There was a huge scuffle as all the children ran to their nearest desk and threw themselves at the seats. I hadn't brought a pen but luckily there was one included with the test, soon, the sound of scribbling bounced around the hall.

'Ten minutes is way too little time for a proper exam...' I thought, scouring through the sheet, it was double-sided and covered a variety of topics we had covered in class, only much more advanced.

I was worried at first, but this seemed doable; even if the time pressure was ridiculous.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Ryoma scratching his head like he had fleas dancing on it. In the small survey I did of the sheet earlier I could tell that the topics covered were ones that Ryoma was the weakest in, I remember him saying confidently that unless this specific topic was tested, he'd be fine. The boy had set aside time to study for the final exam in case he failed graduation, but it seemed he was much too late.

With a final look at Ryoma's face twisting into one of despair, I chanted a silent prayer for him and started working on my sheet; managing to complete it soon after.

I was about to take a breather when the Ninja who spoke before started to screech again, demanding that we stand up and form a group with our classmates. As I got up from the desk I observed the faces of those around me... it was a sorry sight.

Ryoma had lifeless eyes as he trudged towards me in a zombie-like trance, if the whole Ninja thing didn't work out, he could easily make it as an extra in a horror movie.

"That bad?" I whispered to him as he got close.

Ryoma looked at me with a hollow expression, he opened his mouth to say something but gave up and settled for patting me on the shoulder before joining our group.

'Poor guy, I should give him a gift to make up for it, I don't have anything he'd want though... would a cabbage help?'

I saw Byakko pat his back with a sympathetic smile, which seemed to raise his spirits a bit. I was fighting back the urge to tease him when the sound of movement alerted me to the centre of the room.

The group of Ninjas that walked into the room before testing began all began to disperse, heading to certain groups silently.

'The floor looks interesting...' I thought as I averted my eyes from the Ninja that walked up to me. There's a small chance I'm going crazy but the man was eyeing me with a predatory glare especially.

Damn dude, what did I do to you?

"FOLLOW YOUR DESIGNATED CHUNIN TO YOUR TRAINING GROUND, ANY STRAYS WILL BE PUNISHED!" yelled out the Ninja in the centre.

My throat's hurting just by hearing him.

The man who came up to us stood at about 5'6 and it seemed that he was pissed at the world for it. His face was twisted into what seemed like a permanent scowl as he gave us all a once-over and barked at us to follow him.

By this point, all my classmates were looking like they wanted to go home. Even the ever-confident Yakumi was looking unnaturally pale.

'Working under pressure is an essential skill for all Ninja. I can only assume that they're trying to push us to our limits and observe how it affects our performance,' I theorised, trying to figure out why we were being treated like dirt.

We were all herded outside of the Academy to a training compound that lay behind it, I had never been here as access was restricted but the Chunin ushered us all in.

Eventually, we all arrived at a clearing in the compound. Surrounding us were trees with targets hanging off them and markings on the ground, similar to the ones at the academy used for sparring.

The man stopped and turned his attention to us, his eyes hanging on me for a second before he began to speak, "Listen up runts, do as I say or you'll be kicked back to class," his eyes landed landing on me again.

'Does he wanna fight?' I thought, getting slightly pissed off at how he was constantly mad-dogging me.

He threw down a scroll which burst into a cloud of smoke and revealed a wooden box filled to the brim with Kunai and Shuriken, it reminded me of Sasuke's getaway bag before Tomo whipped him into shape.

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"You each get one throw of each, 10 seconds per throw. If you miss one... it won't bode well for you." the man said in a gruff voice.

This information sent ripples of shock through my entire class; one throw? One missed shot and they lose a year of progress? To many, it didn't seem fair.

'Makes that one throw a hell of a lot more meaningful... upping the ante by quite a bit.'

My theory about the instructors trying to pressure the students into cracking stabilised further as I figured this out. Unfortunately, even though I knew what they were doing, I wasn't free from their spell.

One by one we were called to the forefront of the line we had formed at his order, most of these students could hit a Shuriken onto a target with one eye closed, but their shaky form inhibited their ability.

As the students each had their turn, one by one I noticed just how effective the instructor's attitude was at inhibiting their skill. I did not doubt that in a normal situation, these Kunai and Shuriken would've hit their targets close to a hundred percent of the time, but that number had dwindled to barely above fifty percent.

Ryoma, Byakko and Denki were the only three I was somewhat familiar with who was taking the test alongside me, and I was glad that they were a part of the majority that had passed.

There was one outcome that I wasn't prepared for, however.

Yakumi's eyes were wide open as made his way to the group of students who had finished their throws, his Kunai was overshot by a few metres and his Shuriken had landed on the target's edge, barely hanging on.

The Uchiha had taken great pride in his Shurikenjutsu, if his crestfallen expression is anything to go by, the boy was distressed beyond anything I'd seen.

"Now... you." The man said tossing a Kunai at me.

I was shocked but I managed to catch it, the dude threw a fucking knife at me? What the fuck's his problem?

"Throw." He said, turning his back to me and walking away, looking disinterested.

I had half a mind to chuck it at his back but I readied myself and did my best to quell the nervousness that crept up my spine. With a practised flick of my hands, I managed to hit the target dead on, getting a grunt from the man as my Kunai hit its mark.

Before the motherfucker threw a Shuriken at me, I grabbed one from the box and threw it, resulting in my Shuriken joining the Kunai in the centre. I left for the group of kids who finished and was met with a thumbs up from Ryoma who had managed to get a similar result to me.

The boy managed to be coolheaded when it came to this sort of thing, but exams were a different beast.

Once we had all wrapped up, he huddled us all back in a group and began listing off our names in pairs, we were told to meet up with our partner, and if we took too long he'd kick us back to class.

The Uchiha all but ran to my side when he was told to pair with me.

'Even if he's putting on an act, this is definitely the worst person I've met so far' I concluded when looking at the Chunin, I watched his lips curl into an ugly smile as he jabbed his finger at Byakko and another girl, telling the to form the seal of confrontation.

I had figured out that we were going to be fighting our partners but the kids looked surprised since he hadn't told us yet, adding yet another layer of unease to the situation. Hesitatingly, they both made their way towards the makeshift arena and formed the seal, beginning their spar soon after.

Everything about this "graduation exam" seemed so improper and thrown together, this only increased the nervousness of everyone involved, they had no idea what to expect next.

Byakko won the battle quite easily, and the man called on another pair, this continued until Yakumi and I were left as the last two, Ryoma and Denki also managed to get a win despite the pressure they were feeling.

As the previous match was concluding, I tapped the Uchiha on the shoulder and gave him a nod.

"Whatever happens, happens. All we can do is do our best." I said with a light smile.

The boy responded with a nod and stayed silent, but he stopped fidgeting around and seemed to regain some stability.

"Alright, now the Uchiha and... that other one" The man called out as the previous pair exited the arena.

By this point I had moved on from annoyance to interest, he was doing too much for me to actually get upset, it was almost comical how out of sorts he made his dislike for me seem.

Yakumi and I entered the centre and formed the seal as we had done many times. The kid was still pale but his eyes were focused, it seemed that my words had landed as I hoped they would.

The man just grunted to start the fight, but as he did, Yakumi launched at me with a flurry of attacks. Unlike our previous matches, he purely used the Uchiha style to combat me.

Back when I was trying to humble him, I'd play around a bit with him to annoy Yakumi and cement my victory, I didn't do that here though.

I intercepted, dodged, blocked and moved about the field seriously, not making light of the boy like before. I hadn't attacked him with nearly as much force as I was capable of but my goal wasn't to win immediately, I wanted to make sure that Yakumi's skills were highlighted during the match.

If I beat him outright there's a chance that he won't pass; for the sake of my plans, I can't let that happen.

It was kind of me I know, but I was no saint.

*THUNK!*

Yakumi landed on the ground outside the arena, I had managed to lure him near the border and throw him out with a well-timed kick. Soon after we formed the seal of reconciliation and met the rest of the class who had watched our spar with full attention, since I had began taken Yakumi seriously a few months ago, they had moved on from laughing at our fights to watching them with interest.

"Not bad... line up again." the man grunted out as we finished up, before we could start to move, however, he interrupted us once again.

"You, come to the front," he said, waggling a finger at me.

My mind began to race as I walked up to the front and realised what came next.

'Fuck.'

'He definitely knows... of course he does, but this is the nail in the fucking coffin.'

'They tested our knowledge, throwing ability and Taijutsu... all that's left now is...'

"Ninjutsu, start with the Clone Jutsu... you have ten seconds," he croaked out.

'Fuck me.'