The Jinchuuriki Alliance || REWRITE ||

CHUUNIN EXAMS: PHASE 3

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

Not 100% satisfied with this chapter, but I probably never will be because I'm not great with improvising fight scenes.

Also I do realize that Naruko and Sasuke's romantic relationship is taking quite a while in developing, but that's because 1) they're thirteen-years-old and most thirteen-year-olds don't date for reals at that age and 2) I've never been in a relationship myself so I don't really know how this works out, but I'm trying my best to develop their friendship first. Obviously Sasuke is already feeling something for Naruko, but he refuses to acknowledge it as anything important yet.

Anyway, rant over; I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

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"Hey sleepyhead, time to wake up~"

Naruko cracked her eyes open to see her smiling pink-haired teammate at her bedside. 'What in the world...? Oh, right.' Her head fell back as she remembered the previous day's events; the heaviness in her limbs came from using too much Kurama's chakra all at once, which she had no doubt done when she summoned the Chief Toad, Gamabunta. "I'm too tired to be alive," the girl grumbled.

Sakura laughed, the lilting sound carrying through the air. "Well, tomorrow is the third phase of the Chuunin Exams, so you better be a little more awake if you want to have a chance of winning against your opponent. Also, do you have a bag I can borrow?"

"The only bags I have are the ones under my eyes, and they are specifically designed to carry the burden of my existence."

Sakura sweatdropped. "All you had to say was no..."

"I wish the earth was flat so I could yeet myself off the edge," Naruko mumbled. She blinked in a sort of sluggish surprise when something cracked and Sakura was suddenly right in front of her.

"Are you okay? Sick? Depressed? Or is it chakra exhaustion? But that doesn't cause suicidal or depressive tendencies... should I get Kaka-sensei? Or Jiraiya-sama? He was the one who brought you here, you know—"

Naruko couldn't help smiling as her teammate's mother-hen side took over. "No, no, nothing like that... stop worrying, Sakura. I told you, I'm just T.I.R.E.D," she sighed, holding up a hand to tick off the letters as she spoke, "'T' for 'ticked off', 'I' for 'irritated', 'R' for 'ready to punch something', 'E' for 'extremely upset' and 'D' for 'done'."

Sakura looked sympathetically at her teammate and held our her arms. "Do you need a hug?"

Naruko looked at her for a moment before mumbling, "Yes." Smothering a laugh, Sakura shifted over to wrap her arms around her smaller friend. The blonde suddenly jerked, "The third phase is tomorrow?"

Sakura bit her lip to refrain from laughing at the genuinely horrified look on Naruko's face. "Yep. You've been hibernating for three days."

The blonde stared at her for a moment before falling back into bed and turning over. "Nope. Not happening. Wake me up in a few decades' time and I'll see how I feel then."

This time, Sakura did laugh. "Where have you been training, anyway? I couldn't find you for the whole month you had to train. Not even Gaara and Fuu knew where you were. Did you train with Jiraiya-sama the whole time?"

Naruko nodded. "He's my godfather, so I guess it was kind of his responsibility to train me, since Kaka-nii was training Sasuke in both his Lightning Release and his Sharingan."