Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

(One year later)

Kakashi walks into the classroom where the genin exams will be held. The classroom is filled with kids twice as old as him, and Kakashi tries not to react as everyone stares at him. After all, you don't usually see a five year old take the genin exams. Reiko-sensei clears his throat, and starts telling the rules of the exam.

"The exam will consist of two parts. Part one is the written exam. Part two is the practical exam, where you will be tested on your taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu. Right now you will do the written exam. You have an hour to do the whole thing. When you're done raise your hand." Reiko takes a stack of exam papers and starts passing them out. Kakashi looks at all of the questions on the exam. 'Is the exam seriously this easy?' Kakashi thinks to himself. He completes the test quickly and raises his hand. Reiko notices and comes over to Kakashi's desk.

"Don't worry Kakashi. If you don't know any of the questions you can give up, no one will blame you. I knew that you were too young-"

"Umm Reiko-sensei...I'm done." Kakashi couldn't understand why Reiko was staring at him in shock with his mouth open. What did he expect? The test was too easy.

"Y-you're d-d-done? In ten minutes?" Kakashi nodded. Reiko closed his mouth. He took the exam paper from Kakashi. The other students started whispering among themselves.

"He's done already?"

"How can a five year old be this smart?"

"He definitely cheated."

"Yeah. How else could he have known all the answers?"

"I bet he got it all wrong."

"He's too young. Why did the Hokage allow him to take the genin exam?"

Kakashi stared at the floor. He didn't know what he did wrong, all he did was complete the test. It was like this every time. When he first got in the Academy,

"Kakashi, you can go outside now." Kakashi looked up to see Reiko smiling down at him. Reiko then glared at the rest of the class, "And the rest of you can go back in completing your test, you have 40 minutes left." The rest of the class quickly turned back to their test as Kakashi went outside. Kakashi sat on the swing and looked glumly at the ground. 'What did he do?' A tear slid down his cheek and fell to the ground.

After 40 minutes, the Academy bell rang, signaling for lunch time. Kakashi took out his lunch and ate it alone on the swing. When he finished, there was still 20 minutes left of lunch, so Kakashi decided to watch a group of boys play tag. Kakashi smiled wistfully, they looked like they were having so much fun. However, Kakashi didn't ask to join. The last time he did…

Kakashi was four years old, and he was in a class with a bunch of 7 years olds. Their teacher had decided to let them have a bit of free time outside. A group of boys started to organize a game of tag. Kakashi hesitated, then got off the swing and walked over.

"Hey. Can I play?" The other boys fidgeted and avoided looking at Kakashi.

"Well...aren't you a bit young? We might accidentally hurt you." One of the boys told him. Kakashi was about to say that he wouldn't get hurt when he heard one of the boys whisper:

"He actually thought we would let him play with us? As if. He's a freak. How can a normal four year old be the top of our class?"

Kakashi looked at all of the boy's eyes. He saw jealously, envy, and fear in them. Kakashi swallowed his hurt and managed to put an expression of indifference on his face. He turned to leave.

"Never mind then. Like I care."

Suddenly, a shadow fell over Kakashi. Kakashi had a bad feeling as he looked up and saw Akio. Akio was 11 years old, with brown hair and cruel green eyes. He was taking the genin exams for the second time, since he failed last year. Akio was the school bully, everyone was afraid of him because he was the oldest, biggest, and strongest student in the Academy.

"What are you doing all alone on the swing, midget?" Akio sneered at him, cracking his knuckles, probably trying to make him afraid. It might have worked on another kid, but Kakashi wasn't scared. He knew that he could beat Akio easily, Kakashi might not be as strong, but he was faster.

"Enjoying the weather, of course. Today's such a nice day, don't you think?" Kakashi smiled mockingly. The other students were watching now, no doubt thinking that he had a death wish. He could see a few people he knew: Asuma, Kurenai, Genma, Ebisu, Hayate, Yugao. He couldn't see Gai though, but Kakashi wasn't surprised. He had heard a story involving a green jumpsuit wearing kid challenging a group of aggressive cows to a fighting match, shouting something about "the power of YOUTH" and nearly being trampled to death. It wasn't hard to put the puzzle together.

"Today is a nice day...a nice day for taking the genin exams. I heard you were taking the exams, what are you, three years old?"

"I'm five."

"You look like you're three. And you know something? Three year olds are not smart enough to take the exams, much less pass it. Why don't you go run back to your mommy? Wait, you don't have one, you don't even have any friends. Maybe it's because your face is so ugly, is that why you wear a mask?" Akio started laughing, and Kakashi saw other people laughing too. The comment had hurt, and Kakashi felt angry at Akio and the people who were laughing. How was this funny?

"I'm five. And I'm going to pass the exams at the age of five while you're still going to fail, like last year. Besides, I have friends." Kakashi forced his voice to be calm even though he felt like punching Akio.

"Friends? Like who?" Akio pretended to look around. Kakashi looked desperately at the people who he knew, but none of them moved. Asuma looked down at his lunch box; Kurenai pretended to be busy fixing her shoes; Genma was fiddling with a stick; Hayate was watching a bird on a tree, pretending to be oblivious of what was happening between Kakashi and Akio; Yugao was the only one who was meeting his eyes, but while Kakashi could see that she wanted to help him, she was too afraid of Akio. Akio smirked as he opened his mouth to speak.

"See? Nobody wants to be your fri-"

"Of course Kakashi has friends. Friends like us, right Rin?" Obito sauntered next to Kakashi. Beside him, Rin stood facing Akio, and her expression was not her usual shy and timid one, it was one filled with confidence and surprisingly, anger.

Akio scowled and raised his fist. "You sure you want to stand up for that loser?"

Obito narrowed his eyes. "Kakashi isn't a loser, he's my friend."

"Do you want me to teach you a lesson?"

Obito stepped in front of Akio. "Try to hit me." Obito leaned in closer. "I...dare...you."

A tense silence dragged on for several seconds. Finally, Akio stepped back and lowered his arms.

"You're not worth my time anyway." Akio scoffed and walked away. Everyone went back to eating their lunch and started whispering about what just happened.

"Sorry we're late Kakashi. Rin had to stay behind and help me clean up my stuff. You see, an ink bottle spilled open in my backpack and stained everything." Obito chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Thanks for standing up for me. You know that they'll be going after you guys next?" Kakashi said worriedly.

Obito smirked. "As if we're afraid of him. Besides, we'll beat him up together if he dares, right Rin?" Rin nodded in agreement.

"How did the exam go, Kakashi?" Rin asked him.

"I think I passed. If I did, then all I have to pass are the practical exams."

"Of course you did Kakashi! Just wait and see, you'll be the youngest genin ever!" Obito laughed and punched Kakashi on the arm playfully.

"Oww…I'll miss you guys though. I've always hoped that we would be on the same team. I guess that isn't happening now." Obito and Rin were his only friends in the Academy. Gai...he wasn't sure, he was too weird. At first Kakashi was put with students who were only one or two years older than him. At first he didn't stick out that much, people just thought he was a really short 6 year old. Kakashi had even made a few friends there. However, after a few months, the class had proved too easy for him, and he got moved up. After that, Kakashi was moved up class by class until he was known as the 4 year old genius in the school. That was when people started to shun him, and soon, no one wanted to be friends with the "scary Kakashi," except Obito and Rin...and Gai of course.

"Don't give up hope, maybe the Hokage will hit his head really hard and forget to assign you a genin team. Then after a few years we'll graduate and become a team!" Kakashi thought that happening had a less than 0% chance, but he didn't want to ruin Obito's mood. Just then the bell rang. Everyone started to head back to their classroom except for the people who were taking the genin exams.

"Good luck Kakashi!"

"You better pass the test!" Obito and Rin shouted as they hurried back to their classroom.

After everyone except his class had left, Reiko-sensei announced the rules.

"Each one of you will be called individually inside. The room is the first door on your right. Now listen, be respectful, the Hokage and a couple of council members will be there. If I hear that any of you goofing off or saying insulting things…" Reiko-sensei let the threat hang in the air.

"Good luck, all of you. First up, Ajubi Misa."

After a while, Misa came out smiling. "I passed!" Everyone congratulated her as the next student was called up. Kakashi's last name started with a H, so he would be somewhere in the middle. At least his last name didn't start with the last letters of the alphabet unlike Mira Yatsuki, who would have to wait outside for a long time.

Finally a voice called from inside. "Hatake Kakashi." Kakashi walked nervously into the building. As he passed Akio, Akio stuck out a foot, intending to trip him, but Kakashi jumped over it and kept walking. Kakashi went inside the room that Reiko-sensei told him about and faced the Hokage, three council members, and the head instructor at the Academy.

The Sandaime smiled kindly. "Hello first part of the exam will be taijutsu. You will spar with Hebi-san, taijutsu only." Hebi was the name of the head instructor, who was a serious man and hardly ever smiled. Still, many people respected him because he was fair to everyone and was polite to everyone. Kakashi faced Hebi, trying to predict what he would do. He knew that Hebi wouldn't go easier on him than he did for the other kids, and he was fine with that. Neither one of them moved for the first few seconds, then Hebi charged forward, pulling back his arm to punch Kakashi. Kakashi ducked under the punch, an action made easier because he was so short, and aimed a kick to Hebi's side, which was dodged. They exchanged blows for a minute, neither one hitting the other, then one of Hebi's punches landed on Kakashi's shoulder. Kakashi was thrown back and fell to the floor. He just managed to roll away in time to avoid Hebi's next strike, and punched Hebi in the side as hard as he could before he darted away. Hebi didn't even seem to feel it, however, and charged towards Kakashi once more. After a while, Kakashi started to get tired and got hit a couple of times.

"You two may stop. That was some good taijutsu there Kakashi." The Hokage marked something on his paper as Hebi returned to his seat. Hebi started to whisper something to the Hokage, and Kakashi was anxious that he did something wrong. Kakashi noticed that one of the council members, an old man with a bandaged right eye, was staring at him with a calculating gaze. Before Kakashi could think much more of it, the Hokage finished talking to Hebi.

"Next up, genjutsu. You shall attempt to break the genjutsu we will place on you, are you ready?" Instead of answering, Kakashi put his hands in a sign and shouted, "Kai." The genjutsu that had already been placed on him fell apart. The Hokage smiled and made another note.

"You're doing great. All there is the ninjutsu part of the exam. Can you henge into me?" Kakashi brought his hands together in a sign and became an exact copy of the Hokage.

The Hokage nodded. "Now perform a Substitution Jutsu with the chair over there." Kakashi switched places with the chair, and then switched back.

"Now create 5 clones." 5 identical clones of Kakashi appeared in the room. The Hokage turned to discuss with the other 4 people. The man with one eye seemed to be satisfied while the Hokage was hesitant. Finally, all 5 people turned to him.

"Hatake Kakashi. I hereby appoint you a genin of the Leaf Village. Here is your headband." Kakashi wanted to shout for joy on the inside, but instead he forced himself to walk calmly over to the Hokage and accepted the headband. Kakashi bowed to them and walked outside.

Akio was waiting. "Did you fail, midget?" His eyes widened at the sight of Kakashi's forehead protector.

"I passed." All the other students were shocked. Kakashi bet they were expecting him to fail, but he didn't care. Before he had come to school in the morning, his father had promised to come to pick him up. Kakashi couldn't wait to show his father.

'Father, I hope this will make you proud.'