(And welcome to chapter 10.)
Naruto was in his room kneeling before his Shredder armor, until he looked up at it, "Now it's time to truly put my Foot Clan skills to the test, and the Chunin Exams are just the test to do it," He smiled, "But if I intend on using this in the exams, I'm going to need to give it a good work on."
So that night, Naruto was up polishing the armor, sharpening the blades of it, as well as the sword of Tengu. And he also was installing some stuff into the arms of the armor as well as other sections of it.
"Just you wait Master Saki," Naruto looked up at the statue of Oroku Saki in his room, "By the time the Chunin Exams are over, everyone will remember the Shredder." He put his working equipment away and decided to get some much needed rest.
A few days later, Naruto woke up, showered and changed into his robe's pants followed by the jacket his mother made for him. He looked at his reflection, "Hmm, not too shabby," He said and turned to his Shredder armor, "Time for the final touch."
He came downstairs in his armor while holding onto his helmet, along with the Tengu sword hilted to his back. In the kitchen, his mother was sitting at the table putting out ramen, "Good morning Naruto."
"Morning." Naruto yawned as he sat himself down at the table.
"I hope you're hungry you need to energy today of all days."
"I sure do." Naruto said as he chowed down.
"Scared at all?"
"Not too much."
"Just remember the people in charge of the exams will throw numerous obstacles and challenges at you. You'll have to face it head on if you want to survive." Kushina warned Naruto.
"I understand," Naruto nodded as he finished his ramen. "Well I'm done, I better get going."
"Naruto," Kushina said as she stood up and hugged him avoiding any of the blades on his armor, "Be careful out there and make your family more proud than ever."
"Don't you worry mom," Naruto put the helmet on, "Nothing will get past the Shredder." He said and he took off.
"There goes my brave boy." Kushina shedded a tear.
Soon Naruto reached the academy building where Ino and Sasuke were. "Bout time you showed up." Sasuke said.
"Like I'd miss this." Shredder Naruto replied.
"Well we're all here. Let's go inside." Ino said as they went in.
They walked around the academy until they reached a floor that had an interesting sight. There were several groups of Genin standing outside of a door. The said door was being blocked by two shinobi, who were refusing to let anyone else in. Two of the people that caught Naruto's eyes the most, were Lee and Tenten. Lee was on the floor, rubbing a bruise on the side of his face, while Tenten was by his side, checking to see if he was all right.
"What's going on?" Ino asked.
"Trouble, that's what." Naruto scowled.
"You weaklings really want to take the Chunin Exams? You've got to be kidding me." one of the shinobi said in front of the door.
"Please, let us through. We have to take the exam!" Tenten yelled.
One of the men blocking the door reached out and tried to punch her across the face hard,
but at that time a sonic wave caught the ninja and his partner and the two were sent hurdling across the hall. This came from Shredder Naruto holding the Tengu sword.
"I'd think very carefully before my actions if I were you." Shredder Naruto ordered.
"Hey it's Naruto." Tenten said.
"Good to see you again old friend." Lee smiled.
"Likewise." Shredder Naruto nodded.
Sasuke approached, "You two drop the Genjutsu already." Sasuke ordered the two guards and the sign on the door revealed to be really 201 and not 301.
"Come on we got another floor to go." Shredder Naruto said as he and his team headed off.
Squad Seven made it to an open training area until they heard a voice call, "You down there."
They looked up seeing Lee on the catwalk; he jumped down and landed perfectly at their level. "I am Rock Lee, and you are Sasuke Uchiha correct?"
"That's me." Sasuke nodded.
"I wish to have a spar with you." Lee challenges.
"A challenge, but there's no time for this." Ino said fearing they'll be late for the start of the exams.
"Don't worry this won't take long." Sasuke assured her.
"Sasuke watch out. Lee's stronger than you think." Naruto warned him.
"Thanks for advice, but I know what I'm doing." Sasuke said as he and Lee started their spar.
"You may have been born from a clan with talent, but I will show you that hard work and determination beats all of that." Lee declared as the two fought.
Naruto and Ino watched the two fight seeing Sasuke was holding his own only for Lee to knock him up into the air and was about to try another jutsu only to be interrupted by a call, "Lee!" the two landed on the ground as Guy approached, "What have I told you about that move?"
"My apologies, Guy-sensei."
Guy turned to Squad Seven, "So the famous squad of Kakashi. We meet at last."
"That's right," Ino answered, "Do you know him?"
"Know him?" Guy laughed, "That's an understatement. The truth of the matter is he and I are eternal rivals." He gloated.
"It's good to see you again sensei." Shredder Naruto addressed the man.
"Indeed it is Naruto. I see you're performance as the Shredder has not been extinguished."
"Thanks I guess."
"Guy-sensei always has a way with words, thanks to the flames of youth!" Lee ranted.
Guy turned to his student with tears and Lee started forming tears as well. Naruto's eyes widened beneath his helmet before he dashed over tackling Guy to a walk looking at him dead in the eye, "Guy-sensei, if you seriously want to become a trainer in the Foot Clan, I forbid you to talk about anything involving flames of youth, or hugging the students! Am I clear?" he ordered while raising his gauntlet blade.
"Crystal." Guy winced.
Shredder Naruto backed off and replied calmly, "Good."
Soon Guy left and Lee left as Naruto looked to Sasuke, "See what happens when you ignore me telling you to be careful?"
"Oh shut up next time it'll be different." Sasuke answered.
"If you say so."
"Besides fighting him got me pumped. I can't wait to see who else is going to be taking the exams."
"At least you're taking it well." Ino sighed in relief that he wasn't going to snap.
"Come on let's get going." Naruto said as they walked on.
The three saw a pair of doors at the end of a hall and knew that had to be the place to meet with the other Chunin exams participants. Before Ino and Sasuke could reach for the door Shredder Naruto holds his arms out, "I think I better knock." He said.
Instead of opening them like a person he raised his right leg and kicked both doors wide open. When he and his team walked in they surveyed the scene noticing the room was loaded with dozens of ninja all there for the exams as well. Some of the other ninja were giving off scary vibes.
"What're all of you looking at?" Naruto shouted but no one seemed to be affected.
"Looks like we got us some competition." Sasuke noticed.
"No kidding." Ino gasped never seeing so many shinobi gathered in one place.
"Sasuke-kun!" a female voice shouted. Rushing right at the Uchiha was Sakura Haruno, the pink haired fan girl form the academy, "It's good to see you again."
"Sakura give it a rest." Ino sighed.
"Oh you two are here to?" Sakura asked in no concern for Naruto and Ino.
"Of course we are. Why wouldn't we be?" Naruto asked.
"So you're here to, man things got more troublesome." Shikamaru said approaching with Chouji.
"Oh now you're going to make me cry Shikamaru." Shredder Naruto said in sarcasm.
"Always with the jokes, Naruto." Shikamaru sighed.
"Hey guys, looks like we all made it." Kiba said approaching with his own team.
"It's been awhile." Shino said plainly.
"Sure has," Ino said, "How're you all doing?"
"Great Ino." Hinata answered.
"Good to hear." Shredder Naruto said.
"You're still wearing this armor Naruto?" Chouji asked looking at it.
"Yup. I'd like to see any of the shinobi here try to take me on."
"Just don't draw attention over here, sheesh." Shikamaru said wanting to be overlooked.
"Hey you guys." A voice called.
All nine kids turned around and saw a Konoha Genin walk towards them. He was wearing a pair of glasses, with a grey shirt underneath a purple no sleeved shirt, and purple pants. He also wore grey fingerless gloves and shinobi sandals. He ran a hand through his silver hair as he smiled at them.
"I assume you're the nine rookies?" Genin asked.
"Maybe… What's it to you?" Shredder Naruto asked.
"Just wanted to give you some advice don't draw attention to yourselves. Take it from someone who has taken this test a few times.
"Is that so? And you are?" Sakura asked.
"I'm Kabuto Yakushi." He introduced himself.
"Kabuto… You said you've taken this test a few times? Like, how many times?" Naruto asked.
"This will be my seventh."
"Seventh? Guess the exams are harder than they say." Chouji said.
"They are. Hey how about I give you a hand and let you in on some information using my ninja info cards?" he held out a deck of blank cards.
"What're those?" Shino asked.
"By harnessing my chakra into them I can reveal certain information that I've collected these last few years."
"Such ask?" Kiba asked.
"Well, this for example," he channeled chakra to a card showing them a map of the land, "Among the competition we got this year, ninja's have showed up from Konoha, Suna, Kusa, Ame, Taki, and Oto."
"Do you have info on the applicants?" Naruto asked.
"Of course."
"Then I want to know something about a Sabaku no Gaara."
"Hmm, very well," Kabuto said taking a card from the deck and revealed the info it contained, "Gaara has completed 8 C-Ranked missions and 1 B-Rank. Though there's not much information on this guy. However… He survived every mission without getting a single scratch on him."
The Genin gasped as Chouji dropped his bag of chips, "How very interesting." Naruto admitted.
"Do you really think this years going to be tough?" Sakura asked nervously.
"Oh yeah. And to tell you the truth, I've never seen a more perfect batch of candidates." Kabuto replied.
Everyone took another glance to all the candidates seeing their expressions hadn't changed. Naruto looked at them all with his eyes tightened until he started snickering until he laughed proudly which got the attention of everyone.
"Listen all of you!" Shredder Naruto addressed everyone, "To make it here you must fight well… in your own styles. But here you're all nothing but trouble. So be warned for some of you may face… The Shredder!"
Sasuke and Kabuto smirked at Naruto's speech, while Ino smiled knowing he wouldn't be so easily intimidated, while Sakura looked ready to clobber him for making a threat. All the other rookies just watched and sighed.
Suddenly, a large cloud of smoke erupted in the front of the room. As it cleared, a large man appeared in front of a group of Chunin. He was wearing a large black trench coat, a pair of black gloves and black boots. He wore a grey button up shirt, grey slacks, and a headband combined with a bandana tied on his head. His most standout feature, were the large scars on his face.
"Listen up! My name is Ibiki Morino, and I will be your first proctor. We'll now begin the first examination!"
A few minutes later every candidate was in a seat doing a written test. Naruto was writing while thinking, 'This first part of the exams really is challenging. Trying to force us to cheat without getting caught or get disqualified.' He glanced at the sentinels stationed off to the side who were to keep watch over them. Among them was Zabuza who was watching the takers like a hawk. Naruto would glance underneath his arm seeing some ninja facts and formulas he scribbled on it just in case.
Test takers were dropping like bugs and were forced to leave taking their entire squad members with them. After an hour were passed the class was required to answer a tenth question but found out if they failed it then they'd be stuck as Genin for life, and if they refused to take it then they'd still have to leave and wait another year. Because of this multiple teams were leaving while Naruto looked worried and was slowly beginning to raise his hand making him team shocked.
Zabuza who noticed his hand was slowly going up thought, 'Well Naruto I actually thought there was more to you, I guess I was wrong." he went for his name.
Before he could mark Naruto's name the genin himself slammed his palm down on the table, "Not a chance!" he shouted, "If I quit something like this then there's I'd be ashamed to call myself the new Shredder. Even if I'm stuck being a Genin forever, I'll still prove to be the best there is. So bring it on!" he declared.
'He's really got guts.' Sasuke thought.
'Naruto-kun, I knew you could do it.' Ino thought happily.
Zabuza smirked and thought, 'You've surprised me yet again Naruto. You really are the true Shredder.'
'No one else is leaving…' Ibiki thought before speaking, "Well then congratulations to all of you. You passed the first part of the Chunin Exams!"
"We passed?" Temari asked in confusion.
"Correct." Ibiki answered but was cut off as the glass of the window shattered to pieces as a woman jumped through. A banner launched from behind her, which had her name and shinobi rank painted on it.
"Listen up!" the woman announced. "It's time for the second test of the Chunin Exams! I am the chief proctor, Anko Mitarashi!"
Ibiki sighed, "Anko you're early again." Anko looked awkward after pulling such a stunt.
She looked about the room at the remaining Genin, and scowled came to her face,
"You passed twenty six teams this year? Ibiki you're losing your touch!"
"Don't think so little of them, Anko. After all they just might surprise you as they did me." he replied.
"We'll see about that." She smirked.
"I'll explain the details of the exam at the next testing area. You all return and rest up. You'll be briefed where you're to meet for the second half! See you then!" Anko vanished.
So the groups left the building, with Naruto walking along side Ino, "Well Ino, we made if through the first part."
"We sure did, Naruto-kun." Ino smiled as she linked her arm with his.
"But I can tell it's only going to be getting tougher from here on out," Naruto warned her, "So come tomorrow let's all be prepared for anything."
Ino smiled and nodded, "Hey Naruto!" a voice called and they saw Zabuza approaching, "Nice job on that first bit. I have to say if you can make it through the first half of the Chunin Exams like that. I'm more curious to see how else you do."
"Thanks Zabuza. I can't wait till I tell mom. She's going to be so pleased." Naruto said as they continued on.
(And this concludes this chapter.)