DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS

Hello all, and my sincerest apologies for the very extended hiatus. But I am back now, whether it's for good or not, who knows, but for now, new chapters! Don't forget to follow, favorite, and leave a review! Ennoy!

Chapter 13 - Successes and Failures

Darkness had fallen by the time the two teams neared the tower. The leaves fluttered around them in the soft breeze as they made their way through the high branches. Omoi had climbed to the top of one of the trees earlier to determine the distance between them and the tower, and they were not far at all.

Naruto had somehow managed to convince the team from Kumo to work alongside them. It wasn't particularly difficult for the blonde, but if anyone else had tried it, they would have undoubtedly failed. It also didn't hurt that they had the exact same goals in mind. They were an odd bunch, which they had attributed to their sensei. Team 7 understood, knowing full well that their own sensei was something far from normal.

Currently, Naruto was perched in the branches of a large tree, with Sasuke and Sakura behind him, protecting Ebisu. Naruto peered down to observe the state of their target. A small clearing separated the treeline from the tower, leaving no easy way to sneak inside. Several teams were in the midst of battle, so they would be far too busy to detect their presence.

Naruto knew that his clone would be seeing the same thing from its position with the Kumo team. There was no guarantee that the Kumo team wouldn't step over their heads to finish the exam, but such was the case with them as well. Naruto's father had explained to him the mindset you must have when on missions. If you can't completely trust someone, you have to act like they are an enemy.

Glancing to his right, Naruto spied his other clone, as well as the Kumo team, perched at an equal height in a separate tree. When he was sure that he had his clone's attention, he nodded to Sasuke. The Uchiha began a series of hand signals, relaying a set of somewhat detailed battle plans to the four of them. The Naruto clone nodded, then spoke the orders to the Kumo team, who all gave thumbs up to Sasuke.

In the midst of the fighting that was about to take place, it was important that neither team lose track of their escort duties. All they had to do was get inside the tower, and they would pass the second exam. Due to this fact, Sasuke opted for a non-confrontational plan. They would make a mad dash for the tower, only stopping if they came under attack. While he was hoping that the teams already present would keep themselves occupied with each other, Sasuke knew that outcome wasn't likely.

Regardless, the three of them and Ebisu dropped out of their tree and took off as fast as their legs could carry them. They made a diamond formation, with Sakura as the helm, and Naruto and Sasuke on the flanks, with Ebisu bringing up the rear. As they neared the battleground, it became apparent that it was a battle between a couple of teams of Konoha Genin against the team from Suna and another team from Konoha.

Team 10 seemed to be on the defensive against Team 8 and the Suna team, with their backup being a team that Naruto had never seen before from Konoha. Shikamaru was in the middle of performing his Shadow Possession Jutsu, spying Team 7 approaching from his left. Just past him seemed to be the entrance to the tower, but a wall of sand had been erected in the entrance, preventing all from fleeing into it. Even as Sasuke watched, the wall grew a pair of arms and backhanded a pair of shinobi from the Konoha team that tried to engage it. Sasuke signaled the halt, and they slid to a stop right next to Shikamaru, the team from Kumo following closely behind.

"This is quite a predicament," Sasuke said to Shikamaru, his eyes focusing on the two teams of assailants.

Shikamaru breathed out through his mouth in a way that would have been a chuckle if it didn't mean breaking his concentration. "Took you quite a lot f brainpower to work that out, didn't it?" the Nara heir said sarcastically, his voice straining as he tried to hold the jutsu.

Naruto's eyes followed the shadowy tendril out in front, it leading to one of the Suna team members, the one with the purple face paint and the black hood. In front of him hovered a wooden figure with blades protruding from its arms, covered in cloth.

"What's the story with this guy?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru grunted again. "Why should I tell you that?"

"You don't want our help? Fine, we'll just let them take out your target and pass their test," Sasuke motioned with his thumb to where Choji stood with his expansion jutsu, placing himself between their escort and a blonde girl with a fan that seemed to produce wind jutsu.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Recognize sarcasm when it's used, you idiots. You really think I'm dumb enough to not accept help from the two best students in our class?"

Naruto smirked a bit at that. Shikamaru did always sell himself short. The blonde was fairly certain that Shikamaru could have beaten both he and Sasuke on paper if he'd wanted to. After all, his mind made up for what physical limitations he did have.

Shikamaru nodded to the one he had immobilized. "This guy uses puppet master jutsu from Suna. He controls that puppet with chakra threads attached to his fingers, which is why I can't let him slip even a bit."

Sasuke looked to the shorter, redheaded boy with the tattoo on his forehead. "And him?"

"As far as I can tell, he's the one controlling all the sand, but he hasn't moved since we got here. The blonde uses wind jutsu and she has an even bigger mouth on her. This day is turning into a real drag."

Naruto scanned the battlefield to gain his bearings. They were stuck on the small path that lead up to the tower, where the entrance was blocked by the wall of sand. Team 10 was engaging the Suna team, while Team 8 took on the unknown team from Konoha. But even as Naruto watched, a hole opened in the defenses of the Konoha team, allowing Kiba to dart in and tap the wooden breastplate of the escort with his kunai. Both teams then made their way into the tower through a man-sized hole in the sand that opened just long enough for them to pass through, before shutting itself again.

"So what's the plan?" Sakura asked out of the corner of her mouth, eyes never leaving their three opponents.

Shikamaru's jutsu finally faltered, and he leaned forward, gasping for breath and steadying himself with one arm. Naruto had expected the enemy team to go on the offensive right away, but the three of them regrouped in front of the boy with red hair that controlled the sand. Ino and Choji made their way over to join them, their escort tucked safely behind them.

Shikamaru nodded to himself as his breathing steadied. "I figured as much. They know we don't have the firepower to break his sand wall, so they're content to play the waiting game. We may outnumber them, but we can't escape the way we want to."

"So we have three options," Sasuke nodded, picking up what Shikamaru was laying down. "One, we flee into the forest and hope they beat another team, then come back when they're gone. Two, we find a way to break the sand wall. Three, we beat them unconscious so the jutsu is released."

Naruto grinned, pounding a fist into his open palm. "Well I know which one I choose."

"I was thinking more along the lines of doing two of those options simultaneously. The first option is completely off the board, since we don't know how many escort teams are left out there. And we outnumber them three to one, meaning we can effectively multitask without sacrificing too much fighting strength," Shikamaru detailed.

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Naruto, you take Choji and see if the two of you can somehow work out a way to break that sand barrier."

Naruto furrowed his brow in protest. "But your jutsu are more suited to that than mine are. Why not you?"

"Because I don't have the use of shadow clones like you do," Sasuke said. "You can focus on that wall and provide us with an army at the same time."

Naruto accepted his team leader's judgement on that, motioning for Choji to follow him while the others took up positions between them and the team from Suna. Shikamaru's calculating gaze never left their enemy, his brain working overtime to come up with a solution to their foes' defeat.

"The fact that they didn't even flinch means that they're confident that sand wall will hold up against anything that we throw at it," Sakura surmised, earning a nod from Shikamaru.

"Meaning option three is our best bet at this point. Get ready for one hell of a fight, these guys are good. If you guys hadn't shown up, we would've lost by now," Shikamaru nodded in thanks.

Omoi, who had been silent thus far, began to shiver and bite his nails in fear. "What if that sand wall is truly impenetrable? We'll fail the test, and Lord Raikage will banish us to work as farmhands, but we'll be forced to flee or starve to death. We'd have to change our names to avoid the ANBU assassins he'd send after us, and we'd be betraying our sensei, master B!"

All who weren't from Kumo shared a look of wariness and confusion. Karui and Z, however, never missed a beat. The redhead clobbered Omoi over the head with a closed fist while Z giggled, holding her aching midsection.

"If you've finished, we'd like to destroy all of you now," the blonde called from across the clearing, brandishing her fan in preparation to cast a jutsu.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Troublesome woman. Sasuke, you and Sakura need to take her on. Ino and I will take the puppet user. Kumo, see what you guys can do about the sand user. Make sure not to let anything past you, or our escort missions are effectively over. Naruto," Shikamaru turned to look at the Hokage's son and Choji. "I'm gonna need five clones to watch the escorts."

Within seconds, five orange-clad copies were set in formation around their three escorts, who had yet to voice their opinions, and clearly never would, seeing as how on a real escort mission, their charge would know nothing about shinobi tactics and combat.

"Why me and Sasuke?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Because his fire counters her wind, but int he event that she slips one past you, your Earth Style can protect the both of you," the Nara explained.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know about that? I haven't even used it yet!"

"Saw you practicing it with your sensei," Shikamaru shrugged. "Is that really important right now? They're coming."

Sasuke immediately sprang into action, curving to the right to intercept the blonde wind-user. He sensed Sakura behind him. In front of him, the blonde leapt into the air and swung her fan, a blade of wind splitting the air on its way towards Sasuke. Before he could even react, a mud wall was erected between him and the deadly wind. Making a mental note to thank Sakura later, he vaulted over the wall, weaving signs as he did so, and spewed a fireball from his mouth that forced the blonde to leap backwards.

Meanwhile, Ino and Shikamaru were busy engaging the puppet user. Knowing that he would be terrible in hand to hand combat, Shikamaru and Ino were trying to get close to him, but he was an expert at using his puppet to keep them at bay. It also didn't help that the thing was full of hidden weapons and mechanisms.

Karui, Omoi, and Z busied themselves with the redheaded boy, who still hadn't even moved a muscle. Not even when swords went flying at his head, for they were halted in their tracks by sand that seemed to have its own free will.

As Sasuke dodged another wind jutsu, spewing fire yet again, he silently hoped for Naruto to find a way through that wall of sand, because constant fire jutsu was draining his chakra reserved faster than he would have liked.

Speaking of the blonde, he and Choji were in the midst of one of the strangest fights either one of them had ever been in. The Akimichi was grappling with a pair of hands made of pure sand while Naruto led attacks on the wall itself, assisted by half a dozen of his clones. So far, Flying Raijin had proved to be completely useless, as well as paper bombs and other ninja tools. And Choji was too busy trying to keep the hands off of Naruto to be able to use his human boulder jutsu. Taking mental inventory, he knew that all of his regular techniques and jutsu would be completely useless, leaving only a single jutsu that he had yet to put to a practical test.

Shrugging to himself, Naruto set his mouth in a hard line. Looking over his shoulder, he called to his allies, "You guys might want to get over here in case this works, we may only have a few seconds to get inside before he closes it again!"

Knowing that his teammates at least would have heard him, Naruto turned back to his task. He disengaged from the wall, allowing his clones to take over in helping Choji delay the sand arms. Steadying his breathing, he grasped his right wrist with his left hand and opened his palm. As he concentrated, chakra began to converge in his hand, and slowly began to form a shape. When it was fully formed, Naruto held a perfect sphere of chakra in his right hand.

"Here goes nothing."

"Ha! Did you see the look on that guy's face when his sand wall collapsed? Priceless!" Karui and Z cackled together as they made their way down the hallway into the tower. The entrance had once again been blocked off with sand, but not before all nine genin and their escorts had made it through.

Choji and Ino were in the process of practically crushing Naruto in a double bear hug, thanking him for his help, while Shikamaru rolled his eyes and muttered something about idiots. Sakura was conversing with Omoi, but something didn't sit right with Sasuke. His eyes hadn't left Naruto's form in minutes, his brain trying to work out what he'd seen from his teammate.

After parting with Team 10, Kumo, and Ebisu, Team 7 made their way to their assigned room, where they would be staying until the exam was concluded. Naruto could feel Sasuke's eyes practically boring holes in the back of his head, but he wanted to avoid confrontation in the open, opting to wait until they were secure in their room.

As soon as the door had closed, though, Sasuke was on him. "What the hell was that?!" he demanded.

"What?" Naruto asked, genuinely confused as to why his teammate would be son angry with him.

"You know damn well what! How long have you had that blue sphere jutsu?!"

Naruto flexed his hand, looking down at it with a mixture of awe and confusion. "My dad taught me that as a graduation present from the Academy, said he was ready to pass down the legacy or something."

"And you've been hiding it from us the whole time?" Sasuke asked, hurt behind his eyes.

Sakura, who didn't know what to make of the situation, placed a hand on both of her teammates' chests, gently punching them apart. "Just relax, Naruto got us out of that, and we passed. Can't we celebrate?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No, I wanna know why you haven't used that before. WHy have you been holding out on us? Back when we fought Haku, you're trying to tell me that you didn't think of using something that powerful to shatter those ice mirrors of his that nearly killed us?"

Naruto's eyes never rose from his hand. "You want the truth? I didn't know it was that powerful because I never used it before. My dad had his weird way of teaching it to me, with a balloon, then a rubber ball, so I just kinda never listened to him about it. He kept going on about how it was such a great jutsu and how he invented it, but I never really believed him. Though I'll never doubt anything he says again," the blonde said with a dry chuckle.

Sasuke visibly relaxed at that. Naruto was many things, but a liar wasn't one of them, so he was inclined to believe his friend. "Alright, but you had better test every new jutsu you learn from now on, okay?"

Naruto grinned. "You bet."

Sakura finally allowed a smile, seeing that the situation had de-escalated. "What's that jutsu called anyways?"

"The Rasengan."

After getting cleaned up, Naruto made his way down to the common area, where the other teams that had passed were seated. He was surprised to see the team from Suna in there already, so he figured that another team must have come along shortly after they broke through. The redhead made direct eye contact with Naruto, holding the gaze for a few seconds before the blonde looked away.

Making it to the table that seemed to be the gathering place for Konoha shinobi, he seated himself next to Shikamaru and Kiba, who were in the midst of conversing with their fellow shinobi. Kiba was telling their combat story, ending with the strike to the wooden breastplate that Naruto had seen earlier.

"What happened after we went inside?" Kiba asked.

Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "Shikamaru?"

The Nara rolled his eyes. "No problem taking on the enemy but too scared to tell a story? Give me a break."

So Shikamaru launched into the tale of how they'd fought off the Suna team long enough for Naruto to bust down the sand wall with a secret jutsu of his, leaving the redheaded boy dumbfounded, too shocked to react as they slipped inside with their escort charges.

Kiba cracked a wide smile, clapping Naruto on the shoulder. "Good! I'm glad someone showed that guy what for, their whole team was acting like a bunch of assholes before you guys showed up."

Shino, usually the quiet, brooding type, even nodded at that. "Indeed. Many of my insects were crushed under his sand."

The three other boys exchanged looks, then promptly bust out into laughter at their friend. Shino didn't look amused, but hem again, he never did. What none of them noticed, though, was the group of girls that had formed down the table from them. Ino, Sakura, and Hinata were conversing about boys again, anything to take their minds off of the serious tasks they had been through. In reality, Sakura and Ino were doing most of the talking, Hinata simply tilted her head and listened politely.

"I'm still so jealous that you get to be with Naruto all the time!" Ino complained.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I don't even like Naruto like that."

Ino crossed her arms and stuck out her lip. "I know, which is why it isn't fair! You think I should go ask him out?"

Sakura giggled. "I doubt that Naruto and Sasuke even know we exist outside of our teams, but if you feel ike testing it, go ahead," the pinkette encouraged.

Ino looked like she was trying to make up her mind, and she must've decided to do it, because Sakura watched her friend stand from her chair and make her way over to Naruto, where she tapped him on the shoulder. The Uzumaki turned around, eyebrow raised questioningly.

"What's up, Ino?"

The kunoichi blushed a bit at the mention of her name. "Um, could I talk to you Naruto?"

Naruto rose from his chair and moved to follow the girl. "Sure."

When they'd reached a spot away from most of everyone else, Ino turned back around, almost causing Naruto to bump into her, something she would have secretly loved. "So...um...I was wondering if...um...if maybe...if maybe you'd want to hang out sometime after the exams?"

Naruto shrugged, not seeing what the big deal was. "Sure, our class hangs out all the time, I'll see you there."

Ino shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant. I meant just the two of us?"

"Like a date?" Naruto asked. Ino nodded, waiting in anticipation for a response.

The Hokage's son shrugged. "Sure, as long as it's ramen."

Ino let out a small squeak, having fully prepared herself for Naruto to turn her down, but this was a million times better to her. She darted forward and wrapped her arms around Naruto, who stood there with a shocked look on his face. As the Yamanaka pulled away, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and a soft smile.

"See you then."

With that, Ino turned on her heel and marched up the stairs, leaving Naruto to wonder what he'd just gotten himself into.

Obito had gotten word shortly after that his team had passed. It was apparently the talk of all the sensei, how he'd used the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan to blast down an impenetrable wall of and and allow his team through.

As his sensei, Obito was actually surprised at first, to learn that Naruto knew the Rasengan, because the boy rarely ever used it, meaning he either didn't fully understand what it was, or he simply didn't know how to concentrate properly during battle.

Regardless, Obito knew that he would be doing some last minute coaching tomorrow, judging from the number of teams that had passed the exams. It didn't happen often that his many teams passed, but it did happen, meaning there would be a round of preliminaries before the true third round could begin next month.

Regrettably, Obito had been dumb enough to hope for such an event to not occur, and as such, Sakura was woefully unprepared for an event like this. Obito knew this much, and cursed himself for it, but it would simply mean that he would completely ignore Naruto and Sasuke, giving all tips to Sakura before her match. The other two could manage just fine against other Genin.

Resigning himself to yet another sleepless night, Obito trudged up the stairs to his building, spying a figure as he turned down his hallway. They were leaning next to his door, and from their general posture, they did not look happy. It was a very masculine outline, though, so Obito was thankful that it wasn't Rin yet again.

As he got closer, he realized that it was Guy. Deciding that he wasn't the worst one to stop by, Obito greeted the man with a simple flick of his eyes before unlocking his door and stepping inside, leaving it open so the taijutsu master could follow.

Guy stepped inside after Obito, closing the door behind him. While most people were taken aback by the amount of black in Obito's apartment, Guy had grown used to it. He was one of the few people aside fromm Minato who had set foot in here more than a handful of times. But it wasn't the decor that brought Guy here tonight, and Obito knew it. After making the two of them a cup of coffee, Obito turned his emotionless gaze on the taijutsu master, waiting for the man to speak.

Guy took a sip from the mug and placed it on the counter, taking a deep breath. "I'm not here to ask for a challenge like usual, but I suspect that you already know that. I'm here about Rin."

Obito immediately lost all interest in the conversation. He placed his mug on the counter as well, moving towards his room, intent on avoiding this conversation, as it would only anger him further. But Guy wouldn't let him escape so easily, darting forwards and gripping the upper arm of Obito in order to stop him.

The Uchiha's eyes blazed red, beginning to form into the Mangekyou, something that Guy already knew of, yet it still unnerved him. He released his hold on Obito, but set his face in a way that told the Uchiha he wasn't leaving anytime soon.

"She calling you in, too? What part of leave me alone does that woman not understand?" Obito demanded quietly.

Guy shook his head. "She didn't send me, nor did she have to. This is about you, my rival. You continue to treat her like the plague, avoiding her at every opportunity. And when you can't avoid her, you abuse her. Do you realise that you're treating her worse right now than she ever treated you? All she wants is a chance to know you again, but you won't even give her that chance."

"You're damn right I won't give her the chance," Obito barked, his eyes glowing red in the dim light. "She broke me, it's only fair that the same be done to her."

Guy shook his head in disbelief. "What happened to you? The Obito I used to know would never intentionally hurt a comrade. You preach to others to never turn weapons on comrades, yet you continue to do worse than that to one of your comrades. Can't you see the hypocrisy?"

Obito leaned forward, gripping the edge of the counter so hard that his knuckled turned white. "Make your point."

This time, Guy didn't back down. "You're gonna stop this petty, spiteful attitude towards her that you have, or so help me, Obito, her heart won't be the only thing broken."

"Is that a threat?" Obito asked, his eyes narrowing at his longtime friend.

Guy held his eye contact. "It can be whatever you want. A warning, a threat, some advice from friend to friend, take it how you want. But if you keep treating Rin like this, I won't use words next time."

With that, Guy pushed away from the counter and left the apartment, the sound of the door closing barely registering to the fuming Obito. Needing time to think without interruptions, Obito disappeared in a spiral pattern.