𝐀𝐍: 𝐘𝐨! 𝐈'𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤! 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐥, 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐈 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.
𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐲𝐚'𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?
𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨, 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨 𝐮𝐡𝐡𝐡, 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞.
𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨, 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐝𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬....
=
"𝐍o way!" (Talking)
'𝐈mpossible!' (Thinking/Thoughts)
"𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞'𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭" (𝐁𝐢𝐣𝐮𝐮/𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠)
'𝐆𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐩 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬.' (𝐁𝐢𝐣𝐮𝐮/𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠)
"𝐀gghhh!! I forgot about me and kami-chan!" (Duck Author Talking.)
=
-𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩-
Lee challenge's Sasuke to fight in the last chapter, that's about it.
=
-Later-
Having seen the earlier events, Naruto laughed, "Hahahaahah!! M-man! I still can't believe you lost to that guy sasuke!, hihijiahhaha...!" He had come to torment sasuke about his earlier fight with Lee, and let's just say the Uchiha isn't exactly fond of the blond's teasing.
Resuming where we left off, Sasuke and Lee had their youthful battle! The four of them were unaware of Lee's true strength, but he handled Sasuke with ease and made an absolute fool out of the arrogant Uchiha. For Naruto, Naruko and Sakura, this was an unexpected turn of events. It was ridiculous to watch the all-powerful Uchiha be dominated by a green-loving, bowl-cutting taijutsu specialist, and it certainly damaged Sasuke's pride and ego.
Lee didn't even have to use any ninjutsu at all, just pure taijutsu! It was really lucky for them that the person who called himself Might Gai, had stopped Lee before he used his special move on sasuke. Otherwise sasuke would've been injured badly and it could result to them forfieting the exams due to one of their teammates being injured. After a weird interaction with the two green Taijutsu users, the girls were pretty much Traumatized from Lee and Gai's 'intimate' hugging session. They all pretty much agreed that it was Lee's father since they were both the same in terms of clothing and haircuts and how the way they both act. Before leaving, The Uchiha promised Lee to have a rematch again at some point in the future, which Lee agreed to have a rematch as well.
"Hn! Remind me of that fight again and I will burn your corpse till there's nothing but ash." Sasuke coldly said as he glared at Naruto with a look saying 'I dare you to say that again'.
When Sasuke threatened to harm him, Naruto groaned a little but then shrugged it off. One thing Naruto had always thought about after seeing Sasuke's constant facial expressions was that he hadn't seen him genuinely smile for once, or even be happy at least. "Geez your always no fun sasuke, I mean, do you even know how to smile? And I mean not the smug face or the evil smirk you sometimes do, but an actual genuine smile, can you atleast smile as if your happy for once?" Naruto asks.
"Shut up dobe, we're here, don't do anything stupid." Sasuke says, ignoring naruto's rant about smiling or something that he said earlier.
As they got closer to the room, Naruto sighed. Sakura and Naruko were a bit ahead of them, so it was fortunate that Sakura didn't hear him make fun of her attractive companion, Sasuke-kun, or else he would be getting hit upside in the head right now. When team 7 got to the front door, Naruto stopped and stood motionless for a brief while. The other three noticed this change in behavior and became curious as Naruto had been zoning out for the previous few hours. They were a little concerned because they felt that the hyperactive knucklehead wasn't acting like himself at the moment, and it was terrifying to see him act this way.
Sasuke didn't express it, but the three of them gazed at Naruto with obvious worry in their eyes. Sakura's eyebrows wrinkled at this; she knew her blond friend was having problems, but she wasn't sure if it was related to his previous sickness or something else. She was the first to move, approaching Naruto and trying to jolt him out of his reverie.
"Naruto, hey Naruto, hello...?" Sakura waved her palm in front of Naruto's face in an attempt to wake him up, but she was having no luck. She was beginning to become increasingly concerned. Since she still cares about him despite her hatred for him.
"Guys, I think there's something wrong with Naruto." Sakura adds, turning her head to look over towards the other two.
Naruko worriedly said, "I wonder what's making him zone out like that." At first, she assumed that he was just overthinking things and getting nervous for the exams because it was his first time taking them, she understood that, because she too was also nervous since this was also her first time, but that wasn't the case at all—Naruto never displayed any signs of anxiety or nervousness—instead, he was quite confident, which was the exact opposite of what she thought. So what was causing him to zone out like that?
Glancing over at Naruto, they noticed that his eyes were half-lidded, dead, and dull, giving off the impression as if he had recently passed away and that life was slowly departing his body. They needed to speak with Kushina-sensei and Kakashi-sensei about this after the chunin exams as it was really concerning.
=
-Meanwhile-
"What do you mean kurama?" Naruto asked for the third time, he still couldn't quite get what the fox had said.
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧'𝐭, 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫." Kurama says,
"Yeah I know about that, but what do you MEAN by that kurama?" Naruto asks again.
"𝐔𝐠𝐡𝐡, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮." Kurama says before cutting off their connection, resulting in Naruto getting kicked out of the mindscape.
=
Sakura said, "Naruto!, Hey Naruto snap out of it!" as she gave Naruto a shake in an attempt to break him out of his daze.
Naruto's eyes flashed at that time, then his lifeless, dull blue eyes came back to life.
"H-huh? What? W-what's happening?" questions Naruto sharply as Sakura shakes him.
Sakura scolded the blond, giving him an enraged gaze. "Finally! You've been zoning out every damn minute Naruto, you should stop doing that, what if you zoned out while fighting? I'm pretty sure you'd lose instantly if you do that." She was relieved, though, that she managed to shake him out of his daze.
Naruto hesitated before giving a thumbs up, saying, "O-oh, sorry about that Sakura, I uhh, won't zone out again, trust me." He can't really promise that, so they'll just have to have faith in him that he won't zone out again. Maybe it won't be too horrible to nod off once or twice a day, after all. However, he still had certain matters to settle with Kurama; thereafter, he would need to be sneaky about this.
Sakura's expression softened as she saw Naruto give her a tired smile and a thumbs up. It seemed as though he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't nod off once again; it was like reprimanding her little brother—not that she had one—because she thought of Naruto as her own. Ever since she started at the academy, she had always wished she had a younger brother to look after, but she was the only child.
"It's ok Naruto, your probably just nervous, but if your feeling sick, be sure to tell us," Sakura replies with a sigh before grinning back at him.
"I know I know, come on let's go, we're propably late now since sasuke just had to get his ass beat up just now." Naruto says as he quickly made his way towards the room, ignoring sasuke's deathly glare towards him.
As soon as they entered the room, nearly all eyes in the room went towards them, and they were under intense pressure from the competitors around them, who were glaring at them with death threats.Naruto and his team froze for a brief while. Naruto was frightened right away because he wasn't sure how his team would handle this circumstance. He turned to face Naruko. Despite her worried glances around the room, she maintained her confident stance and showed no signs of backing down. However, Naruto could tell that the immense strain was wearing on her since he noted that she was flinching every time she looked about.
Naruto averted his gaze and then turned to face Sakura, who appeared more terrified and affected by the pressure and the KI that was being sent out. Then, turning back to face Sasuke, the raven-haired Uchiha gave the competitors a backhand glare, though Naruto could tell that the pressure was slightly getting to him.
When Naruto realized this, he secretly pleaded with Kurama to remove the strain by releasing his KI. Naruto sighed and let out all of Kurama's murderous intent. The contestants instantly sensed Kurama's deadly KI and the tremendous pressure that was released as they felt the blond's immense power radiating. Most of them fainted out, while the others froze from the amount of pressure that had just swarmed around the vicinity.
After noticing their reactions, Naruto ceased using KI and expressed gratitude to Kurama for his assistance. Then, he turned to see Sakura and Naruko attempting to regain their breath, forgetting that the KI he released had also affected them.
Naruto worries, "Are you guys ok?" silently praying they didn't notice that he was the one who released the deathly KI.
Sakura answered, "Yeah, yeah, were ok."
"At least we arrived on time, it looks like it hasn't started yet," Naruto exclaims, attempting to lighten the mood-a little, to be honest.
"Hey Naruto, glad your feeling ok now, I thought you would die from that fever." A voice says from behind him, which Naruto recognized it as kibas voice.
"Hey guys! Glad to see you here!" Naruko gleefully says, Naruto turned around to find kiba, shino, and hinata approach them.
"Hey Naruto, you finally recovered now, and I didn't think you four would participate in the chunin exams too." Kiba says, gaining a deadpan expression from Sakura.
"Hey, we're more capable than you think we are." Sakura says,
"You could say that, or is it because there's four of you and having that advantage is the reason you guys participated right?" Kiba says,
"Shut up kiba, that's not the reason, and I'll make sure to kick your ass later to show you how much we have improved." Naruto says getting a snicker from kiba.
"Ha! I'd like to see you try! I've been training real hard for months, and I can confidently say I can kick your ass and throw you around like a ragdoll!" Kiba confidently shouted, puffing his chest out to show how much he is confident about what he said. Though akamaru slightly whimpered from his jacket, having felt the intense pressure earlier, the small puppy had come to realize that it was Naruto who sent out the deathly KI.
"Geez kiba, save your voice to scream at Naruto later, don't make things any louder than it is already." Another voice says, which by the laziness in those words, Naruto recognized it as shikamaru.
Looking over to his side, Naruto sees shikamaru with choji, no sign of Ino though. "Oh, hey shikamaru, I'd like to thank you for suggesting me to meditate and exercise a little when I was sick, it really helped." Naruto says,
"Glad it could, being sick is really troublesome sometimes." Shikamaru said to which, everyone somewhat agreed.
Before Naruto could ask where Ino is, his question had already been answered by a loud shout of sasuke's name.
"Sasuke-kuuunn~!!"
Sasuke's name was shouted at a high pitch, almost echoing throughout the room. A blonde blur darted past everyone, probably running straight toward the pensive Uchiha. Naruto only sighed as he turned to see Ino encircling the agitated and seemingly on the verge of losing control Sasuke.
"Hey Ino-pig! Get off of him!" Sakura angrily says at the blonde.
"Hmm? You just want him for yourself don't you? Say sasuke-kun! Did you miss me? I missed you!" Ino says before getting dragged away by Sakura.
"Hey! Who do you think you are dragging me around!" Ino angrily shouts.
"Uhh, and who do you think you are trying to force yourself on sasuke?" Sakura says before letting the blonde go.
Ino patted her clothes before turning to Sakura, "What's wrong with you nowadays sakura? I thought you liked sasuke-kun? Is it because you finally realized that you have no chance against someone like me?" Ino says, trying to anger the pinkie but to her surprise, sakura didn't lash out or got mad even the slightest.
Naruto and the others listened intently to the two's heated conversation, eager to know how things would play out, Naruko only smiled at this, knowing that Sakura was waiting for this moment to come.
"It's not because I think that I have no chance against you, but because I know what sasuke doesn't want and I'm doing my best to become his friend." Sakura says, though becoming friends is what she was aiming for, she also wanted sasuke to notice her. Ino raised an eyebrow at this and was immediately curious about it.
"Oh? And what does sasuke-kun not like huh?" Ino asks,
"Annoying weak girls like you." Sakura says before evilly smirking after seeing Ino snap.
"H-How dare you! I could beat your sassy ass anytime I want!" Ino declared loudly.
"Oh? Is that a challenge? I'll gladly accept it, you have no idea how much I trained over the past few months, I'm stronger than you think I am." Sakura says before walking away from the fuming blonde.
"That's pretty bold of you sakura." Kiba says, overhearing the two's conversation despite the whole room was being loud filled with people chatting about.
"Mind your own business kiba." Sakura says. Kiba only pouted in response as he turned away.
Naruto thought about how quickly things had changed in the last few months, from learning that he had "relatives" to how his life and team had changed immediately following that incident, as he watched the entire thing play out. One of those changes is that Sakura has been behaving more and more like a big sister to him; his feelings for her have gradually waned and a sense of familial closeness has begun to develop, almost as if he is now viewing her as a big sister and such.
In the last few months, he had also undergone significant personal growth. Although he had become a more intelligent and responsible version of himself, Naruto remained the same mischievous, prankish, and occasionally foolish person he had always been. Even though he had changed, he remained the same Naruto. If he had changed completely, he wouldn't be Naruto anymore right?
"Ano....H-How are y-you n-n-narut-to-kun?" A soft and gentle voice asked Naruto, snapping out of his thoughts Naruto turned his head towards the source of the voice.
"Ah-! Hinata! I'm feeling fine now, thanks for asking." Naruto happily says, it's really refreshing to have someone who would actually ask how you've been doing, instead of being told that he could've died from that fever.
"T-thats g-good to kn-now." Hinata says, she started fidgeting with her fingers as she was having difficulty trying to continue the conversation.
When Naruto noticed this, he could only smile. He had never actually spoken to Hinata that much in the past, and she was always a bit strange for him anyway—she hardly ever talked to anyone and always seemed sick when he spoke to her. The byakugan user was definitely strange. Naruto had been informed that hyugas are typically strict or even cruel. He heard that, but since Hinata is the exact opposite of the harsh and cruel hyugas he didn't really believe it, Perhaps she is just different?
"Hey, hinata, you guys must have trained really hard for the exams, don't you think? Kiba seems so confident about kicking my ass earlier." Naruto says, Maybe he oughta talk to Hinata now. They didn't really have the best relationship growing up, barely talking to each other. This could be a good opportunity for them to strengthen their friendship.
Hinata, who had been a little surprised that Naruto had spoken to her rather than just standing there with nothing to say, smiled slightly, she had been practicing to not pass out in situations like this and that, at last, she would be able to speak to Naruto without stuttering or fainting. Let's hope her practice pays off.
"H-hai, it's all thanks t-to you actually." Hinata says, she mentally patted herself in the back for not stuttering that much.
Naruto was confused though, what did he do that made them train so hard? For all they know, he's been in bed for almost two weeks. "W-what do you mean it's all thanks to me hinata?" Naruto asked.
"Well, after hearing that you've been sick for days, kiba swore to train really hard and make you proud as a friend. He was really worried about you, but that gave him determination that if you ever die from the fever, he'll continue you're dream to become hokage, even shino was determined to do the same thing." Hinata says, she may look really calm in the outside but she was jumping over the moon in joy for not even stuttering so much and that she was confident enough to talk to him for this long in the inside, she really oughta be more confident, it felt good, really good.
She was a little anxious since, despite Naruto's silence throughout, he hadn't even replied to her. Had she said something wrong? How come he's so quiet? Did she upset him? Hey, fantastic job, Hinata! It was just the way you had to speak!.... Hinata sighed and gently raised her head to see Naruto's startled expression. He was really, really shocked-more like surprised! This is going to be awful, I swear.
"H-hinata.... A-are you o-okay?" Naruto asked softly,
Surprised by the odd question, hinata decided to just answer it directly.
"H-hai, I'm fine, w-why did you a-ask?" Great going hinata! You're starting to stutter again!
"O-oh, it's nothing.... Well, it's just-"
"YOU TALKED!!" Kiba's voice boomed out of nowhere, abruptly interrupting Naruto and made hinata flinch in surprise. Turning to her side, she saw that nearly everyone had adopted the same expression of shock that Naruto had. Shikamaru, for example, looked very different when he was surprised, and Choji even stopped eating his BBQ chips to focus on her. Shino's eyes were even wider in surprise behind those shades, as if he had witnessed something so extraordinary that he had formed an expression that Hinata believed was impossible for the bug user. even Sasuke, with his normally cool and collected demeanor, appeared surprised.
"W-what? What's w-wrong?" Hinata asked, still confused to what was happening right now.
"Y-you talked!!" Kiba says again,
"A lot!!" Sakura continued,
"You didn't grow red or burn hotter!!" Ino followed,
"You didn't even stutter!!" Choji followed,
"You didn't even faint for that matter!" Shino followed as well, slightly raising his voice than normal.
"Hinata what happened to you?" Shikamaru asked,
"I didn't even think this was something you can do." Sasuke continued,
"This is really something new!" Naruko followed,
"Geez, even I'm surprised by you." Naruto continued again.
"I thought you were shy!!!" Lee butted in out of nowhere,
"Who knew someone like you could talk if they try." Neji continued,
"Oh man! She's so cute I'm gonna cry!!" Tenten followed,
"You guys are so shocked what you said even rhyme's!" Temari followed by,
"My puppets are so shocked they might grow vines!!" Kankuro continued.
"This is odd, but breaking this rhyme would be a crime" Gaara finished.
.
..
...
....
.....
......
"....U-uhmmm, is that w-what you guys are so surprised about?" Hinata asked, was it really that surprising to them that she talked alot without fainting or blushing so much?
"Yeah, it is!" Kiba says.
"This is a big improvement for you hinata." Shikamaru says,
"T-Thanks, I guess..." Hinata silently replied, she didn't even think that her cousin's team would butt in, or even the team from the sand as well, it really is that surprising for them that she talked like that.
"This is all fun and games but we should really stay quiet, you don't wanna attract attention you know?" A new voice says that neither of them recognized it at all.
"Huh?" Everyone says at the same time, turning towards a person with blank white-greyish hair tied into a ponytail, rounded glasses, and wore a pretty standard clothing, with a high collar and I couldn't describe anything else so here's the picture.
"Hahaha, the names Kabuto, how are you all doing?" Kabuto happily says,
"How long were you standing there?" Naruko asks,
"Oh, long enough to hear you guys rhyming, and maybe keep the noise down a little alright?" Kabuto says, He adjusted his glasses a little before speaking once more.
"By the way, this is all you're first time participating am I correct?" Kabuto says, earning a nod from everyone.
Kabuto smirked a little before reaching out for something, "Well, how about I give you guys a little help then." Kabuto says, pulling out some cards that got everyone confused.
Naruto, being the curious one, decided to ask, "hey uhh, Mr. Kabuto, what are those?".
"huh? Oh these? These are my special cards that contain information about different kinds of people, including you." Kabuto explained, adjusting his glasses once more.
Naruto squinted his eyes in suspicion, wondering if the cards included personal information about anyone. Even him? What kind of information, if accurate, does he know about him? Is he aware about Kurama? Does he know anything about his favorite ramen? Does he know what time he gets up every morning? Does he know how strong he is? Are cards like that even possible to have? Naruto's curiosity was only piqued by thinking about these issues.
"Alright, so here's how this is going to go, tell me the name's, let's say Naruto here, and I'll show you a card with his information on it. Pretty simple right?" Kabuto says, he then holds out the cards, everyone stayed pretty much quiet for a few seconds until someone spoke up.
"Give me information about Lee and this person named Gaara." Sasuke spoke up,
'If what I heard is true, then this Gaara person will be troublesome for us.' Sasuke thought, he became weary and increasingly doubtful that the rumors about a red-haired sand demon taking part in the Chunin Exams were real after hearing them, he disregarded it as blasphemy, but then after seeing Gaara he started acknowledging the fact that the rumors may be true, but it doesn't matter because he will eventually find out.
On the other hand, Naruto gave Sasuke a severe scowl, which the Uchiha just ignored it. Naruto then turned to face Gaara, who glanced back at him indifferently. Did he even care that someone might have information about him?
Upon hearing the request, Kabuto grinned and withdrew a card. After slowly pulsing chakra through it, the card displayed a photo of Lee along with some information about him.
(𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨'𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐳 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐒𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝.)
After revealing Lee's info, Kabuto took out another card and pulsed some chakra in it, revealing gaara's information next.
(𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐚𝐲!)
When Kabuto read out the information about Lee, they were shocked to learn that Lee was incapable of doing any form of genjutsu or ninjutsu at all. A ninja? That wasn't able to employ Genjutsu and Ninjutsu? That is incredibly unexpected. They didn't think it was conceivable until recently. After all, the majority of people can only conduct genjutsu, and others can only do Ninjutsu but mostly can do both, and those who can't probably have doujutsu as well. So, the idea of not being able to perform any genjutsu or Ninjutsu at all, was completely new to them. No wonder Lee didn't use any ninjutsu nor any genjutsu in his fight earlier with sasuke.
Then, they continued on to Gaara, where Naruto looked at him again to see if the sand manipulator would have any reaction. To his surprise-though it shouldn't come as a surprise given that it's Gaara-Gaara didn't react at all, and Naruto started to perspire a little. It seems like he doesn't really care whether someone discloses any of his information.
After that, Naruto and the others listened carefully as Kabuto gave some background information regarding Gaara. However, what Kabuto revealed next had everyone, including Kabuto himself, gasp in shock.
"-he went on 3 A-rank missions and.... He... He finished them all without a scratch!" Kabuto says, slightly raising his voice, even he didn't expect this kind of information about Gaara, or did he?
"W-What!? How is that even possible!?" Kiba shouted, he didn't believe a damn anything about that information, that was just absurd! No one can just casually do A-rank missions and finishes them without a scratch! And Gaara's a genin for that matter! Just like him! So how in the elemental nations can this guy do such a thing?
'Eh!? This guy did 3 A-rank missions without a scratch! He must be really strong!' Naruko thought, If any of them ever engaged in combat with this person, it looks like things may go messy. Despite having received training from the fourth hokage, she lacked strength in her physical qualities. However, her intellect, quick thinking, agility, flexibility, and armament of various jutsu's and the rasengan can make her rather formidable. Even still, she was aware of her limitations and lacked the confidence to confront someone so formidable in such a manner. Adding to the fact that this Gaara person looks so edgy and scary, but unlike sasuke who acts so mighty and has a huge ego, this person didn't even give a damn that Kabuto basically told them just how strong he is.
'These competitors seem so powerful, but I will not let that stop me!' Ino thought, determined to fight and show Sakura just how strong she is. She hadn't really trained that much over the past few months but she can still safely say that she could handle herself.
'Interesting' Neji thought, if what kabuto said was true, then he'll have a worthy opponent to face soon. But no matter how strong this Gaara person might be, fate will always be at his side and he'll be the one to come out triumphant.
"This is propably just a lie, there's no way that information is true, are you sure you aren't making this up?" Kiba says, Kabuto only laughed a little before adjusting his glasses once more and responded,
"Nope, this is all true, believe it or not." Kabuto says,
"Tch! I refuse to believe such a thing." Kiba snickered, there was no way this is true, right?
"Hey, you dare doubt my brother!?" Kankuro spoke up,
"Shut it kankuro, just let him believe what he wants to believe." Temari says, kankuro hesitated for a moment before calming down.
"Oook, now that things seemed to have calmed down, anyone else wanna give this a go?" Kabuto says,
A few moments has passed without anyone saying anything, they all seemed to be in thought, maybe gaara's information had hit them harder than he thought.
"Well, if no one else wants to give it a go, then I guess I'll put these away then-"
"WAIT!!"
...
"Huh?"
"Give me the information about Sasuke Uchiha and Naruko Uzumaki!" Lee shouted out, if Sasuke has the advantage of having information about him then he'll have information about him and his teammate.
'Haaaahh!? What about meee!?' Naruto mentally screamed, of all the people he could have asked, it's always have to be Sasuke, but he could've atleast asked about his information! Why choose Naruko!?
"𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭." Kurama says.
'The deadlast, wow, thanks for reminding me kurama' Naruto deadpanned.
"𝐎𝐡 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐫 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐨." Kurama says in a mockish tone that irked Naruto a little.
'Shut up Kurama! It's weird hearing you talk like that.' Naruto mentally said, he then heard Kurama laugh lowly, He could only imagine him smirking victoriously.
"-and that's about it for Naruko Uzumaki." Kabuto finished.
'Eh? I missed the whole thing!' Naruto thought,
"𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲."
'Phew, thanks kurama.'
Naruto sighed, then turned to face his side and grinned a little. It's unfortunate, but he will miss his friends a lot if he leaves. He and Kurama had made the decision to stage his death; they simply needed to figure out how to pull it off. Alternatively, they could have waited for an exam-related catastrophe to strike. However, the likelihood of it happening is really low, right? Naruto had suggested that he would call forth a large number of shadow clones and henge them into thieves or missing ninjas. In order to attract everyone's attention, he would need to call forth at least 500 of them, after which he would swiftly slip away and disappear while all of this was going on.
It would make sense for him to perish in that way—dying during the clone attack—but it would be challenging to make a clone of himself that would appear lifeless—blood and everything. They would simply vanish if he stabs them with kunai, and where is he going to get the blood from? Shadow clones don't bleed. Maybe he ought to attempt to do the blood clone that Kurama had previously mentioned.
He should also get a map for himself so he knows where he's going, he can't just go and wander around aimlessly and hope that he happens to stumble into Takigakure by accident. Nope, Nuh uh, he will definitely need a map.
"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐩 𝐤𝐢𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫? 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲." Kurama says.
Well, guess he didn't need a map after all; now he just had to get a dead looking clone of himself. He'll address that later on. He needs to put his strength to the test in his exam right now. Takigakure will have wait for him a little while, while he can have some fun, and eventually, very soon, he will be able to leave this place and live in peace.
"ALL RIGHT YOU MAGGOTS!! SHUT THE FUCK UP CUZ' THE CHUNIN EXAMS WILL FINALLY BEGIN!!!!!" A loud voice boomed all over the room, silencing everyone all at once.
"Huh.. So I guess it's starting now." Naruto mumbled to himself, hearing a grunt behind him, Naruto turned around only to find Kabuto kneeling on the floor, he seemed hurt while sakura was beside him, trying her best to ease his pain.
"Huh? Kabuto are you ok? What happened?" Naruto asked. He just turned away for a few seconds to talk to Kurama and look at what happens.
"Some sound ninja attacked Kabuto for some reason, it's a good thing he wasn't injured badly though." Kiba says, crossing his arms.
"All right!! I presume everyone's here?, then you're first exam is a written test so plea-"
Blurring everything out, Naruto chose to ignore the Proctor and keep thinking about his future in Takigakure, the lovely sounds of animals and birds scuttling through the woods, the smell of fresh wood and the forest, his incredible treehouse perched high in the trees, and a soothing swing on the tallest branch of the tree, swinging while a cool breeze caresses his golden locks. For some reason, this thought made him feel drowsy.
In his mind, he could picture himself living in takigakure, enjoying all the delectable food he would be able to eat, and being welcomed not because he's the son of the fourth hokage, but as Naruto himself. He hated how the villagers would only be kind to him because he was the son of the fourth. He wanted them to embrace him as a member of Konoha like everyone else. But he didn't care anymore about those kind of things because he was leaving soon and he didn't want to worry about things like that.
Anyways, ahem. The serene ambiance of the woodland, the faint oscillation of the trees, and the pink-haired Banshee yelling at him... Wait... Huh?
"-Naruto!!"
"Gah-!! What!? An enemy? Where!?" Naruto shouted, having come back to reality, he quickly paced around, only to realized that most of the competitors had left already.
"Hey, uhh, where did everyone go?" Naruto asked.
Sakura sighed before answering. "Maybe you should start zoning out once you finish the written exam or something, come on, let's go." Sakura says as she started walking out of the room, Naruto followed closely behind, he should really pay more attention sometimes.
But goddamn, just thinking about his relaxing life in takigakure is already making him sleepy.
He'll have it soon enough, right?
=
𝐀𝐍: 𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎! 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐦... 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤! 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐭! 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐲, 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐚𝐠𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐲... 😐, 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭? 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬.
𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫.
𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐍𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬.
𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟓,𝟕𝟏𝟒 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬.