"One can only say our positions are different what's a hero to one is an enemy to the other. From Furina and the others' perspective, we feel furious, but if we put ourselves in Sunagakure's shoes, it's a completely different story."
[Favorability +1+1+1...+1+1]
.....
"Thank you so much, Sasuke-kun and Furina-san. If it hadn't been for you two, I really wouldn't have known what to do." After Baki and the others left, Sakura immediately expressed her gratitude toward Furina and Sasuke.
"No need to be like that. We're all comrades from the same village helping each other is only natural.
On the contrary, just now I provoked that Sunagakure team leader jōnin, which ended up dragging you all into the crossfire like fish in a pond. I should be the one asking you not to blame me."
Facing Sakura's thanks, Furina waved her hand, refusing to accept it. Instead, she sincerely apologized in return.
"How could we blame you? You stood up for us and vented our anger we should be thanking you. Right, Udon, Moegi?"
"Right, right!" ×2
"Then thank you all for forgiving me~"
Amid the mutual thanks back and forth, this conflict with Gaara and the others finally came to an end. Everyone's mood was quite good except for Naruto, that is.
Konohamaru:
"Furina-neesan only graduated from the academy not long ago, right? And yet she's already so strong she can even go toe-to-toe with those Sunagakure teachers. Compared to that, Naruto-niichan, you're really lame.
You couldn't even handle that guy named Kankuro and let him grab me for so long. I almost died there!"
Naruto: "That was just an accident an accident! I didn't go all out back then. Otherwise, I definitely would've beaten Kankuro in one move."
Konohamaru: "Mm-hm, mm-hm, I know. Naruto-niichan is the strongest! By the way, since you and Furina-neesan are on the same team, can you introduce her to us properly?"
Naruto: "Aaaahhhh!"
Today's victory and defeat: Uzumaki Naruto defeated.
On the other side
After saying goodbye to the others, Furina began pondering Baki's threat. Since the other side had already developed killing intent toward her, if nothing unexpected happened, once the Konoha Crush plan began, he would definitely make a move against her.
There was no better environment for an ambush than that chaos. And the opponent was an experienced jōnin one of the more prominent figures even in Sunagakure.
In terms of positioning, he was basically Sunagakure's budget version of Kakashi. With her current strength, dealing with him wouldn't be easy.
If she considered safety first, the best option was to avoid fighting him altogether and just stick close to Kakashi. Baki would never be a match for the two of them together.
But... somehow that just felt unsatisfying no matter how she thought about it.
Whatever she couldn't figure out an answer anyway, so Furina simply stopped thinking. She had a cheat anyway. By the time that moment came, who was stronger and who was weaker still wasn't certain. She could decide then.
The next morning, at Kakashi's summons, the three members of Team 7 gathered again. Seeing the puzzled looks on their faces, Kakashi smiled and didn't bother hiding anything.
"You've probably noticed the changes in the village these past couple of days, right?"
"Kakashi-sensei, if there's something, just say it straight being all mysterious like this is annoying." Before Kakashi could even finish his dramatic pause, Naruto had already started complaining. He hated this kind of roundabout nonsense the most.
"Changes… Kakashi-sensei is probably referring to all the shinobi from other places who've appeared in the village recently. Their common trait is that they all look quite young.
And since you specifically called us here, it must have something to do with us. Is it about the exam for promotion to chūnin?"
It's naturally easy to reverse-engineer the process from the answer but Kakashi didn't know that. After Furina pretended to analyze and arrived at the correct conclusion, Kakashi gave her an approving glance and then confirmed her deduction.
"Hmph hmph, you're exactly right. That's it. The reason so many shinobi from other places have come to the village is to participate in the Chūnin Exams.
And after our last mission, I believe you three have what it takes to become chūnin, so I went ahead and signed you up. Prepare yourselves well for the exam."
"Hahahaha! Kakashi-sensei really gets me! I've felt for a while now that I should've become a chūnin ages ago. Hehe."
Hearing Kakashi's confirmation, Naruto instantly broke into a huge grin. Anyone who didn't know better might think he had already become a chūnin.
Beside him, Sasuke silently increased the distance between them, one hand on his forehead as if afraid someone might misunderstand they were close.
"Come to think of it, those Sand shinobi we ran into yesterday did mention something about the Chūnin Exams. Looks like they're participants this time too especially the one carrying the gourd. He's really strong."
"You mean that gourd kid? Sure, he's powerful, but he's not unbeatable. I believe even if you really ran into him, you and Naruto could definitely defeat him."
This wasn't Furina just blindly encouraging them it was simply the truth. Sasuke had forced Gaara into his tailed beast transformation, and Naruto had then beaten the tailed beast–transformed Gaara back to his senses. Was it wrong to say the two of them defeated him? No problem at all.
After learning that Kakashi had signed them up for the Chūnin Exams, the three of them all intensified their training, aiming for one final sprint before the exams arrived.
One week later
Chūnin Exam First Exam Venue
"At this point, why hasn't Furina shown up yet? How long are we supposed to wait?"
Outside the exam site, Naruto stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Sasuke, watching the constant flow of people coming and going. After a long time had passed with still no sign of Furina, Naruto couldn't help getting anxious.
"Idiot. Didn't Furina say yesterday that she had something to do today and would be a bit late? She told us to go in first. I just thought there was still time and tried waiting for her.
I figured you were thinking the same thing but turns out you didn't know anything at all? Did you just forget what she said yesterday the moment she finished speaking?"
As he spoke, Sasuke seemed to grow fed up with the fact that he had actually waited half a day with someone who knew nothing. He gave up waiting, turned around, and headed straight toward the exam location.
"Ah, there was something like that?" After Sasuke's "reminder," Naruto finally remembered that yes, Furina had indeed mentioned it yesterday but he had been too engrossed in eating ramen at the time to pay attention.
"Hey, Sasuke, don't walk so fast! Wait for me! I just accidentally forgot I actually did know!"
By the time Naruto realized it really had happened, Sasuke had already walked quite far and was about to disappear from view. Seeing this, Naruto didn't have time to think anymore he just explained while hurrying to catch up.