Chapter 8: Sotsugyō (Graduation)

A/N: Aight, finally, we're out of the Academy. Now, we can move on to the Genin Teams, and keep in mind, I'll be ignoring ch. 599 where it says Team Minato was formed even though Obito and Rin weren't even Genin, and how multiple Konoha teams entered the Chunin Exams even though most of them weren't even genin. This can be countered by saying they were desperate due to the war, but many actually became Chunin at 11, so I'll ignore that for now, since Kishimoto's timeline is confusion incarnate. So I'll say that Kakashi went solo, but Yami ended up on a genin team with two seniors. Also, thanks for the review, Idiotic Brainspark! Don't worry, the whole expositon and telling will soon become action, just needed to get the Academy arc out of the way. Hope you all enjoy!

Rating: T for swearing, gore, implied sexual content later on, implied and explicit death and dark themes later on.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, KISHIMOTO DOES.

Note: I will most likely constantly rewrite and modify the earlier chapters, until I'm satisfied, so I suggest you reread in case you wonder about inconsistencies.

Yami could only sigh as he headed into the Academy for his graduation exam, wearing an all black outfit of a black shirt, metal arm protectors and gauntlets with kunai, shuriken and fuma shuriken storage seals on them, bandages wrapped around his arms underneath the gauntlets, black fingerless gloves with a metal plate on the backhand, a black belt, black pants wrapped on both legs with bandages with storage seals for his batons on them, and black sandals. Kakashi had graduated the year before, at 5 years old, while Yami had chosen to stay an extra year because it gave him more free time. More free time meant more training.

During the extra year, he had managed to refine the Inazuma, as well as work on other ideas he had for jutsu, like a new Katon jutsu which he called Uzumaku Hiryū (Spiraling Fire Dragon), which was a fusion of the Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet) and the Katon: Bakufū Ranbu (Fire Style: Blast Wave Wild Dance). The way it works is after the hand signs of Tiger, Dragon and Tiger are finished, the chakra built up into fire in the lungs is expelled, and will form into twin dragons which surged forward in a spiraling helix formation before biting on the target or whatever is in their way before exploding into a burst of fire. He considered this jutsu as a B-rank, since it didn't require the control needed in the Karyū Endan to move the dragons around, since they just followed a spiraling motion, but still had decent firepower.

He had finished the third and fourth volumes of the 15 volume fuinjutsu series. The third was about the manipulation of chakra networks, and how chakra suppression seals, paralysis seals, shock tags, resistance and gravity seals worked, along with how they connected to the chakra network and their effects on the human body, while the fourth volume was about the basics of barrier seals, security seals, blood seals and ways to use seals defensively. He was currently on the fifth volume, which was about how seals can be used in combat, like sealing jutsu to be fired back at the enemy and also how to speedily make them.

As Yami went through the written portion of the graduation exam, which was about the different subjects he had studied in the Academy, like mathematics, history, literature, taijutsu, chakra theory and the rest, he just wondered idly about if he would be on a genin team or not. Kakashi had been solo because of his age, and that was one of the reasons why he had chosen to only do this now, so that he could hopefully end up on a team. He may enjoy solitude, but heck, even he had a limit. Besides, interacting with new people was interesting. He finished the exam, then proceeded to mess around with a senbon until the exam paper was taken from him. Then came the practical exam, which was pretty easy. He just had to perform a few basic Jutsus: the Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique), the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique), and the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique). He did all three flawlessly, creating not just the standard clone, but also a Lightning Clone, a Fire Clone, a Shadow Energy Clone, a Mud Clone and a Rock Clone, though he took a bit longer to form the last two because they weren't one of his affinities. He then had them transform into a person in the room, before substituting himself with each. Needless to say, he pretty much passed, earning his black forehead protector.

Yami sighed, leaving the Academy, no longer a child. He hadn't really thought much about that first day, but he could remember that thought that had plagued him that day, the one he ignores but still plagues him, worse than before. The fact that he was simply on borrowed time. The only reason he was still alive was because his mother died, and the fact that he had taken her soul. How long did he have left, how much time was left on his clock? It was only a matter of time. It was ALWAYS just a matter of time with death.

Once he got home, he sighed, taking off his sandals and hitai-ate and stretching, before running through the 12 hand seals over and over as he walked in. Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Snake, Ox, Dog, Horse, Tiger, Boar, Ram, Hare over and over. Eventually, he stopped, before sitting down on the mat in his room. His room had a bed, a closet, two long rectangular wooden boxes with metal locks and blood seals on top, a desk, a few bookshelves with several notebooks and copied jutsus and other things like chakra theory. It was simplistic, but still worked rather well. Yami just sat on the mat, before beginning to meditate, until he found himself in a black void.

Yami looked around, noticing flashes of vibrant blue until suddenly, Shadow came up to him. "What is this place?", Yami asked, having a feeling about what the place is but wanting to be sure. "Well, it's the part of your mindscape where we are all sealed.", Shadow replied. "Why am I here then?" "You meditated, thus allowing yourself to end up here. It's like how if a jinchuriki meditates, they can see their bijuu behind the seal." Yami nodded, and then asked, "Shadow, do you have a name? Apart from your nickname?" The being said, "Well, my real name is Yaminokami, yes, I know, it's a lame name, but my creator chose it, not me." "I'll just call you Yamino then. Wait, you have a creator?", Yami replied. "Sounds good. And yes, I have a creator. I don't remember much about him, but I do remember his eyes. One was a purple, rippling eye and the other was milky white.", Yamino stated. Yami thought on this, and then said, "Okay. Thanks, Yamino. I'll wake up again. Still gotta prepare stuff." Yamino nodded, and Yami broke out of the mindscape.

He opened his eyes on the mat, and stood up, stretching before wondering what he should do. He eventually decided on training and preparation. He bit his thumb, wincing at the pain before smearing it on the blood seals, causing lines of kanji and symbols which enveloped the whole of each box, wrapped around the boxes like chains, to appear before dissipating, along with the blood. He then opened the latches, revealing two swords: one was a shirasaya the size of a wakizashi, with no guard and no embellishments, just the hendle, blade and scabbard, all white. The other was a wakizashi-sized chokuto with a black handle and black scabbard. Both had ropes attached which could be tied to his belt, both had a horimono (image engraved onto blade) of a tori gate, and both were forged out of chakra metal. He picked up each, looking at each and analysing, before sheathing each and tying the sheaths to his belt with the shirasaya on his left and his chokuto on his right, before heading out.

Yami made it to a different Training Ground, Training Ground 8, which was a kenjutsu-based training ground, and was one of the training grounds Yami enjoyed. It had various dummies, as well as posts of bamboo and wood. He drew his chokuto, before cutting at one of the dummies, leaving a slice mark on it. He kept this up, before eventually sheathing the chokuto and moving back until he was a fair distance away from the dummy, before deciding to test out a kenjutsu idea he had.

He kept one hand on the sheath of his shirasaya, and another on its handle, before building up chakra. He then used Shunshin, dashing forward to the right of the dummy, and then he drew the shirasaya using the Iaido method, slicing clean through the dummy with the combined force, power and momentum, before sheathing the blade while still using Shunshin and stopping. To an outsider, it would just look like he had zoomed past the dummy, and the dummy was mysteriously cut in half. He grinned as he looked back at the perfect cut he had made, and said to himself, "Let's give this a name.. I know! Shunshin: Iai. I like it!" Yami chuckled, and then continued training until he decided to head back home and turn in for the night.

The next day, he was put into a genin team known as Team 5, which consisted of himself, another Uchiha named Senshi Uchiha and a female Hyuuga known as Kiyomi Hyuuga, both of whom were a few years older. Senshi was fair-skinned, with messy black hair. He wore his forehead protector on his head, and had a dark blue shirt, fingerless gloves, a belt with pouches and kunai holsters, black pants and sandals. Kiyomi was also fair-skinned, with long black hair that had a dark blue tinge which was tied into a ponytail. She had a mesh shirt underneath a white jacket, fingerless gloves, bandages wrapped around her arms, black pants and blue sandals.

Their sensei was a man known as Nobuo Kinji, who was a skilled jonin specializing in ninjutsu and taijutsu. Nobuo had slightly darker skin compared to the others, and also had black hair in a buzzcut. He wore his forehead protector on his head, and wore the standard Konoha infantry outfit of a long-sleeve shirt, a flak jacket and black pants. He also had gauntlets and fingerless gloves, a belt with kunai & shuriken holsters, as well as a sheathed tanto, and he wore black sandals. They were in the Third Training Ground, and this was their first meeting.

"Alright, let's just introduce ourselves. Names, ages, likes, dislikes, hobbies, specialties, and dreams. I'll go first. My name is Nobuo Kinji, I like learning and helping others, I dislike arrogance, I prefer to train and learn more jutsu, I specialize in ninjutsu and taijutsu, and I dream of mastering all 5 elemental chakra natures.", Nobuo said, before pointing to Yami and saying, "Your turn."

Yami said, "Name's Yami Uchiha, I'm 6 years old, I like training, studying, making jutsu and ramen. I dislike prejudice, unreasonable hatred, bullies, jutsu failing to work and arrogance. My hobbies are making jutsu, working with those jutsu, studying and learning. I specialize in ninjutsu, genjutsu, bukijutsu and fuinjutsu, though I'm still working on fuinjutsu. And I want to be a ramen chef if I survive the war." Everyone blinked when he said his specialties, and when he said his dream, Senshi chuckled at it, and Yami just said, "I'm serious."

Senshi then said, "Well, my name's Senshi Uchiha, I'm 9 years old, I like social interaction, getting better at jutsu and people I can spar with, I dislike emo jerks and people who think others are below them, my hobbies are training and talking with people, I specialize in taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu and shurikenjutsu, and my dream is to become a powerful Uchiha." Yami just sighed and muttered softly, "Everyone's after power.."

Then Kiyomi said, "My name is Kiyomi Hyuuga. I'm 8 years old. I like training, I dislike loud and annoying people, my hobby is training, I specialize in taijutsu and ninjutsu, and I have no dream." Senshi just whispered to Yami, "She's really uptight.", and Yami just sighed, holding back a snicker, which Senshi noticed, making him grin.

Nobuo said, "Well, looks like we have a group of trainers. Do you guys know tree walking and water walking?" They all nodded, and Nobuo sighed, before saying, "Do you guys know your chakra natures?" Yami nodded, while Senshi and Kiyomi shook their heads. Nobuo said, "Alright then, let's start! But before that.. well, we need to do a test to see if you're actually genin."

ALRIGHT, now we're getting into proper fights. Also, 1000 views?! Even though only 5% of the views in the first chapter made it to Chapter 7, still. 1000 views. Thank you all. I hope to keep doing my best in my writing. Thank you all so much! Adrestis here, see you again soon!