Naruto looked lost for a moment before Iruka nudged him. "Your daily exercise forms, Naruto."
Naruto nodded and set himself into a stance but was immediately stopped by Sarutobi.
"What is that stance, Naruto?"
Naruto grinned. "It's what Mizuki-sensei had me do everyday. He said it was a special advanced form just for me while everyone else did the basic stuff." Naruto noticed the scowl on the old leaders face and realized something. Naruto's grin faded as he mumbled, "Its not, is it?"
"Do you remember the basic moves, Naruto?" Iruka asked.
"I think so Iruka-sensei." Naruto then went through what he remembered but he was awkward and off balance the whole time. Once the boy had finished, he stood quietly as Sarutobi looked on. The aged leader remained silent before nodding slowly.
"I have seen worse. Now for the three basic ninjutsu. Replacement, Transformation and Clone techniques. I am well aware of your skill with Transformation so we can skip that one. Using the full hand seal sequence you were taught, replace yourself with the bucket of water on the other end of the hall."
Naruto looked down, "It doesn't work for me if I use the whole sequence I was taught. I was using one I saw the teme, um, Sasuke use."
Sarutobi waved Naruto closer, "Show me the hand seals you were taught without applying chakra, Naruto."
Naruto stepped closer and slowly went through the seals. The ANBU, Bear, broke his silence with a mild curse. Sarutobi confused looked at Bear, "You recognized that sequence?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama. If he used that sequence, he could make a Replacement technique work if he used a small amount of chakra. However, it is actually the sequence for a suicide technique designed to bury the user into the ground if captured."
Naruto paled at that was muttered, "I am glad I copied off the teme then."
Sarutobi frowned again but continued, "Now for the Clone technique, Naruto."
Naruto groaned at hearing that but did as ordered. He made the seals and focused but like in his genin test, he produced a single sickly looking clone.
Sarutobi rubbed his chin as Naruto looked downcast. "Naruto, I want you to try again for me, but do something different. Use the same amount of chakra but focus on making 50 clones, not just one."
Iruka and the ANBU all looked at the Hokage with puzzled looks but they turned back at Naruto to see the boy focus once more. When Naruto cast his jutsu the air around the boy shimmered and 50 clones of Naruto appeared. Iruka looked pole axed at the sight of so much orange. Sarutobi smirked and muttered, "I thought as much."
"Sir?" Iruka inquired.
"You told me you could see chakra around Naruto when he tried to make his Clone technique work. That means he was badly overloading it. ANBU, activate my privacy barrier seals on the hall. This next test would be felt clear outside the village without them if I am not mistaken."
The ANBU complied and the walls glowed with a dim blue glow.
Naruto, this last test will be the most important of them all. You remember the exercises back in the first year of the Academy where you practiced pulling out chakra?"
The boy nodded.
Sarutobi continued, "Then I want you to generate as much chakra as you can using that method."
Naruto looked scared for a moment but stepped back. He made a single hand sign and held it as he focused. The boy began to glow blue as chakra swirled around him which quickly grew into a blue white sphere around him.
Sarutobi was awestruck at the pure light surrounding the youth. "Is that you maximum, Naruto?"
"Um, no. Last time I did this, Kara-sensei said I must be doing it wrong because no Academy student should be able to do this."
"No, you are doing it correctly, Naruto. Focus and pull it all out. We need to know how much chakra you have. Pull until it starts to feel different."
Naruto closed his eyes, concentrated harder and pulled. The orb around him glowed brighter still and doubled in size. The light was painful to look at and it continued for nearly a minute before dying down as Naruto tired himself out and fell to his knees.
Sarutobi stepped up to the boy and smiled. "That was very impressive, Naruto. Was that as much as you could make?"
"Well, I kept going until I started to feel sick to my stomach. After that I just held it there."
"Iruka, why don't you go take Naruto for that ramen you were going to buy him last night. I need to take care of a few things before I can render my verdict." Sarutobi pulled out a number of bills and handed them to Iruka. "It's on me this time."
The teacher and boy walked out and Sarutobi turned to face the masked ANBU. The two cloaked forms removed the masks and cloaks to reveal a pair of jonin, Tenzo and Sarutobi Asuma.
"The boy has no practical skills whatsoever at this point," Asuma pointed out. "His teacher, Mizuki, was trying to kill him and make it look like an accident. When he couldn't do that, he must have taught Naruto that flawed taijutsu. Another genin could easily kill him in a death match if he tried to fight with that."
"I agree," Tenzo said. "His chakra level is monstrous in amount but he has no control over it. Based on what he showed today, right now he stands in the top dozen in the history of Konoha in terms of pure chakra. It is scary to realize he is only a kid and nowhere near his potential."
Sarutobi nodded. "I hope you noticed he never tapped into the Kyuubi chakra at all. It was all his; one side effect of being its jailor. We cannot let him just go and be a civilian after this. Not with Danzo lurking out there waiting to try to claim him."