Chapter 1: Born in Fire Baptized in Blood

Four individuals sat at a small booth in non-descript restaurant. Three of the individuals were small children that were no older than twelve, and the other was an adult. The first of the children was a tall lanky boy pale with black hair that was tied at the top in a shape reminiscent of a pineapple, his eyes were brown almost black in color, and he had a pair of small earrings; he wore a mesh shirt with a small low cut jacket over it that he left open, and a pair of black pants with black sandals. On the left sleeve of the jacket that he wore there was a headband with a spiral in the shape of a leaf signifying the child as a shinobi of Konaha.

The second child was also male, and he was taller than the others, but he appeared to be more bulky. This was due to the fact that he wore a long grey jacket that seemed to cover his entire body. The sleeves were so long that his hands were neigh invisible at most times, and the collar of the jacket covered the bottom half of his face leaving only his nose and eyes visible though the latter were obscured by thick dark shades. His hair was a medium brown, and it puffed upward in a spiky afro. His headband rested on his forehead

The last child was a short blonde boy. He had deep blue eyes that seemed to be as clear as the seas themselves. His blonde hair was spiky and went out in all directions, but it only seemed to be held in place by the headband that was wrapped securely on his forehead. He wore an orange jumpsuit with blue shoulders and a white collar with a pair of blue sandals.

The adult was a rather tall man with a muscular build. He had dark brown hair that might be mistaken for black, along with a long goatee. He wore a green flak jacket that displayed his status as a jounin, a headband on his forehead, and black pants with black sandals.

The jounin observed the three genin in front of him, and he was instantly regretting their chances of passing his test. He could tell from the way they sat how they would act during the test, and the files that he had read on each of them did not help much either. Shikamaru the pineapple as he mentally nicknamed the boy was fairly smart, but extremely lazy, and he probably wouldn't put up much of a fight. Shino –the jacket wearing boy- was also smart, and he would at least try, but would probably give up when he realized that it was a futile endeavor. The last boy Naruto was a failure. Everything that he had read about the boy pointed to that end, and this was just going to be an exercise to get the boy to give up on being a shinobi. It would be better that way, and besides Shino and Shikamaru would have a chance to try again next year.

So with his mind made up he decided to forego making them introduce themselves, but instead he was just going to tell them to prepare of the test. "As you three know my name is Sarutobi Asuma, and I have been selected to be your jounin sensei. However that is a lie."

Naruto let out a loud gasp, and Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, however Shino gave no visible reaction. He continued ignoring them. "You were chosen as my prospective genin team, but in order for you to become my team you have to pass a test that I have set up, so tomorrow morning meet me at training ground ten. There you will fight me with everything you've got until you're incapacitated or I am. Then I will judge your skills, and if I deem them satisfactory then you will become my team."

With that said he called for the bill for their lunch paid, and left the three genin in silence. Naruto scowled and grumbled for a moment before getting up to leave, but he was held by the surprisingly strong grip of Shino.

"I believe that it is imperative we devise a decisive course of action for the situation." He spoke in a monotone.

Naruto only looked at him in confusion, causing Shikamaru to face palm. "What Shino means Naruto is that we need to make a plan, so tell me Naruto what do you think you can do?"

Naruto's face lit up at that. "Well I can do this cool shadow clone jutsu." He put his hands together in a cross seal, but he was stopped when Shino spoke.

"Naruto-san I know what the shadow clone jutsu entails. However with your poor taijutsu skill it would be ill fit to serve any purpose save a momentary distraction."

Naruto seemed to understand what Shino had said, and took it as an insult to his skill, but before he could explode in anger Shino continued. "Though you do seem to be rather adept at stealth. Do you by chance have any skills that could supplement it?"

Shikamaru could see that Naruto was once again unable to comprehend what he was told. "He asked if you have any jutsu that will improve your stealth."

Naruto began to rub his chin in thought for a few moments before snapping his finger. "My transformation jutsu could help."

"Naruto I don't think a jounin would be fooled by such a low level illusion." Shikamaru said in a sigh, but Naruto only gave him an incredulous look.

"What do you mean illusion? My transformation is real!"

"Prove it." Naruto huffed at the other boy before holding up a hand sign and shouting transform. A puff of smoke obscured Naruto for a moment, and when it disappeared in Naruto's place stood a female version of the blonde clad in an orange dress.

She made to say something but instead let out an ear piercing shriek when Shikamaru gave one of her large breasts a squeeze. He stared at the hand for a moment before he was bopped on the head by the blonde.

"Why'd you squeeze my boob you pervert?!" she yelled while cracking her knuckles menacingly.

Shino stepped in however to prevent his teammate from suffering any more damage. "He wanted to make sure that the jutsu was real, and now that we know it is I have devised a plan for tomorrow."

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The next day the trio met their jounin sensei at training ground ten at eight am. He studied them and found that the glaring weaknesses that were there before were still there. He sighed before putting out the cigarette that he had been smoking. "Come at me with the intent to kill!"

The genin nodded to one another, but none of them moved. Instead Shikamaru used his shadow possession jutsu to send his shadow toward the jounin who dodged it. While Asuma was dodging the inky black shadow of the Nara child Shino sent a swarm of his insects towards the man with the intent of draining his chakra. Asuma used a small fire ball to force the insects away, and as soon as he launched the jutsu he was attacked from behind by Naruto.

The boy threw a sloppy punch to the back of the jounin's head, but the man tilted his head to the side to avoid it before retaliating with and elbow that caught the blonde in the stomach, but instead of gripping his stomach in pain the boy disappeared in a puff of smoke. Asuma had heard about his use of the shadow clones, but he had not thought it to be true. He for a moment thought this would afford the team a chance to impress him, but he was mistaken when more clones appeared and launched a frontal assault.

Taking the clones out was child's play for Asuma. He did have to dodge the Nara's shadow and the Aburame's insects from time to time, but they were both running low on chakra. He decided to knock the two out and end it before finding the real Naruto who was hiding somewhere. He used a body flicker to appear behind Shino. Now this would have been a good thing for the jounin if only he had taken one thing into consideration. Behind Shino was a large stump that resembled the other stumps that were next to it; however there are usually only three stumps in the training grounds. So when he appeared with his back turned to that stump in preparation to take Shino out he was not prepared for the stump to transform into Naruto who rushed with as much speed as he could muster towards the jounin's exposed back with kunai in hand.

Asuma didn't realize what was going on until he felt the pain of a sharp object piercing him in the middle of the back severing his spinal cord. He let out an agonizing scream, but it was silenced when Shino turned around and stabbed him in the stomach with a kunai of his own. Even Shikamaru had rushed over to the man when he realized that he was going for Shino. He also had a kunai implanted in the man's chest impaling him in the heart.

The three genin expected the jounin to be replaced with a log at any moment, but it never happened. Instead the light in the jounin's eyes dimmed as he coughed a little blood and slumped unceremoniously to the floor. It was clear to the three genin what they had done.

For a few moments no one dared speak a word. As though not stating what they knew would make it false, but they knew what they had done. Shino let out a sigh before turning to Naruto. "Naruto please make some clones so that we can transport him to the Hokage." Naruto nodded dumbly before doing as he was told.

The walk to the Hokage tower was one that they would never forget. The villagers glared at Naruto harder than they ever had before, and for the first time Shikamaru and Shino were regarded in the same way. The ninja also looked at them with disgust and hatred, but they did their level best to ignore it.

When they reached their destination they ignored the secretary who screamed and yelled at them. They simply barged into the Hokage's office. The wizened old man was filling out some paper work, and was about to admonish whomever it was who had barged into his office, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the body that they were carrying. His eyes narrowed at the three. "What happened to my son?!" he asked in any icy voice that held an ocean of killing intent.

Shino once again became the spokes person for the team told their story to the Hokage. Now Sarutobi Hiruzen was not one to hold grudges, but to know that both of his children and his wife were dead did not sit well with him. He loved Naruto like a grandson but to know that he was responsible for taking one of the last vestiges of his family away from him shattered that love.

Hiruzen turned to the three. "I have decided that the three of you will be commissioned as a team, however you will not receive a jounin sensei, and you are from this day forward not allowed to be trained by any other member of the shinobi forces of Konoha directly nor indirectly. You are to report to the mission room every morning at eight am to receive a mission unless I otherwise state the opposite. You are dismissed."

The three genin left the room as Hiruzen stared at the lifeless eyes of his son. He would find a way to make those three pay for what they had done to him.