Chapter 157

"Leave him alone," Sakura calls, defending her teammate.

"Oh! Letting a girl fight your battles now, Dead Last," Kiba snorts.

Ino smacks him in the shoulder, adding, "don't call him that." Though Kiba is surprised by Ino's reaction, they're all interrupted.

"Hey, you guys should be a little quieter," says a silver-haired boy with round glasses Naruto has already met. Walking up to them with a friendly smile he adds, "as the nine rookies taking the exam, you're all a little too cute to leave alone in a room full of more experienced shinobi."

"And who are you supposed to be," Ino asks, eying his Konoha forehead protector.

"Yakushi Kabuto," he answers. He turns to Naruto and nods with a genial smile, greeting him, "hello again, Naruto-kun," before turning to the others and adding, "you should all probably take a look around."

Rather than look around with the other rookies, Naruto mentally ponders, 'is Kabuto really a spy? He seemed so nice when Haku introduced him.'

Before Naru-nii had a chance to explain a bit about the part Kabuto plays in the future, the silver-haired spy had apparently made friends with Haku. Naruto was introduced to him when Kabuto had come by to drop off some medical ingredients Haku uses to make his medicine. Though Haku brushed it off as two healers comparing notes and expertise, Haku was smiling in a way Naruto hadn't seen before… even when he'd talk about Zabuza-jiji.

'There's no way I'm letting the guy who's helping Orochimaru kill Ji-chan, take Haku,' Naruto mentally asserts. Kabuto catches Naruto gravely staring at him and gives a gentle wave. Naru-nii had told him how he met Kabuto in his timeline and assumed this alteration in events was due to the fact they saved Haku's life. Naru-nii also thought Haku was exactly the type of shinobi that interests Kabuto's boss, Orochimaru, a collector of Kekkei Genkai.

Due to his older counterpart and their story-time, Naruto knew how bad things were going to get; Kabuto is a spy, a disguised Orochimaru is in the Chūnin exam, Suna's betrayal, Gaara's past and his horrible part in the invasion, and Ji-chan's death. The events ahead prompted Naruto and Naru-nii to use their past week's sessions to brainstorm possible solutions to avert all that befalls the village without outing Naruto's connection to the fracturing future.

"Those hot-tempered genin behind you are from Amegakure," Kabuto continues. "Everyone is tense before the exam so I thought I'd warn you guys. I'm sure none of you want to have an 'accident' before the exam starts. Not that it can be helped. You're rookies after all…"

As Kabuto explains more about the Chūnin Exams, Naruto finally spots the red hair he's looking for, but is then aggravated when it turns out to be a girl with glasses. 'What the hell? Is he late? Hey Kurama, can you sense where your little brother is?' 'I'm napping,' is all Kurama grumbles to which Naruto immediately thinks back, 'you know, this would be a really good time to start caring more!' When the red-headed girl with glasses spots Naruto looking at her, he abruptly smiles and waves only for her to quickly turn away.

"I want to know about Sabaku no Gaara, and Rock Lee," Sasuke asks. Hearing about Gaara's B-rank mission and returning unharmed made Naruto humorously recall Naru-nii's explanation of the Suna-nin's sand armor. As a prankster, Naruto always gets a thrill out of knowing something others don't. Kabuto is about to look up Rock Lee when Naruto asks, "actually before that, can you point out where Gaara is?"

"…Why," Kabuto curiously asks.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Naruto replies in a clipped tone.

"Naruto," Sakura yelps. "That's rude."

"It's okay, Haruno-chan," Kabuto states before turning leaning closer to an aggravated Naruto. "I realize how important you are to Haku-san, Naruto-kun, and I want you to know I'm not trying to replace you in any way. I promised him I'd do all I can to make certain you remain safe."

"That's a lie," Naruto flat-out states with hard blue eyes. Naruto may not have come up with a plausible way of outing the spy without explaining his knowledge of the future, nor does he understand why Haku appears to like Kabuto, but he knows Haku would never think him so weak he'd ask someone else to protect him.

Though Kabuto seems surprised by the confident assertion, Naruto cuts any reply he may have had by jumping on top of the nearest desk, the noise of which grabs the attention of many. He'd wondered if maybe Gaara's too short to be seen, and on top of the desk, he has a better view as he yells out, "listen up you Grungy-Ass Senpai! My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm looking for a Sabaku no Gaara!" The second he waits for a response is filled with murderous glares and the sound of multiple metal instruments of death unsheathing before Naruto continues. "…Sabaku no Gaara! Come on, don't be shy! Uzumaki Naruto is looking for yo-"

Naruto is dragged back by Ino who promptly yells, "what the hell are you doing? Didn't you hear what Kabuto-san said? He's dangerous!"

Looking so closely at her with an odd mix of mournful confidence, Naruto assertively relays, "it's okay, Ino-chan. I'm not going to lose to anyone here." Ino is taken as she recalls Iruka-sensei's assertion, 'that boy never gives up,' and her eyes soften at his proclamation and his close proximity to her.

'Except to Orochimaru,' Kurama chuckles from the seal. 'Lazy freeloaders get to keep their comments to themselves!' Naruto mentally returns, though enjoys their little banter. Now that they have a better connection, Kurama can respond so long as both parties want to. Luckily the great Chakra beast naps more often than not. Naru-nii explained that a part of their brain unconsciously echos what is being said which is why Kurama can hear what Naruto is saying even if he's within the seal.

With this sort of mental echo, Naru-nii had explained to both of them how Orochimaru was the biggest threat in that room, followed by Gaara, Kabuto, and the Sound-nin, however, even knowing this didn't produce much of a plan that wouldn't affect the final round of the Chūnin exam. It's already bad enough that Haku met with Kabuto and Naruto completely missed meeting Gaara with Sasuke—though, it was nice of Sakura to defend Konohamaru. Naru-nii didn't think exposing their scheme would stop Orochimaru from trying to kill Ji-chan some other way.