Naruto headed straight for the Hokage's office, hoping that there would be no gossip of the incident last night…especially if what Sakura saw did not meet her expectations. Naruto's outfit was similar to a couple of years back, but this time he wore all black. He also had his new jonin vest on. Finally, Naruto reached Tsunade's office, and of course, yelled "Ba-chan!" without knocking.

Tsunade proceeded to throw a chair Naruto's direction, who ducked in the nick of time.

"Come on, you are an old woman! Besides, you're like the grandmother I never had!" Naruto shouted. Next came the desk, and this Naruto couldn't avoid. Naruto pushed the desk off of him, and coughed up a bit of blood as he held his ribs. "Man, just because you're a healer, and because I heal fast, doesn't give you the right to hurt people like this."

Tsunade simply said "I promoted you, and you still haven't learned any manners. Great, now I owe Jiraya even more money."

Naruto had to stifle a laugh. "So, what is it you wanted to see me about?"

Tsunade organized her papers and said. "You're being assigned a genin team. I trust you'll go through the standard procedures."

Naruto smiled. "Yes, but they'll get the Uzumaki customization."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you're team will be comprised of genin who just barely passed their graduation examination. I thought you would be the perfect teacher for them, considering where you started."

Naruto nodded. "Understood. And you want me to be the one to instruct them so that they can be great ninja."

Tsunade didn't answer, but instead give him a piece of paper. "Don't be late like your sensei."


Naruto headed to the academy the next day. As Naruto looked for his door, he ran into Iruka on the way. "Naruto! Congratulations! I'm so proud of you!" Iruka embraced Naruto into a hug. "I can't believe you're a jonin now!"

Naurto scratched his head. "How come you haven't become a jonin, Iruka-sensei? You may not be the best, but if you work hard you can do it."

Iruka smiled "Thanks, Naruto, but I'm actually very happy where I am right now. When I was orphaned, I made up my mind a long time ago to help kids, whether they were orphans or not. I feel that my place is here."

Naruto understood. He wanted to become Hokage not only to prove everyone wrong about him, but also to make sure no one would have to grow up the same way he did. Iruka was doing something different with the same goal in mind. "I've got to go Iruka-sense! By the way, can you tell me about these three?"

Iruka put his hand on his forehead as he read the slip. "Oh, these three. Yeah, they're pretty difficult to work with. But believe me, they can get it right when they try."

Naruto nodded. "That's what I heard. Well, I'll whip them into shape!" Naruto waved goodbye, and headed off to his room.

Naruto walked in the door, imagining just seeing a bored team of genin. Naruto opened the door and said "Hel-"

Just then, a bucket of ice water fell down on his head. One of the three kids in the room laughed. "See, I told you he would fall for it!" he said. The girl and the other boy just stared.

"This is our instructor?" they both asked.

Naruto got over the shock of the cold water and said "Believe it or not, my instructor got nailed by an eraser I placed on the door, and he is one of the greatest ninjas to have ever lived."

The other boy said "Great, this whole village is screwed."


Naruto took them to the same place where his original team first met. "Okay, we'll just introduce ourselves and get to know each other." Naruto pointed to himself. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I enjoy training, ramen…and believe it or not, I'm quite a prankster myself. I'll get you back for that trick." Naruto pointed to the person who came up with the idea. "Things I don't like: People who are chronically late, and guys with a lot of talent but a bad personality. As for my dream, I'm hoping to be Hokage." The three kids just looked at their sensei incredulously. "I get that look all the time. But enough about me. You go next." He pointed at the other prankster.

His hair was brown, long, and a mess. It put Naruto's hair to shame during his younger years. He also wore thick glasses, a green shirt and blue jeans. "My name is Yuji Miyamoto. I like pulling pranks and sleeping. I wouldn't say hate her, but I dislike my mom; she always gets in the way of my goal, which is to become a great ninja like my dad."

Naruto thought "Well, I hope this'll patch things up between them."

Naruto nodded to the girl. She had blood red hair done in a ponytail, gold eyes, a pink tank top with a fishnet shirt underneath, and red sweats. "My name Iori Myojin. I like Takeda-kun and hope to be his wife" she said as she blushed. "She's a lot like Sakura when she was younger. I hope this isn't the same messy triangle I had when I was that age."

Naruto asked "Anything you dislike?"

Iori immediately scowled "Yuji."

Yuji just face faulted. "Why me?" he thought.

Naruto just had to sweat drop "Wow, I know where this is going." Naruto pointed to the other kid "And you?"

This kid had ridiculously spiky black hair, wore sunglasses, had a small black leather jacket that was opened up, showing a white T-shirt, and had light-brown khaki shorts. "I'm Shiguri Naka. Don't bother asking me all of these things, you're just wasting your time." Naruto noted that his attitude was like that of Sasuke, but at least this wasn't the boy Iori had a crush on.

"No, I can't interfere with matters like this. This is their life." Naruto got up. "Okay, that's all for today. Meet me here at this training ground at dawn. And don't eat breakfast."

The 3 genin complained, and Naruto just said "If you want, I can drop all 3 of you from the program." The 3 just hushed. "See you tomorrow." Naruto waved.


Naruto finished his ramen at Ichikuru, and headed to the hospital. "I can't let that incident keep me from seeing Sakura." Then, Naruto had another thought. "What if-" Naruto imagined Sakura giggling with her co-workers, making fun of his inadequacy, if that was what Sakura surely thought. Then, there was another situation: The one where she liked what she saw, shared the details with everyone, and have all the girls in the hospital swarm all over him. Quite frankly, both situations scared him. "Well, I'll find out soon enough."

Naruto walked in and headed straight for the secretary's desk.

"May I help you?" she asked.

Naruto just said "Um, yeah…is Sakura Haruno here?"

The secretary said "Yes, but she's not available right now. May I leave a message for her?"

"Just tell her Naruto stopped by to say thank you…and sorry."

Naruto then exited, a bit bummed and relived at the same time. Little did he know, Sakura was just down the corner, and heard the whole thing. Sakura was relieved that Naruto wasn't feeling any ill-will towards her. She ran towards him, screaming his name. Naruto turned around, surprised but happy as always

"Sakura-chan! They told me you were busy!"

Sakura shook her head "I just got off. Anyway, I'm glad you like the photos. And…I'm sorry…for hitting you."

Naruto simply patted her shoulder, like always. "Don't worry about it. Just stop putting so much weight on your shoulders, even if you are strong enough to carry such burdens."

Sakura, who was downcast, looked up to him "Thanks. Wanna get something to eat?"

Naruto simply scratched his head "Well, I already had ramen, but I'm willing to go anywhere."

Sakura had a vein in her head pop. "Damn, he wants ramen before he sees me?"

Naruto could tell Sakura was mad, and though he had to admit he had little tact when it came to girls, he figured out why Sakura was mad.

He waved his hands and said "I was so nervous about seeing you since that night, and I didn't think you'd want to go out with me tonight apology accepted or not."

Sakura calmed down, but only a little. "Still, what are we going to do? You've already eaten!"

Naruto said, "Well, I guess we could get a snack. My treat."


Naruto and Sakura walked from the ice cream parlor, Naruto having chocolate, and Sakura had strawberry.

"So, tell me Naruto, what's this new team of yours like?" Sakura asked.

Naruto replied "Well, there's Yuji. He' a bit of a nerdy kid. He likes pranks, as I learned the hard way."

Sakura smiled "Eraser on the door?"

"Ice water."

Sakura shuddered at the thought. "That must've sucked."

Naruto continued "He also doesn't seem to get along with his mom, but he says his Dad was a great ninja."

Sakura then spoke "You know, the name Yuji sounds familiar. I'll look into it later. Tell me about the rest."

Naruto continued. "The girl on my team is Iori. She's actually a lot like you when you were younger."

Sakura turned and asked "How so?" Naruto continued "She has a major crush on some boy. Yuji seems to like her, but she wants nothing to do with him."

"She's into the other boy?"

"No, she's interested in some other person. I don't know who though. Anyway, then there's Shiguri. All I can say is he's got an attitude."

Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm, which surprised him. "I'm sure you'll be a great teacher. Also, regarding the love life of the former 2: Let them decide for themselves. I understand you may sympathize with Yuji, but Iori will have to decide for herself in the end."

Naruto nodded "Of course. Even I know that!" Naruto thought to himself "How else did we end up this way?"

Sakura noticed Naruto's sad look. She tried to think of something to say, but she couldn't. She knew Naruto always had a crush on her when they were younger, but she broke his heart in the end. "Does he still like me? Is he still hurting?" Sakura gave up, figuring it was best to split up now. "Thanks for the ice cream, Naruto. I've got to get going. See you later." Naruto and Sakura waved their goodbyes each, and parted ways.


Naruto decided to report to Tsunade, when he heard someone screaming inside. Not one of those life or death screams, but angry ones. Naruto decided to at least eavesdrop to make sure everything was okay.

A voice that was not Tsunade's yelled "I will not allow my only child to be taken under the wing of the Kyuubi!"

An angry Tsunade replied "You will not refer to Naruto like that in my presence!"

"What kind of hokage would even allow someone like him to become a ninja?"

Naruto gave a pained sigh. Sure, he gained the respect of many people, but he still had a long way to go. Naruto knew that this would probably make the tension worse, but felt it was time he made some sort of stand. Naruto walked in, much quieter than usual. Tsunade and the unknown woman then shut up. Naruto looked at the guest. She had curly hair, classes, and was very petite. She also appeared middle-aged.

"I'm guessing you are Yuji's mother." The woman gave no reply, but Tsunade nodded, confirming his question. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, you're son's instructor. I understand you're nervous about my son being near me, but you must understand that I am not the Kyuubi itself. Only its container. I promise you I will protect your son with my life." The woman only stared back at him coldly, and left. Naruto gave his sad grin. "Sorry Ba-chan. But I felt I had to do that."

Tsunade ignored the Ba-chan and said "I understand. Don't worry, it's what you should be doing with everyone. Don't give up Naruto."

Naruto nodded. "Well, I'll be giving them the bell test tomorrow. I hope they're not as hopeless as I was back then. Can you tell me their skills?"

Tsunade looked at her folder. "Miyamoto has below average taijutsu, average genjutsu and ninjutsu, but he is supposedly skilled with wires. Myojin has excellent taijutsu, terrible genjutsu, average ninjutsu, and she has an enormous amount of charka on top of that. Naka is actually very good at everything, but he gets in fights with the teachers and won't do what he's told."

Naruto remembered something from a month ago. He remembered Iruka coming back home with a black eye. He asked what happened, but Iruka told him not to worry about it. "Thanks. I think I'll head home for now."


Naruto headed to his apartment, thinking he would just go to bed early. Then, something caught his eye. It was a young girl with red hair. "Wait, is that Iori?" Naruto thought to himself. "Iori!"

The girl turned around and gulped "N-Naruto-sensei! What are you doing here?"

Naruto replied "I was going to ask you the same. But to answer your question, I live here."

Iori was a bit shocked to say the least. She said "Um, I actually just moved in here."

Naruto blinked. "Why would your family move into a crummy complex like this?"

Iori said "Actually…I don't have a family. I'm an orphan."

Naruto frowned. "We're both orphans, and we both live here." Naruto asked "What happened to your family?" Iori looked away. "I never knew my mother, and my father was killed a couple of years back. I was in the orphanage since I came here, and it got overcrowded, so I've been forced to move here."

Naruto said "I never knew my parents. I lived here my whole life."

Iori asked "Why don't you move out? You're a ninja, you should be paid more than enough for a nicer place than this!"

Naruto didn't know what to say. Due to the Kyuubi inside of him, no other place would accept him. "It's complicated. Listen, it's late, so you better get some rest for tomorrow."

Iori nodded and headed to her room. As she went to bed, she thought to herself "He's just like me. Maybe being with this team won't be so bad after all."


The next day, Naruto headed to the training grounds where he and his friends took the bell test. In all honesty, Naruto was a bit nervous. He really did not want to fail them, like Kakashi nearly did him and Sakura, but at the same time, he knew just how crucial this would be. Naruto took a different route from before, making sure he would not run into Iori. It just seemed awkward after finding out that one of his students was living in his apartment complex. Finally, he found all 3 of them, terribly drowsy.

"Alright. Here's your real test. What we did in the academy was to determine if you had the potential to become shinobi. Now, I have to determine if you are ready." Naruto took out an alarm clock, boxed lunches, and 2 bells. "The objective here is for you to take these bells from me. If you fail, you will be tied to the stump and I'll eat your lunches in front of you. Not only that, but I will either send you back to the academy or drop you from the program entirely." The 3 looked absolutely horrified. "Also, your only chance of any of you succeeding is to attack with the intent to kill."

Yuji raised his hand. "Um, sensei, what happens if we will kill you?"

Naruto said "That won't happen. If it does, then it means I'm not fit to be a ninja." Naruto went to set the alarm clock. "All right, let's begin!" The three genin than vanished from view.


Naruto looked around. At first, nothing was making a sound. "So far, so good." He thought to himself. Just then a loud shriek came towards him. Iori charged with many kicks and a kunai in hand, none of which of course connected with Naruto.

"Not bad, but you should have known you have no hope to defeat me like that."

Iori ignored his comment, and charged again only to be restrained from behind. A shadow clone of her sensei had grabbed her from behind, and she had no way of escaping. Suddenly, more clones appeared.

"All right! Time for the Uzumaki Barrage!"

The other clones came from underneath and kicked her up into the air, where the real Naruto was ready for her, delivering an axe kick down on her head.


Up in the trees, Yuji and Shiguri watched the scene unfold. "Damn, he is good." Shiguri noted. Yuji said "If we're going to be ninja, we'll have to win. But we can't do it by conventional methods. We need a plan."

Shiguri said "I'm all ears, but we'll have to leave Iori out of this. She had no intention of cooperating with us in the first place."

Yuji said "She might reconsider…"

"She hates your guts Yuji. I'm sorry, but it's not going to happen. All you've got is me."


Naruto continued taunting Iori, eventually hanging her upside down on a tree with a trap.

"She's just like me and Sakura when were younger. Either the two of us are related, or I did something that I'm pretty sure was taboo with her the last time I checked."

Iori just continued to scream, when suddenly, a giant shuriken came right at her teacher. Naruto blocked the shuriken with a kunai, being careful not to deflect it towards Iori. Suddenly, two hands shot up from the earth, and grabbed him. Shiguri's head came straight through the ground, smirking

"Gottcha sensei!"

However, soon Shiguri's face became like a fish's, as his instructor poofed and revealed a log.

"Shit! Yuji! Go to plan B!" Shiguri disappeared back into the earth before a large toad landed right where he was.

Yuji nodded, and leapt from the trees, trying to find a new place to hide. Naruto, of course, could see everything.

"Not bad. They're actually getting the point of this exercise."

Naruto followed Yuji, intending to trick him into a confrontation. Yuji, however, noticed he was being followed. He threw a kunai behind him, which of course, Naruto dodged. Yuji threw more, only getting the same results. Yuji tried from different angles, but nothing he did mattered. Naruto decided it was time to stop toying around with him.

"Okay, this is getting boring. If I were serious, I'd have taken you out a long time ago." Naruto tried to point at Yuji, but his arm was bound. Naruto looked down and noticed two wires holding him down. Naruto, shocked, looked around some more, and realized wires were all around him. Naruto then remembered what Tsunade had told him. "I should have paid more attention to the trip wires thing."

Yuji ran to the other side and pulled a wire, hoisting Naruto up like a puppet. "Now Shiguri!"

Shiguri preformed a very mild fireball jutsu. Not nearly as strong as Sasuke's, but it didn't matter as Naruto found out, because it turned out the wires were flammable. Naruto quickly made hand seals, thankful that the wires weren't tight enough to prevent him from doing so. Before the flames reached him, a fleshy sack surrounded him. Shiguri and Yuji just stared wide-eyed. They knew their strategy was ruined.

Shiguri said "We've got to retreat and come up with a new plan. How much time do we have left?"

Yuji checked his watch. "Five minutes!"

Shiguri said "Alright, forget the new plan. Our only hope is to charge in like maniacs and break that thing wide open!" Just as Shiguri finished that sentence, both he and Yuji were pulled underground until only their heads remained. Naruto emerged with his goofy smile.

"Sorry, but we might as well just say that time is up."


Iori was tied to the stump, and her two teammates sat down, pretty bummed as well. Then, 2 bentos were handed out to Yuji and Shiguri.

"B-But we failed!" Yuji said.

Shiguri elbowed his friend and whispered "Shut up! I'm fucking hungry!" Shiguri ate his lunch like a pig, Yuji did the same initially, but hesitated when he saw Iori looking hungry.

"Have some." Yuji said as he handed his bento to Iori.

"No thanks. I don't need your pity."

Yuji scowled. "Fine then. Shiguri and I would've offered to help you, but you wanted nothing to do with us, so we left you to look like a fool. I would've gladly taken the opportunity to give up my lunch, since my mom cooked me breakfast regardless of what sensei ordered."

Naruto needed to remind himself to have a talk with Yuji's overprotective mother. Naruto coughed and said "Well, I must say that I have mixed reactions. Yuji and Shiguri, you understood the point of this exercise well. The two of you make a great team. However, this is a three man team, and you should have done everything in your power to convince Iori to join you."

He looked at Iori. "And you. You should be glad to have 2 people to help you. Just because you don't like one of them is no excuse for you to act out on your own, when you should've known you would never stand a chance against me. Teamwork is absolutely essential to being a ninja. This is no game. The best way to survive any type of battle is to rely on each other." The 3 genin looked at each other, both reluctant to work with the girl and vice versa. Naruto said "We're going to do this again, now that I feel you learned your lesson. This time I want all three of you to work together, or I'm sending you all back. Just take this one bell from me." As he walked away, he also said "Oh, and you have 15 minutes." Needless to say, Yuji and Shiguri untied their teammate in a hurry.


As Naruto ran, he was forced to dodge numerous shuriken coming straight at him. Nothing he couldn't handle. "Come on, where is that teamwork I'm talking about?" A kunai attached with a wire came straight at him, which he side-stepped of course. "I'm not falling for that again!" He hopped to a tree, which than seemed to fall. Naruto only caught a glimpse of what was happening, but he could clearly see the ground was crumbling beneath him. Quickly, he hopped to the other tree, only to meet with the same results. "Shiguri must specialize in earth jutsu." Naruto thought to himself. Just then, Iori appeared right in front of him, going for another kick. "Not again" Naruto inwardly groaned. He backed up, but at the last second, sensed Yuji charge from behind with a kunai in hand. Naruto flipped at the last second, getting a tear in his vest. As he landed, he inspected it quickly. "This is embarrassing." He thought. He retreated again, reflecting on his students' strategy. "Yuji was at an angle when he attacked, meaning he couldn't have come directly from behind me. That must've been Shiguri who threw that kunai, allowing me to think I was safe from Yuji. Not bad." Naruto came to a halt again, allowing the genin to catch up. All 3 jumped at him from angles. Naruto was disappointed by this tactic, but wouldn't go easy on them just because of that. He spun his arm around and hit them, but they all turned out to be bushin. Before Naruto could curse, a pair of hands grabbed him from underneath the branch, and brought him down. As he fell, Naruto could see Iori hanging upside down with her feet between the branches waving "bye-bye". He landed on a branch feet first, but a cord held by Yuji grabbed him behind his neck.

"Now, Shiguri!"

Shiguri came rushing forward, his hand reaching towards the bell. However, it didn't happen; Naruto pulled a substitution jutsu and Shiguri simply scratched a log.

"Shit!" Shiguri cursed, holding his bloody fingernails.

"You should worry more about the bell than your nails. I thought that was more of a girl's thing." Naruto taunted. The genin continued their assault. They tried many interesting combinations, all to no avail. Just was about to run out, Yuji threw a smoke bomb, blinding Naruto. Yuji made his way to Naruto, but he slipped on the branch, plummeting 30 feet.

"Yuji!" everyone shouted.

As Yuji fell, Iori made a dive for him. As she grabbed hold of him, she yelled "Hang on!" and drove her kunai into the bark. The landing was still rough, but it was better than a broken neck. Iori still wasn't happy nonetheless. Her arm was dislocated.

"You better be happy, because as soon as this is set into place, I'm going to kick your ass."

Yuji could only gulp, and mumble "Thanks".

Shiguri and Naruto came down to make sure everything was alright. Naruto, despite the situation, could only smile. "Congratulations! You all pass!"

All three looked at him stunned. Shiguri said "But we ran out of time."

Naruto chuckled "I thought I just told you, the purpose of this exercise was not getting the bell, but evaluating your teamwork. What's more important than getting the bell is that you function as a team, which means caring about one another." Iori was about to say something, but Naruto interrupted. "Those who break the rules and forget the objectives are trash. However, those who abandon their friends and comrades are even lower."

Iori screamed "Comrade? He's only been bringing me down!"

Naruto was a bit disappointed, but simply replied "Your actions prove otherwise. Now that I'm satisfied that everyone is up to par, let's get you some help."


Naruto managed to set the bone, but just to be safe, he took Iori and the team to the hospital. And no other than a pink-haired medic-nin was the one checking up on her.

"Most everything seems to be okay. I'd recommend giving her arm a rest for a little bit though." Sakura stated as she finished her examination.

"If it wasn't for that idiot over there, we wouldn't even have to be here!" Iori pointed angrily at Yuji.

Sakura looked a little bit irritated. "Well, you could always simply train with him and help him improve." She said.

Iori huffed "Why would I want to waste time with a looser like him!"

Sakura had to twitch "My god, was I like this when I was younger? I really deserved a spanking back then."

Naruto did not want to interfere with how his students interacted, but decided that this would be for the best. "Keep in mind Iori, Yuji formed a strong team with Shiguri, and it was you who got tied to the stump."

Iori blushed a bit. Sakura, on the other hand, was struggling to keep herself from laughing. "What's so funny?" Iori demanded.

Sakura stopped laughing. "I-I'm sorry, I guess there's a first for everything."

Iori just went "Huh?"

Sakura said "You're the first kunoichi to be tied to the stump after the bell test." Iori face faulted.

Naruto didn't want to embarrass her further, but felt this was the only way to get it through her head. "You wouldn't have that label placed on you if you simply worked with your teammates in the first place. By the way, Sakura-chan, how'd you figure this out?"

Sakura said "Back when Tsunade-shisho was training me, I found some records about various teams taking the bell tests. I read them and out of all the failures, not one of them was a girl."

Naruto said "That must've been a lot of reading."

Sakura smirked "What can I say? I'm a fast reader." Iori looked sad. Sakura decided the teasing should stop.

"Hey, don't worry. Naruto got tied to the stump during his bell test too. And look at him now. Besides, since you passed, I'm sure your parents will still be proud of you."

Iori had it. She pushed Sakura out of the way and ran. Normally, Sakura would have been furious, but she seemed to have hurt Iori somehow.

"Naruto, what did I say?"

Naruto gave her a downcast look and said "She's an orphan, Sakura-chan."

Sakura covered her mouth. Sakura had become really sensitive about orphans ever since she learned about Naruto. She remembered how callously she treated him back then, and how she realized now just how much pain the absence of parents could cause.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know…" Sakura's eyes began to water. Naruto tenderly cupped her cheek. "Please don't cry, Sakura-chan. You did nothing wrong."


Again, pretty slow, but you got to meet my OC's. There have been a few fics with Naruto having a genin team with various degrees of success. But it irritates me when he gets a team that are freakn' geniuses! I felt a trio of misfits would be much more interesting! For Yuji's and Shiguri's names, I stole them from the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Brothers, and switched their surnames. Design wise, Yuji is somewhat a resemblance of me. Kind of embarrassing to make a character based on yourself, I know, but I would be a much more hopeless ninja than Naruto started out, so I thought it would be fitting. His mom also fits the description of my mom too. Needless to say, we really don't get along all that well. Iori is based on no one, character or design, in particular. Same goes for Shiguri. However, he is to some extent based on my friends. If you saw me with my 2 best friends, you would not believe what you're looking at; one of them is black, the other is Hispanic, and they fit the definition of 'cool' very well. Me, I'm a nerdy white boy. Strange, isn't it? Now we'll start to get rolling with the first official arc!