Hey guys what's happening. Felt it was a little while since I'd updated, even if it's only been a few days so I thought I'd sit down and write this out. I've got a pretty fleshed out plan written down now of what major things I want to happen between now and the time-skip, and I even have a pairing for Naruto HUZZAH which may be subject to change, but at least I have one now! But that's neither here nor there in this chapter.

There isn't much action in this one, just a bit of a set up chapter. Also if I can't get a direct romanji translation for something I'm not going to bother and will simply write the name of the jutsu in english rather than the "Romanji (English)" format i've been running with. Anyway hope you enjoy and if you like this story please review :) it means a lot to me to hear that people like my writing :) Also seriously the more people I hear that like it the more pressure I will feel to continue to write, rather than play borderlands 2 or league of legends with my brother. By no means does this mean I won't write if I don't get reviews, I'll still write so don't feel the compulsion to, it's just nice is all :P. Feel free to message me if you want to ask a question about pretty much anything, I'll try to answer it as best I can without spoiling the story.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

The Champion of Clan Namikaze

Chapter 6: The Chunin Exam Kicks Off!

It was a week before the start of the chunin exam and Team 7 were coming along great with their preparations. Any mission they went on they completed with ease after the Land of Waves fiasco and whenever they weren't working they were training.

Now that Sasuke was coming around a little the team was making great progress both as a whole and individually. Kakashi was surprised that he really didn't have to teach them much. Most of what they were learning was knowledge that Naruto had picked up from what Kakashi now knew to be his rather extensive library.

Kakashi only ever really had to give some pointers on teamwork and a few strategies here and there. What he didn't enjoy was having them fight him as a team.

Man he really needed to get in shape or these kids would be kicking his ass in no time. They had just finished a group session where again the object of the mission was to obtain two bells attached to his waist, only this time Naruto was restricted from using the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique).

Much to Kakashi's dismay the team had improved so vastly and their teamwork was so coordinated that he couldn't use any of the time to read his precious Icha Icha. The thing that amazed Kakashi was how well the three could swap up their roles in a battle.

In general Naruto was the close ranged specialist, but with the Hiraishin he could change that in an instance, allowing Sasuke, the mid to close ranged member of the squad, to swap in or out for him.

Sakura generally played a supporting role, but was also a part of their trap strategies where Naruto and Sasuke would corral the opponent towards the unintimidating girl and she would proceed to destroy them in a few short attacks.

With Sakura now starting to learn a few genjutsu, something Naruto had decided was a good idea since that was his weakness and if she started learning genjustsu he could practice breaking out of them, the three of them all had a long range ability to complement their rather short range strengths.

Naruto had his wind ninjutsu if you weren't counting his hiraishin, Sasuke had his fire jutsu, and Sakura now had genjutsu.

They'd recognised their own strengths and weaknesses and were working through them to improve themselves as a squad. He had no doubt that they'd perform fantastically in the exams.

It wasn't long into the session before Naruto had a hold of the two bells, grinning like the idiot he used to be. It was still early in the morning when they finished as the training session was only supposed to be the bell test.

"Alright team, that was great. Keep up the good work and I'll see you tomorrow for another session." He disappeared in a Shun-Shin.

"Soooo, back to mine for a free-for-all?" Naruto was excited; he wanted to test his strength against his teammates again.

"Heh, I guess dobe, not much else we have to do now that the exams are nearly here. I won't be going easy on you though."

"Yeah okay Naruto-kun, you're on, but no using Hiraishin. We're good, but we can't keep up when you're moving that fast. Well maybe Sasuke-kun can, but I can't," Sakura and Sasuke both walked over to Naruto and with a flash they were gone.

xXx

"Okay, well call out mercy if you are in a bind and can't get away, I don't want either of you getting in trouble if this gets out of hand alright," Now that Sasuke had a Hiraishin seal, they could go a little more all out during trainings, if someone was in trouble Naruto would simply flash to them and away in an instant, protecting them from whatever nasty move they had coming their way.

"Got it," Sakura said while Sasuke just nodded.

"Well let's go," And with that Naruto disappeared.

Sasuke had his kekkai genkai active and so could see all of Naruto's movements as he blurred towards the black haired genin. They engaged in a quick spar before being broken apart by Sakura, who rushed in to focus Naruto. Looks like it's two against one. Either it was Sakura's favouritism for Sasuke or she recognised that Naruto was most likely still the bigger threat.

Probably a bit of both.

Naruto blocked a bone rattling punch to the side with his left arm while blocking a kunai from Sasuke with the tanto in his right before springing backwards to get some distance. Just as Sakura took a step to chase him Sasuke made to attack her.

Hey in his defence this was a free-for-all and eliminating any threat when he had the chance would serve him well. Besides he thought he could take the dobe in a one on one fight, especially if he wasn't using the Hiraishin.

She saw it at the last second and though she was annoyed they'd sparred enough for her to not be surprised. Turning, she blocked the few taijutsu strikes he threw at her before she created space.

This worked out for the both of them. For where they'd just been standing together had been assaulted by a massive torrent of wind that would have easily knocked both of them off their feet.

In the confusion Naruto had managed a few hand seals and performed the Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough). Due to having broken apart at the last second the two genin hadn't been blown away, but it had given them a sore reminder that they weren't alone in their fight.

Sasuke quickly turned to the retreating Naruto, going through a series of hand seals before holding out his left hand and bracing it with the right "Raiton: Raikyū (Lightning Ball)". In the centre of his palm he condensed lightning based chakra into an orb. This occurred in the span of a second and he launched a number of the spheres at Naruto in succession.

Naruto knew that he had the advantage, quickly preparing his own attack, but Sakura attempted to rush him and keep him off guard. He'd prepared the attack before she managed to reach him "Wind Release: Air Bullet" and turned, spitting a low powered ball of air at Sakura in order to deter her from attacking momentarily and turning back to match each of Sasuke's lightning balls with an air bullet of equal strength.

Being the counter to lightning chakra the air bullets ripped through Sasuke's offense, forcing the Sharingan user to dodge them.

Sakura was back on the offensive after having avoided Naruto's attack and was frantically trying to keep pace with his taijutsu. When he started getting aggressive and pushing her back she blocked one of his punches with a chakra infused fist almost breaking his hand and once again creating a break in the fight.

She had hoped that Sasuke would capitalise on her offensive but to her dismay he'd just stood and watched.

As she jumped back from Naruto a number of shuriken appeared flying through the air from Sasuke's direction before they turned into many hundred through the use of the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu, clouding the air with metal objects.

Naruto responded with another Great Breakthrough forcing many of the shuriken to stop dead in their tracks or even start flying back toward the Uchiha.

The attack also backfired with regards to Sakura, who simply put up a wall of earth, defending her from any Shuriken that weren't in the path of the wind attack. As soon as the shuriken had stopped impacting against her wall she followed through with a series of enhanced chakra infused attacks that while breaking apart her defence allowed her to launch the rocks at the Uchiha.

Rocks that were now covered in shuriken.

This offensive distracted her long enough to give Naruto the chance to use a series of shadow clones to restrain her. She tried to sink into the ground through the use of the hiding like a mole technique but they were on her too quickly and she never made it fully into the ground before she was restrained.

Naruto rushed Sasuke now that Sakura had been dealt with and attacked him with the help of two clones. With the genin's improved speed even the sharingan wielder was having trouble blocking all the strikes.

He quickly stepped back and threw a number of shuriken at and past the Narutos before using the ninja wire attached to them to swing them back around tangling the three Narutos together.

Naruto's eyes went wide at what Sasuke was attempting as he started going through hand seals. Quickly dispelling the other clones gave Naruto enough slack to get his tanto into his hand where he channelled wind chakra into it in order to effectively cut himself out of the wire before fire spread down the metal strands and engulfed him.

Naruto shun-shinned away from the danger zone a short distance and created eight shadow clones that converged on Sasuke, surrounding the genin. The black haired prodigy tried to respond with a phoenix fire jutsu and started going through hand seals, but in the time it took for him to complete the necessary sequence the clones had already attacked, pinning him to the ground and wrapping him up in chakra chains.

"Good fight teme," Naruto said from his position standing over Sasuke.

"Tch, whatever dobe," Sasuke tried to say with indifference but not being able to keep the grin off his face. He really was starting to enjoy training with the two genin whose strength he'd grown accustomed to.

"Hurry up guys, we need to clean up before we head out, remember we were supposed to be meeting Team 8 for lunch," Sakura chastised from her position over to the side.

They quickly hurried inside and cleaned themselves up a little. Naruto had told his team that if they ever wanted to they could stay at his place. They had taken up the offer a few times, Sasuke hanging around more often than Sakura because he didn't really have anywhere else to be.

Because of that they all had fresh clothes to change into as they headed out to have lunch with their friends.

xXx

They were sitting down inside at a barbecue place with Hinata, Kiba, and Shino chatting about recent missions they'd been on and discussing what they thought the chunin exam might entail. Most of team 8's talking was done by Kiba, Shino mostly sat in silence eating, or nodding in agreement with his two teammates.

Hinata spoke often enough but was still nervous around Naruto, even after the months of on-off training with him. She wasn't nearly as bad as she used to be, but she was still constantly casting glances at him and blushing whenever he looked at her.

Naruto for the life of him couldn't work out why she acted the way she did around him, being completely oblivious to her affection.

He was looking out the door when he noticed a square rock with two small eye holes sitting in the middle of the street pointed directly at him.

He elbowed Sakura to get her attention and she giggled, having had much experience with the miniature trio that was always trying to tag along with Naruto.

"Okay guys, it was great catching up, if I don't see you before the exams start good luck. I'd love to stay a little longer but I had made plans to play ninja with some of Konoha's academy students. So unless any of you want to get chased around by three midgets then I'll see you later," Naruto turned toward the exit with a smile on his face.

"A-actually Naruto-kun, I don't have anywhere I need to be, if you wouldn't mind me tagging along?" Naruto was actually surprised by this, turning around to find Hinata standing. The rest of her team seemed pretty surprised that she'd managed the courage to even ask being as timid as she was.

"Of course, I'm sure they'll enjoy meeting someone new," Naruto beckoned for her to follow as he left the restaurant.

"Oh Hinata-chan, I wonder what this rock is doing in this street, maybe I should break it into little pieces so that it doesn't get in someone's way," He cracked his knuckles as he walked closer to rock only to have it skitter further away; Hinata just giggled at the scene.

The fake rock façade was quickly thrown away as Naruto approached, "Okay okay boss, it's us, how did you know we were here?"

Naruto sweat-dropped, "You don't think it was a little obvious? Man I've got a lot to teach you three. Anyway Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi, this is Hinata; she's going to be playing ninja with us today after I teach you a thing or two."

"Oh is this your girlfriend Naruto?" Konohamaru blurted, thinking that as awesome as his boss was he'd have to have a lady friend. Hinata almost fainted at the prospect.

"Hahahaha no, I've already told you guys I don't have a girlfriend, Hinata is just my friend."

The last statement took some of the blood away from her face, and she didn't end up passing out.

With the introductions done they walked down the street and back to Naruto's with Naruto explaining to Hinata how he'd me Konohamaru and his resolve to train the boy after he realised that Ebisu, Konohamaru's sensei, was such a failure at educating the boy.

After Naruto had gone through a few training exercises with the academy students, teaching them some basics to practice that he wish he'd been taught, he began the game of ninja.

It basically involved them chasing Naruto through the village in an attempt to catch him. He of course wasn't going too hard on them, but he was never going easy. They weren't going to improve if he was letting them win. They never won, but occasionally he made it seem close so as to not crush their spirit.

They were rushing over buildings and dashing through streets, the three students trying to coordinate themselves to catch the two genin as they led them across the village, when Konohamaru cried out.

Naruto quickly turned around with Hinata to find out what the disturbance was.

Konohamaru was being held off the ground by a ninja that looked to be slightly older than Naruto by a couple of years. Strangely enough he was wearing facepaint or make-up, if there was a difference Naruto couldn't tell. Naruto noticed the village symbol sitting on the cloth cowl on the boy's head. Sand Ninja.

"You little rat, I'll teach you for running into me," The ninja had his fist cocked back, ready to inflict some pain on the small academy student.

"So do you like beating on little kids to make yourself feel more manly? I figure it's to make-up for the make-up Hinata-chan, what do you think?" Naruto said never taking his eyes of the sand nin or letting the cold threatening look drop from his visage.

Hinata couldn't stop herself from snickering at the jab that Naruto had taken at the bully despite the situation, even another sand shinobi Naruto saw standing over under a tree couldn't help but find herself slightly amused.

"Oh, you're in trouble, boss here will floor you, you big bully." Konohamaru had gained some confidence now that Naruto had arrived.

"What's a little kid like him going to do against me?"

"Oh I'd be betting on that little kid to kick your ass," Sasuke said cooly, rounding the corner at the other end of the street after hearing the commotion, "Then I'd take a turn. Who do you think you are bullying a little kid like that?" Sasuke was actually a little pissed now. As much as the kid was obnoxious, he was eager to learn and Sasuke had come to like him during the times he'd come to hang out with Naruto.

"I assume you're here for the chunin exam, so put the kid down and don't do anything stupid or you'll find yourself in more than just a spot of trouble. The people who find you might have trouble scraping you off the pavement, because nobody hurts anyone I care about and gets away with it," Naruto wasn't putting up with anything from a foreign ninja, especially one that was threatening his own student.

At this Hinata started to fantasize about Naruto being so brave and protecting her in a situation like this before being snapped back to reality by someone speaking.

The ninja had looked like he was ready to start something before the blonde kunoichi spoke up, "Come on Kankuro, don't do anything stupid, we need to be going now anyway."

"Hmph, whatever," and with that the two sand ninja disappeared, leaving one remaining ninja standing in the tree. The youth had a strange gourd strapped to his back and looked incredibly tired. After getting a good look at the three genin standing in the street he shun-shinned after what appeared to be his team.

"There was something weird about that last one," Naruto commented aloud with Sasuke nodding in agreement.

"WOW boss, that was so cool saving me like that! I think you would have been able to take that big bully easy," the other two students were also impressed at the way Naruto had come to Konohamaru's defence, showing that he really did care about them.

"Yeah that was really brave," Hinata said still blushing from her fantasy.

"Thanks," Naruto smiled as if it was nothing and rubbed the back of his head, "But I think after that we should head home, and no more playing ninja for a while, at least not until after the exams, got it?" They looked disappointed, even chorusing 'awwww', but they listened to Naruto and decided to head home. Naruto and Hinata parted ways there as well before Naruto turned to Sasuke, "Well let's get out of here teme, and thanks for having our backs."

"Anytime, dobe, anytime."

xXx

Later that night Naruto and Sasuke had done a little one on one training and were relaxing in his living room eating some dinner that a Naruto clone had cooked up for them.

"Hey dobe, I noticed something today during our bell test. Kakashi hadn't even bothered trying to read one of those books we always see him with. Guess he thought we were going to give him trouble. I mean he has to be right sometimes, but what are those books anyway?"

"Oh, well Kakashi is a pervert. He gets enjoyment from reading it, and from the reactions he gets from people from reading it in public. That's what I've gathered anyway. It's like, well read it yourself, my dad had a collection, and my god-father writes the stuff so he keeps it updated. So go ahead and give it a read if you want. I haven't gotten into it that much at the moment but apparently it's a love story and some of the scenes are pretty steamy. I guess that's to be expected as Jiraiya does 'research' for them by perving on naked women among other things."

After the training incident in the Land of Waves Naruto had a feeling Sasuke would take to them like their Sharingan wielding sensei. He wasn't disappointed when Sasuke continued to sit on the couch all night reading the novels. When they arrived at the training ground the next day Sasuke could be found leaning against a tree with his nose in the book and needless to say his sensei was proud of the boy's taste in literature. Sakura not so much.

xXx

It was the final day before the start of the exams and everyone was psyched. Considering how hard they'd been working themselves most of the teams had decided to take this final day as a rest day before the unknown rigours of the test took place.

Naruto was strolling through town with Team 7 casually looking at some shops because naturally Sakura had wanted to go shopping on her day off. Sasuke wanted to look into getting a weapon somewhat similar to Naruto's and Naruto had just decided to tag along.

When they got to Mikoto's Supplies however they were greeted with a rather strange sight. Tenten was standing outside with a boy clad in a green jumpsuit, and a Hyuga that Team 7 had yet to meet.

Naruto waved at Tenten but before they could say anything the boy in green cut them off.

"YOSHH! You must be Naruto-san and Team 7, Tenten has told us much about you and how you have trained with her on occasion. My name is Rock Lee and it is nice to meet you!" Rock Lee looked thoroughly excited to finally meet them, bursting with energy. Naruto noticed Neji roll his eyes at the enthusiasm shown by the green clad ninja.

"Hahaha, Yes my name is Naruto, and this is Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno, my teammates. It's nice to meet you too Lee."

"Yeah so what I was about to say was that this is Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga, before I was cut off and the introduction was handled without me," Tenten said rather exasperatedly.

"Sasuke-san, I would like to challenge you to a friendly test of strength to see if I can really compare to the genius of Uchiha," Lee looked expectantly at Sasuke hoping for the answer he did not receive.

Before Sasuke could reply Neji piped up, "How does a failure like you expect to win a fight against an Uchiha Lee?" everyone was rather off put by the harsh comment that was made by Neji, everyone except Lee.

"Oh only my eternal rival would say something like that to inspire me to push my limits and improve! I shall defeat you one day Neji!" Lee shouted with a smile on his face and fire in his eyes; literally fire in his eyes.

Naruto quickly saved Sasuke, who he saw really wasn't up to the challenge now that he was thoroughly enjoying reading the Icha Icha series on his day off, from the ordeal by turning to the other team, "Hey sorry Lee but we are kind of busy for our last day off and we don't really have the time right now, maybe you'll be able to test your strength against us during the exam?"

"I would be honoured to test my strength against your team Naruto-san," Rock Lee said as they turned and the teams parted ways.

"Geeze that Neji guy was a bit of a buzzkill don't you think? Had the same attitude you did a while back Sasuke, until we kicked your ass," Sakura was amused at the slight reddening she'd been able to cause creep up Sasuke's neck. He was reading Icha Icha though, so it could've been that too.

"Not wrong about that Sakura, maybe we'll have to teach him a lesson," Even Sasuke couldn't help but nod slightly in agreement at Naruto's declaration.

They spent the rest of the day shopping before the big day. Sasuke even picked up a weapon almost identical to Naruto's, but decided not to use it in the exams because he didn't yet feel comfortable with it.

xXx

Kakashi met his team at the entrance to the first stage, "Guys, good luck, I'm proud of how much you've improved since you all became a team, I'm even more proud of how fast Sasuke is getting through Icha Icha," Sakura glared at their sensei for the comment, "Ahem, well I mean, go in there and do your best! I'm sure there isn't anyone who can stand up to you now."

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said while the others nodded in assent, "We'll be okay, what can they throw at us that was worse than the Land of Waves?"

xXx Flashback xXx

"But Kakashi, they are rookies! They have only just come out of the academy; surely Naruto isn't ready even if he is in the same team as Sasuke. He only just graduated from the academy!" Iruka was furious that Kakashi had put his team forward to participate in the chunin exam.

"They will do fine Iruka, you haven't seen the progress that they've made, I can assure you that they are ready," Kakashi was trying to hide the small grin on his face when he spoke; luckily he always wore his mask.

The only other people to know of the true progress of the rookie squads, Team 7 in particular, were the other rookie jounin sensei and the Hokage.

"Maybe he's right Kakashi, I held my team back for a year so that they could hone their skills," Gai was unsure as to why Kakashi would put his team at risk when they couldn't be as strong as his. Ten ten said that she occasionally trained with Naruto, but he was sure she was the one training the academy failure.

"Gai, I understand your concern, but I can guarantee that even your team might have trouble if they run into mine during the exams."

Before the situation could be drawn out Hiruzen spoke up, "That is enough, I have decided to allow it due to the strength of this year's rookies, now are there any other genin squads to be nominated?"

Iruka stood looking appalled at what his former students were about to be put through, not knowing how much they'd all changed.

xXx End Flashback xXx

They walked into the milling area for the start of the chunin exam and Team 7 couldn't help but be amazed at the sheer number of genin that would be taking part.

It wasn't long before they noticed six other genin standing over by a wall, not looking nearly as confident as they had in the days leading up to the exams.

"Hey guys, don't worry about how many there are, I'm sure we'll all do fine," Naruto said as he walked over to the six, his voice carried for every other genin in the room to hear. A number of the genin in the room smirked at hearing a rookie with such confidence, some of them even resolving to destroy the kid for what they believe to be unfounded arrogance.

When Ino saw them appear she went to hug Sasuke before she noticed both the look Sakura gave her and the fact that Sasuke was still reading Icha Icha. She'd never expected Sasuke to be reading a book in public, what had happened to him? I mean yeah he had been changing a little over these few months but really, reading in public? She would have been even more confused if she knew what Icha Icha was actually about.

"Oh hey Naruto, we'll be okay, but getting through this many ninja is going to be troublesome. If I had it my way I'd just quit now," Shikamaru got a punch over the top of the head from Ino at that statement.

"Hahaha trust you to have that attitude Shikamaru, guess I shouldn't be surprised though. Hey Kiba, Hinata, Shino, how are you guys feeling?"

"Hah, like we'd be scared Naruto," Akamaru barked in agreement from his master's shoulder.

"Okay guys well whatever happens, good luck out there. Good luck to you three as well," Naruto said noticing Tenten's team standing just off to the side.

"Whatever, it's not like we need your petty wishes of goodluck," Man that Neji guy was such a buzz-kill.

"Don't mind Neji, and thanks Naruto," She said, glaring solidly at the Hyuga with the superiority complex.

"Well look what we have here, the rookies have all finally arrived," an older Konoha ninja said as he approached them, "you might want to keep your voices down, wouldn't want to attract too much attention to yourselves."

"Who are you and why is that?" Sasuke said from the position he'd taken up leaning against the wall reading Icha Icha. He was rather annoyed that someone had said something that had managed to take his attention away from the novel.

"My name is Kabuto, and in all my attempts to take the chunin exam I've never seen a crop of genin this strong before. It should be an interesting competition this year," he had a strange look in his eyes, putting Naruto on guard. There's something weird about this guy, I can just feel it in my gut.

"And how many times would that be?" Sasuke asked, mildly interested in what the old genin had to say.

"This is my seventh attempt. Even though I've failed, my attempts have at least garnered me something of use, and that would be information on other candidates," as he explained he pulled out a stack of info cards.

"Okay and what sort of information do you have?" Sakura was curious as to what knowledge they could get beforehand that would improve their chances.

"I have a lot of knowledge on a large number of genin, I don't claim it to be perfect or complete but who would you like to hear about?"

Naruto was curious about one of the sand ninja they had encountered a few days previously and so it seemed was Sasuke as the Uchiha spoke up, "Yeah, what can you tell me about a sand ninja. I don't know his name but he's about average height, has short red hair, green eyes and has a gourd on his back carrying who knows what."

Kabuto thought for a second before removing a card from the pile and manipulating it so that the blank face showed information, "I believe you mean Gaara of the Sand. He is a powerful genin from everything I know. It is his first attempt at the genin exams and he has completed a variety of missions. An unknown number of D ranks, 8 C ranks and 1 B rank and never suffered a scratch in any of them. That is all I know unfortunately."

"Okay," Kiba said, "Well that guy sounds like he'll be tough, this should be fun! But what have you got on us? What could you tell us about Naruto here?"

Some of the nearby genin from other villages had started to listen in too.

"Well let's see, Naruto Uzumaki, rookie genin so this is your first attempt. Was a failure during the academy but has somehow completed 1 A rank mission and a number of D and C rank missions. It says here that you were able to stop a conflict from escalating with Zabuza the Demon of the Hidden Mist. Quite impressive Naruto."

Naruto was curious about just what information this guy had, because while he had told his friends about the mission they'd been on that only counted for around 10 people. How much information did this guy actually have and how did he get it? "So what information do you have on my jutsu, anything notable?"

"Only that you have been able to master a jounin level technique called the Shadow Clone Jutsu, I don't have any more information with regards to that. Anyway I just wanted to let you know that you should be careful out there, the other genin might single you out because you are rookies."

"Well I'd like to see them try," Naruto walked over to stand next to Sasuke as Kabuto got up and disappeared into the crowd.

"Hey teme," he said as he leaned in and lowered his voice, "there's something weird about that Kabuto guy. He has too much information to still be a genin, and he has information on a sand ninja who hasn't even been to a chunin exam, that doesn't even make sense. We should keep an eye on him."

Sasuke's Sharingan flared to life, "I was just thinking the same thing dobe."

Before any of the other genin could ask what they were talking about a smoke bomb exploded and when it cleared a number of jounin and chunin were standing at the front of the room.

"Alright, shut up you degenerates. I'm Ibiki Morino and I'll be your proctor for the first test, and that means I'm your worst enemy from this moment forward. Welcome to the chunin exam," the man standing at the head of the group with scars on his face said, smirking at the young genin he was about to delight in breaking.

xXx

The first test wasn't anything like what Team 7 had been expecting and frankly they found it easy.

It wasn't too long into the exam that both Naruto and Sasuke had worked out the point of the exam was to gather information and Sasuke resorted to his sharingan to get the answers that he needed.

Naruto was unfortunately out of luck in that regard but with the amount of reading he'd had his clones do over the last 3 months on a seriously wide range of topics he was able to answer most of the questions.

Sakura hadn't even bothered trying to cheat; she simply ploughed through the test and finished with plenty of time to spare.

When the end of the test came Ibiki spoke up, "The final question of the exam is a do or die question. If you do not choose to answer the question you and your entire team automatically fail. If you do choose to answer the question but are incorrect then you will fail and you will not be able to ever take a chunin exam again," many of the genin were shocked at that last revelation, and it wasn't long before unconfident ninja were getting up and leaving, forcing their partners out of the exam as well.

Naruto and Sasuke had both figured that it was another trick question, much like how the test was designed to encourage cheating, and so had no problems with staying. Sakura was simply confident that she'd be able to answer the question anyway.

But as the test began to drag out and students began to leave Naruto became fed up with the number of genin that were throwing away their chance for a promotion.

"Okay this is ridiculous," Naruto said standing up in the middle of the room. What are you doing dobe? Sasuke face palmed at what how much attention his teammate was drawing to himself.

"Are you seriously going to think about this? How are you ever going to be a real ninja when you can't commit to answer a simple question? Are you just going to run from an opponent in the real world even if it means you hurt your friends and teammates? Because a true shinobi would do anything it took to accomplish his dreams and goals, Dattebayo!"

At that the remaining genin steeled their resolve and Ibiki was deflated, thanks for ruining my test kid.

It wasn't long after people had stopped leaving that the window exploded inwards and a sexy Konoha kunoichi named Anko flew in landing before them while pinning a self-promoting banner up behind her with the use of two kunai that she'd thrown during her mid-air tumble.

"Hey Ibiki," she said to the first proctor before turning to the genin, "Hey what the hell? There should be way less genin than this. You're losing your touch man."

"You're early, and we had a spirited speech from one of the genin that put a dampener on the intimidation factor unfortunately," he grumbled.

"Well it doesn't matter. Okay you little shits, I'm Anko Mitarashi and I'm your proctor for the second test, I'll explain more when we get there but for now let's get going."

Naruto noticed Sasuke eyeing the tight mesh body suit Anko had on that left little to the imagination and worried if he'd somehow managed to corrupt his friend by giving him those novels.

When they arrived at training ground 44, aka the forest of death, Anko turned, explaining the objective of the second test.

"Each team will be given an earth scroll or a heaven scroll. Over the next five days it will be up to you to procure whichever scroll you do not have from another team and make it to the tower at the centre of the training ground. If you cannot make it there with an earth scroll and a heaven scroll within five days you will fail. Every member of the team must also be present for any of the members to proceed to the next stage, meaning you can't leave anyone behind. Finally before we begin I need each member of each team to come here and sign a death waiver, so that should you die, we are not held responsible."

A few of the genin balked at this, Naruto and Sasuke smiled.

As they walked over to the table to sign the waivers and get their scroll Naruto felt a kunai brush past his face, just slightly cutting his cheek. Before he could react Anko had draped herself over his shoulder and was licking his fresh wound free of blood. Naruto guessed she had to have some weird trait, and now he knew what it was, but that knowledge didn't stop him from being a little disturbed at what the older woman was now doing to him. He'd worked out that any ninja worth their salt had some sort of strange aspect of their personality that he figured helped them cope with being a ninja, he wondered what his would be.

For Jiraiya, it was his super-perversion, Kakashi was always late and making random excuses, that and reading Icha Icha in public, and now he knew Anko was a sadist. What worried him though was the look in Sasuke's eyes at what she'd just done. I really shouldn't have given him those books. He didn't look disturbed in the slightest. Yep I've definitely corrupted him. Naruto didn't know whether to laugh or face palm.

It wasn't long before both Naruto and Anko were put on guard when a grass ninja appeared holding a kunai in his tongue. The guy was a serious creep.

"I apologise for startling you," he said when he saw that Anko had drawn a kunai ready for whatever he was trying, "I was just wishing to return your kunai," and after doing so he disappeared back into the crowd.

It wasn't long before everything was sorted and Team 7 had their earth scroll. After wishing good luck to the other rookies they left to stand in front of the gate they had been designated.

"Looks like this is it guys, you ready?" Sakura said with a small grin on her face at the prospect of what might possibly be a challenge. Something about the training sessions with the two young males had taken the fear right out of her, and now she felt she was ready for almost anything. She didn't look nearly as excited as the other members of her team though.

"You bet. This is what I'm talking about dattebayo! Reckon we can beat whatever record they set on this stupid test teme?"

"I don't doubt we will dobe, let's do this," Sasuke said as the gates swung inward and the second stage of the chunin exam began.

So the second stage of the exam begins, what will happen now that they are stronger and faster, what will happen as they progress?
I already know but you don't, mwahahahahaha! Cya next time :) Also some of my chapters might not be beta'd this one wasn't before i put it up because my beta reader was busy doing something at the time i sent it to her, and well I'm impatient, I've re-read it a few times, hopefully there wasn't anything major i missed. Ciao!