Academy Graduation

Hiroki had been studying Kushina's notes for four months already. He was able to unseal Minato's scroll and learned the jutsus inside in one week. Minato had sealed one scroll of each element inside. He learned water bullet, Phoenix fire and mud swamp jutsu with little effort. They went from C to B rank. After learning these jutsu, Minato asked Hiroki to perform them in combat and he did just that.

"Hiroki, how would you feel about taking the graduation exam in advance? You have already learned so much in little time and Kushina and I think the academy doesn't have anymore to offer you."

"Ni-san, I have actually been bored in the academy for a while. I'm making so much more progress learning from you two in a few minutes everyday other than the hours spent in the academy. Kakashi is also applying for the graduation test in advance. I guess it can be so bad."

"Good then. I'll go to the academy and ask them to give your graduation test in advance."

"Thank you, ni-san. After I graduate, will o get a sensei? I don't really know how it works if I graduate by myself."

"You don't have to worry about that. It's going to be taken care of." Minato assured.

———

At the Hokage's office, Minato was standing in front of Hiruzen.

"Minato, why have you asked for an advanced graduation exam for Hiroki?" Hiruzen asked.

"Hiroki has done exceptionally well and the academy doesn't have anything more to teach him. He is ready to become a shinobi."

"Minato, Hiroki is too young. I can't allow him to graduate now. Maybe next year."

"And how about Kakashi? He's applied for a graduation."

"Kakashi is Sakumo's son. Sakumo has been teaching him since he was 4 years old."

"So Kakashi has preference because of Sakumo? And since Hiroki is an orphan he is not allowed to graduate in advance? That's quite surprising. What's more surprising is that Hiroki has won every spar against Kakashi in the academy. Is he too young now?" Minato asked a little angry.

"I have not heard of this. If it is so, then I have no reason to not allow him to take the test." Hiruzen said.

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

Minato left the office and headed to tell Hiroki the news.

"Hiroki, your exam will be tomorrow at 8 in the morning. Don't be late. We'll be there watching and rooting for you." Minato said as he ruffled Hiroki's hair.

In the next morning, Hiroki had arrived at the academy in time for his test. They told him to go to the gymnasium and ther he saw Sakumo, Kakashi, Kushina, Minato and Hiruzen as well as many others.

"Today Kakashi Hatake and Hiroki will take the graduation test in advance. They will perform the academy three and any other ninjutsu of grade D or above. After that, they will each face a Genin. After that, the board of the academy as well as the Hokage will decide their results." A sensei from the academy said.

Kakashi went first and performed a Henge of his father. He then substituted himself with a wood log and lastly, he made a clone of himself.

It was Hiroki's turn now. He performed a henge of Minato then he substituted himself with a wood log. When it was time for the clone, he made three in total and they were all shadow clones. Only a few present were surprised by this.

"How did you learn this jutsu?" Hiruzen asked.

He and Sakumo were the only ones to spot the difference along with Kushina and Minato.

"Kushina ne-san taught it to me. She said I have a large chakra pool and no matter how hard I tried making the normal clone, I was never successful." Hiroki said.

Hiruzen could only look at Hiroki dumbfounded.

"Ahem. Moving on. Please perform any D rank jutsu or above you have learned." The academy sensei said.

Kakashi weaved some hand seals and performed [earth style: Mud wall]. The Hokage and the others present evaluating the test were quite pleased.

"You're up Hiroki." The sensei said.

Hiroki then stepped far from everyone else and then weaved three hand seals pretty fast. "[katon: Goukakyuu]." A fire ball twice larger than normal emerged in front of everyone else. In the crowd there were some shinobi from different clans, including one Uchiha. The Uchiha present had his mouth open. The Uchiha prided themselves for their greatness when using fire type jutsu and seeing a non Uchiha use the jutsu that they were most famed for better than himself hurt their pride.

"You both have proven yourselves more than worthy of the genin title. I can say that Konoha has not seen this type of talent in two decades. But since the test is not finished, let's continue with the fights against the genins." The academy sensei said.

Kakashi had a fight against an Inuzuka shinobi. He had a little bit of hard time in the beginning because of the dog and shinobi duo, but after he got used to them, he quickly finished the fight.

"Hiroki, you are the next one. Your opponent will be Chizu Hyuga. You can start whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready. We can start." Hiroki said and took his stance.

The Hyuga genin smirked at Hiroki. He was twice Hiroki's age and he thought that there was no way for him to lose. Even considering the amount of chakra Hiroki used with the fire jutsu, he still thought that he won't lose.

"I'll warn you, you better give up before you hurt yourself. I won't take easy on you." Chizu said. He got even angrier because Hiroki didn't even bother to answer him.

Hiroki stood in place with his arms at waist height and legs spread at shoulder length. Chizu got into the gentle fist stance and went for the first strike. He was confident enough to think tha Hiroki had no way to dodge his strike, only to be surprised when Hiroki countered his move. Hiroki grabbed his hand, used his force against him, twisted Chizu around and threw him onto the ground. The last thing Chizu saw was a kunai pointed toward his face before he fainted.

This fight utterly surprised those present. Kushina and Minato were in bliss. They knew Hiroki had immense talent and this fight just fortified the expectations they had on him.

Hiruzen didn't have words and felt ashamed when he remembered that he didn't want to let Hiroki take the graduation test. Sakumo was surprised as well. He knew Hiroki was just as talented as Kakashi, but he didn't expect the boy's talent to be greater than his son. The members of different clans were not less surprised. After almost one minute of silence Hiroki talked.

"Did I pass?"

"Ahem. Ahem. Kakashi and Hiroki, I congratulate you two and give you the title of genin of Konohagakure." Hiruzen said.

After that, everyone went to congratulate Hiroki and Kakashi. Hiruzen together with the academy principal handed their hitai-ate along with their shinobi certificate.

After everyone left, only Sakumo, Kushina and Minato stayed. Sakumo then gave Kakashi a short blade. He then looked at Hiroki.

"Hiroki, if in the future you need any help, come to the Hatake clan. I'll do my best to help you any way you need. It's a small thing to do to repay what you have done for me."

"Thank you Sakumo-san." Hiroki said.

———

Kushina and Minato then took Hiroki to the training ground they always practice.

"Hiroki, we want to congratulate you for becoming a genin. The youngest in history together with Kakashi. Minato and I prepared a gift for you. Here. This is a tanto from Uzushigakure. It was my original home before I came to Konoha. I want you to have it for the moments you need most. I can teach you kenjutsu if you'd like." Kushina offered.

"Ne-san. I can't thank you enough. I definitely want to learn kenjutsu from you." Hiroki said as he hugged kushina.

"Hiroki, before I give you this gift, I want to test something out." Minato said as he grabbed two of his kunai and placed one on each side of Hiroki, 10 meters away.

"You know what I use them for, right?" Minato asked and Hiroki nodded his head.

"I'll be teleporting to one of them three times. I want you to close your eyes and tell me to which one I'll be going before I teleport. Are you ready?"

"I'm ready." Hiroki said as he covered his eyes with his hitai-ate.

'I guess Minato felt I have space-time affinity and he wants to test how strong it is.

"I will start now. Just point to the one you think I'll teleport to."

The first trial, Hiroki felt a small force pulling on him from his right side so he followed his intuition and pointed to the kunai. The second trial, he felt the force pulling to his left side and he pointed to the corresponding kunai. For the third and final trial, hiroki didn't fell any pull on the kunais on his left and right side. He took out the kunai Minato had given him and held it in front of him. The pull was coming from it. Kushina looked at Minato as she was curious to know if Hiroki was able to perceive the fluctuations. Minato looked at her and smiled. He then went to Hiroki and put his hitai-ate back in place.

"Hiroki, you got all three right. I always suspected you had space-time affinity like me ever since we met. Here, this scroll contains the first part teaching what space-time affinity is and how to use space-time jutsu in close distances. As you comprehend these notes and are able to perform the teachings well, I'll hand you the next step for you to learn. But before that, give me some blood. I'll seal this scroll so that only you or me can open it. We don't want to take the risk of enemy shinobi finding this." Minato said.

"Thank you ni-san. I promise not to disappoint you two and I'll learn your teachings as fast as I can." Hiroki said as he took a slight bow towards the two.