Undercurrents Beneath the Graduation Exam Hall

"Is Naruto the only target?"

Yotsuki glanced at the second floor of the dormitory, his fingers still resting on the medicine box strap.

"I only heard Mizuki's name and the Scroll of Seals. Lord Danzo had people guard the northern woods and wait for Naruto to take the thing out."

"Where's the capture site?"

"I don't know. If I'd asked one more question, I wouldn't be standing here now."

Water in the drainage ditch flowed around the rocks as Yotsuki took half a step back.

"Chiba, don't let Naruto leave the school tomorrow. Even breaking his legs is fine."

"What is Mizuki doing?"

"Making sure he can't graduate, then giving him a way to graduate."

"Tampering with the exam?"

"Mizuki is in charge of registering the practical exam results. I didn't hear the details."

Someone turned over upstairs in the dormitory, and a bedframe creaked through the window.

Yotsuki shifted the medicine box to his right hand.

"Half a quarter-hour is up."

"What will you do after going back?"

"Pretend I was never here tonight."

"Will the Cursed Seal check your memories?"

"Lord Danzo isn't free enough to inspect everything everyone has done, but if the plan fails, someone will have to explain."

Yotsuki touched the base of his tongue, then turned and walked into the alley.

"Don't look for me, and don't follow me. I don't want to replace another tooth."

When Chiba returned to the dormitory, Naruto was still leaning by the window.

"Where did you go?"

"The drainage ditch."

"What's there?"

"Rats."

Naruto leaned out and looked down twice.

"After the exam tomorrow, I'll help you catch them. But if we catch any, you have to treat me to ramen."

"Pass first."

"Why are you saying that too? I practiced the Clone Technique ten times tonight already."

The blankets on the bed opposite rustled.

Sasuke turned over, revealing only half his face.

"Ten lopsided clones count as practice?"

"Better than someone pretending to sleep because he can't."

"Shut up."

At dawn, all the examinees gathered on the training ground. Iruka checked their admission slips one by one while Mizuki stood at the entrance inspecting their ninja tool pouches.

When it was Naruto's turn, Mizuki pressed a hand to his shoulder and retied his crooked forehead protector.

"Don't be nervous today. Form your hand seals slowly and keep your chakra steady."

"I'm not nervous at all."

"Then show me by taking first place."

As Mizuki withdrew his hand, his index finger lingered behind Naruto's shoulder for half a breath, the fingertip brushing beneath his collar.

Naruto only focused on adjusting his forehead protector and did not turn around.

As Chiba passed the two of them, fine roots slipped through the gaps in the floorboards and followed along Naruto's footprints.

The first written exam had thirty questions. Naruto began chewing on his pen after reaching the fifth question, Kiba kept flipping pages in the back row, and Shikamaru had already slumped onto his desk after only half a quarter-hour.

Iruka tapped the corner of Shikamaru's desk.

"You can sleep after you finish."

"I'm done."

"Check it again."

"Checking will just make me doubt my original answers."

Mizuki walked past Chiba and paused briefly beside his paper.

"You're leaving question twenty-seven blank?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"There are only two possible answers."

"That's why I need to choose a little longer."

After Mizuki left, Sasuke turned half his face from the front row.

"Did you calculate it wrong?"

"No."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

"To hand it in."

Chiba filled in the wrong answer at the end, keeping his score at eighty-eight.

When the scores were announced, Sasuke ranked first, Shikamaru second, and Chiba seventh.

Naruto squeezed through the seats with his barely passing exam paper in hand.

"Eighty-eight points? You actually scored lower than Shikamaru."

Shikamaru did not look up.

"Don't drag me into this. I just want to quietly take third."

"You're obviously second."

"That's why it's troublesome."

The second exam was a taijutsu spar. The examinees drew lots to determine their opponents, and anyone who attacked vital points or used Explosive Tags would be eliminated on the spot.

Chiba drew a repeater from a higher grade. The other student gripped a wooden kunai and rolled his shoulders several times before entering the ring.

"I heard you caught bounty hunters?"

"Yeah."

"Then you shouldn't mind letting me attack first."

"Go ahead."

When the wooden kunai thrust toward his chest, Chiba merely shifted half a step aside, caught the other student's wrist with his right hand, hooked his left foot behind the student's knee, and brought him down at the edge of the mat.

The examiner had just raised the timing board when the fallen student rolled over and swept out with his leg.

Chiba released his wrist, retreated until the wooden kunai could brush his clothing, then exchanged another seven moves with him before driving him over the white line with his shoulder.

Asuma sat at the edge of the third examination area, tapping his pen twice against the record sheet.

"You call that a spar?"

"He got in eight moves."

"Six of those were ones you gave him."

"The assessment doesn't specify how quickly it has to end."

"Did the old man tell you not to stand out?"

"No one said anything."

Asuma handed the record sheet to the examiner beside him.

"Taijutsu excellent, good on-the-spot judgment. Write it all out, so he doesn't think nobody can see through him."

As Chiba left the ring, Naruto was being flipped off the mat by Kiba.

Kiba rubbed his aching jaw where he had been hit.

"Do you even know how to stop?"

"The exam didn't say headbutting was forbidden."

"You fell down!"

"The result's the same."

The practical ninjutsu exam began in the afternoon. The Three Body Technique was tested in sequence, with examinees entering the classroom alone. Outside, they could only hear numbers being called and the examiners' evaluations.

Chiba was after Sasuke.

When Sasuke came out, Mizuki wrote three excellent marks in the grade book.

"Your turn."

There were two desks in the classroom. Iruka was responsible for judging, Mizuki sat to one side recording results, and an unfamiliar chunin stood by the wall.

Chiba performed the Transformation Technique and Substitution Technique. When it came time for the Clone Technique, he created only two fully formed clones.

Iruka circled the clones halfway around.

"Your chakra distribution isn't even enough. The one on the left is missing part of its sole."

"Can I pass?"

"Yes. Good grade."

Mizuki looked up at Chiba.

"Your usual Wood Clone is far better than this."

"The exam only tests ordinary clones."

"Hiding too much can make people misjudge your ability."

"You can judge based on what you see."

The unfamiliar chunin closed his observation notebook.

"Senju Chiba, good practical score. Passed."

After leaving the classroom, Chiba did not leave. He stopped at the stairway corner and sent fine roots into the old timber at the base of the wall.

The sounds of Kiba and Shikamaru taking their exams came from inside one after another. Sasuke waited by the window, only walking toward the stairs after Naruto's number was called.

"You're not going back to the dormitory?"

"I'm waiting for the results."

"His Clone Technique won't pass."

"You'll know after watching."

Inside the classroom, Naruto finished his first hand seal, and Mizuki stood up and walked behind him.

"Relax your shoulders. You always keep this area too tense."

Two fingers pressed against Naruto's rear shoulder, while Mizuki's other hand, hidden in his sleeve, formed half a seal.

The fine roots pressed against the wall sent back a ripple of chakra.

That chakra did not enter Naruto's chakra pathways. It only coiled around the area near his shoulder well point, waiting until he mobilized his chakra before pulling outward to both sides.

Naruto brought his hands together.

White smoke dispersed, leaving only one pale-faced clone on the floor. Its body slumped to one side, unable even to lift its head.

Iruka picked up his grading pen, then set it back down.

"Try again."

"The rules only allow one attempt."

Mizuki opened the examination regulations.

"Chakra release failure means further attempts won't change the result."

"Last year, an examinee was given a second chance."

"That was because of a hand seal error. Naruto's seals were not wrong."

Naruto clenched his fists, his nails leaving several marks in his palms.

"I just wasn't ready. Let me try again. I can definitely do it."

Iruka pulled the examination regulations in front of himself.

"Rest for five minutes."

Mizuki pressed down on the pages.

"There are still twelve examinees behind him. We can't delay everyone else because of him."

The chunin by the wall spoke as well.

"Failure in the Clone Technique means no graduation, according to the rules."

Naruto turned to Iruka.

"Sensei, just once."

Iruka looked at the failed clone on the ground, his pen hovering over the failing mark for several breaths.

"Naruto, take it again next year."

When the door was pulled open, Naruto did not immediately come out. Mizuki patted his shoulder from behind, and the chakra threads that had been wrapped around his pathways withdrew with the motion.

The roots beneath Chiba's feet pursued that ripple until Mizuki returned to his desk and rubbed his fingertips twice beneath the grade book.

The transparent chakra quickly dispersed, leaving only the outline of an inverted-tree-shaped jutsu formula.

Naruto passed by the stairs without looking at anyone, his forehead protector clenched in his hand, its ties dragging across every step.

Sasuke stood by the window and only asked after a moment.

"Did you see anything?"

"His seals weren't wrong."

"His chakra control was already poor."

"It was worse today."

Inside the classroom, Mizuki flipped to the next registration form.

"Next, Sakura Haruno."

Chiba withdrew the fine roots from the wall, his gaze falling on the transparent powder stuck to Mizuki's sleeve.

That was not a jutsu prepared to make Naruto fail. It was the first lock meant to send the Nine-Tails jinchuriki into a Root prison.