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Naruto: The Game of Life by SeerKing

Anime » Naruto Rated: T, English, Adventure & Romance, Naruto U., Words: 238k+, Favs: 17k+, Follows: 20k+, Published: Jan 15, 2015 Updated: Jun 19

5,664Chapter 18: Graduation

Author's Note: Yo. Just a quick word before the chapter. Although Naruto graduates in this chapter, he won't class up until next chapter. Just FYI. Enjoy.

Check my profile for my update schedule, BEFORE you ask in a review or PM! Seriously, I don't abandon stories without warning.

Read, Review and check out my other stories!

Disclaimer: I do not own either Naruto or The Gamer.

"Sakura-chan!" - Regular Speech

'Baka!' - Thoughts

:Shannaro!: - Inner Sakura

[Quest Announcement] - Gamer Ability/Notification

Beta'd by BigCC

Chapter 18: Graduation

Several Months Later

Academy Classroom, Konohagakure no Sato

Name: Uzumaki Naruto

Class: The Gamer

Level: 17 |Next Level: 00.00% (Level Cap. Class Up for further Level Progression)

Title: Academy Student (+25% EXP to LV10)

Age: 12

HP: 2000/2000

CP: 2200/2200

STR: 43

STA: 46 (+10)

DEX: 40

INT: 41 (+5)

WIS: 37

LUK: ?

Uzumaki Naruto was practically trembling in nervous anticipation as he waited for the start of the practical portion of the final exams, his eyes constantly darting towards his open status window. The last few months had been both immensely gratifying and supremely irritating. Gratifying in that he had trained himself as hard as he could and had shown real and noticeable progress with everything he'd worked on. Irritating in that the damned level cap had forced him to limit his training to just honing and improving the skills he'd acquired as well as those few he gained while simply working toward his goal.

Thanks to Iruka, he had learned the Travelling Ten and had managed to max all ten out within two months, mostly due to the fact that each had a Level Cap of only twenty, which was apparently the usual for E-Rank jutsu. A pleasant surprise was that mastering the Fūton and Doton jutsu had levelled up his [Natural Fūton Affinity] and [Secondary Doton] skills by one. Also, it seemed maxing out low-ranking jutsu like that generates a brand new jutsu on the next level up.

[Doton: Ana] had given him the D-Rank [Doton: Otoshiana] (Earth Style: Pitfall), a jutsu that was basically a larger variant of the original that was big enough to trap a fully grown man, if only barely. [Doton: Umeru] had given him [Doton: Doshakuzure] (Earth Style: Mudslide), a jutsu that sent a wave of mud at his enemy, while [Doton: Wana] gave him another version of [Otoshiana] called [Doton: Kushizashi no Otoshiana] (Earth Style: Skewer Pitfall) that was only slightly higher on the scale than the original, being a High-D Rank jutsu, as it was simply adding small, earthen spikes to the bottom of the pit.

[Fūton: Soyokaze] gave him [Fūton: Yakaze] (Wind Style: Arrow Wind), a weak offensive attack that formed arrows from the air around him and sent them flying at the enemy. [Fūton: Shōshū] gave him another non-combat jutsu, [Fūton: Suzukaze] (Wind Style: Cool Breeze). It circulated the air and lowered its temperature slightly to alleviate heat. Naruto supposed that it would be useful if he had to go to Kaze no Kuni or a similar location for a mission

[Suiton: Ketsuro] gave him [Suiton: Yūdachi] (Water Style: Evening Squall), another fairly weak attack jutsu that formed multiple small darts of water from the air around him and fired them at the enemy. [Suiton: Roeki] gave him [Suiton: Suishō] (Water Style: Water Crystal), a personal defence jutsu. It created a shield of water about the size of a dinner plate that he could control to intercept attacks.

The two fire types of the Travelling Ten, [Katon: Kesu] and [Katon: Hibana], simply gave a level each to [Katon: Hotarubi], which was fine. As he was taking his Jiji's advice, it was fine. He could earn a third elemental affinity later on.

Finally, [Raiton: Seidenki] had given him [Raiton: Denkō Sekka] (Lightning Style: Lightning Snowflakes), an odd jutsu that, as its name suggested, fired a dozen or so snowflakes of lightning at the enemy, each dealing only a tiny amount of damage but also having a small chance to cause temporary paralysis as a result of muscle spasms.

He had been forced to show Iruka-sensei the [Doctored] scroll that Mizuki had given him in order to get a proper scroll and boy, had Iruka-sensei been pissed at Mizuki. He had gone off to report the man with almost indecent haste and had come back looking, if not satisfied, then mollified by whatever his Jiji had said.

His study dates with Sakura had continued, although he hadn't gained any INT from the sessions within a bit over a month after learning about the Kyūbi. On the bright side, he was now halfway up the ladder of [Neutral] to [Friendly], relationship-wise, not as far as he'd like but he'd take it.

Naruto had also tried to be nice to Hinata…emphasis on 'tried' because the girl fainted if he was too nice to her! Seriously, the first time he called her 'Hinata-chan' to her face, she turned crimson, squeaked and fainted! How the hell were you supposed to talk to someone who did that?! At a guess, it was her [Shy Maiden] title that she had…her second title at that.

He had scanned people with [Observe] and found that a lot of people, especially members of the Shinobi Forces, had a second title. That he hadn't been able to see them until only a month or so ago, which was likely because the [Observe] skill's level had been too low. The civilians either hadn't 'Classed Up' to earn a second title, like Tenten's parents, or weren't a member of an important clan, like Hinata was.

It made Naruto wonder what high-ranking people, like his Jiji, had title-wise? All he got when he casually [Observed] him was a screen full of question marks and only a single title. As the Uzumaki boy doubted that his Jiji was in any way inferior to Hyūga Hinata, he had to guess that the Hokage had at least the same number of titles that she did, perhaps even a third or more.

'There's so much about my power that the 'help' section either doesn't mention or skates over.' He thought with a frown. 'It's like the stupid thing wants me to learn things as I go rather than having all knowledge straight off the bat.'

Down at the front of the classroom, the two chunin, Iruka and Mizuki, were marking papers, which made Naruto grin somewhat. Thanks to his increased INT and WIS (all thanks to Sakura), he could have passed the test with full marks, but he chose not to. His scores over the past year had steadily risen to be just above average and it would be odd for someone who'd been dead-last at the start of the year to get a perfect score out of nowhere. Plus, he wanted anyone that got their hands on his files to underestimate him.

So, he had made enough deliberate errors to earn a passing grade just a bit above the normal curve, but not spectacularly so. He hadn't gotten any of the questions regarding the Hokage wrong though; such blasphemy was beyond his ability to accomplish.

As the man who would surpass all the previous Kage, he had to have a thorough knowledge of all his predecessors in order to fully and completely surpass them.

"OK class." Iruka called as he stood up. "It's time for your taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu tests. Follow Mizuki and me outside so we can conduct them."

Those two tests were only worth ten points or so each to your overall grade, so most had just half-assed it the previous two times Naruto had taken the exam, at least with the latter test.

Taijutsu was a vital survival skill for a shinobi, however, so no one in their right mind had ever skimped on it, save a few who claimed they were going to be jutsu experts.

Tenten had drilled him on his throwing technique though, so Naruto had no desire to draw her wrath by getting any less than full marks for the Shurikenjutsu test. The couple of times that he had seen her really angry since he had befriended the aspiring Weapons Mistress made the young blond very eager to avoid having that rage turned on him for any reason.

Out of all of his classmates, the only person to get a perfect score of ten out of ten in vital locations on the target during the Shurikenjutsu test was Sasuke, with Hinata and, surprisingly, Shikamaru coming in second with nine. Shino, Kiba, Ino and Sakura got a respectable eight out of ten. Kiba and Chōji scored seven and six respectively.

So when, with practiced ease just short of Sasuke's own, Naruto also scored a perfect ten out of ten, there was loud muttering from the class. Sasuke looked shocked for a moment before smirking and letting out an ambivalent grunt. Iruka also looked impressed.

You have gained +200 Reputation with [Uchiha Sasuke]!

You have gained +200 Reputation with [Umino Iruka]!

Stifling a pleased expression, Naruto moved away to let the rest of the civilian genin-aspirants have a turn at throwing. He had reached [Honoured] status with Iruka a while back, which had led to the chunin giving him supplementary lessons once Asuma-sensei had to stop because he went back on active duty. His Shurikenjutsu and other general ninja skills had all risen by quite a large amount thanks to that.

When the taijutsu portion came up, Naruto was really, really tempted to lay into Mizuki, who was in charge of this portion of the exam, with his [Advanced Hakage Taijutsu], but forced himself not to act out. Long term pranking beat short-term satisfaction, he reminded himself sternly. As much as it pained him to admit it, the blond orphan had still never beaten Sasuke in a taijutsu match, although the number of times that they faced one another had dropped sharply, only happening once or twice a month rather than occurring nearly every other time they had spars.

He supposed that Iruka-sensei and his Jiji had cracked down on Mizuki enough that the blue-haired man couldn't dare interfere too much…at least, not beyond the increasingly frequent unsubtle looks of hatred the man sent him when Iruka wasn't looking and most of his classmates were distracted. The man was going to do something stupid, Naruto could tell.

For making an accurate prediction based on prior experience and logic, you are awarded +2 WIS!

An irked vein on his forehead pulsed slightly before Naruto calmed down. His power had become very snarky and sarcastic recently, sending verbal (written?) jabs at him whenever he gained stats and generally being a bit of a pain in the ass.

Mentally shrugging, the Uzumaki boy focused his attention onto the confirmation that Mizuki was indeed going to do something stupid, probably to do with him. He'd have to make preparations.

Fighting Mizuki in a taijutsu spar was…challenging. Thanks to altering his diet to include food other than ramen and the increased amount of exercise, Naruto was a good three inches taller than he had been when he received his [Gamer] abilities, and he was fairly muscled as well, but Mizuki, unfortunately, had both reach and experience on him, as well as the fact that he knew the standard Hakage taijutsu style inside and out and could thus predict with reasonable certainty exactly what Naruto was going to do even as he did it.

Still, with Iruka watching, the blue-haired man had to act like a teacher and thus curtail his actions to the same level as he had with the other spars. With those limits holding him back, the man wasn't prepared for the punch to the gut that Naruto opened up with, or for the attempted knee to the face that was the follow up. He was still a chunin though, so he was able to dodge the second attack, albeit by a thinner margin than he would have preferred.

Grimacing as his attack failed, Naruto quickly retreated to await Mizuki's inevitable counterattack. It came swiftly, a low kick designed to break his stance and leave him open to punches while he was distracted.

The blond boy leapt into the air, vaulting over Mizuki's leg, which was moving at mid-genin-level speed, and kicked the man in the face. The look of utter shock on the chunin's face was priceless.

Naruto followed up with a chop to the side of the neck before kicking off of Mizuki and retreating again.

The blue-haired chunin was both amazed and furious that Naruto was fighting so well. He was definitely at least mid-genin level, perhaps a hair stronger, which was truly amazing considering he had barely been worthy of being called a street brawler ten months ago.

'The damn Demon Brat must be drawing on that power!' the man thought bitterly. 'It's stopped using the flawed taijutsu style I taught it and is using the advanced level of the Hakage style. No ordinary person could learn a style so quickly without the Sharingan or something similar, and it's no Uchiha! He must be using its powers somehow!'

Several people across the village sneezed for no reason, all of them very good taijutsu practitioners who learned quicker than Naruto. They felt annoyed for some reason too…

'Very impressive. Even if Mizuki's lowering his abilities to mid-genin at the moment, he's still got a longer reach than Naruto, and he's far more experienced. Yet Naruto's still holding him off easily.' Iruka thought with a smile, very proud of the boy. 'I'll have to treat him to Ichiraku's after class today as a reward for his hard work…'

"You pass, Naruto-kun." Mizuki said, hiding his reluctance behind a practiced smile.

"Yatta-dattebayo!" the orphan yelled and fist-pumped gleefully.

Warning! Your [Relationship] with Toji Mizuki cannot go any lower!

Naruto rolled his eyes as he walked away, closing the screen with a twitch of a finger. As if he cared about what Mizuki thought of him. If the man wanted to cause trouble with him, the blond boy would fight back. It was as simple as that.

'Naruto-kun…' Hinata blushed and poked her fingers together. 'So cool…'

Sakura was surprised that Naruto had done so well against Mizuki-sensei. The pinkette had sparred against him on a more frequent basis since her victory against Ino and never won a single time, but this was different. Even Sasuke-kun had been forced to push himself against a chunin-level opponent, but Naruto wasn't even breathing hard.

'Jeez, Iruka-sensei was right; he is a stamina nut!' the pinkette thought with a shake of her head.

The Last Uchiha smirked at his rival's victory. That was very precise taijutsu that Naruto had just used, a very good use of the standard Hakage kata, with a few things thrown in that were obviously Naruto's own twist on the style. No matter how good it was, it was no match for the Uchiha's Sekkendō (Intercepting Fist) style.

'Get a new style, Dobe. I want a strong rival to try my hand against.' The young Uchiha smirked as the taijutsu sparring came to an end and the class trooped back to the classroom for the last section of the genin exam…the ninjutsu portion.

With the Hokage and the Jonin

"He's gotten better at taijutsu since I last sparred with him." Asuma mentioned to his father. The former member of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi had his hands in his pockets as he observed the crystal ball that the Hokage was using his Tōmegane no Jutsu on.

"He has indeed." Sarutobi smirked at his son. "Naruto-kun has come a long way in such a short period of time."

'Minato…Kushina…you would be so proud of him.' he thought sadly.

"Most of the rest aren't exactly standing out, aside from the clan kids." A silver-haired man with his hitai-ate pulled down over one eye said disinterestedly.

"That pink-haired girl did well on the written portion…she got full marks according to this." A black-haired woman wearing what looked like a bundle of temple sutras observed, waving a page.

"Haruno Sakura. Currently this year's Top Kunoichi." The Hokage informed her. "Her intelligence is very impressive, and her skill with genjutsu is strong, but her other scores are about average. She has been training with Naruto-kun recently and has improved her physical condition. She has quite a lot of potential as either a genjutsu mistress or as a Med-nin."

Yūhi Kurenai raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed. As the acknowledged Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha, she was more aware than anyone of how hard to attain such skills were. The exacting chakra control needed to craft illusions of the highest calibre was something most ninja and kunoichi were incapable of, aside from the Uchiha, who merely had to look once at any sort of technique and copy it with their Sharingan. With the only Uchiha loyal to the Leaf more inclined to ninjutsu than genjutsu, she doubted her position as the preeminent genjutsu expert was in any danger.

Med-nin had just as exacting chakra requirements as a genjutsu mistress did, except they were also required to have in-depth knowledge of not only the human anatomy at a level that surpassed most assassination specialists, but also a deep amount of focus, as a single fluctuation of chakra at an inopportune moment could spell disaster for their patients.

"So who's getting who?" Asuma asked curiously. "You've been playing things pretty close to your vest, Oyaji."

"Unfortunately, the ANBU have been investigating the Academy recently." Sarutobi sighed. "Unbeknownst to me, standards have slipped. The Academy is not as good now as it was even five years ago. Through no fault of their own, I fear this crop will need additional training before they are up to standard."

The muttering of the jonin went up a notch.

"Such as?" Hatake Kakashi asked, his one visible eye sharpening as he regarded the soon-to-be genin.

"To grab a random example, out of all of them, only Uzumaki Naruto has been blooded against chakra mutations, since the Academy cancelled the final year trip to a semi-saturated training ground 'out of concern for their innocence' or some such drivel." The Hokage stated lowly, his tone radiating disapproval and more than a bit of frustration. "Naruto-kun has been clearing Training Ground 13 for the past few months and is in the process of clearing the third sub-area."

"If what I've heard about that particular training ground is true then it's an impressive accomplishment." The silver-haired jonin said with a nod before turning from the globe to give the Hokage a curious look. "So what genius is going to be having a nice talk with Ibiki and Anko-chan about sabotaging our precious little recruits?"

"Several members of the Merchant Council and the Headmaster of the Academy." Sarutobi said with a bite of sharp satisfaction in his voice. "Another area which is in need of addressing is shinobi tactics and strategy. Just about the only ones in this class who understand what a shinobi is supposed to act like are the Nara and Aburame Heirs. So, this is what I am proposing…"

Back with Iruka

"Haruno Sakura!" the scarred chunin called out. He was looking forward to this, as Naruto had hinted over the past month that Sakura had some kind of secret weapon tucked up her non-existent sleeve for this exam. Iruka had to admit that his curiosity was somewhat piqued.

"Hai, sensei!" the pinkette said as she came down from her seat to stand in front of him and Mizuki.

'Mizuki…what has happened to you…?' Iruka thought mournfully, casting a sad glance to where his old friend was sitting next to him. Even when they were still Academy students Mizuki had always been sarcastic and had a bit of a dark streak, but since the start of the year Iruka had started to notice all sorts of incongruities about him and the way he acted, especially in regards to Naruto.

Uzumaki Naruto…the one who was the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yōko. That was where it all came down to. Iruka had lost his parents to the beast and much to his current shame; he had indeed hated Naruto when he had entered the Academy. But over the years, the ball of energy that was Naruto had worn down and dispersed that hatred. The boy wore his heart on his sleeve and Iruka was an experienced enough chunin to have a reasonably good enough ability to read people to see that the boy was about as much the Kyūbi as a satsuma was at being an apple.

This made Mizuki's constant sabotaging of Naruto's skills worse in Iruka's eyes, as he could see in Mizuki's actions what he would have become had he not forced himself to be a consummate professional when at the Academy and given the boy a chance to prove himself rather than letting his hatred blind him.

"Ok Sakura-chan. Please use the Kawarimi no Jutsu on that stump over there." He nodded at the wooden block of wood that Mizuki had pulled out of a cupboard when they had returned to the classroom.

Nodding, Sakura ran through the five handsigns of the technique, Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog and Snake. "Kawarimi no Jutsu!"

In a small puff of smoke in both locations, Sakura and the block of wood had exchanged places. Iruka noted that the amount of chakra smoke was very small, indicating a high mastery of the technique, as well as almost no chakra wasted.

"Very good. Now swap positions again, please." He said with a nod. With another few moments, Sakura and the wooden block were back in their original positions. Iruka marked her down as receiving full points for that jutsu.

"Now, I want you to use the Henge no Jutsu. Transform into Mizuki." The scarred chunin directed her. For a civilian-born student, even one with such excellent chakra control as Sakura had, this was a tricky jutsu as she had to constantly emit chakra in order to maintain it, and she had smallish reserves.

Sakura ran through the three handsigns, Dog, Boar and Ram. "Henge no Jutsu!"

In another small puff of smoke, Sakura was replaced with Mizuki, who smirked and inclined his head at him in a manner very similar to the real deal. Iruka carefully examined the doppelganger of his friend before nodding. She had gotten everything right.

"You can release it now." He stated. With a sigh of relief, Sakura reverted to her real appearance with another small puff of smoke. Iruka once again gave her full marks for the jutsu. Excellent eye for detail and she'd managed to control her chakra expenditure beautifully. Overall, very impressive.

"OK then. For the last part of this test, you are to perform a Bunshin no Jutsu." He stated. "If you are able to perform a jutsu other than the basic Bunshin in addition to it, you will receive bonus points."

This was the compromise that the Hokage had made. Naruto could use a clone type other than the illusory clone, but he would not receive bonus points for it, as the test did specify a Bunshin no Jutsu, not the Bunshin no Jutsu. Anything beyond a single clone type would get bonus points though.

Again, Sakura ran through the handsigns, Ram, Snake Tiger. "Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Three illusory clones of the pinkette phased into existence around her. At a cursory glance, they were perfect. Looking closer, there were a couple of very minor distortions in the clones' clothing that someone who knew Sakura would notice at once, but it wasn't a critical point. She still earned full marks for the jutsu.

"Very good, Sakura-chan. Now, is there another clone jutsu that you'd like to show us?" Iruka asked with a knowing look.

"Hai, but I'll need a moment to prepare it." The pinkette said. From her waist pouch, she pulled a couple of scrolls. Opening them, she laid one atop the other, ran through three handsigns and slammed her right palm onto the middle of the scrolls. "Kōmoku Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Item Summoning Jutsu!)"

In a small burst of smoke, a large basin full of water appeared before Iruka and Mizuki's shocked eyes. The Summoning Jutsu was mostly for animals, yes, but as Sakura had just demonstrated, items could be summoned as well. Using a pair of scrolls with the summoning formulae drawn onto it sharply reduced the chakra cost, as did the simplicity of the item she had bound to the scroll. Iruka could have summoned that basin and the water inside of it over a thousand times in a row and not been tired, just as an example. For Sakura, this would have wiped out about a third of her reserves.

"For…future reference, we can prepare things like this for you." Mizuki said once he picked his jaw up off the floor.

"Oh…sorry." Sakura said sheepishly. "Anyway…"

She ran through eight more handsigns. "Suiton: Kika no Jutsu! (Water Style: Vaporisation Jutsu!)"

The water inside the tub rippled and then seemed to vanish. Iruka recognised the jutsu she was using. It transformed any liquid within her range into gas in the air around her. It was an E-Rank jutsu that was 'borrowed' from Kirigakure, who used it to train people in how to use both the Low D-Rank Jutsu Suiton: Kasumi (Water Style: Mist) and the ordinary D-Rank Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu (Water Style: Hidden in the Mist Jutsu). Just where had Sakura found it?

Then the scarred chunin remembered that her father, Kizashi, was a retired genin with a water affinity. He was bound to know at least a few techniques he could pass on to his child.

"Preparations, done." Sakura nodded in satisfaction. "Now then…here we go."

She ran through five more handsigns. "Suiton: Suijōki Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The light condensation hanging in the air seemed to shimmer for a moment before, in a small flash, two clones of the girl stood next to her. One moved forward and poked Iruka on the arm, while the other did the same to Mizuki.

"A solid clone jutsu!?" Mizuki gaped.

"Barely." Iruka said, only barely keeping his professional façade up. "It's a simple jutsu that's only slightly harder than the basic Bunshin, but it does require a certain amount of humidity or condensation to be present in the air in order to be used, so it's best used around lakes, at sea or on the coast. Vapour Clones have a very limited amount of their creator's strength and relatively low durability, but they can use Suiton jutsu. Congratulations Sakura-chan. You've earned the bonus points."

"Tee-hee!" Sakura smiled brightly and then threw a smug look at Ino, who glowered back at her in annoyance.

'I think that she's going to go far.' The scarred chunin thought with a smile as he handed her a hitai-ate. It was one thing to know how to use a jutsu, but to prepare a method to use it even in an area like the classroom, which was usually too dry to make even one Vapour Clone, took both a level head and forward thinking.

Both useful traits in any aspiring shinobi.

With Naruto

The blond boy grinned as Sakura passed with ease. In the months since he had revealed the [Gamer] to his Jiji, one thing he had done his best to do was level up his Fūinjutsu as much as he could. Now, he could not only make Type-1 storage scrolls, but Type-2 Storage Scrolls and Basic Exploding Tags. His Jiji had given him a scroll about summoning seals a while back and he had finally managed to make one for Sakura just a couple of days ago. She would've had to spend a bit on a large enough storage scroll, a Type-4 at least, in order to carry that much water.

The rest of the class were gaping at Sakura in disbelief. Most of them had heard of solid clones, especially the clan kids, but they were also usually somewhat chakra intensive and tied to one of the elements. One of the only exceptions to the latter was the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, a pure chakra construct invented by the Second Hokage. The Suijōki Bunshin was an exception to the former, only having a chakra that was a bit over double that of the basic illusion clone.

Sitting back as the rest of the class went down and passed the exam was kinda boring, but Naruto knew that it couldn't be helped; alphabetically, he was one of the last people who was to be called. Unless some more people with a v, w, x, y or z in their surname came into the equation, he was always going to be called somewhere around last, unless it was reverse alphabetical order, that is.

Eventually…

"Naruto, you're next!" Iruka called and Naruto sauntered down the stairs to stand easily in front of Iruka-sensei and Mizuki, who was barely able to keep his distaste and hatred concealed.

"I think you know the drill by this point." The scarred chunin said dryly.

"Third time's the charm, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said confidently. "So…here we go."

Silently, and without any handsigns, Naruto switched places with the wooden block posed for a moment and then swapped back. He had finally maxed out this jutsu over the last few months and earned a small Perk for it from reaching LV100/LVMAX.

[The Substitutor]: You have mastered the Kawarimi no Jutsu to its ultimate limit! You are now able to swap with something as small as a mustard seed with no handsigns and no intonation. Chakra cost for using a Kawarimi no Jutsu is now set at a flat 5 CP, regardless of the small size of the target or how close it is to the jutsu's outer range. Swapping with anything larger than yourself will still cost more CP though.

Mastering a jutsu like this really did pay dividends.

Iruka blinked in awe. "That…that was well done, Naruto. OK then. Please transform into Hokage-sama for me."

Smirking, Naruto made the Ram handsign and transformed in a small explosion of chakra smoke. Well, small by his standards, anyway. It was about triple the amount that Sakura had used for the same jutsu.

When the smoke cleared, the stern personage of Sarutobi Hiruzen stood there eying both chunin with scant favour. "Iruka-kun, Mizuki-kun, I trust that everything is going well in these exams?"

The voice, both in tone and cadence, was spot on, enough to make Iruka and Mizuki instinctively straighten just as it would with the real deal. Naruto smirked as he reverted back. He had also maxed out the Henge no Jutsu, but hadn't received a perk. Instead he'd received a Quest.

XXXX of the Hundred Transformations: You have maxed out the Henge no Jutsu! The most famous man to use this jutsu is Kazan of Yugakure, known as Hyaku Henge no Kazan! Match him in this regard for a reward!

Quest Goal: Transform into 100 different people and deceive at least one person who knows the target well. Current Transformation and Deception Count: 20/100.

Quest Reward: +5000 EXP, Perk: [Naruto of the 100 Transformations], [Shunshin no Jutsu] Scroll

He would have done it just for the pranking value, never mind the actual rewards for the quest.

"That was excellent, Naruto!" Iruka praised him with a smile. "I literally couldn't tell the difference! Now, for the final test…please use a Bunshin no Jutsu."

Nodding, the Blond Jinchūriki ran through four handsigns. "[Doton: Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu]!"

From his mouth, he spat out a large glob of earth that formed into four Rock Clones.

"Does this count?" Mizuki asked Iruka in shock.

"The guidelines specify that they have to be able to perform a Bunshin no Jutsu, not the Bunshin no Jutsu." Iruka reminded him. "As a balancer though, Naruto doesn't receive any bonus points for this jutsu. OK, so you have now passed this section of the test Naruto. Do you want to use another clone technique for bonus points?"

"Sure." Naruto grinned. "Oi, you two! Do it!"

Two of the Iwa Bunshin nodded and used ran through two handsigns apiece. "[Doton: Iwahachi no Jutsu]! (Earth Release: Rock Bowl Jutsu)!"

Each of them spat out another lump of rock apiece, which formed largish bowls after hitting the ground. Naruto then looked at the chunin. "Could you fill these with water, Iruka-sensei? I need it for my jutsu."

Iruka smiled. "Sure." He ran through a handsign sequence and raised a hand at each bowl. "Suiton: Suihachi no Jutsu! (Water Style: Water Bowl Jutsu!)"

A spout of water erupted from his hands, filling the bowls very quickly. Terminating the jutsu, Iruka saw the awe on Naruto's face.

"That was cool! I thought that jutsu was one hand only?" the boy exclaimed.

"Enough practice with a jutsu and you can tweak it to a degree." The scarred chunin said modestly. "And what jutsu are you planning on showing us?"

The boy ginned and formed the Tiger handsign. "[Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!]"

Slowly surging up at the expression of his chakra, a single clone made of water grew out of each of the rock bowls and quickly stepped out, allowing Naruto to repeat the jutsu again.

"Why water clones?" Iruka asked after a moment of surprise.

"I found the scroll in TG13 last month." Naruto shrugged. "It still takes too long to form a clone, but I'm gonna practice until it gets up to standard."

"That's a good plan." The scarred chunin nodded and undid his own hitai-ate before handing it over to Naruto. "Just like I promised, my hitai-ate. Wear it proudly as a ninja, Naruto."

Naruto took it carefully and smiled wildly enough that it was a surprise the top of his head didn't suddenly fall off. It had been an old promise between the two of them that when Naruto graduated, Iruka would give him his hitai-ate.

Waiting through the long (not to mention boring) after exam lecture was a pain in the ass, but Naruto bore through it. After class was dismissed for the day, with an admonishment to come back in on Monday for team assignments, Naruto ran pell-mell back to his apartment and sat down on a seat, taking off his new hitai-ate and used [Observe] on it.

[Konohagakure Legacy Hitai-ate]

Forehead Armour

A hitai-ate handed down from Umino Iruka to Uzumaki Naruto. It is old, but well maintained and cared for. While there are numerous designs for hitai-ate, this one is the general type designed to be tied over the forehead in mimicry of the cloth hachimaki that bore clan symbols during the Warring Clans Period.

Requires Class [Genin] and Minimum Level of 15 to be worn in combat.

+10 Armour to covered location.

5 Fūinjutsu slots (Empty)

This was something he had discovered once his [Fūinjutsu] skill had reached LV5; each piece of clothing or armour had a set limit to how many seals you could place on it. Some, like typical civilian clothing, couldn't even have a single seal on it, while hardy shinobi clothing could have up to ten!

A good example would be the [Lesser Fūjin Set] of clothes. The seals already present on them to give them their useful effects took up four slots, leaving a single free slot for another piece of Fūinjutsu, although Naruto couldn't add any at the moment. This was mainly because the cloth armour seal he had required two slots to fill. Until he found a way to either increase the number of slots a piece of clothing possessed or reduce the number of slots that the cloth armour seal needed to take up, that is.

His selection of supplementary Fūinjutsu, that is Fūinjutsu that wasn't a trap seal, an explosive tag or a storage seal, was a grand total of one right now, so that was something he was gonna have to brush up on once he was assigned to a team and had clearance to the Shinobi Library.

'Then again, I may be able to get some Fūinjutsu from whoever my Jonin-sensei is.' Naruto hummed thoughtfully, even as his eyes strayed to the sword rack that he'd been given for free when he'd picked up his sword.

It was a beautiful weapon. A kodachi, with the tell-tale ripple of a master forged blade along its edge, as well as all of the little tricks that Higurashi Tatsuhiko had forged into it. The name that the blacksmith and his wife had suggested had sounded cool so Naruto had gone along with it.

[Kogetsu Kyūshiki]

Forged from the purest of chakra metal by the combined skill of the Higurashi family of Weaponsmiths, the name of this blade is twofold; it can either mean 'Arc Moon Type Nine' or 'Fox Moon Type Nine' depending on how you translate it. The Type Nine part of the name is in reference to the nine special features that Higurashi Tatsuhiko designed and implemented into this weapon. If mastered, the wielder will be very close to unstoppable in close combat.

LV20

Mastercrafted, Short Weapon, Chakra Weapon, Custom Made, Evolving

Durability: 300/300

Piercing Damage: Sx2-10

Slashing Damage: S+35

Bludgeoning Damage: S+5

Special Abilities: 1) [Back Blade]: On the reverse of the tip of the blade is a small bladed section that can be used for a reversed cut. (Skill Undiscovered) [0/1]

2-4) [Hidden Hilt Weapons]: By rotating the lower half of the hilt of the Kogetsu, one of three optional weapons become available to be unsealed; a short blade intended for a sneak attack, a chain and moon-shaped blade to entangle the enemy or a compact launcher that can fire a small cluster of senbon at the enemy. (Skill(s) Undiscovered) [0/10/15/20]

5) [Serrated Form]: Grants the blade a serrated edge to deal more damage. (Skill Undiscovered) [0/25]

6) [Blunt Form]: Removed the edge completely in order to be used in sparring. (Skill Undiscovered) [0/30]

7) [Fukki (Reversion)]: Reverts the Kogetsu Kyūshiki to its base form, undoing any transformation that the blade and hilt are under in the process. (Skill Undiscovered) [0/35]

8) [Kogetsu Chakraha (Crescent Blade Chakra Wave)]: Allows the user to launch a wave of pure chakra at the enemy to deal damage. 5 Minute cooldown between uses. (Skill Undiscovered) [0/40]

9) [Kyūjin Rendan (Nine Blades Barrage)]: The blade splits into nine tendrils that lash out and strike the nearest enemy. Damage is halved against armoured locations. (Skill Undiscovered). [0/50]

The sword royally kicked ass and Naruto had sworn to examine the Fūinjutsu of the thing until he could replicate all of it; just examining it casually and trying to read the seals had given him two levels in [Fūinjutsu] already!

The [Evolving] part confused him a bit, but it seemed that his [Gamer] power had interfered with his sword somehow and made it so he had to kill a certain amount of enemies, be they human or chakra mutations, before he had access to the skills of his sword. Presumably, he had to kill them with the sword too.

Naruto caught sight of the clock and cursed. He had to meet Iruka-sensei at Ichiraku's in a few minutes! Leaping up and running to his bedroom, he changed into a fresh set of clothes. Hesitating for a moment, he walked out into the living room and reverently laid his new hitai-ate in front of his sword stand before heading out.

Later

Ichiraku's Ramen Stand

"Ahhhhh~!" Naruto placed his third bowl of ramen down and sighed in satisfaction. Ramen was truly the Food of the Gods! He would accept no blasphemous substitutes.

"I'm very proud of you Naruto." Iruka said from next to him. "You blew everyone's expectations out of the water with your exam results today; you got in the Top Ten!"

"Guess I shoulda put more effort into my studies a lot sooner." Naruto admitted sheepishly. Then he noticed something. "Hey, Teuchi-ossan, where's Ayame-nee? I haven't seen her tonight."

"She's off getting some ingredients for me." The owner of the ramen stand replied. "It's just a pick up from a nearby village, but I had a team of genin escort her as a high-D-Rank mission. Some stupid bandits have been lurking around the boundaries of Konoha's outer patrols for a while and I didn't want to risk Ayame's life."

"I'll have to see if we can get a clearance mission set up." Iruka sighed. "I swear, sometimes the arrogant stupidity of bandits is too much for words. Some are simply stupid enough to dismiss shinobi as nothing more than common soldiers, ignoring or refusing to admit that chakra even exists while others discard it as simply parlour tricks. If ever there was a case of 'too stupid to live.'" the man finished with a tired mutter.

"Too true." Teuchi snorted. "Useless wastes of space. Anyway, she'll be back tomorrow or the day after. Plenty of time for you to show off your hitai-ate to her."

Naruto just rolled his eyes. "Iruka-sensei, how common are bandits anyway?"

"Hmm…both more common than I'd like and less common than you'd think." The scarred chunin mused. "Bandits come from all walks of life; deserters from the armies of the Daimyo, villagers who had to turn to it to feed their families. Some of the more dangerous ones tend to be drop-outs from the various shinobi academies, outcasts from the wandering clans, and even some low-ranking Nuke-nin, those ranked D and C in the Bingo Book. You tend to see them more during the wars or for a couple years afterwards, but they crop up even during peacetime. Most tend to find isolated areas far from ninja and prey on lone travellers and villages, but some, like the idiots around Konoha, tend to poke the bear by targeting the more well-travelled trading routes or larger settlements. We get hired by the local representative of the Fire Daimyo to clean them out every so often, but they tend to pop up again like cockroaches after a while."

"Wow…" the newly-minted genin blinked.

"Yeah, bandit-clearing missions are a pretty standard C-Rank mission." Iruka said with a laugh. "The Daimyo's armies rarely move from the cities unless it's wartime, and we're more mobile to begin with, so we ninja get the job of cleaning up bandits more often than not. Well, that's enough on that. Looking forward to finding out who your Jonin-sensei is on Monday?"

"Yeah! I've been wanting to get into the genin portion of the library for a while, 'cause I need to get proper Kodachi and Tantō styles to learn." The boy grinned.

"I meant to get you one, but I got caught up in paperwork." Iruka apologised before glancing at the clock and scowling. "And I have to go and finish more paperwork right now. The end of a semester is always a pain in the butt with this kinda thing."

Leaving a handful of Ryo notes on the counter to pay for his and Naruto's ramen, the chunin ruffled a protesting Naruto's hair before leaving.

"Why does he always do that?" Naruto grumbled good-naturedly as he tried to get his spikey mop back into some semblance of order. Teuchi laughed at the put-upon expression he wore.

After chatting with the ramen chef for a while, Naruto headed back to his home to get started on his [Fūinjutsu] training. An added bonus was that he was selling his decent products to the Higurashi family for a big paycheck…or at least, for a reasonably large paycheck.

When he got into his house, he at once noticed something off. There was a scroll on his living room table that definitely hadn't been there when he'd left earlier. This rang alarm bells for the Jinchūriki, so he decided to be cautious.

"[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu]!" he said, making the Clone Handsign. A single Shadow Clone appeared in a pop of smoke and reluctantly headed towards the scroll and picked it up gingerly.

"Open it." The original ordered.

"Yeah, yeah…I got it Boss." The clone grumbled. The Shadow Clone Jutsu had been developed for the purpose of scouting dangerous areas, deliberately tripping traps and opening strange scrolls/boxes that appeared from nowhere, but that didn't mean that the clones liked it by any stretch of the imagination.

Deciding to get it over with quickly, the Clone opened the scroll and flinched away, expecting an explosion or something to blast it out of existence. When that didn't happen, it breathed a sigh of relief before reading the contents.

"Boss…Mizuki-teme is up to something." It said after a minute and showed its creator the scroll. It was a basic message informing Naruto of an exam exclusive to the top ten ranked genin from the basic exam in order to gain the rank of 'Rookie of the Year.' He had to infiltrate the Hokage Tower and steal a particular scroll in order to complete half of the exam. The other half was to abscond to a clearing in Training Ground Number 19, the Forest of Quiet Contemplation and learn one jutsu from the scroll. It was signed 'Toji Mizuki' at the bottom.

The two Narutos exchanged blank looks and said at the same time, "What kind of slobbering nimrod does he think I am?!"

Later

Hokage's Office, Hokage Tower

STAMP!

'Rejected.'

STAMP!

'Approved.'

STAMP, STAMP, STAMP!

'All Rejected. What manner of idiots make requests for 24/7 guard for the civilian council?' Sarutobi though irritably. He had finished discussing things with the Jonin-sensei a few hours ago, and he had been battling the accursed piles of paper that threatened to bury him under ever since.

The sound of feet landing lightly on the carpet in front of his desk made the aged Hokage look up in surprise. Standing in front of him wearing the full [Lesser Fūjin] set and his hitai-ate was Naruto, with a serious expression on his face.

"Naruto-kun? How did you get past the chunin patrollers? Not to mention the ANBU outside my office?" Sarutobi frowned.

"Eh, the chunin are easy to get past because they've kept to the same patrol pattern for the last six months." The boy shrugged. "The ANBU weren't as easy, but they don't watch their own little routes in and out of places, so it's easy as long as you memorize those."

The Hokage felt a vein pulse on his head in irritation. Someone was being lazy in the Chunin Patroller Division, as he had specifically ordered that the patrol patterns were to be alternated every month. He also cast a reproving glance to where he knew one of his ANBU operatives was stationed and felt the man's embarrassment at being snuck up on by an hours-fresh genin, even if it was the Prankster King of Konoha.

"I see…I will plug those holes in the morning." Hiruzen pinched his nose at the fresh paperwork that this little excursion of Naruto's was going to generate. "So, to what do I owe this late night visit? Is this your new genin outfit?"

"Light combat version, yep." Naruto nodded before shaking his head. "I have something you need to see, Hokage-sama. It's a very suspicious note that I found in my apartment…from Mizuki."

This made Hiruzen narrow his eyes at his favourite orphan. "Show me."

After examining the note in question, the Hokage nodded. "This is indeed suspicious. The scroll in question is the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, which is full of dangerous Kinjutsu. Telling you to steal it is the equivalent of ordering you to commit treason."

"So he wanted me to do his dirty work and then run, leaving me to carry the can for him." Naruto growled.

"Very likely, but while I recognise this as Mizuki's handwriting, a decent forger could have written this out to frame him." Hiruzen scowled before a smirk crossed his face. "Naruto-kun, how would you like to be responsible for bringing in a Nuke-nin on your first day as a ninja?"

The smirk on Naruto's face made Iruka, putting his feet up at his home after finishing his paperwork, shiver in trepidation such was the fell evil it contained.

"Tell me more, Hokage-jiji…"

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Next Chapter: Confrontation: Naruto vs. Mizuki

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