~~The fog from the shower clouded the mirror. Humid air surrounded and swirled around the boy as he held the knife closer to his pale skin. Only wearing his night clothes, the boy was slumped against the edge of the bathtub. The boy's golden halo of hair was still dripping from his earlier shower. He pressed the knife deeper against his arm, and carefully cut a clean line.

Blood started to emerge from the cut and slowly dribbled down the boy's arm. With each new cut, the word "Sorry," could be heard echoing throughout the bathroom. He made more and more cuts across his skin until his eyes simply couldn't stay open anymore.~~

The clock ticked. People's knees bounced up and down. The sound of pencil on paper could be heard from the neighboring classrooms. A squeal of joy came from the inside of the testing room. I sighed.

Yes, it was testing day. The day most of us were dreading, even me. I may be skilled at being a ninja- not like anyone knew anyways- but tests were always the worst. After all, I am known as Dead Last. I had to fail every test to live up to my reputation. The thing is, I really hate failing.

However, the awful grade isn't the worst part. Seeing the disappointment in the teacher's eyes as they give me the paper back, is the worst. I can just feel them judging me, wishing I was smarter. Tests are just a chance for everyone to tell me how horrible I really am.

A door crashing open brings me out of my thoughts. "Naruto Uzumaki?" Iruka's voice calls out. Everyone turns to look at me. I stand up, and sigh before walking over into the testing room. "Okay, so we just need you to create a couple clones!" One of the teachers says noisily.

"How many?" I ask. However many they ask me to make, I know I can easily do it- but I need to act like I can't at first. "Five!" The teacher replies with a smile.

"Ah, okay." I make the hand sign and pretend that I'm struggling. I keep this up for a few more minutes before one of the teachers finally call out, "You can stop now. I'll just record that you couldn't do it."

"No!" I cry out in fake anguish. "I can do it! I promise!" I plead out. I quickly make the hand sign again and pretend I'm struggling. "Just a little more..." I mumble. After a few seconds, I make the five clones appear and let out a fake sigh of relief.

...

The classroom was silent as Iruka walked in. Everyone had one thing on their minds; Who is going to be on my team?

I honestly didn't care about who was going to be on my team. I had passed the exam without an incident, that's all I cared about. I had allowed myself one time- and just one time- to prove that I actually wasn't stupid. I think I may have honestly surprised people when I walked out of the exam room with a headband in hand.

Why are people so astonished when I do something that proves I'm not completely useless?

"And for Team 7, we have Sakura," Iruka drones on from the front of the room. That's nice. Whoever has her on their team will be lucky. She may not be physically strong, but boy is she smart.

"Sasuke," Iruka-Sensei continues. Okay, now whoever is the last member is going to be really lucky! Sasuke is smart and physically strong!

I look around the classroom wondering who is going to be the lucky last team member. "and Naruto!"

I glance up with indifference on my face. On the inside, however, I am secretly freaking out. I can't be on their team! I mean, I just can't! I know that I'll disappoint them!

I slowly look over at Sakura and Sasuke to see how they are reacting. Sasuke just has his normal 'meh' face on, so I have no idea what's going on there. Sakura is just fangirling over Sasuke. So.. I guess they don't mind?

I go back to my original position, which is just me laying my head on the desk, and sigh. This might be more difficult than I originally thought it was.