Chapter 5

Final Examination

Music

Battle Ignition; Bleach OST, On the Precipice of Defeat; Bleach OST

3 Years Later

A swing of his sword didn't seem like much of a problem to Naruto. He had blocked, parried and countered that simple offensive technique hundreds of times in Zanjutsu training from both students and lecturers.

The difference this time was that his sparring partner was not a fellow student, or one of his swordsmanship lecturers at the academy. His opponent was the 3rd Seated Officer of 2nd Company, Commander of the Detention Squad of the Onmitsukidō and generally one of the deadliest Shinigami Naruto knew. His opponent was Kisuke Urahara.

When Naruto raised his Zanpakuto to block Kisuke's swing the power behind it sent him skidding back a few centimeters. He felt everything in the second it took, the quiet squeal of his sword, the grinding of his teeth, the strain on his arms, everything.

He lasted for another three strikes before one hit with such momentum made him lose grip of his katana. The sword went spinning into the air, stabbing into the tiled floor of the Shihoin mansions interior training grounds.

In any normal spar this match would have ended, but Naruto knew better. He dived to his right, missing a downward swing from his opponents Zanpakuto, the sword cut into the tile where he once stood, slicing through it with scary ease. Within a steady breath Naruto rolled across the floor, grabbed the hilt of his Zanpakuto, pulled it from the ground and fell into a basic defensive stance.

"My, my" Kisuke chided as he pulled his sword from the floor "You lasted three minutes twenty six seconds that time…you have improved"

Naruto didn't feel any sense of pride for the compliment, his breath was coming in gasps, his muscles ached, and he was covered in sweat. He had been training with Kisuke on and off for three straight days, with just enough rest time to sleep and eat. Urahara had warned Naruto that his training sessions were tough, but he never bargained for anything like this.

"What are you…trying to…do" Naruto gasped, taking in a huge gulp of air "Kill me!"

"You got it" his teacher replied, approaching him "You're Kido is excellent, you excel at Hand-to-Hand combat, but out of it all you suck at Zanjutsu. That's why you came to me and this is how I teach"

He stabbed out with his sword and Naruto barely had enough time to parry it, he heard the scrapping as the two blades screeched. He pushed out, throwing his teachers sword aside and swung for a killing stroke. Urahara's movements after that didn't register to his senses. One second his face was on a collision course with the tip of his Zanpakuto, the next his head bobbed to the side and all that Naruto's blade cut through was an afterimage.

"You used my own momentum against me" Kisuke said with a small smile, and then lashed out with his own Zanpakuto. Naruto threw himself back, the tip of the blade nicking his grey training shirt "And you're reflexes are better as well"

He skidded back several feet and fell to a knee, his breath coming and going in shrill gasps.

"Get up Naruto-kun" Kisuke said, his eyes as hard as diamonds "We're no where near finished yet"

------

Sakura bent over, starring into the face of her closest friend, a face whose eyes were closed, a gentle snoring could be heard. She groaned and, reaching out with her free hand flicked him on the forehead, he slowly tweaked open his eyes, groaned and closed them again.

The next flick sent his head snapping back, this time he awoke with a throbbing headache not unlike that of a hangover. He reeled forward and looked into a pair of fierce green eyes, which softened upon seeing the dark bags under his sapphire orbs.

"You've been training again"

He nodded.

"How long"

He raised his hand, showing all four fingers and a thumb.

"Five days" she asked in disbelief.

He raised his other hand, once again prominently showing all four fingers and a thumb.

"Ten days"

He nodded.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed" she asked.

"I'm a month behind on Zanjutsu training Sakura-chan" Naruto spoke up "If I don't pass then I won't make it to second year"

"Then do better on your other classes" Sakura replied in a shrill tone "You're Kido is one of the best in the entire class, your hand to hand is the best in the class"

"My trainer is Urahara"

She reeled back, starring at him "The Kisuke Urahara"

"Yes" he replied "I'm already better than I was before"

"That will mean little to nothing if you can't even stand up straight" she growled back.

A wry smile appeared on his face "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were worried about me"

"Of course I am you idiot"

Naruto was about to muster a reply, but stopped and slumped back into his chair. She leaned forward, crossed her arms across the table and buried her head into them with a sigh of irritation.

"You know Sakura-chan" he started "You're cute when you're angry"

She tilted her head to face him, her green eyes all that could be seen through her mess of pink hair "Usually when I'm angry you end up punched through a wall"

"Not that type of angry" he smirked, leaning back with his elbows "That's terrifying"

She reached out with her right hand and poked him on the forehead "Just don't push yourself too hard okay?"

He raised his hand across his forehead in a mock salute "Yes ma'am"

------

The clearing was the perfect place to train, surrounded on all sides by high pine trees with the only way in a barely used mountainous trail.

Temari backed up a step, moving her body so smoothly that it was hard to believe that she was moving at all. Every swipe and stroke of her opponent's sword was dodged with such finesse that it seemed like she was a master dancer performing on a stage, minutes went by and she had barely made an offensive action.

Out of their entire class the best swordsman was always Temari. She had the natural talent for it and as the years went by that talent was nurtured into pure skill. No other student was in her league, some of the lecturers were no match for her. That was the reason why Naruto was fighting her.

He was drenched in sweat from his exertions, his breathing was ragged and his chest was heaving. Temari moved fluently, she spun at a downward stroke, missing the blade. This was followed by a quick low level sweep which she jumped over, spinning in midair and landing on her feet to his left.

She countered with a quick stab from her sword. He took a step back, bringing his sword up to deflect the blade, metal scrapped against metal, sending sparks flying. She retracted her blade and took three fluid steps back, which he followed, attacking her with her sword again and again. All the while she had a serene smile which never broke.

Before he knew it his sword flew from his grasp, and he was thrown to the floor, a blade held against his throat. Temari kept it there for a few moments before retracting and sheathing her Zanpakuto.

"Better" she stated, grabbing his hand and helping him too his feet "But you should never let down your guard, doesn't matter how long the fight goes on for"

"I got it" he said, rubbing his neck.

"You need to sharpen up" she then smirked "But you're getting better"

"Thanks"

"Yeah, he is getting better" both looked over to see Shikamaru, lying on a flat rock at the edge of the clearing, looking up at the blue skies.

Right where they left him

"You have no right to talk" Temari growled "You have been getting off with the bare minimum passing grades!"

"I still passed didn't I?" he asked uncaringly.

Temari growled in annoyance, muttering a colorful set of curses under her breath. Some were so colorful that Naruto visibly flinched as if they were aimed at him. Shikamaru didn't seem to care. He just kept lying on his rock looking up at the sky. It seemed like one moment they were the best of friends, the next moment they were arguing furiously with each other, almost to the point where he thought one would draw a sword and cut the other to ribbons.

"The final examination is tomorrow" Shikamaru stated, catching both their attention "You guys sure your ready for this"

"Off course" Temari huffed.

"A trip to the world of the living" Naruto muttered with a grin "An actual hunting mission with a Shinigami squad leader"

"That Shinigami will be marking us on how we do" Shikamaru added "What a drag"

"You do know who the ranking officer is" she starred at him and sighed from the blank looks on both their faces "Men. What will we do with you two!?"

"Some big shot Vice-Captain" Naruto answered at last "Not sure who"

This led to another irritated sigh.

------

Naruto looked up at the sun, saw that he was going to be late and mentally decided to take a shortcut. He jumped into the heavy foliage away from the path and began using his agility to jump from branch to branch of the massive pine trees. For a normal student this would have been a longer and more difficult route, but for him with his Ninja training it was as easy as walking.

He stopped, almost falling from his branch when he heard a heated argument taking place below. He looked down and saw two figures shouting at each other. One was Shikamaru, who had lost his cool. This was news to Naruto. He never lost his cool. The other was Temari, looking like she did when she met an enemy she couldn't wait to kill.

Whatever they were arguing about, Naruto wasn't sure. But he distinctly heard Temari call Shikamaru a jerk and an ass. While the Nara shot back that she was really starting to get on his nerves. He was about to continue on, knowing that they needed to sort out their differences themselves. Something caught his eye which made him stay.

Temari was yelling again, but Shikamaru was remaining quiet, looking intently at the screaming former Sand Ninja's mouth. It all happened in a flash. He grabbed her and kissed her fiercely, silencing her fit. Naruto gaped as he watched, thinking that the first thing she would do was push him away and cut him in half with her training Zanpakuto. Instead she leaned back, eyes closed, hands grasping at his hair. They both fell down then, and started to disrobe.

Naruto, snapping out of his trance decided he shouldn't stay, especially when he saw a white top thrown from the bushes the two had vanished in, followed by a feminine moan.

He definitely shouldn't stay.

Sakura was waiting at the front entrance of the academy, looking at her watch and frowning. They were all late, this was the final examination. If they didn't show up they'd fail the year. Finally she saw Naruto jump from the trees, land into a crouch and break into a run.

He ran right past her.

"Naruto" she shouted "You're late, where have you been!?"

"Dirty" he stuttered "Need shower!"

She frowned "Where's Shikamaru and Temari?"

"Getting dirty!" he shouted back before vanishing from view.

------

The remaining members of their class had already mostly assembled, out of the three hundred original students in their class only sixty remained. These were the ones who had proven themselves in their studies, whether they had the potential to become swordsmen, hand-to-hand combatants, Kido users, healers, assassins or scholars.

Quietly he and Sakura took their seats and waited. A few more minutes passed before Shikamaru and Temari entered the hall, their appearances ruffled and messy from their extracurricular activities.

"So what do you guys know about our proctor" Naruto asked, pushing his memories of early that morning to the far corners of his mind, plenty of time to tease later.

"Apparently he just became Vice-Captain of the Fifth Division" Shikamaru explained "Looks like a wimp to me, don't know how he did it"

"What's his name?"

Before he could answer the doors at the end of the classroom opened with a heavy creak and a column of twenty black robed Shinigami entered the chamber. At their head was a tall and lanky figure with brown hair and dark eyes hidden under a pair of square glasses. He wore the black Shihakusho with an armband representing the Fifth Division placed on his left upper arm.

He led the platoon of Shinigami down the central aisle of the tiered classroom, his presence more than his appearance creating shock and awe to the students surrounding him. Naruto considered himself descent enough at sensing spiritual pressure and even he had to admit that he was impressed, so this was the power of a Vice-Captain.

Once the line of Shinigami took their seats on the stage the Vice-Captain stepped up to the central podium and cleared his throat, the entire class quieted down within the space of a few heartbeats.

He smiled a disarming smile "Congratulations on making it to the final examination, my name is Aizen Sosuke, Vice-Captain of the Fifth Imperial Court Guard Division and the main proctor for this exam"

Sorry it took so long, I have finally gained a placement at an Architectural Practise…the only problem is its seventy odd miles away from my house, so unless I slack off I won't be able to update on my stories just as quickly as before. Anyway sorry for this chapter being short, but its vital to what's coming up next.