Chapter 8 "1st-year Finals"
The news about an academy student killing two enemy ninjas spread like a wildfire among the ninjas of Konoha. Everyone was talking about the same topic, and it soon reached Iruka and other teachers of the Academy. None of them could believe that Naruto, took down a jonin and a chunnin all by himself, but all of them refrained from sharing this news with the students, especially Naruto's classmates. Iruka himself called Sakura and asked her about the incident. He was even more shocked to hear that Naruto didn't even use his Adamantine Chains.
Council Room
There are two types of councils in Konoha. One was the civilian council, where the Hokage, elders, ANBU commander, Jonin Commander, Clan Heads and representatives of Civilians sat. And the another was where only the Hokage, the Elders, the ANBU commander and the Jonin Commander sat, and this was the later one. Iruka was standing in front of them.
"Naruto Uzumaki has mastered every technique required to pass the Academy. He excels in every subject too. There is no point in keeping him in the academy anymore, he is already good enough to be a gennin." Iruka said.
"But isn't he just a freshman, I believe it's too early for him." Homura said.
"He is just a first-year indeed, but there is no point in holding him back. This has happened before, Itachi & Shisui are the recent examples." Danzo said.
"Very well then, the finals are next month. We will test him there. Till then, let the things be as they are." Hiruzen said.
"Thank you, Hokage-Sama. Shall I tell Naruto about this or not?" Iruka asked.
"No, don't tell him. He will get his surprise in the finals." Hiruzen said.
"As you wish Hokage Sama." Iruka bowed before leaving.
"You already knew this was coming, didn't you?" Danzo said.
"Well, I was expecting this but not so soon." Hiruzen said.
With Naruto
Naruto was walking with Sasuke towards the Uchiha District. When Naruto told Sasuke that he has never visited the Uchiha District, Sasuke decided to show him.
"How far is it?" Naruto asked.
"We are halfway there." Sasuke said.
"It's still halfway?! We are walking for half an hour." Naruto said.
"Well, it isn't that far. I come from there every day." Sasuke said.
When Naruto finally reached the district, he was shocked to realize that it was situated at the corner of the village. Uchiha clan was one of the founder clans of the village, and to be cornered in their own village was even more shocking. As soon as Naruto entered the district, he noticed something unusual.
'One… Two… Three… and four. There are four watchtowers guarding or shall I say Spying this District, from every direction. And I sense a high concentration of Ninjas in each one of them. It feels like they are watching them every time. Something is wrong.' Naruto thought.
When Naruto passed through the market, he noticed the looks he was getting. He sensed hostility from the Clan members.
'This is weird, Hostility is not what I get from other villagers. And the Hate is also in a large amount. Everything is weird about this place.' Naruto thought.
'But this should be expected, they are being watched every time and they also get cornered. What's more, is that I only know a very few Uchihas that are in the Village ranks, most of them are in the Police force. I get the feeling that they are being discriminated against. This should be dealt with immediately before this takes a dangerous form.' Naruto thought.
Suddenly Naruto sensed two strong presences behind him. As soon as he sensed them, Naruto quickly surfaced his chains on his back in a ready position.
"Hey Sasuke, is he your friend." One of them said.
"Yes, Shisui Nii-san. He is Naruto Uzumaki." Sasuke said in a cheerful way.
"So, you are Naruto Uzumaki, that we are hearing a lot about. Nice to meet you." Itachi said.
"Nice to meet you too, Nii-san talks a lot about you too." Naruto said.
"Nii-San?" Itachi asked.
"Kakashi Hatake." Naruto said.
"Really, you are Kakashi-San's brother? I didn't know he had any." Itachi said.
"We aren't blood-related but I call him Nii-san." Naruto said.
"I got confused after seeing your white hair." Shisui said.
"So, what are you doing here?" Itachi asked.
"I was just walking with Sasuke and decided to visit the Uchiha District." Naruto said.
"I see. So why don't you come home." Itachi said.
"Sure, let's go." Naruto said.
Naruto spent the next few hours at Sasuke's home with the addition of Shisui and Itachi. They talked about the general stuff and how Naruto can perform the Shuriken Jutsu. After a few hours, Naruto decided to leave.
Naruto's Home
After Naruto got home, he found out that Hiruzen was waiting for him. It was almost his training time, so Naruto was expecting him anyway. But this time Naruto had something important to talk about with Hiruzen.
"Hey there, sensei!" Naruto said.
"Hello Naruto. Where have you been?" Hiruzen asked.
"I went to the Uchiha District, and I have something to talk about." Naruto said.
"I see. What do you want to talk about?" Hiruzen asked.
"About the Uchiha Clan. You do realize what you are doing and how it will end, don't you?" Naruto asked.
"What about the Uchiha clan?" Hiruzen asked.
"There you go playing dumb again. I am talking about how you people are treating the Uchihas." Naruto said.
"What is wrong with that? Things are just as they were before." Hiruzen said.
"That is the problem. Things aren't changing. Uchiha clan is a founder clan and they are being cornered in their own village. Resentment towards the village is greater among the Uchihas and you know the reason very well. You don't really think that they will just stay quiet and endure it." Naruto said.
"There was no place left in the center that is why they were given that area." Hiruzen said.
"From what I know, the Uchiha district was situated in the middle of the village, but after the Kyuubi attack, they were transferred to the corner. What was wrong with their previous location?" Naruto asked.
"Well… it was Danzo's idea to transfer them there." Hiruzen said.
"And was it also Danzo's idea to constantly monitor them?" Naruto asked.
"How do you know about it?" Hiruzen's eye widened.
"There are four tall watchtowers disguised as houses around the district, anyone can notice something that obvious and beside there were high concentration of chakra signatures in each tower." Naruto said.
"I see. So, what are you trying to say then?" Hiruzen asked.
"What I am trying to say is that it could turn even worse, I can sense the tension rising. If it isn't dealt with quickly, there could be two outcomes." Naruto said.
"And they are?" Hiruzen asked.
"Either they could decide to leave the village and live on their own, or they could try a Coup D'état. And either way, the village will get weakened drastically. So, I want to know why they being treated like that." Naruto said.
"Well… that it because they are suspected to be the ones behind Kyuubi Attack and the death of your parents." Hiruzen said.
"Just because of a single person, you are blaming the whole clan. When I saw the memories of that night, do you want to know what I saw?" Naruto asked.
"What?" Hiruzen asked.
"A man in a black cloak and face covered in a white mask appeared in the room out of nowhere, killed your wife, unsealed kyuubi from my mother, took him under control, attacked the village, fought my dad and left, and nobody knows about that man. He also called himself Madara Uchiha." Naruto said.
"Wait a minute, so you are saying that just a single person did this?" Hiruzen asked.
"Yes, and I am certain of it. He also had a sharingan but it turned into a different pattern." Naruto said.
"A Mangekyo Sharingan, or in worst case, an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. But as far as we know, only Madara possessed an EMS and he died long ago, so it doesn't make any sense. And as of now, only Shisui has a Mangekyo Sharingan that he awakened a few years ago." Hiruzen said.
"Then that means there is a rogue Uchiha wandering around who has a Mangekyo Sharingan." Naruto said.
"This is a very useful information which can remove all suspicions from the clan, but I ain't sure if we could use it as a basis for any major decision." Hiruzen said.
"That is upon you, but I believe my memories and I have already told you what would happen if you don't act quickly." Naruto said.
"Hn." Hiruzen said.
"So, how about we start the training?" Naruto asked.
"We'll do it tomorrow." Hiruzen said.
"Okay." Naruto said. Suddenly a lightning fell on Naruto and when the light disappeared, he was gone. Hiruzen also dispelled himself.
Hokage Tower
As soon as Hiruzen's clone's memory returned to him, he started thinking about it.
"He isn't wrong. If I let things loose, this could turn bad." Hiruzen thought.
"But what shall I do?" Hiruzen thought. He then snapped his finger and an ANBU appeared in front of him in a kneel down position.
"Fetch Danzo, Itachi and Shisui." Hiruzen ordered as the ninja shunshined away.
…
In a matter of few minutes, all three of them were standing in front of Hiruzen.
"From now on, Itachi and Shisui are no longer part of the Root. They will be working directly under me." Hiruzen said.
"But I need them in ROOT. They are captain of both the squads." Danzo said.
"It's an order! You can go now!" Hiruzen said as Danzo gritted his teeth.
"Do as you please!" Danzo said before marching out. Hiruzen waited for him to go and then activated the privacy seal and asked the ANBU the clear the room. Now only Itachi, Shisui and Hiruzen were present inside the room.
"Now then, I have a question for both of you. What comes for you first, the Village or the Clan?" Hiruzen asked.
"The Village!" Both of them said in unison without any hesitation.
"Very well then. I want you to do something for me, will you do it?" Hiruzen asked.
"Of course, we will!" Itachi said.
"I want you to spy on your own clan and report me your findings after a month. You will only and only report me and you are not to talk about this with anyone else. Of course, you can decline this mission if you aren't comfortable with it, it won't affect your track record." Hiruzen said.
"I accept!" Itachi said followed by Shisui.
"Good." Hiruzen said.
"Can I ask something?" Shisui said.
"Yes." Hiruzen said.
"Is there something wrong going in the clan?" Shisui asked.
"No, everything is fine. I was thinking of calling off the Shinobi who are monitoring the clan and allowing the Uchihas to join the village ranks and for the other leaf shinobi to join the police force, but I thought to give it a final check before doing it." Hiruzen said.
"That would be great, Lord Hokage. We'll do it right away." Itachi said.
"Well then, you're dismissed. Report me after one month." Hiruzen said as both Itachi and Shisui shunshined away.
"Things shall change with time." Hiruzen said to himself.
1 month Later
For the past month, things went normally, but this was probably the silence before the storm. But for our protagonist, things were going as smoothly as ever. He started the waterfall waking and was doing quite good at it but then again, he was using around 250 clones for help. But all things aside, today were his 1st year final examination.
All the students were sitting in the classroom, waiting for the test to begin. The 1st year finals were just written examination, a Taijutsu match and a test of clone jutsu which was not compulsory to pass. But this was still their finals, easy or not.
"Nervous?" Sasuke asked.
"No, not at all." Naruto said. Iruka then entered the class with a bunch of papers.
"Alright class, you will get the question paper in 10 minutes, so prepare yourselves. After the papers, we will do the Taijutsu match followed by the Clone test." Iruka said. He then waited for the class to settle down and then looked at Naruto.
"Naruto Uzumaki, you have been summoned at the Gymnasium." Iruka said.
"When?" Naruto asked.
"Now." Iruka said.
"What about the test?" Naruto asked.
"You don't have to worry about it." Iruka said.
"Alright." Naruto said before he shunshined to the Gymnasium.
Gymnasium
When Naruto reached Gymnasium, he found out that Hiruzen along with the elders was sitting there.
"Naruto Uzumaki, your teacher appealed us to promote you to the gennin rank and as you are good enough. So, we are here to test you and grant your early promotion. Are you ready?" Hiruzen said. Naruto took his time to digest what he had heard.
"Heh, guess you don't have to wait six years to become a ninja." Kurama chuckled.
'Yeah, you are right.' Naruto thought.
"Yes, I am ready." Naruto said.
"Very well then. If you pass this, you will then have to give the final year examination, and then there will be a Taijutsu match with a final year student. And if you manage to pass all three tests, then you will be promoted to a Gennin." Homura said.
"Now then, Perform the Clone Jutsu!" Hiruzen said.
Naruto then formed a hand seal and formed a perfect clone.
"Good-" Hiruzen said but Naruto made another hand seal and formed a shadow clone, and then he also made a lightning clone.
'Lightning Clone!? Did kakashi taught him this?' Hiruzen thought.
"Magnificent. Not one, but you have made three different types of clones." Danzo said.
"Thank you, elder." Naruto said.
"Now, perform the Substitution Jutsu." Hiruzen said.
Naruto's body slightly flickered but nothing else happened.
"What? Do it already, or are you unable to do it?" Koharu said.
"He did." Hiruzen said.
"What? Where is the log?" Koharu said.
"He substituted himself with his lightning clone." Danzo said.
"I see. My eyesight must be getting bad with age. Well, you can't stay young forever." Koharu said.
'You can't stay young forever!' Naruto thought.
"This was flawless too. Well done. Now the last one, perform the transformation jutsu." Hiruzen said.
Naruto then made a hand seal and he and his three clones transformed into the four hokage.
"Amazing Naruto. As flawless as ever. You have successfully passed the first round. Now you just have to give the written examination and fight a Taijutsu match, and you will be a gennin." Hiruzen said.
"Thank you, Hokage-Sama. Where do I have to give the written examination?" Naruto asked.
"In your class. Iruka will take care of it, our job is done here." Hiruzen said. Naruto then bowed to them and when he raised up, all four of them had gone already.
"So, how was it?" Naruto asked. Kakashi then emerged from the shadows.
"Very good, and you also used the Lightning clone that I had taught you." Kakashi said.
"Thank you. Now, I am getting late, so I'll meet you later." Naruto said before performing his lightning shunshin to go to the class.
Classroom
"I take it that you have already passed the first round. Here, you have three hours to complete these." Iruka said handing over the questions to Naruto.
"Thank you." Naruto said as he took the questions and started writing.
Just after half an hour, he completed the test.
"You do realize that these are final year question. Even the final year students have trouble solving all of them, and you are saying that you have completed this in such a short amount of time?" Iruka said. All the other students were too busy to pay attention to them.
"Yes sensei. You can take my papers." Naruto said handing over the papers to Iruka.
"Well then, since you are done with these, you have to go to the Training ground for your Taijutsu session." Iruka said.
"Okay." Naruto said before disappearing.
Training Ground
What Iruka expected was that Naruto would have a hard time against a final year, but this was what actually happened.
"Come one, you can do it. You just have to land a single hit." Naruto said. He was just dodging every strike without even taking out his hands form his pocket. For the rest of the class, it looked like the roles were reversed and Naruto was actually a final year playing with a first year student.
"Congratulations Senpai! You have successfully wasted six years of your life learning nothing. What a magnificent job." Naruto said dodging another punch that was supposed to land on his face.
"Damm it. I am supposed to be one of the best Taijutsu users of my class." The boy said.
"Oh really! Well, I am done playing, and it wasn't even fun." Naruto said jumping away, making some distance between them.
The boy then charged at Naruto with his full speed, clenching his fists as tight as possible, but even before he could start his barrage of fists Naruto landed an axe kick in his face, instantly knocking him out.
"Naruto Uzumaki wins." The instructor announced.
Hokage tower
Hiruzen was sitting on his chair when someone knocked on the door.
"Come in." Hiruzen said. Both Itachi and Shisui entered to room. After seeing them, Hiruzen quickly signalled his ANBU to empty the room, and then he activated the privacy seal.
"Mission report." Hiruzen said.
"Unfortunately, the Uchiha Clan is thinking of a Coup D'état." Itachi said.
"Either they could decide to leave the village and live on their own, or they could try a Coup D'état. And either way, the village will get weakened drastically." Hiruzen remembered Naruto's words.
"I see. Elaborate the situation." Hiruzen said.
"During the clan meeting at the Nakano Shrine, Yashiro proposed the idea of launching a Coup D'état along with Tekka and Inabi. Fugaku-San said that he will look into the matter and try to solve the situation by talking and avoid bloodshed but I believe that if pushed further he might agree to the idea as well." Shisui said.
"I see. So, I conclude that Fugaku and no intention of a Coup D'état but he is being pushed by Yashiro, Tekka and Inabi, right?" Hiruzen said.
"Precisely." Shisui said.
"And what are their demands?" Hiruzen asked.
"They want the Uchiha participation in the center of the village, dismantling the compound and the freedom the choose where they live, and Fugaku Uchiha to be named as the fifth Hokage." Itachi said.
"Okay. So, what's your opinion?" Hiruzen said.
"This should be dealt with before the next clan meeting or the whole Uchiha clan will agree to the idea." Itachi said.
"And when is that?" Hiruzen asked.
"Two weeks later." Shisui said.
"I'll deal with this before it come to that. Fix a meeting with Fugaku Uchiha for tomorrow." Hiruzen said.
"But before that, Yashiro, Tekka and Inabi should be silenced. But I don't want you two to carry the burden of killing your clan members, so I'll ask Tenzo to do it." Hiruzen said.
"Can I do it?" Itachi asked.
"What? Why do you want to do it?" Hiruzen asked.
"I believe I know their weaknesses well enough and I can do it better." Itachi said.
"Well then, finish them before sunrise. Also dispose off their bodies and make sure that their deaths aren't revealed before the meeting." Hiruzen said.
"As you say, Lord Hokage." Itachi said.
"Very well then, you two are dismissed." Hiruzen said as both of them shunshined away.
Author's Note
And it's time to resolve the Uchiha clan problem. Half if it is done in this chapter and the other half will be covered in the next chapter. Also, Naruto is getting an early promotion as hinted before so that's another thing to focus on. Probably his gennin team will also be introduced in the next chapter, and both of them will be OCs.
And there we have Itachi. He still gets to butcher some Uchihas. His character is incomplete without the blood of Uchihas on his hand XD. Here are the stats of gennin Naruto, and these are for overall skills. For example, if someone has 10/10 in genjutsu then he is the complete master of this field (Shippuden Itachi).
Height: 122cm/ 4 feet
Weight: 57 lb./ 26 kg
Speed: 8/10
Intelligence: 9/10
Endurance: 8/10
Stamina: 10/10
Ninjutsu: 5/10
Genjutsu: 4/10
Taijutsu: 7/10
Fuinjutsu: 4/10
Kekkei Genkai: Adamantine Chains (Full Control), Sharingan (2 tomoe), Kurama's Jinchuriki
