Toru sighed tiredly as he walked through the bustling streets of Konohagakure.
Months had passed, and Toru had grown a little, although the difference wasn't very noticeable.
He now wore a black sweater with his clan's emblem on the back, the same dark blue shorts, and bandages covering his arms and legs. The scarf around his neck was still the same one, the birthday gift his mother had given him so many years ago.
'Today is the final exam... If I pass, I can become a Genin.'
Time always seemed to fly by, but unfortunately, during the months he had studied at the Academy, he had remained completely alone. To be honest, his distant and gloomy personality had ended up repelling his classmates.
'Just until today... I suppose some people are chosen to go through the worst. It's strange, but not bothersome.'
After getting lost in his thoughts, Toru quickened his pace so he could reach his destination.
—Ninja Academy—
Toru didn't take long to arrive. Only eight minutes had passed, but he was already sitting in the seat furthest away from everyone else.
"Sasuke-kun!" exclaimed Haruno Sakura, the annoying know-it-all with pink hair who showed her love for Uchiha Sasuke in the loudest way possible.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Ino asked. Her challenging smile concealed the murderous intentions boiling inside her chest.
"You're asking what I'm doing? I'm calling Sasuke-kun by his name. Do you have a problem with that?"
Just like Ino, Sakura also put on a challenging smile.
"Really? I think you're acting way too close to him when you're actually nothing alike."
Sakura and Ino's gazes connected through a strange invisible beam that only Toru could see.
'They always do the same thing... It's starting to get annoying.'
Toru looked wearily at the two girls arguing with each other. They were supposed to be friends, but now...
"How noisy," Toru whispered, resting his forehead against the desk.
While Sakura and Ino were practically killing each other with their glares, Iruka entered the classroom. He had several sheets of paper in his right hand.
"Everyone, calm down. I'm here now, so get to your seats."
'Here it is. Iruka-sensei brought the exams. As always, I'll get the highest score.'
He was confident he could do it. After all, he was one of the top students in the class.
"All right. Now that everyone is in their seats, we'll begin."
Iruka placed the sheets of paper face down on each student's desk.
"You should all know that today is the final exam to become Genin. The first part will be the written exam. You'll have one hour to finish it, so I wish you all good luck."
After saying that, Iruka placed a timer on his desk.
"Then... begin."
The timer started counting down.
Having received permission to begin the exam, Toru turned the sheet over and looked at the questions written on it.
'Too easy. I can finish this in four minutes. I suppose the practical portion will be the difficult part.'
As he wrote down his answers, he looked toward the desks in front of him.
'It looks like Naruto is having trouble.'
And of course he was.
'No way! I don't remember any of this!' Naruto screamed internally.
He scratched his head in frustration. Right now, he was suffering more than anyone else. This was already the third time he had failed the exams. Well, the first two had only been practice tests, but he had still gotten the lowest score.
'Come on! Come on! I know I can do this. I just have to remember!'
Scratching his head with his pencil, Naruto tried to make the few brain cells he had left work, but he couldn't remember anything. Absolutely nothing.
'Why does this always happen to me?'
With the expression of a dead fish, he gave up and let his pencil fall onto the exam sheet. There was no hope anymore. His tragic fate awaited him.
'Ha~. It's the usual,' Toru thought. 'Naruto never manages to get a good score. He'll probably fail again.'
Shaking his head, Toru looked at the boy sitting near Naruto, Sasuke.
'Judging by that confident expression, he'll get the highest score on the written exam too. Maybe he'll do the same on the practical exam.'
Toru crossed his arms and continued analyzing his classmates. His eyes quickly settled on the girl he had invited to lunch on his first day at the Academy.
Her name was Onikuma Enko. From what Toru had observed about her over time, Enko had a strange case of having two very different sides to her personality. In tense and dangerous situations, she tended to act fearful and weak, but when interacting with other people, she was usually somewhat bold and sociable.
'She doesn't seem to be having any trouble completing the exam. In fact, she seems more than confident that she'll pass.'
After analyzing his classmates for a while, Toru focused on his exam until the timer rang.
"All right, time's up. Everyone, hand in your exams," Iruka-sensei said.
Toru stood up from his seat and walked over to Iruka's desk, where he left his exam sheet.
'That's it. Perfect,' he thought as he returned to his seat.
Toru rested his arms on the desk and looked at his sensei.
At that moment, Iruka had begun grading the exams. Something that amused Toru a little was when the sensei graded Naruto's exam. The embarrassed look on his face made Toru want to tease him a little.
"Aah... I'm done grading the exams," the man muttered.
Iruka never thought he would be such a terrible teacher that he'd have a student who could get an absolute zero on his exam. Obviously, that exam belonged to Naruto.
"All right, let's begin the final exam," Iruka said as he stood up from his seat. "When I call your name, you'll proceed to the examination room. The final exam will be on the Bunshin no Jutsu."
Upon hearing about the Bunshin no Jutsu, Naruto screamed internally. After all, it was the jutsu he was worst at.
"Asahi Toru, go to the examination room. I'll meet you there."
After saying that, Iruka gathered the exams from the desk and headed toward the examination room.
'All right, this is the practical exam. Luckily, I'm good at the Bunshin no Jutsu, so I don't have anything to worry about.'
Toru headed toward the examination room with that same lonely and relaxed aura. Sasuke watched him leave, and an irritated expression formed on his face.
'Our revenge...'
—Examination Room—
Standing in front of Toru were Iruka and another sensei with silver-white hair, Mizuki.
"All right, show us your best Bunshin no Jutsu," Iruka said while looking at Toru with a small smile.
"Right away."
Bringing his hands together to form the jutsu, Toru's chakra began to reveal itself around him, as if it were being contained within a sphere.
"Bunshin no Jutsu!"
As he said that, two exact copies of Toru appeared behind him.
"Wow. He's good for an Asahi," Mizuki said, clapping his hands.
"You're approved," Iruka concluded.
Standing up from his chair, Iruka picked up one of the forehead protectors bearing the symbol of Konohagakure that were sitting on the table. He approached Toru and placed it over his head, letting the protector cover the young Asahi's forehead.
"Well done, Toru. I'm proud of you."
Toru looked at Iruka with the poker face he always wore before speaking.
"Thank you, sensei."
"All right, you can go home now. We still have to examine the remaining students," Mizuki said.
For some reason, Toru felt uncomfortable whenever he looked at Mizuki-sensei...
'How strange...'
Leaving the examination room, Toru removed the forehead protector and stared at it. The metal plate gleamed alongside the symbol of Konohagakure.
'I have to think about where to put this. It feels uncomfortable on my forehead.'
Putting the forehead protector in his pocket, Toru made his way home, toward the small house where he currently lived.
'Now I have to prepare for tomorrow. After all, I'll be assigned to a team.'