Chapter Twenty-Four: Genin Already!

"I'd have to–" Iruka stammered, his dark eyes going from Raio to his clones. "I'd have to get a minimum of one other teacher to do the paperwork with me. Normally, it's Mizuki-sensei."

'So you weren't taking me seriously', Raio wanted to huff, but bit it back. He pushed off from the doorframe and stepped over to the desks in the room, taking a seat atop one in the front row. "I can wait. He should still be here, right? School just ended."

With little more than a blink, the illusionary clones dropped. Raio noted that he didn't even feel the chakra depletion; it was such a simple jutsu, he doubted it weigh on his reserves even if he cast it a hundred more times.

"I'll be right back." Iruka left the room.

Raio rapped his curved nails against the desk. A nervous tick he was aware of, but it was a small outlet. After this, Iruka said that he'd be assigned to some sort of sensei. He distrusted that the process would be as smooth as he said. These things never were– especially if Iruka was scrambling just to find someone to properly 'judge' Raio.

He turned his head to the side. It appeared that some of the students left their things in the classroom overnight for safekeeping.

Oh! Choji's desk was right next to the one he was sitting on. Raio tapped his foot against the ground as he climbed off the desk, heading over to where Choji put his things. A drawstring bag with swirls over it– matching the markings of his face– was safely stored under the desktop. He reached his hand onto it, fingers wriggling.

Jeez, this kid had a whole convenience store dumped in here. Mostly cheap dagashi junk. Raio grabbed a bag of cabbage taro and Apollo chocolates. Pulling the drawstring bag shut, he dropped it back to its original position and used the food to fill the time.

(The cabbage taro snacks, he found, were slightly salty. Reminiscent of some takoyaki he grabbed the other day with Naruto, but with a strong taste of pickled ginger and corn. The chocolates were a dilute strawberry, and were less sweet than he would've preferred… but man, the snacks in Konoha were top-notch!)

By the time Iruka and his bluish-white-haired friend came in, any traces of Raio's petty crime were gone. He'd tossed the trash and sat on the same desk Iruka had seen him on.

"Hello Raio," Mizuki greeted with a warm smile, his eyes shutting briefly. "You can call me Mizuki-Sensei. You're all ready to graduate, huh?"

This seemed… condescending. Raio nodded and decided to humor him. "Yeah. Test me on anything."

"Well, this is a little non-standard," Iruka said, and he sat at his desk. He had some new papers in his hand. Sharp, Raio noted that Mizuki had a red forehead protector in his hand. "So we'll be running you through some of the Academy's basics. Can you demonstrate how to properly hold both a shuriken and kunai?"

"If you give me some," He responded.

"I got it," Mizuki unclasped the mouth of his leg pouch, pulling a kunai out by the blade to offer the handle to Raio, and similar with a shuriken. Another smile. His voice was light-hearted, "Here. Show us what you can do."

What time was it? In the back of his head, Raio wondered if the Hokage was still going to be in his office when he finished with this. He took the tools. Fingers curling around them, his left hand held the handle of the kunai closer to his jaw in an offensive display, and the shuriken right behind it. "Want me to throw them, too?"

"Right into the top of the doorframe," Iruka instructed, scribbling some worthless notes down.

He twirled the kunai between his fingers. Weaving in and out through them, curling over his knuckles, before he tossed it into the air– grabbing it by the side of the blade, and gracefully flicking his wrist. With a 'thunk!' it shot into the wood frame, followed by the spinning shuriken. If he wanted to wow these two, he would've– but what good would've come from causing more of a mess?

"Oh wow," Mizuki was leaning against Iruka's desk, his green eyes fixated on Raio. "Good job. You'll be an excellent marksman!"

"Now for jutsu," Iruka murmured, looking over the paper. "Could you demonstrate the Transformation technique, as well as the Clone technique?"

Raio put a hand on the desk's surface and shifted his weight on it. With his other, he performed the series of one-handed seals. Four illusionary clones took to the room. Then, with another series of well-practiced seals, they each took the visage of someone. Iruka, Mizuki, Anko, Naruto. Raio took the shape of Ibiki.

Ibiki's eyebrows raised. It seemed like he was trying to hide the brunt of his shock behind a slow nod. Mizuki rewarded him with polite clapping.

"I see no reason why he shouldn't be promoted to Genin right now," Mizuki said, courteous in his deposition, "He just displayed a good, comprehensible knowledge of chakra control. Look, he only used one hand for his hand seals. And his clones shifted appearances!"

"I agree," Iruka checked off some boxes on his sheet of paper in sharp brushstrokes. "Raio, it's too bad you won't be in my class anymore."

The brunet looked up. Some sort of odd reflection showed in his eyes. Raio's eyebrows furrowed; he didn't have the time to decode it before Mizuki smoothed out the new forehead protector, extending it to him with a grin.

"That has to be the Academy's fastest graduation," Mizuki mused when Raio grabbed it from him. "Here for half a day and already a Genin."

"I'm sure," Iruka chuckled, folding the paper up to put in an envelope. "You can come back tomorrow to get your ninja registration card. You'll be put with a sensei and team of your own as well."

"Great," Raio stood up. He tied the headband protector around his throat, the emblem covering his concealed curse mark. "The Hokage is in his office, right?"

"Lord Hokage? He should be," Iruka sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't actually tell him you skipped class. Do you want to go talk to him? You usually need an appointment for that. He's a busy guy."

"I'll go find him, I think," Raio paced over to the door. "Thanks for the help, guys. See you tomorrow Iruka-sensei."

"Ah–" Iruka started. Words formed on the tip of his tongue. Back and forth he went, the conflict in his eyes danced. Raio glanced back at him. What did he want to say?

Raio wasn't the only one with his attention on the teacher. Mizuki's eyes, as analytical as his, were honed in on him.

Iruka shook his head. "I'll see you tomorrow, Raio."

"Great." Raio slipped from the room.

–

The path to the Hokage's office was a straightforward one. Up a pillar of winding staircases. A lack of security throughout the halls, creeping closer and closer to the Hokage's office, was little more than startling. It made his job easier though. In a time crunch such as this, he didn't mind.

He went into a room where a secretary organized papers at her desk. She looked up when Raio stepped on an especially creaky floorboard. "Lord Hokage is busy at the moment, but you're free to sit here until he's done."

Raio paused. He was already halfway to the wooden door with a plaque that marked the Third's office. However, perhaps it'd do him some good to be polite.

"How long will it take?" Raio shoved his hands into his pockets. With an inclination of his head, he locked eyes with the secretary.

"Just a moment," She answered, keeping his eyes. "He's talking to his grandson's mentor. He cares for the village, but he still loves his family."

'I could've guessed,' Raio thought but ended up circling to a stiff wooden chair in the lounge. He sat down. The Hokage's secretary… he wondered if she had access to the village's more delicate files. "What's your name, miss?"

He studied her in a more in-depth way, now that he had a moment to breathe. Her long, dark brown hair was pulled into a low ponytail and had strands of hair falling over her forehead and face. With fair skin, her dark eyes had a keen blade of intelligence behind them, and her face was held in a stern furrow. What an intimidating woman…

"Yoshino-san," She articulated. Her eyebrows raised in a gesture that conveyed surprise, but she seemed anything but. "You're Raio, correct? I believe my son is in your class."

Raio double-took. Yoshino was one of his classmate's mom!? The very notion was startling. He looked at her, his jaw slightly going slack. It wasn't the idea that this lady happened to be his classmate's mom, so to speak. It was the very fact that this was Raio's first encounter with an actual mother.

"Really…?"

"I know," For the first time, her dour expression shifted. An amused smile quirked her lips. "I'm still in my youth, hm?"

A chill went down the back of Raio's neck. He had heard of trials such as this before. He certainly wasn't going to challenge her claim. Besides– the dots in his head connected easily. With the dark eyes, arch of their brows, and hair color: this was Shikamaru's mother.

"Uhh, yeah. That."