72 Naruto : Chapter 72
It was finally the fifth day after the second round had started and the last team to have arrived at the tower, team ten, had only made it with one hour to spare.
Getting through the lines of teams that had taken to ambush others at the tower had been hard and taxing on Shikamaru's chakra reserves. But they had made it by stealing the scroll that they needed from an Ame team.
The last ten metres to the tower had been hard on them as there hadn't been any shadows to hide in anymore, but they had managed by a creative combination of a mass shadow binding jutsu, Choji carrying a log towards the entrance of the tower while Shikamaru kept the other teams bound who tried to intercept them, and a quickly executed replacement technique through the door that Ino held open.
Shikamaru only hoped that he could rest a bit now. He was exhausted after using chakra constantly for hours.
There were only four teams that had passed this round. Teams seven, eight, ten and the Suna team. If you considered that twenty teams had started this round it were a lot of teams failing this stage.
From the brief conversation that they had had with Naruto they found out that team seven had been the cause for the lack of heaven scrolls in the forest.
They had taken out a lot of teams and collected so many heaven scrolls that it limited the number of teams that could pass down to five overall. With team ten having two heaven scrolls as well it was down to the four teams in the room.
They were all assembled in lines facing the Hokage and the jonin senseis of the passing teams. On top of that there were the proctors for the exams.
The Hokage then addressed them and congratulated them to passing the second round of the exams. He also explained the true meaning of the chunin exams to those that had passed. It was a replacement for the wars of the past to keep balance between the countries. Then he proceeded to explain the last and final round.
"From here on, you don't fight in teams anymore. In the finals you will face one opponent at a time. The decision if you are promoted depends on how you present yourself in front of the audience in which there will be our most important clients.
It will also be the event that will start the reign of the next Hokage." The Sandaime said surprising everybody except the jonins and team seven.
"Yes, I have decided to finally retire again. You are the first ones to be told who my successor will be; the rest of Konoha and the dignitaries will be informed tomorrow."
Kakashi stepped forward.
"As you probably all know this is Kakashi Hatake, he is the Godaime Hokage." The Sandaime said and the genin and jonin of Konoha bowed to the chosen successor of the Sandaime.
The Suna nins were surprised by the announcement. This complicated the plans for the invasion massively. They hadn't expected to have to fight against a young and powerful Hokage.
They would need to talk to the Kazekage as soon as possible. Perhaps they should rethink their involvement with the planned invasion.
Kakashi Hatake had managed to rise to S-rank in all bingo books over the last six months since he had taken up a genin team which was now participating in the finals of the exams.
It was unheard of that a ninja could bring a team to the finals of the chunin exams in such a short time and become an S-ranked ninja at the same time. They couldn't underestimate this opponent.
"Thank you for the show of respect." Kakashi said seriously. "As the next Hokage I will now explain just how the finals will go. As Sandaime Sama said we will test you in one-on-one fights. It will happen in a tournament.
Therefore you will all draw numbers now which will tell you which opponent you will face in the finals. Step forward one by one, draw a piece of paper and tell us your number."
The first ones to go were team ten who stood to the right, next were teams eight, seven and last the Suna team.
"I have three." Ino announced.
"Seven." Choji said.
"Troublesome, I have eleven." Shikamaru announced.
"Two." Kiba declared happy to be in the first fight.
"Ten." Shino stated.
"Four." Hinata said and looked at Ino who would be her opponent.
"One." Sakura said.
"Six." Sasuke announced.
"Nine." Naruto said looking at Shino.
"Five." Kankuro announced.
"Twelve." Temari said.
"Eight." Gaara ended the process.
"Very well, then this are the pairings for the finals.
First match is Sakura Haruno vs. Kiba Inuzuka.
Second match will be Ino Yamanaka vs. Hinata Hyuga.
Third match is Kankuro Sabaku vs. Sasuke Uchiha.
Fourth match Choji Akimichi vs. Gaara Sabaku.
Fifth match Naruto Namikaze vs. Shino Aburame and last but not least Shikamaru Nara vs. Temari Sabaku." Kakashi called out the pairings.
"You get one month to prepare for your fights. You don't know anything about your opponent's strengths and weaknesses, so you should prepare accordingly. Do you have any questions?"
"I have one." Shikamaru said trying not to show his surprise at the revelation of Naruto's new surname. "If this is a tournament, can only one of us become a chunin?"
"No, that's not the case. You will be judged on your abilities during your fights. Theoretically if you fought well and your qualification was acknowledged, you could be promoted even if you lost your first fight. But more fights will of course give you more opportunities to show your abilities." Kakashi answered.
After that there were no more questions and the teams were escorted out of the tower by their respective senseis. Team seven stayed behind.
"Alright, over the next month I will be busy preparing to take over the position of Hokage, so I don't have the time to train you for the finals. I have arranged for a teacher for each of you who will help you with your respective strengths.
Naruto, Jiraiya Sama will return tomorrow to start your training and will meet you at your usual training ground." Kakashi told his blond student and got a nod with an indicated smile in return.
"Sakura, you will be training with Shizune, the apprentice of Tsunade Sama. She is a high class medic nin. We could convince Tsunade Sama to let her come here for the month to train you."
Sakura was very happy to hear that she got to train under an apprentice of the famous Tsunade Sama. What Kakashi didn't say was that they had offered Tsunade a lot of money to come back, knowing that she had a lot of outstanding debts to pay.
While she had refused, she had offered Shizune's service in her stead, which they had accepted as at least the next best option.
"Sasuke, you will be training with Yamato, an ANBU captain." He informed his last student who looked pleased to hear that.
"Now remember, there will be no allies in the finals, but I don't want you to regard any Konoha ninja as an enemy. Give your best no matter who you have to face, even if it is your best friend. But don't use any crippling moves against ninjas of Konoha."
All three nodded seriously.
"Naruto, both your identity and my new position will be announced tomorrow, so you might want to take measures to not be mobbed." Kakashi told him.
"No problem, sensei. I can vanish completely if I want to." Naruto said confidently.
The other two members of team seven knew just how true that was. They had after all done a training mission that showed them exactly how good Naruto was at staying hidden.
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The Raikage sat in his office reading the announcement of the finalists of the chunin exams. He had to read it twice to fully grasp the information.
Not only had Konoha finally published the long-awaited photo of one Naruto Uzumaki, even if he was really Naruto Namikaze, son of the Yellow Flash, they had also announced that Kakashi Hatake was chosen as Godaime Hokage.
This was really big news. How he wished that he could watch the finals in person, but Konoha had put up high security measures and without a team of Kumo genin in the exams he could hardly rectify going to see them.
Perhaps he could have a spy infiltrate as part of the delegation the Daimyo would undoubtedly take with him. He called his assistant in to arrange said spy in the delegation.
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The Mizukage looked interestedly at the pictures of the finalists in the Konoha chunin exams. She had to admit having the son of the Yellow Flash in the finals was very good for publicity.
Many clients would travel to Konoha just to see that boy in action. On top of that the heirs of the major clans in Konoha were in the finals.
It would attract a lot of interest and if the genin of Konoha, all interestingly rookies from the data that was published about them, gave a good show of their abilities, Konoha would get many missions.
But at the moment she wouldn't act. Keeping Kiri neutral was for the best for now. They had a lot of rebuilding to do after the civil war.
They had lost a good part of their military and while the rebels had won there were still remains of Yagura's troops that simply didn't want to accept the change. Others while not that hard-headed needed time to work together with bloodline limit holders again. Years of mistrust were hard to overcome.
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Orochimaru raged reading the announcement of the finalists. Not only was his old sensei giving the position that should have been his to the Hatake brat, no, the son of the man that had been chosen over him for the position of Yondaime was in the finals. He was one of Sasuke's teammates.
The boy would be a problem and to his annoyance Kabuto hadn't reported back yet. He would have a serious conversation about the quality of the information that Kabuto had collected.
It was obvious that the Sandaime and the future Godaime thought that the boy was ready to be announced as his father's son, which meant he had to be at least low jonin level.
Otherwise the chance for assassination attempts being successful was too great. He wondered if he could get Iwa to join in the invasion now. Having more manpower would be massively useful.
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In Iwa the Tsuchikage was laughing his ass off. Many wondered why he had started to laugh like that when he had read the announcement of the participants of the Konoha chunin exams.
Most of the ninjas of Iwa that read that the son of the Yellow Flash was participating wanted to kill the boy.
The Tsuchikage didn't want to do that. No, the reason why he was laughing so hard was that the old monkey Sarutobi had managed to pull this stunt off.
This was the first time that anybody had heard even a whisper about a son of the Yondaime Hokage. No, it would be completely foolish to act on grudges against the boy's father. He would put the boy into the bingo books with a warning.
He wouldn't stop any of his ninjas if they came across the boy during a mission, but if the boy was anything like his father you didn't want to get on his bad side. Stories of the merciless Yellow Flash were told on mass during the third war.
There was a reason that Minato Namikaze got a flee-on-sight warning in the bingo book. He normally didn't bother you if you stayed away and he was deadly in a fight.
Oh being the leader of Iwa would be interesting the next few years. The boy had to be strong to be revealed now. Perhaps he should offer a reward for the ninjas that could catch him alive.
Offering a reward for his death would be bad as it would distract his ninjas from their missions. He knew the grudges against the Yellow Flash ran deep, but it was long time that the dead were let rest.
War was nasty and even if Minato Namikaze had been the one to kill most of their troops, in war ninjas and civilians alike died. Those that survived needed to go on with their lives. And blaming the son for the deeds of a father the boy had never known was stupid to the extreme.
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