The Eye of the Beholder
For some reason I'm on fire as far as recent chapters goes
I'll be starting to reply to the reviews from this chapter forward as they're informal and say more than stuff like 'Keep Going', no offense intended to Rose Tiger.
Review Replies
Troutman30: Very perceptive, I figured that Hinata could use someone with confidence to spare to make her realize that she's not as weak as she seems, besides, with everyone training in such a group everyone is going to spar one another and I can honestly say that as far as taijutsu goes, Hinata will probably be the most dangerous to face off against, so Kiba and Shino would both be reluctant to fight her, that being said, given that she's more pacifistic in nature, she would most likely hold back, no matter which opponent she was facing. Even then she should still be considered the most dangerous person to spar against in pure taijutsu
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Flashbacks
Demons and Higher beings
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 8: The Chuunin Exam
A several weeks have passed, and every one of the genin had been making a fair amount of progress.
Naruto himself had the biggest advantage given that he could make an exponential amount of kage bunshin, therefore he was the one who made the most progress. That being said he only was working on one element at a time, too many things at once can cause a massive overload of information, however, constant information of the same thing can drill it into the person's head, allowing the user to be able to use said element more efficiently.
Kaitou brought in Zabuza to help Naruto out when he had finished the first step. With the combined efforts of Zabuza and Kaitou, they made a waterfall for Naruto to attempt to cut through.
The progress of everyone else was remarkable, despite their lack of assistance that Naruto had with his kage bunshin.
Sasuke could create a flame in each hand and juggle it with little effort. This on its own was most likely no surprise given the fact that he was already familiar with a few katon jutsu, so he knew how to use them, he was just learning how to control them. He had also helped Kiba out by giving him a few pointers.
That on its own was a surprise, but what was really a shock was the fact that Kiba accepted his help. In the end pride did no good if it ended up getting, not only yourself, but your teammates and allies killed.
Kiba himself and Akamaru, given that they had no previous experience in elemental training, were making suprisingly good progress.
Jiraiya deduced that it was probably because he was doing more physical aspects of training rather than studying. The sannin could honestly say that he was proud to be teaching them.
Sakura and Chouji were also progressing at a high pace, currently they were able to condense a handfull of dirt into a small stone and scatter back.
Sakura herself was able to condense her handfull into several small pebbles, proving that her control was exceptional and that she was close to being ready for the next step.
Ino herself was able to make a constant flow of electricity through her body for a good three minutes, which a feat on its own.
Kakashi decided to test the waters with how she could use her lightning chakra through a kunai. His words were, "Until you can do what I have demonstrated and stab a kunai directly into the rock and pull it out with ease, you will be no where near mastering lightning chakra."
Needless to say she couldn't even get her kunai a quarter of the way into the rock.
Shino and Shikamaru were both in the second step of water chakra mastery, although water chakra is considered the easiest to master.
This step consisted of condensing the water into their hands and forming them into different shapes as well as condensing them to several stages of hardness.
The genin had their work cut out for them, but neither gave up.
Hinata's progress was the most remarkable, because she had already finished cutting the leaf and was now focusing on stopping a segment of flowing water that was created for her specifically. The segment of water carried a foot radius so she really had to put a great deal of effort into the exercise.
Despite all of this training, they still kept up the physical routine of training. Meaning that there were three more groans to the mix.
Naruto was walking alongside Sakura just speaking to her, "Before you get the wrong idea, I'm not asking for a date, I just want to eat alongside my team mate and friend."
"Depends, Ichiraku?" Sakura asked.
"Before you refuse on that one, remember Kaitou-ji's explanation," Naruto started.
Flashback
"Now who can tell me which of you nine can last the longest in battle?" Kaitou asked. "Ino?"
"Sasuke-kun," was Ino's response.
"Wrong," was Kaitou's reply. He then pointed out Shino.
"Chouji-san," the seemingly emotionless shinobi said.
"Close, but still wrong," Kaitou told him.
"Then it's gotta be me," Kiba told them with a confident air.
"Wrong again, and farther from Ino's response," the blonde man replied. "Anyone else."
"Naruto," came from what seemed like an unexpected source, Sasuke.
"Now how about telling me why this is possible, more than just simply training with him," Kaitou told him.
Sasuke smirked and said simply, "It's what he eats on a regular basis alongside his training, ramen."
"How so?" Kaitou asked in general. "Someone else please."
"The high amount of sodium, starch and carbohydrates give the body a heavy amount of energy to burn," came from another unexpected source, Chouji.
"Very good," Kaitou told them.
"Wait, so you want us to eat ramen like Naruto?" Kiba asked in surprise.
"No, eat that much every day can't be good for the average person, I think he means he wants us to have more carbohydrates, sodium and starch in our diets to increase the energy we have for the day," Sakura replied.
"Very good, I'll give your parents a list of necessary ingredients that I approve of, I'll specify what should be eaten every day, can be eaten once a week and what should be limited on a heavy amount of ingestion," Kaitou told them.
End of Flashback
"You don't eat ramen every day so once in a while should be okay," Naruto told her.
"Why not, we were given the day off anyway," Sakura told him as they started walking. They weren't wearing their weights to allow their muscles to rest properly.
As they were walking they noticed a box-shaped "rock" with eye holes following them.
Naruto turned around and said, "Konohamaru, rocks aren't in the shape of boxes, and they don't have eye holes either."
And with no suprise, the "rock" exploded in smoke and four coughs were heard.
"You used too much in the smoke bomb," the one in front said. He was wearing a set of goggles on his forehead with his dark brown hair spiking upward and a scarf that was dragging on the ground.
"Gomen," another male with glasses and a runny nose, also wearing a pair of goggles on his forehead.
"Okay, Konohamaru I know," Naruto said indicating the one wearing the scarf. Naruto looked carefully and said, "Inari, apparently you made friends with the young Sarutobi." He then looked at the boy with glasses and a girl with red hair in two pigtails also wearing a pair of goggles on her forehead, "Aren't you two each a grandchild of one of the Hokage's advisors?"
"Hai, I'm Mitokado Udon," the one with glasses responded.
"And I'm Inoue Moegi, Koharu is my obaa-chan," the girl said.
"Well at least they did try to strike a rediculous pose like Ero-sennin," Naruto thought aloud.
"Ah," Sakura agreed.
"Oyabun, could you play ninja with us?" Konohamaru asked with a pleading look in his eyes.
"Sakura-chan and I were about to get some lunch, afterwards," Naruto told them.
"Oh," Konohamaru looked at the kunoichi and asked, "Is she your?" Konohamaru held out his pinky finger.
"We're just team mates," Naruto told him.
"Good, no way Oyabun would be dating someone with a big forehead like that," Konohamaru thought aloud.
The temperature dropped several degrees.
"Konohamaru, she has a temper, best start running," Naruto told them as he summoned a few kage bunshin to try and keep her busy.
The kage bunshin didn't last a second against her as Naruto and the children were running.
Konohamaru was looking back to see if they lost her, not looking where he was going he ran into someone and fell on his rear. Before he could stand back up he was pulled into the air by his shirt.
"Oi, that hurt you little punk," a medium framed male said. The male had a black suit cover his entire body save for his face, the suit in question made him look like he had cat ears on the top of his head. He was wearing kabuki make-up and a hitae-ate with what looked like an hour glass in the middle on his head. The most noticeable feature was that he was carrying a bandaged up package over his shoulder.
"Kankuro, please, just put the kid down, we don't want to cause a scene," a girl behind him said. Said girl had dark blue eyes and her sandy-blonde in four pigtails, she wore the same type of hitae-ate around her neck. Her attire consisted of a one piece skirt that ended just above her knee. She was also taller than everyone present.
"Not until I've taught this punk some manners," the body, now known as Kankuro, said as he brought Konohamaru closer to his face.
Naruto just smirked and said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"And what's a shrimp like you gonna do to me if I continue?" Kankuro asked, clearly not intimidated.
"It's not what I would do, but what you would bring upon yourself, you do anything rash to the boy your holding and you may just put not only yourself but your father in a whole mess of trouble," the whiskered genin replied.
"What makes this kid so special?" Kankuro asked. He then thought and asked, "And for that matter how do you know the identity of my father?"
"My dream is to become Hokage, my uncle, knowing this, taught me fundamentals in politics, that includes knowing who's who as far as shinobi villages goes," Naruto explained. His grin got wider as he continued, "You name is Sabaku no Kankuro, son of Yondaime Kazekage, middle child of three, the oldest of the three, i.e. the female behind you, is Sabaku no Temari, and the youngest being Sabaku no Gaara. I have also heard that you're quite a puppeteer in the shinobi world, which is probably the identity of that bandaged package your holding."
The two were just looking at Naruto with their mouths agape. 'Just who is this guy?' was the only question going through their heads.
Sakura who had approached shortly before Naruto's speech was also a tad surprised with his explanation.
"Whatever, just because you know who I am doesn't mean shit, why would I be in trouble if I did anything to this kid? Would the Hokage bend backwards just to see the safety of one kid?" Kankuro asked.
"Under normal circumstances he'd most likely be too busy, but the circumstances can't be considered normal if you hold his grandson like that," Naruto answered.
"You mean this kid is the Hokage's grandson?" Kankuro asked rhetorically.
"And people call me slow," Naruto commented which really ticked Kankuro.
Temari just chuckled at Naruto's comment.
"Alright, you're next after I take care of this kid," Kankuro said.
Sakura, trying to keep the peace pleaded, "Please just let him go, it was an accident anyway."
"Shut up you big foreheaded girl," Kankuro said, not knowing he just opened a can of worms.
"What did you say!?" was Sakura's demand in a vicious voice.
Naruto just summoned a kage bunshin and made some gestures, which the bunshin nodded to.
Before Kankuro knew what happened he felt a sudden pain in his cheek and was sent into the fence to his and Temari's left and everyone else's right.
Sakura just stood there, satisfied with the left hook she gave him.
"Geez, Sakura-chan, you better be glad I took care of things or you might have hurt Konohamaru," Naruto told her.
"Huh?" was Sakura's response and noticed that the young Sarutobi that was being held by Kankuro was now sitting in serious shock alongside the other children with how much power was behind her punch. She then looked to wear Kankuro went and asked, "Do you think I used too much power?"
"I can honestly say that, knowing Kankuro, you probably didn't use enough," was Temari's response as she put her arm over Sakura's shoulder. "I haven't seen someone send him rolling like that in a while. At first glance you certainly don't much as far as being a shinobi, but I like you if you've trained well enough to do that to Kankuro," she said with a chuckle.
Kankuro just stood up and said, "That hurt, forget the little punk, I'm seriously gonna maim that girl." He then stood up and noticed a lack of Konohamaru.
"He's over here," Naruto called through the fence.
"When did I drop the kid?" was Kankuro's question.
"You didn't, you'd been holding a kage bunshin since right before Sakura-chan punched you," Naruto said while Konohamaru just made faces.
"Why you..." Kankuro grumbled as he jumped over to his puppet and was about to open it when a stone came out of nowhere and hit Kankuro's hand.
Everyone looked up on the tree and the only one who didn't seem surprised was Naruto.
"Yo, teme, I was wondering when you'd finally show yourself," Naruto called out.
"I didn't think I'd need to, even if I'd just come here I could tell from the looks of things Sakura lost her temper and pajama boy there was the outlet," Sasuke replied tossing around a stone in his hand. "I think you'd do well not to underestimate any of us," he said as he caught the stone and crushed it.
"Why are you so irritable anyway?" Naruto asked the puppet user. "I mean I would understand if it was her," Naruto indicated Temari, "given the fact that traveling with a guy that smells like rusted metal, poison, dry wood and a heavy amount of B.O. would make anyone irritable."
Temari was seriously cracking up at Naruto's shots at Kankuro.
"Maybe I can ask tanuki-san standing on the other tree branch why you're in such a bad mood," Naruto finished indicating another presence. "He's just been standing on that branch, upside down longer than the teme has been here."
With that the other person vanished in sand and reappeared right next to Kankuro and Temari.
"You must be Gaara," Naruto said as he held his hand out with another of his grins. "Uzumaki Naruto, at your service."
Gaara looked at Naruto's hand for a bit, reached up, grabbed and shook the guys hand.
"Well, I'm glad that there's more than one person with manners in Sunagakure, especially considering all three of you are the children of the Kazekage," Naruto commented.
"Why you..." Kankuro started when he was suddenly cut off.
"Kankuro, you're an embarrassment to Suna and if you don't shut up," Gaara paused and said, "I'LL KILL YOU."
"That is the first time I've heard someone say that to their sibling and actually mean it," Naruto commented once again. "I can honestly say that no matter how dysfunctional your family, nothing I've seen thus far can merit this kind of hostility towards them, then again I don't know your childhood," he said to Gaara.
Kankuro and Temari both looked at Naruto as if he was crazy.
Everyone started hearing a chuckle and Temari and Kankuro were looking around to see where it was coming from. It took them a bit to realize that the chuckle was coming from Gaara, what really freaked them out is that there was no form of insanity heard in his voice, he was actually chuckling from amusement.
"You are certainly an interesting character, Naruto-san, I hope to fight you in the near future, but first," Gaara pointed to Sasuke and then Sakura. "May I have your names?"
"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke replied.
"Haruno Sakura," the pink-haired kunoichi said.
"I shall remember those names," Gaara told them.
"Unbelievable," Naruto said.
"I know, Gaara seems strong," Sasuke said
"Ah," Sakura admitted.
"Actually I was talking about Sakura-chan," Naruto corrected.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"You finally get someone's attention other than mine and it's not intentional, or even the kind you wanted," Naruto said with a snicker.
"He has a point," Sasuke admitted. "Why were they here anyway?"
"The chuunin exams are in Konoha this time around," Naruto answered. "I think they just got lost looking for their hotel, but that's just my opinion," he admitted.
"So who is tanuki-san, and why'd you call him that in the first place?" Sasuke asked, clearly interested in a challenge.
"His name is Sabaku no Gaara, he's the youngest of the Kazekage's children and, given the way his siblings acted, most likely the most powerful, the only reason I knew this was because his description was relatively easy to remember, blood-red hair, rings under his eyes indicating lack of sleep, a gourd on his back and the word 'Ai' scarred above his left eye," Naruto explained. "I can't say I know much more than that, neither can Kaitou-ji. Though, given how extensive his spy network is, Ero-sennin might know. And the reason I called him tanuki-san was because of his scent, it smelled like a tanuki, I'm not really sure why but the first thing that came to me when his scent went to my nose was tanuki."
"How do you know all of this?" Sakura asked.
"I don't like repeating myself," Naruto told her. "Kaitou-ji drill politics into my head, that includes knowing people in influencial positions and their relatives, and the Kazekage is about as influencial in Sunagakure as you can get. Being a shinobi means knowing the identity of your target and why they're being targeted in the first place."
"Anyway, Sakura-chan and I were about to get some ramen, you wanna come, Teme?" Naruto offered.
"Why not," Sasuke replied.
No one made any noticeable reaction but Sakura's inner personality was shouting for joy, 'SHANNARO, SASUKE-KUN'S GONNA EAT WITH US.'
The Next Day...
The Hokage was having a meeting with his jounin. "Now everyone, this meeting is to discuss the Chuunin exam that will be starting within the week, given the fact that it'll be here I just need to hear any nominations."
A man with a bowl cut, thick eyebrows while wearing a green jumpsuit and his hitae-ate around his waist walked forward and stated, "I, Maito Gai, hereby nominate my three experienced, powerful and youthful genin, Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji and Hayase Tenten for the Chuunin Exam."
Kakashi stepped forward, "Due to interesting circumstances, my students have proven themselves ready for a new challenge, therefore I nominate Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke for this exam."
Kurenai stepped forward as well, "My students have also proven to be able to at least handle themselves, Hinata herself has become a tad more confident in her abilities and so I nominate Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino."
"Oyaji, my students have certainly surprised me within the past few weeks, in more ways than one," one laid back shinobi named Asuma stated. "I feel this exam will be good for them so I nominate Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji."
Iruka was the one who had an outburst, "You can't be serious, I've taught all nine of the genin indicated and I honestly believe that there is no way they're ready for the Chuunin Exam."
"I agree with Iruka-san, I held my team for a year to train them before I thought they were ready for these exams," Gai told him
"Why are you two arguing? I was less than half their age when I passed the exam," Kakashi said in a bored tone.
"But they aren't you," Iruka argued.
"That may be true, Umino-san, but unfortunately the moment they received their hitae-ate you lost your power over there decisions to being able to take this exam," Kaitou spoke out, making himself known.
"I agree, the moment they passed our tests was the moment they became our subordinates," Kakashi told Iruka. "And with the way they've been training I wouldn't be surprise if they were ready for the Jounin Exam right after they reach chuunin."
Iruka just looked at them.
"If you're so dead set on this why not test them out and see where they are for your standards," Kakashi told the scarred chuunin.
"I will then, do you have any objections, Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked.
"None what so ever," the old man replied. "Are there any other questions?" Hiruzen asked.
"Yeah, I have two students that need a team mate, is there anyone who wasn't able to graduate prior that had shown exceptional abilities when the jounin as well as the willingness to work as a team?" Kaitou asked.
"Actually, you're in luck, there was a student that didn't seem to have the greatest of luck when it came to who she was paired with as far as team mates go," Iruka said to him. "I've been trying to find a team with one less member but none of them seemed to have been available at the time."
"What's her name?" Kaitou asked.
"Gekkou Miki, she's the younger sister of Konoha's sword master, Gekkou Hayate," Iruka explained. The chuunin then pulled out a file with the information of the student they were talking about.
Kaitou raised an eyebrow as he asked, "Do you normally keep a file of your students on you at all time?" He then took the file from Iruka as he looked it over.
"Like I said, I've been trying to find a team for her," the chuunin responded.
Kaitou looked and then said, "I like what I see, does not strike unless struck at, tries to keep conflict to a minimum, defends other students."
"And that's not even half of the records," Iruka replied.
"Alright, I'll take her," Kaitou told him.
Iruka just nodded.
The Hokage told them, "Alright, if that's all then meeting adjourned."
An hour later...
Team seven was sitting at their normal meeting place when Kakashi finally appeared.
Naruto and Sasuke looked at the jounin with indifference while Sakura yelled out, "You're Late."
"Gomen, the Hokage set up a meeting with a few of the jounins for upcoming events," Kakashi explained.
Everyone looked at him.
"What?" Kakashi asked.
"That was actually a reasonable excuse," Sasuke answered.
"So where are the forms?" Naruto asked.
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.
"Kakashi-sensei is carrying three pieces of paper, most likely forms to fill out to participate in the Chuunin Exam, which was probably what the meeting he was at was about in the first place," Naruto said to him.
Everyone looked at Naruto in complete disbelief.
"What?" the blonde genin asked.
"How did you get to those conclusions?" Sakura asked.
"I'm actually wondering how he got it right," Kakashi admitted as he pulled the forms for said exam out.
"You don't normally smell like paper sensei, the book you carry around smells more like erotic incense than anything, so I figured you had some pieces of paper that had just come from an office, the smell itself wasn't all that strong so I figured that it would be around the numbers of one to five, and since there are three of us, not including yourself, and the fact the Chuunin Exam is starting in less than a week and the fact that you just mentioned that you were at a meeting with oyaji and other jounin, which is also confirmed through faint smells, some familiar, my only conclusion was that the meeting was about the Chuunin Exam and that you nominated us," Naruto thoroughly explained.
"When exactly did your sense of smell get that accurate?" Sasuke asked.
"Shortly after we became an official team, I'm not really sure why but my smell and hearing had started getting sharper all of the sudden," he answered.
"Anyway, this is an exam of your choice, it's each of your decisions as to whether or not you enter the exams, so take the rest of the week to think about it, the first part of the exam is held at the academy and they start on Saturday at 2:00 pm. The proctors also don't appreciate tardiness so if you aren't in the room by the deadline time, you won't be able to take it, and with that I bid you a good day," Kakashi told them as he poofed into a cloud of smoke.
Sasuke looked at his team mates and said, "Do you think we're ready?"
"Hell yeah, we didn't train for the last several weeks just to let a chance like this pass us by," Naruto spoke out.
"I'll go if you both think we're ready," Sakura said to them.
"It's not that I think we're ready, it's that I know we're ready, you showed a fair amount of your strength when you deck Kankuro yesterday and he's here to take the exam, if he thinks he's ready do you really think you should be doubting yourself," Naruto told the pink-haired kunoichi.
"Besides, Kakashi-sensei wants us to choose to take the exams on our own accord and not through the persuasion of our team mates," Sasuke told her. "If he didn't think we could handle it would he have nominated us in the first place."
"I guess not," Sakura admitted.
"Anyway, everyone here should take the time to see if we're really ready for this," Naruto told them. "The decision will be if we're all there on Saturday or not."
"Works for me," Sasuke responded.
"Ah," Sakura agreed.
Later that day...
Naruto was walking alongside the quartet of shinobi hopefuls, ie Konohamaru and his friends.
Naruto turned to them and said, "You four should add two more to your group, at least then you'd be able to start working as two teams, from what I recall, Hinata has a younger sister, if she's as nice as Hinata you won't have to worry about getting along."
His suggestion got the group to start thinking.
It was during this little interaction that Konohamaru was snatched up by some unknown shinobi.
"Man, Konohamaru, who do you keep pissing off that this keeps happening to you?" Naruto asked before he took a deep breath through his nose and out his mouth. "Although, in this case, you might have just done it unintentionally. What exactly are you doing, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, a tad confused at this point.
The unknown shinobi just looked at Naruto with a slight bit of surprise before he calmed down and said, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"The look in your eyes said otherwise," Naruto replied with a smirk. "Just drop the henge, only an idiot would think to try a henge around someone who has spent a great deal of time around them and not try to cover up their scent."
Iruka just sweatdropped at Naruto's logic but silently commended him for it as well as he put the young Sarutobi down and released his henge.
"Well, you've certainly come a long way from where you used to be," the chuunin admitted aloud.
"You wanna tell us why you put up this whole charade?" Naruto asked.
"I was hesitant to allow you to take the Chuunin Exam, but you've removed my doubt, I'll be testing the rest of the rookie nine as well," Iruka explained.
Right before the chuunin poofed away Naruto said, "You give us far too little credit, don't count us out just because you knew us when we were your students. A great deal can change in a few months. I'm positive that everyone else will go beyond your expectations."
Iruka nodded and smiled at Naruto's confidence, but only the future would tell. The chuunin poofed away to test the next genin.
"Do you think you should warn you're friends?" Konohamaru asked.
"Looking out for my friends may be a good thing, but sometimes doing just that is more insulting that helpful, especially in cases like this when there's no real danger, they'll either figure out it's Iruka-sensei, figure out it's just a test or they'll pass the test without even figuring out that it's all a test, they'll get to participate in the Chuunin Exam no matter which one happens," Naruto explained. "No point in messing with Iruka-sensei's fun."
Konohamaru just looked at Naruto with a questioning gaze.
"Iruka-sensei was a bit of a clown when he was my age, I think this allows him to relieve a bit of stress that I know has been building up for some time," Naruto told him with a knowing expression.
Konohamaru just shrugged.
A Few Days Later...
It was Saturday and around 1:00 pm and Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were all standing outside the academy.
The first thing Naruto did when he saw them was ask, "How long did it take you to pass Iruka-sensei's test?"
"It took me about three seconds to realize that there was no intent to hurt anyone, and I saw through the illusion pretty quickly," Sakura admitted.
Sasuke looked down in annoyance.
"Did you beat Iruka-sensei to the point where he had to reveal himself?" Naruto asked.
"Ah," Sasuke replied. He was angry with himself for not seeing through the whole scenario before hurting his former sensei.
"Hey, you passed, so why sulk," Naruto told him. "Now let's get inside before we're late."
"Hai," Sasuke replied.
"Ah," was Sakura's response.
End of Chapter.
Not much going on here except for a few revelations about Naruto, the introduction of Gai and a mention of Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi. That being said, Naruto doesn't actually know Hanabi's given name so of course all he can refer to her as is Hinata's younger sister. Naruto passed the test before it barely even started, so, chances are, he tried that little stunt when testing Kiba because of the sensitivity of an Inuzuka's nose. Anyway Read & Review.
