Chapter 14 – Team Placement

Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto. I do not own Naruko either. I don't even own Julie.

A/N: I realised last chapter that I'm really bad at writing fighting scenes, I'm much more comfortable with dialogues. I'll do as best as I can, but Naruto's universe is really not the best if you're not good at writing action.

oOoOo

"What the hell is happening girl, I've never seen you so out of it, you were completely open to an attack." Anko asked, a bit worried at Yuri's unusual attitude.

"Oh, sorry... Right… It's just… I think…" Apparently, Yuri was still a bit at a loss for words, so it was Naruto who completed the sentence.

"She thinks that we just ruined Kakashi's life…"

oOoOo

"Ok. Stop! Time's up. You're going to have to explain that one to me."

"Do you mind if we go to a more secluded place to talk about that? I don't think right in front of the Hokage's tower is the best." Yuri asked, finally starting to get over whatever happened to her.

"Oh right, let's go to one of the training grounds."

It didn't take them long to reach an empty one, and once there, Anko sat on the floor, with an inquisitive look on her face, while Yuri and Naruto were checking the surrounding for any eavesdropper. Satisfied they could find none, they both sat in front of Anko, and Yuri started her tale.

"So, you know it was the graduation exam today, right?"

"Yeah, that's even the first question I asked you, how it went, but you were so out of it that you didn't even hear me."

"Right… Sorry… Well, it went well for me, I got first spot, I think. But not so well for Naruto who was sabotaged by Mizuki." Yuri continued.

"You know that even if you got Top marks, you'll still be only 'Kunoichi of the year' while the first boy will be 'Rookie of the year' anyway?" Anko asked, a little smirk on her face.

"What? That means I'm considered only the best of the girls, while he's considered the best overall, even if I did beat him? But that's totally unfair!" the betrayed look on her face was nearly as telling as what she was saying.

"That's the ninja world for you. That's why we work hard to prove our worth."

"Bah, anyway, it's just a label after all. Being 'rookie' or 'kunoichi of the year' will not protect me on the field, my actions will. I'll just be the best I can, and that's all… But it's still unfair."

"You got that right. So, Naruto was sabotaged by Mizuki you said? Why do you have an Hitai-ate then?" She asked to the boy.

"Well, since it was a mission, I don't know what we are at liberty to say. The Hokage didn't say we couldn't say anything, but he didn't say we could talk about it, either." Naruto answered.

"Anyway, let's just say that in the end, Naruto ended up proving his worth in the Hokage's office, for more details you'll have to ask the Hokage. Or Ibiki, since he'll probably have a new guest tonight. After that, the Hokage gave him his Hitai-ate, and asked us if we wanted to talk about something else. Probably wanting to get rid of us so he could read his book."

Naruto took the next part "And you remember how we had an 'IOU' from the Hokage, right, for not telling us outright why we were hated?" after seeing her nod, he continued "Well, Yuri decided to use this 'IOU'. Several days ago, Yuri and I were talking about the team placement, we were making suppositions and previsions about the teams, and we really didn't like were this was going."

In truth, Yuri just used her knowledge of her previous life, since team eight and ten did make sense, as an already certified trio and as a team of trackers. Team seven were more or less the leftovers, so the probability the things would end up the same were quite high.

"We imagined that the famous Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi trio would start again, since it's field tested, and the three clans are quite close." Yuri explained "then they would probably make a team of trackers, with Shino and his bugs, Hinata and her eyes, and Kiba and his nose. And what would be left would be Sasuke, Sakura, and me. And as you can guess, I was really not enjoying the prospect. Especially since the only teacher that can teach Sasuke would be Kakashi and his Sharingan."

Anko actually winced at that. Even her would be a better teacher than the unmotivated chronically late Jonin.

"Yeah, you can imagine our despair. So as an 'IOU', we asked him to hear about our suggestions. Not to agree, but to at least listen, it's not like we can order the Hokage around." Naruto enchained.

"And he actually agreed… We don't even know how we managed to pull that off, we just kept pulling farfetched justifications out of nowhere, and it kinda made sense in the end."

"Well, if you want me to understand, you'll have to be more specific." Anko interrupted

"Oh, right, sorry. So to start with, we advised that the Ino, Shikamaru, Choji would not work as well as their parents, because Ino wasn't as close as the others, and that there was not a lot of trust between them. And we added that a tracker like Kiba would be of great use in this group, so he could smell and locate people, then Shikamaru could paralyze them, and both Kiba and Choji could then pound on the helpless enemies. Plus, with his 'alpha' mentality, Kiba would be better far from any female until he matures a bit. He's on the way, but he's not there yet." Yuri explained.

"Actually, yes, this team make a lot of sense." Remarked Anko.

"The Hokage thought so too. After that, we explained that if Ino was going in the same team as Hinata and Shino, they would lack firepower. Shino is really strong, but his main weakness is fire. If this team was pitted against an enemy that was specialized in fire, the team would be toasted, pardon the pun. Shino's bug would be useless, Hinata's taijutsu too, and Ino… Well, Ino is just Ino. Until she wakes up, she's just a little advanced version of Sakura. But if we were to join. Well, Ninjutsu is probably going to be our main weapon in the future, with the amount of chakra we have. And we are trackers too, so we work well into the team." Naruto replied

"That, and also the fact that you really didn't want to be with Sasuke and Sakura. Wait a minute… What? You mean that…" Anko just lost her words at the thought and Naruto and Yuri could only nod.

"We managed to convince the Hokage that Kakashi's team should have Sasuke, Sakura and Ino."

For a few moments, no sound could be heard on the training ground, then, suddenly, Anko's howls of laughter came to break the silence.

"You are so evil. I love it, I swear, I'll invite you to Ichiraku as a reward."

For all the way up to Ichiraku's Ramen, you could hear Anko giggling like a school girl in a totally uncharacteristic way.

oOoOo

The following day, after lunch, Yuri was cleaning her table when she heard a knock on the door. She made a clone to continue the cleaning-up, while she went to the door to open it. After all, what was the point of doing clones if you couldn't pick and choose your chores?

As expected, it was Hinata, so she welcomed her inside and went to bang on the wall shared by her and Naruto's apartment, signalling him to come.

"Sit down Hinata, he shouldn't be long, I'm going to make some tea while waiting." She said, disappearing in the Kitchen.

It took Naruto less than a minute to enter the apartment and spot Hinata on the couch.

"Hey Hinata! How are you doing today? Yuri's not here?"

"Hello Naruto. She's in the Kitchen, making tea. And I'm fine thank you. I see that you finally got your forehead protector, so I guess that Mizuki-sensei bite more than he could chew at the end."

"Oh, yeah. But we really didn't do anything, we just warned the Hokage and he took care of things. The Hitai-ate was because I proved him that I would have been able to graduate if not sabotaged."

"Even though, I'm really glad, you worked for it, so you deserve it." Hinata answered with a smile.

"Thanks!" Naruto beamed. "So, what are you coming to do here? I thought that you would be celebrating with cinnamon rolls today."

"Well, I wanted to say goodbye to you. I know that you won't really disappear, that you were Naruko from the start, but still, I shared some good memories with Naruto as an individual, not as a clone of Naruko, and I'll keep those memories for ever. So, it's a bit sad to say good bye despite the circumstances."

"I understand. I could lie and say I wish it to be different, but I'm a clone, and the only wish I have is to serve my purpose, I don't have any will to live. Imagine how useless a clone would be if he was afraid to do what was needed? If they were running away from fights of fear for their lives? If they refused to dispel for not wanting to disappear? It would be the worst technique ever. I really enjoyed our time, but I'm really happy I'll be useful up to the end. And you'll still remember me, that's more than any clone ever had."

"About the memories, I think I changed my mind." Interjected Yuri while putting three mugs of tea on the table. "The original plan was to cancel Naruto in a way where I wouldn't get his memories back."

She didn't really want to say 'the original plan was to kill Naruto' in front of Hinata.

She then continued. "From the start, I thought he would be taught only wrong and damaging skills at the academy. But your presence changed a lot of that, Hinata. Just by being near him, you 'shielded' him from the worst, and his education has been normal. The only thing he has learned that is different from me is the 'boys' taijutsu. And one, I'm not all that great in taijutsu; two, it may come in handy if I need to henge as a boy later on. But to be fair, the main reason is that I found it unfair if you were the only one to remember your time together, you shared a lot of things, conversations, secrets, good moments… So if you want, I'll dispel it in a way so I'll be able to keep all those memories with me. It's your choice, Hinata"

"You would do that for me?"

"Well, of course. We are friends, and we will probably be even better friends when I have those memories. But some of those things, you shared them with 'Naruto' before knowing he was also 'me', so it depends if you want this Naruto to disappear as an individual, or for him to merge with me so that I'll share your memories and experiences."

"I already lost my mother, and I don't want to lose anybody else if I can help it. And I would really hate in the future if I was to say 'Hey, you remember when we were at the academy and we did that?' and you would look at me with a blank look, because you wouldn't remember. So if you can, yes, I really want you to keep those memories."

"Okay then. Naruto, you know what you have to do. The time has come!"

"Yes, boss!" Naruto shouted with an exaggerated salute. He then went to hug Hinata to tell her goodbye, either not noticing or caring that the girl was nearly redder than Yuri's hair. "Goodbye Hinata! And don't worry, I'll be combined with Yuri soon, so I won't disappear!"

"Good bye Naruto, I'll still miss you."

Naruto then beamed at her and ran out of the flat. Hinata was getting ready to follow him when Yuri interrupted her.

"You shouldn't follow him. Please come with me instead."

Yuri then proceeded to go in her room and lay down on her bed, gesturing Hinata to sit down if she wanted.

"Why aren't we following him? And why are we in your room?" Hinata asked, still a bit red from the unexpected hug.

"For the second question, I'll soon receive four years' worth of memories in one go, and I don't really know how I will endure it. So, I want to be on the safe side if I pass out. And for the first question, you know that Naruto is a blood clone, right?"

"Hum, yeah, you told me so already."

"Then, you know that when a mud-clone disappear, he does that in a pile of mud; when a bug-clone does, it's in a pile of bugs. Trust me, you don't want to see your best friend disappearing in a splash of blood."

Hinata couldn't supress a shiver at the thought, it really wasn't something she wanted to see, so she just sat on the side of the bed, making small talk with Yuri who was waiting for the memory to kick in.

Less than fifteen minutes later, in the middle of a sentence, Yuri's eyes widened and then just fainted.

Despite knowing that it could happen, Hinata was still a bit worried and decided that if she hadn't woken up in half an hour, she would go to the Hokage to ask what to do.

While waiting, she was amazed when she realized that, despite fainting, Yuri's Henge didn't even falter, that was a testimony on how hard the girl worked on being someone else, to avoid unjustified hatred.

Around ten minutes later, Yuri awoke with a groan.

"Ouch. Four years of memories is no joke. Remind me to never do that again."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah, and seeing yourself from another point of view for four years is not really fun either."

"Oh, true. I didn't think about that. Feeling better now?"

"Yes, I think, can you help me stand up? I'll go sit at the table and drink another tea."

"Sure"

Hinata helped Yuri to stand up, she was a little bit weak, but was still able to walk without too much help. She supported her up to a chair, and then went into the kitchen to make the tea.

"You know" Yuri started, loud enough for Hinata to hear from the kitchen "I'm really happy I kept those memories. Some of the things we shared were pretty fun. Oh, and I stand my point, Ramens are still superior than Cinnamon Rolls."

She could hear a mumbled "No, they are not." from the kitchen.

When Hinata came back with the tea, Yuri could see that the lavender eyed girl was fidgeting a bit on her chair, apparently wanting to say something.

"Yes?"

"You know, I was wondering, I mean, I still don't know what you look like under your Henge."

"You don't? Oh, right, we didn't show you when we explained that. Sorry, I didn't really realise."

She then cancelled her Henge to show her true appearance to Hinata. The latter noticed that, only the hair was really different, that, and an obvious detail that intrigued her.

"Hum… Why do you have your Hitai-ate over your eyes?"

"You know how I can feel all around me, right? When I can 'see' at the same time, it's harder to concentrate on what I feel, I concentrate naturally more on what my eyes can see, and their range of perception is way smaller than my whiskers. The only thing my eyes can add are colours, and, unless I'm reading, it's pretty useless."

"That's... strange, no?"

"Imagine if your nose was interfering with your Byakugan, that each time you were smelling an odour, you couldn't concentrate fully on your vision, wouldn't you spend most of your time covering your nostrils?"

"Okay, you do have a point. I definitely would. I'm just so used to 'see', knowing that it's our clan's signature, that I couldn't imagine living without."

"Oh, if my eyes were the same as the Byakugan, I probably wouldn't cover them; but they aren't, they are way more limited. Also, I don't spend all my time with my eyes covered. Each time I'm reading, or working my Fuinjutsu, and other times, just enjoying a scenery, like a nice sunset, that's the kind of things I can only see with my eyes, not my whiskers."

Both girls spent the rest of the evening speaking about everything and nothing, until it was time for Hinata to go back home for her clan training.

oOoOo

For the following week, Yuri did her normal routine, but otherwise took things relatively slow. She mostly enjoyed her last few days of being 'Yuri', since she would become the scorn of the villagers again.

Friday, she brought her pictures to the Hokage for her ninja card. She guessed he probably only needed one as Naruko, but to be on the safe side, she also brought him one as Naruto and one as Yuri. While in the office, she confirmed that she would have to come as both Yuri and a shadow cloned Naruto for the team assignment. Since she didn't know the exact time Konohamaru was supposed to barge in the office, she decided to just not care and let fate play its role, and ended up not meeting him.

It the end, it was probably for the best, since at his age, he wouldn't be able to build the same kind of friend-rival relationship with a 'Naruko' than he would with a 'Naruto'.

Then finally, Sunday came to an end, and she went to bed, ready for the start of her new life the following day.

oOoOo

The Monday, she woke up as 'Naruko', and put on the outfit she planned for her Genin days. She had, as usual her Hitai-ate over the eyes, a sleeveless opened jacket that was a bit longer on the back, dark grey with a yellow trim. Under that, she had a simple form fitting dark tank top. She also wore fitting dark grey shorts that were covering up to mid-thighs, and finally she had high-boots, with the usual opened toes. When she was reading the manga, she always wondered 'Why the hell the weird shoes?' but now that she was in the world, she understood that it was in case they needed to catch or throw a Kunai with their feet, it would be otherwise hard to do with closed boots. She also had a pouch on her right thigh with her kunai, and one on her back, hidden by the jacket, with a scroll where most of her supplies were sealed into.

She made a clone to look at herself, since she couldn't use mirror a with her eyes covered. She then dispelled it to get its memories, and was pretty happy with her appearance. She was pretty tall for her age, one hundred and fifty eight centimetres. She was clearly not developed yet, but started to have a bit of curves, definitely more curves than she had at the same age in her previous life. To be honest, she nearly had as many curves than she had once adult, but she preferred not to think too much about that.

Satisfied with her 'Naruko' look, she henged into 'Yuri' with the same black and red dress that she usually wore, then created a 'Naruto' clone with his usual orange jump-suit.

It was probably the last time that she would have to play a role, tonight, she'll be Naruko in the open.

oOoOo

The classroom was filled with noises when she entered. Nearly everybody was speculating on who they would be teamed with. Yuri quickly spotted Hinata, sitting alone at a desk, and went to sit next to her. She was followed five minutes later by Naruto who was smiling brightly and then joined them at the same desk. Hinata looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Shadow clone" she whispered, "I'll keep him until the team meeting."

Hinata just nodded and started speaking with Naruto, while Yuri observed around. Most of the clans' heir were here, the only two missing were…

"I WON, INO-PIG!"

'And here they are… So, I was wrong, the first kiss episode was supposed to be today, not during the graduation exam… Well, it will clearly not happen anyway.'

Both Ino and Sakura were, again, fighting to sit with 'Sasuke-kun' when there were, again, two seats next to him. She decided she didn't care anymore, but really hoped that the Hokage had been able to form the teams as she suggested, because she really didn't want to be with Sakura and Sasuke. If she was in team seven, she wondered if she should fail the bell test to do another year in the academy. It would probably be the next best thing. She also noticed that nobody was asking why Naruto was here, but at the same time, most knew that he was competent enough.

Finally, after a while, Iruka entered alone, drawing the attention of everybody, and a long awaited silence.

"Okay class. I want to start by telling you that I am really proud of you for becoming Genin, that your life really begins today, and that I expect for all of you to become even stronger and accomplish great things."

"Sensei? Why is Naruko-baka here?"

Or maybe Yuri was wrong, and there would be a banshee asking why Naruto was here.

"Naruto has been retested by the Hokage himself, that's one of the reasons why Mizuki is not here. And Sakura, instead of insulting him, you should worry about your own skills, Naruto scored higher than you overall."

This answer did something incredible, it made Sakura shut-up. Yuri was almost ready to start a religion worshipping Iruka-sensei at this point.

"Okay class" Iruka continued "I'm going to announce the teams now. Then you will have a lunch break, I would advise you to eat with your team during that time, and at two o'clock, you should come back here to meet your sensei."

Team one and two were constituted of civilians, apparently team three was still in circulation.

"Maybe it is Kabuto's team, they are still genin after all" Yuri thought.

Team four, five and six were also civilians. And then… Yuri crossed her fingers as much as she could, and she could see that Naruto was doing the same.

"Team seven, under Kakashi Hatake. Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke..." The scream of joy produced by the pink haired girl was absolutely deafening, Yuri seriously wondered how the girl still had vocal cords in working order.

"Haha! That is love Ino-pig! Too bad for you!"

"SILENCE!" Iruka's roar was nearly as loud as her scream, but at least, it was justified. "SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!"

Seeing that his shout did the trick, he looked at the list to start reading it again, then closed his eyes, sighed and continued "Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Yamanaka Ino".

The combined wailing of Sakura and screaming of Ino was horrible, but the betrayed look of Sasuke's face was absolutely priceless, even if Yuri had to admit, she was feeling a tiny bit guilty toward him. Nobody really deserved that, and she wondered if it would encourage him to run away sooner than expected. Nobody would really blame him, that was a better justification for going missing-nin than vengeance.

"Ha! You were right, Forehead! That is love!"

"I was called first! So, I'm first in his heart!"

"Only because it's by alphabetical order!"

At this point, Iruka had no choice than to do his patented Big-Head Jutsu, shouting at them while threatening them that he would make them redo a year if they opened their mouths again during the next hour.

Once the silence was back, Iruka continued.

"Team eight, under Yuhi Kurenai. Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, Nakajima Yuri and Uzumaki Naruto. Apparently all will be explained during the meeting."

Sasuke couldn't resist to throw a jab at his proclaimed 'rival' "Ha, you're so weak that you need to be four in your team!"

Yuri just looked at him and said "You have no idea what you're talking about, second best."

"Hey! I was Rookie of the year!"

"Only because you have something between the legs, however small that is. I still bested you in every exams. Anyway, have fun in your team, Sasuke-chan"

Iruka intervened more calmly, since the volume was way lower this time. "Stop it, both of you! And Sasuke, Yuri's right. You are Rookie of the year, but she still had an overall score higher than you, and even Hinata scored exactly the same as you. Maybe even higher since she defeated Mizuki in Taijutsu, while you just made him exit the ring. So don't throw insults when you don't know what is happening."

Iruka had to admit, it was feeling pretty good to bring down the arrogant boy a bit. He was always acting like if he was God's given gift to earth, even towards the teachers and it was pissing him off quite a bit.

"Anyway, I continue. Team nine, still in circulation, so team ten, under Sarutobi Asuma. Akimichi Choji, Inuzuka Kiba and Nara Shikamaru. Here you are, so, you can all get to eat something, and come back here at two o'clock."

Apparently, Ino and Sakura didn't know if Iruka's threat was still in effect, so they didn't dare to ask Sasuke to join them for lunch, and just went out in silence.

oOoOo

At a quarter to two, Kurenai was walking toward the academy, a puzzled look on her face. She had been promoted to Jonin two years ago, and was now finally able to train a team of Genin. She had asked for Shino, Hinata, and Kiba, but the Hokage argued that it would be an overspecialized team, and that Yuri would takes Kiba's place. All in all, she was satisfied by this choice, Yuri didn't have the nose of the Inuzuka, but she had way better grades than him overall, so Kurenai probably ended up with the better deal. And then, despite Kakashi clearly asking for the Uzumaki boy, the Hokage also put him on her team, saying that everything will be explained during the team meeting.

Kakashi argued, but the Hokage simply told him to shut up, and that the only way he could have Naruto, was if he was promising to be on time for everything and to train them seriously, up until the day all of his team members were made Jonin.

After that, Kakashi didn't say anything else, visibly pouting under his mask, and she had to admit, she wouldn't be able to blame him for being late at his team meetings seeing who he was ending with.

She really couldn't understand why she had to have the Uzumaki boy. When she looked at his grades, he failed every written test, his throwing and his taijutsu. Given the Kyubi, she wasn't that surprised for the Genjutsu and the Bunshin, but still, he would drag the rest of the team down. The only bright side was that Hinata was friendly with both him and Yuri, so at least, they wouldn't have any teamwork issue.

Finally, she arrived in front of the classroom door at the same time than most of the other Jonin, and they all entered together, not one of them wanting to wait for Kakashi.

She could see that her four Genins were together, all talking animatedly. Well, three talking, and Shino listening, but still visibly part of the group. That was a good start in her book. The orange jumpsuit, on the other hand…

"Team one, I'm Gekko Hayate, please follow me to training ground 21."

One after the other, the teams were called out, and obviously when it was team seven's turn, she decided to go instead.

"Team eight, I'm Yuhi Kurenai, please follow me, we're going to training ground 16."

She then went out, walking in the direction of the training ground, not checking if they were following. If they couldn't follow such simple instructions, it would be a real problem.

oOoOo

Kurenai was standing in front of her team, all of them were silently looking at her, visibly waiting for her to start. She was happy that Naruto was not as loud as she imagined him to be.

"Hello team. I already know Hinata quite a bit, and Yuri a little. I'm afraid I still don't know you, Shino or Naruto. So, to start things, I'm going to do a presentation, then it will be your turn. I'm Kurenai Yuhi, I'm a Jonin specialized in Genjutsu. I obviously like Genjutsu, and I want to be the best in that field. I also like gardening and reading."

After a little pause, she motioned to Shino to do the same.

"I'm Aburame Shino, I like bugs, I don't like people who hate bugs without trying to understand them. I want to be a good leader for my clan."

Knowing that Naruto and Yuri wanted to be last, Hinata spoke without being asked. "My name is Hyuga Hinata, I like Hanabi, Kurenai, Yuri and Naruto, and cinnamon rolls, that's way better than Ramen. Like Shino, I want to be a good leader for my clan, and find a way to get rid of the Caged Bird Seal."

Naruto was grinning at the ramen comment, while Yuri was muttering "Philistine".

Kurenai smiled at that and pointed at Naruto to continue.

Naruto jumped on his feet, his arm pointed to the sky, saying loudly. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto." then, he regained his composure, and with a totally stoic face, he added calmly. "And I don't exist."

Yuri enchained, without letting Kurenai the time to react. "I'm Nakajima Yuri, and I don't exist either."

Then both the Genins disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and Naruko was standing alone instead. "I'm Uzumaki Naruko, and I've been two persons for the last four years. I like Anko, Hinata, and Fuinjutsu, and one day, I'll become Hokage."

To say that Kurenai was surprised, was like saying that Sakura was a little bit loud, or that Jiraiya was a little perverted, it was a bit of an understatement.

"But… How? Why? I still remember when Anko found you."

"For the how, Clones and Henge, obviously. And for the why, well, you're a woman, you know how I was treated when I was Naruto, so you can understand why I couldn't be openly a girl. Now that I'm a genin, I can finally defend myself, and I'm getting rid of the mask. But don't worry, I didn't deceive Anko. She, Hinata and the Hokage were the only three who knew. Anko wanted to tell you, but sorry, we weren't close enough, and the best way to keep a secret is by not sharing it. I hope you won't blame me for it."

Kurenai was at a loss. She knew that deception was the best tool of a ninja, but being able to fool a whole village for four years was incredible. She wasn't really angry at not being in the known, since, as she said, they weren't really close, she was more amazed and surprised than anything.

Shino was surprised too. He knew that something was weird with the girl, she had way too much chakra for a normal civilian. But he could only feel the presence and the amount of chakra, he couldn't tell the difference between two individual's chakra, so he would never have suspected that the Loudmouthed average boy and the Composed talented girl were the same person.

"Well…" Kurenai started "And do you have an explanation for your eyes?"

"Oh, right, I'm using my whiskers to see. I can feel all the vibrations in a nine hundred meters radius, and use those vibrations either to 'hear' or as a mean of echolocation. I can also detect heat signatures in that range. And as I explained to Hinata, using my eyes distract me, I'm more efficient without them, that's why Shino, Hinata and I will work well together. We all have the same kind of range all around us. Shino and Hinata can both detect chakra, while I can't, but I can take the relay when Chakra is not concerned. And also, we are all more or less immune to Genjutsu. The Byakugan can see through them, Shino's bug can 'jolt' him on their own if he's under one, while I can't be put under one since I don't use my eyes."

Kurenai was ecstatic, it was even better than what she expected. She really would have to thank the Hokage, that was one of the best team she could have got in term of synergy. "Okay team. Normally we are supposed to have a test, it's a test to see if the team is able to work together. If they are not, they are sent back to the academy, but I seriously doubt that it will be a problem with all of you, so I'll just say: Congratulations, you are now officially team eight."

Her genin were smiling brightly at her. Well, at least two of them. The third was probably smiling too under his coat, who knew?

"Okay, so you can go back home now, we will officially meet here tomorrow morning at eight o'clock for our first training, and also because I want to test what you are able to do individually, then as a team."

After watching her team go, Kurenai went to do her report to the Hokage. Then she will have to find a certain Snake Mistress and make her pay for keeping this kind of secrets.