Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto
XxX
"Before we continue I would like to congratulate you all on passing the Second test!"
Standing in line with the other twenty Genin who had passed Naruto waited for the old man to begin his speech. He didn't remember it word for word but the message had stuck with him.
"Hokage-sama will now explain the third test," Anko said into the headset she was wearing, her voice echoing from the speakers spread throughout the room. "Listen carefully."
Stepping forward his pipe smoking lightly as the tobacco in it burned away Sarutobi looked at the gathered children who would be taking the third test. "Before I explain the third test there is something I would like each of you to know. It concerns the real reason for why we have the Chunin exams."
"Real reason?" Sakura mumbled under her breath so only she could hear. Looking around at the other Genin it made her feel better at not knowing because most of the others looked as confused as she did. What didn't help was that Naruto was not one of the ones who were confused. He was staring at the Hokage like he knew something no one else did. "Could he already know the real reason?"
"To promote friendship among the allied countries? To raise the level of Shinobi? I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning." The Third puffed on his pipe. "This exam is...a replacement for war between allied countries. If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that these countries choose for battle...that is the origins of the Chunin Selection Exam. It is a fact that this exam decides which Shinobi have what it takes to become Chunin. But on the other hand, this exam has another side. Where country's shinobis risk their own life to protect their lands prestige."
As the old man continued his speech on Shinobi nations strength and what it means for clients to see that strength Naruto glanced at the Sand sibling trio. Temari and Kankuro were listening but Gaara was staring right back at him.
"This isn't going to be like last time, Gaara." He thought staring at his fellow Jinchuuriki. He wasn't going to need the Kyuubi's chakra to win and their battle wouldn't be fought during an invasion. "I'm going to beat you in front of everyone, and then we will see how eager your village is to invade after their weapon falls."
He hated even thinking of his future friend as a weapon but that was all the Sand Village saw Gaara as. Well, that and a monster who killed to prove his existence. That would change though. Gaara, once he knew he was more than the one tails sealed inside of him would go on to become Kazekage and protect his village earning the love and respect of those that lived in it.
"Beat me to that dream." Naruto looked down. It had taken him until Pain demolished the Hidden Leaf to finally step out of the Kyuubi's shadow.
"Naruto, come on."
"Huh?" Feeling a tug on his arm Naruto looked at Sakura who was pulling him to the stairs leading up to the second level of the tower.
"Sasuke-Kun's about to fight and you're daydreaming," Sakura growled resisting the urge to punch Naruto in the head. Honestly, after abandoning them in the forest to go save that Karin girl, and then disappearing for the rest of the five days after they reached the tower she had about had it with him. Orochimaru had done something to Sasuke-Kun and it was like Naruto didn't even care. They were supposed to be a team.
Once they were up on the balcony Naruto pulled his hand from Sakura's and walked over the wall sitting down so he was leaning against it.
"Aren't you going to watch Sasuke-Kun's match, Naruto?"
"Cha, if he doesn't cheer for Sasuke-Kun, I'll kill him!"
"No, there is no point watching when I know who's going to win." Naruto closed his eyes. "Sasuke won't lose."
On the other side of the room, the sound Genin sensei watched with barely restrained glee as Naruto sat down and reach for his neck. "He is taking to the mark even better than Sasuke-Kun."
XxX
"All right, Akamaru! We got a free ride to the finals." Pushing himself over the railing his canine partner on his head Kiba laughed loudly landing in the arena.
On the balcony, Kurenai smiled herself. Another one of her students would be going to the finals.
"I wouldn't be so sure that Kiba is going to beat Naruto, Kurenai-San." Kakashi eye smiled looking up from his book.
"Naruto, hurry up and get down here. I want to secure my place in the finals sooner rather than later." Kiba laughed folding his arms behind his head. Ah, how lucky was he to get paired with the dead last?
Grinning Naruto shook his head and jumped over the railing landing opposite to Kiba. Maybe it was just his knowledge of how the fights would end but it seemed to like they finished faster than the last time he was here. Sasuke won, as did Shino, Shikamaru, Temari, and Kankuro all won their fights with Sakura and Ino both losing.
"Alright dog breath, I've got other things to take care of so let's get this over with."
Growling Kiba glared at the dead last. "Who do you think you are, Sasuke? You're the dead last Naruto and I was in the top five Genin of the class. You can't beat me."
"I don't have time for this." He needed to get his Curse mark sealed. "I still can't believe it would have gotten me disqualified from the exams."
Anko had said the test lasted five days but he fought a freaking Sannin. Didn't that give him a little leeway with the rule?.
Kiba Inuzuka Vs Naruto Uzumaki," Hayate swiped his hand down. "Begin!"
"Alright, Akamaru," Kiba looked down at his ninken. "Let's-"
"Shouldn't have looked away, dog breath." Sprinting forward Naruto crossed the distance between him and Kiba in a blink.
"Wha?" Kiba's eyes rolled back as a quick flash of pain shot up his neck.
"No way!" Ino shouted from the stands as Kiba hit the floor. "He beat him so fast."
"What happened to the Naruto from the academy." She thought as Kakashi, Naruto's sensei appeared behind Naruto and set his hand on the blondes disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
"How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as he tilted his head back looking at the ceiling. "You saw what he did to those Sound Genin in the forest, Ino. Did you really think Kiba had a chance? This match was decided the moment it started."
Narrowing his eyes the Nara heir frowned at the spot where Naruto had just been standing. "What I want to know is why Kakashi took Naruto and Sasuke right after their matches. And why were they both grabbing at their necks?"
XxX
"Naruto, this sealing technique relies on your will as its main source of power. If you lose faith in your own strength and your will sways the cursed seal will reactivate."
"I know better than to use dangerous Chakra, Sensei." Naruto scoffed. "Why do you think I don't use the Kyuubi's power?"
It had been almost fifteen minutes since his match with Kiba and he was sitting shirtless in a dark chamber only lit by the torches on the walls. Around him two concentric circles with kunai placed in intervals along the circumference. On his body, a number of characters written in blood radiated out from the center of the cursed seal. Five line of characters were written in blood on the floor with him in the center matching what was on his body.
"This is different, Naruto. Orochimaru's seal will tempt you, try to break you down until you give in to it."
"Then it's not different at all. I'm always fighting the fox when I'm in battle. Its power is always there, just undermine waiting for me to use it every time I'm in a tight spot."
"Hmm." Kakashi hummed as he finished the necessary seal for the Evil Sealing method. He would have to talk to the Hokage about that. Having the fox trying to influence Naruto wasn't good. In fact, it was dangerous.
"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, are we almost done? I don't want to miss the other matches."
"Naruto you didn't watch a single match before yours." Kakashi deadpanned. "What's more important than your teammate's matches?"
"Gaara's." Naruto didn't even have to think about it. He needed to keep Gaara from hurting Bushy brows. Sure Tsunade healed him but if he could stop it from happening in the first place he should. But he couldn't tell Kakashi-sensei that so he lied. "I need to know what he can do so when I fight him in the finals I can beat him."
"And how do you know you're going to fight him?" Kakashi asked. "Maybe one of the other Genin will fight him."
"Then they will die."
"And how do you know that?"
"Because," Naruto turned to look at his sensei. "Gaara is like me. He's carrying a demon too and that means I have to fight him."
Kakashi's one visible eyes widened. "Another Jinchūriki in the exams."
"I see. Well, I'm sorry Naruto but you won't be able to watch his match. Sasuke still hasn't woken up from the sealing." Kakashi left out that he was planning on making sure Naruto didn't fight Gaara. Two Jinchūriki fighting each other in front of civilians wouldn't end well. For anyone involved.
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah well, Sasuke he doesn't have a Bijuu healing him."
"Let's just do this, Kakashi-sensei."
Weaving through the hand signs the copy ninja frowned at his student. "This might hurt, Naruto."
Naruto tensed but nodded. "I can take it."
"Evil sealing method!" Finishing the needed hand seals Kakashi clapped his hand over Naruto's shoulder covering the cursed seal.
Naruto felt fire burn through his veins spreading pain throughout his entire body.
XxX
Blinking his eyes open Naruto winced closing them quickly as bright light bombarded his vision. "Gah, that sucked."
And he had a feeling he knew where he was. The bright white light overhead. Sniffing he gagged as the strong scent of disinfectant burned his nose. Yeah, he was in the hospital.
"I hate hospitals."
Opening his eyes again at a much slower pace he stared up at the ceiling of his room for a moment before sighing and rolling over. The bed wasn't very comfortable and he needed to find someone who could tell him how long he had been out. "I hope I didn't miss out on much training."
Climbing out of bed he found his clothes stacked neatly on a chair next to his bed. Probably by Kakashi-sensei., or the old man. Doctors and nurses treated him the same as everyone else, which was crappy so he didn't think they would be nice enough to fold his clothes.
Pulling his shirt and pants on he tightened his ninja sandals and slipped out the door. Looking around he saw what seemed like a lobby area to his left so he went that way walking down the hallway.
"Um, miss?" He asked when he reached the end and saw a desk with two nurses seated behind it. The sign overhead read Check-in and he could see a set of stairs going up but not down so he was assuming he was at the main desk.
"Can you point me to Sasuke Uchiha's room?" It wasn't what he wanted to ask but if asked 'how long have I been in here' they would send him right back to his room. And he couldn't have that. "I have training to do."
The nurse at the front desk smiled but shook her head. "I'm sorry, Uchiha-san is on the list for no visitors allowed."
"Ah, right. Forgot about that." Naruto thanked the nurse who must have been new in Konoha because she didn't look at him like the gum on the bottom of her shoe and turned around. I need to find Kakashi-sensei. He knew the Jonin was going to pawn him off on Ebisu the moment he did ask for training but that was fine. Being pawned off to the closest pervert put him on the path to meeting Pervy sage at the Hot springs.
"Naruto, I didn't expect to see you up so soon." the lazy voice of his sense said from behind him. "It's only been two days."
Spinning around he smiled at the silver-haired Jonin. "Well, I am. So let's start my training."
Two days wasn't bad but it was still two days worth of training he couldn't get back. And he needed to all the training he could get.
"Ah, about that Naruto. I'm going to be busy this month and I won't have time to oversee your training."
"So you're pawning me off on some other Jonin so you can focus on Sasuke instead?" Naruto nodded. Yep just like last time. And he knew he was going to meet the Pervy Sage again but it still stung, being tossed aside for Sasuke.
"Don't say it like that, Naruto. I've found a teacher for you who is much more reliable than me." Kakashi smiled but it was awkward given that he had been caught in his lie. Or not really a lie since he would be busy but still.
"Who?"
The doors to the hospital opened behind Kakashi and Ebisu walked in adjusting his glasses. "It is me."
"The closet pervert!" Naruto shouted for nothing else other than to embarrass Ebisu. The special Jonin was Konohamaru's sensei and the brat had been a lot better than he had been when he was a Genin. Not that he could have beaten him in a fight but that was because he was a Jinchūriki. If he hadn't been well Orochimaru probably would have killed him and if that didn't happen he would have never beaten Neji.
Ebisu would be a good trainer. "cause I need more than what Pervy Sage taught me."
Sure summoning was cool and he was going to try and get the Toad Sannin to teach him the Rasengan early but other than that Jiraiya had spent most of his time doing research. "When he's off peeping I can find Ebisu."
It was the perfect plan.
"Eh, I don't know Kakashi-sensei., when this guy saw my Harem Jutsu he fell to-mmph!"
"Such insolence!" Covering Naruto's mouth with his hand Ebisu glared at the Genin. "To try and spread my greatest humiliation."
"Naruto, you're wrong about Ebisu-sensei. He's a special Jonin. A private tutor who specializes in teaching only the elite. Frankly, he's a better teacher than I am. " Kakashi said and Naruto stopped squirming. He had his fun and now it was time to get down to business.
When Ebisu released the hold he had on him Naruto agreed. "Alright, but we start now. I won't be having two lazy sensei's."
"Mah, Naruto, that's a mean thing to say." Kakashi frowned before vanishing in a plume of smoke leaving Naruto and Ebisu to each other company.
Looking up at Konohamaru's future Jonin-Sensei Naruto raised an eyebrow at the bandanna-wearing man. "Well, what's it going to be? Are we going to get to training or not?"
"Of course," Ebisu pushed his glasses higher onto his nose. "I won't have a slacker as a student."
"I'm waiting on you, Sensei."
"Then come on and let's get started." Ebisu set a hand on Naruto's shoulder and used the Teleportation Jutsu taking Naruto with him leaving the hospital in a swirl of leaves.
Chapter Eight of my Time Travel Naruto fanfic. Let me know what you think so far.
For now, the story will stay T-rated but that will change in later chapters. So leave your choice for which girl or girls you want to see Naruto with.
Thanks for reading and See you next time!
P.S: Yes I know the fight with Kiba was fast but there was a point to Naruto winning that fast.
P.P.S: The question of why Naruto doesn't know Karin will be adressed next chapter.