[Alert!
Training Quest - Getting warmed up!
Time Limit - 12 hours
Goal
Push-Ups - [80/100]
Sit-Ups - [0/100]
Squats - [0/100]
Run - [0/10KM]
Caution - Failing to complete the Quest will incur a Penalty. ]
Naruto was now panting. His heart beat crazily, breath heavy and his hands aching and trembling. In the heat of the moment and trying to relieve his frustration, Naruto did 80 push-ups in a go.
Now, with his stamina this should have been a piece of cake. But because his Strength was still low and not compatible with his high stamina, he couldn't keep up. Except that, this much exercise should have been possible for a Genin.
Naruto sighed. 'Hah….I never thought I would be this weak.' He thought, slumping, losing hope.
[ Struggling with this exercise does not reflect your prowess. It is a way through which you keep growing, even if slightly. What defines your prowess is how you handle battles. From yesterday, I can say you do have great sense of battle. However, I cannot be sure, since I do not know what level the opponent was. ]
The System's way of comforting was weird. It felt like this white screen was both taunting him and still praising.
"How did you not know Mizuki's rank, when you have given me the Genin rank?" Naruto asked, confused about the System's remark.
[ The rank I provided you is through your conversation with your Teacher. Only after I understood your rank, I updated it in the stat window. Except the things I have heard and understood myself, I do not know anything else. ]
Naruto grunted. So, even his rank wasn't a perfect one. Even though it said Genin, the system had only given him that rank after listening to Iruka's remark of passing the academy exam.
Now it concerned him more, whether he was even as strong as a Genin.
"How are you going to gain all that knowledge then?" Naruto asked, getting up again and beginning his push-ups, as the counter kept increasing for Push-ups. His hands still hurt. It felt like ants were crawling under his skin, but he HAD to complete the training.
From how the system had referred to the penalty as, he feared he could even get seriously hurt in it. And he wouldn't like that, right after becoming a Genin.
As he kept thinking, the system replied, the screen popping up in front of his eyes for him to read.
[ I have two ways to do so. First, I can simply keep listening to conversations around us and try to learn as much as possible. This process will take a lot of time to understand everything, accurately.
Another way is to have your help. If you start reading the books in library, I can immediately learn everything, with precision to boost. ]
Naruto almost lost control, safe from hitting his nose on the ground. "Ugh, I have to read books? Is there a third way?" Naruto asked, reaching his last push-up.
[ There is. ]
Naruto felt excited, forgetting all the frustration in a jiffy.
[ I can leave your body and find a new host, who will read the books for me. Though, you will die after that, since all your rewards will be taken back. ]
Naruto almost choked on his own breath.
"NO! No,…I will do it. I will read those books." he hurriedly replied. After waiting a few minutes, he asked again. "Will I really die if you leave?".
The system did not respond for a while, as if teasing his patience.
[ No. That was a simple joke. However, you rewards will indeed be removed. ]
Naruto sighed with relief. 'The jokes of this screen are horrendous'
For a while, there was silence on the roof. He sat there, still thinking of the ruckus in park. But again, he suddenly had a doubt.
"Wait! If your don't know anything about other ranks, how did you give me those numbers for other attributes? Like strength or wisdom?" Naruto asked eagerly. He just wanted the System to say it was all a lie and that he was sincerely ranked Genin.
[ I calculated your strength based on average strength of kids of your age, you opponent yesterday and found the best value that could describe you stats. ]
Naruto slumped again, releasing a huge sigh.
As Naruto continued his training, the situation below, in the class had progressed.
It had been another half an hour after Naruto left to the roof. Sakura tried to talk with Sasuke, but every time he would ignore her without a single look or directly tell her to shut it.
After a few tries, she gave up.
A few minutes later, they heard the classroom door opening. Both thought it was Naruto. But another person entered the room.
His eyes roamed around, as if scanning the entire place. Both the kids understood, this was their Sensei.
Sakura felt angry that he was so late. But she could not burst at him and ruin her first impression.
"Where's your other team member?" The man asked in his slightly hoarse voice. Sakura looked at the man properly this time.
He had his headband crossed on his left eye, covering it completely. His hair were striking silver and his all over posture just explained how laid back he was.
"He is on the roof." Sakura answered as she observed their team leader. Perhaps they really were doomed, just like Kiba said.
"Hm. Lets go to the roof then. We will continue there." Saying this, the guy walked out and towards the roof. Sasuke tagged behind, leaving only Sakura behind.
She steeled herself, to face Naruto again.
As they reached near to the roof top, heavy breathing and grunts could be heard.
"Hah….Hah…." Naruto was doing sit ups on the roof, his orange jacket thrown to a side. His entire face and body was covered in sweat, as if someone had soaked him in water.
He was struggling to do each and every move, which only made everyone realise how weak his stature was.
Naruto sat up, ready to go down again when he saw the three of them. He let loose and stood up.
'Is that our Sensei?' He picked up his jacket and wore it, thinking if this person was their teacher.
"Well, this is unexpected." The guy said, amusement evident in his voice. Except Naruto, other two somewhat felt the same.
"What is unexpected?" Naruto asked, a bit confused of this remark.
Kakashi walked towards the fence wall of the roof and sat on it. "Well, I did not expect the dead last of the entire Genin batch to be the only one training."
'Ugh…' Naruto mentally cursed. It seamed, he really couldn't escape that title even after graduating. However, this remark didn't affect him as much anymore.
"Well,…I don't wanna stay a dead last forever." Naruto replied, grinning sheepishly as he scratched his head.
Both Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto, still not used to seeing Naruto so quiet after being mentioned as 'Dead Last'.
Sasuke scoffed it off, thinking this was a reaction of the previous situation in the park. Sakura on the other hand, was still shocked.
She had known Naruto since they were kids. Of course, she always hated his chaotic and over the top personality, that always comprised of only pranks. But it also meant, that she knew at least a few things about him.
One being, that he only ever 'talked big'. For example, becoming Hokage. You would never see Naruto training. Even in academy, he always made excuses, or ran away with Shikamaru, bunking lectures.
So, when she saw him exercising, rather than his weak stature, the entire thing shocked her.
But all her shock and surprise vanished the moment Naruto looked at her and quickly looked away.
'Well,….I guess its for the better. Now he won't bother me much at least.' She thought, but still felt the guilt of saying what she said.
After a while, once they had settled down, their Sensei began speaking.
"Ok. Lets start with some introduction, shall we? Tell me about yourself. Your names, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dream. Lets start from the right." He looked at Sasuke, who was sitting on the very right. But before he could begin, Naruto interrupted.
"Why don't you do that first Sensei? We don't even know you." He said, looking skeptically at the Jounin.
The man stared at Naruto for a while, ultimately accepting.
"My name is Hatake Kakashi, the leader of your team. I have no desire to tell you guys my likes and dislikes. Dreams…? Hmmm…not any that I remember. Well, I have a lot of hobbies." Kakashi said in an undertone, as if just thinking about all this was tiring.
"So…all we got to know was his name?" Sakura said. All three had a deadpan expression, eyes judging their Sensei as hard as they could.
"You…do look suspicious after all." Naruto remarked.
Kakashi coughed, averting their thoughts. He looked at Sasuke and motioned him to begin.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike, and not many that I like. Rather than a dream, I have an ambition. To resurrect my clan and…kill a certain man." Sasuke spoke, hate and stubbornness strong in his voice.
Kakashi looked at the young Uchiha. 'Its worse than I expected.' He sighed.
'That sounds scary.' Sakura thought as he mentioned about killing a human. 'But he sounds cool.' She couldn't but think. Sasuke always said thing with such ease and ignorance, anything he did and said seemed cool.
'I hope its not me. I haven't even started training yet.' Naruto thought.
Kakashi looked at Sakura next, who was sitting in between the two boys. And so, Sakura began.
"I am Haruno Sakura. The person I like is…" she looked at Sasuke. "My dream for future is…" Sakura squeled. For every word, as she looked at Sasuke, he felt a second hand embarrassment.
'Why do girls around this age always think of love more than anything else?' Kakashi grunted.
"The thing is dislike is…" Sakura almost said Naruto but the moments of the park flashed in her memory.
"When Ino tries to take whats mine." Sakura ended the sentence again by glancing at Sasuke.
Naruto would have been overjoyed that Sakura didn't mention him as her dislike. But now he didn't really believe that. And he did feel jealous that she kept looking at Sasuke every time she mentioned likes and dreams. But even that jealousy seemed trivial. As if, he was fretting over something that wasn't his to begin with.
"Your turn, dead last." Kakashi said, his eyes fixated on the boy.
'He keeps calling me that.' Naruto looked at his sensei, left eye twitching in annoyance. He wasn't particularly surprised by this. Not many in this village liked him. Even though he didn't know the reason for this hate, he had been used to it.
"My name is NARUTO UZUMAKI." he particularly emphasized on his name, piercing daggers at Kakashi, who in return chuckled.
"I like ramen! Especially Ichiraku Ramen. I hate the three minutes it takes to ready instant ramen." Naruto spoke, almost drooling.
"My dream,… Is to become Hokage."
These words were common to Sasuke and Sakura, who had listened to it everyday in class. However, even they were surprised and looked at the boy.
Why?
The tone of Naruto's voice had changed. For the first time, they had heard him say it with such conviction and ambition. His eyes seemed sharp, filled with belief and courage.
Kakashi on the other hand, was rather smiling. 'He has grown in an interesting way.' The Jounin thought.
"My hobby….? Ah, I like pranks!" The mood returned to normal.
"I would like it if you tried one on me. Who knows? Maybe you are AT LEAST good at that." Kakashi taunted him again.
Naruto didn't know why Kakashi was so blatantly poking his weak points, but it sure annoyed him.
"I swear you don't want me to." Naruto said, a vein stretching on his forehead.
For the first time, Kakashi had seen the other two in unison with Naruto, nodding their heads. Sakura knew well what pranks Naruto always pulled out, from god knows where.
Sasuke had been caught in one during lunch. Not to mention, he had escaped a few before. Though he escaped those pranks, he knew how annoying, humiliating and haunting those pranks would be, if he was caught.
'Well,…he did trouble Hokage-Sama.' despite thinking so, Kakashi chuckled and replied, "I would like you to."
He wasn't you average nin now, right? He thought.
After their introductions, Kakashi began to speak again.
"Now that we are done with our instructions, lets talk business. Tomorrow, we start our duties." Naruto was excited, extremely. And you could see this on his face.
"But even before that,…we have an even more important task to do." Kakashi said, staring holes in their faces.
Despite being weirded out, Sakura asked. "What task Sensei?"
"A Survival Test." Kakashi replied.
"A test? The first thing we do after becoming a Genin is a test?" Naruto asked. He was extremely scared. Scared of tests.
"We did do a test to become a Genin though. Why is there another test?" Sakura asked, again.
"Huhuhu,…you are going to be freaked out when I tell you this." He crackled a laugh, creeping out the kids.
"Whats so funny Sensei?" Sakura asked, sweat flowing from her cheeks. Their Sensei was really weird.
"Of the 27 graduates, only those who pass these tests would be accepted as Genins. Rest will return to either the academy, or quit if they wish to. This training is a very crucial program of our ninja academy, with a fail rate of 70%." Kakashi laughed again.
All three were sweating buckets now.
"But…But what was the exam even for, which we cleared in the academy then?" Naruto asked.
"Oh that? It was only to select those who HAVE the chances of becoming a Genin." Kakashi replied.
Each of the three was worried, each for other reasons than another.
Sasuke knew that Jounins were strong individuals. He had seen many. So he was worried if this test would be easy or not. And their Sensei wasn't normal in particular. He had heard his name a few times, but he couldn't remember well, where. And if he knew his name, it meant this guy was not an average shinobi. 'I would struggle to defeat even Iruka at the moment. If its this guy,…' After all, there was significant difference between a Chunin and a Jounin.
Sakura was worried about being left behind. 'If I fail here, I will be separated from Sasuke-Kun's team. I can't let that happen.' If she failed, meant another year till next try. And till then, she would be assigned another team. That would be dreadful.
Naruto on the other hand, was self-conscious. 'I barely passed even the academy test. Be it a theoretical test or practical,…I am bound to fail against a Jounin.' He gulped his worries. However, he now had something to back him up.
'I should give my best to prove my strength to him. With just the Calm Mind, I am able to be relax despite all the chaos. Maybe today's training quest will also give something good to me.' He thought, cracking his fingers in nervousness.
[ You also have the reward from yesterdays mission completion. ]
The system popped up and Naruto was surprised from its reply.
"Yesterday's reward?" He blurted out loud.
"What?" Kakashi asked, confused from this reaction.
"Uh…! I..I mean, what will be the reward for completing this test?" Naruto asked, thinking immediately of something to cover up this blunder.
"Reward? You already get to become a Genin. Hm…" Kakashi thought for a while. "Well, lets say you do pass this test, which I highly doubt,…but if you do, I will give you all a success party."
This cheered up both Naruto and Sakura, but Naruto was still a bit confused about the System's reply. And then, in response to his confusion, the system popped another reply.
[ Quest: Strength of The Outcast.
Prove your strength to your opponent who considers you an oddball.
Reward: System Activation, Random item. ]
[ There was another reward for completing this Quest. The random item still remains untouched in your inventory. ]
Naruto was now in joy, excited to see this item. He wished there would be something to immediately make him strong.
[ There is no such item which will grant your immediate progress. Strength craves efforts. ]
Though Naruto was immediately pulled down from his high horse, he still didn't lose hope. Even if not such a drastic change, he could still gain something useful.
"Then, see you tomorrow at ground seven. These are the details for your test." Kakashi handed them a paper each and vanished in a puff of smoke.
The paper read:
Genin confirmation Test. Time: 7 am (Do not be late)
Do not eat lunch(Or you might throw up). Bring any shinobi tools you have or wish to.
Yours lovely,
Kakashi-Sensei ~♡
The heart at the bottom cringed him, but the other stuff excited him. Since they were to bring the weapons, it probably meant a practical test.
'Well, I can at least TRY to pass this test.' If it were theory, he would have to voluntarily give up.
Naruto stood up. When he did, he noticed Sakura looking at the paper, worried sick. He had the urge to comfort her, but her words always hit the back of his head. He chewed his words and sighed.
"I will get going first. Best luck for tomorrow." Naruto walked out, and Sasuke left after him, Sakura following him. She glanced towards Naruto for last time, a bit surprised he hadn't forgotten all that happened and started jumping around her again.
'I did comment on his parents. Guess this time he will stay away from me for real.' She was still worried, how this might affect their team, but personally, she would love it. There was no more of Naruto commenting like a pervert on her or clamoring around her.
[ Quest: Genin Confirmation Quest (Difficulty - Hard
Pass the test given by Hatake Kakashi and become an official Genin.
Reward: Stat Points, Random item/skill(calculated on rank in test).
Failure: Will lose the system and all the items and stats received from it. ]
Naruto's eyes lit up. Despite the harsh failure set back, and the 'Hard' difficulty of the test, the reward seemed great. And before he could even ask, the system explain that the Stat Points were some extra number he could increase in any attribute, which would directly affect that aspect in him.
'It already sounds hell lot of interesting! I better prepare for this Quest.' Naruto marched off,…starting the Training Quest again.