Hey guys, welcome back. Firestr2 here. In the previous chapter you'll have noticed a slight deviation from canon Naruto. I was completely serious when I mentioned in my summary that this would be a strong Naruto and I mean it! XD But anyway, this is where things really start to take a different path from the canon route. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: The Way of the Ninja

Time Skip: 6 years later; Academy Graduation Exam Day

An alarm clock rang signaling 7:00 am. After a couple of rings a fist came crashing down on top of the dismiss button, throwing the room into an uneasy silence. Naruto, with much disappointment at having to get up, groaned as he rolled out of bed.

"Ugh… I hate morni— oh wait! It's graduation day! I've got to get ready!"

And with that, Naruto quickly showered, got dressed in his now normal shinobi attire and ate breakfast before preparing to leave. As he was leaving, he grabbed his twin chokuto blades and strapped them behind his back in a crossing pattern. While doing so, he quickly remembered how it is that he came by them.

[Flashback]

Naruto, now 11 years old, was currently at training ground 23 working on his basics after a grueling training session that he had already completed. At this point he was working on his flexibility and chakra control using the leaf balancing exercise that had become so essential in his everyday routine. With his stamina at the level it was at, he could run around the entire perimeter of Konoha without even being slightly winded. He knew that his stamina was unnatural but that didn't mean that he didn't want to work on it at all; after all, a ninja that can outlast his enemy, wins the battle. Naruto polished off his workout for the day with a little bit of meditation to focus on his chakra network and truly understand how it moves and flows inside of his body. Every now and then, he would attempt to pulse his chakra out of a specific part of his body so he would be able to use chakra from any part of his body when the need arose. Naruto came up with this idea after modeling it after the concept of a child unlocking his chakra, where one would focus inside of his body to 'feel' out his chakra before accessing it. He knew that his exercise would be considered revolutionary, but he did not go out of his way to share it with anyone, not even his grandfather figure, out of fear of everyone around him growing even more hateful of him. He was still not aware of the real reason why everyone seemed to hate him, but was so used to that kind of judgment that he no longer noticed it himself.

It was after about twenty minutes of meditation and chakra pulsing, as he had come to call it. Naruto stood up and worked out some of the kinks in his muscles before walking off to head home. As he was walking towards the edge of the clearing, he thought he heard the sounds of fighting in the distance. Curious, Naruto changed paths and slowly made his way towards the noise that he had heard. After a couple minutes of walking, Naruto stopped at the edge of another training ground and widened his eyes at what he was seeing.

Weapons. Everywhere Naruto looked, there were weapons strewn along the entire clearing. In the middle of the clearing surrounded by the immense amount of weapons was a girl wearing her hitai-ate as a blindfold, who looked about a year older than Naruto himself, trying extremely hard to catch her breath. She had brown hair that was pulled up into two buns giving her a very innocent look. She was wearing a Chinese fashioned pink shirt and baggy pants that allowed for more flexibility in movement without giving away clues of movement. Surrounding her immediate area was three rolled out scrolls with a bunch of kanji that Naruto didn't understand.

"Hey, there! I'm Uzuma—ACK!" Naruto flinched in shock as he quickly moved out of the way of a trio of kunai that came close to ending his short adolescent life.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR, HUH?!" Naruto raged.

The girl lifted her hitai-ate allowing her to view the training ground around her and spotted a blond boy around her age holding a very defensive pose with one leg lifted in the air crossing his body and his arms crossed in front of his face. Her face blushed slightly in embarrassment once she realized what had happened.

"Oh my Kami, I'm so sorry, I've been working on my throwing technique without sight and heard your voice and immediately reacted." The girl explained while bowing to the newcomer as Naruto's eyes blink in realization.

"Oh. You were training? That's cool, no worries. I probably would've done the same thing if someone interrupted my training as well." Naruto said as he shrugged off the situation.

'Huh? He already forgave me? That was quick, he's definitely not like Neji at all if that's the case. Not too bad on the eyes either.' Thought the girl in bewilderment.

"Well, anyways, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, what's your name?" Naruto changed topics as the girl quickly rushed to answer forgetting her previous thought.

"H-Higurashi Tenten." Tenten introduced herself to the blond embarrassed by her previous train of thinking.

"Well, like I was saying, I'm terribly sorry about what happened. I wonder how I can make it up to you." Pondered Tenten as she attempted to figure how to appease Naruto to apologize for the situation. Naruto began to wave her off as a lightbulb went off in Tenten's mind at finding a solution to the circumstance.

"Mah, mah, it's oka—" Tenten cut Naruto off.

"I GOT IT! Do you carry a weapon, Naruto?" Tenten asked.

"…Well, I carry kunai, shuriken, and ninja wire if that's what you mean." Naruto spoke.

"No, no, I mean like an actual weapon that you have to take care of and keep by your side." Tenten interjected.

"Hmmm… well I've always thought that you have to keep your shinobi equipment in good condition." Naruto trailed off. Tenten face palmed in annoyance muttering under her breath something about blonds and idiots. Suddenly, Tenten perked up and asked Naruto.

"Okay, really quickly. Can you grab a kunai in your dominant hand for me?" Naruto obliged, curious about what the bun-haired girl was going to do, palming a kunai in both hands.

"Huh? I said your dominant hand, Naruto."

"Yeah, but I've always been comfortable with using both of my hands, it comes natural to me." Explained Naruto.

'So he's ambidextrous, huh? That's definitely helpful in our line of work.' Tenten intoned to herself approvingly.

*poof*

A single edged katana appeared in Tenten's hands as she quickly took a stance.

"Defend yourself, Naruto!" Tenten rushed in preparing an overhead strike.

Naruto's eyes widened at what was happening and quickly brought both kunai in his hands in a cross to block the overhead strike. However, just as soon as the impromptu attack began, it was over as Tenten's katana once again disappeared with a poof.

"Okay, I figured it out, you reacted perfectly for one type of weapon, the chokuto. However, because of your ambidextrous capabilities, it would be better to have two, one for each hand, instead of only one.

*poof*

*poof*

Two identical swords appeared in Tenten's hands as she held them out to Naruto.

"Here, these should be a perfect fit for you, I tend to have a really good eye for this kind of thing." Naruto took the two chokuto swords gingerly, noticing how well balanced they were and how light they felt in his hands.

"A-are you sure, Tenten? These must have cost you a fortune to get." Naruto asked nervously.

"Of course I am, silly! I almost killed you back there and this is the only way I can think of making it up to you. Go on, take it. I can easily get more at the shop my father and I run." Tenten waved off Naruto's concern.

"O-okay, I'll take it then. Thanks, Ten-chan!" Naruto chirped, smiling brightly as Tenten's cheeks dusted with a little pink.

"T-Ten-chan?! Why did you call me that?" She asked in bewilderment.

"Well, because no one has ever done anything like this for me before. So thank you, seriously, from the bottom of my heart." Naruto said as he pulled Tenten into a hug. When he released the girl from the hug, he noticed that her face was completely flushed red.

"Oi, Ten-chan, are you okay? You're not sick or anything, are you?" Naruto asked in concern as he placed his hand onto Tenten's forehead as Tenten started spluttering.

"B-baka! Don't ask me such questions! Just get out of here, I have to continue training." Tenten nearly shouted in embarrassment before turning away in a show of defiance.

"Okay, if you say so. For the record, from what I can see, I think you're a fantastic kunoichi and will only get better as time goes on! So I want to spar with you at some time down the road!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly as Tenten's eyes widened momentarily as she suddenly spun around to the mysterious blond who was currently walking away.

"Naruto!" Said blond glanced back over his shoulder back at Tenten as he waited for her question.

"Do you even know how to use your new swords?" Tenten asked curiously.

Naruto face faulted in embarrassment before turning around and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Eh heh, no, Ten-chan. I uh actually don't really know how to wield these." He said. Tenten then addressed him again.

"Well then, why don't you come back here tomorrow at the same time and I'll show you some pointers and you can start developing your own style from there?" Tenten asked expectantly.

"Definitely, Ten-chan! I would love to! I'll see you tomorrow then!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder as he ran out of the clearing.

[Flashback End]

Naruto grinned thinking about all of the training he had done since that point last year with Tenten. He knew that he was much stronger than he used to be with how he was constantly striving to get better. After all, his goal was to be hokage. With that thought in mind, Naruto opened his front door and left to go take on the academy exams.

At the Academy

Naruto arrived at the Academy building with minutes to spare after deciding to take his time and walk through the streets of the village. Walking in to his classroom, he immediately recognized all of his classmates, however like Shikamaru said all those years ago, some of them did nothing to interest him and consequently led to Naruto not knowing all of the names of those in the class, instead narrowing it down to just the clan heirs, clan member (Kiba), and the only impressive civilian, Sakura. Passing the aisles leading to his seat next to his best friend Shikamaru Nara, he nodded to his fellow classmates as he passed by them. After sitting down, Naruto decided to take a page out of his friend's book, Shikamaru, and leaned back on his chair with his eyes closed to get some shut eye before the start of the exams.

"HA! I beat you to the classroom again, Forehead!" a certain Yamanaka Ino shouted as she and her competition both ran through the doorway.

"AS IF, INO-PIG. There's no way a pig like you could ever beat me in a race!" Screeched Sakura as both girls ended up flopping to the floor in a sprawled mess.

…Or try to get some shut eye.

Naruto cracked an eye open and glanced down at whatever it was that was causing the ruckus. Faster than the eye could track, two shuriken had the blonde and pink fangirls pinned to the ground immobilizing them in their positions. The room went silent as everyone figured out who threw the projectiles.

"You're being loud again Ino, Sakura. What have I told you about the noise?" Lectured Naruto to the two fangirls. Sakura sighed while Ino went red with embarrassment.

"To be loud is unbecoming of a shinobi and will lead to our death," complied Sakura. Naruto smirked.

"Well, since you two seem to have learned your lesson, I'll let you both off easy this time." Replied Naruto as he pulled on his hands causing near invisible ninja wire attached to both shuriken to pull the deadly throwing stars out of the kunoichi in training's clothes as they gracefully fell into Naruto's palm who slipped them back into his holster.

Just as Naruto was finished cleaning up after himself, the door opened as an unrecognized person walked through the door.

"Alright you runts! Sit down and shut up! Your normal sensei, Iruka, is having an off day and will not be able to perform the graduation exams. Hence, I will be taking over for him and his assistant, Mizuki, who already had plans for today and received explicit permission to not attend the exams. My name is Morino Ibiki, and as of right now, I own your asses!" Boomed the temporary instructor as he released a little bit of killing intent (A/N: K.I. from now on) causing the class to freeze up.

"Today, we will be going through a number of different tests. I will only repeat myself only once. Failure to comply will result in the immediate failure of that portion of the exam. You are all genin wannabes and I will not have insubordination while I am in charge and neither will your prospective jounin-senseis. Got it?" Ibiki thundered as he released his K.I. in order to let some of the students respond with definitive nods.

"Good. Now, pay attention! Today, you all will be going through four different exams to prove your worth as shinobi of the hidden leaf. To pass, you must all pass at least three of the four exams with the ninjutsu portion being absolutely necessary. The first portion will be a written test, testing you on the knowledge of the shinobi handbook, the history of the leaf village, and your knowledge on how to survive in different scenarios. You will notice that most of these questions have more than one 'correct' option, however, the point is not to choose any of the correct choices but to choose the BEST of the correct choices. Cheating will result in automatic failure. There are one-hundred multiple choice questions. You have one hour. Any questions?"

Two students raised their hands hoping to have some of their confusion cleared up. Unfortunately for them, Ibiki was not in the mood to tolerate questions.

"Daibo, Rei! Both of you fail! I already clarified that I would not repeat myself. Leave the classroom and join us during the next portion of the exam!" Mortified, the two students ran from the classroom unable to hold their emotions in.

"Any other questions?" Ibiki glowered.

The rest of the classroom remained silent. Ibiki nodded.

BEGIN!" Ibiki turned away from the class to note the time and as the second hand stroke the sixty second mark, Ibiki released the genjutsu he had on all of the tests causing them all to appear at once. In shock, the whole class scrambled to get started on the test.

Naruto was impressed by the immediate authority that Ibiki was able to command simply through his words and presence and immediately turned his attention towards the test when it appeared, reading the first question in his head.

*Who was the Shodaime Hokage?*

'Heh, that's easy, I know this one. A hokage has to know who his predecessors were any way.' Intoned Naruto until he looked at the answer choices.

*Tobirama Senju*

*Madara Uchiha*

*Mito Uzumaki*

*Hiruzen Sarutobi*

'WHAAT!? None of these are correct! How am I supposed to answer this one? Whatever, I'll just cross of this one and write down the correct answer as another choice and circle that one.'

Ibiki smirked as he could almost hear the frustrations and anger of the students taking the test.

(30 Minutes Later)

Having completed the written exam, Naruto put his pencil down and decided to catch up on the sleep that he missed out on earlier.

"Okay, pencils down runts. Start handing in your exams." Ibiki's voice rang throughout the room.

"What?! But we still have five minutes left! You said we had a full hour!" Came the cry of one very distraught civilian shinobi wannabe.

"If you haven't finished by now, you won't be finished in five minutes. By the way, Taro! Fail! I already told you guys that insubordination would not be tolerated and you just went against my word! Hand in your test and go step outside." Ibiki roared as he took Taro's test and ripped it in two halves before burning it in his palm with a low level fire jutsu.

"The rest of you all automatically pass the written portion of the academy graduation exams!"

"Huh? Then what was the point of all the questions if you're not going to even grade it?" A furious Kiba spat. Ibiki chuckled.

"The point of the test was to see how strong your resolve was to follow direct orders from a higher up, and you all performed admirably, even when the task was made to be difficult. Now follow me, we will meet back up with your three classmates and begin the throwing portion of the exam." Ibiki called as he quickly turned on his heel and walked out of the room. For a few seconds, the class just stared wondering what had happened before they all started scrambling around to follow Ibiki.

Outside at the training posts and dummies, Ibiki turned to face the class.

"Alright, welcome to the second portion of the exam. Shurikenjutsu. In this exam, each student will throw five kunai followed by five shuriken. You will be scored by how close you got to the target on the training posts or the dummies. You do not have to throw at both the post and the dummy, you can choose one or the other. All throws will be performed as a draw from your kunai or shuriken pouch. Points will be deducted for incomplete throws, hesitation, or failure to hit the target. In order to pass, each student needs to score at least a six out of ten. I believe that is too generous, but I am going by the book on this one. We will go in alphabetical order. Prepare yourself!" Explained the scarred tokubetsu-jounin.

Naruto watched the first couple students throw before he got bored and began to think about how he was going to approach the throwing portion of the exam. Just as he was about to complete his plan, however, he was jolted from the thought by the sound of Ibiki's voice.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you're up!" Naruto responded by stepping up to the line and taking a deep breath. After calming his heart rate, he focused on the target as his fingers itched towards his kunai pouch. A second later five quick thunk sounds filled the clearing followed by five more thunks by his shuriken being thrown. Standing upright to look at his efforts, Naruto smiled to see what he wanted to see. 'Yes! Looks like my training with Ten-chan really paid off!' Naruto thought excitedly.

"HA! Look, Naruto didn't hit any of the targets, Ibiki-sensei! That's a zero out of ten. What a loser." Came the cry of one of the other students who had been watching. It was at this moment that Naruto decided to put his plan into action.

"Morino-san, before you take down my grade, I would like to direct your attention to the exact placement of all of my throwing weapons, if you would please." Ibiki, intrigued by the youngster's tenacity, decided to indulge his curiosity and examined the training dummy that Naruto had thrown at until his eyes widened.

'Incredible! Every kunai and shuriken hit an instant kill area and he looks smug while doing it. Hah! Maybe what I say next will teach these brats the importance of going above and beyond the task given to you.'

"Naruto Uzumaki, 12 out of 10 points. Congratulations, that is the highest grade for today so far and you have tied the record set by none other than the Yondaime Hokage." Assessed Ibiki.

"HUH?! How did he get extra points? Shouldn't he have gotten zero points? He didn't hit any of the targets!" Came the same voice from earlier. Ibiki sighed.

"Can any of you tell me why I gave Uzumaki-san extra points?" Ibiki questioned the class.

No one responded as Ibiki face palmed and growled.

"I awarded Uzumaki-san 2 extra points because instead of just following orders, he went above and beyond and sent his shuriken and kunai at kill points instead of just the targets which would result in a mere wound where the enemy shinobi could potentially survive the encounter. Moving on! Yamanaka Ino! You're next!

Ino stepped up and started throwing and by the end of the session had earned herself a seven out of ten for a grade.

"Alright gakis, follow me and we'll get started on the taijutsu portion of the exams." Commanded Ibiki as the rest of the class followed.

Stopping at the taijutsu ring, Ibiki stepped inside before addressing the examinees.

"Now for the third part of the exam. As shinobi, it is expected for all of you to be able to handle yourselves in the heat of combat. Taijutsu is the most common form of attack used by ninja everywhere and there will always be someone better than you in this world. Regardless of how you perform today, I expect each and every one of you to continue training your taijutsu practices every day, striving to be better than the day prior." Lectured Ibiki to the now wide-eyed class. Noticing that he had everyone's full attention, Ibiki chuckled.

"The way this portion of the exam will proceed is I will be calling any two names at random and both participants will step into the ring for a taijutsu match. Anything goes, the only thing I expect is no killing blows and no ninja tools, everyone should be able to fight without having to resort to killing every time, this style of fighting can be used for when you need to take someone out to extract information from, or to extract a VIP without a struggle. The way to win is by knocking your opponent unconscious or by forcing your opponent out of the ring. First two contestants, Haruno Sakura and Kaito Kawasaki, you're up!" Ibiki elaborated while starting the exam without wasting any time at all.

Meanwhile, Naruto, after hearing the names of the first two fighters, blocked out the seemingly boring fight as he began to ponder how he was going to approach the exams.

'Hmmm, based on what Ten-chan told me the other day, it's vital to a shinobi's survival to always have an ace up there sleeve. I'm pretty sure that she means that I should never reveal all of my techniques or strengths at any given time. That means that I probably shouldn't use THAT taijutsu form. No matter, I've practiced with the academy taijutsu style to use it in conjunction with what everyone else already knows about me.'

Shikamaru, noticing his friends zoned out behavior, decided to snap his favorite, least troublesome blond out of his funk.

"Naruto, I know it's bothersome for me to say this, especially because you're one of the strongest in this class, but try not to take these exams to seriously. You'll have white hair before you even become a genin." Shikamaru drawled lazily. At this, Naruto grinned cheekily.

"Sorry Shika, was it that obvious? I was just trying to get a feel for how this exam works and how I'm going to approach it." Naruto quickly responded. Shikamaru groaned.

"Why do you insist on doing these things? I would much rather be relaxing right now instead of gearing up for a fight." Naruto laughed.

"Man, have you always been this lazy?" Naruto quipped as Shikamaru glared in response, "But seriously, that's why you're my best friend, dude. You balance me out. Whenever I go overboard, you tend to be right there telling me to relax and not be so 'troublesome.' Naruto poked fun at Shikamaru's favorite word because he knew that it was Shikamaru's way of cursing without having to actually do the action.

"Whatever," Shikamaru droned, "this whole thing is such a drag anyways, all of know exactly who's going to pass anyways, it's not a secret or anything. Anyone with a brain could have figured it out, is all I'm saying."

"Yeah, well... whatever Shika. I'm not going to 'take this easy' as you put it. I'd rather be completely prepared then go in blind." Naruto retorted.

"You know, there's a saying that 'those who attempt to prepare for everything always forget the one that works." Spoke Shikamaru sagely.

Naruto nodded. "Of course, yeah, that makes sense. After all, it is impossible to prepare for everything. But what I'm doing isn't preparing for everything around me, but preparing myself for this exam." Shikamaru snorted.

"I still don't understand what you're preparing yourself for though. That's my point."

"Uzumaki Naruto, Shikamaru Nara! Front and center!" Came the booming voice of Ibiki.

Naruto and Shikamaru both turned to face each other. Naruto shrugged as he asked,

"No hard feelings regardless of the outcome?

"Sure thing, Naruto." Came Shikamaru's reply.

Both fighters stepped out into the ring as Ibiki mentioned the rules of the spar once again.

"Are you both ready?" Ibiki questioned.

A firm nod came from both participants as they squared their shoulders and got into their respective stances. Taking their stances as being ready for the fight to begin, Ibiki nodded.

"Hajime!"

Before the fight could even begin, Shikamaru immediately bent down on one knee with his hands in the ram sign.

"Kagemane no Jutsu success." Came the lazy sound of Shikamaru's voice.

Ibiki immediately face faulted.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, GAKI?!" Ibiki roared. Shikamaru sighed.

"It doesn't matter. Regardless of how I approach this fight, there is no possible way that I could ever reach Naruto's taijutsu prowess or his stamina. I was at a disadvantage as soon as my name was called. Ibiki-san, I forfeit my match and my exam ticket for this portion of the exams." Shikamaru intelligently explained.

Ibiki started muttering darkly under his breath something about damn Naras and their laziness and how they can shove it where the sun don't shine.

"Alright, moving on. Uzumaki, you pass the taijutsu portion by default it would seem." Ibiki mentioned.

The rest of the fights occurred between civilian academy students and passed by rather quickly without incident. After all of the fighting and judging was done, Ibiki led the students back inside for the ninjutsu exam.

"Alright, now begins the ninjutsu part of the exam, the way this will go is I will call you up in alphabetical order and you will come to the back room where you will perform the henge jutsu, the kawarimi jutsu, and the bunshin jutsu in that order. Failure to complete any of these basic jutsus will result in immediate failure and because I said that this portion was mandatory, if you fail, you will be held back until the next time the graduation exams occur. Understood?" Growled Ibiki.

"Haaai." Came the drawn out response of the class.

"Perfect. I hope I am understood when I say that I do not want this part to take very long. I still would like to get back to my normal job of tort— eh, interrogating people for information at the IT Department." Ibiki mentioned to the class, releasing a little bit of his K.I. to get his point across.

"Aburame Shino, you're up first." Called Ibiki as the rather quiet and reserved bug-fanatic walked down the aisle towards the back room to perform the academy three jutsus.

Naruto, being the person he is, once again zoned out as he began to think about all of the trouble that he had learning the clone jutsu. Even now, he still was unable to perform the clone jutsu one-hundred percent of the time. About seventy-five percent of the time he was able to create a normal bunshin, but that last twenty-five percent always left a pale and useless clone of Naruto on the ground; regardless of how useless Naruto actually thought the bunshin no jutsu was compared to the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, or any other style of clone out there. Unwilling to even consider taking the risk of using the normal bunshin no jutsu, Naruto decided then and there to use shadow clones as a replacement technique and as he came to this decision, he quietly remembered how it was that he came across that technique.

[Flashback: 6 Months Ago]

Naruto had just gotten off of a grueling training session with Tenten and was currently walking back to his apartment on the other side of Konoha. As he was passing a training ground, he noticed a shinobi off in the distance that was training. Vying to get closer without being spotted, Naruto slowly crept forward to the edge of the clearing but before he could even get comfortable, the shinobi he was watching stiffened.

"Come on out, I know you're there." Came the scruffy voice of the shinobi.

Naruto, knowing the jig was up came out of the bushes fully and walked up to the shinobi. Upon closer inspection, he realized that this 'shinobi' he was watching was actually a jounin of Konoha. The first thing he noticed was the trail of smoke coming from a cigarette hanging from the jounin's mouth. Finally deciding to take in the man's appearance, Naruto moved on from the dubbed 'cancer stick.' The man had spiky black hair that leaned just ever so slightly of which was propped up by his Konoha hitai-ate. He had a full on chin strap beard that seemed to be kept properly trimmed and groomed. For his attire he wore the classic blue long sleeved shirt, green flak jacket combo, but changed it up a little by taping both upper arms just underneath the red swirl on his shirt. He had his sleeves rolled up partially and wore a wristband on both arms. He was also wearing the standard issue shinobi pants, with the ankles tied off with tape however, this man added his own flair by having a cloth tied around his waist with the kanji for 'Fire' on it. Overall, Naruto definitely approved of the man's appearance.

"What's this? A little shinobi in training attempting to spy on me?" the man sighed, "And the whole point of me coming this far out was so that this exact situation wouldn't happen." The jounin continued. Naruto's eyes widened slightly in realization.

"Ano, gomenasai, Shinobi-san. I really was just walking back home from training when I noticed you and decided to watch to see if there was anything at all that I could learn from you." Naruto apologized to the man as the smoker narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"Say, what's your name? I could've sworn I've seen you before." The jounin questioned Naruto.

"Heh, Uzumaki Naruto, future hokage, dattebayo!" Naruto nearly stumbled over his words in his excitement to introduce himself.

"Maelstrom, eh? Good name, powerful too. And you look like you don't slouch around when it comes to training either. Good on you, kid. The name's Asuma. Sarutobi Asuma." He replied.

Naruto's eyes lit up as he made the connection, "Oi! Are you related to Hokage-jiji by chance? I mean, you two do have the same last name." Naruto trailed off, suddenly unsure of what he was asking while Asuma chuckled.

"Yeah, the hokage is my old man. Why does it matter, kid?"

"Because I'm the one who's gonna take the old man's hat! That's why!" Naruto shouted, "I'm going to be the greatest hokage there ever was, just watch!"

"Oh? So you're the one that my father has taken such an interest in? Alright, since you're here, why don't I give you a few tips to help further along your ninja career?" Asuma indulged the boy.

"Uh, Asuma-san, can I actually ask a favor instead?" Naruto questioned nervously.

"Hmm? Sure, why not. Shoot." Responded Asuma.

Naruto hung his head and shifted his feet nervously as he mumbled something Asuma couldn't quite pick up.

"Huh? Speak up kid, you're talking to me, not the ground." Naruto shifted again but spoke up this time.

"I was wondering if you could help me with my clone technique. I can't seem to make a proper clone no matter how hard I train or no matter how much chakra I'm putting into it." Naruto explained as he shied away expecting an immediate rejection.

"Sure, I'll help. I've got time." Came Asuma's acceptance. Naruto's eyes widened.

"Really?! For real? You'll help me?" Fired off Naruto, only to be hit on the head by a rather large fist.

"Yes, but only if you can be patient. Now why don't you go ahead and try to perform the clone jutsu for me so I can see what exactly is going on." Requested Asuma.

"Okay!" came Naruto's response as he held the ram sign. "Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A dead looking clone popped up next to Naruto as Asuma's eye widened considerably.

'Holy Kami! He put so much chakra into that I could almost see it pouring out of him! No wonder he can't perform the jutsu, he overloads it so much to the point where instead of it being a stronger version of the clone, it ends up making It even more useless than the jutsu already was!' Theorized Asuma. 'I can't believe something even popped up with how much chakra he used. This also means that he has no where near the amount of chakra control necessary to even remotely come close to performing such a basic technique." Asuma summarized.

"Alright, forget about the clone jutsu for now. In my opinion, it's a useless jutsu that just gives the understanding of the knowledge behind more powerful versions of other clone variants." Asuma began.

"But, if I don't get this down and forget about it, how can I pass the academy exams? I need it to pass, Asuma-san!" A frustrated Naruto began to pout.

"Woah, relax kid. I'm not going to help you out with it because right now it is outside of your grasp to perform. Instead I'm going to give you a better clone variant that I think would suit your style more." Asuma quickly assuaged the frantic shinobi-in-training. "It's called the "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

"Shadow clone technique? Wow, that sounds awesome! Jiji better watch out cause I'm gonna take his hat sooner than he thinks!" Shouted Naruto, who at this point was nearly jumping around the clearing with how excited he was to learn a new technique as Asuma roared with laughter.

"Settle down gaki." Asuma started as Naruto immediately stopped and began paying attention. "Alright, so the hand for the jutsu is this…"

(2 Hours Later)

Asuma stared at the young boy in disbelief. In just one measly hour, Naruto had managed to not only learn, but seemingly master the shadow clone technique, a B-rank technique. In an hour! But not only that, after learning that, Naruto immediately began working on it's A-rank counterpart, the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique or the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and had that down within the hour as well!

'Unbelievable. This kid just learned a B-rank and an A-rank jutsu in not just one day, but two hours, TWO! Although now, whenever he mentions his dream of Hokage, it doesn't really seem to be a child's dream anymore but a goal for him. I'm actually extremely curious to see just how far he can go.' Asuma thought to himself.

"Alright, Naruto. You've got the jutsu down, now how about your get some real time experience with it? Let's have a spar so you can get used to using the technique at full speed combat!" Asuma challenged the young blond.

"Heh, you asked for it, Asuma-sensei!" Yelled Naruto as he quickly created twenty clones who all unsheathed their twin chokuto and charged with a war cry.

'Asuma-sensei, huh? Well, what do you know, I kind of like the sound of that.' Thought the Sarutobi as he pulled out his dual chakra blades and rushed in to meet the clones head on with a smirk on his face.

[Flashback End]

Naruto proudly remembered that event as a thought quickly flitted through his mind. 'I'm finally doing it, Jiji. It may be slow, but it's progress nonetheless. I'm slowly changing how the people of Konoha think of me.' Naruto beamed.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" With his spirits high, Naruto went to the back room and prepared to take the last step before becoming a full-fledged genin.

"Alright Uzumaki, front and center. I want the henge, followed by the kawarimi and finally the bunshin techniques. When you're ready." Ibiki ordered as Naruto smirked.

"Henge!" Came Naruto's cry and as the smoke cleared away, it revealed a perfect replica of Ibiki Morino himself.

"Impressive, I can't detect a flaw anywhere and it's my own body. Good work. Next!" Barked Ibiki.

Naruto quickly glanced around the room and found a chair to replace himself with, "Kawarimi no Jutsu!" Naruto cried out as he puffed away in a cloud of smoke revealing the chair he had looked at just previously and as Naruto appeared next to the desk where the chair used to be.

"Excellent, minimal chakra wasted. A good effort. Clone technique, begin!" Ibiki watched as Naruto made a very familiar hand sign but just before he could reach out and stop him, Naruto smirked.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ten clones popped out of nothingness and all stood there looking smugly at the evaluator.

'Just what the hell is this kid? He passed all of the exams with flying colors and then he just throws in a B-rank technique to boot? He's definitely going to go far.' Ibiki thought to himself while still floored by just how much talent this kid had. 'He's not even fucking winded?!' Questioned Ibiki to himself before he shook himself out of his stupor.

"Congrats, gaki! You're an official genin level ninja of Konohagakure. You've earned your headband. Come and get it." Praised Ibiki as he realized just how little amount of praise he normally ever gave out.

"YATTA!" Came the excited voice of one Uzumaki Naruto.

'Then again, he still is just a kid.' Ibiki bemused.

Hope you enjoyed that chapter! I really thought it would be interesting to have a no nonsense shinobi like Ibiki proctor the academy exams and give the students a small taste of the real world. Anyway, I would love to see some reviews, just anything that you would like to point out to me, or any suggestions you could make to help make my writing style even better! Thanks guys, until next time!

Ja ne!