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Chapter Three

He dreamed that night.

Of course, he generally had dreams every night. But theses ones… Minato woke from them shivering in sweat, gasping from some unknown fear. He'd had a few nightmares before, but these were way worse, he felt like he was drowning in malevolent chakra and hatred. He had to protect something, someone, but he had no idea who or what any of that was. He tried so hard not to go back to sleep after they woke him the first time that night, but ended up doing so anyway, only to wake with a strangled cry an hour or so later.

After that, he got up so he couldn't fall asleep again.

The dreams hadn't come the next night. At least, not the terrifying ones. He dreamed of a sea of red hair, though there didn't seem to be a person attached. There was also an old man (at least, he thinks he's old, his hair is white after all) who was talking to him, though he couldn't understand a word he was saying. And he dreamed of that shinobi, Kakashi. As a child, then as a teenager.

Then the day he was to go to the Academy dawned, and the memory of those terrible and confusing dreams couldn't dampen his excitement. Hakuku-oji had only returned from his mission the previous night, cutting it really close, in Minato's opinion. He'd long been in bed when his uncle had returned, so he'd only found out that morning when he woke and sensed his chakra.

Right now, he hopped from foot to foot, waiting by the front door for his uncle to be ready.

"Hakuku-oji!" he called. "Aren't you done yet!?"

Laughter boomed through the house. "Calm down, Minato-kun," Hakuku-oji said. "There's plenty of time, and the Academy isn't going anywhere."

That fact didn't calm the expectant preteen, and he continued to nervously hop from foot to foot until his uncle appeared. Hakuku-oji finally came out, a grin on his face at the sight of the bouncing child. It was almost as if he was on a sugar high! But of course, Hakuku-oji never let him have enough sweets for that. (Chiasa-oba had, once, and had sworn 'never again!')

Once Hakuku-oji had slipped his sandals on, Minato had all but dragged him out of there by the hand, pulling him along, though he knew his uncle could have easily held his ground. (he was an adult, after all) Minato led him all the way out to the main entrance of the Sarutobi compound, then, as befitting any grown up person, especially one about to earn his own hitai-ate, he let go of his uncle's hand and walked next to him through the village.

As he walked, there was an irrepressible bounce to his step. He was going to be spending the whole day at the Academy! As a result, everything around him seemed brighter than it usually was, and he couldn't keep the grin off his face. Minato glanced up at Hakuku-oji, who grinned down at him and ruffled his hair.

Pretty soon, they were before the Academy building. Minato had seen it before, of course, it was attached to the Hokage Tower, which he'd been to a couple of times before. He stared up at it in awe, feeling nervous all of a sudden, and he glanced again at his uncle, who gave him a reassuring smile.

"Are you ready?" Hakuku-oji asked.

Minato swallowed hard, then nodded. "I'm ready," he said, and truly believed it, despite his nerves.

Hakuku-oji smiled. "Come on then," he said. "I'll be taking you to a room where the other kids taking the tests will be waiting. Make sure you behave yourself, and don't get into any trouble, alright?"

Minato nodded solemnly. "I won't let you down," he promised.

Hakuku-oji led him into the building then, and through the halls. His uncle seemed to know where he was going, and Minato was content to just follow him until they stood before one of the classroom doors. Hakuku-oji knocked, then opened the door straight away. Minato followed him in, his belly a bundle of nerves.

"Ah," a voice said. "Sarutobi-san, welcome! We've been expecting you."

"No need to be so formal, Iruka," Hakuku-oji said. "Just Hakuku will do."

Iruka? As in the Iruka-sensei who'd caught Naruto the other day? Minato peered around his uncle, and yep, there he was. Iruka-sensei let out a sheepish chuckle.

"Very well, Hakuku," he said, then looked down to where Minato was. "So this is Minato then?"

Hakuku-oji placed his hand on Minato's head. "Yep, he'll be joining you for the tests today, so look out for him, would you?"

Iruka-sensei smiled warmly. "Of course," he said. "Minato, say goodbye to your uncle, then find a seat, alright?"

Minato nodded, then looked up at his uncle. "See you later, Hakuku-oji," he said.

Hakuku-oji patted his head. "Be good," he repeated from earlier, then he was out the door.

Minato stared up at all the desks, suddenly feeling a bit intimidated. He took a few slow steps, eyes scanning for a place to sit, and eventually chose a free spot next to a dark haired kid. A glance at him as he sat down showed the Uchiha fan on his back. Minato grimaced, having terrible flashbacks to the night he'd awoken in fright as a large portion of the village's chakra had slowly, brutally, and painfully, been extinguished.

All except the one.

Pushing the dark memories away, he turned from the Uchiha and cast his gaze elsewhere. There were still a lot of empty seats, and the clock on the wall said they had another half hour before 'class' started properly. Minato watched the two sensei at the front as they went through paperwork, arguing quietly every now and then over what they were reading. Other kids were filing in, some girls giving him first dirty, then curious looks (what the heck?) before moving on. Most others either simply glanced at him, or ignored him entirely.

Finally, three other sensei walked in, and it looked like they were about to start, but then the door banged open and… Oh, Naruto was here. Minato watched as the boy got a stern talking to from Iruka-sensei for being late, before being told to find a seat. As Naruto walked up the steps, his eyes alighted on Minato and his step faltered slightly, his eyes wide.

Minato's brow rose, but he said nothing as the boy took a seat in front of him.

"Alright," Iruka-sensei said then. "As you all know, today is your graduation exam. Some of you may have taken this exam before, whether in full or in part. But that doesn't mean you have an edge over the other students! The questions on the tests are different every year," there were some groans, "so you can't get by on that. I know some of you were intending to cheat, but this is your gennin exam, you need to make sure you know this information. In fact, if you don't it just proves you weren't paying attention in the first place! I'm looking right at you, Kiba!"

Two of the sensei then stepped up, papers in their hands as they moved up between the rows of students, passing tests along the line. "No cheating!" the sensei who'd been in here with Iruka-sensei spoke up. "If you do, we'll take ten points off you final score for each time you do it!"

Once all the papers were handed out, the sensei all took positions around the room that indicated they had surveillance covered. "You may turn over your tests… now!"

The questions started off simple enough. The first two pages were on the basics of chakra theory, taijutsu basics, and ninjutsu classification. The next two after that delved into the more theoretical, then there were questions on scenarios they could possibly find themselves in, and the like. The last five pages were mathematical and scientific in knowledge, but Iruka-sensei had been right. All of this was basic stuff that was taught in the Academy, stuff Minato had been taught by Hakuku-oji and others.

It was easy.

Even though he breezed through it, there was still a lot of content, so it took Minato about an hour and a half to finish it (according to the clock at least). Once he was done, he turned his papers over and put his pen down, glancing around the room to see how everyone else was going. He was rather surprised to see that he was the first one done, even as he heard a weird grunt come from the Uchiha next to him. The boy was the next one done, almost twenty minutes later.

A pink haired girl finished next, then a few others, until Minato noted that only Naruto hadn't finished. The guy looked like he was concentrating so hard… but after the two and a half hour mark, Iruka-sensei called for pens down.

"Alright, that's plenty of time!" he called. "Hand your papers down to the end of your row to be collected. Naruto! Pens down!"

Naruto let out a frustrated groan, but did as he was told. The senseis gathered their papers, then Iruka-sensei said, "Alright, you guys have a two hour break. Now get out, and make sure you're back by one."

There were relieved sighs, and almost as one, everyone stood and headed out the door. Minato basically followed the crowd out to a large, grassy area, where people gathered in groups and began to chatter excitedly about how they thought they'd done. Some had even started unpacking bento lunches, or just having snacks.

Minato headed over to a tree that had plenty of shade, and sat under it. He pulled out a book, intending to read for a bit, but before he could really get started on it, someone was standing in front of him. He looked up to see Naruto and three others with him.

"Hey, hey!" Naruto said. "So um… I wanted to ask you something."

Minato put his book away and said, "Yes?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, then said, "Well earlier, I noticed that we kinda look alike, so I wondered… I mean, I was just wondering what your name was?"

Minato looked at Naruto then, really looked. He hadn't paid much attention to Naruto's physical appearance that time he'd seen him, because he'd been more focused on his chakra. But now that he properly saw him…

"Sarutobi Minato," he told him.

Naruto's face fell. "O-oh," he said. "I thought… Never mind, I suppose."

"Sarutobi?" one of the others, a Nara by the look of him, asked. "You don't look like a Sarutobi."

"Hakuku-oji adopted me after my parents died during the kyuubi attack," Minato said.

There was sympathy on their faces immediately, and then Naruto hesitantly sat down, with the others following suit. "So… Do you know who your parents are?" he asked.

Minato shook his head. "Hakuku-oji and Hokage-jiisan said they'll tell me when I'm older," he said.

"The Hokage's your jii-san?" asked the boy who Minato was sure was an Inuzuka.

"Hakuku-oji is his nephew," Minato said.

"Jii-san, the Hokage that is, looks out for me, too," Naruto said. "Do you suppose… Maybe since we look a lot alike, we might be… related?"

Minato eyed Naruto speculatively, his head cocked slightly. "I suppose it's possible," he said. "But if we were… why wouldn't Hokage-jiisan have said something?"

Naruto shrugged. "Dunno," he said, then changed the subject. "Hey, did any of you understand that fifth question? I sure didn't!"

Talk headed towards the tests, and Minato learned that the Nara's name was Shikamaru, the Inuzuka was Kiba, and the other boy, an Akimichi, was called Chouji. It was after they all started trading lunches, that Minato realised that he'd somehow gained four new friends, not that he minded. He smiled and chatted and ate, and then after their time was up, he walked with them back into the classroom.

OoOoO

When Iruka had been told to expect a boy who'd been privately tutored by the Sarutobi clan for the exams, he hadn't expected to see someone who looked so very much like Naruto. And the boy's name… Well, having the name of the Hokage who saved the village from the kyuubi was sure to be auspicious, or perhaps ominous, depending on how the kid's ninja career went.

He was watching him carefully throughout the test. Minato seemed to know his material, especially since he breezed through it, compared to the other students. Even his highest scoring students took at least another twenty minutes to finish. The boy was an obvious prodigy, which made him wonder about his predicted team placements. The students he was going to be on a team with, Hyuuga Shuji and Inuzuka Kiku, they weren't the cream of the crop. In fact, they were average at best.

So why, then?

And now, looking at the results of his test… He'd been curious, so he'd found the papers and graded them himself. A perfect score. He didn't get a single one wrong. That was the same score as people like the Yondaime, and also Uchiha Itachi. But how would he do in the physical portion of the test?

Sighing, Iruka put the test down, then looked at the next one on his pile. He grimaced, already knowing there were going to be a lot of red marks on Naruto's test, and sure enough, a lot of it had to be marked incorrect. He sighed. It was barely a passing grade. A lot of whether or not Naruto passed would now depend on the physical portion of the exam.

Iruka graded more tests, until the bell signalled that the students were returning for the next part of their graduation test.

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