Chapter 67: Naruto : Chapter 67
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura sat at training ground seven, reading a scroll each. Kakashi had told them to wait for him here and that he didn't know how long the meeting he had to go to would take. So they had brought a scroll on skills they wanted to train next each.
Sakura was about to advance to the third level of her medical training and read up on the theoretical skills that she would need to learn the next practical skills. So far she had learned the mythical hand jutsu and how to set broken bones.
On top of that she had leaned chakra scalpels. Next would be techniques to get rid of basic poisons and they were tricky, so she wanted to be absolutely sure with her knowledge to impress her teachers at the hospital.
Sasuke was reading up on lightning manipulation. He had mastered fire manipulation a month ago and had trained to perfect his fire jutsus till now.
His repertoire of jutsus now held ten fire jutsus including fire clones, which had been hard to learn. But it wasn't a B-rank technique for nothing after all. Naruto read about combinations with his summons.
Jiraiya had written a letter, telling him that he would take over his training for the month between the second and third rounds of the chunin exams and work with him on those combination attacks.
They had been reading for an hour now when Kakashi appeared with his normal body flicker.
"Sorry for the delay, but Hokage Sama had some important announcements to make and there were some explanations given to the jonin in the meeting." Kakashi said.
"I see you used the time productive. I will be straight to the point; I have nominated you three for the chunin exams that will start in seven days at ten in the morning here in Konoha."
The three smiled hearing that. They had known that the exams were coming up and to be nominated this early was a sign that their sensei trusted them to be able to do well in them. Considering his high expectations for them every day he would never have let them take them if he wasn't convinced that they had a chance for promotion.
"Naruto, please set a privacy seal up." Kakashi said seriously.
Naruto nodded, took a sealing scroll from his pouch and unsealed a batch of premade seals. He placed them all around their team and then activated them.
"There is one thing you need to be aware of. Naruto, as planned we have decided that you will take the exams under your true name." Kakashi said and got a nod from Naruto.
"His true name? But you said he is an Uzumaki. I looked his clan up and it fit with what you told us about them." Sakura said confused.
"Uzumaki was my mother Kushina's maiden name. I got her name after she and my father died to protect me from my father's enemies until I was ready to deal with them. My true name is Naruto Namikaze; I am the son of Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage." Naruto explained.
Sakura looked absolutely shocked, Sasuke not so much.
"You suspected it, Sasuke?" Naruto asked interpreting his teammate's face correctly.
"Since after the Wave Country mission. While Kakashi sensei mentioned how many Yamanakas lost their lives thanks to Iwa hating the Yondaime and telling that thanks to your hair-colour you could become a target for the Iwa ninjas were faced, I was curious if there wasn't more to it.
I took a good look at the picture of the Yondaime Hokage in the Hokage's office when we returned and there are many similarities between you two. For one your hair and your eye-colour, but also your affinities and your talent with sealing.
Combine that with the interest the Yondaime's teacher Jiraiya and his student Kakashi Hatake show in your development, not to mention the Hokage himself, and it was a safe bet to say you were his hidden son or at least nephew." Sasuke pointed out.
"That information shouldn't be a secret for long, so I wanted to inform you early on to prepare you. There will be a huge outcry in the village as soon as the information spreads, which will be in a week when the exams start.
All the jonin were sworn to secrecy about certain points including Naruto's identity until the Hokage releases them. Which will be when the participants for the final round are decided. The exams traditionally consist of three parts.
I won't tell you what they are, that would be an unfair advantage. I will just say that you need to remember everything I taught you in the last six months.
"Additionally I want you to show what you have learned. No matter if you manage to get promoted, which I think is absolutely possible for all of you, after the exams you will be taking more missions without me as I will be taking over as Godaime Hokage after the finals." Kakashi said.
He and the Hokage had decided that Kakashi's students deserved to be informed about this before going into the exams so that they knew that Kakashi's reputation would be massively influenced by their performance in the exams.
"You're going to be the Godaime, sensei?" Sakura asked surprised and this time only Naruto wasn't surprised.
Sasuke was impressed that his sensei would become Hokage in a little over a month. Naruto only smiled, having known about the plan, even if the Sandaime and Kakashi hadn't known that he knew.
"Yes, I will. I am one of the strongest ninjas we have in the village and as the sannin don't want to become Hokage, well Tsunade Sama and Jiraiya Sama that is, I was chosen." Kakashi confirmed with an eye-smile.
"I'm sure you'll do a good job, Kakashi sensei." Naruto said smiling. "Dad would be proud of you."
"Thank you, Naruto." Kakashi said touched. "Alright, while you can't tell anybody that I am going to be Hokage yet, I will make sure that you will represent me accordingly. So we will go over all the important things for the exams.
I have arranged for you to live together for the next week so that your teamwork will be at its best. Don't worry, you get separate rooms.
While I know that you can work together well enough, I know that you aren't that close to each other. And I'm not crazy enough to force you to sleep in the same room if it isn't strictly necessary."
That was a massive relief for his students.
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Over the next week Kakashi drilled his three students in taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu detection and dispelling, strategy, survival techniques and teamwork. By the end of the week they were completely prepared for anything they might have to do in the exams.
They went home for the last night before the exams. Sakura had to bite her tongue to not tell her mother that her sensei was the next Hokage, but she had been strictly forbidden to do so. And on top she had realised that her mother's ideas of how a ninja should work were complete rubbish.
While her mother was fully supportive about her plans to become the greatest medic nin since Tsunade, as she saw it as a much nobler kind of ninja than the brawlers as she called it, she still had it out for Naruto. Wouldn't she be surprised once the information that Naruto was the Yondaime Hokage's only son hit the village?
Naruto meanwhile stocked his two hip pouches with all the things he would need in the exams. Thanks to his sealing abilities his thigh pouches could hold double the number of shuriken and senbons respectively.
Same was true for his hip pouches. With all his specializations he needed more supplies than fit into normal pouches. His new cloak would be introduced in the finals.
He was sure that he would make it there. It would be really embarrassing if he didn't pass while having jonin level skills. And as far as he knew the first two parts were team tests. And as little as he liked his teammates, he knew they were reliable now.
Sasuke also prepared his equipment for the next day. He knew that a lot rode on his team's performance. To think that he had been trained by the future Godaime Hokage made him review his time on team seven.
He had to admit that he was really glad that his sensei and his teammate Naruto had broken him out of his former funk.
He had hindered himself with his behaviour and had let idiotic civilians fill his head with hot air. While he still wanted to find Itachi, now he wanted to question him about the massacre first. With him getting better at meditation techniques he had also remembered that Itachi had cried the night of the massacre and that didn't sit right with him.
He would get strong enough to catch Itachi and force him to tell him the truth. If he had simply been an arsehole and a traitor he could still kill him after pumping him for all information he had.
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