Sorry for the late upload guys/gals. So far the Sakura ships are a tie between sakuraxlee and sakuraxkarin. Final time to vote! Also the chunin exam will start next chapter, but the event mentioned at the end of this chapter will be carried out in the next.
I unfortunately don't own Naruto, otherwise the fillers would be better or nonexistent. Kishimoto and the other creators have that right reserved for them.
Hoe you enjoy!
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Team Seven was standing in front of their sensei on the training field. Kakashi had said today was going to be a training day and to be here by seven. Needless to say, the genin didn't turn up till 8:30. When Kakashi finally arrived, he went right into the training, not even producing an excuse for his tardiness.
"Today will be a training day. More specifically working on individual skills. Hinata, I want you to work on your chakra control and reserves by sparring with me on top of the river. Naruto, you'll be practicing your lightning element and then working on a lower level lightning jutsu. Sasuke, Naruto is going to put his weight seal on you and then you're going to be doing laps around Konoha" Kakashi said with a smile. Sasuke's eyes had widened at his task, Naruto let out a small giggle and Hinata smirked. "You know what, put the weight seal on Hinata too, Naruto". It was Sasuke's turn to smirk, while Hinata's smirk and all amusement left her eyes.
"Sensei, how effective are these seals anyways?" asked Hinata, skeptical of the usefulness of them.
"I'm glad you asked, I've been curious myself about the amount of progress one can make with them. Naruto, I understand you've been using one for the past few months, please show us how well they've worked. Oh and tell the amount of weight you started with compared to what you're using now". Kakashi knew full well how effective weights are to one's speed, he just wanted to see how much Naruto had grown since using them.
Naruto left up to demonstrate without hesitation, he hadn't turned the seal off during training or on missions much, and when he did, he didn't get to test the limits of his speed. Standing before his teammates and sensei, Naruto formed a one handed ram hand sign and removed the chakra from the seal, feeling like a building had just been taken off his back. "Okay, so I started with about 130 something pounds. Then, as time went in I increased it. Sooo, I'm at about 250 pounds right now". Kakashi then instructed Hinata and Sasuke to take a bell and defend against Naruto who was going to try and steal it. The genin nodded and set up the exercise.
Seeing they were ready, Kakashi said, "Begin!". Naruto vanished and both Hinata and Sasuke activated their dojutsu. Even with her Byakugan active, Hinata still didn't see Naruto. Sasuke however was amazed at what he was seeing. Naruto had flashed behind Hinata and took her Bell before Hinata had even moved to defend and was now making his way over at incredible speeds. Sasuke went to engage him, but his body was found to be a lot slower than his brain and was only able to watch as Naruto easily plucked the bell from his kunai holder.
Naruto then appeared in the place where he had started, two bells in hand, with a stunned Hyuga to his left and an eager Uchiha to his right. Kakashi gave a short clap at Naruto's speed and said, "well Hinata, it seems to be very effective. Now Naruto, put those on Sasuke and Hinata and explain how they work. Then go practice this lightning jutsu," Kakashi said, tossing Naruto a scroll. Turning around Naruto put the seals on his teammates and explained, Sasuke started by putting on 120 pounds, and Hinata put on 85 to not hurt herself too much during sparring. Kakashi smiled and said, "We stop training at 12, so no breaks".
"Awww, but Kakashi sensei," Naruto complained, unhappy he'll be doing the same jutsu for three hours. "What was that Naruto?" Kakashi said in a threatening tone. Naruto went silent, remembering the prank he tried a week prior and the situation he was in. "Good, now get training" Kakashi followed in an authoritative tone. The genin complied and the three all went to their individual tasks.
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By the time noon came around, Hinata and Sasuke were exhausted. Kakashi had used a couple shadow clones and called on Naruto's clones a few times during his sparring with Hinata, using the excuse he had to check up on the other two as a form of rest. Naruto found the jutsu to be more difficult than anticipated, the jutsu was called static charge, and worked by sending a cloud of electricity to paralyze one's opponent. Naruto learned after the first few attempts that clones would be needed to learn the jutsu if he wanted to be able to move after 3 hours. After getting the jutsu down, Naruto started to experiment, and recalled some information about combining jutsus one of his clones had read about. Using this knowledge, Naruto made, what he called a static clone, that would explode into the paralyzing cloud of electricity when popped. Kakashi was impressed by Naruto's quick completion and modification of the jutsu, jutsu modification and creation was a complex concept, one that many people didn't expect Naruto to ever understand.
Kakashi turned to his genin, "Now that training is over, we're meeting up with a few other genin teams for joint training," 'and as a bet on who's team is better', "so get ready to leave in another 30 minutes, they'll be meeting up about now". The genin had their sweat drop, 'he flat out plans to be late to things?'. Kakashi then went to sit on a tree branch to read his book. Naruto sighed and found a nice patch of grass to rest on. Sasuke ended up joining him, leaving Hinata standing by herself to find a way to occupy her time. She opted to sit with her back to a tree and take a nap, deciding that it would be wise for her to rest a bit after sparring for so long.
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Training field 17
Kurenai Yuhi was a new jounin. She had gone on only a few missions before taking on a genin team. So much had happened and changed after her promotion, but one thing that hadn't changed for the past 7 years was her crush on Asuma Sarutobi. Granted she could talk and joke with him no problem, but that was when other people were around, whenever she found herself alone with him, she became flustered and started stumbling on her sentences.
Lucky for her, one Asuma Sarutobi had a similar crush on her, although it had only started when he got back to the village after the Twelve Guardian Ninja had their fallout. He first met her when he met up with Kakashi and Anko one time for lunch. At first he thought she was just another pretty face that became a ninja to marry into a rich clan, but soon learned that was not the case. After the meeting, he ran into her more often and fell in love with her more and more as he saw more and more of her strong and comforting personality.
Looking down the path leading to the training field, Kurenai asked, "where is that lazy bum?!". Asuma chuckled and replied, "knowing Kakashi he'll probably be turning up in another 30-60 minutes". 'How has he not been fired yet?' thought Kurenai. Pinching her nose she nodded and walked away from the road to go check on her genin.
Her team consisted of Shino Abruame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Sakura Haruno. Shino and Kiba got along fine, but Sakura was obsessed with Sasuke Uchiha and would always compare the boys to him. Kiba would always get annoyed with this and eventually Shino started to show signs of annoyance too, which shocked Kurenai the first time she saw it. Over the past three months, her team had done a collection of D and C rank missions. Nothing extreme, but it gave her genin some needed battle experience. They still haven't killed yet, but Kurenair would jump that hurdle when it came.
Currently, Sakura was talking with Ino, probably about their crush Sasuke or something related to him. Kiba and Shino were with Asuma's two boys and were talking about who knows what, although she could read the lips of Shikamaru as he said the word "troublesome". Sighing, she turned back around to go sit with Asuma, a light blush powdering her cheeks as she sat next to him as they waited for their fellow jounin.
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When Kakashi arrived it was 1:14. When questioned where he had been by Kurenai and some of the genin(Sakura, Ino, and Kiba), Kakashi smiled. In his place Hinata said "We got lost on the road of life" smirking at the sight of her fellow genin's displeasure. Everyone but Asuma had their sweat drop and was thinking the same thing 'I've never heard a worse excuse'.
"So we're here, let not waste time. Kurenai, would you explain to the genin why we're here?" Kakashi said, smiling the entire time while walking over to join Asuma. Kurenai had a tick mark form on her head before recomposing herself and turning around to face the gang of teenagers in front of her. "Alright, so today we're going to be playing a game of capture to flag. Each team will be given a flag to protect. The goal is to have two flags by the time 3 hours is up. You may choose where to place your flag and that will be your home base of sorts. Needless to say there will be no killing or injuring of any serious degree. You have 10 minutes to find a place for your flag, after that Asuma will send a firework jutsu into the sky to start. Any questions?". Sakura and Ino raised their hands in unison, Kurenai sighed pinching her nose, "No, you can not team with people from other genin teams. Anyone else?". Naruto raised his hand, "Will we be able to take off any weights or chakra suppressors we have put on?". Everyone raised an eyebrow at this, Hinata and Sasuke then looked at each other 'when did he put on chakra suppressors?'. Kurenai was confused by this, normally genin didn't use such training equipment so early into their ninja career, "I guess you can…". Naruto jumped for joy, excited about having no training restrictions.
Seeing that no one had any more questions, Kurenai handed each genin team a flag, and set the timer after sending them off. She then went to sit with her fellow jounin instructors. "What insane training are you putting your genin through?," Kurenai asked Kakashi. He chuckled and said "believe it or not, I only started Sasuke and Hinata off with weights today. Naruto has been using his own restrictions. I only found out just now he's also using chakra suppressors as well". Both Asuma and Kurenai's eyes widened at this, they were impressed at how ahead the supposed dead last was compared to their genin. Seeing their amazement, Kakashi decided to push it a little further, "oh yeah, he also makes the weight seals himself". This left the two other jounin in amazement, they had never heard of a genin being able to use fuinjutsu before. And the few people who can use it in the village, can only make the smaller seals after many years of practice.
Continuing with the nonchalant act, Kakashi gave no reaction to their amusement. "Hey Kurenai, could you set up the viewing illusions? I'm curious as to where everyone placed their flag. Snapping out of her thoughts, Kurenai nodded and cast the viewing illusions, "Third Person Jutsu". This was a jutsu Kurenai had created herself. It worked by linking with a tag she had placed on each team to give a third person view of the team. Three separate oval mirrors appeared and instead of a reflection, a view of each genin team appeared.
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Team 7 had taken a spot by the river to place their flag, the brushes provide places to hide when defending, and the water was too shallow to swim under so anyone coming from that direction would be in the open. The plan was to have Sasuke guard the flag with two clones, while Hinata and Naruto went to steal the other flags. A clone was also going to henge into Hinata to further confuse the other teams. After the flag was planted under a Small ledge from a cliff, the three waited for the firework to start the game.
Curious about her blond teammate, Hinata asked, "Naruto, how much Chakra have you been suppressing and how long have you been suppressing it?". Naruto gave a nervous chuckle at this, "well, ever since the wave mission where I went berserk, I decided to research ways to prevent that from happening. I found a chakra suppressing seal and decided to test it out. Well… It works and… I've suppressed about half my chakra". 'There's no middle ground in his training, is there?' thought Hinata. She was about to question further when the firework went up.
"Let's go," Naruto said as he disappeared under his henge. "Okay Hinata, since there's not enough time to teach you the jutsu you're going to have to…" Naruto gulped, realizing the next part of his sentence, "hold my hand". Hinata raised an eyebrow skeptically, "I know it's weird, but it's the only way for me to cover you as well…", Naruto was cut off by Hinata activating her Byakugan and taking his hand, joining him in his invisibility. Naruto cheeks became a tinted pink.
"Let's get going before the others steal our flag teme, " Hinata said, pulling him towards the closer of the two flags. Naruto shook his head to clear his thoughts and followed, trying to ignore how soft Hinata's hand felt in his.
Sasuke let out a small chuckle at his teammates. He found it quite funny to watch his friend get a little flustered. The clones Naruto had left earlier emerged from the bushes they were hiding in and joined Sasuke as he stood guard of the team flag.
Naruto and Hinata were closing in on one of the other flags. Since they didn't want to be heard, they had to slow down when they got about 200 yards away from their target. "It's Sakura, and the flag is all wavy, same with that small cave over there". Hinata then pointed to a small cave with some brush in it, but no flag.
"Must be genjutsu," said Naruto. "Well done you two, but I'm afraid this is as far as you'll get," Hinata and Naruto turned around to see Kiba and Akumaru behind them on a tree branch. You may be invisible, but we don't need to see to find people now do we Akumaru?". The small puppy yipped in agreement before they jumped at Naruto and Hinata, ready for a fight.
"Naruto, stall Kiba while I get the flag, we'll retreat after that," Hinata ordered, running towards the cave. "Bring it on" was all Naruto could say before Kiba started attacking him. "Fang over Fang!"Two tornado-like blurs came zooming towards Naruto. Acting fast Naruto jumped right before they were about to make contact with him. Looking behind him, Naruto saw a tree with two sizable holes now going through it, causing it to fall. 'Probably best I don't let him hit me with that'. Hearing Kiba preparing for another attack, Naruto got an idea. 'What if I can get the weight seal on him?'. "Shadow Clone Jutsu," five clones appeared before him, handing them each a weight seal tag, Naruto and his clones prepared for their counter attack.
"Fang over Fang!," once again, two tornados came racing towards him. Naruto stood still waiting for the right moment. His clones were hiding in the trees and were waiting for the signal. The tornados were a yard away when Naruto was replaced with a nearby boulder. The two tornados slammed into the boulder and stopped spinning, exposing Kiba and Akumaru. The clones then jumped on the two, placing enough weight seals so they weren't in pain, but would be struggling to move. Naruto stepped out of the trees, smirking at Kiba, "I guess you guys lose this competition".
Scowling Kiba snapped, "we still got Shino, and he'll take you all down!". Before Naruto or one of his clones could retort, Hinata landed next to him with the flag. "Enough chit-chat, let's get back quickly so we can get the other flag". With that, she jumped to a tree branch to wait for him.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu," waiting for the smoke to disappear, Naruto continued, "spread out so Kiba can't track us". His clones nodded and ran off in all directions. Naruto then took off his jacket and handed it to Hinata, "put this on, if he can pick out your scent then the clones will be useless. Hinata reluctantly nodded and put Naruto's coat on. She then took his hand as Naruto but the invisibility henge on and they started off towards their base.
On their way Naruto asked, "hey Hinata, how was your battle with Sakura?". "She was overwhelmingly pathetic. Besides the genjutsu to hide the flag, she doesn't seem to be good at much else". 'Must be her obsession with Sasuke that's hindered her growth' thought Naruto as he nodded, lettingHinata know he heard her".
When they arrived, the flag was right where they had left it. Sasuke turned to greet them, "Hey guys. Did you get the flag?". Naruto grinned and nodded, showing the flag to Sasuke. Hinata then took notice of something "Sasuke, where are the clones?".
"They umm, decided to do a little patrolling and haven't gotten back yet". Hinata and Naruto narrowed their eyes. Activating her Byakugan, Hinata saw Ino and Shiikamaru hiding behind the tree they hid their flag in, and that they had put a henge on a stick to replace their flag. Hinata pointed to the tree and said, "found them". Naruto released his weight seals and disappeared.
"Wait, don't go back there, it's…," Sasuke then proceeded to pass out. A "troublesome could be heard on the other side of the tree. Naruto then emerged from the otherside with his two clones and Shikamaru and Ino in tow. "Smart not destroying my clones, but you really should've replaced them". Ino quickly decided to correct them, "Hey! We had clones, but they were destroyed by some bugs. Then there wasn't enough time to replace them!". Naruto and Hinata then proceeded to tie up the two.
By the time they were done, Sasuke started waking up. "Huh?! SASUKE-KUN! Are you alright?!" yelled Ino in a high pitched voice. Sasuke Ignored her and got to his feet, looking around to get his bearings again. "What happened?" asked Naruto, 'I thought he would've put up more of a fight'.
"Your clones started being idiots and distracted me, allowing for Shikamaru to use shadow possession while Ino invaded my head. After that, I don't know" Sasuke explained as he joined his teammates. "So now what? Choji has our flag and the other team is still out there".
"Actually, Kiba and Sakura are taken care of, now it's just Shino and Choji" corrected Naruto, proud of himself and Hinata for taking down most of the other team together. Sasuke nodded in understanding, then tried thinking of a plan to get the other flags, it was still early in the game, so they had time. Hinata and Naruto joined him in thinking about a plan to get the other two flags. Trying to ignore Ino's dramatic and annoying praise of Sasuke.
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Asuma sighed in disappointment, his team had a good plan, just poor execution. Kurenai had a small scowl at how poorly Kiba and Sakura had performed. Kakashi smiled as he looked over at his fellow jounin, "Things don't look to be in favor, better get your wallets ready". Kakashi was proud of Naruto and Hinata, he had giggled seeing the awkward situations they ended up putting themselves in.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Kakashi. Shino and Choji are still out there, don't underestimate our genin," said Kurenai. She knew Shino was smart and dangerous if not taken seriously and meant every word about him possibly turning the tides. Choji, she had just thrown in for Asuma, she didn't know his skill level, but by what she saw in the mirrors, he wasn't much of a threat. 'You still have two hours to get the flags Shino, you can do this'.
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Shino knew his team's flag would get taken early on, so he made the plan so his team could recover later in the game. Currently he was following Choji to his team's flag. Shino had watched Team 10 take down Sasuke and take the flag, and in the process, had put a female Kikaichu beetle on Choji while Choji was preparing to leave with the flag.
Arriving at the base, Shino took to the shadows. Once he saw Team 10's flag he made his move. He snuck up behind Choji and chopped his neck, expecting Choji to be knocked unconscious. Unfortunately for Shino, due to Choji's… plump shape, the chop wasn't able to apply enough pressure to the nerve. Choji jumped forward at the chop and turned around to face Shino, "How did you get here?". "I put a female on you before you left Team 7's base, then I followed" answered Shino in a Monotone voice.
"Aahh, so that's how. Now I have to stop you, so please don't be mad" said Choji before he said, "body expansion jutsu!". He looked like a dressed up meatball with tiny legs and arms sticking out. He then sucked his limbs and head in and started rolling at high speeds towards Shino, destroying all the shrubbery in his path.
Shino jumped out of the way of the meatball of destruction and then released his beatles. Choji ran into a large tree and deflated out of his meatball form, a fatal opening for the genin. They clung onto Choji and started to eat his chakra away. Choji barely got to his feet and took two steps towards Shino with a fist out, before collapsing, unconscious on the ground.
Shino walked over to the flags and grabbed them. He then sent his beatles to fly around him to tell him if there was anyone hiding about. 'Hopefully Kiba and Sakura can recover in time so we can form a stronger defense'. Shino silently made his way to his team's base, cautious to not be followed.
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"Ha! Take that Kakashi!" Kurenai said, proud of her genin. Asuma's head was slumped over at his genins' performance. "Now don't get ahead of yourself Kurenai, my entire team is still out there. Don't underestimate my genin" Kakashi said, making a parody of what Kurenai had said to him earlier. Kakashi was impressed with Shino, but he knew that the boy wouldn't last too long against his team.
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(While Shino was taking down Choji)
Naruto had an idea, "Wait, so Shino and Choji are the only ones left right?". His teammates nodded, wondering if he had forgotten that he was the one to point that fact out earlier. "Hinata can you quickly scan the area with your Byakugan?". Hinata raised an eyebrow at the strange request, but did so anyway, "Nothing unusual, just us and the forest".
"Yes, that means Shino isn't here, and that he doesn't plan on coming here to steal our flag. If he wanted to do that, he would have tried already. So, Shino must have gone to Team 10's base to get their flag. And since Choji has ours they probably ran into each other and fought". Naruto paused letting his teammates catch up with him. After a couple seconds he continued, "Shino probably won with his beatles and has both flags. So now he'll be going back to his base to protect them until time runs out. So if we can intercept him, then we can take the two other flags for ourselves". Everyone was surprised by Naruto, so surprised it caused Ino to say "When did you actually get smart, Naruto?".
Naruto turned to face her, "What?! Are you saying…mhm… mhm". Hinata had taken this opportunity to take off Naruto's jacket and use it to muffle him. Seeing Naruto stop ranting and putting on the jacket her eyes lit up. "Wait?! When did Hinata and Naruto become a thing?!". Naruto's face went red, and Sasuke smirked. Hinata maintained her neutral Hyuga expression, "We're not together idiot, we used his jacket to throw off Kiba and I returned it to him upon realizing we no longer need his stench to hide my scent from Kiba". 'I guess she's still the cold Hinata from the academy even though we're friends. Why am I the one suffering the most because of her comments' thought Naruto as his friend insulted him while setting someone else straight. Hinata turned towards Team Eight's base and said, "let's get going, now that we have a plan, let's start the plan before it no longer works". She then leapt into the trees, leaving Sasuke and a slightly depressed Naruto to follow. Little did anyone know that the Hyuga Heiress had a tint of pink dusting her cheeks, the effects of Ino's assumption just now showing.
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Shino was halfway to his team's base when his insects alerted him to a presence approaching him from the north-east. 'Are they on to me? It could be Hinata and her team, if so she's already seen me. I'm going to have to deal with them eventually'. Shino then instructed some beatles to find and slowly drain the chakra of whoever was following him. The beatles flew off without hesitation, and Shino increased his speed on his race back to his team.
Team Seven was traveling with their captured flag, Naruto made some more clones to go back and guard their captives while he and Sasuke followed Hinata. It had taken several minutes before Hinata actually found Shino, after that they had guaranteed that he was heading back to his base and made an adjustment to their current course so to cut him off before he reached his destination.
As they grew closer, Sasuke and Hinata started getting drowsy. The team stopped trying to find the cause. Activating his sharingan, Sasuke noticed the beatles on Hinata's legs and his own arms and legs. When he looked at Naruto, he was surprised to find that he had no beatles on him. "Shino sent his beatles on us, they're on our exposed skin. Hinata, your legs and I have them on my arms and legs. Apparently they don't care for Naruto because he doesn't have any on him.
Hinata was confused, "why can't I see them with my Byakugan?". "Maybe they're too small for your Byakugan? Maybe if you try focusing on one directly l, you'll be able to recognize them easier" suggested Naruto. 'Guess it wouldn't hurt', Hinata focused her Byakugan on one of the bugs, 'there you are, you little pests'. As she widened her vision, she found that she was still able to see the bug, now with all of the other bugs around them and on them. Brushing the beatles off her, Hinata turned once again and made off towards Shino. Naruto slumped over, 'she could've at least told me if it worked or not'. He and Sasuke once again followed, now with Hinata going in zigzags to avoid clumps of beatles.
When they caught up with Shino, he was waiting for them. "Hello, Team Seven. I've been expecting you". Shino was standing on a tree branch with both flags in hand. His high collar and glasses hiding his expression.
"Everyone jump!" shouted Hinata, startling her teammates as they did so. As they leapt into the air, a mass of beetles flew under them. When they landed Hinata turned to Naruto, "deactivate your weight seal and take him in taijutsu". Naruto nodded before zooming away to face Shino. Shino was surprised by Naruto's sudden speed and tried looking for him before meeting with a fist to his left. As the fist connected, Shino burst into a swarm of bugs. Naruto was in horror, "Oh my Kami! Did I just kill Shino! NOOO!". Sasuke and Hinata had their sweat drop, 'he can figure out where the two flags will be with barely any evidence and can't tell when someone pulls a substitution?'. Realizing Shino must be running back to his team, Hinata shouted, "Hey Baka! Shino substituted himself and is making a beeline for his base. Snap out of it and start chasing!".
Naruto looked up to Hinata, realizing his foolishness and started to ball his fist. 'He substituted with his bugs to fool me?! Oh you're in for it now Shino!'. Releasing his chakra restraints, Naruto started making hand signs, finishing in a cross, "Shadow… Clone...Jutsu!". The forest around him filled with smoke, leaving hundreds of clones behind. Looking at where Team Eight's base was, Naruto said "you better be ready Shino. Because I'm making sure Team Seven wins after that stunt. Then the Narutos became a blur of blacks, oranges, and blondes as they went at full speed to Team Eight's base. Leaving Sasuke and Hinata in shock at their teammate's display of chakra reserves.
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All three Jounin had their jaws drop at the sight of Naruto's massive amounts of chakra. Asuma's cigarette had dropped from his mouth and was now starting to singe in his vest. Smelling burning fabric, Asuma looked down to see the cigarette and quickly removed it to smother it with his foot. This motion snapped the other two out of their shock. Kurenai was a new jounin, so she decided to ask her veteran jounin if they had ever seen such chakra reserves. Asuma shook his head and Kakashi said he had only seen someone with that level of chakra only three times. When inquired who they were, Kakashi said "It was when I was an Anbu, can't tell you unfortunately". He then turned back to the mirrors, thinking 'Is that the power of a jinchuriki?,' frightened by the raw power Naruto had at only 13.
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Naruto caught up to Shino right as he had made it back to base, his clones surrounding Team Eight completely. Kiba and Sakura had their eyes popping out of their heads at the amount, and Shino could be seen with both eyebrows raised in surprise, a rare seen act of emotion from him. Naruto gave a foxy smile, "End of the line. Those flags are mine". Shino then tossed the flags to Naruto, disappointing Naruto and shocking his teammates. "WHAT?! You're not going to fight?!" exclaimed Naruto.
"Yes, with the amount of clones around we'd inevitably lose. This way we avoid injury," said Shino in his monotone voice. The Narutos slumped and one went to pick up the flags, handing them to the original. To make sure no one would be able to try anything funny without him knowing about it, Naruto left a hundred clones behind and took the rest to find his team. Once he met up with Sasuke and Hinata, he sent a squad to go find Choji and took the rest to guard the base.
When 3 hours was up, the jounin called back the genin. Naruto was the first to arrive and was able to see Kakashi catching two pouches and stuffing them in his pocket. His fellow genin arrived a few seconds later. Kurenai then gathered the genins' attention, "Well done, everyone. Now Kakashi will explain the reasoning behind this exercise. Kakashi?". Asuma chuckled and Kakashi gave Kurenai a quick glare. "Yes… We did this exercise today to see if you were ready for the chunin exam. Except for some places that need to be polished, we all believe you 9 are ready to take the exam". The genin burst into cheers at this. Well most of them: Shikamaru complained about the exam being troublesome, Sasuke gave a small smile while Hinata smirked, and Shino had no reaction, just a simple nod of his head. As for the rest, Choji one armed hugged Naruto and Kiba, almost breaking their ribcage in the process. Ino and Sakura grabbed each other's elbows and were jumping for joy while emitting high pitched squeals of delight. The jounin smiled at their genins' reactions.
Asuma decided to help Kurenai get back at Kakashi and had a mischievous smile form on his face. "To celebrate, Kakashi will be treating all of you to Yakiniku Q. Isn't that right Kakashi?". Kakashi sent a death glare at Asuma, promising pain later. Through gritted teeth Kakashi said, "why yes, Asuma. Go home and clean up, and then meet at Yakiniku Q's at 5, and don't be late". Kakashi then shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked off so as not to have any other false promises being dumped on him. Kurenai was barely holding back her laughter, thankfully Asuma told the genin they could go home now and prepare. The genin left quickly, and Kurenai burst into a laughing fit. Asuma smiled and started laughing too, little did he know the embarrassment Kakashi would bring him and Kurenai in the coming weeks.
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Leaving Yakiniku Q's
Hinata and her bodyguard left the restaurant much earlier than anyone else. She had been given her father's approval to go, but had to return early so as not to upset the elders. Hinata frowned thinking about the elders. They were always getting into everyone's business, and they were so uptight and stale! When they learned Hinata had adapted the juuken fighting style, they moved to banish her from the clan! Her father prevented her banishment thankfully, and allowed Hinata to demonstrate her growth with the new style. After showing how much more powerful she was with the modification, the elders reluctantly dropped the movement to banish her.
Hinata was lost in thought about how frustrating the elders were, but was broken from her thoughts when she heard a certain blonde baka running towards her, yelling at her to stop. "What do you want baka? I got to get home soon" Hinata said. Ko was curious about what Naruto had to say, ever since the shopping trip, he had taken to investigating the boy, like an older brother suspicious of his little sister's boyfriend.
After catching his breath, Naruto said "Hinata, since tomorrow's a day off, do you want to get Konohamaru and Hanabi to meet?". Ko lifted an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes at this, 'now he's meddling with Hanabi-sama? What is he playing at?'.
Hinata had forgotten about Konohamaru, she had been so busy she wasn't able to plan anything with Naruto and forgot about the boy in the process. "Oh yeah. I don't believe that Hanabi and I have anything scheduled tomorrow. If not I'll bring her over to your place and we can go find that Konohamaru kid".
Naruto smiled at this, "Great! But do you know where I even live?". Ko took this moment to help Hinata out. " I am aware of your address Uzumaki-san. I can escort Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama to your accommodations". Hinata raised an eyebrow at Ko, suspicious of how he knew where Naruto lived. Naruto smiled even wider than before, "Perfect, see you then, hopefully! I tell Konohamaru to free his schedule tomorrow.
With that the two genin nodded in agreement and walked off, both finding themselves enjoying the thought of meeting up tomorrow. Naruto then went to find Konohamaru, explaining to him the plan for tomorrow, "Konohamaru, are you free tomorrow, I have someone I want you to meet". Konohamaru happily accepted, 'If the boss wants me to meet them then they must be cool people!'. Naruto smiled and ran off, excited for tomorrow's coming events.
It wasn't till Naruto actually got to his apartment later that night that he realized that Hinata would see all the graffiti on the walls leading to his apartment. He had just barely managed to befriend Hinata, 'If she sees this, she'll get suspicious of me!'. This threw him into a panic that sent him to the paint store he frequented to get some paint to cover it all up. When he returned, he noticed the broken bottles, cigarettes, and left over drugs from local dealers on the ground. Furthering his panic, and causing him to make some clones to help clean the mess. Once he finished he and his clones walked into the apartment, happy with their work. That is until they realized just how messy the apartment was. Once again Naruto and his clones scrambled to clean it all up. They would be able to replace the broken windows in time, but Naruto eventually decided that he could just use the excuse of kunai practice. Done with his cleaning, Naruto dispelled all his clones and changed into his pajamas. Flopping onto bed, he sorted out the memories from the clones as he fell asleep.
[!#(*)#!]
And that is Chapter Ten! Double Digits Baby! Now final sakura ships in the reviews, and also any jutsus or jutsu ideas you'd like to see. Any fillers you'd like to see will be considered and possible done. Naruto will be seeing Hinata dance on water eventually, but that's later.