Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and whatever OCs pop up.
Last time: Naruto manages to somehow beat Tsunade by simply having the will to get up. Later on, our favorite fox host explains why he decided to become a missing-nin and join Orochimaru. Tsuande also decides to enter Naruto into the upcoming Chuunin Exam, but having the small problem of finding a team for him. The chapter ends with Naruto talking with Iruka after not seeing him for five years.
This time: Teammates are found, and it isn't who you think, Naruto trains with someone close to him, and some other stuff happens. Like I'd say what it is here. .
URGENT!!! PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTES AT END OF CHAPTER! You'll see why after you read it.
Two days passed without much of anything at all going on. The only major thing that happened was Naruto finally being able to pay a visit to old man Ichiraku and Ayame-chan. Kyuubi had been most adamant that Naruto eat more than ramen for the rest of his life, and after finding some other dishes that he could eat without wanting ramen, Naruto had agreed to not eat ramen twenty-four/seven, but on the condition he could indulge himself once in a while.
Now the blond was bored stupid. He couldn't find anybody who was willing to be a sparring partner and it was irking him. Kyuubi had volunteered on more than one occasion, but Naruto wanted a little variety. Finally he wound up sitting on top of the Yondaime's head on the Hokage Monument. Sure he was enjoying the view, but he was still bored.
"Ah, man!" he whined, stretching just before flopping back on the slightly warm stone, the heat slowly leaking in though his orange tee-shirt. "No on wants to spar!"
'Maybe it's because they've all seen what you can do.' The Kyuubi suggested. 'We could always spar you know. You've done it before.'
'Yeah, but I've been sparring with you for the past year. I really want to test myself against someone different.' A voice behind Naruto cut off any suggestion the Kyuubi may have had.
"Desiring someone to spar, Uzumaki Naruto?"
Naruto looked up as much as he could lying on the stone and found himself looking into the dull gaze of the Godaime Kazekage. "Gaara! I had no idea you were still in town!"
"I had figured that out when you never even came to visit," the Wind Shadow replied with his usual monotone, as he moved to sit beside the fox host, who raised himself up as well. Naruto scratched the back of his head with one hand, grinning sheepishly.
"Well, I thought that you would have gone back to Suna now that your mission is complete. You know, helping Konoha and everything."
Gaara shook his head. "That was only half of our mission. Initially, my siblings and I were on a training journey. That got cut short, and now here we are."
"Oh." The two friends lapsed into a comfortable silence. Naruto took this time to look hard as his friend.
The first thing that hit him was the reduction in the bags under Gaara's eyes. The marks were still there, a testament to his time as the Jinchuuriki for the Shukaku, but they had lightened considerably and now hugged up against his eyes a tad more closely than they had before. Gaara also wore the white sash that he'd carried his gourd on when the pair had first met, all those years ago at Naruto's first chuunin exam. Under that was the standard Sunagakure flack vest over the usual red clothing the Kazekage always wore.
"What's it like?" Gaara's voice caught Naruto off guard after almost ten minutes of silence.
"What?" Gaara fixed Naruto with a clearly annoyed gaze.
"Being at peace with your inner demon. What's it like?"
"Oh, that. It's okay. At least I don't have to worry about the furball trying to take over and lock me up inside his belly, if you get my meaning." The blond shrugged. "Other than that, it's not real different from what it was like before."
'Speak for yourself kit,' the fox grumbled. 'You weren't locked in a cage like I was.' The fox was promptly ignored, much to his chargrin.
"I would have loved to had Shukaku locked up or at least befriended him like you did with Kyuubi," Gaara admitted, "It would have made my life so much easier."
"But you would have still been hated." Naruto pointed out. "Ah! Listen to the two of us! Reminiscing and griping like a pair of old men! Anyway, see you later, Gaara. I've got to find a sparring partner." The blond stood and prepared to leave. Gaara's voice stopped him.
"Why not fight me?" The fox host turned and looked back at the former raccoon host, who was still staring out over Konoha.
"You sure? I'm not gonna hold back you know." Now Gaara did look at him, and to the blonde's great surprise, there was a faint smirk on the stoic Kage's face.
"Just think of it as the conclusion to our fight back during the first invasion." The blond whistled softly, running a hand through his hair.
"Wow. Two Kages in just under three weeks! How do I get myself into these things?" He asked rhetorically before his face morphed into a fox-grin. "Okay, Gaara. You're on."
"Gaara! Dammit, little brother, where the hell are you!" Kankuro was pissed. Gaara had pulled his disappearing act and now neither he nor Temari could find their Kazekage. Just where the guy had gone was anyone's guess.
"Kankuro!" At the sound of his name, the puppet master turned and saw that Temari was running towards him with that lazy guy he thought Temari had a crush on in tow. She stopped in front of her brother, panting. "Did you find him?"
Kankuro scowled. "No. I can't find him and I can't sense his chakra either." Shikamaru smirked.
"Some bodyguards you two are," he remarked lazily, "letting your village's leader run around all unprotected." The lazy chuunin found himself staring straight into the face of two very angry Suna-nins.
"What was that, Shikamaru?" Temari asked, waving her fan in a threatening manner. Shikamaru was less concerned about her, though, and more concerned about her brother, whose fingers were twitching in the way they usually did before he used one of those troublesome puppets. True, they were sealed in the scrolls on his back, but his master rank probably meant he'd found a way to release them without being obvious about it.
A sharp spike in two great chakra sources cut all conversation off. Temari and Kankuro looked at each other with alarmed faces before saying together,
"Gaara!!" They tore off toward the source of the chakras, Temari grabbing Shikamaru on the way past and dragging him along, knowing they would need his strategic mind if this was about to go south.
Naruto was having the time of his life, matching his skill with Gaara's. It was clear that the two were close to even, but there was one way Naruto was superior, and that was because he had a demon to call on, even though he'd specifically told Kyuubi to keep his tailed butt out of it. If he chose to rescind that and let out the fox, Gaara was luchmeat.
His thinking was cut short as a huge hand of sand sped at him. The blond jumped, sailing up and over the thing before launching a shuriken volley. He wasn't surprised when Gaara's sand shield moved to intervene, but at the same time, the hand of sand crumbled into nothingness.
'Odd. Why didn't it stay intact?'
'Maybe he can't keep it up without that vile raccoon's help. We know that the Ichibi was in charge of the shield.'
'That might explain it. Still, we have to get past the shield.' The blond genin touched down and hopped back a few feet, to keep his distance from Gaara. He needed to be able to react to whatever the Kazekage threw at him.
Gaara retracted the leftover sand from his failed attack on Naruto. The man had gotten good, attacking in ways that were both strategic and unpredictable. The Kazekage was sure that the attack to make him put up his sand shield was just a fluke, though. Only certain Suna-nins knew about that particular weakness. That Naruto had seen it really didn't concern the Kazekage that much, somehow the stoic shinobi knew that Naruto wouldn't tell and because the Wind Shadow was working on being able to attack and use the shield simultaneously. He wasn't nearly as effective with it as Shukaku had been, but soon Gaara would have his ultimate defense back.
'Now it is time for me to follow Uzumaki Naruto's example and become unpredictable.' Gaara thought to himself as he slipped into a taijutsu stance. He saw Naruto's face twist into a surprised expression and allowed himself a faint smirk. Now the blond would have to work!
The other fighter in this match was shocked, almost beyond words. Seeing Gaara in a taijutsu stance and looking comfortable with it was a real eye-opener. Before now, the Fifth Kazekage had been standing like he'd always done, arms crossed and a blank expression. Now he had a blank expression and a stance and looked ready to go hand to hand with Naruto.
'Fine. Gaara wants to get physical? Then let's get physical.' Naruto slid into a stance of his own, one that allowed him to attack with a reasonable degree of force and still stay light on his feet. Now what had been a justu and weapon battle turned into a stare down.
That was how the other two members of the Sand Siblings and one griping Shikamaru had found the two friends, in taijutsu stances and waiting for some hidden signal to go at it.
"What?" Temari asked.
"The hell's going on here?" Kankuro added. Shikamaru took one look at the situation and snorted.
"Isn't it obvious? This is where Gaara disappeared to. He's been sparring with Naruto." The two warriors chose that moment to sprint at each other and go hand to hand. Naruto led off with a straight and basic roundhouse kick aimed at Gaara's temple. Shikamaru could see that either Naruto was underestimating the Kazekage, or he was just testing the water, and judging by the way the blond had been fighting as of late, Shika was willing to bet on the latter.
Gaara countered with an equally simple block, raising his hand to his ear as if cover it and the kick landed on the more absorbent muscle instead of the Kazekage's skull. Now that same hand snapped out and grabbed the foot that the blond hadn't retracted fast enough before Gaara's own leg flashed out and swept Naruto's remaining leg out from under him, making the blond crash hard into the ground. Now the redhead raised a hand and his preferred method of attack, his cursed sand, packed itself into a claw form.
Naruto realized he was in a bad spot when he saw Gaara's arm, which still resembled Shukaku's for some reason or other, begin its descent towards him. There wasn't any way he'd be able to pull off Kawarimi and a Kage Bunshin wouldn't cut it either. He almost growled in frustration as another realization hit him. Rasengan wouldn't work either. Not unless he wanted to get sandblasted. His only hope was to reduce the impact enough to make it less painful, and that would involve making the thing brittle.
'Well, time to see if I can pull this off,' he thought grimly as his hands began to mold into rapid-fire seals.
Shikamaru couldn't believe his eyes when Naruto's hands made seals even faster than Kakashi could. Clearly the blond's training was paying off. It still didn't explain what he was planning, though. That all came together when the blonde's blurring hands stopped on tiger.
"Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
The lazy Nara smiled as the fireball shot out Naruto's mouth and enveloped Gaara's arm, just as it hit the retaliating genin. Fire and burning embers went everywhere as the sand appendage, hardened into glass instantly by the fire technique, shattered upon making contact with Naruto's body. There were exclamations and curses from Temari and Kankuro, as burning sand and embers swept over them, but Gaara was clearly the most surprised. That cost him as he reflexively weakened his grip on the blonde's leg, allowing Naruto to wrench his leg free, and flip back to his feet, managing to crack the Kage in the jaw as he did.
Gaara felt something surge through him. It was an emotion that he'd rarely felt before, especially in a battle.
'What is this…feeling?' he wondered, as he watched Uzumaki Naruto's every move like a hawk. The leader of Suna had been most surprised when the blond had pulled off the little trick with the fireball. It had been…exhilarating. It made him feel...alive! Now he realized what the emotion was! Excitement. He was excited to be fighting Uzumaki Naruto! 'He is a truly worthy opponent. Even more so now that we are friends.' He allowed himself another smirk. Wow. He was showing a lot of emotion today. But then again, that was Naruto's effect on people.
Naruto was in a little pain. That jutsu had been point-blank and the claw had still been red-hot when it'd smashed on his chest. Now the blond had burn holes in his favorite orange shirt and more than one red and angry looking patch on his exposed skin.
'Great. Burns. A lot of 'em too if this pain is anything to go by.' The marks on his skin didn't hurt. Yet. But, Naruto knew from experience that bad burns wouldn't hurt at first and then they would…
Pain seared through him without warning, almost driving him to his knees. He couldn't fight like this, not with his concentration being ruined by these damn injuries!
'Hang on, Kit. Just give me a second.' Kyuubi's presence receded a little from Naruto's mind as the fox moved more chakra through the blonde's inner coils, focusing on the worst of the burns first before moving on to the next one.
'Hurry it up furball!' Any further 'requests' to move quicker were cut off when Gaara's other hand turned into a claw and extended straight at him. The pain from all the burns, minor ones that was true, but a lot of them, which added up to a big OUCH!, almost cost him, but Naruto managed to keep his frame of mind and dug urgently through the far right pouch on his belt, his face lighting up with a happy smile when he found what he was looking for.
He held up his hand and, interspaced between his fingers, were two round, black, balls. The claw heading toward him sped up, if that was possible, Gaara clearly realizing that Naruto was planning to buy himself a little breathing room. The blond genin's hand dropped and the bombs exploded, covering the area in thick smoke. Gaara's arm entered the cloud and passed through, no sign of a blond shinobi held onto the end by the force of impact.
Gaara looked around for his friend, no sign of what was going on inside him on his face. The Godaime Kazekage was well known for his 'poker face'. Now the former Jinchuuriki was turning in slow circles, scanning the area for any sign of broken branches, chakra residue, or shifting leaves, any one of which would at least give him a hint as to where Naruto had vanished to.
'He actually uses stealth now,' Shika observed with a start, after looking, and failing, to find Naruto. 'Normally he'd be up in Gaara's face all the time. Just what the hell did he get into while he was gone?' Gaara, it seemed, couldn't find the blond either. He was turning through what must have been his third circle, still looking for the other Jinchuuriki. When the Kazekage was facing a tree, a volley of shuriken and kunai lanced out of it in a whirl of leaves and headed straight for the redhead, followed closely by a dark blur that dropped straight down, bounced off the ground and headed for Gaara.
'That bounce was a mistake. It slowed him down enough for Gaara to track.' Temari's insight, like Shika's, proved to be dead on. The now-familiar claw of sand formed around Gaara's arm and sped straight for Naruto, knocking the incoming weapons aside in the same movement.
Shikamaru saw Naruto's eyes widen in surprise, right before he was picked up and carried off as if he was strapped to a freight train. Things began to happen very fast right then.
Naruto hit the tree he'd dropped out of and broke it in half, the top section falling with a creak toward the ground. Right as the top hit, Naruto disappeared in a burst of shinobi smoke. He'd been a Kage Bunshin all along. Everyone was caught off guard and in that moment, the real Naruto made his move.
The earth behind Gaara exploded and something shot out, racing for the Fifth's exposed back. The Kazekage recognized immediately that he'd been had and tried to get his shield up. Too little too late.
Even as his claw lost shape and his shield began forming, his hair was grabbed by a rough hand. A split second later and the hand gave a hard yank, tilting Gaara's head back and exposing his throat. While that happened, Naruto pulled and managed to get the Kazekage off balance, rendering him helpless. The soft, cold, caress of a kunai on his throat sealed the outcome.
Gaara was defeated. There had been no climactic explosion or an end-all jutsu pulled out of the ass. It was how shinobi battles were supposed to end, not a bang, not a whimper, just a flawless set up and follow through.
Naruto released his friend and stepped back as the Kazekage's sand flowed like water into his gourd and the cap swirled into existence, sealing the mouth of the thing. With that done, the two friends faced each other.
"Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara was the first one to speak. "It seems you have improved greatly over the five years no one has seen you." Naruto scratched the back of his head, laughing off the compliment.
"Aw, it was nothing. I can't take all the credit for that strategy." He looked pointedly at Gaara as he spoke. "I had some help."
"I can see," Gaara remarked dryly, noticing that all of Naruto's burns from shattering his sand arm were gone. "You used smoke bombs to hide your actions as you made a Kage Bunshin to keep me busy to allow time for you healing abilities to do their work." The Kage tilted his head in way that made him look almost puzzled. "It is clear that your…alliance is something to fear."
"Yeah well, I'm not the only one to watch out for." Naruto replied. "Seeing you use taijutsu," here he shook his head, "I'd thought I'd died and moved on."
"Gaara's been working hard." The duo turned and saw Temari, Kankuro, and Shikamaru walking towards them. Naruto felt a little surprised at seeing all three of them there. He'd been so wrapped up in the sparring match that he hadn't even seen them. Temari, who was the one who'd spoken, continued, "He's learned taijutsu and picked up a couple of new ninjutsu." She gave her little brother a wink. "Can't have a weak Kage."
"I was never weak." Gaara stated tonelessly, though to the three who knew him best, Naruto, Temari, and Kankuro, it was clear that the man was a little defensive. Naruto couldn't resist getting his own jab in,
"So if you were never weak, how come you lost to the dead-last?" He asked in an innocent voice that fooled no one. Gaara chose not to grace him with a response, instead making a one-handed seal and vanishing in a swirl of sand. "Spoilsport!" Naruto shouted to the air where his friend had been standing. The other Sand Siblings just laughed.
"He's happy to see you y'know," Kankuro remarked. "We haven't seen him this happy in years, not since he got word to keep an eye out for you."
"We think that's why he's been training so hard, trying to make sure that when you returned, he'd be able to fight on par with you," Temari added. That was when she noticed that Naruto was looking back and forth between her and Shikamaru with an expression that clearly said he was trying to figure something out. "What?"
Naruto cocked his head with folded arms and a squint-eyed expression, looking at the two. "Are you guys out on a date again?"
"NO!" Temari yelled, indignant, as Shikamaru's eye twitched. Really, this guy was twenty years old! Shouldn't he be more mature than this?
"Troublesome," he muttered before just walking away. That seemed to be the signal for everyone to leave and the four went their separate ways for the time being.
The remaining time before the Chuunin Exam flew past, mostly because Naruto was constantly working, training, studying, and trying to pick up a few jutsu along the way. He had pestered Ero-sennin into helping him learn a few of the old man's tricks and the old pervert had even stuck around this time to make sure he got them right, even sparring with Naruto and working on the blonde's still-lacking chakra control. Not that control mattered much with the massive reservoirs that Naruto could tap, but still, it gave the man something to work on.
As it was, three days before the start of the exam, and with foreigners already streaming into Konoha, Naruto found himself before Tsunade again.
"So, Baa-chan, am I good to go?" Tsunade smiled, and the blond genin knew that she'd found a way to get him into the exams.
"Well, it just so happens that I have a team who've had a problem the past couple of years with their third member always getting cold feet."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. This year was no different. He backed out and I figured that you could fill in as the team's third member." Naruto blinked, wondering who could have a team like that. Something told him he should know, but he kept drawing a blank.
The doors to the office creaked open and the sound of footsteps made Naruto turn.
"Hokage-sama, you wanted to see me?" Naruto was stunned by just who it was. He took one look at the bandana-style hirai-ate, the sunglasses and black clothes before he whirled on Tsunade pointing at Ebisu.
"No way! You're putting me with Closet-pervert!?"
"Closet-pervert?" Ebisu asked huffily, clearly offended at this blond man's outburst. "I assure you that I am no pervert." Naruto turned around, his eyes glinting.
"Oh yeah? Then explain this!" He made the standard seal for basic jutsu. "Henge!" When the smoke cleared, a pig-tailed blonde woman, her naked body barely hidden by wisps of smoke stood in a sexy pose.
"Orioke no Jutsu." She said in a throaty voice.
Ebisu stood, frozen for a moment, his glasses slipping down his nose. Then he was blown off his feet as he got an impossibly big nosebleed. He flew straight out the door with a strangled yell, making one hell of a racket as he landed. Now Naruto rounded on Tsunade, transforming back as he did. "SEE? Closet-pervert!"
"Naruto, just what the hell did you do?" she asked, pinching the bridge of her nose, cheeks tinged by Naruto's immodesty. Naruto turned with a 'humph'.
"I'm not being on the same team as the closet-perverts, and that's final!" he said loudly. Tsunade sighed, but before she could say anything to convince him otherwise, voices sounded from the hall.
"Wow, Ebisu-sensei, what happened to you?" asked a male voice, by the sound of it, someone in their mid-teens.
"Did you trip and fall or something?" added a female voice, also sounding around the same age as the first voice. Ebisu's reply was stuttering and intelligible.
"Whaddaya mean 'disreputable blond men'? Ah, whatever. C'mon, Moegi-chan, let's see what the old lady wants." The first voice apparently wasn't aware of how good Tsunade's hearing was and the Fifth developed a bulging vein in her forehead, along with a twitch in her eyebrow, at the remark.
A second later and Moegi and Konohamaru strode into the room. Naruto had to do a double take when he saw the former snot-nosed brat he remembered. Now Konohamaru was tall, close to five-ten, five-eleven, and was still in the middle of a growth spurt. He wore a black vest over a tan shirt that had the Leaf insignia over a symbol for fire, along with dark green shorts. A Konoha hirai-ate topped off his outfit, tied proudly on his forehead. The blond also couldn't help but notice a little scruffiness on his chin.
Moegi had changed too. She wore a dim red standard ninja suit, long sleeved, complete with armguards and fishnet underclothes. The girl had also…filled out and didn't have her hair in the twin stalks of years past. Now her hair hung in a braid down to the middle of her back and was tied off in a bow with a dark blue ribbon. She didn't have a hirai-ate, instead choosing to mount the plate on her clothes, along the edge of the deep V in her top, which showed some cleavage, but the eye wasn't distracted, because of the fishnet clothing. If Naruto had been a fashionable person, he would have said she pulled the look off nicely.
The pair stopped dead upon spotting the blond that they had idolized for so long, looking him over as he'd done to them. Konohamaru was the first to break the silence.
"Naruto-aniki? You're our third teammate?"
"I was just about to ask you the same thing," he replied. The fox Jinchuuriki turned to the Hokage, who seemed to have forgotten her temper in exchange for amusement at the three's reunion. "This is no joke. Right?" he asked the Fifth.
"Nope. Konohamaru, Moegi, Naruto. You three will participate as a team in the Chuunin Exams that will happen in three days."
"But, Hokage-sama, what about Udon?" Moegi asked. Tsunade sighed.
"Ebisu has already been to see me, saying that Udon has once again gotten cold feet. I feel that, just because he cannot handle exam pressures, and since Naruto here needed a team, that I shouldn't have pulled you two as well when we had a person ready to fill the spot." The Fifth replied.
"What about the treaty with the other villages?" Naruto asked. "Won't they be pissed off you're pulling this stunt?"
"I have checked and rechecked the regulations on this and there is nothing to suggest that this is in violation of the treaty between the participating villages." She smiled at the three. "I suggest that the three of you spend the next three days getting to know each other. Dismissed."
The three of them left, walking out of the office and heading for the center of Konoha.
"How cool is this!" Konohamaru exclaimed happily, folding his hands behind his head as they walked. "Finally, I get a chance to show up Naruto-aniki and become Hokage!" It was clear that the younger shinobi hadn't given up on his dream. "How about you Naruto?" He grinned. "Are you going to become Hokage after me?"
"I'm not going to be obsessed about being Hokage anymore." The other two stopped dead.
"What?" Konohamaru said, disbelief coloring his tone. Naruto-aniki, who'd always said that he'd become the greatest Hokage ever, now not obsessing over it? It was preposterous, scandalous, and ridiculous! What had happened to do this to him?
"Why Naruto-aniki?" Moegi asked, just as confused as her partner. Naruto stopped walking, and stared down the street.
"I think I only wanted to be Hokage for the recognition that it gave me. I have that acknowledgement now, and I also realized while I was away from my home and friends that Hokage is just a title. It doesn't mean anything when you set it next to what really counts."
"What does matter?" the Sandaime's grandson asked, not getting what his idol was saying.
"Your friends." Naruto replied simply, drawing soft a soft 'oh' from his two companions. "If Baa-chan decides to make me Hokage, then I'll take it. I'll even put my name in to be considered, but it will only be a means to an end, a way to continue protecting what really matters to me."
"Wow. I never thought about it like that." Konohamaru admitted. "When did you come up with that?"
"While I was alone, with no friends, surviving by if I could make it to the next village or not." The fox host started to reply. Then he just seemed to give up, not knowing how to explain his change of heart. "Ah, dammit. I dunno. I just had too much time to think." A familiar scent caught his nose and Naruto's stomach chose that moment to growl.
Moegi and Konohamaru burst out laughing, Naruto joining in, and the seriousness of the situation was lost.
"I guess Naruto wants ramen!" The kunoichi in the group said happily.
"Who wouldn't?" Konohamaru added. "Ichiraku's is the best!" He sprinted off in the direction of the stand. "Let's go!" The 'honorable grandson' sped up, and Moegi chased after him. Naruto shook his head with a grin, wondering when the two had grown up. It made him feel old. He strolled off after his two temporary teammates.
'Gone for five years and even the people I know have changed! The way those two act, you'd think they were dating or something!'
'Jeeze, you're dense. You think everyone would wait around for you to come back before going on with their lives?' Kyuubi said, shaking his massive head at his cage's ignorance. Really, the way some humans thought that the world revolved around them. Was it any wonder why the fox had tried to wipe them all out?
"Heya, old man!" Konohamaru said brightly to the proprietor of the Ichiraku Ramen Stand. The middle-aged restauraunt owner turned around with a grin that only widened when he saw his three best customers standing in the flapped opening of his shop.
"Well, Konohamaru and Moegi. Out on a date again? You should consider actually spending some of you money for once, kid." Konohamaru scratched his head in embarassment. A sudden shout stopped him from answering.
"WHOA! Hold on just one damn second! Konohamaru, you and Moegi are DATING!?" Naruto looked from one genin to the other, not believing what he'd just heard. Konohamaru blushed a little as Moegi threw her arms around his neck with a giggle.
"Yep!" She replied brightly. "Konohamaru-chan and I have been going out for around eight months now!"
"Damn!" Naruto said, putting his hands on his hips and looking around like he'd never seen Konoha in his life. "Konohagakure. Miss a little and you miss a lot!"
"You can get used to it later Naruto," Ichiraku said, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "Now you three, what's it gonna be?" A short time later, and there were three steaming bowls of ramen in front of each shinobi, who eagerly snapped their chopsticks and began eating. Naruto winced as Kyuubi smacked him with a tail, admonishing him about eating 'that pig swill' which made the Jinchuuriki snap back a comment and the two began a mental verbal battle.
Neither demon nor host sensed the two kunoichi watching them from a nearby rooftop,
"Look, there he is! Wow! Naruto-kun's grown alot since we last saw him."
"Keh. He's just a snot-nosed brat and he always will be. The only reason he beat me was because that damn fox decided to intervene."
"So, do you think you'll be able to beat him this time?" The first woman asked.
"Without a doubt," her sister responded confidently. "We've been training for this moment and now that bastard's gonna regret leaving the village." The woman's mouth curled into a cold sneer. "I'll make sure of it."
And end chapter seven! This was mostly filler, but the First Exam starts next chapter! Don't worry, it'll be brief, and then I'll concentrate on the part of the exams we all care about, the Second and Third Exams. So, who were those two kunoichi who seem to know Naruto? Well, they are... NOT GOING TO BE REVEALED HERE! You'll just have to wait until next chapter! Sorry that this took so long to get out. I haven't felt like writing and I've been busy with ROTC. Stupid uniforms... ANYWAY, I've got this one up, and now I start work on Gohan's Dilemma, a DBZ/Naruto cross that is posted in this section and features post-Cell Gohan and takes place pre-timeskip, seeing as I've only seen episodes 1-35 of Shippuden. Not enough to base a story off of.
It also explains why Sai has made only one appearance and Yamato not at all. I just don't have a decent handle on their personalities and interactions with Naruto yet. Once I establish that, though, they will appear more frequently. And now for something you all have been wondering about...Pairings! Yes, I have a rough idea of who I want to pair Naruto up with and it ain't Hinata. Right now I lean for a NaruSaku pairing, but don't worry if this makes you mad. It's not set in stone yet and if it does happen, the pairing will be used as comedy relief and filler because I'm not into the whole mushy lovey-dovey thing. Makes me break out in hives.
Glossary
Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique/Skill): Sasuke's trademark justu, used here by Naruto to prevent himself from being smashed flat by Gaara. He learned it at Kyuubi's insistance. I'll elaborate in later chapters.
Orioke no Jutsu (Sexy Jutsu, AKA Ninja Centerfold): The first jutsu seen in Naruto ever! No joke! Naruto has used this one on a number of people, including and not limited to, Iruka, the Sandaime, Jiraiya, and, of course, Ebisu. The technique involves transforming into a naked woman and watching as the perverted victim is blown away by a huge nosebleed. Personally, I wanna see Naruto try this one on Itachi.