AN: Good day everyone and first of all let me thank you for joining me for my next story. Some of you may know me as the author of The Gambit saga and Othello and those of you who do are already familiar with my composition styles. But for those of you who don’t there are really only a few things that might need to be pointed out.

Italics means character thought, Bold means demon voice or shouted speech, and “SC” means scene change. Pretty basic stuff that most authors use I know, but I didn’t want anyone at all to not know exactly what I was trying to say.

Anyway, I'm not going to ruin the story for you before it's even started, so here you go! Thanks for reading and please review!

The Rookies

“Pencils Down!” Iruka shouted from the front of the classroom.

All around the room, the 12 year old students scrambled and hastily filled in their last guesses on the exam as the clock on the wall buzzed the two-o’clock bell. Off in the back corner, Uzumaki Naruto lazily flipped his pencil around his fingers. The testing booklet in front of him had closed some time ago as Naruto, being tied for the top seat in the class, had quickly gotten bored with the elementary questions, finished them in practically no time at all, and quickly begun performing tricks with his pencil (and small amounts of chakra for added flare) to entertain Yamanaka Ino who sat beside him; entranced. He’d slipped her his answers so she had no need to worry. She’d pass with flying colors just like she always did.

“I said pencils down,” Iruka echoed, looking about the students. “Close up your testing booklets and I’ll be around to pick up your answer sheets in just a moment.”

The class began to grumble as Iruka slowly walked in front of the first row desks and, with excruciating slowness and feigned seriousness, picked up and stacked the students’ final exams on the clipboard in his left hand.

“Thanks again!” Ino giggled, tuning to Naruto and smiling from ear to ear.

“My pleasure,” said the boy happily. “Anything for my favorite classmate.”

Ino glanced at Iruka, who was by that point beginning to make his way past the second row. “So who all do you think will make it to the last part of the final exam?” asked the blonde girl in a hushed voice. “I mean you and I obviously will, but who else will be there?”

Naruto leaned back a little in his chair and put his hands behind his head, starring up at the ceiling as he whispered back to her. “Sasuke will definitely be there,” he began. “He’s just as smart as I am.” Ino shook her head wildly at that part, but Naruto went on. “And knowing Sakura she prepared for this weeks in advance and had all the possible questions’ answers memorized. Shikamaru will likely pass…” Naruto ran through the list of candidates, nine in all, who he thought would pass the written half of the exam. “And lastly there’s you and me,” he concluded with a grin.

Ino glanced around the room with each student Naruto had listed off. “You really think that Hyuuga girl will pass?” she asked as Iruka neared.

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” said Naruto, looking towards Hinata. She was sitting in the front row and, not surprisingly, turned around and looking at Naruto. Though when he made eye contact and smiled encouragingly, she immediately whipped around in her seat and began twiddling her fingers. As far as Naruto could tell from looking at the backs of her ears, the girl was blushing furiously. “She’s got real potential I think.”

“I’ll take that,” said Iruka, stopping at the desk next to Ino’s and picking up another young boy's test.

The student shrugged and Iruka moved on, taking Ino’s test and then Naruto’s.

“So what’s the final part of the exam going to be Iruka-Sensei?” asked Naruto, almost jovially.

Iruka smiled down at him and put the boy’s test on the top of the stack. “You know I’m not supposed to tell you that,” said the Chuunin. “You’ll find out in an hour or so. Besides, given your grades I have no doubt I’ll be seeing you for the final part of the exam. Even if you failed this test you could still pass.”

Naruto grinned and put his hand behind his head in the typical, innocent fashion he always did when someone complimented him. Ino set her elbow on the desk rested her head on her knuckles. “Some people have all the luck,” she said.

“Don’t complain Ino,” said the instructor, turning towards the head of the class. “You’re grades are stellar too. If you’d worked a little harder during the first part of year you probably could have had marks just as good as Naruto or Sasuke.”

Ino waited until Iruka had walked back to the desk at the front of the room and sat down before turning back to Naruto, who had been fighting of a smile as Ino and Iruka were speaking. “Well, there’s a reason my grades are almost as good as yours,” she grinned.

“You were right you know,” said Naruto.

“I usually am, but what was I right about this time?”

Naruto tilted his head just enough to look at her and smile a little. “I really do have all the luck,” he said.

Ino just looked down at the desk and blushed.

SC

“Very good Sasuke,” commented Iruka, standing in the center of the training field adjacent to the Academy. “That’s quite impressive.”

Opposite the Chuunin, Sasuke stood perfectly motionless, holding the seal of the ram in front of his chest. On either side of the student stood three, seamless clones; each transformed into another student from the class. The simple bunshins were far from solid and anything substantial would pass right through them, but the fact that Sasuke could produce flawless images of six of his fellow students was enough to surprise even Iruka.

Sasuke released the seal and stood up straight and the images faded into nothingness. “Thanks Iruka-Sensei,” said the raven haired Uchiha, “do I pass now?”

Iruka scribbled a few notes down on the ever present clipboard in front of him, and grinned. “Absolutely you do,” said the instructor. “That was quite impressive. Full marks.”

Sasuke grinned and turned to face the line of eight Academy students behind him. Naruto was farthest to the right of the line, with Ino to his left, followed by Sasuke’s vacant spot, then Haruno Sakura, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and lastly Hyuuga Hinata.

“It looks like you were right,” whispered Ino to Naruto. “The nine you predicted are the only ones who passed the written exam. How do you do that?”

Naruto didn’t look away from Iruka, but grinned. “It’s not incredibly difficult,” he said. “These nine have the most potential in the class so naturally we’d be the nine to make it this far, and unless I miss my guess, all of us will graduate after this.”

“Really?” The girl sighed, “Naruto that’s amazing.”

“Nah,” said the Uzumaki, scratching the back of his head again.

“Naruto,” called Iruka, pointing at the blonde boy. “You’re up.”

“Guess it’s my turn,” said Naruto, playfully nudging Ino with his shoulder, “wish me luck.”

“Like you need it,” chucked Ino.

Naruto walked slowly and passed by Sasuke as the Uchiha returned to the line. “Nice job,” said Naruto. “That was really good.”

Sasuke grinned and nodded his head towards Naruto. “I couldn’t just let you hog all the glory,” he said. “Good luck yourself.”

“Way to go Sasuke!” Naruto heard Sakura shout from the line of students as Sasuke arrived. “I knew you could do it! You were awesome!”

Sasuke, as was his custom with the Haruno girl, didn’t respond, but took her fawning in stride and with a kind of heroic resolve, like when Hector left Troy to face Achilles knowing full well he was doomed. Sasuke was like that; sort of.

Naruto stopped a few paces in front of Iruka, leaving ten feet between himself and the rest of his classmates. He glanced back at his peers, smiled to Ino, then turned his face up and took in the warm afternoon sunshine. He loved the sun. It was always so warm and comforting at this time of year. “What’ll it be Iruka-Sensei?” he asked, his crystal blue eyes locked on his instructor.

Iruka looked at Naruto for a second, thinking, then slowly tapped his lip with the pen in his right hand. “Well,” began the Chuunin. “Sasuke has already done the bunshin-no-jutsu. Sakura aced the henge, and Chouji impressed us all with his knowledge of Taijutsu. What does that leave you Naruto?”

“Well, you already know Sasuke and I have a bit of a race going on,” said Naruto, playing along with Iruka just a bit. “Why not have me show him up with a bunshin technique?”

Iruka almost laughed. It would be entertaining to pit the two head of the class against each other, just this once, but Iruka thought better of it just before he gave Naruto permission to perform a henge. “No,” he said quickly, “How about you show me what you can do with shall we say…”

Seven of the students all waited with wrapped attention as Iruka drew the act out a bit. They knew that any contest, no matter how small, between Sasuke and Naruto was sure to be a real display. Sasuke however mirrored Naruto’s moderately anxious, but very gathered composure.

“I want you to use the kawarimi-no-jutsu!” shouted Iruka suddenly, startling all those present and lunging forward at Naruto, lashing out like a hornet, his fist screamed through the air on a collision course with Naruto’s chest.

The kawarimi is a joke, Naruto mentally laughed as Iruka approached. His eyes flashed all around but except for the students behind him there was nothing to substitute for himself.

So that’s the test then, Sasuke, and Shikamaru all thought in unison. Using the environment even when it offers nothing.

Suddenly it occurred to Naruto, there was nothing around he could legitimately use to properly perform the technique, and Iruka’s fist was getting very close very fast. Oh well, Naruto shrugged, dropping to his knees, swiping his hand over his pocket and slapping that same hand on the ground.

Iruka stopped cold as a cloud of smoke enveloped Naruto. Where did he get a capsule like that? wondered the Chuunin.

“That’s not the test Naruto!” shouted Iruka, pressing his hands together in front of him. A wave of invisible energy rolled out from the instructor and blew away the smoke, revealing Naruto down on one knee. “Sorry Naruto, can’t go easy on you!”

Wouldn’t have it any other way, grinned the Academy student as Iruka charged forward again, closing the distance between them in a flash. Iruka swung down and slammed his fist against Naruto’s chest and the boy made no effort to dodge. The other students gasped in shock as Naruto’s form exploded with Ninja smoke and an earthen cadaver shaped just like Naruto rocketed to the ground and broke apart like a dropped jar.

Iruka stood up and dusted off his Chuunin vest as the small poof of smoke cleared, leaving Naruto nowhere to be seen. A look of wonder and surprise washed over Iruka for just a moment before he regathered himself. “All right,” barked the instructor, “You can come out now. The test is over.”

A bush at the edge of the schoolyard’s perimeter, growing up along the chain link fence rustled as a bright orange figure jumped out of the leaves and jogged happily over to where Iruka stood. Naruto’s grin beamed in the sun and he shone with pride as the other students clapped for him, even Sasuke nodded in approval.

“So do I pass Iruka-Sensei?” Naruto jolled. “You can’t tell me that wasn’t great; distracting you with the smoke capsule just long enough to build that mud man out of the dirt and disappear into the bush, then casting a bunshin over the mud man to make it look just like me and give it some realism when you hit it-”

“Yes, yes Naruto it was exceptionally good. I expected nothing less from you,” said Iruka, scribbling some notes on his clipboard and grinning. “You all did a magnificent job here today,” said the Chuunin, turning to address the whole group, leaving Naruto to wonder why exactly his instructor seemed so suddenly preoccupied.

Naruto jumped back into line beside Ino and touched her hand with his. “I think we all passed,” he whispered to her.

“I think you’re right,” she responded, reaching out just enough to brush the back of his hand with her fingertips. “That was awesome out there.”

“I just got lucky,” said Naruto. “If Iruka had been serious at all I’d be in the hospital right now.”

Ino shook her head slightly. “I think he was as serious with you and Sasuke as he’s ever been with any of his students. Yeah he wasn’t doing what he’d do in a real fight but I don’t think he was holding back as far as testing a student goes.”

“We’ll see,” said Naruto, shrugging.

“I’m very pleased to announce,” said Iruka, looking proudly over the whole group of nine, “That all of you have passed the exam, and with the best overall grade I’ve seen in years. You should all be very proud of yourselves.”

Several of the students cheered and a collective ‘yes’ went up from Ino, Sakura, and a few of the others. Naruto and Sasuke both grinned, not at each other mind you, but to themselves, and Hinata couldn’t stop herself from looking over at Naruto, blushing as was her habit.

“At any rate, good job all of you,” said Iruka. “I’m going to assign you to your different teams tonight, so you need to show up here at the academy in room 209 at eight AM tomorrow. You’re excused for the day.”

Iruka walked past the students reviewing the notes he’d jotted on the clipboard, flipping through some pages and tallying down a few last thoughts, before opening the school door and disappearing inside. The students began to dissipate, breaking off into groups of two or three and slowly making their way towards the gates at either end of the yard, or in the case of Shikamaru and Chouji, walking lazily towards the play-yard equipment, most likely to cloud watch for the next few hours.

Naruto and Ino stood quietly next to each other for a few minutes, watching as the rest of their graduated classmates departed. Ino chuckled when she caught the furrow of Sasuke’s brow as he opened the gate to head for home and Sakura appeared by his side to fight for attention.

“I kind of feel sorry for that boy,” said the blonde girl once she and Naruto were the only ones left on the playground, except for Shikamaru and Chouji who were lying in the sandbox and starring up at the sky. “Sasuke I mean.”

“Because Sakura refuses to leave him alone?” asked Naruto.

“Yeah, she’s always pestering him…”

Naruto shrugged and reached over, slipping Ino’s hand into his. “I don’t think Sasuke minds as much as he makes it out that he does. He probably enjoys the attention on some level but doesn’t want to acknowledge it for the sake of his mysterious reputation and I don’t think Sakura’s really bothered by his ignoring her since it makes things a kind of game for her.”

“Maybe,” sighed Ino. “But you could be reading into things too much,” she said, giving his hand a quick squeeze. “Anyway, you want to go get Ichiraku? I’ll treat.”

Naruto grinned. “I’d really like to, but I can’t today. I need to get home and help work around the house.”

“Alright,” said Ino, turning into him and giving Naruto a hug, a gesture he gladly returned. “Tell your mom I said ‘hi.’”

Naruto stepped back just a little, keeping hold of one of her hands and smiled. “I will,” he said.

AN: Well, I really hoped you liked it. First chapters are never my strong point (as should be obvious by now lol) so let me know if there are any egregious errors. Anyway, nothing to report this early really. Hope to hear from you soon and please review! As in PLEASE review no matter what you thought. Thanks!

PS. A quick recognition Vorago Atrox, my faithful beta, fellow author, and friend!