Chapter 257 - Rookie 9: Graduation Exam 01

The graduation exam for Naruto and his class has begun. Mizuki sat behind the table in the front while Iruka took several sheets of paper and distributed it among the students. He stood in front of the class and spoke.

"The first part is a written exam. You have 2 hours. You are only allowed to hand in your paper at the end of the exam. So even if you finish early it won't make any difference. Do your best to score as much as you can. Begin."

Most of the students immediately went through the questions on the paper. Shikamaru was one of the few that took their time carefully reading all the questions.

The Nara had a calm face as he sat up and browsed the problems written down on the paper. 'Mom will be mad if I just go about this exam as usual. Guess I need to put some more effort into this. What a drag.'

Nearby Kiba had a grin as he looked at his paper. "Alright Akamaru, wish me luck." "Arf." With encouragement from his partner Kiba began answering the questions.

Sakura quickly looked through all the problems and smiled as she reached the last question. 'These questions are designed to test our knowledge on theory and critical thinking and problem solving. Still this is going to be so easy.'

She was about to start writing when she noticed Naruto sitting right next to her looking pale as he stared at the paper in front of him. She knew he was panicking right now.

Naruto gripped his head with both hands as he looked at the difficult questions. 'Oh man. This is so tough. I really hate this part of the exam. What do I do if I can't answer?'

"Naruto."

As the blonde boy was screaming in his mind he heard his name called in a small soft tone. He turned to the side and saw Sakura giving him a small smile.

"You need to calm down. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths." Sakura said in a small voice as to not attract any attention.

Naruto looked at her smile and he quickly calmed down. He nodded and smiled as he looked at her. "Thanks Sakura."

"You've studied hard for this exam. You can do this. Good luck." Giving her friend a small nod the pink haired girl turned her attention back to the papers in front of her.

Naruto smiled and did as he was told. He closed his eyes and took several slow deep breaths. 'She's right. I got this. Just remember everything I studied. I can do this. I will pass this exam and become a ninja. One day I'm gonna be the Hokage of the village. I can't fail here.'

Opening his eyes Naruto gazed at his exam papers with a renewed determination. He carefully read the questions and began to write down what he knew.

Iruka had been watching the interaction between the two from the corner of his eyes. He inwardly smiled as Naruto confidently began to write the answers.

But it wasn't just Iruka that saw this interaction. Mizuki was also paying attention to Naruto and when he saw Sakura encouraging the boy he became furious. He clenched his fists underneath the table. For a second his face turned furious but he quickly controlled himself. But what Mizuki didn't know is that his split second reaction was caught by Hinata who became even more cautious and wary of the white haired Chunin teacher. She quickly turned her head down and wrote the answers on a paper to avoid any attention from Mizuki.

And so the first part of the Graduation exam had begun.

—-

Two hours had passed and Iruka collected all the paper and handed them to Daikoku Funeno. He was the teacher grading the paper of the graduating students while Iruka and Mizuki continued on with the other tests.

The students were taken out to the field and the weapons accuracy test was next on the exam. Each student had 20 kunai and 20 shuriken. Some of the wooden targets were in the usual round shape but there were also targets that looked like humans with red circles marked on the critical areas. Some targets had red circles at the center and some had green. Two had a black circles painted in the center.

Iruka explained the rules. "You have 40 weapons and 40 targets. You get 1 point if you hit the center of a green target. 0.5 points if you just hit the wooden board with green targets. 0 points if you miss. Then for the red target, if you hit the center you'll get 1.5 points. 1 point if you hit the board and 0 for a miss. The two targets painted black are positioned in your blind spots. Hitting them in the dead center will get you 2 points and hitting the board will get you 1.5 points. Is everyone clear?"

All the students nodded and Iruka continued.

"There will be a timer. Your points will increase based on the time in which you complete this test. A perfect score is 2 points per board. But that will require perfect aim and speed. You need at least 25 points to pass."

Sasuke looked at the field and observed the position of all the targets. 'The targets with green color painted on are in plain view and they're the easiest to get. But the red ones are partially concealed and the two black ones are fully concealed, placed behind a boulder and a tree. The distance is also different and there is a time limit… I see… They also want us to use the correct weapon for the right target huh… Time to cut loose. This test is going to be interesting.'

Shikamaru glanced at some of the members in the class and sighed. 'Sasuke, Naruto, Hibachi, Kiba… They all look really eager to get started…'

He looked at the target course and his eyes narrowed. He brought his hands together as he thought about the test.

'Time is limited and based on the way some of the targets are positioned they expect us to hit it while we're moving fast. Moreover, a few of them are placed at an angle so if we don't throw with the right technique and use the right force we might miss. We also need to make a choice between using shuriken or kunai on the targets. To get the best score we'll have to hit them as we're running, so determining which of the two weapons we should use is also part of the test. If the weapon we throw hits the target but doesn't stick and bounces off, it will count as 0 points… This won't be easy.'

Iruka walked forward and called out the name of the first person to complete the Weapons Accuracy Test. "Sasuke Uchiha. Step forward."

The young Uchiha grabbed the pouch and made sure all the weapons were inside. He quickly got to the starting line and the instant Iruka started the time he rushed from his spot.

Sasuke expertly threw several shurikens and kunai at every target that was in his path and they all hit bullseye. 'This is nothing compared to my fights with Daichi. I've gotten far better with my shuriken skills and my speed has increased thanks to my spars with him.'

Sasuke was moving faster than even Iruka and Mizuki anticipated and they were shocked at the skills that were displayed.

'He truly is a genius. Just like Daichi.' Iruka had a smile as he saw the academy student accurately hitting the last target and reaching the finish line.

The students were also shocked at the sight. After Daichi left they had never seen Sasuke go all out so this was a shock for them.

"Well, there goes my plan to take first spot." Kiba said with wide eyes and slumped shoulders.

"It is a logical outcome. He has been training every chance he gets." Shino said as he looked at the Uchiha.

Choji, who was near them, agreed. "Just like Daichi. Looks like he's going to be the Rookie of the year for sure"

"Wow… That's incredible Sasuke." Sakura said with a big smile as the Uchiha came near. He ignored her and leaned back against the wall as he looked at the instructors recording his hits and grading him.

Naruto standing nearby frowned and clenched his fist. "I'm gonna go even faster and beat you." He was about to walk over to the starting line but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw that it was Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru? What are you doing? I'm gonna take the test next."

"Naruto. Don't let Sasuke distract you." The Nara said with a serious tone.

Naruto was confused as he looked at the serious gaze of his friend. "What are you-"

"This is a weapons accuracy test. Not a race. If you run fast trying to beat his time and miss all the shuriken targets, you'll get a zero. Time is a secondary factor. The most important thing is to hit the wooden targets with accuracy. Do you understand?"

Naruto's eyes widened as he remembered Iruka's instructions. He looked at Sasuke who just gave him a condescending smirk. The blonde boy became angry but he closed his eyes and controlled himself. 'Shikamaru is right. I can't make any stupid mistakes and fail. This exam is my last chance.'

Naruto stood back as Iruka and Mizuki were back calling the results. "Sasuke Uchiha. 80 points. A perfect score. Next up, Ino Yamanaka."

"Wish me luck guys." Ino was a little nervous but she psyched herself up and confidently walked to the starting line.

The accuracy test exam continued for about an hour. After all the students completed their run the results were published.

The results of the future Rookies were such…

Sasuke Uchiha. - 80

Ino Yamanaka - 65.5

Naruto Uzumaki - 41

Shikamaru Nara - 62

Sakura Haruno - 63

Hinata Hyuga - 68.5

Kiba Inuzuka - 70.5

Shino Aburame - 66

Choji Akimichi - 61.5

Many others in the class had points ranging from 30 to 55. But Iruka was most surprised by Naruto's performance. 'I thought he would only barely pass. But it seems he's ahead of a few others. Looks like all his training has paid off. I'm glad Naruto.'

The Chunin instructor glanced at the ones with the highest points. 'All of them scored high points with Kiba coming in second. They've all trained hard, otherwise they couldn't have gotten such high points.'

Mizuki kept a smiling, kind face as he collected the weapons from all the students. 'I made the right choice changing my original plans. It looks like this brat will definitely pass the exam.'

The future rookies minus Sasuke were all standing in a group. They were glad to have completed this part of the exam.

"Oh man. I only got 41 points. I thought for sure it would be more." Naruto sulked as he looked at his score.

"Cheer up Naruto. You did better than some of the others in class." Choji said as opened a snack. "Here. Have some chips."

The blonde boy reluctantly took a chip and chowed down.

"I was half expecting you to just pass by the skin of your teeth. But you got 41 points. So cheer up you dolt." Ino said as she and Sakura giggled looking at Sasuke.

"I guess. It was really tough. But I remembered what Daichi taught me during training last month and just went with it." Naruto said offhandedly but Ino's attention was instantly on Naruto.

"Wait, you've been training with Daichi last month?"

"Err… Yeah! He came to me one weekend and asked if I wanted to train with him. We went into the back hills and trained for a while. He taught me a few moves and I trained them."

"How could you not tell me? I mean us. How could you not tell us?" Ino started shaking the boy.

Shikamaru and Kiba had an idea as to what Naruto's answer might be and they silently motioned for Naruto to stop talking before he dug his own grave.

"I guess I kinda forgot. Oops." Naruto sheepishly chuckled and a vein throbbed on Ino's forehead as she saw Naruto's expression.

Shikamaru just groaned in exasperation while Kiba facepalmed at the dumb answer the blonde boy just gave.

Ino had a smile that sent shivers up Naruto's spine. "Why you…" But before she could do anything Sakura and Hinata quickly pulled her away.

"You really don't know when to stop talking, do you Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, letting out a tired sigh.

The boy grinned as he rubbed the back of his head. "It's a gift."

The Nara boy looked at his friend with a deadpan expression. "It really isn't."

As they were talking Iruka stepped in front of everyone and spoke about the next part of their exam.

"Now, we'll begin with your Taijutsu evaluation."