On the day of the chunin exam Sasuke and Sakura were waiting outside of the Konoha academy for Naruto. Sakura was pacing with a worried look and Sasuke watched her curiously from his perch against the wall. After a few moments of watching her pace without pause Sasuke finally said, "What's wrong Sakura?"
"Naruto isn't here yet," she answered looking around them for the fifth time.
"Don't worry," Sasuke said nonchalantly, "He'll be here in time."
"That's not what I'm worried about," answered Sakura, "and I haven't been able to get a hold of him since two days ago. I've been trying to find him everywhere."
"Perhaps he just need some space," Sasuke shrugged, "Don't worry Sakura."
"Hey guys," said Naruto as he appeared next to them.
"Naruto!" gasped Sakura turning to face him, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine Sakura," Naruto smiled, "I just wasn't feeling well."
"You should have come to me," said Sakura with a concerned look, "or Sasuke."
"That's not what I'm talking about."
"Yes it is," said Sakura, "I know you're talking about what Iruka said."
"What did he say?" asked Sasuke.
"He said that he thought Naruto was stupid," growled Sakura.
"What?" yelled Sasuke as he pushed away from his relaxed pose into one of anger, "Why the hell would he say such a thing."
"I don't know Sasuke," Sakura shook her head.
"I do," answered Naruto making the both of them look at him, "and I can't blame him either."
"Why?" asked Sakura.
Naruto sighed. "Sakura, Sasuke, did you know that Iruka-sensei hated me when I first became his student?" both of them shook their heads, "Well he did. In fact he repeatedly went to the Hokage to ask that I be put in a different class," Sakura gasped and Sasuke's eyes widened, "It was because of the Kyuubi. He hated me, just like everyone else, because the Kyuubi was sealed inside me. He hated me because the Kyuubi killed his parents. It was only when I almost got killed because people tricked me into thinking that I could be their friends if I went into a forest that had enemy ninja in it that Iruka finally excepted me consciously, but his mind still subconsciously connects me to the Kyuubi so he doesn't want me to be strong. The same goes for Kakashi-sensei."
"What?" gasped Sakura, "but I thought Kakashi-sensei didn't care about the Kyuubi."
Naruto shook his head, "He doesn't. He subconsciously connects me to Obito which makes him think I'm weak because Obito was weaker than him."
"That's so horrible," said Sakura as she hugged Naruto, "to be judged by other people."
Naruto shook his head again. "It's how the world works," he said, "People are judged by what they remind other people of. Just like Sasuke is judged to be a prodigy because he is part of the Uchiha-clan."
"It's still horrible," mumbled Sakura.
Naruto smiled and patted her head as he said, "Let's go inside now. We wouldn't want to be late to the chunin exams."
When they arrived to where a large group of the ninja the first thing they heard was someone getting punched. When they looked closer they realized it was Lee who got hit. He tumbled back allowing Tenten to catch him.
"Tch," said one of the guys who hit him, "You're taking the chunin exams and you can't even get past us?"
"Why don't you just give up now," said the one with brown hair, "Before you get yourselves hurt."
"Yeah," said the first one who had bandages on his face and black hair, "I think I hear your mommy coming."
"You shouldn't be so smug," said Naruto as he and the rest of the team moved forward.
The two ninjas looked at him, "And what are you talking about?"
"Isn't it obvious?" said Sasuke with a smirk.
"What?" everybody in the background asked.
"It's totally obvious that you guys are jounin using some sort of transformation jutsu," said Sakura.
"It's not even a fair fight for you to go up against them," said Naruto. With this the team began to move on without paying further notice to anyone else in the room.
The two ninjas eyes widened, but they didn't want to give away that the genins saw through their disguise so the brown haired one said, "You guys are the idiots."
"You are already giving up," said the black haired one.
"What are you talking about," asked Naruto with a look of total confusion, "We're going to turn in our admission forms just as we were supposed to."
The brown haired one laughed, "Don't you remember that you're supposed to turn those in at room 301 which is right here." He pointed to the sign behind him.
"You must be blind," said Sasuke, "That sign clearly says 201."
All the ninjas looked back at the sign to say that the sign did indeed read 201 and the two jounins stared shocked because they hadn't even realized that their genjutsu had been released.
Team 7 walked on up the stairs with all the rest of the ninjas following them until they reached the door that led to room 301. They didn't even hesitate as they walked through the door as a team and entered the room as only one. Naruto looked around for his teammates, but he only saw other ninjas who seemed to be just as confused as the others. When he looked closer he realized that this room didn't have any exits and this made him very suspicious. He located Kiba and Ino were standing near eachother, though Ino didn't seem to happy about that, with Akamaru standing in front of them so he went to join them.
Just as he was about to reach them he hear Sakura's voice in his head "Naruto where are you?"
"I'm fine Sakura. I think this is part of the chunin exams this time around. Is Sasuke with you?" he asked as he leaned against the wall next to Kiba who was screaming that he should be let free because he was supposed to be competing in the chunin exams.
"Yeah Naruto. I think only one person of each team was separated from the others," answered Sasuke's voice.
"Naruto?" came Sakura's concerned voice, "Is-"
"Yes Sakura," answered Naruto without letting her finish, "She's here Sakura."
"Okay," Sakura sighed in relief.
"LET ME OUT OF HERE YOU BASTARDS!" yelled Kiba making Naruto wince.
"Kiba," he said, "You're drawing attention to yourself. The last thing we need is for everyone to hate us in this test." He noticed by the corner of his eye that Ino sighed in relief. Apparently Kiba was annoying her. He would have laughed if at that very moment something foul caught his eye.
"Apparently Kabuto was sent to this room as well," he told his team. He felt both of them tense, but they said nothing.
"You might try keeping it down a little," said Kabuto as they approached the three of them, "I mean no offense, but you are three of the nine rookies right? Fresh out of the academy. I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves." Naruto stepped forward slightly making sure that he was in a good position to defend against Kabuto if it was needed though he highly doubted it. "Just cool it," said Kabuto, "This isn't a class field trip."
"Well who asked you?" Ino asked angrily, "Who are you?"
"My name is Kabuto Yakushi," he answered, "but really look around you. You've made quite an impression."
Both Kiba and Ino looked around to see that all of the genin in the room were glaring at them, but Naruto kept his eyes warily on Kabuto.
"These people are very touchy," said Kabuto, "This exam makes everyone tense, and you don't want to rub them the wrong way right now," he sighed, "You can't help it. How could you know how things work? You're just rookies. You remind me of myself a while back."
"Except we'll never betray our village," mumbled Naruto so that no one could hear.
"What did you say?" asked Kabuto.
"None of your business," answered Naruto glaring at him.
"This isn't the first time you've taken the exam?" asked Ino.
"No it's…my seventh," he replied uneasily.
"Well that's a lie," mumbled Naruto.
"What?" asked Kabuto.
"Nothing."
"You must be a veteran. You must really be an expert by now," said Ino.
"Cool," said Kiba excitedly, "You can give us all the inside tips."
"Well," said Kabuto digging in his weapons bag, "Maybe I can help you out a bit with my info cards."
"What the heck are those?" asked Ino.
"These have information on everything I've learned over the past four years," he crouched down and placed his cards on the ground. "I've got over two hundred of them. You see I haven't been wasting my time. They may not look like much to the naked eye. In fact," he flipped the card on top, "they appear blank. Don't want just anyone to see this stuff." He placed his middle finger on top of the card and began to turn it until it showed a map.
"Awesome," said Ino, "a map. Of what?"
"It shows the geographical distribution of all the candidates that have come to take the chunin exams, what villages they come from, and how many from each village," he looked up at them, "Why do you think that they all come together to take the exam at the same time?"
"It's the fostered friendship between nations," answered Naruto, "and they can regulate the total number of ninja that end up in each village in order to maintain the balance of power."
"That's right Naruto," said Kabuto as though it was a great accomplishment made by a small child.
Naruto twitched. "Do those cards of yours have any info on other people?" he asked.
"They might," answered Kabuto, "Do you have someone special in mind?"
"As a matter of fact I do," said Naruto.
"Naruto!" gasped Ino, "I won't let you know all of Sasuke's secrets."
"Who said I was interested in Sasuke's info card?" asked Naruto, "His information on Sasuke is probably incorrect anyway. I want to know about a man who might be a danger to Konoha."
"Oh really?" asked Kabuto, "Who is it?"
"Orochimaru," answered Naruto.
"Wh-what?" stuttered Kabuto trying to regain his composure.
"Who the hell is Orochimaru?" asked Kiba.
"You're so stupid Naruto!" yelled Ino.
"From the looks of it," said Kabuto, "All of the villages have brought exceptionally strong ninja candidates to the exam this time around."
"Perhaps they're getting ready for a war," mumbled Naruto making Kabuto's eyes widen momentarily.
"Naruto you need to stop saying stupid things," said Ino, "Even Kiba isn't as bad as you."
"Of course the hidden sound village sprang up recently. No one know anything about it," said Kabuto, "Those guys are a mystery."
"On the contrary," smirked Naruto, "I know quite a lot about the sound village and the ninjas that live there."
"Well," said Kabuto trying to cover up his nervousness, "you get the point. The competition is going to be tense this year."
"My name is Kiba Inuzuka," yelled Kiba pointing at all of the candidates in the room, "and I'm gonna beat every one of ya."
At this Naruto finally tore his wary stare away from Kabuto to laugh hysterically at Kiba's idiocy. Even when he said that he was using a mask and knew it was probably a huge mistake, but Kiba had no mask and was actually making the mistake.
"What are you trying to do idiot," yelled Ino, "Get us killed."
"Yea," Kiba said, "I feel a lot better now."
"Now if only you had the ability to back up those words," laughed Naruto.
At that moment a sound ninja appeared and threw two kunai at them. Naruto easily caught them and threw them back at the sound ninja. "You think that's going to affect us?" he asked, "If you used your wind it might have helped you a bit."
The sound ninja fell to the ground and stared shocked at him. "How did you know about my jutsu?" he asked.
Naruto just shrugged.
At that moment smoke began to fill the room. With one sniff Naruto knew what it was and he gasped remembering the Akamaru was not in his master's jacket because he knew that sleeping gas could be fatal to a dog. He launched himself forward, grabbed the dog, and shoved it in his coat jacket before he fell unconscious by the effect of the smoke.
In another room the rest of rookie nine waited for the instructor to get there quietly since the loudest of them was not with them. A cloud of smoke appeared behind him and a voice came to from within it. "All right you baby-faced degenerates!" yelled the voice, "Pipe down and listen up!" The smoke cleared to reveal Ibiki and many jounins standing behind him. "It's time to begin. I'm Ibiki Morino, your propter, and from this moment, your worst enemy. Now if we're ready we'll proceed to the first stage of the chunin exam. Hand over your paperwork. In return you'll each be given a number. This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated." Each student moved forward and exchanged their applications with their seat and then they went to go sit down. "Everyone eyes front," Ibiki tapped the chalkboard with a piece of chalk to get all their attention, "There are a few rules you need to be aware of, and I won't answer any questions so you better pay attention the first time around." He then proceeded to describe all the rules. Both Sasuke and Sakura were surprised to hear that he wouldn't be asking a tenth question at the end as he had done the first time."All right. Begin."
Many of the pencils began to move and both Sasuke and Sakura finished their tests quickly. They sat and watched as teams were slowly eliminated until there were only a few left. Finally the time came to end the exam. "All right," said Ibiki, "Those of you who remain have all passed. You'll be going on to the next part of the test."
At this moment the window broke and a big ball of cloth came flying in. It opened to reveal the word 'Here comes the second test proctor Anko Minarahi and Anko stood in front of it as she said excitedly, "Heads up boys and girls. This is no time to be celebrating. Are you ready for the second test?" she asked then without giving them any time to answer she said, "Good! Let's go! Follow me."
Ibiki stepped out from behind the sign and said, "You're early again."
"How many are there?" she asked, "Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? The test was too easy. You must be getting soft."
"Or it could be," answered Ibiki, "A stronger crop of candidates this year."
"Sure don't look it," said Anko as she looked them over, "Trust me. Before I'm done with them more than half will be eliminated. This is gonna be fun," she paused for a moment, "All right you maggots have had it easy so far, but starting tomorrow first thing in the morning I'll let your squad leaders know where you are to meet me. Dismissed."
woohoo beginning of the chunin exams