Guess who's back?
yes, it's me! the writer who only updates once a year!

I'm really sorry for taking so long; I had some 'family issues' and I couldn't find my… inspiration, motivation, or whatever it's called. Well, to make it short, I had kind of forgotten my forgotten prisoner, gomenasai!

This chapter is particularly dedicated to Hitsugayatoshirou1220. She really pushed me to continue my story and I'm very glad I listened to her^^ As promised, I updated before March. So really, Thank You. It's nice to have a reader like you!

But of course, I love all my readers! I would like to thank to sousie who also sent me a PM.
And thanks to Skidney1, afallenheart, Dean The Cuddly Fox, crazzyredhead, XxXxFading DreamxXxX, Gin-San, Twilightaddict102, SLTora, Rangerfan58, FifthDayOfMay, OverLordRevan, Hektols, FM, aki6, Sacred3, elemental man, Shinichi06, The Three Stoogies, ShuUreI814, Pewinov, c im am a dragon, Elitewarr, InARealPickle, sweetXsunshine and all the people who reviewed the previous chapters.
You're the best !

For those who read the story a long time ago and don't remember well –that's often my case-, I wrote you a short summary of the whole story. There you go :

Summary: During a Chûnin exam, Orochimaru attacks Konoha and while he fights against Sandaime, he brings back to life the three dead Hokages. But after his jutsu and the encounter between Naruto and Minato, the Shinigami is summoned and he cancels the technique. So Yondaime comes back in the living world but realizes that nothing went on like he had hoped. Naruto has been trained in the Anbu brigade and became a cold and indifferent ninja. Minato enrolled him in the Academy, hoping that he will make friends even if he is still doing some missions.

Father and son leave with Kakashi, looking Godaime and met Temari in Kaze no Kuni. The young girl gets along with Naruto pretty well but just as they find Tsunade, they're attacked and Naruto is badly wounded. While the Sannin heals him, they discover a mysterious seal which could explain his red eyes. When they return in Konoha with Godaime, they learn that the Uchihas and the Hyûgas have been attacked and they decide to put Naruto in the team of Sasuke so that he could protect him after the Genin exam. Until the test, he goes to school, tries to ignore his annoying teachers and trains with his father to master the Rasengan

Special news: I thought a bit about that and finally, I decided it will not be a Minato/Mikoto. I've got another idea! So much better!
It's a Naruto/Temari, a Minato/remains single and for the others, you'll see later.

I hope you will not get bored of my English mistakes, I tried to corrected them as much as I could.

But you're not here to read all of this, back to the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

Robertz: Still Libertybell.047

Forgotten Prisoner

Chapter 8: Second Chance

°-°-°-°-° Five days later °-°-°-°-°

The village of Konoha was slowly awakening in this hazy morning. The shops had not yet opened their doors but the street's activity was becoming more and more important. In the garden of a midtown house, a man was peacefully watching the clouds, a cigarette at the corner of his lips. Not far from the bench where he was seating, little sparrows were seeking their first meal of the day.

"NARA SHIKAMARU!" All the birds flew away. "WAKE UP !"

Shikaku sighed, creating a cloud of smoke. Every morning, it was the same thing… He wasn't the only one in the district who had got used to those daily conversations –one-sided conversations to be more precise- between Yoshino and her son. Even if today, her shouts were kind of justified.

"THAT'S THE LAST TIME! IF YOU'RE NOT DOWNSTAIRS IN FIVE SECONDES-"

"Okay, okay… I'm here now." Another voice replied, clearly less energetic. Shikaku didn't need to see him to guess his thoughts at this moment. Something like "Troublesome…"

"Hurry up and eat you breakfast or you'll be late!" Yoshino said before walking back in the kitchen.

Shikaku chose this moment to come in. Putting out his cigarette, he went directly in the dining room and saw his son, silently sitting on his chair. The boy was tuning back and his head was resting on his fist in a unstable balance. "So, ready for the big day?" He asked him.

He didn't receive the slightest answer, not even a nod so he walked in and leant forward to look at his face. What he saw made him roll his eyes.

"If your mother ever sees you, we're good for another-"

He didn't have the time to finish; Yoshino had stormed back in the dining room. "How can you lie around when you know you have an ex… HE'S STILL SLEEPING !"

All the houses were not that noisy in the morning. Some were so calm, so peaceful and so quiet that an outsider could have thought that they were empty. It was exactly like that in the mansion of the Aburame clan, well-known for their Olympian serenity and their unfailing self-control.

In the lounge, a young ninja with black glasses was sitting at the table, facing another older shinobi who had also a pair of glasses. Shibi and Shino were both speaking in an low and slow voice.

"The day has come."

"Yes."

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Good."

The silence which followed that short exchanged was only cut by the birds' chirping outside. Probably the refugees from the Nara's garden.

But there were more normal breakfast atmospheres in the village. Besides all the parents weren't always among the shinobi ranks. Some were simple civilians, like the Haruno couple.

A feminine voice echoed in the corridor of their house. "Sakura? Are you ready?"

"Coming!" Immediately, a young girl came in the lounge. In one hand, she was holding a book on the Academy basic techniques and in the other, a little mirror. She sat down in front of the table, putting down the two objects on both sides of her plate.

Her emerald gaze was constantly waving between the book and the mirror, testing her knowledge on one side and examining her appearance on the other. Her mother came back at this moment and smiled at this sight.

"Are you still studying darling? You should relax a bit before the test."

"But Kaa-san, I want to stay at the top or I'll-"

The young woman stopped her by closing her book and her mirror at the same time. "You're already tat the top." She added, giving her a flick on the nose. "So relax, okay?"

Sakura sighed but she had to admit that it wasn't a bad idea. She focused back on her breakfast, a little bit less nervous.

"Your father already went to work." Her mother told her from the other room. "He wishes you good luck."

The kunoichi nodded, even if her family didn't knew much about the ninja world, she was still glad that her parents always cheered for her.

Before leaving the table when she was finished, Sakura slowly opened again her mirror. She faced her reflection and clenched her fist. "I'm going to pass and I'll be in a team with Sasuke-kun." She said in a confident voice. "I won't lose against Ino!"

A few streets next to this house, another young girl was also facing her mirror. "I will not lose against Sakura!" Ino said in a determined tone.

Telepathy? Intuition? Coincidence?

Whatever it could be, the two kunoichi were ready to do their best in this exam in order to reach the side of their national crush. For better or for worse.

Ino brushed her long blond hair one last time before tiding them in a ponytail. She faced her reflection during a few minutes, performing the twelve shinobi seals one after the other and searching for the slightest flaw. Finally satisfied, she went down in the dining room where she found her father.

"Ohayo!"

"Ohayo. So, how do you feel this morning? Nervous?"

"No, but I'm not really hungry." She said, glancing at the table and the meals.

Inoichi tried to be a little bit more strict, today, he would not let her go so easily. "Don't start again with that 'diet' thing, Ino. No breakfast, no exam." He warned her.

"But Tou-san..." Ino began, but she seemed to realize that he was serious and resigned herself. "Okay..." Sighing, she sat down on her chair.

The blond shinobi didn't hold back his smile, glad to see he could still have some authority when it was needed. His wife always complained that he was too soft with her. Glancing at the clock, he realized that he would be late if he waited too much.

"I have to go. Good luck for your exam." He said, kissing her on her forehead. "I know you'll pass."

After a last wave, he went out. When he was gone, Ino thought that she could stop eating now but she did an exception just for today. After all, her father was an experienced Jounin so he should know his stuff.

A few minutes later, she was also ready to go. But before that, she made a detour by the store to tell her mother she was leaving. The flower shop looked like a jungle, full of plants and flowers of all sorts. The dominant colour in here was green, the colour of luck.

Her deep blue eyes went over the different plants as a hopeful smile appeared on her lips.

"I'll be with Sasuke-kun!"

If the young Uchiha had had the slightest idea of the double problem awaiting him, he wouldn't have been so eager to do this exam.

Even if he didn't want to admit it, he was pretty impatient. Reaching the rank of Genin was the first step and he wasn't going to stop there, his goal was far more ambitious. The only thing he disliked was the idea of being part of a team. But as long as they didn't bother him, it would be okay.

He was going to leave but as he walked through the lounge, he stopped in front of a shelf, and his gaze went over an old frame.

Sasuke didn't understand why his mother wanted so badly to keep that picture. All he could see in it were his parents and a traitor. He clenched his fist, one day he would truly make him pay his crime and to do so, he had to become stronger.

Totally focused on his thoughts of revenge, he didn't saw his mother who entered the room. Mikoto had came to call him but she stayed silent, seeing him like that, filled by sheer cold anger in front of their old family picture. She had never managed to make him abandon his desire of revenge. If somebody else had been here, he could have seen her ebony eyes being darkened by an unspeakable sadness.

But when she called her son, her voice didn't betrayed her feelings. "Sasuke, are you ready?"

The young boy turned round, a bit surprised, he didn't heard her come in. He nodded as she moved forward to hug him. He kept silent, even he wasn't really fond of this kind of affective demonstration.

"I see you can't wait to be promoted." She said with a smile.

"I'll pass."

"I'm sure you will." Indeed, she didn't doubt his success, but she just hoped he would be able to work his team.

She stayed on the front steps as he went out and couldn't stop herself from teasing him a little bit.

"See you later, Sasuke-chan!"

"Kaa-san!" He shouted out, blushing. He didn't complained if he was called like that when they were alone, but now he knew that the Anbu guards were not that far away. He left hastily, just hoping that they hadn't heard it.

In another area of the village, another heir of another family was also preparing for the exam . The huge mansion of the Inuzuka clan was as noisy as the Aburame's was calm and their house full of life and animation was the exact contrary of the Uchiha residence.

On the grounds, at the back of the house, a young kunoichi was beginning her morning exercises with her dogs, trained to assist ninjas. Well, to be more precise, she was still trying to begin her training.

Even if she was outside, she could hear as well as if she had been on the other side of the door.

"Stop that! Come back here!"

"KIBA! ENOUGH NOW!"

"It's not me!"

"Waf!"

"Akamaru! Stop!"

Focus on her ninjutsus while shouts and barks echoed in the house was not easy. If somebody in Konoha could understand Shikaku, it was Hana. Every morning it was the same thing... Her family didn't need any alarm clock, Kiba was perfectly enough.

"Come back!" She heard again.

Hana opened the door and she was going to tell them to shut up when a white fur ball literally flew right under her nose. It was her brother's dog and just as he was turning at the corner of the corridor, she saw that he was chewing on something.

The kunoichi didn't get enough time to think about it because five seconds later, Kiba was also racing in front of the door, resolving the mystery. He followed Akamaru and turned at the corner. She sighed deeply. Why did she have to get a hyperactive little brother ? And why had he got a hyperactive dog?

Deciding that she could yell on them later, Hana locked the door. Calling back her dogs, she focused again on her training while the sounds of a racing game and the shouts of Kiba resounded in the house.

"I don't have time to play Akamaru! Give back my pants!"

Sometimes, Inuzuka Tsume really envied the Hyûga family. Hiashi at least, didn't have overexcited kids and dogs running in all the corridors of his mansion. Although some members of the clan would have not been against some more liveliness in this house. Like Hinata.

The young girl was sitting in front of a table, facing her father. As usual, his face didn't show any emotion and his voice was strict. His white eyes where focused on Hinata who kept her head lowered, unable to look straight at him.

"The examination day has finally come." Hiashi began.

The shy kunoichi silently nodded, guessing what would come next.

"As heir of the Hyûga clan, you know that failure will not be allowed. Your sister has already reached the level of Genin..."

Hinata held back a sigh, how many time had he compared her to her young sister..? But still, she wasn't jealous. All she wanted was to be acknowledge by her father and not only seen as a weak kunoichi.

"…I hope that you will not bring shame on our name once again." He finished.

"Haï, Otou-sama."

"Good. You can go now, do not be late."

The young girl stood up and bowed a little before going out. But as she closed the door, she found herself facing her sister. She had probably heard their conversation, as usual.

"Ohayo Hanabi." She only said.

Once outside, she began to walk toward the Academy. But as she turned back one last time, she was surprised to see the head of her sister poking out of the door. Hanabi silently mouthed a few words before going back inside. Her short appearance had slightly startled Hinata but she managed to catch her words.

"Good Luck."

She was really glad to know that at least, somebody was cheering for her in this house. Now smiling, she made her way toward the school.

The atmosphere at the Akimichi residence was far less austere, as usual during the breakfast. If there was a clan in Konoha that could be qualified of convivial, it was this one. Their house wasn't the biggest and their family not as famous or powerful as the Hyûga or the Uchiha but it was simply welcoming.

Right now, Chôji was sitting in the dining room with his father, talking about the exam, and unlike a certain blonde kunoichi, he didn't need to be forced to eat properly.

"I remember, the day before the exam I couldn't sleep because I was to nervous and I almost took a nap during the genjutsu test." Chôza told him, laughing. "Besides, Shikaku almost did the same thing. But for him, it was just out of habit."

Chôji laughed a little but he was a bit tensed. "I'm not really good in genjutsu." He admit.

"But you're getting better in taijutsu, aren't you?" His father said. "And don't forget you have our family's jutsus."

The young ninja nodded, at least he mastered pretty well the techniques of his clan.

"Who would you like to be paired with?" Chôza suddenly asked.

"Shikamaru." He answered without hesitation. The Nara heir was his best friend and they knew how to work in a team. "Maybe Kiba, he's a bit loud but he's nice and strong. There's also Shino, even if I don't really know him. But I hope I'm going to be paired with Sasuke, he thinks he's so incredible..."

The older shinobi smiled as he listened his son talking, he enjoyed having his opinion about the other ninja wannabe of his class. Well, when he said wannabe... "You told me something about an Uzumaki last time, would you like to be paired with him?"

Chôji thought a bit about that. "I don't know." He said. "Sometimes he's kind of.. nice, not mean at least. He went with us a few times to watch the clouds, even if he didn't stay long and Shika always.. often talks with him. But still, he looks so.. indifferent, it's impossible to guess what he's thinking."

Chôza raised an eyebrow, he understood perfectly this feeling.

"But he's really strong. I wouldn't complain if I was in his team."

"They always try to balance the teams, you'll probably have a kunoichi in your group." His father pointed out.

Chôji crossed his arms, he didn't really know the girls of his class. "Sakura is the best, but she always besides Sasuke, that's kind of boring. There's also Ino, but she glued at the other side of the Uchiha." He sighed. Even he talked open-heartily with his father, he didn't want to tell him that he found the Yamanaka girl very pretty. He listed a few other kunoichi. "... And Hinata, but I've never really talked with her, she's so shy."

Chôza and him talked a little bit more then he gathered his things and went out. It was a now confident ninja who took the road toward the Academy. Thinking about his future team mates had made him less nervous and the exam didn't seem so insurmountable anymore.

As Chôji said, it was quite difficult to guess what Naruto was thinking. But the fact is that now, he wasn't really thinking about anything. He was still in their dining room, and just watched Minato coming in and out of all the different rooms of their apartment. Ten minutes ago, a shinobi had came to deliver a mission order to Yondaime.

Minato had reluctantly taken the scroll and had began to prepare his things after reading it. Apparently, it was a relatively important diplomatic mission. Minato seemed so busy now that it almost looked as if he was the one taking the exam.

Naruto saw him passing again and again in front of the door, and each time, he managed to hear a few words. "I'm sorry Naruto. But this mission is really... unexpected and even if I ask Tsunade to replace me... I don't think she could do it. It seems... that it comes from the Daimyo himself."

Yondaime was quite annoyed about that mission, did it really have to be just today? The actual Daimyo had support him and help him to convince the Council so he couldn't refuse even if he had truly wanted to be here for the exam of his son. Of course, it wasn't a challenge for the young ninja but Minato wished to congratulate him and it seemed unfair that he couldn't be among the other parents.

"Well, it's not a long term mission. I should be here tomorrow at least." He added.

Naruto nodded, although he also wanted Minato to be here. It was his father who had registered him in the Academy and receiving his hitai-ate as a Genin if he was not with him didn't made much sense.

He cleaned the table and prepared to go outside. On the other side, Yondaime also seemed ready and caught up with Naruto at the front door while putting his Jounin jacket on.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about the results." He said, smiling. He ruffled a bit the blond hair of his son. "We'll celebrate that when I come back." He promised.

"Celebrate?" The young boy asked, surprised.

"I know you were an Anbu but you never pass the Genin exam didn't you?"

Naruto had to admit it was true. He had been trained either by some Council members or by the brigade shinobis and never had another official rank except Anbu. Because of that special training, he had never taken part neither in the Genin test, nor the Chûnin test and let alone the Jounin test. That was why this exam meant so much for them now.

They went out together and a few minutes later, Minato headed toward the gates of the village while Naruto continued on his way to the Academy.

One or two street away from the school, he came down of the roofs and joined the crowd of students. In the corridors, he spotted Chôji who was proudly walking in the classroom. Then he heard the daily symphony of shouts and laughs which came with the morning arrival of Sasuke-kuuuun. Naruto went at the back of the class and sat down near the window, besides Shikamaru who only opened his eyes to greet him and Chôji.

Shortly after, their teacher entered and for once, silence came automatically. Stressed and nervous, the students were more or less impatient to begin the test.

"Ohayo." Iruka said. "As you all know, you are now going to pass the Genin exam. The first examination in your career of shinobi." He was glad to see gleams of hope and determination appear in many eyes. "Their will be four tests-"

Iruka was suddenly cut by a banging door. Turning the head, he saw that one of his student was standing in the entrance.

"Haa… Haa.. sorry Sensei…" Some laughs erupted in the classroom at the sight of Kiba, out of breath and leaning against the frame of the door. "It's… Aka… maru.. he.. Haaa…"

With a last exhausted sigh, Kiba tragically collapsed his eyes half closed. There was a general sweatdrop while Akamaru happily jumped and barked around his master, completely ruining his dramatic act. Surprisingly, it was Shino, sitting besides the door, who spoke first.

"If you want to look persuasive, you should start by closing your pants."

The students burst out laughing when the young immediately stood up, blushing and turned round to put back his clothes correctly. After that, he quickly went to his seat and Iruka could continue his speech.

"Thank you for this brilliant intervention, Kiba.." He joked before speaking seriously. "So, as I was saying, the exam is divided in four tests. This morning, there will be the writing exam- Yes, there is a writing exam." He said, hearing some annoyed whispers. "Then the test of taijutsu will take place in the second gymnasium: you will have to fight as long as you can against one of the Academy's sensei who will assess your technique. This afternoon, there will be the genjutsu test: you will have to detect and counter illusions. And last but not least, the individual test of ninjutsu: you will be asked to perform three basic jutsus. Questions?"

"Sensei, which test is the most important?"

"The ninjutsu test, without any doubt. A student will hardly be promoted if he has not succeeded. But that does mean you can forget the three others." He warned them before distributing the exam papers. "You have two hours to answer the questions, from…" Just as he glanced at his watch, the bell rang. "From now. Hajime."

The students turned their sheets and began to read the questions. Iruka walked between the desks, observing his class. Focused and attentive, the young ninja apprentices were all doing their best to reach the Genin rank they longed for. Some were still thinking about the questions, some had already begun to write, and other… were finishing their night…

The Chûnin went to the back. At the last row, he gently shook the shoulder of his student. "Oï Shikamaru." He whispered. "Wake up."

The only answer he received was a sleepy growl. "The test has already started, just to let you know." Iruka told him. After a few seconds, the young Nara finally agreed to lift the head. Satisfied, his sensei went back to his desk while Shikamaru glanced at the questions, looking more than annoyed.

"Genjutsu Theory… Law and Rules of the Ninjas… Basis of Taijutsu… Chakra and Ninjutsu… History of France… History of the Elemental Countries… tch.. mendokusai..."

His head slumped on the table and he sighed deeply. He had never been really good at writing exams. The problem was… that he had to write precisely. The only idea of moving his arm during two whole hours already made him tired. His IQ of 200 was good for reflexion, not for action.

Iruka couldn't help but smile when he saw the young genius sigh again. If only he did some efforts, he could easily outclass the best students of his class.

His gaze went over the rest of the class. Some looked quite nervous and always glanced at the clock. Others, like Sakura or Ino, seemed calmer but were still writing very quickly. And there were the ones that nothing could ever distract and who didn't seem to understand the meaning of the word stress, such as Shino.

Observing again the lasts rows, he was dismayed to see that a certain brown haired student was still meditating and hadn't written anything yet. As if he was asking himself if it was really worth of it… Iruka might not be very far from the truth. Then his gaze fell on the student sitting next to Shikamaru. He wasn't surprised to see that Naruto didn't block on any question and was calmly writing, the young ninja would probably pass with the best results. Iruka hadn't got the time to talk with him about his mission but he had received a note from Yondaime saying he agreed.

The Chûnin was pulled out of his thought when he saw that Naruto had stop writing. His blood red eyes turned toward the window for a few moments and then he focused back on his paper. Iruka wondered which question had made him hesitate, even if he had a little idea.

Naruto had begun the part about the history of Konoha. He had answered the first eight without any problem but had doubted a bit about the ninth.

Describe in a few lines the events of the 10th October, eleven years ago.

To be honest, he was tempted to write the truth even if he knew that the Academy teachers would prefer the official version. Did they know that he was aware of the Kyûbi? From the window, he had a clear view of the Hokage Mountain and he gazed at the image of Yondaime. Once more, he thought about what his father had done for him. Many things had changed since his arrival, so one more could do much harm…

Naruto focused again on his paper and answered without hesitation.

The rest of the test didn't give him more problems; he even finished early and took his time to watch the others. Besides him, Shikamaru seemed a bit more awake now and was answering quite easily. At the front rows, he saw Shino who was writing slowly but didn't stop even for a second unlike Kiba who stopped every minute and then wrote again at top speed. At the first row, he saw his future teammate hesitating over a question. Looking at the other kunoichi, he wondered who would be the third member.

Ten minutes later, the bell rang again, ending the writing exam. Some student put down their pens almost immediately, satisfied by their performance, while others were trying to glean some precious seconds to finish a sentence. "Stop writing now, it's over." Iruka said, gathering the sheets. "You can go out if you have already hand in your paper. You have a twenty minute break and you have to go to the gymnasium so don't hang around too long."

"Haï sensei."

The second gymnasium was outside of the Academy grounds, it was an old training centre that had been rebuild and was now used by the student although their class had only went there one time. It was located behind the training grounds and forest.

Naruto went out with the last students and follow the rest of his class. He saw Iruka going in the opposite direction, carrying a big pile of papers. While walking, he was listening to the talks of the other students. The one he heard the best was the conversation between two kunoichi.

"The part about taijutsu was a bit difficult, but I'm sure I'll have it!" Sakura claimed. "What about you, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn."

"I scored big at the genjutsu questions, but even if I blocked a little on the rules and law I'll get it too." Ino said. "We could be in the same team, don't you think it would be nice Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn."

"I knew it!" "In your dreams Ino-buta!" "Deko-Sakura!" yay, one more time...

They were followed by a group of three boys. "Say, how do they understand what he's saying?" Chôji asked. "That's not an answer, 'Hn'."

Naruto totally agreed with him about that. The Uchiha were seriously lacking conversation, Sasuke and his brother were both quit different from their mother in that field. Naruto was maybe not very talkative but at least he could do full sentences.

"Pff, how should I know?" Kiba replied. " Maybe it's girl thing, they're all doing the same."

"So troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered.

Naruto really didn't know if he was talking about the girls, Sasuke, the exam or life in general. The genius Nara could have 'Troublesome' written on his forehead, he would have given the same impression. But the blond ninja had to admit he found that funny.

Naruto was walking on the roads between the training grounds. Still thinking, he almost missed to detect a presence. It was totally surrounding them although very weak and once he located it, it disappeared. He had only enough time to catch a chakra signature; he didn't know it's owner but it didn't seem threatening. Curious, he stayed focused and continues to walk behind the other students. After a few steps, he immediately understood the problem.

They had walked too much.

"Genjutsu..." He whispered.

But why were they trapped in an illusion? It could be part of the exam but Iruka had told them it would take place this afternoon in...

Of course. He had never told them where they would pass the genjutsu test. It was a double trap which required observation, evaluation and judgement. Naruto made a simple seal with his right hand. "Kaï."

The landscape seemed to fade and slowly disappeared. A few seconds later, he found himself standing in front of the back door of the Academy, besides Iruka. That surprised him because the genjutsu had made him think he was already in the forest. Even if it wasn't an area he mastered wonderfully well, the fact that he had not detected an illusion so important was the proof of the user's skills.

"Uzumaki, you pass." His sensei said. "You can wait here."

Naruto nodded, wondering who had created the genjutsu. Even if he thought highly of Iruka, he knew it wasn't him because he had not recognized the chakra signature. The young ninja froze. Iruka had called him Uzumaki? That wasn't like him. He glanced at the Chûnin and saw that he was writing something on his notebook. Speaking of it... wasn't he supposed to be correcting their exams?

Performing the seal once more, Naruto had to admit that the exam was pretty well done. "Kaï."

This time, the silhouette of Iruka faded. He was replaced by a brown haired young woman with red eyes. She glanced at her stopwatch.

"2 minutes and 47 seconds. Impressive." She smiled at him.

He recognized the kunoichi; she was a Jounin, the best genjutsu specialist besides the Hokage himself. For that, she had received the title of "Genjutsu Princess".

"Thank you, hm..." What was her name again? "Yuuhi-san.." He said, hoping he was right.

"You can call me Kurenaï." Oh yeah, Kurenaï. "Your perception skills are very good; I had to strengthen the first illusion so that you wouldn't detect it."

"But the genjutsu was easy to break." He pointed out.

"Yes, it still an Academy exam after all."

The young boy nodded and sat down, his back leaning against the wall. He was curious to see if the Rookies of the year, Sakura and Sasuke, would also be the first.

The kunoichi was pleased by that, she was now a little ashamed to think that he would have walked away, not caring about the results of the others. A few months ago, that was probably what he would have done and Kurenaï was glad too see he was changing. She had met the young ninja a few times when he was still Anbu had to admit she had not really liked him. Fortunately, Yondaime came back and the kunoichi had not been the only to realize her mistake. The ones who thought like her were maybe not the majority but their number was slowly increasing.

Kurenaï focused back on the exam when he felt that one of her student had broken the first illusion. Naruto saw Sakura appear besides their sensei, looking startled. She looked around but she didn't seem to see him. He was probably invisible for her in the second genjutsu. She sat down besides him and he wondered if she would be able to detect the other illusion. Almost ten minutes had passed since the beginning of the test.

It seemed the kunoichi were really more skilled in genjutsu than the boys because shortly after Sakura, Ino also broke the jutsu. She saw the friend/former friend/rival and also sat down, missing the second trap. During the next minutes, other students came, and Shikamaru was the first to escape from the double mirage. He didn't sit but lay down to watch the clouds.

The rest of the class arrived during the next half hour, Naruto saw that only five students were still trapped in the first genjutsu and the test was coming to its end. When Kurenaï stop her watch, he only counted 11 students, besides him, who had managed to break the two illusions.

Then the Jounin freed the last students. "The genjutsu test is over." She announced, not bothering to count the surprised exclamations which came from all sides. The Jounin gathered the class and told them their results. "Those who broke the two genjutsu: Uzumaki Naruto,... Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, …, Uchiha Sasuke, Aburame Shino, Hyûga Hinata, … . And those who broke one: … Akimichi Chôji, Inuzuka Kiba..." She didn't give the names of the five last ones, they seemed enough disappointed.

"You have one hour and a half of break. You're free to go out of the Academy as long as you come back in time. The taijutsu test will take place in the first gymnasium." She said before going back inside.

All the students began to walk away, some were going back home but most people had brought their lunch and went back in the classroom. Naruto wasn't really hungry but he decided to eat something downtown, his apartment was quite far from the Academy and Minato wasn't at home anyway.

He had already stood up and was going to walk away when he felt somebody pushing him. "Hey Shika! You're coming with u- Oh sorry!" Ino exclaimed when she saw she had almost made him fall. "So.. sorry, really I didn't see..." She apologize, feeling uneasy in front of those blood red eyes.

"Don't mind." He simply replied before walking toward the gates.

The kunoichi sighed in relief went he moved away, she didn't really like to face him.

"You're so clumsy, Ino-buta."

"Oh shut up, Deko-Sakura! You know I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Yeah, he saw that too." Shikamaru pointed out. "You didn't need to apologize that much."

"I know but... it's just.."

"That you're dead scared of him?" Kiba finished as he came by with Hinata and Shino.

"What? Of course not... well, maybe a little bit.." Ino reluctantly admit. "And you? You've never talked to him either!" She replied.

"It's not like that! Me, I'm... err..."

"She.. She's right, Kiba-kun." The young Hyûga quietly added, smiling shyly.

"Hinata! I thought you were on my side!" Kiba complained.

"Waf!"

"You too Akamaru? I told you I'm not afraid!"

"Yeah right." A voice commented behind him. Turning round, Kiba found himself facing..

"Sasuke-kun!" The two girls cried out.

Kiba seemed ready to strangle him. "What did you say teme?"

"I'm not going to repeat it, coward."

"What!"

Seeing that Shikamaru and Shino didn't seem really concerned, Chôji had to stop his friend. "Calm down Kiba,..."

In front of all this excitation, the young Nara couldn't help but yawn. "Tch, mendokusai. I really don't understand why you're making such a big deal about that. Naruto's not that scary."

"Where did he go by the way? I thought he would stay here." Ino said.

"Dunno. Maybe he went to eat with he father." Shikamaru replied, shrugging.

"He has a father." Sakura asked, she wasn't the only one to be surprised.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Of course, why not?"

"Yeah, said like that..." She muttered, thinking. Indeed, it was quite normal that Naruto had parents but he was always silent and never spoke of himself so they had not thought about that. That subject caught their interest and they immediately questioned their friend. "You already met him? How is he? He has the same eyes?" Sakura, Ino and Kiba asked together.

The young Nara sighed but saw that he couldn't escape them before answering. "Yeah, I'm met him the other day after school. He doesn't look like him at all, well from outside at least. He's also a ninja. He's not very tall, he has brown hairs and... green eyes I think."

"Your ninja, does he have a scar on his forehead?"

The question surprised Shikamaru. "Hm... yeah." He said, recalling the face of the shinobi. "How do you know that?"

The others were also waiting Sasuke's answer. "They came at my house, a week ago. They said it was for a 'mission'." The young boy frowned. "But I didn't know it was his father. Besides, they didn't have the same name."

Shikamaru began to find that quite strange. This kind of mystery was one of the rare things that could motivate him. "Yeah they had, his name is Uzumaki Arashi."

"... He told me Namikaze Arashi."

The small group stayed silent for awhile. "What's his real name then?" Chôji asked.

"That's impossible to know." Shikamaru said. "Maybe the two are fake."

Hinata asked the question which was in their minds. "But.. But why would he.. hide his.. his identity?" She said slowly.

The young Genin students were only more curious now... Scratch that, they were extremely excited. It wasn't everyday that they discovered something new about the number one mysterious student of their class. "Maybe we could ask Iruka-sensei!" Ino suggested. "He should know."

"Mm... But the teachers are busy now. I don't think he'll have the time to listen to our questions." Shikamaru countered.

"Who then?"

They thought about it during a few seconds, trying to list all the people they could question immediately.

"We could follow Uzumaki, and asked him and his father." Shino said.

They glanced at him, surprised. "As if he would tell us." Kiba replied. "Besides he's not here anymore, we can only ask him after the exam."

The young Aburame didn't answer and only pointed in the direction of the Academy's gates. Turning round, they saw Naruto going out of the school.

"He's still here? I thought he was already gone."

"Maybe he forgot something and he came back in when we were not looking." Shikamaru guessed.

"Whatever, that's our chance!" Kiba shouted.

"Let's go!" Sakura added, extremely curious.

The future ninjas began to follow their comrade, hiding behind the walls and the trash cans on the way. They were quite skilled in spying, well individually at least. Being eight to follow one person brought some additional problems.

The first one was Akamaru, who wasn't exactly the most quiet of their group. Kiba had to call him back several times as the dog seemed to think it was a game.

°-°-°-°-° With Naruto °-°-°-°-°

The blond ninja was only a few steps away from the Academy when he realized he had left his jacket in the classroom. His money was in its pocket and he had to go back inside.

Once outside, he headed for the town centre but as he was walking he felt a weird presence behind him. Presences to be more precise. Apparently the Academy students were following him; they were doing quite well for Genin apprentices but he was still able to detect this kind of pursuers. He continued to walk as if nothing had happened while counting the chakra signature. "One, two... … six, seven, eight, nine.. no, eight and a half." A muffled bark confirmed the half.

Naruto could easily guess who was following him, what he didn't know was why they were doing that. Did they want to speak with him? Probably not or they would have came directly to him. They were spying on him then, but what were they trying to discover... The young ninja was pulled out of his thought when he heard his name.

"Naruto-kun!"

He saw that Uchiha Mikoto was walking toward him, waving her hand.

"Ohayo, Uchiha-san." He greeted her.

"Ohayo." She replied, smiling. "You can call me Mikoto."

He nodded. "Aren't you doing the exam?" She asked, surprised to see him in town.

"Yes, but we're allowed to go out for the lunch break."

"Oh I see. So, how did you think about the first tests?"

Naruto was not really used to discuss casually with people even if he felt quite at ease with the young woman. Somehow, it felt a bit like talking with Minato. He told her briefly about the writing exam and the genjutsu test, also talking about her son's results.

"Are you going home?" Mikoto asked him.

"No, my father got a mission so I'm going to eat down town."

She nodded. "I wanted to thank you again for accepting my request."

"It's nothing, really..." Naruto was still a bit confused by all that gratitude and didn't really know what to say. On the other side, he was half distracted by a certain group of ninjas which seemed to get closer and closer.

°-°-°-°-° Meanwhile °-°-°-°-°

"Sshh Kiba! He's going to hear us!" Ino whispered.

"It's not my fault..." He muttered, everything was against him today.

The group moved a little forward, jumping over the fences and hiding in the corner at the slightest movement of their target.

"So, what are we going to do?" Chôji asked.

"You didn't understand yet? We follow him, wait for him to fin his father and then we go and ask them." Sakura answered.

"But if he's-"

They were pulled out of their conversation by a feminine voice.

"Naruto-kun!"

Eight pairs of eyes turned to the other side of the street where the blond ninja was standing. The person who had called him was a stranger for all of them.

Kiba frowned. "Hey, but that's..."

"Kaa-san?" Sasuke whispered, not believing his eyes.

Their attention went back on their comrade next to them. "It's... it's you mother, Sasuke-kun?" Hinata said.

The young boy nodded. "She's holding bags; maybe she's doing her shopping. But why is she talking with him?" Shino asked.

"Hn, like the hell I know." He replied.

"It looks like a friendly conversation." Shikamaru muttered.

Kiba cried out, as if he had understood everything. "Ah! But maybe he..." He left his sentence unfinished.

"Maybe he what?" Ino and Sakura asked, curious.

"Maybe he likes older women!"

That reply earned him a double punch on the head.

"Baka!" Ino shouted. "Is that all you can think about!"

"Aho! She's old enough to be his mother!" Sakura added. She heard a grunt behind her and turned round, embarrassed. "Ah hm, but... I didn't mean she was old... err, Sasuke-kun.."

Shikamaru only sighed. "You're all too loud; they're going to spot us."

"I wished I could hear what they're saying..." Chôji whispered.

"Let's go closer then." Kiba suggested.

Shikamaru opened his mouth to say something but saw they were already moving forward and Sasuke was far from being the last one. "Troublesome..." He sighed before following them.

The group stopped a few meters away from Naruto and Mikoto. Luckily, the street wasn't very noisy and they could easily the rest of their conversation.

"It's nothing really..." The young ninja said.

"No I insist. I would like to invite you for a dinner one day, you and your father. What do you think?"

"Err... yes sure, if... it's okay with you." For a strange reason, his voice sounded a bit hesitant.

"Of course it is. Give the message to Minato-san, okay?"

They saw the blond ninja nod. "But... isn't it going to be a problem?"

"You're talking about Sasuke? He's a bit stubborn but I'm sure he won't say anything." Mikoto replied, laughing.

The ninja students didn't even need to look back to know that Sasuke was silently seething with anger. "I have to go, say hello to your father for me!" The young woman finally said. Once she was gone, Naruto continue on his way.

"Wow... She's really on his father, your mom.."

Behind him, he heard a choked exclamation of surprise and as he turned back, he saw the Uchiha, even paler than usual. But he quickly returned to his normal colour before turning to an angry red shade.

"He... She... She has... Him..." He stuttered.

"ha, you sound like Hinata!" Kiba laughed, making the young girl blush.

That comment was the last straw and Sasuke finally explode. "Chikusho! If the stupid father of that moron ever tries to flirt with my mother, I'll...! I'll...! There's no way I'll let them in our house!"

"I have an idea, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura suddenly said.

"Hurry up, we're going to lose him!" Ino warned them. She and Sakura moved forward, quickly followed by Kiba, Sasuke and Chôji. The three others were coming behind them. Shikamaru wiped his face, sighing again.

"They never use their brains..." He muttered.

"Ano... what do you mean by that?" Hinata asked him.

Shino was the first to answer. "It's 'Minato' who bothers, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that could be another name of his father and it's maybe the real one this time. I have the feeling I already heard that name somewhere..." The young genius said, thoughtful. "But I would like to know why she want to thank them..."

"Thank them?" Hinata repeated.

"Naruto said 'it's nothing really' and Mikoto-san answered 'I insist'. That means they done something important for her, something that Sasuke has not heard about and that she appreciated so much that she want to invite them for dinner to thank them." He rolled his eyes. "But knowing Sasuke, it might more difficult that what she expects."

Shino nodded, as usual, silently admiring of his deduction skills. "Do you know what Sakura and the others are preparing?"

"Maybe.. But I hope I'm wrong."

The unlike-you-we-use-our-brain group moved a little faster to catch up with their friends.

°-°-°-°-° With Naruto °-°-°-°-°

The young ninja was still thinking about the conversation he had had with Mikoto. It was the first time he was invited for dinner, or at least, it was the first time somebody asked him to invite them. He had been a little confused by that and had tried to answer like Minato.

He almost stopped again when he felt that the other where coming closer, he had nearly forgotten them. Curiously, he saw that they had separated: one, no two had gone ahead of him, three were slightly behind him and the three others were further but they were quickly catching up the second group.

Naruto was really wondering what they were trying to do when at the corner of a street; he saw something blocking the way. The young boy frowned when he saw an enormous panel where was written: 'BUILDING SITE. GET LOST'.

He stayed there for a little bit, puzzled. He didn't know what surprised the most, the fact that a panel of this size had appear from nowhere or the words that were written on it… Moreover, he could sense a chakra signature and easily guessed that it was a Henge. Naruto understood less and less their plan. He decided to pretend he didn't saw anything and turned round.

°-°-°-°-° At the same time °-°-°-°-°

Hidden behind the bushes, Sakura, Ino and Chôji saw the blond ninja walk in the opposite direction of the panel and when he turned at the corner, they joined their friend. The panel disappear in a puff of smoke, revealing a scowling black haired boy.

"Five minutes to read two lines… Is he illiterate or what…" Sasuke muttered.

"Don't worry Sasuke-kun, at least it worked." Sakura assured him.

"You're talking seriously?" A voice behind her asked. Shikamaru and the two others joined them.

"Of course, you saw like me that he turned." The young girl replied.

"But it's so obvious he did it on purpose…" Shikamaru replied, in vain. He didn't even have the time to point out that 'Get Lost' wasn't really something that you would read on the panel. They weren't listening anymore.

"He must have found Kiba now, Hinata quick!" Sakura said, pulling the hand of the girl who had no choice but to follow her.

"Troublesome… Why did I even agree to come…"

"I didn't think he would still pretend he didn't see anything." Shino said. Shikamaru shrugged and the two boys followed again their friends.

On the other side, the five ninja student had join Kiba, aka the second panel. He had seen Naruto stop in front of him and then walk in the only street which wasn't blocked. He dispelled his Henge. "Stage two, clear." He told them.

"Hey Kiba, it's building, not bilding." Ino said, laughing.

The young boy was going to reply something but he was cut by Sakura. "Don't start now you two. Ino, Hinata, it's your turn!"

"Okay!" "Eh? Wh..What?"

Ino went besides the black haired girl and made a hand seal. "Your chakra, Hinata!" She called, not even bothering to explain her. "But…" "Your chakra!" "H.. Haï!" "Henge!"

Shikamaru and Shino arrived just in time to see the two girls perform the combined technique and when the smoke disappear, they found themselves facing a perfect copy of Uchiha Mikoto.

"How do I look Sasuke-kun?" said Ino/Hinata/Mikoto.

The young boy crossed his arms, looking away. "Hn."

"Wow, such a nice compliment…" Kiba scoffed.

"Okay, you can go now." Sakura told them. Mikoto went out of their hiding place and walk toward the blond ninja.

"No offense… but I think your plan is a little bit complicated." Shikamaru commented.

"It's not." Sakura replied. "We just change his way to make sure he goes in a street where there not too many people and far from the house of Sasuke-kun. Then, we just need to send 'Mikoto-san' to cancel the dinner."

"But why Ino and Hinata? It would have been easier to send only one of them." Chôji pointed out.

A hand on her hip, the young kunoichi explained them the rest of her plan. "Aha, that's the tricky part. Hinata is as polite and graceful as Mikoto-san but she's too shy to go alone so she needs Ino. You're still with me? But Ino has.. hm, a strong character so she needs Hinata to show a good act or it will not look like the true Mikoto-san." She finished in a proud voice.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Yeah, so I was right… It's complicated…"

His lack of enthusiasms was beginning to annoy Sakura. "It's going to work, you'll see!" She said before turning round to watch the scene.

°-°-°-°-° The scene then °-°-°-°-°

Naruto had turned again after seeing another panel, as strange as the first one; the words were not even spelled correctly. He had walked for one minute or two when he heard somebody call him. Again.

"Naruto-kun!"

He knew that voice. "Mikoto-san?" The young boy didn't have to pretend he was surprised, he really didn't know what it meant. "Another Henge… combined jutsu… Just what are they trying to do…"

"Oh I am so sorry but I have to take back my invitation." The young woman suddenly said in a strange tone.

Naruto slowly nodded, now he was beginning to understand their goal a little bit more. Their idea didn't really bother him as long as the real Mikoto was aware of it, but he doubt that it was the case here.

"Okay…" He answered. "But my father will probably be disappointed; he would have liked to talk with you."

That was true, he knew that Minato like to discuss with Mikoto but just like he like to talk and joke with Kakashi or Tsunade. As expect, it confused the two ninja students but what he didn't knew was that the romantic heart of Ino had misunderstood that.

"Ino-san, we have to answer." Hinata said/thought.

"I know, I know… But what can I say? Mikoto-san seems to appreciate his father, that's not really fair…"

"Then we have to tell him it's okay."

"No! I told Sasuke-kun I would do it… But still…"

Ino was facing a terrible dilemma and was still thinking when the blond shinobi called her. "Mikoto-san?"

"Ah! Hm, what?"

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." Ino bite her lip, unable to continue that little game. "Err… I'm going to cancel… the cancellation…"

That sudden change of heart surprised Naruto but that was what he had hoped. Now, he only needed to make them abandon their disguise. "I understand. Then I will tell him to bring the rest of the files next time." If the small group had heard that Mikoto wanted to thank them, let them think that their business was not finished. And since Sasuke was here, he could continue with the story of the papers.

"The… the files?" She said, hesitant.

"Of course, Godaime-sama did tell you that they contained S-ranked information and you had to keep them safe. If somebody else ever learns that, it could create serious problems…"

"Not good, not good, not good…What are we going to do? Mikoto-san will have problems…" Ino was pretty worried now.

"We should go now…" Hinata suggested, as anxious as her friend.

"Yeah, of course, the files. Hm... Bring them, no problem! Have to go, see ya!" Mikoto said quickly.

"Goodbye." Naruto replied, observing the young woman running away. They had not really abandoned but at least, they wouldn't come back after that and he walked away.

°-°-°-°-° Behind the fence °-°-°-°-°

The small group had listened to their conversation, Sakura and Sasuke becoming more and more upset as their plan was going down. They saw Mikoto come and disappear in a cloud of smoke, revealing two very embarrassed kunoichi.

"What have you done?" Sakura cried out. "You ruined everything!"

"Go.. gomenasai." Hinata said.

"Sorry but… really, I couldn't do it!" Ino protested.

"You couldn't do it? It wasn't that difficult!"

"So why didn't you do it yourself!"

Sakura wiped her face, everything had been so well prepared and she hated to fail like that. Sasuke was still muttering in a corner, wondering how he could persuade his mother to cancel that invitation.

"Just forget it." Shikamaru said.

Unfortunately, those few words had the contrary effect. The pink haired kunoichi raised the head and clenched her fists. "No way! There's still the plan B!"

"Plan B…" The ninja students all thought.

"Chôji, your turn!" She said suddenly, turning to the young boy who almost choked on his chips.

"Wh.. What?"

Sakura didn't let him protest and immediately pushed him out of their shelter. He was now in the middle of the street, in sight of Naruto. "Transform into the Hokage and go sort out the problem."

"Into who?"

"He said that the orders came from the Hokage, transform and settle everything."

"But…"

"Hurry!"

Their target had turned in another street and they might lose him. Seeing he couldn't refuse, Chôji resigned himself. "Okay, okay, I'll go." He followed Naruto and used his Henge just before passing the corner.

Behind, the young students saw something strange. Kiba pointed at their friend. "Hey, but that's…"

"He didn't take the good one…" Sakura complained.

°-°-°-°-° Just guess where °-°-°-°-°

Naruto thought he had finished with them now, but just at this moment he felt somebody coming at him. He closed his eyes for a second before turning round.

What he saw almost left him speechless. "Sa..Sandaime-sama?"

In a hurry, Chôji had transformed into Sarutobi. Since the day he was born, he had only known the old man as the Hokage and even if Godaime was here now, he had unconsciously made the mistake.

On the other side, Naruto was now totally lost. What were they thinking… First, they followed him as if he had a red target painted in the back, then they transformed into Mikoto which had been useless and now that… What did it have to do with everything else… And if they wanted to train, they should pay a little bit more attention.

Because really, Sandaime with a bag of chips in the hand…?

"Ah Uzu.. Hm, Naruto-kun… I wanted to talk with you." Chôji/Sarutobi said.

"I am listening."

"Well… Hm, hm. How should I say that…"

While Sandaime was thinking about the best way to get out of this mess, Naruto caught a swift movement behind the Hokage. Looking more closely, he realized it was a square box with… eyes? The strange thing was slowly approaching and when it arrived near Chôji, who had not seen it, somebody suddenly came out of the box.

Naruto saw a kid run to the Hokage screaming "Got ya Jiji !" before stumbling on his long scarf and clumsily fall on the ground in front of them. He lift the head, whimpering while the blond shinobi turned to Sandaime who seemed totally confused.

"Who is it?"

"Err…"

Chôji was saved by the brat's intervention, who spoke to Naruto.

"Ha! You stopped me this time but I'll never be trapped again!"

"I didn't do anything." The former Anbu replied.

"You can't lie to me! I'm Konohamaru, future Hokage of this village!"

Konohamaru? Naruto had the feeling he had already heard this name. He tried to remember while talking. "And you really think that attacking the former Hokage is a good idea?"

Still sitting on the ground, the brat crossed his arms, pouting. "No, first I tried with that old hag, but…" The two ninjas caught sight of the big bump at the back of this head. Apparently, he had already visited in the office of Tsunade and brought back a souvenir. Naruto remembered now, he had often heard Sarutobi talk about a child who was also attacking him and saw that it was a good time to escape.

"I have to go." He said to the Hokage. "I will leave you with your grandson Sandaime-sama." He didn't bother to wait for the answer and he jumped on the nearest roof.

"So cool…" Konohamaru whispered, impressed.

"No wait!" The Hokage shouted in vain. Seeing the blond ninja was already far away, Chôji sighed deeply and dispelled his jutsu. The brat turned round at the sound of a little explosion.

"Aaaaahhh! Jiji! … … Eh, who're you?" He saw a small group of ninja join the brown haired boy.

"Pff, well done Chôji." Kiba said.

Sakura sighed. "Back to the beginning…"

"Hey I know you!" Konohamaru exclaimed, catching their attention. "You're studying at the Academy!"

"How do you know that?" Ino asked.

The brat seemed a bit embarrassed. "Err… Sometimes I go there.. I'm not spying, not at all, but…" Seeing the sarcastic smiles of the elder students, he changed the subject. "My sensei told me it was the Genin exam today? You're not doing it?" In half a second, he saw horrified expressions appear on their faces.

"Exam!" Kiba cried out.

"How much time left?" A stressed Sakura asked in a high-pitched voice.

Shino looked at his watch, absolutely calm. "9 minutes 45 seconds and 32-"

"WHAT?"

Sakura and Ino were the first ones to leave, quickly followed by Chôji, Sasuke, Kiba and Hinata. "I'm going first." The young Aburame said to his friend and walked peacefully toward the Academy.

A short silence followed their departure. "And you, you're not going?" Konohamaru asked, a little surprised to see that one of them wasn't moving at all, just looking at the sky.

He didn't get the time to hear a response as he was found by his sensei. "Young master! What are you doing here?" Konohamaru scowled but didn't manage to escape from him. "Shall we continue our training?" The Jounin with glasses said, dragging his rebellious student.

Shikamaru had not moved a single finger. Had he been lying down, eyes closed, it would have looked as if he was sleeping.

At this moment, he sensed somebody besides him and he wasn't surprised to see Naruto land next to him. "I thought you'd still be hanging around." He said, smirking.

The blond ninja nodded and the two boys began to walk together. "What was that?" Naruto asked and Shikamaru understood he was speaking about the big mess they had made during the whole break.

"That was so troublesome…" He sighed, guessing he owned him some explanations. "When Ino shoved you by accident, we start talking about you and, don't ask me how we got there, your father. We thought you were going to eat with him so we followed you to see him. And then you met Sasuke's mother, and he didn't like that, and they tried to cancel the invitation, and you know the end of the story."

He let the young ninja think about that for a few seconds. "Well, in the end it was totally useless and it looked more like a prank than a real plan."

"A prank…" The blond shinobi repeated, thoughtful. Shikamaru was walking besides him so he didn't see the violet tint which enlightened his red eyes and didn't hear the voice which echoed in his mind. Naruto frowned, he didn't understood what it was and he should really tell Minato about that. The sooner would be the better.

They took a shortcut and quickly arrived at the Academy. There was only one minute left before the beginning of the test and they didn't waste more time to join their class in the first gymnasium. They saw the small group finishing their lunch at top speed. Naruto heard a weird rumbling sound and turned to Shikamaru. "You didn't eat." Naruto noticed.

The young Nara shrugged. "I try to pass in the last group and grab a bite before that. You?"

"I'll be okay."

The school bell rang once more and the students saw Iruka and two other sensei come in. "The taijutsu test will now begin." The Chûnin announced. "I hope you ate well because this exam might shake you a little bit. You will fight against one of those teachers who will evaluate during the spar." The two shinobi took place in the different arenas. "A volunteer to go first?" He asked although every year very few students wanted to begin. If there was nobody, he would call them himself.

Naruto glanced at the small group who had followed him for almost an hour and a half. Skip a meal didn't really affected him but it seemed that they had eaten a little bit too fast and weren't in great shape. Especially Shikamaru who wasn't particularly energetic. He remembered what he had told him and how their little plot had turned into a prank. Ten or twenty minutes should be enough for them to recover and raised the hand.

Iruka wasn't the only one surprised by that, usually Naruto did this kind of things. "Yes Naruto. You can go on the first arena."

The blond ninja joined the teacher, a young Chûnin apparently. "Hi, I'm Mosashima Toshiki (1)." He said.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Good, let's start."

The two shinobi took a fighting stance and the examiner let his student make the first move. Naruto dashed forward and threw a punch, which was unsurprisingly blocked, before aiming for his head. During the next ten minutes, they continued their spar. Naruto tried to be careful to not exceed the level of Genin. They had turned round and he was facing the rest of the class and from what he could see, the eight spies were still waiting their turn and were attentively observing his fight.

Naruto let the Chûnin hit him one or two time and did more or less the same, reducing the force of his blows. "Okay, it's enough." Toshiki finally said. The blond ninja nodded and walked to the back of the gymnasium while the examiner was calling another student. He was sitting not far from the other ninjas and saw that a few of them were giving him curious and almost admiring looks.

The rest of the test went on normally, the eight students passed with the last ones and Naruto thought that it went pretty well for them. Kiba and Chôji had encountered some problems in genjutsu but they seemed to catch up here. When the last student finished his fight, Iruka gathered them again. "You can go back in your classroom now. I will come in ten minutes for the ninjutsu test."

The ninja students went out of the gymnasium and headed for the Academy. But as he passed the door, Naruto felt a strange presence far ahead of him. Exactly like the one he had sensed when he came back in Konoha. But he didn't get enough time to trail it because it immediately disappeared. The young ninja was still uncertain about that so he decided to keep silent but was careful as he entered the building.

The corridors were very crowded; they weren't the only ones to pass the exam today that had disrupted the usual rhythm of the school. The student arrived in front their classroom's door when a sensei came out. "Sorry, there was a last minute change. You have to wait in the room 310 at the third floor."

The class walked back to the stairs and entered the room, sitting where they could while waiting for the call of their sensei. Naruto went to the back of the classroom, next to the opened window, as usual. Shikamaru and Chôji sat on the chairs in front of him. The young Nara yawned and his head heavily fell on the table.

"You're not going to sleep again Shika?" Chôji said. "I won't wake you up this time." He warned him, joking.

"Relax, I've a good name. Nara is surely not the first one." He closed his eyes. "And besides, I know you'll wake me up 'cause you want us to pass all together."

Chôji noticed that Naruto was listening and he glanced at him and shrugged, smiling. A few minutes later, their Sensei opened the door and asked for silence. "I will call you one by one." He said. "You will be evaluated by me and another examiner. Your written tests are already marked and at the end, you will be given the results of the other tests. Si you succeed, you will receive your official hitai-ate."

After that last remark, joyful and excited whispers came from all sides and Iruka couldn't help but smile at their enthusiasm. "If you don't have any questions, we will begin now. Akimichi Chôji."

Naruto saw the young boy stand up, looking a bit worried, and follow their Sensei out of the room. The conversations started again as soon as the door was closed, betraying their excitement. The first one was always the most awaited and luckily for them, it didn't last too long. All the heads turned round when they heard the door open.

A grinning Chôji entered, wearing the hitai-ate of Konoha. He was greeted by several congratulations and some of the students applauded. "Nice job, Chôji." Kiba said.

"Calm down now." Their sensei told them, although he was also happy for him. "Don't make to much noise or I won't allow you to come back in class after the test." He warned them kindly before calling the next student. "Aburame Shino."

The young ninja stood up while Chôji went at the back of the classroom. He took out another bag of chips, unable to stop himself from grinning like a madman. "I really thought I missed it because of the genjutsu… But in the end, I passed." He said, relieved

Shikamaru didn't even look up and the new Genin barely heard him spoke. "Yeah, so troublesome…" he muttered. If the girls were the only ones who could understand Sasuke, Chôji was the only one who understood that his friend was congratulating him. Well, kind of. Behind them, Naruto was still a bit confused but he didn't say anything.

A few students had already passed now and almost all of them had came back with a hitai-ate. Kiba, who had finished only awhile ago, had been the loudest. Their sensei had gone with another student and Naruto was next. He wasn't very concentrated, absent-mindedly thinking about this Rasengan but right at this moment he saw something moving quickly outside.

He realized it was a ninja who had just went out of the Academy at top speed. Naruto easily recognized his grey hair and his Chûnin jacket, they belonged to Mizuki. It was the second time he saw him there but today the shinobi wasn't only passing by, in fact it looked like he was running away. Naruto almost let him go, believing he was only thinking too much but he caught sight of the objet Mizuki was holding.

It was a big scroll and the Chûnin was taking it just as if he had stolen it. The young ninja thought that something wasn't right there but in the same time, he didn't have any proof and it could be something else. For a very short moment, he was torn between two choices. He had only one second to make up his mind. All the Academy shinobis were far to busy to listen to him and besides he wasn't sure if they would believe him.

His instinct told him to follow Mizuki to check that but if he took too much time, he would surely miss the official exam and would have to stay in the Academy for another half a year. But above all, he would have the feeling that he had wasted the chance that Minato had offered him.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about the results."

"...'cause you want us to pass all together."

And Mizuki was quickly running away…

"We'll celebrate that when I come back."

Naruto had to make a choice.

Shortly after, Iruka came back in the room and while the newly promoted Genin joined his classmates, he called the next examinee.

"Uzumaki Naruto." He said, searching of the blond head of his student. But the chair of the last row was empty. "Naruto?" All the ninjas were now looking around, surprised. "Did you saw him? Where did he go?" he asked his students.

Unfortunately, he only received negative answers and shrugs. Nobody had seen the former Anbu jumping out of the window to chase a certain Chûnin.

Naruto was following Mizuki and made sure to keep a security distance between them. The shinobi didn't seem to sense his presence yet and was running in the forest of Konoha. They were now quite far from the Academy and the village but the shinobi didn't slow down. During all this time, the blond ninja had left some evident signs to show the way if somebody eventually noticed the problem. He had also left a note but doubted that anybody would take him seriously.

After more than half an hour, Mizuki finally seemed to reduce his speed and stopped in a large clearing. The young ninja hid behind a tree, waiting for him to move. The Chûnin was observing his surroundings with a suspicious look and Naruto hid even more his chakra signature, just in case. Apparently his target had arrived to a meeting point and was waiting for somebody.

Mizuki seemed to relax a bit, believing he was alone and put down the scroll. Naruto recognized it now; it was the scroll which contained the Forbidden Techniques. The Chûnin would be considered as a traitor if he had really stolen it and Naruto had to know what he had planned to do with it. He waited like this for a long time and the forest was becoming darker as afternoon ended.

It was almost night when he sensed another chakra signature which was quickly coming nearer. The Chûnin turned the head and didn't seem surprise to see another ninja arrive in the clearing. It was a bit dark but Naruto could still make out the silhouette of a large and stocky man who had his hair tied samurai style.

"Oh.. You've got the scroll Mizuki." The big shinobi said. "That's the first time you succeeded a mission." He laughed.

"Shut the fuck up Fujin. We have to put it in a safe place." Mizuki replied.

The shinobi, Fujin then, didn't look very worried and a idiotic smile appeared on his face. "Yeah, besides I'm hungry. You know where's the North hideout?" The Chûnin nodded. "I'll go with you and Orochimaru-sama will join us there."

"Orochimaru…" So Mizuki was working for the traitor Sannin… He couldn't let him go away now. Naruto took a small storage scroll out of his pouch and silently summoned his katana. With the other hand, he took his three branched kunaï and in a swift and precise gesture, he threw it toward the ninjas.

They sensed the attack coming and despite their surprise, they easily dodged it. Naruto took advantage of this time to perform his technique and in a flash; he appeared in the centre of the clearing.

"What the-"

The blond ninja didn't leave them the time to pull themselves together, he concentrated his chakra in his legs and threw a powerful kick which stroked Mizuki in the chest and sent him flying a few meters away. The Chûnin violently hit a tree and fell on the ground, almost knocked out. Naruto immediately turned toward his second enemy and griped his katana tighter. "Konoha Ryû: Shayô no Maï." (2) The sunset in his back, Naruto run faster and faster, giving his opponent the impression he was creating clones. Using his confusion, he snuck behind him and attacked.

But the shinobi and more or less sensed him and even if he didn't dodge totally the blow, he moved far enough to reduce the damages. A dumbstruck look appeared on his face when he caught sight of his enemy. "A brat..?" Naruto didn't waste his time to reply; he jumped above the ninja and moved backward. Then he sent again his chakra into his legs and his katana. "Kaze Tsurugi no Jutsu." (3)

Once more, he dashed toward the shinobi and made a double attack which left two deep bleeding cuts on his stomach. Unfortunately, he was really tougher than what he had expected and Naruto, destabilized one second by the sudden use of chakra barely managed to block the blow of Fujin. The shinobi had used both of his arms, like a hammer, and his metallic wristbands created sparkled went they hit the katana.

Naruto was beginning to bend in front of his monstrous strength. He concentrated his chakra into his arms and managed to push him back a little. But it was enough and without any warning, he moved back and dropped his katana which broke under the pressure. The shinobi lost his balance and he almost fell on the ground. Naruto took advantage of this to pick up his kunaï. Half a second later, he was behind Fujin and threw two other kunaï, aiming for his neck and more particularly the carotids.

Fujin let out a loud growl of pain as the weapons cut into his skin and he put a hand over his neck, stumbling forward. Naruto performed the Hiraishin once more and appeared in front of him. He had to do it quickly because he felt Mizuki waking up. With a swift move, he took out a new kunaï, longer than the others and plunged it in his heart, right on the wounds he had already inflicted him.

The shinobi finally gave up after that attack. His body was shaken by a last spasm and he fell heavily on the ground. Naruto couldn't have knocked him out long enough if even his Kaze Tsurugi wasn't working. Besides he only needed one person for the interrogation.

At this moment, Naruto sensed something behind him and quickly dodge the giant shuriken that Mizuki had just thrown. The weapon cut through a trunk and landed a few meters away. Naruto turned to the Chûnin whose voice betrayed his confusion and his anger.

"Kuso gaki! What the hell are you dong here?" He yelled. "How did you follow me?"

"You were walking under my window." The young ninja simply replied.

"What? But Iruka told you to wait in your classroom, that's at the other side of the Academy! I heard him!"

"It was you who spied on us after the test." Naruto realized. He also remembered the incident that had occurred a few months ago. "And at the gates of Konoha… It was you again."

The Chûnin looked dumbfound by that but a mocking smirk quickly appeared on his face. "So you had already caught me. Tch, I should have been more careful… Yeah, it was me; I was watching you since you left Konoha, Orochimaru's orders. Too bad his plan failed, even if your dear Yondaime wasn't there."

Naruto frowned, trying to decipher his words. Orochimaru had tried something when they had left Konoha? But nothing had happened except… except the intrusion of the Kumo nins with a shinobi from Oto. Of course.. Minato himself had told him he found it strange that they had attacked just when he, Kakashi and Naruto were out of the village.

"Orochimaru tried to kidnap the heirs of the Uchiha and the Hyûga clan…" He said slowly. "You were working for him from that time."

"Hn, even before that." Luckily, the Chûnin was quite arrogant and Naruto saw that he didn't need to force him much to make him speak. "The snake wanted to know if Yondaime was really alive and if it wasn't only a clone." He was now wearing a disgusted expression. "For months, I had to pretend I was afraid of that pathetic loser and to obey the old Godaime. That bitch made me clean all the libraries in the Tower just because I was the 'annoying newbie'." He spat.

Mizuki seemed to be brooding on his own revenges but that was not what Naruto wanted to know. Even if he didn't like it, he let go the insults on the Hokages, for now at least. "You resigned from the school to work at the Tower…"

The Chûnin put a hand on the scroll. "Exactly, I heard it was hidden there. Bad luck… I learnt they moved in permanently and that now-"

"It was hidden in the Academy…" Naruto finished.

"The little demon learns quickly." He said in an ironic voice.

"And you came five days ago to check on its location." The blond ninja continued, remembering the day he had seen him during the Kawarimi training.

Mizuki seemed a bit startled; he didn't think the blond ninja would have noticed that too. But he quickly pulled himself together. "And what better time to steal than the exam day, when everybody is busy?"

"I guess Orochimaru promised you a reward for that?"

Avidity filled the dark eyes of the shinobi. "He'll give me an incredible power and with it, I will take my revenge on that damned village."

Naruto had heard enough and he took a fighting stance. "You will not have the time to give him the scroll." He glanced at the body of Fujin behind him. "And I don't think you will be a real problem after him." He said as Mizuki took his other giant shuriken.

"Don't be mistaken, that moron was only a walking stomach." The Chûnin said before dashing forward. He threw his weapon with force, aiming for Naruto.

The young ninja easily dodged it and faced again his enemy. "Too bad…" Mizuki smirked, moving his arms backwards. Naruto heard again the shuriken fly behind him and managed to catch a silver reflection which came from the Chûnin's hands. Threads of course. Luckily, he still had his three branched kunaï in hand and he threw it forward. He landed near Mizuki and further from the shuriken and had just enough time to take back his weapon and cut the threads.

The shuriken suddenly slowed down and its trajectory turned toward the ground, allowing Naruto to catch it and throw it back to Mizuki. The Chûnin barely dodged it and swore when he felt a deep cut on his arms. He took a few steps backwards and found himself against a tree. He glared hatefully at the young boy. "Kuso, we could have gotten rid of that demon in Kaze…"

Naruto understood he was speaking about the ninja who had attacked him with poisoned senbons but that memory made him realized something else. "You were the one who told Orochimaru we left to look for Godaime…"

"Of course." Mizuki retorted.

Naruto's eyes became cold and hard as he glared at him. It was his fault… If they had been ambushed and if the Oto nin had almost got Yondaime it was entirely his fault! The image of Minato, threatened by the deadly senbons appeared clearly in his mind.

"What? You're giving up?" The Chûnin mocked, not realizing he was playing with fire.

The young ninja held his right hand in front of him and gathered his chakra, his gaze focused in the ball of energy. The orb was slowly growing and this time, it was perfectly stable. Its blue gleam was enlightening the clearing in the dark night and when Naruto raised the head, it made his blood red eyes shine.

"You betrayed Konoha. You insulted Yondaime and Godaime." He said in a cold voice which became even more intense when he spoke the last words. "And you put in danger the life of my father."

If Mizuki had been astounded by this technique, he stayed totally petrified when he saw the final result. From the dark silhouette standing in front of him, he could only see those crimson eyes who could have belong to the Kyûbi himself and the turquoise glow that surrounded the ninja gave him an ethereal aspect. Unable to move, he couldn't dodge the blow.

"Rasengan!"

Naruto attacked at full power and the whirling orb hit his enemy, it created an enormous blast wave. Mizuki felt all the air leave his lungs and the pressure applied on his chest was so great that he went trough the tree he was leaning on. The Chûnin was throw several meters away, only stopped by a huge rock. He had already passed out before touching the ground.

The ninja breathed heavily after that last attack, he had just used several techniques which required quite a lot of chakra and besides, it was the first time he managed to create a Rasengan without making it explode. He had not kill Mizuki, knowing that the Chûnin would have surely preferred to die than face the tribunal and be condemned by the village.

After one or two minutes of break, he walked to the scroll and as he picked it up, he noticed that it had been slightly opened during their fight. The young ninja inadvertently read the first lines. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu…"

He knew this technique, even if he wasn't able to perform it yet. In fact, he should have mastered it a long time ago but his first sensei, an old veteran, had wanted to wait so that he could mature a little more and increase his chakra reserves. But then, he had retired before teaching him the jutsu.

His successor had planned to show him that quickly but he had come across a few problems during a solo mission. To be more precise, he had returned in more than one piece.

His next teacher had held a strong grudge against the fox demon and had done everything he could to prevent anybody from teaching him anything. He had been thanked by the Council when they had heard of it, a few months later.

The following instructor had wished to focus on genjutsu, forgetting the rest. Considering the lack of affinity of Naruto in this field, let just say that it had not been a rewarding period. He had also been dismissed in the same way as his predecessor.

His substitute had seemed ready to teach him. He was young, came back from all his missions, didn't hate him that much, didn't neglect ninjutsu and Minato had came back at this moment and he had totally forgotten this jutsu.

Well, it was now or never. Maybe he wasn't supposed to learn it directly from the Forbidden Techniques Scroll but after all, he should have already known this jutsus by now and besides, it seemed that nobody would come for awhile. He began to unroll it.

In fact, Naruto wasn't totally right when he thought that nobody was coming. Back in the Academy, Iruka had rather quickly understood that something was wrong and after several conversations with the other teachers, he had finally managed to persuade one of them to replace him. But with that entire exam thing, he had wasted a lot of time when he began to search for Naruto and found his message.

The Chûnin had followed the indications and had found himself somewhere in the forest. There, he had tried to follow the signs but they had become rarer and in the end, he had lost his trail. The forest was huge and as he had no idea of where his student could be, he had been obliged to go back to the village to ask for help.

Iruka had managed to see Godaime and once he had explained the problem, she had asked Sarutobi to come with his crystal ball as fast as possible. They had look inside just in time to see Naruto use the Rasengan against Mizuki. They had immediately summoned a special unit to search for him, missing the improvised training of the young ninja.

Godaime had also sent some ninja to investigate on Mizuki and others to check the now empty box where the scroll should have been. When they had return to the crystal ball, they had been relived to see that Naruto had just met the searching team. Now, Sandaime and Iruka were in the Hokage's office, waiting for their young student.

They heard somebody knock on the door. "Come in." Sarutobi said.

The two shinobi smiled when the blond ninja came in, apparently unharmed and in great shape. "Ah Naruto, we were expecting you. Come here." The boy walked in and Sandaime noticed he was surprised to see only him and Iruka. "Tsunade had to take care of some problem in the office where the missions are received. I'm replacing her for awhile." He said, sitting in his chair. "But first, I have to thank you for what you have done. You allowed us to stop a traitor and save the Scroll from falling in the hands of Orochimaru." He declared in a proud voice. "Could you explain me what happened exactly, from the beginning?"

Naruto complied and he told him the whole story, starting from the moment he had seen Mizuki until the fight in the forest. Sandaime nodded slowly at the end of his report. "We are going to send some ninjas at this North base but I doubt Orochimaru will get caught so easily." The former Hokage stood up, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "In the end, you handled everything very well alone but I think you can thank Iruka. He was worried for you and alerted us."

Naruto turned to the Chûnin, slightly surprise to see that somebody had indeed noticed the problem. He thanked him but felt a little bad for leaving him like that although he was one of the teachers who supported him the most. "I'm sorry.. I left in the middle in the exam…"

"You don't need to apologize." Iruka reassured him.

"Speaking of the exam… I think you still have a test to do." Sandaime said, sending a conniving glance to the Chûnin who nodded.

Naruto didn't really follow them. "But…"

"You have more than deserved a second chance." Sarutobi told him. "Meanwhile, I'm going to see if I can find Tsunade." He said before leaving the office.

On the other side, Iruka had crossed his arms, back in the role of examiner. "You passed the three first tests with excellent results, the best in fact. For the ninjutsu, I will ask you to perform the three basic Academy jutsus."

That was more a formality than a real test and Naruto did the three techniques, one after the other. He transformed into Sarutobi with a Henge, exchange places with a chair for the Kawarimi and used the Bunshin no Jutsu to create a few clones.

Iruka gave him an appraising smile. "Uzumaki Naruto, I'm glad to inform you that you passed the Genin." He realized he had no headband to give him but then, he got a better idea. "Close your eyes."

Naruto seemed a bit startled but quickly complied and a few seconds later, he felt something on his forehead. "You can't look now." He heard. "Congratulations." The young boy opened his eyes and realized Iruka had just given him his own hitai-ate.

"But… I can't take this one…" He protested.

"Of course you can." The Chûnin replied. "Just keep it. It's not every day one of my student skip the exam to chase ninja on the loose."

Naruto appreciated the gift and thanked him again. He had never really taken care of the first headband he had officially received but this one came from somebody who seemed to care truly for him, it was totally different.

Shortly after, the door opened again and their Hokage walked in. "So, what's going on, brat? Skipping class to go for a walk in the forest?" She said on a playful tone. "Even to become a Genin it had to be such a mess…" She sighed. "Well, good thing you were here."

Tsunade caught sight of the hitai-ate and smile when she saw the bare forehead of the Chûnin. That teacher was a real treasure; she would have to think about a pay rise. "I received your report." She continued. "But all that paperwork can wait, right now; I have a surprise for you."

The Sannin didn't let him reply and dragged him to the door, inviting Iruka to join them on the way. The trio went out of the Tower and Godaime guided them in the streets. It was already pretty late and a few minutes later, Naruto saw that they had arrived in front of a small restaurant. He had just the time to read 'Ramen' before being pulled inside by Tsunade.

Two persons were sitting there, chatting. There was Shizune and…

"Otou-san?" Naruto said, surprised.

His father gave him a warm smile and told him sit at his right. Tsunade took a chair next to the young boy while Iruka sat besides the brown haired kunoichi.

"I thought you had a mission." Naruto said.

"As you say, I had one." Minato replied, glancing at the Sannin. "But in fact, that mission wasn't planned for today but for the next week. It's a good thing Shizune checked the schedule and send us a bird. Or we could have waited the client for a long time…" He said mockingly.

"Oh shut up." Tsunade retorted. "Everybody makes mistakes, you're here now so where's the problem?"

Yondaime just shrugged, still smirking. Then he turned to his son, kindly ruffling his hair. "Congratulations, I see you got your hitai-ate." He was really glad to be here tonight.

"I wasn't easy." Iruka joked.

Minato had heard about the incident from Shizune but didn't know all the details. Before asking him the story, he turned to the cook. "Teuchi, serve us your special recipe."

"All right." The chef replied.

Naruto realized that his father had kept his real appearance in front of them and was going to question Minato when he explained him. "Teuchi and his daughter Ayame are old friends." The young cook waved at him. "Your mother loved Ramen, she came here almost everyday." He said, laughing at this memory. "So, tell me what happened with Mizuki."

For the second time in a few hours, Naruto related him the events of the day. But he didn't mind, Minato was always eager to listen to him and besides, he had good news.

"… … So I used the Rasengan and he couldn't dodge it."

"You mastered the Rasengan?" Minato exclaimed, absolutely delighted.

The other shinobi were also impressed, it was the first time a ninja so young managed to perform perfectly that technique. Tsunade seemed particularly proud of him; she had often watched the training of her former team mate and knew it was a very powerful jutsu. "What an amazing brat…" She said quietly.

Shizune looked a bit surprised by those words. "Tsunade-sama?" The others also turned to the Hokage, wondering why she was taking her necklace off. "I've got something for you, gaki." She said, offering him the crystal pendent.

"Tsunade, are you sure it's okay for you?" Minato asked, knowing how much the Sannin cared for that jewel.

"Certain." She assured, putting it around his neck. "It looks nice on you." She added, smiling. The necklace had always appeared like a curse since the death of Nawaki and Dan but if somebody could break it, it was Naruto. By giving him the pendent, she was entrusting him with their dream, waiting for the boy to find his own.

Seeing that he was going to protest, Tsunade anticipated. "Don't even try to take it off?" She warned him. "Consider that as a reward for earning your new headband and mastering the Rasengan."

Naruto held the crystal in his palm. That was truly a valuable jewel and he understood it meant a lot for the Sannin. He wasn't really used to receive presents and this one was incredible.

"Thank you." He said simply.

After that, Teuchi served them the ramen and as they started eating, Yondaime asked him how had been the exam. Naruto remembered the little plot of the eight Genin, their prank as Shikamaru said. And that reminded him he had something to tell his father. But what was it… Naruto knew it was an important thing but right now, he couldn't remember it at all.

"You're okay?" Minato asked when he saw his son frown.

"I wanted to tell you something…" The young boy said, feeling this memory going further and further.

Yondaime let him think for awhile. "You'll tell later when you remember." He suggested.

Naruto nodded and dropped that subject for now. He told them everything that had happened during the lunch break and the adults couldn't help but burst out laughing at the story of the fake panels as well as the teenager-like Mikoto and the chips-eater Sandaime.

It was already quite late and in the middle of the dark village, the Ramen restaurant was lighting up the street while their laughs reached a sky full of stars.

TBC…

(1) Anagram, guess whose name it is^^

(2) Konoha Ryû, Shayô no Maï: Konoha style, Dance under the Sunset (created from Hayate's Dance under the Moon)

(3) Kaze Tsurugi: Wind Blade

So, how was it?
You might be confused, but I assure you it's not going to be a Minato/Mikoto. well, our newely promoted Genins don't know that though^^

For the next chap, I'll try...
No forget it. If I give myself a deadline I know I won't respect it. Just give me one, it'll be easier!

See ya!