Chapter One: Cheater

"I advise that everyone practices their jutsu before the final exam tomorrow," Sensei Aburame gloomily reminds the class as they began to exit. The students cannot tell if he is sad about them graduating, or about a certain student not graduating. Everyone looks at Bolt Uzumaki, the boy infamous for purposely holding the class back. Sarada Uchiha is convinced that it is for the same reason she constantly pushes herself to get better- to get her father's attention. The difference, however, is the path they take to accomplish their goals. Sarada is constantly trying (and failing) to master the sharingan along with other jutsu, while Bolt constantly stirs trouble with his pranks. Sarada often gets jealous of Bolt, for his method tends be more successful than hers. It's a given that Bolt will purposely fail the exam so that his father, the Hokage, will train him to get better for the next exam. Sarada felt a little bad for him. She knows where he is coming from, but she doesn't understand why he puts himself through that to get his dad's attention. If only she has the courage to say something.

"Come on man, don't purposely flunk the exam just because of your daddy issues," Everyone's favorite slacker, Shikadai Nara, says to Bolt who he had recently directed his attention at. Shikadai usually tries not to get involved in other people problems, because it usually ends up being a drag, but he felt like a few words of wisdom for the kid where necessary. Shikadia's wisdom was quickly halted, however, when the scary bitch that goes by the name of Ren Inazuma passed him.

She is best friends with Sarada, but acts more like a big brother to her. When they were little, she carried around two sticks, and beat people up with them whenever they would piss her off. One time in the third grade, Shikadai stole Sarada's jump rope on the playground. He ended up going home that day with a black eye and a cut across his forehead. As they got older, those sticks got replaced by a pair of black, metal batons. Her face does not make her any less scary, either.

Her father is an ambassador from the Village Hidden in the Clouds, and apparently it is part of the Inazuma clan tradition to grow their hair out to abnormal lengths and pierce their faces with metal rods. Ren's light blond hair falls down to her hips, and is tied off at the very end with a black hair tie. She has dark blue eyes, three piercings in her ears, a piercing right above the center of her top lip, and two piercings going completely through her nose. The point is, the piercings are not helping her case. She squinted at the two of them as she walked past them on her way to Sarada.

"Don't worry, Shikadai. I'm gonna pass this test with flying colors." Bolt told the boy next to him as he walked out of the room confidently. He does not need luck to pass this test. Sure, he has failed a lot of them, but he knows for sure that he will pass this one. That is as long as he is finally able to master the clone jutsu, which he has had trouble with. Maybe I can get Dad to help me! He thinks, No, he won't have time for me. He wishes that the village would see that he can be just as strong as his dad.

Suddenly, Bolt hears a crunch behind him, as if someone stepped on a twig. He knows who it is without even having to look. Sarada. He does not know what her deal is, but she has been following him home for the last year. He pretends like he does not know that she is there just because he likes the idea of having a fan-girl. It does creep him out just a little, but it's not like she follows him everywhere. The weird part, however, is that whenever he says something to her at school, she just looks down at her feet. It's not just him, though. The only people she talks to is Ren and ChouChou. Bolt has only seen her dad a few times, but her mother is about as loud and obnoxious as Ren, so it's a mystery why she is so shy.

As he enters his house, he remembers that he can get Himawari, his younger sister, to help him with the jutsu. "Good afternoon, Bolt," His mother, Hinata, says in her usual quit tone. Something about his mother reminds him of Sarada, but he cannot put a finger on what it is.

"Hey mom," Bolt says, quickly nudging her off, "Where is Himawari?" Hinata sighs at her son. She wishes that he might stop for a moment and spend some time with his mother.

"She is outside." She says as Bolt heads outside. He runs to the backyard to see Himawari practicing the gentle fist jutsu on a log. Unlike Bolt, Himawari inherited the byakugan from their mother, and she sure does put it to good use. Himawari is hailed a prodigy, not just because of the byakugan, but because of the fact that she has far surpassed the average level for kids her age. She is far stronger than Bolt, even though she is a year younger than him.

"Hey, Himawari," Bolt awkwardly says, "Do you think you could help me with the clone jutsu?" Himawari's head slowly turned towards to her brother as a smirk appeared on her face. She takes great pleasure in being better than Bolt in things, especially when it comes to jutsu.

"I see you have finally realized that you will be nothing without my knowledge and wisdom," She tells him in her soft, yet confident voice.


Shit! Sarada thought as cringed at the noise of the twig that she stepped on. Bolt stopped in front of her for the shortest moment, but continued foreword without looking behind him. Sarada rejoiced in her mind. She still does not know why she follows Bolt home every day. Maybe she wants to find out what about his life- other than his father, of course- pushes him to do the stuff that he does. He really does make a fool out of himself a lot, but that's what makes him special. If only she could find the courage to talk to him.

Sarada really cannot find the courage to talk to anyone other than Ren and ChouChou. She doesn't know what it is, but every time she is about to say something, it gets stuck in her throat. Oh, how she wishes she could voice her opinion on how idiotic all of her peers are. She wishes that they would spend a little less time worrying about how sharp their kunai knives are and a little more time worrying about how sharp their minds are. The only person in her class whose knowledge even comes close to hers is Inojin.

When Bolt finally arrived at his house, she made her way to hers, kicking rocks along the way. She is not worried about failing thee final exam, knowing that she has it in the bag.


"Shikadai! Remember to put your shoes up before you come in!" Temari, Shikadai's eternally nagging mother, shouts. He gets the same greeting every time he comes home. Then, when he is ready for some peace and quiet, she tells him to assist him with chores. It's the never ending cycle that he just cannot seem to break. That is the reason that he cannot wait to become a ninja. When he gets a steadily flowing salary, he is moving the hell out of this place. "Shikadai! Come help me fold the laundry!"

"What a drag," He mutters to himself as he walks into the room where his mother is folding laundry.

Sadly, she heard his comment, and slowly turned her head towards him with one eye twitching and a fake smile. "If you are going to give me that disrespect then you can fold this laundry on your own!" She shouts as she throws the already folded laundry into the air as it comes undone, "And don't expect dinner until you're done!" She storms out.

Shikadai sighs and takes a seat on the floor as he looks up at the ceiling fan. Just as he began folding the laundry, his father, Shikamaru, walked in. "Why did you have to marry such a naggy woman?"

"It's a family curse, actually," He replies as he takes a seat on the floor with his son and begins to help him fold, "My father married a naggy woman, I married a naggy women, and one day, you will too."

Shikamaru stopped to think about the naggy women in his life. His mom, Ren, ChouChou, and Himawari. "I think I just won't get married, then." He told his dad with a small laugh.

"That's what I thought too, son." He told Shikadai with a pat on the head.

"How did you guys meet? Since she is from the sand village and all," The curios boy asked his dad.

"Well, I beat her ass in the chunin exams," he replies. Note to self: watch out for girls in the chunin exam. You might fall in love.


The next day, all of the students woke early enough to eat a filling breakfast before making their way to the academy. "Hey, Bolt!" Himawari says to her big brother, "Can I walk with you to the academy today?"

This was a surprise to Bolt, considering Himawari usually does not want to be seen with "someone of his skill level." "Well I mean, if you really want to," Bolt told the girl. She nodded her head and grabbed her book bag, along with a sunflower they make their way out. Once they are out of the door, they meet up with Inojin, who lives across the street from them. If I don't know any of the answers, I can always cheat off of Inojin.

"Hey, Inojin! I brought you this flower for good luck!" Himawari says as she walks over to Inojin and hands him the sunflower. So that's why she wanted to come with me.

As insensitive as always, Inojin looks at her and says, "You're a little young to be trying to flirt with me." It is a bad habit of Inojin's to disregard other's feelings when he speaks, even if he is speaking the truth. "How old are you now, nine?"

Himawari snatches the sunflower out of his hand and in front to walk in front of the two boys. "I'm eleven, thank you very much."

"Harsh, man." Bolt tells Inojin, but he just shrugs it off. Nothing about Inojin being rude to Himawari bothers Bolt. After all, she is rather rude herself.

After a short walk, the three of them reach the academy where Himawari takes off into the opposite direction where her class is, while the two boys find their seats in their class.

Meanwhile, Sarada sits alone in a corner, awaiting the arrival of her only friends. As always, the two of them arrive just on time, ChouChou carrying an abundance of snacks, and Ren polishing her batons. "Ready to ace this test, guys?" ChouChou shouts, making a thumbs up sign.

"I'm less worried about acing the test, and ore worried about grabbing first in the class." Sarada replies, with her usual serious look.

"Oh come on, don't be so serious all the time. I mean, who else do you think is going to get first? Bolt?" Ren says, as they all start laughing in unison. Little did they know however, that Bolt had trained all night with his little sister, and after a written test, and kunai throwing test, and a clone jutsu test, he was the only student with a perfect score.

Once the test is over, Sensei Aburame lines them all up in the order that they scored. Bolt, of course, first in line. Second in line is Sarada who gives Bolt the death glare the entire time, convinced of his cheating. Third is Inojin, wondering how he didn't get first. Fourth is Shikadai, who definitely would have gotten first if he put any effort into the written test. Fifth was Ren, who struggled with the clone technique, but was able to keep her score up with her skill with kunai knives. Sixth was Tai, the son of Rock Lee, who was only able to pass the first two portions of the test. Seventh was ChouChou, who was too busy eating to worry about the written test. Eight and Ninth are the Inazuka twins who just really didn't give a shit about these exams.

The nine ninja felt successful for once as the left the school with their brand new headbands, all ready to make a change in the world.

A/N: So I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter if you have any questions, feel free to PM me! Don't forget to fav/follow/review!

Next Time! Bolt, Sarada, and Shikadai take on their new sensei in the bell test!