I don't own Naruto.
"Talk"
'Think'
"Talk"
'Think'
Konoha three weeks later
The last three weeks were interesting for Naruto. After Haku confessed her love to him he was always greeted with a hug and a kiss from her, which made the Demon Brothers tease him constantly, while Zabuza was just glad that they were finally together, although he couldn't help but tease him as well, and that was during the first week. The second week got weird and scary. Why you ask? Maybe it was because he was kidnapped by Yuago. But it wasn't as bad as you would have thought, all she did was introduce him to her boyfriend; a sickly looking man named Gekkou Hayate one of Konoha's few kenjutsu masters. They struck up an unusual friendship where he would examine each others swords, read Sword Fortune, and spar. Hell during the week he found out how spend more time with the people he actually likes by using only one jutsu; the Shadow Clone Jutsu to be precise.
Now was using that wonderful jutsu to send his clones on those crappy D-rank missions. Kakashi confronted him about it, and asked if he could steal the idea so he had more "Kakashi Time". But now lets get to the scary part of the second week. One day he decided to help Hinata with her training, when he got to the Hyuuga Clan Compound he ask Hiashi if she was around. He told him that she was in her room, so he went to it only to find it empty. Having a rare blond moment Naruto looked around her room seeing what kind of girl she was like. Well he found out when he opened her closet. There he saw an assortment of dildos, ropes, whips, chains, and leather outfits. Now Naruto did what any man would do at that moment, he closed the door, got the hell out of that room, told Hiashi he would have to take a rain check, and went home. After he locked himself into his room he shivered in absolute shock seeing that one of his fiancees was into bondage, and Kyuubi didn't help matters saying it was always the quite ones -plus the numerous images of a leather clad Hinata standing over his naked, and chained form-. Don't get me wrong he still visited her, but was weary around her. I mean seriously who wouldn't do that? Because bondage is creepy and unusual, am I right guys?
And for the final week Naruto was promoted to Special Genin by Sarutobi himself. Now that we know what happened the last few weeks let's get on with the chapter shall we.
"Why did I have to go shopping today again?" Naruto asked himself as he walked from the store.
"Because you've gotten soft. Normally you would have told Zabuza, or those two idiot brothers to go shopping instead." Kyuubi scolded his vessel.
'Don't you remember what happened last time those three went shopping?' the blond snapped back at the demon fox, 'If not then let me remind you. Zabuza nearly destroyed the store because they tried to confiscate his sword. Gouzu ended up buying crap we didn't even need while at the same time managing to blow our food budget. And lets not forget Meizu nearly getting himself killed by reading Icha Icha Paradise out loud in the store.'
"Oh I remember that one, now that was entertaining." Kyuubi laughed remembering Meizu getting chased around the village all day by a bunch of angry women. And then laughed even harder when he involved Ebisu, Kakashi, and even Shibi Aburame. "How did they get away from them again?"
'From what I got out of him. Kakashi took them to an underground bunker for perverts. I'm going to have to get back to you, because a "rock" is following me.' Naruto thought a he saw a square rock with holes that following him.
Sighing, the vicious swordsman turned around and crossed his arms, "Konohamaru haven't you learned anything from last time? Because the last time I checked...A ROCK IS NEVER A PERFECT SQUARE!" he yelled doing a perfect imitation of Iruka's famous Big Scary Head Jutsu. As soon as he said that, the rock blew apart, revealing three children. Konohamaru was one of them, and he was accompanied by a short brown-haired nose-dripping boy with wire-rimmed glasses. Wearing a blue long-sleeved sweater and white shorts; and a ginger-haired girl with a permanent blush with her hair pulled back into pigtails. Wearing a pink shirt and a tan shorts.
"What the hell are you three doing?" Naruto sweat-dropped seeing the rediculous scene.
The girl reacted first, jumping in front of the two boys and striking a pose. "I'm Moegi Konoha's sexiest kunoichi!"
The snot nosed boy with glasses jumped to Moegi's left and struck a pose as well. "I'm Undon and I love math."
Konohamaru just stood there grinning. "And you already know who I am."
Striking various stupid poses they shouted "We're the Konohamaru Corps!" they all said together.
'It feels like I just died a little on the inside.' Naruto thought after he witnessed their antics.
"For once I agree with you kid." Kyuubi agreed.
"Hey Boss." Konohamaru announced, pointing at Naruto, "Can you help us with our shuriken throwing? Iruka-sensei said if we don't improve he would flunk us. Please?"
The blond only sighed after a few seconds, sometimes being a "teacher" was a real pain in the ass, "Fine, I'll meet you at the academy around four. But always remember you use you good hand to throw-"
"NARUTO!" a scream interrupted him, they turned and saw Sakura running at them. "Naruto where were you? Yesterday Kakashi-sensei said to meet him at ten and it's almost three. He is not very happy, and sent Sasuke-kun and myself to get you."
"Hey, Boss, who's she?" Konohamaru asked. After a second of thought, he grinned and held up his pinky finger. "Is she your...this?"
Naruto's face turned a little green at what he said, and had to force the bile from coming up, "Hell no! There is no way I would ever, I repeat ever be her boyfriend!"
"Yea you're right you can do better than this ugly bitch." the thirds grandson nodded retracting his earlier statement.
Naruto glanced at Sakura. She was smiling sweetly...a little too sweetly.
"Konohamaru," Naruto ordered, "I suggest you start running."
Konohamaru paled, realizing that he made a BIG mistake. He took off, Moegi and Udon falling behind him. He remembered seeing some guy insult a purple-haired kunochi, and saw him get the living crap beaten out of him. From that day forward he knew the rage of women was insatiable, and he knew he was as good as dead, Sandaime's grandson or not.
His thoughts were halted as he ran into a wall. Wait, it wasn't a wall, it was just some guy dressed in a black outfit with a red and yellow circle on front, a strange object on his back wrapped in bandages, strange purple marking on his face, and a cat-like headpiece that bore the hitai-ate of The Village Hidden in the Sand. Next to the guy was a girl that had blond-hair that was split into four pig tails and had sparkling blue eyes. She was wearing a white dress that had a mesh shirt underneath. She also had a giant iron fan strapped to her back.
The cat-like man picked Konohamaru up by his scarf, and brought him up to his eye level.
"Kankuro put the kid down he's not worth it." the blond girl said to the boy now known as Kunkuro who scoffed at what she was saying.
"I don't care Temari. This kid hit my leg and he needs to pay for it." Kankuro responded to the girl now known as Temari. When Kankuro looked back at the kid he saw the boy was gone. He looked around and saw him stand next to Naruto who was glaring daggers at him.
"You weren't about to hit this kid were you?" Naruto asked.
"And what if I was what are you going to do about it." Kankuro said with a smirk, until he found that only his head was above the ground, and a katana positioned near his forehead.
"I could put this through your brain." the Kyuubi jinchruiki said coldly making Kankuro and Temari look into his cold dead eyes, "Or the one in the tree could do something worse to you." he went on making everyone look towards the nearest tree. There they saw a red-haired teen no older than fourteen with black rings around his sea-green eyes that showed his insomnia. He wore black cargo pants, a black t-shirt with a fishnet shirt underneath it, black shinobi styled sandals, along with a scarf tied around his neck, and had a gourd on his back. His most distinctive marking was a red tattoo with the kanji symbol for Love above his left eyebrow.
He disappeared in a swirl of sand and appeared near Kankuro, "Kankuro you are a disgrace to the village." the red-haired teen said.
"B-but Gaara it wasn't m-my-"
"Shut up or I will kill you." the teen now called Gaara said as he turned around and faced Naruto.
"I apologize for my brothers stupidity. But however I am curious as to how you discovered my location?" Gaara asked.
"You smell of sand, blood, raccoon, and leaked killing intent when you stared at the idiot." Naruto replied, "Plus I sensed emo boy who was right next to you." he indicated towards Sasuke who was still in the tree.
"I see you are skilled. What is your name?" Garra asked.
"My name's Naruto Uzumaki. Yours?" Naruto casually responded.
"My name is Gaara of the Dessert. I look forward to facing you in the exams Naruto Uzumaki." the red-head said. And with that confortation finished with they turned around to walk away, completely ignoring the Uchiha who demanded to know what they were talking about, leaving an angry Kankuro yelling at Temari to dig him out, and leaving an awed Konohamaru Corps anticipating their lesson.
Later on we find Naruto was just now arriving to Team Sevens training ground to see his team standing at the bridge all bored and pissed off.
"Alright what do you want from me Kakashi?" Naruto asked his sensei.
"Well now that you've finally arrived I can give you these." Kakashi said handing them three slips of paper. "This is so that you can enter and compete in the Chuunin Exams coming up." he continued handing them the papers. Naruto read over it and signed it without a second thought. Which resulted in Sasuke signing up thinking it was some sort of challenge, and Sakura signing up as well to impress Sasuke.
"Okay then everyone be at the Academy first thing tomorrow morning. Dismissed." Kakashi ordered the three before disappearing in a small cloud of smoke. Naruto followed suit a second later, and headed towards the acadamy to help Konohamaru and his friends.
Namikaze-Uzumaki Mansion the next day
The annoying ringing sound near the bedside rang throughout the room, and Naruto's fist smashed into the hellish device known as an alarm clock.
"Damn device." Naruto muttered as he got to get up, but he was pulled back into the bed. "Haku-chan can you please let go of me?" he asked as he struggled to get out of Haku's grasp.
Haku's eyes opened and she huffed, "But Naruto-kuuun." she whined clearly not wanting to let go.
"Please."
"Fine!" the Chuunin pouted.
The blond got up, and kissed Haku's cheek in apology causing her to smile. He then finished dressing in his usual attire, and went downstairs to the basement. Going went past the library, the wine cellar, and the dojo where Zabuza was sparing against Gouzu and Meizu, until he finally came to a single oak door. He took out a single key from his pants and opened it. And came into the room with a slight frown. The room's design, was rather simple. It was a circular room that stretched to a probable one-hundred meters in diameter or so the ceiling itself was probably thirty-five feet up from the floor. The floor was smooth oak wood to the ceiling, but that was not what was interesting about the room; it was because it was full of weapons.
That's right plastered on the walls were various weapons from warriors that fell to Naruto's blade. On the racks that held those weapons consisted of various custom made kunai, odd looking shuriken of various shapes and sizes, and several masks mainly from Hunter ninjas that he killed. There were other weapons like makibishi and some senbon, a few daggers, twin daggers, halberds, spears, naginatas, maces, whips, nunchakus, staffs, axes, tantos, wakizashi's, katana's that were in good shape, and recently Stone Ox's claymore.
"What a waste." Naruto sighed, he always hated this room. It showed all these magnificent weapons that would never be used again, that was why he was glad he gave Chouji Stone Bears axe Shukketsu. He threw those feeling aside and walked towards a certain part of the room. After he got there he his desired weapons hanging there, but he sighed as he looked at those weapons.
For those who who knew the blond warrior they knew he was an honorable man. With every weapon he brought home he always put their name underneath the weapon the honor the man he killed or had the pleasure of knowing. So right now he was looking at Shishio's katana; The Mugenjin, Seta's wakizashi; The Kiku Ichimonji Norimune, Anji's dagger; Kami's Dagger, Kamatar's scythe; Ogama, Henya's katars, Cho's favorite swords; The Renbato and Hakujin no Tachi, and Usui's short spear; The Rochin, and his tortoise shell; The Tinebi.
Naruto then looked at the two new additions that Sarutobi gave him; The Nidaime Hokage's Raijin sword because he said it would be safer with him, and one of his dad's tri-pronged kunai -which reminded him that he has yet to read the scroll his parents gave him-. But the one he was really looking at was a unnamed five foot long object wrapped in black cloth.
"Never again." he muttered under his breath, and took the Mugenjin and the Kiku Ichimonji Norimune. After he finished securing them to his sash he went off towards the academy.
Academy ten minutes later
"Hm...I'm early." Naruto said to himself as he scoped out the competition, but they were considered weak by the way they carried themselves. However he spotted Team Gai making themselves look weak in front of two Chuunin disguised as Genin.
"Hello Team Gai!" Naruto called out making Team Gai look behind them to see Naruto walking up to them.
"Hello Naruto-kun are you competing in the exams as well?" Lee asked Naruto while Neji and Tenten stayed back a bit. Ever since Naruto dispatched those three Chuunin in the Higurashi Weapons Shop no more than a month ago they stayed the hell away from him. But Gai kept telling them that Naruto would never harm his comrades, but Neji kept his distance because of the Hyuuga elders orders. But Tenten was another story. When her dad told her about being his fiancee she said she didn't want to be forced to marry some guy she didn't even know. It took awhile but her dad managed to convince her to give Naruto a chance, and if she didn't like him or vice versa that would be the end of it.
And she honestly hoped it would come to that.
"I'm participating all right, I'm just waiting for my team." Naruto responded to the freaky Genin, "You're just putting on a show to weed discourage the weak aren't you?"
"Yes we are." Tenten whispered, "But don't tell anyone."
"No problem the only thing I have to worry about is my-"
"Hey, do us a favor and drop the genjutsu. We're going to the third floor." interrupted an arrogant voice that Naruto knew all too well. He looked to see Sasuke with his chest puffed out a little bit, and the other Genin looking at him in confusion.
"Too late." he sighed loudly. Frowing angerly he walked over to Sasuke and gave him a hard punch to the stomach, "That genjutsu was to weed out the weaker teams! Now we got to deal with unnecessary competition you moron!" he spat before going to the stairs.
There they met their sensei's telling them what would have happened if they all didn't show up. After a quick pep talk they entered the testing room they were greeted with glares and killing intent from virtually everyone. Naruto simply stepped forward and emitted his own killing intent, and most shrunk back in fear. They each saw a brutal image of their deaths.
However his killing intent didn't even phase a team of Grass Genin sitting in the back of the room. The first one looked to be at least sixteen years old, he stood at five foot eight, had slick black hair that had a few random bangs going in front of his face, and had wolf-like coal black eyes with distinctive Itachi-like markings under them. He wore a light blue jacket and pants, he wore a black belt around his waist proudly displaying his Grass hitai-ate as a belt buckle, white gloves, and brown combat boots. Strapped to his belt was a katana with a black sheath, the hilt had white and black thread covering it, and the hand guard was black.
The second looked to be around fifteen years old and stood around five foot six, the sclera of his eyes were black and his eyes were gray. He wore a pure gray yukata with black trimmings along with black hakama pants with a skin tight black bodysuit underneath it, black gloves, a gray scarf that covered his entire lower face, and black combat boots. He wore a straw woven basa with his hitai-ate on it that covered his silver hair. Strapped in his sash was a black and gray katana and wakizashi.
The last one was about the age of fourteen and stood around five foot five. He proudly wore his hitai-ate on his forehead that held up his snow white hair that perfectly framed the sides of his eyes. He also wore a open white trench coat, black cargo pants, black steel-toe combat boots, black fingerless gloves, and a black t-shirt. He wore two belts that hung off his waist in an 'x' shape that held two kodachi's. His emerald green eyes never looking away from the scene.
"Looks like he's here after all." the first one remarked.
"He hasn't changed a bit." the second one chuckled barely containing madness in his voice.
"I wonder if he has gotten any stronger since the last time we met." the last one muttered.
"I knew that that was your killing intent, troublesome blond." everyone heard a voice sigh behind them.
They turned around and most couldn't help but gasp. There stood Team Ten, but not the ones they remembered since graduation.
Shikamaru still stood the same height, but he looked stronger if his developing muscles were any indication. He now wore gray vest with his clan symbol on the back with a black t-shirt underneath it, gray hand guards that went to his elbows, slightly torn black jeans with his kunai holster strapped to his right thigh, and black shinobi styled sandals. He wore a gray belt around his waist displaying his Leaf hitai-ate as a belt buckle, and attached to the back of it was a black pouch.
Chouji was a big shocker as they expected to see the happy go lucky fat kid they all knew, but instead they laid their eyes on the new improved Chouji. He grew about a inch or two putting, and they saw that he was growing his brown hair out. Chouji wasn't as fat when they last saw him, he slimmed down a bit but not too much. He wore the armor of his clan that included the gray chest plate with with red trimmings with a red kanji symbol for Eat on his chest, shoulder pads, forearm guards, black cargo pants, grieves, and black shinobi styled sandals. He no longer wore his hitai-ate like a diaper instead he wore it on his forehead. His most intimidating factor was a giant three foot double-headed black axe with red trimmings strapped to his back.
Ino also changed in a sense. She wore a dark purple skintight tube-top that barely hid her cleavage with a open light purple vest. To finish the look she wore a purple mini skirt with black kunochi styled sandals. She wore a purple belt around her waist with various pouched displaying her Leaf hitai-ate as a belt buckle.
But what disturbed them the most was their icy-like eyes, that intreagued Naruto somewhat. However before anyone could comment Team Eight barged in with Kiba shouting how they were going to kick everyones asses.
"Kiba shut your yap, or you'll draw attention on us." Shikamaru scolded the dog-boy.
"Up yours Shikamaru, hey whose the chick?" the mutt-boy responded before setting his eyes on Ino.
"That's Ino you idiot." Chouji retorted.
"INO? WOW WHEN DID YOU GET SO HOT!" Kiba screamed out in surprise.
"Hey will you guys might want to keep it down a little. The Rain ninja are looking for fresh meat this year." a voice said behind them.
They turned to see a silvery-white haired man with his hair tied into a ponytail with his hitai-ate tied to his forehead to keep his bangs out of his eyes, and a pair of wire frame glasses over his brown eyes. His attire consisted of purple purple vest with a white t-shirt underneath it, purple cargo pants with a kunai holster strapped to his right thigh, purple steel plated hand guards that went to his elbows, and blue shinobi styled sandals.
"Who the hell are you?" Kiba demanded.
"Oh where are my manners? My name is Kabuto Yakushi and I'm a veteran of this exam." the person now known as Kabuto greeted them pushing up his glasses.
"What is that suppose to mean to us?" Shikamaru asked putting his hands in his pockets.
"This is my seventh try at these exams. They can be deceptively hard." the silver-haired teen explained, slowly pulling a deck of cards out. "In that time I have put together these special cards. Each contains information I compiled, which only appears when apply my chakra. Let me demonstrate." he quietly explained as he set one down on the floor, he proceeded to apply his chakra to the card and a map of the elemental continent was shown.
"I have info on almost everyone here. I can help you out. Just give me a description, the village their from, hell even the way they wear their hitai-ate's can help me out." Kabuto said.
"I want information on Naruto Uzumaki, and Gaara of the Desert." Sasuke demanded.
"You guys are no fun. You know their names." Kabuto pouted as he charged some chakra into a card, "Lets see Gaara of the Desert. He has done eight C-ranked missions...hmm even One B-ranked mission. I don't have much else on him just that he has returned from every mission without a scratch."
He then charged some chakra into another card, "Next is Naruto Uzumaki. Whoa, says here he's part of your team, why do you want to know about your own teammate?" Kabuto questioned, looking up only to see Sasuke's cobalt black eyes glaring at him.
"That is none of your business." Sasuke said with a hint of irritation creeping into his voice.
Shrugging lightly the bispectled teen returned his attention to the card held in his hand, "Naruto Uzumaki...wow there is almost completely nothing on him. But from what I could gather he has performed seven D-rank, two C-rank, one B-rank, and one A-rank missions. He is skilled in kenjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu. His history is almost blank but it shows him being born in Konoha, and than he left for seven years...hmm he returned this year, is the new hero of Wave Country, brought the legendary Demon of the Mist; Zabuza Momochi, and the legendary Demon Brothers; Gouzu and Meizu to Konoha."
Sasuke and Sakura knew about the D, C, and A-ranked missions because they were there. However they didn't know about the B and other C-ranked missions, and demanded to know when he did them.
"Dobe when did you perform those two missions?" Sasuke demanded.
"He accompanied us on a month long C-ranked mission. There he taught us how to be a true shinobi." Ino answered on Naruto's behalf, ignoring their outraged looks.
"The B-rank was when I prevented Mizuki defecting from the village with The Forbidden Scroll of Sealing." Naruto explained, seeing that they would keep bitching until they got an answer.
"Oh yea I remember that, my dad told me about it. However he didn't explain the exact details, Naruto-san can you please tell us how you stopped him?" Shino asked.
"Listen, I don't want to talk about the details of that mission. Only know the fact that I stopped the bastard from getting his hands on the scroll. The rest is classified." the blond stated leaving no room for discussion.
Ten clouds of smoke at the front of The room interrupted anything they were going to say. When it cleared there stood ten men in gray jump suits. And In the middle stood a very imposing man standing at an impressive six foot three and bulit looked to be built like a brickhouse to withstand anything. He wore a grey jumpsuit like the rest of the examiners except he wore a highcollared black trench coat, along with a black bandanna that displayed his hitai-ate. His distinguishing marks were two scars on his chisled and regal face, one that went diagonally down the side of his left cheek that neared his scary black eye, and another recceeded into his bandanna and also went diagonally down his face until it went past his lips and into his chin.
"My name is Ibiki Morino, and from this point on I'm your worst Nightmare." Ibiki booming voice said scaring the weaker Genin. "Now everyone please select a number and then go inside the room and sit at the designated seat."
After the Genin's sat at their designated seats Ibiki told them the rules, "Now you have one hour to complete the exam I'll explain the rules of the exam in a minute no questions!"
"Rule one: Each of you will start with ten points. This test works with a subtraction marking method. If you get one wrong you get a single point deducted, for example if you get three wrong you lose three points.
"Rule two: The over all pass/fail is determined not by your individual scores, but the combined scores of your team.
"Rule three: If you are found cheating you will have two points deducted. Meaning is you get all the answers right, but get caught five times you fail. This isn't so much of a rule as the result of what will happen should some one fail.
"Until the third part of the exam, everyone relies on teamwork. If one of you fails, so does the other two members of your team. This test will be done in the space of one hour, at the forty-five minute mark, I will give you the tenth question. It won't matter if you completed the test or not, now show us what kind of shinobi you can be, BEGIN!" he explained, his sadistic smile never leaving his face.
During the test Tenten was using mirrors she had somehow attached to the ceiling using near invisible strings to move them with to get the answers for her and Lee, Neji and Hinata had their respective Byakugan active though they both used a minor genjutsu to cover their veins, Sasuke had his Sharingan flaring and was copying another Genin's movements, Shikamaru used his brain to answer the questions and used his shadow to help Chouji out with the answers, Shino used his bugs, Kiba used Akamaru, Sakura was a bookworm so she actually could answer the questions, and Ino stole the answers right from Sakura's mind.
Naruto however just answered the easiest question on the test, even after all these years Saizuchi's lessons haven't faded one bit. The old man literally pounded how to obtains the ranks from Genin and beyond into his head. According to the paper, that was the time that Ibiki gave out the tenth question. Eyes flickered from the paper to the scowling instructor as they waited for him to begin talking.
"So," Ibiki mused, "it seems that we have some regular bookworms in here. Or, some very good cheaters!" at that, almost the entire room flinched.
"So now it's time for the tenth question! But first, another rule!" at that, the Genin stiffened. "You must choose whether to accept or reject this question! If you choose to reject this question, you will instantly loose all points, and you and your team will be failed immediately!"
Temari then spoke out. "But then what's the point? Why would anyone actually reject the question!"
A sadistic grin crossed Ibiki's features, as he said "Because of what happens when you take the question, and get it wrong. If you do, then...you will never be allowed to test for Chuunin again, and will be a Genin for the rest of your life!"
Almost everyone in the room began sputtering. "B-But we know they're people here who've taken the test lots of times, and they got to the second or third round!" Ino shouted out.
Another sadistic smirk passed the torturers face. "It sucks for you guys that this is my first year as a proctor."
One stupid Genin raised his hand to quit, then a lot of people started quitting and this went on for two minutes until they stopped.
"For all those remaining: YOU PASS!" Ibiki shouted. The exclamation was met with looks of shock, confusion, and in Naruto's case, amusement.
"Wait...what do you mean? What about the tenth question?" Sakura asked honestly confused for the first time in her life.
"There was never a tenth question. Or you could say those two choices were the tenth question." Ibiki smirked seeing their confused expressions.
"Then what were those first nine question for? They were freaking pointless!" some random Genin shouted.
"They were not pointless...they already served their intended purpose. It was to test you information gathering skills." seeing their confused looks he continued, "These questions on this test were not the types most Genin could answer, and because of that most of you came to the conclusion that you have to cheat."
"That is why we were mixed with you guys to help you out." a hidden Chuunin said as he stood from his seat.
"You're welcome." another said snickering at some mortified looks.
"But those who cheat poorly fail of course." Ibiki said undoing his bandanna, "Because in times, information is more important than life. And on missions and the battlefield, people risk their lives to get their hands on it." he made his point by showing them his massively scared head. The entirety of Ibiki's head was covered with scars, burn marks, and screw holes, obvious signs of painful torture by inexperienced hands. "I want you to remember this. Important information in your hands can be a powerful weapon, for your comrades and your village. So we had you gather information through cheating. This clearly separated those who do not have the right abilities."
"But I still don't understand the final question." Sakura said.
"You dumb bimbo I'm surprised you haven't died yet." the grey-eyed Grass-nin scoffed.
Ignoring her outraged look the wolf-eyed Grass-nin continued where his teammate left off. "From what my teammate is trying to say is that the tenth question was the "Take it" or "Not take it" decision. For instance say your mission was to steal a secret document, the exact number of your enemies, their abilities, etc, is unknown to you. And of course there could be traps set all around you. Now do you accept it or not?" he would have continued if he didn't go into a coughing fit.
"Still have that cough huh?" the emerald-eyed Grass-nin sighed, "From what he is saying, can you avoid a dangerous mission because you don't want to die? Because you don't want your comrades to get hurt?"
When Sakura didn't answer he gave his answer. "The answer is no! If you're afraid to put you life on the line, you don't have the right to become a Chuunin!"
"Spoken like a real shinobi, but that's what I would expect from true survivors eh?" Ibiki smirked at their speech, and gave them a knowenly smirk seeing them turn towards him, "I wish all of you luck."
Soon after he said that a thick mist started building up, and someone busted through the window disrupting the mist. After the mist cleared it revealed Zabuza dressed in black shinobi styled sandals, black cargo pants, and a forest green Jounin flak-vest with his famous zanbatou strapped to his back. He still had bandages wrapped around the lower part of his face, but he wore his new Leaf hitai-ate at an diagonal angle with his former Mist hitai-ate displayed as a belt buckle.
The other stood in front of a black banner that said 'Second proctor: Anko Mitarashi!'
Said woman...well there was only one word to describe her: Sexy! She had dazzling lavender hair tied that spiked up into an exotic, comb-like pattern in the back while the rest of it cascaded down the sides of her face to end slightly below her jaw with her Leaf hitai-ate tied securely to her forehead. Her skin was flawless, and radiated with perfection. She wore little to no clothing at all, instead she wore nothing but a single transparant chain mail bodysuit covering her naked and sexy figure. She wore a tan trench coat that barely covered her breasts -where a claw pendant hung around her neck by a thick chain-, a dark orange skirt that barely defied the word mini. Below that, her shins were covered up by hazy white shin guards, and navy blue shinobi sandals.
She opened her pupil-less light brown eyes and took the sight of the remaining Genin, "Alright you maggots, get ready for your next test! I'm your examiner, the sexy and single Anko Mitarashi!" she yelled pumping her fist in the air.
Everyone in the room sweat-dropped at her statement.
"Dammit woman I was supposed to scare the brats today!" Zabuza yelled at Anko.
"Be quiet Zabuza I was supposed to be the proctor of the second exams!" Anko replied.
"No that was supposed to be my job!" the ex-Mist shinobi retorted.
"You two stop being idiots, and take them to Training Ground Forty-four." Ibiki ordered the two.
"Killjoy." Zabuza sighed, "Alright you little skidmarks just follow us."
When all the Genin left Ibiki began to gather all the papers. Pretty soon he came to Naruto's end and when he picked up his paper he couldn't help but smirk at him answering one question, until he read the back.
Dear proctor Ibiki
I'm impressed that you scared the living hell out of the weaker fools, but I suggest you use some killing intent for the last question. I hope we can one day work together I believe the Anbu could benefit with me joining them, if you don't believe me ask the two Anbu members that joined us during the Wave Country mission.
Naruto
Ibiki didn't need to ask them because he constantly the subject in the Anbu headquarters. He couldn't count the number of times the boys name was mentioned throughout the building, and when Yamato and Yuugao told them what they saw of the boys skills...well you got the idea.
"Naruto Uzumaki you are a interesting guy." he said. He made a mental note to see Naruto's match, if only to see if the rumors about the boy were true. Grinning like a cat that caught a mouse, he hefted the answer sheets in one palm and walked out the room, whistling as he went.
Training Ground Forty-four
"Alright you little idiots, pay attention!" Anko shouted, hushing any Genin whispering to each other, "This is where the second exam will take place, Training Ground Forty-four, also known as the Forest of Death." Anko smirked, and the Genin shivered at the casual yet creepy tone of her energetic voice. "But," she continued happily, the ever present smirk on her feminine face growing just a bit, "before we can begin the second test, you need to sign these release forms." reaching into her trench coat, the snake mistress pulled out a thick stack of forms.
"These are the consent forms, those taking the exam have to sign one to continue. And before you ask, this is so your parents don't come suing me when one of you annoying twerps go and die in the forest." she then dumped them into Zabuza's hands, "Go hand them out sword boy."
"Bossy bitch." Zabuza muttered as he passed out the forms.
After they signed the consent forms it was Zabuza who spoke this time, "Now that all the forms have been signed, here's what this test will be about. Simply put, you will have to survive for five days inside the Forest of Death. Not only that, but you will also have to complete an objective." reaching into his pants pockets, the Demon of the Mist pulled out two scrolls, a dark brown one with the kanji for Earth on it, and a pure white one with the kanji for Heaven on it, "Each team of three will get one of these, your task will be to get the opposite of the one you from the opposing teams using any means possible." he smirked when he heard many of the Genin gulp.
"Go to one of the ten covered booths lining the entrance to the Forest of Death to get a random scroll, and proceed to your designated gate assigned to you by the proctors in the booth. Once the exam has started, you will have a total of five days to get to a tower in the center of the forest with the both scrolls, because even if you do get to the tower, you will not be allowed to proceed without them."
With one last sadistic smirk, Anko butted in with one final piece of advice, "Now get to it, the exam will start in thirty minutes and remember, just don't die."
Twenty five minutes later, Team Seven was standing in front of gate fourteen, silently contemplating on who should be in charge of holding their Heaven scroll.
"Dobe I will-"
"Take it." Naruto interrupted the Uchiha by shoving their scroll into his hands.
"Let the baby have his bottle huh?" Kyuubi laughed.
'He would just bitch if I didn't.' Naruto simply responded to the giant fox.
After he thought that Anko's voice resonated throughout the clearing from the speakers, "Get ready brats, the second part of the Chuunin Selection Exam begins now!"
Team Seven ran through the rusted metallic gate in front of after it creaked open.
A few hours later we find Team Seven traveling deeper into the woods when they heard multiple branches snapping at roughly the same time. A shot of wind blasted into Naruto's side as he turned around before a large wind tunnel carried him away.
"Naruto!" both Sakura and Sasuke yelled as they paused on the ground to face the direction of their attacker. Emerging from the dark wood was a creepy, female ninja from The Village Hidden in the Grass...or so she appeared to be.
"So," began the effeminate Grass-nin,"I hear that you need a Earth scroll, am I right?" she pulled out the scroll from a hidden pouch. "Since you three do have a Heaven scroll in your possession..."
Sakura and Sasuke looked on in disbelief and disgust when the ninja's mouth snapped open and an elongated tongue wrapped around the scroll. The ninja proceeded to swallow the parchment whole.
After consuming the scroll, the ninja calmly said while looking down, "Now, lets begin the fight for the scrolls. In the end, only one of us will have both scrolls." The ninja looked up to expose her snake-like eyes. "And the other will die!" her killing intent made Sasuke and Sakura's death flash before their eyes. The focused killer intent caused both Leaf-nin to vomit their stomach contents and shake in fear. They could only watch helplessly by the image of death before their eyes.
'What the hell is this person?' thought the raven-haired Uchiha. He knew for a fact that they had to get away or they were going to succumb to their demise.
'I...can't...move we have to run!' Sakura screamed in her mind. Unfortunately, her body and mind were in conflict with one another.
"How the hell was I blind sighted?" Naruto yelled at himself as he gathered his bearings and stood up.
"Idiot, you need to pay more attention from now on!" Kyuubi snarled in disgust to his host, "This would have never happened a few months ago, you're getting soft!"
'Up yours fuzzy!' Naruto retorted. He would have yelled at Kyuubi some more when a giant shadow loomed over him. Naruto turned to take in the view of a sixty-foot-long python.
"That is one big snake." he stated before the giant snake lunged at him.
Naruto jumped out of the way just before the snakes head collided with the ground. He started going through some hand seals, but the snake quickly recovered and snapped at him again. After another failed attempt to engulf his pray the snake reared his head back and shot some liquid from his mouth. he jumped aside in time, and thank his training he did because the branch he was on melted. "Poison." the teen muttered, "I can't play around any longer. Alright you over grown wallet take this!" he held up his right index and middle finger, "Wind Sword!" he whispered as the invisible blade of wind was released from his fingers and cleaved the snake in half.
He had no time to celebrate though and sped off towards his team.
Sasuke jumped as high as he could in the hopes of out running this strange Grass-nin, but to no avail, for standing a few meters in from of him, was said Grass-nin. Sasuke put Sakura down, who had by now recovered from the killing intent. She looked at Sasuke with fear in her eyes. And for the first time in a long time, Sasuke was genially afraid. The Uchiha dug into his pocket and grabed his scroll, "Please take it, just leave us alone." he said, then tossed the scroll in the Grass-nins direction.
The Grass-nin caught it, smirked, and then burned it with a single hand.
"Sasuke, what the fuck did you think you were doing? What makes you think that he would spare you if you gave him the scroll? It's obvious he was not interested in it, right, Orochimaru?" Naruto sneered just when the man called Orochimaru started burning his scroll.
Orochimaru had a look of slight surprise on his face, then it turned to amusement, "My, my, Naruto-kun, what an impressive speech. But tell me, how did you know?" he said with curiosity.
"You are the only person other that woman named Anko who uses snakes. Isn't that right Orochimaru!" he snarled before he tackled the Snake Sannin far away from his team.
Orochimaru kicked Naruto away but the damage was already done. Naruto quickly got into a defensive taijutsu stance. Orochimaru, however, leapt and used his fist to strike at Naruto. The blond blocked the fist, Orochimaru then used his unnatural flexibility and kicked Naruto in the back of the head, sending his ten feet away from him.
"I won't go down that easy." Naruto stated as he unsheathed the Mugenjin.
"Then it looks like I'll have to take it up a notch." Orochimaru hissed before he opened his mouth and a snake came out. The snake then spat out the hilt of a sword that Orochimaru caught with the snake receding back in his mouth.
Naruto looked at the sword in disgused that it come outside the man. Ignoring the slime covering the nearly three feet of blade, he noticed it was a double-edged jian. Narrowing his eyes at the man holding the blade, he tensed his muscles ready to attack.
Orochimaru simply chuckled at his disgusted look before he charged at Naruto with his blade poised to kill. But to his surprise Naruto followed his lead, and jumped towards him making the mans eyes widen. The teen swung his right arm and his blade connected with Orochimaru's. His yellow slitted eyes widened when Naruto unsheathed his wakizashi and stabbed it at Orochimaru's face. The Snake Sannin quickly jumped away to avoid being hit.
Orochimaru felt a slight pain on his left cheek, and gasped when he felt a wet liquid trickling down his face. He then looked up and saw Naruto twirl his blade to fling the blood off the blade.
"A duel sword welder, you don't see that too often." the extremely pale man mused, "I am so taking you back to Sound."
"No thanks I'm not going to be one of your butt buddies." Naruto retorted, "But I will kill you, and take the Kusanagi (Grass Cutter) back to its true owner!"
"Don't you know that I'm immortal and can not and will never die." Orochimaru sneered.
"We'll see about that!" with that said Naruto then charged at the Snake Sannin.
They clashed swords but Orochimaru pushed Naruto off of him while he ran up a tree. When He saw Naruto following him he launched a few kunai at him that the blond dodged. The Snake Sannin suddenly turned around and shouted, "Striking Shadow Snakes!" he thrust his left hand and six snakes flew out at Naruto. Naruto batted four aside and cut ones head off, but one bit into his shoulder and the other nicked his thigh.
Orochimaru then raised his sword and clashed with Naruto again. He brought his swords into an x shape to block the strike, but he buckled under the strike suddenly feeling very weak. Naruto weakly kicked at the Snake Sannin, but Orochimaru mearly knocked it aside. He then kicked the blond in the stomach causing him to nearly drop his swords, this allowed his to bring his Kusanagi sword to slash open his stomach. Naruto barely pulled away in time resulting his sash to get cut in half making his yukata to flow wide open showing his seal. Orochimaru smirked now knowing what he was dealing with, he pulled his arm back and held one hand open. The hand that was covered with what looked like flaming purple Kanji's
"Five Pronged Seal!" Orochimaru yelled slamming his hand on Naruto's seal making the teen cough up blood. That hit knocked the wind out of him and seemingly weakened him even more when Kyuubi's chakra left him. Orochimaru watched with a sadistic smile of delight as Naruto staggered backwards and rested his back on a tree. Without a word Orochimaru lifted his Kusanagi sword and stabbed Naruto through his chest.
"The poison should kill him soon, such a pity he would have made a great vessel." Orochimaru sighed in displeasure, "But it is of no consequence, soon I'll have the ultimate host." and with that deed done the Snake Sannin went to get Sasuke.
Two days later we find Naruto still sitting at the tree, and there were various white birds surrounding him. And we find the three Grass-nin standing over his body.
"Is he dead?" the grey-eyed Grass-nin asked.
"No take a look at those birds." the emerald eyed Grass-nin said.
"What about them? They're probably are picking at his corpse!" the grey-eyed shinobi laughed.
"Idoit it's crows that flock to corpses, don't you know what those birds are?" seeing the blank look on his face he continued, "Those are angel swallows the purest of white birds in the world. They are only attracted to those who have the purest of souls, see how they avoid us." he indicated seeing the birds moved away from them.
"I'm actually surprised considering the things he's done." the wolf-eyed Grass-nin remarked.
"And you would do good to keep them to yourselves." Naruto's raspy voice said to them.
"So you're still alive?" the emerald-eyed Grass-nin remarked.
"I won't be for long, that snake bastard used the Kusanagi on me."
"The Kusanagi? How the hell are you still alive?" the grey-eyed shinobi gasped out in surprise.
"I have no idea, now do you have an antidote or not?" the blond growled out.
"You're very lucky that The Village Hidden in the Grass is famous for curing almost any poison." the wolf-eyed Grass-nin stated as he pulled a clear vile from his pocket. "Drink up." he tossed the vile to the blond which he quickly gulped down.
"The stuff still tastes like horse piss." Naruto commented after he drank it.
"Yea well at least you're going to live." the emerald-eyed Grass-nin said as he helped Naruto to his feet. "What scroll do you have?" he asked.
"I used to have a Heaven scroll, but that snake pedophile burned it." the blond sighed and sheathed his swords.
"We have an extra so here take it." the gray-eyed Grass-nin said as he tossed him the scroll.
"Who did you get it from?" Naruto asked, curious about the poor bastards they no doubt slaughtered to get it.
"From some Sound shinobi team dressed in gay purple outfits. We fought them, and killed two of them, but the the one with silver hair and glasses got away." the wolf-eyed Grass-nin answered.
"Is that so? Well thanks I owe you guys one, I'll see you in the finals." Naruto said to the three as he walked away from them, using a medical jutsu to heal himself, only for it to not work at all.
It took him an hour, and learning that his chakra control was out of whack he finally found his team. And he was a little weirded out when he got there, because he saw Team Ten and Team Gai standing by his team, and the three Sound Genin surrendering their Earth scroll.
"You're strong, we can not defeat you..." the mummy-like Sound Genin said in defeat, their teams scroll now in his hand as he had taken it back from Zaku. "How about you just let us go...for now" he continued putting down the scroll slowly. "I must check on some things first, but I promise you, should we face each other once more, I promise we will neither run nor hide."
"Wait! What has Orochimaru done to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura demanded, "And why Sasuke-kun!"
"I do not know, we were just ordered to kill him." the Genin replied, he then left with both his teammates on his back.
"What the hell happened here?" Naruto asked as he approached the three teams.
They saw him and were horrified seeing his beat up and bloody appearance, the one Genin they thought was invincible was apparently beaten. However this gave Neji confidence the the Uzumaki could be killed.
"Naruto what happened to you?" Ino asked when she started healing his wounds a short time later.
"Simple I was beaten." the wounded teen grunted as he felt the wounds healing up.
"You beaten? That's impossible you're Naruto freaking Uzumaki! How did this happen!" Chouji exclaimed in major outrage.
"Chouji remember this, no matter how strong you are there will always be someone stronger than you." Naruto replied, "Thanks Ino I feel better now. Now I think us nine should travel together."
"You idiot that psycho bastard burned our scroll, how are we supposed to-" Sakura was interrupted when Naruto shoved a Heaven scroll into her face. "How?"
"I fought another team an hour before I found you guys." Naruto easily lied to them, "Now let's go."
A few hours later we find the three teams enterering through the tower doors and came face-to-face with an inscription on the far wall.
"It looks like an inscription." Sakura stated, "But I have no idea what it means."
"But it looks like some words are missing." Chouji mused.
"Guys, I think we have to open the scrolls." Shikamaru said looking at his scrolls.
Quickly agreeing everyone opened their scrolls. The scrolls had a single kanji for Person in the center on it, then the scroll started to spew smoke out of them.
"Drop them!" Neji exclaimed, who recognized the ornate symbols around the kanji. "It's a summoning jutsu! Throw them!"
Like lightening, the Genin holding the scrolls threw them away, and as the scrolls landed next to each other, there was an explosion of smoke. As three figures in the smoke appeared, the Genin went on the defensive, wondering what this new devilry could be. The smoke cleared, to reveal Iruka, Gouzu, and Meizu.
"Yo long time no see!" Iruka said, grinning broadly.
"You guys look like you've been through hell." Gouzu and Meizu said simultaneously.
"What the hell are you doing here!" Sakura demanded.
Iruka chuckled and replied, "At the end of the Second Exam, it's set up so that we Chuunin can meet of with the exam takers. It's just sheer luck that I was assigned to meet you guys."
"And unlucky for you you got us, but congratulations on passing all the same." Gouzu and Meizu said again.
"What was the point of the scrolls, then?" Sakura asked. "If we had opened them then what would have happened?"
"We would have killed you." Gouzu said sadistically.
"No we wouldn't we would have just knocked you out." Iruka retorted, "The way this test was set up was to test your abilities to follow the rules. So anyone that opened the scrolls before reaching the tower were knocked unconscious and forced to exit the exam."
"I was just having a little fun killjoy." Gouzu muttered.
"Can we go now? Some of us need some time to recover." Naruto asked feeling the pain in his wounds.
"Of course the rooms are on the second floor. We will continue the exams in two days, so take it easy." Meizu said before heading toward the kitchen for a drink, Gouzu followed him a second later.
"I'll show you to your designated rooms. Follow me." Iruka told the Genin.
Armageddon: Kashimoto is DEAD! If he killed Hinata off I will have nothing to do with Naruto ever again. Now on a serious note Reaper INI suggested that I change the story's title, and he gave me two unique titles. So I'm holding a poll to see which ones you might like.
They are, Naruto: The Holder of Ten, The Legacy of the Ten Kings, or should I keep it the same.
