"I never thought you would actually be strong enough to defy me. Maybe I was wrong to judge you so harshly after all." ~ Sasuke

Naruto groaned as he rolled over, feeling the dull pain in his body as he forced his eyes open to see a welcome sight.

He could plainly see he was in a hospital bed; the room took sterile white for his eyes which he could barely open due to how bright the room seemed to the blonde. However, it didn't seem to bother his girlfriend, who was curled up next to him on the bed, lightly squeezing him as she drooled from the corner of her mouth on the pillow.

Carefully, he made a clone, replacing himself as she whined softly, squeezing the clone tighter as Naruto stumbled out of the room, using the wall as a support as he found the nurses station, the medic-nin on duty glaring at him.

"What are you doing out of bed! You suffered severe chakra exhaustion, and you're still not better yet so unless you want me to sedate you, I suggest you go back to bed… now!" The medic-nin ordered, and Naruto turned away, snorting under his breath.

Returning to the room, he soundlessly replaced himself within Hinata's grip as the clone growled, only for Naruto to forcefully dispel it. Resigning himself to few more hours of bed rest, he concluded it could worse; at least he had a cute girlfriend who was using him as a pillow.

Sarutobi groaned as he fell into the seat at the head of the table. He gingerly touched the deep wound on his side, which even now was oozing a disgusting greenish-purple liquid that as probably the poison attacking his insides. He shook off the hand that grabbed his shoulder, steadying him.

"I may be nearly 72, but I think I can handle sitting in a chair, Bear." He groused as he looked at the various expressions on the people sitting around the table. "That's all this job seems to be now a days. I was rusty when Orochimaru attacked me with his sword, but at least he didn't have time to finish the job." The wizened man thought as he leaned his new cane against the table.

"Okay, now that I've arrived, let's get this party started." He said; chuckling at the strange looks he was given by the various shinobi, only to groan as his wound howled in pain at the movement. His heated glare stopped the ANBU who reached to steady him.

"As I'm sure you can imagine, this meeting to discuss the Chunin Finals and promotion of our shinobi that participated. So, we'll start with those eliminated in the first round. Now, Neji Hyuuga." Hiruzen stated; opening the table to discussion as the different clan heads sat quietly, contemplating the boy.

"I'd have to say no to a promotion." Hiashi answered first, surprising the assembled clan heads considering it was his nephew they were discussing.

"I want to say yes; he certainly has the skill and power to handle a higher class of job requests." Chozu exclaimed, only to be immediately shot down by his former blonde teammate.

"That's true, but power and skill aren't the only things we have to consider. Chunin are supposed to lead small squads on missions, and Neji didn't demonstrate any leadership abilities in his match. Besides, sending him off on a higher tier mission, alone or with a team, could get them all killed if he can't reign in his temper." Inoichi retorted, the others nodding.

"How about you Tsume, what did you think of the boy?" Sarutobi asked and the Inuzuka matriarch sighed as she leaned back, idlely scratching her nin-ken behind his ear.

"I agree with Chozu, the boy definitely has enough skill to accomplish higher-class missions. That said, I also get what Inoichi is saying, and he brings up a valid point. If Hiashi's boy, err, nephew doesn't learn to control his temper, he's no better than a rabid wolf." Tsume said, her nin-ken barking softly in agreement.

"Not to sound like a broken record, but I too agree with Inoichi's assessment. I'll be the first to admit that my choices with one of my students have led to a similar issue, and therefore I feel that I can say with personal experience that leaving Neji Hyuuga in charge of a team will lead to either him getting them killed because he can't understand that it's a team for a reason, or any shinobi he's with resenting him for his superior attitude." Kakashi said, getting some strange looks from the opposite side of the table.

"If we could pause these deliberations momentarily, can someone tell me why Hatake is here giving assessments?" Tsume asked with a growl that had Kakashi raising his hands, placating the short tempered matriarch.

"The elders wanted a proxy appointed for Sasuke-kun since he's too young and injured to attend such a meeting. They felt it would be an insult if the Uchiha clan didn't have a say in these things." Sarutobi said, and Tsume growled, her nin-ken mirroring her actions as he stood, his hackles rising slightly.

"Who cares?! Maybe that would knock him down a few pegs if he knew we can actually, surprise, run this village without his interference!" Tsume shouted and despite himself, Hiruzen nodded.

"I agree, that's why Kakashi is only here to discuss things, he won't have a vote, and if you'd prefer, we can bring in the other senseis." The Third Hokage offered, and after a short discussion they decided against it in favor of saving time trying to locate the senseis of the teams, or bringing them from either their students' hospital rooms, or their own.

"Well back to the topic on hand, who hasn't said anything, ahh Shikaku, what do you think of promoting Neji-kun?" The Nara clan head was sitting with her hands steepled in front of his face, looking into space with no outward reaction to the different things being said.

"Shikaku?" Sarutobi tried again, this time punctuated with a soft tap of his cane against the man who was statuesque.

"I've got this Hokage-sama." Inoichi said, clearing his throat as he leaned closer to his friend's ear. "Shikaku, wake up, Yoshino's here." Shikaku jerked away, looking around wide-eyed as his blonde friend snickered at the Nara's reaction.

"I'll get you for this Inoichi." Shikaku said in a dead voice as he looked at Sarutobi with soulless eyes. "There isn't anything left to say. Promoting Neji Hyuuga is a bad idea that will only end badly for all involved." With that, Shikaku slumped down on the table, feigning sleep but the other shinobi could tell he could still hear what was being said.

"Okay, well that's everyone so-" "Hokage-sama." Shibi tried to interrupt. "If no one has anything else to say-" "Hokage-sama." Shibi tried again. "Then Neji Hyuuga won't be promoted-" "Hokage-sama!" Shibi said with a terse tone. "And we'll move on to the next person." "HOKAGE-SAMA!" Shibi shouted, although no one reacted.

"Did someone leave a window open, I'm feeling this breeze." Tsume said as everyone looked around since the room had no windows. Suddenly, she smacked the back of her hand. "Ughh, do you have fleas?" She asked her partner, who growled lowly.

"Moving on…" The Third said, "Next we have Shikamaru Nara." Sarutobi said as a soft muttering was heard.

"I'd say promote him. The Nara's are known for being excellent strategists, and Shikamaru was capable of turning his opponent's clan jutsu against him." Hiashi said as the others nodded.

"Yes, but not only that, he used the field to his advantage as well as the Senbon left over from the previous match." Kakashi stated, the Yamanaka Clan head picking up on the line of thought.

"Not to mention that he forfeited when he realized he didn't have the chakra to continue on in the competition, and allowed his opponent time to rest before the next round, giving him a better chance of getting promoted." The blonde man said.

"He may not be able to overpower a higher tier shinobi like some of the other competitors, but as a Nara, he'd be capable of making a plan to beat, or at least restrain, them so his team could finish their mission." Chozu acknowledged, getting several nods of ascent.

"Shikaku, what do you think? You know him better than the rest of us." The tired Nara sighed.

"He'll hate me for saying this, but I think he could handle leading a team on missions with minimal issues. That said the Nara work better with a team, so the Chunin Exams aren't the easiest place for us to show off our skills." Shikaku said without opening his eyes as Hiruzen nodded.

"So the motion to promote Shikamaru Nara to Chunin is passed. Any opposed?" He raised the question, although no one responded.

"I'm not one for all that strategizing stuff, so I'll just take your word." Tsume said.

"Okay then, next up is… Nerissa Tsuin. Opening opinions?" He said with a questioning tone.

"Nerissa Tsuin was… interesting." Chozu started, seeing as no one seemed to want to say anything. "Her choice of weapon was unusual and she used it with considerable skill for only being out of the Academy for four months." He continued. "So she has my vote." He finished.

"Agreed, her skill with not just the one scythe, but using them together against a Hyuuga was a smart call. That said; she really didn't show off any other skills besides that. She either needs to improve her skill with those scythes or broaden the spectrum of her skills." Hiashi acknowledged, surprising the others as he admitted to a weakness of his clan even if implied rather than spoken. "So my vote is no." He concluded.

"You both bring up valid points, but I'm not really sure if promoting her is a good idea. You heard the comments she made in reference to her opponent's clan status. If we promote her, we're basically saying that it's okay to hate on the clans. That's just asking for a division in the village. My vote is no for that reason alone." Tsume said, her nin-ken whining beside her as he was bitten by several fleas.

"While that's true, I think it could be beneficial if we promote her after what she said. If we don't it could appear that we rejected her because she doesn't like clan born, while if she gets promoted it could lead to more civilian born entering Academy. Need I mention that Minato Namikaze was a civilian born, which no one seems to get since once he became the Fourth Hokage, he was given clan status." Inoichi argued as he sighed. "My vote is yes for promotion." He finished as the Third looked around the table at the assembled Clan heads (Matriarch in Tsume's case), and Kakashi.

"Well, that leaves Shikaku's vote. What do you say about promoting Nerissa Tsuin?" Hiruzen asked the dreary Nara.

"Personally, I'm fine with flipping a coin to decide." The half-lidded man responded, only to get a whack on the head courtesy of the blonde next to him. "Fine, on the level of a Clan Head, I think we shouldn't promote her yet. Hiashi-san brings up an important point about her skills. If we promote her, she could grow complacent with her current skill set. However, as we mentioned earlier, power and skill isn't everything. I think promoting her may be the smarter play here, Hokage-sama, but… I can't make a good assessment based on her single match." Shikaku said as everyone looked at him expectantly as he sighed, muttering, 'Troublesome.' Under his breath as he pulled out a Shogi piece, flipping it. Catching it he said, "Heads, promote her." This earned him sweat drops from the majority of the group.

Across the village, Yoshino Nara was sweeping serenely when she looked up towards the Hokage Tower.

"Why do I get the feeling he's being troublesome again…" The woman paused before cursing loudly, "Now they've got me saying it too. Troublesome men." She muttered with detest.

Naruto groaned as he rolled over, wrapping his arm around nothingness as he blinked awkwardly, glancing at the half of the bed previously occupied by a certain bluenette.

"Naruto-kun?" A soft voice said as Naruto looked towards the door, finding Hinata there, holding a tray with a small bowl as well as plastic eating utensils. Naruto smiled at the sight of his girlfriend as she neared him, sitting down in the chair next to the bed, balancing the tray in her lap as she opened the plastic cup of blue gelatin.

"Hey Hinata-chan, I got worried for a second when I couldn't find you." The blonde said as the Hyuuga's cheeks flushed with blood. "I hate being in hospitals, but at least you're here with me to make it enjoyable." The blonde continued only to be silenced when Hinata shoved a spoonful of blue gelatin into his mouth.

Swallowing loudly, he pouted at the blushing Hyuuga. "It's not nice to shove things into people's mouth, what if I didn't like the taste, and I couldn't even spit it out." The orange-loving boy complained as Hinata's face went redder if that was possible before Naruto finished her off, "How would you like it if I stuck something in your mouth?" Hinata's face went atomic red as a small trickle of blood leaked from her nose as she fainted.

"Umm, Hinata-chan, you okay?" He asked worriedly, getting no response besides a familiar giggle from the unconscious bluenette. What was worse was that, despite his protesting, he'd enjoyed the gelatin but he was stuck in the bed where Hinata had fainted over his arms, preventing him from reaching the small cup just out of his reach.

"Okay, I think that's the first round down so let's move on to the second round of contestants. First up we have-" He was interrupted by the doors swinging open wide as several people stormed into the room.

"We just got word that you were having a meeting discussing the prospective Chunin." Homaru said.

Koharu nodded beside him, "Yes, we as your advisors, can't allow you in good conscious to have this meeting without us present."

"Besides, this is an open forum due to bylaw 72, subparagraph 3, which states that all meetings are open to the public following an invasion of village security. Bylaw 6, paragraph 2 also states that regardless of privacy that all clan heads must be present or have appointed proxies on matters that concern more than three different clans in the same matter." Danzo said as he brushed passed Sarutobi who growled under his breath; mimicking the hands seals to summon his faithful Boss summon Enema.

"So while the Uchiha may have an appointed proxy, the Senju, Sarutobi, Kurama, and Aburame clans are all absent. You are the only approved proxy for the Senju clan, which means you can't represent the Sarutobi clan, nor act as the Hokage for this matter." Danzo pointed out as everyone suddenly got contemplatively looks, glancing around the room.

"Where is Shibi-san?" Was the collective question, although no one spoke it. How they didn't notice said clan head doing the Worm on the Council table was a question with no plausible answer.

"Fine," the Third said, pinching the bridge of his nose in an effort to stave off the coming headache, "We'll take a short break while I summon my son to represent the Sarutobi clan." He hissed as he left to the adjacent office.

"Hey Hinata-chan, what happened at the end of our match, I started losing consciousness, but the last thing I remember was a kunai heading for my head." The blonde asked his girlfriend who blushed at his attention being fully on her, and the other thing.

"I was declared the winner after you fell on your face, Naru-kun. I really thought you were going to beat me, but somehow I managed to stop myself from passing out after our match so Genma-san declared me the winner. But right after everyone went silent as I felt a Genjutsu be cast over the crowd. That boy that we met before the Exams that had the cards, Kabuto, he was really a traitor for Orochimaru who tried to invade the village. Kabuto, he threw a kunai at you but a wall of sand covered you before he could get to you, and I saw Gaara on the field using his sand to subdue people." Hinata paused to take a breath as Naruto nodded, looking at her with his deep blue eyes.

"After that I passed out from the strain of her fight, but after I woke up I was told that we managed to repel the invading forces with the help of Jiraiya and Suna who changed sides after Gaara started helping us. But I also heard the Hokage got hurt really badly during the fight against Orochimaru, something about being stabbed through the stomach and badly poisoned." The bluenette continued as Naruto gasped, and immediately tried to get up to find his Jiji only for Hinata to hold him down with her body weight, a testament to both to his weakness and her determination to keep him safe.

"He's in a meeting right now, it's been three days and he's been cleared so he must be okay Naru-kun, now please lay back down. You're still too weak to be up and about without supervision." Hinata admonished as Naruto sighed, lying back down as Hinata nodded, reaching over as she picked up one of the bowls on the tray to continue feeding him.

Scooping it up in a plastic spoon, Naruto saw it was mashed potatoes now as she brought it to her lips, blowing softly to make sure they were cool so he didn't burn himself. He didn't have the heart to remind her that he couldn't be burned, but then again he'd never tried swallowing fire yet.

Putting the first spoonful in his mouth, he noticed she'd got some on her nose as he swallowed, leaning up. "You got some on you, Hina-chan." He said as he got closer to her face as a blush developed on her as he softly kissed her nose, sucking the gravy off as she let out a loud 'EEP' and fell backwards in surprise, sending mashed potatoes everywhere.

A nurse entered the room moments later with a wide-eyed expression as she took in the scene. Both Naruto and Hinata were wide-eyed as they stared at each other, deep red blushes covering there faces as gravy dripped from both their faces and hair.

It didn't help that Hinata's only response was, "Naru-kun, you're supposed to warn me before you do that please."

Sarutobi waltzed back into the room pinching his nose as a familiar face followed, a mellowed expression on Jiraiya's face as he sat in the chair nearest to the head of the table, whereas Sarutobi sat across from him.

"My son is currently unavailable since he's in the hospital checking on his students as well as…" He trailed off at this point before taking up the train of thought a few moments later. "Anyways, since he cannot attend this meeting, I will be acting as the Sarutobi head, and I happened to run into Jiraiya on my way in, and he will be filling in as a proxy for the Senju. Koharu can stand in for the Kurama clan, and either Danzo or Homaru can fill in as my proxy as Hokage and the other can be Shibi's proxy, although it seems odd that he wouldn't show up." Hiruzen said levelly as he sighed, leaning heavily on the table as the two elders glanced at each other before Danzo took the empty seat at the head of the table while Homaru went around to sit in Shibi's lap.

"Okay then, shall we start with… Sakura Haruno?" Danzo said as the floor was opened for discussion.

Seeing that no one was speaking, Jiraiya started the assessment, "Honestly, I feel it was just a bad match-up, all things considered. The girl is reported as being a fast rising star in the Genjutsu field, and with that certain aspects begin to fall short. Personally, though, I couldn't promote her based on her performance on that field." Jiraiya said, not holding back his opinion from the assembled group.

"I feel the same; that she didn't immediately forfeit when facing the Uchiha can only be barely forgiven on the basis that she didn't know if he'd unlocked his Sharingan, but the moment he used it she had no chance against him, someone trained in a clan's Taijutsu style." Hiashi said, crossing his arms as he looked at each person judging how they took the assessment.

"Maybe, but she had prior knowledge that he'd unlocked his Sharingan as he used it during the Preliminaries, not to much effect but the knowledge was still right there. However, I believe she may have some potential if she buckles down and applies herself." The Third spoke as Danzo rolled his eyes.

"Forgive me for saying it, Lord Hokage, but we can't promote her based on her potential! What good is that potential if we promote her prematurely and she gets sent out on a mission out of her skill level, and she gets killed? It wouldn't matter if she could've become the first female Hokage, if she gets killed when she a Chunin in too deep." Inoichi said, before sighing as he turned to his two teammates.

"I don't know; you make a good point that she had no chance against the Uchiha, but surely the fact that she survived as long as she did against someone who, according to your reports, should've swept the floor with her. I think she may surprise you if she gets the promotion." Chozu said as the group stared at him with raised eyebrows.

"Since when did you start turning people's words back on them, Chozu?" Inoichi said as his rotund teammate shrugged his shoulders.

"Getting back on track, pork rinds for brains has a point. Sakura Haruno is a civilian-born faced against Sasuke Uchiha, the Rookie of the Year as well as the Uchiha heir, yet she held her own as well as made a pretty decent plan that would've given most of the others some real trouble. Not only that, she used the Academy Taijutsu style, an admittedly inferior style, but it prevented him from using the basic function of the Sharingan which is to copy the jutsu their opponent use." Tsume started before Kakashi picked up the line of thinking.

"Yes, and she used the basic Clone Jutsu, the Substitution Jutsu, and the Henge, all three the jutsu they needed to learn to graduate, meaning Sasuke got nothing new from their fight, besides the fact that she used the basics to try and cover the gap between their skills." Kakashi continued as Tsume nodded, taking over once more.

"Not to mention that she used her Henge to fight rather than hide, using her more agile form as a wolf to dodge, and her fangs to fight. She took what one of her teammates specialized in and applied it to her own style of fighting. It's harder than it looks to fight as a wolf when in actual combat, I'm impressed by her tenacity, and she has my vote of confidence." Tsume finished as Kakashi nodded in the affirmative.

"Me as well." He exclaimed shortly thereafter.

"These are all valid points, but to me it all still boils down to one thing." Shikaku started as he leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head. "Did she have a functioning plan based on the prior knowledge that she could be facing against the Uchiha? And based on the outcome, I would have to say no. I'm not saying that she didn't have a plan, but obviously it didn't account for the two major points against her, his Sharingan, which neutralized her Genjutsu advantage, and his superior Taijutsu style. I think she would function much better in a team setup for now until she can find a way around those two disadvantages on her own." Shikaku said with a deadpan voice as everyone stared in shock. While they'd expected a thorough evaluation, Shikaku simply looked at her match and pointed out the glaring weakness that they'd all noticed, and with such obviousness.

While this was going on, a small discussion was being held between the elders, as they all came to a decision.

"I concur," responded Homaru, "As do I." Koharu echoed.

"And I believe that brings the score 6-to-4 in favor of rejecting Sakura Haruno's promotion to Chunin. Now then on to the next person, Shino Aburame, opening assessments?" Danzo said with a resolute tone.

"Once again, I have to say it was a bad match-up." Jiraiya opened once more with the same explanation, "In the first round he only won because his opponent forfeited so he could have a chance to recover before his next match, a fact that made no difference as he was forced to forfeit the next match before it could really begin. He probably has some skill with his clan jutsu, and from what I hear, he has a decent head for tactical training, but I didn't get to see either of those things really. So my vote is no once again." Jiraiya explained logically as the other clan heads nodded.

"A good assessment with several true points, so I'm forced to concur with Jiraiya-san." Kakashi answered, as several other heads nodded along.

"I imagine he will do great next go around, and may even win depending on the competition, but unfortunately he won't be promoted this time around." Homaru said in a monotone.

"Since it seems glib for Aburame-kun, I'll come out and say that his first match was every bit what I expected between two clan heirs, both regarded for their tactical planning, even if it did end with what was essentially a double knock-out." Hiruzen said with his grandfatherly tone as he eye-smiled.

"Well, unless anyone has anything else to add, shall I say it was a unanimous decision not to promote Aburame-kun?" Danzo said as no one argued as he jotted the notation down.

"Okay, now then that brings us to the finalists, all quite powerful fighters in their own rights. Because of this, I asked Ibiki Morino to 'interview' the three finalists before the final match to assess their tactical planning," The Third said as said interrogator entered the room, holding three manila folders which he set on the table as he took a seat off to the side, observing the gathered group of clan heads.

Hinata softly moaned as she opened her eyes, finding Naruto stroking her hair tenderly as she'd slept by his side. As she smiled at the blonde haired boy, a faint blush on her cheeks at the intimacy, she noticed his down turned lips.

"Hmm, what's wrong, Naru-kun?" She asked as he stopped his stroking, turning to look at her as his eyes lit up at her curious expression.

"Just… wishing that this moment never had to end. I wish I could just lay here and protect you so easily." He whispered as she gasped, a dark blush covering her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him closer. "Unfortunately, I despise hospitals so we already have that against us, and a nurse stopped by while you were sleeping, you seem to have fully recovered, and I can be released so long as you agree to watch after me for a few days to make sure I don't so something stupid like get in a fight." He continued as Hinata blushed, certain thoughts running through her head as she tried to get up the courage to voice her desires.

"Naru-kun I wouldn't mind if you slept…" She trailed off, her courage betraying her at the last second as Naruto rolled to the side, softly kissing her forehead as he pushed himself up. "Also, an ANBU-san came by around five minutes ago; you just missed her in fact, with a message. The Hokage wants to see you about your performance in the Finals, and apparently he has something he needs from me as well, so I'll go with you." The sun kissed boy, no, man now, Hinata corrected herself mentally, said as he stood from the bed, stretching his arms into the air. However, his paramour noticed that his hospital gown was split down the back, giving her a perfect view of his uncovered butt as her face went atomic red, and she fainted with a line of drool leaking from the corner of her mouth and blood from her nose.

"Hinata? ... Hina-chan!" He shouted as he rushed back to her side, lightly shaking her as she refused to awaken. Looking around, Naruto shrugged on his coat, leaving his undershirt off as he pulled his boxers and pants on quickly, before looking at the sleeping Hinata as he caught her under her head and her knees as he lifted her effortlessly as he went out the window, carrying the bluenette bridal style.

"Okay, shall we start with the third place winner, Sasuke Uchiha? Discussions free." Danzo said; leaning on his staff as his eye darted around the room, taking in each of the other clan heads.

"I can't think of an eloquent way to put this, so I'll just come out and say it… this boy is a disaster waiting to happen!" Jiraiya stated aptly as he dropped the admittedly thin folder on the table.

"Huh? What does that mean; the boy made it all the way to the Third round and was the favorite to win?" Homaru asked as Jiraiya's eyes fell on the elder.

"Yeah, because he is the 'Last Uchiha'! His file reads like an egotistical, self-maniacal boy. His strategy going into the three-way fight is, and I quote 'I'm an Uchiha I can't lose'. In fact, I don't doubt that he had the same thoughts before his first two matches. Someone needs to teach this brat that your last name won't get you anywhere as a shinobi without the skill that goes with it except an early grave. If I condoned promoting him I would be enabling a self-imposed avenger that will betray this village and run off after his brother first chance he gets, and he'll attack anyone who gets in his way!" Jiraiya yelled as the other clan heads looked at him in shock. Was this the same man who preached peace for the shinobi nations?

"As much as it hurts me, I must agree, he refuses to cooperate with his teammates and me. Let's not even get started on the fact that he used the curse seal of Orochimaru in the final round willingly." Kakashi said with a glittering eye. It hurt him inside to say these things about his student, of a relation to Obito, but that same thought is what gave him strength. Obito would turn in his grave if he thought that his best friend condoned the blatant betrayal Sasuke was demonstrating just because his name was Uchiha.

"Well, I think we know how to vote now, all in favor of promoting the Uchiha." Hiruzen said as Danzo growled.

"May I remind you that you do not hold the seat of the Hokage in this Council?" The grizzled man said to his rival as the Third smiled self-assuredly.

"No need, I remember, I just thought we could move on to a Genin who actually has a chance to get promoted." Sarutobi said as Danzo looked around the table, seeing the steely eyes from the clan heads. Not a one would vote to promote the Uchiha today, and were it not for the fact that Danzo wanted to use Sasuke, he would've agreed as he grimaced, banging a gavel on the table.

"Fine, the move to promote Sasuke Uchiha is denied, now on to the next applicant for promotion, Hinata Hyuuga, which should be a calm discussion after the heated words about Uchiha-san." Danzo said, pulling a second folder from the stack as he browsed over the female Hyuuga's file.

"Okay, this looks much more competent. This is what a clan heir's, or heiresses' in this case, file should look like. In the first round, she recognized her opponent was a close-combat specialist and used a long-to-mid ranged approach to give herself an opening for her Jyuuken." Jiraiya said; reading over the file as several other clan heads nodded.

"Although she didn't get an appearance in the second round due to her opponent forfeiting, so her file is smaller than I'd like, but she did use a good approach in her first match-up." Inoichi stated.

"True, but what I really want to talk about is that fight in the final round. Hyuuga-san made a great showing for the various nobles watching. She worked well in tandem with Uzumaki-san to overcome Sasuke-kun especially when he started using the Curse Seal. I especially liked how she made her whip chakra-conductive to pair well with her clan jutsu." Tsume said with a smile.

"Speaking of, what were those jutsu she used in her fight against the Uchiha and then Uzumaki-san, I've never seen a Hyuuga use those moves before; did she make them herself? Regardless, you did a good job training her Hiashi-san." Chozu said jovially as Hiashi frowned, not that anyone could tell the difference since he always seemed to be frowning.

"Except I didn't train her, after the preliminaries she refused my help, saying that she would train herself. I had a Branch member follow her, and found that she was sparring with the Uzumaki. What's more, she taught him secrets about the Byakyugan, and allowed its weaknesses to be learned by the Uchiha as well!" Hiashi spat out as he clenched his fist.

"Yes, but watching them working like that, nearly mirroring each other's movements exactly when facing all those clones, it reminds me of…" Kakashi trailed off as he remembered one of the few times he'd seen his sensei and Kushina side-by-side in combat. The silver-haired Jounin didn't doubt for a moment after seeing Naruto and Hinata's display that they would go to the ends of the Elemental Nations to protect the other.

"I think you all miss the points that despite sparring over the break with Naruto-kun and facing Sasuke-san for most of the final match she still managed to defeat her teammate and win the whole thing." Silence reigned over the Council as Sarutobi's words sunk in. Finally, a voice spoke up.

"All in favor of promoting Hinata Hyuuga to Chunin?" This was Danzo as almost everyone's hands went up, save Hiashi's. "That settles it, Hinata Hyuuga is promoted to Chunin, and now we have the final prospective Chunin, Naruto Uzumaki."

"The boy should be promoted, if no other fact than it was his fight with Gaara-san that enabled to readily reject the invading Oto. But, this isn't war time, so we can't give him a field promotion like that." Tsume observed as a few other Clan heads nodded in agreement.

"Let's look at this objectively; he faced off against Neji Hyuuga in his first match, the previous year's Rookie-of-the-Year, and an acknowledged prodigy of the Hyuuga clan. And while he won out, I'm not to keen on his tactics, he wasted what was surely a large amount of chakra to keep that Shadow Clone intact. Not to mention he attempted to fight a Hyuuga in a Taijutsu battle. Those two things can't be overlooked!" Homaru shouted as he tossed Naruto's file down on the table as a majority of the Clan heads nodded in agreement.

"That's true, but as you pointed out, he won." Kakashi interceded on his student's behalf, "Whether or not it was a bad tactic should only be considered heavily if he'd failed in it. I agree that facing a Hyuuga in Taijutsu was foolish, but he proved himself to have an equal or superior Taijutsu style, and by facing Neji in a battle that he thought he could win easily, it allowed Naruto to hit him with several blows that weakened Neji overall. And as for that Shadow Clone, I would agree that he probably would've wasted a lot of chakra on it." Kakashi said, reading over the file in his hands.

"What do you mean 'would've'? Is there something you would like to share with the rest of us Kakashi-san?" Shikaku asked.

"I think I would be the better one to answer that question, Nara-san." Jiraiya said, lowering the file on his apprentice. "I helped train the boy over the break in the art of seals, and he made considerable progress, which was expected given his name. In the final week, he came to me with a theoretical idea to improve his Shadow Clones, which is lightly covered in this file. He theorized that if he applied a seal to his Clones similar to the ones on a Storage Scroll, he could store chakra at a steady rate over a period of time, allowing it to become a sort of chakra battery which would feed the Shadow Clone while leaving his own stores relatively untouched since he would allow himself time to recover." Jiraiya explained as some of the Clan heads who understood the basics of seals' eyes widened.

"So with that considered, in his first match, he managed to beat his opponent by laying a trap and allowing his opponent to overestimate his own skills." Shikaku caught on to the line of thought Naruto's two supporters had set up.

"I think we've spent enough time discussing the boy's merits in the first round, I want to talk about that fight in the second round! It reminded me of two wolves going at it for the rights as Alpha!" Tsume gushed as she looked excitedly into the distance as Chozu chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"Yes, let's discuss his efforts in the second round against Gaara-san." Kakashi started only to be interrupted by Hiashi.

"That impudent brat endangered all of us when he didn't forfeit when the Kazekage's kid began using his Bijuu's powers. It was a foolhardy attempt at showboating that easily could've backfired, if we won't promote any of the others for such things, he shouldn't for Uzumaki either." The Hyuuga muttered angrily.

"Once again-" Kakashi tried to speak up for his sensei's son, only to be shut down by Hiruzen surprisingly as everyone went silent, knowing the Third's preference for the blonde boy.

"I agree, it was foolhardy and easily could've gotten out of control, and if that were all I would've stepped in personally and stopped the match. But Naruto surprised me when he subdued the one-tailed Shukaku, a feat I'm not even sure I would be capable of doing, at least not in one attack. But I can't allow what he did to go unpunished. If it weren't for the additions to our arena by the Fourth, Naruto would've endangered the entire village by not allowing me or Jiraiya to immediately intercede and subdue the bijuu." Sarutobi said; a forlorn look on his face as he was forced to acknowledge that it wasn't Naruto's finest hour.

"On that note," Jiraiya started, finally able to cut in on the beating Naruto's actions were taking, "has anyone here considered that he was aware of the arena's protections, and therefore saw no danger in continuing the fight?" The white-haired Sannin asked as Inoichi's face fell into one of contemplation. He was responsible for the finalists psych evaluations, and it would fit Naruto personality.

"Be that as it may, we can't condone his actions because the battlefield allowed him to be reckless. Any actions taken after the Kazekage's son began losing control of his Bijuu should be discounted from consideration; I won't consider them as negative actions only because as Inuzuka-san pointed out, it was because he subdued the bijuu that we came out of the invasion with minimal casualties." Danzo said, making a critical decision since he wanted the boy kept as a Genin so he could control him easier.

"Then let's consider the fact that he used fire against Gaara's sand which gave him an elemental advantage. In order to turn the sand into glass would require extremely high temperatures, and a basic Katon jutsu wouldn't give him that. Speaking from experience, anything below B-rank wouldn't have that effect and even then he would have to either have a powerful fire affinity or pour chakra into his jutsu to get such a result." Kakashi pointed out, determined to stand up for Naruto.

"True, but if you look at it from that view point the boy would have to have practically drowned that massive attack that took down the One-Tail with chakra, I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, using anything than that would be deadly when dealing with a Bijuu, even one currently contained in a child." Shikaku stated as some of the others nodded in deep thought.

"And with that, shall we move on to the Final Round." Danzo said in an effort to prevent some of the others from thinking too deeply on the blonde jinchuuriki's tactics.

"What is there to talk about, the kid did everything right." Tsume opened, making a few smile at the Inuzuka' matriarch's opinions about the blonde.

"Except as Nara-san just pointed out, the boy had to use a massive amount of chakra in order for his jutsu to affect the One-Tail. Going into a battle with the two separate inheritors of the Great Dojutsu clans in the village after that; going up against one would be considered a suicide mission outside of the arena, and against two would not only get himself killed but a team he was commanding." Homaru quickly shut the wolfish woman down.

"And yet despite that he managed to outlast Sasuke, and put on a strong defense against Hinata. You make a good point, don't get me wrong, but you overlook the fact that Naruto wouldn't be fighting his opponents in the real world alone, he'd have a team to assist him. Furthermore, he managed to convince one of his 'enemies' to help him beat the other competitor. By your estimations, he shouldn't have been able to function after that level of chakra consumption." Kakashi argued as Koharu 'tssk'd at the observation.

"Do you disagree, Koharu-san?" Jiraiya caught on to the disregard for Kakashi's argument.

"I can't take Hatake's assessment seriously considering he's the brat's sensei, of course he'd think highly of him." The elder spoke, not mincing words as she borderline told off the Jounin.

"That's accurate, Kakashi-san is Naruto's sensei, as well as Hinata's and Sasuke's, of all of us, he's the most biased, and unbiased in this discussion considering he also agreed with our assessment to forgo promoting the Uchiha." Inoichi returned fire, quickly followed by the only Sannin present.

"And like you have room to talk, you won't even consider that Naruto could possibly be strong enough to be anything but a Genin. I think he could come in right now and drop my poisonous teammate's dead body on the table, and you'd sooner believe that he died of a heart attack than Naruto beat him." Jiraiya spat out acerbically.

"Let's not forget that he used fire jutsu that Sasuke was incapable of copying with his Sharingan, as well as displaying an amazing mastery over the ash he used during the fight, which goes against the report I received that his chakra control was abysmal. To be honest, I'm most intrigued by his jutsu." Hiruzen interceded before this turned into a childish spat, keeping the focus on Naruto.

"Speaking of his jutsu, am I the only that thought his jutsu he used at the end of his first fight, and in the final clash with Hinata-san seemed remarkably similar to the Fourth's Rasengan?" Chozu asked, as a few of the heads paused in consideration before glancing at Jiraiya.

"I showed him the jutsu during the break, if that's what the stares are about. I mentioned that I wanted to teach it to him one day if he managed to complete everything I'd given him to learn over the break, but I was called away before I could explain it to him. It would seem though; that he was able to form a jutsu using a similar construct, although I think it suits his skills. If I had to assess it, I would put it at a high B-rank to high A-rank attack jutsu, yet another reason he deserves this promotion." Jiraiya answered, not taking his eyes of the glaring elder.

"Well, with that I think we should move on to the point of this 'discussion'." Danzo said in the momentary pause.

"I adamantly refuse to promote the insolent brat!" Koharu hissed, although no one was surprised.

"While not as violently, I agree with my teammate." Homaru said a lot calmer than his female teammate.

"Well, I'm all for promoting him." Tsume said with a wolfish grin that showed off her enhanced canines.

"I deny promotion of the Uzumaki." Hiashi said with an even expression although anyone who looked at the Hyuuga head could see he was seething with rage.

"I vote to promote Naruto-kun to Chunnin; I think he's earned it." Sarutobi said as Jiraiya nodded next to him.

"As do I." The white-haired Toad-wielder agreed.

"And biased or unbiased, I likewise give my consent for Naruto's promotion." Kakashi said, crossing his arms.

"I must agree with our advisors, the boy's actions were rash and certainly not the tactics of a Chunin I want leading a team." Danzo said as the rest of the table turned to the final three.

"I see no reason why he shouldn't be allowed to be promoted to Chunin; I'd trust him to lead a team." Chozu voiced.

"I'd like to promote him, but…" Inoichi said, trailing off as he looked down in contemplation, "If we promote him, can we be absolutely certain he will be accepted by the older shinobi populace with his 'condition'. If it was a simple matter of him being worthy then yes, but I can't in good conscience allow Naruto Uzumaki to lead a team of shinobi that weren't aware of his circumstances, so my vote is no." The platinum blonde said as Hiruzen winced at the accusation.

Inoichi had been against the idea of keeping Naruto's circumstances a secret from the younger population, especially considering the older generation were aware of it and could do more damage to Naruto anyways.

"I guess that leaves me huh?" Shikaku said boredly. "I say promote the boy, if what I hear is correct then he will make a fine addition to the Chunin populace and an even better leader considering how he studies his fellow shinobi's strengths and weaknesses." The Nara said as Danzo nodded, although reluctantly as he stood from the table.

"Okay then, with that the motion to promote Naruto Uzumaki to Chunin is approved." The old war hawk as he turned to leave, dismissing the gathered council without a word.

Rising from the table and heading back to his office in the adjacent room, Hiruzen called an ANBU, a purple-haired one with a long blade attached to her side appearing from the shadows. "Neko, could you head to the Konoha Medical Center and tell Naruto and Hinata Hyuuga that I wish to see them, and that I have an important matter to discuss with Naruto-kun." The cat-masked ANBU nodded in the affirmative as she vanished into the shadows, intent on completing her mission as quickly as possible before her Hokage's voice stopped her.

"Oh yes, Neko, while you're there, could you also check on Hayate-san." The purple-haired ANBU gave another short nod, silently thanking the Sarutobi head for giving her the chance to check on her 'friend'.

As Naruto landed on a roof enroute to the Hokage Tower, which was on the opposite side of the village, he felt his companion stir as she regained consciousness. Stopping momentarily to set her down gently, he smirked at the bluenette as she came too, blushing as she remembered the events that caused her to faint.

"Well good morning sleepy head, did you have a nice nap?" Naruto asked rhetorically as Hinata pouted at her boyfriend's teasing words, pushing herself up although Naruto was quickly there to offer his arm as a brace as she worked the blood back into her legs.

"After you fainted, I couldn't wake you so I just decided to carry you to the Hokage's Tower." Naruto supplied as Hinata nodded, tensing her legs as she leapt away, Naruto giving chase with a petulant 'OI!' as the Hyuuga girl smirked in return, sticking out her tongue as Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he bent over, and forcing more speed out of his still injured body.

….

The couple finally arrived on the roof of the Hokage Tower, Hinata beating her boyfriend by a not-so-subtle margin, however, the blonde was not content to leave it at that as he landed behind her, tackling her to the ground lightly, smiling with a superior air. Seeing the close proximity between their faces, he bent down to capture the bluenette's lips, only for her finger to poke him in the nose, pushing him back.

"Nope, you lost, and only winners get kisses." She said with an air of haughtiness as Naruto vanished, reappearing at the edge of the roof crouched down, pushing his index fingers together with a cloud of darkness hovering over his head.

"Who are you and what did you do with my shy, adorable girlfriend?" Naruto asked with a pout.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. Second Place." Hinata said, barely maintaining her expression between the rising giggles and blush at Naruto muttered compliment.

"Well, if only winners get kisses, that means you can get kisses right?" Naruto asked as he stood up, staring right into Hinata's eyes as she gave a smirk that looked out of place on her innocent (usually) face.

As she walked up to him with a subtle sway in her hips, she threw her arms around his neck as she stood on her tiptoes to capture his lips, quietly whispering, "I like the way you think."

"Are you lovebirds going to hang out on the roof a little while longer, or do we need to rent you a room." A familiar voice asked, accompanied by the telltale scratching of pencil on paper along with a muted and perverted giggle.

"KYAAA!" Hinata said, losing her haughty composure as she whirled around, throwing out a Jyuuken palm without a thought as Jiraiya was sent tumbling off the side, but still scribbling away in his perverted notebook as he plummeted towards the ground below.

"Yes, yes, the kid's a practical goldmine of material, and the Hyuuga girl… such soft hands." The perverted giggles didn't stop, even when he collided with the ground, a plume of dust erupting from the impact.

Back on the roof, Hiruzen sweat dropped at his student's less than expected departure as he glanced over the edge at the impact below. Shaking it off, he made a quick hand seal, vanishing in a swirl of leaves, most likely to his office below, Naruto believed. Hinata, on the other hand, was wailing at her attack on one of the Sannin. Rather than correct her that Jiraiya deserved it, he simply grasped her sleeve pulling her autonomous body down the stairs to the penultimate floor which held the Hokage's office as well as the Council Chambers.

Standing at mock attention, Naruto nudged Hinata's still spaced body as she made a low whining noise. Meanwhile, Sarutobi sat down slowly into the Hokage chair, managing to hide the wince as his wounds flared up.

"I guess I'll open by saying that the council has decided to promote Hinata Hyuuga to the rank of Chunnin, should she so accept." Hiruzen started as Naruto smiled widely, shaking Hinata. It would seem for all his maturity during the battle, he was still the same kid beneath it all.

"You hear that Hina-hime, you made Chunin! I told you they would have no choice but to promote you after that amazing battle during the Finals!" Naruto exclaimed, waving his arms around crazily. The display made Hiruzen smile, half happily as memories of a young Naruto came to his mind, but half in sadness as he recalled an almost identical display by Kushina when Minato was selected as the Fourth.

"H-Hai." Was all Hinata mumbled as she took the vest extended to her, but Hiruzen caught a forlorn glance in Naruto's direction.

"Unfortunately I don't exactly have a vest for you Naruto…" Sarutobi paused to see how Naruto reacted, but the boy hadn't even seemed to hear him as he began asking/commanded Hinata to try on her new vest. Hinata it seemed was paying attention as she let her head fall as the Third, and most likely Naruto as her target, heard her say, "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, I know you really wanted to make it to Chunin." The Hyuuga heiress seemed to have lost all her light as she glanced up at Naruto's face, expecting him to be mirroring her forlorn expression, only to be surprised as Naruto was smiling widely.

"I meant what I said earlier during the Exams, they can keep me as a Genin from now until the end of the Fourth Shinobi War and I'll still take that hat from Jiji!" Naruto said with no trace of doubt.

"Be that as it may, the Council also voted, after a long deliberation, to promote you as well Naruto-kun, I just don't have a vest for you, what I do have is this. I hope you'll understand once you read it." The Third Hokage said as he reached into a hidden drawer on his desk, pulling out a small scroll embossed with red wax, the whirlpool seal recognizable to all the occupants of the room.

Naruto took the scroll reverently, looking at it as if he were holding a live bomb. Finally, he ran his finger over the seal, feeling the wax, not noticing as a small cut appeared on his finger, and a drop of blood filling the wax seal as it glowed for a moment before fading away. Naruto paused a moment, looking to his side to his partner, as she nodded edging him on.

He opened the scroll, and without a moment's notice, tears began to pour forth from his eyes as he turned from Hinata, falling into the couch on the wall, a low muttered apology as the only response as Hinata heard a cracked gasp come from the boy as she quickly hurried after him, sitting beside him as she hugged him in an attempt to take whatever was hurting him away.

Sparing a look at the unfurled scroll was all it took for Hinata to understand his tears and broken sobs.

To my Sochi-kun

From your Kaa-san

I guess I should start by saying to please not blame Sarutobi-oji for keeping this from you, my dear Naruto, but if you have even a fraction of my personality in you, you won't listen. I wish you didn't have to find out this way, as I have no idea what excuse was given for you having no parents while all your friends did, but know this, me and your father loved you so so very much, Sochi.

Having said that, I've now realized that you still won't know who I am; my name is Kushina Uzumaki, the clan head of the Uzumaki clan, which now means that title passes to you if you're reading this letter. Sealed at the bottom of this letter is all the possessions of the Uzumaki Clan, which isn't much but it's all I brought with me when I was forced to leave Uzushio towards the end of the Second Shinobi War.

There, now I've done m duty as the clan head and one of the finally remaining members of the Uzumaki Clan, so I can talk to you as your Kaa-san, which I realize I have no right to call myself in your eyes since we all but abandoned you from birth when we died. I hope you can forgive us, and that you'll understand one day, and yet never be able to understand why we did what we did… because that means you both managed to find a beautiful and wonderful wife (she better be for my Sochi-kun) and have the perfect child, and have to sacrifice yourselves to save both your child and the village.

Hinata's eyes struggled through the next few lines as they were smudged with tears.

By now, I'm sure you're wondering why me, why not someone else, and the answer to that is simply in your blood, a curse I passed on to you unfortunately. You see, Uzumaki's are naturally strong chakra-wise, and so it has always been an Uzumaki that carried the burden, first Mito Uzumaki, hopefully you recognize her name as she was the First Hokage's wife, and my surrogate mother when I came to Konoha, she in turned passed the burden on to me, and I unfortunately to you.

I can hear the battle out side, and I'm too weak by now to search the house for more paper so I'll try to wrap this up quickly. The reason me and your father asked Sarutobi-oji to keep our identities a secret from you was done for two reasons, the first is if that blasted Council found out that you were a pure-blooded Uzumaki they would probably try to enforce the CRA on you. If you never find out what that is, then at least we could leave you that present. The other part was due to what your heritage carries, during the Third Shinobi War I earned quite a reputation as Konoha's Bloody Red Habanera, on top of the fact that I survived the destruction of Uzushio by Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri, my bounty grew immensely in Iwa, not as big as your father's you understand, but no one's bounty could compare to his anyways. This is why I ask Sarutobi-ojii to keep this scroll until you reached Chunin, as I'm sure you can guess know, he also has a letter from your father as well, but I ask for you to please not look at it until you're much stronger than Chunin, hopefully stronger than a Jounin as well, but if you take after me, you'll probably demand the letter right now, dattebane.

As the descending light hit the scroll, Hinata gasped as she noticed for the first time, the ink wasn't black as was traditional, but crimson as she realized why the handwriting was wavering the longer the letter went on. It was hard to make out the finally section, but both she and Naruto could clearly make out the last four words.

I love you Sochi

Beneath that was a simple sealing matrix as mentioned earlier in the letter. But Naruto didn't unseal the contents right now as he swiped at the tears pouring from his eyes as he walked up to the other side of the Hokage's desk.

"Is-Is thi-Is that all?" He managed to get out.

"I don't want to keep you any longer than needed, but I do have a mission for you as a newly branded Chunin, I need you to go with Jiraiya to retrieve my final student Tsunade and bring her back to replace me as Hokage." Sarutobi said straightly as Naruto nodded slowly in acceptance, both Hiruzen and Hinata not really sure if he understood the mission.

"When do we leave?"

A/N: Let me start by profusely apologizing for taking this long to get back to you guys and this story. I could make a number of excuses, but I'll simply leave by saying my computer which I've been using for the past 18 years finally bit the dust proverbially. It cuts off at unexpected times, and freezes up, won't come back on, and I live in a small town with no public libraries in the surrounding area to visit and use, and with having to pay car insurance now along with bills I just can't afford a new computer. For that reason, this story, along with all my others will be undergoing a temporary hiatus for a few monthes until A) my birthday where I get a new computer, or B) I can afford a new computer myself. And some of you may say, if they really check out my profile that I'm active in favoriting new stories and authors, that is due to the fact that I read on my tiny smartphones in my spare time, for obvious reasons I refuse to write on something that small so I hope you guys understand and will continue to read my stories when I can return.