Graduation

Taking a deep breath, Kiryu stood fixated on the wooden dummies that were a distance away from him. He had a Shuriken in each hand, meaning to hit both the targets in front of him. Swinging his arms simultaneously, the shuriken catapulted away from his hands as they whirled through the air creating a hissing noise before being deeply rooted dead center in the chest of the wooden area, covering the paint used to create a target. Kiryu smiled in success at seeing the labour of 2 weeks of training. Everyday for the last two weeks, he had woken up early to do body strengthening training and had done practiced his Taijutsu, Bukijutsu and the 3 E-rank jutsu that he needed to know after the normal academy day ended. He was sure if he had sparred Choji now, although the outcome would still most likely be a loss, he would definitely put up a much better fight.

Putting away the borrowed equipment, Kiryu started making his way home. Today was the day before the exam and now Kiryu was certain he'd pass with flying colours. His heart beat with excitement, even if he knew that passing the exam basically meant that more often than not he would have to risk his life in the battlefield.

Feeling the sudden burst of energy and excitement flow through him, Kiryu decided to run the long way home, just to exhaust himself a bit. He didn't make it very far before he felt a sudden chill down his spine, followed by a hearty shout.

"Hahahaha, look Lee, the power of youth is everywhere!"

"Indeed Gai sense!", followed another voice.

Turning to his right he saw that there was a tall man, dressed in a green spandex suit followed by what seemed to be a mini version of him. Kiryu recognised both of these eccentric people from the memories he gained, however even that wouldn't have been enough to prepare him for seeing them the first time.

The adult, Gai, turned to Kiryu and smiled, showing a set of pearly whites. And just as sudden as their entrance was, they disappeared in a similar manner. "Stay youthful! Hahahaha!", was what Kiryu had heard as they ran further away from him.

'What', Kiryu stared onwards blankly.

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Finishing his daily morning training, Kiryu headed towards the academy, not being able to stop the smile that was plastered on his face. Finally. It seemed like he had been at the academy to an eternity to him and he was more than excited to finally becoming a ninja.

At the academy he could see that the students were definitely more anxious than usual, especially those from civilian families as they wondered if they would pass, some even prayed for luck. Then of course there were the ones who didn't seem the least bit affected, like Sasuke and Shino, who as usual just sat by themselves quietly. Also Shikamaru who unsurprisingly was found taking a nap.

Kiryu took his usual seat, and simply sat there waiting for Iruka to enter the class and start the exam. He was however surprised to hear one of his classmates, Kiba from the inazuka clan talk to him,"You seem rather confident eh?".

"Yeah, I've been preparing like crazy for this test", Kiryu replied smiling. Kiba nodded his head in acknowledgement and understanding, him and the rest of the class had indeed seen his efforts, "Welp best of luck man", Kiba told him. "Thanks, you too", Kiryu thanked the clan heir for his words before walking away to take his usual seat.

It seemed that his smile simply couldn't stop growing. His progress had been better than he thought and his hard work had even gained him recognition. It also made him realise that he wasn't necessarily talentless, but he simply lacked a goal, lacked motivation to get stronger.

It wasn't very much longer until Iruka walked into the room and the class had gone quiet. Iruka gave a debriefing on how they were to be graded, one he thought he had heard a thousand times by now. After completing his explanation and wishing a few words of luck, the written exam had begun, and not much to his surprise, Kiryu completed it with ease and time to spare.

Next was the Bukijutsu test, students would have 5 shuriken and 5 kunai, to pass they simply needed to hit a bullseye with 3 of each weapon. Kiryu watched in patience as he waited for his turn, some students came back dejected, and some came back filled with joy.

"Kiryu Takuha", he heard an instructor call out. Kiryu walked to the front and took his position before the wooden dummies. "Begin when ready", the instructor told him. Kiryu took a deep breath as he reached for the kunai first. He took one in each hand and threw them both at different dummies. The kunai darted through the air, before implanting themselves perfectly into their targets. He repeated this again with two more kunai and got the exact same result, two bullseye's. Picking up the last kunai, the results once again did not differ from the previous ones. Next were the shuriken, he took two in each hand and threw all 4 without a moment's rest. The shuriken twisted and curved through the air, before hitting their targets just as the kunai had. With just one final shuriken left, Kiryu picked it up and whirled it through the air before hitting the final dummy. A perfect score. He wasn't the first to get a perfect score but he would definitely be one of the only few to do so and from that Kiryu felt a great sense of accomplishment, just as any other human would, he wanted glory along with power. After the rest of the class had finished their turns Iruka led them back inside for the final part of the exam.

Iruka called off names one by one to come into the small room next to the class and soon enough it was Kiryu's turn.

Kiryu closed the door behind him and found Iruka sensei and Mizuki sitting at a desk with pens ready to evaluate what he was about to show them.

"I'm guessing you know what to do?", Iruka questioned looking up at Kiryu.

"Yes sensei", Kiryu simply nodded at Iruka.

"Alright then. Start with the Transformation Jutsu", Iruka instructed. Kiryu formed a few handseals before a puff of smoke enveloped him. After the smoke cleared off there was an almost identical Iruka staring right at the two academy teachers.

Iruka nodded and began writing something down.

"The clone jutsu next", Iruka told him. Kiryu nodded and soon enough an illusory image identical to himself stood right next to him. "Alright, last is the substitution jutsu". Kiryu formed a single hand seal and was replaced by a wooden log that was off to the side of the room. Iruka nodded, "Your exam is done. Come back tomorrow for the results and to see where you placed among the class".

With that Kiryu exited the class and the academy. He ended a little bit earlier than he usually did so he decided to spend the time for some extra training.

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The next day, Kiryu had made sure to arrive earlier than he usually did, and it also seemed that he wasn't the only one. He saw a mixture of anxious and confident faces from his class gathered around.

"Hey Kiryu!", hearing someone call his name Kiryu turned his head to see Kiba, accompanied by Akamaru, walking towards him.

"What's up?", Kiryu asked his classmate casually as he sat down next to him.

"What place you think you got?", Kiba asked him, clearly excited to see his own placement too.

"Meh, probably not that great, maybe like top 15 if I'm lucky", Kiryu answered modestly. Deep down just like everyone else he had hoped for first place but he knew that Sasuke Uchiha was most likely the one to get that.

Kiba laughed at him, almost a bit exaggeratedly, "Hah, as if, yesterday you were one of the only ones to get a perfect score on the Bukijutsu test, literally only 2 other people scored perfectly and that was Sasuke and Shino! If the other parts live up the same standard as the Bukijutsu test then you could well get first place y'know!", Kiba exclaimed, excited for his classmate.

"I doubt that", Kiryu responded, unable to fully hide the smile forming on his face though.

Kiryu continued talking with Kiba for a while, but the class turned quiet as Iruka walked in and placed onto the walk the Rankings of the exam. The whole class instantly flooded to the front to look at the wooden board.

[EXAM RANKINGS:]

[NO.1: SASUKE UCHIHA]

[NO.2: SHIKAMARU NARA]

[NO.3: SHINO ABURAME]

[NO.4: KIRYU TAKUHA]

[NO.5: CHOJI AKIMICHI]

[NO.6: KIBA INAZUKA]

[...]

[...]

[...]

"'Top 15 if I'm lucky' my ass", Kiba said with a grin as he punched Kiryu lightly in the arm. Kiryu was most definitely happy with his result.

After that, everyone collected their headbands and returned to their seats as it was time for Iruka to announce the different genin teams.

"Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha". Kiryu watched in amusement as Naruto, who was sitting next to him, both celebrated and cursed his team placement. "Team 8, Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inazuka, Shino Aburame", Kiryu felt just a slight twinge of disappointment at not being placed into Kiba's team, and from what he could see it seemed Kiba felt the same. "Team 10, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi".

Iruka eventually finished reading the names of everyone within the class, and they all left, to go meet their respective Jonin Sensei's. Apart from Kiryu that was.

"Kiryu, the lucky winner", Iruka said plainly. Raising an eyebrow from the newly appointed Genin. "You see, there's a reason why you're by yourself here. The main and more obvious one is, there weren't enough graduates and you were simply the one left over, but also because from the information we could gather, one, you didn't seem to match too well, with any other graduates, and also two, after a sudden shift in mentality, you had explosive growth", Kiryu was impressed that the academy even noticed a change in him, as far as he could tell he still acted the same, not that he actively tried to hide a true character or anything of the sorts. "Therefore, you will be a 1 man squad, with a Jonin Sensei all to yourself. Ain't you lucky eh?", Iruka finished his explanation.

"I understand Sensei", Kiryu nodded at his academy instructor. This was in fact even better than what he could have hoped for. It simply meant that his Jonin Sensei would only focus on him and teach him rather than split his focus between 3 students. Kiryu became curious about who his instructor would be though, "Can I ask who my Jonin Sensei is?".

"His name is Hayate Gekko, a master of Kenjutsu and an expert in stealth and tracking". Iruka explained. Kiryu knew of him and looked forward to meeting him. Kiryu said his goodbyes to the man who had taught him for that past years and made his way to the back of the school where he was supposed to meet Hayate.

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Hiruzen Sarutobi. The Professor. God of Shinobi. The third Hokage. He had been called by many names in his life, and had the years of experience to prove his worthiness of these titles. Becoming old as a ninja especially was a rarity in this blood filled world.

"Hohoho, how interesting", Hiruzen took a long puff of his pipe as he looked at the academy report in front of him. It was of Kiryu Takuha. "From bottom-middle of the class to fourth place in 2 weeks after a sudden change in determination and effort", Hiruzen read. Interesting indeed, how strong would the child have been if he was determined from the beginning? "Well, it's in his blood after all. Talent. Striking resemblance to his great grandfather too", Hiruzen chucked to himself as he took another long puff.