My eyes fluttered open and I yawned loudly and stretched extensively

This is it, many Genin in the room thought in anxious tension. They sat forward, awaiting the tenth question that was certain to alter their futures. "Before I ask you the last question, you must think," Ibiki muttered. He folded his arms across his broad chest and stared the students down. Most backed into their seats, nervously fidgeting. "Do you really want to go through with this? If you answer wrong, you'll never have the chance to be a Genin again but…" Naruto drowned his droll voice out after that. He didn't even bother to answer the questions – everyone thought of him as a stupid rookie, and who was he to make them believe otherwise?

He snorted softly to himself as he leant back leisurely in his seat, drowning out Ibiki's boring lecture that he'd partaken in once before and witnessed tonnes of times. He noticed some people raising their hands and requesting to leave. He rolled his eyes in irritation. Fools, he mused in boredom. If you can't take pressure, you shouldn't be a shinobi. His eyes dimmed when he recalled someone else saying that years ago.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Hoshiko enquired. He placed a hand on the youths' shoulder and stared into the boys sapphire eyes with his bottle-green ones. "You aren't yourself." He added softly. The blond looked up, appearing startled. His face became bitter.

"The mission… I—I don't think I can do it." He whispered softly. Hoshiko blinked in confusion.

"What do you mean? Of course you can, Naruto. I believe in you." He beamed at his student, and the blond felt his mouth curve upwards in return, but still seemingly melancholy.

"If you can't deal with pressure, there is not point in being a shinobi." A brooding voice from behind him piped up. Naruto swerved around and prepared to attack, but Hoshiko held him back. The blond snarled at the silver-haired man.

"That's what you believe, jerk! But some of us aren't like you! Some of us believe that as long as you have something to live for, you should live your life to the fullest!" he shouted. Kakashi stared blankly at him.

"You are pathetic." Was all he said before disappearing.

The present came back to him whilst his flashback dissolved into nothing. He shook his head of the memories and looked up, his attention alert once more. He felt people watching him but didn't act as if he noticed. "So, you're the only ones left," Ibiki said. Naruto mouthed the words along with him, after memorizing them one hundred times. "Congratulations, you've passed the first exam—" he was interrupte by a purple-haired woman bursting through the roof with a huge banner.

"Welcome to the second exam!" she shouted enthusiastically.

All the teams lined up in front of the forest gates. Naruto didn't listen to Anko when she explained everything – he'd already heard it before. The purple-haired woman walked over to him and leant down to his smaller height. She whispered, "Your team doesn't get a scroll, pipsqueak. You're strong enough to get everyone's scrolls," she muttered. "Have fin, kiddo." She ruffled his hair affectionately but roughly. Naruto growled.

"Geddoff, Anko!" he snapped. The woman grinned impishly and strutted off. The blond huffed and turned to his team. "Sakura, Sasuke," he called. "We're going in now." He said. The rosette jogged up to him and the raven walked over broodingly.

"Ladies first, Dobe." Sasuke muttered. Naruto scowled at the Uchiha.

"That'd be you then," he retorted, but walked in first anyway. As soon as he entered, his eyes hastily darted around, attempting to locate any signs of danger. "Let's move quickly." He said.

"We have plenty of time, though," Sakura frowned in confusion. The blond didn't answer but picked up his pace. His comrades shrugged and did the same. After a full five hours of travelling and attempting to locate other teams, Sakura suggested that they should stop. Begrudgingly, Naruto accepted. Sasuke seemed even more irritated than the blond that they had to stop.

"I'll get some water." Naruto said. He grabbed their flask and swerved through the trees. He feasibly located a lake and filled the flask. As the water seeped in, he looked around. Mentally counting to three, he easily threw his shuriken at a random ninja that leapt out. He fell back into his team-mates and fell into a lump on the ground. Naruto stood, recapped the flask, walked over to the unconscious bodies, and took their scroll. "Thanks." He muttered.

Sakura blinked when a Heaven Scroll was placed in front of her. She met Naruto's eyes. "So, we have both now?" she enquired. The blonde hastily formed a lie in his head.

"No. I must have lost our first one." He said. The rosette soon grew irate.

"Naruto! Don't you know how important the Chuunin exams are? If we fail, it will be five years until we may retake them!" she ranted angrily. The blond ignored her and dumped the water flask by Sasuke.

"Drink it. We're leaving soon." He said.

"What do you mean? We…" Sakura began.

"Aren't safe here," Sasuke finished, silently agreeing with Naruto. The rosette frowned in perplexity.

"But…" she mumbled fruitlessly.
"Someone's here." Both the raven and the blond uttered. They met each others gazes, and both looked away childishly. Sakura didn't bother to scold them, merely attempted to sense a chakra signal.

"Yakushi Kabuto," Naruto muttered. "Come out." The grey-haired adolescent leapt out of the trees skilfully and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I apologize for scaring you," he said. Naruto snorted sarcastically. He almost sounds sincere. "I didn't mean to—"

"Get out of my sight and don't come near us or any other team." Naruto warned with serious eyes. Kabuto seemed surprised. Good acting, the blond noted, agitated.

"You think I am here to hurt you?" the grey-haired man enquired innocently.

"No, I don't think," the blond muttered. "I know." He scowled darkly at Kabuto. Sakura elbowed him in the side.

"Naruto! Show some manners!" she hissed. "Anyway, he could get us to the tower." She murmured, showing off her analytical and smart skills.

"I don't trust him," Sasuke voiced, his intense dark eyes skimming over the new man in a scrutinizing manner.

"I—" Kabuto prepared to defend himself, when a huge snake flew out of the ground. It shook dirt off of its head and glared at the two Genin. He was about to lunge, when a rock was thrown at him. He turned to the source and hissed at the puny blond boy who had dared to make an attempt to injure him.

"Come get some." Naruto challenged.

SasuNaru—SasuNaru—SasuNaru

Gosangoku: Haa… not mine. This story might be SasuNaru. I'm uncertain. I just like looking at the word. Hehe, 'SasuNaru.' Anywaaaay, firstly I wanna focus on Kakashi and Naruto's relationship, which will be parental, then I'll focus on pairings. But you'll have a surprise first. Hehehehe.

Naruto: …I have a bad feeling about this… like foreboding or something…

Gosangoku: Whistles innocently