3 months have gone by and Naruto's suspension is now over with. He spent the last 3 months working on his chakra control and trying to master his fuinjutsu. He also helped Sakura over the last 3 months with her medical ninjutsu. He didn't know anything other than the Mystic palm, but that didn't mean he couldn't help her with anything else. Now Sakura couldn't actually learn any medical jutsu yet since she didn't have the chakra capacity, but Naruto managed to teach her the basics and a bit about poisons. He also taught her how to camp.
Over the past 3 months she's gotten up to the level as a mid-genin thanks to Naruto and she's even picked up a better eating habit. She no longer diets and actually eats more now and her mother wasn't proud of it one bit. She discovered she had 2 chakra natures, earth and water. Kushina taught her a few water jutsus and some earth jutsus. Sakura knows two jutsus for each element right now and she was fine with that. She managed to learn Water style: Water bullet jutsu, Water style: Sword of draining, Earth style: Double suicide decapitation and Earth style: Earthquake slam.
They were only D-rank jutsus, but she didn't care. Her taijutsu came along better after working with Kushina on it. She couldn't find a style that worked for her so Kushina helped her out with the academy taijutsu style and made a couple of tweaks to it so it would feel more comfortable for Sakura until she learned a style that better fits her. Genjutsu was worked on as she learned the hell viewing jutsu that Kakashi used on her during their first day as team 7.
Her training over the past 3 months made her body start to fill out on her more and that caused a certain blonde haired genin to develop a crush on her. Menma took notice of Sakura's change and started to ask her out on dates whenever he could and she would always reject them. A few times she had to get physical with him when he couldn't take no for an answer. Ever since wave Menma and Sasuke have had some kind of brewing tension between them and it was getting on everyone's nerves.
Kakashi started to train Sasuke privately before and after team meetings to work on his sharingan. Menma and Narumi refused to be trained by Kushina when she offered it by stating that she was a traitor for helping Naruto over them. The result of that was the worst ass kicking that they have ever gotten and it caused Kushina to destroy a few blocks around the village resulting in a hefty fine. The team was a mess and there was no helping it at the moment.
Currently Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto were waiting at the bridge where they usually meet for team meetings. Naruto was up in the tree sleeping as he would do if his mom and Kakashi took more than 10 minutes to show up. Sakura and Sasuke were standing on the bridge patiently waiting. They heard feet running and Sakura looked up and saw Menma and Narumi running towards the bridge. Sakura sighed as she saw Menma coming straight for her.
"Hey, good morning Sakura what's up?" Menma asked and then had a glaring look pointed at Sasuke who returned the glare
"Good grief. Not again. They've been like this since we got back from the land of waves 3 months ago. It's like being stuck with a couple of children." Sakura thought
"Hi Sasuke." Narumi said batting her eyelashes
"Oh gosh. Is that how I looked a few months ago?" Sakura thought
"Hey, guys. Good morning." Kakashi said as he and Kushina arrived
"Good morning, Kakashi and Kushina-sensei." Sakura said
"I'm ready for the next ninja mission, sensei. No more of this dumb beginner stuff, okay? I want a chance to prove myself. I'm talking about a real mission where I can show what I'm made of! I gotta break out and burn it up! See?!" Menma said with a fire in his eyes
"Uh, right. I get it. That's great, Menma. Now, take it easy would you?" Kakashi said and Menma turned to glare a Sasuke
"Sasuke! He's always rescuing everyone on our missions, trying to grab all the glory and make me look like a chump. But he'll never get the edge on me!" Menma thought
"He's such a twerp!" Sakura thought
"He better not lay a single finger on Sasuke or he's getting it!" Narumi thought
"Let us know when you're done fantasizing, Menma, so we can start the mission, all right?" Kakashi asked
"Right!" Menma said
"Could you not be so annoying, Menma, just for once?" Sakura asked
"Shut up you annoying fangirl!" Narumi said
"Excuse me?! Fangirl? That's a former fangirl to you! You poor excuse of a jinchuriki!" Sakura said
Narumi saw red and due to her anger she tapped into the nine tails chakra and launched herself at Sakura. The old Sakura a few months ago would've called out for help. The new Sakura got ready for a fight, but before anything could happen, Narumi was wrapped up in two different sets of chakra chains and the nine tails chakra was suppressed.
"You really need to work on that anger of yours. You're the jinchuriki of the nine tails and you can't go around acting out of control, Narumi. Honestly, what has your father and the pervert been teaching you for the past 3 months." Kushina said
"More than what you have." Menma mumbled
"I'm sorry, but I didn't quite catch that. Care to repeat yourself?" Kushina asked
"No." Menma said
"What kind of missions are we doing today?" Sakura asked
"We have 3 D-rank missions to do. We have to pick some weeds, walk some dogs, and clean the river." Kakashi said
"Now, let's move out." Kushina said
"Shouldn't we wait for Naruto?" Sakura asked
"Why? Worried your loser boyfriend won't be there to save you?" Narumi asked
"He's not my boyfriend. I just thought since his suspension was over, that he would be included in our D-rank missions." Sakura said
"Well, Naruto's been banned from doing D-rank missions." Kakashi said
"How do you get banned from doing D-rank missions?" Sakura asked
"I don't know, but he somehow managed to do it. I think he's the first person to get banned from D-rank missions since they were created." Kushina said
"Lucky." All the genin thought
"So he's not coming with us?" Sakura asked
"No he's coming with us. He just can't participate in the mission. He's being closely watched since he's a known flight risk." Kakashi said
"I'm not leaving until after the chunin exams. That's when I plan on leaving." Naruto said as he came out of the tree
"Still, you have to be monitored." Kushina said
"Fine. Let's get this day over with." Naruto said
They all left and went on to do their missions for the day. Menma turned everything into a competition between him and Sasuke which was basically him competing against himself. During the weed picking mission, Menma picked the lady's weeds along with her herbal plants and he received a beating from the lady as everyone just watched on.
During the river cleaning mission, Menma once again tried to do too much and impress sakura to make her like him. He was picking the trash up too fast and slipped on a rock in the river. He couldn't swim so the current actually took him over the waterfall and he was screaming on his way down. He was saved by Sasuke who used a kunai attached to some wire to hold them both up and Menma wasn't happy about that one bit.
During the dog walking mission, everyone grabbed a small dog to hurry up and get the mission over with, except Menma. Menma grabbed the biggest dog he could find to prove he was better than Sasuke and it failed miserably. The dog wound up dragging him into a mine field that Konoha had set up in case of an attack. Needless to say Menma was lucky to be alive.
"Look at you. You're hopeless Menma." Sakura said as she and Sasuke were helping him walk
"You really are just one big problem." Sasuke said and Menma had enough
"SASUKE." Menma said about to attack him, but Narumi stopped him
"If you keep this up, I'll finish you off myself." Narumi said
"I guess we're not making a lot of progress on the teamwork thing, huh?." Kakashi said
"I guess not. We take 3 steps forward and 8 steps back. I thought Sakura would be the problem, but she isn't." Kushina said
"I told you two that this wouldn't work." Naruto said
"That's right! Our teamwork's all messed up and it's all because of you, Sasuke! You think you're better than everyone else?" Menma asked
"Not everyone. Just you. Face it. I'm better and stronger than you are. It's a fact. Unless you have what it takes to prove me wrong." Sasuke said as he turned and face Menma
"They're actually getting along worse than before, if that's possible." Sakura thought
"I don't have time to waste on Menma and these lame missions. There's still ninja out there who can outfight me. I've got to hone my skills so I can beat them." Sasuke thought
Itachi, Naruto and Haku came across his mind and he took a glance at Naruto who had his impassive look on. It bothered Sasuke that someone his age could already be considered one of the strongest in the village. He had a feeling Naruto hasn't even gone all out yet and that made him even angrier. Meanwhile Kakashi and Kushina saw a hawk screeching in the air and they knew that they had a jonin meeting to attend.
"All right, guys. Let's call it a day. You can beat each other to a pulp some other time. Anyway me and Kushina have to file a report on the mission." Kakashi said
"Do not think that since we called it a day that you can slack off. Each one of you has something you can improve on. Menma and Narumi, I know you two have your training to do. Sakura, you've got slot of training as well and Sasuke, I know that you've got plenty of things you would like to work on. If any of you need help, come find me or Kakashi if you want to." Kushina said and vanished
"Whatever. I'm out of here." Sasuke said
"Wait! Sasuke I'll go with you! I have to go that way too." Sakura said which was the truth since she lived that way
"Sakura, leave me alone. Despite all the work you've recently put in to becoming a better ninja, you're just as bad as Menma." Sasuke said
"Take away the nine tails and Sakura would be able to give Menma and Narumi a run for their money." Naruto thought
"I'll walk with you then Sasuke!" Narumi said
"Instead of flirting, why don't you go practice your jutsu and make the team stronger. Let's face it, you're actually worse than Menma." Sasuke said and walked away.
"Don't worry Sakura. Just forget about Sasuke. You and I can practice and develop our teamwork all day." Menma said and Kakashi left
"Huh? Sensei disappeared. Is he giving us some alone time?" Menma thought
"Menma, come on we got some training to do." Narumi said
Menma was about to respond when a rock creeped up on him with two eye holes on it. Menma started running around and the box would follow him. Sakura and Narumi watched on confused and Naruto just stared at them impassively. He knew who was in the fake disguise and he hid his presence, because he was not in the mood to be annoyed.
"Huh"? Where did Naruto go? He was just right next to me." Sakura thought
"That's the worst disguise of all time! There's no such thing as square rocks! It's completely obvious!" Menma said
"Has he never looked at a brick or fancy stones for a pond?" Sakura thought
"You saw through my camouflage again. You're a one slick boss. Just what I'd expect from my greatest rival." A kid voice said and the box exploded in a cloud of smoke revealing three kids
"I think we used a little too much gun powder you guys." A kid said
"I'm Moegi. The sassiest kunoichi in preschool. Check me out." A dirty blonde haired girl said
"I love algebra. Call me Udon!" A boy with glasses and a long snot bubble hanging from his nose said
"And I'm the number one ninja in the village. Konohamaru! And when we're all together."
"We're the Konohamaru ninja squad!" The three kids said in unison
"Not bad if they were an evil ninja group." Sakura thought
"I've never been more annoyed in my life. Wait, who's chakra signature is that? It's another jinchuriki in the village. Must be here for the chunin exams. Whoever it is , there chakra is dark and sinister." Naruto thought
"Yeah, I knew it was you Konohamaru. Hm, hey what are those things on your head?" Menma asked
"It's the same goggles you used to wear." Narumi said
"So, did you want something?" Menma asked
"He's just trying to be cool." Konohamaru said to Udon
"You know what we want. Are you busy now?" Moegi asked
"I have to train. I can't become hokage if I'm not getting any stronger." Menma said
"What? But you promised to play ninja with us today. Come on!" Konohamaru said
"Oh, did I say that?" Menma asked
"A ninja playing ninja? That's so weird." Sakura thought out loud
"Uhh, hey, Sakura." Menma said
"My ninja skills are worse than his? Unbelievable! I've been training my ass off for three months and he claims to train hard but we don't even see any results!" Sakura thought staring at Menma
"She's staring right at me. I think I'm turning red." Menma thought
"I forgot she was here." Narumi thought
"Hey boss, who's that girl anyway?" Konohamaru asked
"The way she's staring at him, it's like her eyes are daggers." Konohamaru thought
"Ah! I get it. You're a smooth operator boss. Come on, I know that she's your...girlfriend." Konohamaru said holding up his pinky finger
"Huh?!" Sakura thought
"Well, you could tell she's crazy about me, huh? Yeah, she's my girlfriend. Isn't that right, Sakura?" Menma asked and gave her a kiss on the cheek
"THAT'S IT!" Sakura yelled
She gave Menma a hard punch to the face sending him into the fence and she had a dark aura around her. Up in the trees, Naruto was watching on in amusement at what happened to Menma. He noticed Sakura added chakra to her attacks and figured he could do Sakura a favor and have Shizune put in a word for Tsunade to train her as well.
"Boss! What kind of girlfriend are you?!" Konohamaru asked
"I think she cracked him!" Moegi said
"Oh, no! We gotta check his pulse." Udon said
"You're a witch and you're ugly too!" Konohamaru said
Sakura punched him on the head sending him to the ground and walked away. If Konohamaru was smart he would've just let Sakura walk away, but him being a kid and practically spoiled, he decided to say something else.
"Hey, Konohamaru are you okay?" Udon asked
"I don't even think she's human. Did you see the size of her forehead? It's huge!" Konohamaru said to Menma
"He asked for it." Narumi said
Sakura stopped in her tracks and slowly turned her head around and had a pissed off/crazy look on her face. If it's one thing she didn't like people talking about, it was the size of her forehead. Everyone was scared and Sakura ran towards them causing them to run away. Everything was fine until Konohamaru bumped into somebody.
They took in the person's appearance and he was wearing some makeup on his face, a black jumpsuit and had something strapped to his back. He was with a girl who had sandy blonde hair tied into 4 pigtails and a giant fan on her back. They both had on Suna headbands. Up in the tree's Naruto was standing above Sasuke who was watching them as well as another boy from Suna. He had red hair, a kanji for love on his forehead and wore a gourd on his back.
"Looks like I've found Suna's jinchuriki. Shame that he hasn't noticed me yet." Naruto thought
"Do you need something?" The boy asked Konohamaru and picked him up by his scarf
"So, does this hurt punk?" The boy asked and tightened his grip starting to choke Konohamaru
"Put him down Kankuro. Or you know you'll pay for it later." The girl with them said
"Hey, the whole thing was my fault." Sakura said
"Who are they?" Sakura thought
"You better take your hands off him right now!" Menma said
"So these are the leaf villages genin." Kankuro thought
"We got a few minutes before he gets here, Temari. Let's mess with these punks." Kankuro said
"Let go of me you jerk!" Konohamaru said kicking Kankuro
"You're feisty. But not for long." Kankuro said
"Put him down!" Menma said he ran at Kankuro, but something tripped him and made him fall on his back
"What the?! What was that?!" Menma asked
"You're a leaf genin too? Looks like your village is full of wimps." Kankuro said
"They're outsiders from somewhere. But what are they doing here?" Sakura thought
"Hey! You better stop right now!" Narumi said
"Hey! Cut it out! It hurts!" Konohamaru said
"That's it! Drop him now or I take you apart! You got that fool!" Menma said and Sakura put him in a headlock
"You're the fool! Making threats isn't going to help, Menma!" Sakura said
"You're annoying. All of you. I don't like runts or any other scrawny weaklings. So when a wimp like this starts shooting off his mouth...I just wanna break him in half." Kankuro said
"Fine. I'm not involved in any of this, okay?" Temari asked
"What's this guy's problem? This is getting ugly. Where's Naruto or Sasuke when you need them?" Sakura thought
"First I'll take care of this little squirt. Then I'll waste the other one." Kankuro said
He pulled his fist back to punch Konohamaru, but a rock was thrown at his hand causing him to drop Konohamaru and hold his hand while grunting in pain. Everyone looked up in the tree and saw Sasuke sitting there in a typical cool guy pose tossing a rock in the air.
"You're a long way from home and you're way out of your league." Sasuke said
"Sasuke!" Narumi exclaimed
"Well, well! Local hottie." Temari thought as she looked at Sasuke
"Oh great. Another wimp to tick me off." Kankuro said
"Get lost." Sasuke told them and crushed the rock in his hand
"He's so cool!" Narumi said with hearts in her eyes
"How come you're not cool like that?" Konohamaru asked Menma
"What do you mean? I could've taken that guy out in two seconds flat." Menma said
"Hmph." Konohamaru just turned his head away
"Sasuke, you're always trying to make me look bad in front of everyone!" Menma thought
"Hey, punk, get down here. You're the kind of pesky little snot I hate the most. All attitude and nothing to back it up." Kankuro said and took his bandaged item off of his back
"What?! Are you gonna use the crow for this?" Temari asked
"Kankuro, back off." A voice said and everyone looked up again in the tree and saw the same red head boy hanging upside down
"You're an embarrassment to our village." He said
"Uh, hey, Gaara." Kankuro said
"When did he get there? He didn't make a sound. Only jonin at Kakashi's level are that smooth." Sasuke thought
"Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way here?" Gaara asked
"I know, I mean they challenged us. They started this whole thing, really. See, here's what happened." Kankuro said
"Shut up. Or I'll kill you." Gaara said
"Ah, right. I totally got out of line. I'm sorry Gaara. I was totally out of line." Kankuro said
"I'm sorry for any trouble he caused." Gaara said to Sasuke
"This guy has an evil look in his eye." Sasuke thought
"He stopped Kankuro with a pebble. Made it look easy. This guy is someone to keep an eye on." Gaara thought
"If you two are done gazing into each other's eyes, I'd like to see a fight and if it's not gonna happen, then shut up and go on with your lives." Everyone looked up and saw Naruto standing behind Gaara upside down and Gaara was scared for a second
"When did he get there?" Gaara thought
"How did he sneak up on Gaara?!" Temari thought
"Hey, who are you?" Kankuro asked
"Somebody you don't want to mess with." Naruto said as he and Gaara both vanished and landed on the ground
"Who are you?" Gaara asked
"Naruto." Naruto told him
"How did you sneak up on me? It's impossible to get close to me." Gaara said
"I'm stronger and better than you. That's how." Naruto said and Gaara started releasing chakra and Naruto did the same, but his chakra created cracks in the ground
"H-He's got more chakra than Gaara!" Kankuro thought
"He's actually stronger than Gaara!" Temari thought
"I'd relax if I were you. It seems the chakra a certain tunaki gives off is making a Fox mad." Naruto said pointing at Menma and Narumi who were both holding their stomachs where the seal was located
"He knows!" Kankuro and Temari thought
"I'll kill you." Garra said
"You can try, but you'll fail. I have no problem killing a jinchuriki." Naruto said and suddenly Gaara was wrapped up in his chakra chains
"Let me go! Mother! Mother help!" Gaara screamed
"You call it your mother? Such a pitiful thing to do. I can easily rip it right out of you as we speak. Against my chains, you're useless." Naruto said as he tightened his chains around Gaara
"He's hurting Garra!" Temari thought
"That's impossible!" Kankuro thought
"Now, I understand you're here for the chunin exams. Is that correct?" Naruto asked
"Y-Yeah." Kankuro said
"Then I suggest you find your jonin sensei and check into your hotel. I don't like this village, but as long as I'm here and my mother and older sister figure, nobody will harm this village and I don't care if I have to kill the hokage himself. Get moving." Naruto said and released the chains on Gaara
"C-Come on Gaara. Baki sensei is expecting us for a meeting." Temari said and they walked away, but Garra turned around and looked at Naruto
"My mother wants your blood. I'm going to kill you." Gaara said
Naruto walked up to Gaara and his sand instantly sprang into action. The sand genin were shocked when the sand just exploded off of Naruto who didn't even seem bothered by what was going on. When Naruto made it to Gaara he took out a kunai and cut his hand. He wiped the blood on Gaara's shirt and then walked away.
"There's plenty more where that came from. Tell that overgrown raccoon to know it's place." Naruto said and the sand genin left
"Hm. Things are getting interesting." Sasuke thought
"Hey loser! What the hell was that?!" Menma asked
"That was me doing something none of you other than Sasuke had the guts to do. I was putting foreigners in their place and letting them know they can't come here and do whatever they want." Naruto said
"Don't try to act cool! Sasuke could've handled them all by himself!" Narumi said
"Then why didn't he notice me and Gaara in the tree? Face it. Sasuke may be the second strongest genin in the village, but the gap between him and the actual strongest is like having a tailed beast fight an ant." Naruto said
"He's the strongest! He has the sharingan to back him up!" Narumi said
"His sharingan is incomplete. He has two tomoe in one eye and one tomoe in the other. He's a far way off from actually maturing his sharingan and completing it. Compared to the others of his clan, he is progressing extremely slowly when it comes to the sharingan." Naruto said
"I am not behind in my progression with the sharingan." Sasuke said
"Itachi awakened his at 8 and mastered it before he was 9. Shisui unlocked his during the third shinobi war during the beginning and he was younger than Itachi when he unlocked it and before he was 8 had mastered his sharingan. The only person who unlocked the sharingan at your age is Obito Uchiha and he unlocked his with two tomoe in both eyes. You're behind still and it's laughable at how you think just because you have the sharingan that you're invincible." Naruto said
"That's because I am. Nothing can compete against the sharingan." Sasuke said
"You're wrong. There's a jonin in this village who can counter the sharingan and I've seen him do it before. Just like how the sharingan can analyze an opponent's moves before they do them, he can do the same. Now, the chunin exams are happening in a few days and we're late receiving the notice even though the hokage knew about it for 6 months. We'll be put forward to join so I suggest you all start training seriously. I heard people can get killed during these exams." Naruto said
"He's right guys. I asked Kushina-sensei about the chunin exams and she told me the exact same thing. Killing is allowed and some people won't hesitate. I think it's best that we all train our hardest for the exams." Sakura said
"Who made you captain? I'm not listening to you." Narumi said
"She's not captain, but I am. When I'm not in charge Sasuke is. I doubt you want to deal with the both of us and then mom and Kakashi, so just train as much as you can until the exams and hope it's enough to stay alive." Naruto said
"Well I'm not going to train. I'm strong enough as is! I don't have to listen to you! Someone like you is beneath me, you peasant!" Menma said
The look on Naruto's face made everyone including Sasuke step back. Next thing Menma knew, he was pinned to the ground with Naruto holding him by the neck.
"Listen here you arrogant little shit. I'm tired of you constantly talking shit and not expecting anything to happen. You will do as I say while I'm in charge or I will give you a small taste of my full power. Do not think for one second that just because the hokage is your dad that you can talk to anybody the way you want to. I'm not like these villagers who will bend to your every demand. Train or I'll kill you myself and I have no problem doing that. After the chunin exams are over, you won't have to worry about me anymore because I'll be gone. The only reason I'm still here is because mom asked me to compete in the chunin exams. The quicker we get this done, the quicker I leave and you and that fangirl of a sister you have, will no longer hear from me or see me. Is that clear?" Naruto asked adding pressure to Menma's neck
"Ack. Yes! Okay!" Menma said as he felt his bones start to crack
"Good. One more problem and I'll make sure that dream of becoming an assassin and then hokage will stay just that. A dream. The three of you in the tree. If you aren't going to come down and fight I suggest you leave before I come up there and make you leave." Naruto said and then everyone saw the leaves move in the tree indicating somebody was there
"Woah. He's even managed to scare Sasuke and three unknown people away. I'm glad I made up with him." Sakura thought
"What the hell was that? He made me step back by a look that wasn't even directed at me. It reminded me of the look HE had after the massacre." Sasuke thought
"I-I can't believe he's willing to kill us. I know we don't like each other, but I'd never say I would kill him. OH CRAP I DID SAY THAT. Back during the wave mission on our way back to the village I agreed with Menma that I'd kill him. I guess I have nobody but myself to blame for this. That look on his face, it was enough to even scare Sasuke. Plus that Garra person seemed like he'd kill somebody for looking at him wrong and Naruto made him actually scream and beg for help. I didn't stand a chance using three tails of chakra and I remember he looked like he wasn't even trying. Just how strong is he?" Narumi thought as she watched Naruto walk away
Hokage chambers
"Alright. It's time that we chose our candidates for the chunin exams. To begin, will those in charge of the rookie genin step forward? Kakashi, Kushina, Asuma and Kurenai. What do you say? Are there any in your squads you'd like to recommend for the exams despite their inexperience? As you know any genin who has carried out 8 or more missions is technically eligible for the examination. Beyond that, only you can decide when they are ready. Of course most genin require a much longer training period. At least twice that many missions. So Kakashi and Kushina you begin." Minato said
"I lead team 7 with Kakashi Hatake. Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Narumi Uzumaki-Namikaze, Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze and Naruto Uzumaki. I, Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze, recommend all five of these genin for the chunin exams." Kushina said
"Kakashi Hatake, do you agree with this decision?" Minato asked
"Yes, I Kakashi Hatake, also nominate the entire team 7 for the chunin exams." Kakashi said and Minato nodded at Kurenai
"I lead team 8. Hinata Hyūga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. I Kurenai Yūhi, Recommend all three for the chunin exams." Kurenai said and Minato nodded to Asuma
"I lead team 10. Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. I, Asuma Sarutobi, recommend all three for the chunin exams." Asuma said
"Alright. Team 7 since you have an odd number of team members, two of your teammates will have to go in as a team of 2. Is that acceptable?" Minato asked
"That's acceptable." Kushina said
"Who will be going as a group of two?" Minato asked
"We'll let them decide." Kushina said
"Alright then. Any questions?" Minato asked
"I have one. Do you think it's wise to let fresh genin take the exams? I mean they're barely out of the academy." Iruka said
"If their jonin instructors recommended them, then they must be ready. I do have my concerns though about team 7. Sakura Haruno, was barely able to make it out of the academy has she shown any improvement since team selections? Her skills were pretty much at the level of an academy student when she graduated." Minato said
"She's grown a lot since then. It started on the wave mission after our first fight with Zabuza Momochi. Right now, I'd say she's mid genin to high genin." Kushina said
"What?! How?!" Everyone asked
"Better training habits. A better eating habit and no more diets. She's actually studying medical ninjutsu although she knows some ninjutsu and genjutsu. Her problem is her chakra reserves are too low right now. She has great chakra control, but poor reserves. We're working getting those up though, so she'll do just fine in the exams." Kushina said
"You did a great job training her. Both of you did." Minato said
"Please. Me and Naruto trained her. Kakashi doesn't understand how to handle someone like her, so he mainly trained Menma, Narumi and Sasuke." Kushina said
"Speaking of Naruto. Has his attitude improved at all?" Minato asked
"Nope. He's still leaving. He doesn't like this village or anybody in it except for me, Kurenai, TenTen and Anko." Kushina said
"WOO-HOO." Somebody yelled and everyone turned to look at Anko who started to peacefully whistle
"YOSH! TENTEN'S FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHT. I MUST COMMEND HER ON HER YOUTHFULNESS TO BECOMING FRIENDS WITH HIM. IF I CAN NOT DO THAT THEN I SHALL CLIMB THE HOKAGE MONUMENT WITH MY TONGUE AND IF I CAN NOT DO THAT, THEN I SHALL..."
"Guy, please. We get it, okay?" Minato asked
"Yosh!" Might guy said and did his signature nice guy pose
"Kushina, my anbu that I have been watching him reported that he's not showing any kind of actions leaning towards leaving. They said he's been quite helpful." Minato said
"Well they've clearly been tricked. Did you all forget that he's the best genjutsu user in Konoha? He's even better than Kurenai and genjutsu is her specialty. He either trapped them in a genjutsu and they didn't notice or they were following a shadow clone. I have to punch him in the gut sometimes to see if it's the real him." Kushina said proudly and everyone just sweatdropped at her
"Do you know when he's leaving?" Minato asked
"Nope. All he told me was that it's going to be after the chunin exams." Kushina said
"You need to stop him." Minato said
"Why me? This isn't my fault. I made up with him before it was too late. Outside of the people I named everyone else basically treated him poorly or turned the other way if he needed help. He's had enough and we're lucky he didn't pull an Itachi on us. Trust me he has the skill to do that if he wants to. He's stronger than Kakashi now." Kushina said
"Well, as your hokage I'm ordering you to stop him from leaving." Minato said
"Well as the current head of the Uzumaki clan I'll have to decline that order. When Mito Uzumaki married Hashirama Senju, she added a little stipulation about the Uzumaki clan and its people regarding this village. It states that if any or all Uzumaki are unhappy with the way the village is, then they are allowed to leave without any consequences. She snuck that in there at the last second before it was signed off. Now don't get me wrong, Mito did love Hashirama and Konoha, but her love for the Uzumaki clan was always greater than that and she always looked out for them. So if he wants to leave, we can't do anything about it. I've already granted him leave when he told me he was planning on leaving. I'm just waiting to see him off." Kushina said
"Why didn't I know about that law?" Minato asked
"Because nobody in this village cares about the laws if it doesn't benefit them. He's given me my family back in the Uzumaki clan and I'm returning the favor. I've already granted him his leave and now, I'll be donating 50 million ryo from the Uzumaki clan to the rebuilding of the red light district. Naruto started something and I want to keep it going for him. I want better housing, better schools, and 2 hospitals built there." Kushina said
"When did Naruto start helping the red light district?" Kakashi asked
"He's been doing it since he was a kid. He saw how the kids were living there one day and wanted to make a difference. All of the food and clothes that would go missing from our house or clothes that were thrown out, he'd take them, wash them and give them to the people in the red light district. He's not a bad person like you all think he is. You just hated him for having the body of the nine tails trapped sealed of him so you made him dislike this village and everything about it except the few people I named." Kushina said
"I'll start the paperwork for it later tonight. Looks like I'm pulling an all nighter. You're all dismissed." Minato said and all the jonin left
Next day
"Why do they keep scheduling our meetings so early in the morning?!" Narumi asked
"It's not even 6 yet!" Menma complained
"These two are really starting to get on my nerves." Sakura thought
"Losers. First thing in the morning and they're already driving me nuts." Sasuke thought
"Hey, good morning everyone." Kakashi said
"We have some big news for you!" Kushina said
"You finally signed us up for the chunin exams." Naruto said
"LET ME TELL IT." Kushina yelled and punched him on the head
"And she has the nerve to talk about my anger." Menma thought
"Now, as I was saying. We've recommended you for the chunin exams. All five of you." Kushina said
"These are the application forms." Kakashi said
"Why do we need application forms?" Sakura asked
"This is all voluntary. It's up to each of you. If you don't feel ready, you can wait until next year." Kakashi said
"Whoever wants to take the exams, sign the application and come to room 301 at the academy. It's at 3 pm five days from now." Kushina said as Kakashi gave each of them a form
"Now, since we have a team of five, two of you will have to split up and go as a duo. Now who's going to be the duo team?" Kakashi asked
"I'll go with Sakura." Naruto said
"Why do you get to decide?!" Menma asked
"Yeah! I wanna go with Sasuke!" Narumi said
"Let me remind you that I'm the captain of this team. I got the first pick and I'm going with Sakura. She's the only person on this team I can actually tolerate." Naruto said
"Alright. Five days from now be at the academy by 3pm. Room 301 and if you need any help training, come to us." Kushina said and everyone signed the application forms.
"Kushina-sensei , can you help me with my chakra reserves and water jutsu?" Sakura asked
"Sure. Meet me at Ichirakus at noon and I'll train you for a few hours." Kushina said
"Thank you. I'm going home to get some sleep. I'll see everyone else in 5 days." Sakura said and left
"Menma, wanna see if dad can train us?" Narumi asked
"You bet!" Menma said and they left
"I'll see everyone later." Kakashi said and left followed by Sasuke
"I need to talk to you." Kushina said to Naruto
"Ok." Naruto said
"Karin is here. My seal told me she came into the village sometime yesterday. I need you to find her and try to have her join our village. She's competing in the chunin exams so you'll have plenty of time to try and talk to her." Kushina said
"I'll be on the lookout." Naruto said
"Good. Now, anything you need help with bin training?" Kushina asked
"No. I'll be fine." Naruto said
"Well alright then. I'm going home to get some sleep before I help Sakura with training." Kushina said and left
Team 9
"Did you hear? We're going to have rookies this year in the exams. First year genin. That has not happened in 5 years." A boy with bushy eyebrows said
"No, way. I bet it's just some jonin trying to boost their egos." A bun hair girl said
"No. There is more to the story than that. 5 of them are from Kakashi and Kushina's squad." The bushy brow boy said
"Huh? Interesting." A boy said with milk white eyes
"Not really." The girl said
"Either way it's too bad for them." The milk eyed boy said and they all just smirked
5 days later
It was now time for the chunin exams and everyone did as much training as they could. Sakura worked with Kushina on her jutsus and taijutsu. Sakura was able to add two C rank jutsus to her collection, one for each of her chakra natures. She learned Water style: Wild water wave and Earth style: Hidden mole jutsu. She even cut her hair so it stopped at her shoulders since Kushina told her it raised her chances of being caught.
Menma and Narumi had their father train them seriously and he started off with their taijutsu and helped them with the jutsus they knew so far. He told them that when he had more time that they would learn more jutsus and their chakra natures. They still refused Kushina's offer to help them train and they were hell bent on keeping it that way.
Sasuke worked on his speed and taijutsu with Kakashi. He worked on his hand sign speed and being able to do his jutsus with less hand signs like he noticed Naruto does. He worked on his sharingan progression and despite him having one tomoe in one eye and two in the other, he thought he was making good progress on it.
Naruto didn't really train as much except for his jutsu he created to escape. He completed it thanks to the chakra control training Kushina made him do and now he could instantly summon the portal whenever he wanted to and he could control the size of it. He worked on his susanoõ as well and only managed to form the rib cage as well as an arm to attack with now. Right now they were all waiting for Sakura to show up to the academy for the chunin exams.
"Hey guys! Sorry to keep you waiting!" Sakura said running up to them
"Sakura! You're late!" Menma said
"Sorry. I was getting my stuff ready and lost track of time." Sakura said
"Well do you have everything? I shouldn't have to wait for you to show up!" Narumi said
"Neither of you had to wait. She's not on your team during the chunin exams so you don't have to wait for her. Only I do and now that she's here, we can go in now." Naruto said
"Who asked you?! Just shut up! I can't wait to embarrass you in the chunin exams." Menma said and walked away
"He does realize he's never beaten you before, right?" Sakura asked Naruto
"I'll let him keep believing he can beat me. If we fight during the chunin exams I'll show him where he's at compared to me. Let's go." Naruto said
They walked into the academy and when they got to the second floor they saw room 301 was being crowded. Naruto and Sakura knew it was a genjutsu, but decided to play along with the two chunin blocking the door. They saw a boy about a year older get kicked back to the ground and his teammate go to his side. Naruto knew who his teammate was as he was really good friends with her.
"You're taking the chunin exams and you can't even get past us?" One of the chunin asked
"Why don't you just give up now before you get hurt?" The other asked
"Yeah, I think I hear your mommy calling you." The first chunin said
"Please let us through! We're supposed to go in there." The bun haired girl said and was punched in the face
"That was harsh." Somebody from the crowd said
"Did you say harsh? Don't kid yourself. We're being nice by comparison. These exams are going to make this look like a picnic." One chunin said
"Some of you won't survive the exams. Others will be wrecked for like and some of you may go crazy. For chunin it's always life and death." The other said
"You think it's a joke? Chunin are qualified to lead missions. The lives of your squad members are in your hands, so you better be tough enough to take the heat." His friend said
"Delicate little girls don't belong here."
"We're just thinning out the herd. You won't pass anyway, so go home and play with your dolls."
"Real nice speech. Now both of you step aside and let me through. While you're at it, reverse the genjutsu. We can see through your illusion anyway." Sasuke said
"Way to go Sasuke. You just successfully ruined part of the exam. If people couldn't figure out we're on the second floor then they shouldn't be taking the exams anyway. TenTen, get off the floor." Naruto said
"He punched me in the face and I fell down. I needed time to recover." TenTen said getting up
"Please, that punch didn't even hurt. I've hit you harder than that during our spars." Naruto said
"Fine, you caught me. So you're one of the rookie genin this year. What team are you on?" TenTen asked
"Team 7." Naruto said and her two teammates looked at him
"As in team 7 led by Kakashi Hatake and Kushina Uzumaki?" TenTen asked
"Yeah. I'm on the team with Sasuke, Sakura and the hokages two children." Naruto said
"Great. That decreases my chances of winning this thing since you're in it." TenTen said
"Why would you say that?" TenTen's teammate asked
"Lee, remember that one genin that Guy-sensei said for us to try and avoid during the exams that is stronger than Kakashi Hatake and all of the anbu?" TenTen asked
"Yes." Rock Lee answered
"It's him. The only people stronger than him in the village are Lord hokage, Lady Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kushina and maybe the anbu commander." TenTen said
"You're lying!" Rock Lee said and her other teammate just stared at Naruto
"She's not lying. However, your sensei, Might Guy is also stronger than me, but that's only if he opens 5 or 6 gates. Even then it would be hard to tell who'd win." Naruto said and people started to drop out of the chunin exams before they even started
"There's no way you're still a genin." TenTen said
"I am. I was suspended for 3 months so I couldn't get a promotion. I'm only taking these exams because my mom wants me to. If not for her I would've already left the village." Naruto said
"You're really leaving?" She asked sadly
"Yes. As soon as the chunin exams are finished I'm leaving for good." Naruto said
"Well, hopefully we can have one last fight before you go." TenTen said
"We'll see. Come on team 7 we need to go or we'll be late." Naruto said and they all decided against talking back since they didn't want to miss the chunin exams
"Hey you. Over here. What's your name?" TenTen's unknown teammate asked
"I'm Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze!" Menma said
"I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to the one who thinks he's the strongest genin in the village." Her teammate said
"He's clearly talking to Sasuke." Naruto said
"No, I'm talking to you." He said
"It's common courtesy to give your name before asking someone else's. Just because you're from the side branch of the Hyuga clan doesn't mean you don't have manners." Naruto said
"Neji Hyuga. How old are you?" The boy asked
"None of your business." Naruto said
"What's that?" Neji asked and TenTen giggled
"Cute." TenTen thought
"Naruto. Come on let's go." Sakura said and dragged him away
"You don't have to drag me away, Sakura." Naruto said
"Naruto, of the Uzumaki clan. Lord fourths loser of a son." Neji thought as he stared at Naruto's back
"He's pretty bold. You gonna challenge him?" TenTen
"Hm." Neji said and started to walk away with TenTen following him
"Lee, what are you waiting for? We're supposed to check in." TenTen said
"I will catch up with you in a minute. You do not need to wait for me. I just want to check something." Lee said and walked away
"What's that about?" TenTen asked
"I have no idea." Neji said and walked away
Team 7
"So this is the big bad chunin exam, huh? Heh. It's a freak show." Sasuke thought and the faces of Neji, Gaara, Rock Lee and Naruto popped into his head
"This will be a piece of cake! One step closer to achieving my dream!" Menma thought
"Hopefully all my skills have grown enough for me to survive this tournament. I will not let Kushina sensei down." Sakura thought with determination
"I wasn't trained by the best this village has to offer just to lose now. I will become a chunin." Narumi thought
"Nobody has caught my interest in the entire chunin exams so far. Hold on! It's two large chakra signatures in the room we're heading. Whoever they are can suppress their chakra levels low to that of a genin or mid chunin. Wait, one of them has the reserves of a kage level shinobi. So Orochimaru is already here I guess I'll have to keep an eye out on Sasuke sooner than I thought. The other one feels just as sinister, but has the reserves the size of Kakashi. Must be Orichimaru's second in command. I guess I'll have some fun after all." Naruto thought and then saw a familiar face from the past to his left looking at him
"What the? What's she doing here?" Naruto thought
He silently made a shadow clone and went after the person that was watching them. He chased whoever it was and had a hard time because the person was flying. He deactivated his resistance seals and took off faster than whoever he was chasing. The person turned around and didn't see him. Once they looked forward, he was standing right in front of them causing whoever it was to quickly stop and stare at him.
"Arella? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked
"Well, I've been sensing a portal opening and closing a lot and I needed to check it out. To my surprise it brought me to your dimension and guess who I caught opening a portal?" She asked
"That was me. I didn't know it would interfere with your dimension. I was just testing it to see if I had control over it. I've been creating it for a few years now and I've finally got it complete." Naruto said
"Don't worry I don't care about the portal. It's not illegal to use. There's a lot of species that use portals in other dimensions as well. I just got curious because it was the same portal in the same spot every time. Why did you make one?" She asked
"Because after this chunin exam thing I'm leaving this place. It sucks and I'm not wanted here. My portal keeps locking onto a certain dimension so I guess I'll go there." Naruto said
"That's all I came for. Now, I'll be watching you from my own dimension to see how you do in these chunin exams. Oh and before I leave, Raven has been eager to see you again. Perhaps when you use your portal you can see her again." Arella said and created a portal that she went through
"She knows something and isn't telling me. Me opening a portal shouldn't cause her to come and check on me." Naruto thought as he left and went back to his team
"Hey you, with the attitude. Hold on." Rock Lee called out and team 7 stopped walking
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked
"Crazy how he knew exactly who this guy was talking to." Naruto said to Sakura
"I want to fight, right here and right now." Rock Lee said
"You want to fight me here and now, huh?" Sasuke asked
"No, I wish to fight you and him." Rock Lee said pointing at Naruto
"You're not worth my time. You may be a replica of Might Guy, but I'd rather fight the real him and not some fanboy student of his. Let's go, Sakura." Naruto said
"Right. Nice meeting you again, Lee." Sakura said and walked away with Naruto
Naruto & Sakura
"So why didn't you fight him?" Sakura asked
"He's not worth my time and every second I would spend fighting him would be extra seconds added on to the amount of time I have to stay here." Naruto said
"But he seems weak and like he's an easy win." Sakura said
"You're still learning, but he's not weak. In fact, he's the second strongest genin behind me despite the gap being like me fighting an academy student." Naruto said
"Really? His other teammate Neji seems like he'd be the second strongest genin." Sakura said
"He's not. I've seen Rock Lee train and it's brutal. If he's anything like Might Guy, then if he were to fight Neji seriously, Neji would get completely embarrassed. Never underestimate an opponent, Sakura. Shisui and Itachi taught me that while they trained me." Naruto said
"Does it bother you that some shinobi don't like you because of your history with Itachi? I mean he did kill his entire clan minus Sasuke." Sakura said
"No, it doesn't bother me. Everyone that doesn't like me for it, are the same shinobi who would back out of my way if I'm walking toward them. What other people think of me doesn't matter one bit." Naruto said as they reached room 301 and saw Kushina and Kakashi standing there
"There you are. Where's the rest of your team?" Kushina asked
"They met Might Guy's twin. He challenged me and Sasuke to a fight." Naruto said
"You didn't hurt him, did you?" Kakashi asked
"He's not worth my time. I'd rather fight Might Guy than him. It'd be more interesting if a fight." Naruto said
"Ok anyway. Congratulations on making it to the chunin exam blah blah blah I'm rooting for you all. Naruto, I know you don't want to be here, but please, at least try to seem interested." Kushina said
"I'm more than interested. In fact, there's two strong shinobi inside this room that I can't wait to meet." Naruto said
"Who?" Kakashi asked
"Can't tell you." Naruto said
"Kushina sensei, I have a question." Sakura said
"What is it?" Kushina asked
"Was the blah blah blah really necessary?" Sakura asked
"Yeah. I didn't feel like giving the typical motivation speech. I've done it already with my old genin team and I didn't want to do it again." Kushina said
"Who was on your genin squad?" Sakura asked
"Kurenai, Anko and Asuma. Originally I didn't have Anko, but I switched her with one of my other genin, because nobody else would take her. Something happened to her and she's been treated badly ever since. She's a special jonin now and the council keeps denying her promotion to full jonin. It's not my story to tell so you'll have to hear it from her. I'm sure Naruto already knows." Kushina said
"I do. Now can we go inside? I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible." Naruto said
"Uh, yeah sure go right ahead. Remember what I told you a few days ago Naruto. Good luck." Kushina said and they entered the room
Room 301
Once Naruto and Sakura entered the room they were all greeted with glares and snarls from the older shinobi inside. Sakura started to shrink into herself and Naruto just placed a hand on her shoulder. He took a step forward and then released a massive amount of chakra that started to shake the entire building and everyone looked away as quick as possible and some left the room. Everything was quiet after that until the door was kicked open and in walked the rest of team 7.
"Sasuke! Where have you been?" Ino asked jumping on his back
"Boy you have no idea how much I was hoping you'd show up here. I've missed those brooding good looks of yours." Ino said
"Hey, Ino! Back off he's mine!" Narumi said
"Well if it isn't the hokages little girl. Oh and look, you've brought little Ms. Forehead with you. What happened to you Sakura? You thought gaining weight would help Sasuke notice you more? I guess you just had to change since you couldn't keep up with my figure." Ino said
"No, she's done running around acting like a horny 13 year old girl. She's actually taking her shinobi training seriously unlike you. I bet you haven't trained one bit since you've been put on a team." Naruto said
"I train! I just diet to keep my nice figure." Ino said striking a pose
"You'd be the first person I'd let die on a mission if I had a choice. You actually seem weaker than what you were in the academy. Stupid ass fangirl you disgust me." Naruto said
"Oh it's you guys. I knew this was gonna be a drag, but I didn't know it was gonna be this lame." Shikamaru said
"So all three stooges are here." Menma said
"Hey, you know what, pipsqueak? Ah forget it. You're a waste of time." Shikamaru said
"Yahoo! What do you know? It looks like the whole gangs back together! Well the entire gang and Naruto of course! I can't believe they actually let you all in the exams! Isn't a team of 5 cheating?" Kiba asked
"Oh. Hi, Naruto." Hinata said shyly and Naruto didn't pay attention to her
"You guys to huh? Man. Everyone's here for this stupid thing." Shikamaru said
"Yep. Here we all are. The nine rookies. This is going to be fun. At Least for those of us good enough to make the cut. Right, Sasuke?" Kiba asked
"Kiba, careful you don't get overconfident." Sasuke said
"Just wait. We're going to blow you guys away. We've been training like crazy." Kiba said
"What do you think we've been doing? Sitting around picking daisies? You don't know what training means!" Menma said
"Please, you have Sakura on your team. You couldn't have gotten any better with her." Kiba said
"That's where you're wrong dog breath. She's actually been training hard these last few months since we became a genin. She's far stronger than Ino and even Hinata might lose to here. Although, fighting isn't her main purpose. She's more of a medic for our team. As to your earlier question, she and I will be participating as a duo during the chunin exams so therefore team 7 isn't cheating." Naruto said and sensed one of those chakra signature coming at them
"Big deal! I can't wait to get my hands on you!" Kiba said getting pissed off
"Hey, you guys. You might want to try keeping it down a little. I mean, no offense, but you're the nine rookies, right? Fresh out of the academy? I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves. Just cool it. This isn't a class trip." A boy with spectacles asked walking up to them
"Well, who asked you? Who are you?" Ino asked
"I'm Kabuto Yakushi. But, really look around you. You've made quite an impression. See those guys? They're from the rain village. Very touchy. They all are. This exam makes everyone tense and you don't want to rub them the wrong way right now." Kabuto said as all the rookies were looking around except Naruto
"So that's the spy Itachi told me about. He must be trying to get close to the team so he can keep an eye on Sasuke for Orochimaru. I can't make any promises, but I'll try my best, Itachi." Naruto thought and tapped Sakura
"What?" She askedd
"Don't trust him." Naruto said seriously and she nodded. She trusted Naruto the most out of the genin around her
"You can't help it. I mean, how could you know how things work? You're just rookies. You remind me of myself a while back." Kabuto said
"Kabuto, is that your name?" Sakura asked
"Yeah." Kabuto said
"This isn't the first time you've taken the exam?" Sakura asked
"No, it's my seventh." Kabuto said trying to seem embarrassed, everyone bought it except Naruto and Sakura
"Huh?" Shikamaru asked
"Well, they're held twice a year. So, this will be my fourth year." Kabuto said
"Wow, a veteran. You must be an expert by now." Sakura said
"Yeah, sort of." Kabuto said
"Cool! You can give us all the inside tips." Menma said
"Yeah, some expert. He's never passed." Shikamaru said
"Well, seventh times the charm. That's what they say, huh?" Kabuto asked
"It depends. You're clearly waiting for something to happen. I'm guessing you're feeling pretty lucky this year, huh?" Naruto asked
"Yeah, I am." Kabuto said
"Why now? If you couldn't pass the first six times why keep trying? You're clearly too weak for the chunin exams if you can't pass." Naruto said
"What?! I mean I've been training really hard recently. I'm sure I'll pass this time." Kabuto said with a smile
"You can't fool me, Kabuto. I know more than I'm letting on, but I'll keep playing this little game of yours. Just stay out of my way and you'll live to become a chunin." Naruto said
"HE KNOWS!" Kabuto thought
"So I guess those rumors about the exam being tough are true. Oh man, I knew this was going to be a drag." Shikamaru said
"Hang on. Don't give up hope yet. Maybe I can help you kids out a little, with my ninja info cards." Kabuto said pulling out some cards
"What the heck are those?" Sakura asked
"It's hard to explain, but these cards have been chakra encoded with everything I've learned over the past four years. I've got more than 200 of them. So you see, I haven't been completely wasting my time. They may not look like much to the naked eye. In fact they appear blank. Don't want just anyone seeing this stuff." Kabuto said
"What are you doing?" Kabuto said
"I'm using my chakra to reveal their secrets. Like this for example." Kabuto said as a map appears on a blank card
"Awesome! A map!" Sakura said
"Of what?" Ino asked
"It shows the geographical distribution of all the candidates who have come to take the exam. What villages they come from and how many from each village. Why do you guys think they all come here to take the exam together, at the same time? It's to foster friendship between nations, of course. International brotherhood and all that. It's true as far as it goes." Kabuto said
"But there's another reason." Sasuke said
"Yeah. You see, the important this is that this way, they can carefully regulate the total number of shinobi that end up in each village thereby maintaining the balance of power." Kabuto said
"Oh, yeah. Balance of power." Menma said
"Balance of power. Big deal, it's all a drag." Shikamaru said
"If the balance isn't maintained, one nation could wind up with many more shinobi then its neighbors and it might be tempted to attack them. So, they try to maintain the status quo. Makes sense, I suppose." Kabuto said
"Do those cards of yours have any info on the other candidates individually?" Sasuke asked
"They might. You have someone special in mind?" Kabuto asked
"I might." Sasuke said
"I can't promise my information is complete or perfect, but I've got something on just about everyone, including you guys, of course." Kabuto said
"It's impossible to have info on us since all of you 'data' has been collected from the past four years. We've been genin for 6 months and you shouldn't have any kind of info on us. I really don't want to call you a spy Kabuto, but you're forcing my hand." Naruto said
"What? I'm not a spy. I just know how to gather information." Kabuto said and Naruto took a card from Kabuto's deck
"Hey give that back! Actually you can keep it. It's not like you'll be able to use them anyway. It's encoded to my chakra." Kabuto said with a smirk
"Sakura Haruno. Age 13. Rank Genin. Missions completed 15 D rank 1 C rank 0 B rank 1 A rank and 0 S rank." Naruto read
"See it's nothing on there but the basics. How did you even use the card? Only I should be able to." Kabuto said
"My chakra is special. Now, you even have her current skills on here, something that is only known to the jonin instructor and in her personal file that is off limits to anyone without the permission of the hokage except for the jonin instructor and genin themselves. So, you want to tell me how you got all of this information?" Naruto asked
"I Uh."
"Since you have this on everyone. Read off my skills to these people." Naruto said
"I don't have a card on you." Kabuto said as he tried to secretly remove one from the deck of cards and Naruto snatched it and gave it to Sakura
"Naruto Uzumaki. Age 13. Rank Genin. Missions completed, 90 D rank, 15 C rank, 5 B rank 4 A rank and 3 S rank. Served a 3 month suspension for harming a civilian on his first C rank mission outside of the village and harming his teammate Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze. Had to accomplish 100 D rank missions before taking the chunin exams. 75 missions were D rank while the other 25 had to be upgraded in rank. Skills: Taijutsu is mid-high anbu level. ninjutsu is Kage level. Genjutsu is off the charts. Fuinjutsu seal master by both Konoha and Uzumaki standards. Kenjutsu is high jonin level. Kekkei Genkai: Uzumaki Adenentine Chains. He also possesses a strong sensing ability being able to sense chakra over a vast range as well as sense emotions. Naruto is currently being monitored by anbu due to him being a flight risk letting it be known he plans to leave the village and is on a 6 month probation period and must not get in any kind of trouble or it will result in termination of his ninja license and a 3 year sentence in blood prison." Sakura said and the room became quiet
"Whoa." Ino said
"Now, how is it that a simple genin such as yourself can have that much information?" Naruto asked
"I told you, I do my research. I'm good at what I do." Kabuto said nervously
"Are you really going to make me force your hand?" Naruto asked
"I don't know what you mean." Kabuto said and the other genin started to look at Kabuto who was visibly sweating
"I know about your boss being the room already. I just haven't said anything about it. If you'd like I can go and bring him over here. He's currently trying to mask his chakra, but I'm a sensor and can pinpoint his location no matter how much he supresses it. Now, you either admit what you are now and live or continue to lie and piss me off some more forcing me to kill you." Naruto said
"You should really watch what you say. Assuming something like that can get you killed. Better watch yourself." Kabuto said seriously
"You assumed I was bluffing." Naruto said
The next thing everyone knew, Naruto had his right hand going directly through Kabuto's heart killing him instantly. Ino looked away, Hinata fainted, Choji ran to the nearest garbage can and threw up. Shikamaru was fighting the urge to throw up. Kiba was alright since he remembered what happened back in wave. Shino was his usual self but if you looked closely he was shaking a bit. Sakura looked away and Sasuke was once again having flashbacks to the massacre and balled up his fists.
"DUDE WHAT THE HELL?!" Menma yelled
"WHY'D YOU KILL HIM?" Narumi asked
"Is it not law that any spy who is caught will be interrogated and killed? I was fulfilling my duty as a Konoha shinobi." Naruto said and then an anbu dropped in on him
"Naruto Uzumaki, you are to come with us to the hokage chambers for violating your probation." The anbu said
"Yeah yeah. I know Neko." Naruto said and vanished
"Sakura Haruno, you will still be able to take the chunin exams with your regular team if Naruto Uzumaki is not back for the second part of the exam." Neko said and vanished
Hokage chambers
"DAMMIT NARUTO! YOU JUST COULDN'T WAIT UNTIL THE CHUNIN EXAMS STARTED, COULD YOU? WHY'D YOU KILL HIM?" Kushina yelled with her hair going crazy
"Naruto, please explain yourself." Minato said rubbing his temples
"He was a spy." Naruto said
"How do you know?" Minato asked
"Because he had information about me that is in my personal and Sakura's personal file. He has the terms of my probation, suspension, my skills and even knows about all of my mission records. He had information about the S-rank missions. Besides, he works for Orochimaru and he is also here." Naruto said
"WHAT?!" Jiraiya asked
"You heard me. I was tipped off during wave about Orochimaru being after Sasuke and wanting to attack the leaf village during the chunin exams with Suna." Naruto said
"Who told you?" Jiraiya asked
"The same person who told you. It's just he told me before you found out. He values the bond we have over anything. You being his boss included. Minato knows who I'm talking about as well. I can't say anything because mom is currently in the room and I doubt you want me to spill an S-rank secret to her." Naruto said
"You don't know what your talking about?" Jiraiya said
"Oh? So shall I tell her what really went down with Itachi and his clan?" Naruto asked
"What's he talking about?" Kushina said
"I don't know." Minato said
"Do not force my hand. I'm actually trying to be nice here. Now, can I go? I technically didn't do anything wrong. I was following the rules of the Konoha shinobi." Naruto said
"He's telling the truth Minato. You can't do anything since what he did is considered an S-rank mission and was for the village security." Kushina said and Minato sighed
"Fine. You can go. Just try to not kill anybody else." Minato said
"I make no promises." Naruto said and left
"What am I going to do about him? He's to smart and knows how to function within Konoha laws and not get in trouble." Minato said
"We have him monitored 24/7. I can watch him if you want. We already know about Orichimaru's plans so I can stay in the village and Tsunade is coming back in 2 weeks." Jiraiya said
"It won't work." Kushina said
"Why won't it? In case you've forgotten, I'm the worlds greatest spy master." Jiraiya said proudly
"True, but he's able to sense chakra anywhere. Oh and in case you've forgotten, he's already found you when you tried hiding during the wave mission briefing. Just leave him alone." Kushina said
"I can't do that Kushina and you know it. I'll figure something out. Jiraiya, when they have the month break I want you to make sure he doesn't leave the village at all. If he makes an attempt to leave, capture him." Minato said
"He's not going to leave during the month break. He's not planning on leaving until after the chunin exams are over." Kushina said
"You're being really forthcoming with information Kushina. What gives?" Jiraya asked
"It's my duty as a jonin to report these things. He's not even worried about you knowing honestly. He said he's leaving regardless. If I were you, I'd let him go. Why would you want him to stay somewhere he's miserable and is the most hated. The least you can do for neglecting him his whole life is let him leave." Kushina said and left
"I'll keep an eye on him." Jiraiya said
"Good. Now, what should we do about Orichimaru's plan to attack us?" Minato asked
Room 301
"Alright! Listen up. Here's the tenth and final question." Ibbiki said
"I guess I missed the written part." Naruto said coming into the room
"You better hope your teammate gets the tenth question right or you fail." Ibiki said
"Whatever. She's got this." Naruto said and sat next to Sakura since it was the closest available seat
"Here we go. Everything's riding on this one." Menma thought
"Will he hurry up! The suspense is killing me!" Narumi thought
"Man this guys full of himself." Sasuke thought
"This is it. I haven't been training hard to back down now. Kushina sensei would be ashamed of me." Sakura thought with determination
"Before I give you the question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of." Ibiki said and Kankuro came back into the room
"Ah, made it just in time. I hope you had fun playing with your dolls." Ibiki said
"He's seen through the crows disguise. He's onto us." Kankuro thought
"Well, take your seat. These rules are unique to question 10. Listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you." Ibiki said
Naruto was usually a patient person, but right now he didn't want to sit here and listen to Ibiki talk slow and sinister. He just wanted to hurry up and get this over with so he could leave the village.
"I swear, if you don't hurry up I'm going to fucking kill you! If I wanted to hear a boring ass lecture on rules, I would've failed the damn academy and listened to those stupid ass teachers! Hurry up or I'm killing everyone in this room!" Naruto said
His Uzumaki temper got the best of him and he started to release a lot of chakra from his body. The amount of chakra he let off cracked the walls and floor all around him and it made some people get up and leave the room. As they left, Ibiki told them they were not allowed to comeback and they would have to wait until the next time. None of them cared a single bit about what he said, they just didn't want to deal with Naruto. Menma slapped his hand on the table getting everyone's attention.
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME. I DON'T QUIT AND I DON'T RUN. YOU AND THAT LOSER CAN ACT TOUGH ALL YOU WANT. YOU AREN'T GOING TO SCARE ME OFF. NO WAY. I DON'T CARE IF I DO GET STUCK AS A GENIN FOR THE REST OF MY. I'LL STILL BECOME THE WORLDS GREATEST ASSASSIN AND I'LL STILL BECOME HOKAGE SOMEDAY." Menma yelled
"He's completely clueless, but he's still going for it. He's got guts, I'll give him that." Sasuke thought
"Way to go you little fool. I'm proud of you Menma." Narumi thought
"This decision is one that could change your entire life. If for any reason you would rather quit, now's your last chance." Ibiki said
"No way. I never go back on my word. I wasn't trained by the best this village has to offer just so I can back down now. I can handle anything that you throw at me. I'm not scared of anything!" Menma said
"Hm. Remarkable. That little outburst has given the others some backbone. He's inspired them into staying. 78 left. More than I expected. But I don't see anyone wavering. I think that's it. Thank a lot, Naruto. You've made the 10th question completely pointless, but still managed to scare a lot of them away. Good job." Ibiki thought
"Well then, thanks to the outburst from both of the hokages children, there will be no tenth question. I admire your determination, if nothing else. For those of you remaining, there's only one thing left to do. That's for me to tell you that you've all passed the first exam." Ibiki said and then the glass shattered
"Oh great. She's the second proctor." Naruto thought
"Heads up boys and girls this is no time to be celebrating! I'll be your next proctor! Anko Mitarashi! Are you ready for the second test? Good! Then let's go! Follow me!" Anko said and Naruto just slammed his head on the desk
"You're early, Anko. Again." Ibiki said
"Great. A screaming nutcase. She reminds me of Menma." Sakura thought
"I can't believe she actually dresses like that." Narumi thought
"How many are there? Ibiki you let all of these guys pass? Your test was too easy. You must be getting soft." Anko said
"Ot it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year." Ibiki said
"Hm. They sure don't look like it. Trust me, before I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated." Anko said
"Huh? More than half? You can't be serious!" Narumi said
"This is going to be fun. Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far, but things are going to be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me. Dismissed. Except for you! Naruto Uzumaki, get your ass over here and give your big sis a hug." Anko said and everyone quickly left the room
"You know him?" Ibiki asked
"Sure do. Saved him from a mob a few times growing when he was younger. Been like his sister ever since." Anko said as she was hugging the life out of him smashing his face in between her breasts
"Lucky brat." Ibiki thought
"So what's new?" Anko asked
"Well, Orichimaru's in the village. He's planning an attack on Konoha during the finals. Oh and I killed his second in command, Kabuto Yakushi." Naruto said
"He was trying again? He's been taking the exams and quitting when it came to the fighting part every year." Ibiki said
"He's been gathering information for Orochimaru. He had all of my skills and my current probation. He even had details on every single mission I did. Including the S rank missions. It wasn't just me, he had information on every genin that he's come across his times taking the exams." Naruto said
"How do you know all of this?" Anko asked
"Itachi told me during our wave mission." Naruto said
"Why are you listening to a rogue ninja?" Ibiki asked
"I'm a human lie detector and he knows that. It's impossible to lie to me. Anyway, other than the invasion, he's after Sasuke and wants to give him the curse mark. He's after the sharingan and Itachi knows Orochimaru can't get his hands on it. He wants me to make sure he doesn't give the curse mark to Sasuke." Naruto said
"Why you?" Ibiki asked
"Because I'm able to stall Orochimaru and I can use my kekkei genkai to stall him. I can't let Sasuke get the curse mark because then I'm not going to be able to remove it." Naruto said
"It's impossible to remove a curse mark." Ibiki said
"No it's not. You have to specifically study juinjutsu and how to remove them. I'm a seal master in every aspect of the art and I'm an Uzumaki seal master. Anko doesn't have the curse mark anymore. She hasn't had it for about a month." Naruto said
"Is that why they thought you were an imposter when you entered the anbu building?" Ibiki asked
"Yup. With that curse mark my chakra was all dark and tainted and heavily suppressed. Now that I don't have the mark anymore, my chakra is back how it was before Orochimaru gave me the curse mark and fled the village. I still can't remember anything he did, but I don't have the curse mark so that's good enough for me." Anko said
"Now, shouldn't we tell lord hokage about Orochimaru and his plan?" Ibiki asked
"He already knows. He just doesn't know that he's already here. I purposely left that out so Orochimaru doesn't change his plans. Orochimaru's stubborn and will most likely think since I'm a genin despite how strong I am, he thinks nobody will believe me. He wasn't in the room when I came back and you didn't notice, but he's near the forest of death. Remember, I'm the number one hated person in this village so nobody will believe me on something like this. He's going after Sasuke and I'll do my best to keep him from getting the curse mark, but if I can't stop him, then you better hope Sasuke isn't stupid enough to actually use it. Who am I kidding? Of course he'll use it." Naruto said
"Wait. Why can't you remove the curse mark from Sasuke if he gets it?" Ibiki asked
"Because he'd die. The removal process will drain about as much chakra a mid jonin has. Anko only survived because despite her chakra being heavily suppressed and tainted by the curse mark, she actually has mid anbu levels of chakra. Sasuke won't get that much chakra for a few more years so he'll have to keep the curse mark." Naruto said
"Ok, I have a better question. Why the hell did you create a big ass crater in my forest?! What the hell were you doing?!" Anko asked
"Well, I was finishing a jutsu." Naruto said
"As much damage that was done, it should be ranked S or SS ranked. That jutsu should go into the forbidden scroll! " Anko said
"I know. But it's not going to. It's my jutsu and my jutsu alone." Naruto said
"Well, can I see it?" Anko asked jumping up and down
"It's for if a jinchuriki loses control. The amount of power it can really handle should be enough to take out Menma and or Narumi if they lose control of the nine tails." Naruto said
"You're the nine tails jinchuriki. They just have the chakra." Ibiki said
"I haven't had the nine tails inside of me since I was 5. Originally the chakra is supposed to return to the body, but the third hokage did something to the seal and the effects were reversed. The body split in two and returned to the chakra instead. So basically there are now two nine tails, but they're both only at half strength." Naruto said
"Does the hokage know about this?" Ibiki asked
"What do you think?" Naruto asked
"Of course he doesn't." Ibiki said
"It's a good thing that they both have half of the nine tails. Without the body of the nine tails, all it would take is for them to lose control of the chakra one time and they wouldn't be able to control it and would eventually kill themselves and whatever's around them. With the nine tails it can limit how much chakra they take, because the nine tails doesn't like them and refuses to willingly share its chakra with them." Naruto said
"How do you know?" Anko said
"Whenever I come in contact with Menma or Narumi, the nine tails will drag me into the seal and speak to me. It's only a split second in the real world, but it's a few minutes inside the mindscape. I've learned a lot about the nine tails and quite honestly we should all feel sorry for all 9 of the tailed beasts." Naruto said
"Why should we feel sorry for rampaging monsters that destroy villages?" Ibiki asked
"How would you feel if you were constantly being sealed away for over a hundred years against your will? Hashirama senju started all of this when he went after the tailed beasts and captured them and basically sold them off to the other villages. They were created to be protectors of this world, but they were sought out captured and sealed away, labeled as monsters or mindless beasts. Before the nine tails was used in the battle between Hashirama and Madara, the nine tails was roaming fire country keeping an eye out for problems that it should handle. Hashirama knew the nine tails was being controlled by Madara, but still decided to agree with Mito Uzumaki and sealed it inside of her, creating the era of jinchuriki. All of this world's current problems stem from Hashirama flaunting his power and capturing innocent creatures just because he could do it. In my book, he's no better than Madara Uchiha who we all bash and ridicule." Naruto said
"How dare you speak about my grandfather and grandmother that way!" Tsunade said as she was standing at the door with Minato, Kushina and Jiraiya
"It's the truth. Mito sealed the nine tails away knowing fully well that the nine tails was not at fault for fighting Hashirama. She sealed him inside of herself and then basically treated it like crap. On her deathbed she had the nerve to tell my mom in order to counteract the nine tails hatred a jinchuriki must be surrounded by love. Treat the jinchuriki with love, but the jinchuriki can treat the tailed beast like shit. The nine tails wouldn't be so full of hatred if her and her husband didn't just seal it away because he was powerful. As I've said, the tailed beasts were created to maintain peace and balance, yet Hashirama and Mito flipped all of that and turned them into weapons for war." Naruto said
"How do you know all of this?" Kushina asked
"Because I've actually spoken to the nine tails. I got to actually know the nine tails. I'm only the second person the nine tails has respect for and I was the only jinchuriki he could stand. He hated Mito for sealing him away in the first place. He didn't hate you mom because you were practically brainwashed by Mito and everyone else that he was just some rampaging beast. He did dislike you for not even making an attempt to listen to his side of the story when he would communicate with you. So, all of this war between villages can be traced back to when Hashirama decided to act like a god and capture the tailed beast who have been here long before any of us and give them away as if he owned them." Naruto said
"Naruto, as your hokage I order you to tell us everything you know or I'll give you a session with Ibiki." Minato said
"Go ahead and do it. I've already sat through some of Anko's interrogations and she's worst than Ibiki. Compared to her, he's nothing." Naruto said
"Tell us want you know!" Jiraiya demanded
"No. I've confirmed Orichimaru's plan to invade us, that's all you get from me. 13 years of being treated like shit in this village and you expect me to just roll over and help you whenever you say so. You've got a better chance at having Tsunade drop her genjutsu than that happening." Naruto said
"Naruto please. Tell us what you know." Kushina said
"Why should I?" Naruto asked
"Because if you don't, I'll shove a rasengan up your ass." Jiraiya said getting pissed off at the fact that Naruto knew stuff he didn't
"Oh you mean this." Naruto said and created a rasengan, but his was a greenish-blue color
"How?" Minato asked shocked
"It's not that hard. Change in chakra shape, rotation and power all condensed into a ball. It so simple, yet so difficult for people to figure out." Naruto said
"What do you know Naruto? Please just tell us." Kushina begged
"The Uchiha massacre isn't what it seems." Naruto said
"Anbu! Arrest him!" Minato said and three anbu came out of nowhere, but were easily delt with by Naruto
"Listen, I won't expose any secrets you don't want the to be exposed to the village. All I want is your word that after the chunin exams, I can leave and you won't send anybody after me. I hate this place and I don't want to be here anymore. All I want is to be happy and being here is not making me happy. The least you can do for not even trying to get to know me is let me leave in peace." Naruto said
"I'm not doing that." Minato said
"Minato, just let him go." Kushina said sadly
"He's not leaving. He's our family." Minato said
"Were we ever really a family?" Kushina asked
"What does that mean?" Tsunade asked
"When was the last time we all sat down and did something that included all of us as a family? I mean all of us including Naruto." Kushina said
"We had that family picnic when they were about 2 years old." Minato said
"No. Naruto was at home sick with Shizune taking care of him. I remember that day, because she was drained of all her chakra trying to heal him and was nearly on the verge of death trying to keep him healthy. We ignored him being sick and just kept going on with our day." Kushina said
"What about when they were 4? We had that meeting with the fire daimyo and he brought his nieces and nephews with him." Minato said
"No. The kids refused to play with Naruto. He was sad and went home and we didn't even notice he was gone until we got back to the house." Kushina said
"What about the Hyūga heiress 3rd birthday? We all went there and had a good time." Minato said
"No. Naruto didn't go because I remember we punished him for breaking a vase. Turns out he wasn't even in the house to break the vase it was Menma and Narumi. They just blamed it on him." Kushina said
"Well what about..."
"Minato stop. We've never done anything as a family. The only family moment I can remember is finally holding the three of them after the whole nine tails fiasco. Even then Menma and Narumi didn't like him. They would punch and scream at him every time they were near him or I put them down to hold him. This family has been a disaster from the day they were born. Besides I've already told you about the law in regards to an Uzumaki wanting to leave the village." Kushina said
"You're the grandparents, what do you think I should do?" Minato asked Tsunade and Jiraiya
"I'd say let him go. Kushina made good points. He's never been a part of this family and besides Kushina, we're all too late to try and fix things." Tsunade said
"He's not my kid. I don't really care." Jiraiya said
"Fine. You can leave after the invasion, but I want something from you." Minato said
"What's that?" Naruto asked
"During the chunin exams you will fight a shinobi of my choosing. You win and I'll make you a jonin on the spot and I'll let you leave after the invasion." Minato said
"Who's the shinobi?" Naruto asked
"Kakashi." Minato said and Naruto just looked at him
"No. I want to fight the three jinchuriki during the finals." Naruto said
"Three?" Minato asked
"Narumi, Menma and Gaara. He's the one tails jinchuriki and is unstable. Let me fight all three of them in the finals in a three on one match and I'll help in the invasion before I leave." Naruto said
"That's a death wish. We've personally trained Menma and Narumi." Jiraiya said
"It's a deal." Minato said
"Good." Naruto said
"Well, the second part for the chunin exams is tomorrow in the forest of death." Anko said
"I figured that out once I saw you crash through the window." Naruto said
"I want my forest fixed." Anko said glaring at Naruto
"What's wrong with the forest?" Minato asked
"This boy made a jutsu and created a gigantic crater towards the back of my forest." Anko said
"What jutsu?" Kushina asked
"It's SS rank. I actually got the idea from the rasengan. I guess I should thank you for that Minato." Naruto said
"You made the rasengan better?" Minato asked
"Something like that." Naruto asked
"What's it called?" Kushina asked
"Uzumaki Meteor." Naruto said
"Of course it's called that." Anko said
"How do you make it?" Jiraiya asked
"Not telling." Naruto said
"If it's an SS rank jutsu I need to put it in the forbidden scroll." Minato said
"Not happening. It's my jutsu I created and I say no." Naruto said
"Alright. Let's leave everyone." Minato said
"Naruto, good luck." Kushina said as vanished in a swirl of water
"I taught her that." Naruto said and vanished in a bolt of lighting
"He has to teach me that. Imagine the entrances I can do with that." Anko said and laughed like a maniac before disappearing in a swirl of leaves
"I hope she realizes she has a fire chakra nature." Ibiki said and went up in a cloud of smoke
"Well, I guess we better start planning our counter attack." Minato said and left
"Think he'll win the fight?" Tsunade asked Jiraiya
"I doubt it. Menma and Narumi can both use 3 tails of the nine tails chakra. The fourth one was always the one that would make them go out of control. Gaara on the other hand can lose control of his tailed beast if he falls asleep and it can go on a rampage. It makes no sense, why would he want to face all three of them? Dammit how did I miss that!" Jiraiya said
"Miss what?" Tsunade asked
"He said he wanted to fight the three jinchuriki. Menma and Narumi were never jinchuriki. They only had the chakra. Naruto was technically the jinchuriki since he had the body. The nine tails body must've split up and returned to its chakra and Naruto knew all along. I just figured the chakra was too much for them to handle, but it's more than that. When they access the fourth tail, it's the nine tails trying to escape and they can't handle that much chakra yet. He planned all of this. He wants to embarrass them in the chunin exams and rub it in our faces. Dammit!" Jiraiya said and quickly left
"Given how he's been treated by them over the years, I'm not surprised. No wonder shizune speaks so highly of him. She's gonna miss him when he's gone. Now, who is this Sakura Haruno girl and why does Kushina want me to take a look at her file." Tsunade said and left.