The day of the Chunin exam arrived, Sasuke and Naruto were waiting for Sakura at the entrance if their Academy.
"Oi Sakura, you're pretty late… what is it?"
Naruto asked with a brow raised, Sakura did look a little anxious. It couldn't be helped, she knew only a bit of Taijutsu, almost all of her time was occupied in her medical field.
"Ha…hehe… It's… It's just that I'm… It's nerve-racking"
Sakura sighed. Sasuke went ahead and have a slight tap on her back. She looked at him, a bit puzzled.
"Individually you stand no chance… so rest easy till that comes"
Sakura sighed. It was just the truth, she nodded and went forward, Sasuke and Naruto also followed behind.
'A lot of people for sure'
Sakura thought, glancing at the soon-to-be-genin kids from the other villages and theirs alike. Her feelings anxious would be an understatement.
'Argh! What am I doing!? I need to focus'
She steeled her resolve, decapitating unnecessary thoughts.
'She underestimates her own prowess'
Sasuke thought to himself, the girl was anxious for no reason, she could get past the individual round with ease if the right opponent was picked... But that was also a low possibility. Only the fittest would get ahead in the first place.
"What's the commotion there?"
Naruto whispered, he fastened his pace to head there.
"Hah!! You plan to take the chunin exam with that!?, you should quit it now"
When the trio arrived, Lee was on the ground and two adult Shinobi's were standing there with snickering face.
"You guys are jus---!!"
A black blur got past Lee in an instant, another blue blur also got past him.
*Crackle*
"Sasuke, let me go... I wanna dattebayo these bastards!"
Sasuke held back a growling Naruto, the former had his arm wrapped around the latter's neck.
"W-What the!?"
The spikey-haired guy who pushed away Lee gulped in disbelief. What was happening? He glanced to his right where Naruto's feet landed... It was cracked like a spider web!
"Sigh... We don't wanna get disqualified right off the bat... Back away... For now"
Naruto calmed his nerve, he sent one last glance at the guy before heading back to Lee.
Sasuke held out his arm for Lee to get up.
"Thank you for stepping in Naruto. But... This will be our last friendly meeting till the end of the exam, remember that"
With a confident smirk, Naruto and Sasuke along with Sakura ascended to the next floor.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
Sasuke glanced back toward the other participants, they didn't utter a word after Naruto's display of strength and speed.
The Uchiha held his hand forward and snapped his finger. The room number changed from '301' to '201'.
"What the!?"
"We were under a Genjutsu this whole time!?"
"How did that guy even figure it out!?"
Rock Lee smirked knowing it was Sasuke's proficiency in finding a weakness of a Genjutsu, an Anti-Genjutsu specialist.
"As expected from my rival! Let us head forward team Gai!"
The other participants also followed Lee and his teammates who were behind Sasuke. Soon, they reached in front of a double door.
"Well, let's go"
The trio opened the door and entered the hall. Whispers and conversations were resounding through the hall full of challengers.
"You're late~ Sasuke'
Ino approached him with a smirk, she walked behind him.
"Don't die on me, Mr. Vampire eyes"
She gave a slight punch to his back before walking past him.
"Zip it, teal-eyes"
"Yeah Yeah"
She waved her hands in the air, heading toward Shikamaru and Chouji. Sasuke just sighed, she was just too childish.
Team seven also met with the other rookie-9 they chatted for a bit but were interrupted by a white-haired guy with glasses.
"You guys must be the 9 rookies fresh out of the Academy, right? Carrying on like that with cute fac-"
Sasuke stepped forward, his eyes dangerously narrowed.
"I don't like you, your whole existence just screams 'fake'... Can you go away?"
Naruto also stepped forward, raising a bit of his killing intent.
"U-Umm... Okay"
Cold sweat ran down kabuto's back, he took a step back whilst positioning his glasses. The blonde walked beside Sasuke and neared his head to Sasuke's ears.
"I'll handle him"
The Uchiha nodded in response. The other rookie nine members had their pupils shrunk at the earlier scene.
"...Naruto?"
Kiba barely managed to whisper out his name. The others looked away when the Uzumaki-Uchiha duo glanced at them.
"Who was that?"
Sakura asked, the guy looked really fishy.
"Who knows... Might be some nerd or whatever"
Sasuke responded, Sakura nodded and sat on the ground, waiting for an announcement. Hinata glanced at Naruto, she was worried, to say the least.
'So the rumors were true... Naruto-Kun has really changed'
***
Inside Naruto's seal, a humongous fox with nine-tails was staring at the outside world with infuriated eyes.
"Those Uchihas... They make me vomit"
The scarlet-furred fox growled as he went to his slumber, the Chakra-fueled water under him boiling.
'Though, he did make this vessel of mine a hundred times better compared to the likes of righteous Mito and the other insects with hero-syndromes... For that, I'll give you a little more time to live'
With a deep, dark chuckle, the Incarnation of destruction known as Kurama the Nine-tailed fox, went to slumber.