While Naruto and Keimei were having a conversation with each other, Menma, who was also looking at the two, had disdain flickering in his eyes.
Menma's still unable to understand why his parents and Yayoi wanted Naruto to be part of the family despite the fact that Naruto doesn't even qualify to be a member of their family, especially given the fact that the latter was the weakest student in the academy and doesn't have a chance to officially become a ninja.
Naruto being part of their family will definitely bring embarrassment, which is something Menma doesn't want.
Menma still remembers how irate he had been when his parents wanted to start involving Naruto in their training session even though it was clear as day that Naruto wouldn't improve much.
Thankfully for Menma, Naruto, being as stupid as he is, had refused the invitation despite desperately needing just to barely pass the exam.
Menma then turns his head back to Kiba, who he is currently talking to. Menma doesn't want to see Naruto's appearance for even a second longer.
Menma knows that their parents have been trying to give Naruto more attention over the years, but Menma knows that it will end soon. Once Naruto fails to graduate today, they are sure to realize, like everyone else, that Naruto wasn't worth wasting their time on.
Menma turns his head back to Kiba and continues their conversation since Menma doesn't want to look at Naruto for a second longer, or else he might throw up in disgust.
The students waited for a few more minutes before the door slowly opened, which made everyone's eyes look at it. Everyone already knows who is going to enter, and everyone felt their excitement and nervousness increase manyfold.
The first one who entered was wearing a chunin vest, had brown hair tied in a ponytail, and whose most distinguishing feature was the scar that crossed the bridge of his nose.
This person is none other than Iruka Umino, one of the instructors that supervise their class.
The second person who enters the room is the second instructor of the class, which is Mizuki, who is also wearing the same chunin vest and has shoulder-length white hair with a slight blue tint to it.
Both instructors proudly wear the forehead protector with the leaf symbol at the center of their heads.
Almost everyone's eyes are locked in on the forehead protector since they all know that only the official ninja of the leaf are allowed to wear the forehead protector, and it is considered an honor for one to wear it.
Iruka's eyes landed on Naruto and Keimei, who both didn't pay attention to their arrival.
Naruto, of course, felt Iruka staring at him, and Naruto knew that Iruka seemed apprehensive of him, but that wasn't really surprising or new to Naruto.
Naruto assumed, using the age of the chunin ninja, that he lost his parents during the Nine Tails Fox attack. Iruka never made any attempt to sabotage him, unlike other instructors. Not like it would have made any difference in Naruto's opinion.
Neither did Mizuki, but Naruto senses that the former didn't like him, not that Naruto cares.
Iruka only realizes that he has been staring at Naruto for a few moments and immediately snaps out of it. For Iruka, Naruto has been and still is a mystery to him.
The other instructors at the academy told him to ignore Naruto, and some even went as far as advising him to take advantage of his situation and sabotage Naruto's performance.
'Why should the poser of a demon brat be a ninja? A collective sentiment echoed by most people, be they ninja or civilians.
After observing Naruto for so long, Iruka had started to realize that, contrary to his expectations, Naruto wasn't the troublemaker or no-good person many of the villagers made him out to be.
From his observation, Naruto was very quiet and kept everything to himself.
Though Iruka is sure this isn't by choice, as calling Naruto's reputation bad is a great understatement. On a daily basis, Naruto is mocked and ridiculed for being the only weak member of the Uzumaki Namikaze family.
His sisters are always the top contenders for the right to be the top female ninja in their class, while his brother has been locked in a duel for top of the class with Sasuke Uchiha since they entered the academy.
As for his parents, their achievements need no mentioning.
Whereas Naruto himself is the dead last, barely passing each year and on some occasions surviving on extra credits.
Iruka at first supported this popular view, seeing the memory of his parents' deaths as always fresh and vivid in his mind, but after a while he realized there wasn't any real piece of evidence, making Naruto suspicious.
In the end Iruka resolved to be impartial towards Naruto, choosing not to sabotage him but also not offering the struggling boy any help.
Naruto didn't make it hard since he never asked. Iruka did, however, remain cautious of Naruto as he wondered if the boy was even going to pass the test with his terrible history.
'Probably not,' Iruka shakes his head inwardly.
"Alright. This is it, the day you've been working towards for the past years now. Without further ado, let's get into it," Iruka announced, silencing the nervous and excited murmuring in the room.
"The exam will consist of two main components: a theory portion, which will consist of a written test, and a practical portion split into two parts," Iruka added.
Everyone's eyes locked in on Iruka, and they didn't dare to miss anything he said in fear of being unable to pass the test due to negligence.
"In the first half each of you will engage in a sparring session with Mizuki here while I mark your performance, and you will perform an accuracy test with some kunai and shuriken. In the other half you will be required to perform the three basic techniques of the academy, which the village requires that any ninja know. These three are the Substitution Technique, the Clone Technique, and the Transformation Technique. You will obviously pass or fail to graduate depending on how many points you acquire from the exam altogether."
'Is he serious? That's all the qualification needed to become an official ninja? 'Naruto inwardly thought to himself, unable to believe the requirements, which were so low he couldn't even predict it.
'No, it can't be. If it is, then a lot of people in this room are doomed once they become official ninja' Naruto thought further. He suspects that there is something more to this test than he sees.
Naruto knows that Minato wasn't a fool to make the ninja exam this easy.
Naruto didn't have the chance to think further since Iruka started to hand out the tests.
The moment Naruto receives the test papers, he lazily writes down the answer without difficulty. Of course he intentionally made his score just above the pass requirement.
After finishing answering the tests in a short period of time, Naruto decides to take a nap until the next tests.
After the time is up and the test papers are collected and graded, the class heads outside for the first half of the practical exam. Naruto purposely fails this part of the exams just to keep up appearances.
Satsuki and Sasuke tie for the highest in this section of the exams. This earns shouts for the duo's respective fan clubs, much to Naruto's annoyance, while the twins ignore it.
After this the sparring sessions take place. Naruto, as always, fights for points rather than to impress anyone, though he can easily tell that Mizuki is going rougher on him than everyone else, which really makes Naruto intrigued about the reason behind this.
Once the first half of the practical exam ended, everyone slowly made their way back inside the classroom to start the final test.
The moment everyone enters the classroom and takes their seats, they patiently wait to be called upon for the final test. Naruto and Keimei, who once again sit next to each other, start having a small talk while patiently waiting to be called upon.
While talking to Keimei, Naruto started to feel a familiar chakra signature outside of the academy, and before he could even think about the identity of the owner of the familiar chakra signature, he suddenly felt another one appear suddenly.
'Kushina and Minato,' Naruto frowns for a moment before focusing his attention on talking with Keimei.
Keimei notices the sudden frown that appeared on Naruto's face and starts to feel the chakra signature outside the academy and starts to understand the reason behind the frown.
Just as Keimei is about to refocus her attention on their conversation, both Naruto's and Keimei's eyes turn towards a specific direction.
"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze," Iruka calls out.
"Seems like it's my turn already," Naruto said and slowly stood up.
"Good luck then," Keimei responds with a small smile on her face.
Naruto slightly raised one of his eyebrows while staring at Keimei before snapping out of it.