13

Disclaimer: I in no way own Naruto or any of its Characters, they are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. I'm just a guy who wanted Naruto to be the baddest kid on the playground!

"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." - Revelation 6:8

"Do you hear? Guide the people, and believe in them, for it's from among them that one will come who will carry on when your time is done." - Tobirama Senju

It's my life

And it's now or never

'Cause I ain't gonna live forever

I just want to live while I'm alive

It's my life – Bon Jovi (It's My Life)

Naruto Chapter 13: The Chunin Exams Begin!

"Naruto! You have to do it!"

"No! You can't ask me to do this!" Cried Naruto, tears beginning to leak from his eyes. There was Smoke and fire everywhere, he could hear cries of the wounded and the widowed even now. How could this have happened? This was supposed to be a good day. And now...

"You have to! I'm sorry, but you're going to have to kill me!"

Naruto awoke with a start! Soaked with sweat and shivering despite how warm it was in his room. Moving to the edge of his bed, Naruto sat with his head in his hands. Trying to shake the nauseous feeling in his stomach. Already the details of the dream were fading from his mind, but he knew it had been a bad one!

Shaking his head Naruto got out of bed and headed for the shower. Today was a big day. It was the start of the Chunin Exams, And the next step in fulfilling his dream! So he would be damned if he was going to let a little nightmare get to him. After his shower Naruto dressed in his normal black hoodie and pants with mesh under armor, as well as securing his weapons and forehead protector to their rightful places.

The last piece of equipment Naruto put on, He had found in his mail box last night with a note from Kakashi. That simply said "Wear these!" It was a simple pair of black sunglasses. Naruto had made a mental note to thank his Sensei. These would allow him to use his Rinnegan without drawing attention to himself.

With that done Naruto grabbed a protein bar and headed to the academy.

Naruto arrived at the academy only to see that he was the last to arrive.

"You're late Naruto." Said Sakura surprised that Naruto would show up late to something as important as this.

Naruto looked at his feet while scratching the back of his head. "Ha-ha. Yeah sorry about that. I didn't sleep well last night. Well are you two ready?"

"You're the one who was late Uzumaki." Said Sasuke, with a smirk. Ever since the wave mission, he and Sasuke out of a singe of mutual respect mostly, mostly being the key word, stopped calling each other 'dobe and bastard!' Now they just used the others last name as if it was an insult. Some would say that wasn't much of an improvement. But he knew, that for the two of them it was like calling the other one brother, or at lest an equal.

"What ever you say Uchiha." With that the trio headed inside.

It wasn't long until they came upon a scuffle between a odd boy in green jumpsuit and two older looking boys.

"Ha! You're taking the Chunin Exams but you can't even get past us?" Said one of the older looking boys with a bandage on each cheek and one on his chin. He also had what appeared to be two overly large Kunai on his back.

"Yeah, why don't you just give up now, before you get hurt." Added his buddy who had his forehead protector bandanna style on his head. Naruto took one look at Sasuke, and could tell his plan.

"Don't! The more people who get fooled by this, the less competition there will be." Said Naruto, atlest until he saw what happen next. The odd boys female teammate approached and tried to calm down the situation only to get punched in the face. Naruto who believed a boy should only hit a girl in self defense, was instantly pissed.

"On second thought. Have at it Sasuke." Said Naruto with narrowed eyes. Sasuke gave a smirk, before he headed towards the two boys.

"Real nice Genjutsu, but anyone with a brain can tell that this is the second floor and the exams are on the third." Said Sasuke with a sneer.

"Well, well, well. So you noticed our Genjutsu. Well, lets see you deal with this!" Said bandage boy. As he ran at Sasuke to kick him. But when he spiked his Chakra Naruto noticed something, and was instantly behind the boy with a Kunai to his throat. This shocked most people, but what shocked Naruto was that the green jumpsuit boy had managed to catch Sasuke's kick.

'He's as fast as I am!' Thought Naruto, he noticed that the green boy was looking at him in shock too. Deciding to file that thought away for later and deal with the issue at hand, Naruto spoke.

"I'm sorry but I couldn't let my teammate get into a fight with a Chunin, and shouldn't you two be guarding the gate?" Said Naruto as he released the boy. The bandage boy smile before releasing his henge, as did his friend. Reviling themselves to be the two Chunin Kotetsu and Izumo.

"It's not like guarding the gate is all we do. And what gave us away?" Asked Kotetsu.

"You did. When you spiked your chakra." Said Naruto.

"I didn't know you were a sensor type Uzumaki." Said Izumo, as he joined his friend.

"I'm just full of surprises." Said Naruto with a smirk.

"Wait a minute. So you two are Chunin? So what was the point of this?" Asked Sakura, with a frown.

"We just wanted to see if there were in promising genin among you." Said Kotetsu.

"And now that our cover is blown I guess there is no need to stick around. Well Ja-ne." With that the two chunin body flickered away.

"Well that was odd." Said Sakura to her teammates.

"Excuse me. You are Sakura, are you not? I am Rock Lee, would you be my girlfriend? I would protect you with my life." Said the green jumpsuit boy, now known as Rock Lee. Now that Naruto got a good look at him. The jumpsuit wasn't the oddest thing about him. The guy had a bowl hair cut that looked like it had a ton of hair gel in it, and his eyebrows cold have passed for caterpillars.

"Um... I-I'm sorry. I'm not really looking for a relationship right now." Said Sakura, with a deer in the headlights look. She was trying to let him down easy, as he seemed to be a nice guy. But he was sooo not her type.

"That is okay, but thank you anyways." Said Lee with a slightly dejected look.

"You two what are your names?" Demanded a boy who was obviously a Hyuga.

"It is common courtesy to give your own name, before demanding someone else's." Said Sasuke frigidly.

"I am Neji Hyuga, of the Hyuga Branch Family. Now give me your names." Said the boy rudely. Naruto eyes narrowed into slits. He had heard all about Neji, and he had liked non of it.

"No. I don't think we will be giving you our names." Said Naruto, as he walked past the boy. Sasuke and Sakura fallowing behind him.

They finally arrived at the classroom where they were to take the exams. After a small delay in the form of Rock Lee who wanted to challenge Naruto to a fight. Naruto had to tell him that if he wanted to fight he would have to wait to do it in the exams. They arrived at the door only to see Kakashi standing there.

"Ah there you three are. I'm glad that you decided to come Sakura." Said Kakashi, with an eye smile.

"Why is that Sensei?" Asked Sakura.

"Because if you had not. This would have been the end of the line for both Sasuke and Naruto."

"What!? What do you mean Sensei?" Asked Sakura shocked.

"The first part of the Chunin Exams is always a team test. And without the whole team you can not take it. I didn't tell you guy this because I didn't want Sasuke or Naruto to inadvertently pressure you into taking it. This had to be something you wanted to do on your own. But now that you are here it's a moot point. Now all that's left to do is tell the three of you that I am proud of the Shinobi's that you are becoming. And remember a chunin must always look underneath the underneath." Said Kakashi before body flickering away.

"Well, lets do it." Said Naruto as he opened the door and stepped inside. Inside the classroom was packed with fellow genins from different villages.

"I didn't realize there would be some much competition." Said Sakura nervously.

"Makes no difference! We won't fail!" Said Sasuke, and it was at that moment that Sasuke's one true fear decided to show it self in the form of one Ino Yamanaka, FanGirlism.

"Sasuke where have you been!" Said Ino, as she groped Sasuke form behind. "I was hoping you would show up here."

"Stop embarrassing yourself Ino!" Said Sakura in a surprisingly even tone.

"What was that Billboard Brow?" Asked Ino in a snooty voice. At that Sakura's voice did go harsh.

"I said stop embarrassing yourself porker! Look does Sasuke even look like he is enjoying that?" Sakura ground out. And with that the fight was on. Naruto just tuned them out.

"Oh its you guys. I knew this was going to be troublesome. But even I didn't know it would be this lame." Said the lazy voice of Shikamaru Nara as he approached with his ever hungry teammate Choji Akimichi.

"Well it must be, seeing as you're here." Said Naruto in an equally lazy tone.

"Naruto?! What happened to you? When did you become the tallest of us?" Asked Shikamaru stunned.

"It's called a growth spurt. Don't worry, you'll hit yours...eventually." Said Naruto flippantly. Truth was, Naruto was a year older then them. But he couldn't tell them that.

"Well what do know. Looks like we're all here." Came the cocky voice of Kiba Inuzuka as he walked up with the rest of his team. Naruto lost track of what he said after that, as he locked eyes with Hinata. Naruto thought back to last night on the Hokage Monument.

Flashback no Jutsu.

So tell me Naruto, just what are your intentions with me? Asked Hinata in a soft voice.

Naruto gulped, was she getting closer? Naruto realized she wasn't just getting closer to him, he was getting closer to her. They were both leaning towards each other. Hinata's eyes were drifting shut, their faces only a few inches apart. Now only an inch, less then an inch. Now Naruto's eyes were closing, Their lips were just about to touch.

"Hinata-Sama?!" Yelled Hinata's body guard Ko Hyuga in the distance.

Naruto and Hinata sprang apart so fast an observer would have thought they used Hiraishin. Hinata gave an annoyed sigh, before standing up and giving Naruto an apologetic look.

"I'm on my way!" Yelled Hinata, as she jogged off in the direction of Ko's voice. Naruto let out a sigh, before falling back and staring up at the stars.

'Of all the times too get interrupted.' He thought, before he too got up and headed toward his house.

End Flashback.

Naruto came out of his daze, right as an older boy approached the group.

"Hey would you guys mind keeping it down a little? I mean no offense, but you guy's are the nine rookies right? I wouldn't go drawing attention to yourselves." Said the boy with white hair and a Leaf forehead protector.

"Well who asked you?! Just who are you?" Yelled Ino.

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi, and you should look behind you. You've made quite the impression." Said Kabuto with a smile.

Naruto who was now standing beside Hinata looked behind him to see all of the gathered genin glaring at them.

"This exam has a habit of getting people high strung. But don't feel bad, you're just rookies, how were you too know." Said Kabuto.

"Kabuto, is this not your first time taking this exam?" Asked Sakura.

"Actually this will be my seventh." Said Kabuto.

Naruto once again tuned everything out, instead focusing on the Kunoichi standing next to him. If Ko had not interrupted when he did. He and Hinata would have shared their first kiss. But what did that mean? Naruto was more then aware of Hinata's feelings toward him. But what was his feelings toward her? Well to put it simply she was his best friend, but did his feelings for her go deeper then that? After all, he was a willing participant in the almost kiss.

It was times like this Naruto really missed talking to his father. His mom would just tease him, but Naruto knew his dad would have listened and given him whatever relevant advice he had. He could talk to Iruka Sensei, but Naruto had never really gotten the since that Iruka was vary good with the ladies. Old man Hokage was out of the question. As he was far too old. He guessed that only left Kakashi Sensei. Well with all that smut he reads, he must have picked up something about girls and relationships.

Naruto came out of his inner monologue right about the time Sasuke was saying something to Kabuto.

"Neji Hyuga, and Gaara of the Sand." Said Sasuke. Naruto noticed that Kabuto now had a deck blank cards out.

"Aw you know there name's that takes the fun out of it." Said Kabuto, as he wiped out three blank cards.

"First up Neji Hyuga of the Hyuga Clan. Last years Rookie of the year, Teammates are Rock Lee and Tenten. Lets see missions, 26 D-ranks, 19 C-ranks, 0 B-ranks, and 0 A-ranks." Said Kabuto before he picked up the next card.

"Next up we have Gaara of the Sand. Not much known about him, Lets see, he's had 8 C-ranks... and get this one B-rank! All without getting a single scratch on him!" Said Kabuto in awe.

"Not even a single scratch?!" Asked Shikamaru in awe and a little fear.

"Leaf, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, Sand, and Sound. They have all sent their best genin to take the exam. So the competition is going to tough. Of course Sound is a new village, and not much is known about them." Finished Kabuto.

Naruto noticed movement out the corner of his eye. It was the three Sound Shinobi heading straight toward Kabuto. The odd thing was, is that Naruto was sure Kabuto had noticed it too. Yet he showed no signs of preparing for it. He let the three genin get far closer then anyone would want an unknown Shinobi to be. Of course if he had known about there skills and what they were capable of that might be different. But a relatively unknown you would never let get that close, if you could stop it.

Still the speed at which he reacted once they were close, was impressive. If Naruto had to guess he would say he was almost as fast as Sasuke. Another odd thing was Kabuto only reacted defensively, dodging the initial Kunai strike and the follow up right hook from the mummy like Sound-Nin. That was when it truly got odd. Kabuto smirked before suddenly doubling over and coughing up blood. His glasses shattered on the floor, and Naruto was sure that punch had missed.

"Write this on your little card punk. The Genin form the Sound will be Chunin when this is done. Guaranteed!" Said a boy with dark spiky hair. Before anything else could transpire the back of the room erupted into smoke and a loud voice rang out.

"ALL RIGHT MAGGOTS LISTEN UP! I'm am Ibiki Morino your proctor, and from this moment your worst nightmare!" Yelled a guy covered in scars.

"There will be no fighting without the permission of the proctors! Is that understood? Good then we will begin with the first part of the chunin exams. Hand over your paperwork, in return you will each be given a number. This number will determine where you will sit. We will start the written test, once you are all seated." Said Ibiki. Naruto couldn't help but smile at the fact that there once was a time when the words Written and Test put together, would have been all it took to break him.

As luck would have it he and Hinata were seated next to each other. Almost kiss awkwardness aside he was happy, as there was no one else he would rather sit beside.

"Good luck Hinata." Naruto said with a smile.

"You too Naruto." Said Hinata, with a light blush too her cheeks. Naruto couldn't help but wonder what that blush was about, not that he hadn't kind of missed it.

"Alright everyone eyes front! There are a few reals to go over before we begin." Said Ibiki to the genin. He then started to go over the rules to the test. Explaining the point system, and how if you got caught cheating five times you would be dismissed. Which struck Naruto as kind of odd, why five? Why not the first time you got caught? But it was what he said next that gave it away.

"Anyone fool enough to be caught cheating by the sentinels, doesn't deserve to be here!"

Not fool enough to cheat, but fool enough to be caught cheating. The way he said it made it sound like he wanted you to cheat, just not get caught. It was at that moment that Kakashi's words from earlier came back to him. 'Remember a chunin must always look underneath the underneath.'

Kakashi had said something similar during the bell test. THE BELL TEST! A test within a test, of course! And Naruto was willing to bet that just like the bells didn't matter in the bell test. The answers wouldn't really matter here. They just wanted to see if you could cheat and not get caught!

"You want to be Shinobi? Then show us what exceptional Shinobi you can be! And one more thing, if one of you should get a Zero on the test the whole team will be disqualified!" Okay so maybe the answers did matter a little.

"The final question will be given out fifteen minutes before the end of the test. Begin!" Ibiki finished.

Naruto looked down at his test. The difficulty of the questions confirmed his original suspicions, this test was rigged to make you cheat. No wonder Kakashi gave him the glasses. Well if they wanted him to cheat, he would cheat. A quick glance around the room confirmed that he was not the only one to arrive at this conclusion. There were genin cheating all over the place.

Activating his Rinnegan. Naruto began to copy the movements of a genin in front of him. Who oddly enough wasn't cheating, yet still didn't seem to be having any trouble. Meaning he was ether really smart of he already had all the answers. Pretty soon Naruto had finished copying the answers and turned his paper over to wait for the last question. Looking around the room once again showed him that both Sasuke and Sakura were like wise done. As well as the rest of the rookie nine. Still the room was suspiciously less crowded. Meaning quite a few had been caught cheating.

"Alright! Time for the tenth and final question!" Yelled Ibiki, after forty five minutes.

"Before I give the tenth question, there are some rules you need to be made aware of. These rules are unique to the tenth question. Rule number one, each of you is free not to be given a final question." This naturally caused a steer.

"What?! We don't have to take the final question? So what's the catch?" Asked someone in the back.

"If you choose not to take the question you will receive a zero. In other words you'll fail, which means your team will fail too." Said Ibiki with an evil smile.

"Hang on there is more. If you choose to take the final question and get it wrong you will not only fail, YOU WILL BE BARED FROM TAKING THE CHUNIN EXAMS EVER AGAIN!" Yelled Ibiki, stunning all the genin left in the room.

"HEY MAN WHAT KIND OF BOGUS RULE IS THAT?! There are lots of people who have taken the exam multiple times." Said Kiba in shock and anger.

"I guess you're all unlucky. I wasn't making the rules before but now I am." Said Ibiki.

Something about all this really stunk to Naruto. Regardless though he was not going to quit. Kakashi Sensei believed them ready to take this exam, and Naruto was not going to let him down! Plus what was life without a little risk?

"Alright! So who doesn't feel up to the question? Just raise your hand." asked Ibiki.

It wasn't that long until people started to lose faith in themselves and raise their hands. First one, then two. Then a whole lot more. Naruto was content to just sit there and wait, but one look behind him changed his mind Sakura was about to raise her hand. No doubt believing she would be doing him and Sasuke a favor. By keeping them from getting bared from the exam. But Naruto couldn't let her do that, Sasuke would hate her forever if she did. So against his better judgment Naruto raised his hand, only too slam it down on the table as he stood.

"WE'RE NOT SCARED OF YOU! ANYONE NOT WILLING TO TAKE RISKS, DOESN'T DESERVE TOO BE CHUNIN! BESIDES EVEN IF YOU DO BAR ME FROM THE EXAM, I'LL STILL BECOME HOKAGE! So you just ask your stupid question, cause I'm not afraid!" Yelled out Naruto passionately.

Ibiki who stood by and watched with a stony face, was inwardly shocked and amused.

"Are you sure? This is your last chance to back out before I ask the question." But no one raised their hands.

'It's amazing that little outburst, seems to have restored their confidence. His words have inspired them into staying. 78 genin left, but I don't see anyone wavering. So I guess that's it.' Thought Ibiki.

"Well I admire your determination if nothing else. For those of you left there is only one thing left for me to do. And that is tell you that you all...Pass!." Said Ibiki with a smile at the shocked looks he was getting.

"Wait?! What do you mean we pass? What about the tenth question?" Asked Sakura, both shocked and annoyed. Ibiki smiled even more.

"There never was one. Well in a way, you could say your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question!"

"Are you saying that the other nine questions were just a wast of time?" Asked a girl in the back.

"No. No not at all! The first nine questions served to determine if you were able to gather information with out getting caught. Something you will be required to do as Chunin! Sometimes gathering good accurate information can be the deference between life and death! Peace and war! Which is way I made the test so hard, So that way you would be encouraged to cheat. And those of you who weren't any good at it were weeded out." Explained Ibiki.

"Okay, I get that. But I still don't get the last question? Or lack of it." Said the same girl.

"The tenth question was to determine whether you were willing to put it all on the line for the sake of the mission. As Chunin you will be put in high risk situations, and sometimes success of the mission will depend on whether or not your willing to sacrifice both yourself and your team to get the job done! So I put you in a no win situation, to see if you were willing to take the gamble. And you all were, so you all pass!" Finished Ibiki.

Suddenly a round ball came crashing through the window, two kunai shot out of it. Causing it to unravel, revealing it to be a banner with a Kunoichi inside.

"Alright everyone listen up. I'm Anko Mitarashi, and I'll be your second Proctor!" Said the Kunoichi.

A few hours later, after finding out the location of the second test from Kakashi. Naruto ask if he could ask him something in privet. Kakashi agreed and sent the other two on their way.

"What is it you wish to ask Naruto?" Asked Kakashi?

"I just wanted some advice. If you knew a girl liked you, and you thought that you might like her too. But you still wasn't sure, what would you do?" Kakashi got an odd kind of sad look in his eye, when Naruto asked him his question. Finally letting out a sigh, Kakashi answered.

"While I can't really tell you what to do Naruto, I will give you a bit of advice. The lives of Shinobi tend to be notoriously short ones. The people you care about today might not be there tomorrow. So you have to ask yourself. If something were to happen to this girl, would you regret never having asked her out? If the answer is yes then you will know what you have to do?" Said Kakashi, before giving Naruto a pat on the shoulder.

Two hours later and Naruto still sat in that same spot. Finally he sighed and got up. He believed he had his answer, now just to figure out what to do about it.

(A.N) Well first off let me say that I am sorry for not getting this out to you guys sooner. This chapter was really the hardest one I've ever had to write, and I'm still not really happy with it. But hopefully the next one will be better. Now on to the most important part. If you don't already know, my internet has finally got turned back on! Which means this story will NOT be put up for adoption.

Another thing I would like to say is if there are any Croods fans out there, I am Writing a Naruto/The Croods Crossover. That is an offshoot of this story that takes place in a possible future. That might be kind of fun too check out. Plus I will be doing something a little different and posting this before I send it to my Beta Reader. Then when I get the Beta'd version I will replace this Version. I'm doing this Because I feel so guilty about making you wait so long, that I don't want you to wait any longer.

I won't make any promises as too when the next chapter will be out, other then too promise that it WILL be out.

Well I hope you all enjoy! I will see you next time, and don't forget to review.

Sincerely: Reddog24485