one
“It is time for the weapon-handling and taijutsu portion of the exam. Make your way to the targets outside and wait for my instructions.”
Naruto sighed deeply and raised his head from the table slowly, watching his nervous classmates start to file out of the classroom. It was better to wait until they had all left before he made a move; the last thing he needed today was to get shoved or tripped. He had to pass this exam. He couldn’t afford any distractions.
When the last person exited the room, he finally got to his feet and followed after them. He soon joined them in their loose lines in front of the targets. They were still whispering nervously to each other and he rolled his eyes as they shot glares at him. They had never liked him; not that anyone else in the village did either.
Apparently having someone three years younger than them joining their class and actually doing better in some areas could be a blow to someone’s confidence. They had spent the last two years trying to make him fail so he would get moved back down. It had gotten worse when their parents had joined in but Naruto was stubborn; he wasn’t about to let anyone get in the way of this. He will pass today and he will never have to deal with any of these morons again.
Two particular morons started pointing to him, hateful looks twisting their faces, and Naruto raised an eyebrow back at them. Ren and Kichirou were the worst of everyone and no matter how many times Naruto beat them in taijutsu, they never left him alone. He secretly hoped they got on killed their first mission outside the village; that would solve a lot of his problems.
Hideki-sensei tapped his clipboard to get their attention.
“You will each be given five kunai and five shuriken. The target in front of you has been divided into sections, so the closer to the centre you hit, the more points you score. Your overall percentage will be added to the rest of your scores so take this seriously. This could be the difference between you passing or not.”
Naruto clenched his fist tightly as the man’s eyes swept over him at those last words. Hideki-sensei actually hadn’t been that bad; there had been no active sabotage or intentional failings while Naruto had been his student and there wasn’t more he could ask for than that. He also didn’t address the bullying or the stealing or the suicide-baiting but nobody ever did. Naruto knew better than to depend on an adult to help him anyway.
He watched the rest of his classmates step up and launch their weapons at the target. Some did better than others and he didn’t bother to smother his grin as Ren fumbled a shuriken, missing the target entirely. Finally it was his turn and he walked up to face targets, trying to steady his breathing.
Hideki marked off Kichirou’s score on his sheet, keeping one eye on the rabble of children as he scanned their score. It was going to be a good batch this year. Daisuke was in line for Rookie of the Year and Midori had already secured her spot as Kunoichi of the Year. Ren, Kichirou and Kaede were up there too and Hideki would bet on seeing them in the chunin exams sooner rather than later. His eyes fell to the final name on the list and his eyes snapped to the tuft of blond that stood slightly apart from the rest of his classmates. The boy appeared bored, a stark contrast to the excitable children around them.
The Kyūbi container.
Hideki knew better than to doubt the fūinjutsu of the late Yondaime and Uzumaki had shown no signs of it while in his class, but Hideki couldn’t help but try to stay away from him. There was only so much he could do as the boy’s teacher and while he knew he could have done worse, he also knew he could have done better. He just could not forget what lay within the body; the destruction that the beast left in its wake that horrible night still replaying in a loop in his head. Every time he told the boy to wake up in class or stop eating or pay attention, that giant orange fox appeared in his head.
The boy was favoured by Hokage-sama and Hideki had heard endless gossip about him, especially about his training habits. He wasn’t really interested in his students’ lives outside the classroom but when he heard Uzumaki’s name in conversation, he couldn’t help but listen in. From what he’d gathered, all the boy did was train; running, katas, weights, practice dummies. He was so tired and bored in his class that it was hard to imagine the blond having enough energy to do all that every day.
He was barely going to scrape by in his written exams as it was. The boy was the furthest thing from an academic and Hideki doubted the boy even knew where the library was. Despite that, Hideki knew it wasn’t from a lack of brains; the kid was clever when he wanted to be. His ninjutsu too; the boy wasn’t lacking in chakra, quite the opposite. His henge and kawarimi were passable even if his bunshin wasn’t, but he always got the feeling that Uzumaki didn’t want to apply himself if he didn’t have to. It wasn’t the lack of ability with the boy; he just did not engage with the academy curriculum like he should.
There were always two areas though, that Hideki could count on the boy to outshine all the other students in.
“Uzumaki Naruto.”
Hideki eyed him as the final student stepped forward, grabbing his weapons. Hopefully his future jounin-sensei would put him in something that couldn’t be seen for miles.
Most of it wasn’t bad; black shorts, blank sandals, black t-shirt, with each of the sleeves tied down with tattered white bandages. Then there was the bright orange sleeveless hoodie that the boy left zipped open. The boy had actually sewn on orange stripes onto the sides of his shorts to match. The orange clashed horrible with his mess of short blond hair as it hung slightly over his sharp blue eyes. His gaze passed over the whisker-like scars on his cheek but he abruptly looked away, setting his eyes on the target.
Uzumaki twisted a kunai around his finger for a moment before he threw it, the other four following in quick succession. Hideki would always swear that the blond’s eye colour flickered whenever he did that but he knew it wasn’t really possible; the container couldn’t have a bloodline limit. He was a trick of the light. The kunai were removed and Uzumaki weighed up the shuriken, his eyes focused.
Hideki saw the rock out of the corner of his eye but he did nothing to stop it, watching as it was flung towards the container’s face. He tried to convince himself it was good awareness training for him but he couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. He knew that was only an excuse. He did make a note of the student who had thrown it; Kichirou was an excellent student, even with his slightly cruel tendencies.
The small blond snapped his hand back and deflected the rock with his shuriken, his gaze never wavering from the target.
“I’d just like to finish the exam, Kichi-teme,” Naruto said quietly. “You can try to beat me down later.”
Uzumaki twisted the shuriken in his hand one more time before he let loose, firing the next four one after the other. Hideki noted down his score, frowning at the boy’s full marks. He had no idea how the boy managed it every time; even with excessive training, any nine year old would still miss at least one.
“We are now going to move on to the taijutsu portion of the exam; make your way over to the taijutsu circle and do not enter it. You will be paired up randomly and no, you may not change your partners. Remember, even if you lose you still have a chance to get a decent score; but you should not be aiming to lose. Work hard, remember your training and do your best. No weapons and no ninjutsu; that will result in an automatic fail for that portion. You will stop when I say so, not when you think so,” he instructed, guiding the rabble over to the opposite side of the field.
The next two hours were spent grading the students on their ability to beat each other up with their bare hands. It wasn’t Hideki’s favourite way to spend an afternoon, but some of the moves that they came up with were definitely worth a watch. His class fought dirty compared to others he’d had in the past. It wasn’t a bad thing; there was no such thing as fighting dirty, only fighting to win. He was glad that they hadn’t become stuck in the mentality of clean fights or honour; something that would get them killed once they graduated. He had to wince when Midori hooked her opponent by his nostrils, dragging him out of the ring. Excellent technique, as the nose was a vulnerable spot and could potentially restrict their breathing, but it was vicious.
Overall, they had the academy taijutsu style down, with some variations from the clan kids. They all fought in similar ways that would soon branch out once they became genin. He looked down at his board and called the last pair up.
“Uzumaki Naruto and Ueda Kichirou.”
The two students stepped forward, already glaring hatefully at each other. They had some disagreements in the past but Hideki could not show special treatment; they would just have to get over it. Uzumaki had to lift his head to stare down Kichirou; the four inches in height more obvious than ever. He was pretty sure Kichirou was a distant relation to the Akimichi, with his straight brown hair, stocky build and plain green and brown clothing. Uzumaki, on the other hand, was already small for his age. There wasn’t a lick of fat on his frame and with his thin arms and legs, Hideki was already mentally calling for the stretcher.
He raised his arm and snapped it down, yelling ‘Begin!’
The boys did not bow and just fell into their taijutsu stances. Kichirou’s was an excellent example of the academy style; Uzumaki’s was not. It did not look anything like any taijutsu style that Hideki had observed during his time at the academy. The boy bounced lightly on his toes, his frame loose and relaxed.
There was a moment of silence as the boys just looked at each other. The other children had gone quiet.
Uzumaki’s eyes flickered again but Hideki determinedly did not think of what that could mean. He was not there to figure out his students’ lives; he was there to teach them the coursework and make sure they didn’t die their first week as a genin. That was all.
Uzumaki glanced down at Kichirou’s feet for a moment before he smirked, bringing out a small, foam ball from his pocket and starting to throw it from one hand to the other. Hideki narrowed his eyes but allowed it; it technically wasn’t a weapon but he would be watching very closely. This move by Uzumaki threw Kichirou off for a few seconds but the older student shook it off, moving forward to throw a punch to Uzumaki’s face.
Hideki couldn’t help but notice Kichirou’s eyes kept darting down to Uzumaki’s hand, his eyes following the movement of the ball. He knew that was unavoidable; they were taught to take note and be aware of anything moving in a fight. He was just not sure what Uzumaki was aiming to achieve with this.
Hideki was about to mark Kichirou the winner, the blond doing nothing to avoid a punch that would surely flatten him, when the unexpected happened. Kichirou’s right ankle gave way and he dropped heavily to the floor. He barely had time to push himself up when Uzumaki kicked in right in the chest. Hideki’s brush hovered over his clipboard as he watched Kichirou get shoved out of the ring; the large boy remained when he had landed, groaning dramatically as the kids around him stared. Uzumaki lowered his leg and looked at Hideki expectantly.
“Ueda Kichirou has been knocked out of the ring; Uzumaki Naruto wins.”
He motioned for the medic to attend to the still groaning boy. He had known that there would be medical assistance required but he had thought of the wrong student. Really he should have known; Naruto was nearly unbeatable in taijutsu. It was so easy to forget due to his size and attitude. He still wasn’t sure how he’d managed to get Kichirou off-balance using only a ball.
As Uzumaki made his way out of the ring, Hideki leaned over.
“You did not need to use a kick like that to finish the match. That was unnecessary violence against one of your future comrades,” he admonished, taken aback slightly at the glare he received.
“I won; that’s all that matters,” the boy replied shortly, walking in the direction of the classroom.
Hideki sighed, motioning for the rest of the kids to follow him. He couldn’t deny that Uzumaki was right; in their line of work, all that mattered was winning. It didn’t particularly matter how. He followed behind his class, leaving the other teachers to finish up with the wounded students.
“Congratulations to those whose names have been called; you have passed the final graduation exam and are now Genin of Konoha. Come back to the classroom at eight tomorrow morning to be assigned your teams. Those who have failed, come back in two week for the beginning of the new school year. You are dismissed,” Hideki-sensei announced from the front of the classroom.
Naruto stared down at the hitai-ate in his hands, running his fingers over the grooves in the metal. He abruptly shoved it into his pocket; as long as he had it on him as proof of his rank, he didn’t need to wear it. He ignored the laughter and wails of his once fellow classmates, moving to the door. He did not want to hang around the academy any longer than he absolutely had to.
“Uzumaki.” He turned to the sound of his teacher’s voice. “You are to report to Hokage-sama’s office tomorrow, not here.”
He nodded once and continued his way out of the room, not bothering to speak to anyone else. He didn’t have friends and he wasn’t happy for any of them; he hoped he never had to see most of them ever again. Sure, he would be stuck with two as teammates but that was only until the chunin exams. He walked down the corridor, turning over Hideki-sensei’s words in his head; why would Jiji want to see him for team assignments?
He weaved his way through the hordes of waiting parents, ignoring the glares and whispers directed his way. The occasional ‘demon’, ‘Kyūbi brat’ and ‘monster’ floated over to him but he brushed them away, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and gripping his headband tightly.
It was hardly his fault that he got stuck with the giant demon fox that destroyed the village; it wasn’t as if the Yondaime stopped and asked for his consent to be discriminated against and tormented for the rest of his life. He had barely drawn his first breath when the Kyūbi attacked the village and yet somehow, he was solely responsible for the ordeal. If he really was as bad as they all said he was, this village wouldn’t be standing. Somehow he couldn’t bring himself to be sad about that thought.
Now he was genin though, it would be much easier to avoid people. He didn’t have to be around other kids and he could avoid going into the village until absolutely necessary. They might even get missions outside the village! There was nothing that he wanted more. It was a good thing that Jiji gave him the option of graduating early. If he was stuck in that academy until he was twelve, he might have started maiming people. Starting with Kichi-teme and Ren-baka, but honestly he wasn’t picky.
Now he just had to hope that he would get a jounin-sensei that didn’t care about his tenant. He wasn’t expecting them to be nice or pay attention or anything, just the same neutral attitude that Hideki-sensei treated him with. That was all he needed. Jiji would probably put him with a taijutsu specialist and he hoped Jiji was aware enough to pick a good one. He needed to work on his bloodline limit and improving his taijutsu was a good way to do that.
No matter who he ended up with, he could just continue his solo training anyway. The real issue would be who his teammates were; he would actually be expected to work with them and be civil and Naruto could not think of anything worse. He had ended up dead-last in the class so he would probably end up with Daisuke and Midori, the top in the class. They did not go out of their way to be horrible but he would still be uncomfortable working with them. He could never trust them. The only reason he was even dead-last were his academic scores. He just didn’t see the point of learning useless stuff. Which dead man fought which dead man centuries ago would not help him survive a bandit attack.
Shaking his head of those thoughts, he finally arrived at his destination. It wasn’t quite time for the dinner rush so it was pretty empty, which suited Naruto just fine. He walked up to the counter and hopped on one of the seats, grinning at the pair behind the counter.
“Teuchi-jiisan, Ayame-neechan, four miso ramen please!”
“Naruto-kun!” Teuchi smiled right back at him. “How did it go?”
Naruto dug out the hitai-ate from his pocket, dumping it on the counter. Teuchi laughed and ruffled his hair before going to start on his order.
“I never doubted you.”
The owner of Ichiraku and his daughter were two of the three people that Naruto cared for in this village. Ever since Teuchi gave that free bowl of ramen to a starving orphan hiding from the rain; he had gained Naruto’s everlasting loyalty. He had been coming back ever since.
A girl of twelve stuck her hand out and Naruto gave her a high-five before she started making her way to the back.
“You showed them!” Ayame-neechan called behind her.
Teuchi placed the first bowl in front of him and Naruto took a moment to inhale the delicious scent.
“I bet you blew them all out of the water, huh?” Teuchi winked, turning to continue cooking.
“My taijutsu saved my ass.” Naruto dug into his meal. “Though I finally got that ankle break move to work and now I’m free of those bastards, I can finally work on making some real progress in my training.”
A flicker of sorrow crossed Teuchi’s face for only a second, but Naruto caught it. He was far too used to seeing it.
“Teuchi-jiisan, I’m fine. I have made it this far without people my age and I don’t need them; I can do everything myself.”
Teuchi handed him the second bowl but Naruto just twirled his chopsticks in his hands. It was an old argument between them. Teuchi was adamant that Naruto needed friends and needed to learn to work with other shinobi; Naruto was convinced he didn’t need them, that he would be fine on his own. Neither would budge on the issue and now that he’d graduated, he knew Teuchi was banking on his new teammates opening him up. Naruto knew better.
He ate the next three bowls, an uncomfortable silence hanging over the ramen stand. He stood and brought out Gama-chan, counting out the coins carefully. He flinched as a hand came towards him but forced himself to relax as he realised it was Teuchi. The man retracted his hand, a troubled look on his face.
“No need to pay,” he forced a smile. “It’s on the house; consider it a gift for you passing the exam and making genin. I know it’s something you’ve been wanting for a long time.”
Naruto forced a smile of his own although it wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be. He knew Teuchi cared and wanted the best for him. They just disagreed on what that best was.
“Thanks, Teuchi-jiisan.”
He shoved Gama-chan and his headband back into his pocket and left the ramen stand, hand once again resting in his pockets as he headed the long way home.