Graduation

"If I'm going to teach you I'll need an idea of where you are already," Tenten told Harry, who had eventually convinced her to give him a chance.

Part of it had been when she recognised him as being the son of the fourth Hokage.

After all, if she helped the son of the Hokage graduate early, while still at the academy no less, it could only help her reputation as a kunoichi.

After all, it had quickly become clear that he had spent the years outside the village being taught by Jiraiya, one of the legendary sannin. If she could help him graduate early she could be spoken of in the same sentence as a teammate of her inspiration as a kunoichi, the lady Tsunade, while still just a genin.

"Should I start with ninjutsu?"

She sighed. "That is why we're at the training grounds."

He shrugged. "Hey, with my godfather you never know. And I've come to expect eccentricity from ninja. Now, Henge."

With a slight modification to the standard handsigns he performed the jutsu and transformed perfectly into a copy of Jiraiya.

"I seem to have a knack for henge," he commented in his godfathers voice.

"Impressive," Tenten allowed. "I know a number of my classmates haven't even begun to work on changing their voices." She had to admit, even if only to herself, that he was far better at the transformation jutsu than she was. "Just one thing. Those handsigns... they aren't standard."

Harry dismissed the transformation. "I found it works better. I mean sure, I can use the standard sequence, but it doesn't feel quite right. Anyway, clones next? I can't manage the academy standard," he admitted, "but I was taught an alternative. Behold, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

With a single handsign one Harry become three.

"I have the chakra for a lot of clones," he told her, "but as they deliver their memories when dispelled it can be a problem to use too many." He dispelled the clones.

"These shadow clones sound useful. Why don't they teach it in the academy?"

Harry shrugged. "Apparently I have a lot more chakra than normal people which allows me to manage the chakra costs while even normal jonnin can't produce more than a couple of shadow clones. This amount of chakra isn't all good, it messes up my chakra control."

"As long as they allow it in the exam," Tenten managed. "I mean, it will be a lot more useful than the academy clone jutsu anyway. That just leaves the substitution jutsu."

"Yeah... do you have a dummy for the jutsu?"

Tenten frowned. "You do know that you won't have time to set up an aid like that in the field? You'll want to work on improving your technique."

"I know, I've just been struggling with it."

"Well, if I'm to help you pass graduation I need to see how you do it," Tenten told him. "Wait here, I'll grab one."

[*]

The dummy was set up, and Harry rapidly ran through the handsigns. "Kawarimi no Jutsu!"

The jutsu failed.

Frowning, Harry tried again, this time running through the handsigns slower, and successfully replaced himself with the dummy.

"I see what you meant about struggling with the substitution jutsu. Have you ever tried it while under attack? That is what the jutsu was meant for after all. And is has been known for even experienced ninja to not get it to work at all unless they are in legitimate danger." There was a certain gleam in her eyes as she held a trio of kunai between the fingers of one hand.

"I'm not sure that's entirely-" Harry was interrupted by Tentens knives, which hit the dummy he had managed to switch with at the last moment. He had considered it paranoia to start the handsign sequence but he had underestimated Tentens attitude to ninja instruction.

"There, you see? With a legitimate attack you made it at speed. Now you just need to learn to replicate your success without me throwing things at you."

"Y-yeah," Harry reluctantly agreed, foreseeing a certain amount of pain until he mastered the technique. He glanced at the dummy that took the hits for him, and blinked in surprise.

The kunai were mere inches from each other, arrayed around one of the main target areas they taught in the academy.

"You have impressive aim."

Tenten looked at the dummy. "Oh, sorry about that. It's hard to shake habits taught through practise like that after all."

"You plan to be a weapons specialist?"

Tenten shrugged. "Not really. I'm more interested in medical and body enhancement techniques, but they aren't covered at the academy. Hopefully I'll be on a team with a sensei who can help me learn the techniques."

"How is your chakra control?"

"I've reached the limits of the academy exercises. I mean they don't really cover much ninjutsu at the academy after all."

"If you want to be a medical specialist, why the weapons?"

She shrugged. "I've got to do some training. After all, if I lose the habit of training I won't be able to learn the techniques as quickly. On the subject of weapons though, we should see your accuracy."

"I was given more advanced chakra control techniques than they teach at the academy," Harry commented as they headed for the training grounds targets. "I could teach you the techniques in exchange for what you're doing for me."

"Sounds good."

[*]

The final analysis of his starting point was that he was at an overall acceptable level with the ninjutsu, the substitution jutsu lowering his average there, his throwing accuracy was barely acceptable, her standards being far above that of the academy, and taijutsu better than hers.

On the written subjects, which they covered back at her apartment for convenience and keeping his preparations from Jiraiya, the main issue was simply having not covered the final years of the academy.

It didn't take long to hash out a schedule, covering the substitution jutsu, throwing practise and the assorted written subjects covered in the final year (with the occasional element from later in his own year thrown in to allow him to comprehend the more advanced topics). The bigger problem was finding a cover for his lessons.

The solution he came up with was simple: the return of Konohas prank king.

By setting up a few shadow clones before meeting up with Tenten, less on the days focused on mastering the substitution jutsu, and sending them out with specific pranking targets, and instructions to only dispel with nobody around to see.

Jiraiya had made him promise not to use shadow clones for intensive training, but he felt that this was technically outside the remit of his promise.

There were times when the pranks didn't seem to go of properly, like the one he sent to graffiti the Hokage monument, but for the most part the lessons went without a hitch.

There was the odd incident though such as the time Tenten had asked to see his original technique, that Jiraiya had inspired him to develop.

[*]

Unbeknownst to the pair, Hinata had decided to start following them, to see why Harry was going off with another kunoichi so often.

She had been inspired when he saved her from the bullies, and his words afterward had reinforced her decision to become stronger as a ninja. And yet, for someone who had such an impact on her life, they rarely spoke, which led to her watching him to find out more about him.

Now here he was spending a lot of time with this Tenten, and she wanted to know why.

Putting all her skill at stealth to work she had settled on a nearby rooftop and activated her byakugan, focusing on them through the walls of the apartment and using her self-taught skill of lip-reading to figure out what they were saying.

From what they were saying she believed that they might be having study sessions, though why Harry would be in a study session with someone Hinata recognised as being in the higher year of the academy when both of them were at the top of their classes.

The comment about Harrys original jutsu caught her attention. There had been rumours, but Hinata hadn't had the opportunity to see it in action.

She settled more firmly on the roof and focused her gaze entirely upon Harry, as he ran through a sequence of handsigns.

Ninja Centrefold no Jutsu she seemed to see him say, and he vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Seconds later she nearly fainted off the roof, a trail of blood running from her nose, as where Harry had been standing was instead a female version of him, clad only in wisps of smoke. The body of this 'ninja centrefold' version of Harry was similarly built to those girls in the books she had accidentally spotted in the back of the bookshop and hidden in various peoples bedrooms.

Her collapse meant she missed Tenten dispelling the jutsu with a single punch to his head and shouting at Harry, asking just what sort of jutsu he was showing her, and his protests that she hadn't given him a choice about showing her the technique.

[*]

The year passed quickly for Harry, though he did wonder why Hinata started blushing around him so much more, not to mention how she managed to become even quieter around him.

It was finally time for the graduation exam, which was, by sheer coincidence, placed shortly before his birthday.

For his year, those who weren't taking the exam early (as in everyone but him), class continued as normal, so he waved to his friends (Kiba, Hinata, Chouji, Shino and Shikamaru) as they took different paths into the academy.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?"

"For an early graduation, Kiba!"

He darted off before he could hear Kibas response or the inevitable discussion between the group about whether they should have taken the test early as well.

The class taking the test was already assembled when he found the classroom. Tenten spotted him straight away and marched straight over.

"You," she called to him, folding her arms, "thanks to the time I spent coaching you to graduate early I lost the position of kunoichi of the year."

"I'll make it up to you," Harry immediately assured her, gulping at the thought of what Tenten might to do him if he didn't. Some of the substitution practise had seen him unable to replace himself in time and he was all too aware of how painful her weaponry could be.

"Okay everyone, find a seat and we can start the test," a tired looking chunin told them as he entered the room. "Oh, and we should we have someone taking the test early. Just find a seat, it doesn't matter where."

The entire class and Harry followed the directions, Harry ending up seated next to two students he didn't recognise, although one did have similar eyes to Hinata. He also seemed to disapprove of Harry getting to take the test early, presumably because he hadn't been allowed to skip a year.

When the papers were handed out and they were given the signal to start he was pleased to see that he knew everything it was asking for. With a grin he got to work, confident that he would be getting top marks.

[*]

"Hand the papers in and I'll check them while the other proctors test your skill at the academy jutsus. Lee, we know about your exemption so you can wait outside at the training area for the final parts of the test." The chunin maintained his weary tone. "They'll call you through one at a time."

"Why does Lee get an exemption on ninjutsu," Harry asked Tenten in a whisper as he passed his paper forward to her.

"His chakra coils never developed properly," she told him.

"Lets get started," a familiar voice called to the class, and Harry saw Iruka, one of the chunin assigned to his year in the academy.

It seemed fitting to have his teacher present to see him graduate.

[*]

Iruka hid his mild surprise at Harrys presence in the exam well, but Harry could tell. It did a lot for his confidence that Iruka didn't seem worried for him.

The ninjutsu portion went without a hitch, his henge as good as ever, his shadow clones accepted in place of the regular clone jutsu and the practise with Tenten paying off with his substitution jutsu working properly.

The final portion was testing their taijutsu and throwing accuracy which was no problem.

It became clear from some of the scores other people passed with that his accuracy had been sufficient before his extra training, but after all the effort Tenten had put into getting him to her standard he had a perfect accuracy rating. His taijutsu was still at about the same level as when he started the sessions with Tenten, but given all the time Jiraiya had spent teaching him to fight he was still only second in the taijutsu section, beaten only by the kid without any ability to use ninjutsu.

Having seen Lee in action he could see why he was being permitted to graduate with only taijutsu.

It was no surprise when Harry was called forward to receive a hitai-ate. He might have been a year younger than the others, but he demonstrated his skills.

Altogether, it seemed all the participants in the graduation test had passed.

The tired sounding chunin addressed the class again.

"Alright, so everyone who passed come back here tomorrow for squad allocation. Everyone else," he looked over the class and sighed, "I guess there isn't anyone else. Good final class before I return to active duty," he sighed.

"See you tomorrow then," Tenten commented to Harry, as they headed out.

[*]

"I'm back," Harry called to Jiraiya as he entered their apartment, having already told his classmates about his sucess. It stilled seemed odd to him that Jiraiya had never bothered to find a proper house for them in the years they had been in Konoha.

"Failed the test and ready to train properly for the next exam?"

Jiraiya hadn't even bothered to come through to see him.

"Not really, I mean my extra training let me graduate." This finally drew Jiraiyas attention.

"You graduated? But eleven is too young to be an adult," was Jiraiyas immediate response to confirming that Harry did indeed possess a hitai-ate. "Wait, you say you got extra training? I'm split between considering it a good sign that you put in the extra effort, being proud that you were able to hide this extra training for me and worried about how you managed it and are now a ninja. Oh well, I guess it does mean I can get back to my network a year ahead of schedule."

Harry frowned. "Get back to your network?"

"Yes. Now that you're considered a adult I can leave you here with the apartment and check on my spy network again. I'll sort out the payments for the apartment before going, but I'll start packing right away."

This was the first Harry had heard of this plan.

[*]

The next day Harry joined the others in the classroom to see who would be in his new squad.

Time passed, Jonnin showing up to collect their squads.

When Tenten saw the Jonnin assigned to the team of the top kunoichi, ninja and deadlast of the class, one 'Might Guy', she immediately forgave Harry for causing her to drop from her position at the top of the class.

Slowly the entire class was assigned to a squad, but Harry became aware of a problem.

Each squad had three genin, but dividing the class into three left one of the new genin left over.

Finally all the others were assigned to squads, leaving Harry alone with the chunin. "Ah yes," the chunin said, clearly remembering, "the Hokage wanted to speak with you. Something about a letter. You'll probably want to hurry."

Harry growled. How much time had he wasted because the chunin had forgotten the message?

He dashed out, rushing to the Hokages tower.

[*]

"I was told to report to the Hokage," Harry told the secretary, who he knew was a Jonnin even if many citizens and visitors didn't seem to realise the fact.

"Yes, we've been waiting for you. Go right in."/

The Hokages desk was covered with the usual paperwork, the old man bent over it as always. He looked up at Harrys entrance.

"About time," he muttered, clearly frustrated by the amount of paperwork that had been building up.

"I'm sorry, but the chunin didn't tell me until everyone else was finished."

The Hokage sighed. "There is something we need to deal with. It seems you have connections to the outside world."

"You mean out of the land of fire?"

"More than that. Outside the elemental countries, beyond the hidden continent. A letter came for you."

Harry received the letter, still in its envelope.

It was made of an unfamiliar material rather than normal paper. His name was present on the front, in a hand clearly unfamiliar with Japanese. On the back was a strange seal that had clearly held the envelope shut until it had been carefully excised from the lower layer to get into the message.

As he removed and read the letter questions were raised within his mind.

AN: I'm not sure whether the idea of graduating meaning the ninja were considered adults was from canon or simply other fanfiction, but it seemed to work as an idea. In any case, it is nearly time to introduce Harry to the Harry Potter side of the story. And before any claims I have something against Tenten, I decided that she had been treated poorly by canon, as seen by her fight in the chunin exams. And finally, the omake below can be considered canon for the story.

Omake: Metal Gear Harry

"The academy won't teach you this, but I have two pieces of advise for you, for when it comes to infiltration," Jiraiya told his godson. "The first is that if someone is about to spot you, it is best to substitute yourself with a cardboard box."

"But won't they question why a cardboard box seems to be wandering their base?"

"Yes, but they always assume there's someone in the box, and if they hit it with a fire technique their report, if they even bother making one, will be that they dealt with the infiltrator."

"That sounds useful. Whats the other piece of advice?"

"If you need to distract someone, drop one of these!"

Harry stared at the orange book in his godfathers hand.

"You just want more people to buy them don't you?"

"No that's not it t all. See, if there is any discipline at all the guards will be looking for any opportunity to get ahold of something like this. It's the perfect distraction!"

Much as Harry didn't want to admit it, his godfather did often have a point. He'd have to think about this...

[*]

"Remember what you told me about infiltrations?"

Jiraiya wasn't paying much attention to Harry, busy working on his latest book. "Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure."

"Well, I've come up with something better than just dropping one of those books. Behold, Ninja Centrefold no Jutsu!"

Not only was Jiraiya rendered speechless, but he snapped his pen.

His current novel soon saw some revision.