"Everyone in their seat," said Iruka, taking his customary spot at the front of the room. "Today is the graduation exam, to see which of you are ready to go on and become proper shinobi and kunoichi of the Leaf Village."
The class settled down, listening. Except for Ino and Sakura who were whispering back and forth.
flick! WHACK!
And thanks to a handy demonstration of his eraser-throwing skills, both girls had been reminded that class was in session and to knock off their usual talk. Really, it was nice that the two friends had mended things between them - but there was a time and place.
"The tests have been overhauled a bit from previous years," said Iruka. "You'll be tested in the three basic ninja skills: genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu. If you have a low score in one of those, you can make up for it with demonstrated skill in kenjutsu, infiltration, tracking, or fuuinjutsu. Failure in more than one category can't be made up. Failure in all three will cause you to be dropped from the Academy and you won't be a ninja either."
"That's harsh," said one of the girls in the front row.
"Right now we're dealing with a budget shortfall and some other difficulties," acknowledged Iruka. "Resources will likely be tight for at least a couple of years. We're not the only ninja village with a slashed budget."
There were a few mutters at that, but no questions were directed his way. Iruka waited a few seconds in case there WERE questions or objections, continuing on when the students remained silent. "The other teachers will be administering tests as we go. Genjutsu tests to begin with. Wait for your name to be called before proceeding to room 17."
Sakura Haruno was a little nervous as she went into Room 17.
A big gruff teacher she wasn't familiar with nodded at her as she entered.
Sakura paused, frowning. Something wasn't right, but what?
"How are you going to test us on genjutsu?" asked Sakura, deciding to go ahead and ask something that had been bothering her. "We haven't learned any genjutsu."
"Oh? You're saying you know nothing about genjutsu? That would be an automatic fail," said the chunin, tsking as he wrote something out on the papers in front of him.
"All we were taught was..." Sakura stopped as the thought fully penetrated. "All we were taught was the basic dispel and what to look for if we were caught in a genjutsu."
"Well? Are you ready for me to put you under?" asked the chunin.
"I'm already IN one," realized Sakura. "KAI!"
The open window vanished as if it had never been. Which it hadn't of course. Room 17 was located away from exterior walls. Sakura realized that she'd been so preoccupied with the test that she hadn't picked up on that.
The chunin nodded. "Pass. Proceed to room 19."
"Ah, yes sir," said Sakura, thinking a pass was a pass so her missing details couldn't give her a low score.
Satsuki Uchiha smirked. "A ninjutsu test? Me?"
"Yes, I know, forgone conclusion," agreed Mizuki, her tail swishing in agitation. "Humor me though. First, your henge."
Satsuki Uchiha's smirk didn't change as she shifted to become a duplicate of Mizuki.
"You even got the tail right," noted Mizuki. "A lot of people can't do the way the fur gleams in the light or they get the colors off."
"I've noticed the shampoo you use," said Satsuki. "It adds those glossy highlights. And the reddish-brown looks different in different lighting, so it's not surprising."
"I hate my life," said Mizuki, about to go on her accustomed tirade.
"Before you go into the details, can we finish my test?" asked Satsuki.
"Oh yeah. Kawarimi and then use bunshin," said Mizuki, who felt she really didn't get any respect. It was obviously the fault of these humongous boobs.
"Okay, Naruto?" asked Iruka. "You made it past the genjutsu and ninjutsu portions?"
"Uhm, why are you surprised?" asked Naruto.
"Well, I guess you have improved a lot lately," admitted Iruka. "So you're ready for your taijutsu test?"
"Who am I fighting?" asked Naruto, looking around. "You, Iruka-sensei?"
"No, I'm the referee," said Iruka. "Your opponent is another student testing at the same time."
"Uh oh," said Naruto. "So half the students are gonna fail this test? That sucks!"
"It's one of the reasons we went with the list of further tests you can use to make up for a loss here," admitted Iruka. "Okay, come in."
On seeing who it was, Naruto knew immediately that this was going to be even more a problem than he'd thought.
"What a pain," said Shikamaru, sitting on the edge of the roof.
"Literally," said Naruto.
"Man, I envy that healing rate you got," said Choji. "You were right, that Sakura hits pretty hard for someone so tiny."
"Yeah, I got Satsuki," said Naruto. "I don't know why she's always getting so mad at me."
"At least I got Tobiko," said Shikamaru, shaking his head. "She was entirely predictable and easily defeated."
"So you two won your fights?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah, I guess you didn't," said Choji to Naruto.
"Not so much." Naruto sniffed the air. "Someone's coming. Mizuki."
"Ah," said Shikamaru. "The make-up test. Which one are you going to try?"
"Uhm, infiltration I guess," said Naruto. "Ain't that mostly sneaking around?"
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(Posted Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:11)
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