It wasn't long before the Golden Trio found out due to their professor having Voldemort on the back of his head, all exams were canceled. That was a bit rubbish for Harry, because he was interested in what the exams would tell of his level of competence. Hermione was similarly disappointed.
So, they joined forces and made up their own examinations, though Harry refused to take a history exam. By the end of it, Hermione and Harry were satisfied that they'd mastered the first year material.
Harry also was busy compiling up his report summary for the Hokage to review. By the last day of school, he felt at least somewhat prepared to deliver his mission report. Maybe the Hokage would give him an extra few days to prepare?
Harry left his Hogwarts friends with promises to write over the summer. McGonagall, who Harry had gotten to know pretty well over the year, brought him back to Konoha.
"Ready to meet the Hokage?" Kakashi-sensei asked Harry.
"Erm, I have some stuff prepared, but it doesn't feel like enough," Harry said.
Kakashi held out a hand, and Harry gave the man his report. In it, he had included the examinations he'd made with Hermione. Kakashi leafed through the pages, and settled on Harry's summary page. "You're aware you will be giving the mission report verbally?"
"Yep," Harry said.
"I think this is satisfactory enough for a C-rank mission. Let's not delay, Heri. The Hokage is waiting."
Harry got a small confidence boost from Kakashi's review. In front of the Hokage, Harry bowed low to the floor. "Hokage-sama."
"Heri! I'm glad to see you. Please, stand up and deliver your report."
"Yes, sir." Harry handed the Hokage his papers. "Uchiha Heri, genin, reporting back from an investigative C-rank mission at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I investigated the so-called principles of magic and found that it has several applicable uses. The forms of magic are defensive and offensive attacks, transforming objects, flying, and potions- which is a less useful art, but it can alter the mind or health of a person upon consumption- as well as other unknown uses. Magic can only be used by certain people, based not upon heredity but upon innate ability. In my first year, I have grasped some useful and basic techniques, and recommend further study at the school." Harry nodded at the Hokage.
"And the threats from magic?" the Hokage asked.
"They can kill with a single spell, but it's illegal. You go to prison for life if you do it," Harry said. "They can make people forget things, and they can turn anything into a weapon. But," Harry shrugged, "the spells take time to hit. As long as a shinobi moves fast enough, they won't get hit. And I suspect they are poor at dodging."
"Thank you, Heri. I'd like to keep these pages for our records," the Hokage said. "You have done very well in completing this assignment. Congratulations on finishing this C-rank mission. You may continue attending Hogwarts until you decide you no longer wish to attend."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Harry said, a little choked with emotion. The Hokage was one of the best people that Harry had ever known.
"Dismissed," the Hokage said cheerfully.
Harry got the hang of using the basic chakra healing technique Kakashi showed him. Unfortunately, Kakashi didn't know more than that. So Harry was relegated to working on strengthening his barrier jutsu. There was a lot of research on that he could do in the library (medical ninjutsu was really more of a live art, there was only so much you could do with a book) for barrier jutsu.
They also went on a few missions, two of which were C-rank. None of them were as adventurous as the one to Wave, for which Harry was grateful (and a little bored, if he was honest). The intense rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke fell to a low simmer. Those that ate together, stayed together.
One morning Kakashi met the group on time(!) to inform them that Konoha was hosting the Chunin exams, and he strongly encouraged his students to enter. The Chunin exam was a series of challenges with the end one being a direct battle between ninja.
It all sounded awfully familiar to Harry. "There wouldn't happen to be any three-headed dogs in these challenges, would there?"
Sasuke snorted.
"Don't give them any ideas, Heri," Kakashi-sensei told him.
Naturally, all three of them signed up. The first day of the exams, and they were supposed to report to some building. Some low-level genjutsu was on the second floor, but they bypassed that ("Amateurs," Sasuke muttered) and made it to the correct area on the third floor.
The room they found was filled with shinobi not much older than them. Harry spotted Shikamaru and his team, and nodded at the procrastinator ninja. There was the Hyuga girl from their class, with the bug boy and the dog boy on her team. Another Hyuga- branch member, if Harry's memory served- leaned back against a wall next to a boy clad in green and a girl with buns. That other fan girl, Haruno, was there with her team as well, two boys that Harry hadn't really known. She'd always been right behind Harry when it came to academic skills.
Some white-haired dude named Kabuto really wanted to give them advice on the exam. "I've been through several times. I can tell you who you might want to avoid in order to succeed."
Sasuke and Harry scowled. "We're Uchiha, thank you very much," Harry said, "we've got this whole thing figured out."
"No different from clan politics," Sasuke said coolly.
"Eh? Guys? I'd like a little help!" Naruto freaked. Harry grabbed him by the arm and took him over to the side of the room.
"Naruto, play it cool," Harry said quietly. "We're the new kids on the block, and we're the youngest here. We don't want to stick out as some uninformed brats. I'll tell you everything you need to know."
Harry eyeballed the room again. "The Sound are a new village- don't know what tricks they have, so stay away from them. I don't know much about sand, either. Our best bet is to stick with the young teams from our own village, because we already know each other's techniques and they have the same level of experience as we do. That also means we might target each other, too, though."
"I'm gonna become the Hokage, that's the strongest ninja there is," Naruto said. "I'm not going to go around slinking after other Konoha shinobi. Anybody wants to pick a fight with Team 7, we take them down!"
Harry grinned and Sasuke smirked. Leave it to Naruto to ignore all anxiety and common sense.
Morino Ibiki was the proctor of the first exam, and all the applicants sat far away from the other members of the team. "The first phase of the exam is a written test. If you cheat more than five times, you and your team are automatically disqualified. The tenth question will be announced at the end of the hour. Begin."
Harry looked at his exam. Question one looked difficult, but he'd read something about it in the library. Question two was just some applied algebra. Question three was an involved question about human anatomy.
Harry knew the answers to all of them. The question was, what should he do about it? If he earnestly filled it out, he'd be picked on for cheating, no doubt. Something about the test seemed strange as well. Five attempts at cheating seemed like a pretty relaxed policy compared to the Academy. Harry looked around and saw a bee had landed next to some dude's paper as he was filling it out. As he watched, the bee returned to the Aburame kid.
So that was it. The questions were supposed to be hard enough that the genin would be forced to cheat. Harry leaned back in his seat confidently. It was no problem for him after all. He didn't need to cheat.
Two ahead of him was Naruto, though. Naruto's head was swiveling back and forth. The Hyuga girl muttered something to Naruto and tugged her paper a little closer to his, probably letting him cheat. But Naruto's shoulders hunched up. He was definitely saying no.
And people called Harry a Gryffindor.
This was Harry's forte as part of the team, the strategy guy, the one who created a plan because he didn't have the kind of huge chakra reserves Naruto had or the Sharingan Sasuke had. Harry lined some ninja wire with his chakra and fed it along the floor over to Naruto. It went up Naruto's body and wrapped around Naruto's hand and pencil. Before Naruto could do anything more than tense up, he quickly wrote out It's Heri. Let me do my job. Harry relaxed his grip on Naruto and waited for the boy to calm. At a tiny, imperceptible nod from Naruto, Harry tightened his grip and filled out the test, erasing his original message to Naruto. He didn't worry about Sasuke because he knew he'd just use the Sharingan.
When Harry finished, he turned his attention to his own paper and quickly filled it out. Just in time for the tenth question.
"If you fail the tenth question, you will remain a genin forever," Ibiki told them. "So leave now if you don't think you can pass it. It will mean your team fails with you, but you can always try again next year."
No way Harry was leaving. He could handle anything they threw at him. Some people left, others seemed to be teetering on heading out.
When Naruto's hand shot up, so did Harry's eyebrows.
"I don't care if I am a genin forever! I'm not scared of anything. Even if I am a genin, someday I'm going to become Hokage!" Naruto slammed his hand on his desk.
Nobody left after that. Harry felt a rush of affection for Naruto. Only the trickster of Team 7 could have spoken up despite the tension in the room. Naruto was immovable when it mattered, and Harry was glad to have his best friend.
"Alright, then," Ibiki said, "you all pass. The tenth question was a test to see if you had the guts to take a risk, like you'll have to do on C-rank and B-rank missions. The odds are always stacked against shinobi."
Some girl came crashing through the window at that moment. Since Ibiki didn't look surprised, Harry decided not to make any rash moves. "Alright, you snots!" the girl yelled. "I am Mitarashi Anko, the proctor for the second test. What the- are there 78 of you? Ibiki, what gives? Are you going soft?"
"Maybe we have a higher quality of candidates this year," Ibiki replied.
"Doubt it! Well, when I'm finished with them, less than half will be standing. And that's if I'm being optimistic." She smirked. "Go home for the day and be ready to meet back here tomorrow. That's when the real mission begins, kiddies."