As Naruto prepared for the Genin exams along with Sakura, Sasuke, Hino and the others, he thought of his past two tests for Genin. He had a suspicion that those tests were given early to force him to leave the ninja school in disgrace or set him up so that he would graduate and have no team and be kept from being assigned to a team. He shook his head and thought about the fox's advice on that situation. He still didn't trust the Kyuubi, but it had been giving him good advice so far. He waited a bit for his turn to be called.
"Next up, Naruto Uzumaki. Create a Bushin."
Naruto gave a bit of a smirk as he stood up and approached the examiners' desk. He vanished and was replaced by what looked like three of him. They faded out after a bit and Naruto was back at his desk sitting down.
"Er. Yes, that will do."
Naruto just smiled and kept quiet. 'I am not telling them about Drunken Shadows. It seems to be better than the normal Bushin technique. The fox was right that using small amounts of chakra made the technique work far better than large amounts.'
The examiner shook his head and addressed Naruto. "Technically, you passed. However, you have the lowest scores in all areas without failing."
Iruka spoke up. "He passed. He might be the one holding the lowest score to pass, but he passed. I've also talked to the Hokage about those previous two 'tests' he took. The Hokage ruled them as progress tests."
"Very well. Naruto, you've graduated," the examiner said in an irritated tone.
Naruto refrained from jumping up and yelling at passing. The training he picked up from the Saholin scrolls had changed him a bit. There had not been a prank since the Stork Incident two years ago. As Naruto's graduating class walked away, Iruka stopped him. The teacher motioned for Naruto to follow him to an unused classroom.
"Naruto, you're score is not that great and," Iruka began.
"Don't worry about Iruka-sensei. I graduated with the lowest possible score to graduate. No one can be worse than me without failing. I shall be underestimated and it is quite the prank," Naruto replied with a chuckle.
Iruka stopped and scratched his head. "No one can be worse than him without failing?"
Iruka closed his eyes and started laughing. "Good one, Naruto. I want to see what you are really capable of."
"I don't really wan to show my strength and skill to anyone," Naruto said hesitantly.
"I need to know if you are truly capable of going on a mission," Iruka replied. "I will keep you secret."
"Do you hate me, because the Demon-Fox is inside me?" Naruto asked.
The sudden question caught Iruka off guard. "Who told you that? There's a decree that no one who does not know will be told that you hold the fox!"
"Do you hate me?" Naruto asked again.
"I hate the fox. I don't hate you," Iruka replied, while his mind raced.
"I've known for two years about the fox," Naruto said softly.
"The Stork Incident," Iruka stated. "There had to be some reason for all those drunken storks. Naruto, my exasperation with you is not because of the fox but your antics and the way you refuse to pay attention in class, although the pranks stopped after the Stork Incident... Hm. Obvious in retrospect."
"The Hokage once told me to keep my Dead Last position. I figured passing with the absolute lowest grade is what he meant," Naruto explained. "Please don't tell anyone that I know about the Demon Fox. I was doing a meditation exercise and wound up in my mind and talking to the fox directly and it was the fox itself who told me."
"The fox itself told you?" Iruka asked in a sick voice.
"Yes. It also tormented me with the names of my parents and said that Konoha hates me because the fox is in me, but I will be hated outside of Konoha because of who my parents were," Naruto said.
"As I said, I don't hate you," Iruka said bluntly. "I don't like the idea of you talking to that fox, but the law wasn't broken. You should know that you are exempt from that law. If you wish to tell someone, you can."
"Why would I want to tell anyone that I have the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed in me?" Naruto asked and shook his head. "At any rate, you came here to test me out to see what my actual skill is like. Please don't tell anyone, even the Hokage, about what I've told you."
"If the Hokage asks me directly about this, I will answer him. However, I won't go volunteering this information to him."
Naruto nodded and Iruka began an informal test to see where Naruto should have been. Naruto's informal testing showed he should have had a perfect on the graduation exercise. Iruka just laughed and shook his head.
"Well you've pulled the ultimate prank on the academy. Your grades will be in the file as Dead Last, but your actual skill has you better than the Uchiha," Iruka stated. "Heck, you're better than most of the older Genin."
"That's the reason. If someone broke into the academy and stole the test scores, they would look at me as the easiest target," Naruto replied and smiled, as he thought up some pranks
"Right. We're teaching ninjas. We have to expect something like this," Iruka said, shaking his head, and destroyed the informal test. "You will probably be partnered with the Uchiha, since he has the highest score and you have the lowest. The third member of you team will be someone in the middle, probably Sakura Haruno."
Seeing Naruto blush a bit, Iruka smiled. "You have a crush on her? That's going to make that team interesting. I think the team will be balanced, but not the way most will expect. The Uchiha seems to have the need to show his strength, but you are hiding yours."
Before he went to get his picture taken, he wrapped the red belt of the Shaolin monk around his waist as a show of respect to the man who gave him so much as his last act"
Elsewhere in the school, a teacher by the name of Mizuki was grumbling a bit. He had hoped to use the container of the Demon Fox to steal s a scroll from the Hokage.
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(Posted Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:49)
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