Stuck On Red Chapter 9, a naruto fanfic

A/N: I feel like nobody brought up my new story teaser that was at the end of the last chapter, it was a Mokuton Naruto story. Do you guys not want that? A yes or no will. I don't plan on making more than a couple of more stories, I want to try and finish this story and Agent Whiskers of SHIELD before I make another story, but I will do that one if people are interested.

Also, the deleted scenes are things that happen but also don't if that makes sense. You could fit them into the story as I imagine them there, but sometimes they don't always allow the story to flow like I want, hence why they are deleted scenes, I make like 4-5 of them per chapter

"You could do a little better" called out the voice, causing Naruto to look up at the older man.

"You seem to have an opinion for something that doesn't concern you, old man" spat Naruto as he closed his eyes and tried to focus once more.

"It would suit you well to show me some respect Nine Tails" said the old man

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the old man and said "Listen, if you aren't the Hokage, you need to get off my property."

A swipe of a cane came towards Naruto but the blond Genin caught the wooden staff and narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you?" questioned Naruto as he looked at the old man with bandages around a bunch of his body

"My name is Danzo, boy. And you are now my pet" said Danzo as the bandages around his eye dropped to reveal a spinning Sharingan that Naruto made the mistake of making eye contact with.

Naruto looked at Danzo and his eyes reflected the Sharingan in Danzo's head, but while Naruto wasn't used to this level of Genjutsu, someone inside of him was.

'What is this? This feels like the cheapest version of Madara's Genjutsu. I will not allow myself or my host to ever get caught in something as pathetic as this.' Roared Kurama before he unleashed his chakra, flooding Naruto's body and forcibly ripping the Genjutsu from Naruto's body.

Naruto shook his head and looked at the shocked Danzo. This time, the red in Naruto's eyes weren't a Sharingan reflection, it was the power of the Kyuubi flowing through Naruto.

Naruto phased out of view and appeared back in front of Danzo, his hand outstretched and in one fluid motion ripped the eye out of Danzo's head. Danzo's body was still in shock from the forceful backlash of the Genjutsu and the power of the Kyuubi's poisonous chakra that effected his older body quite negatively.

Danzo could do nothing as Naruto crushed the Sharingan that had been in Danzo's head.

"Leave before you lose more than this eye, it would be quite hard to do anything when you lose your only functioning arm" Hissed Naruto.

The choice was taken from Danzo when Hiruzen arrived and he looked every bit the God of Shinobi that was his title.

"The thing about Roots, Danzo, they are the first part of the tree to die" said Hiruzen before his chakra flared and both Danzo and Naruto were forced to their knees by the mere presence of the man and his chakra

Naruto was panting as Sasuke and Sakura continued to press him in this spar. It had been about 6 weeks since they returned from the Land of the Waves and the two younger Genin had grown in leaps and bounds. With the awaking of his Sharingan, Sasuke just continuously got better, his understanding of chakra and how to use it growing exponentially as his eyes unlocked an entire new level of to see and understand how chakra was being used.

But as much as Sasuke had grown, Sakura had made more progress in her growth. Kakashi realized how lucky he had been to have Sakura on his team, she had quite literally saved his life and thus she was rewarded properly, with intense training. Sakura had to quite her diet after a trip to the hospital revealed that she was bordering on malnourishment due to the lack of calories that she was intaking. Kurenai had stopped by a couple of times to help Sakura out with her Genjutsu, however everyone couldn't help but notice that she always spent a sizable portion of her visits to talk to Naruto.

Another surprising development was the budding friendship between Sasuke and Hinata. They were seen sparring a couple of times, but that was more than most of Sasuke's interactions with his fellow Genin. The person who had made no progress was Naruto, but that was a bit different, he had hit a wall. His workouts and training weren't producing positive results anymore. Naruto was fine with it, his skills were solid, good even. So, after a month without improving, Naruto dialed it back and committed to helping his teammates improve. His Taijutsu training with Sakura, had helped her improve her ability to react. She still need to polish it out more, but that would come with further use of the new style of fighting.

Back to the spar, Sasuke charged at Naruto who blocked the kick to the head by the Uchiha. Using the foot of the Uchiha, Naruto twisted Sasuke into the way of Sakura's punch only for Sakura to explode into flower petals as soon as she hit Sasuke. Naruto closed his eyes and allowed his chakra to leak out and look for the source of the illusion. Tossing Sasuke to the side, Naruto blurred to his left and planted his fist into the stomach of Sakura. Hard enough to break the Genjutsu, but not hard enough to do any type of serious damage.

"Enough" called out Kakashi, stopping the trio of Genin from hurting each other anymore than they already had.

Naruto helped Sakura up and them along with Sasuke approached Kakashi.

"Now, I know that we've only really been together for about 6 months, but we've all made a lot of progress. Some more than others *cough cough Naruto cough cough*, but progress none the less. That is why, I have nominated you guys for the Chunnin exams that will be taking place in 3 days from now, here in Konoha."

With that Kakashi pulled out 3 paper forms, one for each of them.

Sakura grabbed the sheet of paper offered to her and asked "Kakashi-Sensei, do you really think that we are ready for something like this?"

Kakashi gave her a weird look and said, "I don't know Sakura, are you ready to defend two people from a large group of bandits with only a kunai to protect yourself and the two-other people?" the rhetorical question hung in the air before Kakashi continued.

"I have faith in all of you, I wouldn't throw you into something that you weren't ready for it. Besides if you run into anyone super tough, just throw Naruto at them and run away" joked Kakashi.

The three Genin laughed and they all went their separate ways, as they had 3 days to prepare for the Chunnin Exams that they were going to participate in.

With Naruto:

He was walking around when he saw Konohamaru running away from his academy classmates. Naruto smiled at seeing the young Sarutobi having fun with someone other than Naruto when he used to visit the Hokage compound for training, Naruto would always arrive early to play with Konohamaru.

"Hey, let me go!" called out the familiar voice of Konohamaru

Naruto raced over to wear he had heard it coming from and saw that a man in a suit that covered him from head to toe with purple paint on his face was holding Konohamaru by the young kid's neck.

"I would suggest putting down my friend" said Naruto to the guy, he now realized was a shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Sand, based on his headband.

"Oh, and what if I don't? What are you going to do about it tree hug- "said the foreign ninja before he was stopped by Naruto appearing behind him.

The teenage foreign ninja felt his cheek as he realized that he had gotten cut on his cheek and that the kid that he was holding was no longer in his hands, but in the blond tree hugger's hands.

"What could happen is that you lose your head, you assaulted the grandson of the Third Hokage." Said Naruto before he turned to the blonde sand ninja and said to her, "You should tell him to keep his hands to himself before he has no hands"

She gulped, and Naruto said, "who are you?"

The guy with the face paint said, "Kakuro"

The blonde female said, "Temari"

Naruto shook his head and said, "No, the guy in the tree"

Suddenly in a shower of sand, a red-haired male stood before Naruto. His eyes were covered in the heaviest bags that Naruto had ever seen. He also had the symbol for love on his forehead.

"You were able to sense me" said the red head, his voice as tired sounding as his face looked.

"I did, my name is Naruto Uzumaki" said Naruto before he extended his hand

"Gaara of the Sand, let's go guys" said Gaara before he left with his team, leaving Naruto hanging.

Naruto watched the foreign team leave his view and sighed, it seems that Suna had sent their "Weapon", an unstable kid whose Bijuu acts like it's the kid's mother.

Naruto turned and made his way to the Hokage Tower, as the Third Hokage probably needed to know about this development.

With Sasuke while Naruto was encountering the team from Suna:

It was chilling to enter the compound every time that he did it. The lack of people was so unnatural, for what should be busy clan compound. The lack of people only gave way to the pure silence that graced the compound. Sasuke was used to it, because he didn't really have a choice if he wanted to continue on here.

"You know, you don't have to come all the way into the compound to get me. That is why there is gate people, Sasuke" said the soft voice of Hinata as she emerged from a hallway and walked toward Sasuke.

Sasuke shrugged and said, "Maybe I like walking to meet you"

Hinata made a face but fell in line with Sasuke as they walked towards the exit of compound together.

"You know, you've been a little different ever since that Wave mission" commented Sasuke

"I don't think that you can make a claim like that, you didn't know me before" countered Hinata as they exited the compounded and started navigating the village streets

"Exactly, that is my point, you were basically wall paper before. Now you can see the Hyuga Heiress as she should be, confident with her head held high" replied Sasuke as they made a turn,

"Maybe, I had to grow. You would have died, Kiba would have died, Tazuna's family would have died. If there was ever a time to not be unsure of yourself, it was probably that one" replied the pale eyed girl

"So, do you know why the called this little get together?" asked Sasuke, trying to change the topic

"I can only assume it is because of the Chunnin Exams that are being held in the village in a couple of days." Said Hinata as they came to a stop outside of a building that simply said "Dumpling Delight"

Sasuke looked up at the sign and asked Hinata, "Do we really have to go to this?"

Hinata didn't answer verbally as she just pushed Sasuke inside and saw most of the Konoha 8 (No Naruto equals one less than 9). Sasuke saw Ino and Sakura doing that fake nice talking thing that girls did, Kiba was talking to Choji while Shino listened in apparently. Shikamaru wasn't anywhere in sight, but Sasuke kind of expected that.

"OMG SASUKE!" screamed Ino as she launched herself at the Uchiha. Sasuke was prepared though and substituted with Kiba. Sakura smiled at the sight of Sasuke avoiding Ino before she gave a jealous glare at Hinata. Which caused the Hyuga heiress to sigh, before she walked further into the restaurant

With Naruto:

It was weird to knock on this door when he had turned his back on the man who resided in this office over a year ago. Taking a deep breathe, Naruto knocked on the door and waited for the man behind it to say "Enter"

Naruto entered and with a quick scan of the office, saw that the room was basically the same.

"Naruto? To what do I owe this pleasure?" questioned the Third Hokage from behind his desk

"I was walking around when I saw someone trying to bully Konohamaru, but after I stopped that, the guys teammate appeared. The way that the chakra rolled of this guy, there is no doubt that he is the jinchūriki of the One-Tailed Shukaku. Suna sent their unstable jinchūriki to the Chunnin exams" said Naruto

Hiruzen eyes narrowed and he said "Then it is as I assumed it to be. Naruto do you know about the Hidden Sound Village? They are an upstart village somewhere in the land of Grass. Our sources have said that they have been raising an army, which came along with their paperwork to enter this Chunnin Exams. I believe that they plan on starting trouble sometime soon and with us"

"Why are you telling me this" asked Naruto

Hiruzen stood up and turned to the window that overlooked the village and said, "Naruto, I am an old man, older than almost any shinobi has lived. I'm 69 years old, an antique of a different world. The world has pasted me by, I am no longer the Shinobi that I once was. I had hoped that you would be ready to take my place when the time came, but you have made it clear that you have no desire to wear this hat.

Instead, I will look elsewhere for the successor of this hat. However, there is something that you must know. I have written it down in this scroll, something that I had hoped that I could deal with myself but seeing as how these old bones don't seem as firm as they once did, I can only leave it to you." The Third Hokage turned around and handed Naruto, the plainest scroll that Naruto had ever seen.

Naruto moved to open it and read it on the spot, but Hiruzen raised his hand said, "Read it when you return home Naruto. I was just about to go for a small walk before the sunset, let we walk you out"

And just like that, Naruto and the Third Hokage walked out of the office, out of the building, and into the darkening Konoha streets. Eventually, they reached a fork in the road and went their separate ways.

The day of the Chunnin Exams:

Naruto hadn't seen or heard from the Hokage after that night when he got the scroll, but he wasn't concerned. You don't get to live to nearly 70 without being one of the greatest and most powerful Shinobi of all time.

So, here he was, waiting for his squad mates in front of the Academy, paperwork tucked into his jacket's inner pocket.

Sasuke arrived first, his left arm wrapped from the elbow down in bandages. Naruto knew that the Uchiha had probably been doing some left second training.

"You didn't hurt your hand too, badly did you?" asked Naruto.

"No, it isn't even hurt, but nobody else has to know that" replied Sasuke with a smirk on his face.

Sakura approached, with a more serious look on her face then either Naruto or Sasuke had seen before. She looked at them and asked, "Are you ready?"

They nodded and the three of them walked into Academy together. They slipped past the Genjutsu covered second floor claiming a need for the 4th floor bathroom. It was outside the testing room that they came face to face with Kakashi.

"I'm glad to see that you all decided to participate, as you needed a squad of 3 to enter." Said Kakashi

Sakura frowned and asked, "Why didn't you tell us that Sensei?"

"Because I didn't want Naruto to pressure you into taking this exam just because he's promotion ready nor did I want you to just take the exam because Sasuke wanted to. I wanted each of you to make this choice by yourself. One of the first lessons you will learn as a Chunnin is that you have to make your own decisions. I believe that all of you are ready to attempt to take that step.

Naruto, you just need to stop forcing your own expectations onto your teammates, not everyone is you and has plot protection. Sasuke, you have done a good job humbling yourself, although the constant loses in sparring with Naruto and myself probably had something to do with that, but if you can continue to keep your ego in check, you will be okay. Sakura, you've grown the most, you are a smart capable shinobi, believe in yourself and you'll be fine. Trust your abilities and each of you will be fine, besides I doubt that anyone here is really going to be stronger than Naruto or myself, these are Genin after all." The second that he was down with his pep talk, Kakashi disappeared in a burst of smoke.

Naruto looked at his teammates, and upon getting a nod from both of them, pushed the doors open to enter the first test waiting room. There wasn't a couple of dozen like Sakura had hoped for, or the 100-200 that Sasuke thought there was going to be, there was the 360 Genin in the room, which is less than Naruto had wanted.

Sakura and Sasuke drifted off slightly to talk to their classmates from the Academy while Naruto continued to scan the room. He noticed Gaara looking at him from across the room, their eyes meeting and the hunger for battle in both of them showing in their eyes. Naruto also noticed the sound Genin were close by the Sand Genin.

"You know Naruto, I wasn't expecting to see you here" said the voice of someone Naruto knew in passing.

"Kabuto, you pour bastard, you are taking this test again?" Naruto asked the glass wearing Genin.

"Yeah, but what can a guy do but try" came the response from Kabuto

"I don't get why you don't just stay at the hospital and earn your promotion that way, I have yet to meet a better healer. I guess you are a pretty good information gather as well, maybe go ANBU" suggested Naruto

"I might have to if I continue to fail at this shit" replied Kabuto before a smirk crossed his face and he asked Naruto, "What to see me mess with the newbies?"

Naruto scoffed but nodded nonetheless, it was also interesting to see Kabuto mess with the new Genins' mind.

Kabuto approached the Konoha 8 and said, "You guys seem excited to be here for the Chunnin Exams, you've even managed to draw the attention of the other Genin."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is Kabuto and I am a bit of a Chunnin Exam veteran, this is my 4th year trying and my 7th exam in total" answered Kabuto before he pulled out a giant stack of cards.

Kiba gasped at seeming them and said, "That's a big ass stack of cards, why do you even keep those?"

Kabuto smirked and said, "For reasons like this" before he channeled chakra into the card and suddenly the card was full of Kiba's info, a rating of his skills, his mission completions, and a basic bit of background info.

This grew interest in the Genin and Kabuto said "These are my Ninja Info Cards, I can give you a bit of info on just about anyone here"

Sasuke stepped forward and said "Naruto Uzumaki"

Kabuto glanced back at Naruto who shrugged before Kabuto pulled out another card and suddenly it had Naruto's info on it.

"Naruto Uzumaki, Age 17. He has 7.8 in Gen/Tai/NinJutsu, his physical strength is a 6.5 out of 10 and his speed is a 7/10. His chakra levels are Kage level. He has completed 1307 D ranked missions, 60 C Ranked Missions, 2 B ranked Missions, 1 A ranked mission, and 0 S ranked mission." Kabuto read off the card.

Suddenly an instructor burst into the room and said "Enough talking, this exam is about to begin".

A/N: A bit of a subpar chapter, I kind of feel that even as I wrote it. I kind of just wanted to get the Chunnin Exams started. Yes Kabuto and Naruto are friends, they are around the same age and would have been running in the same circles of Genin.

Next Chapter, we aren't even going to deal with the written exam, we are going straight into the Forest of Death. I'm trying to add depth to the characters but also not have the story drag, but no matter what the Chunnin Exams are going to be finished within the next 7 chapters.

Deleted Scene:

With Naruto at his apartment:

Naruto was quick to unravel the scroll and found that it was filled with the Third Hokage's hand writing.

To Naruto

It had been a long time in the making, but I want to explain what happened on that night. It went a lot differently than the way that things ended. That night with Danzo, there was another man, someone who wore an ornage spiral mask. He believed me to be under his control, and for a moment I was. However, they don't call me the Professor for no reason, I was able to break his control shortly after. The way that night went was like this: