"Now I'm sure you know why you've been called here. It's time to form your genin team. But I decided to change things up." Sarutobi stated. "I want everyone of you to choose any number of genin you want or are willing to form a team with. After you inform me of your reason, I'll be the deciding factor. Write the names on the form and present it to me and we'll go from there."
The jonin proceed, even though they were still confused, Asuma chooses Shikamaru, Choji, Ino and Shino. Sarutobi understood he wanted to form the new generation Ino-Shika-Cho but he was confused why he wanted Shino. When he looked at Kurenai's list he smiled. Hinata, Kiba and Shino weren't really a surprise but the next two were, Ino and Naruto. But he was quite disappointed in Kakashi's list. It consisted of Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba. "Asuma, let's start with you. I understand the first three but why Shino?"
"Well pops, if by some chance I couldn't form the Ino-Shika-Cho, Shino would be good as back up. Choji, Shikamaru and Ino are a capture and trap team. Shino bugs would be able to absorb chakra or immobilize them as well, he's also almost as smart as a Nara and cool as a cucumber. He would be easy to strategize with." Asuma answered.
Hiruzen nodded and accepted the answer. He then turned to the one eye jonin with the orange book. "Kakashi, I understand you want to train the Uchiha, but why Kiba and Naruto-kun?" He asked, expecting a half-ass reason. He knew about his dedication to train Sasuke and hopefully Naruto being Minato's son would be the reason he wanted to train him.
"Because out of everyone in the academy, Naruto and Kiba had a rivalry with Sasuke. They would be able to push each other to their limits. I was hoping to form a bond between Sasuke and the boys, of course with him being a Uchiha, Naruto and Kina would have to work harder to catch up to the boy." Kakashi answered, not taking his eyes from the book.
Sarutobi shook his head in disapproval, he didn't care which one he got, as long as they made Sasuke stronger. If he put Naruto on the team with Sasuke, considering how strong he was, Sasuke will go into a rage considering Sasuke hasn't bested Naruto in anything since the academy. He knew about the boy's jealousy and lust for power. He turned to Kurenai. "Kurenai-san, why did you want Ino or Naruto-kun on your team, if you didn't have one or two of the other ones?"
"Because of the bond they share with Hinata, I look at her like my daughter and want to improve her. As I watched them from a distance I noticed how the two improved because of Naruto-kun motivation. And since I'm a master of genjutsu, I can help Ino learn some genjutsu with her clan techniques so that way she doesn't have to worry about missing her jutsu. Naruto-kun is a different matter, while I do want him to help Hinata if I didn't get Kiba or Shino, Naruto chakra levels are high and I can provide the necessary chakra control techniques. And also." she looked down in embarrassment, causing the other three to look at her confusingly. "I admit, even though Naruto-kun can't learn genjutsu at the moment, he would be very helpful to the team since he can learn limitless amount of ninjutsu and i was hoping I can combine some genjutsu with his fuinjutsu, if he's learning it. Also I can learn ninjutsu from him. And lastly, even though he has a high level of chakra, I still want to try and teach him genjutsu and with his dense chakra he might be able to take it to another level, he would be able to protect his teammates in any situation if he can learn from any field. I admire him as well, he's willing to help those in need, he's very respectful and his drive to train harder is very inspiring. So to make a long answer short, we would be able to help each other."
The Sandaime nodded. He had to admit, he was surprised Kurenai wanted Ino, a former fangirl and Naruto. He was disappointed in Kakashi's answer for Naruto but Kurenai gave a genuine reason and he was impressed with the new jonin. He knew how strong Naruto really were, and because of him learning fuinjutsu thanks to his kage bunshin, he could help Kurenai. After all, he brought Anko up to Kakashi level, and he believed Kurenai had the same potential. Asuma's reason for Shino was good but he found it disappointing that none of them asked for Sakura but considering her obsession with the Uchiha, she could only blame herself. He made his decision.
Next day at the academy.
Naruto was sitting in class excited for the team announcement, thanks to Anko training and Kuruma he was the top student in his class. He had to admit the genin test was easy, he appreciated that Iruka-sensei allowed him to use a different variant of the bunshin technique. He also bonded with Ino-chan and Hinata-chan. Ino had approved a bit during the past 5 years, even though she had a world wide crush on him, she started training seriously. First was her diet, she first refused but when Anko told her she will have a flat chest if she didn't change it, it worked wonders. After that, Naruto put some resistance and suppressor seals on her but she wasn't up to his level. He gave her some daggers made out of chakra metal and a kenjutsu book. Anko also helped develop some poison with some of the flowers from her shop and taught her some stealth techniques. Naruto helped her increase her reserves a bit from high genin to high chunin.
Hinata was also training with them. Thanks to Anko, her confidence grew but she developed a hate for perverts. When they were training, Naruto and Anko noticed she couldn't stay in a stationary position. Anko incorporated some of the snake style into clan techniques and in Naruto opinion, it evolved it for Hinata. Hinata was able to maneuver around their attacks while striking their coils. Naruto, with the help of tenten, also trained her how to use the bo staff, with her byakugan and 360 degrees fighting style, he thought it would be the perfect weapon since she could attack and defend at the same style and she would have to worry about killing anyone. She also learned about herbs through ino and decided to make medicine. Naruto didn't inform about the CRA yet but he decided to wait until they became comfortable with being a genin first.
"Now class before I announce the team, I wanted to say congratulations to all of you. You made me proud. Also I wanted to congratulate and announce the rookie of the year and the Kunoichi of the year. Rookie of the year goes to Naruto Uzumaki and Kunoichi of the year goes to Sakura Haruno." the class besides the Uchiha, Inuzuka and Haruno cheered for Naruto, while said three grunted.
"Now time for the team announcements, team 1(skip to team 7) Team 7 will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno," some of the fangirls groaned.
"YES I'M ON SASUKE-KUN TEAM, LOVE PREVAILS." Sakura yelled.
"Maybe you keep it down, it's not lady like to yell. You could learn a thing or two from Hinata-chan and Ino-chan." Naruto commented causing the two to blush. Sakura was about to retort until she was cut off.
"Enough you two, anyway the last member of team 7 is Kiba Inuzuka, your instructor will be Kakashi Hatake." Kiba slammed his head on the desk for being stuck with the harpy and the emo. Even Naruto pitied him. "Team 8 will be Naruto Uzumaki," Hinata and Ino along with some of the fangirls, tense at this. 'Let me be on Naru-kun team for the love of kami.' 'I hope I'm on Naruto-kun team.' Ino and Hinata thought. "Ino Yamanaka,"
"YES!" Ino yelled before jumping across the table and latching on to Naruto and kissed him on the cheek, making the male blonde blush.
"And Hinata Hyuga. Your instructor will be Kurenai Yuhi" THUMP! The whole class turned towards the noise and noticed Hinata's chair was empty. Naruto looked down and chuckled. Hinata was passed out on the floor. He picked the girl and sat her on his lap until she woke up. Iruka chuckled at the poor girl. "Team 9 is still on rotation, so Team 10 will be Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Shino Aburame. Your instructor will be Asuma Sarutobi. Everyone can go outside and take a break before meeting back in the classroom. Meet back here in a hour, Dismiss."
The class went outside, Naruto was walking side by side with ino and Hinata who woke up to being on Naruto's and almost passed out. "So what's the plan Naruto-kun, want to go get something to eat?"
"Sure but first let's stop by the weapon shop and pick up Ten-chan. Also since we are genin now, I thought an outfit change was in order." Ino grabbed his arm and pulled him towards their destination.
"Oh, we are going to have so much fun, can you let me pick out some outfits for you as well." Ino may have started taking her life as a kunoichi seriously but she was not going to pass up dressing up with her crush. Hinata grabbed his other arm and dragged him along side of Ino.
1 hour later
After the shopping trip, Naruto and his new teammates returned to the academy and waited for their instructor. Naruto was wearing a black muscle shirt with orange lines going down the sleeve, with the swirl on the back and wearing black cargo pants with orange lines going down the side. He had a ninjato on his back and a pouch on his waist. Even though Ino and Hinata were there when he changed, they couldn't help but drool over his appearance. Sakura was blushing up a storm but she was fighting it down. "Team 8?" The group turned towards the and noticed a beautiful raven-haired woman walking in. Ino, Naruto and Hinata stood up. "Meet me at training ground 8 and don't be late." kurenai said before disappearing in a shushin
Naruto smiled and looked at the girls. "Well you heard the lady, let's go." "Hai Naruto-kun" the three lept out the window and proceeded to the destination. "Hey girls let's release some of our seals to get there faster." the girls nodded and focused their chakra dispersing the seal and zoomed forward jumping on the roof of buildings in their path.
Kurenai landed down on the ground at the training ground and sat on a training post. She smiled at the student that was chosen on her team. She was about to go in more on her thoughts when she heard a sound behind her. She turned around and her students were there, right after she arrived. She had to admit, she was impressed already. "Well, I'm surprised that you were able to get here as fast as you did. Now let's start off with introductions, things like your likes, dislikes, and dreams."
"Ladies first." Naruto said while bowing before the three, causing the girls to giggle.
"Wow, we have a gentleman on our team, well if you don't mind." Kurnai began causing the blonde to smile. "My name is Kurenai Yuhi, jonin of team 8. I like my friends Anko, Hana and Yugao, I like to study different genjutsu and read books, especially my favorite one, the soulless princess. I dislike perverts, fangirls, rapists and arrogant people. My dream is to become a master of genjutsu and help you three become strong. Who wants to go next?"
"
I don't mind, my name is Ino Yamanaka. I like gardening, training, sushi, the soulless princess book and hanging out with Hinata and Naru-kun. I dislike womanisers, perverts, fangirls and guys who underestimate kunoichis. My dream is to become a great kunoichi and marry Naru-kun." Ino finished, winking at the male blonde causing him to blush. Hinata glared at her friend/rival. Kurenai chuckled at the girl's straight forwardness.
"My name is Hinata Hyuga, heiress to the Hyuga. I like cinnamon buns, pressing flowers and being with my friends Ino-san and Naruto-kun. I dislike the cage-bird seals, Kumo, and." she unconsciously activated her byakugan, startling their sensei. "Anyone who picks on Naruto-kun. My dream is to get rid of the cage-bird seal and become a strong heiress. Also to have a family with.." she looked at Naruto a bit, then passed out. Ino chuckled a bit. Kurenai turned to Naruto, giving him the go ahead, while Ino woke Hinata up.
"Greetings, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, training, gardening, learning fuinjutsu, and hanging out with Anko-chan, Ten-chan, Ino-chan and Hinata-chan. I dislike the 3 minutes it takes to make ramen, people who can't tell the difference between a kunai and a scroll, and arrogant people. My dream is to surpass all the hokages and become the strongest hokage, that way I can protect all my precious people. And build a village with no hate." Kurenai, Ino and Hinata looked at the blonde in awe. Kurenai was impressed with her team, they had side goals along with a major one, showing their human side. She was feeling the pressure she promised herself that she would turn these three into strong shinobi.
"Well with introductions over, team 8 is formed. Originally I was going to give you a test of teamwork, but seeing how you three are close, that won't be necessary. I would still like to test you on your strengths and weaknesses. So I want you three to try and beat me in a spar three on one. Don't hold back."
"Kit, you better hold back or you might cripple her." Kuruma warned. Naruto nodded, he wanted to go all out but he didn't want to hurt her. He wanted to keep his skills a secret but it would be wrong of him to not inform his sensei of his skills and could build trust issues. The three genin jumped back into the trees, while Kurenai vanished in a shushin.
"Hinata-chan, you've been around Kurenai-sensei for a while. How would you rate her skills?"
"Well she tries to hide it, but she's high jonin level at genjutsu, her taijutsu is mid-chunin and so is ninjutsu. Her chakra reserves are of low jonin so she doesn't rely a lot on ninjutsu. If we can get close to her, I believe Naruto-kun and I could take her." Hinata answered.
"Ok, I think I have a way to take her down." Naruto said as he began to explain his plan.
Kurenai was sitting in a tree, scanning for her students and quietly waiting. As she was scouting, her senses kicked into high gear. She leapt off the branch barely dodging some shurikens. She landed on another branch, looked around at the direction the shurikens came from but didn't see anyone. 'Where are they?'
Then out of nowhere, Hinata leapt onto the same branch in front of her. "Found you sensei." Hinata said, activating her byakugan and getting into a juken position. She charged towards her sensei trying to strike her pressure points. Kurenai jumped into the opening as Hinata chased after continuing the onslaught. While Kurenai backed, Naruto jumped out with a kunai in hand and charged towards the sensei. Kurenai wanted to cast her genjutsu but with Hinata here, it most likely wouldn't work. Her best option would be to take out Hinata last.
Kurenai charged towards Hinata, surprising the Hyuga, kicking her in the chest, sending her backwards, then charged Naruto halfway. Naruto slashed down a Kurenai, while Kurenai defended with her own kunai. Kurenai knocked the weapon out of the blonde's hand. Kurena went through a couple hand signs. Naruto was soon transferred into a forest and was sinking . He looked down and realized he was in a swamp.
Kurenai watched Naruto and was confused. From what she knew he was supposed to be immune to b-rank genjutsus. Maybe she overestimated him. While she was distracted, Ino jumped out of some bushes and closed in on Kurenai. "Hinata, break the genjutsu!" Ino ordered as she delivered a roundhouse kick towards the jonin.
Kurenai turned to Ino and blocked the kick, but to her surprise she was sent flying across the field. 'What's going on? Ino should have never been able to hit that hard. How did she get this strong?' she recollected herself and turned around and saw Naruto charged at her again. She tried to punch him but he grabbed her wrist and smiled. He then spit out some senbon out his mouth which landed on Kurenai's neck and chest.. Kurenai then kicked Naruto away and he poofed into Ino.
"Good job Ino-chan." Ino said, which confused the jonin. Soon the other Ino poofed onto smoke, and Naruto was there smiling. Kurenai's eyes widened, that's why Naruto couldn't escape the genjutsu and why Ino was strong. She then noticed her vision was getting blurry.
"W-what did you do?"
"I put a sleeping drug in your system." Ino answered. "You see, Naruto-kun had us henge into each other to have you drop your guard. Even though, me getting trapped wasn't part of the plan. The idea was for me to get close to you. We knew you would target Hinata last so you made it easy. And you'll probably be asleep for 3 hours." Ino explained.
"And now it's over." Kurenai turned around at the voice and saw Hinata in a familiar stance. "8 Trigrams-32 Palms!" Hinata began to strike Kurenai chakra points at blinding speed. Kurenai slumped to the ground, while half of her coils were closed. Naruto then extended his arm and shot out a chakra chain and wrapped Kurenai in them.
"Well, I got to say I'm impressed." Kurenai said, slowly drifting away. "I speak to you when I wake up." Then she blacked out. Naruto and the girls looked at each other and chuckled.
"How about we join her for the nap? after all, it's been a long day." Naruto offered. The girls looked at each other and shrugged. Naruto picked up Kurenai bridal style, and led them toward a trunk and laid Kurenai's head on his lap while the girls each took a shoulder and slowly drifted off. The girls felt a warm sensation as the cuddle, Kurenai even snuggled in Naruto's lap with a smile on her face.
Three hours later, Kurenai was stirring in her sleep. She felt comfortable and warm for some reason. When she opened her eyes, she noticed her head was in someone's lap. She turned her head and saw Naruto and the girls sleeping. She started to blush when she felt his thighs, it made it worse when she noticed his chest and arms, plus the way sunlight reflected off his golden hair. She had to admit she had a handsome student. "Ah, you finally awake." Kurenai turned to the source and saw Anko. smiling at her, while holding a photo. "I took the liberty of taking your team picture."
Kurenai took the photo and blushed for a moment. "Anko, who gave you permission to do this. Although, it's a nice photo. Hmmm, you know what, this will be our team photo. It's natural and shows our human side."
"Glad you like it, but I witnessed the test. Why did you go easy on them?"
"I just wanted to get a grasp on their teamwork, but I didn't expect them to come at me at full power."
"Full power? Nai-chan, they were holding back, especially Naruto-kun." Anko replied.
"What do you mean?" 'Naruto-kun?' Kurenai asked.
"I can answer that Kurenai-sensei, I was about to tell you anyway." the two turned to Naruto waking up, rubbing his eyes. Naruto looked at his shoulders and blushed a bit. "Ino-chan, Hinata-chan. Time to wake up."
Hinata and Ino woke up groggy and turned to Anko. "hey Anko-sensei." Ino greet.
Kurenai cocked one eyebrow. "Anko-sensei?" Naruto nodded and began how Anko helped him and the girls train throughout the years after she saved him from the villagers, surprising Hinata and Ino. he didn't tell them about Kuruma yet or the CRA but he and Anko gave her the well around about his skills. Kurenai felt disappointed, she started to feel that he didn't need her at all.
"That's not true. In fact you are probably the only one who could help me."
Kurenai looked at Naruto in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I know a lot of ninjutsu and have a few taijutsu styles, but I still don't have close to perfect chakra control to perform genjutsu. So I was hoping we can somehow come up with an alternative way to perform it and you can show me some advanced chakra control exercise. You are the best genjutsu user in the village, so I need you."
Kurenai felt touch, and pride. She became a genjutsu mistress because she loved it but also because no one usually focuses on it and just ignores it for battle power. Now to hear someone like Naruto, who has the chakra reserves of a kage, and probably can become a great shinobi without, interested in learning the field. She couldn't turn him down. "Kurenai-sensei, could you teach me as well? It would help if I can immobilize my opponents and make it easier to use my clan jutsu on them."
Kurenai smiled in pride. "Sure after all, that's what I am here for. I'll be happy to help."
Anko smiled at her former students and turned to Kurenai. "I have a suggestion. Nai-chain, I think you should increase your reserves and learn some other form of jutsus. Sure genjutsu are good, but it will only get you so far. I don't want you to fight someone who can break it and risk your life."
Kurenai wanted to deny it but she was right. If she fought someone like Kakashi or a Hyuga, she would be helpless. And she is pretty sure, she would have to use a higher level genjutsu on Naruto himself. "Sure, it could help in the long one. As long as you know someone with the affinity to earth and wind besides Asuma, wouldn't want to give a 'I owe you'.
Anko smiled. "Don't worry, in fact I know someone who has five affinities."
Kurenai gave Anko a questionable look. Anko turned her gaze towards someone behind her, which Kurenai followed and it was on Naruto. "N-Naruto-kun, you have all five affinities?"
Naruto was rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, it was hard training with them but luckily kage bunshin made it easier." Kurenai's jaw dropped. Her blonde student had so much potential. She knew he wanted to be hokage, but now she was 100% sure it was possible.
"I see.., ok I will help you with learning genjutsu as a sensei. But if you wouldn't mind..?"
"Sure Kurenai-sensei, I'll help you with increasing your chakra." Naruto cut her off.
Kurenai smiled and got an evil Idea. "thanks Naruto-kun, and when you help me, who knows, I might help call you sensei." she whispered the last part in his ears, causing him to blush and the other three girls to narrow their eyes. 'I'm going to have fun with him.'
"Great, since we passed the test, how about we go out to eat to celebrate? Where do you want to go?" Naruto offered.
The four kunoichi looked at each and smiled. "Ichiraku's ramen." the all said, and dragged Naruto towards their destination.