Graduation Exam

[[[ Year 78 ]]]

[[[ Graduation Day ]]]

*Yawn*

Naruto opened his eyes, looking around lazily. His room was the same as always, with some used Ramen cups sitting alone on the dinner table. Sunlight made his hair shine in a golden glow.

He got up from bed and walked toward the bathroom. His eyes were only barely opened just to see his way. This happened due to Kitsune's merciless training the day before. Initially, he didn't care much about the added exercise, but as time went on, it only increased.

He realized too late that it was Kitsune's way of expressing her jealousy over his relationship with Tenten and Hinata. He usually finds it hard to get out of bed the next day whenever he flirts with either Hinata or Tenten.

Moreover, he was in a dilemma, wondering how he could make his future woman get along with each other. He had no idea how to pacify them. Would they even agree?

'I'll cook up something when the time comes.' He pondered as he conveniently forgot about the issue, not wanting to dwell on it.

Naruto took a bath and looked at the calendar out of habit. Then only he remembered today was graduation day.

'Sh*t, how could I forget such an important thing?'

He hurriedly opened his closet and chose the first clothes came into his hands. They were a blue shirt, an orange jacket, and orange pants. They were pretty stylish, unlike the ones his past self wore. Naruto felt his heartache, thinking he had worn such a monstrosity.

Seeing the hot water he had put in the cooker boil up, Naruto took his favorite instant noodles and poured the hot water into them. Finally finishing his meal, he opened the door after checking himself out in the mirror.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun."

When he stepped into the road, he saw Hinata waiting for him. She was fiddling with her fingers and looking slightly downward away from Naruto's eyes.

"Good morning, Hina."

"Sorry, I got a bit late," Naruto said with an apologetic look on his face.

Hinata had a flustered look on her face. "No, you don't have to apologize. We still have time."

Along the way, their fingers grazed each other the whole time as they walked towards the academy graduation site. They just enjoyed it without exchanging many words with each other.

{Imagine something like this: Aaaaaaaar, my virgin heart !!!!!}

As Naruto was enjoying the moment, he could clearly feel the rough traces at the edges of her fingers and the outline of her palm.

'She must have been working hard all these months.'

Naruto thought as he flashed a gentle smile towards Hinata, who turned her head away bashfully, not wanting to meet his eyes. Her heart was fluttering. She wanted to hug Naruto and feel his warmth.

Despite that, Hinata knew she had to be strong enough on her own to do that in public since her Hyuga clan members intensely disliked diluting their bloodline. After all, even though she had trained all these years, there was much to improve.

Besides, she only got permission from his father to officially associate with Naruto two months ago after finally mastering many Hyuga clan techniques. At first, she never thought her father would agree and was even ready for punishment. However, the punishment she hoped for never came.

[[[ Short Flashback ]]]

"F-father, I like Naruto. I….." Words didn't properly come out of her mouth after her first sentence. Her voice was erratic.

"Just don't overdo it."

That's what her father told her. Overcome by emotion, she hugged her father, Hiashi, for the first time in years. She panicked, realizing what she had done, and tried to break away from the hug. But tears welled up in her eyes as she felt her father hugging her back.

"No fair, let me join you too."

At that time, Hanabi, who came out of nowhere, also joined in on the hug. It was their first time together as a family after her mother's death. It was a precious memory for Hinata.

[[[ Flashback End ]]]

Finally, Naruto and Hinata reached the academy.

"Seems like the two lovebirds are finally here, huh?" Kiba yelled for everyone to hear as Akamaru ran around Hinata and Naruto.

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing Kiba's remarks. Hinata's face was beet red. Even Sasuke had a faint laugh. It was nothing more than that, though.

"Kiba, you wanna get beaten like that day," Naruto said as he walked towards Kiba, shortening his jacket to his elbows. Seeing Naruto approaching him, Kiba hid behind Shikamaru and Choji taking cover.

"Let me go, Kiba." Shikamaru tried to move away but was not successful. All the while, Choji just chomped on his chips. "What a drag!"

This elicited another wave of laughter. By now, everyone knew Naruto's capabilities. So most of them didn't detest him as before. Although they didn't openly talk with him, they didn't badmouth him either. It was simply a neutral stance.

During his time in the academy, Naruto displayed his abilities on par with Sasuke. It should be noted, Sasuke was more powerful in this timeline than in the past. So all the higher-ups were shocked by their abilities.

Of course, he did not display his full power or dojutsu to stay low-key until Orichimaru's assault. Naruto didn't want to unnecessarily mess up future events by making drastic changes.

[[[ Scene pause ]]]

Hiruzen was happy for Naruto, but he had a headache figuring out how to protect him from Danzo. He knew he was not compassionate, but he didn't ever cross a certain line.

{To be honest, he could be described as a senile geezer. He didn't want to get his hand dirty, so he let others do it. Even so, he still gave his life to the village. Also, Hiruzen wanted Naruto to live a good life as his blond hair always reminded him of Minato. However, he did nothing but enforce a law to stop others from talking about the nine-tailed fox. He was good to Naruto, but at the same time didn't care much sometimes. He was a very confusing character.}

On the other hand, Danzo was thinking of ways to use Naruto as well as Sasuke. He wanted to eliminate Sasuke, but he couldn't because of the threats he got from Itachi. Danzo knew without a doubt if something were to happen to Sasuke, he would be in for a lot of trouble. So, for now, he planned to take control of the nine-tails. In other words, Naruto. He knew Hiruzen wouldn't let him go to the extreme. His only option was to wait until a chance came to remove Hiruzen once and for all.

"I wonder how your face will look like at the chunin exams." Danzo laughed maniacally somewhere deep in an underground building.

{Danzo's image here!!}

[[[ Scene resume ]]]

*Ding* *Ding* *Ding*

Every participant walked towards the testing grounds as they heard the school bell ringing. Then the teacher called for students one by one. It was Hinata's turn now.

"Do your best, Hina," Naruo said while showing her a thumbs up.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun."

Seeing their lovey-dovey actions, Sakura looked at Sasuke, fangirling him. Susuke responded to it by acting like she didn't exist. Sakura was not alone in this. Ino also stared at him like she was smitten with him. However, after Ino and Sakura noticed each other, they looked away from each other, making a "tsk" sound.

Likewise, everyone participated in the exam. Finally, it was Naruto's turn.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Sensei Iruka announced from the examination room.

"Do your best," Hinata said as she tugged at his jacket.

Naruto nodded as he walked in front of them.

"Bunshin no Jutsu"

Twenty clones of Naruto appeared around the room. The students who were watching couldn't believe their eyes. Even Iruka and Mizuki were surprised. But Mizuki's eyes showed a subtle hatred, which Naruto clearly felt.

"Pass"

Iruka declared widely, smiling at Naruto, while Mizuki also gave a smile so perfect that no one could tell it was fake.

From his memories, Naruto knew Mizuki was an agent of Orochimaru and he intended to give Orichimaru the scroll of seals.

{scroll of seals image here!!!}

{Mizuki's image here!!}

Naruto was sure Mizuki would try to coax him into stealing the scroll, revealing about his parents now that he can't fool him as simply as in the past timeline. Naruto was willing to play his game so he could smoothly take a look at Shadow Clone Jutsu and Flying Raijin Jutsu.

With Mizuki making his work unproblematic, why would he say no to such a chance?

After the exam, everyone was instructed to return tomorrow to take their pictures and assign their groups. Naruto said goodbye to everyone as he walked with Hinata to the gate.

"Hina, I'll be going now. See you tomorrow?"

"Also, I have some training to do over the next few days. So don't wait for me, okay? I'll make it up to you. I promise"

Without letting Hinata respond, Naruto kissed her cheeks, making her red like a ripe tomato, and walked towards the direction of Ichiraku Ramen Shop.

The main reason he told her to not wait for him was because Naruto knew that Mizuki would surely contact him during these days. He could feel the negative emotions pouring out of Mizuki. Naruto had no doubt about it.

The fact he couldn't kill Mizuki outright distrssed Naruto since he would be questioned and may be compromised by others if he did so. He could only reluctantly accept it and prepare for that day.

More than anything, he wanted to continue his father's legacy, which he had never received in his past life. That is not to say he didn't like the shadow clone jutsu, as he clearly knew its versatility. Especially for someone having an enormous amount of chakra.

Naruto had a smile on his face, imagining what his enemies would face. However, he didn't get conceited for a second, as Naruto inarguably knew he still needed more power for what he would face in the future.