A/N: So, I've been watching Naruto from the beginning, and, well, I wanted a reason for Naruto to be more powerful than in the series. Yes, this way he wouldn't have Iruka as a precious person which would suck, but he'd have gained Kakashi. Anyway, as I understand it, Kakashi left ANBU when Naruto was six, after ten years of service (four under Yondaime, six under Sandaime), so he'd have been free to take an apprentice. (Also, Sandaime emotionally blackmailed him into taking Naruto as an apprentice...)

So, now we have a very twisted version of Team Minato in our Team Seven.

BTW: Naruto doesn't know about the Kyuubi being sealed in him yet.

Enjoy!

'*'*'*'*'**'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

Chunin Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha was used to his sensei being late. At first he'd hated the waiting time, fluctuating anywhere from half-an-hour to three hours, using it to maybe prepare pranks for Hatake Kakashi-sensei or for a nap. Nowadays he used it to train, chakra control still being his worst area of ninja skills. Sometimes he warmed up with stretches and taijutsu katas. Other times he read up on fuinjutsu. Once he'd even gone looking for Kakashi-sensei, but the scolding he'd gotten for not being at the training ground when Kakashi-sensei had finally arrived hadn't been worth the repeat.

However, what he wasn't used to, were the two obviously just Academy graduated genin that were at his normal training ground, looking like they were waiting for something. Or someone. It looked like it was that time again.

The boy had black hair and pale skin. His hitai-ate was wrapped around his forehead as was normal. It matched his blue shirt that had a neckline way too open to be practical for a ninja, which even a green genin should have known. The blue wasn't even a grey-blue that would have melded into shadows, but a rather bright blue. His white shorts stood out and if Naruto had to guess, it was to draw attention to the boy's nether regions, which would be very dangerous. He was leaning against a tree, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes were closed.

The girl was even worse than the boy, with her long pink hair and red dress. Her hitai-ate was on top of her head and Naruto fought down a snort. Hitai-ates were there so that people could tell your village at a first glance and the girl's hitai-ate wouldn't serve for anyone but those who were on a higher ground, which in itself would put the girl in the worse position in case of an attack. She too was leaning against a tree, her hands resting in front of her, folded like lady. She'd even crossed her ankles! She at least had her eyes open, even if she continuously stole glances at the boy rather than checked the surroundings for danger.

But the duo was familiar to Naruto, like he'd known them somewhere. It could be that they'd been in the same class in the Academy before he'd graduated early. Or they could have been the grandchildren of his next-door neighbor. He didn't really care either way.

From his perch in the tree, his enhanced hearing picked up the rumbling of an empty stomach and nearly chuckled. Every jounin-sensei told their students not to eat breakfast on the test day, something about measuring their actual potential when in slightly more challenging circumstance than after a good night's rest and full stomach. He himself had been ready to eat Kakashi-sensei when he hadn't eaten breakfast and had been denied lunch. His team hadn't passed and his team mates, umm... Ga... Ge... Ginku! Yes, Ginku, and... and... that girl... had been sent back to the Academy for a year but Kakashi-sensei had taken an interest in Naruto and made him his apprentice. (Later Naruto had found out Hokage-jiji had made the arrangement and now, looking back, he'd agreed that there was no way Kakashi-sensei would have found him interesting enough in any way to make him his apprentice. He'd been loud and stupid. He still was more enthusiastic and talkative than most shinobi, but now he knew when not to go shouting about his dream of becoming Hokage. He still wore orange (it was slightly darker), but it didn't matter anymore, 'cause now he was Konoha's stealth master by far. No one knew he was there if he didn't want them to.)

He turned his attention back to the two genin. He wouldn't get any training done with the two there. He knew he couldn't leave, the scolding from Kakashi-sensei wouldn't be worth it, but was he supposed to just hang out there, waiting for him?

No, that wouldn't be like Uzumaki Naruto at all. With a grin he jumped off to prepare the prank.

A few hours later, when Kakashi-sensei shunshined to the exact spot Naruto had predicted, the chakra from the jutsu activated the seal Naruto had planted there when the girl had been looking at the boy. A wooden cross rose up from behind Kakashi-sensei and his wrists snapped to the horizontal stick, spreading Kakashi-sensei's arms wide. Then more seals activated, and used the kawarimi seal to replace his clothes with those typically used by scarecrows, right down to the hat that now covered his hitai-ate-less eye.

Both genin had leaped up, having sat down leaning against their respective trees, when Naruto's trap had activated, but were now frozen, staring at their sensei.

"It-it wasn't us!" the girl finally said loudly, looking at Kakashi-sensei with wide eyes, hand's covering her mouth.

"Maa, I know know, Sakura," sighed Kakashi-sensei. "There is only one person who would, or could, do something like this. Naruto-kun," he said a little louder, lazily looking around, "come down and meet the cute little genin."

Grinning, Naruto stood up on his tree branch, concentrated chakra to the bottoms of his feet and fell sideways, coming down facing the three other people. "What's up, Kakashi-sensei? Looking a little worn there. Are those new clothes?"

"Behind you, Naruto-kun," Kakashi-sensei's voice said behind him, making him lose concentration and fall down. But before he hit the ground, he managed to turn around and landed on his feet.

"But-but," stuttered the girl, pointing at the scarecrow Kakashi-sensei while looking at the Kakashi-sensei hanging from the tree branch just like Naruto had. "If you're there, how can you be there?"

"Kage bunshin," answered the scarecrow Kakashi and dispersed himself, only leaving the wooden cross and a bunch of clothes.

"You're improving, Naruto-kun," Kakashi-sensei said warmly. "What seals were those?"

"Oh, there was the basic conrtol matrix that activated upon the chakra of your shunshin that activated the gravity seal in the cross and once it was up right, the seals that bound the hands activated, as did the kawarimi seals that replaced the clothes," explained Naruto enthusiastically.

"I've never seen that seal that you used on the wrists before," commented Kakashi-sensei as he went over to the cross to inspect Naruto's work. "How do they work?"

"Well, they draw in the bones in the wrist of the one that activates them. I have a version of it for every bone in the body, as well as modified versions of them that target the blood fed to them rather than the one activating them," Naruto grinned proudly. "I figured they'd be handy in a trap or if you have to immobilize someone for a long time."

"Good thinking, Naruto-kun," Kakashi-sensei praised him and straightened up again. "You'd have had me had I not used kage bunshin. It shouldn't be long until you're ready for the jounin exams."

Naruto brightened up even more. "Really? Yatta! Jounin exams! Here I come! Just you watch, Kakashi-sensei, I'll be Hokage in no time!"

"Maa, Naruto-kun, you still have to get to through the exams, get a few years of service under your belt, teach a genin team and only then can you even be considered a candidate for the title of Hokage, but, in say, eight to ten years... who knows," Kakashi-sensei shrugged. "Maybe Sandaime-sama would be ready to retire."

"Jiji's been ready to retire for fifteen years," complained Naruto. "It's why we had the Yondaime!"

"Aa," agreed Kakashi-sensei. "So," he turned to the two genin who'd just watched interaction of Naruto and himself. "Sakura, Sasuke, this is my apprentice Naruto-kun. Naruto, since you weren't at the Academy yesterday, introduce yourself to the cute little genin."

"Yo," Naruto grinned at them easily and held up a peace sign. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. You may call me Naruto-senpai. I graduated the Academy at eight and became a chunin at ten. I specialize in stealth, ninjutsu and fuuinjutsu but I'm not that shabby with taijutsu either. I like ramen. I don't like stupid people. My hobby is gardening and I've been known to write horrible poetry. My dream is to become the greatest Hokage Konoha has ever seen. It'll be a pleasure to kick your ass today."

"Naruto-kun, don't frighten the cute little genin like that," said Kakashi-sensei and put a hand on top of Naruto's head, which made him glower at his sensei. "But as Naruto-kun said, he'll be your opponent today. Naruto-kun, the bell." Naruto took a bell from his pocket and showcased it to the genin. "The one of you who gets the bell off of Naruto-kun becomes a genin in this team, the other will get sent back to the Academy. This test normally has a failure rate of 66%, so I wouldn't be surprised of neither of you passed." He turned around and set a timer on the training stump. "You have time until noon. The one that doesn't get the bell," he turned to face the genin again and Naruto jingled the bell for good measure, "will be tied to this stump and won't get to eat lunch while the other two will eat the bento in front of them. I also wouldn't recommend holding back." He glanced at Naruto. "No maiming the genin, Naruto-kun. Ready?"

"As ever," he grinned and tied the bell to one of the loops on his pants.

"Well then... START!"

Both Sasuke and Sakura jumped away to hide in the cover the surrounding plant life offered.

Kakashi-sensei took out his little orange book and began reading. Naruto, on the other hand, made a kage bunshin in the trees and used the kawarimi no jutsu to change places with it. Now he was in the trees without the cute little genin knowing, and his kage bunshin was at the clearing, going through Kakashi-sensei's bag for that scroll he'd begun reading yesterday. When it had it, it sat down and began to read it without a care in the world.

The clearing was still for a while, Naruto keeping an eye on Sasuke and Sakura's chakra signatures. Both of them were flaring with annoyance, disbelief and anxiety, giving away their positions even to more experienced genins. He made a mental note to tell Kakashi-sensei to teach them about sensing chakra signatures and suppressing them. Then maybe they wouldn't get killed on their very first mission outside the village.

He'd see which of them gave in first (his money was on Sasuke) from the kage bunshin's memories once it dispersed, but now he had some traps to set up. With a smothered giggle he left his hiding place.

Not too soon, maybe five minutes later, his kage bunshin dispersed itself after a jaunty wave at an enraged and dripping wet Sasuke who was charging at it, rather slowly, after being thrown into the pond. The boy had started off with some kunai and shuriken, following up with taijutsu and some surprising fire jutsu which had, in turn, caused the kage bunshin to throw him into the pond. His accuracy was good enough for a genin (he'd seen more impressive from Maito Gai-san's genin Tenten-san last year on their joint mission, but then, she was specializing in weaponry and Sasuke was not) and his taijutsu was impressive for Academy, but it lacked the surprise elements of his own style, as well as the personality of an older, more experienced genin. But Naruto heartily approved of using ninjutsu in what had previously been strictly a taijutsu battle, as it might throw the enemy off and therefore give you the chance to use more deadly force. Maybe he wouldn't be so bad after all, even if it still remained to be seen.

Half-an-hour later he got the memories of the kage bunshin he'd sent after Sakura and couldn't help giggling. The poor girl had thought she was under a genjutsu when she'd seen Sasuke all mangled up when in fact it had been the kage bunshin under a henge. The kage bunshin had had a moment of doubt in which he'd thought maybe he should have just attacked the girl physically and see where she stood in taijutsu, but when she blood curling scream escaped the kunoichi it'd known it had made the right decision to test her mental strength.

Sasuke wasn't that far from his current position and Naruto decided to wait for him where he was. Surely the hot headed genin would want some revenge for the humiliation of earlier?

He didn't have to wait for long until he felt Sasuke almost enter the clearing he was in before hiding in the shrubbery again. It seemed the little genin had noticed him before entering the actual clearing, which was a good thing. Patiently Naturo pretended to meditate.

"Lesson one, taijutsu," he told the empty clearing. "Lesson two, mind games. Can you guess the third lesson, Sasuke-chan?"

The genin answered by the way of a Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu, to which Naruto responded with a Doton: Doryuheki, the earth wall easily standing up to the Katon jutsu.

"Your ninjutsu is impressive for a genin who shouldn't even have enough chakra for that jutsu," Naruto continued after letting the earth wall fall back. "But how many can you make before you fall unconscious, especially when you haven't eaten breakfast?"

A third fireball of the day was his answer, which he batted aside with Futon: Reppusho. He could hear the genin's labored breathing on the edge of the clearing and stood up. He dropped a smoke bomb on purpose and dove underground.

He grabbed Sasuke's leg. "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no jutsu!" he said and dragged the genin down until only his head was above the ground. Then he emerged from the ground himself and crouched in front of the boy. "Well, you have maybe an hour to get up from there and come find me again. Let's hope you'll do better next time, okay?" He grinned and patted the seething Uchiha on the head, making sure to keep away from the mouth as he'd heard Uchihas were known to bite when young when there were still more of them around. Something about blood lust and the sharingan.

That done he skipped away, leaving the genin to his own devices, but made a kage bunshin to keep an eye on him, to see if he'd try to work with Sakura once she woke up.

An hour later the alarm rang and the kage bunshin dispersed itself, giving Naruto the memories of it shadowing Sasuke for the hour. Apparently Sakura had woken up and had dug him out but he'd refused any notion of team work and made off on his own. Sakura, dejected, had made her way to the edge of the memorial stone clearing where Naruto and Kakashi-sensei were reading.

Once both genin were in the clearing standing in front of them, Sasuke glaring hatefully and Sakura barely able to look up from the ground, did Kakashi-sensei speak.

"Well, Naruto-kun? What is your assessment of the cute little genin?"

"Sasuke-chan is mid-genin level but won't work with others. Sakura-chan has the technical know-how but her physical performance leaves a lot to be desired. Had there been a third genin as is customary she would have likely ignore them in favor of Sasuke-chan. Honestly, both of them would benefit from another year at the Academy for more physical and mental training, but as their personalities are right now, they should quit being ninja, because they don't have the qualities we're looking for in Konoha shinobi," Naruto told him with brutal honesty. He was slightly disappointed, to be honest. He'd had such high hopes for them too. "They didn't understand the test."

"And which should be tied to the stump?"

"Sakura," was the immediate answer. "Since she's dieting, she won't want lunch anyway. Also, her performance was worse than Sasuke-chan's."

"I see your point," nodded Kakashi-sensei sagely.

Naruto hit him on the arm. "Stop that, Kakashi-sensei! You're not fooling anyone!" he teased his sensei. "You may be the prodigious student of the Yondaime Hokage but you're no wise man. Ero-sennin and Hokage-jiji are closer to sages than you'll ever be."

Kakashi turned one big, grey eye to Naruto who could tell he was pouting under his mask. "Really Naruto-kun? Is this how you treat your beloved sensei?" he asked, rubbing his arm.

"Beloved sensei you may be, but my love is the tough kind," grinned Naruto as they tied Sakura to the stump. "Truth hurts and all that, dattebayo!"

Then the two turned to the genin.

"So, the verdict of you two was that you should quit being ninjas," Kakashi-sensei said with his normal, lazy tone. "I can see Naruto-kun's point. You didn't look underneath the underneath, didn't understand the point of this test. In theory a three genin team can overpower a jounin, and two genin can overpower a chunin. That is, if they work together."

"The team I was assigned first didn't pass Kakashi-sensei's test, mostly because the other two didn't want to work with a snot nosed brat like I was at the time," Naruto told them. "The only other way to get the rank of genin is if a jounin picks you for an apprentice. I was lucky Kakashi-sensei picked me, 'cause I might have been in your class at the Academy otherwise. But the only reason I passed back then was 'cause I still had so little chakra that I could produce a standard bunshin. Now, without all the chakra control I have, I would over charge the jutsu and end up with a dead looking clone. Kakashi-sensei taught me kage bunshin a few year ago when it became clear that concentrating on creating a bunshin took too much time and effort for it to be an advisable thing to do in battle."

"The test was about... teamwork?" asked Sakura slowly.

"And you failed!" snapped Naruto.

"Konoha isn't like other villages," Kakashi-sensei began. "We all pull together. The stronger help the weaker, the weaker support the stronger. We leave no one behind and no one goes off alone. Konoha wass built on the teamwork of the Uchiha-" here Kakashi looked pointedly at Sasuke who huffed and looked away, "-and the Senju, two clans who'd been at war since the beginning of time because the clan heirs befriended each other. Yes, in the end they fought at the Valley of the End, but for years they'd worked together and protected Konoha side-by-side. While Naruto-kun hasn't had a team of his own, he's often worked with other genin and chunin during missions."

Naruto smirked at him. "I suppose we'll be working more with Gai-san's team then, since the cute little genin didn't pass. You did promise him."

Kakashi-sensei shuddered. "On second thought, maybe I'll give you guys another chance," he said and scratched his mask covered cheek. "I've had enough of the Springtime of Youth for a while." He turned to Naruto. "Make sure Sasuke doesn't feed Sakura! If she eats, they FAIL! I'll be back in half-an-hour, when the three of you will be attacking me instead of them attacking you, Naruto-kun! Ja ne!"

"Bastard-sensei!" shouted Naruto indignantly, shaking a fist at the spot where Kakashi-sensei had just shunshined away. Then he took one of the two bento and went to sit in front of the memorial stone. "He's a bastard sometimes," he told the two genin without looking at them. "But he has a good reason for emphasizing teamwork. He was apprenticed under Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, like I said earlier. When he was nine, Namikaze-san took two genins under his wing while Kakashi-sensei was already a chunin. The Third Shinobi World War had begun when Kakashi-sensei's father had saved his team mates instead of finishing an important mission, so people graduated the Academy at eight, nine or ten, instead of the peace time twelve. All three of them were nine and for years Kakashi-sensei resented the other two, thinking they were holding him back or eating away his time with Namikaze-san who'd become a surrogate father to him. Eventually the two genin became chunin and Kakashi-sensei became jounin. On his first mission after his promotion one of his team mates was kidnapped. The other wanted to rescue her despite the mission but Kakashi-sensei, who was very by-the-book back then, wanted to finish the mission, because his father had started the War by saving his team mates instead of finishing his mission. Anyway, the other team mate defied Kakashi-sensei, who was his commanding officer in the field, and went after their third team mate. Kakashi-sensei realised that he couldn't let his two team mates die because he was finishing the mission instead of helping them, so he headed back. One of the Iwa nin that had his team mate, Nohara Rin, eventually ripped out Kakashi-sensei's left eye after he and this team mate managed to save Rin-san. Problem was... the Iwa nin weren't defeated and launched a jutsu that would have killed Kakashi-sensei if his other team mate hadn't pushed him aside. Uchiha Obito had just awakened his sharingan on that mission and was crushed under a boulder. He was still alive, being crushed alive. Half of his body was under the boulder, but his left eye was undamaged. He had Rin-san take it out of his eye socket and implant it in Kakashi-sensei's empty left one as a you-made-jounin-present and a way to protect his team mates even after death. Rin-san's story isn't any happier. She was kidnapped by Kiri nin and made the jinchuriki of the Sanbi. She was supposed to be driven back to Konoha where the Kiri nin would have ripped open the seal and let the Sanbi out to destroy Konoha. Rin knew this and intercepted Kakashi-sensei's assassination technique when they were fighting the Kiri nin, making Kakashi-sensei kill her to save the village. Not four years later Kyuubi attacked and the Yondaime sacrificed himself to take it down, leaving Kakashi-sensei alone. To this day Kakashi-sensei feels guilty about his team mates' fates and he tries so hard to make sure they don't repeat. He has a saying that I think sums all this up very nicely. Those who don't follow the rules are trash. Those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." He popped the first piece of lunch into his mouth and smiled when he heard Sakura's stomach grumble. "Well, I'mma take a nap," he said and laid down, his back to the genin but with a mirror up so that he could see what they were doing. "Wake me up when Kakashi-sensei shows up."

Sasuke, who was paler than he'd been before, sat down and looked at his bento before glancing at Sakura. Naruto could see the indecision on his face before it hardened to a resolve. Pride welled up in Naruto when Sasuke got up and walked over to Sakura, feeding her a small piece of rice when she opened her mouth to obviously ask him what he was doing.

They passed, even though Kakashi-sensei and Naruto had to spell it out for them.