I think when Sasuke graduated he was a better fighter then Iruka or Mizuki in terms of Taijutsu... He was good enough that Kakashi has to concentrate to keep the bells so that says something.
If Sasuke can master the Fireball jutsu as a child then other kids can master other jutsu as well. I want to show that if you work hard even a civilian can be powerful. I think without focusing on bloodlines or family jutsu one could master the Academy jutsu higher then the main cast did... or so is my theory.
"Bye Miss Mio." Smiling at her pretty kitty, after giving her a few dozen chakra enhanced pets, Naomi burst from her apartment and shot across the rooftops of the village at the speed of ambition. Within ten minutes she was in the academy and in her seat, ready and waiting for class to start. Naturally only Shino was in the class with her, so she gave him a wave. " I wish you well, Shino."
"And I you, Naomi." His low voice was oddly comforting as she bubbled with excitement and worry.
"Let's show these idiots how things are done, shall we?"
There, on the face of the most apathetic person in class, was a smirk and she knew he agreed.
Ten minutes passed and the class filled out with everyone else, even Naruto. Iruka was the last to arrive, as per usual, coming in with head high and a smile on his face.
"Well, well, finally you are all here at your graduation exam. I cannot express just how proud I am of you all. You've come so far. If and when you pass you will become full Genin, the lowest level of Ninja in the village and proud members of our military. Your test will start in ten minutes and it will consist of four parts. Taijutsu, throwing skills, mastery of the three academy jutsu and academics.
You will each start with the written academic test and then when you are finished you will go out with Mizuki and take the throwing skills test and Taijutsu test. Once you have all finished that part of the test you will come back and each take your Test over your mastery of the Three Academy Jutsu. Now clear off you desks and wait for the test to begin."
""""
The academic test was easy, she had studied hard for weeks to prepare for it. She was sure she aced it, there had been no questions she found particularly hard or unusual. It was actually oddly straightforward and easy to be honest, how any one who actually studied could fail it was beyond her. She actually finished before anyone else did, with Ino coming in second and Sasuke third.
So it was time for her taijutsu test. Mizuki had her walk into a room with just him, no spectators. It was the sparring circle they used when it rained on Taijutsu days. Waiting the in center was Mizuki, a smile on his face.
"Just do you best Mizuki. Come at me at the count of three and don't worry, I won't hurt you."
'You'll be lucky if I don't hurt you.' Falling into her stance, she waited for the count.
"One... two... three."
With a pump of pure power from her legs she blasted off, feeling dust gathering around her feet. She reached him in less then a second, jumping up to unleash a harsh kick towards his torso. Mizuki replied with a hard knee towards her leg, blocking her strike. She used the movement, grabbing the knee with her hands and flipping herself until her legs wrapped around Mizuki's neck.
With a twist of her body, both bodies were thrown to the ground. Before Mizuki could rise she lashed out once more, clocking him with a harsh kick to the face. Blood sprayed on her face from his lips as did a pained gasp as he went flying back out of the circle, landing on his back.
"Ow... your... your good." Slowly, Mizuki managed to stand, an impressed wicked smile on his face. "Your never usually that brutal, what changed?"
She felt her own wicked smile cross her face. "I wanted to make an impression. I modified the academy jutsu to fit my smaller frame and acrobatics. It's good, no?"
"It's passable, you overextended a few times. If I went full power you wouldn't have gotten that hit, or if I hadn't underestimated your skills. Full marks, really your the first to get a hit on me like that at least in this class. Not even Sasuke has managed that much." Wiping away the blood, Mizuki gestured to the targets behind them, of where there were twenty. "Aim for each of them, and hit them in the center."
Taking a long, deep focusing breathe, she pulled back her hand and threw the Kunai and Shuriken in her hand. In a swirl of motion, each one hit their targets. Fourteen were perfect shots, the rest were off by a small margin, no more then an inch in either direction. It was a great shot to be honest but not her best, it would cost her...
'Damn it... that... it's still a good shot, I did well. I have done better but not consistently, I need to work on my aim a bit more but this is still far above average. Only Sasuke could do better and even then not by a huge margin.'
Satisfied with herself, Naomi stood tall and walked over to the targets and pulled out her weapons, storing them aside in the leg holsters she had on her left leg.
"That was a great shot Naomi, seriously your score is a ninety three, seriously that and your amazing taijutsu score is going to put you in the top spot for sure. I think your going to be Kunoichi of the year easily."
That left her unable to mask her smile. "I hope so."
"Now, go back to class and let the next person in."
:::
Mizuki kept up the smile on his face until the girl left the room, allowing only for a moment his scowl to appear. He hated this job, hated encouraging the soft hearted brats and easing their grief. Naomi was a particularly irritating brat, solemn and quiet without being rude like Sasuke. She was actually in the running for Rookie of the year and could easily take it from Sasuke, her grades were actually better over all both in academics, jutsu and cooperation only losing in Taijutsu ( Barely) and Throwing skills to Sasuke. It was impressive in it's own way, and yet it was that fact that made Mizuki hate the girl so deeply.
'She's going to be a serious threat one day, that kick was killer and that throw would have snapped my neck if she put a little more force in it. For all the praise Sasuke gets for being a genius I am not sure who's better, she has no family or bloodline to give her power. All Sasuke really has on her is chakra and the Sharingan… ' He patted his jaw, which ached fiercely from getting his ass kicked. 'I have spent too long in this damn academy if I let a brat like her get a shot like that on me.'
He vowed then that if he was going to betray the village, he would remember to kill her before she became something powerful. Her, Sasuke and Shino, the most powerful and skilled members in class. They would die and never get the chance to spread their wings, showing off and eclipsing his power and skill like so many others had over the years.
"""
"Alright Naomi, let's start with the substitution."
Excitement flowed through her body at the mention of the substitution. Since she lacked any family jutsu like most of her class, she worked really hard to master the academy jutsu to the highest level possible. While she was good with the others, she really excelled with the Substitution. In her fake spars, she often used it to great effect, swapping with smaller and smaller objects each time to paint a battle field with her body and attacks. Her best subject overall was strategy so she tried to make use of all she had and that seemed the most useful. So far she could replace herself with a rock the size of her head instead of having to swap with something of similar size to her body. She was proud of that.
"If your ready, Start!" Iruka threw a kunai, blunted of course, at her at boring speeds.
Naomi smirked and shifted her focus on the chair next to Iruka. Charging her cells with chakra, without a single handsign or any smoke, she swapped placed with it, taking a kunai from her pouch and putting it at her teacher's throat all in one motion.
He gaped at her, stunned. "That... without smoke and so fast! That's amazing, full marks! You must have really worked on that."
"I have." She didn't smirk, just smiled deeply, proud of her best jutsu and of herself for making the best of her poor access to jutsu. "Harder then anything."
His smile was almost radiant. "Alright, now let's get the others done. Transformation is next, then the Clone jutsu."
The rest of the test was effortless, and she left the room with a headband in hand, the first overall and the first girl period. She almost shook with joy, holding the precious thing in her hand. Becoming a genin, probably taking the Top Kunoichi spot from the Clan Heiress Ino… maybe even beating Sasuke as Rookie of the Year! Or at least tying with him... either way she was proud of all she had accomplished.
She left her school on cloud nine, all but floating, so happy that she didn't even bother to take the roofs, satisfying herself with drifting happily through the streets as she made her way to her target. The Library, now that she was a genin she had access to some sections of the Library allotted to Genin. That meant access to E and D Rank jutsu so she could finally start to build herself a reservoir of techniques, skills and abilities and start to force the world to take her as seriously as she took her career and future.
She was a women on a mission, knowing exactly where she wanted to go and what she wanted to get her hands on.
First she wanted to find a weapon that would fit with her style, second she wanted to find a new taijutsu style that focused on speed, agility and worked with small bodies, third she wanted to find at least one more jutsu that would help give her an edge in combat over her clan member classmates. They each had jutsu that gave them edges, she had seen some of them training them publicly or heard them bragging about it like Kiba with his man beast clones, or Ino with her Mind jutsu. All She had was the academy jutsu and while the Substitution had many applications and would make battle easier if she could master it more fully and use it in actual spars...it wasn't enough if she really wanted to shine.
'Hey, maybe I can find some books on training animals to be ninja animals. Cats are common pets so I can't be the only one to have that idea! Huh... the Inuzuka have this whole dog theme in their combat style, so maybe I should have a cat theme or at least get inspiration from Mio... like claws.' She imagined a pair of claws on her hands, and realized perhaps automatically just how easy it would be to integrate them into her more speed focused taijutsu. 'Oh that reminds me, I need to work on increasing my speed and agility, so books on conditioning are a must... maybe some jutsu related to speed... and maybe elemental jutsu. I heard someone say that the Uchiha were famous for fire jutsu, maybe I could look into that? Yeah, that sounds good... '
Beyond excited, she all but barreled into the place, a smile on her face and her head held high.
This was the next step of her plan... making a plan for the future so she could mold herself into a women that would one day have her own clan and be recognized for her power, skill and ability. And now that she was a genin, nothing would stop her now.
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
I am so proud of this story and this chapter. Naomi is a fun character, and she is integrating well into not only the story but the series. I think having and showing a girl excelling is rare since everyone does a male character and makes him OP with bloodlines instead of a girl with hard work and determination.
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.