Uzumaki Naruto; 2 Years Later

Age 14

-Find Out-

"SAKURA!!!" I yelled, pounding on Sakura's door. "SAKURA!! ARE YOU THERE?!"

I was standing outside Sakura's door waiting very patiently for her.

She had told me yesterday while I was asking her over and over that she would walk down to the Chuunin Exam tournament with me so I made sure to be nice and early. But now… it was a little weird. Why wasn't Sakura answering the door?

All of a sudden, the door opened and Sakura's mother was there looking surprised.

"Oh!" she said. "Why, hello there Naruto!"

"Oh, hi Mrs. Haruno." I said. "Where's Sakura?"

"Why do you ask?" she said.

"Sakura said she'd walk down to the tournament with me!" I said. "I'm in the Chuunin Exam Tournament, you know!"

"That's wonderful, Naruto!" she said happily. "But I'm afraid Sakura has already left."

"WHAT?!" I demanded. "How could she have already left?!"

"Her friend…oh…what was her name?" Sakura's mom said, looking up as if that would help her remember. "Oh, I just can't remember. But her friend came by earlier and the two of them went down to the tournament to get good seats."

"To get good seats?" I said. "To watch me?"

"I suppose." She said with a shrug. "I was just on my way down now."

"Oh, okay!" I said. "I have to hurry though! Thanks!"

"Bye, Naruto!" said Sakura's mother.

Sakura's mom was a pretty nice lady. Sakura had probably been waiting for me but had to leave so she could be sure to get front row seats so she could see me fight better. Now I had to get to that tournament and win so I could impress her!

I had been counting down the days to this tournament. I can't wait to become a chuunin so I can become a jounin so I can become Hokage. Unfortunately, that Stupid Sasuke was also in the tournament this year but I'd show everyone that I was a better fighter than him. After all, we couldn't have been put in better spots. He fought first and I fought last, meaning it would be me and him all the way to the finals.

I had to fight Lee. I wasn't worried about beating him. I was pretty sure that'd he'd be a pushover.

Finally, I could see the stadium area in view. I quickened my pace once I heard the cheering crowd, thinking maybe I was a little late.

Fortunately, I was not. I arrived with time to spare and waited in the overhang area where all the fighters were. Sasuke, Lee, Kiba, Hinata, Ino and two people from different villages were there. Yatara; a pretty girl from the Sand Village who obviously has a crush on me! Demakase… um… I don't know much about him.

I looked at the crowd. That's when I saw her! SAKURA!! There was still time before the tournament started so I could go over and say hi to her!!

"SAKURA!" I yelled, running over. She was sitting with Tenten. "You got a great seat!! You'll really be able to see me fight from here!"

"Naruto, I came to watch SASUKE fight." Sakura said. "And Lee, Ino and Hinata because they're my friends. Pretty much everyone except you."

"Aren't I your friend?" I asked.

"Naruto…you'll never understand." Said Sakura, shaking her head.

I didn't know how to react to that. But Tenten didn't say a word and Sakura didn't say anything more. So I trudged back to the overhang area just as Sasuke and Demakase went into the fighting arena.

That's when I saw Lee standing there. It made me so angry that Lee was higher on Sakura's list of people to watch fight even though I was on the same team as her. I figured I'd put him in his place and remind him that I was the one who was going to become Hokage around here.

"Hey Lee!!" I yelled at him.

He looked around, confused at first. Then he saw me. "Naruto!!" he said, sounding… HAPPY. "We are to fight each other in the first round!! I can't wait to begin!!"

"Yeah right, Lee!" I said, miffed about the fact that he wasn't taking me seriously even though I was going to beat him so bad. It obviously had to be an act because there's no way he'd be able to be that calm. "I bet you're shaking in your boots because you know I'll beat you!"

"Oh, all right Naruto." He said after a moment's consideration.

HA! I caught him in THAT lie.

"Winner; Uchiha Sasuke." I heard the examiner as the crowd cheered some more.

Sasuke sauntered back over to where we were all waiting, acting like he was the coolest person in the world even though he wasn't.

I was going to go over and beat him up for being so pompous, but he was ambushed by the pretty Sand girl who swooned over him. Why does Sasuke always have to get all the girls?! He doesn't even put it to good use because he just ignored her!!

"Ino, you're up next, right?" he said to Ino. Whoa. Ino cut her hair again.

"Yeah, I am!" Ino answered.

I had to go and give Sasuke a little piece of my mind. I stomped over to him to get his attention. "Hey Sasuke!" I said. "You think you're SO cool just because you beat that Mist guy up! Well you're NOT!"

"Right, Naruto." Sasuke said.

That stupid Sasuke!! He was definitely going to get what's coming to him!!

That's when Lee ran over. "Sasuke!! Promise you'll save the finals for your fight with ME!!"

HEY! By making a comment like that, Lee was implying that he was going to defeat me in our round!!

"I'M fighting Sasuke in the finals!!" I yelled at him.

"I thought we all mutually decided that I was going to fight Sasuke in the finals." Kiba said.

"You're ALL wrong because I will fight Sasuke!" said Yatara.

That's when the argument began. I wasn't arguing for the BENEFIT of fighting Sasuke, I was just trying to show everyone that I would be the one in the finals since it was a given that Sasuke was going to be in the finals. Soon, I came to realize that the only person I was arguing with was Yatara because Kiba had ran off to make sure Hinata was all right.

Why?

Because Ino had won.

Hinata was taken to the medical tent and Kiba came back over. The fact that Yatara turned her attention to congratulating Ino sort of ended our argument.

"Nice job!" said Yatara to Ino.

"Thanks!" said Ino.

"I hope I can fight you later on!" said Yatara.

"Hey!" said Kiba. "You're fighting ME next and I'm going to beat you!"

Kiba and Yatara both went out to the fighting area.

I guess that was the end of my argument. It was time to get pumped up for my fight against Lee even though I was obviously going to win.

The fight between Kiba and Yatara was… eh. Nothing special. I knew I'd be able to beat either of them so I didn't really care who won. I kinda wanted Kiba to win because he's my friend, but I also kinda wanted Yatara to win because she's pretty and I want to impress her.

However, in the end, they BOTH lost.

It was a double knockout.

Oh well! That only means that once I beat Lee, I automatically go onto the finals where I will fight Sasuke!! I decided to announce that to the world.

"ALL RIGHT!!" I cheered. "NOW I AUTOMATICALLY GET TO FIGHT SASUKE!!!"

I realized that Lee had yelled the exact same thing at the exact same time I did. So, he thought he would beat me. Well, he wasn't going to. I'd show him a thing or two about being a ninja in our fight.

…Which was right now.

The crowd was suddenly completely silent as we made our way out.

I wondered why. The crowd didn't usually react like this. They didn't even seem so captivated during Sasuke's fight! That just goes to show that I am a MUCH more interesting ninja than him!

"You two better not disappoint the crowd." Said the examiner.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You ready?" the examiner said, not answering my question or even coming close to answering my question. "Go."

Even though I wasn't entirely ready, I was ready enough to dodge Lee's initial attack.

Almost immediately following, he made another attack. But, instead of dodging it, I blocked it and then threw him aside.

Then he made another attack. He followed up with many other attacks one right after another. I blocked or dodged every single one.

Now, either Lee was getting worse or I was just much much better.

He looked like he had begun to think. It as now time for the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! It was an especially effective attack against someone like Lee who couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu like I could. That must be so frustrating for him, but it wasn't time to be bothered by it.

My clones did a good job attacking, but Lee also did a good job defending.

The battle progressed much like that for a while. Lee didn't look like he was slowing down at all, so it was time to use one of my best and newest attacks. I stood back to gather up some chakra and strength for the attack.

As I was gathering the strength, it looked as though Lee also had a plan. He was grabbing something tied around his feet.

I had forgotten that he always wore weights like that.

He lifted them off his feet and threw them behind him. Upon reaching the ground, they created enormous craters and threw dust up into the air. I was, at first, extremely intimidated but I couldn't show him that I was.

"Yeah right, Lee!" I said in attempt to psych him out and discourage him from whatever plan he had… planned. "Like you can beat me just by taking off a little weight!"

"A LITTLE weight, Naruto?!" Lee said, sounding a little angry. I guess my taunting had worked. But then I realized that I had taken all the focus off building up my chakra while I was distracted by Lee taking off his weights and then making fun of him.

I immediately went back to the chakra, but suddenly, a green blur appeared in front of me and knocked me right off my feet. I was then stuck in a barrage of attacks that I couldn't even begin to defend because I couldn't see where they were coming from. I raised my hands to protect my face, but that only left the rest of my body completely vulnerable and exposed for harm. Lee had the upper hand and there was nothing I could do about it until there was a break in his attacks.

Then it came. He stopped for just a moment and I had time to steady myself. Just when I was steadied, I looked up only to see a fist in my face. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. I couldn't hear a thing. All of a sudden, I felt pain as I hit the wall of the stadium.

I couldn't move. I felt like every bone in my body was crushed.

I thought about Sakura!! And the Hokage! I hadn't impressed either of them!! How was I going to become a chuunin at this rate?

The last thing I heard was the examiner saying, "Winner; Rock Lee."

I woke up a little while later. I was lying on a bed in the medical tent. How did I know it was the medical tent? Probably because of all the medical ninjas.

But none of them were paying much attention to me because they were all preoccupied with someone across the room. I guess the medical tent wasn't much of a medical tent. More so a medical building.

I sat up to see who was getting all the attention. It was Ino. Had she and Sasuke already fought?

"Hey, you all right there?" came a voice. I looked up to see that one medical ninja had stayed behind to watch me.

"Yeah…I'm okay." I said finally.

"You hit that wall pretty hard!" said the ninja.

"I guess…"

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. That Rock Lee is a rock solid ninja!"

I raised an eyebrow. Was that supposed to be some sort of joke to make me feel better?

"Um…okay." I said. "Can I go?"

"If you feel well enough." Said the medical ninja with a shrug.

I got off the bed. My body didn't feel very good, but I didn't want to hang out for very much longer. I wanted to go someplace where I could wallow in self-pity.

Obviously, I needed more training. I didn't even want to see any of the finals with Sasuke and Lee. Actually, for all I knew, they had already happened.

But I just wanted to be by myself right now.

So I went to my favorite Ramen stand and ordered myself a bowl.

I sat there. For some reason, I didn't even feel in the mood for Ramen.

I had been hoping to become a chuunin. And now I felt even stupider that I had mocked Lee so much and said I would beat him when he beat me so easily. Yeah, I definitely needed more training. How did I even make it to the tournament?

"Hey Naruto!" I heard Iruka behind me.

"Iruka!" I said, suddenly feeling better as I spun around and he sat down.

"Nice job in the Tournament, Naruto." Said Iruka.

I frowned. "I don't need that." I said.

"I'm serious!" he laughed. "Even though you didn't win, everyone could see that you were trying your best!"

"Hey, Iruka, did you watch the finals?" I asked. Even though I didn't really want to know if Sasuke had won… I still kinda wanted to know if Sasuke had won. It didn't make much sense, but I often can't make much sense of what goes through my head.

"…Yeah." Iruka answered.

"Oh." I said, looking down. I hadn't seen Lee or Sasuke in the medical building. "Who won?"

"Do you really want to know?" Iruka asked.

"Yes, I want to know!" I said.

"Do you really want to know?" Iruka said.

"YES!" I said.

"Maybe you should ask one of them." Iruka replied.

"Just tell me!!" I complained.

Iruka shook his head.

I crossed my arms. "If you don't tell me then you have to pay for my Ramen." I threatened.

"Oh really?" Iruka said, raising both eyebrows. "I was going to do that anyway."

"Just tell me!" I commanded.

"Naruto, if you want something you have to go out there and do it for yourself!" Iruka said. "If you want to become a chuunin, you have to train hard and not spend so much time on other things! If you want to know who won the tournament, you have to find out for yourself!"

"Iruka, is this one of those lessons of yours?" I said.

"Yes, it is." Iruka replied. "I was trying to be metaphorical but I had to spell it out for you."

"All right, fine!" I said. "From now on, I'll be the most dedicated ninja ever and I'll pass the next chuunin exam."

"You can't just SAY it." Iruka said. "You have to MEAN it."

"I DO mean it!" I protested.

He gave me a look.

I sighed. "Okay, okay." I said. "Iruka, I SWEAR…" I looked around. "On this bowl of Ramen! That I will become the most dedicated ninja ever!"

Iruka nodded and laughed slightly. He knew that if I swore on the Ramen, I was serious. And I was serious.

I would become a chuunin.

Then a jounin.

Next top, Hokage!

Nothing, not even SASUKE, could stop me now! I was on a journey to become recognized by the entire village and if I was going to succeed, then I'd have to kick it up a notch!

But I still wanted to know who won the match…