Second Chance | COTE x Naruto

Chapter 12

Death Forest.

It was the most dangerous place in Konoha. Inside the forest, animal grew bigger than their normal size. The forest was created by First Hokage. It was rich with natural energy, the reason for the animal to grow bigger than usual.

Dozens people, all of them were genins, had gathered in front of the main gate of the forest. Sakura was among them. She stood next to Sasuke. Even though the selection was pure about individual strength, they were still a team.

"Where's that idiot Naruto?" asked Kiba, he approached Team 7 with a grin on his lips. "I bet he is afraid and so he hides in his closet, hahaha!"

Sakura glared at Kiba. However, before she could say something, a feminine-regal voice beat her to it.

"Fufufu, Kiba-kun, have you forgotten about what I said?"

The voice belonged to no other than Hyuuga Hinata. She was the brain and the leader of Team 8. Shino was on her right side. They were approaching Kiba, Sasuke, and Sakura. Kiba was sweating bullets upon seeing the girl.

"O-Of course I have not, Hinata! This is just a joke between us, you have to understand at least that much."

"Is that so?" Hinata stopped a meter before Kiba, so did Shino.

"Yes! Naruto and I joke around by mocking each other!"

"If that is the case, I'll let it slide. What do you think, Naruto-kun?"

As that question left Hinata's mouth, her eyes looked at a certain direction.

Everyone immediately shifted their eyes following Hinata's eyes. Even Sasuke did the same. And there, they saw Naruto sitting on a branch of a tree -- he had suppressed his presence.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. His mature sharingan came to life. Although back then he didn't give a damn about his classmate, he remembered Hinata. She had a potential, but she was weak as fuck. He noticed her just because of her byakugan.

Yet, how could the weak girl like her notice Naruto when he couldn't?

More than that, how could she exude such confidence borderline arrogance by just existing? If she claimed to be a princess of a big kingdom, Sasuke would believe it just by looking at her demeanor. Could a person change so much?

"Wait, wait, is he...Naruto? Is he really THAT Naruto?" Ino, the member of Team 10, approached Sakura in disbelief. "I remembered that his whisker-mark have disappeared, but right now he looks like a different person!"

"He is indeed Naruto," said Sakura while nodding her head. "Naruto is now 1.5 cm taller than Sasuke. He is smarter than we can imagine. His body is admirable. His looks has become a lot---ehem, anyway, what I want to say is, he is indeed THAT Naruto."

Meanwhile, Naruto ignored the noise and jumped down from the tree. Applying wind chakra to his feet, he managed to land without any sound. It was a perfect and graceful landing.

Naruto was actually the first to arrive.

He intentionally came sooner to observe the genins. Not that he cared or thought that they could challenge him. That was not the case. Naruto wanted to see if there was a genin he could mold to become a hokage for him.

"Hinata, you've grown," said Naruto, walking straight toward the heiress of the Hyuuga Clan.

There were three other reincarnators among the genins: Hirata, Ike, and Kushida. They had the same appearance to their former body. Well, in Ike's case, he had Inuzuka Clan's tattoo on his cheeks. However, Naruto ignored them. His eyes were fully on Hinata.