13 13

As soon as the siblings left, Naruto bod a hasty goodbye to Konohamaru and shunshined out of there straight to training ground 6. That team, he noted doesn't train much, so they wouldn't mind him using their training ground. As he created a few shadow clones for sparring, Kurama briefly brought him into his mindscape.

" Naruto… do you know why that boy felt so familiar to you?" he asked, tails swaying behind him as he looked at Naruto.

Naruto folded his arms, "Good to know that it wasn't just me then. I believe that he is another jinchuriki."

Kurama nodded, "Exactly. But be on guard, his bijuu is dangerous and because of who is inside him, it's possible that the boy is completely mad."

Naruto tilted his head curiously. It's not every day that the nine-tailed fox says someone is powerful. "Just who is inside him, Kurama?"

" The one-tailed raccoon, Shukaku. He is the weakest of the tailed beasts, and bat shit insane," he said it with a serious face, at which Naruto would have laughed if not for the fact that he realized that another jinchuriki is roaming unchecked in Konoha.

Jinchuriki, according to the stuff he has read up until now, are usually sent into other villages so they can burn or crush it into the ground. And he didn't see any person with Gaara who was in charge of him. Kankuro and Temari certainly couldn't control him, evidenced by how much afraid they are of him.

Kurama continued, "You noticed the black rings around his eyes? It means that he hasn't slept in years, probably." Naruto went wide eyed at that, "What the hell?!"

Kurama nodded in complete seriousness, "Suna doesn't have any great seal masters, so the seal on that jinchuriki is quite loose, compared to yours. If the host falls asleep, Shukaku will take control and come out. Best be on guard, because he already got you in his sights, no doubt from sensing my presence within you."

Naruto agreed, "Thanks for the warning, Kurama. I'll keep it in mind." With that, he exited his mindscape and focused on the defending exercise. As he blocked and dodged every strike from his clones, he hoped that Kakashi would enter them in the chunin exams. Then another thought came to his mind, more specifically, a person.

He smiled wistfully as he punched a clone in the ribs, dispelling it. He had never seen such a beautiful girl ever before. Then again, there weren't many girls of his age in Konoha, and Ino and Sakura didn't count. He knew from the day he saw them that he wouldn't be liking them anytime soon.

Temari was different, however and in a good way. Her looks were quite exotic, especially her eyes. He had never seen eyes of that color and he had to admit, it was quite easy getting lost in them for him. He knew, from his own observations, that his own eye color was one of a kind in all of Konoha. Her being a blonde like him was only a plus point in his eyes.

From what he had observed and could tell, she and the two other shinobi were siblings, with Temari being the oldest. It was pretty easy to reach that conclusion. Temari and Gaara shared the same eyes and facial shape, but Temari shared the shape of her eyes with Kankuro, not to mention the way she acted with him. Very much like an older sister who was used to bashing her brother's head but didn't because they were in public.

And that smirk, oh kami. He could say with full certainty that it was the sexiest smirk he had seen among the girls of his age, which was quite ironic seeing he created the sexy jutsu. Her smile was not far behind, though it could easily beat her smirk when coupled with the very pretty blush that came over her face while she was looking at him.

He could not wait to see her again.

Team seven was standing on the bridge and as usual, waiting for their tardy mess of a sensei. It had been almost three hours, when Sakura finally cracked.

With a scream of frustration that no doubt scared the birds resting a mile away, she ranted, "Argh! Why does Kakashi-sensei always make us wait when he's the one who always calls us?!"

She began ranting about she had woken up late and hadn't had the chance to blow dry her hair. Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other, sharing a look of shared suffering. While Naruto had just turned up twenty minutes ago, he still couldn't bear Sakura's incessant nonsense.

' Why the hell does she have to be so damn loud every time?' was the thought that went through the boys' heads.

Naruto finally sensed Kakashi's presence heading their way and straightened up. Sasuke, who had learned to read Naruto's body language after a while, straightened up as well, knowing that his teammate had sensed someone coming their way.

True enough, there was a puff of smoke, which turned out to be Kakashi. Waving a hand at them, he had the never to cheerfully excuse himself, "Hello there. I got lost on the road of life today…"

"Only someone like you could get lost on a one-way road," Naruto grumbled, hands in his pockets and giving Kakashi a deadpan look.

"…..I'll pretend you didn't say that and get to the point." He held up three application tickets, "I nominated you three for the chunin selection exams. You are not forced to take it, however. You have a choice whether to take part in it or not." How he managed to say in his ever lazy tone of voice and still sound serious was beyond Naruto's understanding. Must be innate talent, he mused.

"Though if you do decide to take them, go to the academy in six days at three in the afternoon, room 301," he added.

They were dismissed after that. Naruto suggested that they get lunch together, after which they can go their separate ways to train. While they were walking to Ichiraku ramen, Naruto noticed that Sakura looked quite uncertain, which matched the feeling of her chakra.

"Something bothering you, Sakura?"

Sakura blinked and looked at Naruto, a nervous smile appearing in her face, "N-No, Naruto. E-Everything's fine."

Sasuke too noticed her behavior, but kept quiet. As long as she was ready for the chunin exams, it was fine. Naruto on the other hand, had doubts.

He knew that chunin exams were no joke. Ninja from all the villages participated and at times, death happened. He would be scared too, if he didn't train his ass off every day. 'Hope this exam teaches you a lesson Sakura. The world of Shinobi is not a place for fangirls,' he grimly thought to himself.

They went into the bar and were greeted by Teuchi with a warm grin, "Oh Naruto and his team! Come and have a seat!"

Naruto grinned. Old man Teuchi never failed to bring a smile on his face. His amusement grew when he heard Sasuke mutter, "Stop saying it like he is the leader of this team."

As they sat down on the stools, Teuchi asked for orders. Naruto was the first to speak, "I'll have two miso ramen, please."

Sakura spoke next, "One Toriniki ramen, please."

Sasuke was the last, "I'll have a Tonkatsu ramen, thank you."

Naruto envied the way Sasuke ordered his food. The arrogance came so natural to him, Naruto wished that he could do it as well. He turned to Sakura, who looked worried about something.

' Come to think of it, she has been acting strange ever since the topic of chunin exams came up,' he thought.

' It's not that strange for weaklings to feel this way when they are faced with the unknown,' Kurama offered his view.

Naruto rolled his eyes and ignored the comment, though he didn't deny it either. So, he decided to talk to her. Speaking in a low tone, he asked her, "Sakura, how do you feel about the chunin exams?"

Sakura was startled when he suddenly spoke to her. Calming down herself, she was about to tell him to mind his own business when she met his eyes. So full of sincerity, and he seemed to genuinely want to listen to her.

She hesitated, not sure of how she should say it. "I… it's kind of scary, you know? Right now, I know that I'm not ready, but….when will I know that I am?" Her thoughts were very much jumbled up right now to be phrased properly.

Naruto said nothing until their order arrived. He separated his sticks and as he waited for it to cool a bit, he spoke, "I won't sugarcoat my words Sakura, but you haven't trained seriously since the academy and even then, you probably did the bare minimum of what the instructors told to do, didn't you?"

Her silence and shameful expression told him that his deduction was spot on. A side glance also told him that Sasuke was eating his food quietly, not paying any attention to them. But that did not fool Naruto, who smirked when he observed Sasuke's body was tilted towards their side.

He continued, "Ever since the academy and even after when our team was formed, you kept neglecting your training in favor of pining after Sasuke, even going on a diet in the process." He didn't stop eating his food at all, looking as if talking about the weather.

Sakura felt like she wanted to find a hole and climb into it and never come out. She wanted so badly to tell Naruto to shut up, but bitter truth in his words stopped her from doing it. She would be lying to herself that she did not know what Naruto was talking about.

Naruto kept a careful eye on the pink haired girl. Now that she had seen her situation laid bare in front of her instead of being buried deep inside her mind, it was time to let her know of the consequences.

"Now look at yourself. You don't have the physique required for a strong kunoichi, your neglect of training means you have no grasp of the basic skills to improve further upon them. Your weapon throwing is mediocre at best. All you have is excellent chakra control but let's face it, you aren't the only one who does. Kakashi-sensei said that you are a genjutsu-type, but you don't know any genjutsu, nor can you dispel one, as proven in the bell test. In short, one hit is all what anyone needs to take you out," he finished his meal and was now looking straight at her. He won't stop now, Sakura needed to hear this. It was time she faced the facts.

Sakura was barely keeping from bursting out in tears. Everything Naruto said was true and while she hated to admit it, the facts made her sound pathetic. Ever since the academy, she had only increased her efforts in impressing Sasuke instead of bettering herself. She had repeatedly told herself that Sasuke would save her whenever she would be in danger. Her being with Sasuke on the same team only reinforced that belief. But in the C-rank turned A-rank, she felt for the first time, that she was the one who was utterly useless on their team. What was worse, was that she did not do anything to change it after returning, still hoping to get together with Sasuke.

' O-One hit?! Am I really that pathetic and useless?' She knew the answer to that question. While she did have some natural strength, it was useless to her if she did not know how to use it. Naruto and Sasuke were strong too, but what made them strong that they had the strength to take a hit and get back up, only to dish it back with even greater ferocity.

Sakura could dish it out, and even that was questionable, but couldn't take the punishment. She couldn't take a punch to her gut and have the strength to get up.

Naruto had been quietly watching Sakura and he had to say, the girl looked just one more truth away from bursting into tears. He had, while Sakura was wallowing in guilt, quietly motioned Sasuke to leave. The dark-haired boy had looked outraged that Naruto was waving him away like a servant and had almost tore into him when he saw the serious and somber look in his eyes.

Naruto had mouthed to him that Sakura would be heartbroken if she were to learn that Sasuke saw her in her moment of weakness. So he quietly finished his food and went outside, leaning against the wall and waiting for them.

Now that the tough part of learning about the consequences was over, it was time for some motivation. He changed the topic of the conversation.

Idly spinning the chopsticks between his fingers, he said, "I saw team ten the other day." He quietly cheered when he saw the tiny spark of interest in her eyes. On team ten was Sakura's rival, Ino.

"O-Oh?"

"Yeah, and Ino challenged me to a spar. Can you believe that?" he gave an amused shake of his head.

Sakura too, gave a small chuckle at that. Ino had no chance of defeating Naruto when Sasuke had trouble just trying to match him.

"She was a bit less pathetic than you, but pathetic all the same. Isn't she your rival, Sakura?"

By now, she found it easier to concentrate on the conversation than her guilt. "Ye-Yes, she is."

Naruto adopted a look of confusion, "Then why are you not trying to beat her? You don't want to lose Sasuke to her, right?"

That did catch her attention, because her eyes now held a little panic, "Wh-What do you mean by losing Sasuke?"

Naruto debated whether to tell her or not. This was the true key to motivating a person with a rival: bring a common goal in between them. Ino and Sakura were still competing for Sasuke's attention, which was the perfect way for him to take advantage and motivate her.

He fully turned to face her, "You might not know this, but Sasuke's the last Uchiha alive who is still loyal to Konoha and as such, he has to repopulate his clan. You know what that means, right?" He gave her a pointed look.

A dark blush came over her face, but she nodded. She couldn't believe how Naruto could talk about it without feeling the least bit awkward. She didn't know that he did, but he just hid his awkwardness better than others.

Naruto continued, "To do it, he will need strong women in the future. It all comes down to this: If you don't get strong enough, he will pick Ino over you and you will be left behind."

The desired effect was achieved when he saw a fire light up in her eyes. Yep, she definitely couldn't stand losing to Ino. Oh, he almost forgot…

"One more thing. The answer to your question: You won't. There is no one to tell you that you are ready. It's a leap of faith." He got up and put some money on the counter. "That's all it is Sakura; a leap of faith," he softly finished. Just before he left, he saw something he had definitely not seen in her eyes ever before.

Fierce determination.

Unknown to the team, Ayame and Teuchi were quietly listening in on their conversation. By the end of it, Ayame looked amazed at the way Naruto had successfully managed to motivate her. 'He was born to be a leader. I know it,' she thought with a smile.

Teuchi was smiling like he was the proudest man in the world. He had been attending to Naruto for years and he always knew that Naruto was destined for great things. After witnessing firsthand Naruto's motivational speech, it only reinforced what he already knew.

' Naruto, you will become a great… no, the greatest Hokage this village has ever seen.'

Walking out, he immediately silenced Sasuke who opened his mouth, no doubt to rant at him for bringing him into this, and motioned him to follow him. They jumped onto the opposite rooftop and crouched.

"What are we waiting for?" Sasuke whispered.

"Just watch," Naruto said, pointing to the ramen bar. A few moments later, Sakura walked out and Sasuke could definitely see that she was different.

Her fangirl was still visible in her eyes, but was now overshadowed by a fierce look of determination.

He watched, amazed that she did not even seem to look for him, instead, turning around and heading towards the training grounds.

He turned to his blonde comrade, who was watching Sakura go away with a smile and no small amount of self-satisfaction. "What did you do?" Hell, even his voice was filled with stupefaction.

Naruto gave an innocent shrug, the smile still on his face, "Nothing, just pointed her in the direction of success."

He left after that, leaving a speechless Sasuke behind.

Naruto was just roaming around the training grounds, having finished his training fifteen minutes ago. He felt really good after motivating Sakura to become stronger today.

Just as he was turning to leave, he sensed it. Three chakra signatures, two hundred meters away. One was was average, other a bit above average and the last, which was faintly familiar, only a bit above a civilian's.

He had already sent a few clones home to prepare dinner and since there was still time, why not train his stealth skills a bit.

He jogged on his toes, cautious not to make any sound. When he was just fifty meters away, he stopped and made a half ram seal. A puff of smoke later, a small, light brown fox was standing in his place. Lowering his chakra signature by a significant margin, he moved forward.

' This should allow me to get close,' he thought as he hid two trees away from the the chakra signatures.

"-you heard? The upcoming chunin exams will have rookies for the first time in five years."

The fox's eyes narrowed. 'I know that voice. It's Rock lee, the kid I met during one of my morning rounds!'

"No way. The jonins must be trying to look good," another voice joined in. This one held confidence, bordering on over-confidence.

Lee spoke again, "Three of them are from Kakashi's unit as well, you know."

The last voice finally spoke. But unlike the previous two, this held a sort of arrogance not unlike Sasuke's, "That's interesting."

"Either way," the girl spoke, who Naruto finally identified as Tenten from the Higurashi weapons shop.

"That's quite pitiful for them," the arrogant voice spoke as if he already knew who was going to win.

Naruto decided that was enough and turned to go back, but he cursed when he stepped on a twig. He could not even sense, since he would be molding chakra and alerting them was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Don't worry," the arrogant one spoke, "It's just a fox."

Naruto inwardly sighed in relief and ran away and did not turn back into himself until he was out of the training grounds. The thought didn't cross his mind that how did he know that it was only a fox.

' One thing is for sure. These chunin exams will definitely be interesting.'

Six days passed and it was the day of the chunin exams. Sasuke and Naruto had arrived at the academy, and Naruto could tell; Sasuke was fired up like anything. The only one left to arrive was Sakura.

They were simply waiting outside the gates when Sakura arrived. And there was something visibly different about her.

She looked like usual, but her posture had a confidence that both of them hadn't seen before. Naruto looked into her eyes and smiled at what he saw.

Resolve.

Resolve to see this through, and she didn't look the least bit uncertain. "Good morning Naruto, Sasuke-kun," she greeted.

Sasuke, for his part, hid his surprise just barely. Whenever she greeted him, she did like a fangirl. Now, she looked just like a determined kunoichi.

"Good morning Sakura," Naruto greeted with a nod. Sasuke just gave his customary grunt.

"Let's stop wasting time in greetings and go," he ordered curtly, striding inside without even waiting for them. Sakura gave an amused look to Naruto, who just shrugged in a way that said, 'What can you do?'

They caught up to him and ascended the stairs, silently and focused. The sound of a crowd caught their attention and they went to investigate.

Upon arriving at the scene, they stared in surprise at the large crowd. What the hell was going on?! Then Naruto sensed the genjutsu over the whole corridor and narrowed his eyes.

In front of them were two guards who looked suspiciously familiar. Naruto narrowed his eyes at them and it suddenly came to him, causing him to resist a facepalm. Who were Izumo and Kotetsu trying to fool with that obvious Henge?

Sasuke nudged Sakura, "This is only the second floor, isn't it?"

Sakura looked at him in surprise. Sasuke never, ever talked to her so actively. She looked at Naruto, who gave her a thumbs up.

She turned to Sasuke and spoke confidently, "Hai, since we've only climbed two floors. This is obviously a genjutsu."

Sasuke then nodded to himself and started walking to the crowd, mostly to show off by proclaiming that a genjutsu of this caliber does not fool him. But a hand to his shoulder caused him to turn around and glare at Naruto, who was shaking his head.

"The people over there still haven't noticed that they are still just on the second floor," he said softly. "This is probably a test designed to weed out the weaklings, so let's just slip by, nice and quiet," he suggested.

Sasuke found that this was becoming quite frequent. Him going off to do something, Naruto stopping him and giving a suggestion, Sasuke agreeing, albeit grudgingly that the suggestion was better and following Naruto. Even now, Naruto's suggestion was strategically better. Reducing the competition meant their chance of winning was higher.

To be completely honest, Sasuke was jealous of Naruto. He was jealous of his strength, his skills, his natural charisma, the way that leadership seemed to fit with him like a glove, how it came to him so naturally. Obviously, his own desire to be at the top and be leader clashed with Naruto's. He could not stand to remain second best, especially to Naruto of all people.

Clenching his fists in his pockets, he nodded and as one, quietly slipped through the crowd and took the stairs to the third floor.

As they were heading to 301, a voice came from above them.

"Hey, you, the one with the dark eyes. Please wait!"

They all turned and looked above to see a kid wearing a tight, green jumpsuit and orange leg warmers. His black hair had a bowl cut style and he had amazingly thick eyebrows. He was looking at Sasuke.

Naruto rose an eyebrow at him, 'What is Lee playing at?'

Lee jumped down to their level and it was only then he recognized Naruto. He gave off a blinding grin, "Naruto-kun! What a youthful surprise to see you here!"

Sakura and Sasuke gave Naruto mildly horrified looks. They didn't know that Naruto knew this weirdo.

As for Naruto, he just took a page from Kakashi's book and gave a lazy wave in a lazy voice. "Yo."

It turned out be the wrong thing to say, as Lee cried out while shaking a fist. "What hip and cool attitude! Your flames of youth seem to have diminished since the last time we met!"

Naruto shrugged and decided to intervene in case Lee takes off on a tangent, "So Lee, why did you stop us?"

Lee suddenly sobered and turned to Sasuke, "Sorry, I got distracted. My name is Rock Lee, and I wish to challenge this year's prodigy, Uchiha Sasuke to a fight."

Sasuke replied back coldly, "And why should I give you the time?" He gave a once over and found him lacking any sort of strength whatsoever. He, however, didn't like the way Lee called him a prodigy. A prodigy should stand out of a crowd, and the title felt cheap because Naruto was stronger than him.

Lee smiled, "I am the strongest Konoha genin right now. A test for myself, and to see if you're as good as everyone says you are."

Sasuke smirked, causing Naruto to sigh in resignation. Just a mention of a fight was enough to get Sasuke's blood pumping.

Ten minutes later, he found himself looking at a beat up Sasuke and wondered if it was a mistake or did Sasuke deliberately underestimate Lee. Judging from appearance, Lee was nothing special. But apparently, Sasuke had never heard the phrase, "Appearances can be deceiving."

Lee had absolutely dominated the fight, even when Sasuke had activated his sharingan. All throughout the fight, Sasuke had been trying to just find Lee, because he was unbelievably fast. Of course, Naruto had easily followed Lee's movements, because he himself had surpassed that speed with his resistance seals activated at level 11 long ago. He closely observed that even when Sasuke had just begun to react fast enough, he was smashed by Lee's superior taijutsu skills and pure speed.

Just when Lee was about to end the fight, it was ended by a talking turtle of all people.

"Lee! That technique is forbidden!" He yelled at him.

Lee bowed his head in apology, "I'm sorry… I got carried away." The turtle glared at Lee, causing him to flinch. "B-But I wasn't planning to use the r-reverse version…"

"Baka!" the turtle exclaimed, causing Lee to flinch again. "You think that excuse will work?! You should know what it means for a shinobi to expose his move."

While the turtle was busy reprimanding Lee, Naruto glanced over to see if Sasuke was alright, but he wished he hadn't.

Sasuke had a look of absolute loathing on his face as he glared at Lee and the turtle. 'I…..I lost to that weirdo?!' He looked over to Sakura and saw that she was still shocked at the pure speed that Lee displayed. Looking over to Naruto, he resisted the urge to roar in rage.

Naruto was looking bored, just as he was before the fight. There was not a single trace of alarm or fear that Sasuke could see. Which meant only one thing: Naruto was certain…..no, absolutely confident that he could take on Lee and win.

' Just how strong is he?! He doesn't look alarmed in the least. That means he knows he is stronger and faster than the weirdo! He knows he could counter Lee's every move whereas I couldn't even follow that guy! Is Naruto even in the same league as the rest of the genin?! How can I, with the sharingan, still not match up to him?!' were the thoughts rushing through his head. He hated being weaker than anyone.

He turned his attention back to the turtle, who said, "Gai-sensei will take care of your punishment."

An explosion of smoke erupted on the turtle's back and when it cleared, an adult version of Rock Lee was seen standing in a ridiculous pose. "Geez, you guys are the epitome of the springtime of youth!"

To say team seven was freaked out was an understatement. They were shell-shocked at his appearance. Even Naruto was looking a bit alarmed, with Kurama screaming in his mind to make it stop. If Lee were just a few years older, no one would be able to tell the difference between him and Gai.

"Lee, you fool!" Gai shouted at him, punching him in the jaw so hard that Lee flew back. Lee quickly recovered, though.

Gai then proclaimed, "For breaking the rule and fighting before the exam, you must complete 500 laps around Konoha before sundown!"

The whole of team 7 gaped at the absurdity of the challenge, believing it to be nothing more than a joke. However, they were further shocked into disbelief at Lee's reply.

"Hai Gai-sensei!" Lee's eyes were burning at the challenge. Probably at how much youthful it was, Naruto mused.

Naruto decided to intervene before even more weirdness took place. "Excuse me, but don't you think that you should focus on the chunin exams right now?"

Gai-sensei turned to them for the first time, looking a bit sheepish. "Oh, my bad…."

Turning to Lee, he coughed in his hand and said, "Lee, you will fulfill your punishment after the chunin exams, got it?"

Lee stood at attention, "Hai, Gai-sensei!"

Gai then turned to the other team, "Ah, so you guys are from Kakashi's team?"

Sasuke rose an eyebrow condescendingly, "You know Kakashi?"

Gai chuckled as he rubbed his chin, "Kakashi and I are eternal rivals! I am leading currently, with my 50 wins to Kakashi's 49." The whole team seven sweat dropped at that.

Lee jumped in, "Isn't Gai-sensei the greatest?"

Sasuke was studying Gai intensely, looking at the empty space… wait, what?

He and Sakura suddenly turned around to face Gai, who had gotten behind them so fast that not even a blur was visible. But Naruto showed no signs of surprise, having followed him with his eyes. Gai had only used low jonin level speed right now. He knew that Gai had barely put effort in getting that fast to get behind them. While he could do it as well if he took his seals off for now, he would be destroyed in a contest of speed if Gai went full speed.

There was only so much speed his twelve year body could go at before reaching a limit.

Sasuke was looking at Gai with wide eyes along with Sakura. 'This guy….he's definitely faster than Kakashi!' he thought with a grimace. Rage filled him once more, 'Damn it! How many people are there that I have to surpass to become capable of defeating him ?!'

"Anyways, you guys should head to the room. Your exam is to begin soon. Good luck!" Turning to Lee, he flashed a grin and a thumbs up, "Do your best, Lee! Bask in the springtime of youth!" He disappeared after that.

Lee began to wrap his bandages up, but just before he left, he turned to Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun, I apologize for lying before. I am not the strongest Konoha genin, it is my teammate. I entered this exam to defeat him, and you are one of my targets as well! Please prepare yourself, and I wish you all the best!"

After Lee finally walked away, Naruto carefully observed Sasuke. His fists were clenched tight, along with gritted teeth and a look of frustration and rage on his face.

Naruto clenched his own fists and raged in his mind. 'Who does he think he is?! Why does he keep thinking that he is the only one who is strong and the rest are weak?!' He kept his face carefully neutral as he faced Sasuke.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" He was careful to keep his voice level. He didn't even flinch when Sasuke faced him, a look of barely contained rage on his face.

"Shut up! I'll slaughter him next time!" he promised. Naruto only rose an eyebrow, "We are in the middle of an exam, which means there is little time, sorry, no time for you to get better than him. Maybe after the exams, but not now.

"And why were you so angry and frustrated before? Is it so hard to accept that there are people of our age who are stronger and faster than you?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to tell Naruto to mind his own business, but nothing came out. He realized with a growl that what Naruto had said was true. He was brought up with the teachings from his father that the Uchiha are the greatest, and he learned it all with pride.

So it was hard for his pride to accept that there is someone who is stronger, faster than him. Ever since the massacre, he had trained his hardest every day, trying to bridge the power gap between him and him , just so he could have his revenge. He thought that he had at least become stronger than his peers, only to find out how thoroughly outclassed he was among those of his own age.

Naruto shook his head. One day, Sasuke's superiority complex is gonna blow up in his face. Sasuke was too proud of himself, believing his power was better than others and no one could match him. But pride always had its downfall, and it didn't look like Sasuke's gonna learn that lesson anytime soon.

"Anyway, we should get going. We don't want to be late for the exam," Naruto said as he took the lead, with Sakura following him after giving a concerned glance to Sasuke, who followed the last.

They reached the room, only to see Kakashi leaning against the wall with his head buried in his porn. Kakashi looked at them and closed as book, putting his hands in his pockets.

He gave them a critical look, "Sakura decided to come as well, I see."

Naruto frowned at his statement, "What do you mean by that?" His voice held a hard edge now, warning Kakashi that he better not play with the answers right now.

Kakashi, for his part, didn't take offence at Naruto's tone at all. Instead, he mentally approved of how Naruto spoke. It was clear that he was in the zone, ready to tackle a challenge. He had taken on a mindset of a serious shinobi now, mentally prepared for the challenges to come.

He was also surprised at the lack of uncertainty in Sakura, which he had seen on the day he had given out the chunin forms. Something had happened in between, but whatever it was, he was glad for it.

A mild feeling of disappointment went through him when he saw Sasuke's state. There were light bruises on his face, and he looked like someone had just trampled on his ego. He mentally shook his head; Sasuke was too impulsive when it came to his pride and ego. He could never take any defeat in stride. For all his skills, Sasuke's mix of having both a superiority and an inferiority complex made him, in Kakashi's words, a sore loser.

He shook these thoughts off and focused on answering Naruto. "You are now, officially, registered to take the exams. To tell you the truth, chunin exams can only be taken in teams of three."

"So you lied that it is up to us whether we want to take part in it or not," Naruto stated, eyes narrwoing.

Kakashi nodded seriously, "I did. I feared that if I hadn't, you two would have forced Sakura to take the exams with you. And if only they both had come here and not you, Sakura, I would have turned them away."

He smiled, "But I'm glad that you three came of your own free will, and as a team."

Sakura, unnoticed by Kakashi, gave a small glance to Naruto and smiled, 'It's all thanks to you, Naruto. You washed away my uncertainty.'

Kakashi moved out of their way, "Go on in, then. Do your best."

They opened the door, and were surprised to see the number of genin taking the chunin exams. And all of them were looking at them.

Naruto put on his game face, which was a neutral scowl. He was internally scoffing at the pathetic amount of killing intent coming their way.

He looked back to see that Sasuke was unaffected as well. Sakura too, if not for the slight bead of sweat on the side of her face. He turned back, absently wondering if he would see any of his peers.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

Naruto flinched, and then sighed. Kami, he hated that voice! He turned around just in time to see a blonde missile, Ino hug Sasuke tightly from behind. "It's been so long since I have seen you, Sasuke-kun. I miss your dark looks, you know."

Sakura spoke in a surprisingly normal tone, but serious nonetheless, "Let Sasuke-kun go, Ino-pig!"

Ino glanced at Sakura, mocking her, "I am surprised they let you compete, forehead!"

Sakura gained a tick mark, her voice getting a bit higher, "You leave my forehead out of this!"

Ino just stuck her tongue out at Sakura. Naruto just rolled his eyes at the immature display.

"Oh? You guys are competing in this stupid test too?" Shikamaru's voice came as he approached with Chouji.

Naruto smirked and lightly commented, "I didn't think you had the energy to take this exam, Shika."

The said boy sighed, "It's troublesome, but Ino threatened us with our lives, so we had to."

"Finally found you guys!"

Naruto saw that it was Kiba's voice, who was coming with team eight in tow. Hinata blushed at the sight of Naruto.

"Well, it looks like all the rookies are assembled!"

Shikamaru sighed, "Geez, you guys too?"

Kiba hummed, "I wonder how far we will get, now that all of us are assembled. Eh, Sasuke?"

Sasuke smirked in return, "You seem quite confident, Kiba."

Kiba boasted, "We trained a lot. We won't be losing to you!"

"You guys should be quieter, you know," came a new voice from behind them. They all turned to see a bespectacled teenager with grey hair in a ponytail. He looked almost seventeen, and was wearing a Konoha hitai-ate.

"You guys are rookies just out of the academy, right? You shouldn't be fooling around like that," he said.

Ino took offence to that, "Who the hell are you to tell us that?!"

"I'm Yakushi Kabuto. And just take a look around you," he gently said, not seeming to mind her tone at all.

All the rookies, except for Naruto and Sasuke, tensed up after looking around. They were the focal point of all the attention, and it wasn't the good kind.

"The team behind you is from Amegakure no sato. They have short tempers," he explained. Naruto decided that he had enough of people trying to intimidate him and his team, so he turned the tables.

He didn't exude any killing intent, but simply glared with his eyes. He was very much satisfied to see many of them flinch and why shouldn't they? He had his father's eyes, and his father sent his enemies running in the opposite direction with just a look. These genin stood no chance.

"Kabuto-san, was it?"

Sakura's voice caused him to turn.

"Yes?"

"Is this your second time taking these exams?"

"No, actually it is my seventh," Kabuto admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"Wow, you must really suck then!" Kiba's brashness surprised no one.

Kabuto shrugged, conceding the point, "Or maybe the exams are just that hard. To help out, I thought I'd share some info on the other participants with my fellow Konoha nin." He withdrew a thick deck of cards from his weapons pouch. "Who do you want to know about?"

"Give me information on Sabaku no Gaara, Rock Lee and Uzumaki Naruto," Sasuke commanded, desperate for some information on his teammate and the others.

The rookies gave him weird looks, but Naruto glared at Sasuke, who glared back. 'Finally, I get to see just how powerful you really are, Naruto.'

Kabuto smirked, "You already know their names, which makes it less fun."

Looking at his cards he began reading, "Sabaku no Gaara: His team has completed eight C-rank and wow, a B-rank. It says he's come back from each of them without a scratch! A genin doing a B-rank is highly unusual, but coming back from one without any injury is just unheard of!" This caused all of them to tense up, even Naruto.

"Next is Rock Lee: Konoha genin with a tremendous skill in Taijutsu. His skills in ninjutsu and genjutsu are nil. He is a member of team nine led by Maito Gai as his sensei. His teammates are Hyuga Neji and Higurashi Tenten. He has completed 42 D-ranks and 37 C-ranks. He has been a genin for a year more than you guys."

"Next is Uzumaki Naruto," he said, pulling another card. Though he blinked in surprise when it suddenly disappeared from his hands. Looking up, he saw Naruto holding the card between two fingers.

Sasuke growled and went to snatch the card from him, but Naruto playfully put it out of reach, though there was a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Sorry Sasuke, Kabuto-san, but I don't like my cards to be displayed until the end of the game."

He clapped the card between his hands and when he separated them, only small pieces of the card fell out.

His eyes then narrowed as he looked at Kabuto, "You really shouldn't give out information like that, Kabuto-san. It may come to bite you back one day."

On the inside, he was trying to figure Kabuto out. 'Just who is this guy? Getting information on Lee wouldn't be so hard, but how did he acquire the mission stats of a foreign nin, who is also a jinchuriki, when they can only be accessed by the Kazekage and his council? It's obvious that he knows way too much to be a genin. And why am I getting the feeling of snakes from this guy? I have to inform jiji of this somehow. That type of information opens up the possibility that he is a spy.'

Kabuto held his hands up in surrender, "I meant no harm Naruto-kun. I just like to gather information is all." Naruto didn't look convinced but gave it a rest.

Kabuto thought, 'Guess I won't be making his job any harder.' His master would be so disappointed.

Naruto's senses spiked and he caught a movement in the corner of his eyes. His saw a ninja with a headband having a musical note flying through the air, throwing two kunai into the floor in front of Kabuto, who jumped back just in time for another one with the same headband, but had his head covered in bandages, to appear in front of him and taking a swing at Kabuto.

Kabuto dodged, smirking, but his glasses suddenly shattered and he collapsed onto his knees, throwing up.

Three nin, two boys and one girl, stood in front of Kabuto, radiating killing intent.

"Pathetic!" the bandaged one scoffed. "Aren't you supposed to be a four year old veteran?"

Meanwhile, Naruto was trying to figure out what just happened, 'If nothing hit Kabuto, why did his glasses shatter and why the hell did he throw up?! Was it pressurized air?'

Kurama scowled and spoke from within, 'Think Naruto! What is the symbol on his hitai-ate?'

Naruto frowned, 'It's a musical note.'

Kurama prompted him further, 'Music is a form of sound, and how dies sound travel?'

Naruto replied, 'Through the medium of air….oh,' he smirked. 'He manipulated the soundwaves to target the ear and throw off his balance.' He shook his head, 'Foolish guy. He just gave away his main attack!'

Naruto turned to see the spiky haired ninja talking, "Write this down on your cards. Three Otogakure ninjas, definite future chunin!"

An explosion of smoke went down in front of the class and a voice was heard. When the smoke cleared, there was a large man wearing a black trench coat, black fingerless gloves and a bandana was standing. His intimidating stature and harsh tone that followed ensured that his words will heeded quickly. 'That is Morino Ibiki, if I'm not wrong. Konoha's top interrogator alongside Yamanaka Inoichi and Anko-sensei's superior,' Naruto speculated.

"Alright you maggots! Shut the hell up and sit down in your assigned seats! The first part of the exam will begin now! Any fighting will lead straight to disqualification." Pointing to the Otogakure ninjas, he said, "You better stop doing that if you don't want to fail before even the exam starts."

He watched as everyone went to their assigned seats. Once everyone was settled, he began explaining the exam. "This is an exam in which you start off with ten points. There are two rules to this exam. The first rule: This is a team test. Whether you pass or not will be determined by the combined score of your teammates.

Second rule: Anyone caught doing any sneaky activities, namely cheating," he smiled in a sinister way that sent shivers down many people's spines, "will have two points taken off for every offense. You have forty-five minutes. Begin!"

The sound of papers turning sounded for a brief moment. Naruto first inspected where his teammates were seated. To his disappointment, they were seated quite far. Turning his eyes on the test, he raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

' What type of questions are these? They are no genin level, that's for sure. Which means they want the genin to cheat. This exam is testing our information gathering!' He gave an impressed smirk at that, but then frowned. 'I may have photographic memory, but it defeats the whole purpose of this test if I write what I know. What to do now?'

He scanned the room, looking for someone who was confidently filling out the answers at a high speed. He smirked when he saw one sitting in the column to his left, two rows above him.

' Got him! Now I just have to figure out how to learn his answers…..or maybe, I can just switch our tests!'

He pondered for over two minutes on what to do, watching his peers cheat. Sasuke was copying answers with his sharingan, Sakura was writing on her own since she knew the answers, Tenten had cleverly altered the ceiling flap to reflect someone's answers. Hinata was using her byakugan, Shino was using his bugs to cheat, Kiba had Akamaru on top of his head, barking his answers to him. Shikamaru did not need to cheat, as he was already smart enough.

' Got it!'

First, he would have to scope out the field. He spent the next five minutes watching the invigilators walk, trying to find a pattern. Finally, he found a loophole: There were four columns of students, with all the columns separated. The first invigilator between the first two columns walked with the invigilator between the last two. Ibiki walked in the center of the second and third columns, but he always moved opposite to the other two invigilators. So, there was a point where all three of them were in a row and then they went in the opposite direction of each other. There was a three second interval during which none of them were facing him. After that interval, the three of them would face the class from the respective ends.

Which means, he had three seconds to make his plan work.

Second, know the number of the desk from which he was going to cheat. The test paper didn't have a space to write their names, but a space where they had to write their desk number. So, he deduced that teams will be identified from the number of the desk they were sitting on. Every team had been given specific seats according to the seating plan next to the board. So when Ibiki comes across the papers from the desk numbers eight, twenty-one and twenty-seven, he would know he was looking at the papers of team seven according to the seating plan.

Now that he knew what he needed to know, it was time to act. Counting from now, he discreetly pulled out two smoke bombs during the first interval under the pretense of scratching his back. Maybe it was a bit overkill, but he needed to remain unseen. He waited till the guy was finished writing.

Fifth interval was when shit hit the fan. As soon as the back of the invigilators were turned to him, he wasted no time and threw the smoke bombs onto the floor, one on the right and one on the left.

Roars of anger and panic could be heard throughout the classroom as no one could see their tests. Windows were opened to let the smoke out and once it was cleared, several of them looked confused as nothing had happened to their tests.

Naruto, however, was calmly pretending to keep writing on the sheet on which answers were already filled out. The guy whose sheet he stole had a panicked look on his face when he saw that the sheet in front of him had all the wrong answers written down. There was even a mocking note that said Better luck next time. The worse thing was that the sheet in front of him had his desk number written on it! There wasn't enough time to erase and write the correct answers all over again!

Yeah, Naruto was not above such petty things from time to time.

Naruto calmly erased the desk number on the sheet he stole and wrote his own down. What had happened was when the smoke spread, Naruto had quickly created a shadow clone that had instantly transformed into a finger-sized version of himself. The clone had taken a hold of his sheet and substituted with the sheet of the guy Naruto had decided to cheat from. By the time smoke cleared, Naruto had already finished his job.

Ibiki was slightly irritated at the ruckus caused. He held his hand up for silence, "Anyone who has lost their sheet might as well get out with your team."

Surprisingly, none of them moved to get up. Ibiki deduced that whoever had done that was only looking out for himself. 'Though I'm interested in learning just who exactly did that….' he thought as his eyes swept around the room.

His eyes looked at Naruto, who was simply leaned back in his chair, eyes up at the ceiling and an uncaring look on his face. His eyes narrowed the tiniest bit in suspicion. Naruto was well known for his successful pranks all around the village, 'Uzumaki Naruto….he doesn't look bothered in the least. He could be the one…..' his faced etched back into his neutral expression, 'Then again, he hasn't looked the least bit bothered since the beginning of this test.' And just like that, he lifted his suspicion off Naruto, continuing to watch the class closely.

Uzumaki pranking code of conduct, rule two: In the aftermath of a prank, throw suspicion off yourself in any way possible.

At the end of forty-five minutes, Ibiki looked at the clock on the wall and nodded to himself. He turned his head to the opened door, through which Kakuro, who had gone through the bathroom, entered.

"Was your doll playing any beneficial?" he asked, smirking.

The puppet user flinched, surprised he had been caught.

"Go sit down," he ordered Kankuro. After he was seated, Ibiki started emitting a sadistic aura. "TIME UP! You now have a choice presented to you: To either take the tenth question, or not to take it," he stated, much to the confusion of the genin.

"Choose?!" A familiar voice shouted from the back. Naruto turned to see Temari, who eyes displayed confused anger. "What happens if we choose not to?!"

At that point, Naruto simply stopped caring what Ibiki said. He just kept watching Temari, a small, dreamy smile on his face. Temari caught his gaze and blushed, averting her face and trying to quell the growing blush. 'Why is he staring at me like that?'

Ibiki chuckled darkly, "If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero. You'll be failed along with your teammate."

Everyone started to shout in protest, but a sudden bout of killing intent from Ibiki silenced them.

"Also, if you choose to take it and answer incorrectly, you will lose the right to ever participate in the future chunin exams!"

Kiba hollered in anger, "What kind of a rule is that?! Genin from before were still able to retake the chunin exams, so why is this exam any different?!"

Ibiki released another dark chuckle, the one gave out when he was being extremely sadistic, "The other genin didn't have me as the proctor. My test, my rules. Choose, I haven't got all day."

Naruto observed that Ibiki had all the genin quivering now. He waited until several teams had quit to make his move. Lesser the competition, the better their chances, after all.

Giving a wink to Temari, whose blush darkened to cover her entire face, he turned around and stood up, all the playfulness from earlier when he was flirting with Temari vanishing from his face.

Ibiki stared at the blonde, along with all the others, whose face was set in dead seriousness. His eyelids were half drooped, but he still looked entirely serious. "I don't care what happens at all. I have a dream of becoming the Hokage that no one can stop me from achieving. I'll do it even if I have to stay a genin to do so. Do your worst, but know this," he pointed a finger at Ibiki without any fear, "Rank means nothing to me, at all."

Everyone was watching Naruto with disbelief, who never once broke eye contact with Ibiki. Ibiki himself was thrown off by the sheer conviction displayed in the voice and eyes of a twelve year old. Sakura was in awe of Naruto's declaration. Sasuke gave a sigh of relief, for he thought Naruto was going to quit. Each of the rookies, except for one or two, held a newfound respect for Naruto.

The whole room was silent, and everyone that remained had caught every word. And the results were staggering.

Ibiki smirked, 'Heh, he's interesting. He wiped out everyone's uncertainty.' Looking around the room, he counted how many were remaining. '57, huh? There are more left than I expected. There's no point in waiting anymore.'

"Congratulations, you all pass!" Ibiki declared, and hide to fight the smile that threatened to appear on his face at the bafflement of as well as the disbelief of the genin.

"But what about the tenth question?!" A genin from Ame demanded to know.

"That was the tenth question. It was a question to test your will and fortitude. As a chunin, you'll be forced to take tough decisions, and no one needs weak-willed chunin leading their forces to their deaths! By asking this question, you've shown me your determination and willingness to do the best for your villages, even with handicaps," he explained.

Temari spoke once again, "So the other questions were for nothing?!" And once again, she blushed when Naruto turned to stare at her with a smile.

"No, the test was for info gathering….and to see how much balls you all had," he answered, looking in the direction of Naruto, who turned back and gave a graceful shrug.

"This marks the end of the first phase of the chunin selection exams. I wish you luck for the next phase," Ibiki smiled, which was surprisingly pleasant and not all that disturbing.

Before he could say anything else, he caught something from the corner of his eyes and stepped back just in time for a ball of cloth to come crashing through the window. Two kunai flew out of the cloth and stuck to the ceiling, unfurling the cloth, revealing a very familiar purple haired woman wearing a brown trench coat. On the cloth it was written, Second Exam Proctor Mitarashi Anko.

"You guys! This is no time to be happy!" She exclaimed. "I am the proctor for the second test, Mitarashi Anko! The real exam starts now! Are you ready?!" she shouted and pumped her fist into the air. Ibiki came from behind the cloth.

"Grasp the atmosphere, will you?"

Anko blushed at his deadpan.

Naruto simply sat down and crossed his arms, fondly smiling at her. It had been a while since he saw his sensei and to be honest, he missed her eccentricities.

Anko counted the number of genin left and raised an eyebrow.

"Fifty-seven? Ibiki, you let nineteen team pass? You let them off too easy!" she scoffed.

Ibiki shrugged, "This time, we have quite an interesting bunch."

Anko scoffed and was about to snark back when a familiar mop of blonde hair caught her eye. She smiled proudly when she saw Naruto sitting in the room, fondly smiling at her. As soon as she made eye contact, that smile turned into a smirk and he winked at her.

Anko grinned savagely, now that she knew that her best and only student was in the exams. "You maybe right, Ibiki…" she said.

"However, I'll cut those numbers in half in the second test." That, coupled with her savage grin, was enough to make everyone sweat a little. Naruto just shook his head; his sensei was as intimidating as ever.

"I will explain the details tomorrow. We will go to another place, so ask your jonin sensei about where to go and the time. That is all. Dismissed!"

Everyone stood up to leave, while Anko just smirked and walked in the direction of her former student. Naruto stood up as well, standing just four inches short of Anko's height. He waved his teammates away, who were looking curiously, telling them he will catch up later.

"What's up, brat? I didn't know that you were going to be in this exam!"

Naruto shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets, "Even we didn't know until only a week ago, Anko-sensei."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow, coming to stand with them, "Sensei? So this is the brat Hokage-sama assigned to you?"

Naruto smiled, his whites showing, "Uzumaki Naruto, pleased to meet you. Anko-sensei talked about you occasionally, Ibiki-san. You really did frighten all the genin to death."

Ibiki smirked while Anko scoffed, "If he really had, there wouldn't be nineteen teams left!"

Ibiki jerked a thumb towards Naruto, "You should thank him for that. Brat gave a speech that wiped all the fear I put into them."

Anko puffed up proudly, never minding Ibiki's failure, "Of course he did! He is my student after all! He was born to be a leader!"

Naruto smiled, but turned serious, "Though I do have a concern to raise." His serious tone was enough to catch their attention.

"What is it, Naruto?" Anko asked with a frown.

Naruto said, "It about a genin named Yakushi Kabuto. He seemed to have some sort of information cards that had info, mainly the mission stats and their strengths and weaknesses, on all the genin present. I can believe it if he only had info on the genin of Konoha, but he also had it on the Suna nin, Gaara. Something that should only be known by the Kazekage and his council." He explained all his observations and conclusions to them.

Ibiki and Anko paid serious attention to this and by the end of his explanation, both were frowning heavily. "This is not good," Anko commented.

Ibiki nodded, a hard look on his face, "If what you say is true, we might have a spy in our midst. And having information like that means he has likely been a spy for years. Who knows what kind of information he has now."

Naruto frowned, "Even I'm not that sure. As I said, my own observations led me to this conclusion. Regardless of whether he is a spy or not, such matters have to be investigated for that sort of possibility, don't they?"

Anko nodded, "That is true. This matter will be taken to the Hokage immediately…..by Ibiki."

Ibiki turned on Anko, an incredulous look on his face, "You can't order your superior, you know that right?"

Anko shrugged, putting an arm around Naruto's shoulders, not caring in the least that his face was right next to her….. assets. "I know, but in the light that my student is in the chunin exams, it is his duty to treat me to dango! Let's go, brat!"

She started walking, not letting go of Naruto, who was struggling to get out of her embrace. Ibiki smiled and shook his head, muttering, "Just this time, I'll let this go."