Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other characters but my original character, nor do I own any techniques mentioned unless they were originally invented by me.
Konoha's Second Yellow Flash
Author's Note : Hey there, it's been a while since I got back to this. Sorry about that, but with my regular laptop on the frizz, I was kind of stuck for that time until I got my hands on another one cheap, so now we're back in business. As far as questioning my speed of updating, realize this. This is free, and I'm doing it for me and those who enjoy it and give decent feedback, not for the idiots who give one-liners to tell me to update faster. With that said, between classes, work, and finals last week, I'm surprised I'm getting chapters up for my stories as quickly as I did. Besides, even incorporating new elements to an existing story can be a pain in the ass, believe it or not. But I digress, onto real questions.
About how I summed up the Wave Arc rather hurriedly, I feel that I did things right, since I hate repeating things that already were shown on screen. Interaction between the characters could've happened more, but that can be easily rectified later on, and I'm no expert at making too many good romantic scenes, which I will do from time to time. As far as Zabuza goes, sure I could've gotten gory and all that, but I didn't feel like it, since it's not that kind of story. I want there to be good action and exciting fights, not a one-sided slaughter.
Next good point brought up would be Yuuki and Naruto sticking together so often. They have a good almost sibling-like relationship, that's why they're thick as thieves, so to speak. They've even got attack combos together for crying out loud. Seeing as how the Chunnin Exam Arc is next though, you'll get your wish, as they will spend time apart from each other and show off their own stuff, both in abilities and emotions. In concern with my OC's name, I picked it BECAUSE it's ambiguous, so that he can prove his worth. Think about it. Ichigo from Bleach has strawberry-colored hair, he has to be tough to get by without trouble. Naruto's name can be interpreted as either maelstrom, which is awesome, or fishcake, which is kind of demeaning. Even my own real name, which I won't divulge, unless you're bored enough to track me down and find out, by sound in my own language can be word-played to rhyme with urine and yogurt, totally not what they were intended to mean. Basically, to me, the name doesn't make the people, who they are and what they do make people recognize them.
Another interesting point brought up is the issue of having too many girls in the two characters' harem. I do realize that, and that's why as you'll see, I don't have them hitting on every girl they see. I mean, if you haven't noticed already, I didn't have Yuuki ask Ayame first. That's not to say he doesn't like her, but he CHOSE Kurenai first, meaning that they DO think about who they like and not mere womanizers. As far as the girls not willing to share part, I already thought of that. It's actually a factor that I will put in writing, since I want the romantic relationships in the story to be like real relationships. You know, girl gets pissed at the guy, guy squirms and tries to explain and apologize and all that. I don't exactly know real-life people with harems, nor do I care to since they're most likely pricks, but I'm trying to get that aspect of things to be close to the real thing. Well, I think that covers all the stuff I was asked. Enough babbling. Here's chapter 5, continue to R & R, thanks!
Chapter 5 : Wave Mission Aftermath, Women's Righteous Fury, Preparations Against Impending Evil, Chunnin Exams Begin
Hokage's Office, a Few Minutes After Team 7 Returned
Sarutobi was staring at his team, who brought back along with them 4 extra people. He rubbed his head and said, "I've said this before, you two will be the death of me. I ask you to do a simple C-rank mission and you bring back two missing-nin and two civilians." Naruto quipped with a smirk, "Correction jiji, one missing-nin and three civilians. Haku-chan's never been registered to be a real Kiri kunoichi, so she'll be starting as one fresh officially, even though she's much stronger than a genin." Said girl blushed at the compliment and nodded in agreement, and the Sandaime smirked as he said, "Another one of your girlfriends huh Naruto? You work quickly, now how about that mission report?" Getting a questioning look on Haku's face, Naruto simply gave her a look that said 'I'll tell you later.'
Kakashi complied with the Hokage's orders and began to recount what has transpired from when they left the village. As he got to mentioning about the two couples, he let out perverted giggles, and the respective people plus Zabuza gave him a glare. He ended by saying, "And with that, the mission was a success. Zabuza has accepted Yuuki-san's offer of protection. And the others came along for the reasons mentioned before. That concludes my report."
Sarutobi was about to dismiss them when Yuuki cut in, "Wait jiji, not quite. There's something else in concern with Zabuza and Haku. I'd like everyone but Sasuke and Sakura to stay for this." Said Uchiha retorted, "Why does the dobe (dead last) get to stay and we don't?" Sakura also agreed with Sasuke's sentiments, with Inner Sakura thinking 'That's right, cha! Why does only short and blonde get to hear?'
Yuuki simply replied, "Because I said so, and I outrank you. Good day." Sasuke was going to whine some more about him being an Uchiha, but with a nod of agreement from Sarutobi, the two had no choice but to leave the room grudgingly. He then turned to Yuuki and said, "Now, what were you going to tell me? This better be good."
Yuuki answered, "Well what you decide to do about Zabuza and Haku for one, if they're to become shinobi of Konoha or whatever. Also, I think you two better be the ones to tell them." He finished this looking at Zabuza and Haku. The young girl looked to her father figure, who nodded to allow her to speak. She turned to the Sandaime and said, "I have a kekkei genkai (bloodline limit)."
Now THIS got the old man's attention. He was about to rapid-fire questions all about said ability, but was cut off by Yuuki, "Hold it jiji. I was afraid you would act like this, that's why I offered her protection under my clan. She already has a thing for Naruto, so they'll probably end up marrying each other." Said two teenagers blushed at this, as he continued, "Regardless rather that will happen though, my offer stands, so nobody'll turn her into a breeding machine while I'm around. Also, once they actually marry, I'll just give them a different part of our clan compound to their children with her abilities, with them taking whatever name she wishes. Does that sound all right with you guys so far?"
The three that the matter concerned nodded, impressed at how well thought out Yuuki had this planned. Said man then said, "Sorry about that, I'm done. Do continue with what you were going to say." With that, the Hokage asked all about her unique ability and what it was capable of. After that line of questioning was over, he asked Zabuza, "So in your opinion, what rank would you give your daughter?"
The others were a bit surprised at how he referred to Haku, but they didn't seem to disagree. Said missing-nin replied, "Well, from what I've seen after I trained her myself, I'd say that she's stronger than me, if not for the fact that she's too kind-hearted to kill. So she's at the very least chunnin level. The one aspect that I couldn't teach her that she wanted to learn though, would be the healing techniques that medic-nin possess. She already has immense knowledge of the body, as she can use senbon needles to kill accurately or bring an enemy to a near-death state, like your subordinates have witnessed." The others nodded to this, and Sarutobi puffed out an air of smoke, "Very well, here's your hitai-ate and your chunnin vest. With your interest in becoming a medic, I'll schedule you to be tested tomorrow at the hospital. Once that's done, we'll see what happens according to rather you wish to start work there or become a field medic." Haku nodded with a grateful look on her face, accepting said items.
The Sandaime then turned to Zabuza and said, "As for you Momochi Zabuza, with you as a criminal sought out by many, even with the Namikaze Clan's protection, I will have to put you under probation. You are to stay in the Namikaze compound under house arrest for a month under the watch of ANBU before you will be officially enlisted as a Konoha-nin. Is that acceptable?" Naruto said to the man he defeated, "Don't worry about it. There's plenty of room around the compound for you to train. Who knows, with the month of training, you may put up a better fight the next time we spar." Zabuza snorted as he replied, "Whatever gaki. That sounds all right, and next time I'll grind you to dirt, just not enough to kill you, or Haku will kill me."
The others laughed at that, while the young couple blushed at what he was implying. The Hokage then turned to the young mother and child, "And what of you two? Why are you here?" Yuuki answered with a slight shade of red, "Tsunami and I kind of got together while we stayed at the old drunk's place. Inari's her son, so he's kind of my son now too."
Sarutobi laughed heartily at the embarrassed young man, "You two really do work fast. Naruto brought back a kunoichi with a kekkei genkai, and you got a young mother and her child. Boy if I didn't know better, I'd say that you got busy over there too."
The couple blushed heavily at that, and Yuuki retorted, "Jiji! We didn't do any of that. We agreed to wait until we get married before we even consider it…" He then looked down a bit, still uncomfortable with the matter being discussed. "Anyway, that makes Inari a Namikaze too, only in name though if you two don't mind." Tsunami replied with a tug in his arm and a smile, and Inari was only too happy to have a new father, as long as his mother was happy. He asked excitedly, "Does that mean that I get to become a kickass ninja too?"
The old man behind his desk couldn't help but smile at the way the young boy was acting, not unlike a young Naruto before he left on his training journey. "Not just yet Inari-kun. But you can start by attending the academy tomorrow. How does that sound?" Said boy replied with a loud "YATTA!", making the others cringe a little from the volume level. Naruto, who got the worst of it due to his enhanced senses from his tenant and girlfriend, commented, "Was I really like him when I was little?" Yuuki quipped, "You have no idea. In fact, you were probably even louder and more hyper." The blonde blushed in embarrassment by Yuuki's jab, while the others laughed at his expense.
Moments later, they left the office. Kakashi led Zabuza to the Namikaze compound at Yuuki's request, while the others headed to our heroes' favorite dining place. The Namikaze duo were excited to grab a bite there after being away for weeks on the mission, only to find Yugito standing outside, waiting with two angry Kurenai and Ayame.
Yuuki ignored to glares he was getting from said women for a moment and turned to the young jinchuriki, "Hey Yugito-san, guess you showed up here, knowing our habits so well huh? How did your mission go?"
The young woman replied with a smile on her face, "Eh, no sweat. A simple search and retrieve mission for some lame document is nothing to Nii Yugito. Oh and, I ran into Ero-sennin too."
This got the man's attention. He wanted to ask more, but noticing the growing killing intent he felt from the two ignored women plus Tsunami, he turned to Naruto and asked, "Naruto, why don't you and the others start by ordering something first? Oh and, you can introduce your 'Haku-chan' to Yugito-san too while you're at it." Said young man, who had an amused smile on his face a moment ago at watching his aniki's predicament, changed his expression to one of fear, as his own two love interests now glared at him in the same frightening manner. He led them and Inari to sit down in the stand, while inwardly cursing something about smartass uncles.
After smirking a little at paying his nephew back, Yuuki led the three angry women over to the side of the street. Kurenai started by asking, "What's this I hear about from this little brat-" pointing at Ayame "-about her being your first love Yuuki-kun? And you brought another one back with a kid too? What did you do while you were away? Did you go and have a kid with this floozy?" At that comment, the young mother had a slight vein showing on her forehead.
Ayame was the next to ask in an angry tone, pointing at Kurenai, "What does she mean when she said that she's your girlfriend Yuuki-kun? I thought we meant something to each other! And what does she mean a child? Did you really have that boy with this old hag?" Said woman's eyes were twitching at the insult.
Not able to take anymore, Tsunami asked while radiating a dangerous killing intent, "I understand when you told me that you would have to marry more than one woman Yuuki-kun, but what's up with these two with no manners? And I am NOT a floozy or old hag!" As she finished, the three women glared at each other, looking like they were ready to rip each other to shreds at the drop of a hat.
The lucky (or unlucky) young man sweatdropped and said, "Now why don't you all calm yourselves, and I'll answer all your questions." The three turned to Yuuki with the killing intent lowered somewhat, expecting a damn good explanation, making him cringe as what he was feeling was still enough to make Madara himself shiver in fear. "Ku-chan, Ayame-chan's always had a crush on me since she was little, so she's a bit possessive. Ayame-chan, I've considered asking you out when you become older, once you grew out of your fangirl phase, but you don't seem to be quite there yet." Said girl lowered her head at hearing that, a bit ashamed of herself. "And Nami-chan is somebody I met over in Wave while I was on that mission with Naruto and not before. Inari is her child with her dead husband. So no, I didn't have a kid with her, and she's not a floozy or old hag as you two so rudely accused her of." Both women's expressions softened, realizing that they let their anger get the best of them. "Nami-chan, I'm sorry, but in all that misunderstanding, they went over the line with the blurted out insults. Please forgive them."
Said young mother tugged his arm in reassurance and responded, "It's all right Yuuki-kun. I can understand why they jumped the gun. Just don't let it happen again." The two women nodded in agreement, the tension seemed to be resolved for now. Yuuki then spoke out, "Well with that out of the way, how about some food Ayame-chan? Nami-chan's cooking is great, but I miss the food you and your dad make." Ayame nodded with a blush on her face at the compliment and led them inside.
While that was going on, Naruto was in hot water of his own. After they made their orders, the three males couldn't help but cringe as the two girls radiated their chakra, with the blonde himself being the only thing between them. When the two girls picked up their first pair of chopsticks, they burned down to nothing and froze respectively. Kyuubi chuckled at the scene and commented from inside her boyfriend, 'You sure know how to pick them Naruto-kun. Fire AND ice.' 'Very funny Kyu-chan. Why don't you do something to help me?' 'I can always come out and explain the situation to them for you, but where's the fun in that?'
At the subtle mention of the CRL, the young man immediately turned to his two girlfriends. "Yugito-chan please calm down. I just met Haku-chan over in Wave on the mission, we didn't really go out yet, so please don't be so upset." He then explained to Haku about the CRL, and said that he had no choice, hoping to appease her. The two's expressions softened and told him not to worry, that they'll try to get along for his sake. Just as the talk came to a close, the food arrived. Noticing the others just walking in as well, they made their orders and enjoyed their meal. Inari was inwardly thankful that he didn't have to marry multiple girls for any reason after seeing what just happened to his two role models.
After the meal, Yuuki led the others off to home, after a promise for a date with Ayame in the recent future, leaving Naruto and Haku to get to know each other, much to Yugito's chagrin, but she complied since she had to report to her future in-law about information given by a certain super pervert anyway. The two teenagers were walking while holding hands, until they saw Naruto's two young teammates. It appeared that Sakura was asking Sasuke out again, with the same predictable reply, as they saw Sasuke turning and leaping away afterward, leaving the girl looking dejected. The two walked up to her and Haku asked, "He said no again huh?"
The pink-haired girl replied in a sad tone, "Yeah…" She looked up with fire in her eyes, holding her fist, "But I will get him to go out with me one of these days, shannaro!" Naruto smiled and said, "I'm sure you will, Sakura-san." As he finished saying that, he noticed a poorly disguised rock in rectangular shape. He remarked with a bored tone, "Boulders aren't square, Konohamaru."
At the moment his sentence, an explosion of excessive smoke happened. When it cleared, three children were seen coughing from the smoke. Once they stopped, Konohamaru remarked, "As expected from my rival!" The trio then introduced themselves in a comedic fashion as the Konohamaru Corps, even though Naruto already knew who they were and the two girls didn't care. The young leader of the bunch then asked, "Hey Boss, can you play ninja with us today?"
Naruto replied with a slightly annoyed look on his face, which softened at the sight at Haku's smile, "I was going to show Haku-chan around the village today, but since you're already here, why don't I do you one better? I will help you start training early on your academy techniques. What do you say?" His words were answered with cheers from the three children and smiles from Haku and Sakura.
Noticing the two girls next to their leader, Konohamaru asked in a teasing tone, "Hey boss. Are they your-?" He finished the question with his pinkie sticking out. Haku blushed at the question and Sakura looked a bit angry. Naruto smiled sheepishly as he answered, "I guess you can say Haku-chan is. Sakura-san's just my teammate though. She likes my other teammate-tebayo."
The young Sarutobi nodded in understanding with a seemingly solemn look on his face. "Yes, I see that you have good taste Boss. You're too good for somebody like her with no figure anyway." At hearing that, Sakura had a look of fury on her face and Naruto whispered to the boy, "Konohamaru, wrong thing to say. Run." With that, said boy started running for his life as Sakura gave him chase. The others chuckled at the silly scene and followed.
Konohamaru kept running until he was stopped by running smack dab into a figure. The person who he ran into seemed to be in a black overall body suit with cat-like ears and a Suna hitai-ate stitched on where his forehead was, with face paint on and a clunky object wrapped in bandages in his back. He picked the young boy up by the scruff of his neck and asked in a rude tone, "Oi gaki, why don't you watch where you're going?"
A blonde female who wore a white overall dress with fishnet underneath, her Suna hitai-ate worn in a small scarf around her neck and what appeared to be a giant fan called to her fellow Suna-nin, "Hey Kankuro stop. You're going to get us in trouble." Said young man retorted, "No way, this punk ran into me first, and I'm going to teach him a lesson." Just as he was about to carry out his words, a voice called out, "You may want to listen to her, you stupid cat freak who puts on makeup."
The two turned to the source of the voice, only to find Naruto with the others. The blonde girl was about to glomp Naruto, but stopped herself when she saw him holding Haku's hand. She settled for a quick glare at the girl and said to her fellow blonde with a smile, "Hey Naruto-kun! It's been a while."
Naruto kept his face expressionless as he responded, "It's great to see you and makeup boy too Temari-neechan, but could you let Konohamaru go first? It's not a wise idea to come into an ally's village and start trouble by attacking the Hokage's grandson." At hearing that, the two paled and Kankuro immediately dropped the boy, who immediately ran back to Naruto with a "Thanks Boss."
Kankuro quipped in an indignant tone, "It's face paint damn it! And stop calling me that." He was about to pick a fight with the blonde shinobi, when a voice from behind him said in a cold tone, "That's enough Kankuro."
The two turned to see a young man with red hair with the kanji of the word 'love' on the left side of his forehead above the respective eyebrow, in a similar outfit to Temari's, only with shorts and had a color mix of brown and white, along with a giant gourd on his back. He had his usual look of anger on his face, only without as much eye bag showing. Kankuro looked frightened, as he said, "Gaara. But they-" "Stop, or I'll kill both of you." He said in a seemingly angry tone, until his scowl turned into a smile as he said, "Just kidding. Hey Naruto, what's up?"
Said blonde returned the smile and replied, "Not much Gaara. What brings you guys here?" Not what you expected eh? Well you see, they met before today when they were younger when Yuuki brought him to Suna during their training trip. You'd be surprised how fixing the seal of a jinchuriki to let him sleep can lighten a guy up.
The redhead said, "The Chunnin Exam of course. I'd like to talk more, but it seems that we have somebody eavesdropping." Naruto nodded in agreement, having sensed the same chakra signature up on a tree. "Come out Sasuke. Don't hide like a coward. Get lost and take your emo-pants, or shorts that you're wearing with you."
Said Uchiha revealed himself from the tree branch that he was pathetically concealing himself in. He glared at Naruto thinking, 'Both he and the redhead with the gourd knew I was here the whole time, yet I couldn't sense the Suna guy at all until he showed himself. How? How can they be so strong?' Sakura screeched at Naruto, who dared to call his 'Sasuke-kun' an emo. The blonde calmly replied with one hand clearing his ear, trying to recover from the high pitch, "Sakura-san, I'll stop calling him that the day he stops doing everything that an emo does short of cutting himself." At hearing that, everyone but his two teammates chuckled, while said teammates glared at him some more.
Sasuke turned to Gaara and asked, "You. What's your name?" Gaara looked at the arrogant figure with a bored look and replied, "To you, no one, since I don't feel like telling you," He looked away from the Uchiha, who was seething in anger at the disrespect and turned to his friend, "Should we take this conversation elsewhere?" Naruto nodded in agreement, and turned to Sakura and the kids, and asked the pink-haired girl, "Sakura-san, could you please play ninja with them for me for today? I owe you a big favor for this, which I promise to return." Said girl was going to scream in denial of his request, but seeing his pleading look, she gave in and nodded in compliance.
Konohamaru and his companions whined, "But Boss-!" "Now I did say I'd help you train, and I won't go back on my word-tebayo. Just show up tomorrow at Training Ground 7 around this time tomorrow and we'll do it then OK? For now, just be good and go with the nice lady all right?" At the promise, the three shinobi-in-training gave in and was led off by Sakura.
Temari asked her fellow blonde, "That takes care of pinkie and the kids, but what about the other two?" Naruto replied while holding Haku's hand a little tighter, "Haku-chan's a chunnin, and I trust her. Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of her. As for my other teammate," He chuckled before continuing, "I don't think he's foolish enough to eavesdrop any further when we can sense his chakra just fine, don't you?" Haku and the Suna-nin nodded in agreement, and they walked off together, ignoring the self-proclaimed avenger. Sasuke was shaking at how they treated him as if he was unimportant, silently "Humph"-ed and leapt off elsewhere to brood.
The five walked back to the room at the inn that the Sand Siblings were staying in and sat down. Naruto spoke, "Well I think here is fine, now what did you want to tell me? Aren't things fine in Suna?"
Temari had a worried look on her face as she said, "It's fine, if you ignore the fact that my father's mind took a 180 after you left. After your uncle fixed Gaara's seal, he slept and became a more normal person, which really calmed the Suna population, despite the fact that Father didn't like it at first. Hearing that he retained his abilities did reassure him though. That's why he took Yuuki-san's word to heart and agreed to maintain the alliance with Konoha and refuse any alliances against your village."
Kankuro continued with an equally grim look, "But things changed one day after some shinobi from Sound showed up. Not long after a meeting between them and the Kazekage, he suddenly acted coldly to us again. He even started plotting to invade Konoha during the upcoming exam."
Haku gasped at hearing this, while Naruto had a slight frown on his face, "Hmm, so it looks like Ero-sennin's info was right. He heard some rumor that this new village's kage is Hebi-teme (snake bastard, you should know or you don't know jack about Naruto), and if Sound is allying with Suna to invade us, it would make sense if he was the one leading them. Heck, it's possible that your dad's not alive anymore. He's certainly strong enough to kill the Kazekage."
Gaara's anger flared just a bit, reminiscent of the lonely boy who was treated as a monster. He may not have liked his father, but even he didn't deserve to be killed by an S-class criminal. He spoke, "Don't worry Naruto. We may be ordered to help with the invasion, but our allegiance lies with you. You were the first person I met that understood my pain and treated me as a real person and friend. If anybody tries to attack your home, they will have to get through me."
Temari held Naruto's other hand with a blush on her face since Haku has been holding the other as she agreed, "That goes for us too Naruto-kun, we have to pay you back for bringing our brother back." Naruto responded with a grateful grin, "Thanks Temari-neechan." Little did he notice, Temari pouted at how he addressed her and she began to exchange a heated glare with Haku once she noticed the ice kunoichi doing so.
Naruto then stood up with his newest girlfriend and said, "Well I think we should go, I need to tell aniki about this. This will change the plans quite a bit. I'll see you soon OK? Let's go Haku-chan." Said girl nodded and they shunshined out, only Haku's was one of pure swirling wind.
A Certain Meeting Room, the Next Morning
The room was occupied by the Hokage and many jonin, who were discussing and deciding rather to recommend their own genin teams to participate in the upcoming exam on July 1st. The rookie 9's jonin sensei were about to recommend their own teams, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. Iruka was about to question their decision when two swirls of leaves and one of fire entered the room from behind them. They turned around to see the Namikaze duo and Yugito.
Kakashi looked at Naruto and asked, "I can understand why Yuuki and Yugito showed, but what're you doing here Naruto? This is a chunnin-and-above meeting." Naruto retorted, "You're one to talk sensei! You were the one who told us to meet on the training field this morning and came here yourself," The others sweatdropped at the mophead's antics, while Kakashi could only laugh nervously in reply, as his usual excuses would not help him here. "Besides, we're here to report to jiji about something important. I know why you're here already, just give me the registration forms and I'll go tell my teammates-tebayo."
At hearing that, Iruka cut in and said, "Now wait a minute Naruto! You and the others haven't been genin that long. Even if you think that you're ready, your teammates may not be." Naruto gave the chunnin a serious look, subtly releasing killing intent, making everyone in the room save 3 people cringe, "With all due respect Iruka-sensei, I've been more than ready after aniki trained me for 9 years, not to add on the fact that I defeated no-brow Zabuza single-handedly on my last mission," This got the attention of the other shinobi in the room. "Besides, my teammates wouldn't be too happy to find out that their former teacher was holding them back when our current sensei, no matter how lazy he is, thinks that we're ready." The masked shinobi agreed, saying that they're their subordinates now, not his students.
With that, Sarutobi handed Naruto 3 forms. The blonde genin nodded in acknowledgement as he took the said forms and shunshined out. The jonin relaxed since the killing intent was gone along with his leave. A random jonin commented, "That killing intent is far beyond genin. And how did he learn shunshin?"
Yugito scoffed at the question and said, "Meh, that's nothing. My Naruto-kun can use Hiraishin (Thunder God Technique) already, he just doesn't like chucking around that stupid tri-pronged kunai around too often." The other shinobi's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, while some had their jaws dropped at hearing that a mere genin knew the signature technique of their former Hokage, even he was said man's son.
Sarutobi coughed and asked Yuuki, "Anyway, what was so important that even you showed up Yuuki-kun?" Yuuki looked unusually serious as he replied, "It's as we feared jiji. The new village of Sound is planning to invade us during the upcoming chunnin exam. It looks like their kage is Orochimaru."
Everyone in the room gasped at hearing that as they started talking amongst themselves in concern. The Sandaime sighed at hearing that, his former student held a grudge against himself and the village after all. "This is very troubling. What else did you find out?"
The Namikaze continued, "From what I learned by what Yugito and Naruto found out from respectively Ero-sennin and the Kazekage's children, who will be entering the exam themselves, Suna seems to have allied with Sound against us. The Kazekage suddenly changed his mind from his agreement with me shortly after Sound sent somebody over to meet with him. The jackass probably got killed by Hebi-teme, and the one posing as him's probably a phony. They're expected to launch their attack during the finals."
Several jonin suggested that they cancel the chunnin exam. The Hokage said in disagreement, "No, I'm afraid we cannot do that. The invitations have already been sent out. Shinobi are coming from all over the other countries' villages. Doing so will make our village look weak. The exam must continue as scheduled. Instead, we'll double the securities we have originally intended. ANBU will be going around the outskirts of the village in round shifts rather than the usual routine. We'll also place more ANBU around the stadium come the finals in order to protect the feudal lords and civilians."
The others in the room nodded in confirmation to the orders. Iruka then asked, "But what about the genin? I still am not sure they're ready for such a test." The Sandaime replied, "Don't worry about Iruka. We'll just do what we've always done. I already have sent out certain people off to test them. We can see for ourselves how they do from here." As he finished speaking, he turned to his crystal ball, along with the others.
Training Ground 7, While the Jonin were Chatting
Meanwhile, Naruto appeared to see his already waiting teammates, who gave their usual reactions when their lazy teacher showed up late. He ignored the screech with slight difficulty and said, "Meh, calm down Sakura-san. Kakashi-sensei won't be showing up today. I'm just here because I'm giving you the chunnin exam registration forms that he was going to give us, but he was too busy to do it himself."
As his teammates took the form, Sasuke had an expression of excitement on his face, possibly getting the chance to face stronger opponents, like the redhead he saw with his blonde teammate the other day, while the pink-haired girl had a look of concern on her face at going into something this big so soon after they just became genin.
Naruto continued, "Now I'm guessing lazy-sensei was going to tell us that we could choose rather to accept or not, but you need to know that if one of us decides not to do this, the other two can't go either." Sasuke scoffed at this and spoke arrogantly, "Humph, as if I care. I'm going to do this, or I can't become stronger. You two better not hold me back." With that, he left, not noticing the frown on Naruto's face and Sakura's worried look.
Said kunoichi was about to leave herself when she was called back by Naruto, "Ne Sakura-san. I know you're worried because lazy-bones didn't bother to train us since we became genin. How about I help you train? I know you don't think I'm as strong as the teme (bastard), but aniki did train me, and that's better than nothing right?" She was hesitant at the offer, but since she didn't want to hold her teammates back, so she nodded and said "Arigato (Thanks) Naruto, I think I will take you up on that favor."
Naruto responded with a foxy grin, "Mojirou-dattebayo (Of course)! Now we'll be even." Just as he said that, the Konohamaru Corps showed up running towards them to take their leader up on his promise to train them. Suddenly, Moegi was grabbed by a masked shinobi from behind and leapt onto a tree branch, about to escape. He was suddenly slammed onto the trunk of the tree by rough force, causing the enemy to drop Moegi. The young girl screamed as she fell, until she was caught in their leader's arms. The Naruto who slammed the unknown ninja into the tree with one hand asked angrily, "Who the hell sent you? TALK!"
The enemy struck back and connected, only to hear a poof as the blonde in front of him disappeared. "Kage Bunshin? This kid's good. Really good." With that, the enemy released the henge only to reveal himself to be a Konoha chunnin. Before the others could ask what was going on, the chunnin leapt off through the trees.
Naruto scoffed and said, "Damn it, I guess jiji sent him to pre-test us before the real exam. Are you guys OK?" He asked this as he turned to his 'subordinates.' At hearing the reply that they were fine, minus the few tears shed by Moegi of fear, the blonde began to teach them the basic academy techniques, with some help from Sakura, since he couldn't do a normal Bunshin himself. After that, he began training his fellow teammate as well, showing her various control exercises among other things.
The others in the meeting room moved back at seeing the confrontation, after seeing the tests to the other 7 rookies as well. Yuuki commented, "Well, I think that covers that. They're all ready, although my nephew makes them all look like jokes." The other jonin nodded in agreement, while Kakashi and Asuma smiled sheepishly, knowing that they needed to do more. Kurenai elbowed her boyfriend half-heartedly for the jab.
A week later, we see Team 7 entering the school building where the exam would take place together. A few bullies were blocking some genin from entering the exam room, saying that they were weak and the exam would be too tough for them. Much to his teammates' dismay, Sasuke pointed out the genjutsu (illusion technique) on the room sign out loud, even if he did praise Sakura for noticing this first, much to the girl's surprise.
The leader of the bullies was about to attack Sasuke, only to have it intercepted by what appeared to be a mini-Gai. He proceeded to ask Sakura out, freaking out said girl who at the sight of his thick wiggling eyebrows, immediately hid behind Naruto and declined. The young man slumped down in disappointment, until a female scolding voice came from behind him.
The others turned to see a young brunette girl with her hair up in buns, and a young man who appeared to be a Hyuuga next to her. She yelled out again, "Lee? Are you listening? What did we say about holding back our techniques?" Lee apologized, saying that he forgot in all the excitement. The Hyuuga looked at Sasuke with interest and asked, "What's your name?"
The Uchiha blew him off, saying that it's rude to ask without introducing himself first. The two glared at one another, while the other two-thirds of Team Gai observed Team 7. The girl named Tenten first took a look of the female on the team, who despite her girlish looks, seemed to hold an air of confidence about her, signs of someone who's gone under training. She thought that Sasuke was cute, but his demeanor reminded her of her fellow teammate Neji. As she looked Naruto however, she blushed as he gave her a foxy grin when their eyes met. She also noticed all the storages that he seemed to carry around his belt, not unlike herself, wondering what he carried in them.
Lee spoke excitedly, "You are Uchiha Sasuke, are you not?" Said shinobi replied, "I am, so what about it?" Lee continued, "I look forward to facing you. I'd like to see how my hard work will do in a matchup against the Sharingan." The Uchiha responded to his teammates' surprise, "I look forward to testing them as well. I unlocked them earlier this week."
At hearing this, Naruto pulled Lee over in the corner and whispered, "Fuzzy-brows, I think you should wait until the exam starts. Besides, if you wait I can give you a nullifier so that he can't go and copy everything you do." Lee had a look of surprise and asked loudly, "You can do that? That'll be great Sasuke's teammate! Then I can truly test out my flames of youth without a disadvantage!"
Everybody in the vicinity cringed at the volume of Lee's declaration of 'youth' again. Naruto after shaking the ring in his ears out of his head, said, "Yeah that's great. I think we should go now, the exam's about to start." The bunned girl started to drag her teammate off. As he was dragged off, he yelled out to the blonde, "I look forward to facing you too, student of the Proto Flash Naruto-kun!" A look of surprise showed on Lee's teammates' faces for a moment, before they walked on upstairs. After they left, Team 7 recomposed themselves and headed off in the same direction, not noticing the looks of interest of the other genin. After they left, the bullies released their henge to show themselves to be more chunnin. One commented, "So that's the last Uchiha and the Yondaime's kid huh? Things should be interesting this year."
Team 7 walked up to the door of the exam room, only to meet Yuuki and Kakashi. Kakashi gave his same speech about how he was glad they all showed together, and Sakura said, "Sensei, we know already. Naruto told us." The mophead laughed sheepishly and Yuuki said, "Don't worry about that. I know you're all ready, even Mr. Avenger and Sakura. Naruto is my apprentice, and he decided to train you, he wouldn't give you anything less than his all. Now do us both proud and kick the other kiddies' asses! Make them know that they're no match for you!" The three nodded at his words, and they entered the exam room. Their greatest challenge yet was about to begin.