As It Is Now

Chapter 13

I don't own Naruto.

Gaara greeted the blond Hokage as he stepped into the booth where they would sit for the fights. Behind the red head were his siblings, Temari and Kankuro, both who nodded their head in greeting to the blond Kage.

"How are you doing today, Gaara? How about you two? I haven't seen you two since the last chuunin exams in Suna," Naruto asked.

"Good," Kankuro answered.

"Fine, just like the last time we saw you," Temari replied.

"Good, good. Please, have a seat Gaara, the show's just about to begin!" the blond said enthusiastically. As Gaara took his seat, the other two sand siblings moved behind him. Temari turned to Shikamaru who was standing behind Naruto's chair and asked, "Why aren't you the proctor?"

"Kakashi is the proctor this year," the Nara answered as he nodded his head down towards the white haired man standing down in the middle of the arena. Temari glanced down at the one eyed jounin quizzically, but she didn't say anything else, to which Naruto was glad since he didn't want to explain himself.

Part of the reason why Kakashi was down there instead of Shikamaru was that it was partly to punish the jounin; he did it to get back at the man for all the times that he…well, just to get back at him. This way, Kakashi wouldn't be standing behind him with his smiling eye and annoying him with his smart-ass comments.

Even when the man wasn't saying something his eye would curve or tilt or do whatever his eye does, and it was like a physical poke that just annoyed him to no end. As for the other reasons why he placed Kakashi down there, well, people would see why later. At least Shikamaru and Kakashi would anyway.

Enough of that, Naruto thought, time to enjoy the display that these genin were going to give.

Out of the fifteen that made it to the tower, only seven made it here to the last part of the exam. Of those seven, only three were Leaf genin consisting of Takaede, the Inuzuka girl and that other guy that he still couldn't remember the name of. The other genins were the Sand puppet user and one of his team mates, a Rock genin and that Mist genin that had gotten into an argument with Kiba.

The first up to fight was the Inuzuka girl against the Mist Genin. Kakashi announced the fighters using a voice enhancing jutsu and the two disappeared from the holding bay balcony shortly before appearing at the entrance to the arena. He announced their names as Inuzuka Suzu and the Mist genin as Ito Yoichi. Suzu's canine companion was male if he remembered correctly, and unlike Akamaru, this dog had a blue back, much like the other dogs that the Inuzuka's were seen with.

The fight was rather short as Yoichi displayed a good affinity with his element of water. Suzu and her dog weren't really able to do much against the water jutsus beside dodge them and they were exhausted quickly after one of Yoichi's justus landed on them. Kakashi decided the match over and called Yoichi the winner.

Applause and cheers were heard throughout the stadium as the crowd started to liven up. It was a good match to start off with, enough action to get the viewers excited.

Next Kakashi called out Mitarashi Takaede and Nakamura Iwao as the next contenders. With this year's Leaf rookie the crowd went even crazier if the cheers and noise coming from the audience were any indication. After Kakashi declared the fight to begin, the purple haired boy didn't disappoint his fans as he leapt into the fight head on.



Naruto looked on with a grin on his face. He had nothing against the Rock genin, but he really wanted the kid to win, Leaf pride that's all. With every punch and kick the crowd oohed and ahhed; the earth justus that Iwao was performing were very well done and thought out. The walls of stone and waves of rock that he hurled at Takaede made the purple haired boy struggle to dodge and try to land somewhere safe so he could make some sort of offensive move.

After a while Takaede landed on top of one of the trees and performed a quick set of seals. It seemed that he had finally had enough of running and dodging. After the seals and nothing happened the crowd became confused as he charged the Rock genin, dodging the rock walls that sprung up to try to stop him.

As the Leaf genin got closer, the more walls Iwao sent up. Before Takaede reached his opponent, one wall spiked up and pierced the Leaf genin! The crowd gasped as they saw the limp body a second before it poofed into smoke.

Everyone's eyes darted about the arena looking for the boy and in that second after the clone disappeared Takaede burst out from the ground before Iwao and delivered an uppercut to the genin, effectively knocking him out.

Naruto chuckled loudly and applauded. It seemed that Neji had taught the boy well as he and those who had been present at his first exam recognized the move that had defeated the proud Hyuuga.

Kakashi declared the match over and Takaede advanced onto the next round. Medic nins came out and took the unconscious Rock Genin out.

The next two that were announced was the Sand puppet user and Takaede's team mate. Naruto paid special close attention to the name of the Leaf boy as Kakashi announced them. Watanabe Tsuneo and Takado Ryo, Leaf and Sand respectively were seen walking into the arena. Ah, no wonder he never remembered that boy's name, it was so ordinary. He'd have to remember it now since he had to file paperwork on him.

The puppet user in contrast had a much more interesting name and a way more eccentric look to him. Covered from head to toe in black, Naruto wondered how that genin could survive the desert heat of Suna. He carried a heavy looking puppet across his back much like Kankuro still does.

Naruto had never liked puppets so the only thing he was looking forward to was Tsuneo kicking that guy's butt, no offense to Gaara and the others. He looked at the red head next to him and grinned. The eyebrow-less man turned to look at the blond and the bet was on. They hadn't fought each other since Shikaku had taken over but the rivalry, albeit small, was still there.

Of course there was nothing wrong with betting, everyone who could afford it was doing it. There was a stand located at the top of the arena that gamblers could find out the stakes and bet on the contenders. Naruto didn't know what the odds were with this pair but he guessed it was pretty even considering it was Tsuneo's smarts versus Ryo's puppet.

As the fight started, as most Leaf shinobi were wont to do, Tsuneo took on the defensive to observe his opponent's strengths and weaknesses. The puppet user moved immediately onto the offensive, trying to push his advantage and defeat the other quickly before he could form any plans.

Watching the two go at it, Naruto lifted a hand up to cheer when the Leaf genin dodged the puppet user's jutsu just in time. With his hand half way down he looked at Gaara with a smug grin on his face but the red head wasn't looking at him. Not about to lose his smugness, Naruto started to turn back to the fight when something beyond Gaara caught his eyes.

To Gaara's left in the stands was an ANBU with a particular mask on. The man wasn't anywhere near them but Naruto recognized the blue striped fox mask that stared back at him. Naruto continued to stare the tracker down, wondering why the heck he was posted as a guard. Wasn't he under Kakashi's jurisdiction? Well, unless Kakashi had told him to be there.



First was the incident at the Hokage Monument and now here he was just staring at him. And he knew that bastard was staring at him, he just knew it. Was Kakashi telling him to baby-sit him? Or was he just doing it to annoy him? Probably both.

What the hell was Kakashi thinking? He was going to make interrogating his former teacher his top priority as soon as this whole exam business was over with.

He was so busy glaring at the tracker that when the crowd stood up and cheered loudly, Naruto glanced down at the arena in confusion. The match was over and he had missed it! He glanced back at the blue fox only to see that he was no longer there. The blond growled, annoyed that he had missed the match.

"It seems that you have won this time," Gaara spoke. The red head's words startled the blond back to his current surroundings.

"Really? Tsuneo actually beat that guy?" he laughed and started to brag about Leaf shinobi in general. The two sand siblings rolled their eyes at his antics and Gaara just remained silent, until Naruto had quieted down.

"I'm looking forward to the next match with your Leaf genin and Ryo's teammate, Hokori. That one will definitely be the highlight of the exam," Gaara said with a hint of excitement in his eyes. Naruto just stared at him, this was the most excited that he had ever seen the red head. Thinking back to when they were in that security room, he hadn't really paid any attention to how the other two Sand genins had fought.

And the way that Gaara seemed so sure of the outcome made Naruto worry a bit about what was going to happen. But he quickly shook it off as was his fashion and said bravely, "Bring it on! Takaede can handle whatever Hokori can throw at him!"

A/N Yeah, sorry to cut it short. Anyway, to come up with Tsuneo's name I looked up the most common Japanese names online and I picked that. It's not important at all, just an extra detail to fatten up the story, not to mention as Hokage Naruto needs to know the name and face of most of his ninja. Well, until next time! Thanks for reading! XD