Michiko was taking a test over the history of the leaf. Well not actually taking it, she was letting her eyes wander around the room since the test couldn't hold her attention for more than a single question. It really couldn't be help because today wasn't just an average day it was her birthday, and school was almost done.

Her eyes just kept looking at things that interested her and they landed on Sasuke. He was hunched over his test looking very angry about it. Things had change with Sasuke ever since his brother killed his entire clan and left the village. Sasuke had become obsess with killing his brother, and in order to help him do that he made sure to get the best grades in the class. The down side is he became a total prick to everyone else; of course to Sakura and Ino this only upped his coolness factor.

Michiko was very sad about this in the begin because she felt like she was the only person who could really relate to his situation having never even seen her brother, and because they didn't really leave off on a good note and she wanted to fix that. However it became apparent that their situations were just way to different. Michiko wanted to find her brother because she wanted to see him and bring him back to the village. Sasuke however wanted to kill his brother. Michiko sat there and tried to focus on the test until the bell rang, and when it did Michiko bolted out the door and too her house.

She got there in record time. She went inside and was greeted by her mom and dad who both gave her a big hug.

"Look at my little girl she's grown up so fast." Kushina said.

"Kaa-san let go of me." Michiko whined.

"I'm sorry I just can't believe how long it's been." Kushina said tearing up. "And to think that you're going to be a genin in two years."

"Now Kushina stop embarrassing her I'm sure she just want to have fun at her party." Minato said.

"But it's no fun if I don't get to teases her." Kushina pouted while Minato chuckled at her.

While her parents were talking, Michiko noticed two more people sitting at the table behind her parents. It was Jiraiya and Tsunade. Michiko was happy to see then because they didn't come around too often. Jiraiya was always out of the village doing something for her dad, but she had no idea what that could be. Tsunade lived outside the village and only came back on special occasions.

She went over to talk to them. "Hey you two," Michiko said with a bright smile.

They both said 'Hi' back and they started engaging in small talk. It wasn't long before Minato and Kushina joined them.

"So we've decided that we would give you your presents before all you friends get here does that sound good?" Minato asked.

"Of course tou-san!" Michiko said cheerfully.

"Ok then I'll go first." Jiraiya said and handed her a small rectangle shaped present.

Michiko tore open the wrapping to see what it was. It was a book. "Jiraiya want's Icha Icha Paradise?" Michiko asked.

Jiraiya was about to explain, but was sent flying to the other side of the room by one of Kushina's punches. "Just what the hell are you thinking giving my daughter that mind poison of a book!?" Kushina yelled. Then she took the book away from Michiko and tossed it in the garbage.

"But mom I wanted to read that." Michiko started to whine, but one look from her mom told her that she shouldn't press it.

The rest of the family gave her their gifts too. Tsunade gave her a scroll on medical jutsu. Minato got her some kunais, and Kushina gave some clothes. Then they spent a little time getting ready for all her friend from the academy to show up.

Slowly they started showing up and after all of them got there (except for Sasuke) the party started and was in full swing. Michiko and her friend were having so much fun that they didn't notice when Kushina, Minato, Tsunade and Jiraiya slipped into Minato's office.

"Jiraiya have you found anything out about Naruto." Kushina asked looking hopeful along with Minato and Tsunade.

Jiraiya lowered his head and this action alone was enough to make the three of them lose hope. "I'm sorry Minato, Kushina I've been looking everywhere, but there are so many places he could be and we aren't even sure what he looks like we're assuming that he looks like Minato since Michiko looks like him since they're twins, but he might look nothing like Minato. Plus we don't even know if he's al-"

"Stop, don't say things like that Naruto is definitely alive!" Kushina said although it was getting harder and harder to believe that.

"How many years has it been?" Tsunade asked.

"Ten years apart." Kushina said tears building up in her eyes. "Today's his birthday too I wonder how he is doing."

*Takumi Village*

Naruto was walking towards the mine to meet up with Riku and Yukiko. It had been four months since Yukiko had joined them. She had never been late to work and had worked hard to meet Riku's deadline. Naruto and her had actually become pretty good friends, and Riku had warmed up to her a little at the very least he wasn't trying to poison her.

While Naruto was walking he could hear the kunais inside his new kunai pack rattling. He had kept his self-made promise and had only bought his ninja supplies from Yukiko's store which wasn't a bad thing since they were really good quality. Even Riku had started buying his things there after seeing how good they were.

Yukiko joining them however wasn't all fun and great, and the reason for that were the fan girls. It didn't take them long to find out that Yukiko joined their squad, and they saw this as attempted to steal Naruto and Riku away from them. Naruto had witnessed how bad it could be first hand.

One day he was walking back with Yukiko because he needed to get his goggles fixed because Riku broke them in a taijutsu spare and luckily Yukiko could fix them. While they were walking back a lot of the girls gave her vicious glares. Now this was pretty normal and Yukiko didn't even notice anymore, but as they were walking someone threw a rock at Yukiko's face. It didn't hurt her, but they both looked to see who did it.

Standing there was one of Naruto's fan girls. "Listen you slut." She said with one of the most annoying voices they had ever heard. "You think you can take my Naruto-kun away from me." Naruto shivered knowing this was one of the fan girls that were likely to rape him. "Just because you're a ninja doesn't mean you're any better than the rest of us. In fact it's probably better that you became a ninja. You'll probably die on your first mission that is if you even pass the genin exam." She stated laughing out loud.

While she was doing that Naruto and Yukiko slipped away. They were back on their way to Yukiko's house/store but Yukiko looked a lot more depressed. "Hey Naruto do you really think I can pass the genin exam I mean everyone says it's really hard." Yukiko said.

"Don't worry about what that girl said. There is no way you won't pass the genin exam because you're being helped by the two best and sexiest pre-ninjas in the village." Naruto said putting his hand threw his hair when he said sexiest.

Yukiko chuckled at Naruto. "I think Riku is rubbing off on you."

Naruto adjusted his goggles thinking about that day. 'Yukiko really did a good job repairing these." Naruto thought.

Yukiko's training had also gone really well. One thing that surprised both Riku and Naruto was on her first try at the targets she hit the center every single time and even to this day has never missed. Yukiko explained to them that since she made kunais she had to test them, and since you couldn't call a kunai a failure just because you had bad aim, so she had to get very good at it. The other thing was her chakra nature was fire. Naruto was a little jealous because no matter how many times Riku told him that there was ups and downs to ever element Naruto always wanted fire, and since he was born in the land of fire he felt a bit robbed.

Naruto was so deep in thought he didn't realize that he was already walking down the tunnel. He was surprised to see that Riku and Yukiko were there, but they weren't actually working. "Hey guys why don't we start mining?" Naruto asked.

"Not yet because you have to open your presents first." Yukiko said.

"What for?" Naruto asked.

"Because it's your birthday, don't tell me you forgot." Yukiko teased.

The truth was Naruto had forgotten. "But how did you know it was my birthday?" Naruto asked.

"Riku told me." Yukiko said pointing towards Riku who was leaning on the wall. "Come on now it's time to open your presents." She handed Naruto a black box with no wrapping. Naruto took it and opened it carefully. Inside was a tanto. The sheath was midnight black. Naruto took the tanto out of the box and unsheathe it a little. The blade was the standard sliver but with a slight blue tint. It looked like one of Yukiko's better works. Naruto put it back in the sheath and thanked Yukiko. "Don't be thanking me yet you don't even know what it's called."

"You got me a named blade?" Naruto asked because it was very rare for anyone to name a blade especially this yearly in their life.

"Yep it's the first weapon I've given a name to and it's made just for you." Yukiko said. "It's made of a special metal that should make it easier to apply your wind chakra to it."

Naruto took the blade out and applied his wind chakra and did find it much easier to manipulate. "That's great." Naruto said with a smile. "So what's its name?"

"Its name is Pick because a dwarf doesn't go anywhere without his pick." Yukiko said happily not knowing how much Naruto hated to be called a dwarf. "And it also has your name." Yukiko pointed to the sheath.

Naruto looked at the sheath and saw something he hadn't noticed before. Carved into the sheath in tiny letter was the name Dwarf. A tick mark appeared on Naruto's head. "Thanks Yukiko." Naruto said bitterly." Naruto actually really liked the blade expect for its name.

"Never fear Naruto I made sure Yukiko knew that Dwarf was your nickname." Riku said laughing to himself. "Anyway here's my present." Riku threw something at Naruto it wasn't even in a box.

Naruto caught it and saw it was a black jacket similar to Riku's brown jacket except Naruto's had a large hood. "The hoods for when we go out on missions so you can hide your hair in cause we run into in leaf ninjas and you can hide your ugly face foe when we're not on missions." Riku said.

The tick mark that was already above Naruto's head grew bigger. "I hope your ego get so big it cause a cave-in and kills you." Naruto said.

"Whatever Dwarf." Riku mocked.

Naruto put on his jacket unzipped like Riku. The jacket was actually pretty nice and had plenty of pockets on the inside to hold anything a ninja could need. Naruto would probably put all of his ninja supplies in his jacket from now on with the exception of kunais that were in the kunai back strapped to his leg. He put the tanto Yukiko gave on the right side of the jacket horizontally with a little upward angle that let the handle stick out a little so he could quickly reach for it if he needed to.

"Well that enough birthday celebration. We need to get back to work." Riku said. Naruto didn't get a cake or a party for his birthday, but that was fine with him because that was just the way thing were in the mine.

It was the day before the genin exams and the three genin hopefuls were in the mine. Today was the day that Riku was going to give Yukiko her test. Yukiko was ready for whatever Riku was going to throw at her. She made addition to fingerless gloves to her outfit although she still wore the bandages underneath.

Riku had gone back to wearing a white shirt under his jacket, but that was it. "Are you ready Yukiko?" Riku said crossing his arms. Yukiko nodded she was extremely focused. Naruto was sitting off to the side watching the whole thing.

"Aright then, there is no reason to test you on wall walking because both I and Naruto have seen you doing it for a while now. I also won't test you on weapons because you were already really good before you even meet us, so first taijutsu."

Riku rushed Yukiko and started throwing punches every which way. Yukiko was doing a good job in blocking them, but Riku started to really try. He sent a kick to her side. She use her hand to block it, but didn't have time to throw his leg off which caused her hand to be stuck there. Since she couldn't block with her hand Riku hit her in the face with a left punch sending her to the ground. Riku pinned her ending the fight. Naruto felt bad it was kind of unfair starting out with taijutsu because that was Yukiko's worst skill.

"Well you failed that so you'll have to pass the next two challenges genjutsu and medical jutsu to get my recommendation. After all we can't use any ninjutsu down here so I can't test you on that." Riku walked over to a box he had sitting in the corner. He opened it and took out a rat with a broken leg. Rats were common in the mine so finding one was hardly a challenging task.

He handed the rat to Yukiko "Let's see if you can heal it." Riku said

"You sure know how to treat a girl." Yukiko said teasingly. She put the rat on the ground and got on her knees. She did a few hand sighs and her hands started glowing green. She kept her hand over the rat's leg for a few minutes. Then it got up and besides for a slight limp it looked fine.

"Good job." Naruto said giving her the thumbs up.

"Alright now it's time to see your genjutsu. Naruto get over here." Riku said. Naruto hoped off the rock he was sitting on a stood in front of Riku. "Now you're going to put Naruto under a genjutsu and he's going to try and get out of it. If it takes longer than a minute for him to get out then I'll give you my recommendation."

Yukiko nodded and did more hand seals "Fusenmei Genzō (Vision Blur)" Yukiko shouted. Naruto vision blurred in a mixture of colors and he could hardly tell where Yukiko was standing. Naruto tired disrupting his chakra just like he had been practicing, but it didn't work. Naruto tired as hard as he could even after the one minute mark. He could just not dispel the genjutsu. Eventually Yukiko had to dispel the genjutsu herself. Naruto fell on his hands and knees with a dark could above him muttering something unintelligible.

It was true Naruto was not that great at genjutsu, but he still expected to be able to dispel Yukiko's. Riku however didn't feel the same way. "Naruto you are pathetic. You couldn't even break a little genjutsu. Yukiko cast one on me so I can show Naruto how it's done."

A minute later Riku was on his hands and knees in the same state as Naruto.

Naruto, Riku and Yukiko were on their way to the genin exams. Naruto and Riku were still a little depressed not fully recovered from the ass beating Yukiko gave then in genjutsu. On the way there villagers were congratulating Naruto and Riku like they had already passed. They didn't seem to bother with Yukiko however. Yukiko was a little sad that still no one showed her any respect, but she knew that becoming a genin and doing well on her missions would show the village that kunoichi weren't just useless fan girls that so many people believed they were.

The exam building was actually just a warehouse since they only used it for the exams once a year. It was grey and had no windows. There was a ninja guarding the door that looked to be chunin level. The group walked up to him.

"Well I was wondering when you two would take the exam." The guard said looking at Riku and Naruto. "Your girlfriend will have to wait for you two out her though."

"Actually I'm here to take the exam." Yukiko said handing him a slip of paper. The guard took it rather harshly not believing she actually had a recommendation. However he was shocked to see not only did she have a recommendation, it was signed by the rising stars Riku and Naruto. He let Yukiko in, but gave her a sour look. She just stuck her tongue out at him.

The only source of light inside the building was a few lamps scattered here and there. There were a bunch of desk in the room and there were a couple other hopeful genin sitting in them. All around the room was a bunch of junk that was normally kept in the warehouse. Naruto, Riku and Yukiko took theirs seats as well.

There were only about 17 people here to take the exam which was pretty average for the village. Most of them however were just guys trying to impress people by becoming ninjas. It was fine however since Takumi didn't put up with weaklings. The writing test would sort the trash from the ninja.

It wasn't long before a ninja walked in who looked to be the examiner. He looked over the genin hopefuls with hard eyes. He didn't even give Yukiko a second glace which was rare. "Listen up!" He yelled. "You will be taking a writing test first, begin."

There was a lot of confusing at the start because there wasn't a test to start on. One of the boys stood up and told the examiner that there was no test, but the examiner ignored him. While the other kids were standing around looking confused Riku, Naruto, Yukiko and two other were walking around the room trying not to draw any attention to themselves.

Naruto couldn't believe how stupid these people were. Didn't they do any resource beforehand? Takumi was a spying and an assassination village that wasn't even supposed to have any ninja. Naruto knew exactly what was going on because he looked into the written test.

He knew the test were hidden somewhere in this room. There also weren't enough tests for everyone so people who didn't know what they were doing would fail. There was also an unforgiving time limit to find and complete the test, so Naruto had to find it fast. Not to fast however because he didn't want to give his plan away to other students.

He looked over to see how Riku and Yukiko were doing, and was surprised to see that Riku already had a test. There were a bunch of genin hopefuls crowding around him asking where he got it, but Riku ignored them. Not wanting to be outdone by Riku Naruto looked at everything a lot closer.

He needed to find something out of place or that had been moved. Naruto only spent around three more minutes looking around when he found something. There was a barrel off to the side of the room that looked a little too new to be in a place like this. Naruto causal walked over to it and opened it up, and there it was one of the tests. Naruto went back to his desk and started working on it. It wasn't long after that Yukiko and the other two that had started looking with them found a test.

The other genin hopefuls finally realized what they were supposed to do and were running around like a bunch of idiots looking for the tests. Naruto wanted to laugh at how stupid they were being, but decided he needed to focus on the test.

The test wasn't like a normal test in the sense that you just need to know stuff about ninja life. The test was made up of questions about how you would react in a situation like what would you do to assassinate this person without anyone knowing. There were also bingo question which were questions you were expected to know and if you got them wrong you failed the test immediately.

Naruto rushed thought the test because the clock was ticking, and what only seemed like minutes after he started the timer went off, and the test were collected by the examiner who ran by not giving anyone time to write any more. Naruto leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath having barely finished. He glanced over to see how the rest of the genin hopefuls were looking. The shocked look on the faces of the kids who didn't know there was a time limit, but still managed to get the test gave Naruto a little amusement. Riku was even sweating a little.

They waited for a while until the examiner came back. He told most of the genin hopefuls to get out until there were only six of them left: Naruto, Riku, Yukiko and three others. "Well it looks like we have some pretty good potential this year." He said. "But now it's time for the second and last part of the exam the one-on-one test. Now I'm sure since you knew to look for the tests that I don't need to explain this to you, but basically you be put in a room with me and I will test you on anything and everything, and after every one it done I'll give you a sheet of paper telling you if you passed or not along with your skill set. This ranges from E to S, but it only graded to genin skill so just because you got an S on something only means it's prefect for a genin. Now let's get started."

Naruto walked out of the warehouse his legs felt like jelly. He was the last one to go, so he spotted Riku and Yukiko waiting for him. "Hey Naruto how'd it go?" Yukiko said. Naruto took a seat to give his legs some rest.

"I think he was trying to kill me." Naruto said exhausted.

Not even five minutes later a chunin gave all of them envelopes. "These guys sure are fast." Riku said.

"So these are the test grades. I'm so nervous I don't think I can open it." Yukiko said shaking a little.

Riku however ripped his open the moment he got it. Riku read it with Naruto and Yukiko looking over his shoulder.

Katsu Riku

Taijutsu: A

Ninjutsu: S

Genjutsu: D

Stealth: S

Weapon skill: B

Chakra Control: A

Status: Passed

"Wow you did great." Naruto said.

"Yeah I know. I bet you two only did half as well as I did." Riku said. This made Naruto angry and he ripped open his envelope.

Naruto (Dwarf)

Taijutsu: B

Ninjutsu: S

Genjutsu: E

Stealth: S

Weapon skill: A

Chakra Control: B

Status: Passed

Addition information:

Naruto has a tanto and has been practicing in kenjutsu although he still has a long way to go.

Kenjutsu: B

Naruto looked at it very pleased with himself, but there was one problem. Why did they put Dwarf on the paper? Riku was having a good time laughing about this.

"You two passed." Yukiko said looking down at her envelope. "I hope I passed."

"I'm sure you did great." Riku said which gave Yukiko a little confidence. "Maybe not as good as me, but I'm sure you did better than Dwarf." Naruto was getting ready to punch Riku.

Yukiko opened her envelope slowly and read it.

Susumu Yukiko

Taijutsu: D

Ninjutsu: B

Genjutsu: S

Stealth: B

Weapon skill: S

Chakra Control: S

Status: Passed

Addition information:

Yukiko has skill in medical jutsu which is a great thing to have epically for a genin.

Medical jutsu: A

Yukiko smiled at her grades know she did a great job.

Naruto and Riku however weren't feeling the happiness. They looked at Yukiko's grades then they looked at theirs. Yukiko got an S in three subjects while Naruto and Riku only got two which meant that she did better than them. Naruto and Riku looked just as depressed as when Yukiko put them under a genjutsu.

They stayed like that until the examiner came walking towards them. "Well you three past so here you go." He handed each of them the current bingo book. You could get older bingo books from the library, but only ninja could have the most recant. In most villages only jounin and above really looked at the bingo book, but in Takumi every ninja was expected to have it and know everything inside. "Now you don't have to form a team, but seeing you three work together I'm betting you would like to make one." They all nodded. "Ok then go to the mine boss tomorrow at 8:00 to get your first mission." Then he walked away. The three new genin gave each other a smile and they walked back home getting ready for tomorrow.

The next day Naruto, Riku and Yukiko were walking towards the mine boss's office. They had packed all their ninja gear, and they all had read over the bingo book along with putting it somewhere on their person.

They made it to the office building and were told to enter by the secretary. When they entered they stood in a line with their hands behind their backs waiting to hear what their first mission would be.

"Well aren't you three respectful." The mine boss said as he looked them over. "Riku I've always know you were going to be a great ninja, and Naruto you've changed a lot. You're not the little kid who came running into my office to start mining. Yukiko it seems like all the hardships you've gone through to become a ninja has finally paid off. I'm expecting great thing from you." The three genin were all smiling from the praise. "I guess you three are eager to get your first mission." The mine boos said with a smile. "Naruto I think you'll like your first mission. I'm letting you go see you family. Your first mission will be in Konoha." The three genin were shocked. The mine boss however just put his elbow on his desk and rested his head in his hand. He had a cunning smile. "Oh I'm sorry was I not supposed to know about you family Naruto."