NARUTO

Nox Noctis Ingredior

Graduation

That very next morning…

The local Ramen bar was surprisingly quiet around this time. Much more disappointed then usual, the owners expected to be having a lot more customers than one this morning, since they were, after all, offering a new breakfast special Ramen that was both healthy and nutritious. However, the only people they managed to attract with this new sale were Iruka and Naruto, but that was about it.

The only person sitting at the counter at present was their favorite, spiky-haired blonde, who was now gorging on a delectable bowl of a Special Morning Miso Ramen. Teuchi and Ayame both stood at the counter and smiled as they watched the short bundle of energy consume his third bowl this morning, before grinning up at them happily with squinted eyes.

"Aye…slow down Naruto, you'll choke," Ayame exclaimed.

"Remember, savor the flavor. Let it rest in your mouth before continuing its journey down your throat," Teuchi told him. "It has to go down in luxury; otherwise you will end up with a unpleasant stomach ache in the foreseeable future!"

"Oh, don't fret old-man!" Naruto said, wiping his chin of some excess Ramen broth. "I know exactly how to savor my ramen! It must be treated with the very dignity it was created for, to be eaten and enjoyed. You must hold it in the highest respect, and let it go down remembered, by gorging on it mercilessly and swallowing it without hesitation. That's my way of the Ramen!"

"Ha-ha! Good one, kid!" Teuchi exclaimed, taking the pot of boiling noodles and assorted ingredients from the stove, and carefully pouring another bowl full into Naruto's empty one. "Here! Have another one on the house!"

"Thanks, old-man!" the boy exclaimed before once again gorging on noodles. He was careful not to splatter any on his black, fur-collar jacket, or strain his right arm that was wrapped in a few bandages. It was while he was dining gracefully on his meal did Ayame fully take note of the bandages around his arm and pointed it out. Her father went off to do some of the dishes, and allowed her to keep an eye on their favorite customer.

"Man this is good!" Naruto said, a piece of noodle and some broth sticking to his cheeks.

"Hey, Naruto-kun! What happened to your arm?" she asked, blinking in surprise. "Did you hurt yourself? It must have been a pretty nasty wound for it to be bandaged up so much…"

Naruto looked up at her briefly and then towards the area of his arm where the joint met the shoulder. He smiled and looked back up at her, grinning. "Nah! Don't worry about it! I just fell out of a tree while training! It's no big deal!"

Ayame sighed and smiled at him in relief. "That's good, Naruto-kun. But, just try to be careful while you're training, okay…"

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, giving her the thumbs up. "I'll be careful!" He then dug back into his meal a second later. His boisterous smile and happiness made Ayame giggle, who then headed off to do some f her other duties.

Unknown to her, Naruto took a quick glance at her over the edge of the Ramen bowl his head was ducked into, the angle at which his head was placed sending an overcastting shadow that concealed much of his eyes, but revealed it in a different light. In his stare, there was a significant change, like a mask had just been removed by the very child these eyes belonged too. They were no longer glistening with their usual happiness, they were dark, drawing in the shadows and creating an eerie reflection, with the sapphire gleam turning into a slightly duller shade of blue, with rings of fatigue appearing as ringed bags beneath his eyes.

These weren't the eyes of a human, no…

They were the eyes of a tired child… eyes of a raved dog…

"I'm glad you don't know me that well, Ayama-chan…" the boy thought in a far away voice, before turning back to his food and beginning to gorge on it again.

He downed it in the next several minutes, and sighed happily, licking his lips. "Yummy! That was so good!" Ayame smiled over at him from the casher area, where she stood clearing up some of the notes from the desk.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it, Naruto-kun," she replied, shrugging. "My dad makes the best Ramen in the entire village! Its him that you should be singing your praises too!"

"You make great Ramen too, Ayame-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

Ayame blushed and rubbed the side of her cheek with her hand bashfully. "Well… I don't make it that good, Naruto-kun…"

"Of course you do!" Naruto said, leaping off of his chair. Pulling from his pocket several bills, he handed them over to Ayame and nodded to her. "I've got my Genin Exams today! Wish me luck, okay!"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Ayame replied, smiling kindly down at the boy who smiled back. "Good luck, Naruto-kun! I know you will do well!"

"Thanks, Ayame-chan!" Naruto shouted with a wave as he left the shop. "Bye old-man! Thank you for the Ramen!"

"See yah at lunch, kid!" Teuchi's voice followed after as Naruto began jogging up down the road towards the Ninja Academy. He set himself a fair pace, which was pretty fast for a boy of his age, but not a bit least a surprise, due to his occupation and what not.

He continued his run, passing by individual villagers, as well as small groups of people along the way. Many of them watched him run by, whereas some gave him dirty looks behind his back. The yellow haired youngster ignored them, and pushed on, going so far as to gently shove by people to keep up his pace, calling out 'sorry' to them but not stopping, so as to not waste time.

Eventually he reached the point where he could see the Academy, about a mile down the road and smirked, only to feel a familiar presence come up beside him and glanced to his left. When he did, he saw a very familiar face running right beside him, wearing a green spandex uniform with orange legwarmers, as well as bearing black, bowl cut hair and very big eyebrows. Naruto raised an eyebrow when he saw the boy also wearing silver shackle live accessories on his wrists and ankles with marking on their sides, indicating that they were weight seals.

The boy turned and grinned at him. "Why if it isn't my good friend, Naruto! How are you this fine and beautifully painted early morning?" the boy exclaimed in question. Naruto smirked back at him, continuing his run.

"I'm fine! And a good morning to you too, Lee!" Naruto replied, nodding to him. "Going for an early hour run?"

"Oh yes! Yes indeed! As always!"

"Good to see you're still keeping in great physical fitness!"

It was after the two of them have been running for several more yards in silence did they both smirk at each other and immediately pick up the pace. Side-by-side, on equal ground, the two of them gained speed, dust up hurling behind them as they shot down the road at an unbelievably fast pace. They past people by, who watched in shock as two blurs, one yellow and one green, shoot past them.

"To the Academy, Naruto-kun!" Lee yelled, picking up the speed. "I will beat you to the gates this time!"

"Not on my watch, Bushy Brows!" Naruto yelled back, gaining even more speed.

The two of them were moving so fast that it looked to them that they were gaining tunnel vision. However, it was all due to their speed and eye focus, and with the increase in their speed, they continued to move down that tunnel. The Academy drew nearer and nearer, and both of them were rushing at it with all their might, panting and gritting their teeth. It was then, as soon as they were within reach of it, they both skidded to a halt, up hurling more dirt and dust before stopping just short of the gate. Lee then turned on his heel and began running in a different direction, waving back at Naruto who took a moment to watch his friend depart.

"It was a tie this time, my friend!" Lee exclaimed. "Till next time; when I challenge you to a marathon run around the village!"

"Can't wait, Bushy Brows!" Naruto called back, waving at him till he was out of sight.

Once Lee was gone, Naruto headed into the academy, hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. However, he dipped his head so that his eyes became overshadowed, masking the true emotions reflected in them. It was dropping his usual cool and happy mask partially that allowed him this breather.

"Boy… what a night. Thank the Kyuubi for his rapid healing powers," Naruto thought, moving his right shoulder a bit to adjust the tension. "Must have been one hell of a Jutsu… but I'm just glad that I finally have those old bastards off of my case…permanently"

His fur-collar black jacket with red flame patterns shifted as he pulled his right hand out of his pocket, pulling out a kunai and tossing it, so that he held onto the blade and glanced down at the handle. There, he saw the familiar seals of the secret new Jutsu and Technique he had developed, and had used on several occasions, but only for emergencies. He furrowed his brow and shrugged, pocketing the weapon back into his orange pants pocket. He adjusted his arms again, his jacket parting slightly down the zip area to reveal a athletic chest and torso pressed up against the tight netting of his mesh shirt.

"I just want to get this thing over with…goy…"

After working his way through corridor after corridor, he eventually arrived at his homeroom and entered. Shaking his head, he looked up to see that the classroom was partially filled with students, all of them sitting or standing around, talking to others. A few eyes gazed at him as he entered the room, and he took his seat in the center, second row. He groaned and sat down, rubbing his forehead.

"Ugh…should have slept in…"

"You're telling me. You look awful," another voice spoke up from beside the seated blonde. He looked to his left to see one Shikamaru Nara looking at him with a raised eyebrow, fingers laced where he sat propped up, obviously having tried to doze off before. Naruto blinked as he looked at him, reaffirming his usual mask of deceit and smiling.

"Well, I'm not exactly the type the wear make-up, aren't I?" Naruto replied to his earlier comment. "It's not like you're looking any better though…"

"Duh, I always look like this…" Shikamaru replied, running a hand through his pineapple shaped hair, scruffying it up a it close to the ponytail. "It's too troublesome trying to do your hair in the morning…"

"Spare me a moment," Naruto said with equal exhaustion, while holding up his right arm to show him the bandages around his arm. "I just got up after one hell of a training session last night. It was a real mess, I tell yah…"

Shikamaru shared the bandages a glance, before looking up at Naruto's eyes. "You know, if you spent more time studying then training and honing in on your techniques, then perhaps you might stand a better chance of balancing out your practical and literary scores a bit, and pass with at least dull colors…"

"Oh yeah, well you're not doing too hot yourself, buddy," Naruto rebutted in a cocky tone. "Last I checked you were failing in both practical and examination…"

"Tsk… whatever," Shikamaru said, resting his chin on folded arms and lying out on the desk in front of him. "It's too much of a drag. I say go with the flow, get the best with what you got, and try scoring high… well… if you can bother to reach high…"

"My God…" Naruto thought, giving Shikamaru a highly animated look of sympathy and disbelief. "I have never met anyone with a level of motivation as low as Shikamaru and on top of that, 100 Percent laziness…"

"How do you think you went in yesterday's written examination?" Shikamaru asked; surprisingly still awake where he sat, with his arms and head on the table "You think you got a good mark?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be surprised," Naruto exclaimed, resting his feet up on the desk and putting his hands behind his head. He let out a shy and smiled up at the ceiling. "I just want to become a Genin today. That's all I've got written down on my schedule…"

"Same here," Shikamaru barely replied, earning a tick mark to appear on Naruto's head.

"What a slacker…"

For the next half an hour, students filed into the class one by one, till the entire room was filled and every single seat was occupied. Shortly after the bell rung, Iruka Umino himself stepped into the classroom, carrying with him a folder containing the class's results. With a smile on his face, he placed them out on his desk and then turned to the class, standing before them in front of the blackboard.

"Morning class!" the young Chunin exclaimed, clearing his throat and adjusting his headband a little. "I'm pleased to announce that, upon checking and marking all your exams myself last night, I have determined from the results that all of you have passed with flying colors."

"Except for Naruto!" a smart-aleck classmate, obviously Kiba's voice from what Naruto could tell, called out. "Dead-last to the end, am I right?" This got quite a few laughs from the rest of the students, with Naruto furrowing his brow and glaring daggers at a group of them to his right, who immediately shut up at the sight of him. The way Naruto angled and projected his glare caused them to shake a little at the look in his eye.

"Actually, Kiba," Iruka said, rubbing his forehead with the back of his left hand. "Naruto, in spite of his efforts over the years that has given him only… excuse me, satisfactory marks, in the written exam, has passed it with full marks…"

There was a deathly silence, and Naruto grinned and glanced over at Shikamaru with a cocky look on his face. The Nara boy looked back at him and nodded, his expression easily showing his defeat.

"No way!"

"Not in this life-time!"

"How can the dead-last in the class get full marks?"

"He's a loser! A loser doesn't score that high!"

"Well, guess again kids," Iruka replied, sharing a small grin with Naruto and glancing up at the rows of students. "Apparently, Naruto has a lot of hidden potential in him. I expected a lot from him this year and, obviously, from this written exam, he surprised even me with his results. Geniuses aren't just descendents from great clans. All of you have to learn that with hard work and studying, you can achieve greater than even a well respected member of a genius family. Not to mention 'it is much more fun not training a genius', a quote I believed one of the Three Great Sannin used…"

He gave Naruto the thumbs up, who returned it before turning towards the rows behind him. Seeing all eyes on him, the spiky haired blonde flipped them all the finger, before turning around and reaffirming his attention on Iruka.

"My congratulations to you all," Iruka exclaimed, "You've all done very well. I am proud to call you my students." He then turned towards the board behind him, and pulled out a piece of chalk. "But the exams are not over yet. Now that the written exam has been completed, it is time to commence with the practical exam, and that means performing the basic techniques and skills that a ninja is required in the field in order to survive!"

Iruka wrote on the board: "Practical Exams: First Stage – Henge Jutsu"

Nodding, Iruka turned around and smiled. "If I have taught you well, and you all have practiced very hard, you should perform adequately. Now if you will all…"

Suddenly, the door flung open, and a familiar, pale-pink haired Chunin dashed in, panting slightly. "Oh… sorry I'm late, Iruka. I got held back by Asuma!"

The students watched as Mizuki joined Iruka at the front, and the two Chunin shook hands. "That's quite alright, Mizuki, we were just getting started…"

"Great!" The Chunin then leaned in, holding up a hand to Iruka's ear and whispered. "So… how is Naruto doing?"

"Fairly well actually, he passed with full marks on tactics, mathematics, literature, history and techniques," Iruka replied back, before stepping forward and facing the class. He just missed a rather surprised and annoyed look from his fellow Chunin, but he hid it away quickly so not to arise suspicion. However, this look was not missed by Naruto, who was at this moment glaring at the other sensei whom he did not take any liking towards.

"Okay class, now that Mizuki has joined us, it is time to commence with the First Stage. I would like you all to line up in front of me from left to right, and when I come up to each of you, I want you to perform a standard Henge Jutsu of me!" Iruka said, using his pen to draw out an invisible line in front of him.

Quickly, the students filed out of their rows and down to the front, lining up side-by-side at arms length from each other across the floor. A lot of them were still throwing disapproving looks at Naruto, especially Kiba, Ino and several other students. The boy ignored them, and took his place between Choji and Shikamaru. The Akimichi boy smiled at him and they both put their fists together as a sign of respect.

"Nice going there, Naruto!" Choji exclaimed.

"You too, Choji!" the young male replied.

"Okay, first up, Shino Aburame…" Iruka said to himself, starting at the end where the boy stood quietly with his hands in his pockets.

The Chunin went down the line to one student at a time, with Mizuki watching from the sidelines. Iruka watched as each student performed the technique, marking them for quality and correctness. He would often advise the students one after another to 'put the pouch on the right side' or 'trim the hair a little' or 'fix the scar up'. Other then a few of these, a lot of the students performed them perfectly, even Naruto when he was asked to perform it. He then even performed a reward technique at the end where he henged into a naked female with blonde hair and whiskers, knocking out both Iruka and Mizuki from blood loss, as well as several of the boys in the class, postponing the exam for a extra ten minutes as the fallen took some time to recover. Eventually, they were all back on their feet, and could continue.

Once the last of the students had performed the henge technique, Iruka then rubbed off of the board and wrote in: "Second Stage – Replacement Jutsu."

Iruka turned and grinned at his students. "Alright class, the next test is to see if you can all perform a standard Replacement Jutsu. As you know, this technique can be life saving in the heat of battle, and can also dub in an inanimate object to take your place when you are being attacked or want to avoid being attacked. So… remain as you are, and I will come around to each of you…"

And the process restarted, the students performing the replacement technique one at a time, grabbing whatever object was closest to them, and replacing their physical selves with that object. On a majority of the techniques, the students replaced themselves with sharpeners, staples, chairs; and even Sasuke replaced his body with Iruka's desk. Eventually, it came down to Naruto, and the boy stepped forward. Iruka nodded to him for the get-go, while a lot of the students watched with smug grins on their faces to see if the 'dead-last' could pull off another lucky one.

"Pft… what a joke," Ino muttered to Kiba. "No one can do better then Sasuke-kun! I bet you the loser will screw it up…"

"I'll bet ten ryu on that…" Kiba replied.

Naruto smirked, hearing the murmuring flow over the students, and slapped his hands together into a single hand-sign.

Somewhere along the line of students, a familiar purple-haired girl, who was twiddling her fingers together nervously, smiled as she watched her Naruto prepare to perform the technique.

'Come on Naruto-kun… you can do it…' she thought.

Suddenly, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke, just like every other student before him, and in his place stood an inanimate object. Well… if you could call it an object. Sitting, or rather, standing in Naruto's place, head down and an orange book flipped open in his hand, stared upwards a rather startled and befuddled Kakashi Hatake. As the smoke cleared, the students and teachers who had watched Naruto perform the technique looked on with rather shocked expressions as the Jonin blinked and looked around him.

"What the? This isn't my lounge room…"

It took him a while to figure out what had happened. When he did, he looked up in front of him and at Iruka.

"Darn, this is the third time this month…" he grumbled. Turning on his heel, the Jonin looked back down at his book and walked out of the classroom, reading to himself in audible mumbles. "Now let's see… Kyoshi takes the man's hand gently into hers, and says with powerful passion… 'make love to me baby, like there's no tomorrow…'" The door slammed shut as Kakashi departed, leaving a rather shocked class in his wake.

"He-he!" a voice exclaimed from above, causing everyone to look up to see Naruto sitting up in the railing above the classroom, grinning down at all of them. "I was actually aiming for his book, but I ended up grabbing him by accident!"

Iruka blinked and then smiled, whereas the students were just staring at him in disbelief, mouths agape.

"Well… it was impressive enough, Naruto. Come on down…" the Chunin exclaimed, and Naruto punctually joined the rest of his students on the ground.

Ino blinked as she watched Naruto file back into the line. "Wow… that was actually… pretty impressive…" Kiba, who was standing beside her, grumbled and crossed his arms, Akamaru whining a little at his master's displeasure.

"Speak for yourself…" the scruffy haired boy replied, looking away and gritting his teeth. "Great, I can't believe that Naruto actually outdid me in both Stages… grrr… how did he get so good!"

Once all the students had performed their replacement techniques, Iruka then moved into the third stage, asking all the students to step outside onto the training field. The dusty earth promised some action as the students lined up to stand just outside of a white line drawn to form a large rectangle with lengths of 100 X 50 meters. They watched as Iruka and Mizuki took up positions in front of the class side by side, with Iruka pulling out his clipboard and taking a couple of notes down, before looking back up at his students.

"Okay, now its time for us to commence the Third Stage of the Exam: Close Combat," Iruka stated, gesturing towards Mizuki next to him, "Each of you will take turns in fighting against Mizuki here. Now don't be put off because he's a Chunin, it's just to test how you'd fair if you are to encounter an enemy ninja who is stronger than you. In this part of the exam, you are to only use taijutsu or kenjutsu. The use of ninjutsu and doejutsu is prohibited, as well as the use of shuriken and kunai. Killing is also prohibited, and each match will end either in forfeit, time or if the combatant is knocked out cold or is unable to battle."

Mizuki nodded his head. "Alright… so who's going to be my first opponent?"

This was a question answered in order by name, as a student was called up alphabetically to fight against Mizuki. Everyone faired very well, save for those who lacked excessive taijutsu, but used the standard Academy forms anyway. Sasuke did exceptionally well, so did Kiba (as per expertise), and Choji and a few others. Some of them were a bit less confident, such as Hinata, and Sakura and Ino got in their fair fights. It was when it came around to Naruto the students were eager to see what the so-called 'dead-last' now nick-named the 'lucky-last' could cook up with this time.

Everyone watched in curiosity as Naruto took to the field and stood across from Mizuki, arms at his sides and a smile on his face. Mizuki took a stance and smiled at the boy.

"Come on Naruto, show me what you've got!" the Chunin exclaimed. "Do your best, okay…"

"Tsk… whatever," the boy replied, also taking a stance, right arm raised and his side slightly facing the Chunin, with his left arm held behind him.

"Alright then," said, holding up his hand, and dropping it down. "Begin…"

Mizuki smiled and charged at the boy, bumping up his strength, speed and skill level to a level he knew Naruto wouldn't be able to beat. He intended to have the boy fail miserably. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case.

Naruto, seeing the focus of Mizuki centered on him, smirked and straightened himself, dropping his right arm. When the Chunin came in with a jab, the boy, with surprising agility and lightness, spun on his axis and, catching the fist kicked out with his right foot at his attacker's feet, knocking him off balance, and tripping the man up as he stepped behind him with relative ease. Mizuki flipped forward and landed on his backside with a loud thud, causing some of the students to wince as the Chunin stared ahead of him in shock as Naruto stood behind him, smirking.

Ino blinked. "Hey, what just happened?"

"What was with that move?" Choji asked. "I've never seen Naruto move like that… ever…"

"That grapple was flawless," Shino whispered, catching Kiba's attention, who was standing right beside him. "His taijutsu performance so far has been relaxed and calm. His movements came out in flow… not hindrance at all…"

"Yeah but, I could barely see that. First Mizuki-sensei charged him, and then suddenly Naruto just moved around him, and then Mizuki is on the ground! How can he move that fast?" Shino asked.

"Hmm…" the bug user hummed to him, replaying the clip in his mind, studying the boy's movements.

"What the?" Mizuki looked behind him, seeing Naruto looking down at him with a smirk.

"You know, you'd better watch where you're going, sensei!" the blonde exclaimed with a grin. "You were careless, and you tripped over your own feet…"

Iruka raised an eyebrow and smiled, finding Naruto's comments, though teasing, quite appropriate for the moment. 'Although that last move was pretty good! Nicely played, Naruto…"

Mizuki gritted his teeth and got back to his feet, dusting himself down before turning back to Naruto, his anger replaced with a kind smile, an obviously forced one. "Nice move, Naruto. But let's see you do that again!" The Chunin said, quickly taking a stance and lunching, throwing combinations of punches and kicks at the boy in quick succession, using combos that surprised a lot of the students at their speed and strength. Mizuki was obviously opening up with all he had.

Naruto, however, took it into stride. With his arms behind his back, he dodged, ducked and easily avoided all of Mizuki's attacks, moving with such grace and speed within such close proximity of his opponent that a lot of the academy students had to blink and rub their eyes to see if they weren't being deceived. The dead last of the group was actually fairing well against the Chunin, who was fighting through bared teeth as he attempted to hit his mark. However, Naruto easily moved around his attacks, and once again managed to get behind Mizuki.

The Chunin gasped and looked around behind him from left to right, trying to look for his opponent whom he had lost in his forward attacks. Naruto kept behind him, back to back and moving in perfect sync with the Chunin, keeping out of sight with a smirk on his face. So far, he hadn't even thrown a punch yet, and was conserving energy. It was when he jabbed his rear-end out, knocking Mizuki forward did that defensive mark change.

The students were in utter disbelief as Naruto easily evaded all of the Chunin's attacks, which were becoming more ferocious with each swing. Even Sasuke was in shock as he watched the blonde enter Mizuki's range before quickly exiting, throwing the Chunin off his game. Everyone, from Sakura, to Ino and to Shikamaru, was all the more surprised to hear Naruto laughing in enjoyment. He was literally dancing around his opponent.

"Olay!" Naruto exclaimed, rushing forward and striking Mizuki with an elbow, winding the Chunin before striking him in the back, causing him to stumble forwards.

Mizuki growled and spun back around, throwing another punch at Naruto, who suddenly phased out of sight, only to appear behind Mizuki, back-to-back again. The Chunin, fed up, spun around again and sent a knee up, only to have it blocked by another knee thrown by Naruto. They both separated, giving each other a certain distance before Mizuki charged again with a shout, with Naruto dropping into a stance this time.

The Chunin didn't gain the needed distance in time when Naruto suddenly leapt at him through the air. Throwing his left arm back and over his head, the boy flicked his wrist a little, a blade emerging from his sleeve with a loud 'slice' sound. Mizuki was running forwards when this occurred, and was unable to double-back in time when his small opponent suddenly landed on him front on, driving both his feet into Mizuki's chest, using his forward momentum to knock the Chunin falling back and, grabbing the side of his head with his right hand, then drove his left hand straight down for the pressure point at his neck.

When Mizuki fell flat on his back to the ground, with Naruto on top of him, it was revealed that the boy held back on that last attack, and was smirking down at the white-haired Chunin with utter seriousness etched into his expression. Iruka saw what had happened, and was rather befuddled that his best friend was beaten by an Academy student. The rest of the students were also in utter shock, staring at Naruto as if he had just grown a second head.

That may be the case however, as they were looking at a totally different and rather likable Naruto Uzumaki.

"Uzumaki Assassination Technique complete," Naruto exclaimed, raising his hand away from Mizuki and retracting his blade. "I win!"

Mizuki stared up at Naruto wide-eyed and dripping with sweat, absolutely shocked to realize that he was almost killed by the Kyuubi's host, the demon, the so called 'dead-last', an academy student! The first he felt was a grave numbness, before he was overcome by anger and annoyance. Naruto grinned at him one last time before back-flipping off of the Chunin, landing perfectly and soundlessly. Adjusting his jacket, the boy then turned away and walked back into the crowd of students, where he was congratulated by a still shocked Choji and Shikamaru, as well as a silent nod shared between him and Kiba.

"Not bad for a dead-last…"

"Not bad for an Underdog…"

They both grinned and turned back to Iruka, who was just checking the marks and keeping score.

Once everyone was done with the sparring, they were then led back inside by a very flustered Mizuki and a rather satisfied Iruka. He never expected this part to have gone so smoothly, and was expecting the last and final stage to go on just as well.

After all the students and senseis filed into the classroom, Iruka sat down at his desk and pulled up another chair for Mizuki, who sat down in it, a frown still etched out on his expression. Iruka ignored his blatant grumbling about being bested by a student, and just went on with sorting the marks. Double-checking everyone one, Iruka proceeded with the final stage, writing up onto the board: "Third/Final Stage – Clone Jutsu."

With a smile, he spun around, tossing the chalk away with disregard. "Alright class! It's time for the last part of the exam, and perhaps one of the easiest tests of the lot. You will be asked to perform a basic Clone Jutsu technique, the one we've been practicing for the entirety of the final term. I expect all of you to create an exact, solid duplicate of yourself with the Jutsu. So I'll ask each of you to come up front one by one, and perform it in front of the class…"

One by one he called each student up for the last time, asking each of them to perform a Clone Jutsu. Each of them performed basic ones, but those who possessed different abilities created clones based on them, such as Shino, who created a bug clone, and Ami, who created an earth clone. Regardless, every student performed well, including Naruto, who had yet another interesting show to display. When he was called up, he placed his hands together in a different hand-sign compared to the other students. Iruka was about to correct him, but Naruto's Jutsu was already active.

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed.

In a series of blinding puffs of smoke that filled up the entire classroom, the students and the Jutsu user himself were joined by at least a hundred more Narutos. They took up all the remaining space in the classroom, basically suffocating everyone with the amount of clones there were. All the Narutos shouted at each other and pushed each other aside for more room, befuddling an already perplexed class and a rather shocked Iruka to see the number of clones the boy had managed to create.

The real Naruto gave Iruka the thumbs up, but was distracted from a grin when several of his clones bumped into him. Grumbling, Naruto shoved back, only to start a fight between them. Iruka watched as the five Narutos out of the hundred brawled, and so did the other students, who crowded in their seats to try and get a better look.

"Hey! Get off of me!"

"Quit pushing!"

"Stop touching me!"

"Get away from me, Naruto!"

"Hey! What did I do!"

"No not you! Him!"

"Me!

"Yes?"

"No not you, him!"

"But I'm him!"

"And you're me, okay I get it! Shove off already!"

"That's it, buddy!"

The fighting and loud arguments continued, which quickly added more to Mizuki's already pounding headache and Iruka's thinned out patience. It was only when the brown haired Chunin got a little fed-up with the fight that he broke it up.

"Alright Naruto, excellent work with the Jutsu, but you're going to have to work out your little tussle with your clones another time," the scar-faced ninja exclaimed, pushing a couple of the Narutos away and helping the real one up. He smiled at the bruised up one and nodded to him. "But great job though, you passed…"

"Ah! Really?!" Naruto exclaimed, quickly getting to his feet. "Awesome! Thanks Iruka-sensei!"

"Not to worries…"

The real Naruto dispelled all his clones and, giving Iruka a complete thumbs-up, headed back to his seat to join the other students, most of them still astounded by the amount of Narutos there had been. By this time, a lot of those students who had belittled Naruto and called him a 'dead last' were now either seriously rethinking their opinions on him, or had set aside their claims of him being a loser.

Iruka smiled as he saw Naruto get congratulations from a couple of the other students sitting around him.

Perhaps this was turning into a great day after all…

TO BE CONTINUED…