New Meetings, New Enemies

(Two Months Later…)

"Tajuu Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" Naruto watched as a massive cloud of smoke erupted in the clearing. When it cleared Naruto nodded as he saw three hundred clones standing around and awaiting orders.

"Alright, I want one hundred of you to begin working on our wind affinity! Since we haven't been able to find a waterfall with a good ledge to stand on, I want you to start cutting a rock using wind chakra. When you manage to split a rock down the middle, try cutting a rock into four pieces and increase the number of cuts you can make from there."

It had been one of the new wind exercises he had come up with for himself. Naruto had read that the next step after cutting a leaf was to cut a waterfall. Since there were no waterfalls that he had found that could be properly utilized for his wind training, he had decided to refine his cutting ability through other means. The first thing he had done was make shapes in the leaves that he would cut. Simple ones had first, squares, circles and the like, and then more complex shapes like animals and people.

This was the next training method Naruto had invented that he felt would be another good step in his wind elemental training. He had actually gotten the general idea from a book he had read, it was a much older book that he had found when looking for theories on connecting to one's chakra through meditation exercises. The book he had found, which was a book from Suna on some of the older methods of wind manipulation theories had claimed that a master of the wind element should be able to cut straight through a boulder using wind chakra. Not only that, but the cut would be so smooth that the entire surface on either side would be completely flat.

He had at first tried to cut a boulder, but soon realized that with the level his wind manipulation such a complex and difficult task was next to impossible. So he went onto the next best thing, cutting a rock, which he felt that while not as good, would still be a major boon in his elemental training. After all, if he could cut a rock into several pieces than it should be much easier to cut flesh and bones.

"Boss!" The clones all saluted and took off.

Naruto turned to his other two groups, "I want one group of you to split up into groups of twenty-five! One of you will continue on the more advanced form of Muay Thai, another work on Goken, the third group will work on our boujutsu, and the last will try to combine the taijutsu styles we know into a useable form."

"YOSH!" The clones all gave him the nice guy pose before they went off and began working with a Gai and Lee like fanaticism.

Turning to the last group Naruto began to give his last set of orders, "You guys have the most important task of all. I want you to continue working on our chakra control!"

His chakra control had gotten better but was still, and probably always would be an issue that he would need to constantly work on. "We've gotten up to five leaves on one hand, so start adding leaves to the other. I want at least two added by the end of this session. And rather than stand on the water's surface, I want you to walk."

"Got it Boss!"" the clone said as they raced off.

Naruto looked down at his arm, where his training seal was located. Right now it was on level three, a feat the whiskered blond had managed to accomplish around three weeks ago. Due to the massive increase in resistance that each level came with it had taken a lot more time for him to be capable of using the third level of resistance than the first two. However like with all things, time, sweat and hard work had finally enabled him to use this level with no required chakra.

And since he no longer needed chakra that meant it was time to increase the level. Gritting his teeth Naruto began channeling chakra into the seal, feeling the resistance on his body increase. He watched as the kanji on his arm shifted from the number three to the number four.

With the seal increase finished Naruto began to trudge through his workout routine, relying heavily on chakra to keep him moving as he fought against the resistance placed on his body.

After his daily workout Naruto began to make his way towards team seven's standard meeting spot.

Walking onto the bridge where his team usually met Naruto saw that his two teammates were both already there doing what they usually did. Sakura was staring at Sasuke, no doubt wondering how to get a date with the raven haired Uchiha. And Sasuke was leaning against the rail of the bridge, staring off into space, or as Naruto called it practicing his brooding poses and trying to come up with ways to kill his older brother.

"Morning Sakura, Sasuke-teme," he greeted the pair, even if they did not really get along all that well, he still felt it was appropriate to be nice to them… at least on the occasions he did not feel like messing with them.

Sasuke looked at Naruto before giving his usual reply of, "Hn," and then turning away to look off the side of the bridge.

"Naruto-baka, don't call Sasuke-kun that!" Sakura shouted at the blond. Thankfully she no longer tried to punch him, having realized that he was no longer going to put up with it. Something she had actually started to get bitter about, which really only increased her anger at the blond.

Naruto sighed as he moved to the opposite side his teammates were on. He had thought that they would have bonded at least a little bit after their A-ranked mission. However as soon as they got back to Konoha it was the same as always. Sasuke having gotten his Sharingan sometime during the battle of the bridge had started ignoring him and everyone else and was quite possibly, even more arrogant than before. It also didn't help that the few times he had not ignored the blond was merely to either glare at him or try and goad him into a fight.

Sakura of course had not changed at all since she had not really played any significant role on the battle in Nami, or the mission in general and had more or less taken a back seat to the whole thing and was not even conscious during the blonds Kyuubified rampage. Naturally because of this she had not been as affected as the others were, whether it be mentally, emotionally or physically. So she still basically ignored Naruto unless he said something bad about her 'Sasuke-kun'. The only difference now was that she no longer tried to hit him.

Sitting down the blond pulled out two books, the first was the book he had been reading on Fuuinjutsu created by the Yondaime titled Intermediate Sealing Level Three. The second one was a book of his own creation, holding all of the notes he had written down from this book and previous ones he had read, as well as the few notes on seals he had gotten from some of the more advanced books when he could not find something he was looking for in the previous ones. For the next half an hour he began comparing and writing down more notes.

"Yo!"

Naruto looked up to see Kakashi appear in his standard Shunshin.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yelled at she pointed at him.

"Sorry, I forgot to set my alarm today, so I woke up late," Kakashi replied with a lazy tone.

Sakura's face turned red as she listened to her sensei's lame excuse, "LIAR!"

Naruto put his book away and stood up with a small sigh as he stretched and listened to his back make a satisfying crack. He was so glad he had made more Kage Bunshins to train while he waited for his sensei, otherwise he would never be able to get all of his training done. "So what are we doing today sensei?" he asked.

Kakashi gave Naruto an eye-smile, "I'm glad you asked Naruto. We have an exciting mission today, so let's get going!"

Team Seven left the Hokage's tower after completing the 'mission' the Hokage had given them. It was really nothing more than walking the Inuzuka dogs while another team cleaned the kennels. Not much of a mission in the three genins' opinions but there was not much they could do about it; Kakashi had refused to go on another C-rank since their mission to Nami No Kuni had been what could be considered one huge cluster fuck. And so ever since the mission to protect Tazuna, these kinds of missions had been all they were doing.

At least Kakashi had helped him a little more on his training. It wasn't much since Sasuke had activated his Sharingan, usually the silver-haired Jonin would simply create a Kage Bunshin and have it spar with Naruto. Still it was more than he had gotten before the mission, and since he had yet to even land a hit on the clone it was good enough for the moment.

"Man I can't believe we're stuck doing these boring ass missions again," Naruto groaned, his disposition having gone back to being his normal chipper self after his talk with Anko. For the most part at least, there were of course times when the blond would get quiet and introspective, and sometimes a small flicker of the painful emotions he had felt after Haku's death flashed across his eyes. But he was determined to continue pushing forward as he was sure that Haku would stick his ass with senbon if they met in the afterlife and she found out he had been moping around after her death. That and he wanted to be a person that Haku would be proud of, a person who would give their all to protect the people precious to them.

At least we didn't have to clean the kennel, Naruto thought with a sigh, I don't know if my nose could have handled that again.

"Now Naruto, we can't do a C-rank mission every time, there are protocols we have to follow you know," Kakashi chided as he flipped a page of his book.

"I know the protocols damn it! I've read all the kami forsaken books that talk about the requirements necessary to tackle hired ranked missions, as well as why Genin are normally assigned these pathetic D- ranks in the first place," Naruto glared at his sensei as the man giggled perversely, seemingly ignoring him. "We have twice the prerequisite number for a higher ranked mission. We've been doing these D-ranks for three months! I think you're just too damn lazy to go on a mission that would take us out of the village."

This statement definitely rang true, while Kakashi may be more helpful now then he was before the mission to protect Tazuna the man was still one of the laziest people he had ever met, barring Shikamaru.

"Shut up Naruto-baka!" Sakura yelled, angry that her blond teammate was interrupting her from her Sasuke watching with all his complaining.

"This coming from the girl who likes to screech when she talks," Naruto ignored the pathetic excuse for killing intent coming from Sakura. "I bet even the Teme over there wants a better mission," Naruto pointed to Sasuke.

"Hn."

"You see? He's just dying for some kind of action," Naruto said.

"Hn."

"Teme, you're a riveting conversationalist."

"Whatever," Sakura scoffed before turning to her crush with what she hoped was a cute yet coy expression. "I'm so glad today's mission is over, aren't you Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke just glanced at her at the corner of his eyes, before turning around and ignoring her, not even deigning to give the girl his standard one syllable grunt.

Sakura put her head down for a second before trying to brighten up, "Say Sasuke-kun, would you like to go out on a date with me?"

Sasuke grunted as he turned to face her, "Why would I want to date a weak little girl like you?" Sakura took a step back as her eyes widened in surprise and hurt. "If you've got time to be asking me out on a date, then you should use that time to become stronger," The raven-haired Genin turned away. "Even Naruto has gotten better than you. You're even more useless than he used to be."

"I…but I…" Sakura tried to say, a depressed look on her face and tears beginning to form in her eyes. However Sasuke had already started ignoring her and was walking away.

Naruto looked up from his book to see what had happened before sighing and going back to his book. While he did not really approve of Sasuke being so harsh, even if he no longer put up with Sakura trying to hit him for every little thing, he knew that she still did not know what it meant to be a ninja and needed some kind of kick in the ass in order to get herself in gear.

Walking behind the group, book in hand was Kakashi who was watching the group with an expression of concern, not that anyone could see it due to nearly three fourths of his face being covered.

It seems their teamwork has gotten even worse than before. It's almost as if the mission to Nami never happened. Sakura yells at Naruto and tries to get a date with Sasuke, completely neglecting training outside of the team. Sasuke ignores everyone unless it's to glare at Naruto, or to pick a fight. I thought awakening his Sharingan would be a good thing but he only seems to have gotten more arrogant. And Naruto…

Kakashi glanced at his blond student; I can't even tell what he's thinking anymore. He's gotten even more sarcastic than before and seems to run off at the mouth every chance he gets. Not only that but he seems to have picked up a sadistic streek. Though, I'm sure I can thank Anko for that since the two seem to be hanging out even more now than they had before. The elite Jonin sighed, not really sure how to fix this problem. Looking up he saw a hawk flying over Konoha.

"Ok, I think that's enough for today," Kakashi said, getting the attention of his three genin. "I have to go submit a mission report. Ja!" With that the duster haired Jonin disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto watched as Kakashidisappeared within a shunshin. Turning around he saw that Sasuke had already left, and Sakura was walking away with a depressed look on her face.

I guess I'll go do some training of my own, Naruto decided. He was just about to start walking when he heard a noise.

Turning around he saw a square box behind him with a rock texture painted on it. It also had two eye holes in the front.

Already knowing who was under that box Naruto just sighed and began to walk away, hearing the box follow after him as he turned a corner. When the box followed it stopped, not seeing the whiskered marked blond anywhere.

"Konohamaru-kun where did the boss go?" asked a female voice from the box.

"I don't know, it's like he disappeared!" Konohamaru exclaimed.

They were just about to lift the box up when Naruto appeared behind them. Grinning he sat down on them, listening to their muffled grunts and shouts of surprise.

"Hey who's on top of us? Get off!"

"I think my glasses broke!"

"What's going on?"

Naruto chuckled, "You know, if you keep using these shitty ass disguises you'll never get the upper hand on me."

"Hah! I'm not surprised you saw through our disguise boss!" came Konohamaru's muffled response, "Now can you get off!"

"Hmmm, I suppose…" Naruto said as he stood up and moved to the front as the box exploded.

"*Cough* I think we used too much gunpowder. *Cough*" Came a nasally voice.

Naruto gave the kids a nonchalant look that would have made Kakashi proud, "So what do you guys want?"

The three kids looked up at him before they broke into their introduction.

"Hey I'm Moegi, and I'm the sassiest kunoichi in school!" the girl with orange pigtails and perpetual blush said as she made an odd pose, standing on one leg and raising a single hand in the air.

"And I like algebra, I'm Udon!" Said the boy with the bowl cut, glasses and permanent runny nose. He too took a pose beside Moegi, crouching down low and crossing his arms.

"And I'm the strongest ninja in the village, Konohamaru!" Konohamaru said as he made a pose in front of them, grinning as he pointed a thumb at himself.

"And together we're the Konohamaru Ninja Corps!" the three said in unison.

"Yeah, I know, you guys have done this like thirty times already…this month alone." Naruto said, crossing his arms as he looked at the trio, "So what do you want?"

"You promised you'd play ninja with us today boss!" Konohamaru stated as he crossed his arms.

Naruto looked up at the sky, tapping his chin in thought. "Did I? I don't remember saying anything like that."

"You did boss! C'mon, please play ninja with us!" The three started giving him the puppy dog eyes.

"You know, I've been giving that look to Ojisan before you three were even born, it won't work on me." Naruto grinned as he watched their crestfallen expressions. He actually rather liked the trio whom he had taken to calling the Chibi Brigade, they always seemed to brighten his day. "But I suppose I've got enough time to play ninja with you."

"Ugh, a ninja playing ninja," the group turned to see an utterly depressed looking Sakura walking towards them. "That's so stupid."

Naruto sighed at the girl's attitude, even though he had been ignoring her to the best of his abilities she was always like this, always making fun of or trying to belittle him for everything he did.

I suppose Sasuke-teme just told her off again,the blond concluded. She seemed to come over to make fun of him when ever Sasuke put her down, which happened every time she tried to get a date, meaning pretty much every day, seemingly seeking assurance from him like she used to.

"Hey boss who is this?" asked Konohamaru as he looked at the girl, scratching the back of his head. "I know! Hey boss, is she your…" He trailed off as he held up his pinky finger and wiggled it.

Sakura's look instantly turned irate, and if it wasn't for the fact that Naruto no longer let her hit him, she would have socked him so hard that the blond would have been implanted in a wall.

Naruto shook his head, "No Konohamaru, she isn't. In fact, we're not even friends. The closest thing I can call her is my teammate, and I use the term loosely since we don't really act like a team."

For some reason the whiskered blonds words seemed to depress Sakura even more. Sasuke-kun thought she was beneath him, and Naruto! And now Naruto was saying that she was basically just someone he worked with and not someone he liked, or even considered as a friend.

I suppose what they say is true. You never know what you're missing until it's gone…

She could no longer deny the fact that Naruto had been one of the main factors of her confidence back in the academy. Whenever something happened, whether it was Sasuke's continuous rejections, or something Ino or one of the other girls did or said, Naruto had always been there making her feel better about herself. Now he no longer cared about her, and so she no longer had that confidence boosting factor to help her deal with the problems she had and her own self confidence issues. This in turn brought her disposition down even more.

"Well that's good boss, cuz you can seriously do better than this chick!" Konohamaru said, "I mean just look at her! That pink hair is kind of weird, and can you see her forehead, it's huge!"

Naruto looked at Sakura nervously as he saw her now murderous expression, "Hey Konohamaru, how fast can you run?"

"Pretty fast boss, why?" asked Konohamaru as he scratched the back of his head.

Naruto pointed over to Sakura who was currently stomping over to them and cracking her knuckles, "That's why. I suggest you start running."

Konohamaru gulped as he saw the expression on Sakura's face as she cracked her knuckles.

"Thanks for the report," Iruka said to Kakashi as he sat in the missions room. He read over the report a bit before putting it away. He frowned for a moment as he looked up at the elite Jonin, "So how is Naruto? Is he doing well with his comrades?"

"Naruto is actually doing rather well." Kakashi replied. It was true enough; the boy had gotten better after the first month being back, both physically with his training and emotionally. Though he still wouldn't talk about his experience he had started opening up more, and even asked Kakashi for advice in some of his training.

"That's good. I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to see him since you guys got back from your C-ranked mission," Iruka said, "I'm a little worried."

"I wouldn't worry about Naruto too much," Kakashi replied with the same air of nonchalance he always held. "Naruto's a little quieter since we came back from our C-rank, but other than that he's doing fine. In fact, he's improved quite a bit. I think pretty soon he may even be strong enough to surpass the person he respects the most, you."

Though I'm pretty sure he already has, but considering he asked me not to reveal anything about his skills to anyone, I'm not going to say anything.

"Is that so?" Iruka asked with a grin, pleased to hear that Naruto was doing well.

"BOSS WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO! IT'S RIGHT BEHIND US!" Konohamaru shouted as he, his three friends and Naruto ran. The young Sarutobi looked back to see Sakura still chasing after them, spurring him to run faster

"Well why don't we just consider this…training. Yeah! That's a good idea, this is a part of your training!" Naruto said, not in the least bit tired or worried about the rampaging pink-haired…girl behind him.

"TRAINING!" Konohamaru yelled as he looked behind him. He paled as he saw the pink-haired demon getting closer, "HOW CAN THIS BE CONSIDERED TRAINING!"

"Why, we're testing your speed and endurance of course," Naruto said with a laugh, "Now…run faster!"

Konohamaru did run faster, passing the others as he turned around a corner and continued running, right until he smashed into someone and fell down to the ground.

"Ow…" Konohamaru rubbed his face as he tied to rub away the stinging sensation. After a couple of seconds he looked up to see what he had run into, and saw that it was a guy wearing a black jumpsuit with a pair of cat ears on his head, and some kind of odd make-up on his face with an odd oblong shaped thing on his back, wrapped in bandages.

Next to him stood a girl with sandy blond hair done up in four pigtails; she was wearing a black and white battle kimono with some mesh leggings on her, on her left ankle, while the other was higher up on her thigh. She had her headband hanging loosely on her neck, and a red sash wrapped around her waist. There was also a large battle fan attached to her back.

The headbands they were wearing was the symbol for Sunagakure No Sato, the Village Hidden in the Sand, which was a ninja village allied to Konoha.

"That hurt you little punk," the teen wearing the cat ears said. Bending down he picked up Konohamaru by his scarf, forcing the kid to grab onto his hand, "I think I need to teach you a lesson about watching where you're going."

The girl walked up behind him and shook her head in annoyance, "Kankurou just drop him, you know we're going to get in trouble if 'he' shows up."

"Relax Temari. He won't show up for a while yet," Kankurou looked back at her, before turning his attention back to Konohamaru. "Besides, this kid needs to learn not to disrespect his betters."

"Put me down you stupid make-up wearing freak!" Konohamaru yelled, "If you don't my nii-san's gonna kick your ass!"

"It's war paint you little shit!" Kankuro said with a snarl, "I'll teach you to mess with your betters!" he was just about to hit Konohamaru when another voice spoke up.

"You know, if you're trying to look threatening you're doing a piss poor job of it." The two looked up to see Narutostanding there, and despite the light nearly conversational tone he spoke in, was glaring the Suna Genin in the cat suit. A few seconds later Moegi, Udon and Sakura came up behind him and watched the small confrontation. "Though that might have something to do with the make-up. Now I suggest you put the boy down."

Temari and Kankuroy looked over at Naruto, one of them scowled while the other blushed. Oh, looks like a local cutie, Temari eyed the blond up and down.

These look like Leaf Genin, Kankuro thought to himself with a small sneer, "maybe I should play with them for a while instead."

When Naruto did not receive the reply he was looking for from either of the Suna Genin he scowled, "Hey make-up boy! I said you might want to let him go! If your not going to listen to me, perhaps I could persuade you better by putting my foot off in your ass!"

That seemed to get a reaction as Kankuru scowled and Temari giggled.

"It's not make-up! It's war paint!" Kankuro yelled out.

Naruto grinned, "So says the transvestite walking around in a cat suit."

"That does it!" Kankuro said as he grit his teeth. He tossed Konohamaru away and reached behind his back to the large mummified looking object.

Naruto disappeared in a burst of speed as he rushed behind the young Sarutobi and caught Konohamaru, setting the boy down before he turned a glare on Kankurou.

Sarutobi looked at all the ninja who had assembled into his spy room where all the meetings of great importance were held. Many of them were Jonin for the Genin teams, however there were also a few Chunin who would be serving as proctors, as well as the few Jonin who would proctor for the event he had called them for.

"I'm sure you are all wondering why I have called you here," the aging Sandaime said. "You've all assembled for one reason. It should be obvious by some of the members here."

"So it's that time already eh?" Kakashi asked rhetorically.

"It's already been reported to the other countries. I saw some of them in the village," Genma, a Tokabetsu Jonin wearing standard Jonin clothes, a bandana style headband, and a senbon in his mouth commented.

Kurenai decided to ask the obvious question, "So when is it?"

"In a week," Sarutobi announced, causing several members to mumble about it starting sooner than they expected. "I'll announce it properly seven days from now. On the first day of the seventh moon, the Chunin selection exams will commence."

Sarutobi frowned for a moment before pressing on, "Before we get to the announcement on who will be participating among our teams, I have some information I wish to tell you. It seems that both Suna, and Kumo have sent a Jinchuuriki here to participate in the exams."

This caused a lot of the ninja there to burst in outrage. Many saying it was not fair for nations to send such monsters into the exams.

A burst of killing intent from Sarutobi shut them up, "While I can understand how you feel about having such powerful ninja in the exams, I would suggest you refrain from speaking about them in that way."

He stressed the word ninja when he spoke, making his opinion on Jinchuuriki known and telling them he would not tolerate people giving into their irrational hatred. "In any event, it is not illegal for a Jinchuuriki to participate in the exams, so long as they are a registered Genin. So there is nothing any of us can do about it. I merely informed you so that you are aware of what your Genin will be up against in the exams."

"How accurate is this information Hokage-sama?" asked Kakashi.

"I received the information several days ago via Jiraiya's spy network," Sarutobi said. He had only just managed to get a hold of the man because of it, something that irked the Sandaime even though there was nothing he could do about the man's elusiveness at the moment.

Sarutobi took a long puff on his pipe before continuing, "Now, I would like to hear from those who are watching over the new Genin first."

Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma stepped forward. Kakashi was on the right, with Kurenai in the middle and Asuma on the left.

"Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma well?" Sarutobi asked. "Are there any Genin you would like to enter into this year's Chunin selection exam? I don't believe I have to tell you, but after a Genin completes a total of at least thirty two missions, he or she is eligible for the Chunin exams. Of course normally a Genin needs more than four times that number of missions before being considered for selection but it is your choice. Now, starting with Kakashi."

Kakashi kept up his normal lazy composure as he began speaking, "The Kakashi-led Team Seven, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto under the name of Hatake Kakashi, I nominate them to take the Chunin selection exams."

This caused a load of mutters to spread out among the other ninja.

Being in the middle Kurenai went next, "The Kurenai-led Team Eight, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino under the name Yuuhi Kurenai, I nominate my team for the Chunin selection exams."

Asuma sighed as he took a puff of his cigarette before speaking, "The Asuma-led Team Ten, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji under the name Sarutobi Asuma, I nominate my team for the Chunin selection exams."

The mutterings got even louder at hearing all three Jonin leaders for the new Genin had nominated their teams, something that had not happened in decades. However one person had something to say about this.

"Hold on just a second!" Iruka stepped forward.

Sarutobi looked at the scarred Chunin, "What is it Iruka?"

"Hokage-sama, please let me have a word. I may be speaking out of place but these nine Genin were all my students at the academy. Of course they are all very talented, but it's still far too early for them to take the exam. They need more experience; I just can't understand their reasoning. Especially with two Jinchuuriki coming to the exams."

"I became a Chunin when I was six years younger than Naruto," Kakashi said, knowing who Iruka was really worried about.

"Naruto is nothing like you!" Iruka shouted, making his true worry obvious. "Are you trying to crush these kids! The Chunin exam cou-"

"Are you saying you don't have faith in Naruto's talents?" asked Kakashi, interrupting the Chunin from his tangent.

Iruka's eyes widened, "That's…"

"While Naruto may not be quite like me, he is an extremely talented shinobi that has even impressed me at times," Kakashi continued. Several eyes widened and a smattering of mumbles accompanied this announcement. It was obvious no one believe this statement, whether because of Naruto's status as the dead last, or the Kyuubi, Kakashi did not know nor care.

"Actually it makes one wonder. He had always been considered the dead last, but ever since he had graduated his skills have skyrocketed thanks to getting one on one help. I have to question the competence of the academy staff for having neglected Naruto like they had, if he had received more help in the beginning, he may have already been a Chunin by now, possibly even a Jonin."

Iruka winced at hearing that Naruto had progressed far faster now that he was out of the academy. He felt guilty about not helping the blond until the day before he graduated, and if what Kakashi just said was true then the blond could already have been one of their most powerful ninja by now.

Kakashi continued after giving people a few minutes to digest this new information, "While I understand that you're worried, you have to understand that they are no longer under your control."

"That's enough Kakashi," Kurenai said in an annoyed tone.

"No it's not," Kakashi stated, and while his tone still sounded as lazy as always there was a harder edge to it, "they are no longer your students Iruka, they are my soldiers."

"Enough!" Sarutobi said, stemming any further argument from the pair. "Iruka, I understand where you're coming from but Kakashi is right. It is not your decision to decide whether or not they can compete."

Iruka looked down in frustration, but he knew that the Sandaime was right, "I apologize for stepping out of line Hokage-sama."

"Good. Now onto the next nominations…"

"You're going to use Karasu here!" asked a surprised Temari.

"These brats need to be taught a lesson Temari," Kankurou replied as he began to unravel the bandages.

Before he could get too far a rock hit him in the hand, making him drop the large object. Looking up Sasuke glaring down at him, tossing another rock up and down in his hand.

"Great another one of these brats shows up," Kankurou growled.

Oh wow, it looks like Konoha has quite a monopoly on cuties! Temari thought as she looked between Naruto and Sasuke with a light blush.

"Get lost creep," Sasuke crushed the rock in his hand.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "You're such a show-off teme."

Kankurou growled as he held his now injured hand. He looked like he was about to continue making an ass of himself, when a new voice spoke up behind Sasuke.

"Kankuro, stop it."

Everyone stiffened in surprise and turned their heads to see a boy with red hair and the kanji for love on his forehead. He was wearing a black short sleeve shirt with a fishnet undershirt underneath that, along with matching black pants and sandals. Across his waist was a white sash and a brown leather belt, and another sash going across his chest that held a large gourd to his back. However the thing that caught Naruto's attention the most were the large bags under his eyes, making him look something akin to a raccoon.

"G-Gaara," Kankurou stammered as he began to shake in fear. The blond-haired girl did not seem to be doing much better.

I didn't even notice him behind me! Sasuke's eyes widened a bit as he stared at the red head. That kind of skill is at the level of a Jonin like Kakashi.

Odd, this kid is leaking killer intent like some kind of homicidal maniac, yet I couldn't sense him until he spoke. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the familiar feel of the Suna ninja's killing intent, There's something familiar about this one. I sense a presence I have not felt since… He shook his head, Damn it, I need to stop watching Star Wars.

"Kankurou, you're an embarrassment to our village, have you forgotten why we came here?" Gaara's arms remained crossed as he stared the other Genin down.

Kankurou paled considerably as he tried to stammer out an excuse, "W-Well you see Gaara, they started it and I-"

"Shut up," Interrupted the red-head, "or I'll kill you."

"R-Right, I was totally out of line," Kankurou stuttered.

Gaara disappeared in a swirl of sand, reappearing in between the blond girl and Kankurou. He looked over at Naruto and increased his killing intent in an effort to frighten the blond haired genin, though he ended up raising an eyebrow when Naruto shrugged it off. "My apologies for him being such a nuisance," he apologized eventually.

Naruto gave a grin, "Meh, it's all good. Though I would suggest you keep him on a leash, seeing as how he almost beat up the Hokage's grandson. Wars have started for less after all."

Kankurou paled at the new knowledge, knowing he was going to get in trouble for doing something like this with their sensei.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Gaara looked over at his two companions, "Kankurou, Temari, we're leaving."

As the three ninja left, Sakura decided to make her presence known, "Hold on a second!" The three Suna ninja turned around to look at the pink-haired girl. "While it's true that Suna and Konoha are allies, it's illegal for you to be in our nation without permission. So I have to ask, what are you doing in our village?"

"Ugh you're so clueless," Naruto groaned, making everyone turn to him. "It's obvious they're here for the Chunin Exams, or have you not noticed all of the foreign ninja who have been coming into Konoha recently?"

Sakura's face turned red with anger at having Naruto tell her up like that. The pinkette had been constantly upstaged by the blond so far every time she had tried to say something smart. It was like he was trying to make her look bad in front of Sasuke-kun! She would have yelled at him but Temari spoke up.

"The blond cutie is correct," She pulled out her Passport. "We are here for the Chunin Exams. You really should pay more attention, or people will think you live under a rock."

"We've wasted enough time talking, let's go," Gaara said, getting annoyed by all the conversation.

"Hold on! What's your name?" Sasuke asked the retreating figure.

"W-Who, me?" asked Temari with a light blush.

"Not you, the one with the gourd on his back." Sasuke corrected.

"My Sasuke have you finally found someone who matches your wet dreams?" Naruto asked with a grin, "I always did wonder if you were into guys."

"Don't call Sasuke-kun gay Naruto-baka!" Sakura shouted in anger, though on the inside she felt mortified at the thought that her Sasuke-kun might actually be into men. Oh no! What if he really is gay!

OF COURSE HE ISN'T GAY! THAT'S JUST NARUTO -BAKA TRYING TO GET US TO LIKE HIM INSTEAD! SHANNARO! the ever delusional Inner Sakura shouted.

"Dobe!" Sasuke hissed through clenched teeth and a red face to match his anger and embarrassment. This had been something that had been happening more and more recently. Naruto seemed to have made a game out of taunting either him or Sakura, taking some kind of innate pleasure out of torturing them with words. It was something that pissed the raven-haired Genin off to no end.

Naruto smirked, "What? You can't blame me for thinking that. All those girls in the academy threw themselves at you, and you completely ignored them." He gave a shrug, "What am I supposed to think?" Grinning the blond turned his attention to Temari. "I apologize for my teammate being such an ass. He just doesn't know how to properly treat such a beautiful woman."

Temari blushed, not actually used to someone calling her beautiful, or having the guts to do it in front of Gaara, "I-It's alright."

Naruto tilted his head to side as he saw Temari's face turn red. For a moment he wondered if he had said something wrong. Since his only real experience with woman were Tenten, Anko and Haku, one of which liked to think of herself as one of the guys, another who took pleasure in making him squirm and torturing/training him and the last one being a girl whom he had only just started to explore his feelings for before she died had left him somewhat lacking in the female knowledge department.

Of course he did know a little bit about females, and was not completely unknowledgeable about 'flirting' since Anko had a tendency to tease him in a manner that could be considered flirting, well if trying to feed someone to their snakes, cuddling to them while rubbing their cheeks against his whisker marks, or pressing someone's face into their bosom was flirting. However it was thanks to the experience he gained from the interactions he had with those three that he was able to determine that since she had not hit him and since she was smiling despite the redness on her cheeks, that he had not said anything wrong and may have actually done good by complimenting the girl on her looks.

A small flash of pain crossed his eyes as he thought of Haku, and of the many times he had gotten that rosy color on her cheeks. Thankfully he was able to bury the small flash before anyone was able to see it, "Now that we've determined my teammate's sexual preference, how about I get your name?"

"It's Temari, Sabaku No Temari," She answered with a small tinge of pink still running across her cheeks, "and you?"

Naruto grinned, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Gaara looked over at the blond shinobi in curiosity before turning to Sasuke, "It's Sabaku No Gaara. And yours?"

Sasuke smirked as he tried to get back on track, "Uchiha Sasuke."

"I see. I hope to see you in the exams," Gaara replied before leaving, with his two teammates following him.

"Awww, it's so nice to see you finally found someone for yourself Sasugay or should I say Sas-Uke?" Naruto commented, smirking as his two teammates turned and glared at him.

"What the hell dobe!" Sasuke growled at him, his eyes morphing into his Sharingan in an attempt to scare or at least deter the blond from his constant remarks on his sexuality.

"Don't be mad Teme, I don't care if you're secretly in the closet or anything," Naruto grinned as he began walking away. "Though, Sakura may be disappointed. Anyways, I think I'm go ing to get some Ichiraku's, I'm starving."

Whistling a jaunty tune Naruto left his two angry teammates.

A little ways away three figures had just finished watching the confrontation.

"So what do you think?" a figure asked as he leaned against a tree.

One of his companions looked at him, "They're nothing serious, although we'll need to keep an eye on that black-haired one, and the one with the gourd on his back."

Sakura gave an annoyed grunt as she looked at the bridge she and her teammates were supposed to meet at today. Both Naruto and her sensei were late…again. Really she couldn't understand it, how could the person who had asked them to come at a certain time always be late. She glanced over at Sasuke to see him leaning against the rail, looking so cool and calm with his serious expression.

This is just great Sasuke-kun is right in front of me and I can't even enjoy it, she had tried everything she could ever think of to get the raven haired boys attention but nothing seemed to work. Looking cute, seductive, wearing make-up, or different clothing she had tried all manner of things. All of it had ended in failure, every attempt she had ever made to make Sasuke notice her had ended in failure, she was running at her wits end.

"Morning you two."

Sakura turned her attention to the other end of the bridge as her blond teammate finally arrived. "Why the hell are you always so late!" A tic mark appeared on the pinkette's head.

Naruto shrugged with an air of indifference as he walked over to the end of the bridge, "Unlike you and the Emo-king, I've realized that Kakashi is going to be three hours late every day. Rather than wasting my time sitting here, I train in the mornings."

Sakura's right eye twitched and she opened her mouth to yell when a puff of smoke signaled the arrival of their sensei.

"Yo!"

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura shouted as she pointed at the silver-haired Jonin.

"Sorry, I had to help an old lady cross the street, only to find out that she was a missing ninja and I was forced to fight her." Kakashi held out three papers before Sakura could yell again, "Anyway, these are for you three."

Naruto took one of the papers and raised an eyebrow, "You nominated us for the Chunin Exams?"

"Yep!" Kakashi nodded his head, "I figured you guys are ready for the challenge. Those of you who wish to take it should sign those papers and turn them in at room 301 at the academy tomorrow by 4:00 pm." Less than a second later Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

As Naruto looked at the approval sheet for the Chunin Exams he could not keep the grin from forming on his face, "This is gonna be awesome!"

Sasuke smirked, "For once I agree with you dobe."

"Heh," Naruto returned the smirk, "looks like this will be a good chance to show everyone just how good I've gotten. I've been looking to kick some ass."

"Hn."

Sakura looked between the two before looking at her own sheet in worry. She wasn't as sure as her two teammates about entering these exams.

"Ten~ten!" Naruto shouted in a sing song voice as he opened the door to the Higarashi weapons shop.

Tenten looked up from the magazine she had been reading and grinned, ""Hey Naruto! You look excited."

Naruto gave her his foxy grin, patent pending, as he walked up to her, "I think I've got a reason to be today."

"Oh? Care to fill me in?" Tenten raised an eyebrow at her friend. She was glad to see that he was close to acting like his old self. It had taken a lot of work to get him to be as open back up and return to his cheerful attitude around her after he had gone on his C-rank mission. She had literally spent four days using him as target practice in order for him to make up for ignoring her like he had. Even then, Naruto still refused to tell her what happened on the mission, often redirecting the conversation to something else whenever it came up.

"Maybe later," Naruto replied as he leaned on the counter, "so is it ready?"

"Of course," Tenten grinned as she stood up; knowing what he was talking about, "Follow me."

The two walked into the back of the store where the forge was located. Moving the ladder Tenten climbed up it and grabbed a box. Grinning like a maniac she showed it to Naruto, "I have a feeling you'll like this."

Naruto opened the box and peered inside. Sitting on soft padding was a dark black gauntlet. It was basically a glove attached to a forearm bracer. The top of the glove had a protector that looked similar to the standard metal guards on most fingerless gloves with the Leaf insignia. However there were three vertical slits on the front and it was about two inches thicker than a standard guard. Under the wrist was another, smaller padding that had several small holes on either side of a large slit that went horizontally.

"Put it on and give it a go," Tenten suggested.

Nodding Naruto took the gauntlet and put it on, strapping it together and tightening the bands so it fit snugly on his hand and wrist. He channeled some chakra into the top of the bracer and grinned as three wicked looking claws flickered into existence out of the top over the fingers in between his thumb and pinky, extending four inches past his hand.

"Now this is what I'm talking about," he looked over at Tenten, "I assume the bottom is a kunai and senbon launcher?"

Tenten nodded, "Yep! Though the kunai you have to use are special. I didn't want the gauntlet to get too bulky and what not, so I created a kunai that's a lot thinner than the standard kind."

"I bet you just made them so I have to come here to visit every time I need to replenish my stock," Naruto said. He gave the bun haired weapon user a grin, "miss me that much?"

Tenten scoffed and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder, "Don't be so full of yourself, no one could miss your ugly mug." She giggled as Naruto gave her a pout, "Besides, this is the only place you'd want to shop anyways." her light tone stopped as she gave him a dangerous glare, "Right?"

"Uh…sure Tenten. Of course," Naruto replied, sweating a bit from the now oppressive look he was getting.

"Good!" Tenten brightened up and smiled at him and the aura of dread vanished. "Now, the launcher also uses that containment seal you made for it, since it was the only one that worked. You just channel chakra into the bottom and take aim! Though, you're going to have to go to a training field to test it."

Naruto sweatdropped at the completely random shift of emotions that all women seemed prone to do. Still he was too excited to worry about his friend's odd mood swings.

He had a new weapon to test and an exam to prepare for.