In the stadium where the chuunin exam finals took place, the entire Shinobi Council was seated along with the elder advisers, all for the purpose of observing and evaluating Naruto. The Civilian Council was not allowed to partake in this as it in no way was a civilian matter and in Naruto's case couldn't always be trusted to remain unbiased. The only person there not a member of the council was Hinata, who seated herself away from the council, specifically her father who she wasn't in the mood to be around right now.

"Best of luck gaki." Tsunade said before she, Shizune, and Kakashi shunshined out of the arena.

Shikamaru showed up and stood before Naruto, looking his usual lazy self. "Alright Naruto, I'm going to be the one to administer your first portion of the test, the non-combative part. Here we will be testing your intelligence, seeing if you've gotten any smart over the years. Listen carefully since it would be too troublesome to explain this twice."

Naruto nodded. 'At least it won't be a written test. I don't see a desk anywhere.'

"I will give you five riddles, and you will have two minutes to give me an answer for each one. You are allowed to be incorrect or unable to provide an answer twice, meaning getting three out of five right is the minimum for passing this portion. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded.

Shikamaru made an effort of pretending to think up a riddle. This would possibly lure Naruto into a false sense of security and see if he would underestimate his opponent's intelligence here. "First riddle. What starts walking on four legs, then walks on two, then walks on three?"

Naruto smirked. "I heard that one somewhere. It's supposed to be a person growing from baby to old guy that needs a cane."

Shikamaru smiled. "Correct. I started with a well-known one to get your mind going, but now it will be tougher. Second riddle,What is taller when it sits down then when it stands up?"

"Huh? Nothing could be taller when-" Naruto objected, confused.

"Naruto, your two minutes have started. I'd think up an answer rather than argue the question if I were you." Shikamaru told him, showing him a stopwatch that was ticking away.

The whiskered blonde silenced himself and tried to think hard. 'Taller when it sits down? What could that possibly describe? A person sitting in a really tall chair? No, that's silly. Shikamaru's probably still giving simple ones for me so it has to be something I've encountered before.' He thought, closing his eyes and crossing his arms as he thought it over.

"Thirty seconds left Naruto." Shikamaru warned.

Naruto snapped his fingers. "A toad? When it stands it looks like it's sitting."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Wrong Naruto. The correct answer was a dog or cat. Next time you see one, compare their heights in different positions." Naruto groaned. "Third riddle. What is something you own but others use it more than you do?"

'Hmm... my house? No. My clothes? No. My bed? No. My shadow? No. My chakra? No.' He asked, going over anything he had that came to mind, then something made sense to him enough to chance it. "My name?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Correct. Fourth riddle. What disappears as soon as you've measured it?"

'Damn, never was good at metrics.' Naruto thought, reminding himself as best he could. 'You can measure pounds, grams, ounces, liters, anything solid or liquid basically, but they remain. What about something not solid? Some like air? No, not if you can contain it. Something uncontainable then?' He saw Shikamaru check his stopwatch and gasped. "Time! It's time!"

The Nara smiled. "Correct. And that's three out of five so you pass and can advance. Though you still need to answer one more for a proper score. Now, what is full of holes but still contains water?"

'That's a tough one, but if it's like the others the answer's not obvious.' He thought, taking his time to answer. "A riverbed?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "Nope, a sponge."

"A sponge? Damn, now it's so obvious." Naruto berated himself.

"Hey, at least you passed. Now the next guy can test you." Shikamaru told him.

"Was this test really necessary?" Homura asked Tsunade.

The Hokage nodded. "I know it's strange but we didn't have time to prepare an alternative test that could be graded later. We needed someway to test Naruto's ability to figure things out quickly and this was the best we could do."

"The others don't seem to be too impressed." Koharu said, pointing out the other council members talking to themselves, mostly generic comments but nothing downright derogatory or praising.

"It's just begun, no one could expect there to be a grand show in the very beginning. None of our tests ever work that way." Tsunade told them then turned back to see the next portion.

"The questions hardly seemed worth of being a real test." Danzo pointed out.

"We're testing ninja, not scholars. Now hush." Tsunade argued.

Shikamaru left and Tenten appeared. "Naruto, I am here to test your ability to respond to attacks. Here you are not to attack, you are only to dodge, block, and counter defensivly." She said before holding up a ribbon she tucked into her hitai-ate, the tail end draped under her left hair bun. "Your goal is to get this ribbon off my person in anyway you can within five minutes, all without using an offensive jutsu. And I'm afraid your shadow clones count so this time you cannot use them. I can declare a time out if I have reason to believe you are attacking in some manner. Clear?"

"Can you give me an example of a jutsu that is allowed?"

"Things like substitutions, henges, shunshin, and even taijutsu or genjutsu used defensively are okay."

Naruto grinned. "Gotcha."

Tenten gave no signal as she began attacking. "Shadow Shuriken Clone Jutsu." Six shuriken she threw became sixty and they were coming at him faster than bees.

Naruto smirked and did an invented cross hand sign. "Anti-Clone Jutsu." Suddenly all but the six original shuriken disappeared and Naruto easily dodged them.

Tenten was shocked. "How...? What was that?"

"I've been using shadow clones for years. Did you really believe I'd never learn how to counter the jutsu if it was used against me? I designed a jutsu that destroys anything made using the shadow clone jutsu."

'That's my Naruto-kun, always so clever and unpredictable.' Hinata thought warmly.

Tenten pulled out two scrolls. "Remember Naruto, you still have to approach me here."

"Yeah, but I'm not charging in blindly." He told her, remaining in one spot.

"Ah you're no fun." She said before unfurling both scrolls and jumping into the air. "Twin Rising Dragons."

As expected, so many weapons burst out of the twirling scrolls, flying in all directions at once. Too many to count and too fast to properly identify. Not impossible to evade or defend against, but difficult to.

Tenten had a difficult time focusing her eyes on Naruto since she was spinning, but she did catch what he was doing and she gasped. He had jumped on one of the weapons then jumped to another and another, approaching her. 'He's using my own attack as a way to get to me. Better up my strategy a bit more.'

Throwing her scrolls she did some hand signs. "Lightning Style Static Circuit Jutsu." All of a sudden a network of electricity danced between the metal weapons in the air and on the ground. Some of it was about to hit him but he performed a substitution and a log took the hit for him.

"Didn't see that one coming Tenten." Naruto said as he appeared behind her.

"Just because I don't like using jutsu doesn't mean I don't know any." 'How did he get behind me so quick after the substitution?' Tenten thought, then saw his hand going for the ribbon. Reacting on reflex, she performed a high kick to deflect his hand while she raised her own to block in case of a follow-up hidden grab.

The two landed and Naruto looked confident. "I win."

"Did you?" Tenten asked, pointing to the ribbon still held in her hair, just repositioned to the right side now. Confused, Naruto glanced to what he had in his hands and saw it was one of the bands that held Tenten's hair in place and even a few plucked strands of hair too. Right now her left hairbun was undone and the left side of her hair was hanging down, making her look a lot more feminine that way.

"Clever, but you're going to have to do better than that to out-trick the Hokage of Pranks." Naruto claimed.

"Don't need to. You have less than three minutes left or else you fail." Tenten said before throwing some more kunai at him.

Naruto dodged and started to think as fast as his brain would allow. 'Okay, she already knows most of my normal tricks. I've got to do something to catch her off guard.' He thought for a moment longer and then a light bulb popped on in his head.

Naruto reached into his pouch and withdrew a single smoke bomb and tossed it onto the ground. The bomb exploded in a cloud of white, covering him from view.

Standing outside the cloud Tenten gripped her kunai and shook her head as she watched it dissipate. "Really Naruto? Is that all you got? Because you only have two minutes left and it is going to take a lot more than some cheap tricks to-"

Tenten became extremely quiet and her face turned a bright crimson red, because when the smoke finally vanished, standing in front of her was a naked, lower region hidden by lingering smoke, Neji who smiled and winked at Tenten.

The girl simply stood there, her mind utterly blank for the moment, although it came back to her when she suddenly felt slight movement in her hair. She turned to see Naruto standing next to her, holding the ribbon in his hand and smile on his face.

"If at first you don't succeed, try try again." He said with a grin.

Tenten suddenly realized that in her shock she had failed to see him return to normal and approach her. She looked at him with a mixture of confusion at his plan and admiration at its creativity. "How did you-?

"I used that plan several times before on guys using my Sexy Jutsu. It usually gets good results. So I figured it was worth a try using it on you. I'm told women can be perverts too, and apparently some are." Naruto said with a grin.

"But why did you use Neji?" She asked, her face began to turn red again as she felt a moment of anxiety wondering if Naruto knew that she-

"Oh, cause I thought it would shock you and catch you off guard. I mean can you actually imagine Neji naked? I barely could." Naruto said, utterly oblivious.

Tenten first thanked Kami-sama that Naruto was still Naruto, and she also bowed her head. "Congratulations Naruto, you win."

In the stands, Hiashi tightened his jaw and fumed. "The audacity, the impudence, the unmediated gall. To use the image of my nephew in such a shameless way to deceive-"

Kakashi simply smiled. "I found it to be very clever. He realized how close he had been using the first method, so he reattempted but made necessary changes in order to ensure his victory."

Danzo nodded. "The boy has a natural talent for deception and trickery. Good traits for a ninja."

The other members of the council nodded and Tsunade simply smiled. 'Good job, Naruto. Keep going.'

Meanwhile on the other side of the arena Hinata had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing.

And hidden behind one of the pillars, having watched the whole thing, Neji made a mental note to personally kill Naruto after he was promoted.

Shino approached after Tenten left. "Naruto, I'll be your opponent for your third test. It will be the opposite of your test with Tenten-san. You can go on the offensive and I must stay on the defensive, all while I try to take the ribbon off your person. If you can keep it out of my hands for a full five minutes, you win the match. Is that clear?"

Naruto nodded and tucked the ribbon Tenten gave him into his right pocket. "Let's do this."

Shino nodded and just so Naruto could not object held out a timer and activated it. "Begin." All of a sudden he had his swarm out and ready, making it look like Shino was shrouded in a dark cloud.

'Alright, Shino doesn't have to be offensive to attack me. His bugs could steal this ribbon from me at any time. Getting up close isn't good so how do I...?' Naruto's eyes widened as he got an idea.

"Naruto, it is not wise to waste your time here." Shino suggested since he wasn't allowed to make the first move.

Naruto smiled and pulled out the ribbon. "You need to get this away from me within five minutes right?"

"Yes."

'What are you doing Naruto?' Tsunade fretted.

"Well Shino, I guess I have no choice then." The whiskered blonde said before surprising everyone by putting the ribbon in his mouth then swallowing it. And boy did his expression show he did not enjoy it. Keeping down his gag reflex was hard enough, but to keep himself from choking he had to swallow it like a ramen noodle.

Everyone was wide-eyed to see that. Even Shino. "Naruto, what on earth were you thinking?"

"That it was your job to take the ribbon from me but my job was to make sure you didn't. I didn't break any rules and it looks to me like there's no way you can succeed now. And best of all I didn't even have to waste any chakra or endanger myself fighting someone I couldn't possibly beat."

Hinata grinned like a cat that got the cream. 'Yeah, that's my man.'

Shino didn't show it, but he was clearly pleased. "Very well, and you're right, there is no way for me to retrieve the ribbon without killing you or a good portion of my hive which I would rather do neither of. So I declare you the winner. And on a personal note, I think what your bowels are going to go thru are probably painful enough to compensation for any I might have dealt you here."

"Don't remind me." Naruto groaned.

"The boy is indeed skilled." Koharu said as she fanned herself, not enjoying the heat of the summer day.

"His problem solving skills are adequate. But I must say his ability in deceptions and strategy is extremely high." Homura added, readjusting his glasses.

Hiashi though was less than convinced, he had spent a good portion of the exam watching his daughter cheer and clap for the boy rather than actually watching him. "He still acts like an immature child. Look at him, showboating as if he were some entertainer."

Kakashi, who had been seated behind Hiashi replied with "I have seen Naruto on actual missions, I can assure you that he takes them with the utmost seriousness."

Hiashi's frown simply deepened. "When I want your opinion commoner, I will ask for it."

"We are all here to give judgment Hyuuga-san, not just you." Kakashi rolled his good eye and looked back down at Naruto and smiled beneath his mask. 'This is it, he is more than ready.'

Tsunade looked at the council members. "Well? Can you now see it? Naruto is more than deserving of the promotion."

Before anyone could respond, Danzō let out a light cough. "I still have one more test, Hokage-sama."

"Another test? We have already concluded all of the required tests." Tsunade said. "What more does he need to prove?"

"Nothing, simply humor an old man for a moment. I have already decided my answer after seeing his performance. But I simply want to see one more thing." He said quietly.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. 'I just know there's something bad going on about this. But so far, I do have the support of both Koharu and Homura, that along with my vote gives me the majority.' "Alright Danzō, you may perform your test. But I reserve the right to void it from consideration if I believe you are testing him inappropriately."

The old man nodded and slowly rose from his sitting place, leaning heavily on his cane as he did though. He looked down at Naruto who looked back up at him and grinned. "So did I pass?" He asked.

Danzō gave a small smile. "You have one final challenge. If you succeed in it, then you have my vote."

"Bring it on then." Naruto said, cockily.

"As you wish." Danzō replied and snapped his fingers.

Naruto barely had time to turn his head when a fist was slammed into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. He doubled over for a second and then the red-haired man who attacked him lifted his arms up and then brought them crashing down onto Naruto's back, forcing him flat on the ground.

On her side, Hinata gasped and covered her mouth in shock. 'Naruto-kun...'

On the other side of the Arena, the remaining council members stood up and moved to the edge in order to get a better look.

Tsunade glared at Danzō. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I am testing the boy's capability to fight an S-class enemy. Fū there, is an ANBU and one of my bodyguards. As a jinchuuriki, he will be expected to fight the best of other villages, so we should test him against the best of our own."

"This is ridiculous." Kakashi countered. "Naruto already has faced off against S-Class enemies before. There is no need-"

"He has fought against rogues and scoundrels, people that left their villages rather than continue their official training. I want to see how he fairs against a highly trained operative of our village."

Kakashi did not like this; he was a former ANBU agent himself. And one thing every Konoha ANBU agent had been trained in was to deal with Naruto in case the Kyuubi ever got loose. And he also knew that Fū was one of the best and the least restrictive in his methods.

"I simply want to see how the boy fairs against a opponent while we actually see it. I have the highest expectation that he shall succeed." Danzō said with a sly smile.

Meanwhile back on the field, Fu cracked his knuckles. "Rise boy, I am your opponent and you will face me." He said, sounding slightly like a robot.

Naruto did not get up though; he remained lying on the ground.

Fu frowned, he then bent down and grabbed Naruto by his shirt and lifted him up like a rag-doll. "I said rise." He said as he shook Naruto.

Naruto's eyes suddenly opened and he smirked. "Surprise!" He craned back his neck and literally headbutted Fu, hard.

Fu released Naruto and stumbled backwards, more out of surprise rather than pain. And a few members of the council chuckled at this display.

Hinata clapped her hands. 'Go Naruto, win.'

With Fu temporarily distracted Naruto started to preform several hand signs, he was going to summon a few shadow clones, enough to out number and take this jerk down. However, before he could finish the final sign-

"You have not won yet, boy." Said a voice from behind.

Naruto turned to see three kunai coming right at him. He dodged them effortlessly, but he had no idea where they came from.

He then noticed a shadow fall upon him; he looked up just in time to notice a man falling from the sky towards him. Naruto got out of the way at the last moment, the man landing in the spot where he just been was dark-haired and wore some sort of facial mask with goggle-like lenses where his eyes should have been showing.

The dark-haired man stared at Naruto for a moment and then charged at him, with two kunai in hand.

Naruto barely had enough time to draw one of his own and bring it up to block before the man was upon him.

The two of them exchanged blows, metal clashing against metal. But the man was very fast and Naruto was only just keeping up with his attacks.

"This is not good." Naruto thought, if he could just have a moment he could do a hand sign and perform a jutsu, but this guy was not letting up.

And from the corner of his eye, Naruto noticed Fu running straight at him. 'Shit, I forgot about him.'

Kakashi gripped the rail from the spectators seating. 'Torune and Fu together? Naruto won't be able to fight against that.' He said to himself, very worried about his student.

Fu and Torune were partners in the ANBU and considered to be a deadly duo and among the best in the unit. Even Kakashi himself would have trouble fighting against the two of them together. If they were up against Naruto then-

"You have to stop the match." He said turning to Danzō, who was still watching with interest.

"And why would I do that?" He asked.

"Because it is now unfair. Naruto is fighting against two ANBU level operatives when you specifically asked for only one. This has gone beyond a simple promotion test." Tsunade said, agreeing with Kakashi.

Danzō simply shrugged. "The life of a ninja is hardly fair. The two of you should know that more than anyone. There will be many times when a ninja is forced to fight opponents who both outnumber and outclass him or her whether or not he was prepared for it. How said ninja responds determines whether they will live or die."

Tsunade looked at the other council members for support, hoping they would agree to put an end to this conflict. But they too seemed interested in the battle, watching Naruto struggle against two trained ANBU.

Hiashi actually smirked for a moment before looking at Tsuande. "Hokage-Sama, Danzō-sama does speak the truth. Why not see how Naruto contends against those two. After all, he does not seem to be in any real danger."

"That is not the point. While it is wise to be prepared for the worst and unexpected changes, one should not have to be that paranoid in their own home or with their own comrades." Tsunade argued.

"Oh come now Hokage-sama, as you can see the boy appears to be holding his own very well against the two of them." Danzo said as he gestured back to the battle.

Naruto was breathing heavily, he wanted to stop and catch his breath but neither of his adversaries were letting up on their attack. He was completely on defense right now and they were not allowing for any opening to go on the offensive. He just needed a moment to plan to-

Suddenly Naruto felt a pain in his side. For one split second he looked away to see a gash on his side and blood flowing. He had been struck by one of Torune's kunai, and he hadn't even see in it coming. He suddenly felt a throb in his head.

But that one split second was what the two of them had been waiting for, and they both rushed at the boy with openly lethal intent.

Naruto then felt aches start to appear all throughout his body. Dull throbbing pains that took his mind off of the wound he had just received and as he watched Fu and Torune running at him, everything went black.

(Flashback)

They had put him into a large empty room. It was in the shape of a cube, and the only light came from a fixture on the ceiling.

It was very cold in the room. Naruto rubbed his arms in order to generate some heat. They had stripped him of his normal outfit and had put him a thin, grimy, and stained outfit similar to what you would see mental patients wear. Only not as comfortable.

He looked around the room, trying to figure out what kind of experiment they were going to perform on him this time. He prayed to Kami it was not going to be a repeat of the last one, where he had been placed inside a room where there were no lights or sounds, just utter darkness and silence.

There were no scientists observing him, at least none that he could see or hear.

"Well? What do you want from me?" He said aloud.

His answer came with a 'POP' sound and suddenly splitting pain in his back forced him onto his knees.

"ARGHHHH!" Naruto cried, it felt like someone had thrown a rock at him, and some had done that to him in his youth so he knew exactly what that felt like.

After a moment Naruto stood up and turned to see what had struck him.

Lying on the floor was a small metal ball, no bigger than a marble. Naruto bent down and picked it up, holding it between his fingers. "What the hell?"

'POP'

Naruto felt another flash of pain in shoulder.

'POP'

His leg.

'POP' POP' POP' POP' POP'

These little metal balls were literally being shot out of small openings in the walls in a rapid barrage, striking every inch of Naruto's body and causing splitting pain. There was nowhere to run, no cover or protection against the balls, and not enough space in the corners to hide. The only thing he could do was fall the ground and curl up covering his head until it ended.

(End Flashback)

Naruto was simply standing there, staring dully into space s Fu and Torune charged at him, both figured that he had finally run out of energy and they had a chance to finally take him down.

Fu was the closest, his fist headed straight for Naruto's face, ready to break the smart mouthed brat's jaw and silence him.

Suddenly though, faster than Fu could see, Naruto's hand shot up and grabbed Fu tightly by the wrist and squeezed it in a tight vice-like grip.

And when Naruto looked at Fu, and the man saw that Naruto's eyes had a red tint to them now, and there was a smile on his face that sent a shiver down Fu's spine.

"You are annoying." The blonde said, and promptly broke Fu's wrist. There was a loud cracking of bone in the air. Fu for the first time in a good long while felt a wave of pain surge thru his body. He wanted to let loose a cry of pain but before he even had the chance, Naruto slammed his free hand open fist into Fu's unprotected face, hard. And he was rewarded by the flow of glistening red blood flowing from Fu's nose.

Torune tried to attack from behind while Naruto was occupied, intending on driving a kunai deep into Naruto's spine but not so bad that Danzou still had a chance to mold him in his image. However, with a quick movement Naruto released Fu and turned his attention to Torune. Naruto's blood-stained fist came up and caught the Aburame hard right in the face, smashing his lens. Torune actually did yell in pain as the glass from the lens's entered his eyes. He dropped his kunai to the ground as he ripped his facemask away and covered his eyes.

"MY EYES! I CAN'T SEE!" He screamed. Naruto simply stood there, with a cruel smirk on his face and look of malice in his eyes.

Fu, his face covered in blood and his right hand in great deal of pain, tried to ignore it long enough to create a blade of chakra on his left hand. 'Let him experience one of the Yamanaka clan's close-range jutsus.' He aimed for Naruto's head, hoping to hit into his mind and force his thoughts elsewhere long enough to get himself out of danger.

"Who are you aiming at?" Came a voice from behind. Fu turned his head to see Naruto staring at him with a wide smile.

'A shadow clone? But when did he-?' Fu had no time to think about that. Jumping back he re-aimed his attack at this Naruto, he could still get him. He would get him. ROOT either succeeded or died, failure was never ever an option.

Fu saw only a quick movement before a kunai went thru his left hand, breaking his concentration and now rendering both his hands useless. He watched the shadow clone vanish before he fell to the ground and went into shock.

It was just Torune and the real Naruto. The Uzumaki stood there watching him for a moment longer before he started walking towards the dark-haired man, stopping first to pick up the dropped kunai. He held it in his hands for a moment, simply staring at it. And then with very little effort he threw it at Torune, catching the blinded man in the leg. The ROOT agent grunted as he fell to his knees. Naruto then continued to walk towards him.

"STOP! I SURRENDER! YOU WIN!" Torune yelled. 'Danzou-sama have mercy on me, but it is illogical to fight further.'

"Sorry, but I am not done yet." Naruto said, his voice uncharacteristically as cold as ice.

"What? I said I surrender. You have to accept." Torune's voice was filled with a tiny amount fear as he spoke. And although his eyes were in pain, he opened them just enough to see a blurred image of Naruto standing above him.

"You started this when you butted in a one-on-one fight, and now I am going to finish it." Naruto said as he withdrew another kunai and prepared to-

"ENOUGH!"

Naruto suddenly found himself surrounded by at least 6 more Anbu, all of them had their weapons drawn and pointed at his neck. Kakashi was among them and he had actually revealed his sharingan eye. "That is enough Naruto. It is over."

Naruto watched as Tsunade and a team of medics who had been on standby rushed over to treat both Fu and Torune. He turned his head towards the stands. He saw the council members staring at him with a look of fear in their eyes and disgust on their faces. Some of them even had hate in their eyes and he knew they were thinking along the lines of 'I knew he was a monster'. He saw his friends, who had just earlier wished him luck, have horrified expressions on their faces too. He then looked and saw Hinata simply staring at him with her eyes wide but her expression the least judgmental of them all.

Seeing him look at her she nodded slowly and mouthed 'You did good'.

Naruto dropped the kunai to the ground and suddenly collapsed.