Ever since that talk with Karin, Sakura had only two things on her mind. First… why the heck she had such a gossipy girl as her best friend. And second, perhaps the said gossipy girl wasn't that wrong when she said Naruto deserved better.
She indeed acted almost exactly toward him like how Sasuke acted toward her.
This did two things. First, it finally averted her mind from her stupid brother's big fat—
"NO…. no no no… don't go there again…" She practically shook her head to toss even the words coming into her mind.
And the second thing it did was make her realize that she indeed had to talk with her idiot teammate.
And thus, here she was. Trying to find where the blond was. Since Team 7 was prohibited from taking any missions as punishment, they only met during training time, and even then, they didn't spend a lot of time together since their time training teamwork exercises was long past.
They were already developing their own styles and specialities by now. Meaning very sparingly did they join training. That too only for sparring.
As she went on her way, she noticed that today, the village seemed to be a bit more crowded.
A lot of new faces she saw on the streets, which was strange on its own; however, they weren't even just civilians.
There were shinobi as well from other nations moving through the streets, headbands and foreign symbols on open display.
A bit of nervousness sprang inside her upon seeing so many shinobi from outside the village.
She ignored the matter for the time being and continued her search until she finally found the blond knucklehead she was looking for.
However, he wasn't alone. He was talking with some outsiders who seemed to have caught a kid.
'What did this idiot do now…?'
"Naruto-Onii San…" Konohamaru shouted, dangling off of Kankuro's outstretched hand like a cut-off kite.
It was surprising how something never changed no matter how much those pretty little butterfly wings flapped.
In this world also, Naruto ended up becoming a big brother to Konohamaru, had his gang pestering him to play ninja, and lastly ended up bumping with Kankuro, and the rest was history.
"OI, let Konohamaru go." Naruto shouted. If earlier he was annoyed by the strangers acting haughty in his village, then now he was really getting angry. Beside him, both Moegi and Udon worried for their friend.
"Kankuro, let the brat go. We don't have time for this." said the girl beside him, his sister, Temari. They were the Sand siblings.
"Oh come on, Temari, I'll be done in a second." Kankuro smirked, taunting both Naruto and Konohamaru until Naruto couldn't take it anymore.
"You asked for it." Naruto shouted and took out a kunai; at the same motion, he hurled it right at Kankuro, who clearly saw the trajectory of the kunai and promptly shifted his head to dodge.
Bang…
Unfortunately for him, the moment the kunai was close to him, it exploded in smoke, and coming out of the smoke was another Naruto. Leg extended, it directly connected with Kankuro's head, sending the makeup puppeteer back with a rather disrespectful stomp mark on his face.
Everything happened so fast that Kankuro couldn't react, and even Temari was caught off guard until instincts kicked in and she was already taking off her fan. Though she had to stop midway when she found herself at the edge of a kunai held by a pink-haired girl.
It was Sakura, who saw everything from further away, and before anyone could notice it, closed the gap and had Temari in her grasp.
"It's not a very wise idea to threaten a Kage's grandson whose village you're in, you know." Sakura's voice came out casual, but the cold eyes glaring right back at Temari completely froze her.
"Sakura-Chan…" Naruto's eyes lit up.
Kankuro by now was already getting back to his feet, really angry now. "You little—" He gritted his teeth and partly took out the big bundle he was carrying on his back, namely his puppet.
"Stop…" And that's when they all heard the voice.
"Don't make a bigger fool of yourself, Kankuro. Stand back." Came a raspy, dead voice from a red-haired kid behind him. It was Gaara, with the sand guard on him.
"But Gaara…" Kankuro snapped.
However, one murderous look from his little brother, who also happened to be a first-rate killing machine with a fucking bijuu inside him, had him shut up completely.
"Huh… who are you now ?" Naruto squinted his eyes.
Gaara just ignored the blond; his eyes went to the raven-haired boy who suddenly appeared beside him.
It was Sasuke alright. And the Sharingan was fixed on Gaara the whole time.
"What are you Suna shinobi doing here in Konoha ?" he asked, eyes not leaving Gaara for a second.
Gaara didn't answer, because before he could do that, someone spoke from beside them.
"Ah, seems like we found some familiar faces, eh Haku." came a rambunctious voice of a white-haired boy with shark-like teeth.
"You…!" Naruto's eyes went wide upon seeing the familiar faces.
"W-why are you guys here…" Even Sakura looked stunned.
"Relax, we're not here to fight this time around." said the pretty girl beside the white-haired boy. And behind him stood another white-haired boy, but this one looked a tad bit bigger.
They were the team from Mist.
Haku, Suigetsu, and Kimimaro.
A three-way standoff between their teams formed, until Suigetsu finally broke the silence.
"Hmm, where is that pink-haired monster…" He looked around, almost too cautiously, the way he was looking.
"Pink-haired monster." Sakura's eyebrow twitched. She understood who the boy was referring to, but was that the only way he could address her brother.
What had the pink-haired done to him ?
"I'm Gaara of the Sand. These here are my siblings. Temari and Kankuro. What is your name ?" Gaara pretty much ignored the white-haired fool. Eyes still focused on both Naruto and Sasuke, though there was a lingering feeling that the other white-haired boy wearing a Kiri forehead protector was also strong.
"Name's Uzumaki Naruto… I'm gonna be the next Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, Dattebayo. You better remember that." Naruto was the first one to shout his dream out.
A long pause after the abrupt declaration ensued until Sasuke spoke next. "Uchiha Sasuke."
"Haruno Sakura."
"Oh, we doing names, cool. I'm—"
"I'm not interested." Gaara ignored Suigetsu and waved his siblings to follow.
"Oi… you asked for the name, you bastard. Don't go like that, listen to my name."
"Leave it, Suigetsu, you're embarrassing yourself."
"You too, Haku…"
"Sigh… it's been a long time." Kimimaro ignored the chaos and looked back toward the Konoha team.
"Last time we failed. But it won't happen the next time we face each other." Kimimaro said with full confidence.
"We'll see." Sasuke added, ready to leave as well.
"Eh… can someone tell me what's happening ? Why are those Mist guys here ?" Naruto asked, still clueless.
Sakura sighed harder. "Just come on, I'll tell you later." She dragged him off.
---<>---
Fun fact, the training grounds in Konoha are assigned with each number of the team. At least until there are some specific conditions.
Meaning a meeting of Team 11 would be happening in Training Ground 11, and that was what took place. The training ground buzzed with the distant noise of other teams (the grounds were pretty close to each other).
But Izumi and the others promptly ignored the occasional shouting they could hear from other grounds and focused on their own team. God, she needed to do that, seeing her performance until now.
'This teaching thing doesn't suit me that well, no wonder Todo turned out just a menace to society…' she grumbled.
She stood at the center of Team 11 with her arms crossed and a look that already promised trouble.
"Alright," she said, clearing her throat far too seriously for what she was about to announce. "Listen up."
Sukuna leaned against a tree, masked eyes half-lidded. Kiyomi sat on a rock, a book in her hand, something about various species of insects found in the world. Lastly, Karin was already fidgeting, sensing Izumi's tone like an incoming distress call, ready to sweep her into another troublesome mission like last time.
She hadn't even recovered from the last one, constantly questioning whether what she saw was real or what she dreamed was.
There was no way a corpse could come back to life, right !
"The Chunin Exams are coming up," Izumi continued. "Written tests. Survival stages. One-on-one fights. All the political nonsense."
"Eh…" Both Kiyomi and Karin blinked, for the first time Kiyomi looking up from her book.
"And why are you telling us that ?"
"Cause they need cute little cheerleaders, and I'm certain you three will make an excellent addition to keep the participants motivated," Izumi said with so much conviction that Sukuna even saw Karin, for a second, buy that shit.
"I refuse, I'm not that confident about my charms. Not to mention cheerleaders are not supposed to have muscles. You can try Sasuke, though. He got better chances…"
Kiyomi shot him a glare, but for a second, the image of her brother in a cheerleader costume flashed in her mind, and now it was stuck there.
'He totally could do it, though.' She murmured with amusement.
Karin blinked. "What are cheerleaders?"
"A way to drag audience attention just in case the main dish fails." Sukuna remarked.
"Hahaha… yeah, in a way." Izumi grinned wider.
"Anyways, that was the short version," Izumi replied. "Long version includes cheating, betrayal, and at least one team doing something incredibly stupid while others try to kill each other, and guess what. It's legal." Izumi told that last line like it was a divine revelation.
Sukuna snorted. "Since when killing was illegal? As long as you're not caught, everything is legal."
Kiyomi shot him a look. "Oh, you'll know all about it, don't you."
Karin felt she was lagging behind these three. How come she sometimes didn't understand anything they talked about ?
"Anyways, this is the promotion exam. Right !"
"Yes," Izumi said. "And before I submit our names, I need to ask. This isn't mandatory. If any of you don't want to participate, say so now." She said, while internally wondering how cool it would have been if back then jujutsu sorcerer rules were also something similar.
It took her pretty penny to get acknowledgement from first-grade sorcerers back then to advance higher.
Karin raised her hand immediately. "Question."
Izumi sighed. "Yes, Karin."
"Is this the exam where people almost die?"
"NO…. of course not. This is the exam where people mostly die."
"How's that any better ?" Karin looked flabbergasted.
Izumi shrugged. "I never said it gets better, did I ?"
"And the one where people show off weird techniques they were hiding?" Sukuna added in.
"Also yes."
Sukuna nodded firmly. "I'm in."
Izumi stared. "Well, I expected that much…"
"Are we going to fight enemies in this. Like real enemies ?" Kiyomi asked suddenly.
"Yes, as much as I know, there will be a lot of fighting." Izumi nodded in agreement.
"Then I want to take it." Kiyomi said with clear determination on her face.
"Oh, you certain ?"
"Yeah… I wanna take part in it. Fight my way through. I wanna test what I have learned so far."
"Very well…" Izumi nodded. Certainly, she knew the girl was seeking strength more than ever now. Especially recently. Gods knew what this pink-haired boy was filling her head with.
Izumi glanced at Karin. "And you?"
Karin grinned. "Of course, I wanna be a Chunin too, Dattebane."
xXx
A/N : Finally its beginning. The Chunin exams. Ah I love and hate this arc both equally. Anyways... lets make sure it end with a bang.
Hope you guys know what to do at this point with those pretty little stones you have have lying around right...
Send them over. I seriously gonna need them to fight my way through the forest of death. If not anything, I might use them to lit up a fire.
Please Consider Donating Power Stones if you like the Chapter.
First Bonus Chapter - 250 Power Stones
Second Bonus Chapter - 500 Power Stones
Third Bonus Chapter - 1000 Power Stones
And keep doubling the power stone for more. (Why ? Cause I fingers Hurts)
"Thank you Very Much for All Your Support"
If you want to read up to 20+ Chapters in advance, check my Patreon on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond