Naruto: BELIEVE IT

Graduation exam.

It was a standardized test that consisted of written portion and practical portion.

The written portion tested one's knowledge. Most of the content involved the long answer questions that tested one's applicability and creativity in dealing with certain situations. This section of the exam was already completed.

Then, there was the practical portion, the portion that will be tested today. There were some requirements regarding one's physical prowess, but the main highlight of this portion were the three basic ninjutsus that the academy taught the students: transformation, replacement, and clone.

Now at the age of 12, Naruto was currently having a breakfast before his departure to the academy. Breakfast, being something other than a cup noodle that he regularly had years ago, was something that a house worker—hired by Hiruzen—cooked for him a day ago.

Initially, it was impossible to find one, a credible one at that. It was primarily because of his reputation; the only ones who were willing to work were the crazy ones.

However, as Naruto's reputation gradually improved over time, things started to change. The words of the academy students reached the ears of their parents. As more attention was brought to Naruto, people realized that they couldn't see the hint of Kyuubi within the blonde.

'It's already been 5 years.'

Naruto thought as he finished necessities and exited the house, wearing a loose shirt instead of the orange jumpsuit. Speaking of orange jumpsuits, he discarded the most of them some time ago; there still was one left in his drawer, but he doubted that he'll be wearing it again.

'In terms of canon, I'd assume that I'm currently in chapter 10 or so?'

As Naruto walked by silently, people stared at him with mixed feelings.

Naruto was 12 years old. In other words, they've been seeing him for 12 years.

Contrary to their malevolent actions toward him, Naruto didn't do anything back; the outburst he had against one restaurant owner 5 years ago was the last time he was close in doing so.

At this point, they couldn't dare to mask their eyes with their own delusions, trying to make Naruto a scapegoat to vent their anger and sorrow.

Naruto was a diligent fellow. He showcased an immense potential of a ninja—surpassing even that of the infamous 'last Uchiha'. There were rumours going on that should Naruto score the highest on the exam, he would be awarded with the title of 'Rookie of the Year'.

And on top of that, when coupled with his cold, reposed, and mostly rational persona... people sometimes thought that they were witnessing the reincarnation of Namikaze Minato, the now-deceased fourth Hokage.

Ignoring the eyes that peered on him, Naruto walked and reached academy. Reaching for the familiar room and entering the class, he was met with many eyes.

"Oi, Naruto!"

Seeing the call from Shikamaru who waved his hand, Naruto walked to the boy and took an open seat next to him.

"You ready for the exam, Naruto?"

Next to Shikamaru, Choji asked with his mouth full.

"I'm so not."

"Says the guy casually eating a bag of chips right beforehand."

"This is called stress eating!"

Replying Choji with a light amusement, Naruto stared ahead at the teacher's podium where Iruka was on.

"...There is nothing to worry of, you know?"

Shikamaru, noticing Naruto wasn't at ease, spoke soothingly.

"It's just the examination of three basic jutsus. There is no trick or deceit, my parents confirmed me."

"Yeah, so did mine!"

Nodding to what Shikamaru and Choji said, Naruto opened his mouth,

"It isn't that I'm nervous. Technically speaking, unless you have a special disposition, failing this portion of the exam is essentially impossible. It's just that..."

"Just that?"

Naruto's eyes intently gazed at Iruka as if observing the latter,

"...Something feels off."

It was a light suspicion born from a subtle difference. However, Naruto dismissed this thought,

"Maybe I'm overthinking it."

"Yeah, you probably are. You do that most of the time."

Looking at Shikamaru, Naruto couldn't help but sweatdrop.

"You have an IQ that goes over 200. If you think half as much as I do, we probably would've achieved the world peace already."

"Meh, too much work. I'd rather stare at the clouds and do nothing."

As the three of them conversed among themselves, little did they know that they were garnering quite some attention.

Or to be more specific, Naruto in particular.

"..."

Sasuke frowned slightly as he gazed at Naruto from afar. His glossy eyes, ones which held a huge amount of hatred for a certain someone, contained a competitive spirit.

Ever since Naruto changed 5 years ago, Sasuke never managed to top him, staying as the 'eternal 2nd place' as Kiba joked about.

Sasuke wasn't necessarily discouraged, however. Initially, he felt a heavy blow to his pride, but as time passed on, he realized that Naruto's presence is serving as an additional motivation for him to improve—enough to kill someone.

'Surely, in the future, I will—'

"Sasuke-kun~"

"Kyaa! He reacted! He looked at us!"

And of course, there were girls surrounding him at all seats next to him—mainly Sakura and Ino.

Sasuke found his fists tightening.

"Fuck."

"Huh? S-Sasuke-kun? What did you say just now?"

"..."

Watching Sasuke from afar, Shikamaru shook his head,

"How troublesome."

"Troublesome? You call that troublesome?"

Kiba suddenly interrupted, crying the tears of jealousy.

"He's living a dream life, that damn eternal 2nd place!"

Grabbing Naruto by shoulders and shaking him, Kiba shouted,

"You gotta show that asshole his place, Naruto! You are the guys' only hope!"

"...Calm down, Kiba."

Standing next to Kiba was the sunglasses + hoodie guy, Shino.

"You're getting overactive again."

"Like, geez! How is it that HInata's the only girl who's not into Sasuke in this class?"

Hearing Kiba's shout from the back, Hinata flinched.

"Well, good thanks that she's the one I have a crush on, but man, if I was Sasuke, I would have dated a couple already by now!"

"Okay dude, no one's interested in your love life."

As Naruto groaned from Kiba yelling into his ears, Shino and Shikamaru exchanged eyes from the back.

'He's so going to get ntr-ed.'

'Yeah.'

Spectating all this with a bag of chips was Choji.

__________

"Congratulations. Everyone managed to complete the first two jutsus without a fail. Now, only the final part of the exam remains."

Iruka spoke in a reserved tone, but none of the students seemed to think that this will be a hard task, knowing that the final part was none other than...

"For your final exam, you must each generate a clone. Wait here until your name is called, and then come next door."

...the clone jutsu, known for its pointlessness due to the lack of shadow. Just a quick visual inspection is usually enough to discern a clone from the original; unless under specific situations, this jutsu was mostly useless.

"Haruno Sakura!"

"Nara Shikamaru!"

One by one, students were called. They entered the room and exited with a proud forehead protector on them.

Eventually, Naruto's turn arrived.

'Here we go.'

Entering the room, Naruto was met with the sight of Iruka and another instructor named Mizuki.

"Alright Naruto, let's see how you do."

Without any delay, Naruto formed a hand seal for a technique which he practiced so many times.

Clone jutsu. Not going to lie, Naruto had quite a trouble with this one.

Just as how pointless this jutsu was, the amount of chakra required was mediocre. It required so little, and considering how large Naruto's chakra reserve was compared to others, Naruto felt that this process was as difficult as poking through the smallest needle hole.

He lost the count of how many times he's practiced. And if not for his unique ability of being able to sense the flow of chakra within his body, he doubted that he would've been able to master this jutsu on time.

Anyhow, it was time to show the fruit of his efforts now.

"Clone technique—"

Naruto's eyes widened as his vision suddenly swayed. He fell on one knee, feeling incredibly dizzy all of a sudden.

'What is... happening...?'

"Naruto? Are you fine?"

Gritting his teeth, Naruto stood back up wobbly. Sensing a disturbance in the flow of his chakra, Naruto realized that he was placed in a genjutsu.

'Why? By whom?'

Iruka in front of him spoke robotically,

"You have ten seconds remaining, Naruto. If you don't perform on time, we'll have to fail you."

Closing his eyes, Naruto took in a deep breath. Gathering chakra,

'Kai.'

he them blasted chakra as means of dispelling the genjutsu that was placed on him.

Thanks to the sheer amount of chakra he had, his effort to dispel the genjutsu seemed successful. With the nausea gone and the normal flow restored, Naruto immediately performed a clone technique,

Poof!

An exact body double of himself appeared next to him.

"...I'm sorry, Naruto, but,"

Iruka then showed the time to Naruto,

"You went past the given time. You fail."

Naruto found his eyes narrowing.

__________

"What is happening?"

"The best one in class... ended up being the only one who failed?"

Ignoring those who were chattering about him from the back and celebrating the successful graduation of others, Naruto, sitting on the rooftop, was in a deep thought.

'That was a clear sign of genjutsu. With there only being three people including me in the room, it is likely that one of the two examiners purposely cast this jutsu on me to make me fail.'

'Having known Iruka-sensei for a while, I know that he isn't a fellow who'd do this to me. And speaking of him, his behaviour all day around was quite abnormal.'

Naturally, Naruto's suspicion was brought to the other examiner in the room, named,

"Naruto."

"...Mizuki-sensei."

Without turning around, Naruto could tell who it was. The chunin of white shoulder-length hair, he was the examiner who was present in the room just before.

"Iruka is a really serious guy you know... his parents died when he was young, so everything he's accomplished so far, he did them by himself, with a lot of hard work and discipline."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I know that you are frustrated. But I hope you understand Iruka; he's trying to help you grow strong."

'...An attempt to manipulate me? Just who is this man?'

Without showing his stoic expression to Mizuki, Naruto replied shortly,

"I understand. Have a nice day, sensei."

Walking three steps away from the man, Naruto could hear Mizuki speaking again shortly after,

"However, if you so desire to graduate..."

'There it is.'

Naruto stopped walking, knowing that Mizuki was now getting to the main point.

"...There is a secret that I've been keeping for a long time."

And what Naruto heard after was the most ridiculous mission he's ever heard, something that would've worked against a desperate student with not many experiences.

Not for him, however.

__________

In canon, there wouldn't have been a need for Mizuki to fabricate the results of Naruto's exam, for Naruto would've failed without an interruption anyway.

However, such wasn't the case here. With Naruto's drastic change and excelling performance, Mizuki realized as time went by that the plan that he's been preparing for years would go to a failure.

One would ask, why Naruto of all choices?

The answer was simple.

Mizuki was a firm believer that Naruto was an evil person, the incarnation of Kyuubi. He believed that using Naruto for his own gain was a punishment that the demon fox deserved, that he was serving justice.

"Haa... how ridiculous."

And it was because of this very prejudice and skewed thought that the plan which Mizuki believed it to be perfect was full of flaws.

Currently, Naruto was facing Hiruzen, having told what he experienced today.

Hiruzen, facepalming, sighed in disbelief.

After Naruto's report, Hiruzen ordered ANBUs to take an investigation of the case. Upon searching the outskirts of the village after tracking Mizuki's history, they found a heavily injured Iruka within the woods, barely alive.

Iruka whom Naruto saw today was a special puppet that Mizuki seemed to have prepared over a long time.

"And so, Hokage-sama,"

Naruto, notably in a foul mood, asked,

"What now?"

Hiruzen looked into Naruto's eyes and saw a rage.

"...What was the content of today's final exam again?"

"Clone jutsu."

"Then, why don't you try performing it here?"

Slowly, a feral grin made its way to Naruto's face. Knowing what Hiruzen was going to say, Naruto formed a seal and created an exact copy of himself without a trouble.

Hiruzen chuckled,

"Congratulations on your graduation, Naruto. Or should I say, genin Naruto?"

Hiruzen didn't know why he was doing this. As a Hokage who's reigned over the village for years, he knew that rationality was an important trait. Yet, here he was, acting on behalf of his emotions.

'Yes, perhaps,'

Hiruzen thought as he leaned forward,

'It's because he reminds me of you, Minato, Kushina. Because... your son shines the brightest of all future generation, because I believe that he will, one day, succeed my role.'

"I will now detail your first mission. If you were to complete it successfully, Naruto,"

Hiruzen smiled softly,

"I will gift you a graduation present."

It was a dark night—same as any other to most.

However, for one man, this was the night of retribution, of execution.

Uzumaki Naruto was on his way.