Naruto X

AN: Well it's about that time. The point I've wanted to work towards has been reached and now we're going all in.

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During the last three days of the week, Naruto had completely sped through the new simulation. The maps were long, but enemies were sparse and although the secrets were hidden much better off this time, Naruto quickly located them once he had the means and the helmet upgrade.

But then he encountered an interesting situation where he found four extra capsules that said they could boost the power of one of his upgrades, but he would be locked out of the others. With that on his mind, he continued on and decided to figure that out later.

This paid off in his favor however since he later found another capsule that gave him all of the upgrades and even turned his gray armor to dark silver. Zero then did something surprising and told Naruto to swap with him in one of the boss rooms. Naruto asked if he was certain and Zero told him yes. It would be worth it.

So he did as he was instructed and to his horror, Zero was damaged after he defeated the boss and gave him the use of his Z-saber. Naruto frowned, why on earth would Zero do something like that intentionally?

When he grilled Zero for answers, he shrugged and said while he appreciated the concern, Naruto needed the power of his sword more than him making it through the scenario and it wasn't like Zero was going to help him in the final boss any other way.

Not happy but accepting the answer, he continued on with the use of the saber until he finally made it to Sigma and his opinion had changed drastically. That fight was hard as hell and Naruto had to shoot Sigma in a miniature spot on the chest that was hard to hit. He finally tried to make use of the saber and to his immense surprise, the sword had nearly killed Sigma in a single hit. The attack had taken off about 80% of Sigma's energy meter and Naruto had already fought him with his charged shots prior to that really just needed to land one shot to finish him, which he did.

Honestly, he felt like this stage of the simulation was too easy but was pleasantly surprised upon leaving that his armor was still silver. Zero told him he could take it off if he needed to so he shrugged and left it on.

X then informed him that they were going to take a break because of how hard Naruto had been working and so he went back to Konoha to see his team and just as all of them had gathered together, Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves and handed them a piece of paper. "The chuunin exams are just around the corner. These are applications I got from the hokage. Fill those out if you wish to apply and we'll have you entered, no problem." He said, causing his team to stare at him in shock. "Do you really think we're ready, sensei?" Sakura asked and Kakashi gave her a nod. "You three are more than ready in my opinion. However, if you have any doubts then you don't need to register. The exams go on every few months. This year we have the home turf advantage because they're being held here in Konoha. The choice is yours, but I feel like this would be very beneficial to you." He said.

Team 7 didn't need any other inspiration, all three genin had quickly filled out the sheets and handed them back to Kakashi who gave a nod and vanished just as quickly as he appeared.

The chuunin exams! Their excitement could barely be contained, they would finally have a chance to prove themselves against all types of genin from all around the world, not to mention they had a chance to show off to the village.

-Meanwhile at the Hokages office-

All of the jounin instructors were gathered together to handle nominations for the upcoming chuunin exams. The hokage took a puff from his pipe before he addressed the crowd. "Thank you all for coming, as I'm sure you're aware, we are now taking nominations for the chuunin exams. Those of you, who wish to enter your team, step forward and make your announcement."

At this several of the other jounin began to nominate their own teams. It slowly began to dwindle down and finally Gai stepped forward. "YOSH! I, Might Gai, wish to nominate team 9 for the chuunin exams!" he exclaimed, getting a nod from the hokage.

Kakashi stepped forward, surprising many that he didn't have his book out at the time. "I, Kakashi Hatake, nominate team 7 for the chuunin exams." He said, Iruka nearly fell out of his seat and Kurenai and Asuma stepped forward as well.

"I, Kurenai Yuuhi, nominate team 8 for the chuunin exams." She said, and then another person stepped forward "I, Asuma Sarutobi, nominate team 10 for the chuunin exams." He said, Iruka suddenly slammed his hands on the table. "Now hold it a minute! You can't enter rookies into the chuunin exams!" he shouted.

Kakashi stared at him blankly. "Yes we can, and yes I have." He said as he held up the signed papers from his team and handed them to the hokage. "But none of them are ready for the chuunin exams!" he tried, only to get shot down again "I took the exams when I was half their age." Kakashi replied "But they aren't you!" Iruka rebutted and the jounin shook his head.

"Last time I checked, you were no longer their commanding officer." He said "And besides. They are more than ready for these exams." He replied making the chuunin shake his head. "You might think they are, but I've taught these kids for years! I know they aren't ready for the exams!"

Kakashi finally lost his patience and glared at the man "Now you listen here chuunin." Kakashi spat, making a few others stare in shock at the display of hostility. "You haven't seen the things these kids have been up to. Our teams have been training harder than ever for this, even going above and beyond what was expected of them as fresh genin."

"What does that even mean, above and beyond? Your team has been doing D ranks and you had a single C rank." Iruka said, but Kakashi shook his head. "That C rank had to turn into an A rank because of the missing nin Zabuza Momochi."

Murmurs broke out amongst a few other jounin and Iruka shook his head. "So you're the one who killed him and the demon brothers. What does that have to do with the genin?" he asked, but Kakashi only shook his head. "We were attacked by four separate ninja and an army of bandits, all of which were eliminated. Throughout the entire mission I never killed a single one of them." He said and there were gasps heard throughout the crowd and Iruka's eyes widened.

"You don't mean…" he started but the copy ninja cut him off. "Yes. Team 7 has taken enemy lives." He said. Truthfully it was Naruto who had killed every enemy they encountered but he had to give Sakura and Sasuke some credit to make the team sound way more badass than they were.

Although considering what he overheard about Naruto's skills and the training he had undergone, it was quite possible that the boy could very well carry the entire team through the exams if he needed to.

Not that anyone needed to know that. Deception was a great tool after all and the boy was swimming in secrets. Iruka fell back into his seat in shock as the words slowly sank in.

His point made, Kakashi stepped back and the meeting went on. The hokage said a few more words and everyone departed. But Iruka still hadn't heard a word, he was entirely focused on the fact that three of the kids he knew just over a month ago were no longer innocent to the world of being a ninja. He decided then and there that he needed to talk to them, find out how doing the task had affected them.

With that in mind, he finished his days' work and immediately set out to find team 7. He thought he would find Naruto at Ichiraku's, but the shop owners informed him that they hadn't seen the blonde in months.

He checked the training grounds but couldn't find them there and finally he went to Naruto's apartment and was surprised to find all three genin here. Naruto had a TV screen in his living room and the three of them were watching a recording of…something.

He wasn't entirely sure what was even going on with the screen. It was playing a scene of a security guard who was working in a museum but the displays were alive. Ignoring that, he quietly knocked on the door and he heard footsteps before Naruto unlocked the door and opened it.

"Oh hey Iruka sensei, what are you doing around here?" he asked as he stepped aside and let the older man into the room. Sakura and Sasuke glanced towards him and gave a nod to the man as he walked in and took a seat with one of the kitchen chairs.

"So how have you all been? I heard that you guys recently went on an A rank." He asked, Naruto grinned and rubbed under his nose. "Heh heh, so we're that awesome now huh? That mission was great, we got to visit the land of waves and meet so many new people." He said and Sakura cut in "It was a great chance to visit a foreign land, and we learned a lot and got stronger." She said and Sasuke just nodded in agreement.

Well they were acting normal, so Iruka decided to dig deeper. "So I heard you guys ran into some trouble." He started and Naruto blinked before he began to think of an answer. Sasuke swore he could hear cogs turning and spoke up. "We ran into a couple groups of ninja. One was called the demon brothers and the last group was Zabuza of the seven swordsmen of the mist and his apprentice." He said and Sakura nodded. "Guarding Tazuna in that deep mist…it was so intense." She recollected and Sasuke nodded.

Had he not heard Naruto's blaster going off, the tension was going to get to him. But the buster gun noise was enough to snap him out of his fear and it reminded him that his teammate was strong enough to have his back and he had calmed down.

Sakura let out a sigh. "That moment had me so terrified that I realized staying the way I was, wasn't going to help us in our future missions and I decided to take my training more seriously. We all did." She said, getting nods from the two boys.

"Yeah, we seriously kicked up the training after that. You should see how strong we've gotten!" Naruto shouted before he rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, you'll see soon enough. We registered for the chuunin exams. This is our big chance to show the world what we can do and hopefully we'll get promoted." He said, his teammate's smiles matched his own and Iruka was honestly floored with how serious they sounded. Whatever had happened on that mission had changed them, but for the better it seemed and not the worst as he originally feared.

With a proud smile, he stood up and nodded. "I'm very glad to hear it and I look forward to watching you all participate in the exams. Good luck." He said before he left the apartment.

His worries gone and his mind clear, Iruka went back home, but inside Naruto's apartment, team 7 had let out a sigh. "How vague everything was, yet it said everything at once." Sakura said as she closed her eyes and leaned back against the couch. Sasuke just grunted as he stared at the TV.

Naruto sat down between them and frowned. "Well we didn't lie, but we didn't tell him everything either and we sort of twisted a bit of the truth." Naruto said as the show resumed. They were quiet for a bit until Sakura spoke up. "Do you think we should have told him?" she asked and Naruto shook his head. "There was no reason to tell him anything beyond how the mission went. You heard what Kakashi sensei told us, Iruka had heavy doubts about us and wanted to make us wait to take the exam. Besides, it's not like anything too serious happened." He said and the girl glanced towards him.

"You mean besides you wiping out over fifty people singlehandedly?" she asked and the blonde rubbed the back of his head. "Well the story is all of us killed those bandits even though only I did. I understand that they would be worried about us after hearing something like that but honestly I don't feel any different and I don't feel bad at all about what I did. Maybe it's my training or maybe it's something else but I haven't felt anything since the first kill. If anything it's gotten easier." He said, making Sakura and Sasuke frown.

"I guess…" Sakura said with a sigh. "I don't really want to find out but I have a feeling I'm going to have to learn eventually." She said, Sasuke nodded as well and then he glanced over. "Hey Naruto, do you think we could come see what kind of training you go through? I'm curious." He asked, Sakura looked at Sasuke and then at Naruto.

The blonde seemed surprised but had a thoughtful expression on his face. "I'll go ask X if it's alright tomorrow." He said, getting a nod from his teammates and they turned to finish watching the show.

-Next day at the command center-

"I don't see the harm if they're just watching." X said as he led team 7 towards the simulation room. Once they were in the room, X led Sakura and Sasuke up to the control panel and Naruto stepped out into the room. X was typing at the console for a few moments and suddenly the room shifted and Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Air Lagoon?" he asked aloud before mentally shrugging and continuing on with the stage. Outside of the room, Sakura and Sasuke watched as Naruto quickly sped through the stage. They didn't know he had done this before but limited to his blade, so to them, it looked as if Naruto was just speeding through the stage, although it did seem easy.

Suddenly this giant flying creature appeared out of nowhere, causing Sasuke to jump and Sakura to fall back and scramble to back up. "What the hell is that thing?!" she shrieked out and Sasuke stared with wide eyes, Naruto was going to fight THIS thing? ALONE?

They watched, not realizing they were holding their breath as Naruto faced off against the creature that was breathing fire and lightning out of its mouth and flying all over the place causing damage.

When Naruto took the beast down, they were honestly shocked and still shaken up over the matter and Sakura slowly stood up once she realized that the creature was defeated and Naruto was alright. Hesitantly she walked closer to the screen and watched as Naruto was doing something with a screen outside before suddenly the room shifted to a forest.

They watched as Naruto made his way through the area and acquired an item called a capsule that gave his robotic body a power up. The one he found let him hover in place apparently but it wasn't the power ups that had her worried, she was worried about the number of enemies he was fighting and encountering.

According to a screen she was looking at, Naruto had lost over half of his energy but was continuing to fight on. Then he went through a strange door and that's when things got absolutely weird.

A giant spider looking robot appeared and Naruto began to fight it. The spider would climb up into the trees, move around and try to do a drop down attack. Once it got to half energy, according to a meter they were watching, and honestly Sakura was quite amazed that the enemies meter was almost three times the size of Naruto's energy meter, it made a giant web of electricity and was trying to pin Naruto down while creating a bunch of smaller spiders and shooting out bullets now and then.

Eventually Naruto took the creature down before he went on to another stage that was covered in lava. The two genin watched with complete fascination as Naruto made his way through the stage and then to their shock as he piloted a giant suit of armor.

Finally Naruto had made it to the boss, a bipedal lizard by the look of it that went by the name Magma Dragoon. Sakura and Sasuke were quite pumped from watching Naruto fight and he had entered this boss fight missing about a quarter of his energy.

The fight started and the maverick was shooting a ball of fire out from his fists and shouting "Hadouken!" when he did so, Naruto would jump over some of them but when dragoon jumped over him and slammed to the ground, Naruto was pushed right into the edge of the map and all that was behind him was a pool of magma.

Naruto began to fight back by using his charged shots but then dragoon did something that had Naruto looking frantic. The maverick had moved to the very edge on his side and his mouth opened wide before a huge wave of fire launched out and Naruto was hard engulfed in the fire.

They watched in shock as he tried to block himself, but it was no use and all they could do was watch as his energy dropped down. When the fire wave cleared, Naruto had barely a sliver of energy left and dragoon had over half of his left.

Naruto tried to get in some more shots which were working, but dragon jumped at Naruto and fired a Hadouken from the air which hit the boy and their eyes practically turned into dinner plates as they watched the boy silently scream before he burst into a million dots of energy.

"What?! Naruto?! What just happened?!" Sakura demanded as she grabbed onto X's arm, the reploid seemed taken aback by her attitude before he pointed out to the room and they watched as Naruto reformed with full energy.

"While the simulation room is obviously fake, the training one gets from it is very real. It's possible to get hurt using it, which is why we're only allowing you to watch and not participate. To us reploids, we can just get repairs. But you humans…the damage you could sustain could kill you before we could even do anything to help you." He explained but she wasn't satisfied with that.

"But what about Naruto? He's not a full reploid." She said and X nodded. "While that might be true, the only vital organs still alive are his heart and his brain, and they aren't even in the body you see before you." X explained, making the girl gasp and back up.

"What…what do you mean?" she asked, Sasuke was listening in but he was still watching the fight. "Naruto's heart and brain are obviously important as they are some of his remaining organs. So to protect him, we have replaced his heart and brain with artificial ones, both powered by an object called a tesla coil. That's why Naruto explodes into energy whenever he is killed. His current brain and biological brain are linked up so they are both aware of what is happening to them at all times, but the artificial one is merely a copy and as such, expendable. Naruto still has complete control of himself though. I guess the proper way to explain it would be to compare it to a puppet. Naruto tells it what to do from here while still being under the impression that it's actually happening to him.

The other reason he has artificial ones is because once we find the laser to help Naruto, we plan to completely reconstruct his human body around the old organs so the DNA is directly copied and they won't reject one another." X finished, making the girl nod and turn to look at the blonde as he was going through another stage.

With a determined look in her eye, she glanced back at X. "I'd…I'd like to try. Whatever you have that you consider laughably easy." She asked, X was about to deny it when Sasuke spoke up "Me too. You can have Naruto join us and if we can't handle it, he can take care of it."

X stared for a long while before he turned back towards the room and opened the intercom. "Naruto, hold on." He said as the simulation vanished and Naruto was standing in the black and green wireframe room looking confused.

Sakura and Sasuke joined him out on the floor much to his shock and then they were standing in a plan looking room and in the middle of that room a single enemy spawned. A small yellow robot wearing a hard hat with a green cross on it was currently crouched down in the center of the room and Naruto gave a confused stare to X who only shook his head.

Sasuke and Sakura looked at the tiny robot as it poked its face out from under the hard hat and Sakura squealed. "Oh my god it's so cute!" she said and Sasuke looked slightly disappointed before he pulled out a kunai and flung it half-heartedly at the little robot, who ducked under his hard hat and the knife surprisingly bounced off.

Both genin blinked before Sakura threw a shuriken at it and watched in shock as the blade bounced off. Sasuke then did some hand signs and shot a fireball jutsu at the robot, completely engulfing it in fire.

Once the fire cleared, the hard hat was still there and the robot popped out completely unharmed. Sasuke grunted in annoyance before he and Sakura flung a bunch of weapons at the robot as it ducked under its hat again and they watched in annoyance as all of their weapons bounced off. Sasuke then did some more hand signs and with a shout of phoenix flower jutsu, he fired off a multitude of fireballs that homed in and struck the robot at different angles.

Once again the robot peeked out after the attack was over. Sasuke looked ready to commit murder and Sakura was making hand signs and to her annoyance, nothing seemed to be happening, then she let out a cry of rage and both her and Sasuke charged the robot who quickly ducked back under its hat and all that was visible was a dust cloud of limbs as they piled the robot and attempted to attack it at close quarters.

X stared slack jawed at the display and Naruto just stood there with a deadpan expression. Once the dust cloud settled, Sakura and Sasuke stood there panting, one of them holding a broken kunai and the robot was completely fine.

Naruto aimed his buster gun at the robot and the moment it poked its face out, Naruto shot it and the robot blew up. Sasuke and Sakura were both glaring at him and he shrugged. "What? Don't blame ME for it!" he said before they both let out a battle cry and charged the blonde who quickly turned around and ran for it.

X shook his head and was about to say something when Naruto dashed out of the training room with Sakura and Sasuke hot on his heels but the complaint died in his throat and he called the front desk to send out a message to all reploids that three kids were running amok and to not having anything breakable out in the open.

He swore Alia let out a small laugh at the message and he calmly shut the room down and in a rare moment of relaxation, he leaned back in the chair and put his feet up on the corner of the desk. He figured it would be a bit before they made it back to the room for some more training.