Naruto just watched in shock as he went over the stats list that was floating on the screen next to him over and over again. There was no way this was real. There had to be another Uzumaki clan or something. Naruto didn't know much about his heritage, but from the brief mentions the old man sometimes gave him, he knew his clan was an ancient one.

There was no way another Uzumaki was alive. Besides, they looked nothing alike. Blond hair versus bright, devilish red hair. How did they even compare? But even Naruto knew that argument was absolutely flawed. Just because the hair color was different didn't mean they weren't related. Naruto most likely got his father's hair.

Since his father's last name would be transferred to his mother and hence him, it was easy to assume his father was an original Uzumaki. Yet, it made no sense. Why didn't anyone else know? Naruto could only tell because he had his observe ability—who knows how long he would have lived without knowing he had Uzumaki relatives alive if he didn't get the sixth sense to cast an observe on her?

He had to talk with Karin once the preliminary exams were over.

He just couldn't find it in him to do so right now. With the Akatsuki fiasco wracking his every second that passed, he couldn't deal with any more right now. Especially when he needed to continue to win in the exams right now.

"Naruto? What are you doing?!" Sakura asked, embarrassed that so many people were looking at them.

"Uhh…sorry," Naruto replied, looking around him. He didn't really realize that his outburst gathered a lot of attention, even though he probably should have noticed that it did.

Naruto especially didn't notice how Kakashi sent him a suspicious glance.

Sakura looked pissed. "Why were you yelling your name?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I really don't know."

"Whatever."

Sasuke glared. "Don't behave like an idiot, dobe. We have other villages watching us right now. Are you finally regressing back to the old Naruto?"

"Hmph," Naruto snorted, annoyed that everyone was ganging up on him. "I didn't mean to yell like that." That really wasn't a lie, to be fair.

"Next match: Kurotsuchi versus Tenten!"

"Kurotsuchi," Naruto answered immediately.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Trust me on this one. She has some surprising abilities you're going to see in this fight," Naruto answered with a smirk.

"Oh right, you encountered her a few times before right?" Sasuke asked rhetorically.

The fight started without any delay. Lee had immediately started shouting in favor of Tenten, 'motivating' her so to speak, which didn't really differ from what he expected from his normal behavior.

Tenten started instantly with a barrage of shuriken that she threw towards Kurotsuchi, which the latter easily dodged right afterwards.

Silly Tenten. Naruto thought with a grin. Shuriken don't actually HIT the opponent, do they?

Naruto was definitely surprised when Sasuke's shuriken managed to even scratch Choji, but he put that to the fact that they were coated with Lightning chakra, which definitely made them more quickly thrown and dangerous.

It seemed that Tenten wanted to go all out in the first half of the match, as she quickly yelled out her technique right afterwards. "Twin Rising Dragons!"

A cloud of smoke blew into the stadium as two streams of scrolls rose into the air with Tenten who also jumped upwards. Almost immediately, a stream of shuriken, kunai, swords, and other weapons began streaming downwards towards Kurotsuchi, who didn't really look at the least bothered by what was coming towards her. She simply stood and fixed her short length of black hair that was ruffling in the wind.

Naruto just watched, wondering what the kunoichi would do. If he was in her place, he would probably activate Iron Skin, but if he couldn't do so due to a cooldown he would most likely just activate some clones that would take some hits for him. That, or use some water jutsu that would completely destroy the momentum of the incoming weapons.

"Lava Release: Lava wall!"

Or do that, I guess.

Lava itself rose from the earth in front of Kurotuschi, forming a dense wall that prevented any of the projectiles from reaching the shinobi behind it.

"Lava release?" Sasuke repeated, awed by the technique used.

Naruto nodded with a grin. "Yep."

"How come I've never heard of it before?" Sasuke asked himself more than he asked Naruto. "It must be some sort of Kekkei Genkai, right?"

"I'm not exactly sure. Though it's definitely not the normal element."

They focused their attention back on the fight. With Tenten now on the defensive as Kurotsuchi made her way forward into the battlefield, looking to need the battle as fast as possible.

"Does Tenten have any other trump card than her weapons?" Naruto asked tentatively, not wanting to offend her teammates.

Lee just sighed. "Tenten is going to win! I believe in her will and youthfulness!"

Naruto sweatdropped. You didn't answer my question…

"Lava Release: Swarming Ash Cloud!" Kurotsuchi yelled, going through a complex series of hand signs.

"There it is," Naruto murmured, recognizing the jutsu.

Kurotsuchi had used the same one against Fuu of all people, where it actually succeeded in briefly stopping the juggernaut Jinchuuriki.

A concentrated cloud of ash blasted forward and towards the unsuspecting Tenten, who just watched the attack with amusement. To her, it just looked like a harmless stream of smoke or a cloud itself was summoned to attack her.

"Is that all you got? Huh, I expected more from our so-called rivals from Iwa!" Tenten shouted mockingly.

Naruto facepalmed. Yeah, that wasn't a smart move at all.

Kurotsuchi's eyes hardened. "Solidify!"

The ash cloud around Tenten's lower half immediately began hardening, trapping her entirely. The entire audience just watched in awe at the use of the highly effective technique. It seemed no one expected that the jutsu would do such a thing.

Tenten tried to speak in protest but found that a layer of ash solidified around her mouth, no doubt controlled by Kurotsuchi, who had a smug smile on her face as she walked closer to Tenten.

Kurotsuchi beckoned towards the proctor. "Proctor, I can kill her right now if I wanted to. Seeing that she has no technique or method to get out of my jutsu, I see this as an absolute win."

"I agree with your statement. Winner: Kurotsuchi from Iwa!"

Naruto clapped slowly as he processed the win. Kurotsuchi might be tougher than he thought to beat as he went ahead in the exams. He kind of hoped Tenten had someone pulled the win from a wild miracle if anything.

"Next match: Sakura Haruno versus Shikamaru Nara!"

Oh no…

[—-]

"You can do this, Sakura!" Naruto shouted out to his teammate.

In his heart, he really knew Sakura couldn't do this. By level alone, Shikamaru wasn't too far ahead of her, but his sheer intelligence made up for that fact. The matchup wasn't really fair to begin with, but there really wasn't anything for the Uzumaki to do despite cheering for his teammate.

"Sakura is going to lose," Kakashi said simply.

Naruto was simply astounded by how blunt their sensei was being. "What?"

He could hear Sasuke snorting.

Kakashi continued without an inch of remorse in his choice, "It's the truth. I really don't see her winning unless a miracle happens. In the career we are in as shinobi, we can't afford to be anything but realistic, Naruto. Regardless of whether Sakura is my student or not, I only wish for her improvement, but any unrealistic expectations out of her would only harm her own mental state."

Naruto just nodded briefly in agreement.

"Hajime!"

Sakura dashed towards her opponent with a kunai in her hand, throwing it at Shikamaru who lazily dodged the attack with a frown on his face.

The pink-haired eventually got close enough to engage in close-quarters combat, where she, in Naruto's opinion, held the clear advantage. Her best bet was to close up on Shikamaru as much as possible and continue to batter him with punches and kicks that he was simply too slow to counter, and quickly tire the Nara and finally deliver a finishing blow that could win her the fight.

If things were only so easy.

Shikamaru wasn't known for his Taijutsu prowess but he wasn't a slouch at fighting either, he managed to counter a few times and even get the upper hand on Sakura before his lack of speed came to bite him in the end.

Naruto wasn't sure who was gonna win at this point, because while Sakura had the advantage currently, Shikamaru clearly had some sort of trump card he didn't bother to use yet if the way his teammates didn't look worried was any sign.

Asuma almost looked amused, if anything.

Sakura immediately pulled back when she saw Shikamaru begin to run through hand signs, which, in Naruto's opinion, was a horrible move. There was no way for Shikamaru to produce a jutsu that could defeat Sakura in such a short span of time, and he was proven right when Shikamaru simply stopped his hands midway, and closed his eyes.

Wait, why was he closing his eyes?

"He's thinking," Asuma answered for him. "Shikamaru is one of the smartest people I know, and I've met a lot of people. He's probably thinking through a hundred ways he could beat Sakura right now, and would settle for the one which would take the least effort."

Naruto believed the man—Shikamaru's intelligence wasn't to be scoffed at, and he didn't need to see the Nara's stats to see that.

Shikamaru opened his eyes. "Tch. I wanted to win without using that jutsu. Great! Now everyone knows my technique!"

The pure annoyance in Shikamaru's voice was funny, to say the least.

Why were his hands clasped together?

Wait.

"SAKURA—" Naruto began to warn.

It was already too late.

Sakura suddenly found herself unable to move as a dark shadow stretched from Shikamaru to her.

"What kind of jutsu is that?" Naruto asked no one in particular.

It seemed to be controlling Sakura's body, or more well put, making Sakura mirror what Shikamaru was doing. Slowly, Shikamaru reached into his right pocket, where there was nothing to be seen.

There was nothing in Shikamaru's right pocket, however, in Sakura's…

Her kunai was right there.

Shikamaru clasped the air in his pocket, whereas Sakura was forced to clasp the kunai to her trembling horror. The fear in her eyes was visible to everyone.

The Nara gave a cold glare to Sakura, before pulling up his hand to his neck. "Forfeit, Sakura."

"I surrender," Sakura said with a resigned voice.

Shikamaru clapped his hands together in a show of rare thanks, before bowing. "Thank you for making the fight short!"

Even the proctor looked impressed. "Winner: Shikamaru Nara!"

A brief applause sounded before everyone went back to waiting for the next round.

Sakura came back to the stands with an obviously disappointed expression. "I'm sorry I couldn't win, guys,"

"Don't worry, you tried your best, Sakura," Naruto said, his eyes expressing his understanding. "There's always a next time once you get stronger."

Sakura nodded slowly, her eyes beginning to water. She slowly creaked her head to Sasuke, who watched her with an indescribable expression.

Sasuke smiled. He genuinely smiled.

"Do better next time."

Sakura immediately began crying before nodding and profusely promising she won't lose again. Kakashi watched with a proud face as he saw the maturity in his team, something he definitely didn't expect to see when he first saw the batch of kids. It was amazing just how much they managed to grow in such a short amount of time.

"Next match: Neji Hyūga versus Ubuki!"

Naruto's ears perked up when he heard Ubuki's name.

He was the teammate of Kurotsuchi, and definitely could stand a chance against Neji if he had a similar level of skill compared to his teammate.

He was going to watch the fight hoping for Ubuki to win.

Fingers crossed.

[—-]

Naruto could only watch with his mouth wide open as Ubuki surrendered the match after only a minute of fighting.

It was an absolute thrashing. Neji simply countered every single move Ubuki made, and excelled over everything his opponent offered.

Taijutsu, Neji had the clear advantage. In terms of speed, Neji was many times faster than Ubuki. He looked stronger as well. The second Ubuki had slipped into melee range, his chakra was immobilized, rendering all of the techniques that he spent learning for hours useless.

Of course, Naruto didn't need to guess Neji's attributes. He could just check them himself.

Observe.

Name: Neji Hyūga

Title: N/A

Occupation: Genin of Konoha

Level: LV20

HP: 100/100

MP: 100/100

Chakra: 200/200

STR: 14

VIT: 15

DEX: 15

INT: 7

WIS: 5

LUK: 3

Comparing him to Ubuki was like comparing a Hokage to a Genin. It simply wasn't possible for the Iwa Genin to win.

It seemed Neji thought the same as well, if the monologues he was spewing had any ground to them. Saying that he was "destined" to win the fight from the second their names were announced, and that Ubuki could only accomplish whatever was set for him the moment he was born. Obviously, that didn't sit well with the audience, who took a blatant disliking of the talented Hyūga. Naruto couldn't really blame them—he didn't like the kid either.

The next fight, Shino versus Kankuro, was an anticlimactic one. The second Shino revealed his bugs, Kankuro literally shrieked out loud. He immediately forfeited, saying that he was allergic to bugs, and more importantly, terrified of them.

Who would've thought the hotshot was scared of bugs? Naruto though, grinning in amusement.

With that said and done, the next fight was announced.

"Next match: Hinata Hyūga versus Ino Yamanaka!"

Naruto wished both of the girls luck as they proceeded to the stadium, where they faced off each other with the determination to win obviously present.

"Prediction?" Sakura asked the blond. "You've been accurate so far."

Naruto thought for a minute. He really had no idea about the capabilities for either of them, nor did he really have the need to find out.

Personally, he just assumed that Hinata would win based on her family Taijutsu, but he didn't really know how strong Ino was.

He was absolutely right.

The fight was almost as one-sided as Neji's own fight, with a few moments where she seemed to be holding well. Hinata's Taijutsu wasn't as fast nor as efficient as Neji's own, but it appeared to be just as honed. He could see she spent hours of her day practicing the Hyūga style, and that was enough to beat Ino, who simply couldn't keep up with the other girl.

"Wow, I never knew Hinata was that strong…" Sakura mumbled, envy present in her eyes.

Naruto didn't really know either, to be fair.

"It doesn't kater how strong she is—she won't last in the next stage if she doesn't get stronger than this," Sasuke proclaimed, his eyes narrowing onto the Hyūga.

Ino was completely outclassed, and it showed with how fast she was forced to forfeit. The crowd erupted into cheers as the match concluded. With that, the Preliminary exams were finally over.

The proctor stood forward. "As of now, the Preliminaries to the third and final exam are over! I urge the qualifiers to please come forward."

Kakashi signalled for the blond to come forward. "Naruto, I'm going to go out for a bit—I have a few important…errands…to run. Listen to what they say for me, will ya'?"

"Errands? Now?" Naruto questioned, curious as can be.

Kakashi nodded slowly. "Yes, now be a good Genin and do what your Jonin sensei tells you to do, alright?"

Naruto gritted his teeth before staring at Kakashi blankly. "Tell you what again?"

Kakashi chuckled. "I'm afraid my own techniques don't work on me. I'm the copy ninja, not you. Well then, goodbye."

Their sensei left without another word, leaving Naruto and the rest of team seven to watch the rest of what happens alone.

There were ten students left in the stadium, with the other teammates who couldn't qualify watching from the stands.

"I'll begin to explain the final stage of the Chuunin Exams. So please do listen carefully," Hiruzen ordered, his eyes narrowed in seriousness. "The final stage of the Chuunin Exams is a spectacle meant for everybody to see the respective talent of all the nations across the world. There will be a large audience watching the fights, which will be important in the future. Many important people will be watching them, and how successful your career as a shinobi will be depends on how you perform in front of them."

"Now, for the first announcement. The finals will start a month from now!"

Murmurs broke through the arena as the message came across. Why exactly was there a month-long break?

Hiruzen smirked, amusement showing through his wrinkled but wise features. "The answer to your questions is the simple fact that it takes time for the Kage to clear their schedules and visit to another land altogether, especially with the large distance some are located from here. Another reason is for you all to strategize and improve as much as possible in this short period of time. Gather information, weaknesses, and strengths about your enemies, and risk it all for the victory! The finals are a whole other breed compared to the previous stages. You are capable of being injured, but you must persevere through the pain to win. And now—we must conduct the drawings which will decide who will fight who."

The Genin went one by one, drawing out a number from the small box that Ibiki, the proctor for the first exam, handed them. Naruto looked at his number carefully.

"Two."

He looked over at Sasuke. "What'd you get?"

"Five," Sasuke recited, looking around at the rest of the Genin.

"Everyone, please recite your number to Ibiki over here," the Hokage instructed.

Ibiki listened intently before writing down something onto the paper which was clipped onto the board he had in his hands.

Ibiki looked up from his paper, his face twisted into a perfect poker face, refusing to reveal any emotions. "The initial matches are as follows."

Everyone leaned forward unconsciously, eager to see who was fighting who, if not anxious.

"The first fight is…Naruto Uzumaki versus Rock Lee!"

Naruto dropped his kunai to the floor.

[—]

"I've lost, I've lost, I've lost…" Naruto continued to recite to himself, absentmindedly walking on the streets of Konoha.

"Why do you think you already lost before you actually fought?" Fuu asked, walking beside him.

"Because Lee is incredibly strong!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. "Too strong! Too strong for me to beat in a month, anyways."

Fuu just chuckled, but didn't say anything afterwards.

"Not everyone gets to skip a match entirely, Fuu," Naruto rebuked instantly. "If only I had picked your number…."

Because there were ten Genin still remaining in the tournament bracket, two Genin would have to skip the first match, and fight against two of the winners of the first match, effectively having more time to prepare and observe compared to the others. On the other hand, those who fought were more in the moment and could carry some of their momentum into the next match.

"It doesn't matter if I'm going to win anyways," Fuu stated as a-matter-of-factly.

Naruto didn't say anything. He never wanted to beat Fuu more after what she just said. The sheer confidence in her voice was actually annoying to hear, and Naruto just wanted to beat Fuu in the finals for saying that. He still wanted Sasuke to beat Fuu, but didn't see that happening with just how monstrously strong the girl was.

Neji was the other Genin who got to skip the match, getting the number three. He was also the person who Naruto would fight if he managed to somehow beat Lee, but at this point, it was more likely that Lee would be fighting his teammate in the quarterfinals.

On his side of the bracket there was also the fight Kurotsuchi versus Shikamaru, who Naruto would face if he managed to get to the semifinals. He was also just as envious of Sasuke, who had an easy fight with Hinata, but also felt bad considering he was in the same bracket side as Gaara, who was facing off against Shino.

With how he was currently, there was no way for Naruto to win. He knew that and so did Lee. The moment the bracket was announced, Lee had come up to him and wished him good luck, which Naruto replied correspondingly. On the inside, he seriously hoped Lee had some sort of bad luck.

"I'm going to have to beg Kakashi to teach me a few more jutsus at this rate, and I don't want to beg that man even if my life was at risk…" Naruto whispered to himself. "Kakashi is going to be too busy training Sasuke anyways. I can't afford to train based on the split attention of our sensei, it's just not pretty. I need a sensei of our own, but who?"

Fuu's eyes lit up. "How about me?"

"You?" Naruto asked, his lips curling upwards.

"Why do you look like I'm joking? Of course, me. I'm the strongest person I know," Fuu said without hesitation.

"I don't know…Kakashi is definitely stronger than you. Regardless, no, I can't have you as my teacher. It wouldn't be fair to take your time when you could be preparing or doing something else," Naruto responded to her offer.

Fuu looked annoyed, for what reason, Naruto didn't know. "Eh…"

"Although—"

Naruto suddenly felt a chilling presence overcome him.

What the—

It wasn't bloodlust. No, the sheer pressure of whatever was there made goosebumps travel through Naruto.

Naruto felt a hand on shoulder from behind.

"Yo!" The unnamed voice said.

"WHAT THE—" Naruto shrieked in fear, before he finally came to sight of the man in front of him. "Who the hell are you?!"

Naruto recoiled as he felt a strong hand slap him on his head, rendering him slightly dazed at the contact. He caught a sight of the newcomer as he held his head however. Dark skin, white clothings, and multiple swords on his back.

"Ya fool, ya fool! The name's Killer Bee, though some call me the eighth Jinchuuriki, ya' see? Now can you please tell me where I can find a boy named Naruto Uzumaki?"

[-end-]

Yo!

Killer Bee's entrance. Hope you liked it! He's definitely one of my top five characters in the Naruto series, so I couldn't wait to introduce him. Why is he searching for Naruto?

So much is happening. Killer Bee, Naruto versus Lee, Karin Uzumaki, Akatsuki. How will this all end?

Questions of the day:

Question 1: When did you start watching Naruto? I started around 2014-2015.

Question 2: Killer Bee versus Itachi, who wins? I'm honestly going Itachi for this one.

If you want to read the next chapter right now, check out my Pa treon, where the next chapter is already posted.

It's on:

P a treon . com (slash)

PaladinKaladin

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Follow, review, favorite, and cya' next Tuesday bois!