Chapter | XII |

Ready for anything, I held my guard without turning around.

"Hey, Naruto"

However, my guard loosened when I heard the friendly voice, turning back, the familiar white-haired instructor was standing behind me with a nonchalant smile.

"Oh, Mizuki sensei... What brings you here?"

I asked, clearly perplexed. My relationship with the man was... Rough. He was not really friendly with me, I don't even remember the last time we spoke. No, calling it rough would be an understatement, this man in front of me always tried to mess up with my grades, especially the shinobi drills. He often replaced my Kunais with jagged or rusted, fragile than a stick, leading me to suffer a very poor grade in the drills back then.

I had turned a blind eye to his mischiefs most of the time, pretending I hadn't noticed. I had no right or power to complain, not like anybody would buy what I say. This was exactly why I was confused.

He sat beside me with the same smile.

"Oh, nothing much, I just came here to congratulate you on your graduation"

I found that hard to believe, he had always been the criticizing one, more than Iruka. Even if I had accomplished anything praiseworthy, he would instead try to find something wrong and yell at me. Such a turn of events... I could hardly buy it.

We sat there, silent. None of us uttered a word, the cold breeze ruffled against my skin, my hair dancing to the wind. I once again gazed at the man, in return he gave me a warm smile. A feeling of unease rose in my heart, what was this bastard up to?

"Well, how has life been nowadays, Naruto?"

I held a frown, instead, I gazed up at the clear blue sky. I closed my eyes, remembering every last detail. The horrors, the happiness, the loneliness... the crushing feeling of the torture I had endured in my mind.

"Life is pretty sweet"

I somehow squeezed out the words. Life was pretty sweet, just that...

Before I could contemplate any further, a hand rested on my shoulder. Looking to my side, I saw the sympathetic look Mizuki gave me, for a moment, I almost thought it was real.

Almost.

But I knew, hidden under that pitful look he gave me, were fangs so sharp that could tear my heart.

"Sigh... I know it was tough for you, but hey! After all that hardship, you finally achieved your dream! You became a Shinobi!"

"Perhaps"

I smiled, atleast I thought I did.

"But... There is just one thing"

I raised my brows, clearly confused by his words. What could he do more than this? As if reading my thoughts, he answered me.

"In order to become a true Shinobi, passing the graduation test is just not enough"

"What?"

What was he getting at? I was told that we just had to pass the graduation exam to become a Shinobi, everyone else said so, it was common knowledge.

Seeing my silent look, he continued.

"Actually, you need to complete a specific task given by an instructor to prove your worth. All the others have already received theirs, and they've started working on it. I was told to give you the task by Iruka, since he's very busy at the moment"

He paused, letting me absorb his words.

"After completing the task I give will only you pass and become a true Shinobi"

This... How come I have never known of this? Have I been kept in the dark by others? But that didn't make sense, even the Hokage said I only had to pass the graduation exam.

"I don't understand... Why was this information never mentioned in the academy"

He laughed and patted my back.

"Of course it was, it was that at the time you were dozing off and sleeping in class. It was only mentioned once, it was a task actually, many kids missed this small, yet crucial piece of information because they were more invested in their own thoughts than the words of their teacher"

My face heated from embarrassment. It made sense now, I was a rather lackluster student barely paying any attention to his words. The odds of me skipping class and missing out the lessons were quite high.

"Cheer up! Your task is relatively easy. It can be even done by midnight"

"Oh"

Somewhat intrigued by his words, I gestured for him to continue. Cracking up a warm smile, he leaned back.

"Attaining the Scroll of Sealing"