"Go away..." I murmured but the pokes intensified.

"Oni-chan, you are going to be late for your test..." a voice said. The voice was interrupting my good sleep and I moaned it away

"Wait a minute," my thoughts snapped into reality. My eyes immediately shot open. I was late. I tried to move but my body made a cracking sound in protest. I groaned in pain--managed to rise eventually.

"Oni-chan, are you okay?" Hanabi asked. I said yes and stood up properly. As I stretched my body, the cracking sounds grew intense and I yawned.

"Hurry, Oni-chan! Onee-chan already left you," Hanabi continued. I hurriedly fetch my towels and ran to the bathroom.

I managed to not take much time preparing. I wore the same sleeveless jacket like the one I wore yesterday but with a black jumpsuit underneath to hide my bruises. I was sore all over due to the insane training regiment that Sarutobi-sensei had made me gone through. I had already tied my sandals properly when I have done my familiar forehead cloth. Hanabi came out to the porch I was sitting on with a slice of bread and a gla.s.s of milk.

"Thank you, Hanabi-chan. You're a lifesaver." I said while I was chewing the bread and she giggled as she watched me.

"I don't want to hear your stomach make that sound again. Make sure you eat lunch. Here, your bento. Onee-chan made extras." She said. I thanked her and immediately ran towards the Ninja Academy.

When I arrived at the cla.s.s, I slid the doors open almost immediately.

"Sensei! I'm sorry that I am late," I yelled and immediately bowed. My cla.s.smates laughed at me and I rubbed the back of my head, grinning. I was prepared to face the consequences but Iruka surprised me with his smile.

"It's ok, Hikari. Your circ.u.mstances had already been explained by Hinata and your sensei. We haven't begun yet anyway. So, please come in and take your seat," he said. I noted that Iruksensei wouldn't mention who was my sensei but I understood that it will get me too much attention to it. I bowed and apologized once more before I took my seat beside Naruto.

"Good morning, Naruto," I greeted him and he grinned widely.

"Morning, Hikari!" He said.

"Aren't you a bit enthusiastic this morning?" I asked.

"I'm going to pa.s.s this and become the Hokage for sure, Dattebayyo!" I couldn't help but grin alongside him with good spirits. I noticed in the corner of my eyes that Hinata was twiddling her fingers and smiled fondly as Naruto said those words. If only Naruto knew how smitten her was at him.

"...to graduate; you'll have to do the Buns.h.i.+n no Jutsu. When you're called, come to the next room," Iruksensei was explaining the examination as it turns out. Naruto grabbed both of his cheeks and gritted his teeth.

"d.a.m.n it..." he muttered. I deduced that this jutsu must have been difficult for him. I wanted to encourage him but I doubt that he would listen to a new student like mine.

"Hey, you are going to do better than me," I said but the way that he seemed oblivious to my words made me chuckled.

I was called-in first before Hinata and when I entered the exam room, I saw another teacher besides Iruksensei. He was smiling widely like nothing could go wrong in his everyday life. It was unsettling. The smile took me back to the representative of the Land of That. He had the same smile. I couldn't fathom why but this man couldn't be trusted.

"Stand in the middle and create two clones when you're ready," Iruksensei said. I stood at the said spot and brought my hand to form the seal of my sensei's Kage Buns.h.i.+n.

"Kage Buns.h.i.+n no Jutsu," I said and two puffs of smoke appeared behind me and from them, two clones of mine appeared and bowed towards them. Both of the teachers had raised their eyebrows.

"Are you sure that he never had attended a Ninja Academy before, Iruka?" the white-haired man asked impa.s.sively.

"Yes, Mizuki. By the way, that was a B-rank jutsu, Hikari," Iruksensei said and my clones along with me rubbed the back of our heads and said together.

"My sensei sort of gives me a crash lesson and he taught me everything he knew yesterday."

"Keep it up this way and Sandaime-sama will produce the new addition to the Legendary Sannin," Iruksensei exhaled, "here, take this forehead protector. You are now a genin, mind you after being in the academy for one day only. Congratulations."

"Your sensei is the Hokage?" Mizuki was feigning surprise. I shot a glare at him as undid my jutsu before I fetched my headband.

"You're suspicious. I'm watching you," I said to myself.

Mizuki swallowed and congratulated me nervously.

"Please call Hinata in for us," Iruksensei asked as I exit the examination room.

"Yes, sensei," I said and I closed their doors. I went back to cla.s.s and walked over to Hinata.

"Hinata, you're next," I said. She gulped and stood up.

"How did you do, Hikari-Nisan?" She asked. I pulled out my headband from my jacket's inside pocket and showed it to her.

"Congratulations. Wait for me and we will eat our bento together," Hinata said and she made her way to the doors.

"Good luck, Hinata! I am sure you will pa.s.s!" I shouted and I was sure her face went red at my sudden voice when she immediately closed the cla.s.sroom door. I felt the Uchiha boy's narrowed eyes on me and I immediately shot a glare at him.

"Honestly, what is his problem?" I thought.

I sat beside Naruto and gave him a strong pat on the back.

"Good luck, Naruto! There is a saying where I came from that said the third time is the charm," I said and he thanked me without some improvement in his mood.

"Come on, this is not the Naruto I know. Cheer up!" I continued and it seemed to work because his mouth turned into a grin. When Naruto went into the exam room, Hinata and I was eating our bento and of course, we used our Byakugan to spy on him.

Naruto formed a seal in his hand and kneaded some chakra, such a shame that he couldn't control that enormous amount of chakra of his properly. The Buns.h.i.+n turned out to be a mangled and paled version of him. Both Iruka and Naruto sweated at the sight of it.

"Fail!!!!" Iruksensei yelled at the top of his lungs and his voice was heard even in the cla.s.sroom. Our cla.s.smate just laughed at Naruto but I winced at how Iruka scolded him. Naruto fell on his head hearing the scream.

"Iruka, this is his third time and he did create a clone. We could let him pa.s.s," Mizuki suggested and expectedly, Naruto's expression lit up at the words.

"No way Mizuki! All the others had created two clones and Naruto only create one and it was a useless one. I can't let him pa.s.s," Iruka countered. Naruto gritted his teeth and he walked slowly back to the cla.s.s. His mood was too bad that no one dared to make fun of him. When he sat next to me, I felt that I should comfort him for some reason. I gave him my uneaten bento.

"Here, eat. I can't stand that expression on you. We'll study together, next time," I said. His eyes were distant and he looked outside the windows.

"I'm not hungry," He said slowly. Hinata was visibly worried and I knew that I have to talk him out of this mood but I decided to let him cool down for a moment.

At the end of the day, we went outside of the Ninja Academy and a lot of parents gathered here to celebrate their children. The delighted sound of the new Genins and the proud voices of the parent had animated the otherwise lonely entrance of the academy.

"Great job! That's my son!! Now you're a man!" a man said.

"I'm so proud of you. I'm going to make your favourite dinner tonight," his wife said. Then I heard a familiar voice.

"Oni-chan! Onee-chan!" Hanabi called while waving at us. She was walking with Hias.h.i.+ towards us.

"So, how did you both do?" he asked. We bowed and present him with our head protector.

"Congratulations, you two! We should celebrate this!" Hanabi said but I was distracted by a conversation by a pair of the housewives.

"Hey, that kid..." housewife 1 said

"Yeah, that's 'the kid' and he's also the one who failed..." housewife 2 answered.

"Well, that's a good thing. He shouldn't become a ninja. Since he is..." Housewife 1 said.

"Shh... we're not supposed to talk about that," Housewife 2 chided. I looked around for who they were mentioning and I saw the sole, orange wearing, the yellow-haired boy sat on the swing alone and his hand was tight on the swing. He was lowering his goggles over his eyes. I knew immediately what he was doing and I appeared next to him and leaned on the tree bark.

"Naruto, are you alright?" I asked but he nodded instead of answering me, "If you need someone to talk..."

I couldn't finish what I was saying because he ran away.

"Why wouldn't you let me in? I understand your pain completely. These villagers, they knew something I don't, the way they looked at you..." my thoughts were churning why concern as I look behind his back as he ran away from the place. Watching him felt like myself was hurting with him.

"Oni-chan! We are going to eat out. Come, let's go!" Hanabi called. I wiped out my 'unconscious tears'.

"Yes, wait up!" I said and ran towards them. Hanabi immediately climbed onto my shoulder. I gave her my forehead protector. She tied the headband on her forehead. It looked too big on her and we laughed when it drooped onto her nose. We had a memorable dinner over at a place that made money out of grilling meat. It was greasy but it was comfort food and so I had enjoyed it admirably. That late-night, Hias.h.i.+ and I had our usual tea at the porch.

"Hias.h.i.+-sama, why were their eyes were so cold when they looked at Naruto," I suddenly said when the images from the academy entered my mind and I saw Hias.h.i.+ gave a big sigh.

"What I am about to tell you is the reason for a rule that forbids these words to be mention to another person that is broken, one would be punished severely. Twelve years ago, a fox demon had attacked Konoha. Many lives were lost that day including the Yondaime Hokage who sealed the fox demon into a newborn baby. On Sandaime-sama's order, people were forbidden to mention the attack but they knew who the boy was and what was sealed in him. They refused to acknowledge the boy as a boy he should be but instead see him as the fox demon that must be destroyed so the people hated him to the bones. Sandaime did tell us Jounin who were on duty during the attacked that Yondaime-sama must have wanted the boy to be revered as a hero to the village hence the rule. But the hatred was too strong in this case," Hias.h.i.+ explained. No wonder that the people gave him a disgusted look to him when he wasn't looking. It must have been taken its toll on him, with that much hatred that he was oblivious about.

"Poor Naruto," I exhaled. Hias.h.i.+ nodded at my comment. We were interrupted by a Hyuuga that was suddenly appeared in front of us, kneeling.

"Hias.h.i.+-sama, Hikari-sama? Uzumaki Naruto has taken the Scroll of Forbidden Seals," the man said and disappeared. I scratched away the non-existent itch on my head.

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"Ah, this guy. What is he up to now?" I said, exasperated.

"The forbidden scroll? His pranks normally wouldn't go this far. This could mean danger to the village," Hias.h.i.+ said while scratching his chin.

"No, I believe in Naruto, he is beyond this. He won't endanger the village. Perhaps somebody might have planted this idea on his head. He wasn't even that smart to think of a plan..." I said before I remembered about Mizuki and I sipped my tea.

"What's on your mind, Hikari?" Hias.h.i.+ asked me.

"The sensei that tested me this morning--Mizuki? I don't know why but I felt suspicious about him," I answered. Hias.h.i.+ raised his eyebrows.

"Mizuki? Seems like a good man. Though, I don't know him personally," he said.

"There was something in his smile--too perfect that it made me feel uneasy," I continued.

"How about we wait it out and see how the matter progress. If need be, we should intervene," Hias.h.i.+ suggested. I agreed and we both sipped our tea at the same time. It was obvious that we were both worried about Naruto. I had a feeling that the night is going to be a long night. Then I remembered something that was a perfect distraction from this matter.

"Oh, right! Iruksensei had told us to take a picture for the forms that he handed to us, the ninja registration form. What is a picture by the way?" I said but Hias.h.i.+ chuckled.

"I have always forgotten that you came from ancient times. It's like a drawing of our face but incredibly detailed. I'll have the photographer here at our compound tomorrow. Perhaps we should practice Juken afterwards, how about that?" Hias.h.i.+ said. I couldn't help but felt slightly irritated.

"Sure, laugh at my mawkishness, Hias.h.i.+-sama. This old man might be kicking your a.s.s tomorrow," we both laughed, goodheartedly. A few hours later, the same Hyuuga appeared and delivered the awaited news.

"The ninja academy teacher, Mizuki had lied and influenced Naruto to steal the scroll in order to pa.s.s the graduation ceremony. Mizuki was defeated by Naruto and Iruka. The boy was p.r.o.nounced innocent by the Hokage," the man said and disappeared. I grinned widely at the news.

"Serves that snake right. I am so proud of you, Naruto," I muttered. That night I slept soundly with a smile on my face.