(I'm back guys. Hope you're all staying strong, healthy, and safe during this pandemic. I sure am. I hope you enjoy the chapter.)

Not long after Naruto started attending the academy just to officially graduate to become a real shinobi, all the students pretty much got used to him. Guys like Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Chouji were real close to the boy, Kiba developed a rivalry with Naruto wanting to be better than him, Hinata grew very close to him, while half the rest of the female students loathed him for almost beating Sasuke even if it was a draw.

Every day when Naruto went to the academy he was always accompanied by either a Maximal or a Predacon in case any adult tried anything smart with him. Currently, as Naruto walked to the academy he was accompanied by Cheetor.

"Well, today's the day of the graduation exam, Naruto. You excited?" Cheetor asked the boy.

"I won't deny I am hyped," Naruto admitted, "This is what I've been training all my life for."

"And it's about to pay off." Cheetor smiled, as they entered the building.

As they walked into the classroom, they greeted the usual guys, "Shikamaru, Chouji."

"Hey, Naruto." Shikamaru greeted with a yawn.

"Hi, Cheetor." Chouji greeted.

"Hey, you guys." the Maximal greeted them.

The two turned to Sasuke who was sitting down, "Hey, Sasuke." Naruto greeted.

"Hey." the boy replied.

"Good morning, Naruto. Cheetor." Hinata greeted.

"Good morning, Hinata." they greeted.

Soon all the rest of the students were gathered, as Iruka and Mizuki entered the classroom, "Good morning, students." Iruka greeted.

"Good morning, senseis!" they answered.

"I hope you're all prepared, because today we'll get to see if you're ready to become full fledged shinobi." Mizuki began with a smile.

Iruka continued, "Pass your exam, and you will be given one of these." Iruka motioned to his headband.

"Now let's get started." Mizuki finished.

And so everyone formed a line, as Cheetor watched from the side. Each student was called up into another room where they would be taking their final exam before both Iruka and Mizuki.

"Hinata Hyuga!" Iruka called.

Hinata gasped, before calming down and started walking, "Hey, Hinata." Naruto spoke grabbing her attention, "I believe in you."

Hinata smiled with boosted confidence, "Thank you, Naruto." and with that she went in. Naruto waited, as he started listening to several of the girls ask Sasuke if he believed in any of them hoping to get confidence boost as well. Not that they needed it for what it really mattered.

When Hinata came out she had her headband in hand and a bright smile on her face. Naruto nodded knowing she had what it took.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto hearing his name, started walking forward, until Cheetor spoke up, "Naruto!" Naruto looked back at Cheetor who gave him a thumbs up, "You got this!" Naruto smiled and nodded in agreement before heading into the other room.

As the blonde stood before Iruka and Mizuki, the instructor with the scar spoke, "Naruto, your final exam will be the following. You must make a perfectly good transformation jutsu, and make at least two clones."

"That's it?" Naruto asked.

"That's it." Iruka confirmed.

"Well, as you wish." Naruto formed a hand sign and in a poof of smoke stood in the form of Iruka.

"My, it's like looking into a mirror, isn't it, Iruka?" Mizuki humored his fellow instructor who nodded, and spoke.

"Very good, Naruto. Now to make at least two clones."

"Sensei, do they have to be normal clones?" Naruto inquired.

"Well, not necessarily. Do you have something in mind?" Iruka asked.

"I do. Let me show you." Naruto said, as he formed hand signs, "Shadow Clone jutsu!" in two poofs of smoke stood two more Naruto'.

The two Chunin were surprised at this, until Iruka spoke, "Naruto, those are..."

"Fully fleshed shadow clones? I know." Naruto answered.

"But that's a jonin level technique, and it takes a lot of chakra," Mizuki noted, while thinking deeply, 'No doubt due to the fact he's the nine tails.'

"Lucky for me, I have plenty of reserves for it," Naruto replied, "So do I pass or what?"

Iruka after coming out of his stupor smiled, "Congratulations, Naruto. You passed."

"Yes!" Naruto pump a fist.

When Naruto came out, the students noticed this, and while some like Hinata, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Chouji were glad for him, others didn't think too highly about it feeling they'd be just as successful.

Cheetor went over to Naruto and spoke, "Awesome job, Naruto."

"Thanks, Cheetor," Naruto said before looking at the head band. He turned away from the others to remove his normal headwear, and tied his new Konoha shinobi headband on to cover the microchip which allows him to control the Transformers, "How does it look?"

"Just right for you." Cheetor answered, as the two fist bumped.

Afterward, every student in Iruka's class had passed their final exam. And outside they were meeting with their families who were congratulating them on their success, while Sasuke decided to just head for home. Naruto looked around as if expecting someone, a voice spoke up.

"Naruto."

Naruto looked over and saw Hinata standing with her father Hiashi Hyuga, and her little sister Hanabi, "Hi, Hinata. Lord Hyuga." he greeted.

"Hello, Naruto." Hiashi greeted him.

"Naruto!" Hanabi cheered, as she ran over and hugged the boy.

"Easy, Hanabi! One day those charging hugs of yours could become a lethal weapon." Naruto joked.

"I'm so glad for you and big sister," Hanabi said, before turning to Cheetor, "Cheetor!" she hugged the Maximal, who got down to her level and hugged her back.

"Good to see you, Hanabi." he said.

"This is a proud-proud day," Hiashi began. Thanks to Naruto encouraging Hinata, the girl trained harder and proved her father she was not weak or a lost cause as he believed she was. That in turn helped Hiashi drop the cold expression he's always displayed to show his humanity, and that he truly cared about his family, "I have faith both you and Hinata will go far and do great things as shinobi."

"Thank you, Father." Hinata smiled.

"Thanks, sir." Naruto said gladly.

"Hey, hope we're not too late!" came another voice.

Naruto, Cheetor, and the Hyuga's looked and saw Jiraiya and Orochimaru walking over, "Ero-sennin! Orochimaru!" Naruto called as he ran over to the two.

Naruto remembered Orochimaru for being not only a student of the Third Hokage like Jiraiya, but also one of the Legendary Sannin and select few adults who treated him like a person.

"My-My, Naruto. Something's different about you." Orochimaru teased.

"Wonder what it is?" Jiraiya teased along.

"Guys!"

The men chuckled, as Jiraiya spoke, "Congratulations, kid."

"We're all so proud of you." Orochimaru added.

"Thanks, you guys." Naruto replied, as Cheetor spoke.

"Come on, Naruto. Let's head back and show the others."

"Yeah. See ya later, you two." Naruto bid the adults farewell, as he and Cheetor headed home.

Later on at the base, Naruto was partying with the Maximals, Predacons, and Oracle who were overjoyed at Naruto's success.

Optimus grabbed a glass of a beverage, and raised it, "I propose a toast," he began, as the other Transformers raised their own glasses, "To Naruto. May you grow into a fine shinobi from this moment on."

"Well done, kid." Rattrap commended him.

"This is indeed a momentous occasion, yessss." Megatron said.

"Congratulations, Naruto," Oracle began, "This small step is still a leap forward for you to reach your dreams."

"Thanks, Oracle. Thanks, everyone. And now that I am a shinobi, I'll be needing all of you to help me in any way possible."

"You know you can count on us, Naruto." Scorponok assured him.

"Our loyalties are to you, my liege." Inferno bowed his head.

Naruto smiled at his Transformer friends, knowing things would be all right as long as they work together.

When nighttime came, Naruto was about to head for bed, until an alarm sounded. He quickly rushed to the computer console, "Oracle, what's going on?"

"An intruder has tripped a censor in the forest, Naruto. They're coming from the vault which contains the village's forbidden jutsu scrolls." the A.I answered.

"Have you got a visual on the intruder?"

"Indeed so." Oracle answered, as security footage was pulled up.

Naruto watched as a figure snuck into the vault, and came out with a big scroll. The boy squinted while studying the intruder, before he got a closer look and saw he had short white hair, and a face he'd recognize.

"No way! That's Mizuki sensei!" he gasped.

"Your sensei has just stolen a scroll containing who knows how many types of forbidden jutsus." Oracle began.

"We gotta stop him. Send a message to the old man." he ordered.

"What about you?"

Naruto smirked, "I'm gonna show this traitor not to mess with Konoha." he pressed a red button which awakened his Maximal and Predacons from their pods.

The two groups groaned, as Waspinator buzzed, "Who woke Waspinator from his beauty sleep?"

"What time is it?" Terrorsaur groaned.

"Can't a rodent get a little sleep around here." Rattrap groaned.

"What's going on, Naruto?" Optimus asked in concern.

"Transformers, we got a job to do." Naruto told them, as they were curious.

Out in the village forest, Mizuki was jumping from tree to tree making sure nobody was following him, "All I have to do is get out of the village, meet up at the rendezvous, and claim my reward."

As Mizuki jumped to another tree, Gorilla Optimus swung in and snatched the scroll from him. Mizuki landed on the tree and looked out, "The scroll!" he frowned, and tried to go after Optimus.

Before he could reach the swinging gorilla, he ended up landing in a giant web that didn't seem natural, "What the hell?!"

he looked around and saw Tarantulus and BlackArachnia in spider mode climbing close to him which freaked him out. But he wasn't going to let them know that.

"Don't think I don't know who you all are? I'm not scared of you!"

BlackArachnia looked at Mizuki's pants which looked darker, "Tell that to your pants."

Mizuki struggled before Gorilla Optimus dropped in and tackled Mizuki breaking the web. As the two plummeted, Mizuki broke away from the gorilla bot and landed on another tree branch, "Where's the scroll?!"

"You'll never have it!" Optimus answered.

"You're making a big mistake, monkey." Mizuki growled.

"Funny, the only one who made a mistake here was you."

"What're you talking about?"

"You were so busy worrying about me, you had no idea you walked right into a trap of our own."

"Our?" Mizuki wondered, until he saw all the Maximals and Predacons surrounding him, some in beast mode and some in robot mode.

"Trapped like a rat." Dinobot told Mizuki.

"Hey!" Rattrap warned him.

"We would love to make you suffer, but someone else wants that pleasure himself." Tarantulus explained.

"And we all agreed he should have this. Like a gift from us." Megatron put in.

"You don't mean..."

He was suddenly tackled from behind by Naruto, and the two fell out of the tree. Mizuki managed to land safely on the ground, while Airazor caught his hands and lowered him safely to the ground.

"Surprise, traitor!" Naruto announced.

"Naruto." Mizuki squinted.

"You stole a scroll of forbidden jutsu? Why?" Naruto demanded.

"I don't have to explain myself to some nine tailed brat!"

Naruto twitched, "What the hell did you call me?"

"You heard me. You are the nine tailed fox that attacked our city and killed so many lives!" Mizuki announced, as the Transformers dropped in still surrounding him and Naruto.

"You really need to get your facts straights." Rhinox replied.

"Naruto is not the nine tails himself, but merely the demon's jail cell." Cheetor explained.

"But you like so many have deluded yourself into thinking Naruto was the one who did all that damage years ago, when he was just a baby!" BlackArachnia shouted.

"I may never change your opinion of me, nor do I even want to," Naruto began, "But when you commit a crime such as this against your own village, that can't go unpunished."

"What're you going to do about it, demon kid?" Mizuki mocked, "You're just a brat who just graduated from ninja school."

"You forget who you're surrounded by?" Naruto reminded him, "But they said I should have the privilege to be the one to take you down, and I'm gonna do it."

"And how?" Mizuki challenged him.

"With this," he formed familiar hand signs, 'Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu!" and poofs of smoke filled the area, and suddenly Mizuki found himself surrounded by hundreds if not a thousand Naruto's.

"No, this can't be!" Mizuki panicked.

"But it is," Naruto replied, "With such a large chakra reserves I can make more than I let you know. Confident enough to take more than one of me on now?" Mizuki didn't have a chance to answer, as all the Naruto's attacked him at once leaving him a bruised mess.

Eventually, Iruka, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Hiruzen arrived to see the unconscious Mizuki, along with Naruto and his Transformer teams all in robot mode.

"Naruto, are you all right?" Jiraiya asked in concern.

"Never better, Ero-sennin."

"And the scroll of Forbidden jutsu?" Hiruzen inquired.

"Right here, sir." Optimus said, as he handed the scroll over.

"That was quite a feat, Naruto," Orochimaru began, "Taking on Mizuki all by yourself?"

"Well, I did have help with the shadow clone jutsu." Naruto admitted.

"Even so, you showed true courage tonight and helped secure one of our village's prized scrolls of forbidden jutsu," Hiruzen said, "I hope to see many more successful missions from you after this."

Naruto saluted, "You can count on me."

"And us too." Optimus said, as the two teams stood by Naruto's side.

Hiruzen and his two students chuckled knowing this was really going to change things in their village for sure.

(And there you go. Naruto passed his final exam and stopped Mizuki from making off with a scroll of forbidden jutsu. Don't miss next time where Naruto is placed on a new team and they have to pass a final exam to truly prove their worth. And to once again remind you, for any who forgot Orochimaru is a good guy in this story. See you until then.)