Naruto uchiha

Chapter 24

Enjoy you've waited long enough

Two days had quickly passed and the day of the chunin exams had finally come to Konohagakure no Sato. The event was a tradition among the hidden villages of the Elemental Nations to test the progress of their genins outside of the war. The chunin exams were held every two years in different villages and was thus deemed a prosperous event for the village it was held in. It not only attracted a lot of customers and tourists to the village but also augmented the status and the economy of the village. Konoha was currently swarming with shinobi from different villages, namely- Kumogakure no Sato, Sunagakure no Sato, Otogakure no Sato and Amegakure. Minato had called most of his shinobi who were still on recon mission outside, to amplify the village's security. There was at least one jounin squad planted on each gate of the village and the important buildings inside.

The first part of the chunin exams which was going to be held in the Konoha academy had dozens of Konoha jounins for the purpose of proctoring the test as well as security. It was seven-fifteen in the morning and Sasuke, Hinata and Sakura could be seen walking towards the academy at a brisk pace. The three had met at training ground seven and decided to walk together from there on. For most part of the walk, each of them remained quiet as they thought about what the first part of the exam would be like. None of them were given any details about the exam. So, it was quite a mystery to them.

Out of the three, Sasuke felt the most confident and even excited at the prospect of facing shinobi from different villages. He could feel that he had become stronger since their mission in Nami no Kuni and wanted to test out his strength against more people. His fight against Zabuza and Haku had opened his eyes to several things he could improve upon to better himself as a shinobi. While he knew that he was incredibly strong for a genin, he could not win all fights through sheer power alone. That thought made him chuckle since that was not the case with Naruto. After training with the blonde, the past week, and getting to know more about his past; Sasuke had come to understand the hardships his friend had gone through to reach the level he's at. It had also made him wonder if he could remain sane after going through the same experiences Naruto had.

"What are you thinking about, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked curiously, after noticing his face go through several emotions.

"Nothing of importance. I was just thinking about the chunin exams…" Sasuke replied casually. Sakura just replied with an 'oh' and became quiet once again. She couldn't help but be slightly nervous.

"Sakura, you're one of the smartest kunoichi I know of. Don't be so worried. Just wait and watch, all of us will pass the chunin exams with flying colors." Hinata said, trying to cheer her up. Frankly, she wasn't that worried about the exam. She was quite confident in her abilities. Even though, she didn't really know anything about the genins from the other villages; considering the training she put herself through the past week, she was certain that her performance would be deemed adequate for chunin rank. Putting that matter aside, she was wondering as to where Naruto and Kakashi were. She did want to meet them before the start of the exam. A few minutes later, as the three entered the academy, they were surprised by the number of shinobi inside the building.

"Wow, there's so many of them…" Sakura commented in slight wonderment. Sasuke simply ignored the swarm of people and walked towards the designated room, that was on the first floor. Hinata and Sakura also quickly followed behind their teammate, not wanting to be late. However, Hinata and Sakura abruptly stopped behind Sasuke and saw him stare towards a door to their right. Following his line of sight, the two were slightly surprised at the commotion.