Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters that will be mentioned. They all belong to Misashi Kishimoto. (°ヮ°)
Very important A/N: Um. Can I address a few things first? ^_^" Ok, so we all know Naruto failed to become Genin three times in a row, right? It was never made clear how that worked out. From what I know, the Academy's system works like a regular four-year requirement. If that's the case, then how did Naruto fail three times yet he graduated and is the same age as everybody else? A few months older or younger makes no real difference.
Unless his grades were that poor, but they've always been the poorest in his Academy days from what I remember yet he was eligible to take the Genin exam anyway.
Here's another clump of unanswered questions: Are the Genin Exams yearly? Are students only able to take it after four years in the Academy? Again, Naruto's age and the amount of times he failed doesn't fit into the time mix.
From what I know, you only get one try to graduate with everyone else.
I've looked all over to see if I missed something, but apparently I'm not the only one who is questioning this huge plot hole.
Beyond full-blown prodigies like Itachi and Kakashi were able to graduate super early for obvious reasons, so...? xO
Lucky for me, this is just fanfiction. I can change anything and as long as it makes sense to me, I can make it work. ^_^ It's not an original novel that needs a lot of polishing before publishing. Although my desire it to try to make it go in that direction. I also want to stick to my writing style.
Speaking of that, I'd love to say thank you to those who pointed out a few errors I've made in the first chapter. I've fixed those already. As for making suggestions to have Naruto not have his orange jumpsuit in the future, I'm sorry to disappoint, but I don't want to do that. I'm sorry if I won't take requests like this, but like I said before, I'm writing this for fun and hopefully others will just enjoy it for what it is with me trying to give it the best quality I can provide. VvV
Unfortunate Outcomes
As time passed... Naruto's life hasn't really changed outside pulling off pranks around the village, school, and training. Since his classmates won't give him the time of day, he'd take off everyday by himself. It was his daily yet boring routine.
That is until every now and then if it counted as a little makeshift, he'd recognize the little girl he met in the woods around town.
Although she wouldn't notice him in return.
Mostly, Satsuka would be accompanied by who Naruto assumed was her mother. She really looked exactly like her, minus the hairstyles. They would shop together around the grocery stores and then presumably walk back home to their clan's compound.
Naruto would sometimes try to catch Satsuka's attention from afar to see how she would react by jumping up and down like a chicken trying to fly, afraid her mother would have the same reaction as any other parent would about their child interacting with him.
But has failed so many times, like today.
"C'mon! C'mon!"
It didn't work. They were too far away at this point. Naruto stopped jumping and sighed heavily, pocketing his hands while kicking dust off the ground.
Remembering what he witnessed a month ago, she was amazing in his eyes. He's been in the Academy for awhile now yet his aim still needed work whereas this Uchiha girl's is already spot on.
Now it would be awesome to make friends with her, but what were the chances of the girl's parents allowing it if they saw him? He mentally answered that himself and with a downcast expression, he turns around and continues on with his day.
… Time-Skip...
For the outcast kid who was eight-years-old amongst his older classmates, the day of taking the Genin exam has arrived.
After Iruka Umino had announced that one by one students will be called into the exam room to have their Jutsu evaluated, one by one someone came back to the classroom with the leaf symbol tied against their forehead in sheer triumph.
They would brag about how easy it was and give each other high-fives on a job well done, officially calling themselves Genin now.
Sitting in his desk, Naruto watched and listened from afar, feeling his blood pumping as he felt very eager for his turn to be tested.
There have been stories about prodigies graduating from the Academy as early as five to seven-years-old and Naruto wanted to include himself in that spotlight.
This is why he enrolled early!
In addition to his biggest goal to become Hokage, the most respected figure in Konohagakure, his name will be even more well-acknowledged!
The villagers will stop looking down on him and finally treat him like a somebody.
The name Naruto Uzumaki will be held with the most highest regard in the history of Konohagakure! There were sparkles twinkling in Naruto's black pupils from just thinking about it.
"Naruto Uzumaki!"
Naruto hopped out of his seat with a wide grin, running out of the classroom with the door sliding shut behind him.
Unaware that it truly wouldn't be his time to shine today...
It happened again.
The clone was extremely pale, hardly a duplicate and was twitching nonstop on the floor.
Jaw dropped on the floor, Naruto stood beside it while staying in stance. Luck really wasn't on his side today. Sitting behind a desk with the neatly aligned forehead protectors on it, the corner of Iruka's right eyebrow twitched.
"Ahaha...!" Naruto chuckled nervously, ready to perform the technique's hand signs again. "Let's try that again-!"
"How about you and me have a talk after I evaluate the other students, Naruto." Iruka cuts in.
The poor excuse of a clone vanished in a poof of white smoke. Naruto swallowed hard.
"D-Did I just fail...?!"
Once seated across from each other, Naruto thought he would receive a firm scolding for failing and hopefully -hopefully!- with all his heart would be offered to try again, but was in for another personal evaluation. Naruto sat on a chair with his arms crossed, waiting for his teacher to start talking.
"During your four years here, your test scores and Jutsu demonstration levels were the lowest," Iruka sat behind his desk, going over Naruto's grade portfolio.
"It can't be that bad!" he insisted.
"Look Naruto, test scores aside... this isn't something that should be ignored. You're still unable to master the most basic of techniques to this very day," Iruka closes his eyes and softly sighed, pinching the bridge of his scarred nose. "As your instructor... I believe it's best you do a repeat."
Naruto shot out of his seat at those words. A repeat?! As in repeating another year of school?!
"But Iruka-sensei!"
"End of discussion."
He didn't want to rub salt on the kid's wounds any longer. Naruto was still very young anyway. He obviously wasn't a prodigy to go beyond the extra miles at his age and like most kids nowadays, hopefully Naruto will graduate with his own age group. He shouldn't have started this early.
Naruto slowly sat back down with a bony zombie-like expression, feeling like all of the life was sucked out of him. This couldn't be happening to him.
W-What about his plans for the future?!
"I'm sorry, Naruto," Iruka felt sympathy for the little boy. "Take it as a learning experience. You've still got a long way to go, which shouldn't be a surprise at your age. The new term starts in a few months. I expect to see you."
After a moment of silence...
"Fine," Naruto found his voice to speak. He stood up and made his way for the closest classroom door.
He slides it open, but before leaving-
"It's not like I have parents to disappoint anyway!"
Naruto slams it shut, unshed tears stinging his eyes.
"Stupid Iruka-sensei,"
Naruto wiped under nose with his arm, glaring at the ground.
He was walking over to Ichiraku's Ramen Shop to eat his sorrows away until his bellybutton popped.
"It's a setback, that's all! I'm still going to become Hokage without making myself look, too, fancy!"
He'll graduate from the school and continue to pursue his dreams.
He makes a turn and while still mentally pep-talking himself from the unfortunate outcomes, stops on his tracks after noticing small crowds gathered in the area.
"Huh? What's going on?"
From where Naruto walked over without getting too close, he tries to see what the villagers were staring at amongst the endless whispers that weren't about him.
"That's her?"
"Yes, it is."
"The poor girl... she's the only one who survived."
"That makes her the last of her clan. How sad."
A few moments later, Naruto was able to see the small figure being escorted by two Jounin and almost immediately he recognized her as his eyes widened.
It was that Uchiha girl, Satsuka.
"It's her!"
A/N: Ok, instead of having Naruto somehow fail three times in a row, he'll fail a few times more because of how I chose to reset it up. I'll be changing a lot of things along the way because I want to try some new things and it'll be super fun for me to do in the long run~! ^_^ I hope you had fun reading the update and will stick around for more or if not along the way, I know that's just how it is. Oh poor Satsuka. T^T It has already happened.
