Thanks everyone for all the reviews you're giving me. Its really helping my confidence. Its keeping me on this writing streak longer. See last six chapters for my thoughts on story ownership and such.
"I've never seen anyone make Kiba that mad before. You certainly have a flair for that don't you?" Sakura said as they neared the training grounds.
Naruto gave her a foxy grin as he tossed away his apple core. "I try."
Sakura saw that he was in a better mood after their confrontation with Kiba. *Now's the perfect time to ask him some questions* Sakura thought.
"Um, Naruto-kun...can I ask you something?" Sakura said. Naruto looked at her quickly but she didn't make eye contact with him, choosing instead to keep her eyes on the path. This was the first time she had tried to have a conversation outside of training. Naruto didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
"I guess so."
"Why don't you like girls Naruto?"
Naruto answered before his mind could catch his mouth. "Girls are stupid, weak, and they distract you from train...uh." Naruto suddenly felt a horrible sensation creeping up his spine. At the same time he realized who had asked the question.
"Um well you see" He started to say, "...its kind of a thing I...uh...uh oh."
The blond turned to see that Sakura had stopped. A blue corona of chakra was burning around her unlike any the boy had ever seen before. Sakura cracked her knuckles and sent a glare at the blond that would have melted metal.
*Damn! Gotta do something!* Visions of the punch he had received yesterday filled Naruto's mind and froze him in place, making it all the more easy for Sakura to deliver a punch even Popeye would have whistled at. Naruto disappeared in a cloud of dust. When it was gone there was a crater ten feet wide in the road with Naruto laying at its center.
Sakura was breathing heavily as she surveyed the damage. *Why can't I ever do that in training?* Sakura wondered. With a fizzle of energy and a poof of smoke the downed Naruto turned into a log, one that had definitely seen better days. The real Naruto dropped from a tree a few feet away from the crater.
"Kawarimi?" Sakura managed as her gaze went from the log to the real Naruto.
"Um yeah, that was Kawarimi. Um, listen...can we make a deal Sakura-san?" Naruto was looking really uncomfortable for some reason, maybe it was because he was looking at a crater he should have been in.
Sakura cocked her head to one side and gave him a puzzled look. Her chakra had dissipated and finally disappeared all together but she was still breathing rather hard. "A deal?" She asked.
"Yeah." Naruto was scratching the back of his head now. Sakura could feel his un-comfort growing. "If I...promise to try and stop myself from saying things about girls around you will you...stop hitting me so hard?"
Sakura couldn't believe her ears. Here was a genin, who up until that point had been totally unafraid of anything as far as Sakura knew and was a total hater, or at least disliker, of women kind, now asking a GIRL to stop hitting him because he was apparently scared of her. It was too much. Inner Sakura was ecstatic. **I finally have power over a male! This is too good to pass up. Push for more!** (Double ** means inner Sakura from now on) "Ok but only if you stop calling me Pinky too" she said.
Naruto stared at her and worked his jaw for a moment. He didn't want to lose his favorite tag for her but if it meant not getting put six feet under for a mere insult he could do it. He'd just come up with another one in a day or so anyway. "Uh...ok. That's fine."
Sakura beamed. She walked forward until she stood above the log in the center of the crater. She stuck out her hand. "Shake on it" she demanded. Naruto hesitantly stepped forward into the crater and shook her hand. A thought struck him as they shook. *She's got such small soft hands.*(Relatively speaking for a ninja)
*Maybe now I can finally get to like this guy* Sakura thought. She didn't let go of his hand and instead started to walk again, dragging him along with her.
"Hey! Let go of me Pin...I mean Sakura-san." Sakura smiled even wider.
Sasuke and Kakashi(Yes for once Kakashi has made it there before Sakura) were standing under a shady tree just inside the clearings edge. They both looked up as Sakura and Naruto entered the clearing. Kakashi instantly noticed something different about the two genin. Naruto wasn't the energetic boy he had been yesterday. He seemed a bit reserved or thoughtful. Sakura on the other hand seemed to have stolen Naruto's smile as well as his energy. She was practically bouncing as she walked and wore a smile that split her face from ear to ear.
"Good morning Sasuke-kun! Good morning Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said as the two of them crossed the clearing to their team mate and teacher.
Sasuke didn't even grunted a good morning. He seemed to be in his usual "the world is below me" attitude again. *He lightened up a bit yesterday when Naruto showed up. Maybe he's making up for that by being extra moody today* Kakashi thought.
Naruto seemed to snap out of his reflective daze and smiled. "Morning Sasuke, morning Kakashi-sensei. So...what are we doing today?"
Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the tree. "Yesterday you proved you could work together as a team. Now its time to perfect that team work." He got nods from all three. "Since you three haven't really grown up together and have never seen all of each others techniques, or even heard of some of them, you should start with telling each other about your abilities. This is going to be essential if I'm going to get you ready in a week since I can mold what we do around your collective strengths and weaknesses. Sakura, you go first again."
Sakura thought about it for a second before beginning her list. "Well...I know ABOUT a lot of jutsu but I can't perform that many. Lets see...I can do Bunshin, Kawarimi, Henge, and Goukakyuu. I'm pretty good with figuring out Genjutsu too. Um, I'm also working on my taijutsu but it's not great." Sakura blushed when she mentioned taijutsu. *Being the weakest physically of the three makes the taijutsu problem the biggest I guess* Kakashi thought. *Looks like she'll be needing help in that area.*
Sasuke immediately launched into a long, for a genin, list of genjutsu and ninjutsu. Most of the ninjutsu were fire based. The last one was a surprise to Kakashi because of its difficulty. *What a guy, to be able to do Ryuuka no Jutsu. I've never seen him do it before. He must practice a lot at home.* Sasuke rounded up his list by saying that he believed he was very good at taijutsu.
Naruto grinned as he heard some of the things Sasuke could do and frowned at others. When it was his turn he started counting jutsu off on his fingers. "Hmm...well I know Bunshin, Kawarimi, and Henge. I know Goukakyuu, Naruto Rendan which you saw a version of yesterday, I made it myself, Kage Bunshin is my favorite, I'm learning Shuriken Kage Bunshin right now, and I also know one other that is so secret that only Jiriaya-sensei knows it and even he dares not speak its name."
The temptation got the better of Sakura and she asked the question. "What's it's name?"
"Oh I dare not speak it." Naruto said with a weird grin.
The other three sweat dropped. (Yes its my moment of Zim)
Almost as an afterthought Naruto added one final jutsu. "Oh yeah, I also know Karyuu Endan."
Naruto had saved that one for last just to see what kind of reaction he would get out of the other three. He wasn't disappointed.
Sakura just stared at him in disbelief. She knew about the jutsu, being as it was probably the most powerful fire jutsu available, but had marked it as something she wouldn't be seeing any time before she hit jounin level. How was Naruto able to accomplish something a born genius like Sasuke hadn't even been able to touch yet? *Is Naruto really that good?*
The only thing that was keeping Kakashi's jaw from dropping was his mask. It was probably a good thing to. Teachers should not be seen to look shaken in front of their students but the jounin momentarily forgot about that little rule and just gawked.
But it was Sasuke's reaction that made it worth it. It was one to remember because for because it was the first time anyone on the old Team Seven could say they saw Sasuke loose it. The boy practically shot to his feet where he quivered in what could only be called sheer unbridled shock and disbelief. "Wh...WHAT? YOU KNOW KARYUU ENDAN?! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" he screamed. Sakura leaned away from the strange yelling person that had replaced the quiet Uchiha from several seconds ago.
Naruto squinted his eyes a bit as if he was weathering a storm but never lost the big foxy smile he had. "Yep its true. I asked Jiriaya-sensei to teach me the most powerful fire jutsu he knew and that's what I got. Couldn't do it for the longest time but I eventually got the hang of it. I can't hold it for very long though. A couple of seconds max."
The blond boy grinned inwardly. He was telling a little white lie when he said he couldn't hold it for long. There had been one time half a year ago when Naruto had been really emotional and relatively drained of chakra at the same time. He had accidently gotten a bit to heated with his teacher and released some of the Nine Tails chakra in the process. The resulting jutsu had carved a scorched path twenty feet wide and a hundred and fifty feet long and melted a small boulder that had been in its path to molten goo.
Naruto had learned early on that he had two types of chakra. Jiriaya had been very careful through the years to keep the red chakra from coming out saying that he would train Naruto in its use and control later. The dragon fire episode, as Naruto came to call it, had been the first and so far the only time he had used the red chakra either on purpose or accidently. Jiriaya had chided him for getting so careless but in the end had said that Naruto had taken the first step towards harnessing the red chakra. At that point Naruto had had no idea that the red chakra was linked to a demon inside him, that came later.
"No, I refuse to believe that" Sasuke said as he shook his head vigorously, "there's just no way." Sakura wasn't liking this emotional Sasuke very much. *I'm to used to him being quiet and sullen. He's scary like this.*
Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "Should I demonstrate?"
Kakashi didn't say anything so Naruto took that as a go ahead. He turned away from the group and looked for a good target. He picked one of the logs someone had used the previous day as a kawarimi and lined up on it. Naruto sucked in a huge breath, puffing out his narrow chest as far as he could. Kakashi snapped out of his daze when he saw what Naruto was planning. Before he could stop him however Naruto had performed the hand seals and summoned the chakra necessary.
"Katon Karyuu Endan" he thought as his cut loose his attack.
A half dome of fire appeared in front of naruto, out of which shot a narrow stream of flame that expanded as it went. The log was engulfed in flames for a few seconds, totally lost to sight. Then the firestorm ended and the log reappeared, a much smaller burnt version of itself. The grass and dirt leading up to and around the log had turned black. A few small fires were still burning here and there.
With a wobble Naruto fell over sideways into the grass and relaxed. After a few moments he managed to roll over and look at his team. "Used too much chakra on that one" he said with a tired smile.
*What a guy* Kakashi thought, *His attack is probably not as powerful as Sasuke's Ryuuka no Jutsu but just the fact that he can manage it says a lot. His chakra control is very good also. He's still not as good as Sakura in that respect but he's not bad either. I doubt this will sit very well with Sasuke.*
Kakashi had nailed Sasuke's reaction perfectly. Sasuke was both surprised and angry. The anger was more directed at himself for allowing his emotions to show but there was still some directed at Naruto. He could use a technique that the heir of the Uchiha clan, which had a specialty in fire jutsu, couldn't do. *Damn. I underestimated him a lot. There's no way I can let this guy get ahead of me. I can't allow it.* With a glare and a humph Sasuke reseated himself.
Naruto eventually managed to crawl back over to where he had been seated. Kakashi shook his head and spoke again. "Ok, now that we've done that I think I know where to begin."
Kakashi spent the rest of the day talking about team tactics and how to best employ their individual jutsu specialties within the group. He made them take notes and draw diagrams, much to their disgust, of tactics and battle plans for various situations.
The week flew by in a storm of training. Kakashi had them implement the tactics he had talked about in a large variety of faux missions and encounters ranging from one person attacking the other two to all three attacking their teacher and everything in between.
Team Seven's teamwork improved markedly. Sakura had been encouraged by the arrival of the last member of their team and had pushed herself to show Naruto what she was capable of. Sasuke had decided to put Naruto in his "must show up" category. He took every opportunity to try to best Naruto at whatever they were doing. Kakashi noted to Naruto quietly that this was Sasuke's way of telling him that he considered Naruto a worthy opponent. Naruto took that as a challenge himself and gave the training his all. While he was still new to teamwork he was catching on fast and improved visibly over the week.
A side benefit to this was that they each began to gain respect for and change each other. Naruto began to see that, at least in Sakura's case, not all girls were bad. He still didn't like girls but he was more willing to see them as potentially strong allies or opponents in combat. While he still insulted her it became more commonly used to drive her higher, not lower. And the amazing thing was that Sakura wasn't taking serious offense to the verbal barbs like she had the first day. Kakashi also saw that Naruto was beginning to, if ever so slowly, draw Sasuke out of his shell. Friday even saw the two take a lunch break together at a ramen stand Naruto had found near his apartment.
Finally the night before the exam saw the whole team treated by Kakashi to dinner. What Kakashi didn't say was that they were each budgeted to one dish or bowl each. Naruto had ten. After many shouts of "Stingy" Naruto reluctantly paid his bill with the laughter of Sakura and the chuckles of Sasuke ringing in his ears.
Each left for their homes with high expectations for the next day. They certainly wouldn't be disappointed.
All right. Next time we launch into the Chuunin exams. This will take longer because I'll actually have to go back and look at the manga and anime more so I can know the exact sequence of events and words used.
A quick note on power levels: Sasuke is slightly more powerful then he is at this point in the normal story line. He still has slightly sloppy chakra control. Naruto is just at or below Sasuke with about the same amount of control too, much better then his control in the real story. Sakura is below the boys but still much better off then she is normally. Her chakra control is perfect as always. Reasons: Less distraction from other cast members during training. Naruto has been training since he could walk, Sasuke about the same. Sakura's motivation and methods have changed as well.
"I've never seen anyone make Kiba that mad before. You certainly have a flair for that don't you?" Sakura said as they neared the training grounds.
Naruto gave her a foxy grin as he tossed away his apple core. "I try."
Sakura saw that he was in a better mood after their confrontation with Kiba. *Now's the perfect time to ask him some questions* Sakura thought.
"Um, Naruto-kun...can I ask you something?" Sakura said. Naruto looked at her quickly but she didn't make eye contact with him, choosing instead to keep her eyes on the path. This was the first time she had tried to have a conversation outside of training. Naruto didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
"I guess so."
"Why don't you like girls Naruto?"
Naruto answered before his mind could catch his mouth. "Girls are stupid, weak, and they distract you from train...uh." Naruto suddenly felt a horrible sensation creeping up his spine. At the same time he realized who had asked the question.
"Um well you see" He started to say, "...its kind of a thing I...uh...uh oh."
The blond turned to see that Sakura had stopped. A blue corona of chakra was burning around her unlike any the boy had ever seen before. Sakura cracked her knuckles and sent a glare at the blond that would have melted metal.
*Damn! Gotta do something!* Visions of the punch he had received yesterday filled Naruto's mind and froze him in place, making it all the more easy for Sakura to deliver a punch even Popeye would have whistled at. Naruto disappeared in a cloud of dust. When it was gone there was a crater ten feet wide in the road with Naruto laying at its center.
Sakura was breathing heavily as she surveyed the damage. *Why can't I ever do that in training?* Sakura wondered. With a fizzle of energy and a poof of smoke the downed Naruto turned into a log, one that had definitely seen better days. The real Naruto dropped from a tree a few feet away from the crater.
"Kawarimi?" Sakura managed as her gaze went from the log to the real Naruto.
"Um yeah, that was Kawarimi. Um, listen...can we make a deal Sakura-san?" Naruto was looking really uncomfortable for some reason, maybe it was because he was looking at a crater he should have been in.
Sakura cocked her head to one side and gave him a puzzled look. Her chakra had dissipated and finally disappeared all together but she was still breathing rather hard. "A deal?" She asked.
"Yeah." Naruto was scratching the back of his head now. Sakura could feel his un-comfort growing. "If I...promise to try and stop myself from saying things about girls around you will you...stop hitting me so hard?"
Sakura couldn't believe her ears. Here was a genin, who up until that point had been totally unafraid of anything as far as Sakura knew and was a total hater, or at least disliker, of women kind, now asking a GIRL to stop hitting him because he was apparently scared of her. It was too much. Inner Sakura was ecstatic. **I finally have power over a male! This is too good to pass up. Push for more!** (Double ** means inner Sakura from now on) "Ok but only if you stop calling me Pinky too" she said.
Naruto stared at her and worked his jaw for a moment. He didn't want to lose his favorite tag for her but if it meant not getting put six feet under for a mere insult he could do it. He'd just come up with another one in a day or so anyway. "Uh...ok. That's fine."
Sakura beamed. She walked forward until she stood above the log in the center of the crater. She stuck out her hand. "Shake on it" she demanded. Naruto hesitantly stepped forward into the crater and shook her hand. A thought struck him as they shook. *She's got such small soft hands.*(Relatively speaking for a ninja)
*Maybe now I can finally get to like this guy* Sakura thought. She didn't let go of his hand and instead started to walk again, dragging him along with her.
"Hey! Let go of me Pin...I mean Sakura-san." Sakura smiled even wider.
Sasuke and Kakashi(Yes for once Kakashi has made it there before Sakura) were standing under a shady tree just inside the clearings edge. They both looked up as Sakura and Naruto entered the clearing. Kakashi instantly noticed something different about the two genin. Naruto wasn't the energetic boy he had been yesterday. He seemed a bit reserved or thoughtful. Sakura on the other hand seemed to have stolen Naruto's smile as well as his energy. She was practically bouncing as she walked and wore a smile that split her face from ear to ear.
"Good morning Sasuke-kun! Good morning Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said as the two of them crossed the clearing to their team mate and teacher.
Sasuke didn't even grunted a good morning. He seemed to be in his usual "the world is below me" attitude again. *He lightened up a bit yesterday when Naruto showed up. Maybe he's making up for that by being extra moody today* Kakashi thought.
Naruto seemed to snap out of his reflective daze and smiled. "Morning Sasuke, morning Kakashi-sensei. So...what are we doing today?"
Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the tree. "Yesterday you proved you could work together as a team. Now its time to perfect that team work." He got nods from all three. "Since you three haven't really grown up together and have never seen all of each others techniques, or even heard of some of them, you should start with telling each other about your abilities. This is going to be essential if I'm going to get you ready in a week since I can mold what we do around your collective strengths and weaknesses. Sakura, you go first again."
Sakura thought about it for a second before beginning her list. "Well...I know ABOUT a lot of jutsu but I can't perform that many. Lets see...I can do Bunshin, Kawarimi, Henge, and Goukakyuu. I'm pretty good with figuring out Genjutsu too. Um, I'm also working on my taijutsu but it's not great." Sakura blushed when she mentioned taijutsu. *Being the weakest physically of the three makes the taijutsu problem the biggest I guess* Kakashi thought. *Looks like she'll be needing help in that area.*
Sasuke immediately launched into a long, for a genin, list of genjutsu and ninjutsu. Most of the ninjutsu were fire based. The last one was a surprise to Kakashi because of its difficulty. *What a guy, to be able to do Ryuuka no Jutsu. I've never seen him do it before. He must practice a lot at home.* Sasuke rounded up his list by saying that he believed he was very good at taijutsu.
Naruto grinned as he heard some of the things Sasuke could do and frowned at others. When it was his turn he started counting jutsu off on his fingers. "Hmm...well I know Bunshin, Kawarimi, and Henge. I know Goukakyuu, Naruto Rendan which you saw a version of yesterday, I made it myself, Kage Bunshin is my favorite, I'm learning Shuriken Kage Bunshin right now, and I also know one other that is so secret that only Jiriaya-sensei knows it and even he dares not speak its name."
The temptation got the better of Sakura and she asked the question. "What's it's name?"
"Oh I dare not speak it." Naruto said with a weird grin.
The other three sweat dropped. (Yes its my moment of Zim)
Almost as an afterthought Naruto added one final jutsu. "Oh yeah, I also know Karyuu Endan."
Naruto had saved that one for last just to see what kind of reaction he would get out of the other three. He wasn't disappointed.
Sakura just stared at him in disbelief. She knew about the jutsu, being as it was probably the most powerful fire jutsu available, but had marked it as something she wouldn't be seeing any time before she hit jounin level. How was Naruto able to accomplish something a born genius like Sasuke hadn't even been able to touch yet? *Is Naruto really that good?*
The only thing that was keeping Kakashi's jaw from dropping was his mask. It was probably a good thing to. Teachers should not be seen to look shaken in front of their students but the jounin momentarily forgot about that little rule and just gawked.
But it was Sasuke's reaction that made it worth it. It was one to remember because for because it was the first time anyone on the old Team Seven could say they saw Sasuke loose it. The boy practically shot to his feet where he quivered in what could only be called sheer unbridled shock and disbelief. "Wh...WHAT? YOU KNOW KARYUU ENDAN?! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" he screamed. Sakura leaned away from the strange yelling person that had replaced the quiet Uchiha from several seconds ago.
Naruto squinted his eyes a bit as if he was weathering a storm but never lost the big foxy smile he had. "Yep its true. I asked Jiriaya-sensei to teach me the most powerful fire jutsu he knew and that's what I got. Couldn't do it for the longest time but I eventually got the hang of it. I can't hold it for very long though. A couple of seconds max."
The blond boy grinned inwardly. He was telling a little white lie when he said he couldn't hold it for long. There had been one time half a year ago when Naruto had been really emotional and relatively drained of chakra at the same time. He had accidently gotten a bit to heated with his teacher and released some of the Nine Tails chakra in the process. The resulting jutsu had carved a scorched path twenty feet wide and a hundred and fifty feet long and melted a small boulder that had been in its path to molten goo.
Naruto had learned early on that he had two types of chakra. Jiriaya had been very careful through the years to keep the red chakra from coming out saying that he would train Naruto in its use and control later. The dragon fire episode, as Naruto came to call it, had been the first and so far the only time he had used the red chakra either on purpose or accidently. Jiriaya had chided him for getting so careless but in the end had said that Naruto had taken the first step towards harnessing the red chakra. At that point Naruto had had no idea that the red chakra was linked to a demon inside him, that came later.
"No, I refuse to believe that" Sasuke said as he shook his head vigorously, "there's just no way." Sakura wasn't liking this emotional Sasuke very much. *I'm to used to him being quiet and sullen. He's scary like this.*
Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "Should I demonstrate?"
Kakashi didn't say anything so Naruto took that as a go ahead. He turned away from the group and looked for a good target. He picked one of the logs someone had used the previous day as a kawarimi and lined up on it. Naruto sucked in a huge breath, puffing out his narrow chest as far as he could. Kakashi snapped out of his daze when he saw what Naruto was planning. Before he could stop him however Naruto had performed the hand seals and summoned the chakra necessary.
"Katon Karyuu Endan" he thought as his cut loose his attack.
A half dome of fire appeared in front of naruto, out of which shot a narrow stream of flame that expanded as it went. The log was engulfed in flames for a few seconds, totally lost to sight. Then the firestorm ended and the log reappeared, a much smaller burnt version of itself. The grass and dirt leading up to and around the log had turned black. A few small fires were still burning here and there.
With a wobble Naruto fell over sideways into the grass and relaxed. After a few moments he managed to roll over and look at his team. "Used too much chakra on that one" he said with a tired smile.
*What a guy* Kakashi thought, *His attack is probably not as powerful as Sasuke's Ryuuka no Jutsu but just the fact that he can manage it says a lot. His chakra control is very good also. He's still not as good as Sakura in that respect but he's not bad either. I doubt this will sit very well with Sasuke.*
Kakashi had nailed Sasuke's reaction perfectly. Sasuke was both surprised and angry. The anger was more directed at himself for allowing his emotions to show but there was still some directed at Naruto. He could use a technique that the heir of the Uchiha clan, which had a specialty in fire jutsu, couldn't do. *Damn. I underestimated him a lot. There's no way I can let this guy get ahead of me. I can't allow it.* With a glare and a humph Sasuke reseated himself.
Naruto eventually managed to crawl back over to where he had been seated. Kakashi shook his head and spoke again. "Ok, now that we've done that I think I know where to begin."
Kakashi spent the rest of the day talking about team tactics and how to best employ their individual jutsu specialties within the group. He made them take notes and draw diagrams, much to their disgust, of tactics and battle plans for various situations.
The week flew by in a storm of training. Kakashi had them implement the tactics he had talked about in a large variety of faux missions and encounters ranging from one person attacking the other two to all three attacking their teacher and everything in between.
Team Seven's teamwork improved markedly. Sakura had been encouraged by the arrival of the last member of their team and had pushed herself to show Naruto what she was capable of. Sasuke had decided to put Naruto in his "must show up" category. He took every opportunity to try to best Naruto at whatever they were doing. Kakashi noted to Naruto quietly that this was Sasuke's way of telling him that he considered Naruto a worthy opponent. Naruto took that as a challenge himself and gave the training his all. While he was still new to teamwork he was catching on fast and improved visibly over the week.
A side benefit to this was that they each began to gain respect for and change each other. Naruto began to see that, at least in Sakura's case, not all girls were bad. He still didn't like girls but he was more willing to see them as potentially strong allies or opponents in combat. While he still insulted her it became more commonly used to drive her higher, not lower. And the amazing thing was that Sakura wasn't taking serious offense to the verbal barbs like she had the first day. Kakashi also saw that Naruto was beginning to, if ever so slowly, draw Sasuke out of his shell. Friday even saw the two take a lunch break together at a ramen stand Naruto had found near his apartment.
Finally the night before the exam saw the whole team treated by Kakashi to dinner. What Kakashi didn't say was that they were each budgeted to one dish or bowl each. Naruto had ten. After many shouts of "Stingy" Naruto reluctantly paid his bill with the laughter of Sakura and the chuckles of Sasuke ringing in his ears.
Each left for their homes with high expectations for the next day. They certainly wouldn't be disappointed.
All right. Next time we launch into the Chuunin exams. This will take longer because I'll actually have to go back and look at the manga and anime more so I can know the exact sequence of events and words used.
A quick note on power levels: Sasuke is slightly more powerful then he is at this point in the normal story line. He still has slightly sloppy chakra control. Naruto is just at or below Sasuke with about the same amount of control too, much better then his control in the real story. Sakura is below the boys but still much better off then she is normally. Her chakra control is perfect as always. Reasons: Less distraction from other cast members during training. Naruto has been training since he could walk, Sasuke about the same. Sakura's motivation and methods have changed as well.