Chapter 28 – The First Stage.
Naruto stood and watched the entrance of the academy. He was still on the fence about taking this exam. He spent yesterday thinking and talking to his friends who were ninja and adults. Iruka and Ibiki thought that he was ready, so did Haku. Even if they thought that, he was ready to miss the exams just to stick it to Kakashi and Sasuke. So here he was, thinking of his decision.
"Naruto?" The blond turned to see who called him and was stunned. He had to squint his eyes just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. The person was nervous as Naruto scrutinize them.
"Sakura? Holy shit, did you cut your hair?!" Naruto exclaimed. Sakura did indeed cut her hair. It was now a little above her shoulders. Sakura was a little self-conscious about her choice. She only did this because Haku recommended that it would be an advantage. He also commented that she would look mature with shorter hair. That made her blush a little.
"Yeah, my mom helped me with it. W-What do you think?" she asked shyly.
"Well, it suits you honestly. You'll definitely get some looks. I hope Haku has helped you defend yourself. You're going to be beating the boys off with a stick." He answered jokingly. Sakura blushed a little as Naruto had a point. She was already getting some looks.
"I'll take the compliment, thank you." Sakura said with a deadpan tone. "So are you still undecided?"
"A little. While I would like nothing more than to go up in rank, I really want to stick it to Kakashi and Sasuke. I think that I'm ready but what about you? I know that you just recently starting improving." Naruto said.
"That's one of the reason that I wanted to stay home. Another reason is that I know that I'll be the one holding you and Sasuke back. However, I want to see just how far my training will bring me. It won't be much but I'm willing to see in this exam." Sakura explained. The two stood in silence for a while, looking at the academy. Naruto then looked at Sakura.
"I watch your back, you watch mine and we both watch Sasuke's. Knowing that idiot, he's going to be the reason we're going to get in trouble." Naruto said, making Sakura giggle.
"Deal." Sakura said. The two made their way toward the academy. They reached the entrance and saw Sasuke. The Uchiha gave both a look before entering the academy. Sakura sighed, a little depressed that Sasuke did not say anything to her. While she still liked Sasuke a lot, she was starting to see his faults. She did not like what she saw. She and Naruto followed him inside.
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"How stupid are you?" Naruto asked Sasuke rudely. Sasuke turned back with a glare. Naruto was not affected by the look. The team walked up to the third floor where the room was. Sakura decided not to say anything because she agreed with Naruto. Sasuke ignored her advice about the genjutsu and he ignored Naruto's warning about fighting Rock Lee. It was why he had bruises on his person.
They finally reached the room where they saw Kakashi. The jonin got off the wall to greet his team only to have Naruto walk right pass him and enter the room. Kakashi called out to him but was ignored. Kakashi was not happy with Naruto but decided to focus on his other two students. He looked and noticed Sasuke's face.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Sasuke decided to get in a warm-up match. It did not go his way." Sakura explained, earning a dirty look from Sasuke. Sakura ignored it and waited for Kakashi to talk.
"Well, I was going to tell you all to watch out for each other but it seems that your teammate doesn't wish to heed my advice." Kakashi said with a tone.
"Maybe it is because he doesn't trust you and sorry to say, I do not either." Sakura said and walked pass him. Kakashi put his hand out to stop her.
"Whether you trust me or not, I am still your sensei." Kakashi said with a warning tone. This would usually get Sakura back in line but not this time.
"Honestly captain," Kakashi recoiled a little at her tone. "You can't call yourself my sensei if you haven't taught me anything. Also, Naruto and I aren't willing to listen to you anymore. If the Hokage is sending the ANBU to warn us against you, then we can't trust you." Sakura stated and walked into the room. Kakashi was now really upset. He looked at Sasuke and motioned him to follow. He watched him enter and the doors close. Kakashi was left to stew in his unhappiness.
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The room was packed with shinobi. Symbols of the Hidden Rain, Hidden Grass, Hidden Sand, Hidden Waterfall and Hidden Leaf were represented for this exam. In their corner, the rookies began to gather.
"Sasuke!" Ino cheered and hopped on Sasuke's back. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried because you were on forehead's team." Ino looked at Sakura with a smirk. She was surprised not only by her haircut but also by the fact that Sakura was ignoring her. It gave Sasuke time to escape. Naruto gave Choji and fist bump before giving his friends his attention.
"I thought for sure you two would pass on this. What happened?" Naruto asked.
"Ino happened. She complained to our mothers only because we wouldn't bow down to her or follow her lead. Troublesome blond, no offense." Shikamaru said. Naruto waved it off and he ignored Ino's dirty look. He then looked at Sakura and kept looking, making her nervous. "You look less troublesome."
"Cute too. I like the haircut." Choji added.
"Thank you Choji. I guess, thank you too Shikamaru." Sakura said.
"Yeah, take it as a compliment. If Shikamaru thinks you're less troublesome, it a good thing. Hinata got one of those before." Everyone turned to see team Kurenai. Kiba gives his friends fist bumps before giving Sakura a look over. He gave her a whistle and two thumbs up. "Lovin' the new 'do Sakura, rockin' that haircut. You even look stronger." Sakura blushed a little at the compliment. The compliments toward Sakura, however, did not please Ino one bit. Sasuke didn't care at all but he did notice the looks that they were getting. He especially noticed the Sand team. He narrowed his eyes at the red head who sunk up on him. That's when the attention turned to another Leaf ninja.
He had onyx eyes and ash-grey hair. He had on black rimmed, circular glasses. He wore a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white undershirt and dark purple pants with a white cloth waistband. He was warning the rookies about the exam.
"How many times have you taken the exam?" Sakura asked.
"This would be my seventh time." He answered.
"S-So this test is r-really tough?" Hinata asked. The teen nodded at her.
"Yeah, they are tough. That's why I'm going to help you guys." He pulled out a stack of cards. Naruto noticed them immediately.
"Those are info cards. Iruka carries a stack too. What does yours contain Kabuto?" he asked.
"Just information on the competition. I've gathered from every exam. I even have some basic stuff on the new comers. I would have a bit more on you rookies but security is a bit stricter than before." Kabuto joked. This made a few of the rookies pause. Why would a genin need such information? However, all questions would stop when Sasuke got in Kabuto's space.
"You said that you have information?" he demanded.
"Yes but it is pretty basic." Kabuto repeated.
"What do you have on Gaara of the Desert, Rock Lee," Sasuke paused and looked at Naruto with narrowed eyes. "and Naruto Uzumaki?" This made the blond sigh in annoyance.
"What's the matter Uchiha? You couldn't get anything from your spying so you think there's something on his cards? How pathetic can you get?" Naruto said.
"What's the matter Uzumaki? Afraid that I'll get all your secrets?" Sasuke spat.
"What secrets? I got a pretty good idea what his card is going to say. It's going to say something about my skill in Clone Jutsus and my skill in sealing jutsu." Naruto stated.
"Wow that was a really good guess." Kabuto said. Sasuke snatched the card away from Kabuto and looked at it. He snarled at the info. Tossing the card back at him, he gave him a demanding look. Kabuto just chuckled before pulling out the other two cards.
"Okay, here is the first card. Rock Lee, fourteen years old. Been a genin for a year and is under the leadership of Might Guy. His teammates are the 'Top Kunoichi' Tenten and 'Rookie of the Year' Neji Hyuga. While he has no skill in ninjutsu and genjutsu, his taijutsu is off-the-charts." Kabuto said.
"I can attest to that. Lee's really strong man and I haven't won yet." Kiba stated.
"Okay, the next card is Gaara of the Sand Waterfall, age thirteen. He is the son of the Third Kazekage. He is under the leadership of Baki. His teammates are his siblings, Temari and Kankuro. He's quite strong as his record has only B and A rank missions. It seems he has never been hurt." Kabuto explained. The rookies were stunned by this. Shikamaru pulled his friends aside.
"That's not good. This Gaara guy is dangerous." Naruto said.
"He isn't the only one." Shikamaru said. He gave a brief look at Kabuto. "While getting basic information isn't anything special, information like a leader's children is something that is high level stuff. This guy is hiding something."
"You think so? I'm not getting a read on him." Naruto said. That's when they heard a body drop. It was Kabuto and he was puking. Standing in front of him, were three genin with a music note symbol.
"Put this down on your cards. The Hidden Sound with rule these exams." The mummy ninja stated. That's when an explosion occurred and smoke appeared. It cleared to reveal Ibiki and an army of Leaf ninja.
"There will be no more attacks. You three, back away or be removed." Ibiki ordered. The three did back away from Kabuto. Ibiki got everyone's attention before smirking. "Welcome to the Chunin Exams. I am the proctor of the first stage, Ibiki Morino. Believe me, by the end of this stage, you all will not be the same." Everyone was a little worried by his words.
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Kakashi was sitting alone and while you couldn't tell by his masked and forehead protector, he was in very deep thought. Sakura's words did not sit well with him. Her comment about the ANBU really cemented the trust that he lost with the Hokage. Kakashi knew that favoring Sasuke but it did not mean that he did not care about Naruto or Sakura. Sasuke just had to be the priority because of his goals and ambitions. However, everyone seemed to disagree with him.
Tsume didn't want him as Naruto's sensei. Ibiki, Iruka and Haku under minded his training of his team. The Hokage told him that his team would end up like his. It frustrated and angered him. When did he lose the trust? What could he do to get it back? His thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice.
"Eternal rival, how are you?!" a man exclaimed. He had a shiny bowl cut and thick eye brows. He was wearing a green jumpsuit, orange stripped leg warmers and an open jonin flak jacket. He was joined by Asuma and Kurenai.
"I'm not in the mood Guy. Just leave me alone." Kakashi said. Guy deflated a little but he cheered right up. Asuma looked at Kakashi and grunted.
"So pops is going ahead with your dismissal huh? Can't say that you didn't deserve it." He said. Kakashi looked at him.
"You knew about this?" Kakashi asked.
"Are you really surprised Kakashi? You favored one student over the other two. Shikamaru might be my favorite student out of the group but I give all my students my time." Asuma explained.
"It is the same with my team. You really don't have the right to be angry with Iruka, Ibiki or Haku because they are doing the job that you should be doing." Kurenai added.
"I made mistakes but I can fix them. I can get Sasuke to see that bonds are important. I can give Naruto and Sakura the time if others did not get in my way." Kakashi said. Asuma and Kurenai looked at each other before looking back at Kakashi. He could see that they did not believe that was possible. That's when Guy spoke up.
"I'm sorry Eternal Rival but that will not happen. If your team has not bonded by now, they will never be a team. It is why I did not take my students out of the village until that happened. While they still have their differences, they have each other's back." Guy said.
"You don't know that Guy. My team will show that they have each other's back. Maybe then, people will just back off and let me run my team." Kakashi stated before walking off. Kurenai, Asuma and Guy just looked at the jonin with worry. They all couldn't understand why he would not just accept the fact that this was no longer his team.
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It would be forty-five minutes later for the chunin hopefuls. Ibiki's stage was a written test, with nine questions and a tenth that would be given after the time. The questions were way too hard, something no genin would know. This freaked out a lot of genin. However, a few managed to cheat their way to the answers. A few were caught but most was careful to stay within Ibiki's point system. Now, it was time for the tenth question and boy was it a question. It caused an uproar.
"You can't do that!" a Waterfall ninja exclaimed.
"Too bad. You have me as your proctor. It's my rules. You don't like it, then you're free to leave." Ibiki said. This cause a few to actually get up and leave. Ibiki waited a good ten minutes. After looking around and seeing that there was no one else, Ibiki spoke again. "Are the rest of you sure? Are you willing to be genin forever?"
"Whether I'm genin or chunin, I'm going to be Hokage! You ain't going to stop my dream!" Naruto exclaimed. Ibiki looked on as it seem like his words calmed a lot of people down. He scoffed at his sometimes student and faced the room.
"Well then, congratulations. You all have passed the first stage." Ibiki stated. Everyone looked at the man with shock.
"WHAT?" everyone exclaimed.
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Authors' Notes: Did you think I wasn't going to update the first day of 2017? Come on people. I decided to update my favorite story that I have so many ideas for. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new chapter. For me to all of you, have a very Happy New Year.
