Chapter 10: Chunin Exams…Start!
Annoyed. That was the best word to describe the young Uzumaki male at the moment. As they entered the Academy building to take the first test of the Chunin Exams, they had only made it to the second floor when Sasuke decided to open his big mouth when they approached a door that was guarded by two Chunin disguised as Genin.
Flashback:
"You should just drop the Genjutsu now, no one can deceive the eyes of an Uchiha." He said smugly, only to be whacked upside the head by an incredulous Yuki.
"You really are a moron. That was the first test for all Genin. If they couldn't even tell that that was a Genjutsu and that they were only on the second floor then they weren't good enough to be Chunin. Now, instead, we have a lot more competition that could've been easily dismissed before the first task even started." She all but yelled at their arrogant teammate.
"Hn, it's just like a woman to fear a little extra competition. I, on the other hand, welcome a challenge." He replied arrogantly, saying the last part more towards the Genin who had been fooled by the trick, while also getting quite a few glares from the female population.
"Then a challenge you will get!" turning, team 7 found the owner of the voice to be none other than Guy's mini-me and Taijutsu expert, Rock Lee. (Though, only Naruto knew his name.)
"I, Rock Lee, wish to challenge Sasuke Uchiha to a battle. It will be a fight to see what will win, natural born talent or hard work and determination!" The Taijutsu expert shouted with ferocity, causing Naruto to smirk, knowing just who would win in this fight.
"Lee, we can't waste time with these rookies. It was you who said that we should keep a low profile in the first place." Another boy, one Neji Hyuga, came up accompanied by a girl with two buns in her brown hair, her name was Tenten. All together, they made up team 9, or commonly referred to as Team Guy.
"True, but I feel that this will be an excellent warm up to a truly youthful exam." He replied with a fist pump.
"If you know my name, then you know that what you're proposing is ridiculous. Though, I will humor you, if only to show my teammate what kind of beating he is in for when we fight." Sasuke said with a smirk as he glared at Naruto, who wasn't paying attention to him, choosing to contemplate if he really wanted to torture himself with the Uchiha's presence just to beat him in front of everyone.
"Then follow me and we can show our flames of youth before the first task!" Lee shouted again before taking off down the hall towards an open arena.
Flashback End:
That about brings you up to speed. They were just getting ready to start the fight when Sasuke opened his eyes to show his Sharingan, both eyes having two tomoe.
"With these eyes, you will be little more than a bug under my foot." Said Uchiha smirked arrogantly.
"Ah, I see you have forgone any strategy in this fight, instead choosing to just show your best hand in the beginning. No matter, it will only make my victory all the sweeter!" Lee yelled in glee and anticipation.
Scowling, Sasuke started the fight by charging straight at the Taijutsu expert, wanting to end this fight early in order to go check out the other competition.
"You will not win if you underestimate me!" Lee yelled as he appeared next to the Uchiha with such speed worthy of the protégé of the legendary Green Beast of Konoha.
Lee took advantage of Sasuke's surprise and roundhouse kicked him in the face, sending the Sharingan user flying while yelling, "Leaf Whirlwind!"
Twisting himself, Sasuke was able to land on his feet again, but not without sliding and stumbling back a few steps. There was also a noticeable mark where a bruise would form on his cheek.
Growling in anger, Sasuke charged the Genin again, though he was a bit more cautious this time around.
The two opponents met in the middle of the arena where they proceeded to exchange Taijutsu, though everyone could tell that Sasuke was outmatched. Even with his Sharingan activated Sasuke could do little more than block some of the Taijutsu expert's attacks, which were strong enough to hurt him even when blocked.
It wasn't until Sasuke got sent away from the fight by a chin kick from Lee that he understood that he was outmatched in Taijutsu.
After getting up from the dirt, Sasuke started to perform handseals, ready to fire a jutsu at the bowl-cut teen.
When Lee was close enough, Sasuke brought his right hand up to his mouth before breathing out a large fireball. "Fire Style: Grand Fireball!"
Seeing the technique, Lee dodged to the right, easily avoiding the ball of flame only to have to cross his arms to block a kick from Sasuke.
As soon as he felt the force behind the kick lessen, Lee took hold of the offending limb and spun the Uchiha before throwing him directly into the path of the Uchiha's own jutsu.
While Sasuke was able to dodge the fireball before it did any significant damage, he was not able to avoid getting his left arm and leg burned in the process.
"Good plan, poor execution." Naruto said with a chuckle from his position on the sidelines.
"Shut up, dobe! I don't need your fucking attit-gah!" Sasuke yelled before being cut off by a leg in his stomach.
"Never take your eyes off of your opponent! That is the first lesson a shinobi learns!" Lee yelled, a bit angry at the Uchiha's blatant show of disrespect.
Again, Lee kicked the Uchiha away before stepping back a bit and loosening his bandages around his arms, causing his teammates to look shocked while Naruto just smirked.
"My my, Guy-sensei. You really are an effective teacher. Maybe this will bring that fucker back down to earth." Naruto thought before chuckling a bit at his unintentional joke.
"I will now show you my flames of youth!" Lee yelled before charging his foe, who was taking a bit longer to get up from his last Taijutsu engagement.
As Lee got within ten feet of the Uchiha, a large tortoise poofed into existence in the way of his charge.
Seeing the summon in time, Lee skid across the dirt until he stopped just in front of the tortoise before bowing.
"What in the hell do you think you were about to do to that young man? You know what your sensei said about that technique. I'm glad I got here in time before you actually went through with it." The tortoise spoke in a slightly raspy tone.
"I'm sorry, I got carried away with the fight and I am prepared for the punishment." Lee spoke before a puff of smoke appeared on the tortoise's back, revealing Might Guy.
"Lee, you idiot!" he said as he punched his student across the face, sending him back about 7 feet.
"You know that technique is forbidden. As punishment you will have extra sparing sessions with me with your hands tied behind your back!" the teacher yelled before noticing team 7 standing to the side.
"Hmm, so those are Kakashi's students. That Sasuke barely gave Lee any challenge, but that blonde one, Naruto Uzumaki, he's hiding something. Though, he seems strong." Guy thought, showing how a real Jonin acts, before letting a large grin stretch across his face. "Yosh! That's it! Lee, you have found your new rival!"
"But, Guy-sensei, the Uchiha did not give me a challenge, even with his Sharingan activated." Lee replied with confusion, causing Sasuke to scowl.
"I'm not talking about him, my young protégé! That one, Uzumaki-kun, will prove to be an amazing rival, causing you to grow exponentially in fun competition!" the Jonin yelled boisterously as he pointed out the blonde Genin.
"I see, Guy-sensei. Yosh, I will fight you, Naruto Uzumaki, in these exams and then we will see if you are truly a worthy rival." With that said, team 9 left the arena, leaving the room empty besides team 7.
"So, did you have fun getting your ass handed to you?" Naruto asked with a smirk, barely being able to contain his mirth at seeing the Uchiha get beaten so badly by someone who can't even use Nin- or Genjutsu, not that he was badmouthing Lee's strength or even mocking him. It was just a fact that shinobi mainly used jutsu now-a-days to show strength.
Sasuke merely scowled as he walked out of the arena, heading towards where they were to take their first test, followed shortly after by the rest of team 7.
"Smart move making it so that the time in the arena would move faster than the time outside." Kurama commented when he saw that they still had plenty of time to get to the room.
"Yeah, and Guy didn't even seem to notice the time difference." Dainsleif said enthusiastically.
"Why thank you both, I have my moments." Naruto whispered with a smile before catching up to his teammates.
After finally making it to their room, they all noticed Kakashi standing at the door waiting for them to get there.
"Ah, I see you all have arrived. Good, because if even one of you decided not to take the exams, none of you would've been able to compete, as this is a team competition." He said as his gaze lingered on the blonde, trying to say that if he were to back out and cost the Uchiha this chance, then he would kill the boy.
"Anyway, as you are all here, why don't you get on inside." He said with an eye smile to Sasuke and a hand on his shoulder as he passed, doing the same when Yuki passed. Though, when Naruto went to enter, Kakashi blocked his path with his arm.
Not really wanting to deal with the man right now, Naruto merely gazed up at the "Jonin" with boredom. "What do you want, Hatake. If I don't get in there then they might hold back Team 7 from competing."
Scowling, Kakashi replied, "Watch it, demon. Just because you're my sensei's son doesn't mean I will treat you any differently. I don't know how you were able to control Kushina-sempai into caring for you, but I will stop you. And when I do, I will make you beg for mercy."
With that, the Jonin walk started to walk away, only to stop when he heard the Genin call for him to wait.
Turning back around, Kakashi noticed that the blonde was holding out a box and a letter.
"My father wanted me to give this to you. I just kept forgetting about it until now so, here." Once the Jonin took it, Naruto walked into the classroom.
Kakashi, being slightly suspicious of the package, decided to open the box first and then read the letter afterwards.
A poor choice really, seeing as how when he opened the box a large boxing glove shot out and decked him straight in the jaw, almost knocking him completely unconscious.
Making sure no-one saw that little scene, Kakashi hurriedly opened the letter, hoping that his late sensei had left him a mission to kill his demon-possessed son.
What he got instead was a long, very descriptive letter of what privileges Naruto had, since he was the son of a Hokage and basically royalty. One that was boldened, made specifically that way to draw the Jonin's attention.
Being of the Hokage's blood, any person, shinobi or otherwise, of the Leaf Village that attacks this child, can be stripped of only the bare minimum of their chakra and locked into the personal prison of whichever Hokage that child is related to. Each prison is different than the other Hokage's prison, as each prison is only to hold those that have wronged that Hokage, and his or her bloodline, specifically.
Kakashi could now say that he was scared. Not only would he lose his chakra and Sharingan, he would also be put into a prison that is said to be the worst there ever was, with whoever got put in there never to be seen from again. There were also rumors that even the people with the strongest of wills have gone mad within a few months of being in one of those cells.
Though, he calmed himself down when he told himself that their current Hokage would never allow that. So, after thoroughly calming himself, he dismissed the letter in the closest trash bin and went on his merry way.
Chuckling at hearing the Jonin hit the floor, Naruto entered the classroom to see that most of the teams were already seated and ready for the first task, though his formal attire seemed to put-off a few people.
Said contestants started to exude killing intent when they saw his team enter. While it was almost laughable for Naruto, he saw Yuki clench her teeth a bit, making Naruto to narrow his eyes before rounding his gaze onto the fellow Genin.
Seeing his expression, some of the Genin stopped in their intimidation attempts. The rest of them however, were subject to Naruto's killing intent (though not even close to half of it), causing a good bit of them to faint.
"Ah, I see you all are taking these exams as well, troublesome." Turning, Naruto caught the eyes of teams 8 and 10, with Shikamaru being the one who spoke.
"Sasuke! Oh, how I missed you my love!" Ino yelled as she latched onto the Uchiha's back, though she shied away from the blonde when she remembered what he did to her back in the academy. What she saw when she tried to take over his body was something that still haunted her nightmares.
"All right! Glad to see everyone made it! It'll just take a bit longer before I win, right Akamaru?" the ever eccentric Inuzuka heir yelled in anticipation, though he faltered when he didn't receive a reply from his partner.
Looking at the dog, he noticed that his partner was staring at Naruto with an almost frightful look in his eyes.
"Akamaru?" Kiba asked curiously, effectively getting the dog out of whatever trance it was in.
"You know, you should really keep it down over here, lest you attract unwanted attention." A voice spoke from behind them. The voice belonged to a man who had silver-white hair, a purple jumpsuit covering a white shirt, with white bandages over his waist. He also had round glasses and a Konoha headband to finish his outfit off.
"My name is Kabuto Yakushi, I'm a Konoha Genin as well." He said with a clearly (to Naruto at least) fake smile.
"Oh, hello Kabuto-san. Is this your first time taking these exams as well?" Ino asked curiously.
"Oh, not at all. Actually, this'll be my seventh attempt at becoming Chunin. So, with my experience, I know about pretty much everyone taking these exams." Kabuto explained, before pulling out a deck of blank cards. "All of my information is stored on these cards."
As he went on to explain some basic information about the different villages participating in these exams, Naruto zoned him out in favor of secretly activating his Sharingan to check out his cards, under a Genjutsu of course so Kabuto, or anyone else for that matter, wouldn't get suspicious.
"It seems as though we have a spy in our midst. He absolutely reeks of snakes as well, which means he's working for Orochimaru. Maybe things will get interesting, eh Kurama?" Naruto thought after seeing the kind of information he had on those cards. Most of it being what no Genin of any village would have.
"I told you it wouldn't be too boring. Do you think the snake will make a move during the exams?" The fox asked with a chuckle.
"I sure hope so, otherwise this guy is probably just here to see if he wants to recruit anyone." With that, Naruto came back to the conversation at hand just in time to hear Sasuke speak to the spy.
"Rock Lee, Gaara of the Sand, and Naruto Uzumaki." He said, sparing a glance to the red-haired boy sitting in the middle row, next to the window.
Ah yes, Gaara. The Genin from Sunagakure with the ability to control sand. He didn't need Kurama to figure out that the boy held the one-tailed tanuki, Shukaku.
Sending the boy a glance, he could tell that he had something seriously off-the-rocker about him. Whatever it was, was making him fidget every few minutes and even send glares to anyone unlucky enough to annoy him. Though, right now he seemed to be put off and angry by the appearance of Naruto.
"Sabaku no Gaara, teammates are his siblings, Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Kankuro. He mainly uses sand manipulation and sand jutsu. Missions completed: 30 C-rank, 15 B-rank, and 7 A-rank. Said to have come back from each mission without a scratch, though no-one knows why." Kabuto explained before putting the card back and grabbing another one.
"Rock Lee of Konoha, teammates are Neji Hyuga and Tenten, no surname. Their sensei is Might Guy, Legendary Green Beast of Konoha. Lee has a disability which proves Nin- and Genjutsu out of his reach, but has more than made up for it with his extraordinary Taijutsu abilities, with his strength and speed being way above average for his age. Missions completed: 57 D-rank, 23 C-rank, 12 B-rank, and 2 A-rank." This caused said Taijutsu user to puff out his chest slightly in pride, while Neji narrowed his eyes in slight suspicion at the silver-haired "Genin".
"And finally, Naruto Uzumaki, teammates are Sasuke Uchiha and Yukitora Hakko. Has been shown to excel in all forms of combat and seemed to just jump in power in his second year in the academy. Seen to have been able to defeat his sensei, Kakashi of the Sharingan; B-rank missing nins: Meizu and Gozu; A-rank missing nin, Zabuza Momochi; as well as kill about 100 thugs with only one jutsu. He also seems to possess a few Kekkei Genkai that have never been recorded before, making him a mystery when it comes to danger level. Missions completed: 134 D-rank and 1 A-rank."
Hearing his completed missions, every Genin looked at him in astonishment.
"Two words: Shadow Clones." Naruto said as he dismissed their looks. As soon as he became a Genin, he had created 5 Shadow Clones a day to do D-ranks. Also, seeing as how the others got quite antsy when cooped up in the house every day, they secretly escaped the village whenever they wanted to do a job as a mercenary or just hunt missing nin. Quickly building up their reputations as some of the strongest mercenaries out there, utilizing strange Bloodlines that have never been seen before, or so says the Bingo Book. Though they made sure to wear disguises so that no-one could identify them by appearance alone farther down the line.
One time, Iwa had tried to set a bounty on Touka, who's going by Rabbit when in mercenary mode, for Shiro, going by Wretched Egg, to complete. This was to try and set the two people with strange Bloodlines against each other and hopefully weaken each other enough so that they could kidnap them and breed them in Iwa.
The result, which surprised the Tsuchikage immensely, was that Shiro only laughed when she was told who to go after, replying with, "Nah, I don't hunt friends."
This enraged Iwa's Kage and basically told everyone that the new mercenaries on the scene were all working together, which wasn't too far off. Anyway, since then, every village has tried to get them to join, or even sign an alliance, but all were unsuccessful.
"Shut it maggots! Get seated before I kick your asses and ban you from these exams!" Ibiki Morino, the director of the T&I department, yelled as he entered the room, effectively knocking Naruto from his thoughts.
That got the reaction he wanted as every Genin quickly ran to their seats as assigned by the Chunin assistants.
"You will all have 30 minutes to answer these 9 questions. At the end of that time, the last question will be administered by me. Everyone will start with 10 points. Cheating will result in a deduction of 2 points for each offense. Getting caught cheating 5 times will cause you and your team to be disqualified. You may begin." Ibiki explained.
And that's when it got really boring. Instead of the hardcore, blood-pumping exams that he was expecting, he had to take a damned test.
It was so boring that the even the answer was painfully obvious to those who put a little thought into it.
What surprised him though was just how many Genin were dismissed due to cheating. I mean seriously, there were very few rookie Genin, meaning that most of the people in the room had experience missions like these, and yet they were cut down by at least 1/3 by the end of the time limit.
"Ok, pencils down! I will now give you all the last question verbally. Though, before I do that, I will present you all with a choice. You can choose to not take this question and you and your team will be disqualified to try again next time. OR…" Ibiki explained before exclaiming the last word when he saw people about to voice their opinions. "You can choose to take this question with the risk of being banned from any and all exams in the future should you get it wrong."
Of course, a lot of Genin immediately voiced their opinions against such a consequence.
"What?! But there are Genin here who have taken the exams before and obviously failed!" Kankuro exclaimed, gaining tick marks from quite a few Genin in the room.
"True, though you were just unlucky to get me as your instructor this year." Ibiki responded with apathy. "Now, if you all are done bitching, if you are unwilling to take this question, please raise your hand."
Now, if the first test didn't get rid of people enough, this decision sure did. Their numbers dropped by another half, bringing the amount of people still gunning for the title of Chunin down to about 36 Genin, or 13 teams.
Just as the last team left the room and no one else raised their hands, Ibiki gained a smirk.
"Good, everyone that's left has passed the first exam! You will all move on to the second exam." The scarred man said, gaining confused expressions from nearly everyone in the room.
"Wait, what about the last question?" Temari asked curiously.
"There was no tenth question. It was all just a scare tactic in order to see who was too cowardly to answer a stupid question. If they couldn't even gather up the courage to answer the last question, then they can't be trusted to man up on a mission, maybe even killing their teammates with their inaction." Naruto spoke up from his spot near the front row.
Everyone turned to see that Naruto was leaning back in his chair with his fedora over his eyes, apparently relaxing while everyone else was stressing over the "last question."
"That is correct." Ibiki said as he took off his bandana, "Every mission has the danger to escalate into a higher rank at any given moment, or it could even be a trap. Enemy ninja will use every tool in their arsenal to torture and break you if they think you even have the slightest bit of useful information. You must be prepared to take that risk in every mission you accept, and prepare yourselves to do the same should the occasion come around." With his speech done, Ibiki wrapped his head again to hide his scars. Naruto only gave a nod of respect, seeing as how the Jonin had learned all of that first-hand.
As soon as he was done, a brown blur came crashing through the window before throwing two kunai to hang a large poster saying, "The Awesome and Single Anko Mitarashi!"
"Yo, what's with this, Ibiki? You must be losing your touch if there are still this many people passed through." Anko said with a smirk as she stood up to her full height, giving everyone a good view of the woman.
She was a tall woman with dark purple hair tied up into a short, fanned ponytail. She wore a fitted mesh bodysuit over her torso, with a tan overcoat overtop of it. She also wore a dark orange mini-skirt with a dark blue belt holding it up.
"You're actually on time for once, Anko. And in regard to your comment, maybe there are just some exceptional prospects this year." Ibiki replied with a smirk towards Naruto, causing said Genin to match his smirk.
"Well no matter, I'll knock out at least half of them with my task." She said evilly, causing most Genin to shiver, though Naruto just matched her gaze with a challenging smirk. "Meet me at Training Ground 44 in 10 minutes or you fail!"
With that exclamation, Anko dove straight back out of the hole she made in the window, causing many to just stare at the spot where she once stood in bewilderment.
"Well, let's go Yuki-chan. And Uchiha, try not to lag behind." Naruto said as he appeared behind Yuki with a hand on her shoulder.
"Hn, whatever." Was all the response he got before team 7 vacated the classroom through the window, much like their second instructor.
10 minutes later
As everyone arrived at the training ground, they noticed that the area for their next task was a giant forest enclosed by an equally impressive metal fence.
"Alrighty kiddos, here's where you'll really get tested on your skills as a shinobi…in the Forest of Death! Each team will receive one of two scrolls for you to protect and keep at all times. You will have 5 days and 5 nights to retrieve the other scroll and make it to that center tower by the end of the 5th day with both scrolls intact and unopened. If anyone opens their scroll then that team will be immediately disqualified. Any questions?" Anko explained, relishing in the scared faces of the Genin when they heard what this area was called.
Choji was the first to raise his hand, though he didn't wait to be called on to go ahead and ask, "What will we do for food for all that time?"
"Well, there are plenty of edible plants and animals in the forest, so I'm sure you'll think of something." Anko answered with a smirk, causing the young Akamichi to widen his eyes in fear.
Seeing as no one else had any questions, Anko went ahead and distributed the scrolls to each team, with Team 7 receiving the earth scroll.
Seeing as the instructor was heading to give the scroll to Naruto, Sasuke rushed forwards and snatched the objective out of her hands, causing the Tokubetsu Jonin to growl slightly.
"Thank you, this should be held by the leader of this team, and that would be me." Sasuke said with a sneer.
"Go right ahead, doesn't make a difference to me. Though, you did just snatch something from a powerful Jonin's hand, a Jonin that has been known to destroy anyone who touches her wrong or looked at her with anything resembling lust." Naruto commented with a smirk.
"Whatever, she can't touch me. I'm an Uchiha elite, while she's just a dumb whore who couldn't even be a real Jonin." Sasuke said arrogantly as he turned and spat at the said Jonin's feet, causing Naruto to widen his eyes and back away from Anko, who was radiating a dark aura, though she only showed a happy smile.
"Ohhhhh shit." Naruto mumbled as he was genuinely curious how the snake-summoner would react.
"Ohhh, I'm so gonna enjoy this." She said, confusing the Uchiha brat. "New rule! The person/team who beats the living hell out of this Genin for the longest period of time before he passes out gets a free pass into the next trial!"
That proclamation caused many Genin to stare at the duck-haired Genin in pure glee, already having enough of his attitude, as well as causing Naruto to roll on the floor in laughter.
"You can't do that you wench! I am an elite of Konoha and I will be treated with respect!" Sasuke spat out at that purple-haired Jonin as he got right in her face, trying to intimidate her with his Sharingan.
"Hey, it's my exam, my rules. I could fail you right now if I wanted to, but I want to see what you look like when you exit this forest… if you exit, that is." Anko continued as she smirked, both at Sasuke's enraged face and Naruto's dying of laughter.
As that feud ended, everyone was escorted to their assigned gate before they had to wait to be allowed into the deadly forest.
End Chapter
Hey everyone, thank you all for reading this chapter and I hope you enjoyed. I don't have a whole lot to say, but I did want to finalize the harem seeing as how I've had some time to think about it.
Naruto:
Yuki
Mikoto
Kushina
Shiro
Touka
Haku
Temari
Tsunade
Yakumo Kurama
(I will have one more here to make it an even 10, but I have not decided on who yet)
That is it for Naruto's harem! He is done! I might start to do lemons later on, seeing as how I have it right now he's still trying to set things in motion, so after that I will add lemons.
I will also add the other pairings here just so that they're out in the open.
Gaara x Fu
Shisui x Yugito (That will be explained later on)
Madara x Mei