Ch11 ) Chunin Exams: Stage 1

When Naruto made it to the Ramen Stand, he sat down in his regular seat and yelled out his order, "Hey Teuchi-San, 3 bowls of Miso Ramen please."

"Ah, Naruto, how have you been. I haven't seen you here for awhile," the old man replied, while getting the ingredients to make Naruto's Ramen.

"I'm good. I've just been training a lot. I actually just got back from a mission, yesterday. It was an A-Rank, can you believe it," Naruto said with a grin on his face for his amazing accomplishment so early in his Ninja Career.

Teuchi was now more invested in the conversation. "No I can't. Was it a success?"

"Duh, who do you think it is you're talking to," A smug grin showed up on the blond's face.

"Well, you are known as the dead last of your year, so I had to ask."

"That was an act," Naruto simply replied, with all seriousness.

Teuchi had some trouble believing him. "Is that so?"

"Here, I'll prove it."

Before Teuchi could ask how, Naruto stood up and performed the Shadow Clone Jutsu, creating about 20 clones that completely fulfilled the stand's occupant limit.

"Well, I stand corrected."

"Uh huh," Naruto took the bowls of Ramen that Teuchi was handing him. Once he started consuming the food, Ayame walked out from the back room, having heard Naruto's voice.

"Naruto!" Ayame launched herself at the boy.

"Hey, Ayame," Naruto replied before going back to eating his Ramen.

While Naruto continued to eat, they talked about various things including, his clothes, training, and other less important things, like what has been going on in the village while he was gone, which wasn't much apparently. After he finished his food, Naruto went back to the training ground so he could better strengthen his team.

When he got there, his team was there waiting for him. "Alright, Sakura, I want you to continue your Chakra training. But this time with water, instead of the tree. Now get to it!"

"Jeez, you don't have to be so forceful about it," Sakura mutters under her breath while heading towards the water.

"Now, Sasuke, I want you to practice your Taijutsu by sparring with me again. No weapons, your Bukijutsu is good enough as it is," Naruto informed him before getting in his Gorilla Taijutsu stance.

Sasuke followed suit with his Signature Uchiha Taijutsu stance, the Interceptor Fist. He rushed at Naruto at his fastest speed, well fastest speed with the weights anyway. He pulled back a fist to punch Naruto in the face. Naruto put his arms up in an x, blocking the fist while adding Chakra to his feet in order to prevent being knocked back even a little bit.

As soon as Sasuke's fist connected with Naruto's forearms, Naruto twisted his wrist grabbing Sasuke's arm and slamming him into the ground with Chakra enhanced strength for added effect. When Sasuke tried to get back up, Naruto gave him a Chakra enhanced kick to his stomach. Sasuke went flying back 20 ft, smashing into the ground, as he descended.

Before Sasuke could get up, Naruto appeared right behind him, and pressed him back down with a foot on his back. "Remember when I told you about Chakra enhancement?" Naruto asked the now injured boy, who's still lying on the ground.

"Yes," Sasuke grunted, trying to push Naruto off of him, but to no avail.

"Well it goes both ways. It can be used for offence and defense. That's why, when you punched me, it didn't knock me back at all. Even though you were using full strength and speed," Naruto took his foot away, letting the Uchiha get back up.

Sasuke stood up once more. His determination only increased with this newfound information. "Okay, let's start again."

"Are you sure? I kicked you really hard."

The Uchiha wanted to get back to it as soon as possible. "Yes! Let's do this."

"Fine, but I'm only doing defense from now on. You're not gonna get any better with me just beating you up all the time." Naruto laughed at that statement.

"Hn." Sasuke began charging Naruto once again with a flurry of Chakra enhanced punches and kicks. All of which, Naruto blocked effortlessly.

"Remember to stay focused. Don't let your anger and Hubris control you," Naruto warned, before he put his hands up in a cross shape, creating a clone to take his place. "Here, this weaker version of me will train you better. You'll never get anywhere fighting the real me. The clones have a tenth of my power. If you can defeat it, that means you are getting better. Then I'll create 2 clones to fight you, and so on."

Sasuke just grunted in response, not happy with the situation, but still understanding its purpose.

Naruto then left to do his own Training. But first he had to find Kakashi. The blond had decided that he is finally going to practice some fire style ninjutsu. He will be able to enhance his own moves once he learns a few.

With Kakashi And Naruto

Kakashi was minding his own business, strolling down the road, while he read his favorite book. He turned around when he heard his blond student calling his teammate.

Naruto ran up behind the Jonin and stopped right next to him. "Kakashi Sensei. I had something I wanted to ask you." The blond looked up at the Jonin.

The man was intrigued. He didn't think there was much that he could do for the boy. At his current level, the kid was probably stronger than him already. "What can I do for you, Naruto." His normal tone of indifference was present.

Naruto smiled at the Cyclops. "I wanted to know if I could learn some of the fire Jutsu that you know."

Kakashi's visible eye widened slightly. "I thought your affinity was wind?"

Naruto smirked. "It is. But so is fire." The blond shrugged. "So will you teach me?"

Kakashi appeared to be his usual cool and collected self. But on the inside, he was shocked. The kid had two affinities? Then something occurred to him. He uses his Father's Hiraishin jutsu. Which also means he has an affinity for lightning. This kid's power just keeps expanding. Having three different elemental affinities was extremely rare. He could not believe how long it took him to realize that the Uzumaki had to have an affinity to lightning as well, if he had any chance at using his Sensei's famous jutsu. "Did you want to learn some lightning jutsu as well?"

A foxy grin was present on the blond's face. "I was wondering how long it would take for you to figure that out." He nodded his head. "Yes, that would be awesome."

Kakashi gave the boy his signature eye smile. "You really are quite the powerhouse, Naruto." The man ruffled the boy's hair. He reached into one of the many pockets pulling out a fire jutsu, and reached into another, pulling out a lightning jutsu. "Here you go." He tossed both scrolls to the boy. "Do you know the exercises for these elements, Naruto?"

The boy shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I will just ask Kurama." Naruto smiled once more, before vanishing from the man's sight.

Kakashi smiled, looking at the blond's previous location. His father would be so proud of him.

With Naruto

Naruto was in an empty clearing. Training ground nine to be exact. He was sitting up against a tree. His eyes were closed. Anyone who knew about it, would know he was in his mindscape. "Hey Kurama? Do you know any exercises to enhance my control over fire and lightning?"

The beast scoffed. "Who do you think you are talking to, Kit?" The fox smirked at his container. "Of course I do." A devilish smile graced his features. The boy was in for a surprise. If he was lucky, the blond would get off with only a few burns. "These one are a lot more fun."

Naruto gulped. The look on his Biju's face was creeping him out. The blond had a feeling he was not going to enjoy this. "What are they?" He was afraid of the answer.

The fox's smirk only got more creepy and sadistic. "You have no idea how long I have been waiting to teach you this, Kit." The beast rubbed his paws together in excitement. His nine tails were thrashing behind him.

Naruto paled. "This is going to hurt isn't it."

Kurama did not hesitate. "Yes it will, kit." He turned to stare at the boy, before explaining the exercises. "For fire, you are going to want to grab a stick and rub it between your hands, until it starts to heat up and catch fire. For lightning, you are going to want to imagine your chakra is sparking around you. Try to control its reach by standing on a pool of water as you do it. Hopefully this will give you some incentive. You wouldn't want the lightning touching the water." The beast let out a dark chuckle. "Unless of course, you wanted to be fried like a chicken."

The boy should have known the fox was going to enjoy this. They were great friends, but that did not mean that he didn't enjoy torturing the boy. Naruto created 500 clones. "200 of you practice the lightning exercise, and 200 practice the lightning." They all set out to accomplish their task. Nartuto turned to the other 100 clones. "As for you guys. 50 of you read up on fire element training. And the other 50, do the same thing. Except you study lightning.

The beginning was rough for the young blond. Every time, one of his clones injured themselves, he had to make another to replace it. He was in the middle of his training regiment, when all of his clones practicing the lightning training instantly dispelled. The boy almost puked out his guts, as the feeling of extreme nausea passed through him. Man that hurt. Who knew that so many of his clones would suddenly lose control. Naruto made 200 more clones and spaced them out even further. The goal was that they would be too far to affect anyone but them, if they lost control.

A few hours later and Naruto was able to create a decent sized surge of electricity around the top half of his body. He was still having trouble with the fire though. He just couldn't seem to picture it correctly in his head. All he could do so far was give the stick a light toast.

Kurama pondered this for a second. Then a thought popped into his mind. "Kit, I think I know the issue."

Naruto brought his focus to the fox. "What is it?"

"Lightning is a focused blast of electricity. So it makes sense for you to have to be extremely focused."

"Yeah?" For the life of him, Naruto had no idea where the fox was going with this.

"Fire is the complete opposite. It is chaotic and out of control."

"So what you are saying is that instead of focusing so hard on controlling it, I should let my thoughts on fire run rampant."

The beast smiled at the boy. "Exactly."

Naruto returned the smile with one of his own. "It's worth a shot." At that moment his clones who were studying the element in the library dispelled. All their knowledge was instantly at the blond's grasp. "You called it, Kurama." Naruto smirked at the fox. "That is exactly what the books at the library suggest you do." Naruto immediately put the knowledge to use. He grabbed a stick and rubbed it between his hands. He imagined a huge fire burning down the entire forest. "Ahh!" The stick instantly burst into flames, burning the boy in the process.

"Great job, Kit." The fox applauded, smacking his pawn into the ground.

Naruto smiled at the applause. "Thank you, Kurama. Now I can practice the jutsu, Kakashi Sensei Gave me." Naruto created 200 more clones to help him practice. The other 450 were still performing their exercises. You could never be too skilled. The blond pulled out both scrolls and read them over. They were both A-rank jutsu. It was nice to see how much his teacher had faith in him. The fire scroll read, Katon: Hakai no honō (Fire Style: Fire Plumes Of Destruction). The description was pretty simple. All he had to do was perform the hand signs and imagine giant pillars of fire blasting out of the ground. It said he could make as little or as many as he wanted. As long as he had enough Chakra and Control. "Damn, this is a very dangerous Jutsu." He then read the lightning scroll. It read, Raiton: Kaminari no nagare (Lightning Style: Lightning stream). "Look, Kurama, it says with this jutsu I will be able to generate a constant stream of electricity throughout my body." The blond smiled. "I can even project the lightning out of any part of my body, or all at once in a sudden burst. This technique is great for offence and defence." The boy's smile turned manic. "It'll definitely make it easier to paralyze people. My tags only work so well."

The beast sweat dropped. Maybe this wasn't such a good Idea. The boy can cause a lot of pain with this jutsu.

Naruto created 600 more clones. 300 of them practiced his fire jutsu, and the other half practiced hig lightning jutsu, using rocks, trees, and small animals as targets. At night he would dispel them, 100 at a time in 2 minute intervals. For dinner he cooked some of the rabbit and birds he had killed. Not wanting to waste the food, Naruto placed preservation seals on the animals and stored them in a scroll. He unsealed his tent, and a small cot. The blond decided he would spend the rest of the week outside, honing his new abilities.

6 Days Later

In the past week, Sasuke was able to defeat 3 of Naruto's clones in a Taijutsu fight, his weights have been upgraded to 90 pounds for his arms and legs, and was able to fight on a tree for an hour and water for 30 minutes.

Sakura's weights have increased to 50 pounds on her arms and legs, she is able to stand on a tree for an hour and a half and water for an hour, she can create a mud dome that is 15 ft. in diameter, and can almost defeat one of Naruto's clones in a taijutsu fight since he taught her his dragon style given her relentless nature.

Naruto's Fuinjutsu has increased to seal master level 1, his weights have increased to 200 lbs. on his legs and arms, he can now best Kakashi in a fight without the weights, and his chakra control is almost perfect, which makes controlling the chakra chains much easier. His control over fire and lightning chakra has also greatly improved. The blond can cover his body in electricity within a moment's notice. This greatly enhanced his defensive capability. He is able to shoot a continuous blast of electricity out of his body. Or if he chooses, he can fire out multiple streams from his fingers. It really just depends whether the blond wants the attack to be a sudden blast, or a continuous stream for him to manipulate in any way he wants. The range on this jutsu has exceeded 30 ft. Although if he wants to use his fingers, close range is best. Naruto's fire jutsu is probably the most destructive one he possesses. Thanks to his refined control he can make as many plumes or as little amount of fire pillars as he chooses. It is very useful for multiple targets, and ambushes.

All 3 Genin were meeting in the training ground for one last test, before the Chunin Exams tomorrow.

"Alright, Sasuke, Sakura, I'm going to create 5 shadow clones for you to fight. If you can win, I'll consider you strong enough for the exams." Naruto summons 5 clones into existence.

Sasuke and Sakura raced forward going after the clone that was closest to them. Sakura threw a chakra enhanced punch at the 1st clone making it block with one of its hands. While it was blocking, Sakura swooped it's legs out from underneath it's body. She followed through with a punch to it's stomach, effectively beating it out of existence.

Sasuke threw a barrage of punches toward the clone he was fighting, hitting it in the face when it blocked a punch to it's shoulder. They both jumped back, getting ready for a coordinated attack.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu." Sasuke blows out a semi-Large ball of fire at the remaining clones.

When the clones tried to jump back to avoid the blast, they collided with the mud dome, Sakura had created without them knowing. The fire engulfed all the clones but one.

The clone vanished from inside the dome and appeared behind Sakura, using the seal Naruto placed on her a while back. As it was about to bring it's fist down on Sakura's head, the clone had to turn around to block a punch from Sasuke's left fist. Sakura tried to use this to her advantage, and threw a punch with her right fist, but the clone blocked it as well.

Thinking his body was open to a kick, both Sakura and Sasuke tried to kick him in the side while he was still blocking their fist. The clone proceeded to jump up over their feet and kicked both his feet out, effectively hitting them in the chest and away from him.

While they were still stumbling backwards from the kick, the clone rushed at Sasuke and punched him in the face, knocking him down. The clone then rushed at Sakura, catching her off guard with a leg swoop, causing her to slam into the floor.

Sasuke stood up and charged at the clone. Thinking he was going for a punch, the clone brought his arms up into an x block. Sasuke surprised him however by vanishing and reappearing behind him with a chop to the neck. The clone poofed out of existence.

Naruto appears in front of them once again, clapping in approval. "Good job, you guys. I'll admit, that was impressive." Sasuke helps Sakura up off the ground.

"Thanks. So we're ready for the Chunin Exams?" Sakura asked with a hopeful expression on her face.

"Definitely. If you can defeat 5 of my clones, you should have no problems in the Exams. Get some rest, and We'll meet at the Academy entrance at 2 O'clock tomorrow," Naruto instructed before walking away towards his home.

2 O'clock The Next Day

Naruto was standing in front of the Academy, waiting for his teammates, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw splashes of pink and black hair, signaling their arrival.

"There you guys are. Let's go." Naruto walks into the school building with Sakura and Sasuke right behind him.

When they got up to the second floor, they all noticed a huge group of kids being denied entry into the classroom by two Chunin with weapons on their backs. As they got closer to the group of kids, they noticed one kid, clothed in green spandex with a red headband tied around his waist. A mop of black hair was on his head. He was trying to make it past the Chunin. The kid went in for a kick and Naruto felt a blur of wind race past him. Turning to the side, he noticed Sasuke was gone. He looked back to the fight and saw Sasuke blocking Lee's kick.

"Hey" Sasuke began while looking at the Chunin, "Release The Genjutsu." He commanded, trying to show off his superior skill.

What are you doing, you idiot? Naruto deadpanned at his teammates' actions.

"Tell them, Sakura. You knew right away, right?" Sasuke looked toward their pink haired teammate.

Sakura had no idea about the Genjutsu. But, not wanting to look weak in front of her Sasuke, she pretended like she had known the whole time. "Yeah there is a Genjutsu, this is obviously the second floor. We're supposed to go to the third." She was also trying to prove her superiority.

The two Chunin looked at each other, before smirking and releasing the Genjutsu.

Before anyone could do anything, Sasuke and Sakura were both grabbed from the backs of their shirts by Naruto. He began dragging them up the next flight of stairs. "You both are idiots, you know that?" At their shared looks of confusion, Naruto explained the reasoning behind his statement. "That Genjutsu was obviously designed to weed out the weaker Genin who should not be in the exam. Now, because of you two morons, there is a lot of unnecessary competition." Naruto threw both of his teammates onto the next floor, tired of dragging them along.

As they were walking to the designated exam room, they were stopped by the Green spandex wearing kid they saw earlier.

"You are Sasuke Uchiha correct?" The kid in green spandex stretched his arm out with the back of his hand facing them, in a come on gesture.

Sasuke stepped forward. "Yes, who's asking?"

"I am Rock Lee, The Leaf Village's handsome Devil. I challenge you to a fight, Sasuke Uchiha!"

"To know the Uchiha Name, and still want to fight me. I can't tell if that's brave or incredibly stupid," Sasuke said, some of his arrogant side showing through.

"I wish to prove that even though I possess no skill in Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, I can still be a great Ninja using only Taijutsu," Lee responded, answering Sasuke's hidden question.

"All right, I accept. Show me what you got, Rock lee."

They both charged at one another, fist drawn back, and before Sasuke could do anything, he was propelled backwards by Lee's punch. Realizing he would need to be much faster, he removed the weights from his arms and legs.

Once again, Sasuke charged forward. Feeling much lighter and able to move more freely, Sasuke was sure he had this fight in the bag. Holding back his fist, for a punch to Lee's face, he ran forward at full speed, only to be propelled backwards, this time by Lee's foot connecting with his stomach.

Damn it! He's faster than him. There's no doubt about that. If only he had his Sharingan unlocked. Sasuke started planning his next mode of attack. He charged in once again, only to be punched in the face, propelling him backwards into a wall. Pushing all his energy through, Sasuke vanished, and reappeared behind Lee, aiming a kick to his head.

Lee spun around and intercepted the kick with his arm, blocking it perfectly. Sasuke jumped backwards and went on the defensive, as Lee charged at him with a barrage of kicks and punches. Adding chakra into his arms and feet, he stuck to the ground to prevent being knocked back. As he was blocking most of the attacks, the movement around him began to slow down.

He was able to visualize what Lee was about to do. With this newfound information, he could block and counter much easier. After blocking a kick from Lee, Sasuke jumped backwards anticipating the next attack. Lee stopped in his tracks noticing the change in his opponents eyes.

Sasuke was confused about why his opponent had stopped. He turned to look at his teammates, and that's when he saw it. Reflecting on Naruto's headband, he could see that he had awoken his Sharingan.

Feeling much more confident in the fight now, Sasuke charged forward once again. Trying to catch his opponent off guard, he aimed a punch to Lee's chin. He noticed that Lee was going to try a kick to his jaw. But, before he could block the kick, he was launched into the air and slammed back into the ground.

At the look of confusion on Sasuke's face, Lee explained, "Just because you have awoken your Sharingan, and can now anticipate my movements, doesn't change the fact that you are not yet fast enough to block my attacks." Before Sasuke could do or say anything more, Lee charged forward, kicking Sasuke into the air once again, before vanishing and reappearing underneath him mid-Air. "I am sorry, Sensei. I know you said not to use this technique, but I must." Removing the wraps from his arms, he wrapped Sasuke into a cocoon using the bandages, and started spinning toward the ground at an accelerated speed.

"Sasuke!" Sakura, who had been watching the entire fight, was worried for her crush's safety.

Before they could hit the ground, a shadow jumped up and spun into the two, preventing the move from succeeding. After a poof of smoke, the shadow was revealed to be a turtle.

Another puff of smoke appeared, revealing what looked to be an older version of Rock Lee wearing a Jonin vest.

The figure jumped off the turtle and headed toward the younger spandex wearing ninja.

"Guy Sensei! I'm sorry I know I wasn't supposed to use that move." After he finished apologizing, the figure now known as Guy Sensei socked him in the face, propelling him into the ground about 5 feet away.

"Oh Lee, I'm sorry," said Guy Sensei with tears in his eyes.

"Guy Sensei!" Now with tears in both their eyes they hugged creating what looked to be a tropical island sunset Genjutsu behind them.

"What the hell is that!" Needless to say, all of the Kakashi team members were weirded out by what they were seeing.

"Ah, Kakashi's little genin team is it," Guy spoke up once he noticed them.

"Yeah, and who are you?" Asked Naruto, staring at the older ninja.

"I'm Guy Sensei. Kakashi's my rival, but I'm stronger than Kakashi. We've had 99 fights, and the score is 49-50."

"Who has the 50 wins?" Sasuke could not believe that this idiotic looking guy was stronger than his sensei.

"Kakashi," Guy dejectedly replied.

Sakura knew it! This guy's pathetic.

Figures. This guy is a total loser.

"well anyway. we should really be going. Got a big test to finish, and we don't want to be late."

"Of course, good luck to you." Guy vanished in a swirl of leaves.

"Come on, let's go," said Naruto to Sasuke and sakura as he walked to the staircase.

They all began walking up the staircase towards the third floor.

When they got there, they all noticed Kakashi standing in front of the exam room door.

"Oh good, you all decided to come." Kakashi gave them his signature eye smile.

Sasuke was confused by this. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if one of you decided not to come, then none of you would have been able to participate. This is in fact a team test. if at any point one of you fails or gives up, then all of you fail," Kakashi explained.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the Cyclops. "Why didn't you tell us this before?"

"Well I was worried that if I had, you would have forced Sakura into taking the test, even though she probably wouldn't have been ready."

"Well, it doesn't matter why. The point is we're all here. So let's do this guys," said Naruto before a potential outburst from Sasuke or Sakura.

"Good luck." Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves.

After he disappeared the group of Genin entered the room. Inside the exam room, they were met by a huge group of Ninja's from their Village and all the other villages.

"So it looks like you guys made it here too." They turned around and saw Shikimaru getting off the wall and walking toward them.

"Of course we made it. Were the best Genin team of the year", Sasuke replies arrogantly.

Ino was skeptical. "Oh really?" She walked over to the group. "Cause last I checked, you, Sasuke, are the only one who brings value to your team."

Naruto butts in at this. "Not to be rude, Ino. But you're wrong."

"Oh really. Prove it, Naruto."

"Alright." A copy of Naruto shows up behind every single Konoha rookie.

"Woah! What the heck," Choji says between chip munching.

"Is that proof enough for you, Ino." Naruto makes all his clones disappear.

"Not even close."

"Sorry to interrupt. But you rookies should really quiet down." A stranger with gray hair and glasses walks up to the group of Genin.

Sakura speaks up for the first time since entering the room. "Who are you?"

"I'm, Kabuto. I'm a Konoha Genin, just like you. This is the 7th time I've taken the Chunin Exams."

Ino was dismayed. "Woah, really. That must mean the Chunin Exams are really difficult. I mean, if it's taken you 7 years."

Sasuke is starting to doubt this guy's skill, thinking he is just another weakling.

"No it's not like that. The Chunin Exams are held twice a year. So this is my 4th year trying, not 7th." Kabuto slightly reassures all who began to feel anxious about the test. "But anyway, back to my warning." The teen gestures to the many people in the room. "These guys are already on edge because of the exams. So you guys coming in here and being loud and obnoxious isn't helping to ease their nerves."

They all look around the room and see all the death glares directed at them from the other Genin here to take the exam.

"Plus, I think I can help you guys out a little." Kabuto pulls out a map and blank cards. "This map here is a map of the entire nation, and these cards have information on every Genin Ninja in this room. So if you guys want to know about the competition just ask."

"Alright, I wanna know about Rock Lee of The Hidden leaf, Gaara of The Hidden sand, and Naruto Uzumaki of The Hidden leaf. " Sasuke surprises every Konoha rookie with the inquiry into Naruto.

Naruto himself is a little surprised as well. But he does not show it.

Naruto begins a mental convo with the beast in his stomach. "Please, those cards aren't going to tell him anything about me that he wants to know."

"yeah, but he doesn't know that, Kit."

"yeah, I know."

"Huh, you already know their names. That's disappointing. It won't be a challenge." Kabuto starts to channel chakra into the first card. "Let's see, Rock Lee. He's a genin just like you, only a year older. He possesses no potential for Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. His team members are Tenten and Neji Hyuga. Sensei is Maito Guy. Who is supposedly Kakashi Sensei's lifelong rival. Their team has done thirty, D-rank missions, two, C-rank, and one, B-rank. This is also their first time taking the exams."

They're pretty experienced then, was the thought going through everyone's head.

Adding Chakra into the next card, he continues. "Next we have Gaara Sabaku of the Hidden Sand. His Ninjutsu is mid Chunin level, Taijutsu is genin level, and he possesses no skill in Genjutsu. His teammates are his Brother and Sister, Kankuro Sabaku and Temari Sabaku. Their Sensei is named Baki. They've gone on twenty-five, C-rank missions, four, B-rank missions, and three, A-rank missions." Kabuto pauses for a moment. " Huh, it says here, that he has come back from all his missions without a scratch on him."

After that, everyone in the room turns their Eyes to the red haired boy known as Gaara, who just stares blankly. But anyone who was paying attention would see that his gaze was focused on Naruto. Naruto knew this of course, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. He was used to the attention on him. Albeit, mostly negative. But attention nonetheless.

Once again, Kabuto focused chakra into a third card revealing Naruto's Ninja Information. "And finally, Naruto Uzumaki. What that's strange," Kabuto says, clearly perplexed by something displayed on the card.

"what's wrong?" Sasuke asked the confused teenager.

"Well it says here that Naruto Uzumaki's Ninjutsu is about low Genin Level, Taijutsu is mid Genin level, and that he possesses no skill in Genjutsu."

What? That doesn't make any sense. If that's true then how has he been able to do all those things and perform at the level that he has demonstrated. Sasuke was angry at this revelation.

Sakura opened her big mouth once again. "Hah! I knew he wasn't as good as Sasuke."

"I thought you said you brought value to your team, Naruto, " Ino says with a smirk present on her face. "Because, based on the cards, you stink, and don't even qualify to be here."

Tenten on the other hand was all kinds of confused. She has seen Naruto in action. So she knows what is shown on the card is a big fat lie. She looks over to see Naruto concealing a smirk on his face. She learned how to read him somewhat over the two years that they have known each other. So she knows how to find it, unlike everyone else who doesn't notice at all.

Kabuto Continues reading off the cards contents. "His teammates are, Sasuke Uchiha of the Famous Uchiha clan, wielders of the Sharringan, and Sakura Haruno. Their sensei is the famous copy-cat Ninja, Kakashi Hatake. They've had about forty, D-rank missions, and one, C-rank mission."

Kiba decided to voice his opinion on the subject matter. "So Ino was right. You are useless to your team, aren't you Naruto?"

Sakura seemingly forgets all that the blond has done since they graduated."Yeah, totally. I don't even know why he is still on our team."

Kabuto tries to ease the tension. "Well, the other villages present are, The villages hidden in the stone, sand, mist, clouds, and sound. The sound is relatively new. So they are probably not much of a threat."

Having said this though, he has infuriated three of the sound Genin into retaliation.

"So you think the Sound is weak, huh?" Some dude with a hunch and wrappings all around the left side of his torso and face, responded. "Well here is something you can add to your little Ninja cards."His buddies show up to support him.

One of them is a medium height boy with a Mohawk type hairstyle, metal gauntlets on his arms that are full of holes, and a Ninja headband with a music symbol engraved into the metal plating. The other, is a girl with the same headband, camo pants, bells on her waist and a simple tan shirt, with her hair in a pony-tail.

Kabuto's glasses begin to crack and they all rush to attack him as the glasses fall off his face and onto the ground. Before anyone can make a move, Naruto and two of his clones are seen restraining the sound Genin.

The same thought was running through everyone's mind. What the hell!? We didn't even see or hear him move.

"Knock it off. We're in a classroom right now. You'll have your chance to prove yourself soon. So be patient. Are you really gonna let some person's stupid comment set you off like that." Naruto was still restraining the trio with a level of strength that disables any movement from the captives.

"Hey! Let go kid!" Said the Genin with the Mohawk like hairstyle.

"I will, if you promise not to attack anyone," Naruto answers the boy.

"yeah, like I'm gonna listen to a stupid little runt like you," the boy replies arrogantly.

Suddenly the room was filled with so much bloodlust , that everybody was frozen with fear, including the sand siblings. This surprised and Intrigued Gaara. It definitely made him excited at the prospect of fighting the blond.

No one in the room expected this kind of unbridled animosity from the seemingly level headed genin.

"I said not to attack anyone. Now am I clear?" There was malice prominent in his tone. It guaranteed pain if anyone defied his orders.

"Okay, I promise! Just please let go." The boy was in obvious pain from Naruto's grip on him.

Naruto's sudden cheery mood scared the hell out of them even more. "Good!"

Is this kid insane? How can he go from angry to downright cheerful in a split second like that. Everyone was finally able to relax easier now that Naruto stopped generating his K.I. Something is up with the info on his card. No mere Genin can pull off a stunt like that.

It was at this moment that a man in a black trench coat, scar on his face, and a bandanna on his head appeared from smoke into the room, shouting out for everyone to "quiet Down!" Before realizing how silent the room actually was. "Well never mind then. I'm your proctor for the 1st exam. The names, Ibikki Morino. Everyone come up here, choose a number, and sit at the matching seat."

After everyone got their seat assignments, Ibikki spoke up once more. "Good, now that you're all seated quietly, we can begin. Let me start off by explaining the rules for this phase of the Exam. 1) There are 9 questions you will be asked to answer on the worksheet that we will pass out to all of you. 2) You will be given 45 minutes to answer these 9 questions, Then you will be asked to answer the 10th question after the 45 minutes are up. 3) You start the test with 10 points. For each question you either get wrong or don't complete, you will be docked 1 point. 4) This is a combined team test. So to pass you need a good enough score for all 3 of you."

Sasuke was confident he would be able to answer the questions accurately. Naruto seems to know a lot lately. So he doesn't think he has to worry about him. Sakura is the smartest Kunoichi of their year. So no issues there. They should all be able to pass easily. Sasuke's optimistic mindset was a surprise to the boy. Huh, Naruto must be getting to him.

Sakura knew she could do it. Sasuke is rookie of their year so nothing to worry about there. But, Naruto on the other hand. He's a complete idiot. She began worrying for the fate of their team in these exams. She was sure Sasuke and her could do well enough to compensate for his lack of knowledge. They can do this.

"5) If one person on the team gets a zero on their test, the entire team fails and has to leave immediately," Ibikki informs, completely throwing off Sakura's thought process.

Sakura started panicking. Shit! They're totally screwed.

"6) Cheating is against the rules. Each time you are caught, you will receive a strike from one of our many proctors lined up along the window." Ibikki motions with his hand to the Ninja seated along the wall on the right side of the classroom, all wearing similar uniforms to distinguish them from the genin. "7) if you are caught cheating 5 times, your score will immediately drop to zero and your team fails. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, we can begin the test." The Proctor starts to pass the test sheet to all the Genin.

The first thing that they all notice is that the questions are far too difficult for a mere Genin to answer. Some began to figure out the meaning of the test, while others struggled to answer the questions. Sasuke activates his Sharingan to copy the answers of Sakura, who he knows has already answered every question. Now he just has to hope that Naruto figures the test out.

Naruto on the other hand has already answered all the questions on the paper. He knew the meaning of it as soon as the proctor mentioned they were allowed to be caught cheating 5 times. "Obviously they are testing out how well we can gather information without being found out," Naruto says to the Fox inside his head.

"Gee..., however did you figure that out?"

Hinata has also finished her test, and was going to offer it to Naruto so he could copy her answers. That is until she was shocked to see he had already answered all the questions. plus they were far more in depth answers than those that were on her paper.

5 groups of Genin were caught cheating and sent out of the exam room. After the 45 minutes were up, Ibikki began to speak once more.

"Now that the 45 minutes are up, we can begin the 10th question."

Everybody but Naruto began to get really nervous at the mention of the final question.

"But first, let me explain the rules."

"what!? There are even more rules now!" A random Cloud genin slammed his hands on the table.

"Quiet! I'm the proctor. I'll assign as many rules as I please," Ibikki replied. "Good, now that everyone is quiet, I'll explain the rules. 1) You have the choice of whether to receive the 10th question. If you wish to not take it, you may raise your hand and your team will be disqualified."

"Well of course we'll take the question then!" Kiba shouted from the middle of the room.

"I wasn't done! Let me explain. If you decide to take the 10th question and get it wrong, your score will immediately drop to zero, and you will be disqualified from the exam. Plus, you will also be banned from ever taking the Chunin Exams again. You'll be stuck as a genin for the rest of your career." Ibikki was completely serious.

"What!? That doesn't make sense. There are genin here that have taken the exam before, and they weren't banned from the test," Kiba tried to reason.

"Well I guess... you're just unlucky to have me as the proctor this year," Ibikki replied. "So does anyone want to forfeit? Now is your only chance."

After that, multiple Genin began to raise their hands and were escorted out of the classroom, along with their fellow team members.

Sakura was really beginning to worry now. She didn't want to risk Sasuke not accomplishing his goals because of Naruto. So she started to raise her hand tentatively.

Sasuke was confused by his female team member's actions. What are you doing, Sakura? Put your hand down.

Naruto on the other hand, expected this and raced over and pushed her hand down onto the table before anyone could even notice. Sakura doesn't know what just happened. But she figures it's better if she just leaves her hand on the table.

Naruto stands up on the flashes a confident grin. "Well I'm not going to forfeit. Even if I fail and am a genin my entire life. I'll still be the strongest Ninja in the world."

What is wrong with this kid. He's either extremely confident, or extremely idiotic. Whatever it is he seems to have put the rest of the genin at ease, Ibikki noticed, observing the classroom's occupants. "No one else wants to give up? Like I said, if you fail, you will never exceed genin status." Still, no one raised their hand. "Alright. Congratulations! You all pass," he informs with a smile on his face, shocking everyone in the room, except Naruto of course.

"But what about the 10th question?" Temari asked from right beside, Naruto.

"Well I guess you can say whether or not you chose to take the question or not was the 10th question," Ibikki replied, still confusing all the students in the room, excluding Naruto. "It's like this you see. When you are Chunin, you will be called to be platoon leader for certain missions, that will no doubt be at least C-rank or higher. You won't be able to just ignore a mission and wait for next time. So we had to get rid of all the people who had that thought process."

"Then what were the other 9 questions all for then. I mean if we pass based on the fact that we decide to take the 10th question. Doesn't that mean that the other 9 are pointless?" Temari questioned.

"Not at all. The other 9 were to test our skills with gathering intel. Think about it, why else would they give us 5 chances to be caught cheating? Plus the questions were way too complex for a genin to answer. So the test itself practically encourages cheating. In the future we may be put on missions where we will have to gather intel on our enemy. So if you get caught, you obviously aren't very adept at that particular subject. Which means you don't have the skills necessary for a Chunin," Naruto explains, answering the question on everyone's mind.

"Exactly, in the group of Genin, we have placed 2 Chunin among you for you to cheat off of." Two Chunin stood up to show people who they were. Ibikki began to take off his headband, revealing the scars on his head. "You see, information is a dangerous thing to possess. And if you are caught, you can be interrogated, tortured or killed. So we can only pass the strong willed, and the strong minded. There is no room for spineless cowards who rely on things like next time or not right now in the ranks of Chunin."

As everyone was contemplating what the Proctor and Naruto said, a window shattered, and through the chaos a banner was held up by 2 kunai plunged in the corners in front of Ibikki. The banner revealed a name.

"Hey everybody! I'm the proctor for the second stage of the Chunin exams. The names, Anko Mitarashi. Let's go!" The women shouted enthusiastically while motioning with her arm for the genin to follow her. She was a medium height, purple haired woman with a tan trench coat, fishnet shirt, short skirt, and fishnet stockings. She had ample cleavage, and let's just say, her outfit left almost nothing to the imagination.

"Anko, you're early, again," Ibikki chastises, clearly annoyed, peeking his head out of the banner.

After surveyed the group. "26 teams left huh. Ibikki, are you going soft?"

"Maybe we just have a stronger crop of Genin this year," Ibikki reasoned.

"Well whatever the case, after I'm done, only half of them will remain," she replies with an ominous tone in her voice.

Suddenly everyone in the class was anxious once again.

"Alright everybody, follow me," Anko says with a sudden dark undertone to her voice.

After everyone left with Anko, Ibikki was collecting the test papers until he got to Naruto's. He was surprised with the boy's clear and concise answers to the questions asked. "That boy is really something special."