10 ch 9

Chapter 9: Strangers in Konoha

All around Konoha, the jonin were busy training with their teams. As they heard a bird call in the air, they looked up to see a bird summoning them to the Hokage. They all knew what it was for, but they were surprised that it was this soon that they were being summoned by the Hokage. Any jonin in charge of a genin team, assembled in front of the Hokage for his announcement.

"You've been assembled for only one reason" the Third said. "As most of you have probably realized, it should be obvious by the people here."

"It's already that time." Kakashi said.

"It's already been reported to the other villages. I have seen them enter the village" Genma, a ninja wearing a Leaf bandana with a senbon in his mouth said. "So when is it?"

"Well, I will announce it properly then" Hiruzen said, standing up. "Seven days from now, the chunin selection exams will begin. First we will hear from those supervising the new genin. Asuma, Kakashi, Kurenai, do you recommend any of your team for the chunin selection exams?"

Kakashi stepped forward. "The Kakashi led Team 7, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Haku Yuki…under the name of Hatake Kakashi, I nominate them for the chunin selection exams" Kakashi announced.

"What?!" Iruka called out. He didn't see his former students as ready for this exam.

"The Kurenai Team 8, Hinata Huyga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame…I Kurenai Yuuhi nominate all three of them for the exam" the genjutsu mistress said.

"The Asuma led Team 10, Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yaminaka, and Chouji Akamichi…I Asuma Sarutobi nominate all of them for this exam" Asuma announced.

"Hmm, how rare. All of them" the Hokage said to himself.

"Hold on!" Iruka shouted out. "Hokage-sama, please let me have a word. 9 of these 10 individuals were just recently my students. I know their skills are exceptional, but it is still too early for them to take the exam. They need more experience."

Kakashi stepped forward to defend the nominations. "Iruka, I was a chunin when I was six years younger than Naruto."

"Naruto is different than you" Iruka rebuted. "Are you trying to crush these kids?"

"Crushing them could be fun" Kakashi said. "They are always complaining about missions. I highly doubt that they will even make chunin this time around, but this will still be a good experience for them."

"What?!" Iruka said. "You think this is some game for your entertainment?"

Kakashi laughed a little. "That was just a joke, but stay out of this. They are no longer your students. They are my subordinates." Iruka was shut up.

The ninja with the face paint grabbed Konohamaru by the collar and lifted him up to face-height as Naruto, Sakura, Moegi, and Udon arrived on scene. "Let go of me!" Konohamaru screamed out as Naruto tried to come to his rescue, only to be held back by Sakura.

"Hey, you're almost as annoying as this little brat" the ninja said to Naruto. "I hate midgets. Especially younger ones that are rude. It makes me want to kill them." Naruto and Sakura looked on in shock.

As the ninja wound up for a punch, Naruto ran to save Konohamaru. Before the punch could make contact, the ninja was hit in the face with a rock and a senbon found his hand. Naruto looked up to see Sasuke and Haku on opposite sides of the ally. The ninja dropped Konohamaru.

"What are you bastards doing in our village?" Sasuke called out.

'Hmm, he's kind of handsome' the blonde kunoichi said.

'Wow, she's pretty hot' the other foreign ninja said looking at Haku. He then turned his attention to Sasuke. "Another brat who pisses me off."

Naruto was now getting angry because Sasuke had just shown him up. The foreign ninja called Sasuke out, pulling the wrapped bundle off of his back.

"Kankuro, stop it" a voice called out. The ninja stood down as everyone's attention turned to the voice. It was a boy with red hair and a large gourd on his back. "You're an embarasement to our village."

"Ga-Gaara" Kankuro called out, trying to explain himself.

"Losing yourself like that, how pathetic. Why do you even think we came to this village?" Gaara said. Kankuro tried to open his mouth, but was shut up instantly. "Shut up, or I'll kill you."

Sasuke looked over at their 'leader' and tried to analyze the newcomer. Before he could, the Gaara disappeared in a cloud of sand and reappeared next to Kankuro. "Sorry to you guys" Gaara said, apologizing for Kankuro. "I guess we got here too early."

"Hey wait. You're from Sunagakaru. You may be allies, but it is forbidden for foreign ninja to enter other villages without permission. Why are you here?" Sakura asked.

"Heh, talk about clueless" the blonde ninja said. "See my pass? We are here for the upcoming chunin exams."

"Chunin exams?" Naruto said as everyone's sweat dropped.

"Wow, you really are clueless" the blonde kunoichi said. "The chunin exam is where outstanding genin ninja from all over assemble to take an exam to become a chunin. The main purpose is to maintain power and balance, but countries just use them to show off to one another."

Sasuke jumped down from his perch. "Hey, what's your name?" he asked.

"Who me?" the blonde kunoichi asked.

"No, you with the gourd" Sasuke said.

"Gaara of the Desert. I am also interested in you" Gaara said.

"Sasuke Uchiha" Sasuke said. Naruto butted in only to be ignored.

"Naruto, something feels strange yet familiar about that kid with the gourd. I can't quite put my paw on it, but I feel like I've felt his energy before" Kurama said to Naruto. Naruto didn't say anything but heeded the demon's advice.

"How about you. I'm sure a lovely lady like yourself has to have a pretty name" Kankuro said, trying to flirt with Haku. The rest of Team 7 almost face-planted into the ground.

"I'm Haku, and I'm a boy" he said as Kankuro suddenly lost all his words and even received a disturbing glance from the sand kunoichi.

"So what do you think" a figure in the trees said.

"Well, nothing serious, but that black-haired kid, the boy with the gourd, and that boy that looks like a girl. Let's keep an eye on them" another figure said.

"Hey did you hear?" Tenten said, tossing another knife into a target. "For the first time in ten years, there are going to be rookies in these chunin exams."

"That sounds interesting" Lee said, sitting directly underneath Tenten's target. "Rumor is that four of them are students of Kakashi."

"I almost feel sorry for them" Neji said.

"You're late!" Naruto and Sakura yelled at Kakashi, who just appeared on the bridge that he had asked his team to meet on.

"Sorry, but I got caught up registering you guys for the chunin exams" Kakashi responded, seding his usual smile to them.

"What kind of lame excuse…oh wait, that actually sounds reasonable" Sakura said.

"Here are our applications. If you are going to take the exams, then come to room 301 at the academy six days from now" Kakashi explained. Naruto jumped on top of Kakashi, hugging him for nominating them for the exams. "Again, this is just a nomination. Whether or not you want to take them is up to you. Those forms need to be turned in by 4pm tomorrow to the Hokage's tower if you are going to take them. I'll give you the rest of today and tomorrow to decide. Based on your response we'll go from there."

With that, Kakashi left the four genin to their thoughts. "Hmm, chunin exams. There are going to be a lot of strong people in that. Like Gaara and those guys from yesterday" Sasuke said. "I might be able to fight them."

"If I win, then I'll be one step closer to Hokage" Naruto thought to himself, imagining himself on a winner's pedestal and wearing the Hokage's hat.

"Things could get interesting, Naruto" Kurama said to his host.

"Yeah, I know. It's about time something exciting happens around here" Naruto responded to the Fox.

"Not exactly what I meant, but yes, thing will get interesting."

"Ok, so what did you mean?" Naruto asked the demon.

"That Suna boy isn't the only one with chakra that I've felt before. I can't tell you who, but I've felt at least one other familiar chakra source enter this village recently."

"So what does that mean?" Naruto asked. "Are there more of your kind here?"

"Maybe. I can't say for sure, but let's just say it's possible."

"Then what do you think about entering? I want to, as it will put me closer to Hokage" Naruto said, giving the Fox a big smile.

"Like I said, it will be interesting. I say do it as there are a few of the Tailed Beasts I wouldn't mind seeing again. But then again, there are others I would rather not."

"So what do you think Naruto, Haku, Sakura?" Sasuke asked his team.

"I'm definitely in!" Naruto exclaimed, giving Sasuke a slight grin.

"I'll come. If the team needs me, I'm more than happy to help them" Haku said.

"I don't want to…I can't even keep up with Naruto" Sakura thought to herself, still depressed that Sasuke had told her that her abilities are probably below Naruto. "But if I back out, what will Sasuke think of me?"

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked, trying to snap his teammate out of it.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'll come" Sakura said, a tone of doubt still in her voice.

Team 7 had just turned in their exam forms for the chunin exams and it was now about three days before the exams would actually start. Already, Naruto had seen ninja from many different villages besides Suna. Currently in the village were also ninja from Kumo, Kusa, Taki, and even some new village known as Otogakure no Sato.

Naruto had just left Ichiraku's after his typical early afternoon ramen run when he spotted a few Kumo shinobi walking away from him. He immediately felt the Kyuubi flare up inside inside.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I think there is a jinchuriki amongst those Kumo shinobi as well. I can't quite tell which one or which biju it is, but I'm certain that one of them is a jinchuriki" said the Kyuubi.

"So that makes what? 2 others?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah. Like I said, this could get interesting" said the Fox.

"Hey, so who are these other biju? I know there's you, but you said there are nine others, right?" asked Naruto.

"There are eight others, nine if you include me. Each of us is distinguished by the number of tails we have. I'll start from the beginning. The Ichibi, Shukaku, is probably my least favorite of all the biju. He's fucking insane and does nothing but kill kill kill. He's also the weakest of all of us, as he only has one tail. The Nibi, Matatabi, is also known as the Ghost Cat. She's actually one of the few biju that I actually don't mind and she actually is pretty respectful. The Sanbi, Isobu, looks just like a giant turtle. I don't really care much for him, but I can tolerate him if it wasn't for his incompetence. The Yonbi, Son Goku, is known as the Great Sage Monkey. I don't really like him that much because he keeps thinking he's smarter and better than me, phft. The Gobi, Kokuo, is well…we don't really know" said Kurama.

"What do you mean, don't really know?" asked Naruto.

"Exactly what I said. All of us resemble some sort of animal, but the Gobi is a mixture of a horse and a dolphin, I think. Anyway, the Rokubi, Saiken, looks like a giant slug. She's almost as bad as the Ichibi when it comes to mindless killing. The Nanabi, Chomei, resembles a large beetle and keeps referring to herself as the Lucky Seven Chomei. For me, she's tolerable. Then we have the Hachibi, Gyuki. He looks like a cross between a giant ox and octopus. He can be rather stubborn and bashful and the two of us have never seen eye to eye. Lastly you have me, the Kyuubi, and the strongest of all the Biju."

"Wow, that's amazing!" replied Naruto.

Later that night, Naruto was walking through the village, on his way home when a figure attacked him out of nowhere. Naruto jumped to the side, just in time to avoid being pelted by a few kunai. The man that attacked him wore a headband indicating that he was part of Amegakure no Sato.

"What the hell do you want?!" shouted Naruto.

"Heh, aren't you funny" laughed the Ame ninja. "The chunin exams have no room for a little brat like you. You're better off giving up now."

"And why would I take advice from the likes of you? You're talking to Konoha's future Hokage!" declared Naruto as he pulled out a kunai and threw it at the attaching ninja. The Ame ninja took his own umbrella from his back and threw it at Naruto, when the kunai and umbrella met, the umbrella turned into dozens of kunai and impaled Naruto.

"Heh, see you little punk? There's no room in the chunin exams for you…huh?" The Naruto that he had attacked disappeared, revealing itself to be nothing more than a shadow clone. While the Ame ninja was busy looking around to see where Naruto was, he didn't notice the blonde tackle him from above.

"Heh, you are you calling a little punk? You're the one who can't handle the exams" replied Naruto. The Ame ninja disappeared, replacing himself with a rock.

"Huh? What? Where?" said Naruto, looking franticly for the attacker, who was nowhere to be found.

Sakura was walking along praising her luck. Sasuke had actually invited her to take a walk with him. She was busy fawning over Sasuke when Sasuke called out some random Ame ninja. Sasuke attacked the ninja, only to be pelted by a barrage of kunai.

Sakura looked on in horror as her precious Sasuke was killed in front of her. "Sasuke!" she shouted out as she ran to the lifeless body of Sasuke, dropped to her knees and began crying.

A few moments passed and her crying turned to laughter. "You can stop with the elementary genjutsu know, I've known this was all an illusion" said Sakura, standing up and facing the Ame ninja. "Since when would Sasuke ever invite me to take a walk with him. Besides, I also know that you're just an illusion as well."

"You think I'm just a mere illusion?" asked a ticked off Ame ninja as he threw the umbrella at Sakura. Sakura simply walked straight through the illusion and the Ame ninja merely laughed. "I see, but if you continue on with the chunin exams, this will become a reality. I wonder if you can endure that?" With that the Ame ninja disappeared and the illusion was dispelled.

"Cha, I'm not scared! I'll take them on anytime!" shouted Sakura. "Sigh…I'm still not sure if I can do it…"

Sasuke was also having trouble with the same random Ame ninja. Well, it wasn't so much of trouble as he had easily defeated his attacker, more like a nuisance.

"So how was it?" Kakashi asked said troublesome Ame ninja. However, the Ame ninja dispelled his transformation to reveal Iruka

"We went through the trouble of having a special preliminary exam for the rookies, and they all passed with ease" said Iruka. "As you said, their skills have shown drastic improvement."

"Well, the actual chunin exams won't just end at this, but…" said Kakashi.

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