Chapter 8: Academy Entrance Exam

"Wake up, Kaminari!"

Kaminari was awoken from his sleep by the sound of a playful, honey-sweet voice that seemed to caress his ears. As he slowly opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of his aunt, a woman who radiated beauty and confidence.

He wished her a good morning in a sarcastic voice. She immediately got flustered because she hadn't even wished him a good morning before suddenly waking him up! She quickly wished him a good morning before letting him get ready to head out. When they got outside the house, they saw some young Hyuga's making their way to the academy too.

They arrived at the academy entrance around 7:50 am. There were at least a thousand children with their parents, and the majority of them looked like civilians. Kaminari was surprised before Hayami explained to him why there were a lot of people here. The third great ninja war and the nine-tails attack took a toll on the village, so the Hokage wanted a lot of people to become shinobi, or so she thought. Before she could explain some more, a shinobi with a chuunin vest explained that the entrance exam would begin shortly.

Inside the academy conference room, a Jounin and a few Chuunin instructors were seated. They began discussing the entrance exam before the jounin named Jin Sakai took a report out of a drawer next to him. 'This is going to be a long day,' he sighed before opening the report. '1689 children are participating in the entrance exam this year' he turned his head, looking at a Chuunin who nodded before signaling the start of the entrance exam.

Okamoto Yoshiyuki was the instructor for the first phase of the exam. He coughed a few times before announcing it with a booming voice.

"All of you pay close attention. I'm not repeating any of this. The first phase of the exam will begin shortly. You will have to run 7 laps on the path that is marked by arrows on the training ground. Each lap is around 350 meters long. You will be monitored during this. You will run behind me and follow me. You have 5 minutes till we begin," he flickered towards the training ground. He quickly ate a ration bar before resting his back on a tree.

Kaminari and Hayami quickly chatted some more before she hugged him. "Good luck, Kaminari." He got a little embarrassed before hugging her back. "Thank you, Hayami. See you soon." With a smile, he turned around and made his way to the training ground, oblivious to him. Hayami had tears in her eyes because she was proud of him.

While walking towards the training ground, 2 Hyugas made their way towards him. "Good morning, Kaminari," a young Hyuga girl with long, beautiful black hair smiled at him fondly. Her name was Noya. "Yo Nari." Another Hyuga said to him, he was a little short with medium-long hair with a blueish tint to it. His name was Adachi. He had met them when he was walking with Hayami to get some wooden shurikens for practice. Since then, they got close.

"Hello Noya Good morning to you too," he smiled at her while putting his hands in his pockets in a relaxed manner. He immediately got ticked off when he heard Adachi's voice: "You bastard, you almost killed me yesterday." Adachi grinned from ear to ear before replying, "Maybe you should have paid attention, slowpoke." If looks could murder Adachi, he would have suffered a thousand deaths!

Flashback to the day before when they were doing some light physical training on a training ground. Adachi told them that he was going to take a leak, but without them knowing, he climbed a tree and hid there. After a few minutes of training, Kaminari and Noya made their way to that same tree to get some shade from the harsh sun. Not even giving him a moment of rest, Adachi came crashing down, falling on Kaminari, and giving him a headache for the rest of the day.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you haven't mastered the tree climbing exercise yet, you bafoon?" A visible tick mark was shown on Kaminaris's face. "Will you teach me then, Mister Genius?" Adachi sarcastically begged him while giving him puppy eyes. "Whatever the exam is about to begin, pay close attention," his anger subsided after that, his attention fully on the task at hand.

Kaminari thought about the words of the instructor '7 laps of 350 meters this should be easy even for Noya and Adachi there are probably more laps' clearing his thoughts before arriving at the training ground they began running once everyone arrived.

Everyone completed 4 laps with ease; however, on the 6th lap, some dropped out. Everyone in Kaminari's group except himself, Noya, and Adachi, were tired. "Everyone who failed the exam, please return to your guardians at the gate."

He cleared his throat before continuing, "You have 2 options. Either you run 5 extra laps or if you can't continue, please go to the training ground. A shinobi will be waiting for you there."

A lot of people decided to call it a day and go back to the training ground. A few hundred decided to stay back and continue. Two boys and two girls in Kaminari's group decided to continue. Noya and Adachi also decided to continue. Jin Sakai noted that '367 participants didn't attempt to do five laps, while 233 decided to attempt another five laps, and 1089 couldn't even do the seven basic laps' he sighed heavily.

In the group of 233 participants, 217 managed to complete the 5 laps. The ones who failed were sent to the training ground once again. The same 2 choices were given; this time, 30 people wanted to participate, and the ones who didn't want to participate were gathered in another group.

After Kaminari finished his lap the instructor told everyone to gather in a spot for the next exam they were given some food and water after they all ate the second stage of the exam was about to begin The proctor grumbled before clearing his throat "In each group everyone who unlocked their chakra please step up"

16 people from the Kaminaris group stepped forward, including him and his two friends; there were 3 others from civilian backgrounds, while the rest were from clans. A proctor with the byakugan came towards each group and checked their chakra levels and quality before passing them.

"Alright, everyone who passed can go home now. In 2 days, we will meet at the academy for your first day."

The other ones who hadn't unlocked their chakra were asked to stay so they could activate it for them. Kaminari found it a little surprising but didn't think anything of it besides the nine-tails and third great ninja war, which surely depleted Konoha's shinobi level drastically, so getting some Genin Chuunins and potentially Jounins was very helpful.

He made his way back to the compound with Noya and Adachi, with the latter annoying him to no bounds!