Chapter 2

I felt my world drop out from underneath me. A numbness over came me and I became aware of my eyes tearing up. I didn't even try to stop the tears as I looked down at the exam results in my hands. I felt panic claw at the next breath that vanished and I felt myself become resigned and depressed.

I was a failure

They might as well have just given me a slip with that simple message on it. Why waste my time reading through these results and calculating my averages. The official letter rejecting my application for a Combatant Ninja position would come later. An entirely pointless waste of paper, these test marks told me that just fine.

Combat Exam- 0 (Absence)

Ninjutsu Exam- 98*

Written Exam- 100*

Survival- 50

There were three letters behind the sheet. Almost mocking me, the first congratulated me on my performance in the ninjutsu examination and stated that I had achieved the highest mark of the year group and a personal commendation from the examining panel. The second stated much the same for the written exam.

I turned my head to look through the window into the afternoon sky, vision blurred by tears. I spent a moment just wishing they had given us our results in private rather than part of a career guidance session. Turning my head back, I looked at Iruka sensei sat behind the desk that separated us. I saw that look of sympathy he seemed to reserve for me and in a surge, I wanted to either knock him out or just bolt out of this meeting and hide away from the world.

After a while he seemed to sense I had composed myself enough and started to speak,

"Naruto whatever it is that you are thinking, I just want to make one thing very clear." He paused for emphasis before continuing,

"These are excellent results"

At that I couldn't contain myself and let out a snort of derision.

"No Naruto these really are. These exams are meant to be difficult. Over ninety in any of these exams is almost unheard of. I personally have never had the pleasure of teaching someone who managed a 100 in any exam". I just couldn't take it and cut him off,

"But it's not enough! With the weighting for..." he clearly wasn't done talking because he silenced me with a gesture.

It was probably for the best. As I started to vocalize my predicament, I had felt myself becoming almost hysterical.

"Yes Naruto that is what we are here to discuss." Taking a deep breath his face seemed to become more official. I quietly sighed in relief. Official I could deal with without falling apart.

"Naruto, you have made an application for a Combatant Ninja position, as you should already know for a starting Gennin position the academy final examinations results have a weighted consideration of 50% for your combat score 30% for your ninjutsu score and 10% each for your written and survival scores."

"Unfortunately your marks leave you with an overall consideration of 44. You will be unlikely to be offered a place with that mark as the minimum for an entry level position is 45."

The moment he said those words I felt like the breath had been knocked out of me. It shouldn't have but it did. Even though I already knew it, hearing it seemed to make it real. Once again I felt a panic begin in me and my stomach seemed to be burning acid.

"Naruto, you shouldn't feel dissuaded. These marks are nothing to sneeze at. And you still have many doors open to you."

"A starting Medical Ninja position gives the exams a weighting of 50% Ninjutsu, 30% Written and 10% each for survival and combat. Your marks would be considered as an 84, one of the highest opening scores they would have ever received. Healer Mosqueda has even personally approached me to ask for you to consider a late application."

Iruka seemed to read the lack of enthusiasm on my face so he continued his voice gaining more emphasis,

"Naruto, you are too smart to buy into this village's obsession with legendary Combat Ninja. Even if you do still want to be on a cell, a healer position doesn't close that role to you. I mean look at Senju Tsunade. She began as a healer and still is one first and foremost, but she later became known as the world's most dangerous hand to hand opponent."

At this point I just looked away from him; I could barely take anymore of him trying to spin my failure into something commendable. Though I heard him continue,

"It doesn't have to be a Healer Naruto. The Internal Security Ninja are practically salivating at your 100%. I've had messages from the Cryptology Department about the mathematical reasoning portion of your written exam. The Barrier and Research teams were very impressed with your knowledge of sealing; you have so many doors open to you. Please stop focusing on the one that is shut."

I was pretty sure that I had controlled myself enough to be able to speak without my voice shaking and to be honest I was ready to put an end to this meeting,

"Iruka sensei, I know all of this. Hell you have told me all of this before. The truth of the matter is that every one of the people in those departments either once was a Combatant Ninja, or they wanted to be one."

"I don't even need to think about this. I'm going to retake the exams as an external candidate next year and reapply for a position as a post academy student."

"But Naruto, how are you going to afford that? External..." I'd had enough of this and raising my voice a little cut him off saying,

"Iruka sensei, if you don't mind I would like to leave. Maybe we can talk about this after I've had a while to think."

His face seemed to settle at that and he nodded a little to himself,

"Okay Naruto, that's fine. Maybe giving you a little time would be for the best. But I want you to seriously think about your options. Don't just dismiss them out of hand."

Saying my goodbye's I turned my chair around and made my way out of his office.


My results stayed in my lap as I wheeled my chair across the smooth stone pathway of the market district. The air was gentle but with nothing to support the paper every breeze and eddy threatened to lift the envelope away. I could have easily placed them into one of my pockets or pouches but I didn't. I almost wanted a passing breeze to just snatch the envelope away. As if that would just undo the results and the despair they had brought on me. I made my way steadily to one of my favourite spots as I passed through the market. I couldn't help but notice the looks I received. The way one person's eyes would linger a fraction on me. The slight distaste on another face and the studied effort of the uncomfortable to avoid looking at me.

All because they looked at me and saw a cripple. They looked at me and saw an incompetent. And they were right.

I wasn't competent.

I was a failure.

To be precise, I was a failure because I was a cripple.

I began to activate various difficult tenketsu patterns to distract myself and sped up a little.

Six hours later found me sat on the roof of the Central Administration Tower. When he saw me earlier in the afternoon, Sandaime-jiji took one look at my face and silently escorted me to my favourite spot. He stayed with me a moment to silently smoke his pipe before squeezing my shoulder and returning to his duties. For those six hours I had fallen into the deepest of meditations. Right now I didn't want to think.

After those hours I had finally managed my task. The meditation had leant me a preternatural focus and at this moment I was flowing chakra through my entire body. My chakra followed along the connections of my entire nervous system; it raced along my circulatory system, through my muscle fibres and across all layers of my skin. At this point I could even feel the slight pooling in the physical component where my celestial gates would be located.

Having mastered the awareness of my body but still not ready to start thinking I turned my focus to what my chakra was telling me of the world around me.

It was dark outside, I could tell by the lack of light energy interacting with my chakra. I could feel my chakra lifting off me a little as trace amounts of it changed frequency to the wind nature that was my natural predisposition. The altitude of being on the tallest building in Konoho and the added air currents that brought almost called out to my chakra now that I was focusing on it. I could sense the collective chakra emanations of the village. Focusing I could feel that currently most of it was being produced from the direction where I knew the hospital was. Focusing elsewhere I brought my attention to the direction of the market which was practically a hole in my senses. Merchants liked to live there to stay close to their shops and to the other traders. As such it was mainly a civilian area. I kept my attention in that area straining my abilities to feel anything in a test for myself. I remained that way for a while when I felt it.

The characteristic tiny of surge of chakra made my eyes snap open just to check that it was the market area I had felt it from.

Yep, definitely the market area.

Slowly starting to release the chakra I had circuiting me I allowed myself to think during my cool down. It was odd, that chakra surge was definitely characteristic of advanced sealing array activation. It wasn't odd in and of itself but a seal like that coming from the market district was a little unexpected. Ninja didn't tend to live there, it was pretty exclusively traders. I suddenly thought of one of the most common Ninja sayings

Ignoring what your mind is telling you will cost you the mission.

Ignoring what your gut is telling you will cost you your life.

As the thought passed my mind, my frown increased a little. I knew that a ninja living in the area and practising a technique was entirely possible however my gut was telling me it was odd.

Fuck it; I didn't really want to return to my empty bungalow yet anyway.


If anyone could see, they would think the scene was very strange. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning and I was hanging around a house.

I was a pretty good judge of distance and direction. I was sure that this was the house I had felt the spike from on the tower. It was actually a small store with two housing floors on top. It wasn't a weapon smiths or somewhere I would imagine a ninja or ex-ninja living.

It was a stationary shop.

Running my hand along the building and centering myself I focused all my deductive reasoning to figuring out what the advanced seal array I felt activate was doing. There was slightly higher heat radiation from the building than was strictly normal. No matter how hard I strained I could hear no sound and feel no chakra or light from the building.

At that point I was sure a sealing array enveloped the house. I deduced it converted any energy leaving the building into heat with a deliberately inefficient conversion ratio. I could think of no positive reason a stationary shop, would have for using a privacy seal.

Thoroughly spooked by that point I decided to just report the shit and let someone else deal with it.

Just as I was turning a hand clamped around my mouth with bruising force. I instantly tried to pry the hand from me but a powerful arm circled around my neck, crushing my upper torso backwards into my chair. I instantly tried to fight.

Flailing, I tried to punch person behind me but I couldn't land a solid hit from the awkward angle. Changing tactics, I kicked out of my chair. Both my attacker and I were sent sideways to the floor but he kept his hold on my head.

By now, the pressure he was producing was enough that I could feel the bones in my jaw and skull creaking.

Through blinding panic, I fought for air, clawing at the arm. Suddenly I noticed a burning in my throat. Once I noticed that I realised that it wasn't a bare hand covering my mouth. It was a cloth! My heartbeat seemed to triple in an instance and I fought, scratched and kicked like an animal for release.

I could feel myself weakening.

His legs circled around my upper thighs to still my movement. Then I felt a sharp pain as my attacker used his other hand to plunge a needle with vicious force into my neck.

With surprising speed, I felt my whole body begin to violently spasm as my eyes rolled. I began to froth but the cloth still clamped around my mouth just meant that was another thing to choke on. I wasn't even panicked anymore, I just felt confused.

I felt myself begin to fade.

Slowly, I felt myself die.