Chapter 7: Gaara Too?
A few months passed since the land of wave's mission and Naruto realised that soon the Chuunin exams would start. Sasuke and Sakura were getting stronger, increasing their chakra control and size while learning new jutsu. The trio were stronger than any other Genin team Konoha was going to send. All three knew an A-Rank Jutsu, all three could use at least three weapons (shuriken, kunai and weapon forged from their chakra) and they had never had a single failed mission… unless you asked the third Hokage who insisted that even though they had passed every D-Rank, being asked to never do it again counted as failure.
Naruto and Sakura had changed their clothes slightly since the mission to waves. Sakura now wore a sleeveless dress rather than the short sleeved on and Naruto hadn't fixed the arms on his jacket, but left them so that it looked better. (Seriously, a sleeveless trench coat looks a lot better than a sleeved one)
So as the days went by slowly and they completed C-Ranked Missions, they slowly bonded as a team, encouraged by Sasuke's new Mangekyō Sharingan, which Naruto was quick to 'copy' after discovering he could. [1]
Naruto had taken the day off which Kakashi gave them to train Konohamaru, Inari, Moegi and Udon. As they were walking towards their training ground, Konohamaru started to talk about 'this weird pink haired girl' never noticing Sakura behind them. She hit Naruto causing Konohamaru to run off screaming that she was a monster which made her even madder leading to her chasing him. Naruto forced himself from the hole in the fence and ran after them. When he got there he saw Kankuro holding Konohamaru up by his scarf and Temari trying to get Kankuro to let him go.
"Take you hands off of Konohamaru of you will be demolished." Naruto said with venom. Kankuro laughed.
"By who? You? You're nothing but a weak Leaf Genin who is probably just as weak as this little twerp." Kankuro said squeezing the scarf harder as if it'd hurt Konohamaru. "Besides we've got a few minutes until he gets here let's mess with these punks." Naruto smirked.
"He's already here. And he is watching you right now so either you let him go or both of us will make you, considering we are the same and everything, only I'm stronger." Naruto told the sand Genin. He looked into the puppet users eyes and focused Kyuubi's chakra into his eyes to turn them into Kyuubi's. Kankuro merely laughed.
"That is the lamest Genjutsu I have ever seen." He said as if all leaf Genin sucked. Naruto snarled and threw a three pronged kunai at Kankuro who caught it with his free hand. Naruto smirked and vanished in a flash of yellow. He reappeared in front of Kankuro and kicked him in the face, forcing him to drop Konohamaru. Naruto caught him and jumped back to Sakura and Konohamaru's friends. Kankuro glared at him before a wall of sand stopped him from attacking. Garra appeared in front of the wall in a swirl of sand. Sasuke jumped from the tree and landed with his teammates. Gaara looked directly at Naruto who had let his eyes return to their natural blue, which surprised Sasuke and Sakura because he had only done that once. Gaara looked him in the eyes.
"Uzumaki." He acknowledged. Naruto nodded once at the sand shinobi. Gaara moved forwards and punched him in the face. "You idiot. You messed up that jutsu we were working on didn't you?" Naruto realised from when Gaara said Uzumaki that it was the Gaara of his time. What he just whispered confirmed it. "I had a peaceful, Shukaku-less life and you had to go and mess up that jutsu! The other Jinchūriki may be more forgiving but they were dead. I wasn't!" He hissed in Naruto's ear. Naruto laughed nervously.
"At least you can control him now… right?" He asked. Gaara nodded.
"He let me sign the raccoon summoning contract. He wants you to sign it as well." Naruto looked shocked at that but shrugged. Naruto summoned the fox contract and held it out to him.
"It may be a family contract, but the jinchūriki are my family, sort of. I suggest that you do the same with the raccoon contract." Naruto said as Gaara summoned the raccoon summoning contract and signed the fox one. Naruto signed the raccoon contract and it disappeared in a puff of smoke, as did the fox contract. Everyone watching was shocked at the way they acted, like they were old friends. Gaara turned to Temari and Kankuro and summoned the raccoon contract for them to sign. They shrugged and did so. As they began to walk away, Sakura called out to them.
"What?" Temari asked. Sakura was obviously trying to be clever.
"I can tell from your headband that you come from the Village Hidden in the Sand…" She began.
"No shit Sherlock!" Naruto interrupted. "Now let the Kazekage's children be on their way unless you want to make us look stupid and start a war." Sakura glared at him. "They are obviously here for the Chuunin exams that begin in a week." Gaara turned around and nodded. Then the three began to walk away again.
"Hey you! Identify yourself!" Sasuke shouted. Naruto sighed.
"Why do I even bother?" He asked. Gaara turned back around and looked at him.
"I do not need to identify myself to you Uchiha. I only identify myself to people I consider strong enough to defeat me, or people who are soon to be dead." Gaara said with malice. Naruto smirked. Sasuke's eyes widened. "The fact your teammate knows it shows that he is stronger than me, which he is, for he has nine while I have one." With that the sand Genin leapt into the air to jump across rooftops to get to their hotel. Naruto walked up to Sasuke.
"Want to go train?" He asked. Sasuke who was still in shock at being blown off nodded and went with Naruto and the Konohamaru Ninja Squad. Sakura joined along after working some things out.
"Naruto… what did Gaara mean by that 'he has nine while I have one' statement?" She asked her teammate. Naruto looked at her.
"What did I tell you in wave?" He asked in reply.
FLASHBACK GENJUTSU!
"It starts twelve years ago. The fourth Hokage took his secret pregnant wife, Kushina Uzumaki and moved her to a safe house outside of the village. The reason, she was what is known as a jinchūriki. A jinchūriki is someone with one of the tailed beasts sealed inside them. My mother was not the first jinchūriki of the nine tails either." Naruto said.
RELEASE!
"You mean Gaara is a Jinchūriki?" Sasuke asked finally out of his stupor. Naruto nodded.
"If you listened to his message, you'd know which one he holds as well." Naruto said.
"The One-Tailed Tanuki." Sakura said. Naruto nodded.
"You know your stuff about the Tailed Beasts." He summarised. Sakura blushed and smiled.
"I thought that the more I know about them the easier it'd be to relate to you." She replied.
"Gaara made it seem like the more tails the stronger a Tailed Beast is." Sasuke pointed out.
"He's right. We start with the One Tail. Its name is Shukaku and he is the demon of Suna and is currently sealed within Gaara. Then there is the Two Tail. The Two Tails is a Monster Cat named Nibi and is one of the two demons of Kumo. Nibi is currently sealed within a Kumo Genin called Yugito if I am correct and she is at this exam." [2] Naruto explained which caused a small amount of fear to run across Sasuke's and Sakura's features. Three Jinchūriki were at this Chuunin exam so far. "Then you have the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, who Zabuza tried to assassinate. He holds the Three Tailed Giant Turtle named Sanbi. He's here for the exams because he entered a few teams of his. [3] The Four Tail is a Monkey named Yonbi and is held back by Iwa's Rōshi. I think Iwa also has the Five Tailed Dolphin-Horse. It's name is Gobi and it is sealed within Han. Han and Rōshi are Chuunin I think so we don't need to worry about them in this exam, unless they are coming to watch. The Six Tailed Slug, Rokubi's jinchūriki Utakata is a Jonin of a team from Mist; the Seven Tailed Horned Beetle Nanabi is here. The jinchūriki is a girl named Fū and she detests life. She is only a Genin and is trying to become a Chuunin without the power of her tailed beast, even though it is technically her power. Fū comes from the Village Hidden in the Waterfall. [4] The next is Killer Bee who is one with Hachibi. Hachibi is the Eight Tailed Giant Ox and when I say Killer Bee is one with it, I mean he can control it better than any other jinchūriki can control their Tailed Beast. He is the Jonin sensei of Yugito right now if I am not mistaken. Finally you have me, the holder of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox, Kyuubi. If they were extracted from us we would die because we have had them with us for so long." Naruto explained. Sakura was close to fainting at the fact that there were four jinchūriki in an exam she wanted to take. Sasuke was wide eyed realising that if Naruto could defeat his older brother then so could most of those who he'd just spoke of. If Gaara didn't even see him, an Uchiha as an equal he was pretty screwed in these exams. "But don't let that stop you from taking the exam. All you need to do is remember to forfeit if you are pitted up against Gaara, Yugito, Fū or myself in a fight and you should be fine." Naruto assured.
They spent the first part of the day working on Taijutsu while the Konohamaru Ninja Squad practiced with each other. Sasuke had Naruto and Sakura notice the gaps in his Taijutsu and helped him fix them. Sakura was taught the Fox's Fist style by Naruto and a few Uchiha Style moves by Sasuke. He incorporated them into her basic Academy Taijutsu style and it looked terrible, but they had a week until the exams.
After that they did Ninjutsu and Chakra Building. Sakura spent most of it on Chakra Building while Sasuke read some scrolls and occasionally watched Naruto with his Sharingan eyes, only to then moan that he couldn't copy Demonic Jutsu. Naruto worked on his Red Chakra Arms and the accompanying moves he could use with it such as Mourning of the Sun. Naruto taught them both the Shadow Clone technique to help them train, but it didn't really work that well. Sakura could only make one and Sasuke could only make five.
The week passed slowly and after they had been given the Chuunin exam registration form they had one mission and after that they were free to train. The mission was a new D-Rank mission that Team Seven insisted on. The reason… they had to deliver a speech to Konohamaru's and Inari's class about the Chuunin exams.
When they first went in Naruto held his hands up and whispered "Be Still!" And at once everyone stopped moving. They did their part and for once passed a D-Ranked mission without being requested to not do it again, instead, they were requested to come and talk to the class anytime they wished.
They spent the rest of the week training. Three men from Rain came and challenged the group to a fight, but Naruto turned them down while holding a Rasenshuriken in his hand and told 'them' that he saw through his disguise. It turned out to be Iruka testing them if they were ready for the Chuunin exams. Sasuke and Sakura showed him the Shadow Clone Jutsu and he went off to report.
Finally, the day came for the Chuunin exam. As they walked up the stairs to second floor, Naruto noticed the Genjutsu.
"Sasuke, let's just walk on by. If they can't see past that Genjutsu then they don't deserve to be Chuunins." Naruto said. Sasuke nodded and the trio walked straight up to the third floor, but not before Naruto put up a Genjutsu so that if anyone looked out the window they'd see Kyuubi and he shouted "HOLY CRAP! THE NINE TAILED FOX IS BACK AND HE'S PISSED!" causing panic. He noticed Fū and Yugito in the crowed of people who had stayed behind rather than running off screaming.
"That was not funny Naruto!" Tenten shouted at Naruto who put his hands on the back of his head and laughed. Fū glared at Naruto as if he had offended her and Yugito looked at him with hearts in her eyes. Naruto turned his attention to the other two jinchūriki which caused Yugito to blush.
"Fū from Waterfall and Yugito Nii from Lightning huh? Seven and Two? You don't look half as strong as One." Naruto said trying to get them to rise to the bait. Fū did.
"AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW?" She demanded angrily.
"Quite a lot seeing as I am Nine." He said. Fū's team scoffed and Yugito's team of girls swooned for some reason. Yugito glared at them.
"Forgive them. We are treated like royalty in Kumo because to be one of us is like to be an Uchiha here." Sasuke smirked but realised that they weren't talking about him. "Wait… Are you Naruto? Dad's always talking about how glad he is that you used that Jutsu." She said as she walked with him. Fū was next to her because Naruto knew how she was treated, being a jinchūriki and all.
"Err… your dad?" He asked. Yugito nodded.
"He's also my sensei. He said you'd met." Naruto realised who she was talking about.
"You're the daughter of Killer Bee?" He asked. She nodded. "You don't seem like the type to be his daughter." Naruto summarised. She giggled.
"Why? Did you think I'd be rapping all the time?" She asked innocently. Fū gagged.
"Seriously, why do you even try? We are just used as scapegoats for people to hate." Fū said angrily.
"Yeah, but if we don't stick up for ourselves, who will. By hating everyone we slowly become what they think we are." Naruto countered. Fū looked thoughtful and walked off with her team. Yugito's team seemed to want to stay at Naruto's side. Once they got inside and past Kakashi Naruto pointed to the corner of the room and walked over there to keep out of the way. After a while, a commotion started which involved the rest of the 'Rookie Nine', Kabuto and the Sound Team. Naruto took that time to walk over to them.
"Now, now… fighting before the exams have even begun? Makes me think that you and Kabuto are working together or something." He said cockily smirking at the girl's worried face. He turned out to the crowed and pointed. "My name is Naruto Namikaze! And I'm going to send each and every one of you back to your home village… Chuunin or not!" He shouted. Sakura and Sasuke fell down anime style before getting up and shouting at Naruto. Most of the team were glaring at him, but some, like Gaara's, Fū's and Yugito's were laughing, realising that Naruto had done it as a joke.
Ino and Sakura began arguing about Naruto when a puff of smoke indicated the arrival of the exam proctor.
"ALL RIGHT YOU BUNCH OF BABY FACED DEGENERATES! PIPE DOWN AND LISTEN UP!" A male voice shouted from the smoke. Everyone looked over to the smoke amused, except for most of the 'rookie nine'. Naruto was smirking. The rest of them looked like they'd soiled themselves. "It's time to begin." The voice said again. The smoke cleared to reveal a Jonin and a bunch of Chuunin. The Jonin had scars on his face and was smiling evilly. "I'm Ibiki Morino your proctor and from this moment… your worst enemy!" He said without ever losing his smile. A lot more people were now cared after hearing his name. Ibiki was infamous around every village as the toughest interrogator the Elemental Nations had.
Ibiki pointed towards the 'rookie nine', Kabuto and the sound team. "First… you candidates from the Village Hidden in the Sound! Knock it off! Who told you you could fight? You want to be failed before we've even begun?" Ibiki asked angrily. The bandaged member of the sound team turned to him.
"Sorry… It's our first time." He said mockingly. "I guess we're a little jumpy, sir" The way he said sir would have made any normal man steam from the head, but Ibiki is anything but normal. He smirked.
"I'll say this once so listen up. There will be no combat between candidates… no attacking each other without the permission of your proctor. And even then the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who even thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?" The scared man asked. A few of the Genin nodded. The second male of the sound team smirked.
"No fatal force? That's no fun." He said disappointedly. It was supposed to be funny, but no-one laughed.
"Now if we are ready we'll precede to the first stage of the Chuunin exam. Hand over your paperwork! In return you'll each be given a number. This number will determine where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you are all seated." Ibiki explained. Naruto smirked.
"This'll be a piece of cake." He said surprising everyone who knew who he really was.
Once everyone was seated Naruto noticed he was sitting next to Hinata again.
"Hey Hinata… don't worry about me in this exam." He said smiling and let his Kekkai Genkai stop returning his eyes to their regular blue. She blushed and began to stutter realising that this Naruto was her Naruto. He smiled wider realising that she realise who he was. "Use the Byakugan to get the answers… the test is about cheat…" He was interrupted by Ibiki slamming some chalk against the blackboard.
"EVERYONE EYES FRONT!" He demanded. "There are a few rules you need to be aware of and I won't answer any questions so you better pay attention the first time around." He said slamming the chalk against the blackboard again. Naruto looked back and saw Sakura's face and smirked before putting his feet up on the desk and going to sleep.
Naruto woke up thirty minutes before the end of the test and picked up his pencil before activating his Scanagan and used it to analyse the questions carefully. He then wrote down 'Answer provided via Scanagan!' under each answer and looked up at Ibiki smirking. He didn't notice his teammate sigh in relief when he started to write. A few minutes after Naruto finished Ibiki started to talk again. Naruto decided to go to sleep again.
Naruto suddenly awoke when he heard a crash. He looked up and saw Anko standing there with a big banner behind her proclaiming her as the second proctor. She also started to get a little hyper about the second test.
"Kyuubi… remind me why we actually drank sake with her that one time?" Naruto asked the fox. He got no reply and tried to force back the memory as Kyuubi pushed it through.
[1] Naruto had to use it as an excuse for getting the Mangekyō Sharingan.
[2] Yugito is Naruto's age and Genin because it is my story.
[3] Don't know when Yagura had the beast taken out of him, but it makes it more dramatic if all the Jinchūriki are at the chuunin exam finals… makes it seem like something important will happen.
[4] Same with Yugito. Fū is the same age as Naruto and a Genin because it is my story.
CLOSED! NO MORE VOTING! Harem current results –
Ino – 4
Tenten – 7
Temari – 8
Yugito – 5 (1 review, two PM's and two of my mates who like NaruXYugi)
Fū – 3
Kin – 3
Tayuya – 6
Anko – 5
Kunerai – 1
Shizune – 5
Ayame – 1
Asamu – 1
Shion – 1
Hana – 1
Hinata – 2
Karin – 1
Konon – 1
Yuugao – 1
Mei – 1
The Harem will be the seven girls who scored the highest. The Harem currently looks like:
Sakura
Temari
Tenten
Tayuya
Yugito
Anko
Shizune
Ino
The Harem contest will end after the Invasion. Keep voting for who you want to be in Naruto's Harem. CLOSED! NO MORE VOTING!