Chapter 13 - Chunnin Exams Begin

It was another simple day in Konoha. The sun was rising to new warm day in the leaf village. The villagers were starting their own business and the other shinobi were preparing for their daily lives.

Currently we find Naruto and Hinata in training ground 8 sparring with Haku and Zabuza. Since Naruto got his sword, the raijin no ken (thunder god sword) he asked Zabuza for tips so he could rely on kenjutsu in a real battle.

Hinata was fighting Haku in an all out contest. Haku could only keep up using her ice mirrors which would lead to quick defeat due to massive chakra usage.

## Zabuza vs. Naruto ##

"Kenjutsu only" – Zabuza said as he was facing Naruto. They were a few meters apart, each one grasping each sword. Kubikiribocho vs. Thunder God.

"Agreed" – Naruto said a flared is sword to life, blue light emanating from the sword. It was sparkling in all its power. "Still not powerful as my preferred weapon, maybe one day I'll use it, but it sticks out too much" – Naruto thought.

"Let's see what you can do" – Zabuza said as dashed forward towards to Naruto. He went for a horizontal slash but Naruto blocked. He soon found out it was a bad idea because Zabuza had more brute force than him. Naruto was forced to jump back.

"Rule number 1: Don't block strikes from enemies stronger than you" – Zabuza said. Naruto run towards Zabuza, he jumped in the air and tried a vertical slash. Zabuza side stepped and tried to kick him in the chest. Naruto blocked and caught his leg threw him at the air.

Zabuza quickly regained balance and landed gracefully on the ground. "Not bad brat but if want to beat me in kenjutsu you need more strength" – Zabuza said.

"I could always beat you in speed" – Naruto said smirking and deactivated in gravity seals. Zabuza saw is body lightly glowing and braced himself.

Naruto disappeared in a show of speed. Zabuza out of instinct brought his sword up just in time to deflect an attack that would behead him. Naruto disappeared again and this time Zabuza jumped out of the way just as Naruto came from the sky with a vertical slash.

"I give it to you, you are fast but that alone isn't enough. I have years of experience" – Zabuza said and readied his sword once again. He dashed forward with impressive speed and exchanged a few blows with Naruto. However Zabuza just couldn't keep up in speed and waving around that big sword certainly didn't help.

"You can't keep up in speed with me" – Naruto said and continued to parry his strikes, quickly shifting his position putting Zabuza on his toes. Zabuza had enough of this, he slowly relaxed focusing his senses. He realized an attack was coming from the right, he brought his sword up but instead of simply blocking he pushed strength into his sword making Naruto loose his balance.

Zabuza took opportunity of this a quickly repositioned his sword at his neck. "I win, speed alone isn't enough" – Zabuza said removing the blade from his neck.

"One of these days I'll defeat you in kenjutsu" – Naruto said deactivating his sword.

## Hinata vs. Haku ##

"Ready Haku-san?" – Hinata asked shifting into position and activating her byakugan.

"Always" – Haku replied picking up senbon and placing three in each hand.

Hinata quickly run towards Haku. She shifted to the left to quickly avoid the senbon thrown, with her byakugan she could easily track the incoming senbon. Hinata arrived near Haku and went for a juuken strike to the chest. Haku quickly ducked and went for low kick. Hinata jumped up and tried a drop kick making Haku roll to the left.

They both dashed towards each other and exchanged blows, Haku quickly realized that she was no match to Hinata in Taijutsu. Hinata was simply avoiding all of her attacks as if she was dancing.

Haku tried once again a punch strait to the face, however Hinata sidestepped and quickly with an infused strike managed to close a few tenketsus in her wrist. Haku gave up on Taijutsu and jumped back nursing her left hand.

Haku started going through one handed seals and said "Sensatsu Suisho (Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death)" and sent countless senbon towards Hinata.

Hinata said "Kaiten" and started spinning in a blue dome of chakra completely blocking of the senbons. Haku took that time and forced chakra towards her tenketsus to painfully open them.

Hinata was primarily a water user since it was her first affinity she trained. Since there wasn't a nearby lake she decided to change the terrain to her advantage. She quickly went through a few hand seals and shouted "Suiton - Suishouha (Exploding Water Wave)" and pumped her chest full of water expelling it through her mouth. In a few seconds the training ground was filled with water.

"That might have been a bad move Hinata-san, with this much water it's much easier for me to use my Ice release" – Haku said but Hinata continued to stare at her getting ready for her next move.

"Ice Release – Flying Ice Shards" – Haku said and like Hinata she started spinning, however she wasn't blocking anything. Haku was spinning and water was rising up around her, suddenly the water around her started freezing and from it came thousands upon thousands of ice shards.

"I can't hold up my Kaiten long enough to block all of those" – Hinata thought and started going through hand seals. She stopped and said "Suiton - Suijinheki (Water Wall)". Water rose from the ground and wrapped around her blocking all the ice shards. However Haku continued to send and Hinata had to do something.

"I got it" – Hinata thought "I hope this works, I haven't completely mastered it". Hinata kept inside the water dome was the shards continued coming. She concentrated and suddenly released a vast amount of lightning chakra that radiated from her body and spread through the water effectively shocking Haku.

"T-that was surprising, I didn't know you could use lightning element" – Haku said lightly twitching.

"Just discovered it a few weeks ago" – Hinata said as she released her protective dome and said "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu (Water Dragon)" and a big dragon rose from the ground and rushed Haku. Haku barely managed to create an ice dome around her to shield her from the attack.

Haku released her jutsu and looked around trying to find Hinata. Suddenly behind Haku, Hinata rose from the water, kunai at hand trying to kill her. Haku sensed her and was faster than her and, creating an ice blade around her arm, quickly slashed Hinata making her dispel in a splash of water.

"Mizu Bushin" – Haku said surprised and suddenly felt cold steel at her throat. She realized that Mizu bushin was only a distraction.

"Looks like I win" – Hinata said with a small smile.

"I look forward to next time" – Haku said, sitting on the ground slightly out of breath.

"You okay?" – Hinata asked concerned with her.

"Yes, I'm low on chakra what about you?" – Haku asked surprised that Hinata wasn't even winded and she used a couple of high chakra demanding jutsu and that defensive dome is killer on anyone's reserves.

"When you train for years with a stamina freak and chakra monster you tend to increase your on reserves if you want to keep up"- Hinata said chuckling and Haku simply looked smiling. Haku was happy since she came to the leaf. She had a simple and peaceful life. No more crappy beds and constantly having to watch out for hunters.

## Training Ground 8 ##

Kurenai and Shino were approaching their team's training ground when they saw all the commotion. Kurenai and Shino had their jaw on the ground when they saw Naruto hold in own against Zabuza one the seven swordsmen of the mist and even Hinata using high ranking water jutsu.

"I might have to increase my training if I want to have something to teach them" – Kurenai said and Shino only nodded. They really grew into fine young shinobi.

"Naruto, Hinata" – Kurenai said getting their attention.

"Zabuza-sensei see you tomorrow and thank you" – Naruto said and Zabuza simply nodded.

"Hey Haku want to stick around?" – Hinata asked.

"Sorry my shift in the hospital starts in a few minutes and later I have my own team meeting" Haku said and Hinata nodded and both Zabuza and Haku left the training ground.

"So Kurenai-sensei what are we doing today?" – Naruto asked.

Kurenai placed her hand in her pockets and took three pieces of paper and gave one to each. "These are the inscription papers for the chunnin exams. I nominated you three so if want to participate be at the academy in a week." – Kurenai explained.

(FLASHBACK)

The hokage was in his office and in front of him were all of Konoha's Jonin senseis and a few other shinobi.

"I called you all here for a reason" – the hokage said. Since the majority were jonin sensei's many of them already suspected the meaning of this.

"Is it time already?" – Kakashi asked and the hokage nodded.

"Yes, tomorrow I will formerly announce that this year we are hosting the Chunnin exams" – the hokage explained. "Now, either of you want to nominate teams for the exams?" – The hokage asked and Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma and Gai stepped forward.

"I, Hatake Kakashi, jonin sensei of team 7 nominate Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba and Haruno Sakura for the exams" – Kakashi said.

"I, Yuhi Kurenai, jonin sensei of team 8 nominate Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino for the exams" – Kurenai said.

"I, Maito Gai, jonin sensei of team 9 nominate Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee and Higurashi Tenten for the exams" – Gai said in a serious tone that surprised everyone that expected him to start shouting.

"I, Sarutobi Asuma, jonin sensei of team 10 nominate Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji for the exams" – Asuma finished and everyone started whispering about all the rookies being nominated.

"Wait a minute, I understand Naruto and Hinata but the rest aren't ready for the exams" – Iruka shouted.

"Wait... you say that they are unprepared except the dead-last and the shy princess" – Asuma said laughing.

"Hey Asuma how about a small bet?" – Kurenai asked inwardly smirking.

"What kind of bet?" – Asuma replied.

"The team that has more members promoted wins" – Kurenai said.

"What about the odds" – Asuma said.

"How about this, If I win you can't smoke for a month" – Kurenai said and Asuma chuckled.

"Fine but if I win I get to take you out on a date" – Asuma said and Kurenai slightly blushed.

(END FLASHBACK)

"Now how about a few spars with me to see what you learned. I already saw you against Zabuza and Haku but more training is never bad" – Kurenai said and only after she said that she began wondering if it was a good idea.

"Ok Kurenai-sensei, you are against me" – Naruto said and Kurenai gulped. Naruto was a chakra monster and his Taijutsu was pretty good. She would have to rely on her genjutsu and hope it was enough. How wrong she was.

"Can I go all out?" – Naruto asked and Kurenai was wondering if she was leaving this alive.

"Sure, as long as I live" – she said and Naruto chuckled.

"Get ready Kurenai-sensei" – Naruto said and dashed forward at blinding speed and crashed into Kurenai who didn't expect him to be that fast. They tumbled across the ground until they stopped.

"Damn sorry Kurenai-sensei I forgot I disabled my gravity seals" – Naruto said chuckling and helped Kurenai up who was still dazed from the impact.

"You should consider that a Taijutsu move" – Kurenai said nursing her head. She felt she was hit with concrete.

"Here I go" – Naruto said "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Great Fireball technique)" and sent a fireball towards Kurenai. She jumped out of the way and flashed through hand seals and started vanishing in the air. Naruto saw this and activated his sharingan. Behind Naruto a tree sprouted and wrapped around him. Kurenai quickly appeared in the tree with a kunai getting ready to stab Naruto.

However Naruto performed the genjutsu counter using his sharingan and the illusion was switched making Naruto in the tree getting ready to kill Kurenai.

Kurenai saw this a bit her lip to quickly break the illusion. The illusion broke and she ducked just in time to avoid a horizontal slash with the thunder god sword. Naruto saw her ducking, he quickly adjusted and planted a powerful quick in her chest. She was able to block it but the force was enough to send her tumbling through the ground.

Kurenai recovered and threw a couple of shurikens towards Naruto. Naruto had his sharingan activated and saw that a few of them had no chakra and realized it was an illusion and quickly dispelled it.

"Kurenai-sensei genjutsu it's useless against me, even the most powerful one is meaningless" – Naruto said.

"Naruto, just because you have the sharingan it doesn't mean you are immune to them" – Kurenai scowled.

"It's not because of the sharingan, since I am in good terms with the kyuubi, he can disrupt my chakra from the inside dispelling any illusion" – Naruto explained and Kurenai cursed her luck, there was no way she would win now, she would have to catch him by surprise.

They both eyed each other waiting for the other to make their first move. Neither of them wanted to make the first wrong move. Suddenly Naruto picked a few shurikens and threw them at her saying "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu" and 5 shurikens multiplied to hundred. Naruto went through more hand seals and said "Fuuton - Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough)".

The shurikens gained incredible speed and rushed towards Kurenai. She didn't have many options to dodge them so she used Kawarimi with a nearby log. She recovered and searched her surroundings just in time to jump out of the way of a hand that sprouted out of the ground and tried to snatch her.

As she jumped back a presence appeared behind her and said "Katsu". The Naruto clone exploded and sent Kurenai crashing into a tree leaving her drifting in and out of consciousness. Naruto appeared behind her with a kunai to her neck.

"Congrats Naruto, you are more than ready for the chunnin exams" – Kurenai said weakly. She was almost depleted of chakra and her clothes were singed from the explosion.

"You aren't in good shape sensei" – Naruto said and bit his thumb and slammed his hand in the ground saying "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)" and out came Kagura.

"Kagura, can you heal Kurenai-sensei, I was a bit rough in the spar" – Naruto said smiling sleeplessly rubbing the back of his head.

"A bit rough? You literally blew her up" – Kurama said chuckling.

"It was only an explosive clone and wasn't fully charged" – Naruto replied.

"Your luck otherwise you might have killed her, she never stood a chance against someone like you. You have better Taijutsu, your Ninjutsu is ridiculous and genjutsu even thought you can't perform that many you are immune to them." – Kurama explained and Naruto simply nodded.

Naruto and Kurenai walked back to the middle of the training ground to see Hinata crouching in the ground healing a passed out Shino.

"What happened?" – Kurenai said still nursing her rips that were a bit sore.

"I used a water jutsu and Shino didn't have time to dodge and crashed into him, knocking him out cold" – Hinata explained, Naruto and Kurenai sweat dropped at the way she casually said it.

"Ok you can leave, I'll take Shino home" – Kurenai said and everyone left the training grounds.

## Middle of Konoha ##

Naruto and Hinata were walking peacefully through Konoha. They noticed that the glares they received were somewhat different. The glares showed more fear than anything.

"Hey, hime is it me or are the glares more discrete?" – Naruto asked.

"Yes, they don't seem to openly glare at you now, they seem…scared. I wonder why though" – Hinata replied.

"Maybe it was because of my stunt during the council meeting" – Naruto said chuckling and Hinata giggled. "What do you want to do?" – Naruto asked.

"I'm kind of hungry since I had two matches, how about we go for some cinnamon rolls" – Hinata said with watery mouth.

"You really have a nasty sweet tooth" – Naruto said chuckling. "Let's go".

They were walking peacefully until they noticed a box following them.

"Does he really think we didn't notice him?" – Naruto whispered Hinata.

"Apparently" – she replied.

"You can come out Konohamaru" – Naruto said. Suddenly the box exploded massive cloud of multicolored smoke. From the smoke appeared three kids around the age of 8.

The kid in the middle was Konohamaru. He was the grandson of Hiruzen Sarutobi the sandaime hokage. They became rather good friends a few months ago when they met.

(FLASHBACK)

It was the day after gennin graduation and both Naruto and Hinata were standing in front of the hokage working on their ninja license. Naruto's photograph was rather... expressive and the hokage wanted him to retake the photo.

Suddenly the room's door busted open. Naruto didn't even think as he channeled chakra to his storage seals in his wrists band and pulled a few shurikens.

"Hey Ji-" - the kid didn't even manage to say two words and he was already frozen. The kid was pinned in the wall with 10 shurikens through his clothing.

"Na-Naruto what did you do?" – the hokage asked with his eyes widened. Naruto was really fast to react. Naruto took a moment to realize that the person who busted through the door was about 8 years old and in his hand were wooden shurikens.

"What did you expect old man, this is what happens when you surprise a shinobi" – Naruto said trying to apologize even though he didn't do nothing wrong.

The hokage just shook his head at the actions of his grandson. "Naruto, take him from the wall" – the hokage said.

Naruto went towards the kid and removed the shuriken. "My bad kid, thought you shouldn't surprise a shinobi" – Naruto said and the kid continued looking at him.

"What's your name boss? Can you teach me that?" – The kid asked.

"I'm Naruto kid but you should be starting the academy this year so they will teach that there" – Naruto explained.

"I'm not a kid I'm Sarutobi Konohamaru future hokage of Konoha" – the kid now identified as Konohamaru said.

Naruto smirked at the kid. He reminded a little of him. Suddenly through the busted door came running a shinobi.

"Honorable grandson there you are" – Ebisu started until he looked at the room and noticed Naruto.

"Oh, it's the closet pervert how are you doing?" – Naruto asked.

"I'm not a pervert you brat" – Ebisu said glaring daggers at him.

"Whatever you say" – Naruto said and performed one his most powerful techniques, an SSS-Rank forbidden jutsu, the technique that shall not be named, the one and only 'Oiroke no Jutsu'.

In a poof of smoke appeared a beautiful blonde girl, completely naked except with smoke covering all the important parts. Both the hokage and Ebisu flew into the air and crashed into the ground passed out by blood loss.

"Wow, boss teach me that jutsu. You manage to defeat the old hokage and Ebisu-sensei at the same time" – Konohamaru said. Naruto was about to reply when

"Naruto-kun, you aren't teaching him that are you?" – Hinata asked in a very sweet voice that made them both back up a few steps.

"Of course not" – Naruto said nervously scratching the back of his head. "Come one hime, Konohamaru. Let's leave them on the ground" – Naruto said trying to diffuse the situation and all three of them left the room.

(END FLASHBACK)

"What do you want Konohamaru?" – Naruto asked.

"Do you want to play ninja?" – Konohamaru asked. Suddenly the three of them heard laughter. They turned around to see the pink banshee, Sakura.

"What kind of ninja plays ninja?" – Sakura smugly asked.

"It's pretty fun actually, besides you get to train stealth, traps, strategy and tracking" – Hinata explained and Sakura just got deadpanned.

"Go away flat chested" – Konohamaru said and an immense silence followed.

"Konohamaru, you should run now" – Naruto said as he saw a murderous purple aura around Sakura that would put Orochimaru to shame. Konohamaru gulped and started running with Sakura in hot pursuit.

Naruto and Hinata just laughed as they watched Sakura chase Konohamaru. Obviously Sakura being a fan girl had a diet going on to keep her figure so she barely could keep up with an 8 year old.

Konohamaru was still running, he made a sharp turn and crashed into another shinobi that was around the corner.

"Damn it brat that hurt" – the shinobi said and picked up Konohamaru by the collar getting ready to apply some punishment. Naruto and Hinata heard the crash and went to investigate.

They arrived and saw two strange shinobis with sand hitaiate. The one holding Konohamaru wore a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. He also wears a black hood which covered his head completely, and had cat-like ears and his forehead protector on his forehead. He also a bundle in his back with white bandages surrounding it completely.

The other shinobi's outfit consists of a single light purple-colored, off-the-shoulders garment that extended to halfway down her thighs, with a scarlet sash tied around her waist. In addition to incorporating fishnet worn over her shoulders and legs, specifically on her right calf and her left thigh, she also wore her black forehead protector around her neck

"Leave the kid alone Kankuro" – the kunoichi in the back said.

"I've got to teach him some respect, Temari" – Kankuro replied the female shinobi.

"Fine, fine but if you get in trouble I'm not helping" – Temari replied and Kankuro nodded getting ready to smash his fist into Konohamaru. Sakura just watched scared of them until both Naruto and Hinata arrived at the scene.

"Hey clown, put Konohamaru down" – Naruto said.

"Who are you calling clown?" – Kankuro asked.

"You. You are wearing a full body cat suit with makeup" – Naruto replied.

"It's not makeup it's was paint" – Kankuro said getting pissed off.

"Whatever you say just put the brat down" – Naruto said getting ready to spring into action if need be.

"I'm teaching him some manners" – Kankuro said as he made a fist and prepared to punch Konohamaru. Both Naruto and Hinata vanished in an instant. To any untrained eyes they were blurs.

One second later Hinata had Temari with a kunai at her throat just as Naruto had Kankuro. Naruto kunais now were all tree pronged with the hirashin seal however none of them recognized it.

"Now, how about you put him down…gently" – Naruto said in his sweetest voice and a small blood drop fell from Kankuro's neck. Kankuro and Temari were sweating, they didn't see them move, they were just blurs.

"Besides your team mate doesn't seem very happy" – Naruto said pointing towards a nearby tree. Suddenly from behind the tree appeared another sand shinobi. He is a little shorter than the average males of his age. He has fair skin and short, spiky, auburn hair which was sometimes depicted as red. He has green eyes and no distinctive pupils, or eyebrows either. He has two very notable traits in his appearance: firstly, he has tanuki-like black eye rings, having them since his birth. Secondly, he carved the kanji "love" on the left side of his forehead.

"Ga-Gaara" – Kankuro said in a dry voice clearly fearing the shinobi now identified as Gaara. He made a sand shunshin towards his team just as Naruto and Hinata retracted their kunais and regrouped with Sakura and the now released Konohamaru.

"They managed to get behind Temari and Kankuro…they're good" – Gaara thought. "Stop this or I'll kill you" – Gaara said and Kankuro took a step back.

"I w-was just t-teaching them a lesson" – Kankuro shakily said.

"Shut up, you are a disgrace to our village" – Gaara said in his usual cold tone.

"You know" – Naruto said getting attention from the red head "it's nice to meet you…Ichi (one)" – Naruto said and sand team froze, they knew very well what he meant.

"How do you know?" – Gaara asked. Naruto simply turned around to show them the kanji for nine written in his back.

"The furball says that the tanuki is one crazy bastard" – Naruto said.

"Mother says you are strong, I'll prove my existence by killing you" – Gaara said unleashing Killer intent as the sand was starting to leave his gourd and dance around him. Poor Sakura was on the ground barely managing to breath from the amount of killer intent.

Naruto simply applied his own that overwhelmed Gaara's KI to the point that his team took a step back. Temari and Kankuro were just shitting their pants. Here it was a jinchuuriki like their brother but he had the strongest of the demons the Kyuubi no Yoko.

Suddenly another team arrived where they were. But his team was from the cloud village and they were being accompanied by what seemed to be their jonin sensei. He has dark skin and a muscular build, as well as white hair and a goatee. On his right shoulder, he has a tattoo with the kanji for "iron and on his left cheek, he has a tattoo of a bull's horn. His top lip also has a slightly darker hue than his bottom one.

He wears oval shaped sunglasses and a white-colored forehead protector. He also has his village's standard one-strap-over-one-shoulder flak jacket, and a long, red rope belt tied around his waist, the standard Kumo hand and shin guards, shinobi sandals, and a white scarf around his neck. He also carries seven swords on his back.

The rest of his team they were two girls and a boy.

One of the girls had long, straight, blonde, hair bound with taut bandages and dark eyes. She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, both of which had a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of white beads wound around her left hand. She also wore the standard Kumo forehead protector, sandals and kunai holster which was strapped to her right thigh. She also wore bandages around her arms and legs as well as a red belt around her waist.

The other girl is a dark-skinned kunoichi with long red hair and amber eyes. She wears a long, short-sleeved dress with frilly edges complete with the Kumogakure flak jacket, two simple yellow earrings, fishnet stockings, thigh-high boots with white soles and a forehead protector which she wears like a bandanna. She also carries a long sword on her back.

The final member was male. He is a dark-skinned Kumo-nin with short, spiky, white hair and dark eyes accentuated with lines curving upwards from the corners. He wears a dark outfit consisting of an overlong shirt with a hood, with red bandage hand guards, Kumogakure shin guards, and a black forehead protector. He also carries a long sword on his back like her teammate.

As usual the kyuubi instantly warned Naruto of the others. "Is this a reunion?" – Naruto asked and turned to the Kumo team. "Nice to meet you ...two, eight. I'm Uzumaki Naruto" – Naruto said.

Sakura and Konohamaru were oblivious to what was happening but the rest could feel the tension arise between the teams. Kumo tried to kidnap Hinata when she was six so both of them were a bit weary of them and Gaara seemed that he was about to jump in and attack all of them.

"Nice to meet you too mister nine. I fly like a butterfly and sting like a Bee I'm the jinchuuriki of the Hachibi the mighty Killer Bee" – Bee shouted pumping his fist into the air.

"Shut up Bee" – the blonde girl yelled and bonked him in the head. "I'm Nii Yugito" – she said.

"Omoi" – Omoi said.

"Karui" – Karui said.

Suddenly another team joined the fray as her team sensed the tension anywhere in the village.

"Do you mind if I join de party?" – a girl with green hair asked.

Everyone turned to the new comers and both Naruto and Hinata said "Fuu" surprised to see her.

"I guess everyone here is going to the chunnin exams?" – Naruto asked and everyone nodded. "It should be fun. It seems to be plenty of competition around" – Naruto said and a few smirked.

The sand around Gaara just seemed to dance around him even more when he noticed the arrival of the Kumo team. Kankuro and Temari were sweating bullets as they noticed the smile on Gaara's face.

Kakashi, Kiba and Sasuke soon arrived when they sensed the killer intent being radiated by Gaara and Naruto when they met.

"Hey Kakashi-niisan" – Naruto said.

"What's going on here" – Kakashi said as he noticed what seemed to be some sort of face off. There was a team from Kumo, Sand and Taki. He also sensed some tension in the air between all of them.

"Kakashi-sensei, you better train your team if you want them to survive. I can guarantee you right now that everyone here will reach the finals" – Naruto said and everyone smirked except team 7 and Kakashi who were still oblivious to what was happening.

"What makes you think that?" – Kakashi asked and Naruto chuckled.

"What's so funny dobe" – Sasuke asked.

"Nothing" – Naruto replied "Kakashi-sensei" – Naruto said getting his attention.

"Ichi (One)" – Naruto said pointing to Gaara.

"Ni (Two)" – Naruto said pointing to Yugito.

"Nana (Seven)" – Naruto said pointing to Fuu.

"Achi (Eight)" – Naruto said pointing to Killer Bee.

"Kyuu (Nine)" – Naruto said pointing to himself.

When Naruto finished, Kakashi eyes widened. In front of him were five of the nine Jinchuurikis. It was extremely rare for them to meet by chance, but it appears that fate played a hand in this.

"Don't try to look cool like Sasuke-kun" – Sakura yelled.

"Shut it Sakura. I'm allowing you to go into the chunnin exams but if you see any of these teams you surrender immediately do I make myself clear?" – Kakashi asked in a serious tone and she nodded.

"Like they can win against me, an Uchiha" – Sasuke said with his traditional arrogant smirk.

"I'll enjoy spilling your noble blood Uchiha." – Gaara said and everyone got shivers.

"The furball is right you are a crazy tanuki" – Naruto said and Yugito, Fuu and Bee snickered. "It's been fun. See you at the exams" – Naruto said and left with Hinata. The rest soon dispersed and went to their business.

## With Team 7 ##

"I was serious when I said that. If you run into any of those teams you run. Do I make myself clear?" – Kakashi asked and both Kiba and Sakura quickly nodded.

"Hn" – was the Uchiha's response.

"Let's go train. You need to be more prepared for this" – Kakashi said and dragged his team to the training grounds.

## Naruto and Hinata ##

"Who knew that there would be so many of us competing" – Naruto said. "The exams will prove to be interesting" – he said.

"Don't tell me you want to fight them?" – Hinata asked.

"Of course, all of the Jinchuurikis tend to be strong. It's no fun fighting weak opponents" – Naruto said and Hinata just shook her head.

"Let's go, I'm teaching you a few tricks against Jinchuurikis since you might need them against 3 of them" – Naruto said.

## Sand Team ##

"Gaara, I think we should avoid that blonde kid" – Kankuro said. He was fearful from both of them.

"Shut up, I'll enjoy spilling his blood as the Uchiha's. Yes…I shall prove my existence with their blood" – Gaara said.

## Kumo Team ##

"That blonde kid seems strong" – Yugito started "Do you think he can work with the kyuubi?" - She asked.

"Hachibi says that the Kyuubi never got along with his host, but we better hope he can't. Even the Hachibi can't go against him" – Killer Bee said.

"What if we end up facing them in the chunnin exams and then he unleashes the Kyuubi leading to the destruction of the leaf village" – Omoi said getting a smack from Karui.

"But the way he knew of all of us, it seems that he at least talks with him, just be careful" – Bee said for the first time without rhymes.

## Taki Team ##

"How do you know the blonde kid?" – one of Fuu teammates asked.

"I escorted his team to our village in one mission" – Fuu explained. "But be careful, he faced and defeated a Konoha nukenin named Aoi who was a jonin" – she said and her teammates eyes bulged out.

"Did he use Kyuubi's power?" – the other teammate asked.

"No, I didn't sense nothing at all, it was all him, so let's be careful around him. Also the girl is his girlfriend but she also took down a jonin. So we must be on our toes with his team" – Fuu explained and they dumbly nodded.

## One Week Later ##

Naruto and Hinata were at home getting ready for going to the academy to start their exam. Both of them had new wrist bands with storage seals for shurikens, senbon, kunais and their swords.

Each one also carried another scroll a bit larger with food supplies, first aid kits, a few poisons and general antidotes. Anything you might need, you never know what would happen or what kind of test they would face.

"You ready?" – Hinata asked.

"Yes, let's go kick some ass" – Naruto replied and left the house heading towards academy.

## Academy ##

They arrived at the academy using a shunshin and noticed that Shino was already there waiting for them.

"Sorry we are late, it took a while to gather the supplies" – Naruto said.

"Not a problem. Let's go" – Shino said the three of them entered the academy.

Team 8 came inside the academy to find their sensei waiting for them.

"Kurenai-sensei what are you doing here?" – Naruto asked.

"I'm here to say good luck. I'm glad all of you decided to participate" – Kurenai explained.

"Thank you sensei. We are going to kick ass" – Naruto said and Kurenai smiled.

Team 8 continued through the academy heading towards the designated room which was room 1 in the third floor. They arrived and noticed a small gathering of gennin teams trying to enter the exam room.

"Genjutsu" – Hinata whispered to her team and both nodded their heads.

"It's your cousin's team. They must be trying to downplay their skill" – Naruto said.

Just as they were about to leave to the next floor since this room was the wrong one and was being masked by a small genjutsu, team 7 arrived with their noses held high.

"Drop this genjutsu now" – Sasuke commanded.

"That idiot" – Naruto thought as Hinata and Shino thought along the same lines.

"My failure of a cousin, what are you doing here?" – Neji asked in his confident tone. Neji was Hinata's cousin and was hailed as a Hyuuga Prodigy, little did he know.

Neji had long, black hair that reached the middle of his back and was tied back a few inches above the end in a loose ponytail, while two straps attached to a smaller headband underneath his ninja forehead protector frame the sides of his face. He wore a black forehead protector that he wore snugly over his forehead. He wore a khaki shirt, under which he wore a dull blue shirt with a mesh armor underneath it, dark brown shorts, blue shinobi sandals. He also had bandages wrapped around his right arm, chest, and right leg.

"Participating in the chunnin exams of course." – She explained.

"She seems different, at least her stuttering his gone" – Neji thought.

"It's worthless, you are fated to be a loser and a worthless kunoichi" – Neji smugly replied.

"I don't believe in fate and I shall rise above it as should you. No one controls our destiny. We alone make our decisions" – Hinata explained trying to reach her knucklehead of a cousin.

"Not possible. You cannot change fate and I shall prove it in these exams" – Neji said and walked off. Hinata just shook his head.

"I guess we will have to beat him to prove it that fate doesn't mean anything" – Naruto said and Hinata simply nodded. Neji wasn't a bad person, he was just blinded by his hate towards the main branch of the Hyuuga Family.

Another member of Neji's team approached forward heading towards team 7 and team 8. He possesses very thick eyebrows and large, rounded black eyes with prominent lower eyelashes. His hair is cut and styled into a bowl-cut style like Gai, and he also began wearing the same attire, consisting of a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, and a red forehead protector worn as a belt.

"Holy shit, it's a clone of Gai" – Naruto all but shouted.

"I SEE YOU KNOW OF MY YOUTHFULL SENSEI MAITO GAI. I'M ROCK LEE, ITS A PLEASURE TOO MEET SUCH YOUTHFULL PERSON" – Lee yelled making a few bring their hands to their ears thinking it was a futon jutsu.

"Yeah…sure. Nice to meet you, I'm Uzumaki Naruto" – Naruto said and extended his hand that Lee gladly took.

"Are you Uchiha Sasuke?" – Lee asked to duck shape haired shinobi that was standing nearby. In fact anyone would know who he was since he had the Uchiha crest in his shirt and was the last Uchiha in Konoha.

Said boy turned to face him and merely nodded. "I wish to fight you" – Lee said with his trademark nice guy pose.

"You know who I am and yet you want to fight. You are fool, but it might be a good warm up" – Sasuke said.

"Come I want to watch this" – Naruto said and Team 7 and team 8 left with Lee to watch the match.

"Dobe, watch carefully you might learn something" – Sasuke smugly said to Naruto who was standing in the balcony.

"I intend to" – Naruto replied chuckling and activated his sharingan hiding under its usual genjutsu.

Both Sasuke and Lee were facing each other with the rest of team 7 nearby.

## With Team 8 ##

"Strange" – Naruto thought as he analyzed Lee with his sharingan. "Hime, can you check Lee's chakra levels?" – Naruto asked and Hinata nodded, she activated her byakugan as gasped.

"I think he can't use chakra, his chakra pathways are too small, he probably can't mold chakra" – Hinata explained. Lee was basically a civilian.

"I thought so. If he can't use genjutsu or Ninjutsu he can only resort to Taijutsu so he must be good" – Naruto said as he watched the beginning of the fight.

## Sasuke vs. Lee ##

Sasuke ran forward and tried to punch Lee. However he disappeared just as Sasuke's fist was about to connect.

Sasuke regained his footing just in time to see Lee in the air about to spin "Konoha Senpu (Leaf Whirlwind)" Lee said and spinned trying to kick Sasuke. Sasuke ducked to avoid it. Lee watching Sasuke duck placed his hand on the ground and went for another spinning kick.

Sasuke watched him and knew he wouldn't be able to dodge but tried to block. Lee however was faster and his kick connected with Sasuke's face and sent him tumbling to the ground hard.

"A good opponent. It gives me the opportunity to try this" – Sasuke said and look arrogantly to Lee.

## With Team 8 ##

"Oh, Sasuke managed to activate his precious sharingan" – Naruto said "Two tomoes in each eye, not bad"

## Lee vs. Sasuke ##

"With these eyes, I'm undefeatable" – Sasuke smirked.

"So that's the sharingan" – Lee said and got ready to continue his duel.

Sasuke ran forward confident of his superiority. Lee dashed forward to but managed to bypass his defenses, Lee stood next to Sasuke, he bent down and gave him a kick in the chin that sent him into the air and crashing into the ground again.

Sasuke got up wondering what was going on and ran again towards Lee. They faced each other but Lee won every single skirmish often sending him tumbling to the ground. Sasuke's sharingan was rendered useless.

## With Team 8 ##

"Figures, Sasuke doesn't stand a chance" – Naruto said.

"But shouldn't the sharingan be able to track him?" – Hinata asked.

"The sharingan can track Lee, however Sasuke isn't fast enough to position himself to block the attacks. Even though Sasuke can clearly see Lee's attacks he can't defend himself against them. There is a reason why I train my body and use gravity seals. The sharingan alone doesn't make you all powerful" – Naruto explained.

"So there is a weakness in those eyes" – Shino stated.

"The weakness per say doesn't stem from the eyes but from the fact the Sasuke's body isn't trained to handle those speeds so he can't match them. Let's leave, this fight is over." – Naruto said and team 8 left towards the exam room since it was about to start.

## Exam Room ##

Team 8 arrived to the right floor, they stopped near the exam room and opened the doors. They stepped in and were immediately blasted with killer intent. However to someone that felt the kyuubi's killer intent something like this didn't even bother them.

Naruto entered the room and scanned it with his sharingan hidden taking as many faces as possible and watching weapons and other details that he could find. He also noticed the team from kumo, taki and sand.

Moments later team 7 also arrived with Sasuke in bad shape. He had his right cheek bruised and neither of them knew any type of medical Jutsus so it remained there.

"Looks like the gang is all here" – Kiba said as they entered the room and saw team 7 and team 10.

"Sasuke, do you want me to heal your face?" – Hinata asked. After everything she suffered she remained a kind person.

"This scratch is meaningless" – Sasuke said.

"My Sasuke is so strong" – Sakura thought as she wandered in her thoughts about healing her Uchiha.

"SASUKE-KUN" – Ino yelled as she ran a hugged the poor Uchiha from behind much to the displeasure of Sakura.

"I thought you wouldn't be coming whiskers" – a girl said. Everyone turned around and saw Yugito making her towards Naruto with her team.

"Whiskers? Now that is a good name" – Hinata said laughing.

"Don't you dare" – Naruto said pointing to her.

"What are you going to do?" – Hinata asked in a teasing voice. Naruto simply shrugged it a walked to her and planted a full kiss in her lips that left her dazed.

"Wow...do I get one of those every time I call you whiskers?" – Hinata wondered with a finger in her chin making her very cute.

"Get a room you two" – Ino said making both of them blush.

"Just my luck" – Yugito pouted "The cute guys are always taken"

"Keep it down" – some guy said. Everyone turned to face him. He wore a pair of circular glasses. He has onyx eyes and ash-grey hair, which he kept in a ponytail that extends to his upper back, with his bangs framing either side of his forehead. He wore a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt, dark purple fingerless gloves with armored plates on the back of the hand, a white cloth waistband worn at an angle, dark purple pants, blue sandals, and a shuriken holster on his right leg.

"You are putting everyone on their toes. Everyone is nervous as it is" – the man said as he pointed to the Ame-nin present in the room.

"Who are you?" – Sakura asked.

"I'm Yakushi Kabuto, but you are rookies so it figures that you don't know this" – Kabuto explained.

"Have you already tried the exam?" – Sakura asked.

"Actually this is my seventh try" – Kabuto explained sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"Man, you must be weak" – Kiba said.

"These exams aren't easy, maybe I can share some information with you" – Kabuto started and took deck o cards from his pockets. "These are chakra cards, they react to my chakra signature and reveal the information. As you can see there are teams from all the countries except Iwa and Kiri. As expected, Iwa hates Konoha and Kiri is in civil war. I can also give you some information on anyone here" – Kabuto concluded and Naruto got suspicious. How could Kabuto have information on shinobi from other villages, however he decided to test his theories.

"Then, I want to know about Nii Yugito of Kumo and Sabaku no Gaara from Suna" – asked Naruto and Yugito crossed her arms.

"You could always ask" – Yugito said.

"Yes but you could lie" – Naruto replied and she huffed.

"Let's start with Sabaku no Gaara, son of the Kazekage. His is team is composed of his brother Sabaku no Kankuro and his sister Sabaku no Temari and their jonin sensei Baki. His skills are all unknown. He completed 10 D-Ranks, 15 C-Ranks and… 1 B-Rank. There is a note that says he returned from all missions without a scratch. Looks like there are some strong people this year" – Kabuto said and a few shivered.

"Now Nii Yugito from Kumo. She is on a team with Omoi and Karui and their jonin sensei is Killer Bee. The card shows she has very good Taijutsu and Ninjutsu and no talent in genjutsu. She completed 10 D-Ranks, 5 C-Ranks and 2 B-Ranks. What is up with gennins and their missions" – Kabuto said and Naruto chuckled.

"Now I want some info to about Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha" – Yugito said and Kabuto picked is card.

"Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha. He is on a team with Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino under Yuhi Kurenai, Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress. He's the academy dead-last with low Taijutsu, medium Ninjutsu and no talent in genjutsu but there is a note that says he created an S-Ranked Raiton Jutsu" – Kabuto started and everyone eyes widened and Yugito narrowed her eyes at him. "Now missions 65 D-Ranks, 14 C-Ranks, 1 B-Rank, …1 A-Rank… and what the hell is this… 2 S-Rank missions" – Kabuto explained and everyone was mopping the floor with their jaws. A gennin with A and S-Rank mission is unheard off.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Kabuto, one of those S-Rank missions was supposed to be a secret.

"That kid is a mystery, dead-last and yet as some high missions" – Yugito thought.

"S-Ranks. How are you still alive?" – Kiba yelled.

"Keep it down. Can't tell, S-Rank Secret punishable by death" – Naruto said and everyone just stared at him. "But I can explain the other mission if anyone wants a kenjutsu spar" – Naruto said smirking.

"Did you really create an S-Rank raiton jutsu?" – Yugito asked. Raiton jutsu is her village specialty and S-Rank moves are rare independent of the type. Naruto simply nodded and everyone was having their doubts.

"It's true I saw it." – Kiba said and everyone turned to him "It was awesome. He sent some white ball to the sky and then thunders formed. Then he somehow commanded the thunder and he attacked the bridge and blew everything around it killing about 100 thugs and destroying the bridge." – Kiba explained and everyone stared at the blonde, who was getting uncomfortable and even more suspicious of Kabuto.

"If he's the dead-last I don't even want to know about the rookie of the year" – Kabuto and Sasuke smirked getting a confidence boost.

"You know kit he smells of snakes. Something isn't right here" – Kurama said and Naruto made mental note to send a spy fox later on.

"SILENCE. NOW SIT DOWN AND LET'S BEING THE EXAM" – Ibiki yelled and everyone quieted down and turned to face Ibiki who was standing in the entrance of the room with a few chunnin around.

"Show your ID and pick your number to be sited then we will begin the written exam" - Ibiki explained.

"Written exam? that sucks" - Naruto thought.

A few minutes later everyone was sited with their test in front of them but faced down. All around the classroom were chunnins with few boards. Surprisingly enough Hinata managed to sit right next to Naruto.

"This test has a few rules. Number 1: Each one starts with 10 points, each wrong question deduces one point. Number 2: The total score is based on your whole team" - Ibiki explained and a few gasped.

"Kiba, you better pass otherwise I'll kill you" - Sasuke thought. Poor Kiba seeing the glares from his teammates started to sweat.

"Number 3: Each time you are caught cheating you lose 2 points. Get caught five times and your team is automatically failed. The last question is answered last, you have 45 minutes to answer the 10 questions. START" - Ibiki said.

Naruto picked up his pencil and turned his sheet only to be faced with extremely hard questions.

"What the hell is this? These questions aren't for gennin" - Naruto thought and looked around the classroom. Everyone seemed to be lost except for a few that were writing.

"I know some but I bet 90% of the people here can't answer a single one. Something isn't right here" - Naruto thought and began pondering what Ibiki said. Naruto knew that Ibiki was the leader of the Torture and Interrogation Division and he focused on mental torture.

"'If you get caught cheating you lose points' Now I get it, we are meant to cheat but without getting caught. Must be some information gathering exercise" - Naruto thought and looked around the classroom. He noticed that Hinata had her byakugan activated and was already starting to write.

Shino was using his bugs to scout for anyone with answers. Kiba was using Akamaru that was on his head, high enough to spot someone else's sheet.

Tenten was using mirrors on the ceiling so she could get the reflection of another gennin. Sakura was writing since she was a bookworm she could easily answer the exam. Sasuke had his sharingan activated and was copying someone's hand movements.

Naruto waited a few minutes until he spotted someone lowering their exam sheet signaling that he was finished. "They must have placed a few chunnins around to answer the exams" - Naruto thought.

"Now, how to cheat? I don't want to copy hand movements, it's lame...I know" - Naruto thought and activated his ems and very quickly used his kamui and sent his own sheet to his own personal pocket dimension.

Naruto focused on the chunnin's sheet and used kamui to swap the papers. Naruto took the sheet from his personal dimension and placed it on the table. He simply erased the chunnin's name and wrote his own. Naruto lowered his head and decided to sleep until the first part of the exams was over.

"Now that the weak are sorted out let's begin the last question. However this one has its own rules" - Ibiki started and everyone focused on him "Number 1: You can choose if you want or not to answer the question" - Ibiki said.

"What happens if we choose not to answer it?" - Temari asked.

"If you choose not to answer you automatically fail" - Ibiki explained.

"Then of course we will answer it" - Someone replied.

"However if you chose to answer it and get it wrong you will fail and forever be unable to retake the chunnin exams, meaning you will be gennin for life." - Ibiki explained.

"WHAT" - Someone yelled

"You can't do that, there are people in here who are retaking the exam" - Kiba said.

"I guess you guys have bad luck, my test my rules. If you don't want to risk it then give up" - Ibiki said and everyone started pondering and a few started leaving.

A few minutes later Ibiki noticed that Naruto was almost half asleep and tossed a kunai that landed in front of him. Naruto didn't even flinch.

"WAKE UP NARUTO" - Ibiki yelled.

"Just get it over with." - Naruto started and Ibiki raised an eyebrow "I don't give and I never surrender. Even if I stay gennin from life then I'll be the first gennin Hokage" - Naruto said smirking.

Ibiki look around the room and noticed that the rest of the gennins got somewhat inspired by his little speech.

"If no one wants to leave then there is only one last thing to say...you all...PASS" - Ibiki said.

"What? Why?" - Kiba asked.

"You seem to have figured it out" - Ibiki said pointing to Naruto. He sighed and started.

"The first part of the exam was information gathering. If you recall Ibiki said IF we get caught cheating we lose points. That could only mean that we were meant to cheat WITHOUT getting caught. Information is half the battle. The last part was to know if we had the guts to be chunnin. You can't abandon a mission just because it might be hard. A chunnin is expected to lead and as so he must inspire confidence and courage in his team" - Naruto explained and most of the rookies stared at him as if he grew a second head.

"Precisely" - Ibiki said until something came crashing through the window.

Everyone watched as someone entered flying through the windows. As it reached the middle of the classroom it opened to show a woman. She sent two kunais to the ceiling to secure what appeared to be a sign.

"PROCTOR OF THE SECOND ROUND MIT-" - Anko started yelling but was cut off by Naruto.

"Oi Anko" - Naruto said waving his arm.

"DAMMIT NARUTO, YOU RUINED MY ENTRANCE" - Anko yelled at him.

"Come on don't be mad Anko-chan" - Anko said with emphasis on the last part.

"I'll kill you later brat. Now everyone to the training ground 44. Be there in 20 minutes or you fail. GO" - Anko said and everyone left the room in a hurry. Naruto and Hinata just shunshined there..