Rise of The Phoenix Sage

CHAPTER 26: A Glimpse of Skills - Part 2

(Next Morning... At The Ninja Academy Training Ground...)

"Class..." Iruka said a little loudly to get the attention of the assembled students and once he was sure that he got the entire class's attention he continued, "As this is the start of the new academic year... We will now do an assessment of what you all already know and find out what are the skills that you excel at and what are the skills that you need some more improvement in..." He stopped when he saw the other academy instructor Mizuki walking in along with the same girl whom Naruto saved the last day.

Mizuki approached Iruka and handed him an official scroll, which Iruka accepted and started reading.

"Yo... Hinata...!" Naruto shouted as he was waving his hand in greeting to which Hinata's cheeks started reddening even more and she waved back in return with a smile. She was wearing the same outfit that she wore last night when Naruto saved her from bullies, whereas Naruto was wearing the white Dabbing Monkey T-shirt that was gifted to him by Hiruzen again on his birthday last year and white shorts along with shinobi sandals. Hiruzen kept on gifting him the Dabbing Monkey T-shirts on his every birthday which Naruto seemed to like more than all of his other clothes. This made Tsunade to get too suspicious that her sensei was bribing her son slowly to get him to sign the Monkey summoning contract.

Seeing the Hyuga Heiress blushing and waving to Naruto, Ino who was standing on the right side of the blonde boy narrowed her eyes slightly. Eevee who was sitting on its hind legs beside Naruto was the only one who caught that look on Ino's face. Eevee jerked her head back and forth between Ino and Hinata and then finally she glanced at Naruto who was still smiling and waving to Hinata without having any clue in the world about what's going on around him and fell on her back as she can't control her laughter any more at his cluelessness.

"Dude... What's wrong with Eevee...?" Asked Kiba as he saw the companion of his blonde friend rolling around weirdly in the grass.

Naruto looked at Eevee and just sighed, "Never mind her... She's just laughing... She does that whenever I do something stupid..."

"Did you do something stupid now...?" Kiba asked scratching his head.

Before Naruto can reply, "Class...." Iruka addressed the assembled students and took a small pause as he started closing the scroll and continued, "We have a new student joining with us today.... She's Hinata Hyuga..." He introduced her to the class and gestured her to go and stand with the other students. Hinata approached Naruto and stood on his left side as his right side was occupied by Ino.

"All right class... Lets start with the Kunai and Shuriken throwing skill... as I call your names please come one by one and try to hit bullseye..." Mizuki explained.

For the next 40 minutes, the entire class except Naruto and his friends were tested and both the sensei's noted down the areas of excellence and areas of improvements for all the students.

Then the turn came for Sakura to take her test. Sakura nervously approached Mizuki who handed her 5 kunai and 5 shuriken to throw at the bullseye. She was becoming even more nervous as she is the only one among her friends who does not belong to shinobi family.

"Do your best Sakura..." Kiba cheered seeing her nervousness.

Sakura just smiled at her friend's support and threw them one by one. Even though she did not hit the bullseye in all 10 throws, she was really close to the bullseye.

"Good job Sakura... Your technique is good, but you need some work on your aim..." Iruka said with a smile as he noted down what areas she needs improvement in.

"Thank you sensei..." Sakura replied as she joined her friends having a small joyful jump to her feet.

"Next Up... Ino..." Mizuki called.

"Do your best Ino-chan..." Naruto encouraged his blonde female friend all the while completely missing the surprised look on the face of Hinata which only lasted for second, but Eevee didn't miss it.

"I will Naruto... Just watch me..." Ino said the first part with a smile, but she emphasized her last part clearly trying to send a message to someone else, which obviously Naruto didn't understand the true meaning of.

"I will..." He replied, again missing the narrowed eye look on the face of Hinata this time.

Ino approached Mizuki who gave her another set of kunai and shuriken. With a confidence that was lacking in the case of Sakura, Ino threw them and 2 of her Kunai and one of her Shurikens hit the Bullseye, whereas the rest were close to the bullseye.

"Not bad Ino... 3 out of 10... You just need some more work with your aim... Good job..." Iruka noted down about her too.

"Yes... Sensei..." She replied and turned around with confidence and walked back towards her position.

"Hinata... Your turn..." Mizuki called out.

"Show them what you got Hinata..." Naruto replied patting her on the shoulder which made her blush a little more.

I DON'T LIKE THIS NEW GIRL was the thought running rampant in the mind of the blonde girl.

"o-okay Naruto-kun..." Hinata replied with stutter and approached Mizuki to take her test.

In Hinata's case One of her kunai and 2 of her shuriken hit the bullseye and the rest were close to the bullseye.

"3 out of 10... Nice Hinata... Your score is almost like Ino... You would also need some work in your aim..."

"I will w-work on it sensei..." She replied with a bow and went back to her position.

"Shino... Your turn..." Mizuki called the bug boy.

Shino calmly walked up to Mizuki and to take his test. Without uttering a single word, he threw them. 4 of his shuriken hit the bullseye, while the remaining were nearest to the bullseye.

"Good job Shino... 4 out of 10... Though it seems that you are far more efficient with shurikens than kunai. You have to do some more practice on kunai throwing..." Iruka said to which Shino just nodded agreeing with his sensei and returned back to his position.

"Kiba... You're next..." Mizuki called the Inuzuka boy.

Kiba ran up to Mizuki as he can't wait anymore to take the test and threw the weapons as soon as he can. 4 of his kunai hit the bullseye, whereas the remaining were nearest to the bullseye.

"Good Job Kiba... 4 out of 10, just like Shino... But unlike Shino, it seems that you are more efficient with kunai than shuriken. Practice some more on shuriken throwing..." Iruka suggested.

"Alright sensei..." Kiba said and went back to his earlier position.

"Choji... Come on..."

Choji approached Mizuki and took the shuriken and kunai given to him. He glanced at the human shaped target with a bullseye on it and back to the weapons given to him. He then glanced at Iruka and asked, "Does it mean that I have to hit humans in future with these to hurt them sensei...?"

So his father was not lying to me when he said Choji is too kind. Iruka thought but then he replied, "Yes Choji, you may have to in future... But for now try to hit the bullseye..."

Choji frowned at this but still threw the weapons at the target. Sadly, only one of his kunai hit the target and none of the rest were anywhere near to the target.

Iruka frowned at this internally. His kindness may become a hindrance to him in his ninja career... He would need some guidance to improve his mind to be able to deal with the side effects of being a ninja... Thought Iruka in his mind, but outwardly he just smiled and said, "Good job Choji... Practice some more and you will get more score..." to which Choji nodded and took out his potato chips packet and started munching them on his way back to his earlier position among friends.