A/N: This story is not complete or finalized in any way. I have tried to catch any spelling mistakes and/or inconsistancies but I am only human. If you find any or have suggestions feel free to comment or send me a PM. I do not know when or if I will come back to finish this story. This holds true for all chapters in the future as well. This is my first story so I hope you all enjoy it. Thank you for reading.
Chapter 1: A New Start
Shikamaru was leaning against the wall of the academy. He no longer wore his flak jacket. Instead, he wore a short sleeved, light beige jacket open over a black t-shirt. His chin, covered in the start of a goatee, was raised to watch the clouds drift by, thinking back to the time where he used to be an instructor in this very academy. Life was simpler then. However, the laid back head of the Nara clan had new responsibilities. He had become the clan leader when his father died during the war, and he had also taken over his father's position as jonin Commander in Konaha. Despite the troublesome jobs, he was showing an excellent grasp of his positions, putting forth effort that no one had seen from him before the war. In the three years since the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War much had happened. Everyone was working towards rebuilding the damage that was caused during the War. Tsunade had stepped down as Hokage, being succeeded by Kakashi. Despite his initial hesitations, Kakahsi was proving to be an outstanding Rokudaime Hokage. The Five Great Nations all maintained the spirit of peace and cooperation that had been fostered during the War, coming together when necessary to help the restorations of the countries. And not least of all, every member of the renown "Rookie 9" had been promoted to jonin.
Today was the day that some of the new jonin would finally be assigned to their Genin teams. Shikamaru himself was not eligible to lead a genin team, not that he really wanted to, but his other positions did not allow him the time to train and do missions with a team. He was merely there to observe his friends and their new students. He had always like being a part of the academy, watching the enthusiasm of the younger generation of ninjas, even when said enthusiasm caused them to be very troublesome. Likewise, Ino had also become the head of her clan after the war and was ineligible for the position. Chouji was only member of Ino-Shika-Cho that had not lost their father during the war, therefore, his father had remained clan head for the time being, freeing Chouji of the responsibility. Both Kiba and Shino were in the same position as Chouji and would also be taking on genin teams. Hinata was too tied up with clan politics to deal with being a sensei. The Hyuga heiress had started dating Naruto not too long after the war and needed to sort out all the implications that went along with that with the Hyuga clan elders. Sakura was the world's leading medical ninja behind her sensei, Tsunade, and was needed in the hospital training healers more than in the field training genin. Sasuke had left Konoha shortly after being reinstated as a Leaf Shinobi for his services during the war. The decision had not been a popular one, but the attitude settled down once it was known he would be leaving the village for an extended mission that could take years, much like Jiraiya had done in the past. Naruto was the only member of the Rinne Sannin, or Sannin 2.0, that was available to be a jonin Sensei. He was also the most enthusiastic about becoming a Sensei.
Speaking of enthusiasm, Shikamaru smirked when he remembered the look on Naruto's face when the new Hokage had informed the group of their promotion after the war. Due to his time away from village and all the mess with the Akatsuki, Naruto had never even been promoted to Chunin, though given his fame and his power level, even the rank of jonin was a little bit redundant. The only other surprise had been when the Hokage also promoted Sasuke along with his reinstatement.
The guy had skills, no one could argue against the man's abilities. He was the only ninja alive that could compete with Naruto, but it still left a bit of a bad taste in Shikamaru's mouth. No matter how much the guy had helped during the war, there was no denying that he had betrayed the village in the past, and was even responsible for the death of the interim Hokage, Danzo. The only consolation was that Sasuke had accepted the long-term fact finding mission as a sort of penance for his mistakes. The only one who was upset at this was Sakura, as she had hoped she could have finally gotten her chance to be with Sasuke. Naruto took the departure will a cool acceptance, knowing his best friend wasn't leaving the village for good, and that he would be back.
'Jeeze, who knew a nice trip down memory lane could turn into such a drag,' Shikamaru thought to himself. Looking back at the clouds overhead, the jonin was interrupted again as the four new jonin Senseis arrived at the academy.
"Ha! Who would have guessed the slacker of the year would be the first to arrive?" exclaimed Kiba. He had stopped wearing leather jackets and had started wearing a jacket like the one he wore as genin, although this one was a slimmer fit and he wore it open over his fishnet tshirt. His hair was also starting to grow longer.
"Lay off of him," responded Chouji, still in his clan's typical armor. "He just misses being an instructor. He's been putting a lot of effort in now that he has so much more responsibilities."
"It is only to be expected." Shino added with his monotone analysis. "He is quite possibly the most intelligent member of Konoha. He would therefore be the only one suited for such positions." The bug handler had also started to grow out his hair, and he no longer wore his hood up, but not much else had changed.
Shikamaru sighed. "Maybe, but just cuz I'm suited for it, doesn't make it a total drag. Sometimes I even wish they made me go out on missions like you guys. It would at least be something different from all the paper work and politics."
"Made you? Man, that's the best part!" Naruto's enthusiasm was almost at Guy levels. Although, being in a wheelchair had curbed the Green-Spandex wearing oddity to a degree. "I can't wait to show my new team all my awesome jutsu and –"
"Calm down Naruto, it isn't that big of a deal. It's certainly not going to be that exciting. I mean, they're genin," smirked Kiba at the deflated looking jonin. Naruto had his prosthetic hand wrapped in bandages. It still kinda weirded people out, himself included, when one of his hands was a different color from the other. He also had cut his hair shorter and had gotten a new jacket, although it was still orange and it had a black collar.
"Now that we are all here, we can go in and join the other jonin before meeting your teams," Shikamaru said leading the way into the academy.
The five jonin joined up with a few of the other older jonins and walked into the specified classroom and turned to face the assembled Genin.
"Listen up!" Iruka called. "I will now call your name to assign you into your teams." He began reading names off the list and the new teams would depart to introduce themselves on their own. The tension was building after each sensei was announced. Everyone was hoping for the chance to train under the legendary Naruto Uzumaki, Hero of the War and candidate for Nanadaime Hokage. Iruka continued until he got to Team 7. "Hanabi Hyuga, Isamu Inuzuka, and Akira Hokori will be under," pause for dramatic effect, "Naruto Uzumaki.".
The three genins sat there in shock, although, perhaps for different reasons. The two boys, Isamu and Akira, couldn't believe they were lucky enough to be on Naruto's team. Hanabi, on the other hand wasn't sure if she should be glad or horrified that her sister's boyfriend was now her sensei. She had gotten to know Naruto a bit over the past few years as he had come by the Hyuga compound to visit Hinata and wasn't sure how this new situation would affect their relationship. He had always been super kind to her, even a little annoyingly so, but he was also dating her sister, which was already complicated enough to deal with. Naruto was stoked. He looked to Iruka, who noded, acknowledging the "coincidence" of assigning them to the same team number that he had been a part of as genin.
"Looks like Team 7 is gonna kick butt again this time!" he called out. "Alright you guys, meet me on the roof." He disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Shikamaru was distracted as soon as he heard the names of the members on Team 7. 'That team has a lot of potential, almost as much as the original Team 7,' he mused. 'I wonder if Iruka sees that. He's had a lot of experience assigning these teams, it wouldn't surprise me. You have the gifted heir of a noble clan, the fiery hothead, and the more distant genius, although I doubt many realize how gifted he really is.' In the past three years, Shikamaru had come across the young ninja on multiple occasions, each time the boy had surprised the spikey haired ninja. 'I'll have to ask Iruka about it.'
Shikamaru was so caught up in his musing that he was slightly startled when Iruka had finished announcing the teams. He walked up to the instructor. "Something I can help you with Shikamaru? I'm assuming it has something to do with Team 7?"
"Yeah. Did you assign that team? I thought the teams were supposed to be more balanced than that. This team has a chance of becoming quite overpowered compared to the other teams."
"I thought the same thing. But it was actually Hokage-sama that recommended them, as well as to put them under Naruto."
"Really?" Shikamaru was surprised. For the Hokage to take a personal interest in genin team assignments was not anything abnormal, it was certainly interesting considering how much work Kakashi was currently doing to get the last of the repercussions from the war finalized. That he would take the time to look out for this, spoke of more than idle curiosity. 'He must have seen it too,' Shikamaru smiled. 'He may have lost the Sharingan, but he is still doesn't seem to miss much.' As he turned to leave the academy, Shikamaru couldn't help but think that things were going to get interesting.