The next day, team 7 met up at their training ground.
Naruto was the first to speak when Kakashi arrived.
"Sensei, there's other shinobi in our village! Is the Chunin exam here?"
Kakashi chuckled and replied, "Indeed, Naruto. I've decided to nominate you all for it. I think you can handle it. You'll simply head there tomorrow morning if you want to go."
Naruto nodded and excitedly turned to his two teammates. They both nodded in agreement for the unspoken question. Naruto grinned and took the tickets out of his sensei's grasp before the team began to train.
Naruto had a group of clones constantly training with chakra control, realizing he lost his ability if he didn't keep it at the level he'd already had. He practiced using the claws he'd stolen from the Demon Brothers as he had been during the last week and the many weeks during the Wave mission. He'd certainly gotten a lot better at using the gauntlets and had easily fought Sasuke with them to a standstill in a taijutsu fight.
Sasuke, on the other hand, had been trying to increase his chakra stores so he could use a shadow clone. He knew that being able to use a single shadow clone would rocket him further ahead than anyone, and he was determined to be able to use the jutsu. It was on this day that Sasuke managed to make a full, healthy shadow clone. He cried out in happiness at the success of his jutsu.
Sakura, on the other hand, spent the entire day practicing low rank and subtle genjutsu, trying to work them to her fighting style. Kakashi on the other hand, did not train, preferring to leave his students to their own training. The sensei visited the graves of his team, and left flowers for them.
The day ended, and the team met up to go get some food. This time, deciding to go to a barbecue spot, and as they approached, Sakura heard the loud voice of Ino. She face-palmed as she heard her friend, turned riva, screaming at Shikamaru about laziness. Team 7 entered the building, which had a barbecue sign hung up on the wall.
Naruto said, "Shika! Choji! We're gonna join you!"
Sasuke and Sakura were surprised by his lack of decorum. However, Shikamaru didn't even react, preferring to groan loudly at Ino. Choji, for his part, was simply sitting, watching the meat cook and talking to his sensei. Their sensei was a large man with a cigarette coming out his mouth, and sun tan skin.
So Choji replied, "Yeah, come over, Naruto! We've already got stuff on the grill. This is our sensei, Asuma."
Asuma waved his hand lazily and flipped a piece of meat. Naruto grinned and sat near Choji. Sasuke sat next to him, and Sakura scooted in between Asuma and Ino. Ino did not spare more than a word for her old friend and began to scold Shikamaru again. Shikamaru, for his part, was growing annoyed and continuously muttered the phrase, 'what a drag' under his breath. Further annoying the young blonde girl.
Sakura chose to interrupt, "With the amount you talk to Shikamaru, I'd think you like him."
Ino's mouth shut with an audible clack. She turned her eyes, and everyone went quiet, fearing the girl's wrath. However, Ino didn't say anything for a long moment, making everyone even more nervous than they had expected.
"That suggestion disgusts me. Why would I ever like such a lazy and worthless person like Shikamaru? Not when someone like Sasuke-kun exists."
The deadly tone she spoke made Naruto laugh, and light laughter ran across the table before everyone quieted. The conversation switched topics, and Shikamaru was allowed some time to rest.
Ino asked, "Sasuke-kun, what crazy missions have you completed?"
Sasuke was going to ignore the blonde when Naruto leveled a knowing smile. Sasuke had discussed the topic of girls with Naruto before and had been surprised by the depth Naruto had displayed. The face on his teammate was that of someone who knew what Sasuke needed to do for his so-called clan restoration.
So he replied, "We went on an A-rank mission. That was actually pretty easy with Naruto and Sakura's help. Before it, we were unaware of our sensei's prowess in the ninja arts. After it, though, I don't think there's a ninja in the village that can match our sensei, besides the Hokage."
Ino smiled when hearing of the mission rank and then frowned when he mentioned Sakura being helpful. However, she then glared at Asuma when Sasuke made his claim about Kakashi.
Choji listened and continued to eat alongside Naruto. Sakura listened to the extremely shortened version of events and smirked when Ino frowned.
Ino leveled a question at her sensei, "How come you aren't a famed shinobi?"
Asuma sighed, glaring at Sasuke, "I was a guardian of the Daimyo for a long while. What do you want from me? Imagine if you'd gotten a normal jonin with very little experience."
Ino scoffed, but Naruto had a question fill his mind.
"Wait, you were one of the twelve guardians. Did you ever meet Inazuma Arashi?"
Asuma's eyes widened at Naruto's questions, and he replied, "Yeah, he was a better shinobi than me. I think he left because he became the clan head of his clan. Inazuma was the only shinobi that I didn't beat in the twelve guardians."
Naruto grinned and replied, "I guess we've got something in common, Asuma-sensei. I've got a rival in that clan, the heir, actually. I've vowed to become the strongest shinobi between the two of us. Of course, naturally, that means the Hokage hat will fall into my lap."
Asuma raised an eyebrow and grinned before reaching into his pocket and grabbing a green book. The book read 'Bounties and Bingo', it was the shinobi bingo book of last month. Asuma flipped towards the final page of the book before the glossary. There was no picture, only the name.
It read:
Raito Arashi
Threat Level: Level 3 - Avoid unnecessary contact
Basic Information: Genin of Datogakure no Sato; Arashi Clan heir
Jutsu: Completely unknown; none have survived to tell of his technique.
Bounty: 50,000 Ryo for dead or 100,000 Ryo alive.
The group was evidently surprised by the description, and Ino laughed.
She said, "Naruto, that's your rival? You've got a lot of work to do if that's the case. You can't even make a bunshin. Hahaha!"
Sasuke let the words rip from his mouth, "Naruto can defeat your entire team, I'm the only genin of the newly graduated that can even go toe to toe with him. Ino, I'd suggest keeping your mouth shut about things you know nothing about."
Shikamaru grunted a laugh, and Choji almost choked on his food, which he was still stuffing in his mouth. Out of everybody, Ino was the most surprised. Her face was clear as day to all at the table or in the restaurant. Internally, she seethed at the clear display of care by Sasuke for Naruto.
The conversation died out for a few moments, and soon the teams split. They all went their separate ways, with Naruto paying for Team 7 and Asuma paying for his team. Naruto took that time to create a large number of clones who completed tasks around the village for him and read in the library.
The next day arrived, and as the team climbed to the second floor, they noticed a commotion at the door. Two chunin stood guard, refusing to let people in; however, Naruto and his team immediately noticed the problem. There was a genjutsu convincing people this was the third floor when it was quite clearly not.
Naruto walked forward with Sasuke and listened as the Uchiha spoke.
He saw a kid in a green ninja jumpsuit get kicked by the chunin.
"You'd better drop the genjutsu. I've only walked up one flight of stairs, such a meager thing is barely any work for true ninja."
One of the chunin rushed towards Sasuke hoping to catch the Uchiha off guard. However Sasuke saw this coming and smoothly danced around behind the Chunin. Placing a kunai to the chunin's throat, he spoke with perfect deadliness.
"Attack me, unprovoked or not, and be prepared to die…"
Before he could continue speaking, he felt a hand push him away from the chunin towards the door. Standing before him was the kid in a green jumpsuit, Sasuke's surprise was evident on his face. Internally he wondered how the genin had moved so quickly. Naruto however had seen the thing go down and internally tried to remember the move in case he needed it.
The boy said, "We should not fight, we need to conserve energy for the exams."
As the green ninja stood, a milk-eyed boy came up from behind and scolded him about not getting involved with the diversion. Unknown to all in the hallway, Raito and his team simply walked past, ignoring the commotion. As Raito and his team made it to the third floor, he decided he'd take a light nap. He loved reading, but tests still bored him to the seventh layer of hell.
Naruto and his team arrived later, almost ten minutes after. Opening the door to see a room bursting with genin ready for their exam. Naruto wasted no time looking for his old friend, and Raito could tell. Deciding to humor his friend, Raito motioned for his team to move silently through the room and appear behind Naruto.
In the meantime, Team 10 joined them, and Naruto greeted Choji and Shikamaru with a face-splitting grin. Then they heard a voice behind them.
"My, my it looks like the entire gang is here. A good thing, I was wondering if you were too weak to be recommended."
Naruto scoffed at Kiba and replied, "If we are weak, then I cannot imagine what you are Kiba."
Kiba's face became indignant and he began to stutter his words out. Naruto turned to Hinata to ask her about how her team was doing. However he didn't manage to get the words out instead interrupted.
A white haired boy came towards them. He looked much older than they were, and with round glasses, he looked like a total nerd. He wore his weapons pouch on his right hip, and he had a perpetual smirk on his face.
"Hey! You guys, you should keep it down."
The rookie 9 were turned only to see another genin behind the older genin. Their faces displayed their surprise, giving Kabuto very little warning.
"Agreed, silence is the deadliest weapon."
Kabuto jumped, genuinely not having sensed the boy. Naruto, however, realized who it was in an instant and jumped towards Raito.
"Raito!"
Raito nodded calmly and saw the looks on Team 10. Ino's shock was clear, and Choji genuinely dropped a chip on the floor. Shikamaru was the only one to have a shinobi reaction; the boy narrowed his eyes. Suspicion was a healthy thing in their line of work, so Raito nodded to the boy with a wink.
Then he turned to Naruto, who'd come up to him with a grin on his face.
"You've changed very little, it seems, Naruto."
Sasuke also walked up, but he was much more careful with his admiration for his rival. A smirk fielded his face and he spoke up.
"It seems you're weak. I couldn't sense anything coming from you."
Raito laughed a light laugh, "Indeed, I am quite good at my job. Now I'd love to chat, but I think this older genin had something to impart on us."
Two voices came from behind the seven rookies still standing back.
"I agree with Raito, let's see what he's got for us."
The group was startled and watched as two more people appeared, with the same exact headband as Raito. They were almost the same height as the darkskinned genin and held the same confidence. The group of genin gathered around Kabuto as the genin explained his ninja info cards, and immediately, Kiba was the first to ask for information.
"Give me the information on Raito, this one right here. He seems close to me in power. Though I think I've got the edge."
Raito's eyes had been intensely focused, except for one, when he gave Shikamaru a look displaying his feelings about the cards. Shikamaru was starting to like Naruto's friend as they gave each other telling looks about what they thought about the Ninja Info Cards.
Kabuto spoke, "Ah, you make it easy. Raito Arashi. He's gone on a total of fifty missions, six of them are A-rank, and thirty of them were B-rank. Thirteen were C-rank missions. It seems it's unknown what the final one of his missions was. When I lack information like that, I assume it's an S-rank mission."
Kabuto looked at Raito, fear filling his eyes. He could tell that the boy was seeing through him or getting close to it. However, he could not let it cow him so early.
Kiba asked, "What are his abilities? He's gotta be strong doing all those missions."
Raito remarked, "You know you could've just asked me for an autograph Kiba. You know since you're so infatuated with me."
Kiba was about to yell when Kabuto spoke over him, "Yes. His abilities are unknown at the time, but he's the only genin in Dato alongside Crow's Eye that has a bounty on his head. I would suggest running at first sight of him and his team, which consists of Karasu Arashi and Aoi Kento."
Sasuke put in his option, "Rock Lee. I want his information."
"Even easier, he's a year older than you guys. Missions: he's completed twenty D-ranked missions and eleven C-ranked. His sensei is Might Guy. His team consists of Tenten and Neji Hyuga. This is his first year here as well; however, he's grown exponentially in his taijutsu skills."
Naruto nodded to himself. There were people there who were stronger than he was. Simply head-on tactics would not work for him. Especially with the world watching the outcome of the exams.
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed even harder. He was only wondering just how the man had gotten so many pieces of info. Especially on first time test takers, and things like mission records are only accessible by the Hokage. Raito, too, was on this train of thought and decided he'd keep an eye on Kabuto Yakushi.
Suddenly, a ninja jumped out of the crowd of genin. Throwing kunai at Kabuto, the genin dodged the attack. However, Raito saw the next ninja coming in, from behind Kabuto, and decided he'd restrain the boy. As the oto ninja appeared next to Kabuto, Raito appeared behind him, with his hidden chokuto at the ninja's neck.
"I remember reading something about fighting before the exams. Karasu, can you tell me what that was?"
Karasu grinned his signature grin and replied, "Rule 3.4: Do not fight before the proctors allow it. If you do so, you will be disqualified."
The Otogakure ninja lowered his hand, realizing his life was at stake. Internally, he was scared shitless. He had never seen when the other ninja appeared. Such speed was intense, dangerous to their plans for the future.
Raito once again displayed his deadly silence and lifted the chokuto off the neck of the Otogakure ninja. What was supposed to be a show of force, turned quickly into an embarrassment. Naruto watched the events with a careful eye; his friend had grown greatly.
As the onlookers whispered, a poof of smoke announced the arrival of the Exam Proctors.