The Hokage sat at his desk and looked at the list of Academy graduates in front of him and the suggested arrangement of teams that they be sorted into. How predictable, the old man thought. Every year they build the same types of teams over and over and the failure rate stays high. I think it's time to change things up.
The old man grabbed a fresh sheet of paper and began to write out a new listing of the teams and their sensei, smirking as he realized how upset some people would be at the changes involved. Let them rant and rave, the old man though vindictively. I am the Hokage and I am the one who makes the decisions about the ninja under my command.
Naruto waited patiently at his desk, drawing a few stares from his classmates at his choice of wardrobe. He'd decided that although he loved his orange jumpsuit dearly, he would wear his shinigami outfit for missions. He'd already had his identification photo taken and the cameraman had been pleased that the blonde had decided not to pull a prank like wearing kabuki makeup of something equally as silly given his reputation. He'd even met the grandson of the Hokage and shown him a special henge that he'd developed much to the disgust of the adults in town and Tenken: the Oiroke no jutsu. It may have seemed like a simple transformation into a naked girl, but it was a hybrid technique of kidou and genjutsu that actually changed a person's true physical appearance for a short time. Let's see if Konohamaru can figure that one out on his own, Naruto chuckled.
Ino and Sakura entered the room and immediately began fighting over the right of sitting next to the Uchiha, which soured the blonde's good mood immediately. He knew that the people of Konoha loved the Uchiha like he was their savior on high and wondered what it was going to take to wake them up to the fact that Sasuke was too unstable to ever make a good ninja. Too much of his motivation is fueled by a lust for power and revenge, Naruto thought as he remembered what he'd overheard about the Uchiha massacre.
Indeed, Tenken added. That one's soul is as dark as any Hollow's that I have ever encountered. He is consumed by his hate and anger and this will lead him to betray those around him, given the right prompting.
The door to the classroom slid open again and Iruka walked in, moving slowly so as not to aggravate his healing injuries. The hospital had made sure that Iruka was fully healed to report on the evening's events to the Hokage, but even they could only force the body to repair itself so fast. The scarred chuunin placed his papers on the desk and sat down with a grateful sigh. "Today, we'll be assigning the teams and jounin-sensei," he said as he shuffled through his papers. "First will be Team Seven consisting of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Inuzuka Kiba. The jounin-sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." Sakura jumped to her feet at that and began crowing her victory over Ino. Naruto couldn't help but sigh in relief that he wouldn't be stuck with them, but did feel kind of bad for Kiba.
"Ahem," Iruka coughed, causing Sakura to turn red and sink back into her seat in embarrassment. "Team Eight will be Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Akimichi Chouji. Your jounin-sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai. Team Ten will be Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Uzumaki Naruto. Your jounin-sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma. Your new sensei should be arriving soon to pick you up…" A knock on the door caused Iruka to pause as it slid open and two figures walked in. One was a very attractive woman in her early twenties dressed in an odd outfit that looked to be made of trips of white and red cloth wrapped around her body. The other was a tall, solidly built man with a beard and a cigarette hanging from his lip, dressed in the traditional ninja blues and flack vest.
"Ah, Yuuhi-san, Sarutobi-san," Iruka said with a nod to the two. "Your teams have just been announced and they should be ready to go."
"Thank you, Umino-kun," Kurenai said in a throaty voice. "If Team Eight could join me…" Hinata, Shino and Chouji climbed out of their seats and joined their new sensei at the front before following her out of the room. Chouji gave Shikamaru a sad look as he left, but Naruto felt this would be good for the boy. Neither Hinata or Shino judge Chouji by his weight, Naruto thought, so that will be good for him despite splitting him and his friend up. It will also force him to be more aggressive and take the initiative since Hinata's as shy as a mouse and Shino prefers to just let things happen.
"Team Ten, you're with me," Asuma called out. Ino and Shikamaru rose to their feet and joined Naruto as he stood and followed the jounin out of the room. He stooped outside and turned to them. "I thought we could have a nice lunch and get to know each other. There's a nice barbeque restaurant that I like nearby, so how does that sound?"
"Whatever," Shikamaru said lazily.
"As long as I can keep to my diet," Ino said primly.
"Sounds fine," Naruto replied. "But if you keep dieting, you're going to wind up being useless, Ino."
"Are you saying that you want me to get fat," the other blonde asked in a dangerous tone of voice.
"I'm saying that any kunoichi worth calling that gets enough exercise to maintain a decent figure without resorting to silly diets," Naruto replied coolly as he turned to walk outside the building. "I have never seen a heavy kunoichi that wasn't an Akimichi and they have a genetic reason for that extra weight."
"Hmm, he's right you know," Asuma offered. "You need a healthy and balanced diet to perform at your optimum level and to grow. As a kunoichi, you've got to work harder than the boys to build up your physical stamina and chakra reserve."
"But I have my family techniques," Ino protested weakly as she tried to find a hole in the logic presented. "They don't use much chakra and besides, I have to look good for Sasuke-kun."
"Suit yourself if you want to become a one-trick pony," Naruto shrugged. "Your family's arts are usually used in conjunction with the Nara shadow binding arts because they're difficult to use on anyone who's actually moving. I know your father's a jounin. You should ask him if knows other jutsu beyond the family ones. Besides, you've tried for two years to win the Uchiha with the pretty and soft girl tactic and as far as I can tell, it hasn't worked. Maybe a different approach is called for?"
Ino's mouth opened and closed as Shikamaru sighed and shook his head. "Let's just go eat," the lazy boy suggested. "This is all too troublesome to think about on an empty stomach."
"What I said applies to you as well, Shikamaru," Naruto said as he turned his gimlet stare on the Nara boy, who stiffened at the reproach. "Conserving your energy for important things is all well and good, but your chakra reserves are the lowest of all the guys in our class because you don't want to make the effort to do the stamina building exercises. In a serious fight, you'll last as long as Ino and I doubt I will be able to protect myself much less the two of you without sustaining serious injury."
"That's a very interesting analysis, Naruto," Asuma observed as he led them off the Academy grounds and down the street. "How did you come to it?"
"The distribution of the teams," the blonde shrugged. "There's one heavy fighter on each of the teams to balance an information type and a strategic type. I'm our obvious choice as the heavy fighter given my physical abilities and weapon skills. Shikamaru is the strategic component while Ino is left with informational gathering, which is appropriate to her family's psychic jutsus."
"How the hell do you know so much about my family's abilities," Ino snapped, finally breaking out of the shocked state she'd been in.
"Because your father had to help me when I was very young," Naruto said blandly. I was exposed to a very powerful genjutsu that left me in a virtual coma for nearly a month. Inoichi-san had to mindwalk me in order to help me break free."
"Why were you caught in the jutsu," Shikamaru asked intently. "It's rare for high powered genjutsu to be used around people outside of a battle ground. In training, aren't genjutsu specialists given access to secure training areas exactly so that innocents can't get caught in their illusions?"
"Yes," the blonde answered without further explanation as the entered the restraint. Asuma was greeted with a friendly smile, but Naruto drew harsh glares from several of the customers. Once they were shown to a corner booth, Naruto removed his sword from his back and rested it next to him on the seat.
"Well," Asuma coughed politely after giving their order. "We should get to know each other a little better. All I know about you is from your Academy files and what I've heard in passing. I'll start, since you have no way of knowing me. My name is Sarutobi Asuma. I like shogi, relaxing and training. I dislike those who turn on their comrades, pushy women and cauliflower. My dreams are to see my nephew become a decent ninja and start my own family someday. You're up next Shikamaru."
"I like shogi, go, Chouji and watching the cloud," the lazy boy drawled. "I dislike work, annoying people and people who pick on others. My dream for the future is to find a nice wife who won't nag too much."
"Right," Asuma coughed. "Ino, you're up."
"I like flower arrangement, gardening and Sasuke-kun," Ino said proudly. "I dislike know-it-alls, forehead girl and perverts. My dream is to become a famous kunoichi and marry Sasuke-kun!"
"I guess that leaves me, eh," Naruto said, shaking his head sadly. "I like training, my precious people and ramen. I hate people who hate others without good reason, stuck up assholes and perverts. My dream is to become stronger than the Hokage so I can protect my precious people."
"Well, all of that was very interesting," Asuma said thoughtfully, as he laid the meat on the little hibachi built into the table. "Normally a jounin-sensei gives his students a test to determine whether or not they'll be able to work together when things are stacked against them, but I don't think that's going to be necessary."
"I won't lie to you," he continued. "This team was originally set to have Chouji on it to try and repeat the teamwork that your parents had, Shikamaru, Ino. Hokage-sama changed the teams around at the last minute and hasn't seen fit to give any explanations. While I'm sure the both of you are missing Chouji, we have to build a solid base of teamwork among the three of you. Each of you fills a specific element in the team, as Naruto explained earlier, and you need to trust each other in that regards. We'll be working on that in team training and during the missions we take. Now, we'll meet in front of Hokage Tower tomorrow at eight to collect our first mission."
Ino closed the door to her room behind her and plopped herself down onto her bed. She was horribly confused by everything that had happened today. Being on a team with Shikamaru and Chouji had been such an inevitability that she'd never really thought they'd place her anywhere else, despite her desire to be with Sasuke. Having Chouji shuffled out and replaced with Naruto had been a bit of a surprise, but she'd thought little of it since the blonde was the class clown and tended to sleep through class like Shikamaru did. Seeing him today made Ino wonder if she'd ever really known the other boy. He'd looked very imposing in his black outfit, so different than his usual loud orange, and his analysis of her and Shikamaru's abilities was as cold as it was accurate.
A knock at the door distracted her as it opened to reveal her father. He came in and sat down on the bed next to her. "So, how'd your first team meeting go," Inoichi asked.
"Weird," Ino replied, staring up at the ceiling. "Did you know they didn't put Chouji with me and Shikamaru?"
"I talked to Chouza earlier this morning," Inoichi replied. "He said that Chouji had been placed with the Hyuuga girl and the Aburame boy. We were both surprised, since we all expected the three of you to be put on a team together like we were. So who did you get teamed with?"
"Well, they left me and Shikamaru together and put Naruto in Chouji's place," Ino answered with a glance at her father's face. His face went blank at the mention of the boy's name and Ino knew there was something wrong there. "He said that he knew you from when he was little."
Inoichi sighed and he suddenly looked a lot older to Ino. "That was a bad situation all around. I can't really tell you much of it since it's been classified as an S-Rank secret, but he was caught in the backlash of a really nasty genjutsu and wasn't able to find his way out of it. I was called in to break him out of it. I've kept an eye on him since and I think they've put someone who'll be good for you on your team."
"What," Ino protested. "How could that color blind idiot be good for me."
"Princess, I love you," her father said, "but you've never taken being a ninja seriously. Oh, you've learned a few things, but you're going to be dealing with real danger sooner or later and I really don't think you're ready for that. Naruto's seen a lot in his life and I have enough faith in his ability to dig the lot of you out of trouble."
"He said something like that today," Ino frowned. "He was pretty clear that he thought I didn't take being a kunoichi seriously and he lumped me in with Shikamaru as people who weren't ready to be shinobi. HE told me to ask if you had techniques other than our family jutsu that you used regularly."
"Of course I do," Inoichi replied, surprised. "No ninja can afford to be a one trick pony. I wouldn't say I have the jutsu repertoire that someone like Sharingan no Kakashi has, but I do have a decent variety and so does Shikaku. Chouza has a couple of jutsu, but he's more of a taijutsu specialist than anything. I'd be happy to teach you some of the lower rank jutsu I know, but you're going to have to build your stamina and chakra reserve before you can handle them."
"So, what you're saying is that I'm hopelessly useless," Ino sighed.
"Not at all," her father protested. "Most new genin aren't really very advanced. The ones that are usually will be the heavy combat types. Their skills are almost purely physical in nature and don't require nearly as much training up as a ninjutsu or genjutsu specialist. You can become strong too, but it's going to take a lot of dedication and hard work."
"Well, I'm not going to let anyone put me down like that," Ino said as she sat up, fire lighting in her eyes. "I'm going to show him that I can be just as strong!"
Inoichi just smiled at his daughter. Sad that she was beginning to grow up, but glad that she was ready to take her training seriously. This new dedication might be what kept her alive long enough to learn what she really needed to know.
Shikamaru lay on the roof outside the window of his room and stared up at the clouds as they drifted by lazily. Today had been incredibly troublesome. He had expected that he would be placed on a team with Ino and Chouji to take advantage of the way their family's abilities synergized. When Chouji had been replaced by Naruto, the lazy boy had been stunned. That shock had continued to when the blonde had given an analysis of his and Ino's abilities; one that sadly the Nara boy had not been able to dispute.
Ino did have serious problems as a kunoichi since her only goal had been to win Sasuke before one of the other girls did. Naruto's cold dismissal of her abilities had been a sharp slap to the face, one which the girl had badly needed.. Shikamaru had known the prissy blonde all of his life and this was not going to sit well with her. She was going to do her damnedest to make Naruto eat his words or die trying.
While the easygoing boy had long since let words of criticism flow off his back, the way Naruto had described his deficiencies mad him pause to think. While his Kagemane no jutsu was a very useful and versatile technique, it was merely the tip of the iceberg as far as the Nara family jutsu were concerned. Few of his family had ever bothered to delve too deeply into the family scrolls, but Shikamaru had been curious what was there, so he'd dragged them out of storage and even went through the effort of recopying the scrolls since they'd begun to decay with age.
The scrolls had a variety of techniques that would be useful for a ninja, but all of them beyond the basics were very chakra intensive. That was what had prevented most of the Nara clan from ever learning to use the jutsu, since laziness was pretty much an inherited trait. Maybe it's time to put some of it to work, the lazy boy thought as he absently gazed at the clouds. I've been able to coast this long, but now that we're going to go on missions things are going to change.
"Shikamaru! Get down here and take the trash out," A shrill female voice shouted. The boy winced at the sound of his mother's voice and wondered, not for the first time, why his father had married such a troublesome woman.
"So, you're saying that I'm ready to use your Shikai, now that I know you name," Naruto asked the black armored form of Tenken, who was once again inhabiting the training dummy's physical shell.
Yes, Tenken replied. The form will be a bit different for you than it was for Komamura, so I can't say what it will look like…
"All right," the blonde exclaimed excitedly. "Let's see, I just focus my power and call out, Todoroke Tenken!" Energy swirled around the boy as the blade of his sword lengthened and thickened until it was a literal slab of metal. Armor formed on Naruto's chest and forearms, matching the type that Tenken wore on the same places.
Definitely different, Tenken judged. Komamura created a phantom arm with a sword that appeared whenever he sung his blade. Your version is more like pulling myself around you in a more physical form and I must admit that I'm rather surprised that the blade turned into a zanbattou. Now I'm glad that I had you do those strength building exercises. The blade will not be any heavier, but you'll need the extra strength to change the momentum a blade like that will pick up when you swing it.
"This is so cool," Naruto said as he examined the armor and new blade. "This blade fights differently doesn't it?"
Yes, Tenken answered. A larger blade requires more fighting room. I would advise against using the Shikai in a confined space.
"So that's going to mean more training to use it effectively," Naruto sighed.
Indeed, however that can wait, Tenken said. I wish to discuss your current teammates.
Naruto winced before reluctantly replying, "I was kind of hard on them, wasn't I? I didn't want to be cruel, but they both needed the kick in the pants if they're ever going to become anything more than weak genin. I had you to kick me anytime I backslid, but I don't think anyone ever came out and told them so bluntly what they were doing wrong."
While I can see your logic, Tenken admitted, remember that you are dealing with people and people are ruled by emotion. They may hold your words against you the way many villagers still hold the fox against you, so be prepared. You will still be required to work with them for the next few years and you will need to be able to cooperate on missions. Contemplate how best to reconcile with them if necessary. In the meantime, defend yourself!