This man is none other than Fugaku Uchiha.
"Team 13, follow me," Fugaku calmly said, his voice tinted with authority, which everyone heard before turning and leaving the room.
"See you next time," Naruto said before slowly getting up and leaving the room.
Naruto walks past Menma, Mito, and Yayoi's desk, completely ignoring the trio's gazes. Yayoi had a sad expression on her face after seeing Naruto ignoring her. Mito, meanwhile, didn't pay attention to the fact that Naruto ignored her; she was just, after all, accidentally staring at him when looking at Keimei.
Menma, as always, glared with an openly disgusting expression on his face, clearly not happy about the fact that Naruto walked closer to their desk.
Naruto, alongside his teammates, leaves the classroom for the last time, and just as they both take one step from the door, they see a woman approaching.
She is wearing the standard Hidden Leaf Jonin attire with her forehead protector strapped around her head, and her red hair is tied in a ponytail.
This is none other than Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze, Minato's beloved wife.
"Naruto," Kushina greets with a smile on her face.
"Lady Kushina," Naruto responds with a small bow and a blank expression on his face before walking off, leaving a very sad-looking Kushina.
Hinata and Satsuki noticed this but didn't say anything since they had to meet up with their Jonin sensei. Though they did keep this scene at the back of their minds.
Training Ground 13
Naruto, Satsuki, and Hinata are all sitting in front of Fugaku, who is sitting atop the three wooden stumps.
The group have introduced each other to one another and told of their likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc. Naruto made sure to give away as little information about him as possible.
Naruto already guessed the main reason why Fugaku became his Jonin sensei, which is clearly for a long-term mission to observe and analyze him.
The reason for this conclusion was the fact that Fugaku grew up alongside Minato, and the two are close friends, and if Minato wanted someone to monitor him, Fugaku would be the right person.
"Alright then, now it's time for all of you to take your graduation test," Fugaku calmly stated.
"What do you mean?" Hinata asks immediately. "We already graduated." Hinata's voice is clearly tinted with doubt and confusion, which Satsuki feels the same way.
'As expected,' Naruto thought to himself while continuing to calmly stare at Fugaku.
Naruto already guessed that there was something more they needed to prove in order to become an official ninja, and the Ninja Academy graduation tests were just to screen out the useless students for the real test.
"Not really," Fugaku calmly responds as if he expected the question in the first place. "Those tests from the academy were only a means of weeding out those truly capable of being a ninja, and this is a means of acquiring the best out of those capable."
Realization hit both Hinata and Satsuki, which hadn't escaped Fugaku's eyes, but he was surprised to find out Naruto was being calm as if the latter already expected this situation.
'Interesting,' Fugaku thought to himself.
"So let's not waste any time," Fugaku said, taking two items out of his pocket. One is a stopwatch, and the other is a pair of bells joined by a red string.
"The test is that you each have to get one of these bells from me in order to pass. As you've observed, there are only two bells, so the two out of three of you who get a bell will pass and be officially declared Genin, and the odd one out will be sent back to the academy to repeat a year. There will be a time limit of one hour. Failure to acquire a bell within that time will also constitute failure," Fugaku added while setting the stopwatch and hooking the bells to his belt.
"Any questions?" Fugaku stared at the three teenagers, and upon seeing their expression, he said, "Good. Your time starts... NOW!"
Immediately Satsuki and Hinata jump away from the clearing, leaving Naruto, who simply stands there and calmly stares at Fugaku.
"You're not going to hide yourself like the others?" Fugaku raised one of his eyebrows. "I'm not surprised. Your file did indicate you weren't the sharpest knife in the proverbial toolbox."
Naruto is almost unable to resist rolling his eyes and crosses his arms instead, not taking the bait.
"There's no point to it. A ninja at your caliber would be able to easily determine our location no matter where we hide, and besides, you wouldn't even bother searching for us since you don't have the objective, while we need to get closer to you in order to fulfill the task," Naruto calmly responds.
Naruto lied about not being able to hide his presence from Fugaku, and Naruto easily deduced the requirements needed to complete the task.
'What a sharp observation.' Fugaku unconsciously made a small smile on his face while staring at Naruto. As the time passed, he started to get interested in the latter.
Meanwhile, Satsuki has been hiding in a tree looking down at Naruto and Fugaku, who are having a small talk with each other.
She is currently in a tense state since by the end of the day she didn't want to be someone who failed and was sent back to the academy. Her pride wouldn't allow her to fail and be sent back to the academy.
She had to make sure it wasn't her. As long as she gets to keep her forehead protector, it doesn't matter what else happens.
While Satsuki was busy staring at her father and Naruto, she failed to notice Hinata, who was slowly getting closer to her. It wasn't really surprising since Satsuki's attention was all focused on her father's movement.
"Um... Satsuki," Hinata said as loud as possible while at the same time her voice remained low for Fugaku to hear. Her head turns slightly upwards to see Satsuki in the branch of the tree.
Satsuki turned her head downward and quickly brought out a kunai in her hands as she stared at Hinata on the ground.
Satsuki's eyes widen for a moment, unable to believe that she failed to notice Hinata's arrival, but she quickly manages to reach the right conclusion after thinking about the situation for a moment.
"Why are you sneaking up on me? What do you want?" Satsuki said, her voice tinted with hostility.
Satsuki knew that the three of them were competitors to each other and concluded that they would backstab one another to get the chance of passing the test.
While she didn't care who was going to be sent back to the academy, she would make sure by any means necessary it wasn't her.
Hinata didn't find Satsuki's action surprising after all; the test they are currently taking is extremely hard, and without a shadow of a doubt, the three of them would backstab each other in order to pass the test.
But Hinata thought that the test wasn't right since, with their skills, they surely wouldn't be able to contend against a veteran ninja, especially someone who is at the Jonin level.
Hinata remembers her mother's advice, which is to think about her situation from multiple angles to find the solution for her problem.
Hinata reaches a conclusion after thinking about their situation deeply.
The test wasn't about taking the bells since it was impossible with their skill level but about teaming up with each other to claim the bell. She also realized the main reason why there are only two bells instead of three.
It's a disguise to hide the true meaning behind their tests. With Satsuki's current action, it was clear to Hinata right now that the disguise worked perfectly well.
Still, Hinata knows she needs both Satsuki's and Naruto's help in order to pass the test, or else the three of them might be sent back to the academy, which is something Hinata wants to avoid.
Hinata didn't want to show such embarrassment to her father no matter what.
"Can we talk for a moment?" Hinata asks in a low voice.
Satsuki looks at Hinata suspiciously. Satsuki is unable to deduce the reason behind Hinata's action, but after thinking for a moment, Satsuki decides to talk to Hinata since she has great confidence she can easily defeat Hinata with ease if the situation turns to the worst.
"What do you want?" Satsuki asks after jumping down from the branch of the tree.
"After carefully thinking, I think that we should team up along with Naruto in order to get the bell," Hinata proposes while hiding her nervousness.
There are high chances for Satsuki to decline the proposal, which is probably going to result in failure for everyone. Hinata could only hope that Satsuki would agree with her proposal.
"Why?" Satsuki asks, her voice full of skepticism.
Satsuki believes that the proposal had a deeper meaning, but she is unable to deduce it, which makes her wary.
She is sure that even if Hinata and Naruto team up together, she will still easily defeat them, but it definitely takes time, and if she wastes enough time, then everyone will definitely fail the test.
"We are facing a veteran Jonin, and fighting Fugaku Sensei individually will definitely result in our defeat, which also means we will fail the test," Hinata hurriedly said.
Satsuki frowned after hearing Hinata.