So, I seem to have failed on something. I was seriously under the impression that Kurama's Yin (Spirit) half had been sealed in Naruto. I assumed that the Yang (body) half got sealed in Minato. So I had actually based much of my story on this idea, so that'll be another divergence I guess.
Naruto stood with his teammates outside of the Academy. The first test was set to take place inside, and they prepared to go in when Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke, as was his habit.
"So you're all here. Good. I would've forbidden you from entering if even one of you hadn't shown." Kakashi said.
Sakura's eyes widened, "But you told us that we each had the choice."
Kakashi nodded, "If any one of you didn't show up, and thus didn't feel ready, then you wouldn't have been able to enter. This exam is a team problem."
Naruto simply nodded before walking past Kakashi, with Sasuke following soon after.
Kakashi looked at them with a sweatdrop as they ignored him, before turning to Sakura hopefully.
Sakura sighed, "Yeah yeah, it was very clever."
Then she too walked past a slumped Kakashi and into the building.
After walking up one set of stairs, they saw what appeared to be the room they were supposed to be taking the first test in. 301. A quick scan of the other rooms revealed that they were still on the second floor. The test had started already.
And sadly enough, there were quite a few Genin who hadn't noticed that fact. Naruto looked on to see a boy in green coveralls who was being beaten by... nevermind, he was just doing a good job of pretending to be weak.
There was a Hyuuga though, and his Byakugan was staring straight at him.
"Yes?" Naruto asked the boy.
"My name is Neji Hyuuga. I saw your... interesting chakra in my clan's compound yesterday, and nobody would tell me what it was. Mind telling me what you were doing there?" Neji asked sharply.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, "If you don't know then the answer is higher than your pay grade."
Neji glared at him, "I didn't ask that."
"You may as well have."
Neji was about to challenge him, but his teammate beat him to it.
"Hello, my name is Rock Lee! Your Flames of Youth must shine brightly to stand up to my teammate! I challenge you to a duel in which we can test our Flames of Youth against each other!" the now named Rock Lee practically screamed.
Naruto blinked. Flames of Youth? What are those? More importantly, did I hear the word "challenge"?
"Interesting, my name is Naruto. When and where would you like to fight?" Naruto asked cordially.
Lee's eyes widened, nobody actually accepted his challenges! He smiled brightly.
"In the lower level dojo. LET'S GO!" he shouted as he raced back down the stairs.
"Hey, Naruto. We're going to be late." Sasuke said.
Naruto said nothing, and just walked down the stairs.
He got to the dojo, and Lee was already waiting there.
Naruto examined his opponent closer, and noticed something interesting, "Rock lee, why do I not sense any chakra coming from you. I'm not a sensor, but I can at least tell when something has chakra. Are you sealed?"
"No, Naruto-san. I was born with chakra coils barely able to produce enough chakra to live. As a result, I can not use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu." Lee stated.
Naruto's eyes widened, then he smirked, "Very interesting. To become a shinobi worthy of taking the Chunin Exams, you must be extraordinary at Taijutsu."
Lee smirked, "In terms of Taijutsu, I am the strongest Genin in Konoha."
Naruto cracked his knuckles, "Good. Out of respect for your position I shall restrict myself to Taijutsu as well."
Lee frowned, "Please do not. I do not want to be pitied, I can beat you with your chakra."
"Nobody can beat me should I choose to use my chakra, save perhaps Hokage-sama." Naruto said, "My Taijutsu skills are far lacking in comparison to my chakra abilities, I would like this spar to show me my weaknesses and strengths so that I may improve."
Lee lost his frown when he heard that, and took up a stance with a persistent grin on his face.
Naruto crouched low to the ground, placing his arms on the ground in front of him, and he frowned.
Several seconds later, he grunted in exertion and there was a cacophony of cracks and pops as his limbs formed into a slightly more inhuman shape.
Lee looked on confused, and then he saw that Naruto's legs took on a more... canine shape, and his arms were longer. He knew that he shouldn't underestimate him now, there was clearly something different about him.
Naruto chuckled, a deep and ominous sound, "It is more difficult than I thought it would be, to force the change with so little chakra."
"..."
"Well now, come on!" Naruto shouted.
Lee obliged, and shot forward with a kick. Naruto blocked it, but was sent into the wall for his efforts.
"And I go and underestimate you, that's depressing." Naruto said before he lunged at Lee with an outstretched hand. Lee dodged and went to counter, but his wrist was grabbed and he was pulled into a kick that drove the wind from his lungs.
He recovered in time to block another punch, and hit Naruto in the gut to retaliate.
Naruto made to attack again, but Lee vanished and appeared behind him, kicking him up next to the ceiling. Naruto twisted around before Lee could unfasten his bandages, and kicked off the ceiling. He slammed into Lee's gut, and they smashed into the ground. Several boards broke under the force, and Naruto used Lee's stomach as a springboard to backflip off of.
Lee coughed, but hopped up quickly.
They were about to continue, but they were stopped by a loud voice.
"Lee!" a man who looked like Rock Lee evolved was standing on the balcony, "What have I told you about the Lotus?!"
"Gai-sensei! I know you said to only use it in protection of something, but I'm sure Naruto-san could take it." Lee stated firmly.
Gai flew from the balcony and landed a vicious haymaker on his student's face, sending him to the ground.
"YOU FOOL! Whether he can take it does not matter, the fact is you broke the self-imposed rule I gave you!"
Naruto was really confused, A self-imposed rule... that was given...
He shook his head, "Gai-san, I am perfectly capable of taking anything Lee-san can dish out."
Gai looked at Naruto, "Who are you?"
Naruto sweatdropped, "I thought Hokage-sama gave a notification to his Jonin?"
Gai's eyes widened, "Oh! So you must be the one Lord Hokage mentioned! Well, I would like to speak more, but you should go. The first exam starts in ten minutes."
Naruto nodded, and he closed his eyes. The relocated bones began to reset, and after half a minute Naruto looked normal again.
He turned around and saw Neji, Sasuke, and a girl who he assumed was Lee's teammate watching the scene with wide eyes.
Sasuke shook out of it, being he wasn't exactly surprised, "Naruto, we need to get back."
"Where's Sakura?" Naruto asked.
"She said she'd be waiting in the test room, because she wasn't interested in seeing you get beat up." Sasuke said.
Naruto shrugged, "Whatever."
Neji was looking on warily as Naruto and Sasuke passed him, "Come on Tenten, Lee, we must not be late for the exam."
Naruto and Sasuke made their way up the stairs and into the large lecture room where the exam would take place. Once inside they were met with the faces of many more shinobi than either of them expected, and they were glaring at them.
Sasuke glared back, but Naruto just ignored them and scanned the room. It was very difficult to remain calm with all this malice floating around, but Kurama was an expert in terms of anger.
"Naruto! Decide to give up before you got hurt?" Sakura yelled from her spot a distance away. Naruto simply glanced over her as he continued scanning the room. Sakura bristled and made to hit him but Sasuke stopped her, giving her an angry and mildly fearful look.
Naruto's eyes finally landed on who he had been looking for.
Gaara stood at the back of the room, staring at Naruto with an emotionless expression.
Interesting, so Gaara knows about my emotion sensing, and suppressed his emotions to counter it. Naruto thought, as he should have been able to sense Gaara from outside the building. That certainly had Shukaku's influence written on it.
"Hey Naruto, what the hell happened to you?" Inuzuka Kiba asked from where his team, or rather class, was standing. Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Shino, and Hinata were all standing there as well. Naruto looked at Hinata for a moment before answering Kiba's question, "There were events on our last mission that resulted in several changes."
Pretty much everyone looked at him with interest, "Naruto hardly ever spoke calmly, much less about an event like he just described. Shikamaru in particular was staring at Naruto intently, trying to figure him out. Naruto noticed, and made a mental note to get Shikamaru on his side before anyone else. His intelligence could prove invaluable.
"You guys should chill, you're attracting attention." said an older teenager with silver hair. Naruto immediately stared at him with suspicion, he didn't feel right at all.
"My name is Kabuto, I'm a Konoha Genin like yourselves." Kabuto said.
"Don't speak to my friends, psychopath. I can sense your intent." Naruto said while getting between Kabuto and his former classmates. Everyone looked at him in confusion, with the exception of Kabuto, who looked hesitant. Eventually he just backed off.
Everyone waited several minutes before a powerful voice sounded from the front of the room, "Alright brats, my name is Ibiki Morino. Settle down, we're going to assign you seats, then the tests can start."
After the seats were assigned, Naruto found himself sitting next to Hinata, to his dismay. He still was confused as to what was going on, and he wanted to have no interferences when he came to a conclusion. The subject of the issue counted as a very large interference.
Hinata looked at him, smiled and said, "Ano, let's do our best, Naruto-kun."
Naruto nodded stiffly, staring at his desktop.
"The first portion is a written test, in which you will be given ten questions that you will answer accordingly. There is a three strike system in place for those caught cheating. On the last strike, you and your team will be disqualified. You will be given a paper with the first nine questions, and a 45 minute period to complete them. After 45 minutes is up, we will take your tests and you will be given the tenth question, with special parameters following it." Ibiki explained.
Naruto was grinning in his seat, they had given him an absolutely awesome loophole!
The Chunin proctors handed out the tests, and Naruto's grin dropped a bit. These questions were hard! And completely irrelevant. Who in the hell even took calculus?
He looked around the room quickly and saw several older Genin doing the questions with ease, as if they already knew the answers.
Naruto's eyes widened as his grin returned, these weren't people who he recognized, and they were all from Konoha. They were Chunin proctors.
He spotted one proctor filling out a test to his left out of the corner of his eye, and he decided to wait for him to finish it.
Ten minutes had passed and the Chunin put his pencil down, signifying his completion of the test.
Naruto grinned and got out of his chair, taking his test and pencil with him. He went over to the Chunin and grabbed his test, writing down the answers as he read them.
"What are you doing, Genin?" Ibiki asked sternly.
"Cheating." Naruto replied calmly.
"Are you trying to get your team disqualified?" he asked bewildered.
"No. As far as I'm concerned, I have been caught cheating once." said Naruto as he filled out the last question in the packet. "Here is your test, Chunin-san." he said as he handed the original paper back.
Ibiki sighed, "Alright, I'll let you get away with it since you came up with it. If anyone else tries that... method... they'll be disqualified. You brats weren't smart enough to come up with it on your own so I'm adding this as another rule."
Several people groaned in disappointment. Naruto went back and sat down, ignoring the envious looks of the other room's occupants.
Hinata was trying to hold in a laugh when he returned, "That was very clever, Naruto-kun."
"Thanks." Naruto said quietly.
The remaining time had passed, and about a third of the testers had been kicked out.
"Alright, place your test on the desktop upside down, and I'll give out the tenth question." Ibiki said.
Everyone did so, and waited for Ibiki to give the rules for the last question.
"First I need to know if you'll take the tenth question. If you choose not to take it, you may leave now, and return to take the exam again in six months."
"Why the hell wouldn't we take it then?" Kiba asked from his spot.
"Because if you choose to take the test and fail, then you will be barred from the Chunin promotion for the rest of your career." Ibiki said with a smirk.
"What?!" Temari shouted, "But there have been people who took it before, like that loser!" she said as she pointed to Kabuto.
"Unfortunately for you, I am the proctor this year. I have every Kage's approval on my test, even for the tenth question." Ibiki stated.
The candidates began dropping out like flies on borax. Naruto noticed Hinata struggling with the decision, and whispered to her, "If you take the question, you will not fail. I know it."
Hinata looked at him hopefully, and calmed when she saw the reassurance on his face.
The teams had stopped quitting, leaving eighteen teams including the Konoha teams, the Suna team, two Ame teams, a team from Oto, and a team from Kusa.
Ibiki laughed, "Congratulations, you all pass."
The room was dead silent as everyone tried to process what had happened. Then they all started yelling.
"The tenth question was, 'Will you take it?'. Obviously I changed the wording, but the effect was the same." Ibiki took off his bandanna, revealing multiple scars from cuts, burns, and even a screw.
"People who can't take risks cannot succeed as shinobi. Certainly not as Chunin, and if they got to Jonin like that then they bribed someone." Ibiki said grimly, "If you cannot risk torture and death for the sake of your comrades and village, then what did you do it for? Why would you throw yourself into the career with the single highest mortality rate on this planet if you didn't do it for those reasons? The people who just left do not deserve the power they wield, not as they are now."
He looked at the remaining Genin with more respect, "I am proud to have been your proctor, and I hope you succeed in the remaining tests." he looked at Naruto, "Even if some of you are little shits."
Naruto smirked, "Did nobody ever teach you to respect your elders?"
Ibiki's eyes widened as he realized Who Naruto was. He was about to respond when the window smashed open.
A ball of cloth flew through and pinned open on the walls, showing a banner that read "The Eternally desired and Single: Anko Mitarashi!"
The aforementioned woman jumped through the window a tad behind the banner, thus the intended effect was ruined. That didn't stop the male population of the room from staring, there were even some girls enjoying the view.
"Alright maggots, Listen up! The Second Exam starts now! Everyone follow me!" she shouted loudly, before realizing that everybody was just staring at her.
Ibiki walked from behind the banner and sighed, "Anko, you're early again."
"Huh, you actually dented their numbers a bit, I'm surprised." Anko said, "But I'll still cut their numbers in half." she grinned in a most sinister manner.
"Alright Genin, I guess it's time for the Second Exam. Follow Anko to Training Ground 44, the test will begin there."
Yeah, i know that's a weird place to end the chapter, but I did it anyway, as I want to do the second test in one chapter, and the preliminary in the one after that.
I am amazed with all of the support this story is receiving! There has only been one person thus far who has reviewed it negatively, and they were a guest.
(UPDATE)- I didn't math good with the previous iteration of this chapter. Now there are twice as many teams that passed, because I had left pretty much only the interesting teams to pass the first test. This was a fail because then only five of those teams would have been able to enter the preliminaries at most, and obviously I wanted all the interesting teams to enter the prelims.