บท 6: Graduation

The days trickled away once more and the day of graduation came. On this day, the sun slowly made its appearance and bathed its rays over Konoha.

Over the course of the past couple of years, not only did Naruto and Hinata trained in their main chakra nature affinities - fire for Naruto and water for Hinata - they had also trained in their other two nature affinities; wind and lightning for Naruto, wind and fire for Hinata.

Because both had fire and wind affinities, majority of their techniques were the same. However, there was a point where Naruto and Hinata differed in their fire affinities. Naruto's affinity for fire was extremely high to the point where he could technically sense the heat energy in the air. His ability to sense heat energy allowed him to be a natural sensor.

Naruto's lightning and wind affinities were not too far off from his fire affinity. He knew that with some more training, he could easily bring them up to the same level as his fire affinity. This way, he will be able to better sense his surroundings based on the changes in the air current. As for his lightning affinity, he would be able to sense the electrical currents that are continuously being discharged in that human body.

While learning the different taijutsu styles, Naruto had come up with his own unique fighting style where his Fire and Lightning affinities fully complimented. While focusing on his opponent's pressure points, he had realised that under normal circumstances, he would not be able to target the pressure points should his oppoents be wearing any shield or an armour. Therefore, he would encase his fists or legs with Lightning chakra and when stroking his opponents, it would send out an electrical discharge to effectively numb the area that was hit.

Naruto did the same with his Fire chakra where striked area would be burnt. Naruto named each respective style Lightning Fist and Fire Fist.

Naruto also worked with Hinata where they created invisible chakra wind blades in their fingers using their Wind affinity chakra. This way, they can inflict great damage to their opponents wherever they striked. This was a great way to disable enemies through damaging the muscles.

In Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, Naruto and Hinata were equals. In chakra reserve, there was no-one in the village that could match Naruto, let alone Hinata. However, Hinata's only advantage over Naruto came in the form of chakra control that easily rivaled Tsunade's. This did not mean that Naruto was slacking in chakra control. In fact he was training in chakra control even more than any other part of his training. However, his control over his chakra was not as precise as Hinata's due to the sheer amount of it he had. Despite having invested so much time and effort into it, his improvement was still slow as his chakra reserve was constantly growing with all the training he was doing.

Naruto and Hinata were making their way towards the classroom in the academy when Naruto heard a voice calling him.

"Naruto-kun, wait," said the voice.

Naruto and Hinata turned and came face to face with a beautiful blonde girl.

"Ino, how have you been?" asked Naruto with a smile.

"I've been good thanks," said Ino. "So you two ready to ace the exam today?"

"What happened?" asked Hinata curiously. "You're not being an Uchiha fan girl anymore?"

"Oh please," said Ino, rolling her eyes. "Like I'll still chase after that jerk. Do you think that he gives a toss to who fawns over him?"

"Hey, when did you become so mature?" asked Naruto, surprised. "Last I remember, you were still chasing after him and competing with the pink banshee."

"That was three years ago when I was only ten!" exclaimed Ino as she pouted. "Besides, you're a much better candidate than that brooding jerk."

"Hands off Blondie, Naruto-kun is mine," hissed Hinata as she activated her Byakugan.

"Easy there, Hinata-chan," said Ino sweating buckets. She knew just how strong Hinata was. "I was just teasing Naruto-kun."

"Girls, let's go inside the classroom," said Naruto leading the way to the classroom. "We're about to graduate today."

Soon after their arrival, the classroom started filling out. Moments later, the arrogant Uchicha and his fan-girls entered. Giving the classroom a quick scan, Sasuke took his seat on the first row by the window.

Soon after, Iruka-sensei came in. Wearing black pants and normal Chunin jacket, he held his brown hair in a ponytail. Naruto always found the large scar on his nose a little weird, but didn't comment on it.

"As you all know," said Iruka, "today's the day where you'll be taking your graduation exam. Those who pass will become the shinobi of Konoha. We will start with a written examination, followed by weapons, taijutsu ane ninjutsu."

Having said that, he handed out the exam papers. The entire class started filling it out. Naruto and Hinata finished thd paper very quickly and simply waited for everyone else to finish. An hour later, Iruka collected the papers and had everyone was asked to throw 20 kunais and 20 shurikens at designated targets. One by one, everyone had their turns until it was finally Sasuke Uchiha's turn. Naruto and Hinata cringed at way Sasuke's fan-gitls were behaving.

"Urgh ... don't they even realize Sasuke doesn't even care about them?" whispered Naruto to Hinata.

"They're missing too many brain cells," said Hinata. "They should be your fan-girls instead."

"You're OK with me having fan-girls?" asked Naruto in surprise.

"Of course, as long as they stay ten meters away from you," said Hinata, smiling.

"Hina-hime, you're the only girl I need in my life," said Naruto, stealing a kiss from Hinata's cheek.

Naruto returned his attention to Sasuke. He smoothly threw the kunai and shuriken and managed to get the highest score so far in the class; 38 out of 40.

Hinata was called after and she performed as expected, 40 out of 40. This greatly surprised everyone as they were not expecting the 'shy' and 'timid' Hyuga princess to perform so well. Only a select few knew of Hinata's actual strength.

Last but not least was Naruto's turn.

"How nice of you to save the bests for last, Iruka-sensei," said Naruto with a sly grin.

"Keep dreaming, stupid Naruto," said the pink banshee (aka. Sakura). "There's no way you can score better than Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto simply picked up the weapons and made quick work of them, scoring a full 40 out of forty.

"You were saying, pink banshee?" asked Naruto with a smirk.

"You cheated!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Take your turn again and cheat like me," said Naruto as he returned back to his seat. "Maybe you'll keep your dear Sasuke-kun company."

"Alright everyone, it's now time for the taijutsu examination," said Iruka quickly to avoid a fight from breaking out. "You just have to last against me for three minutes. You don't gave to worry about the difficulty rate as I will be fighting you around the Genin level."

With that said, the taijutsu exam started. Slowly, Iruka tested everyone individually. Naruto observed the whole process as he was calculating the his classmates' abilities in taijutsu. Aside from his classmates who trained together with him like Shino, Choji, Kiba, Ino, Shikimaru and Hinata, everyone else was simply mediocre. With skills like that, it wouldn't take long before Konoha loses its position as the strongest of the elemental nations.

It did not take long before it was Sasuke's turn. He did well to last three minutes and he did manage to push Iruka. After that, the only ones left were Naruto and Hinata.

Hinata went up next. She very easily lasted three minutes, however, she held back from knocking Iruka out.

"The only one left now is Naruto for the taijutsu exam," said Iruka.

"Hey, sensei, make sure you don't go easy on Naruto," said Kiba loudly.

"Yeah, sensei, Naruto doesn't look it, but he's strong," said Ino.

"Hey Ino, that stupid Naruto isn't that strong," said Sakura, looking at Ino. "Why are you rooting for him?"

"You've become blind after wasting all your time chasing after Sasuke," said Ino, shaking her head. "Naruto is easily the strongest guy in the class."

"Oh, please, all that dweeb is good at is being a loser," said Sasuke with an annoyed look.

"Is that your head I see stuck up your ass?" asked Naruto, looking at Sasuke curiously. "That must be why you're so unaware of your surroundings."

"What did you say?" hissed Sasuke.

"Hey stupid Naruto, apologise to Sasuke-kun now!" demanded Sakura, standing up in Naruto's face.

"Keep standing in my way and I'll knock you out so badly you'll spend the next month in the hospital," said Naruto coldly in a low voice sending shivers down Sakura's spine.

"Enough, you three," said Iruka quickly before things got hearted up too much. "Naruto, come, let's finish the taijutsu exam with your match."

"Fine, let's get this on," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

Naruto and Iruka got into their stance and both jumped at the same time. They parried, dodged, countered and blocked each other's strikes. Their speed slowly increased and Iruka no longer held back. He finally understood why Kiba and Ino had warned him to go all out. Naruto's speed, technique or strength were all vastly superior to any other students in his class. As their exchange continued and their speed of increased, Iruka found out Naruto was consideralt more skilled at taijutsu than himself in every aspect. Iruka was no match for Naruto.

The three minutes appeared to be an eternity for Iruka. When the buzzer went off signalling the end of the test, he let out a sigh of relief. Never again would he pit himself against Naruto. During those three minutes, he felt as long as Naruto wanted, he could have knocked him out anytime.

"I have to ask the Hokage how Naruto became this strong," thought Iruka as he was panting heavily. "Well done, Naruto, you passed the taijutsu test. Let's get straight onto the Ninjutsu. You'll pass as long as you're able to pull off the Clone Jutsu and the Transformation Jutsu."

"Iruka-sensei, can I go ahead and perform the jutsus since I'm already here?" asked Naruto.

"Sure," replied Iruka.

"Transformation Jutsu" said Naruto as he did their seals.

Naruto instantly transformed into the exact copy of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

"That's a very good transformation, well done," said Iruka, praising Naruto. "Now onto the Clone Jutsu."

"Shadow Clone Jutsu," said Natuto as a clone appeared in with a puff of smoke.

"You know the Shadow Clone Jutsu?" asked Iruka, shocked. "I'm amazed Naruto. When did you learn such a B-Rank Jutsu?"

"A couple of years ago," replied Naruto. "I can't perform the normal Clone Jutsu so I had to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It's easier for me to perform since I have such a large chakra pool."

"It must be due to the Kyubi," thought Iruka. "Well done, Naruto. You've done really well. Here's your Forehead Protector. Congratulations on becoming a full fledged shinobi."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," replied Naruto, taking his headband as he smiled brightly.

Returning back to his seat, Naruro waited for everyone else to finish their exams. Once all the exams were finished, they were slowly assigned to their teams.

"OK class, that brings the examinations to an end and my congratulations to everyone that passed," said Iruka happily. "I'll announce the three teams that have been assigned already. It is Team 10 and the members are Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara with your Jonin instructor being Asuma Sarutobi. Team 8 is Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka with your Jonin instructor being Kurenai Yuhi. Team 7 will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno with your Jonin instructot being Kakashi Hatake. As for teamd 1 to 6 and 9, it's still in circulation and will be revealed tomorrow morning. For now you're all dismissed."