Three years passed by in a blink of an eye. Itsu graduated from academy with above average marks. He did so to satisfy his parents. If his score was poor, they might not sign the form required for graduation.

Today was the day three person teams would be selected. Itsu vaguely remembered the members of team 7, 8 and 10 and he didn't know anything about other teams.

I should've watched the Naruto series thoroughly. Sigh, I used to make fun of Otakus. Maybe this is karma, Itsu was depressed. He didn't know if he would be able to pass the genin test. He was confident about his own ability but except for the clan kids, he didn't know about the civilian children.

Did any team other than the main cast passed? The more he thought about it, the more depressed he became. He was really regretting not watching Naruto.

Suddenly, the door slide opened. A blonde boy in orange clothes entered. There was a surprise gasp among the student in the classroom.

"Naruto, didn't you fail your exam?" asked Shikamaru with genuine curiousity.

Without saying anything, Naruto showed his headband, flashing his signature grin.

"I passed, dattebayo," he shouted. But some were still unconvinced, among them was Sakura, a pink haired girl in a red dress with flower printed on it.

But before she could retort, another person entered the room. He was of average height, he had distinct scar that ran across his nose parallel to his eyes. It was Umino Iruka, their teacher. Itsu preferred the term 'sensei' more than 'teacher'. It felt more generic.

"Everyone, go back to your seats," Iruka-sensei said with a commanding tone.

"Now then, I will be declaring which person would be on which team and name of their jonin sensei," Iruka paused as he surveyed the eager faces of the graduates.

"Team 1

Takamaru Kantaro

Horikiri Koyo

Sugimoto Masazumi

Your jonin sensei will be Umeji Tokimasa.

Team 2

Takahara Kazushi

Sawaya Yoshitora

Wakata Okura

Your jonin sensei will be Yamamoto Kioshi.

...

Team 6

Hiroto Hayato

Hanamura Toshikasu

Ogura Kiyonob

Team 7

Sasuke Uchiha..."

Itsu looked at Sasuke sympathetically. He didn't know if he could remain sane after seeing his own family being slaughtered by his own brother.

"... Sakura Harun–" Iruka was cut off by a female cry.

"Yes, Take that Ino-pig," the pink haired girl cried with excitement. A girl with long yellow haired stood up from her seat and she glared at the pink-haired girl.

"Forehead, sensei didn't even declare the third name," the yellow haired girl retorted. If not for the black haired boy with a blue shirt sitting between them, the girls would've started fighting.

"You two, sit down," they both returned to their seat, still glaring daggers at each other.

"The third member of team 7 is Naruto Uzumaki," Iruka declared.

"Aww sensei, why am I on the same team as that loser," Naruto grumbled out loud.

"Shut up, Naruto-baka," the pink haired girl said angrily.

"Be quite both of you," he paused and said, "Team 7 jonin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake,"

Itsu was getting anxious, his name still hadn't come up.

"Team 8

Hinata Hyùga

Shino Aburame

Itsu Taisuke..."

"What!" Itsu couldn't control his voice as he cried out loud. He was totally caught off guard.

Everybody turned toward Itsu. They were surprised by his sudden outburst, it was totally unlike him. As much as they knew, Itsu was a quite and polite who rarely interacts with others except for Shikamaru and Choji.

Seeing that everyone was staring at him including Iruka-sensei, Itsu composed himself, "Sorry sensei, I was just surprised," Itsu bowed and apologised.

"No problem, sit down," Iruka said sofly. Itsu had left a favourable impression on the teacher. Although he was not a genius, he was very polite and mature. There wasn't a single complaint against him during the Academy years.

"Team 8 jōnin sensei wilp be Kurenai Yuhi," Iruka paused a bit and then continued

"Lastly, Team 10

Ino Yamanaka

Choji Akimichi

Shikamaru Nara..."

"Your jonin sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi,"

Shikamaru raised a brow hearing the last name. He could guess their jonin sensei must be related to the third Hokage, they had the same family name.

After announcing all the names, Iruka was about to leave the classroom when Itsu asked, "Sensei what about Kiba? Didn't he graduate with us?"

"Something happened to Akamaru, Kiba's ninken," Iruka answered.

Itsu frowned. It was unexpected. In the last 4 years, he was so careful not to disrupt the canon timeline, but in the end his mere presence had altered a significant part of the plot.

Does that mean my foreknowledge is useless? No, the other main teams were pretty much the same I remember, and also as far as I can tell Naruto had beat Mizuki, that means not everything I know is useless. But– His thoughts came to a halt as a fair skinned woman entered the classroom. She had long untamed hair with a pair of unique red eyes. It was unnerving to look at them.

"Team 8 lets go," She said skipping the pleasantaries for later. Itsu nodded.

"See you later," Itsu stood up and said to Shikamaru who was sitting beside him.

Shikamaru nodded.

Itsu caught up with Shino and Hinata who were already with their new sensei.

"I am Kurenai Yuhi, as you all know, I am your new sensei. I specialises in Genjutsu. I am interested in psychology. I like gardening. I don't like people who looks down on women because of gender." Kurenai gave a short introduction. In front of her was standing Hinata with Shino at her left and Itsu at her right. Seeing that Shino was silent and Hinata was hesitating, Itsu decided to introduce himself.

"I am Itsu Taisuke. I live with my parents. I like spicy foods and also like dishes with eggs in them. I don't like hypocrites. I'd like to be a famous Shinobi in the future," Itsu said politely. He looked at Kurenai sensei. Her expression didn't change.

She probably wanted Kiba on the team. She wanted to form a reconnaissance team after all. But what happened to Kiba and Akamaru? Itsu sighed as he became a little depressed. No matter how hard he had tried to avoid but his mere presence changed a significant part of the timeline. He had replaced Kiba Inuzuka from Team 8. He didn't know how large of a change it would bring to the future. He would have to 'up' his training a lot.

"I-I am H-Hinata Hyuga. I like Cinnamon roll. I-I want to become stronger and..." she took a deep breathe, continued, "...I want to be acknowledged by my father and a c-certain someone."

When she mentioned 'certain someone', her face was red.

She and her infatuation with Naruto. Itsu shook his head lightly.

Kurenai-sensei gave a knowing smile. She was probably aware of it.

"I am Shino Aburame. I like to study insects. I don't like people who kills insects for no apparent reasons. My dream is to catalogue lots of new species of insects and breed them." Shino said without much emotions.

"Okay, now that the introductions are over. Its time for your real test," Kurenai said.

Itsu smiled slightly. He already knew.

"A-ano, sensei, didn't we already passed?" Hinata asked nervously.

"Although, you graduated from the academy its not adequate to determine whether a student have what it takes to be a shinobi. You have to pass my test to become a fully fledged shinobi," Kurenai sensei replied.

"Team 8's main purpose will be tracking and scouting. So I intend to test you in your tracking skill. You just have to find me before dusk. You time starts now." Saying that Kurenai-sensei vanished in a puff of smoke.

Typical Shadow clone jutsu. Man! Wish I could learn it. Itsu shook his head. Hinata was a bit surprised and Shino was standing motionless.

"Okay, since we are teammates, it would be better if we stick together. You see, our sensei is a Jonin which means she is very skilled. If she really wants to hide from us, it would be very easy for her to do so. After all, we recently graduated. That doesn't mean she will go easy on us, or that would destroy the very essence of the test, so our best chance would be sticking together and formulate a plan," explained Itsu. Seeing that both Hinata and Shino nodded, he was relieved.

"Okay then, as this is test it is logical to think that either sensei herself or her shadow clones must be pretty close so that she can observe and evaluate us," Itsu added.

"Hyuga-san, use your byakugan and see if you can find sensei," Itsu said looking toward Hinata.

She nodded as she took a deep breathe.

"Byakugan!" she gave a little shout as veins bulged around her white eyes. She then surveyed our surroundings.

It's really scary! Itsu thought but shook his head and started thinking about how to find sensei as quickly as possible.

Seeing that Hinata's byakugan bore no result. Itsu turned toward Shino. Shino gave a slight nod.

Shino was already prepared to use his insects to search for Kurenai-sensei. He stretched his hands and a swarm of insects flew out of his sleeve.

Creepy! Itsu was bug eyed seeing numerous insects crawling out of Shino's jacket.

Composing himself, Itsu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then concentrated on his chakra. It had become a second nature to him. When you constantly mould your chakra for six years, it's bound to become instinctual.

As Shino's insect was very sensitive to chakra, he suddenly turned his attention toward Itsu. A very faint and subtle chakra pulse was being emitted out of Itsu's body.

Suddenly he opened his eyes and looked toward the huge tree to his left. He narrowed his eyes. He was sure he felt a strange fluctuations of chakra from the tree.

Sensei must be hiding there. But Hinata's byakugan couldn't see anything. How's that possible? Is it Illusion– ah yes, Genjutsu! His face lit up with excitement.

"Aburame-san, swarm the tree with insects," he then turned toward Hinata and said, "Hyuga-san, use your byakugan and see if you can find anything unusual about that tree."

Shino once again directed his insects toward the tree. Despite being confused, she did what Itsu instructed.

"Ano, Taisuke-san, that part of the tree is hollow and there's seem to be some sort of scroll hidden inside," said Hinata pointing toward the bark inclusion on the tree.

So, I was wrong. Sensei isn't there, but what about the strange fluctuation of chakra I felt, was it hallucination? No, it can't be, there is indeed something inside the tree hidden under some kind of illusion. Does that mean, chakra-echo location can detect illusions? Itsu mused in his thoughts.

"Aburame-san, try to retrieve the scroll using your insects," said Itsu.

"There might be trap, so be cautious," warned Itsu.

Fortunately there was no trap. Shino easily retrieved the scroll, but the scroll was blank. There was neither any writing nor anything sealed inside the scroll. But as Itsu was very familiar with chakra, he could detect a faint chakra from the scroll.

"Aburame-san, can your insect use the chakra infused in the scroll to locate Kurenai-sensei?" asked Itsu.

"I am not sure. The chakra in the scroll is too little," replied Shino.

"Can't hurt to try, right?" Itsu handed the scroll over to Shino.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" asked Itsu. After following Shino's insects for few minutes they reached a house. It was not very big but adequate for one person to live with comfort.

"Yes, according to my Kikaichus there's a person inside who have the same cgakra as on the scroll," replied Shino.

Itsu was about to ring the bell, a female voice came from behind. He turned around. Hinata and Shino were also surprised and turned around to see Kurenai-sensei standing behind them.

"Team 8 pass," said Kurenai-sensei with a pleasant smile.