Behind the Waterfall

#2 Graduation Mission

"Dobe, you are up next." Sasuke stated, coming out of the examination room. Naruto only nodded, standing up. Walking through the doors, the blonde faced Iruka and Mizuki, who were sitting behind a desk, a sick smile on the latter's face as the chunin felt the small chakra signature of his seal still in place.

"Hello Naruto." Iruka greeted, a small smile on his face.

"Hi there Iruka. What do I need to do?" The boy asked, getting ready to fail the exam.

"Well, you need to substitute with the chair in front of us, make a clone and henge yourself into another person." Mizuki explained, reading from the sheet in front of him. Naruto nodded, crossing his hands as he attempted to make a clone. The clone came into existence, although it was discolored and was slouching extremely, as it attempted to speak, only a small whistling sound was audible. Naruto almost laughed, he knew that this would happen since his chakra control was too bad for his massive reserves and he hadn't had enough time to improve them to a level where he could create a single clone successfully. Instead he frowned, his face not betraying his real emotions as he made another hand sign and switched places with the chair in front of the teachers. Aside from a slight shift in position, that jutsu was successful, earning the boy a smile from the scarred teacher. Crossing his fingers again another cloud of smoke appeared, covering Naruto. When it dissipated, Mizuki looked at a copy of himself, although his hair was longer and his vest was the wrong color. What enraged him, however, was the large scar running from his left ear down through his nose and mouth towards his right shoulder. Snarling in anger the chunin marked a big red x on the sheet in front of him, as Iruka sadly followed suit.

"How did I do?" Naruto asked, seemingly excited for his results.

"Sorry Naruto, but you failed." Iruka stated, almost a whisper. The blonde's face fell, as he hung his head low. Nodding slowly, he turned around, walking towards the door.

"How long do you think he will wait until he approaches you?" Kurama asked in Naruto's head.

"I don't know, maybe an hour." He answered, as he took his place on the single swing. Purposefully sitting with his back to the academy Naruto took a small leaf out of his pocket, pressing it between his palms and channeling his chakra.

"Do you know what chakra is?' Kurama asked in Naruto's thoughts.

"No." The kid simply stated as he had no idea what the fox was talking about.

"Alright, so Chakra is essentially energy that your body produces and stores. It can be used to enhance your muscles and perform jutsus. There are some other uses but they are really advanced so you don't need to worry about them right now." The Bijuu started, as Naruto sat down under a tree and closed his eyes to concentrate on what his friend said.

"Chakra itself can be put into five natures; fire, air, water, earth and lightning. Remember the paper you found in the trash a while ago?" Naruto only nodded, taking out the small piece as Kurama had insisted that he kept it with him.

"When you push chakra into it it will show what natures you have." Kurama finished explaining.

"How do I do that?" The blonde boy asked, turning the paper in his hands.

"Concentrate on your body, you should feel a mass of energy. You can pull from that and guide it into your fingers and out of your body into the paper." Kurama instructed. Closing his eyes again Naruto concentrated. As he tried to do as the ancient being said.

It hadn't come to a surprise to Naruto or Kurama that the blonde had the wind nature, however when one part of the split paper started to soak while the other slightly crinkled it surprised them both. That indicated that Naruto's main affinity is wind but also that he had a secondary affinity for water and a very weak one towards lightning.