Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

NARUTO

It was early in the morning when Naruto finally hauled himself into the classroom, tired, just a little bit sore, and desperate to fall into his seat. The hustle and bustle in the classroom was the same as always, and soon, Sakura had slid into her seat next to him, bidding him a cheerful, "Good morning!" as she usually did. Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, Sasuke seated himself on the opposite side of Naruto with a quiet grunt of acknowledgement. The two of them looked very well rested, and how Naruto envied them…

It was then, though, that he heard Iruka's voice, sounding much hastier than usual. The door slid open, and in came their teacher, his eyes scanning the classroom until they landed on Naruto. Naruto watched, confused, as Iruka held up a hand and beckoned him down. With a groan, Naruto got up and slipped past Sasuke, trying to make his walk down the stairs look a lot sprightlier than he felt.

Naruto grinned wearily at Iruka as he approached the somewhat emptier corner of the classroom. "What's wrong?" he found himself asking, somewhat concerned. It's not like I've done anything… At least, not that I remember…

As Naruto neared him, Iruka took a deep sigh and rushed forwards, arms outstretched. To Naruto's shock, his teacher, with an expression of concern, began to check his face and hands, looking for something, but what it was Naruto wasn't quite sure. Naruto, taken aback, froze somewhat as Iruka continued on until he was satisfied, before letting out another deep sigh, this one definitely filled with relief. He fixed his eyes on Naruto.

"Lord Hokage told me about what happened the other night… Thank goodness, you're OK… Are you hurt…?" Iruka asked hurriedly, his voice little more than a whisper.

Naruto gaped. "W-well…no… I'm not…" he muttered, unsure of how to react to the situation.

"Thank goodness…" Iruka repeated, clutching Naruto's shoulders tightly. Suddenly, his gaze hardened. "You can't just go running into battle like that…! What if you'd been killed…?! I…" Iruka trailed off, leaving Naruto standing there in stunned silence. It was a good long moment before Iruka dared to continue with a weak, "I'm just…glad you're OK…" His voice was cracking—something that was hard to miss.

If he was honest, Naruto was somewhat grateful for the attention that Iruka often gave him. With his father being cooped up in the office an awful lot, and his mother being a kunoichi who was often out on missions, he had to admit… The attention was nice. Iruka spoke to him like a father would, and in the absence of his own a lot of the time, he liked the experience. It was one of the reasons why Naruto liked his teacher so much.

"Have you been cleared to sit the exam?" Iruka finally asked, satisfied with the answers that he'd been given.

"Yeah…" Naruto muttered, but suddenly, he found that he couldn't help but grin, pride swelling in his chest at the thought of everything he'd done the night before. "I've been practicing really hard, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm gonna pass! Just you watch!"

Iruka, seeing his bright expression, smiled softly. "Well, in that case, I'll wish you the best of luck, Naruto," Iruka responded sincerely. Naruto's grin only widened. "I'll see you again after the written test."

Naruto deflated… He'd forgotten about that part…

"Ugh…" Naruto groaned, stretching himself over his desk in the hopes of working the pain out of his back, sore from having sat in one place for so long. The test papers had been collected not long prior, and his thoughts were still on it and the criminally hard questions that it had asked. He thought back to Sasuke and Sakura scribbling furiously on either side of him during the test, and couldn't help but consider them to be something akin to superhuman.

As they spoke, Iruka and Mizuki would be in the other room, rapidly calculating the scores for the test, and the moment they were finished, they would be expected to complete the practical portion of the test. It wouldn't be until they completed both that they got their final scores and learned whether or not they passed or failed. It was, if his parents were right, a quick process with both teachers working on it, but even so, it was going to seem like a very long time.

Naruto glanced up at Sakura as she stood up to stretch. "How do you think you did…?" he asked tiredly, refusing to lift his head up from the desk.

Sakura glanced down at him before turning her eyes away in thought. "Hmm…" she hummed. "Well, the questions were easy enough. I'm almost certain that I've passed, at the very least."

Naruto groaned, disheartened. "Is that so…?"

"Sakura, any idiot with two braincells to rub together could pass that test," Sasuke grumbled with a roll of his eyes. "If Naruto couldn't pass something that simple, it's his own fault."

Naruto sprang up far faster than he should have, feeling his tiredness more keenly than he had before. "I didn't say that I'd fail, idiot!" he snapped, barely stopping himself from throwing a punch at Sasuke.

"Really?" Sasuke smirked. "Better work harder, then. Everything about you is betraying you right now."

Naruto glared, barely able to contain himself, but eventually, he managed to take a deep, shaky breath. "Nope," he stated resolutely, turning his nose up at Sasuke. "Not today. I worked hard. I'm going to pass. I'm not letting you ruin this for me."

"Hm," Sasuke grunted. "That would be a first."

"I'm not letting you ruin this for me," Naruto repeated through gritted teeth.

"Come on, Sasuke. Stop it. You heard him. He's worked hard. Don't throw him off with the practical so close," Sakura scolded, blushing red with embarrassment. Sasuke mere turned up his own nose as the door slid open, and in came Iruka.

"OK!" the teacher shouted, gesturing to the class. "Settle down everybody!"

Unlike in previous lessons, the class calmed down quite rapidly, eager to hear about the next portion of the exam. Iruka scanned the classroom for a moment, ensuring that everyone was in their proper places and listening. He walked behind his desk and placed the clipboard in his hand down.

"Now that everyone has settled, I would just like to say that your scores have been calculated. The next portion of the exam will now begin," Iruka told them, his gaze serious. The class didn't make a peep. "One by one, you will be called into the neighbouring room where you will be asked to complete a jutsu that we have chosen to our specifications."

Again, he let his eyes scan the classroom, and Naruto suddenly found himself shrinking under his gaze, sweating heavily with nerves. "The chosen jutsu will be…" The silence was deafening. Nervous students leaned forward in their seats as Iruka drew out the silence longer and longer for dramatic effect. "…Bunshin no Jutsu."

The class erupted with sighs of relief and moans of horror. Naruto visibly deflated, although he wasn't sure if that was because of relief, or because of disappointment. Despite his training, his confidence in this area really could have been better. He gripped the table nervously as his teacher silently beckoned for calm.

"Using this jutsu, you must create at least two fully-formed clones. You will each be called in alphabetical order. When you have completed the test, you will be instructed on who to send in next. The test will begin immediately," Iruka informed them bluntly, looking down at his clipboard. Finally, he looked up, locking eyes with a student in the back row "Abe Gorou, please follow me."

As the boy slowly and nervously made his way down to the front, Naruto couldn't help but wonder if his father was correct, and his new jutsu would be accepted at all. He swallowed heavily and sank down deeper into his seat, feeling himself break out in a cold sweat. He felt Sasuke's eyes on him, and he suddenly became conscious of several sympathetic gazes being shot his way from around the classroom, but found himself too nervous to care. Glancing up, he saw that Sakura was one of them, and he offered her a shaky smile, which she returned. Naruto's heart sank. She evidently didn't expect him to do well.

Needless to say, time crawled past, and the slower it seemed to go, the more Naruto found to panic about. They might not accept the jutsu. He might get nervous and fail, or he might be too tired to mould his chakra properly. What if he overdid the number and hurt somebody by accident? Would he fail over an accident like that? He hoped not.

Eventually, Sakura was called, and it was all Naruto could do to offer her a shaky grin and a thumbs-up. She smiled back and gave Naruto and Sasuke a nervous little wave, bounding down the steps to the front of the classroom and hurrying out the door. It was, as Naruto fully expected, not long before she returned to the classroom, a smile stretched from ear to ear, a brand new forehead protector glinting in the sunlight that shone through the windows holding her hair back in place of her usual ribbon. Despite his predicament, Naruto couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Sakura paused beside another student at the other side of the classroom, and as that student got up to leave, Sakura made her way back up the steps to her seat.

"It's really not that bad," she told the two boys next to her with a relieved smiled that was seemingly mostly aimed at Naruto. "It's just an empty room. You go in, perform the jutsu when they tell you to, and leave. Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei are being really good about it, too. After I passed, they told me that one of the people who passed before me got their eye colour wrong on one of the clones, and they passed him. It was still fully-functional, so it met their expectations. You'll be fine."

Again, Naruto could almost feel that that statement had been directed at him. He offered her a nervous smile, trying to appear more confident, but really, that wasn't the problem. His problem was whether or not they would accept his jutsu at all!

Sasuke scoffed. "They'll let anybody through these days, apparently."

"Well, we're not in times of peace, but we're not exactly at war, Sasuke," Sakura reasoned, placing a finger to her lower lip in thought. "Maybe they can afford to be a little more relaxed about it all."

"It sets a bad example," Sasuke grumbled. "Shinobi are a symbol of power, and it doesn't bode well if the genin aren't up to scratch. The other shinobi villages will look down on us with this sort of standard." He glanced at Naruto. "You should bring that up with your father. Tell him to get the teachers in the Academy in line. Otherwise, they'll let people like yourself through."

"Just watch," Naruto responded, hoping that he sounded more confident than he felt. "I'll make you eat those words."

Sasuke smirked, but left it at that as the student that Sakura had sent through returned, a forehead protector on his head, too. It seemed as though everybody was getting them, and Naruto couldn't help but worry if he'd be the only one to return without one. He could almost imagine the looks on everyone's faces… This disappointment on his parents' faces when they heard that he would have to repeat the year… The looks of disapproval on the faces of the council members when they saw how bad he'd made his father look…

Eventually, Sasuke stood and left. If he recalled, going alphabetically, he'd be next. He gulped as Sakura waved towards Sasuke, offering him a quiet, "Good luck…" Sasuke ignored her.

Naruto's gaze fixed on the door, the sound of the clock echoing across the quiet room, only serving to make his heart pound harder. The wait was almost more than he could take. In mere moments, he would be going into that room and whether his father's plan would work or not would be come to light. No matter how much he wanted to trust in his dad… Well, it was easy for him to say that it would work. He wasn't the one in this situation!

It wasn't long before Sasuke returned, his forehead protector predictably tied around his head. He walked up the steps, but didn't sit down, standing to the side. "Your turn," he told Naruto bluntly, briefly tilting his head towards the door.

Naruto didn't respond, shakily standing and making his way down the steps, only turning around when Sakura called down to him with a, "Good luck!" and an enthusiastic wave. To his surprise, as he looked around the classroom, he saw a few encouraging grins and waves from some friends—Kiba, Shikamaru and Chōji. Even Hinata, normally shy and blushing furiously, was trying her best to give him a smile. Naruto offered an awkward smile back and hurried out the door.

Immediately, Naruto saw a sign on the wall. It was a simple piece of paper that had been taped to the wall with an unnecessarily large amount of tape. The arrow pointing to the right immediately caught his eye, and Naruto stepped forwards to take a closer look at the writing.

'Genin Graduation Exam – Room 5.'

Room 5. He knew where that was. Checking again to make sure that he'd gotten the room right, Naruto hurried down the familiar hallways of the Academy, only stopping when he stood outside the room that he had been directed to. Sakura was right. This had always been an empty room, always devoid of the usual desks, and even the raked seating. Naruto had wondered what it was for every so often, and now, it seemed as though he had the answer.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Naruto slowly slid the door open, attracting the attention of the occupants within. As he stepped inside, he noticed that a large desk and a small table had been moved into the room. Behind the desk sat his two teachers, Mizuki smiling amicably, and Iruka regarding him with a serious expression, evidently taking his job rather seriously. Naruto slid the door shut behind him and made his way further into the room, unable to take his eyes off the forehead protectors lying on the desk in front of him, the metal plates on the front glimmering seductively in the sunlight.

How he wished to be wearing one of them…

"Naruto! Come in!" Mizuki beckoned the boy in with a grin.

"Please stand here, Naruto," Iruka continued bluntly, gesturing towards the centre of the floor, about 10 feet away from the table. Naruto quickly stood where his teacher had indicated, and he watched as Iruka's dark eyes scanned the paper on the clipboard in front of him. "I'll repeat the criteria. You must create two fully-formed clones. Good luck." With that, he leaned back.

Naruto gulped as Mizuki gave him a nod of encouragement. Slowly raising his shaking hands, Naruto watched his teachers carefully, noting Iruka's rapidly softening expression, brimming with pity, and dread settled in his stomach at the thought that his teacher didn't believe in him. Taking a deep breath, Naruto closed his eyes tightly, almost afraid to watch their reactions, and brought up his hands. There was a shocked gasp as Iruka and Mizuki recognised the different hand seal, but Naruto didn't stop to let them go on. His chakra raged inside of him and burst out of his pores in the way that he had come to expect from his training.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Oops… That was the wrong one… Naruto barely got the chance to think to himself as he found himself immediately crushed by a large number of…well, himself, each and every one of them complaining loudly about the lack of space, some crushed into oblivion, disappearing in poofs of smoke as the pressure along the walls became too much for them. Over the voices of his clones, he heard his teachers shouting something in alarm, and he barely managed to raise his hands to dispel the monstrosities that he had created.

As Naruto watched his teachers pick themselves up, both of them dishevelled, Iruka's forehead protector askew, his mind went back to that worry that he'd had before. Would he be disqualified for accidentally maiming his teachers with an equally accidental Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?

That was definitely too much chakra…

"Naruto…" he finally heard Iruka mutter, his expression and tone unreadable. There was an odd moment of silence before a grin split his teacher's face. "Naruto… Wow! Where have you been hiding that?!" Iruka exclaimed breathlessly.

Naruto, understandably taken aback, stared at his teacher with wide eyes. "Um… Well… Nowhere, I guess… It's new…"

"And you… You just learned an A-rank jutsu! Not even just the B-rank Kage Bunshin!" Iruka went on unabated, unable to hold himself back from leaning over the desk, his eyes glittering like an excited child.

"Well…that was an accident…" Naruto sheepishly admitted. "I meant to make less… Dad said that it would be a good alternative that needs more chakra, but I think I need to put less into them…"

"Even so…!" Iruka grinned, amazed. "You've more than met the criteria! You've exceeded every student in this class!"

"Now, hold on!" Mizuki suddenly interjected, looking quite panicked. "He used the wrong jutsu-!"

"Don't be so harsh. It's still Bunshinjutsu, and he didn't just meet the criteria. He exceeded it!" Iruka went on, rounding the desk lifting a forehead protector from the floor, drawing Naruto's attention to the fact that he'd flipped the table. "Well done, Naruto!"

Both Mizuki and Naruto gaped in disbelief as Iruka walked up to Naruto, holding out the forehead protector with an air of pride. "You did it, Naruto," Iruka told him with a smile. "Take it."

Naruto's gaze dropped to the forehead protector, and he took it in shaking hands. Despite having held one so many times, he was suddenly very aware of the weight of it. He ran his fingers across the thick, coarse fabric and the smooth, shiny surface, warmed by the sun, in disbelief that such a thing could be his.

"Go on, then, and send Ino in next," Iruka told him with a wink, turning Naruto around and giving him a pat on the back as something of a send-off. "I'll handle Mizuki-sensei…" he whispered in Naruto's ear before turning around and walking away with a proud grin plastered on his face.

Almost afraid that his hard-won forehead protector would be taken from him, he bolted from the classroom and down the hallway. It was only after he had turned a few corners that he dared to think about even putting it on. Tearing his goggles off with vigour, he ensured that the forehead protector was the correct way up and tied it to his forehead.

It was with a sudden feeling of importance that Naruto walked down the hallways with a spring in his step and opened the classroom door, a grin on his face that he felt could never possibly disappear. He turned to face the class, some of whom were eagerly looking at him for the rather obvious sign that he had passed.

Kiba was apparently the first to notice as he gave a whoop of joy and leapt up, Akamaru letting out a disgruntled yap as the poor puppy was nearly thrown from his partner's head. Shikamaru smiled in satisfaction, leaning even further back in his chair, and Chōji gave him a thumbs-up and an animated grin. As he passed, the chubby boy held out his bag of crisps as Naruto passed by and the blond boy gladly took one, cramming it in his mouth before leaning over the desk to speak to Ino.

"Your turn, Ino," Naruto told her with a grin.

Ino took a deep breath to steady herself and stood up, tightening her long ponytail. "Right…" she whispered. "Thanks…" Chōji stood to let her pass, and Ino jogged down the steps. "I'll be back!" she called back at her classmates with a nervous smile before running out the door.

Sakura got up to let Naruto pass, and the boy slipped into his seat, mentally exhausted. Sasuke looked away and said nothing as Sakura grinned at Naruto, admiring his new forehead protector, identical to her own. There was a moment of silence, and then her grin settled into a gentle smile. She patted Naruto on the back.

"See? Told you. You need to listen to me more often," she joked, reaching up to fiddle with her own forehead protector.

Naruto sank down further in his seat. "Even so…" He let out a sigh of relief. "That was stressful…"

"Still, you did it! You really did train hard, didn't you?" Sakura remarked, and Naruto grinned proudly.

"Yeah. Dad helped me out," Naruto admitted sheepishly, watching Sasuke perk up out of the corner of his eye.

"I'd have thought your father was busy," Sasuke stated bluntly, turning around to face the boy next to him with a critical gaze.

"Well, it's more like he told me what to do, and I just went off and did it," Naruto rephrased, shrugging his shoulders.

"Even so, my father left in something of a hurry the other night, and he's been mostly gone since. I presumed that something happened," Sasuke responded, badly feigning indifference. It was evident that he wanted to know what was going on, but if Sasuke's dad hadn't said anything, was it all top secret?

Should I say anything?

"Ah, well…" Naruto started with an awkward, apologetic smile. "Well…this and that happened…"

"Oh. Dad was going to see Lord Hokage, then?" Shikamaru asked somewhat absentmindedly.

"My dad, too," Chōji stated, nodding in understanding. "It must have been pretty important.

"Well…" Naruto trailed off before finally finishing with a half-hearted, "I don't know if I'm supposed to talk about it…"

"Fair enough," Shikamaru piped up. "It's politics. He has his reasons."

Just then, the door slid open, and in came Ino, beaming. She jogged back up the steps, and Chōji stood to let her back in. As she slid past him, Chōji looked at her, pushing another crisp into his mouth with a crunch.

"Hey, Ino, did your dad run off the other night, too?" Chōji asked curiously.

"Yeah," Ino responded as she sank into her seat. "Urgent business with Lord Hokage. Did all the other Clan Heads go?"

"Supposedly," Shikamaru groaned, leaning his head on the desk. "It's a secret. No point in prying. The adults will tell us if it concerns us."

Ino nodded in thought just as the door opened, and in came both teachers, Mizuki looking rather frustrated, and Iruka looking a little guilty for some reason. Ino was just about the only person who didn't look surprised.

"Ugh… They were like that throughout the whole test…" Naruto heard Ino mutter to Chōji and Shikamaru. "They made me wait while they were talking about something, too… It's a good thing the test was so short…"

"Right…" Iruka muttered with a sigh. "Well, the good news is, you all passed, but you all already knew that," Iruka told them, his expression of guilt morphing into something akin to pride. "Well done to each and every one of you. Now, we'll briefly discuss what will happen in the next couple of days."

Placing his clipboard down, Iruka leaned on the desk. "Tomorrow, each and every one of you will report to the Hokage Residence at 11:00 sharp. There, your paperwork will be completed. You'll be given a Shinobi Registration Number which you'll be required to remember, and you'll have your picture taken for identification. After this you will remain on standby for a day to allow for your four-man cells to be decided upon, and then, you will return to this classroom the following day where you will be assigned to your team. You will then meet your jōnin-sensei, and from then on…you will all be moving on from here…" Iruka finished sadly, looking around at all of the faces in the classroom.

"You've all studied hard, and I'm proud of each and every one of you," Iruka went on, taking a deep sigh as he took in the scene around him. "We're going to miss you all. You're free to go. Make all of us proud, and take care."

Strangely enough, that was easy for him to say, because it took a very long time before anybody dared to stand, as though nobody wanted to. It all seemed so…blunt. Nevertheless, one by one, people walked out, muttering sincere words of gratitude and shaking the hands of their teachers, Iruka eagerly accepting every small hand that was offered to him. Soon, Naruto was the only one left, holding out his hand, which his beloved former teacher took with a guilty smile, Mizuki leaving the classroom without a word, looking more than a little annoyed.

"I have to apologise, Naruto. You passed with flying colours, but I still couldn't give you the highest marks in the practical portion," Iruka told him, averting his gaze.

"Huh…?" Naruto responded, perplexed.

"Mizuki-sensei… He argued that you used the wrong jutsu. I felt that it was correct, but he didn't. He tried to have you failed, and in the end, I had to concede with having you pass with your practical marks cut in half," Iruka explained, his hand tightening around Naruto's, the older man gritting his teeth in anger. "You did much better than your scores reflect, I can tell you that much."

Naruto couldn't help but pout, and he was about to protest, shocked that his normally kind teacher could have argued such a thing, yet he quickly stopped as he saw how…depressed Iruka looked, for lack of a better word. Naruto had never seen the man look so down. Naruto's grip on his teacher's hand tightened awkwardly and he looked away, not sure of what to say. Finally, he swallowed and spoke the first words that came to his mind.

"Well, I mean…you tried your best, right…? It can only go up from here…" Naruto muttered, forcing each word out.

"Yes…and hey! You passed! Congratulations! I'm proud of you!" Iruka exclaimed, trying to look a lot happier. "You just…look after yourself out there, OK?"

"I will," Naruto responded, a lot more confident now that he was back in a more comfortable territory. "I…" Naruto stopped. He wasn't sure of what else to say.

"Listen, Naruto," Iruka suddenly stated, letting go of Naruto's hand and taking hold of his shoulders. "I really am proud of you. I always hoped that you would pass, even with the difficulties that you had grasping the jutsu and…if I'm honest, I was really pleased to see your new jutsu. It tells me…" Iruka paused, seemingly swallowing against a lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. "It tells me…that I don't have to worry about you anymore."

Naruto was taken aback, a rush of warmth that running through him. A blush rose to his cheeks and he chuckled awkwardly, his brain suddenly no longer functioning properly in the face of such flattery. He had to figure out how to respond to that, but how could he?!

"Well…" Naruto began, words forming in his mind, but he wondered whether or not in was appropriate to speak them. In the absence of any alternatives, though, he pressed onwards. "Well…I should thank you, Iruka-sensei… I'm…actually really grateful for everything that you've taught me…and not just in class…!" Naruto paused, looking deeply into his teacher's eyes as he steeled himself for what he was about to say next. "Iruka-sensei, my dad isn't around much. I don't get the chance to learn from him like other kids do with their dads, so when you started to properly teach me right from wrong, and about being a good person, and when you helped me when I was getting bullied and all that when Dad was working, and Mum was always away on missions…it kinda… Well, I wondered if that was what it was like to have a dad who was…around, you know…?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Naruto found himself averting his gaze once more, the warm feeling rapidly being replaced with shame. "Sorry…" he murmured, taking a step back. "I shouldn't have said that…"

What he didn't expect to hear, though, was a sniff. Naruto's eyes shot back up to Iruka's face, watching as the man wiped away a few tears. "You know…" Iruka tried to respond, choking slightly. "You know, despite your attitude, you were always my favourite student… I liked how you brought so much life to the classroom… I'll miss that… It's children like you who remind me of why I became a teacher…" Iruka admitted before rapidly adding, "but don't tell the others that," with a mischievous wink. "I'm always going to be here if you need me. Make sure that you remember that."

Naruto grinned up at his teacher, the warm feeling rushing back to him, along with a sense of relief. Iruka was looking him up and down, taking in every inch of him as though he was afraid of forgetting it. Finally, after a long, hard look, Iruka reached up, whipping off his forehead protector. Before Naruto could say anything, Iruka had taken off his forehead protector, too, and with a swift movement, Iruka's forehead protector was pulled down over Naruto's forehead and tightened. Naruto looked up as Iruka put Naruto's shiny, new forehead protector on, then watched as the man held out his fist.

"Knock 'em dead out there," Iruka told him with a grin.

Naruto froze, and it took a long time for him to reach up to touch the forehead protector that he'd been given. With a happy grin, he finally touched his fist to Iruka's, feeling warm and fuzzy as he ran his free hand along the bumps and scrapes along the metal that came from Iruka's years of experience.

Someday, he would earn those bumps and scratches, himself.

"I'll make you proud," Naruto responded with an even bigger grin. "Just you watch."

"Naruto!"

Over the sounds of parents and their children talking avidly at the Academy gates, Naruto heard a familiar voice shouting much louder than the others were and immediately cringed. Rapidly, the people around the gate quietened and started to mutter, craning their heads to see who was shouting in such an embarrassing way. There, by the gate, was his mother, hair as vibrant as always, shining like a beacon against her formal white Uzumaki Clan robes as she waved an embarrassingly large flag over her head with the Uzumaki Clan symbol emblazoned upon it, screaming his name like an avid fangirl. All around her, parents and children were edging away, almost embarrassed to be seen with her.

Naruto could understand that.

Slowly and awkwardly, he made his way over to the gate, briefly wondering if he could make a run for it to avoid further embarrassment, but quickly deciding against it. He would get a telling off for it later if he did. He did his best to smile as he came up beside his mother, quickly pointing at his new forehead protector, only for his mother's cheering to become even louder.

"Woooo! My son is a shinobi! Go Naruto!" she shouted excitedly.

"Mum… Thanks, but…calm down…" Naruto hissed. "Please…!"

"Oh, Kushina!" came a familiar voice, stopping Kushina before she could start up again.

"Mikoto!" Kushina exclaimed as Sasuke's mother—a beautiful woman with dark hair and eyes, wearing a purple blouse and a red skirt—came up beside Kushina and Naruto, almost dragging Sasuke behind her. "Look at us, eh? Our children are shinobi! Can you believe it-'ttebane?!"

Mikoto let out a gentle laugh, tilting her head to look down at Sasuke who looked just as embarrassed as Naruto felt. For the first time that day, Sasuke shot Naruto a look filled with sympathy and understanding, and Naruto could see why. Just behind them both, Itachi, in his ANBU uniform, was trying to stop himself from losing his composure entirely, a stupid grin on his face, Fugaku desperately trying to pull him away from the scene while maintaining an air of grace and control. Naruto had to admit, this was a side of Sasuke's family that he'd never seen before, nor was it one that he even thought to have existed, but if his own overemotional father had been here, Naruto could have imagined a similar scene playing out, too, although it might have been one involving tears in the case of his father. There was no way that either of them were going to be able to play this off. They were in this one together, if only just for the moment.

"I know!" Mikoto finally responded, looking down at the boys. "Our two babies passed!"

"Mum, please. Stop it," Sasuke told his mother bluntly, only to receive a light-hearted chuckle in response.

"I know I shouldn't say this to somebody else's mum, but I'm going to have to agree with Sasuke. Just…stop it, please. Before we both die inside," Naruto said somewhat hesitantly, uncomfortable with backing Sasuke up. To his credit, the Uchiha looked equally uncomfortable with the new development. Infuriatingly, Mikoto only laughed teasingly, and to their horror, Kushina reached over to pinch their cheeks, succeeding before they could leap away.

"Best friends, too! Isn't that lucky? You might be on the same team!" Kushina suggested excitedly.

"Whoa! Wait!" Naruto yelped, pushing her hand away, suddenly blushing furiously. "We are not friends!"

"Sure, you are!" Kushina declared, sounding very sure of herself. "Friends and rivals, ever since you were just wee things!"

"Oh, do you remember their first little fight?" Mikoto gushed, smiling happily.

"Yes! It was in our living room!" Kushina responded quickly, eyes shining brightly.

"Sitting on the floor with their toys…" Mikoto reminisced wistfully.

"Sasuke hit Naruto with his toy while they were playing by accident, and Naruto just refused to take that lying down!" Kushina continued with a laugh.

"They were barely sitting up at that age…" Mikoto mused fondly, staring off into the distance.

"Of course, they couldn't have done any real damage…" Kushina reasoned, looking down at the two boys who were trying their hardest to quell the furious blushes that they were sporting. The tips of Sasuke's ears had gone red, and Naruto looked as though he was about to catch fire.

"They've been inseparable ever since…!" Mikoto replied with the same sense of sureness that her best friend had displayed earlier.

"Mum, be quiet!" Naruto finally snapped, turning his head away so that nobody could see his reddened face.

"That's a bold-faced lie. Inseparable, my ass," Sasuke responded with an irritated grunt, glaring up at his mother, who clapped a hand over her mouth and glanced around at the onlookers as though scandalised.

"Sasuke…! Language…!" Mikoto hissed, sounding disappointed. Sasuke rolled his eyes and visibly pouted, and Naruto couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy and understanding that only two people with mothers like theirs could experience.

Naruto found himself elbowing Sasuke as, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the fiendish grins of Kiba and Chōji, who he had no doubt would be teasing them about this later. The bored, frustrated expression that Shikamaru wore told Naruto that he'd be no help. He turned just in time to see Sasuke turn away again, and by the troubled expression on his face, he'd come to the same conclusion that Naruto had, and was equally unwilling to deal with the stupidity of their classmates.

"Well…" Sasuke said rather suddenly and without much thought, vaguely gesturing towards the rest of his family, Itachi still visibly trying to stop himself from grinning quite so widely, and failing miserably. "I have things to deal with…over there…"

"Yes…!" Naruto continued, catching onto what Sasuke was doing. "My dad's going to want to know how I did… He's…uh…gonna want all the details…and stuff…"

"Oh! Yes! Your father's likely been on the edge of his seat all morning!" Kushina exclaimed, clapping a hand to her mouth. "I completely forgot! You should go on, honey. I'm sure he'll want to give you all of his attention, eh?" Kushina told him with a mischievous wink, before leaning in to plant a kiss on her son's cheek.

Afraid of the consequences of taking that lying down in front of his classmates, Naruto quickly squirmed out of the way, shouting a hurried, "OK! See you later! Bye, Sasuke!"

"Yeah!" Sasuke shouted back, sounding somewhat stressed as he bolted towards his father and brother. "Bye!"

Leaving his mother to protest at the Academy gates, Naruto quickly made his way down the street, earning many a stare from the disbelieving villagers as they eyed his forehead protector with apprehension. Despite the stares, though, Naruto couldn't help but proudly tighten what he had decided was his most treasured possession. No matter what people seemed to think of him, it just didn't seem to be getting to him that day. It wasn't as though he would see them for long, anyway. He rounded the corner, running towards the gate on the other side of the Academy that led to the administrative portion of the building.

Naruto ran into the building, barely stopping to greet and thank the Anbu as he usually did, and raced up the stairs. Before he could reach the office, though, Naruto caught sight of a familiar catlike mask appearing from the shadows of a corridor.

"Young Lord," Kazuki said quickly, prompting Naruto to slow to a stop. "You may have to wait for a little while to see Lord Fourth. He's currently in a meeting with the Konoha Honoured Opinion Watch."

Naruto could tell that he had visibly deflated, and he found himself wondering how long those old curmudgeons would be monopolising his father's time. He let out a frustrated sigh and cast his eyes towards the staircase that led to the Hokage's office. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to stand outside the office and wait. Homura and Koharu weren't people that he liked to deal with, but he definitely wanted to avoid Danzō. There was a certain coldness around the man that Naruto couldn't understand, nor did he particularly want to. He couldn't place it, but it was unsettling, to say the least. Naruto trusted the man about as far as he could throw him.

"Have they been in there long…?" Naruto asked somewhat dejectedly.

Kazuki nodded. "They've been here since Lord Fourth arrived this morning. Before that, even."

"Think they'll take much longer…?" Naruto inquired, trying to regain a little bit of hope, but Kazuki merely shook his head.

"I'm afraid I can't say, Young Lord. There's no telling with the Konoha Honoured Opinion Watch. They'll stay for as long as they feel the need to," Kazuki explained, sounding somewhat apologetic.

"Well…maybe I can wait somewhere-" Naruto started, but he didn't get very far as the sound of voices began to drift down the stairs. Naruto immediately recognised the disgruntled voices as Homura and Koharu, and he had a feeling that Danzō would be right behind them, as usual. His hypothesis was proven correct minutes later as Homura, with his unkempt grey hair and beard, became visible on the stairs first. The elderly shinobi was dressed in a long blue kimono covered by a beige haori, a white poncho-like item of clothing covering his shoulders. His dark eyes were barely visible behind the light reflecting off the lenses of his green glasses.

Behind him followed Koharu, her grey hair pulled back into a twin bun, held in place by the same hair pin with the red pearls that she always wore. Long pearl earrings hung from her ears, and she wore her usual formal outfit—a long brownish-grey kimono tied with a red obi. Over the top of this, she wore a greyish jacket of sorts, and a white sash over her left shoulder.

Following behind her was the man Naruto had perhaps wanted to see least—Shimura Danzō. His shaggy black hair was held up by the bandages that circled his head and covered his right eye, which he had supposedly lost during the war. He wore a white shirt and dark grey robes that were tied with purple cloth. As he turned to look in Naruto's direction, Naruto couldn't help but notice the odd cross-shaped scar on his chin. The group fell silent as they approached, and when Danzō finally spoke, he didn't even bother to look down at Naruto, as though he wasn't even worth doing that much for.

"Good afternoon, Young Lord…" he grumbled, taking a quick glance down at Naruto, or rather the forehead protector that he wore. "Does this warrant…congratulations…?"

The note of disgust in Danzō's voice didn't escape Naruto, yet he did his best to ignore it, regardless. As usual, Naruto went through the motions of greeting the Konoha Honoured Opinion Watch, bowing slightly despite the sour expressions on their faces. He didn't address Danzō's comment, hoping that the old man would keep walking, only to feel his heart sink as the group slowed to a stop beside him.

"This means that your mischief making days are over, I hope," Naruto heard Homaru say bluntly as he stood up straight. Naruto took a deep breath to avoid saying something he might regret.

"Absolutely," was Naruto's simple response. The shorted the answer, the faster they'll leave…

"Do your best to be an asset to the Village, boy," Danzō told him, eyes narrowing dangerously. "A shinobi can be fired for misbehaving." There was a long moment of silence, and Danzō let out a long sigh. "What's your opinion on the Uchiha clan, boy?"

Naruto didn't startle. He knew that the Konoha Honoured Opinion Watch weren't exactly fans of several clans in the Village, least of all the Uchiha clan. For the life of him, Naruto couldn't figure out why. Aside from Sasuke, he'd only ever had positive interactions from the Uchiha clan. They respected his father, and they were just about the only people in the Village who respected him. As such, Naruto's practiced, but previously unused, response was immediate.

"I believe that they are good people. They hold great respect for the Hokage, they are loyal, they are a powerful asset to their Village, and the police force does an excellent job of keeping the people safe," Naruto told Danzō, trying not to sound too robotic as he rattled off his rehearsed lines.

Danzō scoffed, and Naruto had to bite his cheek to keep himself from scowling. "I see you've…inherited your father's naivety…" Danzō muttered, almost too quiet for Naruto to hear, and without another word, the elderly shinobi made their way down the hallway, leaving Naruto with a million unused curses buzzing angrily around his head.

Keep your cool for Dad's sake… Naruto reminded himself, taking a deep breath as they rounded the corner. Now's not the time…

Thus, it was with another deep breath that Naruto turned from Kazuki, afraid of what he might say if he opened his mouth. This was no different from his little squabble with Sasuke earlier, he decided as Kazuki seemed to melt into the shadows once more, taking this little incident as his cue to leave. No. This was a special day, and he'd be damned if he'd let them ruin it for him. Mourning the loss of the spring in his step from earlier, Naruto wordlessly headed up the stairs and down the hallway to his father's office, and by the time he reached it, anticipating the conversation he was soon to have, the smile was back on his face once more, almost as if nothing had ever happened.

Naruto knocked at the door, waiting until he heard a muffled, "Enter," from the other side. The expression on his father's face, he decided as he opened the door, was worth every boring second of studying he ever did. At the mere sight of the forehead protector that he proudly wore, Minato's face lit up like Christmas, and had it not been unbecoming of a man like the Hokage, Naruto could almost have envisioned his father leaping straight over the table just to get a better look at him. Instead, he took the rather more respectable long way around, barely able to contain himself if the delighted spring in his step was any indication.

"I passed," Naruto told Minato with a grin, even if such words felt a little redundant, the proof wrapped around his forehead in solid metal.

"Of course you did!" Minato exclaimed, sweeping his son up into a tight hug, eyes brighter than they had looked in years, as though the tiredness that constantly plagued him had been wiped away by the simple sight of that forehead protector. "No son of mine was going to fail! Tell me, what were your grades for the practical portion like?"

Naruto deflated. "Ah… Uh… Well…" Naruto stuttered, averting his gaze. "Well…Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei had…differing opinions…"

"Eh…?" was Minato's confused response, his brows furrowing as he tried to understand what Naruto was trying to tell him.

"Well, I passed, and Iruka-sensei was really impressed! He said he wanted to give me the highest marks in the class…but Mizuki-sensei didn't have the same opinion…" Naruto muttered, a sudden self-conscious feeling overwhelming him. It felt as though his father's gaze was boring into him, and he couldn't bring himself to look for fear of seeing disappointment in his eyes. "He said it wasn't the right jutsu and…wanted to fail me…so Iruka-sensei had to compromise and cut the marks I got for my practical in half… Sorry, Dad…"

Any words that might have followed—apologies for not doing well enough, and for disappointing him, and for being an embarrassing, rotten excuse for a son—went unsaid. Naruto gritted his teeth. He'd been determined not to let this get to him. It had meant so little to him the moment Iruka-sensei had told him how much faith he had in him, and how proud he was of him. He'd been floating on air almost the entire way to the office, bar a few hiccups. Now, in front of his father, the harsh reality of his own circumstances seemed to cruelly slap him in the face, bringing the emotional rollercoaster of the day to an abrupt, depressing end.

It was as though, just for a moment, he had forgotten who he was. Who he represented.

He wasn't allowed to do that.

"Sorry for what?"

Naruto jumped, startled by his father's voice. He chanced a look, eyes meeting only a puzzled expression. Minato's expression brightened, but he tilted his head slightly, as though still confused. His father, Naruto decided, simply hadn't seen the glaring problem that was staring him right in the face. Did he need to spell it out for him? His father wasn't that dense, surely!

"You passed," Minato stated as though that settled the matter, his grin only widening. "Not coming first is nothing to be ashamed of. I didn't come first, either. Heck, I nearly failed one of my practical tests when Henge no Jutsu came up that year. I would have, too, had it not been for Ren taking the time to teach me. No, he came first. He was always the smart one…"

Minato trailed off wistfully, his attention and gaze seemingly drifting. Naruto remembered that name. He had never met the man, but Ren, he knew, had been an old teammate of his father's back when he was young. He had fought for the shaky peace their world enjoyed today, but he had died in the war long before Naruto had been born. It was something that Minato and his remaining teammate, Takuma, didn't like to talk much about.

Naruto supposed that envisioning the loss of that sort of bond was beyond one who had never had or valued teammates in such a way before, but at the same time, he could respect it. The world that Naruto lived in wasn't experiencing true peace. He knew that well. There had been many invasions, even within Naruto's lifetime, amongst them the Hyūga Affair with Kumogakure, multiple attacks by nukenin, the attack the day he was born where his parents had killed the Kyūbi, and even the attack of the previous night. It was a dangerous time. The peace that they had was shaky at best, and many countries were all too willing to start another war. Even though this sat in the back of Naruto's mind, just as it did for every shinobi, and even for the students at the Academy, Naruto had long since decided to maintain a healthy distance from losing a teammate if he could.

Suddenly, it was though Minato snapped back to reality, and Naruto's thoughts followed suit. Minato smiled again, but there was a hint of sadness there, not aimed at Naruto, but at something completely different. What was distracting him was obvious, and Naruto couldn't help but feel apologetic for bringing the memory of Ren's death up, even if he hadn't knowingly done so.

Naruto looked on as his father slowly pulled him in for a hug, arms encircling him gently. Minato rested his chin on Naruto's shoulder and held him as close as he could, his wavering voice barely more than a whisper as he said, "I'm so proud of you, son… You've come such a long, long way…"

As if compelled, Naruto mirrored his father, returning the soft hug, despite how foreign the concept of hugging was to a young man like him.

I'm proud of you, too, Dad.