Three days before the Chuunin Exams were scheduled to begin at the end of team practice, Kurenai said, "Girls, I want you to know that I'm proud of your progress. The day after tomorrow is the day of the official nominations for the Chuunin Exams."
"Why are the nominations so close to the day of the Exams, Sensei?" Sakura asked. "Shouldn't teams be given more time to prepare?"
Kurenai shrugged. "It's tradition for when the Exams are in Konoha for sensei to spring it on their students. Not every sensei does and some genin are aware enough or connected enough to know anyway. I, personally, think the tradition is silly and a little dangerous, but it started with Shodai-sama back when the Exams were Konoha only. I, obviously, am not following the tradition."
She looked at her students and said, "I want you to take the next two days easy. You'll do better if you're relaxed and rested going into the Exam than if you train up until the last minute. We'll meet briefly after the nomination meeting at one o'clock. If I'm late, don't worry about it; it will be because Hatake-san passed a team this year."
"Why would that matter?" Hinata asked.
"Hatake Kakashi-san is late to nearly everything," Tsunami said. "My brother trains with his team once a week at Kakashi-san's invitation. He's usually an hour late to those practices and Kiba-san says that means he likes my brother because he's usually two or three hours late."
"He'd be late to a meeting with Hokage-sama and all those other jounin?" asked Sakura, scandalized. She paled and then exclaimed, "And he's Sasuke-kun's sensei!?"
"He's probably the most talented jounin that Konoha currently has active," said Kurenai. "That gives him some leeway." She shrugged again. "Enough about Hatake-san and his bad habits. Enjoy tomorrow. Do something fun and then spend the next morning thinking about whether you want to participate in the Exams. If you decide not to, that's fine—most genin don't participate the first time they're eligible."
"We're not most genin, Kurenai-sensei!" Tsunami exclaimed.
Kurenai excused herself. Tsunami prepared to say goodbye to her teammates. She was looking forward to spending some time as Naruto over the next couple of days. With training and missions she felt she did not have enough time to spend as what she still thought of as her "natural self." She did not really mind being Tsunami, especially since it allowed her to avoid most of the villager's animosity and she did not have to worry about her career being sabotaged as much, but. . .
Her thoughts were interrupted by Sakura saying, "We should do something together tomorrow."
Tsunami absently said, "Kurenai-sensei asked us not to train the until the Exams."
"No, silly," Sakura said. "We should do something fun together."
Tsunami frowned. She found training fun. Even her relaxation plans for tomorrow involved reading some fuuinjutsu scrolls.
Sakura snorted. "I never thought I'd say this in a million years, Tsunami-chan, but you should be more like your brother sometimes. You're always so serious and you've gotten more and more serious in the two years I've known you."
Tsunami was shocked. Was her Tsunami personality that different than her Naruto one? What Sakura did not know was that the Naruto that she was talking about was also a mask that she had used to get attention and push her limits. Sakura also did not know that Naruto acted a lot more professional when he was out in public now for the sake of his fuuinjutsu business. The only time he really pranked anyone or acted juvenile anymore was when Konohamaru tracked him down. Although she admitted that occasionally he placed himself so that the boy could find him on purpose. Who was the "real" Naruto? Did such a person exist? She decided that she was the most "real" when she was with her mother in her mindscape. What did that say about her that she really only showed herself to a person that was not even really alive anymore?
"Shocking, I know," Sakura said with a smirk. "Please don't tell him I said it. What do you say, Tsunami-chan, Hinata-chan?"
"I'd like that, Sakura-chan," Hinata said quietly, pushing her fingers together. The shy girl did not stutter as much as she used to, unless the topic of Tsunami's "brother" came up, but she still exhibited a number of nervous habits.
Tsunami realized that Hinata as the "failed heiress of the Hyuuga" probably did not have any peers she could interact with as friends other than her teammates. While she somewhat dreaded whatever girly thing Sakura thought would be fun, she did want to spend some time with her friends and also did not want to take this chance away from Hinata. She decided to agree, but give herself an out. She even pushed down the temptation to send her long-term clone.
"Okay," Tsunami answered. "I wanted to spend some time with my brother, but I'd like to spend some time with you girls too."
When the girls met up the next morning, Sakura suggested that they go shopping for outfits.
"I don't need any new outfits," Tsunami protested. "What I have suits me fine."
"You're such a tomboy, Tsunami-chan," Sakura said. "I've only ever seen you wear shinobi-style clothes.
Tsunami shrugged. "It's not like I ever get invited to social events. My kunoichi clothes were fine for visiting you or Ino-chan."
"Don't you ever want to dress up or impress someone?" Sakura asked.
The redhead snorted. "Who am I going to impress? Naruto-kun?"
"Isn't there someone you want to catch the notice of?" Sakura pressed.
"Aren't shinobi supposed to go unnoticed?" Tsunami responded, confused.
After a moment, she realized that Sakura was probing to see if she liked someone romantically. The truth was that the thought of becoming involved with a boy freaked her out and the thought of becoming involved with a girl as Tsunami confused her. Girls stayed away from Naruto and she was too proud to go after anyone that hated her male self blindly or gave into peer pressure that easily. That only left Hinata, whom she had already dismissed as a current option because of the likelihood of that earning her the Caged Bird Seal and the fact that Kurenai would demand that she reveal her secret dual identity—and she was totally against that for now. Being that she was not quite thirteen, she was fine with avoiding romantic entanglements for now. Sakura, however, did not see it that way, so Tsunami always played dumb when Sakura tried to get her to spill about her nonexistent romantic feelings. It helped that Tsunami actually was somewhat dense about the subject.
Sakura rolled her eyes and grabbed Tsunami's hand. "Come on," she said. "It'll be fun!"
"Okay," the redhead whined, "but I have the right to veto anything with too much lace or too many bows."
Hinata giggled as she followed her more outgoing teammates.
To her surprise, Tsunami did have fun. She and Sakura ganged up on Hinata to convince the shy girl to try on something a little "more fun" than her normal conservative outfits. Then the other two had ganged up on Tsunami to get her to try on the frilliest, girliest dress they could find. Both girls let themselves be convinced. Hinata was easier than the stubborn Uzumaki; they finally did it by appealing to the redhead's pride with a bit of reverse psychology. Tsunami could tell that Hinata really wanted to try on the outfit they had picked out, but thought it would not be "proper."
Tsunami looked down at the pink monstrosity she was wearing. "I can't believe you talked me into this."
"Part of the fun is wearing something you normally wouldn't," Sakura said.
"Oh?" said Tsunami with a wide grin. "I have the perfect thing for you to try on then."
The pink-haired girl gulped. "When I said that you should be more like your brother, Tsunami-chan, I didn't mean right now."
"Ah, ah, Sakura-chan," she scolded. "No backing out."
She ran and found a bright orange track suit that she had seen earlier. It was not quite the same as she used to wear as a boy, but it was close.
"This is for all the times I bad-mouthed your brother, isn't it?" Sakura said with a grimace.
"While he is partial to orange, most stores wouldn't sell him anything else," Tsunami said. She grinned. "I could look for some spandex. . ."
"Fine, fine," Sakura said with a groan. "You got me."
After Sakura had changed, they all stood next to each other.
"I think Hinata-chan got off easy," Tsunami said.
The dark-haired girl was wearing a form-flattering, but still modest "little black dress."
Hinata's eyes widened and she started pressing her fingers together.
"Ah, cut her some slack, Nami-chan," said Sakura.
Tsunami raised an eyebrow. While they were friends, they had never been that informal.
"You don't mind, do you?" Sakura asked.
Tsunami had never much cared for formality. "I don't mind—if I can call you Kura-chan."
The two of them turned to look at Hinata. "You can call me Nata-chan," she said shyly.
"Great!" Tsunami said. "We spend too much time together to be worried about full names."
Sakura nodded in agreement.
After that they tried on clothes that they each actually liked. Tsunami caught sight of a bored young man waiting for who she assumed was his girlfriend. She gave him a mental salute in commiseration. Participating was much more fun than just waiting around.
After about an hour they bought some things to thank the store for allowing them to monopolize some of their dressing rooms for so long. They had ended up buying matching sun dresses in red, green, and lavender. It was the first dress that Tsunami had ever owned, but she admitted that it looked good on her. Hinata was pretty nervous about hers, since it was so different than her normal wear.
"It'll be fine, Nata-chan," Sakura said. "You don't have to wear it in public if you don't want to."
After that, Tsunami insisted that they go look at some shinobi equipment stores. She took them to Higurashi's store first. The girls split up to do some browsing. After about 15 minutes, Sakura called out to her. When Tsunami went to where she was looking, she saw that she was looking at the "Uzumaki Fuuinjustu" display. Hinata approached them too.
"Are these yours?" Sakura asked.
"A couple of them might still be," the redhead said. "We split the task of making them before graduation. Naruto-kun does them all now."
"He really is smarter than everyone gave him credit for," Sakura said.
"Told you," Tsunami said smugly.
"I always new there was more to Naruto-kun," Hinata said quietly and then blushed when the other two looked at her.
After they had browsed at a few more stores, including a kunoichi specialty store, Tsunami said, "I'm going to meet Naruto-kun at Ramen Ichiraku for lunch. You two are welcome to come with me."
Sakura was subjected to puppy-dog eyes from Hinata, begging her to come. The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes but acquiesced.
Tsunami Replaced herself with a hidden Shadow Clone as they approached the store and then used her special Disguise Technique to change to her birth form. He then switched with his long-term clone who was approaching. He formed and dispelled a clone so that the his other clones would know what was going on. Since the Exams were bound to last multiple days, he wanted some time as Naruto. He had done this for their last C-rank since Kurenai had given them warning.
The long-term clone then Disguised into Tsunami and left to wait for an opportune time to switch with the Tsunami Shadow Clone that was with the others.
Naruto walked up to the stand and greeted his "sister" and her teammates. The clone returned his greeting. Sakura greeted him far more pleasantly than she usually did his male self—although it still was not overly friendly. Hinata ducked her head bashfully.
"Old Man!" Naruto called. "Two miso ramen to start!"
"Oy!" Teuchi called back. "How's my favorite customer?"
"I thought I was your favorite customer," the Tsunami clone said with a pout.
"Sorry, Tsunami-chan," the ramen vendor said with a grin. "You are a favorite, but you've only been coming here for two years."
"Did I hear my favorite pair of twins?" Ayame said as she came out from the back.
"Hi, Ayame-neechan!" Naruto and his clone said in unison.
Sakura shuddered. "I wish you wouldn't do that. I don't need to be reminded of how close in personality you too really are."
"But Kura-chan," the clone said, "you said. . ."
Sakura clamped a hand over the clone's mouth and glared at her. "You going to be good?" she asked after a moment. The clone nodded and Sakura released her.
"What's going on?" Naruto asked.
Hinata pressed her fingers together and said with a slight stutter, "Since we didn't have to train or do missions today, Tsunami-chan's prankster personality has come out more than normal."
Naruto grinned widely. The Tsunami clone joined him with her own grin.
"When both of them get going. . ." Teuchi shuddered exageratedly.
"No," Sakura said firmly.
The clone pouted. "But. . ."
"No," the pink-haired girl repeated. "A small amount is fine, but when both of you get going. . ."
The Uzumaki "twins" smirked.
The girls ordered and a few minutes later Ayame brought out their orders.
As Naruto was finishing up, he heard Konohamaru shout, "Boss!"
He turned and saw Konahamaru approach with his two friends. "Boss! We've been looking for you for days!"
Naruto's long-term clone rarely left their apartment unless he was delivering seals, so this was not a surprise.
"What for?" he asked.
"We want you to play ninja with us!" the Hokage's grandson exclaimed.
Sakura laughed mockingly. "Even a reserve shinobi has better things to do than play ninja with a bunch of kids."
"Hey, Boss, is she your girlfriend?" Konohamaru asked with a too-innocent expression on his face.
"Nah," Naruto said. "She's my sister's teammate."
Konohamaru wiped his forehead in mock relief. "Phew. She's too vicious and her forehead. . ."
"Too vicious!?" Sakura repeated, outraged. "I'll show you too vicious!"
"Kono-kun? Run!" Naruto commanded.
Konohamaru squealed and took off with his friends and Sakura in hot pursuit.
"We better follow and make sure she doesn't do anything rash to him," Naruto said, slapping some money down on the bar. Hinata did likewise and Naruto figured that Sakura could pay Tsunami back later.
His clone nodded and the two of them plus Hinata followed after the others at a jog. They caught up to see a Suna shinobi holding Konohamaru by his shirt. Moegi and Udon were cowering behind Sakura.
"Brat!" said the Suna nin. "I'll teach you to watch were you're going." He was wearing a black outfit with his Sand Badge attached to a hood with cat ears. He was wearing purple kabuki makeup and had a large bandage-wrapped object on his back.
"Let him go, Kankurou-kun," said his bored-looking companion. She had her blonde hair in 4 ponytails and had a large folded fan on her back. "He isn't worth the trouble."
"I'd listen to your obviously smarter companion, Makeup Boy," Naruto said. He could not stand bullies.
"It's warpaint, Shrimp," Kankurou snarled. "What are you going to do about it? You don't even have a shinobi badge." He started to remove his bundle.
"Really, Kankurou-kun?" the blonde said incredulously. "You're using that over this?"
"Quiet, Temari-chan," he said. "I hate nosy punks like him."
"Then you're going to hate it even more when ANBU arrests you and kicks the rest of your delegation out of Konoha for picking a fight with the Hokage's eight-year-old grandson," Naruto said with a smirk, "but I'm sure that they will have forgotten about losing out on the Chuunin Exams before they even began by the time you finally get out of jail in a few years."
Temari whacked her companion in the back of the head. "Can you not be an idiot for once, Otouto-chan?"
"How was I supposed to know?" he whined.
"You need a reason not to beat up eight year olds?" Naruto taunted.
By this time a presence that Naruto had noticed in a nearby tree began to leak killing intent. He did not recognize the presence, so he assumed the person was with Temari and Kankurou. There was something "caustic" about the presence and there was a sinister echo to the person's chakra.
The presence appeared in front of the Suna shinobi with a sand-customized Body Flicker. "Kakurou, you're a disgrace," the figure said. "Shut up before I kill you."
"Yes, Gaara-san," Kankurou said with an edge of fear in his voice. Gaara was a boy about Naruto's age. He had red hair and the kanji for "love" tattooed above his left eye. A tan-colored gourd was strapped to his back. He glanced over the Konoha group and then dismissed them.
"Kankurou, Temari, we're leaving there's nothing for us here," he said as he started to walk away. The other two followed him.
Naruto let out the breath he had not realized he had been holding. "I want you girls to be careful if you run into them in the Exams," he said. "I'm not too worried about Makeup Boy and Fan Girl, but Gourd-san. . ." He paused. "He felt of death and bloodlust. His chakra was very strong and there was something wrong with it."
"I know what you mean," his clone said.
Naruto reached over to where Konohamaru had been cowering behind him and ruffled the boy's hair. "Sorry, Kono-kun," he said. "I'd like to play with you, but my sister will be unavailable for a few days because of the Exams, so I want to spend some time with her. I'll play with you while she's busy." Naruto felt a little guilty about ditching the boy, but he wanted to relax before the Exams and his Tsunami side's teammates were expecting her to spend the rest of the day with him.
The boy and his friends pouted briefly before running off. Hinata and Sakura excused themselves too.