Over the next few days, Reito settled into a routine. He trained with Kakashi Sensei in the mornings, then went to school—where Akio and the other students were now so wary of him that they kept their distance—and trained with Haru in the afternoons. By the time he got back to the orphanage in the evening, pained and fatigued, he usually went right to bed after dinner. The weekends were used as rest days, where Reito let his body recover and got through all the work Sakura had set him.

He still hadn't managed to replicate the ability he used on Akio, but Gradually, he was becoming more accustomed to the changes he was experiencing. Reito had never been any good at controlling his Chakra but now seemed to have enough that it didn't matter. He was performing better in all Iruka Sensei's Ninjutsu tests but one and could push himself harder and longer during training.

He took it a bit easier when facing Haru, focusing more on technique, even though the boy was no slouch, especially when wielding the wooden shinai that he started bringing to their sessions. Against Kakashi Sensei, though, Reito went all out. He was determined to land a blow against the masked man, who was still able to block his Taijutsu just fine despite imposing various crazy handicaps or even reading a book.

When the day of the Graduation Exam finally arrived, Reito went to school feeling quietly confident.

Haru felt surer of himself too. "I am nervous for today, but I think I've done what I can," he said. "If I still fail after all the training we did, I'll just have to accept that I'm not cut out for ninja life."

"You won't fail," Reito assured the boy. "You have all the basics down. Plus, I reckon the village needs all the Medical Ninja they can get."

Haru mumbled in agreement, "Mm. At least I don't have to worry about the written exam. I know I'll do okay on that because of all your tips!"

"Well, I have taken the test before," said Reito.

"It won't be the same questions, though, will it?" Haru asserted. "I usually answer without thinking about why we're being asked, but thanks to you, I feel like I'll be able to form the answer to any question in the correct way."

"It's me who should be thanking you," Reito responded. "I don't think I would have gotten through the last two weeks without your help. You've been a real friend, Haru. Thanks."

A comfortable silence passed between the two boys as they smiled brightly, reflecting on how far they had come.

***

The morning's written exam turned out to be very similar to the one Reito previously sat. The only questions he had to spend a bit more time on were the ones that tested their knowledge of first-aid or their decision-making ability when posed with scenarios where teammates were injured during a mission. He was sure he had done well, though.

After lunch came the Graduation Exam. "We will now start the final exam," Iruka Sensei announced. "When your name is called, proceed to the testing room. The final test will be on—"

"Not transformation, not transformation, not transformation," Reito muttered under his breath, consumed by a strong sense of Deja Vu.

"—the Transformation Jutsu."

Reito's jaw hit the floor. Iruka Sensei had to be kidding. Of all the techniques he had been practicing, Transformation was the only one that his increased Chakra reserves didn't make much difference with. He could prolong the Jutsu longer, but the thing the teachers would be looking for was accuracy, and after more than five years, Reito hadn't resolved his old habit.

In his training with Haru, his transformations were always a mirror image of the boy instead of a perfect copy. Iruka Sensei had called Reito out on this issue many times. He couldn't help wondering whether all his efforts had been for naught. Was it planned? Was his teacher ordered by the Hokage to set his worst technique for the exam? Did she want to stop him becoming a ninja, after all? Or was it purely a coincidence?

"Man, that's unlucky," Haru commiserated next to him. "You'll be alright, though, just take the extra time to focus.

"Yeah," said Reito gloomily as the first student's name was called.

"And maybe try transforming into someone else, someone you can't see! Maybe you usually mess up because you're looking at me or Iruka Sensei when you transform into us. If you try from memory, maybe it won't happen?"

Reito considered this. It seemed like a good idea. "The only problem is, it'll be harder to recall the details without a visual," he said.

"Right, but isn't that the problem, that you're relying on your eyes too much?" Haru reasoned.

Haru was right. He had to give it a shot. Over the next hour, students returned one by one from the testing room with shiny new Konoha headbands, including Haru, who beamed with joy, and Akio, who swaggered back into the room and smirked nastily at Reito. Only two students had returned emptyhanded, a boy named Toshi and a girl whose name Reito couldn't recall, who sobbed quietly in her seat.

When Sekka returned to the room, looking as mean as ever despite the headband clutched tightly in her palm, Daikoku Sensei called from the door, "Reito Tsu."

Haru gave Reito a supportive pat on the back as he got up from his seat. He followed the large man with a bandana-type headband and a goatee to the testing room, once again, overwhelmed with a feeling of Déjà vu. Of course, it wasn't Déjà vu he was feeling. He really had done all this before, but the stakes were much higher this time.

Sitting at a table laden with the remaining headbands, just as before, was Iruka Sensei. When Daikoku Sensei joined him, he said as if reading from a script, "Okay, Reito, when you're ready, please perform the Transformation Jutsu, selecting a human target and holding it for ten seconds. You can select me or someone else with obvious distinguishing features."

Reito nodded in understanding. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused on his Chakra. He amassed enough quickly but took his time with the mental preparations. He couldn't risk mimicking the man before him. He was going to do as Haru suggested, rely on his memory. He decided to mimic Kakashi Sensei, who he had seen up close so often recently and whose appearance the teachers would be able to evaluate easily.

After relaxing his mind and refining his Chakra, Reito performed the dog, boar, and ram Hand Seals in sequence and activated the technique. "Transformation (Henge no) Jutsu!" he commanded, and a puff of white smoke concealed him from view. When the smoke cleared, he opened his eyes and looked to the teachers for their reactions. They were not what he was expecting.

Iruka Sensei blanched, while Daikoku Sensei sprang to his feet. Both of their faces were riddled with confusion.

"What? Did I do the reflecting thing again? Please don't fail me, Sensei!" Reito panicked, looking down at his body. To his surprise, he wasn't in uniform, not a typical Konoha one, anyway. He was wearing crimson body armor over black clothing, and when he leaned over to inspect it, waist-length black locks tumbled off his shoulders. His skin was a noticeably darker tone than he was expecting, too. He hadn't transformed into anyone even close to resembling Kakashi Sensei or anyone he knew. So, who was it?

"It looks like you've overcome your old issue, Reito," said Iruka Sensei, breaking the silence.

Reito didn't know what to say. He may not have made that mistake, but whoever he had transformed into, it certainly wasn't who he had envisioned. He had done the technique wrong, but the teachers didn't know. Should he tell them? Part of him wanted to, even if they might fail him, if only to understand why they had reacted to his appearance the way they did, to find out who it was that he mimicked.

"Okay, that will do, thank you," said Iruka Sensei with a smile, and Reito released his Jutsu, returning to his considerably shorter self. He picked up a headband from the table and presented it to him.

"Iruka," said Daikoku Sensei quietly with a note of apprehension.

"Congratulations, Reito," the man said, ignoring his colleague. "A successful Transformation Jutsu, held for over ten seconds. You pass!"

Reito adopted an uneasy smile as he accepted the headband, happy at his success but noting how Iruka Sensei's role had been reversed. During the last Graduation Exam, he had been the one who needed convincing to pass him. Now, another teacher seemed to be erring on the side of caution, but Reito had no idea why. "Thank you, Sensei," he said with a bow to the man.

***

After meeting his first big goal, Reito felt a little lighter. Unlike his classmates, he knew there was a final test awaiting them, but there was no real way to prepare for that until the team assignments were announced at Monday's Genin Orientation. Graduation had been his primary concern, and as Kakashi Sensei often did, he had applied a self-imposed rule. Now that he had met the condition of passing the exam, he could enquire about something that had been on his mind.

Reito and Haru cut their training session short that afternoon in favor of celebrating graduation. They threw around a few ideas about how to mark the occasions before settling on eating at Ichiraku Ramen, which supposedly had the best food in town. Before they headed home to get ready, Reito announced, "I'll meet you in the lobby in an hour, I've got to swing by the hospital and see Sakura about something."

"Cool, see you in a bit," Haru responded without question.

Reito was thankful for that. He did need to see Sakura, but he didn't want to lie to Haru about what that was. When he arrived at Konoha Hospital, he asked for her at the reception desk, gave his name, and took a seat in the waiting area. She appeared fifteen minutes later, wearing her white lab coat.

"Hi, Reito. We didn't have a check-in meeting scheduled for today, did we?" she asked.

"No, but you said I could pop by any time," he replied.

"Of course," she said brightly. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, but now that I've graduated, I was hoping you could help me with a couple of things?"

"I can try," she teased with interest. "And congratulations, by the way!'

"Err, thanks. Well, the first thing," Reito hesitated. "I've been thinking about my sister, about what she got up to while I was...away. I know there won't be much information available, but, if possible, I was hoping to see Reika's academy records, that sort of thing."

Sakura looked touched, so much so that Reito had to look away. "I'm sure I can arrange that," she said softly.

"Cool," said Reito, clearing his throat.

"Anything else?"

"I was wondering about the investigation into my disappearance," Reito began with a little more confidence. "Specifically, about the place where we were discovered."

"Okay," Sakura said, looking puzzled.

"If evidence was found at the scene, would it still be around?"

Sakura raised a hand to her chin. "I'm not the best person to ask, but I expect so. I believe old evidence is sealed by the Intelligence Division and stored in their archives."

"Well, I would like to know what they have, maybe even get access to it if it's not needed anymore. Can you look into it for me, or do I need to put in an official request or something?"

"I'll see what I can do. Is there anything in particular that you're looking for?"

"Yes," Reito confirmed, then went on to explain his intentions.

***

Sakura attended breakfast at the orphanage two days later. She had her usual stock of candies as well as a long, drawstring sack in her possession. After distributing the former among the younger children, she surreptitiously signaled for Reito to leave the room.

"We had some of the items you enquired about," she said when he found her in the lobby. "The Hokage approved your request."

"Great. I hope I'm doing the right thing," Reito said as he accepted the heavy sack.

"It was a nice thought. I'm sure they'll be grateful," Sakura assured him. "There are some documents in there for you to look over, too, regarding your sister."

"Thank you," he said gratefully.

***

In the privacy of his room, Reito was very happy to learn that Reika had become a Genin. She had pursued her dream, even after what happened to him. He wondered how hard a battle she must have waged with their parents over that. It surely helped that her academy grades were good, better than his, according to the documents Sakura had provided.

Among them was a copy of Reika's Ninja Registration Form, which was heavily redacted but included a photo. Reito chuckled at this as tears ran over his cheeks, which hurt from how wide he was smiling. At some point, Reika had cut much of her long hair off, making her look even more like him than she once had. They could have been twins.

Reito couldn't see the details of the missions she had completed during her short tenure as a Konoha ninja, but there were a good number of them, including a C-rank one, which was more than he ever achieved. It was sad, though, to think they had both lost their lives—or former life in Reito's case—around the same age. It was as if history had repeated itself, especially with them looking so similar.

Perhaps they were cursed? Should Reito pass the final exam and get his Genin status back as planned, was he doomed to repeat the cycle? Had he survived only to go through some awful experience like he had before? Like Reika must have?

No, he couldn't think that way. Reito wiped away his tears and got to his feet, examining the other contents of the sack. The seven shurikens were for him to keep. The two kunai, too, he supposed, pulling the burned tags from them. He was still going to need to stock up, though. As for the other items....

***

That afternoon, Reito knocked on Haru's door, feeling nervous about what he was about to do. When the orange-haired boy answered, he looked surprised. "Oh, you're early. Hang on, I'm ready; I just need my shinai," he said, kicking around the clothes on his floor in search of the wooden sword he had been bringing to their training sessions.

"I was thinking you could do without it today," Reito suggested.

"You want to work on Ninjutsu today?"

"No, but I got you something you can use," said Reito, revealing the item he had been concealing behind his back. It was a sheathed katana.

Haru's mouth dropped in shock. "Reito... How did you afford...? I can't accept—"

"I only bought the scabbard and strap, and they were secondhand, so they didn't cost much," Reito interrupted quickly, waving off his thoughtful gesture. "The sword belongs to you, though. It, err, was your mom's."

Haru looked stunned. "How did you...?"

"I remembered that Amaya Sensei lost it during... So, I asked Sakura to see if the village found it when they investigated, and they did. The Hokage granted me permission to return it to you."

Haru accepted the weapon, his mouth still agape. He examined the sword hilt more closely and pulled the blade from its sheath, marveling at the shining surface.

"I know we joked about it before, but you really can't be taking a wooden sword on missions," Reito jested.

"It really is mom's..." Haru whispered. "I never thought I'd see this again. Thank you, Reito."

"Like I said, it belongs to you," said Reito, feeling uncomfortable. "Wanna go test it?"

Haru didn't respond right away. "Yeah," he said, turning away. "Later. I'm busy now."

Reito understood. As he left the room, he said considerately, "Cool. Meet me at the training ground around four if you can." He took a breath when Haru's door closed behind him. Since they wouldn't be training until later, he decided now was as good a time as any to unload the last of his emotional baggage, so to speak.

After collecting the drawstring sack from his room, Reito departed for the Torimoto aviary.

-

Who did Reito transform into during the Graduation Exam, and why? Did the teachers recognize this person? Why is Reito planning to visit Kazuki's parents? Does Haru stand a better chance on the final exam now that he has his mother's sword? Will the boys' training pay off? Find out next time, on an all-new episode of Blank Slate: Naruto Blank Generation!

FUN FACT: Naruto fans should be able to discern who Reito transformed into from the brief description. If you didn't get it the first time, take another look and think about it.