Naruto had indeed ended up breaking Gaara's record in reaching the tower, and had been forced to cool his heels there for nearly five days with almost nothing to do but root through the collection of dusty scrolls that had been left behind by previous occupants since the only t.v. in the building was being used as a security monitor. During those five days, he received a letter from Gaara in which his friend had pointed out that he'd been twelve when he'd made the record he'd broken, and that Naruto was almost twenty, and a visit from Tsunade about some bizarre accusations that were coming from Iwa. He had sent a reply to Gaara telling him to stuff it, and had stormed off while Tsunade laughed until she cried when she heard about how those accusations had gotten started.
Eventually, after what seemed to be an interminable wait in which he'd learned more about seals than he had in his entire three years with Jiraiya, the five days were up, and there were just enough teams left for there to be preliminaries before the final portion of the exam. He was relieved since it would knock his little "teammates" off their high horse. Probably.
Actually, what had happened was a large number of teams had passed, making a Preliminary round a definite right up until the proctor, one Umino Iruka gave the little brats the opportunity to quit without bringing their teams down with them. Over half of the little bastards left then and there. Those who had remained had been the ones who had figured out that the chances of not drawing him as an opponent were in their favor, and had decided that they wouldn't chicken out.
The preliminaries weren't half as interesting as he remembered them being when he'd participated in these Exams the first time. It was probably due to the fact that he'd been going up against S Class and Kage Class nin since shortly afterward. Participating in said battles wasn't nearly as fun as watching them, and after seeing said battles, anything less seemed to be somewhat paltry in comparison.
Sparring with Ero-Senin when he was trying to draw out the Kyuubi had not been fun by any stretch of the imagination. He could only imagine what the poor brat who was forced to face him would feel when it was his turn. He'd go easy on the poor kid, but it was already clear that the brat was outclassed.
Eventually, after several battles in which a number of children gave it their all (the Genin who were older than him having already been eliminated in the forest despite the fact that at least one team had already taken this exact exam) it was his turn to go against some brat from Kiri. The poor boy's sensei ended up pushing him into the arena where he stood there opening and closing his mouth several times, too afraid to speak, before wetting himself.
Iruka-sensei finally took pity on the poor boy and called the match.
Based on the laughter that was coming up from the observation deck, Hyuuga Hiashi's discussion on proper behavior for a Hyuuga hadn't taken. He would be recommending that Hiashi give his wayward relative another lecture as soon as he was out of here.
Eventually, the contestants who would be participating in the third phase of the exams were lined up and the numbers were drawn. Fate apparently hated him, because he was up against Neji's little cousin.
At least the little brat wasn't laughing now.