Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 13: Preliminary! Part 1

Part 1: Saikyo's Story

When Naruto pushed the front gate of the tower opened, he was taken aback as not only Haku's team, but everyone of the Konoha 12 was all there.

"Ah, it's Naruto and his team," Shino said flatly. Naruto gaped.

"What the... how could you guys get here so fast?"

"Somehow we all found the forest littered with unconscious genin, with kunai, shuriken, burned explosive tags and many other things scattered around them," Shikamaru answered with a shrug. "It made everything less troublesome a little bit, though."

"Yeah, mmmm," Choji added, while chewing on his chips. "The one we found our scroll on looked like he took a kitchen sink and a toilet seat to the head, mmmm. Poor him..."

The other members of Team 7 shot glares at Naruto.

"What?" the blonde protested. "It's not like they were my fault! That just proves that my idea worked like a charm!"

"IT WAS YOU?!"

"Gah!"

Everyone hurriedly moved to pull Kiba away from Naruto when the Inuzuka's hands closed around the blond boy's neck and squeezed.

"Let me go! Let me go you idiots! Let me kill him!" Kiba screamed hysterically while struggling like crazy against the arms of Choji, Shino and Lee. "Release me! I order you! Release meeeeee!"

"What's wrong with him?" Sasuke asked Hinata, who was looking at her teammate with worrying eyes. The Hyuuga girl shook her head.

"Oh, Kiba-kun suffered quite badly with those traps," she explained. "He was stuck in a sheet of cloth drenched in glue, covered in tar and chicken feather, blasted in the face with a cloud of pepper and thrown into a river with all those on his body. Oh, and he ate a stink bomb by mistake."

"LET ME GO! LET ME AT HIM! I'LL KILL HIM!"

Everyone winced. "Poor him," Haku said sympathetically.

"Even to Kiba, that was still too much," Shikamaru added.

"Hmph," Neji, from behind, spoke up with a sneer. "Relying on petty tricks like that... How pathetic. That was the only thing a dead last like you was worthy of."

Naruto ignored him.

"LET ME GO! DAMN YOU! I SAID... guh."

That last sound was due to Sakura chopping him at the back of his neck, sending him into the land of unconsciousness.

"What the... what did you just do?" Ino gaped in horror. Sakura shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well, he's too loud; I just made him sleep for a while."

Meanwhile, Naruto was staring at Hinata as if she was an alien.

The Hyuuga girl blushed. "Um... what's wrong, Naruto-kun?"

"You just completed a very long sentence without any stuttering. That was awesome, Hinata-chan! You finally got rid of your bad habit!"

Hinata's blush deepened, but she didn't say anything else.

"Uh, guys," the voice of Tenten suddenly rose behind them. "What do you think we should do with these?" She held up the two scrolls.

Naruto grinned. "Open them up, of course!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "But didn't that proctor say that we couldn't open them?"

"That crazy lady only said that we couldn't open them until we get to the tower, right?" Naruto answered with another grin. "Now we're in the tower, why shouldn't we open them?"