Disclaimer: I don't own crap. Not Naruto, not any anime, nothing.

A/N: Quick thing before I start. Heaven only knows exactly how many different combinations of teams I've thought of. To tell the truth, I don't even remember them all, but I can think of at least 6 different team combinations that actually work in some sense, including the original team lineups. But I've picked one that I can see happening most with Naruto's various 'skills' in this one.

The Way Things Were

Sandaime looked over the paperwork in front of him, as well as those that were gathered in front of him. Among those present was his own wayward son, who'd returned to Konoha once again after becoming one of the twelve elite guardians of the Fire Lord.

The paper work was all the results and suggested pairings for various teams that the students would be broken into. He, and the new Jounin instructors, had the ability to change what they saw as they saw fit.

The old man had smiled slightly when he saw Naruto's name on the list. He knew the boy had passed. After all, he'd been watching when Iruka had declared him a graduate. He looked at the groupings as well as the amendments made by the instructors on who they thought would fit best.

He found that for a majority of the jounin had left the groups as they had been, but there were a few that had changed out the recommended setup to request a different student.

The old Hokage looked up at one such group leader, as this one had been the one that had asked for probably the most interesting switch out of them all.

"Are you sure about this?"

The person nodded in complete sincerity. From what they had seen, the switch was more than warranted. And in more than one way.

The old man sighed slightly, but smiled nonetheless.

"It will be interesting then. To see exactly what influence they have on him."

That was one of the other reasons. The person nodded again.

"Very well. Does anyone have any objections to these setups?"

After a round of silence, and a few of the occupants looking at each other, the Hokage nodded.

"Dismissed."

All the figures stood at attention before walking slowly out the door. A few began to chat idly while one lit up a cigarette and another pulled out an odd looking orange book.

The sole occupant of the office linked his fingers together with a slight smile as he thought about what the next day would bring.

--------------

Naruto sat in front of the old man with a smirk on his face. He'd just had his picture taken for his genin record that morning. The old man was staring at the piece of paper in silence before a sigh escaped his lips.

"Take it again."

"WHAT?"

"Take it again, Naruto."

Sandaime held up the paper and motioned towards the photograph in the upper left corner. It was of Naruto, but it looked nothing like the blonde boy. His normal red bandana was covering the top of his head, in addition to his forehead, in a manner that he'd seen several shinobi wearing their hitai-ate. Next, he was wearing an interesting pair of black sunglasses that were too big for him. They covered the rest of his forehead in addition to half way down his nose. After that, the boy's lower face was covered as he buried it into the top of a high neck green turtleneck, effectively hiding the rest of his lower face. The turtleneck was then covered by an overly large black coat that had red lines darting up the sleeves, which also his the sides of Naruto's face. To finish it off, Naruto wore a pair of blue fingerless gloves on his hands, which were crossed in front of his chest as he tried to give the camera man a serious look.

All in all, the picture was utterly ridiculous.

"How can you say that, Hokage-jiisan! It's a masterpiece!"

The old man sighed and put a hand to his forehead. Naruto, when kept contained, was usually hyperactive. It was certain showing through now.

Before the old Hokage could say another word, the door slid open slightly. All attention in the room turned to the door as a small boy, no more than eight, quickly slammed the door open and tried to charge the Hokage.

After a few moments into the charge, he tripped over his own extremely long green scarf and face planted directly into the wooden floor. Naruto stared in awe at the boy. How could one be so clumsy?

"As expected of the Hokage…you knew I was coming and set traps."

…and how could he be so stupid?

Naruto muttered something about the kid being a complete moron, which was overheard. Immediately a smaller face was in his, looking at him in irritation.

"What was that?"

Naruto stared at him for a minute before pushing him back slightly, "I said, you're a freaking idiot."

As soon as the sentence was complete, the boy was in his face again yelling. A man wearing small circular sunglasses made a quick appearance and sighed when he saw the young boy yelling at Naruto.

"Young Master, it would do you well not to associate with him."

"Young Master?" Naruto turned his head to look at the new voice and flinched slightly. Those eyes…

"Yes, he's the Sandaime's grandson. It would be best if you would simply leave him alone."

Naruto turned back to the now grinning boy. His grin, though, was extremely cocky. Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly before the boy dared him to hit him. The boy, Konohamaru he'd heard the old man call him, was standing before him defiantly.

Naruto snorted before leaning back slightly, the situation seemingly diffused. A small sigh escaped both of the men in the front of the room before Naruto reared his head forward and planted it firmly against the young boy's.

The cry of pain seemed to satisfy Naruto as he smirk and walked out the door, waving behind him to the room's occupants.

--------------

Naruto frowned as he noticed the brat still following him. Hadn't he had enough already.

He turned around and pointed at the ground next to him, "Get out here."

Several people looked at him like he was completely crazy before glaring at him. The glares turned to surprised looks as a small boy walked out from around the corner, staring at him.

Several whispers immediately shot through the open air. Naruto heard several mentions of 'Honorable Grandson' and such before he turned his attention back on Konohamaru.

"What do you want, brat?"

"What's wrong with you?"

Naruto twitched slightly, "What the hell do you mean what's wrong? I have you following me don't I? What do you want?"

The boy continued to stare at the blonde, saying nothing.

Naruto, getting tired of the silence, simply turned around and continued walking. He still had to do a few training exercises before going home and relaxing. Much to his annoyance, the boy continued to follow him.

As soon as Naruto got into the forest and began his exercises, he was interrupted by the boy.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto sighed and turned to look at him, "Training. What do you want? Why are you still following me?"

"Why are you different from the others?"

Naruto seemed confused, "What?"

"You aren't like the others. They treat me with respect simply because I'm the old man's grandson. Why don't you?"

Naruto snorted, "What have you done to gain any respect? You're a loud and annoying little kid who doesn't stop bugging people."

The brunette growled slightly, "I'll show you when I'm in the old man's spot! You'll have to respect me then!"

Naruto stared at him before bursting out laughing. The boy stood completely still, finger still pointed at Naruto, completely confused.

"You become Hokage? That's great! There's no way!"

Konohamaru launched himself to tackle Naruto, but was simply swatted away with the back of a hand.

"Besides, that role is already reserved."

"What?"

Naruto grinned, "I'm going to pass you straight into that seat. Then you will have to respect me."

Konohamaru snorted, "Who'd ever follow you? Plus, I have an elite instructor who will help me beat the old man with ease!"

Naruto suddenly became solemn, "You think it'll be easy?"

Konohamaru grinned and pointed, "That's what he tells me!"

Naruto turned and stared at the man before him. The same man that was in the office. With those same eyes…

Naruto shivered.

"Nothing is ever easy. Despite what people tell you, there is never an easy path in life. That…is what I've learned from Ryuu."

Konohamaru looked confused, confused and lost in thought. Ebisu, however, had perked at hearing the name. He'd heard of the jounin. He was continually requested on missions, simply because of his status. Word traveled fast with various, new and repeating, clients.

Ebisu returned his gaze to Naruto, who was now walking away. Despite his current status in the village, he couldn't help but realize people may be wrong. The boy…he never gave respect without it being earned and realized that there was more to life than most thought. He was an interesting boy…

"I'll beat you one of these days! We'll be rivals from now on!"

Naruto simply waved over his shoulder as he walked away, signifying that he'd heard.

After the blonde disappeared into the forest, Konohamaru turned to his instructor.

Ebisu seemed slightly taken aback by the determination in the boy's face, but smiled.

"Are you ready to get back to your lessons, Young Master?"

------------------

Naruto, for all intents and purposes, had been far too excited and annoyed to fall asleep, despite the nagging his body was giving him. So imagine his surprise when, not more than half an hour after he finally got to sleep, he was brutally assaulted by a large wave of freezing water.

And a loud shout and a few choice words, he gazed upon his attacker with seething anger.

There, in his doorway, stood Ryuu. With a large smirk on his face. Holding a, now empty, cup that was still extended in Naruto's general direction.

After a few moments, Naruto groaned and lay back down on his now soaked bed. He tried to turn over and pull the covers back over him, but Ryuu had already stripped him of that pleasure. The boy shot the man another glare before burying his face in his pillow.

"Well, that was an awfully nice reception."

Naruto grunted and mumbled something from his position without lifting his head. He knew that Ryuu had been gone a week, but he was too tired to care at the moment. He was too tired to care about anything.

"If you don't get your lazy butt out of bed, you're going to be late."

Naruto's head immediately shot up. Except that. He cared about that.

"Why didn't you say so earlier!" Naruto yelled at the grinning visage in his doorway before leaping up and quickly running to the bathroom. After taking a quick shower, getting dressed and eating a slice of toast and a piece of bacon, Naruto ran out the door with another slice of toast, stuck in his mouth, with a wave.

The blonde sprinted down the streets, earning glares from anyone that he happened to pass. Although the streets were relatively empty that early in the morning, they weren't completely uninhabited. Naruto ignored the pointed looks, too concentrated on getting to the academy.

He didn't know what they were going in for. They'd already passed the stupid exam right? Iruka hadn't told him why they had to come in the day after next, simply that he should be there.

Naruto passed through the gates in front of the academy yard and immediately ran into the building. He continued through the halls before sliding to a stop in front of his usual classroom door and slamming it open.

Inside, it appeared as Iruka had just opened his mouth to speak to the students gathered inside. However, with all the attention now fixed on the blonde, he'd simply paused before he said anything.

Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head before taking a seat in the very back. He was sitting next to Ino and Shikamaru, who were in some sort of small talk before Ino turned her head away defiantly from Shikamaru.

A hush fell over the chatting students as Iruka cleared his throat again. After a few moments, all attention was focused upon him once again.

"Congratulations graduates. Now that you have successfully trained in the academy, you are ready to handle the experiences that lay before you as a shinobi. Each of you will be placed in a three man cell. And each individual cell is created with the information we've been given on each of you. There were many factors taken into consideration before you were placed in these groups, such as abilities and grades."

After a slight pause, he looked back at his clipboard and nodded before returning his gaze on his former students.

"I will now read off the cell numbers and the names of each individual placed in that cell. Cell One: Hinsho Tsuki, Kamasi Roden and Reidan Hyo."

Each student nodded, while glancing at each other. Small chatter could be heard, once again, as Iruka continued to read the cell groups and names.

Naruto kept an ear open for any names he might recognize as his friends and began to look around. It looked like out of the 30 odd students in academy class, a majority of them had graduated. He felt relief flow through him as he noticed that all of his acquaintances had passed.

He continued to look around the room for a tell-tale sign of the person he was looking for. After a moment, he found a pair of pale eyes that were perched just below dark lavender hair looking at him. He grinned and waved slightly, causing the figure to flush slightly and wave back.

"Cell Seven: Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke nodded and Naruto perked up slightly. He looked at the dark haired boy and narrowed his eyes slightly, "Inuzuka Kiba," Naruto heard a small groan come from somewhere in the middle of the class, "and Haruno Sakura."

At that point, an ear piercing shriek was let out by two girls. All attention turned to Ino, who was now pointing at Sakura and glaring at her, and Saukra, who seemed overly excited. Everyone shook their heads and sighed, ignoring the coming argument that was bound to take place.

"Cell Eight: Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino," at this point, Hinata's head sunk slightly. She'd hoped to be on the same team as Naruto. There was little chance that the sole open spot on the team was his, "and Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto grinned as he caught Hinata's eye again. She looked at him and smiled shyly before he turned to look out his other teammate. He found it odd that he would be paired with two people he considered friends, but counted himself extremely lucky. He hadn't really gotten to know much about Shino as well as Hinata, but figured that would probably change soon.

The blonde was pulled out of his musings as he heard a few snickers.

"…and Akimichi Chouji."

Crap! He'd missed the last team and someone he knew was on it. But as he looked at Chouji, he found the pudgy boy looking up and Shikamaru with a slight smile. Shikamaru had a small smirk on his face as Ino continued to ask why she was cursed. Although, hardly anyone could hear her words because they were muffled by her arms.

"That is all. You all have a brief lunch break before you will report back here. From there, your jounin instructors will come and retrieve their respective teams. Understood?"

A chorus of affirmative replies and nods answered the question, "You have half an hour. You're all excused. And congratulations once again."

Everyone seemed to shuffle slightly before walking out of the room and into the open streets of Konoha. Naruto had been walking on his way to Ichiraku when he heard a voice call out for him.

He paused and looked back over his shoulder to see Hinata slowly jogging to his position. He grinned and turned around, fully facing her.

"What's up, Hinata-chan?"

She paused, looking slightly flustered and winded, and began to fidget slightly.

"I-I was wondering i-if you'd like t-to eat lunch as a t-team?"

Naruto then looked past Hinata and saw Shino slowly making his way towards the two of them. He waved to Shino and got a mere nod of the head in response.

"Yea, sure! It'll be great."

Shino merely nodded again and followed the two ahead of him to where they were originally headed.

---------------

The class had once again gathered after a generally uneventful lunch. Sasuke had spent the better part of his time avoiding everyone while Sakura and Ino sought the boy out.

Kiba had been in a sour mood after hearing that he was going to be on the same team as the 'number one rookie' and 'genius.' When he approached Iruka about it, his instructor told him that he was ranked lower than a few other people that probably would've been placed on the team in his stead.

Kiba had grudgingly agreed that it was partially his fault and simply left it alone. He still wasn't happy that he'd have to be on the same team as a fangirl and the boy the girl was obsessed with.

He looked over and narrowed his eyes on Naruto's team. He wished he could've been on that team. Not only was Hinata on it, but Shino was at least a decent guy. He didn't talk much, only offering advice and knowledge when he deemed it necessary, but he was still a good guy. He didn't seem like the dark and completely antisocial type like the Uchiha was.

After a few moments, when no adult entered the room, the students began to chat amongst themselves. Random and everyday information seemed to pass back and forth between friends as everyone anxiously awaited the arrival on their team leaders.

After a few minutes, a group of several adults walked into the room. Each calling out their various cell numbers. Four teams cautiously left, each team following the person that had called out their respective number.

After another few minutes, three more teams were called out. That left cells seven, eight and ten alone in the room, each group staring at each other in silence.

After a few moments, a black haired man with thick facial hair walked in.

"Cell Ten."

Ino sighed loudly, thankful she would finally be able to leave her current 'holding cell.' The blonde girl was the first one up and moving down the stairs, followed slowly, very slowly, by Chouji and Shikamaru.

Naruto waved slightly at Shikamaru who jerked his head forward slightly in what looked like a nod. Chouji, whose hands were full with food, merely gave a small grin before they all headed out.

After another few moments, a woman in a strange wrap walked in. She had long dark black hair and piercing red eyes. Hinata almost immediately recognized her and prayed that they would be placed under her.

"Cell Eight?"

The Hyuuga girl barely held in a squeak of joy as she quickly walked down the steps and stood next to her teacher, and former escort, with a small smile in place. Shino stood as well and made his way casually down the steps, followed by Naruto. The blonde seemed to be as sluggish as Shikamaru was.

As soon as all three were at her side, the woman motioned for them to follow and led them out of the room. Naruto looked back before leaving and shot the remaining team a grin as he walked out, sticking his hand out in a wave through the door. When he heard something hit near the doorframe, he knew that he'd succeeded in his goal: get Kiba annoyed.

-------------

Naruto stared around the small clearing that they'd been led to in suspicion. The only time he'd been lead anywhere this remote was when he was training with Ryuu.

Their instructor seemed to notice this and smiled. While Naruto may have been slow in many ways, he was also incredibly sharp in others. His natural instincts were extremely well tuned.

When she paused and turned around, Naruto seemed to look at her warily. She smiled at him, nodding her head.

"Yes, Naruto. We're here for a reason. And yes, we will be doing something rather…physical."

Naruto seemed to accept the answer and lost his wary look, but she could still see he was visibly tense. Good.

"Before we start, I am Yuuhi Kurenai. I will be your jounin instructor. You will be training regularly, as well as complete missions assigned to you by Hokage-sama."

The three nodded in understanding.

"Good. Let's introduce ourselves then shall we? Let's start with your name, likes, dislikes and your dreams."

She motioned for Shino to go first. The stoic boy shifted slightly, as if to make sure everyone was in eyesight.

"Aburame Shino. I have no likes or dislikes. My ambition is to become a respectable shinobi to serve Konoha."

Kurenai nodded, motioning for Naruto to go next.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen and training with Ryuu. I dislike the three minute wait it takes for cup ramen to cook and Sasuke. My dream is the same as Shino's. If I have to, I'll become Hokage in order to achieve the respect I deserve!"

All three stared at him slightly, before Kurenai smiled and Hinata blushed slightly. He certainly was an interesting boy…

Kurenai motioned for the sole female in the group to go. Hinata blushed slightly, feeling the attentions of three people directly completely at her.

"M-my name is Hyuuga H-hinata. I like…" she trailed off and glanced at Naruto shyly before continuing, "to relax and read. I dislike t-those that are mean t-to others for n-no reason. My dream is t-to become strong enough in m-my father's eyes, so t-that I may become a proper l-leader."

Kurenai nodded and looked at all three, "Now that we have the introductions out of the way, we can begin."

Naruto shot her a confused look, "Begin? Begin what?"

Kurenai let a coy smile slip across her features and noticed that the three visibly shuddered.

"Why, your genin exam of course."

Naruto's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped slightly. After he recovered, he looked beyond irritated.

"WHAT?"

"Sensei? Um…didn't w-we already pass t-the exam?"

Kurenai shook her head, "No, you passed the graduation exam, which was a test to see if you were ready to become genin. This test is the actual test to see if you are fit to become a genin."

Naruto crossed his arms and glared at the black haired woman in front of him.

"But I should warn all of you. Do not take this lightly. Out of this years graduating class, only three teams that were created today will pass as genin. This exam has a failure rate of sixty-six percent. It is needed so that we may weed out any of those that are not ready for the life of a ninja just yet."

"So…we have to pass another stupid test just to see if we're ready?"

"Yes, you must pass another test, Naruto. But I can assure you, it is nowhere near stupid. It is for your own protection that we test your capabilities and judge whether you are ready or not."

Naruto snorted, "Whatever…"

"Are there any other questions?"

"What will this exam consist of?"

Kurenai smiled, "Excellent question, Shino. The exam will consist of being able to capture me. I will be using all my knowledge of genjutsu to continually throw all of you off. Each of you must at least graze a part of my clothing for it to be considered a pass. If you can at least achieve that, I will concede that you may have been able to capture me, given an extended period of time."

Naruto was staring at her with something akin to shock written on his face, while Hinata and Shino nodded.

"Begin!"

And suddenly, she was gone. There was no sound of her leaving; there was no flash of light or signal of any kind to signal she used a technique. She was just…gone.

Naruto whipped his head around to try to catch a glimpse of his teacher, but could find nothing. He stared at Hinata and Shino as they began to go through a series of clan specific techniques.

Hinata was running through hand seals quickly, while Shino was beginning to summon what Kikaichu he would need for this test. After a few moments, small clounds enveloped Shino's hands and veins were bulging by the sides of Hinata's eyes.

"Byakugan!"

Naruto seemed to take the hint from them and closed his eyes, concentrating to the point where he could feel his surroundings. It had taken a long time to achieve his improved sense of touch, but it had paid off tremendously.

When he opened his eyes, Naruto could see things more clearly. He could smell everything around the area, including his teammates. He could hear anything within an area of 20 meters of where they were. And he could feel anything out of place that moved.

His blue eyes had slits where pupils once were, in addition to deeper markings and slightly wilder hair. He looked back at his two new teammates and they seemed to nod.

This was going to be interesting…

----------------

The three stood in front of their sensei with smirks on their faces. It had proved to be quite an interesting test after all.

What surprised Kurenai the most was that the three seemed to work in perfect conjunction with each other almost from the start.

Hinata was the eyes for the group, as she was able to see the flow of chakra and where it was gathered. No genjutsu could hide from the eyes of the Hyuuga; the possessors of the famed Byakugan.

Shino was the group's scout, in a way. He had the ability to control Kikaichu, an ability belonging solely to the Aburame clan. His insects, like Hinata's eyes, could seek out chakra, as they fed off of it. Kurenai had to be careful around him.

Naruto…Naruto was everything else. He was the team's ears and nose. His increased hearing and sense of smell were extremely potent. But what was most helpful was to his ability to create more allies using his recently acquired skill; Kage Bunshin. After all, certain genjutsu could only cover so many senses. And she wasn't using anything high class or advanced.

The dark haired instructor had been surprised to learn that Shino had already used their time to introduce themselves as an opportunity to place a few female bugs on her. He said that the females gave off an extremely weak, yet unique, odor that would attract anything else to it. What surprised the black haired boy was that, apparently, Naruto could smell it as well.

The three had almost never given her a break, constantly keeping on the offensive. Naruto had been the first to score a hit, as he was more speed based than the other two. Next was Hinata, who was skilled in taijutsu. Lastly was Shino, barely nicking the lower part of her clothing.

Naruto had actually grazed her, which in her eyes was quite an accomplishment. The other two had barely managed to catch or tug at her clothing.

The exercise had lasted nowhere as long as she had predicted. Ending in a mere hour and a half.

It was after they had succeeded in the test that she told them their role as a team. They were more specifically tuned towards information gathering, spying and relaying information to each other as well as anyone else who may need it.

Her reasoning behind her choices was solid. She'd seen how Naruto had abilities on par with Kiba and was teetering between the two of them. The choice was made, however, when Naruto stole the Forbidden Scroll and learned a kinjutsu in one night. His Kage Bunshin was an extremely useful tool in being able to scout around and gather information…for various reasons.

The other two choices were fairly obvious. Shino could gauge the situation from far away, due to his clan's abilities. Same with Hinata. Shino was able to communicate with his Kikaichu, making him an extremely beneficial, as well as conservative, part of a scouting team.

Lastly, Hinata had the ability of the 'All Seeing Eye.' Her Byakugan was able to see over large distances, as well as through certain materials. Not to mention, she could see in all directions at once.

Once congratulating her newly formed and acquired team, she sent them home. She told them to meet back at the area they were currently at, Training Area 14, tomorrow morning. She would then begin to teach them various techniques and begin to train them properly.

All three had nodded, slowly heading off in different directions. Although, Hinata soon ended up following Naruto all the way to Ichiraku for lunch.

The dark haired kunoichi smiled. She had two boys and a girl on her team, but it was already apparent that the girl was completely smitten with one of the boys. She didn't know if that would be good or bad for the team.

Things would prove to be quite interesting after all…

A/N: Ok…seriously. Picking Shino to go with Hinata and Naruto was my own personal preference. I have not read any fictions in which Naruto is placed in any other team aside from Cell Seven. These ideas are solely my own, from my own personal standpoint.

I wanted to add in a little Konohamaru action. But I can guarantee that Naruto and the kid will never get as close as they had in the manga. At least, not for a long time. I kinda liked the idea of Naruto's photo being a cross between the Time Skip Shino and Ryuu. It was a rather entertaining image in my mind.

Anyway, classes have started up again, I'm still addicted to WoW and I'm still doing many, many things. No idea when the next update will come.