Graduation Exam

Time flew by.

By the count of days, the graduation exam would be tomorrow.

"Childhood...!"

On the rooftop, Naruto and the others lay there, gazing at the sky.

This childhood was really like sand. No matter how hard he tried to grasp it, it slipped away the moment he let his guard down.

Fortunately, this childhood had been far happier than his previous life.

"Naruto!"

Iruka-sensei's shout came from below.

Naruto poked his dog head over the edge. Beside him, Sasuke, Choji, Shikamaru, Kiba, and the others poked their heads out one after another as if they were lined up.

For a moment, five fake dog heads and one real dog head looked down below.

Oh, right. He had forgotten Shino. There was one more of him.

"Come down." Iruka beckoned.

"Coming!"

Without another thought, Naruto jumped straight down.

Naruto maintained a basic level of respect for Iruka-sensei, who often treated him to ramen and sincerely cared about him.

Other than the Third Hokage, Iruka was the second adult to accept him.

"School's over. You all should head home first," Iruka said to the others behind Naruto.

"Goodbye, sensei. See you tomorrow, Naruto."

"Goodbye, Iruka-sensei~ Goodbye, Naruto~"

Everyone said their farewells.

Seeing Iruka send the others away, Naruto suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Sensei, I have... something to do at home. How about I head back first..."

Naruto turned to leave, but Iruka called after him. "Stop right there, Naruto! You got into trouble and still want to run?"

"What trouble, Iruka-sensei?"

"You've already forgotten what you did?"

Forgotten?

No, there had just been too many things.

During his childhood and his time at the Ninja Academy, the number of side quests had actually been fairly ordinary. They had mostly been pranks and the like.

Who knew that as graduation drew closer, all sorts of side quests would pop up in increasingly strange ways?

There had been so many side quests lately that Naruto could barely keep track of them all.

Some of them really had not been particularly harmless. Iruka was asking him to confess now, but Naruto did not dare.

What if he exposed something that had not been discovered yet? Wouldn't that be terrible?

"Iruka-sensei, give me a hint."

Iruka said nothing, merely looking toward Hokage Rock.

So that's what this is about.

Naruto remembered, but this did not even count as a quest.

Painting Hokage Rock had merely been something he did on the side. If he did not paint it once a week, his compulsive tendencies would act up.

If he had to say it, there was actually a reason Naruto had kept doing this.

Personally changing Hokage Rock was a historic event. The reward for it was absolutely enormous, and Naruto had coveted it for a long time.

But the Third Hokage would not give him the chance.

So Naruto could only quietly paint it once a week, making the villagers realize how beautiful the Hokage Rock carvings could be under his brush, beautiful in all kinds of styles.

Weren't those lifelike Hokage Rock carvings far better than these lousy stones?

That Third Old Man was really stubborn!

"The Hokage has ordered you to clean it all up by the end of today," Iruka-sensei informed him.

"I've come down with an illness that prevents me from cleaning anything~"

Iruka-sensei blew up. "Go clean it up properly!"

"Fine."

Naruto sighed, then sincerely sought Iruka's support. "Iruka-sensei, don't you think Hokage Rock looks better painted like this than as bare stone?"

Iruka scratched his head awkwardly before finally praising him sincerely. "What you painted does look better than bare stone."

"Right?"

Naruto immediately suggested, "How about we sign a joint petition and ask the Third Hokage to listen to our opinions? As long as enough people support us..."

"Naruto!"

Iruka interrupted Naruto's fantasy. "This isn't something we can decide so easily. If you still want to replace them in the future, wait until you become Hokage."

Naruto shot Iruka a speechless glance.

Wait until I became Hokage? That would take forever.

The Third Hokage might be old, but the old man was still incredibly healthy.

Seeing Naruto's unwilling expression, Iruka decided to offer him a carrot. "If you can clean it up before evening, I'll treat you to ramen."

"Fine."

"Fine? That's all?"

"Yay!~" Naruto cheered under duress.

The next day, on the day of the graduation exam.

All the students gathered in the classroom. Naruto swept his eyes over them and counted around thirty people.

If he remembered correctly, there had been ninety students in the entire grade at the entrance ceremony six years ago. Now, only these people remained.

It seemed the path of a ninja was quite difficult as well.

Two-thirds of them had failed to become ninja and had been forced to leave school midway.

Yet he, Uzumaki Naruto, the Ninja Academy's famously foolish student, had stumbled his way through it all.

All he could say was that he had controlled his scores well.

"We will now begin the graduation exam. Those whose names are called will come to the room next door. This time, the test is the Clone Technique. Please prepare yourselves," Iruka-sensei announced shortly afterward.

Then, one student after another was called next door for the exam.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

"I'm here!"

Naruto shouted and ran next door.

The next room was very spacious. The desks and chairs had been moved away for the exam, and Naruto's group had helped move them yesterday.

Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei sat behind a desk. Lined up on it were ninja forehead protectors, symbols of Konoha ninja identity.

Naruto eyed them eagerly.

Damn it, the six-year main quest was finally about to be completed.

"Naruto, hurry up," Iruka-sensei urged.

He understood Naruto. Naruto's grades were not great, but the Clone Technique was definitely no problem for him, and neither was graduation.

"Okay!"

Ram → Snake → Tiger.

Clone Technique.

Poof~

Three lifelike clones instantly appeared around Naruto.

After exchanging a few words with Mizuki, Iruka decisively passed him.

The moment Naruto received the forehead protector from Iruka-sensei, he actually felt the urge to cry.

A full six years! How many six-year periods did a person have in life?

Wait, wouldn't the next main quest be to make him become Hokage outright?

They might as well kill him!

"Hand in your ninja registration form tomorrow, and don't forget to come to the briefing the day after tomorrow," Iruka-sensei reminded him.

"Got it." Naruto waved goodbye.

"That kid." Watching Naruto turn and leave right away, Iruka sighed uneasily.

The moment he stepped outside, Naruto narrowed his eyes.

There was something off about the way Mizuki-sensei looked at him.

There was malice in it.

He had seen this kind of malice plenty of times in the village. But Mizuki-sensei had seemed pretty nice normally, so why had he suddenly changed?

He could only say Mizuki had hidden it too deeply.

Just like Naruto himself, he was too good at hiding things.

But those days were about to become a thing of the past.

The days when he needed to keep hiding his strength were finally over. Starting today, he, Uzumaki Naruto, would thoroughly show the world what a true genius was!

Wait.

"Why hasn't this main quest been completed yet?" Naruto checked the panel. The main quest still showed as in progress.

He should ask the dog-head strategist.

Shikamaru explained, "This only counts as graduating from the academy. You have to be acknowledged by your team leader before you truly become a Genin."

So that was it.

"Hey, Naruto, come take a picture!"

"Okay, coming!"

Click~

The group photo was taken.

In the photo, Naruto wore his forehead protector on his brow and flashed a brilliant smile.

Thank you all for your support. Thank you to every reader for your recommendation votes and readership support; they are a huge help to the book's performance. There will be another update tonight.

One more note: aside from necessary characters, I will not boringly repeat the original plot. The further it goes, the greater the alterations will become.