The whole village was gathered around the Hokage mountain, everyone was wearing formal clothing as it was a special occasion
The naming of the new Hokage, the fifth Hokage: Itachi Uchiha
Most didn't see this coming as Itachi is an Anbu and his accomplishments are not well known to the civilian population but they knew of him when he was a child prodigy and most of the ninja world fears Itachi of the Sharingan
Itachi obviously wasn't the first choice, they asked Jiraiya and Tsunade first but they quickly declined, and then it fell towards ninja like Kakashi and Danzo but ultimately, they wanted to embrace the youth and chose Itachi Uchiha also making him the first Uchiha Hokage
Approximately a week later
Hokage Office
"Well it was a unanimous decision and we wanted to form the soaring leaves as an official team for the hidden leaf village" Itachi said to the genin in front of him
"Team?" questioned Sakura
"Yes, every village has a team or group that gives the village notoriety like the mists seven swordsmen" Itachi explained "And the village leaders thought it was time now as you 9 already have a reputation in the ninja world"
"Whats this teams purpose? is it just for fame?" Shino asked
"You are to be my personal unit once you have developed more, if the Anbu handles things for me in the dark, you will handle things for me in the light, as well as be a team that will more than likely deal with things that maybe to difficult for regular shinobi but don't require the stealth and assassination skill set that the Anbu do" Itachi said
"Its like choosing to kill someone with a fireball jutsu or with a sword, they both kill but their approach are vastly different" Sasuke said
"Thats a good way of looking at it as someone with Naruto's or Kiba's skill could be useful in Anbu, it probably doesn't fit their approach to being a shinobi
"Why us? And why not include other ninja like Kakashi-sensei or Team guy?" Hinata asked
"Well you might not know this but you nine are already in the bingo book so it's easy to group you all together regardless if we did this or not, but it was important to us to keep the group young and not just our top ninja like Kakashi and Guy, and team Guy has some potential to join this group but with the overlap of the Byakugan with Neji and the special condition of Rock Lee we felt to not have them apart of this.. For now," Itachi said
"What do you mean for now? So, you plan to expand this group later" Shikamaru asked
"Well this group covers most of the villages clans, with the Uchiha and Hyuga to Nara and Inuzuka" Itachi said "Only ones not in this group are the Senju, Sarutobi and Shimura"
"So, we also help represent the hidden leaf village" Kiba said
"What about me and Sakura?" Naruto asked "We're just civilians"
"Sakura represents the average civilians that can be great like Kakashi and Jiraiya, and you Naruto may not have it official you are adopted by Tsunade making you a Senju and being half Uzumaki can help support that bloodline" Itachi said
"Leaving Sarutobi and Shimura" Ino commented
"Yes, and as more and more ninja come and grow stronger you have the option to pass your role over to someone else like how the mist swordsmen pass their swords" Itachi said "Which leads me to next issue of business promotions"
6 flak jackets were laid on the desk "In my opinion you all deserve to be chunin after what you all displayed but the voters didn't get the majority approval of three of you" Itachi said "So Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Namikaze, Kiba Inuzuka, Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga you are now chunin of the hidden leaf"
He specifically passed out the jackets to each genin now chunin, then Shikamaru noticed something "Why is there a red leaf with a number and symbol on the chest area of the left side of the jacket"
"We decided it would be easy to classify you all as numbers and the leaf helps represent your role in the village as the new team and obviously the symbol is your clan, So Sasuke's 1, Naruto's 2, Kiba's 3, Shikamaru you are 4, Shino is 5 and Hinata is 6, Sakura, Choji and Ino will be 7, 8, and 9 but won't have the vests until they pass their next exams" Itachi explained
"Cool but why am I number 2? I'm better than Sasuke" Naruto said
"You wish" Sasuke said
"If you must know it's just the order of who we promoted which was random as well" Itachi said "10 and 11 will be for the Sarutobi and Shimura who ultimately joins you in the future and possibly more if you really want other ninjas such as Lee, Neji, and Tenten to join your team"
"Who's in charge?" Kiba asked
"Well the chunin and jonin will always be in charge over the genin but the leader is up to you all" Itachi said "You also don't need a leader"
"Well if we need a leader I vote Naruto!" Ino said as she put her hand up with Hinata quickly after
"Guys…" Naruto said trying to stop them
"Yeah you did well instructing us during the invasion" Choji said as he put his hand up with Shino, and Shikamaru putting their hands up
"I'll surpass you soon enough! But for now, you're best to lead" Kiba said putting his hand up
"I still don't like how you treat some situations but for now you are most suited" Sakura put her hand up
"No, I'm not voting this idiot the leader we are all better off just being equals" Sasuke said
"Well you all can sort that out yourselves you are all dismissed" Itachi said amused by the 12-13-year old's
"Um excuse me may I ask why I wasn't promoted?" Ino asked Itachi
"Me as well" Sakura said with Choji nodding along
"Very well, as I said I would have promoted you if it was only my decision but your critiques were understandable" Itachi said as he pulled out the three files "Choji has the strength and technique but his assertiveness and lack of leadership isn't what the village needs it to be at this time"
"I-I can see that" Choji said a little upset after hearing his critique but was mature enough to not let it be visible
"Sakura also has strength and it seems you have some qualities of leadership but according to reports you constantly have been at odds with your teammates especially Mr. Inuzuka here and you've been noted to questions orders constantly from others such as Naruto during the invasion" Itachi said "A chunin is a leader to genin but is a follower to superior chunin, jonin and me the Hokage myself so basically you can't always be right and be more open-minded"
"Wow" Sakura said taking those words to heart
"Ino you were to closest one only being one vote away from promotion but even though you have shown good enough skills in combat although as shinobi with a lot of support jutsu it was hard to scale and you've shown sufficient leadership, however you still show a dependency on your teammates Naruto and Shikamaru, which is fine as you see they are worthy of being chunin but that dependency is holding you back from that final vote" Itachi finished
"Can I hear Naruto's and Shikamaru's" Ino said curious to hear her teammates reports
"I may as well read them all" Itachi said as he grabbed the remaining files "Team Guy were all promoted as well and they had the skills to be promoted last year but this previous year gave them the mental fortitude for promotion"
"Makes sense they never really lost their cool during that whole invasion" Naruto commented
"Naruto Namikaze, has a deadly arsenal and shows great teamwork and is knowledgeable enough to give commands however he is a little cocky but he's still a kid and has room to grow" Itachi said
"Hey I'm almost 13!" Naruto said as a few people laughed as he was one of the younger members based on months as only Hinata is younger than him
"Shikamaru Nara, intelligence beyond his years, and combat is sufficient enough to be chunin, needs more resolve" Itachi continued "Hinata Hyuga, combat is excellent even among the Hyuga clan, and is knowledgeable to be promoted does need to take charge more"
"Seems like I barely made it" Hinata commented
"Well honestly outside Naruto and Sasuke you all barely made it" the fifth Hokage admitted "Kiba: needs more maturity but is a good leader and excellent combat, Shino: intelligent but needs more assertiveness in leadership, and Sasuke: excellent combat expertise, needs more experience in the ninja world"
"So it seems if we have the leadership we don't have the combat skills and vice versa" Shikamaru deduced
"And if your advantage in one isn't sufficient enough to balance the other then you weren't promoted" Shino added
"Plus if you're good enough you might not be mentally ready" Hinata said
"In a much more basic terms yes, chunin is the rank where you begin to become more specialized in an area to be more of an asset to the village so if you aren't balanced now then you shouldn't start specializing until you're ready" Itachi said "Now enjoy your time off we all need it"
The nine rookies proceeded to leave the office as Itachi returned to his paperwork