Over the three years after that fateful day in the Academy, Nobu had grown so much. Whatever time he didn't spend with his uncle training Doton Fist, he was with Shikamaru, watching clouds. Sometimes Shikamaru tried to teach Nobu the game Shogi. Nobu got the basics for it, but he never hat the competitive finesse that Shikamaru had obtained through years and years of practice.

Nobu never got as close and friendly to anyone but Shikamaru. He had thought the strange orange kid's determination was something very admirable, but his immaturity was so great that no one could stand him. He pulled pranks almost daily, but the other students just resented the Uzumaki's existence as much as they could, and hoped that it would just die out if everybody just ignored him.

But Nobu saw these as cries for attention. Growing up on the street, one of the most common ways to push you above the crowd that slumped down in the slums was to do something to attract someone's attention. That was, in fact how he met his uncle. Nobu had taken to dancing for money on the corner of one of the streets. Somehow, his Uncle Nobu had recognized him, and took him, in spite of the financial troubles the man already had.

Over his time at the academy, Nobu had grown physically. Before, he was gaunt and sallow-eyed, due to his harsh time upon the streets. With the more time that passed, the shadow of his past slowly faded from his face. He grew his hair out a few inches, but never really liked it as long as some of the other boys in his grade. Growing taller, and thicker, he was much larger than much of the rest of his class. But that just made his taijutsu style even more powerful.

His uncle hadn't taught him any more taijutsu styles. When Nobu had asked his uncle why they never went beyond Doton Fist style during training one day, his uncle only replied, "The styles are difficult to learn, and dangerous to master. Maybe when you're older will you be able to learn Suiton Strike, the second in my five element style." With a quick acknowledgement of his uncle's words, Nobu had gone back to his training without asking any more questions of his uncle.

But from the three years, the one thing that was changed for him the most was his clothing. In earlier days, he had been forced to wear hand-me-downs that his uncle had been able to get for very little. In those days, his uncle had very little money, and saved whatever he could. He was lucky if he got something that wasn't stained or ripped. His uncle sewed it up if it was ripped, but the kids at school still mocked him for the poor clothing.

The only one who didn't really make fun of him was Shikamaru. When Nobu asked him why he didn't find the clothes amusing, Shikamaru told him that even though the clothes were 'troublesome', Nobu was his friend. And friends just didn't hurt each other, especially over something so trivial as clothing. Nobu had felt warmed by his Shikamaru's steadfastness, and their friendship never had any trouble during school.

But now, for his graduation, his uncle bought him a dark grey sleeveless vest, and matching pants. All over the left half of the jacket were pockets designed to hold very small items, like medical pills. The right half had his design for the Shoten clan, a circle with five points, each representing an element of his uncle's style. His right arm was bandaged, a style that he fancied. On his hands were half-gloves with steel plate backings.

In the classes, he had mixed success with the basic techniques in the class. His taijutsu and henge no jutsu were some of the things that he excelled at. Iruka-sensei had often commented on the fact that he was one of the top students in those areas. Some other kids had resented the fact that he did better than him, and made fun of his poverty to hide that.

But his shuriken throwing and Bunshin no Jutsu were things he struggled with. Barely passing his standards of being better than the class average, Nobu felt ashamed that he had trouble in those areas. But his uncle told him that the Shoten family was good at body-altering techniques, like the henge no jutsu, but suffered in other areas, like the bunshin no jutsu.

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Today was the day. Now, Nobu was a Genin, a ninja in training. Yesterday, he had passed the testing, though he had some trouble with the bunshin no jutsu test. When he found out that Shikamaru had passed, Nobu felt that his life was perfect. Almost everything that he wanted to happen had happened. He felt the best he had felt in a long time, at least since Shikamaru explained why he didn't make fun of Nobu's poverty stricken clothing.

Only one thing had not happened the way Nobu wanted it was the fact that Uzumaki Naruto hadn't passed. The kid was tried hard when motivated, which Nobu admired, but he clowned around and had failed the exam. Nobu was a bit disappointed at first, but he decided that the kid wasn't serious enough to be honored for his rare bouts of actually putting effort into something.

But, strangely enough, Naruto walked in through the doors of the academy. Even stranger, was that he walked in with a Konoha headband on his forehead, grinning like an idiot. When people asked Naruto how he got the headband, he just laughed and said,

"It's a secret. Top ninja business, you know."

When people heard this, they just sighed and groaned at Naruto's pompous attitude. Rumors had been going around that one of the teachers; Mizuki-sensei had been arrested last night for treason. Some of the kids even went as far as to link Naruto to this, seeing it as a strange coincidence.

But whatever the strangeness of the occurrence, the day had to go on. All the young genin filed into the classroom. The kids that had arrived so far anticipated the excitement of being put into a genin team. This was important, because they were going to be in those teams for a very long time.

Nobu, not really one of the popular kids in the academy, didn't really care about which team he was on. He just hoped that he would be in Shikamaru's group. They were close friends, and over the years had become nearly inseparable. To be in different teams now would be unbearable for the two.

Eventually, class was going to start soon. Everyone settled down into their seats, nervous what was going to happen. The insanity of the classroom just increased as every second was spent. Ino and Sakura got stuck in the door, racing to the academy, and Naruto tried, and failed, to pick a fight with Sasuske. But none of that really mattered.

Iruka-sensei walked in the door, being as punctual as usual. Addressing the class, he yelled, "Calm down, everyone! It's time for Genin team assignments." As soon as he said that, everyone quieted down, wanting to find out whom they would be teamed up with. An almost palpable silence fell onto the room, suffocating the inhabitants.

"First of all," Iruka-sensei started, "I'm honored to have taught you all through the course of these three years. But…" Iruka-sensei paused for a moment as he collected himself. "We must not dwell on this right now. We have more important things to do here now."

Iruka-sensei looked down at his list, rattling off names. Everyone waited attentively as names were called out. Nobu wasn't called, and so wasn't Shikamaru. Nobu's hopes rose as team after team was named. Finally, there were only three names left unnamed.

"Team 10…" Iruka-sensei said, pausing for a moment to read the names "Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Shoten Nobu."

Inside, Nobu cheered heartily, but held his calm on the outside. Since all the names were called out, the groups were told to group together to be ready for their team leaders to arrive. Shikamaru and Nobu found each other quickly, and took a seat outside after finding Ino. Ino quickly attempted to assert her dominance over the two.

"I'm so much smarter than you two!" Ino boasted contemptuously. "And that's why you're going to make me the boss of this! You hear?"

Nobu and Shikamaru groaned at her annoying banter. She was like this through the three years that they were at the academy, but they weren't used to her directing it at them. They tried to just ignore her but she just got angrier and angrier.

One by one, the team instructors came to pick the students up. Eventually, it was just them and Team 7. Even Iruka-sensei had left the rest of the students in the classroom to wait. Eventually, a grizzled man with a cigar in his mouth poked his head in. Looking around, he growled. "I'm here to pick up team 10."

Shikamaru, Nobu and Ino rose, and approached him. "We're team 10." Ino said, once more attempting to take dominance over the team. Shikamaru just nodded silently, agreeing with her.

"Okay. Let's go, then." The strange Jonin growled, turning, and walking out the door. The three new genin were left to follow him.

Hurrying down the hall, they caught up with their instructor, falling in stride. Ino coughed violently from the pungent smell of the smoke from the cigar her instructor was smoking. Frowning, she began to yell at her teacher.

"Why are you smoking? It's bad for your health, and it smells horrible! Put it out!" She screeched.

Their teacher just growled in a good humor "If the hokage can't get me to stop smoking, then I'm guessing that you won't. And anyways, you shouldn't try to order your sensei around, should you?"

Ino backed off at her new teacher's instructor. They continued to walk, and finally reached their old training field, Training Field 1. Their teacher turned around and leaned against one of the Taijutsu poles, grinning.

"Well, let's introduce ourselves" their teacher growled out, good-naturedly.

"Why don't you start, sensei?" Ino said, slightly irritated by the earlier reprimand.

"Very well then," he growled "I'm Sarutobi Asuma, Combat Jonin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I like smoking, and fighting. I hate people who try to get me to stop smoking. Why don't you go now, loudmouth?" Asuma said, clearly meaning Ino.

"Fine!" Ino said, even more upset and angry than earlier. "I'm Yamanaka Ino. I like Sasuske, and flower arrangements. I hate people who disagree with me!" She growled, fuming.

"Next you, lazy guy." Asuma said, referring to Shikamaru.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru said quietly to himself. "I'm Naru Shikamaru. I like clouds, and I hate annoying people who nag me."

"Okay…" their sensei said, slightly surprised by the answer. "So, we've got a Nara, a Yamanaka, and a…" he paused to wait for Nobu's answer.

"I'm Shoten Nobu" Nobu said, noticing his instructor's body stiffen slightly at the name. "I like lots of things, but nothing really in particular, and I hate people who pick on people because of their family backgrounds."

"So…" Asuma said again, pausing once more, "A Shoten, a Yamanaka and a Nara. What an interesting team." Thinking to himself, he quickly broke out of his reverie, "Well, let's get down to business."

All three of the new genin stopped in surprise at the short phrase, wondering what he meant by that.

"There is going to be a test, to make sure that you are really genin material. Only two thirds of the students will pass."

They all started in surprise, even Shikamaru, who muttered 'how troublesome' under his breath.

"Every Jonin teacher is allowed to pick what sort of test he administers to his students." Asuma said "And since I'm a Combat Jonin, the test will be to see if you can hit me. If you hit me, then you will pass."

The three genin stared in surprise. Ino fumed to her about how she would show this annoying teacher whose boss. Shikamaru thought how troublesome the fight was going to be. Nobu just sat there, determined to overcome this new challenge.

A/N.
Fourth Chapter is here! Yay! I'm finally getting into the equilibrium of things here, so chapters will generally hover around this level. Thank you all for looking at my fic, but if you could review, I would really, really, love that! And if you have any questions about the fic, feel free to ask them. I am a consummate review-feeder.