The impromptu observation class in the clearing had no desks, nor any roster someone had secretly tampered with.
Four lines had been drawn in white powder along the edge of the playground. Wooden posts, sandbags, small bells, and three recording boards were laid out in order. Wind blew in from the other side of the training ground, scattering the powder lines a little. The air smelled green from crushed blades of grass, mingled with the faint warmth of wooden posts that had sat in the sun all morning.
Iruka hung the new roster on a rope. Both ends were knotted, and an academic affairs seal had been stamped beside each knot. The Recorder stood nearby, holding not the old register but a large blank form. Across the top were the words: record on the spot, verify on the spot.
When Naruto saw those words, even his steps slowed a fraction.
"No one will be called away separately today," Iruka said. "Every exercise will be completed here. You'll be able to see your own performance, and the record of it."
Some students breathed easier; others grew more nervous. Being watched openly was not necessarily comfortable, but at least no one was writing things down in the shadows.
The first exercise tested body control. Students had to run from the starting point to the wooden posts, weave around all three, then stop inside the white line without stepping over it. It looked simple, but it was easy to lose balance in practice. The first few students either overshot or swung their shoulders too widely as they rounded the posts. As soon as a bell rang, their faces flushed.
Naruto was somewhere in the middle of the line. He stared at the bells as if they were enemies.
"Don't pick a fight with