Zanaru Chronicles: The Start

Summary: It wasn't something that was planned by either of them, but it would change the future. This time, it wasn't really Haku that had the biggest effect on Naruto, but rather, it was Zabuza. Only impression happens in the most unexpected of ways.

Warnings: Cannon typical violence, homosexual relationships, language, and sexual content.

Authour Note: So, in all honesty I'm not the happiest with this chapter. Part of the reason behind it is the fact I felt almost like I was forcing the writing. This is probably because I'm most excited about what's going to happen AFTER this chapter. First part of the Chunin Exam's done and I can finally get into the fun stuff, know what I mean? Either way, Naruto and Shika have finally met, their interactions will be bland for awhile, but they will be happening. The relationship is going to be incredibly slow burning, if you couldn't already tell. Chapter updates after this will probably slow down, as I'm now working with a beta-reader to polish up the earilier chapters and from then on.

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The last five days could not have been more fruitful physically. It was easy to be thankful toward the Kyuubi – Despite what it had done to the village and Naruto's own life, when he helped Naruto out as he did. No one else could progress as quickly physically as Naruto did. Well, other demon holders could, some bloodlines… People that worked hard enough…. However, that was beside the point. The point being that it was incredibly rare to find someone that could actually train the way that the blonde did and not die well doing it.

He got dressed in another of the same outfit. Black pants, shirt, and sandals, but burnt orange arm and leg warmers. He also ditched any weights, knowing logically that they were too unwieldy to take off if a fight occurred in the exams. Finally, he put on his forehead protector and grabbed Kubikiribōchō.

Naruto quickly took to the roofs the second he was ready.

The team had got together and decided that they would be going into the exams about half an hour before it was time for them to begin. Not over eager, but also dangerously last minute. It was actually Sasuke that came up with that particular time frame, but Naruto couldn't bring himself to argue over it. The only thing wrong with the time frame was the fact that Sasuke brought it up rather curtly, borderline rude, and just expected the rest of the team to agree with him. Which they had, sometimes Naruto thought that he was giving the Uchiha too much leeway though.

Before it was because Naruto knew, what it was like to be lonely like Sasuke was. Now it was much different, now Naruto would look at Sasuke and see someone that no longer existed.

Naruto blanked his minds of such depressing thoughts. First and foremost, he needed to be in the right mindset when it came to exams. It wasn't even that Naruto thought they could touch him. However, Naruto also knew that the other teams were Konoha teams. This meant that the rest of his comrades were likely in for a wakeup call. Naruto hoped that he could make sure they weren't too harmed by said calling. Sakura being the biggest offender here. Naruto pretty much knew that Sasuke was broken of innocents regarding the ninja world in general.

The blonde shook his head once again, almost amused over the way his thoughts now got away from him. Before most of his thoughts were something like, 'Ramen… Training… Sasuke… Ramen…. Hokage Hokage Hokage'

Vast improvement.

So much so that Naruto had to admit, he was more Zabuza than he'd previously thought. It was more like a half-half deal then the one out of five ramen bowls that Naruto originally assumed.

A patch of bright pink was visible in the distance now, and it didn't take Naruto very long to catch up. Sasuke was already there, next to their pinkette teammate as Naruto dropped down from the buildings.

"Dope… I almost thought that you weren't coming." The Uchiha said, a familiar teasing smirk curling onto his lips.

Naruto just gave an overly large grin in return, "Well, I can't stay a Genin forever. Besides, someone has to be around to pull you out of the fire. Undoubtedly you are going to end up getting yourself in some deep shit that will have me rushing in to save your pansy ass."

"Hn."

Naruto could feel his eye twitch at the typical Uchiha response. What the absolute fuck was that little sound Sasuke made… It wasn't fucking cute, it wasn't a confirmation, hell, Sasuke could practically hold an entire conversation with just that sound considering how often and varied he used it. Utterly ridiculous.

"How about you Sakura? How are you feeling about the exams?" Naruto said, turning his attention toward their fan girl teammate.

Anyone could see that she was a ball of nerves.

"I'm sure that we will pass no problem. After all, we have Sasuke-kun on our teams, and he's the Rookie of the Year." She spoke haughtily.

Naruto really hated people who lied to themselves. He honestly would have thought Sakura's attitude would have gotten better after that Wave mission. That however, didn't seem to be the case. Perhaps seeing the teams from other Nations would help to install the idea of just how much of a spoiled brat she was about the whole ninja thing.

Sasuke didn't seem to take the comment well either, but refrained from showing a reaction. Only someone that watched Sasuke as much as Naruto had would have seen the small tightening of his eye lines.

The three Genin walked inside of the school as what they were – A team.

They meet their first roadblock the second that they walked in. There were a whole shit ton of Genin just standing there in front of one doorway in particular. This was curious, considering it wasn't the doorway that they were meant to be at. Even weirder was the fact it was guarded by two other Genin.

Naruto, who finally had enough chakra control to sense others rather well, could tell that those two weren't Genin. Never mind the fact that there were several Genjutsu active in the area. As impulsive as he was, there was no urge to suddenly rat those 'Genin' out. They were simply weeding out those that weren't meant to be in the exam.

Then something interesting happened. A girl went up to the 'Genin' her hair in buns and practically begging the guards to let her and her team through so that they could compete in the exams.

Why was this interesting?

Naruto would bet anything on the fact it was nothing more than an act. The girl was playing off the fact that the people around her were half convinced of the little lie, and was trying to keep the competition down. She was a sly little thing if that was the case, and her team was surely one to look out for. Of course, there was someone with an ego bigger than a plan in the room, "My team would never fall for such a thing. The third floor? We only went up two flights of stairs. You should just take down that pathetic Genjutsu."

Tch, stupid Uchiha… Nothing for it. Once the Uchiha got a proper ass kicking, he wouldn't be as full of himself. Until then, Naruto would just have to swallow down his thoughts. Nothing Naruto could say would change his mind on the matter.

But seriously, it was as if they had utterly forgotten the Wave Mission.

It had no effect on their overall attitudes and outlooks at all. It was disappointing as much as it was enraging. Haku died, Zabuza lost his strength and had to start life anew because of that mission, and the Genin couldn't even grow up a little bit?

Still, it was almost humorous to watch all the stupid Genin realize what the Uchiha said was fact. They all looked angry with themselves, and they should be. It was likely they didn't deserve to be part of this Exam if they couldn't see through such a simple illusion. It was as Naruto had always thought though, if you weren't paying attention, A Genjutsu user would kill you before you could scream to your mommy.

Naruto normally wasn't one big on strategy. He preferred tactics… However, he could work with what Sasuke was doing. Instead of going under the radar (Like actual fucking shinobi), they could use the attention Sasuke was drawing in a proactive way. It would unconsciously make people underestimate Naruto, even Sakura… She'd need that. So letting the Uchiha making a fool of himself was a plus in this…

This certainly reminded Naruto that Sasuke wasn't anything like the friend he had all that time ago in Mist.

Then a surprising character acted. Dressed in skintight green and orange leg warmers…

It made Naruto want to rip off his own leg warmers and never be seen in the country again.

This of course, was beside the point. The Genin in question was extremely fast. Naruto immediately categorized him as a dangerous opponent. Looks were deceiving in many cases, and this was without a doubt one of them. Stopping the Uchiha and a Chunin wasn't a small feat after all, "Let's wait to fight until the exams start. This is no place for actions like this."

It got worse though.

"Lee, you said that we should hide ourselves, and you just gave us away." The girl who'd been acting earlier spoke out.

Naruto was instantly more on guard than ever before. So, the smart girl was actually teammates with the strong sprout... Lee as it was. Their other teammate was undoubtedly just as impressive. It was better not to make enemies of them. Before anyone else could get a word in, Naruto spoke up himself, "Teme… You are the one that made us some here at this time. I thought it was for a reason, yet here you are wasting time. Let's go, before we end up getting into trouble."

"Hn." Came the typical response once again, only this time, it was almost spat out. The Uchiha wasn't happy that his teammate was drawing him away from the potential confrontation.

Tough shit! Damn, Sasuke was so much more bearable a few days ago. What the hell had changed his mind…?

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that!" Sakura whispered frantically, looking around at the other Genin, almost embarrassed.

Both Naruto and Sasuke had already started to walk toward where they were meant to be going, without paying much attention to what she was saying. Naruto of course, didn't give a shit of her weird over protective urge when it came to the Uchiha, and the Uchiha himself didn't appreciate someone else fighting his battles.

They entered a rather open area that was sometimes used for sparring if the weather outside wasn't good enough, only to be interrupted by a now familiar voice, "Hey you, with the mean attitude."

Naruto knew that they should just ignore it – continuing without looking back to the troublemaker.

Instead, both Sasuke and Sakura turned around to face the person who had spoken toward them. At this point, Naruto was getting more than just impatient, but slammed down some emotional control. The situation could be made use of, if Naruto was cunning enough. It was practically a challenge.

That's right, not an annoyance… A challenge.

"You're Sasuke Uchiha correct? The last of the prodigal Uchiha Clan?" The sprout said, seeming an almost formal type of tense.

This of course, made Sasuke angry. People talking about his clan usually did. It brought up the feelings of inadequacy he felt when related to the rest of the perfect clan he'd been born into. Especially when it came to Itachi, "What of it?" He spoke curtly.

"I've heard that you are your years Rookie of the Year, a prodigy that many talk about, saying you are extremely skilled… Is this true?"

"Can you just get to the point already? We have a test to get to… I swear to god if I have to stay a Genin for another six months because I missed this exam I will kill everyone currently in this room. That includes myself." Naruto hissed out, grinding his teeth. Just the thought of failing this exam and being sent to find that goddamn cat…

Degrading…

"I just want a match with one of the top people in our generation." Lee said, although there was a spark of interest in his eyes that wasn't there before when beholding Naruto.

All right Uzumaki, don't spit killing intent out like its piss, you can control yourself.

"Dope… Like you're going to pass anyway." Nevertheless, it was a comfortable tease, something that made Naruto's anger lessen, rather than rise. The Uchiha then went to look the challenger in front of him over, wondering why he seemed so confident. Lee himself had said that Sasuke was one of the top in their generation, "Let me get this straight, you know that I'm supposedly one of the best in our generation, and you still want to fight me?"

Lee had a deep sort of determination set in his eyes, "Yes, I believe that fighting you will help me to understand my own path better. I definitely need to fight a prodigy, to understand just where I am when it comes to my own skill level."

That was something that Sasuke of all people could get behind. It was understandable; to want to know where you stood against someone you considered being your goal. Sadly enough, Sasuke knew that he was nowhere near his goal, but if he could help this Lee reach his, then shouldn't Sasuke take that extra step?

"Uke-chan, please remember that we have a deadline to meet." Naruto was quick to interject, giving a bloodthirsty grin toward his teammate. As if daring him to go against the words he'd just spoken. Even Sakura seemed to be in agreement, nodding along to what their blonde teammate was saying.

"This won't take that long." Sasuke stated confidently, stepping forward despite his teammates misgivings.

Naruto sincerely hopped that the sprout gave his teammate a solid ass kicking. Didn't the bastard ever learn that there was no 'I' in 'team'?

"Feh… I'm going up ahead. I have no interested in watching this ass beating, no matter which way it goes. Uke-chan, if you make me fail because you decided to play a game, I will not be happy." Naruto spoke clearly; glaring at Sasuke, bits of Naruto's killing intent leaking with the glare.

Naruto had noticed he was angry more often than the past few days. At first, he had thought it was a side effect of the whole Zabuza becoming half of just who made Naruto… well…. Naruto. However, that did not seem to be the case. If anything, Zabuza had a surprising amount of emotional control, and not much made him truly angry. This made the situation all the more curious, but as it were, Naruto's only theory was that he woke up on the wrong side of the bed for the last week.

As Naruto walked away, he gave a wave behind to his teammates and continued on his way to room 301.

"Naru-chan."

The voice was familiar, but it held an amount of anger that Naruto had not heard from the man before. To say that it was putting the blonde on edge wouldn't be an understatement. For a few seconds, Naruto wondered just what he would have done to make this particular person angry with him. That was, of course, when Naruto remembered his actions a few days ago when proving a point to his little apprentice.

"Kaka-sensei…" Even when the man had been trying to kill him as Zabuza, Kakashi hadn't given such strong killing intent.

The second Naruto uttered the syllables however, that intent vanished and the silver haired man practically folded in on himself, "My cute little student certainly went out of his way to destroy my only friendship."

Naruto could almost feel the depressed aura around the man. The Uzumaki rarely regretted his actions, especially not ones that could have been taken as nothing more than a simple prank, but for once, he did feel the twinges of guilt. He hadn't meant to do something so horrible to his two sensei's relationship that they would break it off.

"Surely Iruka-sensei knew you were a pervert when you became a thing."

"We weren't a thing." Kakashi stated plainly, looking at the ceiling instead of at his student. Honestly, Kakashi couldn't believe he was having this conversation, but he needed to have it with someone. His avenue of emotional structure was done without Iruka around to help the silver haired man work through what he was feeling. It was too embarrassing to talk to his senior comrades with; as they didn't have the same emotional stunting that Kakashi did and likely wouldn't understand. The only one he had been comfortable with was Iruka…

"Damn." Naruto whispered, understanding his error much better now. How was he meant to know that the two were so deep into denial that they utterly unaware of their own feelings? Still, that shouldn't mean Iruka would have left Kakashi, Naruto's old sensei was far too empathic for that, "I doubt Iruka-sensei dropped your friendship over something like your attraction toward him. Even if he didn't feel the same way toward you, which he does by the way."

Naruto really wanted with withhold advice like this. The last thing he really wanted was his perverted sensei going after his innocent one. However, he broke this, and now Naruto had to fix it.

"You think so?" Kakashi sounded almost innocently hopeful.

Damn, this guy was broken ten ways to Sunday. Naruto thought to himself, looking at his sensei with a curious eye. Zabuza could recall hearing about Kakashi a lot, excessively young to be a ninja… Trained to keep his emotions out of the job completely, during a war too. It made sense that he was so messed up, and Naruto had broken his support system. Damn, no wonder he was coming to Naruto like this.

Something was curious about the way he'd put that though, "Shouldn't you already know that?"

"I ran away." Kakashi stated plainly, masking his emotions behind a feeble eye smile.

Urgh… "Go talk to him, actually talk to him. I'm almost sure that he will admit his feelings toward you and you two can do… Whatever it is you do all alone at Iruka's house. Let's be clear though… If you hurt him, I will kill you."

Kakashi seemed to mull the information over, before nodding slowly, his whole demeanor seeming to nit itself back together, bringing up the typical mask the man wore on a daily basis. Not the physical one, but the metaphorical one, "By the way, you can't go in there without your teammates… I would have thought that Sasuke would have shown, but either way, you need a team. Guess no Chunin Exams for you."

The man was borderline too cheerful for having to say something like that.

"They're here, they are just lagging behind."

As if on cue, the two other members of Team 7 walked in and saw Naruto with their Sensei, both of which raised a hand in greeting.

Sasuke was wearing several bruises. On his pride that was, the physical ones were actually less apparent then the internal ones that Uchiha had just suffered if his general demeanor was anything to go by.

"I guess little Uke-chan ended up getting his ass handed to him by the Sprout. Can't say I was betting on it, but I'm not overly surprised."

Sasuke just glared at Naruto, still trying to piece together his superiority complex, Naruto guessed.

"Shut up Naruto-baka! Sasuke-kun didn't get his ass beat; he was just surprised is all. Next time he'll definitely get that weirdo." Sakura said, sounding pretty sure of it.

Naruto would beg to differ. It seemed that Sasuke had gotten his ass kicked Grade-A-Style, the sprout was simply better than him. Uke-chan probably shouldn't be up to facing Lee again anytime soon.

"Shouldn't my cute little Genin have arguments like this AFTER they complete the first part of the exams? You wouldn't want to be late, would you?"

All three of said, 'Cute Little Genin' were clearing at their sensei for that particular comment. How the man could get off on telling them not to be late, when he couldn't be on time to save a life. The Copycat

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There are a shit ton of shinobi in here, was Naruto's first thought as he entered the room, his second thought?

Which ones were the most dangerous?

There weren't that many that stood out off the bat, with the exception of the redhead and his team, as well as the Sprout and his team. The rest of them seemed to be relatively normal shinobi for mid to high Genin-level. Naruto stood in one place, just observing the other teams for a few moments. Another thing of note was the three Genin that wore a music note as their forehead protector symbol. Neither Zabuza, nor Naruto had come across something like that before.

His thought process was interrupted, "Naruto-baka! Pay attention!"

Sakura screamed in his ear, his attention wrenched toward her, as he tried to withstand the urge to reflexively reach for his sword at the fright in such a competition.

No one really noticed this.

Except one person who'd been observing the blonde the same way the blonde had been watching everyone else – Nara Shikamaru.

Seeing a more mature Naruto was like a kick in the balls. It was clear to Shikamaru that Naruto had far exceeded what any of them had expected form the blonde already. The way he was looking at the room before, he was studying his opponent, and as a Nara, no one knew how that looked better than Shikamaru. It wasn't just in strength that Naruto grew then, but also in intelligence. That doubled with Naruto's creativity would certainly mean one thing, Nara Shikamaru needed to keep his options open. Naruto was strong, a thus would make a powerful enemy... or ally.

Shikamaru knew that his team wasn't ready for these exams. They were put in the exams to teach a lesson, as their Sensei assumed that they would be able to get out alive. That was true, as long as they had Shikamaru along to play it smarter instead of harder.

Sometimes smarter meant knowing when your opponent had you out gunned and you needed allies.

Early assumptions make an ass out of you and me, but the Nara couldn't help but get the strange feeling that Naruto could easily be the strongest ally that he could make to keep his team alive in these exams.

Shikamaru definitely was taking Naruto more seriously than any of the others, but that didn't mean the rest of the Genin from Konoha hadn't noticed the change in their blonde comrade.

"I was paying attention; it's not my fault that you were paying attention to the wrong thing." Naruto drawled out, but the bite was taken out of the comment by the grin he gave her afterwards. Better to present a united front then a fractured and broken one.

"It's troublesome, but Naruto does have a point. He was watching our future opponents, That's probably more effective then screaming our heads off, drawing the enemies attention, and then more than likely going to off to fan girl over the 'ladies man' over there." Shikamaru spoke, rather bluntly in a drawling tone.

Naruto looked Shikamaru over. He seemed much the same as always, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The Uzumaki had always appreciated Shikamaru's brand of lazy bluntness. With the added knowledge of Zabuza however, that appreciation that Naruto had quickly flickered into respect. Konohagakure was famous for its strong bloodlines, with their teamwork, but also for their incredibly strong clans. One of the clans that people in other villages most feared was the Nara. Despite how lazy they were, their mind was deadly… Moreover, a shinobi's greatest weapon was his or her mind.

"Shika-chan! I'm surprised your lazy ass hasn't gotten itself killed yet."

"Naruto… You've changed a lot." Shikamaru drawled, his slouched posture screaming of laziness, but his sharp eyes were piercing Naruto.

It put Naruto on edge. Thus far, he'd hidden the whole situation with Zabuza reasonably well. Perhaps the best chance that Naruto had of not being discovered when under a Nara's sharp eye was the fact the Nara in question would probably find it far too troublesome to dig too deeply into just what was going on with the Uzumaki.

"He's probably the same dumb ass that he's always been." A retort came in a growly voice; Naruto immediately knew who it was. An accurate term would probably be 'rival' but honestly, Naruto had moved past that. Still, Kiba was an amusing person, and he actually came up with rather witty responses when he put his pea-sized brain to it.

"Look who's talking." Naruto stated simply, retaking in his surroundings. The Uchiha was in quite the state, his fan girls standing a bit too close to him. Naruto couldn't really bring himself to help the poor guy; he did it to himself with that damned attitude of his. Next to the Uchiha group was the Kiba group, which contained his two teammates, Hinata and Shino.

Hinata was also much the same as she was in the academy, pushing her fingers together shyly and not making eye contact with anyone.

Zabuza suddenly realized a something about the way the Hyuuga had been behaving toward Naruto in general. The girl had a crush on the Uzumaki… Suddenly Naruto felt incredibly awkward even looking at her. She was so little… It was just wrong to even think about an innocent little girl like that being attracted to him. Naruto quickly averted his eyes from her, and would continue to quickly glance away from her from then on.

Moving on…

Ino and Chouji also seemed pretty much the same as they'd always been. Chouji seemed a bit more in shape than before, there was a bit more maturity in him, but it was nothing major.

In these exams, only Shikamaru and Sasuke could really be a threat to him as far as the Konoha teams went.

"You know, you guys are drawing a lot of attention to yourselves, probably not something that the Rookie Genin should do."

Naruto swung toward the new voice, rather shocked to find someone standing behind him. He quickly schooled his features from shocked to a more mild surprise mixed with a raised eyebrow, "You certainly have a point… Who are you exactly?"

As Naruto waited for a response, he surveyed the guy before him. His chakra wasn't anything special now that Naruto was really looking at it… Nevertheless, the fact he'd been snuck up on was jarring. His control over chakra had improved to the point where his own sensing was no longer blocked out, a situation like this SHOULDN'T happen any longer, not even to purple wearing grey haired Genin that were most likely nothing to fear.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kabuto, Kabuto Yakushi."

Naruto felt weirdly tense around the guy, he couldn't bring himself to relax.

Sasuke had noticed, and was more on guard then before, ditching the fan girls to stand more noticeably with the blonde, and Shikamaru was noting the situation carefully.

"Is there something that you wanted Kabuto-san?" Sasuke spoke, his eyes narrowed.

"No need for that look." Kabuto said, holding his hands up giving an almost playful smile, "I'm not some suspicious person, I just saw that some fellow Konoha-nin were potentially putting themselves into a dangerous spot, and thought I'd try to give them some friendly advice. It you don't want to hear what I have to say, I'll leave."

Naruto opened his mouth, ready to tell the guy to get the fuck out and that they didn't need his help, when he was interrupted, "That's nice of you Kabuto-san. If you have information for us, does that mean you've taken the exams before?"

That fucking Sakura…

Kabuto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, his glasses adding to the look, "Well… It's actually my seventh time taking the test. Exams are held in Konoha twice a year."

Damn, Naruto could feel his instincts itching at him. Seven times? Was that normal? Naruto didn't know much about the tests, even with his past knowledge, but that seemed overly excessive and suspicious… Were his emotions blinding the way he was feeling about Kabuto? Damn… Naruto just couldn't understand what to make of the guy.

The mind fuck was too strong.

Sasuke seemed to forget about Naruto's attitude toward the Genin at this, thinking him too weak to pose a threat in lieu of the new information, "Do you have information on certain people?"

"Oh yeah, this time I came prepared for anything. Last thing that I want is to fail again… Is there someone in particular that you were looking for?"

"Rock Lee."

Well, despite how much the guy through me off, no reason turn down potential important information, "The red head from the Suna team, those music note village Genin, and tell me about you, Kabuto… I'm interested."

The question wasn't posed innocently, but either the glasses wearing Genin either ignored it, or didn't catch the under draft that Naruto was spouting.

"Well… Let's see here. First up is Rock Lee, he's a year older than you rookies are and trained by Gai. Wow, one of the top Jounin of the village, that's impressive. His Taijutsu is off the charts for a Genin, if this exam was based off stats alone he'd certainly pass. Although the rest of his skills are low, way below average… Maybe I spoke too soon. He's teammates with Tenten and wow, Rookie of the Year Neji Hyuuga. Together they completed 20 D-rank missions and 5 c-rank." Kabuto finished, looking mildly impressed,

Why should he be? He was the one that gathered the information – therefore, being impressed by it was overly weird. It wasn't the information gathering itself that was weird, hell; it was common for shinobi to horde information like that.

That damn itch again.

"Alright, now we're getting fun. Red head with no name from Suna… Sabaku no Gaara. His team if Temari and Kankuro, all of them are extremely skilled, but Gaara especially stands out. His physical stats aren't that high, but his Ninjutsu is noteworthy, well other skills are standard. The three of them are actually the sons and daughter of the Kazekage, and together they completed 13 D-rank, 8 C-rank, and 2 B-rank missions." Kabuto's eyes shot wide in surprise, "That shouldn't be possible, he's the same age as you guys, a Genin… They aren't allowed to be on B-rank missions usually… Never mind the fact it says here that Gaara always returns from his missions without injury."

Bloodline.

Missions B-rank and above without injury? That just bleeds the taste of bloodline. It was honestly the only thing that really made sense.

Naruto also noted the surprise Kabuto showed toward his own information again. Tch, this guy was playing it up somehow to them, or maybe he stole the information? The unease just wouldn't go away.

"The Sound Genin, I believe you asked for next." Kabuto cleared his throat and seemed to collect his thoughts, "They are from a relatively new village. Not much is known about them, other than the fact that they typically use some sort of sound as an attack. Hence, the name of their village, I suppose. This will be the first time the village ever sent their shinobi away to take a Genin exam."

Kabuto paused for a moment, before giving the Genin watching him in rapt attention a little laugh, "As for me, my main avenue of skill is in Medical-Ninjutsu, I'm just average in everything else. My chakra stores are really low as well; it's always been a problem for me. My team and I have done 57 D-rank and 8 C-rank missions."

Naruto couldn't exactly sense a lie, but he was still fucking unsettled. To be perfectly honest, he just wanted to leave the situation and never look at the glassed Genin again. Something about him… Was more than likely nothing? Honestly, if the actual Jounin around here couldn't sense something wrong with the Genin before him, then Naruto was likely over reaching because of the fact he used to have better senses and now they were exchanged for something almost subpar in comparison. There wasn't anything wrong with Kabuto.

There wasn't.

His hand was twitching to reach for his weapon the longer he stood in the suspicious-not suspicious Genin's presence, so Naruto just nodded his head and formed his expression to look thoughtful before he walked backward a bit, a 'safe' distance from the 'threat' and just watched.

Nara Shikamaru had caught it all, and damn was that Kabuto weird. He could understand why Naruto was so on edge, although the signs were so miniscule… Something was definitely off. The way that he was reacting to his own information, his attitude, and although having knowledge like this wouldn't be all that weird in general, having it on several different villages was kind of out there...

It would be troublesome to go against someone like that. The situation had however, helped him understand Naruto much better. He would see how the blonde dealt with the first exam before he made his choice, but the most helpful ally would likely be the blonde – As he proved repeatedly.

Both of the thinking Genin jumped farther to attention the second that Kabuto was attacked by someone from the Sound Village.

He moved too quickly, but Naruto knew that he didn't, it was in the Uzumaki's head… Fuck, he just wanted to be away from that stupid Genin and not see him anymore. The guy was doing his fucking head in. If they were around each other too much longer, he might try to take the guys head just from annoyance.

It became more interesting – and infinitely less annoying, when despite the fact that Kabuto had a clean cut dodge, the Genin collapsed onto the floor and got sick. Before when Kabuto had been explaining about the Sound Ninja, he had said that they use sounds in their attacks. Naruto hadn't seen anything like that before, but it was actually pretty damn impressive. Naruto reminded himself to get some earplugs should he have to face any of them on the actual battlefield.

"The Sound Village is gonna dominate this whole exam, weak little Leaf-Ninja like you don't stand any chance against us. You're spoiled brats, and it's about time that someone taught you better."

It wasn't just the Sound Village Genin that seemed to agree with that, but various others from the exam room suddenly bore down on the Rookie Genin. Naruto narrowed his eyes at his opponents for a moment, wondering just what he should do.

He saw some of the rookies wavering in their determination. Especially the girls, although Naruto only glanced at Hinata for a millisecond.

"Actually, here's how it's going to be. You have nothing on me; I'm going to become Hokage someday… If any of you people in this exam get it n your tiny little heads to get in the way of that goal… I'll kill you."

He gave a sharp grin, followed by a deep chuckle as he bore down on his own Killing Intent, draping it over all the people who'd been glaring at the Konoha Genin. Suddenly that attention was placed on Naruto alone. Good, let them think that they could touch him. If he couldn't beat them with raw power, he'd just throw sand in their eyes and kick them in their precious spots. After all, they threatened Naruto's comrades… He was entitled to feeling a little bit protective.

"All you little brats need to settle down." An older man said as he entered the room, a deep scowl painted on his face, before it transformed into an almost sadistic grin, "The exam is about to start after all. I'm your exam proctor, Ibiki Morino"

R&R

So, I listened to the majourity reviews that said Sakura should wait to improve and listened. Curiosity begs for me to ask, do people just in general not give a shit about Sakura? I had a plan to make her useful and a good character, but if readers won't care for it, then I might not bother. Let me know!