Chapter 11 : Chunin Exams!

It was the day after Naruto's mission to Umi No Kuni, and the blond once again found himself in the hospital. Most people would consider this to be odd for the Uzumaki Namikaze Clan Head, especially since neither of the times he had been in here was he injured. Said blond was searching the cabinets while cursing the unhelpful nurses who don't put bottles and medicine in alphabetical order. Finally, he found what he was looking for, a powerful herbal pill that would numb all pain for one hour. Turning around Naruto made his way over to the bed, where the entire reason he was here was; or perhaps who would be more accurate.

Anko Mitarashi was currently sitting on the bed, with both her trench coat and fishnet shirt off, allowing her curvaceous figure to be completely unimpeded. She was the reason Naruto was currently at the hospital for the second time within two weeks, without actually having an injury. Naruto had promised to look at her curse seal the moment he got the chance, which Anko had jumped at when she had found him and Iruka eating at Ichiraku's the night before.

Said scarred Chunin instructor was sitting right next to Anko, with one of her hands in his. When Anko had asked Naruto to look at her seal, they had decided to bring Iruka along for emotional support. The academy teacher was a little apprehensive of having Anko half-naked in front of the young blond; however, he also trusted Naruto not to be a pervert, despite the perverted jutsu said blond had come up with in his younger days.

"Alight Anko I want you to take this pill," Naruto said handing her the pill as he explained what he was going to do. "After that, I'm going to take off the binding seal on the cursed mark that keeps it in check, what I need from you is to activate the seal so that I can see it in its entirety. Thanks to the pill you should not feel any of the pain you normally would when it's active, now please take the pill."

Anko hesitated for only a moment before swallowing the pill whole, as she did Naruto moved around to her back. Unsealing his special Fuiinjutsu brush, which he had created to make ink from his chakra, he took a look at the seal before getting started. Using the precise strokes that only came with years and years of experience, or four year's worth of several hundred Kage Bushin training in Fuiinjutsu, Naruto created a counter seal designed to get rid of the binding seal on the curse seal. When it was done Naruto placed a hand on her neck, and began channeling chakra into the seal. The seal that bound the cursed seal and Naruto's own seal began to dissolve, melting off as if someone had put acid on it. Once the binding seal was completely gone Naruto got down to the next step, "Anko, please release the cursed seal."

Taking a deep breath Anko began to channel her chakra and her negative emotions for her former sensei into the seal, causing the black flame-like marking to spread out from the center of the mark. Naruto watched as they spread and waved about as if alive, it was exactly like when he had seen Sasuke use it. When it was done Naruto went to work, pulling out a blank scroll as he began to copy what he saw. For about half an hour Naruto's brush strokes and Anko's breathing were the only things heard in the room, as Naruto moved from her back to her front. Drawing out the seals in a circular pattern on the paper, making sure that he had everything right by double and triple-checking his work. Once he was satisfied Naruto spoke again, "alright deactivate the seal."

With a nod Anko began to call the cursed seal back, letting it retract from her skin in much the same way it came. Once she did Naruto who was behind her again, began to apply a more advanced binding seal than the one she had on. This one was actually based on Naruto's own eight trigrams seal, which held the Kyuubi at bay. Naruto had been able to find a way to modify it in order to contain the seal on Anko, making the binding seal many times more powerful than any other in existence. After all, if something is designed to contain a Bijuu, then containing human-created powers is nothing. "Alright," Naruto spoke with a sigh of relief, "it's all done, that seal should keep it from even twitching until I can find a way to get rid of it."

Naruto came back in front of the two as he rolled up his scroll, putting it into his pouch where it was sealed into a containment seal. He looked at the two and gave them a smile, "now then why don't you guys just enjoy yourself. I should be able to find a way to remove within the month."

"Confident, aren't you gaki?" Anko asked with a grin, though one could see she really hoped that what he said would be true.

Naruto grinned, "I think I've got a right to be confident, after all, Ero-sensei even admitted I'm better than him with Fuiinjutsu."

"Baka! Don't insult the Sennin with such disrespectful titles!" Iruka scolded, though it was rendered ineffective by Anko's laughing.

Naruto grinned, "I just call 'em as I see 'em, and any man who can call themselves a super pervert without shame deserves such a nickname. Amway's, I'm gonna go see baa-chan and see if she's got a mission for me," Naruto left the room with a red-faced Iruka, and a madly cackling Anko.

Making his way outside Naruto headed off to the Hokage tower, along the way he made sure to pay attention to how the people around him reacted to his presence. As his speech had intended to do, nearly all of the generation his age and younger were looking at him with no small amount of awe and respect. It had been one of the few reasons he had announced his status to the village. Because those who were too young to remember the Kyuubi's attack or were not born yet had an unbiased opinion of what had happened so long ago. Without the hate and fear clouding their mind as many of the older generations had they were able to make a more informed decision on his revealed Jinchurikki status. It also helped that the adults had dug their own grave, telling their children to stay away from him and then proclaiming him as a hero and the last Namikaze. They could not afford to call him a monster after that, since it would be the third time they went back on their word.

Naruto also noticed how many of the people who did remember the Kyuubi attacked reacted, a few were, of course, giving him looks of utter loathing and disgust; however those people turned their eyes as soon as he looked at them. What surprised the blond was that they seemed to be in the minority, for the most part, many of the adults were now looking at him with shame and regret in their eyes. Showing Naruto that they truly regret their treatment of him, it was those people who would receive his forgiveness.

Naruto stopped paying attention to the crowd as he walked into the Hokage Tower, moving up to the top floor where the Hokage's office was. When he got to the desk in front of the tower, Naruto found himself getting a bit of a surprise. "Isaribi?" Naruto asked as he walked up to the desk and stared at the woman behind it.

Said woman looked up and almost immediately a large blush lit her cheeks, "oh Naruto-kun! How are you today?"

Naruto blinked for a moment as he looked at the woman, she looked so different than he had remembered. The most major change of course was that her scales were gone; she now had completely unblemished and healthy skin. She must have gone in and seen Tsunade early this morning or sometime yesterday, and the cure must have been easier than he thought since most operations of this nature usually took a lot longer time do. She was also out of those rags she had worn before and was now in a yellow sundress that complimented her skin. It hugged her enough that Naruto could see that despite not being a kunoichi, she had a very nice figure. Naruto assumed she got it from all of the swimming she used to do.

Naruto's mind rebooted as he registered the question and he smiled at the girl, "I'm doing good. And how about you? I see you went to see Tsunade."

Isaribi nodded, "yeah I went in early this morning, apparently the process was easier than she had initially thought it would be…" Isaribi blushed a bit in embarrassment, "she gave me an explanation, but I didn't really understand any of it. Afterward, she said I could work here, while Shizune-san works at the hospital."

Naruto gave the black-haired woman a foxy grin, causing said woman's blush to spread further across her face. "That's awesome; to be honest a lot of her explanations would go way over my head as well. It's good to see that you got a job already, I guess this means you're going to stay?"

Isaribi nodded, "yeah I mean I don't really have anywhere to go, and…" she looked at Naruto with a blush.

Naruto knew what it meant but pretended not to notice it, "I'm happy for you. So I take it baa-chan is in?"

Isaribi giggled at the nickname as she nodded, "yes she is, she had actually sent an Anbu to find you. Though since you're here and they aren't I guess they're still looking."

"Thanks," Naruto said as he walked to the door, without even bothering to knock he threw it open. "Hey, baa-chan I heard you were calling for me?"

Tsunade who was sitting at her seat sighed at the name; she looked up at Naruto and covered up any guilty emotions as she began to speak. "Yes I did, I am not sure if you're aware or not but in one month the Chunin Exams will be coming back to Konoha."

Naruto tilted his head to the side, "I was not aware of that, I take it you have a mission that involves the Exams for me? I hope it's not another invasion," Naruto spoke in a dramatic fashion at the word invasion.

"Don't even joke about things like that gaki," Tsunade said, though there was no real malice in her voice. "But yes I do have a mission for you involving the Chunin Exams," she handed him a scroll. "You along with two other Jonin will be acting as proctors for the Chunin Exams."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in surprise at this, he had not expected to ever proctor in the Chunin Exams. He had always been a fighter-type shinobi, point him at the enemy and let him go kind of guy. Still, it was an order, and if he was honest with himself it did sound fun. "Alright I guess I can do this, so who are my partners?"

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"Man… that woman drag you into this troublesome job too?"

Naruto looked over at Shikamaru, who was apparently going to be one of the proctors for the Exam. "Yeah she did, I'm surprised she would choose you for something like this though. I mean you're so lazy…"

"Mah Mah Naruto, you know you're also something of an oddity for this mission," Kakashi said as he flipped a page of his book.

"Yeah but then again so are you," Naruto retaliated with Kakashi conceding the point. They of course knew the reason Naruto and Kakashi had been chosen, it was to show the strength of Konoha. Having two such prominent figures such as Kakashi No Sharingan and the Nidaime Kiroii Senkou it would make a huge political statement about how powerful Konoha is. This would in turn make more clients want to hire them, knowing that two powerful shinobi were a part of the leaf's forces.

"So anyway there are usually three parts in this exam," Naruto said as he looked at his mission scroll. He had already memorized it, but it never hurt to read it over again.

"Yep," Shikamaru said in a lazy drawl, "the Chunin Exam is always three phases. The first is a written test to test a shinobi's aptitude of looking underneath the underneath' as the old adage goes. Then you have the second stage, which is a test in the Forest of Death. This one can vary in difference from test to test however one thing remains the same, it is a test of teamwork and to see if they have what it takes to survive in a harsh environment. After that, if there are too many people who passed, we will have to hold a preliminary round to get rid of a few genins. And the last test is always a one on one tournament, which is designed to show potential clients the strength and skill that the genin who passed the other exams possess."

Naruto looked at Shikamaru for several seconds before speaking, "Shika I think that's the most I've ever heard you speak in a single go." Naruto grinned when he heard a mutter of troublesome, "so who's going to take which parts? Personally, I think you Shikamaru would be better at the first part, with your IQ you could probably create a test with so many twists and steps that the genin will end up failing on principle."

Shikamaru nodded, "that does sound like it's right up my alley, plus I won't have to do as much troublesome standing."

Naruto sweat dropped as he listened to Shikamaru's main reason for wanting the first test, shaking his head he turned to Kakashi. "What about you? I mean I figure we could go either way with the two that are left, which one do you want to take?"

Kakashi looked up from his book for a second in thought, "meh I think I would be good for the second test. I have an idea that I think would work well with it, plus having you as the third proctor would allow Konoha to display you better to the clientele."

"Ugh, great just what I need," Naruto groaned, "I almost feel like a trophy wife."

"Well," Shikamaru drawled with a smirk, "you're certainly troublesome enough to be one."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the lazy Nara heir, "you may want to be careful Shika, after all, if your mom were to hear you say that…"

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Within the Nara household, Yoshino Nara sneezed into the food she was making. She got so mad that when Shikaku walked into the room she began to hit him with a frying pan. Shikaku who had not been expecting it was sent flying into the ground, where he was beaten into unconsciousness.

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Shikamaru paled at the thought of what his troublesome mom would do if she found out about that comment, "I hate you Naruto…"

Naruto merely laughed at him.

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A blinded folded Naruto stood in the center of a clearing in his back yard, he was in a basic stance for one of the Toad styles he had been taught. Around him were nearly two hundred other Naruto's, some had Susanoo out as well, others had Hiraishin kunai and some were merely using their bare fist. For a moment all was silent, except for the faint rustling of the trees when a breeze blew by. Then without warning all of the clones attacked, coming at him with speeds that were beyond most jonin. Naruto however remained rooted to the spot, and as soon as the clones got in close Naruto began to move. He did not attack any of them however but rather redirected their attacks so that they hit each other. His feet stayed in the same spot, never moving as Naruto used Susanoo to shift blades and kunai to the side. When he felt a fist go at him, Naruto would merely use a hand to redirect the attack into another clone.

The style he was using was called Gama Nintai (Toad Patients Sword Style) because of the patients and calm required to use it. Most people could never remain calm or patient when one let alone when hundreds of people were attacking you, that was because of the nervous system and naturally ingrained reflexes that controlled automatic movement functions. In order to properly wield this style one had to learn to turn these automatic functions off, allowing one to remain calm even in the face of certain death.

For several hours Naruto continued this, neither attacking nor counter-attacking as he simply redirected attacks. Letting them flow over and around him as he stood there, each time he destroyed a batch he would create another, larger batch of clones until he was up to five hundred. The object of this exercise was for him to see how long he could retain his ability to remain calm, while also increasing the size of his enemies. Finally, he felt a slip in his abilities, which got him nicked on the arm. It healed up a second later, and Naruto knew he had found his limit with this so far: 550 clones.

"Now it's time to surpass it…" Naruto muttered as he summoned six hundred clones, all of which charged him the moment they were made.

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"So tell me, why are we here again?" Naruto asked the people who had managed to drag him here. Naruto and his friends Kiba, Chouji, Ino, and Sakura were in one of the shinobi bars located throughout Konoha. The four had somehow managed to convince him to go with them, not that he minded being with friends, but since he could not get drunk he did not see the point in going to a bar.

"We're here because you need to let loose every once in a while," Kiba said in a slurred voice, before taking another shot of sake.

"The lightweight here is right," Ino said, making Kiba's face gain an expression that looked somewhere between wanting to snarl at her and wanting to hit on her. "And while I don't feel like getting myself wasted, it's a good place to hang out," Ino finished as she took a sip of her sake.

Sakura nodded, "Ino's right, with all the things we do as shinobi we should take whatever opportunities we can to relax."

"Yeah I suppose so," Naruto said as he scratched his chin in thought. He gave them a grin, "and with all the god damn council meetings I have to go to I need to let loose, seriously I'm starting to get the picture of why baa-chan drinks so much. Having to deal with that group of pompous and overly arrogant windbags would make anyone want to drink themselves stupid, if for no other reason than to block out the headache they bring."

"You know you really shouldn't call Tsunade-Sama such a disrespectful name," Sakura said with a frown as she drank her nonalcoholic juice. Once upon a time, she would have hit him for saying something like that, however, she knew he was not the little boy he used to be anymore and would probably not take well to getting a fist smashed on his head anymore; besides he was right about her drinking habits.

Naruto shrugged, "it's a term of endearment Sakura, I don't give these titles to just anyone you know. Besides she knows she loves it, she just hasn't realized it yet."

"Whatever," Sakura replied not really wanting to get into an argument over something like that.

"Man speaking of the Hokage…" Kiba muttered as he took another shot of sake, "she's hot!"

Sakura smacked him on the back of the head while Ino kicked him in the shin, causing the Inuzuka heir to howl in pain.

"Baka!" Sakura shouted, "Don't be so disrespectful to Tsunade-Sama like that!"

Kiba was just about to reply when another voice yelled out.

"You bitch!"

Naruto and the others turned their attention to see four men surrounding a woman. One of the men lunged at the said woman with the woman dodging a little to the left with a little bit of a drunken swagger, before smashing her fist into the man's face. The man was sent flying back into one of the tables, breaking it and spilling several drinks. That was when the woman stood up and Naruto felt his eyes widen as he realized who it was, the woman was none other than Yugao. The blond shinobi instantly noticed that she looked worse than she had when they first met, her hair was unkempt and her eyes were bloodshot and had bags in them. She was obviously drunk as fuck from the way she was swaying, but she also looked like she had just gotten out of the hospital as well. Naruto noticed several bruises on her face, bruises he was sure she had not gotten from these men.

"Alright… who… who wants some more?" Yugao asked as she got into a sloppy taijutsu stance.

"Fucking cunt!" one of the men yelled out as he charged at her.

Before he could get even five feet from her, a fist planted itself right into his chest with all the force of a rhino. The man was soon sent flying backward, crashing through not only a table but straight through the wall. Naruto stood up and looked at the last two men coldly, "I suggest you leave this woman alone." The dead tone in the blond's voice caused the two men two shudder, Naruto sent a dose of killing intent their way and smiled when they began stumbling over themselves in their haste to leave. Naruto sighed and was about to turn around, until a pair of arms around his waist.

"That… was so… so romantic… Naruto-kun."

Naruto felt a slight shiver pass through him as Yugao pressed her assets into his back while struggling to stand up properly. Naruto turned around in her grip as he pulled her arms off of him, placing one around his neck as he held her up by her waist. Naruto turned to the bartender, "I'm sorry for the damage, please put it under the tab name Uzumaki Namikaze." Many of the patrons began to whisper at the name, having recognized it and him. Naruto ignored this as he sent an apologetic expression to his friends, before leaving with Yugao.

"Who was that?" Ino asked with a hint of Curiosity and jealousy, "and how did she know Naruto-kun?"

"I don't know but a drunk like her doesn't deserve someone like Naruto!" Sakura said in an angry voice.

Ino looked at Sakura and grinned, "Why Sakura is that jealousy in your voice?"

Said girl's face turned the same color as her hair, "d-don't be ridiculous I'm not jealous! I just don't think someone like her is good enough for Naruto!"

Ino just grinned a knowing grin; it was at that moment that Kiba decided to make his presence known.

"Who cares who she ish! That chick wash hot!"

Both Ino and Sakura got tic marks, looking at each other they both nodded. Rearing their fists back, the two women smashed them into the back of Kiba's head. The end result was Kiba's face getting sent right into the wooden table, with said table breaking and sending Chouji's food all over the place. Chouji looked at the food and soon began to cry anime tears, while Kiba was knocked unconscious with swirls in his eyes.

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Naruto resisted the intense urge to groan, he wondered how it was that he found himself in situations like this. He was unsure whether it was a blessing or a curse but every time a beautiful woman was in some kind of trouble, he seemed to be in the right place at the right time to help. It happened with Koyuki, as well as several other Daimyo's, it happened with Mei, it happened with Konan and it happened with Yugito and Anko. Now it was happening with Yugao, and while he did not mind helping her. Quite the contrary, in fact, he was more than happy to finally be able to help her rather than the other way around. He really wished she would change her topic of conversation.

They were currently wandering aimlessly since the woman was refusing to tell him where she lived and he could not remember. Worse than that Yugao's choice of conversation was of the things she and Hayate used to do… things that should forever remain private.

"And did you know… did you know that Hayate-kun is a… is such a pervert?" Yugao asked with a giggle. "I remember this one time… when he wanted… us to play out this one scene, it… was from one of the Icha… Icha books…"

And so Naruto tried to ignore the purple-haired woman as Yugao went into explicit detail of her and Hayate's sex life, something he would never in a million years want to hear about. "Um… Yugao-chan, not to be rude or anything, but could you please tell me where you live so I can escort you home?" Naruto asked after finally having enough listening to her sex talk, which was something he would have expected from Anko.

He was forced to stop walking when Yugao began to shake, Naruto turned his head to look at her and frowned wondering if she was cold. That was when he noticed that there were now tears coming out of her eyes, which were hidden by her bangs. Naruto felt a twinge of guilt at seeing this, feeling this was somehow his fault for sounding so abrupt. He had always hated watching women get hurt and it was worse when it was someone close to him. Naruto put a hand under Yugao's chin, gently lifting it up so he could see her eyes.

Grayish brown met cerulean blue. When Yugao saw Naruto's eyes which if she and any other girl that ever saw them were honest with themselves, were easily the most beautiful eyes ever seen, she instantly felt warm and safe. Of course, this caused her to start tearing up even more, as she lunged at the blond shinobi and began crying into his chest. Naruto had absolutely no clue what to do in this situation, one minute she was talking about her sex life with her former lover Hayate and the next she's crying her eyes out. So he did what he always did when trying to comfort a woman. He simply pulled her closer, resting one hand on her mid-back while the other began to run through her hair. Naruto began to whisper sweet nothings in Yugao's ear, letting her know that he was right here for her. It seemed like several hours when in truth it was only fifteen minutes that they had been like this, Yugao's breath eventually began to even out and Naruto realized she had fallen asleep.

"She didn't even tell me where she lives," Naruto muttered to himself with sighed. Knowing he could not leave her here, Naruto gently lifted the woman up bridal style and began his trek to his house. When he got to the gate, Naruto let his chakra flare open it. Walking into the yard Naruto made a clone to open the door, as he walked in the clone closed it and followed the original. Naruto made his way upstairs and chose one of the rooms, having the clone open it so he could make his way inside. The clone followed him and went over to the bed, lifting the sheets before dispelling.

Naruto gently set the purple-haired woman in the bed, taking off her shoes and moving over to place them by the door. He walked back and brought the sheets up over Yugao, who was mumbling Hayate's name in her sleep and looked like she was having a nightmare. Naruto tucked her in and sat down on the bed, running his hands through her hair until whatever she was dreaming of seemed to subside. The blond shinobi frowned as he looked at the woman; while he had noticed how bad she looked when they had met at the memorial stone, she had not looked nearly as bad as she did now. The bags under her eyes were much more prominent, showing that she had gotten barely any sleep and was probably overworking herself with missions. Her breathing was also sounding a little strained, while Naruto was no medical ninja, he was more than skilled in the medical field to recognize that her injuries from her last mission had not healed yet.

Knowing she was a friend of Yugao's, Naruto had explained his history with the purple-haired Anbu to Anko and asked if she knew what exactly was going on with Yugao. She had informed him that Yugao had not been doing well since Hayate's death, it seemed that no matter what her friends did nothing seemed to work. Anko had hoped that Naruto could somehow help Yugao since he had a small history with her and no one else was able to do anything. Unfortunately, the blond did not even know where to start, though that did not mean he would not do anything. Naruto brushed some of the hair out of Yugao's face, leaning down he kissed her on the forehead before getting up and leaving.

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The next morning Yugao Uzuki woke up with a massive hangover, groaning she held onto her head as she sat up in bed. She slowly opened her eyes, so that they would not get hurt from her oversensitive eyes overloading from the light in the room. It was then that she realized she was not in her apartment, nor in any of her friend's apartments. She looked around and saw that the room she was in was nice, it reminded her of some of the four and five-star hotels she had stayed at when dealing with nobles. The bed was a deep crimson color, with soft and plush pillows. On the left-hand side was a dresser with a reading lamp on it, farther along the wall was a door that led to a walk-in closet. On the other side was a door that was slightly ajar to show a bathroom, no doubt it would be just as opulent as the room she was in now. The carpet looked extremely soft and matched the color of her bed; meanwhile, the walls were a light blue that contrasted with the sheets and floor.

As she looked around the room, Yugao tried to remember what had happened last night. She could not remember too much, she remembered going out on another S rank mission and had almost gotten herself killed when they ended up fighting an S rank missing ninja and several Chunin level ninja. It had only been thanks to one of her comrades carrying her back to Konoha while she had only been half-conscious and near death from blood loss that she survived. After she had woken up Yugao snuck out of the hospital like usual, she then went to look for her friends in the hopes they would want to get a drink. However, she had not been able to find any of them, deciding she did not care Yugao had gone to get drunk by herself. After that things got fuzzy, she remembered a fight of some kind, feeling really bubbly, then feeling depressed, and finally feeling completely safe. She was unsure what to make of this; however, she knew that whoever had given her that last feeling, which she had not felt since Hayate's death, must live here.

Getting out of bed, Yugao felt her legs wobble a bit and had to wait for a moment to regain her balance. Once she did the young woman checked herself over and sighed in relief when she noticed the only thing that was out of place on her was the fact that she had no shoes on. Looking around she spotted her shoes near the door, moving over despite the headache she had Yugao put on her shoes. She then opened the door and looked out, one side had a staircase while the other had a door. Not seeing anyone Yugao moved to the staircase, walking down as she made her way to the first floor.

About halfway down the stairs, an absolutely heavenly aroma hit her nose, Yugao soon found herself following the mouth-watering scent. She stopped where the scent seemed to be and found herself in a kitchen, looking around she blinked in surprise as she noticed who was cooking. It was Naruto wearing a pair of what looked like workout sweats of some kind, flipping some kind of pancake in the frying pan he held. Yugao stayed in her spot for a long while as she looked at what, in her head, was a really odd scene. That was when Naruto turned around to put the pancake, which Yugao noticed was flat, down in a dish, and saw her.

Naruto gave the woman a large smile, "good morning Yugao-chan! How did you sleep?"

Yugao blinked before remembering her manners, "oh um, I slept fine… how about you?"

"Pretty good," Naruto replied as he poured some batter onto the pan, "why don't you go sit down while I finish cooking breakfast, it should only be another minute or two."

Unable to really think properly due to the scene before her Yugao merely nodded, walking over to the table and taking a seat. Several minutes later Naruto came to her with an empty plate and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. He set some pills on her plate, making her look at him and quirking an eyebrow.

"There hangover pills," Naruto explained as he walked back into the kitchen to grab a large dish filled with the flat pancakes. "I came up with them when I was traveling with Ero-sensei, the man would always wake up in the morning with a serious hangover." Naruto set the dish down, "I created those so I didn't have to wait for him to get over it naturally to train me."

Yugao nodded and despite still feeling out of sorts cracked a smile; it was just like Naruto to give someone in authority such a disrespectful name, she remembered the times she had been the boy's bodyguard and he had barged in on the Hokage, calling him Ojisan. She grabbed the pills off her plate and swallowed them with some orange juice, sighing in relief as she felt her headache disappear. "That feels so much better," Yugao said, "thank you Naruto."

Naruto grinned at her as he served her a plate of the flat pancakes, "not a problem Yugao-chan, you know I'm always willing to help a friend."

Yugao smiled one more time before she turned her attention to the food; it had to be the oddest looking breakfast she had ever seen. The pancakes were completely flat and were rolled up, stuffed inside were various fruits and some kind of cream cheese. She picked up a fork and cut a piece off, "what is this?" she asked as she looked at Naruto.

The blond shrugged, "something I found in my mom's cookbook, there called crepes. You'll have to tell me how they are since this is the first time I've ever cooked them."

Yugao looked at the food with a small amount of apprehension, back when she had been watching Naruto the blond had been a terrible cook. All he had been able to cook was instant ramen, and that was only because all you had to do was pour water into it, put it into a microwave, and set the timer. Still, it did not look bad, and it certainly smelled delicious. In the end, she decided not to be rude she took a bite of the food, her eyes promptly widened as the absolutely amazing burst of flavor overcame her. The food was sweet and literally melted in her mouth, soon enough all reservations were gone and Yugao was stuffing her mouth like never before. However, she stopped when she heard a laugh, looking up she found Naruto laughing at her and instantly blushed in embarrassment.

"So I take it the food is good then?" Naruto asked with mirth clearly visible in his eyes.

Yugao blushed even more as she began to feel absolutely mortified with how terrible and messy she had started to eat, she put down her fork as she tried to regain some of her dignity. "It's delicious," she complimented though her red cheeks remained, "I honestly don't think I've ever tasted something this good." She looked over at him and noticed that his plate was empty, "aren't you going to eat?"

Naruto shook his head, "it wouldn't matter if I did since I'm just a clone." Yugao looked at him in surprise; she had not even realized she had been talking to a clone this whole time. "The real Naruto is most likely just finishing with his workout; I was made to make you two breakfast and keep you company until he got here."

Yugao had to smile at Naruto's thoughtfulness, knowing that he cared so much about her invoked an oddly warming feeling in her.

"Good morning Yugao-chan."

Yugao blinked as the clone at the seat dispelled, and a few seconds later another Naruto took its place and began piling crepes on his plate. He paused for a moment as the memories of the clone hit him; he looked over at Yugao and grinned. "I'm pleased to know you like my food so much," Naruto told her.

"It's really good," Yugao said as she repeated what she told the clone, "where did you learn to cook?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Well when I was traveling with Ero-sensei I got to try a lot of different foods besides ramen. I guess after a while I just wanted to try and cook for myself, so I went to a library and grabbed several cookbooks, and well…" he trailed off with a shrug.

The rest of the meal was eaten in comfortable silence, as Naruto hummed a soft tune and Yugao went into her own thoughts. The young woman was feeling a bit confused as she ate there with Naruto, a part of her loved it, this warm feeling that she had been missing for so long. And yet another part of her felt like she was betraying Hayate, that feeling what she had felt with him when she was with another person was a betrayal to him. Her thoughts began to get more and more distraught and depressing as she continued this line of thought, eventually, they became too much and she stood up.

"Yugao-chan is something wrong?" Naruto asked as he too stood up.

"I- I'm sorry Naruto but I have to go," Yugao said as she headed towards the door.

Before she could reach it a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, causing the young woman to stiffen. "Yugao," Naruto said in a soft tone that belied how worried he was, "what's wrong? Please talk to me."

"I-" the young woman's voice cracked as she shook the tears from her eyes, "I'm sorry I can't." with that she shook herself out of Naruto's arms, opening the door she left before Naruto could try and stop her.

For a long moment, the blond shinobi just stood there, wondering how he could help the woman who had helped him when he was a child. He closed his eyes for a moment, deciding that he would talk with Anko and Kurenai when he got the chance. He looked over at the clock on the wall and noticed that he had a meeting with Shikamaru and Kakashi in a little while; soon he too was out of the door and on his way.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you ready Anko?" Naruto asked as he, Anko, and Iruka once again found themselves in the hospital.

It was the last day before the chunin exams started and Naruto had been busy, whether it was going to meet up with Shikamaru and Kakashi or looking for a way to get rid of Anko's cursed seal, the blond had once again barely found any time for himself. Despite not having much time, Naruto had been able to find out a way to get rid of the cursed seal. Through his study he had learned two things; the first was that the seal was actually a transference of a bloodline that existed on someone. Jiraiya had told him it was a man named Juugo, a person who was considered to be psychotic and violent. He was in one of Orochimaru's hideouts, they had not been able to find out anything else but it was enough. The second was that the seal that allowed the enzymes from Juugo to work was made from a mixture of Orochimaru's blood and chakra. This was why he had to bite the person to inject the enzyme; each fang contained a portion of Orochimaru's blood and chakra as well as the enzymes.

The way Naruto planned on getting rid of the seal was in theory quite simple, in execution, however, it would be difficult and painful. Using Anko's weight in her own blood Naruto had created a large sealing array in the room he planned to use, the blood was mixed with Naruto's chakra, which he would use to overpower Orochimaru's chakra. In essence, what he was doing was fighting Orochimaru for dominance over the cursed seal; with him in control, he could simply will the seal away.

Anko nodded, "I was ready the moment I got this thing."

Naruto nodded, "all right then, I want you to sit in the center of the array and we'll begin."

Anko gave another nod, kissing Iruka on the cheek she moved over to the center with Naruto, where she sat down. Naruto got out his brush and the special ink he had created from her blood and his chakra, the first thing he did was get rid of his binding seal. With that done he moved onto the hard part, "Anko, this is going to hurt but I need you to activate the cursed seal." Unfortunately, he had found out that because of the pain-numbing effects medicine had on the nervous system, Anko could not use any since her body would be unable to fight the seal's effects and that could end up destroying her body from the inside out.

He watched as Anko activated the seal, gritting her teeth as the pain began to spread throughout her body. Naruto dipped his brush in the ink and began to create his seal, covering every inch of the activated cursed seal with his own. The process was only around fifteen minutes, but to Anko, it felt like an eternity. When it was done she heard Naruto mutter, 'now comes the hard part'. The blond began to inject his own chakra into his seal, using it to try and overpower Orochimaru's tainted chakra. Anko soon began to scream as the pain became overbearing, collapsing to the floor as Naruto's chakra and Orochimaru's began to push against each other for dominance in the seal.

Iruka who was still standing to the side was about to rush over, but a glance from Naruto stopped him, if he interfered his chakra could easily tip the balance of power in the seal. Naruto felt sweat trickle on his forehead as he continued, watching the seal go from blue to black and back again as the struggle continued. The problem with what he was doing was that Naruto had to be careful with how much chakra he put into the seal, too much and Anko would suffer from chakra overload, too little and he would not be able to get rid of Orochimaru's chakra. Naruto gave one last push of chakra, watching as the seal turned blue and stayed that way. Naruto sighed in relief as he shut off his chakra flow, gently lifting Anko who had passed out sometime during the process. Naruto looked at the cursed seal which was now blue, having had Orochimaru's chakra exercised. Naruto took his hand and placed it over the seal, using another seal he had prepared he sucked all of his chakra out of her system, making the cursed seal disappear as if it never was.

Naruto looked over at Iruka who had finally come over, "get her trench coat."

Iruka blinked before nodding dumbly and going back to grab Anko's trench coat, he walked back and gave it to Naruto who wrapped it around Anko. Standing up he gave the purple-haired snake mistress to Iruka, "it's done, the seal is gone."

Iruka looked at Anko's neck and noticed that the seal was indeed gone, he gave a large smile as he thought of how happy Anko would be when she learned of this. "Thank you Naruto," Iruka said to his little brother figure.

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he gave a smile, "not at all, you don't think I would let my precious people suffer like that did you?" He put his hand down and got serious again, "make sure that you give her a lot of fluids, also make sure she waits a month before doing anything that requires her to use chakra."

Iruka nodded, thanking Naruto again before he left.

Naruto created several Kage Bushin's and had them clean up the room before he too left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shikamaru sighed and resisted the urge to mumble troublesome, even though that was exactly what this was. The genin who managed to get past the genjutsu down below were now starting to filter into the room, taking seats at the many tables around it. Unlike last time when they had desks when he had taken the exams, this time there were several dozen rounded tables. Each table had three chairs, making it obvious that they were meant for teams to sit. the Chunin watchers were on three sides of the room, while Shikamaru was in front. On the walls all around the room were dozens upon dozens of posters, which caught the eyes of many of the genin.

Shikamaru waited for about thirty minutes for any genin teams who were lagging behind, before nodding to one of the Chunin close the door. Shikamaru stood up and with a lazy expression got started with the test, "alright listen up you troublesome children…" many genins sweatdropped at the lazy tone in their proctor's voice, which said proctor ignored as he began to explain the test to them. "As you know this is the first stage of the Chunin exams, I want you to listen as I explain the rules because it would be too troublesome to go over them again." Shikamaru paused as he looked around, "the first rule, there can be no talking during this test. If either I or the seers see you talking, you will get two points docked off. For those who get seen three times, you will be automatically disqualified. The second rule is you are not allowed to look anywhere but in front of you, again two points will be docked off if you do this and three times getting caught, will get you sent out of here. The fourth rule, any ninja caught cheating will get two points docked off as well, if you haven't figured out what will happen when you're caught three times, then that sucks for you because I'm not gonna explain again. Now for the final rule, this is a team test meaning that if one of your teammates fails, so does the rest of the team…"

The genin soon erupted into shouts, telling Shikamaru how it was not fair and how that was the dumbest rule they ever heard. The Nara heir just groaned, why did I have to be picked for such a troublesome mission…

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto looked around the jonin room as he sat on one of the couches in it, he had decided since he was proctoring in this exam that it would be a good opportunity to hang out with his fellow jonin. The room itself was very basic; it looked almost like an apartment's main room. There was a kitchen area and a living area where the couches were located, which had a basic television set. Currently occupying the area beside himself was Kakashi, who was reading his book and giggling perversely, Genma who had gotten a genin team about two years ago, after he had gotten his promotion from Tokabetsu jonin to jonin. Ebisu who Naruto knew was Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon's sensei. And surprisingly enough Anko Mitarashi.

After their last mission to Umi and then Naruto getting rid of her cursed seal, he and Anko had become fairly good friends. The two were in many ways similar, mainly in how they had both been hated by the village for things beyond their control. Because of this, they had found something of kindred spirits in each other, and Anko had become a sister figure to him. A very creepy, blood-loving, psychotic sister, but a sister nonetheless. Often times when Iruka was at the academy or working, Anko would hang around with him, either going out to dango or ramen; depending on who won their spars.

Naruto turned to look at Ebisu, "so Konohamaru and his team are in the Chunin exams this year?"

"Yes," Ebisu said in his somewhat prissy voice as he adjusted his sunglasses. "They still have much to learn, but they have gotten stronger and understand the value of teamwork. I figured it would be best to let them see some of the competition, that way if they don't make Chunin this year they know how much harder they need to train."

Naruto nodded as Genma spoke up, "I hear you're actually one of the proctors this year?"

Naruto gave the man a grin, "of course! Baa-chan figured I was the best man for the job because of how totally awesome I am!"

For a moment all was silent as those who had not heard of Naruto's use of disrespectful suffixes for authority figures registered what he had just called the Hokage. When they did there were four different reactions, Ebisu looked like he was about to shit himself with a scandalous expression on his face as he gaped at the blond. Genma made several sputtering and choking noises, Kakashi ignored the whole thing as he gave a perverted giggle. Meanwhile, Anko had just fallen onto the floor, holding her sides as she took wheezing breaths while laughing.

"Damn kid," Genma said as he got himself under control, rolling the toothpick in his mouth around. "I always knew you had balls, what with those pranks you used to pull and all. But to call Hokage-Sama that…"

"You think that's bad," Anko said as she got back into her seat still wheezing, "You should hear what he calls Jiraiya."

Everyone turned to Naruto expectantly, causing the blond man to sweatdrop. "Er… well you see I figured since he had proclaimed himself to be a 'super pervert'," Naruto said as he put up quotes with his hands. "I figured that a good name for him would be Ero-sensei… or if he's not your sensei you could just all him Ero-Sennin."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Somewhere in Tsuki No Kuni, Jiraiya was spying on the bathhouses when he sneezed.

"Did you hear that?"

"It must be a pervert!"

"Let's get him!"

Jiraiya's eyes widened as the wall separating the male and female sides broke; several women in towels had somehow managed to get numerous weapons in their hands. From bats and pitchforks to giant butcher knives. One of the girls pointed to Jiraiya, "there he is! Let's beat him girls!"

Jiraiya paled before taking off, trying to avoid the deadly swings which were aimed at his man parts. Somehow he knew this was Naruto's fault, I'll get you for this gaki!

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"I take that back," Genma said, "kid you've got to have the biggest pair of brass balls I Have ever seen, to call two of the three Sennin something like that."

Anko grinned, "oh this kid got a pair all right, in fact, if it wasn't for Iruka-kun, I would take this kid home and…"

"Anko…" Naruto interrupted the woman with a blush, "I so do not need to hear that right now."

Anko pouted for a second before looking at the clock, "the lazy bastard should be about finished with his test…" she looked over at Kakashi who had just released another perverted giggle, "hey Cyclops aren't you, I don't know, going to go over there or something?"

Kakashi looked up from his book and looked over at the clock; he then just shrugged and went back to his book. "Nah," he said in a lazy voice, "I've still got at least three more hours…"

Everyone else in the room sweatdropped at the man's choice to be tardy.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Shikamaru sighed as the hour he gave the kids to finish their test came up. The test had been designed to make it so you had to cheat, but also make it increasingly difficult, like the test he had been given this one had questions that were far too advanced for the average genin. However, rather than have Chunin hiding in the room and writing the answers, Shikamaru had the answers hidden in the posters. The seats were strategically placed so that each genin could see several of the answers, but not all of the answers. And because they could not look anywhere other than in front of them, they had been forced to communicate the answers to each other. This meant that they had been forced to establish some form of communication since they were unable to talk. Some had done this through mores code, others had given foot nudges and some had just used eye contact. The last question had been a riddle that could only be solved when all of the previous questions had been answered. In the end, thirty-two of the seventy teams had passed, troublesome I thought it would be less…Shikamaru sighed, oh well. At least they were no longer his responsibility.

"Congratulations to all of those who have passed," Shikamaru said in the same lazy voice he had used throughout the whole exam. "All of you will now need to wait for your second proctor to get here, good luck in the next exam and I hope to never see your troublesome faces again." with that Shikamaru and the Chunin seers disappeared within a puff of smoke, leaving the genin to themselves.

"Man!" Konohamaru said as he stretched out in his seat, "I'm so glad that's over with!" Konohamaru let out a loud yawn, "That test was absolutely boring, and it was so hard and pointless!"

"I would rather take this test again than go where we have to go next," Udon said, "I hear that the second exam takes place in the forest of death…"

"I've heard a lot of rumors about that place," Moegi said as she agreed with Udon. "I heard that there are giant insects and tigers that love to feast on human flesh, it's supposed to be a really dangerous place."

"Who cares how dangerous it is!" Konohamaru said as he stood up and put a foot on his chair. "I'm not afraid of some forest of death! I will face anything that comes my way, only then will I be able to defeat Naruto-nii-san!"

Moegi and Udon both looked amused as Konohamaru went on another 'beat my rival' rants that had been getting more and more frequent. Ever since news of what Naruto did in Kiri reached Konoha, the young Sarutobi had started pushing himself even harder to beat his 'nii-san' and hero. Of course, they could not blame him; after all, they both felt quite a bit of hero worship for the blond shinobi too.

"Man that was so boring," an orange-haired genin from Kiri said. The young man looked to be about in his mid to late teens, with spiky orange hair and brown eyes with a height of 5'8". He was wearing a pair of white and black cameo-style pants, which were tucked into a pair of black shinobi sandals. On his torso was a sleeveless black shirt showing off his muscles, and wrapped on his left arm was his Kiri Hitea-ate. In his left hand was a large black sword with no guard with the tip on the ground, which he twirled the hilt of around in his hand. "Seriously could this be any more boring…"

"Shut up Ichigo," said the other male on the team. This man stood at a height of around 5'7" and had red hair done up in a head tie, making his head look like a pineapple with his Hitea-ate around his head. Around his eyes was a weird-looking tattoo that looked kind of like seals. Like his companion, he was wearing cameo pants, except they were in the opposite color. Likewise, his shirt was long sleeve instead of a short sleeve; on his hands were a pair of black fingerless gloves. "You just didn't like the test because it was too much for that tiny brain of yours to comprehend."

Ichigo growled as he stood up, "You want to say that again Renji!"

"Did you not hear me the first time?" Renji asked with a smirk.

"You better watch yourself squiggles, otherwise I might have to beat the crap out of you again," Ichigo said. Now his was his turn to grin as Renji stood up and glared.

"What did you call me Carrot top!"

"You heard me pineapple!"

Soon the two boys were face to face and glaring at each other.

"Will you two stop fighting!" asked the only girl in the group. This had had black eyes and black hair with a single bang going down the middle and was only around 5'1" in height. Unlike the others, she was wearing a black Shikkashou and Hakama, with tabi socks and sandals. Her Kiri Hitea-ate could be seen hanging around her neck.

"I'm gonna pound your face into the ground!"

"Bring it on strawberry!"

The girl soon gained several tic marcs, as her two teammates continued to glare at each other and insult each other.

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!"

Instantly the two boys were in their seats, along with everyone else in the room. "Sorry Rukia," they said with a pale face, not wanting to piss their teammate off.

Eventually, the genin all began to talk again as they waited for the second proctor of the Chunin Exams.

And waited…

And waited…

And waited…

"GAH!" Konohamaru yelled as he grabbed his hair, "where the hell is the second proctor! I swear if I have to wait one more minute I'm gonna beat the crap out of him!"

Many others nodded in agreement with the young Sarutobi's statement, thankfully at just that moment, their second proctor walked through the door. Many sweatdropped as this man looked even lazier than their first proctor, which they had not thought was possible. He looked up from his porno and gazed out across the students, with a single eye that was half-lidded in a lazy and uncaring manner. "Hmmm…" he mumbled to himself, "there's more than I thought there would be."

Konohamaru and Ichigo quickly stood up from their seats and yelled, "YOU'RE LATE!"

Kakashi looked at the two before giving everyone an… eye smile? "Well you see I was on my way here when I ran into a cat stuck in a tree, so I had to get it down. Only I found out that it was a black cat, so I had to take the long way around and that was when I got lost on the road of life…" Kakashi gave himself a mental pat on the back for coming up with such a brilliant excuse, which was really just combining several excuses he had already used when being late, but they didn't need to know that.

None of the genins were even able to say anything, having been so shocked at hearing such a lame excuse that it had rendered them speechless. Kakashi went back to his book as he spoke, "Anyway's, meet me at the entrance to training ground 44 in one hour, those who don't make it in an hour will be automatically disqualified. Ja ne!" with that Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the grumbling genin to get up and head to training ground 44.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi gave a perverse giggle as he read his book, Icha Icha: Civil War, special red addition. Oh, Chei-chan you naughty girl… looking up from his book for a moment he noticed that a few genins were starting to trickle in. shrugging he went back to his book, continuing his perverted giggling, much to many of the females' ire. After an hour of waiting, Kakashi snapped his book shut, putting it into his pouch before pulling out a bell.

"Now then this is the second stage of the Chunin Exam, I would like to welcome all of you to the forest of death," Kakashi said. Despite his voice being just as lazy as always, the genin began to sweat as the cyclopean jonin began to let out his killing intent. "Now the purpose of this exam is rather simple, each team will get a single bell," Kakashi lifted up his bell and jingled it. "Your purpose is to get at least one other bell in order to pass, you will have a total of five days to do this." He paused here for a moment, "however the teammate who does not have a bell will automatically fail."

Kakashi watched as the genin erupted into shouts of anger; it always amused him how easy it was to rile genin up. They were still so pissed from him being late that the Cyclops doubted they could even think straight. Finally deciding they had shouted enough, Kakashi shut them up with a burst of killing intent.

"Good now that I've got your attention I need you all to do something else," a Chunin appeared next to Kakashi with several sheets of paper. The jonin took a sheet from the top and showed it to everyone, "because we have a lot of people die in here every year, we are going to have you all sign these forms. Otherwise, we would not have a way to claim deniability when we have to return your corpse to your village!" Kakashi chirped in a cheerful voice as he gave the now pale genin an eye smile.

The Chunin began to hand out stacks of death wavers to the genin, telling them to pass them off. Once all the papers were signed, the genin went to their assigned gate where they were given a bell. Finally, the Kakashi's voice rang out over the speaker telling them to start, and the gate opened up. The genin began to speed off, not even aware of the dangers that awaited them.

Kakashi pulled his book back out and began to read for a moment, "so what do you think?" he asked seemingly to no one.

There was a slight rustle in the trees as a dark orange blur shot out, landing on the ground a little ways away. Naruto stood up and shook his head at his sensei, "I cannot believe you actually gave them a bell test. Seriously Kakashi it's like you have some kind of bell fetish," Naruto finished with a cheeky grin.

Kakashi let out a huff, "hey I'll have you know that the bell test is a team seven tradition."

Naruto merely laughed, "right I suppose it is…" he was going to say more when several screams pierced the air. Naruto looked out into the forest, "well looks like the fun has started already."

"Seems so," Kakashi said as he flipped another page of his book.

"Well I'm going to go in," Naruto said, "I'll see yeah later sensei!" The blond tossed a wave over his shoulder before he jumped into the forest and sped off.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was smiling as he lay on the bed that was located in one of the rooms reserved for the proctor. His smile widened when he heard a low moan from the woman that his hands were currently trailing up and down, gently running along her back. Said woman was none other than the blue-haired beauty Konan, who had called for him to summon her just a little while ago. Unfortunately, since they were in the middle of the second stage of the Chunin Exams and also in Konoha, Naruto could not take her out like he usually did. But Konan did not seem to care, having told him that as long as she could be with him then nothing else mattered.

"Morning sleeping beauty," Naruto said with a grin as Konan lifted her head up and looked at him with her beautiful amber eyes.

Konan smiled at him as she leaned into him and gave him a kiss, Naruto felt a shiver pass through his spine as he felt the woman's nearly unclothed breasts rub against his chest. He was now absolutely positive that Konan did in fact wear her nightclothes just to tease him if for no other reason than the coy smile she gave him after every time she noticed his reaction. The blue-haired woman had been getting a lot bolder in her teasing recently, not that Naruto was going to complain since he greatly enjoyed her more teasing personality.

"Morning yourself," Konan mumbled into his lips as they continued to kiss.

Naruto pulled the blue-haired woman even closer, licking her bottom lip as he asked for entrance. Konan opened her mouth, but rather than let him in she tried to push her tongue into his mouth. However, Naruto was not so easily outdone and the two soon began to duel as they let their tongues push against each other. Having more experience Naruto was the winner in their duel, he began to eagerly explore the woman's mouth. She tasted of Flame-broiled fish, which Naruto knew was her favorite food and something he would cook for her whenever they got together. Eventually, Naruto retracted his tongue and let Konan do some exploring of her own.

When they broke apart Konan smiled at him as she laid her head on his chest, "You know I had a really good dream last night."

"Oh?" Naruto asked as his hands began to slowly trail up and down Konan's back again, "I hope I was in it," he said in a teasing voice.

"Mmm, you were," Konan said as she gave light moans from Naruto's touch. "I had dreamt we finally achieved true peace," Konan gave a content sigh. "We got married and had a family, and had two children a boy and girl… our son's name was Yahiko."

Naruto smiled as he closed his eyes and listened to Konan, "that does sound like a good dream, when we have a son we'll name him that in honor of your friend." His blue-haired lover gave Naruto's chest a light kiss, before resting her cheek against Naruto's chest. "And what about our daughter?" asked Naruto.

"I don't know, I didn't hear her name in the dream," Konan looked up at Naruto, "what would you name our daughter?"

Naruto closed his eyes in thought for a moment before smiling, "Kushina."

"After your mother?" Konan asked with a somewhat sad smile.

Naruto nodded as he opened his eyes, "Yes because I never knew my parents I am never able to feel as close to them as I want. I know that a part of me loves them, but another part doesn't really know enough to love them. All I know are the stories I hear, but I've never met them or anything… I feel that maybe if I name our child after her, I can in some way be closer to my mom, you know?"

"I do," Konan said as she brought her hand up and began to draw circles on the blond's chest, "I only knew a bit about my parents. They died when I was young, though I can't even remember their names anymore. I was about six years old when they died, seven when Yahiko found me scrounging through the trash in one of the slums in Ame."

Naruto kissed Konan on the head as he buried his face in her hair, letting her scent invade his nose. They stayed like that for a while until Naruto spoke again, "so what has Akatsuki been up to?"

Konan sighed as she realized they would have to talk business, "so far Akatsuki only has the Rokubi and the Sanbi which Deidara and 'Tobi' just captured." Naruto nodded when Konan quoted the name, Tobi, knowing who she was talking about. "I think Kisame and Itachi are currently going after the Gobi, but I can't be sure. Since you killed three of their members, the others have been forced to switch targets in order to compensate, I'm sorry." Konan said as she lowered her head, slightly ashamed at not being able to give better information.

Naruto frowned as he lifted Konan's face-up, placing a chaste kiss on her lips before speaking. "Kona-chan you know that I don't really care about the information, the only reason I'm even considering letting you stay with them is because of Gaara, Yugi-chan, and Bee. The fact that you have information on what Akatsuki is doing is more than enough to help, though I would personally prefer if you stayed with me…"

Konan smiled at him, pleased to know that he was so concerned for her. "Thank you, but you know that no matter how much I wish to, I can't leave right now."

Naruto did indeed know, if she left now it would become obvious she was a spy and traitor. They would then hunt her down and kill her, and Naruto knew that while he was strong, strong enough to fight almost everyone in Akatsuki. He still might not be able to defeat Pain, and he knew for a fact that right now he could not defeat Madara. "I know," Naruto sighed before giving Konan a grin, "doesn't mean I can't dream though right?"

Konan giggled as she shook her head, missing Naruto's mischievous smirk. In one quick move, Naruto flipped the two over, startling Konan who was now under Naruto as the blond straddled her waist. "You know I'm kind of tired of talking about all of this Akatsuki business."

Kona grinned when she saw Naruto's smirk, "Then what do you want to talk about?"

In answer, Naruto closed the distance between them, for the rest of their time together the two of them used their lips for something other than discussion.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Five days had come and gone and all those who had passed the second test were now standing in one of the Forest of Death Tower's many chambers. Tsunade looked out over the genin and frowned at the number of teams that had passed, eight teams had passed so there was a total of twenty-four genin there. That was even more than when the Konoha eleven had been in the Exams, it also meant they were going to have a preliminary test. She should have known Kakashi would be too lazy to make a test that was actually hard, she was going to pound that open pervert jonin for not coming up with another test.

Standing a little ways from Tsunade, Kakashi let out a shiver but chalked it up to the weather and continued to read his book.

"I would like to congratulate you all for making it this far in the Chunin exams," Tsunade said as she decided to get the ball rolling. "Before we begin the final stage, I regret to inform you that-"

She was unable to say anymore, as she and everyone else in the room became completely gobsmacked. Just before the platform she was on, something none of the people here had seen was happening. Ice was shooting out from the ground, they were large towering ice spikes that came out of the floor and each other. The entire thing looked like a large and creepy ice castle, it was something you would think you would find in a fantasy book. Once the ice castle was fully created it began to crack, leaving long lines to run up and down its entire length as arcs of lightning shot out from the cracks. Finally, the entire structure shattering into a million pieces, forcing everyone there to cover their eyes. When they opened them again they saw one Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze standing where the ice castle had been.

Naruto grinned at the surprised and shocked looks he was getting from his peers, as well as the looks of envy he was getting from the genin. "Hokage-Sama why don't I explain what's going on," Naruto said as he turned to her.

"Uhh… ok…" Tsunade said in a dumb-founded voice.

Naruto grinned as he turned back to the genin, "alright! My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and I'm going to be your proctor for the third exam!" Naruto felt a smirk come on his face as many eyes widened in recognition, the Iwa team that managed to pass actually looked like they were going to shit themselves in fear. And I haven't even unleashed my killing intent, Naruto thought with a grin, damn I'm good! he soon began to speak, "now as Hokage-Sama was about to say, unfortunately too many teams ended up passing the last test. This means that we need to decrease the number of genins who will be in the last exam, which means we are going to be holding preliminaries."

"Wait you mean right now!" a genin from Kusa asked.

"But we just got out of that damn forest!" one of the Konoha genins shouted

Naruto shrugged, "not my problem; had you not taken so long you would have had more time to rest. Now then I want all of you to move up to the fighters balcony when your name appears on that board." Naruto pointed to the board behind and above him, "I want you to come downstairs and onto the arena floor."

The genin went upstairs as the board began to run through names before selecting two random ones from the genin who passed.

The first two matches passed by in a blur to Naruto, who did not find anything particularly skilled in the participants. The first match was a man from Iwa named Kanashi Motaka, and a Suna genin called Otame Shinji. Otame was able to win by using a wind jutsu to cut through Kanashi's stone armor and knock the kid out by smashing some of the excess rock on the Iwa genin's temple. The second fight was between a Kumo kunoichi named Akira Kazuchi, and a Kusa shinobi named Kayale Tenabe. Akira was able to win by using a Raiton jutsu to scramble Kayale's nervous system, allowing her to knock the boy out.

'Renji Abari vs. Kaen Nokaza'

Naruto watched as the two fighters took to the arena, the red-headed Kiri shinobi standing on one side. And the Iwa shinobi, a man with black hair and gray eyes, stood on the other.

"Are both fighters ready?" asked Naruto, receiving a nod from each fighter in turn. Naruto's hand made a slashing motion, "then Hajime!"

Renji pulled his katana from his sheath as he charged towards the Iwa genin, who was currently going through hand seals. When Kaen was finished he slammed his hand into the ground and shouted.

"Doton: Doroku Gaeshi! (Earth Release: Earth Shield)"

An earth wall appeared before Renji, forcing the Kiri swordsman to swerve and change course. While this was happening the Iwa shinobi was going through more hand seals, finishing them just as Renji appeared on the left-hand side.

"Doton: Doryuu Dango!"

A giant mud ball was launched out of Kaen's mouth, heading on a collision course with the Kiri genin. However, Renji poured some chakra to the bottom of his feet, putting on a burst of speed and dodging to the right. He then came in close to Kaen and aimed a slash at the other genin's head, however, Kaen was able to keep out of the way for the most part and only had his jacket slashed. He took out a kunai as Renji charged again, the two were soon fighting a close quarter's battle. As the fight progressed it became clear that Renji was better, not only did he have a sword that extended his reach but he was just plain more talented. In the end, Renji made the Iwa genin duck under a slash, and then smashed his foot right into the man's face sending the Iwa genin sprawling to the ground, unconscious.

"Winner by knockout is Renji Abari!" Naruto announced as the red-haired genin went back to his team.

The next match was between a Kumo shinobi named Raiden, and a Konoha genin called Datenta Onmikotsu. The battle was fairly well matched until Raiden starting channeling lightning chakra into his hands, making it so that even if Datenta was not hit he would still get a mild shock. The Konoha genin eventually received so many electrical burns that he just ended up passing out from the pain.

'Konohamaru Sarutobi vs. Notaru Ikaze.'

"Alright!" Konohamaru shouted as he forsook the stairs and simply jumped over the railing. Landing on the floor with a spring in his step, he looked at his opponent and grinned.

The other genin was a Kusa shinobi who was fairly tall and had a blocky build, obviously, he was a taijutsu fighter. He did not react to Konohamaru's eagerness and merely got into his taijutsu stance.

"Are both fighters ready?" asked Naruto receiving a nod from Notaru.

"Of course I'm ready!" Konohamaru yelled, "Let's do this!"

Naruto grinned, "then Hajime!"

Notaru kicked off the ground and rushed towards Konohamaru, meanwhile, the young Sarutobi was going through several hand seals. When finished he placed a hand to his mouth, as he called out his jutsu.

"Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu!"

A decent-sized fireball shot from Konohamaru's mouth and barreled towards Notaru who was forced to roll to the right in order to avoid being burnt to a crisp. When he got back up he noticed that Konohamaru was not in his original position, the Kusa genin was about to look around when he was forced to roll in order to avoid several kunai. Coming up he turned to the left and saw Konohamaru going through several more hand seals, he rushed up to the Konoha genin just as the young Sarutobi slammed his hands into the ground.

"Doton: Doryuu Taiga! (Earth Style: Earth Flow River!)"

A river of mud came out from the ground and smashed into the Kusa shinobi, knocking the man off balance. Naruto saw Konohamaru go through even more hand signs and recognized that the young boy was going to use one of Hiruzen's favorite collaboration jutsu.

"Katon: Endan! (Fire Release: Fire Bullet)"

A small flame bullet was launched from Konohamaru's mouth, igniting the mud river and consuming everything in it. The Konoha genin waited to see if his jutsu had worked, only to be surprised when he did not see Notaru anywhere. That changed when he fist rammed into the back of his head, sending the young boy sprawling across the ground. Thankfully Konohamaru was able to flip himself up and dodge another attack, thus began a taijutsu battle between the two. However Konohamaru despite being decent in taijutsu was not as good as the larger boy, he was forced to weave and dodge between strikes as bruises from several hits appeared on his skin. Realizing that he had to get out of the boy's reach, Konohamaru grabbed several smoke pellets from his pouch and threw them into the ground.

Managing to slip around the Kusa ninja's guard, Konohamaru gained some distance and tried to think of a plan. He had already used too much chakra, those three jutsu were C to B rank and more than most genin could perform. That left close quarter's combat, however, taijutsu was out of the question. Grabbing a scroll from his back, Konohamaru unsealed its contents to reveal a long black staff. He got into the Sarutobi style boujutsu stance, as he waited for the smoke to clear.

When it did Konohamaru ran at Notaru, launching a strike from the left. As the other man went to block Konohamaru switched and struck from the right, smacking the genin across his shoulder and making him stumble a bit. With the added reach and versatility the staff offered to the boy, Konohamaru was able to drive Notaru back. Eventually managing to crack the other genin in the back of the head, making the boy crumble to the floor.

"Winner by knockout is Konohamaru Sarutobi!" Naruto said with a grin.

"YES!" Konohamaru jumped into the air, "I'm the best!" He ran up the stairs to where his teammates were, getting congratulations from them.

The next match was between the last Iwa shinobi, a tall man called Hitore Gozan. And a Suna shinobi with black hair and green eyes, who went by the name Juka Carotake. The fight lasted a little longer than the others, as it was a pure taijutsu match and their styles contrasted with and counteracted each other. Hitore used his muscle and weight to give hard, heavy hits that broke bones. While Juka's style relied on speed, flexibility, and counter-attacking, but he could not do as much damage to the Iwa genin. Eventually, though Juka was able to win by launching a senbon into the other genin's neck, knocking the genin out cold.

'Moegi Utatane vs. Hanabi Hyuuga.'

The two fighters walked down to the arena floor and glared at each other, Naruto could tell they had some kind of rivalry going on. As the two stood on opposite sides Naruto looked at them, "are both fighters ready?" he asked and got a nod from each. "Then Hajime!"

Moegi threw several kunai at the Hyuuga girl, knowing that close range with her was suicide. Hanabi merely dodges and blocked the kunai, before continuing on her way towards the orange-haired girl. Moegi began to backpedal as she continued throwing kunai, trying to gain some distance between them. Unfortunately for the orange-haired genin, Hanabi was the worst possible opponent for her. Moegi was a genjutsu and medical ninja type, and she had not been training under Tsunade long enough to learn the woman's secret strength technique. Genjutsu would not work on Hanabi, and her taijutsu was only subpar since she rarely used it.

Despite this disadvantage when Hanabi managed to close the distance, Moegi stepped up her game and tried her best against the taijutsu specialist. The battle was not as long as the others, Moegi was only able to get in a few good hits as her tenketsu points were closed. When Moegi fell unconscious due to too many tenketsu points being closed, Naruto was forced to call the match.

"Winner by knockout is Hanabi Hyuuga!"

Said girl began to walk back up to the balcony, while the board began to call names again.

'Rukia Kuchiki vs. Talia Notami.'

Naruto watched as the two girls came down, neither really spoke. Talia the last Kusa genin took the left, while Rukia stood on the right and unsheathed her sword.

"Are both fighters ready?" Naruto asked as he received a nod from each, "then Hajime!"

Naruto jumped out of the way just a Rukia put on a burst of speed, Talia did not even have time to act as the Kiri genin slashed across her arm. The Kusa kunoichi hissed in pain, as the muscles in it were damaged enough that she would not be able to make hand seals for jutsu now. She threw several shurikens with her good hand, but Rukia just knocked them away as she came in. Talia was soon forced to dodge and move back as she attempted to put distance between her and the sword user, however, Rukia stuck on the woman like glue. In the end, Talia ran out of juice and was forced to forfeit.

"Winner by forfeit is Rukia Kuchiki!" Naruto called out, as Rukia went back up to the balcony to her team.

'Udon Mitokado vs. Hikari Kotone.'

Udon walked down to the ring, rather than getting in a ready stance he put his hands in his pouch. On the other side Hikari, a kunoichi from Suna who was a few years older than Udon got into the Suna Academy taijutsu style.

Naruto looked at both of them, "are both fighters ready?" as he received a nod from each he slashed his hand down, "then Hajime!"

As soon as the fight started Udon threw several shurikens at Hikari, then went through several hand seals.

"Ninpou: Shuriken Kage Bushin No Jutsu!"

Five shurikens became twenty-five as they sailed towards Hikari, they stabbed right into the Suna kunoichi. However, rather than blood coming out, flower petals flowed out of her body. Udon watched as Hikari's entire body soon dispersed into flower petals, he looked around waiting to see what happened.

"U-Udon-kun!"

Udon turned around and saw Moegi lying on the ground in a pool of blood, her hand was reaching out to him. For a second Udon began to freak out, before remembering that Moegi was in the hospital with her tenketsu closed. Genjutsu… Udon thought as he put his hand in the release seal.

"Kai!"

The vision wavered before dispersing; Hikari appeared right next to Udon with a kunai in hand. The Konoha shinobi ducked under a slash, planting a hand on the ground Udon lashed out with a kick, hitting her hand and causing her to drop her kunai. Reacting quickly Udon pulled out some ninja wire and attached it to a kunai, jumping back he swung it around and threw it at the kunoichi. Hikari soon found herself falling onto the ground as the wire wrapped around her, before she could even think of escaping Udon grabbed her kunai and placed it at her neck.

"Surrender," Udon commanded.

Hikari tried to think of a way to get out of her situation but soon realized there was nothing she could do. Sighing, the Suna kunoichi gave in, "I surrender…"

"Winner by forfeit is Udon!" Naruto said, as said genin cut Hikari from the wire and helped her up.

The next match was between two Konoha genin, who Naruto thought honestly did not belong in the Chunin Exams. Their battle reminded him of Sakura and Ino's fight during the time when he had been in the exams, meaning it was as bad as two fangirls duking it out. Like that battle, this one ended in a double knockout.

The second to last match was between a Kumo shinobi called Onoui Tateno, who was tall with black hair and red eyes. And a Konoha shinobi named Hisai Bameno, an older shinobi with brown hair and brown eyes. The battle did not last long as the two started throwing kunai and shuriken at each other, before moving onto taijutsu. Onoui managed to knock Hisai out by using a Kariwimi to fool the Konoha genin and neck chop him from behind.

'Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Geosa Wetoshe.'

Ichigo appeared on the arena floor as soon as his name appeared on the board, taking a few practice swings with what Naruto could only consider a giant butcher's knife. While Geosa just walked down and stood in his spot, waiting silently for the battle to start.

"Are both fighters ready?" Naruto asked, getting a nod from Geosa.

"Of course we are Blondie," Ichigo said in his cocky tone, "let's get this party started."

"Whatever you say strawberry," Naruto chuckled as the Kiri genin growled, "Hajime!" Naruto quickly shunshined away, appearing next to Tsunade.

A good thing he did too, since as soon as he started the battle Ichigo had blasted across the ring. The Kiri genin sent an overhead slash at Geosa, who sidestepped the attack. When the sword hit the ground, it formed a large crater. Ichigo did not even seem to notice as he swung his sword diagonally, hoping to bisect Geosa. Said genin jumped back but did receive a gash across his chest. Ichigo continued to stay on the Konoha shinobi's tail, slashing and hacking at his opponent. Knowing he could not stay on the defensive forever, Geosa reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out several smoke pellets. When Ichigo came in to attack again, the Konoha shinobi threw the pellets in the teen's face.

Jumping out of the expanding smoke screen, Geosa began going through several hand seals.

"Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu!"

A fire was launched from Geosa's mouth, heading towards the smokescreen. It had not even gone two feet when a large blue blade of energy sliced it in half, continuing on towards the Konoha genin. Geosa jumped out of the way, letting the blade slice into the wall instead of him. That was all the opportunity Ichigo need to appear right in front of him, beginning the game of cat and mouse again.

Naruto looked at Ichigo's blade as he analyzed the attack just used; interesting that seems to be a chakra-based attack similar to the ones the Samurai of Tatsu No Kuni use. However, it also has some fundamental differences, namely that it's stronger and takes less control to release it. Judging by the amount of raw chakra put into that attack, I feel it's safe to assume that the more chakra put into it the stronger the attack becomes. It may also have something to do with the sword he is using, which kind of reminds me of the swords that are used by the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu. I wonder if I can create a technique similar to that and use it with Susanoo.

Naruto looked back at the battle just in time to see Ichigo smash the pommel of his sword against Geosa's face. The Konoha shinobi landed on the ground completely dazed and out of it, seeing that the genin was not going to get up Naruto called the match.

"Winner by knockout is Carrot Top!"

"What did you call me fishcake!" Ichigo growled as he glared at the blond ninja.

Naruto grinned, "what you don't like your new nickname? Well, I suppose I can just call you strawberry again…"

"Now listen here you, I don't care if you are an S class shinobi I'll still kick your ass!" Ichigo shouted as he glared at Naruto.

Naruto gave him a smirk, "right you think that. But you should know even if by some miracle you did defeat me, Mei-chan would melt your balls off."

Ichigo paled as he remembered the rumor that this man and his Mizukage were very intimate with each other. While he himself had never seen the two of them together since he had always been on missions or at the academy. Many other people had, and would often speak about how romantic it was that their hero and Mizukage were together. He muttered an apology to the blond as he hurried back up to his team, leaving all of the ninjas who were not from Kiri confused.

Seeing that all the battles were now done, Naruto called the genin back down before beginning his small speech. "Congratulations to all of those who passed! You have truly shown that you are the best in your village, be proud that you have made it this far! Now the final exam will take place in one month, I suggest you use that time wisely to train and create strategies to defeat your opponents!" Naruto paused for a moment to let his words sink in, "now normally we would draw numbers and you would find out who you're facing. However we won't be doing that this time, in live combat you almost never know who your opponent is until you start fighting, so too shall it be with this tournament. Therefore I suggest you train to be able to counter any opponent you may come across! Good luck and I will see you in the exams!"

As the genin began to filter out, Naruto went over to Tsunade. Wanting to talk to her about something for the upcoming final exam.

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Omake: Repercussions of an author pt. 2

Naruto ran as the horde of fangirls followed him doggedly, trying to get him so they could do any number of uncouth activities with him. The blond was not sure how they found him, nor how they continued to find him and stay on his trail. It was like they were bloodhounds, or maybe they had some kind of Naruto sensor on them. In either case, he was forced to continue running. As he turned a corner he opened a door to one of the bars in the area, slamming it shut and hiding.

He did not even realize the danger he was now in.

Naruto peeked out of the window as his fangirls ran past his spot, screaming out to him about marriage, children, and why toast was always butter side up. As they did he swore to Kami that if he found out who let loose that he was the author to Loveless he would skin them alive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the Yamanaka flower shop Ino let out a loud sneeze, "I guess someone's talking about me," she rubbed her nose, "I hope whoever he is, is hot!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was just about to give a sigh of relief as the girls passed died down to a trickle when a familiar scent hit his nose and made him pale.

It was the scent of arousal.

Turning around Naruto found himself staring at what was apparently one of the many Naruto and Loveless fan clubs that had formed throughout Konoha. Naruto looked at the banners with his face and book on them, then turned his attention to the nearly four dozen blushing and drooling women were staring at him. He pressed his back on the door as he grabbed the handle.

"Uh… heh… hi girls," Naruto said weakly. That seemed to be the signal as all the women stood up and pointed at him.

"IT'S NAMIKAZE-SAMA! GET HIM GIRLS!"

Naruto shot out of the door like a rocket, as he began running from this new horde. Of course, with fangirls nothing ever goes right, and soon enough the first horde joined the second. As Naruto ran in fear of his life and man bits, he cried anime tears. Why is this happening to me!