Prelude to battle!

Yawning loudly, Naruto sat up in bed. He rubbed his eyes sleepily as the sun just rose up over the horizon right into his bedroom, disturbing his sleep. Naruto yawned loudly as he got dressed. Checking his kunai pouch to make sure that he had everything he might need with him and it was functional too, Naruto strapped it around his waist.

As he was satisfied with his get up, he got out of his apartment and closed the door. Then he let out a deep breath. Hopefully he would be returning to his place in the morning... but now for something completely different, it seemed. Naruto didn't bother to use the stairs and just jumped down and onto the street and began running. His destination? Well, his breakfast would consist of Ichiraku Ramen. A breakfast for true winners and champs, he decided. Aside from that, there was something else...

He met Hinata as he had promised in front of Ichiraku Ramen. The Hyuuga heiress was overjoyed as she welcomed Naruto with a kiss, the first they had shared in public. Except that, this early in the morning, there was no one around to witness it. But that didn't stop Naruto from enjoying it.

Afterwards, the two sat down to have a bowl of ramen. Hinata was, although seeming a bit weaker then yesterday, looking forward to see her boyfriend fight. "Naruto-kun, I'll be cheering you on. Kiba-kun, Lee-kun, Tenten-chan and Chouji-kun too, we'll all be cheering you on, Naruto-kun. You're not alone, okay?", she told him with a big smile.

"Yeah, thanks, Hinata-chan.", Naruto said with a smile in return. However, deep down, nervosity began to rear its ugly head. It was unusual for Naruto to experience this feeling, but the thought of having all eyes on him during a fight was so new and unexpected, it was a heavy burden.

But help came from an unlikely source. "Hey, I'll be watching you fight too, Naruto-kun.", a cheery voice called out to him from across the counter.

"Ayame-chan?", Naruto asked in wonder. "Can you really leave the store alone?", he asked and got a wink in return.

Ayame smiled. "Sure, today most people will be at the stadium anyway. And I want to see how good of a ninja you're really are myself. After all, if you're not strong enough, my dad won't ever consent to us getting married...", she said something dangerous non-chalantly.

Naruto nearly choked on his ramen noodles. "M-m-m-m-married!?!?! Ayame-chan, i-isn't that a little early?", he gasped as Hinata patted his back in an attempt to help him digest those noodles.

"Just kidding, Naruto-kun.", the waitress said with a laugh. Seeing Naruto freak out like this was priceless anyway. Besides that, it had helped him forget about the tension of the exam just an hour away from now.

Finishing up the ramen, Naruto and Hinata waited a moment for Ayame who closed the ramen bar after her, then they walked towards the stadium. Being escorted to the stadium by the two girls, Naruto had to part with them when they came to the main entrance. While the girls would have to take a seat high above the arena, Naruto would enter with the other contestants through a large gate.

There, he met up with Ino and Sakura, who were waiting there among with the other contestants. "So Naruto, you ready to become a Chuunin?", Sakura asked with a smile. Naruto could tell something had boosted her confidence a great deal. But whether it was Kurenais training or their first time together, he wouldn't know.

Naruto nodded of course with a confident grin. "Of course. I'm ready to see us all become Chuunin, Sakura-chan.", he said, making both of 'his' girls grin in return. All they anxiety was blown away by this simply sentence.

He looked around. Temari was there, sticking close to her brother. But, as she noticed his eyes on her, she turned and gave him a small, almost unnoticeable nod, which Naruto returned. Then there was Neji. Narutos fist tightened as he recalled the promise he had made to avenge Hinata. Then there was Shino, who would be Nejis enemy. "Hmm? That jerk Sasuke isn't here...", Naruto noticed.

His teammate scratched the back of his pineapple-shaped head. "Yeah, well... Kakashi-sensei took him with him for some training and since nobody heard of them. Geez, if even Naruto is more reliable than you, you're really looking bad here, Sasuke.", Shikamaru groaned.

"Hey, was that an insult?", Naruto snapped.

"Even so, I think you'd better worry about yourself, Naruto.", Shikamaru said and nodded behind Naruto.

As Naruto followed his friends stare, he froze. He looked into the dark gray eyes of Haku, the kunoichi that had sworn to kill him just about a month ago. She said nothing but only smiled broader as he froze up in fear.

As she had passed him, Naruto let out a sigh of relief. Then he saw her. Behind Haku had been Tayuya, leaning against the wall with a large scowl on her face. "Ah, Tayuya...", he mumbled and was just about to walk over to the girl to tell her of the good news, but was stopped as

"Everyone ready? We can't wait much longer for Uchiha Sasuke, so the final exam will have to start without him. If he isn't here until his match begins, he'll just be disqualified and that's that.", the proctor said out loud and then motioned the Genin to follow him.

Doing as they were told, the ten finalists walked into the arena where they were greeted by a roaring crowd. Naruto could see Ino and Sakura swallow nervously there for a second. Not that he could blame them.

They lined up in the middle of the spacious arena where the Special Jounin and then the Hokage appearing along with the Kazekage up on a balcony gave a speech. Naruto looked at the cloaked man and swallowed. 'Temari-chans and Gaaras father', he thought. He had a dangerous aura. No wonder he was the Kazekage.

But his attention was quickly drawn back to the here and now. "The first match! Konohagakure-nin Uzumaki Naruto vs. Kirigakure-nin Haku!", the same proctor with the bandana-headband, shadowy eyes and coughs announced loudly to the assembled crowd.

At the mark, the other participants retreated to a balcony that was let into the wall of the arena. Now, it was just Naruto, Haku and the referee down here in the battleground, and all of a sudden, Naruto felt a lot of eyes on him. But despite thinking it would weigh him down, the contrary was happening. He felt uplifted. Now was his chance to prove his worth, to show that he was a real Konoha-ninja. But Haku must've felt similarly...

The two youths stared at each other for a moment, Naruto with a look of dread and determination, not unlike someone who was about to see a dentist. Haku on the other hand was the kid in the candy store. "I hope you won't run too much this time around, Naruto-kun. Although it would be fun, I suppose...", she cooed with excitement. Words couldn't describe how restless she had been before this battle.

But Naruto wouldn't let her have her way. "I'm sorry Haku-chan, there's no way I can afford to lose to you. I've trained very hard in the last month and I won't run from you.", Naruto explained, determination in his eyes as he stared at Haku.

However, the Kirigakure ninja just shrugged it off and laughed. "Good, you're making me all excited with this stare of yours, Naruto-kun.", she said and shivered visibly. Just how eager to fight was this girl anyway?

The two walked a fair distance to get some space in between them. Then, the proctor held his hand high in the air and shouted...

"BEGIN!"