Riiing... Riiing...
Izayoi and Hinata had barely begun whispering to each other when the bell rang. Instantly, the classroom fell silent — a rare scene under normal circumstances.
"The graduation exam is the Clone Technique. The testing room is at the end of the right corridor. When I call your na, step outside."
As soon as the bell finished ringing, Iruka appeared at the classroom door. He didn’t even enter, just stood in the doorway, gave brief instructions, and left.
Before long, a chunin in a green flak jacket showed up at the door, holding a roster. He started calling out nas:
"Minako..."
Every minute or two, another na was read aloud. Those called either stood up with tense looks or confident smiles and left the classroom, never to return. Hinata was one of them.
"...Izayoi."
Hinata had been gone only a few minutes when Izayoi heard his na. He rose from his seat, exited the classroom, and walked to the testing room at the far end of the corridor.
Upon pushing the door open, he saw Iruka and Mizuki (the horoom teacher of Class 2) sitting behind a long table. The mont they saw Izayoi, Iruka’s face lit up with a warm smile.
"Izayoi, you may begin," Iruka said.
"Yes, sir."
Izayoi nodded, swiftly forming a sequence of hand seals, and quietly uttered: "Clone Technique!"
Poof—!
Two bursts like punctured balloons went off in quick succession. Two clouds of white smoke materialized on Izayoi’s left and right. As they cleared, two phantom clones identical to Izayoi in appearance, height, clothing, and all the little details erged at his sides.
Iruka and Mizuki exchanged glances, then Iruka stood up with a broad grin, holding out a Konoha forehead protector.
"That was an excellent Clone Technique. Congratulations on passing the graduation exam. From this mont on, you are officially a Genin."
"Thank you, Iruka-sensei. Mizuki-sensei."
Izayoi stepped forward, received the headband from Iruka with both hands, and bowed to the two teachers.
Iruka added, "You don’t need to return to the classroom. But don’t leave the school yet. Go wait on our class’s training ground. After everyone’s done with the graduation exam, I’ll take you to get your ID photos taken."
"Understood."
Izayoi nodded and left the testing room. The mont he stepped out of the school building, he spotted Hinata waiting for him outside. They shared a smile and headed to the training ground, where a dozen or so classmates had already gathered.
"Hey, Izayoi, Hinata! You guys are here too!"
"As expected, the exam was probably no trouble at all for you two."
"Once the photos are done, should we celebrate a bit?"
"Eh—maybe not. I want to celebrate with my family, and they’re already waiting outside."
"Right, let’s hang out so other ti then."
"Hey, how many do you think in our class will pass?"
"At least twenty, I guess. We are Class 1-A."
"Anyway, Naruto’s definitely a goner."
"..."
Izayoi and Hinata had barely arrived, and their classmates already flocked to them, chatting away enthusiastically. Izayoi joined in with friendly banter.
Right then, another figure approached.
"Izayoi, you wanna spar a bit after this?"
There was no greeting; it was straight to the point. That was Sasuke Uchiha. Seeing the third place in the grade—who sotis managed to snatch second—stroll over, everyone else stepped aside.
Facing Sasuke’s determined gaze, Izayoi shook his head with a small smile. "Not now. Based on the intel I gathered, new Genin will be grouped into squads of three, each led by a Jonin instructor. You and I already know each other’s abilities, and no matter how many tis we fight right now, the result would be the sa. Let’s both train with our soon-to-be sensei for a while, then see how much we’ve grown."
Sasuke recalled all the tis he’d been pumled by Izayoi. His fighting spirit fizzled out, and he nodded. "Fine, we’ll do it so other ti then."
"Sure thing," Izayoi agreed, smiling.
Over these years, Izayoi had amassed over ten thousand points, largely thanks to Sasuke. For two years, Izayoi had sparred with Sasuke almost every week—sotis twice a week. While Sasuke only ever dropped the Sage Eyes (Red) once, he’d dropped "Kage-Level Aptitude (Purple)," "Uchiha Bloodline (Purple)," "Otsutsuki Bloodline (Blue)," and more, multiple tis. Izayoi dismantled all these duplicates for points. Sasuke was the main source of Izayoi’s 10,000 stash.
Hinata and other classmates contributed the rest—Hinata providing the lion’s share, as next to Izayoi in ability were only Sasuke and Hinata. The other clan kids were a tier below them, and civilians even lower. Starting in their third year, aside from Sasuke and Hinata, it beca almost impossible for anyone else to drop valuable entries. They might occasionally drop lower-tier ones, but that was it. And if "raw chakra volu" had been factored into the system, then only Naruto among the entire class (or even the whole school) could have produced high-tier entries.
After all this ti, Izayoi had fully "fard" Sasuke. Not just the talent entries on him, but even the scrolls in his clan’s jutsu library—Izayoi had gleaned everything there. Over countless battles, the two had beco friends. Sparring every so often was their routine. With Izayoi’s constant pressure, Sasuke’s strength far surpassed what it was in the original storyline.
Floating around Sasuke now was one bubble that had changed: his Uchiha Bloodline (Purple) had evolved into Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan (Purple)—aning Sasuke could now fully activate the Sharingan at will. In truth, he’d awakened his eyes on the night of the clan massacre, but only recently could he turn them on freely.
Having the Sharingan’s power and a huge chakra boost, plus extra ninjutsu learned from Izayoi, Sasuke viewed nobody but Izayoi and Hinata as rivals.
He considered Hinata worthy since she sotis stole second place from him in academics, and she could outdo him in pure taijutsu. But in a no-holds-barred fight, with his newly unlocked Sharingan, he didn’t see Hinata as a threat at all.
If by chance Izayoi, Sasuke, and Hinata ended up on the sa team, they’d undoubtedly be the strongest trio of Genin, hands down—stronger even than the new Ino-Shika-Cho or the Sand Siblings (Gaara’s group). But obviously, that wasn’t going to happen. Naruto and Sasuke’s destinies guaranteed they’d be put together, and there was no better ntor for them than Kakashi Hatake.
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