Chapter 4

Morning comes as Menma and Naruto are in their apartment. The apartment is small and a little cramped. There are two bedrooms with their own doors. There's one bathroom and a small kitchen with a stove counter and microwave. The floor is all hard wood and theres a basic small table with four chairs. There's a small balcony connected to the room with a wobbly handle. The windows are filty full of grim and dirt.

Menma is waiting just outside the closed bathroom while Naruto is busy inside the bathroom.

"You're going to be late" yelled Menma.

"I'll be just another minute" said Naruto.

"Another minute? You said that five minutes ago. What are you doing in there?"

"I want to look good for my photo."

Menma rolls his eyes. "If you don't hurry up you won't be taking a photo, now come on!"

"Alright alright" Naruto opens the door and Menma sees his face. It's painted completely white with lots of red markings and spirals on it. His hands are painted like that as well. Menma gives Naruto a blank stare as if his was thing to process what he was seeing.

"Naruto…what…the hell…is that?" said Menma in an almost irritated voice.

"Like it right? It's like an artwork on my face." Menma puts his hand on his face letting out a very frustrated sigh.

"This is a picture for your official Genin document. They won't put that face on it."

"Yes they will. I look so cool."

Menma opens his mouth to start to say something but stops himself. He takes a deep breath. "I don't' have time for this. I got my exam retake in five minutes."

"Humph…why are you even retaking the exam. Iruka-sensei could just pass you too."

"I failed on purpose, remember? My scores are probably a lot lower than they should. Can't have those scores reflect my skills. It would be…unprofessional…besides, I can't use shadow clone jutsu like you can. Iruka sensei can't pass me the same way he passed you."

Naruto lets out a sigh and turns away. Menma looks at the clock.

"Naruto, get going now before you're late" said Menma. He grabs Naruto by the collar and pushes him towards the door.

"Hey, watch it Menma, you'll wipe the paint off" said Naruto.

"When then it would be an improvement." Menma pushes Naruto violently out the apartment. He takes Naruto's shoes and puts them in his hand.

"Hey Menma" said Naruto. "Good luck on your—"Menma closes the door in Naruto's face before he could even react. Menma presses his back to the door and lets out a large sigh.

"Naruto…what am I going to do with you." He looks at the clock. "Iruka's going to kill me for being late.

"Got to hurry" said Naruto as he runs through the street. He's dodging many civilians as he tries to get to the academy. "Yes, almost there." Naruto comes to an intersection and runs through. He catches something out the corner of his eye and looks. He sees a pink haired girl walking along the street. She's dressed in all red and is wearing the leaf headband. He's so focused on her that he doesn't pay attention to where he's going and ends up running into another girl. The two then tumble over and Naruto ends up on top of her.

"Ow" said the girl.

"Oh, sorry" said Naruto he gets up and continues to run. The girl stares back at Naruto with a shocked look on her face.

Naruto gets to the building. He makes his way to the top where the photographer is waiting for him. The photographer takes one look at Naruto and is completely stunned by his appearance.

"Um…are you Naruto Uzumaki?" asked the photographer.

"That's me" said Naruto. He positions himself in front of the camera. The photographer just gives a confused and uncomfortable look.

"Uh, kid, you want to take off that paint on your face?"

"No, no, its okay just take the photo like this."

The photographer's face goes blank. "Are you sure you want me to take your photo like this?"

"Yeah, yeah, just do it already."

"…okay, just don't blame me later."

He gets behind the camera and takes the picture.

Meanwhile, Menma gets to the classroom. He opens the door. Inside is Iruka-sensei with an irritated look on his face.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei, It took me a while to get ready." said Menma.

"You almost missed the exam Menma" said Iruka.

"Yes, I know…sorry."

Iruka sighs. "It's okay, just take your seat." Menma nods as he makes his way to the seat. As Menma sits down, he notices that he and Iruka are not the only ones in the classroom. Sitting in the bottom left hand desk was another kid that Menma didn't recognize. . He had black hair with green eyes. His hair was brushed down stopping at his neck. He wore blue shorts with a red trim on both sides. He had a blue short-sleeve shirt with a white trim on the ends of the sleeves. He wore his shuriken holster on his left side making him left handed and black open toe shoes. There was also some noticeable scaring near both of his eyes. The kid sat quietly not saying a word almost like he was in some kind of trance.

'Who's he?' thought Menma. 'Never seen him before, not even in the leaf village.'

"Alright you two, time to take your final exam" said Iruka. "Remember, the exam is split up into the written part and the performance part. The performance will be based on the clone jutsu." Menma nods his head. Iruka passes the exam to Menma and the new kid. They begin. Menma finds all the questions quite easy. He writes down his answers at a really fast pace. After completing half, the new kid suddenly finishes and hands his exam over to Iruka. This shocks Menma as he wasn't expecting someone to finish only 5 minutes after starting the exam.

'This guy must be really smart' though Menma. 'I wonder how strong he is?' Menma finishes up his exam and turns it in to Iruka. Iruka smiles.

"Good, now since we're pressed for time, let's get started with the clone jutsu right here" said Iruka. "Menma, you first."

Menma nods as he takes a deep breath standing in the middle of the room. He does the hand signs. "Clone Jutsu" yelled Menma. Menma makes six clones. Iruka smiles. He hands Menma a headband.

"Congratulations, you pass." Menma gives a satisfied nod. "You're next Yokubo" said Iruka as he turns to the kid.

'Yokubo?' though Menma.

Yokubo takes a deep breath and does the hand sign. "Clone Jutsu" Yokubo makes four clones. Iruka nods and give him a headband. "Congra—" Yokubo walks out the room before Iruka could even finish. He slams the door behind him.

"That was…rude" said Menma.

"Yeah, well, he's new" said Iruka. "Might not feel comfortable in the village yet."

"New?" Menma had a curious look on his face.

"Yeah, apparently he's from outside the village. The third Hokage arranged for him to come here to the leaf village as a Genin. He doesn't seem too thrilled about the whole ordeal."

"The old man wanted him here?"

"I don't know the details but yeah I expect things will be a bit awkward for him here."

Menma looks back at the door. "I can see that."