Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe. I only own Nazo who I created.
AN: I was going back over some of the story (later on, after Naruto returns from his three year trip) and I'm contemplating actually adding someone to Team Seven to replace Sasuke, yes he will leave just like he does in the anime/manga. (I hate him and wish he would die already) I've put up a poll to get your thoughts on the idea and, depending on feedback, I might go with whatever you all think. I added the poll to my profile page, or so said, so if you would like to vote please go do so. In fact I urge you to go vote, just like I urge you to leave a review. :)
"Talking"
'Thoughts'
You Can't Be Serious
Chapter 8
Chuunin Exam Part 1
Nazo kicked his legs over the bed and let them fall forcefully on the ground. 'I fucking hate morning' he thought as he sat up and rubbed the crust from his eyes. He was worn out from preparing his genin for the Chuunin Exams. Sure a tough mission or fight was tiring, but this was something entirely different. Sakura was you're average genin and Sasuke was your average "genius", but Naruto. Well the kid was a damn sponge to say the least. Nazo was very used to having the largest reserves of chakra of anyone he knew, now Naruto actually made him sweat and rest to recharge himself during training sessions. 'Whatever, at least they are leaps and bounds above the other teams I've watched. This exam should be a cakewalk for them.' Nazo smiled to himself at the prospect before getting sidetracked by his own thoughts 'Oh cake. Wonder if anyone has cake this early in the day?' Dragging his still half asleep body down the hall he punched a door twice as he passed.
"Naruto get up." Arriving at the bathroom Nazo pushed the door, now laying on the ground, aside with his foot. After he moved Naruto in with him Nazo had awoken the first morning, completely oblivious to the fact that he was no longer living alone, and found the bathroom door wouldn't open. Forgetting he wasn't alone he thought it was broken, instead of just locked like it was, and ripped it off the hinges. Nazo kicked off his boxers and turned on the sink, having no shame and a jutsu to shower in seconds, he bathed and grabbed a fresh pair of undies from a bathroom drawer. Nazo grabbed a towel and went back to his room to do morning exercises, passing Naruto as he exited the bathroom.
Stepping out of the shower Naruto inwardly cursed at not having a bathroom door. He wasn't shy in any way to be seen unclothed, but without a door there was a horribly cold draft as you step out of the warm water. Naruto tossed on one of the many orange outfits he now owned and walked into the kitchen to grab some ramen. Seeing the already massive water filled pot, it took the entire stove surface, boiling he turned off the stove and grabbed some instant ramen. It was a typical Nazo & Naruto morning, except that Nazo wasn't in the kitchen already eating. Sitting down with a ready cup of ramen Naruto watched Nazo slouch into the seat across from him, his hitai-ate in his hands.
"Still thinking about it?" Naruto asked in between slurps.
"It's a tough decision. I made a promise to her Naruto, I always keep my promises. You make a lot of sense though." Nazo sighed "I suppose it isn't exactly breaking the promise if I don't wear it."
"I'll stand behind you sensei."
"I know you will Naruto. I'm sure all my friends would, but that isn't what it's about. Thanks anyways though." Nazo smiled and tied it over his eyes "today isn't the day though. All set for today?"
"Oh" Naruto inhaled the rest of his ramen and slammed his empty bowl down on the table "yes! Lets go meet Sakura-Chan and Sasuke!" Naruto grabbed Nazo by the arm and drug him out of the apartment.
Nazo walked behind his genin as they made small talk, Sasuke even less than the other two. Nazo's thoughts were stuck between nervousness and excitement. H knew the three of them were more than ready, but if even one of them got hurt, or worse, he would never forgive himself. He also wasn't quite ready for if, 'when' he mentally corrected himself, they made it to the finals. He had already arranged for Kakashi to train Sasuke and he would train Naruto himself, but Sakura he didn't have anyone yet. As they came to the entrance of the Ninja Academy Nazo stopped them.
"Alright this is as far as I go. Don't forget anything I told or taught you. Be ready for anything."
"I am!" Naruto announced with much gusto.
"Yeah sensei, we'll be fine" Sakura beamed, her self confidence brimming since Sasuke had broken down and agreed to a date if she made it to the final rounds of the exam. Sasuke simply nodded to Nazo, Naruto and Sakura learned that Uchiha apparently had a language of nods and grunts, and he took one last look at the three.
"OK then. I guess I'll see you whenever I get too." Nazo waved to them as he walked away "Have fun and kick some ass!"
On their way to the third floor classroom where they were told to report they found a rather large group of genin confronting two other genin. Naruto looked and his face scrunched up in confusion seeing that the room was signed 301.
"Hey Sasuke, aren't we only on the second floor?" Naruto asked in a whisper.
"Yep" Was Sasuke's one word reply.
"The sign says 301 though. If this isn't the third floor whats going on?" Naruto asked.
Sakura pointed toward the two genin, who were now confronted by an odd genin wearing green spandex and a girl with panda hair "Thats room 201 Naruto, it's just a Genjutsu. Those two guys aren't genin, I'll bet their chuunin."
"Oh I see Sakura-Chan" Naruto smiled happily as he began to understand while Sasuke sighed at his teammates lack of common sense. "We shouldn't tell them right?"
"You have a point there" Sasuke said wide eyed at Naruto's grasp of the situation "that'll be less teams in the first part alone. Lets go." The three climbed the stairs and found room 301 at the end of a hallway. Opening the door and stepping inside they were each surprised at the amount of genin already inside waiting. As they looked around they heard the familiar voice of a classmate.
"Hey guys, you made it" Kiba shouted as he walked toward them with his teammates.
"Hey Kiba, Shino" Naruto smiled and waved to them "hi Hinata-Chan"
"Naruto-Kun" Hinata blushed as the two teens greeted each other and hugged, much to the shock of everyone.
"Hinata-Chan?" Ino asked as her team approached "when exactly did that happen?"
"That's what I want to know!" Sakura shouted exasperated.
"Troublesome" Shikamaru sighed as he leaned against the wall. His best friend Choji stood beside him munching on a bag of chips. "Why must you girls make such a big deal of everything?"
"It is a big deal" Ino argued while smacking the young Nara upside the head "Hinata and Naruto dating is a huge thing."
"So their dating, I don't see what the big" Shikamaru's eyes went wide and he did a quick double take at the two teens hugging "what?!"
"I know! Right?" Sakura exclaimed.
"You guys really should quiet down some." A taller, glasses wearing genin, sporting a Konoha headband walked up to their group smiling.
"Why should we?" Naruto asked with a small bit of irritation in his voice.
"Well" he said pointing behind him "you're drawing an awful lot of attention. That isn't exactly a good thing in these exams either. Everyone is nervous about the exams, but I guess rookies don't exactly get that." Naruto looked to see just about every other genin in the classroom staring in their direction, none of them wearing a friendly smile. Normally Naruto would have made a loud outburst there, but Nazo had told them, especially him, to keep a lower profile.
"Whoops" Naruto said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head nervously.
"Who are you anyways?" Sasuke asked bluntly.
"Forgive my manners, my name's Kabuto" he said adjusting his glasses.
"So Kabuto, this is your second time?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Nope, seventh." he said, once again adjusting his glasses.
"You must know a lot about the exams huh?" Sakura asked wide eyed.
"Yep" Kabuto smiled "I suppose I could share a bit of information with you." Kabuto pulled a stack of cards out from a pouch.
"With playing cards?" Kiba scoffed.
"Not playing cards" Kabuto laughed and showed them the cards "my nin info cards."
"Their blank" Naruto pointed to them.
"Until I put some chakra into them they are" Kabuto said putting a card on the ground and forcing chakra into in. The card became a graph and he showed it to them. "A list of which hidden villages are participating this time and it's number of participating genin."
"Thats pretty neat" Naruto said inspecting the card "what else do they do?"
"I'm interested in that as well" Sasuke muttered "do you have information on individuals?"
"Of course I do, who are you worried about?"
"One person, but the other isn't a genin. Have information on him?" Kabuto raised an eyebrow at the question, but Sasuke put his small worry to rest. "I'm not even contemplating saying anything about spying."
"I might have information, who is your genin problem?" Kabuto asked shuffling the cards.
"Gaara of the Hidden Sand."
Kabuto grabbed, what seemed to them, a random card and pushed chakra into it. "OK lets see, Gaara. Not sure about D rank missions, eight C rank, and a B rank. He is from Hidden Sand so I don't have much on him, but it seems he completed every single mission without so much as a scratch."
"I knew he gave off a creepy feeling" Naruto said calmly as everyone else stood wide eyed.
"You ran into him Naruto-Kun?" Hinata asked looking up at him concerned.
"Yea, the three of us ran into him and his teammates the other day while we were playing around with Konohamaru and his friends" Sakura told her thoughtfully. "The guy with paint on his face is a real creep."
"Enough of that" Sasuke said cutting the conversation short "I wanna know about the other."
"OK, who else?" Kabuto shuffled the cards again.
"Nazo from Hidden Leaf."
Naruto looked at Sasuke in mild shock, as did Sakura "what are you thinking Sasuke? Why get information on sensei?"
"He is your jounin sensei?" Kabuto asked confused while holding another seemingly random card in his hand.
"Yes he is" Sasuke said bluntly "but he is a complete mystery, an enigma. I can't figure out for the life of me what he is about or who exactly he is. He doesn't seem like you're average ninja, and he is obviously stronger than he lets on." Everyone listened intently at what was probably the longest Sasuke had ever talked. "He hides almost everything from us, and what he does tell us doesn't make sense. If everything he has told us to this point is true, then what is someone as connected and powerful as him doing here? Why is he our jounin sensei? For that matter why did he come back to Konoha at all?"
"Maybe he got homesick after all this time?" Sakura suggested.
"Or maybe, just maybe you're thinking too much into it Sasuke" Kiba said chuckling "You're paranoid man."
"I concur" Shino added.
"Troublesome" Shikamaru sighed "too troublesome." Hinata and Naruto shared a look but remained silent. Kabuto just looked at them incredulously. 'Maybe this guy is worth taking anther look at myself' Kabuto thought to himself as he put chakra into the card and showed it to everyone.
"Let's see" Sakura said taking it unto herself to read it aloud. "Nazo, no clan name written down. Age thirty-three and his chakra type is water. Says he was never part of a team, but it doesn't list that he had an apprenticeship." Sakura looked around the small card before continuing "looks like sensei only went to Ninja Academy for the first year, after that he was deemed strong and skilled enough for a chuunin promotion. I guess sensei is a real genius."
"How cool" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.
"Wouldn't that make him the youngest person to graduate from the academy?" Kiba asked. "Everyone starts at the same age right?"
"That's right" Shikamaru said a little intrigued "you don't hear about him though. You always hear about how a Uchiha was the youngest."
"Be quite and let me finish" Sakura huffed angrily. "Now then it also says he was given a jounin promotion pretty quickly. He participated in the wars, just like he said, but thats it. You know if we ask him maybe he would tell us about all this stuff." Sakura suggested.
"Yea, I mean he told us about his girlfriend" Naruto said.
"Naruto, sensei and Ayame were pretty obvious. He didn't have to tell us, and I don't recall him telling us."
"No Sasuke, not Nee-Chan I'm talking about some girlfriend when he was younger that he told me and Hinata about."
"He didn't tell us!" Sakura pouted "sensei is so unfair."
Just as Hinata went to say something about how revealing information given to you in confidence isn't nice several people shushined into the room. A tall, stocky man wearing a trench coat stood at the front of a group of ninja. He looked around the room quickly before addressing them all.
"My name is Ibiki Morino and I'm the examiner for this first part of the chuunin exams. Now I want everyone to come grab a numbered tab and sit in the seat you become assigned to. Once everyone has done so we will hand out the test." When he was finished one of the ninja with him walked beside him holding a rather large stack of papers, while another ninja held a small box full of numbered tabs.
"Oh, great a paper test" Naruto sighed.
Naruto smiled happily, as luck would have it, in his seat beside Hinata. While they were seated they were each handed a test paper face down on the desk in front of them. Several genin were playing with their papers, about to turn them over, before Ibiki loudly got everyones attention once again.
"Before anyone does anything let me tell you now, do not turn your papers over! Now then there are rules to this test, I won't repeat myself, and you're not allowed to ask questions. I recommend you listen very closely. First off you will all start off with ten points. The test consists of ten questions, each of which is worth one point. For each question you answer incorrectly you will lose a point. Secondly this is a team test, you will fail or pass dependent on your teams score."
"What the hell is this?!" someone shouted from the back. "I don't understand the point thing at all, but why is this a team test?"
"Shut up" Ibiki bellowed "I said no questions, didn't you listen? There is a reason, whether you understand or not. Now the most important rule, anyone caught cheating by my officers" Ibiki motioned to the ninja he had arrived with "will have lose two points. Anyone who reaches zero points will be asked to leave the room and will fail the exam. Lastly anyone who reaches zero points, will also fail their teammates." Several gasps and shouts of unfairness were heard throughout the room, as well as the laughs of several testing officers. Sakura and Sasuke were also worrying to themselves about Naruto making them fail. Both of them had quickly realized the point of the test, they doubted very seriously that Naruto had caught it though. Even Hinata, who had also gotten the point, had doubts that her boyfriend knew what was going on.
"You will have one hour to take the test" Ibiki said looking at the clock on the wall. "Begin."
Naruto sat quietly in his seat staring down at the questions on the paper before him. The old Naruto would have been freaking out, he couldn't even begin to understand any of the questions let alone answer them. Naruto was just fine though, he had taken the advice of Nazo to heart. Before the test, while Nazo was getting dressed that morning, Naruto had taken the time to make a Kage Bunshin and let him have some free time until the test started. This wouldn't help under normal circumstances, but Nazo had taught him something much earlier that would make this test a breeze. Back when Nazo had first found out about Naruto and his skill with Kage Bunshin he had shown him the finer points of the jutsu. Like for instance the knowledge retention, and more importantly how to switch places with a shadow clone. Naruto sneezed violently, perfectly covering up the swap, getting the attention of all the testing officers. Not a single one suspected him as the Naruto clone lay his head down on the desk and began napping.
Nazo sat at Ichiraku happily eating a bowl of ramen while waiting for Ayame to get back from a quick errand for her father. He didn't expect much to happen, and certainly not Naruto running up to him when he should be taking an exam.
"Uh, Naruto, please tell me you didn't fail already" Nazo said hopefully.
"What?" Naruto asked confused "Oh no, boss is taking the test still."
"Boss?" Nazo asked rubbing his chin as he thought. "Why would Naruto have a clone running around?"
"Hold on, boss is ready" the clone said before suddenly becoming very rigid. After a second or two he visibly relaxed and smiled up at Nazo "hey sensei."
"Alright Naruto what's going on?" Nazo asked crossing his arms and looking at him sternly.
"Well you remember showing me how to do that."
"Yes."
"You remember saying to be ready for anything for the exams?"
"Where are you going with this Naruto?"
"Well this morning when you were dressing I made a clone, just in case. Turns out the first part is a written exam with questions I can't possibly answer, hell I can't even understand them!" Naruto said drastically waving his arms around. "I don't get it, it's like they want you to cheat."
"Naruto, you do get the point of the test?"
"Of course" Naruto huffed. "Nope, not a clue." Nazo sweat dropped at the sheer stupidity there.
"I guess it doesn't matter, you figured it out even if you don't get it. I'm guessing you memorized the questions?"
"I sure did" Naruto said proudly.
"OK Naruto, lets hear them. I hope you can remember the answers I give you."
"You bet. You're the best sensei."
Ibiki watched as Naruto stiffened in his seat out of nowhere. He had to give it to the kid, he was either really good or he was the most ballsy kid Ibiki had ever lain eyes on. He had watched as Naruto not only laid his head down on the table without answering a single question, but he had also fallen asleep. He had sent a test officer over to check and he was right. Naruto had even been softly snoring. Now he was watching as the kid looked around the room after waking up suddenly. To Ibiki's surprise Naruto picked up his pencil and began answering the questions one after another. He wasn't even taking time to think about answers, he was just writing them down. The kid was definitely cheating, wasn't he? He had to be, but neither Ibiki or any of his officers could prove how, let alone figure it out. So they could only sit and watch as he jotted down every single answer just in time.
"Pencils down" Ibiki shouted scaring several genin in the process. "It's time for the tenth question, but first I'd like to list a few extra rules especially for this question. Firstly, it's time for you to decide whether or not you want to answer this question."
"Firstly, it's time for you to decide whether or not you want to answer this question." Naruto heard Ibiki say as he looked around the room. 'Wow, an awful lot of teams got kicked out while I was gone' Naruto thought to himself while he heard the majority of genin whispering amongst themselves over what Ibiki had just said.
"What if we choose not to take the question?" Naruto saw the female teammate of Gaara ask.
"Simple" Ibiki said looking directly at her. "If you choose not to answer the question then your points are reduced to zero and you fail, along with your teammates."
"What?!" someone shouted from the back.
"Who wouldn't take the question then?" the girl beside him yelled.
"Now" Ibiki continued ignoring them "the last rule. If you choose to take the question and get it wrong, then you lose the right to take the chuunin exam forever."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Kiba demanded as he stood and screamed. "There are people here who have taken the exam several times before!"
"Luckily for them" Ibiki stated calmly "I wasn't the examiner for the exam they took that time."
"You can't do that!" someone else shouted.
"Unfortunately for you I'm in charge this year, so it's my rules and I can do that. I'm giving you a choice though, if you don't feel confident enough to take the question then leave and try again next time." Ibiki cast one last menacing glare around the room "anyone that doesn't wish to answer the last question raise your hand now, once your number is confirmed you leave."
Naruto glanced around at all the people talking and whispering amongst themselves. He looked around and found Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke seemed indifferent to the dilemma, but Sakura looked terrified over the choice. Naruto locked eyes with her momentarily and saw her resolve harden. Whether it was because she was afraid of how Sasuke or himself would react if she raised her hand or personal reasons he was glad.
"I won't take the question" a genin said standing and raising his hand.
"You fail, your teammates also fail. Stand and leave the room" One of the officers said pointing to the exit.
"I quit" another said standing.
"Me too."
"I'm out as well."
"Sorry guys, I'm not taking it either" another genin near the back said hanging his head in shame.
"All of you, get your teammates and leave the room immediately" the same officer said, once again pointing toward the door. Ibiki watched as genin after genin raised their hands and were told to leave the room along with their two teammates.
"I can't take it, I quit too" another genin shouted as he stood.
Naruto looked beside him to see Hinata trembling very slightly. She had used her Byakugan to get all the answers to the test, so she was certain she wouldn't fail. She was worried about Shino and Kiba though. What if one of them got too many questions wrong and would never make it beyond a genin? She was surprised to feel a hand take hold of hers and she looked down to where Naruto's hand was intertwined with her own. She looked up at him as he smiled brightly at her. She knew why he did and what he was trying to do and she smiled back at him. She wouldn't let herself or her team down, she wouldn't raise her hand and fail.
Ibiki waited until a large number of people had left raised their hands and quit. Of the original sixty teams only twenty one remained. Nobody had raised their hand in almost half a minute, so he figured it was time to move things along.
"This is your last chance, if you want to try again next time raise your hand now." Ibiki waited another minute for more quitters, but nobody raised their hand. "Alright then to everyone still left in this room, congratulations on passing the first part of the chuunin exams. The sixty three of you remaining will move on to part two of the chuunin exams."
"What about the tenth question?" Sakura asked confused.
"Your choice to take the question or quit was the tenth question" Ibiki smiled.
"Then what about the other nine questions?!" Gaara's teammate yelled.
"Their purpose was to sort out those unworthy to be chuunin. The questions were made extremely hard for the purpose to make you cheat, a few of the genin among you are actually my chuunin officers who had the correct answers. A shinobi must be able to gather information and not get caught, therefore those who were caught failed."
"I still don't get the tenth question" she said still obviously confused.
"That was the most important question" Ibiki said as he began to explain. "The choice to take the question and risk failing, to possibly never be able to become anything but a genin or to fail along with your teammates and try again next time. A test of faith. Imagine you're given a mission to sneak into an enemy base and steal information, but you know nothing of the enemy or their abilities. If you're afraid to die or afraid of your team getting hurt can you decide not to take the mission?" Ibiki rhetorically asked them. "Of course not! There will be missions you can't avoid, no matter how difficult. Anyone too cowardly to take that chance, doesn't deserve to be a chuunin! Now the first exam is over, I wish you all luck with the rest of the exams" Ibiki finished his small speech. Ibiki took a step back as a huge black ball came crashing through the window, knocking a few officers out of their chairs on the way, and was pinned up creating a large banner. A intimidating female figure stood in front of the black banner and shouted at the celebrating genin.
"This is no time to celebrate! My name's Anko Mitarashi and I'm the examiner for the second part of the chuunin exams!"
'Bad timing' Ibiki sweat dropped on the other side of the banner.
'Her name is on the banner' Sasuke thought to himself 'is she stupid?'
Sakura was thinking something a bit similar to that. 'She is kinda like Naruto and sensei, how scary.'
"Come on" Anko shouted "Let's go. Follow me, I'll explain once we get there!"
As they all arrived at the apparent destination even the bravest of them were looking nervous. On the other side of an enormous chain link fence was the largest, darkest, scariest looking forest any of them had seen. Signs all along the fence said things like keep out or danger.
"Here we are" Anko turned to face them all smiling an eerily creepy smile. "Welcome to training area forty four. Otherwise known as the Forest of Death." Anko's smile grew wider as she listened to the collective audible gulp.
Nazo lay on the roof of a random building basking in the warm sun. He was glad to have some time off at first, but he had to admit that it was rather boring without the three teens. 'I could always go ask for a few missions, but I don't really feel like it.' It was a truly lazy day for him, just like any other. His lazy smile went away as a shadow was cast over his body. Nazo would have been surprised, even with all his enhanced senses Nazo hadn't noticed this person at all until their shadow was blocking his sun. Nazo wasn't surprised though because he only knew one person that good. "How have you been Jiraiya?"
AN: I'm a little upset with myself now. I decided early on I would make a few slight changes to the exams, like Naruto and Sasuke staying quiet and letting a few more teams fail. Kakashi had never, to my knowledge, taught them anything about the finer points of staying quiet at the proper moments. I dislike not being able to work any fighting into my chapters though. I mean I could have written the part where the sound ninja attacked Kabuto but I felt I drug that out enough with the information they get on Nazo. I love building up Sasuke to a snapping point, I absolutely hate Sasuke. Sadly for me though I determined very early on that Nazo isn't one to hold someones shortcomings against them. I want to give Nazo's true background out piece by piece. On a smaller note though I ate all those Jolly Ranchers, and it upset my stomach, poor me right? :( Meh anyways anyone who gets tired of bullshit and incessant rambling should refrain from reading the bottom's of my chapters. I tend to type random things here to keep my focus on continuing to type my chapters up. I have some, or so I'm told, pretty severe ADHD. I don't believe everything I'm told though without proof, and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay someone to tell me I need to take a pill every morning so I can concentrate. This works just fine, as long the as T.V. doesn't distract me. To save me the trouble and pain of a headache, if anyone has a truly original jutsu or two they don't mind me borrowing (full credit would be given) that'd be cool.