Iruka scanned his clipboard and began announcing the teams. "Team 7 will be Akimichi Chōji, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. Your instructor will be Hatake Kakashi."

"Shannaro!" Sakura exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air. "Take that, Ino-pig! True love conquers all." She shot a triumphant glance at Ino, who slumped in her seat, feeling dejected. Sakura then turned to Sasuke, her eyes sparkling with admiration. "Isn't it great, Sasuke-kun? We're on the same team!"

"Hm" was Sasuke's stoic response, showing little interest in the situation.

Naruto had to stifle a laugh. It was clear that Sasuke wasn't nearly as excited about the team placement as Sakura was.

Iruka continued, "Team 8 will be Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino, with Yūhi Kurenai as your Jōnin sensei." The three members of Team 8 acknowledged their team assignment quietly.

"Team 9 is still in circulation, so we'll move on to Team 10," Iruka announced. "Team 10 will be Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Uzumaki Naruto, with Sarutobi Asuma as your Jōnin sensei."

"Aww," Ino groaned, slumping onto her desk. "I've got the lazy bum and the dead-last on my team... Why me?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at her comment. "And that's all for now," Iruka concluded. "Your Jōnin sensei will pick you up after lunch. Until then, spend time with your team, get to know each other, and good luck." With that, Iruka left the classroom, leaving the students to their own devices.

Ino quickly made her way over to Naruto and Shikamaru, hands on her hips. "All right, you two are coming with me," she declared.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, pointing towards the door. "What about Chōji?"

Ino, still annoyed about the team placements, asked, "What about him?"

Shikamaru and Naruto both pointed to the door where Sasuke was leaving, closely followed by Sakura, who was eagerly trying to get his attention. "Do you think he will be welcome to eat lunch with them?" Shikamaru asked, gesturing for Chōji to come over.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, it's fine with me. Chōji can join us, no problem."

Chōji, holding a bag of chips, took a seat next to Shikamaru. Naruto looked at Ino, who still seemed frustrated, and Shikamaru, who was leaning back with his eyes closed. "So, I guess we're teammates now, huh?" he said with a slight laugh, which quickly faded when Ino shot him a glare.

Ino insisted they all leave the classroom for lunch. Shikamaru, finding it easier to go along with her than to argue, was followed by Chōji and Naruto in tow. They ended up sitting outside under an awning next to the academy building.

As they settled in, Ino quietly ate her lunch, casting glances at her new teammates. She knew Shikamaru well enough, considering their fathers were teammates and close friends. Considering how he always slept in class and showed a general disinterest, it's safe to say his performance in the academy was lackluster; he was a lazy bum.

After that, Naruto made his entrance. He wasn't lazy like Shikamaru, but his grades were even worse. He constantly failed, even when he tried, and could barely pull off the simplest jutsu. How did he even pass the graduation exam? I couldn't help but feel disheartened at the thought of having such a team. This was going to be terrible.

Naruto, meanwhile, was too excited to care. He didn't even have lunch with him; he was just thrilled about finally being a ninja. He had his team and a high-ranking Jōnin to train them. Maybe he'd even learn some of the techniques he'd heard about in the Scroll of Seals. Shikamaru was all right, and Ino was bossy, but he could handle it.

Ino suddenly stood up, determination in her eyes. "I'm going to make sure our team is the best, no matter what."

Naruto nodded eagerly. "Yeah! I'm going to wipe that smug look off Sasuke-teme's face. We've got this!"

Ino glared at him, causing Naruto to blink in confusion. Why was she upset? He was just agreeing with her. "Baka, you can't beat Sasuke-kun. He's the best Genin in the entire village!"

Naruto scoffed. "Yeah, right. There are other Genin in this village who could give him a run for his money. If Sasuke-teme can beat them all right now, I'll eat my goggles."

Ino fumed at Naruto's arrogance, while Shikamaru sighed. "Ino, isn't that counterproductive? You said you want to beat Team 7, and Sasuke is on Team 7, so Naruto agreeing with you is kind of the point. But whatever. This is all too troublesome."

Naruto then looked over at Ino with a confident grin. "Don't worry so much, Ino. We've got this. Shikamaru might be lazy, but when it counts, he'll step up. Right, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru opened one eye and shrugged. "Yeah, yeah. I'll try not to sleep through anything important."

Ino reluctantly admitted to herself that Shikamaru had a point. He did manage to graduate, after all. "And what about you, Naruto? You think you can just train and get stronger in a week?"

Naruto smirked. "Absolutely. You'd be surprised what you can accomplish with some scrolls and training."

Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji all looked at him in surprise. "You've been training?" they asked in unison.

Naruto puffed out his chest proudly. "Every day since graduation!"

"No way," Ino said, still skeptical. "The dead-last who never trained suddenly starts training every day? I'll believe it when I see it."

Naruto frowned, growing tired of being underestimated. "It's true. And I'm going to prove it."

Shikamaru cut in, sensing the tension. "Ino, let's just see how it goes. If Naruto's been training, that's a good thing. We should be glad."

Ino blinked, then nodded. "I guess you're right. I'm not mad at him for training; I'm just... surprised, I guess. But why the sudden change, Naruto?"

Naruto shrugged. "I just decided it was time to get serious. We're ninjas now, right? We need to be ready for anything."

Shikamaru smiled slightly. "Well, it sounds like you're on the right track. Let's just hope it's enough."

Ino smirked, feeling a bit better. "Yeah, I suppose I have to agree. Besides, someone has to keep you two in line. And if I do that, maybe Sasuke-kun will see how much better I am than Forehead."

Naruto laughed and threw his hands behind his head. "All right then. So we're a team, right? Team 10?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Team 10."

Ino sighed, but with a hint of playfulness. "I'd still rather be on Sasuke-kun's team, but yeah, Team 10."

Naruto grinned broadly. "Great! We're going to be the best team out there, you'll see."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile a little at Naruto's enthusiasm. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just try not to get into too much trouble."

As they continued to eat and chat, Ino slowly started to feel better about her new team. They weren't what she expected, but there was something about their dynamic that felt right.

After lunch, the group headed back to the academy to wait for their Jōnin sensei. Naruto was practically bouncing with excitement, while Shikamaru leaned against a wall, yawning. Ino tried to maintain her composure, but even she felt a bit of anticipation.

"So, what do you think our sensei will be like?" Naruto asked, looking around eagerly.

"Hopefully not too strict," Shikamaru muttered. "I just want someone who will let us take it easy."

Ino rolled her eyes. "We need someone who will push us to be the best, Shikamaru. Not someone who will let us slack off."

Naruto nodded vigorously. "Yeah! We need to get stronger and show everyone what we can do."

Asuma Sensei Test

Lunch ended, and the newly graduated students all went back inside the classroom to find that there was already a group of adults waiting on them. Team 10 decided that now was as good a time as any to start working like a team and sat in the same row next to each other while most of the others were still spread out around the classroom. After everyone entered, Iruka took the front of the class again.

"All right, everyone." Iruka started. "The men and women standing before you are your jounin sense for your duration as genin. Remember to work hard and remember everything you've learned through your time here in the academy." With that, the jounin started going down the line, talking their teams away by the number indicated.

"Team 8," A beautiful raven-haired woman with remarkable red eyes said. She had on a mesh blouse with one long sleeve and a missing one underneath a broad, bandage-looking material that had a pattern of thrones on it. She had bandages wrapped around her upper thighs and her hands up to her elbows. "I'm your jounin instructor, Yuhi Kurenai; come with me and we'll get started."

Kiba, Hinata, and Shino all stood up and walked out of the room with the woman when Sakura stood up and said, "Um, you skipped Team 7. What about our sensei?

All of the remaining jounin shook their heads with amusement etched on their faces as the next man stepped forward. "You guys are going to be waiting a while for him to show up. Anyway, Team 10? I'm Sarutobi Asuma, and I'm your sensei, so follow me."

Naruto Ino and Shikamaru stood up and followed him out, with Shikamaru giving a small wave to Choji before they left for luck with him and how he would fare on his team. Shikamaru was still worried about leaving his oldest friend like that all on his own, but he had to worry about himself at the moment and how he was going to do on his team.

Naruto looked at the bearded man they were following oddly, as if he were supposed to be familiar or something. "Hey, have we met before?" Naruto asked with his eyes closed in confusion. The man chuckled at the diminutive blonde and said, "Hey, what's funny?"

"You must not have a very good short-term memory, eh, kid?" The man said this as they started walking outside. When he saw Naruto's face scrunch up in thought, "We met yesterday, kid. You were outside of the Hokage tower and ran into me after messing with my nephew."

"Huh?" Naruto was still confused before he started piecing together what asuma had just said along with his last name: "Wait, you're Konohamaru's uncle? Then that means you're the Hokage's son, right?"

Asuma sighed. "Well, that's not what we're talking about, but yeah, I am the Hoakge's son." "Wow.' Naruto said with a grin on his face, "So you must be like a younger, more awesome version of Hokage-jiji, right? Asuma broke into laughter at hearing that. If nothing else, Naruto was going to be entertaining to have around on his team, "Well, I don't know about that. I don't even fight anything like the old man to be quite honest with you, but I do, in my own humble opinion, think I'm quite strong."

Ino gave Naruto a chiding look. "Naruto, why would you call Hokage sama that? That's disrespectful to his status in the village." Naruto shrugged. "It's just what I've always called him. Ever since I was a little kid, I've been calling him Hokage~jiji whenever he came to see me, and he never corrected me on it, so I guess he liked it or something."

Then they got their way to a training field, where they sat down and looked at their sensei, reaching into one of his flak jacket's pockets and pulling out a cigarette. Ino watched him distastefully as he stuck the cigarette in his mouth. "Those will kill you, you know." Asuma smirked and pulled out a lighter to spark his cigarette up. "Girl, I think you'll find after you've been doing this for a while that, compared to being a ninja, a little smoke can't even come close to being anywhere near as dangerous." He took a moment to enjoy his cigarette, talking in the expressions his grandmother all wore.

End of his cigarette and flicking it to the ground. "But don't worry too much. This test isn't about memorizing or basic jutsu. It's about teamwork and practical application—how you function as a unit when the stakes are high. If you fail to work together, you're not cut out to be a ninja, simple as that."

Naruto clenched his fists, determination lighting up his eyes. "We'll pass it! I won't let us fail."

Ino, still a bit uneasy about the situation, glanced at Shikamaru, who looked as if he'd rather be napping. "We'd better. I don't want to waste more time in the academy because you two can't pull your weight."

Shikamaru sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Troublesome… but yeah, let's just get this over with."

Asuma chuckled again, enjoying the dynamic between his new students. "Good, you're already talking like a team. That's a start. But remember, actions speak louder than words. Tomorrow morning, meet me here at dawn. I'll give you the details of the test then. For now, go home, rest, and think about what it means to be a team. You're going to need that mindset."

Asuma turned to leave but paused for a moment, looking over his shoulder. "And don't eat breakfast. You might end up regretting it." With that, he walked away, leaving Team 10 to contemplate his cryptic words.

Naruto was the first to break the silence. "No breakfast? What does that mean?"

Ino crossed her arms, her brows furrowing in thought. "It's probably some sort of endurance test. He wants us to be hungry, so we have to push through it."

Shikamaru yawned, already looking forward to getting this over with. "Whatever it is, we'll find out tomorrow. Let's just make sure we show up on time and do what we need to do."

Naruto grinned. "Right! Let's show Asuma-sensei what Team 10 can do!"

Ino couldn't help but smile a little, despite her earlier frustration. "Yeah, let's give it our best shot."

With their resolve set, Team 10 parted ways for the day, each of them heading home with thoughts of the upcoming test swirling in their minds. The real journey was just beginning, and whether they knew it or not, they were already starting to come together as a team.

Meanwhile, Konoha Ninja Academy

The only team remaining in the room was the group of seven, who were getting agitated by the wait for their sensei. Sasuke and Sakura were absurdly bored and could have been doing stuff with their time, and Choji was running out of food to munch on. This guy was taking so long.

The door finally slid open. "Sorry, I'm late. A black cat crossed my path, and I had to take the long way around to get here." A man with gravity-defying silver hair in regular jounin garb and a face mask with his headband covering one eye stuck his head in the door with an expression that appeared to be him smiling. He opened his one eye and looked at the three with a broad expression on his face. "Hmm, my first impression of this group. You all are not quite what I was expecting. Meet me on the roof in five minutes." With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The faces, upon hearing his lame excuse, twisted in confusion once they processed his later words. Sakura looked at both of her teammates and asked, "What did he mean we're not what he expected?" Choji simply shrugged before Sasuke stood up. "hm." Sasuke said before putting his hands in his pockets, "Let's just go." Choji nodded and put up his snacks before following Sasuke out while Sakura sat there, still puzzled at her new sensei's first words to the team.

After a quick training session, Naruto returned to the field to find Ino and Shikamaru already there. The former glared at the latter as he sat against it with his eyes closed. "Naruto." Shikamaru said before yawning, "We've been waiting for you to show up." Naruto gulped before he began walking toward the tree. "Yeah. I'm here." He looked from Shikamaru to Ino and was splitting her time from glaring Shikamaru to glaring at Naruto. 'I thought I'd get here early and get some time to think before everyone else showed up... I guess that plan is good enough for everybody to use too, huh?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Well, I never really left. I just waited until you guys all did, and then I came back. This is a good spot. Ino stomped back here a few minutes before you did." "So, how are we going to do this?" Naruto asked more to himself than to anyone else as he made his way under the other, but unheard and picked up on it. 'There's no way I'm going back to the academy now. Not after all I've done to get out of there. If this is how it's got to be, then I'm not just letting this pass me by."Ino said, voice full of determination, 'So if I have to prove it, I will."

'No, you're not." Shikamaru said, his voice having lost the disinterested tone before to take on a more hardened one that showed he was serious. "Neither of you are you actually," he said, directing his gaze to Naruto to make sure he got the message. Ino smirked. "What are you going to do? Beat both of us and take it for yourself, Shikamaru? That seems like too much work from a guy like you."

Naruto tensed up his muscles and spoke seriously: "I'm not going to fail; I can't. Not now, not after all of that. I won't go back, even if I have to fight." Shikamaru stood up from his spot on the tree and said, "Well, you see, no one's going to be fighting anyone at all." He made a gesture of antlers on top of his head and let a smile cross his face when he saw Naruto and Ino mimic his action, 'Shadow possession Jutsu complete." Ino's eyes had a panic in the "What is this shikamaru?" She said it frantically. The parrot struggled, but couldn't move an inch. "I can't move."

Shikamaru put his hands down. "TThis is my jutsu; now listen up. We're not going to be fighting. None of us are. Why would they give that guy a team if he could just fail us for something stupid like "He didn't want a team.'' Just because he has tenure or something doesn't mean he can ruin someone's career before they even start." "But what if he can?" Ino said, "I can't fail." My entire family would be ashamed of me." Naruto's eyes widened. "He never said he would just flat-out fail us, though! He said he would give us an exam we couldn't pass, but he didn't say anything about failing anyone just like that."

"Exactly." Shikamaru said, smiling at Naruto for pulling that answer out, "So, as troublesome as it is, all we have to do is pass his exam, and that should be that." Ino wasn't convinced. "But what if we can't? He said that a jounin would have trouble with what he was going to end up making us do. How can you be so sure we'll get through it?"

Shikamaru let go of his just, 'Because there are three of us. A single jounin might have trouble with whatever he makes us do, but three of us can more than likely handle anything he'll make us do. He kept looking between them in case anyone planned on attacking anyway, but calmed down when no one did after a minute.

"Okay." Naruto finally said, "We're Team 10, aren't we?" Naruto said with a slight laugh, 'We're not supposed to be fighting anyway, and Shikamaru is right; we can take whatever that chain-smoking teme has planned for us.

Ino sighed in resignation. "All right, sure... We'll work together, but if we end up all being sent back to the academy for this, I'm going to spend the next year making your lives a living. Got that?" Her rough face dropped as she slinked down against the tree that Shikamaru had been sitting against for the longest time. "So, what are we going to do?"

Shikamaru kneeled in the shadow of the tree in a weird position, his hands forming a circle with his fingers and his eyes closed. Naruto and Ino looked at him strangely before looking at each other. Naruto whispered to his fellow blonde loudly, "What is he doing?' Ino shook her head. "I don't have a clue; just wait."

Naruto's whisper grew harsher: "We don't have time to wait! That asuma guy is going to be here in ten minutes; he's Jounin and Hokage-jiji's son. That has to mean he's strong as hell!" "Well, what do you want me to do?" Ino whispered back just as harshly, still trying to whisper thoughts so as not to disturb whatever he was doing. "I don't know the first thing about the guy! Or any of you, for that matter!"

"Oh man!" Naruto continued to whisper as he moved around in place nervously, "We're going to get our asses killed by this guy, and then we're going to go back to the academy, and I'm going to sit through those boring lectures for another year! I can't do it!" Ino started crying anime tears. "I don't either!" I can't be the only one of my friends this year to go back to the academy; that's a popularity killer for sure! I'll be a socially untouchable Naruto just like you! No offense."

"No, I don't blame you!" Naruto said he was crying just as equally as Ino was. "I wouldn't want that either, and if that happened to you, what would happen to me? I don't think I can sink much lower, and I don't feel like finding out if I can either." "What are we going to do with Naruto?" Ino grabbed the collar of his jacket tightly. "I don't know!" Naruto replied just as desperately. Both of them hugged each other and started sobbing loudly.

Shikamaru's eyes open up. "All right, have a plan." He almost had his eyes bug out of his head when he noticed Ino and Naruto holding each other, crying inconsolably, "Guys." Shikamaru said he was not getting a single response from them, "Guys." He said it a bit louder before muttering trouble and trying again. "Guys!" Naruto and Ino noticed he was finally back to paying attention and proceeded to let go nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened. Shikamaru said, "All right, if we're going to do this, then we need to know what the others are good at, so I'll go first. I'm not much for fighting. I'd rather sleep or play shogi than do something so troublesome, but if I had to, I would do that."

Then asuma appeared: "Okay, time to break some genin." Asuma thought to himself upon entering the training field. He looked around and saw all three of the kids sitting under the tree he had left them at. He walked over to them and crossed his arms once he got close enough for three to take notice of him. "So have you come to a decision on which of you is going to be my apprentice civilly, or will you have to fail all three of you and be done with?"

Naruto stood up and dusted off his pants. 'You're not going to fail any of us at all. We're not going to let a jerk like you just tell us he doesn't feel like a benign sensei and kill our dreams like that. So we're going to give you a choice." Ino said, backing her teammate up as she got up to stand beside Naruto. Shikamaru stood up with a groan. "As troublesome as it is going to be, you either pass us or we'll make you pass us. and you don't want us to do that."

Asuma let out a deceitful snort. "And how exactly is a group of green-as-grass genin going to pull that off? You are better off hedging your bets and fighting between yourselves for one guaranteed spot. You know that you all have a snowball's chance in hell of actually beating me, right?" Naruto grinned. "Just pass us, and you don't have to find out." Asuma smirked, "Well, that's fun because I needed a workout anyway. You brats can try, by all means, feel free to." Naruto smirked. "That's just what we wanted to hear. Let's do this." As he said that, Shikamaru placed his hands in the rat seal and said, "Shadow possession, Jutsu!"

Asuma smirked and jumped back away from the shadow the tree was casting over the field. "I know about the Nara clan's signature jutsu. I'm not talking to students I don't know anything about!" He said this before finding himself frozen in place. "What?" He looked at the ground and there was no shadow stretching from the tree, "what happened?"

Naruto smirked as did all of the others as they transformed into puffs of smoke to all take on the appearance of Naruto. "WWhat the matter, sensei? I thought you knew about your students." With that, the extra Naruto's disappeared, leaving only one original Naruto in place. "It worked, Shikamaru!"

"Yeah, I can see that, Naruto," Shikamaru said as he walked out some brush from behind him. Asuma turned his head when Shikamaru allowed him the motion to do so. "Ino, if you would be so kind as to finish this." Ino sauntered out in front of asuma in a showy fashion, prompting the man to say, "You all set this up? What was the plan?" Shikamaru elaborated, 'Naruto was to distract you with his shadow clones hinged into us. That was good, by the way; you even had our mannerisms down perfectly." Naruto shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Basic Skill." Ino smiled over at him. "Yeah, solid clones, Naruto? You don't even know where you would learn something like that." Promoting Naruto to blush more under the praise.

"Anyway." Shikamaru picked up where he left off. "After Naruto distracted you and feigned my jutsu, I would catch you with the real one from your blind spot. You would be doing what you thought was the real one, so you would be on alert just at the wrong one." " A mischievous smirk crossed Shikamaru's face. "And finally we were going to have ino hit you with her just and walk you right to Hokage-Sama's office to pass us so you couldn't screw us over." Ino waved from her place in front of asuma before making the hand seal needed for the jutsu she intended to use.

Naruto chuckled after that, drawing attention back to him. "And then, for all the crap you put us through today, we're going to do something humiliating; you'll never live down in your body. Something like that makes you look like an idiot in front of that Kurenai lady. Shikamaru said you were standing close to her for less than just a passing work relationship or something, which kind of brought up our second way to beat you. But somebody didn't want me to use it that way."

Ino glared at Naruto. "You're damn right, I don't want you using that way. You'd better never use that jutsu around me or else, got it?" Ino said to Naruto threateningly before turning back to her with a victorious look, "GGet ready to get used to us, sensei. We're not going anywhere." Asuma had a look of terror on his face before he started laughing raucously. "What's so funny? Fine, mind transfer Jut-!" Before Ino could complete her jutsu, asuma disappeared suddenly. The genin all looked around, and Naruto felt familiar seeing asuma just disappear like that. 'No way, he knows that too? How could he have?"

I'm a high-level skill kid, but I'm a high-level ninja." Asuma said as he walked into the clearing. He looked at all three in a pleased manner. "That was good. I like that." His face turned grave. "But seriously, if you ever try pulling any crap around Kurenai, I'm going to make you all pay dearly; don't even think about it. Ever." He then noticed that they were all still ready to fight. 'Oh, by the way, you pass."

All three of them blinked before standing up out of their fighting stances, two of them with confused looks, the other just slouched, owned, and placed his hands in his pockets. Um, what?" Naruto said, conveying the thought he and Ino shared at the moment. "Yeah." Asuma said with a laugh, "That was just to see if you would all turn on each other, fight over the single spot, or work together. If I had told you all to fight with Missy Bossy and The Airhead Kid over there, Lazy-ass would have ended up getting dragged into it, and I would have failed your miserable asses and sent you back. I didn't expect you all to turn on me, though; that was entertaining."

Asuma placed a cigarette in his mouth and said, 'I was going to scare you all shitless one more time and then give you the option to fight over the apprenticeship, and if you turned that down, I was going to make you fight the clone anyways, seeing how the point of all this was to ensure that you all act as a team, so all you did was rush it all along." He finished and lit his cigarette.

Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru stared at Asuma, not fully comprehending what he just said. They had been ready for a grueling fight, but now they were being told they passed? It was hard to believe.

"Wait, what?" Naruto blurted out, his expression a mix of disbelief and confusion. "We... we passed? Just like that?"

Asuma chuckled, lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag. "Yeah, just like that. You three might be rough around the edges, but you've got the right mindset. You worked together, planned ahead, and didn't fall apart under pressure. That's what it means to be a team."

Ino's eyes widened as the reality of the situation sank in. "So... we don't have to fight each other? We're really a team now?"

Asuma nodded, his expression softening slightly. "That's right. The whole point of this exercise was to see if you could work together and trust each other, even when the odds seemed against you. You passed that test with flying colors."

Shikamaru let out a sigh of relief, finally dropping his defensive stance. "Man, what a drag... I was really hoping we wouldn't have to go through with the whole fighting thing."

Naruto grinned, the excitement starting to bubble up inside him. "This is awesome! We're a real team now! Team 10, just like the old days!"

Ino smiled, the tension in her shoulders finally easing. "Yeah, we did it. Together."

Asuma watched the three of them, a small smile playing on his lips. "You three have potential, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do. But remember, this is just the beginning. Being a ninja is about more than just passing tests. It's about growing stronger together, facing challenges head-on, and always having each other's backs. Got it?"

Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru nodded in unison, their faces filled with determination.

"Good," Asuma said, taking another drag from his cigarette. "Then let's get started. We've got a lot of work to do."

Asuma turned and began to walk away, motioning for them to follow. Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru exchanged glances before quickly falling in step behind him, ready for whatever came next.

It would be a week, and Naruto and the rest of Team 10 would be doing a d-rank mission. Asuma~sensei I thought the mission was supposed to be fun and high action, Naruto said. Missions are fun and high-action, just not these missions, as they are acknowledged. These aren't even missions; these are chores, and you won't even let me use shadow clones. Naruto tries to think that d-rank missions aren't just chores once you and the rest of Team 7 figure out that we might be able to do something "more fun." I wonder what these missions are for Naruto, as he then went over to Ino and Shikamaru. Hey guys, Asuma~sensei said once we figure out the reason for d-ranks, we can do something more fun, but I just don't know. Do any of you know? Maybe for us to do lower-ranking missions because Chunin and Jounin are outside the village, Ino said. Well yeah, that's right, but that is not the total reason asuma said. Then what did Naruto say? I don't know if you guys have to find out; until then, we are going to be doing d-ranks. Shikamaru then said I know this mission is a drag, so let's get it over with.

Team 7 would do their three d-rank missions of the day, and then it was about 5 p.m. and they were going to see 7, so asuma decided one more d-rank wouldn't hurt. The mission would be

Capture Tora, the cat. Naruto and the rest of Team 10 would move out to the woods and then come up with a plan. So what was the plan Shikamaru Ino said? Here, asuma gave me these as he gave radios to talk. Radios—what are we going to use them for? To talk and communicate, I think the point of d-ranks is for Genin to build teamwork with their team so they know how to work together in higher-ranking missions, Shikamaruu said. Hmm, that makes sense, Naruto said. But I could be wrong. Let's do this d-rank, and we will tell you. So I want Naruto to be high above that tree. Shikamaru said I want to be west of Naruto, and I will be in the middle, down to the south, behind y'all. We will talk over the radio and tell me if you see Tora as soon as possible.

2 minutes later, Tora would appear, and Naruto would say, I'm ready; just give the signal." "Now," Shikamaru said. Naruto moved to the east of the cat, and in the west of the cat, Shikamaru came north of the catch, blocking it from running, as then he would Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Justu. He would catch them in the shadow. Naruto grabs the cat and scratches his face like a door. Asuma then said, Great teamwork, team 10—I'm proud of you guys,".

Team 10 would take Tora to the owner, and she would hug her, and Tora would be crying for help. Ino then said, under her breath, I see why the cat ran away. Yeah, I do, too, but I don't feel bad, Naruto whispered. As then asuma said, "Did you guys figure out the meaning of D-ranks? Yeah, Shikamaru spoke up. I think the purpose of the D-rank mission is to help Genin with teamwork for higher missions. Correct shikamaru.

Now I think you guys are ready for a C-rank. Naruto would be excited if it was a change from doing chores and he got to show his skills in battle to his sensei. Asuma would then ask the hostage in front of them if they could have a C-rank mission for tomorrow. Hurizern then said, Are you sure your team is ready? Yeah, I do Hokage~sama.

All right, you guys are assigned to take the scroll to the land of rivers and give it to leader Nakamura Eiko. She has been waiting for you. All right team 7 be up at the gate at 7:30 bring all the tools and everything you need for this mission.

(thank you guys for the feedback on chapter 1 tell me what you like and don't like and hopefully i fixed the problem in the last chapter!)