SALVATION || Naruto Fanfiction || PART 1

Chapter 2: The Squad

The day was finally here! This was going to be Shinori's last day at the academy! As he entered the classroom everyone had gotten silent, the usual ritual. It was as if a bitter and frozen gust had entered the classroom,  a few people shivered. Once Shinori took his seat, everybody resumed their previous conversations. Luckily today Naruto did not harass him since he had to wake up pretty early. His katana was not on his back today since it was against academy policy.  

Iruka soon entered the classroom to explain the final exam. "For your final exam, you will be tasked to use the clone jutsu, wait here until your name is called. First will be..." Iruka called an individual leaving part of the class worried while the others excited. Shinori was reading a book to pass the time before Iruka called him. 

"Shinori." he called, gaining the future Genin's attention. Upon hearing his name being called he went to the office seeing Mizuki. Shinori was never fond of the snake, knowing that his nice side was likely a facade. 

"Now Shinori... I'm sure you know what to do." Iruka said before taking a seat and grabbing his clipboard. Shinori took a deep breath causing the room to grow slightly colder. Shinori utilized the correct hand signs before creating 5 clones of himself causing the form to get significantly colder from the release of his chakra. The two instructors ignored this however and left it to the opened window. 

"How is this?" Shinori asked his instructors.  A smile appeared on both their faces. "Well done! You only had to create 3 but well done, here's your headband." Iruka said with a smile as Shinori grabbed his headband from the table. "Thank you for the opportunity." He said before bowing and exiting the room. Upon leaving a small smile sat on his face as he looked down at his headband. Once he exited the building he saw the mass of families and students celebrating their achievements. There was no sight of Inei or Aoto, likely because they were at work or Inei was on a mission.

Once he took a second to fully take in his surroundings a voice called out to him. "Shinori!" A young female voice called out to him. It was Ino, he had no idea what she could want. "I wanted to congratulate you! I'm sure you did well." Ino said, her voice flooding with enthusiasm. She meant all of what she said, but why? Ino had no idea why she felt the need to talk to the boy. In her mind, she simply said it because he had been ignored by everyone until his spar with Sasuke. 

"Thanks." Shinori replied it was obvious that he did not want to talk to her. However, he was polite enough to appreciate it. Despite thinking she only told him this out of pity. Everyone has been treating him differently since his spar against Sasuke, however most were still scared of him. His eyes briefly met hers before looking around again for an excuse to leave before she started talking again. 

"I mean it! You don't even look like you broke a sweat, were you even nervous? How do you stay so cool under pressure? What's your secret?" She asked curiously, leaning in slightly as her curiosity got the better of her. 

"There is no secret, just focused, I guess." His answer was short, really trying to tell her to shut up and leave him alone in a nice way. He was not trying to be rude but he was not in the mood to talk to her and probably will never be.

"There has to be I'm sure..." She was cut off by a very familiar voice. 

"Oi, Ino. Your parents are over there looking for you." Shikamaru's voice was calm, practically lazy. He noticed the not-very-romantic tension between the two and decided to save Shinori. 

 "Huh, oh right, parents, Cya!" She said before walking off to her parents.

"Thank you, I should be heading off now, Goodbye." He said to Shikamaru before walking away. He noticed from the corner of their eyes that Ino and Shikamaru were talking to each other, but about what?