Dark Phoenix of Konoha by White Angel of Auralon

Part 46 - Academy Testing

Academy Testing

Naruto grinned when he looked over the scheme he had worked out. Thanks to teaching basic seals at the academy for about six months now, and he had got three months of that on end where he could actually hold classes all days of the week, as Kakashi sensei had finally managed to find enough competent team leaders to give Naruto some break from missions to concentrate on the teaching, his classes were now ready for an actual test of what they had learned.

Nothing worked as well as a real-life scenario to make students that took the academy too easy wake up without getting killed against a stronger opponent. Especially his subject required concentration and precision, which many children had trouble with. Like his former classmates during the mission where the jonin senseis of their team pitted them all against him, the academy students would learn by all kinds of seal applications that they better took all their training serious, not just the parts that were considered cool.

He would do this for all age groups and none of the groups that had already done the test would be able to talk to those in other years until he was done with administering the test. He certainly would have a lot of fun with this.

Konohamaru and his classmates stood at the edge of the training field closest to the academy. They didn't know which of the specialist teachers would take the class today, but so far, these lessons had been fairly interesting. When it was time for the class to begin, Naruto appeared in front of them in a body flicker.

"Good morning, everybody. Today we will see if you have actually practiced what I taught you over the past six months," Naruto started, looking serious, "I have arranged with all your other teachers that you are excused from all other classes for today, as you will be doing a training exercise, which doubles as a test for my subject, fuinjutsu."

The students looked at each other torn between elation of not having boring classes like history, and having an unannounced test sprung on them.

"You will be put into teams of three students, similar to how you will be put onto genin teams. This is also a simulation of your ability to work with your classmates on a common goal. Seals can be used by you or against you on any kind of mission. Your homeroom teacher has helped me with putting together basic equipment sets that are standard for D-rank missions, which this will be similar to. Each team will get one set of those and you aren't allowed to use more than that, except you can get it without having to buy it in a store. Those won't be around on missions either after all. The main area for the mission simulation will be the forest and the training grounds around Konoha, but it can happen that other places are included as well," Naruto explained, "I won't give you more information, as part of this simulation is to gather information. To determine the teams, we will let coincidence decide. As you can see, I have spread coloured balls all over the training field. You will pick one. They can be screwed open and the same numbers are one team."

This would ensure that nobody could cheat and create a team with just his friends. He wanted them mixed up to not have any advantages. This was after all one of the younger classes and team set-ups were still years away.

"Each team will get a mission objective from me, once the teams are determined. How you go about the task, is fully up to you. Just know that you have to be at the top of your game to get a passing grade for this. And it will be influencing your overall grade for the year," Naruto revealed, which made some frown.

"But why wasn't this test announced, if it is that important for us?" A boy asked annoyed.

"A ninja has to be ready for a mission at all times. You are training to become ninjas, so you should get used to that mentality early on. Not to mention that surprise tests aren't uncommon in any subject. If they didn't happen so far, the other teachers were coddling you, which will be dangerous for your development. Being a ninja is no walk in the park, it's hard work and never being content with what you have already achieved. There will always be somebody that is stronger, smarter, faster or trickier than you. If you want to survive and become good at this job, you better take it serious," Naruto declared sternly, "Alright, line up and on my signal, go and get yourselves a ball. You have thirty seconds."