Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. However, I do own a large amount of ramen and hopefully it shall be enough to draw him out.

Thoughts

"speaking"

Jutsu

Kyuubi

Chapter 1 – Graduation

The sounds of hands slapping together in a set of seals could be heard all over the Konoha Academy as students were trying to create an effective Bunshin in an attempt to "cram" for the exam. However, none were more desperate than Uzumaki Naruto, dead last of his class and Academy failure for two years running.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!" POOF! He expectantly looked to his left, expecting to see a complete Bunshin but instead saw a half-deformed mass of arms wriggling on the ground.

"Gah! That's the fifth time today! WHY CAN'T I GET THE BUNSHIN RIGHT!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands to the sky.

"It's because you can't focus you're chakra correctly. Duh," says a girl's voice to his right. He turned to the right and saw the crush of his life, her forehead glinting in the bright sunlight.

"Sakura-chan!" he said, beginning to drool on himself. He never was one to hide emotions.

"Don't get your hopes up. I was only here because I saw Sasuke-kun over there, making his tenth Bunshin today," she said, emphasizing the tenth. "And by the look of you're buddy here," she pointed at the Arm-Bunshin, "you haven't been doing so well."

"Gah! I know! Iruka-sensei says it's my only problem, but I just can't get it right! Can you help!" he practically is begging her.

"Fine! Only because it'll give me some help too. Iruka-sensei says I 'need to spend more time helping others because of my perfect chakra control'," she says, earning a rather loud "YEA!" from Naruto. "Quiet!"

"Oops…sorry!" he says, at least having the dignity to looked sheepish. "What do I need to do, Sakura-chan?"

"First, you need to get the right amount of chakra flowing to your hands, and then release it in Bunshin form through the correct seal. The seal for this particular Jutsu is the Ram." She demonstrates these principles by focusing her chakra for a moment, then going through the seal.

Ram. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" POOF! A perfect copy of Sakura suddenly appeared behind Naruto. "My Sakura-Bunshin will show you what to do from now on, acting mush like a recorded message. For now my precious Sasuke-kun awaits!" She runs off, hearts in her eyes … and runs straight into Yamanaka Ino, her No. 1 friend and enemy, in competition for Sasuke's eyes. Needless to say, much fighting ensued between "Ino-pig!" and "Forehead Girl!"

Over by the Sakura-Bunshin, Naruto was watching the clone perform the seals over and over, and practiced them himself. It kept saying – in a ridiculously flat voice – "Get the right chakra flowing, then unleash it with the Ram." Naruto decided after about 5 minutes of this, he'd had enough and decided to try it out for real. He focused his chakra for a moment, not overflowing but not stopping it too soon, and then unleashed it with the seal.

Ram. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" POOF! There next to him, for the first time, Naruto saw a perfect Bunshin of himself. He was speechless. He had learned a jutsu from a recorded message!

"…I DID IT! ALL RIGHT!" he exclaimed, hurting the ears of every shinobi and kunoichi in the area.

"NARUTO, SHUT UP!" they all responded almost in unison.

"Alright class, it's time for the start of the Graduation Exam! Please come inside and take a seat. You will be called in order by name," a voice by the door said. Naruto turned to look and was excited to see that Iruka was going to be on the examination team this year. Alright, I'll finally stand a chance! He thought. He rushed inside and chose a seat, waaay in the back.

Iruka came back to the door. "First up to be examined is…Aburame Shino! Please follow me."

The heir to the Aburame clan followed him back, and 5 minutes later, came back through, with nothing different…apparently. However, dumb though he may be, Naruto is observant and saw a scrap of blue hanging out of his pocket. A forehead protector! he thought. The list went on, from "Akimichi Chouji" to "Haruno Sakura" and "Nara Shikamaru."

This continued, with no differences until it came to "Uchiha Sasuke. Please follow me." And the lone Uchiha went in back, and his fan girls all fainted in anticipation of his passing or not. Less than 3 minutes later he came back, clearly wearing his Leaf Protector over his forehead, and his fan girls (the ones still conscious) fainted once more after seeing it. Naruto hailed Sasuke, and congratulated him. Sasuke, not one to take compliments so easily, merely smirked as if to say "Did you think I'd fail?"

The next thing that happened however almost caused him to wet himself. Iruka had appeared at the door again and called "Uzumaki Naruto. Please follow me."

A/N: You like? You don't like? You want more? Just review and I'll answer you in my next update!

Word Count: 797