Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
This chapter starts a few days later after the last one, on the weekend Gafka, Stocke and Naruto are going to the gate to see the genin arriving
edit: changed a little bit of the last dialoge by Ibiki, kinda small change
Naruto's apartment - early morning
The last few days Naruto had have a pretty tight schedule, he would either train with Stocke or Gafka, depending of the day, then on his own time he would continue with his wind chakra practice the next step requires him to cut a full piece of paper, to make it more difficult he was supposed to fold it in half, that meant he had to cut two layers of paper of the same size, at the same time using only chakra, it was not easy
But as soon as he started practicing the technique a perk had appeared in his perk book, it was the medium perk for wind chakra control, but it required him to finished the exercise successfully at least once for him to be able to get it, a thing he had not done yet
In his other training he was doing fine, he had managed to use aftershock with wind chakra more easily, and with seals it was really easy, he now could use the seal for longer, he didn't drain it as fast, but he was still overusing chakra according to Stocke, he also started practicing the seals he would need, he could still not fill them with chakra, at least not fast, it took him several days, but he could practice that along his chakra control
In his sensor training he was not advancing, he had managed to stay still for a long time, but he couldn't stop thinking, he had not been able to meditate, with Gafka they had tried different methods, some coming close, but he was still not over the first part, his mind normally lingered on the chunin exams and the opponents he would meet, but sometimes it lingered in other stuff
Once he started thinking about Hinata, and what was their relationship right now, he remembered the day they had their date
Flashback a few nights ago
They had arrived at Ichirakus, they took seat and order their food and started talking about innocent topics
"So is she your girlfriend Naruto?" asked Ayame to Naruto while giving him his bowl of Ramen
Both genin were red as tomatoes from their blushes, Naruto didn't answer immediately "Were teammates, Ayame-nee-san" said Naruto
"Y-yes we're teammates" said Hinata backing Naruto up
"That's sad, you make a cute couple" said Ayame, this made Naruto almost choke on his ramen
"Come on, Ayame, stop bothering the kids, let them enjoy their food" said Teuchi
"Fine" said Ayame as she went back to cleaning some dishes
Present time – on top of a building overlooking Konoha's entrance
Naruto was thinking about that, a couple, he had never thought of Hinata like that, but now that he had that pointed out; he could tell that Hinata was rather beautiful
A long time ago, when they were on the academy he had never given too much attention to the Hyuga heiress, he had been trying to get Sakura to like him, but when they were together during wave, he had not felt anything for Sakura, maybe it had just been a school crush that he had gotten over
Also Hinata had asked for a Date, did she liked him, did he liked her back? Those were some of the questions on his head
"Hey Naruto!" said someone getting him out of his thoughts
"What?" asked Naruto getting out of his train of thought
"Look at that one, it's going to be a problem" said Gafka pointing at a small red headed boy that was entering the village
"He looks kinda weak" said Naruto "he looks small and frail"
"If his clothes say something, he's from Suna" said Stocke
"Why do you think he's dangerous?" asked Naruto
"First look at the three persons accompanying him" said Gafka, Naruto looked and saw two other persons around his age, a girl with blonde hair with four ponytails and a boy with some strange make up, but they stayed separated from the red hair boy, the last person was probably their jonin sensei, he was closer to the red head but he still kept some distance
"They're scared of him" said Naruto
"Yeah, remember how I told you I'm a really good sensor" said Gafka
"Is he a….?" said Naruto
"Yeah, a jinchuriki" said Gafka
"Well he will definitely be a tough opponent Naruto, you need to prepare to face him, but I would advice staying away from him, if the persons around him are an example, he's probably unstable" said Stocke
"Yes, you should stay away from him at all cost, don't face him unless it's absolutely necessary, and you should be prepare when you do it" said Gafka
"Ok, I'll keep my distance from him, if a jinchuiki is my opponent I'll try to talk to him first, I want to get to know him" said Naruto
"That could work; he probably has never met another jinchuriki, he might be open to talking and getting to know you" said Gafka
They waited some time and then another person caught Gafka's attention
"That one is another one you should keep your eyes on" said Gafka
Naruto looked and saw a tan kunoichi with short spiky minty green hair
"What's so special about her?" asked Naruto
"I'll leave to you to figure out, but I can tell you she can also be a tough opponent" said Gafka
"Well her protector indicates she's from Takigakure, that's a rather small nation
"She seems kinda excited to be here" said Naruto looking at how she was running and raising her arms in the air, then a man came and seem to get her to calm down, then they both went somewhere, probably to find a hotel to wait for the exams
"Well, Taki as I said is not that big of a village, she must be excited to explore Konoha" said Stocke
"That could be" said Gafka
Afterwards they saw a lot of other people coming to Konoha not many of them were to notice since there were also a lot of visitors coming just accompanying the genin or to see the exams, although there had not been that much propaganda or notices about the exam
Eventually the amount of people coming to the village seem to reduce to travelers and merchant
"I think that would be enough for today, although I don't any reason to return here, let's head back, it's a little late, but we might get an hour of training if we return now" said Gafka
"Isn't Naruto terrible at meditating?" asked Stocke
"Yeah, we have not gotten anything done in the last few days" said Naruto
"Don't worry, I got a new idea, I had it all wrong" said Gafka "I think I found something that can work with you Naruto"
"Well, what are we waiting for, let's go" said Naruto
"I'll stay here some more time, see ya later guys" said Stocke
With that Naruto and Gafka went back to their usual training spot, the area behind Ernst shop
A few minutes later – training area
"What's that new thing you found?" asked Naruto
"Well it's not really new, we'll continue with meditation, but we'll take it from another angle" said Gafka
"So, what are going to do?" asked Naruto
"Well some other cultures take meditation a little different, they think you should not empty your mind, like I told you" said Gafka "They think you should focus on a symbol"
"A symbol?" asked Naruto
"Yeah, like the Konoha symbol, the Uzumaki symbol, something that inspired you, or maybe a person" said Gafka "Any of that works, just concentrate on that, clear anything else, then think about why is that symbol important to you, you'll be meditating without even knowing your doing it"
"Seems reasonable, I'll try it" said Naruto
Naruto then sat as he always did, then he concentrated, he thought of different symbols for sometime before he stopped at the Uzumaki symbol, he thought about how he wanted to honor his clan of how he wanted to bring his clan back, he thought about learning everything he could about his clan, he still hadn't read all the books he had of his clan library and even them were limited, it seem that maybe hi Jiji had left some books at his clan compound for him when he finally moved there, or maybe for other reasons, but he knew it was probably for the best, then he thought about how he was happy to be part of something, he might be the last of his clan for what he knows but he was happy to be part of a clan, before he noticed it the hour had gone by
"Well, it seems it worked" said Gafka taking Naruto out of meditation
"What, it worked?" asked Naruto
"You sat there for an hour just thinking, I think that's meditation" said Gafka
It worked; Naruto was finally one step closer to learn something that was part of his clan, sensor skills
"Now I want you to meditate every night before you go to sleep, we'll start the real sensor training next lesson" said Gafka
"I thought I was hopeless in this" said Naruto
"No you just needed another method" said Gafka "my method was not great with you, I had to adapt sooner, if anything it's my fault we were stuck for several days" said Gafka "But even if we begin next lesson, I don't think you will be able to learn the sensor skills until after the chunin exams are over, it takes some time the way we're doing it"
"It doesn't matter, as long as I manage to learn something that was common on my clan, and get to become closer to it, I'm going to give it my all" said Naruto
"Good, then we're done for today, go rest, the chunins are in four days" said Gafka
"Oh yeah, I better start preparing for that, I also need to ask Stocke for some things" said Naruto "See you next lesson" with that Naruto left back home, he still had three more days of training, he needed to make the most out of them
Outside the chunin exams building – the day of the exams
The last few days went out fast; Naruto trained a lot, and managed to get the medium wind chakra perk
Medium wind chakra manipulation
Lets the user use medium wind based jutsus, it also increase the chakra control of the user, it opens new perks at the perk book
Naruto did as he had promised Gafka and he meditated every night before going to sleep
On their next lesson they started the sensor process, but they didn't get to far, they just scratch the surface, Naruto had put his hand on the ground and meditated trying to find chakra through there, but he couldn't do it, he decided to leave that for later, they would finish after the chunin exams were over
With Stocke he now could use wind chakra with aftershock easily, he still consumed more chakra than expected, but it was bearable, he could last a long time, especially because he now carried four tag full of wind chakra on the hilt of his sword, whenever he learn fire manipulation, he would change one of those for a fire tag and add another one, for now this was what he considered enough
He was a little early at the building, he had seen several groups of genins pass and enter the building, he had been waiting here for his teammate, he already knew that they would not be together during the exam, but he wanted to reunite with them before the exam began
Soon enough Shikamaru arrived
"Hey Shikamaru, over here" said Naruto calling him
"How can you be here early, it seem troublesome" said Shikamaru
"I was excited, this will bring me one step closer to being Hokage" said Naruto "So, how's the training, did you learn something new?"
"I'll keep it a secret, if we end up fighting, I would like to have an edge in that fight" said Shikamaru
"If we fought I would have expect you to throw the fight" said Naruto "You don't seem the one that would like to fight any avoidable fights"
"That's true, I will probably not even try with anyone else, it would be bothersome" said Shikamaru "But against you, I want to see what I can do"
"Glad to hear that" said Naruto
Not long after Hinata arrived
"Hello Shikamaru-san, Naruto-kun, I'm glad seeing you two again" said Hinata
"Now that we're all here, what's the plan?" asked Shikamaru "Are you going to have any grand entrance or anything?"
"Nah, let's just go in and measure our opponents, they will probably start soon we should get going" said Naruto
With that they headed towards the building on the way they noticed three familiar figures, the figures of team Guy
"Yosh! If it isn't Naruto my rival" said Lee as he noticed them
"Hey Lee, Tenten ….. Neji" said Naruto "I hope to get to face you Lee, I want a rematch from that spar we had a long time ago, and this time I'll win"
"It seem your flames of youth also burn with passion, I also hope that we face during the exams, that way I'll know how stronger you have become" said Lee
"Hinata-sama, you should leave before this turns for the worse, you know as well as I that you are not ready for this" said Neji with a mocking tone on the sama "But if you insist on continuing, you're destine to lose as someone as weak as you will not make it far"
"We'll see if that's what fate has in store for me, cousin" said Hinata "Who knows, maybe fate has something in store for you as well during the exams"
Neji left then with a face of indifference, he had gave his warning and if she didn't heard it, he would just have to show her how weak she was during the exams
"Hey Tenten, good luck on the exams" said Naruto
"Good luck to you too Naruto, now I better get going if I want to catch up to Neji" said Tenten and then she left with Lee behind her
Team Asuma then started their march towards the exams floor, it wasn't long until they found were the exams were, they had a fake entrance before this one, but it was easy to see through that
They finally entered the door that lead them to where the exams would take place, when they entered they saw a large amount of genin waiting for the exam to start, there were all kind of genin from different villages there waiting
Naruto saw the green haired girl he saw days ago at the entrance of Konoha and also the red haired boy
"Be careful of that one, he's dangerous" said Naruto referring to the red head
"I know, I saw him when he entered Konoha, his teammates feared him" said Shikamaru
"So, we need to stay away from him, got it" said Hinata "I just hope I'm not assigned to be on a team with him"
"Yeah, let's hope we don't have to be with him, in case we end with him, you got to keep your distance" said Naruto
Soon enough a man with an imposing figure, he had a face marked with scars, he had his head covered, he immediately had every genin attention
"Ok everyone! Pay attention" said the man "My name's Ibiki Morino, and I'm the proctor for the first part of the exams"
"Now, I'll explain the basics of this exams, since this year they are a little different" said Ibiki "First, everyone of you will be put in a group of three, the groups will be chosen at random, you'll take turns and pick one piece of paper from this box, there's a number written on the paper, find the other two persons that have that piece of paper, and you cannot switch once you pick one, there are trained chunin at the sides of the room, if they see you switching papers you and the other two persons with the same number will be eliminated"
With that all the genin form a line and pick a paper, Naruto got number 7, Hinata got 8 and Shikamaru got 10, so they would be on different teams, they had been prepared for that, so it wasn't that bad
Hinata ended up with Tenten and a girl with red hair and glasses
Shikamaru ended with Lee and Neji, in his own words, a pretty troublesome team
Naruto was looking for his team amount all the genin, he finally found someone with the number 7, and he was a little surprised by the person
"I didn't expect to end in a team with you Teme" said Naruto
"I just hope this time you keep to your own problems and let me fight whoever I want, Dobe" said Sasuke
"So, you know who else is in the team?" asked Naruto
"No, I was looking just like you" answered Sasuke, as he started looking again for the third member of their team
"Hey, excuse me, do you have the number 7?" asked the girl with the green hair that Naruto saw at the entrance, when she saw their numbers
"Yeah, you do too?" asked Naruto
"Yes, nice to meet you, my name's Fuu" said the girl
"Naruto Uzumaki, and this is Sasuke Uchiha, but you can call him Teme" said Naruto
"Shut up Dobe, and you don't call me that" said Sasuke
"You two seem to know each other" said Fuu amused by their antics
"Yeah, we went to the academy together, and then we had a mission together some time ago" said Naruto
"A mission were you got in the middle of all my fights" said Sasuke
"Hey, if I had stay out, you would have died to Haku" said Naruto
"As if that would have killed me, I had unlocked my sharingan, I was as safe as I could have been" said Sasuke
"Sharingan? That's a dojutsu right?" asked Fuu
"Yeah, Sasuke here is an Uchiha as I said, and he's pretty proud of his eyes" said Naruto
If Sasuke wanted to answer he didn't had the chance, Ibiki got everyone's attention again
"It seem everyone is on a team, now go to the room to the right" said Ibiki pointing to a door on the side "there we're going to begin the chunin exams"
All the genin moved to the room, that had several long tables line up with sheets of papers in front of every sit
"Take a sit; it's organized by team numbers, so you'll be sitting with your team" said Ibiki
"The first part of the chunin exams, is a written test" said Ibiki
There were mixed reactions from the genin, from scared to kinda excited for the written exam
"The sheet of paper in front of you has 9 questions, answer them in less than an hour, when there are 5 minutes left, I'll be giving you the last question, the tenth one" said Ibiki
"The same chunins as before are sitting down at the side of the room, they'll take notes from what they see, and if they see you cheating, you and your team are out" said Ibiki "You can talk amount teammates, but if you say an answer out loud, even in a whisper, you and your team are out"
When all the genin were on their seats Ibiki spoke again "This exams are going to requires skill, strength, intelligence, and trust in your teammates" said Ibiki "Now if everyone's ready, let the exams begin"
Decided to end it there, kinda short, but I didn't wanted to put the rest of the first test in this chapter, hope you like it
Videogame corner: today's game:
Kingdom Hearts Series (Playstation Systems and Nintendo handhelds)
Disney + Final Fantasy, a combination that doesn't seem to work, but it does
You play, as either Sora, Roxas or another keyblade wielder, you go through the worlds of Disney movies