"I never believed in seeking perfection at the risk of losing everything."

The couch could have been much worse to sleep on. It didn't take long for Naruto to fall right asleep. The turn of events since the yesterday's night had taken a turn for excitement. He had always wanted to meet another jinchuruki, but it came in a form of a sweet girl named Fu.

Obito reported what he heard the Cloud ninja said to Naruto, that there's "evidence" that says he killed their jinchuruki and took the Two-Tails. It's a rumor that could very well lead to a war. Most likely, a Kage Summit will be held. Hopefully, Jiraiya will be able to dispute the claim so that they may go find the Two-Tails.

That made two villages that hate Naruto for what others have done. Aside from being framed for the Two-Tails, Iwagakure has a distaste for Naruto because his father had killed a hundred of their ninja in the last Great War.

Maybe he should cut his hair.

"Naruto! Help!" Fu shrieked from above.

Naruto darted over the couch and ran up the stairs. It sounded like somewhat was coming at her with a knife! He bursted through his door, and saw no one, just an open window! With a quick sprint, he jumped from the window frame.

"Naruto!" Fu screamed from a small distance. Naruto jumped over the roofs until he got to a nearby rabble of trees, almost like a small forest.

A beetle landed on him. One of Fu's. He knew exactly where she was, now. He ran through the forest, eventually came to a stop to peek around a tree. Fu was tied to a tree by a masked ninja, one with a large hat and a Grass headband.

Just how many times can a girl get kidnapped?

Fu was trying to mumble through a cloth that stuffed her mouth but to no avail. "Hey!" The unnamed ninja yelled. "I know you're there!"

Naruto scowled before he walked within sight. "Don't you have anything better to do than kidnap a girl?"

From within his cloak, he pulled out a large kunai, at least three times the size, and teased Fu's neck with it. "Bring me the Scroll of Sealing and I'll let her go."

"Don't know where it is," Naruto said.

"Then you better go find it!" The ninja demanded. "Or her head will be my trophy!"

Fu made sorrowful and sorry eyes. Naruto gritted his teeth."Got it. One minute," he said before he rushed the other way.

He stopped at the edge of the forest and made a Shadow Clone. He remembered the appearance of the scroll well enough, and even knew the first technique in it, well enough to mimic it with a transformation jutsu.

As he was about to head back, he stopped and doubled back to his room to get something. In the drawer, a sheet of paper with a seal on it.

His clone transformed into a near perfect replica of the Sealing Scroll, and he ran to meet the ransomer. Fu was still tied to the tree, the man still stood in the same place.

"Here, I got it," he told the man. Naruto tossed the scroll for the grass ninja to catch. As he looked at the first page of the scroll and saw the first technique, Naruto pulled out the sealed paper from his pocket. "Much abide, but I'm afraid that's not good enough," the ninja said as pulled his hand up to attack Fu with the kunai. Fu closed her eyes and flinched away.

The scroll bursted in smoke. The clone grabbed onto the man while Naruto rotated around as if he was throwing a world league's baseball, grazed his hand over the seal, and threw the giant fuma shuriken that came out of it.

The man eyes popped open as he watched the fuma shuriken come his way. However, his eyes turned into two Sharingan, and the shuriken phased through and cut through the tree behind them.

Naruto gawked his mouth, "Obito?!"

"Sorry, he made me do it!" Fu said.

The man elbowed the clone in the face, and a huge burst of smoke covered them both until Obito walked out of it. "You almost cut me in half!"

"You were about to stab Fu!" Naruto shouted.

"I wasn't actually going to!"

"Not my fault my idiot teacher can't pull pranks without almost getting himself killed!'

Obito sneered, "It wasn't a prank. I was testing you."

"Uh, hello? May I be untied now?" Fu asked as she kicked her legs into the air. She narrowed her eyes at them. "Or do you two want to bicker some more?"

Obito smiled and began to reach for the rope. "Oh, I'm sorry, Fu."

Naruto grabbed his wrist to stop him. "I got it," he said as he used a knife to slice the rope and free Fu. "Thanks," she said.

"Uh, I hope you aren't mad at me." He handed something to Naruto. "It was to test you for this."

Naruto furrowed an eyebrow as he looked at it. "Chunin exams. It's here, already?"

"Soon enough. I'll be testing Sakura and Sasuke, too."

"I can't wait until I see you in the finals," Fu smiled.

Naruto grinned as he glimpsed at Fu then back at the ticket, "You have a lot of faith in my after that cloud ninja choked me like that."

"I have a lot of faith in you because you came and did everything you could to save me. Twice."

Naruto looked at Obito, "Won't this mean that genin from the Cloud and Stone come to the Leaf?"

Obito rubbed his chin, "You might want to cut your hair, maybe even dye it."

Fu furrowed confused eyes, "Why? What's wrong with his hair?"

"You know who's Naruto's dad is, right? Iwagakure sure does hate him. And now with Kumogakure having spite for Naruto himself, they may order a genin squad to come after him during the exam."

Naruto stuffed the paper into his pocket, "Ah, I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Alright, if you say so, Naruto, but I won't be there to help you, this time."

"Obito?" Fu shyly called. "Has there been any news about Ita?"

Obito sadly shook his head sideways, "There is nothing to follow on. I'm so sorry, Fu."

Naruto waved concerned eyes as she sadly gazed away. "She'll turn up," Naruto said. He looked at Fu's clothes. She hadn't changed at all. "Hey, let's go back to my house."

Once they arrived there, te searched through the basement of his parent's old stuff, and pulled out a luggage case of some clothes. Fu leaned to look at the contents. "This is my mom's old clothes when she was about your age. I noticed you only had that single set. You're supposed to be a princess, right? Well, you can wear some of her old clothes if you want."

Fu gazed at him. Staring, even. Naruto looked back to the case and scratched his face. "Uh, I guess it's weird?"

"Not that," Fu said. "You just usually don't say more than ten words at a time."

"Oh." He looked at the clothes. On top was a pair of black shorts, a green obi, and a kimono-style blouse. "Don't have much to say. Hate filler words."

Fu gently got to her knees and picked up the blouse. "You would really let me wear your mom's clothes?"

"I mean," he looked at the blouse Fu was checking out. "Why not? Ya know?"

Fu made a subtle smirk as she eyeballed him, "Aren't those all filler words? You could have just said yes."

"Shut up!" Naruto grabbed the blouse, placed it back in the case, closed it, and picked it up. "It'll be in the bedroom. Try some on while I shower."

"Wait, Naruto?" Fu called. He stopped at the first step up the stairs. "Could we go to the hotel? I wanted to get Ita's stuff. I doubt she wanted anyone to get it."

After two showers and an hour later, Naruto followed Fu up the hotel and into the room. Manita didn't have much, just a messenger bag that Fu grabbed. "I never did know what was in here, just she always had it on her."

"Do you think there'd be a clue to where she was?"

Fu sucked in her lips. "But, I can't do that. She never let anyone look into the bag. Not even me."

Naruto looked at the bag. It was so… normal. "I think it would be worth it, Fu. What if she's in danger?"

She nodded, "You're right." She unzipped the single pocket and looked into it, but Fu furrowed an eyebrow. "There's just… a small key."

"What?" Naruto looked into it. "Small. Looks like a key to a music box." Fu picked it up, observed it, and placed it back into the bag. "Do you think someone got to the bag, first? Or she had everything else with her?"

Fu slowly hugged the bag to her chest and fell to her knees. "There's nothing… here. Just that stupid key!"

Naruto gazed at her. He didn't know what to do. She started to cry into the bag. "There's nothing. Nothing! Nothing at all!"

He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Fu, let's… let's get out of here."

Fu used the bag to wipe her tears, pulled Naruto's hand to stand up. However, as they both looked at the door, they both flinched at the sight of a young, red-haired boy with dark eyeliner. Or, maybe those were rings from insomnia.

Naruto took a step closer. "What is it?" Something about this boy shook his nerves.

"I was down the hallway and heard a cry," he had such a rough voice as if he was thirsty. After another brief look, the boy started to walk away.

However, Naruto spotted a Sunagakure headband on his giant leather strap. He quickly walked to the hallway. "Are you here for the chunin exam?"

"Yes," the boy turned around. "I'm Gaara, who are you?"

"Naruto Namikaze."

"Well," he turned around to walk. "I hope we see each other in the exam, Naruto."

Naruto watched as he disappeared around the corner before he looked to Fu. "Don't go near him," he whispered.

"Don't worry," she said. "My sixth-sense is telling me to stay far, far away.."

Naruto nudged his head the other way, "Let's find another exit."

"The exam is tomorrow. Are you going to go find Sasuke and Sakura, soon?"

"No." Naruto closed his eyes for a long moment. "If they want to go, they'll meet me there tomorrow."

The next morning, Naruto stood outside a large building with his two teammates and Fu. He looked at his ticket, "You two ready?"

"Just waiting for you," Sakura cheerfully said.

Naruto looked at Fu before he walked closer to lean on her. Fu popped her eyes open, but he had only lean to whisper in her ears. "There'll be Anbu protecting you, but stay with Obito."

Fu nodded, "Got it." As he was about to meet with the other two, Fu snatched his arm, pulled him closer, and tightly hugged him. "Do your best, okay?"

For him, it was awkward to be hugged, but she seemed to really enjoy his company. She barely had any friends, and now one of her few friends had just disappeared, so he hugged her back. "Sure, I'll do my best."

As Fu let him go, he caught a glimpse of a genin team that just walked past. One, who was watching them with a smile, had long blonde hair, and a cape like shirt that went over his shoulder and arms. However, Naruto didn't catch a glimpse of his headband.

Fu looked their way, "What is it?"

Naruto shook his head and tried to lighten up. "Nothing. Just don't get kidnapped for the third time."

"Third luck's the charm!" She smiled.

Naruto rolled his eyes and walked into the building. He saw no sign of Gaara or that one blonde genin he'd just seen. He forgot to ask Jiraiya if there would be any genin from Iwagakure or Kumogakure.

As they walked to the initial testing area, which was on the third floor, two ninjas tried to trick another genin into thinking that the second floor was the third floor with a genjutsu technique. However, Sakura quickly pointed it out.

However, they caught the attention of an older leaf team. One boy had the Byakugan. "You're from the Uchiha clan," he said before he turned his eyes to Naruto. "On the same team as the legacy of the Hokage. Is your other teammate that lackluster that they needed two prodigies?"

Naruto and Sakura were stunned by the comment and had to blink multiple times. However, Sasuke stepped in front of them. "The only one who is lackluster around here is you, loser. At least, compared to me."

The boy curved on side of his mouth, "Like the Hyuuga for their Byakugan, the Uchiha are famed for their Sharingan, how about showing me it?"

Sasuke made an arrogant smile, "Are you suggesting a mock battle? Like I would soil my hands on dirt like you."

The boy scowled at Sasuke, "Dirt? I'll show you di-"

The boy started to get into a stance, however, one of his teammates, the one who wore the green jumpsuit, called out to him, "Neji! Not here!"

Neji scowled disappeared once he closed his eyes and took in a breath. Then he smiled. "I'll show you who's dirt one way or another. Until then, Uchiha."

Naruto and his squad waited as Neji's and his own teammates walked past them and up the stairs. Naruto looked at Sakura, "You alright?"

She nodded, "We'll show him. Won't we, Sasuke?"

Sasuke, however, shoved his hands into his shorts and started to walk the stairs. Naruto thought the cold shoulder may be from the mention of the Sharingan, which he had yet to activate.

In the testing room, which had dozens of long tables with what looked like a hundred of other genins, they met up with their old classmates. On one team was Kiba, Hinata, and Shino, then Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji with their own team.

As Naruto gazed his eyes over the competition, on the watch out for any Cloud or Stone genin, Kiba moved closer to him. "Hey, maybe we can all team up against them, the nine of us."

Naruto felt a little more at ease after he didn't see any Cloud or Stone ninjas. Except, he didn't see that one blond genin from earlier, the one that watched Fu hug him. "Wouldn't be fair, working together."

"Ah, who cares about that as long we become chunin?"

Sasuke gazed back at them, "If we have to work as a group of nine, then we don't deserve the rank of Chunin."

"Shut your mouths and listen up!" At the front of the room, by the blackboard, smoke was spreading and fading. A man who wore a black trench coat over a grey uniform with the other dozen ninja behind him stood. His face was riddled with scars. "It's time to begin. I'm your proctor, and foremost, your enemy, Ibiki Morino.

Ibiki started to talk louder, "Now, we'll proceed to the first stage of the chunin exams. Hand over your paperwork," he held up a square with the number 1 written on it. "And in return, you'll each be given a number. This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you have all been seated."

A written test? Naruto had never been good with paper exams, so hopefully, the questions aren't too hard. His teammates were scattered across the room, with Sakura a few seats behind him, Sasuke on the other side.

Naruto was looked at the back o the paper until someone sat to his left. He glimpsed and saw it was the blonde from earlier, but his eyes strained once he saw the hourglass on his headband. He was a Stone ninja from Iwagakure, and he was smiling at him. "Man, a written test. What a drag. Hopefully, I don't bomb it too hard."

Naruto smirked. Maybe he was just a regular genin and had no idea who Naruto's father was. "Me neither."

"So, what's your name, man? By the looks of your headband, I see this is your home village. Sure is a nice place. Mine's just full of stones, people included."

Naruto nodded, "It is a great place."

"Few in words I see," the boy grinned. "Don't worry, man. We can be friends. What's your name?"

"It's- Naruto." He couldn't say his last name or it would be obvious that he was the Fourth's son.

"Well, Naruto, my man, I'm Deidara. I sure do wish you luck on your test, man."

"You, too." He sure said

"You!" Ibiki yelled at Deidara. "Shut up and listen!" Ibiki stroked the chalkboard with chalk. "There are two rules everyone here needs to be aware of! Rule number one is this, I will only say this once!"

He explained as he wrote. Each person starts with ten points. For every question a person gets wrong, a point is deducted, but teams share the points. However, if one member gets a zero then the team fails. The tenth question won't be given out until the end of the period.

On both sides of the rooms is sentinel ninja to watch us, make sure we don't each. With each incident they spot, they'll deduct two points. "People who are caught by the sentinels don't deserve to be here," Ibiki had said.

Naruto scanned for questions he knew, which was only one, and even then, he was uncertain. He was sure Sakura would get at least a few rights, but he could only hope Sasuke somehow knew one.

After some time of looking at the paper, Deidara wrote away, as if he knew every answer on the test because he thought about it. The tick of the clock was eclipsed by all the crackling pencils on the papers.

"Uh, excuse me!" A genin raised a hand and called out. "Gotta use the can, sorry." It was a boy with purple paint striped onto his face, and a black, one-piece outfit. The bathroom? Naruto had an idea.

"Hey! May I go, too?"

Ibiki observed both the boys. "A sand and a leaf genin. Fine. Just hurry up."

After a sentinel handcuffed them and tied ropes to their wrists, he led him and the other boy to the bathroom. Once the door closed behind them, the boy spoke up. "So, you cheating, too?" He gave a cheerful face.

Naruto popped his eyes opened as he looked back at the Sentinel. "Don't worry about him. He's just my puppet. These sentinels aren't as eagled eye as everybody thinks."

"A puppet?"

"We can't chitchat for long. Do what you gotta do."

Naruto stepped away farther from the door. Thanks to the handcuffs, he could barely make his fingers to form the seals for two shadow clones. "Shadow clones, huh?" The boy said as he walked to the urinal. "And how exactly will those help?"

Naruto nodded at them, and they seemingly disappeared. "Where'd they go?" The boy asked.

"Look closer."

He flushed, squatted down, and smiled at the two roaches. They climbed onto Naruto's shoe for the lift. "Well, aren't you an interesting fella."

"How are you going to cheat?" Naruto asked.

"Already taken care of," he said as the sentinel grabbed the ropes and began to lead them out. However, Ibiki was staring right at them once they came back to the main room.

"Ah, made it back just in time. I hope you two found your trip to the bathroom enlightening," he said. All of the genin turned around. Naruto almost choked. Where they found out? "Well, take your seat."

Naruto almost let out a big, relieved breath before he and the other boy returned to their seat. Once he was back in his seat, he felt his transformed clones leave so they could scout out the surrounding area. Once they look at the test for enough time, they would make themselves disappear, unless they get slapped away, first. That's why he made three.

However, before any of his roaches could find answers and pop, Ibiki stepped closer to the genin. "Listen here, these rules are unique to question ten, try not to let them frighten you."

They were doing question ten now! Naruto thought he had more time before it!

"Rule number one! Each of you is free to choose not to be given a final question. It's your decision," Ibiki explained.

"Whoa, so what's the catch?" A loud girl questioned. "Let's say we decide we don't want to do it! What happens then?"

"If you choose not to answer the tenth question, regardless of your answers to the other nine, you'll get a zero. You will and your team will fail."

The mass of genin started to chatter, "Of course we'll do it!" Most said.

However, Ibiki grinned. "Not so fast! If you do decide to accept the tenth question and answer is incorrect, you will not only fail, you will be banned from taking the chunin exams ever again!"

Naruto eyes widened. Ever again? That definitely doesn't sound fair. "Hey, that's bullshit!' Kiba pointed and shouted. "What kind of bogus rule is that?! There are lots of people here that have taken the test, before!"

Ibiki made a hefty laugh as he glared at Kiba, "I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now. I guess you are just unlucky."

At the word unlucky, Naruto thought of Fu and what she had said the other night, about being a bad luck charm. If Naruto learned anything from meeting her, it was that sometimes being lucky and unlucky are sometimes the same thing.

"Those who don't want to take it, raise your hand! Your number will be recorded and you'll be free to go."

Naruto was so preoccupied with the tenth question, he didn't remember any of what his roaches learned. What if the tenth question was a trick question? Or something really simple? This man, Ibiki, has been trying to frighten them since the beginning. What if there's nothing to the tenth question?

Several people raised their hands, their numbers were called and announced they had failed, and they left through the doors.

"So, is this it? These are the teams staying?" Ibiki walked closer and examined the genin. "Well, there's only one thing left to do, and that's for me to tell you," he smiled. "That you all passed the first exam!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. He had tried to intimidate them, but a chunin must need guts. Was that the purpose of the exam?

"Wait a second!" The same loud girl from before spoke up. "So the other nine questions you gave us were just a waste of time!"

"Not at all! Quite the opposite," Ibiki said. "The first nine questions were important, to test you on your ability to gather intelligence."

Naruto ran his hands through his hair. He felt his roaches pop. One had gone over to Sasuke's. He had only answered one question, and from the looks of his face, he was a mess. Apparently, two chunin were planted into the genin mass, and on their exams were all the answers, but the last question was the main point, and how to take on a no-win situation.

As Ibiki was about to wrap up his speech, a woman crashed through the window. She threw kunai to the ceiling, which were tied to a giant cloth to completely hide Ibiki. "Heads up boys and girls!' She shouted. "This is no time to be celebrating! I'll be your next proctor! Anko Mitarashi!"

The woman led the remaining genin to an outside area, to a forest surrounded by a fence. Naruto peered around to spot those who had passed. Among the dozens of teams, ee saw Deidara with his two teammates, then he noticed the sand genin with Gaara and the boy from the bathroom. Finally, he saw the three leaf teams. Neji's team, and the two teams from his own class.

Naruto looked at Anko as she explained the area. A battle-zone, the "Forest of Death," she called it. Soon enough, they'll find out why. She handed them standard consent forms for them to read and sign, just in case they don't come back. There was a nearby booth to go inside and hand them in.

As the genin handed the forms around, Anko explained what they would be doing in the forest and the point of it. It's to test their survival skills. She gave them a description of the terrain. Aside from a river and the forest, in the center was a locked tower. That's the destination.

It was an any-goes battle to get both a heaven scroll and an earth scroll. Half of the teams will get one and will need the other scroll before they arrive at the tower. So, that meant at least half the teams will fail. There's a limit of five days.

Ways to get disqualified are that if a member becomes incapacitated and unable to continue, the team fails. Also, absolutely do not open the scrolls.

Naruto looked at his team. Sasuke had already signed his, but Sakura was gazing at it. "You okay, Sakura?"

She gripped it, "Five. Days."

"We'll be fine," Sasuke said. "In fact, I bet we can get a scroll and get to the tower in just today."

She gave Sasuke a confident look and signed it. After they took their consent forms to the booth, they were given a heaven scroll, who which Sasuke handed to Naruto. "Place it in your thigh satchel," he said.

A sentry from the last form led them around to an entrance, one of the forty-four of them. They had entrance twelve. He unlocked it and watched his watch until the time mark.

Naruto looked to his side and saw his team's intent. They agreed to dart right in, Naruto in the lead, Sasuke in the back.

"Get going!' The sentry yelled. Naruto sprinted forward. After a few minutes, at the sound of a startled scream, Naruto stopped between a few bushes and trees in a small clearing.

"That was close," Naruto said.

"I think we should keep going and try to get the drop on someone. That scream will attract other enemies," Sasuke said.

Naruto nodded and began to maneuver through the forest. However, he immediately stopped at the sound of… thrashing. "What is that?" Sakura asked.

Quickly, right after the last one broke, the trees were struck down by a massive gust of window, like a tornado that struck through the floor. It missed Sakura and Sasuke, but Naruto was hit directly, and thrown through what felt like a hundred yards through the forest. His back hit a tree, and he stumbled to the ground. Whoever had done that left a scar in the dirt. At least he wouldn't have any troubling finding his way back.

"Naruto, my man, there you are!' Naruto strained his eyes as he looked above. Deidara, and his two teammates. "We've been looking for you, but here you are!"

Naruto swallowed. He wondered what scroll they had, or what scroll they wanted. "If you wanted my scroll, my teammate has it," he lied.

"My man, I don't think you understand. I didn't say I was looking for your scroll, I said I was looking for you."

He scowled at Deidara. Iwagakure.

"To think, I was about to leave my village, but then my old man Tsuchikage came to me and said," Deidara cuffed his chin, closed his eyes, and arrogantly titled his head up. "My boy, Deidara, how would you like to use your art for the good of the village?!" He said in a fake, deep voice.

Deidara waved his arms around and smiled at Naruto, "And I said, 'Sure! I would love to show my art to the son of the Fourth Hokage! It would be my honor!"

Naruto peered at Deidara's hands. He had tiny little, grey balls between his fingers. Once he let them drop down to Naruto, e pushed his legs from the ground and darted upward, just out of the blast radius. However, the debris smoke covered him entirely.

One of Stone ninjas leaped from the tree, grabbed Naruto, and forced him out of the air. Naruto tried to push him off, but his wrists were pinned to the ground. Deidara walked to stand over him, "And here we see the Fourth's Legacy come to an end! Oh, man, I can't wait until the Tsuchikage hears how easy it was!"

"How shall we kill him, Deidara?" The ninja on top of him said.

"Well, there's one way," Deidara said as he placed his hand on the ninja's neck.

The ninja's eyes popped, Naruto gawked at him. His face and skin lost color and became grey, and as Deidara jumped away, they both blew up.

Deidara laughed, "Wow! Look at that! Man, he blew the fuck up!"

"But, that was our teammate!" The other Stone ninja said.

Deidara calmed down and smiled at the ninja. "And if you tell anyone, I'll do the same to you. It's just a single touch, man."

Shurikens spun as they were shot at Deidara, who ducked under them. He raised his fist at the direction they came from. "Who's there?!" Naruto jumped from other branch and into plain sight. The pissed Deidara relaxed his arm. "So you managed to escape my art. You are Naruto Namikaze, son of the Fourth, the man who killed hundreds of my village's ninja back in the day, so I guess I should have expected that. Man, did I drop the bomb."

"You talk too much," Naruto said. When Naruto was covered by the initial blast radius, he made a shadow clone and hid in the shadows of the woods. This Deidara really killed his own teammate.

Deidara grunted and glared at him. A Naruto clone leaped onto the back of the unnamed Stone ninja and forced him to the ground. With a tight sleeper-hold, he was knocked unconscious.

"Very sneaky, man. You distracted us with your real self while your clone snuck up behind my teammate. Smooth," Deidara said.

Deidara made a crooked smile, "But you're gonna to try much harder than that!" From within his top shirt, he threw dozens of bomb petals at both his clone, his teammate, and him. Naruto managed to get at the edge of the radius, but he was still scorched as the entire area before him got leveled.

As Naruto was about to retreat, his back was bombarded by shurikens. "Gotcha," Deidara said. He was about to succumb to the ground from the pain, but Deidara kneed him in the face and made him fall backward.

Deidara picked him up and forced his neck to the tree, strangling him. Blood dripped from Naruto's nostril. "I thought you would do more after you escaped the first time but I guess not." He grinned as he tightened his grip. "Are you even still awake? Because, I want you to hear what I'm going to do next, man."

He leaned his mouth to Naruto's ear, "I'm going to kill your friends, I'm going to destroy your village, I'm going to blow up everything you love."

Naruto gasped for air. He couldn't fight back. Deidara probably wasn't even a genin, he was much older. Iwagakure must have sent someone at least chunin level to assassinate him.

"And I'll start with that girl you hugged this morning," he whispered in a sharp tone.

Naruto eyes popped open for an orange-red, instead of the usual blue, to look at Deidara. He was taken back but began to tighten both of his hands at Naruto's neck. Naruto grabbed his wrist, pried them away, and kicked him in the gut to knock Deidara to the tree.

"Why did you suddenly get stronger?" He struggled to ask.

Naruto slumped to the ground as he looked at his hands. They looked more like claws, at this point. He felt… energy. He felt a burning sensation on not only his skin but an uproar to protect everyone from this monster.

"Oh," Deidara chuckled, "Did I hurt a sore spot by mentioning that girl?"

Naruto scowled at him.

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to pay her a visit right after this exam."

"I'll fucking kill you!"

Naruto rushed at Deidara. Before he could throw that bombs petals at him, Naruto grabbed his and broke his forearm. The petals softly landed on the ground, which let Naruto drag Deidara's face over the surface of the ground, and against a tree.

He was unconscious, face to the roots of the tree. Naruto sat on his back to strangle him like he was about to do to him.

"Naruto!" Sakura's scream echoed through the forest.

Naruto jerked his attention up. He looked at his hands on Deidara's neck before he let his fingers become loose. He checked his satchel for the Earth scroll and ran towards his friends.

It was a long sprint, but once he finally arrived, he saw both Sasuke and Sakura laid motionless on the ground. Over them, a woman stood as she held part of her face. From the headband, he could tell she was a grass ninja.

She smiled as he stood a few yards from him, but she winced and her smile faded. "See you another time, Naruto."

He threw a kunai, but the woman completely disappeared, so it carved into a tree. That woman was unsettling. When she had said his name, it was in a man's voice. A familiar one.

He ran and made sure they were breathing. Thankfully, they were. His skin had stopped burning, he felt calmer by the time he summoned a clone to help carry them. As they started to carry them away, he noticed there had been a big battle in this area. Broken branches, scorch marks, weapons everywhere.

They still had five days, and they already had both scrolls thanks to his fight with Deidara. With luck, they just need some rest. It had begun to get dark, so Naruto hurried to find them a spot to sleep.

A few hours later, Sakura sat straight up and made a slight scream. Naruto hurried and place his over over her mouth to muffle her scream. "Sakura! It's okay, you're fine!"

She gazed at him as she calmed down, and he slowly took his hand away. he looked around and saw they were by the river, by a rock that and a few trees. The only way for them to be seen would be if they were swimming in the river.

She took a deep breath. "Thank god you rescued us."

He gave a curious look. "Rescue? You both were unconscious, and the woman looked badly beat by the time I got there."

"She was? Sasuke was-" she looked at him before she quieted down. "He.. he was so afraid. I tried to intervene, but the woman - she, she - I don't even know. She said something about testing him."

"We'll have to wait until he wakes up."

"Naruto?"

He kept his glance on her, but she looked at her legs. "I said something pretty mean to Sasuke. I compared him to you. You would have fought even if you were scared."

"Oh," he rubbed his neck. "He'll be fine. We all know he's the better fighter."

She gave him a worried look before she got closer, "What happened? There are two cuts on your face."

Cuts? He wasn't cut at all. Just blown up a few times. "Where?"

"On both sides. They're symmetrical, actually."

He rubbed his face and felt two small lines. They didn't feel like cuts. In fact, something so little should have healed quickly for him. "Don't remember being cut, but I ran into the Stone ninjas. They were sent to kill me."

"What?!" Nearby birds scattered from the tree. "Crap, sorry," she whispered. "But are you okay? Are they still around?"

Naruto peered to the ground, "Deidara, he.. Killed both his teammates trying to kill me."

"He killed his teammates?" Sakura shook her head. "That's cruel. I can't believe that. What kind of person would do that to their own teammates?"

"Then he threatened to kill you two, then told me he was going to kill Fu and blow up the entire village. I- I got angry. I was about to kill him." He combed his fingers into his hair and grabbed it. "I was about to kill him, even though he was unconscious. I think I would have if I didn't hear you scream for me."

Sakura rubbed his shoulder, "Hey, come on. You didn't stoop to his level, that makes you a better person than he is. He killed his comrades, you came to save us! That's the opposite!"

He brought this hands to his eyes and rubbed them dry. He wanted to say that he didn't care about stooping to his level. He remembered back to Haku's words at the bridge, and what she had said. Sometimes, it's necessary to kill for a better future.

What if this is one of those times? What if because he didn't kill Deidara, now those precious to him are at stake? But, how could he kill someone that was so helpless at the time? What was that anger that almost compelled him to do so? When Deidara threatened everyone, he felt anger leak out of his body. It was powerful, like a drug.

He looked to the river. and saw the moon reflected off it. "Are you ever scared of the Nine-Tails?"

"What? Of course, not. Your dad put a really exquisite seal on it, right?" She asked. Naruto nodded back. "Then, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Naruto nodded, "Thanks, Sakura."

"You know you can always talk to me," she smiled.

Sasuke's breathing started to go rampant, which made both of them rotate their heads to him. "Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

His breath wasn't only fast, they were breaths of pain, breaths that were desperate for air. They both came closer, Sakura checked his forehead. "He doesn't have a fever- wait, Naruto? What's this on his neck?"

Naruto looked over and saw something on like a tattoo of three tomoes. "Since when did he have a tattoo?"

Sakura shook her head, "Unless he had gotten after the first exam, he didn't. It looks more like a seal."

"Do you think it came from that snake lady?"

Sasuke reached up and aggressively grabbed Naruto's mesh shirt, "Naruto," he muttered as he glared at him.

With afraid eyes, Naruto gazed back at Sasuke as his eyes turned red, and seals sprouted from the mark on his neck.

"Sasuke!" Sakura said as she tried to release his grasp on Naruto's shirt. "Just what are you doing?!"

Sasuke let go and let Naruto fall on his butt. He made no remark, only kept his gaze at Sasuke as he passed out, and the sprouted seals return to the mark.

Sakura made a heavy breath before she whispered. "Just what are we going to do? We still don't have an Earth scroll."

Naruto smiled, "Remember those Iwa ninjas I fought?"

Sakura furrowed an eyebrow at him, "What about them?"

Naruto reached into his satchel and brought out both of the scrolls. "We'll head to the tower in the morning."

Sakura gazed at them before she made a soft laugh and looked at Sasuke. "I don't think Sasuke is going to like that."

Naruto smiled, but at a sudden pinch, he smacked his neck. It felt like he was just bitten by a bug. As he pulled his hand away, he saw a beetle on his wrist.

I'm gonna summarise the preliminary rounds. There are not any sound-ninja or Kabuto's team in the exam aside from Orochimaru's team when they're disguised at Leaf. So, that means different pairings in some of the rounds. Still, I'll summarise them. I don't necessarily write to show fight scenes, but rather a story, and having to write several fights at a time will make me write slower. However, who will make it to the final may surprise you.

If you read the original, Deidara was in it. I love how I wrote him in this story. There's no Akatsuki in this story. Why Orochimaru wants Sasuke specifically will come. Lemme know how I did and what I can imrove on!