"Hirofumi… just how strong are you now?!"
"Yeah, it's like there's no bottom to your strength!"
"Honestly, after learning a few ninjutsu from you and with how hard everyone's been training lately, I thought I was ready to take the Chunin Exams. But I'm still no match for you!"
"Speaking of which, the strongest among us right now are probably Rock Lee, Sasuke, and Neji, right? Those three could probably take on regular chunin with no problem!"
"What a bunch of freaks…"
"Tch! As if you're not one of them!!!"
"Oh… tomorrow's the graduation exam, huh?!"
"Yeah, time flies! Once we graduate, we'll officially be ninja. It'll probably be hard to hang out like this all the time."
"Let's not slack off after graduation, guys! Don't forget our dream!!!"
"Exactly! Changing the Hidden Leaf Village—no, uniting the entire ninja world! That's the kind of goal that gets your blood pumping!!!"
"If we actually pull it off, it'll be a life worth living!!!"
"Hahahahaha…"
Everyone was buzzing with excitement, except for Naruto Uzumaki, who seemed a bit down. Truth be told, Naruto's progress lately had been incredible. In terms of taijutsu alone, regular genin were no match for him!
The Uzumaki clan's bloodline was seriously something else.
But what frustrated Naruto the most was his struggle with ninjutsu. He couldn't even master the simplest techniques like the Transformation Jutsu or the Clone Jutsu!
The Transformation Jutsu wasn't too bad—thanks to Hirofumi's guidance, Naruto had developed his own unique technique: the Sexy Jutsu!
And, honestly, he seemed pretty darn talented at it. But the Clone Jutsu? That was a total headache.
His clones either came out limp and lifeless, tiny and pathetic, or just plain weird-looking…
It was stressing Naruto out. What if the graduation exam tomorrow tested the Clone Jutsu? What was he supposed to do?!
"Hey, Naruto! What's on your mind?!"
Hirofumi Ito walked over and gave Naruto a pat on the shoulder.
"Nothing much… just thinking about tomorrow's graduation exam. My Clone Jutsu is kinda garbage. What if that's what they test us on?!"
"Relax! There's always a way. Who knows, maybe they'll test the Transformation Jutsu instead. If that happens, you'll shock Iruka-sensei so bad his jaw'll hit the floor!!!"
At Hirofumi's words, a faint blush crept onto Naruto's face, and the rest of the gang—the Rookie Nine—started chuckling with knowing looks.
They'd all seen Naruto's "special" Transformation Jutsu before, and let's just say it was… intense!!!
Especially for Sasuke Uchiha, whose face was the reddest of them all!
---
Just a few days ago, that idiot Naruto had strutted up to Sasuke, picking his nose and bragging about some new ninjutsu he'd developed and wanted to test on him!
Sasuke had assumed Naruto meant a spar or something, but nope—that knucklehead transformed with a poof into a blonde, twin-tailed Naruko! And then he started posing all flirty right in Sasuke's face!
Sasuke was completely thrown off!!!
For some reason, his heart started racing like crazy!
Next thing he knew, his Sharingan activated on its own, and the moment after that, he passed out.
When he woke up, he realized he'd awakened the two-tomoe Sharingan!
Yup… his two-tomoe Sharingan awakened in the most ridiculous way possible!
It was almost too embarrassing to accept!!!
But, well, it was still a good thing, right? Awakening the two-tomoe Sharingan made him stronger. The only problem was that, for some reason, the image of that blonde, twin-tailed Naruko kept popping into his head…
And to make matters worse, that idiot Naruto kept bragging about how he'd used his Transformation Jutsu to turn into a girl and knocked Sasuke out cold…
Lately, even Sakura Haruno had been giving Sasuke weird looks!!!
Seeing the strange expressions on everyone's faces, Hirofumi quickly waved his hands.
"Alright, alright, let's wrap up training for today! We've got the graduation exam tomorrow, so go home, rest up, and get a good night's sleep!"
---
After leaving Sasuke's place, Hirofumi headed home. Instead of training in the summoning space like usual, he decided to get a solid night's sleep.
The next day, the ninja academy was buzzing with excitement!
It was graduation exam day, after all.
"Alright, everyone! This year's graduation exam will test your Clone Jutsu!!!"
Iruka-sensei announced from the front of the classroom.
The Rookie Nine all turned to look at Naruto at the same time.
Naruto's face fell instantly!
"No way?! It's actually the Clone Jutsu?! I'm done for… I'll never become a ninja like this… Noooo!!!!"
"Naruto! Is something wrong?!"
"N-Nothing, Iruka-sensei… but, uh, could we maybe test something else? Like the Transformation Jutsu?!"
"No can do! The graduation exam is set by the Hokage himself. This is for your own good. A genin who can't master the Three Basic Techniques is simply not qualified!
Letting someone like that become a ninja would be irresponsible and put your lives at risk!"
Naruto was utterly crushed by those words.
As expected, everyone else passed the exam, but Naruto was the only one left. His first clone came out all limp and lifeless.
Iruka-sensei gave him a second chance, but the next clone was a tiny, mini Naruto.
Having failed the exam, Naruto felt defeated. Was he really going to have to repeat a year at the academy?!
After the exam, Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten showed up and learned that Naruto hadn't passed.
The Rookie Twelve were all bummed out about Naruto's failure…
One by one, they started trying to cheer him up.
Not wanting everyone to feel down because of him, Naruto scratched his head and put on a carefree grin.
"Well… looks like your ol' pal Naruto's gotta repeat a year at the academy! Don't you guys forget about me, alright?! Whatever, I'm gonna go take a leak…"
By now, the classroom was empty except for the Rookie Twelve and Hirofumi. The other students who passed had already gone home to wait for tomorrow's team assignments.
Iruka-sensei had also stepped out to organize the student roster.
But just a few minutes later, Naruto came bursting back in, kicking the door open!
"Guys!!!
I've got some huge news!!!
That Mizuki-sensei from the other class told me there's this super awesome treasure in the Hokage's building called the Scroll of Seals!
He said if I can steal it and learn a jutsu from it, I'll pass the exam no problem!!!
But… I dunno, something about that Mizuki guy feels off. Like, in Hirofumi's words, he's kinda a sneaky old jerk!
Do you guys think he's trying to trick me?!"
---
(Man, this intense writing grind is frying my brain! I feel like a zombie's been chowing down on it!
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Let's push a bit harder and get this book to the top of the leaderboard!
If we make it, I, your author, will take over the Hidden Leaf Village as Hokage and declare all you readers the biggest VIPs in the village!!!!
All for the Hidden Leaf!!!!
This is our youth!!!!)