Graduation Day

##Hokage's Office##

"Old man," Naruto said, "I think I found one of Orochimaru's old bases."

The Hokage cried out in surprise, "What?"

Naruto continued:

"While carrying out a mission, I dug up a metal door in a field. After opening it, I found the smell of snakes filling the place, with corpses everywhere."

"ANBU!" At the old Hokage's command, a masked ANBU immediately appeared before him and knelt to await orders.

"Go summon Ibiki and Anko."

"Yes, Lord Hokage." The ANBU vanished in a puff of smoke.

The Hokage turned to Naruto and asked:

"Are you the original?" Naruto shook his head and said that the original was still guarding the entrance to the base, preventing anyone from entering.

"Then have him keep guarding it until Anko and Ibiki arrive, then return and report immediately," the Hokage ordered.

Naruto nodded, and the Shadow Clone vanished.

Inside Orochimaru's base, Naruto continued his inspection when the Shadow Clone's memories suddenly flooded into him. He stopped, gathered his thoughts, then headed for the entrance.

A few minutes later, a man and a woman appeared before him.

The man was tall, dressed in traditional black ninja pants and a black jacket, with several scars on his face. Naruto recognized him as Konoha's special jonin and the commander of the Interrogation Department, Ibiki Morino.

The woman was around 167 centimeters tall, wearing a full set of mesh armor with a short skirt and a long coat that barely covered her large D-cup breasts.

Naruto turned to the woman. "I'm guessing you're Anko."

"That's right! I'm the sexy and single Anko Mitarashi!" She happily raised a fist, making Naruto a little awkward.

"I happened to discover this base while carrying out a D-rank mission. After exploring it, I found that it belonged to Orochimaru, so I informed the Hokage. My mission is complete. I'll leave the rest to you." With that, Naruto headed toward the Hokage's office.

Back at the Hokage's office, Naruto saw the Hokage deep in thought. Naruto guessed it was related to Orochimaru. After all, Orochimaru had been one of the Hokage's proudest students—a genius who had ultimately been consumed by ambition.

"I'm back, old man."

"You said you were short on money and wanted to take on some D-rank missions, yet you ended up finding my old student's laboratory."

Naruto nodded.

The Hokage continued:

"Since you discovered it, I'm upgrading this mission to S-rank. You must not tell anyone about anything you saw or found. Understood?" the Hokage said sternly.

"Yes, Lord Hokage," Naruto answered like a proper ninja, making the Hokage smile faintly.

"Then I'm off. See you, old man."

Four years passed. Naruto and Hinata were both fourteen now, and today was their graduation day.

Hinata's taijutsu, as well as Naruto's ninjutsu and taijutsu, had all reached jonin level.

Gentle sunlight illuminated the room. Naruto woke to find Hinata sleeping peacefully on his chest.

Naruto gently kissed her forehead. She slowly woke up and yawned, feeling Naruto softly stroke her hair. She buried her face in his chest, and Naruto smiled.

"Hinata," he said, "we need to get up. Don't forget that today is graduation day." As he spoke, he sent a Shadow Clone to prepare breakfast.

"I don't want to get up," she pouted. "You're my pillow now."

"Get up, my princess." He rolled over on top of her and kissed her neck.

"Alright," she said with a sweet smile.

They got up and began getting dressed.

Naruto was now around 165 centimeters tall.

Hinata Hyuga was slightly shorter than him.

"Breakfast is ready," the clone said.

After breakfast, they headed toward the academy.

Before long, they arrived, and the classroom gradually filled with students. Then Sasuke Uchiha entered, naturally followed by a large group of crazed fans. Sasuke glanced around the classroom and spotted Hinata and Naruto. He paid them no attention, walking to the front row and taking a seat by the window so he could look outside when he got bored.

Soon, jonin instructor Iruka Umino entered the classroom as well.

"Good morning, students," he said. After looking over the classroom and seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he shouted, "Quiet!"

"As you all know," Iruka began, "today is your graduation exam. After today, those who pass will become Konoha ninja. We'll begin with the written test, followed by weapons, taijutsu, and finally ninjutsu."

"Let's begin." Iruka started handing out the test papers. When he reached Naruto, Mizuki smiled with a sly expression. Mizuki was Iruka's assistant, and like many others, he hated Naruto. Naruto sensed that something was wrong with his paper, so he secretly activated his Sharingan and discovered that genjutsu had been placed on it.

He formed a half-Tiger hand sign and thought, Release. The genjutsu was dispelled, revealing the real test paper. Naruto began filling in his answers and finished twenty minutes later, as did Hinata.

"Alright, students, time's up," Iruka said. Mizuki stood and began collecting the papers. Afterward, the students moved to the training ground for the weapons test.

"Alright, students, there are ten kunai and ten shuriken here. You must throw them and hit the targets," Iruka explained.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Iruka called.

Sasuke's fans shouted:

"Sasuke is the best!"

"Sasuke, show them!"

Hinata rolled her eyes at the sight, thinking, They call themselves ninja, but Sasuke doesn't care about them at all.

Sasuke skillfully picked up the weapons and threw the kunai and shuriken at the same time. Every kunai struck the bullseye precisely, while only one shuriken missed.

"Good job, Sasuke," Iruka praised. "Nineteen out of twenty."

The female fans immediately erupted.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Iruka called.

Naruto simply picked up the weapons and shrugged. He secretly infused them with a little Lightning Chakra so they would stick to the wooden targets, then threw them all out. Every single one struck the bullseye precisely.

Iruka was dumbfounded.

"E-Excellent, Naruto. A perfect score of twenty."

Naturally, the fans began shouting that Naruto had cheated, while Sasuke merely sneered.

"Hinata Hyuga," Iruka called.

Hinata stepped forward as well, picked up the weapons without hesitation, and threw them effortlessly—every one hit the bullseye!

Iruka was stunned.

"What's going on today? Hinata wasn't good with weapons before."

After congratulating Hinata, Iruka finished testing the other students and moved on to the taijutsu exam.

"Alright, students, for the next test, you'll defend against Mizuki's attacks."

Iruka explained. "Naruto Uzumaki!" Iruka called.

Finally, I can make a move against that monster, Mizuki thought to himself.

Seeing the twisted grin on Mizuki's face, Naruto decided to make him suffer. He took a stance, knees bent, right foot slightly forward, right palm extended toward his opponent, and his left arm curved near his waist.

Iruka's eyes widened when he recognized the stance.

"B-But that's the Gentle Fist stance."