"Blah": Talking
'Blah': Demon speaking/ Inner Sakura
'Blah': Naruto's Thoughts/other people's thoughts
'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto
Hey guys! We're back with another chapter of the first prologue of the series!
Naruto: how many more chapters do we have left to go through?
Kvsyaoran: Six, I think...
Naruto: Six? ! But we're almost at the end of the title's implications! How can there be more?
Kvsyaoran: Cheese. It's as good as any other answer.
Naruto: While it may be an answer, IT'S NOT THE ANSWER I'M LOOKING FOR!
Kvsyaoran: HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT DESPITE AZEROTH44'S ABSENCE, WE ARE STILL ACTING LIKE COMPLETE LUNATICS?
Naruto: APPARENTLY, YES I HAVE!
Kvsyaoran: I miss him a little bit...
Naruto: Me too...
Deadpool: I'm still here!
Naruto & Kvsyaoran: WE'RE HAVING A MOMENT IN HERE!
For those of you who are upset with how Naruto's development is unhealthy and psychologically damaging, let me remind you of something; THIS IS FAN FICTION.
Reviews are welcome and wanted!
Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto
Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling and Warner Bros
Chapter 7: The Graduation Exam
"WHOO-HOO!"
That was what cried out the voice of a young boy wearing an orange tracksuit with blue on the upper shoulders area as well as up and down the front, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, a red swirl on the back, a big white collar, orange pants, blue sandals, and a pair of green goggles that looked like they've seen a lot of action.
Naruto Uzumaki kept jumping from rooftop to rooftop, carrying empty trays in his hands before he discarded them down the first dumpster he zoomed over in the midair. The small boy that a lot of people have become familiar with up to this point had grown up to be a highly energetic preteen who was currently being chased down by two unidentified chunin teachers from the Ninja Academy.
"Get back here, Naruto!"
"You're gonna pay for this!"
"You won't get away!"
Six years have passed since the day Naruto discovered that he was a wizard and he was now in his third and hopefully final year at the Academy.
He had to take a while off from school and use his time to train and sharpen his wit and abilities. He had to do this as well as countless other students ever since the infamous Uchiha Massacre. Ever since the night of purge of the Uchiha clan, the village council decided that allowing children under the age of nine or ten would risk their mental stability and forbade an entire generation of shinobi from graduating. this was done so that another case like Itachi Uchiha's would not occur again. But this decision was rather sporadic and it was soon terminated after an appeal that took over two years just to file out. The parents of dozens of children protested and demanded the ban be lifted and grant their children back the right to learn. When the protests were becoming too much of a problem, the council had no choice but to lift the two-year running ban and let the children go back to school, restricting the acceptance age to eight years old as a compromise.
(A/N: I know this ISN'T how the school system runs, but I started it with Naruto at age six and I just decided to spread out the years he goes back so that he will be eleven/twelve in his third year :P)
In that time, Naruto took the break to get over the stress that accumulated with two years of public school. The stress that he was going through in order to keep his magic a secret by pretending that he was an idiot was becoming something of a personal problem. He wanted to tell at least one real person the truth, so that he could continue playing his part as the deadlast with ease. Thankfully his absence from school helped him to recharge his batteries and got him ready for another year of school.
To make sure Naruto wouldn't let the stress build up again, Harry invited him into his office to talk at any time he pleased. It was almost like going to a therapist when the wizard had the kid lay down on one of the couches in the lounge while he sat up on one of the armchairs and talked about what it was that bothered him emotionally.
Once he was back in the real world, Naruto usually vent out his frustrations or his insecurities by going on a series of harmless rampages that took the form of pranks and mischief-making. He primarily targeted the most despicable people he could find and made sure to keep to his honor-code by only going after the worst society had to offer and nobody else. Today he wasn't targeting any particular person but was doing something a little bit different.
{{Mr. Longbottom Flies by John Williams}}
Naruto jumped out of the way of the two pursuers and dove down into an alleyway. He grabbed a rope that he had placed in advance and swung right through the tight space between two buildings as if he were one of his favorite superheros. The two chunin stopped and were dumbfounded when they saw Naruto swiftly slip right through the space both of them were too big to possibly fit through. The young boy jumped at the peak of his swing and grabbed another rope while he imitated his favorite comic book hero. He grabbed hold of another rope and picked up another package that he had placed on top of a roof of a building the previous night. He then jumped from rooftop to rooftop, and opened the package to find a large, beautifully decorated, and slightly stale cake.
The young wizard took the packaged dessert and approached the carved faces of the Hokage where on the faces of stone was his unfinished masterpiece. Naruto used his chakra to hop from one roof to the next until he reached the trees and mountains that led up to the top of the mountain. He jumped through the trees and ran through the forest until he reached the rocky summit of the Hokage Mountain. Naruto slowed down, adjusted his ears to the change in pressure and ran up to the peak of the mountain where a tightly-bound rope was waiting for him. He attached the rope to his belt using a simple spell and jumped off the mountain to swing in front of the Sandaime's engraved face, "WHOO!"
He aimed the cake in his hand and he threw it right above Sarutobi's upper lip, giving his statue face a white mustache with yellow-cake boogers.
"Direct hit!" he cheered.
Bellow the his feet, there stood a large group of jounin and chunin shinobi who were all yelling at him and boasting that he was going to get it once he came back down.
Naruto had decided to make one lasting impression of his Academy days by decorating the Hokage faces with thrown-away cakes from a local bakery. He originally wanted to use paint from the hardware store, but his older brother warned him not to or else he would risk being expelled from the Academy or receive a far worse punishment for desecrating a national monument. The two of them ended up sneaking into the garbage of the local bakery and took the cakes that had the most moisture trapped within them.
When he finished his masterpiece, he kicked off from the Nidaime Hokage's left cheek to examine his work. He laughed at the chocolate and raspberry swirls of the Shodai Hokage's cheeks. He giggled at the Nidaime's wedding cake beard and caterpillar eyebrows, which Harry admired for his remarkable use of charms to keep them up. The two of them both hollered at Sandaime Hokage's statue, as it now had a vanilla goatee and mustache that was already beginning to drip in large clumps. Harry and Naruto went hysterical at the sight of the Yondaime's face, that now had a strawberry clown nose and blushing pink-raspberry cheeks.
The boy laughed at the newly colored face and turned to his audience below him and bellowed, "I GIVE YOU! THE GREAT HOKA-CAKE FACES!"
The crowd gathered on the roof of the Administration Building began spitting harsh insults at the boy dangling from the rope. Two random chunin in the back of the crowd decided to break off and alert their aging leader as soon as possible. When they came back with the old man, the two of them pointed at the mess and the child swaying back and forth on his rope.
"Hokage-sama, look! That damn brat is at it again! Look at what he's done to your face!"
Sarutobi walked up to the end of the railed roof and stopped before the gathering puddle of icing that fell down from his statue's nose. He reached out his hand and caught some icing with his index finger. He examined the smudge of white icing smothering the tip of his outstretched finger and he plopped it in his mouth. The others around him looked confused or disgusted, even thinking their leader to be slightly mad at tasting the desecration.
"Hmm..." he said as he thought deeply, "Vanilla... My favorite!"
The surrounding crowd of people raised their brows at their leader's actions, especially when a warm smile spread across his aging face. Sarutobi licked the remains of his little treat and smiled, sugar having a magical tendency to lift up his old spirits.
"Hokage-sama!" one of the men protested.
Sarutobi shrugged and closed his eyes as he began to walk away, "I don't see the point in getting all worked up over a little bit of sugar and icing. Though Naruto will still have to clean up his mess..."
The old man watched as his first grandson slipped down his rope and jumped back onto the rooftops again as those two chunin from earlier finally caught up with him and chased him back towards the school.
"He always does..."
Naruto jumped up and down from the buildings, trying to shake off the chunin following him. He rapidly jumped from building to building, bouncing off of windows and railings, hoping that his pursuers would slip and fall to the ground. Naruto treated this game of cat and mouse like a game of Quidditch, by imagining himself flying on a broomstick and speeding in between viewing platforms, hoping that the players behind him would slam into a pillar or collide into each other in midair. He tried to escape his followers, but wasn't until Naruto ducked into another alleyway and hid behind a shinobi-issue Cloak of Invisibility. He cleverly placed himself underneath the cloth and pressed the sheet over himself before blending into his surroundings like a chameleon. The chunin were tricked easily and they sped after another kid who looked similar to Naruto. The real blonde-haired hoodlum peered out from under the sheet and jumped and down in victory while he laughed.
"Hahahahahahahaha! Thank you! Thank you, ladies and gentlemen!" he joked as he started walking to school, "No! Thank you! I'll be here til Thursday! OOF!"
He bumped into something solid and warm, and almost fell down on his back. Naruto looked up and froze before he began to laugh nervously at his favorite teacher. Iruka was staring down at him with an unhappy look on his face. He was tapping his foot lightly while he had his arms crossed and remained still as a statue. He was clearly upset with Naruto for both his most recent prank and for another reason. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and checked his watch to realize that he was over an hour late for class. He looked up at Iruka and scratched his cheek in a nervous fit.
If it wasn't mentioned before; this was one issue that Naruto and Harry argued on for a long while.
Naruto really admired his sensei and greatly respected him for having been so fair and kind to him since the day he first met him. This was the same person that had saved Naruto from being slaughtered on his first week at public school. If Iruka was willing to save Naruto's life and care so much about him and his education, then he couldn't see why he shouldn't trust the man with the one secret Harry made him swear not to tell anyone. Because of how much Iruka grew to care about Naruto, the boy began to view and even love his favorite teacher almost like a father or another older brother figure.
Because of this, Naruto hated disappointing him, lying, and not being himself around him.
He and Harry kept arguing over this; the younger of the pair saying that Iruka wouldn't tell anyone and would accept him since he was genuinely nice. But the older wizard disagreed and said that the chunin teacher would believe Harry to be the Kyuubi trying to manipulate Naruto and would therefore tell the Hokage. Though he could never deny that after observing Iruka's eyes every time he watched the two of them talk, he could see genuine kindness and concern in those chocolate-brown eyes. But it wasn't enough for Harry to let Iruka into the circle of trust.
"Hey, sensei... I, uh, I was just on my way to-"
Iruka didn't want to hear excuses as he final spoke in a crossed voice and pointed towards the direction of the school, "Classroom. Now."
The Academy student sunk his head in shame and answered, "Yes, sensei."
Naruto followed his teacher to the corridor outside of their classroom. This was usually the place where he would drag him and the rest of the troublemakers in the class to be royally chewed out. Naruto was considered a frequent visitor to this hallway for all of the times he had been brought out of class for all of the trouble he caused. Iruka stood outside his classroom and looked down at his student more in disappointment than anger.
"I just don't understand it, Naruto." he said slowly, "You failed the graduation exam on your first year and the year after that! Tomorrow is your third chance to graduate, and you're messing up again. You have to keep your head in the game this time around and stay focused, like I keep telling you."
After his teacher was finished with reminding him to stop fooling around, the two of them entered the classroom. Naruto sat down in his seat as Iruka stood in front of the class to make his announcement;
"Alright everyone, we're going to review the Henge no Jutsu today! Naruto missed it, so we have to go over it again."
The entire room moaned and booed at their teacher's command, but they still got up from their seats and formed a single-file line. Naruto stood in between the girl Ino and his old friend Shikamaru. Before he got in his place in line, almost all of the other students scowled at him for being late and playing his foolish tricks. Naruto sighed silently while he looked around the classroom to reflect upon the changes in the last few years. He still had the same classmates as last year, with the exception of a handful of students who managed to graduate after the purge. Naruto was still stuck with all of the same clan heirs and heiresses he met in his second year. The only thing that was different about them was their clothing, as they started wearing their more signature outfits instead of normal civilian attire.
Iruka's voice called out in command, "Alright! All you need to do is transform into a copy of me, and that's the review. No problem."
One by one, Iruka evaluated each of his students based on the accuracy of their transformation. He wrote down his notes on his old black clipboard as each student took their turn in transforming into an image of him. Every student, so far, looked very similar to their sensei only they were holding their hands together as they were when they started the jutsu. When Naruto's turn was approaching, two students spoke their minds about his antics earlier this morning.
Shikamaru sighed tiredly and said with reason, "This is a complete waste of time, Naruto. Couldn't you have held it off until tomorrow or something? That's what I told you to do, man..."
"We always do this for your mistakes, dead-last idiot!" Ino Yamanaka criticized harshly.
Naruto rolled his eyes once his favorite teacher called his name, "Like I care, Ino-chan..."
He soon stood at the front of the line and was ready to impress his sensei to make up for his mistake this morning. When he stood up, he attracted the attention of just one other student in the entire class. The girl Naruto had seen on the first day of his second year, the one who always blushed when the two were within close proximity of each other. She looked over at him with lavender eyes and her two pointer fingers poking at each other out of nervous habit. Naruto didn't remember her but he had actually met this girl a long time ago when they were both very small. But Naruto had defended this girl from a bunch of bullies and was eventually knocked out trying to defend her. Since then, she hadn't forgotten him and wished she had the courage to talk to him and be friends, maybe be more now that she was older and approaching her teens.
The girl, named Hinata Hyuga, looked over to Naruto and blushed deeply as she admired him, 'Naruto-kun... Do your best!'
The boy put his hands together and cried out the name of one of his best jutsu.
"Henge no Jutsu!"
Once the smoke of the jutsu cleared, out came the perfect image of Iruka Umino. The teacher looked very impressed, as Naruto made a perfect mirror reflection of him, instead of taking on a form of his teacher holding his hands together like the other students were doing. Naruto's version of his favorite teacher was perfect, as the exercise was originally designed. The transformation was downright flawless all the way down to the finest possible detail. He even got the details down on his headband, including the scratches, complete with his clipboard and pencil.
"Uhhh... Very good job, Naruto! Good work!"
(A/N: Don't worry, Sexy no Jutsu will be on it's way soon! It'll be great! XD)
{{Nimbus 2000 by John Williams}}
Later that day, Naruto received a detention for the stunt he pulled that morning. Iruka supervised it as he walked with him to the top of the Administration Building, and together they were lifted up by a scaffold. They climbed the face of the mountain/cliff all the way to the top. Iruka got off while he gave Naruto a bucket of fresh water, a rag, some special plaster-removing swabs, and a number of other cleaning materials that he needed. Iruka sat himself down on top of the Shodai Hokage as he watched Naruto complete his chore. When his student got started on the work willingly, he called out to remind him.
"Don't forget that you can't leave to go home until the job is done, Naruto!"
The boy nodded his head, not really upset over anything as he was used to this by now. But still, Naruto sort of wished that he could want to go back to the apartment. To go to a place that he could call his home where someone was there waiting for him to return. But instead, all he had waiting for him at his apartment was a drunken landlord and his family, overcharging him for his rent and shutting off his power while he was still up studying and reading.
Naruto mumbled to himself, thinking no one could hear him, "It's not like there's someone there waiting for me..."
At hearing his student say that, Iruka opened his eyes and felt as if a knife pierced his heart. He simply hadn't noticed it before. But Naruto was an orphan just like he was. He frowned sadly, berating himself on the inside for having not realized this sooner. Iruka put together that Naruto only did this stunt because he was trying to compensate for something he didn't have anymore. He felt guilty and stupid for having said that one sentence a minute ago and thought that he should talk to Naruto as soon as he could.
"Hey, Naruto!"
The boy stopped scraping off raspberry and chocolate icing from the Shodai Hokage's cheek and looked up to his sensei curiously.
"Once you're done here, how about I treat you to Ichiraku Ramen? The good stuff! What do you say?"
Naruto adopted an excited and determined look in his face and he got right back to work and scrubbed off as much cake and icing from the faces of the Hokage without giving in to using magic to shortcut to a promised meal of delicious ramen noodles.
"You got it, sensei! I'll be done in no time!"
About two hours later, Naruto had finally finished cleaning the Hokage Faces until they were clean and even spotless of cake, icing, and bird excrement. For having cleaned the stone faces more thoroughly than he was ordered to, Iruka decided to reward Naruto with at least two or three bowls of Ichiraku's famous ramen. When they arrived at the old ramen shop, Iruka and Naruto took seats next to each other and ordered their meal. Naruto helped himself to a bowl of beef ramen with extra barbecue pork, while Iruka got himself the same thing. Teuchi looked happy to see these two customers back in his restaurant, having seen them both come in here to talk on numerous occasions.
Whenever Naruto got into fights at school through the end of his second year and throughout his third year, Iruka tried to talk to him here at Ichiraku's to know why he did it and figure out what was the cause of his behavior. But no matter how many times they came to this place to eat, Iruka still couldn't figure it out. He also brought him here tried to solve the mystery as to how Naruto was unable to improve his grades, and again, no matter how hard he tried he could figure it out. He could see the look of determination in his students eyes and saw the potential he had as a shinobi. He could see it, he truly could. But despite all of the efforts, Naruto still kept slipping up and getting into trouble. He wanted to help him, but he just couldn't figure out the source of the problem.
He could only hope now that tonight he could solve the mystery and find a way to get Naruto to catch up on his grades, even though tomorrow was the final school day of the year. Iruka stopped eating, no matter how good his ramen tasted, and looked to Naruto. Who was busy scarfing down on his noodles and slurping away as if he hadn't eaten a bite all day.
"Naruto," he started.
The boy did not stop eating his remarkable meal but he still let his sensei know that he was listening to him.
"Why did you do that to the faces of the Hokage? You do know who they are, right?"
The boy slurped on the last of his noodles and answered his teacher, "Of course I know who they are, sensei. I actually paid attention in that one history lecture," the boy slurped up the broth of his meal and took a sigh of satisfaction, "Everybody knows who the Hokage are. They're the undefeated ninja champions of our village. They're are the ones who carry the Will of Fire that burns within all of the shinobi... And the Yondaime Hokage... he was the most famous, because he protected the village from the Kyuubi no Kitsune and saved us all from oblivion."
Iruka then asked him, "So why did you-"
Before he could finish his question, Naruto came up with a half-truth and half-lie about his reasons for decking out the faces of the Hokage with cake.
"Because I'm going to become better than any of them one day! Me! Naruto Uzumaki! The next Hokage! When that day comes, people will have to stop disrespecting me and look up to me! Dattebayo!"
The teacher was dumbstruck at Naruto's sporadic proclamation but then he realized his student's reasons for wanting to improve himself, so that the people of the village could give him some respect. Iruka was hesitant on what he should say next, because at the rate Naruto was going with his grades, the possibility of him becoming Hokage was very unlikely. But at the same time, he wanted to encourage his student to pursue his dream and become a better shinobi with that drive fueling him. But if he did that, Naruto could foolishly put himself into danger, thinking he could go after that dream only to never make it and become crushed both emotionally and physically.
Iruka really couldn't think up of the right answer for him.
But he was saved when Naruto looked up to him and asked a question, "By he way, sensei? I wanted to ask you a small favor?"
"You want another bowl?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
The boy shook his head, "Nah... I just wanted to ask if I could wear your headband for a second? C'mon! Please? Just for a sec!"
"What, this?" he asked and smiled, "No way, I can't do that! The headband of the Konoha shinobi is a badge of adulthood. You can only get one if you pass the test tomorrow."
Naruto groaned and fumed, "Awww... That is so not cool!"
"Wait a sec! Is that why you took off your goggles before you ate?" his favorite teacher asked.
Naruto tried to deny it and said, "Could I get another bowl, please?"
Iruka laughed while Teuchi prepared another bowl for Naruto. The student and mentor continued to talk until they had to turn in for the big day tomorrow. When they departed from the restaurant, the two of them waved goodbye before they went their separate ways. Iruka watched his student run back home and was pleased to see his enthusiasm for the exam tomorrow, but he soon turned anxious on whether or not he would be able to pass this time around. He could only pray that Naruto would manage to brush up his skills in time and pass. In truth, he secretly hoped that Naruto would accomplish his dream.
It was obvious that he had a very clear and passionate understanding on the concept of the Will of Fire. He was the only student to ever understand it as much as his teacher did. When he stood up and told him this in front of the whole class, Naruto secretly earned the spot as Iruka's favorite student, if he were allowed to make that kind of choice.
For now, he could only hope that Naruto would be able to graduate the following day.
The next morning, the blonde-haired cadet woke up with a start when his mental alarm clock went off. He got up and ate his breakfast as quickly as he could while Harry kept telling him to slow down or he would choke or get a stomachache. When he finished breakfast, he undressed in his bathroom and hopped into the shower. He gave his scalp a good cleaning and applied whatever conditioner he had and dumped it on his head and let it sink in. Once Naruto was properly cleansed, he started brushing his teeth and listened to his companion while he counted his brush strokes.
'Today's the big day, Little one! How do you feel?'
Naruto answered slowly, 'I feel a little nervous, Harry... I've been studying so much for this day... Just like how I studied for the last two exams these past few years...'
'Just do your best. You really are talented, Naruto. You have so much potential in you!'
'Potential didn't exactly help me out with the Bunshin no Jutsu, Nii-san. No matter how hard I try, it's just that one jutsu I can't get right.'
'I understand. Maybe this year they won't test you on that jutsu. I heard that some other students didn't have to perform that jutsu to graduate. Some kid who could only do taijutsu still got out.'
'And if that isn't the case and I have to do the Bunshin?'
'Then let's just hope that it doesn't have to come to that.'
'...Well... At least one good thing will have come out from graduating...'
'What's that?'
'I can finally stop this whole idiot act and earn myself some respect...!'
When Naruto stopped stroking for a second, he looked into the mirror and heard his older brother's voice sounding very enthusiastic and made him feel a lot more confident in himself, 'Who's gonna graduate today?'
'That would be me!'
Naruto stopped brushing his teeth and hovered over his sink while he cleaned out his mouth with wash. He spat in his sink and proceeded to get ready for the final day of school, selecting one of his numerous orange tracksuits. Naruto grimaced at having to wear one of these again, but Harry insisted on it.
It would surprise a lot of people, especially his classmates, but Naruto hated wearing his signature orange and blue outfit. The tracksuit he made famous was part of the disguise that Harry had him assume for years as it made people question whether or not Naruto was trying to make himself a human target, since shinobi had to wear more concealing clothes. Harry also insisted that he should wear it because it was remarkably heavy and it would weigh him down and eventually make him physically stronger.
Naruto grudgingly put on his hideous attire and stormed out the door, ready to take on the Graduation Exam with the greatest confidence.
The boy wizard arrived at school early that morning and got himself pumped for the exam.
While Naruto waited patiently, he couldn't help but watch as his classmates slowly filled up the classroom; starting with Sakura and Ino when they raced through the door to sit next to the classroom heartthrob. Kiba entered the classroom, carrying his familiar in his coat and smelling like a wet dog soaked in urine. Choji and Shikamaru came into the classroom some few minutes later and carried with them a whole bag of snacks and chips to share. The more gluttonous clan heir already started eating them up, claiming that he would need the snacks for energy, while his slothful best friend collapsed onto his desk and complained about how life was so troublesome. Hinata soon walked in after them and sat down quietly in a seat behind the golden-haired troublemaker. Harry couldn't help but look at the girl and noticed the fact that she kept on blushing in his little brother's presence and snickered at how Naruto didn't even notice it. The scene reminded him greatly of how Ginny used to act around him while he was alive. The last student to come into was a boy named Shino Aburame, who very few people even notice even walked in, making it seem as if he were there for hours to begin with.
As the usual commotion commenced, Naruto tried to go over the exercises as many times as possible. He wanted to make sure that he couldn't mess up and get these jutsu just right. He even resorted to phasing into the mindscape briefly to practice the techniques and make sure he got them all down perfectly. But before Naruto could start practicing making illusionary clones of himself with Harry, their tan-skinned teacher arrived with his old clipboard and stood behind his desk while the children quieted down when he started to address to them.
Naruto snapped back into reality and listened to every word his favorite teacher had to say.
"Today, you guys will be taking the final exam... First, you have to complete a written test once it's been handed out to you. And once you're finished with that, we'll move onto the practical examination... When your name is called, proceed to the testing room where Mizuki-sensei and myself will be evaluating. The practical test will be on the three basic Academy-level jutsu; the Henge no Jutsu, Replacement Technique, and the Bunshin no Jutsu."
At hearing that last bit out loud and clear, Naruto face-palmed himself and removed his goggles in frustration. He slammed his fist to his desk as quietly as he could and he cursed under his breath.
'Dammit! There's no way I can pass this year! Stupid educational system!'
'Relax, Little one. Just do the best you can. Run through the steps slowly and perform the technique. You won't be graded on speed, so take all the time you need to get it done right. Okay?'
'I'll try my absolute best, Nii-san. I think I might get it down this year! Dattebayo!'
He waited patiently until his name was called after a majority of the students left. Naruto walked out of his classroom for what he hoped to be the final time and into the testing room down the hall. When he walked in and faced the two teachers, he felt as if his legs turned to jello and that he would fall over at any moment. He walked into the unused classroom and saw his teacher and Mizuki sitting behind the desk at the front. There on the table were an assembly line of Konoha headbands. All of them brand-spanking-new with freshly sewn blue cloth and newly minted steel, fresh out of the factory that supplied them. Naruto looked at one of the headbands, hoping one of them could be his own to keep as he stared at the engraved symbol of the village leaf.
Naruto re-aimed his focus and concentrated on the test. Iruka told him that he had to first demonstrate his ability with the Henge and had him transform into an image of Sarutobi. The boy did as he was told and turned into the perfect copy of their leader. His next task was that he had to replace himself with a small ensemble of random objects, including a log, large rock, and even a desk. Naruto performed the technique successfully each time with every object, earning him a significant number of points towards earning himself one of those headbands.
When it was time to perform the final jutsu (the Bunshin no Jutsu) Naruto took a step back and slowly went through the steps to performing the jutsu. Since time not of the essence in this situation, he relaxed and tried his very best to concentrate on creating the appropriate number of intangible clones. He focused his chakra and let it flow throughout his body correctly before he released it with a large amount of white smoke.
Naruto cried out loudly, "Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Once the smoke cleared, he looked over to his clones. But then he gasped lightly when he saw that he only created one and that it had no pigmentation, no color, and was sprawled on the floor, vomiting white smoke before it died and disappeared into nothing. Naruto looked over to his teacher and watched him sigh before he shook his head.
Naruto exited the Academy, feeling completely depressed from having failed for the third year in a row. The boy retreated to the old swing hanging from the large oak tree across the schoolyard. He perched himself on the swing and watched as the other students emerged from out the doors and were met by their proud parents and families. Naruto tried his best to refrain from listening to the sounds of the other kids of his generation as their parents smothered them with endless congratulations. He listened to fathers praising their sons and mothers embracing their children, telling them that they would cook their favorite meal for dinner.
How the lonesome blonde child longed to be in the shoes of those children laughing outside the doors they escaped. To be able to receive a hug from his mother and be kissed upon his scarred forehead. Or get a firm pat on his back from his father and hear him tell him how proud he was of him.
Out in the crowd, two mothers looked over to see Naruto down at the swing and pointed at him rudely.
"It's that boy! I heard he's the only one who failed."
"Serves him right. Can you imagine if they let someone like that become a ninja?"
"After all, he's the one who has the-"
"SHH! We're not supposed to talk about that! The Sandaime will have our heads!"
Naruto clenched the rope of his swing and rested his head on said rope while he despaired and tried to resist the urge to cry out of the loneliness and the fact that his parents couldn't be here to comfort him in his time of need.
'Why can't I manage the Bunshin, Nii-san? It's not fair! Everyone else managed to graduate... Even that slick-git Kiba got to graduate...'
The older wizard sighed and focused the sensation of warm arms wrapping around his container, 'I don't know for sure, Little one. But it definitely has something to do with your chakra control.'
'But I thought I had great chakra control. You said that yourself.'
'You just don't have the necessary control of the amount of chakra you use; you keep overloading chakra to ensure the technique's success. When you over-power them it causes your clones to look pretty dead. You need more time for the control exercise to truly make a difference, but I found them too late to help with these exams. I'm really sorry, Naru-chan...'
'It's not your fault, Harry... It's never been your fault...'
Naruto suddenly felt a headache simmering up on his forehead and looked up from the ground to be surprised. He saw the head instructor emerge from the crowd gathered outside of the school and approached him. The boy wizard withdrew from his conversation with his brother and the magical sensation before he looked up to see Mizuki hovering up above him and smiling down at him softly.
"Hello, there, Naruto! Could you come with me, please? I want to talk to you."
The boy hesitated before he stood up off the swing and followed the teacher out of the grounds and to an isolated part of town. The two of them eventually settled down on the roof of a building that overlooked the entire metropolis. For several uncomfortable minutes of silence, the two of them sat down on the roof and watched as the sky soon turned orange and the blazing sun slowly fell down towards the face of the cloud-kissed mountains of the west. Naruto felt very uneasy around this teacher and couldn't think of anything to break the silence. His memories of the incident back at the library didn't help him while he got a bad vibe about this pale-skinned man and his intensions for bringing him out here in this isolated part of town.
Mizuki soon spoke up to break the tension, "I'm sorry about Iruka not letting you graduate again this year. I still say that the Bunshin no Jutsu shouldn't matter, seeing as you did well with the other jutsu."
"It's fine." answered the slightly nervous child.
The head instructor then said, "Iruka's a tough teacher, but he's never been against you. You know that, right?"
"Yeah, I know that..." the boy answered, "But... I still wish he could have let me graduate... I really wouldn't have given me the chance. I really could have done him proud...!"
The head instructor looked over at the child in sympathy, "You know, you kinda remind me of him when he was your age. Granted, Iruka was much younger than me, so I was never in the same class. But I had heard a lot about him. He also wanted to become a great shinobi, but he was an S-Class troublemaker... He didn't get to where he was now because his sensei went easy on him... He worked his tail off to get to where he is now."
Naruto nodded and even smiled at the fact that he was similar to his favorite teacher, "Yeah... But this time... I really, really wanted to graduate..."
Mizuki gave the child a sharp look, though it lasted only a few seconds before it slowly faded away. This look made him appear determined and almost thirsty before it soften into another of his reassuring masks.
"If you want to graduate so much, then I guess I have to tell you..." he offered.
The boy looked up towards Mizuki, "Huh? Tell me what?"
"It's a secret. But I'm gonna let you in on it... There's a secret way for failed students to graduate from the Academy regardless of test scores."
Naruto looked deeply intrigued when the subject was brought up, but underneath his facial expressions he was actually suspicious, 'What the bloody hell is he going on about? I've never heard of there being another way to pass! He's lying!'
'Isn't that the understatement of the year.'
'What do I do, Nii-san? This guy is trouble.'
'Go along with him for now... I want to see what he's up to. Whatever it is, I doubt it's good. And whatever he's got planned, we can stop him. Together.'
Naruto nodded to his companion mentally and then he listened to Mizuki's every word and direction.
To Be Continued...
Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-DUN! Not to worry. I'm going to update to the next chapter in a day or two since everyone wants to see through the end of this important part of the story.
Naruto: Well, I can only guess as to where this is going...
Kvsyaoran: (Smiling) Shut it, Naruto.
Naruto: What? What did I do?
Kvsyaoran: I'm sorry. It's just that I kinda miss Azeroth44 not being here like I said earlier.
Naruto: I miss him too...
Deadpool: If you guys miss him so much, why don't you check him out?
Naruto: Huh?
Deadpool: I think he's about ready to come back. Check it!
(Both rush out of their seats and head straight to the resurrection room that looks just like the room where Neji was healed after the Sasuke Retrieval Arc)
Naruto: GASP!
Kvsyaoran: His body! It's gone!
Deadpool: Cliffhanger!
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