A Strange Gameplay For a Ninja

Chapter 9

"Naruto... Why were you doing that at the monument? Don't you know who the hokages are?"

We were eating ramen at Ichiraku's, and Iruka-sensei wanted to know why he did such a prank. Well, I was curious too, so I kept quiet and listened, eating my noodles.

"Of course! Basically, those that receive the hokage name are the strongest ninjas in the villages, right? And among them is the 4th. A hero who saved the village from a fox demon." Naruto explained.

"Then why?"

"One day I'm going to get the hokage name... and then I'm going to surpass all the previous hokages!"

We stopped eating and looked fixedly at him, and Iruka-sensei even forgot to chew what he had in his mouth.

"And then, and then! I'll make the village recognize my strength! Believe it!"

Such confidence... He actually believed he could do it. Until now, I thought he didn't mean it and did that only to show off. Well, he had the chakra for it, but that's all, really, and I don't think his jinchuuriki status will help him... nor the hatred of the village for him. But even with all that... He made me want to believe in him.

"...By the way sensei... I have a request..."

"What? You want seconds?" Iruka-sensei sighed.

"No... Can I borrow your leaf head protector?"

"Oh, this? No no, this is for after your graduate. This is a symbol that you've come of age. Maybe you two will get one tomorrow."

"Stingy!" Naruto complained.

"Hahah, so that's why you removed your goggles!" I remarked, amused, as I just finished my bowl.

"SECONDS!"the blond yelled.

"For me too!"I agreed.

"Huh?!" Iruka-sensei protested, but Teuchi, the old man owning the restaurant, was already at work.

The day after, we were in the academy classroom as usual, listening to Iruka-sensei.

"Now for the graduation exam, you will do the bunshin no jutsu. When you are called, come to the next room." the teacher explained, and entered the room with Mizuki. What? There wasn't even a written test or a taijutsu test? I turned to see Naruto's expression, completely devastated. His worst jutsu, the bunshin, that required fine chakra control. He couldn't do it because of his unbelievebly high chakra reserves.... That just wasn't fair.

"Farasuke, Kurota." Iruka-sensei called me. I got up, and went to the room and performed 5 bunshins perfectly.

"Amazing, Kurota-kun! You must have worked hard to catch up to the others like that! Here."He gave me the Konoha headband."You are now a genin! Congratulations. Next!"

+1000XP

Your level has risen by 2!

I didn't even acknowledged the reward as I made my way out of the room, worrying for Naruto. I got outside the academy and waited with the others who graduated.

"What! You graduated? What the fuck! You were competing with Naruto for the deadlast's position!"

The owner of this annoying voice was Inuzuka Kiba.

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?" I asked nonchalently.

"What? You want to fight?" He dared me, Akamaru groaning at me.

Now he was pissing me off. I started to open my mouth to put him in his place when I heard Iruka's voice raising from the exam room:

"You fail!"