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Hiruzen frowned as he looked over the bios laid out on his desk. After being the Hokage for so many years he had learned how to minimize his workload to some extent. One of the ways he found helped prevent all-nighters was looking at the bios of the academy students and familiarizing himself with their personalities before they took the exam. By doing this he could, for the most part, accurately predict who would pass and fail the test along with getting a head start on formulating the teams.
This should have been easy, considering the large amounts of clan heirs in the class, but there was one issue. Or more accurately, two issues, the Uzumaki twins.
Konoha never had a large population of twins, like some other hidden villages did. He had sorted only three pairs in twins since he took the role of Hokage. There were some within civilian families, but clans very rarely had twins, so only a few graduated the academy over the years he has been Hokage. His mind drifted briefly to the last pair of twins he sorted into teams and held back a grimace. He didn't have much of a say when it came to clan politics, Konoha's old law protected them, but remembering Hiashi Hyuga's heartbroken face after his brother died always made him regret his inability to interfere. He could only hope this pair of twins didn't meet the same fate as the Hyuga's.
He knew that he could not separate them like Danzo and members of the civilian council had suggested. He understood the argument of allowing the twins to form their own independence from one another. He had, after all, used that argument before to assign the Hyuga twins. However, since Naruto and Natsuki were Jinchuuriki for the same bijuu he worried over separating them for an extended period of time. They, unlike the Hyuga twins, did not have a family pushing the younger to protect his older brother at all costs. Instead, however, Naruto and Natsuki had an entire village poisoned against them for their very existence. He knew Kakashi would treat the well, but he couldn't guarantee another jounin would if he were to separate them. The two had put up a united front to defend one another over the years, he didn't want to be the one to rip that apart. No, he sighed deeply, he would keep them together.
However, that left the third member of the group still undecided. Statistically, they had a two to one ratio of boys and girls graduating the academy which led to the Konoha tradition of a two boy one girl team, but considering the teacher he wanted to give the twins he knew he couldn't add the top civilian girl to their team. He glanced thoughtfully over at the Uchiha boys file. Although in different ways, the Uchiha and the Uzumaki twins had both suffered greatly during their childhood. While the twins' life got better with the influence of one Iruka Umino, the last Uchiha of Konoha's had only gotten worse as he rejected the help and counseling and instead fell further into his own despair and lust for revenge. From the reports he gathered, it seemed as though the boy had isolated himself from his classmates and responded to those who bested him in an extremely unhealthy manner.
He knew that when the boy awakened his Sharingan he would need a teacher who could help him, but there was only one now. He knew that Kakashi wasn't exactly the best teacher, but the man had made a genuine effort over the last several years in hopes of becoming the twin's teacher. He couldn't deny that request, but he also had to make sure the last Uchiha had a suitable teacher as well or else the council would throw an absolute fit.
He sighed. It would be a gamble, dysfunctional genin teams always were, but hopefully, despite the personality clashes, everything would turn out alright.
Moving on he analyzed the other reports and sorted them into potential teams and found the process to be a lot easier. Konoha had long established the best teams for the clan members and there were enough civilians to fill out a team or two even if some failed. He tapped his chin thoughtfully wondering if he could get support from the council for a campaign to encourage more civilian children to join the academy. Minato's success had proven to him that having new blood in the shinobi ranks could be extremely beneficial, but the number of civilian children joining was slowly going down since the last war.
He noted that idea on a blank page before moving on to other paperwork. The Hokage's job was never finished, after all.
He didn't notice the memo from Iruka, due to the surplus of paperwork overflowing his desk.
Kurama eyed his messy of a mop he called hair with slight disdain before attempting to brush the orange locks so that he could braid them properly. He was pleased with being able to braid his hair into submission now that it was waist length, but he was less pleased with the fact that he now looked like a short, orange haired Madara Uchiha when his hair was loose. That wasn't even fair.
After braiding his hair he sorted through his clothes trying to decide what to wear. He settled on a simple white, sleeveless han juban with a moss green haori tied by a gray obi and plain black pants cut off a few inches below his knee. Iruka had noticed his preference for traditional clothing and bought him the outfit a few months ago. He stepped out of the bathroom and walked passed his still sleeping brother to begin breakfast.
Today was the last day before they took the exam and though he would never admit aloud, he was slightly nervous. Over the course of the last seven years, he learned that his chakra wasn't always compatible with the certain ninjutsus, especially the low-ranking ones due to its potency. Even if he was in a human body, his chakra was still that of a bijuus. While Iruka had worked with Naruto to focus more and limit the amount of chakra he used Kurama didn't have that option. He could limit the amount of chakra he used for e-level ninjutsus, but there was always a large chance it'd blow up in his face due to the intensity of his chakra.
The logs he tried to use for the body replacement jutsu were charred and crumbling and he often ended up further away than he meant too. All of his clones were fried, making them steam and look sickly even when he used the barest trickle of chakra to make them. The only thing he was good at was the genjutsu, ironically enough allowing him to excel with the transformation jutsu because his chakra gave the illusion substance making it more difficult to sense and dispel.
He could tell Iruka and Naruto were worried. If he was honest with himself, he was worried as well. He had no doubt that he could use higher level ninjutsus after all Iruka had already shown him some extra jutsu to test this theory, but that wasn't what was required to pass the test. Students had to know the basics. A child could ace the written test, but fail the ninjutsus and fail the test completely.
Iruka was hoping that if he showed the instructors that he was capable of learning a higher level ninjutsus or even the wall walking technique, to prove that he could control his chakra, then that would allow him to pass. However, the academy officials were being stubborn, according to the man, and had been delaying their answer. Now it was the day before the test and they had not heard a word from them.
Kurama had half a mind to march up to the Hokages' offices and see what the old man said about this whole matter. He would not accept failing to become a genin because of this nonsense. For now, he simply finished breakfast and began the long morning ritual of trying to wake his brother in enough time for the other boy to eat while still making it to school on time. He managed to force Naruto into less blinding clothes, a mesh shirt and high-necked black jacket with orange stripes on the sleeves with some dark orange pants- he couldn't make his twin give those up- before they rushed to school.
They did make it to class in time which garnered a proud grin from Iruka. The man had continued to spend nearly every day with them for that last seven years, teaching them and treating them like family. Kurama was sure that the only reason he hadn't adopted them was due to the council's disapproval. They settled in their seats and waited for class to begin as Kurama tried to keep the frustration off of his face. All they did was review for the exam at this point and although he knew most of the answers for the written test he knew he would fail the ninjutsus again. The most frustrating part was the fact that he had to do it in front of the class, opening him up to ridicule by the other children who didn't understand why he failed, just that he did. He didn't care for their opinion of him, but it was getting annoying to hear them giggling and making comments behind his back.
"Honestly, you already have good chakra control. You can prove that by walking on walls or doing higher level jutsus. I don't get why they won't let you do those as part of your exam instead. So, troublesome."
Kurama sent a faint smile to the brown haired boy behind him. Shikamaru had been voicing his opinion on the subject more vocally the past few days, showing his ire in the situation in his own way; by complaining.
"Iruka-sensei is trying to talk to the academy officials, but they aren't responding." He murmured back.
"That's just not fair." Choji piped up. The boy crunched on more chips in obvious frustration. "You can already do other ninjutsus and the wall walking control exercises. We aren't technically supposed to learn that until we get our jounin instructors, after the exam. That should qualify you."
"Yeah, Iruka taught us that 'cause we needed control before we could even learn the basics. But it's stupid that they won't let Natsu do anything else to pass." Naruto replied, frowning for once.
Kurama shook his head. "They just don't like me I suppose."
He had said it mildly, but Shikamaru's eyes sharpened and a grimaced passed over his face. "So, that's what this is about. Troublesome…"
Naruto's eyes' darken and he opened his mouth, but Iruka called everyone's attention before he could say anything. Shikamaru had never outright talked about his knowledge, but he had dropped enough hints over the years for Kurama to know for certain that the other boy knew about their status as Jinchuuriki. Kurama mind drifted to the day he had talked to Naruto about the situation. He hadn't wanted to leave Naruto in the dark, but at the same time…
"We have a monster inside of us?!"
He never wanted to see Naruto's tear stained face, but there he was, staring at the distraught boys tear filled eyes.
Evil.
Demon.
Monster.
He let out a shaky breath and forced himself to turn his attention back to Iruka when he started asking some questions that would be on the exam. Iruka was kind, but he took his job very seriously and students who daydream often found themselves asked multiple difficult questions. As much as Iruka cared for the two of them, he didn't let it affect his treatment of them in the classroom and was just as hard on them as he was the other students.
He took a shuddering breath and began to participate in the review.
Finally, after Iruka finished his review for the written exam he beckoned everyone to the front of the class for the practical review. They'd go over the ninjutsus before heading outside for sparing and kunai/ shuriken practice. Kurama grimaced slightly, but followed his brother and got in line. Naruto was on his right side, while Shikamaru was on his left.
"Alright, we'll do clone first, then transformation and finally body replacement with logs." Iruka's eyes flicked to him briefly and Kurama gave him a wane smile.
He steeled himself for his inevitable failure.
He glanced over at Naruto when it was his turn and smiled at the look of utter concentration on his face. Iruka had drilled this ninjutsus into the blond boys head over the years. However, this was Naruto's worst ninjutsu, but if he concentrated hard enough and used as little chakra as he could he could pass. This time, one of his clones look a little pale, but not look as sickly as Kurama's usually did and the other was good.
"Good job, Naruto, all that work paid off, eh?" Iruka grinned as he marked down Naruto's score on his clipboard.
The smile slipped off the man's face when he stepped over to test him and was replaced by a look of concern.
"We already know he can't do it. Why bother wasting everyone's time?" Sasuke asked peevishly from the other side of Shikamaru.
Iruka sent him a look but didn't reply. Kurama thought it was a decent question if it hadn't come from the Uchiha. The boy had been getting on his nerves as the years past with his attitude and treatment of Naruto, who had tried so hard to befriend to him. Since Iruka didn't have an answer Kurama carefully molded his fingers into the right position bringing up a tiny speck of his chakra.
He watched silently as the two clones he summoned collapse on the floor within half a second, while wilting and steaming slightly. Since he started to learn how to wield chakra as a human he had learned more than he thought he would. As a bijuu, he never really needed the careful control humans focused on, because he, himself, was made out of chakra. As he adjusted to a human body he realized why the humans valued control. All of their ninjutsus/genjutsus required a specific amount of chakra, formed in a specific way for the jutsu to function the way it should. It was like having a specific key for one lock. Kurama had enough control over his chakra, but the chakra itself was inherently different. It was more pure or potent, which overpowered the low-level ninjutsus he attempted.
He ignored the laughter from the other students and dispelled the clones. Iruka gave him a sympathetic look and moved on to Shikimaru. Kurama forced his face into a neutral expression despite his rolling emotions. He had spent so much time over the last seven years trying to learn how to fight like a human and get stronger, but he couldn't even manage the basics. It was endlessly frustrating.
Naruto's hand found his own and Kurama sent a small smile at the blond.
He knew he shouldn't worry so much, surely the Hokage wouldn't allow him to fail because of this nonsense, but every day that passed without a word from the man made him question his conviction.
"Okay, very good everyone. Let's move onto the body transformation jutsu. Remember to pay attention to details. Sakura, you start."
Kurama waited patiently for his turn mulling over the only e-level genjutsu he was capable of at the moment. He had never put much thought into illusions before he became human. He had never been affected by them, not counting the nonsense Madara pulled. That was Sharingan induced and he frankly didn't count it. Genjutsu had never affected him when he was a full bijuu and he had never considered using it for that same reason. In fact, he had never considered learning anything about the human jutsus before being turned into one. He was more than a little ashamed at his complete lack of knowledge once he started learning and now he was curious as to how far he could push an illusion.
Could he reach a point where no one could distinguish his illusion from reality?
That would be extremely useful as a shinobi. He knew the Mangekyō Sharingan had a similar ability if one awoke it, which he was certain Itachi Uchiha did do before he massacred his clan. He wondered if he could create something similar or whether he even wanted to try.
He watched as his brother formed the hand signs and shifted, with a poof of white smoke, into a copy of their instructor like everyone else before him had done. Iruka smiled as he analyzed the illusion for mistakes.
"The Konoha symbol on my forehead protector is backward again and the jacket is a slightly lighter color, but your posture and facial expression are very good Naruto."
The blond grinned as he let go of the genjutsu and changed back with another poof of white smoke. Kurama barely caught the sly look that flashed across his brother's face and nearly groaned when he did. After months of tinkering, the boy had finally managed to finish his "masterpiece" last night. He pitied Iruka for his ignorance over what was about to occur.
"Iruka-sensei, guess what!" The blond grinned widely. "I created a new genjutsu! Wanna see?! I'll show ya!"
His hands form the appropriate signs and suddenly there was a tall female blonde standing his place. A tall, naked female with only a few well-placed bits of smoke hovering around almost taunting in nature. "She" smiled coyly at the gaping instructor while the rest of the class panicked. He put his head in his hands and heard Shikamaru sigh beside him.
"Your brother is something else, Natsuki." The browned eyed boy murmured.
Kurama muttered a cursed under his breath. "I told him not to do this during class."
Iruka, after a full minute of gaping, smacked Naruto over the head and subsequently dispelled the weak illusion. He was practically snarling as his eyes promised punishment, even while blood still leaked from his nose.
"Naruto Uzumaki." He growled lowly. "Stay after class."
The blond in question grinned and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
It took several minutes for Iruka to settle the class down, but he managed to while still sending dirty looks at the still sheepish Naruto. Once everyone had quieted down the door opened and Mizuki, Iruka's assistant teacher, walked in with the logs they were supposed to use for the body switching jutsu. The white haired man raised an eyebrow in a silent question, to which Iruka only sighed.
"Natsuki, it's your turn."
Kurama nodded and concentrated on his chakra. He didn't even need to form any hands sign, instead, he merely directed his chakra to do what he wanted. He felt the illusion slide over him, like a cloak, as he opened his eyes and shifted his posture to match Iruka. His face fell into an easy grin that he had seen on the man's face often over the years.
The grin made its appearance on the man's face, now, as he inspected his illusion. "Very good, Natsuki. A perfect copy!"
He nodded and let the genjutsu expel as Iruka turned to Shikamaru.
"Good, Shikamaru, but you need to work on posture."
"Very good, Sasuke, try to mimic my expression, though."
He continued down the line giving advice and marking down the scores of each of the students as Mizuki set up the logs on the other side of the room. Iruka marked an 'x' on the floor to demonstrate where they were supposed to land after replacing themselves with the log and they began the final ninjutsu. Natsuki's log didn't combust like it occasionally did, but he didn't land on the 'x' either, so it couldn't be counted as much of a win. He tried not to glare when Sasuke smirked at him after completing the task perfectly nor when the boy's fangirls cheered loudly in response to his success. His only joy was that the Uchiha seemed just as annoyed with the girls as he was.
"Okay everyone, let move outside for target practice, then sparing."
The target practice was easy, Iruka had drilled perfection into them until their hands ached, but sparing was an interesting endeavor. After hours upon hours of practice over the years, Kurama was at the top of the class with Sasuke. Thus, he and the Uchiha were usually sparing partners. Naruto still acted like a drunk brawler much to Iruka's annoyance. It was always interesting to fight the boy, even if Kurama didn't like him much. While Sasuke was taller and physically stronger than him Kurama was faster and more cunning. He also wasn't afraid to fight dirty, unlike his proud opponent.
Today, Sasuke charged at him immediately with a kick followed by several quick punches to the solar plexus. Kurama slid to the side, twirling around him and attempted to elbow his open side. Sasuke blocked and spun around with a kick to the head. He ducked and swiped at the boy's feet before back flipping out of the way of another kick. Sasuke was on him in a second, but Kurama was in too bad of a mood to lose today. When Sasuke went in for another punch, he caught the other boys' wrist, lock his arm, and threw him to the ground. Keeping his arm locked he pinned the Uchiha down with a knee digging into his back, to prevent him from trying to squirm out of the hold.
"Natsuki wins!" Iruka shouted.
Kurama heard Naruto, Choji, and Shikamaru cheer even as the other students booed or stood there awkwardly like the Hyuga heiress. The dark look he received once they separated and stood made him want to laugh. The boy was so obsessed with getting stronger he was blinded by his own rage whenever Kurama beat him at anything. It was equal parts amusing and annoying.
After class was dismissed Iruka forced Naruto to sit through a long lecture, that had the blond cringing when he started reminding him of the talk they had last year before he sat Naruto down to write lines about public nudity. Once the blond was occupied, he took Kurama to the side to talk about the exam.
"The academy still hasn't contacted me about their answer, but I managed to find out a boy, Rock Lee, from the class ahead of you guys graduated without being able to perform any ninjutsus or genjutsus. I'm going to talk to his jounin instructor today, to see what he did to get around the rules. Other than that, I don't know what else to do but wait. The Hokage has been very busy lately with meetings and paperwork. I don't think he knows about the situation. However, I won't let these people get away with failing you. You're a good student Natsuki, never doubt that I've never seen anyone able to perform genjutsu like you do at such a young age, your taijutsu is definitely genin level and your affinity for the flame type ninjutsus I've shown you prove that you can perform ninjutsus, just not low-level ones. Even if it takes longer than I would have hoped I promise I will make sure you graduate."
Kurama nodded. He knew that look in the man eye. Iruka would definitely keep this promise, biased rule makers be damned. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei."
As a child, who hadn't even graduated yet he couldn't do anything, but hopefully, Iruka could and if he could not then the Hokage definitely could. He resolved not to worry about it and instead focus on doing well on the other parts of the exam. For now, he quietly lectured Naruto on the use of his new genjutsu as they walked home, hoping his wayward brother would not embarrass him by using it in public. He understood that it did take a lot of effort for Naruto to make and it could be useful, maybe, but he also didn't want his brother to be labeled a pervert.
Later that night he watched the moon rise, unobscured by clouds, and wondered why he felt a shiver go down his spine when he considered what the future held for him tomorrow.
Alright, you lovely people, here's the next chapter. I'm going to try to keep it weekly (like every Monday or Tuesday or something) till my semester starts in the fall, but depending on how much time I have, I may update more. So! New arc has begun, I've got a rough outline and its looking like eight to nine chapters, with a minimum of 2,5k words for each chapter. I am looking forward to it and I hope you guys are too!
A note on Kurama's name. I was scrolling through interwebs trying to find something when I came across Natsuki. What I find amusing about this name, while it's usually given to girls, it can mean two different things depending on how the kanji is written. If written with the kanji for 'Natsu' and 'ki' then it is a lovely name meaning 'summer hope'. However, if it's written with 'Na' and 'tsuki' it means 'vegetable greens moon'. Needless to say, in light of Naruto's own name, I couldn't pass it up. I felt like that was something Kushina would totally do to her son. Also, Naruto will call him Natsu, it's just a nickname.
A note on the clothing. Naruto's clothing is based on his clothes in the new series (Which I have not seen/ Is it good? Should I try it?). The jacket is the same, but with reversed colors. I'm sorry I have always hated the color orange, that is the best I can give the poor boy. I will not put up with the orange jumpsuit nonsense. Kurama's clothes are based on Nagato/Konen's outfits when they were kids. You can look up the names if you want, but if you don't care just think of an old fashioned undershirt that's tied at the hip and a thigh-length kimono-like jacket with sleeves that end a few inches above the hands.
Alright, I'll shut up now! Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews, they never fail to put a smile on my face! I'm glad people like this story, it gives me the motivation to continue!