As fast as you can

Minato thinks that his day was productive. He met 2 clan heirs (befriended them?), watched clouds and tried not to drool whenever Chouza handed him a chip. He acknowledges the fact that he probably should have left earlier though. It was pretty late by the time he excused himself to go to the academy to start asking around. 

Minato was running as fast as possible and taking as many shortcuts as he dared. In the haze of dusk, lights blurred together while he sprinted to the academy. His golden hair glowed, faintly illuminated by the street lights and shops. He couldn’t help the smile that pulled at his mouth. The slight breeze whipped around his face, throwing golden strands of hair back from his face. His lungs burned, as he vaulted over a face and landed in a crouch transitioning to a smooth roll, not pausing in his sprint. He feels light and graceful in a way that only surfaces when he’s running. He wants to go faster and faster, wants to see his surroundings blur around him. Wants to be so fast no one can keep up with him. 

He gets to the academy and searches the bulletin board for any information regarding early academy entrees. He finds a note pinned up stating that all early entrants would have to take a physical test and written test to enter the academy early. It didn’t say what was on the test and how to prepare. It also said that the last set of tests conducted would be on July 6th and–oh–today's July 6th. Minato’s heart dropped and felt vaguely like he was going to puke. He desperately scans the paper for more information and catches on a small tidbit. 

The academy test was monitored by one Yuhi Shinku, who on July 6th could be found on the third floor of the academy proctoring the test. Those who wished to take the test would need to show up at 5:00pm and the test would end at 9:30pm. Late entries were not accepted. Results would be posted outside on July twenty first. 

It's 6:53 right now and if he takes the test right now he had two hours thirty seven minutes. Late–Late entries were not accepted. Minato thinks that he might puke and cry at the same time. He can’t–he’s not going–he’s going to die because he was lonely and wanted friends. Hysterical laughter was faintly bubbling up and he stamped it down. Focus, he needs to focus. The exam was on right now and there had to be a bunch of people taking it. Civilians and clans alike all wanted to enter early. Civilians for the prestige and opportunities that would open up to an early academy admission. Clans because everyone wanted their clan member to be labeled a prodigy. With the second war looming on the horizon (Minato was five not stupid) everyone was rushing to enlist in the academy. 

And it was 6:55 now. Minato took a deep breath and tried not to cry. The exam was taking place on the third floor and Yuhi Shinku was a jounin. Minato wasn’t even an academy student there was no way he could successfully sneak in, get a test and blend into the class to take the test. Even if he passed the test he had still missed the physical test but if his written score was good enough there was a chance that he would still be able to get into the academy and be tested later on. 

There was no possible way that he would be able to take the test in the classroom. 

…he could take a test and then sneak the paper into the stack of other test papers when they probably got transferred to be graded. 

Minato made himself a plan and hoped he wouldn’t get arrested for treason.

The plan was simple in theory. 

1. Minato would pull the fire alarm in the academy
2. He would pretend to be a Anbu via rocks
3. Steal a test 
4. Run into Yuhi Shinku and drop his test in the papers that he knocks down when he runs into him 

Minato would pull the fire alarm in the academy. By doing this he would be removing Yuhi Shinku from the classroom. If he was lucky then Yuhi-sensei would just leave the room. If he was unlucky then Yuhi-sensei would leave behind a clone that he’s heard of jounin doing. In the event that he leaves a clone then Minato will have set up a mini catapult aimed at the academy window ready to fire some rocks that will hopefully sound like a knock. Yuhi-sensei would then hopefully walk over and open the window and Minato would dart in, grab a test and dart out. 

Kami he thinks his heart is going to fall out of chest with how hard it’s pounding.

Alright, Minato's got this. He would give himself a better and longer pep talk to hype himself up but it was 6:58 now and Minato was going to start crying very soon.

He had gathered up the needed supplies and was very ready to make a great catapult. It was going to be great. He had a picture in his mind. It was going to be very cool. 

Minato's catapult was a failure and he was running out of time. At first his hopes had been pretty high. It was going to a big wooden catapult hurling pebbles at the window. His current catapult was pretty sad. The pebbles were in a leaf and he had a weird pulley system going on. Everything was fine and he was great. It was going to be okay.

Minato took a deep breath and valiantly resisted the urge to burst into tears. He tied the wire to the tree and checked the time. Oh Kami it was 7:20.

Alright, alright Minato can do this. He’s going to be perfectly fine. Everything is great.

He goes inside the academy, fingers hovering over the fire alarm. He really hoped Anbu wouldn’t come and take him away to be interrogated and killed.

He slammed the fire alarm down and sprinted back outside. He quickly scaled the tree next to the academy to peek inside the room. Yuhi Shinku was roaring at the kids in the classroom. 

Damn, to their credit if Yuhi Shinku had roared at him he would have sat down and shut the fuck up too. And—yeah he was unlucky. Yuhi sensei made a clone and left. 

No matter! Minato had a backup plan perfectly suited for this. He sprinted back to the tree and yanked the wire. After hearing the stones thunk against the window he climbed back up the tree and carefully maneuvered himself into the other open window. He peeked over and saw the other kids all looking at the window. Yuhi Shinku was still looking outside and Minato rolled into the room, snagged a test packet and dove back out the window bear hugging the tree. 

Minato grit his teeth as the rough bark scraped his stomach. Damn that was going to sting for at least a week. He kept down the tree landing on a particularly fluffy grass patch. 

He had no time to waste! It was 7:38 and he hadn’t studied at all. Minato briefly considered cheating but then dismissed the idea. The test was probably cheat proof anyway and the library barred civilians from stuff that was related to ninja techniques or anything that could really help. If Minato was Hokage then he would change that, as Mikumo had said, education was key and Konoha would benefit from a more rounded education for everyone including civilian borns.

He flipped the packet over and sent a quick prayer to literally anyone. 

The test wasn’t as bad as his worst case scenario. He couldn’t have answered the questions by himself but most of the answers could be found in other questions. They probably had been testing people for information gathering and memory. A lot of parts had actually been like that, tests hidden inside questions.

Minato wasn’t smart enough to think that he had caught all of the tricks but he was confident to think that he had at least gotten 50% right.

Minato really hoped he got more than 50% right.