The tension in the room was high; numerous genin hopefuls praying that they had what it took to ninja. Naruto smiled broad, while talking a mile a minute and laughing at his own jokes but his eyes also constantly searched the room identifying those most likely to pass the upcoming test.
First there was Sasuke Uchiha, the last loyal living member of the Uchiha clan.
He wore the traditional Uchiha symbol on the back of his blue t-shirt, the picture of a cold detached, brooding asshole. He was glaring at the window as he purposefully ignored the fan girls gathered around him.
'That's right teme, you show that window. Show it the greatness of the Uchiha clan.'
For a second Naruto's smile becomes more real as he muses about the brooding Uchiha. In terms of Taijutsu and Ninjutsu he was by far the most progressed of the current batch, at least on paper.
Surrounding him was a large group of girls vying for his affection, of those only two were even worth the young Uzumaki's attention.
Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, both pretty girls but sadly both swept into the Uchiha's fan club.
'At least Ino has her Yamanaka family jutsu going for her Sakura has nothing but book smarts, and those aren't going to do her a bit of good in a fight against shinobi. And then even Ino doesn't take her fighting seriously she spends more time on batting her eyelashes at the Uchiha than training but the pathetic academy tests are still easy enough for her to pass.'
Next was Chouji of the Akimichi Clan, the self-proclaimed "big boned" boy was decently along with his family jutsu and was slow in Taijutsu but hit with a lot of power. He was sitting next to his best friend Shikimaru Nara of the Nara Clan, a clan of genius level I.Q. ninja who used shadow based jutsu to take control of anothers movements.
'Both of them are shoe-ins for the graduation, judging by their past performance in clan Jutsu they could be passed on those alone.'
Kiba Inuzuka from the clan of dog users, fierce in Taijutsu and produced some of the village's best trackers. They bonded with their pups during childhood and they became lifelong partners. Naruto had tried to befriend Kiba but it had taken months to get his partner Akamaru, a small white puppy, to stop growling when he came by.
By the time Naruto was about to examine the rest of his classmates when he heard Mizuki shot out his name.
He sounded pleasant enough but Naruto had always gotten a bad vibe from the teacher.
When he entered the room there was a table lined with Konoha headbands, blue cloth with a metal plate with a chiseled leaf design in the center. Sitting at another table were Iruka and Mizuki both smiling kindly at him.
Naruto greeted them with a smile and a nod, "Hey Iruka Sensei, hi Mizuki."
"Naruto show respect to your teacher!" Iruka scolded loudly.
"I did Iruka Sensei." Naruto replied with a fake smile and a clueless expression.
Iruka knew that look and also knew that the blond would never show respect to anyone he didn't feel had earned it, it was only after Iruka had started training the boy outside of classes that he had started calling him Sensei.
Flashback
Naruto held his fingers in a cross position in front of his face with a supreme look of concentration on his eight year old form and cried out "Bunshin No Jutsu!" Iruka looked on expectantly waiting for the smoke to clear. When it did there were twenty perfect clones of Naruto looking at him before the one in the middle cried out and jumped in the air "Yes!"
"Iruka! Iruka, now I can graduate! I was starting to have my doubts but with your help I was able to do it!" Naruto loudly exclaimed allowing his excitement to carry him away.
"Naruto, this is great and I'm glad that you can now perform the required jutsu but there's something I need to talk to you about. I don't think you should graduate with this year's class" Iruka said calmly.
"What! But Iruka I can do the jutsu now, I'm ready to be a ninja just like you!"
"I know Naruto, I know. But you're so much younger than those in your class, when you graduate and get on teams they will be jealous of you for graduating at a younger age. This combined with the dislike they already have towards you and these things will make your team dysfunctional. Your first genin team will be like your family and with you having never known a loving family I can't help but think that if you wait until your classmates are your own age that you'll be much happier."
Iruka had to say all this despite the tears beginning to show on Naruto's face, because they were the truth and Naruto would be happier this way. With the hatred implanted by their parents the team dynamic could only get worse with everyone knowing that Naruto was a prodigy.
The young blond held strong, keeping his tears from falling as he struggled to think through Iruka's reasoning. After several minutes he was able to see that Iruka had a point but what would happen to his training. "But Iruka if I do this I'll spend two years learning nothing!"
"You've got a point Naruto so how about this, While you're going through the academy again I'll come over and teach you the type of things a Jounin sensei would teach you. How does that sound?"
"But Iruka, you're not a Jounin, how can you teach me the things they would?" Naruto wasn't sad anymore and was looking at the situation with much calmer eyes.
"Well Naruto, its true I never made Jounin." Iruka disappeared and had a kunai to the blonds throat before Naruto was even aware he had moved. "But that's because I was recruited into Anbu while still a chunin."
Naruto's eyes were wide as he began to smile, "You've got yourself a deal! Iruka Sensei!"
Naruto stood calmly in the exam room as Iruka picked up an eraser of the desk and threw it at him.
With a small puff of smoke where the blond had been standing was Mizuki, chair and all. It took Mizuki a second to realize what had happened, and that second was all it took for the eraser to bounce off his head.
Mizuki merely chuckled good naturedly before carrying his chair back to behind the desk. On his way past Naruto he rubbed the young ninja's head harder than was necessary, making it slightly painful. The blonds smile became more strained but he just went back to his position before the desks and used Henge to turn into a perfect copy of Iruka.
Iruka nodded calmly and put a mark down on his board, "Ok, Naruto now the Bunshin No Jutsu."
Naruto nodded calmly and smirked before blinking slightly as he noticed a slight flare in Mizuki's chakra levels before they returned to normal.
Shrugging Naruto brought his chakra levels to a steady steam before announcing, "Bunshin No Jutsu."
A large puff of smoke appeared and covered most of the classroom, but when it did Naruto was able to sense a smaller surge of chakra behind him then the numerous clones still hidden in smoke disappeared before his eyes as their chakra become disrupted.
When the smoke cleared Iruka was stuck looking at Naruto standing by himself.
Naruto glanced around wildly and Iruka could tell something had gone wrong, the young blond had been able to do this technique for two years.
Mizuki covered his smirk quickly and frowned convincingly, "I'm sorry Naruto, but if you can't produce the minimum two Bunshin then we can't pass you. There's also a three strike policy. Maybe the ninja life just isn't for you."
The whiskered blond looked over to Iruka. The man wore a serious expression and gave a barely perceptible nod. "Mizuki-sensei is right, I'm afraid you can't pass."
Naruto plastered an expressionless mask on his face and walked out the door.
Two hours later he sat on a swing looking towards the crowd of parents and their children as he waited for Iruka. He had tried merely standing by the door but the combination of glares and heated whispers proved too troublesome.
One by one students came out and were congratulated or consoled by their families. He found himself jealous and hateful of these interactions but incapable of not watching. Finally, the crowd began dispersing.
Naruto felt a chakra flare behind him and calmly turned to find his silver haired "sensei" standing behind him.
"Hello Naruto, listen I'm sorry for being so blunt with you in there. It must've seemed rather harsh, but contrary to what I said I do think you have what it takes to be a shinobi. Bunshin is an un-needed jutsu in my opinion but sadly I can't change the academy police. But there is another way, if you're able to prove your skill in such a way that everyone has to acknowledge you that is proctored by a teacher you can still graduate."
"You mean it sensei?! What type of thing would I have to do? Will you help me?" Naruto blathered quickly all the while thinking about why Mizuki would be willing to help him.
The silver haired chunin smiled kindly, "Of course I'll help you Naruto. But it would have to be something really big; fortunately we can copy students of the past. One student snuck into the Hokage tower and stole the scroll of seals and was able to return it to his Sensei without being caught, he was graduated automatically and made student of the year."
"Yatta, I can't wait to stick it in Uchiha-teme's face." Naruto grinned broadly.
Later That Night
"Well that was depressingly easy"
Naruto stood in the forest by a cabin holding the Forbidden Scroll of Seals in his lap as he waited for Mizuki to show up. His fingers slowly caressed the paper holding the scroll closed.
"We'll it couldn't hurt just to take a peak."
The young blond slowly opened the scroll and rolled the first twenty feet along the ground. Dear God this scroll is fucking huge!
The jutsu were separated into sections; those that required bloodlines, Out. Suicide techniques Out. Kage only techniques, Well I am going to be Hokage someday. I might as well get a head start.
Naruto smirked as he pulled out a blank scroll and quickly started copying down techniques. After several minutes he found a technique that caught his interest. Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Two Hours Later
The rustling of bushes alerted Naruto to someone's approach so Naruto quickly rolled up the scroll and swung it back up onto his back. The orange clad ninja pulled on his fake smile and got ready to great Mizuki, what he saw froze the smile and shattered it to pieces.
Stumbling out of the timber was a small black haired boy wearing a green shirt covered in blood.
"Naruto, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know what he was planning." He was crying now as he stumbled towards the frozen blond.
"Shi? What are you doing here? What are you talking about?"
A whistling sound whispered through the forest as a small shadow impacted on the young boy's back knocking him to the ground. As the blond looked closer he noticed a kunai handle deep in the smaller boy's back.
Naruto started running towards his downed classmate until another, bigger shadow appeared standing over the downed boy.
"He's talking about me, Naruto." The shadow leaned down and grabbed Shi's hair pulling him up into a kneeling as it put another kunai against his throat.
"Now give me the scroll, Naruto." Naruto's eyes widened and his hand started inching towards the kunai pouch on his right leg. His eyes locked onto Shi's and in that moment they knew each other better than friends, better than brothers.
"I'm sorry, Naruto. I'm the one who made you fail the genin test, he taught me how to make a chakra string and use it to dispel your Bunshin."
The shadow pulled the kunai away from Shi's throat and stabbed him viciously in the shoulder before yanking it out as the boy screamed. "Now, now Shi-kun you shouldn't be talking."
"Now Naruto, the scroll. I'm stronger than you and with that scroll I'll be invincible and help Orochimaru-sama crush this pathetic village."
The shadow replaced the kunai at Shi's throat holding it tight against the skin.
Naruto's hands slowly started moving towards the scroll. Shi's black eyes locked with Naruto's bright blue and Shi slowly shook his head.
"Naruto, keep that scroll away from this bastard with everything you have. Long live Konoha!" With his final words the black haired teen bucked wildly and threw himself forward, cutting his own throat on the kunai and dropped lifelessly to the ground.
Naruto froze and stared at his lifeless classmate. In the back of his head a calm rational voice made itself known as everything else shut down.
He's dead. He killed himself to remove the leverage given to move me into giving the scroll. He died for the village; he was a true loyal shinobi of Konoha. He's been studying for years to become a shinobi and now he's dead without ever going on a real mission.
Naruto's eyes flashed momentarily red as his emotions came back, thundering through him.
The clouds continued to drift through the sky and allowed the moonlight to shine down into the clearing illuminating both victim and killer.
Standing over the cooling corpse of his classmate was their teacher Mizuki, dressed in his chunin vest and a bandana hiding his silver hair.
Acting quickly Naruto pulled two kunai from his pouches and winged them at the traitorous academy teacher. While the kunai were still in the air the blond hair already turned and ran, sprinting into the forest.
