Naruto stared at Obito, who was sputtering. Naruto opened his mouth to offer an explanation, but found that none came to mind. After what felt like an eternity, Obito opened his mouth to speak.
"Aww, looks like you got to him first." Naruto turned to find the source of the voice. It was one of the Iwa shinobi from earlier that day. Naruto couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at the interruption.
Following the Iwa shinobi was the rest of his team and Rin. "They helped me with the Shimo genin." Was her explanation to their presence.
"Glad to be of service." Said the one they assumed to be the leader. "I'm Kouta. The red head back there is Tomatsu and the one that threatened you is Daisuke."
"Sorry about that, by the way." The one called Daisuke apologized.
Naruto accepted the apology and gave him name. Behind him Obito still hadn't said a word. Rin walked over and nudged him. Obito's shook his head slightly before offering his name as well. "I thought you were headed to attack us, why did you help us?" Obito asked.
Tomatsu shrugged his shoulders. "We heard the Shimo shinobi had the Earth scroll. We were heading towards them when they attacked you. Beating them just fell in line with helping you."
"We still have a ways to go before we reach the middle of the forest, so we should probably get moving. I for one don't want to be sleeping here when these guys wake up." Kouta used his foot to nudge the unconscious shinobi.
"Are we splitting up or staying together?" Naruto asked. He trusted the group and with them both already having two scrolls it made sense for them to stick together to increase their chances of beating other genin teams that came along.
Kouta looked at both of his teammates. "What do you think?" Daisuke and Tomatsu nodded slightly. "Okay, then, we're sticking together."
They traveled five miles before deciding to set up camp for the night. Without having tents or mats to sleep on, it only took minutes for everything to be set up.
Naruto was thankful for the amount of people they had, mostly because it meant shorter guard shifts. Daisuke volunteered for the first shift, followed by Rin, himself, and Kouta. When Naruto's shift came he was thankful that Obito was sleeping. He still hadn't come up with an explanation for what happened. What could he possibly say to explain that he was able to perform fire jutsu? Why would Obito believe anything he said anyway? He had been found unconscious on the outskirts of Konoha and then had claimed to be a genin capable of only water jutsu. Anything he said would be perceived as a lie, which it would be.
oOoOo
They had probably been in the forest for thirty hours when they finally reached the building in the center of the forest. Entering it, Obito was surprised to see that they were the first team there. He had wanted to be the first, but he honestly didn't think his team would be strong enough.
"Look at that!" Rin was pointing to a message on the wall.
"What does it say?" Obito asked.
Kouta took a step forward to read it more carefully. "I think it's telling us to open the Heaven and Earth scrolls."
"At the beginning we were told not to open the scrolls. What if you're wrong?" Rin asked.
"I assume we fail." Kouta pulled the Earth scroll from his pouch. "My team will open ours first." Daisuke and Tomatsu looked unsettled by Kouta's decision, but they nodded and went along with it. A puff of smoke filled the air as the Iwa tean opened both their scrolls. A Konoha chuunin appeared before them.
"You have passed the second part of the chuunin exams." The chuunin told them. Obito thought he recognized him as one of the academy's teachers.
"I'm sure you noticed the message on the wall. I am here to explain that to you. This is the motto of the chuunin, which was written by the Sandaime. Heaven refers to the human mind, while earth refers to the human body. It says that if you lack 'Earth' or physical strength, then you should improve it by training harder. And if you lack wisdom or 'Heaven', you should find ways to grow your knowledge. If you have both 'Heaven' and 'Earth' then missions and other tasks should become easy for you." The chuunin started forming hand seals. "You will be staying here until the timeline for the exam is over." The chuunin finished his hand seals and disappeared with a pop.
"Might as well open ours now." Naruto said. Naruto and Rin rolled open the scrolls and waited for the chuunin to appear.
The shinobi stared at them for a second before speaking. "You just overheard what Keiji-kun said to the team over there and it would be too troublesome to repeat it." With that the chuunin disappeared.
Obito heard Naruto chuckle behind him. It was that sound that brought Obito's focus back to what he had witnessed the previous night. Naruto had used a fire jutsu. And it had been powerful. He didn't know what to think, except to point out the obvious. Naruto had lied. First, he claimed to have water as his main element, when his fire jutsu was clearly stronger. Second, he said he was a genin and no genin Obito knew had the ability to use two elements. And third, Naruto was clearly stronger than he had previously let on.
Obito held back a groan, knowing everyone in the room would be able to hear him. He looked over at Naruto, studying him. He liked Naruto. He had seemed like the first person to ever understand that there were things underneath the underneath, especially in relation to Obito. But he had lied to them, been deceiving them from the start. And why would he lie unless he had something to hide? And why would he hide something if he was on their side? It would be best if he figured out what Naruto was up to before they got out of the forest. Once they got out of the forest who knew what Naruto would do.
oOoOo
Naruto could feel Obito's gaze on him, studying him. At that moment his biggest fear was that Obito would question him in front of everyone. Obito didn't speak, but his glaring continued. Naruto needed to get them out of that room before anyone else began to suspect anything was wrong. With the way Obito was glaring at him it wouldn't take long.
"I'm going to see if there are any other rooms in here or if we're expected to sleep right here." Naruto said before he turned and walked to the entrance to the next room.
He heard the shuffling of feet behind him. Then Obito said, "I'll go with him."
Naruto didn't turn around to look at Obito, or acknowledge him in any way. He kept walking straight, the sound of footsteps behind him being the only sign that Obito was still following him. The building from his time and this one were the same, so Naruto made his way to the stairs, knowing they would get the most privacy upstairs. Their journey took a total of five minutes, but in that five minutes no one spoke. When Naruto finally settled on a room he felt comfortable in, he made his way over to the windowsill and sat on it. Finally, he looked at Obito.
Obito launched his question without giving Naruto time to prepare. "What in the world happened back there? You said you could only use water jutsu and I know that was a fire jutsu you just performed." He was whispering.
"If I had been perceived as dangerous do you think the Hokage would have let me stay in Konoha?" He followed Obito's example and whispered.
"I don't believe you." Obito's voice had gone cold. Naruto was surprised at the seriousness Obito displayed now. It wasn't the fact the Obito could be serious that surprised him, but the manner in which he was. Obito had grown cold and deadly, all because he knew that someone had lied to him and was a threat to his home. Naruto admired Obito's loyalty to Konoha, but he would've admired it more had it not been directed at him.
"I'm not an enemy!" If Obito exposed him then he didn't know what he would do. He still didn't know how he was sent to the past, much less how to get out of it. If he was forced out of Konoha he would have to roam through countries involved in war. No one would think twice about killing him and he would have no choice but to return the favor. His wandering would only lead to more deaths.
"Tell me why I should believe you when you've already lied twice." Obito's voice was hard, but there was no emotion behind it. Obito would grow to become a fearsome shinobi.
Faced with the prospect of being cast out of Konoha, or worse killed, Naruto opened his mouth, and for the first time since going to the past, he told the full truth. "I'm from the future."
Obito's hard exterior broke enough for Naruto to see the bewildered expression on his face. "What? Do you really think I'm going to believe that?"
Now that he had said it, he had to make Obito believe him. "It's the truth. Ask me something only someone from the future would know."
Obito continued to have a look that clearly said this guy is crazy, but he seemed to be racking he mind for a question. "I'm going to ask more than one. First, who become the fourth Hokage?"
Naruto figured this would be the first question. In Konoha, Minato was already making a name for himself, but not in outside countries. "Namikaze Minato."
Obito nodded in acknowledgement of his answer, but went straight to his second question. "Who is the future leader of the Uchiha clan?"
"Uchiha Fugaku." Naruto answered without hesitation. "How do you know I'm not just guessing with my answers?"
Obito's eyes widened. "I know who Fugaku is because I'm related to him, but there's no way that someone outside of the village would know who he was, or that he was being considered for the role of village leader." Obito drew in a sharp breath. "Wow, the future. How'd you get here?"
Naruto shook his head. "I have no idea. One minute I was trying to stop a comet, the next I was waking up here." He turned to leave. "Come on, the others are waiting."
"Ha! Do you really think you can tell me you are from the future and then be done with it? What's the future like?" Obito asked eagerly.
Naruto shrugged, it wouldn't hurt if Obito knew a little about his life seeing that their paths had never crossed. "All the nations are living together in peace. It took a while, but there are no longer any wars going on. Konoha is prospering. The village was almost destroyed once, but the attacker was stopped and the village rebuilt."
"That sounds nice. It'll give me a little more motivation when fighting to know that eventually the fighting will be over." Obito had a faint smile on his face. "Now, tell me about yourself. I want to know who you are without any lies. Why did you say you were a genin? Why not chuunin, then you would've been able to avoid this test."
"That was actually the truth. I never managed to beat the chuunin exams. The only time I ever took it, it ended up being interrupted by an ambush. One of my friends was the only person in the entire exam that got promoted, and that was only because he was a genius." Here Naruto paused. He didn't mind sharing his past with Obito, as he knew Obito's was similar to his own, but he didn't want to mention Kyuubi. "My childhood was kinda like yours. I was different, so people treated me badly. Most didn't want me to become a shinobi, but the Hokage overruled them. My first C-rank mission ended up being turned into an A-rank when a terrorist showed up to kill our client. Kakashi-sensei beat him, but then the terrorist Zabuza showed up again. This time he had his apprentice Haku with him. Haku died to save Zabuza, and then Zabuza died avenging Haku. It was a tragedy and on that day, I swore to protect my precious people and to not let anyone take advantage of another person."
"Wait! Kakashi-sensei?" Obito asked incredulously.
Naruto chuckled. "Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that Kakashi is my sensei. I can't wait to get back to my time and use what I've seen against him."
Obito snickered. "I hope you embarrass him good. Anyway, you left your story off at the end of your first C-rank. What happened next?"
"We returned to the village just in time for the chuunin exams. We were still rookies, but Kakashi-sensei nominated us to take it." Here Naruto chuckled again. "The first exam was the hardest for me. When I was younger, I spent all my time practicing with my body, not my mind, so when the first test came, I froze. The test was basically the same as the one we just took, except for the tenth question. We were told to wait until the end to answer the tenth question. Right before it, the proctor told us that if we got the tenth question wrong, we would fail and never be able to become shinobi. He gave everyone a chance to leave, which a lot took. I almost did myself, but I decided that I wouldn't give up. See at that time my dream was to become Hokage. Most people laughed, but I was determined I could and would do it. So I waited for the tenth question to come. Then the proctor told the remaining shinobi that we had all passed. There was no tenth question; he had been testing our resolve to become shinobi no matter what.
"The second exam was easier for me since it was physical. We took the exams in Konoha, so it was in the Forest of Death. An enemy of Konoha had snuck into the forest and we ended up having to fight him. He was a lot stronger than us, but somehow we made it through. It took us five days to reach the tower, but we did. Because so many passed the second exam, we had a semifinal round before the third exam. I passed that. My opponent for the third exam was a Hyuuga, and everyone was convinced I would lose. For most of the match it appeared I would, but towards the end of the match, I found a new determination and I managed to beat him. Then in a later match we were ambushed and the exams were canceled. I traveling for a little with a friend, so I missed a handful of opportunities there, then when I got back, I was prepared to take them, but a mission came up and I was out of the village for that one too."
Obito was staring at him, wide eyed. "What else?"
Naruto shook his head. "We've been gone for too long, the others are probably wondering where we are."
Obito reluctantly agreed to rejoin the rest of their group. On the way back, something seemed to dawn on him. "Wait, you said your dream 'used' to be becoming Hokage. Why isn't it anymore?"
Naruto didn't answer immediately, instead smiling to himself. It was only when they were almost to the room where their friends were that he answered. "Because I already achieved it."
Obito's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to ask further questions, but it was too late, they were within earshot of the other genin.
"Did you find anything?" Tomatsu asked when they entered the room.
"There are other rooms, but this one will do just fine as sleeping quarters."
Daisuke sat down on the floor. "It's going to be an uncomfortable few days.
Everyone agreed. They passed the next few days by practicing with each other, playing games, or just talking. Naruto smiled at the friendship that was forming between the Iwa genin and his teammates. For so long when looking at Iwa or Konoha, the genin had only seen enemies. Now they were getting the chance to see that the people they viewed as enemies were just as human as they themselves. How a friendship like this would last past the chuunin exams, he didn't know, but he did know neither team would ever forget that they had once befriended the enemy. Intentional or not, the chuunin exams had given them an opportunity to see their enemy for what they were, shinobi, some young and some old, who were determined to win for their country. They were the same.
A few times over the course of the days, Naruto had caught Obito looking over at him. He knew Obito wanted to ask more questions about the future, but it wouldn't be smart to discuss it again. Two more teams had showed up, and one of them was constantly wandering around. Naruto was surprised at the light number, but then he figured most of the countries were probably desperate for chuunin right now and were sending every genin they could, meaning the skill level was down. At least now they wouldn't have to worry about a semifinal round.
A/N: I just want to warm you and say that it'll be at least a week before the next chapter is up. I am leaving town and won't have the chance to write anything until at least Monday. Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I was shocked by the number of reviews I received for the last chapter.
I hope you enjoy this chapter. This was one of the few chapter I had already planned out, but then it didn't even turn out how I wanted it to.
Thank you for reading, and please take a few seconds to review.