Board Thread:Episode Discussions/@comment-1181222-20170802095306/@comment-2112031-20170807194359

Vladosaurus wrote: Actually, it's more likely that Naruto started at the academy way before Sasuke, probably couple of years, since he only graduated on his third attempt. Not necessarily, It seems that students are allowed to take the graduation exam every year, regardless of how many years they've been at the academy. If we assume that Naruto and Sasuke attended from ages 6 to 12, then Naruto's graduation attempts may have been biennial (once every two years), meaning that Naruto may have attempted to graduate during his 2nd, 4th and 6th years, finally succeeding on the last one. Of course, Naruto's atempts just as easily could've been in random years, not necessarily in a pattern.

Thekillman wrote: It seems to me the Academy is pretty flexible in how it handles students, with no known hard start or end dates. Although it seems that the modern Academy is a whole lot more efficient and useful than some of the questionable subjects we know from the Naruto series (like flower picking). Agreed. The Academy seems a lot more standardised than before, with Iwabee being the only exception due to being held back. They also appear to be teaching important ninja skills much earlier, since I'm pretty sure that Naruto had not even learned how to walk on water or climb trees until after he graduated.