"A-no, Chouji-san, Shikamaru-san, do you know where Haruto is?"
"Haven't seen him." Chouji looked thoughtful. No wonder he still had two bags of chips left; he had no one to share it with. "Shika, did you see Haruto anywhere?"
The lazy genius opened his eyes to see the concerned faces of his friend and the Hyuuga heiress. He frowned as he took note of his friend's absence. For whatever reason, Haruto had a bad attendance record until recently but one assumed that the aspiring Hokage would at least be here for his own graduation.
"No. He is so troublesome."
"Excuse me." All three turned to the newcomer, Shino, the strange and reticent boy from Konoha's bug clan.
"Yes?" Hinata asked hesitantly.
"Haruto asked me to inform you that he would be absent today." All three blinked as one. Now, there was a hair raising concept; the loud rambunctious Haruto being friends with the near mute Shino.
"Why did he see you and not us?" Chouji looked a bit put out. He was not the only one, but he was the only one willing to say something about it.
The other boy pushed his dark glasses up the ridge of his nose. "We met recently. To my frank dismay, Haruto rendered me valuable assistance with regard to understanding and controlling my evolving kikai colony. He proposed a new mating and developmental strategy that in theory would allow me to more effectively support a second or even a third colony." Shino stated in what almost sounded like excitement.
Before anyone could ponder on the strangeness Haruto had helped wrought, an unusually solemn looking Iruka stepped into the room. "If you are here in this room, then you are now officially a ninja of Konohagakure. Congratulations."
Most of the students cheered in celebration. Even Ino and Sakura got into the spirit and forgot their rivalry long enough to give each other a congratulatory hug. The brief but poignant act reminded both of the time before Sasuke came onto the scene.
"But—" But? What but? The jubilate festivities of the new ninja grounded to a sudden halt.
"But there are those who believe you are one of the least prepared graduating classes in the history of the hidden villages." The class naturally did not find their sensei's declaration agreeable and immediately revolted. For once, the grim looking Iruka allowed the protests to die out as opposed to putting it down by decree.
"I don't expect you to be happy about what I just said; I'm not happy about it since I honestly believe you are the best class I have ever had. But what I said is true."
"Iruka-sensei, who are the ones saying those things?" Sakura demanded, lending voice to her peers' anger.
"Many people, including various veteran jounin and senior officers of ANBU." The collective fury of the youths largely dissipated and was replaced by fear and anxiety. Many, especially those who looked up to the older generation, were stunned, their faith in themselves irrevocably shaken. Iruka swore to himself. He had fiercely defended his class in a closed door meeting at the Hokage's office, but the hardliners had been adamant. The cold words of one ninja floated to the forefront of his mind. "The students must learn before it is too late."
Iruka swallowed his worries as he looked at the notes before him. The notes detailed a horrific historic practice, which, unfortunately, was all too common in the ninja world outside of Konoha.
"I want all of you to look at the persons seated next to you. I want you to look at your fellow classmates and friends and consider the following hypothetical scenario. Imagine a very different graduation exam, one that guaranteed a failure rate of at least 50 percent. And imagine also that everyone had just one chance. Those who failed would never become ninja." Iruka's hypothetical scenario was met with astonishment.
"What?! Why?" the students fumed. The idea was stupid. Why spend so much time training students only to block their advancement for failing just once?
"Because everyone who failed the genin exam, died." Gasps, cries, shrieks and some water works greeted the announcement. All in all, it was better than what Iruka expected. Not one of his students fainted… yet. But a few were swaying in their seats and looked distinctly queasy.
"B-but why? Why were they killed?" That was Sakura, who somehow managed to muster the courage to speak out. Iruka shook his head as he corrected the girl's understanding.
"No, they weren't killed for failing; they failed because they were killed."
Most of the already frightened and appalled class was now confused as well. A few, however, worked out the meaning and were fighting to hold their lunch inside. The scarred chuunin nodded grimly.
"The half that failed were killed by their classmates. That was the genin exam—pitting classmates against each other in mortal combat." Sickened looks crossed the faces of students. Their sensei had propositioned a truly evil and gruesome scenario. Even Sasuke, the indefatigable brooder, looked disturbed. Certainly from time to time, he had felt the urge to strangle one of the mindless fools that trailed him like dogs, but only briefly. Never had he actually contemplated such ghastly ideas; ideas that resembled the workings of Itachi's mind. And if there was one thing that Sasuke Uchiha promised never to do, it was to imitate his brother.
"Iruka-sensei, may I ask what was the goal of this exercise?" asked Shino, possibly the last calm soul in the class. However, Iruka noted the agitated buzzing noise in the background.
"The goal was to give you a taste of the real world out there."
"But you said it was a hypothetical scenario?" Ino asked hesitantly. For some reason, she really, really did not think she wanted to know the answer.
"For you, it was a hypothetical situation, but for countless others it was a reality. The scenario I outlined was practiced by Kirigakure until less than two decades ago." A few students froze in disbelief, but no one fainted. Iruka was suitably impressed. The chuunin gave his class a few minutes of silence to sort through their feelings.
The things that members of ANBU and others were saying were not without merit. Iruka recognized that. Of course, he understood that it was better and safer for students to become acquainted with the darker realities of ninjahood now as opposed to later on the battlefield. That did not mean he had to like it though.
"I'm not lying when I say that you are the best graduating ninja class I have ever had. But even so, you need to understand. You need to understand that this is merely the beginning of a long and dangerous learning experience for each and every one of you. Your life and the lives of your teammates may one day depend on what you know and what you can do. So learn all you can and not just from your sensei, but also from each other and from anyone else who's willing to teach."
Iruka took a deep breath as he finished his morbid monologue. "Now please listen carefully as I call out your teams. You will meet with your respective jounin-sensei at the designated areas. Team 1 is…"
"Team 7 will be composed of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka."
Shikamaru was surprised enough to lift his head to give his teacher an "are you serious" look. Upon seeing Iruka's grim expression, the class was treated to the extraordinarily rare scene of the lazy genius smiling.
"Are you ok?" The Nara boy nodded even as he continued to smile. His prayers were finally answered. At last, he would be free of his troublesome friend.
Alas, his change of demeanor was not missed by said troublesome friend. Ino shot him a look promising such pain and misery that half the class winced. Luckily for him, the scorned female blonde had other pressing matters. The pink-haired girl next to her was eyeing her with extreme agitation, while Uchiha Sasuke had yet to stop twitching.
Iruka warily eyed his tension-filled classroom. What he would not do for one of Haruto's pranks to lighten the mood. The chuunin instructor still could not believe that the boy had skipped out on his graduation. Something must be up.
Nothing I can do about it. All orders had come straight from the Hokage's office.
"Team 8 will be composed of…"