Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I just happen to like it a lot…
Chapter 1
Turn of Events
It's funny how such a small thing can make such a big difference…
IT was the day that the new genin teams would be decided but for the feudal lord such things made little to no difference. The only thought in his head was that no good animal, always tearing up his brand new furniture or using his shoes like litter boxes… No, there was no doubt the cat had to go. The feudal lord smiled to himself as he searched for the perfect thing to get rid of his little problem.
Normally he would never be caught dead in such a filthy place as the pound but this was much too urgent a matter to leave to his servants. He walked around the cages covering his nose with his fan so as to refuse the terrible smell entry so that all you could see of him was his eyes. The owner was a rather brawny man who, at least to the feudal lord seemed to be covered in dirt, mud and all manner of unapproachable things.
Unable to go any nearer the feudal lord stood several feet from the man and spoke in his high pitched voice "Excuse me dan'na but I am in search for a dog, and not just any dog. It must be vicious, capable of eliminating any pest. " The owner had never seen a feudal lord this close before and was taken aback by the amount of jewelry on him. As he thought of how rich this man was he couldn't help but smile, something he did very rarely, as he helped the lord pick the best mutt he had in this hell hole.
After he had found what he was looking for the feudal lord paid the man making sure to give him a hefty tip while he made the owner agree to never tell anyone of his visit to his establishment.
The dog was more than a little dirty and the feudal lord had only taken the leash after several long minutes of starring down at it. As he walked down the street he started to regret his decision because people were staring at him like he was a missing Nin'. Although he was used to being starred at he felt very uncomfortable in this situation and made a mental note never to do this again.
When he reached his house he took out a small lock of the cat's hair and let the dog sniff it but before he was able to unlock the leash the dog gave a loud bark and ran towards the house. The force of the dog puling on his leash sent the feudal lord unceremoniously to the ground and right into a puddle of mud. The man looked in horror at his ruined clothes and tainted skin as if they were deep life threatening cuts. He quickly got up from the ground and looked around making sure that no one had seen his accident.
He took a deep breath and went to his happy place; somewhere that cat had sent him all too often. As he thought of this he rejoiced at the knowledge that his wife's cat would never bother him again, as long as he kept that dog around. Then as if on cue he heard the sounds of a cat running for its life, 'all nine of them' he thought chuckling to himself. As the cat ran down the side alley and into the street a smile grew on the feudal lord's face and he briefly forgot about his soiled clothing, briefly.
Kakashi Hatake, 'The Great Copy Ninja'
Or so everyone thought. If he was really such a great ninja why would the Hokage give him such a low ranking mission? ...
Earlier that day the Hokage had given him the mission of finding the feudal lord's wife's cat. His excuse for giving him a D ranked mission was that Kakashi needed to get used to them since he was going to be leading a team of genin for a while. Kakashi was a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to read his 'orange book' for a few hours –the usual amount of time it took someone to find this particular elusive cat- however he didn't need such excuses to do a D rank mission. In fact he missed these simple missions that asked so little of him.
Unfortunately for Kakashi, this time the cat had been chased down by some stray dog and as such was much less trusting of this masked ninja who smelt very much like dog. "This might be more troubling than I thought."
It was midnight and one of the only lights in the village was the Hokage's office. Inside said office were three ninja, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yūhi and of course the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Why they were all here at such a late hour was the one question on everyone's mind. Of course the answer was just as aggravating, Kakashi Hatake. He was customarily late to any and all meetings but this was a new record, Kakashi was rounding on his 5th hour of tardiness and even Sarutobi was starting to get frustrated.
"This is ridiculous; can't Kakashi-sama be informed of the genin team selection later?" The Hokage and his son stared at her slightly dumbstruck; it was very uncharacteristic of Kurenai who was usually considerate and caring to get so riled. Of course neither of them could blame her, they had been sitting in the same room since eight o'clock and she had just gotten back from a particularly trying mission.
Regaining his composure Sarutobi calmly answered Kurenai's question "I'm afraid not, it is traditional that the jonin who will be getting genin teams meet in order to discuss possible complaints, problems or worries. Unfortunatly you three were all on missions today and couldn't come to the earlier meeting." Bowing Kurenai apologized for her rude behavior "Gumen'nasai." Although Kurenai understood how important it was to properly assign genin teams she couldn't stop herself from being angry at the copy ninja.
"A little on edge eh Kurenai-chan?" Sarutobi turned to the window and put his head into his hands, this wasn't going to be pretty. An irritated Asuma was sitting in the corner of the room and the fact that he had run out of cigarettes two hours earlier wasn't missed by anyone. "Afraid you won be able to lead your genin team effectively" continued Asuma with a borderline cruel chuckle.
Kurenai knew that Asuma's mocking question had come from a lack of cigarettes and no malice was intended but her mood had no room for such jokes. "You're one to talk, immediately picking the destined Ino-Shika-Cho combination so that you don't have to do any work!" This stung Asuma a little after all he had known Shikamaru for a long time, the fact that he was part of the Ino-Shika-Cho combination was just a lucky side effect.
Asuma was about to retort but noticed Sarutobi staring at him and settled for just mumbling to himself. This however did not stop Kurenai, she would normally never have brought this up knowing how close Asuma and Shikamaru were but now that it was said she couldn't let it go. "Hokage-sama" she said much calmer now "shouldn't we encourage our students to make their own bonds and not push them down the same path as their parents? Teamwork is something that is gained through battle; it's not just past down from past generations. And who's to say that they will be a success together simply because their parents were? A child is not merely a clone of its mother or father it is its own self, just look at you and Asuma-san. "
"I agree"
Kurenai almost tripped over her chair after hearing the voice of the copy ninja, Kakashi Hatake. "W…what are you doing here?" Kurenai sputters out briefly forgetting why they were here. Seeing his opportunity Kakashi starts to walk out the door "If you want I can leav-" "NO!" All three of them called out just as Kakashi had one foot out the door. Kakashi walked back into the room and hands a cigarette to Asuma, "here."
Ignoring the copy ninja Sarutobi puts down his pipe, "You raise a valid point," at this point Asuma's jaw dropped and his newly lit cigarette fell to the floor which he surprisingly ignored. "And seeing as Kakashi-san agrees with you-"
"You can't be serious."
"Is there something wrong Asuma-san?" Sarutobi answered his son's outburst, "Kurenai-san stated a rather good argument don't you think?" Sarutobi felt a little sorry for his son after all he had been friends with the original Yamanaka-Nara-Akimichi combination and was probably disappointed that he wouldn't be teaching the 'successors.' However none of them should be so selfish as to decide the future for their students. He himself knew all too well how much a teacher can influence their students, for better or for worse.
Asuma simply grunted and picked his cigarette back up. He couldn't argue against these three, but that didn't stop him from being disappointed, that he wouldn't be teaching Shikamaru and the others-"However it wouldn't be fair to not let Asuma-san have Shikamaru on his team, since they already created such a bond." Asuma looked at the copy ninja with the same awe as the other two in the room. This was very uncharacteristic of Kakashi and they were all caught very off guard. "You never cease to amaze me Hatake-sama," thought the Hokage as he placed his pipe back in his mouth with a grin.
"I take it no one disagrees with allowing Asuma to have Shikamaru on his team so let us move on." The Hokage places a stack of folders on the desk and they all can't help but notice the size of Sasuke Uchiha's. "Here are the genin's files, remember that as of this afternoon Uzumaki, Naruto is also a genin however I do not currently have a file for him". All of the jonin started looking through the files thinking up good combinations and strategies but without letting Ino, Shikamaru or Choji be on the same team the group choices would be very limited.
No one said it allowed but there were two genin in particular that they were all curious about, Naruto, the jinchuriki and Sasuke, the last Uchiha. There was no doubt that Sasuke was a good ninja who would soon have the impressive and dangerous sharingan, but Naruto's adventure into the forest had gone far from unnoticed, and they were all curious as to what he would be able to do in the future. However Naruto's reputation for pranks and lack of teamwork was well known to the jonin and they were tentative before considering him for their team.
After all of the jonin had finished reading the files Kurenai was the first to speak, or rather the other two were too lazy to start. "As you all know I want a reconnaissance team but being a genjutsu specialist I would like to include the Uchiha as well." This last part was mostly spoken towards Kakashi whom everyone knew wanted the Uchiha for his Sharingan.
After Kurenai's proposal everyone fell silent for a moment and the sound of crickets filled the room. Kakashi looked unperturbed by this new discovery but Sarutobi knew different. He remembered all too well the day long ago, when Kakashi returned from his mission with Obito's sharingan eye transplanted into his own. He was sure that the prospect of teaching an Uchiha, especially one with such skill, made Kakashi very-
"Sure."
-Happ- "excuse me," the Hokage was speechless "w…weren't you excited to teach the Uchiha?"
Earlier that day during Kakashi's mission, he had noticed Sasuke at the academy. He knew from the emblem on his back that he was an Uchiha and so he decided to do a little snooping; after all they were going to be teammates. Kakashi had only glanced at the files but because of this excursion he knew that Sasuke -although most of the girls at the academy fanned over him- didn't have any friends. On top of that his whole clan had been whipped out by his older brother, Itachi and Sasuke had sworn to kill him when he got the opportunity. This information did not take kindly to Kakashi and although he did wish to have a fellow sharingan user on his team he also prized teamwork above all other ninja skills and knew how difficult it would be for the last Uchiha to utilize it. However Sasuke would have to be taught about his sharingan so Kakashi didn't completely forsake the boy.
Ignoring the stares from his fellow jonin and the hokage Kakashi continued the conversation "It would however be prudent to allow me private lessons with him in order to teach him his sharingan." Kurenai, although slightly taken aback by Kakashi's answer, thanked the copy ninja and listened to the Hokage.
"Seeing as Ino-Shika-Cho has been split up and Kurenai-san has requested a reconnaissance team I will assign her Ino who is best with said position. This leaves Choji who, if Kakashi doesn't object, will be given to him. The genin left are, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Sakura and, Naruto. Now you all know of Naruto's past so I believe that it is important that we discuss which team he should be put on…"
The classroom of newly pronounced genin was buzzing with anticipation as they waited for Iruka-sensei to tell them their team assignments. However two of those genin were having caughing fits. One of tem has bright yellow hair and an orange jumpsuit while the other had sleek black hair, a blue shirt and pale shorts. Amidst this confusion was a girl with bright pink hair whose dace was growing redder by the minute.
"Naruto, y-y-you kissed Sasuke!"
"Sakura- I didn't mean to- it was an accident, that guy bumped me and-" the boy named Naruto didn't have a chance. In Sakura's mind Naruto had just stolen Sasuke's first kiss from her and he was going to pay.
It wasn't long before the strongest 11 year old girl in Konoha had beaten the blond to a pulp and sat gingerly next to her beloved Sasuke hoping against all hope that she would be put on his team.
Unfortunatly for her there was another konoichi in the room doing the exact same thing. 'Why does she get to sit next to Sasuke-kun' the blond girl thought as she looked to her left at the boy with his face deep in a bag of potato chips, and to her right at the boy who was sleeping in his chair. 'Why am I so unlucky!'
Then of course there was the Konoichi in the corner with clenched fists. All you could see of her was her blue hair and pupil less eyes but anyone that saw her could tell that she was mad. It was difficult for her to see Naruto get beat up like that and she cursed her shyness for not helping him. 'Come on Hinata, Move!' She slowly started to get out of her chair when Iruka walked in and she was forced to sit back down. 'Next time Naruto-kun.'
"Good morning students," as soon as Iruka started speaking the classroom fell silent, 'wow, if only they were this exited for my class.' "Starting today, all of you are real shinobi but you are still genin, the hard journey that lies ahead has just started. Now you will soon get missions to help the village so today we will create the three man teams and each team will have a jounin sensei. You will follow your sensei's instructions in order to successfully complete your missions"
"We tried to balance-" Iruka looked down at his clipboard and realized that three of the genin teams had been completely switched around. 'What, this doesn't make any sense. Usually we try and balance all the teams out but this… this just won't work. I have to go talk to the Hokage immediately after this.' "w…we" Iruka tried to start again but he couldn't think up an excuse good enough to explain the team arrangements.
"What's wrong Iruka-sensei?" asked one of the genin with a small dog on top of his head.
"N-Nothing Kiba. Now *cough* as I was saying we weighed all of your skills and tried to make the best teams possible." 'Ya, that should do it!' Iruka started naming off the teams and only hesitated for a moment as he read off, "Team 8, Sasuke, Shino and Ino-"
'Yes!'
'No!'
If looks could kill Ino would be twelve feet under by now. Sakura's wish of being on Sasuke's team was taken by her arch rival 'Ino-pig' with a singal word, and there was no way she was going to forget it any time soon.
Ino on the other hand seemed to completely ignore Sakura as she almost fainted out of pure happiness. This would be the first step to her wonderful relationship with Sasuke, she just knew it.
Iruka felt the killing intent radiating off of Sakura but decided to ignore it, after all there were way too many things he wanted to do before he died. "Team 10, Shikamaru, Naruto and Hinata-"
THUMP!
Again Iruka was stopped in his thoughts when he saw Hinata turn bright red and pass out on the table.
He quickly regained his composure and as the kids sitting next to her tried to 'revive' her he finished up the last of the teams and everyone started to file out of the room to meet their instructors.
"Sensei?"
"Yes Sakura," Iruka knew what she was going to say but decided to play dumb. "What about team 7, you skipped them." Of course this was only a technicality Sakura, having the brain she did already knew who here teammates were. Normally Iruka would have told his students earlier but he knew that Kakashi had been up later than ususal last night and didn't think he'd be hear any time soon. "Well, I'm sure you already know that you're teammates are Choji and Kiba but your sensei won't be here for a while so you guys can go-"
"Yo"
Iruka stumbled backwards; Kakashi was standing by the door putting away his orange book. "Y…you're early. " "Of course I wouldn't miss this glorious moment for anything." Iruka had a sneaking suspicion that Kakashi had purposely showed up on time just to mess with him, putting that aside he turned to his three students. "Kiba, Choji and Sakura here is your team seven instructor Hatake, Kakashi"
The three genin listened to this conversation more than a little confused by their old sensei's actions but ignored it as Kakashi turned to them to talk to them. "Meet me at the training ground in ten minutes," as he said this he disappeared into a poof of smoke leaving the three genin bewildered. Iruka left the room trying his best to smile, he truly felt sorry for this team.
The three genin watched Iruka leave the room as they all wondered the same thing.
…
"Which training ground?"
Naruto was running to where they were supposed to meet their sensei when he remembered, "Where is this place again?" Shikamaru who had been struggling to keep up came to a stop, "follow me idiot." Shikamaru had been to the restaurant a couple times with Asuma so he had a pretty good feeling that he would be their sensei but he kept his mouth shut hoping that Naruto wasn't always this energetic.
"Hey Shikamaru!"
The three genin turned towards the voice and greeted their sensei, but Naruto was a little confused. "Aren't we going to train," as he looked around the restaurant. "That's for another time, first we have to have introductions."
As they all sat down Asuma was examining the genin, 'I wonder if I made the right choice with this team. ' He took his seat next to shikamaru but realized immediately that he shouldn't have. The girl who had yet to say more than hello turned bright red as she looked at the seat next to Naruto.
"What's wrong Hinata," Asuma couldn't believe it, how thick could someone be. He knew it would be weird if he got up and sat next to Naruto now, so he just waited for the girl to take her seat. This turned out to be longer than he expected and in the end she was bumped by one of the waitresses and fell into the seat. 'Well at least she's sitting down' taught Asuma as her blush became even brighter.
"What would you like to eat?"
Asuma was glad for the interruption as the waitress took their orders but as she made her way around the table his smile faded. "What about me!" Yelled Naruto, the waitress had gotten to Naruto and completely ignored him. Only after Asuma had gone and had a stern talk with the manager did the waitress comeback to take Naruto's order.
This treatment did not go unnoticed by Naruto's teammates but they were confused as to why it had occurred. Shikamaru in particular remembered a particular talk he had had with his parents about how Naruto was treated. They had told him very little and it aggravated him, but he decided to pay a little more attention where Naruto was concerned. Hinata on the other hand had to hold back from landing a jyuuken strike on the waitress. She hated how people looked at Naruto but she still couldn't bring herself to defend him, which she hated just as much.
They were eating in awkward silence due to what had happened and Naruto didn't like it. He knew now why he was treated like he was but now he felt even worse. He couldn't understand why people blamed him for something that he couldn't control and he hated that he had to keep such a big secret from his team. He knew telling them would drive them away but he also didn't enjoy hiding it from them.
"Well"
Asuma attempted to break the silence, "we should get to know each other. What are your likes, dislikes and dreams for the future? I'll go first, as you know my name is Asuma Sarutobi, I like good food and I hate work. My hobby is playing shogi and my dream is to one day beat Shikamaru. " The three genin weren't sure if he was being serious but they were happy for the change in mood.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, what I like is cup ramen, what I like even more is when Iruka-sensei pays for my ramen. What I dislike is waiting three minutes for the ramen to cook. And my dream is to surpass the Hokage and then have the people of this village acknowledged my existence. Hobbies…pranks I guess." 'Wow' thought Asuma, 'this kid has grown in an odd way considering the way people treat him'
"My name is Nara Shikamaru, I like doing nothing, sleeping and watching the clouds and I hate doing things like…" He scratched his head for a minute and continued, "My hobby is playing shogi and I don't have much of a dream…" 'This was exactly why I put you on a team with the number one hyper active ninja of konoha Shikamaru.'
After a couple minutes of silence Hinata started, "M…My name is Hyuuga Hinata, I…I like…" her face turned a bright red before she recomposed herself and this time with a serious face she continued, "and my dream is to be accepted by my clan" 'Another shy one eh, I'll have to think of a way to break that shell. '
They finished the rest of their meal in quite conversation mostly revolving around shogi strategies that Naruto couldn't wrap his mind around. "Well tomorrow we will start our first duties as a shinobi, but first we have to have a test." The three genin looked at him like he had cancelled Christmas but he ignored them. "Although 27 of you graduated the academy only nine of you will actually become genin, the others will be sent back. Tomorrow's test is to determine if you deserve to be genin."
Naruto had sat quite long enough and he couldn't take it anymore. "What? No way! But we worked so hard. Then what was the point of graduating?" Asuma had expected an outburst like this but silently agreed that it was much too much of a hassle to do this. "The academy was just to select those who have the chance to become a genin, I know it's a hassle but work with me. Just make sure not to forget any of your gear tomorrow." Unwilling to listen to any more complaining Asuma quickly paid the bill and left the restaurant leaving the genin to their thoughts.
"How troublesome."
Shikamaru barely passed the academy because of his lack of enthusiasm, Naruto was the dead last and Hinata was the Hyuuga reject. Shikamaru had to wonder how they could possibly pass this test but was happy that the meeting was over and he could leave. 'Maybe I should just stay home tomorrow…but that will only get me yelled at…troublesome.'
Shikamaru walked off and Hinata realized that she was alone with Naruto, 'I-am-alone-with-Naruto-kun!' Unfortunately Hinata seemed to be unable to speak and Naruto started to get up, "Well see you tomorrow Hinata, I have to go and pack my gear."
Her brief moment of happiness had ended and she was now sitting alone at the restaurant. However she found herself smiling again as she walked home thinking of all that had happened today, but one thing stood out more than anything else. In fact she thought that it was probably the best thing that had ever happened to her.
'I'm on the same team as Naruto-kun!'
Shikamaru had leisurely made it home just before sun set and immediately started a game of shogi with his dad.
"How did your team selection go?" *tak*
"My sensei is Asuma" *tak*
"That's nice…"*tak* "… how were Yamanaka and Akimichi"
*tak* "They aren't on my team"
*TAK* "Oh"
Shikamaru pause for a second analyzing the bored...*tak*
"So who are your teammates" *tak*
"Hyuga Hinata" *tak*
"The Hairess?" *tak*
*tak*"Ya"
"You're going to have to work hard" *tak*
*tak* "What a drag…"
"…"*tak*
*tak*
Shikamaru thought for a second, about the time he'd asked his father about why the village treated Naruto so badly and the vague answer he'd received.
"My other teammate…" *tak* He looked up at his father "…is Uzumaki Naruto"
*TAK* "Oh…?"
"…" *tak*
"...and have you figured him out yet?" *tak*
"ya… he's not to bad" *tak* "…at least he seems to be motivated."
*tak* "Good"
*tak* "…" *tak*
They both looked at the board for a minute. "Good job…"
"Thanks… Dad."
Shikamaru walked away stunned that he was able to beat his father.
'He must have been really surprised to hear of my team mates…'
Naruto pushed open the door to his apartment with a concerned look on his face. He wasn't quite sure about his new team; after all he was paired up with two of the quietest people in the academy. 'They seemed nice though,' he thought as he started to prepare all of his ninja gear. 'The sensei seems lax; I'll have to do a lot of extra training if I want to become hokage.'
As Naruto thought this he stopped for a moment, he didn't realize it at first but becoming a ninja had matured him a little. He didn't have his old urge to do pranks in order to be noticed by everyone anymore, now he just wanted to prove it to them by becoming a good ninja. 'I'm one step closer to becoming hokage,' he thought smiling to himself.
He remembered the incident at the restaurant and his look of confusion that he so often wore came back to his face. He loved that he had a team but he was unsure of how he could keep his little secret from them in similar situations and on their missions.
'Well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it…'
Author's Note:
Hi and welcome to my very first chapter ever!
I don't know how long you guys like your chapters but I like them long,(insert that's what she said joke here) if you don't than I'll gladly change it. (This chapter is about 3,000 words to short for me… what do you all think?)
I'm planning on writing a lot for this fan fiction… if I have it my way as long as canon
Asuma is the team leader for this fan fiction because I haven't read one with him as the leader yet… there is a good reason for it though.
There isn't a lot of dialogue in this first chapter but that will change now that the teams have been made.
If you are wondering what the AU detergency is I'll tell you; the feudal lord buys a dog to get rid of his wife's cat. Yep it's that simple… this in turn changes a lot of the story because Kakashi had to take that mission but since he summons dogs the cat naturally doesn't like him and tries harder than ever not to get caught. This takes out time that Kakashi would normally be reading his orange book so when he finally finished the mission he wanted to catch up which makes him late for his meeting. This of course aggravates Asuma who didn't bring enough cigarettes for this amount of time. So he makes a remark that he wouldn't normally make and since Kurenai is just as aggravated, she responds with a thought that was no doubt in everyone's head even in canon. This leads to the separation of Ino, Shikamaru and Choji. Also Kakashi wouldn't normally have been outside enough to see Sasuke in canon but when he got the mission he saw him and did what the canon Kakashi would have done. After all Kakashi does really appreciate teamwork. So besides the divergence I believe that I made this as close to canon as possible which was my goal. Of course as more and more chapters go by it'll get further and further away from canon because of the drastically different teams.
In fact some of the sentences are exactly word for word Naruto because it wouldn't make any sense for them to have changed what they said based on the divergence. This happens three times I think…
I actually haven't decided if I'm going to only follow the story of Naruto and his team or all of the teams…what do you guys think I should do?
Also if I ever get good enough likes I'm going to draw a manga for this fan fiction and see if anyone wants to publish it…after all they did publish the rock lee story so they obviously aren't against Naruto side stories. So help me improve so I can make this a possibility.
Please review and subscribe
If you don't like the story so far give me CONSTRUCTIVE criticism so I can try and make it enjoyable to everyone.
Word count: 5,245!