"Ok admittedly the name Pain suits that profession. But come on don't you want to do anything else.
I work in the Torture and Interrogation Department, a nice cushy job and a great place to work out any anger issues you might have." Anko replied, far too cheerfully considering the topic of conversation.
"Plus the name Pain… it would be perfect for a Shinobi with that job!"
...
Naruto shrugged at that, a slight smile once again on his face. "I used to be involved with torture and interrogation during the civil war. But I kind of graduated from that line of work. I wanted something more exciting and field based."
"To each there own." Anko replied before a sudden thought popped into her head. "Wait if you were doing that during the Kiri Civil war how old are you?" She asked trying to make sense of what she was hearing.
"Fourteen." Naruto replied in amusement.
"So that would mean…" Anko began her brow furrowed as she looked at the young Jounin beside her, who despite being five years her junior was already a full Jounin and an internationally recognised S-rank Shinobi. The overachieving brat.
"That I was doing your job when I was ten years old." Naruto asked innocently.
"You are a bit of a shit has anyone ever told you that?" Anko replied as she let out a loud laugh. Prodigies, they always were a right pain in the arse.
She herself had been considered a prodigy in her youth, unfortunately though her apprenticeship under Orochimaru had somewhat ruined her career progression.
Even now, years after Kushina Uzumaki had removed the Cursed Seal Orochimaru gave her, she was still looked at with suspicion by a couple of members of the Shinobi Council and by the majority of Civilian Council.
"They have, but more often than not they died a few seconds later." Naruto replied in amusement.
"Oh that's hot." Anko replied with a grin, "You really know how to make a girl wet."
"And you know how to make a conversation awkward…" Naruto replied dryly as they entered the arena that the Chunin hopefuls, the Jounin Sensei's and the Hokage and his guards were waiting in.
Anko let out a loud laugh at that, ruffling his hair as she did so before moving off, heading for where the Hokage was stood, on a balcony looking over arena. It appears she was going to report in on what they had found on their pointless four day search in the Forest of Death.
Naruto rolled his eyes as he ruffled his hair, knowing as he did that Anko had done so to get a reaction out of him. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction, instead he decided to wander over to where the other Jounin Sensei's were waiting. Sticking his hands in the pockets of his flak jacket as he did so.
Glancing over the assembled Jounin, all of whom were hanging around up in the stands which surrounded the arena, and then down at the arena itself where the Chunin hopefuls were waiting. Naruto began to take account of who had passed the second stage of the exam.
From a first glance he could see Suigetsu, Hodan and Chojuro all waiting for the Hokage to speak, none of them looking as if they had just spent the last five days in a deadly forest.
Naruto smiled faintly at this, glad that those three were living up to their side of the mission. All they needed to do now was for at least one of them to make it to the finals so Mei would have a legitimate reason for coming to Konoha with her elite guard.
Considering the fact that two of them were high Chunin level and Hodan was low Jounin level, Naruto was of the opinion that they would be fine. If they did fail, well Naruto would be very embarrassed for them, and then would likely kick their arses for fucking up the mission.
Looking away from his team, Naruto instead noticed the red haired Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi and his two siblings in the arena below, standing just off to the side and away from the Konoha, Kiri and Oto Shinobi.
So apparently the team made up of the Kazekage's children had made it through the Forest of Death, no surprise there. Like with Naruto's team, only one member of the team needed to make it through to the finals, and unless they were very unlucky with the matchups they would be fine.
Especially considering the fact they had a mentally unstable Jinchuuriki on their side.
Standing beside the Suna team Naruto could also see a team of unfamiliar Shinobi. Though judging by the music note that was displayed on their forehead protectors he could only assume that this was the Otogakure team.
It only took a glance for Naruto to see that they were nothing special. Considering the competition they might struggle to get even one of their members through to the finals.
Which begged the question on what the hell Orochimaru was doing? The invasion plan was his idea, one would assume that he would have sent strong enough Shinobi to the exams to ensure that at least one member of his 'Village' made it to the finals.
Looking away from the Oto team, Naruto instead looked at the Konoha teams, vaguely recognizing many members of the teams from his youth. He could see his old childhood friends, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi, standing alongside that annoying shrew Ino Yamanaka.
He also recognised the Hyuuga heiress, the Aburame heir and the Inuzuka heir, he may not have known them personally but he did recognise them from social gatherings he had been dragged to as a child.
Other than that there was also another Konoha team, this one made up of an unfamiliar male Hyuuga, a pretty girl with her brown hair in buns and what could only be Maito Guy's mini-me, from just looking at the boy Naruto guessed that this was Guy's team. Those poor kids, they never stood a chance.
Overall it looked like Konoha had brought out the cream of the crop, the majority of its genin in the exam were Clan Heirs, genin who had likely been trained from a very young age in their Clan's Shinobi Arts, just like Naruto's sisters were. And like Naruto was not… not that he was still bitter about that…
Speaking of his sisters, Naruto could also see Team Seven patiently waiting for the Hokage to speak alongside the other Konoha genin.
Both Erza and Mito now looked fully recovered, no doubt due to their naturally high stamina and healing abilities, courtesy of their Uzumaki heritage and Jinchuuriki status.
Plus whatever Kushina did to get rid of that seal Orochimaru put on Erza. Sasuke though, Sasuke didn't look good. His skin had a slight grayish tinge to it, and he had large bags under his eyes. By the looks of it he wasn't reacting well to Naruto's removal of the Cursed Seal.
Shrugging that thought off Naruto continued on until he was stood with the other Jounin, getting a slight nod from Asuma as he did so.
"So looks like all your teams made it through." Naruto said, deciding to be diplomatic. "Congratulations I guess…"
Asuma nodded amicably at that, a faint smile on his face as he heard Pain's awkward greeting. "Yeah, but it's been decided to hold some preliminaries to whittle down the competition a bit. Not sure how well my team will do considering the competition they'll be facing."
"You should have more faith in your team Asuma." Kurenai Yuhi said from where she was standing beside him, a look of disapproval in her crimson red eyes, before she turned to look at Naruto. A hesitant expression on her face as if she was not really sure what to say to him.
Luckily she didn't have to as the trio were soon joined, by the grinning Guy.
"Yosh, Kurenai is right as long as they go in with the right attitude and their hearts full of YOUTH they are bound to succeed!" Gai said loudly as he decided to pitch in on the conversation, a large grin on his face as he gave Asuma a thumbs up.
"The matchups are probably important too." Naruto said dryly as he came to stand next to them, somewhat surprised by the lack of hostilities he was facing. Even Guy wasn't glaring at him.
"If you go up against Shinobi like that Gaara boy, or the Hokage's daughters, well you will be in for a tough fight."
"True." Asuma said with a nod of his head, knowing that not a single member of his team would win if they were to face off against one of the three Jinchuuriki.
"Speaking of the Hokage's daughters, I heard what you did in the Forest of Death."
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