and you didn't like school
Three days later, and it was the day of the exam. They’d been notified that the exams where to begin at the ninja academy building, so that was where the team headed.
“This is the place I most wanted to be at, when I lived here.” said Naruto, looking up at the building, absentmindedly scratching his covered cheek, unused to the feeling of the patch over his skin. He’d decided to play it safe and cover the distinctive markings on his face, at least for the moment.
After the surprising revelation of the Suna jinchuuriki being part of the exams, he’d decided, with reinforcement by Konan-sensei, that keeping his identity secret might be a good idea.
“You are not hiding” Konan-sensei had said, “but you are not advertising either. Any opponent foolish enough to underestimate you is in for a shocking revelation.”
Naruto liked that. He hated being underestimated, and Uzushiogakure, thanks to It’s size and history, always was. Undeservedly so, as he was sure to demonstrate to the grass ninja they’d traveled with and anyone else stupid enough to say so.
So the patches on his cheeks stayed on, and his former alliance to Konoha, brief though it was, stayed secret.
Naruto stared up at the ninja academy with mixed feelings.
“Six years later, and look! Now I’m finally here.”
Haku made a humming noise.
“All rivers reach the ocean, eventually” they said, as if quoting. Their mouth, visible beneath the mask, quirked up into a smirk. “Zabusa-sama used to say that, every time he met a Kiri ninja. It means-“
“Better late than never?” Interrupted Karin, snorting incredulously, and throwing an arm over the taller teens shoulder to lean against them.
“You say that, Haku-chan, because you didn’t know Naruto in school. This development is shocking. Shocking! I tell you."
Naruto grinned at them both, then stared back at the gates in front of them. He had been a terrible student in the Uzushio Ninja Institute. He had no doubt he would have been atrocious in Konoha, without Karin's tutoring and nagging to keep him from failing. Nevertheless, Konoha’s Ninja Academy had been a dream to Naruto, once upon a time… and it felt good, in a way, to take the chunnin exams it the same building. It gave him a sense of closure.
“Closing circles, ” said Konan sensei, mirroring his thoughts, “You don’t necessarily need to like something to yearn for it Karin.”
Karin grinned up at her, and then, without any prompting, they all turned to their teacher, sensing she was about to speak.
Konan-sensei didn’t smile at them, because she rarely did, but the severe blankness of her face eased, the corners of her mouth, if you were looking at them, twitched upwards.
She eyed them critically for a moment, and they straightened under her amber eyes.
The tallest of the three was Haku, who seemed to grow every day. They had a thin build, which was well hidden by the flowing silk furisode they wore. It was a dark blue, with bright pink, coral and green shells embroidered on the lapels. Under it, they wore a white turtleneck water-proof mesh shirt, and grey hakama like pants that ended at their ankles. They wore sandals, a long sash, and no visible ninja pouches. Their hair was tied in a bun on top of their head, two strands falling before the mask on their face, these braided and tied of with ornamental bone cuffs, storage seals carved into each one. Most Uzushiogakure ninja wore bright, patterned clothing… but Haku had originally been from Kiri, and an assassin to boot, so he was the darkest of the three. Tall, dark handsome, Karin had joked more than once, when they’d taken off their mask during breaks in missions and a client had turned to stare in awe. All that changed, of course, when he wore “civilian” clothing, then they embraced yellow, pink and pastel colored kimonos.
Karin, by contrast, embraced Uzushio ninja fashion. She wore navy blue compression shorts, just over her bellybutton and knees, and a patterned red, and baby blue skirt over it. Her mesh shirt was red and stripped, with a high neck and long sleeves, and she wore shin guards and red sandals. She had various necklaces, ranging in length from a choker down to her ribs, seashell earrings and her Uzumaki red hair, though loose, was adorned with various hanging jewels, each one with a rune inscribed into it. Her glasses were the same red shade as most of her clothing, and they too, had seals running the length of the frame.
Naruto had helped make the glasses, together with Honoka, for Karin when she graduated the Institute. It had been one of his first truly creative use of seals, and he’d been experimenting with them ever since. Seals were awesome, and useful as well. Naruto didn’t carry ninja pouches because of them. The seals on his bracelets were mostly storage, and they activated with the slightest injection of chakra. He did carry a few empty scrolls on his waist though, to create new seals. The rest of his clothes was vibrant, but practical. He wore a pale blue sleeveless shirt with the Uzumaki spiral on the front, and orange shorts. Under these, he wore black tights, waterproof and necessary for diving into the ocean around the village when it got cold. His hitae-ate had a long cloth, going down to his waist, and he had bandages tied around his ankles.
Konan sensei, apparently satisfied with her evaluation, nodded at them, once.
“From here on, you will advance without me. Haku, Karin, Naruto. You are all excellent ninja, and a testament to our village. I have no doubt that you all have the capacity to pass these exams.”
She spoke quietly, but with authority, and they stared at her raptly, attentively.
"That said, do not take stupid chances. Do not get into stupid fights. You are representing our village, and the last thing we need is for you to die, or to be crippled, trying to appear more than what you are… don’t panic, lean on one another, look at everything as a potential weapon. Make us proud.”
Naruto shifted, his hand going up to his forehead, to trace the spiral on it. Haku readjusted their mask, Karin pushed up her glasses.
They saluted Konan-sensei, and she dissolved into paper, leaving them alone.
The exam was to be held on the third floor, and the room was more than half full when they arrived. They were at least half an hour early from the designated time, but ninja were, as a general rule, punctual, so it was not truly a surprise.
The best seats, the ones that had a direct line of sight to all the windows and the door, with the backs to the wall, were already taken, so they chose a table at the middle of the room.
It was mostly silent, hushed murmurs and rustling clothes being the loudest noise. Everyone seemed to asses each other, tension mounting as the minutes passed.
A group of Konoha ninja gathered in front of the door. Naruto eyed them with interest. They were young, like him, and he recognized Sakura, Kizashi’s daughter, from the pictures at his house. He would have noticed her even without them, her pink hair was unique enough to stand out on its own.
Sakura’s teammates were a dark haired boy wearing a blue shirt and white shorts and a brown haired boy with red markings on his face and, hilariously, a puppy sitting on his head. They were one of the last teams to enter the room.
With Sakura’s team was an incredibly beautiful blond haired girl, a fat kid munching chips, and a boy with hair done up like a pineapple.
Naruto nudged Karin.
Should we introduce ourselves?
He asked her, signing, and she eyed the group with interest. Her eyes, Naruto noticed, lingered on Sakura’s black haired teammate.
No. she replied. Too much attention, not the time. But I’ll mark her chakra signature, to track her down later.
Naruto shrugged, but ultimately agreed. It was a good plan, though he was beginning to get bored, and the group looked interesting. He wondered if they would have been his friends, had he stayed in Konoha all those years ago.
Naruto let his attention wander once more, taking in the gennin around him. He frowned at the grass ninja who had traveled with them, at the few Kiri ninja, on principle, Kiri and Uzushio, though not at war, where never on good terms considering the almost destruction of the smaller village, when he heard his name, and his attention snapped back to the group at the front of the room.
He stared at his teammates, both tense and alert, suddenly, though doing a better job than he was at concealing it.
“Sabaku no Gaara, Rock Lee, Uzumaki Naruto” said the grey haired ninja that had joined the younger ninja.
“Sabaku no Gaara. He’s from a foreign country, so I don’t know as much about him as a Konoha ninja, but… looks like he’s never been injured on a mission. His teammates are his siblings, Temari and Kankuro. Mission History: 8 C-rank missions, 1 B-rank… wow, a B-rank mission as a gennin,” he said, admiringly.
Naruto looked at Karin, remembering the not-meeting a couple of days ago.
They’d told Konan-sensei about the Suna jinchuuriki as soon as their teacher had returned.
After a tense moment, Konan-sensei had concluded that it was a logical move, from Konoha’s point of view, to house the Suna teams in their same lodging. Uzushio and Oto where only sending 1 team, and Suna had sent 3… a small number, considering the 21 from rain and 6 from mist and waterfall, 5 from grass.
Konoha Shinobi had to expend resources to observe the foreign ninja while they were in leaf, as attested by the ANBU positioned outside, and considering Suna and Uzushio had no obvious tensions, yes, it was a logical move.
Though, she mused, it was also an incredible and almost unbelievable coincidence. Maybe, sensei had said, it was fate.
Because she was like that.
Later, they’d told Haku that the Suna ninja was unusually powerful, and Naruto had once more thought about revealing his own secret to his teammate… but in the end he hadn’t. It was possible Haku suspected, considering how they’d met, and if they remained teammates it couldn’t remain a secret much longer… but, ultimately, the less people who knew, for now, the better.
He’d missed hearing the mysterious and certainly formidable Rock Lee’s stats during his musings about Sabaku no Gaara, but his name brought Naruto’s attention back to the moment.
“Uzumaki Naruto,” began grey-haired older guy, “Huh, that’s interesting. He was born in Konoha, but for some reason decided to become a shinobi to Uzushiogakure, one of the smallest ninja nations… Mission History: 10-D ranks, 1-C rank and oh! one B-rank completed as well. He’s an Uzumaki, a clan renowned for their vitality, large chakra supplies and proficiency with seals. His teammates are Uzumaki Karin and Momochi Haku… may I ask how come you wanted to know about him?”
Sakura was the one who asked, and she blushed, her pale cheeks turning the same color as her hair. The blond girl besides her looked confusedly at pineapple.
“He was from Konoha?” she asked.
“Oh… no reason really. I was told to be wary” Sakura mumbled. Her black haired teammate frowned at her, and Naruto, who could imagine who, relative though he was, might have warned the girl to be wary of him, was nudged by Haku.
That's a lot of information for a foreign ninja to have on you, they signed.
Naruto’s frown deepened. It was true. It was more information than what he’d like the rest of the room to know.
It's technically all easy information to get, said Karin,
The forms we filled in to register for the exams included our completed mission tally. And there aren’t many Uzumaki’s left, but we are in the official Clan Registry book from the warring period eras.
Yes, replied Haku, but those forms were given directly to the proctors. And Naruto’s birth country, even here, should not be public knowledge.
Before they could continue the discussion, a fight broke out at the front of the room between grey haired older guy, one of the rookie Konoha ninja called him Kabuto, so that was apparently his name, and a ninja from Oto.
It was broken up almost immediately by the appearance of the exam proctors.
Naruto’s unease about the previous conversation evaporated, excited once more to begin… and then that excitement vanished promptly when he heard what the exam consisted of.
…..
Because it was a written exam.
Which was… shit. Not good. He should of taken the building as a sign, really.
Though it was too late to back down now.