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chapter seventeen

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

- Winston Churchill

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Minato looked at the assembled group of ninja. The jonin leaders, Mitarashi Anko, Morino Ibiki, Shiranui Genma, Hayate Gekko, along with seventeen members of the ANBU Black Ops under his command had joined, as they were going to be guarding the exams. This year, Konoha was hosting the Chūnin exams. Children from all over the Five Nations were coming to test, tourists coming to watch, and civilians coming to see the ninja extravaganza.

The Chūnin exams were a major tourist attraction, and a definite moneymaker for the village who hosted. Not only that, but Konoha was in charge of protecting all of those people.

Kakashi had brought up some openings in their security that Minato thought it was important to address with the people in charge of village defenses. The village needed to be prepared for the idea that they could be attacked. The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, would be in attendance, along with his Jinchūriki child. Minato's own son who hosts a Bijū would be taking the exams this year. Not to mention, the heiress of the Hyūga clan, the youngest son of Fugaku Uchiha, the heiress to the Yamanaka clan, the heir to the Inuzuka clan, the heir to the Akamichi clan and the heir to the Nara clan, and the Aburame clan and the list just went on and on. If anyone got their hands on these important children, there was a good chance of war.

War was not an option.

So they tightened up security. Minato had luckily, successfully, secured a semi stable alliance with Suna, so if anything happened, they could become allies. However, depending on the situation, things could crumble. Minato was praying for a miracle.

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Naruto woke up the day of the Chūnin exams excited. He'd never thought to take the Chūnin exams again in his old timeline, so really he and Sasuke were just genin. Sakura had passed and eventually moved on to bigger things. He sat on his bed, remembering everything for a few minutes. Somehow, he was feeling a little bit better today. Kushina yelled at him from downstairs that Sakura and Sasuke were there, and Naruto told her to just send them up. Kushina ignored him, feeding them breakfast, first. Naruto could hear them eating and talking in the kitchen, and rolled his eyes.

Naruto took that time to get changed. He was slipping on his shoes when Sakura burst into the room, a giggle escaping her lips. Naruto had barely stood in time before she attacked him in a hug. He wrapped his arms around her waist, looking back at Sasuke, utterly confused.

He shrugged back. "She did it to me when I stopped to pick her up, too."

Sakura squealed again. "Sorry, I just can't believe it!" She backed up, and proceeded to wave her hands wildly around. "We're taking the Chūnin exams again, as a team! I'm so excited!"

"Yeah, well you'd better believe it, Sakura-chan, 'ttebayo!"

Sakura laughed out loud, the melodic sound bringing a smile to Naruto's face. He joined her laugh. Sasuke watched them both with a cryptic look in his eyes, then shrugged, a smirk coming onto his face. He looked around Naruto's trashed room that he'd seen a million times, and his lip curled, but Naruto didn't have enough time to flip him off, because Sakura was talking again.

"I heard they're already getting here!" Sakura said to both of them, her green eyes wide with excitement. "They've been showing up all week!"