Our Own Paths

Chapter 9

It only felt like yesterday when Iruka began teaching his students, but now they are entering their final exams to become Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. Iruka could not have been prouder of his students.....well most of his students anyway. "Naruto please for the love of your ramen, pay attention." The class erupted into laughter as Naruto lifted his head to look at the board. Naruto yawned as he looked at it with uninterested eyes.

"Sensei, is it really necessary?" "Yes, pay attention." Naruto groaned and tried to pay attention for Iruka's sake. Although that did not last long before Sasuke and Naruto began to fight over something completely unrelated to the lesson.

Just as Iruka was going to discipline them both, the bell rang, and Naruto quickly left without saying anything. "Sasuke please stop whatever feud you and Naruto have." Sasuke only nodded his head and left with the rest of his classmates. And to think that tomorrow they will become Genin, how time flies. Iruka smiled softly before looking at the paper left by another teacher earlier in the day; it was the paper of the said finals with all the things and requirements to pass.

Iruka locked his classroom door and made his way back home, although as he walked out the academy door, he stopped to look at the student sitting on the swing. Iruka walked over to them, the said student lifted their head to see who was approaching and quickly hopped off the swing. "Something the matter, Sensei?"

Iruka looked at Naruto for a long while trying to decide why he was still here or to just not ask; Iruka knew that Naruto would not answer so he just answered his question instead. "Since you are here, would you mind going with me to Ichiraku Ramen and having dinner, we need to talk." Naruto's eyes lit up the moment Iruka said Ichirkau and was already headed over to its direction, not waiting to see if his Sensei was behind him.

The moment the owner saw them walking in, he turned around and began to cook up some ramen for the both of them. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about Sensei?" Naruto asked as Iruka and his ramen were placed in front of them. Iruka said nothing as they both ate their food in relative peace, though once Naruto ordered seconds for himself did Iruka finally answer his question.

"It's about the exams happening tomorrow, I need to know that you will show up and that even if you do; actually, try your best this is real deal not one of our practices." Naruto regarded him with a contemplating expression on his face before he nodded his head.

"Sensei I know that throughout the years me showing up and then not showing up has bothered you greatly, but I can't be Hokage if I don't do this exam; as long as there is no Shadow Clone jutsu then I'll be in the clear." Iruka could only shake his head as Naruto dived into his second bowl of ramen, knowing full well that Naruto now will not even hear a word of what he will say next.

After god knows how many ramens Naruto devoured, they parted ways and went back to their own apartments. As Iruka approached his door he could feel himself smile as he stared at the package waiting for him in front of his door. He quickly picked up the package as he unlocked his door, once inside the apartment he quickly went to the kitchen to grab a knife and opened the package.

Inside the package was a note, Tomorrow I believe will be the exams to welcome in the new Genin of the Hidden Leaf, I wish you the best rest and good meal for tomorrow. Inside the package was the usual package of green tea and some sweets.

—->

The day of the exam was chaos on both sides, all the jutsus, hand signs, and everything you can think of was thrown at these children to see if they were ready to become Genin. As the day wore on, they were approaching the final stage of the exams, everyone was ready to get over with as they waited to hear what Iruka and Mizuki Sensei had to say.

Both of them looked at each other before looking back at the students, who were all on edge waiting. Iruka cleared his throat before speaking "The last thing you all have to do is perform a shadow clone jutsu of yourselves in the other room, if done correctly you will officially walk out of the other room as Genin of the Hidden Leaf."

The class was getting extremely excited hearing those words and yet there was still a majority who were not so happy hearing those words, one of them being Naruto himself. One by one students were being called to the other room to perform the Shadow Clone Jutsu and very soon it was Naruto's turn to go to the other class.

The room was empty except for two chairs and a table full of Hidden Leaf headbands for those who will pass. Naruto took a deep breath. Come on, you can do this, you just got to focus. After motivating himself he began moving his hands in the signs to perform the Shadow Clone, there was a loud pop followed with a puff of smoke.

I did it! When Naruto opened his eyes, his joy vanished just as quickly as it came. Standing beside him was a clone of himself but it was ghostly pale and unable to stand on its own; it's very clear which one was real, and which was not. Naruto was still slightly hopeful but that too vanished when he looked back to Mizuki and Iruka Sensei, Iruka looked serious yet sad at the outcome while Mizuki was whispering to Iruka's ears.

"Naruto Uzumaki, you are unable to become a Genin, we will have the exam again next year." Iruka stated matter a factly, before Naruto could say anything Mizuki spoke up "Iruka he summoned a clone, though not perfect he still summoned one at lea-" Iruka immediately interrupted Mizuki giving him a harsh glare "If you think that's how the Hidden Leaf picks their shinobi then you are wrong, I'm sorry Naruto its final please excite the classroom."

Emotions of all sorts passed through Naruto's face before he quickly gave a bow and walked out of the classroom.

—---->

"Mom, can we go to a restaurant to celebrate?"

"Hey Dad look I'm really a ninja!"

"I want to get a good night's sleep tomorrow; it's going to be a big day."

"I can't wait to see who will be on my team!"

So on and so forth, that all Naruto could hear as he watched parents congratulating their kids on passing, he could even listen to the very few mocking or insulting him. He closed his eyes leaning back against the swing, he was not mad at Iruka; not anymore at least, he sort of understood why he could not let him pass. Although the bitter feeling was still very unpleasant, the loud sound of people passing by and going home could be heard until only the sound of Naruto swinging could be heard.

"Are you okay?" said a voice that sounded familiar to him, Naruto opened his eyes to see that it was Mizuki Sensei standing over him, offering a sad smile "I'm okay I guess." Mizuki simply nodded at him before offering him a smile "I know a way for you to master the Shadow Clone Jutsu if you wish to hear it."

Naruto looked back at Mizuki with hopeful eyes "You do? Can you please tell me?" Mizuki laughed as he answered him, "Of course but you have to listen very carefully."

Naruto was too busy hanging on to his every word to notice the dark gleam that was forming in Mizukis eyes...