Naruto was created by Masashi Kishimoto
A little introduction:
The first three arcs of this story deal with little know background characters, following a largely canon-compliant storyline. The story converges with main characters, and canon events at the time of the chunin exams, and diverges from canon afterwards.
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"So we have nine graduates this year," Homura said, sipping lightly at a short glass of sake and leaning back into the plush seats of the booth. Homura was impeccably groomed for a shinobi, even a retired shinobi. His hair was brushed back into a grey comet-tail, and his beard was trimmed to an elegant point.
"All clan children, I expect," Miyu said. Her voice was neutral, but as she took a sip of her own drink, she fixed Homura with a pointed gaze. Miyu was an elderly woman, her stocky frame and exquisite yellow kimono marking her as one of the two civilian members of the Petty council, and her subtle jewellery and vibrantly dyed silk marking her as a woman of some wealth.
"Seven are, but there are two civilian graduates this year," Utatane said. Utatane didn't have a drink of her own, but was hovering over a plate of sweet dango. She wore a simple kimono, her hair was pinned into a tight bun, and her eyes were closed to slits, as if even the low lights of the restaurant were too much to bear. "Haruno Sakura, and Nigai Ami are both from undistinguished families, and yet that made it through their academy exams. Haruno did quite well, so I hear, but Nigai only passed when the scores were normalised to pass the full nine."
"Oh- Haruno! The caravan traders!" Miyu said, smiling gently as she pulled a sheet of paper towards her and began scanning down the names. "Ooh- she beat out a lot of the clan children on academics. Her taijutsu scores were low, but she is a girl after all, she can't be expected to do inelegant things."
"She was a shoe-in given the rest of the graduating class," Homura said. "The Nigai girl was more middle of the road, but with three jonin-sensei, it makes sense to pass a full nine. She was certainly the best of what was left."
"Two civilians, and both little kunoichis," Miyu said. She pinched her shoulders and grinned in an excited gesture. "Shall we put them on the same team?"
Homura shook his head, turning to glance at Utatane. It was hard to tell, but he thought he saw her roll her eyes. "The jonin leaders have already chosen their apprentices. The two civilians are to be placed on different teams, each with clan children if possible. I hear the hokage himself had a hand in their placement."
"Oh? The Hokage wants the clan brats to learn that civilian-born shinobi can be just as skilled as them?" Miyu asked, raising an eyebrow and lifting her chin as she looked to Homura.
"Or he wants to show the civvie kids up, when they're surpassed by their clan rivals," Mikio said, sinking back into the red leather of the booth seats and folding his arms. Mikio was the second civilian permitted to sit on the petty council. He wore only simple clothes, despite the finery of the restaurant that Homura used for their meetings. Not wealthy by any standard, Mikio had gained a place on the council thanks to his personal popularity amongst the poorer segments of Konoha's civilian population.
"Now, we don't have the right to question the hokage," Homura said, holding his hands up in a settling gesture. "The hokage has also asked for the Ino-Shika-Cho team to be repeated in this generation, and Kurenai has asked for Hyuga-Nigai-Aburame, so that would leave the final team as Uchiha-Haruno-Inuzuka under Kakashi."
"Oh, Uchiha-Haruno," Miyu said. She turned to the restaurant floor as she spoke and absently raised her hand to attract the attention of a waiter. "Is that a good idea - putting the two geniuses together?"
Homura wave a hand dismissively. "Haruno's hardly a genius, except academically. Her shinobi skills are average at best. Besides, these are only learning groups, they'll probably be split up by advancement in a few years anyway - or by casualties."
"Sure, there you are. It will all work out-" Mikio said, but was interrupted the arrival of a tall, dark-haired man in a dark green flak-jacket, drawing curious glances from the other patrons of the crowded restaurant.
"What is it?" Homura asked.
"A message from the hokage, Mitokado-sama," the chunin said, handing over a tightly wound scroll the to the village elder.
"Oh, a last minute instruction?" Homura said. He began unfurling the scroll, and spoke again to the chunin without looking up. "Thank you, you can go."
"What does it say?" Utatane asked.
Homura was silent for several moments, and his mouth began to droop open. "It seems that Uzumaki Naruto has been given a field promotion to genin, and will be joining the other rookies in graduating this year."
"Oh, how can that be?" Miyo asked smoothly. "I thought academy students weren't allowed into the field."
"There was an incident within the city limits," Homura said, passing the scroll to Utatane. "I'm sorry, Miyo-san, Mikio-san, but the details are classified military information. It's enough to say that the boy has graduated after all."
"Oh? But that makes one extra," Miyo said, drawing her finger down the list of graduates in front of her. There didn't seem to be any additional space in the student line-up to slot the new graduate.
"Uh, we'll just send one of them back to the academy," Homura said. "One of the civilians of course."
"I hope you're joking!" Miyo snapped. "They've both been graduated, they already have their hitai-ate!"
"Hm, well, what if we..." Homura began, pulling the rookie sheet away from Miyo and examining it.
"Perhaps you can have a team with four this year?" Miyo suggested.
"Only a civilian would say such a thing," Utatane sniffed.
"Ugh, come on, I want to talk about my labour reforms already," Mikio said, jabbing a finger into the table. "Can't you just say there's an extra secret test before becoming ninja - 'oh, you fail,' then send one back to the academy?"
"Th-there is a test like that!" Utatane said.
"Huh, so do it. Give one of them a dumb test, then kick them back. Maybe that one, the low-score civvy," Mikio said, peering at the graduation list over Homura's shoulder. "So anyway. You seen how many out of work labourers are hanging round the gates every morning? It's bad for crime, an' it's bad for Konoha. If the hokage were to throw a little of that ninja money our way, maybe as a big construction project-"
"Wait, those tests are given by the Jonin sensei," Homura interrupted, dragging the conversation back to Genin teams. "And they pass or fail as a team. We'd have to assign her to a team to get her to fail, and that's the whole problem to begin with."
"What if she had her own team," Miyo suggested, calmly brushing a crease out of her silk. "A team of one, just for the purposes of failing the test."
Homura rubbed a hand across his forehead. "It's unprecedented. And we can't pull a jonin from active duty just to take care of one Genin, even for a few days. Imagine the paper work! And too many candidates would see it as a black mark on their career."
"So, use someone else. Make one of your duty-chunin do it." Mikio said, growing annoyed.
"A... chunin sensei?" Utatane said.
"Just for a day, it would be okay wouldn't it?" Miyo asked.
"Huh... okay, fine," Homura said, holding his hands up in defeat, before scribbling further on his notes. "We'll put the Uzumaki kid with the Uchiha and the civilian, and the Hyuga can go with the Inuzuka and Aburame, there, that's a fine tracking team. I'll clear it with the jonin leaders tomorrow."
"Problem solved," Mikio said, raising a glass in ironic celebration. "Can we talk about a real problem now?"
