Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or one piece or any other anime I use in this fic, all the credit goes to the authors of the respective series.

Go ahead and enjoy.

Chapter 9

Konoha, Day of Graduation

As the sun rose over the Hokage Mountain, the most prestigious monument in Konoha, the village came alive with the sound of birds chirping and the noise of stores opening up as the villagers began their day in preparation of what was to come today. While most would not care about this day a decade before, ever since Minato took over as Hokage, certain changes had been made in the village, some of which boosted the morale of the villagers. Today was once such event.

The Academy Graduation Exam.

One of the first laws that Minato passed when he took the hat from Hiruzen Sarutobi was the age restriction law for the academy. Instead of children starting at the academy at the young age of 7 (during war time its 5), they now started academy at the age of 10 and graduated at the age of 16, instead of the age of 12. This gave Konoha more time to nurture their shinobi and prepare them properly for what was to come should they graduate.

This also meant that the curriculum had to be changed. He had noticed that many genin failed their missions or were KIA (killed in action) due to mainly lacking experience in battle and jutsus that would aid them in battle, something that was essentially true for civilian kids. Hence, the academy curriculum had to be changed.

Instead of giving more importance to teaching history and math to the kids, practical studies were given more significance. The first 3 years, a lot of the theoretical part would be covered, while the next 3 years focused on the practical part. Students were taught how to perform the academy three; how to properly aim and use shuriken and kunais; and how to control their chakra with the tree climbing, wall climbing and leaf sticking exercise.

The concept of teamwork and never abandoning your comrades was something that Konoha had promoted ever since Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju had founded the village. However, even though it was an integral part of a Konoha shinobi's training, Minato had realized they were going about it the wrong way. The way the system worked was that the trio of students who had passed the exam were tested by their jonin sensei whether they could work together or not, and if they could not, they would fail and had to return to the academy. But Minato had decided that this was a hindrance to Konoha shinobi forces and hence, had introduced the concept of including teamwork exercises and minor d-ranks as a way to build teamwork among all the students. Surprisingly, this had worked well so far and had solved a big issue for Konoha.

The last year was focused on helping the students learn basic elemental manipulation that will allow them to master D-rank elemental ninjutsu, and learn some things about C-rank elemental ninjutsu. It was no surprise that most of the students ended up having fire as their chakra affinity while very few awakened earth or water. Lighting and wind were two of the rarest elements in the Land of Fire, and it was true as till now not even one student had awakened them.

But this year, it was quite the surprise for the shinobi instructors. Sasuke Uchiha, Mito Uzumaki and Shikamaru Nara, three bright students that shined throughout their academy years, awakened dual elements; a rare phenomenon. Sasuke awakened Fire and Lightning, while Mito awakened Water and Wind. Shikamaru also awakened dual elements, in the form of Yin and Fire (A.N- while it doesn't show up on chakra paper, a new method had been introduced by the Hokage that worked around seals. it was used to test if the students had an affinity to Yin or Yang natures; as Yang helped in mastering medical jutsus faster, while Yin did the same for genjutsu). He could also utilize Shadow release as his family's jutsus revolved around that form of chakra.

However, this was nothing compared to the surprise that was Ai Hayasaka-Hyuga and Kaguya Uchiha. Both of them showed affinity to not one, not two, but three elements! This caused a wave of surprise to flood the shinobi forces. Minato was extremely happy as this showed that the next generation would surpass the previous one and he could not be happier.

However, it also greatly saddened him to see that his own son wasn't there to prove his metal in front of each and every person in the village. He had been trying to find him ever since they found out Naruto had left the village, but even with the help of the toads and slugs, they couldn't discover a single trace of him. It was as if he vanished from the face of the earth. While they did not want to think about it, a brief thought appeared in the mind; what if their son passed away in battle? They could not bear the thought and practically begged Orochimaru to let them know if he was alright or no. Orochimaru only disclosed that Naruto was perfectly fine, and hadn't been injured in anyway. He did not say anything more, and they did not ask as well.

Coming back to the topic at hand, the system of Konoha academy had changed quite a bit. The graduation ceremony was now conducted in front of civilians and shinobi alike. Much like how the chunin exam battles usually occurred. Instead of only performing the three basic jutsus along with a written test, the students now also had to perform at least 3 elemental Jutsus. They had to perform at least 2 E-rank jutsus, 1 D-rank and if they wanted, an optional C-rank. This proved that they were ready for the life of a shinobi and the chunin exams as well. It also showed their jonin sensei the level they were at and how to properly teach them.

It had been that way for almost a decade now, and had proven to be a big hit in the village. It boosted the morale of the civilians seeing the next generation of shinobi in action and the parents of the kids were also proud and were assured that that their child most likely wouldn't pass away on a mission.

The KIA rate of Konoha had also decreased drastically as Minato had installed a new system in which shinobis that were going on a mission that was A-rank or above, had to carry one of his special kunai with them, and if they were in any danger while on the mission, they could summon him along with a squadron of ANBU elites to aid them.

In short, in the last decade, Konoha had improved a lot.

An Hour Before Graduation, Senju Estate

In the training grounds of the Senju Clan compound, sounds of a battle could be heard. If someone walked in now, they would see quite an… unusual scene. There, in the training grounds, Orochimaru, the Snake Sage, was fighting against two beautiful young women who were extremely focused in their fight against their teacher. These two were Kaguya Uchiha and Ai Hayasaka-Hyuga. Both of them were graduating today and Orochimaru had decided to test them now itself so that they won't waste any time later and will be able to start their missions straight away.

Jutsus were being thrown around as if they were candies on a Halloween night. Anyone could see both Kaguya and Ai had improved a lot since the initial days of their training. Both of them had trained extensively in ninjutsu, something that Kaguya was better at due to her sharingan, however; even she couldn't match Ai when it came to Taijutsu. While the sharingan allowed Kaguya to better assess her opponent's movement, the snake style Ai learnt from Orochimaru, allowed her to counter the effects of the sharingan. And since the snake style had been altered by Orochimaru to be unpredictable and random, much like how a snake moves, the sharingan had extreme difficulty in countering it. So, you could say they were almost evenly matched.

Both had relentlessly trained their ninjutsu repertoire, with both of them learning many C-rank ninjutsus and a single B-rank ninjutsu for each of their chakra affinities. Tobirama and Orochimaru had ruthlessly made them practice ninjutsu to the point they would only need 20 hand seals or less for each jutsu they performed. This was done as they believed that a lot of hand signs would get in the way of their battles, as many opponents use that moment as the perfect time to strike since they would be distracted while performing the hand signs and focus on molding their chakra more than they would focus on the opponent.

While the battle was still going on, both Kaguya and Ai realized they were now running low on chakra. So, they decided that they would end this fight with all they had, as the two of them joined forces and began forming hand signs together, preparing for a cooperation ninjutsu. This was a new technique the two of them had been working on for a while. They intended to surprise their teachers with this, so they figured now was as good a time as any.

"Oh!" Orochimaru stopped a good 20 meters away from them as he looked at his students in mild surprise as they began performing what looked like a collaboration technique. "Interesting! I guess I should see what they are up to." Orochimaru smirked to himself as he looked at the two who were just about done with their preparation.

"Fire Style: Majestic Flame Destroyer!" Kaguya spoke as she made the final hand sign and began gathering all of her remaining chakra into her lungs and chest. This was one of the techniques she had picked up from the scroll Shisui had left behind for her. It was a B-rank fire jutsu, that had potential to evolve into S-rank, if the amount of chakra put in was great enough. The user had to gather large amounts of chakra in their lungs and chest and exhale it like a sea of flames. However, due to her having the sharingan, she was able to make the most of it by monitoring her chakra consumption and reshaping it properly. So, when she used it, instead of a sea of flames, a cylindrical stream of fire erupted from her mouth.

While Kaguya finished her jutsu, Ai was not far behind as she also finished her hand sign and said, "Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!" her voice easily being carried over to Orochimaru. This jutsu was a B-rank Wind Jutsu created by Tobirama himself. It was a stronger version of its predecessor, the Vaccum Sphere jutsu. The user had to compress their chakra and launch it like a spherical projectile towards their opponent. Depending on the amount of chakra put in by the person, the damage would be dealt accordingly.

The two jutsus soon collided with each other. But instead of contesting each other, the wind amplified the fire jutsu, creating an even massive and hotter jet of flames, that resembled a dragon roaring. It was breath taking, and Orochimaru, who was a ninjutsu enthusiast was very impressed by the result. But he knew, that he would take serious damage if he did not counter it, since dodging was not an option.

The Snake Sage rapidly began going through hand signs before finally landing on the bird seal as he inhaled a great amount of air. As soon as the roaring set of flames were in front of him, he exhaled and a huge snake made out of water came in and collided with the fire, successfully extinguishing it and blowing steam all over the field. Using a swift wind jutsu, Orochimaru cleared the field of all the steam in it. As soon as his vision was freed, he was treated to the sight of the two girls out of breath and panting on the ground. Smirking, he said the words, "Water Release: Great Snake Bullet Jutsu."

This jutsu was a stronger version of the water dragon bullet technique, something Orochimaru made himself. It was based on the water dragon bullet technique, but it did not require the shinobi to be near a body of water. However, this also amplified the chakra needed to cast it. The name changed since Orochimaru was fonder of snakes than dragons. It was a high A-rank technique, capable of being pumped to S-rank if someone who had a very high affinity to water like Tobirama or Naruto performed this justu. The amount of chakra would also make the results vary.

"Your shuriken accuracy has improved as well, Ai. That will allow you to learn more complex fire based jutsus that require weaponry like the Phoenix Missile Jutsu. Kaguya you should focus more on your taijutsu training more since you seem to tire out easily in a physical fight. We will work on that after graduation.

Hmm, I am impressed with what the two of you have managed to create. That jutsu is strong enough to be a high A-rank jutsu, but I need you to shorten its creation time. Your opponent won't wait for you to finish the signs for this jutsu. What have you named the jutsu?" Orochimaru questioned as he motioned the girls to follow him back to the Senju estate. Tobirama was waiting for them there.

The two simply followed back as they listened intently to what their sensei was telling them. Unlike many other arrogant children who belonged to the clans in Konoha, these two knew that they could always become a better version of themselves and hence, never developed a headstrong attitude. This is why they were able to improve so much in so little time, compared to how much their fellow classmates have improved.

Ai answered the question as she said, "Both of us tried naming this jutsu, but our naming sense is worse than Hokage-sama, hehehe." She spoke with an embarrassed laugh at the end as Kaguya had a sweat drop on her head.

"Hmm, we'll discuss the name in the future," Orochimaru said, as he chuckled a bit as well.

They soon reached the courtyard where the older Senju was waiting. He turned towards them and said, "Are they ready, Orochimaru?" he inquired as he turned towards Orochimaru, receiving a nod in return. While this was going on both Kaguya and Ai wore confused looks on their faces.

"As you both are about to graduate, you will have to start performing missions regularly and this will hamper your training time. this is why we trained the two of you harder this past year. Now that you are going to graduate, I thought it would be fitting to reward your efforts with this," Tobirama said as he moved away and revealed a small chest that was set behind him. Orochimaru moved forward and opened it, revealing two scrolls that were present there.

"Kaguya, since you have enough jutsu for both fire and wind elements, we have decided to give you an S-rank Earth element jutsu. Same for Ai, but this is an S-rank lightning jutsu. The lightning jutsu was developed by Naruto and I, quite a while back. The earth jutsu is a special jutsu developed by Orochimaru," Tobirama said as he motioned them to go forward. The two were in awe as they did not expect to receive a graduation present, especially not an S-rank jutsu.

The two opened their respective scrolls and read out the names of the two jutsus. "Earth Release: Hell on Earth Jutsu," read Kaguya's scroll. On the other hand, Ai's scroll read, "Lightning Release: Ten Thousand Lightning Bugs Jutsu."

"Under no circumstances are you supposed to practice this jutsu now. I will personally oversee you practicing this jutsu. Both of these jutsus take a huge amount of chakra hence we will first work on increasing your chakra capacities. Right now, you wouldn't be able to perform this jutsu more than once," Orochimaru spoke up in a stern voice.

"We understand!" the two girls spoke up seriously. They knew better than to doubt their sensei at this point, even though he looked creepy.

"Now get out of here, you have your graduation exam in half an hour," Tobirama said as he moved away to do whatever he was going to do, leaving three people alone in the courtyard as they looked at him in silence, sweat drops forming on their heads.

But he was right. They were going to graduate today. And with that, a new chapter was set to begin in their lives.

Author's Notes

Earth Release: Hell on Earth Jutsu – After a long series of seals, the user bangs their hand on the ground and expels chakra in the direction they want to. At the sudden contact, the area where the chakra was directed around the user becomes sharp pointy spears, jutting a meter up from the earth's original position. Upon the user's following post, the spears will become muddy, turning into the Swamp of the Underworld technique. The user will be uninhibited by the secondary effect.

Lightning Release: Ten Thousand Lightning Bugs Jutsu – The jutsu is just like its name. A fairly simple, yet new technique. The user makes twenty consecutive seals ending with bird. At the end of the seal session of the jutsu, the user emits glowing chakra. It creates an aura around their body for one whole post. The glowing aura then disperses from the body, and turns into what would look like Fire Flies. These little fire flies are actually small balls, about a half inch in circumfrence, and made of pure Raiton Chakra. Once the bugs surround a certain area or abject, the ten thousand fire flies will explode once the bird seal is released. The send out an exposion of lightning about a half meter in diameter electrocuting anything and everything in their path of destruction. Can be up to a whole village, however the entire village wouldn't be as effective, as a single area.

I know. I know. I KNOW! It has been quite a while. I have been spending more time on webnovel, since people upload stories there almost on a daily basis. But I know that is not a good excuse. So, I had devised the perfect plan.

I have created a schedule for my releases on this site. So, every Friday, I will be uploading a chapter of this fic. Every Wednesday will be dedicated for my DxD fic, The Forgotten Son of Destruction. And my GoTxHP fic, shall get Sunday as its release day. I will try my best to keep up with the schedule, so let's go!

Stay tuned for my P -treon account, that I will be launching soon. I already have a Harry Potter fic that I am working on, scheduled for a P -treon exclusive release.

Till then bye. See you in the next chapter.