Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Music I listened to while writing: The album Trapt, from Trapt, and the album All the Lights in the Sky from Area 11 (again).

'Thoughts' 'This is a thought.'

"Speech" "I am talking."

Class was almost over. Just ten more minutes, and they would finally take a brake. Naruto was trying his best not to fall asleep, because he wouldn't want to sleep through his break.

It was hard. Really hard. Shikamaru had already given up on trying to stay awake the first three seconds when class first started. He slept through the first intermission at ten o'clock too. Iruka was either used to it, and knew waking the lazy boy up wouldn't make him pay attention, or he didn't see him because Sasuke's head was obstructing the view on Shikamaru.
Probably the former. "A ninja should be aware of one's surroundings" was one of his favourite sayings after all.

Chouji nudged the black-haired boy next to him. "Hey Shikamaru, it's almost break time, you'll be wanting to wake up soon." he whispered. They always hung out during the afternoon break.

It seemed like Shikamaru was waking up, judging by the quiet grunt he let out. He sat up when Iruka-Sensei was facing the blackboard to write something down, so he wouldn't notice. This position prevented him from asleep again, so it would take less effort to stand up to go outside during the break. He was pretty good at being lazy.

Iruka turned around, and unfortunately for Shikamaru he had apparently noticed him waking up, because he said, "Ah, Shikamaru, have you decided to join the land of the living once again?" Crap. this probably meant- "You've missed three and a half hours worth of class. That means you'll be having detention for three hours and half hours after class, and tomorrow after class." Iruka said it with a smile on his face, which didn't really fit the tone he had said it with. Shikamaru was a bit disappointed, but it wasn't like this never happened. He never got away with sleeping in class in the end. "Sure thing, Sensei." he said, after letting out a sigh.

Iruka seemed to be finishing up whatever boring subject he was lecturing about. "Alright students, this will probably the last conventional class you'll be having this year. This grabbed everyone's attention, since there was still a little more than a month to go until graduation.

"I've gone through every bit of theory you'll get on the theoretical part of the exams, and every week you'll have a test, so I'm not going to burden you guys with more homework." Not like most of the class made it, anyway. "Instead, we'll be using the time we've been using for the theoretical part off class for helping you guys with things you're still struggling with. You can ask me questions for the theoretical exam, or practise for the academy-taught Jutsu test or Taijutsu test. We'll also be informing you a bit more of a genin's duties."

That sounded pretty good. No more boring classes, no more getting detention for not paying attention to those boring classes, and they actually got to practise some Jutsu. Naruto needed some help with his Bunshin, he really didn't know what he was doing wrong. Interrupting those thoughts, Iruka continued, "All right, it's twelve o'clock now. I'll meet you all on the training grounds behind the school in one hour."

After Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru had eaten their lunch, Naruto and Kiba went to the training grounds to practise for the test. Chouji and Shikamaru were sitting under a tree. Chouji would be practising too, but he hadn't finished his lunch yet. And his five bags of chips.

Kiba and Naruto weren't practising on the targets set up though. They were 'practising' on each other, because they got into an argument.

"Shouldn't you be practising too, Shikamaru? I know you're not the most active person, but this is a big test, you know?" Chouji said.

"Nah, I'm good. It'd just tire me out before the test even started. Besides, trying to practise while those two idiots are messing around would be troublesome." He didn't agree with Chouji's statement.

"The break is almost over anyway. I just plan on doing a tiny bit of warming up so I don't get sore afterwards."

"Oh right, I need to warm up a little too. I think I'll start with that now." Chouji said. Shikamaru just remained sitting under the tree. He'd warm up while Iruka would be explaining the test in a few minutes. He was expecting some sort of special test, because throwing some kunai and shuriken at a target wouldn't be a very good way to test their skills. He could only hope the test wouldn't be too troublesome.

Most of the other students had already gathered on the training grounds. Some of them were warming up by practising throwing on some targets, others were just trying to calm down their nerves a little by meditating. That probably wouldn't be going to well, with Ino and Sakura right next to them, arguing again. You'd think that if those girls didn't like the other very much, they would try and avoid each other. This wasn't the case, much to the annoyance of everyone around them.

Nevermind them though, Iruka and Mizuki were walking towards the training ground, happily talking to each other. They both were carrying what looked like some heavy bags. Looks like it was time for the test.

The training ground quieted up, aside from a single student who didn't notice that their teachers had entered the field. That soon stopped though, because after greeting the class, their Senseis started to go through the attendance list. After that, Mizuki said, "All right, here's what's going to happen. We're going to the obstacle course for this test." 'Of course,' Shikamaru thought, 'why can't anything ever be easy.' "Everyone will need to hand in all of their ninja tools. You'll be provided with four kunai, twenty shuriken, and ten metres of metal wire."

Most of the students looked very surprised as Mizuki said this. Naruto was surprised too, but not because of what Mizuki had just said. He was surprised because the other students were so surprised. It's like this was the first time they heard these rules. He looked towards Iruka, who looked right back. Iruka grinned and winked at him. 'Oh,' Naruto thought, 'cool.' He grinned back. Being friends with your teacher was pretty awesome.

"Okay," Mizuki started, "hand in all of your ninja tools, guys. After that, we'll give you a pouch with the mentioned tools, and when that's done, we'll go to the obstacle course."

After every weapon had been handed in, and all tools that students had tried to hide had been confiscated, the group started walking towards the place the test was going to take place.

Chouji was looking very jittery. Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru were trying to calm him down a little, but it didn't seem to help all that much. Chouji would have been less nervous, had the obstacle course not been one of his worst nightmares. There was no good way for him to put that monstrous strength of his to work on a course where speed and agility would be the most important.

They arrived at the obstacle course. The only thing you could see was a three meter high wall. To the sides were trees, because the obstacle course was in the middle of the forest. The course was sort of like a path cut through the forest, so it wasn't very hard to know where you should be going. About a hundred meters to the right was the path where the course ended.

Something was off about the wall though. That something being the rope that normally hung on the first obstacle. When asked about it, their Senseis just gave them a slightly sadistic smile and said, "What, you guys didn't think that it'd be as easy as the last times, did you?" This did nothing to calm Chouji's nerves.

"Who wants to go first?" Mizuki asked. Looks like the students could pick in what order they could go. "Numbers one through five get bonus points!" That was probably to encourage students to go first. And encourage them it did. Sasuke Uchiha immediately said, "I'll go first.", and right after, Naruto yelled, "I'm second!" Ino and Sakura were fighting about who could go third and who would go fourth, while Kiba claimed his place as fifth.

"Okay, Sasuke Uchiha, you're first. There are fifteen targets on the course you'll have to hit. You'll get points for each one you hit. You will also get points for your time on the course, and various other things like how you deal with our surprises. Ready?" Iruka got a cold stare for an answer. "I'll take that as a yes. Go!" Sasuke immediately threw his four kunai at the wall, and jumped on them to get to the top of the wall. When he got to the top by jumping on his kunai, he pulled his hand back, and all the four kunai flew up to his hand. Looks like he had attached metal wire to all four of them. Then he jumped off, and the rest of the students could only wait for the black-haired boy to finish. Everyone walked over to the finish, to wait for him.

The girls were talking about Sasuke, and how awesome he was, while Naruto was talking to Chouji. "Come on, Chouji, calm down a little. It'll be a piece of cake." Chouji was still very nervous, though. "How can I calm down when I don't even think I'll make it past the first obstacle? I don't think I can do what Sasuke just did." He didn't have a lot of faith in himself.

Sasuke could be seen just about to be crossing the finish line.

"Well, I'm up next. Yatta! I'm all psyched up." Naruto said. That was how he left Chouji behind, not feeling any better. Nobody followed Naruto to the start of the obstacle course though, they were listening to Iruka and Mizuki giving Sasuke his score for the test. When they had finished up, they went over to the wall. Naruto was standing excitedly in front of the first obstacle course, with one kunai in each hand. He was waiting for the sign he could go and run the course.

When everyone had arrived at the start of the obstacle course, Iruka gave Naruto the signal to start. "Go!" That was when Naruto jumped towards the wall. When his feet came came off of the ground, you could see he had bound his other two kunai to his feet using his metal wire. He easily scaled the wall, and when he came near the top, he made one last jump, and landed in a handstand on the top of the wall. He cast an upside-down grin towards Chouji, and flipped over the wall.

'Thanks Naruto.' Chouji thought. That would be a very good way for Chouji to use all of his strength in his arms and his legs for the first obstacle. It made him less nervous, if only just a little.

"That looked really weird. Just like a spider climbing a wall." was what Kiba had to add.

When Naruto flipped over the wall, he had to hurriedly unbind the kunai from his feet, while he was still in mid-air, because running with those things under his feet would be a little uncomfortable, to say the least.

When he landed, he had successfully unbound the kunai, and put three back in his pouch. The metal wire he put back too, just in case.

Naruto started running towards the next obstacle, with in one hand a kunai, and in the other a shuriken. It was a little more than a hundred meters. About halfway, a hail of shuriken suddenly came whizzing out of the shrubs. He dodged some of them, and deflected two with the kunai in his right hand.

Five seconds later, he arrived at the next obstacle, which was a giant mudpit. It was about twenty meters long, and Naruto ran straight in it. While he was struggling to keep a good pace through the brown stuff, he was rewarded for his efforts with more shuriken. He dove down into the mud, and let the stars fall around him in the mud. He got up again, now covered in mud, and got out of the pit.

The next obstacle was a tightrope suspended between two poles on each side of a small creek. It was about half a kilometer away from him when he started running again.

He hit three targets with his shuriken, which were hidden in bushes, and another one on a tree branch. When he was about to get to the creek, after he had dodged and deflected some more throwing stars, Naruto could see two stars flying towards the rope. He tried to deflect the two stars in mid-air with his own, but he missed. Thoughts were running through his head, 'What do I do now? If I try and make my own rope-bridge, I'll definitely waste too much time!' A crazy idea suddenly jumped in his head.

He didn't stop running to the creek. Instead he just grabbed all of his metal wire, and knotted the parts he had cut off for his kunai-shoes back to extend the chord just a little bit further. He was just a few steps away from falling in the five-meter wide creek. When he arrived at the side of the creek, he jumped. While he jumped, he threw a kunai with all of his metal wire to the high post on the opposite side of the river. His kunai hit, and Naruto had to climb up his metal wire in mid-air, to prevent him from still falling in the creek.

When he was above solid ground again, he yanked on his metal wire, and his kunai came loose from the post.
He started running again, he still had one obstacle to go through. The course made a sharp turn, and started gaining a slope. There were pits in the ground, covered up with twigs and leaves that would open up once you got near them, there were fake explosive tags Naruto had to jump out of the way of, and more barrages of blunted shuriken were thrown at him. This made it very hard to hit the eleven targets hidden in the bushes. He eventually missed two of his targets because of a fake explosive tag attached to a kunai that was thrown his way. He came to a halt next to a cliff, which he would have to descend off of. Normally there was a rope here too, which you could use to climb down.

He tied his ninja wire around a kunai again, and looped the wire twice through the ring at the end of an other. He stomped the first one in the ground at the top of the cliff, and held the other one in his hand, while he climbed down the cliff as fast as he could.

He was two meters off the ground when he jumped off, not collecting his metal wire this time, because the end of the obstacle course was near. After making another sharp turn, he could see the finish, and all the students in the clearing behind it. He was running as fast as he could, getting excited. He almost got hit by another barrage of blunted shuriken hurled his way, but still narrowly dodged them.

The finish was very close. Naruto was grinning, he'd done it. This run couldn't have gone any better. Just a couple of steps and he would be finished.

Of course, it wasn't that easy. Two logs flew out of the bushes, attached to the trees with some rope.

They were going to smash Naruto to a fine paste between them, if he didn't dodge them. They were relatively high, so rolling underneath them would be the easiest way to dodge them.

But that way would lose him a lot of speed right before the finish. So he jumped as high as he could, over the two logs which had collided with each other underneath him. he could feel the logs brush his jumpsuit underneath him as he flew over them, and over the finish line.

He noticed while he was falling to the ground, that he should have probably tried to make a front flip to land on his feet. Well, it was too late now, because he was lying face-down in the grass over the finish line.

While most of the students were laughing at him, Iruka came up to him and told him, "You did well, Naruto. Better than I had expected." Naruto gave him a grin, still lying on the ground, which Iruka returned.

"All right, your score. You hit thirteen out of fifteen targets. At the rope you missed your opportunity to get over it normally, but you recovered in a way that was faster than actually doing it normally. Your overall speed was good, but not the best, and you did not get hit by any of the shuriken we threw at you, although there were some close calls. All and all, this was an incredibly good run. If we add all of your points together, you get eighty-nine out of a hundred.

Silence.

"Hey bastard, what was your score?" Naruto asked Sasuke. Everybody was staring at Naruto, surprised the dead-last could get such a high score.

"Ninety-six." Dammit.
Naruto didn't look as pleased as he should have with such a good score. He didn't seem to notice the surprised stares he got while he walked back to his firends.

Iruka just sighed at Naruto's behaviour. "Okay, next up is Sakura Haruno."

After the tests were over, and Kiba paid Naruto a hundred Ryo because of his own rather unimpressive score, Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba went to Ichiraku's.

"Do we have to go to Ichiraku's again?" Kiba asked. "I know that they're the best ramen place in town, but there's other food too, you know?" "Arf!" Akamaru agreed with Kiba's statement.

"Shut up dog boy, it's my treat, so don't be such a bitch about it." Naruto answered. "And ramen is the best food in the world! Why wouldn't you want to eat it every day?"

Shikamaru sighed, and before Kiba could get back at Naruto for the 'dog boy' comment, he said, "Just give up, Kiba. You can't win this battle." Chouji agreed with a nod of his head.

"Hey Ayame-neechan! Old man!" Naruto yelled as they walked up to the ramen stand. "I'd like one big bowl of miso ramen to start!" He hadn't even sat down yet, and had already ordered his favourite food. While the others ordered their food, Naruto started talking to his surrogate family behind the counter. "Old man! I got eighty-nine points on my first test!" he boasted.

He was a bit happier about his score now, though he didn't beat Sasuke, he beat every single one of his friends. That made him a little happier, even if it wasn't really a contest.

"That's great, Naruto! You're going to become a fine shinobi, I just know." the old man answered with a smile. He put a bowl of ramen in front of every one of the soon-to-be shinobi, and then turned around again to prepare the second big bowl of miso that would soon be ordered.

"How did you even do that, Naruto? I thought you were a loser like us." Shikamaru said. Chouji nodded, while Kiba pretended to ignore the comment, he still had some self-respect left.

"How? I'm just that awesome, Shikamaru!" was the blond's intelligent reply. Shikamaru just face-palmed and went back to eating. "Just forget it, troublesome blonde." Shikamaru mumbled.

When they were done eating (even Chouji and Naruto, who ate about five big bowls each) Naruto paid, just like he promised, and they all went their separate ways.

"See you tomorrow guys!" Naruto yelled to the other three. They waved at him and shouted a goodbye in return.

When Naruto got back to his apartment complex, he made sure to let his landlord know you didn't mess with Naruto Uzumaki. He went back to his (now not scorchingly hot) apartment, and watched some TV before he went to sleep.

Maybe he hadn't beaten his rival, maybe he hadn't asked his crush out, but still.

Today was a good day.

Author's notes:

Not much to add, really. I'm not sure about the part with the obstacle course, but I think the chapter went pretty well. A bit short, but I think the next will be a bit longer.

See ya.