Academy graduation

The classroom was filled with eager preteens, all of them waiting to get to know, finally, the results of all their strive and efforts made on the exams. They had ended a little time ago; in the meanwhile the chuunin instructors of the academy collected all of the aprentices in the same room, so that they could tell to both classes (there were only two genin classes) the results of the exams.

Although everyone was quiet and still, you could feel an aura of nervousness around the students. There were two adults near the blackboard, one of them sat at the desk and the other one was standing, looking to the result sheet. The one sitting was Udon, with that impassive face of his, looking attentively to the sheet with a slight blush on his cheeks. The other one was a woman called Maki. She was very pretty, was slender and not very tall, but also not short. She had pale skin, hazel eyes, and a light blue bandage on her head, taming her brown rasta hair. She was also looking attentively to the sheet, but when she caught Udon blushing and sideglancing her breasts (since she was leaned, you could get a pretty good view), she got up straight right away and turned smirking to the students.

"Ok, first of all, I'd like to thank you all for attending the genin exams. As you know, since we're not at a time of war anymore, shinobis are no longer needed in such large number as they were in the past. This means that this time we will only choose really the best out of you." she informed the students, who kept focusing on her and on her words, but still pretty much nervous, most of them. "My class has 24 students and Udon-sensei's class has 20. This gives a total sum of 44 students. Out of these 44, only 22 will pass the exams." she finished, smirking arrogantly, letting the students take in this.

There was quite a ruckus and whispering, you could hear surprise in their voices and some curses being spit. Then Maki talked again. "Since you all know this, we will now call for the students who graduate to give them the certificates and the Konoha forehead protectors. There will be 12 from my class and 10 from Udon-sensei's class. You know how this works, we will call in decreasant order from the number one rookie in each class to the last graduated."

She then turned to Udon and gave him a sign. At this, Udon got up, ever so slowly, from his chair, came to the front of the class and picked the sheet.

"Ok, I will first start with Maki-sensei's class." he said, lazily. At his words, the room got completely silent, everyone wanted to hear the best they could the name of the graduates.

"First graduate: Chad Lee."

"Yosh!" yelled a tall slim boy, getting immediately up from his chair and jumping to the front of the class room. He was thin and tall, had black hair that was in locks that curved outwards. He had thick eye brows and eye lashes. His face was kind of dorky.

"Congratulations, Lee!" said Maki vigorously, handing him the certificate and the forehead protector. "Now please return to your seat." asked Maki, while Lee put his forehead protector on his forehead.

"Yes, Maki-sensei!" said Lee, saluting his sensei and returning not-so-calmly. You could see the boys in his class congratulating him "Well done, dude!" "You go, Lee!" and the girls trying to avoid his look, disappointment looks on their faces.

After everyone has settled, Udon read the paper again, and looking back to Maki's side of the class, anounced the second graduate.

"Second graduate: Inuzuka Tsuga."

At this, every girl in Maki's class squeaked and screamed in joy "Kyaaa, Tsuga-kuuuuuun!" as a boy slowly got up from his seat and walked towards the sensei's desk. He was well built for his age, had taned skin and a cool pose. His hair was dark brown, messy and kind of spiky with two long bangs falling at the right side of his face, reaching his neck. His eyes were fierce and his pupils narrow, almost like slits. He had three vertical red fang-like paintings on each cheek. He also had a black pup tucked inside his jacket, so you could only see the head. It seemed almost like a baby wolf.

"Yahoo! We did it, Kurosuke!" said the boy to his pup, who barked back. He took his certificate and the forehead protector and put it around his neck. He then walked back to his seat after Maki had asked it to him as she has done to Lee.

Udon kept calling forth the graduates from Maki's class, so that the kunoichi could give them the certificate and the forehead protectors.

On the other side of the classroom, Udon's class was growing impatient, especially two girls.

Dammit! Why the hell is he taking so long? Finish that already so we can go finally to real business! I want to know who passed from my class! thought Naru angrily, as she looked in disdain to the other academy class's students.

Why is he taking so long? And what about Tatsu-chan? She hasn't been called yet, she was really nervous yesterday, I hope everything went well for her. And the twelve graduate list is almost ending. Please, make Tatsu-chan graduate! pleaded Sakuya as she watched from Maki's class to Udon, over and over again.

"Eleventh graduate: Yamanaka Tatsune."

"I'm here!" said shyly a young blonde girl. She got up from her seat and went to Maki, to receive her stuff. She was thin, had pale skin, blue eyes and pale blond hair caught in two long ponytails from the top of her, with a long bang falling to the right side of her face. I hope Saku-chan is watching. thought the girl, blushing a little, while Maki handed her the certificate.

She tied the forehead protector to her thin waist and walked back to her seat. "Hey, matchstick! I can't believe you actually did it! And you weren't even dead last!" sneered some jealous girls who still hadn't been called. Tatsune blushed even more at these words and lowered her head in submission. At this, Sakuya got up immediately. "Shut up!" The girls looked shocked to the pink-haired girl, but sad nothing back, knowing who she was.

Tatsune smiled under her hidden blushing face.

Udon eventually called the last graduate, a girl called Nozomi. After Nozomi returned to her seat, the room got quiet again. It was the time for Udon's class's graduates. Udon, then, handled the graduates sheet to Maki, who would call forth the graduates, so that he could give them first-handed the certificates and the protectors.

"First graduate: Uchiha Sakuya!" called Maki vigorously.

There were several reactions: "What?" shouted Naru, as in disagreement. "Sakuya-samaaaaaaa!" screamed the fangirls. "Sakuya-chan, you're so cool!" yelled the fanboys. The girls who were making fun of Tatsune earlier said nothing, but their face was very displeased.

"Well done." congratulated Udon when Sakuya got her certificate. She then returned to her seat, receiving a twitching eye from Naru.

"Second graduate: Uzumaki Hideki!"

"WHAT?" roared Naru. "How did he got better grades than me?" said Naru, with a bit of malice in her words. But then frowned and, resigned, sat back again. "Well done anyway, Hide-chan." muttered the blonde.

Hideki got up from his seat "Thanks, 'nee-chan. Sorry, 'nee-chan." and walked to Udon.

To Maki's class it seemed pretty natural for Hideki to have such high grades. He was son of the Hokage and holder of the ancient bloodline of the Byakugan. But those from Udon's class, who knew Hideki better, could hardly believe what they heard. Hideki never stood out much, always in the shadow of his older twin sister who was known to be a great ninja-to-be, and never did anything out of the ordinary in classes, so, how did he manage to end up in second place, was really a mistery to them.

Well done, Hideki. congratulated Sakuya, in thought, her emerald green eyes shone a little bit more than usual for a moment.

When Hideki returned to his seat, Maki looked to the sheet, then to the class, then back to the sheet.

"Third graduate: Uzumaki Naru!" she called.

"Che, about damn time!" she commented, bitterly, while walking to Udon.

Naru never had fanboys, although pretty much everyone in her class, and even in Maki's class, knew that, either because of being Hokage's daughter or not, she was an extremely talented ninja. Rumours had it she could do Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, although almost no one had ever seen her do it. Great! Naru-san graduated! Of course she did, she's great. thought a boy with spiky brown hair and leaf green eyes, at the back of the class. Yuusou was one of the few, apart from Hideki, of course, who knew that Naru could do the elite jounin jutsu, probably taught by her father.

Udon kept calling the graduates one by one, and after the ninth, a boy called Shun, the room got silent yet again. The last graduate was to be called now. The last who had a chance to become genin that year. Maki played with the students hearts a little, looking back and forth from the sheet to the class over and over again.

Udon's class was silent still, everyone of the non-graduates still had a bit of hope that they could be, at least, dead lasts, but still had a chance at becoming genins. Maki's class was focusing on Udon's class, evaluating the students, guessing who, in their opinions, could be the last one. Finally Maki took a last glance at the sheet, put it on the desk, took a look to Udon, who nodded to her, and stared at the students crowd.

"Tenth gradute:" everyone stopped breathing. "Oozora Yuusou!"

Loud whispers were heard throughout the classroom as exasperated words flew by. Never did they thought, in their wildest dreams, that someone like Yuusou could graduate.

"What the hell is going on here!" shouted angrily a non-graduate student from Udon's class. "How the hell did he graduate! He isn't even from the village, so he shouldn't be here! Just because he's that dyke's brother-in-law gives him the right to graduate?" he finished, flashing a raging look torwards Yuusou, who could only look away in sadness.

"Shut the hell up!" shot Naru, suddenly getting up and turning to the raging boy. "What would you know? If he graduated that's because he deserved it! If you're not happy with it, do better next time, asshole!"

Disorder bursted as some spoke in defense of the boy and others in defense of Yuusou. At first it was only words and some insults, Maki already getting pissed off and Udon looking everywhere with no clue what to do, but when the boy who spoke first took out a kunai from his pocket, everyone went silent.

The boy found himself with his hand empty and, the kunai pressed against his neck, wrapped by Maki's strong grip. Everyone stared at the scene and the boy shivered in fear, lifting his chin, trying to avoid the blade's contact. "The fact that Yuusou is Hyuuga Hanabi's brother-in-law is not a matter to be spoken here, nor is her personal life. Now shut up before I slit your throat. It's because of the likes of you that shinobi often become criminals. Learn your place and, as Naru said, if you're not happy, do better next time." said the rasta girl, in a dark serious tone, the boy gulped dryly.

She then let him go, returned the kunai and grined to the class. "You're now dismised, you may go. The graduates be here tomorrow at 10 o'clock so you are sorted into your teams and get acquainted with your jounin instructors." Everyone went back to reality and started leaving the room.

When the students got outside, there were already many parents and families waiting for them. Some of the parents were sad that their kids didn't make it and were trying to give them incentive words. Other parents were just too happy that their kids managed to finally graduate from the academy.

Naru spotted her father right away and informed Hideki. They both ran up to Naruto.

"So, how did you two go?" asked Naruto to Hideki. Hideki flinched for a bit and looked to Naru, but it was her who spoke first. "We did great! Both of us graduated! Hideki even got better grades than me, didn't you Hide-chan?" said Naru with a happy face to her mother. Hideki nodded in agreement and smiled at this. He knew his sister wasn't a bad person and, if he got better grades than her, she would just accept it and try to do better next time. The thing earlier was probably just a spur of the moment.

"So, who else graduated?" asked Naruto to his daughter.

"Oh, Sakuya-chan also graduated, but that was obvious. Um, from my class pretty much everyone who was expected, except for this boy, Yuusou - Ah! There he is! Yuusou, come here!" called Naru as she spotted the boy.

The boy looked in the direction of the voice and noticed Naru calling for him. He blushed a little, looked to his left then to his right, to make sure she was calling him, and then walked towards Naru.

"So, is this the young man that has caught my daughter's atention?" asked bluntly a smily Naruto to the boy. Both Yuusou and Naru blushed intensely, Hideki giggled and told Naruto not to do that, he was embarassing them.

"Ok, Ok, I was just kidding." said Naruto to his son and then turned to the boy. "So, Yuusou-kun, are you ready for being a genin?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" said Yuusou lively. "I just can't believe how I made it, but now I'll give it a try. You know sir, it was your daughter who made me graduate. I was really down on my self-confidence, but then she told to do my best and that I had at least some potencial! Let me also say that it is a great honor to be speaking to Hokage-sama like this!" exclaimed the boy, without even stopping to breathe.

Naruto chuckled at this. "Did she? Well, she has that atribute, you know? I guess she takes after me, ehe. And don't give me that honor stuff, I'm just like anyone in this village, so I'll talk to anyone who comes looking for a conversation, as long as it doesn't envolve politics and stuff, you know." confessed Naruto to Yuusou, in a low whisper, but still keeping his joking grining face.

Everyone laughed at this, as also Hideki and Naru heard it. "By the way, how is your sister? I haven't had the chance to make a visit to the Hyuuga manor, although I see Hanabi almost every day." Naruto asked to Yuusou.

"She is fine. After all, Akane is now a Hyuuga, is she not, Naruto-sensei?" spoke a fair female voice behind the group. Everyone looked to the source of the voice and saw two beautiful women, hand in hand, walking towards them, both with a pleasent smile on their faces. One was tall, slim, had fair skin, long dark hair and white eyes. Her face resembled Hideki's. The other one was a little shorter, had shoulder lenght light brown hair and leaf green eyes.

"Indeed she is, Hanabi." agreed Naruto, flashing a foxy grin to both women.

Akane answered with another big smile. She had gained an enormous respect and liking in Naruto ever since he, with Hinata's help, helped her and Hanabi getting together and being acknowledged as a couple, more than ten years ago, when old Hiashi disowned her younger daughter after knowing she was going out with another woman.

"Onee-san, you came!" yelled Yuusou as he threw himself to his sister's arms. She caught him and hugged him back. "Of course I came. You didn't really thought that I wouldn't come, did you?" she asked smiling to her brother. Her brother shook her head and freed from the hug. "Look, I graduated!" he said, showing Akane his new forehead protector. "Yeah, Hanabi told me when we were coming here. I asked her as I couldn't supress the anxiety, ehe." she said back. "Mom and Dad haven't come yet?" she asked, looking in many directions. Yuusou shook his head. "Iie. They said they couldn't come, had some big one in a neighbour village. I was afraid I would spend the day alone." confessed Yuusou.

"Don't say dumb stuff!" cut Naru. "Akane-san is here, and if she wasn't, you could come with me, Hide-chan and 'tou-san eat ramen!" She fox-grined and Yuusou smiled widely.

Hanabi took that chance to approach Naruto and speak in private to him. "Hinata would be really proud..." She said in a nostalgic tone. Naruto wasn't expecting that one coming. He looked away for a moment, returning his light sad grin to the white-eyed maiden and answered "Yeah... I know that, somewhere, she is..."

Not very far from there, among the crowd of parents that still grouped at the academy entrance, another group of people was talking.

"It's great, isn't it? Both our daughters, graduated and are now genins! Aw, it will be just like our childhood, Sakura!" said a happy Ino. She was still pretty much the same, only taller and, of course, looking older. She was still beautiful, her age hadn't took that away from her and she was now a chuunin. She had her hand on Tatsune's shoulder and was talking to Uchiha Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke, who had his hand on Sakuya's shoulder.

"Of course. It will be just like when we were younger. Two young beautiful girls competing for the boy of their dreams and for their ninja pride. And the outcome will be the same. The beautiful sakura haired girl beats the dumb blonde." scorned Sakura. Sakura, on the other hand, benefiting from Tsunade's teachings, made to jounin rank, later to ANBU. Now she's directing Konoha Hospital. But, as Ino, she looked pretty much the same, only mature and her hair is now longer again, reaching to her waist.

"Don't be so sure, Forehead-girl, this one here is much brighter than I was back in those days." defied Ino, with a smirk on her face, speaking of Tatsune. The girl blushed a little as she sideglanced Sakuya, who was looking pretty bored, as well as her father.

Sakura decided to change the subject. "So, Chouji hasn't come yet?"

At this, Ino flinched and looked away. The matter was still pretty fresh on her mind. Ino and Chouji had been married for eight years, right after Shikamaru had left to the Wind Country, but, four years ago, they had divorced. The reasons were still unknown by most and Ino prefered not to talk about it. Although she was adult and could take the side glances, Tatsune was still a child when it all happened, so she suffered a bit, both with her parents fights and with scorning at the academy.

"No" she finally answered, looking down. "But he said he wouldn't miss this for his life, so I'll believe him. Despite everything, he was never a liar." Unlike me. thought Ino.

Tatsune looked up to her mother and frowned a bit, while returning her gaze to the ground. Sakura also looked away. She felt her bestfriend's pain and it hurt her to see her like that, even after four years. Sasuke was still pretty much bored, but tried to hide his face, so that Ino wouldn't feel bad. Finally he spoke.

"Well, I guess we're going. You still have to wait for Chouji and we still gotta check up on Naruto's kids. Sakuya already told me they passed, so I wanna see his drooling face." smirked Sasuke, lifting up the mood.

"Look who's talking!" said Sakura, making Sasuke blush slightly and look away with a "che".

Before going apart, Sakuya aproached Tatsune and whispered to her ear. "Don't be sad, Tatsu-chan. We'll hang out later, right after this is over, so that you can lift that mood up." she said, making Tatsune smile widely, blush a little and say "Thanks, Saku-chan."

Not much longer after that, Chouji arrived. He was tall and very fat. His hair was long, reaching his shoulder, but it still spiked up everywhere and looked very messy. His cheeks were now bare, no longer the swirls on, but his face was still pleasent and smily.

"Hey, Ino." he said, receiving the answer "Hey, Chouji." It was pretty quiet but the air was really uncomfortable for both. "So, how did my girl go?" asked Chouji, crouching to be at his daughter's level.

She embraced him tightly and said she had graduated. Ino shed a tear, but smiled at the scene.

Hanabi, Akane and Yuusou had just left, waving goodbye to the Uzumaki family as another three individuals arrived at the scene.

"So, dobe, show me that drooling face of yours so I can laugh a little." joked Sasuke. Naruto turned to them with a pissed off looking face. "Shut up, teme! Just get a mirror, you're wetting the floor!" yelled Naruto to his life-long friend. Although they were great friends, having a great respect for each other, they still acted like this in front of everybody, just so that people wouldn't find it odd. Everyone laughed at this.

"Ah, Sakura-chan." said Naruto as he saw Sakura, his eyes narrowing, one could sense a hint of sorrow in his voice. His stomach made a loop. "Naruto..." said Sakura, looking away a bit, just so she could hide the faint blush on her cheeks. Sasuke didn't notice.

"So, Naruto, now that our kids are graduated, how do you think it will be?" asked Sasuke.

"Bah, who cares? They will still kick your kid's ass!" he said bluntly as if Sakuya, Naru and Hideki were nowhere near.

"Naruto! Look how you're talking, the children are listening!" warned Sakura.

"Ah, sorry, sorry. What I meant was that they could be good rivals, that's it!" tried Naruto, but Sakuya was already twitching her eye.

They kept talking for what seemed like half an hour. Parents started leaving. Rock Lee, still the same bowlhead as always, only more Gai-like now, went to salute them and brag about his kid and how he made first in his class. Chad Lee, couldn't help blushing, but you could see his eyes shining in great respect for his father, who was a special jounin, captain of the infantary division of the ANBU, although not a full-time one.

After Rock and Chad Lee had left, for they had Rock's wife waiting for them with a great lunch ready and after that they had to train ("My youthful spirit will prevail, even if my bones start to take away my beauty from the inside, for I still have to make way for the next burning beautiful generation to come."), the Uzumaki and the Uchiha kept talking, now Naruto and Sasuke looking away embarassed as Sakura confessed her husband's and friend's flaws to the kids.

Almost one hour had passed since the academy students walked out of the main entrance of the academy to welcome their parents and the only people still standing there were Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sakura, Uchiha Sakuya, Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Naru, Uzumaki Hideki and a lone figure sitting in front of the academy main entrance.

Inuzuka Tsuga had just finished waving goodbye to three of his fangirls and resumed to his sitting, acompanied by his loyal friend Kurosuke. Tsuga was patting the dog's head with a hand and supporting his chin with the other.

Naruto noticed this and excused himself (right on time, for Sakura was about to make a pretty embarassing coment), walking towards Tsuga. "Hey, Tsuga-kun, anything wrong?" he said, sitting beside Tsuga. Naruto was not wearing his cape that day, so it made everything easier. Seeing that Tsuga was not answering, only sighing, looking to nowhere, Naruto proceaded. "He didn't come, right?"

"Yeah" said Tsuga simply. Naruto looked to him. His face was that of a mixture of bore, sadness and resignation. He was bored of waiting. Sad because the person he was waiting for wasn't coming. Resigned because he already expected this, in a way.

"That damned Kiba!" exclaimed the Hokage. "I thought I sent him a message to return to Konoha by this time."

"It's not his fault." spoke Tsuga, finally. "It's my father's job, I guess it's normal for him to be out for a long time."

Kiba was a hunter-nin. His skill, the best ever among the members of the Inuzuka clan and his team work with his dog Akamaru made him a great candidate, so, when Naruto was made Hokage, he suggested it to Kiba, who accepted right away, mostly because of the guaranteed trips throughout the world. He didn't mind the criminals, as there were not many from Konoha, since he was very confident on his capacities.

"I'm just disappointed. I wanted him to be here on this very special day. I even told mom that she didn't need to come. But I guess I was just naïve." sighed Tsuga as he patted Kurosuke's sleeping head.

At this Naruto put an arm around the boy, whose eyes wided immediately but then narrowed again, as a wave of comfort invaded him. "Don't worry. You're not alone and I'm sure your father will be coming soon, so don't get upset, Ok? Look who's coming." said Naruto as someone was getting closer to them.

"Mom!" Tsuga exclaimed as he got up immediately. "I thought you wouldn't come." he confessed.

"Don't be silly, Tsuga. Of course I would be coming. I wouldn't miss my baby's graduation even if my life depended on it." said Tsuga's mother as she leaned and hugged him tightly. "Mom..." said Tsuga, a bit of embarassed and blushy, but still smiling. After a few moments they broke the hug. "Did Tsuga-kun bother you much, Hokage-sama?" asked Tsuga's mom, bowing slightly.

Naruto waved it "Nah, we were just talking. Actually I was the one who was afraid of being a bother." Tsuga smiled at this.

"Me and Hokage-sama were just chatting, mom." Tsuga agreed.

Tsuga's mom looked down to her son, arched her brows a little, then turned to Naruto. "Kiba didn't come. Tsuga asured me that he was coming, but... I know how my husband is. Even if he came, I couldn't miss this." Naruto nodded. "Sorry for being late, Tsuga." she said, patting her son's head. He looked up "It's Ok, let's go home." "Let's" she smiled.

"Come Kurosuke!" Tsuga called his dog who woke up and barked happily, jumping to his friend's lap and tucking inside his jacket.

Naruto watched them leaving.

"Finally you came." he said to no one in particular.

"Of course I came, did you expect the other way?" answered a voice from nowhere.

"Be ready tomorrow, I asume you read the message." said the Hokage, still staring at the horizon.

"Yes. Don't worry, I'll be here by the time agreed. See ya, 'nii-chan!"

Naruto smiled and closed his eyes. The sun was already high in the sky. When he reopened them, he saw his family calling for him. Sasuke, Sakura and Sakuya had already left and Hideki and Naru were just waiting for him, so that they could get a fine luch, celebrating the graduation.