Disclaimer: Naruto and it's characters aren't mine. This story has been inspired by Vixen Tail's story Deja vu No Jutsu and Hermionechan90's Inoue Shiori. Both authors have given me permission to use ideas and themes from their stories.

A/N: Another chapter, yay!

Hopefully this chapter, and the last, laid to rest the question on how Aioka is transitioned into the Commander position.

A few of you have questioned me about the Hokage not knowing. The main reason I'm doing that is because it was one of the main thoughts that prompted the story in the first place. I may change it later since I'm trying to make this story as realistic as I am able (or my version of realistic anyway) but for now it's what I'm going with it.

My explanation for the Hokage's behaviour in this version will be in the next chapter, so stay tuned!

Uncertain


Aioka slouched against a wall, her body deceptively relaxed and unassuming as she observed her fellow genin. Today she would receive her own team from the fresh Genin who had failed their jonin test. Many of the gathered genin were not happy, several angry, and it would be her job to calm three of them down and show them the ropes of being a career genin.

At fifteen she had gained a couple inches and put on some healthy weight. Ichika's cooking was largely helpful in the weight gain department. A couple of months ago Aioka had the displeasure of enduring her body rushing through the years of puberty she had missed due to her poor health. That was something she could have done without; having Ichika-san sit her down and explain what was happening had been more than a little embarrassing.

This semesters group was the largest batch the Corp had seen since war times. Aioka's group had only been six, this group boasted eleven sullen brats.

Instead of the classrooms previous graduates had been shown to, this group was led into the training hall. The massive area proving to be a temporary distraction from their woes. Over the two years Aioka had been serving in the Corp she had slowly been stepping up her influence over the corp. The first step had been cleaning and repairing the HQ. The training hall was actually a training hall now. Equipement had been salvaged from ruined training grounds and set up under various numbers that lined the walls and genin were actually using them.

Aioka couldn't help the pride that bloomed each time she saw her hard work coming into fruition. While she couldn't say that the Corp was anywhere near where she wanted it to be, it was a far cry from the hopeless pit it had been when she first started.

A shift in the mood of the gaggle of graduates drew Aioka from her thoughts to listen to Uzashi's usual speech. Glancing at her peers, Aioka smiled encouragingly. This would be the first time they would be using the training model Aioka had created. Uzashi had been curious enough to give it a try and if it went well it would become the new normal. The three standing with her, were people Aioka had been the most effort into forming to her specifications.

Daidoshi Saito had joined Aioka's group for extra training not too long after she started and had thrived with her challenges. The man was considerably older than most of the genin in Aioka's sphere of influence at thirty years old, but because of him she had been able to reach out to others his age and help them improve. He had asked to be a teacher once he heard what was planned for this new group.

Mayuri Hana was eighteen and an excellent Scout. She enjoyed interacting with civilians and had maneuvered herself into a position where civilians were comfortable coming to her to help settle petty disputes so as to not bother the Uchiha police.

Zetsuka Ichiro was a bespeckled young man of twenty. He was firmly in the Clerk classification as he enjoyed working with files and numbers. His group would be learning how to navigate the library, archives, and hospital. It was agreed he would have a team of two due to the lack of another graduate to make a full fourth team.

"Team 23." Aioka refocused when Uzashi called her team number. "Huro Ai, Shigako Duzo, Yamaiza Naku."

Remaining by her fellow teachers, the copper eyed girl watched two boys and a girl gather under number twenty three. The three had distance between them, telling Aioka that they did not know each other; the boys kept a greater distance between the girl than between themselves. Either the girl had a bad reputation or the boys were afraid of cooties.

The girl, Huro Ai, was on the small side and had a nervous disposition. Her hair was brown, tied in a low tail, and her clothes were worn but well cared for. Both boys had black hair, one with a short tail and the other with close cut spiky hair. Short-Tail was tall and wiry while Spiky was broad and little chubby.

When the final team had found their place, Aioka nodded to her fellow sensei and headed for her team.

The three watched her approach curiously. Her once matted hair was a clean black pulled into a neat french braid, her Hitai-ate around her hips as a belt. Calm copper eyes scanned them lazily, noting that both of the boys clothing was fairly new.

"Right, I'm Shojikina Aioka, I am Team 23's Taicho; welcome to the Genin Corp."

The three stared at her. Ai with surprise and the boys with disbelief.

"You're our Taicho?" Spikey inquired skeptically. "You're our age."

Aioka lifted a shoulder, choosing to be amused rather than insulted. She was still on the short side but she was expecting to hit a growth spurt soon. Both her biological parents had been tall. "My age shouldn't matter. Now come on, it's time to eat. You three ever been to Yoku's BBQ?"

The three fresh genin trailed after her, confusion added to their already smarting pride and disappointed dreams.

"I know which of you is Huro-san; who is Shigako-san?"

Turned out Spikey was Shigako Duzo and Short-Tail was Yamaiza Naku. When they got to the restaurant, Aioka greeted the staff with easy familiarity. "Monichi-chan, is the back table available?"

The Akimichi woman smiled kindly at the four of them. "Yes. Would you like your usual Aioka-chan?"

"Please."

The four Genin sat at a semi secluded table near the back of the restaurant. It was the table Aioka and Shikoru always sat when they came here. Ai sat with Aioka while the boys sat across from them.

"Name, age, and style preference. Shigako-san, you first," Aioka commanded. Based on her students' body types she already had an idea what they would be good at but she wanted to hear what they liked to do.

The broad boy straightened, grey eyes showing his annoyance at her tone. "Shigako Duzo, thirteen, ninjitsu."

Aioka nodded, not at all surprised even though she could see him more as a Tai user. His shoulders were showing promise of being broad once he finished growing.

"Yamaiza-san."

The wiry boy had propped an elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand. "Yamaiza Naku, twelve, ninjutsu." His tone bored and condescending; clearly not thinking much of his Taicho. He vaguely remind Aioka of Ketsu and making her wonder how the Taketori outcast was doing. She hadn't seen him in nearly a year.

"Huro Ai, eleven, I don't have a preference," the other girl spoke softly at Aioka's prompt, pinkish eyes fixed shyly on the table top.

Aioka smiled, storing questions of why the girl had chosen the Corp versus returning to the academy. Eleven was a bit young to be out of the academy.

"As I said, I'm Shojikina Aioka. You may call me Aioka-tachio, Shojikina-tachio, or simply tachio, whichever you are most comfortable with. There will be no missions or training today," she smirked at the way the boys deflated and the relief in Ai's sigh. "That is reserved for tomorrow. Today, I will be getting to know you and giving you a more in depth explanation of what the Genin Corp does."

When the trio nodded an acknowledgement, Aioka shifted into her usual position of arms resting on the edge of the table and her ankles crossing. Not the best position for reacting but it was comfy. "So who was your favorite and least favorite sensei in the academy and why?"

While her team shared their answers, Monichi dropped off Aioka's usual order of Yakisoba sampler and jasmine tea. The three ordered their meals when Aioka told them food was on her today.

As she listened and asked questions, Aioka gradually got a basic idea of who her students were as people. She was already familiar with their signatures—which ranged from calm to chaotic blue—and was glad to put faces to them since she hadn't before.

Yamaiza Naku's signature lived toward the wealthier end of the civilian district, his father owned the only motion picture theater in town while his mother worked at a tea house the Hyuuga frequented. Aioka had met both parents at one point or another.

As a person, Yamaiza was borderline arrogant with a conditioned dismissal of females. A behaviour that wasn't uncommon among civilians but wasn't something Aioka would allow to continue into the boys' shinobi life. That sort of disdain would get him into trouble with clients and regular shinobi.

Yamaiza also showed a liking for strategy games—something Aioka would encourage.

Haru Ai's signature was less familiar to Aioka but she was not surprised to discover that the younger kunoichi was an orphan. The girl was shy but not incapable of defending her opinion, which she had done when Shigako had sneered at her enjoyment of cyphers.

Shigako Duzo was from a single parent family of three. His mother had passed away two years ago due to an infection of some kind—Aioka knew this because she knew the boy's father, Shigako Toaza the butcher the Kurama clan favoured for one reason or another.

Shigako disliked any and all academics but thrived on the physical side of things. His chakra control was awful but had potential of being a decent ninjutsu user if Aioka got him started on chakra exercises and meditation.

As the meal wound down Aioka brought the trio's attention back to her and away from their reminiscing of bullies from various clans with a light flicker of her signature. She could tell the three weren't sure what drew their attention and decided to see if she could slide in chakra sensing training into the already bulging load of things she needed to teach them.

"I need to return to HQ now, but you three can order a dessert of your choice if you want to hang out some more. I'll see you three at seven in the morning in the training hall."

With that last reminder, Aioka left them alone. At the front she paid for what had already been order and asked Monichi to put any dessert her team ordered on her tab before returning to the HQ.

Stepping into the office she shared with Uzashi, Aioka laughed softly at finding the man falling asleep over what appeared to be a financial report.

"Need a nap, jiji?" Aioka teased.

Uzashi blinked blearily at her twice before groaning and rubbing an eye with the hand not holding his pen. "I need to retire," he quipped.

Aioka snorted. Uzashi was nearing fifty and should have retired decades ago but had chosen to remain commander because he couldn't find anyone he was confident in leaving the Corp to. The man had confided in her a few months ago that if she hadn't shown up he would have given the title to Saito. Aioka wondered if that was why her current Runner tachio had put her in the commander's face; so he didn't have to deal with the paperwork attached to the Commander's title.

"You can retire once I find a model that works," she parried, amused by their banter. They had been saying the same thing to each other since Aioka first proposed trying a new method of integrating new career genin into the Corp.

The commander glowered. "You practically do my job anyway, Aioka-san, you're just avoiding the paperwork."

The teen laughed as she set a file on her desk. "Maybe I'll just keep you as my secretary when the time comes. You seem to do a mighty fine job of keep on top of it."

"In your dreams! I've had more than enough of paperwork. I'm going to retire, wear fluffy slippers, and haunt tea houses and onosans."

Aioka smothered a smile as the older genin began verbally daydreaming about what he was going to do once he retired. The old koot deserved to do whatever he wanted after dealing with the Corp as long as he had. Biting her lip to keep from laughing at the more outrageous ideas the current commander was spouting, Aioka opened the file to review her plans for tomorrow.

There were a great deal of changes Aioka was trying to implement; some more radical than others. First was the type of orientation new genin received.

When Aioka joined there was no tour of the buildings she was expected to work in, there was no order to who went where for which missions, and there was no clear chain of command. These were just a few things she was going to change.

Tomorrow each of the new genin were going to be given a second 'graduation' exam to give Aioka and the other Tachio an idea of what they did and did not know. To give the kids a break between each exam, each tachio would take them to various buildings for proper tours.

During the first few months Aioka suspected that they would have to shuffle teams around until they found the best fit for their students. Runner potentials will go to Saito, Clerks to Ichiro, Scouts to Hana, and Aioka would take whoever was left.

Aside from efficiency, Aioka wanted her genin to enjoy what they did in some capacity. Part of the reason the Genin Corp was currently so toxic to growth was that very few were doing jobs the enjoyed. Ichiro, for example, had been stuck on labor intensive D-ranks when he was much happier working in the library or doing filing for the hospital. Hence Aioka creating categories for her genin to work within. She knew it would be impossible for the genin to work strictly on the mission types they enjoyed but she thought she could give them the option of primary and secondary categories to balance everything out. There would be the few who would be strictly a single category due to simply being that good in that particular field or because that was far as their abilities allowed them to go. Not everyone who became shinob, should be.

A:CG

As with any plan, Aioka's changed and grew with time. Ideas were discarded when they didn't work, others added or changed when they did. Over all, the training model produced career genin who were confident in their duties, respectful to their superiors, and kind to the civilians. Uzashi had two more group go through the model before handing the reins of the Corp and gleefully set about fulfilling his day dreams of lounging at onosans and haunting tea houses.

For the first six months as Commander, Aioka left training to Saito and those she had come to call her Lieutenants while she, a kage bunshin, Ichiro, and two other Clerks combed through the Corps finances and began overhauling the budget. By the time that was complete Aioka and Ichiro had set up the premise for what would become known as the Financing division, a facet of the Clerks.

At 17, a year and a half into Aioka's tenner as Genin Commander, the Corp as a whole had taken to Aioka's vision. There were more than a few who resented the extra work the changes brought but these quickly learned to keep their mouths shut and do what they were told. Aioka prefered to have obedience through respect but she was not above ruling through fear if need be. For everyone's sake, Aioka retired those who resisted as soon as their contracts were up.

There were several different types of shinobi who left the academy. Those who paid for their schooling, those who got sponsors, and those who signed a ten year contract to get through the academy without paying up front.

The Ten-ers, as the last category were known as, could continue to serve or return to civilian life once their contract was up. The other categories were usually lifers. Civilians, orphans, and immigrants like Aioka fell most commonly into the Ten-er category. However it was not uncommon for wealthy civilians to fall into the first, nor was it uncommon for orphans to find clan sponsors. The Uchiha were particularly known for their sponsorships but it was an open secret that any who accepted such sponsorships were expected to marry into the clan.

For those who had the right mind set and wanted to continue their career as a Genin, Aioka went over goals with them. A huge factor that had played into the former version of the Genin Corps discontent, had been a lack of purpose. Aioka was determined for each of her genin to have a purpose in life and for them to use their career as a means to fulfilling that purpose.

A genin kunoichi wanted to be a painter? Aioka and her Lieutenants directed her to appropriate reading material and offered budgeting classes. A shinobi wanted to become a weaponsmith? Same offer, different reading material, and an introduction to an already practicing weaponsmith.

Aioka knew that if her Corp was happy, the people they served would be happy. And the happiness of her village was second only to the security of her village.

Security which seemed to shatter when Aioka woke to feeling signature after signature being snuffed out late one July night.


A/N: I'm basing my timeline off Seelentau's timeline on Narutopedia if anyone is curious. The only thing that's different is when the Hokage announces the Chunin Exams. It will be explained in coming chapters =D