My Hidden Tears (A Naruto Fanfic)

Ch. 11

Sakura was busy running errands for lady Tsunade, when she saw two familiar boys zoom past her at an astonishing speed. She felt the wind caused by them lift her hair, blowing it in her face, and blocking her vision.

"Heh." She smiled, blushing slightly at the sight of her two favorite people finally healthy(ish), and getting along.

Her eyes followed them, as they pushed and shoved each other to get in front, Sasuke even jumped over Naruto, pushing off of his shoulders to get ahead.
It was quite a sight.

"Hey, Sakura!" Iruka sensei called out.

She turned around to where the voice was coming from. The voice pulled her back onto reality and out of her thoughts.

"Iruka sensei, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked, a bit confused.

"Naruto came past here right? I could've sworn I saw him a minute ago..." He explained, panting and out of breath.

"He just left." Sakura told him, pointing in the direction he went.

"Thanks Sakura, you're a life saver!" Iruka yelled, already running where she pointed.

It took just a second before he had completely vanished into the crowd.

Naruto's pov.

Sasuke and I were still arguing about who had won the race, and were determining our next race when Iruka sensei came up behind us.

"Do you need something?" Sasuke asked cooly, even though he was pushing my head down trying to keep me from fighting back.

I swung my head back hitting Sasuke pretty hard, just enough for him to let go of me before I stood up.

"Hey Iruka sensei." I said smiling. It's been a while since I last saw him.

"Hello Naruto, Sasuke. It's certainly been a long time." He said, his eyes lingering a few seconds longer on Sasuke before facing me again.

"Naruto, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about." He began.

Oh? I looked up at him with interest.

"It's about the chunin exams. Actually, it's good that you're here too Sasuke, since the both of you are still genin." He continued.

'Oh. I see where this is going.' I thought, pondering the idea of taking the exam again. Memories flooded my mind and I shivered. The last exam was not a pleasant experience, that's for sure.

Sasuke had a bit of an expression on his face  for once. But he didn't seem thrilled about this information either.

Iruka looked at us with disbelief.

"Hey you guys. I didn't even say anything yet. Well anyways, the intel lady Tsunade gave me was that if each of you can prove yourselves through a number of jutsu and problem solving missions, then you each can be promoted to chunin or higher."

"Heck yeah!!!" I yelled. My voice was full of excitement as I thought about how much easier that would be.

"Whatever's fine by me." Sasuke scoffed.

"This is so great! It's perfect, now we won't be behind everyone else in our year, and I won't be stood up by that Gaara anymore!" I happily stated, thinking my mind.

I began to walk away, planning everything I would do after I became a chunin.

"Now hang on Naruto. It's not going to be that easy." Iruka said, in a desperate attempt keep my short attention span.

I turned, my ears picking up only about half of what he said.

"Say what now?" I asked. Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Pay attention stupid." He scolded.

"Remember who's going to be overseeing these tests before you jump to conclusions so quickly." Iruka reminded me.

My face dropped. Tsunade. Chills. Literal chills.

"But-but she's just a mean old hag, lying about her age, and she's scary with that monster strength, she'll never let us pass-ow" Iruka smacked my head.

"Don't talk about the hokage like that! You want to be respected too one day, correct?" Iruka yelled at me.

I mumbled my apology. "Fine I guess."

"Just don't let her catch you saying that stuff. Then you'll really be in for it." Iruka advised me.

"Yeah, I already know that firsthand." I chuckled.

He gave me a blank stare. Sasuke looked at me like I was a complete moron, which isn't exactly a stretch.

"So what do you two think? Are you guys up for it?" Iruka questioned.

"I'm ready for anything you throw at me." Sasuke told him confidently.

I sneered at his response.

"Well if Sasuke thinks he can do it, that means I can do better." I said.

"Got it."