The Dragon in the Maelstrom
Chapter 20: The Exams Begins
Written by Jlargent
Me: Sorry for the delay but I had to get my computer fixed. But now I'm back and ready to get back to work. Typical disclaimers apply I do not own Naruto or Avatar the Last Airbender in any shape or form. By the way I posted a new poll on my profile so please vote on it.
Naruto's POV
After the prank on Sakura and Ino they decided to give me a wide birth in fear of a repeat performance of the Anti-Sexy Jutsu as I dubbed it and the threat of making it permanent gave them a good reason to avoid a fate worse than death especially in Sakura's case after waking up to a naked male Ino traumatized her to question her own sexuality Sometimes even I can scare myself by the sheer magnitude of my pranks and the after affects I thought to myself as I look at the entry form that mom handed me for the Chuunin exams.
Flashback
It has been a few days after the prank that Mom and Anko canceled training for the day, feeling bored I decided to take a long walk around the village to relax from multiple D-Rank missions I stop by the Hyuuga clan home to ask Hinata on a date when I hear the sound of a boy screaming in pain, I immediately rush over to the source of the scream to see Konohamaru being held in the air by Sakura with his left eye swollen, obviously he was on the receiving end of one of her punches. Anger flared inside me seeing the person that I see as a younger brother being attacked by the harpy.
"SAKURA! PUT THE BOY DOWN OR I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL MAKE YOU INTO A SHEMALE PERNAMENTLY, WIPE YOUR MEMORY, AND PLACE YOU IN THE NEAREST WHOREHOUSE AS A NEW EMPLOYEE!"I scream as Sakura hastily drops Konohamaru as his friends Moegi and Udon arrived.
"Hey squirt, move it!" a voice spoke up breaking the tension up, I turn my head to the source of the voice to see two ninjas from Suna. The voice that spoke up was coming from a boy a year older than me wearing a black ninja suit with a hood with oddly looks like cat ears and a bundle wrapped up in cloth, next to him is a girl that looks at least two years older than me wearing a light purple battle kimono, her dirty blonde hair styled in four short pigtails with a giant fan on her back.
I glare at him and flip him off "Shut it you wannabe cat boy, I'm pissed off at this idiotic bitch for threatening the Hokage's grandson. Unless you want the same treatment I'll give her if she doesn't drop the boy." I growled making the boy back off as the girl steps forward.
"I apologize for my brother and please ignore him. He has a habit of shooting off his mouth before his brain catches up." she spoke as the anger at Sakura lessened at her apology for her brother's actions.
I take a deep breath calming myself "It should be me that should be apologizing for losing my temper. It was uncalled for and I hope that you can forgive me for my words." I spoke with sincerity and humility, the manners that mom drilled into me in dealing with avoiding potential political problems. It helps that you're adopted into royalty in dealing with problems like the now dead civilian council.
Turns out that the evidence that mom and Anko discovered was overwhelming and the Hokage was infuriated enough to place every member of the council and his advisors on the chopping block literally. As they were to be executed mom called in an old 'friend' of hers during her time as a conqueror he was a hulking brute with grayish skin littered with stitches and pins sticking out of him two large spikes protrude from his back, skintight red leather gloves, his apron tattered and a black burlap sack on his head his axe was serrated with a flat hammer-like end with short spikes wrapped in chain. (Guess who I'm referring to and you win a cookie.) as he strides across the platform he hefts his axe high up and brings the blade down slicing the head off in one clean motion. A shudder of revulsion courses through the crowd as the blade brutally cuts off Danzo's head the bandage that covers his right eye slips off to reveal an implanted Sharigan eye rolling back into his head.
I shake my head from those thoughts "I take it that you're here for the Chuunin exams?" I ask as the blonde pulls out her passport while nodding.
"You're correct. Is your team going to participate as well?" her question threw me off but since they civilian council was planning on banning me from ever gaining rank by use of loopholes in the law failed since their deaths I might stand a chance of passing the exams on the first try.
"To be honest I don't know. As much as I would like to enter it's up to our sensei's to decide weather or not we're ready. After all that's why you're entering right? Because you worked hard and earned the right to enter the exams." I pointed out noting the Sasuke and another in the tree next to us.
"By the way is the red haired boy in the tree with you two? Otherwise I'll have to stop the Uchiha idiot in the tree from doing something stupid to get himself killed in order to get off of his suicidal tendencies." I said as the red haired boy I mentioned appeared in a cloud of sand.
"Kankuro you are a disgrace to this team." the redhead spoke as the now dubbed Kankuro sputtered.
"B-but Gaara…" he tried to explain only to be silenced by a glare.
"Be quiet or I'll kill you." he growled making the two back away. Gaara then turns his attention towards me. "Who are you?"
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, the son of Minato Namikaze the Fourth Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki the hot blooded habanero. And you?" I introduced myself recalling the information about my parents from the journals that were in the Namikaze estate.
"I am Gaara and this is my sister Temnari and my brother Kankuro. If you do decide to enter the exams I would like to fight you." he spoke as the three of them turned away.
End flashback.
The next day mom handed us the entrance forms telling us that if we enter that it would be tough and that we might not survive, but then again so is being a ninja. Unlike Sasuke whose goal is to kill his older brother or Sakura for wanting to eventually drug and rape Sasuke all the time, my goal is to become Hokage and that means making difficult decisions and risking not only my life but also the lives of others. My dad fought for Konoha during the last war and he did so protecting his allies and friends on the front lines, when he died sealing the fox in me he did it without hesitating for one second knowing that he had to seal it in me in order to protect the people that he cares about. So I will honor his wish and protect Konoha by becoming Hokage. With that thought in mind I sign the forms and turn in for the night knowing that tomorrow will be hard.
Despite the resolve I have the apprehension of the exams prevents me from sleeping fully and I slam my hand on the alarm clock before it could activate I stalk into the shower and quickly prepare for the day and after eating a decent breakfast I had time to kill until the start of the exams so I head towards the Hokage monument to get some perspective and to clear my head before the exams start. I finally make it to the top of the monument to see the Third Hokage standing in between where the First and Second Hokage heads are looking out over the village and without turning around he calls out for me.
"Naruto. Came here to clear your head before the exams start?" he asks all the while looking out where the villagers are starting their day milling about.
"Yeah, I'm a bit nervous about the test." I confessed as I move to where he was.
The Third chuckled "It's understandable Naruto. Now if the civilian council was still alive I would be fighting tooth and nail for you to even enter let alone a promotion by actually earning it unlike giving it to Sasuke like it was cheap sake." he paused for a moment to chuckle at the joke at the thought of Sasuke throwing a temper tantrum because he now has to actually earn his worth. After talking with the Hokage I headed to the academy and see my teammates standing at the entrance waiting for me.
The three of us walk inside not knowing what will happen and ready to kick ass and earn a Chuunin vest.
To be continued…
Me: That's right I'm back! Next time: The forest of Death. I'm going to skip the written exams because let's face it nobody cares about it. Okay now to get back into the swing of things.
As always Hoody Hoo!