Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and I am making no profit from this story, it is only for entertainment.

I really hope you enjoy this chapter! You'll get to see things from Rio's perspective for the first time! His point of view will start to pop up more now.

Chapter Summary: In which Rio realises the rest of the village exists and Naruto has to sit another exam

Chapter 8: Three Different Kinds of Exam Takers

Naruto knew Kazuya had been planning something. He knew at the beginning of third year and he decided to leave his friend to it, thinking if it was really important then the brunet would tell them in good time. Good time meaning they would have enough time to prepare for whatever the boy had schemed up.

In the future, he would make sure to call out Pinku-baka's bullshit the moment he suspected.

Naruto looked at the bundle of forms in front of him, before glancing at Hana. She shrugged back at him, just as clueless before they both looked at the culprit.

"Pinku-baka, why have you given us the forms to apply for early graduation?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Clue's in the name, Aka-chan," Kazuya rolled his eyes as he took his seat at the table.

The trio were in the Inuzuka compound today, babysitting Kiba while Tsume was out on business. The toddlers were in the next room competing on who could draw the scariest monster. The older trio were sitting around the dinner table, initially studying for the end of year test before Kazuya dropped the bomb.

"There is no way they are going to let us skip another year," Naruto sighed.

"We've already proven we can do it though," argued Kazuya. "There's no real reason they should say no, 'cause if we're not ready then we fail and have to do the year anyway."

"We're nowhere near ready, though," Hana pointed out. "I mean we've barely covered the fourth year stuff and Naruto was only in the hospital a few months ago..."

"Hey, what do you mean 'only'? It's been almost six months," Naruto snapped.

He hated when people brought that up. Thankfully Yakushi-sensei had dropped his check-ups to once a month now, but everyone still thought he was fragile despite all the progress he had made.

"You know what I mean, Naru. None of us are ready."

"We can be," Kazuya reasoned, leaning forward on the table. "We have covered the fourth year stuff; we just need to revise it properly. Your taijutsu is strong and mine and Aka-chan's should be good enough. We can all do the three jutsu."

"I still can't do bunshin, like, seven times out of ten," piped up Naruto.

"I can't break out of genjutsu," added Hana.

"You can't do kawarimi," they both said together, high-fiving at their synchronicity.

Kazuya scowled at their laughter.

"I can so!"

"You never swap with the right object, Pinku-baka."

"You tried to swap with a chair and ended up swapping with a desk two classrooms over. Yesterday."

"So we all have a few improvements to make. That's why we have a month to fix them," Kazuya waved off the snickering.

The mirth died down at the two looked seriously down at their forms.

"Can...can we really be ready in a month?" wondered Hana, chewing her lip.

"We've done this in half the time before," Kazuya pointed out.

"But this is graduation, the final test." Doubt still clouded her expression.

Naruto stared at the form. He'd promised Jiji that he wouldn't regret letting him continue to train as a shinobi. Maybe if he graduated early, well earlier, then he could show Jiji how serious he is. He could prove that he wasn't going to let his health hold him back.

"What's the plan?" Naruto looked at his friend, his face set in determination.

Hana stared at the redhead in surprise before turning to look at Kazuya. The brunet unleashed a devious grin.

"The training from Hell."

Uzumaki Norio lived a simple life.

Living at the orphanage with his brother, going to the park, spending his days with Kiba at his house, going for ramen with Kashi, helping Jiji. That was all he knew.

He remembered the days before Nii-san went to the academy. Sure, Nii-san had spent most of his days with books and nobody wanted to be friends with him; but they had each other. Nii-san was always there.

Now though, Rio noticed that Nii-san wasn't around as much. Ever since the first time Nii-san and Kazu-nee had left him with Kiba and his mum, the pair disappeared hours at a time along with Kiba's Nee-chan. Rio wasn't really complaining. He had made his first friend and even though Kiba annoyed him sometimes and made fun of him for his hair, Rio wouldn't trade him for anything. He had hope that he could keep making more and more friends forever.

Then Nii-san ended up in hospital and the worst six weeks of Rio's short life began.

He still hung out with Kiba during the day, but he knew something was wrong with his brother. Nobody would tell him what it was or why and he was only allowed to visit Nii-san a few times. He still had to go back to the orphanage for bedtime and it was those times that he really felt the absence of his brother.

He knew the matron didn't like him. She'd never spoken to him other than to glare before, always talking to Nii-san when she had to. With Nii-san gone, she started to yell at him more than any of the other kids and sometimes didn't give him breakfast, saying he was a bad boy. Rio still couldn't figure out what he had done. She never heard his cries either when the other kids ganged up on him; calling him names and taking away his stuff. They even tried to take Inu-chan away from him, but that was the only time they failed. The matron had locked him in a cupboard as punishment for hurting the other kids. They had a favourite word though; one they'd heard the matron call him a few times.

Monster.

Rio couldn't understand why this was happening. He knew that they didn't like him, but why do these things to him? Why was he a monster? Even the villagers seemed colder, harsher; but as Rio thought about it he'd never really looked at them before, too busy talking to Nii-san or Kazu-nee. Kazu-nee was the one to walk with him between the orphanage and Kiba's house, but he didn't talk as much. Rio could see that he was making an effort to be cheerful around him, but it was so fake; he missed Nii-san too.

There was no sign of Kashi; Nii-san had told him before he went to the hospital that he was on another mission.

Then Nii-san came back and everything went back to the way it was. He never told his brother about what happened while he was away, he didn't want to worry him and after they saw Nii-san, it stopped. They still glared at him but after one kid shouted monster at him at breakfast, Nii-san had dragged the kid outside. That evening, Rio had overheard the same kid whining about his broken nose.

The next day at breakfast, no one spoke a word to Rio. Any time the matron looked as though she was going to speak to him, Nii-san intervened.

Rio began to see Nii-san in a new light. He had never really noticed these things before, but now he could see each time Nii-san prevented something bad from happening; every time he spoke to the matron, glared at the kids, glowered at the villagers. Nii-san was protecting him.

Rio remembered a conversation he'd had with Jiji before he met the Inuzuka. He'd asked Jiji what a Hokage was and Jiji had they were the strongest ninja in the village, the greatest protectors of the Will of Fire (whatever that was). Maybe if Rio was Hokage, he could protect his brother and make sure no one was mean to them ever again. He could protect Kazu-nee and Kiba and Kashi.

He could protect his family too.

To say that Hideki-sensei was not impressed when they presented him with the forms the day before the test would be like saying Naruto was only slightly partial to ramen. They hadn't even had time to place their forms on the table before Hideki-sensei belted out a resounding no. Naruto looked at Kazuya, hoping his friend could see the 'I fucking told you this would happen' in his eyes. The bastard ignored him.

For the next hour Hana and Naruto stood back, watching as Kazuya threw every single argument he could think of at their sensei. As the minutes rolled by, Naruto was suddenly very glad he was on Kazuya's side as he witnessed his friend actually succeeding at wearing down their sensei. At the 86 minute mark, Hideki-sensei let out a massive sigh, silencing Kazuya's next remark and he flopped into his chair. He looked over at them.

"Do you really think you can pass? Graduation is very different than the test you took to get into second year," he sighed, resigned.

"We're ready," Hana declared, Naruto nodding beside her.

Kazuya hadn't been kidding about the Hell part of their training. Naruto had never been so tired, even when they were preparing for second year. It was worth it though and now they could see if it all paid off.

"Even you, Naruto? You know how far behind you compared to these two and with your medical history..." Hideki-sensei trailed off, glancing at Naruto's arm. "You passing would be luck really, these two have dragged you this far. You have to take the final exam on your own."

"I can do it," Naruto shot back.

Hideki-sensei let out another long sigh before surveying them all.

"Fine, but be prepared to be disappointed."

Naruto didn't miss the not-so-subtle glance his way.

It was finally the morning of the test. As the fourth year class filed in, the three additions waited until all had grabbed their seats before entering the classroom. Showing the sensei their signed forms, he stared dubiously at them before recognition seemed to light up his eyes.

"Didn't you three already advance a year?"

"Yes..." Kazuya waited to see if the sensei would make his point known.

The sensei just stared at them a moment longer before shaking his head and waving his hand in the direction of some empty seats. Sitting down the brunet looked over to his friends, seeing Hana's nervous look and Naruto's...

"Aka-chan?"

The redhead barely heard him, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. What was he doing? He wasn't ready. He wasn't like his friends, he wasn't special, he just happened to pass that second year test. It was luck. He still struggled with bunshin and he was going to mess up the written test and he was going to fail and the other two would pass and they would graduate and he would be alone...

"Naruto!"

His head snapped up as he looked into a pair of worried pink eyes.

"It'll be okay, you're ready."

"We've gotten this far," added Hana.

Naruto nodded before busying himself with ensuring his hair was secured. Hana had kept her promise to help him with his hair and now he could confidently use four different styles. His favourite was the half-up, half-down; when he was doing taijutsu or training, he could just tie up the bottom half with another hair tie. The trio's heads were drawn to the front as the sensei began to speak.

"Alright, welcome to the graduation exam. First, there will be the written portion and it will include everything you have covered these past four years. We'll then move onto the practical portion; consisting of weapon-handling, a brief taijutsu spar, and breaking out of an E-rank genjutsu. Finally, you will be asked to perform at least two of the E-rank ninjutsu you have been taught. We will choose which ones. You will be told whether you have passed or failed after the ninjutsu portion, as we'll tally up your marks as the day goes on. Any student caught cheating fails automatically and will have to redo their final year. Any questions?"

The class remained silent and the sensei started to pass out the test papers. Naruto stared down at the front sheet, before picking up his brush and filling in his name.

"You have an hour. Start,"

Naruto turned over the page and read over the first question. Nope. He moved onto the second. Also no. The third. He could do the third one. He'll go back to the other two later. And back to the fourth too.

He made his way through the test, slowly acclimatising to the types of question. Close to the end of the time, he went back to the first two, finding they weren't as daunting as when he first laid eyes on them. Maybe he could do this. Nope, only the first one. He rapidly scribbled answers that seemed right into the spaces for the second and fourth as the sensei called time. As his paper was taken away, Naruto let his head fall to the desk, suddenly remembering two other questions he'd left unanswered.

"Now make your way to the targets outside. No talking."

Naruto stood and looked over to his friends, shrugging at their questioning gazes. He probably failed, but at this point he had other tests to worry about. He'll be miserable later, with ramen to soften the blow. He tied the lower half of his hair back.

The next part of the test went much more smoothly, Naruto sinking 5 of his kunai and 4 of his shuriken into the target, only missing the one shuriken. They were pretty close to the centre too. As the sensei read out his score (71/100, take that Hideki-sensei), he started to feel a bit better about the whole thing. He was always better at the hands-on stuff anyway. His friends did well too, Hana with a score of 87 and Kazuya with 79.

Next was the taijutsu portion and they had pit him against an Akimichi. Again. His 'Red Leg' style was still shoddy but he was faster and more flexible than he'd been in the second year test. He was much fitter too, thanks to Gai-san's training advice and he had his brace. He was feeling good about this.

He watched as Kazuya faced off against a female Uchiha, wincing as his friend was slammed against the ground and the match was called. The Uchiha were a force to be reckoned with, but Kazuya lasted longer than the rest of the class had expected. In contrast, the no-clan student who faced Hana, his face twisted into a sneer as he mocked her for both her age and gender was launched out of the ring within two minutes. Naruto smirked as he high-fived her on her way back to their small group; that guy had lost the moment he had stepped into the ring.

Then it was his turn. He bounced on the balls of his feet as he watched his opponent shoot the same look to the sensei that his fellow clan member had over a year ago. He clenched his fists tighter. When the match started, the Akimichi started with the same slow punch as his clan-member the first time and Naruto repeated his same first moves, jabbing into the armpit and kicking the back of the legs.

This time though as he buzzed around the ring, he used his legs to land hits while utilising his arms for balance. He danced out of the way of meaty fists that were faster now that the Akimichi boy realised that he couldn't land a hit. As Naruto wore the other boy down, the older kid managed to land a strong hit, sending the redhead to the ground. He kicked him in the stomach but Naruto used the momentum to get back on his feet, if a bit unsteadily. The Akimichi landed another hit on him, softened by the brace as Naruto blocked and jumped away, close to the edge of the ring. As the older boy charged him, hoping to end the spar, Naruto looked down and an idea popped in his head. This would either win him the match or it would really hurt. Or both.

As the Akimichi loomed over him, Naruto dove between his legs; for the first time thankful that he was so small. Rolling into a stand, Naruto turned and jumped, slamming both feet into the Akimichi's back. The bigger boy stumbled forward, his hands outside the ring as he fell to his knees. The match was called as Naruto slammed into the ground, his breath leaving him suddenly and the back of his head throbbing. He climbed to his feet and made his way over to Hana and Kazuya, both grinning their faces off. His own was probably just as wide and he ignored the shocked faces of the class around them, taking out the bottom hair tie and shaking out the kinks that had formed around the hair tie.

The three of them passed the genjutsu portion easily and for the final part of the test, they were individually called into a separate room to perform their jutsu. It was done in alphabetical order, unlike the taijutsu matches, and Kazuya was up first. Naruto and Hana stared at the door for 10 minutes until Kazuya walked out, forehead protector around his neck and a spring in his step. The rest of the class were processed, some successful while others not. Hana's turn came up and she walked through the door 15 minutes later with her headband on her forehead and the Haimaru brothers circling her feet.

Naruto's nerves got worse as time went on and more kids filed out with their results. As the kid before him came out in tears, missing a headband, Naruto stood and nodded to his friends. Heading into the room, he stood in front of the sensei, two of them now and awaited instructions.

"Uzumaki Naruto, perform kawarimi with the chair in the corner of the room. Then swap back."

He looked over and let out a breath, performing the one-handed seal Ero-sennin had taught him five months ago and swapped with the chair, pausing for a second before going back to the centre of the room, the chair in its previous position. He spotted the surprised looks on their faces, probably not expecting the unusual seals.

"Now perform henge. Change into either a family member or someone you admire."

Naruto silently cheered, thanking whatever Kami-sama that was out there that it wasn't bunshin. He considered it for a moment before a cloud of smoke surrounded him. When it cleared the two chunin could have sworn they'd seen a ghost.

Namikaze Minato stood before them, in his uniform and iconic red and white coat, twirling a three-pronged Hiraishin kunai in his right hand. A confident smile was on his angular face, framed by untamed blond locks, and his blue eyes shone with a strange mixture of amusement and sadness. The chunin would have had trouble telling him from the real Yondaime, had he been alive. Smoke clouded their view of him and Naruto reappeared, the change jarring them slightly.

Naruto watched them note something down, still amused by his image. They would probably never believe that he had chosen both options rather than just the hero one. It wasn't even the first image that had come to mind. The most distinct memory of his father he had wasn't the same as the rest of Konoha, as the one he had just shown. No, Naruto remembered his father coming from the kitchen, no headband or flakjacket, just his regular clothes with a pink apron over them. A tender smile on his face as he watched his wife and son go over the alphabet.

But he was just a no name orphan. It would be suspicious if he had shown that, especially if the Yondaime was just his hero. He snapped out of his musings as the sensei began to speak.

"Congratulations, Uzumaki. You have passed the exams. In summary, your written test was poor, barely scraping the pass mark, but you made up for it with your practical skills. You ranked dead-last out of those who passed, but you are now a Genin of Konoha."

He held out a headband and Naruto stepped forward and took it, trying to contain his joy. He tied it around his left arm on the brace with some difficulty, before he left to enter the classroom. He spotted Hana and Kazuya looking at him and he raised his arm, the afternoon sun glinting off the metal.

The rest was a blur, some kids they didn't recognise being named Rookie and Kunoichi of the Year and instructions for those who passed to return to the classroom tomorrow morning. The three only just managed to keep their joy contained until they got outside, yelling and screaming and proudly proclaiming to the world that they were officially ninja of Konoha.

The time passed in a blink of an eye and suddenly it was the next morning, the three seated in the same place as the previous day while they waited for the sensei to arrive and slot them into teams. They weren't oblivious to the stares from the other kids but they ignored them in favour of wondering about the teams.

It hadn't really occurred to them before, but they could be split up. After two years of helping each other, working together, hanging out, they could be thrust into completely alien teams. As the sensei finally walked in with the list, a file of jounin moving to stand in a line behind him, the three tensed.

"Congratulations again to those who are here. I will now read off the teams and who your jounin-sensei will be. Once called, you will follow your jounin out and you'll be out of my hands. Now, Team 1..."

The sensei started to list off names and the students filed out, the room emptying quickly.

"Team 7 is Arai Kazuya, Inuzuka Hana and Uzumaki Naruto. Your jounin-sensei will be Shiranui Genma."

The trio exchanged delighted glances before spotting their new sensei. Kazuya's mouth opened slightly in recognition; the man who'd been with Gai-san that day. The man smirked around his senbon and waved for them to follow. The three scrambled and followed the man to the roof of the academy, seating themselves on the steps as he leaned on the rails. The Haimaru brothers settled down behind Hana.

"So, you're the infamous trouble trio?" were the first words out of his mouth.

"Trouble trio?

"Infamous?"

"You guys are not only responsible for what is known by the academy chunin as 'Hell Week' and notorious for abandoning the curriculum, but all three of you graduated in only two years," he elaborated.

The three students exchanged glances, not quite sure what to say.

"Anyway, introductions. State your name, age, what you like, don't like, strongest and weakest skills, hobbies and dreams for the future. Inuzuka you first and we'll go round."

"We already know this though," pointed out Kazuya.

"I don't."

Hana shrugged and began to speak.

"I'm Hana Inuzuka and I'm ten; these three behind me are the Haimaru brothers. I like meat, helping Kaa-chan, my clan and training. I don't like bullies, animals being hurt or being underestimated just 'cause I'm a girl. My strongest skills are my clan techniques and taijutsu. I'm weak against genjutsu. My hobbies are helping out Kaa-chan and training. I want to be the best veterinarian in my clan."

Kazuya grinned at her before starting.

"I'm Arai Kazuya and I'm nine. I like dango, reading and training. I don't like my uncle or stuff that bores me. My strongest skills are studying and coming up with plans. My weak points are my taijutsu and kawarimi. My hobbies are reading, hanging out at the park and training. I haven't really thought about my dream," he finished uncertainly, frowning.

"And finally, the redhead."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm seven. I like my brother, my friends, ramen, training and the colour orange. I hate hospitals, studying and people who are mean to my brother and friends. My strongest skills are my sensing ability and chakra control. My weak points are ninjutsu and studying. My hobbies are training and hanging out in the park. My dream is to be a strong shinobi like my parents and to be able to protect my brother."

Genma raised a single eyebrow.

"You all like training?"

The students remained silent and just waited.

"Well, you know my name and I'm older than I look. I like senbon and I don't like power-plays. I'm strong enough to be a tokubetsu jounin. My hobbies are... I'll tell you when you're older. My dream is to retire peacefully and... I'll tell you when you're older too," Genma finished, relaxing against the rails.

"So," he continued, ignoring their annoyance. "Normally there would be an extra test after this that would test your teamwork but you guys are a special case."

"Wait, extra test?" Hana exclaimed.

"Yeah, we pit you against each other to see if you can work as a team or not but you guys have been teammates for a while now, right? If we'd told you only two can become genin what would you have done?"

"We'd figure out a way for all of us to be genin, dattebayō!" Naruto announced, standing and glaring at the jounin. "We only got this far 'cause of each other."

"Exactly. We didn't think we should bother wasting time on a test you've been passing for two years. Your teamwork is the best out of all the genin teams already, some chunin teams even," Genma shrugged, pushing away from the rails. "So instead, we're going to see what you can really do and then tomorrow we'll start on missions and training."

He began to walk casually down the stairs but when no one followed he turned. His three new genin were staring after him.

"So we pass? Whatever this second test was supposed to be?" Kazuya insisted.

"Yeah, now come on," Genma turned back and resumed walking, hearing the scrabble of footsteps behind him.

Early the next morning, before they met up with the rest of the team Naruto and Kazuya were summoned to a plain block of flats with Rio in tow, the blond still rubbing sleep from his eyes. Naruto felt the same way and he knew his teammates would too. Genma-sensei really went all out yesterday, getting them to display every single skill and technique they had. Naruto knew his chakra supply was larger than most, but even he was drained by the end.

"Any idea why Hokage-sama would want us to come here?" Kazuya inquired, staring up at the building.

"I think so," answered Naruto, beginning to climb the stairs to Flat 9A.

He ignored the rest of Kazuya's questions as he came to the flat door. It was slightly ajar and Naruto pushed it open, herding Rio through the door. Jiji was waiting for them in the centre of the room.

It was a regular flat; a kitchen to their left and a lounge straight in front combining to form one large room. In the left wall there were two doors and it was mirrored in the right. A large window occupied the back wall. Naruto could see that the closest door on the right was a bathroom.

"Jiji?"

"Well done to you both on your graduation," Jiji congratulated. "Youngest collective team to come out of the academy."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Kazuya beamed, bowing to him.

"Naruto, we made a deal. When you became a genin, you could move out of the orphanage," Jiji chuckled. "I'll admit that I thought that it would be further in the future. Welcome to your new home."

Naruto gaped at the room once again.

"What? Seriously?"

"Yes. Since you are genin you are ineligible for the Orphan's Allowance, but you'll receive it for Norio-chan. I've paid the first month's bills but after that you will need to use the money earned during missions."

Naruto let go of Rio's hand and flew into the Hokage, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you, Jiji," he sobbed, smiling despite the tears.

The Sandaime smiled down at him before looking at Kazuya.

"I knew of your intentions to move in with them. There are three rooms and one of them will be yours."

Kazuya was struck dumb.

Hiruzen looked at the three boys; one still in his arms, one motionless in shock and the last rubbing his eyes, confused. It was the least he could do for Minato's boys and he knew that Kazuya was as close as family by this point. Naruto finally stepped back and wiped his eyes. He turned and kneeled beside Rio, catching his attention.

"Hey, Sunshine. This is our new home. No more orphanage and Kazu-nee is going to stay with us," he grinned, his cheeks glistening.

"Go and get your things," Sarutobi waved them off. "I'll watch Rio here until you return."

He watched fondly as Kazuya finally shook himself out of it and proceeded to repeatedly thank and bow to him. Eventually Naruto managed to drag him out the door but before they left he called out on last time.

"Your keys!" he called, throwing a set to each genin.

They caught them and grinned, waving goodbye to the Hokage.

They managed to move their stuff in but there was no time to organise it; the two older ones had to meet up with their team and Rio needed to be dropped off at the Inuzuka compound before that. Their stuff was dumped in the living room, ready to be sorted once they decided whose room was whose.

Although the apartment was still new and unfamiliar, stuck onto the fridge was the card from Naruto's sixth birthday, the drawing of the three boys bright and cheery. The beginnings of a real home.

Thanks for reading!