Chapter 4 - Chapter 4 The Annoyance

6 months later

Team 7, Naruto never felt at peace within the team. There was always someone watching over him, a pair of eyes that always stared at him. It annoyed him to no end. There were a few times that he had even thought of killing someone because of the constant watchful eyes that always tailed him like his own shadow. It felt like he was a criminal by being always watched. It was not just team 7, it was everywhere he went within the village, there was always someone watching him like a hawk. Konoha did not trust him; he was seen as a flight risk. Naruto figured that the council had taken notice of his 'transformation' and were not going to take any chances with him. It was clear that no one trusted him because he refused to tell them anything. Even when they had tried to force him to talk he still had no fears, they could not touch him.

The feeling he was having now was the same his grandfather felt when Konoha had been formed and Hashirama was made Hokage. His grandfather was not trusted they could never make him leader. Without the trust of the village even from a clan he led Madara was forced to defect from the village. It was now the same with him Konoha refused to trust him, because he kept things from it. He really hoped that it did not end the same way with him as it did with his grandfather. It would make his goals hard to achieve but not impossible.

His skills in taijutsu were not what they feared; no they feared the things he was hiding. They came to a conclusion that he was hiding his true strength. That conclusion made them even more suspicious of him. They could not understand why he would hide his true strength. They thought he was hiding his true strength because he was planning something. They could not believe that it was for the good of the village because if it was for the good of the village he would not have to hide it. That was what they thought; Naruto had not intentions of doing harming the village in any way. His grandfather had founded the village along with Hashirama; his grandfather was the one to have named the village. It was only fair that he inherited it since it was founded by his grandfather. He could not go around destroying things that his grandfather had built.

Despite the constant watch he was under Naruto had no fears of his secrets ever being discovered by someone. The only reason Naruto did not have any fears was because he knew that they would never find anything from him unless he was careless. But with the constant watch he could not train anywhere or do anything 'private' outside of his own apartment. His apartment was the only place that gave him the privacy he needed. But he was sure of it sooner or later they would bypass his security seals. He was by no means a seal master, the security seals are what he had been taught by his grandfather. They were not perfect but they did their job. He could converse with Zetsu and even at times leave a clone while he goes away to the hideout to train.

With team 7, he had to worry about Kakashi who always had his eyes on him. Even when they were on missions the jonin paid too much attention on him than his other students. Kakashi was taking his job seriously than Naruto had thought the jonin would. He never made the mistake of leaving Naruto alone, no if he was going somewhere and it was during team 7 activities the jonin would leave a shadow clone to with Naruto. But the jonin was friendly and valued his team as part of his family. This values made Naruto question why Kakashi would choose to spy on one of his comrades. When the Sandaime had told him to spy on Naruto kakashi spied but not as seriously as he was doing now. Naruto thought that the council had taken part I that change. The fools were capable of anything, especially Danzo and the two advisors. If there were people to kill it would be three elders.

There was also Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. The two just annoyed him to no end. Sasuke was obsessed with fighting with him. Every time he got the chance to demand that Naruto fight him he would take it. Naruto never fought with the young Uchiha. He always refused to fight the Uchiha. Naruto hated fighting pointless battles. There was nothing he would gain from fighting the Uchiha. Despite his love for a good fight Sasuke was not worth his time. His refusals always infuriated Sasuke and he would always attempt to hit Naruto whenever he was not looking. Naruto had better reflexes and would always dodge the attacks without hitting the young Uchiha back.

Another person that caused him headaches was Sakura. Despite his attempts to ignore the girl she would not just stop talking. Naruto was sometimes tempted to put the girl in a genjutsu. He would make the girl kill herself and she would be gone from his life. She hated him because he was better than Sasuke….no she refused to believe that he was better than Sasuke, what she did was yell at him for trying to be cool and better than Sasuke. She would always tell him to stop trying to make Sasuke look bad.

Despite all the problems in team 7, the team was almost perfect when it came to teamwork. It was all that kakashi taught them and they were better at it than any other genin team. They did their missions better than any other rookie genins.

Over the past months they had done a lot of missions. But only two stood out, the mission in the wave country and mission in which they were protect Kuyoki Kazahama. The wave mission had been their first mission, and ended up being an A-rank mission because they had encountered an A-rank missing-nin, Zabuza Momochi and his accomplice Haku. Sakura had been a burden in the mission and basically did nothing useful, what she did was to tremble in fear at the thought of dying in her first real mission. They were protecting a bridge builder from a man name Gatou. Team 7 did succeed the mission and managed to get Gatou killed despite the odds being against them. Sasuke had awakened his sharingan during the battle in the bridge. It made him even more arrogant now that he had finally awakened the Uchiha clan blood line. It made the Uchiha feel superior to anyone thinking that no one could match the power of the Uchiha eyes.

The mission to protect Kuyoki was also a success. They went to the snow country on the mission and found out that Kuyoki was a real princess. The team had thought she just played a princess in movies. Her country was being controlled by her uncle who had killed her father to take over the country. The woman at first had been refusing to accept her role as princess of the country, but after her uncle was killed she finally decided to become ruler of the snow country.

Naruto had been thinking of a better way to reveal some of his secrets to Konoha to get them off his back. Revealing some secrets would get them to lessen the number of shinobi they have following him. They would not need to have him watched 24/7 since they would have found out what he had been hiding from them. He would have more space to breath and more privacy than he currently. He was patient and would wait for the right time. Rushing into things had its consequences; he would rather not have to deal with those if he could just wait a little more.

Naruto was walking calmly towards training ground seven alone. Looking around the village he had come to notice that some of the villagers had stopped glaring at him, they had lost their hateful looks but not all of them had some still did glare at him but they had lost the intensity they used to have before he was a genin. The kind of change surprised him. He did not understand what had made them stop glaring at him. He did not think that it was because he looked like their dead precious Yondaime.

Naruto was so consumed by his thoughts that he was not paying attention to where he was going. He ended up bumping into someone who also seemed to have been lost in thoughts. Likely no one was hurt since they were not moving at a fast pace. Naruto fathered himself and looked at who he had hit. He noticed that there were three people in front of him. The one he had bumped into was glaring at him; he was a boy at his teens.

"What where you are going brat!" the boy who Naruto had bumped into yelled. He wore a black body suit and black shinobi sandals. His face was painted with face paint. He wore a Sunagakure forehead protector. He had something strapped behind his back that Naruto could tell what it was. It did not seem like a weapon or anything he had seen before,

Naruto was not going to apologize to the boy. He had never apologized to anyone before and he was not going to start now. There Suna shinobi was glaring at him like he could actually beat him. He was underestimating him because he was younger than him. Naruto ignored the Suna shinobi's words and looked at the other two in front of him.

There was a blonde haired girl. Her haired were tied into four pig-tails at her back, her eyes were light green. She had a battle fan strapped behind her back. She was slightly taller than the boy in the black body suit. She wore a light purple dress that showed her well developed breasts, there was a shinobi fishnet under her dress and her dress was short it revealed some of her body. Her forehead was tied on her neck.

The last one seemed younger than the others. He seemed to be at the same age as Naruto. He had short spiky red hair; his eyes were blank with a dark tint. On top of his left eye there was a tattoo with a Kanji for love. He had an emotionless look on his face and gave off a feeling blood bloodlust. He had a gourd behind his back. The three were Sunagakure shinobi's.

The blonde and the red haired just looked at him while the black haired in a black body suit was enraged at that Naruto had ignored him. He brought out his right hand and grabbed Naruto by his shirt, "Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you, you little shit!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes dangerously at the teen. This was something he could not forgive. One did not touch him like this and got away with it. Yes he did hit the teen but it was not intentional he was lost in his thoughts so was the teen.

"Kankuro what are you doing?" the blonde haired girl barked.

The now identified Kankuro did not even bother to look at her, he just grinned, "I am trying to teach this brat to respect those older than him." he said.

Before anyone could do anything Naruto drove his fist into Kankuro's stomach. Kankuro let go of Naruto and clutched his stomach while gritting his teeth. "That hurt" he said under his breath

"That is what happens when you act like a fool, and now you are embarrassing our village by your foolishness." A cold voice of the red haired spoke making the blonde and Kankuro tense. Looking at Kankuro he seemed scared of something and it was like he had forgotten the presence of the red haired.

"Sorry Gaara!" Kankuro said. Naruto wondered why he was apologizing; even the girl seemed to get nervous when Gaara spoke. But the name Gaara brought those thoughts to a halt. He knew the name.

"Sand siblings, I should have recognized the children of the Yondaime Kazekage," Naruto said impassively, "Subaku no Gaara, Jinchuriku of the Ichibi," he said making the eyes of two of the sand shinobi wide, "Subaku no Kankuro and Subaku no Temari, the eldest of the Sand siblings." He said and narrowed his eyes at Kankuro, Gaara smiled, it was a creepy smile. It was as if he was imagining Kankuro being fed his own hand, "Next time you touch me like that I will cut off your hand and feed it to you." He said darkly making Kankuro gulp at the threat, "If it was not that you are a guest to the village I would have killed you for your foolishness, you don't try to attack someone without even evaluating their strengths." He lectured walking away.

"What is your name?" Gaara asked in his emotionless voice.

Naruto stopped and looked at the Jinchuriku, "Uzumaki Naruto, I was shall see you at the exams Subaku no Gaara." He said and disappeared from the view.

Gaara grinned madly making his siblings look at him fearfully. They knew that kind of smile it was the kind of grin he always wore when he was thinking of crushing someone with his sand. They feared that kind of smile, they could only feel sorry for the blond should he meet Gaara in the battle field.

Training ground 7

'Chunin exams' Naruto thought, he had forgotten about them. Zetsu had informed him about them. He thought that it was why kakashi had called them today. They had been on a break from their previous missions it was not yet over. With the exams coming, it would prove difficult for him to hide his secrets from everyone. That is if he meets someone he could not defeat in a taijutsu fight, though he knew that no mere genin or chunin could defeat him in a taijutsu fight villagers could always send jonins in the chunin exams. Naruto brushed off his thoughts his taijutsu was superior to most even some jonins taijutsu was inferior to his. His speed gave him a great advantage against most opponents.

Sasuke and Sakura walked side by side towards the training ground. Looking at them they always came together at the training ground…well not always together but most of the time. It was like they lived in the same house or where neighbors, but they were none of that. It was a mystery how they could arrive at the same time at the training ground most of the time where as they did not live together. They could only make it together if Sakura knew which rote Sasuke took to the training ground, but knowing sasuke he would have changed the road he took upon seeing that sakura knew the way he used for the training ground.

Sakura always knew where Sasuke was, it was like the girl had sensing abilities that only worked on Sasuke.

Sasuke glared at Naruto before looking away. It was nothing new to Naruto, it was either Sasuke demanded that he fought with him or he just glared at him and looked away. Naruto preferred to be glared at than having Sasuke demand that they find. That way he did not have to deal with the Uchiha.

They did not wait for too long in the silence because Kakashi had decided to make it in time for the first time. Not even the fact that Naruto would leave the training ground after waiting for an hour for the jonin had probed him to arrive in time for team meetings. It was a surprise to the whole team.

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted his students with his eye smile in place and the ever present orange book present in his right hand.

"What is wrong Kakashi-sensei, why are you are not late?" Sakura said in a low tone.

Kakashi smiled, "Nothing is wrong, is it that surprising that I am on time?"

No one answered the question. Sasuke got down to business, "Why did you bring us here Kakashi-sensei? I thought we were still having as time off."

"Can't I just bring you here so that we can get together we are a team after all." Kakashi said flipping a page in his book. Sasuke glared at him, Kakashi sighed at the Uchiha's attitude, "Fine I brought you here because I have some good and important news that I want to tell you." He said taking his eye off his book. Sasuke stopped glaring at him wanting to know the important news the sensei had for them.

"Then let's hear it!" Naruto spoke for the first time since Kakashi appeared.

Kakashi gave them a wide eye smile, "I have nominated you for the chunin selection exams," he said. Sasuke smiled at the news, it was a great opportunity for him to test his powers against other strong genins he would surely meet at the exams. Naruto face remained impassive while Sakura looked unsure. Kakashi took out three pieces of papers handed each to his students, "If you are want to enter the exams, the choice is yours. But if you do decide to take the exams take the forms with you to the academy at room 301, tomorrow at 8am." He said

"Kakashi-sensei, are you sure we are ready to take the exams?" Sakura said not sure if she really wanted to take the exams. She knew she was not strong to take the exams.

Kakashi nodded, "If I did not believe you were ready to take the exams I would never have nominated you. I believe that you are ready you just have to believe in yourselves." He said smiling, "Remember it is a personal choice, no one will force you to take the exams if you decide not to take them. But I must warn you if you do decide to take the exams. You might find yourself facing against strong genins like Naruto or someone strong like Haku, I'm sure you do remember him….well ja ne!" He said disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Sakura paled at the thought of facing someone strong like Haku. Haku had almost killed Sasuke, she could not possibly go against someone he was able to defeat Sasuke. Sasuke was strong and cool if she was to face someone stronger than him she would certainly be killed. She looked at Sasuke, who was smiling it was a true happy smile. She did not want to disappoint him, she could enter ad finally show him that she was strong and not weak as he always said she was.

Sasuke looked at Naruto with a small smile, "I hope you enter the exams because I really want to fight you, Naruto." He said going away with his smile still in place. He was holding the form firmly as he did not want to lose it. The chunin selection exam was a good chance for him to test the power of the Uchiha. Sakura also walked away with a lot in her mind.

Naruto looked at the form and sighed, the exams were going to be nothing but be troublesome for him. He sighed and walked away to clear his thoughts.

Hokage monument

It was sunset and Naruto was enjoying view up in the Hokage monument. He had managed to get the shadows that always followed him to follow a clone while he got some breathing space. He did need the time sometimes, a time where nobody was watching him, recording everything he did. He felt annoyed when he sensed someone coming to him. He did not want to talk to someone at this time. He turned around to see an old man with a cane, his right hand was wrapped up in bandages, and his left eye was also bandaged. He had an x shaped scar on his chin.

"Shimura Danzo," Naruto said, "I was wondering when you would appear before me." looking at the bandages he felt disgusted knowing what the old man was hiding under those bandages. Danzo was another person in his must-kill list. He was also a threat because he desired to be Hokage, the old man loved to be in control of Konoha. But he was going to be patient and let the old man play for now.

Danzo's face was impassive as he studied Naruto, 'Kyubi' he thought. He did not see a person when looking at Naruto, no he saw the Kyubi, a weapon that must be under his control. He only could make it powerful and program it to fight for the village. The Sandaime had been a fool in refusing him to take the boy. He could have trained the boy so that he could become a loyal weapon for the village, not someone who was a flight risk. "The village seems peaceful looking at it from here isn't it?" he said trying to see how the blond would respond. He could not get into serious business without having an idea of the kind of person the blond was. He had reports from his ROOT ANBU, but to confirm everything he needed to see it himself.

"It is lovely, but get to the point I do not think you came here to talk of such trivial things." Naruto said

Danzo nodded, "I have a proposition for you." He said.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the old man. Danzo was looking at him with cold and calculating eyes. "I have no interest in joining your ROOT forces Danzo; in fact I have no interest in associating myself with you." He said firmly.

If Naruto knew of his ROOT which was a secret that only those in ANBU knew, the boy must know some more secrets. His ROOT was an S-rank secret, not even some jonin knew of it. His ROOT is thought to have been disbanded but it was still operating underground. In official reports it was not but he was still running his division. "I see out suspicions were right about you, how do you know of my ROOT division." He asked curiously wanting to see of the boy would give him something.

"You ROOT is not much of a secret but what you with your ROOT is what is the secret that no one outside your Division knows." He said, "But Danzo, I am not a threat to the Village as you people perceive me to be."

Danzo now saw a threat in Naruto, they boy spoke of what his ROOT activities like he knew what they did. It was not good for him anyone that did not agree with his ideals was a threat to him and his goals. What troubled him most was that he did not know the capabilities of the blond. Then fact that Naruto was a jinchuriku made him a threat if he was not working with him. But he was a patient man; Naruto was still young he was bound to make crucial mistakes that would cost him. He would be ready to capitalize and get the boy to work with him. The power of the Kyubi was needed to further his plans. If all else failed then he would have to eliminate the boy.

Danzo turned around to leave, "My offer to join my cause still stands. I can make you great and teach you how to control the power of the Kyubi should you join me!" he said and disappeared.

Naruto sighed it went better than he had thought it would. He did not reveal much to the old war hawk. Danzo was capable of doing anything he would not be surprised he sent his ROOT to capture him. The old war hawk had a way of controlling people. But he did not fear that, because of his grandfather and his sharingan he could resist any hypnosis. No one could control him with a sharingan.

Zetsu appeared from the ground, it was just his head only. Naruto looked at him, "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to hear everything you said to Danzo." Zetsu replied.

"Since you were here, did you have a white Zetsu spore attached to Danzo?" naruto asked. He thought that Zetsu might have just done that knowing that Danzo was a threat.

"Yes, I figured that you might want me to do something like that."

"Good, that man is slippery you can never know what he will do next. With Zetsu's spore on him I will know everything he does, what he says, and who he meets. I do not want that old man to surprise." Naruto said.

"When are you going to make a move against him?"

"In time, right now I am not strong enough to start with my plans. Everything will be in motion once I get strong enough." Naruto said.

"Staying the way you are and in the village is not helping you become strong." Zetsu pointed out.

Naruto nodded, agreeing with Zetsu, "I know that, I will think of something after the exams." he said.

The academy

Sasuke and sakura where waiting for Naruto at the Academy entrance. Sasuke had no doubt that Naruto would show up. Sakura was the one had thought would never show up for the exams the girl was weak. Yesterday she did not seem too sure of herself that she would enter. It did not take long for Naruto to appear. The blond was still in his black attire, but had a sword strapped behind him.

Sasuke looked at him curiously, "You know how to use a sword?" he asked.

"Yes, but I'm not good at it, it is just useful in dealing with annoyances."

Both his teammates knew that he meant weak people by annoyances. Naruto had brought his Ninjato because he refused to get his hands dirty with blood stains of weaklings. A sword could do the job for him without dirtying him.

Sasuke shrugged, "Let's go inside." He said turning around to face the academy doors. Both his teammates followed him behind.

The academy was full of activities. Naruto was not interested in anything though he just wanted to get over with it. The only person that interested him was the sand Jinchuriku. The others would just be annoyances that talked more than what was necessary. At least he did bring his sword with them.

The team walked inside the academy ignoring everything else that was taking place. They wanted to get to the room they were told to by their sensei. It was of no benefit to them to get into other people's business.

They were stopped when a green blur appeared in front of them. The boy in front them wore a green jumpsuit; his forehead protector was worn as a belt on his waist, and black shinobi sandals. He had thick eyebrows and shiny black hair. He looked at the boys then at sakura. He smiled at her and gave her a thumps up.

"You must be Haruno Sakura, I am Rock Lee," he introduced himself to the pink haired girl. Then he blushed slightly, "Will you go out with me, I will protect you with my life." He said

Sakura was quick to speak, the boy was lame his jumpsuit, hair and everything about just seemed wrong. "Eh…no!" she said. 'I belong to Sasuke-kun' she thought to herself. Sasuke seemed disappointed at her answer. He had hoped that the girl would accept Lee's proposition and leave him the heck alone, but seems that it was not to be.

Lee seemed disappointed at the rejected and brightened up slightly. He looked at straight at naruto's eyes, "You are Uzumaki Naruto, correct?" Naruto nodded, "Gai-Sensei told me that you are the best taijutsu user out of all the genins." He said, "Fight with me I would like to see if you really are good. I'm a taijutsu specialist if I want to be the best I must beat what is considered the best."

Naruto looked at the genin in front of him for a moment before speaking, "As much as I love to dance, I have to interest in taking part of a pointless dance."

"Dance?" Lee said confusedly.

Sakura sighed Naruto referred fighting as a dance. Never has she once heard him say the word "Fight" it was always dance with him, "He means to fight." She answered Lee seeing his confusion.

When it sank in his head Lee took a taijutsu stance, "I'm afraid I must insist." He said

Naruto knew the boy was not going to take no for an answer. He really hated being dragged into a fight he did not wish to take part in. he looked at Lee for a second then disappeared in a burst of speed. Despite Lee being in a taijutsu stance he was not expecting Naruto to attack him. He was also not expecting Naruto to move at the speed he moved at. He could only move at the kind of speed without his weights.

Naruto wore no weights he only wore them when he was training.

Now Lee found himself wide eyed. Naruto's sword was on his neck poised to pierce it. He could not do anything at the situation he was in. Naruto's knee was down on the ground as he needed to get low to get into the position he was in. He was in front of Lee with his sword raised. Everyone who saw him was shocked at his speed. Sasuke gritted his teeth he hated seeing naruto look strong. He hated admitting it that naruto was faster than, stronger than him. Even with his sharingan activated he had only increased his strength by a few miles but it was nothing compared to Naruto.

"I refuse!" Naruto said firmly, Lee nodded slowly. "Good" Naruto said retrieving his sword. He sheathed it and walked past Lee causing his teammates to follow him behind.

They had an exam to take. Sasuke glared at Naruto's back with his fist clenched. He had tried so many ways to surpass Naruto but he still failed to do that. He needed more power to surpass Naruto. If he could not defeat Naruto then there was no way he was going to be able to defeat Itachi. He needed to beat Naruto first then he would be able to defeat Itachi.

Team 7 walked towards room 301 in silence. They reached the doors and were stopped from opening the door when Kakashi appeared between them and the door. Kakashi's eye smile was in place as well as his orange book, make out paradise.

"Kakashi-sensei what are you doing here?" Sakura asked looking at her sensei.

Kakashi was a little surprised that Sakura had decided to enter the exams. He looked at Sasuke; Sasuke was the reason the girl entered the exams. If Sasuke was not in her team she would never have entered the exams. With the look he saw on her face yesterday it was truly a surprise that she decided to come. 'I should not be surprised' kakashi thought to himself. There was really nothing that Sakura would not do for Sasuke.

He sighed and closed his book, "I'm glad that you all decided to take part in the exams," he said, "But to be honest with you, the chunin selection exams can only be taken by a team of three. For example if Sakura had decided against taking part in the exams Naruto and Sasuke would have been eligible to take part in the exams."

Sakura felt relieved that she had decided to take part in the exams or she would surely have disappointed Sasuke. She had no doubt that Naruto was going to participate but that would not have mattered had she decided against participating in the exams. Sasuke would have been upset with her had she stood in the way of him taking part in the exams. She looked at her sensei, "Why did not you tell us that yesterday?"

"I wanted everyone to participate on their own choices not because they were forced to. If you had decided not to take part in the exams Sasuke would have forced you to enter." He replied earning a nod from Sakura. She knew it too well Sasuke would have forced her to enter the exams. She was not sure how Naruto would react if she had chosen not to enter, but thinking of it Naruto might have cared either way.

"Sakura don't allow yourself to be a burden to your teammates," Kakashi said firmly, Sakura nodded she had always needed to her teammates to carry her. Even Naruto did look out for her at sometimes even though she knew he didn't give a damn about what happened to her. "Well then, good luck….ja ne!" Kakashi said as he disappeared in swirl of leafs. Even though Sakura was weak he was not a bit worried about her for he knew that her teammates would look out for her.

Naruto stepped forward and opened the door, and his teammates followed him as he entered room 301.

The moment they entered the room they were greeting by killing intents from different directions. Sasuke shrugged it off even though it made him a bit uncomfortable, he had come across killing intents that made him want to kill himself so this was nothing. Sakura held her hands together she was a bit scared now because the killing intents were too much for her.

'Pathetic' Naruto thought. Killing intents of such level did not move him. Madara had trained to withstand killing intents even from something such as the Kyubi. Madara might have been old at the time by one he still that had made Naruto afraid of the old man was his killing intent. The first time he had experienced a dose of it he had fainted because it had been pressing him down like nothing he had ever felt before. Such things had made his killing student frightening for mere genins. Another thing that had made it frightening was his grandfather's DNA. Naruto possessed a bit of Madara's chakra. He did not let it leak because he did not want to scare anyone.

There were a lot of genins in the room. They had not expected the participants to be in the exams. "There sure are a lot of them." Sakura commented earning a nod from Sasuke. It did not matter to Sasuke though, he was happy, so many participants meant he would have more competition.

"Sasuke-kun you are late!" Ino yelled as she jumped on Sasuke's back placing her head on his shoulder.

It was obvious that sasuke was annoyed by the girl's actions. One would see it because the Uchiha's eyes were twitching. He was not the only one who was annoyed by Ino's actions. Sakura was displeased she grew a tick mark on her forehead. Ino did not see Sakura she was busy with her Sasuke, "It has been long since we last saw each other Sasuke-kun! How have you been?" Ino asked.

If Sasuke was going to respond he never got the chance to do so, "Get away from Sasuke-kun, Ino pig!" She yelled angrily as she marched to get Ino off Sasuke. There was only one girl for Sasuke and that girl was her not Ino.

Ino took notice of Sakura's presence in the room. She had not seen the pink haired bunshee her eyes were only on Sasuke. She looked around and saw Naruto with arms crossed on his chest and a bored look on his face. 'He is kind of hot' she thought with blush. She looked back at Sakura and smirked, "If it isn't big ugly forehead Sakura, I thought you would be at home playing make up." She said. Sakura grew another tick mark on her forehead Ino was making her look bad in front of Sasuke. She could not tolerate something like that. No it was unacceptable.

"You are guys are taking the troublesome exams too, this is so troublesome." A lazy voice of Nara Shikamaru spoke knocking Sakura off her thoughts. Naruto looked at the genin and did something that shocked both Sasuke and Sakura.

He smiled at Shikamaru

It was a small smile but a smile nonetheless. They had never seen him smile since the formation of team 7. His face was always impassive or with a bored expression. Sakura stared at Naruto, "Sasuke-kun did naruto just smile?" she asked, surprisingly Sasuke responded with a nod.

Ino looked at them confusedly, "Is it that surprising to see Naruto smile?" she asked looking at the two. Both ignored her as they got over their shock.

Shikamaru gave a small nod to Naruto before answering Ino, "I guessing it is shocking to them because they had never seen Naruto smile during their time in team 7." He said earning a nod from Ino.

"I found you!" Kiba yelled as he made his way to the group, "Looks like everyone has assembled." He said as his teammates joined the group from behind the Genin. Shino still had his impassive expression while Hinata like…well Hinata. She greeted the group and started to poke her fingers as soon as she laid her eyes on Naruto. A pink tint appeared on her cheeks. Naruto noticed but shrugged it off. He was not the only who noticed in the group.

"Not you guys too, this is has become too troublesome." Shikamaru said with a sigh as he looked at Team 8.

"Yeh we are! And guess what." Kiba said, "Together we make the rookie nine of Konoha!" he yelled not hiding his excitement. Akamaru barked in agreement to his masters words, "This is the first time in years that rookies took part in the chunin selection exams, and we are the ones to do it! He said showing that he did read a bit of history.

"You seem rather confident Kiba." Sasuke said with a smirk on his face.

Kiba snorted, "Of course I am confident," he said, "We did a lot of training since we became genin and we won't losing to the likes of you like we did in the academy." He said confident that he could beat someone like Sasuke.

Sasuke snorted there was no way someone like Kiba would take him down. Kiba was saying what he was saying because he had a mouth to speak.

Naruto looked away from the group as he sensed someone coming close to the group.

"You guys should be quiet! Aren't you the rookie genins?" I silver haired genin said as he approached the group. The group took a look at him. The genin had silver hair, his eyes were small and black in color, and he wore large round glasses. He had a konoha forehead protector tied on his forehead signifying that he was a shinobi from Konoha. He wore dark purple pants with a shuriken holster on his right hip, dark purple shirt and black shinobi sandals. He looked to be in his early twenties If not late teens. "You are screaming like school girls! This is not a pick nick." He said earning glares from some of the genins.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Sasuke said feeling insulted by the genins remark. It was damning to his pride to be called a school girl.

"Me?" the elder genin asked half surprised, "I'm Kabuto but I'm not the one you should be worried about. Look behind you." He said.

The rookies looked behind them to see pissed off genins staring at them. Naruto did not bother to look around they could stare at him all they liked he would not care. It was not like they could do anything to him. Most of the genins felt nervous because of the glares that they were receiving from the other participants. It was like the whole room was against them. Ino and Sakura paled seeing the glares if there was a bed somewhere in the room they would rush over to it and hide under it. Hinata was quick to get behind Kiba; she was using Kiba as her shield. Naruto looked at Kabuto with an unreadable expression. There was defiantly suspicious about Kabuto.

"Those guys are from the Village Hidden in Rain, they have short tempers. You may want to keep your voices down to avoid making them angry." Kabuto said looking at the Rain genins. The rookies looked at the Rain genins, they indeed looked like trouble. Their glares were enough to make the female rookies shudder. "Well I guessed I can't blame you. You are clueless rookies after all." He said as he glanced at Sasuke. Naruto noticed this it was not the first time Kabuto looked at Sasuke with interest. Sasuke was unaware of the glances Kabuto was giving him. But Naruto could tell that Kabuto took interest in Sasuke, "Well I guess you guys do remind me of myself." Kabuto said in mirth.

"So this is your second time taking part in the exams?" Sakura asked with a bit of hesitant

"No this is my seventh time actually. The chunin selection exams are held twice a year so this also makes it my fourth year taking the exams." Kabuto replied with a small smile. Kiba whistled the exams must be hard if a person can fail them six times. Naruto raised a brow, 'Seven times taking the exams' thought. He could not have failed so many times unless he was doing it intentionally. He could not see how anyone would fail the chunin exams seven times. Even someone with half brains could not fail the exams so many times.

"Since you guys remind me of me, I will show you what I have gathered for the exams." he said taking out a deck of cards from his pouch, "These are nin-info cards! I have gathered information on every participant in the exams."

"Do you have information on individuals?" Sasuke asked clearly interested

"You are worried about someone?" Kabuto asked with a smirk looking at Sasuke, "My info is not perfect, but it not the same as having nothing," he said, "Just tell me the name of the person and I will tell you what I know about the person." Kabuto said pushing his glasses up, something that seemed to be a habit of his.

"Give me information on Uzumaki Naruto." Sasuke said. The other genins were clearly interested in learning something about this 'transformed' Naruto. Naruto looked at Kabuto wondering what Kabuto had on him.

Kabuto nodded and began to read one of his cards, "Uzumaki Naruto genin from Konoha. He graduated as a dead-last but changed afterwards. Nobody really knows what happened. He is in team 7 along with Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke their Jonin-sensei being Hatake Kakashi. Naruto has completed 15 D-rank missions, 1 C-rank mission, and 2 A-rank missions along with his teammates. He specializes in taijutsu. His speed is said to rival that of a jonin and can defeat some Jonin's in a pure taijutsu fight." Kabuto read.

"Hey when did you guys get to do A-rank missions?" Kiba asked, of all what Kabuto had read to them the fact that team 7 had done A-rank missions was more important to him more than info on Naruto.

No one in team 7 answered his questions. 'His information is accurate' Naruto thought, the info Kabuto had on him was the same as the one that konoha had on him in their records.

"Can you give me information of Subaku no Gaara." Naruto spoke for the first time since he entered the room. He had all the information he needed on Gaara; he just wanted to see what Kabuto had on the Jinchuriku.

Kabuto nodded, "Subaku No Gaara, genin from Sunagakure. His sensei is Baki, teammates are his siblings Subaku no Temari and Kankuro. Gaara has done 15 D-rank missions, 7 C-rank missions, 5 B-rank missions, 3 A-rank missions. In all his missions he has never been hurt; he comes back without an injury. He has a sand defense that protects him, it is said that his sand defense is the ultimate defense. His ninjutsu is based on sand only, his taijutsu is poor, and genjutsu.'' Kabuto read out looking the expressions of the genins. Most of them were sweating cold; a genin who goes on an A-rank mission and comes back without an injury was someone they did not expect to come across. Kabuto smirked at their reactions; even Sasuke seemed a little over the edge by the information he read. He looked at Naruto; Naruto showed no reaction to what he had read like the blond already knew everything.

'Nothing I don't already know' Naruto thought. He had information on every jinchuriku. It was important for him to know all the information as he would have to deal with them one day as his years progressed. For him to get Tobi to come after him he would have to disrupt the man's plans. Getting to the jinchuriku before Tobi was the best option he could take. Thinking of Gaara the jinchuriku could prove to be a good challenge for him. He would surely like to test this so called ultimate defense that Jinchuriku is said to have.

"I will tell you the contestants you should avoid in the….." Kabuto spoke but was cut off by Naruto.

"There are no other strong contestants, the rest are weak, they are nothing but annoyances!" Naruto said a little too loud. All the contestants heard him but Naruto did not care of they did. A team of Sound genins did not take Naruto's words kindly. They were going to show Naruto who was weak.

"Let's show the blond that we are not weak." One said in a rough voice earning nods from his teammates. They were about to charge at Naruto when a puff of smoke was born within the room.

"I will not accept that kind of behavior in here got that!" A figure that was one with the smoke that had been born within the room said sternly glaring at the students. He leaked out a dose of his killing intent to make his point. The killing intent prompted the genins to nod vigorously.

The figure smile, ''Alright you maggots take you sits now!'' He said in a firm voice making the Genins hurry up to take their sits. The genins took each of their assigned sits and looked back at the man in front of the room.

''I am Morino Ibiki! I am the proctor of the first test of the chunin selection exams!'' The proctor introduced himself to the Genins. ''Those who do not follow my rules will automatically fail!'' He said as he released a burst of KI scaring some Genins in the room. ''The first test will be a written test.'' he said as Chunin's began to drop papers in front of each sited Genin.

''The rules of exams are as follows and there will be no questions asked'' He said with a commanding tone releasing his KI to make it clear that he was serious. He tapped the chalkboard in front of the Genins and the rules appeared.

''Chunin selection exam test rules! Rule 1: test takers start off holding a perfect test score of 10 points. The test itself has 10 points for each question answered incorrectly a point is deducted. Rule 2. The test is a team event. The passing score of each team is calculated by adding the scores if each team member all together. Rule 3 those caught cheating will have two points deducted for each offence. Rule 4 those who lose all their points or do not answer any question correctly will fail along with their teammates.'' all genins read from the board. Some looked at their teammates to see if they were prepared. If Naruto was still stupid Sakura would have been worrying about Naruto. But she had nothing to worry about he was smart enough to pass the test. She did not have to worry about Sasuke either.

''I expect nothing but the best from genins trying to become chunin!'' He paused looking at every Genin in the room ''You will only answer questions 1 to 9. The 10th question will be answered after we finish the first 9. The exam with be for 45 minutes BEGIN!'' He yelled the last part as the Genins flipped their papers.

Naruto looked at the questions and raised an eyebrow. Had he not been reading different books and scrolls ever since he was six he would never be able to answer any of the question. He was thankful that Madara had brought him all those books he had brought for him to read. The questions were difficult but he could answer them. He was sure that not even some Chunin's could answer the type of questions that are within the papers. It only meant that they did not expect all of them to pass. Naruto thought for a moment before narrowing his eyes around the room. Sasuke had his sharingan activated copy others movements, he was doing well. If it was not for the fact that he had been hiding his doujutsu he would have surely doing the same as Sasuke just to make things interesting. He looked at room and seemed like most are cheating. 'Information gathering' Naruto thought looking at the genins who were cheating. He concluded that they are excepting the genins to cheat without getting caught. It was a test to see if one had information skills. Such skills were useful for missions. Naruto did not have to worry about having to acquire such skills he had Zetsu to do it for him. But that did not mean he did not learn a thing or two from him, he did learn a few things so that he could look for information himself whenever Zetsu was unavailable to do it for him. Because. Gathering information would involve breaking into offices private buildings one has to be discreet. Such acts would get one killed should they be caught in the act. The Hyuga's had their Byakugan's activated. The Byakugan was a useful tool for something such as gathering information because of its ability to see through solid objects. They did call it the all Seeing Eye. Hinata looked to be checking him out he figured the girl might have been looking to see if she could help him since he had not yet answered any questions. He sighed and began to answer the questions.

A few Genins got caught cheating which resulted in them being thrown out of the room. They were thrown out because they had been denying that they were cheating the exams. If ones teammate got caught it meant it was all over for the whole team. Something like this could break and make a team. The others could blame the one who got caught for their failure. Which would be true, had he not been caught they would never had failed the exam. But some would help each seeing that their teammate lacks in information gathering skills.

The 45 minutes was over and Ibiki stopped them from answering any more questions.

''We will now begin with the tenth and final question!'' He announced making everyone look up to him.

''Now before we begin I should tell you that there is an added rule to the question.''

''Now this rules of are of desperation.'' He paused to let the words sink into their heads. ''The first rule is whether or not you will take the question.'' he said making the Genins look at him confusedly.

Temari, Naruto recognized asked a question for everyone. ''What will happen if we choose not to take the question?'' She asked curiously.

''If you choose not to take it your points will be dropped to zero and you will fail along with your teammates.'' He spoke.

''Then we take the question!'' A genin yelled out standing up from position. The other Genins nodded in agreement with him.

''Another rule is associated with this question. If you take the question and answer it incorrectly, that person will lose the right to become chunin ever again.'' Ibiki stated with a serious tone making them believe that he was dead serious.

Well apparently Kiba did not get it he shouted his thoughts. ''What kind of stupid rule is that! There are people who have taken the exam multiple times right here!'' He shouted pointing at Kabuto who had told the rookie nine that he had been taking the exams for the fourth year now.

Ibiki smirked, ''You guys are just unlucky this is this year's rule.'' some Genins began to look at their teammates trying to figure out what they were going to do. Whether take the question and risk being unable to become a chunin should they fail. Naruto just set there looking calm as always.

''But I am a nice guy.'' He said getting the attention of the murmuring Genins. ''I am giving you a chance to choose whether to take the question or not,'' he paused for a moment to let them think 'I have to stay calm and follow the lead teammates' Sakura thought to herself as she d at Sasuke and Naruto who both looked calm. Ibiki continued, ''Now let's begin with the tenth question. Those who do not wish to take the question may raise their hands and once their numbers have been confirmed they may leave.''

Silence engulfed the room as everyone was in their thoughts.

''I-I can't take it.'' A random genin said as he stood up and began to leave the room. His teammates were behind him. Some also raised their hands; there were quite a number of them who left because of fear. Naruto just shook head at their actions, fear was really strong to use. The numbers died down and almost half of the participants had left.

And then people stopped raising hands. Naruto looked at Sakura; she seemed to be calm which was good. He would have hated if she was to rise up her hand and get them disqualified. He needed to test the Ichibi's jinchuriku's power.

''I will repeat this once, your whole life is riding on this, and this is your last chance!'' He said giving the genins a last chance to quiet the test.

None raised their hands they just looked at the proctor with confident looks. He looked around that were left and sighed. 27 teams Anko was not going to be happy about it.

''Good decision! To everyone still remaining here I would like to congratulate you on passing the first test of the chunin selection exams.'' Ibiki said with a small smile. Silence engulfed the room they were shocked at what the man had just said.

''What! What about the tenth question?'' Temari shouted.

''There is not tenth question.'' Ibiki said as he began to explain what he had done. It was that chunin captains had a responsibility to take missions, when facing with the decision on which mission to take. You might get a mission you have no info about. You would have to gather information. You also cannot refuse a mission simply because it is too dangerous. The type of thinking 'We will do it again next year' was not a mentality of a chunin.

Naruto sensed someone approaching the window fast. By the looks of things the person was going to crash into the window.

The windows shattered and the Genin looked to see a burner that read 'The sexy second exam proctor Mintrashi Anko'

''All right brats there is no time for celebrations I am the second exam proctor now follow me!'' the female standing beside the burner yelled. She had violet hair, her eyes where brown. She wore an overcoat, with a fitted mesh body that stretched from her neck to her thighs and a dark orange mini-skirt.

The genins got from their sits and followed her.

They followed her till they reached a fence. Behind the fence was the forest. It gave all bad vibes to the Genin. They were signs if danger all over fences. It signified that it was a dangerous place. Anko had a too sweet smile upon seeing the forest as if she was familiar with it. Naruto knew the woman was always at the forest of death playing with her snakes. It was creepy.

''This is training ground 44 also known as the 'Forest of Death' it will be the stage of the second chunin selection exam.'' Anko said with a grin.

''This place gives me the creeps.'' Sakura said. She had never been to the place but the weird feeling she was feeling about it was enough to creep her out. Naruto was beginning to get bored now. They should have just let them go into the forest without telling anything. Those who did not know the forest would see that the forest was like with their own eyes. He really did not have to listen to someone explain to him something that he already knew.

''You will find out soon why this place is called the forest of death.'' She said with a smirk. The genins gulped, some shuddered. They did not hope to find out why the place was called a forest of death. Naruto could tell that Anko liked to plant seeds of fear within the hearts of other people.

''Before we start I would like you to sign these papers.'' She said as she held a paper in her hand, the Genin looked at her curiously, ''In this test there will be killings, and I don't want to be responsible for your deaths so you have to sign these wavers.'' The Genin looked at her some thinking they should quit, they were going to do the second test in a place called a forest of death and now there was going to be some killings in the forest, it was too much for some Genins. ''I will explain the test before you sign the wavers. This test will be a survival test; the training ground 44 has locked gates, a river, forest and a tower at the center. From each gate there is about 10km until the tower,'' She paused for a moment to let them digest her words.

''In this training ground you will compete in an all out, no rules scroll battle. Each team will be given one heaven or earth scroll. For a team to pass you have to present both heaven and earth scrolls to the tower in the center of the training ground. There is a time limit; you have only five days to get into the tower with both scrolls to pass the test. If you arrive after 120 hours you will fail the test. There is not quitting once you enter the training ground. You will in there for five days.'' she said to the listening Genin.

''What about food?'' Choji asked while eating snacks. He was worried that he would have to be trapped in the training ground without barbecue and chips.

''The forest is full of food, all you have to do is avoid man-eating bugs, poisonous insects and plants,'' The genin shuddered at the thought of being eaten by bugs. The forest was indeed a scary place, ''The forest will be full of enemies, so if you get to the tower faster with both scrolls you will avoid enemies,'' She paused for a moment before going on ''Now let's get on to who gets disqualified, the first I have already told you, which is not being able to get to the tower with both scrolls and in time,'' She said as the Genin nodded. ''Second is those who lose a teammate or a teammate gets killed. Lastly you must not open the scroll before you reach the tower. As chunin you be expected to courier important documents. This will be a test to your trustworthiness.'' she finished her explanation to the genins.

''Come on now and take the wavers and sign them!'' She said as the genins went over to her and took the wavers to sign. Some were hesitant to do so, but everyone singed them and handed them to Anko. She had given each team their scroll, but did it in a way that no team would know which team held an earth or heaven scroll. This would avoid a team going to a specific team; it would also cut down numbers because a team would take a scroll from another team they have defeated even though it is the same as theirs. She did not tell them that, they did not need to know it. ''Final word of advice, don't get killed!'' She said with a maniacal grin that had the Genin think that she wanted them to kill each other. Each team went away to their assigned gate and got ready for the second test.

The forest of death

Team 7 entered the welcoming mouth of training ground 44. Death and all its friends sang songs that boomed inside their heads. Darkness ate all the light within the forest. One could only imagine the horrors the trees have had to witness within the forest.

The breath within the forest was cold as it invaded Sakura's body causing the girl to shiver. She could only hope that Sasuke felt the same way as she did and give into the temptations that the cold breathe brought forward. She would surely love having to heat her body with Sasuke's; she would surely cherish the moment.

She looked at her teammates and sighed disappointedly. Both her teammates seemed to not feel the cold breath that the forest breathed into her. She was sort of hoping that Sasuke would be feeling it so she could get close to him and feel the warmth of his skin. It was not going to happen though she could only dream. Because her teammates were walking as if the forest was not scary she was forced to banish the coldness that had invaded her body.

As the coldness obeyed her command she felt a bit sad that a chance to get close to Sasuke had just passed away.

The wide eyes of the forest stared at him, trying to intimidate him. He could almost laugh at the pitiful attempt to make him give birth to fear. He had gone through a lot of horrifying things in his 13 years of life, such a thing as a forest that was associated with death did not scare him. Even death itself did not scare him, the only thing he was failing to achieve his dreams.

Naruto looked at his teammates as they slowly walked within the forest. Sasuke seemed fine, but Naruto could see a bit of excitement from the Uchiha. The atmosphere of the forest could make anyone who enjoyed a good challenge feel a ting of excitement invading their bodies. Sakura on the other hand seemed to too sure of herself.

They had yet to make plans on how they should proceed in the forest. Ever since they touched the belly of the forest they had yet to speak. Naruto did not mind the silence he would rather have the silence than to have Sakura spouting nonsense. Sasuke stopped walking getting his teammates to follow his lead.

He seemed to have lost all his excitement and the cold emotionless gaze that seemed to be part of his face had returned from its vacation, ''We should make plans here, before we go any further into the forest.'' he said looking at both his teammates.

''We should stay together as a team and not separate. I can take care of myself, but if I were to separate myself from you and you happen to come across another team Sasuke won't be able to protect himself and you,'' he said looking at Sakura straight in her eyes, ''We should just go ahead straight to the tower. I am sure we will come across a team while we head to the tower.''

Sakura had no objections to what Naruto had said. They would have to be together till they reach the tower. She felt a little sad that Naruto had pointed that she needed to be protected by her teammates she was not that weak.

Sasuke nodded but still, ''What if we reach the tower without coming across another team?'' he asked.

''Then will hunt a team to get what we want, now let us move on!'' Naruto said

His teammates followed him behind. The plan was simple and it would have them get to the tower faster. They were given a maximum of five nights to get to the tower, but one could get to the tower in the second day of the exams. Sasuke wanted to fight someone he had yet to fight anyone since the exams. But this test gave birth to a chance for him to fight someone. He would have to make sure that he did not leave the forest without testing his power against genins from other villages.

The team walked for a few hours. Day was already calling for night to take over its rein. They had to clash with another team. They had been walking on a rather relaxed pace. It was something that was done with the thought of Sakura in mind. The girl had a low stamina, running for an hour and he would have forced them to take a break. It was better to just walk for the day that is tomorrow they would quicken their pace to ensure that by the end of the day they had reached the tower. They could worry about getting the scroll they needed while they made their way to the tower.

Naruto, who was in the lead suddenly stopped and motioned for his teammates to do the same. He looked at his left side there were three dark shadows that had been following them for the past hour. He had sensed them the moment they started to shadow them. He thought they would go away seeing that team 7 had its guard always on. He knew they had been waiting for an opportunity to present itself and they would try them.

''What is it Naruto?'' Sakura asked the blond.

''Some annoyances that won't go away have been following us,'' he said, ''They should come out of the shadows now that they have seen that we have stopped.'' he said his eyes at the girl. Despite the fact that they have only been walking, the girl looked like she would not last 2 minutes in a fight.

''What's the plan?'' Sasuke asked with a smile. They always got together well when they planned against their enemies. Everyone cooperated; even Sakura valued Naruto's opinion. But after the mission was over they would be a completely different team.

''Sakura should stay behind, you and I will remove the annoyances.'' It was not a plan. Naruto never made a plan against someone he knew he could beat without much trouble.

Sasuke nodded Sakura was not a fighter in their team. It was best to let her stay behind so that she does not become a burden while they fight. It would be troublesome to let her fight as they would have to constantly check if she was faring well in her fight. It was something Sasuke would rather not have to do.

They did not wait for too long as three shadows dropped from the trees and stepped closer to them. The one in the middle had a huge grin on his face. Charging by their forehead protectors the three were genin from Amegakure, the Village hidden in Rain.

''I see you have finally noticed us.'' The boy in the middle said, clearly the leader. He looked like he was amused by that fact that they had been noticed.

Sasuke scoffed, ''We knew you were following us all along.'' he said...well he did not know they were following but Naruto did know and that was what mattered the most. Naruto was part of their team so it Naruto knew they all knew about.

The smirks on the Ame genins did not falter. They stayed in place, like the news did not surprise them. ''Oho! It does not matter though, surrender the scroll and hand us the girl.'' The leader of the Ame genins said with a malicious grin looking at Sakura.

Sakura shuddered at the grin. She brought her hands over her chest trying to comfort herself. She was thinking of what would happen to her if she got taken by the Ame genins. They would surely do unspeakable things to her body. A body she so cherished and has been taking care so that Sasuke would do whatever what he pleased with.

Sasuke smirked and got into a stance, ''We will be the ones taking your scroll, and if you want to get to Sakura you have to go through us first.'' He said

Naruto sighed in annoyance; he really hated fighting people he would beat. But since the Ame genins seemed serious about fighting he would play with them.

He did not bother to take his taijutsu stance he walked towards the Ame genins getting Sasuke to follow him, ''Who wants to dance with me first?'' they did not answer quicker than Naruto wanted them to, ''Forget it.'' he said and dashed forward in chunin speeds.

The Ame genins stood in their positions as if earth had brought out her hands and held them firmly. Naruto appeared in front of the genins so did Sasuke. He kicked the leader on the face sending him flying away and turning his attention to the other.

Sasuke stared at his opponent with a smirk. He felt excited about the challenge that had presented itself to him. His opponent charged at him foolishly. The genin tried to make his fist one with his face but Sasuke dodge and landed a kick on the genins right shoulder sending him flying.

He took giant steps towards his opponent. He felt excited; he could try his best to enjoy this fight.

His opponent recovered quickly and took a stance as he got ready for the coming Uchiha.

With Naruto

Naruto looked at the genin in front him with an unreadable expression. The Ame genin did not waste time, he quickly tried to hit Naruto. He threw his right punch at Naruto. Naruto dodged like he was not even trying. The genin threw his right again Naruto dodged easily.

The Ame genin jumped back and stared at Naruto and smacked. He disappeared in a burst of speed that made Naruto raise a brow. But it was not a speed that could trouble him nonetheless. The genin appeared in front of him and tried kicking him on his chest, Naruto bended down to avoid the kick. The Ame genin seemed to have been expecting Naruto to do that. With admirable flexibility he spun around in quick motion while bending down. He attempted a leg sweep on Naruto.

Naruto was still bending but was quick put his down to the ground as support and pushed his lower body upwards dodging the kick. He sensed someone coming from behind him and was quick to get up from his position.

The boy he had kicked first stared at him a glared but it was quickly replaced by a smirk, ''You got lucky with that kick, but I will make you regret it!'' He said confident that he would make Naruto regret.

The boy he had been fighting took the opportunity where his eyes where at the other genin and charged at him. Naruto still had his other sensed working, he spun around with fluidity and grip the boys face. He lifted the boy up in the air.

The leader of the Ame genins rushed at Naruto seeing that he was busy with something. Naruto sensed him and spun around while his right hand was firmly placed on his other opponent's face. He threw the genin at the other making them hit each other. Both grunted as they got up.

With Sasuke

Sasuke's sharingan was active as his opponent rushed at him with surprising speed. He tried to kick Sasuke at his shoulder by Sasuke blocked the attack with both his hands. The Ame genin seeing that Sasuke's both hands were occupied tried to punch Sasuke in the gut with his left hand but Sasuke jumped back to avoid being hit.

Sasuke smirked and rushed at his opponent. His right hand headed straight the genins chest but the Ame genin blocked at attack with both his hands. Sasuke followed up with his left back hitting the genin in the face. He did not let his opponent recover. He kicked the genin hard at his waist sending him flying away.

The Ame genin gritted his teeth as he felt Sasuke's foot crashed into him. The kick hurt really badly. He was not given more time to dwell on his pain as Sasuke appeared before him. Sasuke gutted the genin hard with his fist. The genin clutched his chest in pain. Sasuke did not stop with his assault he let loose of another punch the connected with his opponent's ribs. A hard kick to the temple followed his punch. His opponent was sent crashing to the trees.

The Ame genin tried getting up, was felt winded due the knocks he has received from Sasuke. Sasuke still had his smirk, ''Are you going to give up?''

With his sharingan activated his opponent could not land a hit on him as he would be able to predict the movements. He deactivated it, it was no longer needed.

''Never!'' his opponent yelled as he charged at him with his right hand raised. Sasuke side stepped the attempt to punch him. He kicked the genin on his stomach making him cough out blood. He did not let him fly away as he quickly grabbed his hand and punched him in the chest making the genin cough more blood.

Sasuke slammed his opponent down the ground creating a small crater. His opponent was not yet out cold but looked to be barely conscious. He sighed and gave his opponent a knockout punch. He felt slightly out of breath.

With Naruto

His opponents stared at him for a while before deciding to charge at him with their Kunai's at hand. A Kunai was swung trying to slice his cheeks, Naruto dodged at kunai and brought out his sword. He did not want to get cut when he could have done something to ensure that he did not get cut.

His opponents continued trying to pierce him with their Kunai's while Naruto blocked and dodged their attempts.

He finally got tired of playing and knocked off the genins Kunai from their hands. His Ninjato sliced through one of his opponent's chest. And blood gushed from his wound. The wound was not deep but enough to make him bleed and cause him pain. The genin hissed in pain. Naruto moved closer to him and gripped the boy's neck before slamming him to the ground creating a crater were the genin hit. The power of the slam was enough to knock the genin out cold.

Naruto looked at his other opponent, ''Do you wish to continue dancing?'' He genin shook his head vigorously. Naruto disappeared from view and appeared behind the genin. He hit the genin at the back of his head before he could react knocking him out cold. He sheathed his sword but not before wiping off the blood that had stained it. Not taking care of your weapon will make it dull. He always cleaned it whenever he used it. He was not much of a kenjutsu fighter but a sword would have to do with him until he got used to carrying his Gunbai.

Sakura joined him looking relieved. She did not get to fight and both her teammates had defeated their enemies without difficulty. That pleased her mind, she would have hated if one of her teammates had gotten hurt. She might not like Naruto but at times she thanked Kami that he was on her team without his help at times they would never have completed some of their missions. He had also saved her life more than once, she was thankful for it even though she has never told said thank you for it. She does know that Naruto did not care for her and if they were not teammates he would have let her die whenever her life was in danger. Sasuke did the same a minute later. He searched the genins pockets and found an earth scroll they needed a heaven a scroll. Sasuke grunted he was expecting an earth scroll. He took the scroll and placed it in his pocket. It would prove useful in exchange for a scroll that they want.

Naruto looked at both his teammates and sighed, ''We should camp here for the night. We will move out tomorrow morning.'' He said. They could not really travel for the night. Whenever it was night the forest became a twin to darkness even when there was a full moon. It was a better choice to camp for the night.

Sakura looked at him, ''Where are we going to sleep? We have no water to bath and no food to eat!'' she said in a loud voice. She could not believe that Naruto would suggest that they sleep in the middle of nowhere without shelter. They had not even eaten anything and she was a girl she could not go to sleep without taking a bath.

Naruto looked at the girl as if she was crazy. 'How can she think of bathing while they are stuck in a forest' Naruto thought. He looked away from the girl, he had no problems he could stay u all night or spend the whole week without sleeping. As long as they would reach the tower tomorrow he had no problems with starving himself either. But his teammates were not the same as him that much he understood. He had to think of a better way to get his teammates food or he would have to carry them to the tower.

''Stay here, I will be back in 20 minutes or less with food.'' He said after a long pause

''Wasn't you the one who said we should not separate?'' Sakura asked

Naruto ignored her and blurred out of his teammates view. If they did not separate he would have been forced to carry them tomorrow because they would be hungry and tired. He had no intentions of doing something like that. Getting them food so that they could walk themselves was the best thing he could do. Sasuke could probably walk even if he was hungry, but would not be in a condition to fight, it was not that he would have problems fighting a team of genins.

''Were do you think he went Sasuke?'' Sakura asked looking at her precious Uchiha.

Sasuke just shrugged and walked away from Sakura. He walked towards a tree prompting Sakura to follow him. Sakura sat beside a tree next to Sasuke. She had never thought she would one day be stuck in a forest with Sasuke like she was at the moment. Never in her wildest imaginations had she thought this moment would occur. 'If Sasuke-kun was not so shy who knows what we would have been doing' she thought eyeing Sasuke with her cheeks giving birth to a blush.

''Sasuke-kun, do you want to go out on a date after we complete this test?'' Sakura asked, she had always been the one to take the initiative and asked Sasuke out.

''No!'' Sasuke replied coldly. The girl annoyed him he had no intentions of going out on a date with her. He only cared about getting strong at the moment.

Sakura felt as though her heart was just chewed and spat out. Sasuke always rejected her attempts to get him to go on a date with her. He had always shut the door at her face. Her mind could not assay why Sasuke had found her annoying. She had thought it was because her beauty did not attract his eyes. She had always looked at her twin who resided in her mirror to see if she looked good. And each time she saw her twin she thought she looked beautiful. But Sasuke's eyes seemed to have something that shadowed her beauty from him.

She smiled sadly and looked down at her feet. She loved Sasuke and would never stop trying to win his affection.

17 minutes later Naruto walked towards teammates carrying a small bag. He went over to them and sat down. He opened the bag and withdrew two scrolls. He threw one at Sasuke who caught it.

''What is it?''

''Storage seal, you do know how to use it right?''

Sasuke felt offended by Naruto's question. How could he an Uchiha not know how to use a simple storage seal? Luckily Sakura spoke for him, ''Of course he knows how to use it!''

Naruto ignored her and continued looking at Sasuke. Sasuke opened the scroll and a seal appeared on it. He channeled chakra into the seal. A puff of smoke gave birth to two tents. He smiled along with Sakura. Sakura was quick to point out something, ''There are only two tents!''

The logical solution would be that Sasuke share a tent with Naruto since both were boys. But Sakura would not mind having to share a tent with Sasuke. In fact if she was not shy to say it she would have suggested it.

''You two will use the tents I will keep watch while you sleep.'' Naruto said.

Sakura had no complains with what Naruto had just said. But Sasuke did, ''Naruto why don't you sleep in the tent. I will take the first watch and wake you up after sometime.'' he suggested.

Naruto just shrugged. If Sasuke wanted to keep watch he could keep watch. But that did not mean he was going to sleep in the tent. He opened his scroll it was the same as Sasuke's. He channeled chakra into the seal and his puff of smoke gave birth to three food containers and three bottles of water.

Sakura's stomach growled as he eyes looked at the food. She had only eaten in the morning. She did not wait for Naruto to give her the food. She crawled over to a container and took it. She retreated to her spot and began to eat the fish and bread Naruto had brought. She ate with eating manners, despite her hunger she refused to eat like a pig in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke took his container and ate his food peacefully. Naruto did the same. He was glad that he had Zetsu to count on.

They stayed in silence as night reined over earth. Sakura was the first to sleep. With all the walking the whole day she was tired and needed to sleep to replenish her stamina. Naruto stayed up with Sasuke. It was before midnight that Sasuke became sleepy. The tent was singing soothing songs to him that had him sleepy. He tried to resist but his will was not strong enough.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, ''Wake me up in three hours so I can take the watch and you can sleep.'' he said before crawling into his tent.

Morning

Naruto woke up his teammates as it was time to move on towards the tower. They could not waste any more time sleeping. They had already wasted enough time already.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, ''Why didn't you wake me up?''

''Did I tell you I would wake you up?'' Naruto replied with a question earning him a small glare from Sasuke. They were about to hit the road when Sakura spoke.

''Hey guys what about the tents, aren't we going to need them if we happen not to get to the tower before the end of the day?''

"We will make it." Naruto said looked at the tents and at Sasuke, "Burn them with a fire jutsu.''

Sasuke though did not like taking orders from Naruto he nodded and did a fire jutsu burning the tents. They hopped onto the trees and made their way to the tower.

A few hours later

They had been travelling for 3 hours. It was not nonstop they had to take a few breaks to allow Sakura to regain her strength. Had it not been for the girl they would have covered a lot of ground by now. It annoyed both Naruto and Sasuke and the number of breaks they had to take because Sakura always got tired after running for a few minutes. Sakura was by no means a stamina freak like Naruto. Naruto had more stamina than Kakashi so she could not compare herself with him. She had only seen him slightly winded once. But even when he was winded he would still push further like he was not tired. She did not understand where he got his energy from. He always seems to have more energy than anyone. Even at the academy he always seemed energetic.

Naruto stopped suddenly causing his teammates to do the same, ''Someone strong is following us.'' After those words left Naruto mouths gusts of winds hit the genins sending them flying. Even Naruto was caught; he had not been fast enough to react after sensing the chakra build up.

The gusts of wind were strong but other than sending team 7 crashing towards the trees there was no injuries suffered.

A Nin wearing a Kusagakure forehead protector appeared in front of the genin. The Kusa-nin was a woman. She unleashed her murderous killing intent. She enjoyed the look of fear her killing intent brought to her preys. She could never pass a chance to plant a seed of fear in her preys it was always fun watching them cower in fear, it soothed her soul.

The genins froze at their places. The killing intent had put them under an illusion. They watched themselves being killed in any ways. It was horrifying watching your own death.

None was affected more than Sakura. The girl was on her knees shuddering with eyes wide. The experience she was having now was far worse than what she had experienced at the wave mission when Zabuza had unleashed his killing intent. It was unbearable, she wished nothing more than death to make her one with it.

Sasuke had thought it was genjutsu at first when he was seeing his death. But he had come to a realization that it was not illusion, it was just the effects of a killing intent by the Kusa-nin. His body failed to obey any command his mind. His mind was screaming for his legs to carry him and run away. But all it got was silence from the feet. The pressure of the killing intent was so much that he too was forced into his knees. But he was not shuddering like Sakura. This time he could not blame the girl for shuddering in fear. Even he was doing his best to keep fluids from escaping his body.

Naruto had experienced such level of killing intent. He had been exposed to his grandfather's intent so much that he had become resilient to fall for the horrors a strong killing intent brought. But it did not make him invincible to killing intents, not it allowed him to shake off the effects of a killing intent. But judging by the pressure of the killing intent, he could tell who ever the person was in front of them was strong, so strong that he knew he could not defeat.

After sweating a few bullets he shrugged off the killing intent and looked at the Kusa-nin with an unreadable expression. The Kusa-nin seemed amuse by seeing Naruto shake off her killing intent. She could do worse than she was doing at the moment. But she chose not to. Her tongue escaped from her mouth and extended into a length that no human tongue should. The tongue kissed the frames of her mouth as she got ready to play with her preys.

The Kusa-nin dashed forward at Sasuke who was still suffering from the pressure of the killing intent. To him it felt like earth had brought out her hands and gripped him tightly. Upon seeing the Kusa-nin charging at him, Sasuke took out a Kunai stabbing himself to wear off the killing intent. His plan worked as he recovered and jumped away in time to avoid being hit by the Kusa-nin. He jumped on a tree branch and stared back at the Kusa-nin.

Naruto found himself staring at yellow silted eyes of a large snake. The snake could chew him to bits without breaking a sweat. Its eyes shined with a glint of malice as its fangs extended from its mouth. The snake rushed at him at fast speeds. His attention was no taken away from the Kusa-nin and Sasuke. He jumped up to avoid the snake's mouth. The snake followed him, its head crashed into a tree he was on breaking it.

Naruto wondered what a snake was doing here. Of all the times it just chose to attack him while his team was being attack at the same time. It was too much of a coincident. He sheathed his Ninjato and rushed at the snake.

Naruto jumped up onto the snakes head. The snake tried shaking him off its head but Naruto held firmly. He channeled wind chakra to his blade and stabbed the snake's head. The snake hissed and shook violently. Naruto jumped off the snake and landed on the ground.

He really should not be dragged into a fight with a snake. The snake rushed at him in fast speeds. Naruto rushed at it too. He threw his wind enhanced blade straight into the snake's right eye piercing it. The snake hissed in pain. Naruto rushed at the snake and jumped onto its head again. He took withdrew his blade from the snake's eye. He punched the snake on its head. But his attempt did not do much damage to the snake. He jumped away from the snake.

The snake opened its mouth and rushed at Naruto. Its fangs seemed to be attracted to his flash as the fangs got close to him looking at be one with him. Naruto looked at welcoming mouth of the snake and jumped away. The snake's missed him and kissed the welcoming ground.

Naruto stretched out his senses finding that the Kusa-nin was still fighting with Sasuke and there was no other person other than Sakura near the place. He looked into the snake's eyes and activated his sharingan. He refused to fight a snake further. His sharingan morphed into his six-bladed Mangekyou. Naruto closed his right eye and concentrated his left eye on the snake.

''Amaterasu''

He muttered as black flames engulfed the snake. The hissed in pain inflicted on it by the black flames. The snake began to roll uncontrollably on the ground while the black flames ate it.

Naruto looked away from the snake and wiped off the blood leaking from his left eye. He was glad that for the exams he had no shadows following him. He blurred away but not before deactivating his sharingan.

Had he stayed a bit longer he would have seen the snake burst into a puff of smoke.

With Sasuke

Sasuke stared at the Kusa-nin and then at Sakura. She seemed to have been doing fine. He saw a snake chase after Naruto. He did not have to worry about Naruto for he knew that he could take care of himself. Right now he needed to worry about himself. His opponent was strong he could feel that.

The Kusa-nin chuckled looking at her prey. Sasuke could see the Kusa-nin's eyes were the eyes of a predator. He was the prey and the predator was staring at him in its glory. ''Come at me with all you got Sasuke-kun!'' the Kusa-nin spoke with a grin.

Sasuke did not want to be told twice. He charged at the Kusa-nin. The Kusa-nin blocked a kick that was directed to her temple by Sasuke. Sasuke tried to kick the Kusa-nin again but his attempt was blocked again. Sasuke jumped back from the predator and activated his sharingan.

The Kusa-nin seemed to like seeing the sharingan being activated. 'Yes, that's it Sasuke-kun show me what you can do' she thought as she continued to chuckle mirthlessly unnerving Sasuke. He dashed forward at her and attempted to punch her on the face. But the Kusa-nin leaned back to avoid his attack. Sasuke leaned forward and tried another punch at the gut but the Kusa-nin jumped to avoid being hit. Sasuke dashed forward not giving his opponent rest. He jumped up into the air and attempted to punch the Kusa-nin while earth pulled him down. The Kusa-nin brought out both her hands and blocked Sasuke's attempt.

She tried punching Sasuke on his chest but Sasuke was able to see the attack thanks to his sharingan. He jumped back to avoid being hit. The Kusa-nin rushed at Sasuke and tried kicking him but Sasuke blocked the kick with his knee. Sasuke's right fist flew into the Kusa-nins face, but she bended down to avoid the attack. Sasuke saw an opening and got down attempting a leg sweep. But the Kusa-nin jumped returning the favor with a kick to the face. He was able to see the kick coming but was not able to neither dodge nor block the attack. It felt like he was being hit twice.

Sasuke hit a tree with a grunt that followed after the impact.

''Is this all you can do Sasuke-kun, even you your sharingan?'' The Kusa-nin said while chuckling earning a glare from Sasuke. He was trying to understand just who the person was. He could not land a hit on the person.

The Kusa-nin did not wait for Sasuke to clear his thoughts. He dashed forward to the Uchiha. Sasuke was forced to dodge a power punch that shattered the tree branch he was standing at. The Kusa-nin charged at Sasuke again. They engaged in a taijutsu fight.

Sasuke smirked as he got a hit at the Kusa-nin face. He did not stop there he added a kick to the chest that sent the Kusa-nin flying. He continued smirking thinking that it was not hopeless as he had thought at first.

Naruto had gotten back a few moments earlier and was watching the fight with interest. The Kusa-nin seemed to have his eyes only on Sasuke because he had yet to make a move on Sakura who had just been watching the fight with worry all over her face.

Sasuke did hand seals for his favorite jutsu. 'Fire release: great fireball' he muttered as the fireball sped at the Kusa-nin. His smirked widened when he saw his jutsu hit the Kusa-nin. He ended his Jutsu and saw the Kusa-nin standing there with his devilish grin placed on as if nothing had happened. His eyes widened in disbelieve. It should not have been possible for someone to take on the jutsu and still stand like nothing had happened. He watched as the Kusa-nin's skin began to peel off revealing a more pale skin.

The Kusa-nin blurred out of view and appeared behind Sasuke. Sasuke was kicked hard on his back and sent crashing towards a tree.

''Ahhhh!'' grunted as he hit the tree. He got panting and looked back at the Kusa-nin.

The Kusa-nin looked at Sasuke with calculating eyes. Sasuke was indeed a skilled young boy. She had proven it and her eyes liked what he had witnessed from Sasuke.

Naruto took the time to announce his presence before Sasuke got killed. But he felt that the Kusa-nin was just playing with Sasuke. He felt that if the Kusa-nin wanted to kill Sasuke she would have done it already. She had many opportunities to inflict serious damage to Sasuke but did not. It was making him answer a lot of questions. First it was the snake now it was this. There was only question that he felt worthy of being asked at the moment. His eyes travelled towards the Kusa-nin, "Who are you?"