Breaking Benjamin helps me write. Gotta love BB.

Chapter 10: Chunin Exams: True Power

Holding his exam certificate out, Naruto read the words on the paper for what seemed like the thousandth time. Naruto couldn't get the red-haired kid, named Gaara, out of his mind. Something seemed off about him in a familiar sense, but Naruto couldn't quite pinpoint just what that something was. Naruto decided not to dwell on it, because he figured he would find out what that something was very soon for today was the start of the Chunin Exams.

Kakashi said that Team Seven needed to meet in room 301 of the Academy for the start of the exams, so that was where Naruto was heading now. Naruto decided to walk there instead of jumping across the rooftops. All of the villagers seemed to look at him warily. Word had spread quickly that Naruto had killed a powerful rogue-nin single-handedly. The sword strapped to Naruto's back was a testament to that. The villagers didn't even whisper any harsh words to him, because they were afraid any provocation would invoke Naruto's wrath, and the shinobi seemed to look at him with something akin to fearful respect.

Naruto turned his head slightly to the left to face a familiar white-haired individual who was apparently grinning at him. 'That's that Jiraiya guy. Why's he looking at me with that shit-eating grin on his face?' Naruto thought in mild confusion. Naruto stopped walking and turned all the way around to fully face Jiraiya.

"You got some business with me or something?" Naruto asked pointing a finger at the eccentric sannin.

Jiraiya laughed out loud and crossed his arms. "Your name is Naruto, right? I've heard a lot about you from Sarutobi-sensei."

Naruto's eyebrows rose, prompting Jiraiya to continue. "After you make it past the second stage of the Chunin Exams, I'm going to make a fine shinobi out of you." Jiraiya stated.

Naruto was completely dumbfounded. 'What does a sannin want with me?'

"If I may ask, why the hell do you want to train me?" Naruto asked cautiously. It certainly wasn't every day that a sannin offers to train him.

"Maybe I just see the same potential in you that I saw in my other students, like the 4th Hokage." Jiraiya replied, thinking on his feet. Jiraiya's real reason for wanting to train Naruto was so he would be able to combat the Akatsuki later on.

Naruto was still wary of the offer, but he accepted it. All that was left to do, was to get past the second stage of the exams and he would be getting exclusive training by a sannin. He would be stupid not to accept.

With that, Jiraiya disappeared in a cloud of smoke, muttering something about getting some research done. Naruto could faintly make out a light blush on the man's face and he heard a small giggle, before Jiraiya completely disappeared.

'Do I even want to know what he was researching?'

Naruto met with his team outside of the Academy. Together, they all walked inside and went up the stairs. They spotted a large group of candidates standing in front of two shinobi who were blocking a door. The sign on the door read 301, so this was supposedly their destination.

"Please allow us to enter." A strange looking boy with a bowl cut and large eyebrows asked politely of the two shinobi blocking the door. His response was a chuckle, courtesy of the two shinobi, and a backhand that sent him to the floor. A double bun haired girl tried next to convince the two shinobi to let them through, but she was denied and hit as well.

"Jokes over. Drop the illusion." Sasuke told the two shinobi whom looked shocked at the sudden command. A few of the candidates mumbled in confusion.

Naruto grunted. "It's so obvious. We only walked up one flight of steps, so there's no way we could be on the third floor." Then Naruto turned to look at the genuinely confused candidates, "Can you guys even count? You're all a bunch of dumbasses if you couldn't see through it, right Sakura? I know you of all people caught on to this right away." Naruto said turning to his pink-haired teammate.

Sakura laughed lightly and agreed. She was the most efficient in the field of genjutsu on her team.

Some candidates took being called a dumbass badly and called out to Naruto who silenced them with a heavy, threatening glare. Neji Hyuga looked at Team Seven with mild interest. They had the Uchiha, who was rumored to be the rookie of the year, and Naruto, whose presence demanded respect. 'Interesting group of rookies this year.' Neji thought.

Team Seven didn't feel like wasting any more time so they walked to the real room 301, where Kakashi stood, waiting for them.

"Good. All of you made it. If any of you decided not to take the exams, neither of you would have been able to do so." Kakashi informed his students. Hearing that, Sakura felt that she made the correct choice. Before, she was doubting herself because there was a chance she would have to face Sasuke or Naruto, and she knew that she couldn't beat either of those two.

"I want to congratulate you three, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, do your best in those exams." Kakashi finished with a smile. His teammates nodded and walked forward. Naruto threw open the door and walked through, his teammates following.

The room was filled to the brim with candidates from different villages. The age group ranged from pre-teen to adult. Naruto's eyes scanned the room for the familiar red hair. He found who he was looking for in the corner of the room. Gaara seemed to feel someone staring at him so he looked toward Naruto. They both held that intense stare before both turning away.

"Wow. Looks like there's some tough competition." Sakura remarked.

"Get real. They won't stand a chance." Naruto and Sasuke said in unison. They looked at each other briefly, smirked a bit, then turned to face the room again.

"Hey Sasuke!" A feminine voice reached Team Seven's ears and girl in purple latched onto Sasuke's back, wrapping her arms around his neck affectionately.

"Let go of Sasuke, Ino-pig!" Sakura hissed out, holding up her clenched fists. Naruto looked at the event with boredom and turned to where he heard more approaching footsteps.

"She'll never change, troublesome woman." Shikamaru said in a bored tone. Choji followed behind him and waved to Naruto who nodded his head in response.

"So you guys made it. Not that it'll make a difference, because my team is going to win this thing." Kiba announced and the puppy on his head barked in agreement. The rest of Team Eight followed behind Kiba.

Naruto scoffed, "Yeah right, Kiba. The day you win anything over me will be the day I sprout wings and fly."

"That's funny, fox-boy, because last time I checked, you were the dead-last in the Academy." Kiba said with a smirk.

Naruto smirked back and shook his head, "You keep thinking that, fool." The rookies who weren't on Team Seven took notice of the sword strapped to Naruto's back and they asked him about. Naruto, himself, didn't answer them, but they were surprised to hear the story of how Naruto killed a crime boss and defeated a powerful rogue-ninja. Some were still disbelieving and surmised that Kakashi had done all the work.

Walking out of the testing room, Naruto followed Anko Mitarashi, the proctor for the second stage of the exam. The first part of the exam made Naruto tap into his creative side, and it was also a frustrating experience for him.

After Ibiki Morino, the proctor for the first stage of the exams, explained the questionable rules and handed out the tests, Naruto drew the conclusion that the test was about information gathering and how one goes about doing so. Ibiki's odd rules about point deductions from cheating got Naruto suspicious and he figured that out just as other candidates seemed to do, but he didn't have the slightest clue as to how he would cheat discreetly.

Ibiki then mentioned that it was time for the tenth question, which was an all-or-nothing type of question, or so he had said. It turned out the question was one of vital decision making. If you stayed in, despite the risks, you passed, because that was an important quality of a chunin.

Anko led the candidates to a large forest. "This is the Forest of Death, the site of the second stage. You will spend five days in there trying to retrieve a scroll. We will give you one type of scroll, a Heaven or Earth scroll, and you are responsible for getting the other. After getting both scrolls with every member of you team still able to participate, heda to the tower in the center of the forest, and that'll be the end of the second stage. In there, anything goes. Know what that means? You're all at a high risk of dying." Anko said with an unusually chilling smile.

The genin were ushered to a make-shift office where they were given either a Heaven or an Earth scroll.

"Oh man, that place looks creepy." Sakura muttered with a slight shiver.

"It's supposed to be creepy. Why do you think they call it the Forest of Death?" Anko questioned cheerfully.

Naruto scoffed, "A couple of rapid rats and stupid pigeons living in a forest hardly deserves the name the Forest of Death."

Anko's strange smiling face turned directly to Naruto and she quickly threw a kunai at Naruto, whom only shifted his head to the right slightly to avoid the kunai. Anko disappeared and reappeared behind Naruto, whom anticipated the movement and drew his sword and pointed it behind his body at Anko. The two were both caught in a fatal position. Anko's smile seemed to widen, "You seem like the kind of guy that will do some killing in that forest. Make me proud."

Both let their weapons fall, and Anko walked back to the front.

"Before I let you kids go, I need to give you these consent forms, because some of you won't be coming back. If I don't have you sign these forms, I'll be held responsible for your deaths. Do you believe that?" Anko started laughing.

Naruto sighed. Anko was certifiably insane, no arguments.

Team Seven sat down a decent distance away from the other teams as they discussed strategies. Naruto thought they should kick the ass of every team they come across and burn any scroll that they didn't need. Sakura denied the idea, because she believed they shouldn't fight any unnecessary battles, and Sasuke agreed with Naruto's plan, but he didn't outwardly show it. Team Seven did come to a general consensus: they would completely dominate whatever teams they came across until they got an Earth scroll.

Naruto smirked to himself. He had overheard several teams speak of their plans to go after the "brats." Of course, brats was a reference to Team Seven. Naruto informed his team of the apparent hunting of which they would be the recipient.

All the teams approached their separate starting gates. Anko announced that the exam started and each team threw open the gates and ran in.

Team Seven in particular followed Naruto's senses. According to Naruto, there were two teams approaching from either direction: one was definitely heading toward them and the other seemed to be indecisive.

Naruto turned and headed toward the team that was heading toward them. His team followed behind him.

"Let's knock off this team first. They might just have an Earth scroll." Naruto commanded. His team nodded and continued to follow him.

Naruto stopped suddenly and returned to the forest floor. His teammates landed with him and they prepared for their enemy to find them.

"I think we'll do you brats a favor, and take you out of the running before you really dig yourselves to deep." A voice announced the arrival of an enemy team.

The three members of the enemy team landed in front of Team Seven, each with varying levels of amusement and confidence displaying on their faces.

"Age is never a factor when you're a shinobi." Sakura said with the utmost confidence.

"We have experience over you children." One of the enemies bragged. Naruto growled and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Enough talk. Let's fight, if you're so confident." Naruto snapped impatiently.

"Okay, but you asked for it." Another one of the enemies retorted as he and his team charged forward, performing some hand signs as they ran.

Sakura made a single, subtle hand sign and whispered under her breath, "Tree Binding Death."

The three enemy shinobi stopped in their tracks as Team Seven vanished before their eyes. The quick growing trees with over-extending branches ensnared the enemy squad.

"Damn! I can't move." One enemy struggled against his bindings. His team did the same, before realizing the futility.

"This must be some sort of genjutsu." The kunoichi of the enemy squad muttered.

It was too late for any of them to attempt to break the genjutsu, because Naruto and Sasuke easily knocked out the immobilized foes. Naruto searched the enemies' bags before he found what he was looking for: the Earth scroll.

Naruto put the Earth scroll in his weapon pouch where his team's Heaven scroll was located. He walked back over to his team, his gaze focused on Sakura. Naruto had to admit that her genjutsu was on point.

"Well that was easy. We must have broken a record or something." Sakura said cheerfully. The team chuckled a bit, because they knew they probably did break the record for fastest scroll retrieved, and they were well within reach of the fastest completion. Sasuke smirked at the thought. That had to warrant a promotion, right?

"Come on. Let's head over to the tower, but keep on your guard. We're not out of the woods, yet. Literally." Naruto reminded his team. They nodded their affirmation, and took to the trees again.

Anko was munching on dango and humming a tune to herself happily. She was the picture of carefree, and there probably wasn't anything that could ruin her good mood.

"Better check on how the kiddies are doing. The quicker ones will be finishing soon." Anko said while kicking her legs and finishing her snack. In the distance, Anko sighted two suspicious, cloak-wearing figures walking toward her location. Anko hollered out to the two figures, but they didn't acknowledge her. Anko hopped from her perch to address the two objects of suspicion.

"State your business or die." Anko ordered. The two cloak-wearing men stopped walking. One of the cloak-wearing men tipped his hat slightly to reveal his eyes. His eyes appeared to be the Sharingan, except it was different than usual.

"Tsukuyomi." The man whispered. Anko's eyes widened as she was plunged into a torturous world where days in the genjutsu was merely seconds in the real world. Anko lost consciousness quickly, and the two cloak-wearing figures departed, heading into the Forest of Death.

Naruto stopped in his tracks to look off to the side. His teammates stopped and looked at Naruto strangely.

"What'd you stop for? We're almost at the tower." Sakura pointed out.

"We're being followed. Whoever's behind us has been chasing us for quite a while, and they're moving fast. They'll catch up to us before we reach the tower." Naruto stated. Sasuke grunted in annoyance.

"So what do you suggest?" Sakura asked Naruto, whom grinned at the question, "I don't like that look on your face. What are you thinking, Naruto?"

"You guys keep heading to the tower. I'll go and meet these guys head on, and when I'm finished with them, I'll catch up to you guys." Naruto said, his grin turning into a smirk.

Sakura and Sasuke didn't exactly like the plan, but they agreed anyway, silently agreeing to each other to find and help Naruto if he needed them.

Sasuke and Sakura watched as Naruto turned around and jumped through the trees. They looked at each other and nodded, and headed onward to the tower.

If Naruto's senses were correct, then there were only two people heading toward him. That was strange since every team consisted of three people. Naruto shook his head and continued jumping through the trees. He stopped when he figured he was close enough, and he concealed himself in the trees.

Naruto observed as his pursuers stopped and landed on the grass. He couldn't make out their features very well due to the hats they were currently wearing.

"We know you're there. Come out Kyuubi." One of the men drawled. Naruto noticed the large, bandaged weapon on his back.

Naruto's eyes widened in panic. 'How the hell could they know that?' Naruto growled as he began flowing through hand signs.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto bellowed as the wind picked up heavily. The two men didn't flinch, but their hats were blown off, allowing Naruto to get a decent look at the guys for the first time.

Both of their appearances held surprises. One resembled a shark, and the other's eyes were concerning.

'That one's an Uchiha? But I thought-' Naruto's thoughts ceased as he remembered Sasuke mentioning something about a vendetta against his brother, whom killed his family and clan members. 'So this must be him. What the hell have I gotten myself into?'

"Well your appearance is certainly interesting. And that sword, you've gotten that from Zabuza, didn't you. The only way you would get that sword from Zabuza would be to kill him." Kisame, the shark-like man, stated in amusement.

"That's right. I killed Zabuza. You gotta a problem with that? And one more thing, how the hell do you know about me being a jinchuuriki?" Naruto growled out.

"That is of no importance now. You are the prize the Akatsuki is after, so you are coming with us." Itachi spoke.

"Ha! Think again!" Naruto exclaimed as he pulled kubikiribōchō from his back. Channeling all the fire and wind chakra into the blade that he could manage, he bellowed as he shot a large tornado of fire at his enemies.

Kisame smirked. Pulling the bandaged sword from his back, Kisame shouted, "Come on, Samehada!" The bandages tore from the sword, revealing a sharp, scaled blade.

"What!" Naruto shouted in exasperation. He watched as the fiery tornado was absorbed by Kisame's blade.

"It is futile to fight. You are weak." Itachi remarked. Naruto growled ferociously. Inside of him, the Kyuubi was trying to use Naruto's unstable emotions as the basis for taking control, but Naruto wouldn't allow it under any circumstance.

The demonic chakra that the Kyuubi was constantly channeling into Naruto in the hopes of corrupting him further, but the chakra had almost no effect on Naruto other than making him slightly more powerful.

"I'll show you who's the weak one, you bastard!" Naruto shouted, letting his rage take over. He charged in, using his rapid burst step to disorient his opponents. When he got in close enough where he was sure that his enemies couldn't dodge his sudden attacks, Naruto held his sword up, and he was about to bring it down to unleash a powerful wind slash, but Itachi intercepted him with a punch to the midsection. Naruto recoiled slightly in pain, before striking back with a kick that Itachi blocked. Naruto took slight pleasure in watching Itachi flinch from blocking the powerful kick with his arm. Naruto's pleasure was short lived as Itachi countered with a quick kick to the face. Naruto was sent to the ground. Naruto braced himself on his arms and spit out some blood.

"Let's end this now. I'll knock him out." Kisame hollered out. He made his way to the injured Naruto.

"Kisame! Look out!" Itachi called out a warning to his partner.

Kisame's eyes widened as he noticed a large shadow over him. He jumped back before a large toad could crush him.

"If you guys want to take Naruto, you'll have to contend with me, the toad sage, Jiraiya!" Jiraiya said posing on top of his toad summon.

Naruto looked up to see the grinning sannin standing atop his summon, "Jiraiya, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked as he stood back up to his feet.

"Well you certainly looked like you could use some help." Jiraiya retorted.

Naruto grunted in frustration. He raised his sword and channeled fire and wind chakra into the blade.

Kisame prepared for battle, before Itachi spoke, "We must retreat for now Kisame. We cannot draw to much attention, and Jiraiya isn't an opponent we can face right now." Kisame looked at Itachi strangely, before relenting and running away with Itachi.

"Oh, not so fast! Ninja Art: Toud Mouth Trap!" Soft, squishy substance formed around the four shinobi, "Welcome to the oesophagus of the great mountain toad of Mt. Myoboku. You are in the process of being digested." Jiraiya taunted.

"Damn! Let's get going." Itachi shouted to Kisame, whom was currently trying to pry his sword from the toad. The Akatsuki members ran off, searching for an exit.

"It's no use. No one has ever escaped." Jiraiya stated with a confident smile. Naruto looked at Jiraiya in awe.

Suddenly, the confident smile fell from Jiraiya's face and he jumped from his summon's head and ran in the same direction the Akatsuki members ran. Naruto followed him, and stopped with him to inspect the black flames that apparently aided in Itachi and Kisame's escape.

Jiraiya unrolled a scroll and pulled out an ink brush. He scribbled some unfamiliar sign and said, "Sealing Jutsu: Fire Seal." The black flames receded into the scroll. Jiraiya sighed, and turned to face Naruto when he felt his stare.

"I know you want answers and explanations, but they will have to wait until I start training you." Jiraiya said with a serious expression. Naruto growled loudly, and turned to face the direction in which the Akatsuki members escaped.

"I know what you're thinking, and let me tell you that those shinobi are some of the strongest you will ever encounter." Jiraiya stated, drawing Naruto's attention, "You may think that you are not good enough, but remember that those shinobi have had many years of experience. Also, they came here with information on your capabilities. You didn't know what kind of fight you were stepping into."

Naruto sighed. Jiraiya's words were encouraging, but the fact that he was beaten so easily bothered him to no end. Before, Naruto thought he was truly strong, but to meet someone who was truly exceptional was an eye-opener. Naruto understood he made progress, but he needed to improve much, much more if he wanted to combat truly powerful shinobi like that of the Akatsuki.

Naruto's eyes reflected his resolve. He nodded to Jiraiya, and took to the trees, heading to the tower to meet his team. They still had the Chunin Exams to complete afterall.

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