Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters,

"Talking."
'Thinking.'
'Flashback.'
"Kyūbi/Jutsu."

Chapter 10: Sasuke vs Rock Lee

"Sakura, you're late," commented Sasuke as his pink haired teammate approached the entrance to the ninja academy. He and Naruto had arrived just on time, which was ten minutes ago.

"Sorry Sasuke-kun, Naruto. Should we go inside now?" Sakura asked, but instead of waiting for a response, she just opened the doors to the academy and walked in. Sasuke and Naruto shared a look before following her.

It didn't take long for them to encounter a large group of Genin, not just from Konoha but from other Hidden Villages as well. Team 7 quickly made their way to the centre of the group to see what was causing all the commotion. They made it just in time to see a boy in a green jumpsuit be knocked back by an older boy wearing a Konoha headband. "Is that all you got? You may as well turn back now. The Chūnin exam isn't for weaklings," said the attacker. His partner grinned.

"Please just let us through, we're supposed to go in there," a brunette with buns in her hair pleaded to the boys while she helped her teammate recover from the blow to his face.

"Not a chance. If you can't even get past us, then you don't deserve to enter the exams. They'll chew you up like dog food."

Sasuke scoffed and gestured for his teammates to follow him. Together, they continued past the group of Genin however before they could make it to the other side of the corridor and up the stairs, one of the older boys yelled at him. "Well would you look at that, the last Uchiha! Funny, I thought he considered himself an elite, but the sight of us makes him shit himself."

"Not at all, I'm just on my way up to the first exam. It's on the third floor; this is the second," Sasuke turned his head and smirked. "Tell them, Sakura. You have the sharpest eye in the team for genjutsu."

"That's right. They put a genjutsu on the door number to fool us into thinking that this was the right place, but it's not. That room is 201, not 301," the Haruno then proved her claim by dispelling the genjutsu. The other Genin gasped in realisation, Naruto just looked confused.

"So you saw through that... what about this?!" one of the boys charged towards Sasuke and when he was close enough he aimed a roundhouse kick towards his head. Sasuke, seeing the attack coming, also initiated a roundhouse kick in order to block his opponent's, but before they could make contact, the same boy in the jumpsuit suddenly appeared between them, catching the blows with his hands and pushing them both away from each other.

'Whoa, that guy is almost as fast as Sasuke-kun,' thought Sakura.

"Wasn't it you who said we should keep a low profile so the enemy wouldn't see our skill-set?" said a Hyūga as he and the girl with buns approached the boy in green.

"Yes, but..." the boy in green turned to look at Sakura before walking towards her. When he was just a foot away from her, he introduced himself. "My name is Rock Lee. You are Sakura, yes?"

"Um..." replied Sakura. She tried to make eye-contact with one of her teammates, but both pretended to find something interesting on one of the walls.

Rock Lee gave her a thumbs-up and a wink, which almost made his big bushy eyebrow completely cover his eye. "Please, be my girlfriend! I swear, I will protect you with my life!"

"Yeah... no."

"But... but why?" suddenly, his mood was shot down like it was hunting season.

"You're weird," Sakura sidestepped Lee so she could stand next to her crush. Naruto chuckled and did the same.

"Hey, you," the Hyūga called out to Sasuke. "What's your name?"

"It's only polite to give your name before requesting the name of someone else," Sasuke placed his hands in his pockets while his eyes narrowed at the Genin in front of him.

"You're a rookie, aren't you? How old are you?"

"I'm not obliged to answer that," that just seemed to piss the Hyūga off. The Uchiha, growing bored of this encounter, turned on his heel and continued towards the next set of stairs. "Naruto, Sakura, let's go."

'So this is the Chūnin exam, huh? So far it's just been a complete circus.'

"Don't underestimate this. The Chūnin exams are very challenging, even for the most talented Genin."

'Sure, sure.'

"I'm being serious, Naruto. Watch your back."

"Hey, you with the attitude!" called someone from above Team 7. The group of Genin had just arrived in a fairly large room with multiple pillars lining one side of the place. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto looked up at the walkway to see Rock Lee standing there. "I want to fight you. Here and now."

"You want to fight me? Are you serious?" the Uchiha thought the boy was an idiot.

"Yes," Lee jumped down from the walkway, landing in a crouch. "My name is Rock Lee. You said it was polite for a challenger to give his name first," he stood up from his crouch, locking eyes with Sasuke. "Isn't that right, Uchiha Sasuke?"

"So you know who I am."

"I do. I've heard all about the Uchiha clan and how great they are. I want to see for myself if that is true," he positioned himself into a fighting stance, and seeing that, Sasuke followed. "And because... Sakura-san, I love you!" the Haruno cringed and stepped behind Naruto, who just looked extremely bored, clearly wishing she was somewhere, ANYWHERE, other than here. Lee, his cheeks turning red, winked in Sakura's direction (and, unfortunately, Naruto's too).

A small pink heart seemed to materialise from nowhere, heading straight for the two girls. Sakura screamed and jumped to the side while Naruto crouched down. "That was an excellent dodge, Sakura-san. Let's see you avoid these!" suddenly, about a dozen of the pink hearts were sent towards Sakura, who started to panic. The pinkette then began to swing her body around in an attempt to dodge the hearts, which somehow succeeded. When the last one passed her safely, she stopped to catch her breath.

"Keep your creepy little crushes to yourself! I was dodging for my life there!"

"You do not have to be so negative, Sakura-san..." just like before, his mood was shot down.

"You said you wanted to fight, so quit screwing around and let's get on with it!" Sasuke ran towards Lee, who disappeared before the Uchiha could land a hit. Reappearing above Sasuke, he yelled out "Konoha Reppū!" and aimed a kick towards the side of Sasuke's head. The Uchiha ducked and Lee missed, but just barely. Landing on one hand, Rock Lee twisted his body around and aimed another kick at the same place.

'Damn it, I'm not fast enough!' Sasuke shouted internally as Lee broke through his guard and landed a successful attack. The Uchiha grunted as he was sent flying backwards, only being stopped by his back hitting against one of the pillars.

"Sasuke-kun!" cried out Sakura, but fortunately her crush wasn't too hurt.

'Holy shit, the teme is getting his ass handed to him. Go Lee, go!' Naruto grinned.

"Aren't you supposed to support your teammates, not cheer on their opponents?"

'Details, details.'

'Just as I thought, he is getting up for more,' thought Lee, entering his fighting stance again as Sasuke picked himself up.

"I've been waiting to try this out. Now's a good a time as any," the Uchiha smirked, his eyes changing colour. With a battle cry, Sasuke charged forward again. 'Ninjutsu or genjutsu, I'll be able to see exactly what you're doing!'

'Yes! With his Sharingan, Sasuke-kun can see every move that guy makes. He's unbeatable now!' if someone were to look closely, they'd see the pinkette's eyes morph into love hearts.

"Ah!" Sasuke cried out. Sakura was immediately broken out of her love trance at the sight of her crush being kicked into the air. Rock Lee had seemingly come from nowhere. He was able to get past Sasuke's guard once again, even with the younger boy using his clan's famous dōjutsu. Sasuke was knocked down for the second time that day.

'Forget Sakura, if Lee manages to bust up Sasuke's body as well as his pride, he can date me!' this was, hands down, the best day of Naruto's life.

"I am not using any ninjutsu or genjutsu, so there are no tricks up my sleeve, Uchiha Sasuke. Your eyes may be able to see through those techniques, but taijutsu is a little bit different. It doesn't matter how fast your eyes are, if your body is too slow, then you will not be able to block my attacks," Lee explained while Sasuke glared at him. Wanting to finally end this humiliation, the Uchiha ran towards Lee again, but when he saw the boy move he raised his arms defensively. However it was for nothing.

Rock Lee effortlessly broke Sasuke's barrier and his kick landed perfectly on the bottom of his jaw, launching Sasuke into the air. Lee then seemed to disappear, only to reappear directly below Sasuke in midair. "Now you're finished," the bandages on Lee's arm began to unravel, and Sasuke was powerless to stop Rock Lee's next move. Suddenly, something pierced Lee's bandage and pinned it to the wall. The boy's reaction was instant.

Rock Lee stopped his attack and landed in a crouch in front of... a turtle?! Sakura, however, wasn't paying attention to that. "Sasuke-kun!" she leaped into the air and caught her teammate in her arms, preventing him from having a nasty fall and injuring him further.

"You... were watching this whole time, weren't you?" Lee asked the turtle.

"Of course. That last technique is forbidden and you know that," the turtle said in a rough voice.

'What the fuck is happening? Am I dreaming? I am, aren't I?' Naruto pinched herself.

"No, but I wish you were."

"A shinobi never reveals his techniques unless it's absolutely necessary. That's one of the basic ninja rules, and yet somehow you've managed to forget that. Are you prepared to accept the punishment for your actions?" the turtle growled at Lee, who nodded his head sadly.

"All right. Come out, Gai-sensei!" suddenly, in a puff of smoke, a larger version of Rock Lee appeared on the turtle's back.

"Heeeey there everybody!" 'Gai-sensei' greeted. Team 7 screamed. "Lee, time for your punishment, you fool!" the man punched Lee in the face, which sent him a few feet into the air. Team 7 screamed louder.

Before Lee could hit the ground, Gai caught him and gently placed him on the ground and then got onto one knee, Lee doing the same. "I'm so sorry, Gai-sensei."

"It's all right Lee, you don't have to say anything more," both of the jumpsuit wearing shinobi began to cry furiously.

~Sunset no Jutsu~

Team 7 screamed loudest.

"Damn, I never realised there'd be so much competition," Naruto sighed at the room full of Genin from other villages. They all looked to be at least a few years older, and taller, than herself. Also more menacing.

'Why do we have, like, no scary ninja in this village at all?'

"Gai's pretty scary."

'Don't make me think about that ever again.'

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino shouted as she latched onto the boy's arm. "I'm so glad you could make it!"

"Get off of him, Pig!" Sakura waves her gloved fist at her love rival.

"No way, Forehead. Get in line."

"Hey, you two, be quiet. You're drawing attention to us," whispered Sasuke, removing Ino from his arm. The two kunoichi looked around, and indeed almost every other ninja was staring right at them. Sasuke made his usual 'hn' sound and walked away, Sakura all too happy to follow him. The Yamanaka heir sighed and crossed her arms, looking around until she spotted Naruto who was leaning against a wall a small distance away, clearly wanting to avoid any unnecessary attention. Ino made her way over until she was leaning against the wall beside the girl.

"Hey Naruto," Ino smiled at the Uzumaki, but the smaller blonde just gave her a side-glance before looking away, uninterested in any small-talk. Ino, however, was nothing if not persistent. "Are you excited to start the exam? Honestly, I'm not so sure. I mean I'd love to be a Chūnin, but Asuma-sensei made it seem like such a scary process that I'm not sure if I'm ready yet, you know?"

"What do you want?"

"Huh?"

"I said, what do you want? Sakura tried the same thing but I'm telling you, it won't work."

"Naruto, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."

Naruto pushed herself away from the wall until she was standing directly in front of Ino, arms crossed defensively. "You're trying to be friends with me, aren't you? Why? Is it because I saved your life? Because if so, then forget it. I was just doing what the mission required from me, that's it."

"Yes, I want to be friends with you, but it's not because I feel indebted to you. Well, yeah I'm really grateful for what you did but I don't have any ulterior motive-"

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" the Jinchūriki leaned in closer until her face was only centimetres from Ino's. Although she was a good few inches shorter, Naruto still managed to pull off a pretty intimidating look. "Why should I believe any word that comes out of your mouth? You're disgusting, both you and that 'Forehead'. Do us both a favour and leave me the hell alone, or it's gonna get ugly for you real quick."

Ino frowned, but couldn't stop herself from glancing down at Naruto's lips as she talked. Naruto, of course, didn't miss that brief eye movement and growled before stepping backwards. "Naruto, I-"

"Save it," the Jinchūriki gave the Yamanaka one last scathing look before leaving to go join her teammates. It took Ino a few moments to gather herself, and she did so just in time for her own teammates to make an appearance.

"Hey Ino, what was that about?" Shikamaru asked as Chōji shovelled crisps into his mouth.

"I... have no idea."

"Careful, I smell a snake."

The Jinchūriki glared at the silver haired Konoha Genin that was currently talking to her teammates and Team 8. She quickly made her way towards them and stood behind Sasuke and Sakura, the former giving her a brief nod in acknowledgement. Team 10 joined them soon afterwards.

"So as I was saying," the Genin nodded towards Naruto and Team 10, "my name is Yakushi Kabuto. You could say I'm a bit of an expert at the Chūnin exams because I've taken them seven times," Team 7, 8 and 10 were shocked to hear that, but they let the guy continue speaking. "If you want, I could help you out a bit with my ninja info cards," Kabuto pulled out a small stack of orange cards.

"Ninja info cards? What do you mean?" asked Sasuke.

"These cards have been chakra encoded with all the information I've gathered on the Chūnin exams over the last four years. I've got over two hundred of them, so I haven't been completely wasting my time. Anything, or anyone, in particular you want to know about?"

Sasuke thought about the candidates he's encountered so far, and a few seconds later he came to a decision. "Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee."

"Aw, that's no fun. You know their names already. Fine, Let's see what I've got. First, Rock Lee," Kabuto pulled out one of the orange cards and applied some of his chakra to it, revealing the information. "Looks like he's about a year older than you. He's completed eleven C-Rank and twenty D-Rank missions. His sensei is Maito Gai, and in the last twelve months his taijutsu has radically improved. His other skills are almost non-existent. He gathered a lot of attention as a Genin last year, but for some reason he chose not to participate in the exams. His teammates are Hyūga Neji and Tenten.

"Now for Sabaku no Gaara," he put the first card back before pulling out the second, applying some chakra like before to reveal the information. "He's completed about eight C-Ranks and one B-Rank. That's almost unheard of for Genin. There's not much I know about him, beyond sharing a team with his siblings, but there is this: he's come back from every mission without a single scratch on him," Sasuke clenched his fist, angry that there was someone else that could become a challenge for him. Naruto, meanwhile, frowned at the thought. She knew he was a Jinchūriki, so it didn't come as much of a surprise to her that the boy was untouchable, but it still unsettled her.

"Wow, there's a bunch of strong people here, huh?" commented Kiba.

"There is indeed. In the four years I've been doing this, there's never been this many powerful candidates in one exam. We really have our work cut out for us this time."

'Damn it Kakashi, I can't go along with this! They may be your students now but I know these kids, I trained them for years! I don't know what you're trying to prove here, but-!'

'Iruka, please,' Kakashi took the Chūnin's hands in his and lifted them up to his chest. 'Believe me when I tell you that I know what I'm doing. They're strong. Stronger than you think. Naruto... she's come a long way from being the dorky, playful little girl.'

'But not for the right reasons...' Iruka lowered his head and closed his eyes. 'I just keep thinking there was something I could've done to prevent that... that bastard from getting to her. What if I had paid her a visit? Took her to Rāmen Ichiraku? Just... anything!'

Kakashi let go of one of Iruka's hands to place his fingers under the scarred man's chin, gently pulling his head up to face him. The Hatake carefully wiped away the man's tears and cupped his cheek. 'Iruka, what happened to her was not your fault. No one could have known what would happen, especially the missing Anbu member that was supposed to protect her. But don't worry, we have the man responsible in the deepest, darkest jail. He will never see the light of day again, do you hear me?'

Iruka took a deep breath and nodded his head, grabbing Kakashi's flak jacket and pulling him in for a hug. 'Kakashi... thank you.'

'Oh Iruka, I wish I could do more for you, but for now my words will have to be enough,' Kakashi thought as he stood outside the door to room 301. 'I just pray to whatever Kami is out there; please, protect Naruto.'

A/N: Boom, there is it, another chapter. I guess I was just really in the writing spirit, so woo.

See? I look at the poll results! There's your Kakashi/Iruka happening. I love it.

Ino's now got her official "fuck you" from Naruto AND a bit of a "damn Naruto you cute" vibe. Nice.

Uh... I can't really think of anything else to say now. There was definitely something because I was kicking myself for not writing it in the last A/N, but I've forgotten again. Whoops.

Anyway, please leave a nice review, maybe suggest a new name for Naruto's dōjutsu and vote on the poll! Thank you!