Takuma peered inside the auditorium hall. Last week he was here giving his graduation test; the place looked spacious back then, spacious enough to test bukijutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu all under the same roof without interfering with each other. Today, the same hall was decorated for a formal event, jam-packed with chairs; even the raised stage in the front had a podium setup on it. All of the preparation for the convocation ceremony

Seeing so many adults in the academy made the sight seem even stranger. He looked down at his clothes; he had dressed his best for the formal event— saying that, labeling a light blue shirt and black pants as formal wear was stretching it. But it was the only option he had. The rest of his wardrobe was made up of easy-to-move-in active wear. The thought of renting a kimono for the event had crossed his mind, only for him to cross out the idea as overdoing it (plus not renting/buying saved him money)— but it seemed he was wrong. The hall had plenty of men and women wearing kimonos and hakamas for their children's convocation. He even spotted his classmates dressed up nicely for the day.

'Too late now,' thought Takuma as he smoothed out his shirt before stepping inside the auditorium and making a beeline towards his seating appointment he had gotten at the academy gates.

His seat was at the end of one of the middle rows. He looked to the seat beside him and sighed. Everyone else was accompanied by their parents; only he was alone.

'—I will be there—'

He was the only 'orphan' in his class. It was a wild coincidence, given how many lives had been lost in the Kyuubi attack, but most of his classmates had at least one of their parents alive, and those who had lost both their parents were in the care of their relatives. He was the only parentless orphanage orphan.

Unlike any other school in the Leaf village, the shinobi academy had zero tuition as everything was paid by the state— it was only fair when the students were trained to become child soldiers. Free schooling meant no expense on education, which tend to be the biggest expense in raising a child. His thoughts were pessimistic, but after pinching pennies for a year, his views could be summarized well— 'Money couldn't buy happiness, but no happiness would live without the support of money.'

Soon the crowd began to come together in a neat congregation. The adults were mostly shinobi, accustomed to discipline, so the ceremony proceeded smoothly. The headmaster (there was one) addressed the crowd with a winding speech that Takuma eventually tuned out in favor of gazing at the parents to see if he could see the similarities between them and his classmates. All Inuzukas had the red fang marking on their face. Hana's mother looked much wilder than her. Izumi looked a lot like her mother, especially her eyes, except for the hair— the mother had black hair unlike Izumi's brown. The Akimichi father and son duo looked like a pair of dumplings, one small and the other big. Momoe's parents looked uber-wealthy with their composure and clothing— the Okubo parents and child looked like the perfect family set.

"... and so, I humbly welcome Lord Hokage," said the headmaster.

Everyone in the room stood up, and Takuma hurriedly followed their lead. Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage of the Leaf village, stepped into the auditorium with three shinobi in standard Leaf shinobi gear accompanying him. The Hokage was dressed in his traditional Hokage haori over a full-length red kimono and the wide-brimmed red Hokage hat to complete the set.

His eyes went to the second-floor corridor, and he blinked in surprise to see multiple fully hooded people that weren't there before looking down at the event. He narrowed his eyes to look when he caught a glimpse of a white mask under the light tan robes. They were ANBU— Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai (Special Assassination and Tactical Squad). As Takuma looked at one of them, the ANBU operative looked at him.

'Shit, he caught me,' Takuma turned his head immediately. He didn’t look back at them.

The Third Hokage spoke some words about the children being the village's future and how this day, officiating the beginning careers of a full batch of new genin, was one of the events he looked forward to every year. This speech, Takuma listened with wide-open ears.

The convocation ceremony began soon after. One by one, children were called by name to come forward with their parents to receive their graduation scroll. Those graduating with ordinary scores went first. Some had parents who were shinobi, and others were born to civilians. Takuma was thankful that the ordinary score list wasn't by scores, or he would've been called first— or maybe that would've been better.

Takuma glanced beside him. Some parents sat beside him. He had been asked if he wanted to bring someone, the orphanage matron maybe, but he had refused. He looked around the hall, only to sigh.

"...Takuma," the headmaster's voice sounded.

Takuma stood up and made his way to the front, feeling nervous under a hundred pairs of eyes. He told himself that even if most were looking, they weren't paying attention as he hadn't been when others went to the stage. It helped, but only a little. He climbed the steps of the stage alone and stepped towards the Third Hokage to receive his graduation scroll.

"Takuma," the Hokage smiled down upon him, "Kusoke's pupil. I see that you are doing well this time around."

Gazing up at him this close, Takuma could see the same crinkles around the Hokage's eyes, the sagging skin, and the graying hair. He was at least as old as Maruboshi. It's rare, he knew, for shinobi to survive so long. At once, Takuma was struck with the realization that he was standing before someone who was really, truly strong.

"I know you will become a great shinobi one day. Work hard and never doubt that this village is very proud of you."

Takuma stiffly nodded and focused on making sure his toes that were visible in his open-toed shinobi sandals (he really needed to buy new shoes) weren't wiggling. He didn't know how else to respond and stuck to the nod.

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The Hokage turned and picked up a forehead protector with a blue headband and the Leaf insignia engraved on a metal plate. Takuma received the forehead protector and looked down at the gleaming metal to see his own reflection in it. The symbol of his status— that he was now a genin, a shinobi of the Leaf.

He looked at the Hokage and bowed to him. As he turned to walk away, Takuma looked around the hall, his eyes scanning the faces, looking for one particular one. He didn't find it in the seating area. As he was about to stop looking and get off the stage, Takuma looked near the back of the auditorium.

Near the far wall of the hall stood Maruboshi. He was dressed as he always did in his mesh armor shirt under a short, brown, sleeveless kimono with a pair of grey pants. Maruboshi smiled when he saw Takuma looking at him.

Takuma's throat closed up. He clenched his jaw to keep his eyes in control. Clutching the graduation scroll to his chest, he raised his forehead protector over his head. He had done it; he was a shinobi now. And it was only because of the man standing in the back.

He got down the stage, skipped his chair in the seating area, and made a bee-line towards the back where Maruboshi stood.

"You came," he said.

"I said I would come," Maruboshi was smiling widely.

Takuma showed his forehead protector. "I got one now," he said.

"It shines," Maruboshi pushed the folds of the cloth belt that tied his kimono to reveal his forehead protector. The engraved metal plate had hundreds of micro scratches that had stolen away all of the metal's shine.

"Yours is old," Takuma said. The state of the forehead protector told Takuma the difference between them as people and life experiences.

"After this, we should go eat out to celebrate. I shall pay; I insist," said Maruboshi."

Takuma smiled brightly. Today, he felt he wasn't going to refuse anything.

He returned to his chair soon after, and Maruboshi left the auditorium. Takuma had already received his forehead protector; there was no sense in Maruboshi staying. They decided to meet at the restaurant Maruboshi chose for lunch.

By the time Takuma returned to his seat, they had already begun with students graduating with honors. Inuzuka Hana and Uchiha Izumi. Hana was accompanied by her gruff-looking mother with her sharp face, glinting eyes, and spiky hair. The red-fang markings on her face made it look like she was a warrior about to go into guerrilla warfare. For Izumi, her mother seemed gentle and demure-type, much unlike her peppy daughter.

"And lastly, obtaining the highest honor in her class, Okubo Momoe," the headmaster announced with a hearty smile.

In the crowd, Momoe stood up and walked to the stage with her parents walking behind her. They didn't smile, but they did look proud. If Takuma had to put their expression into words, it would be: 'Momoe topping her class was simply expected.'

'Expectations... must be tough,' he thought.

———

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After the ceremony ended, Takuma made his way to the decided restaurant, where Maruboshi was waiting for him. The hostess led him to the table, and Takuma was nervous because the restaurant was a fancy one.

"I see you have not worn your forehead protector," were Maruboshi's first words when he saw Takuma.

"I thought it would look tacky," Takuma said after returning the hostess' bow. He did want to flaunt the headband, though— it was like a medical student wanting to wear a doctor's white coat after graduating.

"I had worn mine the moment I got it," Maruboshi laughed. "Didn't even wait till getting back to my seat."

Takuma put his graduation scroll to the side and sat across Maruboshi. "Between you and the Hokage, who's older?" he asked.

Maruboshi tilted his head with an amused expression. "Lord Third is a few years older than me. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing special," Takuma grinned. "Just wanted to know who's the oldest shinobi in the Leaf."

Maruboshi sighed with a smile on his lips.

They ordered food (Maruboshi did for both of them), and for the first time in a year, Takuma enjoyed a meal he hadn't made. The food was much better than his home cooking. In the past year, it wasn't his shinobi skills that had improved the most; that award went to his cooking. He had gone from boiling eggs and cooking instant noodles to whipping up three nutritious meals a day.

"I have a present for you, young— no, Genin Takuma," smiled Maruboshi. He slid a wrapped package across the table.

"Oh! You didn't have to," said Takuma, genuinely surprised. "Can I open it?"

Maruboshi nodded, and Takuma tore into it. He would've carefully unwrapped it if he was frequently gifting people things, but that wasn't part of his life.

"This..." Maruboshi's gift was clothes. There were two identical packages in the gift, and Takuma recognized the color as a very particular shade of blue, iconic in the Leaf village. It was the blue that the majority of Leaf shinobi wore as part of the standard Leaf shinobi gear. The gift was the standard Leaf shinobi gear without the flak jacket.

"You are now a shinobi, and I thought you would appreciate something practical and immediately usable," said Maruboshi.

Takuma rubbed his finger over the red spiral symbol present stitched on both sides of the vest. "Thank you," he smiled softly. He did appreciate the gift.

"Tell me about your teammates," asked Maruboshi. "Do they tell you about your team leader nowadays? In my time, they didn't tell us that during graduation."

Takuma looked up from the gift, confused. "No one told me about teammates; they just told us to assemble at the academy the day after tomorrow," he said. Was there a meeting after the convocation he was supposed to be at?

"It should be along with your graduation scroll," said Maruboshi looking at the scroll lying on the side of the table. "You haven't opened it yet?" The seal was still on it.

"Ah no, I didn't," Takuma picked up the scroll— he was too engrossed by the forehead protector.

Takuma gently clipped the wax seal over the scroll and unrolled it. There was another length of paper rolled along with the main scroll. Takuma pulled it out, and one side had printed words on it.

But as he read the words, Takuma's excitement turned into confusion. He gave the paper to Maruboshi. "What does this mean?" he asked.

Maruboshi looked at the paper. His eyes widened, and his lips parted as he read the words on the scroll.

— Name: Takuma

— Rank: Genin

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— Assignment: Genin Corps