Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and only use it for entertainment purposes.
Naruto and Haku were out doing their weekly shopping. They started shopping together about three weeks ago when they ran into each other at the grocery store. This was one of the few unplanned run-ins between the two. When they saw each other each took one look at the others basic and quickly decided to help the other shop. For in Haku's opinion Naruto's basic contained far too much ramen and Naruto thought just the opposite, Haku did not have nearly enough. It was a battle of wills, stubbornness, and patients with each trying to convince the other who was right. To stranger watching them it amusing to see. The two argued like they were siblings; Naruto being too young to form a romantic relationship. The two argued back and forth about the merits of a well balanced diet, Haku, vs. the 'food of the Kami (Gods),' Naruto. Haku would calmly explain the benefits of eating fruits, vegetables, and grain help improve his physicality from making him taller to improving his eyesight and Naruto would counter with the with the complex carbohydrates from ramen were perfect for a growing shinobi as the slow burn were perfect for daily training. Haku then argued, with a trace of coldness, that eating too much ramen would build up fat and cholesterol in the blood system making it harder for a ninja to fight at peak strength. Naruto counter by pointing out the dozen low fat and low cholesterol packs of ramen saying ramen makers already had a variety for that. Haku then, with a glacier like quality in her voice, went into what a high salt diet would do to a person and that ramen was full of salt. Naruto picked up another box of ramen and was about to argue the low salt content. Haku interrupted Naruto's argument by quickly jabbing Naruto's throat at a pressure point that would keep him from talking. Haku said she would return his ability to speak if he bought more than just ramen when he shopping. Naruto held out for three days and would have held out longer except Sasuke mentioned that it was nice without Naruto's voice around and Naruto would never to anything to make Sasuke's time with him enjoyable. Thus Haku returned Naruto's ability to speak and won the grocery argument.
Now three weeks later Naruto and Haku carried a well-balanced mix of food: fruits, vegetables, grains, fish and even six boxes of ramen. Haku and Naruto's trip back to their apartment was interrupted by a load, "Hey Boss!" Naruto only had a second to place his groceries on the ground before deflecting a charging Konohamaru away from him and into a nearby patch of grass.
"Konohamaru! Don't try and tackle me when I'm carrying my groceries!" Naruto yelled. Konohamaru started attacking Naruto ever since he learned the Gennin was training under Asuma. The Academy Student got into his head that he could learn his Uncle's fighting style by attacking Naruto every chance he got. One of those times was when Naruto was shopping with 'Hana' and caused a week's worth of food to be ruined.
"But 'a ninja should always attack when the target is distracted,'" Konohamaru quoted Iruka. "And you're distracted when you have your groceries."
"He is correct Naruto-kun," Haku said smiling. "Though his attack would have been more successful if he had not shouted out first."
"Don't encourage him!" Naruto responded. "And there should be some kind of rule or law that keeps ninja from attacking another when carrying food." Naruto grumbled under his breath as he picked up his bags. "So what do you want Konohamaru?"
"I was playing ninja with Udon and Moegi when I saw you with your girlfriend and had to test myself against my greatest rival!" Konohamaru exclaimed proudly.
"Hana-chan is not my girlfriend!" Naruto replied vehemently. His and Haku's blush did not add credibility to his proclamation.
"Boss has a girlfriend! Boss has a girlfriend!" Konohamaru pointed and laughed as only a nine year old can.
"Why you brat!" Naruto yelled, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Skill)." An exact duplicate of Naruto, down to the groceries, appeared in a puff of smoke. The Kage Bushin dropped its groceries, causing then to disappear in a puff of smoke, as Naruto handed it his groceries and run after Konohamaru who had taken off.
Haku meanwhile giggled at Naruto and Konohamaru. "Will you take my groceries home as well? I should probably stop you from hurting Konohamaru too much"
"Sure Hana-chan," Naruto's Kage Bushin answered before shifting its bags so it could take hers.
Naruto just saw Konohamaru round the corner when he heard a yelp and an impact from the other side. When he reached the turn he saw Konohamaru on the ground and a strange blonde haired kunoichi with a large war fan on her back rubbing her stomach. "Hey you brat! What do you think your doing running into me!?" the kunoichi shouted.
"Sorry," Konohamaru said. "I wasn't watching were I was going." Konohamaru stood up and tried to bow in apology only for the kunoichi to slap him sending back to the ground.
"Sorry isn't good enough," the blonde kunoichi angrily said. She stopped rubbing her stomach to reveal a large brown stain on her clothing. "You made me spilled my drink all over myself!"
By now Naruto had seen enough and decided to step in. "Hey leave him alone! Konohamaru already apologized what more do you want!"
"You stay out of this!" the kunoichi exclaimed. "This isn't any of your business!"
"Well I'm making it my business!" Naruto countered dropping his hand to his kunai holster.
"You think you can stand up against us?" came a male voice from behind Naruto before wrapping his arms around Naruto.
After weeks of taijutsu and grappling Naruto's response was pure reflex. Naruto arms rose out and parallel to the ground to keep his assailant's arms from locking around him. Next he bent forward and took a small step back. Then he reached for his assailant's foot and pulled forward. This caused the assailant to stumble backwards and fall taking Naruto with him. With a role to the side Naruto brought the leg with him across his body. He then wrapped his legs around his opponent's legs and twisted his hips. This caused the leg he was holding to twist in an extremely painful angle. The pain caused Naruto's now victim to yell in pain. From start to finish Naruto had escaped and effectively immobilized his victim in under a second.
The kunoichi recovered from her shock quickly, "Kankuro!" she yelled reaching for her war fan. She was stopped by a firm grip on her wrist and a sharp needle placed at her temple.
"I would not do that if I were you," a feminine voice said as cold as ice. "You are foreign shinobi attacking a citizen and a shinobi of Konoha. That was a rather foolish of you as wars have been started over less." The kunoichi tensed for a moment then gave a slight nod in acceptance and submission. "Very good," Haku removed her senbon needle from the kunoichi temple and her hand from the girl's wrist. With a quick jump she now stood next to Naruto who had released the shinobi and proceeded to stand up. "Are you alright Naruto-kun, Konohamaru?"
"Yeah," Konohamaru said and Naruto nodded.
"Who are you and why are you in Konoha?" Naruto demanded. He was doing something normally out of character for him. Thinking about what he was going to do next. His training with Kakashi in order to get him to think more had paid off and Naruto was trying to get as much information as possible and analyze the situation. 'They're free now but they know we're not to be taken lightly. I don't know what that thing that guy has but the girl uses a war fan. That means she's at least a long distance fighter.' Naruto smiled when he felt three new presences show themselves. He recognized them immediately, Sasuke and 'Hana's' escort detail. 'From their looks they sense them too.'
"We're Gennin from Suna (Sand)," the kunoichi answered showing her ID. "I'm Temari and this is my brother Kankuro. We're here for the Chunin Exam."
"Combat from Chunin Exam Participants is strictly forbidden," the Anbu with a dog mask said. "As you were the aggressor in this I can revoke you participation in the Exam."
"You can't!" Kankuro protested. "That brat started all this!" He pointed to Naruto, "He reached for his kunai and I was just trying to protect my Neechan (Sister)!"
"Only after she hit Konohamaru!" Naruto objected.
"Is this true Sarutobi-sama," the second Anbu in a snake mask asked. Temari and Kankuro eyes widened in fear, as they recognized the family. Temari had just about attacked someone of close relation to the Sandaime Hokage. And being who they were made this situation even worse.
Konohamaru nervously looked back and forth between the Anbu, the foreign shinobi and Naruto and 'Hana.' The truth was all he remembered was getting smacked the kunoichi and Naruto showing up. The rest was just a blur as it happened so fast. "I…I don't know."
"Anbu-san," a new voice interrupted any comment. The group turned to a Suna Jounin with a sheet of cloth covering the right half of his face. With his was a red haired boy with a large gourd on his back. "I am Baki, Jounin of Suna. Please do not revoke my team's admittance to the Chunin Exam for Temari's lapse in judgment. We had just arrived from a long travel and were weary from the road. I am sure her temper got the best of temporarily and is most remorseful for her actions."
Temari took her queue and got down to her knees and placed her forehead on her hands, "I am sorry for my disreputable behavior, Sarutobi-sama. As the eldest child of the Kazekage, I should have accepted your apology when you made. I can only hope that my hasty actions did not sour the relations between our two Villages."
The Anbu stiffened ever so subtly at the addition of who these Gennin were. They had to tread very carefully or else all this could spiral out of control. Konohamaru, in way over his head, just stared in shock at the kneeling kunoichi. After a couple of seconds of silence Konohamaru spoke up, "Um…yeah I…I should have w…watched were I was going. S…so that's al…all right."
Hoping to avoid an international incident the dog Anbu jumped in. "As your subordinate has apologized and Sarutobi-sama has accepted I think we can let this one incident go."
"Yes," Baki answered. "We should put this unfortunate lack of control behind us so as not to strain our Village's relations. I thank you for your leniency and I shall put an official reprimand into Temari's file for causing a shall we say, 'unsightly commotion.'"
"That is fine with us," the snake Anbu nodded. "We shall also give Uzumaki-san a reprimand for 'acting rashly' in the face of a tense situation." Naruto was about to object but 'Hana' and Sasuke quickly and subtly told him not to. Naruto shut up but glared at the snake Anbu. "Come the four of you should speak with the Hokage about this." The Anbu ordered and the Konoha residents nodded and walked off towards the Hokage Tower.
Before they got far however the red haired boy spoke up, "You three, what are your names?"
"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto answered.
"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke followed. Haku did not answer as she knew it was harder to hit a target when an assassin did not know the person's name.
"I am Subaku no Gaara (Gaara of the Desert)," Gaara introduced himself. "I hope to see you in the Exam." A sudden chill went down Sasuke and Naruto's spine though neither voiced their unease.
Kakashi silently observed his team as they waited for him to show. The Gennin had taken to the idea of doing some extra self-training while they waited for him. Sasuke was doing some of his sprinting drills on top of the small river; thus training in chakra control and speed. Sakura was practicing with her new tonfas while dancing to a beat only she could hear. The weapon had been Yugao's suggestion to give Sakura some more power in close quarter combat. And Naruto was literally wrestling with one of his Kage Bushin (Shadow Clones); one had the other in a chokehold while the other tried to break free.
Kakashi thought about his team and the changes they went through in the past two months. In terms of attitude and ability the three had improved significantly. Sakura was finally passed the 'little girl' mindset completely and now took her training seriously. Sure she still fawned after Sasuke, but now she only did it on her own time. On missions and training she attacked like a true Kunoichi. Sasuke's attitude changed for the better. He now valued what Naruto and Sakura could bring to the team and even learned some things from them. Like a how to break out of a rather nasty grapple Asuma showed Naruto a week ago and how to better regulate his chakra from Sakura. He still had a stand off attitude for the most part but less severe and this made him much easier to get along with. Naruto improved the most. He was calmer now and less likely to go shouting at every little thing. His skill in taijutsu improved from sloppy uncoordinated punches and kicks to a rather brutal mix of strikes and locks. Naruto was still bursting with energy but now it was tolerable to everyone.
After seeing Naruto suplex his clone out of existence Kakashi decided now was as a good a time as any to show up. When he did Naruto and Sakura rounded on him, "You're late!"
"Sorry I saw a dust devil and had to find a vacuum angle to slay it," Kakashi replied.
There was a moment of silence from Naruto and Sakura. Both were stunned that Kakashi actually came up with an original lie. Still it was an obvious lie, "Liar," the shouted.
Kakashi just gave them his happy eye, silently congratulating himself about his originality. "Well today we'll skip training." The Gennin looked at him with open curiosity. Before they could ask why Kakashi reached into his vest and pulled out three sheets of paper. "A couple of weeks ago you three asked me when the Chunin Exam was. Well last night the Hokage called a meeting to announce it would start at the beginning of next week. I've nominated you three to take it. If you want to all you have to do is fill these out and turn them in to room 301 on Monday." Immediately the sheets were snatched from his hand and the Gennin were looking them over. "Well take the next week to decide if you're going to take the exam or not. Don't worry about if one of you doesn't feel ready, this is strictly voluntary. Well bye." With a puff of smoke Kakashi vanished leaving the Gennin alone.
After Kakashi left he headed for the Hokage Tower. The Hokage had called him to ask his opinion on 'Hana.' The incident a couple of days ago raised a few eyebrows about the young woman. Some wanted to fully instate her as a Konoha kunoichi as she showed no hesitation in defending one of Konoha's citizens. Others wanted her probation revoked and kick her out of Konoha for coming to Naruto's aide and making a potentially volatile situation even worse. The majority however wanted to praise the girl but also wanted to settle any bruised ego's on Suna's part. In other words they wanted 'Hana' to remain on probation longer as the Hokage was thinking of lifting it after the Chunin Exam.
Kakashi before this incident was leaning towards allowing the probation to be lifted after the Chunin Exam. She had helped his team in more ways than Kakashi or any else could. Now he was siding with immediately instating 'Hana' in the shinobi ranks. Kakashi analyzed the incident with the mind of an Anbu Captain and field commander. To him 'Hana' acted just as one should have. She saw a threat and acted immediately to neutralize it with just enough force to get the job done with minimal collateral damage. She subdued the Suna kunoichi with enough skill and strength to show 'Hana' could handle her and backed off when the time was right and immediately went to see if Naruto and Konohamaru were alright. From there she had two options attack again or retreat. The Anbu escort reported she positioned herself next to Konohamaru so that if need be she could get him to safety quickly yet still attack if necessary. This showed that 'Hana' had great situational and tactical mindsets. Great qualities for an Anbu.
Back with the Gennin of Team 7 Naruto and Sasuke were looking at each both knowing they were face that Suna team and hoping that Gaara was strong. Both had two things in common, they lived alone and hated it with a passion and the second they like a challenge. Gaara looked like he would be a challenge.
Sakura looked at her sheet in deep thought. She was actually looking at it from a big picture kind of mind set. Was she, Naruto and Sasuke ready for the Exam? All three improved significantly since the mission to Wave. This was mostly mindset but she read that being a Chunin had less to do with physical strength and more to due with attitude and thinking. Chunin were the ones that a countries normal armies on the field of battle, while Jounin led the shinobi forces. This meant the responsibility to lead feel to Chunin more than a Jounin, as Jounin would lead smaller forces. 'Both Sasuke and Naruto have the strength to make it through this easily. They probably won't pass but the experience would be good for them and the next Exam they would have a better idea of what was expected. The question is am I good enough to make it through and not be a burden?' Sakura knew she was the weakest of the team, but like the others she had improved greatly. Enough that she was at least able to support her teammates in action and not just stand on the sidelines. 'Even if I'm not strong enough to compete with some of the others on my own I can be the deciding factor in a fight if I back up Naruto and Sasuke.' "Sasuke-kun, Naruto," the boys turned to her. "I think we should take the Exam. I'm sure we'll be able to get through it." Sasuke developed a smirk of appreciation and Naruto started to dance around proclaiming they would dominate the Chunin Exam.