Chapter 10

-2 months after the Tazuna escort mission-

Over the past 2 months, team 7 have been on missions all over the Elemental Nations, from Oni no Kuni (Land of Demons) to Yukigakure (Village hidden among the snow) during these months Naruto has grown small bonds with Kakashi but has already stated that he won't create any bonds with Sakura or Sasuke as he doesn't trust them already guessing that Sasuke is a flight risk and Sakura is the ever devout fangirl. Over the 2 months he also spent a lot of time training and attempting to learn and master the Hiraishin though he believe he may need another month or two before he gets the hang of it all. Naruto also spent a lot of time with Tsunade after she returned to the village and started to stay at the Senju compound every weekend but stayed in his childhood home every other day.

Skill wise Naruto has mastered over 50% of the library of jutsus he has in his house with the usage of Shadow clones to read and practice the jutsu until he can spend time mastering them down to a single hand sign, the library to Naruto's disliking only has about 200 jutsu scrolls so he has only mastered 100 of them all so he has decided to spend time after the Chunin exams learning the rest of them, speaking of Chunin exams Naruto and his team were recommended to join by Kakashi and Kakashi told them that the other of the rookie 9 have been asked to give it a try as well. Oh and another thing that happened is that Naruto got in the bingo books after taking out Aoi Rokusho and returning Tobirama Senju's Raijin no Ken. Anyways back to the story Naruto was walking down the main street of Konoha and saw in the corner of his eye a small moving box with 2 eye holes in and sighs "Ya know Kono, if you want to sneak up on a sensory type nin you and your friends gotta hide your chakra better" As he finished saying that the box exploded into smoke and all of a sudden 3 coughs were heard making Naruto softly chuckle at his surrogate younger brother's actions.

"I knew I put too much gunpowder" came a voice which Naruto recognized of Konohamaru as he stopped chuckling as the smoke cleared revealing 3 academy students looking and pointing at him as they proceeded to introduce themselves "You guessed right!" Konohamaru shouted as he continued "As I would expect from my greatest rival ever" this made Naruto chuckle softly as the other started to introduce themselves after Naruto asked them to.

"I'm Udon and I am amazing with maths and with kunai" said the one Naruto would later nickname four eyes because of his glasses.

"And I'm Moegi, the future most beautiful and sassiest Kunoichi of Konoha" said the girl and Naruto decided he would nickname here pigtails because of her hair and Naruto nodded as Konohamaru jumped forwards and they said together, "And together we are the Konohamaru Corps!"

Naruto nodded all while smirking and chuckled "So what did you need Kono?" he asked the leader of the three as he ran to Naruto.

"You promised to play ninja with me today Naruto-nii!" shouted Konohamaru going into his younger brother mode as Naruto dubbed it, Naruto just nodded until they heard someone laughing.

"Got a problem Sakura?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow and Sakura calmed down from laughing.

"Yeah it's just that a real ninja playing ninja is very counter productive as you already are a ninja and can't play it" she said as Naruto looked at Konohamaru and sighed.

"It teaches them stealth and how not to be a fangirl who is trying to Mr Broody to date them" he said as he started to walk away as Konohamaru asked.

"Hey boss is this your?" He asked and wiggled his finger making Naruto freeze gag slightly and shake his head "Of course not Naruto-nii wouldn't date a washboard with a huge forehead" and as soon as the words left his mouth he felt a shiver go up his spine as Naruto said.

"Kono. Run" Konohamaru turned to Sakura saw the murderous look and then ran down the street, not long after Naruto heard shouting and sighed as he turned the corner and froze at what he saw. A guy in a cat suit with make-up and judging from his hitai-te he was from Suna, he felt the chakra of Sasuke and something else and then saw the final person being, in his opinion, a beautiful blonde again from Suna and then he saw the guy in a cat suit holding Konohamaru and then focused on the large Chakra he felt 'So the Tanuki is here' Naruto thought to himself and Kurama grunted in agreement and hid his presence so Shukaku wouldn't know his jinchuriki was here.

"Kankuro let the kid go and come on before Gaara finds us" said the blonde girl.

"Can it Temari this runt bumped into me I'm going to show him to watch his surroundings" exclaimed the one called Kankuro.

Naruto hearing enough vanished from his spot around the corner and held a kunai at Temari's neck and Muramasa at Kankuro's neck "I believe it would be better if you listened to Temari here Kankuro, after all I believe a certain Sand Tanuki would be upset if he saw you making a ruckus before the exams even start" he said surprising the siblings that someone snuck up on them and knew about Shukaku's jinchuriki being here "Oh and I believe that Tori-san would be very pissed to see you holding the Sandaime's grandson by his neck especially with you being a foreign shinobi here" Naruto finished making Kankuro pale and drop Konohamaru as Naruto then sealed his sword and put his Kunai away "Now I believe it's time to talk like civil people so could Sasuke and I'm assuming Gaara come out of the tree" Naruto said to the tree as Sasuke looked around and only just realized Gaara.

Gaara and Sasuke left the tree and looked at each other as both teams stood opposite each other and Naruto sighed as he started "I guess we will start, we are Konohagakure's team 7 this is Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha clan heir of the Uchiha's and I'm Naruto Uchiha" Naruto said as he smiled slightly at Gaara and then more when he looked at Temari as they nodded.

"I'm Gaara no Sabaku and these are my siblings Temari and Kankuro and we are Suna's team Baki" Gaara said as Naruto seemed thoughtful.

"So the Kazekage gave Kaze no Kami Baki his kids for a team huh? Sounds like Kazekage-sama is protecting his kids without you realizing" Naruto said surprising the 3 Suna shinobi that he deduced that they were the Kazekage's children and who Baki was "Ah but that doesn't always mean you're strong after all judging from Temari's fan she is a shinobi with Futon and judging from the Gourd on Gaara's back he uses sand" Naruto said and smirked "Well I believe it's about time I have a private talk with team Suna, Sasuke and Sakura if you'd be so kind as to leave" Naruto said putting a hint of Killing Intent to make them nod and leave reluctantly as Naruto then looks to the Suna team.

"So Naruto" started Gaara as Naruto chuckled and looked to him "You also know about Kankuro's abilities don't you?" Gaara asked surprising Kankuro and Temari as Naruto chuckled.

"Oh course I do, I'm possibly the most dangerous shinobi in these chunin exams, even compared to a jinchuriki like you" Naruto said and couldn't help but smirk "After all I have many ways to suppress Shukaku so he wouldn't interfere in a fight should we have one" Naruto said before sighing "Though I also have a lot of potential as well such as I'm as smart if not almost as smart as Sandaime-sama, I'm better than Yondaime-sama in sealing, my suiton jutsus and my prowess with them are as good as Nidaime-sama and sadly I don't know any Mokuton jutsus like Shodaime-sama but I believe I would be better than him with them" He said more to himself than the siblings and then punched his palm "Oh and my Sharingan is as strong as Madara-jiji and Tsunade-baa-chan is helping with my chakra control" he smirked and looked at them with a glint in his eyes "And did I forget to mention I'm also a jinchuriki?" Naruto mentioned making the three freeze and stare at him wide eyed as Gaara looked slightly scared "And I have an offer" he said making the three calm down slightly "I fix Gaara's extremely faulty seal and you tell me why I feel a lot of chakra signatures from Suna around here as well as one that feels like snakes" Naruto said surprising the three further as he then sat on a bench "Time's ticking" Naruto said as the Suna siblings started to debate it with each other until Gaara spoke up.

"You promise to fix my seal?" He asked hopefully as Naruto nodded "Fix the seal then we'll tell you" Gaara finished as Naruto nodded and walked to Gaara and lifted his shirt.

"Suna has a terrible seals master" he grumbled as he flashed through 10 hand signs in less than a second and placed his hand above Gaara's seal "Fuin" Naruto said and caught Gaara as he passed out "So Shukaku wants to meet him already?" He mused as he lay Gaara on the bench and turned to the concious siblings "Explain" so they did, from Orochimaru coming and asking for assistance in invading Konoha and how Rasa at first denied then changed a couple weeks later and to how Gaara was supposed to be there secret weapon making Naruto nod and then sigh "So Rasa is dead" he whispered to himself and shocked the two siblings alive.

"What?!" shouted Temari in shock and confusion.

"Well think of it, why would he suddenly change his mind unless someone replaced him and snakes are known to shed their skin and create new ones" Naruto said cryptically as he handed Gaara to Kankuro "Anyways puppet boy take your brother and report this to Baki, I'll report it to Sandaime-sama and then will find you before the exams in a couple days to have you confessing to the invasion" Naruto said before he looked to Temari smiled and turned around "I hope Suna does the smart thing" Naruto said as he waved over his shoulder and vanished in a Shunshin. After he vanished the Sand siblings returned to there hotel room and reported everything to Baki who used Temari's summons to send a letter to Suna's council for their orders.

Naruto appeared outside the Hokage's office and knocked on the door, after getting the go ahead to enter he walked in and looked at the occupants of the room his eyes lingering on a auburn haired woman in a blue dress "Hokage-sama I found out some information about an S-Ranked criminal who should be making an appearance during the Chunin exams, is now a bad time to relay this information?" Naruto asked professionally realizing who the woman was.

"Ah Naruto-kun" Hiruzen said surprising the woman in the room "I was about to call for you later, but no now would be fine" Hiruzen finished making Naruto nod as he then turned to the woman.

"Mei Terumi, it's wonderful to meet the leader of the rebellion in Kiri and potential Mizukage" Naruto finished as he then turned back to Hiruzen "Sandaime-sama I have 2 accounts of the Kazekage Rasa no Sabaku being assassinated or replaced by a certain snake to get his hands on the military might of Suna to lead an invasion on Konoha" Naruto said making both the Hokage and Mei freeze as Hiruzen dismissed his Anbu to get the Jonin commander and the Anbu commander. Once both entered Naruto smirked at Shikaku. "Ah Shikaku, it's great to see you again but at a bad time it would seem" Naruto said as Shikaku grumbled at him and then Naruto turned serious "After all the snake is returning" Naruto said making the Jonin Commander straighten up as well as the Anbu commander.

"How would you know this Naruto?" asked Shikaku as Naruto sat on the couch in the room.

"Oh an amazing trade with Suna's team for the information I help their jinchuriki who is also here" Naruto said as if talking about the weather "You know the casual put a three trigrams seal on the Shukaku jinchuriki and they spill some secrets" Naruto chuckled at the stunned faces before continuing "Ah but I should say that Rasa wasn't up for this in the first place" Naruto said to clear the suspicions "So according to Temari no Sabaku and Kankuro no Sabaku of team Baki from Suna Orochimaru approached them as the leader of a new village called Otogakure based in the Land of Sounds next to the Land of Rice." Naruto said making the 4 occupants nod "Well with the approaching of the Chunin exams Orochimaru believed it would be best to get the smallest and the least suspicious of the Great villages to attack with them, when Rasa declined Orochimaru must have been pissed so he planned an attack on Rasa the next time he left the village, which came 2 months later when he was coming to finalize the teams for the Chunin exams, Orochimaru attacked, shed his own skin and used Rasa's to change Rasa's verdict and command Suna into invading with Oto, except I've mentioned this to the Suna team who probably relayed it to Baki who would have sent a message by either messager hawk or summons" Naruto said and once he finished a toad appeared in front of Hiruzen.

"Jiraiya-boy is returning Hiruzen, he has some leads on Orochimaru" the toad said making Naruto chuckle and the others so sigh. "Ah it would seem like you've grown up well Naruto-boy" said the toad as Naruto looked at him with his eye cracked slightly.

"So you were delivering gifts from my kyofu when I was a kid?" Naruto asked as the toad nodded and Naruto smiled "Tell him I said thanks for Gama-chan and the seals on it were smart, making it so it looks like the wallet is empty but the seals store the money that can only be accessed through chakra and blood" Naruto chuckled as he shook his head surprising Hiruzen.

"You know Jiraiya-boy has been meaning to send you something but Ma keeps telling him you're too young to have it" the toad said as Naruto shrugged

"Lemme guess your contract?" Naruto asked as the toad just shook it's head and then vanished stumping Naruto "What would the perv wanna give me then?" Naruto asked himself making the 4 occupants chuckle "I mean he wouldn't give me his books as kaa-chan will come back and murder him herself" Naruto mumbled and sat there thinking before shrugging "Oh well, I've told you everything I have Sandaime-sama" Naruto said as he stood to leave "Oh and Mei-san, could you say hello to Zabuza and Haku for me?" he asked looking to the woman and making her nod "Maybe next time we'll be able to talk more instead of you having to leave so soon, after all I'd love to learn some Yoton and Futton" Naruto said as he tapped the barrier on the room making it vanish and he opened the door "Until next time" he said and vanished.