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—-
Naruto explained how he got the Earth scroll to both his teammates, who were ecstatic as they saw the scroll, and their ticket out of the second exam. Sakura just cheered in place, whereas Sasuke had a smug smile on his face as they continued to walk.
"We just need to get into one of the main towers as quickly as possible—we can't risk another confrontation with a team," Sakura stated, pulling her hair back to smooth it out.
"Agreed. I think I know where exactly to go, but it might take some time," Naruto said, looking around while he stood still.
Sasuke grunted. "Naruto. Your friend is waiting for you over there."
"Friend?" Naruto questioned.
He nodded. "Friend."
Naruto whipped his gaze to where Sasuke was pointing, only to meet the familiar lithe figure of Fuu, who stood with her shoulder against a large tree and was casually whistling at the same time. Of course, Naruto should have known instantly that the Uchiha was referring to her with his insistent emphasis on the word "friend".
"Oh, right," Naruto said, before running towards Fuu in a greeting manner.
The girl was one of the reasons he was able to pass the exam with flying colors anyways. Firstly, she knocked out Kurotsuchi for him, which let Naruto easily get the scroll that he knew was hidden in her clothes. Second, Fuu was pivotal in beating Gaara, considering Naruto was still not fast enough to dodge the sand at close range, unlike the friendly Jinchuuriki.
"Yo! Fuu!"
"Naruto! It's weird seeing you over here!" Fuu exclaimed.
"You were waiting for me to come," Naruto deadpanned, not believing the other girl was being so childish.
"Hahaha…was I?"
Naruto smiled. "Alright, let's get to the point. Why are you waiting here?"
"I just wanted to say a few things before I left."
Naruto raised a yellow eyebrow. "Like what?"
"Well, where do we start," Fuu said, taking a deep breath in both nervousness and thought. "Firstly, in the next stage of the exam, please, please don't expect me to go easy on you just because we're friends, all right? So don't be mad if we have to fight, okay?"
"Sure?" Naruto responded, not really understanding why she was sos euro us about such a simple matter.
Fuu's eyes widened with excitement. "All right! I can't wait for the next exam now. I thought you wouldn't want to be friends anymore if I beat you to a pulp in front of such a large audience."
Naruto chuckled. "What makes you so confident you can beat me that easily?"
Fuu just smiled. "I'm sorry, but I don't think anyone in this exam can beat me, not just you, Naruto."
"Being that overconfident won't bode well, trust me."
Fuu crossed her arms, her eyes flashing with a competitive fire. "Overconfidence is fine if you can back it up. Anyways, I'll see you soon. I'm going to go to my teammates for now."
"Alright. I'll see you in the third exam."
With a final wave of goodbye, Fuu left.
Naruto now had a new goal in mind.
And that was to beat Fuu in the Chuunin Exams.
[Congratulations! You leveled up! Player is now LV11.]
Naruto looked at his stats with surprise. It has been quite a long time since the system had given him quests, so it was
surprising to see that he leveled up out of natural progression.
Name: Naruto Uzumaki
Title: "Stormbringer"
Occupation: Genin of Konoha
Level: LV11
HP: 100/100
MP: 100/100
Chakra: 2000/2000
STR: 12
VIT: 14
DEX: 11
INT: 6
WIS: 4
LUK: 2
Current Skills:
[Shadow Clone Jutsu Lvl 4]
[Shadow Extraction Lvl 1]
Class: Necromancer
Attribute Points: 2
Naruto promptly placed the attribute points in strength and dexterity, seeing the most benefits out of those two stats for the time being.
[Ding!]
[Attribute Point has been used. Strength has been increased by one point.]
Ding!]
[Attribute Point has been used. Dexterity has been increased by one point.]
Awesome!
[Ding!]
[Quest: "Defeat the Bug!" Created]
[Quest Details: Defeat Fuu if you two face each other in the Third Exam.]
[Rewards: Exp. 3000, Skill: "?"]
[Failure: Stay as Genin for the rest of your life.]
[Does Player Accept The Quest?]
[Yes/No]
Naruto felt a way of nostalgia run through him. It had only been a month or so, but the quests really were epic regardless of what they really entailed. He couldn't understand why he wasn't receiving quests for the past month, but he didn't have time to complain anymore.
"Yes."
[Skill: Taijutsu has increased by a level.]
[Taijutsu is now Lvl - MAX]
[Skill: Taijutsu is now "Intermediate Taijutsu"]
Naruto realized exactly what that meant for the future of his own Taijutsu. A grin widened on his face as he started to dance in place in excitement. This was going to be insane.
He swiped away the system, finally done with all the incoming notifications. Getting those upgrades and level ups was certainly a dopamine boost. The moment of euphoria and happiness as you received buffs was unparalleled. He was practically addicted to the feeling by now.
[Ding!]
It wasn't over?
[Hidden Quest: "Encountering the Jinchuuriki" Completed!]
[Quest Details: Meet and converse with the other nine Jinchuuriki spread around the Elemental Nations.
[ 2/9 Jinchuuriki Found.]
[Rewards: Skill Tree Point, Exp. 1800.]
Naruto was oozing with excitement as he read through the message. It reminded him of the old days when the system practically handed him new features every day, until, of course, it stopped doing so once he reached the higher levels.
A skill tree point most likely let him go up the skill tree where he got Iron Skin from, which made it a very useful skill reward.
Naruto was initially shocked by the sight of the "Hidden Quest". Just how much more was there to the system? Each time he thought that it reached the limit and there wouldn't be any more features, he was faced with another expansion to the whole. Not that he was complaining, of course.
It also made Naruto want to meet the other Jinchuuriki as fast as possible, which was probably not that possible considering just how spread apart most of the Jinchuuriki were. Gaara was from the neighboring Suna, but Fuu was from a very remote village compared to the rest.
Naruto decided he would use the skill tree point later on. He needed to first get on with the exam.
He tapped Sasuke and Sakura on the shoulders, before running forwards at a much, much higher speed.
They reached the tower soon after, making sure to keep the scroll hidden as they did so. They finally reached the stone clearing that instructed them to open the scrolls, with Naruto and Sakura opening them at the same time.
Imagine his surprise when Iruka showed up and congratulated them! The grin on Naruto's face was at an all time bright as he saw Iruka's face filled with pride at the sight of his students.
Iruka then led the trio to another large room, where other teams were gathered. Obviously, it seemed that not everyone had yet passed the exam. Naruto winced when he realized he may have dashed Kurtosuchi's hope of passing the exam by stealing her scroll. He shoved the thought away. They were shinobi—people expected to steal, murder, and cheat for any chance at success.
The next few days at the tower passed by quite boringly. Kakashi pulled over a couple of times, congratulating them on passing so quickly. Other than that, he mostly kept to himself and continued to read the book in his hand.
Sakura just remained silent for the most of the shaky but Naruto could tell she was quite literally bored out of her mind. Sasuke just managed to spend his time doing light training exercises and different types of chakra control.
Naruto continued to try and distribute his Lightning chakra to weapons, but found it extremely hard to do so.
For some reason, it was even harder to do it with a regular kunai than Zabuza's sword. He wasn't exactly sure why, but the difference was evident. The Lightning chakra over the kunai only stayed for a brief second before disappearing right after, bringing Naruto to a few conclusions that made sense.
The most reasonable idea he could come up with was that Kubikiribōchō was made of chakra-conductive metal. It made sense that such a legendary sword was made of rare material, on second thought, as there had to be something, other than the expert craftsmanship which made the sword that made it special.
So for the next few days, he practiced. And practiced. He continued to do so relentlessly, with the goal of completely controlling his Lightning chakra but the end of it. His efforts weren't completely wasted, but he still was far from perfecting the technique. The chakra would only last for a minimum of ten seconds before he lost grasp of the technique entirely.
And finally, the wait was over.
Naruto made his way to the clearing with Sakura and Sasuke right behind him. Truth be told, he was seriously nervous. Not because of the exam, that's for sure.
He really didn't want to confront Kurotsuchi.
A small crowd was already assembled as Naruto hid behind his teammates, before he henging his hair black soon after, trying to prevent being seen by the Princess, if she was even there, of course. He looked around carefully, making sure to note down each and every team that passed.
Good to see the rest of Konoha's rookie teams pass. Naruto thought with a smile.
There's Gaara and his siblings. Of course they got through.
Fuu is there. I wonder who she's looking around for.
Kabuto—not much I can really say about him.
Kurotsuchi! Naruto broke into a fit of coughs as he saw the short-haired girl in the crowd, her face fixed into a permanent scowl.
The rest I don't really recognize. Naruto thought as he scanned the rest of the teams. It wasn't very surprising that he couldn't recognize them considering that they were from villages all around the several nations.
"Congratulations! All of you have passed the second exam!" Anko shouted. "Through a bout of survival and blood, you have proven yourself worthy of contention to become a Chuunin. I applaud your efforts."
Excited murmurs broke through the crowd.
The Third Hokage took over, making everyone silent with his presence alone. "Before I go into the true specifics of the third exam, even though the system itself is well-known by now, let me make something clear for all of you."
"The true purpose of the Chuunin Exams. It isn't just so that young shinobi like you could show off their talent and gain a shiny new trophy that they wear and flaunt around…no. There's an underlying purpose to it all. Can anyone guess? No? Well, here it is."
"The Chuunin Exams is a system to view each of the other villages' strength—a war inside this very building."
That…makes sense.
Konoha had to spend a huge amount to account for the tourists and shinobi coming over, and there was simply no profit in doing that unless there was something more than just crowning one or two Genin as winners. No, they were getting valuable information on the other villages as they fought.
Realistically, there was no other way to find out how strong the future shinobi of a village was unless a direct war was ongoing.
And thus, it was created.
The Chuunin Exams.
Hiruzen continued to explain the ins and outs of the politics behind the Chuunin Exams, but at that point Naruto understood most of it.
Another proctor interrupted the Hokage as he was about to explain the exam. He had long dark hair and a sickly face. The darkness around his eyes was visible from even Naruto's location.
"I have to admit something. You guys might not like this at all, so be warned beforehand. The harsh truth is…there are too many of you."
Huh?
"There are simply too many of you to continue the Third Exam, which depends on a tournament bracket. And that is why, we will conduct a Preliminary Test to weed off the weak of you."
The outrage was visible on the majority of the Genin, but they didn't really say anything. No one had the guts to do so in front of the Hokage of all people.
The man smirked. "And even worse, the Preliminaries start now!"
"WHAT?"
"NOW?!"
"THIS HAS TO BE RIGGED!"
Well, most of them.
"If any of you don't see yourself capable of continuing the exam, I recommend you quit right now. Your teammates can still fight as the Third Exam is no longer team-related."
Naruto looked expectantly at the rest of the Genin gathered around them.
"Alright. I'm going to leave."
Kabuto?!
The proctor looked slightly surprised, before coughing twice into his hand. "Yakushi Kabuto of Konoha, you may leave."
Naruto just narrowed his eyes as Kabuto left the premises. That was oddly suspicious. For someone who failed five or six times already, he was conveniently hellbent on quitting.
"With the total of thirty Genin left, we will hold fifteen bouts. Whoever loses, gets eliminated. Whoever wins, advances to the next exam."
"And for the first fight…"
The screen at the top remained blank until it finally revealed two names.
"NARUTO UZUMAKI VERSUS KIBA INAZUKA!"
Naruto's grin widened evilly as he turned his face to Kiba, who was smiling smugly as if he already won.
He couldn't wait to wipe that bastard's smile off his face.
[—]
"Hmm? You want to give me some advice before the fight, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked curiously.
Team Seven had immediately distanced themselves from the rest of the crowd as soon as the fight was announced. So had Team Eight, with them most likely conjuring a plan with their sensei.
Kakashi just stared at him with a blank expression, well, with whatever expression he had through his mask. "No."
Naruto smirked. "Aren't you afraid I would lose?"
Kakashi rolled his eyes. "As if. We both know that Kiba didn't progress as much as you did. It's something…a lot more serious. Anko came by."
Naruto stiffened. If Anko came by Kakashi, then that could only mean one thing.
Orochimaru.
Kakashi nodded, correctly assessing his change in expression as recognition. "That's right. I know this isn't a good time to talk about it, but this fight really shouldn't take too long either. And second, this is a lot more important. The sooner you know about this, the better."
"Know about what, exactly?" Naruto asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.
"Recall the events of the fight with Orochimaru. Did he, at one point, try to…bite you?" Kakashi asked seriously.
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. He did. So what?"
"'So what', he says," Kakashi grumbled, pacing around the floor. "Well, at least you didn't get marked."
"Marked?" Naruto repeated, not knowing what the Jonin meant.
"Yes, marked. You probably know this by now, Orochimaru is not a normal person by any means. I mean normally. That man would do anything for even an inch towards his ultimate goal. He infamously marks talented shinobi with a curse mark, and slowly takes over them with the promise of power. And unfortunately—"
Realization dawned on Naruto.
"I'm his target," Naruto intoned gravely.
Kakashi nodded. "Orochimaru won't stop at such a small obstacle. Once he sees his prey, he gets it. I'm not saying you will get marked, but make sure to be cautious."
Naruto took a deep breath. Great. He had a psycho Saanin after him, who also happened to want to take control of his body by biting his neck and putting a 'mark' on him.
"I won't let him do….ah…whatever he wants to do. That crazy snake can go mark himself for all I care."
"Good," Kakashi said, before a glint came into his eyes. "Now, how about we bet on the match ahead of you?"
Nartuo's eyes lit with excitement at the sound of a "bet". "What kind of bet?"
Kakashi put a hand on his chin. "Let's see…I'll bet five ramen meals that you won't be able to defeat Kiba in a 60 seconds."
[Ding!]
[New Quest: "Who Let The Dogs Out?" Created]
[Quest Details: Defeat Kiba in 60 seconds!]
Quest Rewards: Exp. 1000, Kakashi's respect, 1 Attribute Point, 1 Skill Tree Unlock.]
[Failure: Do you really want to stay a Genin forever?]
[Does Player Accept The Quest?]
[Yes/No]
Naruto smirked. "Easy."
[—-]
"I'm sorry you're facing me so early, Naruto. It's completely unfair on you, I understand," Kiba said, grinning widely.
Naruto smiled back. "I apologize as well."
"For what?"
"Wait and see."
"THE FIRST ROUND BATTLE! NARUTO UZUMAKI VERSUS KIBA INUZUKA!" The proctor proclaimed in the closed premise of the exam stage.
Naruto pointed at Kakashi who was currently standing still in the stands, one eye over the book in his hands. The silver-haired Jonin just put a thumbs-up, the meaning clear to both of them but to the others was a simple expression of good luck.
Naruto had to beat the Genin in front of him.
A thousand experience, Kakashi's respect (Naruto didn't really care about that), one whole Attribute Point, and a Skill Tree Unlock. Now, the last two were practically game-changing. If he wanted the capability to even beat the other monsters in the exams, he quite literally has to get that boost in power.
He seriously couldn't imagine beating Fuu with the amount of strength he had currently, especially without the Kyuubi's chakra to help him out.
Naruto met the eyes of his teammates in the crowd, making sure to avoid the eyes of a particular Princess as well, but he could feel the pressure of the smoldering glare on his back. That was a conversation he definitely didn't want to have.
Sasuke just looked uncaring, but Naruto could tell he was curious. Sakura just looked worried for him, and probably just hoped he would win.
"Don't be disheartened, Naruto. I'll make sure to end this as fast as possible. I won't break your ego in front of a whole bunch of foreigners, after all."
The blond smirked. "You're right. This fight will end before a minute passes."
"Huh?"
Naruto just laughed.
"Hajime!" The proctor shouted.
Naruto immediately bounced several steps back. He needed to end the fight as fast as possible, but that wouldn't be possible without knowing the enemy first. If he needlessly rushed and got himself hit with an unknown clan jutsu, who knows what would happen?
[60…]
Alright, do a countdown for me as well.
"Imitation Beast Ninja Art: Four Legs Technique!" Kiba shouted,
Kiba got on all four of his limbs as chakra flowed around his body, filling the air with pressure. His nails elongated similar to a wild animal's, cracking into the concrete floor as he squeezed.
And erupted.
For a second, Naruto was surprised by the boy's speed.
Then he realized he had fought with Orochimaru, a Saanin, by himself. Sure, he was barely trying. But a fight was still a fight.
Naruto stepped aside, dodging the incoming body entirely.
"Woof! Woof!"
Oh right. The dog. How the hell is that even fair? It's practically a two versus one!
Could Naruto theoretically get a goddamn dragon into the ring, and say it's his pet?
The dog erupted into a cloud of smoke as soon as it got near Naruto. The blond just chuckled. What kind of tactic was that?
He really didn't want to hurt the dog either.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Clones of Naruto invaded the ring with haste.
Akamaru, who was now with Kiba, turned a bright red suddenly. It hopped on Kiba's back, before transforming into…another Kiba?
What the hell?
The duo erupted into two tornadoes of speed, going through his surprised clones with havoc. Naruto just watched in shock. He had no idea what he was seeing.
He shook his head.
[40…]
All right. I'll end it in twenty.
He really didn't need to try too hard to end this fight.
Naruto didn't move as the tornado before him descended upon him with frightening speed. It was a stupid, risky move. He could, by all rights, lose the fight right there. He wasn't sure just how strong the technique in front of him was, but he was sure he couldn't just sit there and take it head on and not expect to get hurt.
But he could if he did something very, very specific.
Activate Iron Skin.
[Activating…]
[Skill: Iron Skin- Lvl 1 Activated!]
[Usage takes 10 MP and lasts for one minute before a skill cooldown of ten minutes applies.]
Naruto caught the hands of both Akamaru and Kiba, gasping at the sheer impact he felt on his hands. While his skin took the characteristics of iron, all the pressure from the incoming bird had to go somewhere.
He tossed aside Akamaru like a toy, and twisted Kiba's arm like it was rubber. The resounding scream was terrible to the ears. Naruto kicked him in the gut to make sure the boy wasn't screaming.
The whiskered Genin glared down at him. "I told you this would end before a minute passes, mutt."
The Inuzuka just groaned.
"THE WINNER IS NARUTO UZUMAKI!"
The crowd went into a low applause as they saw the utter dismantling of Kiba occur in front of them.
[Ding!]
[Quest: "Who Let The Dogs Out?" Completed!]
[Rewards: Exp. 1000, Kakashi's respect, 1 Attribute Point, 1 Skill Tree Unlock.]
Use the Skill Tree Unlock.
[Ding!]
[Skill Tree Unlock used.]
[Choose between the two skills shown:
[Enhanced Eyesight Lvl 1]
[Iron Clones Lvl 1]
[-end-]
Yo!
Hoped you liked the chapter.
Big news: HUNTER X HUNTER IS BACK (manga). Just has to say that. If you haven't watched that, I highly recommend you do.
Question for the day:
Question 1: What Skill Should Naruto pick? The "Iron Clones" is exactly what it sounds like.
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