Chapter Two – Final Exams

"My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter... It's been decades since we've had a guest. Only those who have signed a contract can enter this place... Henceforth, you shall be welcome here, in the Velvet Room..."

Naruto placed a hand over the symbol of his clan and smiled fondly, his index finger tracing the dark blue glow of the line that bisected a spiral. He turned away from his closet and grabbed the sleeveless jacket off the coat rack and slipped it on, the black fabric sliding easily against his skin. There was a thick yellow line from his neck curving to his right sleeve and another line encircling his left. A quarter circle decorated the bottom right hem of his jacket and at his back, bordered with those same yellow lines, was his clan symbol. The border itself connected to two lines, one reaching to connect with the circle around his left sleeve, while the other connected towards the quarter circle. He pulled the zipper up, barely glancing at those lines and gave the closet one last look before exiting his room.

The closet had served as an entryway into the Velvet Room where he met with Igor, the Guardian of the Elder Gate. This gate was not just any ordinary gate, and connected from his world to the world of the Espers—majestic beasts that carried with them a great and terrible power that could potentially destroy entire nations. Of course, that first night he entered the Velvet Room, he vowed that he wouldn't use Espers for such mayhem, because in doing so, he'd end the lives of many. There were enough orphans in this village, thanks all the same.

With Igor was a man named Minato-san, who looked a lot like the Yondaime. Naruto wasn't quite sure what to make of that, and the few probing questions he had asked Minato-san led him nowhere. Apparently, Minato-san had amnesia, and was only staying with Igor until he found his memories again. Minato-san was responsible for teaching Naruto how to summon Espers properly, and how to go about obtaining new Espers. Though initially the contract seemed to have no terms attached to it, Naruto found that the contract he had signed that night asked a lot out of him, way more than any ordinary contract. If he wanted to acquire more Espers, he would need to do certain things, fulfill certain duties, to get them. Minato-san would tell him what quests he had to do, and give him hints on how to go about doing those quests, if he happened to have trouble with one of them. These weren't your ordinary, garden-variety tasks, like retrieving a scroll from another country, or assassinating some war lord—certainly not the kind of tasks Naruto was expected to perform by the time they would leave the Academy. For one thing, they focused on Naruto's improvement: mentally, physically, and even socially. It appeared that some Espers were only willing to bond with him if he was of a certain temperament. Minato-san had told him that it was unlikely that he would ever acquire every Esper written in the Book of Light and Dark—a record which Igor kept of all the Espers that ever lived.

He put his sandals on and checked his equipment one last time. Minato-san wants you to learn another medical jutsu, a voice reminded him in his head.

Thanks, Ixion. Naruto replied gratefully. The Esper neighed, as if to say that it was no problem at all, and was soon quiet in his head. Outside the compound, he formed the sheep seal and felt a small amount of chakra snake through his chest, down his thighs, latching firmly on his feet. There was a slight tingling sensation at the soles of his sandals—a result of having Ixion, an Esper of lightning, junctioned to him as his Prime. With a small smile, he began to jump from roof to roof, his destination, the Academy.

"It's been a while," Jiraiya greeted cheerfully before sinking into one of the chairs in front of the Hokage. His left cheek was bandaged, and there were circles around his eyes from lack of sleep.

"I didn't think you'd show," the Sandaime replied. "What happened, Jiraiya?"

"Oh, I had some difficulties getting here," Jiraiya admitted and shuddered at the thought. On his way back to the village, he had stopped by a hot spring resort about two days away from Konohagakure, and decided to do some creative exercises to get his brain stimulated for his next book. Suffice to say, the creative exercises went out of control, forcing him to leave the resort very quickly. It didn't help that the ones chasing him were feminist kunoichi who had some very strong views against the kind of material he was publishing. Thus, he arrived in the village a day earlier than he expected.

"I see," the Sandaime spoke slowly, knowing exactly what Jiraiya meant by 'difficulties'. He leaned back and opened one of the folders on his desk. "Have you visited your godchild yet?"

"Only from a distance," Jiraiya answered sheepishly. "I still think it wasn't a good idea for you to give him Minato's place."

"Why? It is his by right. Besides, it's not good for a child to be constantly moving from place to place, even if it's only within the village." He closed the folder and placed it on the table, taking another one from the tray of files.

"People will suspect," Jiraiya began, rising from his seat. He sighed, tired of that particular argument, and lifted his hands in defeat. "I give up. Rather than talk about that, why don't we talk about what he'll be doing once he graduates from the Academy."

The Sandaime watched him move back and forth the room, like a caged tiger. "What else will he be doing?"

"I know you want to put him in a genin team—"

"What other option do I have?"

"I think," Jiraiya paused and sighed once more. "I think Naruto should become part of an ANBU squad. He'll learn more there and he'll be better protected. From them."

"I assure you that the jounins I have selected this year are all exemplary in their fields. Are you questioning their capabilities? Do you think they won't be able to protect Naruto from the Akatsuki?"

"One of them, you mean," Jiraiya corrected him. "One jounin isn't enough, not when the Akatsuki often hunt the jinchuuriki in pairs."

"So what do you propose?" The Sandaime demanded. "I put him in an ANBU squad, and thus rob him of his right to a childhood? Take away his friends from him?"

"If it keeps him alive," the Toad Sage muttered unhappily.

"I will not," the Sandaime spoke firmly. "But I do see your point." He opened another folder and saw Naruto's smiling face on the top right corner of the document. "I'll place him in a genin team." Before Jiraiya could protest, the Sandaime added, "Under Morino Ibiki. He leads one of the ANBU divisions. He'll probably be busy with his duties, but I'm sure he can delegate some of the other normal duties of a jounin-sensei to one of his underlings. You have to understand, Jiraiya. I can't show any favouritism on Naruto. That means I can't just hand him to the ANBU. At least this way, he will still be recognized as a genin by the rest of the village. Once he's old enough, I can give him the full ANBU status, along with his genin team of course. Technically, he'll only have one jounin to look after him, but with Ibiki as his sensei... That man has the entire TAI division with him. I'm sure that will be enough to fend off those who are after Naruto, don't you think?"

"I suppose so." Jiraiya agreed. "Will you make the arrangements or will I?"

"I will," the Sandaime answered. "Unless of course, you want to sit on this chair and wear the Hokage's hat." He gave Jiraiya a piercing glare. "I have no objections against that."

"I don't have your charisma," Jiraiya spoke, turning away. "And the village elders don't respect me."

"They can always change their opinion of you," the Saindaime offered. "I am getting tired, Jiraiya. I have been holding onto this seat of power for too long—way past my expiration date. It's time that a young strong man and I do mean you, Jiraiya, take over. I don't know how much longer I can keep this village under my control."

"Perhaps someday," Jiraiya promised.

The Sandaime laughed bitterly. "I'm getting tired of hearing those words."

"So am I, Hokage-sama. So am I."

Ino was worried. Normally, she didn't bother with such frivolous emotions, preferring feelings of happiness or rage, to emotions that were ultimately useless in the long run. Nevertheless, she felt the fidgety, tumultuous emotion erupting from her chest, hampering her movement. She gulped and took a seat at the very back of the room. There she took long, deep breaths to keep herself from panicking and started mentally reviewing any possible jutsus their sensei might test her in. She wasn't too worried about the results of her first two exams that day—an accuracy test which required her to hit certain areas of the dummy and a pure hand-to-hand combat exam to test her taijutsu skills—because she knew she had done well. Sakura-teme probably got the highest marks on the written exam yesterday, she thought wryly, with Naruto and Sasuke battling for second. Those three were always in the top tier when it came to written work in general, though Sakura-teme only ranked about above average when one took into account everything else they were tested in. Ino didn't really care about being in the top though. Sure, it'd be nice to be acknowledged by the others once in a while, but she wasn't really aspiring to climb to the top, one rank at a time, simply because retaining the position meant more hard work. I blame Shikamaru for being such a bad influence on me. She grinned slightly at the thought of that.

Still, she wanted to do her best on the jutsu part of the exam, if only because it was the last exam they were going to be tested on, and she wanted to beat Sakura-teme, even marginally, in something other than taijutsu. If I get a higher grade from this one, who cares if she's getting the highest score in the written exam? Ino crossed her arms and frowned. It's tied: one to one. If I get a better mark—when I get a better mark, I'll be sure to rub it in.

Naruto entered, side by side with Kiba, talking animatedly about something. Ino smiled wryly upon seeing him. Most of the younger generation liked Naruto. He didn't have the same mysterious air that Sasuke seemed to possess, but he was a lot more approachable, and he was definitely smarter than some of the teachers gave him credit for. He was also polite, and rarely got angry with people, even though several of them had tried to hurt Naruto in the past. That didn't stop him from retaliating in some form, however. Ino had heard the stories. Everyone did.

Those who tried to attack Naruto in some form or another were then subjected to a number of harmless, but extremely embarrassing, pranks. Ino herself had asked Naruto about it one time, and the boy readily admitted to the pranks. What surprised Ino the most was the fact that when he said this, there was not the slightest hint of malicious intent in his eyes. It seemed as if he regarded pranks the same way he regarded ninjutsu lessons—as if they were vital training methods that would help him become a better shinobi. There was not a shred of vindictiveness when he talked about his latest prank, in fact, just a straightforward frankness, as if he was reporting to a superior officer.

She remembered one of the guest speakers they had a year or two ago on the importance of fuuinjutsu and its many uses. The guest speaker had been an old woman with a disability. Ino remembered her clearly because the thought of becoming an amputee had almost made her quit classes that year. There was also the fact that she was Naruto's guardian. Anyway, just after they entered their classroom and sat on their respective seats, a seal had been activated, summoning a huge monstrosity of a cat. The class had been thrown into chaos as students scrambled to run for the now-closed doors. Others who felt agitated by the cat's presence had brought out there weapons and had started attacking the cat to no avail. Later on, once the cat was subdued and the old woman had tired of her cackling, there had been a long discussion on the many uses of fuuinjutsu. Ino could barely remember everything they talked about that day—the woman used a lot of terminology she wasn't familiar with and taught in a very fast-paced manner—but she did remember that mischievous gleam in the old woman's eyes.

Well, that would explain why Naruto seemed to think that pranks were a form of training. Ino leaned forward and rested a cheek at the base of her palm. But were all pranks just training to him? Had he ever thought of one of his pranks as being fun and entertaining? Thinking about pranks reminded her of the Hokage monument. Just last week, it had been defaced by a "yet-unknown-miscreant." Or so the newspaper said. Would Naruto have anything to do with that particular prank? No, Ino thought almost immediately. It didn't fit his MO. He targeted those who had done something bad to him in the past. He said so himself, explaining that it was purely motivational. After all, if he was caught red-handed, these very people would persecute him even more. Besides, he wanted to become Hokage someday and appeared to respect the previous Hokages a lot. She just couldn't imagine him defacing the monument.

Why am I thinking about him anyway? She wondered and perked up a bit. She laughed and shook her head, looking at the blonde shinobi-in-training with wry eyes. There was something about Naruto that made people notice him. He had this aura that just commanded attention. He's also kind of cute, Ino admitted to herself, though she would never say this out loud. The female majority of their class was in love with Sasuke after all, and the intense rivalry between the two made some of Sasuke's fangirls agitated whenever something positive was being said about Naruto. In all honesty, she didn't really have any interest in getting a love life. It was just that, if you want to survive in a girl-eat-girl world, you had to have alliances with people. If that meant making Sasuke's fangirls happy, then that was what Ino would do. I mean, look at poor Hinata. She doesn't have any interest in Sasuke so immediately she gets shunned by the other girls. Ino frowned. Thankfully, not all the girls were head over heels with Sasuke, and the few who did prefer Naruto more had taken Hinata in.

Either way, it doesn't really matter. Ino thought ruefully. After all, we're a shinobi village, and one of the most important things in a shinobi village is its bloodlines, its precious kekkei genkais. That meant arranged marriages in an attempt to keep the bloodline as pure as possible. Ino rolled her eyes and leaned back. Fortunately for Ino, her clan's bloodline was pretty minor, and no one would care if it ever died out. Except maybe the clan, of course, she corrected herself. That meant that she had a higher chance of choosing her own mate, rather than having her father choose for her. She remembered thinking for the longest time that she was engaged to Shikamaru. What a laugh that was. After all, their parents were always making them play together as kids. (It never struck her that she might have been engaged to Chouji. He was nice enough and all, but he didn't have a shred of manliness in him.)

There had been rumours, however, of Naruto's bloodline. Ino wasn't the smartest grape in the bunch—or however that saying went—but even she could be observant. There was also the slight quirk of having a florist for a mother. When she had to look after the store for her mother for a couple of hours, she would hear the most interesting conversations, some of which were about the boy.

Apparently, he had some kind of power over beasts. There was never any indication or hint as to what these beasts actually look like, and just how powerful they were, but Ino could read a situation well, and she knew that whatever these beasts were, they were beasts to be feared. Some of the store's regulars even called Naruto a demon. Did they really fear his bloodline that much? But if that was the case, then shouldn't Naruto be treated better? After all, if he had some awesome and terrible power, they would benefit more as a shinobi village if he was treated with respect, because he would have a stronger attachment to the village. The more he cared about the village, the more he was willing to sacrifice in order to keep it safe. The blatant hatred they had for Naruto made her wonder sometimes about the strange workings of a society's mind.

"Uzumaki Naruto to the testing area please," Iruka-sensei called from the doorway. Naruto gave Kiba a slight, reassuring grin and disappeared into the other room, his gait confident. Ino knew that he would have no problem at all with the final part of the exam from past experience. It was no secret that the boy had trouble learning jutsus, but everyone knew that he worked hard, and come test day, he always ranked in the top tier, much to the consternation of their teachers. It was no fluke though, and some even claimed that they were able to learn jutsus faster after a bit of tutoring from Naruto.

He almost sounds perfect, if you ask me, Ino thought wryly. Then again, some people thought Sasuke was perfect, so I guess it's really a matter of perspective.

She leaned back and closed her eyes. Her thoughts became fragmented once more, and dilly-dallied on a subject or two before moving on. Being preoccupied with her thoughts kept her from becoming too nervous about their final test, and so when Naruto had finished, a hitai-ate tied around his leg, Ino felt serene. She heard some whispers about what Naruto did being slightly odd and unexpected, but she didn't really pay too much attention. Her mind was blank and clear, and at the centre of her body. She could feel the chakra coils within her, thrumming with confident energy from head to toe.

She was ready.

Naruto hadn't anticipated Mizuki-sensei's sudden outburst and insistence that Naruto shouldn't be allowed to graduate. It didn't really help that the man's defamatory words had almost convinced one of the other senseis to give Naruto a failing mark as well. As it was, he had to thank the extensive Bunshin training he'd received from Ixion and the others which had been the final exam for that day. Since Mizuki-sensei didn't accept his use of the Kage Bunshin, he had quickly formed a different set of seals, creating a pair of Mizu Bunshin. Before the man could protest any further, he also created a pair of Moku Bunshin, Tsuchi Bunshin, Raiton Bunshin, and Katon Bunshin respectively, grinning impulsively at the sight of their stunned expressions. He then explained that it was not easy for him to create a Bunshin, seeing as a Bunshin was, in reality, just a simple Genjutsu created to fool a man's eyes. Using a Genjutsu meant attaching a part of their chakra onto another person, and Naruto's chakra could be quite aggressive, if he did not add the extra necessary seals that would neutralize his chakra. If he had done the Bunshin jutsu, which was what they ordered him to do, then he would have to risk hurting them as well. Though his chakra had no permanent effects on another human, it was simply far too dangerous to use.

The three examiners knew what he meant, or had at least heard whispers of it among the other senseis in the Academy. Iruka-sensei was more than ready to accept that explanation, and after a brief talk with the other sensei in charge, Naruto had been given the go-ahead signal from Iruka-sensei to take a hitai-ate from the table to his far left. He had passed. It wasn't the flying colours he would have wanted, but with so many biased senseis in the Academy, he was lucky enough to get this far.

"Naruto," Obasan called from underneath a huge tree's cool shade. "Well?"

The newly-made genin ran towards Obasan and gave her a ferocious bear hug, laughing happily as he did so. "I passed, Obasan!"

The old, stocky woman smiled ruefully at Naruto's proclamation and ruffled the boy's hair with her one hand. "Gave you a hard time, did they, boy?"

"As they always do," Naruto admitted and took a step back, smiling at Obasan who was the same height as he was by now. "You honestly don't have to worry too much about me, Obasan."

"I am not worried," she answered nonchalantly. "I was just asking." She moved to turn away, her large shopping bag swinging at the sudden movement. "Will you be eating dinner with Shouta-kun and me?"

"Not tonight, Obasan. I already promised Iruka-sensei I'd meet up with him later to have some ramen at Ichiraku. Maybe some other time."

"Not that ramen stand you always go to!" Obasan protested. "You know ramen isn't very healthy for you." There was a time when she would have just dragged Naruto home, but thanks to Naruto's influence, she had become slightly subdued over the years.

"So is being a shinobi, Obasan," Naruto teased. He waved his hands. "Relax; you know very well that ramen's not the only thing I eat."

Obasan sighed and continued to walk away, disappearing into the crowd of parents and children who were heading to their respective homes in celebratory moods. In the crowd, Naruto caught a glimpse of Kiba and Chouji and waved at them, grinning widely at the sight of their hitai-ates glinting in the late morning sun. It wasn't long before the Academy was empty of children, for not a lot of them were eager to stay, especially after going through a series of tests that had begun the day before, and had only ended now. By this time, Naruto was sitting on one of the tree's sturdier branches, studying a ninjutsu scroll with a concentration that could rival Chouji's in an eating contest. Medical ninjutsus were one of the few jutsus that really troubled Naruto, and more than that, it was one of the few jutsus that he had a real hard time using on others. Unfortunately, he would have to neutralize his chakra first before he could heal someone, in the same way that he would have to neutralize his chakra if he ever had to use genjutsu. Thus, it was no surprise that he would have problems with these two kinds of jutsus. If it wasn't for Minato-san's insistence that he learn, he would have happily focused on learning other ninjutsus instead. He understood that it was for his own personal growth, but with an almost life-like chakra that seemed to care about its host, his recovery speed was exceptionally fast for a human. All thanks to Red, he thought wryly, referring to his red-haired counterpart.

"Thinking about me again, are you?" Red teased, baring his sharp pointy teeth in a huge grin. Naruto rolled his eyes. Red wasn't real. In fact, he was just a delusion that Naruto had to put up with as part of his contract. Apparently, to achieve his full potential, he had to face his own demons first and accept them. Red was an embodiment of all the demons in him, which was why he looked similarly like Naruto, save the red hair, red eyes, thickened whisker lines, and sharp teeth which Red had. His was the voice that whispered of hatred and death for the villagers. His was the voice that spoke of vengeance and running away. He was everything that Naruto tried to shun inside him, the feelings that Naruto didn't want to accept because he was afraid that it would turn him into a bitter, raging monster. Or worse yet, it would turn him into a cold, calculating killer who cared little for the safety of others.

But Red wasn't just a personification of all his worst fears about himself. Red was also the Kyuubi, an age-old kitsune who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds twelve years ago in what was known as the Kyuubi Massacre. Naruto didn't believe Red at first, but after a heated confrontation with the Hokage, he knew it to be real. Fortunately, it appeared that the Kyuubi's integration into Red's body made him more human, and a lot more pleasant than before. Of course, having to put up with Red for a couple of years now, Naruto knew that the word 'pleasant' was an overstatement.

"Unfortunately, I can't get you out of my head," Naruto answered mildly and rolled his scroll before sliding it inside his weapons pouch.

"You wound me," Red replied. He sat besides Naruto and began swinging his legs back and forth. "Don't you think Mizuki-teme was acting more suspicious than usual? He didn't seem too happy to see you graduate."

"Not a lot of senseis would be happy to see me graduate."

"Except that beloved sensei of yours, Iruka was it?" Red laughed. "Don't worry, boy-o. I'm not here to insult your precious sensei. I'm just enjoying the scenery. Besides, your friends in the Velvet Room aren't exactly the best conversationalists I've met. Not to mention, one of them reeks of an old enemy of mine." Red made a face. "Though I'm not here to insult them either."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow in question. "It's not often I see you being careful with your words. What do you want?"

"Nothing, really," he admitted. "I'm just here to give you a warning."

"What? That Mizuki-sensei's acting suspicious? He's always acting suspicious."

"See? That's the problem with you, boy-o. You've become too trusting. It's dulled your senses and your wit. How will you become a successful shinobi if you're always trusting people?"

"For the record, I don't trust Mizuki-sensei. I just don't see why today's any different." Naruto growled. "After all, today's my last day in the Academy. Shouldn't he be glad to finally get rid of me?"

"What? And lose his scapegoat?" Red smiled. "Aren't you glad you have a sociopath for a friend?"

Naruto didn't bother replying, knowing an exit line when he heard one. He jumped off the branch and headed for the Academy entrance instead, mooning over his alter-ego's words. Red had an aptitude for spotting danger; he was like an internal alarm clock that buzzed every time something bad was about to happen to Naruto. Thus, Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit anxious over what he said. Red had never been wrong before—though there were times when he tended to exaggerate—and Naruto saw no reason now why he should ignore what Red had just said. In a way, Red was his instincts—just a lot chattier.

He stopped at the end of the hall in the first floor, staring at the empty teacher's lounge with a deep frown set in his face. Iruka-sensei had told Naruto to wait for him, yet it appeared that the man was already gone. It isn't like him to leave without me, Naruto thought unhappily. Not without warning, anyway.

He sprinted towards the nearest exit, felt the Cylinder shift, and heard the mental click of the Chamber. Suddenly, his body was a lot lighter, and he was running at an even faster speed than before. Valefor was an Esper of the Wind, and one of the advantages of having him as his Prime was having the winds move to his favour. In just a short amount of time, he was already in the Inuzuka compound, the sound of dogs barking in collective delight at his arrival; a pleasant sound to his ears. Kiba was washing one of the nindogs at their care and stood up when he saw Naruto stumbling to a stop.

"Miss me already?" Kiba teased, though his grin was short-lived when he saw the look of worry on Naruto's face.

"You know Iruka-sensei's scent pretty well, don't you?" Naruto asked urgently. "Because I need to find him. Fast."

Kiba didn't waste time with questions, drying himself and calling Akamaru from inside his house before beginning to sniff out their sensei. When Akamaru was inside Kiba's jacket, his head protruding just below Kiba's chin, he began sniffing as well, and after a brief exchange of words and barks from the two, Kiba gave Naruto a short nod and said, "We know where he is."

They weren't the only ones busy; while they were searching for Iruka-sensei's scent, Naruto had executed a series of seals to call upon his gun, Haya-Ji, from a pocket of space and Summon Valefor. On top of the great Esper's back, he offered a hand to Kiba and hoisted the other boy up. "Point the way," Naruto instructed and held onto Valefor's curving shoulders to keep himself from falling onto the ground. It was time to look for Iruka-sensei.

Iruka should have known better. But, the problem with the phrase 'should have' is that by the time one realizes there is a need for a 'should have', the phrase had already turned into a 'should have been'. Still, he made the effort to hate himself for getting into the mess, if only because he had nothing better to do. Mizuki was fucking late, and if he had to try counting sheep one more time to get some snooze, he was going to scream. As much as he like sheep, in the way that people liked most animals, of course—not the other kind of like—they were a sore reminder of the fact that he had trouble sleeping these days. People called it insomnia; he called it a big pain in the posterior. If he was going to waste time, he might as well do it wallowing in self-hatred. Wallowing in self-pity just made him feel more pathetic about himself. With hatred at least, he found motivation to become a better shinobi.

He heard rustling from behind him and sighed in relief, "About time, Mizuki. I was afraid that you had forgotten all about me. Now help me up, will you? It's been an hour and thirty-seven minutes since you've been gone, and I need a potty break."

"Nice try, Iruka," Mizuki said in such a way that one could almost hear the sneer in his voice. "But I won't fall for your trick so easily. And besides, even if you weren't lying, I still won't help you. After all, it'd be funny to see you in such a state of embarrassment as pissing your pants."

Iruka remained quiet after that and glared at the hand-sized rock in front of him instead. It looked sharp and for once, he wished he had telepathy so he could use the rock to cut himself free. Alas, he was tied against a tree and as such, could not crawl towards the rock that was at least seven feet away from him. I could also use the rock to bash Mizuki's head, he thought.

Mizuki came into view, the picture of a smug asshole about to get away with something. Behind his shoulder was a scroll about the size of a six year old. Okay, just because I teach in a school for kids doesn't mean I should start using them as some sort of metric system. Iruka shuddered at the thought. It wasn't far from impossible of course. Then again, he could always use them as a reference to create a new nin code. Those were always in demand, especially seeing as the Villages like to make it a habit to keep themselves up to date with the other Villages' crypto-secrets. Then again, it was a little too easy to break.

"...are you even listening to me gloat?" demanded Mizuki.

"Not really," he admitted. "I was too busy thinking about the future. Something you were never very good at, even as a kid."

Mizuki's eyes narrowed. "If you're going to taunt me, then you better be prepared for a pummelling."

"As ever," Iruka answered defiantly. He coiled instinctively, bracing himself for the impact of Mizuki's foot against his ribs, but the attack never came. Instead, he heard a groan and the sound of a body falling down on the forest floor. Hesitant, he opened one eye and saw Naruto smiling triumphantly from one of the trees, a gun on his hand. Besides him, Kiba looked mildly surprised.

"What happened to him?" Iruka asked, nursing his raw wrists. "One second he was about to vent, and now it looks as if he's sleeping."

"I paralyzed him," Naruto answered simply.

"Well, I can see that much," Iruka said wryly. "I'm more concerned with the how, to be exact. Did you use your gun? I thought you could only Summon your Espers with them."

"That's the original idea," he admitted. Mizuki murmured something incomprehensible, drawing their attention. Naruto pointed a gun at Mizuki's feet and pressed the trigger. The ground opened a bit and grabbed the man's ankles before dragging them a couple of inches down. "Security measure," the boy explained and sat on the ground, resting his gun against his thigh. "You see, Summoning, for me, takes more than just hand seals and a gun. I need to have the Esper junctioned as my Prime."

"Care to elaborate?"

"It's sort of like having another person occupy your head except these Espers aren't normally as chatty," Naruto answered, scratching his cheek in thought. "Anyway, having one of them junctioned to me gives me the advantage of some of their powers. It also gives my chakra an elemental property. For example, if I junctioned Valefor, my chakra would have a wind property to it."

"So what you did back there wasn't some kind of elemental jutsu, like that Katon jutsu that Sasuke likes to use so much?" Kiba asked, sitting right besides Naruto.

Naruto nodded. "My chakra naturally takes form of one of the elements. That's why it's always a risk to use it on other people. And even if I wasn't junctioned to an Esper..." He trailed off and gave Iruka a meaningful look. "My chakra can still be quite aggressive. That said, I was junctioned to Ixion, who had an elemental affinity to lightning. With the help of the gun, I was able to hit Mizuki-sensei from afar, because my gun can form the chakra into a bullet and shoot it in the same way that a bow would shoot an arrow."

"So it's like with your other gun, except you don't use bullets to hit your target," Kiba spoke thoughtfully. "Just your chakra. Any chance I can have one of those guns of yours?"

"You're a close-range fighter Kiba," Naruto said, grinning slightly. "The gun will just slow you down."

"I'd still like to have one, just in case."

"Maybe when I've found a way to keep them from becoming a nuisance during combat. Why do you think I never carry it around with me?'

"But you already have that one," Kiba complained.

"It's tied to my bloodline, remember?"

"I'll trade it for Akamaru."

Akamaru growled and barked his protest. Iruka laughed, "Well there you have it. He doesn't seem too fond with the idea of having a different master, Kiba." He tugged the scroll free from Mizuki's back and took a peek inside, wondering what Mizuki had taken. "Oh hell."

"Anything wrong, sensei?" Kiba asked.

Iruka hastily closed the scroll and looked up at two pairs of questioning eyes. "It's the Forbidden Scroll."

"You okay, Naruto?"

"Just a mild headache, Kiba," Naruto answered, sliding into the seat besides Kiba. He adjusted the hitai-ate on his forehead consciously—Obasan was adamant about that, saying that hitai-ates should be worn on the forehead—and leaned back, sighing audibly.

"Do you think we'll be in the same team?" Kiba matched his sigh with another one and slumped forward. "This whole wait is killing me."

"Not as much as it's killing me," Chouji groaned from a seat below them. He was eating twice as fast, which meant that he was nervous about something. "I always get picked last when it comes to things like this."

"Well, if we were doing this by choice, then I'll be sure to pick you first," Naruto promised. After a quick elbow from Kiba, he added, "Well, after I choose Kiba anyway."

"You'd rather pick him over me?" One of the kunoichis asked.

Naruto gave her his most sincere smile and spoke gently, "Oh, but Akiko-chan, don't you want to be with your friends, Michiko-chan and Reiko-chan? This is a three-man team after all. I wouldn't want to replace one of your friends, wouldn't you agree?"

"Oh, yes," Akiko spoke, fluttering her eyelashes in an attempt to look flirtatious. "You're always so thoughtful, Naruto-kun."

"How the hell do you do that?" Shikamaru demanded.

"Diplomacy."

"Tch, that's too troublesome," he grumbled. "Isn't there an easier way to shut them up?"

"You can always just ask," Ino added, taking a seat besides Shikamaru.

"And risk injury? No thanks."

"Settle down, everyone," Iruka called from in front of the classroom. "First of all, I'd like to congratulate every one of you. Well done! You've passed. However, as genins, you still have a long way to go. Thus, as we do with every other batch of genins, you will also be placed in three-man teams under a jounin-sensei. Remember, learning doesn't end, even after school is over." There were a couple of groans from some of the genins, but Iruka ignored them.

Naruto remained quiet this time and listened carefully as each name was called out. Though these people weren't as close to Naruto as the others, he still felt responsible to learn their names and a little about each of them. After all, if he was going to be Hokage someday, he would need to know the people he was leading. To a point at least.

He was sad to note that Chouji was placed in Sasuke and Sakura's team, and even sadder once he found out that Kiba would be teaming up with Hinata and Shikamaru.

"Team 11, Uzumaki Naruto," Iruka intoned proudly, "Yamanaka Ino, and Aburame Shino. That is all. Your jounin-senseis will come to pick you up after lunch. In the mean time, you all have free time to get to know your teams or have lunch together with them, if you wish. Let's meet back at one. Is that reasonable?"

The class answered a yes, more or less and began to file out the room. "Well, I guess you're stuck with me," Naruto teased Ino, who appeared to be slightly surprised by Iruka's choice of team members.

"I had resigned myself to another Ino-Shika-Cho combo," admitted Ino.

"Is that unfortunate for you, Ino-san?" Shino inquired politely, taking a seat besides Naruto.

"Not really. I mean, my father might complain a little, but other than that..." Ino shrugged.

"To be honest, I was hoping I would have Chouji in my team," Naruto spoke, clearly embarrassed. "Not a lot of people are willing to interact with him, you see. It would have been nice if I could look out for him."

"I do not understand your disappointment," Shino spoke. "Chouji is one of the lowest-ranking genins in our batch. Having him on the team might be detrimental."

Ino frowned and was about to protest when Naruto replied, "I think he has a lot of potential as a shinobi. He is hard-working and he gets good results when he puts his mind into something. Unfortunately, he also has a bit of an inferiority complex problem, and that will get in the way of his improvement. Because he doesn't think that he's good enough, he won't try hard enough. I'm afraid his team members won't be of much help either."

"Yeah, Sakura's too busy hero-worshipping Sasuke to help Chouji positively," Ino agreed.

"Sasuke will likely treat Chouji more as a nuisance than as a productive team member," Shino added.

"Glad that you share my views," Naruto said wryly. "The best I can do for him now is to continue training with him during our free time. If we'll get any. I heard a lot of the jounin-senseis can be very strict."

"We'll make time for him," Ino promised. "His father is friends with mine, so I feel responsible for him too."

"I think helping him will be counterproductive to our team," Shino began and paused. "...But that is only my opinion. I will help as well, if need be."

"I had to round these two up," Kiba announced with a sigh, dragging Shikamaru with one hand, and Hinata with the other. "How else can I share Naruto's lunch with my two new teammates?"

"My lunch?" Naruto asked and laughed slightly. "You should have told me. Then I would have packed more." He offered a bento box to Hinata who accepted it with a blush. "It's a real pity we're not on the same team, Kiba."

"I hear ya," Kiba sighed dramatically. "I'll just have to content myself with Hinata's cooking from now on."

"Is that the only thing I'm good for?"

"Yes," Kiba answered in mock-seriousness, munching on an onigiri.

"From the looks of it, your friend Chouji is interacting with Sakura. They are eating lunch together," Shino observed, after taking a look from one of the windows inside their classroom.

"That's nice at least," Naruto noted. "Maybe there's hope for him yet."

Ino took a peek as well and made a face. "Sure they're eating together, but it seems to me that Sakura's venting on Chouji right now."

Shikamaru grimaced. "Poor Chouji. He doesn't deserve teammates like that."

"Speaking of which, will you guys look out for Chouji too?" Naruto asked.

"He's my friend," Shikamaru pointed out.

"And he's nice," Kiba added. "Sure, we'll help him, won't we, Hinata?"

"H-hai," Hinata stuttered and blushed a deep red.

They talked about other subjects as well, and speculated on the jounin-senseis that they would be getting. Naruto knew a couple of jounins who were friends with Obasan, but most of them would be retiring very soon, so the possibility of having one of them as a jounin-sensei was very close to none. When the bell finally rang, they moved back to their respective seats and waited for the other genins to trickle back in. No sooner was the class complete when the first of the jounin-senseis appeared to take her team. The young woman wore clothes that looked a lot like bandages and had eyes of a ruby red. She picked up Team 8, Kiba's team and disappeared with them into the hallway. Akiko was the next to go, unhappy at the fact that she was not able to be with her dream team. Her jounin-sensei was also a girl, though this one wore the standard jounin uniform, unlike the first one.

"Team 11? Follow me." A tall man in his late twenties with two scars adorning a rigid, impassive face called from the door.

Naruto exchanged looks with his teammates and stood up. The three of them followed their jounin-sensei out of the Academy and into the streets, remaining quiet for most of the trip. Naruto felt a genjutsu wash over them and itched to remove it. However, the genjutsu didn't come from the man in the trench coat, and Naruto wanted to trace the origin of the jutsu.

"Excuse me, sensei." Shino spoke up. "I'd just like to point out that someone has used a genjutsu on us."

So he noticed too, huh? Naruto thought wryly, still searching for the source.

"Ah," the man gave Shino a backwards glance. "That's just a security measure, boy. I'm not about to let you know where the TAI headquarters are. Not until I'm sure I want to be your jounin-sensei."

"TAI?" Ino inquired.

"Torture and Investigation," supplied Naruto, still somewhat distracted.

"What do you mean by 'not sure'?" Shino stopped and stared at their sensei intensely.

"I mean that until you show you have promise, I'm not going to accept you three as my students."

"Why the secret?" Ino demanded.

"Because TAI is part of the ANBU division," answered Naruto, finally turning his attention back to them. "Information about the ANBU is often classified on a need-to-know basis, right, Ibiki-sensei?"

"You know each other?"

"We've met," Ibiki-sensei spoke, motioning for them to move once more. "That's Taichou, by the way. Don't call me sensei."

"His mother is Obasan—my legal guardian," Naruto clarified. "My question is: why you, Taichou? You're not actually a jounin anymore. After all, you're part of ANBU. If I remember correctly, ANBU are rank-less, right?"

"The Sandaime specially requested me to become a jounin-sensei this year," Taichou grumbled unhappily. "I agreed as long as I could get a Yamanaka in the bargain."

"You wanted me?" Ino was incredulous at the thought.

"Your clan specializes on mind jutsus, which means that I can use you specifically to extract information from our subjects." He opened the door to his office and let them in, motioning for them to sit. "Shizuru, you can dispel the jutsu if you want to."

"The blond boy already dispelled it for me," Shizuru said. She was leaning against the wall behind Taichou's chair, her arms crossed.

"Great. So much for secrecy." Taichou didn't seem too pleased. He sat down as well and turned to face his students. "The Sandaime tells me that I have to administer some kind of test to see whether or not you three deserve the title genin. As Naruto pointed out earlier, ANBU are technically rank-less."

"To put it simply, he means that administering a test would be pointless, if the three of you aren't technically genins anymore." Shizuru added.

"Wait, so by becoming your students," Ino spoke slowly, "we've become ANBU?"

"Yes," Taichou confirmed. "Although the Sandaime wishes for you to remain under the pretence of being genins for a little while longer. He doesn't want to show favouritism, apparently, and so you three will still be regarded as genins despite being under my care. A load of bull, if you ask me, but I'm not about to go against my superior's wishes."

"Just a moment ago you told us you still had to 'accept' us as your students," Ino spoke. "So if you don't want to administer a test..."

"You already passed," Shizuru said, smiling eerily. "Why do you think Taichou kept answering your questions? For that matter, why do you think he let you in his office?"

"If that's the case, then what was the test about?"

"Normally, I would have tested the three of you on your teamwork skills," Taichou said. "But when you're in this line of work, gathering information is more important. You knew the right questions to ask, your teammates were very observant and caught the subtle genjutsu that Shizuru used to try and mislead you, and Naruto here already had some prior knowledge about the TAI division."

"One of them was also able to pinpoint the location of the headquarters," Shizuru said and turned her gaze towards Shino. "Your insects were draining some of the genjutsus that were tied to this building. If you can ask them to desist? Those genjutsus are there for a reason."

"Of course," Shino said.

"Teamwork skills, on the other hand," Taichou continued, "are acquirable, given an amount of time. Besides, the thought of you three having a teamwork that is comparable to our ANBU squads is just ludicrous. After all, you've barely interacted with each other, and to act as a team on the first try is more instinctive than anything. Personally, to test you on something like that would be both unfair and unrealistic. This is why only so few academy graduates actually become genin. There is also the fact that the Sandaime himself decides on who will be placed in which team. Thus, it is almost a guarantee that every student boasting at least some kind of kekkei genkai will pass, given that he puts them in a team where there is a potential for teamwork. After all, these are the next generation brood of his council members, and they would be very unhappy if their children did not pass."

"But that's just stupid," Ino protested almost immediately. Shino looked perturbed.

"I agree, but as I've said, there's nothing I can do. I can only gather information and extrapolate from what I've learned."

"Horrible, isn't it?" Shizuru quipped, red eyes watching them intensely.

"How about those people who tried so hard to pass the exams and everything?" Naruto demanded suddenly, staring at the floor because he was too furious to look any of them in the eye. "What will become of them? Are we just going to let them fail because they don't have the clan prestige to back them up?"

"It's the reality of our situation," Taichou replied. "We've tried to tell them that this practice of... of culling out the others has an ultimately negative effect on the village, but they do not listen. They do not know, as we do, that one in every eight criminals we've managed to capture is a former Academy student; that chances are, the mercenaries now working for underground criminal lords used to walk these very streets and dream of becoming a shinobi; and that the reason why very few learning actually occurs within the Academy walls is because we've had cases when the students would turn traitor and run off with our village secrets, so the least we can do is censor most of the important information out. The council wants to trim our numbers so that they can control us shinobi, but they do not think of the consequences of their actions. As such, it is often our responsibility to clean up their mistakes. The Sandaime knows this, and agrees with our views, but he is only one man, and a frail, old one at that."

"You mean the Sandaime can't just do what he wants to do?" Ino looked crestfallen.

"His power comes from others. If they don't respect him, then it's logical to then believe that he has very little power left," Shino reasoned.

"Sad, but true," Naruto agreed, visibly relaxing a bit.

"Anyhow, as much as I would love to continue this conversation, I still have a subject to question," Taichou said, taking a folder from his desk and standing up. "Shizuru will be briefing you about my expectations and whatnot. Since I am a very busy man, she will act as your jounin-sensei in my place. Understood?"

"Hai, Taichou," the three spoke in unison.

"Taichou?" Naruto called, after a moment's thought.

"What is it?"

"Are you done question Mizuki-sensei?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Why did he try to kidnap to Iruka-sensei?"

Taichou paused and stared at the doorknob. Finally, he said, "He knew you were attached to Iruka and was planning to use him to lure you out. Afterwards, he would force you to turn into a missing-nin and kill Iruka. They would put a bounty on your head for killing a shinobi and stealing the Forbidden Scroll, thinking that it was in your possession. He would then use the scroll for his own means."

Red appeared in Naruto's peripheral vision, smiling triumphantly. "Scapegoat, just like I said."

A/N: Blame Sarah1281 for putting that particular theory in my head. Now Ibiki's suspicious and paranoid too. (It's called, 'Yay We Passed' by the way.)

Other than that, I really have nothing else to say. This chapter is long enough as it is.