'Thoughts'
"Technique/Demon/Bijuu" Talk
"Demon/Bijuu" Talk from inside
'Technique in head/Demon/Bijuu' Thoughts
Reviews
NinjaFang1331: Thank you, thank you.
Samuel Santillan: Maybe I'll think about that, but I'm not adding anyone else to the harem.
Frozen48: I plan to do something with Yoko, you'll just have to wait and see.
paganhero: Sorry, but I'm not accepting anymore girls.
IGT: Yoko has something alright. You know, I was thinking about either making Orochimaru a girl in this story… but I decided against it. Maybe in another fic I write.
Otaku-king-389: Thans!
dragonslayerjahn: Ah, I forgot about that. I was going to address it but I didn't get the chance to, cause it slipped my mind.
biginferno: Hana wasn't in the house…. but she might be next time.
In the harem
Fem!Haku, Hinata, Kin, Temari, Yugao
Harem currently
Amaru, Ameyuri, Anko, Ayame, Fubuki, Fuu, Fuka, Guren, Hana, Hanabi, Hotaru, Ino, Isaribi, Karin, Karui, Kaguya, Kirai, Konan, Kotohime, Koyuki, Fem!Kurama, Kurenai, Kurotsutchi, Kushina, Mabui, Matsuri, Mei, Mikoto, Mito, Moegi, Natsu, Natsuri, Pakura, Rin, Ryuzetsu, Sakura, Samui, Sara, Sasame, Shizuka, Shizune, Shion, Tayuya, Tenten, Tsubaki, Tsume, Tsunade, Tsunami, Yakumo/Ido, Yugito/Nibi, Yukata, Uroko
Hi, hello, about time I posted this chapter, yeah? Honestly, I was going to post it last Friday, but I just did not feel like doing that. I kept on telling myself that I'd post it like the day after, but then I didn't. I wanted to at least write the next chapter completely before posting this… but the next chapter isn't even done yet… Jeez, I've become lazy, but that changes (not really)! Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 16: Exams II
Team 7 looked at all of the genin that were staring right back at them. Naruto looked at them with an unreadable expression, Sasuke glared at all of them as if they were worthless, and Sakura was getting slightly nervous but held her own against the glares.
"Sasuke! Where've ya been?!" A voice exclaimed. Naruto turned and saw Ino glomping the raven haired genin. "Oo, you have no idea how much I was hoping for you to show up here. I missed those brooding good looks of yours!"
Sakura looked at Ino with a raised eyebrow and a slightly disgusted face. 'Is that how I used to act?'
Ino was surprised Sakura was making that face and wasn't insulting her for being all over Sasuke. "Oh, Billboard Brow is here. I'm surprised they let you in."
Sakura scoffed as she crossed her arms. "You have anything better to do than try and insult me?"
Ino was shocked by the question. "Uh…-"
"Jeez, I knew this would be a drag, but now it's even more of a drag," a voice interrupted, causing the genin to look at who said it. A boy with black hair in a spiky ponytail walked up to them. He had brown eyes and was wearing a light gray, short sleeved jacket with a mesh shirt underneath it. He was also wearing brown pants and had a symbol on the back of his jacket and had his hitai-ate wrapped around his arm
Beside him, was a boy with brown spiky hair that stuck up and had red swirls on his cheeks. He was wearing a green short sleeved haori with a long, white scarf and a white shirt with the kanji for food on it. He was also wearing black shorts and bandages around his arms and legs. He was currently eating a bag of potato chips.
"Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. I'm surprised you're even here, Shikamaru. Isn't something like this too much of a drag for your lazy ass?" Naruto asked with a smirk.
"Shut it, pipsqueak! You-you know what? Forget it, I'm not wasting my breath on you," Shikamaru said as he shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Well, well, whaddya know, it looks like the Rookie Nine is here," a boy wearing a grey, fur-lined hoodie said. He had slit-like pupils, red fang markings on his cheeks, and a small, white puppy on his head.
'Tsume's son, Kiba. Always talkative and boisterous,' Naruto thought as he mentally sighed. 'He's gonna become annoying just like Sasuke.'
Naruto's eyes landed on Hinata and the bluenette looked at him before smiling. Naruto smiled back and saw the new outfit she was wearing. The Hyuuga was wearing her hitai-ate around her neck and had on a lavender jacket with cream-colored sleeves, blue pants, and black sandals. Hinata ran up to him before hugging him and kissing him, surprising the Rookie Nine besides Sakura.
"W-Wait… you two are… dating…?" Ino asked.
"Something like that," Naruto responded with a smile.
"Hey Naruto," a new voice greeted the blonde. He looked at where the voice came and saw Kin walking up to him.
"Hey Kin! How've ya been?" Naruto greeted back. The noirette walked up to him and kissed him too, further surprising and confusing the genin.
"I've been great. How've you been, Hinata?" Kim responded, then looked at the bluenette.
"I've been fine. Although, the Chuunin Exams are getting me nervous," Hinata admitted. Kin crossed her arms as she smirked.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine. You got this," Kin told the Hyuuga. Hinata nodded, appreciating Kin's kind words.
Kiba was lowly growling and was glaring at Naruto. 'Who the hell does this guy think he is?! How dare he claim Hinata, and another girl too!'
"Ugh, this is such a drag…" Shikamaru said as he sighed.
"Tch, I can't wait to absolutely destroy your team, Naruto. You better be ready, cause we've been training like crazy!" Kiba declared as he crossed his arms.
"Uh huh, and what? You think we've been doing nothing this past month? You're out of your mind if you think that," Naruto said. "We could probably destroy you with our eyes closed, if we're being honest here."
This made Kiba angrier. "What, you think you're so cool, Naruto?! Huh?! Well you're not, so stop acting like it before you get your ass handed to you!"
"Heh, I don't think. I know," Naruto replied.
"Hey, guys," a voice spoke, causing the Rookie Nine and Kin to turn to look at where it came from. A white haired boy with glasses was walking towards them. He was wearing a high-collared dark purple shirt with pants to match, and a white cloth waistband. "You might wanna try keeping it down. No offense, but, you're the nine rookies fresh out of the Academy? I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves. Just cool it, this isn't a class field trip."
"Well who asked you?! Who are you?!" Ino grilled with a glare.
"I'm Kabuto Yakushi, but really, look around you, you've made quite an impression," Kabuto said. The Rookie Nine looked around and could see all of the glares the genin were sending their way. They were getting nervous by the attention they gathered.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at them. "What the hell are you guys lookin' at?" The Rookie Nine all whipped their heads at Naruto.
"Are you an idiot, Naruto?!" Shikamaru questioned, but the blonde ignored it.
"You trying to get us killed, dumbass?!" Kiba grilled.
One genin's glare turned into a scowl. "The hell did you just say, you little shit?!"
"I said…" Naruto closed his eyes then took a deep breath before reopening them. They were now red with slits. He released all the killing intent he could at everyone glaring at him. "What the hell are you guys lookin' at?!"
The genin lost their glares and scowls to expressions of fear. In their eyes, the room turned pitch black and in the background, a giant fox was growling at them with beaming, red eyes. They all saw their deaths happening before them in the worst ways possible.
While Naruto was using his killing intent to scare the genin, the Rookie Nine and Kabuto looked at him in bewilderment to know he could do something like this, while Hinata and Kin looked at him in adoration. Once Naruto stopped, the genin fell backwards and stared at Naruto with shaky expressions. He looked around and saw Temari give him a wink. He smiled and winked back at her.
The whiskered blonde took a deep breath as his eyes turned back to normal, but then a yellow blur appeared before him and his eyes widened. In front of him stood a girl with blonde hair kind of like his with golden eyes. She was wearing a tight black tube top, detached white sleeves, a white scarf, white pants, and black boots with her hitai-ate around her waist. She was looking up at Naruto in amazement.
"Wow! What you just did there was so cool! Ya know, I can do something like that as well!" The blonde complemented.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Uh… I think most shinobi can… it's called killing intent, ya know…"
"No, no! Like, what you did with it! You had a large fox behind you, I can do something like that too, but mine is a lion!" She stated.
"Huh? You can…? And with a lion…?" Naruto repeated, completely confused by what the girl was saying.
Kurama narrowed his eyes at her and took a sniff, then his eyes widened. "What the hell…? She doesn't have a Bijuu… but whatever's inside of her is equivalent to Gyuki's power… what the hell is inside her…?"
Naruto heard this and was shocked. Gyuki was the Hachibi, and it was only one tail short of Kurama… and apparently there was something inside of her that wasn't a Bijuu, but was equal to one? What could it possibly be?
"Yeah! When I do it, my lion, Lionelle, does exactly what you just did! But yours was way more powerful and effective than what I can do! It almost affected me!" The girl explained with a chuckle.
"Huh, well that's interesting… but why are you telling me this exactly? I'm your enemy, ya know," Naruto pointed out with a curious facial expression.
"Doesn't matter to me who knows what I can do! I'll still beat them anyway!" She declared as she crossed her arms. "All I'm looking for is a good fight in these Chuunin Exams, and you look like you can promise me one!"
Naruto stared at her for a few seconds before smiling. "Alright. If what you want is a good fight, I'll give you one, believe it!"
"Hehe! Yes! That's amazing to hear!" The blonde girl said as she hopped around. "Oh! What's your name?"
"Naruto Uzumaki, you?" Naruto responded.
"Shisu," the girl answered with a smile.
"Nice to meet you," Naruto said. Shisu was going to respond, but then a girl with black hair and red eyes and a girl with light blue hair and blue eyes walked up to Shisu. The light bluenette had a scowl on her face while the noirette looked indifferent.
"Shisu, you dumbass! Don't talk to our opponents like that!" The light bluenette scolded as she pinched the blonde girl's ear.
"Ow ow ow! But, Hyoshi! This guy is super strong!" Shisu exclaimed.
"I don't care! He could be Kami for all I know, you still shouldn't talk to him like some sort of fan, follower, or friend when you don't even know him!" Hyoshi scolded.
"Uh… Hyoshi, right?" Naruto guessed, grabbing the light bluenette's attention.
"Hm? What do you want?" Hyoshi asked. The bluenette was wearing a slim white coat with long black sleeves showing some of her cleavage, had a black tattoo on her chest, a black choker, black boots that stopped at the middle of her thighs, and the white cap she was wearing with a metal plate embedded in it that had the same symbol.
"What village are you guys from? I've never seen a symbol like that before," Naruto wondered as he looked at the girl's plate on her cap.
Hyoshi smirked. "Of course you wouldn't know. We're a recently established hidden village called Sanyagakure no Sato in Heisho no Kuni. It's right next to Hi no Kuni."
"Really? Huh, that's really interesting. Maybe I should visit sometime," Naruto suggested.
"Heh, be my guest and witness how strong we are. Once our village gets recognized, we'll show the Five Elemental Nations that we aren't to be trifled with!" Hyoshi declared with a clenched fist and confident smirk.
"But that's not what Lord Shodai wants though," the silent red-eyed noirette pointed out, causing Hyoshi to whip her head at her.
"Shut it, Akame!" Hyoshi demanded.
"Why not do that when you become the Kage of your village?" Naruto asked with a shrug. Hyoshi looked at the whiskered blonde, then looked away with a troubled face before looking back at him with a smirk.
"You know what? I'll do just that. I'll become the Nidaime Heishokage and show the Five Elemental Nations and all other countries that were the strongest country ever," Hyoshi stated with resolve.
"You're going to have to wait a while for that to happen. Ichiren is going to become the Nidaime," Akame mentioned, making Hyoshi growl.
"Ugh, whatever! Anyway, excuse us for the trouble our idiot teammate caused," Hyoshi apologized, making Shisu growl.
"Oh, it's alright, she didn't cause any trouble," Naruto waved off with a smile. Hyoshi nodded before grabbing the back of Shisu's head and forcing her to bow with her. Akame did the same and the trio walked away.
"That was… strange," Kin commented before turning around and looking at Naruto.
"I agree…"
Kabuto stared at Kin for a second before shaking his head. "Well… that could've gone worse… luckily, the blondie shook them up a bit."
"Kabuto, right? You talk like you're an expert. Have you taken this exam before?" Sakura asked as he looked at the bespectacled boy.
"Yeah, but I failed… six times… this is my seventh time taking it," Kabuto admitted with a sheepish smile.
"Seventh time?" Shikamaru repeated. 'How could he take this exam six times before and not have passed? This feels like a lie to me.'
"Well, they're held twice a year, so this'll be my fourth year taking them," Kabuto explained.
"Man, you must suck then," Naruto insulted, causing the others to look at him. "I mean… how hard is the Chuunin Exams for you to fail six times in a row? And you're probably gonna fail this time too, given your record."
"N-Naruto…" Sakura said with a worried look.
"Don't you think that's a little rude, Naruto?" Choji asked as he munched on his potato chips.
'I'm being rude because this guy is fishy,' Naruto responded in his head. He sighed before turning away. "Not at all."
"Well if he's failed six times, then these exams must be hard, right?" Ino asked, putting the thought out there.
"If it is tough, and if this guy doesn't suck… then this is such a drag…" Shikamaru said as he sighed.
'A drag indeed, Shikamaru,' Naruto agreed internally.
"Well… maybe I can help you kids out a little," Kabuto said as he pulled out a deck of orange cards. "With my ninja info cards, of course."
"The hell are those?" Kiba asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"It's hard to explain, but these cards have been chakra-encoated with everything I learned in the past four years." Kabuto crouched down and placed the deck on the floor. "I've got more than two hundred of them. You see, I haven't completely been wasting my time. They might not look much to the naked eye, in fact they appear blank. Don't want just anyone seeing this stuff."
Sasuke walked up to him. "How do they work?"
Kabuto started spinning the card with his finger. "You see, I'm using my chakra to reveal their secret, like this for example." The card produced a bit of smoke. Instead of it being blank, there was now a picture of the entire continent they were on.
"Wow, the entire continent… isn't that something," Sakura said as she stared at the card in surprise.
"Do these cards have info on the candidates? Individually?" Sasuke asked.
"They might, you got someone in mind?" Kabuto asked back. Naruto sighed as he already knew where this question was going. "I got a little something on everyone, even you guys."
"Don't worry, brat, if Kabuto tries revealing your information, I'll stop him," Kirai assured her host. Naruto slightly smiled.
'Thanks, Kirai.'
"Gaara of the Sand, Neji Hyuuga, and Naruto Uzumaki," Sasuke responded as he narrowed his eyes.
"Heh, that's easy stuff," Kabuto said as he picked up a card and swiped his hand over it. He placed the card down and a puff of smoke appeared over it before clearing, showing Gaara's information. It had his name, what village he's appointed with, his exam attempts, his strong point, his photo, his teammates and sensei, his stats, and the missions he's partaken in, but they were mostly blank.
"Okay… Gaara, he's completed eight C Ranks… and one B Rank as a genin, but there isn't any other information about him. His teammates are Kankuro and Temari. That's about it for him… oh wait, this is interesting…" he fixed his glasses as he looked up at the Rookie Nine plus Kin. "He's survived every mission without getting a single scratch on him."
"He's done a B Rank as a genin and has never been injured?!" Shikamaru repeated, not believing what he was hearing. Sasuke grit his teeth. 'How the hell do you complete a B Rank and not get a single scratch on you?!'
"Now, Neji Hyuuga…" Kabuto put the card down and spun it with his finger. He stopped and the card showed Neji's information. "Neji Hyuuga… he's especially good in taijutsu, doesn't really use ninjutsu all that much, teammates are Rock Lee and Tenten… his sensei is Might Guy, and he's completed twenty D Ranks and eleven C Ranks. He's older than you guys by a year… but for some reason, he didn't take the Chuunin Exams before…"
'He's good in taijutsu? Damn it… actually, if I do fight him, I may be able to pull something off,' Sasuke thought with a small, but cocky smirk.
"And the last one is Naruto Uzumaki." While Kabuto was spinning his card, everyone waited patiently. Naruto was curious as to how Kirai was going to stop him from doing so, but if she couldn't, he'd just destroy it with a technique.
Kabuto stopped spinning the card and a puff of smoke came off of it. He looked at the card. "Alright, Naruto Uzumaki. He-huh?" As soon as he started reading, the words on the card started getting covered by black lines, obscuring the words from being read. Naruto's stats were completely black, and the missions were crossed out too. The description box beneath his profile had red words written, but they had nothing to do with the blonde, and were instead threats directed towards Kabuto. The bespectacled boy looked up at Naruto's photo, and instantly froze when the boy's eyes were no longer blue. They were red, and the pupils were white, but they stared deep into his soul.
And that's when something akin to black ink began flooding in from the sides of the card, turning it completely black. Kabuto watched as something black emerged from the card and soon, turned the room black. The white haired boy nervously looked around and saw he was the only one in this… weird domain. He looked forward and saw white eyes staring back at him, with a sinister, toothy smile.
"Kabuto Yakushi of Konoha, am I right?" The mouth guessed. The boy was too afraid to even respond, only staring at the thing in fear. "You know… I don't really like it when people try to find out what I am… it could cause serious, serious problems for me and Naruto… If that happens, I'll have to resort to killing. And you don't wanna see an unknown being kill people right? You've heard the saying curiosity killed the cat… correct?"
He watched as the thing moved closer to his face, and felt something insanely cold touch both of his cheeks. They felt like hands-no-claws, they were claws. He could feel them digging into his cheeks and slowly, but surely, drawing blood.
"Now, since you tried to find me, I'm going to find you back. It's only fair, right?"
Kabuto blinked. For the first time, he blinked. His eyes were moist as he stared at the now blank card and everything was back to normal. He wasn't even sure of what to make of his experience.
"Um… Kabuto? You okay, man?" Kiba asked with a raised eyebrow. Everyone else wondered the same thing. Kabuto was about to say something, but he stopped all of a sudden and Naruto's information vanished.
Sasuke was ticked off. He wanted to know about what the blonde Uzumaki was hiding, but it seems not even Kabuto could say for some odd reason.
Naruto smirked. He had to give it to Kirai for making him scared out of his mind to not read his information. He internally thanked her for that.
"It's no problem, but I did learn a lot from him… it'll take me sometime to go through it all though," Kirai informed her host.
'Take all the time you need, you did enough,' Naruto thought.
"Kit! Something is coming towards you!" Kurama notified.
Naruto whipped his head at the crowd and did in fact see two blurs coming towards him. Naruto caught two kunai and leaned backwards to avoid a fist to his face, but he did catch the gauntlet that his attacker used. The others noted how fast Naruto was to be able to dodge that attack.
"Quick, use a wind technique!" Kirai shouted at him. Naruto made the Bird hand seal.
'Wind Arrow!' The whiskered blonde blew out a small, but intense stream of air that quickly shaped an arrow and flew towards his attacker.
Thankfully, he listened to what Kirai told him, because the arrow blew up unexpectedly in a burst of wind.
'The hell?! What did he use?' Naruto asked as he stumbled back before regaining his footing.
"I'm surprised. You dodged Zaku and blocked my attack." He recognized that voice, it was Dosu's. Naruto stood up fully and glared at Dosu. Zaku landed next to his teammate, and glared back at Naruto.
"So, you wanna explain the meaning of that attack?" Naruto inquired, a little pissed off by it.
"Guys? The hell are you doing?!" Kin questioned as she ran up to Naruto.
Dosu looked at the noirette before narrowing his eye at her. "Shut up, Kin."
"The hell do you think you're doing with our teammate, blondie?!" Zaku questioned, looking at Naruto with a scowl.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "The hell do you mean?"
"We've seen you and Kin acting all close and shit. You tryin' to manipulate her?!" Zaku assumed as he got up in Naruto's face.
The whiskered blonde scowled as he shoved Zaku back. "No, what?! What reason would I have for that?!"
"Duh, to turn her against us! You stupid?"
"That's enough!" Kin shouted, making her two teammates and Naruto look at her. "You're such an asshole Zaku it's annoying! I made the choice of being close with Naruto, not him! He didn't 'manipulate' me into getting close, that was my choice! So back the fuck off!"
Zaku and Dosu looked at Kin in shock, but before they could say anything, a giant puff of smoke erupted in the back of the class. Everyone looked back to see a man wearing a blue cap with Konoha's symbol embedded in the metal plate on it. He had two large scars over his face and was wearing a black trench coat with a grey outfit underneath it. Behind him, there were a row of Chuunin who were all wearing a lighter version of the grey outfit.
"It's time to begin. I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor, and from this moment, your worst enemy," the man in the trench coat spoke with a smirk. Everyone looked at him with varying expressions. Some didn't care, others were on edge, and the rest were anxious. "First, you candidates from Otogakure, knock it off! Who told you you could fight. You want to be failed before we've even begun?!"
"Sorry, it's our first time," Dosu apologized. "Guess we're a little jumpy, sir."
"I'll say this once so listen up. There will be no combat between candidates, no attacking each other without the permission of your proctor, and even then, the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited! Anyone who thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately, got it?" Ibiki told.
Zaku crossed his arms before looking at Ibiki with a scowl. "No fatal force? That's no fun."
"Now, if we're ready, we'll proceed to the first stage of the Chuunin Exams. Hand over your paperwork and in return you'll each get a number. This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated."
'Written test? Well fuck…' Naruto thought as he sighed.
"Something wrong, Naruto?" Kin asked as she looked at the blonde.
He smiled as he looked at her. "No, but good luck." He kissed her forehead and moved away to go to Hinata. The noirette blushed and smiled at his back, wishing him good luck as well. The whiskered blonde walked over to Hinata and gave the girl a small kiss on the cheek.
"Good luck, Hinata," he whispered.
"You too, Naruto," the bluenette whispered back as she flashed him a bright smile. He looked at Kabuto and saw the white haired boy begin to stand up.
Everyone eventually went up to the front and handed in their paperwork in exchange for their number. After everyone was seated with a paper, pencil, and eraser, Ibiki tapped the chalkboard behind him with a piece of white chalk.
"Everyone, eyes front," he spoke, gathering the attention of the genin. "There are a few rules you need to be aware of and I won't answer any questions, so you better pay attention the first time around. Alright, rule number one is this: the written part of the exam is conducted on a point-reduction system. Contrary to what some of you may be used to, you all begin the test with a perfect score of ten points. One point will be deducted for each answer you get wrong. So if you miss three, your final score will be seven."
Ibiki wrote what he said down on the board and moved to the side so everyone could read it.
"Rule number two: teams will pass or fail based on the total scores of all three members," the scarred man added, making most genin's eyes widen.
'Well shit… this just got tougher,' Naruto noted.
"Rule number three: the sentinels you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating. And for every incident they spot, they will subtract two points from the culprit's score," Ibiki informed the genin. "Be warned, their eyes are extremely sharp. And if they catch you five times you'll be dismissed before the tests are even scored. Anyone fool enough to get caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here. If you wanna be considered shinobi, then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be."
'Damnit… they make it so you can lose all kinds of points on this test…' Sakura thought with narrowed eyes. She put her hands together and took a deep breath.
"Oh, and one more thing: if any candidate should get a zero and fail the test… then the entire team fails," Ibiki added, getting shocked gasps from the genin. "The final question won't be given out until fifteen minutes before the end of the testing period. You'll have one hour total. Let the tests… begin!"
Everyone flipped their papers over and instantly began writing. Naruto flipped over his paper and read the first question. His eyes widened as he smiled.
'... What in the name of fuck am I reading?'
Sakura looked intently at the first question and raised an eyebrow. 'These are integrated problems based on principles of uncertainty and requiring complex mechanical energy analysis. Incredibly advanced stuff… wait a damn minute… none of these genin can solve these problems!' She then looked at where Naruto and Sasuke were seated. Naruto was three rows ahead of her while Sasuke was sitting on the row to the right of them. 'Are Naruto and Sasuke smart enough to solve these?'
Naruto looked at each problem and realized he didn't have a chance in hell of answering them.
'This shit is for jounin! Why would they give us these problems and tell us not to cheat?! The only way to get these problems is by cheating! No genin here can-wait…' the whiskered blonde's eyes widened at his realization. '... They do expect us to cheat… we just can't make it obvious that we're cheating! He was just trying to pressure us into not doing it, but we're allowed to do it!' Naruto smirked as he instantly activated his Byakugan. He found someone writing down the answers and began copying them. After he was done, he deactivated it and breathed out a sigh of relief.
'But wait… what about Sakura and Sasuke? Sakura has a chance, I'm pretty sure she's smart… but-wait, Sasuke has his Sharingan, he should be fine,' Naruto remembered. He sat back and relaxed in his seat.
A kunai then flew at Naruto and the whiskered blonde moved his head out of the way. The kunai landed into someone's paper and the genin yelped behind him. Everyone looked at who yelled and realized he got caught cheating.
"W-What the hell?! Why'd you do that?!" The genin behind Naruto questioned as he stood up.
"Five strikes and you're out. You just failed the test," the sentinel who threw the kunai responded with a glare.
"What?! N-No, that's not right…"
"Heh, you and your teammates will leave the room immediately."
He just stood there, flabbergasted while his two other teammates stood up and left, sending glares his way. He eventually left in shame.
"Candidate number twenty-three: failed."
"Number twenty-seven and forty-three: failed!"
"No way! You can't do this! Who the hell said I failed five times anyway?! Where's your proof?!" A Suna genin grilled as he stood up. A sentinel with bandages wrapped around his head and eyes stood up and quickly threw the Suna genin into a wall before choking him.
"Sorry pal, but we were chosen for this duty because we don't make mistakes like that. You can't even blink without us seein' it. We're the best of the best and you, my friend, are history." He let go of the genin and backed up. "Now get out, and take your teammates with you."
Naruto watched and sighed. 'Well, this is indeed tough. But if you know, you know.' He then quietly chuckled as he looked at his paper. 'Man… these questions and answers don't make an ounce of sense to me.'
Ino looked at Naruto and was surprised. 'Huh… he was the first one to finish. Well, I guess I have to give credit where it's due. Naruto might be smarter than I thought… and thank you for giving me free answers, blondie.' Ino smirked as she put her thumbs, pointer fingers, and middle fingers together while raising her ring and pinky fingers up. She aimed it at Naruto's back. 'Mind Body Switch Technique!' She pushed her hands forward and a blue blur dashed towards the blonde.
"Kit-"
'I know. Let her take over my body, and you two can have a surprise chat with her for a bit,' Naruto thought with a smirk as he sat straight up so that Ino's technique could surely hit him.
"Do we have to?" Kirai asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
'Just to scare her into thinking twice about trying to control me.' Naruto flinched forward as Ino's consciousness entered his body. He looked shocked for a minute before smirking as he looked at his paper.
"And just like that… I have your answers. Thanks a lot, Naruto." Ino began reading Naruto's paper while Shikamaru and Choji watched Ino's body slump.
'So, Ino's got her technique working I see. About time,' Shikamaru thought. 'But… was Naruto the right choice…?'
'Way to go! She had to have chosen Naruto for a reason, even if he doesn't seem that smart,' Choji thought as he nodded to himself.
As Ino read Naruto's paper, she felt like something was wrong. She looked down at Naruto's right arm and saw it was bandaged. Curiosity got the better of her and she touched it, only for it to feel like actual skin.
'W-What the hell?! Isn't this supposed to be bandages?! Does Naruto paint bandages on his arm?! But for what reason? No, that wouldn't make any sense… but then why-' Ino's tangent came to a halt as she felt Naruto's body pulse. She recoiled forward as she couldn't move anymore.
'W-What's going on…? Why can't I move anything…?' When the blonde looked back up, she was in an entirely new place. She looked around and realized she was in a giant sewer-like setting.
"Wait… where am I…? And how did I get here…?" Ino asked nervously as she looked around. She heard something touch the water, and whipped her body around to find two giant, red eyes staring down at her with bared teeth. She could make out the form and it was a giant fox, but what really garnered her attention were the nine tails waving behind him. Three out of the nine were different from the other six.
"W-What… what is the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox doing here…" Ino asked herself, visibly shaking. She tried to move, but couldn't. Fear was spreading throughout her entire body, and she realized she made a mistake taking over the whiskered blonde's body.
Ino has never seen anything scary before. But seeing a Bijuu, that was the strongest Bijuu to be alive according to her parents, right in front of her, nearly made her pass out. If these appendages wrapped around her legs weren't there, she'd fall into the water and reconsider her life choices.
'Wait… since when did these get here…?' Ino asked herself as she looked at the ground and saw black appendages wrapped around her legs firmly. She tried moving her legs, but they wouldn't even budge, not even a little bit.
"Kurama… stop scaring the kid," a womanly voice spoke, causing the Bijuu to look down at whatever spoke to him. Ino watched as a woman with short, black hair with red eyes and white irises walked out of the shadows and stood next to the giant fox. The blonde girl noticed that the woman had black around her eyes and black marks that connected to her neck, they looked like tear marks. The rest of the woman's body below her neck was all black, and Ino wasn't sure what to make of it.
The Bijuu complied with a low growl as he sat down and his eyes were normal. Ino slightly relaxed that the fox wasn't looking to kill her… for now at least.
"W-Who are you…?" Ino asked, somehow finding the courage to do so.
"Ah right, we have to deal with our little intruder here." Kirai turned to look at Ino and flashed her a crazed smile. The Bijuu also looked at Ino. "So, why did you try and take over Naruto's body, hm?"
Ino couldn't find the courage to talk again. The Bijuu and the unknown woman looking at her were scaring her to no end.
"I'm waiting, ya know…" Kirai reminded the scared girl.
"W-Well… I-I w-was g-going t-to u-use his b-body t-to g-get a-answers f-for m-m-my t-team…" Ino stuttered.
"Hm… smart, but not smart at the same time. Although, I can't blame you, you had no idea Naruto was inhabiting the strongest Bijuu and Kami inside of him," Kirai said, which caused Kurama to roll his eyes.
"K-Kami?!" Ino shrieked, her eyes wide.
"Heh… no, I'm just messin' with you. I'm something from a long time ago. You certainly wouldn't know, so don't bother asking me where I'm from. Just know that I am stronger than our little friend here," Kirai responded as she gestured to Kurama. "Way stronger."
Ino looked at Kurama and the Bijuu nodded. Now, Ino didn't have much knowledge on the Bijuus, nor did she really care to. To her knowledge, those tailed beasts were already inside of people and couldn't escape, but never could she imagine the Nine Tails was inside of her own classmate. And wasn't a Bijuu supposed to be really, really powerful? How could this woman be stronger than a Bijuu?! It didn't make sense to Ino, but she didn't want to question it, in case something bad happens to her.
"O-okay…" Ino whispered.
"Just remember, the next time you try and hurt Naruto in any way, shape, or form, he'll return it tenfold," Kirai warned the Yamanaka.
"He can return it tenfold. Kit has a high tolerance to annoying people, like Sasuke," the Bijuu corrected, which surprised Ino. She didn't know that Bijuus could talk! But then, her expression changed to slight anger as the fox called Sasuke annoying.
"Hey! Sasuke isn't annoying! He's-" But before she could finish her sentence, they both looked at Ino with scary faces that swore death to her swiftly. She instantly shut up as her body tensed.
The appendages around her legs quickly submerged into the water and she was suddenly dragged forward. She stopped in front of the two and was trapped again.
"Say that again? I don't think I heard you right," Kirai said as she stared deep into Ino's soul.
"S-S-Sasuke… i-isn't a-annoying…" Ino repeated. Kirai looked up at Kurama and he looked back at Kirai. They both stared at each other before roaring in laughter.
"A-Are you serious right now?!" Kirai asked through her laughing.
Kurama was the first one to stop laughing. He looked at Ino with wide eyes. "Yamanaka. Your Sasuke nearly paralyzed and almost killed the person you're possessing right now."
Ino looked at him in shock. "W-What…? N-No, that can't be true…"
"Tch, he also badly injured Sakura by substituting himself with her so she could take the hit of an attack," Kirai added as she rolled her eyes.
"W-What… but… Sasuke would never-"
"You wouldn't know because you're not a part of Team 7. Sasuke does not give a damn about you at all. He at most would use you for power, but he wouldn't even do that since you're useless," Kurama interrupted the girl.
"N-No! You're lying!"
"And what would we get out of lying? You have nothing of interest for us," Kirai pointed out. "If we wanted to, we could kill you right here and now. Your body that's knocked out right now could turn cold in just a few seconds, that's how much you mean to us."
"You are not valuable at all. Yes, your hiden is something strong and is no joke, but it's useless if you get caught in situations like this, where no one can help you," Kurama added.
Ino realized they were right. She didn't have anything useful for them, and she was scared shitless on top of that. It would be best to not piss these guys off, else they really will kill her. But, Sasuke hurting someone? No, that can't be right, and why would he hurt Sakura? She liked him just as much, maybe even more, than Ino did. But she wouldn't admit that. There's no way Sasuke would do that!
The platinum blonde girl then rethought her interaction with Sakura when she and her team came inside the designated exam room. When Ino glomped Sasuke, Sakura didn't seem to care at all that she was doing it, so something must have happened for her to lose interest in Sasuke… but… was it really Sasuke's doing? Did he really do what these guys said he did?
"Alright, that's enough," a new, but familiar voice interjected. They all looked towards where the voice came from and out walked Naruto from the shadows.
"Kit."
"Wassup," Kirai greeted with a hand wave.
"You guys can go, I'll talk to Ino for a bit," Naruto said. Kirai and Kurama looked at each other before looking at Naruto. They both nodded and walked away into the shadows. Naruto walked in front of Ino and the black appendages sunk back into the water. Ino instantly fell, but Naruto caught her. He gently set her down and he sat across from her.
Ino stared at Naruto in shock, while the latter just looked at her with a smile.
He then raised his hand. "Yo."
"W-W-W-W-"
"I understand, you're scared and confused, but don't worry. Kirai and Kurama aren't that bad-actually, Kurama isn't that bad, he's my best friend. Kirai? She's… an anomaly, to say the least," Naruto interrupted the blonde. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask."
Ino took a deep breath and relaxed. The Bijuu and the woman weren't here to scare her, it was just the blonde she's bullied for most of their childhood.
Speaking of that, she looked at Naruto confusedly. "Wait… I… I was really mean to you all those years… don't you hate me?"
Naruto chuckled. "I try not to hate people. Though, with Sasuke, it's extremely difficult. I only hate people who try to harm my friends and loved ones."
Ino quietly hummed. "But… what about Sakura? She used to hate you."
"And then she changed."
"Why?"
Naruto shrugged. "She must've had enough of Sasuke. Though, I did tell her my thoughts, so maybe that contributed towards it? But I dunno, you'd have to ask her yourself."
Ino nodded. "Um… Naruto…"
"What's up?"
"Is that… Kirai woman stronger than… the Nine-Tailed Fox?" Ino wondered.
"Yeah. She's extremely powerful," Naruto responded. Ino looked down at the water. 'So she wasn't lying…'
"Um… did Sasuke actually almost paralyze you?"
"Mm. Back when we were on a mission, something unexpected happened and we had to fight a jounin missing-nin. Our mission went from a simple C-Rank to an A-Rank just like that." Ino gasped at that; Naruto snapped his fingers for emphasis . "So, when I was resting from using a bunch of my chakra fighting the jounin, my other teammates and sensei were out and ran into the missing-nin and his partner. Sasuke faced the partner, but was losing. I came in just in time to stop him from becoming a senbon porcupine, but the teme stabbed me in the back with a kunai."
"H-He really did that…?" Ino checked, not believing her ears.
Naruto nodded. "I was extremely lucky. I'm surprised he didn't paralyze me or kill me from how deep the kunai went…"
"Oh… oh my… why would he do that…?" Ino asked, slowly her heart was cracking at Sasuke's wrongdoings.
"Because he's jealous," Naruto responded as he sighed. "Jealous, hateful, and angry. He's mad because I'm stronger than him. And he needs to be stronger than me to get closer to his goal, but he can't."
"But… almost killing you… that… I… I can't…" Ino attempted to try and get her
"Heh, I know what you're trying to say. But, that wasn't enough, because he almost got Sakura killed by making her take a hit for him," Naruto said as he looked to the side. "From multiple fireballs."
Ino put her hands over her mouth as she looked devastated. So it seems the woman and fox weren't lying after all.
"W-Why… I-I don't understand…"
"It's just who he is, Ino. A selfish asshole who only cares about himself." Naruto sighed before putting a hand on Ino's shoulder. The poor girl looked like she was about to break down.
"I understand your feelings for him are… big, but you have to realize he isn't who you make him out to be. I'm sorry to break it to you Ino, but if you don't get away from him, he'll hurt you just as greatly, if not more, than what he did to me and Sakura," Naruto told the platinum blonde. Ino's hands slowly went up to her eyes as she slowly began crying, her heart completely shattered.
Naruto rubbed her shoulder to try and provide a bit of comfort, but then the platinum blonde hugged Naruto and cried into his chest. Naruto raised an eyebrow, but then hugged her back. She'd need all the comfort she could get, especially since this was happening during the middle of the Chuunin Exams.
"Don't let this affect how you perform, Ino. We're still participating in the Chuunin Exams, ya know," Naruto reminded the Yamanaka daughter. She slightly jerked at that and quickly wiped away her tears.
"You're right… I can't be crying now, especially over a boy… I have to get my act together… thanks, Naruto," Ino said as she rubbed her eyes. She found it weird how she was thanking the person who was a victim of her bullying. She took a moment to think back on how much of an asshole she was to someone who didn't even bother her.
'Dear Kami, I'm such a bitch…' Ino realized.
"Don't mention it."
"Oh… wait." Naruto titled his head at Ino, wondering what she was going to say. "I… I'm sorry for bullying you and being rude to you. I understand now that I was such a bitch back then for no reason… and that saying sorry now isn't gonna cut it, so I'll do whatever you say to make up for it… And if that won't make it up… then I'll just do whatever you say for my whole life until you can forgive me!" Ino declared with determined eyes.
Naruto's own eyes widened. "Woah, woah, woah! Let's not get extreme now, Ino. I don't need you to do all of that for me to forgive you. You apologizing is fine enough."
"No way! I was mean to you for practically your whole childhood! I have to make it up somehow!" Ino stated. "I… I won't be able to forgive myself if I was simply let off the hook by only apologizing. It just doesn't feel right…"
Naruto smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're able to see the truth. It must be hard for you to accept."
"It… it is… and for some reason I believed you when you said those things… I still do… it just feels like you're telling me the truth and I was blinded by my love for Sasuke… ugh, I'm such a girl…"
"Wait… what do you mean by that? Of course you're a girl…"
"No… I meant-" Ino couldn't help but giggle at Naruto's cluelessness. "I meant that I'm such a girl in love. Or… whatever I was feeling. I wouldn't call it love, but obsession. I was obsessed over Sasuke and that stopped me from seeing the truth." She sighed before looking up at Naruto. "But enough of that, what can I do for you to forgive me?"
Naruto adopted a thinking posture. 'Hm… I don't want her to do anything extreme… ah, I got it!' Naruto snapped his fingers before looking at Ino with a smile.
"Become friends with Sakura again," Naruto said.
Ino stared at him before blinking a couple of times. "Huh?"
"Become friends with Sakura again. It shouldn't be hard, right?" Naruto asked with a shrug.
"But… why?" The blonde wondered with a raised eyebrow.
"Cause you two don't really like each other and it's cause-or was-of your liking of Sasuke. You two only agreed with each other when Sasuke said something, other than that, you both disliked each other," Naruto explained. Ino looked away from him for a second before sighing.
"You're right… and I have been bitchy lately… alright, I'll try my hardest." Ino then stood up with Naruto.
"Alright awesome! Now, hurry up and get the answers for Shikamaru and Choji," Naruto said as he cracked his bones.
"Wait… what?!" Ino shouted, not sure if she heard Naruto right.
"You heard me. I said get the answers for your teammates," Naruto repeated with a smirk.
"But-"
"Don't worry about it, just hurry up. I'm giving you five minutes Ino!" Naruto interrupted as he put up five fingers with a grin.
Ino stared at him for a second before smiling. "Right!"
Shikamaru and Choji stared at Ino's resting form, wondering why the Yamanaka was taking so long.
'Can she hurry up?! We're runnin' out of time here!' Shikamaru shouted in his head. Both him and Choji's eyes widened at seeing Ino slowly getting back up. The girl shivered before quickly writing down the answers. Shikamaru and Choji let out a sigh of relief.
Naruto smirked as he shook himself. He then looked up at the examiner, Ibiki Moroni. 'Now all I gotta do is wait for the final question.'
Sakura finished writing her answers and looked up. She saw Naruto relaxing in his seat and saw Sasuke still writing. Sakura remembered that Sasuke had his Sharingan and could probably copy down the answers from someone, and Naruto was either smart enough, or had a trick up his sleeve that allowed him to get the answers.
'But just to be sure…' Sakura made the Dog hand seal. 'Water Release: Silent Flow Technique!' Sakura put her head down and began spewing water at the ground. Once the water reached the ground, it began traveling towards Naruto's row, making sure to not touch anyone's sandals. Once the small water flow got to Naruto, it touched his sandal. The whiskered blonde looked at the floor and saw a small pool of water form next to his sandal.
'Did you get these answers?' He read the words the water formed and read below it. 'This must be Sakura's doing… I'm impressed.' Naruto smiled as he tapped his chin, thinking of a way to answer the question. He then smirked as he made the Snake hand seal. 'Pleasure Jolt.'
Sakura watched the pool of water at her feet, but then suddenly an electric shock ran up her entire body. She flinched at the oddly good sensation and slightly blushed after it was over. She took silent, but heavy breaths.
'What the hell happened to me…? And why am I out of breath…? And why do I feel… hot?' Sakura asked herself as she looked at her puddle.
"Must've been Naruto's doing," Inner Sakura responded, then smirked. "How'd the shock feel?"
The pinkette disregarded her inner voice and read the word that was in the puddle. 'Yes.' Sakura smiled and she released the technique. The water quickly evaporated and she relaxed. 'We got this.'
Forty-five minutes passed and most of the genin teams were kicked out for getting caught cheating. Ibiki smirked. "Alright, listen up! Here's the tenth and final question!" He announced to the room.
Naruto opened his eyes and smiled. 'Finally, the tenth question!'
"But, before I give you the question… there are some more rules you need to be aware of," Ibiki added.
'More rules? You gotta be kidding me…' Sakura thought as she mentally sighed. Just then, the door to the back of the room opened and Kankuro walked in with a sentinel.
"You made it just in time. Now hurry up and take your seat," Ibiki said with a smirk. Kankuro's eyes slightly widened, but he complied and walked to his seat, not before secretly dropping off something at Temari's desk.
"These rules are unique to question ten. Listen carefully, and try not to let them frighten you," Ibiki spoke. "Rule number one: each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question. It's your decision."
Naruto perked up. 'Isn't this what Kakashi-sensei did…?'
"Woah, wait a minute! What's the catch if we don't wanna do it?! Then what?!" Temari questioned.
"If you don't want to do the tenth question regardless of your answers to the other nine, you'll get a zero. In other words: you fail," Ibiki responded with a smirk. "And of course, that means your teammates fail as well."
Everyone began murmuring about this.
"Quiet down and let me finish, you runts. If you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail… you will be barred from taking the Chuunin Exams ever again!" Ibiki added with a stern look.
"Hey that's bullshit! That's ridiculous! Some people here have taken the test multiple times!" Kiba called out with Akamaru barking in agreement.
Ibiki chuckled, then it turned into a laugh. "Well then, you're just unlucky, I guess. 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." Naruto looked at Kiba and saw his stance falter. "If you're not feeling confident then by all means skip it. You can come back and try again next year."
Kiba sat down and scratched his head in fury. Naruto looked at Ibiki indifferently. 'He sure is putting a lot of mental strain on us… guess this type of thing happens in the shinobi world but on a more extreme scale…'
"You are right. You're lucky he's being generous about this," Kurama agreed.
'Heh, believe me, I agree when you say that. If he can make everyone uneasy by just playing mind games, I wonder what he can actually do against an enemy shinobi.' The whiskered blonde looked around the room to see the genin's varying facial expressions. 'Let's just hope some of these genin don't choke.'
"Now, if you're ready, the tenth and final question. Those who don't wanna take it, raise your hand!" Ibiki ordered. "Your number will be recorded, then you're free to go."
The genin next to Naruto raised his hand and stood up. "I'm sorry… but I'm out, I just can't do it!"
"Number fifty: fail!" A sentinel announced. "Number one-thirty, number one-ten, you also fail."
Two other genin stood up and looked pissed. After that, some other genin raised their hands too and left the room, ashamed of themselves.
Naruto watched as the others looked uneasy, he may not look it, but he didn't want them to just give up so easily because of a little bit of psychological jokes.
The whiskered blonde raised his hand and everyone watched as he slammed it down, grabbing everyone's attention.
"I understand. Really, I do, but come on you guys! At least put some more effort into it! You guys can't just give in to his taunts like this! You've made it this far resisting the urge to give up, so keep at it! We're literally at the last part of the first part of the Chuunin Exams! If you can get through this, you can get through anything no matter if you win or fail!" Naruto shouted as he looked at all of the genin that were still around.
'You know what… he's right… we survived that horrible killing intent he let out before the exams begun, so we can get through this too!' A genin thought with determination, the other genin stopped looking uneasy and had smirks of confidence on their faces.
'Huh… the blonde brat actually inspired some courage into these genin… that's impressive… and none of them seem to be wavering… so that might just be it,' Ibiki thought. He looked at the sentinels and they all nodded. He nodded back before looking at the group of genin that were still seated in front of him.
"Well, I admire your determination and nothing else. For those of you remaining. There's only one thing left to do. And that's for me to tell you… that you all passed the first exam!"
"Wait a damn minute, WHAT?!" Ino screeched. "W-Where's the tenth question?!"
"Heh, there never was one!" Ibiki replied as he grinned. "Well, not a written one at least."
"So then… what were the nine other questions for?" The platinum blonde asked, completely confused.
"Those nine questions were to see how well you genin could collect information under the most adverse circumstances. Well, circumstances that you genin could handle."
"... I'm still not following."
Ibiki sighed. "You see, my objective was to test you not individually but as a team and how well you function as a part of a 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 nine questions on the test were difficult, in fact, you may have realized they were too difficult for any genin to be expected to solve. I imagined that most of you came to that conclusion and have to teach to have any chance of passing. The fact is: the test was designed to encourage cheating, demanding it.
"Of course, it would've done you little good unless you had someone to cheat off of. So I disguised two genin who already knew the answers, and had them sit in with you," the examiner added, making the genin slightly shocked. Ibiki Morino took off his headband and had everyone even more shocked to see the damage done to his head.
He then explained why gathering information would be so important and how it would be bad if they got misinformed. Ibiki also added why the tenth question was so important, and gave a hypothetical situation to emphasize his statement. He also described what a chuunin squad leader would have to go through, should they ever be in an unfair situation.
"Those who'd 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 chuunin, as long as I'm here," the chief examiner declared. "As for the rest of you, you have successfully answered the tenth questions I put to you. You have earned the right to continue on to the next step. You have passed through the first gate and I hereby declare this part of the Chuunin Selection Exams completed! There's nothing left but to wish you good luck."
Naruto looked back at Sakura and they both grinned at each other. Sasuke cockily smirked as he crossed his arms and relaxed.
Ibiki looked at the window and saw something coming. He didn't bother to intercept it as it crashed through the window. The dark red, large ball that came through unrolled as two kunai got stabbed into the ceiling. The cloth unrolled and there were words on it that read: "Here comes the Second Test's Proctor: Anko Mitarashi."
Ibiki sighed as the cloth covered him from sight. 'Jumped the gun as usual…'
"Heads up boys and girls, this is no time to be celebrating! I'm your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi! Ready for the second test? Good, let's go, follow me!" The woman named Anko shouted as she shot her arm up.
While everyone was confused by the woman's entrance, Naruto raised an eyebrow. The purple haired woman instantly spotted Naruto and smirked.
"Slick tongue! Glad to know you made it to the second part!" Anko said as she put her arms on her waist.
"Told you I would! Hinata passed as well," Naruto said. The Hyuuga was a bit shocked that her boyfriend knew that… since he wasn't anywhere near her.
"Really now? Well isn't that something," Anko said as she looked at the Hyuuga.
"... You're early. Again," Ibiki informed the second proctor, who's eyes widened as a tiny blush of embarrassment crossed her face.
"O-Oh… eheh…" She quickly scratched her cheek, but then took into account the many genin that remained. "Wait… how many genin are there? Ibiki… you let all of these guys pass? Your test was too easy. You must be getting soft!"
"Or, it could be a stronger crowd of candidates this year," the scarred man responded as he looked at her from the corner of his eye.
"Hm… sure don't look it," Anko insulted with a smirk. "Trust me, before I'm done with 'em, more than half will be eliminated."
"More than half…?" Sakura asked, getting a little worried.
"Heh, this is gonna be fun. You maggots have had it easy so far, but things are gonna be different first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me!" Anko announced. "Go, you're dismissed."
The next day came rather quickly, and all the genin that psssd now stood in front of a gated off area. Ginormous trees could be seen from beyond the fence, and there were a bunch of warning signs and locks on it.
"This is the location for the second phase of the exam. This is the forty-fourth battle training zone, but we call it the Forest of Death," Anko smirked.
Naruto looked past Anko and at the many trees. 'The Forest of Death, huh? Let's see how they handle Naruto Uzumaki!'