****Updated**** A couple mistakes were pointed out to me so I went in and fixed them. Thank you for the heads up... Despite the delivery of one of them... -_-
Well it's been a long time… Too long to be honest. But I am back and I am going to be writing once again. Now I'm sorry if the quality of the chapter is sub par, but it has been quite some time since I've had time to write something. Plus, I'm not a fan of the first part of the Chunin exams.
I've said this many times in the past, but I WILL, be trying to bring more chapters more frequently. So after much waiting, here is chapter seven.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter 7
The Exams Begin
Sakura woke with a start. The dog across the street was barking like mad and had interrupted her dream of her and Sasuke.
Sunlight streamed through her curtains illuminating her room. 'Guess I should be getting up anyways…' she thought to herself. She slowly hauled herself out of bed, nothing like a delicate lady that she fancied herself to be. But she hated the mornings and couldn't give a damn.
Stifling a yawn she began her morning routine when it suddenly hit her.
The Chunin Exams were today. Her stomach churned at the thought of it. 'Am I ready for this? I've heard the exams can be dangerous.'
Suddenly, as if in response to this train of thought, she imagined what Naruto would say.
"We've been in plenty of danger! I doubt the exams could be worse than Zabuza!"
Sakura sighed. Naruto, (imaginary Naruto that is) was right. Zabuza was one of the legendary seven swordsmen of the mist and these were simply the Chunin exams. If they could survive that, she was sure they could breeze though this.
"Still… It feels like this could turn into something else" she muttered as she glanced at the rising sun out her window.
Sasuke had woken long before the sun had begun to rise. He had decided to forgo his morning routine and simply meditate. The thought of the Chunin Exams had brought back memories of Itachi. He had gone through these same exams when he was much younger than Sasuke was now. 'These exams will show me if I'm on my way… If Itachi could do it when he was ten, then I should be able to breeze through it.'
Sasuke looked towards the sun, activating his Sharingan. 'I need to be able to use these eyes as if it were second nature…' He deactivated them before reactivating them.
"I will kill you…" Sasuke muttered.
With that he gathered up his Shuriken and Kunai and left his house.
Konohagakure was bathed in warm sunlight as the various stores and shops opened. It was a beautiful day, one fitting for the beginning of the Chunin Exams.
At least, that was Naruto Uzumaki's thoughts as he looked out on his home village from the top of the Hokage monument. He looked down on the carved head of his father.
'I bet you'd be lecturing me if you were still alive, giving me advice on how to get through these exams.'
He could practically imagine the Yondaime Hokage sitting him down at a breakfast table, making sure he had supplies ready for whatever may come his way.
"That's probably what's happening to the others" he said softly, thinking of the other rookies.
He continued to stare out at his village from atop his fathers monument, imagining what today would be like if his parents were still alive.
'With him raising me, I'm sure I'd be a lot stronger than I am right now.'
He wiped away the tears that were beginning to gather in his eyes and turned around. Walking away from the monument Naruto made a vow to himself. 'No matter what, I promise that I'll make you proud of me today.'
Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all met up at the same time in front of the academy they used to attend.
Sasuke nodded to the two of them. Sakura said nothing which Naruto took notice of. 'She's nervous' he thought to himself.
"Before we go in there, I just want to say that we'll all get through the exam. We can all beat out the rest of them. They didn't fight Zabuza and Haku and live! Think about that, we took on one of the seven swordsman of the mist and we're still Genin. Becoming Chunin will be a cinch."
Sasuke smirked.
"We even have Kakashi as our sensei and you saw how much ass he's kicked! They don't have shit on us!" Naruto yelled out pumping his fist. "So let's go become Chunin!"
With that said he stormed forward, Sasuke and Sakura trailing behind him.
'There's the old Naruto' Sakura thought with a smirk. 'Full of energy and full of himself.'
As they entered the academy and climbed the stairs to the third floor, Naruto felt a shift in the air but paid it no mind.
Sasuke seemed to stop for a moment before continuing after Naruto. Sakura narrowed her eyes, sensing something had gone amiss. 'Is this part of the exams?' she wondered. She decided not to say anything in the meantime, wanting to make sure she wasn't wrong.
As they got to the third floor, Naruto saw something happen at the end of the hall. He quickened his pace to see what was happening. But when he saw that Rock Lee of all people was being effectively blocked from entering the room they needed to get to, he got angry.
Lee was sent to the ground by a solid punch to his face. This stopped Naruto in his tracks. 'That punch… I've seen stronger punches that Lee's been unfazed from… What's going on?'
He glanced over at Tenten who was now pleading that they let them in the room.
'Tenten pleading with these weaklings? I've never heard her like this!' Then it hit him.
'It's all a ruse! They want people to think they're weak so that they can take them by surprise!' Naruto grinned. 'We should do that as well.' He glanced over to see Sasuke talking to the two guarding the door. Before Naruto could focus on what was being said, Sasuke and one of the boys guarding the door charged each other.
'Son of a…' his curse was interrupted when Rock Lee intervened by catching both boys' kicks with ease. 'Well there goes his plan…' Naruto thought with a sigh. Tenten was having the same train of thought as Naruto.
Sasuke back away, eyes narrowed and looking at Rock Lee. 'He was just being kicked around by this idiot, and then suddenly he's able to catch my kick with ease… What's his angle?'
Tenten began berating Rock Lee for blowing their cover when he looked past both Sasuke and Naruto at their pink haired companion. Then he blushed.
Naruto glanced at what Lee was staring at and then back at Lee.
'Oh dear god he has a crush on Sakura!' He thought in astonishment.
Ignoring the Uchiha as well as his friend, Rock Lee approached Sakura.
"Hello, you must be Sakura-chan! My name is Rock Lee. Will you go out on a date with me? I'll protect you with my life!" At this point, Lee flashed her a glimmering smile, a wink and a thumbs up.
Sakura stared at the odd Genin and said flatly, "Never."
Lee fell to the ground as if he'd been crushed.
Sasuke regarded the weeping Lee for a moment when he heard someone approaching him. He turned to see a young Hyuga boy approaching them.
"You, what's your name?" he asked Sasuke in a demanding tone.
"You should provide your own name before requesting someone else's" Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes.
The Hyuga gave him a disapproving look when Tenten decided to answer for him. "His name is Neji Hyuga, and my name is Tenten." She blushed slightly at addressing Sasuke.
Continuing to stare down the Hyuga, Sasuke replied with his own name.
Naruto said nothing, but gave Tenten a slight nod.
She glanced at him but did not react otherwise.
'So this is their teammate… he's an asshole' Naruto thought to himself, slowly regarding Neji.
As if he could sense Naruto's eyes on him he turned to look at him.
"Is there a problem?" he asked the blonde.
Naruto took a moment before answering. "Nothing of significance" he said smirking.
Neji narrowed his eyes. "You must be Naruto Uzumaki. As far as I'm concerned, you're just another failure."
Naruto grit his teeth. 'The balls on this guy.'
Neji turned and walked away. "Come Tenten, Lee…"
Sakura chose that moment to grab Sasuke and Naruto by the wrists and drag them away.
Naruto glanced at the door they were supposed to go through and saw that they were on the second floor. 'Genjutsu I guess… Explains that weird feeling from earlier.'
Gaara slowly surveyed the room. 'Not yet…' he thought to himself. Ever since he had met the blonde, the Ichibi sealed within him had been unsettled and that intrigued the young red head.
He felt his sister shift behind him.
"Gaara what's the matter?' Temari asked. Gaara continued to stare at the large room full of other Genin. Many had decided to keep their distance away from the sand siblings.
"He is not here… Naruto Uzumaki… He interests me…" Gaara said.
Temari remembered the blonde boy from the day before and her little brother had been acting strange ever since.
'He didn't seem like much…' she thought to herself. But perhaps Gaara had sensed something else about the boy. Nothing ever interested him.
The doors opened and Gaara saw team seven walk through the doors. 'It's him!' he thought. Suddenly he felt the Ichibi stir about. 'What about this Uzumaki boy causes you to act like this?' he wondered.
As team seven walked in the door, Naruto was immediately aware of an anomaly amongst the Genin in the room. He traced his eyes among the crowd until he locked eyes with the red headed sand Genin from the day before.
'I sense something in him other than his own chakra… Something darker… It's familiar.' He narrowed his eyes at the odd boy. He was interested to find out more about Gaara but the boy didn't seem like he'd be very talkative.
Breaking away from staring at the boy he glanced at Sasuke. "You ok?" he asked the raven haired Uchiha.
Sasuke nodded, however he looked very unhappy. Naruto wasn't surprised. Before they had entered the room, Rock Lee had decided to challenge Sasuke to test his abilities against and had been winning against the Uchiha's Sharingan until Naruto and Gai-sensei had decided to intervene. Lee had been about to unleash the lotus technique and as Naruto had interrupted the jutsu as Lee had kicked Sasuke into the air, Gai-sensei had also appeared from hiding and lectured the young boy about attempting to use the technique.
Sasuke and Sakura hadn't met Gai before and were therefore taken by surprise by how strange the man had been.
Now they had arrived to the room they were supposed to be only to be greeted with hostility and another odd Genin who had taken a strange interest in Naruto.
As they skirted along the edge, a voice rang out loudly that made Sakura groan.
"SASUKE-KUUUN!" Suddenly Ino Yamanaka was on Sasuke's back.
"Get off of him Ino-pig!" Sakura yelled, shaking her fist at the blonde girl.
Naruto chuckled as he noticed Sasuke's pained expression at being harassed by the Yamanaka.
Ino pulled a face at Sakura. "So you guys are participating in the Chunin exams. I honestly didn't think you'd show up, but I guess you do need to support Sasuke.
Naruto and Sakura both frowned at this.
'She's still annoying…' Naruto thought to himself. Ino noticed Naruto's frown.
"What? Was it something I said?" she asked nervously, remembering Kakashi's warning from the day before about Naruto getting back at her.
Naruto hesitated before saying anything. "Where are your teammates? You must be here to support them."
Before Ino could answer, Shikamaru and Choji came into view. "God Ino, you're so loud…"
Choji said nothing as he was too busy eating potato chips.
"For your information Uzumaki, I'm here not to support these idiots, but to become a Chunin myself."
Naruto feigned surprise. "I see. Well I just wanted to make sure. I mean after all, you did assume that Sakura and I were just support, so I figured that's why you were here. An honest mistake."
"Whoa! Was that really Naruto just talking now?" Came the voice of one Kiba Inuzuka.
Naruto turned to find the Inuzuka sporting a jacket, his hood pulled up and the small dog Akamaru resting atop his head.
He had not changed since they had all left the academy.
"Kiba, so you're team is here as well?" Naruto asked.
As if to answer, Shino and Hinata both appeared behind Kiba. "Yep. We're here to climb up the ranks" Kiba said enthusiastically.
"You have changed quite a bit Naruto-san" Shino said stoically. Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
"Well I figured with all the dangerous missions we were going to start taking, I needed to crack down on myself."
Shino nodded approvingly. "Well it seems that you have made quite a bit of progress. I myself am very impressed."
Naruto grinned. "Thanks! That means a lot coming from someone of the Aburame clan."
"Your manners have also improved" Shino observed. Naruto shrugged. He then glanced at Hinata who seemed to go red at that instant.
"How's it going Hinata?" Naruto asked.
"I…it's going w…well Naruto-kun…" Hinata stuttered.
'Is she ok?' Naruto wondered to himself but said nothing about it.
Kiba chuckled. "So what was with the attitude towards Ino? Not that I'm complaining."
Naruto glanced at the Yamanaka. "Just clarifying some things is all." With that said he turned back to team 8.
"So you guys think you're ready for the Chunin exams?"
Kiba grinned. "You have no idea the missions we've been on!" At this he began to go in thorough detail of all the 'C' and 'B' ranked missions they'd been on.
While bragging to Naruto, Ino had let go of Sasuke and was now speaking to Sakura.
"You weren't kidding about Naruto… He's a completely different person. More mature, he isn't just flying off the handle. I have to admit, even though I'm kinda mad about his treating me earlier; I'm more impressed than pissed."
Sakura nodded. "You should see him fight now. He's almost as good as Sasuke."
Ino glanced at the Uchiha. "So those two… Are they friends now? They're not glaring at each other like they used to."
Sakura shrugged. "I think they are friends as weird as that is, the genius and dobe of the academy hanging out together."
Ino grinned. "Well no wonder he got cooler, it's because he's been hanging around Sasuke."
Sakura shook her head. "It's not that… He's changed since before they became friends. They hated each other until recently. There's something else going on with Naruto."
Ino looked at the blonde who was listening silently to Kiba go on about some intense life or death mission.
"We should really look into this Sakura. I say we make a temporary truce on the fight for Sasuke-kun and find out what happened to Uzumaki to cause this…change."
Sakura nodded, however before they could go any further, a voice interrupted all of their conversations.
"Hey, you kids, you should really keep it down." An older, silver haired Genin wearing glasses approached them.
"What's it to you?" Kiba asked loudly. Naruto narrowed his eyes. Something about the boy seemed off. The silver hair boy adjusted his glasses.
"Well, the nine of you aren't particularly liked… Take a look for yourselves" he said, gesturing behind him.
The entire room was glaring at the nine rookie Genin.
"It's easy to tell that you're all first timers. Now since everyone is probably going to be out to eliminate the weakest, IE you guys, and I may as well help you out and give you some information."
Naruto decided to speak up. "What kind of information can you give us?"
The boy smiled. "Information on the other participants. Let me first introduce myself. My name is Kabuto Yakushi. I've participated in the Chunin exams seven times prior, so I've definitely picked up a few things along the way."
"Seven times?!" exclaimed Ino. Naruto narrowed his eyes at this point. 'Seven times? He feels stronger than an average Genin or even Chunin… So how could he fail these things seven times? They can't be that hard can they?' wondered Naruto.
Kabuto reached into his pack and pulled out a deck of orange cards with a blank side.
"With these ninja info cards, I can look up the statistics of any individual. Anyone have a name they'd like me to look up?"
Sasuke's interest soared at this point and without a single thought said three names.
Rock Lee of Konohagakure, Gaara no Sabaku of Sunagakure, and Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure."
Naruto shot Sasuke an angry look. 'Kabuto shouldn't have too much on me… But what if he has certain types of information that can't get out… Not yet at least.'
The rest of the nine rookies looked shocked at Sasuke. He was requesting information about his own teammate.
Sasuke ignored Naruto's glare and focused on the silver haired Genin before him.
'I need to know the extent of your abilities Naruto… The more I find out about you, the more questions I have.'
Kabuto grinned. 'So he's suspicious of his own teammate… That's smart.'
"You know where they're from as well! That will make this much easier."
He withdrew three seemingly random cards from the deck and channeled chakra into the cards.
With small puffs of smoke, Kabuto laid them on the ground.
"Well let's take a look now. First up we have Rock Lee. Looking over his statistics, he highly proficient in Taijutsu, in fact better than anyone here. However, his ninjutsu and Genjutsu are nonexistent. He graduated the year before you guys, but this is his first time at the Chunin exams. His teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyuga while their sensei is Maito Gai."
Naruto grit his teeth. 'How does he know so much about Lee?'
"As for mission completion, 42 D-rank, 21 C-rank. Not bad at all."
Kabuto picked up the card and put it back in the deck.
"Now on to Gaara no Sabaku. Well that is strange. His Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu are all unknown… His mission records I do have however. It stands at, 0 D-rank, 32 C-rank, and wow even a B-rank. Also, there's a note here that says every mission he's been on, he's returned from completely unscathed."
Naruto's eyes widened and he looked across the room at the sand Genin.
'Without a scratch? The mission to wave was at least an A-rank, and Kakashi still got injured during that… Surely this kid isn't stronger than Kakashi… Is he?'
Gaara stared back at Naruto, with a completely blank look.
The other Genin seemed to be having similar reactions to the news of Gaara.
"Well… Let's take a look at the last request." Kabuto announced. He flipped over the card that contained Naruto's information. Glancing at Kabuto, Naruto saw something in the Genin's eye that he couldn't pinpoint exactly.
'Does he know what I am? My father? Or about the Kyubi?"
"Well, starting with his statistics… His Genjutsu is abysmal." Kiba chuckled at this as did Shikamaru.
'Well he's not wrong…' Naruto thought with a roll of his eyes.
"However, it shows his Taijutsu is above average, as is his Ninjutsu."
This surprised those that were not a part of team seven, save for Shino who stood there stoically.
'Above average Taijutsu and Ninjutsu? Naruto?' Ino thought to herself. She looked over at Sakura to see that she was not disputing this fact.
"As for mission stats, we have 43 D-rank and 2 A-rank missions."
The other Genin were shocked to hear that Naruto and his team had two A-ranked missions under their belt.
"Anything else?" Sasuke asked. Kabuto glanced up at him as he picked the card up from the ground.
"Well there is one thing" he glanced at Naruto. "Personal information is entirely redacted. The only time anything is redacted usually involves ANBU black ops missions or other secrets decreed by the Hokage."
Naruto grit his teeth. 'Just what I don't need right now… Everyone is going to be suspicious of me and looking into things they shouldn't be looking into…' Naruto narrowed his eyes. "My turn to ask some information then" he said, ignoring the looks he was getting from his teammates as well as the other rookies, Shino included.
"What kind of information do you have on all of the villages?" Naruto asked.
"All kinds. Each of the villages participating in the exams has some kind of treaty with Konohagakure and therefore many of their records are accessible to us and vice-versa. The one exception to that would be Otogakure, which no one really knows of since they are quite a new village."
As Kabuto said this, Naruto felt the three sound shinobi from the day prior begin to move towards them, as if positioning themselves for an attack.
"So, here in the leaf village, does that mean you have the ability to access top secret information?" Naruto asked.
Kabuto now narrowed his eyes. 'I shouldn't have gone as far as I did, he's getting suspicious. Guess the rumors of his intelligence weren't justified.'
"Well, my father happens to be chief medical officer here in Konohagakure, so I do have access to all types of information."
'No one else is supposed to know of this… This guy is even more suspicious than that Danzo guy.' Suddenly, the sound Genin shot towards the two of them. As Naruto turned, ready to fend off an attack, he noticed that Ino was right in the path of the spiky haired male that was charging them.
Moving with surprising speed, given that he was wearing his weights, he got between Ino and the boy. The sound shinobi was caught off guard by the speed of Naruto and could not react in time to the round house kick delivered to his face by the blonde. As Naruto kicked the boy away, he grabbed Ino in one arm while he used his other arm to intercept the shinobi wrapped in bandages that was about to strike Kabuto.
Dosu, grit his teeth as he narrowly dodged the kunai that was aimed at his throat. He had only intended on displaying his power as warning, but the blonde kid from the other day had interfered with his plan, no thanks to Zaku who had decided to assault the loud blonde girl that was with the Konoha group of rookies.
Naruto glared at Dosu. "I don't appreciate you and your friends attacking shinobi from my village just because you didn't like something one of us said.
Dosu said nothing as he slowly backed away from the group. He looked over at Kin who had stayed back to watch, then to Zaku, who was getting up off the ground, wiping the trail of blood from his mouth.
"My apologies" Dosu simply said. He then turned and stalked back to where his female teammate stood.
Naruto stared after him then looked over to Ino who was staring at him with awe.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Y…yeah I am." She replied, completely stunned.
"Sorry about man handling you, just needed to make sure Kabuto wasn't attacked and I wasn't about to just push you out of the way" he said as he withdrew his arm. Ino simply nodded.
"Did you really have to show off?" Sasuke said approaching him.
Naruto chuckled. "I guess it was just a reflex" he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
Sasuke smiled and shook his head. "Well, you were the one that wanted to stay low key like Lee's team tried. Now you've drawn attention to us." Naruto shrugged.
Just then, a large explosion of smoke went off at the front of the room. Everyone whirled around to face what was happening.
"Everyone quiet down!" a large man with a scarred face yelled. He wore a large black trench coat and wore his hitai-ate like a bandana, covering his hair completely. Behind him stood two dozen other men all from Konohagakure.
"YOU THREE AND YOU!" the man barked at the sound ninja and Naruto.
"Anymore fighting and you will be instantly disqualified! Understand?!"
Naruto nodded, while Dosu gave an apology fitting for a brown nose.
The large man grunted. "Now then, time to introduce myself. I am Ibiki Morino, the proctor of the first exam of the Chunin Exams! Now please enter this room and sit where you see your name!" he motioned to a door behind him.
Naruto and the rest of the rookies were the last to enter the room and Naruto found himself in a large classroom. He searched for his name and found it on a row in the middle of the room. He sat down just as Hinata sat down beside him.
"Oh wow, guess I get to sit next to someone I know" he said with a smile.
Hinata simply blushed.
Ino sat down near the back of the class and was able to see Hinata sit beside the man that had recently held her extremely close. She felt her face warm as she thought of what had happened.
'I cannot believe I'm feeling this way about Naruto Uzumaki… It's just I've never had a boy hold me… Ever… We were so close.' She shook her head. 'Can't think like that… Especially right now, I've got to stay focused on the exams.' However, he mind continued to replay what had happened. She didn't even realize what was happening at first, but Naruto had just suddenly appeared in front of her out of nowhere, and then the next thing she had known, she was being held in one of Naruto's arms. Then there was his voice, it wasn't something she was used to from the blonde. He had been completely serious, no joy in his voice. He seemed ready to kill if need be. But that did not frighten her, it had excited her.
She shook her head again. 'Dammit Uzumaki… I'm supposed to be focusing on the exams, why did you have to act like prince charming and grab me that way… Damn! Now I'm comparing him to prince charming. What the hell!?' The Yamanaka ground her teeth in frustration.
Ibiki made his way to the front of the class.
"As I said, my name is Ibiki Morino. Now before we begin, let me go over a few rules. If you have questions, keep them to yourself, what we say here is law."
From there, the large man went over the rules of the first exam.
The exam would be a written test, Sakura and Sasuke quickly glanced at Naruto but gave it no thought beyond that.
Starting with ten points, for every wrong answer, a point would be deducted. Also, if anyone was caught cheating, they had three shots before being kicked out.
Shikamaru grinned quickly as did Tenten, Dosu, Temari, Kankuro, and a few others from other villages.
If one teammate was disqualified, the entire team was disqualified. This caused a stir amongst the entire room, however there were no outbursts.
The test had 10 questions on it, however the 10th question would not be revealed until 45 minutes had passed. They had those 45 minutes to answer the other 9 questions.
The tests were passed amongst them and the shinobi that had accompanied Ibiki sat in chairs along the walls of the room.
"You may begin" Ibiki announced.
Naruto flipped over the page and began to read the first question when he quickly paled.
'This question… it's so complex… Shit… I can't answer that… Let's look at the next one… Oh god… The next one maybe? Fuck, maybe this one?! No no no no no… I CAN'T ANSWER ANY OF THESE WHAT THE FUCK!?'
Sakura frowned as she looked at her test. 'I can definitely answer all of these, no problem, but that's because I've studied these things in my extra time during the academy… These aren't something most people could answer…' She glanced again at Naruto and then Sasuke.
'Sasuke is a genius so there's no worries there, Naruto however… He has definitely improved but there's no way he would have had the time to look up all of this information in the past.' She glanced around the room at the various proctors watching them. 'I can understand that we can't cheat, but why give us more than one chance to cheat? In the academy, getting caught cheating even once would automatically give us a failing grade, yet here it's as if they want us to cheat but not…get…caught! That's it! They want us to cheat!' Her eyes widened at the revelation and looked over at Sasuke, and then to Naruto. 'I just hope they both realize it before it's too late!'
With that said, Sakura began to fill out her test with surprising speed.
Ten minutes into the exam, a kunai had flown past Naruto's head and struck the desk behind him and nailed a boys test to the table.
"That's three strikes" one of the proctors said with a grin.
"That's bullshit! That was the first time!" he yelled.
Suddenly the boy was thrown back in his chair and the proctor had him pinned there.
"I caught you red handed three times, you and your team are out of here!"
This happened several more times, some tried to fight it, and others just walked away.
'There's a lot of cheating…' Naruto thought to himself. 'That is weird that they give us so many times to cheat before we get thrown out…' Naruto began to ponder about this fact.
Ibiki watched them all from the front of the classroom. 'A lot of them have figured it out' he thought with a grin.
Finally 45 minutes had passed and it was time for the final question to be revealed.
Naruto grinned.
'Figured it out… Once they reveal the final question, ill just use my shadow clone to look at someone's test and then disperse it… it's only cheating once technically' he thought with a grin.
Ibiki surveyed the room.
"Now before I provide you with the final question, its time to lay down some new rules."
At this point, there was an outcry from many people in the room about rules suddenly changing and it not being fair. Naruto honestly wasn't paying attention to them; he was trying to figure out who to copy when he caught sight of Sakura.
'She's probably got all the answers right' he thought with a grin.
He looked back at Ibiki to realize that he was explaining something important.
"…last chance to leave, because if you get this question wrong, you'll be banned from the Chunin Exams forever."
That hit Naruto full force. 'WHAT?!' There were similar cries from the Genin in the room.
Temari stood up at this point, "but there are people who have failed previous Chunin Exams who are still here today!"
Ibiki grinned sadistically. "Well I wasn't there proctor. My exams, my rules."
A few people quit at this point, a few others seemed unsure, but Naruto didn't care about that at this point.
"Screw you and your rules!" he yelled.
Ibiki glared at the blonde.
"We're Shinobi! We go on missions that could mean life or death for us! Who cares if you say we can't become Chunin ever if we fail this! It's just a stupid exam! I'll still be a shinobi! Hell, I'll become the strongest Genin of all time, and then they'll have to make me Hokage!" Naruto declared angrily. He continued to stand there defiantly, staring down the large proctor in front of him. The silence in the room was nearly deafening for everyone at this point.
Ibiki glanced at the other proctors then back to the Genin. "Last chance… Either give up, or take the risk with the tenth question." Nobody moved at this point.
'Stupid brat… He's given everyone else here courage to go through with this… Guess that it's then.'
"Well then… To everyone still here, you have all… passed the first exam" Ibiki announced with a smile.
Naruto stood there for a moment before yelling, "What about the last question!?"
Ibiki laughed. "There was no last question. It's like you said yourself, as a shinobi you'll be forced to make life or death decisions, this 'final' question was to see if you could make those types of decisions."
"What about the rest of the test?" Sakura asked out of turn.
"The test was there to see if you could gather the information without getting caught. We planted several people who had the answers to the tests and from there we observed you. As a shinobi, you will be required to gather intel from enemies without getting caught." Ibiki explained.
"This is critical as a shinobi as getting caught has severe consequences." At this point, Ibiki removed his bandana to reveal that his head was severely disfigured from repeated torture.
A shiver ran through the room. "Failure is not an option" Ibiki said with a tone of finality.
He put his bandana back on and looked around the room. 'A lot more participants than I would have expected…' Ibiki opened his mouth to say something else when one of the windows seemed to explode. 'She's early…' he thought with some annoyance.
Naruto reacted differently to the exploding window and had jumped back a few rows, a kunai in hand.
A figure flew in from the broken window, a banner suddenly revealing itself.
"Listen up brats! It's time for the second exam to begin!" a familiar voice rang out.
Naruto nearly lost it when he saw Anko AKA the crazy bitch that he had run into weeks prior.
'NO WAY! She's in charge from here?! I'm so fucked!' he panicked.
Anko frowned as she quickly counted the participants in the room.
"Seventy two?! Ibiki what the hell?!" she turned towards the senior proctor.
"What can I say; we have an interesting batch this year."
Anko smiled sadistically. "Is that so? Well this should be good. Alright! I'm Anko Mitarashi; meet me at training grounds 44 in exactly one hour!" With that said, Anko disappeared in a poof of smoke.
Naruto pursed his lips. 'If she's in charge… then the next exam is going to be insane…' Naruto walked over to Sasuke and Sakura who were heading for the door and followed them out.
Once the room was empty, Ibiki began to collect up the tests and took a look at one Naruto Uzumaki's test.
'It's completely blank… heh… The balls on that kid…' Ibiki thought shaking his head with a smile.
Team seven arrived at training ground 44 to see abnormally large trees behind a chain link fence. 'That place… gives me the creeps.' Naruto thought to himself.
Once all of the teams had arrived, Anko reappeared before them.
"Alright brats listen up because I will not repeat myself! The second exam is going to held in the forest of death which you can obviously all see before you. Each team will be give one of two scrolls!" at this point, she held up two scrolls for them all to see. One had the kanji for heaven, the other, earth.
"Your mission, is to obtain both scrolls and deliver them to the tower in the middle of the forest without any outside assistance. You will be given a time limit of five days to do so. If any of your team is unable to reach the tower, you will be disqualified. You are also ordered not to open the scrolls before you have reached the tower. This will also mean instant disqualification!"
"What do we do for food though?!" Choji suddenly yelled out.
Anko smiled. "There's plenty for you to eat in the forest, but be careful, because you might be food for something else."
Choji shivered at this thought.
"Now then. There will be an equal amount of heaven and earth scrolls amongst you. This means that you will have to find a team with the opposite scroll you already possess in order to pass. Now since there is a chance that death can occur at this point, we are passing out waivers for you to sign so that we are not responsible for anything that may happen once you enter the forest."
Several Chunin and Jonin were handing the forms out to everyone at this point. When Naruto received his, he quickly signed it without a second thought, Sasuke following his stead. Sakura seemed a little nervous and apprehensive, but ended up signing the form as well.
Before they knew it, an hour had already passed and team seven stood in front of a gate, awaiting a signal to enter the forest. Each team had been placed at a gate surrounding the forest, leaving plenty of space between teams.
"First thing we should do, charge in and find a clearing where we set up camp, then we scout ahead and find someone with an earth scroll" Naruto said as he placed the heaven scroll they had just received in his pack.
Sasuke nodded.
"I'll also use my Kage Bunshin to take a look at some of the other teams as well, make an assessment on whether or not we should avoid them."
"Sounds like a good plan" Sakura said. Naruto nodded.
"Alright… Let's haul ass when we can."
The buzzer went off and the gate opened. Team seven sped through and took to the trees.
As they jumped from branch to branch, Naruto made the cross seal for his Kage Bunshin. Suddenly twenty three clones appeared and jumped off into different directions.
'One for every team out there…' Naruto thought to himself. They quickly found a clearing and stopped for the moment.
"Sakura, you should start setting up traps while we wait for my clones to report back to us. Meanwhile, Sasuke and I will figure out just from what we saw earlier, which team we should go for as well."
Sakura nodded, but before she could, Naruto glanced up to the trees and made a sign with his hands that Kakashi had taught them for situations where they were being watched.
Sasuke frowned when he recognized what Naruto signed to them. 'That was fast… So someone is already watching us.'
"I gotta go to the bathroom, hold up before you get started Sakura" Naruto said as he walked towards some foliage.
Naruto fingered the handle of a kunai. 'He's following me… Guess that means he wants to take me out first.' Just as he reached what he thought would be an appropriate distance, he pretended to begin undoing his pants. That's when whoever was following them decided to attack Naruto. He reacted quickly by jumping out of the way of the assailant. He heard the voice of the attacker swear as a fireball rocketed towards him.
Naruto spun around and flew through the seals for the same jutsu.
The boy barely dodged the two fireballs when a hail of shuriken came from above.
'Sakura's got him!' Naruto thought happily. The boy dived out of the way, but it wasn't enough as two of the throwing stars embedded themselves in his calf.
"DAMMIT!" the boy yelled as he collapsed to the ground.
Sasuke suddenly had him pinned to the ground as Naruto approached him and Sakura appeared next to him.
"So you're with Amegakure?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes.
"My friends are going to come looking for me the boy said through the breather on his face.
"With how easily we took you out, it won't be hard to do the same to your teammates… So what kind of scroll do you have on you?" Naruto asked.
"I don't have it on me… My teammates do" the boy said.
"Then why do we need you?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto suddenly felt one of his clones disperse not more than a mile out.
"We gotta make this quick, someone's coming and they're stronger than this guy" Naruto said quickly.
Naruto squatted beside the boy and pulled his pack off of him and quickly emptied it. A few kunai and exploding tags and a sealing scroll. Naruto quickly took the tags and the kunai and began to inspect the scroll when he suddenly sensed a flare of chakra, nearby.
'How did they sneak up on us?!' Naruto thought in panic. He made a cross seal just as he noticed the trees up ahead shaking. 'A wind jutsu!'
His two clones grabbed Sakura and Sasuke and jumped out of the way as Naruto ran through seals for his own wind jutsu, however he was too late and the enemy's jutsu hit him full force and everything went black.
The two clones that avoided the blast quickly dispersed as the original Naruto was carried away by the blast.
Sasuke had landed painfully, but he was unharmed otherwise. 'What the hell just happened?' he wondered.
He stood up as Sakura walked over to him. "How are you?" Sasuke asked her.
"I'm fine… Where'd Naruto go?" She asked.
"I'm right here" Naruto's voice rang out. They turned to see Naruto trot up to them.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes and charged Naruto.
"Sasuke what the hell?!" Naruto yelled out as he dodged Sasuke's punch, one however clipped him and Naruto flew back. "What's your problem Sasuke?!"
Sasuke withdrew a kunai at this point. "Naruto's kunai holster is on his left leg, not his right… Who the hell are you?" Sasuke spat out. Sakura's eyes widened as she withdrew her own kunai.
The fake Naruto smiled maliciously. "Well well, Sasuke Uchiha. You aren't an amateur." The henge suddenly dispersed and there stood a grass ninja with long dark hair.
'Is that a girl?' Sasuke wondered.
"Come Sasuke Uchiha… Show me if you are worthy of your name" the woman said as killer intent hit Sasuke and Sakura full force.
Naruto came to just in time to see a giant snake snatch up the unconscious Amegakure Genin in its jaws and swallow.
'Holy shit!' Naruto shot up to his feet and jumped up to a branch above the snake, just as it turned to look at him.
"Well… That guys dead…" Naruto said regretfully. The snake lunged at him and Naruto jumped to another branch in a different tree.
"So how the fuck do I fight this thing?" Naruto wondered as the snake lunged again, forcing the Genin to drop to the ground and run.
The snake came back around at surprising speeds. Naruto rolled to the side avoiding the snapping jaws of the large reptile.
Jumping up into a tree, he saw a small puddle on the ground. Focusing his chakra, the water shot to his hand and began to spiral.
"Suiton: Hahonryū" Naruto yelled as he unleashed the jutsu on the snake.
The snake took it full force and continued charging. "Well that didn't work" as Naruto back pedaled.
Jumping over the snake, Naruto ran through hand seals and jumped even higher.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" Naruto released a large fireball which left the snake completely unscathed.
The snake shot up at him and Naruto summoned forth a clone to throw him to the side. The clone was quickly consumed and a shiver ran up Naruto's spine when the memory of being eaten hit him.
Naruto landed and the ground beneath him cracked a bit.
Then, an idea hit Naruto. 'Just need to get high enough.'
Naruto formed the cross seal and twelve clones came into existence.
The clones surrounded the snake and began throwing kunai at it to keep it distracted.
The snake was getting irritated by the twelve blondes throwing knives at it. It had been summoned to kill the blonde and it was proving to be more trouble than it was worth, however he did not want to get on a Sannins bad side.
Then suddenly, it felt something go through the top of its head and ripped out the bottom of its mouth.
It shuddered for a moment before falling over head.
Naruto had killed the snake. He had climbed to a branch high above the snake before increasing his weights and letting gravity take hold. However, when he had gone through the snake's head, a tooth and ripped through his left hand, leaving it bloody and mangled, and using the hand to help cushion his fall had not helped. He glanced at it and grimaced. 'Well… at least the fox will heal it quickly enough.'
He staggered to his feet and gasped in pain. His hand hurt more than he had thought.
Looking back at the dead snake, Naruto felt a pang of guilt for the boy it had eaten. If he had tossed the boy out of the way when the blast hit, he wouldn't have been killed…
'But that blast of wind… Someone wanted us separated… That snake… Maybe it was a summon. Like Oji-sans monkeys.'
He looked to the direction where the blast had originated and took off that way. 'I just hope I'm wrong.'
Sasuke and Sakura sat on a large tree branch, both shivering after the close encounter with the strange shinobi. They had been attacked by multiple snakes thus far and the shinobi had disappeared again. Sasuke had killed one snake just to have the shinobi emerge from its carcass.
'This thing is way above our own capabilities. Even with Naruto here, I don't think we'd survive.'
Suddenly the shinobi was upon them, Sakura jumped on direction while Sasuke another. The shinobi ignored the pink haired Genin and went straight for Sasuke when suddenly, a torrent of water hit the shinobi and knocked him into a branch.
Sasuke looked towards the origin of the blast to find Naruto, blood dripping from one hand, and water swirling in the other.
"What happened?" Sasuke asked.
"Oversized reptile" Naruto answered. "I take it this is the guy that probably summoned it?"
Sasuke looked over at the shinobi. "Probably."
"Well well… Naruto. You survived the snake I sent after you, I didn't think you would."
Naruto glared at the grass ninja. "What the hell do you want?"
The ninja smiled. "Sasuke Uchiha… I need to see if he is anything like his brother."
Anger seemed to well up inside the young Uchiha at the mention of his older brother. Constantly being compared to him since he was younger, and even now, after he had betrayed the village.
Naruto noticed Sasuke's face and frowned. "Sasuke, stay in control… He's just trying to get a rise."
"Kukukuku. You think so? Well, if Sasuke cannot prove himself, then I shall just have to kill your teammate!" At this, the ninja took off at speeds that made Lee look like a snail and went for Sakura. Naruto's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. 'No! NOO!' Naruto yelled mentally. He started running but it was like his legs couldn't keep up with his mind. He saw everything perfectly, the shinobi grabbing Sakura by the throat and holding her up, Sasuke charging the shinobi with a kunai but being swatted away easily, and then turning back to Sakura, ready to snap her neck.
Then suddenly, he felt a sensation he had felt once before. His vision felt blurry for a moment when things suddenly came into focus. He felt his hand healing rapidly, his felt his canines suddenly enlarge, his nails sharpening and growing.
His emotions heightened for a moment, but one emotion dwarfed the rest. Rage.
Naruto shot forward, his weights completely inconsequential.
In an instant, faster than the other shinobi, he severed the arm holding Sakura. The shinobi didn't react in pain, but rather in amusement. In one swift motion, he kicked the shinobi away and wrenched the severed hand off of Sakura's neck.
She collapsed to the ground and looked up to find Naruto surrounded by a red cloak of chakra, and crimson eyes, slits for pupils.
Suddenly Naruto turned in time to receive a punch that threw him off the branch they were on and crash straight through a tree.
The shinobi was back, one arm missing. Smiling down at the blonde Genin, he realized something. 'This is the legacy of the Yondaime Hokage… The Jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune. This should make for an interesting fight.'
Sasuke looked down at what had just transpired in awe.
'Where did Naruto get this power from? Why does it fill me with… dread?'
Suddenly they all heard Naruto roar and an explosion, red chakra illuminating the forest for a brief moment.
The shinobi smiled then suddenly, her jaw unhinged and made a gurgling noise. Then, two hands emerged, prying the jaw open further and then a head and torso emerged, completely a different person. This person had pale skin, yellow eyes and long dark hair.
In a male voice, the new figure said, "Come then, show me how you measure up."
He shot out, leaving the old body like a snake would shed its skin. Dust flew up everywhere as the man struck where Naruto had been just a moment ago.
Wheeling around, the man spotted a large fireball heading towards him.
'So the Uchiha decides to join in… He knows he's out matched, and yet still he fights.'
The man sped to his left, dodging the attack completely when Naruto was suddenly upon him, fighting like a wild animal.
"Kukuku, not even using any type of Taijutsu. Just fighting like an animal."
The man seemed to be playing with the boy when the Jinchuriki suddenly jumped in the air without warning. The snake mans eyes followed him when he suddenly realized it was a diversion. He looked down just as Sasuke Uchiha's foot connected with his face.
He rocketed backwards as Sasuke ran through more seals.
"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu" Fire surrounded Sasuke for a moment before shooting out lines of fire towards the powerful man.
Just as Naruto landed in front of the inferno, the flames seemed to explode outward. Sasuke was thrown backwards by the force of explosion. Naruto was resisted the shockwave, but was suddenly wrenched into the air by what appeared to be an elongated tongue.
"Let me go fucker!" Naruto yelled.
The tongue reached down lifted up his shirt, revealing his stomach as well as the seal that was placed there, holding the Kyubi at bay.
The man approached Naruto, the fingertips on his right hand glowing purple.
"An interesting seal… So this is what Minato Namikaze used to seal the Biju inside this boy."
Naruto's eyes widened as he mentioned his father.
"Gogyō Fūin"
The man struck Naruto's abdomen, causing Naruto to scream out in pain. Then, he was out cold. The man flung him aside, his body hitting the ground hard.
He then turned to Sasuke who was slowly standing up. The man smiled. He made a strange hand seal and suddenly his neck elongated and he shot towards Sasuke and suddenly bit down on Sasuke's neck.
Sasuke was next to scream a loud as pain racked his body suddenly. The man let go of Sasuke and his neck retracted.
"What did you do!?" Sakura's voice called out suddenly as Sasuke collapsed to the ground, his screaming slowly becoming a whimper before he was completely silent.
"I have given him a gift… That is if he survives. IF he does, and he still seeks power, tell him to seek me out. My name is Orochimaru." With that said, Orochimaru sunk into the ground as if it were liquid.
Sakura jumped down to the ground, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"S…Sasuke-kun?" she squeaked out, staring at the unconscious Uchiha.
"Naruto! Sasuke's hurt! I need your help!" She looked back at Naruto to see him on the ground as well. The tears began to come down even more.
'What am I supposed to do? The two stronger members of our team are unconscious and I'm in the middle of a forest full of people that are after us…'
Dosu, Kin and Zaku watched for an ambush.
'That blonde kid just disappeared… He was taking us all on with ease and then poof, he's gone…' Dosu thought, eyes darting back and forth.
"Dosu! It's been ten minutes and we haven't heard a thing… Let's just go hunt down the Uchiha already!" Zaku yelled.
Dosu nodded. "I think you're right… But keep an eye out while we search for him… I don't want us getting ambushed by the Uzumaki boy again.
Kiba, Shino and Hinata sat in some bushes, shivering in fear.
Before them, lay a field full of blood. Not moments earlier, the sand trio had been confronted by some grass Ninja when the forest seemed to tremble for a moment. Akamaru had sensed a terrible chakra off in the distance, and it seemed so had Gaara because the next thing anyone knew, sand tendrils had torn the grass shinobi apart limb by limb.
Even the two teammates of Gaara were surprised by the brutality of it all. Then Gaara had fallen to the ground clutching his head, screaming about something called Shukaku and there being another in the forest like it.
When Gaara had finally ceased screaming, the malevolent chakra in the distance had disappeared. They sand shinobi eventually left, trailing behind an unemotional Gaara.
Kiba and company soon left the safety of the shrubbery and approached the remains of Gaara's victims.
Kiba felt his stomach churn at the sight of what was left.
"I can't believe he did that… How could he?" Kiba wondered, his voice wavering.
Hinata had tears silently streaming down her face.
"The boy is clearly unbalanced" Shino stated. "We have out two scrolls, I suggest we make haste and get to the tower before it gets dark out here."
Kiba nodded and looked down at the dog tucked in his jacket. Akamaru was still shivering.
"Is he going to be okay?" Hinata asked, wiping away her tears.
"He is now… But it's strange. At first Akamaru was scared of the sand kid, but then that chakra we felt… That scared him more… That means there's something even worse than Gaara in these exams."
Shino adjusted his glasses. "That could most definitely pose a problem to us if we run into the source of that chakra."
Hinata nodded. "I'll keep an eye out while we travel. We should definitely be more cautious now."
Ino sat on a log beside Choji, who was doing his best despite his hunger.
She thought back again to how Naruto had moved earlier.
'He was never that fast at the academy… A lot has happened since then. I mean, I don't think I've changed that much, let alone anyone else from the academy… It's like once we graduated, he hit the ground running…'
She thought back to what Sakura had also said about how Naruto was the first to make a kill.
'I wonder if it'll happen again during these exams. He looked like he might have killed that sound kid if he tried anything.'
"Hey Ino, stop thinking about Naruto" Shikamaru's voice rang out.
"You shut up Shikamaru!" Ino snapped. "I'm just wondering why he's changed so much!"
Shikamaru sighed. "Who cares? So he's gotten stronger, so have we."
Choji looked between the two. "I dunno guys… Naruto's gotten a lot stronger. Remember he couldn't even spar properly back at the academy and now he's fast than any of us."
Ino stood up. "Exactly! He used to be the weakest person and now he's almost as good as Sasuke-kun!"
Shikamaru shook his head. "Why is this even such a big deal Ino?"
"I just want to know why is all" Ino said, crossing her arms. "I mean, something must have happened to kick Naruto's ass into gear."
Shikamaru closed his eyes for a moment. 'Well I do remember that when we graduated, Naruto initially failed, then the next day Mizuki was gone and no one has seen him since and then I see Naruto wearing a Hitai-ate, meaning that they did pass him… Those two things must be connected. Beyond that, it's simply speculation but I have this feeling that those two things are connected.'
"Come on, let's go find a heaven scroll so we don't get knocked out of the exams" Shikamaru said, changing the subject.
Sakura had finally set up camp underneath a tree. The large tree was raised from the ground, creating a slight cave effect that protected team seven from any eyes from overhead.
Naruto and Sasuke were laying on the ground side by side, a wet cloth on both of their foreheads, their packs to the side. Sakura had to take off Naruto's jacket as the flames from the fight with Orochimaru had torn it apart. Sakura was fairly certain Naruto was going to be upset about the loss of the jacket.
Both of them were burning up from whatever Orochimaru had done to the two of them. Sasuke's neck had two puncture wounds from where Orochimaru had bit him, and three tomes slightly resembling the Sharingan had appeared on his neck, like a black tattoo.
Sakura had checked Naruto, but found no marks on his body that she was willing to explore.
What worried her most, was that they were both burning up. She wasn't sure how long they could last against their fevers and she didn't know any medical ninjutsu to help them along.
She glanced around, checking the traps that she had set up once she had gotten the two to cover.
'Looks alright… I just hope it'll keep others away until these two wake up.' She thought worriedly. She looked to the sky and saw that the sun was slowly setting.
"Please Sasuke… Please Naruto… Just please wake up…" Sakura whispered to herself, tears rolling down his eyes.
She fingered a kunai in her hands, unsure of what needed to be done, desperately wishing that she was stronger.
Well there it is. It took me multiple tries to get this chapter written out. The Chunin Exams are difficult to write out without recycling other fanfictions. It can be a terrible chore to do so to anyone that has written this part out without it getting dull, I applaud you. I tried and even now I feel its okay at best. But I promise that chapters will get better from here!
It's good to finally be back and writing and I promise to do more of it to those that enjoy this. Been about two years, but it doesn't feel that long for myself. So thank you and please do not forget to review.
Zukara