Sakura sighed. "Why does that person ask us to meet him and then make us wait?! What about the feelings of a young girl who overslept and didn't have time to blow dry her hair!"
"Morning people," greeted Kakashi. "Today I got lost on the road of life."
"Ne, ne, Kakashi, come late again and those books are gone," said Naruto, fake smiling.
Kakashi gulped. "Mah, mah, Naru-chan, don't be too sadistic. Anko, Ibiki and Zabuza have been rubbing you up the wrong way.
Anyway, this is sudden, but I've nominated you guys for the chunin selection exam. Here are your applications. Whether to take the exam is up to each of you. Sign those papers and turn them in at room 301 by 4 pm tomorrow. That is all."
With that, Kakashi flickered away.
"Why is Kakashi lying? The chunin exam is a team commitment. All of have to sign up to be eligible for the test" thought Naruto. "Is it so Sakura can participate in the exam on her own free will and not for Sasuke's or my sake?"
Sakura was just about to walk off but Naruto ran up to her to stop her.
"Ne, ne, Sakura, you don't want to take the exam, do you?" said Naruto.
"Wh-wha? Naruto, what are you talking about? It's just that...yeah...you're right," admitted Sakura depressingly.
"It's fine, Sakura. But here's the thing: even though Sasuke doesn't speak or express his feelings much, I think he would appreciate it if he participated in the chunin exam with his teammates.
Don't you think so too? Don't do this for Sasuke, do it for yourself. You have a lot of potential to become a great kunoichi. Just have to let go of your fangirl tendencies."
Naruto flickered away and Sakura was left to think about his words.
The next day, Sakura decided to take part in the chunin exams along with Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto's words made her think. Maybe she really could be worth something.
The three of them were going together to room 301 when they sensed a genjutsu.
"There's a genjutsu to throw us off," warned Naruto.
"Yeah, it's to disguise the room number," added in Sakura.
"Un, whatever, let's go. This is to eliminate the weaklings," grunted Sasuke.
Team 7 quietly went up the stairs without making a commotion, until Naruto saw someone getting kicked in the stomach. He stopped.
"Hmmm...it's Gai's students and Izumo and Kotetsu," mused Naruto. "This will be fun."
"Naruto, let's go," hissed Sakura urgently.
"Let's stay for a moment. I'm sure that even Sasuke would want to watch."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Listen, this is our kindness. The chunin exam isn't easy...We've failed it three times. Those that take this exam and end up quitting as shinobis, those that die during the exam, we've seen it all.
Chunins often become captains of military teams. Failures and deaths...that's all the captain's responsibility. Yet, kids like you think you can pass? We're just thinning out those that will fail anyway. What's wrong with that?"
"I agree," said Sasuke coolly, "but you are pathetic."
Naruto eye-rolled. "No time for degrading people, let's go. Kotetsu, Izumo, you guys can't fool anyone."
The two supposed genins paled and said nothing.
Team 7 was about to walk away but they were stopped by the genin in the green spandex.
"My name is Rock Lee and yours is Sakura...Let's go out! I'll protect you till I die!"
"No way," rejected Sakura, outwardly cringing, "You're lame!"
Lee was about to cry but his teammate interjected.
"Hey, you...What's your name?" asked a genin with pupilless eyes and long hair.
"When you want to learn someone's name, you should give yours first," said Sasuke coolly.
"You're a rookie, right? How old are you?" he persisted.
"I don't have to answer you," stated Sasuke.
"Ne, ne, come on," said Naruto, eye-rolling. "Stop wasting time."
Sasuke gritted his teeth but didn't say anything.
"Come on," exclaimed Sakura excitedly and they headed upstairs while the genins that still hadn't detected the genjutsu stared weirdly at them.
Lee stood on the spot.
"Come on, Lee, what are you doing?" asked his teammate with the two buns.
"You guys go ahead. There's something I'd like to test," replied Lee.
His teammates sighed as they watched him catching up to Team 7.
"Hey, the guy with the dark eyes, will you fight me right here?"
"A fight right now?" asked Sasuke.
"Yes," said Lee. "My name is Rock Lee. when you want to learn a person's name, you introduce yourself first, right? Uchiha Sasuke..."
"Heh, so you know."
"I want to fight you. I want to test my techniques against the offspring of the genius shinobi clan," he said, winking at Sakura.
"Ewwwww!" she screeched. "Those lower eyelashes are ewwww! The hairstyle is lame...and those thick eyebrows..."
"Mua, you are an angel!" said Lee, blushing, blowing a kiss at Sakura.
"Kyaaaaa!" screamed Sakura as she dodged Lee's kiss. "Don't throw weird things! I barely escaped with my life."
"You don't have to be that mean," pouted Lee.
Naruto deadpanned at the scene playing out before him.
"Challenging me knowing my name, frankly you're a fool. You're about to learn what Uchiha name means, thick brows," said Sasuke cockily.
"Please," smirked Lee, holding a palm out. "I'll say this beforehand. You guys cannot defeat me because...right now I am the strongest leaf genin."
"Sounds fun, I'll do it," accepted Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun, don't! We only have 30 minutes to the meeting," said Sakura anxiously.
"She's right, Sasuke. What's the point of getting riled up and wasting your energy on this pointless fight that doesn't even count towards this exam? Besides, you can't beat him, he doesn't even use ninjutsu," added Naruto.
Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise along with Lee's. "What? Only taijutsu? And he thinks he can beat me without any chakra. I'll show him what it means to be a true shinobi,' thought Sasuke.
"How does he know about my abilities?!" thought Lee.
"Don't worry, Naruto. Whatever tricks he uses, I can beat him. I'll be done in five minutes."
"Sasuke-kun!" yelled Sakura worriedly. "Please don't. Please."
Her cries were to no avail. The fight began.
Lee and Sasuke fought for a few minutes. Sasuke threw a punch which was easily blocked by Lee who punched him in the stomach. Sasuke spluttered and crashed onto the ground.
Sasuke quickly regained his stance. He charged at Lee again and started throwing blows. Sasuke had the disadvantage to the point where he even activated his Sharingan.
Lee roundhouse kicked Sasuke but before he could land on the ground, Lee kicked him up into the air.
"Such speed," thought Sasuke. "So this is what it means to be a taijutsu master."
"Your Sharingan may be able to detect my pattern but you cannot surpass my speed."
"Sorry, Gai-sensei. I might have to use the technique," thought Lee.
"Shadow of the Dancing Leaf!"
Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. When did Lee get behind him? How could Lee get behind him?
Before Lee could harm Sasuke even more, he was intercepted by Naruto
"Wh-wha?" said Lee.
"Apologies," said Naruto, "but this is a complete waste of time."
Suddenly, a tortoise appeared in a puff of smoke. "That's enough, Lee," it grunted.
Naruto let go of Lee and Sasuke, smiling. "Gai, good to see you again, been busy so I haven't come down to the shack."
"Naru-chan! How youthful of you to register yourself in the blooming chunin exams! Anyway, how's Kakashi going?"
"You know Kakashi?" asked Sasuke.
"Hehe, people refer to us as 'Eternal Rivals' 50 wins, 49 losses, I'm stronger than Kakashi."
Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened in surprise while Naruto deadpanned.
"Stop lying, Gai, you know it's not true."
"Ouch, Naruto! So cold just like Kakashi. Can't you two be more like the youthful spring breeze? Anyway, you guys and Lee should head over to room 301. Good luck my youthful comrade Lee, later."
Gai flickered away while Lee was rewrapping his bandages.
"Sasuke-kun, I'll say one more thing. The truth is, I came here to test my abilities. I lied before. The strongest genin is on my team. I've entered this to defeat him...and you're also one of my targets. Good luck."
Lee walked off. It was only Team 7 in the room now.
"You saw his hand, didn't you, Sasuke. He must have trained harder than you every single day. What he says might be true: hard work beats a genius."
"Pft, this chunin exam is getting fun. Let's go!"
As they walked to room 301, they met Kakashi at the doorway.
"Oh...so Sakura came too..." drawled Kakashi. "Now we can properly take the exam.
"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.
"The truth is that this test can only be taken by teams if three."
"Huh? But you said taking the test was an individual choice. You lied to us?"
"If I told the truth, you would have been pressured to take the test for the sake of Naruto and Sasuke but not yourself but you came here on your own will. I'm proud of you guys. Now go!"
Team 7 grinned and entered the room.
Sakura was overwhelmed by the number of participants. "What numbers," she thought. "They're all taking the exam? They all look so strong..."
But her train of thought was interrupted when Ino latched herself onto Sasuke and shouted, "Sasuke-kun! You're late! I haven't seen you for a while so I have been waiting in excitement."
"Get away from Sasuke-kun, Ino Pig!" screeched Sakura.
"Why if it isn't Sakura...Big ugly forehead as always," said Ino.
"What did you just say?!" shrieked Sakura furiously.
"Are you guys taking the stupid test too? Don't die," drawled Shikamaru. "Man, this sucks."
"Yahoo! Found you!" said Kiba, smirking, "Well, well, everyone is assembled."
"H-hello..." greeted Hinata shyly.
"Geez...you guys too?" said Shikamaru lazily.
"I see...All nine of this year's rookie genin are taking the exam. I wonder how far we will get, eh Sasuke-kun?" mused Kiba.
"Pft, you seem confident, Kiba," smirked Sasuke.
"We did a lot of training, we won't lose to you," boasted Kiba.
"Hey, you guys, you should be quieter," scolded a voice from behind."You guys are rookies just out of the academy, right? Screaming like schoolgirls, geez. This isn't a picnic."
"Who do you think you are," questioned Ino.
"I'm Kabuto. Take a look behind you. You see all those genins? Everyone is nervous about the exam so quieten down before you cause a scene. Well, I can't blame you. You're clueless rookies. You remind me of how I used to be."
"Kabuto-san, so is this your second time?" asked Sakura.
"Nope, it's my seventh time. The exam is held twice a year so this is my fourth year."
"Wow, so you know a lot about this exam, impressive," said Sakura.
"That's right. Hehe, I'll share some info with you cute rookies with these nin-info cards. They are cards which have information burned onto them with chakra. I have four years worth of info, and over 200 cards. They look blank but you can open them with chakra."
"Do you have cards with info on individuals?" asked Sasuke.
"Hehe, there are some guys you're worried about? Of course, the info on all of these exams participants isn't perfect but I do have it. Even of you guys. Say something about these guys and I'll take a look."
"Gaara of the Hidden Sand, Rock Lee from leaf and...Uzumaki Naruto."
"Oh, you know their names, should be easy then," whined Kabuto slightly while the rest of the rookies were confused to why Sasuke wanted to interrogate his teammate.
"Show me," demanded Sasuke.
Kabuto proceeded to read them aloud: "First, Rock Lee. he's a year older than you guys. Mission history: D-rank: 20 completed and C-rank: 12 completed.
His sensei is Gai. His taijutsu has greatly improved in the last year, the rest is nothing impressive.
Last year he gained attention as a talented new genin but he did not participate in the exam. Like you guys, this is his first time. On his team are Hyuga Neji and TenTen.
Next is Gaara of the Desert. Mission history: C-rank: 8 completed and B-rank: 1 completed. Wow, a B-rank mission as a genin...
Since he's a newcomer from a foreign country, I don't have much info but it seems he returned from all of his mission without even a scratch. Quite impressive.
Okay, last but not least, Uzumaki Naruto—"
Before Kabuto could read out the info card, Naruto flicked it out of his hands and burnt it with a small fire jutsu.
"Wha-what?" said Kabuto, confused.
Naruto smirked. "Sorry, but I don't like having my private information revealed, even though they are my teammates."
In Naruto's mindscape, Kurama began to stir from his sleep. "Watch out for him Kit, it's unnatural to have all this intel," warned Kurama.
"I know," answered back Naruto.
"Okay...Anyway, the Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, Sound, many outstanding genins from the various hidden villages are here to take the exam," continued Kabuto, slightly fazed.
"Well, the Hidden Sound is a small village just created last year so there isn't much info on it but the rest of the Hidden Villages are filled with talented youngsters."
"M-makes you lose your confidence..." stuttered Hinata.
"Hehe, the Hidden Sound is a minor village? Is that so?" chuckled a shinobi.
"Let's play with them a little bit..."
"Hehe, good idea, calling us leftovers. Let's help him add to his data that sound shinobi can be quite vicious."
Just before the guy with the spiky hair was about to attack Kabuto, Naruto quickly pulled him into a headlock, placing a senbon in his neck.
"The exam hasn't even started but you're being a nuisance? Do you want me to put you in a temporary death?" said Naruto emotionlessly, tightening his headlock.
"N-no, let go!" he said angrily, half suffocating.
Naruto released his headlock. Everyone in the room was thinking of the same thing as they watched Naruto pull out a book from his pocket and start reading it.
"Who was this kid?"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hey reader-chans! The long-awaited Chunin Arc had arrived! Yayayay! Thank for all the reads so far and all the support for my first fanfic.
There's going to be a double update today, so yayayay again! I hoped you liked the chapter! Admiration for Naruto's badass personality though.
Naruto is going to shine big time in the next few chapters!