Author's Note:

So, for the first chapter I've ever published to the general public, I really don't have much to say. I figured I'd be spewing my guts out, but no. I have, in a moment of startling clarity, realized that no amount of grovelling will make this any less terrible.

That being said, the ridiculous "graduation exam" that we see in canon is . . . terrible. I've spent the first few chapters exploring and expanding on what a comprehensive exam might look like. This was my best shot at it. Of course, I'll be radically altering some other canon bits, so this could be considered AU. From the get-go, we're looking at a slightly less stupid Naruto (nothing ground-breaking, I assure you), a more interesting encounter with Mizuki, and some Fuuinjutsu stuff ('cause that shit is crunk, yo).

As for pairings, I really don't know. I'm not a huge fan of romance or any of that. I might just follow the canon pairings, but those have their own issues. I think I'll just see how things end up. And no, there will not be any relationships formed before the timeskip, have you ever know a couple that's been together since they were twelve? High-school sweethearts are rare enough as it is. Also, yes, I am fucking with the team assignments. No It does not have anything to do with pairings, I'm looking at it from the perspective of "instead of segregating our teams into groups with ridiculously crippling overspecialization, let's try and balance them out a bit."

. . .

Chapter 1: School Days

Naruto was sure that there was no better feeling in the world than the morning sun on his face. The summer breeze cut through the streets of Konohagakure no Sato and tousled his hair. He ran his fingers through the unruly blond spikes, enjoying the feeling of them on his scalp.

The Hokage Monument had lit up with the sun's light just moments before, and Naruto never missed the chance to see it from his balcony if he could help it.

MInato Namikaze was Naruto's favorite, and the one hailed by the world as the greatest Shinobi to ever live. That was why Naruto was going to surpass him.

The young boy stomped on the rail that separated his small overlook from the roof and raised a fist.

"You know that, Yondaime!? I'm gonna get better and better, every day. And then everyone will have no choice but to notice me!" He turned his back on the monument. "I'm gonna be the greatest Hokage ever!" Assured that there would never be another Shinobi as great as him, Naruto walked back into his apartment. He elected to ignore the villagers staring up at the pyjama-clad boy screaming at the Hokage Monument.

"Now I gotta get dressed and eat breakfast. Should I have pork, or miso? Maybe beef?" Naruto stroked his chin as he pondered his first meal for the day. "Oh, maybe I'll have a salt ramen. I haven't had one of those in a while . . . yeah. I'll have salt ramen today!" He took off at a run towards his cupboard. Every student at the Konoha Shinobi Academy was taught the importance of a balanced breakfast.

At that moment, something reached out and snagged his foot, dragging him to the ground. Naruto yelped and rolled, bringing himself into a combat-ready stance, looking for whatever fiend had dared to assault him in his own home.

It was his backpack, carelessly discarded the night before; it returned his war-face with calculated indifference. Naruto was sure the thing was out to get him. Either by losing his homework, or, as illustrated by its most recent attempt, outright assassinating him.

"Cheeky little bastard. Why don't you go wait by the door?" He kicked the bag away, and resumed his journey to the kitchen.

A little-known fact about Naruto Uzumaki was that he only possessed two clocks. One sat on his nightstand, and the other next to his kettle. His nightstand-clock had always done its job faithfully and woken him up at dawn every day. The kettle-clock, however, was different. It, like his backpack, seemed determined to make his life hell.

The normal three-minute wait for his ramen always stretched infinitely when he used the kettle-clock. The only way Naruto had found to mitigate this wait was to set the alarm for three minutes and then not look at the clock until it rang.

If not for his deep-seated and justified resentment for the kettle-clock, he would have noticed that his first class started in ten minutes.

As the clock ticked down precious seconds until he could be united with his glorious and exalted breakfast, Naruto focused on getting dressed.

His orange tracksuit was one of his most prized possessions. Accented with navy
blue and white, most Shinobi scoffed at his attire, but Naruto knew they were just jealous. After all, how many ninja could find orange pants at a Shinobi outfitter? and at such a bargain, too.

That kind, old salesman had been so happy for his find. He seemed almost eager to get rid of all of the suits, but Naruto was sure it was just reverse-psychology or whatever, to get him to not buy it.

Ha! Joke's on you, old man. Naruto loved his jumpsuit. He zipped the jacket over his black T-shirt, and went to find Gama-chan.

He found the poor girl under his bed. Apparently, she'd been knocked down there when he flailed around in his sleep.

"Sorry, Gama-chan. I'll never do it again." That was a lie, Naruto always moved in his sleep. Whether from a nightmare or something else, he never remembered when he woke up. He pressed the frog-shaped wallet to his cheek and offered a most heartfelt apology.

Suddenly, the alarm for his ramen went off, and Naruto shouted with joy. He stuffed his frog-wallet into his back pocket and ran back to the kitchen.

He set the cup on his two-person table, and poured himself a glass of milk. The cup of ramen didn't even take him a full minute. He swallowed the broth in one giant gulp and tossed the spent cup into the nearly-overflowing garbage can. If it bounced out and back to the floor as some others had, Naruto didn't notice.

His attention was instead on the kettle-clock, which had foiled him once again.

He had six minutes until class started.

Iruka had threatened to flay him if he showed up late for his first day of finals.

"Dammit!" Naruto became a blur of motion around his apartment as he gathered what he needed for the day: backpack, kunai holster, tool pouch. He stopped dead at his nightstand. His goggles were sitting there, pristine as the day he'd found them wrapped up in his box at the Academy. The one thing in his apartment Naruto never allowed to succumb to the persistent mess.

"Hehe." He pulled the goggles over his forehead. The dark lenses didn't have a scratch on the expensive, thick glass, and the matte-green metal casing had been diligently polished the night before. "Alright, now I'm ready, I say." Naruto decided that he didn't have time to use the door, and instead ran back to his overhanging balcony.

The leap to the ground was child's play. Naruto landed with a grunt as the shock went through his legs, then he took off down the street at a sprint.

The streets of Konoha were irregular and cluttered. Power lines and trees mixed and mashed together in a random, chaotic medley of the natural and man-made worlds. At least, that was how most citizens saw them. Naruto could see the patterns. The streets lined up for him in such a way that he could always find the quickest route.

He ducked under a sagging clothesline and then leapt over a slow-moving cart. The driver yelled at him for spooking the oxen, but Naruto didn't care.

He was late, and he couldn't become Hokage if Iruka flayed him. Instead of staying on the larger side-street, Naruto swung into an alley. It would take him towards the main thoroughfare, but Naruto turned before he got there. He leapt a fence, and from where he was standing, it was a straight-shot to the Academy. The boy congratulated himself for a speedy arrival. His class was on the first floor, and he still had three minutes, so there was no hurry.

The Academy was located right beneath the administrative building, where the Hokage worked. Naruto didn't know if he lived there as well, but the old man was always around. He pushed open the main doors and found his way to classroom 105.

The rest of his classmates had already arrived, apparently. They were all staring at him as he came through the door. He chuckled and said, "Okay, I'm here. On time. Isn't that crazy?"

Naruto had a problem. He was not well-liked at the Academy. His teachers—except for Iruka—all thought he was a useless punk. And his classmates had long since been convinced that he was not worth the trouble of associating with. If any of this bothered Naruto, he didn't let it show through his bright grin.

"Naruto," said a voice behind him. It sounded vaguely surprised.

"Oh! Iruka-sensei, I'm here on time today, so don't flay me, okay?"

"Sure, Naruto. Please take your seat." Naruto smiled and nodded at his teacher. The man had a long scar across his nose that Naruto thought was the coolest thing ever, but Iruka wouldn't tell him where he'd gotten it.

Naruto scanned the classroom for an open seat, preferably one next to Sakura-chan, but she was surrounded by her friends already. The classroom was pretty big, so he looked further back. Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji were all taking up a window row. Besides, they only associated with him for the purposes of pranking or skipping class.

There were only two seats open, one on either side of the weird boy who always had bugs floating around him. Naruto wasn't sure why no one ever sat next to him. He ran up the sloped desks and slid into the aisle seat, dropping his backpack by his feet. "Hi," he said quietly. It was a bad idea to interrupt Iruka when he was taking roll.

The other boy didn't respond for a second, then he said, "hello." Naruto was embarrassed to admit that he didn't remember the boy's name, so he just stayed quiet after that.

". . .Uchiha Sasuke?" Iruka asked. A boy in a blue shirt raised his hands. He was staring out the window like he didn't have a care in the world, clearly ignoring the noises the girls surrounding him were making. Naruto wasn't sure if he hated Sasuke, but he certainly had a problem with the boy's superior attitude, even if he had the skill to back it up.

"And Naruto's here, on time for once, too. Good. Yamanaka Ino?."

"Hello!" The girl raised her hand.

Iruka set the roll sheet down on his desk, then turned to address the students. "As I'm sure you're all aware, today's the day we begin the final tests. After lunch we'll be testing on the Henge, but before that, it's the written test. I hope you all studied last night." Naruto let his head collide with his desk. He groaned loudly. Of course I would forget to study. He had been so busy practicing his Henge, he'd forgotten all about the written exam. The boy next to him turned his head to face Naruto.

"Naruto-san, I'm sure that damaging your head right now is not conducive to passing the written test. You'll need every brain cell you can spare." Naruto tried to glare at him, but he couldn't make eye contact through the boy's dark glasses.

Naruto settled for pulling his goggles down further to cover the growing goose-egg on his forehead and ignoring the quiet boy's burn.

"You have twenty minutes to go over your notes, then I'm passing out the test." Naruto opened his backpack and found his notebook unmolested. He looked suspiciously at his bag.

"No way are you not planning something. I'm on to you."

"Naruto-san?"

Naruto realized too late he had said that out loud. "Er, nothing, um . . ."

"My name is Shino. You have forgotten it six times over the course of the year, despite having sat next to me for most of this semester."

"Uh, sorry, Shino. Won't happen again"

"I do not mind. I seem to be easily forgotten by many in this class." The boy was obviously lying; Naruto could see the twitch developing under his sunglasses.

"So, do you want to go over these notes together, or what?"

"No, thank you. I memorized all of mine last week."

Naruto moaned in defeat. All of his other classmates were quizzing each other and making corrections when necessary. In a desperate attempt to retain something, he looked over his notes. His handwriting was terrible, and he couldn't make out half of what he'd scribbled down several months ago. Twenty minutes passed this way, each tick of the clock sounding like a bell, bringing Naruto closer to his final judgement.

"Okay. That's time. Please put your notes away. I'll know if you cheat." Iruka looked around the room. "You all have until ten o'clock. The test is eighty questions, mostly short answer. Some are multiple choice and there'll be an essay question at the end." He handed a stack of tests to each student sitting in the front row. They began passing them backwards. When Naruto finally got his, it was the last test in the stack. "Begin now," said Iruka.

Okay, I got this. Question 1: List the three primary Shinobi arts (3 points). Naruto actually knew the answer to this one. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu. He wrote them down and moved on. Question 2: What is Chakra?(2 points) Another easy one. Chakra is the combination of yin—spiritual energy— and yang—physical energy. Shinobi use Chakra to perform Jutsu. Depending on the type of technique, more physical or spiritual energy may be employed. In addition, some Shinobi use Chakra to enhance their normal physical abilities, such as running, jumping, or punching. He knew the answers all the first five questions, but those were mostly common knowledge. Any civilian could answer them, probably.

It was Question 6 where he found his first pitfall. Name each hidden village that Konohagakure is allied with (0.5 points per correct answer). Naruto only knew of three, and he was sure there were more. Um. . . Takigakure, Sunagakure, and . . . Kusagakure? Yeah. I'll come back to this one. As Naruto made his way through the test, he found a surprising amount of questions that he could answer correctly. Question 20: Name each Hokage in chronological order(4 points). And some that he had no hope of answering at all. Question 45: What is the commonly accepted cause of the Second Shinobi World War?(1 point).

The essay question, however, was apparently tailor made for him. Compare and contrast the Fourth Hokage with the First. Which policies of theirs did you approve of? Both of these Shinobi sacrificed themselves for the sake of the village, but in different ways. Which one was the better Hokage, in your opinion? Naruto looked at the clock. He had nearly thirty minutes to finish this question.

Plenty of time.

Once ten o'clock rolled around, Iruka called for the class to set their pencils down and told them to pass their tests forward.

Naruto chuckled as he passed his test to the girl in front of him. He had surprised himself with how well he'd done.

"Whaddaya think, Shino? Did you pass?"

Shino turned his head to face Naruto. "I believe my performance was satisfactory."

Naruto scoffed. "Killjoy."

Iruka finished stacking the completed tests, then he turned back to the class. "Take a five minute break, then we'll go to bukijutsu practice until lunch." A vast majority of the class filtered out of the room.

Naruto didn't have anything to do during the break, so he decided to try and make conversation with Iruka instead.

"Oi, Iruka-sensei, when are we having the Bunshin Final?" Naruto was nervous about that one. He could never get the Bunshin down right.

"Day after tomorrow, Naruto." Iruka smiled at him reassuringly. "I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Of course I will, sensei!" Naruto beamed at Iruka. "I'm gonna be the best, why would I let a stupid Bunshin get in my way?!"

"Hey, Naruto," said Shikamaru without bothering to lift his head. "Some of us are trying to sleep. Mind keeping it down?" Naruto was about to tell the lazy pineapple-head that he shouldn't be sleeping in class anyway when Sakura spoke up from across the room, not removing her nose from the book she was reading.

"Yeah, Naruto, it's hard to focus with you yelling," she said. Naruto instantly closed his mouth. Well, if it's for Sakura-chan, I can be quiet for a bit. "Besides, you're never gonna be anywhere near the best. You've got no talent." Several of his other classmates laughed in agreement.

"That's cold, Sakura-chan," said Naruto, dropping his head to his desk again. Someday I'll prove them wrong and get everyone to acknowledge my aspirations. "Ah, just you all wait. I'm gonna be Hokage someday, and then we'll see who's laughing," he said under his breath. It was quiet enough that no one else in the classroom could have heard him.

Five minutes passed, and Iruka led them out to the practice yard. "Line up in rows of five. You'll each get three attempts to hit the target with all three kunai. Extra credit if all five of your shuriken also land. This is pretty much how the test is gonna go tomorrow, so try and get your best shots in."

Iruka stood to the side as they all lined up. Naruto wasn't the best shot in his class, but he was far from the worst. He sunk all three of his kunai on the first try, but his shuriken were off target. When he came back for his second try, his kunai landed again, and three of his shuriken also struck the human-shaped wooden post. Two of his kunai had landed in a vital area. The third had only struck the shoulder, however. His shuriken had landed on the target's stomach area.

"Naruto, try again. I think you'll get them all next time," Iruka said. "Sakura, throw harder. Good job Sasuke. All eight in a vital area. I expected as much." Iruka continued down the line, coaching each student as they threw. Naruto was too busy looking at Sasuke's target to notice what Iruka had said. All eight of them, twice in a row. No way. Naruto was not going to lose to Sasuke again.

Naruto waited until he was at the front of the line, then he tried a throw he had seen in one of his textbooks. It was never taught in the Academy, but he'd been practicing it on his own for the better part of the year.

The fact that he'd never gotten it to work was moot. He couldn't fail now.

Naruto held his kunai in his left hand, point facing his palm, and his shuriken in his right. First, he loosed the shuriken, then, immediately after, he spun and followed through with the kunai. In a perfect world, the shuriken would have struck each joint on the target, and the kunai would have followed, one to the neck and two to the heart.

It was not a perfect world. His shuriken struck true, but he tripped over his own feet during his pirouette and fell on his ass. The kunai ended up not even halfway down the range.

And then everyone was laughing at him. Iruka was shaking his head sadly and Sasuke was smirking at him. "What?" he finally said to the dark-haired Uchiha boy. "You think you can do better?"

"As a matter of fact . . ." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's tools from the ground. He walked back to where Naruto was sitting, and then took another five yards for good measure. Where Naruto had failed, Sasuke succeeded with all the grace of a dancer. Each weapon struck its target perfectly. "I've been practicing that move since last week myself. What, did you just see it and try it yesterday?"

"No," said Naruto. Ignoring his classmates' laughter in favor of glaring at Sasuke's smirking face. "I've been trying to learn it all year. I thought I had it down last time." Sasuke hadn't expected that answer, and he wasn't sure how to respond, knowing that Naruto, of all people, was being diligent.

"Well, that's what you get for trying to show off. Stick to what's on your level, Dobe."

Dobe, Dead Last. The name had been following Naruto since the end of his first year. Like an old curse, it just wouldn't go away. No matter what he tried. No one ever wanted to even give him a chance anymore.

Sasuke's expression changed. He had been in that position once, when he was younger; he'd never been able to match up to That Man either. He extended a hand to Naruto. "Come on. You're embarrassing yourself down there."

The laughter had died down as their classmates went back to practicing Bukijutsu. Naruto slapped his hand away and stood up by himself. "Just you watch, Sasuke. Someday I'm going to surpass everyone and become the greatest Shinobi to have ever lived."

Sasuke, for his part, was offended that his "peace offering" had been rejected. "You keep telling yourself that, Dobe." Sasuke turned and walked away. Naruto looked around to see if anyone was still laughing at him, but they had all gone back to practicing.

All except for that weird, shy, sickly girl, who was looking at him intently. He remembered her name was Hinata.

"What?" he said. It must have come out more harshly than he intended, because the girl visibly flinched. Naruto was angry enough that he didn't really care. His face was burning with embarrassment. "I suppose you think my dreams are a waste of time, too? Just like everyone else . . ."

"Um . . . n-no. Actually. I-I don't t-think that at a-all." Before she could continue, Iruka called for lunch.

"Oh," said Naruto, having realized his mistake. "Well, I'm sorry for snapping at you, Hinata-san." He turned around and left the target field. The Third would have been very disappointed if he'd seen that. He was always telling Naruto that getting angry never solved anything.

"Naruto," the old man had said. "Letting your anger get the better of you is the worst possible thing to do. Always remember that, especially for you, anger will only lead to more problems."

He had half an hour to get home and eat. He elected to walk down the main street of Konoha instead of the rat-race from when he left for the Academy.

Naruto's bad mood disappeared as soon as he thought of ramen. "Hmm, beef is best for lunch, but maybe I should have miso instead?" Naruto decided to let chance pick for him and closed his eyes before reaching into his cupboard.

Chicken. Damn it. Naruto heated the ramen while pointedly ignoring the kettle-clock. When his ramen was finished, he ripped off the top and took it outside to his balcony. The Monument was not nearly as impressive in the noon sun as it was in the morning, but Naruto would happily look at it any time of day, imagining his face up there.

"Well, I guess I tried today, but I made an ass out of myself in front of everyone. Sakura-chan still thinks I'm an idiot, and Sasuke's just as smug as always." Naruto hung his head. "I also snapped at a girl. I shouldn't have, poor Hinata looked pretty upset, but I was so angry. Actually, I was more pissed at myself than anyone else." Naruto wondered what he was doing wrong with that technique. Sasuke had learned it in a week. It had taken Naruto almost a year just to get the spin right, and he had even managed to mess that up. He looked back at the stone faces.

"Don't think for a second this means you win! I'm gonna graduate, and then I'm gonna impress the old man so much, he'll make me Hokage on the spot." He made eye contact with the Fourth's face. "Smug bastard. I'll get you someday."

His nightstand clock let him know that it was time to head back to the Academy. He took the stairs this time. The main road was a pleasant walk when villagers weren't frantically trying to get to work in the morning.

The cold looks were the same as always, though.

Back at the Academy, Iruka and his assistant Mizuki, who had been absent this morning, had them form a line. Iruka was holding a pen and a clipboard.

"Okay," he said. "First, Aburame Shino. Please take the form of either me or Sandaime-sama." Shino passed, of course. That kid gave Naruto the impression of quiet competence. Kind of like Sasuke, minus all the smug. "Akimichi Choji . . ."

They went down the line in alphabetical order. The Henge was stupidly easy, even for Naruto.

Well, it was now, but had taken him twice as long as everyone else to learn it. This time, though, there was a good reason.

Usually, when someone used a Henge, they utilized their Yin Chakra, and created an illusion. Naruto, never one to go with the flow, started practicing the Henge with his Yang Chakra, meaning he was physically transforming his body. In fact, he couldn't transform with his Yin Chakra at all. Naruto wasn't one to half-ass things, though; if he needed to transform, he was damn well going to do so.

Iruka hadn't believed him when he'd been told, so Naruto had shown him. Apparently, what he was doing was technically impossible, but when Iruka had brought him to the Third, Sarutobi had told him that it was something unique to Naruto.

Not that Naruto had any idea what that meant.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto hadn't told any of his classmates that his Henge was an actual, physical transformation. The Third had made him promise not to. As much as he'd love to shove the ability in Sasuke's face, the Third had told him it could be dangerous if his classmates tried to do it. "Please transform into either me, or Sandaime-sama."

Naruto elected to transform into Iruka. He'd done the Third last time. "Henge no Jutsu!" In a flash of Chakra and a puff of smoke, Iruka was facing a perfect clone of himself, right down to the individual pass/fail markings on his clipboard.

"Good. A bit too much Chakra, but the Henge itself is perfect. Pass. Mizuki?"

Mizuki looked him over. "It's good, Iruka. He's even got the rip in your kunai holster. Pass." Iruka made a note on his clipboard. Naruto stopped himself from celebrating. It would have been rude to interrupt Ino's test. The last time he had been rude to Ino . . . didn't bear thinking about.

After Ino was finished, Iruka and Mizuki conferred for a few seconds, then they appeared to come to an agreement.

"Congratulations to those of you who passed," said Mizuki. "This concludes the Henge test."

Iruka stepped away from his desk. "Alright, girls, please head on down to Yoko-sensei's room. Boys, Ito-sensei will be here in five minutes."

Is it really Seduction and Appliances in Information Gathering today? Blech. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about another test. Iruka and Mizuki left the classroom, probably to grade the written tests.

Naruto climbed the steps to find a seat in the back of the class, looking for a place to sleep without looking like he was doing so. He and Ito-sensei had an agreement: Ito didn't try to get Naruto to participate in his ridiculously superfluous and inefficient seduction classes, and Naruto didn't prank him into the afterlife or disrupt class.

Instead, Naruto opted to think of what he could to to make up for his failure earlier. It would have to be something spectacular, something that no one would be able to deny was extraordinary. He closed his eyes and placed his head on his desk. Shikamaru, below him, had the same idea, if not the same motivation.

I think I still have some paint . . . I'll need some rope, and it's gotta be timed perfectly.

Iruka was using the time away from his normal class to grade the written tests. It was with apprehension that he placed each one to the side. Iruka would never admit to playing favorites, but after watching over Naruto for three years, he knew he'd be lying if he didn't admit that the boy was special to him.

But he's so bad at written tests . . . even if he fails it, though, as long as he doesn't get a zero, he should pass today with how well he did on the Henge. Naruto and his solid transformations never ceased to amaze Iruka. It was no doubt a result of the hateful creature that the boy contained, but the uses of such a thing could be limitless.

The only drawback he had found was that whatever Naruto turned into, it could still be damaged. He remembered having the boy turn into a metal post and punching it. He had injured his hand, but Naruto said he felt the punch nonetheless.

It was a weird technique.

Iruka realized he had reached the essay part of Haruno Sakura's test. The girl was a delight to read, as long as he ignored the doodles of "Sasuke-kun and Sakura, Together Forever" on the side of her paper. 98%, of course. He kept on moving through the tests. It was almost mechanical as he graded the papers much faster than his partner, to whom he had given the first third of the stack.

He continued down, finally reaching Uchiha Sasuke's test. 97% Probably in the top three, then. He looked at the next test with dread.

Uzumaki Naruto. As he turned the first page, he was surprised by all of the correct answers. Certainly, he missed just as many, but the fact that his answer to Question 2 was the best Iruka had received this year was a matter of personal pride for the teacher. Never mind that he was quoting the Third almost verbatim. Iruka was happy for him anyway.

His essay, making up a total of 15% of his grade, was what Iruka was the most worried about. The questions were randomized, to mitigate cheating attempts, and he had written four different essay prompts and scattered them randomly throughout the tests. One was historical, the other three had to do with the basics of Shinobi techniques.

Naruto had gotten the history question, and aside from his terrible handwriting, he had answered it pretty much as well as Iruka had dared to hope any of his students could. 74%, yes! He passed, and Iruka breathed a sigh of relief.

Mizuki looked up from his own test, Hyuuga Hinata's, who had an almost perfect score, and watched Iruka for a second. "What?" he finally said, when he could no longer stand the look of pride on Iruka's face.

"Naruto passed. Not by the skin of his teeth, either. He got a C." Iruka knew Mizuki didn't really like the boy. Iruka had lost his parents to the fox, but Mizuki had lost his entire extended family and all of his classmates. Still, Mizuki smiled at him.

"Well, that's great Iruka. I know how much him succeeding means to you."

Iruka smiled at his best friend. "Thanks, Mizuki."

"Hey, you taught him. I'd have to be a real asshole to want him to fail just because of, er . . . that." Mizuki choked. The air in the room became stiff, as Iruka was technically obligated to execute his partner for bringing up that event out loud.

Iruka powered through his last few tests.

Nara Shikamaru got a 79%, apparently by design, as each answer was perfect, and the only questions he didn't get correct were all left blank, including his essay. That boy . . .

Shino got a 95%, as any opinion questions that couldn't be answered objectively were left blank.

And Yamanaka Ino got 100%, once again proving herself academically to be the best of the year. She'll go far, assuming she gets over Sasuke. She, like Sakura, and several other students, had doodled in the margins. If she hadn't gotten a perfect score on his test and still had time left to doodle, he'd have called it disgraceful.

"Well, I'm done," he said, breaking the awkward silence.

"Uh, yeah. Me too." Mizuki looked like he was still mortified that he'd almost broken that law. "Want to, uh . . . want to go get some tea?"

"Sure, Mizuki. Let's go." Iruka looked around, as if making sure they were alone. "Relax, I'm not going to lop your head off for a slip of the tongue."

Mizuki chuckled nervously. "Yeah."