I shook out my slightly numb limbs and flexed my wrist. With one exam down and two more to go, my chances of graduating as Rookie of the Year were looking pretty good. The graduation exams would take the entire school day; we’d just finished the written exam, leaving only the physical and chakra control tests.

“Did you do okay?”

“I think I did well,” I said. “How about you?”

Choji sighed. “I think I passed.”

“And ain’t that a miracle.”

Shikamaru laughed and pushed him.

Choji yelled in mock anger and grabbed hold of him. Hinata caught us at the base of the staircase as whispering groups rushed around us, ready to enjoy the half-hour break we’d been given between the written exams and the chakra control test.

We walked around the main playground, past the climbing frame, and found a set of benches hidden under the shadow of a tree. Choji and I sat on one while Hinata and Shikamaru took a seat on the bench opposite ours.

“How did you do, Hinata?” Choji asked.

“I’m… happy. I didn’t do amazingly well, but I didn’t fail either.”

We all looked at Shikamaru.

“Why’re you looking at me for?”

“How’d you do?” I asked.

“I probably did alright.”

“Alright”, he says,” Choji sighed. “Watch when we get our grades during the holidays only to find that he’s scored first.”

“If he does, I’m going to be very offended,” I said.

Shikamaru snorted. “Why?”

I looked at Hinata, who looked at Choji, who then looked back at me; an entire conversation passing in an instant.

“I guess I’ll say it,” I said. “Shikamaru, do you have any hobbies?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Humour me, what’s your hobby?”

“...I play shogi sometimes.”

I grinned. “That checks out.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t worry. Anyway, I’ll be generous and say that you’ve dedicated quite a lot of effort to learning the best plays, right?”

“I guess so.”

“One day, say I come along, barely look at the rules, and trounce you. How would you feel?”

He furrowed his brow. “...Not good.”

“That’s how we feel when it comes to you,” said Hinata. “You’re either asleep half the time or staring out the window.”

“So,” Shikamaru threw up his hands, “I guess I’m just smarter than you all.”

I shrugged. “You probably might be. But I’m going to make sure you score second on academics.”

He shot to his feet.

“It’s not enough that you’ve beaten all of us black and blue at some point? You can’t let me have this?”

Choji laughed and Hinata covered her mouth to muffle hers.

“Nope,” I grinned. “Until you start putting in more than just the minimum effort, no can do.”

He sat down with a huff, muttering to himself through folded arms.

“Oh, yeah!” Choji shrugged off his bag and fumbled through it. “I brought some snacks – well, my ma gave me some snacks – because I knew that this written test was gonna be tough.”

He pulled out four bags of paprika-flavoured crisps, a pack of bottled juice cartons, and some fruit. I glanced at Shikamaru. He shrugged and reached over, grabbing one of everything and Hinata thanked Choji before doing the same.

“Thanks, man,” I said.

“No problem,” he smiled. “Food is made to be shared.”

We finished our snacks and chatted for a while before we were forced to head back in. From what Iruka had told us, the chakra control tests would be a little more laid back than the written exams – which was obvious since we all knew what the test would be a month in advance.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

This time, everyone sat at the front of the class, meaning the first three rows were packed.

Iruka entered a little later with a piece of paper in hand.

“When I call your name, get up and follow me. I’ll be taking you to the chakra control test. Honoka Abe.”

A silver-haired girl stood up, peering about unsurely. Iruka opened the door and left with her, and when it closed behind them, the room exploded with nervous whispers that persisted until the two returned.

“How’d you do?” someone asked.

Iruka cleared his throat. “No talking about the test until you’ve after you’ve all done it; those are the rules. Next: Choji Akimichi.”

Choji rose stiffly. “I’ll do my best.”

“Good,” Iruka smiled.

The two of them exited the room.

This happened at least a dozen more times until it was my turn. Some returned with smiles on their faces but not everyone did. I wasn’t too nervous all things considered. At the end of the day, every single exam we would do today assessed how much effort we were willing to put in over both a long and short period of time.

I’d done both, meaning unless something went terribly wrong, my success was guaranteed. The classroom door slid open, revealing Iruka and Sasuke. He ignored the invitations from various girls in our class to sit next to him and returned to the very end of the first row.

“Naruto Uzumaki.”

I stood up and turned to my three friends. “Wish me luck.”

“Like you’ll need it.” Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

Choji and Hinata frowned at him, and I heard the beginnings of an argument just as the door closed. Iruka led me down the hall, turning onto the staircase and going up. I followed him wordlessly. He glanced back at me every so often, as if to convince himself that I was still there.

“Naruto,” he said. “I’ll give you the same advice I’ve given everyone before you: keep a cool head. Our chakra and how well we can control it depends a lot on our emotions. If you’re nervous or scared, you won’t be able to control your chakra well. I get that you might be nervous, but it will not help you.”

I nodded. It all made sense judging from what I’d read up on chakra theory. We reached an unremarkable door that looked the same as any other that we’d passed on the way here.

Iruka stood to the side. “I’ll be waiting here.”

Taking a breath, I knocked twice. There was no response. I looked at Iruka; he gave me an encouraging nod and I entered a typical classroom.

High windows stretched across the left side and all the tables and chairs had been pushed to the back of the class, except for one table in the centre of the room with two chairs on either end. An old man – probably the invigilator – sat on the side facing the door.

He had wrinkled skin, tanned a deep bronze. His kind eyes were pinched almost shut, but I could just about make out warm brown eyes. He looked more like a kind old man than a shinobi, but then again, being a shinobi meant exercising secrecy so I guess that was the point.

“Good morning, young man.”

I looked at the clock hanging at the back of the class – it read quarter-to-twelve. That couldn’t be true because when I left my homeroom, it was fifteen-past-twelve.

“It’s afternoon, actually, so good afternoon.”

He smiled without looking back to see if I was right.

“I stand corrected. What is your name?”

“Naruto Uzumaki,” I said, taking the only other seat in the room. “And yours, sir?”

“Sir,” he smiled. “The youth are kinder than used to be these days, it seems. My name is Kousuke Maruboshi, pleased to meet your acquaintance.”

The name didn’t ring any bells, which must’ve shown on my face because Maruboshi laughed.

“You wouldn’t know me, young man. My time was long before you. Not even your sensei would know of me if I was not on a C-rank mission with him some years ago.”

I took in his wizened features. He was probably about as old as Lord Third, maybe a little older or younger, give or take.

“Did you fight alongside Lord Third or something?”

Maruboshi let out a low, rumbling laugh.

“Isn’t that a roundabout way of calling me old?”

I scratched my cheek. “...You don’t exactly look like you’re in the prime of your life.”

“Kids these days are something else,” he chuckled. “To answer your question, yes, I had the honour of fighting alongside Lord Sarutobi long ago but enough about me. Today, it is all about you. Are you ready to begin?”

“Yes, sir.”

Maruboshi nodded encouragingly. “Good. Please perform the leaf-sticking exercise. One on your forehead and one on the palm of each hand.”

I started by sticking one leaf to my forehead, drawing a thin stream of chakra from the centre of my body to my head. When I pulled my hand away, the leaf remained. I did the same to the palms of my hand, spreading my fingers and facing my hands down.

He wrote something down on a clipboard and smiled.

“Very good. With this, your test is complete, unless there is anything else you wish to show me.”

I weighed up the options in my head. Thanks to the tree-walking exercise, my chakra control was pretty decent and while I wouldn’t show him that I could walk up solid surfaces, there wasn’t any harm in taking the leaf-sticking exercise further.

“Actually, yes, there is.”

I returned the leaves to the tray before plunging all ten of my fingers into the box. Breathing in, I directed thinner streams of chakra to the tips of my fingers before showing them to the invigilator.

“Does this count?” I asked.

Maruboshi smiled. “It does. What superb chakra control. Rest assured that you have the best chakra control that I have seen thus far. Well done, young man, well done indeed.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, unless there’s something else you wish to show me, you may leave.”

I shook my head. “No, that’ll be all. Have a good day.”

I waved Maruboshi goodbye and opened the door. Iruka turned around the instant the door clicked open.

“Are you finished?”

I nodded and we walked side by side for a few minutes.

“You took longer than everyone else,” he finally said.

“I was getting to know Mr Maruboshi. He’s interesting.”

Iruka smiled.

“He sure is. I was on a B-rank mission with him a few years ago. He’s got a bit of a reputation in the village.”

“He does?”

“He does. They call him the Eternal Genin, the Leaf’s Strongest Genin, and the Unkillable Old Man.”

“That first one; is it because he’s weak or because he’s old?”

Iruka laughed. “He’s definitely not weak, that’s for sure. I’ve heard that he’s refused every promotion to Jonin for some reason.” He opened the door to the stairwell for me. “Maybe you’ll run a mission with him once you’re a genin.”

“I’d like that. He seems nice,” I replied.