Inheritance

The Chunin Exams I

"You know, walking around in somebody else's village, flaring off killing intent and threatening their shinobi - civilians even - really isn't very clever. Call it a hunch, but I don't think you're quite Chunin material."

Sakura started as a familiar voice spoke from her side.

It was Naruto, and she hadn't even sensed him until he had spoken.

But it wasn't just that. Naruto might as well have been a total stranger for how familiar he looked. He was dressed almost completely in black, wearing what was the standard shinobi uniform, but instead of a flak jacket like the Jonin or Chunin of the village, he was wearing a deep red set of body armour that covered a fair amount more than the Anbu standard armour she had seen on the mysterious masked shinobi around the village. She also couldn't help but notice that he had absolutely no pouches for his ninja equipment, or anything remotely similar.

But what stood out more than absolutely anything else, what shocked her even more than his ditching his ridiculous orange outfit sometime since their only D-rank together; was the expression he wore. He looked... Intense. His cerulean blue eyes fixing the two shinobi in front of them with a firm and penetrating stare. Taking everything in, measuring the situation, measuring the enemy.

Suddenly, for some inexplicable reason, Sakura suddenly felt better after seeing his expression - like she knew that now he was here, these two foreign ninja wouldn't be able to get to her past him. It was ridiculous. She knew that Naruto was an idiot. She knew he was weak - even weaker than she was in fact. And then, she'd glance at him and feel reassured all over again.

"I'm getting lectured by yet another weak Konoha midget? I should just deal with you all right-"

"Kankuro, he's going to be mad if we don't hurry. Just put the brat down." The boy, Kankuro apparently, glanced at the blond girl who had spoken condescendingly.

"Man, Temari, just relax a little. He's not here, is he? I just want to have a little fun before we have to meet him." The blonde girl rolled her eyes and sighed, but said nothing more, apparently deciding to leave Kankuro to it.

"I'm really sorry - Kankuro, was it? But I absolutely can't let you hurt that kid." Naruto interrupted the exchange, trying to remain as polite as absolutely possible. Sakura might not have had a clue about who these two were, but he did. These were Gaara's siblings, and the eldest children of the current Kazekage - in other words, pretty much the only people in the whole of Suna who could get away with strolling into a foreign village and causing problems.

And they just so happened to have taken the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage, essentially as a hostage.

Somehow, somehow - Naruto had managed to walk into the middle of a hugely volatile diplomatic situation - on his way to Ichiraku's, of all the utterly innocuous things. If the Genin wasn't already convinced that he'd never have a normal day in his life, he was now. This was so his luck.

"And what exactly is some punk like you going to do about it?"

Naruto did his best to shoot the crying child a reassuring smile, before fixing Kankuro with an altogether disarmingly innocent grin that only Sakura recognised as the grin he wore before one of his pranks went off in class.

"Well probably something like this." And with barely a flicker of movement from his right hand, he sent a pair of kunai towards the two Suna shinobi, one aimed at each of them. Not one person even tried to figure out exactly where Naruto had gotten the kunai from.

Kankuro smirked at the rather pathetic attack. He thought about intercepting the blades with the kid in his hands, but realised rather quickly that the both of the weapons were off-target. This waste of space couldn't even throw kunai straight.