Disclaimer

I do not own Naruto nor any of the characters in said story. If I did own them I would be like a mini-god. But I don't so I'm not. I do however own this story.

Chapter 3: The trials begin.

'Dammit,' thought Shikamaru. They had been walking for nearly half an hour, and Naruto was getting pretty damned heavy. The fact that his whole body still ached from last evenings practice session with his father didn't help that much either. 'How troublesome these women are,' he thought. Why the hell did Naruto have to open his big mouth, and why did Anko have to put the jutsu on him. If Anko would just take the damned binding spell off, Shikamaru could use his Shadow Bind technique on Naruto, or, even better, Naruto could walk the whole damned way. Suddenly Anko stopped walking, and put her hand up for them to stop. They were in front of what appeared to be a large stadium of some sort. The outside was covered almost entirely in concrete, with the exception of the top of the structure, which was left completely open. He also noticed that there was a statue of the first Hokage in front of the stadium. 'This must be one Konhakagure's famous training grounds.' If he remembered correctly, which he always did, there were four of these training centers, one built by each Hokage. He couldn't, however, ever remember hearing what was in the stadiums, except that they represented the special skills that the Hokage that built it were famous for.

"Welcome to the first training center in Konoha. It is said that the first Hokage built this center as a place train academy students. After he died, the place began to fall into disrepair, and is now rarely used. The other three training centers are much more popular and the other gennin teams will be training at them. But because you are the statistically worst team, you are required to take your test here."

Naruto, who had just been released from Anko's jutsu, yelled, "Test??? What test? We already passed the graduation test."

"Yes, but you are not yet gennin. Of the nine teams that passed, only three of them will become gennin. And I feel sorry for anyone who put money on you passing my test."

Naruto got pissed about this and he ran to attack Anko. He started screaming, "I'm Uzamaki Naruto, and I'm gonna be the next Ho..." Suddenly Naruto froze in place. He was still a good 10 feet from Anko. Hinata thought that Anko had cast here jutsu on Naruto again, but a quick look at Anko told Hinata that the jounin was just as surprised as she was. Then she noticed that Naruto and Shikamaru's shadows were connected.

All Shikamaru muttered was, "It's too troublesome to carry him again."

Anko continued, "Now that the loud mouth has shut up, I can continue. The three of you must pass a test together in order to advance onto gennin. If you should fail, you will return to academy for more training. To pass this test you three must defeat the strongest jounin in the village..." She let that hang in the air for a moment before she continued, "You must defeat me.

"I will be hiding inside the training center, you will have eight hours to hunt me down and defeat me. If I knock a single one of you out, then the entire team fails. Think about that before you do anything stupid Naruto."

"Hey why are you picking on me?"

"Because you're an idiot."

Before Naruto could reply to that, Anko started to run towards the training center. "Remember," she shouted over her shoulder, "you have eight hours."

Naruto started to run after her, but Shikamaru quickly put Shadow Bind on Naruto, and then released quickly, causing Naruto to fall over.

"Dammit," Naruto muttered. Then he yelled to Shikamaru, "Why did you do that."

"Because I know you can't defeat her."

"What??!! I'm easily the strongest graduate from our class."

"But you're still nothing compared to a jounin. Why do you think that there are three people per team. Because compared to a jounin, individually we're nothing, but as a team we have the ability to at least damage a jounin, maybe even defeat one."

"Makes sense, I guess."

"Hinata?" Shikamaru said to the young heiress.

"H-h-hai," Hinata said.

"Can you use the Byakugan eye?"

"Only a little." Came the timid reply.

"Eh? Byakugan??" Naruto stupidly said. "What is that?"

Shikamaru knew that Hinata was quite strong, but she was too timid to use that strength. He also realized that Hinata had a crush on Naruto. It was obvious in the way that she looked at him. So Shikamaru decided the best way to overcome her timid ness was to have her talk to Naruto, the boy she had a crush on.

Hinata realized that there was no escaping the question. She was afraid that Naruto would hate or fear her after she told him about her bloodline. So many people already hated her and her family for having such a powerful bloodline. Every time her father and she went walking done the streets of Konoha, people would quickly duck out of the way of the powerful Hyuuga clan. She never had any friends because all of the other children picked on the fear their parents showed towards her father, and then all of the children would avoid her. Her childhood had been a very lonely one. (A/N Sounds familiar don't it.) But she realized that she couldn't lie to Naruto-kun. So she decided to tell him the truth and hope for the best.

"T-t-the Byakugan is my family's bloodline technique. By activating it I can see through solid objects, and into a person. This allows me to see how a persons' chakra flows through their body. I can also push chakra out through my hands."

"Hinata."

"H-h-hai."

"You're so awesome!!!"

Hinata started blushing like crazy. No one had ever called her awesome before. Everyone was always telling her how horrible she was, and what a disgrace she was. Naruto was the first person to ever acknowledge her. For the first time since her mother had died, Hinata actually felt good about herself.

"Would you be able to see where Anko went in the forest?"

"Hai."

'It could just be me, but she sounds a lot more confident than she did a second ago.' Shikamaru thought.

"Well, now all we have to worry about is being able to defeat once we catch her." Shikamaru said lazily.

"Don't worry, I've got the perfect technique for that."

"Really?" This was news to Shikamaru. He had always thought that the only one in class lazier than him was Naruto, but if Naruto knew a strong technique that might not have been true.

"Sure, I'll show ultimate technique of the fifth Hokage, Uzamaki Naruto. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Naruto then performed the seals that he had just learned a few days ago. When he was done, there were ten perfect clones of Naruto standing there. All of them wearing cocky smiles and looking overconfident.

"How interesting," Shikamaru mused aloud.

"Wow." Was all Hinata said.

"This is a jounin level technique." Naruto said. "It was on the Scroll of Seals, and requires tons of charka to perform. The Fourth Hokage was the person who last used that scroll."

'So,' Shikamaru thought. 'Naruto was the one who caused all of that trouble the night.' That was one part of the mystery that was solved, but it opened up another whole set of questions. He remembered hearing his father swearing after he heard someone had taken the Scroll of Seals, and then his father said, "He could use that scroll to unseal it.!!!" 'Well,' Shikamaru thought, 'now I know who the he is, but I still don't know what it is.' Then Shikamaru decided that he had more important things to worry about, like passing Anko's test.

"Does anyone have some ramen, because I'm starving." Said eleven Narutos at once.

"Naruto is there any way you can get rid of those clones?"

"Sure, all you need to do is hit them, and then they turn into a puff of smoke."

Shikamaru experimented. He punched one and it exploded. 'Interesting.' Shikamaru thought. 'They're not really solid, but composed of chakra.' He punched the rest of them in various places, and, regardless, of where or how hard he hit, they would explode.

"Naruto, Hinata, go into town and grab some ramen. Be back here in an hour."

"What are you going to be doing?" Naruto asked the lazy youth.

"Watching the clouds." Shikamaru said.

Naruto figured to hell with it, and decided to just go get some ramen. He was very hungry after all. He grabbed Hinata's hand and shouted, "Let's get some ramen, Hinata."

As Shikamaru watched his two teammates run towards town, he began to think of a plan of attack for his team.

Hinata was enjoying eating lunch with her Naruto-kun. He was talking about how he was going to be the strongest Hokage that Konoha had ever seen. 'I wish that I could have the sort of confidence that he has. He is always so brave and strong, and I'm a failure.'

"So Hinata, you have a bloodline limit, that's pretty neat."

"Actually, it's not neat at all, it's a curse."

"What do ya mean, a curse?" Naruto said with a mouth full of ramen.

"All of my life more has been expected of me because I was born to a family with a bloodline limit. My father has always called me a loser because I am not as good as my older cousin Neji. I've been called a disgrace to my family because I can barely use the Byakugan correctly. I've always been an outcast because all of the other children's parents are scared of my father. People have always expected me to be a genius, when all I wanted to be was a normal kid. All I wanted to be was normal"

Then Hinata started crying. She couldn't stop herself. She knew she probably looked silly, crying there in the middle of a ramen stand, but she couldn't help it. Then she heard the scraping of a chair moving away from the table, and she knew that Naruto must have been embarrassed by her and was leaving. 'Great,' she thought, 'I scared away the only person I ever cared for.' She was shocked when felt something going around her neck. She saw Naruto there, he had scouted his chair next to hers not away from it, he had his arm around her shoulder. The strangest thing was that Naruto himself was crying a little with his head down.

"I know how you feel, Hinata. I too grew up alone, with nobody there to comfort me or to praise me. I never had any friends because they were all scared of me. I know how you feel Hinata-chan."

Naruto finally looked up, and saw Hinata had stopped crying. 'She has a very pretty face,' he thought. Then he shook his head a little. 'Where did that come form?' he was about to say something to her when he heard a ringing. He looked up at the clock on the wall, and realized they were supposed to be back in five minutes. He grabbed Hinata's hand and said, "We're gonna be late, Hinata-chan."

Anko was getting tired of waiting for the three kids to attack. She had thought that Naruto would be anxious to rush in and attack her, and now she regretted giving them eight hours. She had been up in the tree for more than three hours already, and was getting bored. This led her to think of things to do. 'I could start planting traps for those three, but Iruka did say to just test them on how well they work together as a team, so that probably is not the best idea there is. I could go and see where they are, but then that would destroy any element of surprise that they might have, and I did say I would wait for them. I know I'll eat some chocolates.'

When she was halfway through the box of chocolates that Iruka had given her, she remembered that she still hadn't looked at the evaluations of the kids that Iruka had given her. She decided that she needed to read them in order to get to know the kids that might be her apprentices.

Name: Uzamaki Naruto

Class Ranking: 27/27

School Ranking: 81/81

Ninjutsu ranking: 27/27 81/81

Taijutsu Ranking: 27/27 81/81

Genjutsu Ranking: 27/27 81/81

Behavior: F

Comments: Despite his behavior problems, Naruto is actually a good kid. He is always seeking attention, but that is partially due to the fact that all of the children shun him. I doubt the other children know that he is Kyuubi's vessel, but he recently learned that he was. He has a larger amount of charka, and I believe a lot of it is from the Kyuubi. This however does affect his charka control, probably because there is too much charka to control. Make sure to keep an eye on him, especially if he is very emotional. I believe that when he is emotionally distressed the seal will slip a little bit. Naruto says his goal is to be the next Hokage of Konoha, and he works incredibly hard to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, I believe Naruto takes being a shinobi lightly because of this and lacks a healthy respect for authority. You will need to teach how serious a job being a ninja is. Overall Naruto is a good kid with a lot of potential, but you will have force him to take the duties to his village and his friends seriously while he is a gennin.

'Interesting,' Anko thought, 'very interesting.' She had been gone from the village when Kyuubi attacked. She had been with Orochimaru when the attack had occurred. And no one had ever told her who the Kyuubi had been sealed into. She had heard that the Fourth had sealed the Kyuubi into a child, but she was never very curious about who the host had been. It also explained why Iruka had asked her to train Naruto. She had trained with the curse seal on her for more than four years, and knew what it was like to have more charka than you could control. Anko realized that it would be interesting to train him. 'If he really is as ambitious as Iruka-kun says,' she thought. 'I could probably teach him some forbidden jutsus.'

Most jounin would shudder at the idea of teaching their students forbidden jutsus, but not Anko. In the real world, she decided, your enemies will know forbidden jutsus, and you better damn well know how to fight against that. And if that meant knowing some forbidden jutsus, so be it.

She moved on to the next sheet.

Name: Nara Shikamaru

Class Ranking: 26/27

School Ranking: 80/81

Ninjutsu Ranking: 26/27 79/81

Taijutsu Ranking: 25/27 78/81

Genjutsu Ranking: 26/27 80/81

Behavior: C

Comments: Shikamaru is a lazy assed kid. Though exceptionally intelligent, he lacks the motivation to even push his pen across paper. His IQ is well over 200, and he has a good mind for strategy, but rarely wants to do any work. He also places a high value on friendship, and will defend anyone who tries to hurt his friends. His loyalty is admirable. He needs some motivation to fight with his heart, instead of just his mind. He might make a good leader if properly motivated.

'Another kid that Iruka is impressed with and another challenge for me,' Anko thought. 'Oh well. The odds of the team passing were about one in two hundred, so I am not terribly worried about actually having to train them. But it would be interesting to train these two. Let's see what Iruka has to say about the third one.'

Name: Hyuuga Hinata

Class Ranking: 25/27

School Ranking: 77/81

Ninjutsu Ranking: 25/27 80/81

Taijutsu Ranking: 26/27 80/81

Genjutsu Ranking: 25/27 75/81

Female Only Classes: 5/9

Conduct: A

Comments: A very shy girl. She comes from the strongest clan in the village, and receives too much pressure from her father to succeed. She has excellent chakra control. I believe that she is the strongest girl of her class, but she has no self-confidence so she often fails at things she should be able to do. I think her problem is her family, and therefore I recommend, if she becomes a gennin, that she should not stay with her family. With some self-confidence she could become a very strong shinobi.

PS: She has a crush on Uzamaki Naruto.

Anko started laughing. 'This is going to be fun.' She thought. 'I have a girl with no confidence, a guy with too much confidence, and a guy who just doesn't want to work.' She decided to have some fun with these kids, and maybe even teach them a thing or two.

She heard the sound of someone approaching, and knew it was time for action.

Authors Note

I've gotten a lot of reviews, and decided to say something about them.

S-Wanderer999: I seriously doubt I will match up Sasuke with anyone.

Rokudaime-Kage: She is leading the team as a favor to Iruka. They have known each other for awhile, but more about that later.

Nonengel: I thought they would be a good team too.

Xero-ghost: He is fourteen now, but the flashback was when he was just starting the academy, so he was twelve then.

Minimerc: Yes, Iruka is probably going to be an examiner in the chuunin exams.

Dragon Man 180: Not when Naruto was under the spell of a jounin. That and he just learned it the night before.

Xoni Newcomer: Iruka will probably be a major character later on.

Ah-choo: Next time, Read the story before you speak.

Sorry this has taken so long, but I've been busy. The next chapter should be a bit longer. I hope to have it out soon.

Here is something for the bonus point people who answered my question, which is just about everyone.

Should Team 9 go to the wave country?
( )Yes

( ) No

( ) Don't care

Just review the chapter and say what you want. I have good ideas for both so I'm leaving it up to you guys.

I'm also trying to think up a better title and summary, so I welcome all ideas.