A blur of gold flickered through the streets. Glancing over his shoulder, Naruto counted the faster of his pursuers closeby. So far, with as much wind between strides, there were only so many that could be bothered. So long as he avoided too many crooked paths, and kept his senses sharp, he could evade and outmaneuver anyone else.
Not many shinobi would come at him in earnest. Most people still looked at him as a child. They gave him plenty of room to make mistakes, to catch him in his own game.
He was still caught more often than not. Experience and coordination were not on his side. Still, he’d set this escape in motion hours before the prank itself. Naruto had a few mixed feelings. For one, he’d gotten himself spotted before he had time to finish his masterpiece. A makeover that spanned the Hokage monument.
It’d taken days to get the idea out of his head, and weeks of training to get it set up in an effective timeframe. Those missing pieces would haunt him into graduation, but…
As he was counting the chunin guard by ear, he had a perfect angle as his masterpiece revealed itself. Using a mixture of paint, chakra, and substances he didn’t really get on paper, Naruto managed to make the whole thing invisible until the sun hit it.
The colors bled across the stone like the paintbrush of a cartoon god. Pride, and disbelief mixed in his chest, catching on the mad dash and adrenaline for a volatile mix. He’d done it. He showed the entire village what he was capable of, on the shoulders of the hokage no less.
If he could pull that hair brained scheme off, His dream of becoming hokage might not be so far off. Naruto drew on that mix, burning it into his mind to savor, and giving everything he got to demonstrate his resolve.
They would not touch him. By willpower alone, he would make it so. Everything else was just another tip of the hat.
The two shinobi put on a burst of speed. Closing the distance even at his best clip. Naruto heard the moment their stride vanished from the back of his mind, and knew it was all or nothing. Shifting his weight mid stride, he planted one foot and pivoted down an alley.
The ground was rough. A mix of dirt and old paving stones. In this clip, no matter how strong he was, the street just wasn’t having it.
So, after years of running, he had it back. Chakra blazed through the soles of his feet. A chain of foundations propagated beneath his footing, diverting his momentum even as the structure of the road wobbled.
The two chunin were caught completely off guard, and overshot. One by a building, the other by a few meters.
They turned the corner just in time to catch movement toward the other end, but too early to gauge the distance.
Naruto paid no mind. Assuming that, for all intents and purposes, he had two ninja breathing down his neck. He’d picked this spot days in advance. He would make it. For sure!
He stopped cold. Shedding momentum so quickly, his skin prickled. He pressed against the wall, and resigned himself to his fate.
One Ninja arrived
Then the other.
They were on him in the same heartbeat, but with so much room left over, that Naruto thought he might have been made. Then they were gone, and the alley was left completely silent.
Stillness. Darkness. Silence. Confidence. As Naruto stepped away from the wall, these emotions clung to him like a fur coat. He could barely believe it. He’d lost them. Completely juked not one, but two chunin!
He almost toppled, coming down to the ground in a fit of muted laughter. And, as his breath returned to him, he roared aloud.
“Hurrah!”
Naruto banked his feelings of glory. His thoughts turning to the next step of his plan. Unbelievable options spanned before now. With the main runner gone, he could get to-
“Naruto!?”
-A spot and… hide. Naruto flinched and turned his head in dismay, “I-Iruka sensei?”
“You’re supposed to be in class!”
Naruto paused. Felt a tug on the back of his collar and began to flail as the ground was swept out from under him.
Hey, wait now, I was sure that… Class doesn’t start until an hour after sunrise! Even if I’m running late now, he shouldn’t be searching this far out already!
His spoken words were half as coherent as his pride and the thrill continued to misfire. By the time he calmed himself down, Iruka was already halfway through chiding him for his latest misadventure, and spoiled the urge to explain himself.
By the time Iruka had him on display before the class, Naruto was sulking. I felt a bit high handed when Iruka held it over the whole class, but it made for a good opportunity.
Iruka was unreasonably fair. Discipline always had something to do with the circumstances. After the third group complained about his poor decisions, Naruto decided to show just how ‘typical’ he felt.
A head turning, one-eighty, kick in the dignity. A shameless heartbreaker on the other hand.
Of the people who had the instinct to look away, Iruka was among those caught in the blast.
Watching his teen mentor stumble across the floor, Naruto felt a bit of relief, as steam literally melted off his back. His tails quickly cut apart the cloud, and he felt a pinch in the corner of his brow.
Sorry mom.
It would be a long dressing down. Iruka went over the upcoming stakes, in what he and Naruto knew was a losing battle. The former was more irritated than anything, but Naruto knew. Even with every hour he spent dedicating himself to his studies, he’d never meet the standard for the Genin rank.
His practical skills were like large fish in a tiny barrel, and what he did get a grasp of were vastly outshined by the performance of his peers. They would never see who he was on paper, and ninja most ninja would not recognize him for what he was.
Naruto would swear off ramen before he let Iruka sacrifice his teaching job to become a mentor. That the guy even stopped to think about it was a thorn in the boy’s esteem. They had both come too far to give up now.
Changing the way people saw him, the light they viewed him in, was his best and only remaining hope. If he performed in his finals as he had every recent exam…
No, it wasn’t a matter of quitting. Naruto would have to find a way to change the rules in order to pass. It didn’t seem likely that would happen in his time at the academy.
Iruka may not like it, but Naruto was using the time he had left to search for a means outside of class. While everyone else reviewed skills he did and did not have, Naruto was training. Searching his limits, his tools and his lessons. If he was going to fail a third time, they were going to have to fail him three times three times.
Iruka was worried. Naruto was a problem student threw and threw. As a teacher, Naruto’s performance was about as counterproductive as it got, and his attitude around the other students was anything but composed.
Naruto’s scores were a trainwreck, and at the end of the day, that’s all his superiors would ever see. As a friend, and as a guide, he could see the scarred earth in every ticked question. The damage to the surroundings as the boy jumped the rails that were his own element.
Naruto was trying, and with no less dedication than any of his peers. The numbers did not do him justice. Again, Iruka could see every station. Every lesson, and the parts that the boy had taken to heart. Even in failing, he was investing more effort than anyone else.
They were such simple problems. Naruto’s talent lies in the big picture, and improvisation. He would take the most off-handed remarks and come back with a solution not only unexpected, but effective.
But he never took the hint sitting down, and the second Iruka pushed to get his explanations on paper, it was like watching a smokescreen drop. Even the most immature interpretations would count toward his grade, so this was doubly vexing for the teacher.
Iruka could give his best appeal to the dean, and see about getting a special evaluation. Hell, If it came to that, he would be willing to take the bill himself.
The problem was, Naruto ninjutsu skills. Not just his conduct, but his basic skills were horribly imbalanced. Naruto’s had a multitude of uses for the transformation. His substitution was passable by virtue of speed and reaction time alone. The problem was, the effectiveness of those skills were halved without the ability to project an illusion.
Iruka had held out hope that Naruto would find a way to center himself. He believed that Naruto would find a way to improvise, and yet it seemed he’d grow distant from the shinobi program instead.
