Chapter 4: Team Assignments
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This scene was also witnessed by the Jonin in the Hokage's office.
All of them stared at the Third Hokage's crystal ball with black lines on their faces.
Asuma said, "So that's Sasuke, the top student of this class."
"Judging from his grades, he's excellent. No worse than Kakashi was back then."
Kakashi, who had been silently watching the crystal ball, said flatly, "He may even be stronger than I was at that age."
He thought to himself, "After all, he's an Uchiha."
The Uchiha Clan carried a lot of weight in Kakashi's heart.
His friend, and his former subordinate, had both belonged to the Uchiha Clan.
He had seen the strength of the Uchiha Clan with his own eyes.
When the Third Hokage saw that scene, he was equally speechless.
He thought, "That Naruto boy... how does he always end up causing such unexpected incidents? Sigh."
None of them paid any attention to Yoruha.
Yoruha's grades over the years had been very average—not good, but not bad either.
Even the Third Hokage had no impression of him.
That was normal too. With the image Yoruha had maintained before, he was just a very ordinary student.
There was nothing special about him, and he didn't come from a ninja clan, so naturally no one paid him much attention.
After waiting a while, Iruka came in.
Looking at the students below, under their nervous gazes, he took out the list of team assignments.
Ino, sitting beside Yoruha, prayed inwardly, "Please let me be assigned to the same team as Yoruha."
What she didn't know was that her future had already been arranged perfectly clearly by the Third Hokage and their parents' generation.
The Ino-Shika-Cho combination was never going to be split up.
Or rather, the Konoha Twelve had all long since been assigned clearly.
There was no room for anyone else in those arrangements.
Sure enough, Iruka read out several groups of names, and Yoruha's name still didn't appear.
When he reached Team 10, Iruka said, "Team 10: Shikamaru, Choji, Ino."
Just as Yoruha expected.
Even if he had forgotten many plot details completely, he had still lived in Konohagakure for more than ten years.
He already knew the general situation of the various clans in Konohagakure.
How could Ino-Shika-Cho possibly be separated?
Ino slumped over her desk and said weakly, "What the heck, this team assignment is awful. They didn't even put me and Yoruha on the same team."
Shikamaru, beside her, said helplessly, "Hey, hey, could you not say that right in front of us? We're your teammates too, you know."
Ino gave a cold snort.
When she looked toward Yoruha, she found that he was very calm, as if he had expected this result long ago.
Dejected, she said, "Yoruha, I didn't end up on the same team as you."
Yoruha smiled. "The teachers must have their own considerations."
Iruka continued, "Team 11: Yamada Juki, Yoruha, Tanako Hon."
Yoruha thought, "As expected, my teammates are two unknown students."
Team 11 consisted of three students all from civilian backgrounds.
Yoruha believed their instructor definitely wouldn't be one of Konohagakure's famous Jonin.
Most likely it would just be an ordinary Jonin.
Possibly not even a Jonin—maybe a Special Jonin or even a Chunin.
Meanwhile, the two classmates Yoruha had never heard of were now looking all around the classroom for their teammates.
Yamada Juki was a boy with a personality somewhat like Naruto's. Oddly enough, he wore his hair in a ponytail.
Tanako Hon, on the other hand, was a rather pretty girl, with long golden hair falling loose to her waist, a pure white top, and a pure black skirt without any patterns.
She looked fairly quiet.
Yoruha had never paid much attention to either of them before.
And they didn't have much impression of him either.
Those two, however, seemed to get along quite well with each other usually.
To them, Yoruha was a stranger.
Once the teams were assigned, each group's guiding Jonin came to the classroom to take their students away.
The first to arrive was Asuma.
As soon as he entered, he looked toward the three of Team 10 and said, "Team 10, I'm your guiding Jonin. Come with me."
As she was leaving, Ino looked at Yoruha and said reluctantly, "Yoruha, my family's flower shop is on the shopping street, and I help out there all the time. You have to come find me sometime."
Yoruha gave a small nod.
If he didn't agree, Ino probably wouldn't have been willing to leave.
Shikamaru also said, "Yoruha, we're heading out first."
Yoruha smiled. "Yeah, go ahead."
After the three of them left,
Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon came over and sat beside Yoruha.
Yamada Juki had a very cheerful personality. The moment he sat down, he turned to Yoruha, held out his hand, and said with a grin, "Hello, Yoruha. I'm Yamada Juki. We're in the same team from now on, so let's get along."
Yoruha smiled. "Hello, Juki. I'm Yoruha. Please take care of me as well."
"Yoruha, I'm Tanako Hon. Please take care of me from now on too."
Tanako Hon also generously extended her hand toward Yoruha.
Yoruha gave it a light shake before letting go, smiling as he said, "Tanako, please take care of me as well."
And just like that, the three of them got acquainted.
While shaking hands with them, Yoruha could sense that neither of them had much Chakra.
Just around the level of an ordinary genin.
This was one of the traits that came with Natural Energy—an exceptional sensitivity to energy. Not only Chakra, but energy in general, and even danger, were things he could sense with sharp acuity.
By now, Yoruha already had a preliminary understanding of his two teammates.
He didn't dislike them. Both of them had good personalities.
Yamada Juki's personality was similar to Naruto's, but he wasn't nearly as hyperactive.
He was simply cheerful.
Tanako Hon's personality was similar to Hinata's, but she wasn't nearly as timid.
She was simply quiet and gentle.
Her looks were no worse than Hinata's either.
But her taste in clothes was far better.
Yoruha could tell that although Tanako Hon didn't come from a ninja clan, her family was definitely very well-off.
The clothes she wore were obviously expensive at a glance.
If nothing unexpected happened, Tanako Hon was a little rich girl.
Tanako Hon and Yamada Juki were both very curious about Yoruha.
They really had no impression of him at all before.
Yamada Juki couldn't help asking, "Yoruha, how come I don't remember you at all?"
"Were you a transfer student or something?"
Tanako Hon also looked at Yoruha. She was curious too.
Yoruha felt a little helpless.
It seemed that aside from Shikamaru, hardly anyone in the class knew him.
Even though they'd all been in the same class for six years.
Still, Yoruha patiently replied, "I've been in this class for six years already."
Juki was stunned. "Y-you've been in this class for six years?!"
He couldn't believe it. After six whole years, he had no impression of Yoruha whatsoever.
Tanako Hon covered her small mouth too.
She was shocked as well.
Yoruha smiled bitterly. "Maybe it's because I don't really like talking to people."
Yamada Juki nodded, agreeing with Yoruha's explanation. "Yeah, really—I don't remember you at all. That's so strange."
"But from now on, we're teammates. We won't let you be alone anymore."
Juki smiled brightly.
Yoruha was a little surprised.
"So it's not just the main cast who have people like this around them. These side characters are actually pretty nice too. It's just that their strength doesn't measure up, so they can only fade into the background."
"If they're unlucky, they die in the Fourth Great Ninja War. If they're even more unlucky, they don't even live long enough to make it to the Fourth Great Ninja War and die during missions beforehand."