Author's Preface: you're damn right it's another Naruto fanfiction, and you're damn right I'm going to be invoking a few elements that figure heavily in other submissions. How so? You'll just have to wait and see…
(Also, I don't own Naruto so don't sue. I wish to hell I did so I could make a mint off the merchandising.)
Kakashi Hatake shut his little orange book and stashed it in the pouch on his belt, opening up the other item he was carrying. It was a collection of short essays written by the students in Iruka's class at the academy; most of them emphasized the short portion of short essay but a few of them stood out. They'd be graduating in two years, if all went well, and it never hurt to start looking at potential team assignments early. He knew the other Jounin were doing so as well, though Asuma was angling to get the Ino-Shika-Cho team if he could. Of course, he had to start with Minato's son (if anyone among Konoha's ninja didn't already know, they didn't deserve the title).
Why I want to be a Ninja, by Naruto Uzumaki
I want to be a ninja because it's important to my goal of becoming Hokage someday. I'm not going to pretend it'll be easy or that I'll even get the job but I have to try because there are a lot of important people in the village that need protecting. Even if they're not people I know personally, someone out there cares and if I'm not doing my best to ensure their safety then I'm letting them down. There are people in my class I care about too so even if I never make it as a ninja I'll do my best to help them in any way that I can.
Sakura Haruno: My reasons for becoming a Ninja
My parents are both doctors at a free clinic in the poor parts of town. They both severed served in the Second Ninja War as medic-nins, helping as many people as they could as often as they could, even without orders. They dedicate their lives to helping people and I don't want to be seen as being selfish with such a shining example to draw on. I want to be a ninja so I can take care of my teammates and keep them out of trouble, and maybe do well enough for my parents to be proud of me.
One day I want to be as famous as Lady Tsunade herself!
Uchiha Family Tradition
I'm the last of my clan, but that's not important anymore. If they weren't strong enough to defend themselves against one man then they deserved to die. I am only here to learn all I can to continue the clan's tradition of having a strong ninja in every graduating class, even if I'm the last one to fulfill this requirement. Once I've learned everything I can from Konoha I'm going to move on, assuming I can get the Hokage's approval. I can't let anyone else be hurt because of the name Uchiha—unless they deserve it. That's all I have to say about it.
Only one reason (Hinata H.)
For love.
As brief as it was, it still made Kakashi raise an eyebrow. It was a shame she didn't write more; the Hyuuga girl obviously had something strong deep inside her and if it could be drawn out she'd make the most formidable Hyuuga ninja in fifty years. Shrugging, he went back to the essays; most of them were utterly forgettable, especially the Yamanaka girl's "Kunoichi Aspirations". Of the twenty-seven or so students assigned to Iruka only nine of them showed any real potential (and annoyingly, Yamanaka was one of them if only for the fact that she'd likely get graduated to complete the famed Ino-Shika-Cho combination).
He was going to continue observing them up until graduation, but he knew he'd already made his decision. They might want him to take on Sasuke because of his Sharingan; he had other ideas. No, if he needed a sensor on his team, he was going to take the Hyuuga. Sasuke's single-minded focus on revenge was just going to make him a liability. Let him get stuck on someone else's team where he'd flunk out or get beaten into shape.
Team Seven was going to be the best he could make them.