What it takes to be Hokage

Chapter 20

Naruto bounced on the balls of his feet in anticipation. He hadn't known what to expect from the Trials so he was rather excited to see them. He was now waiting to enter the Uzumaki compound where the Trials were to take place. All the participants were ranked from last try to first try. Those that were on their last try went first.

"Relax Naruto. Being this excited and it hasn't even started yet is either going to ruin it for you or exhaust you." Shikamaru stated with a yawn. They were all here to see Arashi and Tatsumaki. Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Sakura, Neji, Lee, Tenten, Sai (Naruto had nearly choked on that one), Sasuke and Kiba. There were some others that Naruto didn't know but that was to be expected considering that Konoha was a lot larger this time around.

There was the general murmur of the crowd as they walked through the doors, all moving towards a seat. Naruto was surprised to realise that they were headed towards his 'playroom' of sorts. A room he had designed to allow him to test any seal he wanted. It was also the room that he'd painted the walls in. Those paintings would be sealed of course, but the idea still made him nervous.

He hurried over to a seat he'd deemed perfect, not caring if the others followed or not. He was surprised to see Sasuke sprawl out in the seat next to him while Shikamaru sat on his other side. Naruto turned his attention to the arena, no longer concerned with who sat where.

Arashi stood somewhere in front of the participants and Tatsumaki stood towards the back. Naruto noticed that had he been allowed to participate, he'd have been the oldest of the first time participants. Also the fact that he would have been the only blond in a sea of red. Nothing new there.

However, some of the final participants were far older than Naruto and even his own father showing the blond just how seriously these trials were taken. As he understood it, it was a one at a time event. He wondered how many events were even in the Trials because he'd hate to have to sit here all day. He didn't think it would take all that long because Uzumaki by their very nature were not patient people.

"You think they're ready?" Naruto asked with a grin pointed at Tatsumaki. The boy was small for his age, plus the pink hair and Naruto was sure he had image issues. Pink was not a widely used colour among the Uzumaki because it clashed with their hair.

"No. But there's no backing out now." Sasuke replied.

"I'm sure it's super easy." Naruto scoffed. Like it had to be second nature to the Uzumaki to do this stuff.

"Easy?" A voice asked in front of them. A tall shinobi just older than Naruto turned to them and frowned. "No one has ever passed the first round. It's not easy, it's hell."

"What?" Naruto gawked. "No one? How many rounds are there?" Naruto sensed a strange level of tension growing in the room, and some annoyance. He was probably distracting them all. "Who let this guy in here?" Someone muttered.

The hostility Naruto sensed from him was rather un-Uzumaki like and Naruto didn't like the implications of that.

"We don't know how many rounds there are." Sasuke replied, ignoring the atmosphere around them. "But if anyone can pass the first round it's Arashi, he's been studying for this for years." Naruto felt the confidence in Sasuke's chakra, a small ache forming at the thought. Would Sasuke ever be that confident about him?

A soft chuckle came from the front and Naruto felt all the attention shift towards the sound. He scanned out instinctively, surprised when the chakra he felt was familiar. "Easy now, we're almost about to start."

Tanaka was far older than the last time Naruto had seen him, and far older than what Naruto had ever been but it was Tanaka all the same. Naruto stared at him with a wide gaze, a little breathless at first.