True Potential By DryBonesKing

Part 22// Two Nations

Disclaimer: Blah blah, don't own Naruto. You all know this! Now on to more important information. The winners of the virtual cookies are as follows: Gabrielus Prime, Twisted Pxl, and triforcemeralds. Congrats to the three of you! Enjoy this virtual chocolate chip cookie (::) The three of you deserving it for knowing the greatness that is Fawful! :D

Author's Note: Hey guys! Um...insert something witty here to say about the update time I guess? :P I don't really know! I'm just wasting time here. You can start reading the story. Hope you all enjoy :)

Fifteen days since the preliminary exam. Sixteen days until the third exam.

Naruto had arrived at training ground twenty-nine around an hour earlier than the scheduled time for training. Ibiki was already there, reading a book. Upon his student's arrival, he looked up from his book and gave him a curious stare.

"You are punctual, but you usually do not show up early. Not even Kurenai-san is not here yet." Ibiki noted aloud.

"Yeah, I know. I just kinda wanted to see if I could talk to you beforehand." Naruto responded awkwardly. "I wanted to talk to you about Dosu..."

"..." Ibiki put his book down before giving Naruto his full attention. "What about him?"

"What happened at the hospital yesterday? Is everything okay?" The blonde questioned, his tone of voice growing louder and contained traces of fear.

"...he's fine. We had a situation to handle." The T&I head grumbled.

"A situation? What the hell does that mean?" Naruto shouted in response.

Ibiki shook his head, a scowl on his face. The man was honestly not in the mood to discuss the incident from the previous day. The traitor, Yakushi Kabuto, managed to escape his pursuit and disappear. Ibiki and all other Konoha shinobi that were sent after him were unable to find the traitor. It bothered the scarred tokubetsu jōnin that he missed the opportunity to capture Kabuto and find out any information about Orochimaru. To Ibiki, information was everything for shinobi. Therefore, losing the opportunity to gain new, important information was one of the biggest mistakes a shinobi could make. In his mind, he committed this error.

Naruto sighed, realizing his sensei was not going to elaborate. He then returned to his original question. "...well then, what's Dosu's condition like? Is he going to be okay?"

"Kinuta Dosu received a severe amount of shock and trauma yesterday. He was moved to a separate location where he can rest and receive proper treatment." Ibiki answered.

"Shock and trauma? Separate location? Proper treatment?" Naruto repeated the phrases before giving a concerned, slightly-angry look. "What happened yesterday?"

"That information is classified until further notice." The first exam proctor responded dismissively.

"Classified my ass! That's my friend dattebayo!" The Uzumaki snapped.

"And your friend will be alright!" Ibiki replied, raising his voice. Naruto's eyes widened as he let the man continue. "It is classified for a reason. I'm not refusing to tell you because I feel like it. You will find out more information when you are allowed to. The Hokage is trying to handle the situation to the best of his abilities and until then, we want to make sure as few people know about what happened yesterday in the hospital."

Naruto nodded in response but looked even more troubled. 'What happened is classified...what could have possibly gone wrong?' He shook his head. 'Dosu...you better be okay.'

Ibiki noticed the troubled look of the Uzumaki. He sighed before he started to speak up.

"Physically speaking, Dosu is fine. He will wake up eventually and will be in perfect health. Do not worry about him, Naruto. He will be fine." The proctor informed him.