Naruto: Becoming a master taijutsu using martial arts.

I'd been at the academy for almost two years, and my dream of graduating early? Yeah, that plan crashed and burned. On the bright side, my taijutsu was going pretty well, especially since Jimei started training with me. 

I actually felt like I was improving for once. It was nice to have a punching bag who fought back, instead of just kicking the air.

My chakra control was on point too, especially since I hadn't found any lakes or rivers yet to practice walking on water. So, I had to get a bit creative with exercises to improve it.

But… let's talk ninjutsu. Still didn't know much. This year had been a little more productive when it came to learning ninjutsu. We learned the Transformation Jutsu three months ago, and last month we learned the Clone Jutsu. 

And of course, I was once again stunned by how fast Jimei picked things up. It took me three days to make a semi-decent clone, and that was me being one of the fastest in the class. Jimei, on the other hand, made one in a single day.

The Transformation Jutsu was the same thing. Whatever talent he didn't get in taijutsu or bukijutsu, he had packed away in his ninjutsu bag of tricks. Honestly, it made me feel a little salty.

I was still the best in the class overall, no question, proven again during the mid-year tests. But when it came to theory and ninjutsu, Jimei was straight-up better. 

 I was here trying to be the next Uchiha Itachi, but turns out, I was more like Uchiha Whoops-I'm-Still-Getting-Beat-By-My-Buddy-In-Ninjutsu.

"Ken-kun, what's with the face? You look like someone kicked your puppy." Jimei said, poking me in the cheek like the little gremlin he is. "Oh, I know! You're nervous about the survival exercise, right? Don't worry, I'll protect you."

I had to take a deep breath to avoid punching that idiot in the face. I could literally feel a vein pulsing in my forehead from the sheer irritation.

So, the exercise he was talking about was the academy's final test for the year. We'd already done the theoretical tests and taijutsu tests last week, but this year, there was a new twist. We were getting an extra test—a survival exercise.

We had to spend two nights in a training field near Konoha. And no, it wasn't the Death Forest. That would be way too much of a gamble for academy students.

It was just a slightly bigger field far enough from the academy to give us a taste of nature... while also giving us a chance to actually survive.

"Alright, students, today we're doing a survival exercise!" Bekkou-sensei said, giving us his best "I'm serious now" look. "I hope you all brought the survival gear I told you about last week."

The gear? A sleeping bag, some snacks, and the academy's generic weapons. I mean, seriously, I was more pissed about how expensive everything was. 

The sleeping bag and backpack cost me way more than I thought they would and seriously messed with my monthly budget. How the heck was everything so expensive in this village?

"You'll be split into groups of five, and each group will have a flag of a different color. At the end of the exercise, the group with the most flags wins, and the prize is… Yakiniku restaurant coupons and a jutsu scroll!" As soon as Bekkou-sensei dropped that bomb, whispers spread through the students like wildfire.

"Ken-kun! Did you hear that? Yakiniku! BBQ! My mouth is watering already!" Jimei kept poking me.

"Yeah, Jimei, I heard..." I replied, barely hiding my eye-roll.

The yakiniku coupon sounded cool and all, but let's be real—the thing that caught my attention was the jutsu scroll. New ninjutsu are harder to come by than a snowstorm in the desert, so that scroll? Perfect for me.

"Remember, since this is an exercise, me and the other senseis will be watching each group's performance. So even if your group doesn't get any flags, what really matters is how you perform over the next two days." Bekkou-sensei said, giving us the classic "you better behave" stare. "Now, let's start with the group assignments. Yellow group: Kiseki Jun, Yamanaka Shido…"

I paid close attention as Bekkou-sensei called out the groups. We were splitting into six groups, and I was crossing my fingers I'd end up in a group with people who didn't suck.

I hated team assignments in my past life, but here? I was stuck with it again. Lucky me.

"Purple group: Kuroda Jimei, Kyoshin Natori, Hyuuga Tokuma, Hoshino Kenshin, and Nara Hiyomi."

My eyebrow went up when I heard our group. Jimei's face turned into a mix of disgust and panic.

"Ugh! No! Why do I have to be in the same group as THAT guy?" Jimei whined, clutching his chest dramatically like he'd just seen a ghost.

"Jimei, he's literally five steps away, you know?" I whispered, trying to stifle my laughter.

"So what? He'll hear it anyway!" Jimei huffed, crossing his arms like a toddler.

"I heard that." Tokuma said, rolling his eyes like he was too cool for us. "And honestly? The fact that you're in the same group as me is a much bigger problem for me than it is for you."

"Oh, really? And why's that? Because I don't spend all day posing like a 'big shot Hyuuga' while getting my butt kicked by Kenshin?" Jimei shot back, grinning like a cat that just ate the canary.

"Better than being a walking dead weight." Tokuma shot back, crossing his arms. "You're so useless, you'll probably trip on a kunai by the end of the first day."

"Dead weight? Did you just call me a DEAD WEIGHT?!" Jimei practically shouted, his finger pointed at Tokuma like he was about to unleash a Rasengan to the face. "I'm an essential member of this team!"

"Yeah, essential for what? For being the first one caught in an ambush? Because even that, you'd probably mess up." Tokuma replied, looking smugger than a guy who just pulled off a perfect substitution jutsu.

Before the fight could turn into a full-on ninja battle, we heard a yawn so loud, it could've woken up all the sleeping ninjas in the Hidden Leaf. We all turned to see Hiyomi, hanging off a tree like a sloth that had just discovered the art of napping, eyes half-closed and clearly in another dimension.

"You guys are so loud... so... troublesome…" she mumbled, sounding like a ninja who skipped breakfast and was regretting every life choice that brought her to this moment.

"Hiyomi-chan! Are you seriously gonna let him insult me like that?!" Jimei shouted, pointing at Tokuma in complete outrage.

She opened one eye, stared at both of them, and sighed so deeply that even the Third Hokage would've stopped mid-speech.

"Tokuma talks like he's the next Hokage, Jimei acts like he's actually useful... both of you are just... so troublesome."

Tokuma and Jimei froze, processing the fact that they'd just been roasted by the laziest ninja in the group. Meanwhile, Natori remained as still as the Hokage Stone Faces, pretending he was part of the scenery.

 I swear, I think he was contemplating if he'd rather face a thousand Oto-nin or listen to this nonsense.

"And you, Natori? Got anything to add?" I asked, trying to break the tension before it turned into a full-on ninja war.

He shrugged like he was an Uchiha who'd been watching the same boring fight for hours and muttered. 

"Hm." 

And went back to being a human rock. I swear, he was one deep breath away from activating a silent jutsu where you just tune everything out."Hm."

"Well, great chat... That's it." I muttered to myself, getting ready for what was definitely going to be the longest two days of my life. "I'm going to die... in two days... with these insane people... I might as well sign up for the next life as a cloud. It'll be safer."