The soft, morning sun had painted the village of Konoha in hues of deceptive gold, but for Naruto Uzumaki, the day felt like a storm gathering on the horizon. It was graduation day. He sat alone in his tiny apartment, a steaming cup of instant ramen, his last before the test, his only companion. His chopsticks trembled slightly as he reached for the seasoning packet, the plastic crinkling under his touch.
"Graduation day..." he whispered the words like a prayer, a desperate and childish plea to an indifferent sky. This time, it had to be different. He had to pass. No more pranks, no more being the "dead last," no more being the village's outcast, the boy they pointed at. He slurped the noodles with a loud, forced enthusiasm, but his stomach was a tight, painful knot of anxiety.
He set out for the academy in his usual bright orange jumpsuit, a walking beacon of defiance and insecurity in the quiet morning. As he walked, he felt the familiar, chilling shift in the village's atmosphere. Villagers muttered under their breath, some deliberately turning away, others not bothering to hide the sharp scorn in their eyes.
A jōnin, a seasoned warrior with a scar bisecting his eyebrow, passed by and scoffed. "Why even let that thing try again?" the man mumbled, but the words, sharp and venomous, sliced through the air and struck Naruto like a physical blow. He heard it, of course he did. He always did. He just kept walking, forcing a wide, goofy grin onto his face, a mask to hide the familiar, aching hurt that bloomed in his chest.
"I'll show you all," he muttered, the words barely audible against the breeze. "Just wait."
He arrived early, as he always did on test days, and stood near the swing set, the cool morning breeze swaying him slightly. The other kids arrived in a rush, a cacophony of laughter and chatter, but none of it was for him. He saw Chōji and Shikako give him a quick, polite nod before they walked by, too well-mannered to be outright cruel, but still keeping their ingrained distance. Sakura glared at him when he tried to wave, her emerald eyes a mirror of the village's disdain, fixed only on the object of her affection. Sasuke, of course, didn't even acknowledge his existence, a ghost of cool indifference. Naruto swallowed the sting, the familiar lump in his throat making it hard to breathe.
He pretended to belong as he walked into the classroom behind the others. The theoretical exam was first, a test of his knowledge, and he struggled, his mind a jumble of half-remembered lessons and frustrated self-doubt. The room was quiet for once, no loud pronouncements of his awesomeness, no time for pranks. Just the scratch of pencils and the heavy sighs of students hunched over their papers.
He stared at his test sheet, the question looked to be in a foreign language, that he couldn't even understand. "List the seal order for a C-Rank Fire Release technique." He chewed on the end of his pencil, his mind drawing a complete blank. Ram → Tiger →… Monkey? No, wait… Horse? He marked something at random, despair beginning to cloud his vision, and handed it in when the bell rang.
Iruka-sensei stood at the front, a clipboard in his hand, and announced the next stage. "The practical portion of the graduation exam will be the Clone Jutsu."
Naruto's stomach plummeted. Not shuriken throwing. Not sparring. The one jutsu he couldn't get right no matter how hard he tried. It was always came out as a joke, a pale, sickly imitation of a clone.
One by one, the students were called. Sasuke produced three flawless, perfect clones, solid as rock. Sakura's were a bit wobbly, but still visible and solid enough to pass. Even Chōji, who often fumbled, managed a decent set.
"Naruto Uzumaki."
His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird. He walked forward, a shaky grin plastered on his face. Sweat beaded on his brow. He pressed his palms together, inhaled, and forced all his chaotic chakra to cooperate. "Clone Jutsu!" he exclaimed.
A puff of smoke billowed out beside him. When it cleared, there were two "clones," if you could possibly call them that. One was upside down with its tongue sticking out, a miserable caricature. The other lay facedown on the floor, twitching faintly like a flattened earthworm. They were the most pathetic clones the class had ever seen.
The room was silent. No one laughed, they were all too used to this inevitable failure. Mizuki-sensei, a sneer barely masked, looked at Iruka. Iruka's lips parted, but no words came out.
"I... I tried," Naruto said, his voice pleading, eyes wide and watery. "Did you see? I made two this time!"
Iruka looked at him, his expression a familiar mixture of pity and regret. "Naruto… I'm sorry, you fail."
Hours later, he sat on the swing outside the academy, the same one he'd always sat on, a solitary island in a sea of joy. His hands were shaking, he'd failed again.
What more do they want from me? he thought, the tears he'd been holding back finally starting to blur his vision. I worked so hard… I really did…
He heard the faint cheers of his classmates and their parents, their joy and pride a stark, cruel contrast to his absolute despair. He was alone, as he always was, a shadow outside the celebration.
A moment later, Mizuki approached him, crouching down so they were eye to eye. "It's not fair, huh?" he said, a seemingly kind, gentle smile on his face.
Naruto looked up, suspicious. Mizuki seemed too nice now, suddenly too concerned.
"You know," Mizuki continued, leaning in conspiratorially, "there's a special way to pass. A secret test the teachers don't tell everyone about."
Naruto's ears perked up, a spark of desperate hope igniting in his chest, a chance.
"If you get a certain scroll and learn a jutsu from it… you can graduate immediately," Mizuki continued, his voice dropping to a seductive whisper.
A secret test? I could still become a ninja? The hope bloomed into a desperate, wild fire, chasing away the paralyzing cold of his failure.
"Where do I find it?" Naruto asked, his voice trembling with urgency.
Mizuki leaned in further, his smile widening into something that no longer looked kind, but sharp and predatory.
"The Scroll of Seals. It's locked away in the Hokage's office. But if anyone can get it," he paused, his eyes glinting, "it's you, Naruto."