Dark Phoenix of Konoha by White Angel of Auralon

Part 46 - Academy Testing

The children scrambled to get a good spot at the border of the field and when Naruto whistled on his fingers, they ran forward, snatching up the closest balls. The smarter ones ran to the back, where there wasn't as much crowding for the balls.

"Okay, time's up," Naruto announced and thankfully the children had all collected the balls, "Now open them up and when I call out your number, step forward and collect your mission objective and equipment."

Naruto started from one and handed out sealed envelopes with the tasks for the children next to three pouches with equipment for each team. They all held different things, but they would find that part our on their own, he wouldn't inform them. He also wouldn't tell them that he had a small army of transformed shadow clones all over the village to observe the behaviour and progress of the teams. Once the tasks were handed out, he had the teams line up, similar to how it had been done after the second round of the chunin exams.

"Now, you will open your envelopes once you have separated from the other members of your class, and are on your own. After all, only your team is allowed to be privy to the mission you have got. That is a common occurrence with higher-ranking missions. It might even happen that you will be in direct competition with other teams for a mission objective. You have until three in the afternoon to fulfil your task and return to your classroom at the academy. I will be there, waiting for you, taking your reports about the task.

"One bit of warning, you might be confronted with the need to do first aid if one of your teammates is injured a little. In case something really bad happens and you need to go to the hospital, the mission is considered failed and you will receive a zero for the test. Exception is the very unlikely case of outside interference, but that is something I will deal with, should it actually happen."

The children nodded, understanding how serious this test was.

"Okay, it's eight thirty now and you will want as much time as you can get. You may go to a place to read your instructions. Oh, any you might want to take your lunch boxes with you, as buying lunch at a shop would also be considered failing the mission. If you happen to find some edible plants or fruits in the forest, they are fair game."

Naruto vanished from his spot and the children separated from the other groups to get their task started.

Naruto reappeared next to the homeroom teacher of the class, Atakuro, who had watched the meeting between Naruto and his students hidden from the classroom window. Atakuro wore the standard Konoha uniform, had short brown hair and wore rectangular glasses.

"You think they are ready for this, Naruto?" He asked.

"Not really, most haven't taken the class as serious as they should, but they will realise their mistake today. Some know their seals and are also doing well in the general classes, so they should be able to direct their teammates into the right direction. It will also allow me to put some of them onto studying the intermediate material, if they show good results today. But I believe in confronting children with a simulated, downgraded version of what expects ninjas outside of the village on missions from an early point in their studies on. This way, they won't have to learn things they slacked on the painful way, by being injured on missions, or lose a teammate.

"Better they see how much work they still have to do while they still have the safety of the village to fall back on, instead of when they don't have the time to correct their mistakes. It was one thing my own year lacked greatly. I know that during peace times the requirements of the academy are lowered, but you don't help the children that the council, the instigator of the previous curriculum, supposedly wanted to allow a profession as a ninja. It isn't a job for everybody," Naruto answered.