~1 weeks later~
Today was an important day for Kento, and every student of his years. As saplings and shinobi in training, today was the day that they could bloom, earn their headband protector and become true shinobies of the Leaf.
That was only if they pass their final exam of course.
The schedule for the day was simple enough.
The morning was reserved for a written exam, alongside a single spar with a random Chunin sensei for the physical side.
Then it was time for a break before each was to be called in to display their ninjutsu in the form of the three basic academy jutsu once their chakra had recovered enough.
It was laughably easy so that anyone remotely competent could pass. Anyone except the titular main character of their world that is…
"Can you stop shaking the whole damn desk Naruto? I want my writing to at least be legible once we take our test."
It was not by choice, when they picked their lot out of a box that he found himself sitting next to the nervous blonde wreck. But beggars can't be chooser, and now he was left to calm the knucklehead down or deal with the consequence.
"Damn it teme! It's not my fault letters, and numbers are scary!"
Right of course they are, but scaling a literal mountain just for a prank isn't…
"But you have been preparing for this exam right?"
"Of course I have, it's just I don't think it will be enough!"
That was new, it seemed Naruto's endless gungho attitude could somehow be cowed by math, and letters.
Though seeing the brat made him feel kinda bad, plus he wanted to test something, so he extended an olive branch forward.
"You know the multiple choice portion is basically 60 percent of our exam right?"
The blonde nodded albeit a bit confused.
"That means that if you got all your answers right on that portion, you could pass the test without getting a single one correct on both the free response or essay portion of our test."
"Yeah but I'm terrible at the multiple choice portion. It has so many letters and numbers it makes my head dizzy."
Kento almost sweatdropped at the boy's answer but he steeled his spirit and carried on.
"Yes but that's only if you don't cheat. Even if it is kind of suspicious for you to get 100 percent on the multiple choice portion, and 0 on the rest, most of the teachers won't be able to do anything as long as they don't have proof. Plus you have been preparing for this too, right? I believe you can at least get 20 out of the last 40 percent if you try your best."
A realisation was finally dawning on Naruto as he looked at him with a healthy dose of skepticism.
That was good for a shinobi, the tendency to not trust easily.
"But that's wrong, and a true ninja doesn't cheat his way to victory, believe it!"
And he takes it all back…
It was not that the boy did not trust easily. It was only his naive shonen protagonist's sense of morality that prevented the boy from taking the easy way out, and it was starting to be a pain in Kento's ass.
"Listen here Naruto, deception, and lies are a shinobi's bread and butter. To be the best version of a ninja that you can be, you need to learn how to lie, and cheat your way to victory."
The boy vehemently shook his head while giving him a look of fiery defiance.
"I won't cheat my way to be a ninja, and I won't fail either, believe it!"
Kento sighed tiredly.
It was time then for him to pull out his super secret Naruto destroyer IR 5000 weapon.
"You know that if you pass this test, you have my promise that I'll treat you to your favorite food right?"
"How do we cheat, and when do we start?"
And hook line and sinker
Was he corrupting the still young and gullible Ninja Jesus? Maybe?
Did he care? Nah, it was all for them tickets, and the dream of a peaceful life!
"Ok, so here's how we're going to do this…"
———
They were back to their old seating, waiting to be called for their spar with a Chunin out back.
Kento for his part found himself glued to that familiar transparent window of blueish letters on his face with a cheshire grin.
———————————————————————
Feat Achieved! Minor canon changes: Help an idiot pass his written exam!
+1 Bronze Random Gacha Ticket!
[Strong Legs]
|C Rank Trait|
Your legs are stronger and tougher than average, slightly enhancing your speed and increasing the power behind your kicks substantially. Scales with your basic stats.
———————————————————————
He didn't think it would work but it did. Apparently changing things, even minor things from canon could earn him tickets.
And he got a decent trait from it too, he mused as he examined his legs.
There was no great pain like what had happened last time, but he could feel them getting stronger.
He reckoned he could now jump as high up normally as he could with active chakra reinforcement before he got this trait.
The full extent of this perk would need more in depth testing, but it was a worthwhile tradeoff.
This did beg some questions as to how many things did he want to change, and how did Naruto get his forehead protector in the first place if he didn't pass the written exam in canon?
Nepotism most likely was the reason for the latter one, plus politics, and the need for the development of Konoha's jinchuriki for their military might.
Back to the former question though, he could see himself changing a lot of minor things, but did he want to change the major plot points too when that would presumably grant him higher ranked tickets?
For starters he could collect more tickets and grow more rapidly to prepare for the future ahead if he did.
But then gone would be one of his greatest advantages in this world in the form of canon knowledge, plus it'd be harder for him to retain his inconspicuous canon fodder status if he did so.
Decisions decisions… These were things that would be best left for his future self to decide because his present self was a lazy procrastinating bum.
"Yo Kento, what are you thinking so hard about?"
He looked up only to reeled back from how close Naruto's face was to his.
Apparently the Blonde decided that they were now friends seeing as how he found the dope sitting next to the usually empty seat to his right after the test was over.
"Personal space goddamn it! We almost kissed you knucklehead!"
And tickets or not, he was NOT going to be Naruto's first kiss. That honor was reserved for his emo duckbutt reincarnated brother.
"Please don't cause then Naruto will start getting all loud insufferable, and that's troublesome."
Shikamaru added on his left with his face glued to a pillow that the dude pulled out from Kami knows where.
The dope turned pale no doubt at the image of them kissing, before his mood switched like Texas weather as he screamed at Shika.
"I'm not annoying teme! Also sorry about that Kento, I didn't think we were going to be that close when you look up."
He waved away his concern.
"Just don't do it next time please, anyway what sup?"
"Oh right, so like I was saying, how well do you think you gonna do in the spar?"
Kento stilled a moment to let the blonde's words marinate. Unlike normal taijutsu spar that only allowed for academy style taijutsu and basic katas, this spar has a no hold barred format that allows for pretty much anything non lethal in one's arsenal.
And for the clan kids with their Hiden jutsu, unique taijutsu style, or vaunted bloodline and special eyeballs? That was great really.
For the rest of them mortal civies though? Not so much—was what he would have said, if he didn't have his cheat.
Now though, this spar was basically a free ticket if he went all out, but the real question was did he want to go all out against a Chunin, and bring all that heat upon his person?
It was not even half a beat later that he got his answer as he smiled and said,
"Eh, we'll see about it."
At the end of the day, future decisions were for his future self to make. His present self was too busy being a lazy procrastinating bum to care for something too complicated right now.
Naruto's thumb up and a cocky grin was his reply as the blonde answered.
"Well then I wish you luck because I'mma beat the heck out of our sensei and take that headband! Believe it!"
A loud bang stopped all of their group conversation as heads swivelled and turned toward Iruka sensei, standing next to a black board with a list of names on it
"Good now that I have your attention, we will start calling names. Once your name is called, please follow the signs, move out to the designated areas and follow the instruction of the guiding Chunin sensei there. Does anyone have any questions, feel free to ask them now."
Seeing as no hands were raised, nor mouths opened, Iruka sensei nodded, and started calling names.
By the end of it, Kento found himself cursing inwardly at his bad luck while standing in the bound of the Academy sparring field Number 1.
Facing him was the Walmart Kabuto/Orochimaru's third rate goon, Mizuki sensei with a gentle albeit condescending smile marring his face.
"Now Kento-san I know this is a bit daunting for you, but do not be afraid. Remember that I am your sensei, and a bona fide Chunin of the leaf. That title means that nothing you can throw at me will stick, so do not be shy to go all out."
The way those words slipped off his tongue irked him. He was irksome.
Patreon with two chaps ahead: patreon.com/DannyPhantom7112