December 31st, 62 AE
Today was the last day of the year, and also the day the Final Examinations of the Ninja Academy concluded.
Enma, Karin, and Sasuke walked back toward the Uzumaki Forest in silence.
They had all passed, but they were not really happy. It was a result they had long expected.
And Karin was upset because Naruto had failed to pass.
Last year, when Naruto failed to use the Clone Technique, they understood that he lacked Chakra Control, and since he was a Half Uzumaki, and his father was from the branch of the Senju Family, it was not a surprise that he possessed more than the normal amount of Chakra and was having difficulty controlling it.
His difficulties, however, mostly stemmed from being the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails Fox.
Enma had even taught Naruto some Chakra Control Training Methods, and the boy improved a lot. However, he still did not have enough Chakra Control to create simple Clones, which were supposed to be super easy. After all, they were just illusions.
"It's all because of that Evil Chakra inside of him..." Karin grumbled, but Enma placed his hand over her mouth, and she embarrassedly lowered her head. "You know, if we taught him..." She stopped and sighed.
They had considered teaching Naruto the Shadow Clone Jutsu, but when they brought it up to Kushina, the Uzumaki Matriarch strictly warned them not to do it.
"Kushina said that Naruto would be fine, and that he would pass even if he failed in the Clone Technique. So, let's relax."
Sasuke and Karin still did not understand why Enma mostly called his Aunt by her name, and, having known him for years, they knew it was not out of some spite either.
Sometimes, the two were on really good terms, and sometimes, they would not even speak to each other for days or weeks.
And yet, Enma always trained with her, trusted her wholeheartedly, and made sure they all abided by her orders.
The two really had a very complicated relationship, and at times, their antics were very funny.
When they reached the gate of their district, they found Akane waiting for them there, and she beamed a bright smile at them.
"You passed, right?" she excitedly asked, and Sasuke turned his face away.
"Failed."
"Yeah, right. I can see your Forehead Protector!"
"Then why did you ask that question?"
She rolled her eyes at his words and then jumped at all three of them, wrapping them in a hug. "Let's celebrate!"
"We will celebrate tomorrow when we are assigned to our Teams," Karin said, and her cousin noticed that she was not happy.
Akane sighed when she learnt why they were not happy, but then tried to cheer them up.
It was New Year's Eve today, and they had all already planned on exploring the Village.
Since Akane rarely got to leave the Uzumaki Forest, as her mother was very protective of her, they did not want to ruin her day.
Once they all freshened up and changed their clothes, they left the Uzumaki District, and the three newly graduated Genin kept their Forehead Protectors on.
Akane pouted at them, but it was already decided that she would follow the steps of her sister and soon join the Police Force. There, after passing the test and with the Hokage's approval, she would become a Genin after a year of service.
Even though this arrangement was not what she wanted, she was very obedient, and she would never disobey her sister or mother.
As they had planned, they visited the town, met up with their classmates, and enjoyed dozens of different delicacies at the food stalls.
At midnight, they all sat down on top of Senju Hashirama's head on the Hokage Rock, watching the beautiful show of fireworks.
"I never knew the Village looked so beautiful from up here." Ino smiled as she expressed how she was feeling right now.
"Naruto showed us this place," said Karin, and sighed.
Since only those who were on good terms with Naruto were present here, they all sighed as well and felt a little sad for their friend.
"I don't understand how he can fail at a simple Clone Jutsu. That's the easiest! He already passed the Taijutsu exam. Yes, he barely made it through the written exam, but his Substitution Jutsu, Transformation Jutsu, Cloak of Invisibility, Shuriken Jutsu, and Kayakujutsu were all good."
Those who knew the reason kept quiet, and then after the fireworks ended, Karin, Enma, Sasuke, and Akane dropped Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, and Shizuka at their homes.
The four of them were happily chatting on their way back to the Uzumaki Compound when Enma suddenly stopped, looking at the forest behind the now-vacant Uchiha District.
"What is it, Nii-san?"
"Naruto is rushing out of the Village. He is carrying something in his arms, and he seems very... happy." He furrowed his brows.
The next second, he rushed towards the boy's direction, and the three of them followed right after him.
"Iruka-sensei is chasing after him as well. Let's take a different route."
"Why?" They all frowned at his words.
"He's angry, very angry, and worried."
Karin too soon spotted and sensed Iruka-sensei's emotions when she closed her eyes and their Sensei entered the range of her Mind's Eye, and she tensed up.
Something very wrong was going on. Iruka-sensei had never been this mad at Naruto, even after all his ridiculous pranks.
What did their blond cousin do?
To avoid being spotted by them, the four of them took a longer route, following Enma's lead, and when he told them that Naruto had stopped running before the boundary of the Village and was sitting down on the ground, excitedly doing something, they frowned.
Enma then stopped when he sensed another person who was heading towards the blond Uzumaki, and his brows furrowed.
"Mizuki-sensei... he seems happy." Karin frowned when she used her Mind's Eye again and spotted the other man.
The two then stayed silent as they watched Iruka-sensei reach Naruto first, and kept Akane and Sasuke informed about what was happening.
Karin suddenly flinched when she saw Mizuki attack their Sensei, and then the man started chasing after Naruto.
The two rushed forward and tensed up even more when Naruto suddenly stopped, and then Iruka-sensei protected him with his body, taking a hit in the back with some sharp weapon, which they soon figured out was a Fuma Shuriken.
Just when they were about to reach the clearing where Naruto was, Enma and Karin stopped again, and this time in surprise at what they saw.
"What happened?" Akane urgently asked, but the pair of siblings did not answer and just rushed forward again.
Half a minute later, when they arrived at the scene, Naruto and his dozens of Shadow Clones were beating the life out of Mizuki, and the sight stunned the two Uchiha.
"Iruka-sensei!" Karin immediately rushed forward to the man, who was surprised to see them, and then smiled when she quickly checked his injuries.
Minutes later, when Naruto had finally vented enough, his Shadow Clones started exploding, and he swayed on his feet.
"Reckless as ever, eh?" Enma smiled as he caught him and helped him climb onto his back.
"Hey, Enma..." the blond whispered, and feeling safe, he immediately fell asleep.
Sasuke and Akane quickly bound Mizuki, and then just as Iruka-sensei was able to get back up on his feet, several Konoha Shinobi arrived at the place.
After the explanation that their Sensei gave, Mizuki was arrested, and a masked Anbu took the Large Scroll away with him.
They all had to walk back because Iruka-sensei decided to walk, and he chatted all the way to the Konoha Hospital with them.
And before going in, he took off his Forehead Protector and tied it on Naruto's forehead.
"He passes."
"Yay!" Karin and Akane shared a high-five, and Enma, who was carrying Naruto on his back, and Sasuke, who was standing by his side, smiled.
After bidding Iruka-sensei farewell, the group walked to the vacant building where Naruto stayed, and since they had come here a few times before, they knew which apartment belonged to him.
Sasuke took out the keys from Naruto's pouch and opened the door.
Enma walked in, found the bedroom without any help, and carefully put the boy down on the bed before taking off his shoes.
"Should we wake him up and tell him that he passed?" Akane curiously asked, and Sasuke shook his head.
"Let's leave him a note, big enough that he will notice it." He said and walked over to the desk to take out a page from a notebook, and then wrote two simple words and signed them with Iruka-sensei's name.
"You passed."
The Uchiha then took Naruto's kunai and impaled the paper on the table with it, and Karin, who had taken off Naruto's Forehead Protector, neatly placed it next to the kunai.
There was no way Naruto would not notice it after waking up in the morning.
Worried that he would wake up late and miss the interview with the Hokage tomorrow, Akane set the alarm clock and placed it next to the bed.
The four left the apartment with smiles on their faces, and when they went far enough, Karin suddenly giggled.
"What?" Her cousin curiously asked, and the Uzumaki giggled some more.
Enma too chuckled a little.
"That Anbu thought we could not see him. He was looking so funny hanging from the ceiling."
Sasuke and Akane stopped in their tracks in shock, and just to make sure they had understood it right, the girl asked her question.
"There was an Anbu in Naruto's apartment?"
"Yes," the Uzumaki Princess nodded her head.
"Why?" Sasuke frowned.
"Who knows, but we have sensed him before. He is one of the group of three who keep an eye on Naruto all the time."
The two Uchiha were still confused but stopped thinking about it as they rushed to their home, using the Body Flicker Technique and skipping over the rooftops.
Unbeknownst to them, a certain Old Man had his eyes on them ever since they had arrived to save Naruto and Iruka in that clearing. And that old man loved using his Crystal Ball Jutsu a little too much.
Hiruzen stared at the pages next to his Crystal, which were the results of these new Genin and their profiles.
Uzumaki Kushina had requested him to put Sasuke, Karin, and Enma on the same team, and he had initially planned on putting them in three separate teams.
However, now, after watching their interactions, he decided to change his mind.
He could still not allow all three of them on the same team, as they were three students with perfect scores, but he could put two of them together, even if it would still skew the balance.
However, on the bright side, he would have an Elite Team in his service.
This way, he would get what he wanted, and the Uzumaki Matriarch would get what she wanted.
Making the deciding, he picked up the profiles of students and started setting them in separate files that were marked with their Team Numbers and the names of their Senseis.