Did the other rookie 9 fail the test few years in a row too??

[Pakkun]

well i noticed it too. i just chose not to think much about it since it didn't really affect the plot.

I agree it would be bad finding a flaw in the story that actually affected the plot

[hikonami]

i have a theoretical explanation....naruto is an orphan right? where did he grow up? who took care of him?..maybe he was raised at the academy...thats why all the teahcers (jounins like asuma and kurenai) refered to him as the class clown....they knew him since a very very very early age so he started training(or better said attending classes at the academy) years before his friends did....thats why he was able to flunk so many times.......

[iron_maiden]

i have a theoretical explanation....naruto is an orphan right? where did he grow up? who took care of him?..maybe he was raised at the academy...thats why all the teahcers (jounins like asuma and kurenai) refered to him as the class clown....they knew him since a very very very early age so he started training(or better said attending classes at the academy) years before his friends did....thats why he was able to flunk so many times.......

the third was the one that took care of naruto. he didn't show it up front but he was kind of like santa claus. at night he probably left naruto some presents and when naruto woke up he was probably like "woah i've got money." naruto was the class clown because he wanted attention.

[wezzy10]

ya, i noticed that, and i just assumed that noone in the series cared, and due to naruto's malnutrition, he has the body of someone who is younger then he. and lastly, since he was in the same grade for 3 years, he was always around ppl of that age, so he never grew up mentally either. so basically, even tho hes so much older, it doesn't matter, cuz in this case age rly is only a number.

[Macduff]

I don't really see a problem or plot hole... can someone explain this to me?

[Afro Thunda]

Its not really a problem, its just that Naruto failed the academy graduation exam 3 times. So the thought is, wouldn't Naruto be older than everyone else (assuming that exams are held once a year)? Or did he enter the academy at an early age?

[chinmi]

actually it is a plot hole, not a story-breaking one, but still a plot hole.

In some of the flashbacks, they've shown naruto, shika etc as all starting class at the same time, yet naruto failed 3 years in a row while the rest seemingly never even took the test.

[Shock]

Well Naruto didn't have a family or anything and Iruka was the closest thing to anything resembling a family so Im guessing since iruka worked as an instructor he started teaching and test naruto early on just so he could keep a watch on him while he worked since Naruto would be in school anyways.

[stewchan]

I wish you never pointed it out as I'm not fond of plot holes and try to overlook them if possible. Learned that with the DBZ anime/manga

[WiSeMaN]

Very good obsevation. I gotta say I never noticed this before. I think Kishi probably just thought that none of us would notice it either. Or he may have just forgot about that one detail.