There aren't really any good Chunin Exam time-loops on FF. So I've taken up the challenge of making a good Chunin Exam timeloop with content and an ending that makes sense. There are no godlike entities, no harems, no blatant misogyny (unless the character in question has the tendency to be sexist), no sexual themes because they are twelve year olds, and I'll try to keep everyone in character. As a warning, Naruto will have character development, so by the end of the story there might be change, but not so much for him to be a NINO [Naruto In Name Only].

Credit: PixelTheSquare helped in the process of editing this chapter. The credit for title of the story goes to Roffster from SpaceBattles.

Chapter One

Naruto couldn't clearly recall the events that led him back to the stadium.

He knew that he had been travelling alongside Sakura, Shikamaru and Shino, trailing after Sasuke because the bastard was going off to face Gaara. The redhead had half transformed, looking more monster than human and fled far away from the arena. Sasuke probably thought it was some sort of challenge.

But he couldn't have seen what Naruto had seen.

A purple barrier had risen upwards into the sky, high enough to be seen above the treetops. His feet had skidded to a stop, dirt flying in every direction. Hard eyes scanned the new establishment and lingered on the two figures trapped within it.

The old man was trapped in there. With Orochimaru.

Naruto had to do something; he couldn't leave the old man to die.

The choices he had left were limited. His heart plummeted into the pits of his stomach. Help the old man break out of that barrier, or get to Sasuke before he puts himself into a sticky situation. He swore silently at Sasuke. In seconds, he was moving again, pushing himself to move as fast as he possibly could.

That bastard better stay alive long enough for him to get back and help him. He only hoped that Shikamaru, Sakura, and Shino didn't get hurt on the way because of his absence.

As he neared the village, movements outside of the barrier caught his eye, and he turned his head just in time to witness two of the ANBU burn into flames, screaming as they tried to move through the barrier.

His lips stung and the faint taste of copper and metal filled his mouth. Teeth were sharpening into fangs, and projected themselves into his bottom lips but he didn't care.

The screams and yells of the people around him, melted into a pool of silence as he processed what had happened. Then he heard one of the sound ninjas maintaining the barrier, laughing cruelly as the ANBU burnt to ashes. Their voices burnt into the back of his mind, repeating again and again.

Naruto saw nothing but burning crimson engulf his very being as he scampered towards the sound nin.

'How dare he laugh? They were just trying to save the old man'

"THOSE PEOPLE HAD LIVES."

He never realized that he had screamed the last sentence out loud.

Orochimaru was in clear view now, a disturbing smirk plastered on his pale face. The snake-bastard was eyeing him with condescending glee, as though he was just some bug that needed to be squashed.

Cold whispers of dark promises circled in his mind. Voices assuring him that they would give him all the power he needs, if he just said yes. It was one simple word with one simple syllable.

Then he said yes.

Everything burned. His bones felt like they were ready to crumble, but his muscles were willing him to move, to attack, to destroy. Yet underneath all the pain and blood, he was alive like never before. The intoxicating power flowing through him felt incredible. He faintly wondered why he had not listened sooner.

He could do anything.

But first he needed to kill them all. They hurt innocent people – his innocent people. They trapped one of the few people who gave a rat's ass about him. They were not allowed to get away with it.

ANBU were yelling at him to stop, but what did they know? They didn't have the power he was controlling right now.

He was Uzumaki fucking Naruto, and he wasn't going to die without getting his head on that mountainside, and his ass behind the Hokage's desk.

The electricity poured through his veins, bringing with it the caresses of agonizing pain. His body was continuously repairing itself but simultaneously break down – a never ending process. He felt like he was trapped in a living hell for hours.

But he refused to give up. He dragged himself further in despite his body's protesting, and the voices in his head were alive again. Only this time they were frantically shrieking at him to stop this madness, and get out of there right now.

Stubbornly shaking his head, he tried to move on. He had to help his village, he had to help the Hokage, and he had to help Sasu—

Red chakra merged with the purple energy of the barrier forming a disgustingly bland magenta, and then darkened until it was nothing more than blackness.

The blond woke up in a half-awake daze, mangled between his bed sheets and covers, and howling as he punched at an invisible enemy.

"TAKE THIS," he screamed at his attacker, sending an uppercut to the pillow at his side.

The seams of the pillow case burst apart, and soft feathers rained down onto his bed and the floor of his apartment.

"Er-wha?" he blinked, staring at his clenched fist then at the torn pillowcase underneath him.

He heard the birds nesting near his window fly off in a panic at the noise. The walls thumped as the neighbors banged and yelled, threatening to call the landlord if he made any more noise.

Naruto stuck out a tongue at the wall, not caring if his neighbors couldn't see it. The boy scratched at his neck, trying to process what had just happened. Wasn't he fighting in the third Exam until—?

His thoughts stopped as he remembered Orochimaru and that smile. The old man was in trouble! He scrambled to get up, barely avoiding Mr. Uke and proceeded to scan the streets through the window.

Konoha was the same it had ever been. The houses of the civilians were still upright and standing just like yesterday, and there definitely were no holes in the walls that were circling protectively around the village.

Almost like nothing ever happened.

Did he just dream up the entire third exam, complete with an invasion? That was incredibly stupid.

He clucked his tongue, as he grabbed one of his tracksuits off the floor. All that wasted time, dreaming when he could have been training for the matches today.

His fingers fumbled to zip his jacket.

It was all so silly now that he thought about it. Suna would never side with that snake-bastard, and there's no way in hell, Sasuke would ever be late for his own match.

Actually, seeing how he was training with Kakashi...

His sensei would probably be late to his own funeral.

'Not his problem.' He shrugged. Sasuke will be there.

Fully dressed and armed, Naruto prepared to leave to the stadium. He stole a quick glance at the clock, to make sure that he wasn't going to be late or anything. He'll definitely kick Neji's ass today, and Sasuke's while he was at it.

The first surprise of the late morning was when he stood at the doors of the stadium which oddly enough were locked. At first, Naruto thought he was late and they already stopped incomers, which made no sense. Or perhaps he was still early?

He had left the house an hour earlier than the intended time. The stadium should have been at least half full by now, but there weren't any noises. It was too silent and empty. A few knocks later, and there was still no response. Weird.

At the end, the blond decided to wait it out. Someone's got to walk by sooner or later. Right?

It was late afternoon, and there were still no signs of the competitors or any of the bystanders. Naruto kicked at a rock in frustration. It made absolutely no sense. Maybe he should go ask his team what's going on. There was probably some memo he didn't get. Kakashi would know what's up.

He didn't have to look far. After only a few minutes of walking to the training fields, he had by some miracle bumped into the very people he was looking for.

"Oi, bastard," he pointed at Sasuke, and turned to face his other teammate, "Sakura-chan, what's—"

A stony fist collided into his face sending him to the ground.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's hands covered her mouth, as her eyes widened and began to fill up with tears.

"What's the big idea?" Naruto snapped, aiming a punch at Sasuke's chest. Sasuke countered it with expertise and sent the blond flying again.

He could faintly see Sakura running in front of him; her arms outstretched and defending his body as he struggled to get off the ground.

"Sasuke-kun, stop this," her words were mumbled, and her lips were quivering.

"Sakura," his eyes looked murderous as they glinted red, "Move."

She felt like her innards had tied themselves into various knots, because the words couldn't find the way out of her mouth.

"N-n-no—" her eyes drew to Naruto who was pushing himself off the ground.

"Let me at him," the blond snarled, trying to figure out the best way he could get to Sasuke without hurting Sakura in the process.

"It's just an exam," she yelled at them both, "It's just an exam." She repeated in a quieter demeanor, her shoulders slumping forward.

Sasuke stared at her for a few moments and turned on his heel, feet kicking the ground as he made his way to the training grounds.

"You all are dead weight. To me." The last two words weren't spoken aloud, but they still rang out loud and clear.

"Sasuke-kun," she reached a hand out to him, but he had already disappeared.

Scalding tears spilled onto her pale face as she turned to Naruto.

"Why didn't you come to the examination center?" she choked out, "We were looking for you for ages, and you weren't home—"she cut herself off with a sniffle.

"But I did Sakura-chan," he said, his face scrunched up with confusion. He had absolutely no clue what was going on. "But nobody was at the stadium, and I was even early this time,"

"…the stadium?"

"Yeah for the third exam? Did I miss my match or something?" he pulled at his hair. "Dammit, dammit, dammit,"

"What are you talking about?" the tips of her ears were turning red.

She had stayed up until the early hours of the morning in sheer worry because of this exam. The decision to enter the exam had not been an easy one. Granted, she did not know they all had to agree for them to enter as a team, but it was still a difficult choice. People had died in the Chunin exams.

While they desperately searched every nook and cranny of Konoha (without the help of Kakashi who said that Naruto had to come on his own terms), she had sympathized with his supposed decision to not enter. It was out of character for him, but she was only just starting to get to know the enigma that was Naruto. When Sasuke tried to pummel him through the dirt, she had surprised herself when she had jumped in between them. The thought of being in Naruto's position, which she easily could have been in had gnawed on her mind. She was very close to being the one getting chewed out by Sasuke a few moments ago.

And it turns out; Naruto just simply got the area and exam mixed up for some unknown reason.

Her hands trembled for a few seconds.

That idiot.

"Sakura," She felt the warmness of a familiar hand on her shoulder.

"Kakashi-sensei, I…"

His uncovered eye crinkled, and she watched him smile beneath his mask.

"It's alright. I'm not disappointed with any of you."

"But—"

"This isn't your only chance to advance you know," Kakashi cut the kunoichi off, "There are plenty of opportunities. You three are just rookies after all. You'll all be ready for the exams next time."

"Next time?" Naruto asked.

"There are Chunin Exams every six months, usually rotated in different nations each time. While I would have preferred having you attend the one in Konoha, we do send out exceptional genin to exams in other nations from time to time. So cheer up," he ruffled the hair on both of their heads.

"But what about Sasuke-kun?" she looked upset again, looking at her feet, "He was really angry earlier," she said quietly.

"I'll talk to him in a bit. You have to understand that he just wants to get powerful quickly, and thought that a promotion in rank meant an increase in power. It takes more than raw strength and different jutsu to become a Chunin after all," He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Perhaps I should have mentioned that yesterday."

"I guess so," she shuffled her feet.

"Go home and rest for the day. We'll have a nice training session at the usual place tomorrow at seven sharp,"

"Knowing you Kakashi-sensei, that means you'd be there at noon," she said with a small smile.

"Those pesky cats always get stuck in trees, they never seem to give me a break those days," he replied back.

She wiped her eyes, and walked back in the direction of her home, leaving Kakashi and Naruto behind.

Kakashi pulled out a worn out orange book from his pocket.

"I'll walk you home Naruto,"

On their way back to the apartment districts where Naruto resided, the blond relayed the events of that morning to his teacher with frustration.

"I still don't understand, Kakashi-sensei," he said, as he rubbed at the sore spot on his cheek, "I was sure that I was supposed to be at the stadium today."

Kakashi glanced at him behind his book with curiosity. "Mm, I'm the one who doesn't understand. I'm sure I told you along with Sasuke and Sakura, that the exam was to take place at the academy today."

"Yeah, see that's what doesn't make sense," said Naruto, "How would we be able to fight each other in those tiny classrooms? Iruka-sensei would get really pissed if I break his desk or something. I got into a lot of trouble when I did it the first time in the academy" he stuck out his tongue playfully as he recalled his old days of pranking.

Kakashi stopped walking.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"What makes you think it was a battle-related exam, Naruto?" he asked casually, and attempted to loosen up his stiff shoulders without Naruto noticing.

"Sensei, stop kidding around! You know I was supposed to fight Neji, and Sasuke was supposed to fight Gaara,"

When Kakashi didn't respond, Naruto blabbed on further. "You took Sasuke for a month-long training session. Remember?"

"I'm sure I would remember training Sasuke personally for a month," Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "And I wasn't aware you knew Gai's students. But everything you just said didn't happen."

"Oh man," Naruto pulled down on his hair in anguish, "Did I dream the entire exam up?" he said as fell to his knees, hoping the ground would just swallow him up, "I can't believe I missed my very first Chunin Exam. No wonder Sasuke was so mad." He started slapping at his cheeks a few times, before getting back up on his feet.

"Did you drink sour milk before you slept again?" Kakashi asked the boy who looked away sheepishly. "You should check the expiry date before you drink something, or at least smell it," he crinkled his nose at the thought of drinking bad milk.

"That was just one time, Kakashi-sensei!" he snapped, glaring at his teacher who just smiled and returned his gaze to his little book.

"Don't worry, you're still my adorable little student. If you train hard, maybe you'll get promoted in the next exam," The boy leaned his head away from his teacher.

"Don't call me that. It's creepy coming from an old man like you, Sensei," he said bluntly.

"That's harsh," Kakashi replied dramatically, "Anyways, I have to hand back a report that was due—"he glanced thoughtfully in the direction of the Hokage tower, "—around four hours ago,"

Ignoring Naruto's ramblings about his tardiness, the man disappeared with a poof of smoke, leaving the boy alone once again with his thoughts.

Naruto walked aimlessly around the village for an hour or two, and then made a stop at Ichiraku's for a few quick bowls of ramen. The usual wondrous flavor of Ichiraku's ramen tasted like ashes on his tongue, but he decided not to bring it up to Teuchi. For the first time, he had no appetite for his favorite dish.

By the time he had made it home, it was too late to go out and start training, but still a little earlier than his usual bedtime. In the end, he decided to opt for an early night's rest.

But not before throwing the old milk in his fridge into the trash-bin.

The first thing he felt that morning, was a slight tickling sensation on his foot which dangled out of bed.

"Sakura-chan, stop," he mumbled as he let his head sink deeper into his pillow, "That tickles,"

The tickling shifted to his toes, causing him to protest weakly into the bed-sheets.

His eyes snapped open and he shot up and out of bed. Instead of Sakura, all he found was a lone cockroach perched onto his big toe.

The entire building rang with his screams.

After he had shaken his foot until the little pest had scurried off for safety underneath his bed, he glanced outside. The weather wasn't looking as good as yesterday, a mixture of various shades of gray.

He opened the fridge only to find a carton which he was absolutely sure he had thrown out last night.

His eyes narrowed at the offending cow on the side of the container which was staring back, almost mocking him. He snuck a quick look at the trash-bin which was suspiciously empty.

He turned back to the cow, then to the bin, and then back to the cow again.

"Is this some idea of a joke!?" he said as he chucked the carton into the bin, and studied his surroundings furiously for signs of an intruder. "Kakashi-sensei, that wasn't funny!"

The apartment remained silent. He left his home in a fury.

It was a strange walk. He kept bumping into other ninja teams who were suspiciously familiar. It only finally came to him when he bumped into the fifth team.

"Eh," said Naruto, pointing rudely at the three Konoha nins. "I know you guys!"

"Who are you?" the oldest boy asked, frowning at Naruto's rudeness.

"You were in the dream I had a few days ago," Naruto pointed at the next guy. "And he was the first guy to get kicked out of the exam."

"Excuse me?" the boy spluttered, his face turning an unhealthy shade of red, "I would never fail the exam. Are you trying to scare us or something, you little punk?"

"Calm down, Sukima," the boy who had spoken first replied and placed a hand on Sukima's shoulders, "He's from our village. And you—" he sent a withering look in Naruto's direction, "There's no need to let people down like that, right before the first exam."

"What are you talking about? The first exam was yesterday," said Naruto, his arms folding together.

"…Are you dense or something?" Sukima choked out, unsure on whether he was joking or not, "The exam is in forty-five minutes. Are you purposely trying to get us to miss it or something?"

"Let's just leave the kid alone, he obviously doesn't know what he's talking about," the third member finally spoke up, trying to relieve the tension.

They turned on their heels and left, with Sukima cursing underneath his breath about idiocy of certain blonds.

Naruto at this point had no idea what to believe. He was sure that Kakashi had walked him home yesterday, and that he had gotten his team disqualified by absence from the Chunin Exams.

They were obviously trying to confuse him. And to a fellow Konoha ninja too. How rude.

But his curiosity was eating at his brain. Where were they heading? He was still a little early, and could spare a little of his time to do some investigation.

That's how he found himself trailing them from the rooftops. To his dismay, the three Chunin hopefuls were actually heading in the direction of the academy. Where a large crowd of other various ninjas were pooling around the doors of the building.

He jumped down to the street ungracefully, watching in astonishment. That was a lot of people for just a little prank.

All thoughts flew out of his head as he felt a sudden stinging pinch around his ear.

"Ow, ow, ow," he tried to pull away, only to feel the pain increase tremendously.

"Naruto," his name was grumbled by his very menacing teammate who was currently pulling at his ear with no mercy, "Where have you been?" she asked.

"Sakura-chan, I-I, OW," he resisted the urge to yelp, "My ear, Sakura-chan,"

"Sasuke-kun and I, have been looking everywhere for you," she said, her green eyes flaring with anger, "Why were you late?"

"Late to what?" he squeals. It was apparently the wrong thing to say, because she tightened her hold on his ear.

"Don't tell me you forgot about the exam, dammit!"

"No, no, no, of course not," he attempted to shake his head but his abused ear pleaded for him to stop.

"Come on, we're late," she said as she dragged him by the collar and headed back to the building, ignoring Naruto's protests.

Almost immediately they headed into the classroom as a team and sat at their respective seats after picking a number. However instead of sitting next to Hinata this time, Naruto found himself wedged between a Suna-nin and an Ame-nin. This only spawned further confusion on his part.

It wasn't until the protractor Morino Ibiki had strutted in, and explained the rules including the one about the tenth question, when Naruto jumped out of his seat, pointed at him and began to yell at the top of his voice.

"I've seen you before!" he panicked. "And everyone else in this room!" his eyes searched around the room, recognizing most of the attendees.

"Sit the hell down," said Ibiki, his glare sending shivers down Naruto's spine.

He lowered his finger, but almost continued to protest until Ibiki barked out a sharp "NOW."

The boy reluctantly sunk back into his seat, staring with wide eyes at the white sheet of paper in front of him. That had the same awful nine questions as he had in his dream. Then it hit him.

It all made sense now. The explanation was simple.

He could predict the future.

AN: It's my attempt at writing a decent Chunin Exam Timeloop. The only similarities between this one and CED is the first scene. Let me know your thoughts!