Chapter three
As the exam went on some people passed and some failed, the rules were simple manage four minutes against one of the teachers or somehow beat them. This might seem easy, until you realize both teachers are chunin rank ninja while they weren't even genin, and it showed. Kiba who bragged about how easy it would be hardly managed the four minute mark and when he did he was beat up quite badly. The same could be said for everyone else that passed some of those that failed had even blacked out. Though Naruto understood the reason for this and why the chunin were so tough to them it was either this or graduate unprepared and die in the field. The rest of their training would be taken care of by their jounin teacher.
Finally his name was called up at the same time as Sasuke's, Naruto got paired up with Iruka while Sasuke got Mizuki. Moving in to the ring opposite of Iruka Naruto sized him up seeing Iruka's eyes do the same to him it was then Naruto realised, Iruka was serious.
At an unheard signal Iruka moved faster than Naruto ever thought Iruka was capable of and within a split second Iruka had closed the distance Naruto barely had enough time to throw up his arm's in a defensive pose before Iruka's knee crashed into them.
Jumping back a bit Naruto realised it hurt like hell and his forearms throbbed unpleasantly he managed to remain focused on Iruka though remembering the words Hana had once told him during a light spar 'eyes on the prey, not the horizon' with those words echoing in his mind he pulled out four shuriken and let them fly towards their target.
Iruka dodged of course but in that split second Naruto pulled out a small marble sized ball from his pouch and let it drop towards the ground, the moment it landed it had already started filling the ring with thick smoke. If there was one thing Naruto had worked on more than anything it was his chakraless stealth, moving across the gravel with barely a sound he heard Sasuke fighting Mizuki, he was thankful that they went at the same time cause their fighting was drowning the small amounts of noise he did make. He used his sensory abilities that he had developed, to find Iruka's position, finding it he noticed Iruka had moved and was now where Naruto had started out. Moving towards him and silently taking out a kunai he planned to give a quick killing blow, the kunai was of course blunted as was the shuriken he had used earlier but landing a killing blow with a blunted weapon would still count as a victory. Moving closer at a steady pace he readied himself and made to strike towards Iruka's kidneys, the kunai connected but Naruto's victory was short lived as the Iruka in front of him poofed out and was replaced with a wooden log 'Substitution' he thought and was on full alert. Feeling something sharp point at his own kidneys he knew it was Iruka.
Iruka had been impressed by Naruto's quick thinking and fast reflex at the beginning and even more impressed by his stealth, to be honest he hadn't heard him come up behind him it was just from experience that he managed a substitution before Naruto managed to get a killing blow in. Now that he had Naruto at knife point, really kunai point, he was just about to finish it when the Naruto in front of him disappeared in a poof of smoke and was replaced with a wooden log, only this one had a burning sealtag on it, and it was just about to go of. Within a split second Iruka distanced himself from the log and a heartbeat later it exploded.
It wasn't a full on explosive tag, it was a modified tag made to be weaker than usual, it was supposed to be used for precise demolition work, for example leveling a pillar to the ground while keeping the surroundings as intact as possible, anyway it was a pet project of Naruto's. Although it did have the side effect of clearing up the smoke screen 'crap' Naruto thought standing opposite of Iruka again he barely had enough time to prepare himself before Iruka came at him.
Iruka threw strikes and kicks at Naruto which he barely had enough time to redirect or dodge, the style Naruto had developed with Anko and her friend's help relied on redirection and dodging to get an opportunity to strike at a weak spot, lock up joints by grappling or hit a pressure point. Naruto's fighting style had reminded others of the way the Hyuga clan fought although Naruto could only hit general pressure points nothing as fine tuned as the Hyuga's. As he was dodging and redirecting he tried to get some strikes in but Iruka was faster and stronger than him, the strikes and kicks he had to block were heavy and his stamina was draining. He managed to get a hit in on Iruka's solar plexus and went to deliver a killing blow with another kunai but Iruka somehow managed to recover in time to grab his wrist, at the same time he felt a brief explosion of heat on his back and knew Sasuke had just fired of a Great fireball technique. Iruka looked to be in great discomfort his eyes were strained, he kicked Naruto in his stomach sending flying backwards towards Sasuke.
Apparently Mizuki had sent Sasuke flying as well and they collided in the middle quickly rising up they stood back to back both panting heavily.
"Sasuke" Naruto started "yea?" Sasuke finished "you got another fireball in you?" Naruto decided to ask thinking of a collaborate move they had practiced. "Yeah, you wanna do that?" Sasuke replied "yeah do it" Iruka had started to recover same could be said for Mizuki. After a moment's hesitation Sasuke went through the hand signs and took a deep breath, while Naruto whipped out four kunai with tags attached to them.
Mizuki seeing Sasuke take a breath flashed through some hand signs and spat out mud from his mouth creating a protective wall. Iruka seeing Naruto take out kunai started sprinting towards him while taking out his own kunai to deflect the incoming ones.
As Iruka got closer and made to strike at Naruto who had drawn his hand back to release the kunai, Naruto disappeared and was replaced with Sasuke who let his fireball technique fly the moment he and Naruto switched place and struck Iruka, engulfing him in flames. While naruto let his kunai fly at the same moment as Sasuke aiming for them to land slightly behind and to the sides of the protective wall and landing in a square with Mizuki in the middle.
The moment Naruto had thrown the kunai he went through a few hand signs and the moment the kunai landen in four quick thuds, the seals activated. Raising a barrier with Mizuki trapped inside while at the same time releasing a barely visible smoke.
Mizuki barely had enough time to process what was going on before he started to feel the effect of the smoke, making him light headed and dizzy. Before he knew it he was out like a light.
Iruka was quick to react, figuring Sasuke had intentionally weakened his fireball technique as to not kill the man, Iruka dropped to the ground and rolled putting out the flames. The moment they were out and he rose preparing to face of against Sasuke he felt a blunt kunai connect with his jugular, meaning he had lost. Had it been a real kunai he would have bled and died within seconds.
Naruto and Sasuke stood still for a moment still back to back panting heavily "can't believe that worked" Sasuke said in a surprised voice still trying to regain his breath "me neither" Naruto replied in a similar manner.
Iruka stood still taking in the haggard appearances of the two boys internally proud of them but also slightly embarrassed at having lost to some students. Finally he said "well done you two, both of you pass". Before anyone could get a word in someone yelled from the stunned crowd "they cheated!". Hearing that Naruto and Sasuke grew somewhat nervous thinking that they might get disqualified but Iruka's next words put those worries to rest "we never said you couldn't work together" and with that the physical exams were over.
Having moved back into to the classroom to continue with the rest of the exams after having sent the student's that failed home and having woken up Mizuki who was irritated at having lost like that and especially to Naruto of all people. Iruka clapped his hands to get the student's attention "we will now move on the written test" which managed to dampen several student's mood.
The teacher's handed out papers to everyone. "you have one hour to answer the questions" Iruka started "once the time's up put down your pencils and wait until we gather the papers" he finished while at the same time giving them clearance to start.
The questions varied from "what would you do in a situation where you had to choose between your comrades life's and completing a mission" to "in the instance of an attack on the village who would you prioritize helping, the Hokage or the civilian population?".
Naruto looked over the questions and answered according to his own moral compass and having thought over the questions. For example if he had to choose to save a fellow ninja's life that didn't necessarily have to mean that he had to abandon the mission he just had to give a quick temporary retreat.
After one hour had passed Iruka gave a short sharp whistle to signal the end of the time limit. The rest of the student's laid down their pencils and laid their hands on their knees. After Iruka and Mizuki had collected the papers they moved straight to the last exam. The exam where the student's proficiency in ninja techniques would be tested. You just had to execute three simple techniques the substitution technique, the clone technique and the transformation technique.
As Iruka and Mizuki called out student's for their examination, Naruto waited anxiously, he knew he had the transformation and substitution techniques down to a capital T, but when it came to the clone technique he knew, he was fucked.
No matter how much he practiced the clone technique and his chakra control he couldn't get the technique down. Finally hearing his name come up he went towards the door that led to the examination room walking by Sasuke who had his headband around his forehead showing he had passed. "Goodluck Naruto" Sasuke said as Naruto walked by "Thanks" he replied.
Entering the room he saw Iruka and Mizuki sitting behind a desk with headbands lined up on it, he noticed quite few were missing meaning a good portion had passed the exams. Iruka gave Naruto an encouraging smile and said "you can start with whatever technique you want" and continued "please, go ahead whenever you're ready".
Naruto took a deep breath and decided to start with the transformation technique. Only needing to make the ram hand seal to execute the technique he transformed into an exact copy of Iruka even going as far as to replicate his standing pose and manner of speak. Naruto had analysed Iruka's body and speaking habits during his years as a student, he did want to become a infiltration and assassination specialist after all.
Iruka looked him over secretly impressed as was Mizuki despite holding a hatred for the boy. As naruto released the technique he used the substitution technique without needing a single hand seal and switched place with Iruka before Iruka could react Naruto had switched back giving Iruka vertigo.
Having recuperated Iruka noted something down in his notes and started "very good Naruto" and finished with "now the last technique".
Naruto took a deep breath and went through the hand seals 'ram, snake and tiger' he reminded himself and in a poof of smoke a clone of Naruto appeared beside him, only the clone was white as a ghost and laying on the ground as if it was dying.
Iruka and Mizuki seeing this gave a sad sigh, Iruka more so than Mizuki. Iruka finally said "I'm sorry Naruto but you fail" leaving Naruto in daze.
Naruto left the room not even listening to what else Iruka had to say 'I failed' he thought walking past his friends he noticed them giving him sympathetic looks even Sakura seemed to feel bad for him.
Leaning against a tree in the courtyard of the academy naruto looked on gloomily as the other student's that had passed was greeted by their parents proud words. Seeing Hana who had come together with her mother, Inuzuka Tsume, greet Kiba on his graduation, look at him with a sad but understanding look. Naruto saw her say something to her mother and little brother then walk towards him, as she arrived she started saying "I'm sorry Nar-" "don't be, it's not your fault" Naruto interrupted then he continued "I know you want to comfort me but you don't have to, you should go with the rest of your family and celebrate Kiba's graduation" he finished as he gave her a somewhat sad smile. Hana looked at him sadly then she gave him a tight hug "you'll definitely pass next year" she said as she released him from the hug and went back to her mother and brother.
Seeing the other student's walk away with their families Naruto decided he might as well get home, but before he could get moving he saw Mizuki walk towards him.
As Mizuki got closer he started speaking "I'm sorry you didn't pass Naruto" and continued "you know failing you hurted Iruka more than anything he had really high hopes for you". Hearing that Naruto started getting a little teary eyed Iruka was the one teacher who had really gotten close to him, he was pretty much like an older brother to Naruto. Looking down to the ground while letting a tear fall down his cheek Naruto heard Mizuki start speaking again "but it's not a lost cause just yet" he started with a somewhat sinister look in his eye "there is a special exam all you have to do is sneak into the Hokage's office and steal the scroll of seals" he finished. Naruto hearing that they was something called the scroll of seals got excited immediately and that he could still graduate if he completed this exam "ok I'll do it" Naruto said. Mizuki grew a somewhat excited smile and said "good meet me in the forest northeast of the Hokage's tower after you've taken the scroll and I'll make sure you pass".
Naruto headed towards the orphanage deciding to sneak in through his window to avoid attention, he didn't want to meet Rea right now, he needed to focus on the task at hand. Hearing Rea downstairs he moved stealthily towards his closet and took out his black outfit that he had bought. Stripping out of his orange clothes he put on the black ones. The outfit was pretty much all black, it consisted of a face mask that covered his lower face up to over the bridge of his nose, a torso piece that left his arms bear from the shoulder down, on his forearms he had black arm guards that was connected to his black fingerless gloves. His pants was also black but on the sides of his thighs were small hoops where he could place kunai for easy access and quick draw, three on each thigh. His feet was covered in black as well and he had black shin guards that went up to his kneecaps and on the top of his head was a black helmet that covered his blonde hair, it had a matte steel piecie on his forehead that went over half of his skull and down somewhat near his eyes, the head piece also let down some black cloth over his ears which he head inscribed a seal on which would let sound pass through as if the cloth wasn't even there.
Looking over himself in the mirror that was in his room he gave himself and approving nod 'I look pretty damn good if I do say so myself'. Naruto picked up his tanto and placed it across his lower back and placed six kunai in each hoop, three on each thigh.
Sneaking back out he decided to wait for nightfall to make his move.
AN
Let me know how the fight scene were and if I need to add or remove anything.
As for the clothes Naruto put on in the end just imagine Hayabusa's outfit from Ninja Gaiden.