Sleepless Demon; Several years and no update to one of my most popular stories. I can only apologise for the lack of attention and for the original idea creator, The Gallant Jiraiya-Sama for this story. I am working, a lot of time occupied and I fell from a small hiatus to a major one. I will try my best to write my stories and give some joy to the community and those that enjoyed this story. Peace out.
Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke stand within the testing room, looking outwards to the faces of dozens, perhaps even hundreds of faces throughout the room. "Wow...big crowd." Naruto comments with a small smile. "I'll take the fifty on the left." Naruto chuckles, gaining a rare smirk from Sasuke who crosses his arms.
"I-I believe it's th-this many due to a delay in the ex-exams." Hinata comments, looking at the group nervously.
"Oh?" Naruto comments, unaware of that.
"Dobe, you don't keep with the news, do you?" Sasuke remarks with a small chuckle.
"I've been held hostage by people that think news should come by catapult and tablet." Naruto complains, rubbing the back of his head from the memory of the 'Rockin' Times ' Hitoshi made up when bringing news from his bar talks.
"Weak." Sasuke replies.
Naruto turns to glare and argue, but stops when he sees Hinata's nervous stares at the overpopulated classroom. Naruto looks back at the group, noting they are perhaps a little intimidating and larger due to age. Naruto looks back and reaches his hand out, suddenly pausing with a spike of anger when he sees Sasuke's left hand on her shoulder in some attempt to give support to Hinata. Naruto reaches out, grasping her hand and gaining a small, shocked 'Eeep' from Hinata.
"Sasuke-kun!" a call comes from the right. Sasuke instinctively moves his right arm, causing a purple and blonde blur to fly over Sasuke and land with a solid 'Ooof' behind him.
Hinata and Naruto look back, seeing Ino laying on the floor with a small swelling on the side of her head. She appears a little different than Naruto remembers. Perhaps a little more bandaged and hints of torn fabrics from her outfit."Oh, hey Ino." Naruto says before turning back to focus on the big crowd and pauses. "Is Shikamaru here then?" Naruto asks, looking about and soon spots Shikamaru and Choji walking from the side of the group. "Hey Shikamaru!" Naruto calls with a smile.
Shikamaru nods with a somewhat lazy look. Naruto notes he seems a little more disinterested and tired, though that's hard to believe. He also notes Shikamaru and Choji seem to be sporting a few more cuts and bandages. "Naruto, where the hell have you been? My mum's been worried and we haven't had a game in ages. You're just troublesome." Shikamaru sighs, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sorry, was taken hostage by a mad man that uses another man as a weapon when he throws them." Naruto tells him, gaining a strange look from Shikamaru and Choji. Hinata and Sasuke nod in somewhat understanding, remembering their interactions with Hitoshi.
"I thought I smelt trouble." A familiar voice comes.
The group turns to see Kiba walking out from right field, his grey jacket more torn and stained than before and even sporting a black eye. Akamaru sits on top of his companion's head as always, looking a little more ragged, but smiles like the good boy he is.
Shino follows Kiba, looking surprisingly the same as before. Sakura hurries over, having changed her appearance with bandages bound around her legs and nearly the entirety of her arms and hands, only having her fingertips showing, apparently taking inspiration of Kurenai's look as a sensei.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yells with excitement and rushes over to Sasuke.
Sasuke sighs, removing his hand from Hinata and the moment Sakura reaches him, he became a small blur and Sakura lands behind him, landing on Ino with a surprised look.
Naruto looks at the small dog pile and turns back to Kiba, "Anyway. Surprised they let someone like you in here without a lead." Naruto chuckles.
"Surprised you're not in a hospital with a smashed up face like that. Thankfully it didn't change your looks. You were already the ugliest one here." Kiba chuckles, gaining a chuckle from Naruto as he has his middle finger up.
"At least I don't hang around a bitch all day." Naruto replies.
Kiba looks a little confused. "Akamaru is a boy, dumb-ass."
Naruto looks confused, opening his mouth and goes to point at Sakura who is currently arguing in the background.
"You guys need to shut the hell up. I didn't want to interact with you all, but the atmosphere in the room has me needing to speak out." A voice comes out, slowly walking out with their hands in their pockets. Naruto and the others turn to look at a Genin with messy, brown hair which hangs over his black headband, a symbol of a musical note under it. He's got a smooth face and dark, brown eyes that seem to hold a mischief all too familiar to Naruto. His clothing sits on him loosely with grey camouflage patterns though those with a keen eye can see the hilt of a blade hidden in the long sleeves.
The others look out and notice the atmosphere does indeed feel hostile and many eyes are glaring at them. "So what? I'm chatting with my friends...some of which are asses, but they're my asses." Naruto replies, giving a small glare.
"Friend is a strong word." Sasuke comments, still looking the newcomer up and down. "But what can we do with an ass like him?" he points at Naruto.
The newcomer sighs a little more, "Look, I'm just giving fair warning since we're all on edge and I figured you...asses should be wary before we get scary."
"Who is this guy?" Kiba chuckles with confidence. "As far as I can see, you're just trying your luck and assessing us."
"Inaccurate. To assess a potential enemy, one would influence someone else to attack." Shino informs Kiba. "He's either the pawn or you are wrong again, Kiba."
"Who's a fucking pawn!?" The newcomer yells in annoyance.
"When the hell have I been wrong!?" Kiba yells in equal annoyance.
"You said you could destroy three trees in one sitting three and a half weeks ago, Kiba." Shino comments, having his left hand reaching up to his shaded glasses and pushes them up by the bridge slightly.
"I said I misjudged the density of those trees! The hell type of trees were they anyway!?" Kiba yells back.
"I believe they were buloke, commonly known as Ironwood." Shino tells him, gaining an annoyed glare from Kiba.
"Am I being ignored?" the newcomer asks, sounding annoyed.
"Yes, you're boring us." Naruto tells him loudly. "Now join the other bastards that we're going to plough through to become Chunins."
Shikamaru sighs in annoyance. "We're going to be targeted." Shikamaru complains under his breath.
"Bitch, I'm going to-" the newcomer begins and begins to reach out.
"Susumu!" a voice calls out, making him stop in his tracks. "Enough. Don't show the enemy your power."
He slowly turns and glares a little towards a young lady wearing bandages cover the top of her head and wearing tightly bound, monk styled robes. "Fuck you, Eri." Susumu comments, turning and leaves.
An explosion happens near the front of the room and standing before the large group of Genin are nearly two dozen Chunins in grey uniform and the Commanding Officer of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force, Ibiki Moriono himself.
The Genin show a hint of fear for the first time as the man stands before them. "I'm Ibiki Moriono, the examiner for the first test of the Chunin exam. You best be wary as any indiscretions will not go unnoticed."
Xxx
The explanations of the first test went about and everyone handed their tags to their seating numbers have everyone seperated. Sasuke was a little nervous as the rules of the point system left him to wonder 'Naruto's better than he was back at school...did he stop being a dumbass though?'
Naruto sweats a little, looking at the papers, currently feeling like facing Hitoshi using Dai as a weapon would be less nerve racking than this. The only thing he found solace is that somehow, Hinata managed to get the seat next to him.
Hinata gives a small smile, happy she got to sit next to Naruto. She's finding it hard to focus as she tries to scan for the answers on the papers whilst Naruto is sitting by her. Hinata shakes her head, trying to focus as she searches for the answers and jots down questions that were answered. She answers the questions and her eyes goes to Naruto who just sits there, staring at the sheet of paper and it occurs to her. "N-Naruto-kun? Can you...answer any of them?"
Naruto just sits there, a small blush on his face. "I'll give you two guesses..." Naruto chuckles a little, looking at the sheet of paper in front of him, thinking it'll be just as hard if it was written in a different language. The few times he did learn with his mind, though he can certainly tell he's smarter than he was before, but this level of questions are just mind-boggling to him. "The only thing I've achieved is not breaking the chair and table with these weights."
Hinata sighs a little, "Why d-didn't you take then off?"
Naruto embarrassingly chuckles, "Slipped my mind..."
Hinata nods with a small smile, missing Naruto's goofy self. She scans the room with her Byakugan and waits, "N-Naruto-kun...when I say n-now...swap sheets with me..." Hinata tells him, making Naruto look her way with surprise. He gives a cheeky smile and nods as he focuses carefully as he blows a little air out of his mouth. The paper lifts a little, fluttering from the Wind chakra Naruto is giving, using all his focus to keep it calm.
Hinata's fingers press against the paper and waits, watching the observers at the edges of the room for a likely gap in observations. Almost a full minute passes and Naruto's regretting doing the jutsu early as he strains to keep control.
"Number 42, out!" One of the observers calls out in a serious tone.
"Now." Hinata whispers, noting two observers turn to look at the complaining Genin. Hinata flicks her fingers, having her paper fly to Naruto as he flicks his head, causing the paper to shoot towards Hinata with unintentionally force. Hinata's cat-like reflexes catches the paper between her middle and index finger, sqiftly placing it down as she sweats a little.
Naruto smiles nervously, both acting like they nearly got caught doing something inappropriate. "Th-Thanks...Hinata." Naruto says, glancing at the paper and lowers his hands from the table and places them on his lap, focusing on keeping his feet chakra clinging to the floor as he stays in his seated position.
Hinata smiles, glancing his way as she reaches over to his hand, taking it with her left hand in his right hand. Naruto jolts a little, surprised by her taking his hand and sits down a little as he relaxes. A creaking and cracking sound comes from the bench which forces Naruto to refocus to keep his body weight off the bench. Naruto slowly squeezes her left hand, looking at the paper with a bashful smile as Hinata does her best to focus and write the answers down once more.
Xxx
The other Genin are using their abilities to cheat. Sasuke mimicking movements, Neji seeing the answers, Tenten using mirrors for her and Lee. All the same and making these exams easier for themselves. Team Dosu remain the same, capable though they focus a lot of attentions on Team 7, Sasuke in particular.
They're not the only ones focused on Team 7, another Sound team, Susumu is clearly annoyed as he looks at Naruto with annoyance, keeping his hand on the guy next to him who writes on a second sheet of paper in a quick manner.
"Number 94, you're out." a voice calls, Susumu ignoring it since he's number 93 and sighs a little. Moments pass before the Genin Susumu had his hand on is yanked out of his chair by an observer and drags him towards the exit with his other teammates. Susumu looks at the two sheets of paper and another observer looking at him with a confused and annoyed look.
"You're not to hand your paper to anyone else." he warns, moving the sheet of paper with Susumu's name on in front of him and turns to leave.
Susumu chuckles, looking at the paper and seeing only six questions answered. He shrugs and just sits back and relaxes.
Susumu's other teammate, Eri sits patiently, listening as she jots downthe sound of writing near her with her keen hearing which are just shown from under her bandaged head that covers her eyes. She continues to write as the test continues.
Several seats behind her, her other teammate sits calmly. The other teammate has a near shaven scalp with a grey headband around their head. Their eyes emotionless as. They have a tightly bound tank top with fishnet armour keeps to their tight form. Tight black trousers are just barely seen and no weapon holsters are seen, which stands out as everyone else has pouches and such on them. Their right hand pressed under the table and their left hand brushing their fingers against the papers, leaving small indentations from something underneath it. Their right hand continues to brush the underside of the table as if searching. After a few moments, they begin to write with the pencil the indentations on their paper show.
Meanwhile, a certain feline set of eyes looks around, their eyes narrowing into slits as they act like a predator searching for prey. Neko continues to scan, seeing far away writings with ease and flicks their pencil a few times until he feels a resistance. 'There we go. Connected.' Neko smirks, keeping his eye focused on the answers he's seeing and begins to write carefully, feeling the resistance as he writes the answers down.
Nearby, Ridd focuses, having established a connection to Neko's presence and connecting to his pencil. Their senses go to their third teammate, the fish like and very wet man. He breathes deeply, ignoring the fear the Genin next to him shows and tries to keep away from the growing pool of water approaching him from the bench.
The Genin slowly answer, waiting and get kicked out. 72 teams from the multitude of countries joined to participate, whittling down team by team till only 15 minutes remain. The final questions is called out, the threat of being a Genin forever, but none of the Rookie nine left, all confident as Naruto grins with excitement for the final question. He knows he'll make it and even if he fails, he'll become Hokage.
After several moments, no one else seems to break from the confidence, leaving only 34 teams left. Still around half and more than Ibiki anticipated, much to his annoyance but smiles anyway. They were told of the reasons for the test and was interrupted when Anko smashes through the window and introduces herself.
Naruto gives an over exaggerated groan from Naruto, not realising the crazy snake lady was their second exterminator. Anko pulls out a kunai and throws it, hitting Naruto's sheet, making him jump with some fear. "Disrespect me again, and I'll peel your dick like a banana." Anko warns, making Naruto's eyes widen with some more fear and a few more fearful gulps from other Genin. "Hi, Hinata." Anko waves, gaining a nervous wave from Hinata and a few confused looks from the other teams.
"H-Hello...Anko Sensei..." Hinata whispers.
The doors that lead to the hall they entered open up, showing a few more proctors standing at the ready as Anko points out. "Alright, nuggets. Follow them and they'll take you to the next testing grounds. If you don't make it, assume you've failed." Anko chuckles, pointing outwards. "Move it!" she yells, smirking a lot.
"You could at least let me finish my speech." Ibiki tells her with a hint of annoyance.
"No time. Have to clear up your failures of keeping...34 teams? Damn Ibiki. Didn't know you gone soft." Anko comments, shaking her head. 'At least Kakashi's group made it. Would've been a waste of time if they failed.' she says to herself.
Ibiki sighs, "Lot of potential this year...even when delayed." he informs her. "You'll cut the numbers in half, at least."
Many of the Genin looks nervous upon hearing that as they get up from their seats to leave. Naruto is too excited and has his arm around Hinata's shoulder which has her turning red as he leads her away. Sasuke was walking with the others, his eyes catching something, no, someone familiar, but his attention was drawn away when he sees Naruto's arm around Hinata and begins to glare at Naruto as the Genin rejoin their teams.
Several minutes has passed since the teams had left. Ibiki spent the time collecting the papers and pauses when he gets to Naruto's sheet. He looks from Hinata and Naruto's and chuckles a little when he sees the names on them are both Naruto Uzumaki, having crossed out Hinata's name as he assumed it was his new test sheet.
Xxxxx
The teams stand before the familiar fenced off forest which gives its appropriate name, 'The Forest of Death'. Naruto looks it over and sighs. "Can't we ever go any place nice?"
"Could be worse." Sasuke remarks, crossing his arms. "Certainly an improvement from your home."
Naruto gives a small glare, "Dick." Naruto mutters and continues to stare at the forest and wonders if his whip would even be of use in a dense forest.
Anko steps towards the gate and turns to the large group of Genin, "Right my infestation of Genin, this here is your grave and I...am your executioner. Listen hard and listen well for I won't repeat myself and it'll be vital to your survival." Anko tells them, and begins to inform them about the two scrolls and the signing of forms to not be liable for deaths.
Xxx
The teams stand by their gates, many nervous, some confident, others bloodthirsty as they stand at the ready for five days of survival.
Naruto cracks his neck, looking at the gate and looks over to Hinata and smiles. "We've got this in the bag. No one's going to beat us, right Hinata?"
Hinata looks towards Naruto, nodding with a small smile. "Y-Yes, Naruto-kun."
"Worse case, use Naruto as a distraction." Sasuke says with a chuckle.
"Whatever makes you sleep easy at night." Naruto replies, smirking as he waits for the gates to open.
Xxx
Heavy breathing comes from a gurgling voice, "We're to...watch...right?" They ask, his fish like appearance and a water filter ring around his neck as water continues to seep and soak his clothing.
"Yes, Calder. We're observing first." Neko tells him, tightening his leaf headband and with a sly smirk. "Ready, Ridd?"
The heavily bandaged head of a Genin just stands there, unable to see anything but seems to be looking off in the distance. He just stands there and waits, almost like they're deep in thought. "The others..." is all he says.
Neko nods, looking a little confused and turns to Calder. "You sure he's alright?"
Calder looks at Neko, taking a deep, gurgled breath. "When did...I say he...was alright?"
Neko thinks back and nods, looking at the gate and clenches his fists, feeling his claws lengthen and he can only imagine what's to come.
Xxx
Susumu cracks his fingers with his thumbs, looking a little eager. "So, we got it, right?" he asks, turning and looking at Eri and the blank expression of his other companion. The two don't comment and he tuts in annoyance. "Invigorating as always, Eri, Kim."
The one known as Kim focuses on Susumu, not really showing much care, "We're here to ensure the target proceeds."
"And Dosu and his group?" Eri questions, remaining professional and calm.
"They're to test the target's powers." Kim replies, remaining stoic, "Treat them as any other team."
"Shame." Susumu responds, looking at the gate and smirks. "I enjoyed his sadistic nature."
Xxx
"The test begins!" A voice announces over the radios and the gates swing open and several of the teams rush through to the forest.
Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata approaching the forest, all smiling with confidence. "Let's go!" Naruto yells, giving a thumb's up.
Sleepless D: Hope you enjoyed this first chapter after several years of hiatus. Enjoy, review, follow, your choice. Peace out.