I don't own Naruto
The trio gathered around the entrance to the Academy.
"Everybody ready for this?" Naruto asked.
The two others have terse nods of assent, both anxious for different reasons. Sakura was still conscious of the fact that she was physically weaker than most of her peers, while Haku didn't want to fail and hinder her teammates' progress, particularly Naruto's.
They made their way up to the second floor, where groups of milling genin were watching an altercation between a genin in a hideous green jumpsuit and an unremarkable Konoha nin. The genin was thrown back and told he wasn't fit for the exams, as he slunk away with his teammates. Naruto noticed they immediately walked upstairs, to the real third floor. His eye had picked up the illusion immediately, and his teammates picked up on it through experience of genjutsu, Sakura's eye being covered and completely unnecessary.
As they made their way to the third floor, they heard the brash voice of Kiba telling the disguised chunin to drop the genjutsu and withheld groans.
"You there!"
Naruto stopped as he was accosted by the green-clad genin from before.
"You are my sensei's eternal rival's genius student, are you not? I must spar with you!"
"Oh, Lee-san, was it?" Naruto said. "Yeah, we don't really have time for this, do we? Maybe this would be better some other time."
"Ooooh! I see your sensei's hip attitude has rubbed off on you! But I will not be denied this chance to spar with a genius!"
Sakura sweatdropped at that proclamation, just as Lee jumped into the air and attacked with a spinning kick.
"Konoha Whirlwind!" he shouted.
Naruto had been tracking his movements and, familiar with the Strong Fist style, ducked under the kick and swept Lee's leg when he landed. The boy was wearing something that felt like solid steel leg guards and Naruto winced as he connected, but powered through. Lee lazily took the hit, flipping around in mid-air and throwing a debilitating strike towards his opponent's forearm. Naruto slithered around the strike and slapped out at the arm with a chakra strike to the bicep. The hit connected and Lee winced, but he was otherwise undeterred.
"That's crazy, he's still attacking with the same arm," Sakura said. "That was like a juken strike - he shouldn't be able to channel chakra there at all."
"Lee is unable to use chakra at all," the pale-eyed teammate said. "Juken strikes affecting his internal organs are the only way to stop Lee. He has so little chakra that he relies solely upon muscle strength, so cutting chakra to his limbs slows him down none."
"I'm Tenten, and he's Neji," their other teammate supplied.
"I'm Sakura, and this is Haku. Wow, they're still at it?"
Lee and Naruto had continued sparring while the others had been talking. Naruto had worked a lot on his speed so that he could keep up with his Sharingan, but he was under no false pretences - without his eye he would have been utterly slaughtered by the other genin.
"Yosh, that is fantastic Naruto-san," Lee panted as he leaned out of an eardrum slap. "You are truly a worthy rival!"
"I could say the same about you, Lee. Your strength and speed are fantastic. And I hear you don't use chakra?"
Lee nodded and jumped back, falling out of a ready position.
"Hai, that is correct. Thank you for the spar. I had considered using my forbidden technique, but you treated me with respect, and I would not want to cause either of us serious injury. Shall we do this again sometime?"
"I'd like that, Lee," Naruto said. "Now let's get to the exam. Gai-san allowed Kakashi-sensei to teach me the opening kata to the Strong Fist, but I can clearly see there's a lot more to learn to use it properly in combat."
The two teams made their way to the exam room, where Gai and Kakashi were waiting for them.
"Fighting, Lee?" Gai intoned, seriously.
"Just a spar, sensei," Lee mumbled. "I wanted to see if your eternal rival's student was also a genius."
"And what did you find?" the teacher asked, voice filling with an ominous rumble.
"That he uses both his genius and hard work. His first Goken movement speaks of months of practice."
"Lee!" the man cried, enveloping the boy in a hug. "You have found your own eternal rival! I could not be prouder! How do you defeat a genius who understands the value of hard work?"
"You must work even harder!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"LEE!"
Neji turned away from the two as their hug turned into a sunset.
"I work hard..." he mumbled.
"Glad to see you're not taking everything seriously," Kakashi smiled at his team. "And it's good you're all here together. You can only pass this part of the test as a team."
"We should've known you'd have another teamwork test before we could get here," Sakura said. "Any advice?"
"Just be yourselves. And trust in each other. Now, I've got to get going. Hikari, you've been a naughty girl..." he muttered, as he whipped out a little book and wandered off.
The six genin walked inside the room, only to meet a collective killing intent from most of the room's members. The other two rookie teams were there, reacting to the aggression differently. Kiba was the worst affected, as he was mouthing off to try and claim a high pack position.
"So the loser's team arrives," he boasted. "How long are you going to last here, dobe?"
"Huh, you say something Kiba?" Naruto asked.
"So hip!" Lee shouted, surprising the others.
"You lot might want to calm down if you don't want to paint a target on your backs," a silver-haired teen cautioned, as he got up from his desk and walked towards them. "I'm Kabuto, and these people can be pretty brutal towards annoying people."
"How old are you, thirty?" Kiba asked. "How many times have you taken the exam?"
"I'm seventeen," Kabuto glowered. "And... yeah, this is my seventh exam. But the good thing is that I have data on nearly all of the participants. Ask me about anyone you're interested in."
"Naruto, the eyebrow guy, those creepy Rain guys and the ones with that weird symbol," Kiba said.
"Ah, it's harder when you don't use names. I like that."
The boy shuffled through a deck of cards.
"These are my ninfo cards, I have the skills of hundreds of shinobi recorded in them. I just channel chakra into them and... Voila, Uzumaki Naruto. B-ranked Konoha genin? Interesting. 28 D-ranked missions, 2 A-ranked, with his defeat of an A-ranked missing nin during. Heir to the Uzumaki and Senju fortunes and wielder of the Raijin no Ken."
"I'd appreciate it if you were quieter with that information," Naruto said. "As we're all Konoha nin I don't mind, but..."
"Oh of course, Uzumaki-san," Kabuto said. "Rock Lee. Non-ranked genin, 146 D-ranked missions, 12 C-ranked. Teacher is Might Guy, Konoha's resident taijutsu master, and he is the sole other practitioner of the Strong Fist style. Unable to use chakra... Wow.
Next, the three Ame ninja. I don't know their names, but the one wearing a rebreather is a water ninjutsu specialist who focuses on area control and concealment jutsu. The one with the umbrella strapped to his back is a wide area-effect ninja, and that umbrella can shoot out hundreds of senbon. The girl is a genjutsu specialist with medical training. Effectively, one turns the battlefield into a swamp and hides, one confuses the enemy with genjutsu and leaves, then the last one blasts the area with ninjutsu and weapons, while the first one mops up any survivors. Not a particularly novel combination, but an effective one.
The Sound ninja are from a new village hidden in the Land of Rice. Since they're Sound's first batch of genin, they're probably pretty weak-"
"Hey!" One of the Sound nin had stood up and was walking towards Kabuto with purpose. He wore a metal gauntlet that was studded with holes and punched with it towards Kabuto. The older genin stepped out of the blow's range, but ended up still doubled over, blood trickling out of his ears.
"Nobody insults Sound. Nobody. We're going to mop up these pathetic exams and show everyone our true strength."
"Dosu, sit back down, you've made your point," the sole girl on their team pleaded.
"It's fine, I want all of these tree hugging fuckers to know the truth. The truth is th-"
"The truth is that if you don't sit back down right now I'll throw you out so hard you'll be back to your precious Sound before you can even say 'chunin'"
The jonin proctor finally entered the exam room, flanked by five chunin.
"This is my portion of the exam and my word is absolute. I am Morino Ibiki, and I will be your torturer today. There will be no physical violence. There will be no talking. There will be one sheet of paper for each of you and ten questions. You will answer nine now and I will ask the tenth at the end. You will be issued ten points each. You will lose one point for each wrong answer and one point if you are caught cheating. If you are caught cheating three times you and your team will be failed."
He paused, waiting until the chunin proctors had passed out all of the exam papers.
"You all have your papers. Any questions?"
"Yeah," an Iwa genin blurted out. "Why d-"
"Iwa Team 2, disqualified," Ibiki interrupted. "I said no talking. Any more questions?"
The room was silent as the Iwa genin and his teammates were escorted from the room.
"Good. Then you may begin."
The sound of pencils scratching filled the air as the amassed genin started to work. Naruto scanned the test paper, brow furrowing at the questions. They were hard. Perhaps impossible. Many required specific and detailed knowledge that he doubted a standard chūnin would have on them. Some required subjective judgements that depended on other factors not stated in the question, making the right answer impossible to determine. He looked around. Nearly everyone was as puzzled as he was, other than three Konoha genin he didn't know and Sakura. Figures.
Sweeping his eyes over the three genin, his Sharingan picked out a few details his normal eye had missed - smudges of makeup here, striped clothes to make them look shorter than they would otherwise, hair dye slightly running due to sweat... AH! They weren't genin. They were chūnin plants, here with the right answers. This was a test about cheating, not about knowledge. The fact that cheating wasn't an instant disqualification gave that away.
Without even needing handseals, Naruto created a shadow clone. The technique had been the first he'd bothered to master (funnily enough, by making shadow clones create shadow clones who created shadow clones...) and he could now project and then condense his chakra anywhere within a hundred feet. The clone he conjured just outside the window lived a short life before it hit the ground and exploded, but that was the signal.
With the clone's memories transmitted to all active clones, the ones he'd made before the exam sprang into action. Clones transformed into small geckos, insects and squirrels stormed into the room to perform their assigned tasks. Naruto clones looking like nondescript ninja walked into the bathrooms and occupied stalls.
The normal henge could be recognised by a skilled enough shinobi. It merely cast an illusion over the body and could be detected like any other genjutsu. Naruto's clone were different. A shadow clone was the condensed chakra of the user, in the user's shape. A kunai shadow clone is the chakra of the user, in the shape of a kunai. Both were very real until they dispelled, and the only way a ninja could tell a clone apart from Naruto was by destroying it.
So he'd experimented. Now he could form chakra constructs of other people, animals, and weapons, nearly as easily as clones of himself. A shadow sword may not have been good for prolonged combat, but if he was without a weapon and saw an opportunity, he could summon one into his hand and go for the kill. The other uses were even more diverse. A gecko is not as intelligent as a human. Not close. But by providing a somewhat-similar copy of his brain, shrinking it, and then making a shadow gecko, Naruto could perform limited, unobtrusive, reconnaissance.
The geckos swivelled their eyes and peered at the fake chūnin's tests. They were still filling them out, but one was one the eighth question. A few of the geckos dispelled and Naruto received the memories of the questions. His shadow creatures could also be made with one Sharingan eye, as it seemed to be a real part of him now. The photographic memories of those Sharingan were still in full effect.
He looked over a Sakura, who seemed to be doing fine, before glancing at Haku. She'd worked it out as well, and was using subtly-placed ice mirrors to try and view the chūnin's tests, but it wasn't going so well. He sent a brief spike of killer intent towards her, which she reacted to instinctively. When their eyes met, Naruto caught her in a genjutsu.
In Haku's point of view, Naruto simply stood up, walked over, and placed a mostly-completed test in front of her.
"Memorise these," he said. "They're the answers from those chūnin plants over there."
She nodded and quickly burned the answers in her memory before looking back up at her teammate. He had disappeared, was back in his seat, and she could feel the light touch of his chakra gone from her system.
'Now for some fun,' Naruto thought. The geckos all dispelled, at which point the squirrels and insects made their move.
Perhaps slightly vindictively, the squirrels went for some of the Rain nin, the others seeking out the strongest-looking foreign ninja. A squirrel climbed up the loose trouser leg of one Kumo ninja and bit him on the inner thigh.
"Ow, what the f-"
"Kumo Team 4, disqualified," came the vicious bark of Ibiki.
Some of the stronger ninja identified the threats, stamping them out before they made contact. Still, three teams down.
Then the bugs attacked. None of the Konoha ninja were affected, but some of the other nin were stung and bitten in awkward places. One Rain nin was stung in the neck and then heard the insect buzzing away. Rather than catching it or using any ninja grace, he reflexively slapped out and managed to strike Tenten in the face.
"Physical contact. Rain Team 1 disqualified!"
Shino got some dirty looks by the Rain team as they were escorted out, and Naruto ended his assault on the competition. He'd checked Sakura's paper and she'd managed to correctly work out the answers to the questions he'd copied, and he assumed everything else was right.
"Everybody, pens down. This is the end of this part of the test," Ibiki said.
"Sand Team 3, disqualified. You were still writing."
The man cleared his throat.
"Now comes the final question. Before I ask it, you may quit right now and there will be no penalty."
The room was silent.
"However, if you choose to take this question and get it wrong, you will be banned from the chūnin exams forever. I'm sure you're wondering how this is possible; other teams must have taken this question and gotten it wrong before. Well I tell you this; this is my first year as proctor, and you're damn unlucky to have me. Anyone who wants to quit now may do so. Any questions?"
Naruto was dying to expose the flaw in the man's logic. Kiba was dying to shout at him for such a ridiculous rule. But both of them kept their mouths shut, knowing what happened to people who actually tried to ask questions.
A third of the remaining genin were led out, and after a two minute period whereby nobody forfeited, Ibiki sighed.
"I guess this is it. No more dropping out. Well, I have this to tell you; you all pass!"
The room broke out into murmurs.
"Yeah, it's as simple as that. As you gain rank, you gain responsibility, and the difficulty of your missions increases accordingly. There can be unforeseen mission parameters, rogue nin, information asymmetry between you and the client... and you will have to make the decision whether to go ahead or whether to cancel your mission. Cancelling your mission may make you look weak, and affect your village's reputation, but you will live to fight another day. If you go ahead, you face uncertainty, even death. Don't feel superior to the people who forfeited. I could have just as easily decided to fail all of you and pass the people who forfeited. If this was a mission you just undertook, you got lucky and survived. You could have easily been unlucky, and dead. This," he lifted up his forehead protector, showing a horrifically scarred head. "Is the price of a mission gone wrong. I was tortured for five days on a mission gone sour. I learnt a lot. Eventually, I paid things back threefold." He grinned. "Now your-"
He was interrupted by a purple blur crashing through the window. Four kunai shot out of the blur and embedded themselves in the wall and ceiling, supporting a banner.
"Super sexy single second exam proctor, Mitarashi Anko, reporting for duty!" she shouted, causing Team 7 to groan.
"Don't you groan you little shits!" she yelled. "You're meant to be supportive! Hey guys, these are my super cute apprentices. Any genin team who can bring me all of them, restrained but not killed, has an automatic pass for the second stage of the exam. Safe zone is just outside training ground 44. See you all there!"
She disappeared, causing a lull as everybody took in what had just been said.
"Get 'em! A random Grass ninja shouted, and everyone blurred into action. Naruto body flickered over to Sakura and hoisted her over his shoulder before turning to Haku, who'd already knocked an unknown Konoha genin unconscious. With a shared nod, they both disappeared in the body flicker, leaving the room in disarray.
"Well you heard her!" Ibiki barked. "Get lost before I start disqualifying people!"
Team 7 were the first to arrive at the Forest of Death, where Anko was waiting with a grin.
"Thought that'd drive a firecracker up your arses," she said. "You need to celebrate what an awesome teacher you have, otherwise you'll hurt my feelings."
"Yeah, sure sensei," Naruto deadpanned. "I noticed you didn't chew Ibiki out for letting nearly half of us pass."
"Well it's better than I was expecting. He's a sweetie, really, but he brought out the big guns for the exam. I'm so proud," she sniffed. "Anyway, how's it going with Snake Style?"
"I'm getting better," Sakura said. "I'm starting to grow muscle tone while keeping my flexibility. Naruto's cutting speed for strength."
"Hey, you make it sound intentional!" he moaned. "The stronger I get, the harder it is to condition myself for flexibility. Might Guy doesn't need to be able to do backbends..."
"That's because his style emphasises crushing strength and he's mastered it, twerp," Anko said. "Anyway, he can, too. What about that wind thing you were working on?"
"Oh, you'll see if you keep watching us," Naruto grinned. "You'll enjoy it."
"Alright then. They're mostly here. Listen up, brats!" Anko shouted. "You're going to sign this waiver if you want to continue in this exam. It states that if you are injured or killed, Konoha is not at fault. And some of you will be killed. All three team members signing a waiver gets you a scroll. These scrolls come in two forms - heaven and earth. To complete this task, you must reach the tower in the centre of the forest with one scroll of each and then open them together in the foyer. These scrolls simulate secret materials you've been assigned to deliver, so no reading them! You have five days to get the right scrolls and reach the tower. Leaving the forest will result in disqualification. All three team members must reach the tower at the same time and alive. When the gong sounds, you will begin. The second gong you hear will mark the hour before the exam is to end. The third gong will mark the end. Anybody still in the forest at that point will be escorted out by ANBU. I think that's it; anything else is up to you."
"But how do we get the other scroll?" Kiba asked.
Anko stared at him, then cast a beseeching look at Shino. The stoic boy bonked him over the head.
"Thank you. I'm not going to answer that idiotic question. Now line up for your scrolls."
The genin formed queues to sign the waivers and get the scrolls, then they were led to entrance gates around the forest.
After about ten minutes of waiting, the gong was struck and the gates flung themselves open.
"Hard right!" Naruto shouted, and the team immediately ran along the inside of the forest boundaries, following the wall to get to the nearest gate. After about a two minute sprint, they found the next gate.
The team was from Rain, and were clearly stuck and arguing about something.
"You saw him, though? And heard that silver-haired guy? He has Aoi-sensei's sword."
"That means nothing," another said. "He could just have another Konoha artefact. They have enough of them."
Team 7 squatted in the trees while they observed the team. Sakura cast one of her subtle genjutsu over the team, making them oblivious to their surroundings. With a nod to Naruto, she watched as he dropped to the ground and plunged his hands to the earth. The forest floor liquified and turned into a swamp, drawing the Rain genin down until only their heads were visible. Naruto slipped entirely underground before reappearing with a scroll clutched in his hand.
"Easy enough. And now we have both. What shall we do with these guys? Should we kill them?"
"We could just throw them out of the forest," Sakura said. "They'd be disqualified."
"No," Haku said. "You heard. One of them wanted to hunt down Naruto-sama. For our safety, they need to die."
"I think you're right," Naruto said. "But Sakura, you've never killed before, have you?"
The kunoichi shook her head.
"I think it's best that the first time not be in cold blood," Naruto said. "I'll deal with it."
That said, he sent a vicious kick at the heads of each ninja in the ground, breaking their necks.
"It was a good genjutsu Sakura, they didn't feel a thing," he commented. His teammate looked a little pale. "Might as well see what they have on them," he mused.
They recovered the bodies and stripped them of equipment, even though they were all well-stocked. Now that Naruto could seal items, there was no excuse for travelling light.
Their objective complete, they made haste to the tower, avoiding ambushes with their above-average perception and skirting around other teams. They were more than three quarters of the way there when-
"Dodge! Inbound jutsu!" Naruto shouted.
A burst of wind drove through the trees, halting their motion and blasting Haku, who'd been in midair, away. Naruto and Sakura had been able to secure themselves to branches with chakra.
"Kukuku... Both so skilled. You remind me of a younger me."
One of the Grass ninja from before strutted into view, smirking at the two genin.
"Sakura, uncover your eye. This guy means business."
"Guy?"
"Yeah. It's some type of concealment. I can't see through it, but I can smell him. Definitely male. And... snakes. I think it's Orochimaru."
"So clever," the voice from below said. "A pity knowing who I am doesn't help you in the slightest."
The missing nin peeled off the skin concealing his face, revealing the pallid white skin of Konoha's second-most famous traitor.
"A little test is in order."
He blurred into motion, appearing between the two of them in an instant and aiming a palm strike at Sakura's torso. She attempted to weave out of the way but was still clipped, sending her hurtling off the branch and into another trunk, hitting it and sliding to the floor.
"Snake Style? Not bad, but I've no time to waste on her. Tell me, Naruto, where do you see yourself in five years?"
"Uh," Naruto deadpanned. "I didn't realise this was an interview."
"It is. Of sorts. I can give you unimaginable power. The likes of which this village never would. They fear you. You becoming their strongest ninja will never happen because they'll never let it."
"Didn't you become one of the Sannin while you were in Konoha? It seems they train people pretty well."
"Yes, but I was just a random orphan. You are the container of their most feared enemy."
"So what, you want me to turn missing nin?"
"I want you to accept power, and take my mark."
"No offence, but I've heard some pretty fucked up stuff about you from Anko," he said, looking around to gauge his teammates' conditions.
"They won't be of any help. One is unconscious, the other occupied. It appears you need some convincing."
The Snake Sannin leapt into action, shooting a clod of mud out of his mouth that spread into a sticky net. Naruto quickly substituted with a branch and folded dual chakra to his throat.
"Combination Technique: Magma Flow River!"
Superheated mud spewed towards his enemy, who simply dropped backwards off the branch, putting them both on the ground.
"I see sensei's been teaching you his signature techniques," Orochimaru commented, idly sidestepping a drip of liquid rock from above. "But he won't teach you everything. He doesn't even favour you above me."
Naruto didn't bother with rebuttal.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
The concentrated blast of wind reached Orochimaru just as the man made a strange handseal. The technique disappeared completely, leaving the Sannin untouched.
"Surprised? This is his secret technique. The one he will never teach you, because he will never value you as much as he did me. But I will teach you. You've learned well from Anko, but all she knows, I taught her. I can teach you far more. Everything. Now, none of these children's tricks. Come at me with everything you have and I will let you flee. Hold back and you will die."
Naruto stared into the Sannin's eyes, realising the truth in his statement. He drew the Raijin from his waist, channelling chakra through it and letting the lightning blade extend with a hiss.
Orochimaru looked on, entirely unimpressed, but his eyes widened when Naruto didn't stop.
He channelled wind chakra into the blade, letting the wind and lightning mix so that the Raijin's original nature was overpowered, turning the blade into an invisible shimmer of concentrated cutting power. The blade began to whine like a steaming kettle as the boy swung it back and forth experimentally before continuing with his ministrations. He then pumped fire chakra into the weapon, igniting the wind and causing a bright flash of flame. When Orochimaru's eyes cleared, nearly instantaneously, the blade was now keening in an uncomfortable high pitch, glowing in a bright white.
"Channelling three natures at once in such a limited space?" Orochimaru chuckled. "I was right about you, boy."
Naruto darted forward, leading with his left eye, as everything turned into a blur for his natural eye. He let the whining blade trail behind him as he ran, tensing for the moment that he got within range.
At ten feet away from Orochimaru, Naruto's arm whipped forward, driving the Raijin forth with a powerful thrust. The snake's eyes widened in surprise as Naruto made his attack out of the sword's normal length and he scrambled to dodge. He was too late, however, as the force of the thrust combined with a surge of chakra caused the blade to grow within milliseconds, piercing straight through the traitor and another fifteen feet to the tree behind him. The smell of ozone and burnt flesh surrounded the two as the Sannin's insides were seared within seconds and his body crumbled to ash. The tree behind him exploded, the sap superheated to the point where it simply erupted.
Naruto stopped the flow of chakra to the blade in exhaustion before slumping to the ground. Channelling three different types of chakra, even with the Raijin's seals to convert pure chakra into lightning chakra, was straining, and the final surge may have burnt out a few of his tenketsu. They'd heal, of course, but it would be painful.
"Kukuku, you exceed all my expectations, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru said, rising up from where he had been hidden in the ground. "I barely had time to replace myself with a mud clone; even I couldn't have survived that. You have indeed impressed me, and I shall give you your reward."
Naruto feebly raised his sword to guard, but the Sannin batted it aside and bit down on the blond's neck, hard. It felt like a bee sting; he could feel something flowing into him, but it sapped his strength and drove him deep into darkness.
"When you want more power," the Sannin said, his voice penetrating through the haze. "Come to me."
"Come closer, boy," the voice grumbled.
"Fox?"
"It's Kurama, you know that. You've been tainted."
"But I'll heal, right?"
"You know what happens when an odd seal is applied to an even seal, correct? The Cursed Seal of Heaven is a single spiralled seal, and is currently interacting with your father's eight trigram seal. The imbalance is tearing you apart."
"So what do we do?"
"I can rectify it. Since you've been learning seals, I could edit the cursed seal with a second spiral that would purify the chakra it emits. This would regain balance within your body, but there may be changes."
"How so?"
"I need you to tear off a part of my seal. I need to be able to channel at least three tails of chakra into your body to do this."
"Will this weaken the seal?"
"Of course, but I can't break free before you've promised to free me anyway. The seal won't degrade that fast, and I hold true to my promises."
"Alright. On this, I trust you."
The pale shadow of Naruto stumbled over to the gates where the nine-tailed fox lived. With a shaking hand, he tore an entire corner off the seal and let it flutter to the ground.
"Excellent, now I can-"
"YOU!"
The booming voice came from behind Naruto and he turned around slowly.
Standing before him, looking every inch the warrior, was the Fourth Hokage. His father.
"What have you done to my son?" he shouted, tears beginning to leak from his eyes.
"He's helping me!" Naruto said. "Orochimaru-"
"Not him," Minato interrupted. "You!"
The Yellow Flash threw himself across the intervening space, tumbling into Naruto and throwing them both backwards. The Fourth Hokage started pummelling his son as hard as he could.
"He was only a boy! He had so much potential! I gave everything for him!"
The reality of the mindscape shifted as Minato called a tri-pronged kunai to his hand, preparing to plunge it into his son. Just as his hand reached its zenith-
SNAP!
"Well that was satisfying," the fox grumbled. It licked it's lips as the battered boy trembled.
"I wouldn't worry about it," the fox said. "He must've left a chakra imprint of himself to keep me in check if I ever tried to escape. But bijuu chakra is corrosive; it must have changed his chakra somehow. Don't worry, your father didn't actually hate you. I'm going to get to work. Sit tight."
Choking red chakra surged from the cage and was funnelled into the red pipes lining the walls of the sewer. Some of the ancillary seals kicked in to filter it out, but the sheer volume of chakra burnt them out quickly.
"Don't worry, I'll repair those too," the fox muttered.
The pipes ran off into the distance, with the red chakra following. When the chakra had permeated his body, the cage room started to glow with an eerie red light.
"Found it," Kurama said. "It was lurking around your brainstem."
A grotesque creature was dragged into the cage by arms of red chakra and dropped straight in front of the Kyūbi.
"Who do you think you are?" it muttered. "Only Orochimaru-sama may command me."
"A proprietary design," the fox muttered. "Kid, you'd be all over this if you were fully conscious. This is a mixture of a biological agent, foreign chakra and a condensed sealing matrix. The interaction gives it the semblance of life, but it's really no more than a recording. I just need to-"
The fox clamped its jaws around part of the monster's head and ripped, pulling part of the creature into its jaws and to its belly.
"That'll break down the nasty bits. Now I need you to channel some chakra, kit."
Naruto feebly flushed chakra around his system, hands in the ram seal. The red light in the pipes receded to let a weak amount of blue light flow into the room. One of the Kyūbi's tails lashed out, latched onto the blue chakra, and forced it into the creature.
With a strangled scream it fell to the ground, undergoing a painful metamorphosis. The bulbous additions and freakish limbs receded, until the creature morphed into something that looked sort of like Naruto, but with dark skin, orange hair, and a much higher muscle mass.
"What must I do, master?" the creature asked the insensate boy.
"He needs your chakra," the Kyūbi said. "Otherwise he will die of system shock."
"I do not obey you, but you appear correct. So I shall serve."
Haku was nervously guarding her two teammates in a lean-to made of ice, propped against a tree. Both were still unconscious, but Sakura showed signs of recovering quickly. Naruto she knew nothing about.
"Hey, you in there! Open up before we blast this ice wall down!" a voice shouted from outside.
Haku peered through the ice, seeing one of the sound teams fanned around the tree, brandishing weapons.
"We're here to kill the blond one," one of them shouted. "Give him up and we'll let you leave."
"Can it Dosu," another said. "No prisoners. You know how the boss operates.
"Ninja Art: Decapitating Airwaves!"
A crescent of cutting air blasted from a hole in his arm and ploughed into the ice wall. The wall held, with nothing but an aesthetic scratch along the surface.
"You're an amateur, Zaku," Dosu taunted. "Watch this!"
He punched the ice wall with his gauntlet and the ice started to resonate. Haku watched in disbelief as the ice barrier around her teammates disintegrated.
"You see that?" he boasted. "That's the difference bet-"
Dosu fell to the floor with a gurgle as an icicle shot into his throat, severing arteries and blocking off his speech. The Sound genin fell to the floor, dead, as Haku stood to face the remaining two.
"If you run now you will live. Try to harm my teammates and you will receive the same treatment."
Zaku, enraged, leapt at her, shooting cutting winds from his hands.
"Death at your hands or death at the boss's? No contest!"
After a five second taijutsu spar, Zaku fell to the ground, senbon peppered through his throat.
"And you?" she asked the third Sound genin.
"I... I'll leave," she said, before fleeing.
Haku breathed a sigh of relief that was quickly swamped by the feeling of intense killing intent directed at her.
"Out of my way," came a bored voice. "I am here to kill the blond one. He will validate my existence."
Haku didn't even bother negotiating, throwing ice senbon with unerring accuracy. Without even blinking, a shield of sand erupted around the newcomer.
"Gaara, we have the scrolls, you don't need to do this. Let's go!" the blonde kunoichi following him shouted.
"No. She is irrelevant. And she will die!"
Shuriken formed from sand rocketed towards the ice user, only dodged due to Gaara's inability to aim in a pattern that would prevent dodging. Shuriken were rarely used to kill - their use was usually to direct an enemy's movement. A skilled ninja could alternate their throws and aim in different areas so that a ninja that tried to dodge the first shuriken would certainly be hit by the last. Gaara had no understanding of this concept.
Before Gaara could coordinate a second volley, a burst of dark chakra came from inside the tree. And before Haku could blink, a dark blur shot past her shoulder and barrelled into the red-haired sand user. And then, before Gaara or his sand could react, he'd been punched in the jaw hard enough to make him bite his own lip.
"Blood? You made me bleed? Haha, I knew you would validate my existence, Uzumaki Naruto! Mother will feast on your blood!"
A wave of sand trapped Naruto in a cocoon, Gaara holding his hand clenched.
"Desert Bu-"
"Fire Release: Glass Flow River!"
Fire chakra layered over itself an incredible number of times was shot into the sand cocoon, reducing it all to glass. With a titanic heave, the bindings around Naruto shattered.
The genin was no longer a blond, with yellow hair and dark skin; the spitting image of the creature from his mind. The darkness seemed to recede, and Naruto got a hold on his mind.
"You're going a little crazy, aren't you Number One?" he said. "You need to calm down!"
The now-conscious Naruto rushed the red-headed demon container, striking at him with all five fingers stretched out.
"Fuinjutsu: Five Element Seal!"
The kanji spread from the point of contact across Gaara's entire body, wrapping him in script and stripping him of the connection to his bijuu. With no demonic chakra left in his body, Gaara fell unconscious due to shock.
"You two," Naruto said. "Get this maniac to the tower. Killing him might release the Ichibi and I don't want that. But be warned, I won't suffer this idiocy lightly. Let him out of your sight again and I might just have to risk it."
The two other Sand genin came crawling out of the woodwork, nodding furiously and in utter shock regarding Naruto's handiwork.
"Haku, I still have the scrolls," Naruto said. "I'll pick up Sakura - shall we go to the tower?"
"Hai, Naruto-sama," she breathed. "I am glad to see you looking so well."
"That bastard gave me a gift," he said, flexing his dark fist. "And I might as well make use of it."
"It is good to see you all here," coughed Hayate Gecko. "An exceptional bunch, the lot of you. Unfortunately, spaces for the finals are limited, and there are too many of you. Before the second stage ends, you will all need to fight in a qualifying round for the finals."
The crowd murmured in anger, but Hayate paid them no attention.
"You will be entered into a random draw to fight one other ninja until unconsciousness, death, forfeit, or I call the winner. When I call a match my decision is final. Continuing to attack after that may provoke disqualification.
Before we start, does anybody was to quit here?"
"I do," Kabuto said, raising his hand. "I'm just about out of chakra, fighting somebody else would merely be a formality."
"Understood. Now, all the participants are entered into the board, we'll see the first match's combatants."
Everyone went silent as the board picked the first matchup.
"So, Round One: Momochi Haku versus Hyūga Hinata! Both combatants please stay here, the rest of you retreat to the balconies."
The two kunoichi made their way to opposite sides of the room and Hayate stood in the middle.
"Okay, remember the rules and remember what you're fighting for. Begin!"
Hinata immediately dashed forwards, blue chakra lancing around her hands. She struck a quick pattern at Haku's tenketsu, but the older kunoichi was faster, weaving around the Hyūga's strikes and striking back herself. Hinata's Byakugan eyes saw all of Haku's counters, however, and she hopped swiftly back, making some distance.
"Bad move," Haku muttered. Ice started to crystallise from the thin air, as she hurled senbon at the Hyūga heiress. With her panoramic vision, Hinata was able to dodge or deflect all the needles, but Haku showed no sign of slowing down. To most of the genin participants, the showdown got to the point where both of the fighter's arms were a blur, and their motions were blurred by a floating layer of shattered ice.
As Haku moved to speed up, she was suddenly struck by a flashback. A similar battle, another Konoha genin with special eyes, one needle slightly out of place and blood seeping along the concrete ground. As she focused back on the match, Haku's hand quavered.
"Proctor, I cannot continue," she said. "I forfeit."
Her announcement attracted looks of disbelief from the surrounding ninja, but Hayate nonetheless called the match, declaring Hinata the winner.
"What was that?" Sakura asked, as Haku rejoined them.
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, gently.
Haku simply nodded, turning away from them to face the arena.
"You won't make the same mistake again," Naruto whispered. "Although I'm proud that you chose to stop rather than risk it."
Haku blushed lightly, the red quite obvious on her pale face.
"Round Two: Inuzuka Kiba versus Uzumaki Naruto!"
The two Konoha genin made their way to the arena floor, Kiba smirking the whole way.
"You may have an eye upgrade, Naruto, but you're still the same class clown you always were. This'll be easy."
"And you were the second best at combat in our class, Kiba," Naruto said. "But you're wrong. I'm not the same ninja I was then. But I wonder whether you're still the same kid you were in the Academy."
"Let's just start this," the boy growled. "Proctor?"
"Round Two, begin!" Hayate shouted, before jumping back to stay out of the fray.
"Take this one easy, Akamaru," Kiba shouted to his dog. "I don't need help to take him down."
Naruto simply shook his head as Kiba jumped into a Tsuuga, spinning through the air with claws outstretched, trying to plough into Naruto. Sadly for the feral boy, to Naruto's Sharingan he appeared to be moving as if through treacle, and dodging was a simple matter. As Kiba passed to his side, Naruto shot a Gale Palm technique straight into the boy's side, interrupting his spin and sending Kiba careening into the wall. He struck it with an unhealthy thud and didn't get back up.
"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto," Hayate declared, sounding surprised. Field medics picked up Kiba, checked his vitals and carted the boy off after giving Hayate a nod.
"Winner by knockout, I should clarify," he added, making the Konoha genin release a sigh of relief.
"Next Round, Haruno Sakura versus Yamanaka Ino."
The two ex-best friends stared each other down, barely moving when Hayate called the start of the match.
"I see you still don't know how to start a fight, Forehead," Ino taunted. "Funny how some things never change."
"I'm still uncomfortable starting fights with people I used to be close with," Sakura admitted. "But once something's started, I finish it."
She flicked her forehead protector down to hang around her neck, revealing her Sharingan eye. Ino, who'd been completely out of the loop regarding Sakura's progress, gasped.
"You- You're using his eye on me? You bitch!"
"Do you think Sasuke would have any sentimentality about this? He'd want the stronger kunoichi to win, simple as. Now shut it and get ready."
Ino put her hands in the familiar seal for her Mind Transfer technique, aiming at Sakura. The pink-haired kunoichi simply walked to the side and then began to bridge the gap between the two of them, her genjutsu already taking effect. Ino shouted out the name of her mind transfer technique and then slumped to the ground, her mind having left her body.
Sakura didn't bother dodging; Ino had aimed at the wrong place. Her genjutsu, however, had been broken by Ino's mind leaving her body. Sakura quickly bridged the distance and held a kunai to Ino's throat.
"Proctor?"
"Um, winner, Haruno Sakura."
Ino glowered at Sakura as she withdrew the kunai.
"People change, grow, and get stronger, Ino. I'm not the same little girl who used to be your friend. But I'm also not the same little girl who valued some boy over our friendship. I'm a different person, but I'm willing to meet you halfway if you want to start again."
Ino ducked her head in shame. When she looked back up, there was the glint of tears in her eyes.
"I'd like that, I think."
The Team 7 genin eased off once all of their matches had been concluded. Kakashi appeared, late as always, and congratulated the three of them on their performance.
The next round was Shino versus Kankuro, and the puppet user was quickly identified despite using his puppet as a distraction, drained of chakra by Shino's bugs, and defeated.
Neji was up against Kabuto's teammate, who was able to stretch and contort his body to constrict his opponent. He managed to completely surround Neji before the Hyūga revealed that he could emit lances of chakra from any point on his body, causing the older genin to jump back, blood dripping from his wounds. For whatever reason, Neji was furious for the entire duration of the match, and ended the match with a chakra strike to the heart, killing his opponent.
The Konoha ninja looking down at the match all darkened at this. Although killing was allowed in the exams, Neji had still taken an active ninja from Konoha's ranks. While strictly allowed under the context of the exam, it would do him no favours with his superiors.
Tenten was then placed against Temari, Gaara's female teammate, and was soundly defeated when her thrown weapons were deflected with wind jutsu.
Lee faced Gaara and surprised the entire room with his efforts. Naruto wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, realising how lucky he'd been that Lee hadn't been sparring with him at full power. The match ended when Gaara partially caught Lee in his sand, crushing the thick-haired genin's leg and arm.
Finally, Choji went up against Kabuto's last teammate, Akadō Yoroi, and was defeated by a genjutsu that caused the big-boned lad to charge straight into the wall. The mysterious Konoha genin revealed no other skills, and Naruto made sure to earmark him as an unknown element.
As there were an odd number of Genin and Shikamaru hadn't fought anybody yet, he was allowed to pass onto the next round. As his team grumbled around him, Shikamaru quickly shut them up.
"Luck is as much a part of a ninja's arsenal as anything else," he said.
"So that was the preliminaries to the final round of the chūnin exams," Hiruzen said, jumping down to the centre of the arena and addressing the crowd. "Well done, all of you, for making it this far. Those who continue will be a testament to the strength of their villages, and those who have lost have learned much-valued information about how they measure up in combat. But the exams aren't just about combat. They are a simulation. A simulation of the circumstances of war, and a replacement for the system whereby villages would constantly war for client contracts and military power. It the the efforts of genin in the chūnin exams that motivate a lot of the contracts coming to the great villages, and a good show from a village's genin will result in increased work for their home. This system, which may have seemed hard to you, is nothing compared to the untold horrors of war.
So!" he said, clapping his hands together. "You who passed will receive thirty days to plans your tactics against your enemies, from what you have seen today and earlier. We will now give you the opportunity to pull out numbered balls from this bag - they may give you a clue as to who you'll be facing first in the finals."
"Please take a ball and announce the number on it to the crowd. In the order that you fought, please," Hayate announced.
"Eight," Hinata squeaked.
"Nine," Naruto said, looking queerly at the proctor, who also looked uncomfortable at the coincidence.
"Four," Sakura said.
"One," Shino said.
"Six," Neji intoned.
"Seven," Temari said.
"Three," Gaara muttered.
"Five," Yoroi said.
"Two," Shikamaru drawled.
"Okay, so these are the numbers for the finals," Hayate said. "Make of them what you will."
As the ninja dispersed, Kakashi cornered his team.
"Naruto, are you sure you don't want a suppression seal on the cursed seal?" he asked.
"No, I'm sure I don't. There's a purifying seal placed on top of it, and Orochimaru's chakra has been drained out and replaced with my own. Although there is something I'd like to ask you about in private..."
"Understood. Sakura, I will draw up a training plan for you and contact you tomorrow morning. I will be training you both in person on alternating days. Anko has volunteered to help you on the other day, but I will also send a shadow clone along to oversee. Haku, I hope you don't mind, but I will be focusing my efforts on Naruto and Sakura. However, you are invited to their training sessions as long as you do not share the results of their training with the other. They have the right to surprise each other with whatever tricks they might think up over this month. I will also be drawing up a training plan for you that you are encouraged to follow, even though you will not be in the exams."
"That is very fair of you, sensei," she said.
"Okay then. I'll see you all tomorrow. For now I need to speak to Naruto in private. There will be jonin escorts out of the forest which I recommend joining; in fact, Asuma and Kurenai are just about to leave."
The two females of Team 7 nodded and left to join their peers and leave Training Ground 44. Kakashi grabbed Naruto's shoulder and they body flickered to the top of the tower, where they could see nearly the whole forest.
"Sensei, when Orochimaru bit me, the fox altered the seal and preserved my sanity. Had he not, I think the seal would have destabilised and driven me mad. But because I had to release so much of the fox's chakra to alter the cursed seal, one of my dad's failsafe seals kicked in."
"Oh?" Kakashi hmmed, as Naruto had not yet been debriefed on the Snake Sannin's involvement in the exams.
"Yes, and it wasn't just any seal. It was a preserved section of his chakra. Inside my mind, it was him. My father, there in my mind."
"That's brilliant, Naruto," Kakashi enthused. "What I'd give to see sensei again."
"That's the thing, sensei," Naruto mused. "It wasn't all that great. Not at all. In fact, he attacked me, called me a monster, and asked what I'd done with his son.
"What?"
"The fox claimed that dad's chakra might have been corrupted by the constant exposure to bijuu chakra, but-"
"Naruto, you never met your father, so you can be forgiven for thinking this. Your father left the war nearly a broken man, having killed thousands of enemy troops. The only thing that kept him sane was Kushina. She was his rock, and kept him sane. And then, you happened. I had never seen sensei that happy, even before the war. For the whole pregnancy he glowed with happiness. In fact, it made him so optimistic that the Third had to veto a few of his diplomacy agreements for making too many concessions. No, your father loved you, and I know he would have been immensely proud of who you've become and how you bore the burden he gave you. Chakra constructs aren't reliable things - your kage bunshin can barely last longer than a day. It's testament to sensei's genius that his chakra managed to last so long, but it would have been subject to the fox's unconscious influence. I know it's a trying experience, but try to put it from your mind as one of the random disappointments of life."
Naruto nodded, a smile gracing his lips.
"Thanks for that sensei. Everybody else hero worships my dad so much that I can't be sure they'd give an honest opinion on his personality. I guess it must've just been a seal malfunction. I'll have to ask the fox to keep an eye out for any others he's left; I don't want that happening again."
"No problem. Now listen, Naruto, same deal as Sakura, I'll have a training plan for you, but I want to meet with you tomorrow morning to get an update on your skills. You've spent enough time holed up in the Senju library that I don't trust I know your limits any more. Eight o' clock at the training ground?"
"So, more like eleven?"
"Well it's been a tiring day for you, you need your rest," he said, rubbing his head sheepishly.
"Sure, I can do 'eight'," Naruto said. "See you then."
He hopped off the tower and gently glided down the tower face, before running into the forest and towards the village.
Kakashi simply stayed at the top of the tower until the sun set, eyes locked in a staring contest with the far-off Hokage monument.
He wouldn't return to his apartment until early in the morning.
AN: I got a job and I'm tired. BUT I WILL NOT ABANDON YOU!