Chapter | XI |

Upon entering the spacious room, I was met with three instructors. One of them Iruka, the second guy Mizuki—Substitute teacher—and the third guy... Well, I have no clue who he is. Despite looking vastly different from each other, they shared the same bored look, as if they'd already anticipated the results and were ready to go home.

"Naruto Uzumaki, participant N°68. To graduate from the academy, one must do the three basic Jutsus taught by the academy. The Substitution Jutsu, The Transformation Jutsu, and the Clone Jutsu... However, there has been made an exception for you this year, mainly because in the past years your results have... Been very poor. So, the only requirement for you to pass the test is to perform one of any of the three Jutsus"

I nodded after Iruka finished the explanation, with a smile I found hard to distinguish between real and fake, he took the note lying on the desk. The other instructor just glanced at me, whilst Mizuki was staring at me with some sort of expectation hidden behind his eyes... What a weird guy.

Forming the Ram sign, I molded my Chakra. No longer than a second, with a cloud of smoke, a clone, completely identical to me spawned from thin air. Mizuki's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, whereas disbelief was written on both Iruka and the other teacher.

"Iruka Sensei... Do you see what I'm seeing"

"....Yeah"

I tried my best to make a poker face, but I couldn't help but crack a smile. A ghastly silence loomed over the spacious room, after a while, I decided to break the ice.

"So... I pass, right?"

With a shake of his head, Iruka regained his posture, but his eyes were still glued to me. Closing in, I grabbed my Headband, which was proof of being a shinobi, and strolled out of the room and then the academy.

As I exit from the enormous building, I was then met with the sound of hundreds of adults and children. Some were saddened, some happy, whilst some indifferent. Almost everyone's gaze drifted toward me as I stepped outside, their gaze slowly shifting toward the headband in my hand.

A toothy smirk crept up my lips, I couldn't help but feel proud, crushing their ego... Hah~ how exhilarating. I could feel and see the doubts in their eyes as they murmured.

"Whaaaat!!!??"

I could hear the ear-piercing scream of Sakura reverberant in the distance. Not wasting a moment, I jumped on a lamp and then parkoured my way to my home. On my path, I disguised myself and brought some tea leaves. Then within a minute or two, I was already at my apartment.

I wanted to reward myself. Closing the door, I went to take a shower. After drying myself, I put on a simple black T-shirt and light blue shorts. Then, after boiling water with the green tea leaves, I filtered out the tea and poured it into a cup.

Opening the door to my balcony, I sat on the edge. The sun at its zenith, the dazzling rays fell on the greenery in the next apartment. I lifted my cup toward the burning star and gestured cheers with the sun.

"To victory"

With a smile, I took a sip. Only a handful of times did I ever make tea, sometimes on my birthday, or whenever I accomplish something I desire. Then, I gazed at my hands. From god knows where, I had gained some muscles, I could feel the difference in strength now.

Even my body had developed, nobody would say all I ate was instant noodles all day. Afterall, without a proper diet and training, gaining muscles was far too good a dream. The prime example is me, I was skinny and weak, even the weakest in my class could make me bleed.

As I remembered my former physique, a chuckle escaped my lips. I was lazy as a Nara,

I would have ended up an obese person If I could stand still, however, with my hyperactive body, it was not possible.

Now though, that had come to an end. I woke up early, I trained daily, in fear of losing my strength and shape, I endured even after feeling like my muscles were burning.

Even before I knew it, the tea was empty. I grabbed the handle and swung it left and right in boredom. However, my senses suddenly jolted up, I felt drowsiness wash away, replaced by a sudden burst of adrenaline.

Someone was behind me.