Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed as he signed the last bit of paperwork that was on his desk. Now that that was taken care of, he could go home and probably spend some time with his grandson who wasn't as much a brat as he used to be. Without the annoyance of constant attacks from that area thanks to Naruto, spending time with Konohamaru had become a great deal more enjoyable, especially after the boy had started taking his studies more seriously, and had come to him asking him for advice.

As he was gathering his hat and outer robe from the back of his chair, one of the administrative Chunin walked in with a note which, based on the fact that it looked as if it had been rolled up for some time, had apparently just come off a bird and passed through all of the necessary security checks. Sighing, he set his hat back down and took the undoubtedly important note from the secretary, knowing that his work for the day wasn't quite as done as he hoped. Upon opening the missive, he found that it was from Danzo's hated grandson who he had allowed to take his students on a two month training trip in hopes of preparing them for the upcoming Chunin Exams.

The reason he had allowed the trip to take place in the first place had been because the two students he'd given the man from that year's graduating class had been the best the Academy had to offer this year, and he himself was curious as to whether or not the man could pull it off. If the man could pull it off, Konoha's standing would only improve, as the Uchiha boy and the Haruno girl, who hopefully didn't take too much after her mother, would become the poster children of the new generation. The fact that the Haruno girl was civilian born would hopefully inspire a number of civilian children who were sitting on the fence regarding becoming ninjas into signing up for the Academy.

Pulling himself out of his musings over the Shimura boy's daring experiment, he turned to the letter he'd just received from the man.

Hokage-sama,

I have done as complete an evaluation of the skills of Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura as I can with the materials I had available to me at the time. Fortunately, some of those materials were a set of the Academy texts that Naruto happened to have on him that I was able to use to gauge his teammates' academic skills.

When It comes to Uchiha Sasuke:

His academic skills are above average, but nothing to write home about. His Taijutsu skills are rather excellent for a boy his age, as are his skills in Ninjutsu and Weapons Handling. His Trap Setting and Strategy skills are slightly deficient however, and when it comes to Genjutsu, it was almost as if he'd never even bothered to study it.

When it comes to Haruno Sakura:

She is roughly at genius level in areas that are more academic, and has a near eidedic memory. She is not quite at the level of the average Nara, but a genius nonetheless. Unfortunately, her Taijutsu skills are well below average, and her form is perfect Textbook with little to no innovation. When it comes to her Ninjutsu skills, she is proficient at the standard Academy Three, but knows little else. Her Weapons Handling skills are average, aside from the exceedingly long time it takes her to aim. Her trap setting skills are somewhat deficient, but her Strategy skills are slightly above average. When it comes to Genjutsu, her lack of knowledge in that area is amazing considering her perfect Chakra control. which makes her well suited for either that field or Ijutsu.

Mentally and personality-wise, both Sasuke and Sakura are somewhat worrying. I will admit here and now that neither of them would have passed the final test had I taken the time to administer it, and for different reasons. Sasuke is exceedingly anti-social, and does not take well to teamwork, and Sakura, who follows Sasuke's lead in just about everything, was completely unprepared for life as a ninja when she graduated.

Considering the consistencies in the academic areas in which both students are deficient, I have come to believe that there were factors beyond interference from the traitorous Assistant Instructor Mizuki involved. An examination of the textbooks that Naruto has provided seems to confirm this fear.

While it is possible that some items I recall learning during my days in the Academy are missing due to the fact that the textbooks Naruto provided me with are black market copies rather than originals from the Academy stores, it is unlikely, as Naruto asserts that he checked them against the copies that are held at the Academy, and that they are entirely accurate. Most of the books appear to be okay for the most part but, the History text and the Traps text appear to be slightly deficient. The History text is missing all mention of Uzushiogakure and the Uzumaki as well as several important historical events that I recalled studying in my youth. Other entries in the book appear to be different from what I remember learning as well. When it comes to the Trap text, Kakashi insists that a number of diagrams are missing, including what he insists is the standard "Shock Tag Surprise", which is somewhat confusing, as I don't recall studying that one in the Academy.

While prospects of my new students being prepared for the upcoming Chunin Exams look bleak, I am holding out hope for improvement.

Shimura Tetsuo.

P.S. Naruto asked me to tell you and Konohamaru that he says Hi.

The Hokage groaned as he reached the end of the letter. This was beyond problematic, and the fault in this case may have partially been his. Every time he had been asked to review the new editions of the Academy textbooks, it had been when he was at his busiest, and he'd usually done nothing more than flip through them and check that the pictures, charts, and diagrams were in their proper places and looked reasonably correct before signing off on them. He'd gotten rather sick of reading the Academy texts long before he had named Minato his successor, and with other, more important work piling up and waiting for him to finish with the Academy texts...

Based on what he'd read in the Shimura boy's letter, that had apparently been a major mistake on his part.

He knew exactly why the diagram for the Shock Tag Surprise wasn't in the Academy text though. Around the start of the Third War, when the texts were being pared down in order to graduate students faster and get them out in the field sooner, the Shock Tag Surprise diagram had been removed for the safety of the students. Before then, there had been a number of accidents when immature children had attempted to set up that particular trap because it been both impressive and easy to create, accidents that Konoha couldn't afford to have in a time of war when every able bodied ninja was needed to fight. It simply hadn't been put back in the text afterward.

Growling at the unfairness of it all, since it looked like he wouldn't be getting the early evening that he'd been anticipating all afternoon when he'd noticed how little paperwork there was on his desk, he re-lit his pipe and called in one of his secretaries.

"Bring me all of the current Academy textbooks for each year, and the Academy Teaching Guidelines." he ordered.

After looking somewhat shocked for a moment, the man turned and raced out the door, hastening to comply.

Tonight was going to be a looooooong night.

Sasuke was exhausted after the evaluation of his skills which had been even more thorough than his Academy Graduation Exam had been was finished but, relieved to learn that his education hadn't suffered too badly under the teachings of the traitor who had wormed his way into the Academy. His new sensei had even said that with a little fine tuning, all of his skills would shortly be at Chunin level, and that he could rise even higher beyond that if he worked at it. He'd also said something about his attitude that he didn't bother listening to because, he didn't see anything wrong with his attitude. If his teacher didn't like the fact that he wasn't sucking up to him or his teammates, that was tough.

Besides, if he didn't have any close friends, he wouldn't be tempted to use them to...

"Well at least now I know I won't be a failure like Obito." Sasuke muttered as he headed back to the fire where the rest of the group was assembled.

That had been one of his worries over the years since he'd learned who the Obito person his aunts and uncles and cousins had compared him to behind his back was. Obito had been a bad enough failure that his name hadn't even been placed on the list of Uchiha who had died in battle, despite the fact that he had done so. Obito had been so horrible, that the clan had pretty much cast him out after he died, and only acknowledged his prior existence in hushed whispers, and a very short listing of statistics in the clan archives. As far as he knew, nobody had been as bad a failure as Obito who'd done something so unspeakable that the clan dared not mention it in his presence.

An instant after those words had left his mouth, he found himself being slammed into a tree by a murderously angry Hatake Kakashi. A murderously angry Hatake Kakashi who glared at him as if he'd just spat on the Memorial Stone or gone grave robbing in the Konoha Cemetary in broad daylight or something.

"If you ever say anything like that about Obito again..." Kakashi snarled threateningly before slamming his head into the tree once more and dropping him like a piece of discarded trash and walking off.

"Did you even bother studying recent history Sasuke?" the Uzumaki, who had come over to check and see if he was alright, only for him to push him away because he didn't need to be coddled, least of all by him, asked.

"Why?" he asked, as he picked himself up off the ground, still slightly stunned by Kakashi's rather bizarre behavior.

He'd been told that the Academy History texts were missing a few important events, but he didn't think that someone the clan regarded as an absolute failure as a Uchiha and as a person in general would be involved in any of them. If he had been, he would have figured that he would have been on the wrong side, considering the tone of some of the hushed whispers he'd caught about the boy.

"Uchiha Obito was Kakashi's teammate under the Yondaime, and was killed in action when he'd saved Kakashi's life in battle. Far from being a failure, he'd already been a Chunin for over a year by the time he reached the age you are now." Naruto replied casually.

He repressed a snarl. He'd already known that crap about Obito being a Chunin but, since it was a wartime promotion, that meant that it didn't count as much since it was rushed through. He'd heard the stories about how, during a war, kids were shoved out of the Academy door before they were ready and given promotions they hadn't earned, only to have to be given remedial training the instant the war was over. He didn't need some outsider comparing him to someone the clan had regarded as a monumental failure, and finding him wanting.

If he was to be compared to anyone, he should be compared to his father. His father had been a great man, and hadn't deserved to have been killed by That Man, that traitor who had smiled and told him he loved him while all the while scheming to kill their entire family behind his back, leaving him behind because he was too weak and worthless to kill.

Edited 10-5-12