I apologize. I know I haven't been sticking to my every wednesday upload. I don't want to say I'll be fixing myself and sticking to it, because that's a lie. Instead, I'm pushing it to every two weeks. I know that's a long time, but with school starting up again and everything going on, I believe I'll be able to produce better content for you. Anyways, thank you to all who have followed and favorited this story, and I hope that all of you who have been following without subscribing have been enjoying my work. Now here is chapter twelve of "A Journey to Greatness"!
I don't own Naruto
Kishimoto and the other creators refuse to release the rights of the franchise to the public and as such have hurt the franchise with Boruto and fillers.
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Team Seven stood in front of one of the biggest buildings in Konoha. It was so big that it hosted a small training studio in the front. As they walked through, an overly enthusiastic voice could be heard behind them. "Sasuke Uchiha! We meet at last!". Turning around, they saw the owner of the voice was a boy around their age. Although, he didn't have the style of their age. He wore a green bodysuit with orange leg warmers. He wore his forehead protector like a belt, and had eyebrows that could rival caterpillars in width. "I am Rock Lee! The Green Beast of the Leaf! I have come to challenge you, Sasuke Uchiha!".
Naruto was confused, and Hinata was trying to remember where she had heard the name Rock Lee before. Sasuke however smirked, "Alright, I've been wanting to test out something, and this might be the perfect opportunity". Lee Smirked and took his taijutsu stance. Naruto and Hinata went to the upper viewing area and watched with curiosity as to what Sasuke wanted to test out.
Sasuke took his own taijutsu stance and activated his sharingan. 'Let's see how well these work in taijutsu!'. Sasuke then released his weight seals, and burst towards Lee. Once in front of Lee, Sasuke jumped up and did a spinning back kick. Right as he was about to make contact, Sasuke watched as Lee effortlessly moved to redirect Sasuke's kick. 'Whaat?!'.
Naruto and Hinata were amazed. Since they didn't have a sharingan, they couldn't follow the battle as closely, but they did see Sasuke about to hit Lee, and then Sasuke's kick suddenly redirected away from Lee.
Lee smirked as Sasuke continued with a barrage of kicks and punches that Lee expertly avoided or redirected. Eventually Sasuke leapt back, breathing heavier now. "Well are you just going to stand there or are you going to fight me?!".
Lee's smirk grew and turned into a blur for Naruto and Hinata. Sasuke however, watched every step Lee took. And found himself frustrated as he watched Lee's speedy approach and his arms moving too slow to do anything to protect himself. Lee struck Sasuke three times in the chest before dropping to the floor and kicking Sasuke under the chin, launching him into the air
As Sasuke was in the air, Lee appeared behind him, like a shadow. The bandages around Lee's hands started to unravel revealing parts of his battered and bruised hands. Lee was about to wrap the bandages around Sasuke when two shuriken pinned the bandages to the wall.
Lee stopped his attack, letting Sasuke regain his bearings and land safely on the floor. Everyone looked to where the shuriken were thrown to see a giant red turtle. Lee's head dropped and he solemnly walked over to stand in front of the tortoise. "Sensei, I am sorry. I didn't mean to use.."
"BUT YOU DID TRY USING IT! It doesn't matter if you didn't mean it! The fact is you still were about to use a forbidden jutsu!". Everyone but Lee looked like they had been slapped across the face. 'He's apologizing to a turtle… and the turtle is talking back…'.
"You're a disgrace!" the turtle continued, causing Lee to flinch. "Now come out! Guy Sensei!". The space above the turtle was suddenly filled with smoke, leaving a grown up version of Lee behind.
"LEE! You have made a terrible mistake! Now receive your punishment!". The man supposedly called Guy Sensei, then punched Lee in the face, holding nothing back in the strike. Lee was sent flying a few feet at the strength. As Lee was getting back up, Guy sensei knelt near Lee, saying, "I'm sorry Lee. It's for your own good!".
Tears started streaming down Lee's face, "Guy sensei. I'm so sorry!". A mirage of some rocky beach at sunset appeared behind them. "I'm sorry too Lee!" Guy sensei said. The two then went to hug each other, a wave crashing right as they came together.
Hinata was about to throw up and Naruto shivered at the display. He then grabbed Hinata's hand and led her away from the sight. Sasuke soon joined them, wondering if Ino knew how to erase memories yet.
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As Team Seven made their way to the third floor. They saw a group of kids surrounding a door, with two kids standing in the doorway, trying to keep everyone out. The sign above the door read 301, the room of the first exam. But this was only the second floor. Upon closer inspection, Naruto noticed that it was Kotetsu and Izumo who were blocking the door! Currently a girl dressed in pink was trying to get in, but her efforts were in vain. Izumo kicked her back into the hall and started talking about how they weren't going to let weak genin in, or something. As they got closer, Hinata saw her cousin Neji.
She then remembered where she had heard the name, Rock Lee. 'Wait! The boy with caterpillar eyebrows is Neji-nii-san's teammate! Wait… The boy with caterpillar eyebrows is Neji-nii-san's teammate… How many times has he had to see that horrifying mirage, and how has he been able to put up with it?!'.
The girl in pink tried again, but was once again kicked back. This time a bit harder. Neji appeared behind her, catching her, and preventing a nasty collision with the wall. Hinata raised her eyebrows, surprised that Neji would help someone like that. 'Oh! So that's how you deal with those two'. Neji was usually one to watch, and let things play out with no interference. Seeing him prevent someone from further injury like that was very juicy gossip for Hinata.
Hinata activated her byakugan and whispered, "the sign has genjutsu over it". Sasuke nodded and continued forward, ignoring the other genin. Hinata followed suite, understanding that they wanted to not attract attention to themselves or the genjutsu. Unfortunately for his teammates, Naruto didn't catch Sasuke's intentions and arrogantly said, "you all are idiots if you get fooled by a simple genjutsu like that!". While Kotetsu and Izumo had their sweat drop, the others in the rooms released their killing intent. The girl in a pink shirt came up to him and grabbed his collar, ready a fist to pound into him, when she felt a hand on her shoulder
"Tenten, don't waste your time on some idiot who's dumb enough to shout the answer to everyone. Trust me, he'll have enough pain being dealt to him without your input". Tenten relaxed and released a scared looking Naruto. She then turned to go to the staircase and together Neji and Tenten left in silence.
Naruto relaxed himself a little when Tenten left the room. That is until he looked to his team and saw Hinata's face. He gulped, 'I really screwed up this time'. Trying to avoid a beating later on he said, "I'll make you pancakes?". Hinata's killing intent stopped and she waited a few seconds before answering.
In a soft, embarrassed voice she said, "Deal". Naruto sighed in relief and then found himself in another situation as he finally took note of Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes promised that no matter what Naruto tried offering, he'd be in pain one way or another.
Naruto slumped at this and in a depressed voice said, "let's just get to the testing room before I open my big mouth again". He then made his way to the stairs, his team following, ready to stop his mouth next time he tried opening it.
When they entered the testing room, Sasuke was instantly tackled by Sakura and Ino. Naruto took a second to process the two blurs that sped past him, but once he saw the sight, he started laughing at the irony. Sasuke had a tick form on his head at the sound of Naruto's laugh.
Sakura and Ino's teams walked over to join Team Seven, with various levels of sympathy for Sasuke. Shikamaru took one loom at the sight and said, "Troublesome…".
"Haha, Sasuke, do you want me to do a substitution jutsu for you? I wouldn't mind getting in on that". Kiba was met with two glares of hatred by Sakura and Ino. He did his best to ignore them, but they were slowly eating away at his will power.
"Just a suggestion, but I would quiet down if I were you. You're making yourselves a target for the others". An older boy with unusually grey hair was walking up to them. Naruto got an uneasy feeling. The one he got when someone tried concealing their malicious intent. Naruto however, had learned enough to not show what he actually was thinking to these people and played dumb. "Huh? What do you mean by that?!".
The older boy gestured to the rest of the genin in the room. Most of them being older than Naruto and the others by two or three years! Many of them letting some killer intent leak out. Team Seven seemed unfazed by the killer intent, but the other genin teams had never encountered so much and were startled when it washed over them.
"By the way, I'm Kabuto," the older boy said. Shikamaru was suspicious of Kabuto. He decided to jump in on the conversation saying, "so, Kabuto. You're pretty old for a genin. Most of the people here are only fifteen or sixteen years old. You look to be in your twenties, much older than the average genin. No offense, just curious".
Kabuto gave a weak smile, "truth be told, I've failed this exam nine times". Various reactions could be seen throughout the Konoha Nine. Kabuto followed this by telling, "Well it's not all bad! Over the years I've been able to take notes on everybody, and I think I've finally prepared enough this time!". He pulled out a stack of cards, " These cards contain information on almost everyone here".
He held up a blank card and suddenly, information on Naruto appeared. "Let's see, Naruto. You've done 23 D-rank missions and one A-rank mission". Sasuke narrowed his eyes at this, "and why do you have records on Naruto, he's never done this exam before". Kabuto smiled and said, "I've learned that the new people taking the exams are the ones I have to watch out for, not so much the older people".
Sasuke didn't seem satisfied with this answer, but didn't continue to push the subject. Instead he asked, "So what do you have about Rock Lee?". Kabuto smiled and pulled out another card, an image of a person and their stats materializing with chakra.
"Let's see. He's done 62 D-rank missions and 14 C-rank missions. He also doesn't seem to be capable of ninjutsu or genjutsu, and can only use taijutsu as a result". Many of the Konoha Nine were surprised at this, 'a boy who can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu?'. "Anyone else?".
Naruto answered this time, "what about Gaara"? Sasuke also looked eager to hear this answer, still angry at Gaara for blowing him off. Kabuto pulled another card, and suddenly Gaara appeared with all his information.
"Gaara of the desert. Has done 23 B-rank missions and 8 A-rank missions. Also, he has supposedly accomplished these missions without receiving a single scratch. He, like Lee, isn't very diverse. Gaara only uses ninjutsu and his other skills are lacking. His team is made up of his siblings Temari and Kankuro". All of the Konoha nine were shocked about Gaara's mission record. Even more surprised that he apparently didn't receive a single scratch during all of them.
Smiling Kabuto asked, "Anyone out there you'd like to know about? It's more fun to find the person when you don't know the name".
Naruto looked out into the genin, taking note of all the different hidden villages he saw. 'Sand, Cloud, Grass, Waterfall… and a music note?'. Turning to the older boy, Naruto asked, "Hey you. Where are the music notes from?".
"The village hidden in the sound? They're a new, small ninja village, so that's why they aren't as well known. They haven't had the time to become well known to the other nations".
One of the hidden sound nins heard Kabuto, and found Kabuto's statement insulting. He decided to give Kabuto a lesson and walked to stand in front of Kabuto. He looked like a mummy and a porcupine had a baby, and had a strange arm attachment on his right arm. He also hunched over, letting his arms hang.
"You're saying the sound isn't well known because we're weak aren't you". Kabuto tried to explain, but the sound nin threw a right hook to the face. Kabuto barely dodged, but after a second, was on the floor with broken glasses, and suffering from terrible nausea. "The Hidden Sound is stronger than all of your pathetic villages, don't think we're weak because of our size!". The mummy man then walked back to his team in had gone to help Kabuto up, but he dismissed her, saying he'll be fine.
Naruto was about to talk to Hinata and Sasuke about what the mummy guy might have done to put Kabuto in such a state when they heard an authoritative voice echo throughout the room. "Alright you maggots! My name is Ibiki Morino! I'll be your proctor for the first exam. The test is 2 hours long! As you can see, the desks have a name sticker on them. Find your sticker and then we'll begin the test. This test has ten questions! You will be given the tenth question when 15 minutes are left! We have chunin on the sides keeping watch over you to catch any and all cheating. You have three strikes, on the third, you and your team are out and you've failed the exam! Now find your seat and we will pass out the test papers!"
The genin did as they were told without question. Partly because of obedience, partly because Ibiki held an aura of terror around him and looked like he would kill you in the most painful way possible if you didn't do as told.
When they took their seats, Naruto found himself next to Sakura. She seemed disgusted by him, but he didn't care. He was focused on the test and the test alone, for in fear that if he didn't he'd fail it like he did all his other tests.
When they received their tests, many of the genin were left in confusion. 'A genin can't answer these questions,' Sasuke thought. Then he realized the true intent behind the test, activating his sharingan, Sasuke found someone who was actually answering the questions and copied their hand movements. Hinata caught on quick too and took to using her byakugan.
Naruto only caught on about 20 minutes into the test, once he did he realized he had no way to cheat without getting caught, even if he tried cheating off Sakura, she'd eventually notice and hide her paper or the chunin would catch him. It wasn't until Kankuro stood up asking if he could use the bathroom that Naruto got an idea. He asked to join Kankuro, and the two exited the room, escorted by a chunin. Once in the stall, Naruto made a clone. The clone then put the invisibility henge and the silence jutsu on itself. Narutl and the clone left the stall.
Once back in the room, Naruto took his seat and started drawing a seal on the paper while he waited for his clone to get the answers. After another ten minutes, Naruto felt the knowledge flood into him. With the answers, he found out how everyone else was cheating in this exam. Most methods, he wasn't surprised, although he was interested about Gaara's method. 'How do you make a sand eye?... and how can I get one for the hot springs'.
Once he had answered all the questions, Naruto went back to his seal drawing. Now sneaking some sealing ink out to make the seal be able to work for at least on go.
"Alright Maggots! Time for the tenth question! But be warned, if you fail to answer this question correctly you and your team will not be able to take a chunin exam ever again! Take this time to decide whether you'll take that chance, or you'll back out and live to fight another day!".
The genin were shocked. They were faced with an incredibly difficult decision and many people couldn't handle the pressure. "I back out" one genin said, much to the disappointment of his team. Several others did the same, until there were only about half of the teams remaining. Ibiki continued with his mental torture, "anyone else care to play it safe? Or would they rather risk certain death?".
Naruto had had it and slammed his hand on the table, "that's it, I'm tired of waiting. Give us the question! I'm so close to finishing this exam there's no way I'm backing out because of some cheap mind tricks you're trying to pull. Give some bite instead of all your bark!". Everyone was stunned, only one other person had told off Ibiki in such a way. That person was also Ibiki's husband who was anbu commander, and could take down 5 mid-level jounin at once. All the chunin expected Ibiki to kill or torture Naruto on the spot. But instead, Ibiki laughed. His laugh sent shivers down everyone's spines.
"I like your spunk kid, anyone else want to leave after that?!". Ibiki looked out in the classroom, a terrifying smiling growing across his face. No one else left after that. and said, "You all pass the test".
Silence followed as the genin processed this. Naruto was the first to respond, making his wittiest comment yet… "Huh?".
"What about the tenth question?"
Ibiki's smile faded, "the tenth question was whether you had the guts to stay after given such a risky choice". Ibiki started to unwrap his head turban thing, revealing nasty scars. "In the field you need to make hard decisions, sometimes you are only given a second to think about them. But it's these decisions that are the difference between life and death! You'll find yourself against impossible odds, but you must push forward and do your part on the mission. Otherwise your teammates will suffer for your cowardice!"
If his words didn't reach the genin, the scars did. Few had ever seen such an injury, and with Ibiki's demanding voice, most people took his warning to heart. "Now... Wait for the instructor of the second exam to…" .
A blur crashed through the window and within a second, Anko unfurled herself from the ball she had tucked herself into, and hung a giant banner that said, "The Second Exam!". All the genin had their sweat drop at the scene. Anko looked around the classroom, "what the hell Ibiki! There's so many! Well, no matter, I promise to half this number by the time I'm done with them! Alright you brats, meet tomorrow at 8 in the morning at training ground 44!"
Anko then left as quickly as she entered. Leaving many confused faces and dropped sweats behind. Gaara, having been expressionless the entire time, didn't need to recover and walked out. His siblings snapping out of their stunned expressions and following. The other teams soon followed suit. Hinata was the first to recover in team seven and had taken to slapping Naruto out of his trance. Sasuke and many others were awoken by the sound of the slap and quickly moved to avoid having the same thing happen to them.
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Once all the genin had left, Ibiki went to collect the tests. Many had wrong answers, or complete rubbish. Others had the correct answers, but most from the leaf had a special kekkei genkai to help. When he reached Naruto Uzumaki's paper, he was surprised to find the right answers, but also to find a seal on the paper. Channeling some chakra into the seal, confetti burst into Ibiki's face.
For the second time today, Ibiki laughed because of Naruto Uzumaki. 'That kid has got guts, I'll give him that'. Ibiki then continued, the confetti still on him. His husband eventually showed up and saw Ibiki's face covered in small paper squares and laughed. It wasn't everyday you saw the most terrifying man in Konoha look at you with a face covered in confetti.
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Later in the Day
Sasuke was walking down the street with Haku. Naruto had to do some work at Ichiraku's and Hinata had clan business. Sasuke didn't mind though, he found himself thankful that they weren't present. He found himself desiring more and more time with Haku. Each time he found himself wanting more. Today, they celebrated passing the first exam!
"One down, two more to go!". Haku was excited for Sasuke. Since Zabuza died, Sasuke had been there for him. Sasuke was the closest thing he had to a family.
"The first exam is supposed to be the easiest, the others are sure to be twice as hard". Sasuke took this exam very seriously, once a chunin, he'd be one step closer to being able to hunt for Itachi.
Haku sighed, "you know, constantly brooding isn't a very good look for you. The girls might find it cool, but if you ask me, it's just creepy". Sasuke apologized and broke his brood. "So where is this restaurant you wanted to show me? I'm starving, and no dango this time! We've gone to Tenrai Dango 6 times in the last 3 weeks! You may never tire from it, but I don't know how much longer I can handle eating some much dango".
Sasuke smirked at this, he was proud of himself that he was able to get away with always going for dango for this long. But like all good things, it had to come to an end. Sasuke didn't want to make Haku unhappy, and Sasuke understood that while he can eat it all day everyday, not everyone else can. That's why Sasuke had found a nice little restaurant on the edge of Konoha. It was a quiet place, with decent food and a nice view of the forest surrounding Konoha.
When they arrived, Haku was happy to see it wasn't another dango place. Sasuke had made reservations so they didn't have to wait, not like there was much of a line though. When they reached the table, Sasuke found himself pulling out the chair for Haku to sit in. Haku raised an eyebrow at this, but enjoyed the attention anyways.
They ordered dinner and ate with light conversation. Mostly it was about gossip about their fellow ninja. Nothing big, just the rumors floating around that they had heard. Once the waiter left after giving the bill, Sasuke turned to Haku and asked, "So Haku, do you have any missions next week? There's a festival for the chunin exams we're having next week and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?", Sasuke's face was tinted pink once he realized what he was saying sounded like a date. Sasuke had accepted that he had no interest in girls, but before Haku, he didn't have an interest in boys either. While he wasn't opposed to going on a date with Haku, he didn't want to rush into things and make Haku uncomfortable.
Haku's face was also a light shade of pink, he too had never been interested in anyone before Sasuke. Because of this, Haku was new at this game of love and to be asked to something almost like a date with Sasuke made him flustered. "Do you mean like a date?". Haku wanted to make sure how Sasuke meant it, Haku wasn't entirely sure which team Sasuke batted for with all the girls that hung off him, but Haku had also never seen Sasuke interested in any of them.
"It doesn't have to be if you don't want to, I just…"
"Yes, I would like it to be a date". Sasuke and Haku were both flustered and surprised. Haku at how bold and impulsive he had just been, and Sasuke at how Haku said he did want it to be a date.
"Wait, really?" Sasuke asked, just to make sure. Haku nodded yes, Sasuke smiled and had completely forgotten about the other two exams. The boy he cared for was gay too, and even better, had feelings for him! If not for his Uchiha pride, Sasuke would've pulled a Naruto and done a little dance.
"Will we wear Yukatas for the festival? I've seen many people do that, but i'm not sure why". Haku had seen festivals in villages he and Zabuza had visited, but he had never participated in them.
Sasuke's blush had retreated to his cheeks and he had regained his composure, "If you want to. It's mostly traditional without any hidden meaning, but it's usually couples who do so".
"Wouldn't we be going as a couple?". Sasuke nodded in confirmation, his ears a shade of pink.
"Then it's settled, we'll go in yukatas. So what time are we going?".
"The festival starts around 6, we can meet up Tenrai Dango, and walk to the festival from there". Haku nodded in understanding and paid for his half of the meal. Sasuke doing the same and then standing up. The two walked out of the restaurant side by side, both a little giddy.
After walking Haku home, Sasuke had finally reached his own home. Once inside, Sasuke quickly did a check to make sure no one was around. A couple times Naruto had surprised him by hiding in the house, and Sasuke needed complete privacy. After checking twice, once with his sharingan, Sasuke went to the living room and put on some music. He then danced, celebrating the day's events. He danced for a full hour before finally getting tired and going to bed. For the first time since the massacre, Sasuke slept peacefully, dreams of next week filling his head.
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And chapter twelve is done! Not a particularly long chapter, but the first exam wasn't that long either. I hope you are enjoying my SasukexHaku ship. I had never seen it before so I thought I could try experimenting with that.
Now leave a review of what you thought about the chapter! Constructive criticism is very welcomed, along with any jutsu ideas you have for the story. I can only think of so much before I get burnt out of ideas.
Next chapter will be the second exam. It might be made into two chapters, and that's without the preliminaries. Once again, it'll be two weeks till next upload. I think I'm going to change the upload date to Saturday. That way, even with school I'll have time to review my work more before I post it. See you next time!