Graduation Exams
"Naruto, you idiot!" Sakura slapped him over his head. "It's the easiest jutsu out of all five E-Ranks!"
"B-But Sakura-chan..." Naruto pouted while rubbing his bruise. He looked down in shame.
"Hold on," Sasuke crouched down and placed his hand through the discombobulated clone, curling and uncurling his fingers. "It's thick." He looked at Sakura as if expecting her to understand him instantly.
"What?" Sakura tilted her head.
Sasuke sighed at having to explain. "It's just a suspicion, but turn on your glasses."
Sakura's hand flew to a button at the rim of her glasses and clicked. Instantly, she saw an extremely dense flame in Naruto's clone.
As if the widening of her eyes was his cue, Sasuke weaved a few hand seals and formed a clone of his own. Sakura noticed his clone had a looser, more spread-out flame.
"Naruto's clone is like a bunch of your clones squashed together!" Sakura exclaimed to Sasuke, and Naruto just tilted his head in confusion. Sakura shook his shoulders. "Focus again on your chakra, Naruto," she shot the other boy a look, "You too, Sasuke."
"Uh, okay," Naruto moved his hands into the ram seal and concentrated on grasping his chakra. Sakura gasped at the massive amount of blue flame at Naruto's stomach in comparison to Sasuke's. He easily had ten times more.
"...Wow." Sakura shook her head. "You need pinpoint control like I have in order to control that much chakra."
Sasuke gave a nod, "I suspected as much." He looked Naruto in the eye. "You're strong, dobe."
Sakura stifled a chuckle at his oxymoron, but Sasuke continued. "Too strong to pull off a weak technique like the Clone Jutsu." He looked aside.
Sakura frowned, "I..." She did some advanced mathematical relative-chakra calculations in her head and lowered her eyes. "It's like trying to hold a lake inside a drinking cup. I'm sorry Naruto." She clenched her fists.
Naruto looked devastated.
This time, Sasuke copied Sakura's motion and smacked Naruto in the head. "Dobe, what happened to never 'going back on your word'? I want to see what the number-one hyperactive knuckle-head ninja can do."
Naruto looked up at Sasuke, tears brimming his eyes. "Sas...SasuKE!" He glomped him and cried all over the unfortunate Uchiha's clothes. "I won't let you down!"
Sakura huffed. Boys...
But you gotta admit, Sasuke does have more faith in Naruto than you do.
Grrh, fine!
She slapped Naruto's back and pulled him off Sasuke by his hair. "Alright, Naruto. You're always surprising us so do it again at graduation. Or else," she raised her fist and Naruto gulped.
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...
Mizuki-sensei was pissed off. He'd expected Sakura to keep her grades low, but steadily they've been increasing until they rivaled the Top Student Sasuke.
Dammit, dammit, dammit. Mizuki glared at said girl laughing with the Fox to her left. Right at her other side was Sasuke.
Mizuki-sensei suddenly felt a glimmer of hope. Is Sakura cheating off Sasuke? Heh, that must be it. Her grades only started improving at the same time she befriended Sasuke Uchiha. Hah, the joke's on you, Sakura-chan, because you can't cheat at the Graduation Test.
信心
"Next, Sakura Haruno," Iruka-sensei called out.
Sakura leapt from her seat, "Wish me luck!"
Sasuke clutched his ninja headband.
"Bastard, why aren't you wearing it?" Naruto asked, wanting to see how it would look on Sasuke.
"Because, Loser, she wants us to put them on at the same time. Such an annoyance."
"What did you just call me?" Sakura had returned, casually spinning around new headband by its blue cloth. Why aren't you two acting all excited that I passed?! Cha!
"I called you an annoyance," Sasuke repeated audaciously, "But congratulations. Now it's your turn, Loser. Contrary to your belief, I actually want to wear this as soon as possible."
"Next, Naruto Uzuma..." Iruka trailed off as he watched Mizuki-sensei bristle in intense rage. Whoaa.. "Hey...you okay there, Mizuki?"
Mizuki snapped out of it and put on a serene expression. "I just can't believe that pinkhead passed," Mizuki said calmly. "It's just a surprise, really. Her grades rivaled the dead last's and in such a short amount of time, they match the top student's. I almost suspect she cheated."
Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mizuki, I understand how you feel. I was surprised too, but it seems the problem lied in her not getting enough sleep and depression. She's worked very hard to catch up. You know you should really give our students a little more credit," Iruka scratched his nose in thought.
Mizuki chuckled, "Yeah."
"Oi! I'm next, right?!" Naruto was pulling Iruka's clothes again. Suddenly he realized he was supposed to be nervous and regretted rushing Iruka, but it was too late as Iruka dragged Naruto to the testing room.
When he returned without a headband, and gloomy eyes, Sakura slammed the desk and groaned. Sasuke grunted in annoyance.
Watching Naruto make his way back to his two friends, head hung low, Mizuki gained a calculative glint in his eye.
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