Unbowed, Unbent and Unbroken

Chapter 9: Becoming a Genin

He abruptly woke up from his sleep, with sweat pouring all over his face. Frantically looking around himself, his racing heart calmed down a bit as Naruto realized it was merely a dream. He clutched his heart as if the motion would miraculously lessen the pain he was feeling. He looked outside the window of his room and noticed the sun had yet to rise and sighed. It had been the same for the past four years.

A woman with long silky white hair and eyes as white as the moon, holding a crying infant with the same hair color as his and the same skin complexity as his. She would stare down at the infant like a mother does towards a child and with a wave of her hand, the infant would be asleep.

Every morning he would wake up with a that dream which would momentarily leave him in shambles. There were times when Naruto wondered if the woman was his mother, but he could never be sure. Every day when he woke up, he couldn't even remember the woman's face properly. All he did remember were vague features of the woman's face.

He quietly got out of his bed and adjusted the bedsheet and blankets into their proper place. Stretching himself lightly to get his blood flowing, Naruto made his way to the washroom to fresh up. It was his daily routine. He would wake up, get ready for the day, have light breakfast and go to one of the training grounds in the compound to complete his morning routine. After having a quick bath, Naruto changed into the traditional Uchiha outfit, which consisted of black high collared, long sleeve mantle that split down the lower half and simple light-brown obi with the Uchiha Clan symbol at the back, a brown sash wrapped around his waist, along with brown shinobi sandals. Naruto had let his white hair grow up to his waist over the years, which partly covered his right eye. He now stood at a height of hundred and fifty-four centimeters, which was relatively tall for a twelve-year old.

Once getting dressed, Naruto left his room and began to make his way downstairs. Passing by Sasuke's room, a small smile formed on his face upon seeing the sleeping form of his brother. Over the past four years, he had become immensely close to him. Both had helped each other cope with the loss of their family but Naruto knew how much of an influence he was on his little brother. It was seldom that Sasuke referred to Naruto as nii-san, but the white-haired boy found it extremely endearing in a way. Their relationship as brothers wasn't confined to the general norms of blood, but it far exceeded than that. That was one of the reasons why it hurt him so much to hide his true feelings from Sasuke and Izumi, for that matter. He blinked in surprise when he suddenly found himself in the training ground, realizing how immersed he must have been in his thoughts.

'I still have about three more hours until I need to be at the academy.' Naruto thought, sitting on the ground in a meditative position. As he began molding his chakra, Naruto felt himself becoming one with the nature as he started to feel every living creature around himself. He was sure, if he really concentrated, he could feel the entirety of the world around himself. It often scared him how different he was compared to others. The strength of his chakra, his reserves, his ability to utilize ninjutsu without any hand seals, his chakra control… in a word it was simply inhuman. At least that's how Kakashi had described it to him.

Both Sasuke and him had learned a lot under the tutelage of Sharingan no Kakashi. Although, he wasn't much surprised that Sasuke had yet to take much liking to their sensei. Sasuke considered it an affront to see someone outside of their clan wielding their doujutsu. Having a sharingan was proof that one had Uchiha blood running through their veins, but that was not the case for Kakashi. But, he himself did not seem to mind Kakashi's presence that much. Hatake was someone who had taught him a great deal over the years; about being a shinobi, their purpose in life and regarding the shinobi world in general. He considered Kakashi to be a man of honor and would give him the respect he deserved. As he calmed his breathing even more, he felt himself getting pulled into his mindscape.

Once again, Naruto found himself standing before the large gates which kept the Kyubi at bay. It had become something of a habit for him to talk to the overgrown fox, at least once a day. "What do you want Kyubi?" asked Naruto, deciding to sit down on the ground which seemed to be filled with water up to his ankle, yet never once did he get wet.

"Well, what I want is to be free from this wretched cage." Grumbled Kyubi, staring down at Naruto. The boy had certainly piqued his interest over the years. If there was one thing the fox respected, it was power. And the boy before him had an abundance of it, more so than anyone he had ever seen before.

"Have you simply called to mock me?" Naruto asked, keeping a neutral look on his face. He may not have anything against the fox per say, but he was far from being friends with the bijuu.

The fox merely scoffed and narrowed his eyes at the Otsutsuki descendant. "How long are you planning to hide behind that mask of yours? It may fool everyone else around you, but not me." The Kyubi stated as a matter of fact. Naruto's calm blue eyes instantly morphed into the three tomoe sharingan which bore deep into the soul of the Kyubi. The red eyes of the Uchiha Clan had always unsettled the Kyubi more than anything in his long existence. He knew the power behind those eyes, which originated from his father, but this kid's eyes sent shivers down it's spine. He hadn't felt this much power even from him.

"Patience Kyubi. It is not yet time. When the time comes, you will get what you wish. There is still so much I have yet to learn about this world. After all, there is only so much I can do by staying in this village." Naruto replied patiently. The Kyubi's nine tails swung wildly behind it upon hearing the same answer as every single time and roared at the child in front of him. There were times, even the great Kyubi no Kitsune had trouble reading the child and it irked him greatly. But there was only so much the bijuu could do trapped within this cage. He cursed the Yondaime for using the Hakke no Fuin Shiki. And with half of it's chakra trapped inside the Shinigami's gut; he was severely weakened to break free of this cage on it's own.

"You have company outside… Uchiha." The Kyubi warned with a waning voice, before retreating back into the darkness of the cage. Naruto merely sighed as he too had felt Kakashi's chakra signature, approaching him. Opening his eyes, Naruto stood up from the ground and a few seconds later, Kakashi appeared in sight, already dressed in his jounin uniform.

"Ah, Naruto… as expected you're here. Woke up early again, I see." Kakashi commented with an eye smile. The white-haired jounin had not changed much over the years, but training with Naruto and Sasuke over the years, he himself had improved by leaps and bound. While a few years ago he was a solid A-Rank shinobi, he could now hold himself well against a S-class shinobi and Kakashi was quite proud of that fact. But watching the two kids grow over the years under his tutelage had filled him with pride. He couldn't have asked for a better long-term assignment. Sasuke was an absolute genius when it came to ninjutsu, shuriken jutsu and his taijutsu had come along exceptionally well. However, he could never fully gauge Naruto's strength. Kakashi was sure the kid could put up a good fight against any jounin if Naruto so wished. Be it ninjutsu, taijutsu, shurikenjutsu or genjutsu, Naruto was a natural in all those areas. The only area where he could definitely beat Naruto was in kenjutsu, but that was only because the boy had never really taken time to train himself in that shinobi art.

While he was immensely proud of his student, he hadn't failed to notice the gradual change in the two over the years. It was minimal, but it was there. While Sasuke had always been reserved when in the presence of others, Naruto had become quieter too. He could never really pin-point what the kid was thinking but then again, the two had never given him or the Hokage any reason to judge their loyalties.

"You know me sensei. It's my morning routine after all." Naruto replied with a slight smile. "So, what are you going to be doing today? Going on another mission, are you?" questioned Naruto casually.

"Hai, that is correct. Sandaime-sama will be travelling outside the village for a few days tomorrow and I need to make all the preparations for the journey, since I am one of the shinobi that'll be guarding him." Kakashi replied. It was no secret to the entire village that at this point, Kakashi was Hiruzen's most trusted shinobi. Even more so than the Anbu or Jounin Commander. Naruto was sure, if anything were to happen to the Hokage, Kakashi would be next in line to become the Godaime Hokage. Even though he had been told about the Sannin of Konohagakure no Sato, he did not have much information about them to form an opinion yet. But he did hope to meet Jiraiya and Tsunade one day, seeing as how only those two were still loyal to the village.

"So, do you want to have a spar?" Kakashi asked as a way to pass some time. He didn't need to be at the gate until sometime and even then, most people expected him to be late by a couple of hours. That simple fact always got a chuckle out of Naruto.

"Nah, not today, sensei. I think, I'll rest. We have our graduation test at the academy today anyway. So, I think I will just meditate and relax." Naruto said and Kakashi simply nodded. While he knew it was a lie, considering how Naruto never really seemed to run out of energy, he had no right to question him. It saddened him a little that he had not managed to form a close bond with Naruto and Sasuke as he had initially hoped. The two boys always seemed to be a bit secretive, but Kakashi made sure to give them their space.

About three hours later

It was around eight in the morning and Naruto along with Sasuke were walking towards the academy dressed in their shinobi gear. While Sasuke wore dark-blue high collared long-sleeve shirt with mesh armor underneath, dark-blue pants and brown shinobi sandals, Naruto also wore the same outfit but in black color along with the addition of fingerless gloves on his hand. As the two walked through the busy street of the village, many of the villagers greeted them politely, while some threw disapproving or looks of hatred towards Naruto. Paying no attention to them, the two calmly continued on their way. They had long past learnt to ignore the villagers of Konoha.

After a few minutes of walking, they reached their destination and made their way towards their classroom.

"Are they still following us?" whispered Sasuke, with a slight annoyed look. Naruto chuckled lightly and nodded. "I believe so. It's sad how these girls choose to follow their love interest more than their kunoichi training. I don't think any of them will ever be cut out to become full-fledged kunoichi later in their life." Replied Naruto with a shake of his head. Some distance behind the two Uchihas, a horde of fangirls secretly followed their love interests from the Uchiha Compound to the Konoha Academy. It had become a daily occurrence since Naruto and Sasuke had joined the academy after the Uchiha massacre. Leading the group of fangirls were Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, who were considered the loudest girls in their class.

Once Naruto and Sasuke entered the class, they made their way to their regular seat which was on the far right, at the top. As usual, Nara Shikamaru pretended to be asleep in the front seat with Akimichi Choji beside him, munching on his chips. Behind them sat, Inuzuka Kiba with his ninken, Akamaru, while Aburame Shino sat beside him. Beside the Aburame and Inuzuka sat the Hyuga Clan's heiress, Hyuga Hinata. Naruto always seemed to be puzzled by Hinata's behavior, seeing as how she always turned beet red in his presence and on several occasions, he found her falling unconscious. Though he never commented on that, he wished the girl portrayed more self-confidence. Sasuke seldom teased him with the fact that Hinata might have a crush on him, but he always rebuffed that saying it was just his imagination.

While Naruto was on good terms with Shikamaru, Choji and Shino, he never really seemed to get along much with Kiba. That was mainly due to the fact that Kiba always found himself jealous of Naruto's and Sasuke's strength as shinobi. In all the spars conducted in the academy, Kiba had never once managed to defeat Sasuke or Naruto. A few moments later, all the students sans Naruto and Sasuke turned their attention towards the door when loud footsteps could be heard approaching. Seconds later, the door to the classroom abruptly opened with two loud voices echoing throughout the room.

"Ha! I win Ino pig!" yelled Sakura triumphantly. Ino glared at her friend who seemed lost in her own dream world.

"You wish. My foot is slightly ahead of yours. The only reason you think you won is because of your large forehead." Ino retorted, causing Sakura to glare back at her. The pink-haired girl huffed in response and made her way to her beloved Sasuke, hoping to score a date with him after the graduation exam. Naruto still found it laughable and even disbelieving that Sakura was the top kunoichi in their batch.

Sakura happily walked towards the two Uchiha and stopped before their seat. "Sasuke-kun, may I sit next to you?" she asked and could clearly see a tinge of pink shade spread over her cheeks. As usual, Sasuke gave outward reply and kept his eyes seemingly locked towards the trees outside the window. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the girl's persistence. If anything, that was probably the only aspect he would commend her about.

"And, what's so funny, Naruto?" Sakura glared at the white-haired boy. Her mom had often asked her to stay away from Naruto when younger, stating that the kid was nothing but trouble. And as a good girl that she believed she was, Sakura had taken that teaching to heart. Although, ever since it became public knowledge that Naruto was an Uchiha, her mom had stopped saying such things. It didn't matter to her though. Her eyes were always on Sasuke.

"It's nothing really, Sakura. Don't you get tired of getting no reply from him? I mean, its been the same for the past four years. Maybe you should look for someone else…" Naruto replied with a shrug. It was at this point that Naruto felt a slight shiver run up his spine, upon hearing a voice from behind Sakura.

"You should listen to Naruto-kun, forehead. He's the smartest and the strongest genin in our batch. There's no one else like him." Ino said with a smirk which left Sakura fuming in anger. Sasuke smirked slightly hearing Ino's voice. If he had to go through a fangirl like Sakura, he believed it was only fair that Naruto had one like Ino, who was just as annoying, according to him.

"Eh, Ino-chan, I think Iruka-sensei and Izumi-sensei are about to walk into the classroom any moment. I wouldn't want him to be yelling at the class again, you know, considering its our last day as academy students." Naruto said politely. He had no qualms against her or Sakura. It was true he disliked their attitudes, but he didn't wish to be rude. Ino blushed a little on being called so affectionately and simply nodded. Sakura beside her could only sigh and wished at least Sasuke spoke to her from time to time. Nonetheless, the two girls took the seat behind their crush and a few seconds later walked in Iruka and Izumi, carrying several sheets of papers.

Naruto and Sasuke smiled slightly upon seeing Izumi, especially the white-haired Uchiha. She had grown immensely beautiful in the past four years and was also considered among the most promising kunoichi in Konoha. Her brown hair had grown up to her waist with bangs framing the right side of her face. Her onyx eyes still portrayed the kindness which it held when he met her for the first time, and he was glad that she had begun to heal. She now wore sleeveless, high collared dark blue shirt with the Uchiha Clan symbol at the back, skin-tight dark-blue pants, a shuriken holster on her right leg, a red armband on her left arm and a long navy colored fingerless glove that ran nearly the length of her arm.

Flashback

"You need to do better than that Naruto. Keep your stance firm when you do decide to take a hit from an enemy. I may not be a match for you when it comes to ninjutsu, but I can still kick your ass in taijutsu." Izumi commented. A ten-year old Naruto and a fifteen-year old Izumi stood at training ground thirty-three for their weekly training session together, while Sasuke lay beside them, drenched in sweat. However, it was not to say that Naruto wasn't in a similar condition.

"I know, but with the sharingan, isn't it easier to simply touch and deflect and go for an attack?" Naruto asked, huffing lightly. He had been having a sparring match with Izumi the past one hour, always staying on the defensive. The main goal of this exercise was for him to increase his endurance in the midst of battle. While he already did have extraordinary stamina, his body was not used to taking several hard blows in quick succession. While Kakashi mainly focused him on ninjutsu and genjutsu, he always went to Izumi for taijutsu training. In his eyes, Izumi was a master in Uchiha's taijutsu style, even better than Itachi.

"While that may be true, but there are people who have learned to fight against an Uchiha's taijutsu style. Might Guy, is one such guy. He's considered to be the taijutsu specialist of Konoha. And some say, he's as dangerous as an opponent like Tsunade-sama and Yondaime Raikage when it comes to taijutsu. While I may not be as strong as them, I can hit pretty hard." Izumi stated, with a proud smile. She did always feel disheartened that she wasn't as proficient in ninjutsu or genjutsu compared to someone like Naruto, Sasuke or even Itachi. But, taijutsu was right up her alley.

"Now, you're just showing off…" Naruto snorted and immediately had to jump aside to dodge several kunais thrown by Izumi, who had an eye twitching. Naruto simply laughed and stared at the girl before him, who ranted about how kids like him should know their place and be grateful for the advices. It was only a few seconds in the real world, but Naruto felt as if he had been gazing at that beautiful face for hours. He blinked suddenly at thought and found himself blushing lightly.

Izumi too noticed the slight blush on his face and a mischievous smirk formed on her face. "Thinking about a girl, are you? Tell me… tell me!" Izumi chirped.

"No, it's nothing like that…" Naruto stated, after composing himself. Izumi visibly deflated on that remark but decided to pester him about it later.

Flashback end

Naruto quickly shook his head when he found himself staring at the girl for a little too long. He knew he cared deeply about her, more so than he would care to admit. Although, he could never really sort those feelings out, hence, did not ponder on them too much. Unknown to the white-haired Uchiha kid, Ino had noticed the brief moment and glared at their sensei. She unknowingly glared at their sensei and could not understood why Naruto was so infatuated with her. It was so obvious to everyone other than Naruto and Izumi.

Once all the students had settled down in the presence of their academy teachers, Iruka stepped forward. "Well, students…" Iruka started and looked around the class once to make sure everyone was indeed present for the graduation exam. "… I'm glad all of you have managed to survive the academy up until now and I hope that everyone is ready for the graduation exam." Iruka stated with a smile. This had been his first batch in the Konoha academy and to say that he was proud would be an understatement. He did have his qualms initially about teaching the Kyubi jinchuriki, but he had been proved wrong. Out of all the students, he had been most surprised by Naruto's growth as a shinobi up to this point. Although that's not say that he isn't proud of his other students.

"Izumi-sensei will now be distributing the papers for the written part of the exam and then we'll move onto shuriken jutsu, taijutsu and finally ninjutsu. I wish all of you the best of luck for your exams." Iruka concluded and immediately after that, Izumi went to each desk and began giving the question paper to every student.

Once she had reached Naruto and Sasuke's desk, she gave the two a small smile. "I know you two will graduate at the top of the academy this year. I'm extremely proud of you two." She whispered and the two kids nodded in exchange, showing their gratitude. "Oh, and Naruto, ramen is on me tonight, alright?" She said and Sasuke facepalmed on hearing that. The only thing greater than Naruto's strength was his appetite for ramen. Naruto nodded vigorously, already imagining the number of bowls he would get to eat.

"You better keep your word, Izumi-chan!" Naruto replied slyly and for a mere moment the Uchiha kunoichi wished she could take her words back, but it was already too late. She simply sighed looking at Naruto's ramen obsessed face and continued on her way down, once she had given the papers to everyone.

Two hours later, At the Hokage's Office

Hiruzen could be seen sitting at his desk in the Hokage's office while several jounin sensei were bickering on which of them would get to teach the two Uchihas graduating from their academy. He was glad that at least Asuma and Kurenai had their priorities straight considering they already had their students on mind which did not involve either Naruto or Sasuke. He sighed, knowing those kids were more trouble than worth in some cases.

The fact that Kakashi had already taught Naruto and Sasuke over the past four years and then demanded to be their jounin sensei did not sit well with some of the other jounins. It was no big secret in the village that the two prospective Uchiha genins were extremely promising as shinobi and pretty much every sensible jounin sensei wanted to have a hand in their growth. While some were in it for fame, others like Genma Shirunai and Aoba wished to teach Naruto because of the Yondaime. Both of those jounins were personal bodyguards of Minato Namikaze and as such knew of Naruto's parentage.

Having heard enough, Hiruzen cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, but no one seemed to do. Kakashi chuckled behind his mask at the blatant disrespect the shinobi were showing to their Kage. A tick mark formed on the old Kage's face, seeing as how people were still bickering utter nonsense before him.

"Enough!" Hiruzen yelled, in his powerful voice while also flaring his chakra slightly. That seemed to have done the trick as silence immediately reigned in the room and everyone turned to look at the Sandaime with their heads bowed. Hiruzen smiled inwardly at still being able to instill some fear into his shinobi. He shuddered for a moment when he realized at the similarity of his thoughts with Danzo.

"I have already made my decision. Genma, Aoba and Ebisu, while I'm glad you three wish to teach Naruto and Sasuke as genins, it will simply not be possible. Those two… are special cases. More so than you realize…" Hiruzen said and raised his hand to stop the three from saying anything further. "I cannot go into the details as of yet since it concerns the security of the village. But, I can only trust Kakashi with this task, since he has a closer understanding of what he's dealing with." Hiruzen stated firmly.

Genma narrowed his eyes upon hearing the Hokage's explanation. "Hiruzen-sama, with all due respect, I was once part of the Yondaime Hokage's personal bodyguard, along with Aoba. You should know, as a jounin of Konohagakure no Sato, I would never do anything to jeopardize the village's security." The jounin stated respectfully. Aoba nodded too, indicating his agreement with his friend.

"While that may be true Genma, I still cannot allow it. Let me give you a scenario. Suppose you're outside the village with your genin team on a mission and you're ambushed by Itachi Uchiha or someone on the same level as him, what is it that you'll do? I'm sure you'll put up an impressive fight, but at the end it will end in your death. I am not questioning your abilities as a shinobi but at the moment, Kakashi and Gai are the only S-Rank shinobi we have among our jounin. Even apart from Itachi Uchiha, there will be hostile nations such as Kumogakure or Iwagakure who would love to get their hands on the sharingan. And with Might Guy already having a genin team, Kakashi is the most appropriate choice to lead them." Hiruzen explained calmly. A look of realization formed on the three jounin's face upon hearing such reasons. No one had forgotten the tragedy of the Uchiha massacre. It was among the darkest moments in the history of Konoha and no one wished to go through something like that ever again.

The Sandaime Hokage sighed in relief when no further protests were made regarding the issue at hand. Kakashi was simply glad that Hiruzen had managed to calm everyone down and that the decision had gone in his favor, not that he was much worried. Even he knew that out of all the jounins, only Gai, Asuma or him had a realistic chance of coming out unscathed in a fight against a S-Rank shinobi. It wasn't arrogance but confidence. All of the jounins apart from Asuma, Kurenai and Kakashi bowed to their leader and left the room.

"Now, you three already know which students are going to be in your team. The exams should be ending within the next two hours and I hope none of you will be late to pick up your teams." Hiruzen stated and gazed at the white-haired jounin from the corner of his eyes.

"Hai, Hai… you do not need to remind me Hokage-sama. I will be punctual, this time around at least." Kakashi replied with an awkward chuckle. Everyone stared at Kakashi dumbly which made the jounin shrink down under their scrutinizing gaze. Anyhow, once the matter was settled, everyone left the office to wait out for the completion of the graduation test.

At the Academy, about an hour later

The students were now standing in the training ground awaiting Iruka to call out their names in pair for the taijutsu test. The written part and shuriken/kunai throwing test had gotten over just a while back. Unsurprisingly most had managed to perform extremely well, scoring above seven points out of the ten in general. The only ones who had managed to score less were Shikamaru and Sakura, who had scored five and six points respectively. As expected, it was of no surprise that Naruto and Sasuke were the only ones who had scored ten points each in the test.

"Shikamaru and Choji, come forth. You're up first." Iruka called looking at the sheet on his hand. The Nara heir lazily moved forward and stepped into the ring, followed by Choji who appeared to be a little nervous. For the taijutsu part of the test, Mizuki was the proctor, who had been overseeing the taijutsu of academy students. He and Iruka had joined the academy as instructors at the same time and had been good friends for a long time, since their own academy days. While Iruka oversaw the theoretical aspect of being a shinobi and Izumi being the instructor for shuriken and kunai jutsu, Mizuki had been appointed by the Hokage for taijutsu.

Mizuki stood in the middle of two students and glanced at the two once before saying, "Hajime!"

Moments passed by, but none of them got into a fighting stance or even moved a muscle. While Shikamaru stood lazily with his hands stuffed in his pockets, Choji nervously looked at his childhood friend.

"What are you guys doing!? Come on, fight! It's a taijutsu spar after all." Ino yelled from the side, but it only made Choji look down towards the ground. Some of the civilian students snickered upon seeing the nervousness etched on Choji's face which made Iruka frown and Izumi frown. She never did like when students made fun of each other's weaknesses. She had an idea as to what was troubling the plump kid.

"Sensei, I don't want to hurt him, he's my friend…" Choji whispered, under his breath, but Iruka had heard him clearly.

"But, Choji, it's a friendly shinobi spar. This tradition has been going on since the time of the Shodaime Hokage." Iruka said. He always did worry about Choji's gentle nature, but he also knew deep inside of him was an intense desire to protect those close to him.

"Eh, Iruka sensei, the main point is for one to win right? If I step outside of this ring, Choji automatically wins and none of us has to go through this troublesome exercise." Shikamaru stated calmly. And before any of the instructors could say anything, the Nara boy simply stepped outside the circle, making Choji the winner by default. Choji smiled widely on hearing Shikamaru's words and couldn't be more grateful to have a friend like him. Even Mizuki could only sigh at the antics of these students. Sometimes he wondered, how much longer would he have to bear to look at these faces. While Iruka stared at his students dumbly, Izumi had to suppress her urge to giggle. She should have expected something of this sort from Shikamaru. The kid was really smart for his age, but rarely did he ever show it.

One by one, more students were called upon for their spars and fortunately none of the others pulled a stunt like Shikamaru and Choji. Ino was slightly put off her friend's acts but soon reverted to her normal self after a while. By far the most amusing spar was between Ino and Sakura, which seemed more like two kittens fighting each other in an all-out sprawl. Due to them focusing more on their looks, they had neglected the physical aspect of being a shinobi and as such gave a rather weak display of taijutsu. While their stances for the taijutsu katas taught at the academy might have been correct, they lacked any real strength behind their punches and kicks.

'Such a pathetic display. I could have probably beaten them when I was six years old…' Sasuke thought absent mindedly. Glancing towards his brother, Naruto could easily read what Sasuke was thinking about and to some extent he agreed. But he also believed one's rise in strength comes from their own desire. And to be frank, Naruto did not believe that most of them had any real reason to progress their strength. Sasuke and him were strong because they had a goal in mind for which they needed to become stronger. Not for their own sake, but for the sake of their clan.

"Now, for the last match, Naruto Uchiha and Kiba Inuzuka. Please come forward." Iruka called out and suddenly everyone became quiet. The one-sided rivalry between the two was the talk of their batch. Many a times, Kiba had challenged Naruto to a fight, only to be beaten effortlessly by the Uchiha.

"Today, I will show you who's the top dog here, Uchiha." Kiba commented with his usual cocky smirk and stepped into the ring. Naruto sighed at his classmate's antics and he too, walked ahead to stand opposite to the Inuzuka. Mizuki may not show it openly but he never did like the Kyubi jinchuriki. He always viewed him as a nuisance who should be put down and could not comprehend why the Hokage would allow someone like him to become a shinobi. Nonetheless, he stepped between the two and called for the start of the match.

Naruto calmly stood in his place, with a loose stance. His right leg slightly ahead of his left and his arms bent upward, motioning for Kiba to come forth. "Show me what you've got." Was all Naruto said, before Kiba rushed forward.

Aiming a punch straight to Naruto's face, the Uchiha promptly got out of the way, by jumping to his left. Before Kiba could follow through, Naruto jabbed him in the joints, in his elbow harshly, which made Kiba flinch. Naruto then followed up with another punch aimed at his chest, but Kiba immediately bent down to avoid the blow. However, as he did so, he had to raise his arms up to block a hit from Naruto's knee, which pushed him back quite a bit. Wasting no time, Naruto suddenly disappeared from Kiba's view and the next thing he knew was falling onto the ground unconscious as Naruto appeared behind him and hit him in the back of his neck. It all happened so quick that no one other than Izumi or Sasuke could follow Naruto's movements. And that too was only because they had trained with Naruto on a regular basis. Iruka, Mizuki and rest of the students were yet again surprised at the speed displayed by the white-haired Uchiha.

Naruto simply walked past the unconscious Kiba and went to stand beside Sasuke who just gave a nod in return. Izumi felt slightly bad for the Inuzuka heir, but she had to agree that Kiba had displayed no real form of taijutsu and fought more like a street brawler. Although, she did not expect anything less than Naruto. He was ruthless when it came to spars and would give his enemies no time to recover from a hit.

"uhm… Naruto wins." Mizuki declared, a bit disturbed by the strength displayed by Naruto. However, this also gave him an opportunity to put his plans in motions. Once Iruka had noted down all the results on his sheet and gone through it again, he ushered everyone to go inside the classroom and wait for their names to be called for the ninjutsu exam.

About fifteen minutes later, Izumi came into the room and began calling the students in pair to go into another room for the final test of the graduation exam. The test would be overseen by Iruka and the Sandaime Hokage himself, to determine the quality of the prospective genins. The ninjutsu part of the graduation exam generally consisted of three simple jutsus- Henge no jutsu, Bunshin no jutsu and Kawirami no jutsu. A student needed to perform all three perfectly in order to graduate as a genin. As the time slowly passed, everyone who had gone into the other room, came back smiling, along with a forehead protector with the symbol of Konoha etched on it. It was proof that they had qualified the exams and were now genins, ready to protect and die, in the name of their village.

However, the cost at which most of them would understand the true meaning of being a shinobi would be too heavy for them to bear.

Once the graduation test was completely over, Iruka and Izumi stood before the class with large smile on their faces. Izumi had always wished to help other people. It was something she had inherited from her father. And watching these kids grow over the years and preparing them for the outside world to the best of her abilities was something she had enjoyed thoroughly. Iruka too was having similar feelings course through his mind, which could be easily noticeable by the happiness that was radiating from his face.

Getting his mind back together, Iruka chuckled when he saw the eager faces of some of the genins, waiting to hear the results of the test. Wasting no time, he took a sheet of paper from Izumi, which listed the scores of every student in the three different parts of the exam. Although, he was not much surprised to see the two names at the top on each list.

"Naruto Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha have been tied for the position of Rookie of the Year and Sakura Haruno has been given the position of kunoichi of the year." Iruka stated out loud. While none of the students were surprised about Naruto and Sasuke, the pink haired girl jumped out of her seat and yelled in joy.

"I did it! I am best kunoichi in our batch after all! And now, I'll definitely be on the same team as Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screeched and many students had to cover their ears to cancel out the horrifying noise. Even Naruto and Sasuke had somewhat solemn looks on their faces at the prospect of being placed on the same team as Sakura.

"I have to say at least Ino is not as annoying or loud as Sakura…" Naruto whispered to Sakura, who could only nod. While Ino did have fangirl tendencies, having come from a respected clan such as the Yamanaka, the ways of the shinobi were instilled into her since birth. At least the blond girl knew to keep herself calm in certain scenarios. "I'd rather have Ino on our team than Sakura…" Sasuke commented. Meanwhile, Ino and Sakura had yet again gotten into a bickering contest about who would get to be on the same team as their beloved crush. Even Izumi stared at the two kunoichis dumbly, really questioning their reasons to be shinobi, but she hoped that with time, their eyes would be opened to the harsh reality of the shinobi world. It wasn't that she wished for the two girls to go through the same pain as her, but everyone needed discipline in their life.

One person who was not amused by the display before him was of course, Iruka. A large tick mark formed on his head as he continued listening to the absurd conversation between the two girls.

"SHUT UP, YOU TWO! And wait for me to finish!" Iruka yelled at the top of his voice, jerking the two girls and everyone out of their thoughts. Sakura and Ino at promptly shut their mouth and took seat, not wanting to enrage Iruka any further. He waited for a few minutes and once he noticed everyone was paying rapt attention towards him, he smirked slightly and continued.

"Remember, no matter what happens from here on out, you'll always be my students and can come to me for anything you may need. I'm proud to have been your teacher over the past four years. Now from here on, all of you will be divided into four-man squads, consisting of three genins and one jounin sensei. Everyone understand?" Iruka stated loudly. All the students nodded; now finally assimilating the fact that they'll have to live completely different lives.

This time, it was Izumi who stepped forward and looked at the sheet in her hand. "Now as for the team formation, team 1 will be…" she continued. As she kept reading the names small cheers could be heard among the students as some of them were placed with their friends and while some moaned at the fact they were not.

"Team 7 will be Naruto Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha and Ino Yamanaka. Your jounin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

Author Notes: I believe some may feel that Naruto's personality may have changed over the years, but it's bound to happen a little bit. Both him and Sasuke have matured in the last four years. Their time with Kakashi in those 4 years will definitely be shown in bits and pieces as flashbacks over the course of this story, during appropriate moments.

I personally do like Ino as a character in the manga/anime and I also believe she has a lot of potential as a shinobi. I don't personally hate Sakura but I never did like her character. But, that is not to say I will trash her completely as a character in this story.

Naruto does begin to have some sort of feeling towards Izumi, but he will take time to realize the importance of those feelings since currently his main goal is on something else. And the time will come soon when he will come to know the truth about himself. I recently read the chapter 35 for Boruto manga and I found the segment about the Otsutsuki Clan in it extremely interesting and I believe I can definitely incorporate something along those lines in this story too. Naruto and Sasuke's growth as shinobi in terms of their strength will surely be displayed in the next chapter too.

Now, as someone in the review section had pointed out the fight that took place between Naruto and Root Anbu. And , no, I have not forgotten about it. Now that Naruto has become an official shinobi of Konoha, Danzo can approach him more easily I believe. Even though, Danzo has no real power in the working of Konoha on paper, he still has his ways. The only thing I can say is, Danzo and Naruto will meet each other soon enough, in one of the next few chapters.

I will also be updating my other two stories soon enough. They are already under work.

Please follow, favorite and review the story! It pleases me to know that the story is to most people's liking! I hope to continue doing so!

Until next time!