"You better turn up the heat, or I'm going to leave you smoldering!" ~Naruto
Naruto sighed as he drew idlely on the back of his test. All around him, he could feel the tension in the air as everyone tried to work out the complex questions on the paper, but Naruto didn't care really. He was lost in his thoughts of something that had occurred to him from observing his teammate's fight with Rock Lee.
It was with no small sense of satisfaction that Naruto was right when he'd guessed that Team 7 was entered into the Chunnin Exams, the test in front of him being the first part. They had woken up early to meet at Training Ground 7 to make an agreement to do their best in the Exams. Hinata was just glad she hadn't stuttered or fainted when Naruto had grabbed her hand.
They had arrived at The Academy with plenty of time to spare, only to find a large contingent of hopeful Chunnin in front of a door on the second floor. Two Genin were blocking the door, warning everybody off, but Naruto could sense that they were using a Henge to conceal their appearance. They were on the high-end of Chunnin judging from their chakra reserves.
"Hey, could you move, people do have places to go!" Naruto complained as the group turned to face Team 7, anger on their faces as several pointed accusing fingers at the two Henge'd Chunnin.
"They won't let us in for the Chunnin Exam, if we aren't inside soon, we'll be disqualified from competing!" One Genin cried; others echoing his cry as they tried once again to push their way passed the one's blocking the door, only to get shoved back.
"Not out problem, now move aside or we'll move you ourselves." Sasuke growled out, sending an especially nasty sneer towards those that looked ready to pummel his face in. He didn't have time to waste disposing of these weaklings, and besides, he wanted to conserve his energy for the actual tests.
"Yeah, you're such idiots if you think a simple Genjutsu like that will fool us!" A calm voice said from behind Sasuke, only glanced behind him, only to see Sakura standing there, tapping her foot impatiently. Although she didn't appear much different outwards, Sasuke could pick up on the subtle differences such as how she didn't flinch, or blush intensely at his gaze; instead, she met his eyes evenly, although she did give a small smile. If he was impressed, he didn't show it.
"Baka, don't say that, now we'll have more competition to get past until I can beat Teme's face in." Naruto groaned as the Genin surrounding the door, looked up and 'ahh'ed before heading up to the next floor.
"Shut up Naruto, I doubt you even knew it was a Genjutsu." Kiba said; Akamaru yipping in agreement, even though he thought his master was an idiot for challenging the boy that smelled like a fox.
"Yes, that's why I was trying to get passed them to the next floor." Naruto growled out, and before anyone knew it, Kiba and Naruto had their heads pressed against each other, lightning shooting between them.
"Bah, you probably couldn't even read the sign right, that's why you thought you were on the wrong floor!" Kiba retorted, smiling wolfishly.
"Ha, that's rich, if I recall correctly, it wasn't me that misspelled my own name on the Graduation test. Now how about you scamper off, and go hump something, mutt." Naruto threatened, Hinata growing slowly more and more worried that a fight was about to break out in the hallway.
But suddenly, two fists planted themselves in Naruto's and Kiba's heads, the owner of said fist taking care not to hit Akamaru, who blinked owlishly at his downed master as he began barking rapidly to wake Kiba up, who groaned and said something about 'stupid 'Kura'.
Hinata ran over to her crush, checking on him as Naruto sat up, the pair repeating their twin fainting spells as a giggled echoed down the hallway as Naruto stirred at a chakra signature that felt almost… poisoned. He saw Hinata passed out, and patted her shoulder, the bluenette stirring as she sat up and saw something that made her look fearfully down the hall as she hid behind Naruto.
"Ahh, Sakura-chan, such monstrous strength. Be my girlfriend." A voice said as a boy got down on one knee, handing a rose to Sakura, who blushed at the gesture, the pinkette glancing at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye as he looked bored. She sighed, turning back to answer the boy, only to freeze up at his giant eyebrows.
"Eeekkk, you have two caterpillars on your face!" Sakura cried out, grabbing her stoic teammate as she shoved the Aburame in front of her. She hated bugs, and she thought dogs smelled horrible, although Akamaru didn't smell retched horrible, maybe because he was always letting her bathe him with shampoo.
"Lee, stop scaring the poor girl, I told you those eyebrows freak normal people out." A girl said as she appeared beside the boy, her hair pulled into two buns that made her resemble a panda.
"Yes, Tenten, I understand what I must do." Lee said as he pulled out a kunai, he led it up for a moment before pointing it at Sasuke. "Uchiha Sasuke, I challenge you to a fight for Sakura-chan's heart." Lee called, and Sasuke smirked for a second, something inside of him calling to fight Lee.
"Lee, we don't have time for this. You can have your little fight later, right now; we have to get to the third floor." A bored voice said, and Naruto felt Hinata stiffen behind him as a second male appeared, Le and Tenten's final teammate, no doubt. "However, I'm curious about this year's Rookie of the Year, so have your little spar, but make it snappy." Sasuke smirked.
So they had sparred for about five minutes until the fight was broken up by Lee, Tenten, and Neji's sensei, Maito Guy, who looked identical to Lee. "I've heard of hero worship, but to take it that far." Naruto thought as he shook himself out of his daydreams.
"He did rather well considering his 'condition'." Naruto thought, his mind drifting back to the event that almost killed his teammate, and how he blamed himself.
*Flashback*
"Are you okay, scaredy cat?" Naruto asked sarcastically as he barreled into the side of one of Zabuza's Water Clones. It scattered into droplets of water, although no one could see it in the dense fog. Seemingly sensing the will, the fog began to lift.
Sasuke felt a deep rage inside of him alight as he charged past Naruto, leaping in front of him brandishing a kunai. He grabbed Naruto's collar with his free hand as he tried to lift the blonde off the ground, he probably would've succeeded had Naruto been a normal malnourished child, but Naruto had a few people who cared for him, and so he was well-nourished, he had to be if he wanted to be a shinobi.
"That's it Dobe, I'm sick and tired off your attitude. You are a nobody compared to me, an Uchiha, you understand." Spittle flew from Sasuke's mouth and splattered against Naruto's cheek, whose hand rose and slowly wiped it off before punching Sasuke in the face. Sasuke stumbled backwards, dropping his kunai as he fell on his butt.
"Ha, look the almighty Uchiha knocked down by a simple punch. I'm sure your clan would be so proud." Naruto retorted apathetically, before his eyes widened and he leapt to the side. "Move it Uchiha!" Naruto barked out as the Uchiha sneered at him.
"Like I'm going to listen to you, Orphan Dobe!" Sasuke answered only for a second Water Clone to come out of the bushes and make a beeline for Sasuke, whose eyes also widened as he stood to dodge, only to slip on his dropped kunai and fell forwards.
The Clone hefted his massive blade with ease as he brought it down on Sasuke, who cried out, only to become doused in water as Naruto appeared, breathing heavily with a kunai outstretched, his ambush barely making it in time.
As if in agreement of this fact, a paper thin cut appeared on Sasuke's neck from where the blade had touched him. His eyes were still the size of dinner plates as he fell unconscious, the shock to much for the Genin Uchiha.
*Flashback End*
When he had awakened a day later from a feverish nightmare, his eyes were the signature red of the Sharingan. According to Sasuke, the fear of his death had allowed him to awaken the Dojutsu. Kakashi had had Sasuke see the Psych Ward when they had arrived; just to make sure he was battle fit.
Apparently he had gotten a clean bill of health, considering where they were. All the same, it had hit Naruto just as hard, how he almost caused his teammate to be killed because his stupid honorable nindo. Curse it in its entirety.
Hinata had told him about Neji, the last member of Team 9, who was also her cousin, although she referred to him as Neji-nii-san, even though she always seemed to be afraid whenever he came around. It had seemed like she'd wanted to say more, but it wasn't her place, she'd said.
That brought them to this moment, with Naruto bored out of his skull. And so he decided to meditate, and try to familiarize himself with some of the competition.
He was supposed to be answering questions on a test by cheating, but he didn't really have any way to cheat without getting caught, so instead he was covertly lighting people's tests on fire, which had been pretty funny when everyone started acting like the room was haunted. Hinata had apparently thought so at least.
He felt the noise drop away as he fell into the blackness of his mind, until he felt himself impacted something wet and slimy. Rubbing his head, he stood up to find himself in his mindscape, which was still a sewer, which irked Naruto to no end. He didn't like the sewers, and from what he could tell, it was supposed to represent his mental stability, which was utter BS, because he was well-educated and structured, so WHY IN KAMI'S NAME WAS HIS MINDSCAPE A FREAKING SEWER!
"Hehehe, silly human." Naruto heard the Kyuubi's voice echoing through the empty stone walls. For some reason, it filled Naruto with rage how the Kyuubi was laughing at him. The fox was locked in a cage inside a 'weak human', as Kyuubi liked to put it, and still he had the tenacity to laugh at Naruto? Someone was going to pay.
"Shut up, stupid fox!" Naruto yelled at the monstrous demon fox, which ignored him in favor of chuckling at him. "Hey, I said shut up!" Naruto tried again, still ignored. "SHUT UP YOU UNGODLY FURBALL!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs, his only response being a twitch of the fox's ear as Naruto sighed and sat down, focusing his mind on the task of silencing the fox's laughter.
"It's not so fun when it happens to you, is it?" The Kyuubi asked, disturbing Naruto from his meditation.
"What are you talking about; I don't going around laughing at you, and disturbing your rest." Naruto growled out through gritted teeth.
"No, but for the last two weeks all I've heard is 'sniff, sniff, my friend is dead, wahhhh!'" Kyuubi snarled out, glaring at Naruto who, despite himself, took a step back at the hatred being shot at him.
"Well, what do you want me to do; I had to kill one of my friends. I'm not like you, demon fox, who can just kill and get over it instantly. I'm a human, I grieve." Naruto shouted back, only for the fox to huff, the burst of air, sending Naruto's jacket fluttering.
"Hardly; you knew her for maybe three days, I'd hardly call that a close friend. Now if it was that Hyuuga girl, or maybe your other teammate, the Uchiha, you could be justified. And I can get over it because it's the same as killing bugs to you ningen. I don't have any friend, so I will never have the problem of grieving for someone close to me. Now get over your stupid, pointless self-pity!" Kyuubi roared as the bars on the cage rattled but held up to the rage of the nine-tailed Bijuu.
"Shut up, stupid fox, you don't have any friends because no one would want to be friends with you! And I did almost get Sasuke killed, so there, I have a reason to grieve." Naruto said childishly, and the Kyuubi couldn't help sweat-dropping at that.
"But he didn't die, you saved him. What idiotic creature cries when they save someone? Honestly, I couldn't live with myself if I cried over every little thing." Kyuubi said offhand. He turned to leave, only to have to send one final dig at Naruto as his body vanished into the shadows, his voice echoing throughout the chamber.
"You cry because one person you knew for three days died; Sasuke had his entire family killed by his older brother, yet you don't see him going around sobbing about it. No, he's made a vow to grow strong enough to avenge his clan; perhaps you would do well to do likewise." Kyuubi went silent at that, and for all his intelligence, Naruto couldn't think of a comeback to that. He went silent as well, contemplating the fox's words.
"He's right. Sasuke will forsake everything to get stronger, his history shows that. I won't be the same, but no more crying over death. I am a shinobi, death is our bedmate and ever present watchman. To grieve over such a thing is weakness, and I will never be weak in their eyes again. I am Naruto Uzumaki, and I will protect my precious people, no matter the cost to myself!" Naruto roared as he ran from the chamber, never noticing the light chuckle the Kyuubi gave as he left, and the room faded away.
"Why are you so alike, Old Man, Kit? What is it that makes you special, Naruto Uzumaki…Namikaze?" Kyuubi mumbled as his tails shrouded him.
Naruto came to as Hinata was shaking him, trying to awaken him.
"Hnn, leave it to the Dobe to fall asleep during our Chunnin Exams. Oh well, at least we didn't fail." Sasuke said, glaring at Naruto, who returned the glare in equal force, catching Sasuke off guard.
"Naruto-kun, come on, we have to hurry to Training Ground 44. If we're late, we'll be disqualified." Hinata said worriedly, and Naruto groaned, stretching himself out and releasing the coiled tension in his body.
"No, I'm done being the one watching other's back, now; Team 7 will lead the way through Hell!" Naruto said, clenching his fist as he held it out, Sasuke sighing before bumping fists, Hinata looking between the two rivals before her fist joined them, and the three sped off, chasing down the eligible Genin teams.
A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. We have, this chapter, our first glimpse at one of the events of the Wave Arc. Now, next chapter will be the entire Forest of death test, so the chapter may run a bit long. Now then, I'm going to try and get to the Prelims as soon as possible because that's where the fun really starts flaring up.