Naruto stares down the steps of the stairs, knowing that merely a few steps would take him to where his team was waiting for him. His mind knew that he should probably be making his way down them to sit by his new teammates, but his feet wouldn't move past where he'd been standing. Sasuke and Sakura were equally giving him a look as if they were asking, "Well, what are you waiting on?" And there really should be no reason Naruto's not beside them, thankful for the chance to be on a genin team with classmates he'd grown up with.

But his eyes kept drifting to the door, skittering over talkative classmates and passing over Shikamaru's head, discreetly seeing the other boy making his way over to Choji and Ino after their parting words. Maybe it's the medic side of his brain that has him darting out of the classroom without so much as a thought behind his actions, intent on asking his former sensei all kinds of questions in regards to his new condition. Medical fascination is what he'd tell anyone who asked.

But deep down, as his feet hit the creaky wooden floors outside of the classroom that threatened to collapse under his weight, Naruto knows it's the fear of losing another father that fuels him to find Iruka.

He can faintly hear his teammates call for him, Sasuke and Sakura's voices blending in their shock, asking where he thought he was running off to now. Shikamaru's voice drifted after him, the sound of feet shuffling had the blond-haired genin wondering if his friend would run after him, but he didn't. Choji's voice had been the last he'd heard before he had made it around the corner, filtering in with the others. Naruto didn't stop to ease their worries, didn't take a minute to breathe through his tears. He had to find Iruka, talk to him, and make sure he was okay.

"I can't lose Iruka."

Naruto hadn't been able to visit him at all during his recovery, not having much energy to get out of the house, let alone Shikamaru's bed. It's not that he didn't try, but Yoshino could be very convincing when she tried, forcing him to heal before worrying Iruka about his condition. She'd been right, of course, the blond-haired genin was still recovering. Even now as he ran down the halls practically jumping over holes in the floor and worrying about the wood collapsing underneath his feet, Naruto could feel the teetering exhaustion filtering through him, a feeling of fainting just on the brim.

The teen had nearly run past a conference room that the teachers used to frequent weekly during his academy years, but the genin had spotted a ponytail through the window in the door, drawing the boy's attention immediately. Naruto pushed the door open, startling all of the occupants in the room. Boar was still standing guard beside Iruka despite the man's clear annoyance, almost embarrassed by the look on his face, but in front of the two was none other than Hiruzen Sarutobi. Naruto grit his teeth, that painful feeling in his chest appearing once more.

Had it been years prior, maybe he would have seen the surprise greeting as a happy occasion, but Naruto still felt hurt by the Hokage's actions three years prior. It was a grudge, Shikamaru had told him once, one well warranted, but it still hurt. It kept festering over the years, fueling the fire of hatred toward this man. And it made Naruto sad; he had once considered the man in familial terms. But now?

He's nothing to him.

"Naruto." Iruka greeted the blond-haired teen with a soft smile, seeming like the only one happy to see him.

"Shouldn't you be with your new teammates?" Hiruzen asked quickly, a frustrated look on his face.

He stuffed the spiteful comment threatening to spill out of his mouth down, deciding to ignore the man for a moment and instead turned to look at his father figure, "Could… Can I speak with you… f-for a little while?" He hadn't meant for his words to be as quiet as they were, his stomach flipping the moment his eyes stared at the man's wheelchair.

Iruka looked up at Boar and the Third Hokage, the two other men giving him a strange, stern look. "Of course," His words had the two sighing in frustration, "Let's go somewhere private." Their looks of disdain did not deter the former academy teacher. What had they been talking about before Naruto got there? It was a burning question in the blond's mind.

The brown-haired man began to wheel himself out of the room, the ANBU agent assigned to him made a move to follow the two out of the room. Naruto took a large step between Boar and his father figure, something boiling under the surface. Despite the tension in the trashed conference room, Iruka gave the blond a grateful look; Boar must've been at his side day-in, day-out. Maybe a reprieve from him wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Hiruzen held up a hand in front of Boar, the agent backing down quickly. He gave Naruto a look, a soft frown on his face, eyebrows furrowing together regretfully. "Take all the time you need, Iruka. We will discuss this later." He said as an afterthought.

The former academy teacher shook his head, "I already gave you my answer, Lord Third. There is nothing else to discuss." With that, Iruka wheeled himself out of the conference room, Naruto following closely behind. They had made their way to a separate wing of the school, the blond-haired genin testing the floor in front of Iruka to make sure it was safe enough for a wheelchair to pass over.

They'd found an abandoned classroom at the end of a corridor, Iruka motioning towards it with his head. Inside it, there weren't any chairs or desks left after the destruction, the windows covered with boards and, if it wasn't for an oil lamp in the room, there wouldn't be any light at all. Iruka shifted inside the room until he felt comfortable enough to lock his wheelchair in place, facing the blond-haired boy. Naruto, whose knees had started feeling wobbly again, lacking the adrenaline or energy to put in the effort to stand, sank to his knees, resting his head on Iruka's thighs. There was a blanket covering his legs, likely to keep the paralyzed appendages warm as paraplegics struggle with temperature differences.

The thought made Naruto cringe, that Iruka would suffer from something like that.

He pressed his head closer, trying to soak up some kind of comfort from the other man. Iruka sighed deeply at the motion, though, running a hand through the boy's hair, happy to see it without matting of some kind, "You seem to have recovered well." He whispered, moving to tilt the genin's head up.

Naruto's eyes were already swimming with tears, the day has already been an emotional one, "Why didn't you tell me you were p-paralyzed?" He'd nearly choked on his words, trying not to cry.

"Naruto, I… I didn't know until yesterday." The former academy teacher swallowed thickly, the words bitter on his tongue, "I was about to get released from the hospital and, well, they were running their last tests… seeing if I could walk and, well, as you can see… I couldn't." Naruto stared with wide eyes, reaching for the man's hands, squeezing them for comfort, whether it was for him or Iruka, neither knew, but both appreciated it. He laid his head back down, head swimming with a sudden surge of dizziness. "I fell to the ground hard - apparently, I'd sprained my ankle when it happened, but I… I didn't feel it. I don't even f-feel you laying your head on my legs…" Iruka's eyes watered, voice hitching in his attempt not to cry. He lifted his head to stare up at the ceiling as a bitter laugh left him, one that dissolved in a soft cry.

"I'm s-sorry I… I couldn't do more…" Naruto hiccuped weakly, practically gripping onto the man's calves. His nails dug in as if unconsciously trying to force something painful for the man to feel, not willing to believe he was paralyzed. But he couldn't feel it, not at all.

Iruka covered his face with a hand, shoulders slumping forward, openly crying about his paralysis for the first time since he'd found out. "S-Stop. No more apologies." He lifted his head, dark brown eyes illuminated by the oil lamp, watery and sorrowful, "I don't b-blame you. You did the best you could… my s-son."

Naruto grit his teeth, one of his hands balling into a fist. "I'll make your legs work one day… I'll… I'll find a w-way to reverse it, D… Dad." He cried out, "I'll do b-better next time, I promise…"

"You did enough, Naruto, it will always be enough." The former academy teacher pulled Naruto off his knees and into a powerful hug, practically cradling the teen over his wheelchair, a bitter reminder despite the heartfelt gesture.

They sat with each other for a few moments, allowing themselves to cry and comfort one another before Naruto moved to stand, wiping his face and staring at the other man. It was odd, looking down on a person who he'd looked up to for so long. "Are you… um, doing well, though? No pain?" He whispered, not really sure if he wanted to know that answer.

"Other than the paralysis, everything healed on its own without any hospital interference." Iruka wiped his tears away as well, folding his hands over his lap, "Dr. Teruya suspects that it was the Kyuubi's chakra that helped me heal as fast as I did. Without it, she thought that I would have likely been hospitalized for up to a month, maybe more…" His eyes darkened at the thought.

"I think you would have gone stir-crazy if you were stuck in there for that long." Naruto tried to laugh, but it just sounded choked up.

Iruka, though, found humor in the thought, a soft laugh escaping the former academy teacher. "I know I would have." He hummed, "Though, I'm sure knowing that you have made a full recovery would have made it bearable."

"Did… Did Dr. Teruya try anything to help the paralysis?" Naruto asked suddenly, "Muscle stimulants? Micro shocks? Neurological tests? Any plans for future surgeries?"

The brown-haired man reached for his hand, running his thumb over the boy's knuckles, "Naruto… the reason I'm paralyzed is that… when Mizuki's shuriken pierced my back, it severed my spinal cord. I don't exactly know how to describe it in the same detail Dr. Teruya had - I'm sure if you asked her, she'd give you the information in stride, but… putting the spinal cord back together with their current medical technology is nearly impossible."

"Nearly?"

"Don't get your hopes up… I certainly did as well…" The last part was but a whisper in the dark room, "I'm sure you know more about this than I ever would hope to, but completely recovering partial function after a spinal cord injury is, frankly, extremely rare, but… even if I could one day magically feel my toes again, I still would never be able to walk…" He reached up to wipe a lone tear away, feeling as though he's already cried enough as it is.

Naruto looked down at the floor, eyes downcast but full of determination, "I'll get you to walk one day, Iruka-sensei… I promise you."

He shook his head, "I could never discourage you from doing anything you wanted, Naruto, but… I'm a lost cause. You are young, so young, don't waste your time on something that will never change…"

"You're not a lost cause." The blond-haired teen's bottom lip wobbled, "I don't care if it takes me years, I'll get you to walk one day, I promise."

Iruka's laugh was disbelieving, but he smiled nonetheless, always amazed by the boy's dedication. "Okay," He gave the boy a watery smile, "Do as you please, just… be careful, okay? Don't go falling down a hole you can't get out of. You promised me so many years ago that you'd take care of yourself in lieu of going through your journey to learn medical ninjutsu, to eat more, sleep more. Please don't go back on that for me, okay? You need rest if you're going to solve anything."

"I wouldn't go back on my promises, not for anything." Naruto smiled softly before a thought crossed him, "What were you and Hiruzen talking about?"

The mere mention of the man had Iruka sighing deeply, a frown marring his face, "He asked me if I had any connection to the Kyuubi, that because I 'inherited some of the demon's chakra' when you saved my life, that maybe I had become a sudo-Jinchuuriki. Apparently, the difference between a non-Jinchuuriki and one is an extremely gray area."

"Why does he want to know?" His eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"He wants to get rid of it…" Iruka whispered out, eyes knowing.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, any air in his lungs feeling as though it's been punched out of him. "B-But, Dr. Teruya said that it had merged into your chakra system… I… I don't think you can just get rid of it." He tried, hand running over his forehead in worry.

The former academy teacher nodded as if expecting the boy to say much, "I told him as much - Dr. Teruya had told me much of the same after the pain medicine had worn off about our conversation. He… didn't like that answer very much. Apparently, removing a Jinchuuriki of their demon chakra is equivalent to a swift death." Iruka's face paled significantly.

"...can you feel his chakra?" Naruto whispered out, hand hovering over the seal on his belly.

The brown-haired man stared down at the hand as if imagining himself with a seal as well, holding back the demon fox, "I… I'm not sure. My chakra feels… warmer inside my body. It feels heavy, but comforting like a… a…"

"A blanket?"

He huffed out a laugh, "Something like that. Is that what the Kyuubi's chakra feels like to you?"

"Yes, but… maybe to a bigger scale." Naruto laughed as well.

"Then, I guess I can feel him… or a part of the Kyuubi, I suppose." Iruka smiled as a thought crossed his mind, "And maybe I feel your chakra as well."

The blond-haired teen tilted his head in curiosity, "Really?"

He folded his hands over the blanket laying across his lap. "I know when I was teaching you all that chakra felt like water flowing through your body to help you and your classmates visualize the chakra system and its uses. I made you all think that it was like a river or a waterfall, maybe a lake, a well of energy to call upon, but it's different for everyone." Naruto listened intently, "Mine feels like a bamboo forest, the slightest breeze causing it to sway back and forth, almost as if it's dancing underneath my skin. It feels calm and totally in control, but strong enough not to falter under the wind."

"Woah…"

"But, your's - if it really is your chakra I'm feelings - it feels like a… a beach? The waves are so strong and undulating, never faltering and always that consistent push and pull. But… I feel when you are upset, I think… It's like a storm brewing on the coast, affecting the waves, causing them to become torrential, dark, and aggressive. Even now… it feels like my bamboo forest is being drowned in your chakra… a tsunami of emotion." He looked up, eyes softening upon seeing Naruto in tears.

"I didn't m-mean to…"

"I'm not upset, Naruto." Iruka reached out, running his hands up and down the teen's arms in a comforting gesture, "It feels… nice to feel you. I… I felt you heal during our time apart, I think. Between the pain medicine and the exhaustion, I can't really remember much during that time, but… My bamboo forest was so dry and barren before… I don't know how to describe it, but it's almost like I could feel your chakra trickle in little by little as you healed. I'm assuming for my own peace of mind that it was happening because your health had gotten better. I don't even know how to describe it, really. To anyone else, I think they would think I'm insane. It's… unheard of someone possessing someone else's chakra alongside their own."

"I think it makes sense… maybe." They chuckled at that.

Iruka took a moment to collect himself before looking the boy over, reaching out to pat his cheek lovingly, "I… there's something I want to ask you before you go back to your teammates."

"Hm?"

"Sometime last year, I had… I went to go see Lord Third about your, um, orphan status." Iruka's eyes were already watering - maybe it was just the emotional tide leftover from finding out about his paralysis that had him feeling this way, "I know you're almost grown by now based on ninja status, but… Ah, why am I struggling to ask this?"

Naruto squatted in front of his former academy teacher, eyes shining in the dark room, "Ask what?"

"You… You're such an amazing kid, Naruto, and I love you dearly as… as if you were my own." He sniffled, choking on his own words, "You're so, so important to me, even before this whole Mizuki mess. I just… I have to ask… W-Would you be o-okay if… if I adopted you…?"

His eyes widened in shock, tears already trailing down his face, "W-What? Are you serious?!"

"I had wanted to ask sooner, but the Hokage wouldn't let me do that because I was your teacher still, b-but I'm no longer your sensei anymore… I already call you my son and you've called me Dad before so I just… I just thought-"

Naruto launched forward, hugging the man tightly and nearly knocking him out of his wheelchair, "Yes, yes, yes! You can adopt me!"

Iruka returned the fiery hug with just as much ferocity, practically smothering Naruto with how hard he held him. And that was fine to the blond, happier than he had been the past week. It was a dream.

It'd been so long since he'd had a father. They'll have to sort out the paperwork some other time, but for now, they hugged and cried with one another.

It had been a little under an hour when Naruto finally returned to the classroom, those in the room only in the single digits by now. By the looks of it, his former classmates' teachers had already collected the majority of them. He searched the few in the room for his teammates who were, surprisingly, still there. Shikamaru and his team, though, were already gone. Naruto made the mental note to apologize to him when he saw him later tonight for dinner at the Nara compound.

"There you are!" Sakura shouted out, standing up in her seat, "Why'd you just run off like that?! You had us worried!" The look on Sasuke's face showed how much that statement was not true, the Uchiha staring placidly at the blond-haired genin.

Naruto raised his hands in the air as if to appease his new teammate, "I… I'm sorry for worrying you, Sakura, I just wanted to check on Iruka-sensei…" Her eyes softened at that, sitting down at her seat in a quiet stupor. "I hadn't seen him since I was released from the hospital, so…" The room grew quiet at that, the blond awkwardly shuffling in place by the desks.

Sakura sighed, shifting closer to the raven-haired teen beside her, patting the seat beside her, "Come on, sit down. Sasuke-kun isn't the most conversational type, at least talking to you will pass the time better."

He smiled, taking the seat offered to him, "So, no signs of our teacher?"

"None at all." The pink-haired kunoichi huffed out, pressing a hand into her cheek in frustration, "Most of the jounin teachers had come for their students in the first twenty minutes. It's only the six of us now." The door opened, and an older woman called for the other team who practically ran out of the classroom. "Make that three of us." Sakura snorted in amusement, "I don't know what taking our sensei so long."

"Naruto." Sasuke's voice interrupted hastily, leaning forward in his chair to give the blond a sideways look.

"Hm?" He tilted his head in question.

"Why are you even on this team?" The question didn't seem hostile, more of a curious statement, "I don't believe a word Iruka said about the team assignments." Naruto bristled at the comment, knowing that his… father was a very honest man. "I'm the rookie of this class, Haruno is the top kunoichi. She said it first - it makes sense that we're on a team together. We were supposed to be stuck with the dead last which was dog breath."

"His name is Kiba." Naruto interrupted.

He snarled at that. "You are not the dead last. So, why are you-" The Uchiha reached across Sakura to jab his shoulder with his finger, "-on this team?"

"Um," Naruto rubbed the spot he'd be jabbed before finally speaking, "Sasuke, look around you, the academy is destroyed. All of the stuff that was on the walls - the awards, the school rankings - they're all gone. Even Iruka-sensei's classroom is demolished. Maybe Hiruzen has some motive for handpicking the teams this year, so… I don't know why I'm on your team, I just am."

"Wait, Naruto, I have a question." Sakura suddenly blurted out. He raised an eyebrow, motioning for her to go on. "How did you even beat Mizuki-sen- or, um the traitor…?" She asked quietly.

"Um…" He took a deep breath - that was definitely not the question he was expecting, though, he knew sooner or later someone would ask. He just didn't think it would be this earlier. The blond-haired genin nearly laughed at the way his heart began to speed up and the way his stomach started to shift into little knots, "Dumb luck?" He offered.

"You're kidding me," Sasuke grumbled, genuinely upset from the answer.

Naruto's eyes were starting to feel hot, a sign that he was on the verge of crying. Maybe seeing Iruka before speaking with his teammates wasn't the best move due to how it has apparently affected his emotional state. "It's the t-truth, though. I shouldn't even be alive… I just… survived. I didn't beat him, I just lived long enough to be the winner."

"But!" Sakura started up again, "I heard you escaped him like ran faster than him!" Her words were high-pitched, excited sounding even as if she was congratulating him. "Mom said she heard that you took back the sacred scroll of sealing from him and fended him off with your bare hands. You beat a chunnin and won!" Maybe if Naruto had been anyone else, he would have taken her prideful words as a boost to his ego, but today… today it just made him feel like he was going to throw up.

"Sakura… I took that scroll and was thrown down a hill." His words were flat, his tone of voice startling the pink-haired genin in silence, "These hands of mine, they didn't fight anyone off…" He stared at the bandages; he'll have to see Kaiya again once the week of no-chakra use or training is up, to see if his hands had healed nicely. "Sakura, I think you're really nice, so… um, could you drop it for a little while?" He whispered out.

"O-Oh, yeah… I'm sorry." She found herself voicing out quickly, eyebrows furrowing in concern, "I didn't think before asking…"

"It's okay, I'm not mad." Naruto smiled softly, holding out one of his hands, "We can still be friends."

Sakura grinned, reaching her hand out as well, shaking his in one beat, "Yeah!"

"So," The medic-in-training started, rubbing under his nose, "I don't know anything about this Kakashi guy. What about you two?"

The lone kunoichi on their team tapped her chin, "All I know is that he is kind of a legend but, other than that, I don't know anything else about him."

"He was trained under the Fourth Hokage and was once an ANBU member." Sasuke stated, "Not much to go on, but that's all I know about him." For now.

"Wow, that's really cool!" Naruto awed.

For the next two hours, the three conversed, the only team left that hadn't been called by their sensei. While Sasuke didn't participate in the conversation as much, he was intently listening in, making some comments here or there but never more than a few words at most. Sakura and Naruto, however, couldn't seem to stop talking, bouncing topics off one another.

"Wait, you were the one to make those new pills that the ANBU's gotten their hands on?!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise, practically jumping out of her chair, "My mom, she works as a secretary for one of the council members, and she was telling me about the success it's had. You seriously made those?!"

"Ah, well, not just me. I just had the idea. I was coached by a pharmaceutical scientist at the hospital, her name is Dr. Rikitake and she's been an amazing mentor." Naruto nodded with a sheepish grin on his face, "We spent a few months testing out new formulas to see what worked and now it's kind of just… evolved since then."

"Pills?" The lone Uchiha beside them suddenly questioned, this being the first time he's heard of it.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, these things are amazing!" The pink-haired genin's eyes were wide with excitement, "They are the new and improved soldier pills that the ANBU are using during long missions. They haven't been released to the public yet, but when they do, Konoha will be the only village to have them!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed suspiciously, turning to look at his blond-haired teammate, "New and improved soldier pills? How do they work?"

Naruto beamed in eagerness, pulling one from his pocket to show them, "Okay, so while they are similar to soldier pills since it gives the needed nutrients to the body so that it can keep going on for an extended amount of time. However, with the pills Dr. Rikitake and I made, you will be able to go on even longer than you could have with regular soldier pills."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "Really? I doubt it."

"No, no, just listen." He chuckled at the reaction, "I'm not sure if either of you has ever had a soldier pill before, but they simply taste awful! Plus, the side effects can leave you at the point of unconsciousness due to complete exhaustion. The standard for combat is you're only allowed to ingest three during one month with food and water due to the severity of the side effects."

"Woah," Sakura mumbled.

"A lot of ninjas really, really hate soldier pills because they're almost completely useless in a long-term fight like a war." He shrugged, "The good thing about the pill we made was that the side effect of ingesting one is merely fatigue and hunger which all shinobi have dealt with in their time. You can still move and the recovery time after consuming one is amazing! My pill also lasts longer in the environment than a soldier's pill. While that one will only last for a few weeks before expiring, mine will last for almost a month… theoretically. Dr. Rikitake and I are waiting on a three-month ANBU mission report."

Or maybe Dr. Rikitake had already received it while he was recovering, it was definitely a possibility.

"And it works?" The Uchiha asked, plucking the pill out of Naruto's hand to examine it with a critical stare.

"For the most part." He shrugged.

"I still think you're bluffing," Sasuke stated honestly.

Naruto rolled his eyes, taking it back and putting it in a pouch on his hip, "Well, one day, we're going to be on a long mission where we are all exhausted and wounded. Only then will you know that I'm not bluffing."

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes, "Yeah, right."

The door suddenly slid open, three heads turning to stare at the newcomer. He was… odd, the three concluded with shared glances at one another. Silver hair with a mask that covered everything on his face except for one lone, dark eye. He carried an Icha Icha Paradise book in one hand while the other was stuffed into his pant pocket. This was Kakashi Hatake, the genins assumed. He looked at each of them carefully, "My first impression of you is… you're a bunch of weirdos. Meet me on the roof." With that, their teacher disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Weirdos, really? That's all he could think of?" Sakura grumbled with her eyes narrowed, glaring at the spot where her teacher had stood, "He makes us wait three hours and we're the weirdos?"

Naruto snickered at that, "Come on, he's waiting for us." He insisted, heading for the door, his teammates following after him. After about seven minutes of walking up the stairs that led to the roof of the academy, they finally pulled open a metal door to reveal their teacher sitting on the railing on the opposite side of the roof. They walked over to him, sitting down on the bench that was in front of him. The three genins looked up expectantly up at him.

"Alright, why don't you introduce yourselves one at a time?" Kakashi started, eyes boredly staring down at his perverse book.

"Introduce ourselves?" The pink-haired kunoichi in front of the man raised her eyebrows in question, "What are we supposed to say?"

"Things you like. Things you hate. Dreams for the future. Hobbies." He shrugged, "Things like that."

Naruto crossed his arms and leaned back slightly, "Why don't you introduce yourself first? We know a little bit about each other, but we have no idea who you are."

Their teacher nodded slightly, agreeing with the sentiment, "Alright, then, I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like, things I hate, well… I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future… hm, never really thought about it. As for my hobbies, well, I have lots of hobbies."

"Well, that was useless." Sakura said in a not-quiet way, voice deadpan as she turned to the blond-haired teen beside her, "All he really told us was his name." He nodded in slight aggravation.

"Okay, you the pink-haired girl. You go next." Their jounin teacher nodded in her direction, his turn officially over.

"Well, I'm Sakura Haruno. What I like - no, who I like is, um…" Her eyes fluttered to Sasuke sitting next to her before she gained her bearings, "I also like sushi. Um… my hobbies are, um, well, uh…" She tried not to look in the Uchiha's direction, but couldn't help herself. "I read, I guess… M-My dream for the future is to, um…" Her face started to turn pink, shutting her eyes to not look at the 'god' sitting next to her. Sakura looked as if she'd squeal or faint, or both. "I d-don't have hobbies." She tried to sway those thoughts away, being married to Sasuke, that is.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "And what do you hate?"

"I hate-" Sakura stopped, eyes flickering to Naruto. When she was younger, the pink-haired kunoichi used to say to everyone who asked that she hated the medic-in-training because he had a stupid crush on her back in the academy. However, that didn't seem to be the case anymore. He wasn't loud and obnoxious like he was back then and he no longer bothered her unnecessarily. Actually, in fact, they'd barely spoken over the past three years until now. He was smarter and could read people and the room better now, she supposed.

Sakura didn't have the heart to say that she hated him. Instead, however… "-Ino-pig!" She finished boldly, the words sounding like poison on her lips.

"Girls these days are more interested in chasing guys than actual ninja training." Kakashi thought, internally eyes fell on to the Uchiha directly in front of him, "You're next, kid."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality." His words sounded forceful and full of hatred, "I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."

Sakura felt her cheeks turn red, "Sasuke is so hot!"

"Just as I thought..." The jounin thought to himself, eyeing his student warily, "Alright, last one."

"Well, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. In reality, there aren't a whole lot of things that I dislike except… maybe not being able to help everyone to the best of my ability and letting people die on my watch. However, I do like a whole lot of things. Iruka-sensei, Shikamaru, and Shika's parents are the most important people to me. And I really like volunteering at the hospital and working with the doctors there. I'll stop there - I think I'll bore you with how many things I like." He laughed, trying to lighten the mood a little, "My hobbies include researching, reading, volunteering, playing shogi with Shikamaru, and practicing medical ninjutsu. I used to want to be the Hokage, but I'm kind of looking at other alternatives like being the head medic at the hospital or a jounin sensei one day."

Kakashi tilted his head in surprise both from what the genin revealed in his words and the honesty the boy portrayed. He looked at each one of his genins with a calculating eye. "Good. You're each unique and you have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow." The jounin stated.

"Wait? Mission? Um…" Naruto interrupted, "I can't go on a mission right now."

Sakura and Sasuke both turned toward him in shock. "Why not?" The kunoichi asked.

"Kakashi-sensei, I thought that maybe Hiruzen would've told you or maybe Dr. Teruya, but I… I can't go on missions for another few days." He stuttered - did no one really relay this information?

Kakashi paused in thought before nodding to himself, "My apologies. We will postpone the mission until this Friday. By then, Naruto, you should be completely healed and allowed to use chakra freely?"

"Yes."

"Wait, what?" Sakura balked, "You can't use your chakra?"

He scratched the side of his face, looking at both of his teammates, "When I said that I merely survived Mizuki with dumb luck, I meant it. I had to use nearly all of my chakra to both survive and save Iruka's life… I got chakra poisoning from it and to make sure my chakra coils healed properly, I haven't been allowed to train or use chakra."

Her eyes widened, "T-That's horrible. Are you even okay to be up and walking right now? You're still recovering, right?"

Naruto nodded, "I feel okay to walk and be up, but I'm just not allowed to use my chakra for a few more days."

"Which is fine." Kakashi interrupted, raising a hand to collect their attention, "So, this mission, it's a task that the four of us will do together."

"Like what, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked curiously, still giving Naruto worried looks.

"A survival exercise."

The blond-haired genin looked almost pleased by the mission reveal, "I can definitely use medical ninjutsu in a survival exercise." It would be a good way to work out the muscles he hadn't touched in over a week.

"I thought we were supposed to have a real mission, not more practice." Sakura huffed slightly, "We already did this kind of stuff in the academy. That's how we got here."

The silver-haired jounin shook his head slightly, "This is not like your previous training."

"What kind of training is it then?" The blond-haired boy was suddenly feeling very interested and excited. He'd finally be able to use his medical ninjutsu in something other than practice and spars and not in some life-threatening way like he'd had to use against Mizuki. From the way Kakashi was talking, it sounded much more like an extended kind of spar with a reward at the end.

Instead of answering right away, their teacher gave a deep chuckle. The three kids looked on with curiosity. Sakura's curiosity turned to frustration, poking her lip out in a pout, "Hey, that was a normal question to ask. What's so funny?"

Kakashi let out another string of chuckles before finally sighing, "Well, if I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it."

"What is it?" The pink-haired kunoichi questioned.

"Of the twenty-seven graduates who came here, only nine will actually be accepted as genins. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy." Utmost seriousness now grazed their teacher's face, "In other words, this is a make-it or break-it, pass-fail kind of test, and the chance that you'll fail is at least 66% percent." The look of pure horror on Sakura's face almost made Kakashi laugh. While Sasuke didn't make any type of disgruntled noise like his teammate did, worry did cloud the boy's dark eyes. The silver-haired jounin turned to Naruto who only held a thoughtful look on his face.

The medic-in-training hummed for a second or two before pouting, "Yeah, I don't like that."

"See, didn't I tell you?" Kakashi smirked under his mask.

"Well, yeah, I can see why you said that but, you know, there is still a 34% chance that we'll pass." Naruto shrugged, "I mean, why try and put us down yet if you haven't even seen what we can do?"

Sasuke looked at his teammate with an inquisitive eye, "A 34% chance of passing. While it isn't a number that I'd like to dwell on, it means that we can still pass."

Sakura blinked in shock before crossing her arms over her chest, head tilting up in defiance, "Naruto's right!"

"Listen, the graduation exam was to select candidates who might become genin... or not." Kakashi shrugged, "It's just how it is. I decide whether you pass or fail. Head to Team 7's training grounds Friday at five in the morning and bring your ninja gear." Their teacher stood up, putting his back to them. "That's it for now. You're all dismissed." He waved, "Oh, and I would suggest you all skip breakfast Friday, or else you'll puke." With that, he disappeared again.

After a few seconds, Naruto stood up, patting his pants, "He's stupid."

"What?!" Sakura exclaimed, shocked by his words, "What are you talking about, Naruto?!"

"You two need to listen. While he is most definitely been a ninja longer than the three of us and therefore has more experience when saying something like 'don't eat or you'll throw up', I'm a medic-in-training and what he said was, in fact, rather stupid." He stated, looking between his two teammates, "What I'm trying to say is that you two should definitely eat something Friday morning before we start the training exercise. Your body needs nutrients to sustain a battle of some sort and without them, you'll be too tired to do anything worthwhile. We need to be able to handle anything if we all want to be genin!"

The pink-haired teen stood up quickly, "You're telling us to go against Kakashi-sensei's words?"

"Yes, but only because I want us all to do our best and become genin. I don't want to be sent back to the academy, after everything I've done to just get to this point in time and it seems like you two share the same mindset." Naruto smiled brightly, giving them a thumbs up, "I'd love to stay and chat about this longer, but Yoshino-san is making dinner and I told her I wouldn't be late. See you two Friday!" With that, the blond-haired genin was off.

A/N - Hehe, heyo! Been a hot minute, huh? I, uh, really… really struggled with this chapter, not because I was completely changing the meeting between Naruto and Team 7 - for those who read the original, the last half of this chapter probably feels very familiar, I didn't really change a lot of the dialogue, just added some extra parts. If anything, it was fear that kept me from writing this chapter. Fear and a shit ton of anxiety. The original reason I kept struggling to write chapters for the original The Great Medic was because of the Sakura-bashers, especially after I wrote her making a mistake - it's like it finally gave the Sakura-bashers permission to vehemently hate her with no chance of her learning from her mistakes and using it as a means of growing.

Between that and the private messages who tormented my younger self… it's very scary getting back to this point, introducing Team 7 and working with Sasuke and Sakura when they were their canon selves. I am twenty years old now, I no longer care about what people think of me or my story, but… that anxiety that plagued me so much when I was younger reared its head once more and stopped me from writing this chapter. Even now, I feel a little shaky posting this chapter because I just know what some of the comments are going to be in regards to Sakura. "Oh, she still has that crush on Sasuke?" or "Aren't you planning on making her character better?" or just… nevermind, I'll go on a tangent.

I'll say this only once in regards to Sakura's character, for my own sake, she needs to be her canon self until my storylines can help her onto her own character development. I will write here how I want and no, I will not change it. Thanks for listening in on my rant, for those who did read it.

As for the rest of my absence, I… might be moving out soon in a few months - hell, I might even be purchasing my very first house by the end of this year! At twenty years old! I am elated and scared, so scared. But I'm proud and so happy. I just wanted to share that with you all. I'm sure this author's note is too long by now, but yeah, that's what's been going on with me lately. Hopefully, the next chapter does not take as long as this one, but, until next time!