Lunus17: Yes, I do have some plans for the chakra chains, and they will be a major part of Naruto's arsenal.
SagelyDaoist: Thanks for the review, means a lot to me!
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"So, how was your mission, Asuma- sensei?" Ino chirped.
"Kill or be killed, you know how it is." Asuma replied, Puffing his cigar. "Well, anyways, I have something for you today." He continued.
"What now?" Shikamaru sighed.
"These are the forms for the chunin exams." All three genin straightened up at this. "I believe you are ready for it. Overkill perhaps, but at the very least, ready." He said, passing the forms to the genin.
"You can, of course, refuse if you feel you are not ready." Asuma said. "Now, you can have the day off. If you wish to join the chunin exams, be present at the academy at 8, a week from now." He concluded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
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"So, daddy. What do you think?" Ino asked.
"While I would have liked it if you had more experience under your belt before you enter in the chunin exams, it will certainly be a safer choice for you to take the exams this year." Inoichi said.
"Safer, why so?" Ino asked.
"This year, the chunin exams will be held in Konoha itself, and it will be at least 3 to 4 more years before Konoha hosts the chunin exams again. So, if you think you are ready, I think you should go for it." Inoichi explained.
"H-hey, what do you mean by that? I can take care of myself outside of the village too!" Ino exclaimed indignantly.
"Of course you can, honey. I am just saying that taking your first attempt in your home village itself is a safer option." Inoichi placated.
"Yeah, whatever." Ino huffed.
Miko just giggled at the familiar scene.
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"Troublesome, why do I need to do this?" Shikamaru was willing to sleep the exams out. He would happily do D-rank missions for the rest of his life. But, he couldn't. Why? Because-.
"You lazy brat, you are not sitting the exams out. You better start preparing for the exams now!" Yoshino Exclaimed."
"Troublesome. Troublesome. Why can't you let me sleep? Why can't you let me sleep?" Shikaku and Shikamaru chorused. As soon as they realized what they had done, Shikaku disappeared in a swirl of leaves. But, Shikamaru did not know the shunshin yet. And well, his mother was heading towards him... With a pan in her hand. "Damn." He sighed out. He should run now, should he not? But that would be too troublesome. He supposed he could take this one like a man.
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Naruto was happy. He had, with his savings, finally purchased a house. It was on the red- light district and it was small. But, it was his, and, it had a good garden. So, he was happy. Yeah, and the chunin exams were coming too. He was really happy. And he was really tired too. He was happily tired, he supposed. But, did such a state even existed? Ah, he was overthinking again, wasn't he?
Why was he tired, you ask? Well, he had been trying to control 12 chains at once. Till now, he had discovered that his chains worked like an automatic defense. They would automatically pop out when they 'felt' any danger, but it was very difficult to control them consciously. It was like trying to control 12 hands, at once. He could control 4 easily enough, he could command up to 8 chains to go in a general direction, but with 12, his control went haywire.
"Hey, Naruto!" Ino said, running towards him. "What are your up to?" She asked.
"Trying to control these." He said, pointing towards his back, from where the chains were emerging.
"I see, do you think you could spare some time to teach me the Earth Clone Jutsu?" Ino asked. "Also, mom told me to invite you to dinner tonight, so, perhaps, we could go to the Yamanaka district now, train for a bit and have dinner then?" She said.
"I suppose I can, yes." Naruto said.
"That's awesome, lets go then!" Ino exclaimed.
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He had been wondering if he would see Miko- san again. Maybe, she was just being polite in front of the guests before, he had thought. But, no. Miko- san had called him over for dinner again. He was glad. Maybe she would pet his head again.
"Hey Naruto, snap out of it." Ino huffed.
"Sorry, Ino. Where were we?" Naruto questioned, not looking sorry at all.
"You were showing me the hand signs." Ino said, locking her hands at her waist.
"Yeah, look carefully." He said as he started forming the hand signs. "Earth Style: Earth Clone Jutsu." he said, as a perfect replica of himself formed besides him.
"So, you have to channel your chakra throughout your body, and let it mix with the mud or sand around you. As you will your chakra to take your shape, just like the basic clone, an earth clone will be formed." He concluded.
"Alright, lemme try now." Ino said, forming the hand signs. "Earth Style: Earth Clone Jutsu." She exclaimed... And a clone was formed... Somewhat... Yeah, it was brown. It was shorter than her... And had no head. Alright, it was bad.
"I suppose we have much practice to do." Naruto said.
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It took her an upward of 3 hours to master the technique, but she had done it. And now, they were at their way to her house for dinner. Yeah, she was really hungry.
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"So, Naruto, what have you decided about the chunin exams?" Miko asked, serving the dinner and sitting on the chair, next to Ino.
"I am going to participate." Naruto said, without thinking for a second.
"They are quite dangerous, you know? You should not make such decisions hastily." She said.
"I have to earn, and the D- ranks are not enough to let me by forever. Also, as things are, I have practically no savings, I spent majority of my savings in buying a house. So, I don't really have a choice." Naruto explained.
Naruto spoke quite a lot when he was with her mother, Ino noticed.
"I see." Miko replied. "But, money is not everything, you know?" Miko sighed.
"I know that, but money is the only motivation I have as of now." Naruto said.
"Money should not be your only motivation, Naruto. You need to have at least one emotional aspect attached to your life, or else you will suffer later in your life." She explained.
"Eh, I gotta pay my bills myself. And well, no family, you know?" Naruto replied. He did not want to argue with her, but she was questioning her motivation. And he had to justify his motives. Not to her,but to himself.
She understood, she supposed. To someone like him, who did not have a family to come back to, earning money seemed like the only motive to do any missions. She could really not blame him for such an outlook on life. After all, he had become what the villagers had made him, and she did not have any room to speak when she did not reach out to the boy before.
"The food was great." Naruto said, noticing the silence. "I will take my leave, then." He said, bowing towards Miko. Then, he waved at Ino, and disappeared in a flicker. Yeah, he hadn't gotten any head pats today. Maybe, today just was not his day.
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Walking into the academy, they could see a lot of different headbands around. Synonymously deciding to avoid any conflicts, team ten decided to reach their destination silently.
Noticing the genjutsu on the second floor, Shikamaru prompted the other two to silently head to the third floor. And on the third floor was... "Asuma sensei?"
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"Ah, so all of you came after all." Asuma said.
"Of course we did." Ino huffed, her hands going to her waist.
"Well, its great that you did, because if, had one of you backed out, the whole team would not have been able to participate." Asuma said.
"W-what?" Ino exclaimed. "B-but, you said..." She continued.
"I know what I said, Ino. And I said that because I did not want to force anyone of you to join out of obligation. Regardless, you are all here. Do your best and take care of each other." Asuma said.
"Yes, sensei." The three genin chorused.
"Well then, don't let me stop you. You may go ahead now." He said, Moving aside, and consequently, showing them the door.
X-X
Heading inside the room, they had already started to feel the killer intent oozing out of the participants. There were a lot of people in there. There was no specific age group too, at their first glance, they could see people as young as 11 and as old as 25-26.
Seeing Sasuke, Ino squealed and ran towards him. Sighing, Naruto and Shikamaru followed her too. Apparently, Team 7 and Team 8 were participating too. As things were, Ino and Sakura were hanging on either of Sasuke's shoulders, Chouji was offering chips to Shikamaru, who, in turn, was looking half asleep. Kiba and Shino were arguing about something, Hinata was trying to separate them, and Naruto was standing aside, pretending he did not know any of them.
"You all should keep it low. You are all rookies, aren't you?" A seemingly friendly voice cut through their bickering.
"What's it to you?" Kiba growled, seemingly offended.
"Nothing, of course, but you are all attracting a lot of attention." He said, waving his hands towards the crowd that was glaring at them. "And as a fellow Konoha shinobi, its my duty to guide my juniors." He said.
"We are the same rank, so you can not refer to us as your 'juniors', you know?" Shikamaru said.
"Of course, I know that. But, I have a lot of experience under my belt, and maybe, I can help you a bit." He said.
"And, how exactly can you help us?" Shikamaru questioned
"These cards of mine." He said, summoning a deck of cards in his hands. "Have some information on everyone here. If you want, I can share some with you." He said.
"Everyone, you say?" Sasuke intervened.
"Almost everyone, I would say. There are always exceptions." He said. "Also, my name is Kabuto Yakushi." He finally introduced himself.
"Fine, tell me about Rock Lee of Konoha, Gaara of the Sand and Naruto of Konoha." Sasuke said.
At this point, all the teams had gathered around each other."
"Hmm, lets see." Kabuto said, channeling chakra in his cards. "Rock Lee of konoha. Said to be unable to use chakra. Graduated as the dead last under special circumstances. But, under the guidance of Maito Gai, he has grown to become a formidable taijutsu master." He said.
"Next is Gaara, yes?" He said, separating one more card from his deck. But, before he could channel chakra through it, sand covered the card, and crushed it.
"Try to talk about me once more, and next time, it will be your body." A red head growled looking at Kabuto.
He had fair skin, green eyes, and short auburn hair. He was wearing a black body suit with an open neck, t-shirt-like sleeves, and almost full-length leggings. With this, he wore a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips. He had a wide leather band from his left shoulder to his right hip with which he carries his sand gourd and around which he wraps his forehead protector.
"Ah, you are Gaara, I suppose. Fine, I won't" Kabuto said. Then, looking towards Naruto and realizing he already had a chain floating behind his said. "I think even Naruto-kun will not be very happy if I shared any information about him." With that said, his cards disappeared in a poof of smoke.
Before Sasuke could protest, another poof of smoke appeared, this time in front of the classroom, and an imposing man came out of the smoke.
"No one will fight here." He barked. "Take your assigned seats within 5 seconds, or you will be disqualified." He said.
As everyone took their seats, he said, " I am Ibiki Morino, the proctor for this phase of the exams. Now, you will be given a question paper. You will have 45 minutes to answer 9 questions, and 15 minutes to answer the 10th question which will be disclosed during those 15 minutes." He said. "Do not raise your hands, I am not your teacher." He growled as he saw a hand coming up. "I will explain the rules only once. So, listen carefully. Each one of you will start with 10 points, for each time you are caught copying, 2 points will be deducted. If all 10 of your points are deducted, you along with your team will be eliminated." he explained and motioned towards his assistants to distribute the papers.
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Ino did not know the meaning of the test. But, she did not need to. She just had to wait till Sakura dropped her pen, and then she would just take over her body to get the answers. Yeah, this was easy.
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Shikamaru wanted to sigh. He really wanted to, but he could not. If he did, there was a chance that the proctor would consider it as him trying to cheat. So, he fought with the whole of his will power to deny himself the chance of sighing. The test was not hard, he knew the answers. Well, he hoped Ino and Naruto would know the answers too.
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Naruto knew that Shikamaru knew the answers and Ino's clan jutsu were just made for this situations. But, he did not have the answers. He could not call any birds too, as he was far from the window. So, he supposed some creativity was in order.
Willing a chakra chain into existence, he sent it towards the Ame Ninja sitting next to him. Poking him from the other side, he made him look the other way. As soon as he did, Ibiki shouted, "Number 77, you are eliminated, you and your team may leave." Realizing that he had been played, he graciously accepted defeat and started to move towards the door. But, as soon as he stood from his chair, Naruto wrapped his chain around his leg, and made him fall... On the desk of the next guy... and thus, a commotion was formed. Noticing the other girl next to him was enjoying the chaos, he switched their papers with a gust of wind. As soon as he confirmed the paper was completely solved, He wrote his own name and roll number on the paper and proceeded to plant his head on the paper and sleep.
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"There are some special rules for the tenth question and before I explain them, I am warning you only once, you will not argue with me or ask any questions. If you do, you will be eliminated." Ibiki said. "So." He continued, "The tenth question is special. You can choose if you want to take it or not. If you choose not to take it, you may leave. But, if you decide to answer it and end up giving the wrong answer, you will never be promoted to the rank of chunin." He finished. "You have 5 minutes to decide what you want to do."
Just like he had expected, slowly but surely, people started to leave the room. After 5 minutes, he asked, "Are you sure you want to continue the exams?"
"Yes." A chorus came.
"Fine then. You all... pass."
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AN: And so begins the chunin exams. I tried writing a comparatively bigger chapter since many of you wanted that, but its really hard to write and beta it within the timeframe of a day, so the length of the chapters may be inconsistent, but I will try my best. Tell me what you think about the chapter. Until next time!
