Along Came a Spider

Chapter 1

 Naruto Uzumaki was pissed.

This was suppose to be a day of accomplishment for him, a day for celebration for him. Despite being paired up against an admittedly superior taijutsu user in the form of one Kiba Inuzuka, he had won and progressed into the Chunin Finals. Some may argue that his victory over the Inuzuka may have been a fluke, but at least he didn't win by something embarrassing like farting in the mutts face. So what if he landed a lucky blow that knocked the mutt out, a victory was a victory none the less.

However, any sense of pride or accomplishment had been sapped by his supposed sensei, when he met the masked man at the hospital, replacing it with anger, hatred and loathing instead.

"Sorry Naruto," The silver haired Jonin commented. "But I've got other things I need to do...."

"Let me guess, you're going to be training Sasuke, right?" The blonde cut the man off.

"Mah mah, don't complain." The masked man waved off the blonde's statement. "Sasuke's opponent is far more dangerous then yours. Your opponent won't kill you, Sasuke's will."

"I will give you that." The Uzumaki gritted out, seeing through Kakashi's attempt to guilt trip him. "Gaara is a far more dangerous opponent then that Hyuga prick, but you are dead wrong if you think that prick won't try to kill me as well. If you had stuck around instead of coddling the Uchiha again, you would have seen him try to kill his own cousin, whom is also a Leaf Kunoichi. So yeah, Neji-teme has already shown he has no problem killing his own comrades."

Kakashi frowned at his students jab at his 'coddling' of the Uchiha, but let it slide for the time being. Knowing that Naruto had no idea just how much danger the last 'Loyal' Uchiha was in, with Orochimaru after the boy for unknown reasons and his recent encounter with Kabuto in the Uchiha's room not too long ago. However, the masked Jonin did have to relent to the fact that the blonde Genin was correct. His 'rival', Gai, had been ranting not too long ago about how unyouthful his student was for attempting to end the life of such a youthful kunoichi.

Which meant that Naruto was in just as much danger as Sasuke. The only exception was that at least against Neji, the Proctor would be able to stop the match should the risk of death be imminent, unlike with Gaara, whom Kakashi was sure would kill the proctor just for getting in the way. Though, that would hardly matter if the Hyuga already scored a direct juken strike to the heart. Which left only him one option to keep his blonde student safe.

"Then perhaps you should simply quit, and try again next year." The Jonin lazily advised, refusing to look up from his book. Sure, it may hurt the blonde teen for a bit, but better then dying, wasn't it? However, he failed to notice that his words had only served to infuriate the blonde further.

"So that's it then?" Naruto ground out, clenching his fists. "Those of the words of advise from my sensei? Just give up?"

"Naruto," Kakashi sighed, finally closing his book with an annoyed clap. "The reason I am advising you to drop out of the exams is because you don't have what it takes to be a Chunin, Sasuke does. Between the three of you, you lack the required skills and maturity to put others before yourself that comes with being promoted and above all, you require the most work to improve."

"Bullshit." The blonde scoffed, glaring up at the silver haired man. "I probably put the most fucking work into this farce of a team. The teme gets everything handed to him on a silver platter, while I work my ass off to get the skills and techniques I have. And don't even get me started on Haruno."

The masked Jonin frowned at the blondes words.

"She is, without a doubt, the weakest member of this team." The whiskered teen continued to rant. "Her chakra reserves are barely above that of an academy students and her repertoire doesn't even extend beyond the Henge, Kawarimi, and Bunshin. Basic Academy Jutsu."