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Chapter 8 - Graduation

I woke up feeling a lot refreshed but the surrounding was a bit unfamiliar, no it was just that I wasn't used to it

I went down and greeted dad and Kakashi and started eating breakfast we talked a bit and got ready for school

Once we were ready both me and Kakashi started walking to the academy

When looking at us one would think we are twin brother or something because the only difference between us was our eye color and facial features

I just leaned and said, "We really do look like twins don't we? "

To that, Kakashi replied, "Twins? Nope you are my little brother, so you gotta call me nii-san"

Hearing this, I really wanted to smack him but I restrained myself because I didn't want to cause a scene on the street

Composing myself, I asked, "So, we should probably ask the teacher for early graduation today, right? "

He just nodded and we kept walking in silence till we reached the academy

When we entered the classroom together, it raised a lot of eyebrows as not only we came together but we're also bantering with each other

All the students started whispering and gossiping about what they saw, we flat out ignored them and sat down besides each other

As time passed, the teacher arrived and started the class and the day went on

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Soon the break came,

Many students broke off into groups and went on doing their things eating, chatting, training, etc

Meanwhile both Kakashi and me went to the staff room and called out to our teacher, "Tanaka-sensei, we would like to request for early graduation" The two said in sync

*I am not being partial cuz Kakashi is my fav*

*Definitely not*

Tanaka-sensei just looked at us and sighed, " I expected you two would graduate early but not this early, so do you have any reason as to why it has to be this early? "

I started, " Sensei, both me and Kakashi have already learned everything taught in the academy and there is nothing left for us to learn here "

After I finished, there was a brief silence, until Kakashi added, "Also we will be able to learn more on mission rather than play some ninja games in the village"

Although his words were a bit harsh there was no denying it

After a moment of silence, tanaka-sensei said, "Fine but your test will be more difficult than normal graduation, do you understand? "

At that we both nodded, as we were about to leave I remembered something dad asked me to do in the academy

I turned and also said, "Sensei, I was recently adopted so I need to add my new family's surname to the records, could you help with that"

Hearing this he was a bit surprised but nodded and asked me to write my name with the surname and so I did, well his reaction was something I wouldn't forget

He probably expected some renowned shinobi or a clan but he definitely didn't expect me to be adopted by Dad

But thinking about it, he thought it makes sense as I visited Kakashi a lot

So he assumed I and Dad became associated there

Well since my job was done, we turned leave but also heard sensei's voice saying, "Stay at the training ground at 2:00 pm tomorrow, both of you"

And of course by the time, we reached our classroom everyone and I mean E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E knew about it

Like what is this some super gossiping power or something

But we both sat down and were crowded

'Sigh, this is really annoying, but it is a sin that I brought on myself'

Since I had already made myself look like someone who was kind and gentle (which wasn't a lie) , I had to answer everyone patiently on even Kakashi's behalf that we were graduating but kept everything vague

This once again caused our popularity to explode because if we did graduate then the two of us would become the youngest to graduate academy setting a new record

The entire day went by and we somehow managed to reach home without being ambushed by crowds of students, some admiring while some wanting to challenge is

Needless to say we were exhausted not physically but mentally since we had to deal with so many children

Once we entered our home, I immediately went to bath and came out after dressing up and just plopped down on the couch

While Kakashi just sat down but even with his mask his tired expression was evident

Dad just looked at us amused and asked, "How was your day? "

"Tiring" I managed to croak out only that one word

While Kakashi was acting all fine

Seeing this Dad just smiled and pat our heads, he then started cooking dinner while we just helped out

After eating and practicing a bit both Kakashi and me went to bed as wanted to be in our top condition for our exam

The next day arrived, I woke up early practiced a bit and went to wake up my brother

After getting ready to head out, Dad just wished us good luck and we set off to the academy

While going to the academy ,we received a lot of stares which made me feel a bit pressured but Kakashi noticing this just moved a bit closer to me

'How considerate, my brother is the best, but did the news actually float into the village already'

Seeing their gazes confirmed my suspicions, 'It seems that not only shinobi but regular villagers also knew about it'

Kakashi just leaned near me and said, "Don't tell me you are getting scared now, you scaredy-cat"

At that, a vein bulged on my forehead as I pushed him away, 'Gimme my emotions back, I take my words back this guy is most annoying'

Seriously what is up with Kakashi, in the show he wasn't like this even with Guy

He was my fav character in Naruto but that image is slowly crumbling away

As he kept teasing me, I retorted and teased him back, we kept bantering like this till we reached academy

But this time we didn't go through the main entrance but went near the window facing the ground and jumped in from there

We just didn't want to encounter more swarms so we did this

After sitting down, Tanaka-sensei entered and startes teaching but before starting he looked to check if everyone was present and his gaze lingered on the two us a bit longer

And so time quickly flew and it was 2 pm

Tanaka-sensei entered our classroom called us and started moving, the both of us also followed him

Without saying anything, everyone understood that we were called for our examination

Somehow everyone being on the same page, followed us openly

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At the ground, there were three figures standing

It was Dad, Hiruzen and.... a chunnin? I think?

As I took in the view I also noticed the elders and the council all the clan heads

Behind us all the academy students whispering to each other and teachers making them quiet

But beyond that in the trees, I could feel many gaze on us

I involuntarily became more tense because of the atmosphere and so was Kakashi

Seeing us Hiruzen who was talking to the council and elders, brightened up and greeted us

At that, we both said, "Greetings Hokage-sama! "

He merely smiled and said, "Be at ease if you are this tense you won't perform your best"

At his words, we looked to Dad from the corner of our eye and he nodded, with which we relaxed a bit

'Ease my ass, we are basically in front of the entire village at this point, just how many ninjas are there here and why is the damn council here. Shouldn't these guys be busy solving village problems'

'Did Kakashi go through this alone in the original story, this is crazy pressure for us 6 year olds'

Seeing we relaxed a bit, Hiruzen continued, "For your exam we brought some people to judge, don't mind us and do your best"

Kakashi and I just looked at each other with exasperated expression and nodded

Seeing this Tanaka-sensei said, "Today we will holding your graduation exam, the contents are like this, you must simply spar with chunnin Masao here and we will be determining whether you will graduate or not"

'This seems a bit strange but given that we are pretty highly talented they must be trying to make sure we don't did'

And so the.... Poor chunnin came in front of us, a bit pale faced

'I can understand you my dude having to do your job basically in front of your leaders is nerve wracking'

Both of us started getting ready, when he asked,"so who will go first among the two of you? "

Before I could answer, Kakashi raised his hand and said," I will be going first"

Hearing this Tanaka-sensei nodded and said, "Student Hatake Kakashi step forward"

Kakashi stepped forward and made a sign of confrontation

The chunnin Masao also got ready and made a sign of confrontation

Seeing both were ready Tanaka-sensei initated the match

Upon hearing the signal both dashed towards each other,Masao threw a punch at Kakashi which Kakashi dodged and did a sweeping action with his legs

He tried to make the chunnin fall, but Masao jumped and kicked towards Kakashi but Kakashi blocked and jumped, threw a punch to his torso

Being airborne, Masao twisted his body, dodged and launched a counterattack with a kick but Kakashi also sent a kick

Their kicks collided causing them to land and slide backwards

They looked at each other for a moment and then Kakashi quickly made handseals and used clone jutsu and rushed to attack but Masao was one step further seeing Kakashi make handseals, he also made hand seals and cast Fire style: Great fireball jutsu

As the burning fireball reached both Kakashi both turned into smoke and in place of one of them was a log

Masao was still wary but he didn't get another chance to fight as Kakashi reached out to his ankles from ground and used Earth style : Headhunter jutsu

With that Masao tried to escape but a kunai was placed at his throat by Kakashi

"The match is over " Tanaka-sensei said in a loud voice and declared the end of the test

Hearing this Kakashi helped Masao and made a sign of reconciliation

Many people were surprised as Kakashi not only held his own against a chunnin but also defeated him

The council seemed to be evaluating him and after they were done they said something to Tanaka-sensei and he nodded

He looked towards me and said, "Your results will be announced together"

'Oh keeping us in suspence are you Hiruzen'

I nodded and got ready, and truthfully I was a bit nervous, fighting a chunnin was different from sparring with Kakashi

Masao also got ready, and stepped forward and made a sign of confrontation

Then Tanaka-sensei said, "Student Hatake Ryoma, step forward"

Kakashi loudly said, "If you don't defeat him you have to call me nii-san"

Hearing this I quietly resolved to defeat the chunnin Masao

Hearing these things,many people reacted, the council looked to both Dad and Hiruzen, who nodded

While the academy students, were having their mouth agape at this revelation

The teachers showed surprise but quickly composed themselves

And so the match between Ryoma and Masao began

Masao still rushed straight towards Ryoma but this time the scene was different rather than rushing in as well Ryoma made distance while make hand seals at a rapid pace

Seeing this, many people were intrigued and paid closer attention

As his seals were finished Masao was almost near him but then Ryoma sucked in air and breathed out a massive whirlwind

Wind style : Great breakthrough jutsu

Hit by the jutsu Masao was flung backwards but that wasn't the end as Ryoma made more hand seals with same fast speed and disappeared into the ground but Masao recognized this jutsu as he was defeated by it a moment ago

So he jumped away and evaded Ryoma but what happened next baffled him

The Ryoma who tried to catch from the ground was just a clone and the real Ryoma had just finished his handseals and released another jutsu

Fire style : Great fireball jutsu

And it hit the chunnin right on his torso knocking him away

"The match is over " Tanaka-sensei put an end to the match and we made the sign of reconciliation

After I tidied myself up I stood beside Kakashi and waited for the results

After a few moments, the students were dispersed and many of the gazes disappeared

'The remaining gazes must belong to the ANBU and Root, huh'

After what felt like a while, they came to a decision and turned to us

And then Hiruzen walked to us, bent down to our level and gave us our forehead protectors and said, "Congratulations on becoming the youngest Konoha shinobi you two"

Kakashi though masked had an expression of delight while I was also happy but was also calm

As the exam and assessment was over, the council returned to tend to their duties

Leaving only me, Kakashi, Dad and.... Probably Root ninjas

Being overjoyed Dad took us to Yakiniku and celebrated both of us becoming genin

After celebrating we went home and retired to our rooms to rest

When I entered the room, I immediately lied down on the bed and started thinking

'Dammit what do I do although I am happy right now Dad's suicide incident will likely occur soon now Kakashi has become a shinobi , I need to watch out for rumours and try to support Dad'

As for why, I considered it but I realized that Kakashi was likely unable to cope with being slandered and had been unable to help Dad to stay strong which led to him making the extreme decision

Alright but I also need to refine my ninjutsu more I need to reach the level where I can cast ninjutsu without handseals

And so a training plan began drawing in my head as I awaited the grim situation ahead

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