Chapter Ten - Chunin Exam I

"Morning," Naruto greeted his teammates as he walked up to Sasuke and Sakura while they waited outside the examination location.

The first task of the exams is taking place at the west wing of the Konoha Academy, typically used for study halls and taijutsu training while a ninja hopeful. Naruto didn't use the taijutsu rings as much as the study halls where he ruined plenty of classrooms while practicing seals that ended up a bit… explodey when not done completely correctly. Fuinjutsu is considered a dangerous art for a reason, and that is why the average shinobi does not learn it until Jonin and even then it is limited.

One time, the Academy had to be canceled for nearly a week because one smoke tag that Naruto was experimenting on ended up creating a tear gas that sent nearby classrooms into coughing fits. They ran as far as they could, and when Anbu came to investigate while thinking it was an attack from some kind of hostile force they found Naruto passed out. He's lucky he didn't get permanently injured, and the Hokage had yelled for an hour at how irresponsible he was and how much paperwork he now had to go through.

Naruto continued working on seals but this time he did it after thoroughly learning an area containment array that would prevent any gas or explosion from causing excessive damage.

"We already have to deal with Kakashi-sensei's tardiness, don't you dare start picking it up as well!"

Naruto laughed at the girl's shouting and followed her inside where a large group gathered in front of a classroom door. A kid in a green jumpsuit with a Konoha band around his waist and orange leg warmers over his shins was just punched by two Konoha Genin that he did not recognize. Landing a bit away and in front of the large group, he rubbed his scuffed chin and stared in frustration at the guarding Genin.

A girl in a white and red top, and red loose pants that he can vaguely see bandages around her thighs and hips, approached the two as she pleaded "please, just let us through."

As Naruto and his team approached past the group that was too scared to approach to act out their own frustrations, he saw the Genin on the left grit his teeth but smirk. The boy on the right scoffed before asking, "why should we?"

Naruto dashed forward, grabbing the man by his arm just as he was about to hit the girl like he did the green-wearing boy before he noticed his friend about to come for him and he sent a kick to the man's knee. While the older man crumbled to the ground in pain, he twisted the man he had grabbed and slammed him into the wall before tossing him into his friend. "It's not nice to bully, y'know."

Naruto walked up to the two guys and got a good look at them but now they were different. It seems that they were Henged into two nondescript individuals and now he can see two Chunin that he recognized as Kotetsu and Izumo. The two of them are C-rank Chunin but because they are childhood friends they work so well together that they have taken down Jonin together, but because of their individual skills, they haven't been promoted to Jonin just yet.

"Goddamn it, Naruto, you kick hard!" Izumo nursed his pained shin without getting to his feet.

"If we were actual Genin they would have been in the infirmary already," Kotetsu commented as he stood up. "And you know that this isn't the exam room! This is one of the rooms you destroyed in your final year!"

Naruto laughed as the Genjutsu washed away revealing study hall 201 which still had scorch marks exploding from the cracks of the door. This particular room fell victim to an uncontrollable explosion that caused the low-level containment seal he was using to fail. It did bring a smile to his face when he thought back to the horrified screams from students that thought he was a zombie when he exited the room. "Yeah, I know, but the group you had held up was in the way."

"There is plenty of room!" Izumo shouted and motioned to the five feet gap between the large group of Genin hopefuls and the stairs to the third floor where the actual examination room is. "Stop showing off!"

"Well," Naruto trailed off with a smile but he chuckled at the annoyed huff from the Chunin. "It was nice seeing you guys, hope the rest of your day is better."

With a wave, Naruto began walking off in the direction of the stairs as the two Chunin Body Flickered away. He looked at the boy and girl and flashed a smile with a nod and said "see ya" before leaving.

"Wait!"

Naruto stopped, stepping aside to let the chatting group pass by, and looked to see who yelled for him to find it being a Hyuuga who called out for him. Specifically, it is Hinata's cousin Neji staring at him. Behind him is the boy and girl that were at the front of the group who must be his teammates. "Yeah, what do you need, Hyuuga-san?"

"Don't fail the exams too early," he said before a smirk crept on his face. "I want to fight you."

Naruto just raised his eyebrows in surprise and confusion. "That's it? If it's a fight you want you could have asked at any point before this but sure, same to you I guess. Is that all?"

"Who are you," Sasuke asked, annoyed that the two were having some kind of moment that he was being held back from.

"Sasuke, I'm hurt," Naruto mocked hurt as he grabbed a bit of his shirt over his heart. "After all this time you don't remember me-"

"Not you, idiot!" Sasuke turned back to Neji. "What's your name?"

"It is usually proper for you to give your name first," Neji answered as the smirk fell away.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Neji Hyuuga."

Naruto put a hand over his face at the cocky smirk on his teammate's face. "Alright, you can ask your crush on a date later, Sasuke, let's go."

"Shut it, dobe!"

"Oh, there's a lot of you," Naruto said as he looked around to see nearly double the crowd that he and his team came up to.

Konoha - obviously -, Suna, Iwa, Kiri, Kumo, Ame, Taki, Kusa, don't know that one, or that one.

That's when he noticed something towards the back. "Hey! Treat village property with respect! We are shinobi, not children!"

Everyone turned to see who he was looking at and they could see a girl with purple hair in an onion-like bun and green eyes. Under her bangs, the headband for Amegakure can be seen. The girl looked up, startled, before putting away her kunai from drawing a cloud on the desk.

"Thank you," Naruto gave a charming smile, putting everyone off at the range of emotions he possessed.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto glanced over to see Ino jump on Sasuke's back, staggering the teen in surprise, and Sakura growled in jealousy and anger. "Get off of him, Ino pig!"

Naruto sighed as he saw Shikamaru and Choji coming up, one bored and the other happily munching on some barbecue chips. "Hey Shika, Choji, good to see you."

"Not like I had a choice," Shikamaru sighed and put his hands behind his head. "My mother made me come. She can be such a drag."

"Don't let her hear you," Naruto chuckled at the boy's attitude despite how tense the room's atmosphere is.

"Hey, guys!"

"And everyone is here," Naruto commented on seeing Kiba, who shouted, as well as Hinata and Shino.

Hinata finally had the jacket that she usually wore off and around her waist, seeing as it was hellishly hot out, and her loose top revealed her womanly body for everyone to see. Her eyes, however, found Naruto's and she gave a bright smile. "Naruto-kun."

"Hi, Hina," Naruto smiled and gave the girl a kiss on the cheek. "Good to see you and your team decided to come to the exams. Hey, Shino."

"Hello, Naruto," Shino nodded back, glad to see the blonde around. Out of everyone from the Academy, he is the only one to interact with him and includes him in conversations and activities. "Seems like a crowded exam this year."

Naruto nodded his head, motioning to the others in the room. "If you can't tell, everyone in here are all village rivals of some kind and they all look ready to murder someone. No chill, I tell ya. It's a wonder why a bunch of them have to repeat the examination."

"I would be careful if I were you," a white-haired Konoha shinobi walked over. "My name is Kabuto, and with all your yelling you would think you're on a picnic."

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What does it matter to you," Sasuke grunted at Kabuto.

"Look behind you."

Everyone turned to see many of the Genin giving them glares from their seats. Iwa, particularly, is glaring at Naruto which amused him a lot since word must have traveled about what happened to the team that tried to attack him a few days ago. However, he did notice a Kumo team, a Taki team, and an Ame team are looking at him as well.

The Kumo team is a trio of one boy and two girls. The sole boy is dark-skinned with spiky white hair and dark brown eyes. He has a dark mountain-gray, long-waisted hooded shirt with red bandages around his forearms and shins, as well as black pants and a ninjato on his back. The first girl is dark-skinned as well with long red hair and amber eyes, wearing a similar outfit to her male teammate except her sleeves are ripped off and she isn't wearing the red bandages on her arms or legs. She has mesh stockings under her lower robe and boots, her headband as a bandana that partially covers her head, and a ninjato on her back. The final teammate is the only light-skinned member of the team with blonde hair in an asymmetrical bob haircut and blue eyes. She wears a low-cut shirt that is opened slightly to accentuate her large cleavage and the mesh armor underneath the shirt, as well as a darker skirt with shin-high boots. While her teammates wore the standard lightweight flak jacket worn by most Kumo ninjas, hers is modified to only over her stomach but considering the size of her chest, he doesn't blame her.

The Taki team is uninteresting for the most part, with the exception of the sole female member who stood out like a sore thumb. The girl is tan-skinned with a slightly darker shade than Naruto's own with green hair that has an orange clip on the right side and orange eyes. Her outfit is a short sleeveless white shirt that stops under her chest, a mesh undershirt going a bit lower than that but he can still see her toned stomach clearly. She has white detached sleeves that match her shirt and a skirt that can barely cover her private areas if not for the underwear and mesh shorts she wore. On her back, she carried a red-wrapped cylinder that he could not outright distinguish the purpose of but considering how she has it with her it has some kind of use in battle.

The Ame team is the trio that includes the kunoichi who he yelled at for using a kunai to draw on the desk. Other than the girl who still looked chastised, her two teammates are also kunoichi. The first girl has long black hair that covers the left side of her face with dark magenta eyes that look at him lazily. She wears a violet long-sleeved dress with dark purple pants, a lighter shade type of cloak that goes over her right shoulder as well as a yellow choker. The next girl has long green hair with a headband bandana and pink-colored eyes. Her face is mostly covered by a black mask much like Kakashi, with a poncho worn over a dark blue kimono dress that has a rusty orange sash around her waist. Bandages are wrapped around her arms and hands and Naruto can vaguely see two umbrellas under her cloak.

"As you can see, everyone is on edge with the exams," Kabuto continued as if everyone were quiet because they were intimidated. "I can't blame you for how you act because you are still green compared to the rest of us. It almost reminds me of how I used to be when I first started taking these exams."

"Is this your second time?"

Kabuto shook his head at Sakura's question and held up two hands with seven fingers up. "My seventh time, and I'm hoping it will be my last. It's held twice a year, and I've taken them each time for the last four years. I took an apprenticeship in the recon division and because of what I learned there I feel more prepared this time around."

Naruto raised his eyebrow at that and watched as he pulled out a pack of cards. It was hard to get an apprenticeship as a Genin, and Naruto was only given one because he was very good at taking care of Mizuki before Jonin came.

"These are 'ninfo' cards, each one contains information on nearly all Genin from the participating villages."

That is not something you share! Naruto shouted in his head, resisting the need to pull his hair. Who the fuck shares that? I get we are from the same village, but look at these guys! They're looking at the cards like they'll guarantee them immortality to Sage's sake!

Kabuto began twirling the card as he channeled chakra into them and soon after, a map of the continent with every hidden village on it appeared. However, on the card, are also a bunch of bars in varying sizes with a number over it inside each region. "This card tells me how many teams of each village are participating. Most are coming from Konoha, of course, but there is a surprising amount of teams from Iwa and Kumo this time around. The info on a ninja is not perfect, I'll admit, but they're better than going in blind. Give me someone and I'll show you something about them."

"Kabuto of Konohagakure," Naruto said jokingly and the man chuckled at him.

"Don't be rude! He's willing to show us something on other teams!"

Naruto leaned his head away from Sakura and rolled his eyes. "Relax, it was a joke."

"Show me what you have on Gaara of Sunagakure and Neji Hyuuga."

Kabuto looked at Sasuke in bemusement before shuffling his cards a bit. "That's no fun, you already know their names. Oh well, first is Neji Hyuuga. A member of the Hyuuga clan of Konohagakure, he is considered a prodigy from the clan's branch family. He is a taijutsu specialist with average levels of ninjutsu and genjutsu. His teammates are Rock Lee and Tenten Hayabusa. His mission history is twenty-seven completed D-rank and fifteen completed C-rank."

He pulled out the next card and revealed it. "Next is Gaara of the Desert. As the son of the current Kazekage, and due to Suna tradition, his family has dropped their last name and are only known as 'of the Desert'. I do not have much on him as a foreign shinobi, but from what I can gather he is a formidable shinobi but that should be expected as the son of the Kazekage. His teammates are his siblings, Kankuro and Temari. His mission history is eighteen completed C-rank and three completed B-rank. He has returned from each mission without a scratch."

Considering Shukaku's innate control of sand, and where he is from, it is no surprise.

Naruto nodded his head, but it seems the man did not know about Gaara's Jinchuuriki status. "I'm interested now. What do you have on me? Naruto Uzumaki."

Kabuto raised his eyebrows in surprise and hesitantly began shuffling his cards before pulling one out. "Naruto Namikaze, son of the Fourth Hokage, the Yellow Flash, as well as Kushina Uzumaki, the Red Blade of the Swirling Leaves. He goes by Naruto Uzumaki. Having failed the graduation exam of the academy despite above-average grades, he had exposed a traitor among the Chunin force and had captured and interrogated them. Their name was blacked out by the time I got to it, but it was this that got him a brief apprenticeship in the Interrogation Division of Konoha's Jonin force under Ibiki Morino and Anko Mitarashi. His teammates are Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. Completed mission history is twelve D-rank, one C-rank that had escalated to A-rank, and one B-rank."

No information on my clan or my summoning contract? That's good, that means nothing from what happened in Wave has been released.

Kabuto put that card down as a card flew from the deck and he exposed this one as a second ninfo card on him. "A second card? O-oh. According to information gathered recently this week, it seems that Naruto Uzumaki is the Prince of a reorganization of Uzushiogakure, an island destroyed during the Second Ninja War. He also holds a summoning contract with a flying animal of some type but not much has been gathered."

Naruto chuckled to himself, realizing he spoke too soon. "I really need to ask where you get your information from so I can pay them a visit about sticking their nose where it doesn't belong."

"I-I'm sorry, my cards are linked to my department so it can update on the spot," Kabuto seemed genuinely concerned about what he just read. "Can I just ask, is it true?"

"Which part?"

"All of it?"

Naruto moved his head around vaguely, "that is for you to find out."

"Ah, well," Kabuto breathed out when he realized he wasn't getting a straight answer to his question. "You're part of the norm. That's the average for many shinobi that enter the exams. They are the best Genin villages have to offer and because of that, these examinations are brutal for even someone like me. If you end up failing, don't let it get you down. The only one I wouldn't be concerned about is Otogakure. They formed just last year so there isn't much to gather but an upstart village like theirs isn't anything to fear compared to the others."

Then he saw movement. They moved through the crowd in different directions but he caught their headband; a musical note. It seems they took Kabuto's comment personally.

We already acted like a hero to that Hyuuga's team, can we sit this one out? I'm tired.

Hahaha! You're always tired, old man!

I'm sorry I'm over a few millennia old! I'll keep this conversation in mind when you reach your first century!

Naruto began laughing out loud just as Kabuto and the three Sound shinobi clashed.

The Chunin Exams start. We meet Kabuto, and it seems the news of Naruto's clan status and summons is becoming more known. The Sound Team moves in against Kabuto, and Kurama remarks that Naruto will be able to live multiple centuries! The next chapter for RotUC will be posted later. 5AM UTC, 12AM EST, 9PM PST.

Also a reminder, I do not have a beta-reader so excuse me if I mess up in spelling or anything. I might have slight dyslexia when it comes to specific letters, or it's my ADHD that causes me to automatically read something in it's correct form even if it is wrong. Let me know whenever something happens and I will fix it when I can. Thank you :D

Maruto Namikaze: Much appreciated :D

Netto Hikari1: I know he voiced Anderson but I was a big Halo kid so that's where I know him most lol. Mushoku Tensei, Eminence in Shadow, and other anime added the idea of "magic" which is just the base uncontrolled version of chakra and is not explicitly tied to any element. The idea is that back when the World Tree was still slumbering before the Otsutsuki came, the chakra of the Tree seeped into unique individuals and as such it created a different power than what the Sage had shared. I agree with Yugito and Fu not getting a lot of love, which tends to be why I appreciate them more, so it will take a long time for anything to happen currently as they are still from rival villages (Taki having a shaky non-aggression pact with Konoha currently). Jiraiya convinces himself of what he needs to as to justify his actions, and he truly feels deep down that he is doing his best even if Naruto does not agree or appreciate it. There will be more arguments to come, but no worries it will be nothing our blonde can't handle and nothing Hiruzen can't stomp out. If he lives long enough, that is...

iamshindragonmist: thank you friend :)

Postnutclarity: I will confirm nor deny anything... all I can say is Anko is freaky O.O