EDIT: Not a chapter update! I just saw a review that said there were a few typos so I decided to fix them.
"…That was quick." I muttered as I watched Kankurou wrap up Crow in bandages once more, Kin lying on the floor with numerous needles stabbed all over her body & a viscous purple liquid coating each one.
"She's…not making it, is she?" I spoke out loud as I turned to Kakashi, not surprised to see the man looking stoic as he shook his head.
"Unless they manage to get all of the poison out within the next thirty seconds while administering the antidote at the same time, she is not."
"Another useless death. Why are the exams like this?" Sakura muttered as she leaned against the railing, to which I simply continued to look forward before we turned in unison as Sasuke spoke up.
"Those that die here are either too weak to be Chunin or too stupid to realize that they're not capable enough of passing the exams. It was her own fault for thinking that she could fight in it."
"…Is it just me or is he extra emo today?" I whispered while leaning towards Sakura, who glared at me despite being unable to hide her soft giggles.
"Ooh~ What is your response to that, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked and I smirked as Sasuke simply scoffed while crossing his arms.
"Why would I care for the word of someone as stupid as him?"
"You want me to tell Kakashi-sensei about you freezing in the fight?"
"Want me to tell him about the milk incident?"
"…We take those secrets to our grave?"
"We take them to the grave." He nodded and I nodded back, ignoring Sakura & Kakashi sharing a confused look as the two of us looked up at the big screen in unison just as it began rolling through names once more.
"I give up!" Those words escaped Ino's lips before everyone could finish processing the words on the screen, Neji letting out a disappointed scoff while Shikamaru & Choji patted their teammate on the back.
"Why would you give up like that?! At least give it a chance!" Sakura spoke while walking over to her former best friend and I snorted as Ino scoffed.
"As if! You felt that guy's blood lust and you saw how scared those Sound guys were when he wanted to fight him. It took Shika, Choji & me to fight those guys and the fight ended in a draw. I'm smart enough to pick my fights."
"Well said, Ino." Asuma spoke with a nod, Ino preening under her sensei's praise while Sakura simply groaned & walked back over.
"You wanted to make fun of her, didn't you?" I said as she came to stand in between Sasuke & I once more, the Uchiha looking amused while I smirked as she gave me a soft punch on the shoulder.
"Shut up."
"Eh, the truth hurts."
"Yeah, yeah. I seem to recall someone being scared on our first mission away from the village."
"That was beginner's fear and you know it. What are you laughing about, bastard? You froze just like I did in the fight against Zabuza." I grumbled while glaring at Sasuke, who stopped his smirking to glare at me.
"You wanna fight, idiot?"
"I won't say no to kicking your ass with an army of clones."
"Ladies, ladies~ You're both pretty."
"Go to hell/ Shut up." Sasuke & I said respectively, to which the man gave a sly giggle while Sakura looked amused at our interaction.
"You know, you two act so much like brothers some times it's hard to believe you're not." I instantly knew that was the wrong thing to say as Sasuke went silent & simply glared up at the screen, Kakashi wincing slightly while I simply shook my head at Sakura's confused look.
"Remember why he's the last Uchiha?" I whispered and her eyes widened as she realized what she said before quickly turning to Sasuke.
"I-I'm so sorry! I-I-I didn't mean…"
"It's okay." That was his only response as he continued to look away from us and I sighed as I saw the sad look on her face.
"Give him a few days along with tomato soup & he'll be his usual brooding self."
"Go jump off a cliff, idiot."
"I'll do it if you do it." I answered, smirking as he scoffed while looking away from us before patting Sakura's back as she gave me a thankful look.
"Seriously though, the guy has an obsession with tomatoes nearly as much as I do with ramen." I said, his embarrassed glare amusing me while Sakura looked to be deep in thought.
Looking over to Kakashi, I blinked as the man gave me a thumbs-up, a chuckle escaping his lips as I frowned in confusion before my eyes widened slightly and I gave a subtle thumbs-up back right before the screen began to flash through names once more.
Sasuke Uchiha vs Kiba Inuzuka
"Whoo! I got the injured one!" Kiba exclaimed and I winced slightly as I heard Akamaru barking in agreement, slowly turning towards Sasuke along with the rest of Team 7 before all three of us shook our heads as we saw the baleful glare in Sasuke's eyes.
'…Well, I hope the Inuzuka clan planned for a funeral.'
"This is the eight match of the Preliminary rounds between Sasuke Uchiha and Kiba Inuzuka! Are both fighters ready?" Hayate asked, to which Sasuke nodded while Kiba smirked as he placed Akamaru down on the ground.
"You sure you don't want to just give up and give me the win?"
"Come on, Sasuke! Make it quick and easy or else I'm going to lord my quick win over you until the end of time!" Sasuke sighed as he heard Naruto's shouting, Kiba glaring up at the blonde as he heard his words.
"Oi! You saying I'm weak?!"
"The weakest dogs bark the loudest and you're barking the loudest right now!"
"No, that would be you, idiot! Now be quiet!" Sasuke shouted and Kiba blinked as Naruto's smug grin turned into a glare as he looked at his teammate.
"What?! I'm trying to motivate you and you go & shout at me?!"
"You're doing the most shouting out of the two of us!"
"Oh, am I?! Proctor, get Kiba off the battlefield and let me get down there so I can tear that tomato loving, pink-eyed basta-!"
"Hehe, uh, sorry about that." Kakashi apologized with a sheepish grin as he held Naruto back with one hand while muffling him with the other, Sakura giggling as her blonde teammate kept shouting profanities from behind the hand while also struggling to get free & beat Sasuke.
"Hah, begin." Hayate muttered as he disappeared & just in time too as Sasuke pulled out a trio of shuriken before letting them fly.
Kiba's eyes widened as he quickly reached down to pick up Akamaru before leaping out of the way, watching how two of them sailed past his puppy's previous spot before turning around with a glare to see Sasuke giving him a mocking smirk.
A moment later, Sasuke lunged forward just as Kiba landed, the Inuzuka leaning back under the kick aimed at his throat before Sasuke crossed his arms in front of him as Kiba landed on one hand while lashing out with a roundhouse.
Leaping backwards with the blow, Sasuke flipped through the air & landed in a crouch before cursing as he saw Akamaru standing a bit behind Kiba, who was crouched on all fours with chakra exuding from his body as his clawed fingers dug into the ground below them.
"Ninja Art Beast Mimicry: All Fours Jutsu!" Kiba growled whilst lunging forward, Sasuke barely leaping over him just as a claw missed cutting his leg.
Kiba simply smirked as he spun around & leapt back, Sasuke frowning as he pulled a smoke bomb from his punch before tossing it at his feet just as he landed.
A cloud of purple smoke puffed up around Sasuke just as Kiba went into it, the Inuzuka frowning as he dimmed the chakra to his nose in case of it being poison as he leapt back out before his eyes widened at the sight that greeted him.
"Give or he gets it." Sasuke spoke with a frown as he held Akamaru by the scruff while pressing him to the ground, steel thread wrapped around the whining puppy while a kunai was held to the back of his neck.
Trying to think of a way to escape, Kiba was about to reach into his pouch before panicking slightly as Sasuke simply frowned while digging his kunai slightly deeper, quickly deactivating his jutsu & raising his hands up as he saw Akamaru's fur turning a slight red.
"Wait! Wait! I give! I surrender!"
"Kiba Inuzuka has surrendered. The winner is Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke simply smirked as he pulled the steel threads away before Kiba's eyes widened as the Akamaru at Sasuke's side vanished, the genjutsu lifting itself to reveal the puppy tied & muffled with steel threads to his side.
"Not too bad there, Sasuke. Now, let's get that mark of yours checked out." Kakashi spoke with a smirk as he appeared behind Sasuke, who frowned before nodding and the two of them vanished with a swirl of wind & leaves.
"So, what mark was Kakashi-sensei talking about?" Naruto asked with a frown as he watched the two disappearing, already knowing what they were referring to before shaking his head as Sakura gave a nervous grin.
"What mark are you talking about?"
"...Eh, I must have heard him wrong." Naruto muttered with a shrug before turning back to the screen, ignoring Sakura's relieved sigh as he was more focused on the names that appeared as soon as they stopped shuffling.
Gaara vs Rock Lee
'…Man, this is going to be hard to watch.'
"Hah, finally home." I groaned in relief as I opened the door to my apartment, closing & locking the front door behind me before sighing in bliss as I tossed the keys on the cabinet & fell face first onto the cold floor.
Usually, that would resulted in a broken nose, but with a burst of chakra on my front, it was a relatively soft landing.
'That fight was like two monsters against each other.' I thought with a frown as I thought back to the fight between Rock Lee & Gaara and I have to admit that the fight was a lot more stressful when it's happening directly in front of me.
Lee's insane speed of being able to attack from five different directions in the span of a single second was insane, but the fact that Gaara's Sand Shield was able to block three to four out of those five attacks was just as impressive.
The Primary Lotus was also a sight to behold, watching as Lee gave Gaara a series of kicks into the air only to suplex the Sand Genin skull first into the ground with nothing but sheer physical force.
However, it was the Gates that knocked my breath away and not just because of how incredible they looked in real-life compared to the anime.
No, it was because I saw nothing but Gaara's body getting slammed with impact after impact & being ricochet around in the air for a solid minute like he was a pinball.
Then, there was the final attack of the Hidden Lotus, an attack that made the entire tower shake and nearly made me want to dive head first through the wall to get the safety as the entire battle floor was completely reshaped with Gaara's body impacting it.
Unfortunately, it went exactly as it did in canon and I had to watch as Gaara, lying on his back with bruises forming on his body, shattered an arm & a leg of Lee's before the 'youthful' dude was saved by Gai.
'Could I have stopped him? No, they would have either laughed at me or told me that I was overreacting.' As much as I did want to save Lee from his fate, I also knew that doing so would just lead to him getting mad because he would think that I felt pity for him.
"Hah, pride cometh before the fall." I muttered as I turned around while lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling before pulling my shirt & jacket up to look at my bare abdomen.
Reaching for my chakra made me smirk as I saw the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style slowly forming on my chest and I continued to watch intently as five tomoe-like markings appear around it.
'You know, even with this mark on me, I never felt any difficulty in manipulating my chakra despite the fact that that's what it's supposed to do. Then again, Naruto is canonically an idiot in chakra control so perhaps my mental capabilities are good enough that it shouldn't hinder me.' The thought made me snicker as I stood up, putting my shirt & jacket down before frowning slightly as I looked around.
"I feel like I'm forgetting someth-The hospital! I'm supposed to meet up with Kakashi! Shit! Shit! Shit!" My eyes widened in panic as I quickly reached for the cabinet to pick up my key & unlocked the door again, making sure to lock it behind me before placing it back in its secret storage compartment.
'Okay, now where the hell is the hospital again?'
"Hah…hah…hah…"
"You forgot, didn't you?" I ignored Kakashi's amused smirk as I continued to take deep breaths, taking my time to catch my breath before shaking my head as I stood upright.
"I…have no clue what you're talking about."
"Sure, you don't. So, you here to tell Sasuke who he's fighting?"
"Is he awake?" I asked before rolling my eyes as Kakashi shook his head.
"Nope, just went to sleep."
"Hah, okay. Yeah, he's fighting that Gaara guy."
"Hmm, that might be a tricky one for him. And you?"
"That Dosu guy." That was a surprise to me as well when I first saw it since I was expecting a fight against Neji, but in all honesty, I'd take Dosu over Neji any day.
Then again, Neji has his own match to be happy about as he got to fight Hinata while Shino got Temari and Shikamaru got Kankurou.
'Heh, that one is going to be fun to watch in real person.'
"What are you so happy about?" I blinked as I heard Kakashi's question, looking up to see the man giving me an amused look.
"Oh, just happy about the training that you're going to give me."
"Uh…"
"…Kakashi-sensei, if the next words out of your mouth are not 'Right! I completely forgot about that', you will have made yourself an enemy of Naruto Uzumaki, the Number One Unpredictable Shinobi and the Foxy Prankster of the Leaf. Now, what were you about to say?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to be busy with some personal matters."
"Is one of those personal matters training Sasuke?" I asked with an accusing look, crossing my arms with a huff as Kakashi simply shrugged.
"I cannot say."
"So, yeah. Come on~ You got to have at least one thing you could teach me before you and that red-eyed bastard go & train on your own, right?" I asked with a hopeful look and it worked as Kakashi looked at me before scratching his head.
"Well, I did prepare for someone to watch over your training and they were going to give you a little present, but since you don't want to, I guess I can take the jutsu ba-!"
"Whoa! Whoa! I never said I didn't want the jutsu! What jutsu is this?"
"A really cool one." He said with a sly look before blinking as I simply gave him a deadpan stare.
"…Really cool doesn't mean really strong."
"…Hah, I miss the old Naruto that would be amazed at that. It's a Water Style Jutsu."
"Okay, what does it do? Let me spit water?" I asked before grumbling as Kakashi gave a teasing smile while patting me on the head.
"Now, that would be telling. Ah, here is the someone that is going to train you." He said while looking up and I turned before blinking at the sight of Ebisu standing there with a stoic look on his face.
"It is I, Ebi-!"
"Great, it's the Closet Pervert."
"Closet Pervert?"
"Yeah, you see, a few months ago, I used my Harem Jutsu to-!"
"Be quiet about that and I'll treat you to all the ramen you want later!" Ebisu whispered while grabbing in a chokehold, to which I glared at the man before grumbling as I nodded.
"Harem Jutsu."
"The Sexy Jutsu Shadow Clone Jutsu combo." I quickly answered before Ebisu could stop me, smirking smugly as Kakashi just looked between us in confusion while Ebisu whistled & looked to the side.
"…I don't even want to know. You two are acquainted and that's okay. Well, I'll be leaving in your care, Ebisu." I watched as Kakashi gave a final greeting before turning & walking away, leaving me standing before & staring at him with a frown before I blinked as I heard Ebisu clear his throat.
"For the record, you still owe me ramen or else I'm telling everyone."
A/N: Random upload! To explain, that was the last bit of the canon universe-Actually, no, still a little bit left!
This was just a quick chapter to get the exams out of the way and to set up the matches, butnext chapter, the Pervy Encounter and the True Training begins.
Also, as you guys can see, Naruto is slowly turning back into his former self with a hint of sarcasm & pettiness added. Why, though? You'll have to wait & find out.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until next week...
Enjoy the cliffhanger & Ba-Bye~!