Chapter 14

Naruto, as usual, was walking up to the Hokage's office. He stormed up the steps, anger firing down through each foot as they slammed to the ground. There was a glare on his face, unlike any expression in Konoha, as everyone else was perfectly content. Naruto didn't even bother to knock on the door. He just barged into the room, as the door slammed into the opposite wall. Minato looked at Naruto with question, for he didn't know why Naruto was so upset.

There were two other people standing in front of the desk. They were both familiar, but one was a regular that Naruto saw, and knew very well. Sakura looked towards Naruto; a confused look was pasted on her face. Theo other, a young person, around the age of Naruto just stood there, still staring at Minato. He had a hood over his face and a robe that went down to his knees, and wasn't buttoned at all. The robe was decorated with streaks, kind of like wind; it was white with green streaks. Underneath he was wearing a black T-shirt with chain mail underlying the shirt. His pants were the normal Shinobi pants (and also blue), and Shinobi shoes (you guessed it, blue!) Lastly, he had a menacing sword dangling from his back, around the length of two normal arms, and the thickness of two fingers.

"Hey! You're the one who stole my ramen!" Naruto roared at the guy in the hood. "You're going to pay for that!" He threatened as he rolled up his sleeve, ready to nail the guy in the face, or rather, hood.

"Yeah? So what? It's not like I'm used to the customs of this pathetic village," the voice replied coolly, but it stung Naruto, as he recognized the guy's voice, and loved the village dearly.

"Sasuke," Naruto muttered as his face had suddenly gone a sad type of serious. Sakura looked completely dumbfounded, but she wasn't about to go up and hug him. Sakura had gotten over Sasuke, and was angered by how he left them so harshly.

"And who is this Sasuke? I am not Sasuke. My name is Doku. I am a Shinobi, but I have not become a Chuunin yet, which is why I am here now." Doku said do Naruto and Sakura.

'I really thought he was Sasuke,' Naruto thought deeply, and sad that Sasuke hadn't really come back. Suddenly, Naruto realized something Doku had said.

"Chuunin exams?! WHAT?!" He nearly exploded at the thought of having the exams again, and not being the only Genin out of the rookies.

"Yes, Naruto, Chuunin exams," Minato replied through his extremely and painfully long silence. "Sakura, Naruto, I haven't explained to you yet, but you learned a little about Doku. Maybe he can tell you some other things about him later. He will be joining you in your Chuunin exams, and three will be a team. Doku is exactly your age, and he has extraordinary talent, almost as talented as you in Kyuubi mode, Naruto. Also, he may appear to be very serious, close to Sasuke's mood. If you treat him to food, I'm sure he'll consider you friends, and be as friendly as I'm used to him being."

"I'm already a Chuunin, though, Hokage-sama," Sakura commented, as she looked at Naruto and Doku, and wondered if they were a good combination.

"That is correct. I need you to keep these two Shinobi, and make them get along. Also, Naruto knows you very well, so adding you to the team was no complication, since I requested that, and I am Hokage. Now for Doku, he is a Genin, and he is a great add-on to your team. He entered this village around the time I did, and I have given him a place to stay not too far from this office, but in this building. You haven't seen him because he's been training day after day, for the Chuunin exams," Minato explained to all three. "I hope you will all get along, and remember, Doku will be much friendlier when you all are nice to each other. Until then, good luck! And the Chuunin exam starts in two days."

Later at Ichiraku Ramen

"So, Poison, I know you didn't want to talk about your accident, but how did you lose all of your chakra?" Naruto asked.

"Idiot! You can't lose all of your chakra, or you'd be dead!"

Sakura added in before Doku had a chance to reply.

"Sakura is right. I really prefer not to talk about the accident, but I'll give you vague details. Maybe if I get to know you two better, I'll actually tell you more," Doku teased. He had gotten much friendlier, since they all were sitting in Ichiraku Ramen for five hours up until now. He really enjoyed the presence of Naruto and Sakura, and thought that they would do great in the Chuunin exams. "I was running to this village, Konoha. I was around 5 years old at the time, and an important man to me told me to run here for safety. It didn't quite work, as a member of the grudging clan that was chasing us caught up to me. He used a very irregular jutsu that I'd never heard of before. It drained me of my chakra, except for a very small amount that is my lifeline. If he took all of my chakra, I'd be dead. The amount that's left is so small, I can't perform one jutsu with it, so I use this trusty sword of mine."

Meanwhile, Sakura was inspecting this new Shinobi, or at least new to the village. 'His mood had completely changed since the numerous hours before, when they were getting a briefing about the Chuunin exams. Why was that? He seemed utterly serious, so similar to Sasuke. He could've been Sasuke for all they knew, but he had his hood down, and didn't resemble Sasuke by any means,' Sakura thought. Doku had black, spiky, and disheveled hair, which had a slight tone of blue to it. His eyes were very similar to Naruto's as they had the same determination to succeed in many things. He always smiled, but had a sad tone to his face when he was serious. Lastly, Doku had a lock of blonde hair cascading from the right side of the back of his head.

"Did you dye your hair a tint of blue?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, I did. How'd you know?" Doku replied.

"I could tell by the slim lock of blonde hair you had in the back of your head. Did you keep it there?" Sakura explained.

"Yes, and for a reason. I think it looks really cool, but I also can't dye that section of my hair for some reason. It's not always that same spot, but I always have a section of my hair that's blonde. It's completely unintentional. I think it might be that I have a connection to someone similar to me, and that's just preventing me from dying all of my hair a tint of blue. It's really weird," Doku pondered as he shared his thoughts to the others.

"That's really weird," Naruto thought aloud as he thought deeply about it too. After a while, he just gave up, and continued eating ramen. "Hey! You still owe me ramen! That's the whole reason I stormed up to that office! Pay up."

"Fine, then. What kind do you like? Oh, right Miso Ramen. I'll order two bowls of Miso ramen, please," Doku requested.

"Two? You only owe me one!" Naruto pointed out.

"Did you forget already? Miso ramen is my favorite, too. You really aren't very observant, are you?" Doku joked as he chuckled quietly.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled as he'd just realized he'd been deviously insulted.

'Doku really does resemble Naruto, doesn't he? But he's much more of a critical thinker, and a little more quiet. It's funny to see them rally jokes around at time, though. It'd be pretty ironic if they were in the same family.' Sakura thought as she quietly chuckled to herself.