Chapter 4: The Chuunin Exams
Naruto stood with Lee and Sakura at the registration. Naruto yawned heavily.
"Naruto?" asked Sakura concerned, "Are you okay? You seem, out of it."
"Huh? Oh yes, sure, I'm Sakura okay, er, I mean I'm okay Sakura," Naruto said with his eyes half open.
"Naruto!" said Sakura hitting him on the head. "I can't believe that this is the most important part of our careers as ninja, and you're about to fall asleep."
"Well, you didn't have to hit me!" said Naruto with big tear drops in the corner of his eyes.
"Perhaps it was well that she did," Lee commented.
"What do you mean Lee?" asked Naruto confused.
"Well, you aren't asleep anymore," said Lee smiling.
Naruto's head fell forward. "Bushy-brows your jokes are getting worse and worse every day."
"I dunno," said Sakura with an evil gleam in her eye. "I think that you're just getting tired again. Want me to wake you up?"
"No, no," said Naruto quickly, raising his hands to protect himself. "I'm awake!"
After the three had gotten signed in they immediately reported to Kakashi.
"We're signed up sensei!" they said as one.
"Good," said Kakashi smiling, or what looked like a smile. It was hard to tell from behind the mask he always wore. "The Fifth has already set up the first exam. Now let me tell you these tests will be completely different from last year's. So be prepared for anything."
"We will be!" shouted Naruto grinning like a fool. "I'm gonna pass this year no matter what!"
"Well, we'll see," said Kakashi. "Now, the first test will be held in the forest just outside Konoha. Good luck."
"Wait, sensei!" said Sakura, "You forgot to tell us where."
Kakashi "smiled" again and said, "I know," then disappeared.
"Great," said Naruto. "He's lost it! Now we'll never even get to the first test."
"Well, maybe part of the first test is finding the first test," suggested Lee.
"But Lee, the forest is huge, it would take weeks, maybe even months to search all of it."
"Then there must be a trick to it!" said Lee stubbornly, "But we must not give up!"
"I still think that Kakashi sensei, just lost it," Naruto put in.
Sakura rolled her eyes, "Anyway, we won't know until we go into that forest," and with that she marched off. Lee and a reluctant Naruto followed.
Kakashi "smiled" as sat down with the other jounin. He and Asuma were in a small room with two couches and a table in the middle. He was on one couch with Asuma on the opposite one. Asuma, of course, was smoking a cigarette.
"So where'd you send them Kakashi?" asked Asuma, smiling.
"The forest outside the village, of course. What about you?"
"The academy grounds."
"I sent mine to the hospital," said Kurenai, who was just arriving.
They laughed hard at that.
"Did you think they would get hurt that badly?" asked Asuma.
"No, but I'm not without a sense of humor," she answered smiling then taking a seat next to him.
"I sent mine to the Forest of Death," said Iruka walking in and taking a seat next to Kakashi.
"The Forest of Death?" asked Kurenai shocked.
"Isn't that a little extreme Iruka? They only just got out of the academy," said Asuma, just as shocked.
"Don't worry, I'm sure that Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi can handle anything the Forest throws at them."
"It won't be just the Forest throwing things at them," said Kakashi. "And that's what I'm worried about."
Naruto collapsed on his back panting heavily. "Sakura-chan! We've been at it for hours and haven't found a thing! How much longer do we have to do this?"
"Naruto!" exclaimed Sakura. "First we've only been out for ten minutes and second we're not giving up until we've found the first test."
Naruto got up grunting, let out a big sigh, then continued on with the others. Two hours later they still didn't find anything. Sakura and Naruto sat on the ground sighing heavily.
"That settles it," said Naruto, "Kakashi-sensei has definitely lost it."
"I never thought I'd say this," said Sakura, "but I think you're right Naruto."
"Nonsense!" said Lee. "We must keep trying!"
Naruto and Sakura sighed again but reluctantly got up and walking over to Lee.
Suddenly, both Lee and Sakura crouched and began to look around.
"We are not alone," said Lee.
Naruto quickly spun around. "Where is he?"
"I don't know," said Lee, "but, there is more than one."
Naruto brought up his hands and crossed his fingers in a cross sign, then shouted, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Now instead of one Naruto there were ten. Nine flew off to the trees. Almost immediately the sounds of fighting surrounded them. Naruto took out four kunai.
"I can't tell where the sounds are coming from," said Sakura.
"Just wait," said Naruto smiling. "I have a plan."
Sakura rolled her eyes doubtfully. Suddenly a puff of smoke appeared in the trees.
"There!" cried out Naruto, throwing a kunai. Then another puff appeared, and another.
"Split up!" yelled Lee. All three quickly disappeared into the trees.
Naruto meet up with two of his clones and attacked a man in all black, even his face was painted! No inch of him stood out, this was surprising since it wasn't night yet but didn't stop hotheaded Naruto from beating him senseless, or so Naruto thought.
The man was good, very good. Anytime Naruto tried to land a punch, he would jump away. He wouldn't even attack. He just dodged. It was painstakingly obvious that the man was just trying to wear out Naruto, and even though he knew that, Naruto kept fighting. The man was making a fool out of him, and Naruto wouldn't rest until he paid. He summoned more clones and began his assault again.
After several hours of this, Naruto was left on the ground and gasping for breath. But he didn't get a long break when he saw two kunai coming right at him. He rolled and created four more clones. He was just about to attack when Sakura came flying through the trees. She landed on her back next to him.
"Ow," she said getting up slowly. She too, was panting. "Damn, that guy just won't quit."
Another man, dressed exactly the same as the one Naruto was fighting burst from the trees. The man Naruto was fighting appeared in front of him. Naruto looked at him, then back to the new guy. They were exactly the same! For all Naruto knew, the one fighting Sakura could've been the one he was fighting all along, but why? Surely this meant something.
Naruto smiled, he would soon figure this out. Suddenly two clones burst through the ground under the man facing Naruto grapping his arms and keeping him in place. Naruto then threw a kunai at the man.
The man flicked away the clones easily, but couldn't dodge the kunai. It sliced right through his arm, leaving a nasty cut. He grabbed it and darted away. Naruto chased after him, leaving Sakura fighting her own man, but now with the help of the other two clones.
Suddenly the man burst through the trees to the side of Naruto, but didn't attack, instead he ran away, almost in the opposite direction. This made Naruto stop on a branch. He had seen the man with his own eyes go one way, but the trail of blood from the wound led another way.
'It must be an illusion or something.' Naruto decided and followed the bloody trail. Many more illusions came at him but Naruto dodged and kept following the trail. Finally, he found the real one. In a small clearing, but he was surrounded by illusions.
"Found you!" shouted Naruto. Many of the illusions gasped.
"You led him here!" said one.
"How could you! We were winning!" said another, but in a completely different voice. This made Naruto stop cold. Illusions, weren't supposed to be able to talk, and clones would all have the same voice. This meant…Naruto's eyes widened. They were all completely different people! That explained the costumes, and why they weren't getting tired like him! They would just switch people if one got tired, he would rest, then come in again after the others got tired, that way Naruto and his team would be easy to defeat, but that also meant that they were weak. Now all Naruto had to do was find a way to keep them from running away. Then he could Rasengan their asses. Rasengan…Naruto had just gotten the inspiration he needed.
"Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted. Hundreds of Naruto's appeared creating a circle around the small clearing, and more circles around the black clad men. It was a good thing he had been practicing with his Shadow Clone Jutsu, because without it this would never have worked.
Then on the inside of the circles huge wind tunnels formed trapping the men inside. It was all the clones using their chakra to create a large version of the second task Naruto did to learn Rasengan.
One man tried to jump away but hit the wind tunnel and stopped in the air as if he hit a brick wall. Naruto didn't even bother to hide his smile. Now in was a fair fight!