Naruto: A New Perspective

Chapter 22

Aiko had made sure they weren't late to the stadium in the morning, she dragged Sasuke out of bed and despite his grumbling they both were out the door in an hour.

The exam was scheduled to start at ten in the morning, Aiko made sure they were there by 9:30. As they had planned, all the rookies met at the east gate before the exam was to begin.

"Hmm." Kiba smirked at the Uchiha twins as they approached, "I got here before you guys." The Inuzuka was crouching by the entrance way into the stadium, Akamaru at his side.

"You're the only one." Sasuke observed.

"Nah, Shino's here too." Kiba dismissed, "He's with his parents, they're finding seats."

"Hn."

Hinata came with her father and sister, and they left her there to take their own seats. Team 10 arrived together; Chouji had officially been off his crutches for nearly two weeks and looked better than ever. Sakura arrived as well, all of her bandages gone and in good spirits.

"Naruto isn't here yet?" Sakura asked, and the others shook their heads.

"He won't be late," Sasuke smirked, "Not for this."

"He's not gonna come," Kiba laughed, "He knows he'll be outmatched if he fights any of us!"

"Kiba, I'm going to kick your ass." Aiko said, "You know that?"

"No way!" Kiba gave her a nice guy pose, "Me and Akamaru have been training really hard!"

"OWA!" Lee leapt from a nearby tree to land in front of the rookies, "Excellent pose, Kiba-san!"

"What the-!" Kiba stumbled away from Lee, who had landed inches from him, "What the hell...? Hey, you're that Lee kid from Gai's team, right?"

"Yes!" Lee gave his own pose, "I have come to wish you all good luck today! Hinata, I hope our fight will be most youthful!"

"Lee..." Aiko shook her head, "You're pretty strange."

"She's right." Tenten agreed as she walked up to the group, "Lee, where's Neji?"

"I do not know my youthful teammate! No doubt he has prepared greatly for the coming matches; I look forward to battling him!"

"You won't get the chance." Sasuke replied with a smirk, "Because I'll beat him if Naruto loses."

"Feh." Hyuuga Neji strutted towards them, and eyed Sasuke with his own smirk.

"Hn." Sasuke returned.

"We will fight," Neji paused, "But I will be the victorious one."

"Ego battle." Tenten rolled her eyes, "So, you kids are pretty impressive, except for Neji, Lee and maybe Gaara, you're all rookies in the finals. I don't think that's happened before."

"Are you an expert on the Chuunin Exams?" Ino asked, curious.

"No, but come on, it's pretty unlikely!" Tenten replied with a shrug, "Where's that Naruto kid anyways?"

"He should be here by now." Chouji checked his watch, "He's gonna be late!"

"Naruto is troublesome, but he won't miss this." Shikamaru yawned.

"Maybe Naruto is turning into Kakashi-sensei?" Aiko wondered aloud. Before they could muse farther, a loud and familiar voice cut into the conversation.

"Did you guys really thing I would miss this!"

The genin all turned to see Naruto running towards them, Konohamaru in tow. The blond gave his friends a peace sign, "Let's do this! I'm so gonna win!"