Naruto : Struggle Of Childhood

Exams

Konohamaru harassed Naruto to train him most the day, and it was only when he had followed Naruto to where he was meeting Zabuza, and he had made one of his 'subtle' comments, that he finally ran off. Not one to be deterred, he showed up the a little later, demanding to be trained. This time he made the mistake of referring to Haku as a girl. Haku had resigned himself to adults making the confusion, but he at least got to freak Konohamaru out enough so that he didn't make that mistake again.

Naruto had other things to think about anyways.

The morning of the Chuunin Exams dawned clear, cloudless, and absolutely perfect. Naruto had plenty of time to watch the sun come up since he couldn't sleep.

Even though it wasn't something that he should be worried about, he was worried that he would give himself away by being simply too powerful. Or someone would notice his cursed whiskers and know what they meant.

Blast Fuzzy Wuzzy and his oh-so-obvious signs. Couldn't the demon Kitsune have been a bit more subtle? Even Gaara's wasn't quite so blatant. Almost, but not quite.

"Can't sleep?" Gaara asked.

"Nope," Naruto sighed.

"I know how you feel,"

Naruto sighed and rolled over, "I don't even know why I'm so worried. It's not like we really have anything to worry about."

"At least, not in the Exams," Gaara pointed out.

"Yeah, that," Naruto sighed, "ok, that's something to worry about."

"Well, you're not the only one," Gaara told him, "Everyone else has been off and on all night. Wave was nothing compared to this. We're actually…"

Naruto nodded, looking out the window. The morning sun was creeping into the room, and already everyone was stirring. They had a lot to get ready for. They had no idea what the Exams would be like, but they did all know something. The man who was heading the first exam was a complete sadist.

They hadn't caught the name during the talks of Kinen, but from what he had been hearing, he loved to torment the participants and leave them emotional wrecks. Hayate had mentioned that the last year that he was up, one of the participants had returned to his village unable to continue his career as a ninja due to his newly developed extreme nervous condition.

They might not be mere Genin, but still, Naruto knew that psychological warfare was at least half of a war, and victory. This Exam would test Naruto against not Genin, but also fully fledged Jounin.

Well, worrying about it wasn't going to help at all.

"Alright, everyone," Naruto sighed, "Up and at 'em. You're all awake, so let's just do some extra training or something."

"Sounds good," Sasuke said, opening both eyes. He seemed to be in a better mood than last night, but Naruto still wanted to know who he had met.

"Do you want to wake up the girls?" Haku asked.

"They're awake," Kimimaro said, not opening his eyes, "I've been hearing them whispering together for a while now. Whatever it is, they've been giggling for quite a while."

The boys exchanged nervous looks with one another. Sometimes their giggling was a completely innocent thing, and other times it was a calm before a storm of some kind. No one could think of any reason for vengeance, but that didn't mean much.