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"Satsuki, you showed great forethought in your battles and covered all three main areas of shinobi arts, ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. You made sure to control the pace of the battle through the use of traps and evasion tactics. As well as showing great skill with two forms of nature transformation. These qualities are certainly befitting of a chūnin, congratulations." Satsuki had suppress the urge to cheer in victory as she took the flak jacket and merely gave a charming smile.
"Hana, while the Inuzuka clan's fighting style is more reckless than most, you did not fall prey to those tendencies and showed great strategy with the use of smoke bombs and tunneling underground to make your clan's signature jutsus more effective. I was also pleasantly surprised by your use of medical ninjutsu as an offensive technique, it takes a great level of skill and control to be able to pull off such a feat. Congratulations on your promotion." Hana quickly took the flak jacket from Minato and threw it on, earning giggles from her teammates. She had always wondered what she would look like in one of these, not too bad if she did say so.
Hana stepped back so that she was now alongside Satsuki, leaving Naruto and Minato alone in the center of the room.
Minato looked at his wayward son with pride in his eyes...but he was also very suspicious of him. No mere genin fresh out of the academy should have been capable of what he had. That was something that he would find out later after this ceremony.
"Naruto, at the beginning of this tournament, most people didn't expect much from you. As the tournament rolled around, you were seemingly overlooked for the aces of the respective villages. Now, the title of winner of the tournament is shared by you and Haku-san, since you were the only two left along with the now deceased Suna jinchūriki when the invasion started. You showed strength that far surpassed the level of chūnin, and are capable at wielding such a powerful S-Rank jutsu. I have never seen someone wield Katon ninjutsu quite like you did during your first match and am very interested to hear how you are capable of such a technique. You easily controlled the pace of both your matches and never let your opponent take advantage of any opportunities they had. Not to mention the your efforts during the invasion. Congratulations on your promotion."
Naruto took the flak jacket from Minato's hand and immediately put it on to cover his skin-tight, short-sleeved shirt. He quickly turned around and gave his two female teammates a large smile, for him anyway, which they quickly returned. The three of them had been looking forward to being chūnin for a long time, even more so than genin. Chūnin is the rank where they finally stopped being treated like children and were able to make their own decisions about their careers and their lives. It was quite a milestone for the three of them.
For the three members of Team 11, this was only the beginning of the path that lied before them.
"Congratulations to all those who passed the chūnin exams this time around, and for those who didn't, better luck next time. These particular exams were a bit more exciting than what usually occurs during this bi-annual event, but they were successful nonetheless. We are proud of all of you and hope that you continue to serve your respective villages until the day you die. Once again, congratulations."
Those final words from Minato marked the end of the promotion ceremony.
It wouldn't do well to have a Kage absent from their home village for too long, the only reason that Yagura was still in Konoha was to fully recover from his injuries and for the traditional promotion ceremony. Now that those two things were finished, there was no reason for any of the Kiri shinobi to remain here any longer.
With that in mind, Yagura stepped forward. "Zabuza, Suigetsu, Chōjuro, Haku. Now that our business in Konoha is finished we must be heading back to Kirigakure as soon as possible. It would not bode well for us to be away for the village too much longer. Please return to the hotel immediately and gather your things. We will begin our journey back to Mizu in one hour."
All four of the Kiri-nins gave a nod and a short bow to the Mizukage before leaving. Her two teammates and sensei immediately headed out the door, but Haku stopped to give a quick wave and a charming smile to Naruto, who responded with a similar gesture.
Team 11 and Haku had become quite close over the past week, but Naruto and Haku especially. They had found some kind of mutual understanding due to their various predicaments and ended up spending a lot of the week together. Of course that could be attributed to most of their teammates being restricted to the hospital for the majority of the past week.
In the short time that they had spent together, Naruto could honestly say that she had become one of his closest friends. Some would say it was a sad fact, but Naruto preferred it this way, he could really only say that he had a handful of friends. Obito was his sensei, so Naruto didn't really count him. Mikoto was his lover, so even though they had been friends and family for years, she had some special circumstances. Really, Naruto could only say that Hana and Satsuki were his friends.
Actually, they considered themselves to be more like friends than family. The three of them had known each other since even before they started the academy and could always be found together. When people share a bond that strong, the only thing that they can really be described as is family.
So, it was nice to be able to talk with someone like Haku. While she didn't share the same history with him that Satsuki and Hana did, he felt like he could really trust her. Not to mention that she was quite a lot of fun to be around once you tear down that respectful ice princess exterior. Fun, he could honestly say that he had fun.