The Chunin Exams
They were a rather important occasion, these exams, according to Danzo. Not only were they for the various genin to attempt in order to advance in rank, but they were also incredibly important to the public side of the village. The Chunin exams allowed the various potential clients to come to the village and evaluate there potential employees. The Shinobi forces were, above all else, mercenaries, and the way they did business reflected this. After all, who would want to hire a force that was unable to do its job?
Uzumaki Naruto was going over the personnel folders for everyone that Danzo felt could become a major player, despite there being very few. He scanned the various names, three from Suna, three from a new village called Oto, and a group of Konoha ninja. He smirked to himself as he came across Kabuto's folder.
Yakushi Kabuto, the spy for Orochimaru. Apparently, both the Snake Sannin and the spy believed that Konoha was completely unaware of the spy's existence, Danzo having ordered him executed years ago. Danzo, however, was a lot wiser than that. He had spent decades in this business, longer than Orochimaru had been alive, and knew most of the spies in Konoha, and Kabuto stood out like a sore thumb when one knew what to look for.
"An incredibly talented medic ninja, the subject tends to strike down an opponent with lethal chakra scalpels, using his advanced anatomical knowledge to cripple and kill in a remarkably short time. This subject also has a tendency to boast and talk during a battle, most likely inherited from Orochimaru of the Sannin, a man who did the same to a much greater degree. Recommended to use extreme caution when fighting, and keep a very close eye on potential stealth attacks, as the subject has had Root training."
The folder carried on to give an estimate of his abilities, placing just under Hatake Kakashi at this point in open combat, above with stealth attacks.
Naruto controlled a chuckle that threatened to come loose at that, knowing that Kakashi was quite a bit stronger than Danzo knew. The rest of the information was pretty accurate, including the known techniques of each chunin potential. Naruto gained a surprise when he came across his own folder though, noticing the severe lack of information. A note was inside it from Danzo.
"Naruto,
I have made sure that your information, both on this folder as well as the ninja archives, portrays you as a somewhat talented genin with a high chakra reserve. I recommend you stop Kabuto from telling anyone about you, but leave the choice up to you."
'At least he did that much, though he probably has a dossier filled with information on me that's a bit too accurate for comfort.'
Naruto shut the last folder, reducing them to ashes with a Katon jutsu, and summoned Takami. The brown-plumed hawk appeared, only a little bigger than your normal hawk at the moment, still small enough to ride on his shoulder.
"Yo!" The summon chirped at him, always happy to see the blond. Naruto nodded in greeting, before getting down to business. He spread out a map of a training ground, specifically number 44.
"Alright Takami, I am going to need your help today. As you know, this training ground is an incredibly dangerous one." The hawk seemed to grimace, remembering the first time he flew through it.
"According to Danzo, this will be the second task. First, while the beginning task is taking place, I need you to keep an eye on the gates, making sure no one goes in or out. If they do, listen in on any conversations they have before reporting to me once the first task ends." The hawk nodded in acknowledgement before winging away. That was one of the reasons he liked the little summon, he knew when to be serious, unlike some of the other hawks.
Naruto went through an equipment check, knowing that he would wind up fighting during the exams.
'Alright, ninjato; Sharpened, polished, no nicks in the blade, the hilt is fine, hilts not loss, my ninjato is good. Scrolls; Senbon, kunai, shuriken, spare blade, food, camping gear, survival gear, clothes, extra water, medical supplies, summoning scrolls…good. Armor's fine, shin and arm guards fine, all clothing in decent condition…hi-tai-ate is polished, but not to the point that it shines; good.
Weights off, who knows when I will need the extra speed. Tattoo's still covered; thank god Kakashi didn't see that the other day, it would have brought up questions I wasn't ready to answer." Satisfied that everything was as perfect as he could get it, he left his apartment, noticing a Root member not too far along his route, who nodded at him. It wasn't much, but it was Danzo's way of saying "Good luck!" The man couldn't help but offer the sentiment, despite knowing that there was nothing deadlier than Naruto in these exams. Sometimes Danzo got a bit too attached to his children, and seeing as he had begun training Naruto to be his successor, the elder man was more attached to him than the others.
He arrived to the second surprise of the day, a civil nod from Sasuke. He nodded back, and that was that. Nothing big, but it was enough for both to know that they could work together. Unlike their third teammate, the pink-haired woman running up behind Naruto, putting her hands on her knees and panting. Naruto and Sasuke waited for her to recover and then left, Sakura's insecurities destroyed by the confident stride of Sasuke.
The two ignored the group standing in front of room 201 at a sign from Naruto. Sasuke had originally wanted to reveal the genjutsu, but a head shake from Naruto stopped him. That surprised Naruto quite a bit. 'Guess he has matured! What do you know?'
Of course, his newfound regard for Sasuke was destroyed less than a minute later.
A boy wearing green spandex leapt down from a balcony, introducing himself as Rock Lee and requesting to fight a "genius" like Sasuke. The raven-haired boy smirked, before opening his mouth and ruining Naruto's small amount of respect for him.
"Of course a Dobe like you would want to fight an elite like me, it's your pathetic attempt to make yourself seem stronger! Oh well, I suppose I can allow it, but you will regret challenging an Uchiha!" And he activated his dojutsu, the famous Sharingan, two tomoes in his left eye and one in his right.
'Apparently he only respects those who beat him in a fight, and is the same arrogant teme to everyone else.' Naruto thought, disappointed. The fight was pathetically short, with the spandex wearing youth smacking Sasuke across the room in a bit of taijutsu before vanishing from Sasuke's and Sakura's eyes and reappearing in time to kick Sasuke into the air, reappearing underneath him this time in an attempt to perform what Naruto recognized as the hidden lotus.
Naruto stepped in.
Lee was about to perform his move, despite his sensei telling him that he could only perform it in certain circumstances when everything went screwy. The raven head in front of his eyes vanished, being replaced with a booted foot which crashed into his ribs, sending him to crash onto the ground, hard. He leapt up in time to get a lecture from his sensei, and he was ashamed of himself. It wasn't his fault Tenten had told him to remove the biggest threats from the competition! He did acknowledge that he could have done it a bit differently though.
Naruto had almost gotten away from the two with his teammates when the older one motioned him to wait. He told Sasuke and Sakura to go ahead, informing them he'd be there in a minute as Gai did the same to his genin.
"Thank-you for that Naruto. Despite my efforts to the contrary, Lee-kun has a habit of challenging those he is set to dislike. I'm afraid that if one of us hadn't stopped him, your whole team would be out of the Chunin exams." The older spandex wearing man said, without on mention of the youth that he was infamous for. Naruto nodded in response. Naruto recalled the moment he met Gai, walking in on one of his challenges to Kakashi. The man had had his mask dropped at the time, and tried to keep it down around him now. Gai was actually a far more serious man with an eidetic memory, or perfect recall. He used the mask to deal with the trauma he had seen.
The older man sighed to himself before continuing. "Lee-kun has embraced our mask whole-heartedly, but he still occasionally lets his emotions show through in the way he fights. He is still innocent, thankfully, despite the efforts of others, but I am working with him. I apologize that you were forced to see the rare occasion where he loses a bit of control. I'm afraid he has a teammate eerily reminiscent of little Sasuke, and the boy continuously puts Lee-kun down. Even we occasionally need a break from the continuous insults." Seeming to remember that someone was there, having forgotten he was there after the apology, he returned to his mask.
"However, that was a most youthful display Naruto-kun! Perhaps you would enjoy training with us sometime so we can stoke your flames of youth?" It was shouted, but there was a bit of pleading in the man's eyes. Despite Naruto's own misgivings on whether or not he could handle the two's mask, he nodded, knowing his taijutsu needed work. The older man flashed away, invisible even to Naruto's eyes.
Naruto left the room, nodding to Kakashi on his way in, just in time to see Kabuto dodge the hit from the sound ninja. His sensitive ears easily picked up the vibrations in the air, and Naruto took apart the attack in a moment. 'He uses sound waves from that bracer on his arm to strike his opponents…a potentially deadly move.' Just in time came the exam proctor, to avoid an even bigger fight.
~Okay, I'm not bother with the first exam. Same thing as canon, except Kiba takes Naruto's place as the yeller who inspires confidence~
The group of three were tree jumping through the forest of death when Naruto's senses started acting up. He heard something coming straight for them, and to counter it he shoved Sasuke and Sakura forward, turning to face it, only to be caught off guard by a burst of wind instead of a tangible opponent. 'Well, crap' he thought as he flew away from the other two, seeing only a single kunoichi before he flew out of sight.
He managed to stop his momentum after a while, right before crashing into a tree. Of course, his problems were only just beginning. A massive snake snapped the branch he had been standing on in half, swallowing a log instead of Naruto. 'Just not my day today, huh? Well if that's how you want it to be…' "Doton: Tounyuu! (Boulder throw)" A boulder flew from the ground at the snake, still in midair. It hit it in the gut, followed by a second bolder striking it in the jaw, snapping it's head back in time to get a third in the now vulnerable spot, destroying its windpipe. Naruto let loose a small sigh of relief before releasing the chakra from the earth and heading back towards his team.
He arrived just in time to see the kunoichi biting Sasuke in the neck, causing the boy to scream. Naruto grew worried, and resolved to not let that woman's mouth go anywhere near him. Sasuke shouldn't have screamed that much just from a bite, nor should he be collapsing on the ground. The kunoichi smirked and let out a rather malicious laugh, before stopping and looking at him.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Kukukuku, a fox out in the forest…what?" The woman looked around, seeming to search for him. "Come out little fox, I know I smelled you." The woman only just dodged a set of senbon, which carried on, denting the bark under her feet, causing her to jump away. "Where are you?" She spat, getting irritated at her inability to find him, "Kage bunshin no jutsu" Naruto muttered, before moving away from his position. The woman seemed to hear it, and whirled. "Katon: Gokuyaku no jutsu! (Grand fire Ball)" She sent a fireball the size of a house at where Naruto used to be, but before she could investigate the burning area, she was forced to begin dodging senbon.
She moved like a snake, performing contortions that should not be possible as she dodged each and every senbon, regardless as to where it was aimed, even dancing lightly around the dents being left in the tree branch. "Come on boy, I can do this all day." 'He isn't giving me any time, and I can't get my hands together to replace myself with the mud clone I made earlier so I can take him out. Tsk, that was too close. He's herding me somewhere…'
And it was true, as despite her boasts, her movements were being controlled to a degree by the constant barrage. She performed a particularly difficult back bend, becoming perfectly parallel to the ground. The whirling of Shuriken caught her attention, and she was forced to flip over them in a backflip, the move showing a great deal of grace despite the shuriken giving her a slight haircut. Even in mid-air she was dodging the constant senbon barrage, even though they got a whole lot closer now. She landed on the branch, or what she thought was the branch, only to fall into a section of spikes. She looked around and smirked, her feet having only just missed the various six-inch spikes.
"Iwa Toge Fushido no Jutsu, (Rock thorn bed) huh? Quite skillful of you to perform this without me noticing, seeing as the spikes appear around the user." She only just heard the next muttered jutsu, causing her to panic slightly. "Doton: Shuriken no Jutsu" (Stone shuriken) A collection of fifteen shuriken came spinning at he, some at her legs, others at her torso, and two at her head. Despite herself, she smiled, acknowledging the fact that this was a truly skilled trapper, as planning this entire step out as well as getting her over there was far above genin level.
"Your good, but not good enough, kukuku… Doton: Ohitsuji Kashira! (Ram head)" The earth rose up in front of her, slightly curved and just large enough to block the shuriken, doing so right before it crumbled. She jumped out of the spiked field, or would have if she hadn't of realized something she hadn't noticed.
She snarled out "Ryuusha no jutsu. (Quicksand skill) I can't believe you got me with this..." she went through hand seals in a blur, far too fast for Naruto or any of his clones to stop her. "I've had enough of these games, Doton: Tsuka no Tsuchi Souzou (Earth mound creation)!" A ten foot sloped mound of earth rose from where the quicksand used to be, the spikes crumbling to dust as the woman's chakra overrode Naruto's. Her snakelike eyes took in where the clones were now that she was above them, and replaced herself with her mud clone just in time for it to return to what it was made from as more senbon penetrated it.
Naruto received the memories of his clones, the woman having easily taken them down. He was forced to leap from his position as the woman deduced his location, sending a hail of kunai at him. He landed on the huge branch as the woman appeared in front of him. "So, the hunter has become the hunted," she whispered to him, her voice almost happy about it. She launched a palm at him, which he bent to avoid, his own hand striking at the elbow joint, which she dodged by ducking, the momentum carrying her outstretched arm down with her.
Her other arm snapped forward, being knocked off course by his elbow to her forearm, her other arm made an attempt to punch his stomach and he only just managed to turn enough to dodge it, the fist slipping by it, causing her own eyes to widen in surprise.
An audible crack surged the area as he kneed a large log. Whipping around, he was only just in time to block a knee to the small of his back, but her fists smashed into his face, only for the blond to burst into dust. Coughing, she stumbled backwards, cursing the Koujin Bunshin (Dust clone) for all she was worth. "Doton: Kajuu no Doro! (Mud Weights)" were the next things she heard as mud hit everyone of her limbs, weighing her down with a full ton of chakra and mud.
Unable to move fast enough, she took his next attack head on as a foot thudded into her face, knocking part of her face off. Stumbling back, the kunoichi was defenseless as blow after blow ruined the rest of her facial mask. She finally stopped him, grabbing his arm and tossing him away with a surge of chakra.
Evil laughter rang throughout the clearing. "Kukukuku. Kukukukuku! Very well done Naruto-kun, I am very impressed. You are far and above the Uchiha, despite what my spies say to the contrary. I believe you've earned the right to learn who I am." The woman, no now it was a man's voice, stood straighter, now at 179 centimeters, the man was extremely pale skinned with waist length black hair and plain grey garbs with a purple sash. It was the man's eyes that would frighten most though, those slitted amber eyes that so resembled snakes that gave him away to anyone who knew Konoha's history.
"Orochimaru." Stated Naruto, surprisingly calm to Orochimaru, who was used to his presence at least unnerving his opponents. The man grinned, having already been enjoying the little game, he was looking forward to playing some more. "Let's see just what you can do, Naruto-kun…kukuku." And with that he was off again, his speed now a great deal higher than he was before, even with the mud weights impeding him.
His hands snapped out, moving far faster than Kakashi's ever did, and Naruto was hard pressed to dodge them, but Orochimaru had been expecting that, and his next move proved it.
"Sen'eijashu!" and a set of green snakes flew from the mans sleeves, swiftly looping around Naruto's head. "I've got you now…" Orochimaru started, but Naruto sliced through the snakes with his now drawn ninjato, leaping back and sheathing it in order to give himself some room.
Another laugh left Orochimaru as he complimented the boy. "Good job Naruto-kun, you are a lot calmer than one would expect, being the holder of the Kyuubi and all." He said, his voice bordering on flirtatious. He frowned slightly as he saw that his words had no effect on the boy, but mentally shrugged and continued on with the fight.
He ran through hand seals, but this time Naruto stopped him, forcing him to stop sealing in order to block the boy's kick, more strength behind it than before, as the boy muttered "Doton: Ishi no Yari!" Using Earth chakra, Naruto caused the wood to once again sprout earth, as a spear of stone blasted straight up underneath Orochimaru in an attempt to skewer him. The man leaned back just enough to avoid it, the stone perilously close to his face.
"Well now, that was rude of you Naruto-kun," he said as he jumped back, using the slight blockage of Naruto's view to use his own jutsu. "Katon: Housenka no jutsu!" he muttered, blowing out a series of five fire balls, one a Naruto, one to the left and right, one above, and the last following the first.
Naruto ripped the stone spear from the wood, using earth chakra to bat the fireballs away from him, easily redirecting all five while reflecting the fifth right back at the pale man, sending the spear right above it as he ran towards Orochimaru. The older man smirked, and turned sideways enough to dodge the fire and the spear, using his armguard underneath the sleeves to block a senbon coming at him.
The crack of metal breaking turned his disbelieving eyes towards his armguard as it fell out of his sleeve in two pieces, and the moment of distraction caused him several hits, one in the face and two to his chest. Naruto kicked at the man, but Orochimaru caught his foot. Unconcerned, Naruto flipped his body around to kick with his other foot, Orochimaru now holding him up as the man caught his other foot. The only sign something was wrong was the slight smirk on Naruto's face as he used an adapted jutsu on the older man.
"Doton: Rikujou Shougekiha no jutsu! (Ground shockwave)" The original jutsu worked by the user stomping the ground while blasting chakra into it to cause an intense shockwave to be sent at the opponent. This one did the same, except it could be used at on an opponents body, and Orochimaru learned this the hard way.
He was sent flying into a trunk after being forced to let go of Naruto because of the technique, but the Orochimaru in the crater dissolved into mud.
Orochimaru was getting into the fight; the boy could keep up with him at Jonin level speeds and was winning with the way things were going. Orochimaru decided to amp it up, and being the good sport he was, he warned the fun boy in front of him.
"Kukukuku, good job Naruto-kun! You are probably the strongest genin here! Let's see just how much you can handle!" And he rushed towards the boy at speeds that Might Gai would be jealous of, only having a split second to observe a strange phenomena as it happened.
Killing intent flooded the clearing as Naruto's eyes went gold, the Hokuai (Hawk eye) flaring to life as Naruto caught the man's hand, shockwaves flaring behind him. Orochimaru leaned down a little to observe the new dojutsu, but fell right into Naruto's trap. "Bunshin Daibuhaka! (Great Clone Explosion)" Orochimaru barely had time to replace himself with a log before the clone exploded.
The fight amped up from there, with both parties engaging in a deadly dance that lasted several minutes, the taijutsu match having no clear winner as the two fought. Orochimaru, going at Sannin level for the first time in a while, couldn't help his laughter as he fought, the pure laughter sounding nothing like the evil laughter from before.
There were only three things Orochimaru took pleasure in. Perfecting new jutsu, teaching, and a good fight.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru's experience won out, being able to strike the boy in the ribs and send him back, both sides panting lightly. Orochimaru's eyes were lit up like a fire, a burning passion having woken in him for the first time in years. For a brief second in his eyes he saw Namikaze Minato, a good friend of his in the boy's place as the two sparred in a training ground. His eyes widened as he realized what his old friend had done, and it ticked him off no little bit.
Orochimaru was a monster, he freely admitted that, but he did not condemn children to death the way Minato had his. Even the Mokutun experiment was carried out on adults until Orochimaru had no other choice, both because the Adults didn't survive and because the Third ordered it. After that day, children were off limits. The man had even vowed to never have children of his own, and to take in as many orphans as he could in compensation.
However, the realization that Naruto was Minato's son only increased his joy in the fight, as he began it again with a jutsu from a new element.
"Raiton: Kariyou no Jutsu! (Electric overdose technique) I'd advise you don't get hit by this Naruto-kun, it's quite nasty." He said, unable to help himself from seeing his father in his place and doing what he would have done for the older man.
The boy's emotionless face worried Orochimaru for a moment, but he charged anyways, a large amount of electricity visible in his arms, attempting to hit the blond with the lightning, which would both electrocute him and double the boy's weight, making it difficult to move.
Naruto leaned forward slightly, closing crossing his arms in an X in front of him as the older man moved like lightning towards him. Orochimaru smirked, thrusting forward in a double palm thrust to the chest, his arms going on either side of Naruto's palms.
Naruto's eyes snapped open as his hands lit up with crimson flames.
Orochimaru's amber orbs widened in shock as the boy slammed his flaming palms into his arms, sending Orochimaru's lightning attack hopelessly wide and opening him to a counter. The flaming palm thrust that Naruto delivered capitalized on that, sending the real Orochimaru flying for the first time, the imprint of the boy's palm on his chest now.
But the battle was far from over.
The man flipped in mid-air, landing on his feet as a snake came out of his mouth, opening its mouth to reveal the hilt of a blade. Orochimaru drew it from his mouth, slashing it down as the snake vanished, burning amber eyes looking towards Naruto with a fiendish glee.
"The sword Kusanagi, one of the best blades in existence. Isn't it beautiful?" Naruto was forced to admit that it held a certain amount of beauty as he drew his ninjato. Looking like a standard katana, the hilt was wrapped with a wine red cloth, and despite its common appearance, there was something about it that held the eye.
'The Kusanagi, Danzo warned me about this. Drenched in a deadly, uncounterable and fast-acting poison, this blade can kill most people if it so much as scratches them. Even with my healing factor it's possible I could die if I get anything more than just a light scratch. It is also incredibly hard, and can cut through damn near anything…I have to be very cautious. On the far too likely chance that I have to block it, I need to have a large amount of Earth chakra running through my blade.'
Figuring that Naruto had admired it enough, Orochimaru moved, using all the speed he had worked for in his life. Rather than attempt to block it, Naruto dodged the first few strikes, sliding out of the way with an ease and grace that surprised Orochimaru.
Unfortunately, the skilled swordsman that was Orochimaru could not be denied, and soon Naruto was forced to block the blade with his ninjato to avoid an early death.
The clang surprised them both, but caused Orochimaru to smirk. "I don't know what you're doing Naruto-kun, but I'm impressed. That old ninjato of Danzo's shouldn't be able to block my blade." Naruto's face never changed, Danzo having told him that a while ago.
The battle changed in an instant, Naruto showing off quite a bit of skill as the fight became a dance once more.
Sparks flew as blades clashed, Orochimaru falling on the defensive to test just how skilled the blond was.
He blocked a slash to the neck, easily deflecting another to the shoulder, dodged a thrust t the gut, but Naruto caught him with a shoulder, shoving the man away and allowing the boy to avoid losing an arm.
Now Orochimaru returned the favor, striking with strong, swift slashes, each deflected with as much ease as he had done. Another laugh bubbled up within Orochimaru as yet another slash was dodged, forcing him to jump back unless he felt like losing his arm.
They clashed again, except the stakes were raised once again, pushing Naruto to his limit. Orochimaru muttered "Katon: Chou! (Butterfly)" as he locked blades with Naruto.
The usually d-rank technique had been greatly improved as blue butterflies burned into being all around Orochimaru before flying a great speed towards Naruto, the fires hot enough to cause burns even if they missed. "Doton: Kougo Hada! (Earth Body)" Orochimaru's eyes widened in shock as wings of earth collected on Naruto's back, and with a flap the blade lock was disengaged, Naruto flying into the air above them.
Kougo Hada was an S-rank technique, one of the only ones Naruto had. It allowed the user to add working body parts that they did not have, such as claws, a tail, or wings such as Naruto did, and the user had full control over those parts until they were destroyed. Of course, it ate up a great deal of chakra to use.
"Kenjutsu: Eagle Dive!" Orochimaru was flung back from extreme shockwaves after Naruto slammed into the ground, missing the stab on Orochimaru but the chakra exploding from his feet on contact with the ground more than enough to keep him safe. Keeping his momentum, Naruto disappeared with a muttered "Soru! (Shave)" appearing right in front of the flying Orochimaru and kicking the Kusanagi out of the man's hands, only for both to dissolve into mud.
Orochimaru burst from the tree underneath Naruto, slashing the boy in half and chuckling as the boy dissolved into Sakura petals, pulsing his chakra to dispel the genjutsu. He brought his blade down just in time to intercept Naruto's, smiling widely at him.
"Well young Namikaze," he took a brief moment to enjoy the emotion that finally crossed the boy's face, "I am afraid I will not be able to continue this fight. I do apologize, as it has been quite enjoyable, but I have spent too much time here already. I look forward to seeing you again." And he shunshinned away, reflecting on the emotionless boy.
It was only later on as he was fighting Anko, his beloved former student, that he came to the conclusion that Sarutobi had turned the boy into a weapon for the village, as that was the only plausible way for Orochimaru to explain the boy's incredible skill. His rage at that caused him to lose track of himself for a moment and hurt his former apprentice through the cursed seal he had placed on her, something he deeply regretted as soon as it happened.
Naruto panted for several moments after Orochimaru left, watching as his ninjato fell to pieces before collapsing himself.
AN: Alright, thank you war12345 for translating those, and thank you all for the good reviews. This chapter started off bad in my opinion, but got better, and I request that you all review so I can make my fight scenes better.