AN: nothing to say, so read on
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Chapter 18: Let the Exams Begin
Two days later and Naruto was finally out of the hospital and able to train again. He was walking to his apartment after just getting let out, he wanted to put his bag away and grab his gear. But the walk to his apartment was highly unusual. He had expected the villagers to be worse than normal for having him back after his supposed death. But to the contrary, he was getting smiles and greetings from people who, before he died, had chased him down and beaten him within an inch of his life.
"I knew it'd be different, but this is bordering on creepy," Naruto said as he looked around. He jump when he felt a tap on his shoulder, he turned slowly to see who it was only to find himself face to face with his teacher, "Kakashi-sensei! I haven't seen you since I was brought back," Naruto said.
"I was on a mission. And it seems you got one now, Tsunade wants to see you as soon as possible," Kakashi said.
"When did she tell you this?" Naruto asked remembering all to well Kakashi's knack for being late.
"Moments ago, I know how to deliver messages on time," Kakashi said before waving and vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Naruto turned back and continued to his apartment, he was going to drop his stuff off before going to Tsunade's office. 'Maybe I'll see Sakura there, I haven't seen her since I woke up,' Naruto thought as he approached his apartment.
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"You wanted to see me Tsunade-sensei?" Sakura asked.
"Yes, I was just wondering if you told Naruto about the Chuunin Exams," Tsunade said.
"No, you said you wanted to tell him," Sakura said, 'and he doesn't seem to want to talk to me, pretending to be asleep when I came by…'
"I wanted to tell him that he was competing. Damn it, now I have to deal with his begging before I calm him down and tell him he's participating," Tsunade said rubbing her temples and getting ready for the yelling that was sure to come.
"Sorry Tsunade-sensei, I haven't seen him since he woke up," Sakura said playing with her hands.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "I thought you left to see him after I talked to you," she said.
"He was asleep so I left, but when I passed the nurses his alarm went off saying he was trying to leave. Since he was pretending to be asleep to avoid me, I've avoided him," Sakura said.
Tsunade sighed as a knock came from the door, "come in," she said.
The door opened and Naruto walked in, he startled at seeing Sakura, but quickly grinned and walked up next to her, "hey Sakura, I haven seen you for a few days," he said.
"Yeah, I was…busy," Sakura said looking down.
"What's wrong Sakura?" Naruto asked.
"That can wait, right now, there's something I want to tell you Naruto," Tsunade said drawing the boy's attention.
"What is it? Do you have a mission for me?" Naruto asked nearly bouncing in excitement.
"Of sorts. You might not've realized it with being in the hospital, but the Chuunin Exams are coming up in less than a week. And you still being a genin…" Tsunade said.
"You mean I'm gunna take the exams? I can finally be a chuunin? Alright!" Naruto yelled jumping in the air, right fist raised over his head.
"Yes, and you're going to be going alone," Tsunade said.
Naruto froze, "is that allowed?" he asked.
"In special circumstances. After talking with the elders and other Kages, it's been decided that you will be allowed to go alone, although you still have to take all three parts," Tsunade said.
"YES! Thanks Granny Tsunade!" Naruto yelled jumping up and down again, Sakura couldn't help but laugh.
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A few days later Sakura Sasuke and Naruto were all sitting by the three tree stumps neat the memorial stone, they were taking a lunch break from their training. Sasuke was watching the sky, Naruto was pulling his lunch out of his bag, and Sakura had her eyes on the memorial stone.
"So, Sasuke, when do you get to be a ninja again?" Naruto asked locating his sandwich and removing it from his pack.
"The month that separates the second and third task," Sasuke said.
Naruto grinned, "then you're going to be the last of us to be a genin," he said.
"Nope," Sasuke said.
"Huh, what do you mean no," Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Shikamaru wasn't the only one to pass at our first try, Sasuke passed to, but it wasn't announced because he was in the hospital, then he left the village," Sakura said turning to Naruto.
"WHAT?" Naruto yelled before falling off the stump.
"Yeah, so when I get my ninja status back it'll be as a chuunin, not a genin. You're still the last," Sasuke said with a smirk.
Naruto grumbled something as he got back up on the stump, though he couldn't here it all Sasuke was sure that the word 'bastard' appeared several times in it.
"You know Naruto, you got your wish," Sakura said her eyes back on the memorial.
"Huh, what wish?" Naruto asked turning to Sakura.
"When Kakashi-sensei tested us that day and you were tied to the stump you said you wanted to end up on that stone, before you realized what it was," Sakura said.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Sasuke said looking at the stone, "I was the one that had to carve it in, as part of my punishment. I don't really get the thoughts behind it, but whatever," Sasuke said.
Naruto smiled as he hopped off the stump and walked over to the stone. "That's one wish I'd be glad to have not come true," Naruto said running his fingers across his name.
"Think of it this way, you managed to keep your word, your way of the ninja is intact," Sakura said with a smile.
Naruto returned it, "yeah, I guess you're right," he said returning to the stump.
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Later that day Naruto got his first glimpse at his competition. Four people walking down the street, the three students and their sensei. Two students were boys, and the other was a girl, their sensei was also a male. The three looked to be twelve or thirteen; it was probably their first time taking the exams.
The first boy was small, about as big as Naruto was when he was twelve. He had blue sandals, foot and leg wraps and dark blue shorts. He wore a red sleeveless shirt and black gloves that went past his elbows. His hair was light blue and spiked and his eyes were dark blue. He wore his forehead protector above his forehead.
Then next boy was bigger, though still smaller that Naruto is now. He had black sandals and dark blue pants. A black shirt with the sleeves cut off and black gloves that ended at the wrist as well as elbow pads. He had short black hair and dark brown eyes, with his left eye scared shut. His forehead protector was around his waist.
The girl was between the other two in height though closer to the first boy. She had red sandals and leg wraps up to her waist. She had a short leather black shirt over the wraps. She had a black short sleeved shirt and white gloves. Her hair was in the same style as Anko though nearly pure white in color. Here eyes were yellow and her forehead protector was on her forehead. She had a chain that went once around her torso from right shoulder to left waist and twice around her waist.
Their sensei was taller than Kakashi and twice as scary. He had blue sandals and dark grey pants. His arms and torso was covered in wrappings with a jounin vest over them. He had black gloves that went halfway to his elbow. He had a black cloth over his mouth and spiky dark blue hair and his forehead protector was on his left sleeve. But it was his eyes that creeped Naruto out. the whites were black, the iris was red and the pupil was white.
Naruto managed to suppress a shudder as they passed but stopped to watch them walk away. He got the same feeling form them that he got from Gaara and the others the first time he met them. He was right about Gaara, and he was afraid of being right now too. But what made it worse was that were from the Grave village. Naruto only fought three ninja from the Grave, one almost killed Gaara, one almost killed Sakura and one did kill him.
"I wonder if Granny knows about them…" Naruto said before running off to the Hokage's office.
Naruto burst through the door to Tsunade's office and walked up to her desk.
"Naruto what the hell are you doing?" Tsunade demanded standing up.
"We have Grave ninjas in the village!" Naruto yelled.
"I know, they're here for the Chuunin Exams," Tsunade yelled back.
"They could be spies for the Alliance!" Naruto yelled.
Tsunade sighed and sat down, "I doubt that. Not all Grave ninjas are with the Alliance," Tsunade said.
"All the ones I've met," Naruto said.
"There were Grave ninjas in the last exams you participated in. they're not a major village, but they've never missed and exam," Tsunade said.
"Oh," Naruto said, he was beginning to feel very stupid about what he just did, "sorry," he said and turned to leave.
"And Naruto, good luck tomorrow, you just might need it," Tsunade said.
Naruto turned back, "Don't worry, I took it before, I'll pass the written test no problem," Naruto said with a grin as he left.
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The next day Naruto woke up and headed off to the academy for the written part of the Chuunin Exams. When he got to the building he found Sakura sitting on a bench outside the main doors.
"Sakura, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked walking up to her.
"I wanted to wish you luck," Sakura said standing up.
"Thanks, but you don't need to worry, I handled the test last time," Naruto said with a grin.
"Yeah, but you know the first part of the exam isn't always written right?" Sakura asked concerned.
Naruto's grin vanished, "its not?" he asked.
"No, it wasn't written when I became a chuunin and from what I hear, only Ibiki does it written, no one else," Sakura said.
"Is, is he doing it this time?" Naruto asked.
"He's doing one of the three exams, but I don't know which one," Sakura said.
Naruto sighed, "damn it, and I thought I was set. What did you have to do?" Naruto asked.
"It was a treasure hunt kinda thing. We were assigned a number and color and we had to find a box in the building that was our color but we couldn't look inside. The number we had was the floor, room and step number in the room to our box, we had to get the right one from our color. Very few passed, most did so on luck," Sakura said.
"Crap, I can't do that," Naruto said looking down.
Then something happened that wiped Naruto's mind of worry, doubt, and thought all together. Sakura kissed him on the cheek. Naruto's eyes widened in shock and his head slowly turned to look at her. Sakura blushed slightly as Naruto's hand rose to where she kissed him, "you'll do fine, you're gunna be Hokage one day, right?" she asked.
Naruto didn't respond he was still looking at here. Then finally he spoke, "I think I've died again."
Sakura's blush deepened and she grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him towards the door, "go, you're going to be late," she said as she pushed him.
Naruto nodded weekly and walked through the door, his had still on his cheek, his eyes still wide in shock.
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AN: well, this is an interesting development, plus, we have our first pair. The first exam is next chapter. Hope you liked it, I'll update soon.