"Still can't believe I was so humiliated by her." Said Tenten.
"Hey, don't you worry about it. You were just out of your element that's all." Said Naruto.
Naruto had once again managed a smile to form on Tenten's face as he walked her to the med nins.
The med nins took Tenten from Naruto and put her on the stretcher.
"We'll take her from here." Said one of the med nins.
"I'll come visit you at the hospital, okay Tenten?" shouted Naruto.
Naruto earned once last smile from Tenten before the med nins carried her out.
Naruto started to walk up the stairs where he was greeted by Sakura at the top.
"Hey Sakura-san, feeling better already?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah but don't mind me. You just worry about yourself. If you let yourself lose now you'll be a disgrace to all men! And Sasuke will never let you live it down!!" said Sakura.
"But no pressure." Said Naruto.
"Heh…thanks Naruto…for helping me out before. Ino almost had me until I heard your obnoxious voice trumpeting." Said Sakura.
"Yeah! I sure saved your butt!" said Naruto.
Sakura managed not to pummel him by chanting a mantra of 'I'm trying to get him to call me chan again'.
While Sakura was talking to herself Lee had managed to make his way over to them.
"These matches are certainly exciting are they not, Naruto-kun?" asked Lee.
"Yeah Lee! I can't wait to show off my stuff!" said Naruto.
Sakura sighed. They were like a bunch of kids.
"Okay! My turn! I'm good to go. Who thinks he can take me?!" asked Naruto.
"I have a feeling it's going to be me." Said Lee.
The board started up again and settle on another two names.
Shikamaru Nara
Vs.
Kin Tsuchi
"Aw man." Said Lee disappointedly.
"Rats!" pouted Naruto.
"No need to pout cub, you'll get your chance." Said Aleu.
"Did you just call me cub?" asked Naruto.
"Well your not a kit that's for sure. I'll stop calling you a cub once I've seen you fully mature."
"What happened to calling me champ?" asked Naruto.
"Oh I'll still call you that rest assured. Oh and by the way, you can't go hybrid during these fights." Said Aleu.
"WHAT?"
"Hello? Pitch forks and torches remember?"
"But…But…okay."
KABONG!!!
Naruto winced as he saw Kin knock herself out against the wall thanks to Shikamaru.
"Oh! That has got to hurt!" said Naruto.
"The winner is Shikamaru Nara." said Hayate.
Kiba started listing the names of the remaining genins but Hinata wasn't paying attention.
She was too busy staring at Naruto, yesterday their relationship had gotten a little closer.
Hinata blushed as she started to daydream about Naruto. Him in his werewolf form curled up around her sleeping and being used as a pillow by her. She prevented her thoughts from going hentai because she knew she couldn't handle them and probably would have died of blood loss. But that was okay, romantic thoughts were more than enough for her.
Naruto Uzumaki
Vs.
Kiba Inuzuka
"WELL IT'S ABOUT TIME!! THANKS FOR BEING PATIENT EVERYONE! I'M GONNA MAKE THIS WORTH YOUR WAIT!" shouted Naruto.
"I swear, you have got to be the loudest werewolf in history." Said Aleu.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Said Naruto.
"Oh yesss! Thank you! Thank you!! We can take this guy, Akamaru!!!! Akamaru?"
The small dog had disappeared from his jacket.
"Where'd ya go buddy?" asked Kiba.
Kiba found Akamaru whimpering behind his leg.
"What's wrong boy?" asked Kiba.
Akamaru yipped a couple of times followed by a whimper. This raised an eyebrow out of his master.
"What do you mean something's weird about him?" asked Kiba.
Akamaru whimpered some more.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T WANT TO FIGHT HIM?!" shouted Kiba.
Naruto was already down waiting for Kiba so they could start the match.
"Hey Kiba! You forfeiting or what?!" shouted Naruto.
Kiba was busy trying to pry Akamaru away from the railing bar which he had so firmly clamped his teeth around.
"BE DOWN IN A SECOND!" shouted Kiba.
"Grrr!" growled Akamaru.
Iruka Umino was walking with a bag full of groceries. Of course half of it was filled with ramen cups.
"I have really got to kick this ramen addiction before I end up like Naruto." Said Iruka.
One of his ramens fell out of the bag and started rolling away.
"No! That ones my favorite!"
Iruka started to chase after it but with his groceries made it a difficult task.
He wasn't exactly sure how far he chased his precious ramen but he knew he wasn't anywhere near his apartment.
He put the groceries down and bent over to pick up his ramen when…
CHOMP!
Iruka screamed as something latched onto his behind.
"BAD DOG! BAD DOG!" shouted a voice.
Iruka knew that voice, that was the voice of Hana Inuzuka. He knew it because she had on more than one occasion run into him picking up Kiba from the academy.
Hana injected a shot into the dog causing it to release it's grip on Iruka's behind and fall into a sleep.
But not without a price…
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!!!
Iruka blushed as he saw that the dog had a piece of his pants in his mouth and if he wasn't mistaken some underwear too.
"Oh my!" said Hana.
She just couldn't manage to avert her gaze from the hole in Iruka's pants.
Iruka quickly turned around covering his new pants hole with his hands.
"Hey!!! Stop looking!!!" said Iruka.
A small blush appeared on her face.
"I'm not going to need shots am I?" asked Iruka looking at the dog.
"No, he's just an aggressive guard dog that needed his shots. He ran out from us before we could do anything. You were probably the first person he saw on his run and I guess he just decided to do what he did best." Said Hana.
Hana noticed Iruka was busy contemplating how he was going to take his groceries home without revealing the hole in his pants.
"I-I could probably patch that up for you." Said Hana trying to push down a blush.
Later…
Hana smiled to herself as she eyed her work on Iruka's pants.
She folded the pants over her arm and walked over to a door.
"Iruka, I'm done." Called Hana.
A hand quickly came out from behind the door, grabbed the pants, and pulled them back
in.
A moment later Iruka came out with his pants on rubbing the back of his neck.
"Thanks Hana-san." Said Iruka.
"No!!" said Hana.
"Huh?"
"You call me Chan! Hana-chan!! Got it?" asked Hana.
"Um okay, buy why?" asked Iruka.
"Well I realized I didn't really know that well so I decided to think about what I did know about you. You're a really good guy and I'd liked to have you in my life." Said Hana.
Iruka blinked in confusion for a moment. "Is she hitting on me or asking me to be her friend? Probably friend."
"Yeah, okay." Said Iruka.
"Would you like to stay for dinner?" asked Hana.
"Thanks but no thanks. I really need to get my groceries home." Said Iruka.
"Okay perhaps some other time than." Said Hana.
Iruka nodded and left.
That's all for now. And due to popular demand, Sakura is hereby out of the harem. I can easily settle for her being a good friend. I'll see you the next time I update.