And we're back for chapter 5! Well, I wrote most of it yesterday, but ended up getting dragged all over the place, and then a majority of today was work, so yeah, a little late for a chapter, but screw it.

Also, to the flamer in the reviews, here's a thought. If you don't like the idea of a human with fox ears and a tail, YOU SHOULD HAVE READ THE DESCRIPTION BEFORE READING THE CHAPTER! I mean, if you're gonna complain about it, you should have noticed the 'Kitsune Naruto' I wrote in the summary. So in all honesty, all you did was annoy and also make yourself look dumb.

In any case, last chapter we had the group go through some training before the exams...partially because I wanted to skip any of the filler that would have occurred right around this time...yeah I dislike filler. Few few fillers ever end up good. But in any case, here's the chapter!...oh wait right, the disclaimer first.

DISCLAIMER: Everyone repeat after me. I do not own Naruto, its characters, locations, or any part of the franchise. Those all belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Viz Media, TV Tokyo Co., and Shonen Jump, and other content creators. NOT ME. I do own the story though, and any of the crap I come up that's unique from the show. In any case now that the Copyright Nazis can't yell at me, enjoy!


Chapter 5: Calm Before the Storm

Village Streets, Konohagakure, Land of Fire

It had been about a month since the group's regimen of training had begun, and all of them were seeing improvements in their skills. The group had been quite glad with themselves for this...though Sakura still complained a little whenever she had to visit the training hell Gai had been giving her. Though on the plus side, she could at least, according to Tenten's remarks, now call herself an actual ninja.

Heck, she even started to wonder what the heck she was thinking before on restricting herself in the ways she did. If anything, she was pretty sure if she met a past version of herself, she would whip their butt into gear before Kakashi got the bright idea to let the psycho training nut be in charge of her physical fitness. But then again, she couldn't really complain when her previously wimpy punches could now send idiot bandits she met on missions flying.

Sasuke of course, was in a good mood as well, actually smiling a bit more often...whenever fangirls weren't around. He ended up improving his taijutsu to be faster and stronger with Kakashi as well as becoming accustomed to the Sharingan. More importantly though, Kakashi also taught the Uchiha several lightning style jutsus after he got his lightning manipulation up enough. Though Kakashi also promised that if Sasuke got to the finals, he would teach him a very special technique, thus motivating him further to be stronger.

Though he was still a bit worried about 'that' getting out. He was pretty darn sure Naruto in particular would catch on soon. And in his mind, he knew that with his loud mouth, everyone would hear it.

Haku on the other hand managed to learn a few wind style jutsus and create a few ice style ones. Most of them were fairly simple, though she did feel happy with what she accomplished over the month.

As for Naruto...let's say at least he was now good enough in fuinjutsu that he could use seals to hide his fox ears and tail. Though it did restrict his power a little, Minato simply called it a form of training on its own.

In any case, the group was walking back from their previous mission, having been a decent success, with a blunder or two, but it didn't cause too many problems.

Sakura was doing a bit of screeching at Naruto for one such thing.

"NEXT TIME AIM BETTER DARNIT!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto yelped "I SAID I DIDN'T MEAN TO! I'M SORRY!"

Sasuke simply sighed at the antics of the two, while Haku merely giggled a little before attempting to cool Sakura down. Outside of when she was having fun with pranking with Naruto, she tended to be the mediator of the group. Heck as Minato saw it, he literally told Kakashi that out of all the groups members, she was the one who kept them glued together.

"Calm down Sakura, while I know you liked having your hair long, we at least made it so that it looks fine. Besides, having long hair out in battle isn't always helpful." Haku said to the pinkette, calming her down. During the mission, one of Naruto's flame attacks ended up singeing some of Sakura's hair towards the part that she originally had go down her back. As a result, Haku ended up helping her cut her hair short before they got back.

Sakura sighed as she said "I guess you're right…" she paused for a moment before she asked "Wait, is that why you always style your hair in a bun whenever we're training or on missions?"

Haku nodded, and Sakura looked slightly downcast as she realized she could have easily avoided the situation if she had a way to keep her hair up while on the job.

Naruto tried to comfort her as he said "It's okay Sakura, even with short hair you're cute."

Sakura for a second nearly thought the boy looked cute as well before she shook her head and said "You're the reason for it in the first place!"

However, Kakashi picked up on this as he thought Like Father like Son it seems, always accidentally entrancing women...though in comparison, Naruto might actually end up in a situation Jiraya would write in his books...maybe if I give him this info he'll send me an advanced copy.

Before Kakashi could ponder his thoughts any further, he noticed a hawk flying in the skies above, one that he recognized.

"Ah, its that time again." came out of the Scarecrow-Sensei's mouth.

Naruto picked up on this with his hearing as he said "Time for what?"

Kakashi simply shook his question off with a wave of his hand before he said "Don't worry about it. In any case, I'll go ahead and make our report to the Hokage tower. You four go ahead and enjoy the rest of the day. See ya!"

He then disappeared in a poof of smoke, though Naruto could sense it was merely a distraction he used for his shunshin.

Showoff he thought.

After Kakashi left, Sakura went over to Sasuke as she asked "Hey Sasuke! Want to hang out for a bit? I can buy us lunch."

Sasuke shook his head as he said "Not right now, got important...clan things to do. Later."

Sasuke then left the group, waving as he walked away. Though for some reason Naruto smelled something weird about it. A slight smell of blood. Though he shrugged it off, guessing it was probably just a bruise or something.


Naruto's Mindscape

Meanwhile inside his seal, the Kyuubi sputtered, trying hard to not laugh, while Minato simply ended up facepalming a little.

Minato let out a sigh as he said "it seems my son is quite dense at times…first the Hyuuga girl, and now this?"

The Kyuubi shrugged before it said "Well, he gets it from you."

Minato looked at the Kyuubi before he said "Oh I wasn't that bad."

Kyuubi deadpanned as it replied "Mikoto, Kurenai, and don't even get me started on that fan club."

Minato paused for a moment and swore "...oh fuck...you're right…"

The Kyuubi simply grinned as it gloated "And 4-4"


Back outside

Of course Naruto heard none of this conversation. He was considering to comfort Sakura before he noticed a square shaped rock in the middle of the road.

He let out a bit of a smile before he said out loud "You know, rocks are supposed to be round, not RECTANGULAR!"

The box then disappeared in a poof of smoke before revealing three young children. One being a boy with brown hair and a droopy nose, another being a girl with her hair styled like a V. And lastly, the leader of the group, a boy with black hair with a small topknot poking out on the back of his head. All of them however, shared the fact they had a set of green goggles like Naruto used to wear.

These were Konohamaru and his friends, blasting off at the speed of light, sur-oh wait, wrong series...

"As expected from my rival!" Konohamaru said as he pointed at Naruto.

The blond smirked as he replied "Alright Konohamaru, what is it this time?"

The girl with the orange hair answered "You were gonna play ninja with us today, remember?"

"Ah, right...well I guess I got time." Naruto noted.

Sakura looked at him with a cocked eyebrow before she said "A ninja playing ninja, really?"

Naruto replied back to her "Well, it's important for a future Hokage to be able to work well with future subordinates right? So why not make said bonds now?"

Sakura was considering admonishing him, but she realized he did have a point in that regard. She still found it weird that sometimes Naruto actually sounded a bit sagely, but figured he was maturing a bit...but then again, still Naruto.

Haku simply nodded as she said "I see, it does make sense."

Konohamaru pulled Naruto over for a second before he asked "So...which one is your lady friend, if you know what I mean?"

For a moment, one could see a slight blush on the two kunoichis' faces, but it disappeared just as quickly...Sakura more so with the next remark.

Konohamaru then said "Wait, nevermind, it's definitely not the pink one, she's kinda ugly in a few ways." while pointing at Sakura.

Haku couldn't help but sweatdrop at the child's ignorance, and Naruto started sweating bullets.

Even Minato couldn't help but say "Oh dear…"

Meanwhile Sakura's hair hung over her face, and started cracking her knuckles.

Naruto slowly turned his head towards Konohamaru before he said a single word.

"Run."

Next thing Naruto and Konohamaru's friends knew, they were running from an angry Sakura, who was very ready, and willing to send at least one of the brats flying. She wasn't going to go full force on them, but just enough to teach them a lesson...and Naruto too since he did have some influence on the brats.

However, plans changed when Konohamaru cut a corner and ran into a young man in completely black clothing, with the hood on top looking like a cat, and lastly, purple war paint on his face in an ever so delicate pattern...or for those of you of the comedic sort, makeup.

Konohamaru fell down and the youth's pants were stained with dirt as a result. The youth, being annoyed grabbed the child by his collar before he said "Hey twerp, what are you doing running into me like that?"

A second youth, a girl with purple clothing that ended with fish netting on the arms and legs, and lastly a giant fan on her back, walked over as she said "Kankuro, put him down. We don't want to cause a scene."

Kankuro simple shrugged as he said "It's fine sis, I'm just gonna first teach him a bit about respecting his elders. They won't whine too much."

Naruto and co then confronted them as Kankuro held up Konohamaru.

Naruto yelled at the duo, well mainly at Kankuro "Hey, put him down!"

Kankuro looked over at the blond before he said "Hey, just give me a sec here."

"Kankuro, pay attention." she said to try and get Kankuro to stand down.

Kankuro then noticed that Naruto, Sakura, and also Haku who had been following the previous chase, were all wearing a Konoha headband.

"Oh, so you guys are genins from around here." Kankuro said with a bit of a shrug.

Sakura stared at the two dead in the eyes after noticing the duo's own headbands. It depicted an hourglass.

"And you two are from Sand. What are you doing here anyways?" Sakura said in response.

Temari replied "Oh you didn't hear, the chunin exams are soon...speaking of, Kankuro, stop making a scene darnit!"

Kankuro started to say "Oh come on, at least let me give him a-"

However, he stopped when he noticed that Naruto was no longer at his previous location, but instead right behind him, with a kunai hung in front of his neck.

"I said, put the Hokage's grandson, DOWN." Naruto said in a demanding tone. On the inside he really had to thank his dad and Kyuubi for teaching him how to affect his surroundings just by merely changing his tone and demeanor.

Kankuro, in his shock, carefully put the child down onto his feet. Meanwhile Temari was both shocked at the blond's speed...and the fact that he basically just saved their butts from an international incident. That would have been a problem.

Naruto then put his kunai away before walking towards his teammates and Konohamaru's friends before he turned towards a nearby tree and said "Hey, you can come out now. I know you're there."

At that point, a boy with short red hair, pale blue eyes, and black lining around his eyes, that wore a set of ninja light ninja gear that included a lot of netting, and a large gourd on his back sand shunshined onto the street in between the Konoha and Suna ninja.

"G-Gaara…" Kankuro muttered with a bit of fear in his eyes.

Gaara started at Kankuro with emotionless eyes as he said "You're a disgrace Kankuro. You let yourself be carried away just from a bit of dirt on your clothes. Next time though, I'll kill you."

"Ugh!"

Gaara turned towards Temari as he then added on "And Temari, you need to control Kankuro better."

"I-I'm sorry Gaara." The blonde said to the redhead.

At this point Naruto asked Gaara "Who are you?"

Gaara looked at the Uzumaki with his expressionless face before he said "I am Gaara of the Sand...and yours?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Gaara looked away for a moment as he said "I will remember that name...I hope you come to the Chunin exams...to fight you would help prove my existence…"

The other two sand nin seemed very frightened at the mark before Gaara then made his way past him and towards where the Suna ninja were staying, causing them to both leave as well.

Naruto let out a sigh before he remarked "...well that happened."

Haku nodded in agreement, happy the tense situation was over for the time being.

Sakura bent down towards Konohamaru as she apologized for causing them to get in that situation. Meanwhile, Naruto was having his own thoughts.

The weird thing though, was the redhead smelled a lot like a...tanuki? And blood, lots of blood.

"To be fair...that was probably the Jinchurikki of the one tail beast Shukaku, who is very, very well known for being quite insane. And I mean the murder kind of insane." the Kyuubi spoke to him. Naruto had already gone over a bit about each of the bijus at one point of their training.

Naruto's response to this was...

"Oh...fuck."


The next day, Konohagakure, Land of Fire

The group was at one of the many bridges in the village waiting for Kakashi to show up. Unlike before, he asked them to meet here today rather than the training grounds.

And of course before they could even talk much, especially Naruto since he still had Shukaku's Jinchuuriki on his mind, Kakashi once again arrived on time. Though after a month of this, everyone was used to it now rather than wondering if the world was going to end before long.

"Hello my students, today I have a bit of a proposition for you" Kakashi said with his eye smile.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi and asked "And that would be?"

Kakashi then pulled out 4 sheets of paperwork that were some type of form as he said "I recommended you four to the chunin exam!"

While normally Naruto would have been jumping for joy at this, he also realized that the moment he stepped into the exam, he would likely have to face Gaara at some point.

He then shrugged it off deciding that as a fellow Jinchuriki he could take him on, and who knows, maybe become friends. Naruto returned to his normal, happy-go-lucky mood as he took one of the forms from his sensei as he said "Thank you Sensei!"

Sasuke thought it would be a good place to figure out where he stood amongst their generation of ninja. Though he also thought it may also be an opportunity to reveal 'that' secret.

Haku looked at the form, thinking that things would be interesting, and if Naruto was going, she would as well. Besides, it would also allow her to be a step closer to Zabuza's level.

Meanwhile Sakura stared at the form with a determined look on her face before she asked "Is this why you tossed me over to Gai?"

Kakashi simply gave her a nod before she said "Then I'm going, if I had to go through all that crap just to skip out on what it was for, I'd be very annoyed with myself…"

Kakashi couldn't help but eye smile once more, his students were all growing up so well!

"Alright then, go to the Academy tomorrow then at the specified time. From there, all I can do is wish you luck." he said as he then made his leave. He was originally going to say something so none of them would be peer pressured into entering the exams. But all of them seemed eager, so he simply took the lazy route and let that be.

Though however, Naruto, as well as Minato and the Kyuubi, couldn't help but shake one feeling.

That the calm they had at the moment, was going to be replaced with the storm before long.


Naruto: Oh boy, this is gonna be hectic

Sasuke: Considering how the chunin exams are in the canon, probably

Haku: Well at least unlike canon Zabuza and I are still around...also where's Sakura?

Sakura: ...just why WVH? Why?

WVH: I think she broke again.

Kakashi: Mah mah, its not that much of a problem...is it?

WVH: Also before the viewers ask, yes I am kinda speeding up the time between Kakashi handing out the forms and the start of the exam.

Naruto: Also, I'm kinda looking forward to bringing the rest of the gang into the story! We'll be with them when we go in!

Shikamaru: I have to make an appearance? What a drag...

Ino: Everything is a drag to you -.-

Choji: That's Shikamaru for you!

Hinata: I'm just happy it will g-give me some time near N-Naruto k-kun

Kiba: And I better kick some ass! YAHOOO!

Shino: ...he's not going to, is he WVH?

WVH: I see you are catching onto my ways. In any case, be sure to R&R, as well as come back next time everyone!

Kiba: Yeah! Let's do th-wait did you insu-