Kage Bunshin for Win

by kur3n41.ch4n

Naruto is aware of the memory return of clones. During the Wave mission, Naruto weakened the Eight Symbol Seal, allowing Kurama to communicate with him. Kurama — a vixen.

7. Chūnin Selection Exams

"Naruto." — Direct speech.

"Naruto." — Thoughts.

*Slurp* — Sounds.

Good Morning. Good Afternoon. Good Evening. And Good Night. - The Author's words.

---

Three months had passed since the mission in Waves. In Naruto's room, the morning sunlight filtered through the curtains, signaling the start of another day.

"Naruto, wake up. You will be late for the team meeting."

"Mhmm… Are you serious..? Kakashi-sensei will still be several hours late, as always…" Naruto grumbled, reluctant to leave the warmth of his bed.

"Get up, I want to stretch at least a little," complained Kurama in his head.

Chuckling, Naruto sat up and scratched his head. "There you go, revealing your motives."

"Yes, yes, of course. Let's get going quickly."

"So, this is what it means to have a pet..." Naruto mused.

"..."

"Hmm? Kurama?"

"I'm fucking hate you right know."

Training Ground 44.

Naruto dashed to his favorite clearing in the Forest of Death, noting the increased guard presence around training ground. "You ready?"

"Yes. Just start already," the still annoyed vixen replied.

He felt Kurama's chakra coursing through him, enveloping his body in a red cloak, and carrying out the usual transformation of teeth, claws and whisker marks. Two visible tails appeared behind him and a third was almost formed.

"Behind you."

Heeding Kurama's warning, Naruto swiftly dodged a massive snake's attack.

Stopping on the branch of one of the giant trees, Naruto jumped towards the snake's head, bringing his fist up to strike. The snake did not have time to dodge and received a strong blow between its eyes, which made it crash into the ground.

Making a bird hand seal Naruto focused on creating wind elemental chakra, raising a strong storm around him that caused the huge snake's body to fly away from the clearing. He tried to drain as much of Kurama's chakra as possible. The huge trees of the Forest of Death swayed like a piece of paper in a storm.

After a few minutes, the red cloak dissipated and Naruto stopped the flow of chakra in the storm, which dissipated after a few seconds.

"Satisfied?" Naruto asked as he folded the seal for the Shunshin no Jutsu.

"Hmph. This is only a small part of my chakra. I barely felt it."

"Huh? Well, then don't expect me to do something like that anymore. Training with Yamato-sensei and Anko-sensei is enough for me." Naruto disappeared from the clearing and appeared at the entrance to the Forest of Death, bypassing several chūnin guards. In those few months, he had grown, almost catching up with Sakura in height and surpassing Hinata. His clothing has not undergone any changes, but he has stopped wearing mesh armor under his cloak, exposing his abs and chest for the world to see. Naruto's whisker marks and canine teeth became more pronounced and larger than before due to the constant training with Kurama's chakra.

"…Sorry, don't stop those morning warm-ups, please," Naruto nearly stumbled in the mud, taken aback by Kurama's remorseful tone.

"Eh? Errm… Don't worry, I was just teasing you," Naruto said a bit confused.

"Hehe..."

"Hmm? What kind of laugh was that?"

"You're going to be late for the team meeting," Kurama reminded him sternly.

"Don't change the subject."

Training Ground 3.

"You're late!" Sakura exclaimed pointing at Naruto and Kakashi who had arrived at the clearing for the meeting two hours late.

Kakashi gave his usual eye smile, "Sorry about that. Got held up by a wild cat, nearly scratched my face..."

Naruto chuckled, exchanging a knowing glance with Kakashi, but remained silent.

"Are you a jōnin or a genin? How can you not handle a regular cat?" Sasuke remarked, unimpressed.

"Oh, but this is no ordinary cat. She's really wild and can use chakra," Kakashi explained, "But we can talk about that later. For now, I'd like to give you these," he pulled out three sheets of paper from his pouch, eliciting a sigh from Sakura.

Upon seeing the puzzled expression on Kakashi's face, she smiled, "I thought you wanted to give us copies of your smut…"

"I already have one," Naruto suddenly said, earning a disgusted look from Sakura. "I bought it solely to find out the reason why Kakashi-sensei likes it so much. But I read it with Hinata-chan... She fainted so many times..."

"So anyways… These are the Chūnin applications, I nominated you kids," Kakashi announced, handing each of them a letter.

Naruto looked at his letter with a big smile, "Thank you Kakashi-sensei! You are the best!"

"It's just a nomination, so if you don't want to take the exam, don't," Kakashi said in his boring voice. "If you decide to participate, sign these papers and turn them in to room 301 by four o'clock tomorrow evening."

"Hahaha, after all the training we've done, there's no way we're passing up this chance for promotion," Naruto laughed as he looked at his team.

Sasuke wore a cocky grin and even Sakura confidently nodded in support of Naruto.

And they were so self-confident for a reason. Sasuke was able to develop his sharingan up to three tomoe during these months. His taijutsu became much better, so he won most of his battles against Naruto in pure taijutsu. He also trained diligently in Nature Transformation. He did not achieve Naruto's level of success in it, but he greatly improved his chakra control and strengthened the lightning technique that Kakashi had taught him.

Sakura, in turn, decided to try her hand at iryō ninjutsu. And she exceeded all expectations in it! During these months, she diligently studied medicine in order to be able to help the team in times of need. In addition, she did not stop her training with genjutsu, although she reduced the time for it's training. Thus, she learned one new B-rank technique from Kurenai and improved her mastery of others. Taking a cue from Naruto, she tried to use them without the hand seals, but the techniques proved to be quite difficult for her.

Of the three, Naruto was obviously the most developed. With Kurama's chakra training, he was able to control up to three tails of her chakra without aftereffects. He noticed that in the last month it had become much easier for him to control her chakra. By controlling her chakra, he stopped experiencing spontaneous fits of anger, which is why the Hokage allowed him to train with the clones on his own. Naruto was incredibly grateful for the trust old man had shown him.

With clones, he was able to reach incredible heights. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Fūinjutsu. Even genjutsu, Naruto studied everything possible. He didn't learn many new techniques, but there were a few that he invented on his own. He mastered the Nature Transformation of the wind to perfection, cutting a leaf at the end of the first month of training. After that he decided to train the Nature Transformation of water, but it was much slower than wind, he thinks he will be able to finish the training in about a month.

In taijutsu, Naruto finished his own style with the clones. The battles with all the members of Team 7, 8 and 10 (including the senseis) and Anko-sensei with Yamato-sensei, especially helped a lot in this process.

Battles with Kurenai also gave him opportunities to develop genjutsu. He learned to perform all the techniques that Sakura performed, with not much less potential than she herself. It became much easier for him to notice and dispel genjutsu, but with Kurama he didn't need to worry about that.

And finally fūinjutsu. He was able to reach Kakashi's level. According to Kakashi. It is already difficult to count the sealing techniques that Naruto possesses, for each of them he invents many variations, which complicates this process even more. Sealing jutsus, a living being, negative emotions, chakra, and inanimate objects. Naruto can seal anything as long as it's not chakra level higher than kage.

Also, it turned out that if you sit in a seal for about a hundred years, you will understand how it works. Kurama is an incredibly intelligent vixen, many times more educated than Naruto. She is knowledgeable in various sciences such as physics, chemistry, and in fūinjutsu. She helped Naruto many times with fūinjutsu and his attempts to grasp the sciences.

Kakashi smirked under his mask but Team 7 hardly noticed, "Well that's it for today. See ya!" Kakashi said disappearing into a swirl of leaves.

"Why is he in such a hurry lately? And he began to use excuses with a cat more often... Did he really get a cat?" Sakura thought.

Naruto chuckled, but quickly covered his mouth with both hands. Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, "Do you know something about this Naruto?"

Naruto chuckled a bit but shook his head, "Even if I did, it's not my story to tell."

Sakura tried to burn a hole in Naruto for a few more seconds, but gave up and turned to Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun, would you like to eat together?"

Sasuke turned to her and seemed to decide on something in his head for a while, "No, I have training scheduled today."

"Eh… Too bad," said a slightly dejected Sakura.

"Boss!" Suddenly, three energetic voices came from behind Naruto.

Sasuke turned and headed towards his house, ignoring the voices, "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow!" Sakura and Naruto said their goodbyes to him before returning to the three voices.

"Oh, it's you Konohomaru… Who's that with you?" Naruto asked the trio of children in front of him.

"My name is Udon Ise," the bespectacled boy said as he bowed.

"My name is Moegi Kazamatsuri," said the only girl in the company, also bowing.

Naruto smiled and patted them both on the head, "Wow, you are so polite! My name is Naruto Uzumaki and this is Sakura Haruno. Nice to meet you!"

"You've been hard to find lately, Boss. Are you hiding from us?" Konohamaru asked, somewhat upset.

"No! Of course not, it's just that I train a lot at various training grounds and often don't spend the night at home," explained Naruto, also rubbing the hair on Konohamaru's head.

"Hey!" Konohamaru growled as he tried to push Naruto's hand away, but he had a smile on his face.

The sight made Sakura giggle before asking the kids, "What about the glasses?"

Konohamaru grinned widely adjusting the glasses on his forehead, "We're copying the boss!" Sakura laughed again at the cuteness of the situation, hiding her mouth behind her hand.

Konohomaru looked at her and then at Naruto with a confused look, "Boss, are you betraying Hinata-san?"

Sakura blushed slightly and Naruto furrowed his brows, "Of course not, Sakura is my teammate."

"Oh, sorry boss! Anyway, don't you want to play ninja?" Asked Konohamaru, "We rarely see each other, you must restore your reputation as our boss!"

"Are you seriously going to play with these kids? I'd better go practice..." Kurama said in his head.

"Well, I'm playing with you, like in this morning? How is it different from this?" Naruto chuckled a bit when he didn't hear Kurama's answer.

Looking at Konohomaru and company he smirked, "You have three seconds to hide," he suddenly said, a kunai appeared in his hand which he slowly raised to his mouth, "After that I will begin to… look for you…" He punctuated his words licking the tip of the kunai, making Konohamaru Corps and Sakura flinch… But slightly for different reasons…

A second later, Konohamaru and his team were already running away from demon Naruto with incredible speed. Sakura was still looking at Naruto's kunai before he sealed it away. Looking at his face she asked, "Did Anko-san teach you that?"

Naruto nodded with a smirk and was about to say something when he heard Konohamaru shout from around the turn. With quick reaction, he and Sakura instantly found themselves next to Moegi and Udon, who were fearfully looking at the two ninjas with Suna's protectors.

One of them was holding Konohamaru by his scarf with an annoyed expression on his face. He raised his fist to hit Konohamaru, saying, "I hate midgets, especially younger ones that are rude."

"Let the boy go," suddenly said a woman's voice right next to his ear.

He was about to turn his head, but felt the metal of a kunai touch his neck. Looking at the place where Sakura and Naruto had just been standing, he noticed that they had disappeared into a mirage, "Genjutsu?! But when she…"

"Kankurō!" The girl who was with the said Kankurō exclaimed and reached out for a fan on her back. But suddenly her hand was grabbed, and a kunai also appeared near her neck.

"I wouldn't recommend…" Naruto said next to the kunoichi's ear.

Kankurō let go of Konohamaru and Sakura released the kunai from his neck, immediately after that Kankurō jumped away from her and removed something wrapped in bandages from his back.

Naruto also removed the kunai from the blonde's neck and let go of her hand, but before she could jump back he patted her head with a smile, "Good girl, don't…"

Whatever he wanted to say was interrupted by a kunoichi who cut his bare chest with a kunai and jumped back to stand next to Kankurō. Her face is red, but from anger or embarassment - it is not clear.

"What's with the head pat? Is this your new fetish?" Kurama asked Naruto.

Naruto looked down at the palm he was stroking the blonde kunoichi with and clenched it into a fist, "Hmm, after Konohomaru and his team I'm in the mood to pat someone on the head… Don't you want to be next?" The wound on his chest was already actively healing, making the eyes of everyone around, but Sakura, widen.

"There's some kind of strange chakra source next to you, it looks like…" Hearing Kurama's words, Naruto turned his head to a tree not far from them, noticing a strange figure on it, who spoke in a monotone.

"Kankurō, stop it," looking at the figure more closely, Naruto saw a boy no older than his age, whose most notable attributes were the word "love" on his forehead and a gourd on his back. Second was the fact that he was standing on a tree branch with his head to the ground, "You're an embarrassment to our village."

"His chakra reminds me of that of a one-tail."

"Hah, that's the one-tailed jinchūriki?"

"Maybe he was just able to get a large amount of chakra from Shukaku, but I doubt it." Kurama explained.

"Ga-Gaara..." Kankurō stuttered a little while addressing the boy on the tree.

"Losing control of yourself in a street fight, how pathetic... Why do you think we came to the Leaf Village?" Gaara said without changing his monotone.

"Listen Gaara, they started it, and..." Kankurō tried to justify himself, but was interrupted by Gaara.

"Shut up. Or I'll kill you," Gaara's words, uttered in an absolute monotone, made Kankurō start to sweat profusely.

"Ok, I'm sorry..." Kankurō apologized.

"I'm also sorry. Really sorry," apologized the girl whose name no one has mentioned yet.

Gaara disappeared from his place in the tree and appeared between Kankurō and the other sand kunoichi, "Sorry to you guys." He said looking at Naruto.

"No big deal, tell me, what did you Suna ninjas come to Konoha for?" Naruto asked them with a smile, tilting his head slightly to the side.

The girl with four bangs of hair on her head smirked, "Hey, talk about clueless. We have come to your village to take the chūnin exam."

Naruto walked a little closer to the sand shinobi, "Hoo… I didn't know genin from other villages would be at this exam."

"Geez… Talk about clueless… The chūnin is where outstanding genins from Sand, Leaf and other neighboring villages assemble to take an exam to become a chūnin. The main purpose to take it together is said to be to improve relations between the allies and to raise the shinobi level but also each country likes to maintain a power balance and…"

Her not so long lecture was interrupted by Naruto placing his hand on her head again, "Wow you're such a smart girl!" He said with a smile while patting her head. "I have to try this with Hinata-chan! Why didn't I think of this before?"

She quickly knocked his hand away from her head and with a red face screamed, "What's wrong with you?! If you asked a question, listen the answer to the end!"

"Oh, so if I listened to the end I could pat you on the head?"

Kankurō sweatdropped as he watched the unfolding scene, "What the hell? Is he hitting on my sister?"

"Of course not!" The blonde shouted, turning away from him.

Naruto laughed at her and turned to Gaara who was following his every move with an impassive stare, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. And you?"

"Didn't you hear his name before? Are you going deaf?" Kurama asked him.

"Haven't you heard of etiquette?" Naruto answered her, making her fall over, though he wouldn't know it.

"Temari," the girl replied with the pink still present on her cheeks.

Naruto smiled as he turned to her and tried to place his hand on her head again, "Haha, thanks Temari-chan, but I was addressing the gentleman with a gourd." Temari pushed his hand away with difficulty and Naruto turned back to Gaara.

"Gaara of the Desert. Will you participate in this exam?"

Naruto nodded without losing his smile, "I'll be glad to see you guys at the exam," turning to Temari he smirked, "Especially you Temari-chan!"

A second later, the sand shinobi disappeared from the street, leaving Naruto, Sakura, and Konohamaru Corps alone.

"Are you seriously trying to flirt with her?" Sakura asked with scrutinized eyes.

"I was just joking… But… Don't tell Hinata-chan about this…" Naruto asked her with a nervous smile.

The day of the Chūnin Exam.

Naruto woke up to the pleasant smell of flowers, his head resting on something soft, his hair being stroked by someone's hands. Opening his eyes, he saw the familiar face of Kurama and the familiar walls of the seal. Only now did he begin to feel that his lower body was in the water.

Still not fully awake, he sleepily asked, "What am I doing in the seal? Is this a dream..?"

Kurama placed a hand on his cheek and began stroking his whisker-like marks, smiling as she heard a purr from Naruto, "I was able to summon your consciousness into the middle of the seal while you were sleeping."

"Hah, that's bad… It means… That the seal is… Weakening…" Naruto said pausing every time Kurama ran her finger over his whisker marks.

"And how bad is that?" Kurama asked him with a smirk.

After thinking for a bit while enjoying Kurama's caresses, he replied, "Not much… I've come to trust you more lately. You are not as horrible as you want to appear. I even had a desire... to make friends with you..."

Not hearing Kurama for a while and not feeling her hands on his head, Naruto opened one eye and looked at her face, "I still haven't woken up… Are you blush..?"

Suddenly, Naruto's body flew into the air and he flew into one of the bars of the cage at great speed.

Right before the impact, he woke up in his bed, his breathing greatly accelerated, "Was it a dream? Kurama, are you here?" After waiting a minute and not hearing an answer, he chuckled and went to prepare for the exam.

At the entrance to the Academy.

"Hey Sakura, Sasuke! How are you?" Naruto asked with a wide smile as he approached his teammates.

"Excellent! I saw Hinata-chan recently, you know…" Sakura said making Naruto's smile a little nervous.

"Hey, hey, Sakura… You're not going to blackmail your teammate, are you?" Naruto asked her.

"Ho-ho-ho. Of course not!" Sakura assured him with an absolutely evil smirk.

Sasuke turned and walked towards the entrance, Naruto and Sakura following him. Naruto tried to suck up to Sakura so she wouldn't tell Hinata anything.

Having ascended to the second floor, Sakura and Naruto fell silent, sensing the tense atmosphere around them

Naruto felt a strange effect on his chakra system and consulted Kurama, "What was that?"

"It's a genjutsu altering the surroundings, similar to what your teammate uses all the time. I have already dispelled it from you."

"Ah, so they're under genjutsu?" Naruto asked, looking at team 8, who were trying to enter room 201, "Thanks for the help, but I think I would have noticed this genjutsu myself. We're still on the second floor, that's obvious… Huh, by the way, how can Neji and Tenten not notice it? Even Lee had to…"

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw that one of the genin blocking the entrance to room 201 punched Tenten in the face.

Sakura shifted her gaze from Tenten to Naruto, but she didn't have time to blink as he had already disappeared from his place, prompting a sigh from her.

Naruto appeared at the side of an unsuspecting shinobi who began to talk about the hardships of being a chūnin. His story was interrupted when Naruto's fist collided with his jaw, throwing the shinobi at his friend, who managed to catch him in time.

Folding his hands in front of him Naruto frowned, "Don't you dare hit my friends."

Tenten sighed and got up from the floor, her cheek not showing even a little sign of injury, "You know I can protect myself, Naruto-kun."

"Of course you can! I just thought you might want to conserve your energy for the exam instead of petty scuffles."

"Wouldn't you like to conserve energy yourself?" Tenten queried.

"My youthful power is burning incredibly strong today, Tenten-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, causing her to flinch. "If I didn't spill at least some of it now, I'm afraid I would explode during the exam! Lee understands, doesn't he?!''

Lee beamed and struck a nice guy pose, giving Naruto a thumbs-up, "Of course, Naruto-san! Regrettably, others fail to grasp this wonderful feeling!"

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Sakura turned and quietly walked to the third floor, only to be stopped by Neji, "Are you his teammates?"

Sasuke and Sakura waved their hands in denial, "No, no, where did you get that from?"

Neji raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms in front of him, "Really? But he talked a lot about you..."

Sasuke sighed a bit and nodded, "He's with us. What was he talking about?"

"That you are a loving couple and ignore him during missions because of your feelings."

Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widened to incredible proportions and they turned to Naruto who laughed at their reaction.

Sasuke was quickly on top of Naruto with a fist behind his head, "What are you telling people about us?!" Bringing his fist down on the still laughing Naruto's head, he became even more angry as he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Neji turned to Sakura with a surprised look on his face, "Was that a physical clone?"

"Huh? I thought you trained together? This is his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

"He never used techniques," Tenten explained, "We trained in pure taijutsu, although he did help me with chakra control a few times."

Teams 8 and 7 went the other way from room 201, leaving a bunch of bewildered genin in the hallway.

Lee turned to Sakura with a blush on his face, "So you're not dating Sasuke-san?" Sakura shook her head no, slightly upset. "Then... Let's go out together! I'll protect you with my life!"

"No way… You're lame…" Sakura cut him off immediately.

Lee crouched in the corner of the room the two teams entered, a dark cloud hanging over him. Beside him were Tenten and Naruto, with a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry Lee, focus on training your flames of youth and you will surely find someone who will appreciate your efforts!"

Tenten nodded her head as well, "Don't give up, you can find someone with your… youth."

Lee raised his head and looked at Naruto and Tenten with tears in his eyes, "Thank you!" Turning back to Sasuke he became serious again, "Will you fight me right there?"

Tenten smacked him on the head, "What are you talking about? Why fighting with each other right before the exam?"

"My name is Rock Lee. You're Uchiha Sasuke, is that right?"

"Did Naruto tell you something about me too?"

"I want to test my techniques against offspring of the genius ninja clan."

Tenten came up behind him again and kicked his back, "Didn't you hear me? Save your energy for the exam!"

Lee rubbed his back and turned to Tenten then to Sakura, "But… I want to prove the strength of my love to Sakura-san!"

Tenten hit him on the head again causing Lee to fall to the ground, after this she headlocked him, "Then prove it by becoming a chūnin in this exam!"

Naruto walked over to his team, smiling at their sour faces, "Kakashi-sensei is already waiting for us next to room 301." Having said these words, he again disappeared in a small haze.

Sasuke and Sakura looked at Team 8, then at each other and shrugged. Turning around, they went to the 301 room.

When they reached it, they saw Naruto with his hands behind his head and Kakashi with his head in his book. Noticing them, Kakashi hid his book and flashed his usual eye smile, "Finally you're here. I was worried that you get scared and left Naruto alone..."

"Have you come to wish us luck in the exam?" Sakura asked.

"Of course! Besides, if one of you hadn't come here - you wouldn't have been able to take part in the exam," Kakashi said with an eye smile.

"But you said we have a choice not to participate..?" Sakura noticed.

"This is so you don't force the unwilling to take the exam," Kakashi explained, "I didn't doubt you, but it's standard procedure."

"Then thanks for the luck, but we won't need it! We've been training specifically for this moment," Naruto said with a smirk.

"Then I will await your results."

Kakashi didn't say another word and disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"Let's go!" Naruto exclaimed as he opened the door to cabinet 301.

Upon entering, they were immediately surprised by the huge number of practitioners. However, their attention was diverted by a familiar voice from behind Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun! You're late!"

Ino, exuberant as ever, leaped onto Sasuke's back, "I haven't seen you for a while so I've been waiting in excitement."

"Get away from Sasuke-kun! Ino-pig!"

Spotting Hinata nearby, Naruto disregarded the commotion between Ino and Sakura.

Her hair had grown to just below her shoulders, he noticed. She was still wearing her usual clothes. Naruto questioned her about it and it turns out that she just have preference for loose-fitting clothes. Her figure had become more refined, exuding confidence and radiance. Her smile is more confident, devoid of nervousness and reflecting only happiness.

She was standing next to Kiba and Shino talking about something. Kiba was quite close to her and at one point put his hand on her shoulder and laughed, and Hinata smiled even brighter and giggled a little.

Naruto felt a strange twist in the lower part of his stomach and the desire for him to get away from her was simply unbelievable. He immediately felt his chakra take on a fiercer hue and his skin prickled as he heard Kurama's sinister laugh in his head.

"Is that what Hinata-chan felt when she saw me with Tenten back then… jealousy?"

At that moment, Hinata noticed Naruto and smiled widely, showing a little of her pretty white teeth. Naruto's heart beat faster when he saw her smile, his gaze lingering on her lips, "I shouldn't feel like this… He's her teammate…"

She gestured in his direction causing Kiba and Shino to notice Naruto as well.

Approaching them, Kiba said, "Well well, everyone assembled." Naruto didn't understand what he meant by all, but looking around he noticed teams 7, 8 and 10 around him, "All nine of this year's rookie genin are taking the exam. I wonder how we will get, eh Naruto?"

Naruto completely ignored Kiba as he walked up to Hinata and hugged her, she reflexively wrapped her arms around him, her touch comforting. He buried his face in her neck and savored her scent, "Sorry," Naruto whispered.

Hinata brought one hand to Naruto's head and started stroking his hair, "Is something wrong?" She asked him worriedly.

Naruto let go of her and shook his head in denial, his usual wide grin appearing on his face a second later, "Nothing at all."

A tick mark appeared on Kiba's head and he was about to yell at Naruto for ignoring him, but was interrupted by Ino, "Huh? Naruto and Hinata are dating?"

Sakura nodded her head, "I was surprised too, but it seems Naruto also liked Hinata, which is why he was able to notice her crush on him."

"Ha-ah?" Ino looked at the pair with narrowed eyes, noticing Naruto's new clothes, longer hair, and Hinata's seemingly more confident aura.

Suddenly, a shinobi with silver hair and round glasses, bearing the Leaf forehead protector, approached them. "Hey guys, could you keep it down a bit?" he chided. "You're rookies fresh out of the academy, right? Acting like a bunch of school girls... Geez…"

Hinata turned back to Naruto, as the rest of the rookie nine chatted with the new arrival, "Naruto-kun, I'm still a little worried… Is something wrong?"

Naruto smiled and scratched his cheek, "Well, when I walked in, I noticed you and Kiba standing quite close to each other," he told her quietly, "I felt something… I guess it must be similar to what you felt when you saw me with Tenten."

Hinata blushed as she remembered the events of about two months ago, "I'm sorry…"

"No, no..." Naruto interjected gently, "I understand that Kiba is your teammate. You don't have to worry about that. It's just that now I understand what jealous is, that's all." Naruto smiled warmly with those words and pulled away from Hinata a bit, leaving one arm around her torso, and mumbled, "I will never get too close to another girl without having to…"

Hinata blushed as she looked into Naruto's eyes and then to his lips, "Is it okay that I want to kiss you right here, in front of everyone..?"

Naruto turned red when he heard this question. He turned his head to her, finding her even redder than he was.

Suddenly, two genin bearing forehead protectors of Sound jumped out of the crowd. One of them threw several kunai at the shinobi that had approached the group earlier.

Jumping away from the kunai, he barely managed to dodge another sound genin's blow. But despite the successful dodge, his glasses were critically damaged and a second later he landed on all fours emptying his stomach.

"Hmm… How is that possible? He dodged the attack..?" Naruto thought.

"Considering their headgear, I think it's a sound attack," offered her version of Kurama.

"But how can sound break glasses and make you vomit?"

"Ha-a-ah... Don't you know that sound is vibration?"

"Vibrations?"

"Yes. If the vibrations are too intense, they can cause solid materials to fracture, as with his glasses. As for the vomiting... Sound waves might affect the human inner ear in such a way. It's plausible, but I'm not certain," Kurama gave her conclusion just as the instructors appeared next to the blackboard in a big cloud of smoke.

"Damn, I think I missed a lot of interesting information while chatting with Hinata and you…"

"Don't worry, I listened their conversations for a bit, nothing interesting."

"Thanks for the wait," said the man behind the scar on his face, "I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chūnin Selection Exam's first test."

An explanation about the rules of the test later.

"Begin!"

Naruto turned his paper over and started reading all the questions, "What the hell? Kurama, do you know how to answer that?"

"I know," Kurama answered him curtly.

"...Will you help me?"

"No."

"Meanie…" Naruto looked to his right and noticed that Hinata was writing her answers with an activated byakugan. "She is cheating..? Isn't that forbidden? Wait..." After quietly looking around the instructors and other genin, Naruto's face showed a look of eureka. "Just getting caught writing off five times will make you fail the test, if I could write off all the answers in one go it would be great… But if even I get caught a few times, Sakura and Sasuke will definitely get a lot of points."

"You still have a brain… Although its capabilities are quite limited," chuckled Kurama in his head.

With a twitch mark, Naruto looked at his paper once more.

Task: A shinobi has received a letter from his friend that contains important information about a mission. The letter is encrypted with a special code consisting of various symbols. The shinobi knows that each symbol corresponds to one letter of the alphabet, but does not know which one. Help the shinobi decipher the letter and find out what his friend wrote to him.

"To decipher a letter, you need to find a regularity in the arrangement of symbols. If you look closely, you can see that the letter consists of 12 lines, each of which contains two characters less than the previous one. That is, the first line contains 24 characters, the second - 22, the third - 20, and so on, and the last - only 2. In addition, each line begins and ends with the same character, and two different characters alternate inside. This means that the letter is written in triangular code, which is used to transmit short and simple messages.

To decipher the triangle code, you need to know which letters correspond to the symbols that frame each line. If we assume that these are the first and last letters of the alphabet, then we can conclude that this character is A and this one is Z. Then, to read the message, you need to skip the first and last characters of each line and read only the ones inside. We will get the following text...

Now, to understand the content of the message, you need to read it from left to right, starting from the bottom line...

This message is written in an anagram, which is another way of encrypting text. To decipher an anagram, you need to rearrange the letters in each word so that a meaningful word comes out.

I will come tomorrow morning. Be ready for battle." Having written down the answer next to the decision, he smirked.

"Are you proud of solving a problem for a kindergartener?"

"Shut up, kitten."

Naruto smiled hearing the growl in his head.

Focusing on his chakra control, Naruto created a clone under his desk that used Henge from the moment it was created and turned into a small spider. No smoke at all. After that he caught Hinata's eye and pointed his gaze at the spider.

She noticed the spider and her eyes widened slightly before her face broke into a smile. Naruto took this as his cue to act, placing the spider under the table he released it on a mission to gather information.

Carefully crawling under the table, the Naruto clone reached Hinata. Climbing up her sweater, he began to memorize the correct answers to the questions, after which he created a clone under the henge of a bug near him, which instantly dissipated without creating any smoke.

"It's a good thing that after the battle with Zabuza, I practiced cloning as stealthily as possible…"

An hour later.

"Ok. We will now start the tenth question," began Ibiki, "But… Before we get into it, I'd like to add a few rules for this question…"

The door to the room opened and Kankurō entered.

"Heh, nice timing. Was your doll playing beneficial?" Ibiki asked making Kankurō freeze in place, "Just sit down. I'll now explain the rules of desperation…" The nervous genin rustled and flinched around the room, "First, for this tenth question, you must decide whether you will take it or not."

"Choose?! What happens if we choose not to?!" Temari exclaimed nervously.

"If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero. You will fail, along with your two teammates." Immediately, several other genin shouted in protest, but Ibiki simply ignored them, "And now, the other rule. If you choose to take it and answer incorrectly, that person will lose the right to take the chūnin selection exam again."

This time, Kiba and a few more genin shouted in protest again, but Ibiki just laughed at them.

"Hm… Sakura and Sasuke will definitely be able to answer, and I'll be able to get it somehow. Even if not…" He looked at Hinata who was looking at him with worry and smiled, she saw his smile and smiled back. "I'll be sent on long missions less, maybe I'll see Hinata-chan more..."

Having made up his mind, Naruto looked at the people who were thinking about leaving this test, some had already made up their minds and were sitting waiting. Turning back a bit he met Sakura's eyes, noticing her slightly pale face he furrowed his brows and tilted his head to the side, "What's wrong with her?" Looking at Sasuke, he saw that he was also looking in his direction. Catching his gaze, Naruto gave the most self-confident smirk he was capable of.

"I'll ask all of you for the last time. Your life is riding on this decision. This is your last chance to quit," Ibiki asked again. After these words, another team dropped out of the exam, "Good decisions. Now to everyone remaining… I congratulate you on passing the first test!"

"Wait, what do you mean? Have we already passed? What about the tenth question?" Sakura asked.

"There never was such a thing... Or you could say that those two choices were the tenth question."

Naruto sighed and leaned back on the chair, "Well, that was unexpected..." Looking at Hinata, he smiled a little. Rising slightly from his chair, he moved it closer to her without making much noise. Sitting back down in the chair, he wrapped one arm around Hinata, holding her close. She didn't mind at all.

"Hey! Then what were the first nine questions for!? They were pointless then!" Temari exclaimed in exasperation.

"They were not pointless. They had already served their intended purpose." To a questioning look from Temari, he explained, "To test your individual information gathering ability. That purpose."

Clearing his throat a little, he entered his lecturer mode, "First, as the rules explained, success on this test based on the whole team doing well. This put pressure on each member not to mess things up for their teammates."

Naruto turned his head slightly towards Sakura, who noticed his gaze and blushed, hiding her face behind a sheet of paper, "So that's what happened to her, she was worried that I wouldn't be able to answer the question and I'd be a genin for life? That's kind of sweet…"

"The questions were not the types a mere genin could answer. Because of that, I'm sure most people came to the same conclusion. That to score points, I'll have to cheat. Basically, the premise of this test is to cheat. As cheating targets, we had two of our chūnins who knew all the answers, mixed into the crowd."

Naruto looked around, some of the genin started discussing how hard it was for them to find these two chūnin. Turning his head to Hinata he asked, "Did you find them?"

Hinata nodded slightly, "With the byakugan it was easy."

"How lucky I was to have you sitting next to me… I can't imagine how I would have looked for them," Naruto admitted.

"You would find a way." Hinata's voice was filled with confidence in Naruto.

Naruto chuckled, "Even if I didn't answer any of the questions, I still wouldn't have given up on the tenth question. So, I would still pass the test."

After one explanation about the true meaning of the first test, which has not changed from the original.

The window of the office in which the first exam was held was shattered into pieces. A large poster hung in front of the blackboard with the words 'Second Stage Proctor, Sexy and Unfortunately Taken, Anko Mitarashi.' In front of the poster stood Anko in her usual outfit with a dango stick between her teeth.

"This is no time to be celebrating! I am the examiner for the second test, Mitarashi Anko! Now let's go, follow me!" She exclaimed, raising her hand up.

The class looked at her in bewilderment except for Naruto and Hinata who giggled a bit at Anko's usual behavior.

Ibiki came out from behind the poster with his usual serious face, "Bad timing…"

After examining all the genin more carefully, she nodded, "Nineteen teams. Not bad... But I'll still cut them at least in half in the second exam."

Several of the genin flinched at her 'cute' smile, Naruto smirked, "So this is what she's been preparing for the past two weeks…"

"Ahh... I'm getting excited... I'll explain everything once we've changed location. Follow me," Anko said jumping out of the window, Naruto and Hinata instantly got up and jumped out of the window following her. The rest of the genin soon came out of their stupor and ran after them.

Fifteen minutes later. Training Ground 44.

"Looks like everyone assembled. Welcome to the stage of the second test, Training Ground 44…"

A few gulps were heard among the genins. Teams 7 and 8 gathered together in a small group.

"…You'll soon find out why this forest is called the Forest of Death."

"I was thinking here... What's more obvious, a puddle on the road when it hasn't rained for a week, or a 301 office on the second floor?" Naruto asked with a serious face to the genin around him.

"Pfft…" Sasuke and Sakura both started to stifle their laughter behind their hand while team 8 didn't understand the reference.

Anko sweetly smiled and sharply took out a kunai and threw it at Naruto.

The kunai flew past his face, barely grazing his cheek. Anko appeared behind him and was about to squeeze him from behind, but suddenly he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Anko pouted her cheeks as she turned her head towards the forest where the real Naruto jumped out.

"Hehehe, I'm sorry Anko-sensei. Just promised myself that I wouldn't approach girls other than Hinata-chan for no reason... And you're just emitting sexual innuendo."

Suddenly, Anko felt source of killing intent. Quickly turning around, she almost cut off the tongue of the genin who held out a kunai to her.

"Here… Your kunai…" Said the shinobi with the incredibly long tongue.

"Thanks, but don't sneak up on me. Unless you want to die," said Anko with a sweet smile.

Chuckling Anko moved away a bit, "Looks like we have a lot of blood thirsty ones in this test. This should be fun."

Naruto walked over to Hinata and she turned her head to him, "You don't have to do that to Anko-san, I know that's how she actually shows affection…"

Naruto chuckled again, "Our relationship won't get worse if she catches me less every day. I think…"

After the explanation about the exam and receiving scroll. Gate 12 of Training Ground 44.

"Hehe, this is going to be an interesting exam," Naruto said looking at the Forest of Death in front of him.

Sakura looked at him with a nervous smile, "You've been here training with Anko-san all the time, haven't you? You must know the area well."

Naruto nodded with a big smile, "Of course! I will definitely show you my favorite glade! It's incredibly beautiful there..."

Sakura and Sasuke sighed and waited for the instructor assigned to their team to let them inside. After a couple of minutes, he stepped aside and nodded to them.

Team 7 passed through the gate and slowly walked towards the tower in the middle of the forest.

"Are you sure we don't have to hurry?" Sakura asked Sasuke and Naruto.

Sasuke turned to Naruto who just laughed, "We can, but we have five whole days… I've already sent clones out to scout the area around, if they spot anything I'll let you know."

Sakura nodded and relaxed a bit, but suddenly she heard a human scream and flinched, "I'm a little nervous…"

"Relax… With Naruto's clones there is a low chance of somebody sneaking on us." Sasuke reassured her, causing Sakura's eyes to turn into hearts and her nodding her head like an obedient dog.

After a while Naruto turned his head to the side, "Hm…"

"Enemy team?" Sasuke asked.

He tilted his head to the side and created a clone that instantly dissipated.

Sakura and Sasuke were accustomed to Naruto's weird actions, but a second later a large monkey jumped out of a tree next to them, on whose back lay an unconscious ninja with a forehead protector of Amegakure.

"Who is this?" Sakura asked examining his wounds. She only noticed the rather heavy bruising on his temple and Naruto's seal on his forehead.

"He was sneaking up close to us… We're all enemies here so I knocked him out," Naruto explained.

"Turned into a monkey?" Asked Sasuke, looking at the clone of Naruto under the henge of the monkey, which jumped through the huge trees in an unknown direction.

"It's a good disguise." Naruto shrugged.

Having searched the shinobi's body, they did not find the scroll, so they simply left him under a tree in the Logs hands.

After a few more minutes Naruto sighed, "The exam has just started and they are already attacking so actively… Don't they want to explore this wonderful place?"

Sakura and Sasuke both shuddered at the same time, "In just these few minutes we saw a centipede, a spider, and a snake…" Sasuke said before being interrupted by Naruto.

"Hah, what are you afraid of these cute little animals, Sasuke-chan?"

"They were the size of a grown man!" Sakura exclaimed making Naruto chuckle.

"Is someone approaching us again?" Sasuke asked with a sigh.

Naruto nodded, "Three from Kusagakure. Among them is the guy with the long tongue."

Sakura cocked her head to the side, "Isn't that a girl?"

"What's the difference, they are strong enough, I don't want to risk attacking them with clones and give away our location," Naruto told them the situation. He kept Kurama's words to himself that this boy or girl had incredibly strong chakra. He also had incredible chakra, so what?

Suddenly, his eyes widened and he bent down to the ground, channeling chakra into his limbs to better hold onto the ground, "Enemy Jutsu!"

Sakura and Sasuke were surprised by his actions, but they also channeled chakra into their legs when they felt a strong wind that almost blew them off their feet.

As the dust from the enemy jutsu cleared, Naruto narrowed his eyes in the direction the enemy shinobi were coming from, "It wasn't a simple area technique. He dispelled every one of my clones that were around him. He is definitely a sensor."

Suddenly, a strange shinobi appeared near them, alone. "Hello kiddos..." He greeted in a low voice, "I see you were able to withstand my welcome jutsu... I wonder... What scroll do you have?"

Team 7 remained silent, and even Naruto decided to observe the strange ninja's actions for a while.

Sighing, the shinobi pulled out a scroll of earth from his pack and showed it to Team 7. "Here's mine. No genjutsu."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "If we have earth too will you just leave?"

The shinobi suddenly smiled widely and chuckled, "No…" He replied, now making Sasuke's and Sakura's eyes narrow. "It doesn't matter at all," he said as he placed the scroll in front of him and released a stream of fire from his mouth that destroyed the earth scroll. "I came for the battle."

Team 7's eyes widened at this shinobi's actions, but a second later they felt an incredibly strong killing intent directed at them.

"With our lives on the line," said the creepy ninja lowering his eyelid and touching his eye with a finger.

In the next second, Team 7 felt that imminent death was approaching them and that they had no chance of winning against this shinobi. It was as if the great hand of Rikudo Sennin had covered them from the sky and they could not move a muscle.

"Pathetic..." Kurama clicked her tongue and channeled some of her chakra through the seal.

Naruto felt Kurama's chakra, violent, angry, but warm, protective, and calmed down, "Thank you..."

Looking at his teammates, he frowned, tears began to flow from Sakura's eyes, and Sasuke almost vomited on the ground. Naruto thanked the log that he hold it back.

The shinobi chuckled, "Hehe… You can no longer move." He quickly took out three kunai from the back and threw them towards Team 7.

Next to Sasuke and Sakura, two clones appeared that deflected the kunai to the sides, and Naruto dodged the kunai by slightly leaning to the side.

The Kusagakure shinobi's head tilted and a light of… mischief appeared in his eyes, "Hoh…"

Naruto quickly made the seals for the technique he was training for moments like this, the clones next to him did almost the same but their seals were different.

The shinobi's eyes widened and he began to form seals as well.

Stopping at the tiger hand seal Naruto took a full chest of wind while his clones stopped at the bird and took a deep breath too. After a moment, the small plain on which they were standing was covered by incredible streams of wind, which burned everything in its path.

The enemy shinobi folded his seals and stopped at the dog, after which a huge amount of water came out of his mouth, which formed a dome on a large diameter around him.

As the fire around him died down the shinobi let go of the jutsu and looked towards Team 7. They were still standing in place with their kunai at the ready. Narrowing his eyes he disappeared from his spot and a second later all three members of Team 7 disappeared in a small poof of smoke. "Such large chakra reserves and good chakra control… Interesting…"

A few tens of feet away from the strange shinobi's location.

Naruto's clones put Sakura and Sasuke on their feet, who regained their senses a bit.

Sasuke turned to Naruto, "Did you feel that killing intent..?" Seeing a nod from Naruto, he was about to ask something else, but Naruto stopped him.

"Now is not the time for that. He is on a completely different level. His speed of making hand seals could be on par with Kakashi-sensei. He released a stream of water right after my wind and fire combo, even though I started forming the seals first and he didn't even look like he was straining to do it," Naruto said making Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widen.

"...We need to run," Sasuke said after a short silence.

Naruto turned to him with a frown, "I hate to admit it, but maybe you're right… Oh… Anyways, we don't get the chance… He is here."

Turning to a nearby tree, he saw a snake crawling towards them and threw a shuriken at it. After folding the seal, a bunch of Kage Shurikens appeared next to the already flying one.

They all cut the snake deeply, and a psycho they already knew came out with a smile, "Hehehe... Naruto-kun, you are an interesting specimen..." Said the shinobi rolling up his sleeve, "But I don't have much time..."

Naruto noticed a seal on his hand, but couldn't make out what it was due to distance between them.

The ninja bit his finger to the point of blood and traced the seal with blood, "Summoning no Jutsu!" Suddenly, an incredibly large snake appeared below him and immediately swung its tail at Team 7.

They ducked away from the attack, but the snake's tail quickly changed course following Sasuke and Naruto.

Sakura landed on a nearby branch and watched as the huge snake struck them both with its tail. They both crashed into a giant tree and stuck to it with their chakra. Naruto looked at Sasuke and nodded his head to the side.

Sasuke nodded and quickly started running up the tree while Naruto jumped to the ground and ran across the ground towards another tree, seeking cover from the giant snake.

The shinobi stood on the snake's head and watched the genin's actions with a smirk, "Well, let's play…" The snake began to crawl after Sasuke up the tree, ignoring Naruto.

Sasuke ran almost to the top of the tree and threw a Fūma shuriken and kunai at the approaching Shinobi.

The shinobi dodged the attack and noticed that Sasuke's pupils were red and three tomoe were visible in them. "Fantastic! Three tomoe sharingan in his age!"

Suddenly, he noticed a thread attached to the shuriken and turned his head in time to catch the shuriken with his teeth.

During this, the snake had already gotten very close to Sasuke, so he jumped down from the tree and performed several hand seals, shooting fire down a string at the enemy. "Dragon Fire no Jutsu!"

A macaque jumped out of a nearby tree and grabbed Sasuke, softening his landing on the ground.

The shinobi's face was badly burned, the skin seemed to have peeled off. He turned the other way and blocked several kunai that flew at him, all but one of them disappeared in a poof of smoke. A small number of shuriken flew out from behind him, which he also dodged.

But, unexpectedly for him, the snake, on whose head he was, tried to throw him off and actively beat his head against a tree. Jumping off it he landed on a nearby tree watching the snake continue to attack the trees like it was crazy, "Genjutsu..?"

He canceled the summoning and began to make rapid series of seals and breathe large amounts of air into his lungs. Several clones of Naruto flew out of the forest near him and tried to attack him, but he quickly destroyed them with Great Fireball no Jutsu.

Sakura ran up to Naruto with an frightened look on her face, "I can't put him in a genjutsu!"

Naruto nodded with a smirk as he watched his clones being burned by an unknown ninja.

Imagine the enemy shinobi's surprise when the clones he had just destroyed exploded right in his face, knocking him back a short distance.

Naruto turned to Sakura, "Cover your chakra as much as you can and just wait." Seeing a nod from Sakura, he turned to the strange shinobi who was standing on a tree branch watching Naruto and Sakura. "Who the hell are you?!" Naruto exclaimed pointing a finger at him.

"My name is Orochimaru," said the shinobi, making Naruto's eyes widen.

"You are lying! Orochimaru - Legendary Sannin and missing-nin of Konohagakure! What did he forget in the village where he is actively wanted?"

"I came... To see Sasuke-kun..." He said looking towards the tree Sasuke was hiding behind, trying to mask his chakra.

"Anko-sensei was right! You are a sick pedophile!" Naruto shouted again forcing Orochimaru look back to him.

"Oh… Are you Anko's student? What a surprise…" Raising his hands in front of him, he began to fold the seals again, "But, unfortunately, I have too little time left…"

"Behind!" Kurama shouted inside his head.

Naruto disappeared from his spot as a long sword flew out from behind him and crashed into the ground. Following the blade of the sword, he saw that it was coming out of Orochimaru's mouth. Glancing at a nearby tree, he saw Sasuke fighting another Orochimaru. "Shadow Clone…"

"Hehehe… You didn't think you were the only one who could use this technique, did you?"

Naruto smirked and folded the clone seal, "Why does everyone keep reminding me of this? I know it's not my personal technique…" He focused a huge amount of chakra without losing a smirk making Orochimaru's eyes widen slightly as his eyes began to turn red and his whisker marks darkened and enlarged. "But I'm the BEST in it! Taiju Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

Suddenly, a bunch of Naruto clones appeared all over the clearing and on every branch of every tree around them.

Orochimaru took his sword out of his mouth as he got into a kenjutsu stance and licked his lips, "Impressive chakra, but what does that gives you?"

Sasuke retreated from his opponent when he realized that it was just a clone and there was no point in wasting chakra on it. Naruto's clones covered his retreat with their bodies and various techniques.

The original Orochimaru cut through the clones around him with ease, sometimes dodging the various ninjutsu aimed at him. He was surprised again when he felt his body almost unable to move and one of the clones managed to land a blow on his face, ripping the skin off him.

"Urgh... How disgusting..." Said the Naruto clone who punched Orochimaru in the face.

Orochimaru peeled off the remaining hanging skin from his face and dodged a fire technique from one of the clones. Suddenly, "Dance of the Wind Serpentines!" rang out from behind him. Turning back, he saw several snake-like streams of wind intertwining and flying in his direction.

He was about to jump to the side or use Kawarimi when he felt a touch on his back and suddenly, he couldn't use his chakra or move. His eyes widened as the gusts of wind finally reached him and slammed into him with incredible force, knocking him to the side. The currents of wind didn't stop even when he finally crashed into the tree and continued to cut his body, leaving deep gashes on him and the tree.

After some time, the technique stopped and he quickly jumped away from another fire techniqye aimed at him. Landing on the ground and popping a few clones around him, he took off his torn gray garbs, leaving only a black polo and pants. Throwing the garbs on the ground, he noticed what appeared to be a seal painted over them, "Fūinjutsu?! He was able to apply it simply by hand, without ink and paper… What an incredible talent."

He jumped high into the air to gain some time to form the seals, "All of these clones have an incredible amount of chakra, each of them can use several high-ranking ninjutsu before dissipating and each of them can attach a restraining seal to me that seals my chakra and movements." He turned his head for a second and tried to find Sasuke or Sakura, but his eyes widened when he sensed Anko's chakra not far from that clearing, "Back up already?!"

He formed the final seal and shouted, "Secret Technique: Snake Labyrinth!"

Suddenly, such a large number of snakes rained down from the sky that the sun was covered by them. Snakes began to crawl out of the ground, out of the trees, and seemed to appear out of thin air. They wrapped themselves around the clones who were actively burning chakra, killing a large number of snakes. The number of clones was rapidly decreasing.

After a while, Orochimaru landed on a tree nearby, looking at the vast number of snakes crawling on the ground.

Anko and Naruto appeared not far from him, with wide smiles on their faces.

Orochimaru let out a small chuckle, "Hehehe… Looks like I underestimated you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded, "Looks like it, Orochimaru."

Looking around his smile widened, "I can't sense Sasuke-kun and your teammate's chakra… They couldn't have time to escape beyond the radius of my sensory abilities… Barrier..?"

"Why are you here?" Anko asked, but Orochimaru didn't even look in her direction.

"Well played… But…" Suddenly Anko fell to the ground clutching her neck, "You're unlucky with support…" Naruto leaned over Anko asking her what happened but Orochimaru was the one to answer him, "Curse Seal, I noticed that you have understanding of fūinjutsu… I'm sure you'll understand the potential of this technique."

Naruto looked at the tomoe-like seal and chuckled, "Looks like you just gone mad on the Sharingan."

"It's a necessity for my dream…" Orochimaru said before turning his head to the side, "But you won't understand…"

He suddenly began forming seals, causing Naruto to create several clones that grabbed Anko and carried her to safety.

"If I can't get Sasuke… I'll settle for a consolation prize," several large snakes shot out from under Naruto, instantly constricting his movements, and Orochimaru got a gleam in his eyes and made a few more seals making his neck lengthen and head towards Naruto.

Naruto created several more clones in front of him and asked for more chakra from Kurama, which allowed him to break free of the snakes, tearing them to pieces.

Orochimaru stopped his technique and snapped his neck back into place, "My, my… What an incredible power… After all this fighting as well!"

A cloak of chakra, already familiar to him, wrapped around Naruto and formed four long tails behind him. Naruto instantly landed on all fours and let out a loud growl.

"You used too much chakra," a slightly agitated Kurama told him, "It's even harder for you to control my chakra than usual… Try not to go berserk and fall for the obvious traps."

"Yeah… Thanks…" After a small dialogue with the voice in his head, he leapt towards Orochimaru, bringing his hand behind his back and quickly bringing it down on his head.

He quickly reacted and dodged the blow, slashing Naruto's torso with his sword. Suddenly, a shadow appeared in front of his eyes, which was approaching his face at high speed. With a speed that he did not have time to match. "It's going to hurt..."

One of Naruto's tails slammed into Orochimaru's face before he himself was sent flying by the force of the snake hermit's attack.

Orochimaru, on his way, broke a bunch of huge tree branches, breaking many bones throughout his body.

Finally landing he exhaled and let out a small laugh before opening his mouth wide and crawling out of his mouth fully regenerated. Even his clothes were completely intact, with gray grabs once again on him, such was the power of the Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique.

He placed his sword on his shoulder watching as Naruto flew at him with incredible speed, the wound on his torso completely healed, "Looks like I've found a rival in regeneration?"

When Naruto almost crashed into Orochimaru he disappeared and a log appeared in his place.

"Unfortunately, we will not be able to continue our battle… I will ask you to deliver a message for Anko," said Orochimaru as he appeared on a branch not far from Naruto. Naruto got to his feet and nodded his head. Orochimaru smirked, "Smart boy. Tell her not to stop the exam prematurely. About three people from my village are also taking part in it. Don't spoil my fun by stopping the exam… Or Konohagakure will fall." He backed up the last words with his killing intent, but Naruto didn't even blink at it.

A second later, Orochimaru disappeared in a poof of smoke, causing Naruto to exhale, "Kage Bunshin…"

Several masked shinobi suddenly appeared next to him, causing him to tense up for a second. Having created a clone, he instantly dispelled it, after which he stood on all fours.

The two shinobi raised their hands, "Hold up! We are backup, haven't you heard about the ANBU?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "You're too slow…" He received memories from his clone alongside Anko, who confirmed that they must be the backup she sent for.

He relaxed and sat on the ground in a lotus position before creating a clone, "I'll take you to Anko-sensei. Orochimaru has already escaped," the clone said and turned to quickly run towards Anko, the ANBU not far behind.

"Better mix my chakra with your…" Kurama started to speak, but was interrupted by Naruto.

"Yeah, yeah, I know that I used too much chakra. I could have saved..."

"No. This enemy was by far stronger than you. You used everything you could with minimal losses… Good job."

While training with Kurama's chakra, he noticed that a large amount of it simply dissipated when he stopped Kurama's chakra mode. So, he thought, why not mix this oozing chakra with his own? That way it would no longer be full Kurama chakra. Of course. it was still dangerous when he had too little chakra left, but with reserves above thirty percent everything should be fine.

The original Naruto closed his eyes and focused on the red chakra that was still in his chakra system, but suddenly he sighed and said, "You can come out, I noticed you back when I was flying to this clearing."

Team 10 emerged from the bushes nearby with nervous smiles on their faces. Ino was the first to speak, "Oh my! Naruto! What a coincidence that we met here!" She removed the rubber band from her hair and winked at him, "You know… I've always wanted to know a little more about you…"

"He's not even looking in your direction Ino…" Choji told her with a small sigh, "Hey Naruto, you're not going to attack us, are you?"

Naruto shook his head slightly in denial causing Shikamaru and Choji to plant their asses on the ground, "Man, you sure made us worry…"

Ino put her hair in a ponytail and looked at Naruto who still had red chakra swirling around him, getting closer to him she held out her hand, "Hah... What kind of technique is this?"

Shikamaru's eyes widened and he quickly formed the seals for the Shadow Imitation Technique. Ino froze inches from touching the red chakra, "Hey, Shikamaru, what gives?!"

"Look at the ground he's sitting on..." Said Shikamaru making Ino take a few steps back and bow her head down.

Her eyes widened at the scorched grass and ground around Naruto, "O-Oops… Thanks Shikamaru."

After a minute, the chakra around Naruto began to disappear as if returning back into his body.

At that moment, the rest of Team 7 appeared in the clearing. Sasuke looked at the Team 10 before turning his gaze to Naruto sitting with his back to them, a faint red aura around him.

"Naruto, are you okay?!" A worried Sakura asked as she approached him.

Naruto got up from the ground and cracked his neck a bit before turning back to them. The rest of the genin's eyes widened when they saw his face, but he just nodded and smirked showing his elongated canine teeth, "As if some legendary sannin could do something to me! Hahahaha!" Laughing, he looked at them with a questioning look, "Do I have something on my face?"

Sakura raised her index finger at him, "Y-Your eyes…"

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "Are they red and splitted again?" Seeing their nods, he sighed, "Well, I can't do anything about it…" Suddenly, a clone of Naruto jumped out of the nearby forest holding a sky scroll and some dead rabbits, "Hahahahaha, looks like we can head to the tower! But first, Sasuke, Sakura, can you look for some branches for the bonfire? The clones are a little busy right now…"

Team 10's eyes widened even more, and Sakura and Sasuke decided that they had enough of this crap and went to collect branches. Ino couldn't resist and shouted, "Solid clone?! And where did he get the scroll of heaven?! What's wrong with your eyes?! What was that red aura?! A Legendary Sannin?!"

Naruto chuckled and sat down on the ground again, "It's a long story, let's eat these rabbits first. Just bring some wood for fire."

Shikamaru and Choji nodded as they walked into the forest, while Ino stared at Naruto for a few seconds before walking into the forest after her friends.

Ten minutes later.

"I don't envy you Sasuke…" Shikamaru mumbled as he gnawed on a piece of rabbit meat beside a crackling fire, " Being targeted by a Legendary Sannin... Especially Orochimaru..." He winced slightly before resuming his meal.

Sasuke, seated across from him with his own portion of rabbit, inquired, "Do you know anything about him beyond being a Sannin who defected from the village?"

"I suppose I don't need to elaborate on who the Sannin are, do I?" Shikamaru asked looking at Naruto who was sitting next to Ino and Choji.

His eyes were still slitted red, so when he narrowed them on Shikamaru they looked quite scary. Ino and Choji moved away from him a bit, though Ino was just trying to get closer to Sasuke.

"Ahem… Then I have little else to tell you, except that Orochimaru abandoned Konoha to pursue his ambitions, indulging in unethical experiments for immortality," Shikamaru explained between bites of his meal.

Everyone continued to eat their meat until Ino abruptly jumped to her feet and pointed at Naruto, "You never explained what happened to your eyes!"

Naruto sighed and looked at her making her freeze in place and blush, he smirked. "It's quite amusing... Their reactions when I simply look at them."

"You should have seen the look on your face when you first laid eyes on me," Kurama chimed in, teasingly.

"Don't compare me to you. You were probably the most beautiful woman I've ever seen! Of course, I froze..." Complained Naruto, disregarding the odd glances from the other genins.

"For them, you're the most handsome guy they've ever seen," Purred Kurama enjoying the compliment from Naruto. "Plus, fearsome factor."

"Heh, they must not have seen many good-looking guys," Naruto replied nonchalantly.

"NARUTO!" Suddenly, Ino screamed in his ear, causing him to squeeze the bones in his hand hard, literally turning them into bone dust.

Ino squawked at the sound of breaking bones, while Sakura, experiencing a sense of déjà vu, instinctively sought refuge behind Sasuke.

Naruto glanced wearily at Ino, "Did you need something?"

Ino gulped and nodded, but before she could voice her question again, Team 8 popped out of the forest nearby.

"Hey guys! I knew it was you! Who else would think to light such a big bonfire when the rest of the teams are hunting each other…" Kiba laughed as he entered the clearing, Akamaru at his head and Shino and Hinata behind him.

Kiba noticed Naruto's red eyes and was about to shout something, "Oi! Naruto…"

But he was pushed aside by Hinata who quickly ran up to Naruto with a worried look on her face, "What happened to your eyes, Naruto-kun!?"

Naruto looked down at the ground a little shy to show his eyes to Hinata, but she sat down next to him and placed a hand on his cheek and lifted his head up, "I'll tell you later okay?" He asked quietly confusing Hinata who nodded nervously.

Turning to everyone else he cleared his throat and stood up, "This is my bloodline!" He exclaimed loudly, after which he looked at their reaction.

Shikamaru and Choji didn't even look away from their food. Sasuke also continued to eat meat after hearing his words, Sakura continued to watch Sasuke. Ino raised one eyebrow before her eyes widened, "Uzumaki Clan! I didn't know they had a bloodline..."

Naruto sighed and sat down next to Hinata, automatically wrapping an arm around her, "Now you know."

"Do you mind if we roast our meat?" Kiba asked them to which Sasuke and Sakura nodded in agreement.

Kiba and Shino sat between Sakura and Shikamaru, across from Naruto and Hinata, and began cooking some bird meat.

Same time. Not far from the location of teams 7, 8 and 10.

Clone Naruto was keeping a vigilant watch over the forest surrounding the clearing where the original and the others were resting when he suddenly heard a woman's scream not too far from his position. He made the decision to investigate the source of the disturbance and maybe observe the battle between the other teams.

Using his tail and nimble paws, he ran in the direction of the scream. Yes, he had transformed into a monkey.

Approaching the source of cry, he saw a girl with red hair, who was attacked by a bear, seemingly unable to defend herself. Channeling more chakra into his paws, he jumped onto the bear and smacked it in the face with his back paws.

When the bear fell on its back, he jumped on it and began to beat its chakra-enhanced tail on the bear's head. After a minute of such humiliation, the bear turned and ran into the forest from the audacious macaque.

Returning to the girl, he noticed the forehead protector of Kusagakure and frowned when he saw that she was scared, "Oh! Maybe she knew those guys Orochimaru killed to sneak into exam?" Dispelling his Henge away, he smiled reassuringly at her, "I won't hurt you. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, what about you?'

"K-Karin Uzumaki…" She stuttered, causing Naruto's eyes to widen in surprise, momentarily unsettling her.

"U-Uzumaki? You aren't lying?" Naruto questioned her. Karin shook her head slightly in denial and Naruto pointed a finger at himself, "Are we related!?"

Karin tilted her head, suddenly much calmer than a second before, "Are you dying your hair?"

"What?! No! Why does everyone always ask that…" Dejected Naruto sighed, "But it's pretty interesting, don't you want to go to the original? Are you here with your team?"

Karin stood up and smiled, "I don't mind going with you. But what do you mean by 'go to the original?'"

"I'm just a Shadow Clone," he explained as he turned around and motioned for her to follow him.

Back with team 7, 8 and 10.

"Where did you get the earth scroll?" Sasuke inquired, throwing the last bone from the eaten rabbit into the fire.

"The Sound Team. They tried to ambush us but I found them first…" Naruto explained.

"Did you beat the enemy team single-handedly?" Ino asked, her voice tinged with shock.

"They weren't strong… Or ready… My clones disguised as beetles crawled alongside them listening to their plans, which made me realize they were targeting us. They didn't even have time to react to the speed of my clones… A few seals and…" Naruto stopped mid-sentence and turned his head to the side, "Looks like we're going to have another guest!" He exclaimed with a broad smile.

Getting up, he noticed that no one except Hinata was interested in who else would come to the clearing. They were all emotionally exhausted, so they remained quietly sitting in front of the fire.

Shrugging he walked towards the forest, Hinata by his side, "So who is this visitor?" she asked him.

"I'm not sure yet, but this girl claims she's an Uzumaki and has red hair like in the books," Naruto said with a smile.

"So, she could be your relative?!" Hinata asked happily.

Naruto chuckled and nodded, "In a way…"

After some time, they went far enough into the forest where they would definitely not be visible from the glade where their friends had stayed. They walked a bit more before they saw the clone and the red-haired girl next to him.

Clone-Naruto nodded to the original and, turning into a monkey, disappeared into the thick of the forest.

Naruto looked at the girl in front of him and cocked his head to the side noticing her slightly frightened state, "I thought you had already recovered from the bear attack?"

"Y-your eyes… Your clone has them blue… And y-your chakra…" Stuttered Karin in reply.

"Oh… It's… I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do about it. After a while, it will finally mix with my own and become the same as the clone's," Naruto explained to her, "So… We can talk here or go to our teams and the campfire for a snack..?

"I lost my appetite a little after the bear... And your chakra..."

"Oh, well then, let's at least sit down. By the way, this is Hinata Hyūga. She is my girlfriend, so she was interested in meeting my possible relative."

Naruto settled on a large rock, with Hinata sitting close beside him, their shoulders touching.

"Karin Uzumaki," Karin introduced herself with a smile. "I still don't understand, weren't the Uzumaki all redheads?"

"It's just genetics. It seems that I was lucky to have blonde hair from one parent, and from the other I got a great understanding of seals and an incredible amount of chakra," Naruto explained to her.

"I'm a sensor so I can sense your chakra… But seals..?"

Naruto sweetly smiled and placed his hand to the tree next to him, which was the size of a normal tree in the Forest of Death. Enormous. A plethora of seals appeared on it and ran up the entire length of the tree.

For a few moments, nothing happened, but then the entire tree, excluding its roots, simply disappeared without leaving a trace.

Karin's eyes widened in disbelief, and she stumbled backward, falling to the ground. "T-this is unbelievable!"

Naruto smiled and nodded, "Thank you. How would you like to meet after the exam somewhere in the village and talk? I would like to be close to my family, even if we are not very close in the family tree."

Karin rose to her feet and dusted herself off, "I'd love to, but my teammates and jōnin-sensei will be against it."

Naruto lowered his head to the ground and his shoulders slumped, "Oh, really? Then never mind..." Hinata, seeing Naruto's disappointment, immediately hugged him, trying to cheer him up.

Karin sweatdropped, "I'll ask them if they'll let me stay a little longer..."

Naruto nodded, a weak smile returning to his lips, "Thank you Karin-chan."

Sitting down on a large tree root she removed her glasses and wiped the dirt off them, "So how is your life in Konoha?"

"Perfectly!" Naruto spent the next ten minutes telling Karin about his favorite activities in Konoha. Ramen, Hinata and training, in general. Hinata also shared some of her own life stories.

When Naruto asked Karin about her life in Kusagakure she smiled and said, "…Not bad." Naruto attempted to ask about her relatives, but he apologized upon learning that her mother had passed away and she never knew her father.

Suddenly, Kiba emerged from the forest with Akamaru perched atop his head, "Hey, Hinata. Shino and I want to talk to you for a moment."

Hinata nodded and left the clearing with Kiba. Naruto stared at Karin with his red eyes for a while, causing her to fidget slightly in place. She looked surprised when his eyes began to change color unexpectedly, transforming from slitted to normal, blue human eyes.

"Oh finally…" Naruto said gently rubbing his eyes with his fingers. Opening his eyes again Naruto looked at Karin with a smile, "Is it better?"

Karin was silent for a while, "Such warm chakra… But…" She nodded her head making Naruto's smile widen.

Hinata turned to them at that moment and said that Team 8 would already be running towards the tower. Naruto hugged her and kissed her in the lips, eliciting blushes from both Hinata and Karin.

After Team 8 left, Naruto turned back to Karin, "Well, I guess I should go back too… Can you find your team by yourself? I can leave a clone with you."

Karin shook her head, "I'll be able to find them," getting up from the root, she turned towards the forest and waved at Naruto, "Maybe we'll meet again…"

Naruto waved vigorously in farewell, "Sure! We'll see each other again!" He shouted making Karin smile.

Karin turned and walked in an unknown direction, "He's so bright, like the sun, I'm afraid I'll get burned just looking at him. But his other chakra... Incredibly cruel and aggressive. How can he act so cheerful when his chakra is so cold?" Looking at the sunlight coming through the leaves of the trees, she thought, "Could it bethat because he is so warm and bright, he can contain all this cold and darkness? I would like to be near him when difficult moments come into my life..."

With Team 7.

Returning to the clearing, he was not surprised to see Kabuto next to Sakura and Sasuke. His clones had already given him this information, "Kage Bunshin is badass."

"If it wasn't for my chakra, you would be squeezed out right now." Kurama reminded him.

"And I am grateful."

After conversing with Kabuto, they agreed to head to the tower together. Half an hour later, they were not far from the center of the Forest of Death when Naruto felt Kurama infuse him with some of her chakra. Coming to a halt, he noticed that Sasuke, Sakura, and Kabuto diverged from the correct path, veering away from the tower.

"Hey, you guys decided to go pee together or something?" Naruto quipped with a big smile.

Sakura turned to him with a twitch mark, swinging her fist at him, "Can't you see the tower over there?! Where do you think we're going?!"

Naruto chuckled, "No, I don't see a tower over there."

Kabuto and Sasuke's eyes widened and they formed a ram sign dispelling the genjutsu. Sakura, noticing their actions, gasped and followed suit.

Suddenly, ninja clad in all-black attire with gas masks over their faces emerged from the trees around them. Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Gas attacks? Interesting! It seems like these are the guy's friends from the beginning of the exam. In any case..."

Unexpectedly, three figures flew out of the forest above them at high speed, their clothes torn in many places, blood oozing from the scratches. They were propelled forward by wind snakes, eventually crashing into a tree.

The dark clones surrounding them dissipated, and Team 7, along with Kabuto, approached the heavily injured ninjas. Sakura turned to Naruto, "What is this technique? You didn't show it before."

"Fūton: Dance of the Wind Serpentines. I am proud of this technique! It is the first ninjutsu that I invented on my own. Several wind streams intersect continuously, creating wind blades that cut everything that falls under the stream. Additionally, pushes the target in some direction with tremendous force. Even Orochimaru flew away from this jutsu!" Naruto explained with a wide smile as he watched several clones land next to the masked ninjas and begin to search them. "Hah, no gas bombs… Maybe they're using gas related jutsu..? I wonder if that counts as a wind jutsu?"

A tower in the center of the Forest of Death. Ten minutes later.

"Without heaven..." Naruto muttered as he read the writing on the wall.

"Perhaps we should open the scroll?" Sakura suggested.

Sasuke nodded and took out a scroll of heaven from the stack while Naruto took out a scroll of earth, "On three?"

Naruto nodded, "One."

"Two," Sasuke continued.

"Three!" Sakura exclaimed with a smile.

Sharply opening the scroll, Naruto immediately noticed that it was a summoning scroll and threw it aside, Sasuke, understanding the same thing, repeated his actions. The scroll released some smoke before Iruka appeared above it.

"Hey, long time no see," Iruka said with a smile.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked in surprise.

Taking the watch out of his pocket, he opened it, noting time, "You managed to finish the exam on the first day! This is a great result, congratulations!"

"So, this scroll was a summoning scroll all this time?" Naruto asked as he picked up the scroll from the ground.

Iruka nodded, "At the end of this second test, it's setup so we, chūnins, meet up with the exam takers. And I was allowed to be the one to greet you. All three of you pass the second test. Congratulations!"

Naruto smirked and threw his right arm around Sasuke's neck and his left arm around Sakura, "Hahaha we did it!"

Sasuke smiled and lightly patted Naruto on the back a couple of times, while Sakura blushed, but also enjoyed the hug.

Iruka smiled warmly as he saw the good relationship of Team 7 and told them about the essence of Heaven and Earth. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura listened intently to his words which made him quite happy.

At the end of the explanation, Naruto looked up at the large inscription with a thoughtful face, "…Balance."

"That goes for everything Naruto," Kurama said in his head. "Balance is needed everywhere, without balance there will be chaos. Yin and yang."

Iruka invited Team 7 for ramen and they agreed. It turned out that there was a dining room in this tower! Anko constantly forced Naruto to cook for himself in the forest during training. That's where she got those dangos from!

Naruto saw several familiar faces as they walked around the tower. Gaara, Temari, Kiba, who said that Hinata is now resting in the room they were given. Looks like they got to the tower fourth? After Kabuto's team.

After having a snack with Iruka, Sakura and Sasuke went to the room assigned to their team. Naruto quickly remembered the room number that Kiba called and ran to find Hinata.

On the fifth day of the second stage of the chūnin exam.

Hinata left her team's room and headed to the dining room, thinking about her boyfriend, "I've watched him for a long time, admired him for a long time, but I noticed that he also has his flaws." Arriving at the dining room she sighed not seeing Naruto here and after ordering several servings of ramen she went to the entrance of the tower, "Naruto-kun is too kind… It's probably hard to take it as a flaw, but in Naruto's case, it's easily noticeable. My family often told me that I was too kind, but comparing myself to him, I feel like I'm the wicked one."

Next to the entrance to the tower stood several benches, intended for tired genin from traversing the dense forest. Walking out to the entrance, Hinata spotted Naruto's blonde hair as he sat on one of the benches, gazing at the entrance.

She wanted to make a sound so she wouldn't startle him by sneaking up from the side, but he suddenly smiled and turned to her, "Good morning, Hinata-chan."

Seeing that smile, Hinata tightened arms around ramen and smiled back, "Good morning, Naruto-kun." Her brain was still thinking, "He's so bright… I often don't feel like I have the right to be near him…"

Naruto saw four servings of ramen in her hands and let out a soft chuckle, "Four ramen? Are they all for me?"

Sitting down next to him, Hinata shook her head, "I'm hungry too, Naruto-kun." She handed him two portions and, placing one next to her, began to eat the other.

Naruto accepted the ramen with a smile, but turned his gaze to the entrance to the tower.

"She'll make it," Hinata said, "She definitely will, don't worry Naruto-kun."

He opened his ramen and began eating a portion with the provided wooden chopsticks, "I have something to tell you, Hinata."

She looked at him as she sipped her ramen soup and breathed out, "…After the breakfast."

They finished their portions in silence, Hinata tossing the plastic cups into a nearby trash can. When she turned to Naruto, he was looking directly at her with a serious face. Hinata sat down next to him, placing her hand on his arm and he smiled.

"I would like to apologize to you for keeping one important fact of my life from you," Naruto began while looking at Hinata's face, "One important person…"

Hinata noticed a slightly sad smile on Naruto's face and squeezed his hand tighter.

"I've been with her since I was born, actually. Although we only met this year. During the Wave mission. At first, our relationship did not go well, but I understood her, and she, to a certain extent, me." Naruto squeezed her hand and looked into her eyes, "Right after my birthday, the Fourth Hokage sealed a nine-tailed fox demon inside of me. It's still inside now, and we've developed a connection." Suddenly he smiled, a bitter smile, "That sounded lousy, nothing romantic between us, the connection is purely chakra."

Looking into Hinata's eyes, he saw horror at first, no doubt thinking of the Almighty Kyūbi. Then, unexpectedly, he noticed the anger, directed at the villagers who refused to acknowledge Naruto. "Did she know..?" But in the end, her face turned sad and tears welled up in her eyes.

Rushing to him, she hugged him around the neck, and he felt as if after a long time, he had thrown off a heavy weight from his shoulders. A burden that dragged him to the bottom all his life, which he resisted all his life. Hinata's small hands removed it from his shoulders.

"I love you Naruto-kun…" Hinata spoke softly. Naruto felt wetness on his shoulder, "Love, no matter what others think of you, and what is sealed within you." Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes and he wrapped his arms around Hinata's fragile form, shaking like a leaf in the wind. "I don't know what will happen in the future. We are only thirteen years old, after all. But I will never change my mind about you Naruto-kun. You are the best person I have ever known."

"…Kind soul," Naruto heard silent voice of Kurama.

Hinata pulled away from him a little to see his blue eyes. Meeting his gaze, she did not take her white eyes off him for a second.

Until a dull cough sounded next to them.

They jumped up a little on the bench and turned to see a red-haired girl with glasses next to them.

"Karin-chan!" Naruto shouted, pulling away from Hinata but not letting go of her completely, "You still got here! I was so worried… Where is your team?"

Karin, blushing as she watched Naruto and Hinata hugging, lost her blush at the mention of her team, "They couldn't get out…"

Hinata's and Naruto's eyes widened and they disengaged from each other. Jumping to their feet, they hugged Karin, who opened her eyes wide at the unexpected action, "W-what are you…"

"We're sorry…" Hinata said and Naruto just nodded.

Karin felt the warmth coming off their bodies and hugged them back with a sigh, "Well it seems in Konoha even if you're a shinobi you're still allowed to be children… Sounds like a great place to live."

After a full minute, Naruto pulled away from the hug and met Karin's eyes. "Then stay in Konoha."

Karin raised an eyebrow and smiled a little wickedly, "Naruto, you rascal, asking another girl to live with you when your girlfriend is standing by?"

Hinata shook her head, the same wicked smile on her face, "And I don't mind…"

Karin's complexion turned as red as a burning flame and Naruto chuckled a little, "Of course not in that way. Join Konoha. The Hokage will be able to make this happen, I'm sure."

Karin calmed down a bit, "You're a piece of work, Naruto. What if I have friends in Kusagakure? What if I don't want to leave them?"

"...I'm sorry if I offended. But when I asked you about Kusagakure, your eyes reminded me of the eyes I sometimes saw in others. Cold, detached, devoid of light."

Karin looked into the blonde's blue eyes, eyes so warm that you wonder how is it possible for them to be so warm. So warm that it's enchanting and the breath catches in the throat. So warm that it's scary...

"I don't mind. If the Hokage allows it…"

"You don't even have to doubt that," Naruto said with confidence as Hinata nodded in agreement.

"Even so, we still have to come to an agreement with Kusa. They might not just let me go."

"First, let's meet with the Hokage-jiji. I have a feeling that he is already in the tower, so we can visit him."

"Feel it? Are you a sensor too?"

"Hmm… Almost."

Four hours later.

"Looks like the second stage of the exam is complete," the Hokage announced, standing before the small crowd of genin. "Twenty-one shinobi passed the second stage, congratulations."

Naruto scanned the area. Teams 7, 8, 9, 10, Team Kabuto, Team Sand, Team Sound. Oh, looks like they managed to find two scrolls...

"For the next stage of the exam... But before... Let me explain true meaning for this exam...

'To promote friendship among the countries.'

'To raise the level of shinobi.'

I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning...

This exam…

Is a replacement for war among the allied countries."

Few minutes passed by with epic speech of Hokage.

*cough*

"I apologize, Hokage-sama. From here on, as a referee, will you allow me, Gekkō Hayate?"

"By all means."

A man with dark hair held back by a bandana tied around the back of his head turned to the genin, "Hello everyone, I'm Hayate." His face looked quite ill, with bags under his eyes and a general pallor. *cough* "Before the third test, there is something I'd like you to do... *cough* It's a preliminary for the third test, to decide who gets to participate in the main event."

Sakura and Shikamaru expressed their displeasure at this decision, but Hayate explained that the number of teams left was too large. It seems that the first and second exams were quite easy this year.

*cough* "So anyway, those who are not feeling well, and who feel like quitting the exam... Step forward now. We will be starting the preliminary immediately."

Kabuto raised his hand and asked to leave the exam. Naruto cocked his head to the side, "Why is he leaving? He didn't look tired…" Turning back to the other genin, he didn't notice anyone wanting to leave the exam.

"Now, let's start preliminary. Here's the rules…"

Please, read the original if you don't know the rules.

"The two participants in the first match are Uchiha Sasuke and Akadō Yoroi. Are you ready?"

After everyone but the battle participants went upstairs, Hayate stood between the two and raised his hand up, brought it down abruptly, "Please, begin."

Sasuke immediately turned on his super-eyes with three tomoe, which he was incredibly proud of and began to follow the enemy's movements.

Yoroi immediately fired several shurikens at him and began to advance, after the first wave he immediately fired the next three shurikens.

Sasuke easily deflected the first three shurikens with a kunai and then the next three, and then he saw Yoroi three feet away. He continued his hand movement after deflecting the shurikens and launched a kunai at him with high speed.

Yoroi jumped to the side losing momentum and suddenly Sasuke was already beside him with his hands on his chest, "Hah idiot, now I can absorb his chakra…"

"Raiton: Electromagnetic murder!"

Lightnings of electricity shot out from Sasuke's hands and spread through Yoroi's body, violently burning the place where his hands made contact with clothes on Yoroi's chest.

Yoroi fell to the ground, his breathing erratic, he could not get enough air in his lungs. His eyes darkened and he fell unconscious.

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke. Medics!"

People in white robes with crosses on them ran out to Yoroi and quickly placed him on a stretcher. One of them immediately started using iryō ninjutsu.

"What a scary genin…" Said one of the exam proctors next to Anko. "Three tomoe sharingan at his age…The speed with which he approached Yoroi…"

Anko chuckled, "Yeah, he's a monster."

Sasuke meanwhile moved up to the spot for observers, receiving praise from his comrades.

"You gave it to him there!" - Kiba.

"Good job." - Hinata.

"Sasuke-kun is so cool!" - Sakura and Ino.

Naruto threw an arm around his neck, "Hahaha, easy battle?"

Sasuke nodded as he looked at the screen where the names of the next contestants would be shown, but turned his gaze to Naruto, "I'm looking forward to our battle."

Naruto smirked, "You'll have to wait for the third stage."

New names appeared on the screen. Zaku Abumi vs Aburame Shino.

The two genin got down from their observer spots and stood facing each other. Hayate started the match a second later and Zaku instantly sprung into action.

The main interesting thing about this battle was that Zaku was healthy. His hands weren't bandaged from the start, but that still didn't help him break through Shino's defenses.

Bug user easily blocked both of his arms and, for some reason, just stood still for a while, allowing Zack to fire his hand at him. But the battle was already over.

In their brief skirmish, Shino let his insects move to Zaku's hands, which started blocking holes in his hands. The next time he uses them, they will fly off in different directions.

Shino distracted him with a short conversation to give the bugs time to seal his hands better.

When Zaku raised his arms to attack both Shino and the bugs behind him, one of them broke away and flew to the side, while the other hung on his bones. Feeling the incredible pain of losing a limb, Zaku instantly fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Winner: Aburame Shino. Call medics and tell them to leave a few of them here for the next battles…"

Shino returned to the balcony where he, like Sasuke, was greeted by almost all the genin of Konoha.

"Next battle. Kankurō vs Tsurugi Misumi."

Not writing it. No changes.

"Puppeteer, huh?" Naruto muttered, "How does it work..?"

"Shikamaru Nara vs Tsuchi Kin"

If you want to see it, read manga, idk…

"Shadows… What kind of element is this?" - Naruto.

"Akimichi Choji vs Kinuta Dosu"

That's the last skip. Next one will be a full one.

"He was huge! But that Dosu guy still beat him…" Naruto scratched his head, "So many interesting techniques and I can't use any of them without a Kekkei Genkai or some weird Ninja Tools…"

"Next fighters, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, please come down here."

Naruto watched with fascination as this battle began. Sakura looked pretty cool with the headband on her forehead, and so did Ino. It promised to be a tough battle.

Or maybe not.

"Well… that ended fast…" Naruto muttered as he watched Sakura help Ino up from the floor and walk over to them.

"Your team is incredibly strong Naruto-kun… Sakura only used basic Bunshin no Jutsu and was able to win the battle." Hinata commented, causing Naruto to chuckle.

"Looks like you notice a lot less details with your byakugan turned off, Hinata-chan," Naruto said and she puffed out her cute cheeks, "She used a genjutsu."

"Huh? But when?"

"Right after Bunshin. Quite a nasty disorienting genjutsu, it just sucks…"

"I didn't notice how she made the seals..."

"The technique is simple, only three seals… Sakura can use it with one. After that, even if you dispel the technique, if your chakra is weak, you will still feel its effects… Sakura took advantage of that and gave her fists, that's all."

Asuma scratched his beard as he turned to Kakashi, "What did you feed them? I understand Naruto and Sasuke, but even Sakura…"

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "I'm just such a cool teacher, Asuma. Learn while I'm alive."

Kurenai looked at the screen and cursed silently.

"Next fight! Inuzuka Kiba and Gaara, please come down here."

"Shit…" cursed Kiba, "It's that maniac from the forest…"

Naruto slapped him on the back with his palm, "Good luck man! Be careful, Akamaru!"

"Be careful…" Hinata wished, looking at Gaara who had already gone down to Hayate and kept his eyes on Kiba.

Kiba swallowed the lump that came to his throat and headed downstairs with a nod.

"Both fighters ready?" Seeing their nods, Hayate exclaimed, "Then get started!"

"Let's do it Akamaru!" He ran towards Gaara with Akamaru and immediately took out a smoke bomb.

Throwing the bomb at Gaara's feet, smoke quickly rose around him and Akamaru with Kiba began actively attacking him by smell. The smell of blood.

Kiba quickly noticed that all the blows he threw were blocked by something that looked like hard sand. After a while he heard Akamaru bark and jumped out of the smoke to see Akamaru on the floor, "He was able to hit Akamaru in that smoke?"

The smoke cleared and everyone saw sand swirling around a completely unharmed Gaara.

Naruto leaned forward watching the sand swirl around Gaara, "He's controlling the sand..? But how could he defend himself when his visibility was zero? Kiba navigates this smoke by the smell, he couldn't miss…"

"Maybe it's an automatic defense…" Kakashi mumbled but Naruto still heard him.

"Automatic defense? It is incredible! How?!"

"Maybe it's Shukaku's power." Said Kurama, "Although I can't feel Shukaku's chakra in this sand…"

Gaara's sand stirred and went after Kiba, who grabbed Akamaru and jumped to the side.

"Oh, I forgot he's a jinchuriki, you didn't tell me anything about Shukaku. Is he a man?"

Kiba threw a pill into Akamaru's mouth that caused the dog's fur to turn red and he jumped to his feet to also run away from Gaara's sand.

"He's a skunk. He's a bit out of his mind, I think the bags under this guy's eyes show that Shukaku doesn't let him sleep."

Akamaru jumped onto Kiba's back and they turned to face Gaara. Suddenly, Akamaru transformed into Kiba and they flew towards Gaara at great speed, spinning in the process.

"Doesn't let him sleep?! How long can a person live without sleep?"

Their Gatsuga crashed into the wall of sand that formed in front of Gaara and they jumped back and continued to attack him from different sides, but he didn't even look in their direction. The sand protected him from all sides, stopping their attacks.

"I do not know. But his consciousness is probably just in the mush..."

Kiba and Akamaru gasped and jumped away from Gaara. Kiba watched as the protective sand fell to the ground and began swirling around. After that he saw his face and his cold eyes. He immediately remembered the picture in the forest of death and froze.

Gaara raised his hand forward and the sand began to come at Kiba with great speed. There was no emotion on Gaara's face.

Kiba felt Akamaru shiver next to him and dropped his eyes to the ground, "I give up."

Gaara narrowed his eyes but stopped his sand.

"Winner: Gaara. Please leave the field." Hayate stated.

Gaara's sand quickly returned to the gourd on his back and he covered it with a plug. After looking at Kiba, he disappeared in a Sand Shunshin and appeared next to Temari and Kankurō.

Kiba lifted Akamaru in his arms and, lowering his head, climbed to the spot for the observers. As he approached his team, Kurenai placed a hand on his shoulder, "You did a great job. Don't blame yourself for the loss."

Kiba nodded and turned back to Shino and Hinata. Hinata looked like she wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Naruto, "Akamaru! Are you okay, my friend!?" Hinata puffed out her cheeks while watching how Naruto ran up to Kiba and grabbed Akamaru from his hands and began examining him with incredible care.

Shino's hand landed on her shoulder and she turned towards him. He pointed her finger at the screen where she saw her name.

"The next battle. Hyūga Hinata and Tenten, come down here."

Naruto handed Akamaru to Kiba and walked over to Hinata. She looked at him with a slight blush, "Kiss for luck?"

A warm smile appeared on Kurenai's face, "She's becoming more and more open…Naruto has an incredible influence on her."

Naruto brought her face closer with a smile and planted a light kiss on her lips, pulling away immediately, "You can have the rest after you win."

Sakura and Ino blushed a little and swooned watching the couple, Kiba just clicked his tongue.

Naruto turned his head to Tenten, "Good luck to you too, Tenten!"

Tenten looked over at Hinata and a little sweat rolled down the back of her neck, "What if she's still mad at me because of Naruto..?"

"Yosh! Good luck Tenten-chan! Everything will work out for you!" Lee exclaimed giving her a thumbs up.

She nodded and turned to go downstairs, but suddenly heard, "Good luck." From Neji and her eyes widened.

"He became different after being beaten by Naruto…"

Hayate looked at the girls standing opposite each other. Hinata made a seal of reconciliation and bowed to Tenten, who repeated the gesture with a small smile.

"You are ready? Begin."

Hinata went into a gentle fist stance and the veins around her eyes swelled in the manner of a byakugan user.

In Tenten's hands, kunai and shurikan appeared as if out of thin air. Hinata narrowed her eyes.

Sakura turned to Naruto, "Did you draw that seal for her too?"

Naruto shook his head, "She drew it herself. I just helped a little…"

Hinata threw shurikens at Tenten and started running towards her, preparing an attack with her palm.

Tenten easily deflected her shurikens with a kunai and launched shurikens at Hinata.

Hinata jumped to the side and was about to continue running at Tenten when she noticed three more shuriken aimed at her torso.

She jumped back and to the side, dodging the shuriken, only to see another trio of shuriken flying her way. Turning her eyes to Tenten, she saw that more shuriken appeared in her hands and a cheerful smile played on her face.

Hinata focused on the shuriken in front of her and with a quick movement of her hand grabbed them straight out of the air and threw them at the trio of shuriken that Tenten threw again.

Tenten clicked her tongue and pulled out a scroll from her pouch. Quickly opening it, a plethora of weapons flew towards Hinata, ranging from kunai and shuriken to katanas and scythes.

Hinata was far enough away from Tenten that she was able to get out of range of the attack, but suddenly she saw two kunai flying towards her with her byakugan. Exploding tags were on the handles of these kunai.

She quickly pulled out two shuriken from the pouch and threw them into the kunai, stopping them midway.

There was a big explosion and Tenten pulled out another scroll from the summary, "She uses throwables a lot more than Neji…"

When the dust settled, she noticed Hinata in front of her, but something was missing from her. Shadow.

Quickly turning on the spot, she opened the scroll towards real Hinata, who was a few feet away.

The weapon flew out of the scroll again and rained down on Hinata, but she did not retreat. With quick and smooth movements of her hands, she began to deflect the blades away from her, some of them cut her arms, shoulders, legs. Tenten's eyes widened as Hinata came close to her and swung for a strike.

She tried to fight back with a kunai, but Hinata was too fast. Each thrust was incredibly painful and after a few seconds Tenten fell to the floor feeling like her entire upper body had just been put through a meat grinder.

Although it was Hinata who looked worse of the two. Her clothes were torn in many places, and there were many scratches all over her body.

"Hmm… She could wait until Tenten runs out of weapons, or take a chance while she has plenty of energy and finish the battle. Not bad decision," Kakashi said as he watched Hayate walking up to Tenten and asking if she could continue.

Tenten smiled weakly and shook her head, "Please no. I'd rather come back here next year..."

Hinata walked over to Tenten while Hayate announced the winner and called for the medics.

"You're definitely still mad at me because of Naruto aren't you..?"

Hinata smiled a little and felt a scratch on her chin, "Maybe a little…"

Tenten chuckled and a minute later medics ran up to them and put Tenten on a stretcher. They also offered to help Hinata.

Hinata looked at the screen and saw 'Rock Lee vs Hyūga Neji'. Returning to the medics, she refused and went up to the spot of observers, where an exuberant Naruto was waiting for her.

"Hinata-chan! It was incredible! But why didn't you go with the medics? These scratches need to be treated..."

"…Won't you treat them for me?" Naruto blushed and nodded, Hinata giggled, "Looks like you won't be fighting my brother, but I still can't miss your battle."

"Oh, just Temari and I left? I'm not lucky, I was hoping to fight earlier..."

Naruto threw off his cloak and laying it on the ground told her to sit down. The girls around blushed, Naruto wasn't wearing mash armor so he was left bare from the waist to the head.

Everyone noticed several seals on his hands. They looked like long tattoos that reached up to the neck. When he turned his back to them, they saw an even bigger seal on it.

Ointment and bandages appeared in his hand, which he began to apply to small scratches on Hinata's body. "It looks like we won't have to sew anything. It's a shame I didn't start learning iryō ninjutsu…"

Hinata chuckled, "Once you learn iryō ninjutsu, there won't be any ninja arts left that you won't master."

"Hmm… More like that I played with… Taijutsu and ninjutsu are my main ones, fūinjutsu as well. But genjutsu and iryō ninjutsu are looking too hard for now. If it weren't for the clones, I would not even consider to try these two."

Naruto missed the entire Lee and Neji battle while he was helping Hinata, but it was a pretty interesting taijutsu battle.

Lee removed his weights from the start with Gai's permission, so he and Neji traded blows incredibly quickly. Neji had a hard time landing any kind of hit on Lee, but he never lost sight of him, so Lee couldn't just attack him from behind at high speed.

It came down to the usual battle of stamina and lasted a full five minutes. Lee was jumping all over the place and trying to land a kick on Neji, Neji was trying to hit the incredibly fast Lee.

In the end, Neji got lucky. Lee once again came close to exchange blows, but stepped on the shuriken blade left from Tenten's battle and lost his balance.

Neji was able to land a serious blow towards Lee, after which the battle quickly ended with Neji winning.

Lee was carried out on a stretcher with tears in his eyes, but he smiled widely when he heard a soft "Good fight" from Neji.

Naruto finished with the bandage on Hinata's arm and lightly pressed his lips to the top of her palm, "That's it, done."

Hinata blushed and nodded in appreciation, "Looks like it's your turn…"

"Uzumaki Naruto and Temari please come down here!"

"The best is for the last!" Naruto exclaimed and performed a Shunshin no Jutsu appearing next to Hayate in a swirl of leaves. Shirtless.

Temari blushed in front of him and her face contorted in anger, "Why the hell are you undressed, exhibitionist?!"

Naruto flashed a big smile at her, "Anko-sensei always said to use any means possible to distract the enemy… I've never liked it, but my cloak is out of reach right now, so..."

"Are you ready?" Hayate asked and watched as Naruto made a reconciliation seal and bowed, while Temari snorted and nodded her head. "Then begin."

Temari immediately removed the fan from her back and opened it fully and swung it at Naruto.

Kankurō chuckled watching his sister's actions, "Looks like this Naruto is getting on Temari's nerves… Poor guy."

A huge stream of wind flew out of Temari's fan, cutting everything in its path. Naruto folded the seals with a smile and, stopping on the snake, dived underground.

Asuma watched the battle with interest, "Headhunter no Jutsu… All team members got learned new techniques, huh…"

Temari's wind crashed into the wall and simply dissipated, and Temari herself jumped from where she was standing and swung the fan. But Naruto didn't get out of the place where she was just standing.

She took a quick look around the battlefield and her eyes widened as he crawled right out from under her grabbing her legs.

The eyes of the rest of the onlookers widened as they saw a second Naruto pop out of the ground with a tiger hand seal behind Temari.

Kankurō yelled, "Run Temari! He wants to fry you!"

"Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu!"

Kakashi's eyes widened to incredible proportions and he rushed towards the railing with stars in his eyes, "It can't be! On a girl?!"

Temari slowly turned her head back, but she didn't have time to escape from Naruto's technique.

"One Thousand Years of Death!"

Everyone watching along with the Hokage and even the disguised Orochimaru sweatdropped, when Naruto's fingers connected with the rear of Temari. A second later, she flew away with her fan a great distance away, and the attacking clone disappeared in a poof of smoke.

The real Naruto popped out of the ground with a sheepish expression on his face, "Hey, hey, Temari-san… I am very sorry for actions of my clone…"

Temari rose from the ground holding her butt with a murderous face. She flinched when she heard a loud, rolling laugh from Anko next to the Hokage.

"What kind of jutsu was that?" Hinata asked Kurenai in an unusually cold voice.

Kurenai turned her head to Kakashi and he shuddered, "You really are a great teacher huh Kakashi? Your student picked up even your worst habits…"

They were distracted from further arguing by a huge wind that rose over Temari, who started swinging her fan left and right, aiming at Naruto, who was escaping with the help of clones and Kawarimi.

"Wait, you asshole! I'll slaughter you!"

Neji, who was standing next to Sakura, asked her, "Why doesn't he go underground again? Conserving chakra?"

Sakura turned her bored gaze to Neji, "Clones probably cost him a lot more chakra than that earth technique, but he's playing with her on purpose…"

Neji frowned and continued to watch the battle, "As Lee would say… Unyouthful behaviour."

Naruto stopped when Temari stopped throwing techniques left and right. She was breathing heavily and looked at Naruto with narrowed eyes, "He's smiling! His breath didn't even go astray! What the hell! He created so many clones to escape my attacks!"

"Let's try something different," Naruto suddenly said, drawing attention to himself, "I have an interesting wind technique… I'd really like to try it out against a fellow wind user."

Temari's eyes narrowed, "Fellow wind user? Do you have wind affinity?" Naruto nodded and she smirked, "Well let's see. What kind of jutsu did you steal from Suna?"

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "Steal?"

"Most of the wind techniques were created in Suna, you probably don't even know that you are using our village's technique."

"Oh, no, no. You misunderstood. I want to test my own technique. I made it myself," Naruto said with a big smile.

Kurenai turned to Kakashi with a raised eyebrow, "Is he telling the truth?"

Asuma and Gai also turned to Kakashi who simply gave his patented eye smile, "See for yourself."

Temari swung her fan as she watched Naruto form his seals, "Quick! What kind of folding speed is this?!"

Tenten lowered her fan from top to bottom channeling a huge amount of wind chakra into it. A gigantic wave burst out of it and flew towards Naruto.

He just finished the last seal at bird. Throwing his two hands back, an incredible amount of wind chakra began to gather around them, which began to turn green. Throwing his arms forward sharply, he shouted, "Fūton: Dance of the Wind Serpentines!"

The Hokage watched in awe as two huge snakes formed from Naruto's hands, entwined and flew towards Temari's technique, "This is Chakra Nature and Shape Manipulation! It cannot be a technique below A rank."

The jōnin's eyes widened as they saw Naruto's technique pass through Temari's wind, completely nullifying it's power.

Seeing this, Temari jumped away from the direction the huge snakes were flying, but her eyes widened as they turned and flew in her direction, "I won't make it!"

Naruto's technique smashed against the wall of the tower with a huge roar, severely damaging it. Huge cracks appeared on the wall, but the Hokage noticed that the power of the technique should have destroyed the wall completely.

When the dust cleared from the destroyed floor and damaged wall, everyone saw Temari flanked by Naruto clones with kunai at her neck and big smiles.

All the genin sweated from the strength that Naruto demonstrated, except for Gaara and Sasuke, who flashed quite different but quite similar smiles.

Hayate coughed and shouted, "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto dispelled his clones and Temari turned her head to the wall where two large marks from the attack were clearly visible, "He missed? No…"

All the genin were asked to go downstairs and Sasuke with a smirk approached Naruto, "We have to hold back in the first stages of the exam, show-off."

Naruto also smirked, "I held back."

Hinata came up to him with his coat, which he immediately put on himself. "You did great, Naruto-kun," she said with a smile that turned into a slightly sinister one, "But what was that technique you used on Temari-san after the Headhunter no Jutsu..?"

"…Just a little prank?"

"You shouldn't do that to a girl Naruto-kun."

"So it's okay with a guy?"

Hinata thought and nodded, "Not normal, but acceptable."

Naruto chuckled and turned his head to the Hokage as he listened to his explanation of the next stage of the exam.

A few minutes later...

Naruto flinched as Anko walked up to him with the box, "Put your hand in, gaki." She had an impish smile on her face, but Naruto obeyed her and put his hand into the box.

He calmly took out a piece of paper with the inscription one on it and Anko, chuckling, went on.

"Now, Ibiki will show you the match arrangements."

Ibiki stepped forward scribbling something on a piece of paper and eventually holding it up to the genin.

"The first match. Uzumaki Naruto vs. Gaara…" Naruto read and turned to Gaara with a smile. Gaara was smiling too, but his smile said 'I'll kill you'. "And Hinata vs Dosu. Hmm… Sakura with Shikamaru, Sasuke with Neji. It's cute."

"With that I let you go. You can rest and prepare for the next battle. Does anyone have any more questions?"

Shikamaru asked about who would be able to become a chūnin if it was a tournament and the Hokage explained to him the principle of chūnin selection.

Naruto sighed and turned to Hinata, "You're going home?"

"Yes, I have to tell my father about how the exam went."

Naruto nodded and moved a little closer to whisper in her ear, "I still owe you the rest for the win. Shall we step aside?"

Hinata blushed and took his hand, "I thought you forgot…"

They disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving their teams behind and fleeing civilization into the depths of the forest of death.

Late night. The streets of Konoha.

"I love walks with Hinata. I hope her father won't be too angry that I kept her for so long."

"Hey Naruto…" Kurama's voice rang out.

"Hmm?"

"Someone near you is releasing a large amount of murderous intent. Will you check?"

"Which way?"

"Just to the left and over the roofs ahead."

Naruto quickly jumped in the indicated direction, not using much chakra so as not to reveal himself immediately. He noticed two shinobi on the wide roof. Sand and Leaf.

"This is Hayate-san. And the second one… Jōnin-sensei of the Sand Team?"

Hayate performed some kind of sword technique and hit the shinobi with sand, but he didn't even dodge and was hit in the shoulder by the sword.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he saw the sand shinobi raise his hand towards Hayate, wind chakra gathering around it. He quickly performed a few seals and dove into the roof of the house, which felt a bit strange. After a few seconds he was under the shinobi of sand and quickly popped out of the ground, trying to attach the seal to his leg.

The sand shinobi jumped back, drawing Hayate's sword from his shoulder. Naruto turned to Hayate and noticed a large gash on his chest and wasted no time picking him up and was about to dive into the roof again. When he was fully submerged, he heard the crack of the roof above him and felt a searing pain in his back that made him clench his teeth.

He carried Hayate away from this jōnin towards the Hokage's office. An ANBU with iryō ninjutsu should be next to the old man. He treated him once, so Naruto knows for sure.

As he approached the Hokage Residence, several shadows appeared in front of him, startling him a bit.

"Hayate?!" An ANBU in a cat mask shouted and ran up to Naruto.

"He was injured by a sand shinobi."

"Rabbit!"

"Hai!"

The rabbit-masked ANBU instantly appeared beside Hayate and his hands glowed a warm green color.

Naruto breathed out, "I definitely need to learn iryō ninjutsu…"

The next morning.

Naruto opened his eyes and saw a familiar cage. Passing through it, he approached Kurama's silhouette standing in the middle of the cage, "Good morning."

Kurama turned to him and nodded, "Back to training from today?"

"Yep. I was able to use the four tails in the battle with Orochimaru, but it was quite difficult, and their power was surprisingly less than I expected."

"You couldn't fully control them like you controlled the three tails, so they weren't much better than their previous form."

"Ninjutsu and taijutsu training is going well, I'm glad that I have so many opportunities to train with different people, but I'm afraid that some of them will train alone so as not to reveal their secrets. Even Hinata will be concentrating on training to face me in the tournament."

"Hmm... And fūinjutsu?"

"There are no problems here. The clones quickly come up with new sealing arrays and use them without any danger to me, so there is no point in speeding up creating of the new seals... I am still trying to create a sealing array to block enemy techniques, a sealing array of teleportation, a sealing array for a sword, that will be like a fan that uses Temari, releases different techniques if you wave it... Lots of different ideas."

"I'll try to help with the teleportation…I have a few ideas." A smile appeared on Kurama's face.

"Thank you. Oh, I should also try to learn iryō ninjutsu... But for that I'll need to learn basic anatomy. Shit."

"What about genjutsu?"

"My genjutsu techniques work pretty well as they are, but I just don't have the ability to train them all. Rather... I have the opportunity, but I don't want to. Too much headache. Plus, the chance that your chakra will start to break out..."

Kurama looked into his eyes and Naruto froze in place at her penetrating gaze. It seemed that she was looking into his soul.

"You're an interesting person Naruto. A little annoying, but interesting."

"What would that mean?"

"It means that I wonder what will happen if nothing holds you back..."

Naruto tilted his head to the side and Kurama put her hand on his head with a little smile. Kurama stroked his cheek and he purred again, as usual, "When was the last time you exploded through my chakra?"

"Quite a while ago…"

"And when you were in four tails mode, what emotions did you feel?"

There was silence in the cage and Kurama dropped her hand from Naruto's head, "Go get ready for training. We have a battle with the One-Tails ahead of us."

Naruto nodded and turned towards the exit but stopped. Turning back to Kurama he sighed, "Eh, why the hell not?"

Approaching her he jumped from his five feet to her six with a half feet and wrapped his arms around her neck.

Kurama leaned forward, stunned, Naruto's feet were able to touch the ground.

"Thank you for the help in the back in the forest. If it wasn't for you, he would have given me his hickey…"

Kurama lightly hugged him back and after a few seconds Naruto broke the hug and ran for the exit. She looked at her hands for a few more seconds and then smiled a little.

Same time. Hokage's office.

Standing in the middle of the Hokage's office was Kakashi, strangely without his orange book. Anko, looking at Kakashi with a strange smile. And tall man with long white hair and oil written on his forehead protector. Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya.

"I will stay in Konoha until the end of the exams, Orochimaru couldn't be here just to 'look' at Sasuke. He will definitely try to kidnap him."

The Hokage nodded gratefully, "That's great. But I have one more request for you. We have one outstanding genin… Uzumaki Naruto. He is currently participating in the chūnin exam. He has incredible talent, Jiraiya. Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu. Especially fūinjutsu."

Jiraiya scratched his head and turned to Anko and Kakashi, "Is he really that talented?"

Kakashi and Anko nodded and Jiraiya sighed, "Well, well… Where does he usually train?"

Training Ground 44.

"Probably better to train by myself…" Naruto muttered as he moved through the dense forest, "Sasuke will train at his house and Sakura will take the third training ground."

Stopping at the clearing where they fought Orochimaru he smiled, "And I'm in the best place to train."

After forming the clone seal, he created a little over a thousand clones and began to do some physical training, "Maybe I should start carrying weights like Lee?"

In the clearing, five hundred Naruto clones started trying to create water between their palms, while the remaining five hundred got paper from somewhere and started drawing sealing arrays, some of them created sealing arrays directly on the ground, trees and air, testing some techniques.

From time to time, some clones training in fuinjutsu self-destruct, which has become much less common, but incidents still occur. Naruto forbade himself to create more than three thousand clones, because even he would run out of chakra after that. And Kurama's chakra is leaking.

The original Naruto thought about Kurama. She has really changed a lot lately. She helps a lot, listens to his problems, jokes, laughs at his jokes. She…

"You know I can hear you, right?"

Naruto stopped for a second in his run with the huge rock on his back and almost fell but held back, "I forget sometimes, sorry."

"Someone quite strong is approaching you from the right. Without the desire to fight."

Naruto dropped the rock from his back and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Hah, you're really something else, kid..."

Naruto saw Jiraiya on the branch of a large tree next to him, although for him it was just a strange man with a strange forehead protector.

"Who the hell are you?"

The man jumped down from the tree and folded several seals in the air and landed on the back of a large toad, "Great Toad Sennin from Mount Myōboku, also known as Legendary Sannin, Jiraya! Remember it!"

"...Entrance to the Forest of Death is prohibited without permission. Leave the area."

"I'm a Sannin, dammit! I don't need any permission."

"...I haven't seen you in the village before either, are you also a sick pedophile looking for little-"

"NO! What's wrong with you, kiddo?"

"I was attacked by a sannin yesterday in the same place, just thought that…"

"The Hokage sent me to help you with your training."

Naruto perked up a bit at the words, "Oh, I just needed a taijutsu partner."

Jiraiya breathed out, "I wasted my time researching… Why this guy is training in the Forest of Death? It's impossible to write my literature here…" Looking away at the Naruto clones, he said, "I'll just supervise your training today. And tomorrow I will think of something to teach you."

"Whatever you say, Gama-sennin."

Evening of that same day.

"Are you not going home?"

Naruto shook his head and walked deeper into the forest looking for something to eat for dinner, "Hinata will be busy all month… Why did I even think to say 'see you in a month'? Stupid…"

Jiraiya watched Naruto sigh and disappeared in a Shunshin no Jutsu a second later. Before long, he appeared next to the Hokage's window and climbed into his office.

"Can't you go through the door at least once, Jiraiya?"

"I watched him practice."

"What are your thoughts?" The Hokage leaned back in his chair and took a pipe from his desk. Igniting it with fire chakra, he began to listen to Jiraiya.

"Well, I have to say that Kakashi and Anko are the great teachers. Naruto has great basic skills, he can be taught anything, the only problem is his short size. Hahaha! I'll help him with fūinjutsu, even though there isn't much to do there, usually the master is watched to make sure the student doesn't kill himself testing the seals, but with his clones and imagination, he'll catch up to me in skills quickly. His technique where he can seal any object with a touch is simply incredible, although it is still not stable. We will also work with taijutsu, his style with clones suits him perfectly. Unexpected, fast, versatile. All he needs in this regard is to grow bigger. And ninjutsu… That's a problem, Sarutobi-sensei."

"And why so?"

"His level now… It's already the level of a strong chūnin, if not a jōnin. He needs, as I said, to grow up a little, gain experience, and one or two strong techniques. For example, Rasengan and Kuchiyose no Jutsu…"

Suddenly they heard a crack above them, the Hokage pulled the pipe out of his mouth and released a large cloud of smoke into the ceiling with a smile, "Quiet over there."

Jiraiya chuckled, "Don't blame them, Sarutobi-sensei. The technique of the Fourth Hokage in the hands of a thirteen-year-old boy is reason enough to be surprised."

"I agree. But I don't see any problem in this. Unless, Naruto will have to reduce the number of clones for fūinjutsu or Water Nature Transformation…"

"It would be great if I could take him as my student…"

"Kakashi will be against it... But I think Naruto will be the main protester... Or Hinata?"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, "Who wouldn't want to be apprentice of a sannin? Even if it means leaving the village."

"A boy, that is head over heels in love with a girl."

Jiraiya slapped a hand across his face, "My bad luck… What's her name?"

"Hyūga Hinata." Jiraiya groaned.

"Hiashi's daughter?! The guy wastes no time... Maybe I could take her with me too?"

"You believe that Hiashi would let her go?"

Jiraiya lowered his head to the ground, "Well then, I'll try to teach him everything I can. Maybe he will understand how beneficial training with a sannin is and will come with me..."

"Try it. And now… I have some bad news for Konoha."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at the Hokage, "Worse than a possible Sound invasion of Konoha?"

"One hundred percent invasion of Konoha by the combined forces of Sound and Sand. Hayate-kun was injured while gathering this information, as was Naruto-kun who protected him from the Sand shinobi's attack."

Jiraiya frowned, "The wound on his back, is that a Sand shinobi?"

"Yes."

"What are our actions Sarutobi-sensei? We can't let them attack Konoha."

"They already know that we revealed their plans, but they just kept silent all day. Didn't even send a message…"

"Are they waiting for our reaction? We can attack first. Strike them when the Kazekage arrives near Konoha, we have proof of what they are planning, don't we?"

Hiruzen picked up the pipe again and enjoyed a fragrant tobacco, "Hayate injured the Sand shinobi he was attacking, plus Naruto will confirm all of Hayate's testimony as he was there and was injured as well. That's not what worries me..."

"So what?"

"…I held a meeting with the jōnin and elders, we will continue the exam in preparation for the attack."

Jiraiya remained silent and waited a few minutes for the Hokage to continue talking.

"Orochimaru is too dangerous… I can't get his warning out of my head. Not to stop the exam."

"In Konoha, our forces will be focused on preventing civilian deaths. If we set traps… If we attack the Kazekage when he is on the way…"

"We will lose track of Orochimaru and threaten to start a full-out war between our countries."

Jiraiya fell silent again and his brow furrowed even more, but he finally sighed, "I understand your concerns Sarutobi-sensei."

Hiruzen nodded and shook the burnt tobacco into the trash, "You can go. Through the door, please."

The next day. Training Ground 44.

In a large clearing, Jiraiya stood in front of hundreds of Naruto clones, "Today I will teach you Summoning no Jutsu. You will be the next toad summoner."

Several of Naruto's clones raised their hands, he pointed at one of them to speak, "Don't they teach summons to their private students? Anko-sensei was thinking of sending me to the snakes to sign the contract."

"Uh-huh. A private student. Orochimaru gave the contract to Anko, I gave the toad contract to the Fourth, only Tsunade couldn't find anyone to give the contract to…"

"Was the Fourth your student?"

Jiraiya nodded and unfolded a huge scroll in front of Naruto, "Write your name here and put your fingerprints. With blood."

Naruto sat and bit his finger, but before he could draw a single line, the wound on his finger closed, "Haha, funny. Do you want me to bite myself a hundred times to write the name?" There was no answer, but the next time he bit his finger, blood flowed as normal, although the wound also began to hiss and close.

Jiraiya noticed a slight delay after Naruto's wound healed as if he was thinking about something, and then the wound did not heal immediately. He narrowed his eyes as the wound closed immediately after Naruto signed contract, "Looks like Sarutobi-sensei decided to leave a few important details for me to guess on my own…"

Naruto stood up and shook off his coat. The clone behind him smirked, "Now what?"

Jiraiya slowly showed him the seals for the technique, bit his finger and summoned the big toad, "Now repeat."

The clones and Naruto began to copy his actions and Jiraiya almost fell off the toad when the clones bit their fingers and actually began to bleed, "What?! How?! He will summon all the toads from Mount Myōboku!"

Quickly forming a few seals, he gathered a large amount of wind chakra into his lungs and blew it at Naruto's clones, dispelling the large amount and simply throwing off everyone else's concentration. Exhaling, he sat down to the angry shouts of the surviving clones and the original, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I wanted to laugh when your clones bit their fingers and dispersed. Who knew they would survive this?"

Naruto's cheeks puffed out, "You're laughing, but I lost so much chakra…"

"Come on, the majority has returned to you anyway. They didn't use any techniques. I know how Kage Bunshin works. The chakra from the dispelled clones, almost all of it, returns to you."

The original Naruto sighed and stepped forward, "Then I'll let the rest of the clones do their normal tasks."

After making a series of seals and biting the healed finger again, he hit the ground with his hand and a small cloud of smoke appeared in front of him.

"Yo!" In front of Naruto was a young orange toad with purple markings around his eyes, mouth and stomach. "Are you a new clan summoner? My name is Gamakichi."

"Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you."

"Hey Naruto… How much chakra did you spend on the summoning?" Jiraya asked.

"A little less than half of what was left after I made all these clones."

Jiraiya watched as Naruto talked about something with the toad, "Hmm, he might have enough to summon Gamabunta. But…"

"Naruto, can you use fox chakra?" Naruto froze for a second but nodded with a smile on his face, "Looks like the Hokage decided to keep this important fact from me. Tell me, what kind of relationship you have with the fox? Have you seen him?"

"Yes, more than once. We can talk at any time. Recently, I like her more and more..."

"…Her?"

"Hmm? Yes, her. Kyūbi is a woman. In fact, I haven't even seen her in vixen form… She's always in human form."

"...Is she hot?"

Silence hung over the glade, interrupted only by the shouts of clones from the neighboring glade. "Ero-sennin."

"Wh-What?! Don't you dare call me that!"

"Ero-sennin."

"The strongest tailed beast in the world is a woman! I would never have thought of that, Naruto! Thank you for the plot for my upcoming book!"

"Books?"

"I am a famous writer! But enough of that. If your relationship with the vixen is good, that's great, but don't trust her too much. I understand that hormones are going to the head, and she has huge tits, but don't be tempted."

"You've never even seen her tits, Ero-sennin."

"This will not stop my sincere love for her! And her tits!"

Two days later.

Naruto sat on the head of a large blue frog and laughed, "Well, sorry for summoning you, Gamahiro! I wanted to meet you all as soon as possible."

Jiraiya was sitting on a nearby branch watching the training clones, "He spent a lot of chakra on this, now there is less clones for rest..."

"It's okay Naruto. You can call me whenever you want, good luck."

With that the huge toad disappeared and Naruto flew to the ground with a big smile on his face. Grabbing a few branches, he softened his fall and landed next to his clones.

"Finished? I have another technique for you to learn."

Naruto turned to see Jiraiya in front of him, "Thank you, Ero-sennin."

"Stop calling me that already!"

"I would never want you to see Hinata-chan, who knows what's going to pop into your head..."

"I'm not interested in children Naruto, how many times do I have to repeat that?" Seeing Naruto's mouth open he shouted, "Rasengan! Naruto, I'll teach you the Rasengan, just keep your mouth shut!"

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "Rasengan?"

"Haven't you heard of the Rasengan? This is the technique of the fourth, look."

Naruto's eyes widened at the word Fourth and he watched Jiraiya's movements carefully.

He put his hand forward and began to form chakra over it, it began to swirl, made a strange sound and formed a sphere. Jiraiya then turned to the giant tree and hit it with all his might.

*BOOM*

Naruto covered his eyes from the dust that rose up from the explosion, that caused the giant tree to stagger. When the dust settled, he saw a giant dent in the wood, bigger than Jiraiya himself.

"Not all the way throug, eh…" Jiraiya muttered and turned to Naruto who had stars in his eyes, "Liked it huh? Well, then catch."

Naruto grabbed a rubber ball filled with water and frowned, "What's that for?"

"This is the first stage of Rasengan, rotation. Make the ball pop with just chakra."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and began channeling chakra into the orb in his hand. He felt how the water was spinning at a high speed in the ball, but the ball didn't care, so he started spinning the water in the other direction as well.

Jiraiya's eyes widened as the orb in Naruto's hands burst after a short moment, "Huh? How did you do that?"

Naruto raised one eyebrow again and began to focus on the water that spilled on the ground and with it and his chakra he created a small sphere of water above his palm, "Back when I was training in Wind Nature Transformation, I realized that when two forces rub against each other they create a large pressure. So, I just started swirling the water in different directions, which increased the pressure on the surface of the ball and burst it. I struggled with similar problem for a long time..."

Jiraiya watched as the sphere in his hand spun in different directions at high speed, splattering, but not a single drop fell to the ground. Instead, it magically returned to the sphere on Naruto's hand, although over time the sphere still shrank and sputtered, as Naruto did not yet have perfect control.

"Well, that's great for you, then try the next stage right away. Take this rubber ball and make it pop."

Naruto followed Jiraiya's instructions and began spinning the chakra inside the sphere at high speed in different directions. After few seconds ball started swaying violently and burst with a great force.

Jiraiya nodded, "...Great kid. Just wonderful. I'm mad at you."

"Huh?! Why!?"

"Do you know how long it took me to learn this jutsu?! I was already a sannin at the time, and here you are! On your first try!"

"What, it's my fault you're so clumsy?!"

"I'll show you clumsy, you little shit! Have you already forgotten how our sparring sessions go?!"

Naruto tried to burn a hole in him, but he didn't say anything. Although the Sennin was a pervert and a strange man, it was simply impossible to defeat him in battle, "What is the next stage? Form it without a layer, right? Or make it in empty ball without popping it? I have already created one jutsu, you have seen it. In it, snakes also rub strongly against each other and cut everything in their path, and the wind in it moves in different directions. But they do not lose their shape. Almost the same, only the long-range version, cuts, not explodes. Although it can be diffed..."

Jiraiya muttered something and nodded, "You can just mold it in your hand now."

Naruto popped the ball in his hand and focused on his chakra. A rasengan began to form in his hand and after a few seconds it was fully ready.

Jiraiya groaned and pointed at the tree, "Come on, hit it."

Naruto smirked and swung at the tree with all his might, hitting it.

*BOOM*

An explosion, though not as strong as Jiraiya's, echoed through the Forest of Death, and when the dust cleared, they saw a dent the size of Naruto, maybe a little bigger.

"I'm on hot springs. Train without me, you're doing great."

"Hey! And what about taijutsu?!"

"I will leave you three clones. If you defeat them in pure taijutsu, consider that I have nothing more to teach you."

Thirty days after the second stage of the exam. Naruto's home.

Naruto opened his eyes after a long but pleasant sleep to see Kurama's familiar face above him, "...Good morning." He felt her hands on his head and almost melted, "Why is it so nice..?"

"Because I do it."

"I'll ask Hinata-chan to do it and will compare…"

"Do whatever you want. I'm still with you all the time, and she's only once a month or less."

Naruto closed his eyes, "True. But the feelings from this are different. The long-awaited comforts from Hinata-chan and the constant pleasure of your caresses."

"Which do you like more?"

"Hmm… Love both."

He heard a soft chuckle from Kurama and opened his eyes to see his ceiling, "Well, let's go to the final stage."

"Are you worried?"

"No, why? Ero-sennin said that I can defeat even a jōnin with my strength if I have a strategy and if a jōnin not of Kakashi-sensei's level."

"You don't know how strong the one-tailed jinchuriki is. He could free Shukaku and even a jōnin might not be able to defeat him."

"Hehe, but I'm so strong without using your power, Kurama. With you, even Kakashi-sensei will have a hard time dealing with me."

At the stadium, where the final stage of the chūnin exam is held.

A lot of people chatted in the huge rows of the stadium, discussing the genin that will fight this year. People placed bets on possible winners with people walking between rows and taking bets. The mood was quite cheerful.

When Naruto Shunshined to the center of the stadium where several other genin were standing, the crowd cheered on him a little. He laughed, while surveying the crowd with his hand blocking the sun.

Suddenly, something soft hit his chest and he felt someone's arms wrap around his neck. He tilted his head slightly and saw Hinata's white eyes and her pink cheeks, "I missed you."

Instead of answering, he also wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the lips, "Same here."

Hinata blushed and whispered, "In the crowd are my father and sister."

Naruto grinned even wider, "Really?! Hahaha! Maybe I will finally meet them? It is enough to hide them from me."

Hinata blushed even harder and nodded, "I would like you to meet after the tournament. Father also insisted on this."

Naruto smiled and looked at the rest of the people beside them. Gaara, with eyes on him and a strange smile. His brother, Kankurō was surveying the crowd around. Neji, watching his sister with a warm smile, looks like their conversation after one of the training sessions really helped him? Shikamaru, who was sleepily looking at the clouds. Shino, watching the butterfly on his finger. And Sakura, who walked up to the two of them with a smile, "Looks like you two haven't seen each other in a while?"

Naruto nodded, "The whole month."

"Hah, how so? What, not even a date?"

"...I wanted to focus on training for exam. Sorry Hinata-chan."

"That's alright. I also learned a new technique and trained with it for the full month. I was tired almost all the time and I wouldn't have the energy to go on a date. Although I wouldn't ever refuse to him..."

Naruto squeezed the arm that was still around her shoulder and smiled widely, "I can't wait to see this technique in action."

"Well… I think we'll start," said a tall man with brown hair and a senbon between his teeth.

Naruto tilted his head, "But the two of participants haven't come yet."

"This is the chūnin exam. Punctuality in this case is quite important."

Just after those words, next to this tokubetsu jōnin, Sasuke appeared in Lightning Shunshin with a smirk on his face, "Sorry for being late."

Naruto clapped Sasuke on the shoulder as he stood next to him, "Lightning is cool. But I thought you would choose fire."

"Kakashi-sensei taught me the lightning technique, so I decided to focus on lightning. I'm almost done with Lightning Nature Transformation."

"Enough of babbling. Let's start. My name is Genma Shiranui. I will be the proctor of the third exam."

"And what happened to Hayate-san?" Sakura asked.

"He fell ill." Naruto's smile twitched a little as Genma noticed, "But he'll be fine."

Suddenly he clapped his hands, "Alright, guys, this is a final test. This arena is different, but the rules are the same as in the prelims. There are none. Fight until death or forfeit. If I step in you must stop fighting right away, got it?" He looked around everyone and continued, "Now, the first fight, Uzumaki Naruto and Gaara. Those two, stay here, while the rest of you go to the resting room."

After all genins left the field, Genma stood between Gaara and Naruto with hand in the air, "Now, the first fight, begin!"

Naruto and Gaara didn't move, staring into each other's eyes. Genma felt chakra starting to build up in the air and stepped back a bit to give them space.

Naruto smiled as he felt the chakra around Gaara and inside him, "Maybe I'm a sensor? I can feel him building up chakra in his gourd."

"Maybe it's an effect of using my chakra. Or maybe just from training..."

Gaara clenched his hands into fists when he saw a smile on Naruto's face and suddenly the cork on his gourd popped and a huge amount of sand flew out of it and flew towards Naruto with great speed.

Naruto immediately made several quick seals, ending with bird and inhaled a chest full of air. As the sand approached him, he exhaled with great force, throwing the sand back and almost creating a huge hurricane. He saw how Genma and Gaara retreated a little from the force of the wind and smirked.

Gaara gritted his teeth and held his hand up, once again commanding the wind to bring him closer to Naruto. He noticed that Naruto made several seals and froze in place. His sand quickly approached him and enveloped him from head to toe. The emotion on his face didn't change as he clenched his fist and the sand around Naruto compressed sharply and he heard a crunch.

The crunch of his small amount of sand that was left in the gourd and tried to protect him from Naruto's punch as he appeared to the side of him and delivered a powerful punch. The crunch signaled that his defenses failed and Naruto's fist connected with his jaw and sent him far to the side.

The sand on his face began to fall and as he turned to face Naruto from behind, he felt a heavy kick on his back that knocked him aside again.

Gaara gathered around himself all the sand that was nearby, as his main mass was still flying from the place where he killed Naruto's clone. But he did not have time to land on the ground when another strong blow landed in the back of his head and nailed him to the ground.

Gaara felt very dizzy and finally, the sand reached him and surrounded him in a large dome of spikes that blew away the clone next to them.

Naruto stood ten feet away from the dome and watched it with a slight smile.

A minute earlier.

In the lounge that overlooked the arena, Kankurō was standing next to his sister who was allowed into the room due to her kinship with Kankurō and Gaara. Their eyes were wide open as they watched Naruto run at Gaara, who didn't seem to notice him, "Genjutsu?!"

Naruto created several clones that ran in a half circle to Gaara, and he himself swung at Gaara. As Naruto's punch connected with their brother's jaw they grabbed onto the railing in front of them and watched in disbelief as Gaara flew towards the other clone and was kicked in the back, followed by another hit in the temple.

"That's bad…" mumbled Kankurō, looking at dome that formed around Gaara.

Naruto saw an eye form above the dome and raised an eyebrow, "What, you're not going to come out into the light? Then we'll get you out."

"A Rasengan right away?"

"And why be stingy? Not at full strength, but it should shock him..."

Genma watched Naruto's next move with interest, but as the boy began to form a sphere of chakra in his hand that spun at a high speed, his senbon fell out of his mouth, "R-Rasengan..?"

Naruto created several clones that ran to the dome with great speed and began to release water balls into it, which could not penetrate the sand, but slowed it down a bit. Then the sand shot at the clones and scattered them. The eye above the dome began to spin in search of the original, but when it rose up, it saw only the Rasengan descending on it with great speed.

*BOOM*

In the resting room, most genin's eyes widened at the explosion that rang out in the arena. Only Sasuke narrowed his eyes and clenched his fist, "Ahead of me again..."

The dust blew away and everyone saw Naruto, standing in front of Gaara, only with a small scratch on his cheek. And Gaara, who was breathing heavily and holding his hand on his shoulder, which was bleeding profusely.

Suddenly Naruto felt an influence on his chakra system and immediately after that Kurama's warm chakra, "Is this his technique? No…" He looked around and noticed that the crowd fell asleep, and shinobi started running in different directions and even the first skirmishes appeared. Temari, Kankurō and their Jōnin-sensei landed in front of him and he narrowed his eyes, "Eh, Temari-chan, are you a bad girl?"

But it seems that she was not joking at this moment, as she looked at Gaara, "He's experiencing side effects. It's impossible to proceed now."

Genma stood next to Naruto, looking at the enemy shinobi, who ordered the genin to retreat.

Naruto watched Kankurō lean towards Gaara as if in slow motion. "Should we try to stop them here? This Jōnin can get in my way, but if I create a barrier they won't be able to escape… But what if he turns into a one-tail? Barrier will not be able to hold him in. Is it better to let go and catch up in the forest? Will I be able to seal him before he turns into…"

"Just do it already, idiot."

Naruto suddenly laughed drawing the attention of the two jōnin. He folded the clone seal and smiled widely, "I'm sorry, but our battle with him is not over! Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The sand shinobi's eyes widened as they saw many Naruto clones all around them. But what really pissed them off was the barrier that several clones had erected around the entire arena.

The clones that appeared outside the barrier ran towards the enemy shinobi and the barrier that appeared next to the Hokage.

Jōnin-sensei of the sand chuckled a little, "You are an idiot… There are four shinobi from our side and you only have the support of one jōnin…"

Naruto's smile widened and red chakra began to emanate from him causing the eyes of everyone in the barrier, except for himself and Gaara, to widen, "Are you trying to say..." Several tails began to form behind him. Three full tails. "That it is not you locked in here with me…" Naruto suddenly appeared right in front of the jōnin with a fist raised with an incredible amount of chakra directed at him, "But I'm with you? Let me prove you wrong!"

The Jōnin managed to raise his hands and block the blow, but the force still threw him to the side, where a clone was already waiting for him with a fist at the ready. He quickly created a wind blade and dispersed the clones around him, but suddenly he felt that his body became many times heavier and saw several clones around him with rat hand seals.

Suddenly, another strong blow flew towards his head and he flew towards the barrier, but there was something else in this blow, "I can't use chakra!"

Genma watched with wide-open eyes as the clones and the original mauled the jōnin who was already on the ground and, it seemed, could not move. Back with Gaara, he saw that Temari had taken off her fan from her back, and Kankurō his doll, but suddenly two clones jumped out from under their feet, grabbed them by their legs and pulled them underground.

One of the clones ran up to Gaara and simply placed a hand on the back of his head. A second later, the boy fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Hahaha, what a monster..."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Said Naruto, still wrapped in Kurama's chakra, throwing the body of the immobilized sand jōnin at Genma's feet, with many different seals visible on his body. Several clones brought the bodies of an unconscious Gaara and the immobilized Temari and Kankurō, their bodies also completely covered in seals. "I'm thinking of leaving them here and going to help others. My clones under the barrier will look after them."

Genma nodded and smiled weakly, "Lead the way."

Naruto walked up to the barrier with Genma close behind him and a passage formed in it, big enough for just the two of them to pass through. Right after that, Naruto turned and run to the barrier that was standing on the roof and smiled as it dispelled, "Looks like they were able to dispel the barrier."

"Huh? But how?" Genma asked running alongside Naruto.

"Fūinjutsu, which messed with space and time at a small place on the barrier, and genjutsu, imposed on one of the people holding the barrier."

"The genjutsu penetrated the barrier through the gap created by fūinjutsu?"

Naruto nodded and they ran to the roof where they saw the Hokage, several corpses and few ANBU.

"I take it Gaara is neutered?"

Naruto nodded with a smile, "My clones helping with the battles in the village, not much, but the Rasengan here and there can make an adjustment to the battle, huh?"

"You're enjoying it too much." The Hokage looked at the village and several snakes in the distance, "You've changed Naruto-kun. And quite a lot. I hope for the best..." Looking at the ANBU he continued, "Orochimaru escaped! The Kazekage didn't even appear in Konoha, maybe Orochimaru killed him! Stop all remaining Sand and Sound shinobi!"

Naruto turned to see his barrier and noticed that a silhouette began to retreat from that direction, and Kakashi ran after it. It looks like all the enemy shinobi in this area are already either disarmed or dead? He continued to receive memories from throughout the village about various battles, all of which ended quickly with an incredible advantage for Konoha. Some Sound shinobi simply tried to escape...

"It was a quick invasion... And it's a good thing it will end so quickly."