"!" they all gasped when they saw what was inside.
'What is this... the kanji for man...?' April thought, furrowing her brow in confusion.
'This is...!! A summoning type jutsu!' Sasuke thought. "Naruto!! Sakura!! let go of the scrolls!!" he said when they started to smoke.
"!!" they gasped, immediately throwing the suspicious objects away from them.
The two scrolls landed on the ground bellow the poem, and large plumes of smoke billowed out of them.
"!!?" They were all surprised when they saw what appeared to be a human figure forming in the smoke.
Naruto furrowed his brow and gritted his teeth, ready for another fight.
April also adopted a wary stance. One thing she had learned was that you could never be too careful in this exam.
"Huh?" they both said, eyes widening in surprise when the smoke cleared.
"...!?" Naruto gasped, shocked.
"!" Sasuke also gasped. "You are..."
"Iruka-sensei...!?" April exclaimed, while Sakura stared, taken aback to see their old teacher standing there in the flesh after everything that had happened.
"Yo!" Iruka greeted them with the hint of a smirk. "Long time, no see."
"?" Naruto said, glancing between Iruka-sensei and his teammates for an explanation. "?"
"..." April, Sasuke, and Sakura stared at the older shinobi, feeling just as puzzled as he was.
"W-What's going on?" Sakura asked anxiously. What was this supposed to mean?
"Looks like you guys had some trouble..." Iruka remarked with a smile. He was concerned about their roughed up appearance, but the looks on their young faces were priceless.
"Huh? Huh?!! Why was Iruka-sensei summoned?" Naruto asked, bewildered.
"At the end of this second test, it's set up so we chūnins meet up with the exam takers... and I was allowed to be the one to greet you."
"Greet us?" Sakura asked.
"My... what a coincidence..." April deadpanned with a knowing look in her eye. She bet Iruka-sensei requested them specifically for Naruto's sake.
"Ahem..." Iruka cleared his throat a little bashfully, wishing she wasn't always so sharp, while he pulled out a pocket watch and flipped it open to check the time. "Phew, just in time," he said, snapping it shut with a smile. "The second test... all three of you pass, congratulations," he announced.
They all stared at him, eyes widening slightly in surprise and realization as the confirmation of their accomplishment sank in.
"To celebrate your successful completion of the second test..." he continued. "I'd like to buy you a round of ramen, but... Huh?" he said, when he felt something warm hit him. "Whoa..." he exclaimed, nearly falling over from the force behind the jump Naruto launched himself at him with.
"WE DID IT!!!" Naruto exclaimed gleefully, hugging Iruka as hard as he could.
"H... Hey, Naruto... listen until the end..." Iruka said, taken aback.
"We did it, we did it, we did it!!!" Naruto cheered, letting go of him to pump his fists in the air triumphantly. "We did it!!!! I'm so happy!!!"
Iruka couldn't help but smile while he watched him.
"Haa..." Sakura and April sighed, sinking to the floor. They were so relieved, that the minute they relaxed, their legs almost gave out on them.
"He sure has energy..." Sasuke remarked, also dropping to the floor in a sitting position to rest.
"YAY!!!" Naruto cheered, jumping up and down.
"Shut up!" Sakura snapped at him, getting annoyed.
"You sure haven't changed in your inability to relax," Iruka told him, sweat-dropping.
"Heh... I see..." Sasuke said, smirking when something occurred to him.
"!" Iruka looked at him.
"?" Sakura glanced questioningly at him.
"Yeah... I guess that solves part of the mystery of the scrolls..." April agreed.
"?" Naruto stopped jumping to look at her, confused.
"If we had opened the scrolls during the test... what were you going to do, Iruka-sensei?" Sasuke asked him.
"?" Naruto and Sakura said.
"As always, you two are sharp, Sasuke and April," Iruka said, squatting down to pick up the Earth Scroll. He straightened up and held it out in front of him. "As you may have figured out... This test's rules are set up to test your ability to perform missions correctly... So if you were to break these rules and open the scrolls..."
"What would have happened?" Sakura asked.
"... The exam takers... would be put in a condition of unconsciousness for the remainder of the test period," Iruka replied seriously. "Those were my orders."
"Heh. Good thing you guys didn't open it..." Sasuke teased Naruto and Sakura with a smirk, while April smiled wryly at their shocked expressions.
'Thank goodness for Kabuto...' April thought. She had a lot of questions about him, but she was glad for his intervention in this case.
'Kabuto-san!! Thank you so much!' Naruto thought nervously, wringing his hands together in a silent prayer to their savior.
'Phew... That was close," Sakura and Inner Sakura thought as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She glanced up at the poem and remembered they still had one unanswered question. "Oh yeah, Sensei!! What's the meaning of that writing on the wall?" she asked, pointing up at it. "It seems like there's a word missing... We can't figure it out."
"Who the hell cares?!!" Naruto shouted, to her annoyance. "We passed!!!!"
"No... I am also here to explain that..." Iruka said, sweat-dropping. "Read it. This is the motto of the chūnin written by Hokage-sama."
"Motto?" Naruto asked, squinting.
"Yeah, the 'heaven' in this paragraph refers to the human mind, and the 'earth' refers to the human body," Iruka explained, looking up at it.
"Ahhh..." Naruto said. That still didn't explain a thing from his perspective.
"If you lack heaven, seek wisdom, be prepared," Iruka quoted, glancing back at them. "That's basically... for example, if Naruto's weakness is his brain..." he said with a smirk, tapping his forehead protector with his thumb. "Gain knowledge and prepare yourself for the missions."
"Hey... Who asked you?" Naruto grumbled under his breath, pouting with his arms crossed.
April smiled wryly. She was beginning to feel like they were back at the academy.
"Hehehe," Sakura laughed, amused by the sullen expression on his face.
"If you lack earth, run in the fields, seek advantages," Iruka quoted the next part. "So if Sakura's weakness is stamina, then it's saying you must continue to train hard."
"Hehe..." Sakura laughed self-depreciatingly, while she rubbed the back of her neck, sticking her tongue out. She couldn't argue with that.
Naruto smirked, feeling redeemed now that he wasn't the only one being picked on.
"And if you have both heaven and earth... you can succeed in even the most dangerous mission," Iruka continued, glancing at April and Sasuke. April might not have as much power as Sasuke, but she had a better balance of the two than their other teammates. "So basically, all missions become safe and easy."
"Then... the part with the missing word?" Sakura asked.
Iruka smiled and held out the open scroll again. "So... the word that represents a chūnin. The 'person' word from the scrolls goes there. The last sentence is 'These rules will guide a person's extremes.'" Iruka lowered the scroll and raised his hand with one finger pointed, adopting the familiar posture he always used to lecture them in his classroom. "These five days of survival were to test the exam taker's basic abilities needed to become a chūnin... and you guys successfully passed that. Chūnins are at the rank of military captain, you have the responsibility of guiding a team... The knowledge, stamina, and inner wisdom, are all needed for your duties. I want you guys to challenge the next step with this chūnin motto in mind," he stated seriously. "That is... all that I have to pass on to you."
April smiled wanly for a moment at the thought of all the new responsibilities and hardships this new promotion could bring, but, then again, that was life, wasn't it? She glanced up at Naruto, and he grinned. She grinned back.
"Roger!!!" they said enthusiastically, giving their old teacher a salute.
Naruto faltered slightly when he saw the grim expression on Iruka's face.
'Is there... still more...?' April wondered, also concerned.
"But this third and final test... Don't push yourselves too hard..." Iruka told them somberly. They did well to come this far, but from here on out, things would only become more difficult and more dangerous. "Especially you, Naruto, I worry about you the..."
"From the moment I received this leaf forehead protector, I'm no longer an academy student!! There is no need to worry!!!" Naruto said strongly, cutting him off. "And this is the symbol that I am all grown up, right?!!" he continued with determination, readjusting it with his thumb. "The part about me never relaxing may not have changed, but I'm not a kid anymore!!! Now... I'm a ninja!!"
"..." Iruka stared at him for a moment while that sank in, still concerned, but astonished by the strength of his determination.
"Iruka-sensei..." April said seriously, getting his attention. "We may be young, but we are prepared."
Iruka glanced between their determined faces. "I see..." he said, his expression softening with understanding. "I'm sorry... Naruto..." He thought back to how he had begged Anko to let him be the one in charge of greeting them. He had been so sure that they wouldn't pass, that weren't ready yet, that they still needed him to look after them.
"I know their strength best. Since they will fail, I want to prepare them for the worst," he said adamantly as he stood before her.
"If you are that passionate, go ahead," Anko told him. "It's not like it's a job in demand."
"Thank you!" Iruka said, bowing to show his gratitude.
"But, they are Kakashi's, right?" Anko said. "If he nominated them, then I'm expecting to be impressed."
Iruka furrowed his brow, remembering the words Kakashi told him when they clashed over his team's nomination.
"Stay out of this" Kakashi said firmly. "They are no longer your students. Now... they are my soldiers!!"
"Hehe..." Naruto grinned with his arms crossed, accepting his apology without question, while April smiled with approval.
'The person that truly knows their strength... may be you, Kakashi-san,' Iruka quietly admitted to himself, feeling a little lonely now that he could see how fast they were growing. It was wrong of him to doubt them.
"Have you finished briefing them, Iruka-san?" a voice asked from above.
They all looked up and saw one of the chūnins from the scroll booth at the beginning of the second test, the one who was in charge of applying the exam seals to fourth members.
"Yes, just now..." Iruka replied as he leaped down to join them.
"Alright. Then it's time to remove the seal..." the chūnin in charge of the exam's seals said, gesturing for April to stand up.
"!" April did as she was told, gritting her teeth at her sore muscles, more than ready to get the dangerous and annoying thing off of her. She rolled up her shirt, and he formed the required hand seals.
"Release!!" he said, pressing his hands against her stomach.
"!!" April's eyes widened slightly in surprise at the sudden rush she felt from all of the chakra stored inside the seal flowing back into her, but it quickly dissipated as her body reabsorbed it, converting it back to its basic elements of spiritual and physical energy.
"This...!!" the seals chūnin said, eyes widening when he saw the red mark that remained on her stomach in the shape of the seal, even though he had already removed it. "How much chakra did you try to mold...!?"
"Eh!?" April said, startled by the severe expression on his face. She looked down and saw the mark that resembled a bad sunburn. "I... I may have accidentally tried to use some... but I never purposefully tampered with the seal or anything!!" she explained quickly, worried she was about to get her team in trouble.
"Yeah!! Yeah!! We never touched the seal!!!" Naruto added, backing her up.
"We... We aren't disqualified or anything... are we?" Sakura asked anxiously, while Sasuke furrowed his brow.
"No... Nothing like that..." the seals chūnin said. 'To have the seal react violently enough to leave a physical mark on her skin... and then not only survive, but still be walking around... How on earth did this girl manage that...?' he wondered, frowning and furrowing his brow in confusion. "No disqualifications here. You've all passed." He couldn't explain it, but it was clear that the seal had not been tampered with.