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"So why am I actually here?"
Someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Iruka opened the door and his eyes went wide as saucers the moment they landed on Naruto's armor. He stood in the doorway for a full two minutes doing nothing but staring.
"Iruka," Hiruzen said. "What brings you here?"
The chunin snapped back to attention while fighting a hangover through sheer professionalism.
"Yes. Hokage-sama." He straightened. "This is my letter of recommendation for Naruto Uzumaki's graduation to genin."
He read it one final time then placed it on the desk.
Hiruzen smiled.
"Well. Another reason to graduate Naruto."
"Another?" Naruto and Iruka said together.
"Last night Naruto demonstrated everything we look for in a field shinobi. Espionage by infiltrating a secure building and extracting a high value target. Successful navigation to a rendezvous point under pursuit. And the elimination of a chunin level threat." The old man paused. "If that does not qualify someone for genin, I am not certain what does."
Naruto's ears went red at the praise.
"Hokage-sama." Iruka reached up and removed his own headband. "May I?"
"You will need a replacement."
"You have one in your desk."
"That I do."
He gestured for Iruka to continue and sat back. This moment belonged to them. He was a witness, nothing more.
Iruka held the headband out. The boy looked at it, then at his Elite Knight armor.
"I'll just wear it on my arm," Naruto said, holding out his forearm.
Iruka fastened it carefully, making sure it sat properly against the armor's vambrace. Then he straightened and looked at his student.
"Naruto, I have watched you fail that exam three times. I have watched this village look at you and decide, before you ever had a chance to show them otherwise, that you were already the sum of their worst fears."
He paused.
"Last night you stole a forbidden scroll and master a jutsu that jonin struggle with. Then stand over the body of a man who tried to use you and feel nothing about it." His jaw tightened slightly. "That last part scared me, if I am being honest."
Naruto did not look away.
"But you know what scared me more?" Iruka continued. "The fact that I understood why. Because I know what this village has given you to work with. I know what you have had and what you haven't had and what you built out of the difference." He met the boy's eyes. "You are stubborn, reckless and make everything harder than it needs to be. And you have never, not once in all the years I have known you, quit."
A pause.
"You are a genin. You have earned it a hundred times over. And whatever you are becoming, Naruto, I am on your side."
Naruto looked at the headband on his arm.
"Thanks, Iruka-sensei," he said quietly as he got up to hug the chunin.
Hiruzen cleared his throat after a moment.
"Congratulations, Genin Naruto. Now I just need your graduation form."
"Here," Iruka said, producing the documents.
Hiruzen reviewed them, signed where necessary, and set them aside. Iruka stepped back and gave Naruto a thumbs up.
"Everything's in order. Now, before you leave, there is the matter of your mission reward."
Naruto and Iruka both looked perplexed.
"By technical definition, you were manipulated into an infiltration mission, successfully completed the objective under hostile conditions, and neutralized a traitor to the village in the process." Hiruzen's expression remained entirely neutral. "That will be logged as a solo mission on your record. The corresponding payment and mission points will be allocated accordingly."
Iruka's eye twitched.
"Hokage-sama, is that... strictly allowed?"
"I am the Hokage," Hiruzen said pleasantly, "so."
Iruka chose not to pursue this.
Naruto, wisely deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, asked, "Hey. Can I get a jutsu as a reward instead?"
Inoichi's words surfaced in Hiruzen's mind.
If the boy has undisclosed abilities, he will find ways to justify acquiring more without revealing what he already possesses. Was this that? An excuse to demonstrate something he had already learned? A test of how much they were watching?
"Any particular jutsu in mind?" Hiruzen asked, keeping his voice completely even.
"I don't know. Something that lets me run away really fast."
There were things in Lordran that could not be beaten. The Black Knight had made the lesson very clear. Speed had not saved him that day so much as creativity had. But creativity needed distance to work, and distance required getting away first.
Hence the request.
"Iruka, do you know the Body Flicker Jutsu?"
"Of course." Iruka paused as the Hokage's implication settled. "You want me to teach it to Naruto."
Hiruzen nodded.
Naruto's face showed pure excitement. He launched himself out of the chair with the full weight of the Elite Knight armor behind him.
The chair collapsed completely.
"I'll be at the training grounds, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto was already at the door, as running away was the best response to broken furniture.
"Guess he is still Naruto," Iruka said.
"And that's for the best," Hiruzen replied quietly.
"Hokage-sama, about the graduation tallies, the placement lists, the..."
"I'll have it handled." Hiruzen waved a hand. "Go and teach."
"Go and teach," the chunin instructor muttered, bowing, and leaving Hiruzen alone in the office.