I Got Caught In A Storm... And Now I'm Stuck In Naruto!?!?

Chunin Exams: The Preliminaries

“Congratulations to you all for passing the second exam!” Anko said, grinning at us. Suddenly, it didn’t seem as twisted as it did before. That was probably because of all the crap I went through in the forest. Nothing really scared as much anymore.

You know… Except for spiders and fires. Spiders and fires still scare the cheese out of me; always have and always will.

Currently, we were all at the arena. All of the rookies had passed, which I found ironic and awesome. And… GAARA’S TEAM PASSED! WOO! HECK YEAH! THIS IS AWESOME!

Anyway… Kabuto’s team passed, the creeps they were, and so did the Sound ninja, much to my displeasure. I still don’t like Kabuto or the Sound ninja, and I don’t think I ever will.

I clutched my neck as a wave of pain hit me again, and I groaned to myself. Damn Orochimaru for being such a flipping pedophile… Now I have a hickey that’ll never fade away! This sucks cheese.

I noticed Gaara eyeing me, and I felt the heat rush to my face as I looked down. Beautiful. Now I had two boys that knew about my curse mark and were going to be all up on my case.

All that’s missing is if Naruto finds out… Which I really hope doesn’t happen. He’ll flip out the most, and then I’ll never be let out of his sight, which isn’t a nice or healthy way of living.

“All right! Lord Hokage’s going to explain the third exam to you, so pay close attention and take everything he says to heart!” Anko instructed, and I inwardly groaned. Seriously? More speeches? Were they trying to talk us to death!?

The Hokage stepped forward, his hat on and his hands behind his back formally. “Alright, the third exam is about to begin. But before I get into it… You all must understand something important. There’s a specific purpose to these exams,” He began, and something told me that he was far from done.

“Now… Why do you think an exam of this caliber is being conducted by all of the nations? It’s to promote friendship among the nations and raise the level of shinobi skills… But that answer has a double meaning. In actuality, this exam… Is a miniature war between all of the allied nations,” He said.

“What… What in the world do you mean?” Tenten asked.

“If you were to study your history, you’d know that the alliance between all of these lands is a beneficial and temporary agreement. For years, each nation jockeyed their strength against the other, open and in secret, each struggle brutal in its own way… Until the better way came along, the way of the Chunin exams!” He said.

“But… That’s just stupid! I thought the point of the exams was to select Chunin!” Naruto objected.

“Indeed, this exam serves a dual purpose. Not only will Chunin be chosen through it, but it also serves as an arena where young shinobi like yourselves may fight to the death, if needed, in honor of your homelands! There will be a large number of guests watching the third exam… Nobles and royals all the same.

“If they notice a certain ninja from a nation who shows exceptional skill… The number of commissions to that ninja’s nation will increase. If certain ninja show lack of experience and skill… The commissions to that ninja’s nation will decrease. And once a nation is strong in battle… They are able to send a sort of warning out to other nations, telling that it possesses shinobi of excellent caliber.”

“So what!? Why should we risk our lives and fight!?” Kiba interrupted.

“A nation’s strength depends on its village, and its village depends on the strength of the shinobi who live there… And the instant in which those shinobi’s strength shines the most… Is in the midst of a life and death battle!