Chapter 69: Chapter 69: The Learned Teacher Kurama
The night before the exam, Kakashi made a special request to his beloved students. The Chūnin Exams were an important event, so if possible, they should dress a bit more formally.
The three seemed to have taken his advice... at least, somewhat.
The next afternoon, Kakashi, unusually punctual, was waiting at the meeting spot for his students. He normally wouldn't have come early, but the Third Hokage had specifically instructed him to keep a close eye on Naruto during the Chūnin Exams.
After all, this wasn't just an internal Konoha event—it was a joint exam involving five villages. If Naruto caused trouble this time, it wouldn't just be Konoha's reputation on the line; the consequences could spread much further.
"I told you guys to dress more appropriately..." Kakashi muttered, eye twitching.
"Naruto! Sasuke! What is this?!"
Sakura looked relatively normal, wearing a red outfit similar to her usual attire, but Naruto and Sasuke... they were something else entirely.
Naruto was clad in a gold and red suit of armor, with a bright blue light glowing from his chest, and to top it off, he'd drawn a scruffy beard on his face with a marker.
Sigh.
And Sasuke? He was carrying the Executioner's Blade, which was nearly twice his height, and wore a black cloak with the hood pulled low, shadowing his entire face except for his chin.
Kakashi looked up at the sky, feeling an overwhelming sense of resignation.
I can't take this anymore.
He had already made up his mind. Once Jiraiya returned, Naruto would be handed over to him. And Tsunade? She could take Sakura under her wing.
As for Sasuke... well, he'd deal with that later. The only thing that mattered now was splitting this team apart.
"Kakashi-sensei, didn't you say we should look sharp?" Naruto struck several Iron Man poses, muttering things that made no sense to anyone.
"And by the way... this armor is weighted," he added, pounding his chest a few times. The resounding thunk suggested that it was indeed quite heavy.
Naruto had initially tried using special food as weight training, even hanging a steak around his neck, but the aroma had distracted him so much that he couldn't focus on training. So, he'd settled on this armor, crafted by Uzumaki Stark, as his solution.
"My Executioner's Blade is also a form of weight training," Sasuke chimed in, his voice low and somber, as he casually twirled the massive weapon.
Kakashi pursed his lips, knowing there was no reasoning with these two anymore.
They didn't look like Konoha shinobi at all... not even a little.
Fine, let the other villages experience the pain Konoha has endured these past few years.
Resigned, Kakashi led the group to the exam site, feeling the weight of stares from villagers, shinobi, and other exam participants alike. All of them seemed equally baffled by Naruto and Sasuke's ridiculous appearances.
"Whoa, when did Konoha get a puppet master?"
"Look at that red puppet... It looks strong!"
"No, no! You don't understand puppets. What if the kid in the black cloak is the puppet?"
Kakashi and Sakura were dying from secondhand embarrassment. Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke seemed completely unfazed. Naruto had his helmet on, and Sasuke's face was hidden by his hood, so no one even realized they were looking at Konoha's infamous troublemakers: the "Yellow Flash Wannabe" and "The Frozen Brother."
As they reached the entrance of the exam hall, Kakashi gave his students one final word of warning. He doubted they'd actually listen, but at least if things went sideways, he could say he'd tried.
"Take it easy during the Chūnin Exams, alright? Especially you, Naruto."
Naruto was too busy dancing in his armor, shaking his shoulders and hips, to even hear Kakashi's words.
Why do I even bother? Kakashi sighed, utterly exhausted.
Here they were, moments before the exam, and Naruto was still prancing around in his ridiculous weighted gear...
Kakashi and Sakura both felt like turning around and heading home.
As Naruto the "Iron Man" and Sasuke the "Mysterious Cloaked Figure" entered the exam hall, they immediately drew the attention of several familiar faces. Shikamaru noticed them first, while Hinata lit up when she recognized the red-and-gold armor.
"Naruto-kun..."
Naruto reached out to pat her head affectionately while scanning the room full of competitors.
There were so many... and not a single face that he recognized.
Looks like this Chūnin Exam is going to be even tougher than I thought.
"Do you see them? That's Team 7..." one of the exam proctors whispered.
"The Third Hokage asked us to keep a close eye on Naruto. We absolutely cannot let him cause any trouble in here."
Several proctors searched the room for the famous blonde and Uchiha, but they couldn't find them.
"Where are they? Where are Naruto and Sasuke?"
After a long search, they started to wonder if the two boys had skipped the exam entirely.
In the crowd, Kankuro's eyes lit up with excitement as he eyed Naruto's armor.
"Who knew Konoha had a puppet master?" he muttered, intrigued.
Just as the whispers and speculation started to build, there was a sudden poof and all the proctors appeared at the front of the hall.
"I am Morino Ibiki, your proctor for this exam," the man introduced himself, proceeding to explain the rules.
There were quite a few rules, none of which Naruto or Sasuke really paid attention to. Sasuke trusted Naruto, and Naruto trusted the fox in his belly.
Naruto only remembered one key rule: if you got caught cheating five times, your entire team would be disqualified.
A few minutes later, they were seated, each with an exam paper in front of them.
Naruto stared at the test for a moment, feeling a wave of déjà vu, as if he were back in high school. Except this time, the questions were... different.
He rubbed his face with both hands and looked at the first question.
Question: How many types of chakra nature transformation are there? Calculate the optimal angle for shuriken projection.
Naruto: ???
Who the heck came up with these questions?
What does chakra nature transformation have to do with shuriken angles!?
As he scanned the rest of the questions, it quickly became apparent that he didn't know the answer to a single one. So, he turned to the one source of knowledge he trusted most: the giant fox sealed within him.
"Hey, Kurama, do you know the answers to these?"
Inside the seal, the Nine-Tails twitched its ears, replying with a huff of indignation.
"Kid, are you mocking me? I'm one of the oldest beings in this world. There's nothing I don't know."
Naruto, ever the optimist, believed him. With newfound confidence, he began writing down Kurama's answers, his hand moving swiftly across the paper.
In less than ten minutes, Naruto had filled out the entire exam—no blanks left.
Satisfied with his work, Naruto glanced at the answers, nodding in approval... until he noticed something strange.
The answers didn't make sense.
It was like this:
Question: Name five common poisons and the optimal ambush positions in an open field.
Answer: Three methods for cooking steak.
Naruto blinked, then skimmed through the rest of the answers, horrified to find that Kurama had written nothing but culinary instructions.
This was worse than if he'd just guessed.
"Kurama! You're sabotaging me!" he hissed under his breath.
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