The Pathless Sage
A/R: I don't know why, maybe it was just an uploading glitch, but on my PSP, it looked like the words were jumbled together for the first chapter. It has nothing to do with the way I format things, because my other story seems to be perfectly fine. No clue what happened. My friend Yuri told me that it looked normal on his PC, but he has a habit of pranking people. If you would be so kind, please leave a review or PM saying whether or not the words were jumbled for you.
Other than that, I don't have much to rant about this chapter. Picking up after 6 months from where we left off, this is where we start with cannon and veer away from cannon.
On with the story!
-6 Months Later, at the Ninja Academy-
It was a pleasantly warm day today, warmer than normal for a winter day in Konoha. The Konoha Ninja Academy was abuzz with life, students were running around everywhere, trying to revise or practice their Jutsu at the last second. Yes, this was the day for their Graduation Exams.
Many of the students were wearing less clothes that day, favouring to wear lighter clothes due to the warmer day. Many were wary however and brought heavier clothes along with them. Some left their heavier clothes with their parents in order to pick them up later if they needed them.
The parents tried to stay out of the way of the students for the most part, they were starting to form a ring around the Academy. Parents weren't allowed to see the actual Exams, but they were more than welcome to come and pick up their children, along with their report cards and their Exam results.
Naruto was one of the few students that felt like he didn't need to practice. The others that weren't practicing weren't doing so because they were confident they would pass, after all the Konoha Academy Exams weren't all that difficult, not compared to other Villages. Naruto, however, was not practicing because he knew, no matter what he did, he would be failed without question. Of course, there was also no way he was going to be able to pull off half the weak Jutsu they were expected to perform.
Iruka Umino came out of the front entrance of the Academy, wearing a normal Chunin uniform. A green, long sleeved top, a green flak jacket along with green pants. He was wearing his Konoha forehead protector proudly and was one of the few people that understood where forehead protectors were meant to be worn. Konoha ninja had a habit of using their forehead protectors as other weird things. He had a brown clipboard in his hand.
"Alright, all participants of the Graduation Exam, please follow me." Iruka called and all the students, including Naruto, stopped whatever they were doing and started to follow Iruka.
"Iruka-sensei, what are we doing for the Exams?" Sakura called out, she was one of the Sasuke Fan Girls. Pink haired, worried more about her looks than her skills, though she had a fair bit of book knowledge.
"You will know soon enough, I will explain once we are inside." Iruka answered cryptically, giving away nothing of the actual contents of the Exams and the manner in which the Exams were to be conducted, as if he meant to entice them into being curious about their Graduation Exam.
The class followed Iruka to a classroom. Iruka stopped in front of the door, opened it dramatically and let everyone through. As soon as Naruto, the last student in the line, went through the door, Iruka went in and locked the door behind him. This caused everyone to gasp.
"Sorry, but that had to be done. We don't want any outside interference while the Exams are in progress." Iruka explained, trying to pacify those that were easily riled, and succeeding easily. "Okay, sorry to keep you all waiting. Please take a seat according to where your names are posted on the seats."
Everyone followed the instruction without a fuss. Naruto ended up sat sandwiched between Sakura, the crush of his short life, and Sasuke, his eternal arch nemesis. He didn't know whether to be happy about sitting next to Sakura or angry about sitting next to Sasuke, so he decided to shut up and be neither.
"First of all, I will explain the first part of the Exam. To those that are wondering, there are five parts in total within the Exam." Some people looked at Iruka weirdly at this. They grew up hearing about the four parts to the Exam, but what was this fifth part Iruka was speaking of? "Many of you look confused as to what the fifth part may be. Well, I will explain. The first part of the Exam is a written test."
At this, everyone, bar Sasuke (who was too cool and emo) and Sakura (too intelligent and loving of written tests), groaned their displeasure.
Iruka ignored the moans and groans and forged ahead. "The second part of the test will be a Genjutsu test. The third part will be Taijutsu and the fourth part will be Ninjutsu. These are all common tests that you all know about and have learned about when your parents told you about the Exams. The fifth part is a new test that the Hokage himself has felt necessary to introduce. It wil be a free test."
"What do you mean, a free test?" Surprisingly enough, it was the class coolboy Sasuke that spoke up. He never liked the unknown and had a near phobic fear of it.
"Meaning you are free to do whatever you want to impress the judges. Each judge will give you a mark out of 1000 based on how you execute whatever you were doing, including style points and the power of your technique. One of the judges will be the Hokage himself." Iruka said proudly, looking at the awed faces of the students.
He handed out the papers for the written test, and they begun.
-TT-
Everyone had finished the first four parts of their Exams, and now they were waiting in line for the final part that would make or break their futures.
Naruto knew he had done well in every part of the Exam, other than maybe the written test and the final Jutsu of the Ninjutsu test, the Clone Jutsu, but other than that, he was sure he was going to pass. This free test, this was his chance to shine.
Each student was called out in alphabetical order, according to their last names. Many did their clan's signature Jutsu and executed them well. Many showed off their traps and survival skills. However, nobody got a score in the 900s out a of a single judge and more people got a score in the 700s than not. Some even got a score in the 600s.
The students were allowed to watch as each of their peers was called out to the training ground in front of the two Village Elders and the Hokage and they performed their techniques. All the materials they needed were provided by the Examiners.
The students watched in silent anticipation as the Rookie of the Year favourite, Sasuke Uchiha was called out to the field.
"Uchiha, Sasuke." Iruka called, watching as Sasuke made his way to the centre.
Sasuke walked out with a grim face of determination. He asked for a simple wooden dummy and prepared to show off his best Jutsu. Slowly going through a few Seals, he finished on a Tiger Seal.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke called, jumping in the air. Taking a deep breath, he blew out a medium sized ball of fire, aiming at the training tummy. As the fire engulfed the dummy a slowly died out, there was nothing left of the dummy but a stump that was burnt to a crisp.
892, 899, 912.
Sasuke walked out of the clearing with an arrogant smirk on his face, having gotten the highest score of the day, as the Chunin cleared up the field behind him.
"Uzumaki, Naruto." Iruka called.
The students almost broke out in mirthful laughter as Naruto walked with a passive face. He saw the display Sasuke had put on show, he saw how high the bar was, but he knew he could do better. He had Jutsu that were far more powerful than a simple ball of fire.
"Well, Naruto, what do you need for your technique?" Iruka asked impatiently, while silently wondering whether Naruto planned to do anything decent.
"Would it be possible for me to showcase two? I would show more of my arsenal, but I only have enough chakra to do only two of these at a time." Naruto replied. The Hokage looked at him, grim faced.
"Naru-bou, if you can't do more than two of them, then I suggest you only do one of them. There is no need for you to go to the hospital with Chakra Exhaustion at your age and for something so simple as the Graduation Exam." The Hokage warned.
Naruto nodded his understanding. "I will take a katana and a seven foot tall cylindrical piece of metal with a diameter of a meter." Many eyed him suspiciously. "What is he trying to pull? There is no way someone like him can cut through a piece of metal that thick. Heck, even I can't!" Sasuke thought in astonishment. Despite his thoughts, he sensed there was something going on.
"No way, Naruto-baka cut through a piece of metal? There's no way anyone but my Sasuke-kun that can do that!" Sakura shouted out loud, ignoring the looks of annoyance from the males and the looks of agreement from the females.
Naruto ignored everyone and everything around him as he took the katana in his hand and put it on his hip. Ever so slowly, he began to draw the sword in a majestic arc, while he chanted what sounded like a poem.
"Azure flames freeze,
And azure flames blaze.
Azure Phoenix cry,
And azure Phoenix smile.
Azure Dragon sing,
And azure Dragon wail."
Slowly, as soon as the tip of the blade seemed to have left the sheath, he started to sheathe the sword again.
"See! All he did was chant a poem!" Sakura shouted, while others also shouted in agreement. Nobody caught the hundreds of slashes that went into the metal post. Even the Hokage only saw blurs that looked remotely akin to slashing.
With an audible clunk, the sword was replaced in the sheath. The chunk of metal exploded in azure flames outlined in black. The flames engulfed all of the metal that was there, rising high into the afternoon sky as it burned through the atmosphere. No fragment of metal was left, no charred soil, no ash; nothing. The metal post just burnt away into the air, leaving no evidence of what occured. A perfect kill.
"Uzumaki Bloodline Limit: Azure Dragon's Wrath." Naruto hummed lightly, as he placed the sword in Irukas arms. He walked away, without looking at the scores he got, already knowing the result.
1000, 1000, 1000.
Sasuke looked on in outrage.
A/R: A much shorter chapter than the last one, though that may only be because of the distinct lack of rambling from me. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Please leave lots of reviews and love if you enjoyed the chapter and let all your friends know about the story. Thanks xD!
I hope this chapter doesn't look as jumbled as the last one and hope everything goes okay. I don't want my fics to look like weird pieces of nonsense.