Starting over

#54 Namikaze

Timeskip: 1 month

Naruto POV

The last month, nothing really happened anymore. The genin from Konoha all kept their distance to us, since word had spread how I had manhandled Sasuke. Kabuto had also kept a low profile according to Gaara's intel.

So most of my free time was spent with Temari, doing random things like walking through the forest of death or just looking through the shops without really buying anything. The days where we trained we mostly kept to ourselves, since we couldn't really help each other in the fields that we had to train, as most of them were just practice and repeat processes.

The day before the finals started we normally would have trained but we decided to just sit around and rest, since we probably would need all of our energy to fight in the finals and fend off the coming invasion. We had noticed a lot more anbu going around and patrolling the village, showing that Hiruzen was taking the warning Rasa had sent him, after the second attempt at his life, serious. I had also relayed the information about Orochimaru's plans that Gaara had discovered to him.

Then finally the day came. Temari and I were ready to go and waiting for Gaara who took his teammates eating breakfast. After a few minutes of waiting and Temari almost falling asleep in my arms, Gaara came out of the dining room and we went out of the hotel into the streets of Konoha.

Even though the sun was just rising, it was already really warm, which was mostly because of the many people that were going through the streets, following the path to the arena. Gaara looked at us and then up at the roofs with a raised eyebrow. I nodded and we jumped up onto the roofs and took off.

In the arena we waited a few minutes for every one of our competitors to show up. Meanwhile I was fixing my clothes, which were important for me, since I had specifically chosen them for this day, because they made me look almost like my father. I wore a long white coat with black ornaments running along the arms and a black fox on it's back, along with some standard black shinobi pants and steel plated shoes. Temari had wanted that I just stay shirtless, showing off my muscles, but I had insisted to wear a black shirt with orange outlines, which was almost skintight, much to Temari's enjoyment. I had gotten a lot of weird looks on our way to the arena and a few people had whispered that I looked like the fourth hokage. Team Kakashi was the first team to arrive, while Sakura went up to the ranks, Sasuke and Kiba came to us giving us dirty looks but keeping their distance. Next were the two hyuuga and their teammate, who didn't look at us at all and just stood next to us quietly talking between themselves. Then Shikamaru came in with his team, although he was the only one that stayed down here, his teammates wishing him good luck and going up to the ranks, joining Sakura and their senseis. Lastly Tenten came through the big entrance, followed by her teammate in the green spandex, who also went up to his fellow genin . Then Hiruzen came, accompanied by two elderly people, apparently his advisors and two anbu. He waited in front of us, until the stream of spectators died down until he let his anbu close the great doors. Then he smiled at us all and went up the stairs into the VIP area where two other people were sitting. Both had headbands around their forehead but the sign on them didn't correspond with any of the five great villages. It was the sign of the sannin, which identified the woman as Tsunade or the Slug Princess and the man with his white hair as Jiraiya or the Toad Sage. I was surprised to see these two people here, since they were known to be out of Konoha 99% of the time.

Hiruzen looked over the people that had come to watch the finals and let one of his anbu shoot a fireball into the air, gaining the attention from everyone and effectively making the arena dead silent.

“Welcome, everybody to the finals of these special chunin exams. These were the first chunin exams in which most of the great shinobi villages have participated and let me just say, that I am proud that our village was chosen to be the one the hold these exams. I am even prouder to see, that we have successfully managed this task. I see ten young genin that are waiting to show us what they have in store, and on a side note, seven of these genin are from konoha, which fills me with joy.”, he started. At the mention of the seven Konoha genin the crowd cheered for their children and fellow shinobi. After a few moments, when everyone had calmed down again, Hiruzen smiled. “Now, these children have been through a lot in the past exams. They had to withstand a psychic assault by Ibiki, then they had to fight in teams while getting through the forest of death and after all that, they had to fight in one on one fights, just like today, to cut down the number of contestants. Finally after a month of pause, where they had time to prepare for their fights and train even more than before, they stand in this arena, hoping to impress their senseis and that they can be promoted to chunin after they have fought through the tournament.”, the third Hokage continued. The crowd turned their attention to us and again I heard a few silent mentionings of my fathers name or title.

“Now let’s start the exams. Hinata, Neji, Temari, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Gaara, Shino and Tenten please get out of the arena and into your waiting area.”, the mentioned genin went out of the arena, with Gaara giving me an encouraging nod and Temari giving me a quick peck on the cheek and a whispered “Good Luck.” before going through the small door which lead to a small balcony that was a few meters under the other ranks. “Please welcome the proctor of this exam: Shizune, apprentice of Lady Tsunade.”, Hiruzen called out as the girl jumped down from the stand and landed in between Kiba and me. “You both know the rules. I start the fight and I end it, when one of you can't continue, call out that you forfeit. If you continue to attack even though I have already called the match off, or your opponent has forfeited, you are disqualified. Understood?”, the black haired kunoichi said with hard voice, earning a nod from the two of us. Shizune looked up at the Hokage and nodded before taking a few steps away. I unsealed my sword and took one of my hiraishin kunai into my hands. Akamaru jumped down from Kiba’s head and began to grow. “Meet our first two contestants. Kiba Inuzuka from Konohagakure…”, the crowd applauded to the local boy, Hiruzen had to wait again for them to calm down. “... and Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze from Sunagakure.”, he finished. A shocked silence ensued, followed by an outcry of rage. I could make out a few statements from the large quantity of shouts that were directed at me and the Hokage. “He is supposed to be dead!”, “He is not allowed to be here!”, “What do you mean ‘Namikaze’?!”, were just a few of the things that were directed at the Hokage. “Demon, you should die!”, “We don't want you here!”, were the not so subtle insults thrown at me, along with a few cups that were thrown, but failed to land anywhere close to me. I saw Tsunade and Jiraiya talk with the Hokage, every once in a while throwing a glance at me. Temari and Gaara were close to losing their cool, but calmed down a bit once I looked up at them and smiled. With a look around the spectators that were still in uproar I shook my head. With a look at the Hokage I shrugged my shoulder and focused back on Kiba. Hiruzen had seen the look I had given him and another fireball silenced the crowd once again. “I won't explain anything. Yes you heard me right, when I said Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. But this display of disrespect is outrageous. He is not dead as you can see and he is no longer a shinobi of the leaf. He is allowed in Konoha because I have said so. Calm down and enjoy the finals.”, Hiruzen bellowed, pumping out a lot of chakra directed at the spectators.

I sighed and looked at Shizune. “Let’s just get this over with.”, I mumbled, getting into a defensive stance.