Team Badass (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Unordinary

"I'm sorry Naruto, but the way you're doing now, you won't be able to pass the exam," Iruka gently put down the stack of files. "You are currently ranked the lowest in the class, and your ninjutsu isn't that great either. You need to up your work or I'm afraid you will not be able to graduate."

"What?" Naruto leapt up. "But I have to be Hokage! You can't just hold me back because of a few tests! There's more to being a great ninja than just bookwork and some basic jutsu, Iruka sensei," Naruto's voice dropped down to a soft whimper. "You have to let me pass."

Iruka looked unsure what to do. It was a fact that Naruto was smarter than he let on. Much, much smarter. He was just too lazy to take his tests seriously. However, Iruka knew that the one thing Naruto really had trouble with was the Bunshin no jutsu, no matter how hard he worked at it. He just couldn't control the amount of chakra that went into the technique.

"Tell you what," he said finally. "if...if you can master a different type of Bunshin, and successfully do three clones on the test day, then I'll let you pass. Of course, the norm is that you can graduate if you pass five out of the six components of the test, but since your average grade isn't terribly high, you'd need to pass all six. Can you do that?"

Naruto's eyes burned with determination. "I will," he looked so serious that Iruka was surprised there was none of that goofy personality showing on his face. "I will pass! For sure! Thanks, Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Unfortunately," he began. "I can't teach you anything other than the designated curriculum. Therefore you have to find another person to teach you the clone technique.."

Naruto grinned. "No worries! I'll manage. Thanks a lot, sensei. I'll be going now!"

"Naruto!" Iruka called after the blonde as the boy bounded out of the room. "Thanks for understanding! I'm sorry I can't be the one to teach you!"

"Yeah! It's okay!" Naruto waved back. He knew what his initial problem was. Chakra control. And he knew just the person to help him.

...

"Whaaaaat?" Naruto, flabbergasted, grabbed Sakura's arm. "Whaddya mean you can't teach me? I totally need your help right now, you know?"

Sakura sighed. Few feet away, Sasuke sighed too. Sitting together underneath the cool shades of the trees in a nearby training ground, Naruto had an adamant expression on his face while the other two simply looked exasperated. "Naruto," Sakura started. "I have been your friend for over six years. All this time, we've been training each other right? And if you still haven't gotten control over your chakra after six years...well there's little I can do."

"She's right." Sasuke folded his arms behind his head and leaned against the trunk. "We need to find a different solution. Considering your progress, I'd say it's pretty unrealistic for you to master chakra control in just a week. We need to find an alternative solution."

"But Iruka-sensei said I need to pass all six parts of the test!" Naruto whined. "If you guys aren't going to help me, who will?"

"I don't know," Sakura answered truthfully. "But for now, let's think. How can we make it so that you'd graduate, even without passing the ninjutsu portion?"

Sasuke rubbed his chin. "Should we bribe the teachers? I'm an Uchiha, they'd probably listen to me."

"Or, I can sneak in and put a genjutsu on the examiners? Make them think you pulled it off?" Sakura offered. "Though I'd rather you do this yourself, since this is your mess and all."

"You guys are mean," Naruto pouted. "If I don't graduate, you two are probably gonna have some idiot dork on your team. Why do you think I've been purposefully missing the tests? It's to increase the probability of us being together!"