AN: Hello to all my readers, how are you all doing? I hope that you all are enjoying the story so far. I'm glad that this story has gotten such a warm reception, and I enjoy reading about it and love writing it. I just been stuck with this stories progression and what route to take it. Plus having a child and working two jobs has been rough but ill continue to do my best. Any who, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!!
EDIT: Thank you Guest review for pointing out he genjutsu mistake later in the chapter. I have to separate files and I had chosen the wrong one. Either it was corrected, so thank you.
Chapter 6
-Time Skip-
It has been a few years since Naruto had gained the Byakugan and he has trained hard to learn how to fully utilize it. He had watched Hinata closely when she practiced, having both Juubi and Shinju memorize the motions as best as they could. Now while he is far from being able to say that he has mastered the ability, he is pretty sure that he has a good handle on it. The use of the eyes themselves were easy for him to figure out as well as being able to turn them on and off effortlessly.
He has also gained a much better handle and use of his chakra, learning that he was able to use the elements with it. This was learned when he watched one of his classmates, Sasuke Uchiha, use his chakra to create a fireball over a large lake. This made Naruto's chakra go wild as he felt a familiarity with the chakras formation.
This lead to Naruto trying to replicate the technique on his own and eventually he succeeded. He was able to blow out a powerful ball of chakra that was twice his size over the age be was practicing over. It surprised Naruto who didn't expect it to be bigger when he used the same amount of chakra as Sasuke. This only made Juubi more giddy at the amount of power that they possessed. Shinju made it more apparent that they needed to control more of their power so as not to hurt others by accident.
Speaking of them, Juubi and Shinju have also gotten stronger alongside him. Juubi grew another tail during his third year in Konoha which also made the pup grow to be three times its original size. The lake of chakra around them rose which only nurtured Shinju more.
Both were quite with the new developments.
Naruto's standing amongst the village has improved well since his arrival as he well liked by majority of the village. Him constantly being helpful along with being "cute", in some of the woman's opinion, helped with that. The wariness of the Hokage and his family died down as he became very close to said family, to the point that Kushina and Minato saw him as their own child and was rarely seen without Naruko. There were bumps to this relationship though, like when he and Naruko found the seals used to spy on him throughout his apartment thanks to the help of Shinju.
This led to a chewing put from Naruko and a hurtful expression from Naruto which made the adults feel terrible. Even after understanding why they did it, didn't help make Naruko any less angry and Naruto less sad.
Naruto went out of way to avoid the two for about a week before they came AMF apologized to him for the seventh time that week. An apology once a day from them. Eventually though Naruto forgave them as they promised to help his with his shuriken aim as he still had trouble with throwing weapons. He even got along with Anko, though Juubi was still wary about her for some reason. Either way he learned that she able to summon snakes of all kinds to aid in battle while Minato was able summons toads.
Made him wonder if he had an alignment with any animals.
Another thing that he took note of, was that Naruko and Hinata had been acting strange when around him. Naruko, while always an excitable and boisterous person, would at times quiet down and look away from him or stutter with a red face. Many times he thought she was feeling sick or something but when he checked, she was fine. The same thing also went for Hinata who on more than one occasion, fainted around him.
That led to an awkward meeting between him and the Hyuga Clan when he ended up carrying the heiress home to them.
Today was the day that Naruto was expected to take the test to become a Genin and be was running late. While he learned he didn't exactly need sleep, it was a great way to replenish his chakra at a faster rate, which he rarely ever needed to do, while also allowing him to enter his mindscape and train there easier.
Last night he was sparring against Juubi, using all the new techniques he has learned and copied over these years. It was not an easy sparring session as the Juubi has gotten so much stronger and durable. He was also fast, agile, along with being powerful which made him a difficult opponent. Thanks to his new Byakugan though, Naruto wasn't an easy target to be hit either. Eventually, he landed a hit with his use of Shadow Clones and the Fireball Jutsu.
Thanks to the Juubi's increased durability, the fire jutsu didn't leave a single scratch or singe mark on the beast's body. Thought the force of the attack was able to make the Juubi stumble back a bit, something that gave Naruto a bit of inner pride.
Back to the present, Naruto ran between building to building at an impressive pace for an Academy Student. While he personally knew he could go faster but rather enjoyed the leisurely travel pace.
" You really should have left earlier Young Lord," Shinju admonished Naruto who just casually jumped two rooftops. "We wouldn't be in such a rush if you did."
"Well that training session where we locked away most of my chakra left me feint absolutely exhausted and needing more time to rest," Naruto replied. "Besides, at least we could travel faster without raising too much suspicion now." He swirled and dodged the fee villagers who were out and about this early in the morning.
" Besides he was at least being productive," Juubi said, as Naruto could hear the amusement in his voice. " That Byakugan was a huge boon to our arsenal as the boost it gave us is incredible. The power boost may only be a small percentage, but it still put you to about the same level as those Chunin shinobi on your own. Using either me or Shinju would definitely put you on par with one of the more powerful Jonin's or maybe even those ANBU we heard about. Honestly, we should work on gaining that other eye power that is in this village, the Sharingan if I remember the name right. Think of the power boost we would gain from it along with the techniques it could open up for us!"
"I am not going to hunting for that Juubi," Naruto said as he arrived and entered the academy doors. "If we gain it, then we will handle it at the time." Both constructs agreed as Naruto entered his classroom and instantly got glares from the majority of the males throughout the room, but he simply just ignored them as he sat in his seat near the back.
" I will never understand these humans animosity," says Shinju as the Juubi growled. " Simply because you get along with the girls of the class doesn't mean they can try and get territorial. At least all they will do is glare, after you beat that Inuzuka boy so bad last year."
Naruto is very well liked among a good portion of the girls in the class due to his cute cluelessness of things and his handsome features. But the majority of the boys on the other hand feel differently towards him, especially one boy that had it out for him the most was Kiba Inuzuka, the heir to the Inuzuka Clan. He really hated Naruto due to his closeness to the girls that he wanted to be his as polygamy is accepted in their world as long as the parties agree but it just was not wildly practiced.
Speaking of the Inuzuka heir, he just walked into the room with his loyal pet dog nin Akamaru, a small white and brown puppy that was enjoyed sitting on its master's head.
The boy wore a confident grin on his face as he strutted into the room. He looked around the room before his grin turned into an angered frown at seeing a bored Naruto barely spraying him a glance, like he wasn't worth his time to spend looking to.
'How dare that outsider runt look at me like I don't even matter,' he thought as he grit his teeth in anger. Kiba has always been a bit of a brash guy with an arrogant personality, having gained a mentality of being the strongest of the academy was his right as an 'alpha male'. This thought was in a way reinforced when he was amongst the only Genin hopefuls that could be a match for Sasuke Uchiha in a taijutsu match, except for Naruko.
Yeah that technically made him third place as he had yet to beat either one of them, but that's third place to an Uchiha heir and daughter of the Fourth Hokage. He was one of the best dammit!
Then here comes this white haired guy from nowhere with no real basic skill in anything other than having high amounts of chakra and instantly becomes close to Naruko and Hinata without doing anything. His two future mates and friends since they were kids, who now don't talk with him because of the bastard constantly getting in his way.
'Today will be the day that I put you in your place and get you away from my girls you runt,' he thought to himself as he sat in his seat in the middle. Akamaru simply lay in his partner's lap, used to Kiba's jealous fits by now.
Ignoring Kiba, Naruto took note that the next person to walk into the room was Sasuke Uchiha, the youngest child of the Uchiha Clan Head. Just like with the Hyuga Clan, Naruto felt a particularly powerful pull coming from the Uchiha's, but the pull was stronger when it came to Sasuke like it was with Hinata and it only got stronger as time went on.
Sasuke had a small from on his face as he yawned, ignoring the others in the classroom. 'Only mother and Itachi saw me off for my Genin Exam today while father was too busy to be bothered again. I'm even at the top of the class this year and it still wasn't enough.'
As he took his seat to the window, he felt that he was being watched and looked around before he locked eyes with Naruto. Sasuke doesn't hate the white haired boy but he does not trust him either. He just set off the alarms bells in his head for some reason. The guy was also very talented, almost as good as his brother from what some people have been saying about him, at least when it came to learning techniques with relative ease. He came to the academy with barely any skills to show and near the bottom of the class, but now has skyrocketed to being the third strongest student of the class in no time.
'And he isn't higher because he's weak or anything,' Sasuke thought. 'Out of all the courses, his use in weaponry is still barely in the mid-range of the class. Not only that, but he doesn't seem to have basic common knowledge on most subjects like history, math, science and more. And yet his practical use of chakra is phenomenal, able to learn and use techniques with relative ease. And according to what I have seen so far and heard from Naruko, he has a massive chakra pool. So much in fact, that only Naruko and Aunt Kushina rival it. Another strange thing is that he shows great promise in taijutsu as Kiba, who is one of the top in the class regarding hand-to-hand combat, could not beat him. I'll just have to continue keeping a close eye on him as I don't like unknown factors around me or those I care about.'
The next two people to walk in and catch Naruto's attention from Sasuke were Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi who were yawning and eating a bag of potatoes chips respectively. Neither one spared anyone of the class a glance as they simply just took their seats.
" Both those two need to work on their motivation," Shinju said as they looked away from the duo. " Both have potential to be outstanding warriors, but they are both just too lazy to get themselves to the top."
" Yeah but that is their problem, not ours," Juubi replied with annoyance. " Their weakness will only slow us down and we have just started to finally pick up some momentum to gaining our strength. Don't bother with them."
Before Naruto could reply, a loud noise caught his attention. A very loud screaming of insults drew closer, the Otsusuki was able to instantly recognize yhe familiar screeching voices. Naruto lightly sighed as Juubj growled in anger and disgust. If you listened past that, you could hear the Shinju chuckle softly.
'And here comes two of my biggest headaches of the classroom, right behind Kiba,' Naruto thought as he sighed. A second later, two girls burst into the room at the same time while butting heads and yelling at each other.
The first girl was wearing a purple cut outfit that consisted of a high colored blouse and matching apron. On her abdomen and legs were white bandages wrapped around them. She also had small hoop earrings. She had long, pale blonde hair that was tied into a ponytail and a long bang on the right side of her face. She also has pale skin and light blue eyes that reminded Naruto a clear, midday sky. On her feet were a pair of traditional shinobi style sandals. She also has white arm warmers and a kunai pouch on her right thigh.
The other girl arguing with her was around the same height as the first, with fairer skin and green eyes. She wore a red qipao dress with short sleeves and slits down the sides which was accompanied by a zipper and a white circular designs. A tight dark green bike shorts with a shuriken holster around her right thigh along her lower half. On. On her feet were blue sandals that went up to her ankles.
The two girls were Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno respectively, the Yamanaka heiress and the other was part of a civilian family. The two girls continued to hurl insults at each other, fighting over who won the race to the classroom. Naruto sighed as he could hear Juubi growling at the two girls that he considered pathetic. Now Naruto and Shinju did not feel the same disgust as the multi-tailed wolf, just disappointment at wasting their potential.
Naruto could tell that both girls could be quite powerful in their own rights if they actually decided to train hard. Ino was an heiress to the Yamanaka clan who while not majorly powerful, had quite a unique skill set to be able to possess an enemy body or even talk telepathically to an ally. Not to mention that she had the body potential to be very toned.
The same could be said for Sakura, despite not being from a shinobi family. She had little when it came to chakra reserves, but had near perfect control. Not to mention that she is extremely smart, having memorized near textbook perfect texts.
The problem is neither girl trained, or if they did then it was to the bare minimum that they would need. Not to mention that Sakura and Ino had an unhealthy obsession with Sasuke, along with most girls in the class to be fair. Honestly if the girls besides, Ino and Sakura, weren't bothering him then they were bothering Sasuke.
Naruto groaned as the two girls continued to yell at each other, trying to say who was better and deserves to sit next to the boy of their affections. Honestly? the white hair boy felt bad for the Uchiha male as those two were very loud and he kept having to deal with the two girls most of the year. He himself had a very acute sense of hearing and their yelling gave him a massive headache.
The next person to walk was someone he was completely neutral towards, Shino Aburame. He covered most of upper body in a high collared gray jacket that was always buttoned up. He had spikey, brown hair and wore sunglasses at all times. He wore tight brown pants with his weapon pouch resting on his right leg. On his feet were blue, ankle length shinobi style sandals. He was heir to the Aburame Clan, a clan that specializes in insects of all kinds.
Shino was a quiet, brilliant boy who usually kept to himself. Not entirely his fault though as most other people tended to avoid the boy due to the fact that the insects his clan possess and raise live inside the clan members own body. That creeps people out and they no idea how about being around people like that Naruto can sometimes hear the insects within Shino move around, crawling about
" The boy does have a lot of hidden strengths," the Shinju said. " It would be interesting to have him as an ally due to those insects having the unique ability to drain the chakra of the enemy. Plus he's highly intelligent, which would make for a great strategic partner."
" Yeah, but then again he won't do well in a frontal assault," Juubi replied. " That means we would have to watch over him against a particularly skilled head-head fight or even a Fire style jutsu."
"Everyone has weaknesses," Naruto whispered as he rested his chin in the palm of his hand. He simply ignored Juubi's statement about how they don't have a weakness. Knowing how he is far from unbeatable as they don't have near the strength to win a fight against the higher tier shinobi of the village.
Feeling the powerful pull come again, Naruto gave a small smile as he knew who was coming through the door. The door slammed open as someone had kicked it open with powerful force.
"Yeah its graduation day!" Naruko yelled out with a huge grin on her whiskered face. Her smooth red hair has grown to her shoulder blades, two bangs that framed her heart shaped face that she inherited from her mother. She wore an orange, black and red jacket over a dark green, short sleeved shirt. She wore orange tights that had black lining. She showed herself to be ambidextrous to have a weapon pouch strapped to each leg. Strapped to her back was a katana that had a small crimson chain coming from the handle. On her feet was the usual blue shinobi style sandals.
"Naruko-chan, calm down please," the gentle voice of Hinata came from behind the Uzumaki girl. "Y…you don't want to go crazy."
The young Hinata Hyuga has also taken a different approach over the years. Thanks to Naruto and Naruko, she has come out of her shell a bit more. She was still shy though, but nowhere near as bad as she was before and now has more confidence in herself which showed through her new appearance.
Her beautiful violet hair were now shoulder length with a red clip on theft side, which revealed her face more. She wore her beige jacket, but it stopped just barely over her well developed chest which revealed her wearing a protective fishnet shirt underneath it. The jacket had the Hyuga Clan symbol on both sleeves, a hood, and white fluff on the bottom. She wore black tights that showed her strong legs with a kunai pouch on her right leg. She had the usual blue shinobi style sandals strapped to her feet.
"Sorry Hina-chan," Naruko apologized as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "I am just so excited to finally be graduating. I mean yeah we have to pass the test, but it's not like that will be a problem."
"I…I don't know Naru-chan," Hinata replied.. "I just think it's b..best not to g..get carried away."
"You worry way too much Naru-chan," Naruko replied as she put her arm over her nest friends shoulders. "We kick too much ass to not pass. With all of our training, us and Naruto-kun are sure to pass and become Genin."
Naruto chuckled at the girls. "So glad that you have that much faith in me Naruko." This made both girls look up and smile brightly at their other best friend, who was grinning at them. "Good morning Naruko, Hinata. Your both lively this early in the morning."
"Naruto-kun! Good morning!" the young Uzumaki heir greeted the silver haired boy with a bright grin. She had to the fight down the urge to blush at the smile of her friend, who she came to realize this year that she had a major crush on.
She honestly wasn't surprised when she realized she gained a hard crush on Naruto due to really getting to know the type of person that he was. He was such a nice kind of guy, that honestly interested her. He was obviously smart with how fast that he picked up on stuff, especially when it involved training. His practical use of chakra techniques was the best in the class, yet he had trouble with most weapons. The only weapon he has shown proficiency in was a staff. It just made him cute in her eyes.
Let's not even talk about his appearance. So regal yet feral at the same time with those eyes of his. His long silver hair sometimes looked like it was sparkling in the sunlight yet she knew he didn't exactly take care of it for it to be that way. His eyes were a beautiful blue that reminded her of the many lakes found around Konoha. She lost count to Are you many times she has gotten lost staring into those orbs of his.
Hinata blushed as she found the ground interesting for a moment before gathering her courage and returned the greeting. "Good morning, N..Naruto-kun. How are you this morning?"
Naruto smiled warmly at the girls, making them blush brightly at it. "I I am doing quite well, Hinata. I'm happy to finally get this school over with at long last and move on. You two ready to become ninja?"
He got an excited grin and nod from Naruko while a shy one from Hinata. He honestly worried for Hinata due to her shy nature maybe hindering her out there. She has definitely come out of her shell compares to before and has definitely shown to be a strong fighter in the more recent years. But her pacifist nature along with her shyness causes her to hesitate in her matches and unintentionally holds herself back.
" Stop worrying about her," Juubi said as he still isn't a fan of Hinata's meek demeanor. " She dies, then she dies. It will be because of her own weakness should that happens."
Naruto mentally shook his head at the multi-tailed wolf, not agreeing with the Juubi at all. "I like Hinata," Naruto said to Juubi. "I will not simply abandon my friend because you think they are weak. Now stop it." He said the last part with such finality, that Juubi nodded and stepped back. Knowing that his lord will not tolerate him badmouthing the Hyuga heiress.
The two girls took their seats next to Naruto, Naruko to his left and Hinata next to her.
The next to walk in was Iruka who had not changed in the slightest other than being just a bit more tired of his students antics. "Good morning everyone. Please take your seats so we can all get started." This made Sasuke raise his hand. "Yes Sasuke?"
"Satsuki is going to be a bit late due to having to pick up someone from a compound," Sasuke replied. "She was asked to do so by Lord Fourth."
Iruka nodded as he thanked Sasuke for the information. "We will give them another fifteen minutes before we get started then. If they arrive before then that's great. Besides, I'm still waiting for my assistant anyway."
No one had to be told twice as they all continued their excites chatter, only Shikamaru opted to stay quiet and put his head down to sleep. Naruto thought over Satsuki Uchiha, who was a close friend of Naruto and Hinata while being someone who honestly confused him too. She was definitely one of the strongest females in the class. Naruko, Hinata, and Satsuki were considered to be the strongest three of the class. Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba were the strongest three of the males.
Either way, Satsuki was a very headstrong girl, not backing down when she had something she wanted to say. She bad challenged him quite often to spars, not liking the fact that Naruto was so far ahead of her in fighting. She had definitely grew in strength during their spars, but he still hadn't lost to her unless it involved weaponry. At the same time, during the second year, she began blushing around him and sometimes nervous with him. One moment she is challenging him confidently and the next she stutters like Hinata.
She was a strange girl and his two inners had to agree with him.
After waiting for about ten minutes, the door opened as two people walked in, both of them beautiful girls in their own rights.
The first girl had long brown hair with light brown eyes. On the right side, her brown hair was straight while the left side was braided. She had a yellow hair clip in her hair with two circular designs. She wore a pink battle kimono that was held closed by a pink sash that was over red mesh armor. She wore violet tight shorts with medical tape wrapped around each leg. On her feet were orange shinobi style sandals. On the back of her waist were three small scrolls and on her left leg was a weapons pouch.
The second girl had was a young beauty with long raven black hair in a ponytail. She wore a short sleeved blue jacket over a red and white shirt that clung loosely off of her. She wore dark blue tights along with blue shinobi style sandals. She had nice tanish skin and a cute heart shaped face similar to Naruko. Her eyes were coal black, but held a playfulness to them. Placed on her back was a sheathed chokuto and a weapons pouch attached to her left leg.
These girls were Yakumo Kurama and Satsuki Uchiha respectively.
Yakumo and Satsuki were best friends having met through Satsuki's moms visits to Yakumos mothers compound. The two girls were also best friends with Hinata and Naruko while Satsuki was rivals with the Uzumaki girl. Yakumo had trouble controlling her kekkai genkai which created an inner being within the Kurama heir. This was quickly remedied by Kushina's seals and training by the two mothers.
The two, as mentioned before, were friends with Naruto himself as well. Though he want all that close with Yakumo due to her shy nature around him. She usually kept herself reserved when he was involved, but become lively with the girls. It confused him on the reasons but he figured it was one of those things he doesn't understand.
" It would seem that the Yakumo girl has made a huge recovery," Shinju said. " That's good as her prowess with genjutsu will make her a very deadly Warrior in the future."
" It would seem the runt has finally taken control of life," Juubi added on. " She has come a long way from that shut in that you met two years ago. Though her chakra amount is still pitiful. She wouldn't last too long in a fight, despite her impressive control over it. Though I will say that Satsuki would make an interesting partner."
" You are basing it off her being an Uchiha and her possibly being able to awaken her sharingan," Shinju replied with what sounded like a sigh. " Though she is a well rounded fighter, much like Sasuke is."
"Alright everyone take your seats," Iruka said. "Satsuki, you and miss Yakumon may go have a seat by your brother. We will be taking the written exams before settling into the next part."
Everyone did as they were told as Iruka began handing out the tests to the students. As he finished handing them out, the door opened up as Anko Mitarashi walked in while eating a stick of dango happily.
"I see you started the Genin Exams without me Iruka," she said with a smirk. "Sorry I was late, had a long interrogation session last night with our little friend."
Anko had been asked to be Iruka's assistant about a year ago when it was discovered that Mitsuki was a traitor. He had been thinking of a plan to gain the Sacred Scroll of Sealing in the Hokage's office. He was arrested on the spot and it became worse for him as it was discovered that he had a master outside the village but no one could find an answer as to who. To gain that information is the only reason he had not been executed.
Now he was stuck in the IT chambers with Anko's senses, Orochimaru. Naruto met the guy through Naruko and Anko which left Naruto and his inners on edge. He was definitely a very powerful man along with being highly intelligent. The pale man was very close with the Hokage's family along with two others who were apart of his team when he first became a ninja.
"Well since they are just taking the writing portion, Anko continued as she took out another stick of danger after finishing the first. "I'll just head outside to set up for the next portion." Iruka nodded as the Snake Mistress walked out.
"Begin your test now!" Iruka said as the students flipped over their papers.
It took about an hour before everyone finished their tests, son finishing much faster than the allotted time. People like Sakura, Shikimaru, Satsuki, Shino, and Sasuke were amongst the first to finish their tests. It took Naruto about forty minutes to finish his own test.
While Shinju helped where he could to answer questions, it didn't mean he had all the answers. Naruto was happy to see Naruko, who struggled with any type of paperwork stuff, and Hinata had also finished just a bit before he did.
"Alright everyone," Iruka spoke up as he collected the tests. "Head out to the courtyard for the next part of the test." No one had to be told twice as they all rushed out.
In the courtyard, the students found several human shaped targets throughout the field. Several, if you looked closely, were hidden amongst the branches of some of the branches of the trees and were smaller in size. The targets on the field were in separate directions and separate distances.
Anko sat on a table not too far from a red circle on the ground, happily eating her stick of danger with two cases filled with kunais and shurikens. Naruko got excited and rushed towards Anko and gave her a tight hug that Anko returned.
The apprentice of Orochimaru gave a grin as she let go of her little sister.. "Good to see that you are all here, now get back to your group Naruko!" Anko said as she pushed the blonde girl to the other people. "Alright runt, it's time for the second portion of your exam, the throwing weapons portion."
As you all know by now, throwing weapons like kunais and shruikens are a huge part of a ninjas arsenal despite them being basic equipment. As you can see there are targets set up in various locations at different distances. Your ass will be standing in the middle of that provided circle and throw ten different shurkiens and kunais towards the targets. There are some targets hidden throughout the field that will provide you with extra points should you hit them. Of course your points will also vary depending on where you hit the target as well. Your maximum that you can get by normal means is 150. Masamune, your ass is up first."
And like that, the test had begun. In the process of 45 minutes, many students have gone with only two getting over 100. Shino got 105 and Choji was able to get 105 as well. This definitely made Choji happy as he cheered happily, not expecting to actually score above a 90. Shino just stayed his usual silent self.
The next to go up was Sakura, who actually looked confident. She took her weapons and let them fly. She chose to stay safe and went only for the non hidden targets. By the end of her time of 7 minutes, she scored a respectable 100.
"OK not bad out there Pinkie," Anko said as she wrote down the results. "That puts you in second place after the Hiona brat. Alright, Hyuga get in there!"
Hinata took a deep, calming breath as she walked up to her place. She felt her confidence rise at Naruko cheering her on along with Naruto giving her comforting words. Even Satsuki, Sasuke, and Yakumo were telling her that she got this. Hinata focused as she grabbed her set of weapons and made her move. In a time of 6 minutes, Hinata gained the current highest score of 115. She even gained a bit extra by getting 3 bullseye and hitting the corner of a hidden target in the trees.
"Alright, good job and great form out there," Anko said as she jotted down the results. "You currently have the best score of the girls. Kibbles, get in there!"
Kiba grit his teeth at the name as Akamaru barked loudly. Keeping his annoyance to himself, he took his turn and like Sakura, decided to stay safe but did go after the targets that were further away. In six minutes he got a score of 110. This put him at number one of all the guys currently which made him gain an arrogant smirk that he sent towards Naruto who merely shook his head while the girls sighed with annoyance.
Even Juubi growled at Kiba's blatant disrespect of his "betters" as he so eloquently put it. Though Naruto and Shinju managed to calm him down. Which was a good thing because his rage started to slightly influence Naruto's chakra.
The next person to go up was Yakumo, who was as nervous as Hinata was. She looked around with a deep blush as she walked up to her place, but stopped due to a hand on her shoulder. She turned to find the hand belonged to Satsuki who gave her a confident smirk.
"You have worked hard for this opportunity Yakumo," she said to her friend. "You can do this! Just go out there and give it your all."
This calmed the pale girls nerves who smiled and nodded gratefully. The others of their group encouraged her, telling her that she will do great. Even Sasuke, despite his monotone voice, gave her some encouragement to get out there and show she can do this.
The Kurama heiress stood straighter than before and got into her position. She had her eyes closed for a moment before they snapped open with a fierce fire in her gaze. She let her body go on autopilot as her weapons sliced through the air. In a time of 4 minutes and 57 seconds she gained a total score of 125!
This awed the class as not only was that the current highest score for both genders, but the fastest time too. She even got a bullseye on one of the hidden targets! This caused the crowd to clap and Satsuki to hug her best friend along with Naruko.
" Now that was certainly impressive ," Shinju said. " She has grown well from that frail girl that we met, like Juubi had said earlier. The highest score of the class, she is basically standing at the top right now."
"See, I knew that you could do it!" Sastsuki complimented. "You did amazing our there. Now I am going to do my best ok my turn to not get left behind."
Yakumo blushed brightly from all the praise from her friends, finding the floor interesting. Though she did give a slight glance to Naruto before looking away when their gazes met.
Before she could thank her friends, Anko coughed loudly to gain their attention. "Yeah great job, happy for you," Anko said sarcastically. "But I would appreciate it if you could move your asses so we can continue!" This made all the people run off the field as Anko chuckled at them.
"Lazy ass Nara, you are up next! Now hurry up before I light a fire on your ass!"
"What a total drag," Shikimaru drawled as he walked up slowly. His hands in his pockets. He took his weapons and lazily threw them at the closest targets, not bothering to go for the further ones as that would require too much effort on his part. His time was a predictable 8 minutes 37 seconds with a basic score of 95.
Another sweatdropped as the lazy academy student walked back to the crowd. Gr simply sat back in the ground and yawned. Shaking her head, Anko moved on. "Pretty boy, your up. Show us what you got runt."
Naruto nodded and made his way to the circle, smiling lightly at the words and cheers of encouragement from his friends. Though he heard a growl come from Kiba when Naruko gave him a quick hug. It only got louder as Hinata lightly grabbed his right arm. His other friends gave him their encouragement as well, having known that Naruto usually had trouble with this part. Naruto and Sasuke made eye contact for a second, giving each other a nod without a word.
Naruto first grabbed 10 kunais and stood in the center of the circle as he looked around. He held them skillfully enough, as taught to him by Kushina and Minato. He scanned the area carefully and made his move. He threw 3 of them consecutively. The weapons made loud slapping sounds as they hit their targets, one close and two middle distance.
Not wanting to lose momentum, Naruto threw another 3 kunais, hitting more targets but these were the furthest away. Spinning the kunais in his hands and tossed the last 4. He got 2 bullseyes for the first time on the closest targets. One of them though hit near the bullseye of the furthest target but unfortunately the last one barely hit the bottom of the middle target.
" Your doing great Young Lord!" Shinju encouraged. " Don't lose your momentum. Your doing better than your last attempt already!" Nodding, Naruto reached out and grabbed his shuriken.
Holding his breath, not that it mattered too much for him, he focused on the separate targets while he contemplated, if he should go after the hidden targets. Going back to the unhidden targets, he let two shurikens fly, hitting the middle target near its center.
He let two more loose that twisted and curved in the air as he let another 2 go before the first pair hit the furthest target. None of them were a bullseye though.
Looking at the tree, Naruto decided to take the risk. He let two more shurikens slice through the air. Once lost in the foliage, Naruto fired the last two at the farthest target and hit the bullseye both times.
Once done, Anko made her way to check the shurikens thrown at the hidden target. She returned in a second and wrote down her notes. Feeling nervous, Naruto awaited to hear his results.
"Not bad brat," Anko said. "Within a time-frame of 5 minutes 38 seconds, accumulating a score of 120 points. You hit the hidden targets two times through barely. It really helped your score, since those are major points. You now have the most points of the guys and seconds most overall."
Naruto smiled at the fact that he did so well! The last time he barley got a single bullseye even with all of his effort. Now he got multiple ones!
" Great job Young Lord!" Shinju complimented as he spread warmth through Naruto's body. " This showed that your improving slowly in this ninja subject."
" Hell yeah!" Juubi continued with a vicious grin. " Let's these other guys match that score! Great job to leave a mark Young Lord. No longer needing to hide since we are about to become shinobi."
"Great job out there Naruto!" Naruko cheered as Naruto walked up. "Mom will be so happy to hear that her little student had kicked so much ass during one of his weaker subjects."
"G…good job Naruto," Hinata complimented shyly. "I am so happy that your ha…hard work paid off s..so well. I am happy for you."
All the praise made Naruto blush as he heard Sasuke Uchiha being called up next. The second oldest of the Uchiha Clan Head made his way up next who got instantly serious. He grabbed his weapons as he glared at the targets, refusing to let Naruto do better than him.
In a matter of 4 minutes 53 seconds, Sasuke got a total score of 135 points which put his score above Naruto's. This caused all the girls to scream loudly at how cool that Sasuke seemed to look, something Naruto couldn't begin to understand nor did he find in him to try to care. All the screaming did was hurt his ears and piss off Juubi.
After Sasuke walked off the field, his turn was followed up by his twin sister who gained a perfect score of 150 point within the time-frame of 4 minutes 8 seconds. This got another round of cheers by the group of students, especially the boys who were fanboys of the Uchiha beauty.
Satsuki ignored them though as she made her way back to her happy and proud friends, her eyes quickly locking onto Naruto. This made Naruto tilt his head slightly to the left, some of his hair moving over his eye. This made all the girls watching blush at how cute the look was on his face. Sastsuki especially as she muttered how cute he looked to her.
Only Naruko had heard her though and became instantly jealous at her friend, even giving her a small, unnoticed glare. When Anko called her up next, she rushed forward and grabbed her first set of weapons. In a time of exactly 4 minutes, Naruko accumulated a score of 145, even hitting a bullseye on the hidden target.
Despite the loud applause she got from her friends and her own set of fanboys, Naruko was still sad that Satsuki had gotten a better score than she did. Sensing that his friend was sad for some reason, Naruto hugged her.
"You did awesome out there Naruko," Naruto whispered in her ear, sending pleasant chills down her spine which caused her to blush. "I don't fully understand why you are sad, but you were amazing. You even got a much higher score than I did which goes to show how skilled you are " Naruko couldn't help the smile growing on her face as she returned the warm hug, getting sharp glares from the jealous Satsuki, Hinata, and Yakumo.
No one noticed that the seal underneath Naruko's clothing on her abdomen began to glow faintly before it quickly died out as the two broke the hug, grinning at one another. Naruto did get a bit dizzy though, feeling that Juubi and Shinju had just a good bit stronger.
Naruto found that sometimes, for reasons unknown to all of them, Naruto and his tenants would get more powerful when got really close to Naruko. It's not every single time, but he has no clue on why it happened at all. He could currently hear Juubi growling happily at his sudden increase in power.
Naruto zoned back in to find another couple minutes had passed as Ino walked up for her turn, not realizing he just missed a massive teasing from Anko as Naruko had her blushing face buried in her hands. As Ino took her turn, Naruto found that it wasn't anything special as she got a total score of 100 in 7 minutes 23 seconds. This les to a teasing and subsequent argument between the pale blonde girl and Sakura about who was better. But this was thankfully shut down quickly by Anko who threw the dango skewer between the two, scaring both of them as they shook as the bloodthirsty grin from the Jonin.
"As fun as it would be to see you two sticks fight each other, we don't have the time," Anko said with a smile that promised intense pain. "Now get your asses to the sparing field so we can judge your taijutsu and ninjutsu!" They all rushed off to the other side of the building, not wanting to anger the apprentice of Orochimaru.
In two minutes, they arrived as they all saw Iruka standing on the side with a clipboard in his hands.
Anko appeared in a swirl of leaves on the other side of the field, another stick of danger in her hand. "Alright runt, you all are going to have a spar against me. You don't have to beat me or anything. Just try to get at least three hits on my torso or even my back. Do either one of those and you have an automatic pass. If not done in the allotted five minute time-frame, you will still be judged by Iruka here and ranked by your taijutsu skill. Now lets get started!"
Iruka nodded as he called out the first students, some a bit nervous due to Anko's smile becoming a bloodthirsty grin.
The matches began as Naruto watched, wanting to understand how Anko planned to fight in this case. He has sparred against her before and it was tough, leading to a lot of painful moments. He has landed blows before but she was always holding back and not taking him seriously.
Anko had been demolishing the other students so far with no effort as she just ate her dango in the same
Anko had been demolishing the other students so far with no effort as she just ate her dango in the same spot. It's not that they were terrible, but Anko wasn't bothered to care. One poor boy was blocked and kicked away by Anko's right leg only.
It was Shino's turn and he actually got a hit in on her stomach, but that was it. Choji was unacceptable to get a hit on as Anko was once again not bothered to try. Though not surprising since Anko was a Jonin that was believed to encroaching on ANBU level.
That was followed by Sakura and other students being taken out with no effort or hands by Anko. Two of the students were even knocked completely unconscious by the kunoichi. Everyone could see that Anko was beginning to get seriously bored though there were a few times she was trying not to laugh hard at the pathetic display.
The next person to be called up was Kiba, who had Akamaru on his head. Since Akamaru is part ox the Inuzuka taijutsu style, and she was bored, he was allowed to work with his partner.
Kiba actually didn't do too bad as the wild style of the Inuzuka Clan was a huge advantage on his part. Plus adding on an additional body in Akamaru, showed to be a huge boon despite his small stature. But that didn't matter too much to Anko who was best friends with Kiba's older sister and had sparred with her constantly so she was quite adept at fighting this style. The only reason any contact was made on Anko was due to her holding herself back a considerable amount.
Kiba had gotten his three strikes in, but not without some pain as he and Akamaru were all bruised up from the Jonin striking them. Anko could have done worse but restricted herself from hitting him too hard.
Kiba grinned and cheered at his automatic passing of his taijutsu test, that abruptly changed to a howl of pain as he was incredibly sore. Like with the other students, Kiba was pulled away by an Iruka Clone for his genjutsu test. But of course not before throwing a "beat that loser" comment at Naruto, who simply narrowed his eyes in annoyance at the jab and challenge.
Soon enough, the next set of students came and went by with poor Yakumo not doing too well, barely lasting until the time limit ran out along with Shikimaru.
Now that was amusing as Shikimaru had chosen to sit down and run the clock, but Anko was not having that. She charged him herself and forced him to fight, though he didn't land any hits after the first one.
Anko called up Naruto next who walked up, wanting to show his abilities as best that he could. 'So far the only ones passing no question are Hinata and Kiba, as both got all three hits,' he thought as he got into the basic academy fighting style.
" Why are you using this school's style Young Lord," Juubi questioned. " We worked on a style that works better for you, utilizing what we could gather from memory fragments. It would do a lot better for you and your test."
" He has a point there Young Lord," Shinju agreed. " We are at the point where you don't have to hide so much of your strength. Other than our acquired Byakugan, you can fight more freely."
"I know but I have my reasons," Naruto replied mentally. "Just trust me you guys." He could feel them nod as he took a deep breath.
"Begin!" Anko said as Naruto tensed up while she just stood there calmly.
Naruto rushed as Anko with impressive speeds that made it hard for the civilian students to track him. He went for a spin kick to the Jonin's left rib that she just swat away like a mere bother.
Naruto quickly redirected his body and went for an axe kick to her head that Anko merely grabbed. Before she could grip his foot, Naruto bounced off it and landed in a handstand. He jumped to his feet and went for a punch that Anko blocked with her knee.
He pulled himself forward using said knee and used his own. Anko blocked the knee strike with her elbow that she then knocked back down. Naruto spun around and went for a backwards punch that was again blocked by Anko.
Smirking Anko changed tactics and went on the offensive, striking with a weakened version of her Hidden Snake Style of taijutsu. She sung her kick in such a fast pace that Naruto was barely able to jump back in time. But with a fluid motion of her feet, changed motion and almost connected her heel with Naruto's rib area.
She dropped down in a blur and kicked his feet out from under her, causing the white haired boy to fall back. She went to grab his foot but Naruto used his hands to flip away.
'Now!' Naruto yelled mentally as he spun his body with his hands, his feet angled at Anko's. This made the interrogation specialist step back in surprise. Naruto kept that pace and after the third, changed his position and kicked up.
This nailed Anko in the chest, knocking the wind out of her which cussed her to stagger back. Not losing momentum, Naruto swung the back of his hand at Anko's face but was struck in the stomach by Anko's fist. This made him gag as he stepped back in pain.
This lapse in attention due to pain meant that Naruto was unprepared for the next five consecutive strikes to his shoulders, gut and ribs. This caused a cry of pain but he was able to stay on his feet.
Naruto rushed at his opponent, his entire demeanor changing as his body moved closer to the floor. His hands now only half clenched, having a more clawed positioning. The chakra in his legs moved more freely, allowing Naruto to move quicker and more fluid.
Naruto kicked at Anko's leg, much faster than a moment ago. Anko was still able to keep track of his movements, despite her initial surprise at his change, pretty easily. She kicked the strike away but Naruto spun and landed on her outstretched leg.
He went for a kick that Anko instantly went to block, but was surprised by a double palm strike to her chest. Naruto had bent his body in an impossible angle, almost making a 'C' shape.
Then with a split air spin, Anko had to duck to avoid being kicked in the head. She then showed her own flexibility by kicking straight up but Naruto leaned back, narrowly avoiding getting kicked on the chin.
He did not expect for Anko to hit him in the head with her elbow, making Naruto roll on the ground and recover back to his feet. Focusing chakra to his arms, Naruto rushed forward as Anko got ready to counter strike.
The moment Naruto was close to striking distance, he twisted his feet that caused him to vanish from her sight!
"What?!" Anko cried out in shock as her opponent vanished. Going on pure instinct, Anko was able to dodge Naruto's punch from behind before she kicked back and kicked Naruto.
Oh so she had thought.
Naruto kicked off the ground and dodged Anko'strike just I'm time. He used another spin kick that caused Anko to raise her arms to block in time. But the added chakra to the kick gave it enough force to actually make her waver. It's like she could feel the bones in both of her arms vibrate from the, admittedly, powerful contact.
'I have sent this kid spar plenty of times before and have even sparred against myself multiple times,' Anko thought in shock. 'I have never seen him fight like this and judging by Naruko's shock along with the other student's shocked looks, neither have they. Looks like little Naruto has been holding back, which is smart on his part.' As soon as she finished her thought, she dodged another couple of strikes and pushed back another kick attempt. 'He has a minute left before his time runs out.'
Naruto dodged another strike from Anko but was then grabbed by the woman who held his hands tightly to hold him in place. Time was almost up and Naruto knew he had to get that strike in now.
Kicking his body upward, Naruto twisted his body around by showcasing another show of impressive flexibility. Anko had to let go so she could avoid a kick from him, which made her happy she did as she could tell it would have hurt simply from the force left behind. Using the Snake Mistress shoulder, Naruto was able to get around Anko and avoid an elbow aimed for his chest. Now behind the purple haired woman, Naruto kicked her in the middle of the back and made her tumble forward in pain.
This officially gave Naruto his third and final strike which meant he had an automatic pass on his taijutsu test. He got it just in time too as Naruto saw that he only had ten seconds left!
Naruto stood up, feeling the bruises that Anko left from each strike slowly healing. He noticed that he doesn't keep his wounds for very long as he had a powerful healing factor. He had pretty thick skin so he doesn't bruise too easily which showed how strong Anko was, even when holding back most of her strength.
"Good job out there Naruto," Anko praised with hands on her hip. She didn't even look affected by her spar with Naruto, despite how hard his strikes were. "You have passed your taijutsu exam portion. Now get going for your genjtusu exam. Good luck runt, not that you will need it for that."
She was right, as genjtusu had been absolutely useless against him. If he didn't break the illusion, then he had Shinju or Juubi that could break it for him. Of course not that anyone knew about that last tidbit.
Naruto nodded and thanked Anko with a smile. "I will be on my way Anko-sensei," Naruto said before turning to his remaining friends. "You guys got this! I'll see you all on the other side." With that, he left as it only took him a minute to get to the last training field.
Iruka's Clone along with his other batch mates sat around the area, while the original Iruka was looking at his papers. As he walked up, he was slightly surprised when Shinju spoke up.
" Young Lord!" he said. " You are trapped in a genjutsu!" Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as he raised his handle and pushed out his chakra.
"Release!" he yelled out as the world around him distorted before Iruka and the students reappeared on the other side of the field.
Naruto took note that this Iruka had a blue clipboard instead of the brown one he had a moment ago. Also his classmates looked scuffed up from the spar with Anko compared to the cleaned up appearance they had a moment ago. This made Naruto feel slightly annoyed he didn't catch it right away himself.
"Awesome job Naruto!" the Iruka Clone complicated as he wrote something down. "Broke out of the genjutsu in four seconds. Now you are allowed to cast a genjutsu of your own for extra credit."
Naruto shook his head as he did not gave a genjutsu to even use.
" You can cast one Young Lord," Shinju replied. " Before our formation in your mindscape, you performed one on the gate guys due to pure instinct. From what I know, you were in an instinctual trance during that time as you performed other feats as well. Now it seems that your mind and body have locked them away due to you gaining more of a conscious."
"So I can perform genjutsu, I just can't right now," Naruto asked mentally, getting an agreed hum from the Great Tree.
" Correct," Shinju replied. " Your body is having trouble currently due to you now mostly thinking about it, when before you just did it. Eventually, and with more practice in controlling your vast power, you will be able to cast genjutsu." Naruto nodded as he understood the situation now, having never really asking his tenants about genjutsu.
Iruka jotted down the refusal, not that it mattered as he passed the genjutsu portion anyway.
Naruto walked towards a wall where Hinata was doing her best to ignore another of Kiba's advances.
"Listen Hinata," Kiba said with a flirtatious grin. "Why don't you at least give me a chance? We used to be pretty good friends until that white haired bastard got in the way."
Hinata actually got annoyed at the Inuzuka heir's constant insults towards Naruto. She glared at Kiba with her Byakugan active, a slight amount of KI unconsciously leaking from her rage. This made Kiba sweat and take a step back as he did not expect that from her.
From Naruto, most definitely. But kind, sweet Hinata. Never!
"I am going to say this only once Kiba!" Hinata spat at the boy, surprising Naruto at both her vicious tone and the fact she didn't stutter. "You will back off and stop bad mouthing Naruto! He is strong, kind, caring and so much more. We were once friends yes, but you became and arrogant man ever since you learned that you were not top dog, despite still being behind Sasuke. Naruto has beaten you each of your spars and you can't accept that loss. Understand these words Kiba, I will NOT go out with you! I like someone else already and that person is NOT you! Now leave me alone before you get your chakra points closed off!"
Seeing that Hinata was not bluffing as the veins around her activated Byakuga tightened and her chakra leaked out lightly, Kiba backed away as Akamaru whimpered.
While Kiba was scared by the angered Hinata, his instincts found her incredibly hot as well. The backbone being very desirable in a mate of the Inuzuka memebers. He swore he would win not only her heart but Naruko's and Satsuki's. He just had to show them that he was true blue alpha and worthy of their affection.
'But first I need to take down Naruto and Sasuke,' he thought as he sat under a tree with his arms crossed. Growls escaping his lips as Naruto walked up to a now blushing Hinata. 'That should be me, making her blush like that, not him.'
In about another hour, the rest of the students walked over, some limping and in pain from the spar with Anko, who walked over happily. Iruka's clone handed the clipboard to the original before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Most of the students passed the genjutsu portion with only Yakumo and four others showing a genjtusu for extra credit. There's quite a few that apparently failed it, as you had only a minute realize that you were trapped.
Naruto was happy to see Naruko, Satsuki, and Sasuke break the genjutsu in seconds.
We have now reached the ninjutsu portion of the exam," Iruka said to his students. "While we are here, we will utilize the extra credit part of the test. Each of you will be given the chance for more extra credit on this portion by showing a personal justu that you have learned on your own. After that we will go inside for the basic three academy jutsus you choose and you will know if you passed your Genin Exam or not. Now those with jutsus that you would like to show, please step forward."
Naruto and the clan heirs all walked forward. The Otsusuki boy looked around and was not surprised that no one else walked up. Though he felt bad for Yakumo as she stayed back, not having any ninjutus at her disposal. The same went for Shino as his techniques were….different.
"Now, who would like to go first?" Iruka asked, started the final portion of the Genin Exam.
AN: I am going to stop this here as I am quite sure that this is the longest chapter out of all my other stories. I was gonna try to get through the Exam in one chapter but decided that I will end it in the next as other stuff will be revealed then. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and as always please Review, Favorite, and Follow!
Dragon Soul94 is out!