Sorry for the wait.
Betaed by Orca Owl.
Why am I here again? Was the single thought that plagued Naruto's mind as he continued to ignore the boring lecture that he had put up with for fourteen days now. It had been a long and agonizing two2 weeks since Naruto arrived in the hidden leaf village. Apparently, his father had sent him off earlier then expected, and instead of spending all his time honing his already highly developed skills, Naruto had to sit through the pre-training lessons in the Konohagakure Academy. Or, in layman's terms, hell. Not only was the classes agonizingly boring, but also there was almost no information that was practical enough to be used in the outside world. Out there, knowing who the Nidaime Hokage's aunt's third cousin twice removed was wouldn't stop your enemy from killing you any faster. Guess no one told Iruka-sensei that, Naruto internally thought as he continued to listen to Iruka's never-ending rant on the history of the leaf village.
Sure there was a lot of horrific stuff about this, but looking back, Naruto realized it hadn't all been bad. He'd met some cool people, albeit, most of them had been batshit crazy *cough* Sakura *cough*, but at least he had gained something he'd never had a chance to have when he was living with his father: friends. The young demigod never dreamed that such a simple thing as human companionship could make him feel like he did when he was surrounded by the few classmates that weren't insane; like Shikamaru, Kiba, Hinata, and others too.. It almost made sitting through boring lectures bearable. Almost.
"Okay class. Today is the day you've been waiting for all year. The day that will decide which of you will go on to begin your careers as official shinobi of the leaf. Today is the Genin Exams," exclaimed Naruto's sensei before he paused for a moment to let the excited chatter die down. "I want all of you to try your best so we can accurately determine your skill levels." With this said, he looked pointedly at Naruto. "Now I'll have Mizuki pass out the written test, which will make up the first portion of the exam. You can begin as soon as you get your test. Good luck."
Our blond hero looked down at the paper that his sensei's assistant placed on his desk and sighed. It wasn't that the questions were particularly hard, so much as pointless. After a brief moment of contemplation, Naruto felt the page blurring a little as his eyes grew heavier. Internally wishing he hadn't stayed up all night wandering around the village, Naruto decided to take a nap for the time being and tackle the questions when he woke up. About 55 minutes later, Iruka's booming voice forced him to wake. "Five minutes left. For those of you who are not done, hurry up." Shit, I slept too long... Naruto rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and realized there was only one way that he was going to pass this test.
I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this, Naruto thought idly as hefocused a tiny bit of his chakra into his gold eyes, causing them to glow. In his mind's eye, he saw Iruka grading a student's paper as well as all the right answers. (Remember Apollo is also the god of prophecy). Naruto quickly wrote the correct answers down on his own test sheet, much to the confusion of Iruka who had seen him gain a look of concentration on his face and suddenly fill his recently blank paper.
Having "finished" his test, Naruto waited until the last two minutes of the test to pass up his paper before Iruka said, "Time's up. Everyone put your pencils down and hand me your papers. Once all your tests have been collected, follow me outside; that is where we will begin the next part of your exam. The kunai and shuriken throwing technique."
Once all the tests had been collected and everyone was outside Iruka proceeded to explain the next part of the test. "You will all receive five kunai and five shuriken. You must aim at one of the vital points on the dummy, they are marked in red, and try to hit as many of these vital points as possible." Iruka paused to make sure that everyone was listening, ". We will go in alphabetical order, starting with Akaha Kani."
With that the second part of the Genin Exam began. Akaha Kani completely missed the targets altogether and almost ended up hitting Iruka himself, and the one after him managed to land at least one shuriken on one of the three dummies posted. Naruto sighed, "Wow, this is going to be long and painful to watch…" Shikamaru, one of the more intelligent friends that Naruto had made, simply nodded in agreement. About 20 minutes and many pathetic attempts later, it finally got down to the person Naruto wanted to see in action the most. And curiously enough, it wasn't himself. "Koorihana Chione," Iruka called out.
The ring of her name made Naruto look up immediately. No matter how many times he saw her, he could not help but become instantly entranced with her beauty. Naruto's eyes, as well as every other straight male's, followed her as she walked from her position at the back of the crowd to the open clearing where she took her weapons and prepared to launch them at the targets. And they had good reason to look. How could they not, with her flawless rosyskin, snow white hair, and frosty gray-blue eyes. What made her even more attractive to Naruto, was the godly aura that emanated from her at all times. Obviously, she was a demigod like himself and he had his suspicions as to exactly whose daughter she was.
Before Chione let her first kunai fly, she glanced back and for a split second, and hers and Naruto's eyes met. A thin smile graced her lips and even though this was a simple gesture, it still sent Naruto flying off to cloud nine. By the time Naruto's brain regained its normal functions, Chione had already gone and finished. Naruto hadn't even heard her score. Pathetic, he thought to himself. You are too easily swayed by silly emotions. He didn't even notice how fast time flew by as he thought about the white-haired girl, and before he knew it, Naruto was brought out of his musings by a nudge from one of his new friends, Kiba. "Naruto, it's your turn," The dog-lover stated as he smiled at Naruto's complete unawareness of the world around him. Naruto replied with a sheepish grin and a slightly embarrassed thanks.
Naturally, Naruto had perfect aim with any ranged weapon, but he felt that, despite Iruka's words, he should continue to hide his true strength. He didn't really have a reason behind it, it was mostly just for kicks. So readying his first kunai, Naruto aimed for just below the heart and fired a shot that, under normal circumstances, he between Shikamaru and Kiba and waited for the rest of his classmates to finish.
Iruka once again calmed down the chattering of the young ninja hopefuls to explain what they were going to do next, "Now here comes the third part of the Genin Exam. It measures your skill with taijutsu. You will all spar with Mizuki for no more than five minutes each. Your goal is to get in one hit. We will proceed in a random order," the sensei glanced down at his clipboard before calling out the first contestant, . "Olympus no Naruto, you're up first." Naruto smirked as he entered a fairly large circle marked on the ground where his opponent was waiting. He got in a loose taijutsu stance and could see from Mizuki's expression and body language, he was not taking the fight seriously. Naruto smirked, golden eyes danced with amusement. Big Mistake. "Ready. Set. GO!"
Hiding your true skill from everyone could get tiresome sometimes and just for the sake of stirring things up (and the hopes of getting Chione's attention), Naruto decided to let a trickle of his real skill leak out. When he heard the signal to start, he suppressed his chakra levels even more than he was already doing so only a seasoned jounin would be able to sense him. Then, he bent the light around him, effectively making himself invisible to all that were watching. Mizuki, along with all the other spectators looked around for where he disappeared to. Nobody was expecting an invisibility jutsu from someone who had barely broken the middle in terms of class ranking. A confused murmur spread through the crowd. Seconds later, without warning, Naruto reappeared in front of a thoroughly surprised Mizuki with the palm of his hand on said proctor's chest. He then scanned the stunned gathering, searching for a certain person's face. Naruto was slightly downcast when he saw that she didn't look nearly as surprised as everybody else, but he didn't really expect her not to notice that he was different, just as she was. Still, the small smile on her face quickly stopped any negative thoughts he was having and Naruto couldn't help but smile back. Ignoring everyone else, even Iruka stumbling over a hurried congratulations, Naruto walked back into the mass of academy students and took a place beside Chione.
Somehow, he got the feeling she wouldn't mind.
When everyone had completed the test, they all went back into the room where the first test had been held. "Finally, we get to the last part of the exam. The ninjutsu portion. When your name is called, go with me and Mizuki into the next room where you will have to perform at least three adequate Bunshin to pass." Iruka told the students.
That's it? These kids have been training for more than half their lives just to make three simple Bunshin? That technique takes less than a day to learn. Which was true in Naruto's case. Normally, his chakra control would have been abysmal, but ever since his father took him to his uncle Hades to get his seal augmented, it had vastly improved. It was common knowledge to everyone on Mt. Olympus that Hades had dominion over his subordinate, the Shinigami. Despite his name, the Shinigami was not actually a god, so Hades was easily able to change the seal that the Shinigami helped to create. Now, Naruto's control of his chakra was up to par with what that of a child of god's should be.
Naruto waited and waited for his turn to perform the three Bunshin. He idly noticed his friends Chouji and Hinata passing, apparently with minimal effort. He had no doubt that Chione would have no problem either. From his place at the very top of the seats, he could easily see her enter the testing room and come back out not a minute later with a hitai-ite loosely tied around her neck and a small frown marring her perfect features. Her annoyance with the ridiculous test was clearly evident.
Naruto wasn't nervous in the slightest when he heard his name called. He calmly walked down the steps into the adjacent room, irritation showing in his facial features.
"Alright Naruto. You know what to do. Just create three Bunshin. You may begin when you're ready." With a nod, Naruto offhandedly started gathering the same familiar chakra he'd been using since he was little. He deftly twisted his hand and fingers into the handseal needed and a moment later there were three poofs of smoke. When it cleared, there stood three perfect, identical Naruto's standing in front of the original.
"Congratulations on passing Naruto. You are now officially a shinobi of Konohagakure. May you make this great village proud." Iruka stated with a small smile. Naruto formally bowed and grabbed a hitai-ite engraved with the Leaf's symbol before walking out and nonchalantly tying it around his forehead. Returning the smiles of his friends and of course, Chione, he walked back to his seat and prepared to wait for the rest of his classmates to finish. Just another boring day, Naruto thought as he smiled.
Naruto was aimlessly walking around the village, having one of those rare days where he did not feel like training. He was trying to think of new techniques that he could use with his bow, but strangely enough, a certain white haired girl kept on invading his thoughts. He briefly entertained the idea of making an offering to the goddess Aphrodite (Goddess of Love) in order to receive her special brand of help, but he decided he at least had to have an actual conversation with the girl first.
He stopped when he realized he was on the edge of an empty training ground. Just then, a faint tingle ran through his body. Immediately, he knew what it was. He also knew it was unwise to ignore the sensation. Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated for a few seconds. When he opened them, his golden orbs were ablaze.
In his mind, he saw a silver-haired man jumping from tree to tree with a big bundle on his back. The vision was too blurry to make out the identity of the man and Naruto instinctively understood this wasn't all he was meant to see. He pushed more chakra into his eyes and saw the same silver-haired man in a much clearer picture. It was Mizuki. Naruto saw his sensei's assistant use very impressive stealth skills to sneak into the Hokage Tower and steal a scroll that ,if the various traps surrounding it were any clue, was strictly off-limits. Then, the chuunin sneaked back out and quickly made his way to the forest outside Konoha where he took to the trees in an attempt to escape before someone noticed the disappearance of the scroll.
This is where the vision ended, but not before Naruto saw the setting sun in the background. Good, he thought. This won't happen for some time. I'll be ready, Naruto thought with full confidence.
Mizuki was traveling through the vast forest outside Konoha at a good pace. Hopefully, by the time it was discovered that the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing was stolen, he would be well on his way to Rice Country. He swiftly leaped from branch to branch, just below the dense canopy, all the time extending his senses so he could sense if anyone was following him.
Mizuki suddenly stopped, his eyes filled with surprise as he saw a young man with a bow on his back suddenly appear on the branch he was about to jump to next. Startled, he had to stick to the branch with chakra to prevent himself from falling. When Mizuki had regained his composure, he was quick to yell out, "What are you doing here, gaki?"
A few moments passed with no response from the blonde.
It felt creepy to Mizuki when he received no answer from the boy in front of him. But what freaked him out even more was the eerie glow coming from said person's eyes. After an awkward silence passed between them, Mizuki called out again. "Get out of my way, Naruto."
A simple "No" was his answer."
Mizuki smirked. "Then I'll just have to make you. You may be stronger than you let on, but I'm way out of your league." He drew one of the huge shuriken on his back and flung it as hard as he could at the quiet boy who boredly glanced at it before drawing his own weapon at lightning speed. Mizuki was amazed when he saw Naruto pull the string taut and an arrow appear between his finger. With practiced ease, the jinchuuriki loosed the arrow and it flew right into Mizuki's shuriken, hitting it off course.
Mizuki was not deterred, however. He pulled a second shuriken from his back and channeled chakra into his arm so he could throw it even farther this time. But when he did, Naruto was already in motion.
Faster than Mizuki's eyes could follow, the young demigod jumped onto Mizuki's branch and punched him hard in the solar plexus, knocking the wind right out of him and sending him plummeting to the forest floor.
There was a large crash as Mizuki hit the ground.
Naruto jumped down next to the prone body, leveled an arrow at his head, and said in a monotonous voice, "Give me the scroll and I'll be persuaded to let you live." Numerous thoughts ran through the silver-haired man's head. How did a fresh genin knock me out with one blow? I can hardly breathe. But I can't fail after I've worked so hard. I have to bring this scroll to Orochimaru-sama. Insanity shone in his eyes as he tried to roll to his feet and attack Naruto again, but it was stopped short when an arrow pierced his left leg and pinned it into the ground. The man winced as he felt the same happen to his right leg as well as both of his arms. Mizuki was truly defeated by someone half his age.
"You're lucky I'm not in the mood to kill you," Naruto said, really just for intimidation. "I'll just let you spend the rest of your life in a nice, cozy jail cell." He stated with a smirk.
Naruto disappeared just as four Anbu arrived on the scene to hear Mizuki screaming about blond bastards. He knew they'd eventually find out from Mizuki that he was responsible for the man's capture, but he really couldn't care less. Actually, at that moment, what he cared about most was getting something in his stomach.
He was in the mood for ramen.