EDIT: yeah, you basically know the drill by now…

Hey there. Sorry it took me so long to upload the new chapter. I had to many exams. But now they're over, so guess new chapters will be appearing a little faster from now on (unless something unexpected happens).

Special note to Youkou (who's story I highly recommend): I know the chapters come out a little short, but I've already planed when every chapter is going to finish and most of them have that length. I'm not good at filling up (actually, I hate that, so I practically don't do it), but I can promise you that the chapters will get longer (around chapter 26 the new uploads will be longer). Hope that suits you.

I'd like to thank all the reviewers. Your kind words really are the inspiration for me. I hope you'll enjoy the story and that you won't get bored with it.

Now, without any, more delays:

Chapter #7: Gennin Exam – part VI

Time's up

Chapter Cover: Kusari and Kai are using Kusari's chain as jump rope and Kumiko is the one who's jumping through it (don't know how to describe it, hope you understand what I mean)... of course Kusari is holding the chain on one side, Kai on the other and Kumiko's jumping in the middle

Kai and Kusari were looking at Naruto as he stood still, smiling at them. Ibuki, who observed the whole situation from the distance, didn't move an inch.

Suddenly, the younger blond charged at their sensei with the other boy's chains following him. The sharp end of Kusari's chain attacked the jounin from above. The Kyuubi vessel jumped back, causing the blade to stuck in the ground, but he had no time to celebrate, as Kai charged at him with his fists ready.

The gennin-to-be threw one punch after another, but the whisker-marks was able to block all of them, even though the furious attacks of his student forced him to back up a little.

Just then the younger blond moved aside and Naruto saw the ball attached to the second end of Kusari's chain coming right at him. He moved his head to the left and grabbed the chain that passed his face just by inches. But as soon as the attack failed, Kai entered the battle once more, this time attacking the jounin's head with his leg.

The older blond bend over in order to dodge the attack and before he knew it, the sharp end of Kusari's chain came out of the ground, aimed at his face. Without any, other possibility, Naruto jumped forward and avoided the blade, which flew right under his feet when he was still in midair.

A second later, Kai threw his shuriken at him. The Kyuubi vessel instinctually jumped up and dodged them, but it was exactly what the gennin wanted. Before the jounin was able to do anything, the sharp end of Kusari's chain cut his belt in the place the bells were attached.

All four of the bells fell to the ground. The jounin was able to grab three of them, but the one that felt on the ground was immediately taken by the younger blond, who returned to his teammate's side.

The whisker-marks landed on the ground and looked at his students with a stoic face.

"Success!" yelled Kai, throwing the hand in which he held the bell, to the sky. "We rock, you suck, Naruto-sensei!"

"What are you so happy about?" interrupted Kusari, sweat dropping. "We have one bell and there's two of us, moron! We need to take another one from him!"

"Well… yeah" nodded Kai, scratching the back of his head. "But so far, we rock and he sucks!"

-That time, a little further-

"Look, Kai and Kusari got one bell" announced Kumiko, somewhat surprised. "Nice…"

"Well then, we should get to work as well" responded Takaru seriously. "Are you ready?"

"It was my plan, you know…" she replied with a tired face. "Of course I'm ready!"

"Let's get going then…"

-Back to the clearing-

"Congratulations" said Naruto with a few claps. "It's quite impressive that you guys were able to get the bell. When I first attended this exam, I never even got close to grabbing one…"

"That just goes to prove…" responded Kai smirking. "That we rock and you suck!"

"Shut up already!" Kusari gave him a smack on the head. "How many times do I have to tell you, before it reaches your little mind? We need to get one more bell!"

"Fine, fine" replied Kai, throwing the small object to his companion. "Just ready your chain and we're going for it…"

Right after that Kusari's chain rose to the sky and felt down right where Naruto stood. The jounin jumped to the left, in order to avoid the attack. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he saw the other blond charging at him with kunai in his hands.

Without a moment of hesitation, the Kyuubi vessel grabbed the preteen's shirt with his left hand and tossed his student behind him. It was then that he saw Kumiko and Takaru heading right for him.

He reacted just in time to dodge the scar-face's attack. Right after that he found himself retreating from the storm of the boy's kunai. Those that he wasn't able to dodge, he grabbed and threw them back at the son of Tsunade.

Then he noticed a fist coming right at his head from behind. He grabbed it, while turning around and saw that the one, who attacked him this time, was Kumiko. Before he knew it, the girl's knee was already heading at his stomach.

"Now I get it" he thought to himself, barely holding back a smile. "Nice plan, Kumiko, but you should think more ahead" and with that, he blocked the kunoichi's knee and attacked her leg, which was still touching the ground, with his own.

She lost her balance and fell on the ground. Then Naruto charged right at Takaru but before he was able to reach him, kunai that flew out of nowhere blocked his way. Ibuki appeared on the battleground with more knives in her hands.

"So, you were able to free yourself, eh?" the jounin asked calmly. "Plus I didn't expect that you'll be able to use your body so soon, Takaru" with those words he turned to Kumiko.

"You noticed?" the girl seemed amazed.

"Not at first" the older blond admitted. "But when you attacked me, the solution seemed rather obvious. No point in using genjutsu anymore, so would you mind dispelling it?"

Kumiko smiled under her nose and preformed a quick seal. In an instant, in the place where she and Takaru stood, the cloud of smoke appeared. When the smoke disappeared, the kunoichi and the boy seemed to switch places with each other.

"Henge no Jutsu" noticed Kai, a bit surprised. "Kumiko made herself looked like Takaru and he transformed into Kumiko. Clever…"

"Well, it didn't work, so it wasn't clever enough" replied the son of Tsunade annoyed.

"We're running out of time" announced the younger blond. "If we want to get the bells, we should do something now!"

"Okay, okay, hold your horses" responded Kumiko, trying to calm him down. "I have an idea" and thus she whisper to other members of her team. Naruto waited patiently, playing with his bells. After a little while, the gennin-to-be turned their faces to him. First one to attack was Kusari with his chain.

The jounin dodged by jumping back but right after that he spotted Ibuki flying in the air and tossing a shuriken right at him. Before he knew it, the young ninja preformed several seals, yelling: "Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" and with that phrase, the shinobi star she threw split itself into tens.

Having no, other alternative, the Kyuubi vessel jumped back once more, but Takaru and Kai were already waiting for him. They both attacked at the same time with their fists and legs. The jounin blocked the first, few attacks and dodged the rest, but the two gennin forced him to move back.

"They're both attacking?" the whisker-marks thought to himself with a smirk. "And I thought they were rivals…"

Occupied with blocking the attacks, the jounin didn't notice that Kusari surrounded the three fighters with his chain. Then Ibuki returned into action and threw a kunai aimed at Naruto's back.

With Kai and Takaru keeping him busy, he had no chance for grabbing the knife, so he decided to jump to the left. That was a mistake. While he was still in midair, the chain master used his weapon to grab him. Having no way to change direction in flight, Naruto was caught easily.

Kumiko rushed in to get the bells from his belt, but surprisingly for everybody, their sensei turned into a wooden pale.

"Kawamiri again!" yelled Takaru, narrowing his eyes. "Can't you be a little more original?"

Just then he noticed a shadow on the ground that was getting bigger and bigger. He looked to the sky to see his teacher falling down from it. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the jounin grabbed Kai's shirt again and tossed him at Takaru. Tsunade's son was so unprepared, that he didn't manage to dodge in time and both him and the younger blond flew a few meters.

Suddenly they all heard a loud rang. Naruto looked at the alarm clock and announced as calm as ever: "Well, ladies and gentlemen, looks like your time is up…"

-and the results are in!-

And that's the end of this chapter. Coming up, chapter 8th (this time it'll be uploaded rather soon).

Please let me know what you think (even flames can be helpful).

Also I have a question to ask you guys: tell me if you'd like me to place foretells of the next chapters since chapter 8th. I'll leave the choice to you.

Take care and till the next chapter, hopefully.