28.
"Class," said Iruka, smiling, "we have some very special students to welcome back with us today. This is Jounin Anko's team - your former classmates. They have decided to spend the last few days reviewing with us before their final Genin Exam."
Hinata gave a slight smile, Ino a little wave, and Sakura was reserved, hand on her hip. They were standing in front of their old Academy classroom, the long rows of tables in rising tiers, filled with bored-looking teenagers around their age. The windows on the far right wall still shone light onto the space. Each girl saw their old crushes among the students, and felt a flash of previous heartbreak again. Naruto and Sasuke had both become quite handsome, whatever else they were. That first heartbreak - some said you never really got over it.
"I hope you will all treat them with courtesy and respect," said Iruka. "Girls, please find your seats."
Hinata, Ino, and Sakura found an empty three-person table at the back and took seats beside each other.
"So," said Iruka, clapping his hands. "To begin class."
Team Kunoichi sat in a circle underneath a tree in the back courtyard for lunch. They each had brought hearty lunches they had made themselves, and traded food with each other, trying each other's meals.
"Trying to get fat, are we?" They turned around to find Ami and her posse standing there. "Hello, girls. You look much bigger since the last time I saw you. Horizontally, I mean, not vertically." Ami smirked. There were titters.
"Wow, Ami used big words," said Hinata, mock impressed.
"Yeah, it's just like old times," said Ino boredly, sitting back on her hands. "Ami's being a bitch while everyone else is just trying to live their normal lives."
Ami flushed and stepped forward, her hand flashing out - and in a blur of speed, Sakura caught it and clenched it so hard Ami cried out. "Try it," said Sakura, smirking. "I dare you."
Ami looked Sakura in the eye - and then looked down. She eyed Team Kunoichi suspiciously, stepping back and clutching her hand. "Just stay out of my way," she said.
"We were never in your way," said Ino flatly, "Ami."
Just then, Sasuke walked by. "Oooh, Sasuke-kun -!" The girls were immediately distracted as if by a shiny new bauble, and they ran away to chase after Sasuke. He gave them a cold, scathing look, before pretending to ignore them and walking faster.
Meanwhile, they saw Naruto trying to break into Iruka's office through a window, smirking and holding a frog.
Team Kunoichi looked at each other and then rolled their eyes slightly, looking down and snorting with laughter. "Just like old times," said Ino wryly, and Sakura and Hinata agreed.
And indeed, it was just like old times. It was weird to think that they'd changed so much and no one else seemed to have. It was like everything was exactly the same as it was four years ago. Even Shikamaru and Chouji were the same, hanging out in the exact same spot, lazing back snacking and cloud watching together. And just as it had been four years ago, they wouldn't even spar with each other, each fearing they'd hurt the other person. Sakura, Ino, and Hinata had moved beyond fear and weak punches years ago, but Iruka seemed to pander to such things. Anko-sensei would never have allowed any of it.
The Academy curriculum was strange. The history section left out so many important details, the paralysis technique wasn't taught, and the only weapons taught were kunai and shuriken. Among other oddities. There was also nothing about poisons, espionage, or psychological warfare. There was nothing about how to keep from becoming mentally unstable while being a ninja. The ninja rules were given with no explanation. The ninja's role in the world, as the dishonorable and subtle ones, was similarly never explained. The kunoichi lessons were almost laughable, and the future kunoichi themselves were slathered in makeup and inconvenient hair, skinny, giggling, and boy-crazed. They fought with each other and called each other names on a near-constant basis. The shyer ones never said anything at all. Hinata, Sakura, and Ino stuck uneasily with each other, feeling out of place.
They reviewed diligently what little Iruka did teach them, sparred through the rest with each other in their free time, and kept their heads down, politely trying to get through it all.
One day, Naruto made his presence known particularly… virulently.
First, he didn't show up at all that morning, and it was the last day before the Exam. Not that Naruto actually got good grades or had mastered all the ninja techniques - quite the opposite, in fact. He was particularly bad in the academic arts. So his choice not to come the day before the ninja corps entrance exam was puzzling, considering he was an orphan and had therefore voluntarily decided to become a ninja.
Then halfway through the morning, a Chuunin in a leaf-green flak vest burst through the classroom door. "Iruka-sensei! Look outside to the Hokage Monument!" he cried.
Everyone rushed to the windows to look. Rude words, snot, tears, and girly eyelashes had been painted all over the faces of the four Hokage on the vast outdoor sandstone wall in the center of the village. It wasn't a terribly difficult feat if you were a ninja, as the Monument wasn't heavily guarded, but it was the prank of a lifetime - Naruto's last testament to his time at the Academy.
An excited murmur immediately went up among the students. "Naruto!" Iruka cried out in anger, as he was wont to do, and he stormed out of the classroom to go retrieve his wayward student. They heard a distant cackle of laughter as other Chuunin began chasing a gleeful Naruto in his garish orange clothing across the rooftops of Konoha.
Team Kunoichi exchanged curious looks and then channeled chakra into their ears so they could hear what he was saying.
"Naruto!" the Chuunin were crying. "You won't get away with these things anymore!"
"Shut up!" Naruto shouted. "Look at that! Look at that! None of you have the guts to do that, do you? But I can! I'm amazing!"
"He's blustering," said Hinata quietly, remembering Anko's teaching that thinking little of yourself and trying to hide it was just as bad as thinking too much of yourself and showing it. She'd always just assumed previously that Naruto was really sunny, confident, and determined - now she saw things so much differently.
"It's like Anko-sensei said. He does it to seek attention," said Sakura. "I guess I can't blame him. He doesn't seem to have any family or friends, and he doesn't seem to get very good grades. It must be tough."
"Still," said Ino, "defacing the Hokage? They were each elected by popular vote, they were each on the level of a Daimyo Lord which is why we call them -sama, they were each one of the five most powerful ninja in all the Elemental Nations, each led the village successfully through wars, and each previous Hokage has died defending their village in the line of duty. It's like defacing a veterans' war memorial, or a list of presidential leaders. They command at least a token show of respect."
"The Fourth Hokage was killed the day Naruto was born," reminded Sakura, "defeating the nine tailed fox demon. If he hadn't died for us that day, Naruto might have died on the day of his birth."
Eventually, they all trickled back to their seats and Iruka walked back in, Naruto tied and bound and hauled over his shoulder. Naruto struggled and wriggled, but he didn't seem able to break free. Which was confusing, as the Academy did teach the technique to untie yourself from binds.
Iruka plunked Naruto down below him, still tied, and started lecturing him in front of the entire class, thereby reasserting his own power to himself. Which might not have been the best way to get Naruto to stop breaking his rules, when you thought about it. Which all three girls did.
"Naruto! You failed the last chance at the final Genin Exam! And the chance before that! What are you doing pulling stupid jokes on our last day of review session?!" Iruka shouted.
Naruto looked away stubbornly. This just seemed to make Iruka angier. He whirled around to the class.
"We're doing a review of the Transformation technique! Everybody line up now! Including those who have already passed!" Iruka seemed to find making everyone hate Naruto to be the best antidote, and it worked as everyone gave shouts of complaints, their chairs squeaking back as they stood reluctantly.
"It's just one simple Transformation technique," Ino muttered as she and her two friends went to go to stand in line to demonstrate the technique before Iruka and everyone else. "Geez. What a bunch of whiners."
They ended up standing in line right in front of Sasuke. It was the first time Sakura and Ino had been close to him since four years ago.
"Hello, Sasuke," said Sakura tentatively. "How are you?"
"Stay out of my way," Sasuke said, flat and contemptuous.
"Is that your response to everyone who says hi to you?" Ino replied, deadpan.
"I don't hang around with other people. They're weaker than me and they weigh me down from my true purposes. That especially applies to fangirls."
"Why do you assume we're still fangirls?" Sakura asked, annoyed. "I don't even like you. Forget wanting to date you."
Sasuke's eyes widened briefly in surprise. Then he scoffed and looked away. "Well," he said, "at least it seems that Jounin has taught you some sense."
"That's not all she taught us," said Hinata coldly, and they ignored Sasuke as the line got shorter and shorter and their time to perform the technique came up.
All three girls transformed into Iruka perfectly, and Iruka seemed pleased. "It seems Anko has taught you well," he said, marking As on his clipboard.
Team Kunoichi smiled uneasily. That was far from the hardest thing Anko had taught them. They moved aside silently to let other people take their turn, listening idly as Shikamaru complained to Naruto for forcing everybody to do a Transformation technique.
A silent Sasuke did the technique without ever making a sound or moving a facial muscle, which seemed to make the squealing fangirls think he was "cool", and then Naruto's turn came up. He transformed into a naked woman who made a pass at the teacher, and then proceeded to laugh hysterically.
Hinata stared. Because she had a good sense of humor, and that wasn't funny. It was, however, disrespectful to women.
Naruto caught Hinata's staring and turned into a naked version of Hinata. He grinned. "You like what you see?" he said in Hinata's voice.
Hinata's first instinct was to cut Naruto down with a sword, but she closed her eyes and suppressed this urge. Instead, she opened her eyes, the Byakugan flashed into them as the veins bulged with power, and she purposefully fixed her killing intent so it would choke everybody else in the room - including Sasuke. Sakura and Ino added their killing intent and a couple of students fell over. Naruto had turned back into himself, and he looked terrified.
"What about you, Naruto?" Hinata asked calmly. "Do you like what you see?"
Sakura and Ino stepped up, their faces twisting. "Never do that to our friend again," said Sakura fiercely.
"Sakura - Ino - Hinata - control your killing intent!" Iruka forced out; he, too, was having trouble breathing, though not as much as his students.
Team Kunoichi's expressions closed. They stepped back, suppressed their chakra, and everyone could breathe again.
"Geez," said Iruka hoarsely, rubbing his throat, "you are Anko's students."
Naruto was lying on the ground, staring up at Team Kunoichi as if noticing them truly for the first time. "Wow," he said. "I think I'm in love."
Sasuke was also eyeing them with renewed attention. Not only were they no longer fangirls, that Jounin had trained them well; they were strong where he'd always assumed women were weak.
Interesting.
As Team Kunoichi left the classroom that day with instructions to meet in Iruka's classroom at a certain time tomorrow for their Genin Exam, Ino said darkly, "God I'm glad I don't have a crush on those idiots anymore."
"Truer words were never spoken," said Sakura and Hinata flatly.
They weren't sure how to prepare for the Genin Exam, so they went through all the main physical arts they could think of together at a training field after school, sparring with one another. Then they went home that night and spent the evening after dinner thumbing through pages in their old academic textbooks.
They met at the Academy the next morning, and Ino said, "You ready?" Sakura and Hinata nodded determinedly.
They went inside the classroom together. Anko had given them the last chance on purpose, they knew - she was counting on them to win this in one shot. They were determined not to let her down.
They took seats in the classroom, and when Iruka walked in a hush fell over the crowd. "The final exam will now commence," said Iruka. "When your name is called, come into the room next door. The only people within will be the proctor, Touji Mizuki, and I. The subject for this test is the Clone Technique. Please demonstrate at least three useful clones for us in order to pass."
Ino raised her hand. "Iruka-sensei? We're all dying to know, I think… Can you tell us what the rest of the Exam will consist of?" She would have just read his mind, but was afraid someone would find out and disqualify her.
"There's more?!" Naruto was heard to cry in horror, and Hinata rolled her eyes.
Iruka frowned in consternation, a little furrow forming between his brows. "That's it," he said. "That's the Exam. The Clone Technique."
Team Kunoichi gaped as Iruka went into the other room.
Their first reaction was one of excited ecstasy as they looked around at each other - that faded as realization hit them. Ino used her telepathy to make a three-way mind communication between herself and her two teammates.
I don't want us to alert anybody else, thought Ino, but -
I know, Sakura thought seriously, ninja are supposed to look underneath the underneath. That can't be all there is.
There must be a hidden test underneath this test, thought Hinata. We must discern what that is.
Either that, thought Ino, or we have a second, covert test after this test is over. We must be on our guard and be true ninja. Anko-sensei wouldn't have done all that preparation for a test on a couple of illusory clones.
So they were still serious as they sat and waited for their name to be called, looking around every so often for some sign of attack or genjutsu.
But when their names were called, they were still unhampered. They each went into the other room in turn. It was a small anteroom, a long table cutting it in half behind which Iruka and a man with long pale hair named Mizuki sat. On the table were shiny piles of new Konoha hitai-ate. There was no genjutsu anywhere within.
"Please make at least three clones," said Iruka. Each girl used fine chakra control to make a whole crowd of clones, and Iruka and Mizuki were impressed. "Very well," said Iruka each time. "Come up and receive your hitai-ate."
The girls had already decided to tie the ninja marker bands around their upper arms, where they wouldn't interfere with their overall appearance nor would they interfere with their reflexes and ninja techniques. They each got a little thrill of excitement as they tied the band into place, even though they still guessed intuitively that it was far from over.
The only one who didn't pass was Naruto. Everyone else was crowded around congratulating each other on one side of the Academy courtyard. Naruto was seated on the swings on the other side, alone and dejected.
"You know," said Ino, hand on her hip, "he's an ass, but -"
"You're right," said Hinata, nodding solemnly. "I feel sorry for him."
Sakura's expression was veiled, but her eyes were similarly sympathetic.
All of a sudden, they perked up as they heard Naruto's name mentioned by two mothers standing on the edge of the crowd, watching him on the swings.
"There he is. That's the kid. He's the only one who didn't pass."
"Hmph. Serves him right."
"Yeah, if he became a ninja, it would only be a bother. Because he's really a -"
"Quiet! You know it's forbidden to say anymore than that."
Ino, Sakura, and Hinata exchanged curious looks. Maybe it was because they'd been so young and inexperienced the last time they'd seen Naruto, but they didn't remember ever hearing things like that about him before. What did people assume Naruto was… that he wasn't? And why didn't those two mothers like him? And what was - forbidden to talk about that involved some scrawny, rebellious teenager?
"Hinata. You passed."
They turned around to find their families standing there. Hinata's father was standing before her, stiff and dignified, clan retainers behind him.
Hinata bowed her head. "Yes, Father," she said smoothly. "It was not difficult."
Hiashi smirked. "As expected," he said, "from the heir to the Hyuuga clan and my daughter."
Her head still bowed, Hinata smiled.
Ino ran at her parents and jumped into their arms. Her father lifted her up, laughing. "Congratulations!" her mother said, unusually warmly.
"Victory is mine!" Ino cried to the skies.
"Wow," Sakura's mother whispered, somewhere between fear and awe, staring at the armband. "So… you've really done it, huh? Well, of course you did. You trained hard."
Sakura smiled. "Yeah, Mom," she said. "I passed."
"Well…" Sakura's mother smiled, overwhelmed. "You want to go out to dinner?"
That night, Sakura had already taken her bath and was relaxing in bed, curled up with a book and a cup of tea, when her phone rang. Ino and Hinata were both calling her. Hurriedly, she picked up and said breathlessly, "Yes? Is it the real test?"
"I don't know. I don't think so," said Ino, confused. "It's something weirder. Hinata, did the same thing happen to you?"
"Yes," said Hinata. "My father was summoned away during dinner by a ninja. He said Naruto has stolen a scroll of forbidden jutsu from the Hokage's office and is on the run with it!"
"That's what the ninja who summoned my parents while we were watching TV said," said Ino. "All ninja are supposed to go out and search the village, looking for him. But - and here's the weird part - only ninja who are older than teenagers are allowed to do the search. That includes the ninja who are teenagers but rose through the ranks absurdly quickly and are no longer rookie Genin. There's an age limit."
"Yes," said Hinata. "I asked to go and my father strictly forbade it."
"So did my parents," said Ino. "Even though we're supposed to be ninja now."
"Why would Naruto do such a thing?" Hinata asked.
"I… honestly don't know," Sakura admitted, her mind spinning.
"You don't think this is the test?" said Ino. "That we're supposed to go look for our classmate anyway?"
"But rule number one is always to obey your superiors - like higher ranking ninja such as your parents," said Sakura seriously. "Why would they try to gainsay that?"
"Exactly," said Hinata. "I don't think this is the test."
Later, Ino and Hinata called again.
"The scroll has been found and returned," said Hinata. "My father has come back. No more information was given to me. I asked about Naruto and my father told me to mind my place. He hasn't been that fierce with me in a long time."
"Same here," said Ino. "My parents won't talk about Naruto at all. They're short and to the point; they're like stone."
"What the hell did Naruto try to pull?" Sakura asked, completely bewildered. "What is going on with him? And where is he now?"
"And," Ino added, "how the hell did we become ninja so easily?"
They had no answers.
