Once again, I have a lot of free time. I have yet to find a Beta, so if you see a mistake, please do tell me about it. I'll correct it as soon as possible.
Summary:
Naruto grew up in another village, a non-ninja village, where team Kakashi is coincidently having a mission.
Chapter 12
Kakashi sighed at the sight. All the special Jounins of the Genin teams in Konoha were gathered. "Well, I guess it's time to announce it, huh?" he muttered, scratching the back of his head.
"It's not surprising for us at all," Kurenai said, "we already knew about it, Hokage-sama."
"Well, the official announcement still has to be done," Asuma responded.
"Yosh, my youthful Genins will take this exam!" Gai exclaimed with enormous confidence.
"Well, I'll announce it properly now," the Hokage started, as he looked at the Jounins assembled in front of him, "seven days from now, on the first day of the seventh moon, the Chunin selection exam will commence!"
*o*o*o*
"My name is Konohamaru, Sarutobi Konohamaru!" a boy exclaimed looking up at the Suna-nin, who was wearing all-black and some purple face paint. "I'm the honored grandson of the Hokage! You can't just do this to me!"
The ninja didn't look impressed at all, actually, he looked amused. "So what, do you really think that I care? I'm the son of the Kazekage, being the grandson is like a distant relative," he said laughing.
"Kankuro," the other Suna-nin said in a warning tone. "Stop that, or you'll get scolded later."
"He probably won't know of this, Temari," the ninja, identified as Kankuro, answered. "Besides it's this brat's fault for bumping into me, I could've been hurt before the Chunin exams!"
"I'm not involved then," Temari said.
"Ah," another one said, and as the two ninjas looked over, they saw a blonde-haired kid. "Um, is there a problem here?"
He looks Gaara's age, Kankuro thought. Yet, there is no headband. Either he failed, or he's a civilian. "Shoo, kid, this doesn't concern you."
"You're right it doesn't," he agreed. "But, um, I have to go this way to the training grounds, and you're blocking the way. Besides, he's just a kid; he didn't do it on purpose, right, Konohamaru-kun?" The blonde-haired boy looked at the honored grandson, with a smile, and he couldn't help but smile as well.
"What's with that happy-go-lucky atmosphere around you?" Konohamaru asked the blonde-haired boy. "Who are you? I've never seen you in the village before."
"Stop having a conversation when I'm threatening to hit you!" Kankuro scolded. "You, Blondie, go another way if you can't slip past us!" What's his business with the training grounds? He's not even a ninja. Heck, he looks freaking timid and he has no muscles at all!
"Don't hit him," he said. "Ah, I'm Uzumaki Naruto; I'm from the Corn village. I've been here for about a month now…"
"Eh, that's a small village," Konohamaru rudely, remarked.
"Ah, but to the case," Naruto said, coughing into his hand. "Please let him go."
"Naruto-kun!" another voice called out, revealing a pink-haired girl.
Kankuro sighed in frustration. "And another freak arrives!" This one is a ninja…
"Eh, Suna-ninjas?" she questioned, looking at the two ninjas. "Is it already time for the foreigners to arrive, and what the hell are you doing to that kid?! Let him go immediately!"
"Sakura-san," Naruto muttered. "Apparently, Konohamaru-kun bumped into him and now he's being threatened… Ah, but please don't hit him, Kankuro-san, was it?"
"Kankuro?" Sakura questioned once again. "You hear me, Kankuro you bastard! Stop causing trouble in our village, you're merely a visitor, you should behave!"
"Who the hell are you?!" the Suna-nin yelled.
"Haruno Sakura, a Konoha Genin," she answered. "Now, I'll have to ask you once again, let the kid go, or I'll report this to Hokage-sama."
"Ah, so you're participating in the Chunin exams?" Naruto asked, with a smile. "Sakura-san, people from other countries are joining too? I didn't know that."
Sakura nodded in respond. "Two times a year, a village gets chosen as the host of the Chunin exams. This time it's Konoha's, so ninjas all over the world comes to participate. Although, Iwagakure doesn't show when it's Konoha."
"Why?"
"Because the fourth defeated them singlehanded."
Naruto's face lit up. "The fourth Hokage did? That's amazing, he was so strong!"
*o*o*o*
"Now, first those who're watching over the new Genins," Hiruzen said. "Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma, are there any of your Genins, who you would like to recommend? I don't have to tell you but, they'll need at least eight completed mission, before they qualify to take the Chunin exams. Let's start with Kakashi."
"The Kakashi led team seven, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, under the name of Hatake Kakashi, I nominate them to take the Chunin selection exams," Kakashi responded, holding the half of a ram sign in front of his mask. "Of course, we do not have enough members, so I also nominate an unauthorized ninja, Uzumaki Naruto."
"An illegal ninja?" another Jounin questioned. "Is that even possible?"
"Instead of illegal, I would prefer unofficial," he corrected. "Uzumaki Naruto of the Corn village, he has shown outstanding talent for the art of ninja. He has completed three out of four of the important arts. Kenjutsu, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and, he is on his way with Genjutsu under the supervision of Yuuhi Kurenai. All the same with his natural born chakra control. He is specially trained for this Chunin exam."
"What about the required missions?" Kurenai asked. "Even if he does pass your little test, he still can't complete the eight missions at the same time that I'm teaching him about Genjutsu. Did you even consider any of this?"
"I did!" Kakashi said, and then looked at Hiruzen. "I was hoping that he could be an exception maybe…?"
The Hokage chuckled. "Then, I'll let him enter the Chunin exams, if he can make the eight missions of course."
Kakashi sighed. "Wha~t?"
"I can't make an exception, Kakashi," he answered. "But I can give him the eight easiest missions, and then we can register him as an official ninja. That way he can enter the Chunin exams."
"But Naruto-kun can't make it then," the teacher complained, slightly.
"Wait, Uzumaki Naruto?" the other academy teacher, who was sitting beside Iruka, questioned. "Isn't it that boy who disappeared a long time ago? If I recall, you call him the Forgotten Boy. Why didn't you send a search party if he was that valuable of a future ninja? Moreover, isn't he the host of Kyuubi?"
"Mizuki-sensei," Iruka said in a warning tone. "You shouldn't speak of that here."
"No, no, it's alright," Kakashi answered. "He is that boy, yes. I'm surprised you remember him."
"Of course I do, he was a little troublemaker, even at such a young age," Mizuki said. "But why is he back now?"
"We found him-"
"Moreover," the third said, coughing into his hand to get their attention. "Kakashi has nominated two, plus a third. Kurenai?"
"The Kurenai led team eight, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuga Hinata," she started, with a half a ram sign in front of her face, "under the name of, Yuuhi Kurenai, nominate them to the Chunin selection exams."
"Asuma?"
"The Asuma led team ten, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji," he started out, with the same gesture as Kurenai and Kakashi, "under the name of Sarutobi Asuma, I nominate them to the Chunin selection exams."
"Hm," the Hokage mumbled, "all of them, how rare."
"Well then," Kurenai started, "I have to go and meet Naruto-kun for his third Genjutsu lesson. If you'll excuse me…"
"You're excused," Hiruzen answered, as the woman disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Well then, for last year's graduates, we only have team Gai, so please step forward."
Gai stepped forward, as told, and held a hand in the same half ram sign as the other teachers did. "The Gai led team nine, Hyuga Neji, Tenten, Rock lee," he started out, "under the name of Maito Gai; I nominate them to the Chunin selection exams."
*o*o*o*
"Don't go and ignore the fact that I am threatening this brat!" Kankuro shouted at them. "You were all for saving him before!"
Naruto-kun looked really happy at the fourth Hokage comment, Sakura thought, whilst staring at the mentioned boy. "Right, what did the boy do again?"
"He bumped into me!" he exclaimed. "Wouldn't you want to beat up a brat, who bumped into you without apologizing?!"
"He didn't apologize?" Naruto questioned. "That's wrong, Konohamaru-kun, you have to apologize to him."
"Wha~t?" Konohamaru whined, and then noticed that his friends were still there. "Moegi, Udon! Say something, damn it!"
"B-But… he looks scary," Moegi stuttered, and Udon agreed with her with a nod and a sniff.
"Oh, you're scared?" the boy muttered, sarcastically. "Try seeing this in my point of view! You would be shitting your pants if you were me! You hear me?!"
"I give up," Kankuro said, with a sigh. "This is too tiresome! Why the hell is Konoha such a stupid village?"
"Yo," a new voice said, and they turned to see Sasuke. "What's going on here? Ah, the foreigners have already arrived, huh? Naruto, why aren't you at the training grounds yet? You do know you only have four more days, after today, to learn about Genjutsu, right? Get going, already."
"S-Sorry, but Kankuro-san was threatening Konohamaru-kun and…" Naruto stuttered, and trailed off when he saw Kankuro staring at him. "W-What's wrong…?"
"You're a ninja?" he asked.
Naruto averted his eyes slightly as he thought about how to answer that. If I do well in Genjutsu, then I'm a ninja, if I don't, then I'm not… Should I just say that I'm a ninja in training? Yeah, I should just say that, he thought with a smile. "I'm-"
"He's a ninja," Sakura and Sasuke answered in unison, interrupting Naruto, too.
He sighed, and scratched the back of his head. Should I just agree? "What they said…" Why did they even say that? They don't know whether I'll pass, or not… This is getting messy… Okay, we have Temari-san and Kankuro-san from Suna, the village hidden in the sand, and we have the three kids from Konoha, Moegi-chan, Udon-kun and Konohamaru-kun… Ah, I remembered their names!
"Why are you smiling?" Sasuke asked him.
"Ah," he stuttered and averted his eyes once again. "Y-You called me a ninja, I guess…"
"You're not?" the girl from Suna, Temari, said, finally joining in on their conversation. "Well, you do look a little skinny for a ninja…"
"I'm still in training," Naruto answered, honestly, earning a nudge in his rips on both sides. Sakura and Sasuke had bored their elbows into them, as a sign for him to shut up. W-What was that for? Naruto thought, confused.
Sakura whispered to him in respond to the question he had just thought about: "Don't reveal that you're still in training, they are the enemy in the Chunin exams. It'll be dangerous if rumor got out that we have a novice on the team."
"It's a bad thing?" he questioned.
Sasuke pulled in on their conversation. "That's a really bad thing," he whispered. "If they knew, or any other team for that matter, then we would become their first target. We would be killed on the spot, so listen to us and keep your mouth shut."
Naruto's face paled slightly. I knew being a ninja was dangerous, but to be killed during an exam… I wonder how their academy exam was like, he thought, as he imagined the horror that could've taken place in Konoha. He really missed the Corn, now.
"Kankuro, Temari," yet, another new voice, said from the trees, startling everyone around them. The boy in the tree had bright red hair and no eyebrows above his green-blue eyes with black bags surrounding them. He looked intimidating, and he sent out a dangerous aura. "Stop causing trouble and behave."
"G-Gaara," Kankuro muttered, with clear fear.
Sand surrounded the red-haired boy as he disappeared from the tree and appeared again on the ground in front of the two Konoha-nins and Naruto. "I'm sorry for my siblings' behavior, it won't happen again," Gaara said, and then looked back at the two Suna-nins. "Let's go, Baki is waiting for us."
The two of them nodded in fear, as they walked past the Konoha-nins and Naruto, but not without a single glance from Gaara, accidently locking eyes with the blonde-haired Corn villager…
"I won't be here much longer," a voice said, looking out at giant animals, yet they were still babies. Some of them were of one species, whilst others were mixed. "Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuou, Saiken, Choumei, Gyuuki, Kurama, you will always be together even if you are separated. And one day, you will all become one…"
A man with a long coat, decorated with nine tomoes and above those, five circles which became smaller and smaller, surrounding a dot. Two small lines at the sides were also visible, and he was holding a stick in his right hand.
"With different names… in different forms than you exist now. And unlike when you were within me, you will be led down the right path."
Naruto and Gaara turned both to each other, equally shocked at what they had seen, and in unison they asked one another: "Who're you?"
In the next chapter, I will begin the Chunin exams. Sorry if this chapter was a little messy, but I have a fever right now, so I don't know what I'm writing. The same goes for the chapter, which was released yesterday, I didn't feel too well, but I managed.
Sorry if anything I wrote was confusing, and any questions will be answered. Until next time, WOSH.
…
I've noticed that every time I try to write "messy", I start with writing "Messi"… I've watched too much soccer…
