Disclaimer: *Sighs* I've given up on my plans to torture MasashiKishimoto until he signed Naruto over to me, he just has too much money from owning Naruto to let me get close to him... Damn Aristocrats.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Radio"

"Bijuu Speaking"

"Bijuu Thinking"

"Handsigns/Jutsus"

AN: I am looking for Omake writers! I have tried a couple of times but I suck at doing short and sweet funny stuff, so if anyone wants to take a shot at it drop me a line and show me your moves!

"If you give her a minute, she'll plan your death, give her an hour, she'll plan the death of your army, you give her half a year? She'll kill your entire goddamn country." - Ryu Hisanaga on Naru Uzumaki

Chapter Seven: The Chunin Exams

Konohagakure, Hisanaga Compound, night before the Chunin Exams

Naru sighed as she lay on her back on the roof of the main building staring up at the sky with searching eyes as she reflected on her training. She knew objectively she was ready for the Chunin Exams, she knew she was ready to be a chunin, but... she felt uneasy. She felt a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach, a feeling that she had been feeling ever since a week ago when she had run into a team from Suna...

Flashback

"Let me go!" Naru blinked in surprise as she heard the familiar voice of Konohamaru shout from around a corner leading to an alleyway she was approaching.

Taking a look around the corner her eyes narrowed at the sight of Konohamaru being help up by his scarf by a tall teen wearing a black body suit with a black cap , a large package on his back and purple paint on his face, a hai-ate with a gourd-like symbol on it told her that he was a Suna genin. Before him Moegi and Udon, two of Konohamaru's friends at the Academy, who were looking on in fear while next to the teen was a girl that looked slightly older than the man with dark blind hair pulled into a quartet of ponytails wearing a light purple battle kimono with fishnet armor underneath and a large battle fan was strapped to her back 'A puppet user and a wind specialist,' Naru thought grimly 'Dammit, if it comes down to a fight... but... I do have the home field advantage...'

"C'mon Kankuro, put the kid down and let's go." The girl said in irritation as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

"I'll just be a second Temari," Kankuro assured cockily "Just going to teach this brat some manners."

Naru growled as she stepped around the corner "You better put him down Suna-nin," She called out getting the pair's attention "After all, I doubt you'd want to piss off the ANBU who are assigned to protect the Hokage's grandson. Even if he wasn't the Hokage's grandson, you are still attacking a citizen of Konoha, a good reason to go to war, don't you think?"

Temari paled slightly as she looked to Kankuro, who was merely growling at the kunoichi. "Kankuro..." She hissed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "If we blow this..."

Kankuro snorted "She's bluffing," He said "No way a little brat like this matt-"

"Are you certain on that?" Naru asked as she suddenly blurred right behind him with a tanto resting against his jugular vein her other hand armed with a sealing tag shot out towards Temari before she could react and placed the seal onto her arm, Temari suddenly collapsed as she felt a heavy weight settle upon her making her unable to move "Because I am quite willing and able to kill to protect him. Now, gently set him onto the ground and let him go."

Kankuro couldn't help but shudder as he heard the edge in her voice and gently let Konohamaru go "N-Naru-nee!" He shouted thankfully.

"Run along Kono," She ordered with a slight smile "I'll be right behind you."

Konohamaru nodded as he and his friends darted out from the alleyway, once Naru was certain they were clear she removed the tanto and shunpo'd away back to her original starting point "The seal will wear off in ten minutes," She informed over her shoulder before looking up into the trees "Next time reel in your teammates."

Kankuro and Temari's faces went from pale to sheet white as with a whirl of sand a young male with red hair and pupiless teal eyes and the kanji for 'love' tattooed in red on his forehead, he was wearing a brown outfit with his hai-ate worn as a sash across his chest and a massive gourd on his chest "G-Garra..." Kankuro stuttered out fearfully.

"Quiet before I kill you Kankuro," He growled tonelessly, yet extremely deadly at the same time making Naru certain he would follow through with it and subtly prepared to fight "I am sorry for the actions of my teammates, I am Garra no Subaku, who are you?"

"Naru Uzumaki," She announced as she began to slowly gather chakra into her limbs.

"Naru-chan, that's the container of the Shukaku," Kurama warned inside of her. "Be very careful, he grants his container mastery over sand, it'll move to his very thought."

'I see...' Naru mused mentally before turning carefully and walking away. "I'll see you at the Chunin Exam... Ichibi." She said over her shoulder causing the two other Suna genin to freeze up as Garra started to grin maniacally.

End Flashback

Naru shuddered as she remembered the Killing Intent flooding off of the jinchuriki, all of it being directed at her. "Naru-chan?" Makoto's voice drifted up to her causing her to looked over the edge of the roof to see Makoto looking up at her with a concerned look. "Can I come up?"

"Sure Makoto-chan," Naru agreed with a slight smile as she laid back and Makoto hopped up to the roof and laid down next to her. "What's up?"

Makoto sighed "How do you do it Naru-chan?" She asked quietly. "How is it you can remain calm in the face of everything that's happening?"

Naru let out a low, shaky chuckle. "I only look calm, Makoto-chan," She informed, getting a surprised look from the snowy haired kunoichi. "I'm shit-ass scared, to be completely honest."

Makoto couldn't help herself as she giggled a bit. "Well I suppose since you are going up against a Jinchuriki with a little mental instability it is understandable," She said trying to keep the topic light before sighing miserably. "I hope we're ready for this, I mean the missions were one thing... but war?"

"I know Makoto-chan, I know," Naru agreed staring out at the stars and reached up with her hand "Sometimes, I wish that I could just... go up there, see the world from up there, I bet everything, the wars, the missions, all of the problems that tear our world up, I bet it all looks insignificant up there..."

Makoto smiled slightly as she looked up to the sky as well "Yeah, you probably right," She agreed "I bet if anyone could make it up there it'll be you Naru-chan." She looked over to Naru who had a strange look on her face "What's wrong?"

"The Ichibi Jinchuuriki," Naru whispered barely audible to even Makoto's shinobi hearing "He is what I could have become, if jiji wasn't there, if I hadn't met you, Eko-kun or Ryu-sensei... I think I would have become that... that monster..."

"You never could have Naru-chan," Makoto assured her voice brimming with so much confidence that Naru couldn't help but stare at her "You have a heart filled with so much kindness that you never could have become a monster. You care too much about Konoha Naru, even with everything the villagers have done to you, you still want to protect them as their Hokage do you not?"

Naru smiled as she turned back to the stars remembering when she had made that declaration to Sarutobi almost five years ago "I remember," She said fondly "Jiji couldn't help but laugh for an hour until I finally kicked him in the shins."

The pair laughed at the image of the Hokage jumping around holding his shin in pain "Besides, it never happened Naru-chan," Makoto said empathetically "You are where you were meant to be. Where you want to be."

Naru smiled at Makoto her heart much calmer than before "Y'know Makoto-chan, if being a kunoichi doesn't work out for you, you'd make a hell of a motivational speaker." She teased making Makoto laugh.

Inside, with Eko

Eko sighed as he lay sprawled out on the couch staring at the scroll Bear had left for him before he left, stating it had advanced grappling techniques from the Tetsu no te(Iron Hand) taijutsu style that he was working on memorizing the movements for. He had discovered, much to Bear's sadistic glee, that he had an innate understanding of grappling techniques, allowing him to actually mimic moves if he has read a detailed description of the technique. Bear drove him hard to perfect the moves, but he had been able to advance in leaps and bounds simply by getting his base set so quickly.

"Eko-kun?" Eko looked up to see Haku standing in the doorway with a slightly apprehensive look on her face "Have you seen Ryu-kun around?"

"Uhh, I think he and Jiraiya were summoned by Hokage-sama," He replied recalling the two of them taking off after a carrier hawk stopped by "I'm not sure when he'll be back." Haku sighed as she rubbed her forehead slightly, Eko had noticed that she seemed to get stressed out easily whenever Ryu wasn't around and attributed it to a fear of abandonment. "What's up?" He asked as she saw her morose expression.

"Well... I know it's stupid... but I'm scared of Ryu disappearing." She admitted after a few seconds sitting on a chair across from him "It's just after my Kaa-san and Zabuza-sama..."

"You're scared sensei will disappear on you too right?" Eko asked hitting the nail on the head and getting a slight nod from the ice user "Well I know for a fact that Ryu-sensei is the toughest son of a bitch to kill in the world, we tried before, and he didn't even bat an eyelash at our attempts! Hell there was the one time during our final test for becoming the GFRT-5 Naru creating a flaming tornado around him! and he walked out without even the slightest of burns!"

Haku giggled as Eko started to regale her with some of the tales of them trying to kill/maim/get revenge on their sensei feeling her fear start to ebb as she realized that he was certainly able to take care of himself.

Hospital, Private Ward

Ryu and Jiraiya walked down the hallways through the private ward of the Hospital, a place where you could only get in with the permission of the Hokage and had to have several rigorous psychological screenings before any nurse or doctor was allowed to work there. "Why is Hokage-sama calling us here?" Ryu muttered sparing only passing glances to the injured ANBU in the various rooms "Not much we can do for the injured that the docs can't already do."

"You'll see in a minute," Jiraiya informed gravely as they came up to a set of double doors that had a visible pair of ANBU guarding it "Jiraiya and Ryu to see the Hokage and his 'guest'."

The ANBU nodded as Ryu couldn't help but frown as he followed the toad sannin into an even more secure section of the private ward, he could feel the seals coursing around them, powerful and ancient ones at that. Ryu couldn't help the tight swallow as he recognized a pair of Hisanaga Seals in the mix, they were Kinjutsu Seals, and for damned good reason, they had a tendency to cause death, on a large scale when needed "Jiraiya-dono, what is this place?" Ryu asked coldly, not from anger, but from a deep seated fear, fear of the seals in this place.

"A ward that caters to a mixture of Extremely Important People and S-Ranked captured ninja," Jiraiya answered understanding Ryu's concern "We are here about someone who could turn out to be an EIP or an enemy, it just depends on what Orochimaru did to them."

Ryu rose an eyebrow as he followed Jiraiya do a door that had no less than eight open ANBU guarding it, with easily another dozen in the shadows. After a brief scan the two were allowed in and when Ryu saw who was lying on the bed he froze, it wasn't hard to recognize her as her daughter was essentially a carbon copy clone with only more angular features, blue eyes and spiky hair reminiscent of her father setting them apart.

Kushina Uzumaki was lying on a bed in front of him, her entire body covered by seals.

"Thank you two for coming," Sarutobi said making Ryu break out of his stare to see the venerable Kage standing at the foot of the bed with Danzo at his side "I'm sure you know who this is Ryu-kun."

"Considering who my student is?" Ryu asked his tone a little off from his shock "But how? My father's journal pointed towards her being a Jinchuuriki, and they can't survive the extraction of the Bijuu!"

Sarutobi nodded not all that surprised at Ryu's knowledge, his father Raiga had quite the laundry list of intelligence from all aspects of Konoha, from the dirty little shinobi secrets to the mundane civilian ones. 'You could never know when blackmail would come in handy' was a saying he used quite often.

"We are not certain of that ourselves to be honest," Sarutobi admitted as he looked down on Kushina with a regretful face "We have only recently found her, in the clutches of Orochimaru who used a body double to trick us into believing she was dead."

"Which is why you want me and Jiraiya to look over these seals," Ryu concluded "To ensure that there are no trigger seals or slave seals."

Sarutobi nodded in confirmation "We managed to recover her about three weeks ago and have kept her under strict observation, only the ANBU guarding her know she is here, they were also the ones involved in her extraction."

"When do you plan on telling Naru?" Ryu asked "As I doubt you'd be able to keep Kushina from her if it is truly her mind in control and not Orochimaru."

Sarutobi nodded his understanding a slight smile on his face while Danzo merely snorted. "I was planning on informing her as soon as the chuunin exams were finished," He explained. "I think she has enough concerns on her plate without having to worry if this is truly her mother or not."

Ryu nodded as he looked back to Kushina and began studying the seals imprinted on her body "The biggest seal is a stasis seal," He said his fingers ghosting over the lines "Chakra drainers... suppression... hmm...it appears that she still contains some of the Kyuubi's chakra, large by normal standards, but I imagine for the Kyuubi it would only be a trace amount... that could account to her still being alive."

"So she doesn't have any mind seals?" Jiraiya asked sounding surprised leaving it to the jonin to inspect the seals.

"Hard to tell when she's in stasis like this," Ryu answered "You can only detect them when the mind is active."

"So she would need to be awake in order to find out," Sarutobi surmised getting a nod from Ryu "Are you able to remove the seals?"

"Easily," Ryu assured "If I impart a part of the Kami Hogo then not only will it remove the seals... but it should be a good safeguard until we can confirm that any and all seals in her mind are removed."

Jiraiya couldn't help but watch in awe as the Chimera seal that was contained on Ryu's body shifted and moved on its own separating a large section of itself onto Kushina spreading throughout her body seemingly absorbing the other seals before creating a new pattern over her body "Right, it has removed the known seals... stasis is removed... it's up to time when she wakes up now."

Sarutobi nodded "Thank you for your aid Ryu-kun," He said appreciatively "I'm sorry to ask this of you when the Chuunin exams are starting so soon, but I need you and Jiraiya here to watch over Kushina for when she wakes up. Jiraiya will be able to hold back Kushina in case there are complication with your seal Ryu-kun, and I want you on hand when she does wake up so that you may sweep for mind seals."

"I understand Hokage-sama," Ry assured with a slight bow "May I send a clone to at least inform them that I will be away for awhile and to see them at the start of the exam?"

Sarutobi smiled and nodded his assent before leaving the room with Danzo. Once they were gone Jiraiya let out a sigh as he stared at Kushina's comatose body "What the hell did Orochimaru want with Kushina?" Jiraiya growled "I can't see why he would go through all the trouble of healing her and only putting her into stasis..."

Ryu shrugged as he leant against a wall across from the bed "Y'got me," He admitted as he studied the woman before turning his curious gaze to Jiraiya "I do have one question though, why do you need me, I mean you are a fully fledged Fuuinjutsu Master, I'm just an expert in them."

"Honestly? That's all you think yourself as?" Jiraiya incredulously. "Kid, I trained Minato fucking Namikaze, and I'm saying you're close to being on par with him, he wasn't even able to get a level 2 chimera seal and here you are walking around with a level 3 imprinted on you very body! Not to mention you ability to understand seals, while I grant you that is in part from your Hisanaga heritage and growing up around seals, you're a Master in your own right, kid, stop selling yourself short."

Ryu sighed reluctantly as he looked down at the seals on his arms that started to shift as if mirroring Jiraiya's statement making him sigh "Alright, maybe I am selling myself short here," He admitted raising his arms in defeat "But that doesn't answer my question, why do you need me with this?"

"Two parts really, your detection skills are higher than mine to put it bluntly," Jiraiya answered with a shrug "Even if you don't know what the seal is you can detect it. Secondly is the fact that this is Naru-chan's mother and you're her daughter's sensei, you'll be able to keep her calm by informing Kushina of parts of her daughter's life."

Ryu nodded his understanding as he moved his gaze back to the unconscious Kushina before sighing and forming a shadow clone that left to inform his team and Haku that he'd be gone for the night and settled himself in for the night.

Namakura Compound, dojo

Hibari Namakura smiled as she watched her daughter dressed in loose clothing move through the kata's of the clan's personal taijutsu style showing a remarkable proficiency, while the Namakura were not a 'battle shinobi' like the ones that seemed to be becoming most popular these days they still kept themselves battle ready for when they're in a position where they had to fight in order to survive "You're doing great Lynn-chan," She praised as Lynn finished the kata with a sheen of sweat covering her body "When you've changed, come see me in my office."

Lynn nodded to her mother as she moved to the change rooms as Hibari moved to her office, it was rather standard with a desk with a couple of framed photos on it sitting before a rather impressive bookcase, outsiders to the clan made rumors that the bookshelf contained every secret that the clan had gathered since their founding, the truth was that it was just an average books collection, that collection was stored in a vault in the basement of the compound that they had employed the Hisanaga and the Uzumaki to seal shut.

Hibari sat in the rather comfy chair behind the desk and formed a set of hand seals unlocking the seal on her desk and pulled a small black book out of one of the drawers and placed it before her on the desk and glanced at one of the photos, it showed her as a genin beside a teen girl with dirty blond hair and golden eye with slit irises and another teen girl who had darker crimson hair that hung down to her waist and rather expressive grey eyes, the three were bunched together their arms over each other's shoulders as they posed for their photo 'Kushina-chan, Shinko-chan, you two would be so proud of your children,' She thought 'speaking' to her deceased teammates 'Ryu-kun has become such an amazing Shinobi and Naru-chan is a clone of you Kushi-chan.'

She let out a nostalgic sigh as she her ears picked up the sound of Lynn walking towards her office.

"What's up okaa-chan?" Lynn asked as she entered the office her hair still slightly damp from her brief shower.

Hibari smiled at her daughter as she pushed the black book towards her "I believe it's time you had access to the next level of information gathering skills our clan has gathered over the years," She announced as Lynn's eyes widened "Now most of this information you cannot share with anyone outside of this clan, do you understand Lynn?"

"Hai Okaa-chan," Lynn assured as she picked up the book with an almost reverent look on her face before she grinned and squealed like a fangirl as she clutched the book to her chest as if she were hugging it "FINALLY!"

Hibari couldn't help but laugh as her daughter as she fled from the room to start reading the book "So much like her father," She sighed with another headshake "But I have to wonder, where the hell did she pick up that perverted streak?"

Haruno Household

Raiga Haruno, Sakura's grandfather on her father's side, was a man in his late sixties with gray hair and sharp green eyes that still held a dangerous glint to them. He was well respected within the shinobi community at large for a very simple fact, he lived long enough to retire.

While, at first, he looked to be a shoe-in for the 'venerable grandfather', the reality was that he was in actuality still a very deadly individual much like the Sandaime. When he heard that Sakura, his only grandchild, wanted to join the ranks of the shinobi, he couldn't have been more proud, until not even a year into the academy she shifted her focus from training to stalking.

He blamed his daughter-in-law for that, she had been a hardcore gold digger who tried to get into the Yondaime's wallet only to have her head shoved up her ass by one Kushina Uzumaki. Since that day she had decided to go after non-shinobi rich males and set her sights on his son who ran a rather successful publishing company.

He didn't approve of his son marrying her and voiced his disapproval but in the end accepted the fact that his son was hopelessly in love with the woman and just told his son to manage the funds himself, which he he did rather successfully giving Abi access to only a limited amount of money, much to her displeasure.

You see Sakura didn't join initially to impress Sasuke, she didn't even know of his existence until she started at the Academy, she had wanted to become a Kunoichi because she wanted to be just like her Sofu(Grandfather). However the rather prominent forehead she had inherited from her mother had ocrastized her from her fellow students with them teasing her save for the Yamanaka Heiress who stood up for her, something he was grateful to the young girl for and when Sakura had broken their relationship off for a boy she had gotten an earful about it from him, not that she had listened.

Ever since she had become obsessed with the 'Last Uchiha' the two of them had gone from being near inseparable to extremely distant because of the fact that Sakura chose to stalk the Uchiha rather than train to be a more effective kunoichi, something that pissed Raiga off to no end.

So you could imagine him surprise when his granddaughter approached him asking to train her for the upcoming chunin exams.

"Why?" He asked as Sakura sat across from him in the living room, he didn't bother to hide his surprise. "Because if it's to impress that Uchiha brat than you can forget it."

Sakura flushed slightly in embarrassment remembering the argument they had gotten into when he had refused to train her so that she could impress Sasuke "I... during my mission in Nami I learned something rather... humbling," She admitted. "There was this girl in my class, pretty much ranked average across the board, however, during the mission Kakashi-sensei and Ryu-sensei both put her in charge over Lynn-san and her teammates, all three of whom were already genin when we graduated. Not only that, but she was strong. When I asked how she was so strong when she only ranked average, she said 'Deception is the greatest tool of the shinobi, and when the entire village is against you it is the greatest weapon you have'."

Raiga leaned back slightly as he rose his eyebrow "You speak of Naru Uzumaki," He stated, getting a surprised look from Sakura "She has had an unfair blame placed on her shoulders, she is neither the demon nor the whore your mother and the ignorant claim she is, she is a greater hero to us than the Yondaime."

Sakura blinked as she stared at her grandfather "What do you mean?" She asked "Didn't the Yondaime kill the Kyuubi?"

Raiga remained silent as he gave his granddaughter a blank look as if he was restraining himself from saying something. "The greatest tool of the shinobi indeed," He whispered finally. "So how does this play into you wishing to get stronger?"

Sakura forced her mind back on track after it got diverted from Raiga's whispered comment "Well it's just, next to her, Makoto-san, Naru-san's teammate, and Lynn-san, I... I am really weak, you... you were right, if I stay like I am I will get my team killed when they have to protect me in a fight."

Raiga looked his granddaughter over carefully his eyes seemingly staring into her soul "You are entering the Chunin exams correct?" He asked making Sakura nod in confirmation "Very well, should you manage to reach the third stage of the exams you will have convinced me that you will take the training seriously."

Sakura swallowed tightly but nodded "Then I will make it to the third stage," She announced "No matter what it takes."

Raiga nodded in approval as he saw a familiar fire burn in her eyes and let an anticipatory grin slip onto his face 'Take that Abi, the real Sakura is on her way back.' He thought with pride as Sakura left to prepare for tomorrow 'I wonder... how will the real Sakura react to the truth of Uzumaki-san? Will she be like her mother? Or her father?'

Uchiha Clan Compound, Main household

Sasuke sighed as he looked around his home 'I think I might take Ryu up on his offer to move in with him,' He mused 'Really, it would be better than being continually being assaulted by memories that keep the wound fresh...'

He looked over to the scroll he had just finished sealing supplies in for the chunin exams and sighed before he set it with his clothing for the next day and headed to get ready for bed. Ever since confronting Ryu about his connection to Itachi he felt like a burden had been lifted off of his shoulder.

Here was a person who had lost someone very dear to him because of Itachi's actions, yet unlike Sasuke, he didn't wallow in his hatred and self pity, he instead forced himself to continue to take those steps out of them, he chose to let go of his hatred and anger and became one of the strongest Shinobi of Konohagakure.

Yes, his was a path that was slower, but Ryu had told him an important difference between the two ways of strength that Sasuke perceived, while wallowing in your anger and hatred can be compared to a fast burning flame, yes it's intense, but it burns out incredibly fast. However if you let go of your hatred and take it one step at a time, you can create a just as intense flame that lasts for much longer.

Sasuke smiled as he looked at a picture of his team snorting, Lynn had taken the brief pause of when the camera was about to shoot the picture to trip Sasuke and shove Sakura on top of him, but all of that had been a distraction to get at Kakashi-sensei's mask, only to fail spectacularly, it certainly made for a hilarious picture, even if he hated it at the time.

Letting out a light sigh he turned off to head to the bathroom to get ready for bed, it wouldn't do to be tired on the big day.

Next Day, Academy

GFRT-5 stood outside the academy as they mentally prepared themselves for the upcoming challenge that would no doubt test everything they have learned to this point, all three of them were wearing the ANBU variant outfits that Commander Fox had gifted onto them during their first mission with a few additions, Eko had replaced the normal gauntlets with the ones he had taken from the Rikudo's stash while Naru had added on the sealing beads and the sleeveless trench coat and didn't wearing any of the arm armor leaving her arms bare, Mikoto had brought up her cloth mask to cover her lower face and had added on several extra pouches including a bandoleer all chock full of medical supplies and had seals that Naru stitched into them to put them into stasis making sure they didn't go bad or get contaminated.

"So... anyone else have a feeling of dread like when sensei grins?" Eko asked rhetorically, getting some giggles from his teammates as his joke alleviate some of the tension they were feeling.

"The sooner we get in, the better," Naru announced as she stepped forward with the other two right behind her as they stepped through the threshold "Was anyone else expect an explosion or an ambush?"

The team giggled with her as they mounted the stairs and started climbing "Room 301 right?" Makoto asked double checking the their instructions.

"Yeah, these stairs only go up to the second floor, we'll have to cross the hall and go up another flight," Naru confirmed as they rounded the bend in the stairs recalling the layout of the building from her time in the academy, the group paused as instead of a semi-deserted hallway they were expecting, instead a large group of the chunin hopefuls were gathered around a door that had the numbers '301' above it and a pair of oddly familiar chunin guarding the doorway "Decoy," Naru whispered to her team as her eyes swept the area and focused in on a particular team "Guy's team is right there, and those two guarding the door are Kotetsu and Izumo."

"They're thinning the competition," Eko pointed out as the team watch Rock Lee, a Guy mini-me, get hit by Izumo "Not only is that not 301, but they're intimidating the competition, let's slip around."

Naru nodded as Tenten, a young teen girl wearing a pink chinese shirt with tight blue pants with her chocolate brown hair tied up into a pair of buns, seemingly try to plead with the two as she stepped forward before getting backhanded by Kotetsu "You're right," She agreed as the group skirted the crowd "I would've like to have fun with those two though, but the less that get past here the easier our mission."

Makoto looked over to Naru sensing the tension in the young Jinchuuriki as the redhead tried to keep herself calm. Makoto reached over and placed a hand on Naru's shoulder causing her to jolt slightly in surprise as she looked over her shoulder to the whitette "We're with you," She assured with a gentle smile "You won't be alone in this Naru-chan."

Naru's body visibly relaxed as she nodded in response to Makoto's words with a grateful smile before they ascended the final flight of stairs and into a hallway where a familiar figure was waiting "Sensei!" Naru exclaimed in surprise seeing the tattooed jonin lazily leaning against the wall with a wry grin on his face "What are you doing here?"

"What? Can't a sensei come and wish his students good luck?" Ryu asked teasingly as he pushed off the wall while they walked up to him, he looked the three over a nostalgic look on his face and in his eyes "I'm here to tell you three two things, first, stick together, you three have some of the strongest teamwork out of your generation and you guys can handle anything they throw at you as a team. Secondly and most importantly, it doesn't matter how you do in the exams, I'm proud of you three, you've come far since you've been assigned as my team. No matter what happens, I will always be proud of the three of you."

For Naru, who throughout her childhood received almost nil amount of positive feedback, Ryu's words had the most profound impact. She had to blink back the tears that had started to build up in her eyes, and despite her best efforts she couldn't hold back the emotions in her voice. "Thanks, sensei," She whispered. "That... that means so much to me..."

Ryu smiled understandingly as he placed a comforting hand on the top of her head "Naru-chan, you guys are my family, for better or for worse," He informed looking each of them in the eyes his own reflecting a calm confidence "Remember that during the exam, it doesn't matter how you do in it, even if you don't get promoted I'll be proud of all of you."

Naru wiped away her tears before beaming a wide confident smile at her sensei/older brother who nodded back at her a smile of him own "We'll put your training to good use sensei," She announced with a nod making Ryu chuckle "We'll sweep them all out of the park!"

"Good," He agreed as he stepped aside to let them in "Show them the unpredictability of the First Response Teams of Konoha!"

"Yes sensei!" They coursed saluting him before striding into the room.

'Ryu' shook his head with a chuckle "They'll be just fine." He said to himself "They survived me and sensei after all." With that 'Ryu' poofed out of existence.

Inside of the examination room GFRT-5 paused at the threshold as many of the eyes already in there swept them over before returning to their waiting, marking the team as good enough not to be intimidated. "N-N-Naru-chan." A soft voice greeted, causing Naru to turn to spot Hinata approaching with her team consisting of Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame, a good tracking team.

"Hinata-chan!" Naru greeted hugging her friend making her blush at the positive attention"How are you? Are these two treating you alright? Do I have to kick their asses?"

Hinata shook her head quickly as the two males exchanged quick uneasy glances, being a part of major clans they had a greater grasp of shinobi gossip than others, such as the fact that Naru had been placed under Ryu Hisanaga, a powerful shinobi who was hailed as the fastest shinobi of his generation inside and out of Konoha.

"T-t-t-that's n-n-n-not n-n-necessary, N-N-Naru-chan," Hinata stuttered out. "T-T-They a-a-are t-t-treating m-m-me w-w-well, as is K-K-K-Kurenai-sensei."

Naru sighed as she looked at Hinata with an exasperated look. "I swear, one of these days I'm breaking you of that stutter Hinata-chan," she swore, shaking her head before she felt a Killing Intent directed at her, she glanced off deeper into the room where Gaara stood his arms folded and his face expressionless and his teal eyes boring into her. "Whatever you guys do, avoid the Suna team that has the guy with a gourd on his back, he's... not right in the head... and... just avoid him, even if it means dropping out of the exam, it's not worth fighting him."

Shino rose a hand to cut off Kiba before the dog ninja could say something stupid. "Thank you for your advice Uzumaki-san, anyone else we should look out for other than yourselves?" He asked his sunglass hidden eyes taking in Naru and her team.

Naru shrugged "Not a clue to be honest, oh, and these are my teammates, Mikoto and Eko Seishin," She introduced "Guys, these three were my classmates Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and most importantly Hinata Hyuuga, Hinata-chan's been pretty much my best friend since we started at the academy."

Eko grinned and saluted making Hinata blush prettily as Makoto used Kakashi's Eyesmile™ (He had given permission to Ryu and his team to use as they wish) and bowed slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you Hinata-san, Kiba-san, Shino-san." She greeted pleasantly.

Kiba flushed slightly as he took in her figure easily visible in her tight fitting outfit "Man I wish I was on that team." He whispered to himself as his eyes shifted to Naru before suddenly he felt three KI's pinning into him as Mikoto, Hinata, and Naru caught on to where he was looking "Maybe not..." He added feeling sweat trickle down his back.

The female's response was cut off by a male voice "How troublesome," Shikamaru stated as he approached with his team consisting of Ino Yamanaka and Chouji Akimichi, Shikamaru looked at Naru and smirked "Looks like you're no longer holding back."

Naru smirked back at the Shogi Champ of their generation "And why should I hold back in the chunin exams?" She countered before her face became serious "Besides... there are some here who will consume rookies like us in a second."

"What do you mean Naru?" Ino asked contemptuously "I know you're only average, but we're amazing!"

"I'd be careful there Ino," Chouji announced munching on his chips. "Naru-san has been holding back in the academy, out of all of us she's the most dangerous."

Ino snorted. "As if she could be stronger than my Sasuke-kun." She said, sighing dreamily at the end.

"In all honesty, right now she could kick my ass," Sasuke stated as he and his team came up to them. There was a pause of shock as they caught sight of Sakura next to Sasuke, instead of the dress she had been wearing she was now wearing a far more practical battle outfit, consisting of what seemed to be a tough spandex outfit that stopped mid thigh and left her arms bare aside from a pair of black gloves and pink elbow protectors. She also had a pair of black boots, black shorts, and a short red apron skirt "The Naru Uzumaki we thought we knew never existed."

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino shouted totally ignoring the words he said as she jumped at him "I missed you so much!"

Lynn sighed from the sidelines "And people wonder why the current generation of Kunoichi are mocked the world over," She said in irritation glaring at the blonde who looked at her in suspicion "Because of fangirls like you giving us real Kunoichi who understand what it means to be a Kunoichi a bad name."

Ino glared at Lynn refusing to let go of Sasuke as he did his best to get her off of him "you're just jealous that Sasuke-kun like me more than you." She announced haughtily as Lynn's eyes narrowed dangerously at the heiress. "Right Sasuke-kun~?"

"No," Sasuke denied bluntly "In fact if I were to choose I would actually chose her over you." That statement caused Ino to freeze as she stared at Sasuke in shock. "I am not interested in someone like you who only want's my name, you don't know anything about me, meanwhile Lynn-san there is a more concerned with her own career than trying to get in someone's pants - for the most part, and I respect her for that."

Using Ino's shocked state to his advantage he pushed the blonde off of himself and stepped back with his team. "You are just a burden on your team." Sasuke said with finality as he turned to talk with Naru and her team. "Naru-san, Mikoto-san, Eko-san."

"Sasuke-san," They returned politely "Ryu-sensei told us you were planning on moving into the Hisanaga Compound." Naru said conversationally.

Sasuke nodded in confirmation before shrugging "I'd rather live in a place that would have somebody waiting for me than bad memories," He informed before looking over the crowd. "A lot of strong people are here."

Naru nodded in agreement her eyes flashing over to Gaara who had yet to turn away from her or stop the slight Killing Intent that he was sending her way "More than you'd think," She informed turning away. "We've got representatives from every Ninja Village here, I think something is happening soon."

"Understood," Sasuke said understanding her underlying message to be careful. "Any team in particular?"

"Suna team with a red head with teal eyes and wields Sand." Naru stated in a low tone. "Goes by Gaara, he's... unstable, even for a ninja."

It was an undisputed fact in any hidden village that the majority of the ninja were considered unstable in some way shape or form, Might Guy and Kakashi being prime examples of this fact in Konoha. The reason for that was due to the nature of their work, killing takes its toll on the human psyche, so in order to cope with this shinobi will often develop quirks and habits. There were those, however, that couldn't handle the strain and broke down, and, while rare, it can happen when the person is a genin.

Sasuke swallowed at her warning and nodded casting a look over to the Suna Jinchuuriki and shuddered at the blood thirsty look in his eyes directed straight at Naru. "Right, I'll keep an eye out," He informed warily before turning away from the teen and back to the teams. "Still, most of these people don't seem that tough."

A group of their fellow chunin hopefuls caught wind of his comment and glared at the group sending a wave of killing intent that had the teams aside from Naru's and Sasuke stiffen in fear, Naru's team went through training to resist the effects of Killing Intent while Sasuke's team had felt stronger in the form of Zabuza.

"Maybe you and your friends should quiet down," A humble voice recommended to them causing them to look over to a silver haired man with glasses and wearing a purple outfit. "Wouldn't want to cause an incident before the exams even begin, now would we?"

"Who're you?" Kiba asked suspiciously, the KI being sent towards them by the various shinobi in the room putting him on edge.

"Ah, where are my manners?" The man asked in a disarming manner as he pushed his glasses up his nose. "My name is Kabuto Yakushi, a pleasure to meet you all. From the looks of it, most of you are just out of the Academy, can't be helped though for your exam, I was like that too."

"Kabuto-san, right?" Sakura asked warily getting a confirming nod from the silver haired genin. "So is this your second time taking the exam?"

"Nope, this is my seventh time taking this exam," He explained getting shocked looks. "It's held twice a year so this is my fourth year taking the exam."

"Wow, you must really suck then." Kiba snorted contemptuously.

"Kiba-san, shut up." Naru sighed palming her face. "Have you ever thought that perhaps the Chunin Exams are just that hard? After all, they only promote the best genins to chunins, so of course they're going to weed us out."

"You are precisely correct, Uzumaki-san," Kabuto announced as he pulled out a stack of cards. "But I must say all that effort wasn't for naught, over the last four years I have managed to collect a lot of information on many shinobi and stored them on these Ninja Info Cards."

"Ninja Info Cards?" Sakura asked sounding interested as Kabuto got everyone's attention.

"These have the information of shinobi of various villages burned onto it using my chakra," Kabuto explained. "They may look blank, but when I channel my chakra into them..." He placed a card on the ground and channeled chakra into it causing a map to appear with the symbols of various ninja villages and a number underneath them. "This here is a graph on the number of people taking the exam here in Konoha and the breakdown of villages, this is a rather rare event with at least one team from every ninja village present."

"Do you have Info Cards on individual people?" Sasuke asked, an interested look in his eyes.

"Of course..." Kabuto affirmed with a smirk. "The info on this exams participants isn't perfect, but I do have it, even of you guys. Say something and I'll take a look..."

"Gaara of Sunagakure, Rock Lee of Konohagakure and..." He looked over to Naru and her team. "Genin First Response Team 5 of Konohagakure."

"Oh, you know their names, that should be easy then," Kabuto announced, not noticing the tightened eyes of Naru and her team, and drew out five cards.

"Show me," Sasuke said, his eyes focused on the five cards in his hands.

"Okay, first is Rock Lee," Kabuto announced, showing a card of the genin with his stats, of which it seemed he highly favored taijutsu. "He's a year older than you rookies, but it is also his first exam. His Mission History: D-Rank - 20 completed, C-Rank - 12 completed. His Sensei is Might Gai and his teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyuuga. Last year he gained attention as a talented new genin."

Kabuto placed the card on the ground and grabbed a second card. "Next is Gaara no Sabaku of Sunagakure, Mission History... wow he has 8 C-ranks and a B-rank under his belt, since he's a foreigner I don't have that much information on him, but it seems that has come back from every mission without a scratch on him." Kabuto said sounding impressed, he then looked up at Naru and her team. "Now finally the GFRT-5 - AKA Squad Eleven, which consists of Makoto Seishin, Eko Seishin and Naru Uzumaki..." He announced, getting surprised looks from the rookies save Sasuke and Sakura.

"Obviously a very rare specialty for a genin team due to the requirements necessary for it, but let's take a look shall we?" Kabuto continued, placing down Eko's card. "Eko Seishin, before his transfer to the tutelage of Ryu Hisanaga, seemed to be rather average with an inclination to his Kekkai Genkai: Yurei Hontai (Ghost Body) and Taijutsu. His twin Makoto Seishin seems to be more specialized in Iyrojutsu," He looked up to her with a slight smile. "What a coincidence, I'm a Medic Nin myself actually, before joining Ryu Hisanaga's squadron they had completed 18 D-ranks, and 3 C-ranks, although on their last mission before their transfer their sensei and teammate died due to faulty intel on the enemy's strength. Finally we have Naru Uzumaki, now please note that these are the Academy stats... and she is completely average across the board save one, her Chakra levels are abnormally high for a genin, surpassing that of even... a jonin?"

Naru didn't react to the information, even as everyone stared at her in shock. Finally Kabuto shook his head to clear his shock and stood up, putting his cards away, "Konoha, Kumo, Ame, Suna, Iwa, Taki, and many other villages have sent their elite genins to this Exam," He announced. "Well, the Otogakure was just formed last year so there isn't much info on them yet, but the rest of the villages sent their most talented youngsters..."

"So basically... all these people here are..." Sakura said trailing off with a swallow.

"M... makes you... lose your confidence..." Hinata inputted nervously.

"Yup!" Kabuto informed with a grin. "Like Lee and Gaara, they are the top Elite Genins of their countries. This isn't going to be easy."

Naru looked over to her fellow rookies who were swallowing tightly and back to the 'elite genin' in the room who were all leaking KI. "Hey guys, remember what Ryu-sensei taught us about Killing Intent?" She asked with a grin, making her teammates grin as the others looked at her curiously. "Killing Intent is mostly used by the weak to make themselves look stronger," She said aloud so that the room would hear her. "When a truly strong person uses Killing Intent, the weak minded see themselves dying in the most horrendous of ways..." She looked over to her fellow rookies. "Sorry if you feel this, but I'm not targeting you." 'Kurama-chan, mind if I borrow a bit?' She asked her partner/prisoner.

"Show them what real Killing Intent is, Naru-chan." Kurama said in agreement as Naru felt some of her chakra surge into her system.

She closed her eyes for a second, channeling the chakra in the manner that Ryu taught them, before reopening her eyes and unleashed it upon the room. Within the millisecond it took for the Chakra to flood out everyone froze in what they were doing as they felt what could only be described as death descend upon them, a few actually started screaming in fear as they panicked trying to get away from the red headed Kunoichi.

And just like how it started, it was gone, leaving everyone in the room in a cold, clammy sweat as they gasped for air. There were a few within the crowd, however, that were not as affected by it, most notably was Gaara who had a rather mad grin on his face as he stared at Naru. Another was a mint green haired girl with tanned skin and orange eyes from Taki, her eyes were narrowed at Naru with suspicion as she tried to analyze her. Two of the teams from Cloud were better off them many of their compatriots as they watched Naru with renewed suspicion. And a team of Iwa seemed more interested in a furious argument they were having in hissing whispers pointing at Naru, then out the window.

Before anything could happen though the doors to the classroom slammed open and in strode Ibiki Morino his 'glower' mode going in full force as his eyes swept across the room. "Alright you maggots!" He roared out. "Listen up, because the First Stage of the Genin Exams begin now!"

END CHAPTER

OoOoOoO

Pairing Polls

Here we are everyone, the home stretch I have tallied the total votes and it has come down to a vote of the three highest for each primary character. You each get to vote for which one of the three that you wish for each character, no refunds.

Ryu
-Haku (Currently dominating)
-Shizune (It's rather interesting actually...)
-Terumi Mei (This only has two votes, but just the idea of it just makes me want to put it on here)

Naru
-Itachi (Honestly... I'm not sure what to say about this)
-Gaara (Kinda makes sense, Jinchuuriki, Naru helping Gaara regain sanity)
-Omoi (Please be him, it's just so... NEW!)

Sasuke
-Lynn (The Pervert and the Uchiha... well... you wouldn't have to be worried about the line not continuing...)
-Tenten (Serious Kunoichi, strong)
-Makoto (See above, only is more caring and understanding)

Makoto
-Gaara (Helps heal psychological scars)
-Kiba (Balancing each other I suppose)
-Sasuke (Third verse same as the first)

Eko
-Hinata (Shy and outgoing meet)
-Ino (Well, she could keep him in line I suppose)
-Karui (Inter-Village relations, and unlike Ino, of whom I think she is similar too, she is a serious Kunoichi)

Haku
-Ryu (He did save her)
-Genma (Senbon Lover's spat that White-Handed Backstabber put into my head)
-Killer B (Hmm, may be too much of an age difference here...)

Lynn
-Sasuke (Look above)
-Kiba (Both are outgoing)
-Lee (Spandex Perverts, either horribly funny or horribly scarring hmm)

Rei
-Killer B (Hey even rappers need some lovin')
-Genma (Lazy laid back with the psycho Ex-Commander of ANBU? What can go wrong?)
-Kakashi (She is slightly perverted)