I'm back with another chapter. I'm glad I managed this without taking an entire month like the last few times. I hope you like it.
I've finally got a beta for the story too. Sage of Asgard helped me out a lot with this chapter and with further plot development.
Onimaster818: The story is going to be Shika/Naru. Gaara's relationship with Naruto is fraternal.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 14: Before the Storm
Sakura waited impatiently in front of the Ninja Academy, wondering where Sasuke and Naruto were. Pacing slowly back and forth she glanced around. It felt a little unnerving to be standing there all by herself.
"Sakura," she heard a familiar voice call out and she turned to see Sasuke and Naruto approaching her. She blinked owlishly in surprise.
'They came together?' she thought to herself. Sakura hadn't thought that they would come within two feet of one another willingly, given their great dislike for each other.
"Were you waiting for us long?" Naruto asked the pink-haired girl with a warm smile.
She shook her head. "Only five minutes," she admitted. "Isn't your house in the other direction, Naruto?"
Naruto looked sheepish and he was about to explain when Sasuke interrupted.
"The dobe got caught in the rain last night. I let him stay over," he explained.
"That's so sweet of you, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed, blushing in admiration, subconsciously making plans to watch for the next time it rained.
"Hn," he grunted dismissively while the other boy smirked in amusement.
"Sweet isn't the word I'd use to describe him Sakura-chan," Naruto remarked in a teasing manner.
"Oh shut it, you," Sakura said, smacking Naruto's arm playfully. His grin just grew wider.
'Those two are getting along better now,' Sasuke thought to himself before shrugging. "Let's get going, you two. Kakashi said we only have until noon to get there."
"Right," Naruto agreed and they all headed inside, climbing the stairs towards the third floor.
Naruto was more than a little exasperated by the time he and his teammates finally arrived in front of Room 301 where their cyclopean teacher was waiting for them.
They had first come across Kotetsu and Izumo's Genjutsu test, where Sasuke felt he had to open his mouth and ruin the filtration process. It also seemed they had caught the attention of Neji's team, which led to an impromptu match between Sasuke and the energetic Rock Lee.
The entire thing almost made them late, leaving Naruto in a rather irritable mood.
'If Sasuke had only kept his mouth shut, we would have been here sooner,' Naruto thought. The boy may have started being a little nicer but he still had some rather irritating qualities. His egotistic obsession to prove the Uchiha clan was superior to all others.
Naruto blinked as he found a hand being waved in front of his face. He turned to Sakura with a confused look. "What?" he questioned.
"You've been spacing out for the last five minutes. You just missed Kakashi-sensei's entire good luck speech," Sakura reprimanded her teammate.
"Oh… sorry," the orange clad ninja apologized for his rudeness.
"It's alright, Naruto… just as long as you remain vigilant during the Exam," Kakashi stated, eyeing the young Jinchuuriki in concern. He really wasn't acting much like himself right now. The Jounin knew why and hated himself for not being able to help the boy through it. This was something that could only be handled by father and son.
"I will be, don't worry," Naruto exclaimed with confidence.
"You guys can go in now," the sensei of Team seven declared and they all headed in before Kakashi pulled Naruto back for a moment.
"Is something wrong, Sensei?" Naruto asked the man curiously.
"I just wanted to know if you were okay, Naruto. I mean… with what happened," Kakashi said, worried for his little brother figure.
Naruto gave him a reassuring look. "I'm fine, nii-san, really, I am," he stated. Kakashi didn't look entirely convinced before he noticed something was missing.
"Where's Sakuya-chan?" he queried, looking for the playful ninja fox.
"I decided not to bring her," Naruto admitted. "She's not yet ready to be used in battle. I haven't trained with her enough. I don't want her to get hurt by anything that may happen here. I left her with Iruka-sensei."
"A wise decision," Kakashi stated. "You've only had her for a month, after all. You may want talk with Kiba after the exams, he may be able to help you."
"You should go visit her," Naruto said. "I'm sure she and Iruka-sensei would enjoy the company." He winked at the man mischievously. Kakashi stared at Naruto with raised eyebrows.
"I guess this means I've got your permission to be with Iruka?" he asked, knowing Naruto wouldn't have given him that hint if he disapproved of his teacher pursuing the gentle Academy teacher.
Naruto nodded. "If you hurt him, I'll get you, nii-san," he vowed, a cold look briefly crossing his face.
"I'll keep that in mind," Kakashi responded with a chuckle. "Now go in there. I've held you back long enough."
Naruto smiled at the silver-haired Jounin before doing as he was told.
It was a little while later that Kakashi realized how Naruto had manipulated him into changing the subject a small smile slipped onto his face.
When Naruto entered the room, the first thing he took notice of was his teammates' dumbstruck faces. He followed their gazes and saw all of the Genin that were participating in the Exam. He whistled. There sure were a lot.
'There wouldn't be if Sasuke hadn't ruined the other test,' Naruto thought to himself, rolling his eyes.
"So you guys finally got here," Shikamaru drawled as he, Ino and Chouji approached Team 7. The blonde Genin instantly latched herself onto Sasuke, much to Sakura's irritation.
"We had a few setbacks," Naruto explained, smiling at his friends, flushing ever so slightly as he stared at the pony-tailed Genin. This was the first time they'd seen each other since Shikamaru had kissed him.
The genius smirked as he noticed the blush on the petit blonde. He was about to approach him when Gaara appeared between them in a swirl of sand.
"Uzumaki Naruto," his deadpan voice addressed the blonde. "You're late."
Naruto looked sheepish. "So it would seem," he admitted. "Have you slept well recently?"
Gaara nodded and Naruto knew if it had been anyone else, he would have been smiling.
"I still don't know how those two ended up being friends," Ino muttered in the background. "They're nothing alike."
"Not according to them. If you recall, Gaara said that Naruto was like him… and Naruto said they had a lot in common," Shikamaru pointed out, a little put out that Gaara had gotten in the way when he'd been trying to flirt with the foxy blonde.
"I don't see it," Chouji said, sounding puzzled.
"Me neither," Sakura agreed, eyeing the two conversing Jinchuuriki.
"Yahoo! We found ya!" Kiba cheered as he, Hinata and Shino approached the other rookie Genin. "It looks like everyone is here."
Naruto's eyes softened as he saw Hinata and beckoned her over. He'd missed talking to her.
"It's been forever, Hinata-chan!" he exclaimed. "How have you been?"
"I'm fine, Naruto-kun. How about you?" Hinata asked with a small smile.
"I'm… great," Naruto stated, although it sounded a little forced. This didn't go unnoticed by his companions. Hinata looked concerned but Naruto quickly diverted her attention. "I haven't introduced you to Gaara yet, Hinata-chan! He's my new friend!"
Hinata turned to Gaara and smiled at him shyly. "It's nice to meet you, Gaara-kun," she greeted the taciturn redhead with a polite bow.
Gaara nodded in acknowledgement, noting how much Naruto seemed to care for her through his behavior around her.
"You're friends with a Suna nin, Naruto?" Kiba asked incredulously. There was something very weird about this Gaara kid. Akamaru didn't seem to like him very much…
"Yeah, is there something wrong with it?" Naruto asked, noticing the wary look Kiba was sending Gaara's way.
The dog user shook his head. "Not really. I was just wondering," he stated, keeping his thoughts to himself. He then turned to Sasuke. "All nine of us Rookies are here in this exam. I wonder how far we'll get."
"You seem awfully confident, Kiba," Sasuke responded with a cocky smirk.
"We've trained a lot. We won't lose to you guys," Kiba boasted.
"We'll see," Naruto shot back with a determined glint. His team would make it through the Chuunin Exams. This time, Naruto wasn't trying to prove himself just to the village… but to his own father, who mattered more to him than the entire village as a whole.
"You guys should be quieter," an unfamiliar voice rang out and the group turned to see a silver-haired Genin with glasses approaching them.
Something about the guy rubbed Naruto the wrong way and a quick look at Gaara proved that the redhead felt the same way.
"You guys are just out of the Academy, right?" the guy asked, grunting in annoyance. "Screaming like girls… this isn't a picnic."
"Who are you anyways?" Ino asked with a small frown.
"I'm Yakushi Kabuto. More importantly, look behind you," he pointed.
The group turned to see all of the aspiring Chuunin-to-be glowering at all of them.
"They're all nervous about this Exam and rather short-tempered. You guys should be careful and not make a scene," Kabuto advised. "But I guess I can't blame you. You don't know any better. You kind of remind me of how I'd been when I first took this Exam."
"So this is your second time, Kabuto-san?" Sakura questioned.
He shook his head. "No, it's my seventh time. The Exam occurs every six months, meaning this is my fourth year," he declared almost sounding proud.
"So you must know a lot about this Exam," Sakura realized.
"That's right," Kabuto smirked, pushing his glasses up on his face as he took out a deck of cards. "I'll share some information with you cute rookies… with these nin-info cards."
'That's awfully generous of him,' Naruto thought with a frown as Kabuto proceeded to explain who was participating in the Exam and from what countries.
"Do you have any information on individuals?" Sasuke asked Kabuto with a look of interest.
"So there are already people that have caught your eye?" Kabuto asked with a smirk. "I can do it. The information's not perfect, but I have it. I even have information about you guys. So tell me who you're interested in."
"Subaku no Gaara, Rock Lee, Tanaka Daichi and… Uzumaki Naruto," Sasuke listed off.
Gaara glowered at Sasuke for daring to mention his name while Naruto looked at his teammate incredulously for wanting information on him.
"You already know their names? That makes this easy," Kabuto smirked as he brought up the cards in question.
"We'll start off with Rock Lee. He's a year older than all of you. Mission History: Twenty D-ranks and twelve C-ranks. His teacher is Maito Gai. In terms of skill, his Taijutsu is quite impressive, but that's pretty much it. He could have taken the Exam last year but he didn't, meaning that this is his first time alongside his teammates Hyuuga Neji and TenTen," Kabuto gave out information about the green-spandex wearing Genin.
"He doesn't seem all that impressive to me," Kiba commented with a raised eyebrow.
"You should have seen him fight," Naruto stated. "Then you'd be singing a different tune."
"Next is Subaku no Gaara," Kabuto began and everyone instantly glanced at the stoic boy.
"Hn," he grunted, his uncaring manor belying the interest his eyes held.
"Mission History: eight C-ranks and… and a B-rank. That's impressive," Kabuto remarked. "Since he's from a different country, I don't have much information on him but I can say this much. He came back from all those missions without a single scratch."
"Not even one?" Chouji exclaimed, staring at Gaara in shock. He hadn't expected the Suna Genin to be that good. He quickly looked away when Gaara glared at him.
"Moving on, Tanaka Daichi. He's also a year older than you guys. Mission History: Twenty-five D-ranks, ten C-ranks, and a B-rank. Not bad… His Ninjutsu and Taijutsu are pretty well developed while his Genjutsu is about average. He'll be a challenge for sure," Kabuto mused. "Last but not least, our little Uzumaki Naruto over there."
"I'm not little," Naruto huffed, crossing his arms, trying to glare fiercely.
"Yes you are," almost all of the Rookies chorused together.
"Humph!" Naruto complained, pouting cutely, unaware of Shikamaru and Sasuke's very interested looks at the endearing expression. Gaara, however, was aware of it, and glared at them, forcing them to look away from the blonde.
'Che, the guy's only known Naruto a few days and he's already possessive of him,' Shikamaru grumbled to himself.
Naruto would have normally been worried about people getting information about him, but given his choice to keep his real strength well hidden, he knew his file was protected, thanks to the number of secrets that surrounded Naruto's life. He just wondered what they would actually see…
When Kabuto's face turned incredulous, Naruto's curiosity grew even more.
"Uzumaki Naruto… Thirteen-years old, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and… single. Anyone interested in him… feel free to fight for his affections," Kabuto read out loud, shocking everyone.
"Nani?" Naruto yelped, turning fire truck red, making a good impression of his mother's infamous nickname. He most certainly hadn't expected that to be the diversionary information.
He glanced around and sweat-dropped as he saw Shikamaru, Sasuke, Daichi and a few other Genin leering at him.
'I know I wanted people to acknowledge me… but not like this!' Naruto thought to himself with a grimace.
Thankfully, Gaara quelled all thoughts people had of making good the suggestion. "Come near him and die," he said threateningly.
People instantly averted their eyes, sensing Gaara's killing intent.
"Thanks," a flustered Naruto whispered to Gaara. He got a nod in response.
"That can't seriously be what it says on that card," Ino frowned, taking the card from Kabuto and then gaping like a fish as she saw that those words were actually on it. "Your information is seriously screwed up!"
"I don't know what went wrong," Kabuto stated as he tried to get information on Naruto again, only to get the same message. He frowned. 'This is being done on purpose. Someone wants to make sure that no information about Uzumaki Naruto can be seen by unauthorized eyes. Orochimaru-sama will want to know about this.' he thought to himself.
"Forget it then," Sasuke said, irritated that he couldn't get any valuable information about his enigmatic teammate.
"Very well then," Kabuto agreed. "Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki, Iwa, Oto… there are many amazing Genin here to take the Exam. While Oto is still a small Hidden Village with very little information about it, the other villages have many talented Genin."
"It kind of makes you lose your confidence," Hinata admitted, looking nervous.
"This isn't going to be easy," Sakura agreed.
Seeing how disheartened all of the Rookies were getting over the difficult odds, Naruto just couldn't stay quiet.
So he stepped forward, pointed at all of the Genin rudely and spoke out. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I won't lose to any of you bastards!" he yelled out, brimming with confidence. "You got that?"
'That's Naruto for you,' Kakashi thought, shaking his head, having been previously worried over how his team must be feeling. 'He's just like his mother…'
"That felt great," Naruto sighed in relief, seemingly oblivious to all of the glares being directed his way.
"Izou-kun's got guts," Osamu remarked from where he was sitting, eyeing the vivacious blond. "That wasn't very smart though…"
"No, it was a smart move," Daichi countered, earning curious looks from his teammates. "Do you see his friends? Before he spoke, they all looked nervous and almost disheartened. After he spoke, they all got their confidence back. He did that to help them, even if it made him out to be the sacrificial lamb."
"This guy… is strange," Kankuro told his sister, eyeing the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki that had somehow changed Gaara overnight. "Doesn't he have any survival instincts?"
"Who knows?" was her simple response.
"He's still so optimistic," Neji sneered, eyeing Naruto with distaste. "You didn't beat him down enough, Lee."
"Are you an idiot?" Sakura freaked out over Naruto's actions. "You just made everyone your enemy!"
'Sounds like something Naruto would do,' Shikamaru thought to himself, amused.
Sakura was about apologize to everyone for Naruto's 'stupidity' when the Oto nin that looked like a mummy suddenly lunged forward and attacked Kabuto.
The Rookies could only watch as while it appeared that Kabuto had dodged the attack, he still was affected as he sank to his knees, vomiting rather violently.
"But he dodged it! How the hell did that happen?" Kiba exclaimed in shock.
"Are you alright, Kabuto-san?" Ino asked as she and Sakura rushed over to his side.
"I'm fine," he reassured them as he regained his bearings.
As everyone was puzzling over how Kabuto got hit, there was a burst of smoke and a stern voice rang out.
"Quiet down, you worthless cunts!"
Everyone turned towards the smoke and when it cleared, they saw a harsh-looking man with plenty of scars standing there amongst all of the other Exam proctors.
"There will be no fighting before the Exam has begun. If you try again, you will be disqualified immediately," the man declared to the Oto nin, glaring at them for their show of aggression.
"Sorry, we got a little over eager. This is our first Chuunin Exam, you see," the mummy-like Genin apologized insincerely his smile clear even through his face wraps.
"My name is Morino Ibiki and I'm going to be the proctor for the first Exam, so you maggots better be ready!"
'It looks like things are going to get interesting fast,' Naruto thought as he saw the first Examiners begin to get set up.
His thoughts fell to his father. 'We'll ace these Exams, Tou-san. Just you wait and see. I'll prove you wrong,' he vowed to himself.