Chapter 14: End Of Year Exams

A few months later… 

In the Konoha academy – class a – the sounds of continuous tapping on tables could be heard. The pencil in each student's hand kept moving on a piece of paper whilst the teacher sat behind the desk,  minding his own business

A while later, a student stood up from his seat and walked down the steps, handing in his paper to Arima. 

Arima looked at this black-haired kid with a pleasing smile and said, "As always Akio. You always fly through. Well, you can go now and wait till the next test." 

To his instructions, he walked out of the classroom and made his way towards the cafeteria; his stomach rumbled – he was hungry after all that work. 

Whilst he walked, he thought about some things too.

'I have definitely scored full marks on this exam. It was a breeze, but next was the shuriken throwing test. Then the chakra control; last is Jutsu.'

Already, it was the end of the first year at the academy. So tests were given before the break came, starting off with written exams. Next was the shuriken throwing, then the leaf exercise – last – is jutsu. 

There were mini-tests throughout the year but this was the main one – and Akio had not been holding back whatsoever, so he tried getting the best scores he could. 

He had grown in his progress too throughout these months of constant training – catching up with others in certain departments. 

—-- 

Akio stood among the crowd of children; a throwing board on rows put in front of them. There was shuriken laying on the table for them to pick up. 

Arima spoke. "Each of you will pick up a shuriken three times; each shuriken for the separate boards. Starting with Tsume Inuzuka." 

She walked out of the crowd and in front of the three boards; she picked up a shuriken – and with immense concentration threw it… 

The first one hit near the centre which she growled at. This time, looking at the next one with even more focus… she threw it… it hit dead on in the centre. 

She smiled and snickered, picking up the next shuriken with confidence and throwing it with less focus… 

That hit near dead on too.

"Well done, Tsume, now go back. Next up is–"

Time was spent like this – kids throwing shurikens on boards until it was Arise's turn. Akio stared intently at this guy to see what he could do. 

He coldly walked over and picked up the shuriken with the dullest movement – and threw it without even needing time… 

It hit dead on…

The same thing happened three times in a row, showing his Uchiha blood. These things were easy for them. 

Next up was Akio to which he picked up a shuriken and stared at the board for a second before getting his form. 

He threw the shuriken and looked at it as it sliced through the air... 

It hit dead on to which he smiled. 

Just like Arise' – the next shurikens also hit dead on, bringing a smile to Arima's face. 

"You have improved a lot since last time – well done." 

Akio nodded; pride welled up in his heart doing this small feat. 

After everyone finished their turn, Akio was second in the class, just beaten by Arise – a grin bloomed on his face as he was enjoying his recess. 

He had been diligently improving his throwing skills – and after a good amount of time did progress start coming. Now, he was second in his class – tied with first place. 

It was only due to Arise's form and other things that he got first place but he didn't care. Up until now, he was only top seven or something – he was elated that his training had paid off. 

After some time passed, Akio made his way back outside, onto the grass field. 

Again, a crowd stood beside him as a few moments passed before everyone started grabbing leaves and sitting in a lotus position. They have spread apart from each other with now closed eyes, immersed into a concentrative state. 

Just like last time, he said the instructions in steps...

"On one, put the leaf to your forehead. On two, start moulding your chakra and get ready. At three, the test starts."

"One."

Everyone put the leaf to their head and started getting their chakra ready, pouring it through their canals and tenketsu.

"Two." 

The chakra was just slightly breaking through the last tenketsu as they controlled it without it pushing forward. 

"Three." 

Simultaneously, their hands were put down while the lead alone stuck to their heads. All of them were in an immersed state, trying their best to be as calm and precise as they could. 

Just like this, a few minutes passed… although, this time, everyone held on. 

Only after half an hour passed did one of them begrudgingly grunt, seeing his leaf on the floor. 

"The people who are out – walk over my side and sit down." 

Another minute passed and two people fell again… this carried on until there were only seven or so people left… one of them included Akio – the others – were Tsume and Arise. 

A total of one hour had gone by and all of them had a leaf tightly stuck to their heads; none of them with a struggling sort of expression. However, this didn't last for too long. 

"Uh.." one of them groaned as he opened his eyes. 

The sweat on his forehead poured in sync with the leaf. He just stood up with a content expression and walked over to the others. 

It was only down to six people now… 

Not even a few seconds later, someone else had met their limit. 

The person opened his eyes and looked around – surprised that he was top six… this was enough for him now.  

This time, another few minutes passed and all three people came out, leaving Tsume, Arise and Akio left. 

A large amount of time – around half an hour passed and Akio gave up. But a few seconds later – so did Tsume. Arise was the last one left. 

Now all of them were standing beside Arima… unlike last time, no one was angry – mostly everyone was happy at their progress. 

They had come a long way after all. 

Now that they had finished their second to the last test, they were mentally drained. Arima noticed this and nodded. 

"Tomorrow will be your final day; your final exam. Your jutsu ability – meaning how well you've progressed with your clone technique."

After this day of hard work, Akio decided to treat himself to a good meal. He went to a restaurant he normally goes to – Yakiniku Q. 

He sat down and waited for a waiter… 

"Welcome to our restaurant, what would you like to order?" 

Akio finished glancing at the menu and looked up with a smile. "The usual – Salted beef tongue, thank you."

This was their speciality and he enjoyed it. 

Whilst he enjoyed his meal; he viewed his progress and felt satisfied with his current growth. 

His only weakness was his body, which he had the plan to overcome. 

--------

Back at the classroom… 

Arima stood at the front – explaining something. 

"Now that you have all gone through the process of learning jutsu – it is now time for each one of you to showcase your last results," Arima explained – this time they all looked eager -- none disappointed – 

This lightened them up a bit. 

Again just like last time -- first up was the Inuzuka girl… it wasn't any surprise that she did the clone technique – but this time her cloned was fully transparent with all features. 

Next was the Uchiha kid; he channelled his chakra whilst closing his eyes and carefully but rhythmically did the hand seals until… 

His clone technique was the same as Tsume's.

Time passed – and soon it was Akio's turn, to which he walked up to the front. 

Channelling his chakra in sync whilst doing his hand seals – a puff of smoke was blown beside him… and a clone – which looked extremely opaque was in front of them. 

Unlike last time, his clone technique was near the pinnacle, looking somewhat better than Arise's and Tsume's.

This time none of the other kids failed -- some of them having better clone techniques than others.

 

Finally, everyone had been tested and the progress was marked in their file. 

Now, the tests have been finished, signifying a break from the academy for a few weeks. 

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