Naruto was practically bouncing in his seat. So was Karin.
Today was the day. The day they were finally allowed to take the genin exam with Yoru's permission.
Unlike the rest of their classmates, Naruto, Sasuke, Haku, Kimimaro and Karin all chose to skip last year's attempt because Yoruichi didn't think they were ready.
However this year there were a few changes to that. For one thing, Naruto had trained the kitsune he had saved (with help from Haku and Sasuke) into being his nin partners. They were as capable as an Inuzuka-bred dog. Sasuke's hawk partner had accepted the boy as his new partner...primarily because Sasuke flat out told the bird to either work with him or get roasted and fed to whatever manner of creature tried to eat him last. The bird apparently respected anyone who was more than happy to kill it if shown any disrespect from the avian.
Probably why the handlers had never gotten it to behave as well as Sasuke did.
Haku's pet rabbit, Monty, was the most terrifying bunny in the village. It scared even Kuromaru, Tsume's ninken partner. The girls had originally cooed at the rabbit when Haku dared to bring it to class...right up until it nearly tore a snake's head off when Anko sent one of her summons to keep the kiddie patrol on their toes.
Karin was guaranteed to become a genin. She had recently gotten her level one iryonin license. The genin exam was just a formality at this point...and because she wanted to pass with her favorite cousin.
Thirteen was usually considered the cut off for genin, primarily because the kiddies wasted their three tries too quickly. The Academy had a firm three strikes you're out deal, but it did allow for error which was why there was a six-month period where the students could try for an apprenticeship with a jounin to bypass the team and still become shinobi.
Strangely the only ones who ever tried this were the shinobi raised, usually because their parents told them about it. It wasn't like they were trying to keep the civilians out of the force, but they weren't advertising it either. Plus the first Hokage believed that not broadcasting it would show how much initiative the failures had and a chance to prove they were worthy of being genin in the first place.
If they were too lazy to find alternate teacher after passing the exam once, then they were too lazy to be shinobi anyway.
Yakumo was nervous as well. Despite Yoruichi finding the real problem with her family's ability and correcting it with a simple seal (thus allowing her to become a specialized shinobi) she had been told that once she graduated she would be put on the same team as Kimimaro and Haku instead of Sasuke and Naruto like originally planned.
This was because Karin's skills worked better with the other two boys than Yakumo's did, while she complimented Haku and Kimimaro.
Besides, it would provide the boys with an extra tie to Konoha, considering Karin was originally from Kusa.
Sadly Yoruichi was not at the Academy for the graduation exam. Something had come up during her last extensive physical, so Tsunade told her she had to come down to the hospital or else.
Shinobi were required to get a full body physical at least once a year to insure they were in peak condition. Some, like Kakashi, had to be dragged kicking and screaming before they would do it. Others, like Gai, had to be sedated before they even could be brought in.
She would be there after, time permitting.
Tsunade pulled out the X-rays.
"This...is not good at all."
"What exactly is it?"
"We're not entirely sure. I only just caught it while I was checking your lungs and I noticed they were slightly off," admitted Tsunade. "We tested your blood and found out that the white-cell count is abnormally high. Usually we see this in the Sarutobi clan after a few years of smoking..."
Yoru paled.
"You don't think..."
"We'll keep an eye on it, but until then we're going to run another diagnostic on your blood and lungs to be sure."
"Will I be able to make it for the chibi patrol once they graduate?"
Because the Hokage agreed to return the standards back to the way they originally were (they were revamped by the council before he could stop them...he was using the last official graduating class as an excuse for why he was reversing that decision...only one team passed at all) the kids had to wait an extra year before they were allowed to try their luck at getting the coveted hitai-ate.
Personally Yoru thought it was about damn time, as it was quickly apparent that the 'revised' Academy curriculum had only made their genin weaker, not stronger. Naruto in particular shot up to one of the top students, as the old grading system wasn't nearly as dependent on written exams.
However it did force the fan girls to actually train and drop those ridiculous diets. Inoichi was particularly pleased his daughter had to drop the diet because she was about to fall into the lower ranks of the class.
Sakura Haruno, a girl Naruto originally had a one-sided crush on because she was the only one who was nice to him, ended up losing her spot as the top kunoichi.
The top three in the class were now Karin, Hinata and Yakumo.
"So any idea why Tsunade-baa-chan called Yoru-nee in?" asked Naruto.
Most (if not all) of those close to Yoruichi called Tsunade 'Baa-chan' after Naruto gave her that nickname. So long as she didn't have to mother any children in the next few years, she could live with the nickname. To be fair, she wasn't sure she could have any kids with how many poisons, hits and wounds she had taken over the years. Not to mention she was close to fifty as it was.
"No idea. Anyway pay attention dumbass! If you're going to graduate with us then listen to what they're saying!" said Sasuke.
"But it's soooo boring!"
Sasuke slapped him on the head. While Haruno once had a bad habit of hitting Naruto whenever he did something to irritate her, Sasuke only did it when Naruto was being an idiot.
At least his slaps didn't hurt nearly as bad as Haruno's punches.
Suddenly the door opened to reveal... Anko and Kakashi?
"What are you two doing here?" asked Mizuki.
"Hokage-sama asked us to do the evaluation of the newest crop since they had to skip a year thanks to be put back on the older standards," said Anko.
Iruka knew the truth. While that was their cover, the real reason was that the Hokage didn't want the teacher's bias against Naruto to keep him from earning his headband. Kakashi and Anko, while partial to him, also wouldn't pull any punches. If he needed another year, then he would be stuck another year.
If he could pull it out of his ass, then he was going to get a real treat...his father's hitai-ate.
"Alright brats! Here's how the graduation exam is gonna work! Now the standards you're used to had you do a long ass paper test, two minutes sparring with a genin, and the clone jutsu. The old standards are what we're going to be holding you to today," said Anko.
She walked up to the board and listed them.
"Since Kakashi and I are jounin and are here today on loan, you have the option of three minutes with a genin, two with one of your teachers who won't be holding any punches, or four minutes with Kakashi since Yoru-chan banned me from traumatizing you lot."
"Thank kami..." muttered one of the kids. Anko grinned at Naruto.
"Next will be a paper test which will examine your knowledge of life outside the village, as well as you ability to function as a ninja. Basically it's 'what would you do in this situation' series of essays. Word of advice, we're looking for creativity and within reasonable limits of what a shinobi can do to get out of sticky situations."
Naruto perked up at that.
"Finally the standard jutsu. Because we're holding you to the older standards, you are allowed to substitute clan or unusual jutsu to demonstrate whether or not you can handle being a ninja. And since we're tired of hearing complaints from the Civilian council about the fact only those of shinobi breeding making it past the final genin exam, there is a six month waiting period for those who don't make it past their instructor's tests. If you're smart, you'll figure out why we wait six months. If not, then you're still not cut out for life as a shinobi. Any questions? No? Good."
Anko clearly ignored the raised hand of Sakura Haruno.
Iruka sighed. At least she made it short, sweet...and didn't traumatize them too much. Now that the introduction and explanation was out of the way, Iruka and Mizuki started handing out test sheets.
Naruto, within seconds of seeing his, immediately raised his hand.
"Yes, minion?" asked Anko.
"I think I got the wrong test sheet," he said.
Iruka, who was closest, walked over to where Naruto was and looked at it.
"How in the world did you get the advanced placement test sheet? There weren't supposed to be any in that pile..." he said in disbelief. He handed Naruto the right paper, and the boy promptly began working.
Two hours later, the teens all filed out to the court yard where there was a ring. Most of the civilian raised students opted to try their luck with the genin. Some of the shinobi raised kids chose the chunin instructors.
Naruto, Sasuke, Kimimaro, Haku, and a particularly dense Kiba all chose to fight the jounin. Kiba barely lasted the required time limit before Anko put him out of his misery.
Naruto, true to his tricky nature, managed to keep Kakashi on his toes. Sasuke opted to use an doton jutsu and disappeared until the time limit was reached when he chose to spar against Anko. Kimimaro simply drew his bone sword and fought head-to-head with Anko. Haku? He stole Kakashi's book and threatened to set it on fire if he didn't admit defeat.
As Yoruichi often said, the only time it was considered cheating was if you weren't the one who was doing it.
"Last requirement! The jutsu test!"
Anko and Kakashi stood watch while Iruka and Mizuki sat by the table with the hitai-ate.
One by one the students either performed the Academy three (clone, replacement and henge) or they performed one of the three and at least two jutsu that were C rank that weren't taught at the school.
For the most part the test seemed to go well...at least, until Naruto walked in.
"Clone, replacement, henge, or one of the three and two C rank ninjutsu or genjutsu."
Naruto replaced himself with Kakashi, used the shadow clone...and for a little extra kick, a technique that made Zabuza Momochi of the Hidden Mist famous as an assassin. (He learned it from Yoruichi and Kakashi helped to fine tune it.)
"Wait with the others Naruto. We have to tally up the scores," said Iruka.
In order not to get their hopes up, they wouldn't hand out the headbands right there like they did before. Instead the teachers (along with the two jounin) would tally up the scores and then call their names.
"Well? How did you do?"
"Shadow clone and hidden mist technique. No way I didn't pass it this time!" said Naruto proudly.
"You actually managed to pull off the hidden mist?" said Haku.
"Well...mostly. I didn't really have enough water to cover the room, but I was able to cover my body and two feet around me!"
"Did I miss anything?" asked a tired voice.
The children clamored up to see Yoruichi, who looked downright exhausted.
"What did baa-chan have to say?" asked Naruto.
"They might have found something in my x-rays, but they have to wait to be sure. It might be nothing," said Yoruichi.
"You look tired Yoru-nee?"
"I have been feeling off lately," said Yoruichi. And since they were still early in their relationship, she knew she wasn't pregnant.
It seemed like her energy levels were off, and she got tired more easily.
She did manage to stay awake until the kids went to bed.
At least this time Naruto passed with one of the highest scores in the Academy.
Yoruichi sat on the bed awaiting Tsunade's diagnosis. Normally she would be upbeat and friendly, but this morning she had coughed up blood for no reason. She was rightly terrified.
Tsunade came in.
"Now, we took some samples and had them tested..."
"It's bad isn't it?"
Tsunade kept her best poker face one. Yoruichi could tell something was definitely wrong just by that.
"The good news is we caught it early...the bad news is that it seems using the Sharingan exasperates it for some reason. Now, we will have to pull you from active duty for two months at least. Only light taijutsu exercise and chakra control until we see if this can be cured. Which means you won't be able to train the minions for a few months."
"What about shadow clones?"
"Well I suppose you could substitute the shadow clones for chakra control...but I would only allow one a day, if that."
"Mine can last for weeks. It's how I kept Yoruichi a secret from everyone," she said proudly.
"Only one," said Tsunade.
"Great...the chibi patrol finally graduates and now I'm stuck on maternity and critical injury status," said Yoruichi sourly. The only ones who got stuck on light chakra control and taijutsu were those critically injured, or kunoichi who were having a child and still wanted to remain on active duty.
"Look at the bright side...at least you'll be able to catch up on your reading," said Tsunade.
"True."