Kingdom hearts will only be mine in my dreams. The same can be said for Naruto.
Team seven walked upstairs, still dragging the infuriated Sasuke. They had passed the second floor where a bunch of kids were surrounding a door labeled 301. A little odd, since it was only the second floor. When they got to the third floor, they found a second room, it was also labeled 301.
"Oh, I get it." Naruto said, and then walked into the room without another word.
Haku simply stared at Hinata, looking for an explanation.
"Genjutsu." She answered his unspoken question.
"Ah." Haku said, as the realization dawned on him.
They walked into the room, to find it full of Genin. Each one of them were itchin' for a fight, or too nervous for their own good. All this was lost on team seven simply because of the number of them. The whole room was packed from one side to the other. But unlike most packed rooms, this one was nearly silent. It was slightly unnerving.
Naruto couldn't stand it. So he broke the silence the only way he knew how. Bragging.
"Listen up you worms!" Naruto yelled. "I am Naruto Uzumaki! Keyblade Master! Learn the name, hear the name, and fear the name. 'Cause I could take anyone of you with my hands tied behind my back! And one day, I'll be Hokage, Believe it!"
All eyes were on him for a brief second, and then turned away.
That annoyed Naruto more than Sasuke ever could have.
The room began to shake. The windows rattled; some of the Genins were thrown from the desks they sat on. Someone screamed. Then a dark voice, filled with malice said, "I said, I am Naruto Uzumaki, learn the name, hear the name, fear the name." The shaking stopped, for a brief second, and then the room exploded with an unseen force that broke the windows, and sent the unlucky Genin close to him flying. Somehow, the rest of his team was able to stand still, but now they were staring with wide eyes filled with fear.
Then he walked to a desk and sat down as if nothing happened.
Then the clamor of voices began.
"What was that?"
"Who does he think he is?"
"Nice trick, but he doesn't stand a chance against us."
"That kid is so full of himself," Kankurou said, "Right, Gaara?"
Gaara remained silent. Behind calm eyes, his mind was franticly searching for an explanation other than what he had suspected at first. No explanation came. "He has to be one."
That realization was scarier than anything he had ever felt before.
"You know, you shouldn't have done that." Another kid said as he approached Naruto. He wore wire rimmed glasses and a purple ninja tunic.
"What's it to ya?" Naruto asked.
"Let me introduce myself, my name is Yakushi Kabuto. And that was a very reckless move. You just drew attention to yourself. And now they're going to come after you."
Naruto looked up at him, "Maybe I want them to."
"No you don't." Kabuto said. "I should know, I've taken this test seven times."
"What you retarded or something?"
"No. This is just tougher than you think it is."
"Saaassuuke-kun!" a squealy voice yelled from the other side of the room.
"Oh, no." Sasuke moaned.
"Hey there handsome." A blond said as she threw her arms around Sasuke's neck.
Sasuke sighed, and began to count to himself. "Three, Two, One."
"Get your hands off Sasuke-kun, Ino-pig!"
"Right on time."
"Go away Sakura, Leave me and my boyfriend alone."
"He's not your boyfriend. He's mine!"
"Oh look," Naruto said, "Its Banshee One and Banshee Two."
"Shut up, baka." Sakura retorted.
"Yeah, shut up." Ino barked.
"So, as you were saying, Kabuto?" Naruto asked.
"Right," the boy answered, "You know the saying knowledge is power?"
"I invented that one." Kyuubi said.
"Well, I have these." Kabuto said, holding a huge deck of cards. "Ninja Info Cards. My collection's far from complete, but it most probably has anyone you have questions about."
"I want to know about Rock Lee." Sasuke said.
"You have Gaara of the sand in there?" Naruto asked.
"Yup, Rock Lee, The great blue beast of Konoha." Kabuto said as he pulled a card out. "He's very good at Taijutsu, but that's about it."
"Sasuke should know." Haku said, "He's experienced it firsthand."
For the first time the two girls noticed Haku and instantly mistook him for competition. "And who are you?" Ino asked, with enough venom in her voice to kill an elephant.
Haku wasn't blind to such tones and knew when jealousy was on the rise, and replied, "I'm someone's boyfriend."
Sakura and Ino looked at him with shocked eyes.
"Yes I said boyfriend."
"You're -?"
"Yes, I'm a guy, and yes I know, it's scary."
"Anyway," Naruto interrupted, "Gaara?"
"Oh, yeah." Kabuto said, pulling out another card and laying it down in front of them. "He's done a lot of high rank missions and has comeback from them virtually unscathed."
Before anyone could comment, a loud voice called out from the front of the room. "Alright Maggots, take your seats." Everyone turned to see a man dressed in a black overcoat with a black bandana tied over his head. When everyone was seated in their assigned seats, he stood took a piece of paper and held it up. "This is a ten question test, if you pass it, you continue." He paused, "If you fail, you, and your team, leave and don't come back till next year."
Someone raised his hand, "That seems a little unfair-."
"You fail."
"What?"
"Leave. Now."
"But-."
"You and your team are disqualified from the Chunin exams."
The boy and his team were escorted out.
"As I was saying," the man continued, "Each question you answer wrong, you lose one point. Each time you a caught cheating, you lose two. If you are caught cheating three times you, and your team are out. If your score is less than four, you fail. Any questions?"
No dared say a thing.
"You may begin."
Naruto looked down at his test in despair. Kyuubi refused to help him and questions were impossible to answer. "What the-? 'Who was the first Hokage's third cousin twice removed?' How am I supposed to know that?"
Naruto then began to let his eyes wander, hoping that some memory from the academy days would come back and give him an answer. A couple of minutes later, Naruto noticed a boy in the corner. He was a Hyuuga. Naruto could tell for two reasons, the first, the black hair and signature Byakugan white eyes, and secondly, those eyes were active. "What is he doing?" The answer hit him immediately.
"He's cheating."
Ibiki, the man in the trench coat stood at the front of the class, watching for the slip-ups that only a Genin could make. He would make sure it would stay that way. Suddenly he heard a yelp from one of the far corners. His eyes quickly scanned the area. Everyone was looking a young girl who had white eyes and short-cropped, midnight black hair. The girl herself was staring at her paper intently.
One of the monitors was looking at him for a yes or no. Ibiki looked at her for a second then shook his head. Whatever had happened wasn't planned or she wouldn't have yelped. He let it roll. Even Genins deserved a break now and then.
Haku knew he was in trouble. He was new to Konoha and didn't know too much about its history. He suddenly wished he had died on the bridge. He despaired as the questions continued, seemingly without end. He looked to the sky and prayed for an answer. Little did he know one would climb up his leg in a matter of seconds. Haku was about to yelp when a slender, red, rope-like object swung around his mouth.
"Look down, quickly." A voice whispered in his ear.
Haku obeyed.
"Listen, Naruto sent me, he found the trick to the test. You're supposed to cheat."
Haku wanted to ask something, but the slender tail around his mouth would not move.
"Hinata has used her eyes to find the answers, so listen up and write these down."
Naruto sat waiting for Mushu to come back from Haku. As soon as he got back, he could write down the answers himself. As he watched Haku write down the answers, he wondered how things were going. Suddenly Haku smiled, and looked up, signaling Mushu's depart. Naruto smiled as he prepared for the dragon to relay the answers.
Before Mushu could arrive, however, Ibiki stood up. "Alright pencils down."
Naruto's blood ran cold. He hadn't answered a single question.
"Now before I move on to question ten, I wish to tell you something."
Everyone waited with silent anxiety, wanting more than anything for the test to end.
"The tenth question will fail you if you get it wrong,"
Everyone began to whisper creating a small rumble of voices.
"-and, it will keep you from coming back to this test ever again."
Silence.
"You now have a choice before you, you can leave with your team and come back next year, or you can continue and risk it with the tenth question."
Immediately, Genin began to leave. They were not going to risk it.
Haku's fingers flinched.
Naruto sat still.
Genin left.
Sasuke's hand moved, but he brought it down.
Naruto trembled slightly.
More hands rose, signaling their defeat.
Hinata's foot tapped nervously.
Naruto's arm began to rise.
Everyone on his team gasped. "No…" Hinata quietly whispered.
Naruto's arm stood fully extended towards the ceiling.
A moderator approached him.
The arm came down against the table, and broke the desk in two. "I will not give up!" Naruto screamed. Anyone who had not left the room was staring at him. "I will not give in to a question!" Everyone paused. "I don't care if I fail; I defy you to tell me I cannot become a chunin." Naruto cried pointing his finger at Ibiki. Everyone sat in silence. "Even if I do fail and I never make chunin, I will become the greatest genin in the world, I may even skip chunin, becoming the only jounin in the world to skip a rank, or better yet, the genin Hokage! Bring it on, I have faced worse."
Ibiki stood, slightly impressed with the boy's determination, and strength. He looked around the room and found still half-full, but none of them looked like they were going to leave. "Still too many." He sighed, "Anyone else leaving?" No one moved. "Last chance." No one budged. "Alright, here is the tenth question…you pass."
Naruto nearly fainted in relief.
"What do you mean we pass?" Someone asked, Naruto looked to see that it was Sakura, sitting in the corner.
"Don't question it, Banshee, just accept it." Naruto said.
"Actually, kid, you're not far from the mark." Ibiki said.
Naruto looked at him confused out of his eyeballs, "Ok, ya lost me."
"If you are given a mission, and you don't like it, what are you going to do? Not take it? That's practically treason."
"Ah, I see." Naruto said, "You were testing our trustworthiness."
"Exactly, that and your ability to gather information."
"So wait what about the tenth question?" someone asked.
"Are you an idiot?" Naruto asked, "There is no tenth question. He was testing our ability to cope with stress."
Ibiki looked pensive, "I suppose that, too." He then turned and checked the clock behind him. The second hand was five seconds from the top of the clock. Four, three, two, one.
A black mass crashed through the window, or would have if Naruto's show of force hadn't broken the windows beforehand.
"Hello Maggots!" Yelled a woman who emerged from the mass, which turned out to be a sign. She wore a beige trench coat with a fishnet shirt, and beige skirt. The sign read "I am Anko Mitarashi. Your second proctor"
"I'm your second protector of the Chunin exams!" She blinked and took a quick count of the remaining contestants. She turned to Ibiki, "So many?"
"We have a lot of good candidates this year." He replied.
"More like you've gone soft." She said, she turned to the genin, "I promise that before the end of the next test, there will be half of you left."
"Well what are you waiting for?" Naruto yelled, "Let's see what you've got."
Naruto stood in front of the gates of the supposedly infamous training ground 44, better known as the "Forest of Death." He rolled his eyes, about how dangerous it was, knowing fully that it was all probably true. She was still going on about, he had tuned out but he could tell by the looks of horror on the genins' faces. She was suddenly holding up two scrolls. Naruto decided now would be a good time to tune back in.
"-each team will need one of each scroll to pass. Once in possession of these scrolls, head for the tower found in the center of the forest. There, and only there, may you open your scrolls. Any questions?" Silence prevailed. "Good, now I need each one of you to sign one of these wavers, which state that, in the case that you die, Konoha was not responsible for your death. As soon as you have your team registered, you may come for your scroll."
Naruto received his paper with enough indifference in his eyes to fill a barrel. He glazed over the paper and signed it. He was the first one to turn it in.
"Come on, guys, hurry up, we don't have all day." He yelled to his teammates.
"You do know this is a paper for your death right?" Sauske asked.
"Duh," Naruto answered, "but if I perish, I perish, that's all there is to it."
As soon as everyone handed in their waver, they were given a Heaven scroll. The moment the scroll was in his hand, Naruto practically pushed his teammates to a gate. Roughly ten minutes later, the signal was given to begin over a PA system.
Naruto led his team deep into the forest.
"Do you even know where you're going dobe?" Sasuke asked. It was noon of the first day, and nobody had seen any sign of another team.
"Of course not." Naruto replied, everyone stared at him, "I've never been here before."
"So were lost?" Hinata asked.
"No."
"What are you talking about? You just said you have idea where we're going!"
Naruto smiled. "We are due west of the center of the forest. We traveled from the gate twenty miles northwest, there is a bog nearby, and the only reason we haven't spotted a team yet is because I've been avoiding them."
"Then why did you say you had no idea where we're going?" Haku asked.
"Simply because I don't know where we'll end up." Naruto said, "Now if you'll excuse me, Nature calls." He quickly stepped behind a tree. Roughly ten seconds later, an explosion rocked the ground. This was quickly followed by a long string of oaths, "#$%! What the &$+# were you thinking? I should €#%■ing blow you to Ω±&ing Hell for that!"
A pain-filled groan came from behind the tree Naruto selected.
Naruto returned muttering angrily something about idiots sneaking up on people when they're relieving themselves.
Sasuke smiled, "You know, this does bring up the question about what we're going to do if someone captures us."
"What are you talking about, idiot?" Haku asked.
"I'll put it simply, just for you," Sasuke said. Haku glared at him, but let him continue, "if that ninja had been successful in capturing Naruto, we wouldn't know it was him, unless Hinata had her Byakugan eyes activated the whole time, but that would be a huge waste of Chakra."
"So what are you s-suggesting?" Hinata asked
"Password Identification."
There was silence for a few seconds as the group thought it over.
"Well, teme, I never thought I'd say it, but I agree with you." Naruto said.
"So what's our password?" Hinata asked.
"How about 'hi!'?" Naruto suggested. It was only rewarded with a scowl. "I'm kidding."
"How about 'Makyou Hyoushou'?"
"Th-that's an idea." Hinata said.
"I'm thinking 'Mangekyou'." Sasuke said
"Wh-what about 'Fox'?" Hinata asked, staring at Naruto's whisker marks. She quickly caught herself and begun staring at the floor.
"I'm still partial to 'Mangekyou'."
"Of course you are, you biased teme." Haku said.
"I'm biased? You're the one who wants to name the password after your own jutsu! How do you even know what the Mangekyou is?"
"I didn't spend the first couple of weeks here doing nothing, I researched all the major clans and their abilities."
"Well aren't you brilliant?" Sasuke said, sarcasm overflowing in his voice.
"Fine, I'll name it!" Naruto said, "It's Leonhart, ok?"
"Leonhart?" asked Sasuke, "What on earth is a Leonhart?"
"It's Leon's real last name."
"Leon?"
"Didn't you pay any attention to the story I told you?"
"Huh?"
"About Sora?"
"Oh right, your 'Story'."
"Yes." Naruto sighed, "That one."
"Well, I'm fine with Leonhart." Haku said.
"I agree." Hinata voted.
"Fine, Leonhart it is." Sasuke agreed.
The team made their way through the forest, trying to find the right prey. They were about to ambush an enemy team of grass nins. Suddenly one of them pulled out a Kunai, and before the watching Genin could speak, the ninja had slit their throats.
They then watched, wide eyed, as the grass nin made some quick hand signs and drew a streak of blood on his arm. A huge snake appeared in front of him. The Grass nin looked up at him. "I want you to find team seven and spilt them up. Blow the boy in the robe and the other boy away, but leave the girl with Sasuke, she seems to know a lot about herbs and such, and she'll pose no threat, not that any of them would."
Naruto grimaced and pulled out a small golden oil lamp. He suddenly jumped into the clearing, "I wouldn't waste my time." He said.
"Hm," the grass nin said, "It seems my job has been made a little easier."
"You'd think so, wouldn't ya?" Naruto suddenly raised the lamp above his head, "Genie!"
Suddenly, a blue mist began spilling from the lamp, and a figure began to take shape from the smoke. Suddenly, a broad-shouldered, blue man appeared, "Congratulations, to Naruto!" The man said, dressed in a sparkling shirt, "You've just won an all-expense paid victory!"
"Thanks Genie, but just take care of the snake, I can take the other one."
"You got it!" Genie said, his clothes suddenly transformed to that of a snake charmer, complete with vest, turban, and pipe. Genie lifted the pipe to his lips, and played a tune that instantly hypnotized the serpent. Then just when it got into the rhythm, Genie snapped his fingers, and the snake was hit by lightning and lighted up like a Christmas tree. The next second, it was a smoking pile of flesh.
"Thanks Genie."
"Aw, anything for Sora's hier." He said as he disappeared back into the lamp.
"And then there was one." Naruto said, staring confidently at the grass nin.
"You think I'm impressed with a light show?" The grass nin asked.
"Well, if that wasn't enough, how about this?" Naruto's hand was suddenly filled with light as the Kingdom Key flashed into existence.
The Grass nin looked at the weapon in his hand, "A Keyblade…" he whispered to himself.
"I see you know your stuff, Orochimaru."
The Grass nin's eyes widened, "How did you-?"
"How many ninjas actually have a summoning contract with snakes?" Naruto said, while in actual fact, Kyuubi smelled the snake a ways off.
"So, we shall see if you are as powerful as you are observant."
"I can answer that question for you already."
"I've learned to never trust the word of an idiot."
"So you don't trust yourself, then?"
"You're quick of wit too, I think I shall enjoy this."
"If you don't, I will." At that moment, Naruto charged.
Next Chapter, a battle of Epic proportions, and the sound nins get their butts whopped, join us next time!