Hidden Underneath the Underneath

Chapter Fourteen

"Now, for the 10th and final match, Kinuta Dosu and Akimichi Choji please step forward!" said Hayate.

Dosu and Choji glared at each other as they measured each other up. Choji took offence first.

"Multisize Jutsu! Meat Tank!" shouted Choji as he rolled into a ball and hid is ears among his layers of increased fat.

Choji rolled quickly at Dosu who dodged him smoothly with ease. Dosu raised his sound amplifiers while Choji scoffed.

"It's no use, I have my earplugs."

Dosu smirked in return and blasted Choji back. He hit the wall and fell, flat on his face. Dosu gloated over his victory.

"Winner, Kinuta Dosu! And now, the preliminary trials of the chunin exams are complete! Congratulations to you all."

Then Hiruzen took over: "The finals will be in one month. This break if for preparation. Pick out a piece of paper from the box Anko is holding. Number One will go against two. Three against four and so on. However, due to uneven amounts, number seven will go against eight or nine, depending on who wins. Are there any final questions?"

Shikamaru raised his hand. "Since it's a tournament, does that mean only one person becomes a chunin?"

"No, that's not quite it," replied Hiruzen. "We choose genins to be chunins by evaluating their abilities and the necessary qualities. People who lose may even become chunin."

"Does that mean we can all possibly become chunin?" asked Temari.

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes, that's right. It's possible but also there's a possibility that no one will become chunin. Thank you for your effort, you are now dismissed! See you in a month!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kabuto sighed as he crept into Sasuke's hospital room. Konoha ANBU were pathetic: he had defeated them in an instance. Just as he reached Sasuke's bedside, and was about to kill him, he was stopped by Kakashi...and Naruto.

"Kabuto-san, you are no ordinary genin, are you?" mused Naruto. "Orochimaru, spy, disguise, those words ring a bell?"

"Pft, Naruto-kun. This is how you treat me after I was so nice to you during the second exam?"

"What's going on Naruto?" asked Kakashi seriously, dropping the affectionate nickname.

Naruto sighed. "Kabuto, you can't fool anyone. Even Sasuke was suspicious of you. Now scram, unless you want to die; it's two against one. I'm not going to stir up war during the chunin exams."

Kabuto smirked. "Alright, Na-ru-chan. Next time we meet, Sasuke will be mine..." he said, flickering away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The past few days had been relaxing for Naruto: he didn't train as hard as the other genins. Instead, he dedicated his time to reading and nursing Lee.

However, that changed on the sixth day: Jiraiya was in town. Naruto had met him twice on his travels when he was outside of Konoha but he didn't expect to meet him again anytime soon.

Once he had met Jiraiya at the hot springs where Naruto had beaten him up for immoral behaviour (ironic as Naruto had invented the sexy jutsu) and the second time they met at Mount Myoboku as Jiraiya was visiting the toads while Naruto was learning sage.

Nonetheless, the two got along very well, except for the bit when Jiraiya claimed to be doing 'research'.

Sasuke recovered well with the help of Naruto's exceptional medical ninjutsu and trained hard with Kakashi, trying to perfect the Chidori.