(Welcome to chapter 2)
During the night after Naruto received his admission form for the Chunin Exams, Naruto stood on his apartment roof, "Time for a night swing." Naruto said taking on his Catastrophe form and started slinging off on his webbing throughout the village while doing flips and catapults off roofs and poles.
"Yes, this is what we're taking about!" Catastrophe chuckled as he continued swinging around the village.
Meanwhile somewhere in the village, two adult women were sitting outside a dango shop. The two women were Kurenai Yuhi the Jonin leader of squad eight composed of Naruto's old classmates, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. The second woman was a purple haired woman with a seductive figure and wore a tan trench coat, she was Anko Mitarashi or as the village recognized her as the Snake Jonin.
"I can't believe you actually recommended your own squad for the Chunin exams, Kurenai." Anko told her friend.
"That surprises you Anko?" Kurenai asked.
"Well duh they're just rookies who just left the academy." Anko reminded her.
"You know we were all younger than the rookies and we made Chunin." Kurenai reminded her back.
"Well you got a point, but from the way you told me about your team, I got a feeling they won't last long." Anko said.
Before Kurenai could comment back they heard screams of terror, "What's that?" Kurenai asked.
"Probably another foolish riot." Anko said like it wasn't something they haven't seen already.
"Still someone should check it out." Kurenai said going on ahead.
"Hey wait up!" Anko called finishing her dango and followed her friend.
When the two Jonin ladies arrived they found numerous villagers stuck on a giant spider web like trapped flies, "Whoa!" the women gasped.
Anko smirked, "Not bad at all. Quite a sight."
"It is, isn't it?" a voice asked which surprised them, "A work of art one might say."
"Who's there?" Kurenai asked as she and Anko got defensive.
"No need to be threatened you are not our enemies." The voice said as Catastrophe lowered himself down via webbing and presented himself before them. The two women were practically horrified by the appearance of this red and black creature.
"Who're you, and why do you sound familiar?" Kurenai gasped.
"You can call us Catastrophe, as for sounding familiar perhaps you recognize this." Catastrophe said as his head opened up revealing Naruto's face peeking out through the mouth.
"Wait a minute, Naruto?" Kurenai gasped.
'So this is that runt they all talked about? He's nothing like they said he was.' Anko thought unable to stop gazing as his build and devilish handsome face.
"That's right Kurenai sensei, a new and improved Naruto," Naruto bowed his head and looked to Anko, "We do not believe we've had the pleasure."
Anko smirked deciding to have some fun, "Well of course we haven't had the pleasure, Naruto. We just met. But if you want you can come to my place and get really acquainted." She teased but got elbowed by Kurenai.
"Anko! Sorry for this Naruto, this is Anko Mitarashi, and she always says stuff like that." Kurenai apologized.
"No problem at all sensei, well it's been nice seeing you, but we must be going now. Later!" he chuckled as he started web slinging away.
Kurenai looked at Anko, "Anko why would you say that?"
"What? Just having a little fun, besides judging from the way he looks and that badass persona I'll bet he'd do wonders in bed." Anko smirked.
"Then you'd be recognized as a cradle robber by everyone." Kurenai added.
"So I don't care about their snake titles they give me, so I could care less what else they'd call me. So what do you think happened to him?"
"I don't know, I've never seen such abilities before." Kurenai replied.
Back at his apartment Naruto powered down his symbiote form and plopped onto his bed, "Tonight was a good run, but now for some rest." He said falling asleep.
When Naruto fell asleep he found himself in his mind again, "Oh back here again, I wonder what's up?" he asked himself having been able to address himself as 'I' while in his mind. He started walking to Kyubi's cage, "Yo fox you called?"
Kyubi suddenly appeared looking at him through the cage, "Yes boy. Both Catastrophe and I have matters to discuss with you."
"So where is Catastrophe?" Naruto asked.
"Right here!" Catastrophe emerged from the ground taking his form.
"Ok so you're all here, what's up?" Naruto asked.
"While you were asleep that night you fused Catastrophe and I have been talking and we've discovered on how to help counter the weaknesses the symbiote possesses." Kyubi explained.
"Seriously?" Naruto asked.
"Correct since we will be facing numerous ninja who know fire based jutsu we figured we'd try something, besides this way you can still enjoy other hot places like hotsprings." Catastrophe explained.
"And most genjutsu that affects the mind also does problems on one's sense of hearing so by concentrating on my chakra to fuel Catastrophe we can alter out these weaknesses and protect you." Kyubi finished.
"Magnificent!" Naruto smirked, "With all of us working together like this we really will become the ultimate force in the village."
"Yes however might I ask for something in return, like better rooming in here?" Kyubi said, "This cage is so damp and gloomy."
"What can I do?" Naruto asked.
"Concentrate and you can alter my surroundings." Kyubi explained.
"All right then, I'll try…" Naruto started concentrating and the inside of the cage started appearing a large couch, an arm chair, a hot tub, a fridge, and a TV. "Nice, it's perfect." Kyubi said as he shrunk down to a regular fox size and stood on his hind legs acting like a man fox as he sat on the chair.
Naruto turned to Catastrophe, "Want to make a good quarters for you in my mind?"
"No need, because we are now bonded we share your mind as well, we've already created a perfect room in there," He motioned to a door with webbing on it. "Come in and we'll show you."
Naruto walked with Catastrophe into his room that was dark with a hammock made from his webbing, a TV with horror movie DVD's on a rack, the walls were decorated with horror like posters and Gothic like images.
Naruto whistled, "Not a bad look."
"Thank you. It suits us quite well," Catastrophe said lying on his hammock, "By the way that Jonin woman who smelt of snakes, you noticed the way she was looking at us."
"I have, she appeared to be into us. But the reason I don't know." Naruto said.
"Oh well, in time you'll figure it out." Catastrophe chuckled.
"Well I'm going back to bed. The Chunin exams will be started in a few days." Naruto said as he left his mind and continued sleeping through the night.
The next two days, Naruto was once again resuming his training with not only his spider abilities, but with his jutsu and hand to hand techniques as well. He made sure to do it in a secluded part of Konoha's training grounds so no one would know of his new power just yet, he especially didn't want his own team to know just yet.
Then the night before the Chunin exams Sarutobi was in a meeting with the council, "What's this all about?" he asked.
"Sarutobi there have been repots throughout Konoha of a strange red and black creature with habits of a spider lurking around the village causing mischief." Homura started.
"Some observers claimed his voice was that of Naruto Uzumaki." Koharu added.
"Are you suggesting that Naruto's the one causing all that?" Sarutobi asked pretending to be clueless about it.
"Do not hide it Sarutobi, among the Konoha genin Naruto's always been your favorite though we don't know why." Danzo said.
"Maybe it is Naruto, so what do you want me to do about it?" Sarutobi asked as the council of civilians started shouting up.
"You're the Hokage you should have him executed for what he's been doing!" a man shouted.
"You call defending oneself a work of treason?" Sarutobi asked.
"How could you say he's defending himself?" Danzo frowned.
"Because Danzo, many of my trusted Anbu have surveyed the scenes and saw that Naruto was not the one to attack them first." Sarutobi explained feeling tired of putting up with their biasness.
"Regardless with whatever power he's using he could end up killing us all." A woman shot.
"Is that fear of him having power or that you fear he'd come after you because of how you and every single one of you has treated him?" Sarutobi questioned.
"I say we pull him out of the Chunin Exams." Another man suggested and the civilians started rooting on the subject until Sarutobi shouted.
"SILENCE!" he screamed putting the council into a fright, "You will do no such thing without my approval. Naruto is just as much a ninja as any other in the village even if he does have a new special power, and will not be stripped of it or lose his admission into the Chunin exams. Now then this meeting is closed." He finished and the civilians left the meeting room in frustration along with Danzo, Koharu, and Homura.
Sarutobi sighed looking out his window, "I'm glad Naruto was not here, otherwise he may have truly lost it with them as much as I have."
When morning came, Naruto ate and got himself cleaned up. He stood before his mirror as the symbiote took the form of his new wardrobe adding black fingerless gloves to it along with the white spider symbol found on Catastrophe's front on the back of his black trench coat. After fixing his headband he spoke, "We're ready." He went for the window jumping from the balcony and web slinged off for the academy.
When he got close enough he started walking, not wanting to reveal himself early in the exams. He spotted Sasuke and Sakura up ahead, "Bout time you showed up." Sasuke said.
"We wouldn't miss this for the world." Naruto chuckled.
"Why do you keep referring to yourself as 'we' Naruto?" Sakura asked.
"Does it bother you Sakura? Well tough luck because you'll be hearing it for a long time," Naruto replied as Sakura started fuming, "Now come on we have to go," He said as they walked into the academy building.
They walked around the academy until they reached a floor that had an interesting sight. There were several groups of genin standing outside of a door. The said door was being blocked by two shinobi, who were refusing to let anyone else in. Two of the people that caught Naruto's eyes the most, a boy with large eyebrows, a soup bowl hair cut, and wore a green leotard outfit, the second was a cute brown haired girl with her hair done up in panda eared buns and wore Chinese styled clothes.
"Please we need to take the exams!" The bun haired girl pleaded.
"If you can't get past us then there's no way you'd make it." One of the guards mocked.
Naruto looked up seeing it was said to be the third floor but knew it was only the second floor but his spider sense went off looking at Sasuke.
"Hey do us a fave…" he started until Naruto stood on his foot, "Ouch! What the…" He demanded why Naruto did that until Naruto stared him and Sakura dead in the eyes,
"Don't say anything."
"You say something kid?" the second guard asked.
Naruto turned to them, "Ignore our teammate, he just has a giant mouth!"
Sasuke frowned in anger and Sakura was furious for insulting Sasuke, but they walked on past the group. Upon passing the bun haired girl, "Go up." He whispered and she blushed.
"What?" she asked.
"Keep going up." He gave her the hint until she realized it and nodded before going back to her team.
As squad seven ascended some stairs heading for the real third floor Sasuke spoke, "Naruto what the hell was that for?"
"Like we said you have such a huge mouth and ego you can't refrain from ever acting like a big shot pointing out the littlest of tricks!" Naruto replied in agitation, "If they can't figure it out for themselves, leave them."
"Then why did you whisper to that one girl?" Sakura asked.
"What can we say? She looked like she could pass as a real kunoichi unlike some." He said and Sakura fumed once more at his behavior.
Squad Seven made it to an open training area until they heard a voice call, "You down there."
They looked up seeing the eyebrows boy on the catwalk; he jumped down and landed perfectly at their level. "I am Rock Lee, you are Sasuke Uchiha correct?"
"I am." Sasuke nodded.
"I wish to have a spar with you." Lee challenged.
"A challenge but there's no time the exams will be starting soon." Sakura said.
"Don't worry I'll make this a quick one." Sasuke replied with a confident smirk.
Naruto looked at Lee and Sasuke and turned continuing on, "Naruto where do you think you're going?" Sakura asked.
"We have no interest in watching petty squabbles, we're going on ahead. Don't keep us waiting." He told both of them as he continued on leaving them.
As Naruto walked through the hall he thought to Kyubi, 'Rock Lee, we've seen him and his sensei Guy around the village numerous times engaging in bizarre exercises. Sasuke doesn't stand a chance in the slightest.'
"Is that why it was pointless to stick around?" Kyubi asked.
"Precisely," Naruto replied as he looked ahead seeing Kakashi, "Sensei."
"Naruto, where are Sasuke and Sakura?" Kakashi asked confused.
"Sasuke was challenged to a spar and Sakura being the lap dog stuck around," Naruto began, "We had no interest in watching so we went on ahead."
"I see," Kakashi eyes squinting his eye, "And by the way Naruto the Sandaime told me everything you told him about your other, and I don't mean the Kyubi."
"Oh he has, and does this change anything sensei?"
"Not at all, but I want you to be careful in how you use it. I know you and Sasuke don't see eye to eye, but try not to use your powers to provoke jealousy out of him." Kakashi said.
"And why not? He's always provoked and shown off his skills to everyone he's ever met. It's time we knock him down a peg or a few." Naruto said and Kakashi sighed knowing it would be bad for him.
They suddenly noticed Sakura and Sasuke approaching with Sasuke bruised a bit, "What happened?" Kakashi asked.
"Nothing." Sasuke said scowling.
"You lost didn't you?" Naruto teased.
"Shut up!" Sasuke frowned.
"Come on you guys." Sakura said not wanting them to start as they stood before Kakashi.
"Well good to see you all arrived. With all three of you here you're all allowed to participate in the Chunin exams. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, knock em' dead." Kakashi encouraged them.
The three nodded as they headed through the doors of the room they would be in to take the exams. When they walked in they surveyed the scene noticing the room was loaded with dozens of ninja all there for the exams as well. Some of the other ninja had scowls and frowns, giving off negative and scary vibes.
Naruto frowned, 'These fools are our competition, how pathetic.' He thought.
"Sasuke!" a voice called and another old academy student of theirs known as Ino Yamanaka glomped Sasuke from behind much to his annoyance and Sakura's ire. "I was waiting for you to show up."
"Get off him porker!" Sakura shouted.
"Oh miss forehead they let you here to?" Ino asked making Sakura angrier until the bleach blonde looked around, "Hey where's that loud mouth Naruto?"
"How hurtful, Ino. Is that any way to talk to an old fellow student?" Naruto asked looking at her.
Ino finally recognizing Naruto blushed at his appearance, "Na-Naruto, wha-what happened to you?"
"A lot of things changed Ino, and for the best in my case." Naruto grinned noticing the blush forming on her face.
Suddenly approaching were Shikamaru and Chouji, "So you're here too, man things got more troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.
"Always with the complaints Shikamaru," he began, "An excellent cover for your true disposition."
"Well look at this," A voice said belonging to Kiba Inuzuka the cocky dog boy with his team of Shino the bug user and Hinata the Hyuga heiress, "Looks like the gangs back together again."
"N-Naruto." Hinata blushed seeing the one she's admired for so long looking better looking than before.
"Naruto is that you?" Kiba asked.
"What'd you expect Kiba, the Shodaime Hokage?" Naruto asked rhetorically.
Kiba frowned, "You may look different but that doesn't make you any cooler."
"Who said we're trying to be cooler?" Naruto teased, "Or are you jealous that we look better looking than you are?"
Kiba frowned some more while his dog Akamaru whimpered a bit feeling the vibes coming from Naruto.
"Hey you guys." A voice called.
All nine kids turned around and saw a Konoha Genin walk towards them. He was wearing a pair of glasses, with a grey shirt underneath a purple no sleeved shirt, and purple pants. He also wore grey fingerless gloves and shinobi sandals. He ran a hand through his silver hair as he smiled at them.
"You guys are all rookies fresh out of the academy, right?" Genin asked.
"Yes what's it to you?" Sasuke asked.
"I take that as a yes. Take it from someone who has taken this test a few times. Stop drawing attention to yourselves so much. Wspecially if you want to live." The genin explained.
"Good advice, but who exactly are you?" Naruto asked.
"Oh sorry, my name's Kabuto Yakushi, and like I said I've taken this a few times. This is about my seventh time, so I've been taking it for two years so far."
" I guess it's true about the Chunin Exams being difficult." Naruto said.
"Just what I didn't need to hear." Shikamaru sighed.
"Tell you what, how about I give you guys some tips with these, my ninja info cards." Kabuto said pulling out a deck of cards.
"What're ninja info cards?" Chouji asked as he ate form his bag of chips.
"Basically they're cards that I channel chakra into, which then display information depending on what it is I want to see. I have over 200 cards containing info I've obtained over the last few years." Kabuto explained.
"Kabuto, can your cards show on each individual applicant?" Sasuke asked.
"Oh? Do you have interest in a certain applicant?" Kabuto asked curiously.
"Give me what you know about Rock Lee from Konoha, and Sabaku no Gaara." Sasuke said referring to the one who defeated him and the red headed Suna ninja they met prior to when Naruto found the symbiotes.
"You know their names and villages? That makes it easy," Kabuto said taking two cards from his deck and laid the first one down putting chakra into it exposing status on Lee, "First we have Rock Lee. He is one year older than all of you. His squad Leader is Might Guy, along side of his teammates Neji Hyuga and Tenten. He has completed 20 D-Ranked missions and 11 C-Ranks. His Taijutsu skills are amazing, but his other methods are very shaky. He was a standout among last year's rookies, however he didn't apply for the Chunin Exams until this year, meaning he's a first timer like the rest of you." Kabuto said.
Kabuto took another card doing the same thing revealing status on Gaara, "Ok now for Sabaku no Gaara. Mission experience 8 C-Ranks, and 1 B-Rank. Though there's not much information on this guy, but there is this… He survived every mission without getting a single scratch on him."
This provoked shocks out of the genin while Naruto squinted across the room spotting Gaara in the crowd of candidates along side his team composed of his brother Kankuro and his sister Temari. Gaara noticed Naruto and started shaking softly and thought, 'That boy from before, something's different about him, it makes mother uneasy. Take note he's on my death list.'
While in the crowd of genin, the three genin wearing headbands with musical notes on them were watching the Leaf genin talk. The first of which was a girl who had long, black hair, wore a yellow sleeveless shirt, grey camouflage pants and a scarf, and black shinobi sandals and armbands. Next was a strange looking man that had most of his face wrapped completely in bandages, except for his eyes, he wore a long grey jacket that had sleeves, which covered his arms. He had a large, fuzzy object on his back, and was constantly hunched over. The final member had spiky black hair, wore a grey camouflage scarf and pants like the girl's, and a yellow shirt with the kanji for death written on it three times.
"Shall we?" the spiky haired boy asked.
"Let's go." the bandaged one said.
The three genin suddenly dashed forward and launched an attack at Kabuto. The one with spiky hair attacked high, throwing some kunai. Kabuto barely managed to jump out of the way coming face to face with the genin with bandages on his face. He dashed forward with his arm extended and took a swing at Kabuto that he managed to duck back to avoid, however, when he returned upright, his glasses suddenly shattered.
"He managed to dodge that! How did his glasses break?" Kiba asked.
"Must've come closer than it looked…" Shikamaru said.
Naruto frowned and thought, 'We felt it was sound vibrations coming from that guys' arms, we may not have weakness to it anymore but we can still feel it.'
Kabuto looked at his glasses, and then suddenly dropped them to the floor. He fell to his knees, shaking violently and then he began to vomit. Hinata, Ino, and Sakura cringed at the sight, and the others stared on in with widened eyes.
Naruto turned to them frowning, "What the hell was that all about?"
"Just checking out some of the competition. You know, you're pretty sad for someone who's taken this test for four years now." the female of the group said to Kabuto.
"Tell me about it… If this is the competition this year, then you better add this to your cards. All three of us genin from Hidden Sound Village are going to make Chunin this year." the spiky haired genin declared.
Suddenly, a large cloud of smoke erupted in the front of the room. As it cleared, a large man appeared in front of a group of Chunin. He was wearing a large black trench coat, a pair of black gloves and black boots. He wore a grey button up shirt, grey slacks, and a headband combined with a bandana tied on his head. His most standout feature, were the large scars on his face.
"All right listen up! You three from Sound! Knock it off or you'll be thrown out of this building faster than you can blink, got that?" the large man asked.
"My apologies. It's our first exam, and we just got a little carried away." the bandaged member of the squad said.
"Is that so… In that case let me set a ground rule for you and any other hotshots thinking they can just do whatever the hell they feel like. From now on all forms of fighting are forbidden, unless the examining officer says otherwise. Even then, anything that directly threatens the life of another applicant is still strictly forbidden. Anyone who breaks this rule is out of here. Any questions?" the large man asked.
No one said anything, which he assumed allowed him the right to move on, "All right then my name is Ibiki Morino, and I will be your first proctor. We'll now begin the first examination. Everyone line up here at the desk and turn in your application. We'll then give you one of these seating assignment cards." the large man said.
Ibiki paused as he held up a seating chart for the genin to see, "Report to the seat that the card indicates. When everyone is seated, we will hand out the written tests." He finished.
The genin all lined up and turned in their applications to the desk. After obtaining their numbers, they went to their assigned seats. Naruto ended up being close to the middle, while his team was spread out.
'We wonder what sort of questions we will be asked to answer.' Naruto thought curiously and looked up seeing Ibiki ready to explain.
"The rules are very important, so pay attention because I'm not going to answer any questions." Ibiki started
'Rules?' Sakura thought. 'It's a written test. What kind of rules do we need to hear for that?'
"Do not turn your papers until I say so, now let's start," Ibiki began, "Rule number one, each of you starts with ten points. There are a total of ten questions on the test and each one is worth a point. For every question you get wrong you will lose a point. Rule number two, the written test is still a team event. Not only does your score count, but those of your teammates do too. In other words, all three members of your team's points will be linked into one final score. Now, the final rule, if during the exam one of you candidates do anything out of the ordinary, or in other words, leads a sentinel into thinking that you're cheating and you get caught, it will cost two points from each member on the cheater's team." Ibiki addressed to the sentinels stationed in the room.
"That makes sense." Sakura said to herself.
"There is a good chance that during the exam, most of you will lose the total amount of points. In the event that that occurs, you will be forced to leave. Also, since no team can pass this exam without all three members, when one of you leaves, the whole team goes."
There were various murmurs among the crowd as they looked at their tests before them and the sentinels that were scattered about the room. Naruto's eyes widened, 'We're starting to hate this.' He thought.
Sakura thought, 'I feel sick.'
'Great, they just had to make a rule like that.' Sasuke thought.
"You all have one hour," Ibiki said. "You may begin."
Immediately, the sound of papers flipping and pencils clacking began to fill the room. Naruto sighed in disgust as he flipped his paper over and looked it over. He hated written tests even before he got his change. When someone asked him a question or something, he could answer it as best he could, but when he had to write it down, his mind for some reason would go blank.
'Ok here we go,' Naruto thought to himself as he paused and his eyes widened in surprise as he looked at the first question. 'What the hell is this? No basic genin in this room should be capable of answering these questions; it's nothing we were taught at the academy, what kind of joke are they pulling?'
He suddenly froze as if listening to Catastrophe within him, 'That's whats happening? Sneaky trick. Ok do your stuff.'
Unbeknownst to the sentinels or anyone taking the exam the symbiote of Catastrophe was looking at the person in back of Naruto watching him write down his answers, it then transferred what it was looking at back to Naruto who started writing the answers, 'We sure hope the others figured this out.' He thought
In fact most of the genin from his class were using their own tricks to gain answers from others. Some used hidden jutsus or even bloodlines. As Naruto finished his test he heard numerous sentinels call out to ninja to leave having caught them cheating.
Soon enough the number of students had been drastically reduced from there once was, but in his mind, that was still not enough. He cleared his throat, causing everyone to tense up for a moment. They pretty much figured he was going to give them the last question, so immediately every pencil went down to the final question on the test.
"It's time for the final question," Ibiki announced. "However, before I give it out, there is one final, absolute rule that must be announced first."
'An absolute rule…' Naruto thought. 'Now what the hell is going on?'
"First…" Ibiki said, "You must choose rather or not you accept this question."
"Choose?" Temari called from the back of the room.
"Correct… Know this though. If you choose not to answer the final question, you and your teammates will automatically fail the exams." Ibiki said.
"What?" a Kiba shouted. "What kind of idiot would choose not to answer it?"
"One who knows of the other half of this rule," Ibiki shot back, "If you choose to attempt to answer the final question, and get it wrong, then you and your team will still fail the test. Also, you will be banned from ever taking the Chunin Exams again, being forced to remain a Genin forever."
A chill ran through the air at those words. The choice had basically come down to either you fail and wait almost a full year or you fail and never get to do it again. Even Sasuke was slightly tenser than he was before. Suddenly Naruto slammed his hand on the table in anger, causing all the attention in the room to be focused on him.
"You gotta be kidding me!" he shouted. "There are plenty of ninja here that have taken this exam more than once, we know there are!"
"Well, I guess you're just outta luck, ain't ya?" Ibiki asked with a grin. "I wasn't making the rules in the past, but I am now. Either you take the failing grade, leave now and take the exam next time, or you try, fail, and never take it again. It's your choice."
'Talk about a no win situation…' Sakura thought. 'What do we do…'
"Ready? Then let's begin," Ibiki said. "Those who do not wish to partake in the final question need only to raise their hand. Once their number has been confirmed, they may leave the room with their number is confirmed."
Almost immediately after saying that, several genin began to raise their hands and leave. Naruto couldn't believe that the man had shaken them up so bad, all thought truth be told, he had his doubts too. Like all the others, he was faced with a lose-lose situation. He sat quietly, thinking it over.
'Naruto!'
'Catastrophe?' Naruto thought.
'Yes, do not fall for his act, he's just trying to trick you!'
'Like before with the cheating threats?'
'Exactly, stay where you are, and pray your two idiotic teammates will to.'
'We think we know how to do it.' Naruto thought while smirking as he slowly raised his hand and slammed it onto his table.
"Never!" Naruto shouted, "We are not a quitter! We are a ninja, and a ninja would never give up in any situation. Even if we're stuck being a genin forever, we'll still be the best shinobi there can be. So all we have to say is bring it on!" he declared glaring at Ibiki that made the proctor himself sweat. He thought to himself, 'Hopefully that did the trick.'
And it did just about the remaining genin that still stuck around admired that bode of confidence and stuck around as well.
'No one else is leaving…' Ibiki thought. 'Not that I'd expect them to after that, but still… Let's see, that brought us down to… Seventy-eight candidates still left.' The proctor broke into a hearty laugh. Everyone looked confused at him for a moment, before he regained his cool and suddenly smiled brightly at them. "Congratulations to those of you who are left. You've just completed the first part of the Chunin Exams!"
"What? What do you mean we're done?" Sakura asked in shock. "What about the last question?"
"Heh… There is no tenth question past the whole 'accept or reject thing!'" Ibiki chuckled until he paused as he looked over to the window. "That time already, huh?"
A large black shadow began to make its way to the window. The glass shattered to pieces as a woman jumped through the window. A banner launched from behind her, which had her name and shinobi rank painted on it. As it turned out which surprised Naruto was Anko whom he met that one night.
"Alright maggots, listen up!" the woman announced. "It's time for the second test of the Chunin Exams! I am the chief proctor, the beautiful, sexy, and still single, Anko Mitarashi!"
'Still single, that's very surprising.' Naruto thought.
Ibiki sighed, "Anko you're early again." Anko looked incredibly awkward especially after pulling such a stunt. She looked about the room at the remaining genin, and a slight scowl came to her face. She looked back at Ibiki and rolled her eyes at the scarred man.
"You passed this many teams this year? I swear Ibiki you've gotten soft!" Anko said.
"Or maybe we just have an interesting collection of candidates this year. Ever think about that?" he countered.
"Well that's gonna change! By the time I get done, this whole group will be cut in half!"
"Cut in half?" Sakura asked herself.
Anko smirked and addressed everyone in the room, "I'll explain the details of the exam at the next testing area. You all return and rest up, your squad leaders will then explain to where you are to meet for the second part of the exam!" Anko said. "Until then later!' she poofed away in smoke.
Ibiki nodded admitting them to leave while Naruto went to the window surprising everyone, "Naruto where're you going?" Sakura asked.
"We're out of here." He cackled before he jumped out the window shocking his fellow rookies as they ran to the window watching him run across the academy roof before jumping to another building roof doing an amazing flip like a gymnast.
"How did he?" Sasuke gasped.
"Whoa." Sakura gasped.
That night Naruto returned to his apartment building but to his surprise found Anko waiting there, "What're you doing here?" he asked landing on the roof in a crouching position.
"Waiting for you to show up." Anko smirked.
"And for what reason?" Naruto asked.
"I thought I'd get to know more about you, or 'us' as you would prefer it." Anko answered.
"You were told about our other weren't you?" Naruto asked crossing his arms.
"Not as much from the Sandaime, he told me to ask you directly." Anko explained.
"We see, well if you wish to know everything let's go inside." Naruto said opening the door to his apartment and they entered.
Anko looked around seeing the unkempt room, "Charming." She said in sarcasm.
"Make no mistake, this is only temporary. Our real home is being prepared for us." Naruto explained.
"You don't say?" Anko smirked, "So then tell me about this other."
"Rather then tell you we'll show you." Naruto said taking both her hands into hers and the symbiote spreaded onto her connecting the two and in a flash Anko found herself in Naruto's mind.
"Welcome to my mind." Naruto explained.
"No 'we'?" Anko asked teasingly.
"Not when I'm here. Anyway follow me to my guest's room," Anko followed looking around seeing the cage set up and could feel strong chakra coming from it while Naruto noticed, "Do not be afraid the Kyubi may be in there but he's no threat to you."
"I heard that!" Kyubi called from his chamber.
Naruto chuckled as they stopped in front of the web covered door. Naruto slowly opened it as the two peeked in seeing Catastrophe on his hammock watching a horror movie about a razor sharp knife gloved killer stabbing a girl. Catastrophe laughed, "Oh we love it when he does that!"
Naruto knocked on the door, "Knock-knock."
Catastrophe looked to the doorway, "Naruto, you came in on the good part." He groaned.
"Sorry for this interruption Catastrophe but we have a guest who's dying to get to know us." Naruto explained.
"A guest?" Catastrophe got off the hammock and noticed Anko, "Ah you're that woman from the other night. Anko Mitarashi."
"That's right." She replied.
"Well welcome to our chamber. You can call us Catastrophe." He bowed his head.
"So we've met before." Anko said knowing when she was talking with Naruto that night she was also talking to him.
"She wants to know just what you are and how we came to be." Naruto explained.
"Does she now, very well I'd be happy to show her everything." Catastrophe said holding out his palm sending a black and red tendril to her forehead feeding her the same images he showed Naruto before as Venom and Carnage including all that Naruto experienced upon first meeting the two.
After Anko saw everything her mind processed all of it one thing at a time before it was all clear to her, "Whoa, that was like incredible, all that really happened?" she asked.
"Yes. Originally we were two separate beings until we became one and fused with Naruto here." The symbiote explained.
Anko smirked looking to Naruto, "Well kid looks like you got a sweet power boost."
"That's what I thought." He admitted it.
Anko smiled and put an arm around Naruto, "You know you and are a lot alike."
"Really how so?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Both you and are have been loathed by people because of our pasts." Anko explained.
"What happened with you?" Naruto asked.
"Let's just say I was trained by someone who turned out to just be a manipulator." She sighed.
"I see." Naruto said as he went on instincts and felt her cheek making her look at him,
"Well I don't hate you."
Anko smiled, "Yeah, and neither do I to you."
Catastrophe cleared its throat, "We are right here."
"Come on let's go." Naruto said ending the mind link and both were back in Naruto's apartment room.
"Well it's late and we both got a big day tomorrow," Anko said putting an arm around him, "Listen kid, if you ever want to become a real man, just come to me." She said giving him a playful lick on the cheek making him blush.
"Wha-what?"
"Catch you later Catastrophe." Anko winked before taking her leave.
Naruto stood there in surprise as he heard Catastrophe laughing, "Oh that was better than cable!"
"Shut up!" Naruto shot back but paused, "Why do we feel like we enjoyed it?"
"Another influence of us, after all we were originally bonded to the mind of young adults, you also acquired the urges of one." Catastrophe snickered.
"No wonder we enjoyed it, well tomorrow's the second part. We must be ready for anything." Naruto said before he turned in.
(Stay tuned for next time.)