Learning to Love (NaruHina) Book 1

Chapter 19

Naruto's POV
(Classroom)

We walked into the classroom and the entire room got quiet. Hinata squeezed my hand and looked at the class with an eyebrow raised.

"Is there a problem?" She asked firmly.

She has come a long way in the last few days. She's no longer the shy girl who fainted or stuttered at the sight of me.

I smirked when everyone went back to what they were doing. I noticed that the only person not interested in us was Shino. I nodded to him as we passed him to sit in the seats beside him. We sat quietly and waited for our teacher. Not five minutes later, the Hokage walked in.

"Good morning everyone. Today you will take your genin test and I will assign you to your teams. I have arranged them the way I see fit, so if you have a problem that's too bad. Deal with it." I've never seen Jiji look so serious. "If for some reason or another, someone doesn't pass, I'll rearrange the teams accordingly. " Jiji grabbed a stack of papers of the desk and started passing them out. "This is the writing portion of the exam. You have thirty minutes to finish. Begin."

The test was a bit harder than I expected, but I knew Jiji w as noted to make sure we knew that we were getting into before we started taking missions. It only took the three of us fifteen minutes to finish though. I sighed in relief, knowing that I did a pretty good job on it and I know Shino and Hinata passed with flying colors.

"Pencils down!" Jiji called out when time was up. I noticed that a lot of the civilian born kids where nervous as Jiji went around collecting the papers. "Before we get started on the ninjutsu part of the exam, can anyone tell me what being a ninja means to them?"

I am not ashamed to say that I was the first one to raise my hand.

"Yes Naruto."

"Being a ninja is not about flashy jutsu, who knows more jutsu or being a hero. It's about wanting to protect your village and helping it grow so that the next generation can follow in our footsteps. The entire village is like a large family and every shinobi with the Will of Fire loves, believes, cherishes, and fights to protect the village, as previous generations had done before them. Even though we are young, we have to show the previous generation that our Will of Fire burns just as brightly as theirs." The entire class stared at me in shock.

"A speech for the books Naruto. That was well said and you're right. If you think that being a ninja is about saving princesses or getting revenge or in trying to impress a boy, then I suggest you leave. I have no time for children that want to play games. Playing games is what will get you killed on the battlefield. Be mindful of that when you and your team start doing on missions out of the village. With that said let's continue."

We went outside to finish the rest of the exams. Shino Hinata and I teamed up during the obstacle course and were the first one to finish. We had to dodge and counter low level fire balls, traps, wind dragons, and water dragons using the Academy three and whatever elemental jutsu we knew. We had a few scratches and bruises but we were otherwise fine.

The genjutsu was the hardest part for me. I can't cast one to save my life, but luckily Otou-San drilled me on how to disperse them. Sad to say, I only got half the points.

Last came the taijutsu test. Hinata beat a random civilian fangirl with a simple jyuken strike to the knee. After fixing the girl up, Hinata bowed and made her way over to me. Shino, managed to tie with Kiba. To say we were shocked is an understatement.

"I told my family that I didn't want to rely on my bugs all the time. Why, because it's not logical to depend on one technique." Shino explained taking a seat next to me.

We talked while we waited on the others to finish. By the time it was time to go back inside, we had made plans to  train with each other tomorrow and have a picnic.

Once we were seated the Hokage stood and called us to attention. "I would like to congratulate all of you on a job well done. You gave it your all and I'm proud to that all of you passed. Now in to team assignments...."

I tuned him out until I heard him call my name, "Team 7 consists of Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuga Hinata and Aburame Shino. Team 8 consists of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Inuzuka Kiba. Team 9 is still active from last year. Team 10 consists of Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, and Yamanaka Ino. That is all for today. Be here one week from today to meet your sensei's. Dismissed."

Jiji gave each student their headband as they walked out the classroom. I couldn't help smiling when he tied ours to our foreheads. "You three will do great things. I wish you all the best." Jiji smiled as he walked out the door.

Our parents were waiting for us when we walked outside. Even though Hinata's father wasn't there, her sister Hanabi, cousin Neji, and former guard Koji were waiting for her with smiles on their faces. We all watched as they hugged and kissed her as they congratulated her. It was weird seeing a Hyuga smile and laugh.

"We're so proud of you guys. We saw how you worked together and gave each other pointers throughout the test. That's the first step to working as a team. I'm sure your sensei will be glad to know that you can work together as team. Now let go home and celebrate."