Now that Naruto's ready for the exam, how will things pan out now? Will his training be for naught? Read to find out! Don't forget to review, it means a lot!
'Wha-what's going on?' Naruto thought as he slowly sat up. The sun coming through the window's hurt his half-opened eyes. 'Aww, man, it was just a dream. And that ramen tasted so…' Jumping out of bed, he realized that he had his exam soon, and rushed to get dressed. Bolting out the door, he saw some of the other students still trudging along to the school, so he slowed down to talk to them.
"So troublesome…why do we have to do this again?" Shikamaru asked in his usual lazy manner.
"Nom nom…they can't just let us pass…nom nom…ninja's have to be able to protect the village…nom nom nom…" Chouji explained in between mouthfuls.
"Oh well…" Shikamaru sighed. Noticing Naruto approaching, "How'd the training go Naruto?"
Puzzled, he asked "How did you know about that?"
"Well it was pretty obvious," Shikamaru nonchalantly explained. "Hinata is one of the best at chakra control in our year, and you're the worst. So I figured that's what Iruka-sensei was after."
Naruto, amazed, replied "Yeah, it went pretty good. I think I got a handle on the Bunshin no jutsu now."
Shikamaru, rolling his eyes, retorted "Well we'll see. We don't wanna be late for our exam. Such a bother…"
******
'I hope Naruto does alright, he did well yesterday, but they might judge harsher on the exam… do your best Naruto!' Hinata thought to herself. Naruto was a few people ahead of her in line,.
"Next, Naruto Uzumaki!" was shouted from inside the room, and she quietly wished him good luck, though no one heard it but herself.
******
"Alright, Naruto! You know the drill. Create a clone, and one of these is yours." Iruka explained, pointing to the row of Leaf forehead protectors on the table. 'I hope his training paid off…'
Though the other attendee of the exam had different ideas. 'Alright, there's no way he can pass this, I've seen his grades…then I'll put my plan into action,' Mizuki thought. He smiled and nodded at Naruto to continue.
Naruto was nearly jumping out for joy. "I got this! I'm gonna be Hokage one day, so jutsu like this is easy!" He prepared himself and shouted "Bunshin no jutsu!" and not one but THREE clones sprung up. He and his clones grinned and asked "How's that?"
Iruka smiled larger than he had in a while. 'He finally did it!' "Good job Naruto, now come up here and take this," holding out a protector.
Dispelling his clones with a -poof- , Naruto eagerly grabbed it. Removing his goggles, he put on the protector and dashed to the window. Jumping out, he shouted "I'm gonna go show everyone in town that I'm a ninja!"
Iruka stood up to stop him, but then sat back down chuckling to himself. 'Watch out world, Naruto Uzumaki is gonna take you by storm.' Looking back down at his list, he called out the next name "Hinata Hyuuga!"
'How…how did he do that? His grades were horrible. I have to come up with something else now…' Mizuki pondered as Hinata shuffled in.
"Alright Hinata, whenever you're ready, create a clone," Iruka explained, "and you'll earn the right wear one of these!" gesturing at the protectors again.
"O-k-kay sensei. Bunshin no jutsu!" Hinata shouted as she created no less than SIX clones. She looked down in embarrassment when Iruka looked surprised.
"Hinata, nice job!" 'Did training Naruto help her improve her skills, too? I expected at least a few, but six!' Iruka thought as he held out a forehead protector.
Hinata scooted on up and took the protector. She put it around her forehead…but it slipped and fell down around her neck.
Iruka laughed, "That's okay Hinata, just because it's a "forehead" protector doesn't mean you necessarily put it on your head. That's fine too!" Iruka smiled at her, and remember earlier, "Oh, and thanks for training Naruto, he passed with flying colors, no doubt thanks to you!"
Hinata blushed, 'Naruto passed! Thanks goodness…"
Mizuki frowned, 'Dam you, Iruka! You and this girl are next on my list after I take care of that brat. At least now I have an idea…'
"Remember you have to come for one last class tomorrow, when we assign you into teams," Iruka explained. "See you then! Alright, next…Kiba Inuzuka…"
******
Hinata sat on the swing by herself. All the other new Genin's were with their parents. 'Father's always too busy with Hanabi or clan affairs to care about me,' she thought as a small tear came to her eye. 'I guess I should just go ho-'
"Hinata! There you are! Let's go to Ichiraku's now! Remember?" Naruto shouted as he ran over. "Come on! It's my treat!" he said as he took out his frog wallet.
"N-no it's okay I c-can pay for…" she stammered as she started blushing. 'Is he asking me out on a…'
"No, I got it! You helped me pass the exam! Plus, I owe you for the meal yesterday. Ichiraku's is the best! You'll love it."
Grabbing Hinata's hand, causing even more blushing on her part, he rushed off to the stand with her in tow.
******
"Two miso pork ramens!" Naruto ordered.
Teuchi turned around to face his two customers. 'Naruto with a girl? He would take her to a date here. Still, I guess I shouldn't complain.' With a glint in his eye, he asked Hinata "And what will your pretty young companion have?"
Blushing, Hinata glanced at the menu and ordered "I'll h-have one miso t-t-too, p-please."
"Alright, three miso ramen's coming up!" as he turned around and got to work.
'I can't believe I'm actually hear with Naruto! He probably doesn't think of it as a date, but it's just nice to spend time with him. These past two days have been nice…'
They sat in silence, with Naruto counting the money out for the three ramens.
Hinata couldn't help but smile a bit, 'He must come here a lot if he has the price of three miso ramens memorized. I wonder if he even eats any-'
"Naruto! Hi-Hinata!" shouted a startled Ino. "How are you two doing? I see you both passed!" she exclaimed with a smile. 'Are they TOGETHER?'
"Hey Ino, you passed too!" Naruto said, noticing her protector. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for Sasuke, have you seen him?" Leaning over to Hinata, she whispered, "How long have you two been together?"
"I haven't seen…huh? What's wrong?" Naruto asked noticing Ino whispering.
"Oh, nothing, I'll just be on my way." She winked at Hinata and ran off.
"And here is the ramen for my brand new ninja's! Our protectors need to be fed if they're going to be doing any protecting!" Teuchi said as he brought out their bowls.
Naruto, salivating, proclaimed "Alright Hinata, lets dig in!" and promptly started to eat at his normally fast pace. Noticing Hinata hadn't moved he looked up to find her blushing and staring at the bowl with wide eyes.
'Naruto and me…to-together' even stuttering in her mind at the thought. Hinata slowly broke her chopsticks and slowly grabbed a pork slice. Nibbling on it, she stammered out "its g-good. I've n-never been h-here b-b-before."
"Well, we should go here more often then, Hinata! I love this…" but stopped at Hinata started choking on her ramen.
'AGAIN!? He want's to go again, but he doesn't owe me anything. Could this mean…?' Her thoughts were interrupted thought as Naruto started awkwardly patting her back as Hinata was coughing.
"You shouldn't eat so fast, you'll end up choking." Naruto matter-of-factly explained.
'Now he's…' Hinata thought, but was interrupted again as she fainted off her barstool.
Naruto, catching her, blinked in surprise. 'She fainted again? I hope she isn't sick! I guess I should take her home.' Paying for the meal and asking Teuchi for directions to the Hyuuga compound, he quickly set off with Hinata in his arms.
******
Waking with a start, Hinata quickly sat up. She was on a bench in one of the gardens around the Hyuuga complex. 'Where am I? How did I…' As she started remember what had taken place, she blushed a deep shade of red. 'Naruto must think I'm a freak for fainting all the time. But, he must have carried me here! I wish for once I would be awake when he did…'
******
As Naruto jumped off towards his apartment he couldn't help but notice a growling coming from his stomach. 'Oh man, I wish I had gotten to finish all my ramen. But at least Hinata should be okay now.'
"Naruto! Come over here!" Naruto stopped and turned around to see Mizuki standing jumping over to him.
"Naruto! I wanted to talk to you." Mizuki explained. "I was…"
Naruto protested "But, Iruka-sensei said I passed! I…"
Chuckling, Mizuki explained, "No, no, Naruto. Of course you passed! I just wanted to help you out with something. You said you wanted to be the Hokage, right?"
Naruto, quickly turning his face into his trademark grin, "Of course! I'm gonna be Hokage one day!"
Mizuki smiled, 'I've got him now,' "Do you know how one becomes Hokage?"
Naruto, puzzling, "Well, yeah, they're the strongest in the village, so everyone respects them as the leader."
"Exactly! And how does one become the strongest, Naruto?" Mizuki asked.
Naruto, racking his brain, said "I guess…uh…they uh, no more jutsu then everyone else?"
"Precisely!" Mizuki exclaimed. "And I came to let you in on a little secret…"
******
'This jutsu is REALLY hard! Is this really the right one?' Naruto questioned himself. 'Mizuki-sensei did say that scroll was the big one in the Hokage's library. Oh well, better get to practicing…' "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
******
-knock knock-
'Who could that be at this hour? I was hoping to relax after the exams today…' Iruka said as he walked up and opened the door.
"Iruka! Naruto's stolen the sacred scroll of sealing! I've informed the Hokage, we're sending out search parties." Mizuki hurriedly shouted, before running off.
'Naruto! Why would he do such a thing? I know he likes to get attention, but this is too much. Something doesn't seem right…I bet I know where he's at though.' He then rushed off to the training spot Naruto always used.
******
'Finally! I think I can make several now! Luckily I could use that training with Hinata to help me learn this quickly.' Naruto got up to leave when Iruka jumped in front of him.
"Naruto! What are you…" Iruka stopped noticing that he was sweating. 'Has he been training? What's going on?'
"Iruka-sensei! I taught myself a new jutsu from the scroll, you wanna see?" said Naruto as he got up to do show him.
"Naruto, that's the Hokage's secret scroll, you stole it!" Iruka shouted.
Naruto, confused at this, "But Mizuki-sensei said that if I wanted to be Hokage someday I would have to teach myself these jutsu!"
'Mizuki!? He's behind..' "Naruto get down!" Iruka shouted as he pushed Naruto out of the way. Several kunai were stuck in his back.
Naruto looked up in wonder, slowly turning to sadness. "Iruka, why…?"
Iruka, with tears in his eyes, "Because Naruto, I'm just like you. My parents died when the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked all those years ago. I never had parents either. That's why I wanted you to succeed so much at the academy. I…"
"Spare me the sappy tale. Hand over the scroll, Naruto." Mizuki said with an evil look in his eyes.
"No, Naruto, run!" Iruka shouted as he turned to face Mizuki.
Mizuki lauged "I will destroy this village! Naruto, you should be thanking me. Haven't you ever wondered why all the villagers hate you? Why you are all alone?..."
******
The Third Hokage looked into his glass ball and sighed. 'I hope Naruto takes this well. I had planned on telling him when he was older, but I never wanted him to find out like this.' Looking up at a picture of a spikey-haired blonde above him. 'Minato, I have failed in upholding your wishes. You wanted Naruto to be treated as a hero, yet the town see's him as the fox incarnate. Why did you seal him into Naruto? I guess we'll never know…'
******
Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'I'm the Demon Fox? It can't be…but he's right, everyone hates me…'
Iruka saw the despondent look Naruto's face, and went to console him. "That's not true! People do care about you! I do! And so does the Hokage! And Hinata, she does too!"
'Hinata?' As the thought of her possibly being hurt came into Naruto's mind, he suddenly felt enraged. He became angrier and angrier until an aura of red chakra started appearing around him. "You're right, a lot of people in village don't like me. They look at me with disgust whenever I walk past them. But not everyone does. I now know how it feels to be cared for. I owe them for that. You won't hurt them!"
Iruka backed away as the aura grew larger with Naruto's increasing rage. Slumping over next to a tree from loss of blood. 'Is this…the Nine Tail's chakra?'
Slowly bending over onto all fours, the red chakra started bubbling off around him, burning Naruto's skin. "You won't hurt ANYONE!" he screamed and jumped straight at Mizuki, tearing straight through his jacket and spurting blood into the air through the gashes.
'Naruto, wha..?' Iruka was losing consciousness as he felt his wounds. The last thing he saw was the Hokage performing hand seals and facing Naruto. 'Naruto…he, did it,' were his last thoughts as a small smile came to his face and he slipped out of reality.