"All of you in this room have passed your examination." Waiting for the hum of voices to subside Iruka scans the faces around the room. They still have their baby fat. No doubt, some will fall, it is what they have signed on for, with the hope that it will not be them. But, they feel different. Some part of him speaks of hope and bright things with the children being the cause. Perhaps, this is the year that things are different, that dreams come true.

"You have been sorted into groups of three. I will read aloud the names, please move to sit by your teammates. After this, your new sensei's will come to get you. Team one: group leader Hatake Kakashi, members Hyuuga Hinita, Uchiha Sasuke, and Aburame Shino. Team two group leader Yuuhi Kurenia, members Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Akimichi Choji. Team three, group leader Hayate Gekkou, members Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Nara Shikamaru."

Letting out a loud whoop of joy Naruto reveled in his luck, he would be with Sakura-chan! Ignoring the pointed look from Iruka-sensei, he scanned the classroom for his other teammate. In his one week of being in class, he had managed to observe and categorize his peers, mentally laying out their potential strengths and weaknesses. The Ino girl was too easy to rile up, she would have to work on that if she wanted to make it. Wincing in sympathy as his point was proven Nauto watched as Ino not so subtly smacked a sleeping boy on the back of his head, forcing his head to hit the desk and the boy to awaken to the sensation of pain. Catching moving pink out of his perifial vision, Naruto turned to see Sakura making her way over to the boy, signaling for him to follow. Scrambling out of his seat and behind her he quickly connected the dots, the previously sleeping boy was their new teammate. Sakura didn't seem bothered by this, he must be an average to good ninja then.

"Excuse me Ino-chan. Did you just hit my teammate?" Sakura laughingly questioned, humor sparkling in her eyes as she watched the blond toss her hair.

"You'll be hitting him before long, he's the laziest ninja there is. At least I got teammates who don't fall asleep whenever possible, even if they aren't Sasuke." Coy smile dancing on her lips Ino gave a fleeting glance at the object of most girls desire.

"How troublesome." Muttered under the breathe Shikamaru finally gave up on attempting to sleep again, there was no rest when Ino was around and he had a sneaking suspicion that Sakura wouldn't be much different.

Iruka droned on in the background, sorting the remaining students, having given up any hope that the kids would remain quiet and orderly, it was the same every year.

"What's so special about Sasuke anyway?" Naruto asked, jealousy rising in his chest as the two girls continued talking.

"Let it go Naruto, girls are scary when they start talking about him. It's best to just wait it out." Two heads simultaneously swiveled as he spoke, blinking slowly Shikamaru entertained the thought that perhaps, a quieter voice would have been best.

"Oh, really, Shikamaru?" Ino hissed, cracking her knuckles as Sakura folded her arms over her chest one eye narrowed dangerously.

Minutes later Ino had waltzed off, self satisfied smirk stretched prettily across her lips with a very similar one decorate Sakura's face as Shikamaru nursed the two lumps now on his head while Naruto snickered.

"You're right Shikamaru. They are scary when they're talking about him." Ignoring the glare directed at him Naruto keyed in to the Iruka.

"Now, you all have your teams, your Senseis are here, well, most are here. You are to wait until they arrive. Good luck." With that Iruka opened the door allowing a few adults to trickle into the room.

"Team five, team five."

"Team two, team two."

"Team three, Sakura." With a laugh of joy, Sakura scrambled out of her seat and to her friend turned sensei's side.

"I guess you were lucky enough after all." Sticking her tongue out triumphantly the girl signaled to her new teammates to join them. Bouncing to her side Naruto was trailed by a rather lackluster Shikamaru.

"Now that all three of you are here, were going to go to the training fields so I can get a feel for your strengths and weaknesses." The walk there was pleasant enough, the three chatted while Shikamaru offered up his thoughts when he felt it worth the excursion.

"Alright, now that we're here. I have two bells." A faint tinkling accompanied the bells as they were tied to his belt, "in order to truly become genin, you have to secure a bell. You will not be permitted to pass without one."

"Hey, hey, there are three of us and only two bells?" Naruto shouted, pointing a finger at the bells as to further show the discrepancy.

"Yes. We will take a small break for lunch which is in..." looking down at his watch he continued with a bright smile, "Three hours. Begin." With a poof, he was gone leaving three very confused genin.

"They never mentioned this, they said that after we passed the test we were genin." Naruto huffed.

"Exactly, they said after we passed the test. This is a test." Shikamaru intoned, closing his eyes and sitting down on the grass.

"But..." Sakura began, absentmindedly tapping her chin as she grappled with the situation. "Genin teams always consist of three people and a sensei..."

"Yes, that is odd. Unless they take who passes the test and remake the teams..." Shikamaru ventured. "But I've never heard of them doing that..."

"Well.. what the..." Naruto yelled as he narrowly dodged a kunai to the stomach. Leaping to their feet the three took out their own weapons while scanning the surrounding trees.

"Shuriken, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." With that a hail of shuriken desceneded.

Thinking quickly Shikamaru yelled, "Kawarimi no jutsu," changing places with a log, settling himself on the tree branch Shikamaru watched as Sakura deflected the shurikan before creating a henge and darting in opposing directions. Flushing out Hayate, he noted with interest. She would be the one to watch, Ino had mentioned that Sakura trained with him. She would know his weaknesses. It would be best if they could retreat and pump her for information and come up with a plan of attack. Naruto had dodged the blades and now stood in the same clearing.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Suddenly, a small army of Naruto's came into existence before leaping into the trees. Had they coordinated this? Hearing sounds of blades clashing Shikamaru began weaving a subtle web.

-

They were working together, Hayate noted as he parried a katana thrust by Sakura. After Naruto had made the clones, he had no choice but to change position. Sakura had been waiting for movement and had promptly intercepted him. Now she was forcing him to the ground along with some of Naruto's clones. He had counted the number originally, ten. Now, there were only three Naruto's and one Sakura. Something didn't sit well though, there was one missing. Most likely the real Naruto. He had been trained by Hatake Kakashi and it showed. The Kage Bunshin was not a technique shown to genin, being in fact forbidden. However, it was made all the more dangerous by the boys massive chakra capacity.

Allowing himself to be maneuvered to the ground he waited for them to show their plan. When a hand grabbed his ankle and began to pull him downwards it all fell into place. Kakashi was near famous for his use of Doton Shinjuu Zanshuu no jutsu. Quickly transporting away Hayate felt like chuckling. They were good, now if he could just get the other one to reveal some of his skills. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the blade coming. Dropping down to the next branch he felt like laughing, they had set a trap as well. Deflecting the kunai and twisting to avoid the needles, he wasn't surprised when he felt his body go rigid. He had underestimated them, not believing they had enough time to formulate any real plan. Smiling wryly at his young charges he wasn't surprised when Naruto and Sakura plucked the two bells from his belt and stood there smiling goofily as they clapped Shikamaru on the back.

Feeling control over his body again Hayate beamed. "Lunch time!"

"Shannaro!" Sakura shouted as she pumped her fist in the air. Walking back to the clearing jauntily Hayate watched. Perhaps it was time to remind them of the 'problem.'

"I take it Naruto and Sakura are going to go one being genin." They were the closest bond and the best test. They had no strong connections with Shikamaru and would be less inclined to give up a bell. The speed their smiles fell was extraordinary.

-

Mapping out the chances that Sakura or Naruto would give up a bell Shikamaru resigned himself to another year as an academy student. Not that it was bad, that meant more time sleeping and less pressure. Hm, maybe it was actually a good thing.

Looking at Sakura Naruto felt torn. There was no way he could desert Shikamaru like that but... being a genin... Sakura gave a nod of her head and all doubts were instantly banished. He had Sakura and that's all that mattered, lazy ass was well worth it too.

"No, we won't be genin without Shikamaru. Ninja who abandon their friends are worse than scum!" Sakura nodded firmly, eyes hard. Blinking slowly Shikamaru took it in, smile slowly appearing.

"Well then, you pass."

Longer chapter than most. Hope you guys liked it and I really hope that you leave a comment. I love seeing what you guys are thinking. -Cloey Marie-