4 Graduation

6 years later

It's been six years since Naruto attended the academy with his friend Ori. They made some friends and rivals along the way. Now it mostly rivals like Kiba Inuzuka and Sasuke Uchiha and somehow is friends at the same time. But they mostly cared about their skills and try to best each other. Naruto wins or loses against Sasuke or Kiba, even with Ori's help.

But they respect each other, albeit they trash talk each other. Then there's Hinata Hyuga. She was the same from six years ago, shy. And began to blush around Naruto, which he has no idea what's causing it. And Ori would sigh and shake his head as he already knew the cause of Hinata's blushing.

That's how it was with Naruto and his friends/rivals throughout his time in the academy. Most of which is spent falling asleep during lectures. But don't worry he has his trusty pal Ori, oh wait he was asleep as well in his shirt or out at his desk.

During their time at the academy, Ori finally gained the courage to walk with people. But Ori still prefers to be in Naruto's shirt, in the warm, comfy area, and try not to worry in life, as most people do. But other than the courage that Ori learned, he also learned how to speak.

Ori would understand the language the people used, but when he would try to speak it would come out as an animal call. A call which Naruto heard before in the rain forest and also find it very cute. Even Hinata would agree as she would secretly try to pet Ori but to no avail... or not. Ok, sometimes Ori would let Hinata pet from time to time but return to Naruto.

And over the years Naruto and Ori would go on different adventures. The winter was the hardest time but with each other, they kept warm in the bed. And then prank each other by dropping snow on each other's faces. And the summer was the best of times for Naruto and Ori as they would be outside and play pretend. Pretending to be on an adventure to save a tree who gives life to all trees of the hidden leaf village and do parkour on obstacles. And after each day Naruto would rant about the adventures of saving the forest to the Hokage eliciting a smile from the old man. Then during the afternoon, they would try to go fishing. Naruto would cast a rod and Ori as well, which he learned very quickly, but sometimes Ori would swim down and catch a fish by hand. And that was most of their adventures throughout the years from now.

Now, here they are in Naruto's apartment sleeping off their last day at the academy or one of them is. Standing on top of the bed was Ori and was tapping his foot and looking at the clock.

Taking a breath, Ori began to push Naruto awake saying "Come on Naruto, we're going to be late". Ori fell flat on his face after losing his breath and strength to move Naruto. 'If he doesn't wake up we'll be late' Ori panicked. Soon an idea came to Ori's head and began to find some heavy stuff Ori could carry.

Getting some heavy books that Naruto 'kept' from the academy, Ori climbed up a nightstand next to Naruto's bed and began to hop around a bit. 'One, two, three!' Ori shouted to himself as he jumped as high as he can and was above Naruto. "Wake up sleepyhead," Ori said before landing on Naruto. Instantaneous, Naruto rose his head and nearly puked but held it in and laid down again and began to see who woke him up from his peaceful sleep. His eyes landed on Ori, who was tapping his from previously.

"Ori, your gonna get it!" Naruto shouted while getting up but Ori raised his hand in front of Naruto's face. Naruto stopped for a moment, waiting for something to happen. Ori's hands then pointed to the clock. Looking to where Ori was pointing and realized what Ori meant and quickly got out of bed.

"Oh crap, sorry Ori let's hurry," Naruto said while putting on his clothes. After doing so he entered the kitchen and grabbed a ramen cup but Ori jumped up and slapped it away and urged towards the door. Having no choice, Naruto exited his apartment, locked it, and booked to the Academy with Ori who ran beside him halfway. The rest of the way, Ori jumped on top of Naruto's head and enjoyed the wind on his face.

"Glad to see that you're enjoying yourself" Naruto called out while running.

Ori could only shrug and then slap the back of Naruto's head urging him to go faster. Naruto went faster in response and soon they arrived at the academy. Entering the academy, they dodged and weaved through corners and children until finally facing the door to the classroom.

Sighing Naruto said "Wow, we made it" and then opened the door. Entering, Naruto became the sole source of attention as the students looked at him. Thankfully it was only momentarily as they returned to their conversations or whatever activity they were doing.

Heading to his seat, Naruto looked to his left and he could see his main rival, Sasuke. And Sasuke was looking helpingly at him back as he was cornered by Sakura and Ino. And they were fangirling once again towards Sasuke and annoying to those near them.

"Get out of her Ino, I was here first. I should sit with him" Sakura stated.

"You wish, the only thing you'll do is block Sasuke-kun's line of sight from your big forehead. I will sit next to him" Ino retorted getting near Sakura's face. Naruto decided to ignore it and went to his seat which was next to Hinata.

When Naruto was a few years younger, he developed a crush on Sakura. But she would ignore him or straight out punch him. Strangely, Naruto took it as a challenge since Sakura is crushing on Sasuke, maybe he could get Sakura before Sasuke. Thankfully enough, Hinata and Ori both encouraged him to not be with Sakura. Funny enough when Hinata did this Kiba, somewhere in the room, called out that Hinata was 'calling her man back' which Hinata fall unconscious, thus creating her habit of falling unconscious near Naruto.

And since that Naruto wasn't allowed to hang around with Sakura. Naruto was left with Ori, Kiba, and Hinata and oddly enough, whenever he was around Hinata or Hinata cared for him it made him warm inside. This warmth whenever Hinata did anything for him was new to him, but maybe he could figure it out someday.

And now that warm feeling he's been experiencing has come back as he sat next to Hinata.

"Good morning Hinata," Naruto greeted.

"Ah. Oh, good morning N-Naruto" Hinata greeted back until looking forward again.

Naruto then secretly began looking at her, he began to notice her more closely. But he shook his head and began to wait for Iruka-sensei to enter the class and get this class started. A few minutes later, Iruka finally arrived along with Mizuki-sensei.

'Oh, great' Naruto thought as he saw Mizuki enter. Ori lightly growled at the man as he too didn't like Mizuki-sensei. They both never liked Mizuki that much but he's a nice person so they never hated him from time to time.

"Alright, welcome to class and hopefully your last after you take this test that you should know that will be taken here today," Iruka-sensei stated.

Everyone silently nodded their heads in response to Iruka's statement. Iruka-sensei proceeded to talk about the genin exams and what will be on them. But Naruto paid no attention as Ori then sat in his lap, grabbing his hands and put them on top of his head. Naruto scratched Ori's head and gave a low chuckle as he heard Ori release a small purr. Naruto went back to Iruka and began to concentrate to understand the genin exam.

Having no clue about what's in the exam, Naruto was soon standing in line with the rest of the classmates and waited to be called to the exam room. One by one, people left and right-left to the exam room and came back all excited or all down. Naruto could only watch and grit his teeth as Sasuke came back from his exam and he was smirking directly at him. 'I'll show you Sasuke' Naruto thought and then he soon turned his attention to Hinata because her name was called to take the exam.

Naruto began to worry about Hinata and started to sweat a little. But his worry ended as Hinata came back and she seemed more happy than usual. 'I guess she passed' Naruto thought and then looked at Ori who then they both smiled at each other for Hinata's success.

"Naruto, you're up" Iruka called out.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto then walked out. Before he left, he could hear Hinata saying "Good luck". That seemed to help him somewhat and bring a grin to his face. Naruto then came face to face with the door of his exam room. Clenching his mouth, Naruto walked in and all hope was lost as he saw Mizuki and the room. And behind Mizuki was the old man Hokage.

"Oh no," Naruto fretted.

"Don't be like that Naruto, just do your best" Mizuki said with a smile. Gulping, Naruto reluctantly nodded and began to wait for Mizuki's or the Hokages instructions on the exams.

"Okay Naruto, first up is your accuracy test. Hit the targets with your Kunai and Shuriken" Mizuki ordered.

Looking back, Naruto was looking at the Hokage to see what he thought. The Hokage nodded to Naruto and puffed out a cloud of smoke from his pipe. Digging into his pack, down to his right thigh, Naruto pulled out some Kunai and Shuriken and gave some of both to Ori and they both got into their throwing stances.

In a span of a second, Naruto began to throw their weapons which seemed faster than a blink of an eye. Though the speed was impressive, the accuracy was not. They never hit the middle of the target but have hit the area around the bullseye and maybe one or two missed. Once Naruto and Ori finished throwing their weapons, they both look back at Mizuki and the Hokage to hear what they have to say.

"Close" was all Mizuki said and then looked down to his board and scratched something off.

Naruto hung his head a little and Ori's ears dropped but did they give up already.

"Next up is the Transformation Jutsu" Mizuki recited.

Nodding, Naruto looked at Ori and Ori did the same. With a smile on Naruto's face, Ori immediately began to shake his head.

Naruto smiled wider and shouted "Oiroke no Jutsu" before clouds rose from Naruto's area. Gasping, Ori could only stand in shock with his legs shaking a little. A gust of wind blew the cloud away and there stood a tall, naked blond woman instead of Naruto. The only remains of the cloud earlier were around her breast, butt, and downstairs. But the cloud around the breast area was slowly diminishing nearly showing her body parts.

While that was happening, Mizuki-sensei had a blush along with a mini-bloody nose on his face. But the Hokage was currently on the floor with a bloody nose and his face was dreamy. Ori stood there in shock before clenching his fist. 'Your dead Naruto' Ori thought as he jumped up and punch Naruto on the head, dispelling the Transformation Jutsu.

"Ow, Ori why'd you do that" Naruto barked.

"Because you're an idiot" Ori responded, only no one could understand what he said.

"Ahem, Naruto I said a transformation, not that. Do it right. Now the transformation of the Hokage" Mizuki ordered, tapping his foot.

Beginning to sweat now, Naruto did the signs for the Transformation Jutsu and replicated the Hokage. Stepping forward, Mizuki-sensei began to check all around the fake Hokage until looking at his face. The only difference between the fake Hokage and the real Hokage was that the Hokage didn't have a triangular nose.

"Close but not enough, the Hokage's nose isn't a triangle" Mizuki commented, again scratching something off on his board.

Wide-eyed, Naruto looked at Ori. Looking at each other all they could think was about passing the next part to finally become a genin.

"Alright, the next and final activity for the exam is that you have to do a Clone Jutsu," Mizuki said.

'What!' both Naruto and Ori thought as they began to truly lose hope in passing the test.

They tried but neither Naruto nor Ori could even make a clone. Growing frustrated Naruto tried to put all of his chakra in his last attempt. But the clone disappeared the moment it appeared. After that, Naruto fell to the ground right next to Ori who both were tired.

Scratching his board one last time, Mizuki looked up and said "I'm sorry but you've failed the final. Good luck next time"

No words were exchanged as Naruto busted out of the room. Looking on in worry, Ori began to chase after Naruto hoping that he was alright. When Naruto passed through his classroom, not giving an eye to it, Ori could see Hinata peek her head and was looking at Naruto. Turning around, Hinata spotted Ori, her eyes full of concern. Ori could only shake his head and continue chasing Naruto.

After a few twists and turns, Ori found himself outside of the front entrance. Carefully listening with his sensitive ears, Ori could hear sniffling coming from a familiar place. Looking to his left, there he could see Naruto on a swing, where he always goes, crying silent sobs. When Ori was sad, it would affect Ori as it was happening right now. Feeling a few tears trickle down his eyes, Ori carefully approached Naruto, like Naruto did when they first met.

Flinching, Naruto looked up and spotted Ori but paid no mind to him as he went back and hung his head low and let out small sobs. Ori then climbed up on Naruto's leg and stood up on his lap. Looking up again, Naruto waited to see what Ori would do now that he's in front of him now. The answer came as Ori stood up higher and gave a hug around Naruto's neck. Eyes widening from surprise Naruto began to choke up and cry some more and returned the hug.

When they let go of each other, Naruto felt better, although his eyes are red from crying, no one would care or ask. Looking ahead, both Naruto and Ori could see the academy students run out and greet their parents with the news of pass or failing the genin exam. Naruto decided to ignore them and concentrate on him and Ori.

Here they sat, at the swings, and enjoyed each other's company. That was until a shadow loomed over them. Looking up, Naruto and Ori growled as it was Mizuki who was standing over them.

Kneeling Mizuki said, "Look, I know you're upset."

"Upset, that's an understatement" Ori spoke out sarcastically.

Ignoring Ori, Mizuki continued "But there is a way for you to become a genin. Think of it as a secret test"

This caught Naruto's attention as he began to look at Mizuki with confused eyes.

"Yes, you can pass, it's just that you have something to do for me to pass" Mizuki stated before kneeling forward and began to whisper to Naruto.

Nighttime

Nighttime is the right time for anything unprecedented to happen. And something did happen. For Naruto to pass the secret test, he was tasked to steal the 'Sacred Scroll of Sealing'. And since then Naruto has been hiding in the forest along with Ori, studying the scroll. While in the village every chunin and jonin was searching for Naruto and the scroll.

But Naruto paid no mind as he began to concentrate his chakra while using the correct hand signs for this particular jutsu he found interest in. Even Ori tried but failed. So they both spent their time practicing this jutsu.

That was until a voice spoke out "There you are Naruto. The whole village has been looking for you"

Looking up, Naruto could see that it was Iruka-sensei who had spoke. Iruka, who was standing on a tree branch, then jumped down with a disappointed look on his face.

"Naruto, do you know what you're doing?" Iruka asked.

"I do. I'm doing Mizuki-sensei's secret test to become a genin" Naruto answered back before going back to the scroll and practicing his jutsu.

'Test, what test is Naruto talking about' Iruka thought until he felt a presence behind him.

"There you are Naruto I was looking for you. Now, let's get out of here"

It was Mizuki-sensei, and instinctively Naruto was about to get up along with Ori but Iruka put his hand in front of them.

"Now I understand what's happening now. Mizuki you're using him for yourself" Iruka accused.

"Damn, so close but yes I am using him" Mizuki confirmed before taking out his kunai.

Iruka did the same and jumped to where Mizuki was. With the clashing and sparks of kunai in the nearby distance, Naruto began to breathe heavily as the reality of stealing something important to the village dawned on him. Ori was by his side and could only pat his shoulder, and look on to the battle.

He fell out of his daze as Naruto spoke quietly "Why? Why is it always me? What have I done to deserve this? Is it me or what?". Hearing his questions, Mizuki smirked and kicked Iruka in the stomach and launching him to a distance.

"That I can answer," Mizuki said.

As Mizuki was about to continue, Iruka called out "No don't! It's sacred not to"

Paying no heed to Iruka, Mizuki continued "The true reason that no acknowledge you, cares for you and hate you is because. You Naruto carry the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. You, Naruto, are a monster to the village. You caused the near destruction to the village 12 years ago"

"N-No that can't be t-true" Naruto stuttered, backing up until his back hit a tree.

"Oh, but it is and I'll be doing a favor to this village. By killing you and your stupid pet of yours" Mizuki shouted.

Looking at the distraught Naruto and back to Mizuki, Ori could feel anger and rage welling up inside him. And the bomb exploded as Ori gave out a cry and began to do hand signs. After crossing two fingers and made a cross with them, Ori pushed out all the chakra he could muster and a cloud of smoke erupted.

Two figures came out of the smoke and revealed to be two Ori's. One began to rush to Mizuki while the other looked back to Naruto and thought 'I'm sorry for you, but I'll be with you no matter what' before looking ahead and charged.

Mizuki was surprised at first but smirked as he blocked both of the beings' punches. He swung at one of them and missed. While concentrating on one of the clones, the other quickly climbed around his leg and bit behind the hamstring, causing Mizuki to kneel. They both began to punch and bite all over Mizuki causing him to scream and then punch one clone.

The clone that was punched, disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Then Mizuki punched the last being, who looked at the clone, in the chest and launching him back to the tree. Ori then landed on Naruto's lap unconscious. Naruto could only look at Ori and only pet his head.

"This is your end Naruto," Mizuki said and summoned an enlarged shuriken and hurled it to Naruto.

Naruto just sat there and continued to pet Ori and closed his eyes as he sensed the shuriken being five feet from him. Naruto then felt some hot liquid fell on his face and clothes. Opening his eyes, he thought about how much suffering will he take, as in front of him was Iruka-sensei and the shuriken was lodged in his back.

"Iruka-sensei, but why?" Naruto asked.

"Because I'm not the only one who sees you as a monster. I see you as my student and a brother" Iruka said before closing his eyes a little.

"No, no, not again!" Naruto shouted before he appeared to burst with red chakra around him.

'What's this' Mizuki thought.

Looking Mizuki in the eyes, Naruto began to move his hands in a familiar matter with what Ori did. After crossing his two fingers Naruto shouted "Shadow Clone Jutsu" before a cloud of smoke emerged around the area.

Mizuki began to grin as he thought that he would face two or maybe three clones like the previous fighter. But Mizuki could feel his jaw open as he was surrounded by a hundred maybe even a thousand clones of Naruto.

"No wait please" was all Mizuki could say as he was pummeled by the horde of Naruto clones. A few moments and beatings later, all of the Naruto clones dispelled and only one Naruto remained. Looking back he, ran back to Mizuki and Ori full of worry. After checking on Ori, Naruto began to fret all over Iruka-sensei's body but the body blew up into smoke.

"What the" Naruto exclaimed before something clapped his shoulder. Jumping up Naruto began to swing his fist randomly until his punches were stopped as Iruka-sensei stood there with a grin on his face.

"Iruka-sensei what the heck, I thought you were dead" Naruto shouted.

"Not really, that was a clone. I was injured so yeah" Iruka said.

Naruto could sigh in relief and go to where Ori was and gently picked him up. Cradling Ori, Naruto walked back to Iruka and nodded to him, and began to leave the area.

"Wait Naruto, I have something for you," Iruka said.

Turning around, Naruto was surprised to see that Iruka-sensei took off his headband and quickly put it on Naruto.

"Congrats kid, you're officially a genin" Iruka cheered.

"What but I didn't pass the test" Naruto reasoned.

"It's ok, I could talk to the Hokage about that. And for him." Iruka said as he walked to the unconscious body of Mizuki. Bending down, Iruka reached down to something and yanked.

Returning Iruka said "He's ruined the image of being a shinobi. I hope you and Ori could clean that name" before giving it to Naruto.

Naruto looked at the second headband and down to Ori and could frown at the state of Ori's condition. But Ori's eyes began to flutter open until they brightened up, seeing Naruto.

"Hey, there little guy, good to see your ok" Naruto said as Ori began to lean upwards.

"Here, it's a present from Iruka-sensei," Naruto said as he revealed the headband in front of Ori. Ori's eyes widened in surprise and finally noticed the headband Naruto was wearing, then an idea came to him. Grabbing the headband from Naruto, Ori tried but failed to tie the headband to his head and now it was just tangled upon his ears.

Naruto giggled and fixed the tangled ears until Ori's headband now looked like Naruto's. They both looked at each other and smiled, for they now became genin of the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Come on Ori, let's celebrate!" Naruto shouted, gently throwing Ori in the air and catching him, and then ran off out of the woods, to celebrate.