Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

A/N: I would like to thank everyone who followed and favorited this story, as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

"So," Naruto asked, walking through the forest with Shikamaru at his side. "Who do you think will become a chunin first out of the two of us?"

"Out of the two of us? Probably you." Shikamaru responded. "Really?" Surprise was evident in Naruto's tone and a disbelieving look came across his face "You really think that? I might have fought more than you, but you made the smarter decision backing out of the competition where you knew the person was above your skill level. Or at least, the skills you're allowed to show." Naruto added as an afterthought. "That may be true, but you showed determination, as well as your stubbornness when not backing out of fight you'd gotten yourself into. Besides, the third loves you and he'll definitely want to promote you officially. And if Sasuke moves in ranks, so do we. And we both know that the council you never allow Sasuke to not move up the ranks."

"That's true." Naruto said before allowing the silence to engulf the both of them as they continued their stroll around the forest, both reminiscing about what had just recently taken place in the exams.

Ironically, Naruto saw Izuku on his way to the entrance exams, and they decided to walk together. While they never got the chance to train together, they both remained friendly to each other and had the occasional conversation when they saw one another. Neither talked much though, Naruto decided to leave Izuku to his muttering as soon as they started walking together, Izuku never stopping even when he lifted a hand in greeting.

When they both arrive at the U.A. grounds, Naruto noticed that Izuku seemed to become more and more nervous as the mindless chattering went on around them. Keeping a blank look on his face, Naruto left Izuku and started walking around sizing up his completion. Naruto knew, especially from personal experience, that you should never judge a book by its cover. However, Naruto wanted to see how much power he thought he was going to have to use, and then how much he would actually use (a gauge to see how much his shinobi training has been paying off and to critique what needs to be fixed, courtesy of Jiraiya.)

Naruto then turned around when he felt something stirring between everyone. He then saw a blond kid with blood red eyes and a grumpy face marching his way inside the building, and everyone was muttering around him. "Is that the sludge villain kid?"

"Yeah I think it is."

"What was his name again?"

"I think Bakugou was his name."

'Great.' Naruto thought to himself. 'I think we have another problem kid on our hands.'

'You could say that again kit.'

'Oh, hey Kurama. How have you been, you haven't spoken up in a while.' While Naruto still didn't get along the greatest with the fox demon inside of him, they were slowly becoming close and sharing their thoughts openly enough, but they were more acquaintances now, but a friendship was on the way. The fox would occasionally speak up whenever he wasn't napping to give Naruto his insight on what was happening, this doesn't mean it was always useful though. 'I've been fine kit, just trying to get used to this new land still. Both of our chakra systems are still fluctuating and trying to get used to the chakra imbalance from here compared to our home. It shouldn't cause you any problems today, especially with all of the control exercises you've been doing, but it has been taking a toll on me.'

'Don't worry Kurama, Jiraiya said that this should only last a little longer for us before both of our systems sort themselves out.' And with that, the mental conversation was up but the connection was still there as Naruto found a seat and waited for the instructions to start.

Soon enough, Present Mic appeared, and Naruto hoped he would start explaining the exams soon. Jiraiya had cut down on his ramen intake and said he could have two bowls tonight if he completes the exam without any suspicion.

"Let's talk about how this practice exam is gonna go down okay?" Present Mic said, as he began the presentation. "Like your application said, today you rockin' boys and girls will be out there conducting mock battles in supper hip urban settings! After I drop the mic here, you'll head to your specified battle center, sound good? Okay, okay, let's check out your targets. There are three types of faux villains in every battle center. You'll earn points based on their level of difficulty so better choose wisely. Your goal in this trial is to use your quirk to raise your score by shredding these faux villains like a mid-song guitar solo. But, check it! Make sure you're keep'n things heroic. Attacking other examines is a U.A. no-no, ya dig?" Present mic was about to continue on explaining the rules when a blue haired boy with glasses and engines in his legs spoke up.

"Excuse me, sir, but I have a question."

"Hit me!" Is what present mic said in response to the boy. "On the printout, you've listed four types of villains. Not three. With all respect, if this is an error on official U.A. materials, it is shameful. We are exemplary students. We expect the best from Japan's most notable high school. A mistake such as this won't do. Additionally, you with the unkempt hair. You've been muttering this entire time. Stop that. If you can't bother to take this seriously, leave. You're distracting the rest of us."

Izuku, now looking the most embarrassed he's ever been, clamped a hand over his mouth and muttered sorry. 'Damn,' Naruto thought to himself. 'That sure as hell is one good way to call someone out. Borderline brutal.'

Bringing the attention back to himself, Mic settled the crowd down. "All right, all right. Examinee number 7-1-1-1. Thanks for calling in with your request. The fourth villain is worth zero points. That guys just an obstacle we'll be throwing your way. There's one in every battle center. Think of it as a hurdle you should try to avoid. It's not that it can't be beaten, but there's…kinda no point. I recommend my listeners try to ignore it and focus on the one's topic the charts."

The blue haired boy, who happened to still be standing, proceeded to bow and told Present Mic, "Thank you very much, Please, continue." before sitting down. "That's all I got for you today. I'll sign off with a little present. A sample of our school motto! As general Napoleon Bonaparte once laid down. 'A true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes.' Mn-hm. Now that's a tasty soundbite. You ready to go beyond? Let's hear a Plus Ultra! Good luck! Hope you practiced hitting more than just books!"

Looking down at his card, Naruto saw that he was at battle center C. He left with the crowd, blending in, and tried to find his way to the battle center.

As Naruto waited outside off his battle ground for the exam to start, he continued making final judgments of the people around him and seeing what he would be competing against. Off to his right, Naruto saw a boy that had a raven head. Something that had put him off a little bit, but it was a dead giveaway of what his quirk was. It had something to do with birds. Whether this gave him bird-like abilities, allowed him to summon them, or anything else related to birds, Naruto was unsure as he had yet to see it in action. On his left. Naruto saw a girl that seemed to resemble a frog. 'Not a toad.' He thought to himself. 'Calling a frog, a toad is an insult to toads everywhere, Ma and Pa have told me this many times.' The girl had her tongue sticking out of her mouth, but not in a weird way that made her seem crazy, and her face had similar characteristics to one of a frogs. Naruto thought that her quirk could be one that age her frog-like abilities, he just wasn't sure which abilities of a frog these would be and how strong they were.

Naruto had to pause his musings however when he heard present mic on the overhead speakers. "Right let's start!" He said. "Get moving!" At this, everyone around him started to look confused as Naruto started to ready himself for the upcoming mock-battle exam. "There are no countdowns in real battles. Run, run, run, listeners! You're wasting airtime here!" With that being said, everyone started to rush into the battlefield at the same time. The battle to get into U.A. had begun.

Running through the battlefield, Naruto observed his surroundings. And he admitted to himself that he had to give his one to the school. He had no clue how much this would cost, but it really did look like some regular old city that you would see in Japan. The stores were completed with clothing items and everything. U.A. really went all out for these mock battles. He was not able to get a closer look inside the buildings before a two-pointer robot came smashing through the side of a store and starred Naruto down.

On his registration forms to get into the school, Naruto had put his quirk down as an energy enhancer, which meant that he would have to be cautious about how we went about destroying the robots. Most students hadn't had much real training, so they would mainly stick to using the same 2 or 3 moves to destroy the robots. For the simple two-pointer, Naruto simply jumped up and smashed it in the face before it had time to react. 'Simple. But the staff are watching, so I cannot take one out as quickly next time.' Naruto thought to himself, before running further up the street in search for more mock-robot villains.

The next robot that Naruto encountered was a three-pointer. The robot locked his laser eye with him before saying the words "target acquired. An attack is currently commencing." Before his arms started extending and various weapons were pointed at him. Naruto quickly ran at him and ducked under one of his arms that was preparing for an attack. Naruto then grabbed onto the arm and ripped it off the robot's body before punching him in the face like he had done to the previous robot. 'Two down, which one is next?' Thought Naruto, before running further into the mock-city.

Naruto had gathered himself 58 points, which he thought would be enough to get him into 1-A, before he felt the ground start to shake. Naruto heard screaming and the sound of people running out of the battle grounds before they looked up and saw the biggest robot he had seen yet. Immediately recognizing this as a zero-pointer, Naruto had contemplated on what to do with himself. He had seen another contestant under some rubble with the robot looking down at him, when it finally clicked in Naruto's mind as to why this robot was thrown into the exam. It was to test people's character. A hero not only destroyed the villains, but they also rescued people from them. It was also there to show that in real-life, there is no score sheet for which villains you take down, as saving everyone should be a hero's top priority, not the score at the end of the battle.

"Two minutes left!" Naruto heard present mic say over the speakers as he debated on what to do. Naruto knew that saving the student under the rubble from the robot would cause unnecessary attention to himself that could interfere with the mission, but Naruto did not think he could live with himself if he just ran in the opposite direction when no one else was helping even if it was an exam and heroes were watching. He was about to rush in and save the fellow examinee himself, when he saw another person running in to save the day. It was then when Naruto turned around and started to run with the crowd in the opposite direction. Naruto however did take one final glance over his shoulder and saw that the robot was being destroyed. Naruto started to run faster towards the exit.

"And that's it. Times up!" Present mic announced this over the speakers before everyone immediately came to a halt. Causing Naruto to almost crash into the person in front of him. Almost. He is a shinobi after all.

After the exams were over, Naruto waited outside of the gates for Izuku for an hour, but he never showed up. Naruto figured that he got injured but wanted to double check. Sneaking back onto the campus and into the infirmary, which wasn't terribly difficult to do since he had been studying the alarm systems and structure of U.A. since he had arrived, he looked through the door to see Izuku laying down on one of the beds, sleeping. He did, however, look fine so Naruto began the journey back to his apartment.

A/N: So what did y'all think of this chapter? I tried t make it longer per request but I hope it isn't too long for y'all. Continue to tell me when you think Shikamaru should enter this story, as well as who you think Naruto should end up with later in the story. Would y'all be interested in a poll for who Naruto should end up with or no? And who should Naruto befriend in class 1-A later?

Updated: 5/8/20