Naruto's POV (Leaf Academy - Hidden Leaf Village)
Today was the day he had spent years grinding for—quite possibly the most important day of his life. For Naruto Uzumaki, today defined who he was. It was the day that made him a man, for today, he would become a shinobi. A Genin of the great Hidden Leaf!
Just the idea sent a rush of energy through Naruto's body. The concept of finally beginning his journey to his dream, meeting the teammates he'd spent the next few years with, and even finally leaving the village filled Naruto with glee. It had been a long wait, and he was beyond ready.
Naruto was in a long, fully padded room. He wore his regular orange and black jumpsuit as he raced along the room's wall. This current exercise was the last of the Academy Finals. The room was designed to hold the very test he took, the Evasion Evaluation. How this particular part of the finals worked was simple: spend five minutes in the room dodging the rubber ball attacks of the proctors. If you were hit three times during such, you failed.
Easy enough, but the challenge was far from easy when both proctors were Chunin. The rubber balls were thrown with absurd speed, they whistled through the air with a terrifying sound. The power when thrown from a shinobi was enough to guarantee bruising, even bleeding.
While Naruto was unsure of his overall score, he was sure he needed to pass this part. He was well aware he needed the extra points. There were a couple of categories Naruto struggled in…
Naruto leaped over a low-flung ball, caught another in midair, and used it to block a third as he landed. Naruto abandoned the shield, jumped onto the wall, and ran along it. A line of incredibly fast-thrown rubber balls chased him up it. Naruto smoothly transitioned to the room's ceiling and caught another two with one hand each. Throwing them at two more coming his way, he scrambled while laughing as a massive barrage of balls flew around him, Naruto barely able to maneuver around the storm with a string of curses.
Since he had been nothing more than a runt, he had always known his dream in life—the goal he would work toward achieving, something he could put his all into. That goal was to become the leader of the Hidden Leaf Village—to become Hokage, a long and arduous road, one that would be made even more difficult with his status. But one Naruto was certain would fulfill him…
Naruto was different from his peers, after all. While the exact details were foggy to the blonde, somehow, he had been turned into something of a living jail cell for the Kyuubi of all things. A giant fox infamous for destruction, and it's supposed death when it attacked his home… if only.
Naruto flinched as a ball clipped his foot as he ran. It tripped out his feet and made him fall from the roof toward the floor. Naruto barely managed to right himself in midair to land on his feet with a grunt, only to dive bodily to the ground to dodge several more throws. Naruto rolled along desperately, barely managing to avoid the attacks. As he did, his mind drifted off again.
Otherwise known as the Nine-Tailed Fox, it was theorized to be a demon or spirit of some sort. Rumored to be the strongest of the Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails had spent years rampaging against humans. However, his own clan had found a way to contain the seemingly unstoppable beast. His Uzumaki ancestors had created jinchuriki, human sacrifices. The beast lived within them, barely contained by Fuijutsu and their own flesh.
The idea was to create a living weapon. A human with access to powers well beyond what most could hope to match. And while Naruto himself could attest to it being effective, it had an awkward trade-off.
Of course, Jinchuriki were known to civilians and shinobi alike. Due to this, they were routinely hated and discriminated against. Both saw the sacrifices as not a tool, but a threat. People were none to treat them like an active bomb, feared from a distance… Naruto was no different than the rest of course. The old generation was full of spite and hate toward him. The younger were slightly better but tended to follow the example of the old. Meaning Naruto Uzumaki had never been someone described as popular. Infamous would be more accurate.
In fact, as a child, Naruto had been shockingly lonely. It wasn't until he made some friends that the burden on him lessened, but it instilled a fear into Naruto. More than anything, he craved to be accepted and cared for as his peers were. In fact, the Hokage had long ago installed a law making it illegal to disclose Naruto's status and even sold a lie of the Kyuubi being dead. However, the old guard likely saw through the lie, and Naruto had spent his time alone despite the effort. That was why he would become Hokage-
Naruto rolled to his feet, spinning to avoid several throws. However, the last ball blasted him in the face and knocked him on his ass. 'I can't do anything if I fail here!' Naruto decided as he locked eyes with the proctors.
The two administering this exercise were familiar to Naruto and most other Genin candidates. Iruka and Muzuki were the head instructors of the Academy. Both were lifelong Chunin with a decent amount of experience and skill. More often than not, the two of them led their lessons. Iruka was known for being strict; by the book, Naruto had always found him more than fair. In fact, Iruka, upon discovering Naruto was struggling, had offered him extra lessons, during which the two had grown closer. Mizuki was known to be a kind and laid-back teacher, yet he and Naruto never got along. Naruto could just feel an odd tension.
"Keep your eye on the ball now, Naruto." Mizuki chided with a small smile.
"He means stop daydreaming, Naruto!" Iruka roared, annoyed to have caught the blonde zoning out. This was a recurring occurrence for Naruto regardless of teacher. He had never been good at focusing on certain activities; it was just the way Naruto was.
However, the blonde did. He weaved around a ball, ducked another, and rolled away from the next volley. Naruto zig-zagged as balls flew around him; catching one, Naruto suddenly turned and raced toward his two teachers. The Chunin, now able to aim with ease, attempted to pepper and overwhelm Naruto. However, the blonde batted back the barrage with his ball, and Naruto bowed through the two, knocking them to the ground as he raced across the room. When he bought it with his rough play, Naruto glanced at a giant clock above the room's exit. He had twenty seconds left!
"That was a dirty trick, Naruto…" Iruka growled as he climbed back to his feet. Naruto could tell by his tone that his technical cheating had been less than appreciated.
Mizuki glared at him, and he climbed to his feet, matching Iruka's quiet fury. "It's best we push him to his limits anyway!"
"I'm not sorry!" Naruto joked as he ran up the wall and onto a ceiling to dodge what seemed to be a wall of rubber balls. However, it barely bought him any time as the storm of projectiles followed him every step. It took every bit of his reaction speed, grace, and luck to dodge the rubber fury of the Chunin. Several times, Naruto had only scarcely avoided being blasted. Eventually, so severe was the storm that Naruto had no choice but to leap to the ground, barely threading his way through the balls as the clock had nearly struck zero.
He landed at the last second; however, as he did, Naruto felt a sudden dark intent; he whipped his head, seeing Mizuki had rushed to his blindspot and was halfway through a mighty wind up for a throw. Naruto blinked, and in that instant, the ball had been thrown; before it even landed, Naruto could feel the air it had disturbed. Naruto barely raised his hands to catch the rubber missile, the force of which ripped him off his feet and onto his ass.
"Arrogance comes before the fall." Mizuki teased as he relaxed.
"Mizuki!" Iruka roared as he stomped up to his partner. He shoved the man as he got into his face. "That was way too hard! Was that a chakra-amplified throw?"
"Of course not." Mizuki defended with a friendly smile. "I apologize, Naruto; I got into the game and got a tad bit overzealous… we can reattempt the exam if you'd like to try again…"
However, Naruto merely smiled as he stood, showing that he had managed to catch the ball that had been powerfully thrown. "Not needed, I'm pretty strong myself, ya know?" Naruto playfully tossed the ball to Mizuki, who lamely caught the ball, seeming shocked Naruto had managed such a thing. "Besides, I was into it too. Anyway, I gotta know Iruka-sensei; that was the final test, and I passed. So how the hell did I do?"
"Well Naruto…" Iruka hesitantly started as he began to leaf through the assorted scoring sheets relevant to Naruto passing. The blonde had memorized the grading metric of the Academy, which was branched off into seven categories.
1.) Physical Aptitude: The life of a shinobi is hard and often short. The only ones who could be accepted within the heralded ranks of the Leaf were those at peak human condition.
2.) Theory, the mental intelligence, creativity, and knowledge to ensure the mind was as primed as the body.
3.) Ninjutsu, a wide branching path that was best explained as using chakra to affect oneself, create chakra-based attacks and defenses, or affect one's surroundings. While it was impossible for anyone to truly master such a varied art, the Academy required them to master several basic techniques, including The Clone Jutsu, Henge, Substitution Jutsu, Body flicker, and advanced chakra control.
4.) Genjutsu, a more subtle variation of Ninjutsu. This was tailored to using illusions, psychological attacks, or just plain trickery with chakra to manipulate or even, in extreme cases, outright harm one's victim. They were required to, at the very least, be able to dispel C-rank Genjutsu somewhat consistently. Using it was much rarer, as it needed incredible chakra control.
5.) Taijutsu, the sacred and oldest art of shinobi. The Academy was stringent with their Taijutsu requirements, teaching the students a basic but well-rounded style.
6.) Basic mastery over the many tools of the craft, including kunai, shuriken, ninja wire, explosive tags, sealing tags, and even more.
7.) While Fuijutsu was a barely understood and rare art, the Leaf had always had access to high-level users. This meant the students had to be able to write in kanji and create and understand the theory of the most basic of seals.
Naruto knew his overall performance would be a bit off. But he felt certain he had done enough; surely, all his effort had meant something!