Chapter 3

I walked into the academy for the first time and sat down at a desk and not 2 minutes later a ninja with gray hair and no smile walked in."Ok class before we do anything else there is a new program the Hokage has decided to adopt from the civilian academy to help streamline your path to being a ninja. What I am handing out are tests that you will answer what you can on there are 340 questions total." Some very concerned murmuring started at that." Do not be worried, you only need to get the first 10 correct to continue at the academy in the normal way. You are not required to answer any other question you don't want to." This announcement had many openly celebrating as they must have felt truly overwhelmed by the number 340, but what struck me as strange is that while I could recognize a placement test when I saw one we were not being encouraged to do our best and in fact seemed to be discouraged from even trying. "This is the only work required on the first day after you finish you are allowed to play at the playground for the whole rest of the day. Now begin."

Yep she was stacking the deck against anyone actually trying and offering incentives to do as little as possible. Hell, ever her being the one to do the test making it distinctly uncomfortable with her grouchy demeanor seemed to be part of the plan.

Well I won't let that stop me! Question 1. What is 1+6? Oh you are kidding me! Alright fine then...

After plowing through the first 40 questions in the time it took most others to clear the classroom I was kind of annoyed with how easy it was, but I pressed on nonetheless and by question 224 I was completely alone in the classroom except this deceitful proctor.

"Why are you still hear boy? Go play with the other kids." She was not subtle but that was fine. I had no plans to be subtle either.

"No, your lovely presence is reason enough to stay for the whole test." It was not the diplomatic way to do things but it did make her sputter and rant quietly to herself which was a great victory for me.

Question 310 was the first one I did not know the answer to as it was asking for the date of the second shinobi wars start. I was bad enough at remembering dates in my old life so forget dates in a fictional world therefore I skipped it.

"Ok mama, here is my test. I am done." I handed in my test confident that the 5 questions asking for dates being answered with "Who the hell cares?" wouldn't hurt me too bad.

"Go outside, I have already graded the other tests while waiting on you. When the bell rings go back to the orphanage for the day." She was still grumpy even though I was done so she probably wasn't acting each time she groused at me for still being in the classroom.

I went outside and decided to run in a circle around the playground till I got tired. At only 2 laps the bell ended up ringing and I had to go back to the orphanage.

Next morning

I was going to head to the academy but I was stopped by an anbu with no recognizable features who said he was taking me to the Hokage. Oh well at least it wasn't root.

When we arrived the Hokage was with the old woman from the testing. Who was now no longer wearing a leaf headband.

"Ah Loki-kun it's good to see you again. I would like to introduce you to Mrs. Evline Kurosaki who runs the civilian academy in Konoha." He seemed to think it was a great reveal.

"It is a pleasure to meet you again. Now I understand the reason you faked being a ninja. It was one of the only questions I could not answer yesterday." I said this with a smirk at her but it was intended for the Hokage.

"Oh and what gave me away, you know it all cheeky brat?"

"Well mama your beautiful face and hand are tarnished with neither scars nor calluses and one does not become an old ninja with plenty of both." It was again meant more for Hiruzen than her but I kept looking at her the whole time.

"Well you certainly are observant my boy" the Hokage chuckled "to think you would sus out our ruse and score 98% on the test . Now I brought you here because I don't want to waste you, but I also don't know how best to grow your talents. I thought with a young man as remarkable as yourself I should allow you some input on this decision."

This surprised me greatly. First that he was laying on the praise so thick and second that he was asking my opinion on how I should be trained. "Well since I practically aced the test I would say instead of trying to figure out what grade to skip me to it would be better to simply allow me access to the library instead of most desk classes. In terms of physical ability I can be placed in a normal class for those periods as I am, I believe mostly average in physical things."

The Hokage and Mrs. Kurosaki looked a bit less shocked at my answer this time and more thoughtful about what I had said. "I actually think it's a good plan Hokage-sama. It keeps him around his peers without dragging anyone down." Mrs. Kurosaki was surprisingly my first supporter.

"I agree and since you are something of an experiment I will give you a gift that's bigger than you might know Loki-kun. Here is a black card to the library. It is the highest access in the building and allows entry day or night to any area. The only access more privileged is to the Hokage's personal library in this tower so use it wisely Loki-kun"

I was floored. This Hiruzen was so much more competent than in most fics and the show. I would certainly not be looking to get him replaced with Tsunade later. "Thank you very much Hokage-sama. I do understand that this is a great gift. I will use it to the best of my abilities, rest assured."