While at first, it puzzled me why the exams were so much more complicated than the main cast's graduation exam, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense that it would be more challenging. After all, during Naruto's generation, Konoha was recovering from not only a war but the nine tails attack, as well as the extinction of their strongest clan.

So they'd, of course, focus more on recovering their numbers by having graduates meeting the bare minimum of a ninja. This can't be said for my generation; the last war, the first great ninja war, was 20 years ago, so Konoha has already recovered its numbers.

With war at foot, Konoha now needs quality, not quantity, so it makes sense that our graduation would be more difficult. After all, they need to weed out the weaker ones.

"STOP DAY DREAMING HIZASHI!" The instructor shout woke me up from my thoughts; when I came, he stood right in front of my face, with saliva flying everywhere.

"Ugh, disgusting," I wiped my face with the sleeve of my shirt while frowning.

"DID YOU SAY SOMETHING, BRAT!?" The instructor shouted once more. Doesn't his throat hurt from this?

"Yeah, brushing your teeth once in a while wouldn't hurt." His face went red with embarrassment from what I said.

"J-Just follow the other students and shut up!" With him saying that, I realized that the other kids had already walked off.

It turned out that we'd be having the exams in the Forest of Feath; I turned my head to the instructor and began listening to him.

"The first exam will be the obstacle race; it's quite simple if you reach the tower in the middle of the forest by the one hour mark you pass. Ninjas, at times, find themselves in enemy territory surrounded by an environment and numerous opponents with the intent to kill them.

This exam will imitate such a situation; the Forest of Death contains beastly creatures that could kill even well-trained chunins; of course, you don't need to fight these creatures chunins are scattered around the forest. They will attack you throughout the test, of course, while restraining the strength of their attacks."

My classmates started to look scared; even the consistently stoic Minato looked a bit hesitant by the test conditions. "Not to worry, if you feel you're ever in danger, you can forfeit, making you fail this exam, also if I or the other feel that your life is at risk, you'll be removed from the exam, which will also make you fail."

Saying that, he looked at the face of all the students, making sure he got his point across, "Are there any other questions?" He asked.

A short light brown hair kid with hazel eyes and distinctive blushes on his cheeks raised his hand; given the go-ahead by the instructor, he began to talk, "Will we attack each other?"

The instructor shook his head, "Unfortunately, no, Nawaki." I actually forgot he was in my class, a completely average, probably even below average kid in all but name, Nawaki Senju. A weak Senju, I have to go with Madara on this one. It's disgusting.

"Since there are no more questions, find a comfortable position, and on my go ahead, the exam will begin," When he said that, I walked over to Minato with a brilliant idea.

"So, Minato, we're currently tied…."

"Yeah, whoever wins this round will be the tiebreaker." He said, a matter of factly confused as to why I was bringing this up again.

I looked at him with what most would call the smile of a politician. "Why don't we put the stakes higher. Whoever losses will have to pay the other's dinner for the rest of their time as a genin."

Minato looked at me a bit hesitantly before saying, "I don't think that's a good idea, Hizashi."

"*Sigh* Guess you're too afra…"

Minato cut me off before I could finish what I was saying, "After all, I doubt your wallet would be able to keep up with my eating expense." He said with a very unusual cocky smile.

Before I could retort, "GO!!" the instructor shouted.

The Minato was the first to take off, followed by Fugaku, Shikaku, Kushina, Hiashi, Tsume, Inoichi, Shibi, Nawaki, and the other students. Damn, even Choza left me in the dust.

"Tch, that blond bastard." Circulating my chakra to boost my speed, I took off. Quickly zipping through the forest, avoiding the areas where the most dangerous creatures are. This wasn't the least bit difficult since I'd usually sneak in here to train along with having the byakugan; it was a cakewalk.

*BOOM!*

*AHHH!*

*ROAR!*

I listened as chaos ensued around me; with my byakugan, I saw the chunins that the instructors talked about and gigantic animals attacking my classmates. It didn't take long for me to fall victim to one of those attacks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

3rd Pov

"Suiton: Water Bullet!" A pressurized mass of water fired by a woman dressed in Konoha's ninja attire headed to Hizashi.

*Boom!*

*Crack*

A small explosion reverberated around the area as the attack hit the brach where Hizashi was destroying it. Thinking she went overboard, the chunin was about to check on the damage Hizashi had sustained when she felt a slight bit of wind brush past her back.

Her years of training kicked in as she turned around instantly with her kunai armed. What she saw was blank, white, almost soulless eyes staring into her own brown eyes. A shiver washed over the ninja as she felt that her naked body was exposed to those eyes.

"Sleep," Hizashi said in a cold, monotone voice. Not even recognizing that the woman before him was at a much higher rank than he.

"Huh, wha…" The chunin was about to retort out of confusion but was immediately assaulted by a wave of exhaustion. She fought to keep her eyes open but eventually failed as her eye finally blinked shut; no longer having control of her body, she fell from the tree she was in.

Not even sparing a glance, Hizashi continued his exam.

~~~~~~

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, stood with a glass ball in his hand; he and his childhood friend, a past teammate, Danzo Shimura, had a look of astonishment on their face they stared at the glass ball. This was all due to the boy, who was dressed in a beige-coloured shirt.

"That, was that genjutsu?" Danzo asked, a bit bewildered to his friend, who is hailed as 'The Professor.'

Hiruzen took a drag from his pipe before answering, "I believe it was. While the Hyugas aren't as talented as the Uchihas with genjutsu, the byakugan still grants them a good amount of talent in using it.

{AN: It wasn't genjutsu.}

Unfortunately, they don't train it, so it is incredible to see a kid his age capable of creating a genjutsu strong enough to subdue a chunin without even forming hand signs."

A slight glint flashed in Danzo's eyes when he said this. "I want him. He'll become part of the root. I'll nurture him to become a weapon for the village," Danzo said.

'And to usurp you off from the seat that rightfully belongs to me.' Danzo thought as he glanced at Hiruzen's Hokage hat.

Throwing a wrench into his schemes, Hiruzen replied to him, "I already have plans for him, Danzo. He, along with Minato Namikaze, will become the leaders when old fools like us die. So keep your eyes off of them." A glare came from beneath Hiruzen's hat.

Not backing down, Danzo sent one of his own. "How do you expect root to grow when you're taking all the prospectives, ninjas! Root will become the backbone of Konoha by moving in the shadows and doing what needs to be done!" Danzo shouted, luckily no one was nearby the part of the forest they were in.

"Danzo, I've already given you an organization that will only be lower than the Hokage's own power in Konohagakure because of my guilt from seeing you wallow in despair when Sensei made me the Hokage instead of you. Be content with what you have, and DON'T…PUSH…YOUR…LUCK." A massive amount of pressure came from Hiruzen when he said his last words.

Remembering the cowardice that he'd shown in the past, which made him lose the title of Hokage Danzo back down from not only embarrassment but fear as well, while he didn't want to admit it presently, Hiruzen was leagues above him.

Once more, quiet was instilled in their area as they watched the students, especially the Hizashi and Minato.

~~~~~~~~

Minato was currently in the first place bruises were scattered on his face, and his once white hoodie was riddled with dirt. Despite this, he still maneuvered through the forest as quickly as he did when he started.

"ROOOAAAAR!"

A mighty roar came from his right; without a moment's hesitation, he whipped out six kunai three in each hand and threw it at the sound.

*Clang!x6*

A sound similar to metal hitting metal echoed as the kunais came in contact with the grizzly bear that's two times the size of a normal one. Enraged by Minato's sorry excuse for an attack, the grizzly brought down its enormous paws that had its claws gleaming in the sun. Surprised by the bear's resistance and speed, Minato was caught off guard, barely managing to step back from the attack to lessen the damage.

*Bam!*

*Splurt*

*Thud!*

Minato was thrown back from that attack, his back connecting into one of the trees, "GAH!" Blood flew from his mouth upon impact.

"Urgh, why…didn't I just substitute? I need to be more prepared and alert," Minato reprimanded himself as he picked himself up.

*Boom* *Boom*

The bear came charging at him again, each footstep sounding as if explosions were going off. It bore its terrifying fangs, snarling with saliva splashing everywhere while charging at Minato.

However, Minato was prepared this time; as the bear approached him and rose its paws to attack again, Minato formed hand signs, disappearing and replaced by a log when the attack should have made contact.

Confused by what happened, the bear looked around for its prey fervently.

"Futon: Great Breakthrough!" A voice shouted above the bear; looking up, the bear saw its prey once more.

Simultaneously creating another hand sign after the Great breakthrough, Minato shouted. "Katon: Fireball Jutsu!"

The fireball came from Minato's mouth as a stream and was strengthened by the previous futon jutsu. The strengthened Katon jutsu headed towards the bear, who looked up at it with something akin to fear in its eyes.

*roar*

A small roar came from its maw as if trying to deny what was before it, but it was all for naught as the jutsu engulfed it and burnt it to a cinder.

"Huff…huff," Minato took long breaths after using the amount of chakra he did, but despite his present condition, he was still smiling.

"I did it." Thinking he'd take a quick rest before continuing, Minato went to sit down by a tree.

"ROOOAAAAR!!"

Another grizzly bear with a much darker brown and slightly bigger size than the previous broke through the forest with its eyes red with rage.

"*Sigh*" Letting out a sigh, a solem smile grew on Minato's face as he prepared for another exhausting fight.

"Eight trigrams: 8 palms, 16 palms, 32 palms, 64 palms, 128 palms!" Hizashi showed up out of nowhere with thorns stuck in his hair, clothes, and skin. When his series of attacks finished, the grizzly bear fell to the ground, dead.

Hizashi turned to Minato, obviously uncomfortable by the thorns pricking him. "Hmph, taking a rest, blondy?" He asked Minato while folding his hands, but he quickly put them back to his sides as the thorns pricked him more.

"What happened to you?" Minato asked him as he scrutinized his body.

"Took a shortcut, you?" Hizashi replied and asked as he looked at Minato's hands.

"Got hugged," Minato said as he pointed his chin at the bear Hizashi just killed. "By one of those."

Hizashi looked at him deadpanned, obviously knowing the bear didn't actually hug him. "Oh? Looks like I better get going," Hizashi said as he stared in the distance. Minato looked as well, and he soon saw a black-haired figure running at full speed towards them.

"Fugaku," Minato stated and took off after Hizashi, who did so a few seconds before.

~~~~~~

Thirty-seven minutes had passed since the beginning of the race Hizashi could now see the tower clearly without using his byakugan. There wasn't much danger around him as he quickly dispatched the chunins that attacked him, though by doing this, he helped Minato, who was right on his tail, and Fugaku, who was on Minato's.

A few minutes passed, and the tower was now 20 meters ahead of him. Veins no longer surrounded Hizashi's eyes as he sprinted with all his speed to the goal. With Minato only half a meter behind him, no thoughts crossed his mind to look back.

5,4,3,2 meters left to go, Hizashi was sure of his victory, then he saw his body start leaning forward. "Eh?" Hizashi activated his byakugan when he saw that he hit his toe on a stone.

*Thud!*

*Screech!*

He fell flat on his face sliding a good 1 meter before stopping; he soon saw a mass of blond running past him.

---------

AN:

So the reason why I took so long to release this chapter is that I was doing a layout for future events and how the mc would grow. But while doing that and my Naruto research, I noticed how obscure the timeline is when it comes to anything before the third great ninja war. So I had to fix some things and scrap some ideas, and because of that, events surrounding the 2nd great ninja war may not happen the way they said they did in the anime. 

Also, I’ll try to release another chapter later and finish the graduation exam, which will lead to the traditional sparring with the jonin instructor. Their first mission outside of Konoha, which will be followed by a chunin exam.

I guarantee you’ll be surprised by their first mission outside Konoha.