"You little..." Kankuro became angry as he took off his puppet from his back.
"Wait! You aren't thinking of using Crow, are you?!" Temari asked in a concerned manner.
But all this time, Kankuro failed to notice that Naruto and Gaara were staring eye to eye.
Gaara then closed his eyes and opened them again as he switched his vision towards Kankuro and said
"Kankuro, Stop that."
"You're an embarrassment to our village." Garara declared causing Temari and Kankuro to change their expressions as they reconsidered their actions.
Kankuro changed his expression to that of a smile which he found hard to form as he said
"G..Gaara…."
While all this was happening….
A very serious meeting serious meeting was going on….
The Hokage sat at the center of the room with his crystal ball while being surrounded by the jonins.
"I assume you already understand, based on the faces you can see around….."
"So its already that time….." Kakashi commented
"The other lands have already been notified, right?"
"I've seen them here and there in the village" Asuma said.
"And when will it be?…." Kurenai asked.
"IN ONE WEEK...…" Hiruzen replied.
"That's very sudden.." Kakashi said.
(poof....) Hiruzen let out a smoke after taking out his smoke pipe.
"Now….. I will make the formal announcement. Seven days from today…. On the first day of July, the chuunin Exam will begin!" Hiruzen announced.
Meanwhile...
Gaara asked Kankuro with a cold voice…
"Why do you think we came all the way here to the leaf village!?"
"p-Please listen to me, Gaara" Kankuro begged.
"T-They lashed out first….."
"SHUT UP!" Gaara interrupted.
"I'll KILL YOU"
"I-I understand Gaara, I was wrong"
"I'm sorry…..I'm really sorry…." Kankuro begged again.
Gaara turned towards Naruto and his group as he said with a straight face
"I'm sorry about that you guys….."
("To think he was able to pressurise Kankuro into leaving the kid…..This guy…..") Gaara thought as he turned into sand.
The sand gathered quickly turning into Gaara as he landed in front of Kankuro and Temari as he said.
"Let's Go!"
"We didn't come here to play around." Gaara said as he went to leave with his group.
But before leaving he turned around once towards Naruto.
"You with the yellow hair, state your Name,"
"Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto replied with a smile.
"Hmph! I am Gaara of the sand, Next time we meet, we are enemies" Gaara declared as he finally left with his group.
Sakura then turned towards Naruto, "What do you think those guys from the other village were doing here?"
"They probably came to attend something…." Naruto said as he walked away with Konohamaru and the gang.
Back in the Hokage's room…
"Now then, in conjunction with beginning the Chuunin Exam, Let us first have those in charge of the rookie genins come forward." Hiruzen said upon which Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma walked out.
"Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma..."
"So? Are there any genins from your squads, you would wish to recommend for these exams?"
"It goes without saying, but if it's a Genin who has carried out eight or more formal missions, you can recommend them for the exams if you wish."
"Well. As a general rule, having carried more than twice the amount of missions is more appropriate." Hiruzen continued.
Meanwhile, Iruka thought ("There's no need to hear this….. Its too soon for them." )
Then you first Kakashi.
"Squad 7 led by Hatake Kakashi…. Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura…..I Hatake Kakashi, recommend these three for Chuunin Exam."
"Squad 8 led by Yuhi Kurenai.... Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba And Aburame Shino.....I Yuhi Kurenai, recommend these three for Chuunin Exam."
"Squad 10 led by Sarutobi Asuma....Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji....I Sarutobi Asuma, recommend these three for Chuunin Exam."
"Huh," Iruka was surprised.
"Uzumaki Naruto….. Do you really want to recommend him?" Hiruzen looked towards Kakashi.
"Yes!" Kakashi nodded, while others found the situation puzzling.
"What about him?" Kurenai asked as she faced both Kakashi and Hiruzen.
"I feel that boy can already attend the jonin level exam….." Hiruzen said causing all the people in the room to fall silent
"Uzumaki Naruto, isn't he the one who has the nine tailed fox...." Someone mumured,
"SSHSHHHH!!!, do you want to get punished, didn't Lord Hokage forbid us from ever speaking of that matter again..." The man asked towards the other who had just commented.
"I don't agree" Maito Gai stepped up.
"I had my team skip out the chuunin exam last year, and trained them hard for a whole year, I feel that all of the nine rookies other than Naruto lack the ability to participate in this exam."
"Gai, don't shift the subject, we are talking about Naruto here." Hiruzen interrupted.
"But Hokage-sama, I have personally seen Naruto fight against my favourite pupil, I know he would be able to take the exam without problems, but what is this about a jounin exam, I am hearing."
"Gai, do you know the seven swordsman of the mist?" Hiruzen asked….
"Yes….." Gai put his head down, being reminded of how his dad died...
"Naruto defeated one of them with one punch…."
"He has also demonstrated his abilities in a few different ways, the academy test back then was no mistake,,,,," Hiruzen continued.
"But, that could have just been a lucky punch right?" Gai argued.
"No, Kakashi, himself found the opponent extremely troublesome, but Naruto ended it in one punch..."
The conversation continued, but everyone in the room was shocked.
The seven swordsmen of the mist were a legendary group, even the most experienced elite jounins would rather stay out of their way, so as to avoid them, but Naruto had defeated one with just a simple punch.
"Gai," Kakashi turned towards Gai right now.
"Just because your students were weak to attend the previous exam, doesn't give you the right to point out my students."
"I was six years younger than Naruto, when I became a chuunin and three years younger to become a jounin."
"Kakashi…." Gai stared bitterly.
"Wait a minute!" Iruka shouted.
"What is it? Iruka…" Hiruzen asked.
"Lord Hokage, This may be presumptuous, but I agree with what Gai-sensei had said about the nine rookies"
"The nine names that were submitted just now, I was in charge of them, not long ago in the academy. Admittedly they are all students with ability, but its too soon…!"
"They should be tested after having gained more experience!" Iruka complained trying to protect his ex-students.
"I understand your point Iruka….Therefore, I have decided to conduct a special preliminary exam for these rookie Genins." Hiruzen said.
"P-Preliminary Exam?" Iruka asked.
The meeting had concluded, while Sakura was stuck waiting for Kakashi in the field.
"Sakura!" Kakashi called out.
"Sensei, I was waiting for you…."
"Sorry, this time I was really busy."
"Now for your training, I would like to ask you, how much do you know about genjutsu?"
Kakashi asked.
"I know the basics of how it works…." Sakura said lacking a bit of confidence in her tone due to being excited over what she was going to learn next.
"All right, This should be easy then…." Kakashi said as he started teaching her,
Naruto had just reached home, only to find Sasuke waiting outside his door.
"Sasuke!"
"Let's spar." Sasuke said.
Naruto agreed after having a small break in house.
"Sakura, that's it for your training today."
"Mm" Sakura nodded.
"If you want to learn more, I think it would be best for you to learn about genjutsu from Kurenai, but you have to remember one thing, someone like me or Sasuke having Sharingan will affect your genjutsu, as it can be seen through, How ever there is one fundamental principle that can allow you to create genjutsus that never fail."
"What is that sensei?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Even the most simplest of genjutsu can change the entire battle to your favour."
Kakashi said as he started walking away.
"Thank you for the lesson sensei…" Sakura said as she also left the training field.
Meanwhile, in the forest nearby the field,
Naruto and Sasuke kept clashing against each other.
"I am finally able to react to you….." Sasuke sneered as he kept defending.
"Naturally…. Your eyes have gotten used to my movements without the weights." Naruto smiled while he still kept parrying with Sasuke, blow for blow.
"Sasuke!"
"Mm" Sasuke looked towards Naruto who was busy attaching his weights back to his body again.
"What if I told you there is another person who is on par or even better than my speed, and he is still a genin….."
"Who is it?" Sasuke was surprised.
"His name is Rock Lee…."