I hope that all who read this find enjoyment in doing so
Still dedicated to my best friend.
I do Not own Naruto. There... I said it...
Chapter 2: The Birth of Six Splendid Shinobi
Present day at the Konohagakure no Sato Ninja Academy...
"And so in conclusion class, this example proves the Shodai Hokage's theorem on the conditions that must be met to achieve victory in close quarter combat, where the objective is to protect a target from assault, to be applicable in nearly all cases. Now can anyone tell me how this view differs from Sunagakure's tactical approach in these situations?" The teacher's question was met with silence from the class of student's behind him. Udon stood in front of the wide chalkboard at the front of the classroom, writing on it rapidly while reciting from a textbook in his left hand. "Come now, don't be shy this question is really quite simple an-" His statement was abruptly interrupted by a loud nasal rumble. A tick mark formed on the chunin's forehead as he slammed the book shut. "I'm going to count to three and then turn around, and whoever is sleeping in my classroom had better be awake by then or else there will be consequences for all of you..." The man said, his patience clearly worn paper thin over his years as a teacher.
As the man began to count backwards a young girl sleeping against her desk in the second to front middle row received a slap to the head from a young man sitting in the seat directly in front of her. She immediately sat up and frantically looked around the room in alarm, only to register the counting of her Sensei from the front of the room. She immediately relaxed sat with a bored expression on her face. She wore her black hair in a tight, medium length, spiked ponytail tied at the crown of her head. She wore deep blue vest with light green trim around the hems. Underneath that could be seen netted shinobi under armor, and she wore black cargo shorts with ample pockets that came down to her knees. Across the back of her vest in black was the Nara family crest. From her right a notebook slid across the desk to lay open in front of her, complete with detailed notes on the lecture. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pencil, and laid her arms across the notebook as if she had just finished writing out the notes on it herself. At this point her Sensei reached the count of three and turned around, glaring directly at her. "Shikamari! Would you care to explain why you were just sleeping in my classroom?"
"I wasn't sleeping Sensei." the girl replied in a bored tone. "I was to busy taking notes on your lecture to be asleep."
The tick mark on Udon's forehead grew even larger as he growled his response, "Really? Then would you care to explain how your notes came to be written in ink?" Shikamari blinked in surprise, then looked down and realized that she was holding a pencil and the notes were indeed written in ink.
'Busted.' she thought to herself. 'This is gonna suck.' "Yup. You caught me Udon Sensei." was her intelligent response to her teacher. The man began to rub his temples with his fingers in frustration as a drip began to form hanging from his nose.
"I have lost track of just how many times I have had to tell you this but this time please, PLEASE listen. Stay awake in class!" This statement elicited a chorus of laughter from the classroom at the lazy girls' expense. "We're only two days away from graduation examinations and we don't have class tomorrow. These last minute reviews are vital." Udon then turned to the young girl sitting next to Shikamari. "And Chouma! Stop trying to help Shikamari get away with it. Your acting as an enabler for her bad behavior."
"Like, yes Sensei. Sorry." replied the full-bodied girl sitting on Shikamari's right. Her spiky brunette hair was tied in pigtails that fell down her back all the way to her waist. She wore a blue jacket with red arms and a red hood, and a large red Akimichi crest divide in half by the open zipper of the jacket. She also wore a knee length white skirt, with white biker shorts beneath. With a huff, Udon turned back towards the board and continued on with the review lecture. Shikamari sighed with relief at having gotten off without punishment for her little nap. She turned to her giggling best friend on her right, who had pulled her bag of cookies out from their hiding place beneath the desk. Shikamari smiled and nodded to her, silently conveying her thanks. Chouma simply grinned back then proceeded to place two cookies in her mouth at once. She then turned forward to find the young man who had slapped her into her waking state turned around in his seat smirking at her and throwing her a thumbs up with his four fingered hand.
She smiled back as she rolled her eyes at her easy going friend. The young man had bright pink hair that formed short forward leaning spikes, and large, rectangular pink eyebrows above his green eyes. He wore around the back of his head his precious earmuffs which, as always, covered his ears. His lean, toned arms were bare from the shoulder up to the wrist, where he wore custom made fingerless combat gloves that only had three finger holes along with the thumb hole. His tight fitting bright green tank top covered his torso, with his metal dog tags hanging around his neck by a chain. He sat with one leg crossed over the other in a relaxed and masculine fashion, revealing his less than masculine bright pink leg warmers which covered his shins over top of his black pants. He turned back around to face the front of the classroom and was elbowed in the side playfully by the girl who sat on his left. He rubbed his side with his right hand while he reached over and stole the pencil out of the girls hand in a small act of payback. He waved it in his hand and flashed her a mischievous grin. She simply shrugged and reached into her left sleeve. She immediately pulled another pencil out of said sleeve and waved it in his face while sticking her tongue out at him. He then tried to reach over and snatch this new pencil from her as well, but she placed her free hand on his chest to try and hold him back.
This quickly devolved into the two preteens silently wrestling with each other in their seats over the pencil. The boy was just about to bite the girls' hand which was currently holding him back by his face when he felt a few taps on the shoulder from the red headed girl who sat on his right. These taps were immediately followed by the sound of their Sensei clearing his throat. The two stopped fighting over the pencil and both slowly turned their heads to face forward towards the sound. They found themselves face to face with Udon Sensei as he bent over and glared at them. "Minato... Kushina... how many times do I have t-" His scolding was interrupted immediately by the sound of the bell ringing to announce the end of class.
"Apparently this is officially the last time you have to yell at us for rough housing in class Sensei." Minato remarked sarcastically to his Sensei.
"That's if you pass Minato." Udon replied to the defiant boy in front of him. "Otherwise you will get to repeat you final year. Here. With me."
"Relax Udon Sensei. I know that my test scores were low in class, but have a little faith. You taught us well. I'm sure we will pass with flying colors." Minato replied, seemingly without any trepidation at all about passing graduation. As the two sat in front of their Sensei the other students all began to gather their things and make their way out of the classroom. Shikamari and Chouma got up and strolled out of the room along side their other close friend, a young man with light blond hair which he wore in a short army cut. He wore a tan tee shirt with lighter beige trim around the sleeves and neckline. Underneath that could be seen netted shinobi under armor which extended past his sleeves down to his elbows. His heavy boots thumped across the wood floor and his black slacks had the Yamanaka clan crest emblazoned on the front left thigh and on his right back pocket.
As he and his two female companions passed through the door to leave he turned his head to face the two and shot them a sympathetic look, that could only be described as the way an older brother would look at his siblings as they were scolded by a parent. He then closed his eyes as he faked a yawn and reached his arms into the air. As his fake yawn ended his arms came down to rest across the shoulders of his two best friends on either side of him, as he could be heard remarking 'So girls, I hear there is going to be a new release at the movie theater tonight and I was wondering if-' His simultaneous romantic advance upon both of his best friends was interrupted as both of the girls simultaneously punched him in the gut. He doubled over in pain as they continued walking along without missing a beat, and he could be heard hoarsely whispering 'Never mind.'
"I'm not worried whether you both will pass," Udon continued on with his scolding, oblivious to the glorious failure of one of his students' attempts at procuring a date. "I know that Kushina is going to pass. Despite her less than perfect behavioral record she is still top of your class. She is a prodigy." The girl with dark navy hair grinned and lightly blushed at the comment while she rapidly straightened her appearance that was rearranged by the tussle over the pencil. She gave a quick tug on the hem of her black Keikogi top with orange trim on the sleeves, hem, neck and all the way down the center edges. On both shoulders and on the left breast of the Keikogi were bright red Uzumaki crests. She patted the wrinkles out of her black shin length pants, and re-tightened her orange sash wrapped around her to hold her Keikogi top closed. Around her neck could be seen the netted shinobi under armor she wore directly beneath her Keikogi top. She then ran her hands through her spiky locks of dark navy blue, with her short center bangs and long spiky side bangs that framed her face and really emphasized her pale white eyes. With a flick of her wrist she tossed her long spiky waist length ponytail that was tightly tied at the base of her neck by a black band. She then rubbed the back of her head as she continued to grin while she replied,
"Oh I don't know about prodigy, I'm just basically your average Uzumaki. I'm sure that my father did just as well at the Academy as I have been." A single large bead of sweat rolled down the side of Minato's face as he looked at his friend with a dry expression. Even after all these years he still could not understand his friend's amazing ability to be both humble and egotistical in the same sentence. Udon stopped for a moment and blinked in surprise at her statement.
"Wait... You don't know?" He asked Kushina in surprise. "I knew your father when I was very young and I know for a fact that your father graduated last in his class." Kushina's jaw dropped and her eyes turned into large blank orbs in shock at learning this about her dad. "As a matter of fact, I believe he failed the graduation examination three times before finally passing, and he only passed because Iruka Sensei allowed him to as a special exemption from failing it a forth time." Remarked Udon as he stroked his chin in thought. At this second revelation Kushina completely fell out of her chair and lay crying on the floor at having her personal vision of her father permanently altered.
Udon then shook himself from his thoughts and turned back to Minato. "But as I was saying, I'm not worried about Kushina passing I'm worried about you passing Minato. You will need to get a nearly perfect score on the written portion of the examination to compensate for you inability to perform any of the three fundamental ninjutsu." Minato crossed his arms and looked to the side with a pout on his face as he replied,
"It's not my fault all three require hand seals to perform." His posture then relaxed as he leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head. He smiled kindly and said, "Besides, didn't Iruka Sensei say that there would be a special exam prepared for me to test my skills beyond my physical differences from other people?" Udon sighed and blew his nose into a tissue before answering his student.
"Yes there will be, but that also means that your exam will be much more difficult than the exam will be for the other students. I'm still in the dark about what exactly your test will entail. So Minato, study hard tomorrow, okay? I really do not want to have you in my class for another year." Minato took on an expression of mock hurt, replying,
"Awwww what's the matter Sensei? You don't like having me around?"
"Minato I'm going to be honest with you, I like you but I just can't handle you anymore. I think that my hair is starting to turn gray from the last five years with you and your friends in my class." Minato chuckled good naturedly at this statement.
"Fair enough Sensei. Don't worry, all six of us are going to pass. In fact I would be willing to place good money on-" Minato was stopped mid-sentence as Kushina shot up from the floor and clasped her hand over his mouth.
"Don't you Dare place a bet on our graduating! You know how your luck is! You have lost every single bet I've ever heard you make. You have Awful luck with gambling!" Minato shook her hand off of his mouth and replied angrily,
"I do not! I've just been on a loosing streak for a while that's all. And besides this one is a lock. There is no way any of us are going to fail to pass."
"So long as you don't start betting on us!" she shot back.
"Pfft." was his intelligent response to her statement. Udon shook his head and walked out of the classroom mumbling to himself, bargaining deals with God himself to allow the children to pass so that they will be finally out of his hair. Minato turned and gave a confident grin to his best friend, who reciprocated the look as the two got up from their desks and left the now empty room.
As the two stepped out of the main doors of the academy Minato's face took on a dry, annoyed expression as they looked out at the small crowd of girls waiting around by the entrance to the school and talking excitedly to each other. One of them who had apparently been keeping an eye on the door let loose a stifled scream, thus alerting all of the others to their emergence from the school. They all turned and proceeded to rush Minato, crowding around him and fighting for his attention. Minato tried in vain to escape from the crowd, calling out to his friend for help. Kushina tried to reach through the crowd to grab her friend and pull him free, but was continually blocked and eventually knocked to the ground by the writhing mass of fan girls.
"Damn it! Help!" cried out Minato as he began to sink down into the crowd, pulled down by the mass as they fought each other to try and have him all to themselves. Eventually only one of his arms remained visible above the mass as it flailed and reached out for assistance. Suddenly, down from above dropped a shinobi wire with a loop tied on its end. It fell into Minato's grasp and he readily grabbed a hold of it. A few gentle tugs confirmed his firm grasp, then the wire violently pulled upwards, pulling Minato along with it, freeing him from the crowd. He was raised up to the edge of the roof of the academy and quickly pulled himself up onto it. He laid down next to the edge panting as he turned to see who saved him from such a fate. There on the roof sat Chouma, Shikamari, and Inoko all holding onto the other end of the wire, and grinning like fools with pride at their flawless rescue operation. He smiled right back at them saying, "Thanks guys. You saved my ass back there. Now do you have a plan to get them to go away?" Shikamari smirked and said,
"That plan is already in action. Were gonna leave it up to her to get them to disperse." giving a nod towards the tree in front on the academy.
The fan girls all cried out protest up towards the roof, begging Minato to come back down to them. Then a girl leapt down from the branches of the tree, landing next to the crowd. Every girl in the crowd then froze. Her piercing black eyes attempted to drill holes into the back of the girls' skulls. She had bright scarlet hair that fell down in long straightened locks, parted on the middle left of her face and tucked around her ears, that reached down to her middle back. A single lock lay out of place on her face, tucked behind her ear and drifting only slightly against her brow. The only portion of her hair that was not straight was a shorter patch of hair against the back of her head, which stood out directly adjacent to the rest of her hair. She reached up and ran her thumbs under the large flat laying collar on her button down jacket. The jacket was black but for the gray trim around the edges of its' collar, folded back sleeves, and the pockets on the breast and waist of the jacket. She wore black biker shorts that fell to her mid thigh and a short gray skirt on top of them. She impatiently clacked her gray shinobi sandals on the ground as she crossed her arms under her chest and glared at the crowd. The girls slowly turned around towards the young woman, with fear written all over their faces. A tick mark appeared on the girls' forehead as she spoke angrily to the crowd. "Leave Minato alone you harpies! As if any of you have a shot with him anyways! He isn't attracted to useless girls who will never in a million years have what it takes to be proper Konoha kunoichi!So disperse! Before I start to get mad..." The girls scattered like leaves in a strong wind, all turning tail and fleeing from the furious red head.
Minato and the others all leapt down from the roof and smiled at the girl as Kushina pushed herself up from the ground and patted the dirt off of her Keikogi. "Thanks for getting rid of them Satsuki. I owe you one for helping to save me. I really didn't want to have to fight my way out of there and hurt those girls in the process."
Satsuki turned towards Minato with a bright blush across her cheeks and rushed at him, wrapping both of her arms tightly around him and rubbing her face in his neck.
"It was nothing Minato-kun. You know I would do anything for you. Anything at all. Your so kind and compassionate for not wanting to hurt those awful girls who were harassing you. And I have the perfect way for you to repay me!" She then looked at him with stars in her eyes saying, "You can take me out for diner tonight, I know the perfect little restaurant on the other side of town and-"
"Satsuki!"
"Yes Minato-kun?"
"Would you kindly let go of me?" he asked with a dry look. She immediately let go of him and began apologizing.
"Sorry. Sorry. So so Sorry. I didn't make you uncomfortable did I?"
"Satsuki! You don't need to apologize. And no, I am not going to diner with you. Were just friends remember? Just. Friends."
"Right right. Got it. Totally understand. Just friends, yup. Just two friend. Two of the best friends in the world. Just hanging out." Minato sighed deeply, already exhausted by his red haired friend.
"Good job there Suki! I would have done the same but apparently those girls are not afraid of me the same way they are of you." Said Kushina as she shot the red head a smile. Satsuki returned the smile with a glare.
"Whatever." she dismissively said to the pale eyed girl. Kushina immediately responded to Satsuki's rude comment with an angry glare, a tick mark forming on her forehead.
"What exactly is your problem? Why are you always such a bitch to me?" Satsuki slid over into Kushina's face and returned the angry glare, their foreheads practically touching from their proximity to each other.
"What's my problem? What's your problem? Why do you always have to say things like that? Always acting so superior just because your dad was the Rokudaime. Big deal! And your always hanging all over Minato you whore! Back off he is spoken for!"
"What the hell did you say? My father was a great man! And I do not hang all over Minato! He is just my best friend! You crazy bitch!"
"Oh I'll show you crazy you whore!"
"You wanna go? I'll give you a front row seat to a good old fashioned Uzumaki ass whooping!"
"Oh get over yourself!"
"Girls!" Minato shouted as he slid between the two to try and stop their incessant fighting. They began to push towards each other, ready to fight so Minato pushed them apart with his arms. He stood there holding them apart at arms length as they shot cold glares at one another over his shoulders. "Really now? Why can't you two ever get along? You have all the same friends as each other and the group would be much more peaceful and relaxed if we didn't have to keep you two apart whenever we all go somewhere together. This is ridiculous!" Suddenly both girls stopped glaring and stared at one another blankly, blinking repeatedly. Minato blinked in surprise, 'That speech never stopped them from fighting before.' he thought in confusion. Slowly both girls looked downwards, prompting Minato to follow their gazes before realizing what had happened and turning as red as a tomato. In his efforts to hold them apart both of his hands had come to accidentally lay upon one of each girls small budding breasts. Their three other friends stood in shock as well, Shikamari and Chouma were bright red and Inoko had a look of blank incredulity on his face. For a moment everything was completely silent. Then Kushina let out a blood curdling shriek and punched Minato square in the jaw, knocking him a good four feet away before he came crashing back down to the ground. Her face was bright red and angry as she proceeded to stomp on him as he tried to block her attacks from the ground.
"You pervert! I have half a mind to tell my Uncles on you! Uncle Shino would have his bugs freaking eat your ass for that you pervert!"
"I swear to God it was an accident! An accident! I would never do that to you on purpose I swear!"
"Oh, what! So now I'm too ugly for your tastes is that it? Freakin' pervert!" Satsuki stood there with her hands on her bright red cheeks, shaking her head violently from left to right.
"Oh, Minato-kun. This is so forward. We are to young for this kind of thing."
"It. Was. An. Accident!" Minato shouted at her while being mercilessly beaten by his best friend.
"Wow... that was... wow." was all Shikamari could say, still in shock.
"Like... is she going to kill him? Should we, like, do something?" asked Chouma, equally in shock.
"Minato... you are seriously my hero. Way to cop a feel!" shouted Inoko, tears of pride and jealousy streaming down his face.
"Not helping Inoko! And it was an accident!" Minato shouted at his friend, feeling betrayed by his fellow male. At this stage of the beating Minato had apparently decided to accept his fate and merely clung onto his earmuffs as he was beaten to a pulp by Kushina. Satsuki had apparently fainted from embarrassment and the other three seemed to hold no interest in stopping the lynching Minato was receiving.
Later that evening...
"Oh my God, Minato what happened?" asked a very shocked and worried Mrs. Lee upon seeing her son after he had finally made his way home.
"I... don't really want to talk about it..." replied the young man whose face and arms were swollen with bruises the size of tangerines.
Two days later...
"And time! Please put down your pencils and turn over your answer sheets so that they are facing down." said the chunin proctor of the written portion of the ninja academy graduation exam. Minato whistled and leaned back in his seat, his hands behind his head. 'Too easy.' he thought to himself with a smirk. He looked around the room to find it filled with nervous looking youths, all appearing to feel that they had done poorly. All except for six faces in particular that is. He noticed that Kushina, Satsuki, Shikamari, Chouma, and Inoko all shared his confident grin. 'Yes. Looks like they all thought is was easy too. Now all we have to do is pass the practical and were home free.' "Please stand and leave the room. Leave your exams on the desks as they will be collected later. Do not touch any of the exam sheets now that the test is over." said the proctor. "Form an orderly line in the hallway outside of this room in order of alphabetical progression based upon last names. Minato Lee, report to the training field behind the academy." 'Yes. So it looks like it is going to be based on my physical prowess. Looks like all of Dad's insane training is finally going to pay off.' Minato stood and gave a confident nod to all of his friends, all of whom smiled back, as he left down the hall to make his way to the training field.
"You think he is going to pass?" asked Shikamari, "I mean at least we all had the option of studying for our practical. He has no idea what his is going to be so he had no way of studying."
"He will be fine. I'm sure he can pass whatever they throw at him." Said Kushina, who was very confident in her best friends' abilities.
"Yeah, there is no way that Minato-kun could fail his practical. He is too talented, and strong, and smart, and hansom, and-"
"Enough, we get it, you like Minato." Said Kushina in an annoyed tone.
"Jealous?" she replied in a confident tone.
"As if." said Kushina, rolling her eyes.
As Minato reached the training field he saw that the only person that was there waiting for him was the principal of the academy. "Hey Iruka Sensei. I'm here to pass my practical." the older man laughed at Minato's statement,
"That's some confidence you have there. So you're not here to take the practical, your here to pass the practical."
"Exactly." Minato replied, smirking.
"Well then, let's begin shall we? Your practical shall be a test of your ability to perform complicated, and delicate operations without the assistance of ninjutsu or genjutsu, as you are physically incapable of using the vast majority of either." 'Ugh... it's going to be a test of wit? I was sure it was going to be a physical test. Damn it.' thought Minato to himself. Iruka chuckled at Minato's visible disappointment. "Don't be so down, this test is very much a physical one as well as a mental one. It will take both to complete." he smirked as he continued on with his explanation. He pulled from its hiding place behind himself an ornate tea kettle and held it in both hands. "Your objective is to take this porcelain tea pot from me. To keep it away from your clutches I will do everything that is necessary to test your skills appropriately." Iruka smiled at how clever he thought himself to be. 'This kid is going to find it much harder than he thinks to get this tea pot from me. I'm not the principal of this academy for nothing.' Minato stared at the pot, with a pondering look on his face.
"That tea pot? Looks heavy, pretty durable. I can probably just charge in headfirst and take it." Iruka laughed at Minato's statement, 'This kid really shouldn't reveal his plans to his opponents.'
"Oh no Minato, I assure you it is very light and fragile, attacking to strongly risks breaking it, and if that happens you fail."
"No way. That thing, light? I don't believe you. It looks heavy." Minato said, the same pondering look on his face. 'This kid isn't as smart as I pegged him to be. How could he possibly refute its weight with me? I'm holding it.' "You really don't strike me as being that good at guessing weight from holding things." said Minato, face unchanging.
"What? Of course I can tell if something is heavy or not!" 'Little brat!'
"Really? Here let me see."
"Fine! See for yourself, it is very light and fragile." 'This will show that brat!' Iruka walked over to Minato and was about to place the tea pot into his hands when his jaw dropped and the situation dawned on him. Seeing this, Minato instantly dropped the 'pondering' act and his face shifted to a look of focus. He rushed forward and tried to pluck the pot from Iruka's hands, but having realized Minato's plot, Iruka leapt backwards away from him, holding the pot behind his back. 'That kid almost tricked me into handing it to him outright! I must be going senile to have let that one get by me.' Iruka thought to himself. 'Damn, almost had him. Oh well, never really thought that that plan would even get as far as it did. It was basically a shot in the dark.' thought Minato as he pursued his Sensei across the yard. "You'll have to do better than that Minato!" said Iruka as he fled across the yard at what was for him a fairly leisurely jog. "I'm faster than you are so you might want to change tactic." shouted Iruka over his shoulder, laughing to himself. Minato noticed Iruka close his eyes as he laughed and took that opportunity. He pushed forward, unveiling an entirely new speed as he almost instantly caught up to his Sensei. Iruka's eyes opened to see Minato about to pluck the pot from his arms. 'What? He sure is fast for a rookie! Well, it should be no surprise considering who his father is.' Iruka thought. "Close Minato, but I warned you about the head on approach. You see the beauty of this exercise is that while your goal is to protect the tea pot, mine is not!" Iruka then flung the tea pot forwards across the field. 'Sorry Minato, but you shouldn't have tried the straight forward approach, you were better off trying to trick me. That thing will shatter on impact with the ground.' thought Iruka to himself. Minato never missed a beat as he proceeded to jump forward and to the side, flipping and turning on his side. Iruka was taken by surprise as Minato planted his feet on Iruka's chest and kicked off of his Sensei's moving body. Iruka had the wind knocked out of him, as he was caught completely off guard by Minato's surprise attack. The kick launched Minato forward very quickly, allowing him to fly through the air like a kunai. He caught up to the rapidly descending tea kettle and wrapped his arms around it before he came down to the earth. He rolled and tumbled on the hard ground to keep the pot from breaking, allowing the force to be distributed into injuring his body instead of the pot. Iruka, who had been knocked down by Minato's kick, stood up to find Minato laying on the group proudly holding up the pot, a massive grin plastered on his face.
"I passed! Right Iruka Sensei?" 'This kid is good. Well I guess I shouldn't have underestimated the direct approach.' thought Iruka as he chuckled to himself.
"That's right Minato. You sure did." Minato beamed at Iruka.
"Thanks Iruka Sensei, that was almost fun. Well... almost." Iruka simply laughed harder.
"Art of the Doppelganger!" shouted out Kushina, her hands rapidly forming the Ram seal, then the Snake seal, then the Tiger seal. In a poof of smoke an exact replica of Kushina stood next to her in front of the three exam proctors. She grinned at herself, pleased with her own handiwork.
"An excellent clone. Thank you miss Uzumaki, you may leave. Next Inoko Yamanaka." Kushina nodded and dispelled her clone before the door opened and Inoko walked into the room. He and Kushina exchanged a high five as she left the room and Inoko turned to the proctors. Once in the hallway Kushina closed the door behind herself and turned to her friends who stood there waiting. She grinned from ear to ear and flashed them a peace sign in victory. They all smiled and nodded.
Later in the classroom...
"Wow Minato, your so lucky! You test actually sounds hard! All I had to do was make a clone." pouted Kushina at her friend as they sat next to each other in their usual seats.
"I think it is wonderful to hear that you did so well Minato-kun!" Said Satsuki from Minato's other side.
"Thanks girls. Now if only the proctor would come in and tell us what we already know so we could get this over with." Said Minato, basking in the glow of his own success. As if on cue, the door opened and in walked the proctor from the written portion of the exam carrying a medium sized wooden box. He laid the box down on the teachers' desk and opened it, revealing its' contents to be shiny, new Konoha headbands.
"Alright. The tests have been scored, and the practical scores have been tallied. I will now proceed to announce those that have passed. Those names that I call out, please step forward to receive your headband to officially become Konoha genin." The eyes of every single person in that room lit up with hope. "We will begin with the highest scoring student, this years 'Rookie of the Year.' And the top scorer was..." Kushina crossed her fingers, as did several other students. "Kushina Uzumaki."
"YES! Woo hoo! That is what it means to be an Uzumaki!" shouted Kushina in glee as she ran forward to the front of the room. The proctor laughed and pulled a headband from the box. He bowed to Kushina and placed it in her hands. She ran back to her seat and clutched it to her chest tightly.
"Well?" asked Chouma. "Are you, like, gonna put it on?"
"Not yet! I want all of us to put them on at the same time. That way we all become genin together." replied Kushina.
"Whatever." said Satsuki, slightly brooding that she had not made top score.
"I think that it's a great idea." said Minato to Kushina.
"I completely agree Minato-kun! It sounds wonderful." Satsuki said, in a shameless flip from her earlier position on the proposition. And so, one by one all six were called up to receive their headbands. In total, around twelve students received headbands. The others all looked incredibly disappointed. Some were clearly going to drop out after this failure, and proceed to lead normal civilian lives. Others looked stubborn enough to try and pass the next examination. The six all gathered together in a circle, all staring at the headbands in their hands.
"Ready everyone?" asked Kushina.
"Yes!" they all replied simultaneously.
"On three then." said Kushina. "One.
"Two." said Minato.
"Three!" said Satsuki. And with that they all tied their headbands to their persons. Minato and Kushina both tied their headbands around their heads in the traditional manner. Satsuki tied her headband so that it hung loosely around her neck like a necklace. Inoko tied his around his forehead, but tied the knot in such a manner that it was above his left temple, allowing the dangling fabric to hang next to his face. Chouma tied her headband around her right shoulder, unrolling the fabric to form a kind of blue shoulder guard, and Shikamari tied hers around her waist like a belt. They all basked in the glow of the moment before Kushina let off the cry,
"Alright! We did it! Were shinobi!"
Dear Readers,
Hello again, I continue to hope that you all are enjoying this story. I'm going to try to start updating weekly but... as it says on my profile... I'm lazy. So I may or may not keep to the schedule. Please, if you like the story or have and any thoughts, suggestions, or questions feel free to drop it in a review. I make it a policy of mine to personally respond to all my reviews, so no review will go unanswered. I am also open to submissions of Original Characters, although I cannot make any promises that they will make it into the series as it will be at my discression as to relevance to plot. Please submit these Charcters via Private Message as opposed to review. Enjoy the weather outside! All weather is good weather. It just depends on how you look at it. Peace.
P.S. Dear Readers! I have fanart of my genin! Go to my profile page to find the links for each character!
Love,
Danthemanwithaplan7