Lazyfox: Good morning, happy afternoons and lovely evening to all you wonderful readers~ It's a happy and exciting day for all :3
Random and Magic: *Huddles together in the emo corner in fright* She's too happy something's going down!
Summer: I'm yelling Timber~ I'm so sorry I had to do that it was too good to pass up XD
Lazyfox: Show no shame in your game #BARS! XD Okay I'm going to turn down a bit even though I'm really excited Hehe
Magic: This isn't good...she's being corrupted I knew I shouldn't have let her go off to college T^T
Random: I'm so lost right now -
Lazyfox: No worries my friends for I'm just simply excited for today's chapter, new ideas flowing through my head and my new job! That's right people I'm a working woman now! So if you guys are pumped make sure to smash the hell out of that review button! Now Random smash the hell out that random button.
Random: She's been watching too many Pokémon Youtubers lately I see *hits the random button* So I apologize for her randomness
Gmilena123: What's up guys~ Gmilena123 here with your daily disclaimer :)
Lazyfox: Gmilena here was the one who suggested I bring Omoi and his team to the Chunin exams and since I loved the idea I made it happen unfortunately I forgot to give her credit for the idea so as an apology I'm updating early and letting her say the disclaimer.
Gmilena123: I already forgave her, but I'll take this apology anyway :) Now LazyFoxLover doesn't own Naruto or any of the characters.
Lazyfox: Thank you Gmilena~ Now guys onto the chapter~!
*RECAP*
Team seven was challenged by a disguised Iruka to test them all to see if they were ready for the Chunin exams. One by one Iruka confronted his former students to see how they have grown and with each test his former students proved they were indeed ready to for this exam. After confronting their mystery attack each member team seven went off to do their own things. Hinata was spending time with her sister, Sasuke was off preparing for the Chunin exams and Naruko was treating her gang of followers to ramen. When she walked the kids home Naruko went off to solve her own internal conflicts hoping to find peace at her favorite tree, but she found was the source of her internal conflict.
"Man I feel like a coward...Why do I fear seeing Shika when we should talk to each other, but I really don't want to talk to him" she sighed aloud walking up the hill.
"Well, that's too bad to hear, but I think we need to talk...Blue-eyes" Shikamaru said leaning against the trunk of their tree.
Naruko saw him and let out a loud and heavy sigh. "TODAY IS NOT MY DAY!"
*END OF RECAP*
Shikamaru was covering his ears as Naruko yelled waiting for her to finish before removing his hands. "I see you're screaming has gotten louder over the years..."
Naruko just glared at him and turned away refusing to talk to him which made Shikamaru sigh and if Naruko looked she would see hurt swimming in his eyes too.
"Blue-eyes please talk to me...I know you're mad at me, but at least hear me out first" he said reaching out for her hand.
Naruko felt him grab her hand which made her bite her lower lip as she risked a look at him to see he was hurting. Sighing she gave a timid nod. "Okay..."
Shikamaru gave her a grateful smile as he led her over to the base of the tree. Together they sat down staring up into the sky in silence for a while. The young Nara was trying to figure out what to say to her so he just decided to wing it which was new for him.
"Naruko about earlier...I'm sorry for upsetting you. I know you just got back and I was really happy to see you, but I was on that troublesome assignment so I couldn't talk to you" he started to say.
"Assignment? What assignment?" Naruko asked.
"Team Asuma was assigned to tour duty for some of the Genin teams coming in for the Chunin exam. I was stuck showing the sand girl around for three days now" Shikamaru tells her.
"So you weren't cheating on me?" she asked softly
"Of course not! I be an idiot if I did that, but you're pretty stupid if you thought I would!" He yelled getting upset with her for thinking he would cheat on her.
Naruko puffed her cheeks up in anger at his tone. "Well, excuse me! I didn't know they assign tour duty and for walking on you two almost kissing each other!" she yelled back.
Shikamaru took a deep breath at that moment remembering the scene back there was bad and would make her angrier if he didn't phrase his words right. "That was a complete misunderstanding. Yes it looked like we were going to kiss, but we didn't. Even if you didn't know and it looked bad shouldn't you have trusted me?"
Naruko lost some of her anger and looked down in shame knowing he was right. "I did trust you...I...I just got jealous of her. I thought she was replacing me and to be honest I was scared" she tells him curling up into a ball and resting her head on her knees.
"I can understand being jealous, but scared? Why would you be scared?" he asked.
Naruko bit her bottom lip again keeping her face hidden. "I...I was scared you finally got tired of me" she whispered out sadly.
Shikamaru was floored by her sad answer before his confused face turned soft as he moved over and hugged her. "Silly, troublesome girl...I'll never be tired of you."
Naruko tensed up at first, but smiled as she hugged him back snuggly into his welcoming embrace.
Shikamaru placed a soft kiss on the crown of her head as he ran his fingers through her hair watching her sunny locks fall through his fingers.
"Blue-eyes I told you once what you meant to me and I meant every word. You are a troublesome headache and at time it can be a drag dealing with the hyper side of your personality, but I wouldn't change a thing about you because who you are is what I love about you" Shikamaru tells her sincerely.
Naruko hummed contently with her hair being combed out by him and smiled softly at his heartfelt words making her heart beat faster. "And I love you...You're my best friend and it scares me to think if something ever happened that made us break up we lose this bond we have. Thinking like that scares me Shika it really does" she tells him getting teary eyed.
Shikamaru cupped her face so she was staring right at him as he leaned in kissing her softly. The kiss was short and sweet, but conveying the love they had for each other. When they pulled apart Shikamaru wiped a stray tear from her face as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Even if you decide we won't make it as a couple I will never stop caring about you. You're my best friend first and foremost and I will always be there for you" he promises her.
Naruko cried a little as she held onto him tighter. "Just like you promised after Grandma Kaede's funeral?" she asked.
"Yes, I'll always protect you no matter what. My troublesome Blue-eyes" he said softly holding her close to him.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
The five days have passed and now team seven found themselves standing outside the building that will hold the first part of the Chunin exams.
"Alright! I'm so pumped up for this exam, lets show these guys what Team Kakashi is all about!" Naruko cheered standing with her two teammates.
"How can you be excited to do anything related to this exam? You blew these past few days doing nothing, but spending time with Nara!" Sasuke scolded.
"Shut up Teme! Just because I didn't stay out all hours of the night like you didn't mean I wasn't getting ready! I spent time with Hinata too ya know!" Naruko yelled back at him.
"It's true S...Sasuke-kun. Naru-chan was helping me with my Medical Ninjutsu training" Hinata said softly.
"Whatever" Sasuke sneered. "Let's just turn our forms in and report to the meeting room."
"What's his deal?" Naruko grumbled following behind the angry Uchiha.
"He might be mad you didn't train with him when you went off with Shikamaru-kun?" Hinata suggested.
Naruko sighed as she put her hands behind her head. "Ohhhh that's why he's acting like he has a stick jammed up his butt. Shika was making up for the fact he blew off when we got home" she tells her.
Hinata smiled at her. "I'm glad you and Shikamaru-kun made up. I hate to see best friends upset with each other" she said.
Naruko grinned happily at her. "Yea me too. We talked it out and everything is exactly as it should be between us."
"I'm glad" Hinata tells her.
Together the trio walked up the stairs to see a coward of people standing around a pair of double doors and in the miss of the crowd Naruko spotted a familiar face.
"Bushy-Brow!" Naruko cheered running over to the green-jump suit wearing boy with bowl shaped haircut. "I've missed you" she cheered leaping and giving him a hug.
Rock-Lee who was talking to the pair of competitors guarding the double doors was caught off guard by the sudden force hitting his side until he saw a pair of familiar blond pigtails. "Naru-Chan! It's so good to see you too my friend!"
Sasuke sighed at how stupid Naruko could be. He knows she doesn't care how people see her, but they were taking this Chunin exam and by her display other teams will see them as weak. Sighing again he was about to scold her when he felt a tug on his shirt and turned to see Hinata moving to stand behind him looking nervous and scared.
Hinata was mentally scolding herself for acting so scared, but she couldn't help it. Since Lee was here that meant 'He' was here too. And like she feared he appeared.
"I'm surprised you showed up... Hinata-Sama" Neji said scornfully. "Don't you think you're a little over your head trying to take on this exam."
Sasuke gave Neji a warning glare. As Naruko moved back to Hinata's side to give Neji a glare of her own.
"Shut up. I see you haven't changed any since we last meet. Still a condescending prick as always" Naruko growled.
"And you're still a loser like always" Neji said giving Hinata hard glare that made her shake a bit and move closer to Sasuke. "Still hiding behind others Hinata-Sama? Why doesn't that surprise me either?"
"Neji, that's enough. We are not here to provoke a fight remember?" Said a young brunette wearing her hair in twin buns with a Chinese pink button up top with teal colors pants.
"Tenten's is right Neji. We have come to take part in this exam not pick random fights" Lee said giving his friends apologetic smile.
Neji maintained his heated stare for a few more seconds before turning away like the three Genin were nothing but a pest to him. "You're right. I don't have time to waste on pathetic weaklings. This exam will crush before I have the chance to face you."
Naruko and Sasuke were gripping their hands into tight fist wanting nothing more to tell the proud Hyuga off, but before they could Hinata took a step in front of them looking straight at Neji's turned head.
"N...Neji N..Nii-san... My team and I will not f..fail...because we w..won't be falling f...for this trick" Hinata stuttered out glancing at the two guards at the door. "P..please allow my team and I pass thro..through here, this it only the second floor."
Sasuke smiled at Hinata proud of her sticking up for herself and for detecting they were all caught in a Genjutsu. "Looks like we aren't as foolish as you think if a bunch of rookies could see through this phony illusion."
"Big talk little man" one of the guards saying charging at Sasuke who was prepared for the attack, but both attacks were stopped midair by Lee.
"He's fast? When he get to move like that?!" Sasuke said not remembering Lee to be that quick.
"Remember there is a time and place to fight, but this is neither the time nor place" Lee said in a wise kind of tone. "Did you see me Naru-Chan was I not cool" he thought blushing as he looked to his crush.
"Whoa Bushy-brow moved so fast?! I barely saw him" Naruko thought grinning at him and giving him a thumbs up.
"That must be the girl Lee was talking about" Tenten thought looking at how her bushy eyed teammate was grinning at the other girl.
"Lee I thought we were supposed to stay under the radar? Doesn't matter we will show these rookies how this test is won. Now let's go" Neji throwing Hinata one last glare before leading his teammates away.
"I will see you three later. Let us all give our best so that we can win and bring honor to our village and sensei's" Lee said bowing to Team Seven before following after his teammates.
Hinata sighed in relief when Neji was out of sight, but was soon tackled into a hug by Naruko.
"Hina-Chan you did it! You finally stood up for yourself to Neji!" Naruko cheered.
Hinata began to turn bright red as she thought about what she just did. "I...I d..did, d...did..didn't I" she stuttered out twirling her fingers together.
"Yes you did" Sasuke said showing her a small proud smile that made her blush a little darker before she cheered up and grabbed their hands.
"W..Well, we better g..get up there now" she said smiling at her team showing she wasn't as nervous anymore.
As Team Seven headed up to the third floor that would lead them to the examine room they encountered a familiar face mask.
"Hinata-Chan I'm glad to see you made it" Kakashi said waving his team over to him. "Since all three of you are here I can officially allow you all to take the exam"
"What do you mean sensei? I..I thought we already qualified?" Hinata asked softly.
"Well, sort of. I kind of left out details to the registration. You see for a rookie team to fully qualify for the exam they have to have their Jounin's recommendation and by having a full team of three" Kakashi tells them.
"Wait, but you said it be our choice whether we wanted to come today or not" Naruko said.
"That was the truth. You all had to make the choice of coming here today, but if one of you didn't show up I couldn't let the other two in" Kakashi explained. "I hid that factor out from you guys because I didn't want no one pressuring one another to come here today or for anyone to feel guilty."
"I understand. So in a way this was another teamwork assignment from you. Come together as a team or don't come at all" Sasuke said.
Kakashi gave him a smile at that. "Exactly. I'm happy to see you all here of your own free wills and I'm proud of each and every one of you. You're my prized Team Seven students, so go them and show them what you're made of!"
Sasuke smirked confident in his skills. Hinata was beaming happily knowing she was going to give it her all for her team and herself. Naruko was standing there with an excited grin.
"Dattebayo! We're acing this test!" Naruko cheered leading her team through the door with Kakashi smiling after them.
Once the doors closed behind them Team seven was put into a startled trance as they saw the room was packed with Genins everywhere. Each one looked scary and more experienced than them.
"Oh man look at them all" Naruko said softly gulping a bit at the sudden nervousness that hit her.
"Well, blue-eyes what else did you expect?" said a lazy voice.
Team seven turned to see Shikamaru standing between Choji and Ino. Naruko cheered as she rushed over giving Shikamaru a hug.
"Shika! You guys are taking the exam?" she asked excitedly.
"Man this sucks, I didn't want to take it, but Ino practically threatened to rip our limbs off if we didn't" Shikamaru tells her scratching his head.
"Of course! I heard that all the rookie Genin from our year was entering and I wasn't going to make you two make me look bad by skipping" Ino said threateningly before smiling at Sasuke. "It's good to see you again Sasuke-kun."
"I see you don't take long to make fools of yourselves Ino-pig whiskers" came a high pitch voice.
Naruko and Ino got a tick mark on their head before they turned to face Sakura who stood between her teammates. "Shut up Bubblegum/Billboard brow!"
"Looks like the gangs all here. Glad to see we haven't changed any" Kiba laughed.
"Speak for yourself dog-boy. I don't know about you guys and Sasuke, but Hinata and me have been getting a lot stronger" Naruko declared.
"N..Naru-chan... be nice" Hinata said shyly waving towards everyone.
"I thought I heard a familiar voice..." drawled out a low voice getting the nine rookies attention.
Turning to the sound of the voice the nine saw a young dark-skinned boy with short spiky white hair and dark eyes. To eight of them he was a stranger, but to one of them he wasn't.
"Omoi~" Naruko cheered rushing over to him flying at him to give him a hug as he held his ground keeping them from falling over. "I knew I see you here. Bet you're surprised I'm here."
"Kind of surprised. Ah did you come here to find me to stop me from taking part in the Chunin exam because you didn't want me to get hurt? Oh I knew it was a mistake to hold you as long as I did because you did fall in love with me! Oh no oh no you're going to go back to the bridge where we first meet and jump now aren't you!" Omoi said holding Naruko tighter fearing she would leave, but instead she started laughing while the others were staring at them.
"Hahaha you wish! I'm here to pass this exam! Dattebayo!" she tells him before she was yanked away from him by Ino and Sakura.
"Naruko! Who is that guy and why did he mean about you falling in love with him and jumping off bridges?!" the two girls demanded back in the huddle of their peers.
Naruko gave a sheepish laugh scratching the back of her head. "Well, ya see the day we got back I was sitting on the low bridge near the training grounds and when I went to stand up I slipped and almost fell into the river. Omoi over there saved me before I did and he has this funny sense of overthinking things and picturing the worse outcome of them" she tells them.
"Okay that explains the bridge part, but what about the love part?" Shikamaru demanded sounding a little jealous, but it went unnoticed by everyone.
"Well, when he saved me from falling off he was holding me bridal style for a while until he put me down. I guess he thought the short time he was holding me was enough for me to fall in love with him" Naruko laughed again. "He's a really nice guy though so don't give him any third degrees guys."
"You know for a couple of rookies you guys sure have big mouths. I suggest you quiet down" scolded a new voice approaching the large group.
"And who are you to tell us that?" Kiba demand turning to the sound of the voice to see a man with silver hair and glasses approaching them.
"The guy trying to give you all a friendly warning. Look behind you" the silver haired man said.
Listening to his advice the nine Genin turned to see that everyone in the room was glaring at them making the more timid members sweat a bit.
"Wow they look mad" Sakura said fearfully.
"You guys are rookies so you didn't know any better, but take my advice and cool it with the enthusiasm. Some of the guys here have been Genin for years now and you lot are fresh out of the academy so I cool it. By the way my name's Kabuto and take my advice you don't want to cause a scene here" Kabuto said pushing up his glasses a bit.
"You seem to know what's going on around here. Is this your second time here?" Ino asked.
"Nope. This here is my seventh try at these exams. Seeing as the Chunin exam is held twice every year this makes it my fourth year. So as a senior to you little freshmen how about I give you all a little bit of information on how this exam works" Kabuto said pulling out a deck of cards.
"A deck of Ninja info cards. Pretty useful in the hands of an enemy" came a newer voice.
Again the group looked up to see a red haired girl with dark skin walk over to them with a stoic looking blonde girl. When the red haired girl approached she punched Omoi in the head.
"Omoi you idiot! Don't walk off from us. Why are you over here anyways?" the red haired girl asked.
"Ow... Karui you didn't have to hit me. I told you I was coming back over there I just wanted to come over and say hi to sunny" Omoi whined.
"Sunny? Who the hellz sunny?" Karui said.
"Her" Omoi said pointing at Naruko who looked on confused before pointing to herself.
"Me?" she asked getting a goofy grin from Omoi who nodded and blank stares from his two teammates.
Karui huffed before stalking up to Naruko who looked a little intimidated by her, but didn't let it show much. "So this was the pipsqueak you were talking about that made you late"
Naruko felt her eye twitch a bit. "Who you calling pipsqueak?!"
"I'm talking to you shrimpy! Got a problem with it?!" Karui yelled glaring down at her.
Growling Naruko got on her tiptoes so she get in her face. "Yea I got a problem with it! I'm not a pipsqueak baka!"
Before a fight could break out between the two girls Omoi jumped up and locked Karui into a full nelson to hold her back looking worried. "Haha nice talking to you Sunny, but we better head over there before Karui here goes on a rampage and tears the building down on us."
With that Omoi and the blonde haired girl dragged their angered teammate away.
"Well, that was entertaining. Geez whiskers you sure do know how to make friends don't ya" Sakura said with a sigh as Naruko huffed with a pout.
"I'm not short. Now what was that about ninja cards or whatever?" she said hoping to change topics.
"Right as the blonde mentioned before these cards are known as ninja info cards that allow me to burn information down on them with my chakra. You can tell from this stack I have gathered over four years of data so ask any questions you like" Kabuto explained to them taking the top card using his chakra to make a graph appear on it.
"What's that?" Choji asked munching on a bag of chips.
"This is the information that is gathered of the individual shinobis taking the exam. For example, our village has the most participants, while the smaller villages like the sound, have the least." Kabuto explained.
"Do these cards give you information on individuals?" Sasuke asked taking interest now.
"Sure, who do you need information on?" Kabuto asked.
"Gaara. Rock Lee. Omoi" came the three names from Naruko, Sasuke and Shikamaru.
"Who these guys peak your interest? Well lets see what I have for you guys" Kabuto said plucking three cards out of his deck.
"The first one requested by the misses is about Gaara of the desert. He is on a team with his older brother and sis. As for his mission history it say here that he's completed 8 c-rank missions, and 1 b-rank mission impressive for a Genin. Another interesting fact about him is that he returned from all his mission without a scratch on him" Kabuto tells her.
"Wow... I knew he was strong, but I didn't think he be that good" she said nervously remembering how the redhead sparked fear in the purple face paint guy and in her when she looked into the emotionless void of his eyes.
"How you meet a guy like this Naru-chan?" Choji asked feeling intimidated too, but got no answer from the blond who was lost in thought.
"Well, next up is out fellow leaf ninja Rock-Lee. Here it states he's a year older than you guys and his sensei is Might Gai and his teammates are Neji Hyuga and Tenten. As for mission history he's completed 20 D-rank missions and 12 C-rank ones. He's a very skilled Taijutsu user as well" Kabuto informed.
"Wow Lee-san got a lot stronger" Ino said impressed on how much he grew.
"Lastly Omoi of Kumogakure. Again since he's a foreign ninja not much is known about him. His teammates are Karui and Samui and seems he completed 10 D-rank missions and 13 c-rank ones and he seems to be quite the strategist too" Kabuto explained.
Shikamaru tisked at that casting a possessive look at Naruko who was still in deep thought.
"As you can see there are many talented and elite Genin from all of the hidden countries. Though the Sound was just formed and have very to offer the others have sent the best of the best. This will not be easy for any of you" Kabuto said pushing up his glasses and putting his cards away.
"H..Hearing that...m..makes you lose your confidence" Hinata said a bit more worried now.
Naruko at the moment gave a twitch as she faced the ground shaking a bit.
The other catching Naruko shaking gave her a worried look as a trio in the back was staring Kabuto down heatedly.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"This isn't going to be easy" Kakashi heard from outside the door.
"This test was never about sending them into something easy. I passed this exam when I was 6, but that was me...Am I pushing them too much?" Kakashi wondered going back to his conversation with Iruka.
"Their each striving to get stronger for their own reasons. Naruko wants to gain the respect of others, Sasuke wants to get stronger to beat Itachi, but he slowly changing it so he can protect Naruko and Hinata and Hinata...Hinata trying to get stronger to prove herself to those who have doubted her. Please let my decision be what's best for them" he wished silently listening through the door.
Ino and Sakura were worried about Naruko as she started to shake more and both of them decided to cheer her up, but before either girl could say anything Naruko snapped her head up wearing an excited grin as she faced the crowd of Genin.
"MY NAME'S NARUKO UZUMAKI! IT'S GOING TO BE A PLEASURE TO KICK ALL OF YOUR ASSES! DATTEBAYO!" Naruko declared proudly.
The other Genin nearly face planted at her brave and very reckless proclamation. Kakashi on the other hand was grinning proudly under his mask as he walked away.
"Imoto only you can change the doubt of others...Go in there and show them just who you are...Good luck team, but knowing you kids you don't need it!" Kakashi thought fondly as he walked away.
Lazyfox: And done~ So what you guys think about it? I hope you liked it and that everyone had a great New Years:)
Magic: Ass kicking away~ Sweet, sweet violence XD
Summer: Nii-san is scary when he wants to be (Hides with Random)
Random: Very. Though I have to agree the violence is coming and I can't wait! ^w^
Lazyfox: Well, I'm not going to try to make you guys wait long. Again thank you all for supporting this story and I can't wait to see you all again. Where at the beginning of 2015 so I hope to bring you a lot of chapters this year so until next time...
Everyone: JAA-NEE!