A/N: I realized about half-way through this chapter that I have the time wrong – since in cannon the chunnin exam starts on July 1st and it takes place every six months, it should start every July and January. I had miscounted and made it start December 1st. Oops. I'm not sure how many people would have noticed if I didn't point it out, but I don't feel like changing it so this year they changed the schedule a bit.
As more and more canon things take place, I'm skipping more and more scenes. Much of the canon events from the chunnin exams I want to happen more of less the same and I don't see the need to re-write it all. So I'm going to be skipping a lot of scenes, but I'm sure you guys will be able to fill in the blanks (just like in the Zabuza arc).
I don't own anything. And thanks to everyone who reviewed!
English in Naruto's world or Japanese in Harry's world is written in italics.
Naruto grumbled angrily even as the proctor responsible for watching his row stared at him. A written test! Who uses a written test to judge the abilities of ninjas?!
Looking at the questions Naruto knew that he would be lucky to get even three of the nine correct. And the tenth question wasn't even going to be revealed until the last fifteen minutes of the test. Naruto took a quick look around at the busily scribbling genin. The blond realized that he was no Shikamaru, but how could they all know the answers?!
"N-Naruto-kun?" a timid voice interrupted his moment of panic.
Naruto looked over to see Hyuuga Hinata sitting beside him; she was a fellow rookie though on a different team. He didn't know her all that well but she seemed nice enough.
"I-if you want you can copy off me." She said with a blush, subtly pushing her paper closer to the blond.
'She knows all the answers too?!' Naruto thought catching sight of her completely filled in test. But just as he convinced himself to cheat, a kunai flew by his ear to land on the desk of the person behind him.
"Number 37; you and your team are disqualified!" a chunnin proctoring the test yelled out.
"What?" the disqualified genin asked. "What do you mean disqualified?! What did I do?!"
"You were caught cheating too many times that you ran out of points; now get out!"
After that first team others were also kicked out soon after until at least a quarter of the genins were gone. Naruto meanwhile was having an inner crisis.
He couldn't copy off of Hinata; it was too obvious and he didn't want her to get in trouble for being nice. But at the same time he needed to cheat in order to pass. Suddenly a smile lit up his face.
Bending his head a little and closing his eyes in concentration, Naruto tried to use the copying charm without any hand signs or noise. He decided to copy the paper from the person if front of him – that genin seemed to be finished and was rather calm. And that way it couldn't implicate Hinata since Naruto's answers would be the exact same in both phrasing and handwriting as the one he was copying. Naruto felt the spell take hold as his pencil started writing on its own. He kept his hand holding it loosely to seem as if he was writing, while the paper finally got filled in.
Once the spell finished its work, Naruto sighed in relief and turned his paper over. Noticing Hinata's questioning look he flashed her a million watt smile, both in relief that he was finished and in reassurance that he did alright.
Hinata felt herself grow lightheaded and her face heat up under the power of that smile.
"Hinata!"
Thankfully before Naruto's oblivious concern over Hinata's red face could make the situation worse for the Hyuuga heiress, the head examiner for the first test spoke.
"It is now at the 45 minute mark." The scarred man announced. "But before I reveal the tenth question of this test, you all have to decide if you want to hear it."
The genins looked to each other wondering what was going on.
"What do you mean if we want to hear it?" Someone yelled. "Why wouldn't we want to hear it?"
"You should listen to all the facts before you make any decisions." The imposing man stated shooting the genin a hard glare. "This question comes with a different set of rules than the first 9. If you stay to hear the question, you must answer it. And if you answer it incorrectly you not only fail this chunnin exam; you will be disqualified from every other chunnin exam hereafter and will remain a genin for the rest of your miserable lives."
The examinees yelled out in protest.
"What do you mean we can't ever be a chunnin if we get the question wrong?!"
"You can't do that! That's not allowed!"
Finally it seemed like the large man had enough.
"Silence!"
The room became deafeningly quiet.
"I am the examiner here and what I say goes. If you don't like it then leave. You all have two minutes to decide before the doors close for good." Ibiki stated as the doors opened for anyone wanting to quit before the tenth question was revealed.
Teams started getting up to leave, and at the one minute mark at least 12 more teams had already left. Naruto just stared at the impassive head examiner and grit his teeth in anger – despite the man's emotionless face Naruto could tell that the man was enjoying the panic and hopelessness of the genins.
A couple of more genins who had risen to leave stopped before taking a few steps at the sound of a loud bang and yell.
"Screw you!"
Everyone looked in shock at the orange clad form pointing at the scary examiner.
"You can't scare me! If an A class missing-nin couldn't make me back down, there's no way I'll let a stupid question stop me!" the blond yelled out.
"And if I fail; well so what?! Even if I'm banned from ever becoming a chunnin, I'll still train hard and become the Hokage! And nothing you say or do can stop me!"
Those who had been heading towards the doors stopped and turned around while those still sitting became sure of their decision and firm in their resolve. Ibiki just barely gave into some amused chuckles; that kid had guts. And he was able to influence all the others as well.
'I don't know whether to admire the kid or be pissed off at him,' the scarred man thought, quickly counting the remaining number of genins. 'Damn it; 78. We started with 153 and I had bet Anko that I'd have at least half of them fail if not more.'
Ibiki sighed. At least the dango shop owner would be happy.
Albus Dumbledore sat up in surprise when the wards alerted him of the gargoyle guarding his office permitting someone entry. He hadn't been expecting anyone, but he quickly seated himself and looked to the office door expectantly as if he knew his visitor had been coming for quite some time – a little assumed omnipotence helped a long way when you wanted to control a conversation/meeting.
There was a knock on the door and with a kindly "Come in!" Harry Potter entered the Headmaster's office.
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Dumbledore asked, offering a bowl of lemon drops to the third-year student.
Harry graciously took one and settled down in his seat. "I think it's time you told me about why Voldemort is targeting me." Harry said, deadly serious.
Albus almost choked on his own lemon drop – he hadn't been expecting that.
"Why do you ask this now – did something happen?" Dumbledore asked concerned.
"Of course something happened!" Harry retorted. "Voldemort tried to kill me when I was a baby, then he tried again in my first year, and then his memory/younger self-thing tried to feed me to a basilisk last year and now this year a powerful and magical artifact is tricked into picking me for a deadly tournament! I think I'm beyond owed an explanation about Voldemort's ambition to do me in."
Dumbledore sighed. "Harry, you are still so young. There's no need to worry yourself over such matters; that's in the past and you've already extracted yourself from the tournament successfully. You –"
"Professor," Harry interrupted. "I'm not taking no for an answer. I won't go to classes, to meals, or even leave this room until I have all the information I want. I appreciate your efforts in trying to ensure that I have a normal and happy childhood, but can't you see that it's way past that point now? Can't you see that by keeping things from me and trying to surround me in bubble wrap you'll only hurt me in the long run? The time to preserve my childhood is past; now what I need is the truth."
Albus looked long and hard into those determined green eyes and finally looked away with a sigh. As much as he hated to admit it, Harry was right. Settling himself in for the long conversation, the elderly man began to speak.
"Fourteen years ago the war against Voldemort had reached its peak. The ministry was infested with the Dark Lord's supporters and spies and despite their best efforts the aurors were always too little, too late. I had already organized a group of resistance fighters –"
Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto ran swiftly through the dense forest. They had just finished the written test, had a quick lunch and then were ushered to the second test location – a circular training area dubbed the Forest of Death. Each team was given a scroll representing either heaven or earth and they were told that in order to pass this test their full team had to bring one of each scroll to the building located in the middle of the Forest within 5 days – which meant of the 26 remaining teams at least 13 were guaranteed to fail.
Suddenly Naruto thought of an idea and called for a stop.
"We had just started, why would you want to stop now?" Sakura asked her blond teammate.
"It's not my fault that nature calls." Naruto responded. "I'll be back in a minute."
That said Naruto wondered into the woods for some privacy. But it wasn't to relieve himself despite what his teammates thought. He was going to use the summoning spell to get them the scroll they needed. He didn't know if it would work or not, but it was worth a shot.
Naruto made a few shadow clones to guard him as he focused on the spell – who knew how far the closest Earth scroll was. Then, settling himself in a comfortable position Naruto went through a few hand seals no one from his world would recognize and yelled out "Summoning no jutsu!" while concentrating on the image of an Earth scroll.
The blond didn't know how much time passed as he sat there silently, hand reaching out to thin air hoping that it would work. Even as long minutes passed Naruto refused to give up; he told everyone that he wouldn't lose and he meant it damn it!
Finally there was a swooshing noise of something moving through the air at high speeds and with a satisfying thwack an Earth scroll was caught in Naruto's hand.
"Yatta!" Naruto yelled out, ignorant of the small beads of sweat which were making their way down his face. "First day in and we already have both scrolls – we'll pass for sure!"
Spirits high and feeling proud Naruto sauntered back to where he had left his teammates waiting. He was surprised to see them a bit more ruffled than how he had left them.
"What'd I miss?"
"Some rain genin had come trying to get the scroll. He'd been alone and wasn't very good though, so it was no problem to deal with." Sasuke replied nonchalantly.
"Yeah, and where the hell were you?!" Sakura asked angrily. "Leaving us to deal with an enemy on our own. It's a good thing that Sasuke-kun is so talented and fought him off so quickly." Sakura commented, stars in her eyes at her idol's prowess.
Naruto scowled at the thought of Sasuke showing off in front of Sakura again. Why couldn't the pink-haired kunoichi ever look and talk about him like that?
"The rain-nin tried to imitate you in order to get close to us," Sasuke said. "It was a lucky thing that his henge wasn't quite right. We should establish a code-phrase so that if we're ever separated we can confirm our real identities when we meet up."
"Hm!" Sakura agreed. Naruto just folded his arms across his chest – sure it was a good idea, but that didn't mean he would help inflate Sasuke-teme's overly large ego.
"Sure, whatever you say bastard." Naruto said. "If you really need to..."
Before Sakura could berate Naruto and thus waste time, Sasuke continued speaking. "Then be quiet and listen up; I only want to say this once. The question will be "When does a ninja strike?" and the response is "A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for the ninja to strike.""
Naruto looked on in bewilderment. He was supposed to remember all that?!
"Did you guys get that?"
"Yup!" Sakura confirmed cheerily.
"Uhhh...."
"Don't tell me you didn't memorize it already?" Sakura asked the blond. "Are you stupid or something?"
"No!" Naruto replied defensively. "I just think it's a stupid code-phrase! It's too long and we might not have the time to go over all of it."
"Well, what do you suggest then?" Sakura asked.
Naruto thought for a second, before a grin came over his features. "How about 'Sasuke is a bastard'?"
Sakura and Sasuke both drew back at the odd sounding noises that their teammate just uttered.
"What was that?" Sakura asked. "I think I heard Sasuke's name, but I'm not sure."
"Quit wasting time dobe!" Sasuke scolded. "It does no good to memorize random noises if you can't remember them either."
"I know what I said teme!" Naruto defended. "The code-phrase is Sasuke is a bastard!"
"Sasuke iza bass tawed." Sakura tried to repeat clumsily.
"Close." Naruto commented. "Here, I'll say it again: -"
"We don't have time for this." Sasuke said interrupting Naruto's lesson. "We'll just keep the old code-phrase for now, and maybe later change it to Naruto's."
"Fine." Naruto grumbled. And then he perked up – he forgot to tell his teammates about getting a scroll. "Hey guys, guess what? When I –"
Just then a huge gust of wind slammed through the clearing creating a wind tunnel effect knocking all three off their feet. Naruto didn't know how long or far he'd been swept away since the wind had first arrived, but when he finally regained his sense of equilibrium his teammates were nowhere to be seen and the blond didn't recognize his surroundings.
"Kuso..." Naruto swore as he started to run back to where he assumed his teammates were. "Whoever did that was really powerful."
Unfortunately his reunion with Sasuke and Sakura was put on hold as a giant snake came out of nowhere, determined to make Naruto its next meal.
When you thought of proud and strong kunoichi, Haruno Sakura was probably one of the last ones that came to mind – a fact that the pink-haired girl could even admit to herself. Sakura was from a civilian family (though she did have some ancestors who had been ninjas) and she had joined the academy like everybody else for additional learning and some basic survival skills. But when the time came to either attend the ninja academy or the civilian school full time, she had opted to follow her best friend Ino, despite her lack of real interest or ambition for the ninja life.
While the pinkette wasn't the only one who had stayed on despite no real goals of being a ninja, she was one of the few who had lasted to the end, mainly so she could stay near her idol and crush, Sasuke, and continue competing with her best friend turned rival, Ino. In the academy she had ranked highest in knowledge and book smarts, and even her lackluster practical skills didn't bring her all-around ranking below middle of the class.
She still remembered when she had been assigned on the same team as her Sasuke-kun; it was like all her dreams had come true. She had made Ino insanely jealous and had gotten the opportunity to spend the majority of her time with her future husband in one fell swoop. Only the fact that Naruto was also in their team had stopped her from floating on air that day.
And when Kakashi had first met them and asked them to introduce themselves she didn't have an answer as to her goals and dreams for the future – she was already with Sasuke. True, they hadn't been married or even going out yet, but considering how much time they would spend together being on the same team and all, it would only be a matter of time before Sasuke fell head over heels in love with her.
For those first few months of being an official ninja Sakura had spent more time dieting than reading about new techniques, hitting and rejecting Naruto than trying to connect with anyone other than Sasuke, and stalking/watching Sasuke train rather than train herself. It wasn't until the Wave Country mission, their first mission that involved danger and the need for real ninja skills that Sakura had realized how important training and techniques were, and more importantly how pathetically behind she was compared to her teammates (even Naruto).
Afterwards she had metaphorically picked up her socks. Every morning before meeting her team she would have a quick jog, she helped out more during D rank missions instead of just berating Naruto and watching Sasuke prove his skills again and again, and she visited the library more often looking for genjutsu skills and/or other techniques where her perfect chakra control could more than make up for her lesser physical abilities and small chakra pool.
But despite her happiness at lasting longer in spars against her teammates, her pride about her team's recommendation for the chunnin exams and her growing maturity; now not even a full 40 hours after the start of the start of the second test getting her head punched again and again by a merciless Sound genin while her teammates where unconscious for unknown reasons after fighting that freaky long-tongued man – well Sakura realized that even with her change in attitude and habits after the Wave mission it was still too little, too late. She was failing – like always – and this time her teammates couldn't save her.
She felt tears of desperation, anger and pain roll down her cheeks even as she stubbornly clenched her teeth tighter around the Sound-nin's arm.
"Let go you little bitch!"
In response Sakura just clenched tighter despite the ache in her jaw and the fact that her teeth felt like they would fall out any second. She knew she had no chance against them – even Lee, an older leaf ninja who introduced himself as a friend of Naruto's and had fought the sound trio with incredible skill lost to their combined strength. But if there was one thing she had learned from being on team 7 – and more importantly, being Naruto's teammate – it was to be incredibly stubborn and keep fighting no matter what. And since Sasuke and Naruto always defended and protected her on missions it was only fair for her to return the favour.
"Enough of this." Kin, the only female of the Sound trio spoke. "Let's just kill the little girl and then get back to our mission. Hold her still Zaku."
Sakura closed her eyes even as she bit down harder. She didn't plan on going quietly, but that didn't mean that she wanted to watch the other ninja approaching with a kunai in hand and a merciless glint in her eye.
Sakura winced as she sensed the Oto nin descend for the killing blow. But when nothing happened, she hesitantly opened her eyes, only to see the girl smirking, holding the kunai at the throat of her own teammate.
"Let go unless you want to die."
"Kin?!" her teammates stammered. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"You heard me!" the Oto kunoichi said, ignoring her teammates' incredulity. "Let her go or I'll slit your throat!"
Zaku reluctantly let Sakura go and stepped away from his deranged teammate. "Idiot girl," he said smirking at Kin. "You know what the price of failure and disloyalty to Orochimaru-sama is!"
"Death."
Kin's eyes widened in surprise at the voice right behind her – she hadn't sensed the third Oto genin come at her until it was too late. Before she could even start to turn around and defend herself, a large spinning ball came out of nowhere and made Dosu abandon his attack in order to avoid being flattened. Zaku decided to use Kin's distraction for his own advantage.
"Take this!"
But his arms which had been aimed at his traitorous teammate were suddenly pointing up without his consent, making his attack shoot harmlessly into the sky.
"Shadow Bind Jutsu, success."
Sakura looked over to see Shikamaru carrying an unconscious Ino into the clearing. She looked back at the Oto kunoichi. "Ino?"
"Of course Forehead-girl," the blond answered using the sound genin's body. "You don't think I'd let them kill you, did you?"
Sakura practically sagged in relief. Maybe things weren't that hopeless. Maybe she could still help protect Sasuke-kun from these Sound-nin.
"By the way, you look terrible." Ino stated, trying to sound condescending but everyone could hear the concern in her voice. And she was quite right – Sakura's hair was roughly and unevenly cut, she had cuts all over her body and some of them looked fairly deep, one of her eyes was so swollen it was almost completely shut and there were signs of early bruises and swelling all around her face and head.
"I'm fine," Sakura assured her rival, giving a small grin because a full smile hurt too much. "And in any case, I'm still prettier than you."
Shikamaru groaned as the two started arguing. He was glad that they still cared for each other and didn't let their rivalry interfere with helping the other out in tough situations, but couldn't they choose a different way of expressing their feelings? Or maybe, not arguing in the middle of battle?
Suddenly there was a familiar yell as Chouji, no longer in Baika no jutsu form, finally skidded to a stop right next to them from a powerful hit. And Shikamaru swore as he realized he didn't have enough chakra to keep up the other genin's imprisonment with his shadow. Reluctantly he released the jutsu.
Everyone stopped to catch their breaths and assess the situation.
"Drop your scroll and leave now." Ino commanded, placing her kunai against the neck of her stolen body. "If you don't, your teammate gets it!"
The other two Oto-nin just smirked before Zaku fired. Chouji moved to intercept the attack, but Ino was still thrown backwards. Those unfamiliar with her clans' jutsu were surprised to see the blonde's unconscious body sustain the same damage as the borrowed one.
"I see," Dosu, the unofficial leader of the Sound genin said. "anything that hurts Kin hurts you as well. It's a clever technique, but dangerous. I would suggest you either stop possessing our teammate or be prepared to die."
Ino gasped. "You can't be serious?! What kind of monsters attack their own teammate?!"
"We aren't the typical genin team." The bandaged teen said. "We don't even care about the scrolls. We are just here to complete our mission – something real ninjas do. You're all just a bunch of children from a second rate village."
"That's pretty big talk from someone hailing from a newly formed village." A voice from above spoke. "If you are so confident in your abilities, then you won't mind fighting against me."
Everyone looked up to see Lee's teammates standing on a large branch overlooking the clearing.
"These Leaf genins are springing out of the woods like cockroaches!" Dosu complained.
"What did you do to our teammate?!" Tenten demanded once she noticed how beat up Lee was. Even training sessions with Gai-sensei didn't always get him in such a state, so what could these sound ninjas have done?
"The same thing we're going to do to you." Zaku declared cockily. "So are you gonna come down or what?"
Neji straitened up. "It looks like there's no need."
Any further questions were halted when a strong presence of potent and tainted chakra was detected by everybody.
"What is that?" Chouji asked.
"It's Sasuke." Shikamaru replied, shocked at the sight of their year-mate covered in weird marks which were rapidly spreading across his body.
"His chakra!" Ino exclaimed. "It's changed!"
No one moved as Sasuke approached the others surveying the clearing and everyone in it – the malevolent and dark chakra seemed to suffocate them.
"Sakura" the Uchiha spoke, his cold dark voice sending chills down everybody's backs "who did this to you?"
"I'll get some wood for the fire." Sasuke stated.
"I'll go catch some fish." Naruto said at the same time.
Both boys were gone before Sakura could get in a word edgewise, so with a sigh she started to make a fire pit and set up camp. It was four days into the second test and two days since Naruto and Sasuke had woken up from whatever that snake-man did to them.
Once the sound genin had been defeated (conceding their scroll to Sasuke in order to not be beat into bloody pulps) Naruto had finally woken up. The blond had been very confused as to what his team was doing in the clearing surrounded by Lee's team and team 10 when the last thing he remembered was that long-tongued freaky snake guy using some sort of seal on him. Despite demanding answers, his teammates all but ignored him – Sasuke was lost in thought over the "gift" given to him and what it could mean for himself and his brother and Sakura was torn between relief and worry over Sasuke's condition and was ever mindful of the promise she had made to not reveal anything about Orochimaru's seal on Sasuke to the blue-eyed boy.
Finally Chouji filled in the confused blond and told him of the Oto team and Sasuke's dark chakra and behaviour. Upon hearing that the only reason team 7 was still alive and whole was because of the other leaf genins interference, Naruto had offered the scroll that the Sound team had relinquished to them and the scroll that he had summoned beforehand to the other teams for their troubles. Lee's team had declined stating that they already had both scrolls (and Lee had fervently argued being 'paid' for his duty to a fellow comrade and youthful friend) but team 10 had accepted.
Since then Sasuke and Naruto had barely said three words to the other – Sasuke was mad that Naruto gave team 10 the sound scroll and that the blond had miraculously got two scrolls on his own (the first one which Naruto had offered to Lee's team and another he had gotten just recently with the same spell once Sakura had told Naruto about how Orochimaru had destroyed their original scroll. Although the second time Naruto used the summoning spell had been much harder; whatever that freaky snake guy did to him threw off his spell/jutsu casting), and Naruto was mad at Sasuke's incredulity that the blond had gotten the scrolls needed and that Sasuke and Sakura hadn't planned to tell him about the curse mark and wanted to keep everything about Orochimaru's and the sond genins' attack a secret from him.
Eventually the two male members of team 7 returned and the three pre-teens settled in for their meal. Things were mostly silent until Sakura decided to speak.
"I think we're almost at the tower – do you think we should set up camp and leave first thing in the morning or try to make it tonight?"
"That's if we should even have the proper scrolls," Sasuke said with a glower. "For all we know they're counterfeits that either the dobe made or got tricked into stealing."
"What did you say?!" Naruto yelled. "Of course they're real! Just because you're jealous that I got two scrolls when you lost ours to that snake-freak doesn't –"
Anything else Naruto was going to say was interrupted by a fourth party.
"In case you rookies forgot, you're in the middle of a dangerous exam." The familiar voice of Kabuto spoke as the grey-haired teen emerged from the foliage. "I'd keep my voices down if I were you; or at the very least be more aware of my surroundings."
All three pre-teens quickly leapt to their feet in a defensive formation. How could Kabuto have sneaked up on them like that?
"What do you want?" Sasuke demanded.
"Relax; I'm not here for a scroll." The bespectacled genin stated. "I already have all the scrolls I need."
Sure enough Kabuto brandished two scrolls; an earth scroll and a heaven scroll.
"If you're not after our scrolls, what do you want?" Sakura asked.
"Actually, I want your protection." Kabuto admitted sheepishly. "My teammates and I had split up to find the scrolls we needed with plans to meet up at the tower. When I spotted you guys I thought I could try for an alliance – we are all Konoha ninjas after all and I'd rather not try to get to the tower on my own with the two scrolls."
"Why should we help you?" Sasuke asked with a frown. "It sounds like you just want to use us without giving us anything in return."
"Well with me helping out we would have an advantage over any teams that tried to attack us from our numbers alone," Kabuto stated. "And since I have more experience both as a ninja and as a previous examinee in the chunnin exams, I can be very helpful. And I promise to help you guys get any scroll you need on the way to the tower."
Team 7 processed his words for a bit before telling the older boy to stay where he was and retreating to form a group huddle.
"So what do you think?" Sasuke asked his teammates.
"I don't like it." Naruto declared. "I don't like him. If it was one of our year-mates or someone from bushy-brows team, then it'd be different. Besides, he gives me the heebie-jeebies."
Sakura frowned a little at Naruto's statement – since when had the blond been so picky on who he helped. As annoying as Naruto could be, there was no denying the generous heart the blue-eyed boy possessed.
Ignoring the heebie-jeebies comment, Sakura said her piece. "Well he did help us at the beginning of the chunnin exams when he told us about Gaara and his info cards. And he is a fellow leaf-ninja. Maybe we should give him a chance; if he does try something we outnumber him and can always ditch him."
"What do you think?" Naruto asked his dark-haired teammate.
"I agree with you – I don't trust him. He probably only wants to get info on us for his info cards, and if he was foolish enough to separate from his teammates then he ought to suffer the consequences of his decision. And without us the likelihood of one less team to compete against in the third round of the chunnin exams increases."
With two against one, Naruto and Sasuke turned back to the silver-haired genin to give their response. Though Sakura felt bad about the decision, she was too happy that Naruto and Sasuke were talking to each other again – and even agreeing with each other – to try and change their minds.
"Kabuto-san!" Sakura said surprised. "You passed!"
It was about 20 hours or so since team 7 had made it to the tower now freshly showered and awakened from a good rest and they were eager to meet up with the other finalists who passed the second test of the chunnin exams.
"Yes," Kabuto replied smiling. "My team and I just got here a few minutes ago – just in time before the end of the test. It looks like I was fine without your team's help."
"Sorry about that," the pink-haired girl replied a little ashamed. "But we didn't know you all that well and it is an exam with every team for themselves..."
"Don't worry about it." The bespectacled teen said. "I understand. All that's important is the fact that both our teams made it."
All the passing teams lined up in a large room where the Hokage, their sensei's, the proctors and several other high ranking leaf shinobis were waiting on a stage-like platform at the front of the room.
Naruto tuned out the Hokage's speech on the origins of the chunnin exams as he looked over at the qualifying teams who passed the second test. There were 7 teams in total; the three rookie leaf ninja teams, Bushy-Brow's team, Kabuto's team, the freaky sand guy's team and the sound team.
"-unfortunately since the third part of the chunnin exam is a tournament and a public affair, there is a limit to how many participants can qualify." The Third continued with his explanations. "Therefore we will now be having a preliminary round to decide who will fight in the final stage of these chunnin exams."
Naruto's jaw dropped in shock; after all that they've been through and they still had to fight for their right to make it on to the final test?!
"If anyone is too injured or is unable to fight for any reason, now is the time to drop out." The Sandaime concluded.
Naruto almost snorted out loud at the thought of anyone dropping out after suffering through that horrid written test and five days in the Forest of Death. But to his surprise, a hand was raised.
"I concede." Kabuto announced. "I am out of chakra."
"Very well," Hayate, the proctor for the preliminaries replied. "You are exempt from the rest of the exam. Please make your way to the back of the room and someone will escort you back through the forest to the village."
Nodding his head in understanding, Kabuto spared a quick word to his teammates before walking to the doors. But he had only made it a few short feet before a loud exclamation stopped him in his tracks.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
Kabuto looked back at Uzumaki Naruto who of course had been the one to yell so loudly that he grabbed the attention of everybody in the room. The blond stood boldly ignorant of everyone's gaze as he pointed at the retreating grey-haired teen accusingly. Kabuto fixed a fake sheepish smile on his face before answering.
"I'm afraid that the journey to the tower has tired me out greatly; I did have to go quite far on my own after all. I'm out of chakra so there's no use trying to fight in these preliminary matches since I'll just lose anyway." The bespectacled silver-haired teen said. He was happy to note that the pink haired girl looked guilty at that pronouncement. Pleased that they seemed to have bought his excuse, the spy made to leave once again.
Kabuto had only managed to take two steps before Naruto's voice rang through the air a second time.
"You no good traitor!"
Once again everyone's attention was on them and Kabuto had to use every bit of skill and experience he possessed not to show his panic as he felt the eyes of everyone in the room (including the heavy gaze of the Hokage and the assessing one of Ibiki) land on him. Even still, his heart beat picked up a bit and some sweat started trickling down the back of his neck. Being called a traitor was one of the worst insults in their world where loyalty to your village and comrades (especially in Konoha) was everything. To be caught here and now would be disastrous.
"I don't know what you're talking about Naruto-kun." Kabuto stated calmly, wishing the boy wouldn't make such a scene and just shut up before the situation could get any worse. "How could I possibly be a traitor?"
"You're betraying the Leaf even as we speak!" Naruto accused.
By now even the sound and sand ninja in the room who were all aware of Kabuto's role were getting nervous (except Gaara of course who really didn't care). The teenaged spy was extremely aware of the Hokage and other high-ranked shinobi watching the by-play between him and Naruto with intensity.
"I don't know wh-"
"You're a traitor to the will of fire!" Naruto continued, cutting off Kabuto's reply. "After coming all this way, surviving 5 days in the forest of death, getting the two scrolls your team needed on your own, and then making your way to the tower by yourself; and you give up now?! How could you go through all that stuff in the first two tasks to just give up?! How can you leave your teammates like this and still call yourself a shinobi of Konoha?!"
Kabuto almost slumped in relief; so that was why the orange-clad genin was calling him a traitor – for giving up now. His cover wasn't blown yet. "I'm afraid that I'm out of chakra though; there's no way I can fight in this state let alone win. I'm sorry to disappoint you like this Naruto, but sometimes a ninja must retreat in order to fight another day."
"Bull shit!" Naruto retorted. "Sure, a ninja sometimes needs to retreat but this isn't one of those times! You can stand can't you? You can still punch and kick and fight. You could always surrender during the fight if it's too much, but you're giving up before you even try!"
"Naruto." Sasuke spoke putting a restraining arm on his teammate. "It is Kabuto's choice whether he continues or not. Let him leave if he wants to."
"You don't deseve to be a Konoha shinobi." The blond muttered as he gave one last dirty look to the older genin before turning his back on the quitter.
Kabuto was just relieved that everyone was more or less ignoring him now that Naruto's speech was finished. Silently thanking Sasuke, Kabuto continued towards the outside hall as calmly as possible.
"Is it just you?" The awaiting chunnin asked as the grey-haired teen finally exited the large arena-like room where the preliminaries were taking place.
"Yes." Kabuto replied sheepishly, using his mask of weak genin to its full extent. "I really wanted to continue, but I'm all out of chakra. I feel like I'm going to collapse any minute!"
"In that case you won't mind if I come with you."
Both Kabuto and the chunnin looked over to see the imposing figure of Ibiki.
"Ibiki-san!" the chunnin said shocked. "Aren't you supposed to be watching over the exam?"
"There's a change in plans," the scarred man said, never taking his eyes off of the grey-haired genin. "Anko will inform me of what happens in these matches while I go back to the village to check on some things. And since you are going too, I thought I might as well accompany you."
"Are you sure sempai?" the chunnin asked. "If this kid's as drained as he says he is, it might be a slow journey through the forest and I wouldn't want to hold you up from your duties."
"Nonsense," Ibiki replied with a creepy grin directed at Kabuto. "I insist."
A/N: Yeah, so Kabuto really hates Naruto now. Heh heh heh. Anyway, sorry for the long wait; I'll try and get the next chapter out sooner.
Outtake!
"The next preliminary match is between..."
All the hopeful chunnins watched the computer eagerly to see who would fight who.
"Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Hinata!"
Naruto stopped mid-exclamation. He was happy to finally fight, but he hadn't wanted to fight Hinata, who was so quiet and nice. The only thing worse than fighting Hinata would be to fight Sakura-chan!
As for Hinata, she was using all her willpower not to faint. Her, fight Naruto? Was this a dream come true or a living nightmare? On the one hand it was an honour to fight her inspiration, her hidden strength. And she was given an opportunity to get close to Naruto and make him take note of her. But on the other hand, she didn't think she had it in herself to hurt her Naruto-kun.
They both made their way down to main floor, their unease obvious.
"Begin!" Hayate said, giving the signal for the match to start.
Naruto and Hinata both looked to each other without moving out of their fighting stances. Then Naruto suddenly straightened into a more casual pose.
"Look Hinata-chan," Naruto said. "you're really nice and I don't really want to fight you, and I don't think you really want to fight me. But we both want to be chunnin and I won't go back on my word! So let's both try our best and have the best spar ever!"
The blond finished off his impassioned speech with a blindingly bright heart-warming smile for his fellow comrade.
"..."
*Thud*
Naruto looked up in surprise. "Heh? Hinata?"
Hayate walked over to the red-faced and unconscious Hyuuga heiress and nudged her gently.
"Winner – Uzumaki Naruto!"
Naruto scratched the back of his head in confusion amid the stunned silence of the room.
"Ummm, what just happened?"