Naruto: The Pseudo Uchiha

by Amaterasususano

After having the soul and body of the nine tails sealed inside of him the day he was born, Naruto is hated by the village and they decided to end him one fateful night. Naruto is badly beaten and is found by Mikoto Uchiha who gives him a blood transfusion. While he was unconcious, Naruto meets the nine taiils who decides to help Naruto out before he splits up and goes to his power

7. Chunin Exams: The forest of death

I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters.

Time went by for team 7 and it was time for the chunin exams. Over the course of the 2 month period, team 7 spent that time mainly training since all of them wanted to compete in the exams and wouldn't take no for an answer. They each had their roles in the group that they played up to when absolutely necessary and it was a successful idea to give each other a specific duty. It wasn't everyday that you get a team full of 6 people so Kakashi and Kushina split them into groups of three to make things easier.

Naruto was the team captain still and with Menma gone Sasuke was the only one that caused problems due to him becoming more arrogant thanks to him finally having his sharingan. Narumi was the team's co-captain as well as a close to mid-range fighter along with Sasuke, Shizuka was the teams wild card along with Naruto since she could also attack from anywhere thanks to her impressive taijutsu and long range wind ninjutsu skills. Sakura was a bit difficult, but Naruto gave her a book on medical ninjutsu so she became the team medic and long range fighter after Kushina taught her how to use some shurikenjutsu. Kakashi also worked with her on trap making to give the team a chance to retreat should the situation ever call for it.

Team 7 fully moved on from the team bonding exercises since they would never work thanks to Sasuke not wanting to follow Naruto's orders. Sakura changed a bit and despite her still having a crush on Sasuke, she took being a ninja seriously now thanks to all of her constant training. The one thing about this team that didn't change was Menma once he was able to come back to the team after his suspension. When he returned from the suspension, he immediately got into it with Shizuka since he couldn't keep his comments to himself whenever she asked a question about something and it resulted in him getting knocked out.

Over the course of their training schedule, Kakashi and Kushina started to give them two days off after missions before resuming their training. While they were on breaks you could usually catch Naruto reading, writing or with Shizuka and it became obvious that the two of them shared a special bond. If Naruto was reading Shizuka would just lay her head on his lap and doze off much to Hinata's dismay. Hinata would spy on them from a distance with her Byakugan, not knowing Naruto already knew she was there, but didn't care enough to do anything.

Naruto over the past two months went on a lot of missions with some chunin and jonin to get him ready for when he becomes an official chunin to start leading missions of his own. He went on numerous C, B and a few A rank missions that put his leadership skills to the test. Despite having a few slip ups, none of his missions came back with a negative review and everyone actually enjoyed being on missions with him because he knew when to be serious, but also kept the mood at ease with his sarcastic remarks. Some members of the anbu even put in a request to have him on their missions, but that was where Kushina drew the line and none of them were crazy enough to go against her. However, Minato did get a request from the anbu for Naruto to join their ranks, but Naruto declined the offer. Currently all of the jonin were in Minato's office for the selection on the chunin exams.

"I'm sure you all can guess as to why I've called you here. It's time for the chunin exams and we need to select our candidates. To begin, will those in charge of the rookie genin please step forward?" Minato asked and only four of them did

"Huh. The other genin must not be ready to become a chunin yet." Kushina thought

"Asuma, Kakashi, Kurenai and Kushina. What do you say? Are there any in your squads you'd like to recommend for the exams despite their inexperience? As you know any genin who has carried out 8 or more missions is technically eligible for the exams. Beyond that only you can decide when they are ready. Of course most genin require a longer training period of at least twice that many missions. Asuma, you may begin." Minato said

"I lead squad 10. Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka. I, Asuma Sarutobi, recommend all three of these genin for the chunin exams." Asuma said

"I lead squad 8. Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka. I, Kurenai Yuhi, recommend all three for the chunin exams." Kurenai said

"I, Kakashi Hatake lead squad 7. I recommend Narumi Uzumaki-Namikaze, Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze and Sasuke Uchiha for the chunin exams." Kakashi said

"I also lead squad 7. I, Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze recommend Shizuka, Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki for the chunin exams." Kushina said and mumbled chatter started to spread

"Is that your final decision? Once I put their names down, I cannot remove them from the chunin exams." Minato said

"Yeah. That's right." Kushina said and the others nodded

Village

"So, Shizuka. How'd it go with Naruto on your date at the summer festival?" Sakura asked, as she was walking with Shizuka and Narumi

"Yeah. We tried getting answers out of him, but that didn't work since he was working on his book." Narumi said

"Have you ever read his book?" Shizuka asked

"No. Is it good?" Sakura asked

"It's basically flying off the shelves. He has to make an army of shadow clones to keep up with the sales." Shizuka said

"Really? I have to get one." Narumi said

"Anyway, tell us about the date." Sakura said

"Well, it was great actually. You'd think somebody who always looks bored doesn't know how to have fun, but it was better than I expected. I mean we played games, he won me a few prizes, ate food, laughed and we met lots of people. He even had to sign a few autographs for his book." Shizuka said

"Did you kiss him?" Sakura asked

"No. I mean don't get me wrong, I do like him a lot, but right now I'm focused on becoming a chunin. Besides, he refused to take his mask off and I absolutely refuse to have my first kiss be on his mask." Shizuka said

"Why didn't he take it off?" Narumi asked

"He didn't want to ruin the date by having fangirls rushing to kiss him if they saw his face. It's completely understandable." Shizuka said

"Not really. He never takes his mask off." Sakura said

"Yes he does. He takes it off all the time, just not in public." Narumi said

"How does he look?" Sakura asked

"I don't go around checking him out like most girls do. He's my brother and that's weird." Narumi said

"I wasn't talking to you." Sakura said

"He's hot." Shizuka said

"Is he hot like Sasuke or an average guy hot?" Sakura asked

"Beyond Sasuke." Shizuka said

"That's impossible!" Sakura said

"Not really." Shizuka said and a box hit Narumi's ankles

"Huh? Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi. What do you want now?" Narumi asked and the box exploded revealing three people

"You promised you were going to play ninja with us, remember?" Konohamaru asked

"Playing ninja? Aren't you kids in the academy?" Sakura asked

"Who's the chick with the big forehead and flat chest?" Konohamaru asked and Shizuka jumped on Sakura to keep her from killing him

"Let me go!" Sakura said

"No! You can't kill him!" Shizuka said

"I won't! I'll just make him wish he was dead!" Sakura said

"This is Sakura and Shizuka. They're my teammates." Narumi said

"Well, hello, Shizuka. Care to go out on a date with the grandson of the third hokage?" Konohamaru asked

"I'd rather not go to jail for being a pedophile." Shizuka said

"Your loss." Konohamaru said

"Listen, Konohamaru. I'm really sorry about our game, but I've just been really busy with ninja missions and training for the chunin exams just in case we get nominated." Narumi said

"Then what are you doing right now?" Moegi asked

"We're on our way to team training. I'll tell you what. After the chunin exams are over, I'll play ninja with you until you collapse, deal?" Narumi asked

"Deal." Konohamaru said

"Great. Now, run along." Narumi and they took off running around the corner

"Ow!" Konohamaru said

"Hey! Watch where you're going you little shit!" A voice said

"Konohamaru!" Moegi said

"Come on guys." Shizuka said and they quickly ran around the corner

"Hey! Makeup boy! Put him down, now!" Narumi said

"It's war paint! So, does this hurt punk?" The guy asked and tightened his grip on Konohamaru

"Put him down, Kankuro. Or you know you'll pay for it later." A blonde girl with four pig-tails said

"Who are they?" Sakura thought

"Hey! I said put him down!" Narumi said

"So these are the leaf villages genin." Kankuro thought

"We've got a few minutes before he gets here. Let's mess with these punks." Kankuro said

"Let go of me you jerk!" Konohamaru said and started to kick Kankuro

"You're feisty, but not for long." Kankuro said and Narumi ran at him, but he moved his fingers causing her to trip

"What the hell was that?" Narumi asked

"You're a leaf genin too? Looks like your village is full of wimps. All of you are really annoying. I don't like runts or any scrawny weaklings. So when a wimp like this start's shooting off his mouth, I just wanna break him in half." Kankuro said

"Fine. I'm not involved in any of this, okay?" The blonde girl asked

"First I'll take care of this little squirt. Then I'll waste the other one." Kankuro said

He pulled his fist back to punch Konohamaru, but a rock was thrown at his hand causing him to drop Konohamaru and hold his hand while grunting in pain. Everyone looked up in the tree and saw Sasuke sitting there in a typical cool guy pose tossing a rock in the air.

"You're a long way from home and you're way out of your league." Sasuke said

"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed

"Well, well! Local hottie." The blonde girl thought, as she looked at Sasuke

"Oh great. Another wimp to tick me off." Kankuro said

"Get lost." Sasuke told them and crushed the rock in his hand

"He's so cool!" Sakura said with hearts in her eyes

"Hey, punk, get down here. You're the kind of pesky little snot I hate the most. All attitude and nothing to back it up." Kankuro said and took his bandaged item off of his back

"What?! Are you gonna use the crow for this?" The girl asked

"Kankuro, back off." A voice said and everyone looked up again in the tree to see a red haired boy hanging upside down

"You're an embarrassment to our village." He said

"Uh, hey, Garra." Kankuro said

"When did he get there? He didn't make a sound. Only jonin at Kakashi's level are that smooth." Sasuke thought

"Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way here?" Garra asked

"I know, I mean they challenged us. They started this whole thing, really. See, here's what happened." Kankuro said

"Shut up. Or I'll kill you." Garra said

"Ah, right. I totally got out of line. I'm sorry, Garra. I was totally out of line." Kankuro said

"I'm sorry for any trouble he caused." Garra said to Sasuke

"This guy has an evil look in his eye." Sasuke thought

"He stopped Kankuro with a pebble. Made it look easy. This guy is someone to keep an eye on." Garra thought and appeared on the ground

"Let's go. We didn't come here to play games." Gaara said

"All right, sure. I get it." Kankuro said

"Hold on! Hey! I can tell from your headbands that you come from the village hidden in the sand. Of course the land of fire and the land of wind are allies, but no shinobi can enter another's village without permission. So, state your purpose and it better be good." Sakura said

"Really? Have you guys been living under a rock? You don't know what's going on, do you? We have permission. Of course, you're correct. We are hidden sand genin and our home is the land of the wind. We're here for the chunin exams. Get the picture?" The blonde girl asked

"The chunin exams have already started? What the hell have Kushina and Kakashi-sensei been doing?" Shizuka asked

"I don't know, but I definitely want to find out and enter these exams." Narumi said and the three sand genin started to walk away, but Sasuke spoke up

"Hey, you. Identify yourself." Sasuke said and the blonde girl spoke up

"Oh. I'm Temari." Temari said

"Not you. The one with the gourd on his back." Sasuke said

"My name is Gaara of the desert. I'm curious about you too. Who are you?" Gaara asked

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke said and they turned to leave, but Naruto came walking around the corner

"Let's go, you four. We have a team meeting to get to." Naruto said and just ignored the three sand genin

Is it about the chunin exams?" Narumi asked

"I don't know. Menma is already there and the four of you are later than Kakashi." Naruto said

"Another leaf village weakling." Kankuro said

"Huh? Did you say something?" Naruto asked

"Who are you?" Gaara asked

"He's a jinchuriki. Must be for Shukaku." Naruto thought

"Somebody that can tame you if you lose control of your beast." Naruto said and Temari's eyes widened

"How does he know?!" Temari thought

"What beast?" Sakura thought

"We're leaving." Gaara said and they jumped into the trees

"Let's go." Naruto said and vanished

Training ground 7

"Now that everyone is finally here, we can finally get onto the reason for this meeting." Kakashi said

"Naruto, remove the silencing seal from Menma." Kushina said

"Fine." Naruto said and removed the silencing seal

"Do that again and you're dead." Menma said and glared at Naruto

"You can try if you want to." Naruto said

"Anyway! We've recommended you for the chunin exams. All six of you." Kushina said

"These are the application forms." Kakashi said

"Why do we need application forms?" Sakura asked

"You need to sign these in order to compete. This is all voluntary. It's up to each of you. If you don't feel ready, you can wait until next year." Kakashi said

"Whoever wants to take the exams, sign the application and come to room 301 at the academy. It's starting at 3 pm five days from now." Kushina said, as Kakashi gave each of them a form

"Now, since we have a team of six, we had to split the group into two seperate teams. Narumi, Menma and Sasuke are all on one team. The rest of you are the other team." Kakashi said

"Kushina-sensei, can you train me in some defensive ninjutsu? I checked my chakra nature last night and it's earth." Sakura said

"Sure. I know a few earth ninjutsu that you should be able to do with no problem and learn in time for the chunin exams." Kushina said

"Does anybody else want extra help with training?" Kakashi asked

"I think I'll train by myself for the next couple of days." Narumi said

"Hn." Sasuke said

"I'll be training with Naruto." Shizuka said

"I'm ready to take the exams now. I don't need extra training." Menma said

"Alright. Remember, the chunin exams are in 5 days." Kushina said and left with Sakura

5 days later

It was now time for the chunin exams and everyone did as much training as they could. Sakura worked with Kushina on her jutsus and taijutsu. Sakura was able to add two ninjutsus to her collection for her chakra nature. She learned earth style: mudwall and Earth style: Hidden mole jutsu. She even cut her hair so it stopped at her shoulders since Kushina told her it raised her chances of being caught and she shouldn't take that risk due to her lack of experience.

Menma and Narumi both trained on their own. Menma was working with the root anbu still and Narumi was working on some material that Tsunade sent her. While she couldn't use the chakra enhanced strength like Tsunade, Narumi did adapt to the taijutsu style Tsunade used and it was almost natural for her.

Sasuke worked on his speed and taijutsu with Kakashi. He worked on his hand sign speed and being able to do his jutsus with less hand signs like he noticed Naruto does. He worked on his sharingan progression and despite him having one tomoe in one eye and two in the other, he thought he was making good progress on it.

Naruto didn't really train as much due to Shizuka always being with him. It wasn't that he didn't want to train while she was around, but he was learning something to surprise the judges at the chunin exams to boost his chances of becoming a chunin and he didn't want anybody to know about it.

"Hey guys! Sorry to keep you waiting!" Sakura said running up to them

"Sakura! You're late!" Menma said

"Sorry. I was getting my stuff ready and lost track of time." Sakura said

"Well, do you have everything?" Shizuka asked

"Yeah. I have everything." Sakura said

"Great. I was getting tired of waiting for you." Narumi said

"Neither of you had to wait. She's not on your team during the chunin exams so you don't have to wait for her." Naruto said

"Who asked you?! Just shut up! I can't wait to embarrass you in the chunin exams." Menma said and walked away

"He does realize he's never beaten you before, right?" Sakura asked Naruto

"I'll let him keep believing he can beat me. If we fight during the chunin exams I'll show him where he's at compared to me. Let's go." Naruto said

They walked into the academy and when they got to the second floor they saw room 301 was being crowded. Naruto, Sasuke, Shizuka and Sakura knew it was a genjutsu, but decided to play along with the two chunin blocking the door. They saw a boy about a year older get kicked back to the ground and his teammate go to his side. Naruto knew who this was as well as one of his teammates.

"You're taking the chunin exams and you can't even get past us?" One of the chunin asked

"Why don't you just give up now before you get hurt?" The other asked

"Yeah, I think I hear your mommy calling you." The first chunin said

"Please let us through! We're supposed to go in there." The bun haired girl said and was punched in the face

"That was harsh." Somebody from the crowd said

"Did you say harsh? Don't kid yourself. We're being nice by comparison. These exams are going to make this look like a picnic." One chunin said

"Some of you won't survive the exams. Others will be wrecked for like and some of you may go crazy. For chunin it's always life and death." The other said

"You think it's a joke? Chunin are qualified to lead missions. The lives of your squad members are in your hands, so you better be tough enough to take the heat." His friend said

"Delicate little girls don't belong here."

"We're just thinning out the herd. You won't pass anyway, so go home and play with your dolls."

"Really nice speech. Now both of you step aside and let me through. While you're at it, reverse the genjutsu. We can see through your illusion anyway." Sasuke said

"Way to go Sasuke. You just successfully ruined part of the exam. If people couldn't figure out we're on the second floor then they shouldn't be taking the exams anyway. TenTen, get off the floor." Naruto said

"He punched me in the face." TenTen said getting up

"Please, that punch didn't even hurt. I know for a fact that you've been hit harder than that given who your jonin sensei is." Naruto said

"Fine, you caught me. So you're one of the rookie genin this year. What team are you on?" TenTen asked

"Team 7." Naruto said and her two teammates looked at him

"As in team 7 led by Kakashi Hatake and Kushina Uzumaki?" TenTen asked

"Yeah." Naruto said

"Great. That just means I have my chance to embarrass you in the chunin exams." TenTen said

"I highly doubt it. However, I'm always up for the challenge." Naruto said

"Whatever. Are the six of you competing as a full team?" TenTen asked

"No. I'm with Shizuka and Sakura. The other three are on their own team." Naruto said

"I guess that makes sense. You better hope we don't meet in the chunin exams or you're going down." TenTen

"We'll see. Come on team 7 we need to go or we'll be late." Naruto said and they all decided against talking back since they didn't want to miss the chunin exams

"Hey you. Over here. What's your name?" TenTen's unknown teammate asked

"I'm Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze!" Menma said

"I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to the one with the bored look on his face." Her teammate said

"You've got to be more specific. There's two of them on our team with a bored look on his face. Granted one of them looks like he's constipated so pick your poison." Shizuka said and he pointed at Naruto

"I'm talking to you." He said

"It's common courtesy to give your name before asking someone else's." Naruto said

"Neji Hyuga. How old are you?" The boy asked

"None of your business." Naruto said

"What's that?" Neji asked and TenTen giggled

"Cute. He's even managed to get under Neji's skin without even trying." TenTen thought

"Naruto. Come on, let's go." Sakura said and dragged him away

"You don't have to drag me away, Sakura." Naruto said

"Well, you weren't moving fast enough for us." Shizuka said and helped drag him away

"Naruto, of the Uzumaki clan. Lord fourths oldest child." Neji thought, as he stared at Naruto's back

"He's pretty bold. You gonna challenge him?" TenTen

"Hm." Neji said and started to walk away with TenTen following him

"Lee, what are you waiting for? We're supposed to check in." TenTen said

"I will catch up with you in a minute. You do not need to wait for me. I just want to check something." Lee said and walked away

"What's that about?" TenTen asked

"I have no idea." Neji said

Team 7

"So this is the big bad chunin exams, huh? Heh. It's a freak show." Sasuke thought and the faces of Neji, Gaara, Rock Lee and Naruto popped into his head

"This will be a piece of cake! One step closer to achieving my dream!" Menma thought

"Hopefully all my skills have grown enough for me to survive this tournament. I will not let Kushina sensei down." Sakura thought with determination

"I wasn't trained by the best this village has to offer just to lose now. I will become a chunin." Narumi thought

"Step one, become a chunin. Step two, become a jonin." Shizuka thought

"I wonder if I should make the second book a hardcover copy. Maybe sign the exclusives and surprise them with a sneak preview of the third book." Naruto thought, as he Shizuka and Sakura went their own way to room 301

Room 301

"Well, look who made it. I'm glad all of you are taking this seriously." Kushina said

"Why are you here?" Naruto asked

"It's tradition to give a speech to the genin taking their very first chunin exam. So, good luck." Kushina said and they just looked at her

"That's it? Good luck?" Shizuka asked

"Yup. I know the three of you aren't weak and I don't have to worry about any of you. All of you have the potential to walk away as a chunin even if you don't make it to the finals." Kushina said

"Even me?" Sakura asked

"Yes and a bit of advice for you Sakura. Even though your teammates are the heavy hitters of the squad, you're the most valuable person on the team. Now, go inside. The others are already in there." Kushina said and vanished

"How am I the most important person on this team? All of you are better than me." Sakura said

"We're better fighters than you, but you're the best healer. If we get injured we'd have to rely on you a lot. That's why I gave you all of those medical ninjutsu books and books on poisons." Naruto said

"Yeah. We kick ass and you provide cover from a distance. Maybe start wearing darker clothes to blend into your surroundings and maybe cast a small transformation jutsu to change your hair color." Shizuka said

"I didn't even know that was possible." Sakura said

"It is." Naruto said and they entered the room

"I want information on Naruto Uzumaki!" Menma said

"Then go to the hokage or ask your jonin sensei." Naruto said

"He doesn't have to. This guy Kabuto has information on all of the genin that took the chunin exams, even us and the sand genin from earlier. The chunin exams are tough since this is his seventh time taking them." Narumi said

"That doesn't seem suspicious to any of you given that all of the 12 rookies from Konoha and the sand genin are taking the chunin exams for the first time? It would be impossible for a normal genin to have any information on people he's never met. What information does he have?" Naruto asked

"Skills, mission records and oh." Narumi said, as she realized what he was getting at

"So, tell me. How did you really get this information? Don't lie to me because I'll be able to tell." Naruto said

"I just do my research." Kabuto said and pushed his glasses up

"Then you'd have to get permission from the hokage to enter the shinobi files room and I highly doubt that he'll give permission to a genin. Especially a genin none of us has seen around the village." Naruto said

"Tell me what his card says!" Menma said

"Go on. Read it." Naruto said

"Naruto Uzumaki. 105 D rank missions, 16 C rank missions, 5 B rank missions, 2 A rank missions and 2 S rank missions. He was also trained by Mikoto Uchiha." Kabuto said

"Now, answer me this because I know what my record says and it doesn't say I was trained by Mikoto Uchiha since that was never put into my file. Now how do you know about something that isn't public knowledge?" Naruto asked and the room was now focusing on Kabuto

"Like I said, I do my research." Kabuto said

"There's only a handful of people you could have gotten that information from and I know for a fact that they didn't tell you that. That's strike two one more and I'm killing you where you stand." Naruto said

"Nobody is killing anybody! Sit down! I am Ibiki and I am the instructor for the first exam." Ibiki said and everybody ran to their seats after getting a number.

"Now the first part of the chunin exams is a written test. You have 45 minutes to answer 9 questions. The final tenth question will be asked after time is up if you're caught cheating 5 times your team is eliminated and will be sent out. Now begin!" Ibiki said

45 minutes later

"Alright pencils down, it's time for the tenth question. Are you done playing with your puppet." He asked Kankuro who looked scared at having been caught.

"How'd he know?" Kankuro thought

"Now you have the option to take the tenth question, however if one person from a team refuses you all fail. It doesn't matter if you get all 9 questions correct if you choose to not take the tenth question you will get a zero. But if you choose to take the question and get it wrong you will never be able to take the chunin exams ever again." Ibiki said

"WHAT KIND OF RULE IS THAT? THERE ARE PLENTY OF PEOPLE WHO'VE TAKEN THIS EXAM BEFORE." Kiba yelled and Ibiki gave a hollowed laugh before answering.

"Well you must be unlucky because I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now. Of course if you don't want to take it you don't have to. There's always the chunin exams next year. Those who don't wish to take it raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and you may leave." Ibiki said and some people started to leave until Menma spoke up

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME. I DON'T QUIT AND I DON'T RUN. EVEN IF I AM A GENIN FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, I WILL BECOME HOKAGE." Menma yelled

"He's got guts. It's too bad he's a potential danger to this village." Ibiki thought

"This decision is one that could change your life. If for any reason you would rather quit, now's your last chance." Ibiki said

"I never go back on my word." Menma said

"79 people left, that's more than I expected, however none of them show signs of giving up I guess this is it." Ibiki thought

"You tell him Menma." Narumi thought

"Way to go, Menma." Sakura thought

"Now. for all of you remaining, you all pass the first exam." Ibiki said and everyone was stunned

"Hold on, what just happened? What kind of rules are those? What do you mean we passed? Where's the tenth question?" Sakura asked

"There never was a tenth question, well not a written one. Your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question." Ibiki said

"Huh?" Sakura asked

"Hold on so the other nine questions were just a waste of time?" Temari asked

"Not exactly. The 9 questions served an important purpose on how to gather information without getting caught. Why do you think I put so much emphasis on getting caught? If you're going to be a ninja you need stealth and to know how to gather information quickly while in a hostile area. My objective was to test you not as individuals, but as a team and how well you function as a part of that team. That's why the test was scored on a team basis, so you'd know that everything you did or failed to do, would directly affect your teammates. I wanted to see how you'd handle the pressure. The first 9 questions on the test were difficult. In fact, as you may have realized, they were too difficult for any genin to be expected to solve. I imagine most of you quickly came to that conclusion, that you'd have to cheat if you had any chance of passing. This test was designed for you to cheat and you couldn't cheat unless you had people to cheat from. I had two chunin disguised around the room who already knew the answers and had them sit with you." Ibiki said

"Well, I didn't even bother to do my test." Naruto thought

"Those who were caught, failed. It's better not to cheat than to cheat clumsily. Information. It can be the most valuable weapon in battle. How well you gather intelligence can determine whether a mission is a failure or a success. There'll be times you'll have to risk your life to get it." Ibiki said, as he removed his headband to reveal his head that was covered in cuts, burn marks and puncture wounds

"Oh shit. I wonder what he went through." Shizuka thought

"Of course, you must always consider the source of your information. Intelligence gathered from an enemy is not necessarily accurate. Always bear this in mind. Disinformation can be worse than no information at all. It can lead to the death of comrades or the loss of a village. That's why I put you in the position where you had to gather accurate intelligence. Cheat in order to survive and that's why those who weren't good enough at it were weeded out leaving the rest of you." Ibiki said

"I still don't understand the tenth question." Temari said

"The tenth question was the main point of the whole exam. Surely, you see that." Ibiki said

"Sure, but can you explain it anyway?" Sakura asked

"It's simple. The tenth question was if we wanted to stay. This was a psychological exam and we all passed. Some of us passed because of our own mental toughness, some passed because of Menma's speech and some passed because they saw they're teammates' strong will to continue." Naruto said

"He's correct. The final question gave you two difficult choices. You could choose to skip the question, though it meant that both you and your teammates would fail. Then you could try and answer it, but knowing if you got it wrong, you could lose your chances of ever being chunin. It was a no win situation. For example, let me give you a hypothetical mission. To steal a document from an enemy stronghold. You have no idea how many ninja the enemy has or how heavily armed they are. You also have reason to believe that the enemy expects you, that you might very well be walking blindly into a trap." Ibiki said

"This sounds like a mission I did a month ago." Naruto thought

"Now, do you have the option of taking a pass on this insane mission or say my comrades and I would rather live to fight another day? Can you choose to avoid danger? No. There will be many missions that will seem almost suicidal if you think about it, but you don't think about it. You only think of achieving the goal through courage and discipline. These are the qualities required of a chunin squad leader. Those who choose the safer of two paths, those whose determination falters in the face of adversity, those who would put their comrades lives in jeopardy by worrying about their own, those who would save their own necks at the price of sacred honor will never be able to call themselves chunin as long as I'm here." Ibiki said and then Menma had to open his mouth

"If my teammates can't protect themselves then they have no business being a ninja. They're weak and deserve to die. I would only select the most powerful members on my team. Mental weakness should be evaluated before anybody becomes a ninja to prohibit such things." Menma said

"Then if that's the case, you would be the first person to not become a ninja. You're the weakest person here mentally. Congratulations dumbass, you just solidified your chances of not becoming a chunin." Naruto said

"SHUT UP OR ELSE." Menma yelled

"What are you going to do, fight me? We both know how that will end. You on the ground unconscious looking even more pathetic than you already do. I give you multiple chances to do something, but you don't. You're all bark and no bite. The day you actually do attack me, will be the day you fuck around and find out how dangerous I really am." Naruto said

"Enough. You can fight later. I hereby declare this part of the chunin exams completed. There's nothing left for me to do, but wish you all good luck." Ibiki said

"ALRIGHT. WE DID IT. FIRST PART IS DOWN. WOOHOO." Narumi yelled

"She's a lively one, that's for sure." Ibiki thought, as he and Naruto looked at the window

"Great. She's the proctor. I have a good guess as to where the second part is being held." Naruto thought, as the glass was broken through and a banner was revealed through the smoke

The sexy and single Anko Mitarashi

"Alright boys and girls, no time for celebrating. My name is Anko Mitarashi and I am the proctor of the second part of the chunin exams!" Anko proudly exclaimed and everyone just looked at her while Naruto shook his head

"You're early again." Ibiki said and Anko deflated

"Great. A screaming nutcase. She's kind of like Menma." Sakura thought

"How many are there? Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy. You must be getting soft." Anko said

"Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year." Ibiki said

"Hm. They sure don't look like it. Trust me, before I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated." Anko said

"More than half? Really?" Sakura asked

"This is going to be fun. All right, you maggots have had it easy so far, but things are going to be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where to meet me. Dismissed. Except for you, my little masked maelstrom." Anko said and everyone left except Naruto

"Can you stop calling me that?" Naruto asked, as he went up to her

"Not a chance. So, how's it going? Been hearing good things about you from some chunin, jonin and anbu." Anko said

"A little bit of this and that. Anyway, Kabuto is a spy." Naruto said

"Kabuto Yakushi?" Ibiki asked

"I guess that's his last name. How'd you know him?" Naruto asked

"This is the seventh time I've seen his name on the roster for the chunin exams." Ibiki said

"Come to think of it, he always forfeits after the second part of the exam." Anko said

"You mean to tell me none of that raised any red flags?" Naruto asked

"I've had my suspicions and brought them up to the hokage, but he said I need more evidence." Ibiki said

"He knows all of the genin mission records and skills from the chunin exams." Naruto said

"What's so bad about that? Taking them seven times he's bound to find out this information." Anko said

"Even if it is the rookies from this year taking the chunin exams for the first time?" Naruto asked

"Okay. Now that's a giant red flag." Anko said

"I'll report this to Minato." Ibiki said

"I'll see you at the forest of death tomorrow, Anko." Naruto said

"How'd you know that's where we're going to be?" Anko asked

"You're the proctor for the second part of the exam. It's not exactly hard to figure out where you'd host your portion of the exam. Besides, other than the torture area at the interrogation unit, the first of death is the only place you'd expect most of the genin to fail." Naruto said

"You're right. See you tomorrow then." Anko said and Naruto vanished

"Aww dammit!" Anko said

"What?" Ibiki asked

"He was supposed to let me see a sneak preview of his next book." Anko said

"What book?" Ibiki asked

"YOU HAVEN'T READ HIS BOOK? IT'S FLYING OFF THE SHELVES." Anko yelled

"You mean to tell me the number one book in all of the nations that are on pace to surpass make out tactics in sales is a book written by a 13 year old boy?" Ibiki asked

"Yup and I even got him to sign my book. I bought an extra copy so I could hang the other one on my wall." Anko said and pulled out her book

"Unbelievable. Is there anything he can't do?" Ibiki asked

"He can't tell his mother to shut up." Anko said

"I don't think anybody in the world is dumb enough to tell her to shut up." Ibiki said

"Fair point. Later." Anko said and vanished

Next day

Naruto arrived at the training ground and he immediately found Kabuto's entire team. As he looked at them, he realized none of Kabuto's teammates were Konoha genin so she gave some secret hand signs to Anko who looked at Kabuto before nodding.

"Alright kiddies welcome to training ground 44." Anko says

"This place looks kinda creepy." Sakura said, shaking.

"It should be. This place is called the forest of death, you'll find out why soon." Anko replied, as they were talking, Menma wasn't paying attention so she threw a kunai at her that cut Menma's face a bit and then Anko appeared behind him

"My face! What hell is your problem you crazy bitch?!" Menma asked

"People like you are the first to die in this forest." Anko said

Just then Anko felt somebody appear behind her and Menma. She pulls out another kunai and holds it up but a long tongue appears over her shoulder.

"I was just returning your kunai" said a creepy kusa-nin after a brief stare off Anko replies

"Thanks kusa-nin, but don't stand behind me so close unless you want to die quickly." Anko said

"I'm sorry but with the sight of blood and your kunai cutting my hair I couldn't help but get excited. My apologies." The ninja walks away and then Anko returned to the front of the group

"Excitement must be in the air today for a lot of you, but do not let it get you killed. Or let it. I don't really care. Now these are waivers you must sign that say we are not responsible for your death if you die in the forest." She said and gave them to Menma

"Why the hell did you give me all of them?" Menma asked

"Because you're going to pass them out." Anko said and Menma's eye twitched

"You've just added yourself to my kill list. Better watch your back." Menma said and took a waiver before passing them to Sakura

"You can try, but I'll kill you so fast that you won't even have time to grab your weapon. Just for fun, I'll hang your little nutsack on my wall and show everyone how less of a man you really are. Now, this part of the exam will test your survival skills. This forest has 44 entrance gates and inside there are rivers and in the middle of a forest is a tower ten kilometers from each gate. This part will test your survival skills in an all out battle for these scrolls." She said and pulled out a heaven and earth scroll.

"Scrolls?" Sakura asked

"You'll be fighting to get a heaven and earth scroll. Each team will start with either or and your objective is to collect both scrolls and head to the tower in the middle of the forest. You have 5 days to gather the scrolls if you do not gather the scrolls in 5 days you fail and have to find your own way out of the forest." Anko said

"5 days!" Ino exclaimed

"What are we supposed to do about food?!" Choji asked

"Find something in the forest, there's plenty of things to eat in there." Anko said

"That's not all in there. There's also some man eating animals and poisonous plants in there." Kabuto said

"Aww man." Choji said

"Well you're a smart one. How did you know that those were in there?" Anko asked, even though she already knew.

"Well this is my 7th time taking it." Kabuto said

"You must really suck then. Are you sure you're fit to be a ninja?" Anko asked

"No, I'm quite content to be a ninja. I'm feeling lucky this time around so I'll be fine." Kabuto said, gritting his teeth at her insult.

"If you say so. Now, I need one person from each team to come grab a scroll for your team and head to your designated gates and wait for the signal to go in. You can also be disqualified if you lose a team member or if you open the scrolls before entering the tower." Anko said

After every team had their scroll and were at their gates a timer went off and Anko spoke.

"Alright, the second part of the exams begins NOW." She exclaims the gates open and all the teams rush into the forest.

Forest of death

"This place looks even scarier on the inside." Sakura said

"Why'd it have to be here? Couldn't we just do something simple like another test?" Shizuka asked

"This is a test. It's a survival test. If you can survive the forest of death then you can basically survive anywhere else in the world." Naruto said and they heard a loud growl followed by a screech

"Get me out of here!" Sakura said

"Be quiet. Now, we have an earth scroll so all we need is a heaven scroll. There are two teams within 1 mile of us. We can attack them now and take their heaven scroll if they have one and then head straight for the tower or we can just wait until teams get tired before attacking them. What do you two want to do?" Naruto asked

"Let's get this over quickly. The faster we do this the faster I can forget about it." Shizuka said

"I'm with her, but how will we get to the tower without being seen?" Sakura asked

"I've been in the forest of death quite a lot over the years so I know my way around the forest. Just follow me and do not get lost. We still don't know all of the animals in the forest yet." Naruto said making Shizuka and Sakura gulp

"Let's hurry up." Sakura said

As Naruto, Sakura and Shizuka were running through the forest, they stayed just out of sight from other teams to conserve didn't want to waste any time so this was the best way for them to get into the tower quicker. 10 minutes later they came upon a team from Kiri and from their chakra levels, they were pretty weak. Two boys and 1 girl who looked like the leader

"I thought you said the person tailing us would be here." Said the shorter boy of the mist team

"Yeah I want that scroll immediately." The other said

"Shut up I know whoever it is was following us, but I don't know where they went." The female leader said

"Behind you." A voice said next thing they knew all of them were knocked out.

Naruto began to search them and luck was on their side. He found a heaven scroll on the female ninja and also took the medical supplies they had.

"Yes! Luck is on our side!" Sakura said, as Naruto handed her the scroll and medical supplies

"Great. Now let's get out of here. This forest is really creeping me out and I feel like some animals are watching us." Shizuka said

"They are. This is their territory and we're trespassing. Some of the animals won't attack you as long as you're with me, but like I said earlier, nobody knows every kind of animal in this forest because more and more keep appearing. Do either of you know the shunshin?" Naruto asked and they shook their head

"No. I didn't learn it because I wanted to focus on gaining my natural speed and stamina first." Sakura said

"I was hoping you'd teach me." Shizuka said

"No. You need to learn it on your own. I'm not always going to be there to teach you something. Grab on to me." Naruto said and Shizuka immediately had him in a hug

"I don't think that's what he meant. Why are we grabbing onto you though?" Sakura asked, as she placed her hand on his shoulder

"I'm going to use a series of shunshin to get us to the tower. It's only been about 15 minutes so the quicker we get there, the more time we have to relax and train before the next part." Naruto said

"Then let's go." Shizuka said and they vanished

Forest of death tower

After a series of shunshin, Naruto, Sakura and Shizuka finally arrived at the tower. While Naruto was perfectly fine, Shizuka and Sakura were feeling a bit nauseous thanks to the speed in which Naruto traveled.

"Remind me to never do that again." Sakura said, as they walked into the tower

"You'll be fine." Naruto said

"Hey, check out this plaque. If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When heaven and earth are opened together, the pairless path will become righteous forever. This something is the secret that guides us from this place today." Shizuka said

"What does that even mean?" Sakura asked

"Simply put, we need to open the scrolls." Naruto said, as they opened their scrolls and threw them only for Kushina to appear

"What the? You're in the tower already? It's only been like 30 minutes." Kushina said

"It helps when you have somebody who's been in the forest of death multiple times." Naruto said

"Right. Anyway, congratulations on completing the second part of the chunin exams and in record time I might add. I'm supposed to give some long boring speech about the plaque, but I can't remember what it was so enjoy the tower for the next five days. You can eat, sleep and train in the tower. You're not allowed to leave the tower for anything or you'll be disqualified. Sakura and Shizuka will share a room while you get your own mister." Kushina said

"Yeah yeah." Naruto said

"If you'll excuse me, I need to go and brag about my team crushing the forest of death in record setting time." Kushina said and vanished

"Your mother is weird." Shizuka said

"I know." Naruto said

The three of them walked into the tower and explored it for about an hour. As they were walking, Gaara, Kankuro and Temari also completed the forest of death quickly. The two teams had a brief stare down before going their own ways. With five days remaining still, Naruto, Shizuka and Sakura agreed to train for two days while having three days for rest. All three of them were one step closer to becoming chunin.