This chapter had to be split as well, and this is still the longest chapter I wrote for this fic.

Hope you enjoy it.


Chapter 9: Team Setups

The next day Ino and Inomi met up with Sakura before heading to class for the last time.

"Come on Nomi-chan, who do you think is the top Kunoichi?" Ino asked for the five time that day.

"I told you, since you aced the poison section, Sakura the first aid, and I with information gathering it's likely based off who ever did better in the written section. The three of us were too evenly spread for me to estimate the resolves just solely on Kunoichi class."

"That is so annoying! Why don't they just tell us?" Sakura yelled in frustration.

"Because we haven't had class since we took the tests?"

"Still, they could have sent a letter or something. What if i'm not top Kunoichi and gets stuck with two idiots."

"I'm sure it will be fine Kura-chan. Otuo-chan told us that the Hokage himself looks over each team set up." Inomi said with a smile that calmed Sakura down.

"See Sakura? Whoever ends us on Sasuke-kun's team is obviously the best for him." Ino said with a smug grin as Inomi sighed.

"That's not what I said..."

"Of course, and that person will obviously be me." Sakura said as she picked of the pace, only for Ino to do the same.

"In your dreams!"

Inomi walked behind the two, way to use to their antics to be fazed. Instead Inomi noted it was a beautiful day out and that they were now at academy.

Ino and Sakura crashed through the door, while Inomi strolling in after them.

"Sasuke-kun is sitting by himself." Ino said in amazement.

"No he's not..." Inomi got out before the two girls ran over each other in order to get there first.

Inomi just shook her head with a sight smile as she walked over to here Shikamaru and Chōji were. Ino and Sakura do this whenever there isn't a teacher in the room. Inomi did tried stopping them for Sasuke's piece of mind at first, but now she finds it funny.

"You knew Naruto pass." Shikamaru accused from his half lid eyes.

"I met up with him yesterday and Iruka-Sensei was there. He told me Naruto was able to come up with a replacement to the Bunshin." Inomi said as she sat on the other side.

"Iruka-Sensei didn't say what it was?"

Inomi shook her head. Inomi wondered why they didn't go into details of what happened, and she was even considering checking 'Liz' memory's to see if anything like that happened in that show, but ended up not doing so. If Inomi was allowed to know, Naruto would have told her.

"AAAHHHHHHHH!"

Screams filled the classroom and Inomi pulled out a Kunai before she even processed what she was seeing.

"Bwahahaha!" Inomi doubled over as she laughed at the sight of Naruto and Sasuke falling into an accidental kiss, then preceding to try and throw up their own throats.

"Nomi-chan This isn't funny! Your friend stole Sasuke-kun's first kiss!" Ino yelled as she marched over.

"S-sorry Ino-nee, I know how much that meant to you." Inomi said as she tried her best to look serious.

"Don't lie on my behalf. You're not sorry."

"Think of it this way Ino-nee, maybe this is the universe's way of telling you Sasuke will never like girls." Inomi said with a sly look before Ino jumped her.

"NEVER SAY THAT AGAIN!"

"Kura-chan help! Ino's trying to commit twinicide!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!"

The class froze as Iruka stormed in and in moments everyone as sitting three to a row silent as a corpse. Inomi stayed with Chōji and Shikamaru while Ino sat in front with some of her other friends. Sakura was smiling to herself as she was able to set next to Sasuke in the confusion while Naruto sat next to her, looking back to Inomi a few times.

"Good. Starting today, you all are real Shinobi and Kunoichi. But, you are still Genin and the hard journey ahead has just began. You will soon be getting missions to help the village, today however we will be creating teams of three led by a Jounin Sensei.

"You will follow your sensei's instruction in order to successfully complete your missions. Now, I don't want to hear any complaining about your teams. We tried to balance each team's strength and weakness to give you all the best chance in your future." Iruka ranted.

Inomi watched silently as Iruka started calling out the team's names. It was interesting that the Jounin-Sensei wasn't mentioned for each team, but since last night Inomi took the time to check out the current list of Jounin she was keeping herself busy trying to think what team had who.

"...Team 5, Mitaeashi Ami, Haruno Sakura, and Sai..."

"Nooooo." Inomi heard Sakura cry as her head hit the table.

Inomi was worried about her friend being stuck on a team with Ami. The bad blood between the two girls has only gotten worst over the years, and while Inomi personally thought Ami was a decent person and ninja, Sakura doesn't deserve being on a team with such a hostile person.

But who is Sai? Inomi wondered as she looked around.

There was only 29 students in the room right now and Inomi recognized all of them.

Maybe Sai is a Genin who graduated before and had an apprenticeship. Inomi theorized, since while rare it wasn't unheard of.

It would also mean that whoever Sai apprenticed under would be team 5's Jounin Sensei. Not to mention that often Tokubetsu Jounin take apprentice to change their rank to Jounin, which largely increased the pool of who could be Sakura's new Sensei.

"...Next is team 7, Yamanaka Inomi, Uzumaki Naruto-"

"Yes!" Naruto yelled as he stood up, whipping around to Inomi with a huge smile.

Inomi smiled shyly with a thumbs up, thanking the gods that Naruto sat back down before Iruka yelled at him again.

"...and Uchiha Sasuke." Iruka finished, about to move on to the next team when Naruto stood up once more.

"Iruka-Sensei! Why does an amazing ninja like me have to be on the same team as that Ba-prick over there?" Naruto yelled as Inomi covered her face in her hands.

In all her predicting of teams, Inomi forgot that Naruto and Sasuke got along like cats and dogs.

Maybe I need to worry more about my team rather than Kura-chan's. Inomi realized with vaguely concealed horror.

"That's because Sasuke's grades were the best of all 29 graduates this year, while your's were Dead Last. Do you understand Naruto? We have to do this to keep the team's balanced." Iruka explained, keeping a forced smile in placed.

Naruto sat back down and Inomi looked up to see Iruka shaking the paper out getting ready to resume reading the list.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" Naruto yelled once more, looking like he was going to crawl over Sakura to claw out Sasuke's eyes who was sitting like nothing nothing.

"GIVE IT A REST NARUTO! HE WAS JUST SAYING WHAT IRUKA JUST SAID!" Sakura yelled at equal volume as she pulled Naruto and forced him to seat down.

"Thank you Haruno-chan. Now where was I...

"Team 8, Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburama Shino...

"Team 9, Himura Takuma, Kasumi, and Kato Rin...

"Lastly team 10, Akimichi Chōji, Yamanaka Ino, and Nara Shikamaru." Iruka finished with a sigh and a smile.

"Okay, this afternoon we'll meet your Jounin-Sensei. Until then, go have lunch."

With that, the class exploded in noise as Iruka walked out of the room.

"So you were top Kunoichi. Good job Nomi-chan." Ino said as she stood up gratefully and stretched a little.

"Thanks Ino-nee. Does that mean you're no longer mad at me."

"Mad no. Irritated at my Imouto? Yes. That wasn't a funny joke you made."

"I thought it was funny." Chōji said as he pulled out part of his lunch to snack on, completely unaware of the danger he just released.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Ino said as Chōji froze in mid bit from the force of Ino's glare.

"Ino-nee, you promised me you would get along with your teammates." Inomi said, turning up her puppy eyes to 11.

"It is just Chōji. What did I expect." Ino said as she lost interest, before turning to the other boy at the table who was still trying to nap.

"Really? You sleep through Team announcements?"

"I already knew what team I would be on." Shikamaru said without lifting his head.

"Did you know if Nomi-chan or I would be on your team?" Ino asked as she crossed her arms.

Shikamaru lifted up his head, took a look at Ino, then turned to Inomi.

"I got the troublesome twin didn't I."

"I'm not troublesome. You are the one who was almost too lazy to even take the test! " Ino was close to yelling before Shikamaru got up, Chōji only a step behind.

"It's time for lunch."

"Argh!" Ino yelled at the boys before turning back to her sister. " Nomi-chan do you want to eat with us?"

"Well, I should probably go eat with my team..." Inomi started to say only to realize Naruto and Sasuke were both gone.

"Maybe I will eat with you? Should we ask if Kura-chan if she wants to eat with us?" Inomi asked since Sakura mysterious third member was still not there - probably going to show up with their Jounin-Sensei - and Ami already left to eat with her friends.

In fact it looked like the only teams that were taking this time to get to know their members better were the first three and team 8.

"Sakura told me she was going to stop by the hospital once more. Honestly if I didn't know better I would have thought she had a crush on Kabuto-San." Ino said looking slightly irritated.

"Really? Because I can recall at least five times where you would tell Kura-chan how cute she looked with him, or how you ask if she had a new crush."

"I know better now."

They regrouped with the boys and they decided to eat in the balcony of a small bakery not too far away.

"Why did Kaa-chan pack us so much food? She knew one of us would be on a team with Chōji."

"You know how Kaa-chan is."

"Still." Ino said as she frowned at her overfilled bento box, only to look up a moment later.

"Do you or Shika know who our Jounin-Sensei will be?"

"Depends if they want to do the traditional Sarutobi-Sensei or not." Inomi said with a thoughtful look.

"And who would that be?"

"Saruobi Asuma." Shikamaru told them.

"You think it will be him? I thought he was a member of the twelve guardian ninja?" Inomi asked.

Shikamaru opened his mouth to explain, only to be interrupted by Ino.

"Is that Sasuke-kun?" Ino yelled as the boys groaned and Inomi sighed.

"Oh so he decided to eat as his place." Inomi said, not surprised.

She was a little annoyed he didn't want to eat with the team, but Sasuke probably needs the alone time.

"You know where he lives and didn't tell me?"

"I'm not one to give out private information about my friends Ino-nee. If you wanted to know you could have asked him."

"Do you know how much time Sakura and I could have saved if we knew where he hid during lunch!" Ino complained until the two girls saw Naruto trying to sneak up on Sasuke.

"What is he doing?"

"I don't know." Inomi said as she watched as a rope pulled Sasuke through the window.

"Damn you Naruto!"

"Don't resist!"

"Maybe that kiss this morning wasn't enough." Inomi joked as she wondered if she should try to intervene.

Sometimes with Ino and Sakura it was better to let them deal with things themselves. But other times...

"Stop it! I told you that wasn't funny! What if Naruto's is hurting Sasuke? "

"Naruto's probably just pulling a prank." Inomi said just as the window opened to reveal Sasuke.

"I knew Sasuke-kun was too smart to fall for one of Naruto's pranks."

"But Ino-chan weren't you just telling us how worried you were about Uchiha-Kun?" Choji asked and once again Ino whipped around to yell at him.

"I'm going to check on Naruto." Ino said as she jumped onto the roof, even though Shikamaru was the only one who responded.

But to her surprise it wasn't Naruto unconscious on the ground.

"Sasuke?"Inomi asked the boy who was tied up and was acting like a worm.

"Humm!"

Inomi pulled out a kunai and cut the rope around his wrists, noticing they were already getting loose from Sasuke's wiggling.

"Do you have any idea why Naruto Henged into you?" Inomi asked as the boy pulled off the tape that was covering his mouth.

"How should I know? Naruto's just being an idiot."

"You do know I consider Naruto a good friend of mine right? I don't appreciate you insulting him, and while he doesn't think things through, Naruto doesn't do things just on a whim. Maybe he's going to pull a prank as you so that you will get the blame." Inomi thought outloud.

"Hn. Whatever."

Sasuke left out the front door leaving Inomi alone in his apartment. Inomi decided she will try to get Naruto and Sasuke to get along, right after she finishes her lunch.

I have a feeling this isn't going to be a quick thing to fix.


When they came back from lunch Iruka made them set in their team groups. Inomi made sure to set between Naruto and Sasuke, both who would send glares at the other. Ino was physically setting with Shikamaru and Choji but was leaning as far forward as she could to talk to Sakura who was sitting in front of them.

Ami was on the far end talking to her friends, and their third member was still not here.

It wasn't too long before Teams were being called out into the hall. Inomi keep an ear out mostly to see if her predictions for team 7 and 10 Jounins were right. The Jounins that Inomi thought might have team 5 - Shiranui Genma or Yamashiro Aoba - led teams 1 and 3 respectively.

"Team 10?" A man said as he opened the door, but didn't take another step to walk inside of the classroom.

Shikamaru gave a quick look to Inomi before Ino forced him up.

"See you later Nomi-chan and Sakura-chan." Ino said with a smile as she pushed Shikamaru out the door, Choji following behind them.

"Good luck you three!" Inomi called after them before returning to her book.

Asuma should be good for them from what she read out of her father's old bingo books. He seems to like planing and has skills that would work well for a capturing team that Ino-Shika-cho excel at.

Team 8 was called out not much later by a pretty young woman with red eyes that Inomi figured was the new Jounin Yūhi Kurenai. Unfortunately Inomi doesn't know much about Kurenai since she wasn't in any of the bingo books she looked at.

"Is Mitaeashi-San and Haruno-San here?"

Inomi looked up to see a young man with short brown hair, black eyes, and a face guard that had a Konoha symbol plate on it. Then next to the man was a boy the same height of Naruto that was as white as a sheet of paper with black hair and eyes.

Sakura stood up quickly, and Inomi mouthed 'good luck' when she looked over to her before leaving.

I have no idea who those two were. Inomi thought with a pout as she keep looking to the door, long after they left.

After an hour they were the only team left. Iruka didn't seems to surprise that their Sensei was so late - which worries Inomi - but even he couldn't stay with them all day.

"Naruto, make sure to treat your Sensei with respect!"

"Ya, ya I know. Don't worry about it 'ttebayo." Naruto said from his spot on top of the table.

"Alright then. He should be here soon. Maybe." Iruka said before he left as well leaving the three children alone.

There was a few minutes of silence, the only sound coming from Inomi flipping the pages of her book. Sasuke was staring out the window while Naruto looked at Inomi, then at the door, then back at Inomi, then glared at Sasuke, before he deemed that was enough.

"Hey what are you reading Inomi?" Naruto said as he turned around to look at the book upside down.

"Shika-Oji got me a book about Fūinjutsu for graduating. It even has examples of sealing styles in other countries." Inomi said excitedly as she showed Naruto.

"Sealing? That's... like what is used for explosion tags?"

"Yep. I've been trying to create a version of that tag that is more similar to a Katon Jutsu. However there isn't a lot of information about Fūinjutsu. Hopefully by looking at other ways seals are created I'll be able to overcome the block i've been having. " Inomi explained, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Sasuke was looking down at her book as well.

"That sounds cool." Naruto said as he looked to the door once more.

"Argh, what is taking him so long!"

"Depend on who he is." Inomi said as she marked the page before turning to a different one.

"Do you know?" Sasuke asked, causing Inomi to look up at both boys.

"Well, I have a idea. I took a look at Otou-chan's old Bingo books and there was a Jonin named Hatake Kakashi. There was very little about him. He graduated academy at 5, prompted to Chūnin a year later, then became Jounin at 13."

"He's that good?" Naruto asked and Inomi nodded.

"But something that I found interesting were the nicknames he has gained. 'Copy Ninja Kakashi' and 'Kakashi of the Sharingan'."

"Sharingan?" Sasuke asked looking very unlike his normal stoic self.

"What's that? Is it a really cool Jutsu?"

"Sharingan is a dojutsu found only in the Uchiha clan, but I don't think that Hatake-San has Uchiha blood. What i've found out about the Hatake clan was that they were very small, and even if Hatake-San was born out of wedlock he would have gained the Uchiha name once he graduated the academy." Inomi explained because she had hoped as well that Sasuke wasn't the last Uchiha.

"Then how did he get those titles?"

"I'm not sure, but Hatake-San got that nickname around the time the third ninja war ended. If he stole the Sharingan, he would have been put on trial for dojutsu theft by the Uchiha's. So I figured that during the war Hatake-San lose one or both of his eyes and a Teammate who died was a Uchiha with an awaken Sharingan that donated their eyes." Inomi said, stunning both boys.

"He's teammate died?" Naruto asked looking like he was going to cry.

"It's just a hypothesis I have. It's probably not what happened, but I like trying to figure things out..."

"That's why you think this Hatake Kakashi will be our Sensei." Sasuke said and Inomi gave a nod.

"But then why is he so late!" Naruto yelled once again, forcing Sasuke to move away from Inomi.

"It has been a while. Maybe this is the test?" Inomi wondered, a little worried because she didn't think the Jounin test would start today.

"The Test? What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes on Inomi.

"Don't tell me you two don't know either." Inomi said as she looked to the boys.

But how would they know? Ino-nee and I only knew because of Tou-chan. Same goes for Choji and Shika. Sakura didn't know because both of her parents are civilians. Naruto never had anyone to tell him and Sasuke was probably too young. Inomi realized, shaking her head at herself.

"When a Jounin receive a new team, they test them to see if they have the abilities to follow a Jounin track."

"What! We have to take another test?"

"That's what Inomi just said Idiot."

"What did you call me 'ttebayo!"

"Naruto calm down. What if right now our Sensei is testing us to see how we react to waiting for long periods of time? If you want to become Hokage you need to be on a Jounin lead Genin team." Inomi explained as she held Naruto back.

"You really think he's watching us?" Naruto said as he looked around as if he would see Kakashi on the ceiling or something.

"It's possible, but I don't know how likely it would be for Hatake-San to perform a test like that. Otou-chan said that in addition to testing characteristics that Konoha values, Jounin test what they personally think is important for a ninja to have. Having said that, I still don't know what Hatake-San values." Inomi told them even though she was slightly annoyed for being in the dark.

"What happens if you fail?" Sasuke asked.

"If the team fails they are sent back to the academy, to the Genin Corp, set up with an apprenticeship, or they are no longer allowed to be ninjas."

"Wait, did you say if the team fails? I don't want to go back just because Sasuke's such a bad ninja!"

"If anyone, it would be you dead last."

"TAKE THAT BACK YOU BASTARD!"

"Naruto, Sasuke, can you try not antagonize each other until our Sensei comes at the very least? Please?" Inomi pleaded with the boys.

"Fine." Naruto said as he sat down with his arms crossed.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he turned away.

"Thank you." Inomi said with a sigh as she focused on her book again.

Inomi felt like she was really close. In fact, Inomi has already created a seal that was able to produce a fireball that was nearly in strength to one of Sasuke's Gōkakyū no Jutsu. The problem was it was only a one time use, then Inomi needed to figure out how to make it work with her fighting style.

As Inomi worked on that and Sasuke stared out the window, Naruto was able to stay quiet for another hour before jumping up.

"That's it! If our Sensei is going to be late, then he will have to face the consequences 'ttebayo!" Naruto yelled as he bounced over to the door, pulling out a storage seal that Inomi made for Naruto for his birthday.

"Naruto, I didn't give you that so you can pull pranks on our Sensei." Inomi said as she watched Naruto set up the seal to a trip wire.

One of the thin ones that felt more like a spider web then string.

"It'll be funny Inomi!" Naruto promised with a grin as he walked back over.

"Hn. There is no way a Jounin would fall for that."

"I don't know about that. Jounin are some of the best, but even the best can let their guard down." Inomi said moments before the door slid open.

The three kids had a moment to see their new teacher before Naruto seal went off and pink glitter covered the man.

"See? See? Inomi was right! He totally fell for it!" Naruto yelled as he pointed at the young man and laughed.

"We're very sorry Sensei." Inomi said as she forced Naruto into a bow while biting her lip to keep from laughing.

It was funny seeing the man who had one of the highest bounty in all of the bingo book glittering in the sunlight. Doesn't mean she is going to let him fail them because Naruto was able to piss their Sensei off in the first second.

Sasuke just stared at them all. Any hope that Inomi would be able to keep Naruto under control went out the window along with any respect he had for this Hatake Kakashi.

"Hm, Hm, How can I say this... My first impression is you are a loudmouth attention seeker, a little girl who isn't willing to stand up for herself, and a brooding boy who can't get along with anyone." Kakashi said all while the corners of his only visible eye crinkled in what Inomi hopped was a smile.

Still, that was pretty harsh. What was he expecting from fresh Genins who are only 12?

"Well, meet me on the roof in five." Kakashi said with a wave before puffing away leaving only a few leaves in his place.


Thank you DarkDust27 and giant salamander for reviewing last chapter, and everyone who favorite/follows this story.

What did you think of this chapter? Too close to canon? Not close enough? Will the bell test go better with Sasuke and Naruto knowing that they fail as a team or will they listen only to Kakashi? What do you think of Inomi's plan of using seals instead of Jutsu? Why do you think Sai is now on Sakura's genin team? Do I have any really bad spelling or grammar errors in this chapter? What's your favorite color?

Reviews are pretty nice by the way ;)