Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, all I can claim is that I can write a variant and not charge someone for it.
Note: This is my first story; I will try and update at least once every two weeks, but no guarantees. Just so everyone knows, I don't write, it is possibly my worst subject, so if I don't update, it's because I am coming up with an idea, so get over it. Oh, and this has no pairings in it, I chose those two as the characters because they are affected the most in the story.
Kakashi walked into the Hokage office feeling like he had failed his promise to Rin and Obito. He had abandoned his team mates, not in a literal sense of the word, but he still abandoned them. He should have taught them more when he had had the chance, and now he was facing the consciences of his decisions. He had made his mind up; he knew what he must do.
As he walked up to the Hokage to give his report, said man looked up and asked: "how did the mission go?"
Kakashi merely looked down and replied: "It was a complete and utter failure. After running into the Demon Brothers, the team elected to go on. That was the first mistake, we should have called in more back up, but the team's confidence blinded me to the fact they weren't ready for it. After we were attacked by Momochi, Zabuza, we should have abandoned the mission all together, but still we made the mistake of continuing on. After a week, Zabuza struck again, but this time he had brought another ninja to the fight. This ninja attacked Sasuke and Naruto to keep them distracted and out of the way of my fight with Zabuza. During the fight, the Kyuubi managed to loosen the seal and release its chakra, but due to this, I became distracted and Zabuza killed Tazuna, injuring Sakura in the process. After Zabuza killed the bridge builder, he and his partner left, leaving us with an injured Sakura, a comatose Sasuke, and a murderous Naruto."
xxxFlashbackxxx
There was no mistaking it, that had to be the chakra that was feared in Konoha: the Kyuubi. Had the seal become undone, no, it just loosened. He searched for his opponent only to find that he couldn't sense him anymore. His frantic search ended when he heard Sakura scream in pain. He moved as quickly as he could over to Sakura's position, only to find a smug Zabuza standing over the decapitated corpse of Tazuna, and the bleeding form of Sakura.
"I guess my work is done here" Zabuza said before he called out "Haku, we're leaving." With that said, the pair disappeared from sight taking the mist with it and revealing the group of mercenaries standing at the gate of the bridge. Before anything could be said Kakashi picked up his students and shushined away before they could be hurt any more.
xxxFlashbackxxx
"Anything more you would like to say before I file the report?" the Hokage asked.
"Yes, I would like to have Naruto and Sakura removed from my team, I can't handle more than one student, and Sasuke needs help with his Sharingan now that it has been unlocked. I have failed to teach the other two anything, I don't deserve to teach them."
That seems a little unfair to the two, where do you suggest I place them?"
"Anywhere, but my team, I can't bear to fail them again."
"I see. Tatsu, round up all the Jonin that have apprenticed a student, and have them come here."
An Anbu materialized from the shadows, and replied "Hai."
An hour later, several jonin stood in the Hokage's office wondering what the old man wanted from them. When the last one had arrived, he locked the door and told his secretary that he was not to be disturbed. Turning to the group of ninja, he said, "There are as of now, two genin without a team, I need one of you to volunteer to take them in."
"Who are they?" asked one of the jonin.
"Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto."
The group sifted around uneasily, none of them wanted to take in the blonde demon container, for fear people would treat them like a demon lover. After several awkward minutes, the Hokage was about to pick one of them, surprisingly only to be interrupted by one Jonin standing in the back, "I'll take them, my apprentice wants to partake in the Chunin exams, and besides, the training I have planned for them will make them one of the best teams this year."
Well, now that they have been placed, you may all go." Looking at the Jonin who spoke up, the Hokage said, "Have your apprentice drop by around noon to take them to your training ground, make sure you have them ready for the exam."
With that said, the jonin walked out to announce the new additions to the team. As the night wore on the Hokage worried about letting this happen, and how it might affect the old members of team 7.
(The next day)
Team 7 walked into the Hokage Office, minus Sasuke who was still in the hospital for his injuries, looking hopeful at the prospect of a new mission to make up for the failure of their last.
"Sakura, Naruto a decision has been made, you two shall no longer have Kakashi as your jonin sensei, instead you both shall be moved to a new team to be trained for the chunin exams, in a couple months."
"What?", both exclaimed, looking at Kakashi with looks of disbelief, but for different reasons. Sakura for being removed from the team with her precious Sasuke, and Naruto for being rejected by what he came to think of as a family.
"Kakashi believes that it will be for the best," replied the Hokage. "Your new team mate will be here soon, in the meantime wait outside."
As the group walked out the door, the old man sighed, thinking out loud, "Why does everything always have to go wrong when all I want to do is retire."
Once the group arrived out in the waiting room, both of the genin started barraging the jonin with questions. They wanted to know why the jonin didn't want them anymore, but was met with a sad look and the reply, "I can't handle it, I need a smaller team, and Sasuke needs to be trained by me." With that said, he left, leaving the two genin waiting to be picked up.
After an hour of waiting, Naruto was getting fed up and wanted to get out of there, the only thing keeping him there was the look Sakura had, the look just screamed to him, that if he left, she would break down. Instead of leaving he settled for pacing back and forth across the room.
xxx Hour Later xxx
The two genin looked up as the door opened, revealing a boy about their age; he wore a black muscle shirt that defined his toned torso, black baggy pants, that had several pockets running down the legs, and was tucked into a set of black boots. On his arms were a set of bracers stitched into a pair of fingerless gloves that reached down to the middle of his forearm. He wore his hitai-ate wrapped loosely around his neck. His hair was pitch black, with silver strands running through it, giving it a grayish tint to it, all loosely down back that it fell onto his shoulders. What surprised the two standing there was the color of his eyes, they appeared to be silver, neither had ever heard of someone with eyes of that color.
"Are you the two that were assigned to my team?" asked the teen.
Both of them nodded their heads, thinking of the circumstances that caused this to happen. The teen upon seeing this said, "Hey, none of that now, if you're going to be on my team, act happy, or don't bother following me, besides, I need someone to lighten the mood, by the way, my name is Ginara Keotsu, we'll go through the formal introductions later, for now let's go find some place to eat, I'm buying."
Upon hearing this Naruto instantly perked up, shouting "Ichiraku's", and bolted away, leaving his new team mate wondering where he was heading.
Keotsu look at his other teammate, and asked "Where is he going?"
"I'll show you," Sakura said with a sigh while walking towards the door. She turned back to her new teammates saying, "You know that you're going to be flat broke by the end of the day right."
Keotsu gave her a questioning look asking, "Why?"
"Naruto is heading to his favorite food stand Ichiraku's, a ramen stand, and if you don't get there soon, he'll have eaten through about ten bowls, and they aren't cheap ramen either."
With an alarmed look, he grabbed the pink haired kunochi asking her where the place was as he dragged her through the streets.
Ten minutes later they had finally found the place, and Naruto had already gone through eight bowls.
How the hell did you eat all of that in ten minutes and where did you put it all?" asked keotsu with a look of shock.
Naruto looked at the bowls, and shrugged. Sakura just walked up to the stand and sat down with the same look that she had back at the Hokage's tower. Keotsu looked at the pair with complete disbelief, during the time he spent at the Academy, Sakura was a loud mouth that would yell at Naruto for no reason, and Naruto was the loud mouth that never stopped asking Sakura out on a date. But now, Sakura was sitting there in utter silence, and Naruto hadn't said a word to Sakura since they got here.
Shaking his head he walked up to the stand and ordered a miso ramen, hoping that Naruto wouldn't bankrupt him. After the group was done eating, Keotsu chimed up saying, "Let's head over to our training grounds, our sensei will be there tomorrow, so for now we don't have anything to do."
As they were walking to the training grounds, Keotsu noticed that Sakura was staring at the ground. Finally fed up with her silence he stopped, looked at her, and said, "What is the matter with you?"
"Kakashi abandoned us, and now, I'm not on Sasuke-kun's team anymore. Any other team we will be put on would be considered a weaker team. It's pointless for anyone to compare to Sasuke-kun.
Keotsu look at Sakura with a look of sadness. "You do realize that I was apprenticed a year before I was supposed to graduate. My sensei came across my families training ground. What they saw shocked them, I was using techniques that a chunin would be jealous of, and because of this I was apprenticed. If I actually tried, I could have beaten Sasuke in everything, from taijutsu, to ninjutsu. Now follow me to our training ground." With that said Keotsu continued walking, leaving an awestruck Naruto and a furious Sakura still standing there.
"No way he's stronger than Sasuke-kun, he has to be lying," hissed a fuming Sakura.
"I don't know Sakura-chan, remember: deception is the strongest tool of a shinobi," replied Naruto before taking off after their new teammate.
Sakura soon followed, hoping to beat her teammates later for insulting her Sasuke-kun.
When the group arrived at the training grounds, it looked like it had been through a war zone: there were dozens of craters spread out across the field, numerous amounts of scorch marks in the grass from extreme heat of some attacks. Trees were lying all across the ground, most were reduced to splinters. Two of the three genin stared in shock at the destruction of the area. Turning to Keotsu with a questioning look, he answered the question on their mind "Yes this is our training ground, Sensei happened to get a little carried away in our last session together. Come on; let's go find a place to wait for our sensei."
The group sat down under one of the undamaged trees. After thirty minutes of waiting, Naruto couldn't take it anymore and finally asked "Who is our new sensei anyway? I never heard anyone say who it was."
Keotsu look a little surprised at that fact. "Really, well I guess there is no harm in telling you. Our sensei's name is-", suddenly stopping as if he sensed something coming this way. "Scatter," he suddenly shouted, while jumping out of the way. The other two genin look surprised but followed his command, just as they were clear a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it landed were they had been seated. The responding explosion that come from the explosive shocked Naruto and Sakura, were as Keotsu just called out "If you didn't want me to tell them your name all you had to do is ask."
A figure walked out of the shadows calmly stating "But it wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun as an explosion, don't you agree."
Come on out sensei, let them know who will be training them."
Fine," said the figure as it started to come out.
Thank you for the reading, and Just to remind everyone: this is my first story, so give me a break.