Naruto's Mission

14

Sequel to The Outcast Of Konoha is out now! It's called The Sand's New Power.

Anyway, let's continue on with the story.

Sasuke groaned. His entire body was hurting. He'd wake up daily for the last month doing ninjutsu training and taijutsu training with Kakashi, then afterwards, he'd go spar with the dobe. He'd convinced himself at the beginning that it was only training, but whenever he thought about it, Naruto was pretty good at taijutsu, and he suspected that his ninjutsu was just as good. His friend. Naruto kept calling him his friend during their sessions, and Sasuke began to believe it. They had become friends through training, which Sasuke knew, that had Itachi not defected from the Leaf, and killed the rest of the clan, the old Itachi would have found it funny to no end.
"Are you excited?" Naruto asked him. Sasuke gave him a long look. Their friendship had progressed quickly, and to the stage where Naruto could tell what Sasuke's answer was by a look. Of course, only for the simple questions. But nevertheless, Sasuke nodded. They were standing in front of Kakashi with their Chunin exam slips and were waiting to be let into the room for the first portion. Sakura was much more talkative and accepting of Naruto, which made the Uchiha feel strange. Everyone had changed. Sakura had begun training hard so that she could 'be on their level', although Sasuke suspected it was due to Naruto talking to her in a blunt fashion. But, being the Uchiha he was, he was prone to jealousy, and he felt a pang of jealousy strike his heart as he watched Naruto and Sakura talking closely to each other. Sakura barely talked to him anymore, and it looked as though Sakura had moved on... but to Naruto? Stop thinking about it... you don't even like Sakura anyway... right? He tried to convince himself. Plus, Naruto has a girlfriend. It calmed him down, surprisingly enough. The doors opened and Sasuke jolted from his day dreaming and entered the written exam room with his two team members. He immediately saw Naruto move to Hinata's side and wrap a reassuring and protective arm around her, which seemed to make Hinata look much more comfortable and confident in herself. Then he saw Sakura move next to Naruto and latch herself onto Naruto's arm. The two girls began to talk with each other, clearly, Hinata and Sakura were good friends now. When did all this happen? Sasuke thought, seething in anger and glaring slightly at Naruto, not that the latter noticed it. Why does Sakura have to cling to him? Why not me? Wait ... did I seriously think that? URGH!

"Sasuke?" He heard someone ask and he blinked his eyes.
"What are you thinking over there?" Naruto asked when he noticed that Sasuke seemed to be spacing out.
"Nothing." Sasuke said, a bit of venom entering his voice. Naruto didn't know why he sensed Sasuke was in a bad mood. His friend didn't normally get into a bad mood without something really irritating him. Like someone mentioning Itachi's name, for instance. Or apparently Sakura clinging to Naruto's arm and talking to Hinata.
"So I heard you're friends with Sasuke now." Ino stated, tilting her head to the side as she stood rather close to Sasuke. Sasuke's mood grew better. At least a girl was standing by him. Even though Sasuke knew that Ino wasn't one of his fangirls, rather, she was more into Naruto ever since he arrived at the Academy a day before the Genin exams. Naruto gave her a grin.
"Yup! We trained together." Naruto said, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow. It wasn't exactly true, but in a sense it still was. A door at the back of the classroom suddenly opened and everyone stopped talking to look over. A tall man wearing a black cloth around his head and a large black trench coat walked into the room. He had two scars across his face and he was a rather imposing person.
"Alright. Settle down. It is time for the Chunin exams to begin. I am your proctor for the first exam, and my name, is Ibiki Morino." Suddenly, a bunch of Leaf ninja appeared in the room and began to sort everyone into seats, away from their team members.
"Now... the rules are simple. No cheating. Get caught cheating and you get a mark against your name. Three marks and your disqualified. No questions. No talking. Start now!" Ibiki practically shouted in their faces. Everyone froze, and just stared at him. Someone turned their head slightly.
"You! One mark!" He shouted. Everyone quickly got their heads down and started reading the questions.