Chapter 3: Little Ninja Academy Test Part 1

A/N: I realised a little too late into this chapter that I should probably give characters surnames to show that they're not orphans... that'll be fixed after next chapter which is why there will be name changes to most. Issei -> Issei Hyodo for example. 

However, this will only be for relatively important characters. No point caring about irrelevant side characters that'll be mentioned like once only

P.s. I'll be putting the MC's stats in the Author's notes so you don't have to worry about forgetting his stat numbers and stuff.

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After landing on the floor gracefully, Kurogami pat his hands clean of bullies before straightening his clothes. Looking around, he noticed the kids and teachers look at him in silence.

"That was awesome!" Naruto was the first to speak as he leaped off of the floor and slapped his arm playfully, "You took on 3 of them so easily!" He exclaimed with a smile. [Reputation: 10 -> 20]

With a smile of his own, Kurogami simply replied "Thanks" before examining everyone in the room. As the quest said, every kid present had their reputation increased by at least 5, with some others (girls mainly) increasing even further.

On the other hand, whilst some teachers had their reputation increased, some had theirs decreased due to Kurogami's association with Naruto. As for the defeated trio on the floor, Issei's reputation had gone down to -10, with the other two's going down to -5.

'Ah, right. I need to check what the reputation scores mean when I'm alone later' Kurogami reminded himself in realisation that he still didn't have perfect understanding of the numbers, which would be nice.

The kids then began to murmur amongst themselves, excited that there had been a fight on the very first day. 

Though happy that he was getting all these compliments by everyone in the room, his smile dropped once he saw Usami and a few other teachers approach him, some with small frowns and the rest with neutral faces or a small smile.

"A fight on the first day...? You kids are truly uncontrollable" A boomer old man scoffed with a frown, rubbing his nose with his wrinkled fingers. Kurogami saw the man's reputation at -5.

"I'm disappointed, Kurogami..." Usami sighed disappointingly, taking a quick glance at Naruto which Kurogami took notice of, "I understand you wanted to protect your... 'friend'" She said with some spite in her voice, "But knocking out 3 kids on your first day... you're going to have to be punished a little". Kurogami saw her reputation being at -1, though if he could see reputation with Naruto he was sure it'd be -1000 minimum for whatever reason.

He then looked at her title, [Usami, Parentless Victim of The Nine-Tails Attack], [Level: ??]. 'Ah, that makes sense...' Kurogami figured, knowing now that she was one of those people who hated Naruto because he had the Kyuubi sealed inside him without consent.

"-However!" A man spoke with a small smile. Kurogami saw his reputation was 5 with him which was nice, "Don't worry, you still need to take the exam later one, so you're punishment is likely to be something as light as cleaning the whole school for a week"

'... 'Light'?!' Kurogami cried internally, 'Do you know how fucking massive this school is?! And for a week?!' He felt angry at the thought of doing the long, miserable chore, but he suddenly felt himself strangely calm down as he simply bowed slightly and replied, "Understood" With a calm expression.

With a clap of his hands, the boomer ninja ordered every group to sit on their tables so the teachers could do the registers. Boys from Issei's trio's group picked them up and brought them over to their table.

Sitting back on their seats, Naruto and Kurogami idly waited for their names to be called out before answering "Here!". After the teachers were finished, they all joined together in the centre to stand out.

"Ehem!" One cleared their throat before speaking loudly, "The tour is over! And so, it is now time for the tESt!" His voice cracked a little at the end, causing the kids and even the teachers to chuckle at him much to his embarrassment, "One by one, a group will be led outside where the practical test will take place, starting with Group 1. After all groups are finished, the theory test will be next and then you can go home, understood?"

"Yes sensei!" The kids replied loudly, as Group 1 was led by their group leader outside. The remaining groups stayed in the cafeteria to either talk or eat some more, with Kurogami chatting with Naruto whilst occasionally having some girls come up to him much to his annoyance, 'Is this how Sasuke feels? Sheesh...' He groaned, 'I'd rather it be adults like Anko and Mei rather than little unknown kids like these'

Eventually, after about 2 hours or so, Group 7 was finally called out, urging Kurogami and the others to follow Usami outside.

"Everyone, form a line!" Usami ordered, to which the kids entered a line where one stood in front of another, "No no, the other line! Vertical line!" She corrected, to which the kids now stood side by side facing Usami who had a smile on her face, "Good good!" She nodded.

Kurogami, having seen some kids from the other groups coming back to the cafeteria (Before leaving to do the theory test) with bruises and the occasional black eye, already had an idea what this 'practical' test was.

And much to his expectation, Usami said "This practical exam I'll be having you kids spar with one another. This will be a tournament-style battle, with a loser bracket as well, so don't worry and think that losing once will mean you have no more chances!" She explained. After doing so, she paired up the kids and then made a quick chart of the matches.

Fortunately for Usami, there were 16 kids in her group so there weren't any complications with the matches. The first 4 matches went by quick, and now it was Naruto's turn.

"Naruto Uzumaki, Ren, step up!" The two stepped forward and stood opposite each other. Kurogami saw that Ren's level was only 4 compared to Naruto's 8, so he figured that Naruto would have a relatively easy win.

Before the two fought, Usami made them perform a seal of confrontation to one another like she did with the other matches before shouting, "Begin!"

Naruto rushed at Ren energetically, who seemingly panicked and sent a surprisingly fast punch to Naruto's face. The punch connected, but Naruto simply smiled at the little damage the punch did before tackling Ren's skinny legs and dragging him to the floor, mounting him in the process.

'Oi, that's exactly what I did!' Kurogami realised before chuckling quietly at Naruto's impersonation of him. He saw Naruto reel his arm back for a punch and bring it down to Ren's face, but not before Usami shouted, "Stop! Naruto wins..." She said much to her disappointment.

"Hehe! That was a good fight, but you should work on your strength more!" Naruto smiled, holding his arm out to Ren who sat on the floor. Ren looked at Naruto's hand momentarily and went to grab it, but then he remembered what his parents would tell him about the whiskers boy and stood up by himself.

"Seal of Reconciliation" Usami said, to which Ren and Naruto performed before getting back in the line. Kurogami saw Naruto's face sadden from Ren's action, but he couldn't do much about it as it was now his match.

"Kurogami, Ichiya! Step forward!" Kurogami stepped forward and stood opposite a black haired boy slightly taller than him of average build, [Level: 5] he saw, 'Slightly stronger than Ren, weaker than Issei... should be quite easy, hopefully' He stepped forward and performed the seal of confrontation with the boy before stepping back and activating his [Boxing] skill, which increased his STR and DEX to 8 each.

"Begin!" Usami called out. Kurogami patiently waited in a stance similar to the basic orthodox stance, only a little lower to make himself look more free and open.

Ichiya rushed forward with determined eyes before sending a punch towards Kurogami's chest. The boy was even shorter than Kurogami surprisingly (Kurogami is 4ft, and the boy's about 3ft9), so that might've been the only place he could reach at the distance they were at currently.

As the punch approached his chest, Kurogami knew his durability wasn't as high as Naruto so he wasn't stupid enough to take the blow. Rather, he swiftly evaded the punch thanks to his 8 DEX before jabbing the boy's chest. A strong *pow!* sent the boy flying as he gripped his pained chest and began hyperventilating for air.

"Forfeit?" Usami asked, to which the boy shook his head before standing up and taking deep breathes to return his breathing to normal, "Carry on"

Kurogami smiled a little at the boy's display, surprised yet proud at the fact he wanted to carry on even after the punch, 'Strong will and determination' he mentally noted, 'Similar to Naruto, most likely less though as he doesn't go around screaming "I'M GONNA BE HOKAGE!", probably'

This time, Ichiya patiently stood still and waited for Kurogami to attack. To prevent a long standing still battle, Kurogami took the initiative to start an attack of his own. 

"Hup!" He exhaled as he sent a left jab to the boy's face who moved his head to the right to evade it, "Hup!" Kurogami stepped sideways with his front leg to follow Ichiya before sending a left uppercut towards the boy's stomach.

"Gaghk!" Ichiya gagged, holding his stomach to prevent himself from throwing up as he watched Kurogami step back calmly.

[Boxing Skill has levelled up!]

[Active Skill: Boxing - Lv.1 -> Lv.2]

[Activating the skill grants +1 STR and +1 DEX -> +2 STR and DEX. Speed of punches increased by 10% -> 12%]

With that, his punches were faster and his STR and DEX were both at 9 whilst the skill's activated.

The boy weakly raised his hand as he announced, "I-I... forfeit..." He winced and felt throw up about to come out his mouth, but he quickly swallowed it back down much to his own disgust at the taste.

[Ichiya, Level 5, defeated! 120 Exp Gained!] (460 -> 580/800)

"Winner, Kurogami!" Usami announced, to which the kids applauded whilst the two performed the seal of reconciliation. He went back to his place in line beside Naruto before smirking and saying, "With that, you're next opponent will be me, Naruto!" 

"Bring it, Kurogami! I won't lose to you!" Naruto snickered.

"Hanabi Hyuga and Maya Izuno" Usami called out, to which Hanabi and a girl with long brown hair and green eyes with cat-like pupils.

[Maya Izuno, Heiress of the Izuno Clan]

[Level: 8]

[Reputation: 5]

The two faced each other and performed the seal of confrontation, before beginning their fight. The fight was quite close it seemed, with Maya using a fighting style similar to that of a cat where she was agile and using her quick hands with sharp, strong nails to attack Hanabi who narrowly evaded the assault.

However, Hanabi then commented on Maya's style and some weak points such as her guard being wide open which annoyed her, causing her to angrily attack Hanabi once more who dodged with ease before hitting her in the stomach, putting her on her knees and forfeiting much to her dismay, "I told you so" Hanabi said whilst performing the seal of reconciliation with her.

Defeated in one punch! The kids and even Usami herself was quite shocked, though 'As expected of a Hyuga...' They all thought as the two girls went back in line. Finally

"Shikamaru Nara, Ryuji! Final match of the preliminaries!" She announced, the two boys stepping forward. Shikamaru's level was 8 whilst Ryuji's was only 4. 

Shikamaru dragged his body forward to face the blonde-haired Ryuji who energetically performed the seal of confrontation and urged Usami to start the match, "What a drag... you're way too energetic for me..." Shikamaru muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"Begin!" Usami called out, to which Ryuji instantly ran towards Shikamaru.

"Slow" Shikamaru stated, easily evading a punch with his hands in his pocket before sweeping Ryuji's legs, "You're off-balance," Then placing his knee of Ryuji's stomach and taking one hand out of his pocket to place on his neck, "And that's my victory" 

"W-Winner, Shikamaru Nara!" Usami announced, shocked at Shikamaru's overwhelming display of power against Ryuji.

"I want to sleep..." Shikamaru mumbled, walking back in the line after performing the seal of reconciliation.

And so, Usami announced the next match line-ups for the winners:

A girl called Momo vs a guy called Rito Sarutobi, a cousin of Asuma Sarutobi Kurogami gathered by his title

A guy called Richie vs a guy called Tobi

Kurogami himself vs Naruto Uzumaki

And finally, Hanabi Hyuga vs Shikamaru Nara

Then there were the loser brackets, but judging by the names and levels of the kids, Kurogami was sure that Maya would win.

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A/N: Opinions of this chapter and the fights?

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