The exam results were exactly what everyone expected.
True, the minor villain Mizuki had already been shipped off to the disability ward, but the exam content obviously wasn't going to change because of one person's absence. It was still the standard Clone Technique test—nothing demanding, just produce two clones and you passed.
Which made the results all the more dramatic.
"Nyahahahaha~! See?! I told you! I'm the man who's gonna be Hokage! No matter how much I hold back during normal tests, when the real deal comes along, my true power just can't be hidden!"
With his arms folded, Naruto had his nose pointed so high it practically scraped the ceiling. The reason for this insufferable gloating? He'd ranked first in the class.
His shuriken skills and theoretical knowledge had barely scraped past the passing line, sure. But during the clone portion of the exam, he'd casually popped out ten shadow clones in one go. Since that category carried the largest weight, he'd earned the highest possible grade on it—and edged out what should have been Sasuke's top spot by a single point. Hence the idiotic grin, which had been plastered across his face for roughly twenty-four hours straight.
"How is this possible... Am I really worse than Naruto?"
Kiba clutched his head in dejection, muttering to himself. As a loud, brash kid cut from the same cloth as Naruto, his impression of the blond had been frozen at "can't even do a proper Transformation Technique." He hadn't expected Naruto to rub that first-place finish right in his face.
"Naruto's clone and transformation skills have always been the best out of all of us. Even Hinata can't match him in that department. So this is perfectly normal~"
Choji munched his chips happily, surveying the bustling classroom. Yesterday's exam was behind them; today was assignment day. Barring the unexpected, this would be the Hinata Group's last gathering as a full unit for the next couple of weeks. Starting today, everyone would meet their assigned Jōnin team leaders and begin a mandatory two-week orientation to shinobi life.
Which meant even this—all of them sitting together in the same classroom—was happening for the last time.
"Honestly... Thank god I didn't have any scenes yesterday. Dying of overwork on graduation day would've been way too depressing."
Shikamaru lay draped over his desk, mumbling half-dead. To squeeze out the final pre-hiatus issue of Fox Tales, Hinata had brutally demanded that everyone pull an overtime shift right after yesterday's exam. They'd managed to wrap up the episode and get the prints to the Konoha Publishing House by the end of the night. By this morning, freshly inked copies were already available.
"All right~ Everyone settle down. Next up is the team assignment list. From today on, each of you will form a three-person Genin squad with two partners, so pay attention."
Iruka stood at the podium, forehead protector gleaming, and began reading off the assignments. First came the Ino-Shika-Cho trio as Team 10—no surprise there. The three clans' secret techniques were designed for mutual support, and the kids had been close since childhood. The grouping was a foregone conclusion.
"Now then. Team 7. Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke... and..."
Iruka paused, glancing up at Sakura, who sat between Sasuke and Naruto with an expectant look on her face. After a brief shake of his head, he read out the final name.
"Hyuga Hinata."
The assignment made Hinata's eyebrow twitch almost imperceptibly. This was the second major deviation from the original story she'd noticed. In the original story, Sakura would have been on Team 7. Now Hinata herself had taken that spot.
"Next—Team 8. Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Haruno Sakura."
This announcement sent Sakura slumping forward in defeat, while Ino seized the opportunity to gloat: "Well well, Billboard Brow. Looks like you didn't end up with Sasuke either~"
"Mind your own business, Ino-pig!"
The girls' routine frenemy exchange was old news by now. Hinata gave a slight shrug. Well, a Konoha 12 member was a Konoha 12 member. Even without making it into Team 7, Sakura had still landed squarely in the lineup.
"All right, all right~ Everyone wait here. Your Jōnin instructors will come by one at a time to pick you up. Dismissed~!"
His part done, Iruka left the classroom without ceremony. He was a shinobi—he knew when his mission was complete.
"Ugh... So I didn't end up on a team with Sakura after all..."
Naruto was moping too, but Sasuke's cold snort cut through his sulking. "Dead-last. You'd better not drag me down."
"What did you say?! I'm the number-one graduate this year, you jerk! You're the runner-up here—you don't get to talk to me like that!"
"That was pure luck. I won't slip up next time."
"Hmph~ Number two~ Number twoooo~~"
"Shut up! Dead-last!"
The chaos inside the classroom played out in full across the crystal ball in the Hokage's office. Arrayed before the Third Hokage stood a cadre of Jōnin—the instructors who would be assigned their teams today.
"Well, well~ Didn't expect this year's number one to be him."
Kakashi pressed a hand to his forehead, his visible eye betraying a hint of resignation. From the look of things, his squad was shaping up to be the hardest to handle in the entire graduating class.
"The top two scorers, plus that young lady. Kakashi—you've got your work cut out for you."
Kurenai shot an amused glance at the increasingly grim-faced Kakashi, though her own gaze lingered on Sakura for a moment. As the only girl in the group who wasn't from a ninja clan, she might lack those clan advantages, but she was also free of their constraints. And according to the intelligence reports, her strengths lay in chakra control, and she'd already been self-studying medical ninjutsu. Perhaps she could even inherit Kurenai's genjutsu.
"This class has graduated. I hope that each of you, as their teachers, will shoulder your responsibilities and pass the Will of Fire on to them. This is my request—as Hokage. Please."
Rising to his feet, the Third gazed solemnly at the assembled Jōnin. They bowed in unison. "You have our word, Lord Hokage!"
All well and good. But figuring out how to actually manage those three little monsters was going to be a formidable challenge.
Kakashi understood perfectly well what he was dealing with. First, there was Naruto—the Fourth Hokage's only child, who by all rights should have been treated as village royalty, yet had been forced by policy to endure the villagers' scorn and resentment in silence.
Then Sasuke—once a proud scion of the Uchiha clan, now utterly alone.
And finally Hinata—the eldest daughter the Hyuga had written off, who'd carved out an entirely different path through sheer force of will.
The pain these three children carried was beyond anything their peers could comprehend. In a way, it was no surprise at all that they'd emerged as the three strongest of their year.
The Fourth had been Kakashi's teacher. And among the Uchiha, there had been Obito—Kakashi's lifelong friend.
Those debts of gratitude were exactly why the Third had assigned him to Team 7. Among all the Jōnin present, Kakashi had the deepest bonds with these particular students.
"Sensei. Obito. I'm about to become Naruto and Sasuke's teacher. I hope you'll watch over me from wherever you are—so that the spirit you passed to me, I can pass on to them in turn."
Standing before the Memorial Stone, the silver-haired Jōnin exhaled long and slow. For the first time in years, something kindled inside him. That perpetually lazy eye sharpened to a keen edge. He knew exactly what he needed to do.
Time ticked on. And entirely without surprise, the only people left waiting in the classroom were the three members of Team 7. Hinata silently confirmed what she'd long suspected: of all the Jōnin in Konoha, the undisputed champion of chronic tardiness was, without question, that mop-headed dead-fish-eyed scarecrow.
"AAARGH! How slow can one person BE?! Who even IS our teacher?!"
Naruto—bouncing off the walls like a monkey—had finally reached his breaking point. He grabbed the blackboard eraser off the podium, ready to replicate his classic prank from the original story. But just as he reached the sliding classroom door, it was yanked open from the outside without warning.
"Hm?!"
Hinata's brow furrowed slightly. This was... unexpected.
"You three. Follow me."
The man who appeared was unmistakably Hatake Kakashi. But unlike the lazy, meandering introduction from the original story, this time the silver-haired Jōnin delivered a single terse sentence and walked out without looking back.
"Huh? Wait—why is it you? Hey~!"
A flustered Naruto scrambled after him. Hinata and Sasuke exchanged a glance, then rose. Both of them had far sharper combat instincts than Naruto, and everything about Kakashi's demeanor screamed that this was not a friendly visit.
Before long, the four of them had left the classroom and arrived at the familiar training ground from the original story—the one where the Memorial Stone stood. That much, at least, hadn't changed.
"I'll skip the pleasantries. I assume we already know the basics. So let's get to something real."
Kakashi produced two bells, his tone and expression radiating an emotionless chill. "Take these two bells from me. Whoever doesn't get one goes back to the Academy to repeat the year."
"Hey~ What's your deal, mop-head? Aren't we supposed to—"
Naruto jabbed a finger at Kakashi, clearly annoyed by the Jōnin's cold-stranger act. But Kakashi cut him off without inflection: "So then! Are we clear? No time limit. No restrictions on methods, weapons, or jutsu. The only ones who pass are the ones who manage to take these bells from me."
"I see. You want to see what we're really made of."
Hinata grasped Kakashi's game instantly. The silver-haired Jōnin was going for the most aggressive possible opening move to establish his authority as their teacher—namely: demonstrate overwhelming force first, bring the most troublesome squad in the class to heel, and then worry about the rest.
"Interesting. Last time, you ran. This time, I'll collect what you owe."
Sasuke's fighting spirit surged as he pulled on his Sacred Fist Gauntlets, his eyes flashing crimson as his twin-tomoe Sharingan blazed to life. Clearly, he relished the chance to test himself against a real Jōnin.
"One thing, though—I'll be coming at you with everything I have. So~"
Kakashi raised a hand and slowly pushed his forehead protector up off his left eye. What it revealed made Sasuke's eyes widen involuntarily. Behind a vertical scar, the eye that stared back at him wasn't an ordinary iris. It was a Sharingan—bearing three fully matured tomoe.
"Wait! Where did you get that Sharingan?!"
Sudden, nameless fury and resentment set Sasuke's voice trembling. Kakashi gazed at him calmly and replied in a flat tone: "You'll learn that in time. But right now—"
"All you need to understand is that you're not the only one who can use the Sharingan."
"Now—come at me!!"