Chapter 78 - 78. A New Naruto
Naruto: Child Of Chakra 78 - A New Naruto
Naruto had changed a lot. He was not as dumb and weak as before. Kurama had made sure the boy knew both theoretical and practical knowledge. His physical abilities were also focused on and made to improve.
Naruto was taught that just knowing a jutsu wouldn't help you win and get stronger. Instead, the stronger your body is, the stronger your jutsu will be. Jiraiya meanwhile taught Naruto summoning jutsu as well as a few more Kunai techniques. Kurama went on to improve whatever Jiraiya taught him instead of taking initiative and teaching him new things because that would be too boring.
Today, the second stage of the exam was to be held. This exam would take place inside the Forest of Death. Here, three-man teams were given either a Heaven Scroll or an Earth Scroll before entering the forest.
They then had five days for the entire team to reach the building in the centre of the forest with one of each scroll in their possession. How they would acquire the other scroll was up to them, either by force or by trade were the most viable options.
Because of the natural hazards of the forest and the absence of services or outside assistance, and the likely conflict with other teams, genin were made to sign liability waivers before entering to release Konoha from the responsibility of any injuries or deaths.
If Shiroken was here, he would have slapped the exam organisers to death already. Because according to him, these genins were little kids and had no right to sign their own death certificate. This was exactly what Shiroken hated, the utter disregard of human life, such that even children were being left to die.
But, without any protests, the exam started. The rules were simple, If a team loses their starting scroll they are not automatically disqualified, as they may use the remaining time to acquire another copy of the scroll they've lost. By the same rule, acquiring both scrolls does not guarantee completion of the second stage, as they still must reach the centre building in time. The Genins were forbidden from opening either scroll until they reached the central building.
"ALL RIGHT! Let's win as quickly as possible." Naruto chirped in excitement. He had been waiting for some physical tasks.
"Hey, don't get too excited. We need to be careful, or we might end up losing our own scroll." Sakura warned him. But Naruto ignored her.
"Come on, Sakura-chan, don't be a party pooper. Let's make a plan for this. Considering our last destination is going to be the centre building, we sh..."
"GO AND WAIT THERE?" Sakura blurted, interrupting Naruto.
He denied kindly, after all, he still liked her, just not blindly, "No, we shouldn't go near there before getting the scroll. There will be a lot of teams that will be camping there, waiting for others to arrive. And even if we go there and somehow get a scroll, other teams will attack us. So, it's better we take the scroll and then rush to the centre building."
"Since when did you become so smart?" Sakura jokingly mocked him.
Naruto didn't like it, "Since when did you become so dumb? Anyway, Sasuke, you got any problem with this plan?"
Sasuke just scoffed, "Huh, I'm with you two only because we have to pass as a team."
"Cool, nice way of bonding as a team, my friend. Let's go." Naruto snarkily replied and headed into the jungle, leaving both of them flabbergasted.
This was the first time they had seen Naruto snarkily reply like this. Before, he would just get angry and shout at them without making any sense.
"How did he change so fast? Is this... Puberty?" Sakura wondered.
"If it is puberty, then you better get it too," Sasuke said and left, Sakura just stood there in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
...
"Okay, the forest is clearly too big for us to effectively search it all and find a team." Naruto deduced after running around for hours.
"Should we separate and look around?" Sakura suggested.
Kurama sneered and made Naruto speak, "Sure, why not just commit seppuku while at it. We are stronger together. I will see what I can do."
He put his hands together and shouted his jutsu's name, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
*Poof*
*Poof*
*Poof* X100
All of a sudden 100 Naruto appeared around them. "I will send them to look around, even if they get destroyed it's not like I will be harmed."
"FOOL! Won't that exhaust you too much?" Sakura asked angrily.
He shrugged, "Heh, did you forget what the villagers have been calling me since I was small? A DEMON!"
Sakura shut her mouth hearing this, conflicted about what she should be feeling right now, anger or pity for what Naruto has been through his life?
They continued their search, looking around for other teams. "AA! WAIT! I think I got someone. One of my clones just got destroyed. There, in that direction is a team. They seem pretty weak."
They ran towards that direction at full speed. The team turned out to be one from Takigakure. They didn't go in blindly though, they planned their ambush. The three-member team had 2 guys and one girl. They all decided to take on one each, and as soon as one wins they would rush to help the other one.
So they went ahead and attacked. Naruto took out his kunai and threw it at his opponent. The person was ready for it and even looked at the coming Kunai with a mocking gaze.
*WOOSH*
However, as soon as the kunai clashed with his own, he realised that there was some red translucent light around it. The kunai was so sharp and forceful that it broke through his own Kunai and struck his cheek and got stuck there.
Now the Kunai was half inserted in the boy's face. It took him a few seconds to realise. *THUD* He fell down, and then the pain started, "AAAAAAAA..."
Naruto himself was shocked by this event. He had not expected the Kunai would be so powerful. Kurama though scoffed, ~Huh, see how strong even a speck of my chakra is? This is real power.~
"Will he be all right?" Naruto wondered about the boy.
"FOOL, NEVER SYMPATHISE WITH THE ENEMY! Do not forget what I taught you. Now go and stop the other two. All that matters is winning." Kurama scolded him quickly.
Naruto got his act together and ran to help Sakura because she was the only one having problems even landing a punch. Unlike Sasuke who had the Sharingan and Naruto who had his jutsu, Sakura had no special ability she could rely on. But, the problem was that she didn't even put in extra work to get better at normal jutsu. She was just going with the flow with no care at all.
*WOOSH*
"AAAAAA..." Naruto threw another kunai and another scream came. This time he threw it at the arms, so he did not mistakenly kill them. Also, doing this would render the opponents weak and unable to continue.
The last boy was fighting Sasuke. Naruto instead of jumping in to fight spoke, "Look at your two teammates, they cannot fight anymore. Just give us the scroll and we won't harm you anymore, your team will be easily healed and recover in a few days."
Seeing no reaction, he got serious, "IF YOU DON'T. Then you might not ever be able to participate in the Chunin exam next year."
The boy looked and found Naruto near his teammate, the one that had his mouth pierced. This time Naruto held the kunai near his throat, "You signed the no-objection certificate regarding the dangers of the test. Death is common here."
Everyone, including Sakura and Sasuke, felt a bit shocked by Naruto's act. His face looked angry and monstrous with his canines looking like fangs.
"I-I SURRENDER! Dammit... This is just an exam, why are you so ready to kill?" The boy threw away his scroll and ran to help his friends.
Naruto's face turned into a smile quickly. Kurama laughed inside, ~See, sometimes using your brain is better than arms.~
This way, Team seven got the two scrolls, and it was all because of Naruto. He was single-handedly carrying the team. The best part was that the three were neither tired nor injured much.
"Let's go, we should complete the mission as quickly as possible. Most teams should still be looking for scrolls and the centre building won't be crowded right now." Naruto suggested.
The two instinctively followed him with a nod. Surprisingly, Naruto was showing strong leadership abilities.
So, Naruto sent all his still alive clones to check the path in front of him and inform him if there are any dangers. There were 26 teams in total but the forest was also huge, so it was rare for the teams to find each other. This was why 5 days were given for the completion of this test.
But, currently, only 3 hours had passed since the start. So Naruto and the rest guessed that they were going to be the first team to finish.
"STOP!"
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