Three swirl of leaves appeared in front of the academy, revealing Naruto and the two Uchihas. They quickly ran into the building, finding their classroom with practiced ease. Walking into the room they sat in the back next to each other, as they always have, waiting for their Chunin Instructor. After a moment, he strolled in. Standing in front of the students, he sighed.
"You are all genin now, and I am sure you know what that means. No more tests, no more protection from enemies. You are now in charge of aiding and protecting our village. You will kill, you will die, you may even meet a special person. Ah, screw it here is your teams…" he sighed, clearly not wanting to be there. He looked like he had a hangover. Naruto rolled his eyes. Lazy drunk chuunin. He tuned out the teams until he heard his name.
"Team 2 will include Itachi Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki." immediately after the declaration, Naruto and Shisui high-fived, grinning. Itachi smiled. "Your teacher will be Shikaku Nara," the chunin finished. A lazy looking Jonin walked in, a spiked goatee and two scars lining across the left side of his face. His dark hair was put up in the shape of a pineapple.
"Team 2, please meet me up on the roof." the man spoke, before vanishing in a Shunshin. The new genin team quickly followed, appearing on the roof. They sat down across from their team leader.
"Alright, let's get this over with… My name is Shikaku Nara, I am the clan head of the Nara clan. I am also the Jonin commander. Normally, I wouldn't be put in charge of a genin team, but due to your potential, the Hokage made an exception. I expect you to work hard, as for the next couple of months, and I guarantee it will only be months, you will be run through the grinder. Now, introduce yourselves starting with Blondy." Naruto gave a light glare at the comment, but let it go. He stood up.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, shinobi registration number is 103804, my rank is Genin." he said stiffly, his training with Danzo showing through. Shikaku sighed.
"No, I meant introduce yourselves. As in likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dream for the future… damn Root.." he mumbled the last part. Naruto smirked slightly.
"Alright, fine. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I enjoy hanging out with Itachi and Shisui, training, ramen, my mom, and having debates with the Kyuubi." Shikaku interrupted once again.
"Wait, you know about the Kyuubi? And you talk to it?" Shikaku, startled, stood up. Naruto smirked.
"I have known for a while. There is a reason I am considered a prodigy alongside Shisui and Itachi-chan. And yes, my teammates already knew. Anyways, my dislikes are traitors, people who harm my family, and when the Kyuubi is going through.. Her time of the month…" Naruto shuddered, "my hobbies include training, reading history, eating ramen, hanging out with Itachi and Shisui, and experimenting with new jutsu ideas. My dream for the future… I guess I want to take the hat from the Old Man," Naruto smiled. Shikaku sighed.
"Alright… Ms. Dark and Mysterious, your turn." Itachi bristled, but showed no noticeable change, though Naruto and Shisui caught the annoyance.
"My name is Itachi Uchiha. I enjoy training, hanging out with Naruto and Shisui, and my little brother, Sasuke. I dislike traitors, people who assume that Kunoichi are weaker, and people who harm my family. My hobbies include training, eating pocky, practicing the Uchiha grunt, and hanging out with my team. My dream for the future is to become ANBU Commander." She finished with a sense if finality. Shikaku nodded towards her. Finally, Shisui stood up.
"My name is Shisui Uchiha, I enjoy training, hanging out with Naruto and Itachi, teasing my nephew, Sasuke, and I love bananas. I dislike those who rely on their bloodline, arrogance, and ignorance. My hobbies include training, practicing the Shunshin, and hanging out with my team. I hope to one day be an ANBU captain under Itachi and master the Shunshin." Shisui said, smiling lightly. Shikaku nodded.
"Alright. Meet me at training ground 44 tomorrow at 6 am. I'm going to completely bypass the standard test, as I know you would pass it anyways, so we will begin your training immediately. We will do D-ranks once a week for a whole day, but otherwise we will be only training. I want you all to be Chuunin in less than a month or so, and hopefully Jounin in at least a year. Hokage-sama has seen potential in all of you and I expect you to follow through with his expectations. Dismiss!" Shikaku spoke in a commanding tone, none of the typical Nara laziness showing at this current moment.
"Hai!" The three of them vanished in Shunshins. Shikaku smiled. They would be an interesting team. All three of them were prodigies in their own right. Itachi in genjutsu, her Sharingan, and abilities with a tanto, Shisui in Fire, Wind, and Yin releases and his Shunshin, and Naruto with his Fuinjutsu, stealth, and Demon Techniques. Hopefully, with his new Dojutsu, his stealth and assassination abilities will spike as well.
Kakashi Hatake was mad. It wasn't a common sight, and many people gave him much room as he walked to the Hokage Tower, KI radiating off him in waves. He walked past the ANBU guards, and straight to the Hokage's office. He walked in without so much a care.
"Hokage-sama." He said stiffly, "I want to know why Naruto wasn't on my team." The Hokage smiled.
"You're young, Kakashi. You're not that much older than they are. Nine years to be exact if I remember correctly. You are not quite old enough to be training genin teams yet, even if you are a Jonin. Besides, I have other uses for you at the moment…" Hiruzen explain. Kakashi glared, before dropping it and sighing, slouching slightly. He was hoping to be able to pay back Obito by training an Uchiha and paying back his sensei by training Naruto.
"As you command, Hokage-sama." Kakashi said, getting ready to leave. However, before he could, the Hokage spoke.
"However," he said, gaining Kakashi's attention, "you can assist with their training once a week." Kakashi grinned under his mask, and nodded.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Hiruzen nodded, smiling kindly, looking more like a caring grandfather than the most powerful ninja in the village. However, looks can be deceiving.
~Training Ground 44, 6 AM~
Team 2 showed up right on time, their sensei already waiting for them. He looked over them, his stern look proving that yes, this was the Jonin Commander looking down at them. He sighed, pulling out a cigarette and puffing on it.
"Welcome to the Forest of Death, also known as Training Ground 44. This will be your home for the next month, you will only be allowed to leave on Saturdays, where you will be spending the day doing D-Ranks. After the month is over, you will be going on a C-Rank mission with me, where you will be clearing a bandit camp. Then you will spend another month in the forest. The last month before you take the Chunin exams will be of hands on training, where I will be teaching you everything I can that a Chunin should know. Now, get going!" Shikaku shouted. The three of them nodded and vanished. It was time for the hard part to begin.
~Inside the Forest~
Team 2 arrived a good distance in the forest. Naruto immediately turned to his teammates, and began to formulate a battle strategy with them, having a couple shadow clones survey the area to get a mental map. After a couple minutes, he nodded, knowing the general direction of everything in the vicinity for the next couple miles.
"To the north of us, there is a river flowing to what I believe is the center, which means the tower. We should head there to make it our main base of operations. I highly doubt Shikaku-sensei will be pleased if we just camp out the whole time, so we will need a schedule." Naruto said. Itachi and Shisui nodded in agreement, Itachi laying out what the schedule was to be, always the best organizer out the three of them.
"Once we reach the tower, we should scout the surrounding area. We will rotate night watches and we will also rotate hunting order. Everyone who leaves anywhere farther than fifty meters than the tower should be accompanied by the other two, who knows what lives in this place. We should spend some time at the tower to actually train as well." Itachi laid out the plans.
"I doubt Shikaku-sensei will just leave us in here without any actual challenges. He should know that we can handle most things in here, other than the tigers, snakes, and centipedes. Those, and anything in the forbidden sector. We will definitely avoid that. I bet Shikaku-sensei will be sending challenges for us via scroll." Everyone nodded. Now that the plans were laid out, and things were thought out, Team 2 began their journey to the center of the Forest of Death.
"Shit!" Naruto shouted, dodging yet another giant leech. It turned out the three Genin greatly underestimated this forest. It seemed that it was sending everything it could at them, as they had already encountered giant spiders, slugs, leeches, and carnivorous plants. It was ridiculous!
"What the hell is up with this forest!" Shisui shouted. Meanwhile, outside of the forest, a Jonin chuckled, watching some of the surveillance videos from the forest. Itachi cut yet another leech in half with her Tanto, while Naruto was dodging and cutting apart a plant that tried to bite him. A plant! Shisui grimaced as he cut himself out of a web shot at him by a giant spider, before throwing a kunai to spear it in the head.
"This is annoying." Itachi spoke, her voice emotionless other than the faint hint of pure annoyance and disgust. Naruto and Shisui nodded in agreement, before they all continued onwards. They have been at this for about three hours, and they were hoping they were almost there. Luck was on their side, with Naruto it's always on their side, and they spotted the tower relatively quickly. They quickly sped up. Shikaku smirked, chewing on some popcorn.
"God fucking damnit!" Naruto shouted in frustration. The entire perimeter was booby trapped. They finally managed to get past the traps, which included pitfalls, kunai launchers, log swings, exploding tags, poisonous gas, a toilet being thrown at them (don't ask) and finally a fucking flamethrower the size of a lion. Needless to say, it was dark now and the three of them were exhausted.
"Want to take first shift anyone?" Naruto asked. Both the Uchihas glared at him and he sighed. Of course he was first night watch.
"Let's get some rest… I hate this forest already." Naruto pouted, lightening the mood. Itachi giggled, causing him to smile subconsciously. Maybe he could live with this for a while.