Chapter 28

Naruto

(Two Years Later)

I race with Sasuke towards the academy. Today is the day of the graduation exam. It's going to be interesting for sure.

"So are you going to do a big reveal of your powers?" Sasuke asks as we near the academy.

"I know for a fact I'm not going to show them everything I'm capable of. We'll see if I show them everything. I know Iruka-sensei has started to like me over these two years, but he said we were going to have a second teacher evaluating us as well."

"Does that make you nervous?"

"It makes me curious," I reply slowing down as we enter the schoolyard.

"Fair point. Well I'll keep an eye out as well," he says.

"Morning Sasuke, morning Naruto," Hinata says as we head into the classroom. She was early like we were.

"Hey," Sasuke says.

"Morning," I say with a smile. Hinata has been getting a little bolder over the years. Which is great to see. Sometimes she even joins us during break or study hall.

"Are you ready for the exam today?" she asks. I know the question is more directed at me as Sasuke has it all under control.

"Yeah, I got this!"

"I'm glad," she says.

"How about you? Think you'll do alright?"

"I should be fine."

"Good to know," I say taking my seat. "Well good luck."

"You too," she says as everyone starts filing into the classroom. Many of them talk among themselves about what they think the exam is going to be like and how they think they'll do.

"If you fake it and make it so you fail how will you ensure you're not going to be held back?" Sasuke asks under his breath.

"Prove it."

"What?"

"Give them a reason they can't refuse. I have my secret weapon," I say with a wink. No one knows I know shadow clones, but I'll use them if and when the need arises. It'll be great!

"True enough," Sasuke says.

"Alright everyone, settle down," Iruka says as he enters the classroom. Silence fills the air as all attention is turned on him.

Usually it will take him a while to get everyone to be quiet but today is different. Today everyone is silent right away. You can almost feel the tension and the hum in the air as everyone anticipates the exam to come. Some are clearly nervous while others are calm.

And Shikamaru is sleeping, Choji is eating-possibly stress eating, it's hard to tell with him-and Kiba isn't paying attention. Some things aren't different at all.

"As you know today is your final exam. If you pass this exam you will become ninja of Konoha. Of course you will only be Genin so you still have a long way to go, but you will be one step closer. I'm very proud of all of you in advance. To help ensure fairness you will be graded by two teachers. Myself and one of our other teachers, Mizuki."

"It's nice to meet all of you," he says walking into the room. Almost instantly I get a feeling that I don't trust him. I'm not sure why I feel this way, but this man…

"You okay?" Sasuke whispers.

"I don't trust him," I reply quietly.

"I'm going before you most likely. I'll see what I think," Sasuke says and I nod.

"So here's how the test is going to work. I'm going to call each of you into the other room and you will do what we instruct. Then once you're done we will decide if you pass or fail. After that you are free to come back in here or leave. For those of you who pass we will meet back up here in a week to discuss what the future will hold, though another thing is if you do pass you must take an ID photo of your official ID. Are there any questions?"

One of the boys in the class raises his hand. "What if we fail the exam?"

"Then you will just have to try again next time. Don't worry it's not too hard I'm sure all of you can pass without any trouble," Iruka says with a smile. "Either way, let's begin. Shino Aburame."

Shino stands up and walks out of the room. He's the kind of student that most people forget is there. He rarely speaks up at all and even when he does he's quiet about it. Yet I know that even though he's quiet he pays attention a lot. His silence is something he uses to his advantage to listen to what others have to say.

The Aburame specialize in jutsu using bugs. They house the bugs inside them like a nest or hive and the bugs listen to what they have to say. Chakra eating bugs certainly interesting.

It doesn't take long before Shino comes back in with a leaf headband around his forehead. The test seems not to be that long. I wonder what we have to do. I can't imagine Shino doing something normal. When we had demonstrations for target practice he refused due to the fact that his clan wasn't good at such things.

It wasn't long before Choji was called. Being an Akimichi his eating was actually not a bad thing. In fact, it had to do with their jutsu from what I remember. They use their fat to turn into chakra. It's pretty interesting honestly. Though… sometimes I think his name should be Akimunchi.

He comes back as well. So if he can do it then I'm sure anyone can. Am I even going to be able to fail? Of course. I have my worst jutsu.

Kiba and Sakura went after a while both coming back successful. After that Hinata went in. I could tell she was very nervous. "Good luck," I say as she passes me.

"Thank you," she says with a smile as she heads into the other room. Kiba was busy boasting about how he knew he was going to make it.

Hinata passed too. After a while Shikamaru got off his seat complaining how this test was a drag and went into the other room. Sometimes I wonder. Oreo told me about how the Nara were really smart. I suppose Shikamaru finds it all boring because he's so smart that he has the answer before the question is even finished.

I'm not surprised to see him come in with a headband as well. He lays down falling asleep again muttering something about the exam being troublesome.

"It's almost my turn," Sasuke says after a while. "I'll see what I can tell, but you're always good at knowing such things."

"I don't know; I just get the feeling people don't mean well. It's been getting stronger over the years. I mean… I don't know how to explain it. It's just like over the years I've become more aware of it, but also they're stronger."

"Well trusting your instincts haven't steered us wrong so far so let's go with it," Sasuke says as his name is called and he starts heading down to the other room.

"Let's," I agree looking out the window.

It's not long before he comes back sitting down. "You're in luck. This will be easy for you to mess up. It's the clone jutsu."

"Great!" I grin. "My worst jutsu. I'm so excited."

"I can tell. Go do horribly."

"Kay," I say once my name is called. I get up and head into the other room. Iruka and Mizuki are sitting at a table with some headbands on it. I can feel Mizuki's eyes on me and I meet his gaze. There is something there. I'm sure of it.

"Alright, Naruto. You need to do the clone jutsu. You need to make at least three clones."

"But…" I say.

"No buts, Naruto," Iruka says. "The clone jutsu is important for being able to be a ninja so demonstrate that you have learned it."

"Alright," I say putting too much chakra into the jutsu. I feel my chakra surge as I try to create the basic clones. Even if I'm trying it's very hard to make decent ones so making these stupid ones is easy.

"You fail!" Iruka says as we all look at the one dead clone on the floor.

"Come now, Iruka he tried his best, maybe we can give him a pass."

I pretend to be excited, but I hear the bite behind those words. I don't know who Mizuki thinks he's fooling, but it certainly isn't me.

"Mizuki all the students were asked to create at least three clones. That clone isn't even passable. We can't pass him."

"If you're sure," Mizuki says. I see, he's trying to make me think he's on my side. What does he want?

I head outside sitting on the swing.

"So you failed?" Sasuke asks.

"Yeah, failed on purpose. Go play somewhere. Mizuki wants something from me."

"How can you tell?"

"He wanted to persuade Iruka to let me graduate knowing Iruka would say no."

"Let me in on the fun?"

I hand him a wireless headset smirking. "Always."