By the next day, team 7 had arrived at the academy, one hour before the stipulated time. Sasuke was always on time and liked to do so. It was less occasional for Naruto, but that day he wanted to make sure he made a declaration of his determination. Ami, on the other hand, simply respected the time her teammates wanted.
It was a cold day. A serene and soft breeze blew through the place, making the few leaves that had fallen from the branches move in such a way that it seemed they were dancing.
They had met at the main entrance, where dozens of other genin teams already awaited the opening of the place. It was still too early, but it was better being early than late.
After half an hour, the gates of the main entrance were opened, and the horde of shinobi stormed into the building. The teachers never saw their former students so excited to go to the academy until they applied for the Chunin Selection Exams.
Team 7 made their way to the second floor of the building. They were very patient and let the horde pass first, then it would be their turn.
As they arrived at the second floor, they were met with several genin that had already gathered in front of a room. The label read '301'. It was confusing as they thought they had only reached the second floor.
In front of the gathered bunch, a single trio of genin was trying to get in, but they were being blocked by two other shinobi who constantly punched and slapped them.
One of them was very recognisably a member of the Hyuga clan, given his pearl-like eyes. His hitai-ate, with an unusual black cloth instead of the traditional blue one, covered his forehead almost entirely. His brown hair was long and fell all the way to the middle of his back, even though it was loosely tied barely above the end.
The other one was possibly the one with the most injuries. He wore a distinctive green jumpsuit, while his hitai-ate, with red cloth, was worn as a belt. His haircut was eerily similar to that of Kakashi's rival, and his brows were almost as bushy. The question of whether he was Guy's son very quickly came to mind.
The third one was a girl. She had brown hair, worn as two buns over her head, with two short bangs falling over her hitai-ate, which was a traditional one. Her face also had some bruises, but minor compared to those of her bowl-cut teammate. For a girl, she was noticeably buff.
"Is someone as talentless as you really trying to take the Chunin Exam?" Said one of the genin blocking the entrance to the room. "Why bother?"
In front of them, the boy of the green jumpsuit was still recovering from a direct hit that caused him some bleeding.
"Bunch of wet-behind-the-ear snotnoses!" Added the second of the genin that were blocking the room.
"Please… we're begging you… Let us in." The girl said, seeming very desperate.
The rest of the genin, who were waiting their turn to enter the room, had been whispering and commenting on the situation.
"That's just cruel!" Said one of those closer to the trio.
One of the two genin, the one with the spiky hair, smirked before raising his voice. "You misunderstand! We are just trying to spare you! The exams are incredibly difficult. There's people who made it and immediately quit being shinobi, while the majority that doesn't make it ends up crippled, as vegetables or even dead!"
Several gasps were heard from among the horde of genin. However, there were still many others unimpressed. The nature of the exams was well known.
"Besides, chunin are the leaders of their units. The responsibilities for casualties and failed missions fall on their shoulders." His smirk widened. "You little punks really have the nerve to apply?!"
"We're really just weeding out the obvious losers. Sparing the village a couple of casualties." Added the second genin. His hitai-ate covered his head entirely, with only some bangs of hair falling out on his face.
"Just let us through. I've seen through your genjutsu." Replied Sasuke. His voice was cold and uninterested. "I have business on the third floor."
Whispers once again intensified among the crowd of genin. Phrases along the line of 'what's he talking about' were very commonly thrown to the air.
"Heh, so you figured it out." The genin whose hair was covered by his hitai-ate laughed.
"We're still on the third floor." Explained Sasuke.
"Not bad!" Admitted the genin of the spiky hair. "But just looking through it isn't enough!"
His body flickered before disappearing. In the blink of an eye, the genin had reappeared just in front of Sasuke, with his leg already positioned to land a kick.
Uchiha tried to position himself to block, but his leg failed to move in time and he fell down. However, at the last second, someone stepped in to block the kick.
The boy of the green jumpsuit easily grabbed the leg and pushed the attacker back. Despite his grave injuries, he was able to reach incredible speeds just to prevent a fight from happening.
Ami and Naruto, who were standing at opposite sides of the Uchiha, widened their eyes at the exhibition of the genin of the bushy brows. Sasuke himself was surprised, but had to shake it off as the boy offered to help him up.
The Uchiha shook his head, denying the help, and stood up himself. The other genin cringed as he fell to the floor after the boy in the green jumpsuit let his leg go. Sasuke continued to analyze his savior, eventually noticing that there was something odd about his chakra.
The boy of the bowl cut let out a sigh of relief after seeing that he had successfully avoided a fight. His Hyuga teammate approached him, though, and he did not seem exactly satisfied.
"That's not what we agreed," he began. "You're the one who insisted we should avoid drawing attention to ourselves!"
"But…" The boy of the green jumpsuit turned to team 7. "Did you not notice? That guy is injured."
The Hyuga rolled his eyes. "I did, but we can't be helping all the weaklings in the exam."
The brown-haired girl approached her teammates from behind and placed one of her hands on the boy's shoulder. "Lee, stay focused on helping your team."
Naruto had been squinting the whole time, like usual. Just watching the situation unravel. Now though, was time for him to ask questions and finally understand whatever was going on.
He raised his hand and pointed at the boy who saved Sasuke. "Oi, bushy brows, who the hell are you?!"
All members of the trio turned around to look at the blonde boy. The Hyuga did not hold back his menacing stare, while the girl was giving him a suspicious glance. Only the boy of the bowl cut seemed friendly, and cheerfully approached team 7.
"My name's Rock Lee!" He made sure to bow as a sign of respect. "What's your name's? I've only recognized Sasuke Uchiha, the last of his clan."
The avenger closed his eyes and confidently smiled. It was always satisfying when people recognized him without even asking his name. That was the prestige that came with his legendary lineage.
"Disappointing." Said Neji softly, as it was only directed at his female teammate. The pattern of walking and the strange posture of his legs made it obvious that the boy was injured.
"I have to admit I expected more from the heir of the Uchiha." Replied the girl, just as softly as her teammate. "Guess he did not come out as talented as the rest of his family."
"One lineage less to compete with mine, I suppose."
"The name's Naruto Uzumaki! Keep it memorized because I'll be your Hokage very soon!" He replied with his usual flaming determination.
The purple-haired girl followed, and gladly presented herself. So far, she was enjoying her new life as part of a genin team.
"My name is Ami Hattori. Hopefully, you'll be worthy opponents!" She confidently smiled as well, following it with a nod.
"Well then, we shall see." Said Lee before bowing again and returning to his own team.
Naruto carefully stared at him as he ran back. He definitely had something to do with that friend of Kakashi that was pushing his wheelchair around. However, he still felt like he was a total weirdo.
As he approached his team, Lee's expression changed to a serious one.
"When master Guy told us the heir of the Uchiha would be participating, I wanted to challenge him." He briefly turned around to give a quick glance to team 7, who were already leaving for the third floor. "However, it would be almost cruel to do so seeing his injury."
Tenten sighed. "Master Guy would've beaten your ass if you did so, anyways."
Team 7 continued their way until they finally reached the real room 301. The hallway was unexpectedly empty, and only Kakashi waited for them right next to the door. He was sitting on his wheelchair, and did not seem especially excited about seeing them there.
"I see you made it after all." Acknowledge the jounin. He pushed the wheels forward to approach his students.
"Huh?" Ami raised an eyebrow at the comment of the jounin. After all, they only had to go up some stairs in the Academy.
"This way you all qualify to apply to the Chunin Selection Exams." He cracked his neck before continuing his explanation. "The way the tests are set up, only a team of three genin can participate. So if any of you decided not to participate, the entire team would be out."
"So you were testing us." Sasuke confidently smiled as usual. He acknowledged it was a smart move from his master, but at that point, he was starting to get used to the tricks.
"Yep." His single visible eye was just as unimpressed as ever. "That way I also kept you from pressuring your teammates, and the decision was genuine."
Behind his many bandages, Kakashi was gritting his teeth. After all, not even his backup plan had worked. He should not have provoked Naruto.
"With that said, get in there. The exam is about to begin."
The night had gone by normally. Gohan and Sakura slept inside the hut, but Piccolo spent the entire night outside, meditating. Then, during sunrise, he left the clearing entirely. This caused great confusion when his student woke up very early in the morning, and failed to find him.
He looked around the river, and even deep in the woods, but failed to find the Namekian. Ultimately, Gohan decided to sense his Ki, which would be easy given how much bigger their energy was than anyone else on the planet. When he did so, he discovered that his master had gone very far away.
In the end, he figured he probably had something to do, or just wanted to meditate in total isolation like he already did back home, so he decided to leave him alone.
Then, he proceeded to fish like usual, especially seeing how that day was very sunny. And when Sakura finally woke up, he was just coming out of the river.
The girl was looking for either of them, as she had found the clearing empty, just like Gohan before her. This led her to walk towards the river, just like Gohan before her.
When he arrived at the shore, she found Gohan's clothing right next to the water, just over some rocks. She gasped, thinking something happened to the boy. However, her concerns were very quickly eased as the boy emerged from the water.
Gohan was holding three fish by the tail on each hand. He shook the water off his body, similarly to how a dog would. Then, he dropped the dead fish near his own clothing.
The boy was completely naked and seemed unfazed when he noticed the girl's presence. He smiled and waved at her, while Sakura's face turned as red as a tomato. It was not necessary to mention that she had never seen a naked boy.
"Oh, hey! Wanted to help me with fishing?" He asked, though as soon as the girl fainted, he figured something was not right.
He rushed towards her and barely managed to stop her fall before her head hit the floor. In a few seconds, she woke back up. She slowly regained consciousness and was met by the concerned face of the Saiyan.
She blushed again, feeling his very muscular hands holding her. She shook her head and pushed him away.
"Cover yourself up!"
"Oh." Gohan realized before running back to his clothes.
Sakura turned around while the boy put them back on, and frantically apologized to her at the same time. His apologies continued even when his clothes were back on, but the pink-haired girl really wanted to forget about it.
The two headed back to the clearing where the hut was. The way back, even if it was short, felt like an eternity for the uncomfortable pre teens.
Upon arriving, Gohan quickly ignited a fire on the usual place, and put the fish on sticks to cook them. The girl sat close to the fire, not being able to look him in the eye. It was an odd feeling. Though her main question was how someone as young looking as him could achieve such muscles.
After a couple of minutes, Gohan handed the girl two fish, and he kept the other four.
Not much of a conversation ever happened. They just ate silently, avoiding each other's eyes. And so continued the rest of the day.
This update was planned for today. I'm several chapters ahead and with the university's first semester beginning this Monday, I wanted to post one each day until monday. I also wanted to comment that these chapters may seem partly as recaps of the Chunin Exams but I feel it's necessary and it also showcases a series of divergences that will culminate in chapter 13 with quite a big thing. Also yes, since many have asked for it, i'll try to write longer chapters, but since I've already written a few, that will beign with chapter 13.
It was heartbreaking to learn of Master Toriyama's death this morning. I can't go this update without expressing how much I'm thankful to him for being an important part of my childhood and influencing me as a person in many positive ways, with many of the great lessons he taught through his work. I'm sure he has influenced millions like myself to begin writing their own things. My first time ever writing was an early version of what became Hybrid Ninja a few years ago, and without that first introduction to fanfiction I would not be writing any of my current projects today, nor would I have my current dream of publishing novels. I owe him a lot, and really appreciate his work for that same reason. May he rest in peace. One of the greatest and most influential artists of the modern era.