Thanks to Lady Rini, Marjolein222 (X2), KnighteWolf, Alternative Angel, ???, and Outlaw Knight for reviewing. You guys are all awesome, and I promise that graduation is coming in the next chapter, and we can finally get to the good stuff! And now for the epic conclusion! Well, ok not really, I mean, it's only chapter ten. God, you're going to have to wait for about twenty more chapters to get ANY type of conclusion.

Tsunade sat with Shizune and all of the teachers from the Ninja Acadamy. In two days the Graduation exam would happen. The teachers had compiled a list of students who would most likely pass, and who would most likely fail. Of course, it wasn't always accurate, but it helped Tsunade get the right idea about what teams to make without having to delay the team makings.

"So anyway, my class will most likely all pass, except for Yusuke, but I don't expect him to. Naro also has undesirable grades, but from what I've gleaned from his file, I think he will rise to the occasion." Jirono said dully.

"Your class has the Uchiha, right Jirono-san?" Asked another chuunin.

Jirono nodded. "He is a bit slow, but he will pass easily."

"Since Haruno Sakura is applying for a genin team, I say we give the Uchiha to her. She has had plenty of experience with the clan." The chuunin said in continuation.

Tsunade silenced a groan, and Shizune sweatdropped. The same thing had happened two years ago when Daisuke had graduated. He had been placed under Rock Lee, since he was the only one who had any possibility of 'besting an Uchiha'.

It was sheer stupidity and ignorance. The Uchihas were just a fire clan. The same way the Nara clan was a shadow clan, and the Aburame were a bug clan. But no, everyone jumped on the Uchihas like every single one of them was an S-class missing nin waiting to happen.

"Actually" Jirono continued. "I was hoping to put Cataki and Uzumaki with Haruno."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

Jirono smirked. "Well, it's become quite obvious he is the son of Naruto Uzumaki, and meeting the last surviving team mate of team seven might do him some good. He also seems to have a strong friendship with Haruna Cataki. They work well together."

Shizune frowned. "They both have eye abilities. Wouldn't that be overpowering the team?"

Jirono gave a shrug. "True, but Haruna has no notable talents above average in any other field. Her taijutsu, I might add, is absolutely horrid. Naro, while gifted with the Byakugan, has the training in it of a five year old caliber."

Tsunade sighed. "Fair enough, they can be on a team. It would be good for the Uchiha to be on that team anyway. Their maturity might balance out his rashness."

There was a general mumble of agreement. "Now, onto Ketsuki Gyaro. He specifically requested to have his son on his team. Do we grant it?"

xXx

Two days. Two painful days left. Everyone was jittery about it, and no one tried to hide it. Even Haruna had started to stop paying attention in class.

Naros pranks had slowly but steadily increased. His favorite being the invisibility jutsu. At random intervals, Naro would disappear in the middle of class. Yet somehow he would still have perfect memory of any missed lessons.

Jirono entered the classroom. "Morning everyone. Is everyone here? Good-"

Reniko raised his hand. "Jirono-sensei. Sarunte isn't here."

Jirono blinked in surprise. Sarunte was never absent. Despite being a hot head, Sarunte was the type of person to drag himself to school even if he had small pox. It was just the way he was.

"Well then, errr, I guess I will just have to mark him absent."

Reniko shrugged. Where was Sarunte? It didn't make much sense. Saruntes mom would skin him alive if she found out her son was skipping classes.

Mitsu blinked. "Maybe his parents wanted to keep him home to teach him some jutsu or something. My parents have done that to me now and then."

Reniko sighed. "Yeah whatever, it's just a huge bother. He could have at least told me he wasn't going to come." He grumbled slightly. Who was he going to torment Haruna with now? It wasn't worth it to do it alone. Especially since Haruna had somehow magically acquired a body guard by the name of Naro. Bah. What an asshole.

Jirono threw some chalk at them. "Quiet you two. I have lessons to teach!"

There was a general groan throughout the class. It was all review. If you didn't know this stuff by now, then you were not graduating.

"Ok, Kekkai Genkai. Can anyone-"

The doors to the classroom opened, revealing a Sarunte Uchiha.

He looked almost like a doll. His face and any other revealing skin were covered in cuts and bruises, and dried blood had begun to stain his clothing. He was covered in dirt, and he looked absolutely spooked.

"S—sorry. Sorry I'm late." He said breathlessly. His voice cracked a bit, as if he had momentarily forgotten how to speak.

"Sarunte?!?" Jirono cried out in shock. "What happened here? Why didn't you go to the hospital?"

Sarunte began to walk forwards in an awkward limp. "I fell. Tha's all. There were these lousy stairs an' all, an' I forgot that my mom 'ad cleaned them the day before. I slipped, and fell on sum kunai and junk."

Jirono stared at him, with his mouth wide open. "Sarunte, tell me the truth."

Sarunte sat down quietly next to Reniko. "I jus' did Jirono-sensei."

Jirono tried to say something else, but nothing came out. "Very well Sarunte." He said stiffly. "But I advise you see the nurse during lunch."

Sarunte shrugged. "Yeah yeah, whate'er. Jus' don' tell my mom I was late. Please?"

Jirono gave a stuttered yes, and began to continue with his lesson.

"Ok then, Kekkai Genkai. What is it?"

Haruna raised her hand in excitement.

"Naro, since you are actually HERE today, why don't you answer the question?"

Nara sighed. She knew she should have just 'skipped' class today. But, Tsunade had threatened her with another year at the acadamy if she had done anymore funny business. At least Konohamaru had lightened up. After they had been reassigned to keep track of her, Moegi and Udon had decided to treat her as a friend. Konohamaru had decided, alternatively, to treat her like an evil demon. Which she resented. But recently, Konohamaru had stopped being distant, and had even treated Nara to some ramen. Of course, he had forgotten his money, and Nara had to pay, but it was the thought that counted.

"Kekkai Genkai. It's a bloodline trait. It's not to be confused with clan jutsus like the Naras' shadow jutsus, which are just clan secrets, but can be learned by anyone. You have to be born with a Kekkai Genkai trait to use it"

Jirono nodded. "Excellent. Name one."

"Sharingan." Nara almost said out of instinct.

"Preferably one that isn't extinct, Naro." Jirono said without looking up.

Naro scoffed. "It's not extinct." She mumbled. "Fine then, Zajigan."

Jirono didn't miss the comment. "Koru, please define extinct for me."

"It no longer exists," Koru said in a bored voice. "In this case, bred out"

Jirono nodded. "Good, now, Reniko, can you give me some examples of what the Zajigan can do?"

Reniko narrowed his eyes, and stared at Haruna with enough hatred to kill an army. Haruna stuck her tongue out at him.

xXx

Lunch came, and Sarunte had still not said a single word. He just sat there quietly with no lunch, picking absentmindedly on a scab.

"Earth to Uchiha" Reniko said waving some fried chicken in front of him. "c'mon, you know you want it. All you have to do is speak."

"I'm not hungry Reniko." He mumbled.

Reniko blinked. "Sarunte. You are always hungry. When you are not hungry, it usually means that there is an apocalypse right around the corner."

Sarunte sighed, and took the fried chicken reluctantly. "Fine." And he began to chew slowly.

Reniko was about to inquire more on his friends state of mind, when a duo caught his eyes. "OI! Naro! Got a question for you!"

Naro turned to him. "Yes?" He said in an annoyingly polite voice.

"What year is it? Cause last time I checked, it was the present. But you seem to think differently. Tell me, you do know there are five Hokages right?"

Naro sighed. " Very funny. All I said was that the sharingan was a kekkai genkai. That is a fact believe it or not."

Haruna nodded. "Yeah. You would know if you, you know had a kekkai genkai."

Reniko was not defeated yet. "Puh-lease runt. Like I would want some eye defect. Last time I checked, most kekkai genkai freaks end up as missing nins or total dick wads. "

Haruna gave a low growl, but said nothing else.

" What about the Hyuuga clan?" Naro pointed out.

"You ever see those people? They live in their own twisted little world. They used to brand their members just so that no one would learn about their precious eyes." Reniko scoffed.

"Have you ever MET any of them? Some of them can be pretty nice I'm sure!" Naro countered.

"Have you?" Reniko asked with a wide grin. "I heard your little accusation. You're pretty delusional you know that? I mean, the sharingan has been gone for decades, and all you can say is that it's still around. Are the Seven Demon Swordsmen of the Mist ALSO alive and kicking too?"

"Now you're just being rude." Naro said in a dismissive voice. "But it is still true. I have seen the sharingan."

"Yeah? Where? Name one person with the sharingan." Reniko said back. As an afterthought, he turned to Sarunte. "Sarunte?"

Sarunte looked up, a bit pale, as if he had seen a ghost. "What?"

"Does anyone in your clan have the sharingan?"

Sarunte gulped, and when he spoke, his voice was dry. "No, no it's been extinct. The last two to have the sharingan, was Itachi Uchiha, and his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha. They were both missing nin at one point. Sasuke eventually came back, but he never was trusted to be anything more than a chuunin." He recited text book style.

Reniko grinned in victory. "See told you, so unless you know any missing nin or some kekkai genkai stealer, I advise you shut up before you make an idiot of yourself."

Naro folded his arms. "You're the one blowing it out of proportions."

Haruna frowned. "C'mon Naro. Let's GO." She said, tugging on Naros' sleeve.

Naro left without an argument.

"You didn't have to lie like that" Haruna said quietly, as they left the two boys.

"I didn't" Nara said simply.

Haruna groaned. "I'm talking about that stupid Sharingan stuff you were talking about. Everyone knows it doesn't exist anymore, and I understand antagonizing Reniko and all of that, but you don't have to make up stories like that. You'll only end up looking like an idiot."

Naro sighed, and shook his head. "Yeah, yeah, ok, what did you bring for lunch?"

xXx

Dinner at the Nara house was just as loud and annoying as usual. Shikari was finally back home from a mission, and Temari had made a homecooked meal that was actually mostly edible.

Shikamaru, unfortunately, had the misfortune of being late.

He slumped down at the table, positively tired.

"Eat, Shikamaru." Temari ordered. "This is the last meal before I go on the mission to Sunagakure, so enjoy the last meal you get to eat that isn't from a restaurant, or that you have to cook."

With that mournful note, Reniko and Shikari found themselves enjoying the meal much more. Temaris' cooking was bad, but Shikamaru in a kitchen meant death to all who ate it.

"Ugh." Shikamaru replied. "Damn Chuunin. Damn cloud ninjas. This whole thing is just one troublesome problem."

"If you're not going to eat, you're going to tell us." Shikari said, in between mouthfuls of rice. "It's about the murders isn't it? Kiba-sensei mentioned it in passing. Did they find the killers?"

Shikamaru groaned. "Yeah, bunch of cloud ninja bounty hunters. Well, exe cloud ninjas. They were missing nin. Anyway, we found them all murdered in a heap of carnage right behind the Korean Bar-B-Q restaurant."

Reniko choked on his water. "Whoah, wait, who did it? How? What murders?"

Temari sighed. "Right, forgot your left in the dark about most of this."

"There's a reason for that" Shikamaru mumbled. "He's just a troublesome acadamy student."

Temari frowned. "Well, since he's going to be hearing half of it, might as well tell him the first part."

Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his temples. "Fine, troublesome woman, poisoning our sons mind with unneeded violence, and asking ME to do it."

With a playful whack from Temari, Shikamaru launched into a full out explanation.

"A couple of weeks ago, there have been a string of murders. Mostly people with no families or friends. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find any trace of the actual killers, and the bodies were to horribly mutilated to really provide any help on the murder weapon.

Even the Hyuugas couldn't pick up on them. It worried a lot of the upper Jounin, so we tried to keep it quiet from anyone not in the loop, although, how Kiba found out I'll never know. Anyway, this morning, we found, what was hopefully all of them in a heap. They were all dead, and by the looks of it, murdered by the same jutsu."

Shikamaru sighed, and let the whole situation sink in.

Shikari and Temari were now listening intently, since this was the part they had not heard through reports or senseis.

"Whether it was a traitor or someone sent from the cloud village to eliminate them we don't know, but the murders have stopped, so we think it's safe to say they were all killed or the rest ran away."

Shikari gave a low whistle. "Wow, must be a pretty powerful shinobi to take them all out like that considering we couldn't find them."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Actually, judging by the autopsies, their physique were below even acadamy level. They just had an extremely powerful jutsu. Which my entire team is trying to figure out. I just managed to get away."

Reniko grinned widely. "That's awesome, what did they figure out by the time you left dad?"

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. "Nothing you need to know about. Look, I don't want you to go spouting off this story to all the kids in your class. Tsunade would have me skinned alive."

Temari nodded. "good, now you can all shut up and eat now, I'm going to be gone for a couple of weeks, and I know I'll be returning to a half starved family."

Shikari smirked. "Don't worry about me mom. I'll just eat over at Choris' house."

Reniko grumbled. "Once I get a team, I can free load off of someone too. You don't have to brag about it like it's a good thing Shikari."

Shikari just chuckled. "When you eat at an Akimichis house, little nii-chan, there is no such thing as 'free loading' only food. Lots, and lots, of food."

Shikamaru gave a small snort. "Well, that's the truth. Chouji does make a mean meal."

Temari frowned. "If I come home and find you've all been living off of Choujis' good well, there will be multiple deaths in this family. And not due to cloud ninja"

"From clogged arteries or from you? Although, it's the same thing when you think about it." Shikamaru asked in a rare cheerful voice.

Reniko and Shikari chuckled as Shikamaru was hit on the head with a very large fan.

xXx

Tomorrow was the exams. Tomorrow was the exams. Tomorrow they would all become genins. It was almost too good to be true. Everyone was excited. Except for Nara.

After all, this meant she would be leaving Konoha soon. Of course, she knew she should be happy about this whole thing. But a small part of her would miss Haruna, Udon, Moegi, even Reniko. Maybe Konohamaru, if he ever payed her back that is.

Haruna was absolutely ecstatic about the whole thing. Finally, a genin. It was so impossibly close it was almost hard to breathe. Now all she needed was to have Reniko fail, and it would all be perfect. Maybe even Sarunte would fail too. Then she would become a chuunin, and they would still be acadamy students. It would be amazingly perfect. Yes. Yes it would.

Sarunte seemed to be back to a somewhat normal state. The lack of dirt and torn clothing had helped considerably, but he still had a multitude of visible cuts and bruises.

"Hey Baka, what's up?" Reniko asked fluidly.

Sarunte narrowed his eyes. "Buzz off Neko-kun." He said without missing a beat.

Reniko chuckled. "Glad to see you're back to normal. I thought you might have been in a permanent zombie state."

Sarunte gave him a bit of a reluctant smile. "Heheh, yeah,"

Reniko hesitated for a moment. He really shouldn't be doing this…but…but…Sarunte was his friend after all, and Sarunte obviously needed something to cheer him up.

"Hey, my dad got assigned this top secret mission, wanna hear it?" Reniko asked, already knowing the answer.

Sarunte immediately jumped up excitedly. There were a couple of minutes before class, which gave them plenty of time to talk. "What izzit? Aliens? Dinosaurs? Pirates? Samurais? Death Gods? No! Wait! It has to do with that creepy purple uncle of yours!"

Reniko groaned. "Uncle Kankuro is not- ok, yes, yes he is a freak. But that's not the point. It's something much better."

Sarunte widened his eyes in an almost puppy dog like way. "Whaaaattt? TELL MEEEEE!"

"Ok, apparently, there were all these murders going around town right? Anyway, no one, not even the Hyuugas were able to find them. Then, yesterday , My dad found all of them piled up in a heap, dead, right behind the Korean BBQ restaurant. And here is the best part, the same jutsu they were using to kill the citizens? They were killed by that exact same jutsu!"

Reniko expected Sarunte to get excited and jump around, shouting out theories of whatever he thought might have happened. He would have listed off a bunch of suspects, anyone from Jirono-sensei, to the old lady with the lazy eye by the flower store. If Sarunte had done any of this, Reniko would not have been surprised.

But, Sarunte did not do any of that. Instead, the color slowly drained out of his face, and he gulped nervously. He blinked a couple of times, but remained speechless. It almost looked like he was suffocating, in some weird sick way.

Reniko frowned. Usually his stories got great reception from the Uchiha. What was up with him?

"Errr, Anyway, my dad doesn't know who killed them, but I bet it was one of their own, who got greedy or something. I bet they had a lot of money stashed up or something. But, I managed to get a description out of my sister this morning about how the bodies looked. Let me tell you, you would have to be a real sicko to use a jutsu like that."

Sarunte made a weird retching noise. "Can…can we not talk about this?"

Reniko frowned. "Oh come on Sarunte, you love this sort of stuff! What's wrong?"

Sarunte was beginning to sweat. "Nothing. Just. Just Shut Up."

Reniko gaped at him. "Fine. I will."

Jirono walked into the room. "Ok, everyone, last day before graduation no, that does not mean it is a free day. We will be working on some more vocabulary, then work on our jutsus after lunch, yes?"

Ignoring the rehearsed groan, Jirono continued his lesson. "Missing nin. What is it? Yes. You. Haruna?"

Haruna beamed. "They are rogue ninja who have severed all ties with their village."

"Good, now, can you name any missing nin?"

"Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha." Haruna said automatically.

Jirono looked at her in surprise. "I don't recall teaching you that."

"Sarunte told me about them." Haruna said pleasantly. "They had this kekkai genkai called the Sharingan that Naro mentioned yesterday. I did some research 'cause I was bored. My dad told me how Itachi had to kill his best friend or something like that to strengthen his Sharingan."

Jirono nodded. "Very true, any other missing nin?"

"Kisame of the Mist" Naro nearly blurted out, wanting to get off topic of the whole Uchiha thing.

Jirono nodded. "Any others, from Konoha?"

"Hey, wasn't Kisame the partner of Itachi?" Haruna asked curiously.

Nara made a mental note to hit her head with a frying pan a couple of times so as to remove any traces of stupidity that decided to make her blurt out such things.

"Well, I know there was Orochimaru" Koru said.

"Good, what do you know about him?" Jirono asked.

"He conducted experiments on shinobi, before leaving Konoha to join the Akatsuki. He later came back and assassinated the third Hokage. Interestingly enough, he is also the reason Uchiha Sasuke became a missing nin, if I am not mistaken."

Jirono gave a quick chuckle. "Yes, indeed, Sarunte why don't you enlighten us some more on this topic hm?"

"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP ABOUT IT!?" Sarunte screeched standing up.

The class quieted. Outbursts were rare, and they never came from Sarunte. Or at least, never an angry outburst.

Without a second thought, Sarunte jumped in front of his desk, and bolted out the door.

"Sarunte! Sarunte! Come back here!" Jirono yelled. The entire class stood up, talking amongst themselves at such an event.

"What's the big deal?" Naro asked. "I disappear from class all the time." He said with a shrug.

Haruna giggled. "Yeah, but you're never a drama queen about it."

Reniko whipped towards them. "You two!" He hissed. "Shut. The fuck. Up. This is none your business!" He roared, before bolting out the door, chasing Sarunte.

Jirono grabbed Reniko. "Wait!" He cried out.

Reniko wrestled his arm away. "I need to go after him! He's my friend!"

Jirono paused. "…fine. You may go, but I am calling the other chuunins to find him."

Reniko nodded. "Yeah, whatever" He said, and he took off.

xXx

Reniko raced through the town, going through all of Saruntes' favorite places. The Korean BBQ, Ichirakus Ramen, the practice grounds. Nothing. Where was he?

He racked his brain trying to think of somewhere, anywhere that Sarunte could be. He headed towards the Uchiha grounds.

He stopped himself. Sarunte would not go home, his parents would filet him if they found him. And he wasn't going to be the one to tell Saruntes parents the news…

Going from training ground to training ground, Reniko was about to give up, when he had one last idea.

The Uchiha Monument.

The Uchiha Monument had been built to honor those who had been massacred by Itachi Uchiha. According to his dad, it also served as some sort of double joke, since the massacred clan had really been planning a coup detat.

Sarunte and he had played there a couple of times, and given the fact that the whole Itachi Sasuke discussion, seemed to have started this, it seemed logical.

He was right. Behind the monument, Reniko her a weird hiccupping sniffling noise, and found Sarunte Uchiha curled up into a ball.

"Sarunte" He said hoarsely. "Why'd you run out like that? What's wrong man? C'mon moron, stop crying and tell me what ha--"

Sarunte had sat up and stared directly at Reniko. The sight made Renikos blood turned to ice and the color drained out of his face.

"Is…is that…that…that the…?" He asked in an awkward stutter.

"Yeah." Sarunte said bitterly. And tears began to pour down from his red, spiral, sharingan eyes.

To Be Continued