"Underlined" = thoughts

"Bold" = Jutsu, summon/demon/feral speak

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any Naruto related material.


It was an average morning in the Shinobi academy, the majority of students were doing their own things in their own social cliques while the two instructors tried, and failed to gain the attention of their students.

The first instructor was wearing the standard chuunin outfit, had shoulder length silvery grey hair and his forehead protector styled as a bandana. The second instructor was also wearing the standard chuunin outfit, but his hair was slightly shorter than his companions, dark brown and pulled back into a loose ponytail. His only other notable features about him was a long thin scar that ran over the bridge of his nose, and halfway into each cheek. The next was his forehead protector, which was worn normally over his forehead and bore the same leaf symbol as all Konoha Shinobi.

"Settle down class," the brown haired instructor called out as the calm chatting had degraded into shouting, with a couple of students starting to throw things around, "Class settle down!"

"Kids!" his voice getting louder with each attempt.

"Give it up Iruka," the silver haired instructor said, "just hurry up and use the big-head Jutsu. You know it's the only thing that'll get their attention. It's been the same the three years we've taught them."

"I know Mizuki," the now identified Iruka sighed, "but I can't help but hope that one day it won't be needed."

With that, Iruka made a few hand-seals and whispered demon arts: big head no Jutsu instantly, three things happened; first the size of his head multiplied threefold while gaining a sinister appearance, then flames seemed to dance in his eyes and flicker in his mouth, trying to escape every time he breathed and finally his volume increased as if he was shouting into a microphone which had the speakers turned on full.

"Shut up you little shits and pay attention!"

Seeing that the Jutsu had done the trick and Iruka and deactivated it, Mizuki unplugged his ears and began the standard pre-test speech for the final graduation exam,

"As you all know students, this will be your last day with us, whether you graduate, or come back for more training. I wish you all luck with your exam, and your future career as Shinobi."

"First," Iruka said, taking over from Mizuki, "there will be no written test as your grades for this portion will be based upon the work you have done this year. Your first test wi.."

Before Iruka could explain further he was interrupted by a knocking at the door. At Iruka's slightly annoyed shout of 'come in', the whole class was stunned by the girl who walked in. despite only being twelve, her appearance screamed beautiful. She had waist length blonde hair with read highlights which was pulled into a braided ponytail, she had a heart shaped face and her eyes were an exotic shade of deep amethyst. Her cheeks were framed by three faint whisker marks that only seemed to add to her intrigue. She was wearing a short sleeved, tight black shirt that showed off her developing curves and c-cup breasts, with white for-arm warmers, a cream coloured skirt, a white belt and toeless boots. She had a pouch strapped to the inside of her left thigh and one on the underneath of her right arm, and had black seals on her belt.

Her appearance was that entrancing that even the brooding Uchia and stoic Aburame had notable signs of attraction, Sasuke had a dazed look and his cheeks were tinged red and while Shino's face was hidden by his coat, he had sat up straighter, if that was possible and you could hear his insects buzzing loudly, a sure sign of a strong emotion.

"Ano," the girl said "this is the graduating class 235 isn't it?" at Iruka's nod she handed him a scroll and carried on speaking, "Hokage-sama told me to come here."

"Well then. Why don't you introduce yourself while I enter your details into the marking system," he said after reading the scroll. He then turned to the class, "everyone, we have a new student taking the exam with us so please make her feel welcome. Go ahead," he said, the last part whispered to the girl.

"Err high, my name is Uzumaki Hitomi. I was born in Konoha but I have been travelling with a close family friend since then. My likes include dango and certain animals," please don't let her be a second Anko" both Iruka and Mizuki thought, "my hobbies are reading tarot cards and practising fuinjutsu. I dislike arrogant assholes and traitors." Hitomi the bowed and added, "I hope we can be friends."

"Thank you Hitomi-chan. Why don't you sit…" Iruka said while scanning the class for an available seat, "next to Hyuuga Hinata. Hinata please raise your hand.

Iruka waited several minutes for Hitomi to take her seat and for the rest of the students to pay attention to him before carrying on with his announcement.

" as I was saying earlier, we won't have a written exam which will be substituted with the marks from this year's work, unfortunately Hitomi you will gain a zero for this part having not being here, however it will not stop you from graduating. The first test will be a five minute taijutsu spar against Mizuki. You will be scored on your form, reaction time, speed, flexibility and strength. Next will be the target test and you will be marked on your accuracy. Finally, after your lunch break, we will call you into the back room individually where you will be tested on the three academy Jutsu, Bunshin, Henge and Kawarimi. You will be marked on the time it takes to perform, the accuracy of Henge, and your proficiency in using them in them in the different scenarios they will be required. It will be then that you will pass and be given a headband, or fail and be given the opportunity to return and try again next year." With that, Iruka got up and left, followed by the class.

Hitomi frowned as she watched each of the fights. They had been called up alphabetically and currently a girl with long pink hair was getting to the end of her spar, but so far no one had used anything but what seemed to be Konoha's basic academy style taijutsu and she was getting worried. She was interrupted from her musing when the girl she had just seen fighting and a blonde girl approached,

"Hi" the blonde said, "I'm Ino Yamanaka, and this is Sakura Haruno."

"Hi," Hitomi replied, "err do we have to use the academy style in the test or can we use something different?"

"No silly," Sakura laughed, "if you know something different then you're encouraged to use it. Most first generation Shinobi use it because they usually don't have a chance to learn a new one until they get assigned a Jounin instructor."

"Yeah" Ino agreed, "but enough about that, what's that tarot thing you were talking about earlier, I've never heard of it but it sounds interesting."

"Well it's a form of predicting the future," Hitomi said while opening up the pouch on her arm and taking out a pack of metallic grey coloured cards and started shuffling them, "when you draw them after asking the desired question, they will show some symbols in a certain order and you have to interpret them. It's kind of complicated though as there are only a hundred symbols, with at least ten meanings each and the pattern the cards are placed in and what symbol is placed next to what can affect the meaning you use." Upon seeing their lost faces she sighed and said, "Why don't you ask me something and ill demonstrate. Be warned though, the answer will be vague and it will be up to you to narrow it down. The more precise the question the more accurate the clues and hints will be."

"Ooh me first me first!" Ino squealed, jumping up and down" I want to know how to identify my soul mate!"

"Jeez soul mate, always the romance questions first." Hitomi stopped shuffling the cards and whispered, "Show us now, show us true, the blonde ones answers, reveal to us. I trust you." As she said the last syllable, the entirety of her eyes turned the same colour as the cards and her hands became a blur as she placed twenty cards down in an intricate pattern that seemed to have no order to it. When her eyes turned back to normal the cards gained pictures and she spent a few moments studying them before scooping them back up and putting them back with the pile as the pictures faded.

"You already know your soul mate; he is sweet and gentle and will always put your happiness and wellbeing first. He is misunderstood somehow, represents butterflies but you won't consider him a love interest until you have matured more but he will be a close friend until then."

Ino, looking deep in thought, didn't say anything until Hitomi shook her out of her thoughts, "It's best not to think too hard about it as you may associate the clues to the wrong person. Just keep an eye out for them without actively seeking them and you will realise who it is when you're ready." She said as she got up when Iruka called her name.

Due to her talk with Sakura and Ino, Hitomi missed the other fights and didn't know how the instructor reacted to different styles. When Iruka said go, she got into her starter stance with her feet one in front of the other shoulder length apart and her hands chest height, open palmed and waited for Mizuki to come at her. Her style relied on her using swift redirection blocks and evasive maneuvers until she could spot a weakness she could capitalise on with short jabs in key areas that would allow her to quickly incapacitate her aponent.

After a few seconds of waiting Mizuki realised she wouldn't come to him and rushed forward and watched in surprise as she managed to spin and sway out of the way of his strikes or redirect them. Three minutes into the spar Hitomi saw her chance when Mizuki over extended himself with a right hand strike. She pushed his arm away, angled towards the floor making him stumble slightly. She curled her hands into fists with the knuckle of the middle fingers raised, and with her left hand, jabbed a point on his shoulder making his entire arm fall limp; she then spun in a clockwise direction so she was behind him facing his back and jabbed a point in his left shoulder blade making his other arm useless as it was frozen in the same position. She kicked the back of his knee-caps causing him to fall on his knees and channelling chakra to her right hand making her nails grow longer and sharper, curled her arm around his neck and pressed them softly into his Adams apple; not enough to hurt or puncture but enough for everyone to know she could kill him if she wanted to.

All of this only took ten seconds and to the rest of the class who weren't able to follow her movements, it seemed she went from avoiding contact, to standing behind him in a position to kill while Mizuki was on his knees frozen in place unable to move his arms. Suddenly, Hitomi removed her arm and jabbed three places on Mizuki's back and two on his neck and his frozen arm fell to his side while the limp one stiffened slightly.

"I'm sorry Mizuki-sensei," Hitomi said as she helped him stand "the tingling should stop soon and you will regain full use of your arms in a few minutes."

"Don't worry about it its fine. I have to say though it was actually quite worrying to be helpless in that position. Remind me never to get you mad at me" he said, voicing what everyone was thinking in their shell-shocked stupor. Hitomi giggled as she walked back to where she was sitting with Ino and Sakura. Her sitting down seemed to snap everyone out of their trance, Ino especially as she started talking rapidly

"Oh my god that was so cool! You'll have to teach me that sometime, but couldn't you have waited until last to show off, now I'm going to look bad because there's no way I'll be able to match that, never mind top it."

Hitomi's match had several different reactions from those who saw it, many of the civilian born were talking about it animatedly, Shino had no visible reaction, Choji had stopped eating and his mouth was open with food halfway in, Kiba was drooling with stars in his eyes and finaly Sasuke was glaring at her thinking, "dammit where did she get such power? I'm an Uchia; I need that power to kill HIM!" (Sorry, I've read this in several fanfics' and I couldn't resist hehe :P)

In the hokage's office, the assembled Jounin, except guy who was quietly mumbling about fires of youth with stars in his eyes, were mostly all silent as they processed what they just saw. Even Kekashi had dropped his porn to the floor unnoticed, with his one eye wide open. Kurenai had seen it though, and with a malicious glint in her eyes, scooped it up while everyone else was distracted.

"Excuse me Hokage-sama," she said, "who is that girl, I can't remember seeing here before." That seemed to wake everyone up as they looked on curiously.

"Hitomi Uzumaki, Kushina's daughter. Apparently after her mother died giving birth to her, a family friend took her on their travels and trained her. She arrived earlier today to become a Shinobi of Konoha." This threw most people for a loop as they didn't even remember seeing Kushina with somebody, never mind pregnant. Kekashi though had a weird glint in his eye as he realised something,

"Hokage-sama is she..."

"Yes Kekashi" the Sandaime said cutting him of as he saw the look in his eye, "however that is a triple-S rank secret as one, I don't know if she knows, and two, we don't need hostile attention coming to her from the other nations." Kekashi simply nodded before looking on the ground for something, then patting his pockets not seeing kurenai's smirk.

Back at the academy training grounds, Iruka was just about to call Ino up when he was interrupted by a scream that resonated throughout the whole village,

"NOOO! Icha-icha, where art thou? Come back to me my love!"

"Damn Kekashi and his porn," Iruka chuckled before raising his voice, "last fight, Ino Yamanaka."

Ino's fight, while not as impressive as Hitomi's as she was unable to get a successful strike in, was still very good as she was one of the few to manage lasting the full five minutes without getting tired and managing to either block or avoid all of Mizuki's hits. As Iruka finished up the scores and took the class to the target practise field, Hitomi walked at the back of the group with Ino giving her tips on her taijutsu and pointing out the different opportunities to strike she had missed. As she watched the other students throw their kunai and shuriken, she noticed a trend going, the civilian born were trying their hardest to score as many points as possible, while the clan and ninja born students tried to score average points, just enough to pass but not enough to give away their true potential. The only one who seemed to break this rule was Sasuke, who tried even harder than the rest to do everything perfectly. It seemed as if he had no notion of subtlety or deception. When it was her turn, she missed the challenging look in Sasuke's eyes as she held the unfamiliar weapons carefully. She slowly threw them one by one, frowning slightly each time she missed. In the end she did poorly with the kunai, only three hitting the target, with none of them hitting the inner circle. She did better with the shuriken though, getting eight on target with five of them in the inner circle. As she made her way back, she smiled upon seeing the worried expression on Ino's face, she was glad they had become such good friends so quickly.

"Hitomi are you alright? What Happened?"

"Calm down Ino. I'm not used to throwing something of that weight and shape so my aim was off. Don't worry though I still made enough points to pass this portion of the test, and the written side doesn't stop me from graduating so even if I fail the Jutsu portion ill still pass."

"That's good. You're too good not to become a Shinobi. You'll have to show me what you do use during lunch though."

"It's nothing special Ino. I just reinforce ordinary playing cards with chakra as I find them more comfortable to hold, but without the chakra they don't exactly fly straight.

Hitomi ended up eating lunch alone with her back resting against a tree as she watched the other academy students. She would have liked to spend it with Ino or Sakura but they shot off the moment lunch started to stalk Sasuke. Right now she was sat in her chair waiting for her turn for the final exam. Most of the students had already been called up but none of them had returned, making her think that they would have left through a back entrance.

"Must be so those who didn't pass don't have to be embarrassed by their follow students."

"Uzumaki, Hitomi." Iruka called as he stuck his head through the door.

As Hitomi walked into the room she saw Iruka and Mizuki sat behind a desk at the back of the room, both with a clipboard and a block of wood in front of them.

"Right, as you know we will be testing you on the Bunshin, Kawarimi and Henge Jutsu's. First will be the Henge, then Kawarimi and finally Bunshin." Iruka said. "First, Henge into the Sandaime Hokage."

Before Iruka had finished his sentence, Hitomi was covered by a cloud of smoke. It cleared after a few seconds to reveal a perfect copy of the Hokage, but had a little orange book in his hand as an extra.

*Back in the Hokage's office, the Hokage was sweating under the combined glares of the female Jounin, Kurenai being the worst, while Kekashi was staring at him with a love-struck expression on his face*

"Very good Hitomi. The book though, however true it may be, is an unnecessary detail and won't help you on a mission. You next test will be the Kawarimi in a combat situation."

As soon as he said this, Mizuki had picked up the block of wood and threw it at her, who made a few hand-seals and just before the block hit her, was once again covered by clouds of smoke. This time however, instead of the Hokage, Sasuke was present with a bump the size of a goose egg growing out the side of his head.

"I said Kawarimi, not Henge."

"I know" sounded Hitomi's voice from the doorway. As Mizuki and Iruka looked up, they saw Hitomi walk in, grab Sasuke and drag him out then walk back in again. "Sorry about that but he's been getting on my nerves all day. I thought that my shut him up for a bit."

"Well…. You performed it correctly, and it certainly seemed effective." Mizuki said, wondering if it was really a good idea to let her be a Shinobi, "ehh who cares. It's not like it'll affect me anyhow."

"Now your last test, you need to make at least three working clones."

Instead of making the hand-seals, Hitomi bit her thumb and swiped some blood across one of the seals on her belt. Both Chuunin looked on in confusion as a pile of exploding tags appeared on the ground.

"I can't do the regular clone technique. I have too much chakra for it so I've learned a few variants." She explained as she made and held the bird hand-seal. "This one is the exploding tag clone. When its hit it will trace the chakra tails of the person and explode upon reaching him." The Chuunin, plus all the Jounin looking through the scrying ball, looked on in interest as the paper tags swirled around making three hollow clones before an illusion settled over them so they looked just like the original.

"Very well, you pass. Pick a forehead protector and come back tomorrow at ten for your team placement."

Hitomi flared her chakra, still holding the bird hand-seal caught the exploding tags as they unravelled and floated towards her hand. She sealed them in her belt, picked up a forehead protector with a black cloth and walked out the door while tying it around her waist above her belt.


So like it? Please rate and review, even if you think it isn't good. Constructive criticism is welcome but pointless flames and complaints will be ignored and deleted.