Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Genin ❯ Chapter 3: Surprises ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me. Nor do Sakura, Sasuke, or any of the other characters mentioned or described herein. I haven't even bothered to get permission from their great and august creator. Feel free to sue me if you wish, but you won't get anywhere. Not only do I have no money, but as a college student, I have LESS than no money. That's right. A negative net worth. Have fun, Mr(s). Lawyer! Also, I will be using adult language in this fic. If you're not supposed to read such language, GO BACK TO SCHOOL!

" " = Talking

/ / = Thinking

Genin

By: Flashfyre5

Chapter Three: Surprises

Sasuke awoke in sudden and excruciating agony. His eyes flew open, reflexively summoning the power of the Sharingan. Red eyes scanned the room, even as his hands flew to his shoulder, where Orochimaru's curse seal felt like it was burning a hole in his body. The first thought that registered in Sasuke's pain-clouded mind was that it was dark. /It's still night, then,/ Sasuke thought in between waves of agony. Than another burst of intense pain his him, and all Sasuke could do was arch his back as he endured it.

The young man tried to move his feet, to pull himself into a sitting position, but every time he tried, the pain flared up again. The skin on his shoulder where the curse seal rested was becoming hot- very hot. Again, the pain welled up within him, and this time Sasuke could not even find the strength of will to keep a moan of agony from escaping his mouth. Another burst came, this one faster than the last, and his moan became a scream. His hands felt like they were burning, his shoulder was so hot, but Sasuke didn't remove them; he couldn't. Every movement he made brought new pain from the curse seal. Another wave came, only this one didn't subside. It grew and grew, while Sasuke lost all control and writhed, screaming in pain. Somehow, he managed to roll himself off of the futon and onto the floor, where he laid on his stomach, too hurt to even move.

Then, with a sudden snapping feeling, as if something had given up, the pain subsided almost all of the way. Sasuke, on shaky arms and legs, pushed himself to his feet and stumbled over to his mirror. The pain was returning, slowly. After what had seemed like hours to the hurting boy, Sasuke made it to his dresser, over which hung a small mirror, the only one in his tiny apartment. He turned sideways to it, even as he could feel the pain swelling inside of him, and pulled down the shoulder strap of his sleeveless t-shirt.

The curse seal had somehow activated. It was attempting to spread its' red tendrils of power and insanity across his body, but the seals were holding it in check. Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized that there were now only four seals holding the curse seal in check; it had overwhelmed the first. /That must be why the pain stopped,/ Sasuke reasoned before the first wave of pain hit him. The growth of the seal was slow, and gradual, but it was approaching the second containment seal. As the curse seal neared it, the containment seal began to glow red as well, and repel the curse seal. Each wave of repulsion, Sasuke noticed, accompanied a wave of pain. Every time, however, the curse seal drew closer to the containment seal before it was repelled. The next wave of pain, however, was so intense that Sasuke toppled off of his feet, landing hard on the wooden floor of his apartment. With each wave of pain thereafter, Sasuke managed to twitch his head down, until he managed to get a sidelong view of his seals. The last thing he saw, as the most intense wave of pain yet washed over him, was the second containment seal evaporating into spectral red flame.

Then there was only darkness as Sasuke dropped into blessed unconsciousness.

* * * * * *

Naruto pulled himself out of bed, swatting the `off' button on the blaring alarm clock that sat just out of arm's reach from his bed. The youth had learned the hard way that if he left it within arms' reach of the bed, he'd fall back asleep. He didn't often have to use the damned thing, but when he had a morning appointment, and he'd been up late the night before, he knew enough to set it.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he was glad that he'd had the common sense to set it just in case when he'd walked in yesterday. He had completely forgotten to check it before he went to bed.

As Naruto went through his morning routine, waking up in slow degrees, he thought about Sakura and Sasuke, reminiscing about times long past, when they had still been a real team. He had stayed friends with Sakura, but once Sasuke had defeated him in the chuunin exam and been promoted, the ever-superior black-haired boy had done his best to stay away from Naruto, out of contempt. After a few bad exchanges with Sasuke, Naruto had also decided to avoid the other boy, out of anger and frustration.

Sakura had been the only link between them, and she'd done her best never to mention one of them to the other. Around Sasuke, she pined after him, and did her best to gain some level of respect from him. He responded to her in the same way that he always had; by brushing her off and moving to do more important things. Around Naruto, Sakura had managed to relax somewhat, especially after Naruto realized how much his constant come-ons were alienating her.

Their relationship had taken an interesting turn when Naruto had found out about Inner Sakura in a celebratory dinner with Ino, when she'd managed to pass the chuunin exam. They had been reminiscing about old fights, when Sakura and Ino's first fight had come up. Ino had flippantly mentioned how her Shintenshin had failed against Sakura had failed because, as she had said, "The girl's crazy! There's two of her in there!" Sakura had yelled at Ino, and everybody had shared a good laugh.

Later, Naruto had asked Sakura about what Ino had said. To this day, he was still amazed that she had had enough confidence in him to tell him the truth, that what Ino had said was true. Since he and Sakura had been training together, on an off-and-on basis anyway, he proposed that the `other her' might be useful, in a different way than Sakura could normally fight. Naruto had talked to Jiraiya about his idea, and the white-haired ninja had been rather surprised that Naruto had been so perceptive. From that point, it had taken little effort to enlist Jiraiya to assist in the development of what was quickly dubbed the Jinkaku Kokan. It had taken a little more than three weeks for it to work the first time. Another month after that, Sakura had mastered the newly created technique. The first time, however, had been… memorable.

He was crouching in front of her, watching as she carefully molded her chakra. Sakura had been trying all day, with no success. Jiraiya had left hours ago, having become bored with Sakura's repeated attempts and subsequent failures. Again, Sakura had failed, opening her eyes and sighing deeply.

"I don't think it's gonna work," Sakura had said, easing out of her cross-legged sitting position a bit.

"Don't give up that easily!" Naruto had encouraged her, patting Sakura's shoulder as he did so. "One more time. That's all I'm asking," Naruto had relented when he saw her about to get up. Sakura gave him a long, hard look, then sighed again.

"All right," she had said, sitting back down. In a moment, she had summoned her chakra, and was performing the three simple hand seals for the technique: mouse, horse, tiger. "Jinkaku Kokan no Jutsu," she had whispered as she concentrated. Naruto thought he saw a bit of chakra flare after that, but he'd thought that for the last five attempts. Then, he'd heard a quiet murmuring coming from Sakura. He wasn't sure what she was saying, but she was doing so in a rather unsettlingly angry voice.

"Umm… Sakura? Are you all right?" he'd asked, leaning over her to try and hear what she was saying, as well as to check and make sure that she was all right. What he'd heard had surprised him.

"… damn jackass. I'm gonna kick his ass for this, and then I'm gonna kick his mother's ass for creating him. Don't matter that he doesn't have a mother, I'm gonna kick it anyway," she was murmuring, almost inaudibly. Upon hearing Naruto's words, her eyes had flown open, flaring with anger. For a moment, Naruto had been surprised that they were blue. Soon, he'd had much more important things to be surprised at.

"What the HELL do YOU want?!" Sakura had demanded loudly, then clasped her hands over her mouth. Naruto had very nearly fallen over, having heard that particular phrase come out of Sakura's mouth.

"HELL YEAH!" she had shouted, thrusting her right fist as far into the air as it would go. Shortly after she'd launched this maneuver, her fist had impacted something. No matter. It moved with her fist as it continued upwards, so she paid it no mind. A moment later, Naruto toppled to the ground, a rather nasty imprint of a fist on the bottom of his chin.

"Well, looks like she got it," Jiraiya had commented, walking back into the clearing.

At first, Inner Sakura had been somewhat similar to Outer Sakura, except for the fact that she was a near-genius in regards to taijutsu, especially weapons-based taijutsu. As time progressed, however, the two Sakuras seemed to polarize, Outer Sakura becoming a little more shy and reserved, while Inner Sakura became even more exuberant and mischievous than she had started as. The key parts of their personalities, however, remained the same. Inner Sakura was a troublemaker at heart, and the most notable change, as time progressed, was that soon nobody was safe from her, whereas she had once respected certain boundaries of rank and power. Outer Sakura was a scholar, but was never afraid to speak her mind. She would keep certain things to herself now, except around friends, that she would have said to anybody before, but otherwise Outer Sakura hadn't changed much.

One thing, Naruto noted, was that Inner Sakura loved her body. Outer Sakura loved it too, but not in the way that Inner Sakura did. He often saw Inner Sakura using her body to distract her opponent at a critical moment in a fight. She was utterly ruthless and took great delight when such a simple tactic succeeded, as it often did. Nobody was safe; she had even used such tactics against him before. Naruto blushed, remembering how easy it had been for the pink-haired girl to make him miss his landing on a rather large jump because, as she had pushed herself off the ground, she had shoved her rear in the air in his direction. Naruto could still remember how badly his head had hurt when it had smacked into a stone in the ground that he hadn't seen. Sakura-chan hadn't stopped laughing for a good half hour as Naruto sullenly cradled his head.

/Of course,/ Naruto thought as he locked his front door, /I usually give as good as I get. I've just been off my game lately./ He hung his head, remembering how easily Sakura had been able to sucker him with that horrible naruto pun. The blond-haired boy then shook his head and began a leisurely walk towards the central Konoha ninja offices. He had allowed himself a half-hour for a fifteen-minute walk, so he took his time, enjoying the crisp morning air. Inner Sakura had decided to focus on the ninja-to as her main weapon, and Naruto had to admit that she was good with it. She had taught herself a number of Konoha style katana skills, but she refused to announce them as she used them. She said that she'd rather hit with the technique than have it sound cool. Naruto had given up at that point. Then, rounding a corner in front of him, Naruto saw Sakura's pink flash of hair. She hadn't seen him; her back was turned to Naruto at the moment. Naruto started to jog to catch up to her.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called as he jogged, calling her Sakura-chan, as he always did when he wasn't sure which Sakura was in charge at the moment. Sakura froze in mid-step, her shoulders creeping up a bit. Naruto quickly caught up with her, but as he neared, she turned her head down and away from Naruto. "Good morning, Sakura-chan!" Naruto greeted her boisterously.

`Uh… hi, Naruto," Sakura replied, her face still hidden from Naruto's view. "And it's just me."

"What's the matter, Sakura-san?" Naruto asked, worried for his friend.

"I… I'm sorry. It's just… something that the other me said yesterday has me rather embarrassed right now," Sakura explained, looking up. Naruto could now see why she'd hidden her face form him; Sakura was blushing furiously.

"The naruto pun or the `likes me' thing?" Naruto asked dryly. Slowly, the two continued their walk.

"Uhh… the second one," Sakura said in a tiny voice.

"Don't worry about it," Naruto reassured her, thumping her lightly in the back. "She's just pulling another prank on me." Naruto happened to be looking at Sakura when he said this. Had he not, he would have missed the rather considerable darkening of Sakura's blush. "She is, right?" Naruto asked, much less certain of himself. Sakura's blush seemed to, almost imperceptibly deepen for a long moment before she spoke again.

"Umm… I'll see you at the offices, Naruto!" Sakura shouted over her shoulder as she hopped up onto the roof of a nearby building and leapt off towards the offices at high speed. Naruto was left standing alone, confused, and more than a little bit hopeful.

* * * * * *

The world slowly returned to Sasuke. The first thing he realized was that his left shoulder hurt. The second thing he realized was that his head hurt. The third was that neither hurt anywhere nearly as badly as his whole body had hurt the night before, and he was grateful for this, at least. The youth pushed himself to his feet a bit shakily, swaying a bit before he found his balance. Light streamed in through his window, but it didn't make his head hurt any more than it already did.

Sasuke remembered the night before very clearly; he doubted that he could ever forget it. Turning sideways to the mirror, Sasuke examined his shoulder. The surprise that washed over him shook him out of the haze that he had woken up in. Only the outermost of Sasuke's containment seals remained; all four of the interior ones had been burned away. More surprising, though, was the fact that the curse seal itself, the bane of his existence for the last four years, was gone. Of all the seals that had been heaped upon Sasuke, only Jiraiya's angular, wild, containment seal remained, winding over his left pectoral muscle and just behind his left shoulder blade. Alone, Sasuke realized, it looked pretty good, oddly enough.

Suddenly, Sasuke remembered that he had a rather important meeting to attend that morning. He glanced at his wall clock, hanging next to the mirror, and cursed. He was already over half an hour late. Not even bothering with his appearance, he struggled into a pair of loose black jeans, then pulled his white jacket over his sleeveless white t-shirt. One his way out of the room, he grabbed his keys and his forehead protector. He didn't even notice that he'd left his scarf behind.

As Sasuke bounded over the top of building after building in his desperation to make some part of the application meeting with Tsunade, he noticed that his body was moving more fluidly than it normally did. In fact, he couldn't remember feeling this at ease in his own body since Kakashi had put the first containment seal on the curse seal. /Maybe it really is gone,/ he thought to himself. /I'll have Tsunade look at it,/ he shook his head, not having time for deep thought.

He needed to make this meeting because, more importantly, he needed to become a jounin. The rank itself meant nothing to him. Sasuke needed to become a jounin because only jounin could learn certain extremely powerful assassination techniques. The Chidori was only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, and even Sasuke had to admit that it was as much flash as bang, as much as he loved the lethal technique. He needed power. He needed it because he knew something, knew it beyond any level of doubt possible.

Itachi would return.

Sasuke knew this because, as much as he hated it, he knew his brother. Itachi had come four years ago to check on Sasuke's progress as a ninja, whatever else the elder Uchiha had said. Itachi was pressuring Sasuke, and had been all his life. He had killed the entire clan because of it, for no greater reason than because he knew that it would drive Sasuke to the greatest heights of power possible for the younger Uchiha. Sasuke hated Itachi for that flippant act, and hated him more for the fact that he was doing just as Itachi wanted. All his life, he'd pursued power, at whatever the cost… almost.

He had abstained from one technique only, because he feared that, even with it, he would not have enough strength to end Itachi's life. Ever since his brother had come, however, Sasuke had become increasingly convinced that it would be the only way that he could guarantee Itachi's death. Ironically, this very technique was the only reason that Sasuke still lived. On the other hand, it might be the only reason his family was dead. Either way, Itachi wanted to see it, wanted to see it like nothing else, but Sasuke had no idea why. A technique so terrifying that merely using it a single time would rend the very mind from the user. A technique so powerful, it made the Magna Sharingan pale in comparison. The ultimate, and breathtakingly rare, incarnation of the potent Uchiha Bloodline Limit.

The Shijuukaigan Sharingan.

So dangerous was it to the user, Sasuke remembered as he neared the central offices, that it had been sealed up for generations. The last person who had used it, his great grandfather, had used it once, and spent the rest of his life in a state of gibbering insanity. The man's brother had sealed up the technique, and instructed his heirs that they were only to break the seal and attempt the technique if there was simply no other alternative to the clan's extinction. If Orochimaru's curse seal was truly gone, Sasuke decided, it could well be time to break the ancient seal. Even more so if he missed his opportunity to become a jounin, he grimaced. Especially if what he suspected was true.

Then he was at the offices, and dashing through the front door. He whipped around corners and down hallways, making his way to the room where he knew that he would have to meet with Tsunade. Rounding the last corner, he skidded to a stop as he saw Naruto and Sakura leaning against the wall across from the meeting room, conversing quietly. His sudden appearance had caught their attention, and he tried to look calm and composed as he walked down the hall to join them.

"Did I miss it?" he asked, unable to contain his worry.

"Naw," Naruto said, looking away and at the door. "They decided to do the chuunin graduation before us at the last minute. Apparently everybody forgot how much of a longwinded old geezer the Mizukage is."

"We've been waiting for ya," Sakura sniped. Sasuke spared a quick glance to confirm that her eyes were blue, then sighed internally. One Naruto was bad enough, but when Sakura let her inner self out with that useless Jinkaku Kokan, she could be even worse. Sasuke didn't even want to speculate at what the two might be like together.

"What, no scarf today, pretty boy?" Sakura asked, grinning. Sasuke's hand went to his neck to check; indeed, he'd forgotten it. /In fact,/ he realized, looking down at his right hand, /I didn't even bother to put on my forehead protector./ He lifted the light piece of armor and tied it securely on his forehead.

"What's that?" Naruto asked, pointing at Sasuke's neck.

"Huh?" the taller boy asked, confused for a minute.

"On your neck and face," Naruto clarified, his brow wrinkling. "It almost looks like a tattoo."

"Ooh, tattoos on Sasuke," Sakura cooed teasingly. "Lemme see." As fate or, more likely, Tsunade's lack of patience would have it, the door across the hall slid open, issuing forth a stream of young ninjas. Among them, Konohamaru was being patted on the back and herded forward, a look of shock on his face. The boy's shock only intensified when he saw Naruto.

"Naruto-niichan…" he said, coming to a stop. His eyes were as big around as saucers, and seemed to be almost brimming with tears.

"Didja make it?" Naruto asked, a big smile on his face, Sasuke's `tattoo' completely forgotten. Konohamaru just looked at Naruto for a minute, then nodded slowly. Sakura, on the other hand, was poking around Sasuke's collar, trying to see more of his tattoo, much to Sasuke's dismay. "Congratulations!" Naruto exclaimed, grabbing the smaller youth by his shoulders. "Now, don't think that you can boss me around just cuz you're higher in rank than I am," Naruto teased, clearly happy for his friend.

"But Naruto-niichan, they still haven't promoted you," Konohamaru protested weakly.

"Aww, don't worry about it!" Naruto grinned, feigning cheerfulness at a much higher level than he actually felt. "I know that they're never gonna promote me anyway. Stop worrying about it." Konohamaru looked up at his idol for a minute, then engulfed Naruto in an embrace.

"Naruto-niichan, you're so cool!" he said, his words muffled by Naruto's chest.

"Hey, hey," Naruto said while he patted his friend's back. "I gotta go see Tsunade. You go celebrate with your family; I'll take you out for ramen or something later, okay?"

"All right!" Konohamaru celebrated. After close association with Naruto for so long, he had come to love ramen almost as much as Naruto. "I'll see you later!" Konohamaru waved, running to catch up to his companions. "You owe me ramen!" Naruto just laughed in reply.

"Let's go already," Sasuke said impatiently, pulling away from Sakura's rather invasive examination. He then immediately slipped through the door that the examinees had just exited through. The pink-haired girl pouted for a moment, then walked over to Naruto and looped her arm through his. Naruto, already rather emotional from Konohamaru's promotion, blushed as Sakura pulled him inside.

Standing in the middle of the room, side-by-side, were Tsunade and the Mizukage. They were conversing quietly as the trio entered, and stopped as they drew near. Tsunade's surprise was apparent on her face when she saw Naruto. Naruto wasn't quite sure weather she was more surprised at his presence or Sakura's familiarity with him; Tsunade knew well of Naruto's crush on the pink-haired girl. Sasuke was standing before the two already, executing a formal bow. Naruto couldn't remember the last time Sasuke had acted in such a manner. For that matter, neither could Sasuke. Regardless, Sakura and Naruto separated and joined Sasuke in forming a little line across from the two Kages.

"You three are here to apply for the jounin exam, I presume?" Tsunade asked, still appearing surprised. Naruto decided that she was surprised to see him in this context, and hadn't thought too much on Sakura's actions.

"We are," Sakura answered in a much more subdued tone than she'd had a few moments ago. A quick glance confirmed that her eyes were green again; Sakura-chan had released the jutsu.

"With a genin?" the Mizukage interjected, his expression unreadable beneath his wide-brimmed hat. "Most unusual. Especially considering his… talents," the old man continued. Tsunade cast a stony look on the blue and white-robed man, who then fell silent.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, Sakura. We need to talk to Naruto alone for a minute," Tsunade said in a rather politically neutral tone. Sakura left without protest; Sasuke only gave a sigh before following her. As the door slid shut behind them, Naruto's gut began to wrench with nervousness. This was exactly what eh had though would happen.

"I didn't expect to see you here today, Naruto," Tsunade began, relaxing a bit. "At least not applying for the jounin exams."

"I'm sorry for the trouble," Naruto began, one hand nervously finding its way behind his head.

"Why are you here?" the Mizukage asked bluntly. Naruto started, surprised. He had been in audience with the Mizukage three times before, during his previous chuunin exams. The old man was never this blunt or direct. "Are you looking to lose your life here? It's very much a possibility in an examination of this level."

"No, that's not it at all," Naruto retreated from the accusation, waving one hand at the elder man.

"So you're just looking to fight, to kill, then?" the Mizukage accused. "My own jounin will be proctors in this examination. I cannot afford to lose them over the frivolous whims of a demon-child."

"Hey!" Naruto shouted jumping to his own defense. "I'm not a demon, damnit! Just cuz I got stuck playing landlord to his prison doesn't make me the same at that… that thing!"

"Is that so?" the Mizukage asked, his tone showing his amusement and disbelief.

"Naruto, why are you here?" Tsunade asked, putting one hand on the Mizukage's shoulder. Her tone was calm, but hard. "I am curious to know myself."

"Because Sakura-san asked me to," Naruto replied quickly. "I know damn well that genin aren't allowed to take the jounin exam, even if they don't!" Naruto continued, his voice rising. He gestured at the door as he spoke for emphasis. "Sakura-san needed my help. Without me at least showing up and standing next to her, she wouldn't have even gotten the chance to try." Naruto calmed down after that sentence, taking in a deep breath and letting it out before he continued. "It's just like my match with Konohamaru yesterday," he explained. "I wasn't even gonna take the chuunin exam this year, but then Konohamaru wanted to give it a go. I spent the whole damn thing doin' my best to make him look good. I knew that I wouldn't get passed, no matter what," the blond-haired boy elaborated, then pointed at the Mizukage. "'Cuz guys like him are scared of me. They think that if I knew upper-level techniques, that I'd come after them one by one or something. They think I'm just that damn fox in another body," he said, looking away and sighing.

"I don't really care about rank any more. It'd be nice, but, you know?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders, looking up. "All I ever wanted was acknowledgement. For people to know that I exist, and to care about it. It took me a long time to realize, but I've got it already," Naruto explained. "Sakura-san, Konohamaru, Lee, Shikamaru… hell, even Neji," He continued, a wan smile crossing his face. "They know I'm good. They've helped me out over the last four years, and I've helped them. We're friends, though, and that's what matters. I watch out for my friends, no matter what."

"And when a friend asks you for a favor," Naruto said, finally meeting the Mizukage's gaze. "You do whatever you can to help them. I know that you're gonna reject me, and I really don't care. I'm just here to make Sakura-san eligible."

"And Sasuke?" Tsunade asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Sasuke? Well, I may not like him, and I know he don't like me, but he's saved my ass more than once before. I've done the same for him, too, I guess," Naruto reasoned, shrugging. "But if he needed me, I'd be there next to him. I guess I am," he finished sheepishly, his left hand going once more to scratch the back of his head. Tsunade looked over at the Mizukage, who nodded slowly. She then walked over to the door, opened it, and stepped away after telling Sasuke and Sakura that they could re-enter the room. The two chuunin filed in and took up positions on either side of Naruto.

Sakura, standing next to the paper-thin doorway, had heard everything, and was rather confused, but she kept her expression neutral. If he had heard anything, Sasuke wasn't giving anything away by his expression either. Tsunade followed the two over and took her position next to the Mizukage.

"As you may or may not know," she began formally, "it is strictly against the law to allow a genin, regardless of his or her skill level, to take the jounin exam." Naruto's shoulders sagged a bit, but he did his best to keep his expression as neutral as Sasuke and Sakura managed to. "There are many reasons for this, but I don't think that I need to get into them."

"Naruto," Tsunade said suddenly. The blond-haired boy looked up and met her gaze, standing at strict attention. "For your performance in this and past chuunin exams, and for the dedication to your friends that you have shown so aptly in recent times, I, with the approval of the Mizukage, am awarding you with the chuunin rank. Will you accept this responsibility?" the fifth Hokage asked, a smile on her face. Sasuke's mask of emotionlessness dissolved into one of pure shock, and Sakura's hands flew to her face in surprise.

"Y-yeah," Naruto replied, shocked. He couldn't believe that this was happening.

"In that case, since each of the three of you have completed the requisite twenty B-rank missions, I accept your collective application to participate in the jounin exams," Tsunade stated, her smile still on her face.

"Yes!" Sakura exclaimed, wrapping the shocked Naruto in an embrace, one that she would back out of in a few moments with a blush after realizing just who she was embracing. Tsunade and the Mizukage made their way out of the room.

"You… you planned this!" Naruto managed after a moment, just before Tsunade left the room. The Hokage stopped and turned to face the youth, still smiling.

"Congratulations," she said simply, then left. Naruto let out a short laugh, then another, and soon had dissolved in to fits of amusement. The only person in the room that didn't share in the celebrations was Sasuke, who was still in shock over Naruto's promotion.

"No… way…" he said to himself, then shook his head. He had to talk to Tsunade about the seal.

"I'll see you later," he said quietly as he left the room in pursuit of the woman that he needed to examine him. Naruto and Sakura didn't even notice.

*** Author's Notes ***

Whee! Another chapter finished, and quite the foreshadowy one, if I do say so myself. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you guys enjoy reading it. I know that my post is early… because it HAD to be. You see, I leave for Spring Break in about… four hours, so I just had to slam this one out and post it early. Needless to say, the next chapter will probably be late, due to the fact that I will be away from my computer for the next week or so.

Well, if you liked it, please tell me. If you didn't, PLEASE tell me. Feedback is the only way that I will change, guys, and I mean it. I welcome flames, if you wanna send em, because they're valid opinions. `It takes flames to temper steel,' as I always say. Your feedback directly influences how soon the next chapter is posted, and I mean it! Thank you!

~Flash (flashfyre5@msn.com)

P.S.: Thermopyle, I'm sorry that I didn't let ya preread this one, but I just plain ran out of time.

Number One Song on Naruto's Playlist:

"Gotta Knock a Little Higher," The Seatbelts (Cowboy Bebop OST). I just though that this one fits the mood for the chapter. No links; go out and buy this one!

***NEW*** Character themes: That's right! I will be supplying new character theme music on a chapter-to-chapter basis. For this one, I'll give you Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura's themes. I'll include at least one more per chapter.

Sasuke: "The Final Summoning," by Jared Hudson. This is a Final Fantasy X remix, and is VERY good. Pick it up for free at the Overclocked Remix (remix.overclocked.org).

Naruto: "Believe," from the Gundam Seed soundtrack. I dunno what it is about this song; it just seems to fit our favorite hyperactive ninja. Sorry, but no link for ya here.

Outer Sakura: The fourth ending song from Inu Yasha. If you know what it's called, please tell me so that I can fix this. I got the song from one of my buddies, and he doesn't know himself.

Inner Sakura: "COSMIC DARE (Pretty With a Pistol)," The Seatbelts (Cowboy Bebop OST). I've just noticed how much bebop music I recommend. Oh, well. This is Sakura-chan's song, and she'd listen to it nonstop, given the option.

Translations:

-niichan: This suffix is added to a name when the person whose name preceeds it is considered to be a brother to the speaker, either by birth or by familiarity. Konohamaru uses this one a LOT.