Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, unfortunately. Check end of chapter for author's notes, Q&A and a special treat.
Naruto was sitting in a chair with a bored expression. If Idate didn't gave him the extremely valuable information about the exams he would probably be nervous now. Like the rookies from Teams 7 and 8. However he knew how this worked, and with the knowledge, he met with his team before the start of the exams. This test was all about cheating, Naruto himself saw the nine questions, and he could only answer two or maybe three correctly. His team would probably fare even worse than him. However this was about cheating, so he wasn't worried. Before the exam begin, he came up with a strategy with his team: Hinata would use her Byakugan to copy the answers of one of the Chunins infiltrated on the room, then Shino's bugs would mark her answers to him and Naruto by landing on the correct alternatives. There was no risk of discovery as the kikaichū Shino handpicked for the task were extremely small.
So with his free time, he decided to check how competition was faring. Team 8 used Ino's Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique) to copy a Chunin's answers and then to pass it to Shikamaru, who proceeded to catch Chōji with his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Technique) and simultaneously filled both papers.
The team 9, consisting of Lee, Tenten and Neji was employing a similar tactic to Team 10, with Neji copying the answers with the Byakugan and Tenten using her headband as mirror to give Lee the answers.
The Gaara guy formed an eye using sand and was copying from a chunin. The makeup guy was trying, and failing miserably to not get caught cheating using a puppet.
Looking to the members of Team 7 he saw that Kiba was sweating bullets and the ever composed and emotionless Sasuke Uchiha had a trail of sweat running in his face, however Naruto could see his Sharingan active, probably copying the writing of one of the chunins.
Sakura was her team exception, Naruto knew the girl was smart, her intelligence was one of the things that made Naruto notice, and even develop a crush on the girl. The pink haired beauty was answering the test, without cheating and looked very comfortable with it. Naruto considered himself to be intelligent, if you compared his grades at academy with Sakura or even Ino, who was almost in the same level as Sakura, he would lose. Of course he was hiding his true colors, but even if he was taking things seriously he doubted he would have best grades than the best friends/rivals duo. Sakura and Ino had what Naruto called booksmarts, solving math problems, deciphering a coded message, knowing who the wife of the second daimyo of Land of Fire was. Basically all things deemed as useless when you went to the field according to most shinobi. Naruto had a different view, whilst he not deemed the booksmarts as totally useless, he regarded it a highly situational knowledge. Naruto and Shikamaru had a different type of intelligence, a tactical smart one, although Naruto considered himself well versed in the street smarts one too.
The street smart was all about quick thinking and perception, besides some foreseeing of the opponent's behavior. Naruto, due to his pranking ability was a master in this particular type of intelligence. He was pretty confident that he could easily make his way through any building in the entire village, perform a prank and leave unrecognized. His Kage Bunshin and Henge clearly helped with achieving this, but he had his fair share of knowledge about the targets behavior to be able to formulate a plan, that, usually, was an unorthodox one. Naruto's street smarts usage in battle was also interesting, although he usually refrained from using this particular approach due to his "high-risk high-reward dynamics".
The only two times Naruto could remember using that line of thinking were his fights with Aoi Rokushō and Kimimaro. When he fought Aoi, his biggest concern was securing Idate's and his team safety, reason why he volunteered to fight the jonin. Naruto's high risk high-reward move in this fight was impaling himself in a non-vital area with the Raijin no Ken, and use the opening to mutilate Aoi's right arm and behead him. The gamble was ultimately successful as Aoi overestimated him and Shino and Hinata were able to take care of his team beforehand.
The second time he thought about using this kind of tactic was when he was being poked full of holes by Kimimaro. He thought about faking that he was already dead, whilst he would still have at least a few more minutes of life, to do a surprise attack at Kimimaro and Orochimaru. Of course the attack wouldn't have the slightest chance of changing the battle, but would be a distraction to prevent them from killing the Ino-Shika-Chō and the Kazekage. Naruto then would use his Shadow clones in conjunction with the Henge to buy them time. If he hadn't died from the wounds, blood loss or chakra exhaustion, he would make sure to kill himself, with a Katon jutsu, to prevent the enemy from getting his hands on his Uzumaki clan heritage or, in the worst of the cases, the Kyubi. Thankfully, he didn't need to use that tactic as the Kazekage and the Ino-Shika-Chō kept stalling the Sannin, buying time for the reinforcements to arrive.
Naruto was brought out of his reflections when he heard Ibiki announcing the tenth question. Naruto made sure to inform his team about the true meaning of the question because he knew that Team 10 had to make a statement. The Hyūga council already disrespected Hinata and Naruto feared that they would use a possible failure to force the Caged Bird Seal on her. Shino understood that and agreed. However, Naruto didn't disclosed the information to the other teams. He thought that, if they weren't able to get the objective of the test, they would only be walking towards an early grave. This was a test after all.
As Ibiki finished his announcement, Naruto saw cries of outrage from several of the genin present in the room. As the uproar cleared, several genin made their way out of the room. Naruto once again checked the Teams he knew. Everybody seemed confident. Excluding one Sakura Haruno. The girl reluctantly was halfway through raising her hand in resignation. Keyword was, because she was affected by a genjutsu. Naruto, using his ever progressing sensory abilities, managed to trace the genjutsu back to: Sasuke?
As Naruto realized what happened he felt angry, the Uchiha deliberately casted a genjutsu on her own teammate so he could progress to the next phase. Sakura seemed to understand the message the Uchiha sent, as she lowered her hand and her head. Naruto could only shake his head at the action of the Uchiha.
"So to the seventy two of you who still stayed here, congratulations on passing the first stage exams." Ibiki was probably going to make a speech about the importance of the test, but he was interrupted by a woman breaking the windows as she jumped into a cannonball form.
"Not this shit again." Ibiki thought
The Cannonball form woman then threw two kunai, which hanged a banner on the walls.
"THE AMANZING SEXY AND STILL SINGLE ANKO MITARASHI, PROCTOR OF THE SECOND STAGE OF THE CHUNIN EXAMS." Was the writing on the banner.
Everyone present sweatdropped at Anko's antics, with exception of Kiba and the makeup guy from Suna, who instead drooled at Anko's revealing outfit.
Anko had light brown pupil less eyes and had a violet hair, tied in a spiky ponytail, however her most recognizable feature were her choice of clothes. She wears a fitted mesh body suit that covers her from her neck down to her thigh. Over this, she wears a tan overcoat and dark orange mini-skirt.
"Don't celebrate just yet. I'm the second stage proctor Anko Mitarashi. Meet me at the forest of death in 30 minutes." She said before disappearing via Shunshin.
As Naruto was leaving together with his team he heard Ibiki's voice calling him. He instructed his team to go ahead of him as he went to talk with Ibiki.
"You're Naruto Uzumaki right?"
"Yep."
"You went to a mission some time ago…"
"I know what you're talking about" he said cutting of the interrogator "and yes, I've met your brother."
"And how he's doing?"
"He's a trusted friend of the clan head that controls the town. He seemed well liked by the other members of the clan."
"Naruto, I'm going ask you something particular. Idate told him how he left Konoha?" as he got a nod from Naruto he proceeded to explain. "I've been gathering evidence that would clear Idate's charge of treason against the village, Inoichi was able to gather some good info by reading Aoi's brain, however the more supporters to my case I get, the higher will be the chance of the council to accept my request to pardon Idate."
"So you want me to support your case?"
"Yes."
"Don't worry, I will, Idate's did nothing wrong and I like to see justice being made." Naruto explained
Ibiki then gave Naruto a rare smile
"Thank you, Naruto Uzumaki."
"Now I have important matters to attend to." Naruto justified before using the Shunshin to teleport to the Forest of Death, leaving Ibiki alone mumbling about people showing off with the Shunshin.
Team 10 knelt to the ground in a clearing in the Forest of Death, as Naruto revised the strategy.
"So, before we begin, let's do run over of our plans, ok?" he asked getting nods from Shino and Hinata.
"Our objective here is to quickly snatch an Earth Scroll as we were given a Heaven Scroll and then make our way to the Center Tower. We don't want to spend much time here as we will suffer from the forest attrition and risk being target of ambushes."
"First part of the strategy is to lure traps around our initial area, considering we have Hinata's Byakugan, Shino's kikaichū and I've studied the maps of the forest we should have no problem in defeating more than one team, in fact we will attempt to accumulate various scrolls, as we would be both securing an bargaining chip and reducing the number of competitors in the next round."
"After one day, or four amassed scrolls we begin the second and final part of the plan. We must stealthy reach the tower avoiding traps and ambushes. Hinata, your Byakugan will be very important in this part, so I need you fully rested. Should you need a break me and Shino will work together to cover the lack of Byakugan. Should we engage an enemy team at this stage we will quickly estimate their skill, and react accordingly, defeating them if they were weaker or using my Kage Bunshin to escape them."
"Understood?"
"Hai." The rest of the team responded
"Before we begin our task here I'd like to pint a few things. One, death will be part of this exam, I don't want to kill anybody, neither for you to kill anybody, but this is possible and if this happens you must keep your focus. I killed, more than once, and it's horrible, but I'd rather kill thousands of enemies before I let them get to my companions."
"Two, if we somehow find people from other teams needing assistance with any matters, should it be medical assistance, wild animals or even extreme cases as assassination attempts or rape, we are allowed to help. Although I suggest you to always tread carefully as it could very well be a trap from the enemy."
"Finally, after Kiba announced publicly that I have a bounty on my head, so we will probably have some teams, especially from Ame, trailing after me, during the early stage we will use this as advantage and lure them into traps. Should it happen after we completed the first part of the strategy we will use the standard approach we agreed on.
"I also have to keep an eye on Hinata, Kumo tried to kidnap her once, they can try something again"
"I also took the liberty of ordering some camouflage for us, dark green because it would allow is to blend in the forest both during daytime and nighttime." He said revealing a sealing scroll. The scroll revealed outfits similar to the outfits that Team 10 usually wore, the only difference was that they were a dark green color.
As everybody changed clothes, Team 10 was ready.
"That being said, let's get this show on the road." Naruto said.
Team 10 didn't had time to even lay a single trap as a team from Ame confronted them.
"Beige stitched clothes, white sashes around the eyes, rebreather…"
"Hey, are those the guys from Land of Tea?" Naruto asked turning to Shino
"Yes…"
"Naruto Uzumaki…" Oboro said "… I'm going to kill you and avenge my sensei."
"Your sensei was a traitor." Naruto said ignoring the glares Team Oboro sent towards him and turning to his teammates. "How did you defeat them last time?"
"They used a Bunshin to hide themselves, but Hinata saw through the jutsu with her Byakugan and knocked them out."
Team Oboro, tired of being ignored, used the Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu (Haze Clone Technique) to replicate their numbers.
"Those aren't real bodies, the reals aren't amongst them." Hinata said.
"They fled?" Naruto thought
However his instincts kicked in as he saw a head emerging from the ground, trying to sneak on Hinata. Naruto swiftly attacked the emerging opponent, forcing him underground.
"They are hiding underground with a Doton jutsu. In this case…"
"Shino, can you levitate yourself and Hinata with you kikaichū?" Shino nodded before using his kikaichū to create a cloud of sorts, levitating the duo.
Naruto performed the required handseals:
"Raiton: Sandāboruto (Lightning Release: Thunderbolt)." but instead of extending his arms sidewards he directed them to the ground, unleashing a powerful jolt of electricity at Team Oboro and causing a big explosion.
As the explosion cleared Team 10 glanced at the three holes created by the attack, each containing a body of the team Oboro.
"They are just knocked out." Naruto said to Shino and Hinata "for a long time." He added
"Let's check their possessions."
After searching for a few minutes, Naruto found a Earth scroll.
"We did it." He said holding the scroll upwards.
"Great." Hinata said enthusiastically. "We move on now?"
"I think we should wait." Shino said
"I agree with Shino."
"We certainly drew attention for us with this explosion, but we weren't harmed, so let's lay some traps, wait for some hours before departing again. The enemy will probably rush thinking about attacking us before we have a chance to recover, let's use this to our benefit."
Team 10 then laid several traps with Hinata identifying the best spots, Shino using kikaichū as composition of the traps and Naruto using his Kage Bunshin as workforce.
"We're done, let's wait for about four hours." Naruto explained. "Hinata-chan there's no need to use the Byakugan now, I can use my sensory skills. Rest because we're going to need your Byakugan for the next phase of the plan."
Four hours later, they managed to get two other heaven scrolls from the teams that were caught in their traps. As they headed to the tower, Shino noticed Naruto's worried expression.
"Naruto is there anything wrong?" he asked concerned.
"No… I don't know… what I'm meaning is that things are too calm here, this Forest is known for being home to gigantic animals, don't you think it's strange that we're that quiet, especially since it isn't nightfall yet?"
"Now that you mention it…"
"Hinata-chan, can you see anything strange with you Byakugan?"
"N-no, but things are way to quiet." She said stuttering a bit as Naruto used the 'chan' after her name.
"Maybe I'm just over worrying…" Naruto began only to be cut by a strong wind and killing intent.
"Me and my big mouth…"
"That's about 2 or 3 kilometers from here. I'll send a Shadow clone." He said crossing his fingers in the cross gesture.
"Go, find out what happened and dispel." He instructed his clone, who nodded before taking off.
Five minutes later the memories from the clone came back to Naruto.
"Shit…Sakura…" he then turned to his team "Guys, Sakura and Team 7 are in trouble, I must go help them."
"O-okay, but we are going with you." Hinata said
"No, not yet, give me thirty minutes before you go after me." Naruto said
The reason he said that is that if his prediction was correct he will be facing Orochimaru once again, and he didn't wanted his teammates to get caught in the crossfire.
"Thirty minutes." Shino said, stoically but deep down inside with he was concerned about Naruto.
During the three minutes travel from where Team 10 was to where his clone dispelled. Naruto tried to revise his strategy, but his mind kept drifting towards the image of a helpless Sakura struggling to fight several snakes. Naruto once had a crush turned into love for her, but it was in the past. Or it wasn't? He liked Ino now, didn't he? They even went on a date together. Could it be that the feelings he had for Sakura four years ago didn't faded yet? As he reached his destination he realized that he would have to ponder on that later as right now Sakura was being relentlessly attacked by a snake slight longer than him, Naruto would estimate the Snake being at 5'3" (160 centimeters) as he was about 5'1" (155 centimeters), Sakura was shorter than him, standing at maybe 4'9" (149 centimeters).
Fighting a snake wasn't hard for Naruto, he would probably kill her in one hit throwing a wind nature chakra infused knife straight to it skull. Sakura however had no other choice than just keep running and eventually throwing shuriken and kunai. Naruto shook his head, such potential being thrown away.
He did as he thought, killing the snake with a chakra metal kunai strike. Sakura whooped her head expecting to see her savior in the form of a raven haired Uchiha, but instead came face to face to an equally handsome blond haired Uzumaki.
"N-Naruto? What are you doing here?"
"I see you're having some problems with snakes, I decided to help he said from atop a tree."
"But why?"
"Because we're all from Leaf, we should stick together." Causing Sakura to smile
Suddenly the Haruno dashed out of her stupor. "Kiba and Sasuke-kun, I need to help them."
"I'm coming with you."
As they reached the clearing where Sakura's remaining team members were fighting the enemy, Naruto glanced around. Kiba was lying, passed out in the ground, with Akamaru doing his best to protect him. He started to wonder where Sasuke was only to be interrupted by a loud scream of pain. He glanced around to see a creepy scene, a woman, or man, he couldn't distinguish, with a half melted skin, revealing another face extending his neck and biting Sasuke's neck, who screamed loudly.
"SASUKE-KUN." Sakura screamed running towards the Uchiha.
Naruto shook his head at the girl's antics, instead focusing on the androgynous figure.
"Are you Orochimaru?" he asked
"Kukuku…. Naruto-kun, it seems our paths keep crossing." Orochimaru said with his usually creepy voice
"Is he going to try rape me?"
"I wish to see how much you progressed, but I have other plans."
"I'm afraid I can't let you leave, no alive anyways."
Orochimaru said nothing, instead literally taking a sword from his mouth and bursting towards Sasuke?
"Shit, he's going for Sakura."
Naruto's body moved on his own as he dashed faster than he had his entire life, grabbing a reactionless Sakura in a bridal carry, and ducking the strike from the sword, although not totally as he felt a superficial cut in his left side of the face, going from his temple side to his cheeks, missing his ear and eyes but cutting two of his three whisker marks.
Naruto couldn't even think about his injury now, as a giant 10 feet serpent attacked him in airborne, swallowing him and Sakura entirely.
Naruto was analyzing the situation he was in as he heard Sakura's whimpers turning into full sobs. As he had enough, he turned to the Haruno.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
As he saw Sakura get even more scared than before, he immediately regretted his choice of words.
"I'm sorry Sakura-san, but I'm trying to think here…"
"Why?" she asked with tears in her eyes "We're inside the stomach of a giant snake, we will melt down here."
"Sakura, we're getting out of this. Trust me."
"Why should I?"
"Because I never go back on my word."
Naruto's words had an unexpected soothing effect on Sakura, who still sobbed a little but was a lot quieter than before.
Five minutes Naruto got out of his sitting position. Sakura didn't paid much attention to the scene as she was on her own world, thinking about her life and how it turned out like this. However when Naruto took off his jacket, standing shirtless he caught the Haruno's attention. Sakura blushed madly seeing Naruto's ripped physique.
"CHA! AT LEAST I GET TO SEE SOMETHING GOOD BEFORE I DIE."Inner Sakura said proudly.
"Yes, he's totally packed, I can see the outline of his six pack… wait why I'm talking with you?" Sakura asked her inner self
"Don't know, probably near death experience made you more open to my suggestions."
"Okay… if I get out alive… this conversation never happened."
"Embrace your dark side."
Sakura was brought out of her stupor as Naruto handed her his jacket. Seeing the kunoichi's puzzled expression, Naruto explained.
"You'll thank me later, also I suggest you to put on the hoodie."
As Sakura did as instructed, Naruto held his fingers in a cross gesture.
"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)." He said creating hundreds of clones.
The clones then put their hand in the outline of what Naruto's supposed to be the snake's stomach and started to channel Fūton chakra in their palms. As the snake's insides started trembling Naruto saw that Sakura was losing her balance and hugged her to prevent her from falling. However the kunoichi made no movement to break the hug, he adjusted his grip on her, using his right hand to secure her back and his left hand to hold her head. Sakura just nuzzled her forehead to Naruto's shoulders and used her two hands to hug his back.
As the Fūton chakra caused the snake to blow up from inside, dispelling the clones that served as a meat shield of sorts, Sakura, still firmly in Naruto's embrace, understood why Naruto said that she would be thanking him later. The explosion caused a rain of blood and gore, and Naruto knew she probably be grossed out by it.
"He's always so thoughtful of others."
"MARRY HIM RIGHT NOW!" Inner Sakura said enthusiastically
"No I like Sasuke-kun. I don't like Naruto…right?"
Author's notes:
I know I promised to write about Naruto meeting with Karin, but I opted for splitting the second stage in two, so I could focus on NaruSaku here. That being said I'd like to ask your opinions about the chapter's length. I'm usually posting short chapters to reduce the time between each chapter, but if the majority of you prefers, I can opt for longer, but less constant, updates. I write this fanfic on spot, so what I publish is what I have right now, I know this isn't the most recommended model but it's the one I know to work with. Also, should Naruto keep the scar? Now for Q&A.
Q: Will the Sound Four come for Sasuke inside Konoha? Won't they get caught by barriers or sensors?
A: I think I'm going to stick with canon in this one. I believe that former Konoha shinobi, like Itachi and Orochimaru could infiltrate the village. The Sound Four knew barrier jutsu and Orochimaru probably taught them how to avoid sensors and get past the barrier.
Q: Will Naruto get Uzumaki's Clan bloodline
A: Yes, after the exams.
Q: Since Naruto is going to be hostile towards Jiraiya; just how long will it take for the hostility to end and Naruto to start treating Jiraiya like he does in Canon with love and respect?
A: Some time, Naruto being hostile with Jiraiya won't stop him from training under him, I'd say a lot more as it's one of my favorites subjects but I'm afraid I can't as it would give some plot details that I can't disclose yet.
Q: Do you have a plan for Ibiki meeting his brother soon?
A: As Ibiki said in this chapter he plans to bring Idate back, so it'll happen although it won't get that much of attention, as I'll be focusing more on Naruto developing his relationship with the girls.
Q: Neji will he be a stick in the mud like cannon?
A: Maybe I can put him on a scene next chapter as Team 10 originally meets Neji there. But until he fights with Naruto yes, his change will be different from canon however.
Q: Why you never make Naruto interact more with his team? The other people get more screen time than even his own.
A: I've read the last few chapters and I realized that I could probably have added some more Team bonding moments. It happens, but usually off-screen, so in the future I'll try to bring those moments to the paper (or keyboard in my case).
Q: What about your opinion on Female Haku joining Naruto's Harem ?
A: It's a possibility, I plan on having the interlude happening in Kiri, so it would fit well. But I'm still considering the options.
Q: Samui?
A: Yep, probably not my brightest idea. I had no idea she was 29. So I think she's off limits as I don't like pairing Naruto with older women. I fear I've probably got mesmerized by her "assets".
Q: Tenten is a possibility?
A: Yes, but a small one. I might have a plan that requires her to be single.
Q: Is spawning a lot of Ninjutsu a prerequisite to become a decent shinobi?
A: No if you just throw them at your opponent without thinking. Naruto benefits from the sheer number of ninjutsu because he needs flexibility. I've read a lot of fics: Mokuton Naruto, Sharingan Naruto, Rinnegan Naruto, Hiraishin Naruto… I wanted to make mine a bit different. Naruto's sensei is Asuma, but I plan on having him taking a lot of Kakashi's style of combat before he creates his own.
Q: Naruto's thoughts on Minato.
A: He respects Minato as a shinobi, but he holds a grudge for the Kyubi. When he learns about his paternity, thing will worsen from here. However time will make Naruto understand Minato and his actions.
Q: Naruto and his teammates.
A: A lot of reviewers commented about Naruto's lack of interaction and team fight scenes with Team 10. I've said above that, under a possible measure, Naruto bonds with his teammates, but it's something that I reckon that I need to work harder on. About the fights there are two reasons:
I'll be honest in the first one. I lack the writing skills to properly write about Shino and Hinata fighting with Naruto, I'm actually dreading the time I'll have to write about their fights in the third stage. Shino's fight will probably be my most innovative work and I don't think I'll manage to write it as good as I hoped to.
Second reason is Naruto's different personality. He's a soloist, he prefers to focus on himself and his opponent instead of having to worry with his teammates. Being a soloist doesn't means he's egoistical or individualist, it's just that he works better alone, and he knows that. I'd compare him to pre Obito's death Kakashi. In all his successful fights he went solo: Mizuki, the bandits, Aoi, however that changed when he was beaten by Kimimaro after refusing Inoichi's offer to help him. That being said, Naruto himself admits that his leadership is lacking and he starts to use his teammates more in his strategy.
The scene when he chooses to head to find Sakura was my favorite, his strong moral compass and underlying affections for Sakura couldn't let his leave her to die, however he couldn't involve his team in a fight that they were meant to lose so he asked to go alone.
Q: Hydras as summons.
A: A brilliant idea and one that I'll consider deeply. I'm still giving Naruto the toad contract but I might give him the Hydras too. As I said earlier, I envision the interlude taking place at Kiri, so they would fit greatly too.
Q: Use of element reactions into fights in the future?
A: It is something I planned using earlier, but it will be used, considering Naruto will be able to use four elements by the end of the exams you can expect to see a lot of this in the future.
Gift:
This story as I finish this chapter has 55,684 words in 11 chapters, 33,599 views, 456 followers, 328 favorites and 127 reviews. When I started writing this a month ago I never expected to have that level of success. Besides, comparing the prologue to this chapter I could see my improvement as a writer, so I'm extremely pleased and grateful with your support.
Yesterday I was making the plans for the third stage and I managed to develop the fight fixtures. As a thank you gift I present some of the fights and a challenge. If someone can guess correctly who's Naruto going to face before the fight in 2 to 4 chapters, I'm going to release the other part of the fights, so let the games begin:
Sasuke x Yoroi
Misumi x Kankurō
Tenten x Temari
Shikamaru x Chōji
Rock Lee x Dosu
Good Luck.