The Ice Queen in Konohagakure Chapter 7: Final Exam, a Naruto + Frozen Crossover fanfic

"Ok Naruto, last question, then you will quiz me." Elsa looked down at the notebook in front of her to help her think of a good review question. "Explain the mission ranking system and its origins," Elsa asked after a moment.

Naruto scratched his chin as he thought about the answer, but before he could respond Sasuke made a quip to interrupt his train of thought.

"Hn, I think you asked one that was too advanced for the idiot over here."

Naruto scowled at his rival but then turned to Elsa and rattled off the answer.

"The mission ranking system was originally designed by a council of Daimyo from the Lands of Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, and Lightning when the first ninja villages were established to formalize the pricing for hiring ninja across borders, though it has evolved over the years. The Ninja villages had to accept the system to be formally recognized by each land's government. Missions are ranked in alphabetical order from D to A with Special missions given the S ranking. Missions that take place inside the ninja village and do not require combat are given the D ranking. Missions that require travel outside of the village and may involve combat against civilian targets but do not specify kill orders are given C ranking. Missions rank B, A, and S, all specifically include shinobi combat in the mission description with the level of the ranking depending on the believed difficulty of the Shinobi targets."

When Naruto finished Elsa checked her notes to see if he was right, before nodding her head slightly then saying,

"Correct."

Naruto slumped forward and groaned, "Ugh, I am going to be so happy when we are done with the academy and we don't have to recite stuff for tests. It is so annoying."

"You'll do fine Naruto," Sasuke said, "just don't get stuck in your head during the test, I won't be able to insult you to pull you out of it."

"Alright kids books away because dinner's ready," Teuchi said as he laid down three bowls of ramen in front of the trio sat at his counter. Naruto cheered and the other two just smiled as they closed their notebook to protect them from possible spillage. The trio of friends was studying together at Ichiraku on the night before the final exam because Naruto said that eating ramen together would bring them luck tomorrow. Of course, he said that eating ramen was the solution for everything, but his two friends went along with it because of the special connection they had with the ramen stand.

Elsa had been a little sad that Hinata couldn't come. She was being put through a last minute Hyuuga cram session so that she would be perfectly prepared for the test, but she had said she would be free when they celebrated after everyone passed. A part of Elsa was just as excited as the rest of the students to be done with the exam because it meant they would finally fulfill their dreams of becoming ninjas of the hidden leaf village. But as the day loomed, Elsa couldn't help the feeling of dread that appeared inside of her.

Though she had been able to ignore it as the years passed with her living in Konoha, a part of her always remembered that she was an outsider. She had come to this village to learn to control her ice powers so that she wouldn't be a danger to others in her homeland. As she had spent time among the people in this place and had come to form such strong bonds with her friends here, suddenly the idea of joining them as a ninja became more and more appealing. She felt like she belonged here and was terrified of losing that.

Greta had only been partially right when she had guessed at why Elsa was more and more hesitant to write to her family. While she did love her family and missed them dearly, there was more than distance separating them. Here in Konoha, she had met people like her, they couldn't use ice, but breathing fire and making copies of yourself was close enough in her book. If she went back to Arendelle, in addition to losing contact with her friends, she would be stuck as the only tulip in a field of daisies. She would probably never get the chance to use her abilities again, and as odd as it was to think it now, she would be miserable if she had to keep them hidden forever.

"Ok Elsa back to studying," Naruto said, breaking her free from her thoughts. He had finished his large bowl and pulled out his notebook again. "Who were the founding clans of Konoha and what event triggered the creation of the village?"

Elsa put aside the thoughts that had been troubling her. She would just have to leave those for the future. For now, she would focus on the time she got to spend with her friends, and whatever happened, she knew they would be there with her as they faced it together.

The next morning Elsa prepared to leave early for the academy so that she could meet up with her friends one last time before the beginning of the exam.

"Bye Greta," She called as she left the apartment, "remember that I won't be back for dinner, I am meeting up with everyone for a celebration at that barbeque place."

"I remember, child, now you go out there and show them what you're made of," she responded encouragingly, making Elsa smile wider.

When she got to the classroom at the academy she looked up to see that only Hinata was here before her as was usual.

"Hey Hinata, are you ready?" she called.

"I am a little nervous but I think I will do fine," Hinata said back with a smile.

Suddenly the window was thrown open and Naruto tumbled through followed closely by Sasuke.

"Yes! It worked," Naruto said his hands raised in triumph, "I beat you today Sasuke."

"You set up traps with actual shuriken you idiot, that was completely unfair." Sasuke retorted.

"If you're not cheating, you're not trying," Naruto said back as he held out his fist with a smile.

Sasuke stared flatly at the other boy before bumping fists and heading up to his customary spot next to Elsa with Naruto following behind.

"Hey guys," Naruto said brightly as he approached the two girls, "great day to become ninjas isn't it?"

"So you are confident you will pass," Elsa said.

"Of course," Naruto responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "We are unstoppable when we work together and we have all done so much work to get here, there is no way that we won't pass today and then before you know it, I will be Hokage and you guys will be the ones who helped me get there." When he finished talking Naruto gave his friends a thumbs up.

"Hn, that's if you can get the clone technique to work," Sasuke said, stealing the wind from the other boy's sails.

"Hey, you know I got that to work most of the time thanks to Hinata telling me I was using too much chakra. I still don't get why it is so easy for you guys." Naruto responded with a pout.

"Alright boys," Elsa said, "No fighting before the test."

"Are you kidding Elsa?" Naruto suddenly said, "this entire test is a fight." Turning to Sasuke, Naruto pointed at the other boy in a challenge, "Sasuke, today is the day where I show once and for all that I am the best ninja. I will be beating every single one of your scores and I will take the title of the top of the class."

"Oh? Are you challenging me, idiot?" Sasuke said back with a smirk.

Elsa sighed and facepalmed at the boy's antics, most of the time Sasuke was more level headed than Naruto but when it came to a competition he could often be just as overdramatic as the orange wearing boy.

"There they go again," Hinata said from Elsa's other side, "They really can get ahead of themselves sometimes."

"Tell me about it," Elsa said.

"Besides, we all know I will be scoring the highest in class," Hinata said, causing Elsa to look at her in shock only to see a playfully challenging look in her eyes.

"As if," Elsa said back before the two girls began to giggle at each other.

Suddenly all the activity in the classroom was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Ino and Sakura, the two girls burst through the door and began looking around for Sasuke only to deflate when they saw that he was already sitting with Elsa to one side and Naruto to the other. They eventually both sulked off to another desk where they sat together and stared daggers at Elsa and Naruto for keeping them away from their Sasuke-kun.

A few minutes later all chatter in the room ceased with the arrival of the instructors. Iruka stared at the assembled students, then at a clipboard, he carried with him before nodding to himself and addressing the students.

"Very good, I am glad you are all here on time, punctuality is an important principle for a ninja to learn. Today you will all be given the opportunity to earn the privilege of wearing our village's symbol and representing Konoha as one of its Ninja. This is a monumental responsibility that only those deemed worthy and able will be allowed to shoulder. Everything you have worked through during your time in this academy has been preparing you for this moment. You are trying to enter an extremely dangerous world, so to keep you safe every instructor who is acting as a proctor during this exam will be strict because we want you to stay alive. If you take this seriously I am sure that each of you can pass." He paused for a moment and looked over the audience of students with a serious gaze letting his words sink in.

After that moment, Mizuki stepped forward and grabbed the attention of the students giving them one of his sweet smiles, "Alright, the written exam will be completed first, you will have two hours to work on it. Once it is complete we will move out to the training ground for the physical conditioning and taijutsu portions, then we will end back in the building for the chakra portion. Are there any last-minute questions?" He waited a moment but no one spoke so he told them to put away their things and the exam would be handed out.

When the paper hit her desk Elsa stared at it for a moment. She wasn't proud of it, but as she had lain in bed the night before a part of her had thought about purposefully failing the exam. After all, if she was still in the academy then she had the perfect excuse to stay in Konoha. She had immediately rejected the idea as she remembered her friends, each of them was giving their all to pass the test and earn their headband and if she put in any less effort she would be dishonoring their dreams. Picking up a pencil, determination filled Elsa's eyes and she resolved to put her heart and soul into her efforts to pass.

Naruto stretched his hands toward the sky, letting out a groan of pleasure as he stretched the tightness out of his back from being hunched over a desk for so long. He was so happy to, finally, be out of the classroom and he hoped that after today he would never have to enter a classroom again. As he looked over the rest of the class and saw them all doing their own stretches he couldn't help but smile as his eyes came to rest on Elsa.

She was his first friend and the brightest light in his life. Every good thing that he now had, except for ramen, came because she had come to the village. Because of her, he now had Jiraiya coming to visit him to check on him and teach him cool things, the villagers no longer grumbled about him when they thought he couldn't hear and most of them no longer refused to let him in their store. He had met Sasuke who became his best guy friend and a rival to help him get stronger, his house was clean and smelled nicer because he wanted to be ready in case she dropped by, and most of all because she was there to help him with his academics, the written test he had just finished seemed so easy. He was sure he passed it and now he only had to worry about physical skill, which he knew he was good at, and chakra, which Elsa also helped him with. Naruto, in all honesty, believed that Elsa had saved him and he would do anything for her if she asked. For now, though, he would just work to be the best friend to her that he could be.

"So how did you guys do on the test, because I am pretty sure I aced it," Naruto said, catching the attention of his friends.

"Hn, yeah right Naruto, I am pretty sure you fell asleep halfway through. I could hear you snoring." Sasuke teased his friend.

"No, that was the sound of the gears in your head grinding together as you tried to keep up," Naruto retorted, the two friends smirking at each other.

"Come on guys, I am sure that we all did well," Elsa said, halting the boys before they could get into a verbal sparring match.

Even though Naruto and Sasuke were friends, one of their favorite ways to interact would always be trading insults. The two of them had a tradition that if one of them insulted the other it was then that friend's duty to respond in kind, a gentleman's agreement of sorts. They each knew that certain topics were off-limits so they never would make fun of something that would cause actual pain. Sometimes Naruto wondered if Elsa was just doing her own bit or if she actually thought that she needed to step in to keep things from escalating to a fistfight. Seriously, that only happened, like, once a week, tops. Plus, they always made sure to bump fists at the end to let each other know that there were no hard feelings so it didn't even count as an actual fight.

"Attention up here," Iruka barked, grabbing the student's attention. "You have all made it past the first hurdle, though we will see if you did it successfully later. You will now complete the physical portion of the exam. " He turned to a board next to him that had a map pinned to it. "Here is the course you will be running, you will be traveling a half-mile in total through various obstacles and challenges scattered along it. You will start here and run this first stretch of 100 yards to a tower that you must scale. You will then run the next 100 yards through the tops of the trees, if you touch the ground you will be penalized. At the other end is a zipline that you can use to descend. As you move through the next 140 yards of the course there will be 25 targets spread randomly throughout that you will hit with shuriken or kunai. You will be scored on both your accuracy and your time so do your best to balance how quickly you move with how carefully you aim. Finally, you will face off against the obstacle course you are familiar with, though it has been lengthened to 100 yards total. You will run two laps of the course. Other than needing to throw the shuriken and kunai at the targets, how you overcome the obstacles you face will be up to you. Don't feel that you need to do the same thing for an obstacle just because you have been doing it that way up until now." He looked over the class to make sure they had all been paying attention. "Are there any last-minute questions?" he finally asked, but from the way he stared at the students he expected them to have been listening the first time he spoke. When no one raised their hand he nodded in approval and said, "Good, you will be running one at a time and we will stagger you if you catch up to the person in front of you feel free to run past them."

With his instructions finished Iruka began calling students forward to run the course. Naruto quickly realized that the class was being called out alphabetically so he turned to Sasuke,

"Looks like you will start running first, so I will see you when I catch up," he said.

"Hn, you won't even see the dust I leave behind," the other boy responded.

The two waited eagerly and soon Iruka called out, "Sasuke Uchiha," and the boy took off like an arrow, blazing down the beginning stretch. Naruto got into position himself, his ears trained to his teacher's voice, as soon as the first syllable of his name had been called, "Nar-," he took off after his friend and rival. He ran through the first 100 yards, his arms loose and held out at his sides. The style of running was the first thing that the students had been taught when they moved into the shinobi course from the general education course in the academy. While not using your arms as you ran did sacrifice some speed, a ninja could more than make up for it by using chakra to enhance themselves. The benefits were that running like this was more efficient and it left your arms free for wielding weapons at speed. In no time, Naruto's speed ate up the 100 meters separating him from the tower. Naruto looked it over and saw that hand and footholds had been attached sporadically. Leaping up, he grabbed a handhold and hauled himself up to grab another with his other hand. He didn't bother with footholds. The tower was wood that had been worn by weather and ninja sandals were designed to give excellent grip so he had plenty of purchase with his feet. Soon, he was over the top edge and lept for the nearest tree branch. Naruto expertly moved from branch to branch, his eyes always locking onto the next place his feet could land on. No Konoha ninja worth their salt would ever have trouble navigating a treetop.

As he approached the zip line, Naruto saw that there was nothing to hold onto attached to the line so he would need to improvise. Glancing about Naruto saw a suitable branch and altered his course so that he could grab it on the way, it appeared to be about 3 inches thick with a bend in it that the line would sit in as he slid down it. Reaching the branch, he threw his weight against it, the branch bent but didn't break due to it still being green. Pulling out a kunai Naruto quickly hacked the branch free and continued speeding through the trees. He arrived at the zipline and quickly positioned the branch and began his descent. When he was about seven feet from the ground Naruto let go of the branch and dropped, hitting the ground with a roll to preserve his forward momentum Naruto continued to run into the stretch with the targets.

Some of the targets were placed in plain view, but others were hidden in bushes and trees. Naruto scanned the area and quickly spotted his first target and threw a shuriken as he ran. Naruto didn't slow to make the throw, trusting in the training he and Sasuke had done to guide his aim. He may not be as accurate as the other boy, loathe as he was to admit it, but he was no slouch, hitting the bullseye about 80% of the time during practice. As he ran he kept a mental tally of how many targets he had hit, and as he approached the obstacle course he saw target number 25 and launched a kunai at it. He didn't bother memorizing the positions of the targets as assumed that they would be moved in between runners.

Naruto prepared to mount the first obstacle of the course. It looked like the one they had been practicing on for years just longer as Iruka had explained, but Naruto was suspicious. After all, he had said the obstacle course would be different just a few weeks ago. As he stepped onto the balance his suspicions were confirmed when it shifted, before the balance beam was a rigid length of wood but now it was suspended so that if you were careless it made crossing the wood impossible. Naruto did not doubt that every obstacle had been altered in some way.

"They think they can pull a fast one on me?" Naruto said to himself, "I'll show them."

Looking around Naruto found a fist-sized rock on the ground nearby. Pulling out a kunai, he used the rock as a hammer and drove it through the end of the balance beam and into the post that it was hung from making it more sturdy. He then remounted the beam and moved across it, the beam much more sure as he moved. He had a rival to catch and he wouldn't let these obstacles stop him.

Naruto pouted as the class made their way back inside for the final part of the exam. He hadn't been able to catch Sasuke after all. He had seen a glimpse of him as he approached the tower the second time, but the other boy had seen him coming up from behind and redoubled his efforts. After the last student had finished the course, they had each been pitted against their classmates in spars with the combatants chosen by randomly drawing names. The bouts ended either by stepping out of bounds or when one combatant was knocked to the ground and once your name had been drawn three times you were done.

Naruto had been put against Shikamaru first and the bout had started fairly equal with Shikamaru mostly blocking and dodging Naruto's attacks but soon Naruto began to pressure Shikamaru and the boy dropped after taking a hit to the face. Naruto's second bout had been against a clanless girl student, and he had been able to beat her fairly easily. Most of the clanless students didn't take as much time to train outside of academy hours, so when compared to Naruto, Elsa, and the kids from clans, they were on a different level of skill. Naruto's final fight had been against Kiba Inuzuka, the animalistic boy was one of the best purely hand to hand fighters in class, even when he wasn't allowed to use his canine partner, so Naruto had a tough time but in the end, he was able to bait Kiba into attacking him and after dodging the attack that he knew was coming, he tackled the other boy. When they hit the ground the match was called a tie. Sasuke had of course won all three of his matches being one of the most talented unarmed fighters in the class. Elsa had won two then lost against Choji, the big-boned boy's bulk allowing him to tank her blows and shove her out of the sparring ring. Hinata had also won her three bouts, her skill with the gentle-fist letting her win even against Kiba.

Now the students were going back into the academy building for the final portion of the exam. As much as he had reassured his friends, Naruto was nervous about this part. He practiced as much as he could to perform the clone technique correctly, but when he summoned three clones it was still just as likely to fail as it was to succeed. He had faith in himself though, and he knew his friends believed in him; they all planned to celebrate together tonight and Naruto wasn't about to let himself ruin the evening by failing. Once all the students were back in the room, Mizuki stepped forward to explain the procedure for this portion.

"Ok everyone, you are doing great so far," the teacher said in a saccharine voice, "now for this portion, we will call you into a room one at a time where a panel of teachers will watch as you perform the three jutsu required for graduation. You will then be told whether or not you pass."

He finished giving instructions, and once more asked if there were any questions, when the students didn't respond he called the first name. Everyone in the room sat silently in their seats. While they were all confident that they could perform the required techniques, and had done so on many different occasions during class, the atmosphere lent itself to being tense as they waited to know if they would be allowed to enter the ranks of Konoha's shinobi forces.

Finally, after seeing nearly every other student be called, it was Naruto's turn. Walking out into the hallway he came face to face with Iruka. Iruka was always tough on Naruto since the first day of his time here but he had changed from the first year when he seemed to look for any opportunity to chastise the boy. Instead, he always seemed to push Naruto to be better and Naruto appreciated the effort because it made him feel like he could be better if he worked hard enough. Naruto looked to the teacher in the hallway, who watched him for a moment, then spoke.

"Naruto, you have impressed me with how much you have grown over your time in the academy. I want to ask you, do you still plan to become Hokage?"

"Of course sensei," Naruto said with a smile.

"Well if you push yourself as hard as you have been doing and you keep hold of the precious bonds you have with your friends then I don't doubt you will wear the hat one day." A smile tinged with pride appeared on the man's face and he pointed to the room Naruto needed to enter.

Naruto beamed at the man's words. He loved being praised but it always felt better when it was earned, and when he heard Iruka's belief in him, all doubt flew from his mind. He would pass here as the first step on his road toward being the greatest ninja in the village. Entering the room Naruto faced a table with three of the academy's chunin instructors behind it. At their direction, he performed the henge and substitution techniques with ease. Finally, it was the moment of truth.

"Very good Mr. Uzumaki, now please perform the clone technique and your exam will be complete."

Forming a hand sign, Naruto began gathering his chakra. He did his best to limit the amount that came forth but controlling his chakra was like trying to hold back raging rapids in a river. As he tried to form the jutsu he could tell that it would fail, there was too much energy flowing through him he knew that if he tried to create two clones with this much power the illusions would come out pale and sickly as they had in the past. In a desperate attempt to save the technique Naruto began molding more.

"If I have too much for two," he thought, "I will make as many as I can until I use it all up."

With an enormous puff of smoke, sixty perfect copies of naruto crowded in front of the table. The proctors of the test all looked wide-eyed at the impressive feat for a boy fresh from the academy, normally you would need a high-level chunin's chakra reserves to create this many copies.

"Well," one of the proctors said, "you won't get any extra points for showing off, but you have successfully performed the jutsu so well done. Please dismiss your clones and we will deliberate."

Releasing his hold on the chakra the clones all puffed away. Naruto stood bouncing slightly on his toes as he impatiently waited for the results. Finally one of the proctors spoke,

"After tabulating your scores from all three portions of the graduation exam we would like to congratulate you on passing. Please step through the door behind us and you will be led to the location of the headband ceremony."

Naruto couldn't help himself and he jumped in the air letting out a shout of joy. Hurrying past the table of proctors Naruto exited the room and found Mizuki waiting for him on the other side of the door.

"I heard you from out here," the kind teacher said with a smile, "congratulations."

"Thanks, Mizuki-sensei," Naruto said, returning the smile.

As they walked Mizuki continued to talk,

"Yes, it will be a shame to break up the team though," he said absently.

"W-what?" Naruto asked, confused.

The teacher appeared surprised that Naruto had heard, "Oh, sorry, no I shouldn't have… ugh, me and my big mouth." meeting the boy's eyes his expression conveyed a sense of regret, "I am sorry Naruto but after graduation, you will be put on a team and there is no way you will be placed on a team with Sasuke or Elsa."

Naruto froze in the hallway, his world nearly shattered at the thought of losing his connection to his friends.

"Don't worry though, Naruto, you will become great friends with your teammates, just look at Iruka and me." Mizuki continued to speak but Naruto wasn't listening, too overcome with fear at being left alone again.

"Why?" Naruto asked, his voice soft,

"Huh?" Mizuki asked,

"Why, wouldn't I be able to be on a team with them?" Naruto asked, desperation leaking into his voice.

"Well," Mizuki looked uncomfortable as he spoke but he relented after looking at the boy, "When the academy forms teams one practice is to place the top boy and top girl students with the lowest scoring student who passed. Doing so helps to balance the teams as well as helps foster the growth of the low-scoring student so that they can gain the skills they will need to survive on more dangerous missions. Elsa won the top girl spot and Sasuke on the top boy spot. You however scored in the top ten of the students, which is great, but it means that you will be placed in another team."

Naruto couldn't help the twinge of jealousy that he felt to know he had lost to Sasuke in the scores, but the feeling grew at the thought of the boy being together with Elsa on a team while Naruto was placed with strangers. He was friends with Elsa first, if anything he should be the one to be with her. This was unfair, she was his best friend, and he would lose her, he would be alone again. If Naruto had taken a moment to think he would have realized that just because they wouldn't be on the same team didn't mean they would stop being friends but the news had blindsided him so much that he wasn't able to fully process it. Mizuki watched the boy for a moment before speaking once more,

"You know, Naruto, your score wasn't that much lower than Sasuke's. You were only a few points off, there may be a way for you to take the top spot from him."

"R-really?" Naruto couldn't help grabbing the idea, like a drowning man grabbing a life preserver.

"Yeah, I could offer you an extra credit assignment as your shinobi instructor. Then, depending on your performance you could have points added to your score, it would have to be tonight but you could still take the top spot, and get the place on Elsa's team."

A part of Naruto felt weird about the idea of getting points when no one else did in the class but a thought came to his mind,

"If you're not cheating, you're not trying."

The image in his head flipped, instead of Sasuke and Elsa walking away from a lone Naruto it was Elsa and Naruto leaving together, growing closer as friends. Naruto would still train and spend time with Sasuke, after all the boy was his rival and friend. But of the two of them, Elsa was irreplaceable.

"What kind of assignment?" Naruto asked.

A smile spread on Mizuki's face, and it was anything but sweet.

Special thanks to ACreativeMindAtWorkHere for beta reading the chapter