The story starts after the Mizuki incident
The next day when Naruto entered the classroom to be assigned to a team Kiba yelled out "HEY! Iruka sensei, what the hell is Naruto doing here!"
"Calm down Kiba" Iruka said "Naruto took an alternate exam once everyone had left yesterday. Now, throughout your ninja career there is no doubt that you will meet and work with many different shinobi, most in here in Konoha, some of you will also work with shinobi from other nations. When we undertake missions there are some that will be undertaken by yourself alone, but most of them are done in teams, otherwise known as platoons. Each platoon is usually made up of four members, that is three shinobi and a team leader. That is why we separate all of you into teams of three when you begin your ninja careers, to get you used to working with others. Some of the original teams that you are put into are designed to group people with similar attributes together. Others will be formed with shinobi that compliment the others' skill sets. Whatever the case may be you will all work under a Jounin-sensei until such time that you can advance in rank. I will now inform you of the teams that you will be working in. Team 1 is..." after a while Iruka got to team 7 "...Team 7 consists of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura..."
"Yes! True love conquers all!" Sakura exclaimed at being put in the same group as her crush. Ino slumped her shoulders and hung her head in regret.
"...and Akimichi Chouji."
"Whaaa...?" Chouji exclaimed, confused at being placed in a team with Sasuke and Sakura instead of with Shikamaru and Ino like he had been expecting.
"Eh?" Shikamaru asked, just as confused as Chouji; Shikamaru raised his hand and asked "Uhh, Iruka sensei?" Iruka looked at Shikamaru and indicated for him to continue on. "All due respect 'n' all, but why are you putting Chouji on a team with those two? I would've thought that he'd be put on a team with me 'n' Ino."
"Ah yes. Well I actually advised the Hokage to do so as well, knowing how well people in your families worked together in the past, but he told me not to, so, if you've got any problems, you'll have to take any complaints up with him."
"Alright then" Shikamaru said hesitantly.
"Now, continuing on, Team 8 will have Shino, Hinata and Kiba; Team 9 is still in existence from last year and Team 10 will have Shikamaru, Ino and Naruto."
Shikamaru raised his hand again and, seeing Iruka's attention shift to him said "Uh, I know that this is troublesome, but from what my father told me traditionally the person with the lowest scores has always been placed with the person with the highest scores."
"Yes."
"So why isn't Naruto..."
"Ah yes, well the Sandaime Hokage seems to have ordered me to place Naruto on your team as his and Chouji's were pretty similar and he told me that Naruto would have more to gain from being with you two than he would with Sasuke, is that all?"
"Tch, troublesome."
Iruka smiled indulgently and said "your Jounin sensei will be here momentarily to pick you up."
Soon enough most of the Jounin sensei came to pick up the aspiring Genin. A blue haired shinobi with a cigarette in his mouth called out "Team 10" and then strolled out the door. Naruto, Shikamaru and Ino rushed out after him.
He led them through the village and to a tea store that was opposite a store where the new team heard someone yelling "if I don't get my dango in two minutes I'll..." as they entered the tea store that their Jounin sensei was going to.
When they were seated their sensei said "alright, now, before we do anything else I would like to know a bit more about you all."
Shikamaru replied "don't you have all the relevant information in a file that was given to you before you picked us up?"
Their sensei grimaced and thought 'I knew my old man was lying when he said that this would be a cinch.' Then he said "sure, I've got the info dealing with all your results and performance during your time in the academy, but that doesn't tell me anything about you as a person. Should you pass the actual Genin exam we will be working together for quite some time yet."
"Wha...?" Shikamaru started to ask before he was cut off by Ino and Naruto, who were more vocal than him when it came to expressing their shock and outrage.
"Calm down" their sensei said "now, before you ask, the test that you just took to graduate from the academy was to see if you had the capacity within you to enter the Konoha shinobi forces. The test that I will administer tomorrow is to see if you have what it takes to make it as a full shinobi. I will tell you the details of the test tomorrow. For now I would like you to introduce yourselves to your teammates and myself. You can go first Shikamaru."
"Tch, troublesome. Alright then, what do you want to know?"
"Hmm...how about your name, likes, dislikes and goals for the future?"
"Alright then" Shikamaru said "My name is Nara Shikamaru, I like to take things slowly and playing shōgi, I dislike bossy women and people who rush into things; as to my goal, it would be to marry a regular girl who isn't too ugly and not too pretty. Have two children, first a girl, then a boy. Retire after my daughter is married and my son becomes a successful ninja, and spend the rest of my life playing shōgi or Go. Then die of old age before my wife"
'geez, he's just like an ol' geezer' Asuma thought. "alright, you next Ino."
"Well, my name, as you all know, is Yamanaka Ino, my likes are Flowers, shopping, music and working in my mother's flower store. I dislike forehead girl. My goal is to become an awesome Kunoichi."
"Alright, now you Naruto."
"Alright!" Naruto said "I like all things related to ramen and the people at the Ichiraku Ramen Stand. My dislikes are the 3 minutes it takes to make instant ramen and people who think that they're all that just because of who their family is. My goal is reaching the position of Hokage and making the entire village recognise my existence."
'Hokage huh?' Asuma thought to himself; he then looked at Shikamaru and continued his silent conversation 'then it's no wonder that my ol' man put him on this team rather than with that arrogant Uchiha brat.' "Alright then" Asuma said out loud "now that you know a bit about each other I would like you to meet at training ground 10 tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock. See ya" Asuma said, before starting to walk out.
Shikamaru asked "uhh...one thing before you go..." Asuma looked at his seated team "What is your name?"
"Sarutobi Asuma" Asuma said before leaving, letting the Genin pick up the tab.
"Saru..." Shikamaru started to say in surprise.
