A/N: Whee! I'd like to thank redfox1217, nwspor, and especially kirallie for reviews! And, I'd like to note, the first chapter of this story got more hits and visitors in a single day than the entirety of Deidara Has a Brother?! got in it's first month. I really don't know how to take this.

Disclaimer: As is fairly obvious, I do not own Naruto.

Shinobi Arcana

Chapter Two

On a Lighter Note...

"Today, as you all know, you will be tested for graduation from the Ninja Academy! If you can pass this test, you will be a fully fledged ninja of Konoha! Now, we'll start with..." Umino Iruka, Chuunin and Academy Instructor, paused to pick up a pair of chalkboard erasers. His voice took on a lighter note, "Naruto...Shikamaru...WAKE UP!" He roared at the offenders, hurling the erasers at the sleepy students like a pair of kunai. Shikamaru, his head on his arms, merely received a painful rap on the top of his head. Naruto, however, was leaning back in his chair, head back, and when the eraser struck his chin, he flipped over backwards.

"Ow! What was that for?" The orange-clad boy whined, rubbing the back of his head where he had struck it on the floor.

"Sleeping in class! Now sit down and listen!" Iruka said, and took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Now, the first part of the graduation exam is a written test on theory and history. After that is an obstacle course, Taijutsu test, and finally you will be tested on one of the basic three jutsu. Now, Mizuki-sensei is passing out the test sheets, so get started once you have one."

Naruto chewed the end of his pencil. Gah! I don't know this stuff! He began to mark random answers on the test, hoping that sheer luck would save him. After the test, the class filed outside to the obstacle course. After giving a pretty good run on the obstacle course, Naruto followed the rest of the class over to the taijustsu evaluation. When his time came to step into the ring, the chuunin in charge grinned, looking forward to embarrassing the Demon Brat and failing him out of the graduation. But when the boy took his position, he entered a stance entirely unfamiliar to the examiner. His left hand was open, extended before him, with his right held almost directly in front of his face, also open.

"What do you think you're doing?!" The examiner asked angrily, "What sort of stance is that?"

Naruto blinked. "My Mas...erm, Sensei, called it Lenis Manus Prudentiae. The Gentle Hand of Wisdom. Pretty cool, huh?" Everyone blinked in confusion as the totally foreign words rolled so easily from the Dead-Last's tongue, and everyone missed the slight 'eep' from a white-eyed girl who had yet to be tested. Hinata gasped in shock at seeing an open-handed stance that not only looked so similar to her own clan's Jyuuken, but had a very similar name. She surreptitiously activated her Byakugan, curious as to how deeply the similarities ran.

"You're just making it hard for yourself! If that's what you want..." The chuunin took a stance of his own, "The test starts now!" He began with a simple lunge, punch flying, confident in the weakness of Naruto's unusual stance, and his own skill. Naruto's left hand snaked forward almost lazily, and with a circular motion, redirected the force of the punch slightly to the left, while he took a single step forward, turning his body. Hinata watched carefully as the right hand slammed into the chuunin's side...no-where near any of his tenketsu. There wasn't even a burst of chakra...but the results were surprising. The man cried out in pain, and clutched his side, as Naruto, taking advantage of this momentary lapse, struck the man in the shoulder, his fingers digging into the target. Everyone watching could only stare as the chuunin's arm went limp. The blond-haired boy grabbed the struck shoulder, not withdrawing his hand, and with his other hand hit the examiner in the back of the knee, collapsing the man's leg.

"Gah...! P-pass!" The chuunin almost seemed to...whimper?Naruto let go of the ninja's shoulder, and turned away, walking towards the group of students who had already been tested.

"Heheheh! Yeah!" He pumped his fist in the air. "Oh, and Sensei? You'll be able to feel your arm again in a minute, don't worry! It'll hurt like hell, though!"

"The final exam begins now! You will be tested on the Bunshin jutsu. When your name is called, please go into the testing room. First up, Kensei Icheida!" Iruka explained the last test, and called the first student up.

Noooo! Naruto cried out in his mind, dropping his head into his hands, That's my worst jutsu! Hey...yanno, this is kinda comfortable...He yawned, unconsciously mimicking Shikamaru a few rows over. A few minutes couldn't hurt...I mean...it's always good to be well-rested, right?

"Naruto...Naruto...NARUTO!"

"Gah!" The boy snapped into wakefulness with a gout of flame, accidentally singeing the kid behind him.

"My eyebrows! My glorious eyebrows! No...! Rock Lee...my mentor...I am dishonoured!"

"Sorry!" Naruto called, as he dashed excitedly to the testing room. "Alright! Let's do this!"

"You'll be expected to create at least three clones, Naruto, got that?" Iruka said sternly, "Begin when you're ready."

"Right!" Naruto began to mold and gather his chakra, forming the handseal required for the jutsu. He gathered too much, though, for a bunshin...far too much. It started to manifest around him, and Iruka was about to tell him to stop when there was a 'poof' and the room filled with the soft white clouds of smoke that accompanied so many bunshin jutsu. A faint chanting in a strange cadence could be heard, briefly, and when the smoke cleared, there were NINE Narutos! Each was exactly alike, indistinguishable, and all of them were grinning widely and giving Iruka and Mizuki a big thumbs up. "Yes! Success!"

"Um...well, you only needed to create three clones...But, you pass! Congratulations, Naruto! How about you and I get some ramen, later, eh?" Iruka seemed happy, but Mizuki...just looked sort of numb. Almost like some master plan he'd been waiting to execute for months or years just came crashing down around his head, and he was at a loss as to how. Hm. Odd.

"Now, Naruto, listen. You put way too much chakra into that technique. You're lucky it came out as well as it did. In fact, you're lucky you didn't hurt yourself! Do you understand? Be more careful, next time!"

"Heheh, don't worry, Sensei! I'll be fine!" Naruto's clones faded away, and he walked out of the room, waving happily to Iruka and Mizuki on the way. Yeah! They didn't notice a thing! He mentally pumped a fist in the air. Stupid bunshin jutsu...only jutsu I was ever good at was henge, anyway...the Art is so much more useful!

"Hey...Mizuki...?" Iruka turned to the other teacher.

"...Eh? Uh, what?" The white-haired man looked over at the scarred ninja, still with a defeated expression on his face.

"You notice anything wierd about that jutsu?"

"...No. What?"

"Well...shouldn't they have dispersed into smoke? Those just...sort of faded away."

The stunned expression faded slightly, replaced with a more thoughtful look. "Yeah...Yeah, you're right." He lapsed into silence. Maybe this could work out in his favour after all. He just needed a new bait for the trap...

A/N: I know, I know, not much action yet. I'm sorry! And what's worse it's SHORTER than last chapter! So very sorry! It looks like Mizuki may still get to Naruto, even though he passed. I hope to have at least two thousand words for the next chapter...and I haven't really been working on my other story, either...

Anyway, I hope to expand on his studies later, or maybe go back and re-write these early chapters to give a better idea of how it all works, with the magic and the jutsu. A brief explanation for those who are curious:

Lenis Manus Prudentiae: The Gentle Hand of Wisdom was a style developed on the far side of the Wastes, for use by people like healers and mages. They do not have much oppotunity to train their bodies during their studies, and are often physically weak, and even frail. So, they use a style that makes every hit count, using pressure points, nerve clusters, and in some cases even blocking blood flow to disable or kill their opponent. In this case, Naruto won because the tester was very overconfident, and unfamiliar with the style. So, Naruto caught him by surprise. No, Naruto is not some master of the style, but he's at least the equal of Sasuke in a straight-up taijutsu-only fight, and with the advantage of surprise, could take an opponent much more skilled than that. It is not unlikely that in the distant past, the Jyuuken and Lenis Manus were the same style, and grew into two seperate schools on the different sides of the wastes.

Well, it's a bit of a setup chapter, but still, tell me what you think! Reviews please! I will respond...well, as long as it's signed! I can't reply if it's an anonymous review!