Entrance Exam (1)

-(approx) 6 years later-

"HATADA, GET DOWN FROM THERE!" a man yelled up a tree.

'-Oh shit! I didn't say how-'

The man realized his mistake too late. He watched in horror as Hatada fearlessly stepped off the branch of a two story-tall tree. 

Thankfully, the boy landed without issue. In fact, he yawned as he did so!

Barely a sound was made, yet the man was still worried. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that! You'll give me a heart attack! Not to mention how dangerous it is!"

"What's a heart attack?" Hatada asked semi-sarcastically without changing his uninterested and aloof expression. '*Sigh*, Iwamida-san, how many times do I have to do this for you to realize that I won't get hurt?' he asked himself rhetorically.

Despite his worry, Iwamida scolded the child. 'Thank goodness the entrance exams for the ninja academy are a few days away, or my words might actually come true.'

Tatsushi Iwamida was the person who runs the orphanage where Hatada lives, and he was a worrywort. Hatada couldn't make his life easier, though. The only places he could escape his peer's pestering and curious eyes was if he hid. Be it up a tree, on roofs, or anywhere else, Hatada made sure to stay *mostly out of sight.

He was aware of Iwamida's nature, so he always made sure he could find him… eventually. 

Throughout the past nearly 6 years, Hatada had ceaselessly trained. The primary focus, of course, was in advancing to the next ring. As one got older (to a certain point), the ability to absorb mana got faster. The peak of which is at around age 18, at which it begins to level out. 

For Mages and Knights, 18 isn't usually the peak. There are countless methods of increasing the rate at which one absorbs mana after their natural peak is reached. While not all are viable (or safe), they still exist.

That aside, the younger one is, the slower growth is. It will explode past puberty, but that doesn't change this fact. This is why it has taken this long for him to accomplish what normally takes a year at most for kids at puberty.

Most children are not taught how to increase their mana rings until or after puberty, where their ability to absorb mana experiences exponential growth. This is partially due to the fact that the amount of mana able to be absorbed before then is so little that many children may grow bored. The other reason is, as Hatada discovered, more nefarious.

Nobility and the Crown implemented this "practice" in order to give their children a head start. 

'Finally! Another day, and I'll reach the second ring! Although I have no idea where it would put me in terms of power in this world, I can't complain. 

'Just in time too.'

Naturally, he was referring to the ninja academy. It was both his only way forward, and his only way to explain how he can use magic. 'Still, I'm interested in what else this world's magic can do, or should I say, what its ninjutsu can do.' 

Other than train, Hatada had spent the majority of his time in libraries across Konoha. While much of what he believed to be the "real" information was restricted, he had managed to gain an overall understanding of the world and its terms, at least enough to not get caught lacking.

"Hmm?"

Hatada looked towards some noise he heard, and sighed. 'Naruto again…'

He watched in amusement as Naruto was chased out of another building by its owner, this time covered in confetti and paint. 

Such occurrences were becoming more and more common. 'The kid's relentless. With how energetic and consistent he is in pranking, he'd make a good knight.

'Although…'

Hatada recalled his one and only interaction with the kid.

"I'll become the Hokage, believe it!"

'He already has his eyes set on being a ninja, and a powerful one at that. From what I understand, one of the main requirements to be a Kage is personal strength. Still, I can only see this kid succeeding. His dream hasn't wavered at all despite the…'

His thoughts trailed off, and his expression worsened. 'The adults are too harsh. I have never seen such vitriol aimed at a kid who 1) is only a prankster, and 2) whose parents did nothing wrong! I've figured out he's the son of the fourth Hokage, who sacrificed his life to save the village!

'He even has the damn Nine-tails sealed within him! If anything, he's saving this ungrateful place!'

Hatada had already accepted this as a reality he couldn't soon change. However, he couldn't understand why it was even allowed to exist in the first place.

'The third Hokage, now the current Hokage, wouldn't have to have lifted more than a pinky to at least adopt the kid! But instead, he lets the one who holds probably the most dangerous beast in existence within him basically fend for himself!'

Hatada could not understand it no matter how hard he tried. Conversely, he could also not understand how the hell the boy hadn't already turned against the village! 'Such spirit…'

He could only smile at this. 

'I think that's enough training for today,' he decided, wiping the sweat off his head with his shirt. His dedication and consistency with training could only be described as unreal, but he knew the limit. If he pushed too hard, he would instead make things worse, not better, slowing his process.

Thus, Hatada returned to his room to read more. 

Some time later, dinner was served. Hatada, despite trying to avoid it, always attracted the gazes of people around him, not unlike Naruto. 

However, instead of annoyance, indifference, or hatred, it was a mixture between awe, intrigue, and envy. Already, despite only being 6 years old, Hatada was extremely good looking. His jawline continued to sharpen, his hair became more eye-catching, and his eyes deepened in color and beauty. Such are the effects of mana existing in one's body. 'And I would trade the looks people give me with Naruto any day. At least people leave him alone in the end. I have Kunoichi and other older ladies trying to talk to me far too often. It's getting a little creepy.'

He shivered at the memories. One time, he nearly called one of them a pedophile in the middle of a crowded clothes store before some pervy-ninja with white hair took the heat off him.

Still, he wondered where his parents came from; certainly not Konoha, since nobody looked like him here. It wasn't necessarily his hair color, nor his eye color, which weren't even the most intriguing ones around; it was his features. If he were to put it into words, essentially every individual around possessed more "eastern" features, while he possessed categorically "western" features, naturally leading to at least a little intrigue. The only reason he didn't use his magic to change the light at which his hair, eyes, and skin reflected was because he simply didn't want to expose his powers, nor did he know the true extent at which people in this world could do so (nor how common it was).

In his old world, it would have been a dead giveaway of his elemental affinity. 

'*Sigh*, I guess it's fate that I basically look the same in this life, yet at least my features were more common then! So many questions…'

.

.

.

A few days later, Hatada was in front of the Academy building alongside hundreds of other prospective students and their families. 'It feels weird not partaking in any physical exercise this morning. Still, I can't be sure what they'll ask us to do in the entrance exam.'

Hatada was a little nervous that what they would ask him and the others to do would be difficult, his worries were unfounded. After looking over the crowd of kids, only about 20% even had a little bit of chakra. 'Is it uncommon for clans to not train their kids for this? No… that can't be the case…'

Although Hatada had barely unlocked his second ring, he had no equal in the whole-

'Oh?'

He finally found someone interesting. 'How does he have so much? No, that's a stupid question.'

The person he was inspecting was Naruto. 'His chakra levels are equal to that of a 6 ring Knight or Mage! I hadn't inspected him before, but now that I have, I'm impressed. However…

'That Nine-tails is blinding.'

His mana vision, which was trained over years and years of constant use, and as long as someone wasn't disguising, masking, or completely hiding their mana or chakra, saw much of what made up someone's chakra network. As expected, the Nine-tails, which was sealed within Naruto, had an insanely high concentration and amount of Chakra.

'I'd only seen this much once, and that was with the Mage guild's guildmaster, who was an eight ring Mage! And someone like him could probably destroy this whole village on his own without breaking a sweat. How could the 4th even seal that thing inside Naruto?'

Hatada could only speculate. 'Most of the information about that stuff is probably top-secret, so I may never know. My only guess was that it wasn't in its right mind, or the 4th was that strong.'

Other than Naruto, Hatada found nobody else truly interesting. He had already lost interest in kids with the Sharingan or Byakugan, since he had managed to come across a few and inspect them without them noticing. From the little information he discovered about the two doujutsus, he got quite lucky to not be discovered, especially by those with the Byakugan. 

According to his information, those with it had access to a far more advanced version of mana vision, in addition to nearly 360 degree vision. 

"Form 20 equal lines along this field!" one instructor suddenly shouted. 

Thankfully, the kids didn't take long to accomplish this. Even Naruto didn't dare cause much trouble here. 

"The first phase will test physical fitness! If you can't pass this, then forget about becoming a ninja! You will run 8 laps around the field correlating with your group number." After he said that, a few ninjas appeared in front of each line holding a different number above their heads, earning a few ooh's and aah's from the young kids, surprised at how the ninja "magically" "appeared" in front of their very eyes. 

"We are only testing if you are worthy of entering, so don't even think about running more than that!" he said, culling a few student's competitive spirit.

'8 laps… depending on how large the fields are, that may be hard for some of these kids.'