CHAPTER 12: MISHAPS ALREADY!? THE CHUUNIN FINALS! ROUND ONE!

Morning had arrived. The day had arrived. Destiny had finally caught up with demand. It was time for the Chuunin exam! Ninja from all over the world will be coming to Konohakagure for one of the most important events of the year, and Uzumaki Naruto can't wait.

"YES!" Naruto screamed, giving a few practice punches. "Its about time, I couldn't wait any longer!"

Putting on his usual attire, Naruto ran out the door giving a few "hoots" of joy. With a smile from ear to ear he slid down the rail on the staircase leading down to the street. Trying to figure out how long till he needed to be at the "arena", he looked at his watch and his jaw dropped in horror. "IT DOESN'T START FOR 3 HOURS!!!??? ARGH!" He found a bench nearby and sat down, crossing his arms. "…Damn it." He muttered under his breath, swinging his legs back and forth. "What the hell am I going to do for the next couple hours!?" Sighing, he went off to find Sakura and Sasuke, for they would think of something to do.

Running along the street, Naruto began leaping on and off of buildings he practiced his jutsu and abilities to prepare for the exam. As he was running, he realized he was near Ichiraki. "Well, time for a bite to eat!" Running into the eatery, he startled the owner. "What's up Mr. Ichiraki?"

"Naruto?" the owner asked. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto scratched his head. "I'm here to eat."

"You idiot! Aren't you in the Chuunin finals!?"

"Yeah…" Naruto said, not able to see where this was going.

"Well then you must be fast as lightning, because the exam starts in 20 minutes!"

"WHAT!?" Naruto looked at his watch and laughed. "You geezer. It starts in 2 hours and 23 minutes."

"Kid, trust me. I have 2 clocks. Its 10:42 A.M. You have 18 minutes now."

"WHAT!?" Looking around the room, Naruto saw it was true. "MY WATCH MUST HAVE STOPPED!" Running out of the ramen place, he left Mr. Ichiraki laughing and wondering what would happen to his best customer.

"Where the hell is he?" Sasuke said stamping his foot.

"Hey, you were late last time, so give him some slack." Kakashi chuckled, flipping the page of the newest volume of Come-Come Paradise.

"You can't afford to give anyone slack for punctuality Kakashi sensei!" Sakura laughed.

Team 7 was waiting at the Arena where the final exam was to be held. They had been waiting for Naruto for over half an hour. "All I know is that if he doesn't show up its no loss." Sasuke smirked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Well, it seems he's arrived at last." Kakashi said, putting down his book.

Naruto careened into the group at top speed knocking everyone down. After the dust cleared, Kakashi gave him an obligatory smack to the head. "You're late."

"OW!" Naruto gasped, rubbing the bump on the back of his head. "I'm sorry but my watch stopped…"

"Whatever." Sasuke muttered, rolling his eyes. "Let's just get inside before they decide to disqualify us."

As the gang walked in, they saw that the arena had been redone with a new scoreboard, seats, the works. "Wow." Naruto smiled. "Fancy."

Walking over the to participants area, they found their friends chatting…and the Sand guy. They sat down to find themselves in realization they had no idea who they were fighting against.

"Well, that's different from last year." Naruto said, remembering his past experiences.

"Yeah, it adds a bit of excitement though, you know?" Rock Lee added.

"Exciting maybe, but its also far harder to prepare for your first match." Aburame Shino said, coming out of his usual quiet state.

"Well, that's good and all but I just wanna fight!" Naruto yelled.

"I'm actually most worried about the Shadow guys the most. We no little about them." Neji said, adding some light to the conversation. "Actually here they come."

The Shadow Genin walked over to their newfound friends, and awaited the announcement of the matches.

Above them, Tsunade and Kamaasu sat in the seats of the Kage, the village, well, elders. "This will be a most prosperous engagement." Kamaasu chuckled. "To get into my usual attitude, I wanna see some sweet moves!"

"Of course, we will." Tsunade laughed. "Time to announce the matches. Pressing a large button next to her, the scoreboard began to flash brightly.

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto screamed. "IT'S TIME!"

The scoreboard began to flash, names being checked over and over. The first name stopped. Kenshi Kuro.

"Well, its time to see what I can really do!" Kenshi said getting excited.

And his opponent? The screen flashed again: Haruno Sakura.