WHY I'M SO STUPID?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or its characters, or Naruto would be like Goku when it comes to training and appetite, but a complete opposite when it comes to IQ and everything else.

My version of what happens after the chunin exam:

The sand and sound never invaded, but the third still dies fighting Orochimaru, due to his former student's grudge over which person he has picked to replace him as hokage, causing the two to go all out, which ends the same way.

Sasuke doesn't get bit, but gets his butt handed to him by Gaara.

Naruto defeats Gaara with the kyubi's help, and defeats Temari, without, becoming a Chunin.

Except for the usual suspects, nobody else knows about the kyubi inside Naruto.

Sakura hasn't been approached by Tsunade yet about becoming a Medic-nin

Sai will not be making an appearance anytime soon, mainly because I'm still waiting for the Naruto series to become translated, and the guy seems too much like a Gaara clone when it comes to emotions.

Everything else pretty much remains the same, except Naruto gets a little bit more respected, and reveals his true self to the entire village, which you'll see during this fic.

Two months after the exam . . .

"No! Now get the hell away from me!" Was the reply of one really ticked off Sasuke Uchiha, which doesn't seem to take much, before walking as faraway from the pink haired girl as possible, while waiting for their late as usual sensei to show up. When he started to walk past a certain Naruto Uzumaki, walking with his hands in his pocket, who was sporting his chunin vest, along with a new look, wearing the standard uniform, also with a cape similar to the Yondaime's, trying his best to look like his hero, causing him to glare at somebody who was no longer the dead last, still sore over their battle over the roof, due to the fact that his Rasengan did more damage to one of the water towers than his chidori did to the other, and that Naruto was taught by one of the legendary Sannin, among other things "Where the hell have you been?" He asked, "You're over a hour late." He shouted, with mixture of anger and annoyance.

Naruto didn't even blink, especially when the Uchiha prodigy was right in his face. He placed his finger onto his forehead, and pushing him away, he turned to his female teammate, "You asked him out again, didn't you, Sakura?" This was more of a statement instead of a question, causing said person to look down towards the ground, with an embarrassing look on her face, "And to answer your question," he started saying, before sending Sasuke a few inches back with a simple flick of his finger, "I was playing shoji with Shikamaru which took longer than we both thought, but we ended in a draw anyway, and the Hokage needed to talk to me about some things. As for the rest, well I just took my sweet time getting here knowing how considering our sensei's track record when it comes to being on time." After he was finished, Sasuke simply went into his usual whatever position, while Sakura was doing a pretty accurate impersonation of Hinata, from the finger touching to the full face blush.

Ever since the chunin exams, a lot of things have changed in the village, Naruto being a big part of it. Ever since he became a chunin, Naruto decided to throw away that mask that was seen by those who knew him well. Instead of the usual, hyperactive, knuckleheaded, brat like Naruto, they got one that is smart, calm, serious one who still lives up to being completely unpredictable. One of the few things that remain the same are his dreams of becoming hokage, and his taste for ramen, although his obsession for it just calm down enough to where he enjoys it once in awhile. What surprised people the most were the fact that he no longer wears orange since the stores since all the shopkeepers have either moved in from out of town, or some other reasons that none of their friends could figure out why.

Sakura also changed a little, while she is a little bit more serious about her training; she still goes head over heels over Sasuke. But ever since the new Naruto made his appearance, she started to feel different about him. While a little bit of the old Naruto still remains, like his sense of humor, and he's still loyal to his friends, she started to see him in a light that felt familiar for some reason. The one change that she was starting to regret is the fact that Naruto no longer asks her out anymore for anything, or tries to cheer her up anymore. It wasn't until about a week after Tsunade took office, when the changes started, along with a few surprises while she was having her friendly chat with Ino for the first time in a long time:

Flashback . . .

They were sitting on both sides of the counter at the flower shop, trying to catch up on what happened since they separated due to having a crush on one boy who turned out to be more of an ass instead of a mystery. "Man I still can't believe who the new Chunins are. I mean I always thought Sasuke would be coming out on top." Sakura said, with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"I know what you mean, billboard brow, but in a way I'm glad he didn't." Ino responded, getting a surprised look from her friend.

"Wait, did I hear right?" Sakura asked, "Am I even in the right building?"

Ino just gave a low sigh, "Think about it, will you? If Sasuke did become a chunin, do you think he would really treat us any better?" She asked, "Right now, I'm already moving on, I'm through batting my eyelashes at somebody with what appears to be a huge stick up his ass."

This definitely got Sakura's attention, "You mean I get to have Sasuke all to myself?" She said, with a little glee in her voice.

"You'll be the only one pining after him, because from what I've heard, all the other girls moved on as well. Maybe you should as well." Ino said, "But it is your choice if wither or not you want to keep kissing that boy's ass or not."

She wasn't too please about that little statement, so she decided to change the subject, "So how does it feel to have one of your teammates become a chunin?" She asked.

"Not all that different to tell the truth. Shikamaru is still as lazy as ever, but I'm still proud of him." Ino said, with such honesty, "And I guess ever since Naruto has proven us all wrong when he passed the whole thing, I don't know, I just started to feel like I needed to actually open up my eyes and see the real world for once." She said, looking a little sad, "So is Naruto still asking you out on dates?" She asked.

Now it was Sakura's turn to look depressed, "No, he stopped asking me after the first round of the tournament, piggy. And ever since he became a chunin, he became like a completely different person. He's still friendly and his sense of humor has calmed down some, but now he's calmer, smarter, patient, almost like the Naruto we saw was just an illusion, and now I'm starting to have second thoughts about everything."

"Why's that?" Ino asked.

Just before she could answer, a loud "OH, CRAP!!" Was heard just as a frantic Jiraiya went running past the window, while an angry horde of girls were not too far behind. A bell rang, indicating somebody just entered. When they looked up, they just about had a nosebleed after seeing the person. There stood Naruto, except for the vest, wearing an all black outfit (think Blade, minus the equipment you see in the movies), his blonde hair was just past his neck, longer than Sakura's, he wore black, fingerless gloves, like Kakashi's. All the time he spent training were definitely showing on his body, where his suit was showing off muscles in all the right places, while his ocean blue eyes added a strong, but gentle touch to this new Naruto, causing the two to give a blush that only Hinata could beat. With a slight cough, he was able to snap the two out of their little fantasies. He placed one of his fingers to his lips and did a little wiping motion, telling the girls that they have something on their faces. When they did what Naruto was indicating, they realized that they were starting to drool a little, causing them to go red with embarrassment.

Inochi choose his moment to walk out of the storage room, "Ino, who's at the do-"he was about to ask, but froze when he looked at who it was, "Naruto, is that you?" When the young man nodded, "Wow, you look just like-"

"The Fourth Hokage when he was my age, I know, I know." Naruto said, rolling his eyes, "I've been hearing it so many times, its annoying as hell."

"Naruto, why were all those girls chasing Jiraiya?" Sakura asked.

"Some fan girls were trying to jump me, so I quickly spotted the pervert walking by, so all I had to do was say "Hey, wasn't that you at the hot springs the other day." And judging by the looks on their faces, they have already been their not that long ago. The next thing I know, the poor dope is getting his monthly worth of exercise."

Everybody started to laugh at this, "So, you have fan girls now, huh?" Inochi asked, after he calmed down.

Naruto went back to being annoyed, "More like the same ones that were fawn all over Sasuke, and then some." He said, catching Sakura's and Ino's full attention, "And now I finally understand what Sasuke had to go through. But that's not worst of it." He said a little rage was starting to build up in his voice, "I've been hearing people apologizing, I have been asked for forgiveness, and now, I have parents trying to act like everything they did was just a big understanding." When he started to calm down, he continued, "But this time, I'm not going to forgive anybody that easily, because now their going have to earn my trust this time." When he looked up, he noticed that Ino and Sakura had a sad look on their face, "But I'm also grateful to the fact that Shika, Choji, and Kiba were around to be my friends since before the academy days." He said, with a smile on his face. "Anyway, since I'm here, do you have any white roses left?" He asked.

Inochi quickly responded, "Yeah, we have one left," He said, pulling it from behind the counter, "Consider this one on the house." He handed the rose to Naruto, who took it without argument.

Just as his hand touched the doorknob, a voice stopped him, "Naruto, I know it probably won't mean much now, but I'm sorry for everything that I ever did to you, especially ruining your chance for having a love life." Ino said guilt completely visible in her voice.

"I know you are, Ino, a lot of our friends are, but some things take time so please wait awhile longer." Naruto said, "And as for my love life, good chance that if you didn't, then the parents would have." and just as he was about to try and go for the knob again, Sakura's voice stopped him this time.

"Naruto, can I ask you something?" She asked him, wanting to get something off her chest. When he nodded, she was having trouble getting the right words out, "Whatever happened to the Naruto before the exams? Whatever to the Naruto who would never give up asking me to go out with him?" She asked.

"He saw how much you care for his rival, so he decided to give you what you wanted and stepped aside." Naruto said, without flinching, "He also got tired of getting beat up, yelled at, and blamed for every little thing just for being nice and generous. To tell you the truth, this is the real me, the other one was just something I came up with because I really didn't have much of a choice." He said, just as he started to open the door, "I'll tell you the real reason why, but not until you truly grasp the concept of that old saying: "Be careful what you wish for, or else you just might get it." After that, he left.

End flashback

It didn't take until the day after tomorrow for her to realize what he was saying, and for every one of the cruel and mean thing she put him through. When she told him this, he just gave her a neutral look, one that would make even Hiashi Hyuga a little nervous, before telling her that even though now she is asking for his forgiveness, it will still take a while for old wounds to heal.

And now, here they are the new team seven, with Sasuke leaning against the railing in his usual position, Sakura checking Naruto out from head to toe, and Naruto leaning his back against the bridge, with his hands in his pockets. After an half hour worth of silence, the only change being Sakura leaning over the railing, with a full body blush after her inner self gave her a glimpse of Naruto that would make most konichi faint from nose bleeds alone. It wasn't until Naruto said, "Hey, Kakashi." When smoke on a just appeared and disappeared to reveal the ever so late sensei,

"Sorry about being late, but . . ." Kakashi didn't get a chance to finish his excuse after getting a good look at Naruto's latest look, "Naruto, where did you get that fit?"

"From the super perv," Naruto answered, "but now is not the time to discuss about it. Right now, I need to tell you the real story about the battle that took place almost thirteen years ago and why I got treated the way I did." Naruto said, gathering up the courage to say what needs to be said, while getting everybody's attention.

Kakashi, on the other hand, was hoping that things would get better for Naruto's sake.

To be continued . . .

Next chapter, everything is revealed to team 7, and I do mean everything. Sasuke will change for the better after getting some knocked into him, literally, and everything else might prove interesting. The main couple is NarutoxSakura, if you have any ideas about what the other couples should be (no yaoi), then let me know, and I'll try to squeeze them in. Read and Review.