Chapter 17
Anko walked toward the Hokage office for the meeting that was going to take place. She didn't know why she was going to be there. She was already the examiner of the second part of the exam. The good part was that it was going to be in her backyard. Oh how she was going to enjoy the screams of hopeful chūnin that would be going through her forest. Speaking of enjoying something, she caught sight of her favor chūnin and decided to greet him.
Iruka jumped when he felt a hand squeeze his ass. He turned to see who it was and was immediately pinned by Anko's body.
"Hey there Iruka," Anko said in a sultry voice. She took a small sniff of him. "Don't you smell nice?"
"A-Anko." Iruka greeted with a stutter. Anko gave him a small pout.
"Why so nervous?" She moved in closer to his ear. "I don't bite unless you want me to." Anko whispered to him. Iruka turned bright red and Anko grinned like a predator. She was suddenly pulled off him by a black haired woman with red eyes.
"Hey!" Anko said.
"That's enough of that. No need for you to molest the man." Kurenai said.
"I was just greeting him." Anko whined.
"If you are done molesting my poor instructor Anko," Hiruzen said causing some men to snicker and a few giving Iruka a pat on the back in congratulations. "We can get on to the purpose of this meeting. As we all know, the Chūnin Senbatsu Shiken (Chūnin Selection Exam) will be held here. We already have several people within the village. The exams will begin in two days. I already have certain teams already filled out so does anyone else have any other nominations?" Anko just ignored everyone but listened in to who else was going to join in. She heard Kurenai nominate her team, which made her frown a bit because of who they were. Asuma also nominated his team, which made her giddy. Then Kakashi nominated his team. She paused for a while as she remembered the situation with Naruto's team. She had some concerns about them.
It seems that Iruka had some issues as well because he was arguing about it. Kakashi was waving it off like he usually did, making Iruka angry. When Kakashi started to get serious, she decided to put an end to Kakashi's little attack.
"You have a point Kakashi but you have shown that you're not the perfect general to lead soldiers." Anko said. Everyone turned to Anko who looked at her with surprise and interest.
"Exactly what are you talking about Anko?" Kakashi asked.
"Well, Iruka-kun really has no right to stop you from nominating your team or any of the others teams. Still, out of all the rookies, your team is the worst. I mean I wouldn't call them a team considering that you haven't settled the internal problems within your group." Anko said while fiddling with a kunai.
"What I do with my team isn't your concern." Kakashi said with a serious tone.
"No, no, you're right, it isn't my concern but I'm very concerned that Sasuke was nearly killed by Naruto because he kept trying to copy his jutsu. I would think that a skilled general like you would have dealt with something so serious. I mean, two parts of the exam has to be done in teams." Anko said with an uncaring tone. She could see that Kakashi was not happy about being put on the spot like that. Iruka pushed his point about the rookies and the Hokage agreed. He decided that the rookies should be tested before he accepted any of their nominations. Kakashi was told to stay by the Hokage, which just made Anko's day just gravy.
XXX
Naruto rubbed his face as he attempted to catch up to Sakura. He was a little impressed that she could run so fast when she was pissed. They were on their way to Ichirakus' when they ran into Konohamaru and his friends, Moegi and Udon. The three wanted to know if he wanted to play ninja with him, which made Sakura laugh at him. Konohamaru asked if Sakura was his girlfriend, which made Naruto tell him that he didn't date dudes. That earned him a knock in the head. Konohamaru then made a comment about her lack of a chest and her giant forehead. Naruto quickly latched onto Sakura and told him to run. Sakura quickly broke away and chased him.
He was about to turn the corner when he heard Konohamaru scream. He looked out to see that his young friend was being held up by a guy in a cat-suit. Next to him was a teenager with a club looking weapon strapped to her back. Naruto knew that Sakura was not the same person before but these two looked like bad news. He quickly summoned two clones and they all did the Henge (Transformation).
Sakura didn't know what she could do in this situation. She tried to play diplomat but the large male was being a total bully. She was about to move and punch his lights out when the boy was confronted by someone else. He looked to see who it was and saw a jōnin named Ebisu.
"You will unhand the honorable grandson of the Hokage this instant or you and your partner will be coming with us." Ebisu said with authority.
"Us?" he asked. The girl looked and gulped when she saw two masked members with their hands on their blades.
"Oh great, I told you to just let this go but no. Let the kid go or he'll kill us for sure." She snarled. The guy put Konohamaru down and he ran toward Ebisu. The jōnin pushed his glasses up and glared at him.
"Why are there two Suna ninja in Konoha? State your reasons or be interrogated." He demanded.
"Look, we're sorry." The girl said and pulled a passport. Ebisu took the passport and checked it over before handing it back to her.
"Very well, I will allow this to slide but if you or your team cause any more problems, then the Hokage will get involved and your relationship to the Kazekage will not help you." Ebisu said.
"Yes, we understand." She said and grabbed her brother. The two kept walking until they were out of sight. Konohamaru looked at Ebisu.
"Thanks sensei, you really saved my butt." He said.
"Don't sweat it Konohamaru, I don't let my friends get hurt by anyone." Ebisu said, his voice changing. The small kids were confused but Sakura instantly understood.
"Naruto?" Sakura asked. Ebisu grinned and vanished in a puff of smoke. It cleared to reveal Naruto. Sakura watched as the ANBU did the same to reveal two copies of Naruto. Those copies were dispelled by the original. Sakura could help but be impressed with what Naruto just did. Naruto saw this and grinned.
"It's okay Sakura. I know that I'm awesome." Naruto boasted.
"And you had to go and ruin it. Anyway, sorry for the elbow." Sakura said.
"Don't sweat it. In fact, after we get some ramen, I'll let you 'play' with Konohamaru." Naruto said.
"WHAT?" Konohamaru said. Naruto grabbed him and held up in the air.
"While Sakura does have a temper, you didn't have the right to comment about her lack of things or her forehead." Naruto said.
"You called her a dude!" Konohamaru exclaimed.
"I've been insulting Sakura since we became teammates. She knows that I don't mean it and I'm just ribbing her. She doesn't know you that well. Don't worry; she wouldn't beat you up that much." Naruto said. Konohamaru tried to escape by he couldn't. Sakura had a grin on her face and wanted to get to Ichirakus' quickly. Naruto was chuckling until he got a feeling that he was being watched. He looked at the tree that they were standing next to but that feeling was way too faint. He then turned and faced the tree that was a few feet away. He narrowed his eyes at the tree when some birds flew out of it. Sakura noticed something was wrong and caught Naruto attention.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"Nah, I'm being a little paranoid. Come on, I'm starving." Naruto said and made their way to the restaurant. When they were out of sight, three figures jumped down from the other tree. They looked at the end of the alley with narrowed eyes.
"Well now, maybe these Konoha ninja aren't as weak as we thought." A spiky, black haired kid said.
"Yeah, do you think that he knew we were there?" a long, black haired girl asked.
"He must have. We will have to keep our eyes out for that one. He might be a danger to our mission." The other boy, whose face was completely wrapped with a lone eye showing, said. The three then vanished, leaving no trace.
XXX
Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were waiting for their sensei. Naruto and Sakura were talking about the day that they were attacked by two Ame ninja. Sakura was 'playing' with Konohamaru when one of them kidnapped Moegi. Naruto, Konohamaru and Udon took off after him. Sakura would have joined if she wasn't blindsided. The shinobi tried to use genjutsu against her but that proved to be a terrible mistake. Sakura dispelled the genjutsu and hit him with several small type genjutsu that confused the attacker. She then landed a powerful haymaker that sent the guy flying several yards. When she came upon the Ame ninja, she saw that he had escaped.
She met up with Naruto and the kids. She saw that Naruto was not happy and looked at the log that was riddled with kunai and shuriken. Naruto explained that the guy substituted himself before he could capture him. They took the kids home and went their separate ways afterwards.
"Did your onee-san find out something?" Sakura asked.
"Nope, she said that the investigation just started. Apparently, we weren't the only ones attacked. Kiba was attacked as well." Naruto said.
"Shikamaru as well but he wasn't too concerned. He just said something about it leading to something more troublesome." Sakura said. Naruto looked confused but before he could ask, Kakashi arrived. Kakashi looked at Naruto and Naruto looked at him. There was just this building tension between the two that just kept building. Yesterday, the one-eyed jōnin confronted him and basically ordered him not to discuss anything about their team meetings. Naruto made a comment that further pissed Kakashi off and he placed the blame on him for the team's chemistry. Naruto was insulted by the comment and countered by saying that he wasn't a great jōnin, a hypocrite and a moron. He then slammed the door in his face.
After a short staring contest, Kakashi turned his attention to his team.
"I have a surprise for your guys." Kakashi said.
"Is it a sense of time?" Naruto asked jokingly. Sakura slapped him upside the head and shook her head. Kakashi just handed them forms. They read them and saw that it was for the Chūnin Senbatsu Shiken. "You're joking right? You actually think that we're ready for the Chūnin Senbatsu Shiken?"
"Yes, I do believe that you are ready? Be at the academy tomorrow at eight forty-five to take the first part." Kakashi said.
"Whoa, whoa, that's it? No other information, no training, don't you know that people die in these exams?!" Naruto said loudly.
"I have the utmost confidence in each of you. It is your decision after all." Kakashi said.
"Yeah and we know what happens when you leave it onto others. Some jōnin you are." Naruto said mockingly. Kakashi just narrowed his eye at him before vanishing. Naruto let out a shout of frustration as the man disappeared. "I can't believe that morn! Does he really think that we can pass this exam?!"
"You might not dobe but I am on a different level than you or Sakura." Sasuke said.
"Didn't you just hear Naruto? People die in this exam. Maybe we should discuss this some more before we make a choice about this." Sakura said trying to play peacekeeper.
"I don't need to discuss anything. You two losers can stay home if you want, I'm not a coward." Sasuke said. He suddenly found himself being held into the air by Naruto. Sasuke wasn't just surprised by his speed but the rage that was in his eyes.
"You are the dumbest person that I've ever met. You think that just because you're an Uchiha that talent just comes out of your ass. News flash moron, no one cares about your name or your clan. To them, you're just an arrogant target, just like everyone else. Don't think that just because Kakashi favors you over everyone else makes you any better. You're nothing special." Naruto said before pushing Sasuke onto his ass. Naruto turned and walked off. Sakura attempted to help Sasuke but he just slapped her hand anyway and walked away in a rage. The pink haired kunoichi was just in a crisis. She didn't know what she could do about her team falling apart. The surprising thing was, she couldn't blame Naruto for it. In fact, she thought that he was the best among them.
Sakura sighed and made her way home. She had a very important decision to make.
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Authors' Notes: I've changed the story up some man. I really like how Anko and Naruto call Kakashi out on his bull-shit. I do not hate the character but I do feel that both Sakura and Naruto could have been better shinobi if he had taken charge. You will see a lot of fiction that has Kakashi like this. The anime shows it as well. Kakashi never really started to teach Naruto until Shippuuden. It isn't a bash fic, It's the truth. Enjoy the chapter.
