Chapter 3: graduation exam part 2
"Alright boys, remember the rules, no crippling, stop when we tell you. Both fighters ready?" Both boys nodded, one with seriousness while the other was smug. Both placed their hands in the 'seal of Confrontation'. "Alright … Hajime!"
As soon as the word was given, Kiba quickly got down on all fours and activated his clan's Shikyaku no Jutsu (four legs technique). This technique caused the user to gain more feral features like clawed finger nails and longer canine which resembles fangs. This technique was the basis of the Inuzuka clan's fighting style, Juujin Taijutsu (Beast human taijutsu).
Just before Kiba was about to attack, Naruto lifted his right hand above his head, a move usually used when a person was surrendering. "Ha, quitting already 'dobe'? I always knew you were pathetic!" taunted the cocky Inuzuka boy. Naruto glared at the boy that stood in front of him, he closed his raised hand into a fist and said, "Three things Kiba, firstly," in a similar fashion to earlier, Naruto raised his index finger, "a gesture can have more than one meaning, for example the one I just used could mean that I surrender, which isn't the case, or it could simply mean that I wish to ask a question to Mizuki-sensei. Secondly," he raised his middle finger and turned to face Mizuki, "Mizuki-sensei, isn't the Shikyaku no Jutsu a ninjutsu? Doesn't that mean that Kiba is cheating right now since this is meant to be a taijutsu only spar?" asked Naruto.
Mizuki was slightly taken back by the question; technically it was a ninjutsu, which was against the rules. But Mizuki wanted to see the demon-brat to suffer pain. "Technically, yes it is a ninjutsu, but it's a ninjutsu which is the basis of the Inuzuka style, and without it the style won't work, so I will allow the use of the Shikyaku no Jutsu." 'Ha, beat the brat'.
"Ok." Answered Naruto seemingly indifferent, but inside Naruto was smirking like a mad man, Mizuki had fallen right into his trap. Naruto turned his head back to Kiba and raised his ring finger, "Thirdly, that ego of your will get you killed in the future Kiba. When you go home tonight and your mother asks you how it went, you will tell both your mother and sister that you lost because you were too cocky." Naruto told the young Inuzuka.
A sudden shudder went down Kiba's spine, 'if that happens, they will 're-train' me into being more aware. But then again there's no way the 'dobe' can beat me, why don't we raise the stakes?' thought Kiba. "Fine, but when I beat you, you can't attend the academy ever again." stated a smug Kiba.
"Fine by me, I wasn't planning on coming back here anyway." answered the calm Uzumaki. "Now let's get this show on the road shall we? Shikyaku no Jutsu." Naruto got down on all four and went through a similar transformation to Kiba, but Naruto became considerably taller due to dispelling the Shin henge, but everyone was too surprised by the technique he used to notice.
"What the hell!" roared Kiba, "That's an Inuzuka hiden, a technique only taught to Inuzuka clan members. How the hell did you get your hand on it?". Kiba was furious; the 'dobe' was stealing his clan's techniques.
"Found it." Naruto simply stated whilst shrugging, referring to the scroll he found two years ago at the Inuzuka compound.
Kiba was about to go and kill Naruto, but his attention was caught by Mizuki. "Uzumaki Naruto, release that jutsu at once or you'll fail this exam." stated Mizuki with authority in his voice.
"May I ask why, Mizuki-sensei?" asked the blond, Jinchuuriki.
"Why? That's a ninjutsu of course; it's against the rules of this exam!" He stated.
"But didn't you say, and I quote 'I will allow the use of the Shikyaku no Jutsu'. If you force me to release it, you are giving Kiba an unfair advantage by letting him use the very jutsu you are making me release." reasoned Naruto.
At that very moment, it hit Mizuki like a runaway train, 'he planned this from the start. He knew I would allow Kiba to use the technique, and, I would freak-out when he used it. I'll get you back for this Kyuubi-brat, you play me, and I'll play you back.' "Alright continue the match then!"
All attention was now back on the two fighters. 'The Shikyaku no Jutsu raises the user's speed, reflexes and fighting instinct to that of a wild animal. Even without it, I could easily beat Kiba without it; I only needed it to make Mizuki look like an idiot. But it would look too suspicious to release the technique after fighting to be allowed to use it. Well, guess I'm using the Juujin Taijutsu then.' concluded Naruto as he charged Kiba.
Kiba was in blind fury, the 'dobe' was turning the Inuzuka name to trash. He charged at Naruto and tried a claw swipe to the chest. Naruto saw the stack coming and grabbed Kiba's wrist with his own claw, using a small amount of chakra to help his grip. Kiba used his free hand to swipe again, this time aiming for Naruto's face. This yielded the same result. With Kiba totally defenceless, Naruto attacked. He moved quickly between Kiba's arms and kicked Kiba, square in the chin with his left leg. The force of the kick was enough to daze Kiba, which Naruto took advantage of. He swung Kiba around, and threw him 10 feet into the air. In a matter of seconds, Naruto appeared above Kiba and yelled "Tsuga (passing fang).", A violently spinning orange pillar appeared above Kiba, which then raced down towards the now falling Kiba, colliding with him and sending him crashing to the ground.
Everybody who had watched the match were in awe, the normally second best taijutsu user in the academy was beaten by the 'dead-last' in less than 20 seconds. "Mizuki-san, you need to call the conclusion" whispered Iruka.
Mizuki shook his head and announced the victor, "Inuzuka Kiba is unable to continue, the winner is Uzumaki Naruto.". Naruto released the Shikyaku no Jutsu, activated the Shin henge then walked towards Kiba. Mizuki started to panic, "Uzumaki, you have won, there's no need to continue.". Naruto just ignored him and kept making his way towards the fallen Inuzuka. As he reached the spot where Kiba had landed, he stopped and reached down with his hand. "Uzumaki!" Mizuki said in a threatening tone, but Naruto just ignored him once again. He leant down grabbed a hold of Kiba's arm, put it around his shoulder which supported Kiba as he helped him up.
Everybody was fairly surprised by Naruto's actions, especially after the way Kiba had talked to him. "W-why?" Kiba struggled to ask.
Naruto turned his head to face Kiba whilst making their way from the sparring ring. "Why what?" Naruto asked back.
"Why are you helping me? After how I talked to you, how I threatened you, made you agree to never come back to the academy if you lost. Why?" asked Kiba.
"Several reasons actually. Firstly, if when we both graduate, whenever that will be, we'll both be comrades, shinobi of the leaf, I want you to know that you can trust me and that I can trust you even after a fight. Secondly, like I said before, I won't be coming back here anyway. Third, I made you promise to tell your mother and sister that you lost a spar by being too cocky, I wouldn't know being an orphan and all, but guessing by yours and Shika's reactions when you talk about mothers, I'd say your forfeit is much worse than mine. And finally, we never got to officially finish the spar." explained Naruto.
Kiba was looking at Naruto in a totally different light from before. Naruto was the 'dead-last' of the class, always up for a fight, never respectful and a loud mouth. But this Naruto was different; he was smart, cunning and quick minded. This Naruto was logical and respectful of others. He was like a totally different person. The Kiba realised what Naruto had just said, "What do you mean we haven't finished the spar yet, you've already won." he stated.
"That's not what I'm talking about Kiba, it's this.". Naruto stopped moving; he lifted his fist in front of Kiba and lifted his index and middle finger together. Kiba immediately understood and did the same, then grabbed Naruto's fingers with his own, forming the 'Seal of Reconciliation'. Both gave each other sheepish gins and continued to walk off.
Everybody was moved by the scene they just witnessed, the budding of a new friendship, well almost everyone. Sasuke, the emo-king of Konoha just kept brooding, and Mizuki was seething, his plan to totally fool Naruto had failed. He had rigged the randomiser to pitch Kiba against Naruto, since Kiba was the most brutal taijutsu user in the academy; the kyuubi brat should've been beaten to a pulp. But somehow, the boy had turned the situation to not only make himself look good, but to ridicule Mizuki in the process.
After waiting for some time for the students to recover from the spars, Iruka announced it was time for the next exam. "Alright, one by one, you will all be cast under the Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu (Demonic illusion: Hell viewing technique) which you will try to dispel. You will be scored on your ability to actually dispel the genjutsu and the effectiveness of the prosess. Now let's on with this shall we, first up is …"
Once again Naruto tuned out until he heard the names of Hinata, Kiba his friends, or Sasuke which would indicate Naruto would be next. He was brought out of his musings early though when he heard a loud cheer. He looked up to see Sakura standing there being congratulated by Iruka. "Well done Sakura, you dispelled the genjutsu with almost 90% efficiency; your chakra control is exceptional." congratulated Iruka.
'Well of course she has amazing control, she barely has any chakra,' thought Naruto. 'But then again, 90% that's pretty impressive, she has amazing potential.' Sakura ended up scoring an undeniable 30 for her attempt. Next up was Hinata, due to her having her clan's famous dojutsu, the Byakugan; she was able to easily see through the genjutsu quite easily and due to her great chakra control she was able dispel it with an 80% efficiency, giving her a marc of 27.
Once again, Sasuke was second to last to go. The former Uchiha clan were famous genjutsu users because of their dojutsu, the Sharingan on of the San Daidojutsu (Three great dojutsu) had the ability to cast, amplify and see through genjutsu. For Sasuke, this test was a matter of pride. Sasuke scored an impressive 26. This resulted to a furious Uchiha for being outdone, even though the 70% efficiency was very impressive for the amount of chakra he possessed.
Naruto was once again the last student to take this test. He made his way out of the crowd and stood in front of Iruka. "Do you remember all the rules Naruto?" asked Iruka, receiving a nod from Naruto. "Alright then, good luck Naruto." said Iruka.
"If I was fighting a jonin, yes I would need luck. For this I don't." stated Naruto whilst giving Iruka a sheepish grin.
'What the hell happened to you Naruto, you were like a totally different person during the other tests, but just now you were yourself again.' thought Iruka. "Alright then, Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu." .
From Naruto's point of view a swirl of leaves appeared around him which he immediately recognised as the beginning of the genjutsu. 'I need to dispel this quickly, if it shows what I think it will; it won't be pretty'. He quickly flooded his coils with chakra to dispel the genjutsu. As the genjutsu faded, three crucified figures seemed to fade out with it. 'Yep defiantly not pretty' thought Naruto.
"Well done Naruto, that was a very efficient dispel, and very quick indeed. A full 30 for you as well." said Iruka. He turned to face the class and announced, "Alright everyone, time for the written exam." which received a groan from the majority of the of the students.
(Iruka's classroom)
The written examination had gone off without a single worry. There had been no attempt to sabotage Naruto's exam paper like the previous years. The test was fairly simple, made up of three stages: scenario work, tactics and shinobi history. Five people had gotten a full 30 on the paper: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto and a hidden genius in the form of the notoriously Nara Shikamaru.
Now it was time for the final test, ninjutsu. Along the front of the classroom was a long table. On top of the table were numerous Hitai-ate with the symbol of Konoha engraved on each of them. Behind the table there were a seated Iruka and Mizuki. Iruka stood up and announced the details of the last test. "This is the last part of the exam. You will all be called up, one by one, you will attempt the Bunshin no Jutsu. We will score you and give the result of whether you pass the exam or not. Is everybody clear?" asked Iruka.
One by one the students went up and were either elated by being awarded a Hitai-ate or disappointed at not being awarded one. Many tears of both joy and sorrow were shed. Hinata passed the test by providing two Bunshin and received a score of 27 which lead her to graduate the academy with an impressive score of 139 out of 150. Sasuke also passed the test with a score of 29 which led him to also graduate with a score of 139, placing him and Hinata in a tie for 'Rookie of the Year' at the moment.
Finally, the time had come for Naruto to take his last test and this one was the most risky for a simple reason, Naruto couldn't do a simple Bunshin. "Umm, Iruka-sensei, does it have to be the Bunshin no Jutsu?" asked Naruto after he made his way down to the bottom.
"Naruto, if you're asking if you can perform a henge or Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution jutsu), then no, you must perform a Bunshin." replied Iruka.
"No Iruka-sensei, that wasn't what I was asking. What I was asking was does it have to be the Bunshin no Jutsu? Or could it be a variant?" asked Naruto.
"Why? Even if you know a variant, the normal version is much easier to do." stated Iruka.
"Well the thing is Iruka-sensei is that it's kind of impossible for me to do the regular Bunshin because I simply have too much chakra, so for me it's a lot easier the other way around." explained a slightly nervous Naruto.
"Well … I guess its ok" said Iruka.
"Great! Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu (Stone clone jutsu)." Five streams of earth poured out of Naruto's mouth and became five separate pillars around him. The stone pillars then shaped into a Naruto shape and then gained Naruto's colours to form perfect clones of Naruto. One of the clones then turned to another, pulled out a kunai and stabbed the other in the neck which then turned back to stone. "That little demonstration was to prove that it was actually an Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu." explained Naruto to the confused looking Iruka.
"Wow … Naruto that was unbelievable, you pass 30 congratulations!" yelled Iruka. Iruka then handed a Hitai-ate to Naruto. "Now that that's over with, it's time to announce the 'Rookie of the Year' and I bet nobody would've expected this, no offence. Well without further ado, the 'Rookie of the Year' with full marks, a perfect 150, congratulations 'Rookie of the Year' Uzumaki Naruto!"
Sorry I know I said this would also be the Mizuki incident but I kind of got lost in the writing. The next chapter will probably be the Mizuki incident if I find a way to fit it in, and everybody debating the teams for the rookies. Remember R&R.