Chapter 46

Last Time:

"Alright, let's go!" Naruto said, making all of them scatter.

Now:

Naruto smiled widely as they were led to their room in the tower by a Chunnin named Iruka. After they had arrived at the tower, they read an inscription that said… something. 'God, my brain is fried…' Naruto complained. After Omoi solved what Karui had oh so elegantly dubbed "fortune cookie bullshit", they threw both the scrolls down and in a poof of smoke, the Chunnin appeared. He informed them they had a day to rest before the next part of the Exams was to take place.

Naruto smiled as he saw the small twin sized bed in the crappy, cramped room they had been assigned. He quickly jumped on it and settled in. "Naruto-san, are you ok?" A voice asked. He turned to see Samui and the rest of the team staring at him like he was insane or crazy. 'Maybe I am..' He mused as he slowly got up into a sitting position. "I'm fine, but you'd be surprised at how great even the simplest commodities can be." Naruto said, then turned to the matter at hand.

"Alright, we saw the Sand team downstairs, so we have to get ready for the worse. Samui?" He asked his fellow blonde. She nodded and got before all of them. "Alright, so far only a few teams have arrived, but that could change over the course of these next few days." She began. "If enough people manage to make it out of the forest, then there will have to be a preliminary round to eliminate the weak links and make sure the main event is truly something worth watching." She stated, then turned to Omoi. "Omoi, the documents." Said boy quickly handed her a cream colored folder.

"Now.." Before she could begin, she was stopped by Naruto. He went to the door, bit his thumb, and began to draw two separate seals in blood. As soon as he was done, he placed his hand over them and channeled chakra to them. The room glowed a seafoam green, then turned back to normal. "What was that?" Samui asked the blonde as he walked back to his bed and sat with Yugito. "Privacy and security seals. No one gets in or out, and nothing can overhear or see us." Naruto stated. "Alright, thank you." She said, then turned back to the others.

"Now, as far as we can tell, the main event is when the invasion will take place." Samui began. "Enemy nins will flood through the main gates of Konoha and the participants from said lands will turn on us." She said, then turned to Naruto. "And the Ichibi will be released in the middle of the main stadium then." He said with a sigh. "We need to have a fallout plan in case it manifests." Yugito began. "I got that covered." Naruto commented as he took a small piece of paper and wrote something on it. He then summoned a small bat and asked that it be delivered straight to the Raikage.

"Alright, these next rounds are going to be tough since it'll be sink or swim. These next few days are going to be spent getting ready for the next part of the exams. Crunch time is getting closer guys." Naruto muttered as he crashed on the bed. "I thought you said we had to get ready?" Omoi asked his lazy leader. "I am.." Naruto replied as he closed his eyes. "How?" Karui asked him. "If I'm well rest, I can decimate my competition.." Naruto reasoned as he pulled the covers over himself. "If I'm cranky, I'll kill them." HE finished, making all of them sweat drop. "Has a point…" Omoi muttered as he walked over to his bed.

"Ditto." Karui muttered and she walked to hers. Samui and Yugito glared at each other. "How are we going to settle this?" Samui whispered to Yugito. "I don't know… rock paper scissors?" She asked goofily. Samui shrugged "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" she whispered. She extended her hand flat, signifying paper while Yugito's hand was closed except for two of her fingers, signifying scissors. "Best two out of three?" Samui asked. Yugito shook her head and went to cuddle with Naruto on the small bed. Samui groaned, but went to her own bed.

"Naruto-kun?" Yugito asked as she stepped into his bed. He moved over and left her some space, then wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him. 'He's a cuddler..' Yugito thought with a hint of amusement and a blush spread over her cheeks, giving them a rosy color. "Yea, Yugi-chan?" He asked in a sleepy tone. "Think things will go well when shit hits the fan?" she asked in a worried tone. "Sure they will.." Naruto replied. "How can you be so sure?" She asked him.

"Because I'm going to make sure nothing happens to you, even if it means I have to take the punch myself." Naruto replied, making her blush. She smiled and laid down on the pillow, the fell of his strong arms around her comforting her. 'You'll be safe…' A small voice whispered in her minds, gracing her with a smile.

~ Time Skip – the Preliminaries ~

Naruto and his team stood in a large arena in the Tower. They had been called up 15 minutes ago to unite here for the next pat of the exams. "What kind of place is it where you can't get a decent night's sleep?" Naruto complained as he activated the cooling seals in his helmet to wake him up. "A ninja village?" Karui shot back with venom in her voice, trying to get Naruto to shut up. "I miss the good old days when you could get a good nights sleep, a delightful breakfast, then go kill the other guys.." Naruto whined.

He was then elbowed in the ribs by Samui. "Shh, its starting." She whispered to him as she motioned to the Arena. A chunnin with a bandanna style forehead chewing on a senbon stepped up and looked towards the rafters. "Alright, welcome to all of the participants remaining in the Chunnin exams. My name is Hayate Gekko, and I will be the proctor for this part of the exams. Before we begin, would anyone like to drop out? At this point, it will not affect your team, just you." He stated.

Various hands began raising, Kabuto's included. 'Why would he be dropping out now?' Vee asked as he saw the traitor and his team give a bullshit excuse about their chakra reserves being depleted. "Any one else?" Hayate asked as he surveyed the rafters of participants remaining. "Because of the high number of people to have survived the last round, we will be holding a preliminary round." Hayate began, but was cut off by a figure wearing the Hokage Robes. "I'll handle this.." The figure said, making Naruto's blood run cold.

Naruto watched as the figure took off the Kage hat and revealed a head of blonde hair. Standing before the genin was the Hokage, Minato Namikaze. "Now, we are here…" Minato began. But Naruto didn't bother listening to him. He was already taking quick steps towards the railing, reason having leaped out the window a while ago. 'That bastard! I'm going to kill him!' He yelled internally as he placed a hand on the railing, ready to jump on the attack. His hand was quickly stopped by another and a pair of slender arms quickly wrapped around his wais and pulled him back before anyone could notice what he was planning.

He was then slammed to the wall. He snapped out of his thoughts and saw Samui and Yugito there staring down at him while Karui and Omoi made themselves seem busy. "What the hell are you thinking?!" Yugito whispered harshly as she pinned him against the wall. "What are you going to do, huh? Attack the Yondaime in the middle of an announcement and fuck shit up?" She whispered. "You need to keep your cool, Naruto." Samui whispered. "It's not going to do anyone any good if you get caught." Samui finished, venom in her voice.

"Listen, you need to cool down and think." Samui said as she poked his forehead. "You told us we need to detach ourselves from the situation and look at things from a neutral point of view." Yugito began and kissed his forehead. "But you can't go in half cocked and half assed. That's what gets you killed." Samui said and kissed his cheek. "Now simmer down." Samui finished. Naruto took a deep breath and looked to the Yondaime finishing up his speech about how the Chunnin Exams were meant to be a substitute for war.

'They're right, I'm not thinking things ahead.' Naruto realized and slowly walked towards the railing. 'I can confront him about sending Anbu after me later. Right now, I have to focus on the matter at hand.' Naruto thought as Minato's eyes fell on him, widening in surprise. He smirked and pulled out one of the Inuzuka's twin fangs, showing the blade to Minato before putting it away.

~ With Minato ~

"So, the countries decided…" Minato began as he scanned the Chunnin hopefuls in the raised area. His mouth might have been talking about peace, but his mind was in another place entirely. 'Where the hell are Tsume and her team of trackers? The mission was simple, grab a genin and disappear.' He thought worriedly as he looked around the hopefuls once more, his eyes stopping on the form of Vee. His voice cracked slightly, but he managed to recover.

"So, do your best in the exams, as various…" He began. 'How the hell is that genin still in the competition? And what the hell happened to Tsume?' He internally demanded. His eyes widened slightly as Vee unsheathed one of the Inuzuka Twin Fangs, the twin swords that were given to the clan head of the Inuzuka's. 'If he has those, then that means..' Minato trailed off. "Thank you for your time and the best luck to all of you." Minato finished and Hiraishined away.

~ Minato's office ~

Minato appeared in a flash of yellow and saw Jiraiya and Kushina waiting for him. "No news on Tsume yet, Mina-koi." Kushina said to her husband. "Don't bother.." Minato said as he took off his toad sage coat and sat at his seat. "What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked Minato with a critical eye. "Vee was at the preliminaries. When I saw him, he showed me one of the Twin Fangs of the Inuzuka clan." Minato said with a grave voice. "You mean Tsume-chan is.." Kushina began. "Yea, dead or captured." Minato cut her off.

"How is this possible? That Vee brat is supposed to be a Genin. How could a Genin take down an Anbu commander, clan head of the Inuzuka, no less." Jiraiya demanded as soon as the news were delivered. "I don't know sensei. We clearly underestimated him, and shit's going to hit the fan soon." Minato said and crossed his hands in front of him. "Now we have to wait." HE finished. "Wait for what?" Jiraiya demanded. "For the confrontation. If he has enough strength to take down an Anbu commander, you can bet he had enough intelligence to use this against us." Minato finished with a sigh.

~ Back at the Chunnin Exam Preliminaries ~

"Now, the giant screen behind me will choose names at Random for these preliminaries. If your name shows up, you will have to come here and fight. Losers walk, winners move on to the finals. If I see it fit, I will step in and stop the fight. You will be forced to stop under penalty of insubordination in your respective villages. Any questions?" Hayate asked. No one asked, so the board began cycling through names until it stopped at two. "Sasuke Uchiha Vs Yoroi Akado". "Will the two contestants please come down?" Hayate asked.

Naruto watched the Uchiha as he clutched his neck and saw the curse mark. He then heard the Uchiha's one-eyed sensei telling him not to use it. 'Interesting…the chakra radiating from his neck seems familiar to the one I felt in the Kazekage's office..' Naruto mused as he saw the Uchiha and his opponent face off. "Hajime!" Hayate yelled.

~ Canon Match ~

"The winner is Sasuke Uchiha!" Hayate announced. The Uchiha was then take away by his sensei. 'Note to self: Keep an eye on him.' Naruto thought to himself as the board began cycling through names. "Shino Aburame Vs Yugito Nii". "Will both contestants please come down?" Hayate asked. "Wish me luck.." Yugito said as she walked away. Naruto grabbed her hand and lifted it to the mouth part of his helmet, placing a makeshift kiss on her hand. "You don't need it." He said, making her blush as she jumped to the Arena.

~ Arena ~

"Are you ready?" Hayate asked Yugito, who nodded. "Are you ready?" He asked Shino, who nodded affirmative. "Hajime!" He said and jumped away.