The Forth Hokage's child trained day in and day out in the art or fūinjutsu,getting slowly but surely better in the sealing jutsu, until he found out big news from Iruka. Naruto felt a mixture of excitement and fear when he heard his Sensei told him that the final exams were coming up in a month and it would determine if each individual would pass and become a genin or fail and stay in the academy. He felt excitement because if he graduated, he could become a real ninja and go on real missions. But he felt fear as well becuase he was almost one hundred percent certain that you would need to use ninjutsu to pass in the final exam. It was only a week before the final exam that his fear and fate were unavoidable.

Iruka cleared his throat to try and get the attention of the class. "Alright everyone settle down. I'll now explain the details of the exam next week." Everyone fell silent. "To pass the exam and go on the road to becoming a genin, you must be able to create three perfect shadow clones. This is the objective becuase it clearly shows if you can perfect the first stage of chakra control and it also shows that you're able to perform basic jutsu that a ninja should be able to perform. If you fail this exam you will stay in the academy until the next exam comes."

Naruto slammed his head against the table and everyone looked over at him as he did so. Why? Why did it have to be ninjutsu? If if were taijutsu he would have at least have a chance of passing.

After Iruka finished the details, the end of the academy day appeared. As soon as it did, the yellow haired pre-genin rushed towards the training filed and rested against a tree. He closed his eyes as he tried to think of a way to pass this final exam.

He could use fūinjustu to seal away three shadow clones before the exam and then release them for the exam. No. He couldn't seal away that amount of mass or volume into a scroll, he hadn't learnt that level of sealing yet, and there's the problem of making the shadow clones in the first place. He could try to convince three people to use a transformation technique to make them look like himself. No. Iruka would probably want proof that the three were shadow clones.

Naruto slowly slumped down onto the ground and groaned. "Why the hell does it have to be shadow clones! I bet he chose that jutsu to mock me!"

A ninja heard Naruto's complaints and slowly walked in his direction. "Hey kiddo. What the heck are you whining about?"

The Uzumaki glanced up at the ninja and glared slightly. "What do you want?" He kicked his foot into the ground.

The ninja chuckled and adjusted his goggles which made the sun deflect off them. "Woah. What's with the attitude. Usually you're excited to see me."

The yellow haired boy sighed gently and looked down at the dirt. "Yeah... Well not today, Obito."

Obito sat down close to the pre-genin and rested against the tree stump. "Care to explain?"

Naruto looked up at the Uchiha and debated if to tell him or not, but in the end he did. He explained the whole story about the final exam and his curse of never learning ninjutsu correctly. "... And so I'm going to fail the exam and all my classmates will pass, leaving me behind in the dirt."

The chunin that sat next to be complaining boy smiled slightly and looked up at the sky as he felt nostalgic. "The shadow clone technique? They still use that for the final exam?" He slowly stood up and smiled down at the child. "Well show me you making shadow clones. I'm positive that they won't be the worst I've seen."

Naruto slowly for onto his feet, feeling slightly confident with his own ability now. He smirked slightly as he made a couple of hand signs. "Shadow clone jutsu!" A cloud of white smoke appeared. As the smoke disappeared, a pale, strange looking version of the Uzumaki appeared. It didn't last more than two seconds before falling down onto the grass.

Obito stared at the shadow clone in shock. As soon as it disappeared into a cloud of smoke, he fell to the floor and burst out laughing. "Are you serious!? You have to be joking. The Forth Hokage's son makes a shadow clone like that?"

Naruto clenched his fists. "Shut the hell up! I try and try but I can never succeed in ninjutsu, ya know!"

The Uchiha slowly sat up and lifted his goggles up to wipe his eyes. "Alright, alright. I was just joking." He sighed and couldn't keep himself grinning despite his words. "I used to be terrible at making shadow clones as well. In fact, I just barely passed the final exam when I was in the academy so..." He slowly stood up. "If you want I'll try my best to help you out."

The Forth Hokage's son pouted and turned around so he was facing away from Obito. He crossed his arms and smirked. "No thanks. I don't want help from a chunin." He waved his hand and glanced behind him. "Besides, I'm sure Kakashi or Rin would be much better at helping me."

It was Obito's turn to clench his fists and get pissed at the other person's comments. "Hey! I'm almost a jonin. And I'm so much better at the shadow clone technique then Kakashi!" He purposely left Rin's name out.

As Naruto listened to Obito he chuckled and slowly turned around. "How can you be better if you 'barely' passed the final exam?"

The two boys looked each other in the eyes. Obito slowly smirked. "Because I had to train much more than Kakashi to even pass the exam. So I know the jutsu inside and out."

Naruto sighed. He had enough of mocking his friend. "Well... I guess that's a fair point. Alright then, master at the shadow clone technique, teach me how to perfect the jutsu."

The Uchiha chuckled and gave Naruto a thumbs up. "Sure thing!"

After about a hour of training, the Uzumaki was exhausted. He had drained himself of most of his chakra and was laying down on the grass whilst looking up to the sky. Obito was sat against a tree stump and shook his head gently. "Well...you were right. You do suck at creating shadow clones. And your chakra control is terrible even though Minato Sensei OS teaching you fūinjustu."

Naruto glared at Obito, as if trying to shoot daggers at him. "Well... I'm getting better. I mean, I can actually create a proper shadow clone now." He slowly sat up and leant on his right arm. "And if you keep training me until the day before the exam I'm sure that I'll be able to create three."

Obito put his hand up to stop Naruto talking. "I'm really sorry Naruto but I've got a mission tomorrow. And it's a mission outside the village that is at least going to take a week to finish."

The hope in the Naruto's eyes slowly went. "But..." He looked down to the grass.

Obito put his hand on his head and ruffled his yellow hair. "Don't worry, I'm sure that you'll be able to perfect the shadow clone technique if you keep on training each day."

The Uzumaki pouted but eventually he couldn't help but smile. "Thank you Obito. I'll train every day and by the time you get back I'll be able to create 100 clones at once!"

Obito laughed and shook his head. "Alright kid. If you can do that I'll pay for all the ramen you want for a whole week. That's a promise."

A week went past and it only felt like a day to Naruto. He was waiting outside the room that would decide if he were suitable to become a genin or stay as a student at the academy. He sighed gently, leaning against the wall whilst he waited for his turn to show off his skill.

Sasuke slowly walked out of the room and smirked when he saw Naruto. "Good luck in there Naruto" he walked down the corridor with his hands hidden in his pockets.

Naruto cocked his head as he was unable to tell if that was support or mockery. He hadn't had even a second to chose before he heard: "Uzumaki Naruto. Enter."

Naruto took a deep breath and slowly walked into the room that would determine his fate. He noticed Iruka and Mizuki sitting next to a desk. The Uzumaki gulped as he stood around 10 feet from the desk.

Iruka nodded at Iruka. "Alright Naruto you know what you need to do to pass: create three identical shadow clones."

Naruto smirked and nodded. He made some hand signs as he summoned an immense amount of chakra. He closed his eyes then opened them wide. "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"