This story features laxus as naruto in the naruto anime with twist, but at a progressive and realistic pace. However, while he is still laxus his personality is like Naruto and he will have naruto moments. This also features a seal-master later on and takes a look at what it would be like if freed as sasuke never got the curse mark and left the village. Evergreen as sakura actually took being a ninja seriously and so did mira as ino.

Pairings in this story currently are: laxus/lucy. Freed/mira. Shika/Tema, and Shino/Fu. Ever/elf. Cana/bicks. Other pairings have yet to be announced or determined.

There may be minor bashing. If I do include some bashing of major characters (Konoha 12 for example) it won't last too long and is usually used in character development. I will only consistently bash those who I feel truly deserve to be bashed (council, Hyuga main branch [not including Hiashi], Orochimaru, and Danzo).

Disclaimer: I do not own naruto or it's characters the first one to comment gets dedicated

"Normal speech"

"Normal thought"

"Demonic speech/extremely pissed off Tsunade"

"Demonic thought"

"Jutsu/technique"

"Written work "

Note: Just a quick heads up, this chapter is more of a refresher on the events surrounding Laxus actually becoming a genin. If you do not feel like reading the Bell Test, then I suggest you skip to the next chapter where I will delve a little into some of the first missions of Laxus and his friends. However, I do suggest you read the A/N at the end of this chapter.

~~~~~\\~line break~~~~\\\~~~~~~~~~~~

Today was the day. Today was March 5, the day that this year's class would finally end their time in the academy and become full fledge ninja of the village. The graduation exams had been held just two days ago with all but one student graduating. This student was Laxus Dreyer. Laxus was the village prankster and the class clown. He was also considered the 'dead last' of the class and everyone thought of him and his proclaiming that he would become Hokage as a complete and utter joke. No matter how much Laxus tried, he couldn't manage to succeed for some reason. Even the simplest Jutsu, such as the Clone Jutsu, were too much for Laxus and as such, Iruka was reluctantly forced to fail Laxus.

Iruka didn't want to fail the blonde child that he had become emotionally attached to, but seeing as the child had failed to perform even the simplest Jutsu, was forced to decide that Laxus was not quite ready to be a ninja. Frankly, Iruka was beginning to doubt that Laxus would ever be able to graduate. And then THAT event happened.

On the evening of March 3, Laxus stole the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing as an attempt to earn some 'extra credit' and pass the exam. It was on this night that Iruka and Laxus did battle with the traitorous Mizuki, one of the now former academy teacher. It was also on this night that Laxus finally learned why his life had practically been a living hell. He was the nine tailed fox, or rather the nine tails was sealed inside him.

Just under twelve years ago, the nine tailed fox attacked the village, resulting in many deaths and a great deal of destruction. Seeing no other way to defeat the beast, the fourth Hokage, the greatest shinobi of his time, sealed away the great beast into a newborn infant. This infant was Laxus Dreyer.

Now, Laxus wasn't the nine tails nor was he some manifestation of the nine tails. The fourth had made one last wish that Laxus be regarded as a hero of the village for keeping the nine tails at bay. Unfortunately, the fourth's dying wish was ignored and the village began to torment the child. This upset the third Hokage, who had returned to his former position after the death of his successor, and many laws were enacted. The most notable was to forbid the village from even mentioning the nine tails. Unfortunately, this resulted in the village shunning Laxus, leaving him to contemplate why the village hated him. What was worse was that the child was an orphan, not knowing the love that only a parent could give him. Whenever he would ask the third about his parents, the Hokage would just bypass the answer to the question by saying they were "great people". This and the shroud of secrets surrounding Laxus only served to further the young child's misery.

And then it happened. After years of constantly failing to master even the simplest of Jutsu, Laxus finally did it. In a time where his and his sensei's life, one of the few people who had actually acknowledged him, Laxus finally performed the Clone Jutsu...or rather the Shadow Clone Jutsu. This was a jonin-level technique that told Iruka enough...Laxus was in fact ready to become a ninja. As such, Iruka decided to pass Laxus, by giving him the Leaf headband off his own head.

Looking around the class room, Iruka couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride come to him. All 27 students in his class had managed to pass. This was a rare accomplishment that he would be sure to rub in the face of the other teachers later. He only wished that ALL of his class would become true genin.

"Alright class, I would like to congratulate you all for becoming ninja" the instructor announced. "I have your team assignments right here. After I call out your teams, you will be dismissed for the morning and report back here this afternoon to meet your new sensei."

With that Iruka began announcing the team assignments. "Team 7 will be Evergreen, Laxus Dreyer, Bickslow and Freed Uchiha Justine." Ever was happy that she was on Bickslow team, but didn't care that Laxus and freed that was also there. Laxus was happy for being with Bickslow, but mad that he got stuck with Freed. Freed, well he didn't care about any of them. Bickslow was glad that he was on Laxus and Evergreen team but was wary of Freed. Lucy was also a little disappointed that she would not be with Laxus. "Hey sensei why are there four of us." asked Evergreen." well there is an odd number of kids this time so there's a four man team." Iruka replied "Now Team 8 will be Lucy Hyuga Heartfillia, Elfman Inuzuka Stratus, and Shino Aburame. Team 10 will be Mira Yamanaka Stratus, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akimichi." The class was dismissed.

~~~~~~\\\\\line break/~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With the newly minted genin given the rest of the morning off.

~~~~~~\\\\\\\line break/~~~~~~~~~~~

All of the genin met back at the classroom after lunch break and waited for their new sensei to come and collect them. While the other teams left with their sensei, Laxus, Evergreen, Bickslow, and Freed were left alone in the classroom, waiting...and waiting...and waiting. They had been waiting for just over two hours before someone finally came into the room. It was their jonin sensei, who had somehow managed to fall for one of Laxus's more obvious and ridiculous traps. Laxus had wedged an eraser in the door, which would fall when the door opened. For Laxus, the trap worked perfectly and their new sensei was bonked square on the head as the eraser bounced off his gravity defying silver hair.

For their sensei, this gave him a bad first impression. All he really said to them was "My first impression is...I don't like you" before taking them away to the roof of the academy for introductions.

Their sensei went first, introducing himself as Kakashi Hatake, a jonin in Leaf. Unfortunately, this was all Team 7 got out of their sensei as the remainder of his answers were rather...vague.

Laxus followed up. Unlike Kakashi, Laxus basically read off his autobiography for the most part, stating his dream to become a great ninja and his absolute love for ramen. His hobbies included eating ramen and pulling pranks. Kakashi sent him an intriguing look, almost as if he knew Laxus from a long time ago and was slightly curious as to how the boy had grown.

Evergreen was next. Like Laxus, she didn't hold back, she said she wanted to become a great kunoichi and beat Mira. Her love for fashion and hobby on reading.

Freed like Kakashi was short, but his introduction was much darker than the two before him, stating that he disliked many things and like very few things. His dream, or should I say ambition, was to kill a certain man and to rebuild his clan.

Bickslow's introduction was short. He said that his dream was to find a ninja to help his brother he didn't like or hate anything, and that his hobby was painting. While finishing with his tongue out.

"Hmm, a ramen-obsessed failure, an emo 'avenger', a semi promising kunoichi and a quiet painter" thought Kakashi as he made his impressions on the team sitting in front of him. Sadly, this was going to be like every other team...they would fail his exam. He hated to do it as one of the children given to him was the last member of his late friend and former teammate, Obito Uchiha.

Kakashi gave his team the dreaded news of the actual genin exam, telling them to meet him at training ground 7 tomorrow morning at 8:00am. This test would determine if they were amongst the 33% of their class that passed the exam. Oh, and he told them not to eat breakfast or else they would throw up.

~~~~~~~~~\\\\\line break/~~~~~~~~

Kakashi was a lazy liar. That was Team 7's second impression of Kakashi and one that they got before beginning the exam. They were told to meet up at 8:00, but Kakashi didn't even bother showing until just after 10:00. Furthermore, the 'don't eat breakfast' part turned out to be a trick to simply make them suffer more.

Kakashi explained to them that the objective of this test was to obtain the two bells that he had tied to the side of his belt. However, because there were only two bells, only two people would pass while the third would be sent back to the academy; that is if they even managed to get a bell. Instantly, Laxus began to shout out against this, questioning the whole point of the test.

Kakashi began the exam, giving them until noon to take the bells from him. As soon as he started, Evergreen, Bickslow and Freed darted off into the trees to conceal themselves like a true ninja would. As for the for member of the team, well...

"Come and fight me!" declared Laxus, not even bothering to hide himself.

"Idiot" both Evergreen, Bickslow and Freed though, observing Laxus from their hiding spots.

Laxus charged as the one-eyed jonin only to halt when Kakashi reached into his back pouch for what seemed like a weapon. To Laxus slight disappointment, it was an orange-colored book titled 'Icha Icha Paradise'. After overcoming his initial confusion, Laxus resumed his attack, hoping to teach the jonin a lesson for underestimating him. Kakashi managed to dodge ever single blow with minimal effort, if even that, not even having to take his eye off the book.

"A ninja isn't supposed to get caught from behind, idiot" Kakashi said, appearing in a crouching position behind Laxus. Kakashi made a quick hand seal as Laxus tried to react in time. "Too late. Hidden Technique: 1000 Years of Pain!" Laxus was sent flying while Evergreen, Bickslow and Freed just looked on in embarrassment. All Kakashi had really done was poke Laxus in the ass, sending him flying into the stream in the training ground.

"You sure are weak for someone wanting to become a strong ninja." taunted Kakashi as it became obvious that the blonde wasn't surfacing anytime soon.

"Shut it you! I'm going to make you acknowledge me!" shouted Laxus as half a dozen Laxus's burst out of the water. For the first time since meeting his team, Kakashi was actually slightly surprised. Even Freed and Evergreen a were amazed by the fact that Laxus had managed to pull off this many clones...and not just normal clones, but physical ones.

"You still can't beat me with that Jutsu" Kakashi said as the eight Laxus's charged at Kakashi. Before he knew it, a seventh Laxus had grabbed Kakashi from behind.

"Weren't ninjas not supposed to get caught from behind? Right Kakashi-sensei?" Laxus said ironically. "Here comes revenge for poking my ass like that!"

Even Freed admitted that Laxus had come up with a decent plan. Laxus made a fist and punched Kakashi, only to realize that he had punched one of his clones. Before anyone knew what was happening, the Laxus's were beating up each other. Kakashi had used a Substitution Jutsu to get out of that mess.

Laxus spent the next few minutes trying to find where Kakashi went. To his delight, he found one of the bells sitting by the base of a tree. "Hehe, he dropped a bell" Laxus said, reaching for the bell. Next thing he knew, he was pulled into the air by a rope. He had just walked right into a trap. Kakashi then appeared and picked up the bell. One down, two to go.

Seeing his opening, Freed unleashed a barrage of shuriken upon Kakashi. All of them hit their mark as Kakashi was pinned into a nearby tree with half a dozen shuriken sticking out of his head.

"Poof!" Kakashi turned into a log, using a Substitution Jutsu to avoid any damage. Freed was cursing as he had just given up his position. Panicking, Freed bolted out of his hiding spot as evergreen went to Bickslow to regroup.

Evergreen couldn't find Bickslow, only to find herself in Kakashi's trap.

"Hello Evergreen" said Kakashi, appearing behind her as she was caught in a swirl of leaves. The next thing Evergreen saw was a beaten and bruised Freed, Laxus, and Bickslow stumble out of the bushes, roughly a few dozen kunai and shuriken sticking out of there body. And then they collapsed to the ground...dead. Evergreen cried out in horror as she lost consciousness due to the genjutsu placed on her. Two down, two left.

Kakashi moved to the next clearing, tripping a wire and sending a barrage of knives at him. He easily dodged the trap that Freed must have set for him. When Kakashi recovered, he quickly found himself engaged in a taijutsu battle with Freed. Kakashi easily repelled Freed attacks and Freed was forced to resort to something Kakashi really was not expecting.

"Fire Style Great Fireball Jutsu" shouted Freed. Genin fresh out of the academy weren't supposed to know Jutsu on this level. It was surprising that Laxus knew the Shadow Clone Jutsu, but the fact that Freed also knew an advanced Jutsu...he was beginning to hate the fact that he would be forced to fail them in less than an hour now.

The flames died down and Freed couldn't see any sign of Kakashi anywhere that is until a pair of arms came shooting up out of the ground dragging Freed into the ground so that he was buried up to his head. Three down and one to go.

Suddenly three ink tigers came out of nowhere and attacked. Kakashi after getting over his surprise quickly destroyed the tigers and disappeared. Then suddenly behind Bickslow Kakashi appeared out of nowhere and said "found you." And proceeded to knock him out.

Shortly after, the four academy students found themselves back at the posts with Kakashi facing them. Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen were sitting against two posts and Laxus had somehow managed to get himself tied to one post.

Kakashi gave them a quick lecture about not working together, emphasizing his point by telling Evergreen to kill Laxus or he would kill Freed. He didn't actually mean it, but it was just to help prove his point. Kakashi agreed to give the three one more chance, as long as they did not share their lunch with Laxus.

After much complaining, Freed and Bickslow decided to go against Kakashi's rule and offered Laxus their lunch. Evergreen quickly followed and Kakashi caught them in the act.

The three of them prepared themselves for the punishment and Kakashi delivered. They passed. They were now officially ninja of Leaf.

~~~~~/line break/~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kurenai Yuhi had been assigned to Team 8, consisting of Lucy, Shino, and Elfman. Like the other jonin, she had been tasked with determining whether or not her team had the potential to become an actual team of shinobi.

Lucy was the current heir of the Hyuga clan, currently the most powerful clan in Leaf; however, her father had labelled her as a failure due to her lack of skills and her shy and timid nature. As such, her father, Hiashi, had assigned Kurenai to watch over Lucy since a few years ago while he shifted most of his attention to his younger daughter, Wendy. Kurenai wasn't too fond of the treatment Lucy had received at home and she was sure her father still cared for his daughter. However, clan politics had gotten in the way of what's best for Lucy. Kurenai took this as a challenge, determined to make Lucy into a kunoichi that the Hyuga clan would regret casting aside. It was for this sole reason that she would most likely pass her team, even before she tested them.

Elfman was the younger of the two children in the Inuzuka's main family. For years, the Inuzukas were renown through Leaf for producing some of the best hunter ninjas in the shinobi world. Their relationships with dogs made them ideal for tracking and their own senses were more beast-like as well. Elfman's own sense of smell was about 100x more powerful than humans, not nearly as strong as a dogs, but still...

Shino was the final member of her team. He was the clan heir to the Aburame clan. The Aburame were, in a sense, outcasted by some of the population of Leaf as they lived in symbiosis with insects, allowing the insects to live inside their own body. However, much of the shinobi population knew of the potential the Aburames possessed and as such, they had a great deal of respect for the clan. Shino's knowledge of the insect world and ability to make use of the faint chemical signals found in insect pheromones made him a valuable member in a team that was destined to become a great tracking team, if not the best.

Kurenai saw the potential in this team to be great. She would put very little effort in testing them as she was pretty much set on passing them the moment she was assigned this team.

~~~~~\\\\\\\line break /~~~~~~~~~~~

Asuma Sarutobi had been assigned to the clan heirs of the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans, as per tradition. Mira, Shikamaru, and Chouji were the selected members of each clan who were destined to form the next generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Leaf's legendary combo rivalled only by the Raikage and his brother in terms of teamwork.

Mira even though her name isn't Ino was the best candidate she held the best potential and was daughter of the head clan leader.

Shikamaru, like the rest of the male populous in his clan, was extremely lazy yet possessed superior intelligence that was seen nowhere else. Shikamaru had immense potential, but he held himself back as it would be too much effort for him to care about much else.

Chouji was the final member of his team. Chouji was the heir of the Akimichi clan. The main problem with Chouji however, is that he cared more for food than shinobi training. Sadly, this was common in the Akimichi clan.

Asuma would likely pass this team as well without much evaluation. He knew the three of them were destined to work together, like the generations before them. All he had to do was to get them out of their own little worlds and start working together. Once that happened, his team would be a force to be reckoned with.

~~~~~/line break/~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage, gathered all of the jonin instructors assigned to this year's class. Like in the past, there was only about a 33% pass rate for all of the teams. In particular, the most notable team that passed was Kakashi's team. He had been assigned to test genin teams for the past 7 years and all of them had failed, miserably. However, this team had managed to pass. Many jonin credited it to the fact that the Uchiha was assigned to him. Out of the nearly 1000 students who graduated this year, only 300 (or 100 teams) were actually going to become genin

Author Note (warning: potential spoilers)

Just a quick note, if you have read or seen the cannon up until the Fourth Shinobi War, the Allied Shinobi Forces had numbers ranging around 80,000 between all five villages and the Land of Iron's samurai. With Konoha being one of the larger nations, I have estimated that its shinobi forces number around 15,000-17,000. As such, I find it highly unlikely that only 9 new ninja are added to the force each year. This was kind of hinted in cannon when they only focused on Naruto's class. I will only be focusing primarily on the 9 genin who graduated from Naruto's class of 27 students, but please be aware that there were many other classes than graduated at the same time as Naruto and his class. As such, this makes the number of new genin more realistic. Now, there are other paths to becoming a shinobi, but the academy is the path that most ninja take towards becoming a Konoha shinobi.

While Konoha won't be quite as large, there will be a population of around 25,000-30,000 with a ninja population of around 10,000. I'll explain this later on.

I hope this clears up a few things right off the bat.

I hope you enjoyed. Reviews and Comments greatly appreciated.