Forge your path

by Akashru

This is a story where Naruto is smart but ignorant. He sees the consequences of him goofing off and decides to change. Watch him use kagebunshin along with the basics to grow and become his own person

6. Chapter 6: Genin test

Forge your path

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 6: The genin test and results

The bell rang and after being woken up by a wary Shikamaru, courtesy of a broken stick near where they were sitting, he made his way back to the classroom. Sensei came and went, a wavy dark haired red eyed female in bandages came to take Team 8 away while a bearded smoke heavy huge man with a nose like jiji came to take away Team 10. It remained with only them being in the classroom after ten minutes of the assigned time that the sensei's were supposed to come pick them up. Naruto did not know what to do so he asked "Hey you two, are you interested in making some sort of conversation while waiting for sensei to come?"

Sasuke said "Hn, not likely dobe." and turned away with sakura fawning over what sasuke said without paying much attention to what naruto said.

Naruto nodded his head expecting it and went about his exercises. He had increased his weights again and missed one repetition while waiting in class for the teams to be announced. While he could not run in class, he could do all the other exercises. So to the amazement of the two watching teammates, he went though all of the exercises once and took a break. Keep in mind that this was the training from hell that Gai had given and they were suitably impressed by the amount of work he had done.

Sasuke asked "Dobe, who told you about those training exercises?"

Naruto said "I was a little slow so I asked around and was told to do these exercises by one of the jonin. They are apparently beginner level and help set a good base body."

Sasuke asked "And how are they better than the academy ones?"

Naruto said "These are the ones that all ninja need to do since it exercises all their muscles. The academy ones are beginner basic stretches to get one used to the idea of exercise. The exercises that I did is usually compounded with running but since I cannot leave the classroom, I did not do the running. If they start getting easy, increase the number of reps is what I was told."

Sasuke grunted and turned away. Naruto said "You know teme, for answering a question, a polite thanks would have sufficed. I guess the Uchiha were not very polite if you are the only example. Either that, or you are the bad egg. Whichever man."

Sasuke was livid that the dobe would insult him or his family like that but before he could say anything Sakura said "Naruto baka, don't talk to sasuke-kun like that."

Naruto said "I apologize if I hurt you but your behaviour was demanding it. I was polite. Even if we don't like each other, I expect politeness in return. And despite your favoured upbringing you are not which makes me wonder why. Prove me wrong and be polite then because the way you are currently glaring at me instead of apologizing for your mistake and telling me it won't happen again piles more evidence that I am right Teme."

Sasuke just growled and looked away. Sakura was fuming and alternating between glaring at Naruto and making uncertain faces at Sasuke. Naruto looked at the two of them and finishing his rest, got back into his exercises. He finished his set, rested and finished one more set by the time Kakashi came.

The sliding of the door was the first indication that someone came. By the time this happened the three of them were bored but after that first attempt at talking no one said anything. Kakashi poked his head into the door to find the three of them doing three different things. Naruto was almost done with a series of exercises that he recognised as Gai's, Sasuke was glaring at the wall and Sakura was silently gazing towards Sasuke with adoration in her eyes.

Kakashi took one look at them and said "My first impression of you is … you'll are boring. Meet me on the roof in five minutes."

Saying this, kakashi vanished in a puff. Sasuke went up to the roof while Sakura followed along. Naruto continued with his exercises and finished in around 3 minutes. Waiting for one more minute, he walked up the side of the academy building to the roof reaching there exactly on the fifth minute to see Sasuke and Sakura seated while Kakashi was leaning against the railing. He walked up to where Sakura and Sasuke were seated and sat down beside them.

Kakashi shut his book and said "Now that all of us are here, how about we introduce ourselves?"

Sakura asked "How do we do that sensei?"

Kakashi said "A simple method we use here is name, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dream."

Sakura said "How about you go first sensei?"

Kakashi sighed and said "Fine, My name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes hmmm , my dislikes are none of your business, my hobbies might be apparent to you soon and my dream is not something small kids like you should hear."

Naruto wondered "He only gave us his name. Wonder why."

Kakashi said "So pinkie, how about you go next."

Sakura said "My name is Haruno Sakura, my likes …" and she squealed looking at Sasuke "my hobbies …." another glance at Sasuke "my dream for the future …" an outright blush with a not so subtle look at Sasuke "I dislike INO and NARUTO" she finished with a loud shout.

Kakashi thought "A fan girl, man the academy is producing them more and more, I have already been given 7 fangirls with one on each of the teams I have tested. This is bad."

He said "Ok broody, how about you go next since you seemed to capture most of her attention?"

Sasuke said "I am Uchiha Sasuke, I do not have any likes and dislikes, my dream … no my ambition is to kill a man." and looked off into space.

Sakura thought "Sasuke-kun is soo cool.". Naruto thought "Man, that sucks.". Kakashi thought "He is really on the path of revenge. Wonder why everyone praises him so much, his mindset does not look very nice right now. I need to look at his psych. I hope I can get him off the path of revenge." Kakashi said "Ok… blondie, how about you go next?"

Naruto said "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like training, meditating, chakra, plants and Ichiraku ramen. I dislike a lot of things but mostly those who cannot differentiate a kunai from a scroll that contains it and entitled people, my hobbies are training, meditating and exercising and my dream for the future is to become strong to protect the few who are precious to me."

Kakashi nodded saying "That is good. Now that everyone knows everyone, we have a survival mission tomorrow."

Naruto asked "What exactly is the mission sensei?"

Kakashi said "It is a mission where the three of you survive against me."

Sakura said "But we already did survival missions in the academy sensei."

Kakashi said "Unlike the academy this is a test. If you cannot survive against me, you fail and return to the academy. You will not remain genin anymore.". He grinned a freakish grin not that naruto and the others could see in the mask but his eyes reflected some of the bloodlust he exuded. He said "This test has a 66 percent failure rate. Only 9 of 27 genin in a graduating class pass. The rest are sent back to the academy. Meet me at training ground 7 tomorrow morning at 5. Also …"

Kakashi got up, leaned back against the wall and opened his book making his intent to stay there obvious saying "I advise you not to eat anything in the morning. You will puke it out in the test. I am not answering any more questions. See you tomorrow."

Kakashi stayed silent and went back to doing his exercises on the roof. Sasuke looked at the two of them and then walked away while Sakura followed them.

After five minutes of this and silent companionship on the roof Kakashi asked "So Naruto, why did you not go with them to plan or even ask about a planning session?"

Naruto snorted while exercising and replied "They did not go to plan. Sasuke went to brood and train while Sakura went to stalk Sasuke. I already tried talking to them in class but they could not even hold a conversation with me forget about a battle plan. There is no point doing it now. Waste of time and energy honestly." Kakashi nodded his head and continued reading.

After another half hour Kakashi asked "So, how far along are you on the exercises for shape manipulation that I gave you?"

Naruto said "I mastered the first one. I finished the second one but I have not mastered it. I will probably be done mastering it by tomorrow morning. Then I will start the third one."

Kakashi was surprised but after the previous week in the academy he expected something along these lines, especially with him abusing the kage-bunshin. It was very good, just not surprising knowing it. Kakashi eye-smiled saying "That is very good progress, I still have not mastered the exercises I showed you. Once done with the third part as well, tell me and we will see how strong it is and where to go from there. Is that ok?" On seeing Naruto nod he said "Ja ne then Naruto. I have got to go." He closed his book, waved and vanished in a puff of smoke. Naruto thought "Damn, kakashi sensei is really good. That sealless shunshin for someone who has learnt a lot more jutsu and does not have the abusing potential of kage-bunshin was very good. Even without all that, it is very good. I will struggle replicating that speed even if I am better at the other parts. I need to improve my mastery of shunshin."

So saying, Naruto finished his repetition of the exercises and walked towards training ground 7. He got a general layout of the training field and set traps in the trees. Five in the morning meant that he cannot set traps tomorrow morning and that he would have to forego morning training with Gai.

The next morning, he met Gai and told him and Lee that he won't be able to do the full repetition that day. He did a basic warm-up and reached training ground 7 at 4: 45. Seeing no one there, he sat behind a tree and meditated while keeping a feel on his surroundings. He could feel Sasuke and Sakura when they entered the field. He kept meditating and lost track of time waiting for Kakashi. When he didn't come for half an hour, then Naruto figured it might be something of a pattern. He started exercising. He went through all his reps over and over till 8. Then had breakfast which was sealed. He offered an apple to a half sleepy Sakura and Sasuke. Both of them rejected it. He continued with his reps till 11 when the others were completely annoyed due to lack of sleep and too much hunger.

Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke at 11. Sakura instantly shouted "YOU ARE LATE". Kakashi rubbed the back of his head saying "I got lost on the road of life." Sakura faceplanted and then started steaming while glaring angrily at Kakashi. Kakashi said "Anyways now that I am here, we can begin your test." He took out two bells and tied them to his waist saying "Your objective is to get these two bells. Whoever has a bell at the end of the time limit passes. Everyone else fails. I have set the alarm to ring signalling when the exam will end." Saying this, he took out an alarm clock and set it on a tree stump. He continued saying "The worst student will also get tied to the stump while watching the other two eat. Think of it like a punishment."

Sakura said "But sensei, there are only two bells."

Kakashi smiled and said "Glad you noticed Sakura. You are absolutely right. Any other questions?" He did not say anything but instantly the area tensed. If only two bells then only two people could pass. Kakashi said "If nothing else, then we can begin. Also remember to come at me with the intent to kill. Otherwise you will not succeed. We will start when I say begin."

Naruto instantly threw some shuriken at Kakashi but Kakashi caught them all saying "I did not say start Naruto."

Naruto smiled saying "Ninja sensei, I just had to try.". Kakashi nodded saying "Begin." Instantly Sakura and Sasuke ran and hid themselves in the trees. Kakashi looked towards Naruto saying "you do realise that the test has begun right?"

Naruto nodded saying "So Kakashi sensei, can you give me a bell?"

Kakashi asked "You know I am not going to favour you for any reason right?"

Naruto nodded saying "I am not looking for a favour. You just said we had to get a bell, why fight if I ask you and you give it willingly. By asking we can avoid the fighting right?"

Kakashi sighed saying "you will have the take the bell from me Naruto. You will have to win the bell from me. I will not give it peacefully."

Naruto nodded and started walking towards the stump to check the alarm. Kakashi asked "What are you doing Naruto?". Naruto replied "I am checking the time I have before the test ends. You just said that the alarm will ring. You did not say when. I might as well look before I plan." Kakashi nodded in approval and looked on as Naruto looked at the time, thought for a second. Then moved back from the alarm. Once done, he deactivated his weights and started stretching a little. Kakashi watched all this while he had a book in his hand. Naruto then got into a stance and said "Come kakashi sensei. I am willing to fight you now."

Kakashi was disappointed at this slightly but continued reading his book. Naruto instantly shunshined in front of Kakashi, no warning, no handsign, no chakra buildup and grabbed for the bells. It took every inch of speed Kakashi had to kawarimi with a log behind him. Naruto also kawarimied and attacked Kakashi. This started a Taijutsu battle. Kakashi was impressed since the speeds were that of almost low chunin level. It was not something that was easy to get. By the records, Naruto should have had low genin level speeds. This was surprising to everyone. Sakura watched Naruto just blur while Sasuke watched Naruto move at speeds that were slightly faster than even his top speed.

This took off in a Taijutsu battle that was fast paced. Naruto was not used to sparring with someone who is not his clone. Kakashi had to restrict himself to slightly above skill level each student was showing. The fact that the deadlast was showing almost low chunin level speed implied that kakashi had to move with low chunin level speed and skill. This became even more complicated with the use of clones and fighting multiple clones at once. Naruto summoned Kagebunshin behind Kakashi and they attacked him. Kakashi upped his skills to mid chunin to deal with it. The number of clones Naruto summoned was huge. Kakashi was systematically starting to defeat the clones and had beat around 4 when his hand passed through the fifth and he lost his balance a little.

Kakashi thought "Smart bugger. He interspersed bunshin along with his kage-bunshin. Making me miss my shots sometimes and not knowing what to expect or to pay more attention.". Kakashi continued wiping out clones slowly and steadily. The clones also started involving team warfare against him where he was attacked by teams of three clones and four clones. They henged into varying sizes for him to be able to deal with them. This forced him to pay attention and adjust his stances accordingly to deal with them causing more of a drain on his skills.

Sakura and Sasuke were just watching openmouthed. Naruto had summoned clones, henged them and was doing battle with Kakashi at very high speeds. Sakura could not even see them apart from blurs while Sasuke could just see them. Kakashi finally vanished above and let loose a fireball a the hoard of clones. When he saw that there were no clones in the field after his jutsu and also felt no residue of burst chakra, he figured the clones escaped. He made a kage-bunshin and went underground to deal with his other students while his kage-bunshin dealt with the clones and Naruto.

On reaching Sakura, Kakashi saw that a Naruto clone was with her. Kakashi got closer to them to hear them say "Sakura, Kakashi sensei is too strong. We cannot defeat them individually. We have to team up to beat him. All three of us." He internally felt happy that someone got it. Sakura said "You are too weak baka. Sasuke-kun can beat him. I will go help Sasuke-kun and follow him."

Naruto nodded saying "Fine, he is in the clearing ahead. Talk to him. Saying this, the Naruto clone poofed in smoke. Kakashi put Sakura in a simple genjutsu and she fainted. This was just a jutsu that showed her what according to her would be the worst possible thing to happen. It was a simple D-rank genjutsu and the girl had the potential for it. But she did not break out of it. Kakashi went to Sasuke.

Sasuke observed Kakashi leaning against the tree. He silently let loose a few shuriken at him. When Kakashi escaped he started running away to change his location. Kakashi instantly came in front of him to which Sasuke responded with a kick. Kakashi blocked it and threw Sasuke into a clearing in the forest and got down. Sasuke instantly attacked Kakashi. What followed was a brief Taijutsu bout where Sasuke also showed high genin speed and excellent Taijutsu skills. Frankly, Sasuke probably had a better grasp of Taijutsu than Naruto did but Naruto was a little faster even normally. Had Kakashi faced Sasuke first, he might have touched a bell but after facing Naruto, Kakashi upped his game and Sasuke had no chance at the bell.

Kakashi and Sasuke separated. While separating, Sasuke started going through handseals. Kakashi became wide-eyed thinking "A normal genin should not have the chakra for that jutsu.". He saw the fireball come at him, heard Sasuke yell "Katon: Great Fireball no jutsu" and he went underground.

Sasuke was looking waiting for him. He did not think Kakashi was burnt but by the time he looked all around and up, Kakashi had caught hold of Sasuke's leg and pulled him down to his neck into the ground. Kakashi said "You are good for an student who just graduated Sasuke. I will grant you that."

Saying this, Kakashi seeing Naruto trying to hide nearby poofed away to hide in one of the trees. Kakashi watched as Naruto walked up to Sasuke and spoke to him saying "Hey, we cannot beat him alone Sasuke. Lets all three team up. That might be the only chance we have of beating him. If not numbers then atleast skill set variations might surprise him."

During this Naruto was digging Sasuke out little by little. By this time, Sakura entered the clearing and on seeing Sasuke into the ground she shouted "Sasuke-kun" and fainted.

Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at her with distaste and waited while Naruto managed to dig Sasuke up till where Sasuke can pull himself out.

Sasuke said "I don't need your help dobe. I will get the bell myself."

Naruto looked at Sasuke and then looked at Sakura and then poofed into smoke. Kakashi saw this and went back to the clearing where he saw Naruto sitting next to the clock. He asked Naruto "Well, what now?"

Naruto said "Nothing else for it, I need to try my best to beat you." Saying this Naruto made a huge amount of clones and they started attacking him using all manner of combinations. They threw weapons which became clones half-way, they raced up to him using shunshin, they kawarimied with the weapons around him and kept engaging him with a lot of tactics. Kakashi was forced to up his skill level again to slightly above high chunin level speed and reflexes. He kept fighting and then suddenly the alarm rang and all the clones near him poofed. He was surprised since he did not think an hour had passed. Maybe he lost track of time fighting.

He looked around the clearing and saw that it was in slightly bad shape due to the spar he and Naruto had. He also saw Sakura and Sasuke come into the clearing. He said "Well, looks like you fail. None of you got the bells or the fact that this is a teamwork test. Enjoy the academy." He was about to puff away without bothering to hear the complaints or the grumblings of the three failed students when Naruto's voice said "I think you are wrong sensei."

Kakashi looked at him to see that he had two bells in his hand. Kakashi looked at his waist to see two bells there and he said "Nice try Naruto. But henging two clones to look like bells wont pass my test." At that instant the bells on his waist became clones and stood next to him while the bells in Naruto's hand were still there.

Kakashi grew wide-eyed. He did not realise when Naruto performed the switch. Then realised that the only time that Naruto could have successfully pulled it off is at the end when he made the whole bunch of kage-bunshin. The clearing was filled with his chakra so he would not notice the same come from near him when all the clones were already near him anyway. He was wide-eyed and said "Congrats Naruto, I guess you got the bells. What now?"

Naruto said "I have a question. No matter what, can I still come to you sometimes when I have a problem?" Kakashi nodded and then Naruto said "Well then Kakashi sensei, you can have one bell. I will keep the other bell just in case you are interested in keeping me as an apprentice. I am a field promoted genin. I cannot be sent back to the academy sensei. As for teamwork, this team will not work. I apologise but when the people in the team cannot talk, they definitely cannot work together. So I am all for walking away from this team. Here is the other bell." Saying this Naruto tossed the second bell at him.

Kakashi stared with a stony look on his face that one could not read through saying "Are you sure Naruto?" Naruto nodded while replying "I did not have a problem with teamwork sensei. I asked them. They rejected it. I have no intention of joining a team that will probably backstab me the moment their objective is achieved. They were even stupid enough to not wait to achieve their objective. Also, it's up to you now sensei. I displayed the skills you asked for. I completed my mission by getting a bell. My mission was never to beat you. I also displayed no issues with teamwork and was all for it but these two require a lot more work before I will be willing to work with them again. I need to be convinced that they have actually changed enough or have become professional enough to work on a team. Till then, I choose not to work with the two of them. The way I see it Kakashi sensei, the onus is on you. I have displayed the skills you asked for and am sitting here waiting with a bell. Will you take me on as an apprentice or fail me?"

Sasuke could not stand it any longer and attacked Naruto with a kunai to try to steal the bell from him. A clone materialised in front of Sasuke and tripped him while another sat on his back holding his hand behind his back with a knee on his spine and a kunai at his throat. Naruto said "Case in point Kakashi sensei" while Sakura was screaming at Naruto to unhand Sasuke.

Kakashi with a stony look on his face said "I will not be taking an apprentice today Naruto. I will be taking a team or failing all three of you.".

Naruto replied "If that is the case Kakashi sensei, I choose to fail. Here is the last bell. I would rather join the reserve force and work there than work in a team with these two." Saying this, he tossed a bell at Kakashi and walked away while dispelling the clone on top of Sasuke.

Kakashi was pissed but did not let that show. He just said "The two of you fail. Meet at the academy tomorrow at 8 in the morning in the grounds while we decide what should happen with the two of you. Naruto, considering that you are a reserve genin, meet the hokage in his office tonight at 8. I want to talk to you in his presence. Is that clear?"

Naruto nodded and continued walking away vanishing suddenly like an afterimage while Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke.

At the Hokage's office *

Kakashi immediately went to the hokage's office to see the other jounins there waiting for him to arrive. He rubbed the back of his head saying "Yo, sorry I'm late, a black cat crossed my path and I had to arrive the long way.".

Most of the room felt pissed but since he was only an hour late this time, they were not very pissed since he was usually three hours late. The other jounin were almost done finishing their reports. Only the last three teams were left.

Hiruzen said "Now that Kakashi is here, we can hear his report. Not bad kakashi, you are right on time for giving your report rather than obscenely late. How did this happen?"

Kakashi looked up saying "What do you mean hokage-sama. My test was supposed to run till 1 which was at least 2 hours late from when we were supposed to meet." Kakashi looked at the clock to notice that it was only 11:30. He growled for the first time surprising everyone. Most of the jounin had only seen him apathetic and no one had ever seen him growl. He ground out "One of the brats cheated and I'm pretty sure I know which one. My report can wait till the end hokage sama. There are some issues that we need to cover."

Hiruzen nodded and said "Ok Kurenai, give me team 8's status."

Kurenai said "Team 8 consisting of Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino passed the test given to them. They had to hunt me together within a time frame of three hours while I was in the training ground. If they managed to find me they would pass. I kept moving around from one hiding place to another and they had to come physically to my location to pass. They did not need to touch me. They utilised their talents effectively. In the skills they are renowned for, each of them is solid genin. But the other skills are lagging behind. They have good survival skills as a whole but nothing else. Their stealth is very poor. Please keep in mind that these skills are being spoken about w.r.t the genin level I am expecting from when I graduated."

Hiruzen nodded saying "Continue Kurenai. So long as we know what your expectations are and where your genin stand we can continue."

Kurenai nodded saying "In ninjutsu, they did not show much talent. They seem to be a passive batch. Once they figured out that their objective was to find me in the presence of all three of them, they never thought to flush me out and always ran together. While the teamwork is appreciated, the one dimensional planning is bad. They did not use any."

Kurenai continued saying "When we are considering Taijutsu, Kiba and Hinata are at the level expected physically. They are solid genin with a solid genin level Taijutsu. Their speed and reflexes are also solid genin level showing why they have been promoted. This was expected considering that their clans were taijutsu oriented. Shino on the other hand was the surprise. He was on par with them in Taijutsu. He was slightly slower than them but still on the level I would expect from a rookie genin. This is unexpected considering that the Aburame are traditionally long range fighters and most of their jutsu are used for long range."

"No genjutsu was shown. Their survival skills were good since I had set a few tigers at them. They could not defeat them but successfully evaded them. A more in-depth testing is required before a final verdict can be passed but there are good indicators that they are survival oriented. Their stealth is very poor. They do not know of any of the jutsu used for stealth and cannot even walk with reduced noise. Considering the fact that all three are children of the various head of clans, I am assuming that they will be given clan training for their skills. Chakra wise they are where they are expected to be and their control is poor although Hinata's seems to be better." Kurenai continued.

Asuma interrupted saying "Kurenai, you are talking about the hard skills, what about the soft ones? The strategy, the improvisation, the attitude, the mental strength, the teamwork aspect, their mind-set and possible training there?"

Kurenai glared at Asuma a little saying "This is the part where the team has the most issues. Shino is the only one with any strategy in him. The others will have to learn a lot. Apart from that, each of them have their own issues what with Kiba trying to prove he is the alpha, Hinata being underconfident and Shino being too logical to understand camaraderie. They need to work together and work on those issues before they get better. Currently I are not sure where they will be most useful. I am working with the immediate plan being to get rid of the various mental problems, work on their physical skills, their chakra control and stealth. While doing this I will also be teaching them a genjutsu or a genjutsus release depending on if they have the control for it and all three of them basic first aid. I am working with the idea that this is a tracker survival hunter team."

Hiruzen nodded saying "That seems like a good idea. Keep up with it and report progress every two months. Now Asuma, only your team is remaining apart from Kakashi's. Tell me about the status of team 10."

Asuma stood up straighter from his slouching position all traces of being laidback vanishing. He said "My team is the Ino-Shika-Cho next are not solid genin if we are going by the old wartime standards but I understand that these are the standards that we are most familiar with here. All of them would be around the level of final year academy students. They also do not have any stealth or survival skills. They have a lot of mental strength and abilities. Their teamwork is excellent since they were being trained together from when they were children. They also have good strategic skills. Shikamaru is probably a genius and has skills above those of genin level and could probably apprentice in the village planning committee. Ino is a sure in with her intelligence skills and body language reading abilities. Choji is also decent but is usually laid back and prefers to defer to shikamaru. They can each contribute significantly if trained properly. Their ninjutsu also is very good and all three of them have a working knowledge of how to release up to C-Rank genjutsu."

Hiruzen was surprised but he did not let that show unlike a few other jounin who gasped at the wide range of skills of team 10. He asked "Why would you rate them at academy level instead of genin if they are this good?"

Asuma said "That is what I was coming to. They have zero motivation. Ino is a fan-girl and Choji defers to Shikamaru who is very lazy so does not train. This leads to them having very little chakra with choji being the exception since he is an akimichi but for an akimichi he has less chakra. They have no motivation to train and cannot implement their various skills in any form of battle or spar that is not a theoretical exercise. This is why they are considered academy level students. Their biggest problem and my biggest challenge in training them is motivation itself which is very difficult to get."

Hiruzen nodded and was about to say something when he saw Asuma continue "They are a capture and interrogate team being perfect for the T&I. They will be trained in that manner with all three having a working knowledge of poisons but Ino being the team poison expert and team medic. Shikamaru will be the strategist while Choji will be the blunt force so their training will be appropriate. They will be trained in stealth, survival, increasing their physical skills, increasing their chakra control and amount, poison, medical studies and then be given a lot of experience. The rest will be handled by their clan heads since they are heirs and have to learn clan jutsu."

Hiruzen nodded saying "That is a reasonable approach. Continue and let me know regarding progress. Everyone is dismissed except Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma."

Everyone nodded and then went away. After waiting for the smoke to disperse Kakashi saw only the three of them and the hidden ANBU.

Hiruzen pointing to Kurenai and Asuma said "They are here because their teams are the only ones that passed. All of the other teams had students with academy level skills in all aspects and not even one genin level skill. I need to look into the academy to see what is happening. Now out with your report. What is the problem Kakashi?"

Kakashi nodded saying "I was assigned team 7 with Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto as you know. I would like to give the skill assessment first before I give status if that is alright?". Seeing Hiruzen nod Kakashi said "All their skills are widely varied and they do not have much in common so it will be individual reports. We begin with Sakura. She has pathetic reserves, probably very good control over it, no stealth, no survival skills, probably no good ninjutsu which she cannot use much anyway, weak physical skills not even close to the academy final years and finally decent but not effective taijutsu. Her genjutsu potential is supposed to be vast but she could not break out of a D-Rank genjutsu. Regarding her mental skills, she is a fan-girl, did not show any strategic output, followed a by the book approach with no innovation, was not conducive to a teamwork environment and had nothing else that stood out."

"At the end I am wondering why she was allowed to graduate much less granted kunoichi of the year status. Her only selling point is that she has very good control but that is because of poor reserves. She could be a great medic nin or even be an administrative ninja, maybe even a genjutsu/taijutsu support but it will require harsh training and at least another year. In my honest opinion she should not have graduated but has graduated because she has some really good theory skills. She does not have any practical skills and thus being in the field will require a lot of work from her." Kakashi finished.

Hiruzen looked at kakashi while kurenai said "She honestly can't be that bad Kakashi. She was granted the kunoichi of the year status over both Hinata Hyuga and Ino Yamanaka. She should have some amount of skill."

Kakashi replied "She does, she has near perfect chakra control, an excellent grasp over theory and a good mind making her a sure in for a medic nin. All her other practical skills are non existent apart from her taijutsu which does not matter anyway because she does not have the physical speed or strength to back it up. If she has to be in the field, I would recommend four months of intense training for her to up her physical skills before I even suggest calling her anywhere close to low-genin for her physical skills."

Hiruzen said "Continue." to which Kakashi nodded saying "Sasuke is good. In all the practical aspects of being a ninja as well as the theoretical aspects I would rate him solid genin at the least. His weapon skills and trap skills are decent. His speed is high genin. He would have been perfect as a posterboy for the genin position during the wartime scenario. This is only in physical skills mind you. His mental problems are completely different. He has issues with everyone and demands stuff as his right as an uchiha supposedly. He also has no intention of any kind of teamwork and all that prodigy and genius praise has gone into his head. He will not work on any team and will not respect anyone weaker than him no matter what. He will not even listen to their opinion. He will just use them and walk away. He is revenge driven and shows lots of signs of betrayal. I want him examined by a psych who is not partial or under the council. His behaviour raised a few red flags which were not in his psych profile. Any work regarding his mental skills can only be approached after a psych evaluation but for now the approach to working with him would be to increase his physical skills as well as teach him genjutsu, genjutsu detection and genjutsu release to give him the impression that we are preparing him for Itachi."

Hiruzen nodded saying "I will get him evaluated by Inoichi. He should give us a fair report of Sasuke's psych profile. Since you are keeping Naruto for the end, I assume he is the problem causer? How bad or good was he?"

Kurenai went "He was the dead last, surely he cannot be good. Bad I can imagine but his chases through the village show that he at the least has some good physical and strategic skills."

Kakashi sighed "As of right now, I am not sure how to categorise him. He has low chunin level physical skills. That is low chunin level speed and strength. While the jump between genins is not very high, the jumps from genin to chunin is high and each level from here gets even larger due to specialisation. And while his taijutsu is not very strong yet, he seems to have learnt only the basic stances well, he can utilise it very well with his speed making him the strongest taijutsu fighter in the team. But his speciality is ninjutsu. As of right now, if not for the fact that he knows pathetically few ninjutsu, I would rate him as a mid jonin level to elite jounin level ninjutsu expert." Saying this, Kakashi sighed.

Asuma looked at him sharply and said "Explain. Even Itachi was not that good when he graduated. We do not want another Itachi."

Kakashi sighed "He knows only five jutsu that I know of. The academy three, kage-bunshin and shunshin. All five are simple jutsu. The problem is his mastery of them. His shunshin is almost as fast as mine and he demonstrates way better control over his shunshin than I do. There is no indication that he is going to move or arrive. Same for Kawarimi. No indication, very long range, no disorientation. Both of the above jutsu were also sealless and silent. He weaponised them by using Kawarimi to disorient me and shunsin in chain steps to keep me on my feet. His strategic abilities are also very good for a genin. He used Bunshin and kagebunshin together to keep me on my feet and cause me to overextend at times. He henged his clones into kunai and then dispelled the henge to attack me when I was not expecting it, he actually tried to get them to work as a team. Now I am sure that he does not know about the test being a teamwork test. He was not smart enough to look at the test that deeply. He took it at face value that he had to get the bells to pass. He just thought of teamwork first rather than individual skills after information gathering."

Kakashi said "Now the worst part is this is all him solo. Assume that this is multiplied by about a hundred clones each with the same skill level and you will understand why I cannot decide. He does not have knowledge on genjutsu, medical or poison skills. He has a very basic self taught idea of survival and stealth which works decently. His chakra control is pretty decent and his reserves are humongous. The first problem is how to rate him. Individually if only his skills are considered, he would be high genin at best with a focus on physical skills. But consider that it is him with a huge amount of kage-bunshin each in their own team formations of different sizes forcing me to adapt to each of them and frequently substituting with each other and we have someone who is very strong in a straightforward fight. Honestly, a little bit of stealth, survival and genjutsu training, a knowledge of konoha operating protocols that everyone needs, more practice and a little experience and I would give him low chunin level already."

Kurenai said "But he was the dead last. He was supposed to be dumb and not very good."

Kakashi said "That is because of the same reason Sakura was supposed to be the kunoichi of the year, she is excellent at theory while he felt bored. So he didn't bother attending. It does not reflect in his skills. He learns very fast."

Hiruzen with a steely look said"I am still not seeing a problem Kakashi. Why the long assed explanation."

Kakashi said "It's because of what he did. He asked his teammates to work with him. Twice. They rejected him each time. So he single handedly completed the mission and got the bells." Kakashi looked at the surprised look on people's faces, genin were not supposed to get the bell. That was the whole point of the bell test. They were supposed to fail and work together to try their best to get it. The not getting the bell just added to the frustration which might cause friction in their teamwork. Kakashi said "He set the alarm earlier than I expected and Kawarimied two henged clones with the bells. The alarm rang. I failed them and told them it was a teamwork test. I was about to come back here when he stopped me, tossed me a bell. Told me he satisfied both aspects of the test with the teamwork requirement as well as the get the bell requirement and asked what now. I told him that was his choice. He could work with the team and pass if they worked together or fail. I told him I was not taking an apprentice. He told me he was a field promoted genin and could not go back to the academy. He did not have a problem but seeing the way they responded to him he said that he would rather fail and be a genin on the force rather than work with them in a team. He threw the bell at me and walked away. I told him to meet here at 8 tonight and came here.".

Everything towards the end was said in such a matter of fact tone that the rest of them were wondering why it was that way. When they heard that he walked away from a team intentionally failing and wanting to be on the reserve Asuma started chuckling at his balls. But by the time he got one out there was a sudden pressure in the air pushing him down. He looked around to see that everyone was being pushed down and were struggling to stand up. He looked to see his dad have a scarily void look on his face. Hiruzen turned to Kakashi and asked "I am aware he knows about the difficulties of joining the reserve force. I do not want to see him on it even though he would probably excel there. How bad were the others to not make him want to work with them?"

Kakashi grimaced and said "Bad hokage-sama. Workable but bad."

The weight increased and now kurenai was struggling to breathe while Asuma was starting to bow slightly. Kurenai looked to see Kakashi standing straight with the only indication that he was also feeling the pressure being a very slight stiffness in his body with absolutely no problems in breathing or posture. Even the ANBU who are usually hidden were on the floor bowing like Kurenai and having trouble breathing. She was shocked at the difference. She also was elite jounin and realised that there were huge gaps in the ranks in terms of strength but such a huge gap was not something she expected. She heard hokage-sama say "How long will it take you to work on them to a level where he is willing to join the team?"

Kakashi said "I honestly am not sure hokage-sama since it will depend on the psych report for Sasuke but if I can give an estimate with some breathing space I would say three to four months."

The weight in the room vanished and everyone breathed a little. They looked to see Hiruzen thinking saying "That is workable. We can sell it to the council that your team passed and you are giving special training to Sasuke and Sakura. They don't want Naruto trained anyway. You will help him in his training using a shadow clone but covertly. Naruto will learn Konoha's working policies while acting like an individual genin and doing D-ranks. He will also be experiencing a lot of freedom that way. This will increase his visibility in the village with people eventually being willing to work with him."

Oh and Kakashi," here he paused and looked up to see that Kakashi was being serious and paying attention. Once he was sure that he was he said "No being late to the training. The earlier Naruto is in a team the better. While Sasuke is the last Uchiha and stuff, Naruto is the person who is predicted to be one of the strongest in his generation for a variety of reasons and the one to watch out for. I will not tolerate konoha losing out on him because of anything stupid. Is that clear?"

Kakashi nodded and then Hiruzen said "Good. I will meet him at 8 tonight and will explain the situation to him. You can begin working on breaking your team. Also Sasuke Uchiha will undergo a psych evaluation tomorrow morning first thing. I will send a note to Inoichi. Sakura is to be made into a kunoichi. How you do it is up to you Kakashi. I don't mind even if Dog enters the fray."

At this Kakashi had put his book inside his bag and looked a little surprised saying ""They will die if Dog enters the fray. Even ANBU quit when Dog enters the fray."

Hiruzen said "Like i said Kakashi, do what you think will work. I don't care how. At the end of three to four months as per your final time estimate tomorrow, I need a working decent team to place Naruto in. Is that understood?".

Kakashi nodded saying "Yes hokage-sama. I understand clearly."

Hiruzen said "Good, Kurenai, Asuma, you have your orders as well. Dismissed.". He went back to paperwork while they walked away. Mentally he was preparing for Naruto's meeting that night.