Honto No Haisha (A Naruto Fanfiction)!

Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Result

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All the genin that reached the final stage in the chunin exam along with their teammates stood in the Hokage's office, looking at Tsunade who was sitting on her seat while resting her chin on her hands. The genin looked at their Hokage, paying prompt attention to her.

"Do you know why I summoned all of you here?" Tsunade questioned getting several confused looks.

"I don't think most of us know," Kakashi said with an eye smile. He knew that they were summoned because of the Chunin exam but decided to wait for the Hokage to reveal it herself.

"The results of the Chunin Exams are out... And I have it with me." Tsunade said as she eyed all the genin who looked at her with excited looks on their faces. She looked around to look at the faces of everyone gathered. She was surprised to see Naruto looking at her without any expression. 'What happened to him?' She thought with a frown, he looked troubled.

Putting aside that, Tsunade decided to continue. "I'll announce everyone who became a Chūnin, step forward when your name is called," Tsunade said getting nods from everyone.

"Shikamaru Nara, for your performance in the Chūnin Exam, you've been promoted to Chūnin, wear this vest with pride," Tsunade said as she gave Shikamaru a Chūnin vest making him sigh. "Troublesome." He whispered as he walked back.

"Shino Aburame, though you didn't get to fight and showcase your skills in the final stage, several onlooking Jōnins during the preliminaries were impressed by your performance and vouched for your promotion, wear this vest with pride," Tsunade said as she handed Shino the Chūnin vest who took it with a bow.

"Thank You Hokage-sama..." Shino thanked her before walking away.

"Naruto Uzumaki... The skills that you showed during the Chūnin exam were phenomenal... Meh, whatever, take this vest." Tsunade said as she threw the vest at Naruto who caught it with a small nod. Tsunade frowned again, Naruto was acting differently.

"Good work Naruto..." Tsunade said trying to diffuse whatever tension was going on in his mind, she smiled at him getting a smile in return.

"Rest of you... Don't be discouraged, try again next time." Tsunade said and got varying looks from the crowd. The most prominent being the frown from Sasuke but she ignored them all.

"Dismissed." As she said that, all the teams walked out of her office except Jiraiya.

"Tsunade... Naruto's mission history looks too cheap. Give him some B or A Rank missions." Jiraiya said as he leaned on Tsunade's table getting a raised brow from Tsunade.

"You believe he is ready for such missions?" She questioned with a frown. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and Tsunade sighed, "Why did I even ask?" She questioned herself getting Jiraiya to smirk.

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After going out of the office, Naruto left the group and ran towards the woods. He had several thoughts on his mind so he ignored the calls he got from his ex classmates.

Sitting by a log in his favorite spot in the jungle. Naruto sighed, 'Did I hurt Hinata?' He questioned himself. He couldn't understand why Hinata was so mad with him, he was just saying what he felt. If the Hyūga wanted to seal Hinata, he'd fight them to protect. He was strong after all. So why was Hinata angry at him?

He felt a presence next to him and looked up. Yūgao came up to him and sat next to him.

"What's troubling you Naruto?"

Naruto weighed the options in his mind, should he tell her what happened? What if Yūgao slapped him as Hinata did, he quickly discarded the thought, he felt silly even considering that. He didn't know if he should tell Yūgao about what had happened the day before, he let the thought roam around him before sighing. He made a choice.

"Yesterday... I was called by the Hyūga-..."

And so, he started explaining to her everything that had happened. By the end of the story, Yūgao had an understanding look on her face. She understood the reason for Naruto's mood. She just wondered how she'd break it to Naruto.

"Naruto... you train every day right?"

Getting a nod, Yūgao decided to continue.

"You take pride in your strength... I'd even add that you take too much pride..."

Naruto didn't understand what Yūgao was saying and gave her a confused look.

"Yeah, but how is this related to what happened?"

"Tell me... Why did you think that it was wise to threaten the Hyūga? I won't lie to you, you disappointed me with your actions. No matter what happens, some things should be solved diplomatically, there is no need for violence in some cases."

The frown on Yūgao's face made Naruto adopt a surprised look.

"But I am strong enough, why would I want to solve things diplomatically if I can simply make things happen directly."

Naruto had a scowl on his face by the end of everything, he stood up and glared at Yūgao, challenging her to say otherwise.

"That's where you're wrong, you're not strong... How many times will I tell you that a strong shinobi is a smart shinobi?"

It was Yūgao's turn to scowl. Naruto was letting his strength get to his head, but she knew exactly how to bring him back to sense.

"Look, taking pride in one's strength is good... But there's a thin line between pride and arrogance."

Naruto looked ready to retort but Yūgao wouldn't let him.

"You think you're strongest? There are several Hyūga who could pick you up and throw you around, your threat was only that, empty... You couldn't hope to massacre the Hyūga even if you try now."

Yūgao took a deep breath before sitting down on the log again. Naruto didn't look ready to understand.

"If I told the old Naruto, he would've understood... I wonder why you're so arrogant all of a sudden."

Hearing the defeated voice of Yūgao snapped Naruto out of his anger. He looked at her face and saw her frowning.

"But... But, I am strong, don't you know... I defeated Baa-cha-, I mean Tsunade of the Sannin... Not only that but I also defeated Ichibi, and then Orochimaru's man, whose name was Kimimaro... I am strong..."

Naruto tried to reason only to get a scowl from Yūgao.

"I am fast, I don't think any Hyūga can beat-"

Naruto didn't get to complete his sentence as he found himself thrown into the mud. Yūgao stood in his place in a fighting position.

"You think you're fast? You think you're strong, let's see how much truth your claims carry."

A few minutes later, Naruto was sitting on the floor with a deep frown on his face. He tried fighting Yūgao but got humiliated badly, she didn't get the Anbu captain rank for nothing. Fighting her was different from fighting Kimimaro, she was equally as fast as him and knew all the tricks he had up his sleeves... Kimimaro was above him in almost every way, but he had an advantage of speed against Kimimaro, against Yūgao, he didn't have that advantage.

He saw Yūgao look at him with a deep frown, he noticed her lips parting to say something and scowled...

"Look, what I am trying to explain to you is that you need to let go of your arrogance... Till then, I am off, approach me when you think your pride is back in place."

With that, Naruto watched as Yūgao walked away from her spot with a frown on his face. It was then that he decided that he wouldn't tell anyone else what happened, not even Jiraiya.

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