Author's note: I've come to the decision that there will be no pairings in this; none. What I was planning to do with this work of fiction was show how different I could make Naruto, as well as make him and the other characters a little more realistic and not so… one or two dimensional. There may be some minor romances, but as previously stated, they're not the driving force of my work.

(Update) Oops, I miss-numbered Kurenai's team; it should be "8", not "6"

Chapter 10: Konoha Rookies

- Training grounds 3 -

Rock Lee, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke had been teamed together under Hatake Kakashi yesterday, and though Kakashi was as late as usual, it didn't bother Lee at all; he'd gotten used to it. Instead, the young boy had his favorite ninja manga open and was calmly reading from it, knowing that his sensei would show up in due time.

Beside him, a boy with raven black hair and dressed in a blue shirt over a pair of white shorts, sighed as he gazed up into the sky. After a long pause, the girl that eagerly hung off of his every word sighed and nodded sadly, "I guess yesterday wasn't a mistake… this man seems to be chronically late…"

"…yeah." Sasuke murmured softly. Suddenly he lowered his gaze to the girl and grimaced, "But what I want to know is if this is part of the test. There are rumors of Hatake Kakashi's genin exam being the toughest off all, so maybe this is a psychological…"

Lee coughed, more to get attention than to clear his throat, and when he had it, he chuckled from behind his mask, "I think that he prioritizes training three children as being below his morning routine. It's as you've said; his test is very trying… maybe he assumes that we'll fail anyway, so he isn't very motivated to…"

"No way!" Sakura cried defiantly, "We've had more than enough survival training in the academy!" The girl with the pink hair looked right at Sasuke for his agreement. "Didn't you say that…?"

With a sharp nod, Lee grinned under his mask and chuckled, "My gut tells me that Kakashi-sensei will be here about…"

"Yo!" a man with silver-hair and a Konoha uniform called as he slowly wandered into the clearing. Kakashi was mildly surprised to see that his students weren't angry at his tardiness; instead they were watching him patiently, eagerly waiting the start of their exam. "Hi. Sorry, but I was stopped by a cute girl and…" the jounin began.

"That's unimportant, Kakashi." Sasuke cut in rudely, staring right into the jounin's single eye, "We're here for one reason, and it's not small talk. Because you're an hour late, we should get started as soon as we can."

"He's right. We're all ready for your exam." The masked boy claimed as he nodded and pocketed his book.

"Even girls have to be strong to survive, so I'm also ready, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura agreed firmly, grinning as she placed her hands on her hips. In her mind, a second voice seemed to scream 'Hell yeah!' as she gave a mental thumbs-up.

"…" Kakashi stared blankly at the children he'd been assigned to evaluate. He'd seen all of this before; in excess, even. But no matter how much confidence or bravado they had, they always ended up tied to logs watching him eat. And since he didn't want Maito Gai to 'punch him in the face, dattebayo!', Kakashi decided to cut to the chase and give his students the undefeated Bell Test…

- Later that day -

The Hokage and his assistants sat along the stretched table, looking out over the four ninjas present before them. Hatake Kakashi, Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai and a masked ANBU woman stood in varying stages of respect or boredom, depending on their personality.

Asuma nodded as he grinned at his father, "Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji passed much quicker than anticipated. Though I can't help but feel that Nara's lazy as hell, Akimichi could do with more confidence, and Yamanaka is too noisy for her own good; I'm sure that they could go far."

The Hokage chuckled softly as he exhaled his pipe smoke, and after a moment the old man nodded, "History seems to have a habit of repeating itself, does it not? Very well, these three are granted genin status. I'll have an appropriate D-rank mission for them tomorrow morning." An assistant hastily made a note on a document before returning his attention to the collection of jounin.

Kurenai smiled as she crossed her arms under her breasts, "Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata have all passed." Slowly, the brunette frowned and mentioned, "I'm so glad, too; Hinata would have been crushed if she had failed…" Kurenai let herself trail off, not even wishing to finish her thought.

Kakashi decided that this moment of silence would be the best time to announce, for the first time since he'd taken it, that the Bell Test had been completed. "Uchiha Sasuke, Rock Lee and Haruno Sakura have all passed as well. We'll show up tomorrow for our mission." As usual his speech was short and to the point.

"That's Hatake Kakashi for you!" the bearded man laughed softly. Asuma grinned as he elbowed his fellow jounin, "These kids finally managed to beat your version of the Bell Test, but you act as if you'd seen it coming a mile away. That Sharingan in your eye must have given you the power to see…"

"No, it's taken me by surprise as well…" Kakashi interrupted, ignoring the playful jabs, both physical and verbal. "But we're talking about the heir to the Uchiha clan and…"

"And Kakashi junior?" Asuma teased, evidently in a very good mood. When the one-eyed jounin stared back at him in silence, the Hokage's son laughed and continued, "I mean we've all seen how he follows you around and reads a book, just like Kakashi-san…"

"Asuma-san, I don't think you should poke fun at another teacher's students…" Iruka mentioned stiffly, too busy organizing the registration papers for the new genin to look up. "Every ninja has their own way to become strong, and if it helps this boy to emulate his teacher, then we should respect…"

Kakashi lowered his face and let out a chuckle of his own, "I'm actually somewhat flattered by Rock Lee's enthusiasm and determination to prove himself by seeing me as his ideal. That Uzumaki Naruto was in your class, Iruka-kohei; yet look at where he is now. He's incorporating practices from Maito Gai and Mizuki and has quickly gone from the bottom of his class to one of the strongest genin in his year."

Kurenai furrowed her brow as she gazed towards her ex-boyfriend, "How do you know so much about Uzumaki Naruto? I've never seen the two of you together…"

"We can have this discussion later." the ANBU kunoichi interrupted, her soft voice carrying a tone of annoyance. "More importantly," she began scathingly, "I have to report that my charge has passed his unique series of tests, and though the subject has…"

"Natsumi-san…" the Sandaime began softly, expelling a puff of smoke from his pipe. He'd been relaxing as he listened to the young ninjas tease each other, but the old man felt that the ANBU solder was putting the peaceful serenity of Konoha in jeopardy. He hoped that by speaking the woman's name, she'd realize her error.

While she did notice what the Hokage had tried to do, she stood rigidly and spoke officially, "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but I have regulations that I must abide by. Not only did the subject of my evaluation hesitate twice, but he has offered us a stolen scroll as a bribe to smooth the transition." In a fluid motion, the woman withdrew a small roll of paper and held it stiffly towards the Hokage.

"…I'll make sure that it's returned as soon as possible." the Sandaime Hokage sighed heavily as the chuunin beside him reached out and accepted the scroll. He knew that he'd never get the girl to loosen up, try as he might.

"I'm done here, so with your permission I'll take my leave, Hokage-sama." Natsumi stated militantly as she gave a salute. The old man nodded a grunt, and not a second later, the kunoichi exploded, leaving nothing in her wake.

"My, my… what was all that about?" Kurenai asked curiously, raising one of her trimmed eyebrows.

Asuma shook his head sadly, "That girl is Danzo's daughter, and she happens to share her father's views. In fact, Danzo has been trying hard to get the third to retire so that either he or his kin can take over as Hokage."

"No, I mean…" the woman began, but she was cut off.

"When it concerns you, you'll learn about it." Kakashi said cryptically, not looking up from the book he had pulled out. "Ignore the situation and concentrate on training your students for now, Kurenai-san. We have responsibilities now…" It was almost as if he were reminding himself rather than his fellow jounin.

"Speaking of which…" the Sandaime Hokage mentioned with a curling wisp of smoke, "We'll have your D-rank missions prepared in the morning. Now, take good care of these children, as they are our future.

In unison, the three jounin either saluted or nodded as they collectively cried, "Yes, sir."

- Training area 28 -

All day, Neji had been drilling his teammates hard in various scenarios and situations in hopes of getting as much experience as possible so that they could deal with anything that the chuunin exam could throw at them.

Now the three of them lay in a circle in the grass breathing heavily from the ordeal; they had just finished their cool-down exercises and simply crumpled to the ground where they stood. Naruto chuckled as he stared up into the sky.

"What are you giggling about, Whiskers?" Tenten teased playfully, giggling to herself.

"I don't giggle!" Naruto grumbled as he glared up at the heavens, "But I was just thinking about the chuunin… thing coming up. When we pass it and become middle level ninjas, then I'll be one step closer to becoming the Hokage!"

"Are you still pursuing that hopeless dream, Uzumaki?" Neji scoffed rudely. "People born with no talent cannot…"

"Oh, be quiet, Neji." Tenten scolded kindly, "That may be your view, but I think that Naruto-kun has just as much chance of becoming the Hokage as anyone!"

"I agree." Neji replied calmly. "The chances that any average ninja can become our leader are slim enough to be impossible. Only a handful of people have what it takes to take that position." Even while saying this, Neji couldn't help but remember the strange chakra that came off of his blonde teammate so long ago during that training. That horrifying chakra hadn't shown up since, but it still worried Neji…

"You'll see when I get there, Neji." Naruto replied finally. "Because if you look at it my way, then I do have talent." The branch house Hyuuga sat up and turned towards the blonde and demanded to know what he meant. So Naruto answered, "I grew up with no parents and no friends… everyone hated my guts and would stare at me with such cold eyes."

"So?"

"Shut up and listen!" Naruto growled as he in turn sat up and turned towards his teammate. He continued when he cooled down a bit, "Even though no one helped me, I managed to get into the academy; not only that but I graduated before everyone in my class and became a genin a year early. Now I'm even strong enough to hurt you, the genius of the Hyuuga clan."

Tenten nodded, "Even I can't hit Neji-kun, but Naruto-kun is getting better every day. I think Neji's being too critical…"

Without a word, Hyuuga Neji leaned back in the grass again, choosing to stare into the canopy of the trees instead of being goaded into a fight.

Putting the genius out of their minds, Naruto turned towards the kunoichi and asked, "Hey, hey, Tenten-chan? What was your dream again?"

Tenten grinned before answering, "I dreamt that I was swimming in a giant bowl of ramen, but before I could eat any, a giant version of…"

"Oh, real funny." Naruto laughed as he kicked at Tenten. "You know what I mean!"

The girl giggled as she blocked his kick with her hand, "I plan to be world renowned for my skill as a ninja, like the legendary kunoichi Tsunade-sama!" she reminded.

"Ah! Tenten can do it for sure!" Naruto cheered happily, "I'll help you get better, too!"

Suddenly there was a loud bang as a man dressed in green appeared facing away from the three relaxing children with his hands on his hips, screaming "Seishuun!" at the top of his lungs.

"Gai-sensei?" Naruto and Tenten asked in unison, causing Neji to sit up and glance towards their teacher.

"If you three can see my back, then that means I'm ahead of you and leaving you behind. You should get up and get ready, because Gai-sensei is here to beef your training up to the next level, yes!" the man exclaimed in excitement. He turned towards his students and grinned widely, "Watching Kakashi and his children has gotten me so pumped that I can't wait to begin! Come on, Naruto-kun, together we shall…"

Suddenly Neji interrupted, "I'm going to get lunch and go home. I'm done for today."

Tenten frowned as she watched Neji leave, and after a moment she glanced towards Gai and made a decision. "Actually, I'm done for today as well; girls aren't as sturdy as guys so I need a break." With that, she jogged up to Neji and began to follow him, leaving both boys in green spandex behind.

"Hmm, looks like it's just you and me, Naruto-kun." Gai mentioned thoughtfully as he rubbed his clean-shaven chin. "I guess this means that you get special individual training. What cool trick can I teach you?"

"Forget it." Naruto murmured, "You can't just show up after we're done and expect us to be happy, Gai-sensei." the boy grumped. "You have to learn some responsibility, so I'm going to get ramen and go home. I'll see you tomorrow, Gai-sensei." The blonde exploded, leaving nothing behind as he darted through the trees.

Gai watched as all three of his students left him, and he couldn't help but feel hurt and abandoned. He let out a mighty sigh when he realized that, "Those kids are too focused on the chuunin exam and are rapidly losing their youth and innocence. It's sad, but they won't need me for too much longer; they're outgrowing their wonderful teacher."

The warm breeze that had been cheerfully dancing through Konoha seemed to stop and grow chill. No one realized that it was because of Gai's sorrow.

- The next day -

Much to Gai's surprise, Naruto was back to his exuberant old self when he showed up for their morning training. Actually, he wasn't quite the same Naruto that he had been a month ago; Gai sensed the boy's growing maturity both physically and mentally. The boy was growing up too quickly; he almost seemed like a fifteen year old! 'Could it be the demon fox's influence? They say that animals grow much faster than humans. What can this mean for Naruto-kun?' the taijutsu specialist thought as his team went through their cool-down exercises after training.

"Hey, Gai-sensei!" Naruto called as he jogged up to his teacher to get his attention. The blonde grinned when the bushy-browed jounin looked down at him. "Weren't we going on a super-tough C-rank mission? I'm ready for it, dattebayo!"

"Yes!" Gai exclaimed powerfully, "To make up for yesterday, I'll take Naruto, Neji and Tenten on one of the toughest C-rank missions available. Get your ninja gear and meet me at the gates to Konoha; I'll get the mission now!" And with that, the spaz crouched and leapt into the trees.

- Mission chamber -

Gai stood in all of his tacky glory in front of a young teenaged woman who was struggling to find a suitable mission that the picky jounin wouldn't turn down. "Um… a bridge builder from the Wave country has sent a request to be escorted from his home back to Konoha. Tazuna-san… he's the bridge builder… he says that bandits might…"

"Pass!" Gai exclaimed mightily, "I asked for something dangerous; my students can handle the worst C-rank you have! I have my full confidence in them, dattebayo!" The man with the shiny bowl-cut grinned at himself, enjoying his game of trading key phrases with his favorite student.

"Um… ok…" the girl murmured, "The emperor of Fire claims that his wife's cat might have been catnapped by…"

"No!" Gai cried, "Those missions are too weak! Give me the scroll so that I can find something suitable for my amazing young students!" He didn't expect it to happen, but he didn't want to let Naruto down after promising something tough. He couldn't sacrifice his teacher-student bond!

"Che…" the chuunin scoffed as she tossed the scroll to the jounin. Sarcastically she simpered, "I've got an idea! You're a jounin, so you should have enough insight to choose the right mission. Just mark a little "X" beside your desired task and I'll handle the rest."

After catching the scroll, Gai grinned before diving over the missions, ignoring the other teams in the room. Beside him, team 8 and 10 were accepting their first D-rank mission.

Shikamaru sighed as he glanced towards his best friend, Chouji and muttered, "I'm glad we're on this team. Imagine how annoying it would be to have that guy as our teacher."

Chouji nodded at his friend, "Shikamaru is right. I'm fine with doing D-rank missions…"

Listening to a gut-feeling, Asuma-sensei, counted his students and whispered, "There weren't two of you when we came in were there? Where's Yamanaka Ino?"

Kurenai giggled as she tapped Asuma on the shoulder and pointed towards Gai, who was just looking up to meet the gaze of a blonde girl, causing the bearded man to groan in exasperation.

"Hey!" Ino cried when she had Gai's attention, "Is that the C-rank scroll?" And without waiting for his answer she energetically pointed at it and demanded, "Find us a good C-rank too; I can't wait to see the look on Sakura's face when she hears that we've already…"

"Hey! If their team gets a C-rank, ours does too!" Kiba proclaimed with a glare. "Hell, we'll take a B-rank, right Akamaru?"

"Forget them… find me a C-rank, even if it's the easiest one!" Ino demanded, causing Gai to glance towards Asuma, who had his face in his hand, ashamed at the way his student was acting in front of his father.

Finally Gai rolled up the scroll and handed it back to the chuunin before announcing, "I'll take the mission to Shien no sato. I'll be going now, seishuun!" Before Ino could yell at him, Gai simply blinked and instantly vanished, causing her to stare blankly at the empty space he had occupied moments ago.

- Later -

Six children and two adults stood at the gates leading out of Konoha, the kids eager and fidgeting, the jounin giving each other an odd look. It was unheard of for such fresh genin to go on a C-rank so early in their career; but Ino, Kiba and Akamaru had made such a racket that to prevent a migraine, the Hokage had no choice but to give them the simplest one available.

With two jounin escorting them, delivering a scroll to Suna wouldn't be too dangerous, would it?

"Ok, first thing's first." Ino announced matter-of-factly, "I'm the leader here, so we do as I say."

"Maybe for your team, but I'm the leader for team 8!" Kiba barked as he jerked his thumb at his chest. "Right, Akamaru?" The dog barked in agreement.

"Actually…" Shino, dressed in his trench coat and sunglasses, muttered deeply, "I think that I should take that position."

Chouji also had something to say, "Ino, wouldn't Shikamaru be better? He's smart and…"

"Do you want some of this, Akimichi?" Ino growled with eyes like white disks as she held her fist in his face.

"Forget it, Chouji…" Shikamaru sighed lazily. He was leaning against the gate with his hands in his pockets and a visage of boredom on his face. "It's too much of a bother to be the leader; just let her take the job. It'll be quieter that way anyway."

"Oh, you want to fight for the position, Shino?" Kiba could be heard roaring from a mile away.

"You'd lose against me, Inuzuka." Shino warned coolly, ignoring Hinata's claim that they should be friends and get along.

"There are many ways to skin a cat, Aburame!" Kiba growled, "This is the contest, then. The one who howls at the moon the best gets to be the captain!"

"…" Kurenai shared yet another look with Asuma, who seemed to be forcing himself not to laugh aloud. They hadn't ever imagined that taking on students would be quite like this; they had never been like that when they were kids! "It's only 8 isn't it? The moon won't be out for…"

"HOWL!" both Kiba and Akamaru let loose their best, and loudest, howl; it was so mighty that everyone in range was forced to clap their hands over their ears and pinch their eyes shut, the only exception being Shino. "Hah! Beat that!" the exuberant young boy demanded as he grinned like a wolf.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, DOG-BOY?" Ino shrieked, shooting spit into his face as she took Kiba by the collar and shook him violently. "You hurt my ears!"

"…so much for quieter, right Shikamaru?" Asuma chuckled as he playfully elbowed the young boy. The genius looked up at his teacher, but didn't respond, though his face told them all that he was beginning to wish that he had never become a ninja.

Shino seemed to be staring at his teammate, but it was difficult to tell through his sunglasses. He knew that he couldn't beat Kiba at howling, but he knew that didn't need to. "Kurenai-sensei, do you remember who was the quickest in completing your test?"

"I see where this is going." the jounin kunoichi mentioned, offering a small, sly smile. "Shino did in fact pass first, but I'm afraid that you can't have it your way; the vice-captain is up to me."

After pushing Ino off of him, the Inuzuka made a hand seal at his dog before getting his teacher's attention. "Come on, Kurenai-sensei!" Kiba pleaded, "Look at poor Akamaru…" The white dog was sitting at the woman's feet, whining and staring up at her with large puppy dog eyes. "He's sad that I'm not the leader. You don't want to make a puppy sad, do you?"

"Oh, that's too sad…" Hinata moaned, instantly feeling sorry for the poor puppy. "Maybe you should just let Kiba-kun be the vice-captain…"

"Who cares about a dumb dog?" Ino scoffed as she turned her back on the loud team that she was being forced to cooperate with; they weren't permitted to take the C-rank alone, so teams 8 and 10 had been merged for this one mission. "I aught to cook that thing and turn it into Korean BBQ…"

"Hey! That sounds great!" Chouji said, perking up at the mere mention of BBQ.

"Now, you three…" Asuma began, but he cut himself off to listen to Kurenai, who had made her decision.

"I'm sorry, but Akamaru-chan is just going to have to be sad; my vice-captain is going to be Hyuuga Hinata." the jounin announced, causing the shy girl to blush and go dumb.

"What!?" Kiba barked angrily, advancing on the woman with a snarl, "Do you believe this, Akamaru?" The dog barked menacingly, loudly displaying his feelings on the matter.

"Kurenai-sensei…" Shino said calmly, "I don't mean any disrespect, but Hinata hasn't displayed any leadership qualities.

"…he's right. I'm not cut out for something like that, Kurenai-sensei." the young girl murmured sadly."

Shikamaru yawned widely before lazily giving his own thoughts, "Actually, she's the only one that hasn't demanded a promotion; they say that an overeager prince rules over a doomed kingdom." Hinata couldn't help but apologize to her team at taking the position from them.

"Where the hell did you hear something like that?" Ino scoffed, "You need initiative and ambition to make it in the shinobi world!"

The lazy genius yawned before answering, "My father said it once. But as Kurenai-sensei stated, the choice is up to the jounin to choose their vice-captain."

Chouji frowned as he looked up at Asuma, "I still think it should be Shikamaru-kun, sensei. He's smart, kind and isn't that loud…"

Asuma nodded as he reached into his pocket and set a cigarette into his mouth and lit it, "You're right; Shikamaru is just as you say. But I don't think he's motivated enough to be second in command."

"Yes! It's me!" Ino cried happily as she threw her fist into the air and cheered.

"You're wrong." Asuma muttered as he let out a curl of tobacco smoke from the corner of his mouth. "I personally think that Akimichi Chouji is the fittest for the job. Congratulations, Chouji."

"Good job, Chouji, Hinata." Shikamaru congratulated listlessly, "Maybe we can get this mission over with now? Suna's five days away…"

"Suna's three days away, you moron!" Kiba barked severely, evidently upset at having been passed over.

The Young genius glanced up into the sky to watch the clouds float by as he gave his reason, "This is our first C-ranked mission, so we should take our time and do it right. Shouldn't we?"

Asuma shook his head as he took his cigarette out of his mouth and let out a cloud of smoke. "I'm sorry, Shikamaru, but Suna's expecting this scroll back as soon as possible. We're going at the normal pace."

"Man, this is too much…" the boy genius sighed in annoyance.

"Hell," Ino scoffed, "The sooner we finish this the sooner I can tell my dad about this injustice. He works in the Konoha Police Force you know!"

Kurenai couldn't help but wonder if she had been this bad when she was their age. She hoped not!

- ANBU Headquarters -

Natsumi strode up to a very strange man wearing a black tank top and dark-khaki pants; but the most prominent feature was his hitai-ate, the forehead protector. Rather than being attached to a fold of cloth and tied to his body, the man's Sand village plate was bolted right into his forehead. It would have to be replaced before he could go onto active duty.

The ANBU came to a stop in front of the Sand ninja, who had made a rigid salute as soon as she had entered the interrogation room. Natsumi nodded, but her expression couldn't be seen through her animal mask. "Tenshigo Takeshi, you've been accepted into the Konoha military at the rank of genin; you'll have to start from the bottom and work your way back up. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" the man cried intensely, remaining in his salute. "However, I'm confused that I haven't yet met with the Hokage."

"The ANBU work directly under the Fire Shadow, so you're meeting with him through me." Natsumi informed him strictly. "From now on I'm your captain. Tomorrow we'll begin with the regulatory D-rank mission for the betterment of Konoha; until then, you're free to do as you wish so long as you abide by our laws."

"Thank you, sir!" Takeshi exclaimed militantly, still standing in salute.

"Good. You're dismissed, soldier." And with a small wave, the woman signaled for him to follow her: she was going to lead him out.

- Preview -

A great man once said, "A ninja must look underneath the underneath…" So when Team Gai investigates the farming village of Tobacco Smoke, what clues do they spot that no others could see? Naruto and friends meet up with an old acquaintance, but it isn't necessarily a 'good' acquaintance…