Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Author's Note:

Before we start this, I want to tell you that I have been reading both fanfics and paid mainstream literature for the last several years. This story is the culmination of ideas that have been infesting my mind for months. There are a lot of ideas used in this story that come both from other fanfics and from mainstream books, TV, etc. So I request not to be told that things which I already know.

I just want to clear several things before the start of next chapter and put to rest several issues that some of my readers have put up in my reviews. But before that, I would like to inform you that I am right now extremely busy in my college with my studies and projects as this my last year and I have no intention of goofing off like I did before. I will be updating my stories but they will be very sporadic and with lots of gaps between them. I apologize for this inconvenience but please bear with me as this will be all finished in seven to eight months period.

Also, I was unable to get any real ideas for the Academy exams. Thereby I took the words from the fanfic Little Things. I humbly say that most of the academy exams is not my work, so please no flames or unnecessary demands. Enjoy the story everyone and give better suggestions for my next chapter.

Coming back to the issues and queries raised by my fellow readers and writers and of course my avid readers, I will explain that:

1. Hinata Hyuuga who is right now in my story is a very practical woman and suffering from mild PSTD and depression caused by Naruto's death. Before she arrived back in time, Hinata was a woman who could even beat Orochimaru in his prime and her skills never dulled or became rusty. She had gotten a very powerful boost from the transfer of Chakra to her system by Naruto as his gift to her. Granted she has lost most of those abilities by travelling back to past to change the future. However, before she came back, she was the mixture of best qualities of Danzo, Orochimaru and Itachi. After combining with her younger self, she has now the memories of older Hinata, but with some of the innocence and characteristics of a pure child. She is manipulative and secretive but all she wants is the best for Naruto.

2. For those who believe that I am changing Naruto too much from the cannon character he possesses, I would like to tell them to politely think and answer me this very clearly.

Don't you all think that Naruto Uzumaki who is the son of Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato and the Aka no Shi, Uzumaki Kushina, a loudmouth and weak person, with almost no techniques and special ability (except of being the jailor of Kurama) to change the hearts of his enemies with words and even he defeats them, he never kills them?

I mean is this a joke? They all are shinobi for god's sake, killing is their profession. How can a person like Naruto be a leader when all he can do is talk about peace and ramen and dattebayo? I would be better make Sasuke Hokage, because a person who cannot be serious on battle field and who tries to reason with their enemies, who are trying to kill him, will get his / her village sunk further easily than one drowns in quicksand. A person who is to be a hokage needs to understand politics, how to make hard decisions, send his friends to death, be perceptive and last but not the least be well versed in manners and discipline. Is the cannon Naruto like that? He is a loudmouth with almost no social skills, no discipline, no manners, and no techniques except for Kage Bunshin, the Rasengan, summoning (which I don't understand why he uses it so sporadically) and some wind manipulation. After three years of training with a Sannin, he just knows is using kage bunshin and its memory effects; use Kyuubi's power and few other variations of rasengan which are incomplete. He was an uzumaki so the boy should at least try to know some fuuinjutsu. How can an orange wearing person who pins after a girl beating him, allowing himself to be abused and keeps himself so weak and yell making himself a fool beat guys like Madara, Raiga, itachi, kisame and others . Kishimoto should have made this entire concept in Samurai world rather than shinobi. He has gotten lost what his concept was and who is the hero of the story. This Naruto is different and this world is shinobi world. The concept of the cycle of peace and war is just like the cycle of phoenix and its flame. It can never end and neither can exist without the other. Maybe this makes it simple - YIN AND YANG - THE CONCEPT OF DUALITY.

3. For those who believe that Naruto is getting too powerful, I will like them to read and think about this. Who were the First Hokage, Second Hokage, Uzumaki Mito and Uchiha Madara in the shinobi world? For those who are googling their answers or thinking of what this has to do with this story, the answer is this….

they are the legends of their time. They were the persons that carved their names in the history of the world and that was done by making their enemies cower in their wake, by leaving bodies and death in their wake, not by talking and posturing unlike some ninjas in Naruto series. Let us compare cannon Naruto with this Naruto. Differences can be easily told. And those who think Naruto is getting too strong, I just wanna say that, of course he is insanely strong because unlike the cannon Naruto this boy has been trained by the legends for five years. I think that must be good enough for any weakling to get strong till jounin or ANBU level. If not then that person is worse than Shikamaru and Mizuki combined. Naruto has gotten DNA implants from the Shodai and Madara. This operation will show the powers late in his life and will emerge later in the story. Also, if no one has read the story carefully, the Yondaime Hokage has already undergone an operation like this for tying Hirashin into his blood. This Naruto already can use Mokuton but not at the level of Hashirama but later he will be as proficient as the shodai. Right now he is almost like Yamato but better than the ANBU due to him being part Senju and Uzumaki.

For all Fights all I have to tell you this: (This is from a fanfic I read long ago…..) this is how the fights of the various levels in my story will go on…. Except for some notable fights:

Fights between genin can be intense, but they are usually longer than any other. The lack of skills and strength wind up with a long-lasting fight, turning into more of an endurance fight than an intense fight to the death. There are exceptions, but the rule is that a genin fight typically lasts more than forty minutes.

Chunin level fights are shorter, not often taking more than thirty to forty minutes. By this point the ninja involved have had intense training, and as such know how to end a fight quickly, and why it is important. In a world where you can be attacked at any time, waste was not something that is wise.

Jonin fights rarely last more than thirty minutes, more often around twenty. A jonin has undergone intense training, and as such has mostly no movements wasted. Mistakes are costly, often causing loss of life, but if you survive your mistake, you gain in experience and skill, knowing not to do it a second time.

ANBU fights vary, for it depends on the skill of those involved, varying from twenty minutes to a half hour.

Kage-level fights only last more than ten to fifteen minutes if they are playing around for the better part of it in an attempt to wear the other down. By this point taijutsu, Ninjutsu, genjutsu, and other attacks are engaged at a level of speed and strength that is simply incomprehensible to normal humans. Even high chunin could often only see the reaction of the jutsu, not the jutsu themselves unless it is a massive attack. Every mistake is costly, and most are fatal. Every movement is at a great speed, speed that would take a fully developed Sharingan to begin to see, unless the owner of the eyes is close to that level themselves.

4. Emergence of Naruto's romance will arrive when he is put into his teams but serious relationships will emerge during the later chapters. Also, some warnings, this story is a harem so I would like you all to give me a poll on who will be entered but this harem is not all for Naruto. Others too need girls for their lives and not more than seven to ten girls will be in the harem. Please give your suggestions to me or message me your views with a little bit of description and reasons.

5. Yes about those who think that how a five year old girl can give off killing intent and scare Maito Gai, I want them to remember Hatake Kakashi and other ninjas who became chunin at the age of five. If they could be taken seriously why not Hinata. Also, this girl has the memories of a war ravaged Hinata and her hardships along with a small amount of the potent Uzumaki chakra. And if I remember, Killing intent (KI) showers a person with emotions of rage, hate and grief along with bloodlust. That I think Hinata already has from her memories.
And for those who think that people cannot say aww how cute for two nine year old couple of Hinata and Naruto- not all civilians hate him. A majority does but some are not dumb as rocks. Also, this Naruto wears a face mask like Kakashi but crimson-red in colour. It makes identifying him difficult. So some of the civilians may not recognise him immediately and hence their comments. Maybe when you guys see someone like kakashi, you go right into face and stare at him hard and long and then decide to hate him or not but I am not like that….. at least you can laugh now …..( Just a rhetorical question )
Those who think there was a lot of training, how can I say that Naruto uses this technique and that technique without even explaining some of the basics. I know I have been very descriptive on those parts and I will try to tone them down but these things also are an important part of the story. Some readers like to know the technical know how of the story as much as I believe, I am one of them. So one can skip these parts if you find it boring and my deepest apologies for boring these guys.

6. Last but not the least, Anko and Kurenai have become retainers for Naruto and Hinata respectively. Hinata has already left her clan unofficially, with permission from her father who is the clan head. Till her marriage happens with Naruto, she can be considered as a Hyuuga clan member. The marriage will happen after Tsunade comes back to Konoha after the chunin exams. Also, the Daimyo of fire country and Lord Mifune of Iron country's roles will be told during the marriage. The Hyuuga council has been neutralised temporarily but they will strike at Naruto and Hinata later in the story.

Till then folks and let us start the story….. I will be waiting for your reviews after this.

Chapter 9

A Year Later
Somewhere in the lands of Yu no Kuni

Five figures ran along the forest grounds like the hounds of hell were after them. Each of them was wearing a stylised mask with lightning symbols all over it along with the dress up of the ninja village of Kumogakure no Sato. If that wasn't enough, each of them was wearing a headband with the symbol of Kumo decorated on it. The figures were running from their failed mission of stealing an information scroll that contained some classified details on the Fire Daimyo and his court.

They stopped at an open clearing after what seemed like hours of endless running. Suddenly one of them stiffened but before he could even utter a word, all of them were moving away from their previous positions as seven highly dense and compressed balls of water travelled across the clearing, leaving craters and breaking trees with their strength, after missing their targets. All the Kumo ninja immediately drew into a formation and what seemed like an eternity, three hooded figures wearing ANBU masks and Konoha headbands arrived in the clearing. The two figures were small, barely looking like teenagers, a boy and a girl from their figures, but the last figure was clearly female from her lush and curvy body. More than one male in the group had to hold their breaths to prevent an erection. The leader spoke up, his stance cautious and weary," Why are you after us? We don't have anything for you, nor any of us attacked you, so will you allow us to leave peacefully?"

The older female spoke up, her highly amused and crazed husky voice sending shivers up every male's spine except her own teammate," Oh! How bold of you? Do you take us for fools? We know that one of managed to copy a part of the document and it's code and we will retrieve it at all costs. Surrender it peacefully and we will allow you to go, but I want to fight and hope that you don't co-operate. I just want to shed some blood from you all." The second shorter female face palmed and then smacked the women on her ass getting a small squeal of delight from the older female and an audible sigh from their only male companion. The older female spoke up, her voice mischievous and sultry," Oooh! Usagi, if you wanted to play with my older body, all you had to do was ask but I want him too with us." She said pointing her finger at their only male companion who sighed again.

The female now called as Usagi growled a little, sending dread shooting down everyone's spines as a short burst of an extremely potent killing intent erupted from the young female. The ground around her cracked and cratered a little, with an unnatural silence spreading in the clearing and spoke in a voice seeming like frozen glaciers," Not here, Hebi- Taichou." She looked at the Kumo nin who all took a step back from the now definitely angry female.

The male in their group sighed and moulded a single hand seal. In an instant the entire view for the Kumo ninjas vanished and they all were victims of the Genjutsu: Kokuangyo no jutsu (Bringer-of-darkness technique). The ninja's of Kumo immediately began throwing out various elemental jutsus along with some using their chakra to cancel what they seemed to be a small illusion. This Genjutsu was created by the Nidaime Hokage and was nearly impossible to break.

"Do your work Hebi-Taichou and let us go. We will deal with you after wards. Also, get ready for running back immediately for I sense a jinchuuriki or a kage level person along with two other persons, both of them mid ANBU level, arriving at our location in fifteen minutes. Let us go for the trapped are going for a massive blind attack from their gathering of chakra." Spoke the male in their group. His crimson and red streaked mask looked at the figures trapped in front of them and then turned in the direction he felt the reinforcements were coming from. Usagi nodded while she went through few hand seals and nodded at their leader who gave a slow but breathy sigh and then jumped directly into the fray unsheathing her katana and tanto simultaneously.

Both of them watched as their team leader made short work of three persons slashing and cutting into their bodies giving them clean, precise cuts that killed them immediately. It also mattered that, she had used a rare type of poison made from three different types of snake venom along with belladonna and few other mixtures. The poison was a neurotoxin that damaged all the nerves in the immediate area and paralysed the nerves and stopped the heart within five minutes after injection.

The male stopped his genjustu and making another hand seal unleashed another justu at the remaining members of the Kumo team,"Fuuton: Kaze Senbon" he spoke and unleashed two senbon at their heads. Both of the Kumo ninjas were heavily disoriented from the genjutsu and hence unable to defend themselves. The invisible and deadly senbon of wind pierced through their foreheads killing them instantly. Their bodies crumpled to the ground.

As Hebi leapt back after removing all the scrolls from the slain ninjas, Usagi unleashed her technique," Katon: Dai Endan" and exhaled a steady breath of hot flames on the bodies of the Kumo ninjas to remove the evidence. Their work done, all the three ninjas vanished in a blur, leaving behind a desolated clearing and five burning bodies of Kumo ninjas whose reinforcements arrived to find only ash and five separately kept headbands as the proof of their fallen comrades.

The jinchuuriki of Matatabi no Nibi let out a roar of frustration on finding her comrades dead. She vowed to find those responsible and exact her vengeance for the fellow fallen ninjas. Her squad simply lowered their heads as they mourned their deaths. In the end they simply collected the headbands and went back to their Kage to report the failure of this mission.

Two Days Later
Konoha, Hokage Tower

Sarutobi Hiruzen was battling one of his greatest enemies right now. He was sitting in his office and being held hostage by stacks of paperwork that seemed to have grown again this week due to an influx of demands from various countries, villages, influential people and many other persons and quite a few nobles. Most of these requests would be simple for the Kami no Shinobi to be paying attention to but on closer glance, one would understand why he looked a bit miffed.

Several demands for Squad One to be present on the missions and requests were the most common of all. However, some requests that looked very genuine had been processed and filtered by Danzo and his ROOT division and found to be fake that is, forged requests in order to eliminate his most promising squad. Squad one had been the brain child of Tobirama sensei during the early days of the second shinobi war. They were a team of highly trained shinobi whose existence was kept a secret from all people and even the commander of the Ninja forces. They answered only to the Hokage and one other person whom Hokage deemed fit for trust, usually the next successor for the Hokage seat.

They were never held accountable and never answered any authority. All in all they were the processors of ROOT. They took mainly high level missions and acted as Hokage's personal assassins.

Hiruzen had discontinued the practice after the end of the third shinobi war and the position had remained vacant till both Naruto and Hinata had given him their requests along with several other forms of bribery. The five bottles of one of the most intoxicating sake that he ever tasted along with a bag of specially made tobacco that he smoked now a days were under several security seals that rivalled even the hidden collection of privately given books of Icha Icha by Jiraiya. Like any other man Sarutobi loved his comforts and all four of them knew about it and usually took full favour from it.

Squad One as of that day consisted of Hinata Hyuuga, Anko Mitarashi, Kurenai Yuhi and last but not the least Naruto Uzumaki- Senju. The Senju part of Naruto had him choking on his pipe as he found that Naruto somehow was the direct descendant of Hashirama Senju, the Shodai Hokage and founder of this village directly after his granddaughter Senju Tsunade, his second student who had left the Leaf Village vowing not to return.

Since Tsunade the current head and seemingly the only survivor of the Senju clan, had not been in Konoha for nearly over fifteen years, Naruto was to take her place as clan head until her return. All titles, rights and property were transferred over onto his name. All lands and holdings the Fire Daimyo had in his guardianship that belonged to Uzumaki clan until a proper heir could be found, were also filed under Naruto's name. Naruto's name from that day and confirmation after medical tests was to be known as Naruto Uzumaki - Senju and he was to be granted a senior position on the Konoha council as the Senju and Uzumaki clan heads on reaching the age of fifteen which in turn gave him two votes on the council. Of course, all this by the order of the benevolent Daimyo of the Hi no Kuni with whom Naruto had already discussed and gotten blessings from.

Hiruzen Sarutobi remembered that day fondly and chuckled to himself. He found that Naruto was eagerly waiting to make the lives of the civilian council hell when he took the seats after he reached fifteen years of age. Right now he thought of the works and the dual lives that both Naruto and Hinata lived. They both were attending academy but barely participated in any forms of testing. He had already several complains from several teachers about them but he had simply asked them about their assessment. Whatever might happen both Hinata and Naruto could beat any of the teachers and Chunin any day so defeating any simple academy student was no tough work for them. They always trounced their opponents making them look like they were not even making an effort. In fact one Sasuke Uchiha had already been admitted to the hospital with several broken bones and ruptured muscles after a Taijutsu fight with Hinata Hyuuga who had made a short work of him and gone extremely brutal on him after he had used a ninjutsu in the spar.

Since her position as the Hyuuga heiress was known to all before the trip, none of the teachers had said anything except for adding a short note for a disciplinary action for her.

Thinking about his squad, he smiled in satisfaction at both of them managing their lives and not losing their sanity after nearly two years of being in ANBU. They took care of his personal summons and tasks including the unpleasant Black Ops. He had been first hesitant in them going on assassinations until Kurenai had told him that these two had already been bloodied and made their first kills in a secured environment.

Hearing four soft poofs and four tattoos that burned in recognition, he smiled and then spoke softly after blowing the smoke from his new pipe, a gift from Naruto.

"I suppose something happened didn't it?" he turned around and looked at whole squad one in their complete glory. Their masks gleamed and their Konoha Hitai-ate's gleamed in their black colour. They nodded and one of them went through several hand seals and then placed his hand on the floor. Kanji spread through the floor and every single space in the office glowed white. The office secure, all four of them removed their masks showing their faces to their leader.

Anko stepped forward and spoke after bowing to him," The scroll was recovered safe and sound. However, a specialised team of Kumo shinobi managed to reach the objective first and copied a part of the scroll. Thankfully the scroll was encrypted and they did not pass the message to anyone. We pursued and eliminated the team and recovered the scroll. However, Naruto found some troubling information from a clone he allowed to stay back for spying."

"Well, care to tell me Naruto-kun, your findings?" spoke Sarutobi.

Naruto smiled his minimal smile that broke his ice cold and impassive mask. Hiruzen sighed inwardly that Naruto still retained his emotions but it still hurt him to his surrogate godson like this.

"Kumo's second jinchuuriki is a female by the name of Nii Yugito and she is already a jounin and if I am not wrong, a tactical analyst for her village despite being only seventeen years old. She is the seventh in command after the list we have found on first three and is very close to the current Raikage along with his brother and the Guardian of Kumo, Killer Bee. She is going to be present in the Chunin exams that are being held in Konoha with the Raikage in the finals." He replied in his cold, soft voice.

"Hmm, this is troubling indeed. Get some rest, tomorrow is your graduation and Iruka has been asking about you both since three days ago. I also have something for you two, a new mission, an A rank one to be done in the academy. Details will be given in the evening, at five. Till then you are dismissed." Replied Hiruzen going over the report given to him.

"Hokage –sama, I would like to give you this scroll as it contains some other observations I found while in the area. Also, I managed to get some details out of few of the nobles in the area. I would like you to keep a close eye on the fourth report. You might find something worthwhile in it. Thank you for the time, Lord Hokage. A very nice day to you." Said Kurenai before sliding over several scrolls and then using a Shunshin to get out of the office who sighed and began to read over the reports looking pensive and bit worried.

Uzumaki's Clan Compound
Konohagakure no Sato, Outskirts
Secret Vault of Uzumaki Clan

Naruto looked over the maps with Hinata who was sitting over on the table reading a scroll on medical ninjutsu. Anko was browsing through some of the more exotic poisons in the medical section, looking a bit gleeful while Kurenai was lounging besides Hinata and allowing her gaze to flit from one person to the next. She looked the most relaxed out of all.

Naruto had a small frown on his face as he gazed almost impassively at the maps of the Elemental Nations in front of them. Since the day he had entered Squad one with Hinata and his minders, they had been put under heavy stress due to all them living dual lives every day. Naruto who himself had a large amount of chakra after getting his already humongous Uzumaki reserves boosted by the addition of Kyuubi felt himself tired and exhausted now a days.

Every single day (Whenever they were in Konoha and not out on missions.) they had to create three sets of reinforced Kage Bunshins who would guard the Sandaime Hokage while he and Hinta went to the Ninja Academy to learn those things that they had completed in a month of training. Anko and Kurenai themselves went to the Hokage Tower where they did guard duty over the Hokage in his village till afternoon after which Anko went to the Torture and Interrogation (T & I) department while Kurenai went to the Jounin lounge and did some D rank Missions along with possible C ranks in the village.

When they were not in the village, they left behind a set of three modified Blood Clones that Lady Mito had taught them. The Sandaime had never known about it and simply thought them to be Reinforced Kage Bunshin with modifications done by seals as Naruto had told him when the Hokage had asked about those clones. Apparently using such reinforced clones caused a person to be connected more closely to his / her clones. The Sandaime was worried that they all were overexerting themselves.

Naruto had told him to worry more about his own old age and paperwork. The old man had shut up after that and gave what looked like a sullen pout. Hinata had giggled and Kurenai had told him that he shouldn't pick on old persons and his elders.

Naruto looked at the map and nearly sighed in irritation. The last six months of their training with his teachers before he came back to Konoha had been simply travelling with his undead teachers asking all of them to show case all of their skills and get experience in the real world. After all what good is a sword if it is never used.

They had travelled over many countries except for Ame and Tsuchi no Kuni. Ame was in a lockdown and the Shodai Hokage had found that someone was using a sensory jutsu involving rainfall to monitor the whole region. They did not go in Earth country simply because even though several years had passed since the Third Shinobi war, Iwa always nursed a strong hatred for Konoha and its Yondaime Hokage. And they did not want to cause another Shinobi War by simply pissing off Iwa which had grown to be even more intolerant of Konoha and its ninjas.

They had killed several hundred bandits along with quite a few ninjas of lower levels. Their bounties had gotten them money for their future running into quite a few million ryo. Naruto had then invested the money in few villages and places to create few businesses, which gave him some part of their yearly income to the fire lord who then transferred the money into a vault in the royal capital from where he could access it any time. And the rest money he had sealed it in the vault beneath the Uzumaki Clan compound which was protected by several thousand of interlocking seals that were created by Lady Mito herself. It was now a place which was safer than the Hokage Vault which was saying something.

During his travels Naruto had created a small network of spies using persons who gave him information in an encrypted code that he taught them. Most of them were people that he saved and had agreed to tell him monthly reports of any happenings in their area. Tobirama sensei had told them the value of a good spy network. No one knew about anyone else and he certainly never showed any person his true face. Since most of the persons he knew were civilians, ninjas paid them little to no attention.

Naruto used his Karasu summons to get the messages from them. Every month, Naruto summoned a great number of his crow mates who travelled all over the Elemental Nations and reached the messengers or his spies who would pass on the information to the summons who would then fly away and then dispel after travelling some distance. Naruto got the reports from his messengers without travelling long distances or leaving Konoha.

However, right now he was worried by the troubling reports from the region of Ta no Kuni and Yu no Kuni. He suspected it to be the work of the Snake Sannin and one of the worst traitors, Orochimaru. However, he had no proof but only sightings and rumours that hinted at his presence in those two countries and it was a problem since the Snake was near Konoha and would easily strike at it.

"You should give the Hokage your findings along with your suspicions Naruto-kun. He will decide what to do and what not to do. Also, get some rest for tomorrow is our graduation and Hokage Sama's mission is not going to be simple to execute. My suspicions on who is the traitor is either Mizuki- san or that secretary, Suki- san. Either way, we will know it tomorrow. Now let us go back to the house and have some dinner, for I am starving." Spoke Hinata in her soft voice.

Hearing her speak, Naruto smiled to himself and looked towards the girl whom he had tried to push away, fearing she might see him as a monster but had been surprised when she had told him in very firm and passionate tone that no matter what he did or what he thought, she would stand by him. That very day he felt that this girl was a part of his life and he would be damned if he allowed himself to fall without caring for himself. She was his light and he cared for her very much.

He smiled at all of those who were present and then spoke," Ok. I will talk to Hokage- sama about this tomorrow after the exam. I just have a very stressful day and am very tired. Come on Kurenai-san, Anko-san. Let us go have some food. I think my clones must have made something for us." All of them moved out of the vault, back to the clan compound ready to have some food and then rest after their mission.

The Next Morning
Uzumaki Clan Compound

The next day early morning Naruto dressed himself after his training and warm up he did every day, after he woke up at five the morning. He had been trained extremely well by his teachers to function on minimalistic sleep and keep vigilant. Yet, he was overly fond of using seals to act as detection barriers for him. His seals around the clan compound had never been triggered since the day he activated them.

He looked at himself in the mirror. He looked no different outwardly than every day but he felt different today. Maybe it was the nerves or the anxiety of the mission they all finished and returned from yesterday, Naruto felt that he might make a statement today. Last night before they went to sleep, Anko and Kurenai had urged him to not hold back in his exams and even Hinata who knew about his desire not to create too many waves in the academy as she herself was doing except that they both were miles ahead of all these children.

He decided that he would do something different today but first he had to get ready and prepared for his day and hence he gathered his chakra and intoned softly," Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"

Seven clones appeared into existence, each without the customary puff of smoke showing his impressive mastery of Kage Bunshin. All the clones went to do their work as their instructions had been already delivered to them when they were created, Naruto began changing into his normal clothes that he wore to the academy. Today was the graduation exam and they were going to ace it fully.

He wore black mesh shirt with ANBU styled Black pants with ANBU issue shoes modified with a steel base. Over his mesh shirt, he wore a heavily modified grey trench coat reaching up to his mid thighs. In fact, this coat and three sets of it were a gift from Anko to him last year. She had asked Lady Mito about most of the seals on the coat and then had gotten the work done by a craftsman in Tetsu no Kuni when she was there on a solo mission. His face was hidden under a crimson face mask just like one worn by Hatake Kakashi.

He then entered the armoury of his clan compound where he kept all the weapons for all four of them. They had bought weapons for two months from the weapons store before Kurenai suggested that they could pick up discarded weapons from the training grounds and especially from the Forest of Death, which was a training ground that doubled as an examination arena for various types of exams and ANBU exercises.

They had first sent their summons to map the area and then sent reinforced shadow clones to pick up every type of metal they found and seal them in sealing scrolls designed especially for this purpose. Then, Naruto who had learnt Forging and creating weapons from scrap steel on his arrival from the Higurashi's and several books and scrolls from the Uzumaki library, used several clones which forged them their weapons of all types and needs. Naruto even supplied the Higurashi's some of the more common used weapons such as Kunai, Shurikan and Tanto's for a small amount of payment.

He stocked up his weapons and then saw that the senbon were getting low. He decided to make the next batch next week. He also stocked pouches for Hinata and Kurenai. Anko was on leave for today, last night he remembered her saying that she had to do some personal work for today so refrained from taking her weapons pouch but he stocked it rather the same. He then moved to the dining room, where the large table was in the process of getting set up. His clones had made up a large number of dishes that he had picked up on his travels over the Elemental Nations and from his various cookbooks he had collected.

Within moments of setting the table, all the clones vanished and Naruto began waiting for others to get down as pushed down his face mask. He was right as the heavenly smell of food roused Anko who was still drowsy but had already been awake. All of them entered the dining room and sat on the table.

Hinata was already dressed in the same dress theme as Naruto except that her clothes were more conservative and had a colour tone of Lavender and white. Naruto looked at Anko and Kurenai both of them were in their night clothes and looked bleary eyed, Anko more than Kurenai.

Kurenai was wearing a sheer black silk gown that looked like it was hastily thrown over her lacy undergarments which were easily visible. Kurenai liked to sleep in her undergarments while Anko who was wearing only a purple bra and thong (both a size too small) liked to sleep in the nude. Naruto had gotten used to both their habits. Hell even Hinata who disapproved of their habits only glared at them sometimes but had stopped nagging them over what she called as seduction attempts on her Naruto-kun.

Without speaking Naruto passed both Kurenai and Hinata the weapon pouches with a smile as they said nothing but their eyes revealed their feelings and then they all began digging into the breakfast without speaking to each other. No encouragement was needed as Anko and Kurenai both knew how powerful their charges were.

After a medium, breakfast of eggs, fruits, milkshake and French toast for both Naruto and Hinata while Kurenai had coffee along with sandwiches and cream with some buns and scones. Anko had just gulped down the green tea and then eaten a full medium sized plate of Dango with red bean paste and all. She was hopelessly addicted to it just like Hinata was to Cinnamon Buns and Naruto to Ramen.

They moved out of the clan compound and then vanished in a Shunshin to the academy.

Ninja Academy
Konohagakure no Sato

Both of them arrived early at the front gates of the academy just to be able to witness Naruto and Hinata materialize out of nowhere, startling the few early comers and their parents and few of which recognised Naruto and muttered so very not things about him even though, Naruto had hidden his face under his facemask. Hinata looked a bit angry and leaked a small amount of Killer Intent glaring at those who were badmouthing Naruto which stopped all whispers and people immediately began giving them a wide berth.

Naruto sighed at Hinata's over protectiveness and passion. He knew the girl was head over heels for him. At first he thought that it was the contract that was the reason that Hinata was so much caring for him but a few days under his Karasu summons had disabused him of this notion. He know knew that Hinata was with him not because of the contract as he first thought but due to the fact she genuinely cared for him.

He had been humbled that day and vowed never to leave his Hime alone ever. Today he had a surprise for her and he was waiting for the evening to be able to give her the gift he felt that she deserved.

As both of them walked inside the Academy, Naruto ignored the muted whispers from his peers and the others standing around the school's entrance. They arrived at their assigned classroom and entered to find that they were the first ones there today. Shrugging to himself, he along with Hinata proceeded to the single pair of seats at the back; both of them having no intention of ending up seating next to anyone especially nearby Sasuke Uchiha and thus suffering the horrendous voices of his fan club. He pulled out a chair for Hinata who smiled at his sweet behaviour and then when he was seated snuggled up to him.

Deciding to kill some time, he took out a book on A rank Genjustus and began to read it, with Hinata giving her input along with what Kurenai had taught her.

His sharp senses and Hinata's Byakugan which she flashed every few minutes, detected the approach of a few classmates and thus they didn't even twitch when the door opened to accept four people into the room. The sounds of dragging feet and chewing preceded Shikamaru and Chouji, while the muted sound of buzzing heralded the entrance of Shino. The last student was from a civilian family and, from what they had observed, would probably end up being cannon fodder down the line.

Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino took the seats in front of Naruto and Hinata, who hadn't looked up from their book since their entrance. Shikamaru threw a quick and considering glance at Naruto, then just shook his head and mumbled, "Troublesome." Shino, on the other hand, actually turned and was about to address Naruto, but the door opened again to allow more students to pour in.

Naruto put away his book by sealing it into a storage tattoo on his arm while Hinata began running her hands through his long hair which she often braided into a ponytail.

Naruto looked at the now nearly full class and like every single day began cataloguing each one into the categories he made for them.

The class consisted mostly of clan heirs and few civilian's children. This was the only class from which the Sandaime had very high hopes and expectations. Naruto also had been a given a side mission of finding out a traitor in the Academy as T & I Department had found out from a captured ninja. Sarutobi had already been worried about the fact that someone had managed to infiltrate the village forces and his suspicion had been on Orochimaru who had been making a few appearances rather close to the borders of Hi no Kuni.

He dropped out of his thoughts as Hinata nudged him with her elbow and he noticed that all the students had arrived, even the banshee Haruno Sakura and the resident gossip, Yamanaka Ino. Both of them were sitting next to Sasuke Uchiha who looked ready to run out of the class at their ever present bickering. He looked at the Yamanaka heiress again and had to roll his eyes at her fake act. It was good enough to fool most genin and few if not all low level chunin but Naruto who had worn many masks and could read the body language well, had detected it on the very first day. He looked at Hinata who was also staring at the girl with her Byakugan activated.

Iruka finally arrived and the students quieted down in nervous anticipation. Quick on his heels was the assistant instructor, Mizuki, carrying in his arms the written portion of the academy exams. Naruto's sensor ability picked up a veritable amount of negative emotions from Mizuki who was wearing his normal polite smile.

Iruka promptly began, "Well then, I see you're all quiet and eager for your graduation exams, so we'll start right away. The graduation exams will have five parts of 10 point each: a written exam, a weapons accuracy test, a stealth test, a taijutsu spar and finally a ninjutsu evaluation. Now, as has always been the case, all portions of the exams save the written portion will have allowances for students to gain extra credit if they wish. As each portion comes up, I will let you know how the extra credit part works. Now, for these written exams, you have fifteen minutes to answer all one hundred questions correctly. Now, don't feel too bad when you can't answer everything in the time given; the exams are made to be unbeatable and the record for this part of the exam has been held for over five decades by our very own Sandaime Hokage."

Many students broke out in hushed murmuring at that little titbit. Smirking to himself, Iruka signalled Mizuki to hand out the exams and when he finished, he gave the students the go ahead to begin. Naruto glanced once through the exam and began filling in the correct answers without hesitation – having lived with living or as Anko would say, undead sadistic teachers who lived in that time, had made him knowing his history and he had memorized the academy books on top of that, it was a trivial issue for him to know the answers. Coupled with his body's impressive speed and hand-eye coordination, he easily blazed through the written exams and finished a few minutes before the time was up. Iruka noticing that Naruto was done, as did Mizuki, frowned in confusion. He knew how difficult the exams were and though they were multiple choice questions, they still took time to finish.

Hinata was also finished within few minutes of Naruto and began looking out at the competition. She sighed to herself as she saw the disbelieving looks that many students and both their examiners shot them. She was treated to a rather weak glare from one Haruno Sakura. Not knowing what the pink howler monkey's problem was, she simply brushed off the glare causing the girl to get even angrier than before.

"Just what is the demon-brat up to?" Mizuki thought to himself. His plans were mainly dependent on Naruto bombing the exams. He was a new person and had joined the academy in only last three months, in majority of which neither Hinata nor Naruto came to the Academy much as they were on some pretty tight schedule of missions and travels. He believed the bullshit about Naruto that was spread in the village about him being weak and a no good loser by some civilians who had been trashed by the blonde over some stupid form of extortion by the name of Demon Tax. This oversight about not taking his time to investigate the rumours and verify the truth was going to be his fall.

He quickly calmed himself by thinking that Naruto must have either filled in absolute rubbish or just skipped a whole lot of questions – the plan was still on and soon, Orochimaru-sama would bestow on him unimaginable power.

At the fifteen minute mark, the timer went off and Mizuki collected the papers for Iruka to start grading. He had tried to change the paper of the demon brat but he couldn't find the paper itself. Unknown to him, Hinata had put a very high rank Genjutsu on the paper and Mizuki himself on analysing the behaviour of the angry looking man. As soon as the papers were in the hands of Iruka, she removed the Genjustu which altered the perception of the user.

A lot of the students grumbled about how they couldn't finish the exam and how most of them never got beyond the 70th question. Haruno Sakura, lauded as the smartest student in her year, turned to Iruka and asked,"Ano, Iruka-sensei, you said that the Sandaime had the record for highest score in this portion of the exam, but you never told us what he scored."

Iruka smiled at her and replied, "I had wondered when one of you would ask. I told you not to expect too much on the exam because the highest recorded score is an 89."

Most of the students were visibly startled at that. Then Iruka continued, "Now, the next portion is the weapons accuracy test. I want you all to follow Mizuki who will oversee the test while I get to grading your exams, I'm sure it won't take me long."

Mizuki led the students outside to the weapons range. The range had two lines at a measured distance from the targets – the closest line was at 100 yards while the second was behind it, at 150 yards. The ten targets were man-shaped cardboard cut-outs with special red kill spots marked on them.

Turning to the students, Mizuki began instructing them on the next portion of their exam, "For the weapons and accuracy test, I will call your name and you will step up and receive five kunais and five shurikens from me. You will stand at the 100 yard line and throw at the targets down the range. Your goal is to hit as many red marked fatal points as possible. For each kill point you hit, you get one point. As Iruka mentioned, there is an opportunity for extra credit here. If you want to try for extra credit, you must step up to the 150 yard line and try to hit ten of the kill spots with only the use of shuriken. Each point you hit properly grants you two points, but each one you miss costs you one. So, if you try for extra credit and hit only six points, you get eight points in total. Oh, and before I forget, the targets will be in motion for the extra credit part. Now, let's begin, Aburame Shino."

Shino stepped up to the 100 yard line and, receiving the weapons from Mizuki, began to throw them one by one at the targets. He got four out of five of his targets using kunai and three out of five with shuriken. Mizuki noted his score down and called the next person up. This continued for a while, with all the students so far opting to forgo the attempt at extra credit.

When Hinata's turn came she walked forward ignoring the burning glare of the females, especially the Uchiha Fan Club as they noticed the well developed and lush womanly figure of the Hyuuga Heiress. Kiba leered at her from the side-lines and Naruto wanted to beat his ass down. Kiba had already been almost castrated by Hinata when he had tried to force the non-assuming Hyuuga Heiress for a date even after her repeatedly telling him no. She had almost lost her control and was about to kill the young Inuzuka but then Kiba's mother had been there to save the fool's hide.

Hinata walked towards the 150 yard line and launched the five shuriken first, getting five perfect kill spots. The next time, she hesitated before launching the second set of shuriken but only got four kill spots and intentionally missed the last one. Her score was the highest right now and her Byakugan flashed in lieu of her habit. She noticed the Uchiha heir looking angry and then just to be sure, she threw him a challenging smirk that only he caught.

Murmurs about her being given training and Hyuuga prodigy were being raised. Hinata scoffed inwardly, these fools did not even know that she was no longer affiliated to the Hyuuga clan and had already left it unofficially.

Next, Mizuki called forward Kiba, who decided to try for extra credit after seeing Hinata's performance and trying to impress the girls of the class.

Strutting forward to the taunting calls of his classmate, Kiba accepted the weapons from Mizuki and stood at the 150 yard line. At this point, most of the class was quiet and focused on Kiba. Mizuki activated the mechanism that set the targets in motion and Kiba began. He threw the first five shuriken in quick succession and got four kill spots. The students watching cheered him on and bolstered by his success, he got too cocky and launched the last five weapons faster than before and only scored three out of five. Still, with a total score of eleven points, he was the current highest scorer. He threw a smug smirk at Sasuke and swaggered back to his place in line. The other students after him were encouraged by his success and started trying from the extra credit line. None however were able to do as well as Kiba, until it was Sasuke's turn who had calmed himself after what he perceived was being shown up by some Hyuuga girl even though she was the heiress of the clan.

The students immediately focused on him, and his fan club began to cheer him on. Sasuke calmly stepped up to the 150 yard line and accepted the weapons from Mizuki. He quickly launched five shuriken so close together that it seemed like he threw them simultaneously. To the amazement of the watching students, he got four out of five – missing the last one only because the target shifted at the last moment. Repeating the same thing with the last five, he got the same score, putting him at the top of the scoreboard so far with a score of 14 points. Mizuki marked down his score, glanced at his board and called the next student, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto nonchalantly made his way forward and received all ten shuriken from Mizuki. He then turned towards the range and as the students noticed he was making his way to the 150 yard line, the Sasuke fan club began to jeer at him, telling him not to bother making a fool of himself. Paying them no heed whatsoever, he stopped at the line, glanced at the targets and launched all ten shuriken simultaneously.

A single sound of metal shredding through cardboard echoed through the clearing, quickly followed by gasps of shock as the students noticed that each of Naruto's shuriken had gone through the red spot on the head of each of the targets. Silence spread through the clearing as the students and Mizuki attempted to understand just what they were seeing – a perfect score, using shuriken launched simultaneously at moving targets 150 yards away. Finally snapping out of his shock, Mizuki smiled and congratulated Naruto while internally seething at this new endangerment to his plan. Yamanaka Ino went next and choosing not to attempt for extra credit, scored seven out of ten.

Mizuki finished tallying up her score and led the students to the next exam – the stealth test. Arriving at the obstacle course set up for the students, they discovered Iruka waiting for them.

"Well then, why don't we continue with the tests. As mentioned previously, this test allows you to get more than the allotted 10 points. The objective of this test is to make it through the obstacle course, bypassing all the traps and obstacles set up for you and all without triggering any of the bells strung up in there. You will be graded on your speed and ability to make it through without using any chakra, triggering any bell or getting injured. Each student starts off with 15 points and if you make it through in less than 3 minutes, without using chakra, ringing any bells or sustaining any injuries, you get to keep your full 15 points. Every 30 seconds after the 3 minute mark that passes, you lose one point. If you use chakra, ring a bell or sustain an injury, you lose one point. The record for this particular test is actually held by the Yondaime Hokage who took 4 minutes and 19 seconds, and rang no bell to get a score of 13 points."

When Iruka had mentioned the time limit, a lot of students began to think that the course would be relatively short and that they could easily make it through. Their hopes were ruthlessly crushed when he mentioned the Yondaime Hokage's time. If a legend like him could only get 13 points, then obviously the course must be insane. Iruka motioned Shino forward to begin and stepped back.

Taking in a barely perceptible breath, Shino ran into the sectioned off obstacle course and since the students couldn't see what was happening inside, they all fell silent to listen carefully. One minute in, they heard a bell ring, followed by another about 45 seconds later. They noticed Iruka making a note in his scoreboard – undoubtedly penalizing Shino. The 3 minute mark passed and Shino was still nowhere in sight. Then 5 minutes after he went in, they heard the sound of a trap go off and many surmised that he must have gotten injured. Finally, after one more bell rung, Shino emerged, a full 5 minutes and 27 seconds after beginning. He had one injury from a surprise trap and just barely scraped a score of 7 points. After Mizuki had reset the course, the next student went in.

When Hinata's turn came, she ran into the course and then cleared the entire course by finishing the test in a record shattering 3 minutes and fifteen seconds after ringing a single bell, getting the highest score and shattering the Yondaime's record while getting 14 points. Her performance started another set of murmurs and whisperings from all those present who began looking at the girl with respect, awe and some even with fear. The Uchiha prodigy was now revising his options and impressions of the Hyuuga Heiress whom he had foolishly believed to be weak after getting into complacency with her shy and unassuming nature.

One by one, the other students made a pass at the obstacle course, with most getting times of over 5 minutes and 30 seconds and scores of 6, 7, 8, and in one case, 9 points – earned by Kiba. When it got to Sasuke's turn, the students once again gave him their full attention. When he started, they all focused, waiting to hear if he rung any bell or encountered any traps. After 3 minutes, people had begun to think that he might make it through without ringing a bell. Then at the 4 minute mark, they heard the distinct tinkling of a bell, quickly followed by another. Sasuke emerged after 4 minutes and 23 seconds without a single scratch on his body – he earned a score of 11 points and looked thoroughly angry with himself.

As Sasuke returned to his place in line, he threw a blatantly challenging sneer at Naruto, obviously still miffed by Naruto's performance in the weapons accuracy test. Naruto obviously caught the look, as did practically everyone else, and then nonchalantly dismissed it as he walked passed Sasuke to the starting line. This action did not sit well with Sasuke who had to calm himself before he did anything unbecoming in such a public place. Sasuke's fan club did not hesitate to act in his place though and quickly hurled insults at Naruto – loudest of all coming from Sakura and Ami. Blatantly ignoring them, and thus angering them further, Naruto glanced at Iruka to give him the go ahead to begin. At Iruka's nod, he was off.

The students listened and, despite Naruto's showing at the weapons range, most of them expected to hear bells going off as well as expletives. After the first minute they had heard nothing – eyebrows were already being raised and disbelieving glances being shared. After 2 minutes and 58 seconds, Naruto casually strolled out of the exit of the obstacle course – not a single scratch on him, clothes unruffled and bells remaining silent. After Iruka had gotten over his surprise, he marked down Naruto's time and record shattering score of 15 points. Calmly walking passed a bewildered Uchiha Sasuke and gaping Inuzuka Kiba, Naruto returned to the tree he was leaning against before his turn and sat down on a raised root. Iruka called the last student, Ino, forward and she finished with a score of 8 points.

After collating their results, Mizuki and Iruka led them to the taijutsu sparring grounds. Iruka turned to the students, most of whom were now eyeing Naruto and Hinata with something other than scorn and haughty contempt, and began his instruction,"Now, I want you to listen up carefully. The next portion of the exam is a taijutsu spar between you and Mizuki. The time limit for the spar is two minutes and your goal is to either defeat him or last the full two minutes. Each student will start out with 10 points and here's how the scoring will proceed: If a student wins before the time limit, by either knockout or knocking Mizuki out of the ring, then the amount of time left on the clock will be divided by 20, rounded down to the nearest whole number, and added to their 10 points for their final score. If a student loses before the limit, the same math occurs, but with a deduction from their 10 points for their final score. Once a student lasts past the two minute mark, they get their full 10 points whether they win or not. The record for this portion of the exam is a win in a time of 45 seconds, held by the Yondaime hokage. Now, let us begin with Shino."

Shino stepped impassively into the ring with Mizuki and at Iruka's signal, the spar started. From the get go it was obvious that Mizuki was not going all out; for how could he, an academy student could ordinarily never hope to match a Chunin. Using his higher than average clan taught taijutsu skills, Shino was finally able to knock Mizuki out of the ring after 1 minute and 37 seconds, for a final score of 11 points. After congratulating him, Iruka called out the next student. And so it went, the students matched up against Mizuki and only the clan children ever managed to win before the time limit was up, even if Mizuki went easy on them.

Except for when Hinata Hyuuga entered the ring getting increased mutterings and whispers about her impressive performance. Even both the teachers, Iruka and Mizuki looked a bit interested in her performance.

When Iruka started the match, Hinata moved forward, her hands already in motion in order to impale the person in front of her. Her speed was at mid Chunin level getting raised eyebrows and whispers from everyone. Iruka looked highly interested in the match and was already making a mental note to talk to the Hokage just after the exams were finished about what he noticed about his two students who already looked very advanced for this class. He was not a fool not to notice, even though both Naruto and Hinata missed the classes, they never lost any spar or gave any wrong answers. Focusing back on the match, he noticed just in time that the young girl had already managed to defeat Mizuki who had increased his speed in order not to be humiliated in front of all others. However, Iruka already had given the girl extra points for finishing the spar at I minute time frame.

When the girl left, Mizuki asked for a break citing phantom pains in his arms and ribs (where Hinata had managed to score her hits) increasing the rumours about her strength and skill. Iruka guessed that the girl was so used to using Jyuuken that even without chakra, she managed to damage the chakra network of Mizuki or rather the muscles of the attacked region.

For the civilians, most were able to last the 2 minutes, while the rest lost before it. Kiba, being the second best student in Taijutsu – on paper – was able to win after 1 minute and 13 seconds. Eventually, Iruka called out Sasuke's name.

Determined to be the best scorer in this portion of the test, Sasuke kicked it into high gear as soon as Iruka started the match. Noticeably moving faster than any of the other students before him, he engaged Mizuki in a ferocious taijutsu encounter. Landing more blows than he received, he ended the match with a brilliantly executed acrobatic manoeuver that had his leg propelling Mizuki out of the ring after a hard impact to his chest. Iruka stopped the timer and noted his time of 1 minute and 2 seconds. He looked angry and humiliated by getting defeated by a Hyuuga and a girl on top of that. His brooding was noticed by his fan club who began throwing insults at the Hinata. She did nothing but levelled a Byakugan enhanced glare on those girls getting them to shut up. Shikamaru looked at her grateful for shutting up those annoying harpies and letting him rest in peace.

Waiting for Iruka to finish recording Sasuke's time, Naruto calmly observed Mizuki standing opposite him, taking particular notice of the well hidden malice in his eyes. Knowing that Mizuki would probably not hold back in the first few moments of their spar, he prepared himself to crush the traitor swiftly and ruthlessly. Naruto and Hinata had determined that the newly appointed assistant was a traitor to the village and if the information was correct, he was working with Orochimaru of the Sannin.

Hinata already knew due to her memories from future but wanted Naruto to work out this problem himself. Her reasoning was that she would never be able to hold Naruto's hand always in the future. He had to stop depending on her and she had decided that she would only nudge him in the coming times when she felt that he was going in the wrong direction.

The other students, Sasuke in particular, quickly focused on the spar that was about to begin, hoping to see if Naruto's previously hidden skills included Taijutsu as well. Mizuki just wanted to kill two birds with one stone and diminish Naruto's chances of graduating while getting to beat him down. The moment Iruka gave the signal, Mizuki was off.

Blurring across the arena, faster than any of the other genin could ever hope to follow, except for Hinata and few selected others, he appeared in front of Naruto, his right fist already rocketing towards the boy's head. So confident was he in getting in the first strike that he overcommitted to the blow, and so, when his hand passed through the space where Naruto's face used to be, he found that he had overextended himself. Before his brain could put together what the lack of impact meant, his body was already folding over the right knee that Naruto had ploughed into his stomach.

Blood left his mouth as Iruka and the students watching gasped in shock when they noticed the foot sized crater created where Naruto had pushed of the ground. Naruto's leg came back down just as physics caught up to Mizuki, whose body had begun to leave the floor. It was not to be however; Naruto's right hand was suddenly gripping his hair as he drove his head back down to meet the left knee that he had just raised. The spectators winced when a crack resounded through the clearing, quickly followed by blood spraying out of Mizuki's nose and mouth as he slipped into blissful unconsciousness. Numb fingers clicked the button on the timer and Iruka slowly gazed at the clock's face

3 seconds

This led to series of gasps and stunned faces with their jaws hanging loose of several students. Iruka himself couldn't believe that his assistant would be beaten so badly that he was knocked unconscious. On the other hand, he thought Mizuki deserved it as he started off the spar on a rather high level and when he patched the man, he was going to give him a stern talking too.

The students had begun to whisper as soon as Naruto had been declared the winner by knockout. Many of them were wondering just when the supposed goofy boy and class bunker had gotten so strong and why he had kept on avoiding coming to classes during the academy school year.

Hinata smirked to herself as she saw the seeds of dissent and doubt planted in the minds of all students. However the angry and stunned visage of the last Uchiha was rather entertaining for her who looked ready to go and demand answers from her Naruto-kun. She thought it was hilarious that even with most of the civilians and some stunted ninja falling head over heels to help the boy, the Uchiha had reached only a level of high Genin and borderline Chunin when he pushed himself.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was mentally reconsidering everything he thought he knew about Uzumaki Naruto and making plans to corner him for questioning later. He did not know that his arrogance was going to get him in extremely hot water later.

Back on the sparring field, Iruka had propped Mizuki against a tree and used what little battlefield healing jutsu he knew. Since his partner was out for the count, he faced off against Ino himself, winning the spar after 1 minute and 50 seconds.

After the students had gotten over their shock at seeing the usually laid back Naruto demolish their teacher, Iruka herded them back into the class room for the final portion of the exam. Being that it was a fairly straightforward process, his instructions were short; you hear your name, enter the next room and do what we tell you, and when you're done, move on to the room across from you and wait for the rest to finish. He started with Shino as always, and continued down the list. Mizuki, who had recovered, joined him halfway through. Sasuke walked in when it was his turn and then Naruto's name was called.

Hinata had already passed the ninjutsu section with flying marks. She had scared both the Academy teachers with her henge of Mito Uzumaki. Mizuki himself had born the majority of brunt of her harsh glare and had almost ready to faint. Iruka himself had stuttered a barely audible pass to the Hyuuga heiress. She had taken a crimson coloured headband after passing all the sections of the exam and was now waiting for Naruto's turn.

As Naruto made his way towards the connecting door, his acute hearing easily picked up what was being said in the room that contained those who had already finished their exams. Smirking to himself at successfully stirring up the hive, he entered the connecting room to see the two instructors seated at a table. He walked to stand in front of them, absently noting that the hatred in Mizuki's eyes was more visible, probably due to his humiliating injuries.

Smiling proudly at him, Iruka spoke, "Well, Naruto, you've gotten to the last portion of the exams. This ninjutsu test is fairly straightforward; you will be tested on the use of the basic three jutsu – the kawarimi, henge and bunshin no jutsu. We will begin with the kawarimi. Now, sometime in the next 15 seconds and with no prior warning, I will launch a blunted kunai at you, which you must obviously avoid by switching out with something else. Mizuki will take care if I am using any real weapons. Extra points will be given for demonstrated mastery of the jutsu. The 15 seconds starts now."

Naruto had kept his cool gaze on Mizuki throughout the speech given by Iruka and thus easily made out the lust for vengeance in his eyes when Iruka mention the blunted kunai. Fully aware that Mizuki would attempt to get him back for his previous humiliation, he subtly went on alert for any tricks, while appearing calm, unconcerned and wide open. Seven seconds after the start of the exam, he felt a very low level genjustu invading his system which he dispelled without any effort or movement. Mizuki thought that the genjustu had taken place and rested back in his chair satisfied. It made the victims unable to see any projectiles coming towards themselves and had been taught to him by Orochimaru himself before he came to Konoha on his assignment.

Also, he switched Iruka's blunted kunai with his own regular kunai and began waiting for the inevitable accident.

Nine seconds after the official start of the testing, Iruka launched a kunai with no prior warning at Naruto, whose eyes easily tracked it – even if it was travelling faster than an academy student could handle it. The kunai travelled the gap in an instant and, to the horror of Iruka and barely hidden glee of Mizuki, it plunged into Naruto's chest. Iruka watched –devastated and confused as to why he had used a regular kunai– as Naruto's eyes widened in pain and his body began to fall backwards. He was on his feet in an instant, about to rush towards Naruto, to give whatever aid he could when Naruto's body burst into smoke and revealed a chair with the kunai sticking halfway out of it. It took a moment for Iruka to understand what he was seeing and he slumped in relief. A chuckle behind him had him turning to see Naruto standing there with an amused air about him.

Mizuki immediately realised that the genjutsu he cast was a failure while Iruka realized that Naruto had successfully performed the replacement technique. He noted with interest that the kawarimi had been pulled off without any hand seals and with the kind of mastery only found in high level chunin ninja and above.

After he had calmed his heart rate, Iruka turned to berate Mizuki for not telling him about his own use of a real kunai. Mizuki acted sheepish and was able to somewhat fool Iruka into believing that it was a simple oversight on his part. Iruka however was now quite suspicious of Mizuki as he felt that that his new assistant was hiding something. Also, he distinctly remembered that he had kept only blunted kunai with him today because of the exams. Slowly, but surely the seeds of suspicion were being planted in Iruka's mind about the loyalty of the new teacher.

Mizuki even apologized to Naruto, who wasn't fooled for an instant, for not seeing that Iruka was not using a blunted kunai. Mizuki was aware, that at this point, Naruto had already passed his graduation exam. So, he privately began to revise his plan for stealing the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. After things had calmed down, and Iruka had marked Naruto extra for performing a seamless kawarimi with no hand seals and with enough mastery to leave a decoy afterimage, he resumed with the tests.

"Good job on the kawarimi Naruto. Now, you simply have to henge into another person, and then create at least three clones."

With only a nod, Naruto's form simply shimmered and in his place was the Sandaime Hokage in full hokage robes and his pipe in hand. As the figure before them looked up, Iruka and Mizuki subconsciously straightened when they met that ancient and penetrating gaze. Calmly, the figure of the Sandaime breathed out a small stream of fire and lit his pipe. Taking a few puffs, he exhaled some tobacco – which Iruka could smell – and spoke in the mellow and soothing tones of the Professor,

"How are you, Iruka-kun?"

For an instant, Iruka was about to reply as he had always done when the Sandaime asked after him, but then he reminded himself that this was Naruto under an eerily realistic henge and said, "Very good Naruto, that's another sealless, smokeless and obviously mastered jutsu. At this point in time, you already have passing marks, but if you want to continue, you can attempt to create at least three bunshins."

Once again – with neither smoke nor sound – the room was suddenly containing twelve Narutos placed at regular intervals in a circle around the room. Looking around, neither Iruka nor Mizuki were able to determine which one was the real Naruto. Chuckling as he wrote in his clipboard, Iruka awarded Naruto full marks with extra credit for mastery of the three academy jutsu. He then said, "Okay, Naruto, you can disperse them now."

All the Narutos in his sight – including the one standing where the original had been – faded out of existence without a trace. Turning in surprise, the instructors found the original standing at the back of the room, obviously amused at their surprise. Shaking his head, Iruka said, "You never cease to amaze me Naruto" then beaming with pride at him, Iruka tossed him a hitai –ate and told him, "You pass, Naruto, with distinction. Congratulations."

Smiling at him, Naruto caught the black clothed hitai-ate and bowed to the two teachers. He made his way out of the room and to the room across him, where the students who had finished were waiting. When he walked in with his hitai-ate displayed on his forehead, none of the students were surprised anymore; Naruto had apparently already desensitized them during the earlier tests. Naruto sat at the back as he often did and about ten minutes later, Ino entered with her own head band, followed by Iruka and Mizuki.

Iruka beamed at the students and began his closing statements, "Well, it's all done now. Though some of you might not have done as well as you expected, I am still proud of the progress you have all made. Those of you who couldn't make the passing grade can retry next year, I have full faith that you will be ready by then. For those of you who received your hitai-ate, you have my congratulations. Make sure to be here tomorrow morning for team assignments. And without further ado, the announcement I know most of you have been waiting for; the rookie of the year. This year, the rookie of the year position is awarded to Uchiha Sasuke for a consistently outstanding performance throughout his attendance."

Most of the students applauded, having already expected as much, with members of the Sasuke fan club screeching loudly. After calming them down, Iruka continued, "There is still one more thing to take care of however. Uchiha-san earned the title of Rookie of the Year because all six years of schooling were taken into account. Taking only the graduation exam into consideration however, the results are quite different. I will now list the top three students with scores in each of the exam sections. Uchiha Sasuke, with scores of 8.1, 14, 11, 12 and 13, earned a total of 58.1 to come in third place."

The Uchiha Fan Club immediately cheered at Sasuke doing so well in the exams, before quieting down as they realized that two persons had obviously scored higher than him. Many of the students reached the proper conclusion about the identity of the second place and the winner at the same time and turned to gape in shock at the persons they had derided as lazy and uncaring for the past two years.

Speaking into the bewildered silence, Iruka announced Naruto and Hinata's score, "Hinata Hyuuga is in second place with scores of 9, 14, 14, 13 and 14 and is given the title of Kunoichi of the Year. Last but not the least, Uzumaki Naruto, with record shattering scores of 10, 20, 15, 15 and 15, earned the highest possible score of 75 points to come in in first place. Naruto is now the current holder for highest score in every portion of the graduation exams. Congratulations Naruto and to the rest of you as well. I will see you tomorrow."

And with the rest of the class gaping at the disinterested Naruto and Hinata, Iruka and Mizuki departed from the classroom. Both of them smirked at each other as they stood up and meandered outside, while the rest of the students looked on in stunned silence. The sound of the door closing behind him roused them from their stupor and Hinata smirked as she heard a banshee cry of outrage and anger that originated from Haruno and Kiba. Chuckling to herself, she took Naruto's hand as he smiled at her and they both vanished from the hallway – disappearing as though they were never there leaving behind chaos and panic.

That Evening,
Hokage Tower, Konohagure no Sato

Sarutobi Hiruzen was walking towards the Council room with a determined gait in his steps. All the persons in the Hokage Tower who saw the Third Sandaime was instantly reminded of the fact why the old man was once known as the Kami no Shinobi in his younger days. The venerable old Hokage was leaking a murderous Killing Intent and looked extremely angry. Two figure were walking behind him taking up flanking positions behind him, both wearing hooded cloaks which allowed only the lower half of their face to be glimpsed which in turn was found to be covered by ANBU masks, denoting them as the members of Hokage's personal ANBU Squad. The more experienced and high level ninjas immediately took notice of the predatory walk of the two ANBU and the fact that both of them were not flinching from the palpable aura around the third Hokage while they themselves were sweating slightly.

Also, both of them on closer inspection were found to be just teenagers looking close to the age group of fifteen to seventeen which begged the question of who they were, for Konoha had stopped allowing youngsters in ANBU after the debacle with Itachi Uchiha who had massacred his entire clan one night alone and had escaped marking him as one of the biggest traitors from Konoha after Uchiha Madara and Orochimaru.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was hoping for a quiet evening that day after Naruto and Hinata both had reported to him about their findings about the new assistant Mizuki as a traitor to Konoha. Naruto had also reported his suspicions of him working with Orochimaru from the reports of Jiraiya's spy network and their Intelligence department which hinted about the Snake Sannin being seen in the same area as Mizuki before team's accident in which all were killed except for Mizuki.

However, Hiruzen found out that the civilian council in its infinite wisdom had changed the team set ups and the information in the ninja records about Naruto and his stellar performance as cheating and had demoted his hard earned rank as a mistake. Some of them even had the gall to demand from the Hokage that Naruto be forced to give another exams which would be checked under a committee given by the council.

When Hiruzen had read the demands, he had nearly blown up his office from his anger explosion alone. That is why, he was going to show these fools why they shouldn't piss him off for today he was not going to show them any mercy.

The doors to the council chambers opened with a deafening bang making all the civilian members who were in attendance jump while the shinobi section had already sensed the approach of their angry leader and were ready for the upcoming explosion did not even move a muscle. But each and every one of them noticed the angry killing intent rolling off their Hokage and as one cringed in their seats.

Hiruzen stalked to his chair with his two ANBU following him like shadows. Shikaku Nara subtly narrowed his eyes as he felt the chakra levels of both the ninjas and stiffened as he felt the massive levels of chakra in one and other had highly developed chakra network which was controlled even more than Tsunade's. He subtly signed to Inochi who nodded and signed back.

Hiashi Hyuuga activated his Byakugan and hissed in pain silently as he felt his eyes getting blinded by a flash of light. He turned his head and tried to gather some information about the ANBU accompanying the Hokage. The flash did not come again but he noticed that he couldn't pierce the clothing material being worn by both of them he wondered the new development as a civilian member stood up and addressed the Hokage while looking fearful of Sarutobi's narrow eyed glare on them all.

"H-Hokage-sama why a-are you-u here in the Council Chambers? The Council hasn't-t summoned you yet." The Shinobi section cringed as one as Sarutobi's Killing intent grew even further. It seemed that this day was not going to get any better for them. Even the brash and blunt spoken Inuzuka Matriarch felt that the civilian member had already stepped on a landmine and they all would feel its brunt.

They were proven correct when the Sandaime Hokage roared at the civilian member who let out a small whimper of terror and then fainted.

"Who the hell do you think that you are to demand that from me? Are you the Hokage of this village? I always allowed you all to have too much leeway. This stops now. This is not a democracy but a dictatorship. Too long I have allowed you to do as you wish. I thought Tobirama Sensei had done a good thing that he allowed civilians to vote on the council but time and again you have proved that you cannot be trusted to help this village."

"B-but-but, Hokage-sama, you do not have that kind of authority." Spoke a particularly fat merchant who had used a vast amount of money to secure a seat on the council and used it to further increase his agenda. The man's fate was already decided. And all the persons who were able to see the impending explosion were not surprised when the man was punched into the wall, where he curled up crying pathetically.

"Mind your tongue councillor. Do not insult the Hokage like that. Do you understand or not?" spoke one of the figures that was now identified as a male, unleashing a thick Killing intent on the civilian council who shrank back in their seats.

"Y-you c-cannot assault us. We are the civilian council." Spoke another of these fools. The male sighed and spoke in a bland tone, "Tough luck, bitch. We answer only to the Hokage. Even if you are Kami's shit we give to more care to you than to listen to our orders. Got it?"

The civilian who had spoken looked at like he had a spike shoved up his ass. Perhaps someone had never dared to talk to the civilian council like that. However this person, whoever he was didn't acre and even assaulted one of their members. This meant that putting pressure on such persons was bound to backfire in a spectacular manner.

Sarutobi watched and listened as the civilian council exploded and then bickered back and forth, some for demanding for demoting the ANBU and some wanting to kill the ANBU for assaulting a council member. The Shinobi no Kami trying to keep his anger so as not to create more problems for the village and his patience was running thin.

Even for one of infinite patience like Sarutobi.

He'd never had to raise his voice before to get a point across. One does not attain the title 'God of Shinobi' by being loud and spontaneous. Ninja are calm, collected, silent, and deadly. All these things encompassed what Sarutobi stood for. What set him apart from the pack was his high level of intelligence. And that intelligence would grant him a successor and save the village in this war torn and chaos filled era and in future times. No one noticed as he rose from his seat, except for his two shadows.

"Enough. Be silent."

Perhaps it was his anger or the self-preservation senses of the people in the room as each and every one of them quieted immediately and even the ever lazy Nara Shikaku woke up and looked at him in complete silence and concentration. There was no sound made by anyone except for the cool breeze and the tempers running high. He thought back to the days when he had passed the hat to the Yondaime and after reminiscing about how much he had failed his successor. He turned his gaze back to the council.

"I have sat and listened to your nonsense long enough. This day I am ruling that your interference in the ninja matters will not be tolerated. As for your senseless laws and demands against Naruto Uzumaki, they will not be listened to or even thought about by the shinobi unless you have a damn good proof of his so called wrong doing. Also, your favouritism towards the Last Uchiha will cease from this day. I am not saying that you don't have do this by not helping him but you will treat all the Shinobi the same. If I hear more stupid demands, I will send you to Ibiki and Anko. Do you get it? The Yondaime did not want him to be treated like a pariah but rather like a hero. You all spit on the sacrifice of my late successor. He will not be used. He is a child of Konoha and he holds within him the most powerful of beasts. He deserves our respect above all."

A nameless council member, one of the civilians rose.

"But Lord Hokage, the Kyuubi could break free at any moment. Knowledge of the seal says that its soul is bound to the boy's and that upon the boy's death it will die with him. Would it not be best to kill him now and avoid any future issues?"

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at the civilian and spoke in a level voice. "Naruto shall not be killed. His own life is a sacrifice. As I have told you time and again and you have still not managed to get it into your fear addled mind that the Yondaime chose him to hold the Kyuubi and he believed that his people would see this boy for what he is."

"And what is he?"

"A hero. A jinchuuriki. He is a living sacrifice and a living testament to a human's tenacious hold on life. I myself ensured that this boy serves Konoha. I might love the people of this village, but if the leaders or the those chosen by the people to be their leaders, themselves can't tell the difference between a harmless child and the most murderous of all demons then how can I trust the villagers to let him live a peaceful life?"

"Now then, I want to ask you all. Look upon your actions against Naruto and tell me where the malice is. Where is the unbridled hatred and rage that the Kyuubi exuded? Where is the fear that should be present in all of you if he were the Kyuubi?"

"But it could be a trick of the Kyuubi to lure us into false hope. It could be pretending to be harmless." Spoke another of them.

Sarutobi frowned and reined in his anger, "And how exactly is that Naruto different from any other children of his age? That boy was born into a cold, harsh world on the worst night of our village's history. For this, he was foolishly ostracized and hated whenever he was allowed to mingle amongst the villagers and I will not have that from now on. As I have told you again and again, I have ensured the boy has grown to be a ninja of exceptional quality. I have seen that he is pure of heart and loyal to the village."

"And how do you mean to ensure all that?" asked another of these fools and Sarutobi growled back in his throat at their pig headedness and foolish behaviour.

"Naruto is my chosen successor possibly or will be the Godaime. I will train him in the ways of a Hokage. He will lead the village when I step down or afterwards." He spoke sending whispers and mutterings all along the chamber.

After what seemed to be an eternity of arguments and counter arguments, the more moderate faction of the civilian council stood up and spoke to the Hokage,"Should the child ever prove dangerous, we, along with the rest of the civilian council, will not hesitate to bring him down. This we swear. The village must come before a man's wishes. Till then you have our support, Hokage –Sama." And this ended the entire argument.

Sarutobi nodded and all of them began to leave the chamber without another word or discussion. He had said his piece and all knew they were no longer needed. He knew what he had to do so did his ANBU.

"You know what you have to do. Get Mizuki and extract all priority information from him as you can after disabling him. Leave the rest for Ibiki. And Sorry for the mess I made for your early life. I hope you can forgive an old man for his mistakes." He spoke to the male ANBU who had defended him and the ANBU simply gave him a short bow in return to his query.

Sarutobi nodded to his escorts and then made a hand sign. All three of them vanished as if they were never there.

That's all folks... I am waiting for your reviews with eagerness... vishalddarkside signing out...