How to Survive a Naruto Reincarnation

Step 17: Live for yourself.

"Great just great." 

I trudged through the very dangerous jungle to get to the tower. Since I was not equipped to spend the night and I didn't want to be collateral, I moved along as much as I could. 

"This is all Lord Third's fault~" I sang miserably.
I told him, 'bad idea,'
He didn't listen to me,
Now look at this
Oh, woe is meeee~" 

*****

I couldn't find any of my teams or even people I recognized. That also meant I didn't know where Team Seven was. 

And that also means Orochimaru's probably trying to put a curse mark on Sasuke and things get pretty rough for the team. 

"I literally told them that bad things were going to happen!" I seethed. "And what did they do? 'Noooo, we don't trust you, and we're not gonna set up any safety precautions and waste resources or whatever because your memories are fake!' Ergh!" 

*****

Don't worry, I'm still in the jungle. I did get a little lost, but I see the tower, so I'm on the right track. 

Don't worry, I'm still relatively alive. One of the unrecognizable teams swiped both scrolls, making Anko's role for me unbelievably unnecessary. 

Don't worry, I'm still here.

*****

 I did follow the compass and reached the tower after hours or days of traveling. I can't tell anymore. A minute feels like an hour and an hour feels like a year and Lord Third is still a disappointment. Time blindness sure is fun! 

"As you can see, ya didn't die!" Anko grinned. 

"As you can see, I'm very much dying." 

"Relax! Go chill. The preliminaries are gonna start soon." 

***** 

Team Seven made it. 

Hatake went off to do some magic seal or whatever on the new curse mark, and Anko was fussing nervously upon seeing the curse mark. 

Lord Third got everything he wanted for Christmas; Sasuke got a curse mark, and worried the rest of us adults, while the rest of the kids are mostly battered up, with a few exceptions. 

But there's no time to be worried or battered up! Preliminary matches are starting soon and if the order goes as predicted, it's going to get violent pretty fast. 

"You'd think by now that all the very clear coincidences mean that we should take my memories MORE SERIOUSLY," I grouched in the audience. "And now look what happened." 

Even Anko knows what happened and is APPROPRIATELY worried! Everyone else? Naww, it's cool. Anko, Serena, you're both just being hysterical! 

*****

While the kids and proctors were getting ready, I crossed my arms like a pouty two-year-old and glared at Lord Third's head. I decided to stand next to Team Seven. I also had a great position to see Team Eight. 

I mean, I've got five kids now. Shino decided to join the fun, so it's my responsibility to keep an eye on him too. He is somehow the least worrying kid of this entire lineup and yet somehow the most worrisome. 

As we waited, I dramatically re-enacted how I think the Chunin Exams was organized: 

Jounin or whoever: "So, how should we assess the readiness of these underaged children? Should we put them through a variety of environments to test a wide range of their skills and abilities? 

Hokage: "Nah. But how about we put them in a gladiator arena and hope that nothing gets out of hand? Sounds good to me!" 

"If you have a problem, leave." Enter, Hatake and his ego. 

"Oh yeah, I wonder why! Surely it's not because these pre-pubescent students are too young to get married or vote but they're definitely old enough to start practicing homicide."

"This is our normal," Hatable Hatake retorted. "Our village suffered many wars and we needed all the support we could get. Now, the Chunin Exams are a way to also improve village relations as well." Many supportive nods from other adults agreed with him. 

I snorted in amusement. "'Improve'"

"That's why we have teams from other villages. But I shouldn't expect anything from an outsider. I mean, if you supposedly know everything," Hatake replied coolly. 

"The founding fathers would say otherwise," I snapped back. "Also, I know that most of you are bred from war, but that does not mean you can THEN pass down tradition THIS EARLY." 

"This is our reality." He ended the debate. 

"A stupid reality is what this is." 

*****

And because Lord Third lacks both common sense and deductive reasoning, the kids get paired up with the exact same lineup as the original. 

Good grief. 

They still let Gaara nearly kill Lee (and his career). 

They still let Neji almost murder Hinata. 

And they still let Sasuke the Cursed participate at all!