Ch. 2- Becoming a Ninja: The Graduation Exam!

Six years later…

"NARUTO! KYNA! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU TWO…!"

"YOU TWO HAVE CROSSED THE LINE THIS TIME!"

Naruto and Kyna where laughing while being chased by two Chunin. Naruto was wearing an orange jacket with blue shoulders on it, orange pants, and green goggles, while Kyna was wearing a red short sleeved jacket, with dark blue sides on it, black shorts, and wrappings around her legs. Dangling from her neck was the necklace with the red stone. She always kept it with her.

They had just painted the Hokage faces. Kyna had supplied the paint and brushes, while Naruto did most of the painting. Now they were jumping across the roofs, trying to lose the angry Chunin.

"Give it up!" Naruto yelled back at the men, "You're just jealous because you don't have the guts to do what we did, do ya? Losers! Wannabe's! You'll never catch us!"

The two academy students jumped from rooftop to rooftop. They zigzagged from one place to another. The two full grown men were having trouble keeping up with them. The two trouble makers jumped down to the ground and ran, the Chunin not too far behind. What they didn't notice was that the two had slipped away.

The blond boy pulled down the cloth he used to blend into the fence with. His friend popped out of a trash can. She got out and stood next to the boy. They looked down to where the Chunin ran and then looked at each other. They grinned at each other and high fived.

"Heh, heh, that was too easy." said the whiskered blond.

"Yeah…" said the Izu with a small chuckle.

"Oh really?" said a voice. Kyna and Naruto froze at the voice behind them. They slowly turned around to see their sensei, Iruka. The scar nosed man crossed his arms and tapped his foot angrily. He noticed the two were not in class and guess they were pulling some prank. He was not happy.

Kyna scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously. "Hey sensei, uh, what brings you out here?"

"I can ask you the same, you two are suppose to be in class…"

***

Kyna and Naruto were both tied up and sitting in the front of the classroom. Iruka was scolding them. He shook his head. "I'm at the end of my rope you two. You failed the graduation test last time and the time before that. Tomorrow you have another chance, and you're messing up again."

Kyna replied with a, "Hn."

A vain popped on Iruka's head. He was really annoyed now. He turned to the class. "Fine then, since you two won't listen, everyone will review the transformation jutsu!"

The whole class went, "Awww"

Kyna performed the transformation jutsu, changing into a copy of her teacher. Iruka looked it over. "Good…"

She changed back and went to her seat. After her was Sakura Haruno's turn, then Sasuke Uchiha, and then finally it was Naruto's turn. Kyna smiled evilly. She knew exactly what Naruto was going to do. They had been planning it for a while and decided to do it today. She couldn't wait to see Iruka's face.

Naruto stood in front of his teacher and formed the 'ram' sign. "Transform!" There was a puff of smoke. Most of the smoke cleared to reveal a naked blond girl with pigtails. She winked at Iruka. The man's nose squirted blood and he flew across the room.

Naruto changed back and laughed hard. "Gotcha! That was my sexy jutsu!"

"STOP PLAYING THESE DAMN PRANKS!" yelled Iruka, with tissue in his nose.

All the kids in the class stared shocked at what the blond boy did. Everyone, except Kyna. The girl was trying her best not to burst out laughing. She put a hand over her mouth, muffling her laughing. Iruka, with his sharp teacher ears heard her. He looked angrily at her. "Is there something funny Kyna?"

Said girl immediately stopped laughing and sweat dropped. She smiled nervously. "No, no, nothing is funny at all…"

***

Kyna and Naruto were scrubbing the Hokage faces with wet rags. Iruka was sitting on one of the heads, watching them from above. He shook his head. Why did they have to make trouble? He could tell they were good kids, but they acted as though they weren't. He hoped this would teach them not to act like that.

While scrubbing Kyna muttered, "This sucks."

The teacher heard and gave the girl a scowl. "You can't go home until you clean every drop of paint."

Naruto looked up at his sensei and said angrily, "Why should I care? There's nobody waiting for me!" He turned his attention back to scrubbing.

Kyna froze when he spoke. She looked over at the boy and felt bad; she had her grandfather while he had no one. This was one of the things the girl thought was most unfair. Why should Naruto be alone without a family member? He was the nicest person she ever met. He deserved a family…

Iruka spoke "Naruto, Kyna…" the two students looked up at their teacher with curiosity in their eyes. The man looked at the sky. "How about when you're done I take you out for ramen?" He looked back down and stared surprised at the two.

The two friends were smiling and had sparkles in their eyes. They quickly got back to work. "We'll have this done in no time!" said an excited Naruto.

The scarred man sweat dropped and stared amazed at how fast they were cleaning the Hokage face. 'I should offer them ramen more often.' he thought.

***

The Uzumaki boy was slurping down his bowl of ramen. Iruka and Kyna were eating theirs much slower. The scar nose man swallowed the last of his ramen. He asked his student's, "Why did you two paint the Hokage faces? Don't you know who the Hokage are?"

Kyna stopped eating and nodded. "Of course we do. The Hokage is the best ninja in the village. Who doesn't know that?"

Iruka looked at the two confused. "But then why…"

Naruto finished the last of his food and said, "Because we showed that I'm going to be greater than any of them." He pointed to himself. "I'm going to be the greatest Hokage ever! Believe it!"

Kyna nodded. "Mmm-hmm."

The blonde boy looked at Iruka and put his hands together in a pleading gesture. "Irunka-sensei, could I try on your head band? Come on please?"

The Chunin shook his head and smiled. "If you want to wear a headband, you'll have to graduate tomorrow."

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted. "Fine, then I gets to have another bowl."

"What!?"

The blue haired girl just giggled at her friend's pout.

The next day

It was the day of the exam. Everyone was buzzing with excitement. Iruka walked to the front of the room. He picked up some papers and spoke to the class. "We will now begin. Your final test will be on the clone jutsu."

Kyna's eyes widened. 'Uh-oh.' She turned and looked at Naruto. He had a scared expression on his face. 'This isn't good. That's Naruto's worst technique. I hope he'll be alright.'

***

A crowd had formed near the entrance of the Academy. Kyna had just passed the exam and went looking for her whiskered friend. She looked around and found him sitting on a swing, sadly staring at the other kids. She frowned. It reminded her of when she first met him, back then he looked so sad. She headed over to where he was.

Two women from the group of people glared at Naruto. One of the women motioned toward him. "Isn't that him? I heard he was the only one to fail."

"Hn, serves him right. It would be dangerous if he became a ninja." Said the other.

They saw the blonde's friend walking over to the boy. They glared just as intensely at her as they did him. "To bad she didn't fail too…"

Kyna saw Naruto didn't have a headband. He had failed the test. She walked up to him, while hiding her head band behind her back. He turned to look at her. He looked behind her and saw the headband's cloth. He looked up at her and smiled sadly. "So you graduated… good job."

Kyna looked down at the ground and whispered, "I'm going to ask Iruka-sensei if I can repeat the year."

The orange clothed boy stared at the girl surprised. "Huh? Why would you do that? You passed."

She smiled sincerely at him. "It wouldn't be the same without you, Naruto."

Hearing footsteps the two looked up and saw the silver haired Chunin, Mizuki. He looked down at Naruto concerned. "Hey, you ok Naruto?"

The boy looked down at the ground "I'm fine." he mumbled.

"Mizuki-sensei is there anyway Naruto could pass?" asked Kyna hopefully.

Mizuki smiled. "Actually, there is. All he needs to do is…"

***

Kyna and Naruto had just gotten the forbidden scroll from the Hokage tower. Mizuki said all Naruto had to do was learn one jutsu from the scroll and he would be able to graduate. Kyna opened the scroll and Naruto looked at the first jutsu. He ruffled his hair in frustration. "Not another clone jutsu!"

"Come on Naruto, how hard could it be?" Kyna looked at the scroll. She looked in awe at the jutsu. It was called 'Multi-Shadow Clone'. It said it was a higher level than the clone jutsu, Naruto's weak point. She looked back at him. "Ok, it could be a little hard. But, I'll learn it with you."

Naruto sighed. "Ok…"

Naruto and Kyna got to their feet. They started practicing the hand signs for the jutsu.

---

Iruka was searching for Naruto and Kyna, and having no luck so far. He looked around. 'Where would they go?' A thought struck him. 'Oh! They might have gone to the forest.' Iruka turned around and headed to the forest.

Mizuki was also headed toward the forest. He laughed to himself. 'Now that everyone knows what Naruto and Kyna did, I can eliminate them. They'll be glad they are gone.' He smirked. 'And I'll keep the scroll for my self.'

---

Naruto and Kyna were sitting on the ground panting. They had finally mastered the jutsu. Naruto picked up the scroll next to him and strapped it to his back. Now they just had to find Iruka and show him the jutsu. Just then, said teacher had dropped down from the trees and stood in front of his students. He gave them a firm look. "What do you think you two are doing!?"

Surprisingly to Iruka, the two smiled at him. He gave them a confused look. The two got to their feet and smiled happily. The scarred man noticed that they were tired and out of breath. 'Were they out here training?' he thought.

Naruto spoke excitedly. "Hey Iruka-sensei, I learned a jutsu from this scroll! Once I show you you'll definitely have to pass me!"

Iruka tilted his head to the side, in obvious confusion. "Where in the world did you get that idea?"

Kyna explained, "Mizuki-sensei told us. He said if Naruto learned one of these jutsu you… would…" The girl stopped speaking when she saw the look on her teacher's face. "Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka stared out into space with wide eyes. 'Mizuki said that? But, then that would mean…' He heard a ruffle from the trees. He looked back and saw a barrage of kunai heading the trio's way. He quickly pushed his students out of the way, causing him to be the only one hit by the weapons. He fell to his knees in pain, his students looking at him in shock.

The three heard a voice from the trees. "Darn, I was hoping to get all three of you." The three looked up and saw none other than Mizuki. He stood on a tree branch, smirking down at the injured man.

Iruka glared at the Chunin. "I should have known."

Mizuki ignored him and turned his attention to the academy students. He held out his hand. "Give me the scroll."

Naruto looked back and forth between the two Chunin. "What the hell is going on here!?" he demanded.

Iruka started pulling out the kunai from his body. He turned and yelled to the blond, "Don't give it to him! He lied to you to get the scroll!"

Naruto glared at Mizuki. Why did he trick them? Why does he want the scroll? The silver haired man stopped smirking and frowned. "Naruto, Iruka is the one trying to trick you. I'm trying to protect you two!"

The whiskered boy stopped glaring at the silver haired Chunin and looked at his teacher. Iruka's glare intensified. "Stop lying Mizuki. Don't listen to him Naruto!"

Kyna looked between the two men. Who was lying and who was speaking the truth? Iruka had been nice, but at times treated them unfairly. Mizuki tried to help her blonde friend pass the exam, but they barely knew him… She turned to Naruto. "What we do? Who do we trust?" she asked.

Naruto kept his attention on Mizuki. "I don't' know…"

Mizuki watched as the girl got closer to the boy. His smirk returned. "Do you wanna know who's really lying?"

Iruka's eyes widened. "No Mizuki! Don't tell them, it's forbidden!"

The silver haired Chunin ignored him. "Everyone in the village has been lying to you your whole life."

He had the two academy student's attention. Naruto asked, "What are you talking about?"

"There is a special secret that no one is supposed to tell you." He waited for Naruto to take the bait.

The boy did. "What secret? Why does everyone else know?"

Mizuki's smirk widened. "The secret… is that the Nine-Tailed Fox is inside you!"

Narut's and Kyna's eyes widened. Kyna shook her head. "No way… That's a lie!" She pointed accusingly at the man. "Naruto is not that demon!"

The silver haired man laughed. "Then why does everyone hate him? He is the fox spirit that killed all of those villagers. The one who killed Iruka's parents!"

Kyna putted her arm down. She looked over at the boy. He was staring down at the ground, remembering all the times he was called a 'monster' or 'demon'. It made sense now. Even why Naruto had those whisker marks, whiskers like a fox… She clenched her fists and looked up at the Chunin. Mizuki stared surprised at the girl. She was glaring at him. "He has the Nine-Tails in him… so what?"

Naruto looked up and turned at the girl. She yelled out angrily, "I don't care if he has that demon inside him. He's still Naruto. He's still my best friend!"

Everyone stared at her. She didn't care that the fox demon was inside him. She still cared for him. Nothing would change that. 'Kyna…' thought the blond.

Mizuki's expression changed to anger. He took one of the giant shuriken off his back. Kyna stood in front of Naruto protectively. "You wanna hurt him? You'll have to go through me!"

The man smiled evilly. "Fine by me."

He threw the shuriken. It seemed like everything was moving in slow motion. Everything went silent. Kyna kept her attention on the giant shuriken. She knew it was going to hurt. But she'd rather die than let anything happen to Naruto. She closed her eyes waiting for the impact of the weapon. She heard a person cry out in pain. Her eyes snapped open. She saw Iruka standing in front of her, the shuriken in his back.

He coughed up blood, a little hitting the girl's face. He smiled down at the two. "You ok?" he asked.

The two stared shock at him. Naruto spoke. "Why?"

The man's smile faded. "Cause we're the same." Naruto stared wide-eyed, "When my parents died, no one paid attention to me, no one cared. I did crazy things to get people to notice me, it was hard…" he started to cry, "I know that's how you feel. You feel alone and it hurts inside. I should have been there for you… like Kyna." his face then became serious, "You two take the scroll and run. Don't look back."

Naruto didn't wait another second. He grabbed his friend's hand and pulled her away from the scene. They ran. They kept running and running until they were far away from the Chunin. They hid behind a tree and sat there, catching their breath. Only moments later they heard a voice. "Where are those brats?" The two froze. It was Mizuki.

Kyna looked past the tree. The silver haired Chunin was walking around searching. He started heading for their tree. The girl ducked behind it and felt her heart pound in her chest. They could hear him come closer and closer. He was almost to their hiding spot, when suddenly… "Mizuki!!!"

Said person turned around and glared at the brunette Chunin. He smirked at him. "I still don't understand why you try to save him. Naruto is the demon fox that killed your parents." His smirked widened. "I bet Kyna is dead by now."

Iruka glared at the man. "What makes you think he is the demon?"

Mizuki laughed. "Why do you think he ran away with the scroll? He's going to use it to become powerful and destroy everything! But, that is normal for a monster like him."

The brunette closed his eyes. "That is a monster…"

Kyna felt anger boil up inside her. She thought Iruka was kind… But he was like everyone else. He thought of Naruto as some monster, some kind of freak. Naruto felt discouraged. He trusted him, and he thought he was the demon. He clenched his fists. Why did he have to have the fox inside him? Now he thinks…

The blonde's train of thought stopped. Iruka opened his eyes and smiled. "But Naruto is not a monster." The two student's eyes went wide open. "Naruto is special; he works hard and never gives up. He has found someone who doesn't think he is the demon, someone who cares for him. He is nothing like the fox, he is Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf Village!" he yelled.

Naruto felt tears roll down his cheeks. His teacher didn't think of him as the demon. He believed in him. Kyna felt shame fill her. She thought he was like Mizuki and hated him. She would never think that of him again.

The silver-haired Chunin's eyebrows twitched with anger. He pulled the second giant shuriken off his back. He started spinning it in his hand. "I was gonna wait to kill you but, I'll just end your life now!!!" He charged at Iruka.

The Chunin stood his ground. Suddenly Naruto appeared and uppercut Mizuki, causing the Chunin to lose his weapon. The whiskered boy jumped out of the way. Kyna kicked the man in the chest, sending him flying back a few feet. The man landed on his back. Mizuki slowly got up to his feet. He glared at the academy students. "You're gonna regret that."

The two stood in front of their teacher. The fox boy slammed the scroll onto the ground. He glared at the silver-haired man. "If you ever lay a hand on our sensei, I'll kill you."

The man smirked. "I'd like to see you try!"

Naruto looked over to Kyna. He had a feral smile. "You ready?" She returned it and nodded. The two formed a cross hand sign. They yelled out, "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!!"

Suddenly, hundreds of copies surrounded the group. Mizuki's smirk vanished and was replaced with an expression of fear. Iruka looked at all the clones in awe. 'Those clones… they're solid.' He looked at his students. 'They have mastered an extreme jutsu…'

All the clones gave the silver Chunin an evil smile. They cracked their knuckles. They all jumped and pulled their fists back. At once they all swung them forward. Mizuki was in for a world of hurt…

***

The fox boy and Izu girl stood over an unconscious Mizuki. They smiled at each other and high-fived. Naruto turned his attention to the brunette Chunin. "You ok Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka nodded. 'They're amazing…' He motioned the blonde boy over. "Naruto come here, I want to give you something." The boy looked surprised at his teacher. He walked up to him. "Close your eyes." The whiskered boy did as he said. Naruto felt his headband being removed, then replaced with something else. "Ok, open them." He did just that. He saw his teacher did not have his head band and was holding the boy's goggles. He reached up and touched his forehead. He felt the leaf symbol on it. He looked back up at Iruka. The man smiled. "Congratulations… you graduate."

Kyna stared happily at the two. "Naruto!" The blond boy turns around in time to see the girl jump toward him. She hugged him and accidentally tackled him and Iruka to the ground. They all sat up and burst out laughing. Naruto finally became a Genin. And that was only the beginning down the path of ninja…

End of Chapter Two.

Next time: Kyna's Teammates: Squad 11

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