"Winning is everything, to win is all there is. Only those poor souls buried beneath the battlefield understand this." - SEAL Team Saving

Chapter 11: Chunin Exam: The Wait of the World

"What took you, Naruto? Some no-name genin gave you too much trouble?" Sasuke mocked. Naruto rolled his eyes and walked past his questioning teammates. In his head, Naruto was contemplating whether or not he should tell Sasuke about his confrontation with Itachi. Naruto mentally shook his head. Telling Sasuke would simply cause problems, and Naruto knew for a fact that Sasuke wasn't strong enough to battle Itachi on equal grounds, let alone defeat him.

"It was nothing I couldn't handle." Naruto said casually, lying through his teeth. His teammates accepted the lie, and they continued walking to the tower. Naruto pushed open the doors to the tower and walked in with his team. Naruto first observed that the lights were clearly turned off. Sasuke found the switch and turned the lights on, illuminating the room and bringing to light the large scroll hanging from the wall in front of Team Seven.

Sakura peered at the large scroll, examining it closely. "If qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher. If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When Heaven and Earth are opened together, the perilous path will become righteous forever. This...something is the secret way that guides us from this place today."

"What's all that about, do we open the scrolls now?" Naruto questioned.

Sakura nodded. Naruto and Sakura held the pair of scrolls out in front of them. As they peeled the scroll open, they noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the scrolls. Their eyes widened and they threw the scroll to the ground and jumped back. The scrolls seemed to implode and a person appeared as the smoke cleared.

Naruto identified the person as the female teacher from the Academy. She looked surprised if the expression on her face was anything to go by.

"Huh? It hasn't even been three hours and I'm already being summoned here. You guys have talent." The Academy teacher said, getting over her previous state of shock, "Well, I'm supposed to explain what that scroll on the wall means." The teacher cleared her throat before continuing, "Heaven represents your intellectual side and Earth symbolizes your physical side. When both Heaven and Earth flourish in equal proportion, the shinobi will be at his finest, able to form brilliant tactical strategies and have the necessary strength to carry out such a strategy."

'That does make perfect sense. A shinobi can't just be a physical tank, or they'll just get outsmarted at every turn. The shinobi who finds the perfect balance would be an unstoppable force.' Naruto thought to himself. Briefly, Naruto wondered if anyone in shinobi history has truly managed to achieve that perfect balance. Naruto glanced at his teammates whom both shared the same contemplative look. They must have been wondering about the perfect balance, too.

'No matter what it takes, I will achieve that perfect balance!' Naruto thought, clenching his fists at his sides.

The Academy teacher pointed Team Seven in the direction of the waiting room. She explained that since they were so early, they would have to wait about four more days until the exams proceeded.

Team Seven entered the waiting room, and discovered it to be mostly barren. In the furthest corner of the room stood Gaara, completely unscathed, with his siblings standing a considerable distance from him. Naruto heard footsteps approaching the waiting room, and seconds later, Team Eight entered, looking slightly beat up. The members of Team Eight looked surprised to see anyone else there, and they seemed to be fearful of Gaara, as made apparent by the frightened expressions on their faces when they saw him.

Sakura went over to Team Eight to make conversation with them, but Naruto went over to the Suna team.

"Hey." Naruto greeted simply. Kankuro and Temari jumped slightly when they heard Naruto's voice, "I'm not gonna hurt you two, unless you give me a reason to." Naruto assured.

"Ok, but what do you want?" Kankuro asked warily.

"To talk, I guess." Naruto shrugged. That response must have been surprising, because even Gaara turned his head to regard the fox-eared genin.

"About what?" Temari asked. Again, Naruto shrugged and scratched his left ear.

"Anything. We got a few days to burn, and I don't feel like spending them doing nothing." Naruto said. Then he turned to face his Uchiha teammate, whom was still standing with his eyes closed and his hands in his pockets in the same spot he was when they entered the room, "Sasuke, get over here, would ya? Unless you feel like becoming a permanent statue for this room by standing there for four days straight." Naruto invited.

Sasuke's eyes opened when he heard Naruto's open invitation. He turned to see Sakura, green-faced, staring at what looked to be an army of insects crawling out of Shino's skin, Hinata stuttering, and Kiba's obnoxious laughter. Sasuke sighed. He wanted none of that. Also, he was curious as to how that red-haired genin got through without a single speck of dust marring even his clothes.

"And you are?" Kankuro questioned, nodding his head in greeting.

"Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke answered, nodding back.

"I'm Kankuro." Kankuro replied. Then he pointed to Temari and Gaara, "This is my older sister, Temari, and that's my younger brother, Gaara."

Gaara was intently staring at both Naruto and Sasuke. Something inside him told him that Naruto and Sasuke were both very powerful. Their blood would be enough to sate his mother's appetite for the time being.

Gaara's barely controlled bloodlust was almost palpable. Naruto and Sasuke were not dense. They could definitely tell Gaara's bloodlust was directed at them. Kankuro and Temari seemed to notice as well.

Naruto sighed. Four damn days before the exams continued. 'Those other teams must be walking around in circles if they're still out there.'

"Naruto, let's spar." Sasuke suggested. Naruto turned to face him, "Well we have nothing else to do." Sasuke concluded casually.

Naruto shrugged. "Okay, but where?"

"Why not here?" Sasuke asked.

"Why don't you just say you feel like showing off? No need to sugarcoat it." Naruto said, smirking.

Sasuke's eyebrows twitched in annoyance, "Hn. Let's just spar, alright?"

"You didn't deny it. What a show-off." Naruto chuckled a bit, but he agreed nonetheless.

Naruto and Sasuke walked to the center of the room and faced each other. Sakura, by now, knew the drill, so she ceased her conversation with the members of Team Eight and came over to stand near her teammates.

"Alright. Go!" Sakura announced.

Sasuke flashed through hand signs at an impressive speed. "Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!" Naruto flowed through his own hand signs at an even greater speed, and bellowed, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu." Naruto's fireball engulfed the multiple fire projectiles shot from Sasuke, and headed toward the Uchiha.

Naruto created ten shadow clones, and commanded some to move upwards, some to burst step to the right, and some to follow him to the left where he suspected Sasuke to veer towards.

Naruto's assumption was correct, and he managed to catch Sasuke off guard with an onslaught of taijutsu, courtesy of him and his clones.

Sasuke was sent to the ground, where he didn't have much time to prepare for oncoming, burst stepping clones. Sasuke rolled to the right to avoid the attacking clones. The real Naruto burst stepped behind Sasuke and kicked him directly in the face. Sasuke flew back a considerable distance. When Sasuke stood back up and spit out some blood, he activated his Sharingan, at last.

Sasuke had a harder time tracking Naruto's burst step than before, indicating that Naruto had been enhancing the technique. Sasuke used his hand to wipe some blood from his lip, then he smirked.

'This should be an interesting fight.' Sasuke thought before creating half a dozen lightning clones to protect him, while he created a small Chidori in his right hand. Focusing his chakra to his feet, and keeping his eye out for any subtle movement, Sasuke charged in with his Chidori, destroying shadow clone after shadow clone. With only one Naruto remaining, Sasuke ran at him with incredible speed and jabbed Naruto with his Chidori.

Sasuke smirked victoriously as Naruto winced and his head lowered. Suddenly, the clone exploded in flames, and Sasuke withdrew his burnt hand.

'When did he-' Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted.

"Wind Style: Wind Cutter Jutsu." Sasuke's eyes widened, and he turned his head in time to witness Naruto swing his sword in a large arc, causing a barrage of small blades of wind to form. The wind attack destroyed Sasuke's remaining lightning clones. Sasuke put his arms in front of him in a feeble attempt to block the wind. The attack sliced Sasuke and slammed him into a wall.

Team Eight, especially Kiba, whom was remembering his words to Naruto earlier, was in complete shock of the power of Naruto as well as Sasuke. Kankuro and Temari seemed to expect such a performance, and Gaara could hardly contain himself. His eyes were widening, and the sand within his gourd was moving about wildly, begging to be released.

Naruto landed on the floor and rested Kubikiribōchō on his shoulder. "Well I think that's enough for now." Naruto restrapped his sword on his back. Sasuke had numerous shallow cuts all over his body, and he was panting heavily. Naruto turned to walk back to the Suna siblings, when his ears picked up on the sound of rapid, approaching footsteps. He moved his head to avoid a jab, and turned to grab Sasuke's foot as he attempted a kick. Naruto was about to throw Sasuke, when Sasuke firmly placed his hands on the ground, and situated himself so he could kick Naruto's chin. Sasuke did a little spin across the floor to regain his balance.

Naruto hit the floor after he was kicked off the floor by Sasuke. He rolled backwards to avoid a punch, and he burst stepped to the air. Naruto pulled his sword from his back and spun it out in front of himself. Channeling fire chakra to the blade and expelling it, Naruto created a fiery twister that was proportional in width to Kubikiribōchō. Sasuke jumped so he could avoid it. When Naruto landed on the ground, Sasuke performed some hand signs and unleashed the Phoenix Fire Jutsu. Naruto burst stepped several times to avoid the projectiles. Then, he burst stepped behind Sasuke, whom was still airborn, and flew through his hand signs faster than the eye could see. Naruto shouted, "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough." The massive gust of wind slammed into Sasuke and threw him to the ground, harshly.

"You're not dead, right?" Naruto questioned, as he landed.

Sasuke grunted. He had difficulty standing up, and he had to forcefully repress his anger. Then again, he did make the offer to spar, so he really couldn't get angry. Sakura declared the fight as finished.

Naruto yawned and stretched. "Well, I'm gonna go get some sleep." He walked off to a random door, opened it and entered.

"Does he even know where he's going?" Temari asked as she stifled a giggle.

"I doubt it." Sakura answered, shaking her head dismissively.

*Day Two of Waiting*

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed, "It's feels like we've just been sitting on our asses for a whole day."

"That's because we have been." Sasuke stated in a bored tone.

"My butt fell asleep like an hour ago." Sakura added.

"As much as I love hearing about Sakura's ass, I thi-"

"Naruto!" Sakura interrupted with a light blush of embarrassment. Temari, who was sitting next to Sakura, started laughing.

*Day Three of Waiting*

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Naruto and Sasuke said in unison. Naruto held up scissors and Sasuke held up rock.

"Cheating bastard. I saw you activate your Sharingan." Naruto said casually.

"You never said I couldn't use my Sharingan." Sasuke pointed out.

"That's true. Naruto." Kankuro agreed and Temari nodded.

"Go to hell, all of you."

*Day Four of Waiting*

"Can I touch your ears, Naruto?" Sakura asked curiously. Temari seemed like she wanted to as well, and Tenten, whom joined everyone in waiting on day three, tried to hide her amusement.

"If any of you touch my ears, I will end you." Naruto growled threateningly and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword for added effect.

The three girls paled in response.

*The Next Day*

Four days had come and gone, and finally, it was time to proceed with the exams. Many people, it seemed, were eliminated during the course of the exam, leaving the Rookie Nine, Gai's team, and the Suna siblings.

"Congratulations to you all for making it this far. Many of you are rookie genin, and you should be very proud of yourselves for your accomplishments." Hiruzen Sarutobi praised. "Before we begin the finals, we will conduct a preliminary round. More candidates than expected have made it through the first two stages."

"Allow me to take over from here, Lord Hokage." A man said as he bowed, showing his respect. "My name is Hayate, and I will be the proctor for the preliminary round." Hayate said, before coughing a bit. "You will be fighting in one-on-one matches to show your individual skills. Any type of fighting skill is allowed, but I may step in to end a match at any time. Understand?" Hayate asked.

The candidates muttered their understanding and awaited further instruction.

"First, we will pick one candidate. That candidate will get a by." Hayate stated. Gaara happened to be the one who got the by. Gaara disappeared in a flow of sand and reappeared in the stands.

"Now, we will randomly pick two candidates to fight first." Hayate said and looked up to a large screen on the wall. The genin looked up at it as well, watching as each of their names appeared at some point. The randomizer stopped on two names: Sakura Haruno and Kankuro.

So I was just wondering what would happen if a Yamanaka invaded an Aburame's mind. What the hell would happen? Would anything weird happen at all? Maybe the insects would nullify the Mind Transfer. What do you guys think of that?

Review if you wanna be a cool mofo!