Naruto watched as his newest Genin team arrived at the bridge Kakashi had had him gather at when he was a Genin. The three students mulled about silently while they waited for their Sensei to arrive.

Two of them were clearly friends a boy and a girl, the boy sat with his back against the side of the bridge sharpening his Kunai while the girl talked to him about this, that and the other.

The Boy's name was Nagashi Azuko. He had short black hair and dark green eyes, a strong build and a strong jaw line with high cheek bones. Even though the boy looked relaxed he was tensed and observant, keeping an eye out for his Sensei. He had scored the highest in his class and was considered to be somewhat of a protégé. He was skilled, focused and driven, all qualities needed in good Shinobi.

The girl talking to him was Moshibi Taki. She was tall for her age, with mahogany hair and kind green eyes that had a reputation for quelling even the most strenuous situation. She had received good grades in the academy, having balanced her studies with her techniques perfectly, all in all a well-balanced Shinobi.

The Final member of his newest team was another girl. She sat a few feet away from her team mates, looking out over the river, her feet dangling over the edge. She had long blond hair tied into pig tails that ran down her back, going to her knees. Here blue eyes seemed to be a million miles away at the moment. She wore a black tank top with matching sleeves coming up past her shoulders, and loose fitting pants the same colour. Her name was Soji Akari.

And much like Naruto had been, so many years ago, she was the academies dead last looser. One of a few reasons Naruto had requested her specifically, the other two had been assigned by Shikamaru to balance out the teams.

Azuko put away his Kunai and sighed in frustration. "He's late," The boy muttered unhappily, clearly not liking being made to wait.

"What are you talking about Azuko?" Akari asked, "He's been in that tree since we got here." She said pointing directly at Naruto.

Naruto lost his eyebrows somewhere around the back of his head while the other two Genin glanced at the tree. Azuko glared at her. "No his isn't you Baka!" He said hotly, "And who said you could use my first name?" As if to prove a point Azuko threw his kunai at the tree. It landed with a heavy 'thock' in the trunk right next to Naruto, who for his part remained stock still.

There was a moment of silence before Azuko turned back to Akari. "See nothing, not even a bird." He said. "Besides if I couldn't spot him, how on earth would a loser like you spot him?" He all but spat at her. Naruto bit his lip and fought down the sudden urge to slap the boy, he was even worse than Sasuke was when he was a Genin.

"That's it Teme!" Akari, roared as she whipped herself to her feet, ready to pounce, kunai in hand, Azuko had taken up a similar stance at the atmosphere around those two were tense.

Naruto was about to step in when Taki did it for him. "You guys!" She said, stepping in between the two angry Genin flicking her gaze form one to the other. "We're a team now, we can't act like this, we can't fight each other."

Gradually, the two Genin dropped their offensive stances and put their weapons away. It was then that Naruto chose to drop out of the tree. "Well good morning." He said with a grin, walking over to his new students.

"You're late," Azuko said pointedly, his eyebrows set in a frown.

Naruto smiled innocently and scratched the back of his head. "Oh sorry about that, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way here." Naruto said, once again thankful for Kakashi's many late excuses.

Azuko was silently glaring at him, Taki was standing their expectantly, and Akari was trying not to laugh.

"All right come with me." He said walking past them, across the bridge.

"Wait where are you going?" Azuko shouted after him.

Naruto smiled back at him. "Follow and you might find out." He said mischievously.

Azuko grunted in frustration and set out after Naruto, the other two Genin closely behind. When they fell in line behind him, Naruto couldn't help but notice that Akari stood to his left while Taki and Azuko walked on his right.

Usually he wouldn't have read too much into it, if he had been walking in line with the three young Shinobi, however they were a good few steps behind and the segregation was painfully obvious. Taki stood in-between Azuko and Akari to avoid any fighting, but they also kept the girl at arm's length, keeping her only as close as they had to.

In all honesty Naruto felt like berating them for it, but realised it would really serve no real purpose. Sadly Akari would have to earn their trust, as well as the trust of the other villages. He'd seen how they looked at her when she was alone, the same looks they had given him many years ago.

Eventually they reached Training ground 7 where Naruto stopped to assess the three Genin.

"Right, well first let me congratulate you on graduating from the academy, well done guys." He said in his usual upbeat tone, trying to lighten the mood.

Azuko cast a glare at Akari and muttered. "I still can't believe that, that loser passed." Most people wouldn't have heard it, but Naruto in particular had a rather sharp sense of hearing and heard every word.

He cast a glance at Akari wondering if she had heard him. Her ears were a very light shade of red and her eyes were hard and cold.

Yes, he told himself, she had heard him quite clearly. He gave the obnoxious Genin a glair to settle his tong and spoke again, deciding know was the time for their final test.

"Anyway," He said drawing out the word for a few extra seconds in an attempt to defuse the rapidly deteriorating atmosphere. "I have one final test for you guys before you have officially graduated to Genin."

He felt himself smile a little as three young heads snapped to his so fast he was sure at least one of them got whiplash.

"What? What do you mean?" Taki asked, clearly nervous. Naruto looked at her, noticing she was playing with the hemline of her shirt as she spoke.

"I mean you three aren't yet Genin," Naruto explained to her. "I have one final test for you three, if you can't pass, then you aren't fit to be shinobi." Naruto explained.

"So what, do we just get sent back to the academy?" Akari asked, looking at Naruto with an apprising eye.

Naruto allowed a rather creepy grin to part his lips at that point. "No," He said, maintaining the grin. "If you fail then you won't ever become a shinobi of Konohagakure." He told them wickedly.

He felt the three Genin tense at his words, glade to know that his scare tactic had hit home. In truth he didn't overly like scaring his Genin teams like this, but in all honesty they need to be set strait.

It was then that Azuko let his mouth get a head of his brain, shouting. "What! How can you do that to me? I won't accept it!" The boy shouted angrily.

Naruto didn't really know what part of the boy's outburst lead to his reaction.

It could have been the tone he was using.

The fact that he was acting like a spoilt brat.

Or the fact that he was still only thinking of himself.

To him it felt like a slow lazy movement, but to the three Genin it was blindingly fast. He reached into his back pouch and threw three shuriken at them. Intending to wake them up a bit, but the three acted differently to what he was expecting.

Akari dropped into a low crouch, the shuriken flying harmlessly overhead.

Taki tensed like he thought she would and the shuriken went whizzing past her head like it was supposed to.

Azuko however tried to block it with one of his kunai. Normally such a tactic would have worked, however Naruto had instinctively added chakra to his arm when he threw, giving the shuriken extra speed and strength.

There was a loud 'clink' of metal on metal as the two weapons met and Azuko's kunai was ripped from his hand.

"You really have to learn to watch what you say." Naruto said, in a dark tone. "I don't give a damn weather or not you accept, but if I say something then it goes." He told them. "I am your Jonin Sensei, and only I can say if you three a fit to be Shinobi or Konohagakure. Given your attitude and performance thus far I have half a mind to fail you hear and now." He told them.

It was a spectacularly harsh wake up call, but he knew he wouldn't be doing them any favours by sugar coating it for them. Sometimes, you just had to be brutally honest. The three of them were looking down at their feet now, not able to look him in the eyes.

"However," Naruto added after a sufficient pause.

Three sets of eyes locked on him, and he had to force himself not to smile. "If you can prove to me that you have what it takes to be Shinobi of Konohagakure then I will pass you." He said simply.

"And how do we prove that?" Akari asked.

Naruto smiled at her. "I'm glad you asked Akari," Naruto said, his body seemed to flicker and he held out his hand.

All three Genin went ridged with shock, staring at Naruto with disbelief as he held his hand to them, their headbands in between his fingers.

"So how does this sound." Naruto said, in a challenging tone. "If you can get your head band from me then you pass, simple as that." He said grinning mischievously. "You can use any means you see fit, taijutsu, Ninja tools, hell, even Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, if you know any that is."

The three Genin stared at him in shock for another moment.

"Well, come on." Naruto said. His words seemed enough to spur them into action, Azuko and Akari acted first, running at him.

Akari kept herself low, running like a cat, kunai in hand.

Azuko ran dead strait, Kunai in each hand.

Taki seemed a bit too scared to move at this point in time, though Naruto could hardly blame her. Akari and Azuko had avoided the shuriken aimed at them, while Taki's had simply missed, right now the girl was too far out in the deep end, she was scared and he could see that.

Naruto retuned his gaze to Akari and Azuko. Akari came in low from his right, while Azuko came in high from the left. At first glance the two seemed to be working together, but on closer observation they were acting as individuals.

Their form was fine for one on one combat, but they didn't have the level of skill he did so a one on one fight was pointless. They need to work as a team, and even the most basic teamwork brought with it a flow and effect that would have been more than enough for Naruto to pass them, but they were to focused on their own goals to see the larger picture.

As the two came within striking distance Naruto came in to meet them, he stepped forward and pinned Akari to the ground by standing on her arm. Azuko came in and swung both his kunai for Naruto's throat, Naruto flicked out the kunai in his sleeve to parry the blow before retracting it and disarming the boy. He delivered two quick hits, one to the gut and the second to the jaw, sending the boy sprawling.

In that brief window of opportunity Taki attacked, she sent a literal barrage of shuriken's at him; he counted over twenty before he was forced to step away, he took two steps back and weaved in and out of the storm of shuriken storm that Taki had loosened at him. The shuriken's whizzed past and Akari leapt back into the fight striking from below sending both feet up in an incredibly powerful double kick, he stepped back and to the side as the girl spun on her hand and sent a hand full of shuriken at him.

By then Azuko had gotten back to his feet, ready for more, Naruto let himself sigh, it wouldn't be hard to keep fending off the three Genin, but it would be time consuming, and argues. So he decided to run, their combat abilities were on par, though Naruto had to know how Taki had thrown so many shuriken so quickly.

He jumped back from the three of them and leapt into the trees, hiding himself almost immediately after. The three Genin looked around each other for a moment before setting off.

At first glance they looked to be working as a team, but it soon became clear that Akari and Azuko were fighting each other just as much as they were fighting Naruto, while Taki actually tried to bring some form of teamwork to the team.

The rest of the day carried on much the same, they would 'find' Naruto, there would be a brief skirmish, before he would see that they still weren't working as a team, and would run off again.

He sprung traps on them and a whole and as individuals several times, and more often than not Taki would get them out of it, though Naruto did notice that Akari was more willing to help Taki when Naruto trapped her, whereas Azuko would most likely run off in pursuit of Naruto.

Near sunset he called it a day. "All right that's enough." He said a little wirily.

The three Genin seemed grateful to be able to sink to the ground and rest.

"Do we pass?" Akari asked, her tone was neutral, like she didn't really care what it was, she just wanted to know.

"No," Naruto said blandly.

The three Genin looked at him, Akari with those jaded blue eyes that showed no real emotion, Taki seemed sad like she'd let herself and the others down – though as far as Naruto was concerned it was the other way around.

And Azuko, like Naruto had expected, had eyes blazing with anger. "It's not fair," The boy shouted. "How the hell were we supposed to be able to beat a Jonin!?" He asked angrily.

Naruto shrugged, "You weren't," He told them, when the three looked up, not understanding what he said he continued. "You three weren't supposed to be able to beat me in a one on one fight; that's impossible quite frankly." He told them, "However, if the three of you worked together, as a team, then I would have been able to pass you, but you couldn't do that. Even Taki said it to you guys this morning." He said, noticing the glances between the three of them. "She said you guy were a team. And what is a team supposed to do?" He asked them.

None of them answered immediately but Taki finally spoke up. "They work together." She said quietly.

Naruto nodded. "Yes they do," He said, "Something you guys don't seem to comprehend. Of all of you Taki is the only one I would pass."

They all looked up; Taki looked surprised, Azuko looked angry, and Akari didn't show any emotion.

"Why her?" Azuko asked, his anger was evident, but he was smart enough not to make a scene out of it.

"Because she tried to work with you two," Naruto told them. "She tried to actually bring in an element of team work into the equation, you two however, were too busy trying to one up each other to actually do anything." The other two Genin looked down at their feet.

Naruto decided that enough was enough; these three clearly wouldn't be his last team – not something he was overly sad about. "Well, I'm off, see you guys around." Naruto said walking away.

It was a long time before any of the three Genin moved at all, Akari finally broke the silence between them.

"Should we try it?" She asked them.

"Try what?" Taki asked.

"Proving we can work as a team." Akari answered.

"What's the point we already failed." Azuko said bitterly.

Akari nodded, "That's exactly why we should try." She said. "Look, technically we haven't failed until he's given a full report to Lady Hokage." She explained to them. "If we can get to him before he gives his report to her, we can still pass. But we really will have to work together." She said scooting over between them; she held out her hand. "Team?" She asked.

Taki barely hesitated, putting her hand on top of Akari's. "Sure," The girl said with a smile. Despite her usually distant and blank demeanour Akari smiled as well before turning to Azuko. "What do you say?" She asked.

The boy remained silent so Akari pushed him. "Come on we've got nothing left to lose, we may even be allowed to re-do the academy, we've already lost, so how could it get worse?"

Azuko twitched slightly, he was loathed to work with someone as incompetent and as dumb as Akari, but she had a point, it was either try his luck with her – more than likely – hair brain scheme, or accept failure.

Without looking at her, he put his hand over Taki's "Deal." He muttered quietly.

A wicked grin broke out over Akari's face. "All right then, well tell me what you think of this," She said as she began to outline her plane to them.

Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha with a dissatisfied look, it wasn't a pleasant feeling to fail a group of young bright eyed ninja, but he had had no choice, sure they hadn't failed until he told the Hokage, and given the hour he might as well wait till the next day but is was still a bitter feeling.

"Naruto-kun, are you okay?" A voice to his side asked. Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin not knowing someone was so close to him. He let out a startled yelp which got more than a few looks from passers-by, and jumped a few feet before realising who it was.

He only knew two people with indigo hair and pale eyes, and only one of them used 'kun' on the end of his name.

"Oh hey Hinata," He said with a grin, trying to forget his earlier reaction to her. "How are you?" He asked her.

She smiled at him and nodded, "I'm fine thank you," She said, a little shyly, with only the faintest hint of a blush. She had gotten a lot better around him over the years, but she was still a bit bashful whenever they talked, something he found rather cute.

"So what's on your mind?" She asked again.

Naruto looked at her for a moment not sure what she was talking about, but eventually everything clicked over and they were on the same page. "Oh, that," He said laughing a little nervously. "Just my latest team," He said, finding it hard to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

"Oh no, what happened?" She asked.

Naruto shrugged not really knowing what to say. "They just weren't cut out to be Ninja, they spent most of their time arguing with each other and trying to out do each other that they failed to work together." He told her.

"Oh I see," She said, as the two of them began walking down the street together. They walked in silence for a little while before Naruto spoke up.

"So how did your Genin team do?" He asked. Remembering that like himself Hinata was now a Jonin Sensei.

Hinata startled by the sudden pick up in conversation stammered out something incoherent before she composed herself and spoke again. "They did just fine. I had to make them realise that they had to really work with and for each other in order to complete their mission, but I think over time they will make excellent Shinobi." She said with a grin.

Naruto couldn't help but grin with her, at least her team knew that they were a team. "So who were the other two trainers this year?" Naruto asked.

"Kiba and Choji," Hinata answered him.

"And how did their teams do?" He asked. Hinata was silent for a moment putting a finger to her lip in thought before she answered him. "Well Choji's team did well, and I talked to Kiba when I handed my report in and apparently his team took to it like a duck to water." She answered.

While Naruto was pleased that they all passed he still let out a groan. "Aww, the first year you guys are Jonin Sensei and I can finally lord my experience over you, my team is the only one to flunk, go figure." He said in a mopey voice.

Hinata giggled and gave him a quick hug, "Don't worry, Naruto-kun, if I ever need advice I'll come straight to you, or Kurenai Sensei." She added as an afterthought.

Naruto chuckled at that, and the two continued on for a while, unconsciously making their way to Ichiraku's ramen, less than a minute away, they ran into some familiar faces among the crowed. Naruto spotted them first and grinned, calling out to the too. "Hey, Sasuke, Sakura, over here!" He shouted.

The two stopped and looked over at the smiling blond and his dark haired companion before moving over to them.

"Hey, Naruto, Hinata," Sakura said as they met, Sasuke, only nodded his greeting.

"So what are you to up to, hu, a little night on the town?" Naruto asked, with a grin, Sakura blushed and went to say something before Sasuke spoke up.

"I could say the same to you dobe," He said evenly. This time Naruto blushed, after a few glares and half-hearted insults the group headed down the street again.

"Man I'm hungry, anyone else?" Naruto asked, after a few moments of silence. The other three nodded, and without really thinking about it, they all sat down at Ichiraku's Ramen and ordered.

"So how were your new teems?" Sakura asked Naruto and Hinata after their first serving.

Hinata was once again grinning, "My team were fine, and with a little work they'll be excellent Shinobi." She beamed at them.

Sakura grinned, "Well that's good to here, How about yours Naruto?" She asked.

At the reminder of his team, Naruto sighed instinctively. Noticing his reaction Sakura sighed, "Why so glum?" She asked him. "This will be your last team, before Lady Tsunade makes you Hokage; I thought you'd be excited." She said.

"Well I would be, but they won't be my last team." He said, a little sadly, more because he had had to fail them than anything else. He actually enjoyed being a Jonin Sensei, and would probably continue training Genin even after he became Hokage, if he found the time, though he doubted he would.

"What, What do you mean?" She asked. Even Sasuke was looking at him with interest.

"I mean they failed. They didn't have the right attitude for Shinobi, so I had to fail them." Naruto explained.

"How so?" Sasuke asked.

"They didn't understand team work, at all, they acted individually, well except for Taki, she actually understood the premise of team work, so I'll talk to Ba-Chan about getting her on a Genin team but the other two just don't have the right attitude."

"Who's was on your team?" Sasuke asked, showing his first signs of interest in the conversation.

"Nagashi Azuko, Moshibi Taki and Soji Akari," Naruto answered.

"Soji, isn't she the-." Sasuke began, but Naruto answered before he had finished.

"Yea she is, so at the end of the day she'll receive training, I hope I can get Taki on a team, though its likely going to have to wait a year, and Azuko is to self-centred to be a ninja."

"He can't be that bad," Sakura protested, hopping to give the boy the benefit of the doubt, but Naruto was already shaking his head.

"Take Sasuke from when he was fresh from the academy." Naruto explained

"Okay…" Sakura said at length, not sure where he was going with this.

"Right now on top of that arrogant dick-ishness that Sasuke was prone to, remove any semblance of self-control and ability to think for anyone else. He just isn't Shinobi material."

"Oh come on," Sakura burst out. "They're just kids; that doesn't mean that you should just fail them out right, you should have given them a second chance." She said in a very disapproving tone. Naruto cast a hard eye over her, making the woman stop her verbal onslaught.

"I know what I'm doing Sakura," He said evenly, he was in no mood for lectures at the moment. "They have had more than three hours, to use their second chance, and they haven't, they couldn't get in on their own and even after I told them what they needed to be, they couldn't do it, I've given them all the chances I can."

Sakura looked to say something more but Sasuke interjected. "The dobe's right, Sakura." He said, "If they can't act after being told what is required of them, then they're just not cut out to be Shinobi, you know it's about more than skill and knowledge."

Sakura looked at him, His face showed no sign of emotion and eventually she gave in. Naruto finished his bowl and stood up, pulled out his wallet and put a sizable wad of cash on the counter, "You guys have fun; I've got to go give my report to Tsunade." He said.

"I'll come with you," Hinata said, standing up. Naruto nodded and the two left.

It was dark inside the Hokage's office when Naruto and Hinata made their way to Tsunade office, but he could still see the desk light, indicating that Tsunade had, once again, fallen asleep at her desk.

He opened the door, knocking as he walked through to rouse Tsunade from her sleep.

"Ninpo: Taiyo ken!"

The next thing Naruto knew, the soft glow of Tsunade's table lamp was replaced with a blinding flash of light, as his vision was white washed and his ears were filled with a high pitch ringing, he felt hands grab him and force him to the ground.

For a brief moment, bereft of his sight and hearing, Naruto felt a sense of panic rise up in him, as he was overpowered, he felt someone behind him holding a kunai to his throat.

"All right Sensei, hand 'em over." Akari ordered.

Naruto couldn't help but smile as he vanished in a puff of smoke. The three Genin stood around where their Sensei used to be in utter bewilderment, for several moments before they heard the sound of clapping coming from behind them.

They turned to see Naruto sitting in the Hokage's chair, the Hokage herself leaning against the window.

Naruto turned in the chair to look at Tsunade. "So, Lady Hokage," he said making a point of formality as this was a strictly business matter. "What do you think?" He asked her.

Tsunade looked from the three Genin back to Naruto. "I think they pass," She answered.

Right guys, sorry to the three people invested enough in this story to actually read it, this chapter to a lot longer than I was expecting, first I lost it, then life threw me a curveball, but I'm back so I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

know about the story and where it will go, some of the more observant of you may have notice where I'm going with this, and again, if the contradicts the manga in some way shape or form.

IT'S A GOD DAMN FAN FIC, IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT I DON'T CARE:)

Other than that, sorry for the long wait, I hope not to do it again, but no promises, have a good one, and I'll see you next chapter.

Justu in order of appearance were;

"Ninja art: Heaven's fist"

Until next time I wish you all the best.
Yours truly.
Nicolai Grey