Chapter 12:
The day had finally arrived, it was the start of the chunin exams and all of Konoha was excited. It meant foreign dignitaries would be arriving soon and great business for the civilians. And so the entire village was abuzz with activity. Naruto had been awake for a while and was looking over the village from atop Hokage Mountain, as he watched the hustle and the bustle Naruto thought over the last two months of training and how far everyone had progressed. With the help of the new arrivals team seven will pass this exam easily.
Sasuke had become decent wielding the zanbato, enough to the point that Sasuke was ready to use it in battle. With his jutsu he was progressing into a specialist category. Sasuke had asked Naruto to teach him some seals but realized even with the sharingan he had neither real talent nor the patience for learning seals.
Sakura had been progressing quickly with her elemental manipulation and her medical ninjutsu. She was on par with most of the doctors in the hospital and her earth jutsu was equal to Sasuke's fire manipulation. She as well as the Uchiha were now using gravity seals to only about fifty percent more gravity.
Naruto had become adept at seals and was trying to perfect his speed in making them for combat situations so far he needed only two minutes to complete a chain array. Other than that he had been working on his wind and lightning jutsus but mainly focused on his kenjutsu and taijutsu. He had been trying to get Kenshin to spar with him but to no avail. The red haired man really didn't want to pass on his style, though that didn't stop others from watching him practice.
As Naruto looked out over the village he recalled the incident that happened yesterday on a date with Ino, who was officially, was his girlfriend now.
Flashback:
Naruto was enjoying the day with Ino; they had been just walking around the village not really going anywhere just enjoying each other's company. As they were sitting on a bench, Naruto noticed a square rock making his way towards them. He sighed it was Konohamaru, ever since he helped the kid out of a bind he had been following him around with the grandkids of the elders, which was troublesome to quote Shikamaru.
The "rock" had exploded showing the pipsqueaks coughing from the amount of smoke. "Too much powder" complained the shorter boy with glasses. The two midgets proceeded to introduce themselves, though looking back Naruto couldn't remember their names. "Naruto-nii, will you play ninja with us?" asked the grandson of the Hokage. "Sorry Konohamaru, I am on a date, maybe sometime soon" replied the blonde as he wrapped an arm around Ino. "Ok, we will see you later then." Said the slightly crestfallen academy student as he and his friends ran off own an alley.
Naruto and Ino were just about to resume their date when they heard a child yell. Recognizing Konohamaru's voice both blondes ran in the direction the voice came from. They found the young boy being held up by the collar by a Suna ninja in a cat suit and a wrapped bundle on his back. Naruto acted in flash and before Ino could blink was bind the Suna nin with his sword at his neck, "Drop the boy Suna or you'll be sent back to Suna a foot shorter." The offending nin dropped Konohamaru, who ran to hide behind Ino. "Please let my idiot brother go, we apologize and it won't happen again," a female called cried out seeing the danger her brother was in. Naruto removed hi s sword from the neck of his captive and turned to face the voice, it was of course a girl, she was blonde with four pigtails and a large fan strapped to her back. Once the sword was removed the cat boy walked over to the girl who started berating said boy about what would happen if a third person found out. That was when everyone felt a malevolent aura appear behind the siblings. It turned out to be a young man the same age as Naruto and Ino, he had short red hair, he had a red tattoo above the left eye that read love. The new comer had green eyes and dark circles around his eyes. Naruto knew who he was the instant he laid eyes on him, (Mifune had him learn the names and faces of the other jinchūriki) and knew the boy in front as the holder of the Ichibi.
"Subaku no Gaara, son of the Kazekage, I assume these are your teammates?" asked Naruto looking at the exhausted boy. The barest of nods came from Gaara "What is your name? And Why is mother calling for your blood?" asked the deranged boy. Naruto sighed as he looked at the red head before answering, "Naruto Namikaze, and it's probably because I watch the ninth." This got a confused look from Ino and Konohamaru but shocked and fearful look from the siblings. "Hn, I will kill you, Kankuro, Temari I will see you at the hotel" and with that he disappeared in a swirl of sand.
After that the siblings left as did Konohamaru, Naruto turned to Ino and saw her looking at him with a hard look, "What were you talking about back there?" she asked her hands going t her hips. Sighing Naruto looked at her knowing he would have to tell her, but not just Ino he knew he would have to tell his team as well seeing as they were about to undergo a major test. "I will tell you here soon but we have to find my team it is something I only want to go over once" he offered a sad smile, Ino seeing the expression nodded and followed the blonde as they went searching for is teammates.
They found Sakura at the hospital and Sasuke was with Sanosuke sparring with their zanbato. They both saw the look on their teammates face and immediately followed him as he led them to the memorial stone. They all sat in front of him as Ino relayed what had happened with Gaara, they like Ino wanted to know what Naruto meant when he said holder of the ninth. The blonde took a deep and proceeded to tell his friends what had happened on the night of his birth and how he was the jailer of the nine tailed fox. He was expecting them to react badly so he kept his eyes shut. What he didn't expect were arms wrapped around him "Well that must be a nice power boost" came the voice of Sasuke from a few feet away making Naruto chuckle as he opened his eye in time to see Ino lean in and kiss him, returning the kiss Naruto felt accepted. As Naruto walked Ino home they talked about tem and decided that they should be an official couple now, they parted with a good luck kiss for the exams coming up.
Flashback End:
Naruto looked towards the academy and determined that he only had an hour before the exam started so he decided to head that way. He jumped off the mountain and landed on his biological father's statue nose and from there leapt using futon chakra and landed on top of the tower. From there it was literally a short hope and a skip to the academy as he landed at the gates a moment later. He sat beneath a tree in a lotus position and started trying to manipulate the charka pulse to become a sphere that expands from his position. It was going slowly and he could only make a sphere go from one foot from his position. This is how his teammates found him forty five minutes later.
"Hurry up we only have fifteen minutes till the exam starts" cried Sakura leading them inside. Sasuke saw the genjutsu before the others and motioned for them to keep walking. When they had arrived they saw Kakashi waiting for them. "Finally I was a little worried" with an eye smile he wished them luck and walked to the Jonin viewing area.
Steeling themselves for the next step in their shinobi careers as they opened the door and walked inside.
A/N: Oaky I am sorry this took longer than the last few but I have been busy with getting things ready for work. As soon as this is loaded I am starting on thirteen and maybe even fourteen.
And remember that I enjoy all forms of criticism.
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Dragon Vongola
