Chapter 9

Today is the big day for all hopeful aspiring shinobi. It is the day where the unleash everything they have learned, everything they have trained to master, for a chance to become full fledged ninja. Regrettably a lot of these students, mainly civilian born or orphans, will be staying in the academy for another year, or possibly drop out of the program. But the exams today are what will separate the weak from the strong.

Survival of the fittest.

After doing their morning rituals and having a filling breakfast, Revan and Saya sit together to review everything they had learned over the past month. This last week Saya had practically moved in with the red head and he had to often resist looking her directly in the eyes, especially after that one attempt at waking her up. He still can't get the sight of her exposed chest out of his head. He chalks it up to hormones.

The two head out to the academy and make it there earlier than most of the students and claim their seats at the back corner of the room, a place they have claimed for themselves during the last month. Saya on one side of Revan, Naruto on the other, followed often by Hinata on Naruto's other side. Shikamaru would always take the seat below them usually with Ino and Choji accompanying him. Sasuke would sometimes use Hinata or Naruto as a reliable shield for the fan girls, but sometimes they do muscle up on the poor blonde and kick him out of his seat. Luckily none of the girls would dare try and intimidate Hinata, for during a few of their training sessions, Revan would catch her watching and invited her to join in. Needless to say, after some convincing, possibly under the influence of the Force, he could get her to open up more. Less stuttering now.

Still..... Naruto is dense as hell!

"Ready for the written portion of the exam?" Revan asks the group.

Saya just shrugs, "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Nooo....." Naruto groans as he lies his head face down on the desk. Practical education is more of his thing, things like written tests? He'd pass just barely.

"I-I think I'll do okay." Hinata says with a minor stutter. Still getting better.

Shikamaru just sighs lazily, "Too troublesome. Not like these written tests ever had any real world significance."

"True." Revan agrees. "Anything we learn in here can just as easily be researched in the library."

"They don't let me in there..." Naruto grumbles.

Revan just chuckles, "When your a genin they would have no choice but to let you in. By the way, how is your tree climbing?"

"Don't mention that.... Still sore from all of the falling." Naruto complains.

"Your doing tree climbing already?" Shikamaru asks.

"Of course!" Revan replies. "Someone left a book on the subject in the civilian section of the library and I may have helped myself to it. Me and Saya have both made it to the water walking exercise."

"It's much harder than I expected," Saya adds in, "But manageable."

"Ha.... way to get a head start on the other civilian students. Those were things a Jounin were suppose to guide you into gradually." Shikamaru says.

Revan shrugs, "Why bother waiting when we can start now? Plus it made my experimenting much easier."

After the rest of the class piled in Mizuki passes out all of the test papers. Before starting the test Revan notices something particular about his cousin's form. There seems to be a slight illusion cast on it altering the contents, making it far more difficult to pass for the blonde. With a sigh, Revan discreetly swaps his test with Naruto's using the substitution technique and releases the illusion on the paper revealing the real test. Luckily the contents are still the same so he finished as fast as possible and awaits the next portion of the test.

"Next we will be testing your ability to escape from genjutsu." Iruka states.

Revan pats Naruto on the shoulder, "Just flush as much chakra as you can and break the illusion. God knows you have plenty to spare." Naruto nods and does so as his name is called up. Once Naruto shatters the illusion, Revan notices the look of anger in Mizuki's eyes and knows that the fool is trying his damnedest to fail the poor boy. Like the others, Revan passes easily.

After the illusion portion of the exam everyone is taken outside and were tested on both taijutsu and throwing skills. Naruto just barely passes the throwing portion, but when it became his time to spar with Mizuki, the instructor's assistance wasn't willing to pull any punches, even if he lowered his abilities to genin levels.

So Revan does what he does best. Rig the match from the sidelines discreetly using the force. Every time Mizuki goes in for hard hit, he suddenly finds his fist thrown off a little, giving Naruto a free hit on him. When he aims a kick to cripple, he finds that Naruto unnaturally ducks out of the way and lands another hit on him. Mizuki is confused and somewhat freaked out by the unnatural occurrences. Naruto managed to land the require hits in the allotted time and passes the taijutsu portion of the exam to Mizuki's displeasure.

"Good work buddy!" Revan praises the blonde who laughs sheepishly.

"Aw shucks!" Naruto rubs his head, "It felt weird a few times, almost as if some unseen force was moving me at times."

Revan shakes his head nonchalantly, "Your just imagining things."

"I guess your right?"

For the final portion of the exams everyone of required to perform the three main academy jutsu. Substitution, Clone, and Transformation. Everyone goes into the room and performs the techniques, then if they are successful, they come out wearing their shiny new headband. Revan performs all of them perfectly and wears his headband atop his forehead like most normal shinobi.

"Too easy." He says with a grin.

"Don't get cocky." Saya retorts and heads into the room. A few minutes later she comes out with her own headband atop her forehead with a teasing smile on her face as she looks at Revan.

"Yeah, yeah."

Last but now least, Naruto heads into the room to take the test. It's now the blonde's time to shine. Writing on his clipboard Iruka glances at Naruto and nods.

"Okay Naruto, Show us the Substitution."

Naruto nods and swaps places with a vest, then he proceeds to swap back.

"Very good Naruto! Now show us the Transformation."

Naruto performs the hand seals and transforms into a perfect imitation of the Third Hokage himself. Surprisingly accurate to boot, voice wise and mannerism. Scary even. Makes since considering the Third is the closest thing to a family the blonde knucklehead ever had growing up in the miserable village that did everything in it's power to causing him suffering.

"That's.... a very good imitation of the Lord Third. Great work Naruto! Now perform the Clone. 3 perfect clones to pass."

Naruto grins, puts up his seals and shouts, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Poof! Poof! Poof!

In bursts of smoke three physical clones of Naruto appears, smiling smugly at the instructors sitting across from him.

"Amazing! I knew you could master that technique when the Lord Hokage gave you permission to learn it! I am impressed Naruto!" Iruka praises causing the blonde to blush embarrassingly.

"Wait a minute!" Mizuki interjects, "Does this counts? Wasn't it suppose to just be the basic clone technique?"

Iruka shakes his head, "Technically the rules state that it has to be a sort of clone. Be it water clone, earth clone, or if one is capable, the shadow clones." Iruka looks at Naruto and smiles, "So that means Naruto, you have passed! Congratulations on finally become a ninja!"

"ALRIGHT!!" Naruto hoots with a celebratory jump causing Iruka to laugh at his antics. To the side Mizuki glares at the blonde angrily and thinks, 'Damn demon! Now I have to make a few changes to my plans.'

After tying his headband to his forehead, Naruto rushes out to show off to his friends. They were honestly happy for the blonde, he passed the exams and became one step closer to his dreams of becoming hokage. Sure it still didn't get him out of dead last, but the position he was in class doesn't represent what futures await the fresh graduates. Even a knuckleheaded ninja like Naruto could one day reach the peak and earn the people's respect.

"To all of you who have successfully graduated, I want to congratulate everyone of you. Next week we will have you assigned to your Jounin instructors. Be sure to rest of, but never forget to keep practicing." Iruka says before dismissing everyone.

Revan and Saya leave heading back towards his apartment. She had become too accustomed to his cooking. Even when the few friends from the academy came over, they come to know the greatness of Revan's amazing culinary skills, even going as far as recommending him open a restaurant. He just shakes em all off and says being a ninja is much more interesting to him than that.

When the two return to the apartment, Revan finds a strange note laying on the living room table. Reading the contents he smirks.

—

You are becoming a nuisance. Cease your relationship with Saya Uchiha or face the consequences.

Fair warning, we are always watching you.

—

"Oh my! I'm so scared!" Revan jokes sarcastically and shakes his head.

Saya tilts her head and asks, "What's that?"

"This?" He holds up the note, "Just a retarded individual trying to threaten me into stop being friends with you."

"They should mind their own business." Saya says in annoyance.

"That they should." Revan takes a match and opens a window leading out onto the street, strikes it, and lights the note on fire before tossing it out with a smirk. "You are the last female Uchiha left alive. If by having you in their hands it can gain them greater influence, while also allowing them to develop a new clan wielding the Sharingan, they would jump at the opportunity. I guess me becoming friends with you is threatening their agenda. Considering your brother hasn't shown an interest in someone of the opposite sex yet, they have no choice but to go for you. I'm not worried though.." He turns to her and smiles, "Let's just say they haven't seen the real me just yet."

Revan laughs. Saya just smiles at his actions. Revan is challenging an influential power within the village, but they don't know how much trouble one could be if they were in possession of a power they have never faced before. As a ninja just wielding chakra and jutsu, Revan is about as green as any other fresh graduate. But when the Force is added to the equation, even the most experience Jounin wouldn't know how their heart was crushed. The force is not something that can be seen by the naked eye most of the time, so how could the defend themselves against it?

Later that night as the are trying to sleep, a commotion can be heard coming from the streets. Something about a stolen scroll of something. Revan ignores it and activates his silencing seals and they go back to sleep. He isn't too worried about the blatant and moronic threat letter he received, whatever is sent his way will only be hurt afterwards. He smiles as comes up with an idea. Tomorrow he plans to set up a special shadow around his apartment, one they cannot detect or defend against.

The next day Naruto shows up to their personal training ground wrapped in a few bandages and a wide grin on his face.

"What's with the grin bucko?" Revan asks in which Naruto laughs.

"I kicked Mizuki's traitor ass last night!" Naruto says. "He tried to dupe me into sealing the Scroll of Sealing from the old man, so I told the old man and we set up a trap for him. In return for tricking Mizuki into confessing his intentions, I got to learn some awesome new jutsu!"

Revan whistles, "Wow, not bad buddy! Always found something off about the bastard, but a traitor to boot too? Figures."

"I never once felt comfortable around the creep either." Saya adds.

"So, what did you learn?" Revan asks curiously.

Naruto smiles and says, "I learned Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu, Exploding Clone Jutsu, and Multi-Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu."

Revan thinks and nods, "A good set of techniques to make use of the shadow clones. An explosive clone to surprise them, the ability to summon your own personal army of clones, an the ability to rain down hell upon your enemies with a storm of metal. Your going to be terrifying to face if you can put those skills to the proper use."

"Agreed." Saya nods.

"Hehehe!" He rubs his head, "The old man said that as a thanks for helping me get through the damned test, I could teach them to you!"

"I see. Quite generous of Lord Hokage. I'm barely able to use a single clone with my reserves, but it will grow quite quickly." Revan says. "Very well, I'll learn them! The shuriken one will save me money on shuriken and kunai when I use my Kunai Dance technique."

After Naruto shows Revan the signs and explains everything to him about the techniques, he memorizes the information and plans to record it later in his sealed journal. After they they spend the rest of the day training. Naruto perfecting his use of the shadow clone series techniques, Saya and Revan sparring and practicing other skills. Revan is near the end of the beginner series of Fuinjutsu and will soon be ready to step into the intermediate series.

The rest of the week has continued with the same pattern of meeting up to train, share advice on their techniques, and of course mooching free, delicious meals off of Revan. Saya officially moved in and crashed out at Revan's place, saying it's much closer to the academy. The hokage's office is connected to the academy, so when they start taking missions, they would only have to go to the same place they have been going for years.

The day of the team placement has arrive at last.

Iruka gives a touching speech to each of the graduates.

"From this day forward you are no longer mere students, but full fledged shinobi of the leaf." He looks at each and every student with a serious expression and continues, "but don't get complacent! Genin are at the very bottom. You will need to train harder with your new Jounin sensei, accept missions, and work hard to rise up in the ranks. There will be no easy path for you to take as shinobi." He smiles, "All of you worked hard and I am proud of each and everyone of you. After lunch you will be paired off into 3 genin per team and assigned an instructor."

'Three man team? That's two too many...' Sasuke thought with a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

'I hope I'm on Naruto's team!' Thought Hinata with a blush as she taps her two index fingers together shyly.

'Maybe I'll get put on the same team as Revan and Saya!' Naruto says in his head, 'Those two are fun to hang out with! Maybe I could also get paired up with Sakura! Hehehe!'

'I bet I'll get put on a team with Sasuke!' Sakura thinks with a squeal. For some reason Sasuke can feel his spine tingling.

Everyone goes off to do their own thing at lunch and when everyone returns Iruka begins to go over the team placement.

"With the special exception of 2 people, everyone will be paired up in 3 and assigned to a Jounin for further training and mission assignments." Iruka says and starts to read off a list. "Team 1 will be.... team 5 will be.... Team 7 will be Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki..."

"Yes!" Naruto hoots in joy while Sakura groans in disappointment.

"... And Sasuke Uchiha."

"Yes! True love prevails!" Sakura jumps for joy and Naruto in returns groans.

"Why do I gotta be in the same team as that loser!?" Naruto shouts. Sakura giving him the stink eye and Sasuke just grunts and looks away.

"This placement was designed to balance out your talents. Naruto, you being the worst in class, should potentially benefit from Sakura's intelligences and Sasuke's proficiency with ninjutsu. Sakura would benefit from her more battle-capable teammates, Sasuke would benefit from being force to work with others for a change."

"Sounds pretty bull to me..." Naruto grumbles under his breath.

Iruka continues, "Team 7 will be assigned to Kakashi Hatake. Team 8 will be Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Hinata Hyuga. Your Jounin will be Kurenai Yuhi. Team 9 is still in rotation, so Team 10 will be Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka...

Iruka goes to sort out each of the team before stopping on the last two in the class.

"This is it for the normal team placement." He looks to Revan and Saya. "After a long and heated debate among the Lord Hokage and the Jounin instructors, they have come to very unique answer to the two odd ones out."

Everyone looks to the duo in wonder.

"After seeing how well you two have worded together over the previous month, and how much the both of you have improved together. It has been decided that the two of you will be paired up as Support Genin. Each week you will be assigned to one of the teams to train together and undertake assignments. Both of your talents and capabilities have already caught the Hokage's attention and he is looking forward to your future performance." Iruka explains and then looks back at the rest of the class. "These two are dismissed, everyone else stay and await your Jounin instructors."

Revan and Saya get up and leave after bidding their friends goodbye. As they walk through the village, Revan looks at Saya and smiles.

"I told you that was how the team placement would end up."

Saya shakes her head and smiles, "Looks like you were right. Team 7 put Naruto with the highest grade students, the Ino-Shika-Cho were put together, and Hinata was put in a tracking specialty team. your predictions were spot on."

Revan chuckles, "Not predictions. Just me snooping around and finding this info. Tomorrow we get the day off while our fellow genin must undertake an initiation test of sorts. So we get a day to rest before we take on our first assignments."

"Yeah. I wonder what team we will be assigned first?"

"Ditto."