Choices Revealed by the Early Graduation List

"Early graduation?"

Naruto leaned over the notice board and read the date at the top from beginning to end.

"Three months from now, anyone who passes becomes a genin directly and can take missions. I'm signing up!"

Iruka grabbed him by the collar from behind.

"Hand in yesterday's report first."

"Why would I still need to write reports after graduating?"

"If you fail the exam, your reports will be doubled."

Naruto clung to the edge of the notice board, his soles dragging two streaks across the floor.

"You're threatening a future genin."

"The future genin stole lunch with the Shadow Clone Technique yesterday, then stuffed the empty box into Kiba's desk."

Kiba squeezed through the crowd with Akamaru in his arms.

"So that box really was yours."

"Do you have proof?"

"Akamaru sniffed it out."

"Yesterday, he followed the smell of jerky into the girls' changing room."

Akamaru poked his head out from Kiba's collar and barked twice at Naruto.

The classroom entrance quickly became a packed knot of bodies.

Chiba stood at the very back. After reading the exam guidelines, he returned to his seat.

The assessment included a written test, ninjutsu, taijutsu, and a wilderness mission. Those who met the requirements would undergo another evaluation by a jonin instructor.

Three months was enough time for Root to adjust its arrangements.

As long as he remained in the academy, Iruka and the Third Hokage could still block some of their methods.

Once he graduated early, mission routes, teammate assignments, and jonin instructors could all become new ropes around him.

Sasuke walked back from the notice board and pressed an application form onto Chiba's desk.

"You'll participate."

"A question?"

"I wasn't asking."

"Then take it away."

"Are you afraid of facing me early?"

Chiba opened his textbook without looking at the form.

"Pass first."

"I'll take first place."

"Good luck."

Sasuke pushed the form forward another half inch.

"If you don't participate, there's no point in me taking first."

"You can compete with Naruto."

Naruto shouted from the back row.

"I heard that, Sasuke! Just wait until you lose!"

Sasuke turned to look at him for two breaths, then turned back.

"I take back what I said."

Iruka tapped the podium.

"Everyone, return to your seats. Early graduation requires the student's application, a guardian's signature, and a recommendation from an instructor. Missing even one means you can't apply."

Naruto raised his hand.

"What if I don't have a guardian?"

"The Hokage's Office will review it."

"What about Chiba?"

"He signs for himself as the Senju Clan head."

The chatter in the classroom faded for a moment.

Several gazes fell on Chiba, but he continued reading the exam rules.

Naruto dragged his chair closer.

"Signing for yourself is way too convenient."

"You can start a clan yourself."

"The Uzumaki Clan already exists."

"Then sign for yourself."

Iruka rapped Naruto on the forehead with a piece of chalk.

"Don't teach him to fool around."

"Chiba taught me."

"I can hear you."

By lunch break, half the application forms had already been taken.

Most students only wanted to bring them home for their parents to see. Very few actually met the recommendation requirements.

Shikamaru sat beside Chiba with his lunchbox, pushing a half-eaten tomato into the corner of it.

"You're planning to take the exam, right? Stop pretending. You've been strong enough for a long time."

"I haven't submitted a form."

"Since second period, you've calculated the minimum passing scores for all four tests three times."

"Twice."

"You wrote the other time under the desk."

Chiba closed his notebook.

"What about you?"

Shikamaru picked up the tomato with his chopsticks, then put it back down.

"What a drag. But my mom said she'd cut off my allowance if I don't take it."

A faint laugh escaped through Chiba's nose.

Shikamaru looked up at him.

"Did you just laugh?"

"No."

"I heard it."

"The tomato clogged your ears."

"Clogged ears don't affect my eyesight."

Chiba moved a piece of grilled meat from his lunchbox over, covering the tomato.

"Eat."

"Trying to plug my mouth with meat?"

"Want it?"

"Yeah."

The two ate quietly for a few bites before Shikamaru took out the exam form again and spread it over his knees.

"What place are you aiming for?"

"Passing."

"Tell the truth."

"Excellent."

"Still a lie."

Chiba looked toward the training ground. Sasuke was testing new throwing angles, while Naruto lay atop the wall and waved at the ramen stand outside the academy.

"First place means everyone will watch you."

"They're already watching you."

"No need to let them see more clearly."

"So you'll hide half your strength in the wilderness mission, hide twenty percent in taijutsu, and only use academy-taught ninjutsu?"

"More or less."

Shikamaru bit into the meat and only spoke again after chewing it down.

"What if the examiners deliberately give you a strong opponent?"

"I'll win in an ugly way."

"You've even calculated how to win ugly?"

"Injuries, chakra exhaustion, then a narrow victory at the end."

"That sounds more tiring than simply winning."

"That's why you're suited to losing."

"My mom would break my legs."

Shikamaru folded the application form and tucked it into his pocket.

"Then I'll aim for excellent too. Don't hand first place to me."

"You could sleep through the exam."

"That's not a bad idea."

Before afternoon class ended, Iruka called Chiba into his office.

Two applications were already on the desk. One came from the Ninja Academy, while the other had no letterhead, its corner stamped with Root's usual dark pattern.

"You haven't even applied, but Root has already prepared a recommendation letter for you."

"Tear it up."

"I want to."

Iruka brushed the brace on his left shoulder with the back of his hand. The meridians around the wound had yet to recover.

"Lord Hokage ordered it kept. He wants to know which team Danzo intends to place you in."

"So you want me to participate?"

"The decision is yours."

"I'll participate."

Iruka raised his head.

"Why?"

"After graduation, I can leave the village."

"You're still thinking about the wanted list."

"Just analyzing."

"That file on Yaqu has already been withdrawn. He died at the Land of Fire border last night, and someone hung his body beside the trade road."

"Who killed him?"

"Iron Claw."

Iruka took a new bulletin from the drawer, keeping his palm pressed firmly over it.

"A rogue ninja at near-special-jonin level. He specializes in Earth Release and a steel-hardening taijutsu, and he has four bounty hunters with him. Stay away from him."

"Give me the file."

"No."

"Then I'll copy it in the archives."

"They're changing the locks in the archives starting today."

"What about the windows?"

"Those too."

Two knocks sounded outside the door.

Yotsuki entered carrying a medicine box. The wound on his right wrist had already been rebandaged.

"The medical department asked me to change Iruka-sensei's dressing."

"Put it on the desk."

Iruka still held down the bulletin.

"You two aren't taking this paper out today."

Yotsuki opened the medicine box, revealing the corner of an identical wanted poster at the very bottom.

Chiba saw it but did not reach for it.

After the dressing was changed, the two left the office one after the other.

At the stairway corner, Yotsuki slipped a folded sheet of paper into Chiba's textbook.

"Danzo asked me to persuade you to participate."

"He wants to transfer me out of the academy."

"The jonin instructor has already been chosen."

"Who?"

"Kinoe."

"And then?"

"The first mission will pass by the old shrine on the eastern side. You'll be attacked along the way, Kinoe will save you once, and then make you owe Root your life."

"The same old method."

"He said a method only needs to work."

Chiba unfolded the wanted poster. Iron Claw's movements over the past month had all been marked out.

"Where did this come from?"

"The pharmacy took an order for wound medicine from a border caravan. The deliveryman brought it back."

"Does Danzo know you gave it to me?"

"No."

"Have you picked the place to cut?"

Yotsuki shifted the empty medicine case to his left hand.

"Not yet. I just don't want to deliver the antidote again."

Chiba slipped the wanted poster into his textbook and continued downstairs.

"This weekend, I'm going to the training grounds outside the clan."

"Iruka won't approve two days."

"He only needs to approve the first day."

"What about the second?"

"Got lost."

Yotsuki watched his back.

"You're going to look for Iron Claw?"

"Just taking a look."

"Every time you say you're just looking, you come back covered in blood."

"Not necessarily this time."

"I'll prepare hemostatic medicine for you."

"Add enough for five people."

That night, the wanted poster Iruka had confiscated was missing its border map, while Chiba's pack had gained five empty sample bottles.