Exam

Naruto lay bored on his desk, watching the excited students in the classroom.

At the same time, a thought occurred to him: it seemed that in his first attempt at the exam, he had failed and ended up stealing the Scroll of Sealing, which successfully unlocked his cheat.

But the current Naruto was wondering whether he should intentionally fail the exam this time.

He felt it was unnecessary; having received the inheritance from his cheapskate father, he already possessed many ninjutsu in his memories, and even if he did steal the Scroll of Sealing, he wouldn't have much time to study it.

After some thought, he decided not to play along with this charade.

The method for graduating from the Ninja Academy was simple; the main content of the exam was the Three Basic Jutsu. If one could fully master the Substitution Technique, Clone Technique, and Transformation Technique, they could perfectly graduate from the Ninja Academy.

All of this might sound simple, and indeed, it was; for a ninja, these three were the basics of the basics.

Everything else would be taught slowly during actual combat, and for now, all they needed to do was demonstrate the basics.

The teachers in charge of the exam were three instructors from the Ninja Academy, sitting at the edge of the podium at the front, as students walked up one by one.

Each of them began to demonstrate the execution of these three basic skills, and without any surprises, everyone who went up passed the final exam.

Naruto went up in the middle of the pack, and as far as everyone was concerned, he was still just the class dead-last.

"Naruto Uzumaki, exam item: Clone Technique," Iruka said, drawing a slip and addressing Naruto.

Naruto walked up lazily; sure enough, it was just like the original story, with no changes, but the difference this time was that Naruto would definitely pass the exam.

He raised two fingers of his left hand in front of his chest and formed a seal.

"Clone Technique." Instantly, a Naruto Uzumaki appeared beside him.

He hadn't used this basic ninjutsu in so long that he almost slipped up, as he was already accustomed to using the Shadow Clone Technique, which created tangible clones. If he had used that here, he would definitely have been discovered, whereas the Clone Technique was merely an illusory clone—no matter how realistic, it couldn't be mistaken for the real thing.

"Naruto Uzumaki, pass. Well done, Naruto," Iruka said with a smile, handing over the headband that signified a Genin.

Naruto accepted it happily.

Everything proceeded smoothly.

In the final class, everyone graduated successfully and left for the day. Everyone was happily sharing the good news with their parents, and at the entrance of the Ninja Academy, many parents were nervously watching inside, waiting for their children to emerge.

Naruto, already accustomed to it, turned and vanished using the Body Flicker Technique; no one noticed his departure.

Just as he returned to his doorway, he saw an unfamiliar back, wearing a strange, large hat.

Sensing Naruto's return, the person turned around.

"Old Man Third, why are you here?" Naruto instantly adjusted his mood.

"I came to congratulate little Naruto on graduating."

Naruto spoke as he opened the door, and the Third Hokage followed him in. This wasn't the Third's first time here, and he sat on the sofa with practiced ease.

The Third personally delivered Naruto's monthly allowance every time.

Naruto naturally understood the man's purpose.

The two chatted for a while, and the Third presented a ninjutsu scroll.

After the Third left, Naruto opened the scroll.

[Multi-Shadow Clone Technique]

Seeing the name, he realized it was just as expected.

Some things had changed, while others had not.

The next day, Naruto woke up peacefully. He didn't need to get up early today as there were no classes; he only needed to wait for the team assignments.

He ate lazily. Knowing the results from the start, he couldn't muster any interest. After washing up, he specifically changed into a different outfit: a gray casual top printed with the emblem of the Uzumaki Clan, a white T-shirt underneath, and black cuffed pants, though he kept his previous sandals.

After dressing up, his overall appearance was quite different from before.

At the very least, he looked much cooler and significantly more casual.

After all, today was the day of graduation and team assignments, which could be considered the final day of his life at the Ninja Academy, so he had to look sharp.

He had plenty of time in the morning, as the team assignments weren't exactly urgent.

He had rested well the previous night and woken up early, so he spent the remaining time tidying up his room.

But at this moment, he could clearly perceive that not far from the perimeter of his home, someone had been observing him from a tree the entire time.

There wasn't much to clean in the room, just tidying up and taking out the trash.

Unhurried and calm, he arrived at the school, walked to the back row, and sat down to watch the others. Unlike Naruto, they were all extremely excited, already chatting away and guessing who they would be teamed up with.

Hinata had already arrived, sitting there looking somewhat sullen.

Naruto naturally knew why she was unhappy, but he couldn't help it; he scratched his head and just sat there. As for comforting girls, he really didn't know how.

Soon, Iruka entered, first rambling on with a bunch of nonsense before finally getting to the main point: the team assignments for the day.

"Team One..."

"Team Two..." Listening to the same team assignments as in the original story, Naruto let out a listless yawn.

"Team Seven, Naruto Uzumaki." Hearing his own name, Naruto only lifted his eyelids slightly. Next was Sakura Haruno.

"Hinata Hyuga, Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto blinked, feeling as though he must have misheard.

"Naruto-kun, we've been placed in the same squad." Hinata was the first to react. She turned her head, her Byakugan wide and adorable as she gazed at the still-dazed Naruto, her small face flushed red with excitement.

"Ah, yeah." Naruto hadn't fully processed it yet, his heart filled with shock. What is going on? How did this happen?

Though he appeared calm on the surface, he was actually quite flustered. For years, he had tried his best to follow the original trajectory of the story, fearing that he would lose his greatest advantage.

The other girls in the class were instantly dejected. Not being placed in the same squad as the Second Pillar left them all disappointed, especially Sakura Haruno and Ino.

"Then, please take care of me from now on, Naruto." Her large eyes curved into crescents.

"Please take care of me too." Finally snapping out of it, Naruto felt happy as well. He hadn't expected the Third Hokage to do something that actually went his way.

Within the Hyuga compound, Hiashi Hyuga let out a sigh.

The Second Pillar was also quite happy. He didn't know many people at the academy, but Naruto happened to be one of them. Furthermore, as a result of training together, he held Naruto's strength in high regard, so he was naturally pleased to become his teammate.