7 Years After the Uchiha Massacre.
The Genin Examinations. This event is seen as the culmination of years of work by the aspiring teenagers who wanted to be ninja. A day where the academy students who have been studying for years finally show the world that they have become official ninja.
Naruto is walking through the central part of the Village Hidden in the Leaf towards the Ninja Academy. Today is the day he, alongside others, is taking the Genin Exam to become an official ninja of the leaf.
It's been 7 years since the Uchiha Massacre, and the news about the culprit, aside from Itachi, still remains a mystery for the villagers. Even Itachi's whereabouts remain a mystery despite some desperate searching by the Uchiha.
Throughout the entire time, Naruto keeps his facade as the dead last loser. Whenever he had to take a theory test, he would calculate how many scores he needed to bear in mind to fail and pass or to show to the outsiders that he barely passed.
Sometimes purposely failing and taking extra credits in order to pass to the next grade.
Whenever they had sparring sessions at the academy, he wouldn't use his own martial art style but the basic style that everyone knew and fight until he acquired enough score to barely pass.
But once he officially becomes a ninja, he can finally let go of the facade he wears all the time. At the same time, he finally gets closer to completing one of his plans.
...Or goal in this instance.
Talking about goals, throughout the entire 7 years, Naruto had been plagued with the attempts of his family to rebuild their relationship.
Well, to be more specific, attempts by Minato, Kushina, and Yayoi as if their lifelong goal is for Naruto to finally talk with them and be together.
Mito was, as always, indifferent and uninterested in Naruto; in fact, she saw him not as a sibling but as a stranger, which is something Naruto also saw. Menma, on the other hand, openly voiced his disdain about Naruto.
Menma didn't like Naruto and didn't even want the latter to be part of their family since, in his eyes, the latter is a stain for the family, especially given the fact that Naruto is the dead last in the academy who had the greatest talents throughout the Leaf's history.
Naruto really didn't want to interact with his so-called family, but to avoid disturbing his plans, he had to occasionally show himself in the Uzumaki-Namikaze Estate from time to time despite already owning an apartment for him to stay in.
Still, after the Genin Exam, he will definitely not need to show himself on that estate ever again.
Naruto walks into the academy and heads straight to the classroom. In Naruto's opinion the exam is going to be extremely easy, and it is also quite stupid.
Naruto knows that the requirements for the students to become ninja in the Leaf are so low compared to the other great villages, which really made him wonder if the Leaf was prepared to defend the village and its territory during the dark times.
'If the upcoming test really is the requirement to become a ninja, then without a doubt the leaf will definitely be destroyed in the future,' Naruto thought to himself while he slowly opened the door.
The classroom was empty, and Naruto didn't find it surprising since he is always the first one to arrive, which is something he planned.
He can use this time to take a nap since traveling throughout the entire Elemental Continent to kill curses every single day is far too taxing for him even with the help of clones.
Naruto immediately went towards his usual position, which is the top corner, and laid his head on the desk and closed his eyes to take a nap.
After some time the noise in the surroundings awakens Naruto from his short nap, which was irritating, but he is already used to a short sleep anyway, so he slowly lifts his head and scans the room.
Right now it is almost full of students who are all excited and nervous for the upcoming exams. The students were talking to each other, trying to dispel the nervousness they felt at this moment.
Naruto saw his siblings sitting in the front row; alongside them were their friends and children of other clans, such as Kiba Inuzuka, who is Menma's best friend.
Hinata Hyuga and Kaori Hirota, who are close friends with Mito and Yayoi.
In the following row are Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno, who are best friends who are also rivals. The two also hold affections for the two most popular boys in the class.
Opposite to them is one of the popular boys in the class, Sasuke Uchiha, the second son of the head of the Uchiha Clan, Fugaku Uchiha, and next to him is his twin sister, Satsuki Uchiha.
Both Uchiha had blank expressions on their faces, not showing to the outsiders the feelings they felt right this moment.
Next to the twin Uchiha are Shikimaru Nara, the son of the village's Jonin Commander and head of the Nara Clan, and his best friend, Choji Akimichi, the son of the Akimichi Clan head.
Naruto glances at them for a moment before his eyes turn to his left, where two people are currently sitting.
The one who was at the other end was also the most mysterious—according to other students in class—and the quietest student in the class, Shino Aburame, who is also the heir to the Aburame Clan.
At the center, and the one next to Naruto, is also one of the most beautiful girls in their class, with her long golden hair tied in a simple ponytail, and also one of the rare Uzumaki survivors that was found after an intense search on Kushina's part, Keimei Uzumaki.
Many people were unable to believe she was part of the Uzumaki Clan thanks to her hair color, which wasn't the usual color of the Uzumaki Clan, but after the DNA test, it was revealed that she was indeed part of the Uzumaki Clan.
Before the DNA results were released, rumors started to float around that Keimei is the daughter of Minato from another woman whom he abandoned, which was greatly shocking, to say the least, but with the same DNA results, it shows that Keimei didn't have any blood connection with Minato.
Still, the rumors were quite shocking for the higher-ups, and Kushina almost wanted to kill anyone who let out such rumors. Even Minato was displeased with it.
Naruto stared at Keimei with one of his eyebrows slightly raised, which really attracted the attention of Keimei, who had been looking at Naruto.
Keimei usually didn't sit near him; in fact, she sat in another location, mainly near Karin Uzumaki, another survivor of the Uzumaki Clan.
"Any problem?" Keimei asks in a soft voice.
"Nothing," Naruto says, shaking his head.
"It's just rare for you to sit next to me, that's all," he added.
"I decided to sit next to you after what I saw earlier," was Keimei's response.
Naruto and Keimei started to talk to each other about various topics while ignoring their surroundings.
The moment the two talked to each other, even Shino near them had temporarily raised his own eyebrow. It wasn't common for the two of them to talk to each other.
What really caused him to be intrigued by the two was the fact that the two talk to each other as if they have already known each other incredibly well for years, and Shino knows that the two rarely interact with one another throughout their student years.
Other students also started to pay attention to Naruto and Keimei, which really made the two confused, but they ignored them and continued their own conversation.
The reason for anyone starting to focus on the duo's attention is mostly around Keimei, who is one of the top females in their class and even far surpasses other students.
The only reason why many people still considered Mito, Yayoi, and Satsuki to be the best upcoming female ninja is due to the fact that Keimei didn't actually participate in seduction class.
This is something that almost all the boys in the class felt like was a waste since most of them are admirers of Keimei; in fact, some even started to confess their own feelings to her, which Keimei unhesitatingly declined.
The day that everyone in the academy learned about Keimei's heartless refusal of the confession became the news throughout the whole week, and every student started to take pity on the person who confessed his feelings.
Still, some girls are also paying attention to the conversation for various reasons. Aside from admiring and feeling envy towards Keimei, they are also paying attention to Naruto.
While he was the dead last of their class, with his handsome look, especially with his white hair, perfectly blending with his light blue eyes that were hidden in the dark sunglasses he always wore.
In fact, it was rare for the entire class to see Naruto without the dark sunglasses.
Some girls even started to create a small club dedicated solely to Naruto and their quest to take a picture of Naruto without his sunglasses.
Of course Naruto is oblivious to this, and even if he knew, he wouldn't.