Naruto : Wind of Catastrophe

Hatake whistles. "That's a big crowd." He tilts his head, looking down at me, and all of a sudden I realize he's looking to me for an answer. I nod my head wildly, hoping against hope that he's about to do what I think he's about to do, and he turns back to the old man. "Sign Team 7 up while you're at it, Iruka."

Hell. Yes.

...

The murmuring in the rooms goes up another ten notches, and even the old man is regarding Hatake with surprise. I'm grinning so hard it hurts, and when I look over at Sasuke his smirk is in full force. I hold out a fist, and even though he hates bumping, he bumps it anyway. Sakura fidgets, probably struggling not to freak the hell out like me.

The sound of a pencil snapping tears through the noise, and the room falls silent.

Iruka-sensei clenches the shattered remains of his pencil in his fist, and for a moment his face is a still picture of outrage. Then it transitions. "What!?"

Hatake remains unruffled. If anything, his next words sound more amused than anything. "Genin are Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura-"

"I know who the genin are!" Iruka-sensei snaps. "I was their sensei less than three months ago. You can't seriously be entering them in the Chunin Exams already. They're not even qualified!"

"Actually," The old man cuts in, and I grin even harder. "I believe this was Team 7's last mandatory joint mission, wasn't it, Gai?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"There you have it," he says, and Iruka-sensei starts spluttering. "However, you are correct in that just because they're qualified to enter doesn't mean that they should." Bye, grin. I stare at the old man in horror as he turns his sights on Hatake, expression grave. There's no way the old man would do this to me. No way.

"How can I be sure that your team has what it takes to represent Konoha in the exams, Kakashi?" He asks. "Team 9 has had a full year of solo missions, with the staggering achievement of not failing a single one. If Gai believes they're ready, I trust him. But what does a rookie team have to offer us?"

Hatake's eye quirks up, and relief courses through me.

"Well, would you like us to debrief on our mission now, Hokage-sama?" He asks.

"Please do."

Without a moment's hesitation, Hatake and Gai launch into an enthusiastic debriefing that has me wondering if the old man hadn't told them ahead of time in that message that this was going to happen. They're quick about covering the actual search for the cultists, only touching on a few key bits like the techniques Hatake started teaching us on the road. Even the cultists themselves are glossed over for the most part. It's obvious what the big selling point is going to be.

"We were just outside Fire Country's border when Gai and I felt a group of six powerful chakra signatures closing in on us from the Land of Grass' side. They turned out to be a squad of six foreign ANBU," Hatake says, and the whole room seems to take a breath.

"What did they want from you?" The old man presses, as if he doesn't already know.

"They claimed to have been sent by their Kage to capture our target," Gai explains. "When I showed them our mission scroll, they attacked us." The old man holds a hand up, forestalling another round of quiet speculation from the jonin gathered.

"What happened?" He asks, expression deadly serious. I don't think that part is faked. There's only so much information you can trust a summon animal with, after all.

"They all converged on Gai and me," Hatake says. "We were forced to pull out our most damaging abilities from the start, and in the chaos our target was killed and one of the ANBU managed to slip past us and assault our genin."

Not a whisper. Just dozens of elite eyes on our backs. I glance in worry at Sakura, who's trying to make herself as small as possible amidst all the attention. I ease my weight to my other foot, leaning in front of her and obscuring her just a bit from the throng of jonin.

"When we finally dispatched our own opponents, we rushed to assist our students. But when we got there, we found the ANBU dead on the ground, his own tanto buried in his heart."

The old man locks eyes with me. "That's a very interesting sheath you have there, Naruto. How did it come into your possession, if I may?" He asks. I see your game, old man. I grin my toothiest, most savage grin, and reach behind my back. The short sword comes free with a beautiful grinding sound, and I hold it out in front of me for all to see.

"I touched it last."

Iruka-sensei stares at me with wide, wide eyes. I'm treated to the unique sensation of being the subject of an entire room's worth of jonin. Then the old man coughs, taking back the attention in the room, and I slide my new blade back in its sheathe.

"I believe you've convinced me, Kakashi," he says, and his expression is just the slightest bit mischievous. "On behalf of Konoha, Team 7 will be entered into this year's Chunin Exams."

...

"This is gonna be awesome," I say, grinning from ear to ear as we walk out of the Hokage Tower. "This is gonna be so mind-blowingly awesome I'm almost afraid to go." Beside me, Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"Indeed!" Lee cries, pumping his fist. He's gentle about it, though, because of his muscles, which makes for a pretty funny sight. "We will show our opponents that Konoha is a force to be reckoned with, two teams or no!" Gai, of course, chooses that moment to jump in with his own spirited words of encouragement. His fist pumps are a lot more forceful, though no more enthusiastic.

I'm considering joining in, because all ridiculousness aside I am feeling pumped about the meeting we just got out of, when Hatake gestures for me and my teammates to follow him. We break off from Team 9 and head down a different path, delving into the now fully awakened market district.

"What's up, sensei?" I ask when we're beyond the range of Lee and Gai's bawling.

"Ma, nothing much," he says. "I figured I'd give you three an idea of what I just signed you up for over an early lunch. My treat."

Hard to argue with that offer.

Hatake leads us to a cozy restaurant just outside of the market square, and we manage to snag a booth in a secluded area of the place. I slide into one side with Sasuke, and Sakura slides with Hatake into the other. Our waiter scribbles our drink orders down on a notepad and disappears into the kitchen, and Hatake leans back into the cushy booth.

"Do you three have any questions you need answering right now, or would you rather I give you the brief first?"

"Brief first," Sasuke says firmly. I nod in agreement. Hatake looks to Sakura, who nods as well after a moment.

"Alright. I just signed you three up for the Chunin Exams. They're a series of tests you'll be participating in for the chance to become a chunin."

I rest my chin on my fist. "Fascinating."

He shrugs. "You'd be surprised how many people don't make that connection. Anyway, the exams are held every two years. They usually take a couple months to run their course, depending on the tasks."

"Where are they?" Sakura asks.

"Yeah, where do they hold them? I always hear about them, but no one ever mentions where they go down." I tilt my head. "Come to think of it, why don't we ever have them here?"

Hatake scratches at his concealed cheek. "Well, we used to host them on rotation. Back then they were held every six months, and it would go from Konoha to Iwa to Kumo, and so on. Now they're kept exclusively in the Land of Iron."

"That's where the samurai live, isn't it?" Sasuke says. "Why would they be there?"

Hatake hums. "It's not something I'd like to get into right now, but suffice to say that it's a neutral zone and the samurai have been very gracious in accommodating us with it as a venue."

"Alright, so we're taking the test in samurai land," I say. "When's it happening? It has to be soon with all those villages already submitting their teams, right?"

"We're leaving in a week, yes," Hatake agrees. "The exams themselves will start in just under three."

"So what are the tasks like? Are we going to have to pack heavy or light for 'em?" I ask eagerly, leaning forward.

"This transitioned into your questions very quickly," Hatake points out, amused. "But sorry, I don't know what the tasks will be like. They change for every exam, with no discernable pattern to follow. I'd recommend packing like you would for any old mission."

"… So that's it?" I ask, after a long moment of expectant silence has passed and the waiter has arrived with our drinks and taken our orders. "You can't even give us an idea?"

"He just said there's no pattern, idiot," Sasuke says, taking a sip from his glass of juice. I bare my teeth at him. He's not impressed.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura speaks up, breaking me from my glaring contest with him.

"Yes, Sakura?" Hatake asks, lowering his somehow empty glass of water down to the table.

"Why didn't any of the other jonin nominate their teams?"

...

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