I'm back! I had finally gotten off my lazy ass and did some work! (Yay!) I'm happy that everyone likes Nix.

As for actually wanting a fox…I think I'll pass…I never knew that taking care of one would be so much work (I know it'll be work, but never thought it would be that much!) Thanx for the heads-up my dear animal care-taker. (I'm very grateful that you inform me that!)

I know Sakura doesn't get a big role, but it's a fact that she doesn't really show up that much in the anime. (They are just too focus on Naruto and Sasuke!) But I'm gonna try to give Sakura a more active part. I think she's pretty cool if she would just stop being such fan-girl. (I'm trying to make her a bit more mature…but I'm not sure how to go about it just yet….)

As for blood contract, don't worry, like I state in chap. 7, there isn't a contract between foxes…(Nix was so confused to see Naruto)…the only reason Nix came it was because of Kyuubi. He's like the ruler of all foxes, so whenever Naruto wanted, or needed Nix (and other foxes), Kyuubi would lend Naruto his special chakra to get them…kinda like a silent dog-whistle…laughs.

Naruto will get the toad contract, as for Ero-sensei, well, I'm sure Naruto's sexy-Justus would take care of him…perverts, enough said. (Ero-sensei is smart, but he often let his perverted-activities distracts him…he'll keep an eye out for Naru-chan, but not much…)

P.S: Voting already ended! please, don't vote anymore… I know not everyone will be happy with the pairing, but it's been decided. Anyway, like I said, it's not going to be love-love. I'm more focus on the development of the plot and action. However, there will be indications, and later on (way later on) there will be more romance… (not really big with sugar here – the actually crystal yes, romance no)


Chapter 8

There is no denying that something about Naruto had changed. Every since weeks ago, the orange-blinding blonde had seemed different…more aware, intelligent, and dangerous. Kakashi no longer can ignore the signs, especially after the battle in the Wave country. Something is different about Naruto, strange and suspicious…

Kakashi walked toward the Hokage tower absentmindedly. Even with his orange book in hand, he could not help but let his mind sway.

Images of the previous mission kept flashing threw Kakashi's head. He was sure that he had saw Naruto's eyes turned red…Kakashi was also sure that he had felt the fox's chakra. But still, even with these facts, the loud-mouth blond did not appear to be under the influence of the fox.

Kakashi sighed into his book…could Naruto be acting? Could it be that the fox really did take over?

No…stop! Kakashi ordered his mind. Don't think of such thing. The Fourth's seal is not faulted.

Kakashi could not bring himself to discredit and question his sensei's capability. Still…the doubts lingered.

Entering the tower, Kakashi pray that everything would be ok; hoping that perhaps Hokage-sama have an answer, or to the very least assurance that Naruto is not effected by the fox.

"Hokage-sama," the copy-eye ninja greeted.

"Kakashi," the Third nodded in greetings. "You look troubled,"

"Ah," Kakashi acknowledged, "I don't know if it's something to worry about or not…but, it's about Naruto."

Hokage raised a brow, "Oh? What about him?"

Worry flickered slightly across Kakashi's eyes before straightening his back, "Well, Hokage-sama, I…during the Wave mission, I felt the fox…and Naruto…his skills was impressive compare to his academy reports…I…is there something I should worry about? Something I should know about Naruto."

Fingering his white beard, the Third looked as if he was in deep thoughts, taking all that Kakashi had said into consideration.

Several of moments of silence passed, as Kakashi fidgeting nervously.

Does that mean there is something wrong with the seal? Kakashi prays not.

Finally, Hokage stood up from his chair and regarded Kakashi seriously, "I believe that there is something you needed to know."

Kakashi leaned forward with interest.

"Naruto," Hokage-sama stared, "he, knows about Kyuubi."

"HE WHAT!" Kakashi couldn't stop himself from shouting. "What do you mean he knows about the fox?"

Hokage sighed; he had anticipated Kakashi's reaction. "He knows, Kakashi, remember the stolen scroll incident?" the Third asked the copy-eye ninja before the silver-haired man could even demeaned "How,"

"Hai," Kakashi nodded, a small flicker of confusion flashed across his hidden face. "But what does that have to do with Naruto?"

"Mizuki had told Naruto that night…about the fox," Hokage stated sadly. "I am afraid that Naruto had took the news quiet hard and wanted to improve himself…a motivation to become stronger, better, and well…prove everyone that he is not a demon…"

Kakashi nodded at every word his leader had told him. So it wasn't because of the seal, Naruto just wanted to prove himself.

Satisfied with the answer, Kakashi gave his report on the B-ranked mission, and walked out of the tower; his doubts washed away, and his heavy heart lightened.


Sakura by all means wanted Sasuke as her boyfriend. Sure, she was just 12 at age; what does she knows about love. But that doesn't discourage her at all. She likes Sasuke, a crush at best, and so what if Sasuke barely even notice her. It makes no difference. She is a girl who knows what she wants, and what she wants is Sasuke.

However, that was before; that was before the mission. All of these day-time-fantasies seem so unrealistic now; so far away, something that she can't not see happening: Sasuke sweeping off her feet like a knight-in-shining-armor.

It all had seemed so…well, pathetic.

Sakura didn't know what had brought this new perspective on. Was it due to the acknowledgement that Naruto was someone else besides an annoyance…after all, annoying people are stupid, and from the speech Naruto had gave to Sasuke…he was far from it. Was it due to the extra, special training Sakura had undergone as a reward for finishing her exercise first? Was it due to the realization that she was a ninja and as a ninja she could kick ass?

Perhaps, perhaps not. At some level it was due to all of them…at another…….

The harsh words echoed in her mind.

/Flashback/

(Sakura POV)

Kakashi-sensei stood under a giant tree with an air of eerie silence. I never had seen sensei so serious before. I had always thought that he was a pervert, seeing as how he always read that book of his…however, now he just stood there…I have to admit, I'm nervous. I was so use to yelling at him and telling him that he is late and whatnot that I find myself shook from seeing him so calm.

Shaking aside my anxiety, I approached sensei.

"Are we going to start, sensei?" I asked. My question echoed loudly into the forest. For the first time, I wonder if I am really a loud person. I had always considered myself soft-spoken…but from that echo…

Kakashi-sensei turned wards me for the first time since I had followed him off for the special training.

"Sensei?" I asked again when he didn't say a thing.

Finally after what seems like an eternity, Kakashi-sensei opened his mouth to speak.

What he said to me, was something I will never forget: "Why bother?"

"N-nani?" I stared, slightly taken back by his question.

"Why bother, Sakura?" he repeated. "Why bother to train? It would be a waste of time for both you and I."

I was stunned. "What do you mean sensei?" I almost cried.

"You heard me Sakura," he said. "There is no need for me to train you. In case you haven't realized Sakura, you are not cut out to be a Kohana's ninja." Looking right into Sakura's eyes, Kakashi stated firmly, almost accusingly, "All you care about is boys, Sakura. As a ninja you should have focus more on your training, instead of chasing after Sasuke. But then again, you are not fit as a ninja now are you? You are useless, Sakura, and seeing on how you let your love-interest dominate your life…there are no need to train you. In fact, there is no need for you to be a kunoichi of Konoha either. If you are not serious about this, then after this mission I want you to go home."

After that Kakashi-sensei left. With a flash of yellow and orange, sensei disappeared.

(End of Sakura's POV)

/End of Flashback/

After that the pink-haired kunoichi had taken her duty seriously. She had trained as hard as she could.

Although Sakura had yet to give up completely on Sasuke-kun; in time, perhaps, one day she will.

Walking down the streets of Konoha, Sakura grinned happily to herself. It was a beautiful day, and she had just finished her training for the morning.

As Sakura turned on the corner of the street, a small object or person blurred in front of her; appearing out of nowhere.

Reflexively, Sakura jumped back a bit from the fast approaching thing. Her hands shot out and without a moment of delay, Sakura caught the blur by the collar.

"Hey! What gives!" the blur shouted.

Sakura looked down; it was a small boy.

"Let me down!" the boy struggled in Sakura's iron grip. "Let go!"

Looking down, Sakura glared at the rude child. "Watch it!" Sakura shouted at the little boy.

The boy stops struggling and glared back. "You are the one who should watch where you are going!" the boy sneered.

Sakura's eyebrows twitched. What a rude little brat.

Just as she was about to teach the rude boy a lesson, a familiar voice interrupted her, cutting into the air.

"That's enough, Konohamaru," the dark figure smirked, "I think you should just apologize, it'll save you a lot of pain."

Sakura turned to face Naruto…or who she thought was Naruto.

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered in awe.

The figure before her was dressed in black…or was it just a really dark form of blue? The voice was calm, quite but firm. Could it really be her teammate?

"Sakura-chan," Naruto gave her a fox-grin, and motion her to let Konohamaru go.

Wordlessly, still in shock, Sakura let the grandson of Hokage-sama go.

Konohamaru jumped down and stick his tounge out at the pink headed girl and ran to hide behind Naruto.

"Sorry, about that," Naruto threw Konohamaru a warning glare at the hiding boy, "we were playing ninja and he must have not seen you."

The only answer Sakura gave was a curious look at the phase: "playing ninja".

Nodding, Sakura broke her shock stance. Looking over her once-orange-loving teammate, Sakura voice her confusion. "So, Naruto, what's with the black?"

Naruto looked at himself and shrugged casually, "All my clothes are dirty."

Sakura took the answer but was skeptical.

Deciding to change the topic, Sakura smiled brightly at the three kids behind Naruto and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Naruto's teammate, Sakura."

"Oooohhh!" Konohamaru suddenly exclaimed, "Are you Naruto-niichan's…" Konohamaru trailed off as he held out his pinky in the indication of "girlfriend".

Sakura blushed a deep red, while Naruto laughed.

"No, no," Naruto said in between laughter. "We are not like that. We are just friends," the blond ensured the kids.

Konohamaru looked slightly disappointed before brightening up and proclaimed in a loud voice. "Yeah, I knew that. I mean, Naruto-niichan wouldn't like flat-chest girls…I mean, she's not even pretty looking or nice."

In the back of his mind, Naruto could almost "see" Kyuubi rolling on the ground with tears, the fox's laughter ringing in his ears.

However, Sakura did not find the comment very funny. And the embarrassed red that was once on her face turned an angry crimson.

Konohamaru sensing a raise in killer-intentions turned slowly, almost in fear, to see the growing pink demon behind her. With a yap, Konohamaru took off…with Sakura hot behind his trail.

Konohamaru wasn't looking at where he was running. It didn't matters, as long as he don't get caught by the scare mad-lady behind him, he didn't care if he run out of Konoha.

So naturally, when one is not watching where one is going, you tend to crash into something…or someone in Konohamaru's case.

Konohamaru tried to stop himself on time; however, the collusion was unavoidable.

THUMP!


Kankuro had just entered the Leaf village when he was suddenly slammed into. Growling in annoyance, Kankuro lifted the brat who had collided with him roughly. "Watch where you are going, brat!" he hissed.

The small boy gulped as Kankuro's painted face became visible.

Kankuro smirked. Oh, the joy of having a painted face. "Well, aren't you going to apologize?" Kankuro taunted.

The boy shivered at Kankuro, and even more so when Kankuro purposely shown his sharp teeth.

"Let him go!"

Sakura was chasing Konohamaru when the poor boy crashed into a purpled-painted foreigner; it was Konohamaru's second crash of the day.

At first, Sakura didn't seem very worried about the crash, after all the boy deserved it for calling her ugly, however, when the foreign-nin had lifted Konohamaru roughly, Sakura's inner being began to shout.

Sure, Sakura might not like the kid very much for his comment, however, he was still a citizen of Konoha…and no one mess with her people.

"Let him go!" Sakura shouted at the foreign-nin.

The painted nin sneered at Sakura rudely. "Let him go," he mimicked, "are all you, leaf-nins so pathetic?"

Sakura growled as Inner Sakura waved, "Fight, fight, fight!" banners in her head.

A blonde girl beside the painted nin glanced behind Sakura nervously before snapping at her partner. "Kankuro, we are not here to cause any trouble!"

Kankuro "humphed" at the blonde girl, "I'm not causing any trouble, I just want to teach these weaklings some lessons, Temari."

"Weakling!" Inner Sakura screeched in outrage, "Who is he calling a weakling!" Needless to say, Sakura was deeply angered.

Kankuro didn't even see it coming; Sakura had struck, punching Kankuro right in the face.

The punch was powerful, no doubt for Kankuro flew back a good 3 feet; Konohamaru was dropped at Sakura's feet.

There was a long moment of silence as everyone gawked at the enraged Sakura.

Naruto was impressed; never in his wildest dream that Sakura would improve so much. He had hoped that Sakura had took his words to heart when he had pretended to be Kakashi-sensei and lectured the poor girl; harshly lectured mind you…however, that punch…

It was powerful…extremely powerful! Naruto thought in disbelief.

Meanwhile, Kyuubi snickered in Naruto's head, "You should be careful not to get her angry at you then."

Absentmindedly, Naruto nodded mentally in agreement. He would not want to be at the end of those punches.

Naruto slighted a bit as he felt eyes staring at him. Looking around, Naruto had hoped to see Gaara hiding somewhere in the trees. However, when Naruto fail to find Gaara, his attention shifted to the other set of eyes he felt staring.

To his surprise, it was Temari's eyes.

Looking right into Temari's eyes, Naruto was shock to see fear.

Was it always there? Even the first time we met? Naruto asked.

Kyuubi shrugged. I don't know…but it's almost like she knows that there is something more inside of you…perhaps she could recognize my presence?

Naruto narrowed his eyes dangerously. Perhaps…but if that's so, we will need to keep closer eyes on her…I don't want anyone to know about you just yet.

Intensifying his glare, Naruto send the poor shaken girl a frightening look before turning his attention to the recovered Kankuro.

Kankuro winced lightly as he climbs to his feet. The punch had done its job…he could feel a bruise forming.

Hissing darkly, Kankuro step forward toward Sakura, intending to give her a piece of his mind.

Just as Kankuro was about to throw his own punch, a flying rock interrupted his advancement.

In shock and from the impact of the small pebble, Kankuro grabbed his wrist in pain.

Sakura looked up, in the tree was Sasuke.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted in joy. Sakura couldn't help but think that she knew her Sasuke would save the day!

"Teme!" Kankuro growled. "Who do you think you are?"

Yet before Kankuro could say another word, the wind swirled, and Gaara had appeared.

"Stop, Kankuro," the red-haired boy ordered coldly. "You are making a fool out of yourself and our village. If there is another word out of you, I will kill you," at this Kankuro paled. "Family or not."

Sasuke looked beside him in shock as did Sakura. They had not sense Gaara at all.

Teleporting down to the ground, Gaara glared at his siblings and commanded, "Let's go."

The other two sand-nins followed.

"Wait!" Sakura screamed after them.

Gaara halted but didn't turn. It was Kankuro who sneered a "what is it" at Sakura.

"You are not from our village. Do you have permission to be here?" she asked.

Temari snorted. "You are rookies aren't you? Don't you know anything?"

Sasuke frowned as Sakura looked flustered.

"You are here for the chuunin exam, aren't you?" Naruto spoke for the first time; it was a statement.

Temari nodded slowly, and looked away. Something about Naruto disturbs her.

Sasuke and Sakura stared at Naruto, surprised; he had been so quiet that they forgot he was even there.

"Well, then," Naruto grinned mischievously, "See you around, Gaara,"

Gaara turned around in slight surprised, he didn't' remember to give his name. "Who are you?" the sand-demon holder asked.

Naruto's grin widens, "A friend of a friend of Shukaku."

The sand-nins' eyes widen in astonishment; two pairs were in fear.


Temari had never seen anything like it. The feeling…the warning, Temari shivered slightly as Naruto's eyes flashed red when he stared at her. As a fan-user, Temari had learned to communicate with the air…wind. And from the pieces of warning the air had gave her, Temari knew that the blonde boy was more dangerous than he looked. However, the scariest thing was: the boy was considered more dangerous then Gaara!

Temari could not help herself as she let some of her fear reflect in her eyes. However, now…now after that sentence…Temari's fear was confirmed. The boy was dangerous…and if he is to be an enemy…forget about the plan…she feared that they wouldn't even make it out alive, fighting or retreating.

"I hope we met again in the exam," Naruto continued as he walked away, motioning Konohamaru and gang to follow.

Gaara stared after the departing Naruto, "I hope so too…" And then he too, departed.

All this while, Sakura and Sasuke stood there in confusion. What is going on? Questions were running wild inside both ninja's head. Who were those people? No, who is Shukaku? And what exam?

Unknown to them, the real fun was just about to began, and they too were just nominated by their sensei for the exam.

TBC


I bet you didn't expect Sakura to kick Kankuro's ass did you? LOL.

For all of you Temari/Naruto lovers, I know there isn't much of that in this chapter, but like I said when the poll first began, I wanted it to be gradual, not bam! Bam! Bam! And they are together. At least now I made a reason for Naruto to take interest in Temari!

Anyway, someone asked about if there are any changes in the exam. I would have to say, not really. Although Naruto's seating arrangement would be different. (I'm not sure if I should made Naruto answer all the question correctly or not…but we'll see)

As for if Sasuke is going to be bitten by the Oro…I'm still debating over it. On one hand if he isn't there won't be anymore Sasuke-running away. But on the other hand, there won't be much conflict. So yeah, I'm not sure yet.

Yes, yes, I know I'm slow and don't write long chapters, but I'm really, really busy! Anyway, I'm getting to the exam really soon, so please be patient with me. Thank you!