If you got a second chance at life, what would you do?

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- Chapter 10: The Graduation Exam -

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"Childhood is short, maturity is forever."

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Mom told me to make my last year at the Academy count.

I 'd been training genjutsu with my dad, taijutsu and ninjutsu with Asuma, and my weapon throwing skills with Mom for as long as I could remember.

I practiced hours on end. Some simple skills had even become second nature to me.

If after all this hard work I didn't graduate... Then what would it all have been for?

OK, so graduating wasn't really the issue. Passing the genin test was.

Only 9 genin graduated right? That would make my chances of graduating pretty slim. Very slim.

The difficulty of the test was determined by the jounin teacher I would get.

In fact, the only test I knew of was Kakashi's bell test. The answer to the test had been teamwork so maybe, theoretically it didn't matter what type of test I got, the answer would always be teamwork. Hm...

On the side, I had been trying to teach myself more medical ninjutsu. I was now able to heal any wort of surface wounds but still couldn't perform any life saving or fatal wound healing. Since I wasn't an expert in healing while using chakra, I would rely on my ample knowledge of medical herbs and plants.

I also had improved a great deal over the years at chakra shape transformation.

With my chakra strings I could even manipulate some weapons- mostly senbon since they were light and easy to maneuver. I could also do other things with my chakra, like extend it out of my body and make it form a sort of barrier. Admittedly, it could only subdue blows and deflect weapons coming in one direction and I couldn't hold it in place for very long, but it was something. Anything useful was good enough for me.

Sometimes I trained after school with Hasuo. He helped me improve my strength while I helped him improve his aim. I also trained once or twice in the Hyuga compound again, each time as awkward as the last. Her father hadn't warmed up to me in the least. None of the clan members I encountered had- though they did seem to recognize who I was now.

But how could they not? Not that many people in the village had purple hair. I only knew of two- my grandfather and some ANBU member I had seen once or twice.

Personally, I didn't really like my purple hair. Not only was it weird, but it would be a hindrance during undercover and infiltration missions.

Occasionally I trained with Hasuo. With him I practiced working on my stamina and with Hinata I practiced improving my speed and flexibility. I never used my full speed against Hasuo and Hinata. Especially with Hinata. Every time I trained with her, I was observed like some specimen under a microscope by a third party member. They didn't want me to learn their secrets and I certainly didn't want them to learn mine. Especially Neji. I might have to fight against him in the future and it was always better to have an element of surprise. Always. Especially if you were thought of as weak. Underestimating an opponent was one of a ninja's biggest mistake.

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One day in class, we were all finishing a worksheet on the shinobi rules of conduct that Iruka-sensei had given us when Mizuki-sensei rushed in the classroom, alarm clouding his features.

"Iruka you need to come! Something horrible has happened, you need to come! Code orange."

Code orange? I tried to remember such a code. I hadn't read anything about it and my father hadn't informed me of a new code being put in place. Maybe it was one of those codes only ninja had knowledge of.

"Finish the worksheet. I'll expect it done when I come back," he said, sighing before following Mizuki-sensei out.

I frowned. That was strange.

Not only did Iruka-sensei not look worried, he said it as though that 'horrible' something wouldn't take long to solve.

I looked around to see if other people had thought the same way. The other students had seemed undisturbed by the news and had taken Iruka's absence as a free pass to talk with their friends.

My eyes widened as I looked out the window.

Then it became clear.

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Naruto had just trashed the Hokage Mountain.

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"I've had enough of you! Tomorrow is the ninja school's graduation exam. You've already failed twice, this is no time to be causing more trouble idiot!" yelled Iruka-sensei at a tied up Naruto.

Did sensei really have to tie him up with ropes? Wasn't that a little too much?

And how had Naruto been able to take the graduation examination before? We were in the same year. Unless you were recommended by a teacher, you weren't allowed to take the exam before you turned 12. Unless maybe Iruka-sensei had recommended him in order to get rid of him but it didn't seem likely. People recommended were usually geniuses, something Naruto was far from.

Though, I had to hand it to him. Naruto had managed vandalize the Hokage's stone faces without getting caught by the other ninja of chuunin rank. Maybe even jounin rank. He had some brains somewhere in there that was for sure. I mean, to be able to get away from pulling that sort of prank you had to have some strategizing skills. I couldn't name more than a handful of strudents in our class that would be able to get away with something like that. And even a 'handful of students' seemed like an exaggeration. Naruto wasn't as dumb and simple-minded as everyone though he was. Something that was overlooked by a lot of our classmates.

"Whatever," said Naruto dismissively, looking away.

"That's it!" shouted Iruka-sensei, annoyed by his disdainful behavior. "Because of you everyone will go over the transformation jutsu!"

The class let out a collective groan and reluctantly got up from their seats to form a line in the front of the classroom. I followed them, still thinking about Naruto.

Sakura was up first and transformed into a perfect copy of Iruka-sensei.

"Good job Sakura," smiled Iruka, writing something down that appeared to be a check mark judging by his hand stroke.

"Yes! Yes! I did it! Sasuke-kun, did you see that?" she said happily, jumping up and down.

I looked over at him. He flat out ignored her.

I don't know, but in her shoes I would have given up on him ages ago. His message was clear- he wasn't interested. And anyways, it didn't look like he was ready to warm up anytime soon. His frigid demeanor reminded me of Neji. Which wasn't exactly a compliment.

I observed the following transformations closely. Most of the other students' transformations were pretty good imitations of Iruka though some weren't entirely identical. A missing detail here and there...

"Ren, you're up."

I stepped forward and formed the hand seals Dog- Boar- Ram. I didn't need to look down to know that I had successfully transformed into Iruka-sensei.

"Good," he said, jotting something down.

I went back to stand next to Shikamaru mimicking his bored expression.

"Next, Naruto."

This caught my attention.

"This sucks," he mumbled, brushing past me to stand in front of Iruka-sensei before forming the hand seals. "Transform!"

There was a puff of smoke which followed by an eerie silence.

I blinked.

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He did not just transform into a naked woman.

I was just seeing things, right?

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Iruka nose bled and fell backwards when the transformed Naruto blew him a kiss.

OK then, maybe I wasn't just seeing things.

I looked at him, somewhat impressed. Not a lot of people had the guts to do that. Naruto was very gutsy. Very gutsy indeed. Two pranks in one day. Two good pranks in on day.

Naruto changed back to his normal self and started laughing his head off. Several students laughed along with him. Those students were a minority. The rest of them either ignored Naruto's prank, looked nervous or chastised him for goofing off again.

"I call it 'Sexy no Jutsu'!" Naruto snickered.

"You moron!" yelled Iruka-sensei, whacking him on the head. "Stop inventing stupid jutsus!"

Eh.

I think the main reason Iruka-sensei was mad was because he actually reacted to the 'stupid jutsu'. Worse- his students had witnessed him nosebleed after the seeing the jutsu. Which meant Iruka really was a pervert.

I rolled my eyes.

Class was dismissed by the time everyone had the chance to perform the transformation jutsu.

"You ready for the exam tomorrow?" asked Choji looking at me, jittery.

Was he worried? I looked at him pensively, trying to find the right words to reassure him.

"It'll be easy don't worry. Most people will pass," I said. "Tadashi told me it's a two part test. The first part is a short written exam. In the second part they'll ask you to perform a jutsu for them. It's most likely to be either the transformation or clone technique since they are considered the hardest E-rank techniques."

Choji looked reassured. He was good at those two techniques.

The test itself didn't sound very hard. It was almost too easy. Clone technique and a quiz? Even Shikamaru would suspect there was a catch. Nothing in the shinobi life was easy. This exam was contradictory to everything we had ever learned.

"I'll have to study hard tonight then," said Choji, determination blazing in his eyes.

I smiled at him, patting his head endearingly.

We stopped walking so that Choji and Shikamaru could wait for their parents to pick them up.

I wondered why my parents let me walk home by myself... I mean, they had left me to walk around Konoha alone since I was pretty young. I mean seriously, I could of gotten kidnapped! Maybe they were just convinced nothing wrong would happen. Maybe I just had odd parents.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow!" I smiled, waving before heading home.

Tomorrow was going to be interesting indeed.

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"Now that you have finished the written portion of the exam, we will now proceed to the second part," said Iruka-sensei holding up a clipboard. "When your name is called, come to the next room. The final exam will be on the clone jutsu."

My eyes flickered to Naruto who had responded strongly to that last part.

I frowned. Wasn't he exceptionally good at making clones? I shrugged the thought away- I had to worry about doing my best. I wouldn't let my mind get sidetracked.

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"You now will perform the clone jutsu. You can make as many as you can- the number doesn't really matter," said Iruka-sensei looking at me. "Whenever you're ready."

I eyed the hidden leaf forehead protectors lined up on the table in front of Iruka and two other teachers. They were new and shiny. There weren't many left but I knew one of them was going to be mine. It had to.

I formed the hand seals and concentrated my chakra flow- not too much but not too little.

Three clones appeared lined up next to me, all exact replicas of me. Three seemed like a good number of clones to make since most students could make that many.

"Good job Ren," said Mizuki-sensei, smiling at me.

Mizuki-sensei was a nice teacher just like Iruka-sensei- though something in his chakra perturbed me.

"You passed, congratulations!" smiled Iruka-sensei. "We'll put your name in the roster of passing students. There will be thorough deliberation before you get placed in your genin team."

He handed me one of the forehead protectors. I accepted it gladly.

"Don't forget to give in your ninja registration form next week with your ninja ID," he reminded me.

I smiled proudly, bowing quickly before exiting.

Many students were crowded outside accompanied by their gushing proud parents. I spotted my father underneath the tree.

Tying my new forehead protector around my neck, I walked over happily to him.

"I see you passed," my father said smiling.

Even though he didn't let on as much as the other parents, his eyes were shrouded with pride. I smiled at that. I've always loved it when Dad was proud of me.

"So we can go get dango right?" I asked hopefully.

I really did loved that stuff.

He chuckled but took me by the hand and started walking toward the shop.

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Mom had been really proud of me as well. Tadashi had even given me these small hoop earrings that he got from one of his missions in the Land of Lightning.

I changed the standard outfit I wore while at the Academy into a cream colored sleeveless shirt and marine blue shorts for the occasion. I continued to bandage my forearms and legs, keeping the dark blue leg warmers and black sleeveless gloves.

I was now a ninja of the Hidden Leaf.

Orientation would be held tomorrow- which was when I would finally know which genin team I would get placed in.

But that was tomorrow. As of now, I was currently sitting in front of the Hokage and his assistant being interrogated.

I hadn't ever seen the Hokage this close up before. I had always seen him from a distance at assemblies and official stuff like that. Now that I had gotten a real good look at him, I noticed that he really did look like a gramps. Wrinkled lines defined his face while his white goatee made his face look longer. And was that a wart? This was supposed to be the strongest shinobi of the village right? Hmm... I wondered how fast he could run with those fragile bones.. And the smoking wouldn't help him with his stamina either.

"Your hobbies are training, reading, and playing shogi with Nara Shikamaru..." the Hokage read off. "Favorite food... seaweed onigri, apples, and dango... Hmm... Everything seems to be in order."

I smiled politely at him.

"Now I'll have to ask you some questions.." he said, looking at me from under his hat.

More questions? That registration form had been full of questions. He basically already knew everything about me just by reading it.

"Why is it you want to become a Konoha leaf ninja?"

Trick question? Was this a trick question?

"I want to be a Konoha leaf ninja to serve my village."

That seemed like a good answer. It was the truth too. There were of course, other reasons I wanted to become a ninja but those things I exactly feel like sharing.

He nodded, and looked through a couple papers clicking his tongue.

"I've been informed that you've been training with Sarutobi Asuma."

Oh?

This interested me. Did Asuma mention me? Or did he find out from my dad? Or maybe from that creepy crystal ball of his? Maybe it was just common knowledge.

"Yes Hokage-sama. I've been training with him since I was... five? I don't really remember. I was really young."

The day I first met Asuma seemed very far away now. Memories of my childhood were pretty blurry. Almost like a dream.

There was a silence and I assumed he expected me to explain... Explain what?

"We train mainly taijutsu though he has taught me some ninjutsu. He's a very good teacher," I said. I couldn't help but smile when I thought about him.

I hadn't seen him around these past two weeks but I bet he was probably busy getting ready for his new genin team. Which I wouldn't be on. Grunt.

"I see. And what career as a ninja do you wish to take?" Hokage-sama asked me, nodding.

"I want to become a jounin, that much is certain."

Jounin was a no brainer. I would then be able to go on A-ranked missions. Sometimes even S-ranked. I would only be able to call myself strong when the Hokage would appoint me jounin. Never before that.

I hadn't really thought about it beyond that... ANBU? Hunter-nin? Medical-nin? Intelligence division? Maybe not the Special Assassination and Tactical Squad though- killing mercilessly wasn't very appealing.

"Interesting," the Hokage said, exhaling some smoke from his pipe. "I'll be interested to see your growth as a ninja."

I smiled while eyeing the pipe reproachfully. I had gotten used to the smell of smoke ever since I had started training with Asuma-sensei, but that didn't mean I liked it. In fact, because of Asuma-sensei I was inhaling second hand smoke.

Maybe smoking was some sort of family tradition or something. I stood up, being dismissed, and bowed before leaving the room.

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It was weird being back at the Academy since we had all technically graduated.

Things had changed though. They were slight changes. But still perceptible.

Not only were the children being unusually noisy, they were twice as confident as they had been before. Too much confidence was always a bad thing.

"This sucks," I said pouting, crossing my arms.

"Naruto somehow passed the graduation exam..." groaned Shikamaru, plopping down on the seat next to me.

I looked over at Naruto who was sitting next to Sasuke. He looked pretty darn happy.

I smiled despite myself. The odd duckling. Here against all odds. He never failed to impress me.

I frowned suddenly, getting a weird feeling. It felt like chakra particles were suspended in the air in the classroom.

I reached my hand up wiggling my fingers around trying to get a good feel. There was definitely an intruding chakra in the air. It was faint, but it was there.

Kind of reminded me of purple cushions and smoke. Which in turn reminded me of ..Hokage-sama? Why would his chakra be lingering in the classroom? It's not like he was here, concealed watching us... Right?

Whatever.

"I'M FIRST!"

I jumped, lowering my arm and turned to stare at Ino and Sakura who were basically shoving each other to get through the doorway. I sighed.

To them, everything was a competition.

Everything.

The worst part was that they seemed to be equal in everything. Speed, taijutsu... Though I think Ino was slightly better at ninjutsu than Sakura while Sakura was better at written exams than Ino. Overall, they were pretty evenly matched.

I watched impassively as Sakura knocked Naruto out of his seat to talk to Sasuke. Eek. This wasn't going to end well, I could feel it.

I decided to watch though, for my personal amusement.

"I was here first Ino- pig!" shouted Sakura.

"I arrived in the classroom first billboard brow!" Ino yelled back, using Sakura's respective nickname.

Soon a group of girls started crowding around them all claiming to have arrived first. All wanting to get to sit next to Sasuke.

I giggled. All this commotion in order to sit next to one guy? I was pretty sure any normal girl would have been more discreet in showing their feelings. Maybe the rule 'first come, first served' was applied in every situation for them.

Suddenly, Naruto got up on the desk, crouching in front of Sasuke, glaring at him.

Eh?

Now what?

My eyes widened considerably when the guy seated in front of Sasuke elbowed Naruto, making Naruto fall directly onto Sasuke. Their lips connected with a smack.

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I started grinning despite myself. This was a whole lot funnier than Naruto transforming into a naked girl! Ha! This was gold. Very good blackmail material.

The fan girls weren't very pleased by this, to say the least. As a result of their anger, Naruto was beat up pretty badly. I could already spot a couple bruises forming in a yellow-ish color. Shouldn't they have beat up the guy that pushed Naruto instead? That seemed much more logical. It's not like Naruto wanted to fall into Sasuke... Right?

Right.

"As of today you are all ninjas," said Iruka-sensei after the class had quieted down. "But you are still genin- first level ninjas. The hard part has just started. All the genin will be grouped into three man squads, each squad being lead by a jounin- an elite ninja."

Jounin, huh? I wondered who I would get... Though I had my suspicions..

"I wonder who's going to be on Sasuke-kun's team," wondered Ino, who had taken a seat on the other side of Shikamaru.

"I don't know," whispered back Sakura, who was seated right in front of Ino.

"We wanted each squad to be balanced in strength," continued Iruka-sensei.

Which made sense. What one partner lacked the other teammates would make up for.

Iruka-sensei started reading off the teams from his clipboard and it all became relatively clear which team I was going to be placed on.

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I knew the gods had it out for me.

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"Team 7, Tanaka Ren, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke."

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A/N: I know.

I know, ok?

Team 7 was a bit obvious wasn't it? But I thought long and hard about it and there really wasn't any other logical choice! Maybe putting Ren in a completely different OC team was another logical choice, but eek! That would have made too many complications. And now that she's on Team 7 I won't have too much trouble sticking to the canon plot. Plus, most of your suggestions told me to put her on Team 7 as well.

-Thank you for your reviews/ views. I really like reading your suggestions for this story (:

-Next chapter: The Bell Test!