I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 8
It was the day before the Chunin exam and Kakashi was slightly worried. With Naruto's long absence he didn't seem to fit back into the team as well as the copy ninja had hoped. Despite the team executing everything he asked to a high degree, it was robotic. An atmosphere surrounded his team, an uneasy one. Kakashi could see that Sasuke and Naruto weren't on the same page and Sakura seemed to try playing the mediator. Kakashi had questioned them on different situations they might encounter and all the answers had been what he was looking for. But when looking underneath it, he could see glances Naruto might give to Sasuke or the slight tension in Sasuke's back when asked on what to do should the enemy run to a place not scouted by their team.
"Alright team what's wrong," Kakashi asked all of a sudden. All the members of team 7's shoulders tensed and none spoke for a moment. So something definitely is wrong.
Naruto went to start answering before being cut off Sakura. "We're just nervous sensei, we'll be fine but it's the first time any of us will be going into a situation expecting the outcome to be a battle. We'll be fine, just getting the nerves out the way."
Kakashi gritted his teeth slightly, not that the others could see with his mask on. Looking to the two male genin he saw Naruto reconsider what he might've said and ultimately close his mouth. The Uchiha seemed to relax and Kakashi could see gratitude in his eyes for the Senju's words. The Jonins main problem with what Sakura said was that it definitely wasn't a complete lie. All members on the team had to be nervous to some extent and so Kakashi couldn't exactly call the Kunoichi out on what she said.
"Fine, make sure you get it out of your system before tomorrow then. I'm sure you'll be fine but stay alert and remember, one mistake and it can all be over. Watch each other's backs and no matter what make sure you return alive."
"Of course sensei, you know we'll be fine," Sakura said confidently. She wasn't but that wasn't important right now, so long as she appeared that way in front of Naruto and Sasuke they wouldn't feel as nervous.
"Okay then, use your lessons and send Iwa a message. Tomorrow could potentially start or prevent a war."
That night Naruto sat in his bed, eyes wide as they wouldn't grant him a wink of sleep. So many possibilities ran through his mind and he couldn't help but feel guilty. He was worried for everyone. When he was younger the Hokage told him that as Hokage you were responsible for everyone in the village, and that with the position came responsibility. Naruto now understood exactly what the Hokage meant. Turning over to the other side of his bed Naruto closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep. He'd need it for what was in store tomorrow.
Sasuke had no problem getting to sleep; he'd managed to find a way to achieve sleep even when his nerves were through the roof. After what his brother had done Sasuke hadn't been able to sleep for a week, instead waiting to wake up from the worst nightmare he had ever experienced. Nothing could be as bad as that, and so Sasuke lay sound asleep on his bed waiting for the oncoming day. His dreams were not so good though, that night Sasuke dreamt of the death of his team mates. Without them he had nothing, he was alone. That dream terrified him more than the nightmares he had about the massacre of his clan. And this thought terrified him.
The Senju had managed to get to sleep but it hadn't come easily. Her thoughts beforehand were plagued of death, what she would do should team 7 and 9 fall in battle. What worried Sakura was she wasn't entirely sure how she would react, and the unpredictability of what could happen frightened her. Naruto and Sasuke were her best friends but in her months of training she had grown closer to Lee, Tenten and Neji, Tenten in particular. If Sakura couldn't even protect them then how would she ever achieve her dream of protecting the village? Her dreams were much nicer though, she dreamed of the Hokage, all of them. Not that she knew them personally but in her dream they reminded her of the will of fire and what it meant to a shinobi of the leaf village. A smile could be seen across the face of the Senju as she slept peacefully.
The following morning Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all turned up at the meeting place at exactly the same time, not a second neither early nor late.
"Are you two ready for today," Sakura asked, trying to muster up all the confidence she could. Her dream the previous night had helped and reinstalled the faith in her abilities that Sakura usually possessed.
"Of course, we'll be fine dattebayo."
"I'm not worried," Sasuke said with a smirk. Despite this all three could feel how nervous they were, yet trying to put a confident façade on for the other's. It seemed to work as none were confident with themselves but they felt they'd be fine as long as the other two were fine. Since this was a unanimous feeling amongst the three they confidently walked towards the exam building.
Outside the building stood Kiba, Shino and Hinata and it seemed that they were trying to get inside. This caused a frown to form across each member of team 7's face.
"What are you three trying to do," Sakura asked sharply. It wasn't that she didn't like them but she was doubtful that they were strong enough to fight properly.
"We're gonna fight for Konoha and give Iwa a lesson," Kiba replied confidently. "We've trained hard, harder than I ever thought I could and I want to put that to good use."
The other members of team 8 weren't as motivated as Kiba was. Shino was silent, but then he always was. This didn't exert confidence however and Sakura felt that this wasn't a good sign for what they would be entering. Hinata looked shell shocked, and was definitely only here because Kiba told them to.
"You can't," Naruto said.
"What do you mean we can't? I don't care if you're the son of the fourth, you were dead last so how come your fighting," Kiba snarled back.
"Have you ever fought before… seriously I mean," Naruto asked.
Kiba went quiet at this, they'd never done anything that difficult before, but everyone had to have a first time with everything, didn't they?
"What does that matter, no way are you stronger than me!"
"Fine then Kiba, prove it," Sasuke intervened. This shocked the Inuzuka, how could he prove it. Unless…
"Naruto, fight me. If I beat you that will prove my own strength then," Kiba challenged. He wouldn't lose, he couldn't lose.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Don't patronize me dead last! I'm not some useless shinobi who needs people to fight for him! I'll make Iwagakure afraid of me, that way they'll never attack our village and I'll never be in that situation!" With that said Kiba charged and Naruto and threw a punch. He expected Naruto to be sent flying back into the wall; instead he found nothing but air. All of a sudden he had no legs under him and then he felt it.
THUD
Kiba had never been kicked that hard and a small crater formed in the floor. He wanted to move but his arms wouldn't function properly.
"Why, why am I not strong enough? You were dead last and yet you do this to me. I don't understand, why," Kiba sobbed.
"I worked hard, and you all need to as well. Kiba, train harder and you'll be strong," Naruto said before looking at the other two.
"That's it? Train harder, I don't believe that's all it took for you to get this strong!"
"That is it. Work hard, as a team, and make sure you can protect the village," Sakura counselled.
Kiba fell quiet and there was a moment of silence before Sasuke stepped forward. "Sakura, Naruto, let's go."
Team 7 left team 8 to their thoughts as they entered the exam building. They were quiet, pondering over what was to come. Walking into the room an uneasy atmosphere was in the room. On one side was the Iwa shinobi, glaring daggers into the Namikaze who had just walked into the room. On the other side was where the Konoha ninja were and they all seemed ready to jump into a fight at a moment's notice. At the back of the room were the shinobi from the other villagers. There were a few and none of them were the major villages. All of them seemed to be keeping to themselves, not wanting to get in the middle of the conflict between leaf and stone.
In the centre of the room sat the sand siblings. Temari and Kankuro were trying to prompt themselves to seem like they weren't bothered. It worked on most people but as Sakura could sense chakra she knew somewhat how they were really feeling. Then there was Gaara. He was exerting so much killing intent that it seemed to be the main reason that no one from Iwa or Konoha were currently fighting. They were afraid of him and the worst part was that the sand genin didn't seem to even notice that he was doing it.
A few moments later Ibiki Morino walked in.
"Okay, now that you're all here it's time for the first exam to start. It will be a written test indicating your knowledge. If you don't get enough answers correct to pass you will fail, if one of your team mates fail you will all fail. Okay take your seats and prepare for the exam to start," Ibiki Morono stated.
Naruto found his seat and was unsurprised it was at the back, sat in between Sasuke and Sakura. Taking a look down at his test he simply waited for Sakura to finish it and then the pink haired Kunoichi swapped her paper with Naruto's before filling in the correct answers again. Sasuke activated his sharingan to copy Sakura without giving anything away. For the rest of the test Naruto visibly sat back and relaxed, although underneath that he had his eyes peeled on all of the Iwa shinobi in the room, sizing them up.
Time passed and before Naruto knew it 45 minutes had passed. This was when they would get their tenth question and all three members of team seven were extremely confident that they would get the correct answer.
"Alright listen up brats. Before taking the tenth question I have to warn you that if you don't pass the next question you will fail and furthermore will be unable to retake the exams ever again. I'm giving you this chance now to leave for if you don't there's no going back."
"What do you mean never take the exams again? There are people in this room who have failed the exams in the past," Temari questioned in outrage.
"Well this time you brats were lucky enough to get me as your proctor," was Ibiki's response to Temari's question. After that was said basically anyone who wasn't from Konoha or Iwa left, likely more out of fear of the obvious battle going to happen sooner or later. An exception to this was the sand siblings and the Oto team, they remained strong. With that said Ibiki spoke up again. "Okay well for those of you who chose to stay all I can say is con-"
Suddenly the window smashed and in jumped Anko. "Alright I'm the second proctor for the Chunin exam!"
"ANKO YOU'RE EARLY," Ibiki shouted, annoyed that she disrupted the end of the exams.
Anko began to count the amount of participants in the exams. "Seriously Ibiki, you passed 26 teams," Sakura's part time sensei said in mock shock.
"Well these teams are determined I'll give them that," Ibiki said.
"Ah well, I'm sure over half the participants won't make it to the next stage."
With that said they proceeded to go to the forest of death where the second stage would take place. Team 7 were still as confident as ever, they couldn't afford to show the nerves they were really feeling. They had trained themselves to near death so they'd be ready for this and now was the time to perform. The reason that Konoha didn't just eliminate the Genin from Iwa in the first exam was because they wanted to lower Iwa's numbers as well as potential future threats. The forest of death was a perfect location for the battle to take place and Konoha planned to do as much damage to the future of Iwa. There was no doubt that the Tsuchikage sent his strongest genin to get the job done against Naruto.
"Okay brat's this is training ground 44 which is also known as…" Anko stopped for dramatic effect. "The Forest of death!"
The snake mistress waited for the reactions, a lot of the Genin looking slightly nervous. It was strange, looking into the eyes of people you knew you would be trying to kill in less than an hour, yet for the sake of their villages it was necessary.
"Alright brat's you need to sign these forms of consent so I can't be blamed if you die in this forest," Anko said as she handed around the forms. Eventually she reached Sakura and stopped for a moment. "Keep safe cherry, I know you're strong but don't do anything stupid."
"Hai Anko-sensei," Sakura stated with a confident smile. "I promise I'll be at training in a week."
"I'll hold you to that then," Anko said and had a slight smile on her face. She had really grown to love Sakura and couldn't bear the thought that she might die in the forest. All of the forms were signed and given back to Anko, the top one being Sakura's own. Anko stared at it for a moment before continuing with what she had to say. "Alright brats what you need to do is get a scroll of both heaven and earth and get it to the tower in the forest within 5 days. Good luck and get to your starting points," Anko instructed. "Now begin!" Good luck Cherry.
Rushing into the forest Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were all talking about their plan of action.
"Okay Naruto, create your shadow clones and search for either enemy or ally. Our best chance of survival is to find allies so I think that's what we should focus on most," Sakura offered, these were her thoughts on what they should do.
"I disagree, we should strike early and catch them off guard, we can end it before its begun," Sasuke argued against Sakura's reasoning.
"What if we fail, then we're left on our own? We might be strong but we can't face all of them alone," Sakura responded to Sasuke.
"We won't fail," was Sasuke's argument.
"Are you both stupid," Naruto asked, intervening in the debate. "We can do both." With that said Naruto created the hand sign for the shadow clone jutsu before lots of them popped into existence. "I'll attack if I see some and try catching a few on their own before they meet up with their team. Meanwhile we'll look for team mates."
"I'm fine with that," Sakura said in agreement with Naruto.
"Hn," was Sasuke's response. He didn't agree with it but at the same time he didn't disagree with it. His main problem was that it meant he might potentially miss out on the fighting. With their decision decided they raced off into the forest of death trying to find any signs of an ally.
Running through the forest they could hear some small skirmishes going on but nothing major. None of Naruto's clones had dispelled yet so they weren't entirely sure where they should go. That was when in the distance they saw team 9. Sakura was immensely grateful; this was the best outcome they could've hoped for in her opinion. With team 9 at her back along with her team mates she felt much more confident about the upcoming fight with Iwa.
"Tenten," Sakura called out.
"Good, finally found an ally. Do you know where any of the fighting is taking place," Tenten asked Sakura.
"We haven't found any yet, no."
"My shadow clones are looking now but none have dispelled yet," Naruto answered her question.
"Well I suppose we should just wait then," Tenten thought aloud.
At that moment Naruto jumped a little bit. He would've talked but he didn't need to as they'd heard a loud explosion.
"That's where the fighting taking place," Naruto pointed out the obvious. The others were about to turn to each other to talk when Sasuke took off.
"Let's go then," he called back to them and the leaf ninja took off after him.
Finally, finally I can see how close I've gotten to you Itachi. Sasuke subconsciously sped up, trying to get to the fight quicker and prove his worth. He couldn't help it, he felt a lot stronger with the training that he'd done with Kakashi but had nothing to prove if anything had changed.
"Sasuke slow down," Sakura shouted after him but he didn't seem to hear her. "Damn it! I'm going after him."
Sakura ran off after Sasuke leaving Naruto and team 9 to chase after the both of them. Naruto was worried for both of them but he trusted Sakura and Sasuke. He needed to make sure that team 9 was alright.
With his increased speed Sasuke quickly caught up to the fight. All around him dead badoies littered the floor. Kunai flew over his head and fire style jutsu met earth walls. It was chaos and Sasuke had found his first target. The Iwa shinobi was baring down on a leaf shinobi, ready to finish him off. Sasuke grabbed a kunai and spun it before grasping it and jumping at the Iwa ninja. He didn't seem to process what was going on and before he knew it his throat had been slashed.
"Th-thank you Uchiha-san," the Konoha ninja said gratefully.
"Get up and fight," Sasuke responded before deflecting three shurikens that were aimed at his chest. He jumped up to a tree branch and got into a fight with another enemy.
The sound of blood hitting the ground could be heard, Jutsus being used. War cries were heard as more and more shinobi joined the fight. Sasuke wasn't sure how many he had killed but he'd somehow found himself in a one on three situation. Sharingan active and a look of determination on his face Sasuke charged one of his opponents. As he did this the other two attacked and without his sharingan he surely would have been killed. He just managed to dodge a slash at his head and instead threw four shuriken, all four landing in the shinobi's chest and ending its life.
The two shinobi didn't even stop for their comrade as they rushed Sasuke. One of them, the girl, jumped in front of Sasuke and swung at his neck with their own blade. Sasuke was quicker though and impaled her with his kunai in her heart. As he pulled back she grabbed his arm with both of hers, trapping him from the strike that was sure to come from her male comrade. He swung at Sasuke and the Uchiha figured that this was the end. He'd done well in battle but it could be unpredictable. If this was his fate, so be it. Sasuke closed his eyes.
CLANG
Opening his eyes again Sasuke saw that Sakura had intervened and blocked the attack aimed for Sasuke.
"Fucking move Sasuke!"
The girl holding onto Sasuke had passed and freed his arm so that he could move. He pulled the kunai out of her chest and spun, throwing it at Sakura's opponent. It embedded itself in his head and Sasuke and Sakura jumped up one branch to analyse the situation.
"Sakura… thanks," Sasuke said apologetically.
"Its fine, you can pay me back later," Sakura said. Sakura then jumped towards a Konoha shinobi who'd just been killed and fought their killer.
Sasuke knew he couldn't just stick around and so got back into the fight.
CLANG CLANG SLASH
The battle raged on when one of the Kunoichi from Iwagakure killed a genin from Konoha.
"WHERE'S NAMIKAZE," Kurotsuchi shouted out.
Sasuke noticed this and confronted her.
"You're not the one I want Uchiha, but I guess you can serve as a warm up," Kurotsuchi said before swinging a kunai at her.
Sasuke's blocked her before responding. "We let you live last time. We won't make that mistake again."
They continued to fight when Sasuke got impatient. He swung at her and she saw it coming from a million miles away. She stepped inside Sasuke's reach, causing him to miss before stabbing upwards. Sasuke's sharingan allowed him to dodge and jump upwards, which was directly into the line of fire where multiple kunai and shuriken were thrown. Manoeuvring his body to dodge all of the oncoming projectiles, Sasuke went through a series of hand signs.
"Fire style: dragon flam jutsu," Sasuke called out and fire rained down on Kurotsuchi.
"Earth style: mud wall," she responded with and managed to avoid the flames.
As Sasuke landed he slipped on some blood that had been spilled from both sides. Kurotsuchi took advantage of this and jumped forward, intent on finishing the job.
That was when she was met with a flying kick and sent back into a tree.
"You shouldn't have rushed off teme. I told you I wouldn't let any of my comrades die," Naruto lectured.
"NAMIKAZE," Kurotsuchi shouted. She jumped forwards towards him but had to stop early as a projectile from Tenten was thrown. She managed to avoid it hitting her head but it did get her arm. "You've failed then Namikaze. Look at all these dead leaf ninja, dying while you weren't even here."
Naruto looked around his and he couldn't believe the destruction he was witnessing. So many people were dying because of him and Naruto couldn't comprehend why. Being frozen in shock for a moment gave an Iwa shinobi the perfect chance to attack. Thankfully Rock Lee intervened and knocked him back into a tree.
"Naruto-kun, you can't just freeze on the spot. It'd be a waste to die here in the springtime of youth," Lee said although he seemed far more serious then when he would usually say it. It actually helped Naruto, Lee acting so calm.
Looking over his solder Neji had jumped in the middle of five Iwa ninja and used his rotation technique sending them flying.
"Sasuke-kun," Tenten shouted out as she threw a sword towards Sasuke. The Uchiha caught it and in the same motion decapitated an attacker that had tried to kill him whilst he was preoccupied.
"Sakura," Tenten yelled to her friend as she threw the halberd blade towards her. Sakura used her wood style to create a pike for it to go on and then started hacking at her enemies.
"Thanks Tenten," said Sakura.
The tide of the fight seemed to change with Naruto and team 9's arrival. Naruto was rampaging through Iwa shinobi, helping his comrades that were still alive.
The battle raged on and both sides' numbers were dwindling.
"Lee!" Tenten threw a shuriken at a man who tried to sneak up on her team mate and killed him.
"Thank you Tenten," Lee replied before continuing his fight. Looking around Tenten could see that team 9 and team 7 were the only leaf ninja left and they were outnumbered. Looking towards Neji he used his 64 palms technique on an opponent, stopping their heart.
Turning to Naruto a blue sphere of chakra went through someone's chest, instantly taking their life. This was the most powerful technique that Tenten had ever seen.
"Wood style: wood spear," Sakura called out and impaled two shinobi in a row with a sharp branch. Tenten found that mokuton seemed to be the most versatile form of jutsu as it could take shape in almost any form.
Lee was just going hand to hand with opponents but didn't seem to kill, unless his opponents died from a head injury.
Looking at Sasuke he went through three enemies with one chidori although afterwards he staggered a little, the chakra consumption for a chidori being fairly high for Sasuke. Despite them being better than their opponents individually, they were on their last legs and were outnumbered. Tenten decided that it was time.
Slamming two scrolls into the ground Tenten went through the hand signs needed. "Twin rising dragons jutsu," she called out. Both the scrolls opened up as she jumped into the air, twirling around her. In the air whilst spinning she unseals all of the weapons. Looking at her opponents positioning Tenten throws with her pinpoint accuracy. Everyone seems captivated by what she's doing and the Iwa shinobi can't avoid the weapons that she throws. Ten shinobi ended up falling to this jutsu and Tenten lands on the ground, pleased with herself.
"Die Konoha shinobi," Kurotsuchi shouts out and with a kunai she picked up from the floor stabs at Tenten.
Drip Drip Drip
Tenten looked down to see a kunai in her chest.
Drip Drip Drip
Whose blood is that Tenten thought?
Drip Drip Drip
It's my blood. But I don't understand what's going on.
"TENTEN!" was the cry that came from Naruto, Sakura, Lee and Neji.
"RASENGAN!"
Creating a rasengan in his hand Naruto thrust it at the nearest Iwa shinobi, killing him.
"NAMIKAZE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE," Kurotsuchi shouts as she runs over to her obvious team mate.
Naruto knows it's the perfect chance to kill her but he needs to check on Tenten.
"Tenten you're going to be fine," Lee says but the tears in his eyes betray him.
"Lee, make sure you become a great shinobi, surpass sensei even if you can't mould chakra."
"Tenten… I'm sorry th-this is all my fault," Naruto said remorsefully.
"Naruto… don't blame… yourself," Tenten managed to say. "Give me… this moment to speak… please. Sakura-chan… you're the best friend… I've ever had. Thank you. Neji… you need to let go… of your obsession… with fate. Please… Neji… do that for me. Take… fate… into your own hands."
Sakura could feel tears streaming down her face. Lee was in anguish, the pain was clear to see on his face.
"Tenten," Neji said panicked. "Tenten, this isn't happening, it can't be." The Hyuga was at a loss for words.
"Neji… promise me… You're the best… of your clan. Change them… change fate. Promise me Neji… promise me…"
"Tenten I… I promise," Neji said and he meant it. What good was fate if it meant his team mates were condemned to death?
"Thank… you… Neji," Tenten uttered as the life left her eyes.
Tears poured down the Hyuga's face as he held Tenten's body, sobbing into it.
Sasuke watched on and was sad, he didn't know how to feel. He hadn't been particularly close to Tenten, yet the effect it had on his team mates had an effect on him.
"Someone, give me a kunai," Lee demanded, voice fully serious. Sasuke didn't know what else to do except give him the Kunai so he tossed it to Lee and he caught it.
"The Gate of Opening open," Lee started and power began to grow in Lee. "The Gate of Healing open! The Gate of Life open! The Gate of Pain open! The Gate of Limit open!"
With that said immense power erupted from Lee, beyond what the others had ever seen. Lees speed and strength seemed to surpass normal means and he went after the Iwa ninja, all of them falling dead before they could even utter a word.
"Kurotsuchi-chan you need to run. NOW," one of the Iwa ninja shouted. He threw her a scroll of heaven and a scroll of earth.
"But-"
"NOW!"
Kurotsuchi nodded her head in acceptance before rushing off. She couldn't even look back as she heard the thumps of bodies as they hit the ground. The green beast of Konoha was an immense foe.
Lee rushed by all of the opponents, a slice across each of their necks. A small crater was left from where he would kick off from, his speed and power surpassing usual means. Lee managed to finish them off, none of them even a challenge to him. Team 7 and Neji watched on in amazement at Lee blood lusted. He grabbed the final opponent and threw him up in the air before wrapping him in his bandages. He felt the worst pain he ever had, but it was overcome by the grief he had for Tenten. He hits this shinobi with the reverse lotus, driving his opponent head first into the floor, snapping his neck. After Lee does this he passes out, tears slowly running down his face.
Naruto stands up and looks around him. He'd been naïve, naïve to think that he could protect everyone. The floor was littered with bodies, from both sides and Naruto felt the weight of all of their deaths. They'd come to the Chunin exam to kill him, yet he stood their alive whilst they all lay dead. Naruto found it ironic and felt that he learned an important lesson that day. I need strength; I need to be able to protect everyone. I don't want anyone dying for me ever. I'll get stronger and make sure something like this never happens again. That's a promise.
Okay that's another chapter thanks for reading. Please review and tell me what you think. I hope you don't mind that Tenten died too much so I guess now would be a good time to say that characters are likely to die in my story.
Please review and give me some ideas as to where you think the story should go (they might be better than my own ideas)
Thanks.