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Several Months Later
Academy Classroom, Konohagakure no Sato
Name: Uzumaki Naruto
Class: The Gamer
Level: 17 |Next Level: 00.00% (Level Cap. Class Up for further Level Progression)
Title: Academy Student (+25% EXP to LV10)
Age: 12
HP: 2000/2000
CP: 2200/2200
STR: 43
STA: 46 (+10)
DEX: 40
INT: 41 (+5)
WIS: 37
LUK: ?
Uzumaki Naruto was practically trembling in nervous anticipation as he waited for the start of the practical portion of the final exams, his eyes constantly darting towards his open status window. The last few months had been both immensely gratifying and supremely irritating. Gratifying in that he had trained himself as hard as he could and had shown real and noticeable progress with everything he'd worked on. Irritating in that the damned level cap had forced him to limit his training to just honing and improving the skills he'd acquired as well as those few he gained while simply working toward his goal.
Thanks to Iruka, he had learned the Travelling Ten and had managed to max all ten out within two months, mostly due to the fact that each had a Level Cap of only twenty, which was apparently the usual for E-Rank jutsu. A pleasant surprise was that mastering the Fūton and Doton jutsu had levelled up his [Natural Fūton Affinity] and [Secondary Doton] skills by one. Also, it seemed maxing out low-ranking jutsu like that generates a brand new jutsu on the next level up.
[Doton: Ana] had given him the D-Rank [Doton: Otoshiana] (Earth Style: Pitfall), a jutsu that was basically a larger variant of the original that was big enough to trap a fully grown man, if only barely. [Doton: Umeru] had given him [Doton: Doshakuzure] (Earth Style: Mudslide), a jutsu that sent a wave of mud at his enemy, while [Doton: Wana] gave him another version of [Otoshiana] called [Doton: Kushizashi no Otoshiana] (Earth Style: Skewer Pitfall) that was only slightly higher on the scale than the original, being a High-D Rank jutsu, as it was simply adding small, earthen spikes to the bottom of the pit.
[Fūton: Soyokaze] gave him [Fūton: Yakaze] (Wind Style: Arrow Wind), a weak offensive attack that formed arrows from the air around him and sent them flying at the enemy. [Fūton: Shōshū] gave him another non-combat jutsu, [Fūton: Suzukaze] (Wind Style: Cool Breeze). It circulated the air and lowered its temperature slightly to alleviate heat. Naruto supposed that it would be useful if he had to go to Kaze no Kuni or a similar location for a mission
[Suiton: Ketsuro] gave him [Suiton: Yūdachi] (Water Style: Evening Squall), another fairly weak attack jutsu that formed multiple small darts of water from the air around him and fired them at the enemy. [Suiton: Roeki] gave him [Suiton: Suishō] (Water Style: Water Crystal), a personal defence jutsu. It created a shield of water about the size of a dinner plate that he could control to intercept attacks.
The two fire types of the Travelling Ten, [Katon: Kesu] and [Katon: Hibana], simply gave a level each to [Katon: Hotarubi], which was fine. As he was taking his Jiji's advice, it was fine. He could earn a third elemental affinity later on.
Finally, [Raiton: Seidenki] had given him [Raiton: Denkō Sekka] (Lightning Style: Lightning Snowflakes), an odd jutsu that, as its name suggested, fired a dozen or so snowflakes of lightning at the enemy, each dealing only a tiny amount of damage but also having a small chance to cause temporary paralysis as a result of muscle spasms.
He had been forced to show Iruka-sensei the [Doctored] scroll that Mizuki had given him in order to get a proper scroll and boy, had Iruka-sensei been pissed at Mizuki. He had gone off to report the man with almost indecent haste and had come back looking, if not satisfied, then mollified by whatever his Jiji had said.
His study dates with Sakura had continued, although he hadn't gained any INT from the sessions within a bit over a month after learning about the Kyūbi. On the bright side, he was now halfway up the ladder of [Neutral] to [Friendly], relationship-wise, not as far as he'd like but he'd take it.
Naruto had also tried to be nice to Hinata…emphasis on 'tried' because the girl fainted if he was too nice to her! Seriously, the first time he called her 'Hinata-chan' to her face, she turned crimson, squeaked and fainted! How the hell were you supposed to talk to someone who did that?! At a guess, it was her [Shy Maiden] title that she had…her second title at that.
He had scanned people with [Observe] and found that a lot of people, especially members of the Shinobi Forces, had a second title. That he hadn't been able to see them until only a month or so ago, which was likely because the [Observe] skill's level had been too low. The civilians either hadn't 'Classed Up' to earn a second title, like Tenten's parents, or weren't a member of an important clan, like Hinata was.
It made Naruto wonder what high-ranking people, like his Jiji, had title-wise? All he got when he casually [Observed] him was a screen full of question marks and only a single title. As the Uzumaki boy doubted that his Jiji was in any way inferior to Hyūga Hinata, he had to guess that the Hokage had at least the same number of titles that she did, perhaps even a third or more.
'There's so much about my power that the 'help' section either doesn't mention or skates over.' He thought with a frown. 'It's like the stupid thing wants me to learn things as I go rather than having all knowledge straight off the bat.'
Down at the front of the classroom, the two chunin, Iruka and Mizuki, were marking papers, which made Naruto grin somewhat. Thanks to his increased INT and WIS (all thanks to Sakura), he could have passed the test with full marks, but he chose not to. His scores over the past year had steadily risen to be just above average and it would be odd for someone who'd been dead-last at the start of the year to get a perfect score out of nowhere. Plus, he wanted anyone that got their hands on his files to underestimate him.
So, he had made enough deliberate errors to earn a passing grade just a bit above the normal curve, but not spectacularly so. He hadn't gotten any of the questions regarding the Hokage wrong though; such blasphemy was beyond his ability to accomplish.
As the man who would surpass all the previous Kage, he had to have a thorough knowledge of all his predecessors in order to fully and completely surpass them.
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