Chapter 7
"I need to turn in our mission report. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Kakashi said as saw a bird in the sky. He recognized it as a message to the jonin of the village from the Hokage.
"Okay. See ya later sensei." Naruto said. "I'm just going to go train."
"Yeah, same here." Sasuke said as he began walking towards his home.
"Sasuke, do you want to-" Sakura began.
"No, I'm training by myself." Sasuke said without missing a beat.
"Okay… I'll just go train over there then. If you change your mind…." Sakura trailed off as she walked over to the other side of the training ground.
Kakashi inwardly sighed as he watched the exchange. His squad still had exceptional teamwork, but there did not seem to be much friendship among them at all. He did not even know how to describe Naruto and Sasuke's relationship. It seemed to be more of a rivalry than an actual friendship.
'It all started when we got back after the mission to the Land of Waves.' Kakashi thought as he walked towards the Administration Building. Though it had only been about two months since that mission, it seemed a great deal longer than that to him.
In the past two months, his team had improved by leaps and bounds in terms of skill at least.
Sasuke seemed to have improved the most, though Kakashi knew that it was only because he had unlocked his Sharingan about a week after returning to the village. It had actually been the Copy Ninja's plan to unlock it. After all, it would have come in handy in the mission if he had been able to use it.
Most of Sasuke's training in the past two months had focused on taijutsu and the use of his Sharingan, which was currently in its two tomoe state.
But if Kakashi was honest with himself, he would say that Naruto actually improved the most. He seemed to derive a new reason to get stronger from the mission, causing him to train even harder. His taijutsu, chakra control, and overall ninja skills had become quite impressive. And to make things even better, he had gotten rid of the orange jumpsuit. He had taken to wearing the simple dark blue ninja attire that most chunin and jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village wore with a red spiral on each shoulder. He also seemed to imitate Kakashi by wearing blue fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back of them.
The only one of his students that he was not completely happy with, in terms of progress, was Sakura. She did not put forth as much effort as his other two students, and it showed. While she was better with taijutsu and ninjutsu than she had been when she graduated, she had still not shown any interest in learning genjutsu, despite Kakashi's constant comments about her being a genjutsu type kunoichi.
'You can only lead a horse to water. You can't make it drink.' Kakashi thought. It seemed appropriate in regards to her.
Kakashi picked up the pace and rushed towards the Administration Building. He knew what the meeting would be about. A single event happened every year on the first of January and the first of July. It was close enough to the first of July that it could only have been one thing.
Arriving at the meeting room within the building, Kakashi saw almost every jonin the village had, along with several special jonin. The only ones not present were the ones on missions out of the village.
"It seems that everyone is here." Hiruzen Sarutobi said as he entered the room and looked at the jonin before him. He watched as Kakashi took his place next to Kurenai, who stood at Asuma's right. "The bi-annual Chunin Exams will be held here in the Hidden Leaf Village, starting on the first day of July."
"It has been announced in the other villages already, I take it?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes… the other competitors will be arriving within the next few days. The exams begin in five days after all." Sarutobi answered.
"Now, it is time to hear nominations on who will take part in these exams. As you know, any genin with at least eight completed missions is eligible to take part in the Chunin Exams with a nomination from their sensei. It is advised that they have more experience than that, but it is the sensei's decision." Sarutobi said. "I'd like the three jonin in charge of the rookies to step forward." At that, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma stepped forward. "Would any of you like to nominate your students?"
Everyone except for the jonin that stepped forward and Sarutobi were surprised when Kakashi said, "I, Kakashi Hatake of Squad Seven, nominate Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki for the Chunin Exams."
Next, Kurenai said, "I, Kurenai Yuhi of Squad Eight, nominate Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame for the Chunin Exams."
Then, Asuma said, "I, Asuma Sarutobi of Squad Ten, nominate Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi for the Chunin Exams."
'All nine rookies… that's rare… but expected.' Sarutobi thought.
"You can't be serious!" Iruka Umino said, making Kakashi wonder where he came from. He did not think Chunin were invited to the meeting after all.
"Excuse me Iruka, but would you like to explain your outburst?" Sarutobi asked.
"Yes sir… I taught all nine of those rookies in the Academy. I understand that they may have improved a great deal, but they have only been genin for three months. There's no way that they're already ready for the Chunin Exams." Iruka said.
"I agree." Guy said. "Perhaps you're pushing them a bit hard. Do what I did. Let them develop their skills for a year or so before putting them through the exams. You know haws traumatic they can be."
"I doubt it will be as traumatic as meeting and fighting the Demon of the Mist." Kakashi retorted. "I know my students better than anyone here. I know that they're ready for this. I wouldn't nominate them if I didn't."
"I agree." Sarutobi said, nodding his head. "The nominations for the nine rookies will stand. I have faith that my jonin would not nominate anyone that was not ready."
"Yes sir." Iruka said with a sigh. He still did not agree with the decision, but he saw that there was nothing he could do to change the Third Hokage's mind.
As the meeting continued, Guy's team, along with twenty other teams, was nominated for the Chunin Exams.
It was certainly a high number of contestants to have to beat, Kakashi thought. He had faith that his team would at least make it fairly far though the exams though.
~Scene Break~
Back on the training field, Naruto and Sakura were still doing their individual training.
Naruto quickly sprung into action as his five water clones attacked him from different directions with taijutsu. Without actually going on the offense, he fought the five clones at the same time before eventually grabbing one by the arm and throwing him into the others, destroying them.
He had begun using water clones to spar with ever since he returned from the Land of Waves. Since they only possessed one-tenth of the strength of the original, they were quite useful. Fighting against shadow clones worked as well, but shadow clones equaled the original in terms of ability. As a result, he was physically unable to win those spars using only taijutsu.
Quickly doing a back flip, Naruto quickly removed a shuriken from his holster and threw it as he spun mid-air. It slammed into the bull's eye of a target that had been behind him with a solid thunk.
'It's always more difficult to do that when I'm full of adrenaline.' Naruto thought as he took a deep breath. As Kakashi had told him time and time again… it was easy to hit an unmoving target. A moving one, on the other hand, was the hard part.
"I'm going to go home. I'll see you later." Naruto said as he waved to Sakura.
He did not notice the sad look on her face. Ever since dedicating his entire being to his training, Naruto had not been paying much attention to her. Of course, he would never have made the progress that he had and learned three new jutsu in such a short time span if he had paid as much attention to her as he used to.
Naruto was about a mile away from the training ground when he heard a voice that he recognized as Konohamaru's.
~Scene Break~
"Put me down!" Konohamaru yelled as he was held in the air by his shirt by a Sand genin with purple face paint on.
"You know… I really hate brats like you who run into your betters and don't even apologize." he said as he pulled his right fist back to punch the kid. He would have done so right then and there, but the sound of something cutting through the air stopped him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a fuma shuriken coming straight towards him from his left.
"Watch out Kankuro!" the blonde next to him said as she removed the fan from her back.
Before either of the Sand shinobi could do anything, the shuriken exploded in a cloud of smoke and Kankuro was sent flying to his right.
Konohamaru fell as the Sand ninja was sent flying to the ground, but he never actually landed on anything solid. He found that he had been caught by the last person he had expected.
"Boss… what are you doing here?" Konohamaru asked as he recognized Naruto.
"Apparently, I'm saving your ass." Naruto said as he withdrew a kunai and spun it in his free hand. Setting Konohamaru down, he added, "Get out of here now. I'll handle this painted freak."
"What did you just call me, pipsqueak?" the Sand ninja asked as he stood up.
"I called you a very ugly girl with clown-like make-up dressed in a cat suit. Is that your date strapped to your back?" Naruto asked, looking at the object in bandages on Kankuro's back at the last part.
The girl next to Kankuro busted up laughing at that. She had never heard anyone mouth off to Kankuro quite like that before. She only stopped laughing when she saw him set the bandaged object on the ground in front of him.
"No Kankuro! What are you thinking? You can't use the Crow in a situation like this." she said, looking at him like he was insane.
"I'm going to teach this kid a lesson." Kankuro said.
"I'd like to see you try." Naruto said as he prepared for the fight that appeared to be inevitable.
"Kankuro, why are you attacking Leaf ninja?" an older Sand shinobi asked as he walked up. Half of his face was covered by a piece of cloth. Based on his flak jacket, Naruto guessed that he was a jonin.
"He attacked me first!" Kankuro said.
"You did threaten that little kid though." the blonde girl commented.
Turning to face Naruto, the jonin said, "I'm sorry for the trouble that he's caused you. I'll reprimand him for it. Rest assured it won't happen again. I'm Baki by the way, and these are two of my students."
"Why are you in the village?" Naruto asked, curious about the sudden appearance of Sand shinobi.
"They're taking the Chunin Exams that are being hosted here. We're early, so it might not have been announced yet." Baki said, seeing that the blond had no idea what he was talking about.
"I knew they had them twice a year. I just didn't know we were hosting them this time." Naruto said as he looked at Kankuro. "So where's your third student?"
"Gaara's around here somewhere." Baki said with a shrug. "It was nice meeting you, but we need to get to our hotel."
"Sure thing. Have a nice day." Naruto said as he glanced at Konohamaru. Placing his hand on the boy's shoulder, he walked away with him.
"Baki-sensei, why did you stop me?" Kankuro asked as soon as Naruto was far enough away to be unable to hear.
"I saw the entire thing, Kankuro." Baki said with a warning in his voice. "He used a jonin level technique just to get near you, and then he easily slipped through your guard. To make matters worse, he was able to take you down with a single kick and catch that boy in a matter of seconds. Don't underestimate him. He is stronger than he looks."
~Scene Break~
The next day, Naruto and Sasuke were having one of their seemingly daily spars while waiting for Kakashi to arrive. Sakura was watching them fight with nothing but taijutsu.
Even though she was nowhere near their level when it came to taijutsu, she could clearly see that they were an even match. Of course, Sasuke did not have his Sharingan activated, so he would have been able to do even better in he was using his every advantage.
"They're getting better, aren't they?" Kakashi asked as he appeared next to Sakura.
"Oh… Kakashi-sensei. Yeah, they're getting better." Sakura said with a small smile.
Clearing his throat, Kakashi said, "Sorry 'bout the wait. I got lost on the road of life."
Sasuke and Naruto instantly stopped fighting and looked at Kakashi when they heard those words. Seeing that it was time to meet, they walked over to their sensei and teammate.
"So what are we doing today, sensei?" Naruto asked, excited.
"I've nominated you three for the Chunin Exams." Kakashi said abruptly, surprising all three of the genin. Naruto was the only one of them that actually knew the Chunin Exams were about to take place. "If you wish to participate sign these forms and take them to the Academy at six in the morning on the first day of July. You'll need to go to room number three-oh-one." As he said that, he handed the forms to the three genin.
"Until further notice, we won't be meeting up for missions or training. Have fun." Kakashi said before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Naruto could not help but smile as he looked at the form. It represented everything that he wanted. He would finally get to prove himself and advance in rank. He would also get to show everyone that he graduated with that he was no longer the stupid little kid that he had been.
'I will succeed.' he thought.