Naruto sighed as he opened his eyes. He looked towards the sky and saw that he still had about 2 hours until he has to meet his team. It's the day of the chunin exams which means it is also the day Orochimaru might attack his team, mainly Sasuke. Unfortunately for him though, he had another thing coming for him. Naruto sighed as he got up. Kurama was still sleeping soundly inside him dreaming about his "father". Suddenly Naruto heard whimpering coming from him mindscape. He entered and saw Kurama breathing rapidly. What surprised him the most was that Kurama had tears running down his face. Naruto was surprised but he quickly ran up to his friend and tried to wake him up.

"Kurama, oi, Kurama. Are you okay? Wake up!" Naruto yelled trying to get through to the fox.

Kurama woke up with a jolt. He spotted Naruto and immediately changed into his chibi form. He ran up to the blonde and tackled him, tears still streaming down his face.

"There, there, it's alright. Calm down," Naruto cooed as he stroked the fox's back. Kurama had completely dropped his guard and former demeanor as he cried into Naruto's shirt. "It was only a dream," Naruto comforted in a soft voice, "It's going to be alright." After a few minutes, Kurama's cries gradually turned into whimpers and died down. Naruto held the fox at arm's length and wiped away his tears.

Naruto smiled, "The sage of six paths?"

"I'm sorry Kurama, as much as I would like to bring him here for you, not even I know what to do to summon him."

Naruto chuckled, "Don't worry, I won't." They stayed like that for quite some time as the Jinchuriki continued to comfort the fox. Finally, the blonde kissed Kurama's little nose and decided to get ready for the exams. Never in a million years would Naruto have thought that Kurama would even shed a tear, although he realized a long time ago that Kurama was a lot like him in many ways. They were both shunned and treated as weapons. They were both feared and held a pain that many others would not understand and lastly, they both had tragic pasts that were extremely painful to bear with. Naruto sighed as he thought of all of this. He made sure to remind himself that Kurama also had feelings and still had emotions even though he never really showed it, just like himself.

Naruto finally arrived at his team's meeting spot, not a second early or late. He had to finish a bit of paperwork and a few mission reports that he still had to give in and he made sure to remind his subordinates about his orders from a few days before.

"Yo, sorry, Tora wouldn't let me leave. Am I late?" Naruto greeted.

"Nope! Just on time!" Sakura greeted back cheerfully.

Sasuke just hn'd.

"Great, let's go." They both nodded as they all started walking towards. On the way there, Naruto met up with a few familiar faces.

"Kankuro, Temari," Naruto acknowledged.

"Naruto, hey," Temari smiled.

"Yo was up," Kankuro smirked.

Suddenly, an object roughly around the size of Kurama's chibi form tackled the blonde to the ground.

When Naruto finally opened his eyes, he found a raccoon-dog sitting on top of him, smiling.

"Shukaku, hey."

"What? Well..."

"No, he hasn't why?" Naruto answered.

"Oh, how about you? I sense something weird from you as well. Have you been crying?" Naruto teased.

"Oh? Really?"

Naruto chuckled, "You know Shukaku, it's okay to let out your feelings. It's not healthy to bottle them up all the time." Suddenly, there was a plume of smoke and Kurama popped out. The tanuki jumped off of Naruto and tackled him. Kurama groaned as the two fought for a bit. Sasuke and Sakura were just standing in the background, confused as ever. First, it was Kurama, being the nine-tails, now it was Shukaku, the one-tails? And Naruto was friends with both of them!!?? Even the sand genin??!! They both sighed and looked at each other. They shrugged as they talked through their mental link.

"What the heck is going on?" Sakura asked.

"Hn."

"How does Naruto know all of them?"

"Hn."

"Can you stop saying hn?"

"Hn."

"Please!!!"

"Hn."

"I'll tell Naruto you like him."

"HNNN!!!"

"Okay!!! I'll tell him!!!"

"HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!"

"What?"

"Hn."

"Hey, Naruto!!!" Sakura called out.

"HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!"

Naruto looked back at them and tilted his head curiously.

"Fine, fine I'll stop!!!" Sasuke yelled.

Sakura smirked.

"Oh, nothing, nevermind."

Naruto looked at Gaara and shrugged.

"Don't do that ever again," Sasuke growled.

"Hmm... Well, you were annoying so I had no choice," Sakura shrugged.

Sasuke growled in response.

"Guys, the sand genins are also coming along with us. Let's go," Naruto beckoned. They both nodded and followed, Shukaku and Kurama were walking along beside them with their tails swishing around wildly. The 8 walked along the path silently. Naruto, Gaara, Shukaku, and Kurama were in their little world whispering about things that the others couldn't hear. Sasuke kept eyeing the red-head as he hn'd away to Sakura, Kankuro, and Temari talking.

"Naruto, Orochimaru plans on using me to attack the hidden leaf," Gaara explained.

"I had a feeling," Naruto muttered.

The two jinchuriki looked at the two and chuckled.

Naruto continued talking, "After the second stage of the chunin exams are done, I'm going to back out or else it wouldn't be a fair match with the other test-takers. It's basically, genin vs a jonin/anbu commander."

Gaara nodded in understanding.

The teams finally reached the building and they walked in. Naruto paused for a fraction of a second when he realized that he smelled the scent of snakes. The blonde raised his guard as they continued walking. They headed to room 301 which was the room they were assigned to the previous day. When they reached the second floor, the saw a bunch of teams huddled around a door, trying to get in. They all immediately noticed the poorly made genjutsu and completely ignored it. Suddenly, a boy around the same age as they are jumped in front of them and stopped them in their tracks. He was wearing a hideous green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers strapped to his legs. He had a bowl-cut and the Konoha headband tied around his waist.

"Hello, my youthful friends, I am Rock Lee. What is your name?" The guy asked as he pointed to Sasuke.

The emo-duckass smirked, "Uchiha Sasuke,"

"I challenge you to a fight!!!" The guy declared.

"Tch, let's end this quickly," Sasuke smirked as he activated his Sharingan.

"Sasuke," Naruto warned, "Don't, the second part of the chunin exams is on the same day as the first part. Don't get me wrong, you can fight him any other day, but just make an exception for today. I can't have you hurt or else nothing good will come out of it. Heed my advice. Ignore him for now."

"Tch, whatever dobe," Sasuke sighed as he deactivated his Sharingan.

"Wait! What is your name? You seem to be very wise and youthful!!"

"Uzumaki Naruto, anyway, we really should be going," Naruto sweatdropped.

"Tch, weakling," Someone said behind them. Naruto paused and looked towards the voice. He immediately identified him to be Hyuga Neji from the branch family.

Naruto smiled, "Don't let appearances fool you, a mistake that many shinobi have made and that is what leads them to their downfall."

Neji looked at him with narrowed eyes, trying to study and calculate his movements. Naruto sighed as he started walking again towards the room that they were supposed to be at, followed closely by the sand genin and his teammates. Shukaku and Kurama have gone back to their Jinchurikis by now and were watching everything through their "owners". The moment Naruto opened the door, a dark aura surrounded them. There were many people in the classroom. Most had shadows covering their faces making them look like they were about to murder someone any second. It was deathly silent that you could hear a pin drop. Naruto sensed an immediate rush of snake presence and chakra from 2 sources. All 6 of them walked in and some people took the time to stare at them. Suddenly, a male with grey hair and glasses walked up to them with a smile. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he realized that one of the sources the smell of snakes was coming from that he sensed was from him.

"Hello! My name is Yakushi Kabuto." The person greeted. Naruto narrowed his eyes at him even more as he continued speaking, "I'm guessing this is the first time you are taking the chunin exams." All of them nodded as Naruto just decided to play along. Kabuto sweatdropped at the look the blonde boy was giving him.

'Does he know who I am? Am I that obvious? No, it can't be, they are only mere genin, they can't possibly have figured it out."

"Well anyway, do you want to see something cool?"

The genins hesitantly looked at each other until Naruto replied, "Sure, why not."

Kabuto smirked as he pulled out a stack of cards, he applied chakra to them and they revealed pictures and information of people who previously took or are taking the exams. Naruto spotted a card that had his picture on it but it was of him when he was much younger. The jinchuriki mentally cursed as he quickly swiped the card at lightning speed and demolished it. Nobody saw since Naruto was so quick, not even the Rinnegan could follow his movements. After showing the genins the cards, the proctor of the first part of the chunin exams walked in.

"Everybody take a seat," He ordered. Everyone obeyed. As Naruto walked past his exam proctor, he whispered.

"Snake."

Ibiki glanced at him and understood. He nodded as Naruto sat down at one of the desks. Beside him was a girl name Hinata from his class and a random ninja from Iwa. His teammates, Sasuke and Sakura, were sitting far away from each other. They all made eye contact and nodded. They were going to get through this together.

"Good morning, my name is Morino Ibiki, I am going to be your proctor for the first part of the chunin exams. Part one consists of a written test. Rules are simple, you have 45 minutes to answer 9 questions. The test that will be given to you will contain 9 out of the 10 questions, however, the tenth will be given out after the 45 minutes are finished. If you or your teammates are caught cheating, you will automatically be disqualified and dropped out of the exams. Understood?" Everyone nodded as the papers were being given out.

"45 minutes start, now."

Naruto smirked as he looked at the paper. The test that they are taking were created by none other than him. He knew all the answers and he was their cheat sheet. The blonde quickly filled out his paper as he pretended to use his arm to cover his answers.

I stared down at the paper as my eye twitched.

'I know none of these answers,' I thought to myself. Suddenly, something popped into my head as I remembered back to what our exam proctor told us in the beginning.

"If you or your teammates are caught cheating then..."

'Wait! Caught cheating! Of course!' I looked down at my dobe and saw that he was filling out the answers with seemingly no problem at all. I was surprised at first but realized that I still didn't know much about him at all. I sighed as I activated my Sharingan. I peeked at his test paper and quickly copied his answer down. I smirked and looked towards Sakura.

'By the looks of things, I guess she figured out the objective of the first part as well.'

'What the? These aren't questions that a normal genin would know the answers to.' I glanced towards Sasuke and saw the same look of confusion on his face. I then glanced towards Naruto who was... FILLING OUT THE QUESTIONS!!!???

'Think Sakura, think. Focus.'

"If you or your teammates are caught cheating...." The sentence flashed through my head and suddenly, something clicked inside my head.

"Hey, Naruto!" I said through our link.

"Understood the objective?"

"Yep, answers please~"

Naruto sighed, "Question one: target C. Question 2: rule number 136..."

"Thanks!"

"Mhm."

"Hey, Sasuke!" Sakura greeted cheerfully.

"Hn."

"How'd you cheat?"

"Sharingan, Naruto," he answered with the least amount of words possible.

"Cool!"

"Hn," Naruto and Sasuke said in unison. Naruto rolled his eyes, Sasuke deadpanned, and Sakura sweatdropped. The raven sighed as he propped his head on one of his hands and looked out the window, occasionally glancing at a certain blonde. Sakura put her head down and closed her eyes while Naruto had a bit of chit chat with the fox and tanuki.

After the 45 minutes passed, Ibiki started talking, "45 minutes. You all still have one more question that has yet to be answered. But before I tell you, there are a few things that you should know. 1: If you get the question wrong, you will never be able to take the chunin exams ever again. 2: If your teammates also get the question wrong, then the consequences will be the same as number 1. And lastly, you will be allowed to quit right now and you will still have the chance to take the chunin exams again next year. Now, people who want to quit, please stand up and leave the room." It was silent for a few moments until someone stood up and looked towards his team.

"I'm sorry guys. I-I can't..."

A female glared at him with menacing eyes and another male tch'd. They both reluctantly get up and all 3 of them left the room. One by one, teams got up and pulled out of the exams. By the end, only 12 teams were remaining.

"What's the final question?" Someone asked.

"That was the tenth question. Congratulations, you all pass." Someone people sighed in relief while some other people were confused.

"Wait, then what was the test all about?"

"The written exams were merely to test your ability to gather information from other sources. There was a person who had all the answers planted among all of you. You were meant to cheat but not be caught doing so.

"Then what about the tenth question?"

"The tenth question was to test your bravery, endurance, and determination. 3 traits that are needed to becoming a shinobi worthy of respect."

Suddenly, the moment his voice cut off, the window burst open as a purple-haired woman jumped in. A banner rolled into position and blocked Ibiki from view.

"You guys! This isn't the time to be celebrating! I am Mitarashi Anko and I am going to be your proctor for the second exam! Let's move onto the second stage! Follow me!!!" She shouted as she pumped her fist into the air.

The blonde facepalmed as everyone else in the room sweatdropped.

'Anko, stop embarrassing yourself," Naruto sighed.

"Anko..." Ibiki started.

"No! You shush! This is my time to shine!" She shouted.

Everyone sighed as they got up and walked out of the room.

"Anko, Ibiki, stay here for a moment," Naruto ordered. They nodded and stayed in place.

"Sasuke, Sakura, go on without me for now, I will be with you shortly." He called out. They both looked at him, shrugged, and walked out.

By now there were only a few people in the room. Naruto, Anko, Ibiki, and a few others that were secretly Anbu members that he planted there specifically since they knew who he was. They all immediately dropped into a kneeling position.

"I think you all were able to sense it. That snake and his subordinate were here," He growled. Everyone nodded.

"My main purpose is to protect the village and for my mission, the Uchiha as well. Secure the perimeter of training ground 44. Do not let anyone who is leaving out of your sights. Report to me the moment you see something suspicious. Understood?" They nodded. "Good, dismissed." The nodded and shunshined away, leaving Anko and Ibiki still in the room.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you guys will have a lot of fun after the second stage," Naruto smirked.

"We'll be waiting!" Anko sang. Ibiki nodded. "Now follow me Naruto-sama! Onwards!!!" The blonde facepalmed and Ibiki sweatdropped. She ran out of the room and towards training ground 44. Naruto followed behind, embarrassed at his subordinate's antics. When he finally got to the designated area, Anko was already there, explaining the rules and introducing herself although she looked uneasy. Naruto walked to his team with his guard up as he glanced around at the genins who passed. He could sense Kabuto and Orochimaru within the pack but he decided not to strike just yet. He wanted to wait for them to strike him first.

"...There are 2 different scrolls. One is heaven and the other is the earth. You will be given one of the 2 and the other you have to retrieve from other teams. There are a total of 36 of you which means there are 12 teams. By the time your 5 days are over, you will be cut down to at least half that number, maybe even less. Each team will start from a different entrance. Good luck!" Everyone nodded and headed towards their designated entrance.

"Hey, Naruto, where were you?" Sakura asked.

"I had some personal business to complete," Naruto shrugged.

"Oh, okay! But you will tell us after the chunin exams right?"

Naruto hesitated for a second before answering, "That will depend on how things play out."

"You still need to tell me about that thing that you promised me in the beginning dobe," Sasuke said.

"Yes, I know, as I said before, after the chunin exams," Naruto sighed.