Alright, here is some forewarning, this is an AU and it starts from the genin graduation.

Things to note: Naruto doesn't have the whisker marks on his face. Apart from that, everything about his appearance is the same. If you have any further questions, either PM me them or review and i will answer as best as I without giving away too much!

Naruto had passed his graduation exam by the skin of his teeth. All of the hard work that he had put into studying for the written exam, practicing throwing kunai and shuriken, punching and kicking logs repetitively… It all paid off.

What the blonde haired boy didn't know was that he hadn't actually passed because of his skills as a shinobi. Due to the rather poor and out dated curriculum of the academy, Naruto didn't pass due to the fact that he hadn't made a proper clone.

The bullshit speech that was given by Iruka under the orders of the Hokage was that due to Naruto having better grades in other subjects, they totalled up to make a combined score which was above the pass grade. This was fine enough for Naruto Uzumaki as it easily brought him closer to his goals of becoming the most powerful shinobi in the world.

That day would have gone just as planned for Hiruzen Sarutobi if it wasn't for one major detail. The academy chunin instructor partnering Iruka had gone and stolen the forbidden scroll inside his office. This was something that the god of shinobi would have to look into later on as there was no hope a run of the mill chunin would be able to do something like that. Thankfully for Konoha, the chunin was apprehended by the ANBU special forces. The damage was done though as Mizuki had told Naruto of his status as a jinchuuriki.

Since he had a high priority mission to go and deliver the forbidden scroll to Orochimaru, he didn't spend any time longer surveying the damage that he had caused.

The resulting unleashing of information had rooted the poor blonde boy to his core. Everything in finally clicked into gear; he now knew why he was hated by the entire popularity of Konoha. He now knew why everything in life seemed as if it was against him.

Whilst he was a very cynical person in general, learning this newfound piece of information was enough to push Naruto over the edge. It rammed down the point that Naruto had learned to live by. It was that you could not trust anyone but yourself. The only person who 100% completely stood by you when the cards were down was yourself.

This was in contrast to the fact that the village hidden in the leaves was a village that prided itself on the fact that it had the greatest teamwork out of them all. They sprouted this as if it was the sole reason as to why they were known as the strongest hidden village.

It was this that made Naruto's situation even worse because he didn't bother to try and make friends. Well he did try and make friends but it didn't turn out well when other kids were told by their parents to not associate with him. After a while of the pain he felt inside, Naruto didn't bother trying anymore because it simply made it easier to deal with the pain. Quite frankly, it damn hurt him when he saw everyone else around him have friends to play with whilst he had no one. It also hurt when he saw kids leave with their respective families whilst he knew that he would be going home to an empty house.

Thankfully, the team selections in which he had to attend were one week away. In the eyes of Naruto Uzumaki, someone who had been confined to civilian level material at the general library, well it now meant that he could access genin level material. He only had to suffer being subjugated for a few more years before no one would be able to tell him what to do.

Naruto was confident now that he had access to a whole lot more shinobi jutsus, he could become a chunin where the world would become his oyster.

The door to becoming a stronger shinobi had opened up considerably more and the newly instated genin was keen to blow that door wide open. First thing was first though, he needed to go to bed and get a good night sleep. There was a lot of training that he was going to be doing in the near future.

The next day

Making his way through the genin section of the library, Naruto was trying to find a book that would help him improve himself as a shinobi. It wasn't that there wasn't anything for him to read which there was… it was just that Naruto didn't know which book to read. All of them seemed similar due to their names. It was then that Naruto saw a small yellow coloured book caught his attention due to the title on it.

So you made Genin? You're still shit

What struck Naruto was that he was used to things being sugar coated in the academy. In complete contrast to that, this book even had a vulgar title. The blonde haired Uzumaki had the hopes that it would give him the proper information that he needed rather than glossing over it like what he felt the academy did

Turning over the page to the front cover, Naruto had a quick read through the contents as well as the first main page. He was instantly hooked onto it and new that it was something that he shouldn't just rent, but he should also find a proper copy and buy it.

Thanks to the writing on the front, Naruto knew that he would get a free piece of chakra paper to test out his affinity as one came with the book.

Eventually, after about an hour and a half of searching, Naruto finally found a shinobi store that would sell him the book. It wasn't as if there was some convoluted bullshit prejudice that some would believe to occur, it was just that it was a rather unpopular book and not many stores stocked it.

Once it was done, Naruto made his way into an empty training ground and sat down on the ground. With everything else taken care of, the blonde haired boy opened up the book and started reading from where he left last time.

Okay, so now that we have gotten all of that introductory bullshit out of the way, let's get on to the real reason as to why you are reading the best shinobi book ever. You wanted to become a great ninja like yours truly Jiraiya and as the outstanding person that I am, it is my mission to make you as such. Follow what's in this and you might, just might get strong enough for me to recognize you as a somewhat decent shinobi.

Now, let's find out what type of shinobi you are. Take the piece of chakra paper that came with this and channel some chakra into it. Unless you have freaky genetics, there will be one of five possible outcomes for this. It will turn to rubble, catch on fire, get soggy, split in half or crinkle up in a little ball.

After having read that, Naruto turned back down to the piece of chakra paper in his other hand. Thinking "Oh what the heck" he channelled chakra into the palm of his hand. The result was instant.

The paper abruptly started shrinking as it shrivelled up into a small ball into his hand. Wanting to know what this meant, Naruto went back to reading.

Using the table above, you can find out what element you are attuned to due to the reaction on the paper. This means that there are certain things that you will find much easier to learn (your strengths) and things that are much harder to learn (your weaknesses).

If you want to learn more about how the elements work, turn to page 14

Back in the days when I was taught to be a shinobi, we learnt things much differently. Unlike the academy today where there was a one style fits all kids, the academy taught five types of taijutsu, one for every element. It proved much better results but it was costed a lot more and as such, it was only used during war time.

Since we live in the land of fire, most of us have affinities to the Katon element. The academy taijutsu style was built around the Katon element as it would provide the best learning taijutsu for the majority of students attending. If you are someone who has a Fuuton element, well then you are pretty much fucked and you will have to learn a new fighting style.

As Naruto was reading this, he made a mental note to go back to the library so that he could find a proper book on a lighting based taijutsu form for him to use.

Good, now that we got that out of the way and you know how to go and improve yourself as a shinobi on your own volition, we will get down to the major point of being a genin.

If there was one sole rule that you needed to follow as a genin shinobi in terms of skills, it is that you don't need to necessarily improve what your good at. All you really need to do is improve at your flaws and make sure that there is nothing that an enemy can notice and take advantage of. Realistically, anything beyond that train of thought is getting into chunin territory and you don't need a big head developing.

With that said, pretty much every guy reading this will have shitty chakra control. I fell into the same category as a kid; so don't fret because with hard work and determination you can become almost as good as me!

The first step of this chakra control exercise is tree climbing. Now I know it doesn't sound like much at the moment but just think of all the possibilities! Hehehe giggidy

What you want to do is lay down next to a surface (preferably a tree and channel a small, constant amount of chakra into your feet. Take your time to as you channel your chakra as you feel the grip in your feet grow. You want to make sure you have enough to hold onto the tree so that you don't lose grip but not enough to blast off of it.

Make no mistake you will fail unless you have some freakishly good chakra control. You will fail but this is the perfect example of an important lesson that you need to learn. You need to gather up your determination and persevere through the pain if it fails the first time round.

When he was done reading the book in his hand, Naruto thought that he might as well give this tree climbing thing a go.

PLONK

"Owww" the genin muttered as he rubbed the back of his head. Naruto had managed to take two steps walking up the tree before he fell back onto the ground. "Like the book said, practice makes perfect…" Naruto said to himself as he promised that he would get this down. He wanted to become the most powerful shinobi there ever was.

Time skip

5 days had passed and it was now Monday morning for Naruto Uzumaki and now he had to attend the academy to see what his team was. He honestly hoped that he didn't get either because they were really annoying. Apart from those two, he honestly didn't care who he got on his team as long as they didn't do anything to hinder his growth as a shinobi.

It was also the time that Naruto would find out who his sensei was. Thanks to using his newfound clearance levels, Naruto was able to get his hands on a copy of the famed bingo book. The genin was hoping that he could go through and possibly see if there was anything in them that he might be able to apply to himself. Not only that, but knowledge was power.

Walking in through the academy doors, Naruto noticed that there wasn't anything different apart from the fact that Mizuki was no longer apart of the teaching force. The fact that there was no one sitting next to him was just like usual, it didn't bother him as the emotional pain had dulled over time.

Strangely enough for one Iruka Umino who was in the room, he didn't have to tell the class to be quiet. It was a rare occasion for him so he took advantage of it.

"Now you will be tasked with your duties to the village. You will be split up into teams of three underneath a Jonin sensei. You will follow their orders as you complete the tasks that the village hand to you." At this point the teacher started going over the team assignments and Naruto promptly tuned out. The blonde haired boy only cared when he heard his own name.

"Team Seven consists of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga. Your Jonin-sensei will be Kakashi Hatake" The moment that this was stated, a large majority of the girls in the classroom started shouting out at Iruka at how the team selection was unfair. There were also glares being sent in the direction of Hinata who just wanted to die right then and there, all of the attention that was focused on her was suffocating.

"Team eight consists of Shino Aburame, Sakura Haruno and Kiba Inuzuka. Your Jonin-sensei will be Kurenai Yuuhi."

Whilst there was a lot of talk going on around him, Naruto tuned himself to the outside world. He wanted to know what the plans were considering the fact that he now had Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga on his team. Why did he have two of the most prestigious clans' heirs on his team? Were they supposed to form some kind of super duper team due to all of their abilities?

Having Kakashi Hatake as their sensei only further served to make Naruto believe his theory was correct. It was not every day that you had an ex ANBU black ops legend as your Jonin-sensei. Something was certainly up.

Three hours later

After having been told by his sensei to just sit at your seat and wait for your sensei, none of the members that made up team sever believed that they would be waiting this long. Even Hinata, who was the type of person who only had nice bones in her body, was angry at the fact that she was being made to wait over three hours.

It was then that the sliding door to the room opened and it had everyone (admittedly only three people) inside's attention. In stepped a man with gravity defying silver hair and his headband tilted over one eye. Apart from that, there wasn't anything really all that different about him.

"My first impression of all of you is…. meh. Meet me on the roof." With that said, the man known as Kakashi Hatake vanished into thin air only leaving behind a plume of smoke.

Having heard their orders, both Naruto and Sasuke instantly got up, making their way to the roof. Albeit nervous of what was to come, Hinata quickly followed as she did not want to make a bad first impression.

When all four of them were on top of the building, the three genin turned around to their newfound sensei, waiting to hear what was next. "Okay so let's begin with some introductions."

Not sure what he really meant by that, Naruto questioned the man who would be teaching him from now on. "What do you mean?"

"You know, your likes, dislikes and dreams for the future." Kakashi said with a bit of a drawl in his voice. Let it not be said that Kakashi Hatake was a man who was easily bored.

Albeit not as well done, Sasuke Uchiha was giving off the same impression. "Why don't you give us an example." The black haired boy replied back to the man in front of him.

"Alright then, hmmm well let's see. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… Hmm… As for my hobbies, well I have lots of hobbies…" the expressions that were on the face of Kakashi's students was priceless in his opinion. The deadpan looks that were sent his way were great. The look on the face of Hinata was one that made him laugh internally.

All he did was tell us his name. The three genin thought to themselves as they tried to make sense of what had just happened.

"Alright, Sasuke, you're next."

Sighing, the Uchiha clan heir spoke up. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone." The darkness that was seeping through his voice was something that everyone nearby could hear.

For the only female in the group, she was actually really nervous as she could feel the malice coming from her teammate. Hinata hoped that he didn't hold anything against the Hyuga clan because of their rivalry.

Naruto for his part was thinking that Sasuke was a stuck up asshole where the world revolved around him. The way that he carried himself and the way how he talked only emphasized this point.

I guess that can only be expected considering all things. Kakashi thought to himself. It was unfortunate that what happened had to happen but there was no use crying over spilt milk.

"Hinata-chan, it's now you're turn." Kakashi stated with a smile on his face, He had been briefed by Kurenai about the insecurities that she had in herself. Admittedly he didn't think that he was the best person to be her sensei but he didn't really have any other choice when the orders came from the Hokage. He would try his best to get her to come out of her shell.

"Ano, M-my n-n-name is Hinata Hyuga. I l-like pr-press-ing flowers and equality. I dislike crab, shrimp and being mean to people. My dream for the f-f-future is to beat my f-father and remove the c-c-cursed seal." It was definitely a mouthful to say for Hinata Hyuga. The shy girl had slowly but surely grown a bit of confidence when talking to her new teammates and sensei. Despite the fact that they were pretty much complete strangers to one another, she hadn't stuttered all that much.

"Nicely done Hinata-chan." The Jonin-sense stated to which a small, relieved smile appeared on the girl's face.

"Finally, we have the midget." Kakashi gave what his students would come to recognize as his eye smile.

"Fuck you! I'm not small! I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet!" As Naruto said this, he stared directly at his sensei, daring him to respond. Fortunately for him, Kakashi didn't fall for the bait. "…Anyway, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I have a lot of dislikes and not many likes. I have no hobbies and my dream for the future is to become the strongest shinobi ever." There was emphasis in his voice but it wasn't as if there was any form of enthusiasm.

Sasuke looked on with impassiveness. At least if he has a goal like that he hopefully won't slow me down all that much. Hinata was just plain old curious. Naruto in the academy was always a bit of an enigma, actually as she thought about it, she realised that the one thing the team had in common was that they were all the loner kids at school. Maybe team loner could group together and become her first proper friends.

Kakashi, well his thoughts were slightly different. I guess we couldn't have honestly expected much difference from Naruto considering how he grew up.

What the others didn't know was that there was a lot more that Naruto could have said. Naruto, although he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, knew that why he wanted to be the strongest shinobi in the world were borderline traitorous. He didn't want them knowing, especially a former ANBU black ops member.

"Alright, you three all have rather unique personalities. I like that. Anyway, we're going to start a mission beginning tomorrow." Unable to hide his curiosity when he heard the words from his sensei, Naruto replied with a bit of eagerness. After all, it was a chance for him to have his first mission and grow stronger as a shinobi.

"What is it!?

"It's survival training." Kakashi said with a bit more emphasis in his voice. All three of his students seemed to give him more attention the moment that he said it.

"I thought that we did all of that training in the academy?" Naruto asked as he followed up on his previous question. He really hoped that he could learn something new that would help him get stronger.

In response to that, the Jonin-sensei just started laughing. "Naruto, this isn't just any training. It is special because of the fact that; well if I say this you are going to be surprised. Out of the twenty seven graduates from the academy, only nine will pass. The other 18 will be sent back to the academy.

In other words, this training is going to be a very hard test with a dropout rate of 66%." As Kakashi said this, he purposefully set the mood to make it so that he would install as much fear into his students. It was definitely working on Hinata; Naruto and Sasuke however weren't fazed in the slightest.

"That's bullshit Kakashi! There's no way in hell that you would be able to turn us back to the academy. I see what is going on here. It's not as if you got a bunch of ragtag misfits to make up the rest of the numbers…

You got the students with the most potential to become insanely strong shinobi." Before Naruto could continue speaking, he was interrupted by someone else.

"Speak for yourself." Sasuke muttered although it was loud enough for everyone to hear. It didn't come as a surprise that it was said in a condescending fashion as well.

"Fuck you ya spoilt piece of shit. If I had access to all of clan jutsus that you have then I would be ten times the shinobi that you would be asshole." Let it not be said that Naruto had a rather … colourful vocabulary. As he said this, he was staring a hole where Sasuke was sitting down.

Now the Uchiha clan heir never once thought that he was spoilt as a kid. Sure he was a clan heir but everything had been taken away from him by his older brother no less. "Shut up trash. Nobody likes you." Sasuke snarled as he hated people bringing up his childhood. Since Sasuke didn't know the full story, he didn't know how much this actually hurt Naruto.

"You better watch your back because I am going to do what Itachi should have done." Naruto said with an equal amount of venom in his voice. There was a stair off happening between Naruto and Sasuke and it didn't look as if one of them was going to back down any time soon.

All Hinata could do right now was hope that her team would make up and become friends. If only I had the confidence to stop them from fighting.

Seeing the high amount of tension surrounding his team, Kakashi knew that he had to take action. Take action he did indeed. "Both of you drop your ego's and say you are sorry. Now!" The commanding tone of voice that the former ANBU captain used was one very similar to how he addressed his operatives.

The effect was instant. Both Naruto and Sasuke turned around and faced their sensei. Despite Naruto knowing his sensei's past job title, he was surprised to see him serious. This was more of what he had initially been expecting, not the bored.

Going back to what he was talking about before he was interrupted, Naruto spoke up. "Plus if they were going to do a test like that and weed out people who aren't ready, they would have given us some run of the mill Jonin instead of you."

Surprised that one of his genin knew who he actually was, he decided to see just how much Naruto knew. In doing so, he never denied the point that Naruto was making. "Oh really Naruto-chan, what makes you think that? For all you know, I could be that "run of the mill Jonin" as you so put it." Kakashi said with his patronizing eye smile.

Naruto could tell that he was getting baited but he didn't want to be made as an example in front of Sasuke, the humiliation would make him think that he won the argument. In the eyes of the blonde haired boy it was merely postponed. Picking out the bingo book that was in his back pocket, Naruto flipped it open to random page.

"It says here that Sasuke should be sucking your cock if he wants to get anywhere in life as a shinobi." There was shock evident in the facial expressions coming from Hinata as she couldn't believe the language that she was hearing. Since she heralded from a noble clan, she never once heard swearing around her. There was even consensus among the younger kids, main and branch both stating the same.

To hear some child who was now going to be her teammate speak so vulgarly was a complete shock to the system. The same could be said for Sasuke although he hid it much better than the Hyuga princess. He was angry though at what Naruto had said about him. He didn't want anyone thinking that he was gay.

Hearing Naruto insinuate about the sharingan in his hidden eye made Kakashi a little bit impressed. That knowledge certainly wasn't common among genin / academy students.

"Well I'll humour you since you are correct. You three specifically aren't going to be sent back to the academy. I don't have a choice as it is orders from Hokage-sama. That being said, I am going to drill the three of you so hard in teamwork that you are a perfectly oiled machine before I teach you any jutsu. I don't care if Sasuke and Naruto dislike each other. I will make you learn to work together flawlessly, am I understood?" Kakashi said as he wanted to nip in the bum anything that could possibly cause the team dynamic to fail.

Not only was Kakashi doing it for that, but he was also doing it to display an air of superiority. He didn't want to give team seven any thoughts apart from that he was their supreme leader.

There was that but more importantly over everything else, there was a new Icha Icha book that had just been released. He didn't want to waste anytime whatsoever that he could have spent reading the book doing something like testing when it could be done at a later date.

Time skip

"Team seven… passed." The moment that the words left the lips of Kakashi Hatake, one of, if not the most famous servant of the ANBU black ops had passed a team. Now if this was someone else with a similar mission history, this wouldn't be as big of a deal.

The fact was that Kakashi had not passed a single team despite the fact that he had had seven teams previously and failed every single one of them. The commotion and muttering that this caused was heard throughout the room full of Jonin.

"I bet it was the Uchiha that made Kakashi pass the team."

"Nah I reckon that the Hyuga clan paid Kakashi-sempai some money on the side to pass them. He'd hate to have his daughter fail."

Ignoring all of the comments that went passed, the sensei of team seven even got annoyed at the suggestions that he would somehow be bribed into training a bunch of genin students.

"Enough!" Hiruzen Sarutobi bellowed as he wanted to get this over and done with. There were honestly more important things that he had to get to and he could only do them with no one around. Not only that but he was concerned about little Naruto-kun.

Despite how much he tried to become friends with the child, he never once gained his trust. In the eyes of Naruto, the only person you could trust was yourself. It was a shame that such an upbringing fell onto the boy but it couldn't be helped. There was only so much that could be done to prevent the villagers from directing their hatred for the Kyubi his way.

There were never any direct forms of this shown his way though, ever since the decree had been made once Hiruzen saw that Naruto would not have an easy childhood, no one had dared to defy the Sandaime Hokage. That being said, it didn't stop all of the indirect and unfair treatment sent his way.

Stopping himself from going down that path, the Sandaime brought his attention back to Kakashi. "So how did they do it Kakashi-kun?" the Hokage asked with a small smile on his face.

"It was actually Naruto who got the team to pass... He called me out on the fact that since I, an ex ANBU black ops commander was given three clan heirs with the highest amount of potential out of anyone from this year; that there was no way that they were going back to the academy.

Well that and the new Icha Icha book came out today. So Hokage-sama can I be excused?" If the onlooking Jonin in the room were waiting for a climactic battle which would showcase the skills of the up and coming genin, then they were severely disappointed.

The dumbfounded expectation on the face of one Hiruzen Sarutobi was something that Kakashi giggled at. The old man too had been expecting a battle story from Kakashi. What he got was severely disappointing. "Very well then Kakashi, we will be having words though." Hiruzen said as he watched one of his best Jonin leave his office via a shunshin.

Later

"Thank you for all of your input on the future generation of Konoha's defenders. For those of you who are now officially Jonin-sensei, I wish you all the best in grooming your genin into becoming powerful ninjas. Dismissed." As the Sandaime Hokage gave the command, all bar one of the Jonin in the room left the room.

That one Jonin who remained was Kurenai Yuuhi, the kunoichi who was responsible for the care of Hinata Hyuga. Admittedly, she was expecting to have the girl on her team so that she could hopefully nurture some confidence into the incredibly shy young girl.

"Yes Kurenai-chan?" Hiruzen questioned with a knowing look on his face. It wasn't as if he didn't know what was coming.

"Hokage-sama, not that I doubt that Kakashi wouldn't be a good sensei for Hinata, it's just that I am not sure being on an all-male team would benefit Hinata's development as a person." Pausing to have a bit of a break, Kurenai used this time to gauge whether or not her boss thought that she was speaking out of line.

Strangely enough, she could see that he wanted her to continue with her point of view. "Hinata has had a troubled childhood as you no doubt know Hokage-sama. We know that since she is the Hyuga clan heir, there is a lot of potential for her to become a good shinobi but I think that Hinata needs a kinder hand than what Kakashi could provide; one that I could provide."

Having allowed the woman in front of him to speak her mind, it was now the Hokage's turn to speak up. "Whilst I agree that there is a great deal of potential inside of Hinata-chan, unfortunately she does not have the chance to be wrapped up in cotton wool. I know you wouldn't intentionally do it but since you have formed a rather strong emotional bond with the girl, there would be conflicts of interest in terms of preparing her for life as a shinobi." Before Kurenai could deny what the Hokage had just said, Hiruzen continued on quickly.

"I am not saying that you would give preferential treatment to Hinata over your other students Kurenai-chan but as a shinobi and not a civilian, there comes a point where you have to grow up.

As harsh as that may sound and before you think that it is harsh, look at her two teammates. Neither one of them has had an easy childhood, in fact I would say that Hinata has been the luckiest out of the three. Both Naruto and Sasuke are fine young genin despite their unjust childhoods and I believe given a bit of time, Hinata will come out of her shell. After all, if there is anything bad that happens on a mission, they do have Kakashi to bail them out of trouble.

The fact of the matter Kurenai-chan is that out of all of the female graduates from this year that we could pair up with Naruto and Sasuke, Hinata was the most talented."

As she was going over what Hiruzen had said about the upbringings of Hinata's other two teammates, it took a while for the red eyed lady to grasp what the Sandaime was hinting at.

"Ahhh, they got the Team Seven title didn't they?"

"Yes the indeed did. Despite the fact that there is no imminent threat of war approaching us, one can never be too prepared. Hopefully unlike previous generations with Itachi, Kakashi and Minato, this team seven will become a standout team like my three students instead of having only one individual achieving greatness." The Sandaime Hokage stated. He was confident that having the Uchiha and Hyuga clan heir pared up with the Kyubi jinchuuriki would promote a new age of prosperity for Konoha.

"I know Hokage-sama, the saying that the Nidaime Hokage lived by is one that applies to this situation. The needs of the many outweigh those of the few or the one. By your leave…" with the nod coming from her boss, Kurenai vanished, hoping that Kakashi would be able to nurture Hinata into a strong young woman.

Hiruzen himself could only hope that he had made the right choices when it came to team selections. He had half a mind to put the girl from a shinobi family who had great academic scores.