The Red Flash Chapter 46 (Chunin Exams) (Patreon)

Two weeks after the Wave mission and Kakashi was at his wit's end. He wanted to know what the hell had happened to his team. Where was the excellent teamwork that lead them to defeat such strong opponents. Where was the concern for each other? Where was the determination? It was as though returning to Konoha had brought back their bad habits threefold.

Sakura was even more determined to get Sasuke to notice her. Kakashi had thought she would finally get serious about becoming a ninja after having felt so useless in the Land of Waves, but no, one run-in with Ino and she had forgotten all about that. She also seemed even more determined to bring down Naruto than ever before.

"ETERNAL RIVAL! I FOUND  YOU!" The sudden loud scream jarred Kakashi from his thoughts and nearly caused him to jump. Only years of training prevented it. How six-foot-tall green spandex wearing overly loud crazy could sneak up on him would forever be a mystery, no matter how many times it happened.

"Ah, did you say something?" Kakashi said as he stood, flipping open one of his treasured Icha Icha Paradise books.

"How  unbearably hip of your rival!" Maito Gai cried pointing a finger at the relaxed-looking jounin. "That does not matter, I have simply come to tell you that no matter how bright the flames of youth might shine in your students those flames of my students shall always be brighter. My  students will prevail over yours in the Chunin exam or I shall do ONE  HUNDRED laps around Konoha's walls on my hands!" He finished off his exuberant, and loud, speech with a thumbs up and a scarily bright student.

"Oh, is it time for the Chunin exams already? I'd forgotten." Kakashi lazily flipped a page, not taking his eye off the book.

"I  will not be fooled by that hip attitude rival!" Suddenly Gai seemed to realize the time. "Ah! I am late! NO! I don't wish to become unyouthful  as my rival!" He then ran off, kicking up a dust trail behind him.

Kakashi sighed as he lowered his book, he had not seen a word after Gai had mentioned the chunin exams. The truth was he had forgotten about that. 

Sakura wasn't exactly ready for Chunin Exams, hell if she kept going like this, he wondered if she ever will be.

With another sigh, Kakashi put his book away and turned to the Hokage's tower.

"Where is Kakashi?" The Hokage asked, only mildly perturbed as he had grown accustomed to the jounin's habitually tardiness. No one in the room answered him. He supposed that was to be expected. "Well, we might as well start..." He was cut off as the door opened, admitting a one-eyed shinobi into the Hokage's office.

"Sorry, I'm late." Although honestly, he had only found out about the meeting once he'd arrived, those messenger chunin were getting rusty. "I left my  refrigerator on and had to go back to turn it off." Nobody commented on the outrageousness of this excuse because, really, what would they say?

"That's alright. Let's get down to business though." He turned to address the others in the room as well. "Kurenai, Asuma, Kakashi, do any of you  believe your genin team is ready to participate in the chunin selection  exams?"

"I, Yuuhi Kurenai, jounin sensei of squad eight nominate  my team of Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyuuga Hinata to take the  chunin exams." She had stepped forward as she had begun to talk and now stepped back as she finished.

"I, Sarutobi Asuma, jounin sensei of  squad ten nominate my team to take the exams." He hadn't even bothered to take the cigarette out of his mouth.

There was a small lull as everyone waited for Kakashi to speak. Finally, the Sandaime got tired of the silence and asked, "And you Kakashi? What of your team?"

"Yes, they're ready more than anyone else. Especially Naruto" Kakashi started noticing the gaze of Asuma and Kurenai.

The third already knew the answer but decided to play along.

"What? But they're just rookies! They're not ready yet" Iruka stated looking at Kakashi and the others.

Kakashi sighed knowing Iruka was overreacting and not understanding that Naruto was already strong enough to be a Jonin let alone a Chunin.

Hiruzen was about to tell Iruka to not interrupt but Kakashi spoke first.

"No offence Iruka, but they're not your students anymore and trust me. My team is more than ready especially Naruto" Kakashi kept the last part to himself.

Iruka looked ready to say something again but Sarutobi raised his hand.

"No Iruka, Kakashi's right, he's the jonin, if he says they're ready, then we should trust his word" The old Hokage stated.

Naruto

"Man, that mission was boring!" Naruto complained loudly as he walked down the streets of Konoha, turning and looking over his shoulder at his teammates who were walking behind him. Sakura to the right wearing a sleeveless version of her usual clothing, Sasuke with his hands casually in his pockets to the left and Kakashi was trailing behind, reading his precious Icha-Icha as usual. "I mean seriously,  nothing happened. We just stood around the whole time."

"We know,  we were there," Sasuke responded dryly, though inwardly he agreed with his teammate. He was hoping for an opportunity to test himself, but none had arisen since the Wave Mission.

Sakura shook her head at the redhead. "You shouldn't complain because we had an easy  mission, or are you hoping for a repeat of what happened in Wave?"

Naruto placed his hands behind his head. "No nothing as extreme as that, I  just wish something exciting would happen, you know? Even something as  ordinary as attacking a bandit camp." He responded but he actually wanted another mission like Wave.

"Don't worry. The exams are right around the corner. I can guarantee you'll see plenty of excitement  soon enough." Kakashi said to the redhead before looking over all his students. Almost as if on cue, he heard the call of a bird. Tilting his head upward, he saw said hawk flying high over the village. He stared for a few moments before turning back to his team. "Well, I need to go submit the report for this mission. You guys don't need to come along since it was so uneventful. See ya." With that, he vanished in a burst of speed.

Naruto was busy thinking of what the old Hokage told him after they arrived after the mission of Wave.

"You wanted to see me, Hokage-Sama?" Naruto asks as he walks into the third's office.

"Ah Naruto, thank you for coming." The Hokage smiles at the boy. The room was silent for a few moments before The third spoke up once more. "I wanted to talk to you about your mission to Wave."

"What about it?" Naruto was a little annoyed with the direction, he knew this conversation was heading in. He knew what he did was right, they wanted to kill everyone and not mentioning...

The boy's tone did nothing to affect the old man. "From the tone of your voice, is it safe to assume, you know what I want to talk to you about?"

"Yes." The annoyance in the blond remained. "And before you ask, I'm fine. I'm not emotionally damaged, a danger to the population of Konoha, or bent on revenge. So you can chill?" He was forgetting to be respectful at the moment.

"I understand what you're feeling, Naruto. But we're all just concerned about you."

"No disrespect, Jiji. But you don't know what I'm feeling. You don't know what it's like every day, knowing everyone despises you, for something you have no control over. To know that everyday people are waiting until you slip up and accidentally rage out. So they have a reason to get rid of you. The only ones who could possibly understand what I'm going through are other Jinjurikies. And none of them lives here. So that's out of the question." Naruto heaves a deep sigh. "Can I go now, Jiji?"

The Hokage was saddened by the redhead. The boy was right. No one in this village could possibly understand what the boy had to go through. "Yes, of course."

Naruto broke out in his trademark grin as he looked to his fellow genin. "Great! Then how about the three of us go and  celebrate another job well done?"

Sasuke scoffed and turned away. "Not interested." He said as he began to walk home.

"Come  on, Sasuke." Sakura stepped forward. She wanted to let him know that she was there for him. After all, that was what a team and friends were for, right? "Would it really be so bad to get a bite to eat  with us?"

Sasuke closed his eyes and seemed to consider it for a moment before turning and resuming his path to his clan's compound. "I have better things to do."

Sakura watched the retreating figure of the object of her affections before sighing. She'd hoped that after learning how beneficial teamwork could be, he'd be more willing to let them in. Naruto watched her for a moment before stepping forward and placing a hand on her shoulder, getting her attention.  "Don't worry; I'm sure he'll lighten up someday."

"Yeah," Sakura replied, brightening up. "So, where do you plan to go? Ichiraku's?"

Naruto shrugged. "Nah, I know most other people wouldn't want to go there all the time. How about..." he began he heard something behind him. He turned to see a square rock with eye holes approaching him from behind, coming to a stop the moment he turned. The young Uzumaki sweatdropped. There were only three individuals who would attempt to sneak up on him with such an obvious disguise. "I can see right through that disguise, plain as day. Come out of there you three, I know it's you."

With that,  the poorly disguised box was lifted up to reveal Konohamaru and his friends, Moegi and Udon. The grandson of the Hokage crossed his arms and looked up at the Redhead. "Just as expected from the man I  chose as my rival."

"Hey, guys." Naruto greeted before his expression became slightly curious when he noticed what they were all wearing. "What's with the goggles?"

Konohamau reached for them with a wide grin.

Moegi took a step forward. "Are you free right now? You promised to teach us something cool today."

The redhead slapped his forehead. "Oh right, I completely forgot!" he then turned to his pink-haired teammate. "Sorry, Sakura! I kind of promised them. Raincheck?"

Sakura gaped at the Uzumaki bearer. "You're going to teach someone? You?"

Naruto shrugged at her shocked expression, not seeing what the big deal was. "Yeah. What about it?"

"This I gotta see."

Konohamaru, who watched the two in silence along with his friends, stepped forward and tugged on the redhead's shirt. "Hey, Naruto?" He said, getting his attention. "Who's she? Is she your...?" He asked, bringing up his hand and extending his pinky to indicate she was his girlfriend.

Naruto fought the urge to roll his eyes, he would never look at Sakura that way. What could someone see on her? "No.  Guys, let me introduce you to my friend and teammate, Sakura Haruno."  He gestured towards his teammate, who snapped out of her stupor and waved at the children.

"Ah, I didn't think so. You could do a lot better than her, the boss; I mean, look how wide her forehead is!" Konohamaru replied.

Sakura's head jerked downward, her hair shadowing her eyes as Naruto's expression became one of shock as he was aware this was the biggest trigger for his pink-haired teammate's temper. However, another thought was going through his mind at the moment. He was aware of how similar he was to the Third's grandson, who was quickly becoming like a younger brother to him...

He quickly cast this thought aside as he noticed Sakura's rage was going to go off any moment.

"Konohamaru..." he said before jerking his head in the pink-haired kunoichi's direction, causing him and the other kids to notice the girl's simmering anger. Their eyes widened as they shivered in fear at the small amount of killing intent leaking from the girl. "You should start running... NOW!" If Naruto protected him from this, he wouldn't learn anything. Besides, the three academy students would get over it when he came through with his promise.

The Konohamaru corps immediately bolted, running as if their lives depended on it as Sakura took off in pursuit, her eyes crazed and her mouth twisted into a wicked smile.

Once alone, the redhead sighed at what he'd just witnessed. Was he really going to stand by and do nothing, He briefly wondered if he should have told Sakura who Konohamaru was. While the brown-haired boy didn't like using his grandfather's name, it might save him a  beating here. Deciding he'd better rescue Konohamaru, he started off in their direction only to halt when he heard a yelp in the direction the four had run off in.

Meanwhile, in the mission room of the administration building where several chunin was lounging as they awaited their turn to claim a  mission or payment for a completed mission, Kakashi was handing the mission account to Iruka.

"Thanks for the report," Iruka said to the silver-haired man as he took the paper from him. The chunin skimmed over the report briefly before turning his gaze to the jonin before him.  "So, how's Naruto? Is he getting along ok with his teammates?"

"Oh,  he's doing quite well," Kakashi replied in his usual relaxed tone of voice. "His rivalry with Sasuke's the same as ever, but he and Sakura  are on 'Ok' terms these days."

Iruka smiled and chuckled slightly,  remembering Naruto's irritation whenever Sakura opened her mouth to say anything. "Really? That's good to hear." He raised his hand to his face and scratched his cheek. "I've been so busy around here... I haven't seen him since he got back from the Land of  Waves. I'm a little worried."

"There's nothing to worry about."  The copy ninja replied. "Naruto's grown a great deal since the mission to Wave. He seems just the same as ever on the surface, but he's improved dramatically and has matured quite a bit. Someday soon, his  skills may even surpass the person he respects most." He said with his eye smile. 'Actually, considering what I've seen of him lately, that day's not too far off...'

"Is  that so?" Iruka asked with a grin, glad to hear his younger brother figure was doing so well. Maybe after his shift here was over he could check up on the redhead rascal. If nothing else, spending time with the hyperactive child would cure him of the boredom he felt from sitting around here for several hours.

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she stared at the two figures before her,  one of whom was holding Konohamaru by his collar, as she stood protectively in front of the other two academic students. Her quest to unleash her righteous fury upon the brown-haired boy had come to an abrupt end when he ran into the foreign ninja who now held him in the air.

They both seemed to be a few years older than her and wore the forehead protector of Sunagakure. The first wore a black, baggy,  full bodysuit with a red and yellow circle on the front with a black hood that covered his head completely, and had cat-like ears and his forehead protector stitched into it. He was also sporting purple face paint and had black eyes, and unidentifiable objects wrapped in bandages tied to his back.

The other, a kunoichi, had green eyes and blonde hair tied into four ponytails and a rather generous figure. She wore a  light purple garment that went down about halfway down her thighs with a  red sash across her waist that held a large iron fan to he back and fishnet worn over her shoulders and legs on her right calf and her left thigh. She wore a black forehead protector tied around her neck.

"That  hurt, you little runt." The male ninja said to Konohamaru, his eyes squinted close.

The blonde kunoichi glared disapprovingly at her teammate. "Stop it, Kankuro. You're going to get us in trouble."

Sakura took a step forward. While she'd wanted to pound the young boy for that comment on her forehead. This Suna ninja might seriously hurt him. "Listen,  it was my fault he ran into you. I'm sorry. Now, why don't you just put  him down?"

"Eh? Well, there's a slight problem with that."  Kankuro responded with a slight grin as he raised his fist. "You see, I  hate annoying runts like him. And seeing them act so disrespectfully...  makes me want to kill them." Sakura's eyes widened before she fell into a  fighting stance while the two other members of the Konohamaru corps cowered behind her, tears of fear trailing down from Moegi's eyes. "Oh,  so you want to protect him, huh? Well sorry-" He said, his tone  insincere. "-but I can't let him get away with disrespecting me like  that."

The blonde turned her head away with a sigh. "Whatever. Do what you want, I'm not getting involved."

"Well then, I think I'll have a little fun before he shows up," Kankuro replied, turning his attention back to the boy in his hand and preparing to punch him. Sakura made a move to interrupt his attack,  only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

Kankuro threw a  punch to the academy student in his hand, his smirk widening slightly as he struck true and his fist collided with the boy's cheek... only for his and the kunoichi's expressions to morph into one of shock when the boy burst into smoke at the moment of impact.

Kankuro stared at the palm of his now empty hand with wide eyes. "What the...?" He started.

"Hey,  jackass!" A voice called out, drawing his and the kunoichi, his sister's, attention. They both turned their heads away from the fading cloud back to the group before them to see that there were two new additions. One was familiar, the boy that had been in Kankuro's hand,  who was now looking slightly startled at what had occurred in the past few moments.

One moment, he had been helpless in the hand of the  Sand ninja. The next thing he knew, he'd suddenly been transported to safety so fast that his vision had been reduced to a blur. The young boy had been replaced by a shadow clone at the last moment. Unfortunately,  being unaccustomed to moving at such speeds, this left the boy extremely disorientated.

The other was unfamiliar to the Suna ninja and the one who had pulled Konohamaru out of the proverbial fire and held back  Sakura, Naruto, who was now looking at Kankuro with a scowl. "Didn't  anyone ever teach you not to pick on someone smaller than you?"

Sakura smiled, relieved to see the boy was safe and unharmed. "Naruto!" At the  same time, Konohamaru had finally regained his bearings and said along  with his classmates, "Boss!"

Kankuro gritted his teeth when he felt a blade across his neck, he felt immobile, he felt cold, his fingers started shaking, the same pressure when Gaara had...

Naruto stood behind him with his sword close to his neck, ready to splice his throat.

Temari gasped, she had not been able to see Naruto move, not even a little. She felt the pressure coming out of the redhead but her hands went to her weapon behind her back ready to fight...

"I wouldn't do that miss" she gasped when she heard the voice behind her, she had heard many cold and emotionless voices, mainly from Gaara but this guy's voice send shivers throughout the whole body. Worse than Gaara and the tip of a sword slightly touching behind her neck.

"Now, what are you doing? You're in another village and already trying to harm a citizen of the other village. That's enough to execute you, and not mentioning he's the grandson of the current kage" Naruto stated with a cold tone that frightened even the others.

Temari clenched her teeth and gave Kankuro an angry look for putting them in a situation like this for no reason whatsoever.

Kankuro himself didn't know what to say, he felt terrified.

"Now, you better leave since your friend isn't ... happy" Naruto started looking at the tree where one tail stood.

For a moment neither Kankuro nor Temari understood what he meant when they both watch in horror as Gaara came out of the tree looking at them, with a death glare.

"Kankuro, you're a disappointment to our village," Gaara said with a cold tone that made Sakura's knees tremble in fear, his KI strong making everyone around fear him, except Naruto who smiled and walked forward, putting his sword back to its scabbard.

"Now, no need to be angry Mr One," Naruto said, a smile not leaving his face.

Gaara Shunshin close to him but he didn't back away like all the others, he stood his ground almost daring him to actually do something.

Temari and Kankuro were shocked to hear what the redhead called their brother.

"Hooowww" Temari tried to say while her brother and the redhead were busy matching their KI.

"Mr Nine! I will prove my existence by killing you" Gaara stated coldly.

Naruto just grinned even more before his eyes turned red like blood.

"Tell Shukaku he's welcome to Try, but last time he ended up eating dirt within the first minute" Kurama spoke with Naruto's body.

Everyone was pale when they heard the demonic voice except Gaara who's eyes widened before he grabbed his head with his hands, murmuring under his breath.

"Mother will have your blood..."  but before Gaara could do anything, two voices interrupted them.

"Oj Naru-kun, always searching for trouble"

"You haven't changed"

Naruto didn't need to look to know who was talking.

"Is been a long time...Asha-chan and Fuu-chan"