a/n- Hello everyone! Get ready for chapter 8!

And yes, the time-skip has come!

Konoha's Orange Maelstrom

Chapter 8

2 ½ years later...

It was yet another beautiful morning in Konohagakure no Sato. The sun was rising, and the sky was painted a brilliant orange colour in the East. The birds were chirping, and the green leaves of the trees surrounding a certain clearing were rustling, thanks to a cold breeze blowing through the clearing.

At the edge of the clearing were many logs that had many scars from the constant pounding they took. There were also a few stray kunai stuck on the trees surrounding the clearing. And, in the middle of the clearing was a 12-year old blond holding two kunai, one with his left hand, and another with his mouth, wearing a plain black half-sleeved t-shirt, orange pants, and blue sandals, along with a kunai pouch strapped to his right thigh. His name was Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto was facing the very same tree he had learnt the tree walking on. However, this time, his objective was not at the top of the tree, it was behind the tree, where there was a standard Kawarimi log.

Naruto ran forward in a burst of speed as he threw the kunai he held in his left hand to the right of the tree, about one foot wide, and as the kunai flew past the tree, Naruto, who was still running, was concentrating really hard. He had spent a big chunk of his 2 ½ years on perfecting and reducing the number of hand seals required for performing the Jutsu he was about to perform...

'Kawarimi no Jutsu!' Naruto mentally shouted, and, instantly, he was replaced with the very kunai he had thrown seconds ago.

Naruto was now floating mid-air, about 15 feet away from his target, 10 feet above ground level, moving through the air with the same velocity he was running at, and he was falling to the ground as well. Naruto quickly took the kunai he held with his mouth in his right hand, and threw it as hard as he accurately could at his target, the Kawarimi log, before he hit the ground.

The kunai hit the log dead-centre and the log fell backwards. Naruto was very pleased to see this and as he landed on both of his feet, he was already shouting, with a grin plastered on his face-

"Yes! I finally did it! Hahaha! Am I great or what?"

Naruto then walked up to the log and pulled out his kunai from the log. Of course, he was not rich enough to simply throw kunai around like they were disposable.

He then retrieved his remaining kunai, and then Kawarimied with a certain log, which was right next to his favourite new orange jacket, which was hanging from the branch of a tree. He put on his jacket as he walked back to his apartment. It was a very special day today, and there was no way Naruto was going to be late today!

About half an hour later, Naruto was in his apartment, clean and fresh, sitting on his bed with a full stomach. From the outside world, it may seem like Naruto was day-dreaming, but actually, he was having a chat with his best friend.

"...and that's why I should become the Hokage! Kurama? Kurama?! Argh! Why do you always fall asleep?!" An enraged Naruto shouted, as Kurama, who was just pretending to sleep to tick Naruto off, smiled in his mind as he 'woke up'.

"Oh, sorry about that. It's just that your lectures are really boring." Kurama said, in a not so sorry tone.

Naruto just grumbled something about stupid foxes, and he was about to leave when he remembered something.

"Oi, Kurama... Do you think I am ready to do it?" Naruto asked, really uncertain.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I will tell you when I think that you are ready?!" Kurama shouted at Naruto, standing up on all fours, and he proceeded to scold Naruto even more- "Your father built this seal in such a way that the amount of my chakra going through your pathways will increase gradually with time, so that there is more of a learning curve when you try to control my chakra. You must wait for the seal to weaken naturally and learn to control my chakra, slow and steady. There is still a small amount of negative emotions in your heart, which is not a good thing! If you release the seal now, you could actually turn into me, and you will die, and I'll take over your Kyuubified body!"

"Why do you have to keep overreacting over this? Oww... My poor ear..." Naruto said, nursing his poor ears.

"That's because you keep on asking me the same question over and over and over again!" Kurama said, very annoyed. That was when Kurama decided to tell Naruto something-

"Oi, Naruto, don't you have that stupid graduation exam of yours today?"

"Oh come on! Why do I always have to be late?!" Naruto shouted, knowing that he was going to be late for the test. Kurama never reminded him of his class until the very last minute.

"See you later Kurama" Naruto said as he vanished.

'Knowing you, I don't think you will need it, but, good luck Naruto.' Kurama mentally said, as he sat back down, and watched what Naruto did...

A few minutes later, Naruto was running through the corridors leading to his classroom. He was running late, but he was not too worried. After all, he had an ace up his seal that he had been saving up for a day like this...

Naruto could now see the door leading to his classroom. He stopped and let a grin form on his face as he performed his signature (for an academy student) Jutsu- the seal-less Kawarimi.

Instantly, Naruto was substituted into his classroom, and the first thing he noticed was that two girls were fighting for the seat next to him. The second thing he noticed was that Iruka was yet to come to the classroom. He was sitting on the left side of one of the two-person benches in his classroom, right next to the sliding glass window.

'Great, looks like I am early on the very day I use that trick... Bummer..." Naruto thought. By some miracle, Kurama had told him to get to his classroom on time. He had become so used to Kurama reminding him of his class only when he was late, that he didn't even bother checking his clock.

However, in his excitement to see if his trick worked, Naruto didn't see the shocked faces of the two girls fighting for the seat next to him, namely, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino.

"Argh! Where did Sasuke-kun go?!" both of Sasuke's fangirls shouted. They were apparently fighting over the seat next to Sasuke, and bam! Instead of Sasuke, there was Naruto sitting in his place.

Naruto grimaced at this. He never liked Sasuke, and one of the things he hated about Sasuke was that he got all the girls, just because he is a genius, and all he did was sit there, brooding all day long. Well... at least Naruto had one girl who liked him... though she was not as aggressive as Sasuke's fangirls, once Naruto started paying attention to Hinata, he realised that she almost always kept an eye on him, and sometimes, he felt like he was being stalked... At first, Naruto didn't know if he should feel proud that he had a fangirl, or feel creeped out, but as the years passed, Naruto got used to it, and, once he started to notice her, maybe he did like her a bit...

Naruto shook off these thoughts from his mind. He needed to keep his mind focused for the upcoming exams... That was when a question popped into his mind-

"Hey, where is Sasuke-teme?"

"That's what we are asking you Naruto!" Sakura shouted at him.

"We know that you have something to do with this, so stop playing the baka!" Ino shouted.

"Please, Ino, you could have used a better phrase. Naruto can't play the baka, he is a baka!" Sakura said.

"Touché." Ino said, agreeing to Sakura's statement.

Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit insulted. Inside his seal, Kurama said, while laughing his ass off- "Hahaha! Those girls know the truth! Hahaha!"

Kiba, who had overheard this conversation commented, while trying to hold back a laugh- "Apply cold water to burned area." And then, he burst out laughing.

Naruto merely grumbled at this. Not getting ticked off at insults like this was a part of Naruto's training to control Kurama's chakra. According to Kurama, if Naruto could shrug off insults like this, he could control his anger better, and thus, also the Bijuu chakra. Of course, this doesn't mean that he will just let this insult go unanswered... He will get back on them for this... Someday... Nobody messes with Konoha's number one prankster!

It was at that very moment that the classroom doors opened, and Iruka entered the class, followed by a certain Uchiha.

The classroom went dead silent. Everyone settled down in their seats, and as for the seat next to Naruto, it was left empty, since Sakura and Ino went and found some other seat.

"Forever alone..." Kiba murmured a comment from the seat behind Naruto.

"Shut up!" Naruto murmured back.

Iruka faced all his pupils, minus Sasuke, who was also facing his classmates, standing beside Iruka. Iruka said. "Good morning students. Now, as you all know, we have the graduation exams today. I hope that all of you pass the exam, and it is quite easy. Ah! And Sasuke, you can take a seat now."

On hearing this, Sasuke went and sat down in the only empty seat in the classroom- the seat right next to Naruto- while giving Naruto the evil eye.

'Looks like I was finally able to piss off the Uchiha! Yes! Although I don't know what happened, I will never forget this day!' Naruto thought.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was sitting in his 'brooding pose', thinking about ways to get back at Naruto for what he did...

Flashback

The first thing Sasuke noticed was that he was no longer in his classroom. And the second thing he noticed was that he was on the floor, and his butt hurt a lot.

Sasuke got up, rubbing his butt, and soon found out that he was in the corridor right outside his classroom.

'How did I get here? Hey... Wait a minute... This must be one of the dobe's pranks... Yes! This must be the same thing he did to Iruka-sensei a couple of years ago! The Kawarimi!'

Sasuke was feeling a bit pissed off about this situation, but then, he got a great idea to get back on Naruto-

'If this works for him, why can't I try it out on him myself?'

Sasuke went through the necessary hand-seals for the Kawarimi and he shouted "Kawarimi no Jutsu!" as he tried to substitute himself with Naruto.

However, instead of being transported into his classroom, Sasuke felt his body weaken, and his legs gave away, and he was on the floor, face down, unconscious.

The next thing Sasuke knew was that he was staring at Iruka's face. Iruka was holding Sasuke's head and back off the floor, with his legs and butt still touching the floor.

"Iruka-sensei..." Sasuke said, his voice a bit weak. "...What happened?"

Iruka let out a sigh of relief on seeing that Sasuke was OK. He said "I should be the one asking you that question. I found you on the floor unconscious. I gave you a soldier pill. Apparently, you were suffering from chakra exhaustion... By any chance, did you attempt a Kawarimi with something other than a standard Kawarimi log?"

"Well... Iruka-sensei..." Sasuke said, a bit embarrassed- "I was Kawarimied out of the classroom by someone, whom I think was Naruto... and I tried to perform a Kawarimi with Naruto to get back inside... and this happened..."

Iruka frowned as he said- "Sasuke, I think I told everyone to never try a trick like that again. The Kawarimi may be an E-Rank ninjutsu, but there is a reason why most shinobi use it in battle only as a last resort- if, you try to Kawarimi with the wrong object, by accident or on purpose, the chakra cost would be very high, and you could suffer from chakra exhaustion. It is a good thing that you can't access 100% of your chakra like most Jounin can, or else, you would be dead now! This is why we tell all of the academy students to refrain from practising the Kawarimi without supervision."

"But what about Naruto? He Kawarimied with you a couple of years ago, and he didn't fall unconcious!" Sasuke said, regaining a bit of his voice.

"Well..." Iruka said hesitantly. The Kyuubi was always a touchy subject with Naruto. "...Let's say, it's his Kekkai Genkai... Oh, look at the time! We are getting late!" Iruka said, quickly changing the subject.

Sasuke felt that there was something fishy with this, but he let it slide, and he followed Iruka into the classroom.

End Flashback

Sasuke was keeping an eye on Naruto, with one question in his mind-

'Just how good are you, Naruto?'

Naruto was doing a pretty good job of not feeling creeped out from the way the Uchiha was looking at him. After all, years of pretending to not notice Hinata had prepared him for this.

"OK, now, today's exam has both a practical part and a written part..." Iruka's voice resounded in the otherwise dead-silent classroom- "We will do the written part first. It is relatively simple, it consists of 30 questions, and you have one hour. Now I want all of you to come here one by one and take your pencil and question paper." Iruka said as he took out a scroll from his pocket, placed it on the desk, and unsealed it's contents, and viola! On the desk were a bundle of pencils and pile of papers.

A few minutes later, every single student was sitting in their seat with their pencil and paper, face down, on their desk, waiting for Iruka to signal the start of the exam.

"Alright, your time starts..." Iruka said, as he started the stopwatch he held in his right hand- "...NOW!"

At that very moment, all of the students quickly turned their papers, producing a fluttering sound, as if a flock of birds just took flight.

Naruto, whom most would expect to be extremely nervous, was wearing a huge grin on his face. He had no reason to be stressed. After all he had an ace up his sleeve...

Naruto closed his eyes, and moments later, he was standing in front of a very much awake Kurama.

"So, what's the answer to the first question." Naruto asked.

"What? You are going to ask me the answers of these stupid questions? This is an insult to me!" Kurama said, genuinely feeling insulted.

"Oh come on! I never asked you to do something like this before! You can't let me down now Kurama!" Naruto pleaded.

"Grrr... Kunai..."

"Huh?"

"The answer to your damn question!"

"Oh, yeah right! Thanks Kurama! I'll be right back!" Naruto said, as he went back to his classroom to write down his answer, and went back to Kurama to get the answer to the next question.

'This exam is going to be a piece of cake!'

An hour later, all of the students had given their papers back to Iruka, who had sealed it back into the scroll he took it from, and had it sent for marking.

"Now class, you will be following me to take your practical exams."

Iruka walked out of the classroom, and his students followed. A bit later, they were all standing outside the academy building, in their training grounds. The very training ground where Sasuke had creamed Naruto numerous times- their taijutsu sparring ground.

With them, there was another man, with shoulder-length silver hair, wearing the standard Konoha chuunin outfit, along with a bandana covering the top of his head.

Iruka proceeded to introduce the man- "This is my colleague Mizuki, and he will be assisting me in conducting the practical exams. He will be the proctor for the first part of the exam, which, as you may have guessed, is a taijutsu proficiency test. You will all get one match with one of your classmates, and I will score you based on your performance. You will get bonus points for winning. You can win by forcing your opponent out of the ring, or if your opponent is unable to fight. And remember, taijutsu only!" Iruka turned to Mizuki and said- "Now, Mizuki, can you please read out the match-ups?"

"With pleasure" Mizuki said while smiling- "The first match is..."

"Uchiha Sasuke vs Uzumaki Naruto"

Whoo! Chapter finished!

So... What do you think? Was the time-skip a bit too early? Did Naruto learn the Seal-less Kawarimi a bit too fast? Is there something I forgot? Did it feel a bit rushed? Whatever it is, please let me know!