Chapter 10! We've reached 200 follows and almost 50 reviews. I'd be lying if I told you that I thought it was going to reach those numbers this fast. I honestly thought the following would fizzle out as it went on, so I'm extremely happy about it!
A reviewer asked about Sakura having more chakra than Ino by the end of the year because the Yamanaka probably have training to build that up:
While everybody is training harder than canon, Ino included, it's clear that in canon she was babied by her parents like the rest of the girls (most likely just Kishi's fault). Here, she is doing more physical training, but being the mind specialists of the Leaf, the Yamanaka are cautious about overtraining and burnout at a young age, whereas Sakura was training with Naruto, and while she definitely couldn't keep up with him, it was still more difficult than what Ino was going through, and she would have to eat more to keep up too. The difference is pretty much negligible, and likely won't come up again, but it does show how much harder she's working (even if most of it is just because Naruto is crazy. Her words, not mine.)
Kakashi Hatake reached the Hokage tower one minute before his scheduled meeting with Hiruzen Sarutobi. Anybody who knows Kakashi, knows that this is uncommon. The elite Jonin was only ever on time if specifically ordered by the Hokage to be, otherwise, he was at least an hour and a half late. This being one of the times he was ordered, Kakashi made sure he arrived promptly.
'Don't wanna be too on time' the masked shinobi thought as he leaned against a wall for a few minutes. Orders or not, he had a reputation to uphold. When he was sufficiently late, but not late enough to be reprimanded, he strode lazily into the building.
As he walked through the building, some stared, some glanced, and some didn't pay him any attention at all. That was about the level of notoriety that he was comfortable with. Perfect.
When he reached the Hokage's floor, the secretary never even bothered to address him, she just motioned him on in.
The Hokage was sitting back in his chair, puffing on his pipe when Kakashi walked in. "7:04," he said without checking any clocks. "Perfectly timed, Kakashi."
Kakashi was pleased that somebody appreciated what he considered his best skill. Despite this though, the Hokage didn't summon him like this all that often. It was likely to be an S-ranked mission, and that required him to be serious.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama. I am at your service." The copy-nin replied.
"Relax Kakashi. There are no S-ranks for you today, though what I am about to ask of you is equally as important." Sarutobi said, his demeanor somewhere between kind old man and military dictator. "As you know, the academy just graduated our next crop of potential genin earlier today." Kakashi knew. He had taken Sasuke out to celebrate, despite the boy's reluctance. He nodded to indicate his understanding.
"I understand that you have taken a liking to young Sasuke, and have even been training him a little bit." Kakashi didn't respond so the Sandaime continued. "You also have a strong connection with Naruto, despite not having that much interaction with him." Kakashi nodded at this. He wanted to spend more time with him, but he was reminded of Minato-sensei and Kushina every time he looked at him, and quite frankly it hurt.
"My intention is to put them on the same team. Normally we tend to pair the last place student with the top student to keep teams balanced. While Naruto is last place on the book side of things, nobody is under the impression that he's not just as good as Sasuke, if not better." Kakashi eye-smiled, he was happy his two favorite kids were the strongest.
"However," Sarutobi continued, "The two seem to get along best together. Sasuke tends to break out of his shell more around Naruto, and it seems that he keeps Naruto slightly calmer. They also appear to push each other past limits that nobody would be able to expect otherwise. The two of them end up reaching the levels that my own students did, and I believe that they would also bring up the level of whichever Kunoichi we decide to place with them." He said.
Kakashi was about to speak. It was his intention to request to be the Jonin-sensei of the two regardless, but the Hokage put his hand up, silencing him before he ever spoke. "I'm sorry Kakashi, but I will not be making you their Jonin-sensei. Your job will be even more difficult." Kakashi's head tilted, not unlike his summons.
"We haven't had a shinobi with an analytical eye like yours in quite a while, Kakashi." Sarutobi explained slowly. "Sometimes I believe you see more than I do, even without your sharingan." Kakashi didn't like where this was going. After a long pause, the Hokage leaned forward on his desk and continued. "Kakashi, I'm not getting any younger, and currently there is nobody to take my place. Tsunade or Jiraiya would be great, but one won't take the job, and the other won't come back to the village. I need to have somebody prepared in case of an untimely demise and neither of my students will take the job. I wish for that to be you Kakashi."
"Sandaime-sama… I am honored that you would think that highly of me, but I am not strong enough to be the Hokage. I'm nowhere near the level that my sensei was." Kakashi explained.
"No, I don't suppose you are. Then again, Minato was the greatest of us, and not many people will ever reach his level of competence, even with his life cut short as it was." The Hokage looked old. Older than Kakashi had ever seen him. "But, I also understand that you've been slacking on your training. Your 18 year old self would likely defeat you, and fairly soundly at that if I had to guess." The Hokage held up his hand again, once again silencing Kakashi before he could speak. "Do not worry about it, Kakashi-kun. I allowed it because you were grieving, and you were still completing missions for us well enough." He said, "But now it is time for you to move past all that. I truly believe Naruto will be Hokage someday, but he is not ready for that, and somebody must bridge the gap between my end and his beginning. I would like for it to be one of my students, but I need you to be ready if it's not. You know there are others who would try and steal the power away, and that would be bad for both Naruto-kun and Sasuke."
Another pause from the two, the silence was deafening. Kakashi was too shocked to speak, and the Sandaime was too exhausted. Finally, the latter spoke again. "Your new mission Kakashi, is two-fold. You will train your body to reach your former abilities, and then you will surpass them. It has been a long time since we've had war, and while I don't see it on the near horizon, it is always looming. You need to be powerful enough to protect your comrades, and I truly believe you can get there." Sarutobi explained, a little bit of power leaking into his voice.
"The second part of your mission. You will be in charge of genin. All the genin. I did not mention your analytical eye for no reason. You will be able to watch the genin, and figure out their strengths and weaknesses better than anybody else, and help shore those up. You also have a library of jutsu that you could help teach them. The genin will still have their jonin-sensei's like always, but you will be in charge of them. Scheduling training, deciding when they're ready for C-ranks, if they're ready for the chunin exams. All that and more, will come through you. I'm trusting the next generation of Konoha to you. There are eight clan heirs in this class, and likely a future Hokage. You will have to push them harder than any Genin teams before them. It is your job to make sure that they live up to their great expectations." The Sandaime finished. He placed his pipe back in his mouth, and inhaled deeply, indicating that he was done speaking.
Kakashi's mouth was hanging open. He didn't know what to say. He truly didn't believe that he was ready for all of that. He didn't think he was ready for any of that. But the Third Hokage was wise, and had more experience as Hokage than he did years alive.
"If you believe that is what is best, Sandaime-sama, then I accept the mission." Hiruzen nodded at him. "I do have one question though… Who will be Naruto and Sasuke's sensei?" He asked.
The Hokage smiled slightly, "I think you'll be happy with my decision."
—
The newly minted genin gathered around in their classroom for one last time. Iruka smiled at them all proudly, they truly were excellent students, even the pyromaniac in the back.
The only reason Naruto had passed the written test was because Iruka had gotten permission from the Hokage to threaten him not to light it on fire. Even then, the blond had filled out exactly 60% of the test, and gotten every question right. Just barely enough to pass. Iruka shook his head at the thought, the blond had been the first to finish, and then he had laid his head down on the desk to sleep.
Naruto and Sasuke had easily finished ahead of everybody on the physical aspects of the test, alternating between first and second. Sasuke had the highest score of the boys, getting all but the one question that was meant to be chunin level right, making him the rookie of the year. Sakura aced the test, surprisingly enough, and did better than expected on the physical aspects. She was, however, beaten out by Hinata for top Kunoichi. The Hyuuga heiress seemed to be slowly turning over a new leaf, becoming less and less shy. She dominated the other girls in the class when it came to the physical aspects. While her chakra control wasn't quite as good as Sakura's, it was pretty close, and better than anybody else's. She also only scored one point lower than Sasuke on the test.
"Alright class, settle down" Iruka said, trying to get them all to stop talking. Naturally, nobody had even heard him because a certain blond was loudly recounting a tale of a trip to Takigakure (Hidden Waterfall). "QUIET!" Iruka shouted. That did the trick.
"It's time to announce your teams," Iruka said. (AN: I'll only be focusing on the rookie nine. Even though their class is stronger than usual, I don't want to make 6 or so OC's right off the bat, though some of them might make an appearance later on in the story)
"Team 1… … Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki—"
"Awesome!"
"Hinata Hyuuga, and Sasuke Uchiha."
"Ugh, Iruka-sensei, did you have to stick me with the brooder?" Naruto asked. He was happy to have Sasuke on his team though, he was strong and they had become good friends.
"What do you mean, Naruto. You specifically came to me and asked to have Sasuke on your team because of how cool he was." Iruka said playfully. The whole class laughed, except Naruto, who scowled.
"Just be quiet so he can continue, Loser." Sasuke said. It would take a sharingan to notice the slight smirk on his face, but it was there.
Naruto stuck his tongue out in defiance, but stayed quiet.
"Thank you Sasuke. Team 8 will be Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame."
Sakura was pissed. She didn't really mind Kiba, boisterous as he was, and Shino was alright even though he had those bugs. She wasn't on Sasuke's team though, and that angered her. Why had she been working so hard if not to end up on his team and impress him.
"Like team 5, team 9 is still in circulation, so team 10 will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi."
All three had basically come to terms with the fact that they would be on a team because of how well their clans got along. They were neither unhappy nor happy about the team as a whole, though Shikamaru and Choji were content to be together.
Alright, that's all the teams. You guys can break for lunch, and then meet back here in an hour to find out who your sensei's will be.
Naruto and Sasuke wordlessly began to leave the room side by side. Hinata was sad, she was hoping that they would invite her to lunch. There would be more time to spend with them in the future though. Her thoughts were interrupted when her favorite blond spoke.
"Hinata, are you coming?" He asked.
"Oh, I d-didn't know I was invited." She replied.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked confused. "We're a team now, we should do everything together ya know. C'mon" He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"O-okay N-Naruto." Hinata replied, cheeks turning pink. She was embarrassed that she had stuttered. She had been working really hard on her nervous stutter and being more confident, but it seemed she still had work to do, especially where Naruto was concerned.
As they were walking out of the room, Naruto and Sasuke wordlessly played rock, paper, scissors. The blond made a loud exclamation having one, and then the three continued on their way. Hinata was confused by this, as she had no idea what they had done that for. She soon found out when they came to a ramen stand in the village.
"Haha! Thank God I won! Ramen is the best!" Naruto shouted as they all sat down at the bar. "Hey Old Man, better get that oil fired up because there's three of us today!"
"Naruto! Sasuke! How are my two favorite customers? And who's your friend?" Teuchi said pointing to Hinata.
"Two favorite customers? Does that mean we're tied? Old Man, you wound me. How could you ever consider Sasuke and I equals when it comes to ramen?" Naruto said deadly serious. Teuchi thought he might be joking, but ramen was involved, so he couldn't say for sure.
"Oh Naruto, you know you'll always be our favorite!" Ayame said coming from the back. "No offense of course, Sasuke" She smiled at the two most frequent visitors.
"Hn" Sasuke replied. He didn't really care much for ramen. It was good, but not great, and he didn't understand Naruto's obsession with it.
"Ha! Eat it, Bastard!" Naruto shouted, pointing dramatically at the Uchiha, who ignored him.
"Oh! This is Hinata by the way." Naruto gestured to the shy Hyuuga, causing her to blush slightly. "She's our newest team member, we're officially Team 7, ya know!"
The blond's excitement caused both Ayame and Teuchi to chuckle. "Well Hinata, it's great to meet you, I'm glad Naruto got such a cutie as a teammate!" Ayame exclaimed.
This caused both Naruto and Hinata to blush from embarrassment. "You know Sasuke and I don't care about that Big Sis. We just wanna be awesome shinobi right, Bastard?" Naruto didn't wait for the response, as he knew he wouldn't get one. "We're gonna be the best team since the Sannin! Actually we're gonna be even better than them ya know!" Naruto shouted, chest puffed out.
"Well I'm glad I'm feeding future legendary ninja. Here's the first round Naruto, Iruka stopped by and mentioned you'd probably be here around this time, so we started cooking before you got here!" Teuchi explained.
All three new Genin broke apart their chopsticks and dug in.
—-
After twenty minutes, Naruto leaned over to Sasuke. "Sasuke… how do you know if you're in love." Naruto whispered to him.
Sasuke stopped eating, looked Naruto in the eye for a second, leaned forward and looked at Hinata, who had eaten 8 bowls already, looked back at Naruto, and exhaled a short breath. "You can't be in love with somebody just because they can eat ramen better than you, Naruto." He whispered back.
Naruto nodded firmly to this. "Right, right, I knew that" He whispered again. "... Hey wait, Hinata can't eat ramen better than me!" Naruto got increasingly louder, "Old Man, get us three more bowls each and we'll have a contest!" He proclaimed.
Everybody was staring at Naruto, trying to figure out when he'd stood up on the counter. Then everybody started laughing at him. Naruto swore he even saw Sasuke breathe through nose a little bit sharper than normal.
—-
Team 7 made their way back to the academy to learn who their sensei would be, but something was wrong. They were quiet, much too quiet considering a certain Uzumaki was a part of the group. Said Genin was walking between his two teammates, head hung, face sad, and an invisible rain cloud chasing him.
After minutes of silence, a record around Naruto, Hinata couldn't take it anymore.
"Naruto-kun, I'm sorry I ate the bowls faster than you. I knew you loved ramen, but I didn't know you loved it that much." She said, stifling a giggle at the end.
"It's fine, Hinata. You did your best, I can't be mad about that. I'm just sad I lost." Naruto said glumly.
Sasuke had seen Naruto like this a few times, and had learned how to deal with him. Distraction. "Don't worry about it Hinata. Naruto is just being a big baby. He's probably just worried that we'll get Kakashi as a sensei and he'll get stuck in a genjutsu again." Sasuke said.
"Oi!" Naruto shot up, shaking his fist at Sasuke. "I wanted to get stuck in that genjutsu, I could have gotten out of it easily if I wanted to!" Naruto responded, referencing the time Kakashi used an A-rank genjutsu on him that Naruto definitely couldn't have gotten out of.
"I'm sure you could have, Loser… Do you think we'll get Kakashi?" Sasuke questioned. He was silently hoping that they would. He would never admit it, but along with Naruto, Kakashi was one of the few other people in the village that he liked. Perhaps the only other person. After plenty of hours with Hinata helping her train, Sasuke had learned to like her too he supposed, or at the very least tolerate her.
"I dunno," Naruto said flatly. "Sure he's got a lot of jutsu, but I bet that I could take him if I went all out."
Hinata giggled at Naruto claiming he could beat one of Konoha's strongest and most famous Jonin. "I guess there's only one way to find out, Naruto-kun." She wasn't so intimidated by the blond after spending lunch with him and seeing his goofiness up close and personal. He was so much fun to be around, she forgot about her shyness a little bit.
"Alright Team 7, let's do it!" Naruto shouted, pushing through the doors.
—
Naruto's hands were sweating, and his heart was pounding. He was so excited to find out who his sensei was, that he was actually nervous. He hadn't been nervous since his first day of real training with Jiraiya almost one year ago.
"... and team 7, your jonin-sensei will be Yamato." None of the three genin had ever heard of a Yamato before. Their heads snapped to the door when it slid open. A tall man walked stiffly through the doorway, short, brown hair bobbing ever so slightly. His stern face was framed by a happuri style Leaf forehead protector, the kind the Second Hokage wore, and betrayed none of his emotions. He wore the standard Konoha Jonin attire, with the exception of his shirt, which was tighter, and the neck of it ran up to make a sort of skin tight chin guard. Despite his bland appearance, Naruto thought he was pretty cool. He had noticed the large Katana strapped to the man's back, and was instantly excited.
"Team 7, I am your Jonin-sensei. You may call me Yamato. Please meet me at training ground 7 as soon as possible." As quickly as he had entered and spoke, Yamato shunshin'd out of the room.
'On second thought, he's kind of boring' Naruto thought at hearing Yamato's plain voice and lack of enthusiasm.
—-
It only took a few minutes for the trio to make it to the training ground, though Hinata couldn't help but feel like she was slowing them down.
Yamato was fairly impressed at how quickly his three students got to the training ground. They were fast for genin. Or potential genin.
"I believe now would be a good time to get to know each other a little bit about each other. Why don't you all tell me your name, best shinobi art, weakest shinobi art, and goals as a ninja?" Yamato asked. Kakashi-senpai had suggested he ask about hobbies and other miscellaneous things, but Yamato didn't find that prudent at the moment.
"S-sensei, could you go first to give us an idea?" Hinata asked nervously.
"Nonsense Hinata, I'll go first!" Naruto yelled, not allowing Yamato to respond. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I don't have a best shinobi art because I'm the best at all of them ya know!" His chest puffed out in pride. "Though I guess if I had to pick one it'd be ninjutsu or maybe Fuinjutsu, that's starting to get fun." He seemed to be talking more to himself than his team at this point. "My weakest is probably genjutsu" he said sheepishly, returning back to Earth. "I can detect and break them alright, but I can't do one yet. But I'll learn just you wait!" When he realized he'd gotten on another tangent, he corrected his course. "I just have two goals for my life. Restore my clan to it's former awesome glory and become the Hokage and protect all the people I care about ya know!"
"Very well." Yamato responded dryly. Naruto sweat dropped, but at least he hadn't told him it wasn't possible.
Seeing that Hinata was too shy to go next, Sasuke decided to speak up. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. My best skill is taijutsu. I'm very good at all the main three shinobi arts, so I suppose my weakness is Fuinjutsu, for now. My goal is also to restore my clan, and to avenge those that were killed." Sasuke finished, voice tight at the thought of what his brother did.
Yamato just nodded at him, then turned to Hinata expectantly. The Hyuuga took a deep breath and summoned all her confidence. She even looked her sensei in the eye as she spoke. "My name is Hinata Hyuuga. My greatest ninja art is taijutsu, though I'm not as good as either of my teammates. My biggest weakness is ninjutsu, as I can't do any of my clan's more advanced ones yet. My goal is to prove to my father that I can be a worthy member of the Hyuuga clan, and to unite the main family with the branch family." She said resolutely, leaving out her third goal as she looked to her blond teammate who was shooting her a huge smile. She blushed at him.
"Very good. My name is Yamato. My ninjutsu is my best skill. Genjutsu is my worst skill though I am still proficient at it. My goal is to continue to be a valuable ninja to the village." Their sensei said. "Now, it is time for your test to become genin."
"Alright Yamato-sensei, bring it on! We can take anything ya know!"
Yamato tilted his head almost imperceptibly at this. Graduates weren't supposed to know about there being another test administered by the jonin sensei. In fact, they were supposed to get flustered when they learned they hadn't really passed. Dealing with that was part of the test.
"W-what do you mean? I thought we passed already?" Hinata asked, she was now becoming extremely nervous.
"Does it really matter, Hinata? The three of us are the most awesome of the graduates. There's no way that we won't pass!" Naruto said, giving her a foxy grin. Sasuke grunted in agreement in the background. Hinata returned a small smile, Naruto's attitude was infectious.
Naruto took this as confirmation that they were ready. "Alright, Sensei. Tell us about your dumb test." He said confidently, staring Yamato down.
"Very well. Your team is actually a special case in that you will have to pass two tests." He paused, looking for reactions. The Uchiha didn't seem to react at all, though the Hyuuga seemed to lose just a little bit of her confidence. Most worrisome was the Uzumaki though, as he seemed to get more excited at his. "First, like all other teams, you will have to pass my jonin instructor test to see if you qualify to be my students." He paused again, but the trio didn't change at all. "If you pass the first test you will become full-fledged genin. The second test, is to see if you can handle the training regimen that has been recommended for you by the Genin commander." He continued, referring to Kakashi's new unofficial title. "This years teams were organized differently than normal. They were put together for specific reasons, with hopes that they will stick together and be able to complete advanced missions in their area of expertise down the line. Team 7 was arranged to be a heavy combat squad. You will take regular missions just like other teams, but your main purpose will be combat. Therefore, you will often be called in as backup for other teams that aren't as strong in the area." Yamato explained.
All three members reacted in their own way. Sasuke's lips upturned in a smirk, Naruto's grin threatened to split his face, and Hinata looked even more nervous, much more like she had been at the beginning of the year.
"Test number one, is to fight me. In order to pass, you must land two successful blows on me, or force me into a position where you could subdue or kill me. If you fail, you will be sent back to the academy to repeat your final year." The reactions grew. The boys seemed to love a challenge, while Hinata seemed worried. "If you aren't fighting to kill me, you will not be able to land a single blow on me. Take this seriously, I'm a jonin, I can handle it. No explosive tags over grade 2 though." Naruto could have sworn he glanced at him nervously when he said that, but it happened so quickly he couldn't be sure. Grade 2 explosives were the lowest level designed for combat. Grade 1 were only for spars, 3 and 4 were meant to seriously injure or kill, and grade 5 were designed for destroying buildings or caravans. "If you pass the first test, I will tell you about the second test. You have 4 hours. Begin." Yamato started the test and shunshin'd out so quickly that all three of them were surprised.
Naruto hopped up from his seat in the grass, his two teammates following suit. He looked at Sasuke, "Ready, you grumpy Bastard?" Sasuke rolled his eyes. That's a yes. He turned to Hinata, and saw how worried she looked, and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Hinata, he might be a jonin, but we can do it. We just have to land a few solid hits, it's not like we have to capture or kill him." Hinata instantly felt better, and extremely warm. She quickly turned away before Naruto could see how red her face was turning. "You're right Naruto-kun. I believe that we can do this." She said, and she did. She felt like anything was possible if Naruto was helping.
Behind Naruto, Sasuke rolled his eyes once more. Hinata had confided in him about her crush on Naruto when she had first asked Sasuke for some extra training, and he thought her reactions to him were ridiculous. He was just Naruto, a goofy loser with a ramen addiction, there was no need to get so worked up. While Sasuke didn't really care that much about feelings and all that, he agreed to help her become stronger. He was curious however, as to why her clan wasn't doing the training. It didn't really matter to him in the long run, she was his teammate now, and he and Naruto would make sure she caught up quickly.
Naruto and Sasuke then turned to each other and seemed to have a conversation just by looking. Naruto finally nodded his head. "Right, here's the plan. Hinata, Sasuke and I will handle the majority of the interactions with sensei. He walks like he has a stick up his butt, and he has very few emotions, so he's definitely ANBU or former ANBU. He's been assigned to the last Uchiha and Uzumaki, as well as the Hyuuga princess" He managed to tease despite being serious in a way that Hinata had never seen before. She blushed. "So he's definitely a high level jonin. We'll need you to use your Byakugan to help locate him, how long can you keep it activated?" Naruto asked.
Hinata had nearly become lost in the blond's deep blue eyes, so it took her a second to respond. "Uh, I can keep it active for an hour straight, but it needs to rest for about the same amount of time that it's been active." She responded. She had hesitated and said uh like some fan girl, and she wasn't happy with herself about it. Maybe her father was right.
"That's awesome, Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed reading her facial expressions and seeing she needed a boost. "Alright, once we get moving, I want you to alternate 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off and search for him. Can you handle that?" She nodded firmly at him, determined to prove him right. "Sasuke and I will help narrow down the search area as we go. Now, he's a high level jonin, but he doesn't know all our tricks yet, so if we work together I think that we can catch him by surprise." Naruto thought for a few seconds then asked, "Anything to add Sasuke?"
"His movements are sharp and efficient. If he was ANBU, he'll likely take a flesh wound in order to block a killing blow. We should try and land multiple attacks at once. Ninjutsu is his best skill, so we should try and prevent him from using it. Naruto, how long do you think you could hold him?" Sasuke asked, referencing Naruto's ability to suppress chakra using his chakra chains.
"If he's as high level as I think he is, probably only a few seconds." Naruto said, jaw clenched. He hated not being able to completely subdue someone."
"Okay, then I think our best bet is for you to catch him, and Hinata to deliver the blow. Her clan's taijutsu style will do damage no matter the level of the opponent, we just have to get her an opening." Sasuke said.
Hinata nodded at this. She didn't get the same warm feeling as when Naruto complimented her, but it felt good in a different way that Sasuke thought she was capable. He wasn't the type to lie to make others feel better.
With that, the three academy graduates headed off into the forest to find their sensei.
—
Kakashi was impressed. He had made seven shadow clones, which was basically his current limit while fresh, and sent them out to the seven teams that had graduated. He himself watched Team 7's test, curious to see how his two favorite graduates were doing.
Three of the eight teams had passed, slightly more than the average 33%. Teams 8 and 10 had been impressive. Kurenai had tested team 8 by making them track her down through several genjutsu that were expertly woven. Both the Aburame and Inuzuka had handled it well, using their clan techniques to hunt her down. The big surprise was the civilian, Sakura Haruno. She had excellent chakra control, and had been able to detect and dispel all the lower level genjutsu the Kurenai cast near instantly. Kakashi was pretty sure she had even seen her use a sensing technique to try and help her teammates find their sensei.
Team 10 had acted as expected from an Ino-Shika-Cho trio. The Nara had come up with the plan, and the Akimichi and Yamanaka had both helped herd their sensei. When Asuma was in place, Shikamaru had sprung the trap, a double bluff, that led to him using his shadow possession to catch his sensei. Shikamaru was under no impression that his shadow possession could hold his sensei if it couldn't even hold Naruto though.
Flashback, 1 month into the academy:
When it came to their first full ninjutsu spar, Naruto was meant to fight Shikamaru. Shikamaru generally wasn't one to participate, and would often forfeit before even starting. Naruto had piqued his curiosity however, so he elected to fight. Figuring that Naruto wouldn't know anything about the Nara clan techniques, Shikamaru immediately made the signs for shadow possession jutsu and his shadow extended to Naruto. Naruto himself was curious as to what was going on, but when the shadow touched his, he panicked just a little bit. He couldn't move his body.
"What kind of genjutsu is this!?" Naruto shouted, unaware of what was really going on. Shikamaru just raised an eyebrow at his reaction.
"Genjutsu like this won't work on me!" Naruto shouted, building up his chakra, "Release!"
The shadow connecting the two shattered, and everybody felt a small wave of wind pressure. Everybody's mouth was hanging open, including Iruka's.
"So troublesome. Sensei, I forfeit." Shikamaru said. He knew that the shadow possession could be disrupted by chakra, but he also knew the opponent had to be much stronger than the user. He kept his lazy demeanor, even as he heard Sasuke tell Naruto that 'it's not a genjutsu, Loser', but inwardly Shikamaru was shaken. He knew he was pretty much last in class, but that was supposed to be from a lack of effort, not ability. Now, not only was Sasuke obviously better than him, but Naruto was apparently leagues ahead of him. He would have to ask his father for some additional training if he was this far behind. So Troublesome.
He had been going through the extra training with his father, as much as the main had complained about it. It had been helping too, but he didn't think he could hold a high level jonin in place if they knew how to break it.
Kakashi knew that the team would be skilled in tactics, given the previous renditions of the team. They would need work physically though. The Nara just wasn't strong enough or fast enough. Same with the Yamanaka. Choji, being an Akimichi, packed quite a punch already, but he needed to get faster, or he'd never be able to land a blow.
Team 7 had been the most impressive however, despite his high expectations for them. They found Yamato after 25 minutes, a feat in its own right given the size of the training ground. The former ANBU was under orders not to go all out, but to push them as hard as he could. That meant he was not to dip below Jonin level for any of his skills.
He had handled them easily enough when they first found him. Naruto had thrown several kunai with explosive tags to steer him towards Sasuke's thrown shuriken. Yamato simply pulled out his own kunai and deflected them. The real issue came about when the blond and raven haired boys looked at each other and developed a gleam in their eyes. They both ran through hand signs and firmly said their jutsu names.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu."
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."
Yamato's face paled when the two jutsu collided. They would've been impressive separately, but together they actually made him nervous. He quickly sped through familiar hand seals and made a wood dome. He didn't want to reveal his techniques this early, if at all, but he saw no other choice. He wouldn't have time to mold enough chakra for a mud wall that would be able to withstand it. Similarly, he couldn't make a water technique that quickly that would be able to handle a combo technique this strong.
When he had felt the force of the technique dissipate, he released the Snake seal that his hands were in, cancelling the technique. He immediately had to counter shuriken and kunai that were thrown at him. He flung his kunai back at his attacker, and it hit its mark. The blond it hit smirked before popping into smoke.
Yamato heard the crackle of lightning coming from his right, and saw Sasuke holding out his hands. He quickly ran through hand seals knowing earth wouldn't do the trick as he heard Sasuke say his jutsu name.
"Lightning Release: Thunderclap Arrow"
"Water Release: Waterwall!" Yamato literally spit out. Using water release without water around was extremely taxing on his reserves, but he couldn't afford to use Earth Release against a lightning technique.
He knew that Sasuke could use both lightning and fire release, but both the techniques he had used were C-rank. Generally C-rank techniques require the user to have finished the first step in chakra nature manipulation. If a shinobi was especially talented, or there was enough of the element in the area (i.e. a river or earth) then it could be done. That meant that Sasuke was either truly a genius, or Kakashi was training a monster. Yamato just had time to decide that it was both, when he felt something start to wrap around him.
The real Naruto had snuck up behind him and used his chakra chains to hold him in place. Yamato could feel his chakra being suppressed, but knew he could break it in the same way he would a genjutsu. He was just about done building up his chakra when he heard Naruto.
"Now, Hinata!" He shouted.
The Hyuuga came flying in from his left, veins around her eyes showing, and one hand extended, aiming for his heart. She was coming in fast, he would have to hurry. Yamato released his chakra at full force. It was enough to expel the chains, but harder than it should have been. He rotated counter-clockwise and leaned back, just out of the Hyuuga's reach. He continued his rotation until he delivered a hard right fist to her ribs. It left him off balance, but he had to get her outside of his guard so he could reset the fight.
It would have worked too, if that Hinata hadn't been a henge'd shadow clone. The real Hinata came out from the tree she was hiding behind. Now behind Yamato, she rushed in full speed to deliver a chakra laden strike to the back of his right thigh. She hadn't wanted to hurt her sensei, but Naruto and Sasuke had reassured her that he could handle a full powered strike as long as it wasn't aimed for an organ.
Yamato tried to rotate out of the way, but couldn't gain his balance in time. Hinata's strike hit him square in the hamstring, and he felt the leg go numb. Yamato used the force of her blow to continue his rotation even more. His right leg was nearly useless, but his left wasn't. As he rotated on his out of commission leg, slowly dropping, he brought his left leg up, and caught Hinata in the shoulder with his heel. She flew back a few feet, and landed on her side, skidding across the grass. Before she even stopped, Naruto and Sasuke were both standing in front of her, kunai in hand. The former looked pissed, while the latter donned his typical Uchiha mask. His eyes betrayed him ever so slightly though, at least for someone of Yamato's caliber. He saw the tightness there. The Uchiha was mad too.
"The enemies will not take it easy on you, so I won't either. It would be a disservice to you to do so." Yamato said calmly, trying to stall without being noticed. The feeling would come back to his leg, but he would need at least a few minutes.
"I don't care what you say. If you hit my teammate and friend, I'll give it back to you ten-fold." The blond said. His eyes started to turn slitted, and they turned from their regular deep light blue to a purple color, verging on red. His voice had gained an edge that one often didn't hear from someone so inexperienced.
If Yamato didn't know his opponent's skill level, he might have been scared. As it was, he was on edge more than normal. He wasn't running low on chakra yet, but his wood release and water release techniques had used up more than he was comfortable with considering it was three versus one. He was also on essentially one leg at this point. Granted, he could defeat them soundly if he really went all out, but he wasn't supposed to maim them, and they only had to land a single blow on him to pass. Plus, he had to make sure to monitor Naruto as it appeared he was beginning to tap into the Kyuubi's power. He would need chakra to spare if he had to suppress a biju.
"Naruto-kun, it's fine. I'm okay." Hinata said, she was holding her left shoulder as she stood up. "I let my guard down after landing the blow. It was a good lesson that I wouldn't have learned if he took it easy on me." There was disappointment in her voice, but also determination. She dropped into the Gentle Fist stance. "Let us land the second blow, before he recovers from his injury."
Naruto's breathing evened, but the influence of the Kyuubi didn't leave his eyes. He grinned. "Alright, Hinata." He held up his signature hand seal. "Let's do this!" 10 clones popped into existence, surrounding Yamato and Team 7. Each clone held a ram seal, and three chains extended from their torso. One to each side, and one upwards. The gold chains all interlinked forming a dome and Yamato saw it. A barrier. Kakashi hadn't said anything about barriers.
Up in the trees, looking down on the test, sharingan blazing, Kakashi smirked under his mask. He hadn't told Team 7 anything about Yamato, so he thought it was fair that he kept some things from him.
Yamato lasted another 30 seconds with the three graduates, in addition to a plethora of clones, landed another blow. Even Kakashi was impressed considering the disadvantage that Yamato was at. He even landed a few blows back on the trio before Naruto finally snuck in a solid punch.
Team 7 was officially a genin team. Naruto was grinning, Hinata had a full smile on her face, and Sasuke even had a big smirk on his face.
Kakashi was extremely proud of them, but he didn't want to enforce what would come next. He now understood why Lord Third hadn't let him be their sensei. He would've been too soft on them. They needed to be pushed, and hard.
Kakashi landed in the clearing where the three pre-teens were talking with their sensei about their test.
"Kakashi! Did you see how awesome we were!" Naruto shouted. His smile was blinding, and Kakashi returned it through his one uncovered eye. He was unsurprised that Naruto knew he was watching. The boy was a natural sensor, and Kakashi hadn't been trying too hard to hide his chakra.
"I did, Naruto. You three did very well. Even better than expected actually." All three genin's smiles widened. "It's time for the second part of your test though." Kakashi said, and the smiles shortened.
"You three are meant to be the strongest combat team we've had since, well, my team." Kakashi explained, casually leaning against a tree. "Three teams of your class passed their genin test. Team 7, 8, and 10" he said, recalling his clone's memories. "All three teams will be trained harder than genin usually are, as there are 8 clan heirs in this class. Your team will be trained the hardest. You will be pushed harder than before, even harder than Jiraiya pushed you, Naruto." The blond paled at this a little bit. "The chunin exams are coming up in 6 months, and they will be hosted in Konoha. You will be expected to advance to the finals by that time. In order to ensure that, you will have to be more than ready for anything that can happen. Yamato here will ensure that."
"S-so what's the second test?" Hinata asked, nervousness creeping in.
"I'm glad you asked Hinata." Kakashi said, eye-smiling. "Yamato will explain it to you." He said, and shunshin'd away. Yamato sweat dropped.
The three genin turned to him expectantly. "I will explain exactly what is to happen when we get to training ground 44. Let's go." He said, his voice grim.
—-
Team 7 arrived at training ground 44 a little while later. They were a little tired from traveling across the village, but they were more nervous about what would happen, even Naruto.
They stood in front of the fence to the training ground, reading all the dangerous warnings when Yamato spoke. "It will be a survival exercise. You will spend two weeks in the forest, with no food or water taken in." He turned to Naruto. "Anything you have sealed in scrolls will have to be left with me. I know shinobi often cheat and lie to get the mission done, but this is for your benefit. It's a test, but the purpose is to get you ready for even harder training. If you cheat in there, you will not be ready." He explained.
"You will be allowed 3 kunai each, five shuriken, 1 roll of ninja wire." Sasuke groaned. "Naruto, you will not be allowed to take your sealing supplies." Naruto looked like he wanted to complain, but he just nodded, and stripped off his vest, as well as the large scroll on his back. He recalled the supplies Yamato allowed from the storage seal on the side of his scroll, as well as a hip pouch for them. When he was situated, he nodded at Yamato.
"Now listen to me carefully. You haven't gotten to know me very well, and you'll probably hate me after this, but I'm doing it because it will be the best thing for you. If you survive this test, your abilities will start to sky rocket. This will give you an extreme amount of experience, without having to leave the relative safety of the village. Just because you're in the village though, doesn't mean you're safe. The animals and plants in there will all try and kill you, and they will do it at every hour of the night or day. They are mutated from normal animals, bigger, faster, and stronger. You will not be safe." He explained. He was worried about them, even though he'd just met them. "There are traps that have been laid out there as a part of training exercises as well. You must have your guard up and protect each other at all times."
"B-but you'll be there t-to help if anything goes wrong, r-right?" Hinata asked. She was scared. Her Jonin sensei had just told her that the forest would be trying to kill her.
Yamato shook his head, face as grim as they had seen it in their short time together. "You will be alone." He lied. They couldn't know they were being watched. "If we afford you a safety net, you will not be pushed past your limits." He said.
They all nodded, albeit hesitantly. Unsurprisingly it was Naruto who broke them out of their stupor. "Alright, Team 7. I'm gonna be the Hokage someday, and I can't be the Hokage if I die in this dumb forest. And I'll die before I let either of my comrades, so we'll just have to find a way through ya know." He then listed rule number one to Sasuke, who nodded resolutely.
Yamato was inwardly already a little proud of his team. He had done his best to scare them so that they would be ready, but they handled it well. He could also see the natural leadership that the blond had, and how it was raising up both of his teammates.
Naruto faced his new teacher. "Alright, Yamato-sensei. We're ready."
With that, the Uzumaki, Uchiha, and Hyuuga headed into the Forest of Death.
Another longer chapter, hope you like it. I stole the forest of death idea from Team 7's Ascension: Blood Wings by Eilyfe (I think) though I will be doing it differently obviously.
I hope you like having Hinata on the team. If I was gonna pair Naruto and Sasuke on a team, I thought they would need the most killed girl in order to justify making a combat team instead of the traditional dead last and rookie of the year. This does not mean that Hinata and Naruto are paired. I'm still considering a fairly wide variety of people to pair him with, though I probably won't get to that until post time skip. (I just read a fic with Shizuka from Nadeshiko and really enjoyed it. I also enjoy reading Hinata and Ino fics, but those are both common. I probably won't do Sakura, just because they don't work together that well in my brain, but I'm not entirely opposed to it. In the end if I can't decide I might do an OC, we'll see.)
I also chose Yamato because Kakashi would approve, he would be firm with them while still teaching them teamwork, and Kakashi's closeness to Sasuke and Naruto would affect his ability to lead them directly. While he won't be able to teach them that many jutsu, he can still teach them how to better use their jutsu. Kakashi will still be able to train them one on one, without the conflict of interest of leaving Hinata on her own. It also set up Kakashi for some 'Hokage training' by being in charge of the genin and their training. This will leave him free for important missions, training both himself and others, and give a different perspective on the story. Obviously Yamato being able to counter the Kyuubi going wild allows him to uniquely be able to handle the team, and Kakashi will still be able to train Sasuke on his sharingan.
The way Naruto's chakra chains will work in my story is like this: they will operate on an experience, control, and strength basis. He needs strong chakra control, combined with the experience of using them and suppressing chakra, while also having powerful chakra of his own. While he has the last one (that will continue to develop) He lacks the first two well enough to suppress someone of Yamato's level, or be able to use more than 3 chains at once. He was able to contain Yamato in a barrier by using a small amount of the Kyuubi's chakra, so little that his eyes didn't turn all the way red (Less than the canon land of waves arc). If he had perfect control and experience right now, he'd likely be able to handle Yamato easily, but he's 12 so he doesn't.
I put Sakura in place of Hinata because she has good chakra control, and while they're a tracking team, they already have Shino and Kiba, so they can track just fine, and Sakura learning some genjutsu and sensing will only help, they don't really need a Hyuuga.
I think that's everything. I really appreciate all the positive reviews. While the negative reviews don't really get to me, they still present an opinion that the audience has, so if you like it, please review and let me know! Even if you just review as a guest and say "good" it helps me a lot.
As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to ask. I'll try and get to them in an author note or PM.
-StolenHawk