As with all fan fiction writers I do not own Naruto or any of the material I try to pay homage to with my story.

"Normal speech"

'Manga thought bubble'

"Demon speech"

'Demon thought'

Chapter 7 Testing

Six years had past. With their passage Naruto had changed. Gone were the orange jumpsuits. Now he wore black cargo pants and a deep maroon jacket with black trim at the zipper and shoulders as well as with several makimono pouches on each side. The red spiral of the Uzumaki clan adorned his back and repeated several times on the grip of the katana strapped across his back and a tanto strapped to his hip. With less fear of exiting his home his skin had gained a golden tan and his blond locks had darkened taking on reddish highlights (1) as he ad spent as much time in the sun training as possible.

Today he hoped that training would bear fruit as he would be taking the Genin exam. Having started the academy two years early he had already taken the exam twice but each time had failed to pass. He was determined that this year he would pass along with the students of his own age group. Physically he was in peak form, stronger and more agile than most his age but he was still smaller than he should be as his body had still not recovered completely from the years of neglect and malnourishment. This deformity left the academy Taijutsu all but impossible for him to master sufficiently to get more than the absolute lowest grade that could be allowed out of the academy.

His Kenjutsu which in real combat situations would compensate giving him an extended reach through his katana or tanto was remarkable. Unfortunately the weapons portion of the exam was focused solely on accuracy with kuni and shuriken, but he at least passed at the top of this portion of the exam.

Mentally he was finding it difficult to match up. The written exam he felt was the bane of his existence that both of the last two years he had failed utterly. This year having completed it much like his Taijutsu portion with the minimum points to actually be released from the academy he felt very lucky.

He had done great at the obstacle course as the traps on it all seemed to shout their presence to him. He had been making better traps on his second year in the academy for pranks that he would pull around town.

This only left the jutsu portion of the exam which was in the middle of testing. Each student was called into the next room and asked to preform the three basic academy jutsu. these jutsu consisted in the Kawamirii which which was scored on distance and distraction skill. This was the only one of the three that was a ninjutsu and as such was the one that Naruto excelled in. Unfortunately the other two were Genjutsu which he had no talent for what so ever. The first the Henge would create an illusion that would fool people into thinking the user was someone or something else. This portion would be graded on accuracy of the illusion. This year he had developed a ninjutsu that he just knew would allow him to get past this requirement as it would cause a complete physical transformation into that which he needed to appear as and would easily fool his teachers.

This left him with the Bushin jutsu as the only stumbling block. He had stayed up all night practicing the jutsu hoping that he would be able to manage it but was starting to fear the worst as Iruka would call each student into the testing room. With his scores hanging at such a low point due to the Taijutsu and written portions he would have to show working skill in all three jutsu.

"Uzumaki Naruto," came the call of his name. Looking up he saw Iruka-sensi at the door. "It's your turn," he stated. Nodding Naruto rose and followed him into the testing room.

"Ok, Naruto we need you to perform a Kawamirii, Henge, and Bushin to pass." Iruka told him.

"I'm aware," replied Naruto.

First he used Kawamiri to cross the room trading places with the farthest log set up for this purpose. "Good work on the Kawamirii," Iruka encouraged him.

Next he performed his Transformation in place of the Henge. "Good your finally getting the hang of the necessary Genjutsu," Iruka praised not knowing the truth of the jutsu just performed.

'Ok here we go,' thought Naruto as he prepared to attempt the Bushin. He gathered his chakra and carefully molded it forming the hand signs he released it with a puff of smoke. Looking to his side he saw he had formed a single sickly and unconscious clone. "I'm sorry Naruto but with your previous scores in the other tests that just isn't good enough for a passing grade," Iruka regretfully informed him.

"Can't we just pass him, I mean he at least made a clone this year and I could have sworn that his Henge was real," came the question from the second proctor of the test Mizuki.

"No Mizuki. Every student must generate three clones and Naruto only produced a single worthless one. With all respect it doesn't merit a passing grade." Iruka answered.

Dejectedly the boy turned and exited the school once again to hear the voices in the crowd of parents greeting the new Genin as they left his school. His blood line had brought many over to his side if only for the ability alone to hopefully be passed along to his future children but many believed that it was a trick of the fox emulating a bloodline ability with it's massive power.

He began to trudge home not willing to take the quiet hate or listen as his peers were congratulated by their families. Mizuki came up to him as he walked and said, "You know Naruto now that your so close to passing there is something I think I can do for you."

"What's that Mizuki-sensi?" Naruto asked.

"Well there is an extra credit test available for the exam that would just barely give you enough points to pass," The silver haired instructor answered.

"Really!" Naruto exclaimed "What do I have to do?"

"Shh," Mizuki shushed him. "The thing is this exam tests your stealth as well as espionage skill. You must go to the Hokage tower and take the scroll in the Hokage's vault marked forbidden and learn a jutsu from it without being caught. Even if you are unable to learn such a high level jutsu in a short enough time you could still, with a high enough stealth showing, become a Tokubetsu Genin. Though lower in rank than a normal Genin you still will be placed on a team and with a Jonin instructor I'm sure you will catch up to your teammates almost immediately. So think you can do that?" Mizuki asked.

"Defiantly. Dattebayo!" Naruto quietly responded.

AN: Well another chapter done. Sorry it took me so long to get it typed up but I had a bit of a lazy streak. As always please read and review.

(1) I always found it interesting that hair can change color if you get enough sun and decided that in my version Naruto would be closer to a strawberry blond due to having a redhead as a mother but it only show if he got enough sunlight.