AN: Um… I don't know what I said to give the impression that I haven't read the manga up to date, but I have. Sorry for any misconception. Also, sorry for the slightly short chapter last time. I like them to between five and six pages on word in size 8 font, single spaced, and the last one was 4.5 pages. I felt you guys deserved to not have to wait another day for a chapter. If you thought the date scene was not as informative as you would have liked, good. I have no intention of making them confess their love for each other any time soon and, in case I didn't make it clear, they really just hung out. It was a date in name, but really all they did was do what they would do any day they had off without Shino. Don't worry, though. The first real date I make them go out on will be good… and maybe I find a Nara couple to force them to make out in public enough so Kakashi and Kurenai can get a picture. Oh, what fun! Oh, and in case anyone forgot my opening statement of the fic, I don't own Naruto and won't for the duration of this fic at least, most likely the duration of my life. So there…
Chapter 9: Words and Woods
Naruto and Hinata left the Hyuga manor early in the morning. They picked up Shino at his house before going to the training grounds to warm up. Naruto practiced with his kunai, which really meant seeing what new test he could train himself to do. He could juggle them at the age of three, but now even the weapon shop owner was amazed at what he could do with them. Really, they were just tricks and had next to no battle value, but they got Naruto concentrating.
Hinata did some stretching and some taijutsu forms without chakra, of course, and polished her headband to make sure no debris got in her way of seeing. She was less nervous then she had been the night before. She had thought she wouldn't get any sleep, but being tired from the land of waves mission and the 'date' the day after had managed to send her off to a dreamless and fulfilling sleep. Now, she was happily watching Naruto and Shino practice. They were a great team, there was no doubt in her mind, and Naruto and Shino were amazing as individuals. Hinata knew Naruto thought she was just as good as them, but she knew they had an advantage over her and it had nothing to do with eyes.
Hinata just wasn't cut out to be a fighter, her mother had told her so. Sure, she could hold her own against most ninja, but one good shot could put her out. Fragile. That's what some would say. Okaa-san would say delicate, like a flower's petals or a snowflake, but what most would say is "weak". No, stop that Hinata. Naruto and Shino don't think you're weak. Oh, how I hope I don't face either of them in the finals, if I get to the finals...
Hinata and Naruto had been spectators of the chunin exams in Konoha three years ago. It had been brutal. She knew that her teammates could dish out the pain, just as the people she had seen three years ago had, but Hinata had a problem with seeing herself as she was. It would worry her to no end that she would end up as the weak link in their team and somehow either her team would get hurt or they would hate her for something. She knew her worries were unreasonable deep down inside, but unreasonable worries were the worst kind for her. After all, who would have thought a random ninja would manage to infiltrate the clan house of the "all-seeing" clan and steal a young girl's eyes?
Hinata knew that she wouldn't give up, though, for herself and her team. She would be strong and show everyone that even the most delicate flowers could have thorns. Eventually, she wanted to do something else besides fight with her life. She wanted to… what? She didn't know yet, but she knew that when it happened, she would know what to do.
Shino was merely taking stock of his insects. Making sure he had his entire colony awake and ready to go at a moments notice. He also was working on his mental connection with them. It was a hassle that he had to use chakra to control them in large formations and jutsus while his father didn't even need chakra until he used some of the clan's most powerful jutsus. Shino was working on strengthening the bond he had with his insects. In a sense it looked like he was just sitting next to a tree, but he was in deep concentration and conversing with the hive mind of the insect colony he contained. It was an interesting conversation, to say the least. The colony was as antisocial as he was.
They all left for the academy together and arrived to find a large group of potential chunin outside of room 301, the room that should have been hosting the first part of the exams. The crowd was being held up by two older genins who decided to block the door way. They were using some stupid excuse to hold everyone back. Just as team eight walked up to the door they saw the number change on the room sign to 201 and Sasuke Uchiha attempt a kick at the genin blocking his way. Naruto watched in fascination as a green suited kid blocked both Sasuke's kick and the kick from the other genin.
"Whoa! Hey, Sasuke-teme, who's the bushy brow?" Sasuke just glanced over at him and his team as he dropped his foot to the ground. He was wondering the same thing. It was the green suited kid who spoke first.
"The name is Rock Lee. One of the great beasts of Konoha!" Rock Lee gave off a blinding smile and a thumbs up to Naruto who just stared at the kid.
"Well, my name is Naruto Uzumaki and me and my team need to head up one more floor. I hope you don't lose any speed for the finals, because you look like a tough opponent." Naruto passed by as Sasuke and his team stayed a moment longer. Something about a fight between bushy brows and the teme. It didn't concern him.
Hinata had decided earlier that day to maintain the illusion that she was blind until it was absolutely necessary. It was all a part of trying to keep her ace in the hole until needed, or that's what she told herself and Naruto. But she didn't mind needing to hold his hand either…
They all found themselves in the hallway outside room 301 and spotted Kakashi and Kurenai waiting at the door.
"Ah, I see your students found their way. Now if only mine would show up…"
"Kakashi, face it. My students are just so much better then yours…"
"KURENAI-SENSEI!"
"In everything but volume. Hello Naruto. Hinata. Shino."
"Hello, sensei."
"…"
"Well, you three look ready to go. The first part of the exam will start in… just a few minutes. Good luck." With that, Kurenai vanished. Kakashi sighed.
"So, did you see my team on your way?"
"Yeah, they're coming. Sasuke stopped to fight some Lee character, but they'll be here soon."
"Lee… Rock Lee, Gui's student?"
"Huh?"
"Does he have a weird hair cut, thick eye brows, a near blinding smile, and a tight green suit?"
"Yep, that's the one!"
"Oh great… Sasuke can't beat that kid right now…"
"Huh, why not?"
"Rock Lee is a genius in his own right, not like Sasuke, but the kid is the hardest working ninja in Konoha without a doubt. And… damn is he fast."
"Hm… yeah, I think we saw that. Well, see ya later Kakashi-sensei." With a wave he went back to his book and team eight walked though the door. Inside was not what they expected.
The place was filled to the brim with ninja from every part of the globe. Naruto noticed the suna ninja right off, but there were some from rain, grass, cloud, and even a new village called sound. They all looked tough. Naruto smirked. They might look tough, but he was tough.
"Naruto, Hinata, Shino!" The team turned to see a blond haired ninja running towards them, followed by a thin guy with dark hair and a rather plump guy with brown hair. Naruto immediately recognized them, which was good because Hinata was too shy and keeping under cover while Shino probably didn't even care to remember their names.
"Ino, Shikamaru, Choji. How did you guys get in here?" Naruto snickered at them. Shikamaru was known to be the absolutely most lazy person in their class. If someone could work hard at being lazy, Shikamaru would get hired in a second. He would spend hours just dozing off looking at the clouds, next to his best friend Choji who would not doze off, but chow down on various junk foods, mainly chips. Naruto had been forced to learn about both of their clans as a young kid, and didn't blame Choji at all for his need for food. The girl, Ino, was always a Sasuke fan during the academy days and just plain got on Naruto's nerves. Anyone that addicted to the ice block known as Sasuke had to have had a few to many bumps to the head. But, he wasn't one to hold grudges.
"We got in here the same way you did, through the door." Shikamaru looked like he would collapse any second from boredom.
"Shikamaru means that Azuma nominated us for entrance and we all showed up. He had to bribe these two bums with free food and a day off of training, but we're here, none the less. Hey, Hinata. How are you today?"
"Ano… fine?"
"Oh, that's good." Ino was a tad bit shallow at times, but she was caring at heart. She didn't understand how Hinata could be a ninja while being blind, and ever since Hinata had come into the class and Ino had gotten over the initial shock of Hinata's eyes being gone she had tried to not seem rude or disrespectful. Hinata just wished she would stop alluding to it. Naruto knew that that was what Hinata wanted too.
"So if you guys are here, and Sasuke's team is on its way…" Ino squealed at this information. Naruto sighed. "… then that means the entire graduating class from a couple months ago is in the chunin exam. That must be some kind of record."
"You're right Naruto." Choji had his mouth stuffed with chips, but quickly swallowed. "Even if we are going to be going against each other in the test, this is probably the first time nine rookies have gotten in the exams."
"Choji, there was probably a reason for not letting rookies in. Look around, all these troublesome ninja… each one is probably more powerful than three of us."
"Speak for yourself, lazy ass." Ino crossed her arms and frowned, but instantly turned it into a smile when she saw Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba sprint in through the door out of breath.
"SASUKE-KUN!" Naruto snickered as Sasuke was almost knocked to the ground by the female ninja that had just shown an amazing amount of speed. Hinata had to suppress a giggle as Ino cuddled an unwilling Sasuke while Sakura fumed. Kiba noticed her and began to walk over, but, possibly unwittingly, Naruto saved her the trouble of turning him down again. He got in the way of Kiba and faced Sasuke as he not so gently pushed Ino away.
"Hey, Sasuke-teme. You ready for this?"
"Dobe, it isn't like anyone here stands a chance against me." Naruto immediately took that as a challenge.
"Yeah right, teme. I would bet one of your fan girls that more members of my team get into the finals then your team."
"That bet would only work, dobe, if you had any fan girls to offer me when you lose." Sasuke smirked at Naruto who just smirked back. Nope, definitely not friendship, but it wasn't out right hatred either. Normally Naruto would pounce at the person who had insulted him, but he knew that this wasn't the time or place to do it. And, besides, Sasuke might be a teme in front of the rest of the people, but Naruto thought he had potential as a friend… at least on the land of waves mission he had thought so. Besides… he had walked into that one.
The entire rookie nine was silent as Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other. Most expected Naruto to explode, but none expected him to do what he did. He stopped smirking and gave a large smile before sticking out his hand for a hand shake.
"Alright then, teme. Good luck!" Everyone just stared at the two. Sasuke was wearing a face that barely betrayed a sense of shock. He had always been able to goad the blond into a fight in the academy and on the mission they had done together. The shock made him crack his self imposed image of the cool guy and, instead of brushing his hand away with a sneer, he took it.
"May the best ninja win, dobe."
"Sounds like a plan, teme. See you in the winners circle... below me, of course."
"Well, well, well. Rookies!" The group turned to see a grey haired boy a few years older then them approaching. He had glasses that balanced on the tip of his nose and wore a Konoha headband. Naruto immediately tensed. People as old as him probably knew about his… tenant.
"The name's Kabuto. Nice to meet you. I assume that you are Sasuke Uchiha, the number one of your class?"
"Hai… what is it to you?"
"I was just surprised to see you all in the exams. This is my seventh time taking it. After three and a half years I still haven't passed. But failing has actually helped me, in some regards." It was Sakura who answered him. Naruto was already bored with the guy who was obviously acting like he was happy, while hiding some other emotion deep down inside. Naruto had done the same thing many times. But whether the emotion hidden was anger, hatred, sadness, or some other emotion, Naruto had no idea. Either way, he led his team to a less crowded corner of the room.
"Shino, Hinata, ready to use the jutsu?"
"Hai."
"Hai, Naruto-kun."
"Go."
To the standard observer it looked like a team pep talk or something along those lines, with each of the members having one of their hands on the other two's heads. It was over in an instant, not one person noticing.
Hinata-chan, just checking the connection.
Naruto-kun, I can understand fine… Deeper then was readable by the jutsu she was thinking about why Naruto called her chan in his thoughts. It wasn't exactly like speaking, more like sending ideas directly into a mind. She figured they must actually be his inner thoughts on her, and it made her blush.
Shino here, I hear you both perfectly well. Now let's concentrate on acting normal.
Hai.
Hai.
The team stood in their corner and observed each of the other teams. They were all older, but that didn't make them better. Naruto pointed out to Shino in his mind the team from sand that he knew to be trouble. If at all possible they wanted to avoid that team. While they were looking for strong people, they saw Kabuto get attacked by three genin from sound. He had apparently dodged the attack, but still collapsed to the ground.
That attack… what was it?
Naruto, they are using sound.
What?
The attack involved very high pitched sound that affected Kabuto's inner ear, causing him to vomit like that. My insects picked up the sound.
But… I couldn't hear it…
No human can hear a pitch that high, just be careful around them and don't get close.
Hai. Got that Hinata-chan.
Hai, Naruto-kun…
Hinata was concentrating on clearing her head. Over the past few days her sight of chakra had become more defined. It was interesting, that was for sure. She had seen the sound ninja use his technique on Kabuto and noticed how she could see the attack even though it should have been invisible. She didn't want to bother Naruto or Shino with it right now. After all, it wasn't really a bad thing. It was actually pretty helpful. She could even see chakra through walls, to an extent. Or, at least that was what she thought she was seeing. There certainly was a lot of chakra signatures in the hall way.
Just as she was about to turn to look out the window the door opened and a large group of jonin and chunin walked into the room.
"Listen up, kids. This exam takes place on my time and I move quickly. Come forward and get a number that should tell you what seat you are going to be in for the first part of the test."
This was crap. Crap, crap, crap. Naruto was bored out of his mind. It had only taken his team a combined time of three minutes to figure out the purpose of the written test. Shino had started gathering answers from Sakura Haruno, the number one academy student grade wise, but his bugs soon found a chunin plant that had all of the answers done already. Now, with twenty minutes to go, each member of his team had the correct answers on their paper and were just staring into space. Naruto had almost started napping, but had stopped when Shino had warned him that the mind connection would break if he did that. Naruto reluctantly agreed to stay awake, and in his free time he was playing word games with Hinata and Shino. Shino was, surprisingly, very good. Naruto had figured that, for someone who never really talked, he wouldn't have as large of vocabulary. But Shino and Hinata had beaten him for ten minutes straight.
They had switched games later and had started games of hangman. Naruto figured the instructor who checked their sheets would be confused how there were complete games of hangman on his paper, considering that it took more then one person to play. Once again, though, Hinata and Shino beat him. It seemed like Naruto could only succeed as a ninja.
Don't say that Naruto-kun, you are good at a lot of things.
Sure, Hinata-chan. At least one person besides me thinks I am good at something…
Naruto, you shouldn't get yourself down. Just because we both have higher developed language abilities then yourself does not mean that you are merely an ignorant child.
Ano… ok?
He didn't understand me, did he?
Shino, don't make fun of Naruto-kun.
Fine, it was a joke, Naruto. You are indeed good at many things.
Like making people laugh.
Strategy.
Being Kind.
You're understanding.
You're brave.
You're a good friend.
You're handsome… I mean… ano…
Arigato guys, it means a lot.
Good.
Naruto looked down and to his right from his seat in the near middle of the room and saw a beet red blushing Hinata. He smiled a little before facing straight ahead again.
Just fifteen minutes to go. You would think that they could come up with a better way to determine who gets chunin. A written test… I thought I was done with those when I graduated.
Naruto-kun, I think this is just the first test of many…
You mean there are MORE of these!
No, Naruto, she means that there are going to be different kinds of tests. The finals are one on one fights, but between then and now they could ask us to do anything. The sheet we signed said so.
Oh… is that what it said? I just signed it.
Naruto-kun, you shouldn't sign things without reading them. It might have said something about taking all of your money.
Nani?
Naruto, it was an analogy.
There you guys go with the big words again.
If sighs could be heard across thoughts, Naruto would have sworn that he heard one from Shino. He did hear an audible giggle from Hinata. Naruto was putting a large stopper on any thoughts that might include his female teammate and betrothed. It was hard enough to keep thoughts like, "Damn, she looks good!" out of his head without her giggling and making him think all the more about how damn cute she was when she did that.
Only twelve minutes to go.
Now don't start that again, Naruto.
Start what again, Shino?
That.
What?
You know exactly what I mean.
I don't have a clue what you're talking about.
Naruto… if I must gone through the next eleven minutes and thirty seconds like this I will go insane.
Let's all just rest our minds for a bit.
Sounds good.
Hai.
Instantly, three potential chunins closed their eyes and put down their pencils. Time to wait.
"Question 10, fools. But first, the last rule."
Time had run out and there were still over one hundred ninja left in the room. Of course, they thinned considerably due to the last rule. The exam director made sure of that. The last rule was that if you took the last question and got it wrong, you would stay a genin for the rest of your life, never able to take the exam again. But you could drop out now if you wanted to. Amazingly, not one of the rookie nine had been eliminated in the test and not one team looked ready to get out. Sakura looked nervous, but if Sasuke wasn't going to give in then he would just get angry at her if she quit. Kiba was too confident to give up. Ino saw that Sasuke was staying and decided to stay too. Shikamaru, the one most likely to just give up, didn't even flinch. It was as if he knew something everyone else didn't. Choji figured that if Shikamaru would stick it through, so could he.
Then there was Naruto, Hinata and Shino. With the mind link they shared they all told each other that there as no way they would lose the last question, no matter what it was. Hinata was worried, but not for herself. She was afraid that if she got it wrong Naruto would be penalized and then he would not be able to become Hokage. He assured her that, not only would she get the answer right, but even if they were penalized he would still become Hokage. After all, there weren't any rules saying you needed to be a certain rank to be Hokage.
They were all pleasantly surprised by the actual concept of the question. Naruto was slightly shocked, but noticed Shikamaru smirking. Naruto immediately rethought his opinion of the black haired ninja. If he had figured out that one… well, he must be smart. After a brief explanation of the last question and of the test in general, Shino had been right about the cheating nature of the test, the window was shattered by what appeared at first to be a ball of cloth. When the person landed in the room in front of a large poster and announced that the second part of the test would begin, Naruto and his team were ready. They were ready for anything.
78 genin were left after the first test. According to the minimally dressed but very scary lady that led them to the next testing site, she would cut the numbers at least in half. The jonin Anko reminded Naruto less of Kurenai then of the Gaara guy that was still in the running. He had never expected the sand team to actually get out on the first test. He could tell that they were strong and probably expected something like that.
Minutes after the first test had been finished they had all arrived at the gates to training grounds 44, the forest of death. If it hadn't been for the fact that he was surrounded by people who would probably turn out to be his enemies he would have laughed at the name. No originality at all. His team was going to rock at this test.
"… and rule number three, you can not open the scrolls before you reach the tower."
"Yeah yeah, just give use the scrolls already and let us at it!" Naruto instantly regretted saying that as the scary lady with no actual shirt on and only a very limited trench coat over her… assets, threw a kunai that barely grazed his cheek. Instantly she was behind Naruto and licking the small drizzle of blood.
"Mmm… young blood is always the first to be shed…" As she said this the cut on his cheek went from scratch to nothing. In the span of two seconds the scratch disappeared, leaving only the trademark whisker marks. Anko looked surprised at first, but then merely let go of him to spin around and face a grass ninja holding her first kunai with an abnormally long tongue. Naruto shivered at the lingering feeling of her tongue on his face, but got over it and mentally noted to never, ever piss the woman off again.
"Alright, the scrolls will be handed out in the hut over there. Line up and then go to your assigned gate." The woman licked her lips once more and glanced at Naruto. He met her eye contact with his own stare before she smirked and walked away.
"Go!" With an announcement over the speaker system the gate opened in front of team eight and they were off.
Alright, Naruto, Hinata. The key is just to get the earth scroll while keeping our heaven scroll. So I say we jump through the trees as high up as we can until we get closer to the tower.
Alright Shino. That's a good idea.
All three of the ninja immediately ran up the side of the nearest tree till they reached the highest branches that would be safe to jump from. Then they started off again. It was a simple matter of getting ten kilometers into a forest, and they had a river to follow. It would be easy. They were approaching the tower from the north and sticking to the river side trees. That way an attack couldn't come from their left.
After nearly half a day of tree jumping they took a break. Each just sat on a tree branch and listened for any movement.
"Shino, Hinata. You know, we should be getting pretty close to the tower by now. When we get there we should set up traps to catch a team unprepared and take their scroll. After all, if that is the ultimate goal, then that is where all the teams are going to be going eventually, right?"
"Makes sense."
"Hai, good idea, Naruto-kun."
"Alright, it's a plan then. Let's get there as fast as we can so that we…"
"Ahhhhh!" The entire team was suddenly on guard. A very human scream had just pierced the forest.
"You think some other team just bought it?"
"Naruto-kun, we should go see who it was at least. Maybe they have the earth scroll."
"Ok, sounds good. Let's go before they attract more attention to themselves."
Sasuke Uchiha was having a very, very bad day. Kiba had gone missing after a large wind produced by some stupid ass grass ninja calling himself Orochimaru. Then Kiba had come back covered in snake guts and his beast clone behind him. They had tried attacking the grass ninja, but had only managed to knock themselves unconscious. Sakura was frightened out of her mind and Sasuke was having trouble comprehending how the hell this guy was a genin. His sharingan was spinning fast and he felt his chakra draining as he attempted attack after attack at the guy. At least his fire attacks hit him. Apparently he either didn't care about being hit by a giant fire ball or he had never learned whatever Naruto had that made his fireball ineffective.
Still, it looked pretty hopeless when his opponent caught his very best plan of attack in his mouth and then shrugged off one of his best fire jutsus in his face. Sasuke was running out of chakra fast and knew, deep down, that whoever the bastard in front of him was, he would be his death…
At least, that was what he though until he saw an orange and yellow blur smash the ninja in the face off of the branch. Instantly he was surrounded by a shield of spinning… black things. It took him a moment in his exhaustion to see that it was a shield of insects and that not only were they protecting him and Sakura, but Kiba had also appeared, being carried on the back of the blind Hyuga. He didn't even think about how she was navigating by herself through the forest, he was far to tired to do that. Before he passed out, he saw Naruto and the grass ninja fighting each other through the shield. It shouldn't have been possible.
Naruto Uzumaki was having a very good day. His team had managed to come across a team of ninja almost completely dead from Konoha leaches. They had picked up their earth scroll, removed the leaches from the ninjas and helped them to a safe spot and then left. It wasn't until Shino told him that there was some fighting going on near where they were that Naruto even stopped grinning like a mad man. He figured that they could take a few moments out of their day to see what was up, despite Shino's comments about finishing the mission right then.
"Naruto, we have both scrolls. If we leave now we will make it to the tower in record time!"
"Yeah, but at what cost. What if it is some of our friends out there fighting? If they died when we could help them… I don't want that burden. Besides, it would benefit us in the long run to have people we know in the finals. It is much easier to fight someone when you know how they fight."
"…that is a good point… very well."
"Alright, show us the way to go!"
When he had seen team seven on their last legs he didn't even think, he just knew what to do. After performing a quick shadow clone jutsu and ordering his teammates to protect the other team he decked the stupid snake man in his jaw, and he felt it break. Oh, how good that felt. The ninja he hit fell through the branches, but before getting out of sight he was grabbed by three clones and thrown back at two of Naruto's other clones. Apparently the ninja had gotten over his shock at having his jaw being broken and in mid-flight he spun around and kicked both clones out of existence.
"Hmm… and who are you? Another mouse for me to devour?"
"Mouse? No, just ask my friends. I am a fox! And you look like a snake, but fox beats snake easily!" Orochimaru frowned at that comment, not knowing the basis behind it. Naruto started to charge the ninja again, and the snake ninja also charged. They were about to meet when Orochimaru was blasted from the side by two more of Naruto's clones in the ribs and head. A lesser ninja would have died. Orochimaru suddenly realized that he better start actually paying attention to the fight or he might possibly get hurt. Nothing his medic ninja couldn't fix, but still it was troublesome to break one's jaw.
Before he actually had the chance to unleash some of his massive strength, he saw exactly what he didn't want to. Standing in the tree tops behind the little blond haired brat were at least ten of the most powerful jonin in Konoha. Kakashi, Kurenai, Azuma, Anko, Ibiki, and various others that he knew to be dangerous all stood with frowns on their faces. Orochimaru hadn't even gotten a chance to mark the Uchiha yet. Damn it!
"It looks like I must retreat for now…" Orochimaru knew he would probably be able to defeat all of the ninja above him, but it would take time that he knew he didn't have. And in that time people might come that he wouldn't be able to fight with the rest of them combined. The snake ninja sunk into the ground with a sneer, vowing revenge on the brat with whiskers… whiskers…
Oh, so that is what he is. Now I understand his chakra level. Well, the Kyuubi brat will die… or maybe I'll just experiment on him. But the Uchiha… he is destined to be mine…
After the ninja had left completely and been gone for a few minutes Naruto released his henges and clones. The jonin in the trees instantly turned into Naruto shadow clones and then into smoke. He turned and smiled at Sasuke, who was trying to catch his breath. Sakura was staring open mouthed at the ground the snake had sunk into. Kiba… was still unconscious.
"Well Sasuke, it looks like he got scared away by little old me."
"You mean he was too busy trying to kill us to notice the jonin in the trees were just clones."
"That's what I said!"
"Whatever… dobe."
"Oh well, saved your ass. Come on, Hinata and Shino. We need to head off if we want to finish this sucker."
"Wait!" Naruto turned to see Sasuke on his knees and trying to stand. "Aren't you… going to try to take our scroll?"
"Nope, got two already. See you in the finals!" With that the blond haired enigma and his team vanished into the tree tops, leaving a still staring Sakura, unconscious Kiba, and confused and angry Sasuke. All he could think of was how the dobe had gotten a scroll that fast. Probably it was just dumb luck... probably...
Naruto pushed open the massive doors to the tower just as his watch said midnight. He still had a grin on. His team had just wiped the floor with a team from sand that wasn't the one with Gaara. They had tried to take a scroll, but Hinata had been the one with the scrolls. They assumed that because the headband blocked her vision of them that she wouldn't notice them. They were sadly mistaken when two of them found themselves with one punctured lung and busted ribs while the other would forever have an intense fear of insects… enough said. Naruto shivered at the memory of the insects crawling over the screaming ninja until he stopped from unconsciousness or from finding out that opening one's mouth while covered in insects was a bad thing. In seconds his chakra was depleted enough that he went into a deep sleep while his two partners met unconsciousness in a more painful way, by Naruto's fist.
They walked into the dimly lit tower and Naruto pumped his fist into the air. They only saw one other team on their way to the top. Gaara's team appeared to have already finished a while ago and they were resting on the floor. Except for Gaara. Gaara stood, leaning against a wall as stiff as a board. His eyes followed Naruto as his team entered the final chamber of the tower. Hinata read the poster in the room.
"What the hell does that mean?"
"There are words missing, Naruto-kun."
"We should open the scrolls, Naruto."
"Alright, the let's do it." Naruto tossed the heaven scroll to Hinata and he held the earth scroll. "Ready, set… go."
Both of them opened their scrolls to find an interesting seal in each, with the kanji for 'person' in the middle. As they began to smoke Naruto grabbed Hinata's scroll, thinking they might explode, and threw them at the ground across the room. The smoke kept rising and rising until it began to clear. When it cleared there was none other then Iruka standing on the scrolls.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called over to him with a wave. Hinata stared at him, wondering how they had summoned Iruka with the scrolls. Shino just watched, as usual.
"Naruto? Hinata and Shino, too? Wow, you made it in great time. And it looks like the only one even scratched up is Naruto, as usual."
"Hey, Iruka-sensei, I had to fight a really good guy."
"He's right, Iruka-sensei. Naruto-kun barely fought off a crazy man with a long tongue that was trying to kill Sasuke!"
"What is that, Hinata?" Iruka went silent for a few seconds, lost in thought. Then he just gave them a smile.
"Well, at least you are here safe and sound. Good job. You arrived the first day, so you get four days to rest until the third part of the test." Naruto sighed. A few days rest? He was ready to go, now.
"So, Naruto. How are you doing as a team? How is you jutsu working out?"
"Oh, everything is fine. The Hokage has is now, it's finished. After this exam the Hokage is allowed to let people besides ANBU learn it. We rock as a team. Hinata and Shino are super strong ninja and I… well I can hold my own."
"Naruto is being modest. He defeated a jonin level ninja on our last mission."
"Really? You all will have to tell me all about it over a bowl of ramen after the third test."
"ALRIGHT! FREE RAMEN ON IRUKA-SENSEI!" Iruka shock his head with a smile. Naruto might change in little ways, but he never lost his love for ramen or his energetic attitude. Or… that's what he thought until Naruto just decided to take a nap in the middle of the floor. His teammates just stared at him for a second as if he was joking, but then they thought about how much chakra he had used to hold up bunshins and henges at the same time combined with fighting.
"I guess he is tired…"
"Naruto-kun…"
"Well, at least he is quieter like this…"
"Shino, that wasn't very nice."
"But it was true, Hinata. Even you must notice that it is, indeed, quieter."
"Yes, but…"
"Hinata, no matter what I say, you and Naruto are still my friends and teammates."
"Alright, Shino…"
"Well, you three need a place to stay. Down one floor you should find room number 2, the key to it is right here, it has three beds so get some rest. I need to go back to headquarters and wait for the next team to arrive."
"Bye, sensei."
"Rest well." Iruka waved as Hinata and Shino carefully picked Naruto up by his arms and slowly walked down the stairs. The genin always grew up so fast. First they learn to be ninja, then they do their d ranked missions, then they kill jonin level ninja...
Wait a minute...
"A Jonin level ninja? What the hell is with Kurenai, or the Hokage for that matter? From Kakashi I would expect this, but from Kurenai..."
As Iruka ranted on about the insanity of the situation, team eight was walking towards their room. They might not have had a scratch, but their legs were tired enough. They found room 2 and immediately put Naruto on his bed, where Hinata tucked him in, and then went to sleep. It was a record time, under 12 hours, yet Gaara's team had been faster. But then again, none of them really cared at that moment. They had made it to the third test.
AN: Like the soon update? Me too. Thanks for the reviews.