This was it. The day he was to graduate. After four years of drills and too many written tests, here he was today, waiting in line outside of the exam room to be tested. He was excited of course, but his focus and drive had overtaken the giddiness in his stomach.
He looked around the small number of students waiting like him. His class had slowly been dwindling in size as the years went on, the weaker students who couldn't handle the strain of constant, gruelling training and the military-like conditioning either dropping out or were forced into dropping out. Hattori-sensei had explained that this generation's training programme had been increased in difficulty by immense amounts. An order from the Hokage himself, he said, and then went on to say that the reason for this was that there was high tension between Konohagakure and Iwagakure – A hidden village to the east of Konoha, separated by the neutral Kusagakure. Naruto wasn't stupid, he knew that that was another way of saying that war was about to break out.
After copious amounts of searching the academy library; he had found a few books on the second and third shinobi wars. After reading through the important bits, he had come to the conclusion that he did not want the tension to end in war. And yet if it did come to it, he knew that without hesitation, he would step onto the front lines to defend his home from any invader. A tap on the shoulder interrupted his morbid thinking. He turned and came face to face with his old running buddy Kiba.
"How've you been mate?" Kiba asked, looking entirely at ease, not an iota of tension or anxiety visible. Naruto envied him, his own tension at an all time high. He was confident in his skills; however the thought of his hard work not being enough scared him more than would have liked to admit. No, I can't think like that, I'll be fine. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on his friend.
"Alright mate," He replied. "I'm fine, a bit nervous though."
Kiba barked a laugh, his hands coming up to rest behind his head. "You'll be fine mate, I know I will be for sure, we'll ace this test! Am I right Akamaru?" The small white dog bundled in the hood barked in response and Naruto smiled despite himself. Yeah, he was going to be just fine.
Just then, the main door to the classroom opened and the intimidating Hattori-sensei stepped out into the hallway, along with another man, who was wearing the standard green flak jacket of Konoha Chuunin and Jonin.
"Form an orderly queue and shut up!" Were the first words out of Hattori's mouth. The quiet murmuring that had filled the hall stopped immediately, and the assembled students all snapped to attention, shuffling as quickly as possible into an acceptable line. Naruto and Kiba had ended up in the middle of the pack – which Naruto was glad for, thinking to himself that if had ended up too far at the front he wouldn't have been able to mentally prepare himself in time. Where as if he had ended up right at the back, there was a high possibility that his nerves would have frayed before he managed to step into the testing room.
"Now," Hattori began, "This is going to be one of the career defining moments of your young lives. To put it simply; you are either going to pass and go on to become an official ranked soldier in the shinobi corps, where your own determination will measure how far you will climb the ranks. Or... you will fail and be sent to the reserve corps, where you will most likely become a career chuunin." He paused for a second to look across the apprehensive, yet confident faces of his students, and the corner of his mouth turned upwards slightly. "Right Kisuke, you're first. In you go!"
Fifteen minutes had passed when the door opened again. It wasn't the reaction Naruto was hoping for, and it slightly dampened his own spirits. He liked Kisuke; he was pleasant to be around and was a good sparring partner. He opened his mouth to offer condolences but the boy strolled right past him, not removing his eyes from the floor; trying and failing miserably to hide the black eye he had gained. His mouth shut again, and he went back to facing forward in the line, having already seen a girl at the front be reprimanded for talking.
The students entered and left the room relatively quickly with some passes and some fails. The Uchiha boy came out with a stony look on his face, a gleaming headband in his hand and a look of smug satisfaction. Naruto had never spoken to the boy personally, and if he was to be frank to himself, he didn't want to either. For some reason, Naruto just felt the other boy gave off bad vibes.
Soon enough, it was time for Naruto himself to go in. He entered cautiously, thinking carefully of where he was putting his feet. After years of dealing with Hattori-sensei, he liked to think he knew the man enough to know what he was like. His caution was well warranted, as an axe kick was barely blocked by him as he rolled out of the way. Shit, that must have been how Kisuke got that shiner! He had no more time to think however as a right haymaker rocketed towards his face. Naruto moved out of the way swiftly, and returned fire with a roundhouse kick, which Hattori blocked with minimal effort.
For the next five minutes, blows were traded back and forth at a speed Naruto had no idea he could match and just as he parried a right elbow and returned with a right hook, the fist was caught and the impromptu Taijutsu bout called.
"Well done Uzumaki, that's the first part of the test over. You pass this section." Naruto looked up at his examiner and retracted his fist, slowly shifting into a bow as he and the rest of his classmates were taught. "Next, you will perform the Clone, Substitution and transformation techniques. The floor is yours." And with that, Hattori sat down on top of the desk that had been pushed aside before the exams had started and waved him forward.
Naruto did as he was asked, in the order presented. First he made the seals for the Clone technique, in which 5 clones appeared behind him. He looked behind him and heaved a sigh of relief. Well at least all those trips to the library and the training field practice my chakra control have paid off. Hattori, seeing the relief on the face of the student in front of him, let loose a small chuckle.
This had the effect of bringing Naruto to the present world with a small blush of embarrassment. He took a deep breath and went through the seals for the substitution. A small puff of smoke and suddenly in place of Naruto stood a chair, with the boy himself being on the opposite side of the room. Another set of seals and Naruto quickly turned into the Third Hokage. He held the form as Hattori looked it up and down, before quietly nodding and gesturing for the boy to turn back. "That's part two done with. The final part of the test will commence now."
Not being told what the third part of the test was, nor being given any instructions. Naruto stood there waiting for something to happen, until he noticed that Hattori's right eye was a slightly different color. He slowly shifted his eyes over the rest of the room only to find no other inconsistencies. Must be...
"Kai!" And sure enough, the room got a little brighter and in front of him Hattori Held out a Gleaming Konoha Headband.
"Well done kid, I knew you had it in you; just know that this is only the beginning, and there are going to be trials and tribulations a great deal more difficult than this. However for now, since you are the last student to be tested; you are free to go. You have orientation at 0800 hours tomorrow so be sharp, and get a good amount of rest."
"Yes Hattori-sensei!"
AN: I know the chapters aren't the longest; however I only have a small amount of time to work on the chapters, until I can get more time, I'd rather the chapters be shorter and more consistent than long and updated every few months or so. Let me know what you think! Constructive Criticism is always appreciated!
