-The next day-
Sasuke was an Uchiha, a scion of one of the most powerful clans in existence, co-founders of Konoha. He had a reputation to live up to as a member of a clan known for their competent and powerful shinobi. Yet despite all of that, he was still just 13. The sheer boredom of staking out the central tower for over 24 hours was taking its toll on his mental stamina.
At this point, he would be thankful or something, anything really, to happen, even if it wasn't another team entering the area.
The speaker on his headset crackling to life brought some relief, even if it was just Sakura making the agreed upon hourly check-in with the team.
"Nothing here." Sasuke said, responding to her query.
"Same, nothing he..." Naruto's vocal tone conveyed that he was just as bored as Sasuke, but his voice cutting off mid word made clear that something was happening.
"Naruto! What's wrong?" Sasuke was quickly standing up and stretching, preparing to go over to where his teammate was hiding and check on him, but his headset crackled again.
"Hold on, one of my clones dispelled. We have a possible target."
"Anyone we know?"
"Nope, but they look like they might only be a year or two older than us. They just finished taking an earth scroll from another team and are tired and resting. Two hours from here at top seed."
A big smile spread across Sasuke's face, not only would he no longer be on stakeout, but he would actually see some action.
"What are we waiting for? Leave some clones here to man the traps and lets go!"
-With Team 8-
Not far from the central tower Kiba and Akamaru's nostrils were flaring as both Inuzuka and ninken were using their advanced senses of smell to warn them of any dangers. "I can't smell them anymore, they might have left."
"My insects also confirm that Team 7 has left the vicinity of the central tower. "
"Did you manage to get a bug on them?"
"Yes, one of my insects is on each member of Team 7."
"Good."
At this point, Karin's eyes opened as she stood from her meditating position. "They may be gone, but I still sense both Lord Naruto's and Sakura's chakra in the vicinity of the tower. Naruto-sama seems to have left some shadow clones, while Sakura's chakra seems to be in the form of several genjutsu around the perimeter of the clearing."
"They have likely left traps." Shino mused. "I would guess that underneath the genjutsu we would find some sort of fuinjutsu that Naruto left for us."
"Sakura knows genjutsu now?" Kiba seemed surprised, Sakura had been among the weakest members of their graduating class and had a reputation as someone who was very strong on the theory and history of shinobi, but who struggled in practical application. Essentially the opposite of himself.
"They are students of Lord Hatake, and for all her weakness in the academy, Sakura always had exceptional chakra control, meaning genjutsu should come naturally to her. It would be foolish to assume they haven't improved since graduation. Why? Because we certainly have."
"Ok, so can we go fight Naruto's clones?" Even after obtaining their second scroll earlier in the day, Kiba was still eager for a good fight.
"No. They'll have the advantage. If they get one of us within range of one of the traps it could all be over" Karin said. She sat down and began thinking of a way for Team 8 to avoid combat while achieving their goal of getting into the tower and finishing the exam.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, she appeared to have an idea.
"Shino, do you think you can sneak some of your insects onto the clones undetected?"
"Small numbers of insects should be easy, how many do you need?"
"I want to drain the chakra of the clones, not enough to dispel them and alert Lord Naruto, but enough to make them sluggish enough that we can get past them without them resisting."
"My insects would relish the opportunity to feast on Uzumaki chakra, however given Naruto's extensive reserves it would take a lot of them to achieve the expected results. The clones would likely notice their presence and manually dispel themselves to alert their creator."
Karin conceded the point, but thankfully for her, at least one of her teammates was able to match her intelligence.
"However, if we can create something small enough, my insects can deliver it undetected. Are you able to write some sort of paralysis seal on a very small piece of paper?"
After digesting his question for a few seconds, Karin's face light up in glee. "That's...Shino that's brilliant. How much space do I have to work with?"
"In order to keep the number of insects required small and undetected, each piece of paper could likely only be 5 centimeters by 5 centimeters at most."
"Hmm...not a lot to work with. Good thing I like a challenge. Can you guys guard me for an hour or two while I experiment?"
Team 8 then retreated a bit deeper into the forest, back to a hollowed out log they had noticed on their way to the tower. Once there Karin set up shop inside the log while her teammates and their animal companions kept watch.
Karin didn't allow herself to relish the challenge presented to her too much, she had no idea how long it would be before team 7 returned. If team 8 wanted to get into the tower before the real Naruto and his teammates returned, she'd have to be fast.
-Two and a half hours later-
I suppose I should just be glad that I won't have to be on stake out duty anymore. Uchiha Sasuke looked at the unconscious genin team sprawled in front of him and struggled to hold in his contempt.
After two hours of hard running, Team 7 had arrived to find a team that Sasuke had easily noted contained no clan shinobi. Sakura had quickly and easily managed to put the trio into a genjutsu. After that it had been quick work, Sakura and Naruto each knocked out a genin, while Sasuke used his sharingan to put the lone kunoichi in a trance and actually made her present him with her team's scrolls.
Were it up to him, they would have immediately left with both of the other team's scrolls, but Naruto and Sakura wanted to play nice with their fellow Konoha nin, Team 7 would only take the scroll it needed.
After handing the required scroll over to Naruto, Sasuke tried to appear disinterested, but watched with covert fascination as Naruto rolled up his left sleeve to reveal what appeared to be a tattoo of the Uzumaki Clan crest. However, it was quickly revealed to be a sealing array as Naruto ran his finger over it and unsealed a storage scroll.
From there, Naruto had quickly written a new fuinjutsu array on the storage scroll and sealed the exam scroll into it, before rolling the storage scroll back up and sealing it into the array on his arm.
At that point he visibly froze, a sign that Sakura and Sasuke had learned meant that some of his shadow clones had dispelled, and that he needed a moment to process the flood of information he had received.
After a few moments passed, Naruto simply chuckled to himself and muttered "clever, very clever."
"Everything ok Naruto?" Sakura asked.
"Team 8 got past our traps and my clones, they finished the exam."
Sasuke looked intrigued. "How?"
"They paralyzed my clones. From there, Karin is a good enough sensor that she could detect where our traps were, and guided her team around them and into the tower."
"How did they paralyze your clones?"
"I don't know for sure, but my guess is that Karin created some very small paralysis seals and Shino's bugs slipped in undetected and placed them. They had to be small, they only held my clones for 5 minutes."
"Oh." Naruto turned to Sasuke, "And Kiba took the time to taunt the clones and said that he looks forward to beating specifically you and I in the next exam."
Now it was Sasuke's turn to chuckle as he responded, "then I look forward to one of us putting the mutt in his place."
Focusing the boys back in on the present, Sakura pointed out that with both a heaven and earth scroll in their possession, the traps were irrelevant anyways, provided Team 7 could make it to the tower before losing one or both of them.
With that Sakura fired off the flare that would summon ANBU to watch over the unconscious team until they woke up, and Team 7 took off at top speed towards the tower.
-With Yugao-
Having personally witnessed Karin and Team 8 outmaneuver Team 7's traps and enter the tower, Yugao could breathe a little easier when it came to her true mission. 2 of the 3 Uzumaki were safe and in the tower. Still, the most important one, the only Uzmaki alive with a strong enough ancestral claim to be able to become the head of the clan, was still out there.
Yugao's official mission at this point was to patrol the forest, responding to flares from teams and keeping an eye out for outside interference and cheating. Thus, it was easy for her to disguise her mission for her masters in Clan Uzumaki within the work she was doing as an assistant proctor.
Locking in on Naruto's chakra signature wasn't hard, it was far and away the biggest chakra signature within Yugao's sensory range. As she made her way towards Naruto, she came up with a plan.
No longer having to worry about Tenten or Karin, Yugao would stay close by Naruto, patrolling just far enough away to have plausible deniability if one of the other proctors got suspicious, while staying close enough to be able to quickly respond if trouble arose.
As she raced towards Naruto, Yugao though of her parents. They had served Kushina loyally, but had ultimately failed to protect her on that fateful day all of those years ago. But while her parents may have failed to protect Kushina, Yugao would not allow herself to fail at protecting Kushina's son.
Naruto-sama. I will keep you safe, or give my life in your defense.
-With Team 7-
It was an all out dash to the tower for Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. They could rest when they arrived safe and confirmed they passed the exam. To that extent, Sasuke's sharingan were active, and Naruto not only had clones surrounding him and his teammates, but was constantly using his sensory abilities.
Even Sakura was contributing to their race to the tower, she was slower than either of her teammates, and they usually had to slow down to match her speed, but she was using as much chakra as she could to instead speed up and match Naruto and Sasuke at their pace.
Thus far they had made excellent time, it had taken them 45 minutes to get to the halfway point of their run, meaning they had shaven about 15 minutes off of their time going from the tower to their targets. Everything had been going well, but in an instant everything changed.
Naruto detected a massive chakra presence appear out of no where right in front of the team, but before he was able to react or respond in any way what appeared to be a massive white tail appeared out of the trees as his team was in the middle of a jump from one tree to the next.
The tail move faster than any of them could react, and in an instant Sakura and Sasuke had been swatted away, while the branch that Naruto had been planning to land on had been cleaved straight off of the tree. With his landing space gone, Naruto fell straight to the forest floor below.
Shaking off the pain he felt from the fall, Naruto forced him self to stand and found himself face to face with a massive white snake, far larger than even the largest pythons would normally grow. It's yellow eyes were fixed on him as its tongue flickered in and out of its mouth.
The snake's head moving backward was the only warning Naruto received before it lunged at him with it's mouth open and its fangs on full display. Thankfully, Naruto had picked up on the warning, and was already performing the substitution jutsu. Once he was safe, Naruto performed the Shadow Clone jutsu.
Surrounded by clones of Naruto on all sides, the snake unleashed it's tail once more, seeping it around in a fluid motion. Many of the Naruto clones were able to dodge out of the way, but many others were wiped out and the force of shadow clones was wiped out by about half.
The remaining clones went on the offensive, pelting the snake with a variety of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and even fuinjutsu techniques, none of which was powerful enough to penetrate the snake's thick scales. All the while the snake continued to whittle down the number of clones fighting it.
Naruto had a clear choice to make, he could allow the clones to buy him time as he frantically searched for his teammates and/or attempted to escape, or he could join the fight himself. Drawing his sword, Naruto somewhat foolishly chose the latter.
Setting himself up in the preferred Ataru stance, Naruto launched into an attack but even his blade wasn't enough. The scales of the snake were just too thick. What he did succeed in however, was drawing the snake's attention to him.
Naruto's biggest weakness in sword play was his defense, there was no questioning that. Ataru, the fourth form of Uzumaki Kenjutsu was an aggressive stance, and while the style did have some defensive elements to it, they were rather advanced concepts and Naruto struggled with them.
Recognizing this, Naruto shifted his stance and grip as he moved from the fourth form of Uzumaki Kenjutsu to the third, a far more defensive style of fighting.
In this stance, Naruto had some initial success at holding back the snake's ferocious attacks. However, he was not as familiar with or skilled in the third form as he was the fourth, and eventually the snake broke through. Naruto was forced to perform substitution once again, which combined with a coordinated assault by several of his clones drew the snake's focus elsewhere. Given a brief moment where he wasn't actively engaged in combat, Naruto reassessed the situation.
Even with the original joining in the fight, the force of Narutos was not enough to damage the snake in any real capacity. Still, the Uzumaki were known for their stubborn tenacity, and even if Naruto conceded that he was not powerful enough to damage the snake with his blade, he wasn't giving up.
The original made a few more clones to reinforce those that remained as he shifted his strategy. The clones were to buy him time. Not time to locate his teammates or allow him to escape, but instead to allow Naruto to work uninterrupted.
Unsealing parchment, ink, and pen, Naruto sat down and dove into his sealing work the battle raged just a few feet away.
However, Naruto would not need to put pen to paper, as help arrived in the form of a purple haired ANBU who made quick work of the snake, slicing it in half with her blade and causing it to disappear in a poof of smoke.
With the danger passed him, the clones dispelled. Naruto should have been grateful to his savior, but instead his first words reflected anger and panic.
"I didn't ask for any help! You can't disqualify my team!"
Itachi had been very clear, the proctors would help if it was needed, but at the cost of disqualification. In that context, perhaps Naruto's reaction was understandable. Still, Naruto was surprised when the ANBU kunoichi quickly dropped to one knee and bowed her head toward him. He was even more surprised when she spoke.
"No one is going to be disqualified, Naruto-sama. I am allowed to help in cases of outside interference, which this clearly was."
"Don't call me that, and how is a snake outside interference?"
"I cannot do that, Naruto-sama. As for the snake, it is true that there are large venomous snakes in this forest, but none that are that large, or that color. Further, do you see a corpse here? No, it disappeared, almost as if it had been summoned."
"A member of the snake clan?" Naruto was taken aback by the realization. "But Anko would never interfere in the exam like this."
"No indeed, I know Lady Hatake quite well, she did not order this. But she is not the only snake summoner."
"Orochimaru." Naruto's voice was just barely above a whisper as he spoke. "Granny Tsunade and the pervert's old teammate." The rogue sanin was an infamous figure in Konoha, and given the legends around him most shinobi in the village had a healthy fear of the village's greatest traitor in recent memory. "Why would he send a snake after my team?"
At this moment, Yugao chose to lie to her lord, judging it better that he not panic and instead remain focused, he could be briefed on the rumors about Orochimaru's interest in him once he was safely in the tower. "I'm not sure my Lord, but I'm quite sure that Itachi will rule this a clear case of outside interference and that you will not be disqualified."
"Like I said lady, drop the lord and sama stuff, you aren't Uzumaki, I'm not your lord."
"Oh but you are my lord, Naruto-sama. I am Uzuki Yugao, and I am at your service."
For the second time in only a matter of minutes, Naruto was rocked by a revelation.
"An Uzuki, alive? I didn't know any of you survived."
"As far as I am aware, I am the last Uzuki, my lord. I was born here in Konoha. My parents both served your mother and gave their lives defending her. I am honored to serve you."
"I...I see." Naruto looked as if he wasn't quite sure what to say, and there was a brief awkward pause as he gathered his thoughts and searched for the words that he needed to say. "I'm sorry for your loss, and I'm very glad that you are here. Thank you for saving me."
"It is my pleasure, Naruto-sama. Unless my lord needs something else from me, I'll be off. I must get to the tower and report this straight away."
"Of course, thank you again."
As Yugao flickered away in a shushin, the sounds of foliage and shrubbery being pushed aside reached Naruto and got increasingly louder until his teammates pushed through and appeared before him.
After a quick reunion where each of them verified that the others were ok, and Naruto promising Sasuke and Sakura a full explanation for what happened once they were safe in the tower, Team 7 pushed off once again.
-The Next Day-
A knock at the door snapped Uchiha Itachi back into reality. Quickly looking around the office that he was occupying in Training Ground 44's central tower, the head proctor for the second round of the chunin exams silenced the radio system that allowed him to communicate with his assistants in the field, shut off the suite of CCTVs beaming live footage from various points around the tower into his office, and called for those at the door to enter.
"Ah, Team 7. I trust you had a good night's sleep?"
Sakura was the first to respond. "Yes Itachi-sama, thank you for asking."
"Sakura, I believe that last time Sasuke had his teammates over to the house to visit I told you that if you don't speak to my little brother that formally I don't want you speaking to me like that either, correct?"
Sakura looked a bit embarrassed as she responded, "Oh, um, yes sir. My apologies."
Itachi frowned a little bit. Sakura was well within her rights to call him sir. He was an Anbu captain, jonin, and the proctor of the exam. Still, he had been hoping to just get "Itachi" back. Oh well.
"Anyways, I asked for you three to come here because I've just heard back from the Hokage's office. Last night I sent over transcripts of each of your verbal reports as well as a written report from the ANBU who had rescued you and my rational for the preliminary ruling of external interference."
"And?" Sasuke asked his older brother expectantly.
"Lady Hokage agrees. This has been ruled outside interference. Because Team 7 already had two scrolls before the interference occurred there are no problems. You have officially passed the second exam."
Palpable looks of relief appeared on all three genin's faces, with none more obvious than Naruto's.
"Would it be possible for me to speak to the ANBU who helped me?" Naruto asked, being careful not to reveal that he knew who his rescuer was. Neither Yugao nor Naruto had reported the more personal aspects of their conversation. "I'd like to thank her again for saving me."
"That's not possible right now, Agent Cat is out on patrol in the forest. I'll pass along the word that you'd like to speak to her, but if she decides to take you up on that offer it won't be until after the exam."
"Ok." Naruto had no problem with that. Now that he knew that there was a loyal Uzuki left in Konoha, he had no doubt that he'd be speaking to her again at some point.
"Umm...so what are we supposed to do now?"
Looking from Sakura, who had asked the question, to the two boys standing on either side of her, Itachi spoke. "Well, there are roughly 36 hours left in the exam and there is technically still space for one more team to pass, so we'll give them the full amount of time allotted. In the meantime you are free to rest in your room. There is also a lounge and cafeteria on the floor above your room if you wish to eat or socialize with another team. Beyond that all you can really do is wait. Now if there's nothing else, I need to check in with my assistants out in the forest."
Knowing they had been dismissed, Team 7 took their leave and were escorted back down to their room. As Itachi put aside the report the Hokage's office had sent him before he stood up and made a short trip down the hall to the command center. There was still an exam going on after all, even if more than half the teams had either finished or forfeit. For Itachi and his team, there would be no respite until all teams were out of the forest one way or another.
-The next day-
The more time that Team 7 spent inside the tower, the more impressed with the facility they became. The facilities for competing genin teams were impressive enough. Each floor allocated to hosting exam competitors had enough space to house multiple teams, including common restrooms and lounges on top of the private room assigned to each team. One entire floor was a cafeteria.
On top of that, when visiting Itachi they had been able to tell that the tower housed an impressive facility for observing everything that happened in the forest.
Still, perhaps the biggest surprise Team 7 experienced was when they were escorted to the 12th floor at the conclusion of the exam, only to find that said floor was a small arena.
There, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke joined with the other 4 teams who had passed, lining up in front of a small platform where Itachi stood observing them. Behind Itachi, seated at what almost looked like a throne and dressed in the full regalia of her office, sat the Godaime Hokage, Lady Tsunade herself.
As they stood in line, Naruto took a moment to survey the other teams. He of course already knew that both of his fellow Uzumaki had finished. Team 7 had wisely chosen not to engage Team 9 when they approached the tower, and Karin and Team 8 had gotten the better of his clones.
Still, Naruto was very pleasantly surprised to see Team 10 standing there as well. This meant that all of his friends who had entered the forest had not only survived, but had passed. The fifth and final team was one that Naruto was unfamiliar with, though the genin on said team all appeared to be significantly older than the rest of the remaining exam takers.
They've got to be what, 17? 18? Meanwhile all the rest of us are 13 or 14. Are we just that good or are they just that bad?
Naruto was pulled from his musings when Itachi began speaking, congratulating those that had passed while also expressing his surprise that a full set of 5 teams had actually made it through. Finally, he wrapped things up by introducing Tsunade.
As the Godaime stood and walked towards the front of the platform her chair was seated on, Naruto felt all the other genin stiffen a bit, stand a little straighter, perhaps make sure they were standing perfectly at attention. While Naruto himself was standing at attention, he was perhaps the only Genin in the room who didn't seem to tense up or stand even straighter when the Hokage's eyes were upon him, but then again, as Tsunade's godson, Naruto was more familiar with her than any other genin in the room.
Tsunade too offered her congratulations to the remaining exam takers before launching into an explanation of the differences between international and domestic exams. Naruto tuned this out for the most part, but a few moments did stick with him.
"Different villages value different things in their chunin. Because of that it is difficult for international exam judges to come to any kind of agreement and only a small few chunin are generally promoted at international exams."
That tidbit of information was certainly interesting, but what Tsunade said next really got Naruto's attention.
"Chunin are the work horses of the Shinobi World, the single largest rank in every village's ninja corps, and the rank with far and away the highest mortality rate. We simply couldn't survive if only one or two were promoted to the rank every six months. As such I must inform you that while none of you are guaranteed promotion, just by making it this far you are all going to be considered for promotion, even if you withdraw before the final round."
That sent a ripple of murmurs through the genin, but before things could get too out of hand, Tsunade stepped to the side and introduced the final proctor, a man known as Hayate Gekko.
After offering his own congratulations, Hayate asked if anyone wanted to withdraw before the third round began. To Naruto's surprise, a genin of the oldest team did want to withdraw, though giving this person more attention, Naruto noticed that the teen's left leg was heavily bloodied and scarred.
With the withdrawal official, a team of medical ninjas shushined onto the arena floor and began to exam the leg in question before carting the poor genin away. As one of the medics walked past, Naruto thought he heard something about surgery likely being required.
With the number of participants reduced to 14, Hayate launched into an explanation of the third exam.
The final round was to be a tournament held at the village stadium. Participants were to be given a month to prepare, as VIP clients from around the Land of Fire would be present and Konoha wanted them to see a good show.
The first round was to be a series of 7 one on one fights. In just a few minutes each genin would draw a number in order to determine who their first round opponent would be, they'd then have the month to train and prepare for that fight.
After the 1 on 1 fights there would be a free-for-all even that would narrow the number of contestants from 7 to 4, though Hayate very purposefully gave no details about what the event was going to entail.
Finally, the 4 semifinalists would draw numbers again, and 3 one on one fights would be held, two semi final matches and a final showdown.
Having finished his high level overview of the third round, Hayate began calling genin forward to pick a number, as the large video screen on the arena wall behind him flickered to life and showed an empty tournament bracket.
Team 9 was called up first. Tenten drew number eleven, and seconds later her name appeared in spot eleven on the video screen.
Her Hyuuga Teammate Neji drew number two, while her other Teammate Rock Lee drew six.
Team 7 was called up next, as Sakura drew number one, Sasuke drew five, and Naruto drew nine.
As their numbers filled in on the screen, Naruto's name appeared in a bracket against Lee. Some, like Shikamaru then figured other details out. For example, who ever drew number fourteen would fight Sakura, thirteen would fight Neji, and etc.
Naruto meanwhile initially winced upon seeing the match-up. While he had never seen Lee in action, he had certainly had conversations with Tenten about their respective teams and teammates. Just based on those conversations this would be a tough task for him.
Still, after the initial wince a small smile worked its way onto Naruto's face. This would be a challenge, and one that he was looking forward to.
As Naruto thought about his opponent, Hayate continued to call genin up, starting with the two older genin that Naruto wasn't familiar with. Hayate called their names revealing them as Yoroi Akado and Misumi Tsurugi. Yoroi drew number eight, while Misumi drew number twelve.
Next came Team 10. Ino drew number seven, Choji drew number four, while Shikamaru drew number fourteen. Finally, Team 8 was called forward. Shino drew three, Kiba drew ten, and Karin drew thirteen.
With all numbers drawn, the first round was set.
Haruno Sakura vs. Nara Shikamaru
Hyuuga Neji vs. Uzumaki Karin
Aburame Shino vs. Tsurugi Misumi
Akimichi Choji vs. Uzumaki Tenten
Uchiha Sasuke vs. Inuzuka Kiba
Rock Lee vs. Uzumaki Naruto
Yamanaka Ino vs. Akado Yoroi
With the match-ups finalized, many shinobi began staring down their competition. Perhaps they were trying to intimidate their opponent and gain an early psychological advantage. Perhaps they were sizing them up. Ultimately, it was irrelevant as the Jonin-sensei quickly appeared and snapped their genin subordinates to them.
After a few final words from both Hayate and Tsunade, the various jonin sensei took their teams to different sections of the arena, where they could talk more privately.
Despite the fact that his entire face was covered save for one eye, Kakashi's face seemed to positively glow.
"I'm so proud of you all, my adorable genin, to have made it this far. Though I suppose Anko will be disappointed that she won't be able to punish any of you for failing."
All three genin, even the normally stoic Sasuke, seemed a bit shaken by Kakashi's second sentence, having not previously considered that Anko would take such action. Though on reflection, the genin all realized that was absolutely something that their sensei's wife would do. Yes, they were very glad they had avoided such a fate.
After letting out a quick sigh of relief in order to try to calm himself, Sasuke quickly pivoted the conversation away from Anko. "So Kakashi-sensei, what is our training going to look like for the next month?"
"I am glad you asked. Chunin don't have organized training sessions, they set their own schedule. Thus, this is in some ways a test, do you have the maturity to train on your own with out a superior ordering you to do so? I'd recommend that you work hard six days a week, but do take at least one day a week completely off so that you don't burn out or injure yourself."
The three genin all looked back at him with wide eyes, they wouldn't be training as a team?
"Perhaps you could each get one teacher for 40 or so hours a week, and another for 10 to 20 hours, that way you can get feedback from multiple people, and have a primary and secondary training goal. That's just my advice though. I'm happy to provide you with a list of possible tutors, as well as recommendations for what you could work on."
"But...but what about you Sensei?" Sakura asked.
"Maa..well remember that I'm supposed to be on paternity leave right now. Not only do I have the newborn at home, but Obito is struggling to adjust to having a sibling and I don't really have the time to train you. I'm needed at home with my family. Plus, it would be a conflict of interest for me to train all three of you, or one at the expense of the other two."
"How is Rin?" Sakura followed up, curious about Kakashi's newborn daughter.
"Well enough I suppose, it took a while for the hospital to discharge her because they wanted to keep her under observation for a while, but now that we've got her home the four of us are adjusting."
Pivoting back to the subject of training, Kakashi continued speaking.
"While I won't be able to train you, feel free to swing by the house at any time if you need advice on something, and do keep me in the loop about your training schedules, I might be able to pop by every once in a while. Why don't we set up a time for each of you to come by the house tomorrow for a 1-1 meeting with me. I can give you recommendations and advice for your training for the next month, and you can see Rin for yourself. I'll keep our conversations private so not even your teammates know what you are working on."
All three genin quickly agreed to that, and within a few minutes times for each of Team 7's genin to swing by the Hatake Manor the next day had been agreed and finalized. After a final pep talk in which he warned his genin about sharing training information even with each other, and a reminder that he was very proud of them, Kakashi dismissed the team and shushined away, saying something about needing to buy diapers on the way home.
As Team 7 split up, Naruto saw his quasi-uncle and regent standing in a different corner of the Arena. A quick scan revealed that Tenten was already heading towards Yoshide, and that Karin had noticed her father's presence and would likely head his way once Team 8 was done meeting, so Naruto also began working his way to him.
In only a few minutes all three Uzumaki genin were standing in front of Yoshide as congratulations were exchanged.
"The Uzumaki Clan could not be more proud of the effort you three have put in so far in these exams. We want you to keep working hard to prepare for the finals, but in the meantime I thought that tonight the clan could have a gathering to celebrate your success so far."
"You don't mean.." Naruto's words trailed off as he, Karin, and Tenten could barely contain there excitement.
"Yes, of course." Yoshide too was very excited, "What sort of Uzumai Party would it be if there wasn't a Ramen Cook-out."
Naruto, Karin, and Tenten all let out excited screeches and dashed out of the room, eager to get out of the Forest and back to the Uzumaki compound. Yoshide followed at a more composed pace.
From nearby, Tsunade could only chuckle and mutter "I swear the ramen obsession must be genetic in that clan."
"So, since you are one quarter Uzumaki, does that mean you have one quarter of a ramen obsession?" her husband asked cheekily.
What followed was an all too familiar sight in the village. Jiraya was screaming in pain as he was sent flying by one of Tsunade's punches. He crashed through a wall and flew out of the tower and out of sight.
An almost weekly occurrence, no one batted an eye, nothing out of the ordinary at all.