Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or this idea as it is a challenge fic by Narutoenthusiast.
Chapter Four
The Hokage sat in his office with about twenty of his most prominent jōnin. They were all waiting for one last person to arrive. It was another half hour later before said person arrived.
"Glad you could finally join us Kakashi. Take a seat" The Hokage says motioning to an empty seat in front of his desk that sat beside the team leaders of team's eight and ten.
"My apologies Hokage-samma, but I got a little caught up in something. You see …" Kakashi begin to say only to be interrupted.
"Save it Kakashi and take a seat" The old Hokage says forgoing Kakashi's habit of making outrageously false tales of his journeys on the so called road of life.
Kakashi reluctantly sat down frowning beneath his mask at not being able to tell his story.
"Okay, now that everyone is here I want to hear how the team testing went and if you passed or failed your unit. You have the option to not discuss the testing in detail, but give a general description of the testing and a pass or fail. For those of you who fail your group I want your recommendation for the group on whether they should be put in the reserves, back in the academy, or forced into civilian life" The Hokage says and then points at Asuma to start things off. Asuma stood up and began.
"I didn't really see the need to test my team Hokage-samma so I passed them and spent the time getting to know them and finding out about their skills" Asuma says then sits down.
Those in the room could only groan at the man and his lasses faire attitude towards his team. However, this group was scheduled to be passed through no matter what so with that they moved on to Kurenai.
"I was unable to test my team as Jiraiya-samma won't be back in Konoha for another week or so. He has agreed to inquire about solutions to Yakumo's problem while he is away and to seeing what he can do when he arrives. I have also spoken with Yakumo and the head of the Kurama clan. It was difficult but she has agreed to work with my team and hopefully with time come to forgive me. The Kurama head was ecstatic when he heard his niece will receive help soon and signed off as well on her becoming a ninja again. As for the rest of the team I gave them a tracking test and both were willing to work together and managed to find me in the allotted time. I believe when they finally come together Team 8 will be a great asset to the village" Kurenai says then sits down.
Hiruzen nodded at the report, but had to ask "What made my wayward pupil decided to help out Kurenai-chan?"
"I would rather not say Hokage-samma" Kurenai says as she tries to hide the deep red blush that stained her cheeks.
The deal Kurenai struck required for her to pose in various states of undress as a model for Jiraiya's next novel. There would be no nudity involved, but some very skimpy lingerie that Jiraiya would be providing was apart of the deal. She gave a shudder when she remembered he also stipulated she was to give the lingerie back after the modeling session was over with. Kurenai didn't want to even think about what he would do with them. Still, if this meant Yakumo could be healed and her past mistake fixed she would go through with it as what happened with Yakumo was a regret that still weighed heavily upon her.
The Hokage nodded, but had to turn as his cheeks gained a pink hue and blood threatened to leak from his nose at the thoughts he was having over what his pupil and author of the famous Icha Icha would ask for. He knew his student wouldn't go overboard with his request. Jiraiya as bad as he is wasn't a rapist and wouldn't force Kurenai to do anything she wouldn't feel comfortable doing.
Turning to the last jōnin seated before him Hiruzen nodded for him to give his evaluation.
"They were in a word … terrible Hokage-samma. The Inuzuka kept trying to pick fights with Uchiha-san. The Haruno girl wouldn't do anything that didn't involve her precious 'Sasuke-kun' unless it was to try and physically bash the Inuzuka boy for insulting Sasuke. Sasuke himself was what I expected him to be, but I fear his teammates might hold him back. They failed my original test, but I gave them a second that they managed to pass albeit barely" Kakashi says.
The Hokage nods at the conclusion of the review. These teams were not what he was expecting and they should probably all be failed and forced to spend another year in the academy. However, these were clan heirs and he couldn't afford not to pass them through not to mention there had been a significant drop off recently in new gennin thanks to the civilian councils meddling. Only one team from the previous year was still active and the upcoming crop wasn't too promising.
Turning to the rest of the assembled jōnin Hiruzen asked, "Okay what about the rest of you. I only need a pass or fail response".
"Team 1 failed. I gave the standard team test. I recommend that they return to the academy" says a brown haired jōnin with green eyes.
"Team 2 failed. I also gave the standard team test. I recommend that they become civilians" says a dark haired brown eyed jōnin.
"Team 3 failed. I gave my team a tracking test. I recommend that they also become civilians" says a jōnin with dark blue hair and the whites of the Hyūga.
"Team 4 passed" says a man with dull black haired tied back in a pony tail and black eyes.
At this everyone turned to the man with an incredulous stare. It wasn't unprecedented but in times of peace it was unusual for more than three teams to pass. There was even an agreement to disarm and keep everyone equal. Of course there were ways around this and some villages just out right ignored it but generally three would officially pass and the others would be sent back to the academy, become civilians, or those that showed promise would be put in the reserves to form a team later. So it was a bit of a shock that there was another team thought worthy to pass.
"Please tell us who your gennin are, the manner of testing, and how they managed to pass Shirakumo-san" The Hokage says. If he didn't like the answer to the last two questions he would fail the team, but they would be put into the reserves.
"My name is Shirakumo Hayama, my gennin team consists of Minakura tomaru, Fuki, and Uzumaki Naruto. First I observed them for a bit to see how they got along together which was fine none of them really seemed to have any problem with their other teammates. Then I tested their skills which were good enough for graduating gennin, but none of them really stood out over the other. Then I gave them a seek and destroy mission where they had to find a water clones I had hiding somewhere in the training ground and defeat it. They managed to accomplish the task just under the time limit" Hayama says.
The Hokage nods in response allowing the other jōnin to give their expected reports of failure while he pondered on Team 4. 'I normally would have put them in the reserves, but Shirakumo-san actually tested them well and from what he says they seem to have the requisite skills required. I am ashamed to admit I have forgotten about Naruto as I haven't heard much from him lately, but I am glad he was able to pass after all and without my help' the Sandiame thought.
The rest of the meeting passed with no other surprises and everyone went home. The old Hokage thought about calling for a meeting with Naruto to see how he was doing and what he thought of his team, but decided against it. The boy had done well enough it seems without his intervention so perhaps he could continue on under the radar for awhile longer.
Hello everyone! I hoped you enjoyed the latest chapter of Speed Unlimited. I would like to apologize to everyone whom has taken the time to review. I appreciate each and every one so don't think I'm ignoring you, but until whatever this bug is that's messing up the review reply function is fixed I won't be answering you directly and I'm not the type to do so in an A/N. I again apologize and hope things are fixed soon so that I can respond to all of you once again.
So again thanks for reading, sorry for not answering your reviews, and keep reading okay. Until next time dear reader :)