Ninja of the Void

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters associated with it.

"Talking"

Thoughts

Chunin Exams 1

~ Konoha ~ (afternoon)

"That's incredible Naruto-kun" complimented Hinata. "You actually fought against an enemy ninja?"

"Yeah!" said Naruto excitedly. "They were really tough and everything". But then he threw his pocket watch into the air as he caught it again. "This really got me out of the pinch as it helped".

"But what then happened?"

The blond jinchuriki looked up in thought as he recalled detail by detail how the mission went. On the way there they were almost immediately ambushed by two water nins but were easily dispatched by himself and Sasuke as Kakashi cleaned up the mess. But then almost immediately afterwards they encountered a powerful jounin level water ninja named Zabuza. During that encounter their teacher got captured by him to whom both he and Sasuke managed to force him to retreat. Then later after arriving in the village, a few stories were exchanged like what has been going on in the land of Waves since Gato took over. It was also during this time that Kakashi taught the group how to stick and repel things using chakra. But then later that week the group patrolled the work site in the afternoon where they were attacked by Zabuza again accompanied by his apprentice Haku, which was a boy Naruto unknowingly met earlier that week. From there craziness ensued as Kakashi faced off against Zabuza again as he and Sasuke fought Haku. Interestingly during Haku's mirror trick Sasuke's blood line limit activated which gave them the edge to eventually overcome the ice users mirror trap. After disabling him they then went to assist their teacher as Kakashi and Zabuza were dead locked in a stalemate. Then after disabling him it was believed they had won the battle. However it appeared that their employer Gato had other plans as he brought his own private army to silence them accompanied with its own artillery group. Another battle then ensued as they were bombarded by cannon shells. In one of the blasts, Haku was injured protecting Zabuza which forced Naruto to jump him back to Konoha for medical treatment. Then after returning he found that Inari along with Tazuna had convinced there village to fight for their freedom. In one colossal battle, victory was claimed as the mercenary force was easily crushed as Zabuza took Gato's head.

"Man that story never gets old" said Naruto as he smiled to his pale friend. Literally this must have been the fifth time he told her as it's been three months since the Land of Waves mission.

Hinata smiled at this. Although most people would have been sick already at hearing this story. The Hyuga heiress just enjoyed the energy Naruto exerted as he talked about his achievements. However it still bothered her at how Naruto refused to or rather avoid telling her how he managed to teleport all the way back to Konoha then back again to Waves. But seeing that he was rather adamant about it, it was something she chose not to pry at until he was ready to share. That was the least she could do for him as she was his friend.

"Hey! Let's go to Ichiraku! I hear that Teuchi is serving a new kind of ramen this week!"

"Naruto-kun, eating so much ramen isn't good for you. You should be eating more vegetables in your diet".

"But they do have vegetables in there" as he attempted to draw it out with his hands.

"Naruto-kun . . . ." as Hinata gave him a calm look.

The blond jinchuriki looked back as he scratched the back of his head. "Ahh, don't give me that look Hinata-chan". The pale girl continued to remain silent as she looked at him. "Alright already, I get it. I'll start getting more vegetables into my diet".

"Thank you Naruto-kun" smiled Hinata.

"But on the condition that you have a ramen bowl with me right now" then said Naruto as he took her hand dragging her off to the stand without even waiting for her answer.

Although Hinata was slightly bashful at his actions she soon gave a soft blush as a warm smile appeared. Before long she started walking side by side with him.

They soon arrived to Ichiraku as they both took a seat.

"Welcome" greeted Teuchi. "The usual for you and your friend?"

"Of course" eagerly nodded Naruto.

"The same please Teuchi-san" said Hinata.

The old chef nodded as he then looked to his daughter. "Ayame, the usual for our usual customers".

"Yes father" chimed the brunette.

After a few minutes their meal was served as their bowls were placed in front of them.

Just before they were about to dig in, "may I join you for a while Naruto-san?"

The blond turned to see a feminine looking boy as he waved to him. "Hey Haku, so want to join us for a bite?"

Haku nodded giving a soft smile as he took his seat while ordering a bowl of miso.

As the pair looked to the ice user they reflected on how things came to be. Since his recovery all he wanted to do was return back to Zabuza. The fact of the matter was the water jonin was a rogue who had a few brushes with the ninjas of Konoha thus was imprisoned there for obvious reasons. For the most part his freedom was based on their scrutiny because of the fact he was a rogue and didn't belong to a village at the moment. Interestingly enough he didn't seem to disagree with his treatment as he practically took the imprisonment without a single word of argument. But why exactly he chose this was obvious to those who knew his reason. Simply he just wanted to give Haku a place to call home. Concerning the boy in question, he would visit his master at least once a day to talk to him about anything he could think of.

But now concerning his ability to walk so freely around Konoha was based on two things. First was a sworn statement by Zabuza claiming Haku was just following his orders and would be no threat to them. Of course the other reason was that he was a rare blood line limit user of the Yuki clan to which the Hokage personally asked him himself if he wished to become a ninja of Konoha. Although it touched Haku deeply to actually be wanted as such, he calmly chose to postpone it as he wanted to wait for Zabuza to be his teacher again if he were to be part of a genin team. In yet another surprising decision, the water jounin agreed yet hesitant at first to serve Konoha in such a capacity. But before that he would still need to serve out some of his prison sentence as well as pass probation by other jonins before they even consider letting him near any children.

But then at the thought of Zabuza teaching kids like Konohomaru put a sour face on Naruto. "That would simply be too scary". Although he had faith after cracking his hard exterior that there was a good man in there, "I would seriously suggest psychological help before letting him near kids".

"Is there something wrong Naruto-san?" asked Haku at seeing the strange look the blond was giving.

"No, nothing" said Naruto immediately as he waved his hands innocently.

"So how is civilian life treating you?" asked Hinata.

"It's OK" replied the ice user. "My current setup is fine. The apartment is well furnished, and I do work at a local grocery to help pay for my expenses. My boss is rather kind as she helps me understand a lot of things". Haku then looked up with a solemn expression. "A place to call home. . . . What a wonderful feeling it is".

Naruto and Hinata couldn't help but feel happy for him. They were aware of the kind of life style he had prior to meeting Zabuza which was truly awful. At being alone for so long left him with some serious self-esteem issues. But now getting use to a life under the sun around people who wanted him, you can say in a way that this was what Haku was waiting all his life for. "Good for him" .

"By the way" then asked Hinata. "Have you made any new friends recently?"

The ice user almost choked on his ramen at the question. "Well about that . . . ."

"There he is!"

The three occupants looked back to see a small crowd of girls giving off a kind of scary fan girl aura as they slowly began to approach them like predators stalking prey.

"Can I get this to go please?" asked Haku hurriedly.

"Yeah sure" replied Teuchi. "But I'll need a minute".

"I'll come back to pick it up later!" as the feminine looking boy quickly made a run for it as his mob began chasing after him.

"Wait Haku-kun! We love you!"

"Please wait!"

"Haku-chan!"

As they ran away, "bye Haku!" shouted Naruto. "See you another time". He then looked back to Hinata as they shared a laugh with each other. At looking at the crowd, they could almost swear it rivaled the group that always followed Sasuke around.

"I guess he must be really happy now " smiled Hinata.

"I suppose so, but I think the fan group is a bit too much". He then leaned over to whisper to her. "And I think it's kind of scary".

"What do you mean?" she then questioned. "It's because of his new friends that the grocery business he works at is really popular"

"Well I'm aware of that" Naruto frowned. "But I mean the kind of attention he gets".

". . . . What do you mean by that Naruto-kun?"

"I mean . . . ."

"What is it Naruto-kun?"

"I wonder if some of the guys that go to him know" stressing the last word. "That he is actually a guy". Naruto then looked up in thought. "I mean if Haku just chose not to dress so androgynously and just picked a gender to dress as then I'm pretty sure he would cut his fan group at least in half". Although he mistakenly thought he was a girl as well, but strategically kept that fact to himself.

Hinata thought process paused for a moment. Then second by second her face began to turn red as she soon cupped her cheeks as her mind began to run wild at what she was thinking. "Oh my . . . ."

"Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto now concerned for his pale friend as he waved his hand in front of her. "Are you feeling alright?"

~ Konoha ~ (afternoon)

Although neither of them had anything to do that day, their respective teams were calling a group meeting which was somewhat unusual. For the most part, the only reason they gathered was either for mission briefings or training together. But seeing that neither of them could be the case, Naruto couldn't help but wonder "what would be so urgent to call us on our day off?"

Now at the bridge where they always met Kakashi, team seven waited patiently for their teacher to arrive as they were quite aware of his tendency to be late. So as they waited the three genins did their own individual thing as Naruto stared off into oblivion daydreaming about being the greatest Hokage, Sakura chatted with Sasuke trying to get his undivided attention, and Sasuke . . . . he was looking at Naruto as his mind was immersed in thoughts concerning the blond.

"Just what in the hell is he?" he continuously thought. "He was nothing special during the academy days but now he's doing things I have never even seen before!" Although he was never openly admitting it, he was becoming jealous of the progress the young blond was making. For all these years, people would tell him how great he was or how much of a prodigy he was at being a ninja. To say the least his ego fed off this attention although he would never quite admit it. But now in the open ninja world, a kid he considered average at best was outshining him in so many ways.

In the mission at Waves, for the people who saw would say that he did great for a genin. But for Naruto, he was spectacular. The blond did a bulk of the work as he was primarily his support when they defeated Haku and Zabuza.

Sasuke was irked at this. "What is his secret? There is no way that dobe could be that fast or strong!" Then recalling Naruto disappearing from the battlefield along with Haku, "could his secret be time-space jutsu?" He then mentally shook his head at this. "There's no way a dobe like that can know something that advanced". However he still left that thought open as there was too strong of facts to disregard it. But then narrowing his eyes at Naruto, "but still I should keep my eyes on him. He might prove useful later in helping me get what I want".

After a few more minutes Kakashi arrived to give his usual excuse of being late with his students calling him out on it. But then after taking a moment to settle down, "I guess you all are curious to why I called you here today".

"Yeah sensei, what did you want to tell us?" asked Sakura.

The silver haired jonin soon pulled out three papers as he displayed it before them. "I know it's kind of sudden but I decided to nominate the three of you for the chunin exams".

". . . . What?" the three genins then exclaimed as they couldn't believe what they just heard.

Sasuke instantly corrected himself back to his stoic self.

Sakura could only gape at the opportunity that was just dropped into their lap.

Naruto couldn't help but feel ecstatic as his eyes twinkled in complete utter happiness. "Are you serious Kakashi-sensei? We can all take the chunin exams?"

"Are you sure about this sensei?" then asked Sakura. "Are we really ready for this?"

Kakashi once again recalled the conversation he had in the meeting just earlier that day about this same subject. He then closed his eyes before reopening them. "That is up to all of you to decide on your own. Although I gave you a nomination you must decide if you wish to take the test. If you do, please submit your application in room 301 by 4 P.M. next week this day". He then looked to Naruto before looking to his other students. "I would also like to talk to Naruto alone for a moment" to which Sasuke and Sakura nodded giving them their privacy. Kakashi then turned back to Naruto. "Naruto, I want you to not use your watch during the course of this test".

"Huh? Why not?" as he gave his teacher a confused look. "I thought this test allowed the use of any ninja tool?"

"True, but think of this as my test to you".

"Another test?" sighed Naruto. "Why do I have to do that?"

"Why not?" then smirked Kakashi. "Don't you have enough faith in your own skills?"

The blond fell silent to his question as he thought about it.

So giving his 'request' it's final push, "Don't worry Naruto, I know you can pass this test using your own skills and abilities".

Naruto brightened at the compliment as he smiled. "OK Kakashi-sensei" to which he then clicked a few of the keys which inactivated the watch before pocketing it. "I'll store it away in my room when I get back".

Kakashi gave a nod of approval towards this. Truthfully he wanted Naruto to develop more of his skills without the watch. Like his former master Minato, he took the time to develop his mind and body before going on to develop Hiraishin. In observing thus far, he feared that Naruto was becoming too dependent on the watch. There will be a day that Naruto won't have it, and if that day ever came he didn't want to think about it. So for his benefit, he wanted the young blond to make something of himself now. When he was truly ready, he would be something spectacular. Kakashi gave a soft grin, "he'll definitely surpass his father someday . . . ." and with that he disappeared.

Then taking their cue the team left as Sasuke and Naruto were giddy for the chance at advancement for their own reasons. However their pink compatriot was another case as she looked down depressed.

". . . . I can't do this" thought Sakura. "I can't do anything". During her time at Waves, all she did was stay behind as she watched her team do the fighting. Even the only task of protecting civilians she could not do as her teammates were forced to go back for her. ". . . . This is hopeless" as she then sighed while sulking away.

Naruto looked to Sakura in worry. In piling in all the information he was able to gather, he had an idea what could have been bothering the pink kunoichi. "She must be really worried about the chunin exams". Of course he could have said something to cheer her up, but it would have been more effective if she heard it from someone else. He then turned to Sasuke. "Hey I think you should have a talk with Sakura. She seems really down".

The young Uchiha grunted at this. "Why should I? She's free to do whatever she wants".

"Hey! Don't be a jerk about this Sasuke! She really needs someone to talk to her and it would really mean something if it came from you!"

Sasuke glared at him as he didn't want to go through such a hassle. However he did have a point. Although he wasn't interested in getting any closer to his teammates, Sakura was still part of the team. If one part failed then they would all fail together. He then rolled his eyes as he conceded. "Fine, I'll talk to her".

"Much obliged" smirked Naruto.

He then quickly caught up with her as he was now walking by her side. " . . . . She must really be down". Usually by now Sakura would have been talking away trying to get his attention. He rolled his eyes again at the awkwardness he was forced into. Simply he's never been the type to talk nor sympathize with others. But looks like now he was going to have to improvise it. "Do you want to talk?" as he averted his eyes while rubbing the back of his head.

Sakura looked up as a small smile formed, "sure". They soon found themselves at a dango shop as they took a seat on the bench.

Sasuke hunched over as he stared straight while supporting himself on his arms. He didn't dare look at her as he didn't really know how to connect with people. At best his only connection with people was Naruto who was sadly the closest thing he had to a friend in terms of a talking relationship. But thinking carefully now, he chose the words he wanted to use. "So what has been bothering you?"

The pink kunoichi almost jumped a bit. She then looked to the boy as she waved her hands trying to look as reassuring as possible. "Nothing is bothering me! I'm just been a little tired lately!"

Sasuke would have gladly have taken that as an answer and left, but he knew Naruto would bother him later about this. So with another sigh, "You're worried aren't you? About the upcoming test right?"

Sakura opened her mouth but then fell silent as she looked down slightly depressed as she gave nod.

The boy had a pretty good idea that she was now becoming self-aware of her weakness and he had to agree at how pathetic she was as a ninja. However he was at least respectful enough not to say it. He then closed his eyes in thought before reopening them. "We have week before the test . . . . Do you want me to help you train a bit?"

"Ehh?" as she looked wide eyed to him. "You want me to train with you?"

Sasuke gave another sigh at how troubling things has just become. "I should have just kept my mouth shut". Although he said it on impulse, he couldn't back out now. As he looked to the shining eyes of his teammate, "I'm going to kick that dobe's ass when I see him".

~ Hyuga Compund ~

"Cool!" shouted Naruto. "So your team will also be participating in the chunin exams".

Hinata nodded as she gave a soft smile. "We're going to have to train extra hard this week".

"Yeah I can't wait!" the blond smiled.

"So I don't have to come right?" asked Hanabi who was just passing by.

"But won't you miss Kono-kun?"

"Who would miss that stupid monkey boy!" as the young Hyuga soon stomped away.

They chuckled at this before resuming their conversation. "Since the exams are coming we won't be having any missions this week. So do you want to train at our usual place and time?"

Hinata nodded happily to this. But then she looked up in thought as she just remembered something. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but I also told Kiba-kun and Shino-kun that I would train with them as well".

"That's alright" said Naruto. "You can invite them to our training session. The more the merrier right?"

The Hyuga heiress gave a soft sigh at this. Although she liked the suggestion she also had a somewhat equal dislike of it. During these mornings she liked the time she spent alone with Naruto as they were able to talk about anything they wished. Even with Konohomaru and her sister around she always managed to find ways to sneak herself and Naruto away into the forest to have their alone time. However knowing Naruto as well as she did, if he acted any other way he just wouldn't be him. "OK Naruto-kun, I'll tell my team where to meet".

"Awesome".

"But what about your team? Wouldn't it be good to practice with them as well?"

"Nah, those two are most likely doing their own thing. So I wouldn't want to bother them".

~ Konoha (training grounds) ~ (morning)

Naruto scratched his head trying to comprehend how things ended up the way they did.

"Is there something wrong Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata.

The young blond looked to his right. "Well I know why your team is here because you invited them". But why are they here?" pointing to Sasuke and Sakura who were present.

"Why? Is there a problem with us training here?" stoically asked the emo.

"Not exactly" flatly stated Naruto. "But why did you have to kick me in the butt?" as he rubbed his rear trying not to fell offended.

". . . . Just felt like it".

"OK . . . . so then why are they here?" as he then pointed to the now present Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji to his right.

"Well I just thought it would be nice to get some training in before the big test" smiled Ino.

Shikamaru yawned as he stepped forward. "Actually Sakura told Ino about the 'private lessons' she was getting from Sasuke" emphasizing with his fingers. "So she didn't want to be left out as we ended up getting dragged along to authenticate her current story".

"Shikamaru!"

"What a troublesome women" as he then plugged his ears at the ranting he was getting.

"Well" as he scratched his cheek. "I wasn't expecting this many people. But who cares right? Let's all have a good morning OK".

"What's the point . . . ."

Everyone then looked to Shikamaru. "What are you talking about?" asked Chouji as he was now looking up from his breakfast.

The shadow nin rolled his eyes at this. "If anyone actually bothered to look there have been no rookies like us who's participated in the chunin exams for the last five years".

"Why not?"

Shikamaru sighed, "who knows. There could be a ton of reasons why, but more importantly it's bad news for us".

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means" then started Sakura as she looked down now slightly worried. "All the participants this year are all seasoned ninjas who have a lot more experience with the missions they've been on".

"So that means . . . ."

"Yeah, we're up against genins who are probably out of our league". At this information the atmosphere felt as it had gotten colder around them.

"So what!" which caught everyone's attention as they looked to Naruto. "It just means we have to work twice as hard so that they don't look down on us!"

"Big words for a dobe" smirked Sasuke as he crossed his arms.

"What's wrong jerk? Afraid of a little hard work?"

The young Uchiha glared at him before averting his eyes trying to maintain his coolness.

"But Naruto-kun" weakly said Hinata. "We only have a week to prepare. Do you really think that's enough time?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Naruto. "So let's get started!"

To be continued . . . .

Author's notes: I hope you all liked the chapter as this point should mark where all the big changes will occur. But to be very honest, the chapter I'm looking very forward to writing is in the third stage of the chunin exams because that chapter in particular I have something big planned to which I actually spent approximately a few months thinking about (as well as a couple other chapters). So I hope I don't disappoint anyone till then as I do have high hopes for this story.

So I thank everyone for taking the time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.