Five - The thousand techniques shinobi, Hatake Kakashi 1

Naruto was smiling foolishly, I could see that grin from a mile away even without getting inside the classroom.

"Naruto, what are you doing?"

I asked curiously at his strange behavior. Perhaps because he was distracted, he almost didn't notice me there and his face stiffened a little before he turned toward me.

"Hehe, I was just thinking about the graduation test! I'm sure I can pass now that I've improved a lot! You also believe in me, right, Sakura-chan?" That foolish grin returned to his face as he kept daydreaming.

But can he? Thinking back on his grades... I gave him a side glance and shook my head. If only he listened to my advice and studied, perhaps then it could make up for his lack of skill in Ninjutsu.

"Sakura-chan, why don't you seat with me today?" I was just about to go down the stairs of the classroom and take sit on the row below when Naruto asked this.

I turned and looked at him strangely, it was the first time he asked something like this.

His face was bright and radiant as always, and his cheeks were a little red for some reason.

"Sure." I didn't think much and agreed.

It didn't matter where I sat anyway. I would always score 100% on every test whether I was at the back or the front of the class.

Meanwhile, on the row upstairs.

"Oi, oi! I said I got here first!"

"So what!? I was the one who wanted to sit next to him first!"

"You're not even worthy of my foot, how could I allow you to sit next to my Sasuke-kun?!" Ino started pushing the girls away as she forcefully stole the sit next to the bored Sasuke whose eyebrows twitched at how shameless those girls behaved.

Seeing Sasuke being so annoyed. Naruto started laughing. "Hahaha! What? Are you annoyed? Serves you right! That's what you got for beating me up! Hahahaha!"

Shikamaru the only other person who talked with Naruto in the class sighed. "Naruto, are you dumb? Why are laughing at him when we can't even get any attention from the girls?"

Naruto was shocked at this comment, he clearly felt like someone had put a bucket of cold water on his face while Sasuke merely smirked at that.

"Naruto, stop messing around."

I smashed his head because of his annoying behavior and he just cried silently on the side while mumbling that he would get back at Sasuke for fooling him again. I merely laughed at that and let him be.

After a while, Iruka-sensei came back and started writing the word test on the blackboard.

This word brought back some memories and made me sigh.

After the fight against Hinata, I was hospitalized for two days, during which Naruto came to visit me thrice and Ino came twice. That battle really injured me but I wasn't the only one, Hinata got the room on the other side and stayed there for a day less than me.

Looking around I found her at the back, and she was staring intently at me... no, wait, that's not right. Is she staring at Naruto?

Thinking about it, I guess it all makes sense now. Maybe Hinata has a crush on him... that would explain her outburst.

Not to mention...

---

"I'm sorry, Sakura-san." Hinata bowed slightly in the room. Her face still had a few bandages on some wounds but she had already healed a bit.

"For what?" I asked in confusion.

"I-I couldn't control my emotions and ended up h-hurting too much, it was wrong of me..." She lowered her head with sadness in her eyes. I could tell she was really bothered by what happened yesterday.

"O-oh! No worries, I don't blame you or anything. I can only blame myself for not being strong enough but still trying to challenge you."

Hinata nodded silently and we talked a little bit more before she left.

---

Sigh... how troublesome.

"Alright, this will be the last test to determine whether or not you will graduate." When one's name was called, the student had to go to the room next door to be evaluated by Iruka and Mizuki.

Ino summoned three clones but she wasn't the only one, Kiba, Hinata, Sasuke, and the others did it too.

Slowly, many people were called and asked to summon a clone using the Cloning Technique. Everyone did three or more

When my turn came, things also went pretty smoothly. Having trained a lot, I only needed two hand signs to use the technique. With a puff, three exact copies of myself appeared by my side.

"Alright, you passed," Iruka answered and I went back to my seat back at the classroom.

The question now was... would Naruto's grades allow him to pass this test? Why his grades? Well, after a year of hanging out with him, I knew for certain that he was horrible at using Ninjutsu, especially the Clone Technique which was the most complex one followed by the substitution technique.

Of all his techniques, the only one he seemed able to use perfectly was his so-called sexy jutsu.

Just thinking about made me angry at him.

"Naruto! You're next!"

Hearing his name being called, out he stood up and turned towards me.

"Haha! I'll be back soon, Sakura-chan!"

This guy... ah, he really has no sense of danger. I sighed at that and let him be, I could only hope that his training yielded some results.

...

The afternoon came quickly and Naruto was sitting downcast on the swing beneath the tree. I looked at him worriedly but there wasn't much I could do. Naruto's performance had indeed improved in the last year, but it didn't help that the final test was the clone technique, Naruto's worst technique.

"Naruto... you okay?"

He stared weakly at me, his lips quivered and I could see that his eyes were teary. "Y-yeah... i-it's no problem. I can try again next year... Y-you just don't forget to tell me what it's like, okay? I mean, wearing the headband and going on missions..."

Staring at him like that made me want to cry too.

Naruto lowered his head and stared down, his fists were shaking and his whole body was trembling. From afar we could hear those foul mouths speaking, slandering him.

"Look, it's that kid..." Someone whispered.

"Yeah, it's the boy. I heard he was the only one who failed."

"Humph serves him right, trash like him shouldn't even be allowed to study here."

"Tsk, he is still alive? Why didn't he die already?"

Each word was directed at Naruto but it stabbed at my heart too.

How heartless... how evil!

It was only then that I noticed, a small drop of water had hit the ground. Its source was... Naruto's teary eyes.

Is he crying?

Seeing him crying like that, I felt like my heart was about to break.

"Hm? S-sakura-chan?" Naruto lifted his head and was surprised by the warm embrace I gave him.

"Don't worry, Naruto," I whispered in his ear. "I'm sure you will be able to turn things around. Don't listen to those people, they don't know that you can defeat their children with one hand..."

Naruto shook even more at my words, closing his eyes, he accepted my hug and returned one of his own,

I could feel him crying even more, but I didn't mind that it was falling on my shirt. Just this once, I wanted to help someone just like Ino did with me when I was the one crying every day.

I'll be that one friend that will support you. So cheer on, Naruto!

After a while, just when Naruto had calmed down. Someone appeared behind us. Turning around, I saw that it was Mizuki Sensei.

"Yo, Sakura, Naruto."

"A-ah! Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed and we both looked at him.

"I see you're quite sad huh..." Mizuki asked seeing the marks the tears left behind on his face.

"I... yes..." Naruto answered quickly.

Nodding, Mizuki looked at me and smiled. "I see you have helped him. For that, you have my gratitude."

"O-oh, no, I mean... don't worry, I just helping my good friend." I smiled a little embarrassed at his compliment.

"If you don't mind, can you lend me Naruto for a bit? I have some good news for him."

"S-sure."

I answered and turned back to Naruto. "I'll see you tomorrow then, okay?"

"Alright..."

With that, we parted ways.

Hopefully, Mizuki's good news was related to his other grades, perhaps they would make an exception...