Naruto: reborn as an Uzumaki

"So, what happened then?" Kenshin asked, his curiosity not diminished by the delicious food in front of him.

"After that, it wasn't anything much really." Maki frowned. "Our time under Kakashi-sensei was pretty mundane. It was roughly eight months before the chunin exams. Although one was to be held two months later, it was obviously too early for us. So the one we were to participate in was the one after it.

Our teamwork improved significantly during this time. Although we did occasionally spend time with team 9 since their sensei was close to Kakashi-sensei. And Kakashi-sensei, although initially acted like he didn't care, actually trained us a lot.

Akane had the most improvement. She became better at chakra control, ninjutstu and taijutsu using her sharingan while Daichi's skills improved as well. But since sensei couldn't help with his clan's jutsu, Daichi had to train on his own most of the time.

As for me, well.... having two sharingan users was a blessing and a curse for me. On one hand, I was able to constantly challenge myself because Akane would always pull ahead. But it felt kinda depressing because I couldn't beat her.

But then, I realized something. The sensei of them 9, Guy-sensei, called himself Kakashi-sensei's rival. He could keep up with Kakashi-sensei even when he was using the sharingan.

So I went to him for help."

"I see. I've actually met this 'Guy' guy. He seemed nice." Kenshin said before asking Maki to continue.

And Maki continued after having a few more bites. "So anyways, I trained with Guy-sensei for awhile and he taught me taijutsu and trained me to be fast enough to go toe to toe with a sharingan user. Even if they read my movements completely, it's useless if they can't react to it.

It seems I have a talent for taijutsu. That's why I was able to master Guy-sensei's taijutsu training in a short amount of time. And because of that, I could beat finally Akane in taijutsu.

Eight months went by in a flash and it was time for the chunin exams. By the way Kenshin, have you participated in the chunin exams?"

"No not really." Kenshin laughed sheepishly. "I heard that you have to be in the village that the exams are held in for over a month, that and the time it takes to go there. And considering my mom's condition, I simply couldn't take the risk just for a rank promotion."

"I see." Maki nodded sympathetically. "It was that bad huh? It must've been hard taking care of someone in such a serious condition all alone."

Kenshin raised his hands in denial. "Of course not. It was nothing. It's a son's duty to take care of his mother. And besides, my mother in my past life passed away when I was very young. And I grew up without her."

"I see. You feel lucky to have her." Maki said and smiled.

"Anyways, enough about that. Continue."

"All right. So, where was I? Oh right. It was time for the chunin exams. This time they were held in the hidden sand. The chunin exams have three parts.

First, there's an intellect and information gathering test. In the leaf, it's a written exam. You have to answer some questions and if you don't know the answer, you have to cheat but in a way that nobody can notice.

In the sand it was a huge maze. The only opening was the center which was the end goal. You had to figure out how to get there within a set time. Breaking the walls or going atop them weren't allowed. There were extremely dangerous traps all over the maze. You also couldn't kill the other participants and if one of your teammates got incapacitated you failed.

We had to finish the maze under an hour. Although at first it seemed impossible to do it but Daichi had an idea. We saw a bird flying above us and Daichi used his mind body switch jutsu to get into the bird's body. After that he guided us to the center of the maze by flying above us in the correct path. And thus we passed the first test.

The next part is a survival test. All the teams that survived the first test are sent into a certain area to survive a set amount of days there. In the leaf it's the 'Forest of death'. It's a really dangerous forest that has these massive creatures and stuff.

In the sand it was a desert called the 'Demon desert'. It was a huge desert where apparently 40 degrees Celsius was considered cold. And we had to spend 4 days there. We had to source our own food and we weren't given any beforehand.

That's where the problems began. The first day was troublesome enough since there wasn't any shade or anything. It was all dunes. And we were attacked several times, mostly by sand shinobi. It took a toll on us, especially me since I specialize in taijutsu and it's hard on sand.

But we were able to somehow defeat them. And Daichi was able to make an underground hideout for us using earth release. He had an affinity for earth and Kakashi-sensei trained him quite a lot when it came to earth release.

The jutsu also hid our chakra signatures so that nobody could find us. And only the Byakugan could see through it.

And I dug deep for water. Although it wasn't much, it was enough for us to collect some water using Akane's water release. Water release can use the moisture in the air and in this case, the ground to generate water with which we got a decent amount of water. So we now had the biggest problem.

It was the scorching heat. It was difficult to breathe underground and we couldn't source food. We did have some stored in scrolls but it was barely enough for two days. We didn't know that it was going to be like this.

Not to mention that we were already tired after fighting sand shinobi in their own turf. But we didn't want to give up. But after two days, I collapsed from the heat. Akane was also in a bad condition. Same with Daichi.

And we were almost out of food which meant that we would either have to risk going without food or fight another team for theirs. And neither seemed a viable option considering our condition.

So Daichi decided that it was best for us to forfeit. I couldn't even walk so he carried me in his arms. We failed the exams. After we got back to the leaf, Kakashi-sensei resigned as our leader.

Team 7 was disbanded.

But a month later, we were assigned another sensei. Her name was Yuki. One year later, another chunin exam was held, this time in the leaf. Team 9 participated that year.

That year, we didn't participate. We wanted to participate once we were stronger, more capable. That year, the hidden sand and hidden sound attacked the leaf. The third hokage was killed.

Later that year, Sasuke defected from the leaf and went under orochimaru, the guy that killed the third hokage and orchestrated the attack.

During this time, Daichi and I began dating. We loved each other, a lot. Yuki-sensei and Akane helped out with it. Like a lot!" Maki said with a soft smile and a hint of sadness in her eyes.

[Image of Yuki]

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Everyone, thanks for your continued support and power stones. As always, please give me your power stones and comment your opinions. They make a big difference and motivate me to write more. Also, I spent most of yesterday and today with Mary and she's feeling slightly better now. The doctors said that she is recovering well and should be discharged within twenty days.