Two years went by just like that. The whole team is now around 12 years old. Ikki just celebrated his birthday last month. Everyone was there—Hayate, Hinari, Chikako, Chikako and Hinari's parents, and Naruto. Naruto was getting a lot of attention in the Academy since he had become quite good at chakra control. Chakra control screw-ups, of course.
Ikki also wanted to teach him kenjutsu, but with that much chakra, it felt like a waste. Naruto just needed to fire continuous Rasengans and he'd have a bright future. Sometimes, Ikki was jealous of Naruto because of this, but seeing Naruto's struggles, he let that jealousy go.
In this timeline, Naruto finally graduated from the Academy. The same scenario happened as in the original—Mizuki tricked Naruto. Even with good chakra control, because of the sheer quantity of chakra, Naruto failed to create a normal Clone Jutsu. Because of this, Naruto got the cheat code—Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.
Ikki wanted to intervene, as he didn't know if his presence had changed the timeline. But the day before the exam, Team Orca got a monster subjugation mission. They were gone for a week. After coming back, he heard about Naruto's graduation—and his new cheat code.
[Flashback]
After returning, Ikki's team reported to the Hokage's office. After knocking, they entered.
Sandaime: "Ah, Team Orca. How was your mission?"
Ikki: "It went great. Chunin-ranked rogue ninja were attacking a village. We took care of them. Also, we found a sabertooth tiger—a young one, but crazy fast. We handled it too."
Sandaime: "It's because of your team."
Hayate: "Hokage-sama, I think you should include them in this year's Chunin Exams."
Chikako: "Don't wanna."
Sandaime and Hayate were both shocked.
Sandaime: "Why?"
Chikako: "It's just a drag."
Ikki: "Agreed. We don't need to be Chunin to prove our worth. It's just a waste of time."
Chikako: "Agreed."
Seeing Chikako like this, he knew a headache was coming.
Hinari: "I want to be a Chunin. And these two will also participate."
Chikako and Ikki looked at Hinari like she had betrayed them.
Sandaime: "Okay, I'll register all three of you for the Chunin Exams. You can go now."
Ikki: "Don't we have a say in this?"
Hinari: "Nope."
Hayate: "Give up, you two. You're going to participate in this year's Chunin Exams."
Chikako & Ikki: "It's just a drag."
Ikki: "We're not going to be sent on any more missions, right?"
Sandaime: "Yes. No other missions until the exams."
Chikako: "Yes! Three months' vacation."
After that, they left the office.
Sandaime: "To get them into the Chunin Exams, I had to bribe them with vacation... What kind of kids are these?"
[Flashback End]
And that was yesterday. Ikki, Chikako, Hinari, and Hayate gathered at the Orca Training Ground.
Hayate: "This Chunin Exam will be quite easy for you three. Technically, all of you could be promoted directly—no questions asked—but Konoha wants to show its strength to other villages, so here we are."
Ikki: "So, Hidden Leaf decided we three should go bully some little kids."
Sandaime: "Actually, there's something else."
Sandaime entered this little scene.
Sandaime: "Some of my sources told me there might be problems in this Chunin Exam."
Hayate: "What kind of problems?"
Sandaime: "I don't know. But I want some extra security for this, so I chose them."
Ikki: "We're just normal kids. Just below-average genin who haven't attended any Chunin Exams since our first mission."
Sandaime: "If you're normal kids, then I'm a god. Be serious about this exam. Train and prepare. But don't show your full strength during the exam—just enough to pass."
Ikki: "Okey dokey."
Sandaime shook his head at this constant headache and left the training ground.
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