Chapter 8

Beta: Old man of the mountain/Darklord331

Naruto was standing outside the Academy building. He released a large yawn. He was bored out of his mind—more than usual, given that he had to wait for his teammates to show up. He saw his former team walk in without even looking at him, and he was fine with it, especially since he didn't want to deal with them this early in the morning.

Team 7 appeared next, and his siblings glared at him, with their teammate giving off a creepy smile. Naruto could never understand why he looked and acted so weird. Then again, he did hear rumors from the hag about how that Danzo guy cared about his soldiers. So, maybe it's a programming thing?

Oh, why was he thinking this hard about it?

Naruto saw team 8 pass with Kiba not saying or doing anything. Apparently yesterday's incident at the resturant was more than enough to deter him from making a comment. His teammate Hinata stared at him before sniffing in the air. Quickly pushing her way into the building.

'Yandere on the move.'

Shino didn't even look at him; he could never read him, but he could tell he was just moving forward, planning his next move as precisely as possible.

Team 9, the team that had appeared before them in a year, appeared next, and they ignored him. He was fine with that since he didn't interact with them.

Team 10 was next and Ino was complaining about her teammates and the other two were either sighing or eating.

Team 11, Sasuke glared at him before marching into the building with his fangirl glaring at him. Sakura did the same thing and followed in suit.

'Those two are going to die. No doubt about it.'

Finally, he saw his old team. Yakumo was smiling and happy and even giving a more sinister grin to Naruto. He didn't bother to respond to her, but he did see his replacement looking smug.

What he gathered about the guy is that he was from the Yamanaka clan. Apparently, unlike Ino, he was training hard in everything, from the highest skills to the most useless abilities. Personally, he didn't think much about this, but he knew that he was serious, at least. From what he could sense, the guy was easily a top genin in the exam.

'But nothing I can't deal with.'

Finally, he looked at the uchiha heiress who had a smug smirk on her face and quickly looped her arms into the arms of her teammates. As if to demonstrate their close bond, one he never had with them.

In Naruto's eyes, that was partially his fault, but it was more their fault. It takes two to make something happen, and even if he tried, there was no point. They would have blown him off or used it as an excuse to humiliate him. He didn't see the reason to invest; he was just hoping they didn't bother him too much before the exam started.

"Naruto!" Turning his head he saw Karula rushing to him and quickly jumping on his back wrapping her arms around his neck. "Sorry for the wait Raian wanted to get some extra reps in beforethe exam!"

"You mean you took your fucking sweet time to get dressed? Who the fuck cares what your underwear is?" Raian glared at the heiress, who returned it with equal muster.

Naruto sighed, "Well, let's head inside. I have been eager to get this started as soon as possible."

The two agreed and they walked into the building.

Naruto just carried the girl on his back without a care and Raian was following along just as bored.

"So, what kind of test are they going to do in a cramped building like this?" Raian was scratching his neck.

"Guess? maybe a written exam of some kind? Maybe something akin to cheating without getting caught cheating?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "It doesn't matter. All we have to do is make it through the first part and then move on to the second part, which should be out in the open." Naruto sighed before looking at the crowd of people arguing with the two men on the first floor. He could tell they were acting as guards to the room but,

'This is the second floor not the third. Meaning this is part of the exam. Just use common sense, and you can pass easily.' Naruto trudged past the group of people arguing, and Raian, already catching on, followed.

"Cut the charade. This isn't even the right floor. We are on the second floor, not the third floor."

Naruto groaned with Raian rolling his eyes.

"Great now more people are going to have to join the fray now."

"Eh, no big deal," Raian got a dark smirk, "That means more people for me to kill." His smirk grew and Naruto could sense the sinister aura coming off him.

"No wonder the hag calls you a loony idiot."

Karula laughs, Raian shrugs.

"What can I say? I hate losers who think they are hot shit without proving themselves. But you got balls bastard, calling the Matriarch a hag." He grinned, "You know lesser people have been killed for that."

"Yet I'm still standing."

"Yep," Karula smiled and rubbed her face against Naruto, "Which makes your that much more interesting. I can't wait to see everything you have in this tournament!"

"Exam." Naruto corrected her.

"Exam, tournament all the same. We are all going to have to fight one another." She pushed her face next to his. "Right?"

Naruto ignored the comment and continued up the flight of stairs where he saw a bushy brow teen from earlier standing there.

Naruto raised an eyebrow,

"Can I help you?"

The man bowed his head, "Forgive me I was waiting for someone else, please feel free to ignore me as you continue on your youthful way." Naruto raised an eyebrow at the comment but decided to take his advice.

But Raian stood there watching the kid for a few seconds. Then smiled.

"Balls on, you brat, coming in with your disadvantage."

Lee, the bushy brow teen furrowed. "So, you know about my situation then?"

"Nah I can just see it. Your too dedicated to your Taijutsu, only peolpe who do that are dedicated or trying to cover up for something." He laughed, "Oh man, this event is worth coming if something like you is here." Leaning down Lee felt a shiver go up his spine. "Please make it to me later okay. It would be a shame if I didn't get a chance to destroy someone like you."

Lee felt fear welling up in his chest more than ever before. This man was looking at him as if he were a meek animal to hunt. It was terrifying, and he was used to seeing something similar from his teammate and his sensei when he got serious.

Raian left the boy behind and proceeded to catc up to his team. Where they waited for him at the main entrance to the room. After seeing him there, Naruto pushed of Karula, who frowned, and opened the door.

Inside naruto saw an assortment of people from all over the place. There were even more teams from Konoha that he hadn't seen before.

'Probably people who failed before and can't get a field promotion.'

Turning his head through the room he saw one team from Suna. It was a land of sand and wind; it was a neighbor of theirs. But the relationship was anything but friendly. As Konoha had been stealing work from them for the past few years. Leaving them with barely chump change. On top of that, their own lord was starting to turn to Konoha to get things done. Naruto knew this was something Minato pushed for given his own need for more growth. He wanted to have the village at the center of everything.

The team consisted of a guy wearing kabuki makeup, a black jumpsuit with cat ears, if she had to guess, and a large bag on his back, which Naruto had to guess was holding something like a puppet inside. He knew from the Hag that Suna was famous for its puppeteers and wind release users, who were considered few and far between in the land of Fire.

He turned his head to the only female on the team. Her hair was done in two ponytails, and she had a large iron weapon on her back. Another weapon probably from Suna or only exclusive to Suna.

But it was the last one that had him on edge, he reeked of blood. Enough so that you could tell there was mixtures of blod types. He had a large gourde on his back, and he could guess that it probably contand whatever it was that used for a weapon. Given the nature of his posture, his lack of expression, and the tattoo on hsi head that was for love. He was sure that this young red hair boy had to be the container for the 1 tail Sand Tanuki.

Naruto knew all about the cotainers for the Bijuu, more he knew about the many containers that were out there. His siblings were considered the oddest of the bunch, given the Nine tails was split between them. With their mother containing some of the chakras. Apparently, having the Tailed Beast removed was considered dangerous. It supposedly kills the host when done.

But Naruto wasn't too concerned about that. He was more worried about what this could mean for everyone involved.

'Then again why should I care about them? If they get killed by the red hair kid then all good for me.'

The other team that stood out was a team wearing musical notes for their headbands. One consisted of a not very impressive team of a bandaged-up kid with a hunch, another wearing camo outfit and something opening on the palms of his hands. Finally, the last one was a girl with black hair and camo attire. He wasn't sure about the group, but they didn't look strong, but he could feel there was more to them than meets the eye.

The second team containing those headbands were more worrisome. one of the members had him on edge where another made him tense, the final member was just barely more impressive than the previous team.

The weakest-looking female member of the team was a red-haired girl carrying a flute at her side. Her hair flowed down her back, and she wore a purple sash about her waist, a white sleeveless top, cargo shorts, and sandals.

The only male on the team was more disturbing and something that intrigued him. He had long black hair tied up in a ponytail. He was bulkier than his teammates and probably matched Raian in terms of frame. But he just seemed more imrpessive in size. Nexthe was wearing a sleeveless qui, he thinks that is what they are called. He had long pants on that were loose and easy to move around in, a pair of slipper shoes, and a pouch or two on his side.

The thing that stood out the most was the man's eyes. They were the exact same as the Kure family's eyes. But he didn't look like any of the Kure family members he has seen before. More, the Hag never mentioned other family members fighting for antoehr side. the clan was united and rarely did one sway away from the family. At least, that is what he was told.

'Might need to do some digging into this.'

His spine tingled and he looked at the final member with hsi fist clenched.

They were a very seductive looking girl. She had on a loose-fitting kimono battle dress that showed off at the shoulders. Her hair was tied up in a bun keeping it out of her eyes. She had nothing else on her person, but he did see that the males and females in the room were trying not to stare.

In part of the two very large orbs on her chest. He was quite sure she was more pronounced than most in their age group.

'Effective weapon. Draw everyone in on possibly the sexiest thing possible, all to lure you in so she can rip your throat out.' Her eyes attrcted him as he noticed they were gray. 'She's blind.'

Naruto knew better than to see a weakness, as she wouldn't be here if she wasn't confident in her ability. There are rumors about a woman known as the Blind Bandit who is unable to see and yet kills without mercy or flinching. She didn't seem bothered by blood or causing suffering wherever she went. Given the rumors of what she did in Wave were already spreading and Konoha took a huge hit for it, it was something to be worried about.

Ultimately outside of that Naruto noted a few other teams but nothing like the ones he already saw.

'Most of them might just crumble under the pressure of thsi exam. But then again, who knows? I just hope that no one is stupid enough to-,'

"MY NAME IS MENA NAMIKAZE AND YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DOWN!"

'Spoke too soon.' narut osighed and could only put his head in his hands. 'Way to go idiot you just made the whole room your enemy.'

Raian watched the room in boredom, hearing the announcement he wanted to shut the kid up. Ever since seeing him at the resturant he has been very irritated with that family. More so, he felt that if the Hag really chose this brat as a student, then that means he would be less annoying than the rest of his clan. Especially since his brother and sister were known in the Kure family as nothing mroe than parasites. The Hokage and his wife were no different in treating them as if they are the greatest thing ever.

Raian never knew why that was the case, but gramps and grandma did say,

"All will be revealed in good time."

Well, being patient wasn't Raian's strong suit. Especially when dealing with bull shit or things that were more cryptid than needed.

'If you're not going to tell me what it is, then don't bring it up only to tell us about 40% of it.'

Raian narrowed his eyes when seeing the man in the corner with Sound. He never expected to see someone frmo the Wu clan.

The Wu clan was a rival of theirs and someone he wanted to personally meet. Looks like he got his wish, and now he was going to get a chance to kill someone from that annoying clan.

He saw another man moving to the group in the corner, and he was talking to them quite brazenly.

Raian narrowed his eyes, his chakra contorl was higher than any of the other rookies outside a few. He seemed to carry himself as if he knew better than he let on. More, the way he moved was more like a snake than a friend.

He was convinced this guy was doing something quite shady or was part of something shady. That is when he noticed him pulling out some cards from his pocket.

Naruto and Karula noticed that too and frowned.

While this was going on the teams had gathered in the room.

Kiba was the first to react at seeing everyone.

"Well look at this everyone is gathered for the big exam!" he smirked, "But it won't matter, our team is goign to crush everyone here."

Sasuke snorted, "Big words coming from someone that was chaed off by the loser."

Kiba clapped back, "How's the nose that the loser broke."

Sasuke growled; he already was dealing with the chakraless loser that humiliated him in the hallway he was not going to take this.

"Cool it Sasuke, don't embarass our family anymore than you have."

Turning to his sister he sneered, "No more than the fact that you were sharing a team with said loser."

His sister narrowed her eyes. "Unlike you were able to get one over him with him now gone from our team. We have been improving big time, and honestly, compared to your abysmal teamwork, we have been thriving." she looped her arms with her male teammate, "Unlike Naruto, he pulls his weight and doesn't do anything to harm the team. Why wouldn't we be happier with a reliable teammate."

The man in question smiled, and he thanked his teammate.

Yakumo puffed her cheeks. Grabbing his other arm and pulling him close to her making the two teammates glare.

Menma snorted, "Doesn't matter what you guys do or that loser does, everyone knows in the end our team is goign to sweep the competition."

Menma was brimming with confidence; his father told him what teh exams would be like and what the phases would consist of. He knew that with this knowledge they would pull ahead easily. It didn't matter that his brother managed to find some random teammates, they didn't look that impressive. One looked like a muscle idiot while the other was dressed very seductively. But since she was hanging all over his brother she couldn't be good. Plus, her assets weren't all that impressive in her seductive Kuonichi set with a fishnet top that showed off her budding chest, a short skirt that with the right angle would show everything, and a short sword on her back. Overall, while seductive and intimidating, he was sure it was more for show.

Menma decided to shout out his confidence, making everyone turn to them either in shock, annoyance, or anger.

"You should be careful making statements like that."

The teams turn to see a man with white hair, glasses, and wearinga standard shinobi attire approach them. He had a charming smile that was innocent enough and hard to read.

"Who the hell are you?" Sasuke glared at the teen. He looked older than them, but he wasn't superior to them. So, no reason to show the man any respect.

"My name is Kabuto, and I just wanted to warn you guys, you made quite the laundry list of enemies today." Turning to the room, he said, "Most of the people here are first-time test takers like you, but there are some who have experience in taking this exam but just haven't been promoted yet. So, this is their chance to get that promotion." He sighed, "Like me."

Sakura asked, "Um, how many times have you taken this exam, Kabuto?"

He tilted his head slightly, before smiling sadly, "This will mark my sixth attempt at getting a promotion."

"Seriously!?" Kiba laughed, "You must suck then."

Kabuto pushed his glasses up, "Or this exam is harder than you think. Luckily for you I can help you guys out with anything you might have questions about." He pulled out some paper, "I can even tell you about anyone that your curious abuot."

"Tell me about the three people over there in the corner," Menma pointed to the second Sound team.

"Oh them?" he looked down at the cards as they glowed for a second and then revealed information. "Ah here we go. First, the red head is named Tayuya, she has no last name or doesn't know it. Apparently she is accomplished kunoichi from the Land of Sound. She has a total of 0-Drank, 10-C-rank, 3-B-Rank, and 1-A-rank mission. In short she is accompished kunoichi who was freelancing for a short time until a few years ago. Luckily she was picked up by Sound and it seems they had quite the talented young woman among their ranks."

"Now then as for the man, he is Jacob Wu, he is a known warrior among the Wu clan. Supposeldy he is known as one of the most dangerous young men alive. He was responsible for am ass slaughter in ksua recently and his clan is known for their secrtive teachings. Currently no other information is available but if I was you guys I avoid him. He has no qualms in killing people that annoy him in the slightest."

"Finally, we have Toph, no last name. Apparently she was nicknamed teh Blind Bandit, a prominent mercenary that feared trhoughout the land. She currently has a rank of A given her feats and accomplishments. She freed the country of Wave having killed Gato and his men in a single night. Killing off entire bandit clans through the Elemental Nations, taking down B-rank bounties and missing nin on a regular basis, and is said to be the second-best blind bounty hunter in the world. Curretnly her mission count is not registered but she apparently was recruited for this event." Kabuto put his cards away and sighed, "Looks like some countries are pulling out all the stops to win this year." Turning his head he saw Naruto and the Kure watching the room. "I would be careful of those two as well. As outside of Suna most of the teams here don't match up to them."

"Hmph, you're thinking too highly for a team with a loser on it." Kyoka refused to acknowledge the team, "That dumbass is the son of the Hokage, but he is a disgrace to the line. He refused to know his place after all."

Kabuto hummed while listening to the other kids taking shots at Naruto. He was curious about this Naruto as unlike the rest of them, he was aware there was more than meets the eyes.

'Maybe I should do my own investigation.'

Soon a poof of smoke appeared in the room and out came a scarred man and his colleauges.

"All you maggots take a seat; it is time to start the Chunin Exams!"

Naruto and his team watched as most of the competitors dashing for their chairs. Some were walking slowly, knowing this was standard practice.

His team just slowly walked to the chairs and sat down.

Naruto had Hinata Hyuuga on his left side and Toph on his right. He was curious about the sitting arrangement but knew this probably random to avoid teammates from helping each other.

He saw that Karula was sitting on the far side of the rooma nd Raian in the back. No doubt, Naruto was convinced they did this on purpose to keep him from cheating with his teammates more than others.

'No favoritism my ass.' He saw his former siblings sitting close enough to read each other's movements and Sai there to help in case they fell behind. 'Making sure your kids pass huh? How pathetic.'

"Now then today you all are doing a written exam in this first portion. Starting now you are answer all the questions except for the last one. In doing so, depending not how many you get right will determine your overall performance.

'Yeah right, they want us to cheat.' Naruto looked around the room and saw that the students were spaced enough that if you are good, or clever enough, you can cheat on this written test easily. Looking at the questions, they were difficult enough for most students to struggle with. BUt the further along the test went the harder the questions were.

"You have three warnings if you are caught cheating then after this point then you are thrown out of this exam. Does everyone understand? If not tehn too bad! Begin!"

Everyone began looking down at the paper with either confusion or anxiety. But some just looked bored, or some didn't even bother looking down.

Naruto tapped his pencil a few times, and this drew the attention of Toph.

'Your blind so this test seems pointless no?'

Taking her own pencil she tapped the desk,

'So, what, this test doesn't matter as long as we get past the final question.'

'You could see through that?'

'So did you.'

'True, I'm going to take a nap until this is over.'

'Enjoy your sleep.'

naruto put his pencil down and fell asleep on the desk.

Ibiki, the examiner, frowned. This kid didn't seem the least bit worried about the exam. He could guess that he figured out the true nature of this test. So, he was ready for anything that was thrown at him. Or so he thought,

'We'll see how well he handles the final question.'

Raian was bored, he figured out the stupid test focused primarily on dealing with cheating. The questions were pointless and easy to follow. So, he could answer them, but he really didn't want to other wise he might have to kill the person that reads off his test or tries to scam him.

And killing someone for something so pointless was annoying.

Karula was just examining the room, everyone was average for her taste. As someone who specializes in observation and seduction missions, it was easy to pick out the real warriors who have tasted blood and know how to handle themselves. Versus those that were just pretenders or untainted.

'So far those people from Suna are pretty good, Wu and that blind girl are pretty strong, probably on par with us, and maybe that guy in glasses.'

She wasn't fooled. That guy he was a spy, it was obvious to those that train in that field. He had stated he took the test 6 times. Really and no field promotion yet? That is a red flag, plus he seemed to have more information about the vistors that have never set forth in the country. This meant he either had traveled a lot, which she greatly doubted, or that someone was feeding him information to him. 'Either way got to warn grandfather about this.'She puffed her cheeks when she saw Naruto communicating with the blind girl. 'No fair, I had my eyes on that strong warrior first.'

The first phase pass by in a flash and more than a quarter of the room was now empty. mostly due to stupid cheating attempts and some just giving up under the pressure of the exam.

"Alright everyone time for the final question!"

Everyone looked at the protector with Naruto yawning in boredom.

"Now this final question you have the choice to take or not. If you don't take it your out of this exam and must try again next year. But if you do take it, if you fail then you won't ever be promoted in the future."

The blond from Suna stood up,

"That's bullshit how can you make such a claim. There are tons of people that have taken this test before and tried again!"

"Tough that is the rules for this part of the exam and if you don't like it you can quit!"

Naruto yawned again and this drew the room to him.

"Oh, am I boring you?"

Shit the room was on him now, how annoying.

"Yeah can we get this ball rolling already? This act is very tiring."

"Act? You do realize that if you fail this part then you won't ever be promoted?"

Naruto shrugged, "There is always mercenary work. Not like this is the end of the road for me or anyone else. Just have to think my options through and doing this sounds the easiest."

He was going to raise moral of the people in the room. To him that was pointless and unnecessary. If they wanted to quit then they should quit, but if they wanted to participate then they should muster up the courage to do so.

No skin off his back.

Some students cracked under the pressure and gave up, while most stayed behind.

Ibiki frowned, he didn't eliminate as many as he hoped.

'Looks like we got a good batch this year, or we just have some that are too stubborn.' He sighed, 'Oh well the second part will reveal their true self.'

"Is everyone ready?"

The room watched in anticipation.

"For everyone in this room, you pass."

Dumbfounded expressions formed on the faces of most of the students. While some were passive.

Naruto sighed and rubbed his neck,

"Yeah saw that coming."

Naruto looked at his neighbor and she was yawning.

"Bored?"

"Yeah let's get to something more exciting already."

Ibiki frowned at the two and started his speech.

"As you all know this exam is all about testing if you are ready for the next step on the path of being a shinobi. This path contains moments where you will have to find a secret, lsiten into conversations, and find solutions when there might seem to be one. Ultimately this test was to see how well you could gather information without being caught." He smiled while removing his headband. Showing the multitude of scars that were layered beneath.

Naruto could only roll his eyes he had gotten worse treatment from the hag in sparring.

'Lately I'm wondering if this is the right career path for me.' Sighing, he waited for the long-winded speech to end and saw a black tarp appear through the window. Once the kunai were stuck in the wall, it unfurled and revealed,

SECOND EXAM PROTECTOR, THE SEXY ANKO MITIRASHI!

From the fold emerged a busty purple hair woman with a fish net top and short brown skirt. She had her hair tied up in a small ponytail while having a brown trench coat. Her eyes were dark brown, and she seemed to have a mischevous smile on her face.

"No time to relax my little Genin kiddies. It is time to for the second part of this exam! Head to the Forest of Death if you are not there in 30 minutes then your disqualified!"

With this she vanished in a blur and Ibiki could only sigh.

"You heard her, head out to the Forest of Death. For those that don't know the way use your skills to find it."

The devolved into people scrambling to reach the exam site or those that knew where it was slowly walking out of the room.

Naruto, on the other hand, watched as everyone left and saw his team waiting for him. But there was someone else there.

It was Toph and she had a small smile on her face.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah got a question for you. I heard this from a friend in passing but wanted to make sure it was true."

"That is?"

"Is it true that you killed some guy using a martial arts style and could use Possessed by a Demon?"

"Huh?"

"Oh sorry, I guess you wouldn't know the moves. How to describe this," She tilted her head in a cute manner, "It is when the heartbeat increases."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. How did she know about that?

"Oh, your heart quickened, so I guess the rumors are true then?"

"If they are what of it?"

Toph shrugged her shoulders, "No particular reason. I knew the guy; he was a prick. We trained under the same master and unfortunately for him, he was a failure. Someone that never could master more than a few basic moves. But he did take that one technique with him, so he was still formidible."

Naruto could only stare at her. That guy had the same teacher as her? Then that means, whoever it was teaching them was still out there.

"So, let's say in theory I did it. What does this mean for you?"

She walked up to him and slowly tilted her head to 'look' into his eyes.

"That means my new toy."

"Huh?"

"You see, I don't really have any interest in this shinobi exam. I'm just doing this as a favor to my master. If I had my choice I still be out there collecting bounties. Or finding some of my other wayward students and testing them. Sadly, they aren't that impressive and if I'm being completely honest, that gets boring after a while. But you," She ran a finger up his chest, "Someone who is an outsider managed to defeat a student from the same teachings as me and overcome their forbidden technique? Now that," She leaned into his ear, "Is hot."

She pulled back and started walking away with a sway of her hips, "Keep me entertained will you? Hate to lose my chance to play with you."

Naruto stared at the retreating girl and all his instincts were shouting the same thing, she was dangerous.

But a smile appeared on his face,

"This is getting interesting."

Chapter end