Hakureisaiga-Sorry for the inconvience, Dragoon fans….I have neglected this story for far too long….thank you all for reviewing and patiently waiting now…here is the next chapter of Rise of the Dragoon Fox

Chapter 7- Chunin Exam: Phase I

Sarutobi asked, "So who will be nominated?"

Kakashi said, "I, Kakashi Hatake, sensei of Team Seven, consisting of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki recommend all three for the Chunin Exams."

Kurenai said, "I, Kurenai Yuhi, sensei of Team Eight, consisting of Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka recommend all three of them to take the Chunin Exams."

"I, Asuma Sarutobi, sensei of Team Ten, consisting of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi recommend all three of them for the Chunin Exams."

Suddenly Iruka spoke out, "Lord Hokage, if I may speak, I know most of the students that were called were once my own….I don't believe that they are ready for the exams, it is too soon."

Kakashi replied to the chunin, "We understand your feelings, Iruka….but that decision is not up to you, they have gotten stronger than you last saw them, they are ready and it will be a good challenge for them."

Sarutobi said, "Alright then, the Rookie Nine will be entering the Chunin Exams, here are your slips and tell them that the exams will be held in the Academy on the third floor in Room 319. Dismissed!" On the next day, Kakashi gave them their slips and Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were surprised, excited and a bit nervous about them.

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's mind wandered to Gaara as he thought, "That guy….Gaara, he is very dangerous and something tells me that it involves him and his nature as a Jinchuuriki. In order to find more information, I must enter the exams." He signed the form and went to sleep on that note.

The next morning, he woke up and got dressed, taking his retractable staff and a scroll filled with medicine, food and more weapons. He left the apartment and went to the Academy, meeting Sasuke and Sakura to his surprise. Personally, he thought that she wouldn't be here at all.

As they entered, there was a commotion in front of the crowd. Two genin were blocking the entrance to the exams and most of the genin tried to get in, but were knocked back to the ground.

One of the genin guarding the door said, "Hey, we are saving your asses from the Chunin Exams, we know what it's like since we failed in three times." Then Sasuke arrogantly said, "For someone who failed the exam, you sure know how to put genjutsu up very well. Drop it; I got business on the third floor."

Naruto sighed as he thought, "The genjutsu was to fool the Genin who couldn't see through it and rule out the weaklings, but now, Sasuke, you just made it harder for all of us."

The disguised Kotetsu attacked Sasuke and the Uchiha returned the favor by sending a kick of his own, but a bowl-haired kid came in the nexus of their kicks and stopped it.

Then a bun-haired girl dressed in a pink Chinese-style shirt and green pants came over to the green spandex-wearing kid to knock him upside his head. "Lee, I thought we agree on not revealing our skills."

Lee said, "But Tenten…"

He looked at Sakura and Tenten followed his gaze to see Sasuke and Naruto. The bowl-haired kid along with his teammates approached them. "Hi, I'm Rock Lee, would you like to go out on a date with me? I'll protect you with my life!" Lee said.

Sakura said, "Hell no! You are definitely not my type."

Then a new voice called, "Hey, you with the scowl."Sasuke turned to see a Hyuga with a smug look on his face, "What is your name?"

Sasuke said, "Uchiha Sasuke."

The Hyuga replied, "Neji Hyuga. I look forward to see you in the exams. Lee, Tenten, let's go."

"Hold on, Neji…" Tenten looked at Naruto and asked, "Is that a retractable staff?"

"Yes, it is…and you are?"

"Tenten…I am a weapons specialist. Your weapon is very unique to have; I would love to see how you use it in battle." She replied.

Naruto said, "Well….it looks like you will maybe get that chance, Tenten….my name is Naruto Uzumaki."

He looked at the Hyuga and thought, "That must be Neji Hyuga, Hinata-chan's cousin."

Neji scowled at him and Naruto turned to him and asked, "What is with the scowl, Neji-san?"

"How do you know me?"

"Your cousin Hinata happens to be my girlfriend and she told me about you….she has nothing but respect for you, but she believes that you should lighten up a bit with that fate stick shoved up your ass, matter of fact….most of the Hyuga clan does seem to have a stick up their asses."

Neji's scowl grew even further, but Naruto continued, "But this is a warning…considering she told me about your strained relationship with her and the Main Branch….if you attempt to kill Hinata in these exams, I will make sure that you will never walk let alone fight again."

Neji moved back and Team Seven walked upstairs, then Lee and Tenten followed with Neji a few feet behind. "His eyes….was he serious…no, I'm a genius, plus it is his fate to be a loser and failure in life."Neji thought to himself. But he couldn't shake the feeling that Naruto would carry out his word.

As soon as Team 7 was proceeding upstairs, Lee called down to Sasuke, "Sasuke Uchiha, I challenge you to a duel."

Naruto said, "Sasuke, we have no time for this."

Sasuke said, "I have plenty of time to beat this freak."

Naruto said, "Sasuke, never underestimate your opponent."

Sasuke didn't listen and Naruto sighed, "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you at all." Needless to say, Sasuke was defeated by Lee due to his superior speed, but he was able to activate his Sharingan during the battle and the Uchiha had a smug smirk on his face as they approached the doors

"So…Sakura did come after all." Kakashi said.

"What do you mean?" she asked her sensei.

"If you or your teammates came without each other, then I would have to bar you guys from the exams."

Naruto said, "Why did you tell us this sooner?"

"Because teamwork is essential in these battles that you will face, now good luck and be careful." Kakashi said as he stepped away from the doors and Team Seven walked inside to meet the stares of rookie and veteran genin from every village.

Soon Sasuke was glomped by another one of his fan girls, Ino Yamanaka, whose clan specializes in jutsu that affect the aspects of the mind and were the best interrogators in Konohagakure. Sakura began to yell at her and the two started their feud as usual. Then Team 8 came up with Kiba announcing their presence.

Kiba scowled at the Jinchuuriki as he greeted his girlfriend, "Ohayo, Hinata-chan."

"Ohayo, Naruto-kun…."

Then a silver-haired ninja with glasses walked up and said, "Geez, you are such a noisy bunch. I assume that all of you are rookies."

Naruto said, "May I ask who are you?"

The boy said, "Oh, I'm sorry…I'm Yakushi Kabuto." Sakura said, "You seem to know about this exam. Is this your second time." Kabuto said, "No, this is my seventh….the exams are held twice a year."

Kiba said, "Wow….you suck."

Kabuto said, "You're right, but I managed to obtain all this information on the Chunin Exams in my ninja info cards."

Sasuke asked, "Do you have information on individuals?"

Kabuto said, "Why yes."

The Uchiha said, "I want information on Rock Lee and Sabaku no Gaara."

Kiba said, "I want information on Naruto Uzumaki." He grinned as he thought, "I bet his record is humiliating and then Hinata will go out with me."

Kabuto pulled out three cards and said, "Rock Lee, he has completed 20 D-Rank and 11 C-Rank missions, his taijutsu is off the charts, but his ninjutsu and genjutsu is non-existent. Sabaku no Gaara, he has completed 14 C-Rank and 1 B-Rank, his abilities are unknown, but it is said that he has returned from every mission without a scratch. Lastly, Naruto Uzumaki, he has completed 24 D-Rank and 2 A-Rank missions…"

Sakura said, "Wait, that is wrong, we only did one."

Kabuto said, "Oh, you didn't know, he happened to catch a chunin, Mizuki Fugawa, from taking the Scroll of Sealing and killing Iruka Umino. His stats in taijutsu, kenjutsu and ninjutsu are fairly high."

Kabuto said, "Now the ones that you should watch out for are Iwa, Ame, Kiri, Suna and Kusa. Oto is a new village, so there is no threat from them." Dosu whispered, "Did you hear that? He said that we are insignificant."

Zaku said, "Really? What do you say that we teach him a lesson?" Kin nodded and the Oto team weaved through the crowd. Zaku leapt into the air, throwing shuriken. Kabuto dodged and Dosu appeared before him, revealing his Melody Arm.

Dosu was about to swipe at Kabuto until Naruto blocked it with his arm. "Enough…save your energy for later." He said coldly.

Then the door blasted open to reveal Ibiki and a group of Chunin proctors came in, "Oi, Oto, there is no fighting in this room unless I say so or I will make sure you get escorted out of this room." Ibiki said. Dosu said, "Sorry, I guess we were a little excited."

Ibiki shouted, "All right, you sons of bitches, get your asses up here and pick a number."

Naruto muttered, "Wow, either this guy is riled up or pissed off at something."

The genin, one by one, went and pulled out numbers to find their seating arrangements. Naruto found himself sitting next to his girlfriend and a random genin, "Well, this is pleasant…I get to sit by Hina-chan." He muttered, whispering the last part.

Hinata blushed, hearing the first part, "Nice to see you too, Naru-kun."

Ibiki said, "Oi, lovebirds, no love fest." Naruto retorted while flipping the bird, "You are just mad because you're not getting some with somebody." Ibiki narrowed his eyes, "What did you say?"

Naruto said in a bored tone, "Oh, try it and see what happens?"

The Chunin and Genin paled in fear at the exchange of words. The Kyuubi brat was battling words and insults against Ibiki Morino, the Mind Sadist. Then Ibiki smirked, "You're interesting…kid. I like you, now here are the rules. This is a written test with ten questions. You each start off with 10 points, you miss one, and then you will have nine and so on. If you cheat, 2 points will be deducted. Also this is a team test…to see how many points up to 30 your team can hold on to. You have exactly one hour to complete the test, begin!"

The silence was broken with the rustling of papers and people steadfastly working to answer the questions. "Hmm….sneaky bastard, he wants us to cheat. First, he scared the genin into answering the questions carefully, covering up the fact that you only lose two points for cheating." Naruto thought. He looked at Hinata, seeing that she was discreetly using her Byakugan.

He whispered, "Hey, are you done?"

Hinata gave him a slight nod and then Naruto took her paper and copied it, knowing that Ibiki and the proctors were watching. When he finished, the Jinchuuriki smiled at Ibiki, who smirked, "That son of a bitch….he saw through that and made the test requirement. Mocking me, huh?"

Soon everyone was discreetly cheating for answers, but some were caught by Ibiki or one of the proctors courtesy of a thrown kunai. Ibiki purposefully threw one close to Naruto's head, but the Jinchuuriki didn't move an inch as it passed and embedded itself into a genin's test slightly behind him.

"Number 38, you failed!" One of the proctors called out, "Numbers 74, 29, you failed as well."

Minutes later, Ibiki said, "Okay, time's up, now we will begin the tenth question, but there are some added rules to this question. The rules are for you to decide whether to take it or not." An Ame ninja shouted, "What happens if we don't….what if we say no and don't take the question?"

Ibiki answered, "Easy, you failed along with your teammates." A random genin shouted, "Then of course we will take the question." The proctor chuckled ominously, "But if…you answer this question incorrectly….you…will never be able to take the Chunin Exam ever again." A kunoichi shouted, "That is some bullshit!" Ibiki turned to her, making her flinch in fear, "You got a problem with it, and then you can leave. Anybody else want to leave?"

Nobody moved an inch at all…

"For everybody else that is here….passes." Ibiki said with a smile.

A loud shout of WHAT! pierced the tension in the room.

Sakura asked, "Then what about the tenth question?" Ibiki answered with a smile, "Your choice to take the question was the tenth question." Temari shot out, "So what about the other nine, what was their purpose?"

The Torture and Interrogation leader said, "Those questions were not for a genin to answer unless you are a genius, forcing you to cheat, so we had two or more chunins located near you to help up out. Those who cheated poorly failed."

Ibiki chose this time to untie his bandana to reveal his scarred hand full of burns and screw holes, "Because…at times, information is more important than life, and people will risk everything to get it." Sasuke thought. "The after effects of torture."

Ibiki retied his bandana, "If the enemy notices you, there is no guarantee that the info will be accurate. Information can be a powerful weapon for your country and teammates."

Temari said, "Demo…I don't understand the final question."

Ibiki sighed, "The 10th question is based on a choice, a leap of faith that could make you or break you. The ability to face any hardships and be perilous is the qualifications for a chunin. So I wish you guys luck."

Naruto smirked at him and to his surprise, Ibiki returned the smirk. "Interesting kid…" Ibiki thought. Suddenly Ibiki detected movement at the window to find a banner flung into the room. It began to unwind to reveal a woman in a fishnet and long-sleeved beige trench coat.

"You guys should not be celebrating this early yet!" She shouted. The banner had been embroidered with "The Sexy Mistress, Anko Mitarashi." Anko said, "I am the second examiner of the exam, now let's go."

Ibiki came from behind the banner, "Anko, you're early…again."

Anko retorted, "You left seventy-eight Genin pass, Ibiki? Your test is way too easy."

Ibiki said the last part lowly, "There are some interesting one this year."

Anko scoffed, "Heh, whatever… my test will cut them at least down to half."

Sakura thought, "In half?"

The promiscuous woman said, "Ahh, I am getting excited….everyone, follow me to the second phase of the exams!"