Iruka stood at the lectern, cleared his throat, and lifted the final team list for genin placement. The classroom fell instantly silent. Every graduate held their breath, waiting for the moment that would set the course of their ninja lives.
"Team Seven," Iruka read. "Naruto."
Haruno Sakura's heart shot into her throat. Her hands clenched tight beneath the desk. Please not that guy. Please don't put me with him.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
Sakura felt her heart nearly launch out of her chest. Joy crashed over her so hard she almost squealed. She forced it down, cheeks blazing, and snuck a sideways glance at Sasuke.
Sasuke kept a blank face as if he hadn't heard his name at all. Only when Iruka read the next name did his brow twitch the faintest bit.
"And… Haruno Sakura."
"The jonin leading you three: Hatake Kakashi."
Fireworks went off inside Sakura. She'd been placed with Sasuke-kun! As for Naruto… her brain filtered him out automatically. Sasuke, on the other hand, felt a flicker of irritation. Naruto—that clown who "graduated early" for show—was on his team? Dead weight would only slow his path to power.
Naruto didn't mind. He just pumped a fist, buzzing at the thought of finally becoming a full-fledged genin. Teammates were teammates—whatever.
Afternoon, the academy rooftop.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had already been waiting nearly two hours. Sasuke leaned against the railing, eyes shut, saving his strength. Sakura sat beside him, staring dreamily at his profile. Naruto paced around, bored out of his skull.
A figure appeared with zero warning. Silver hair, the left eye covered by a hitai-ate, a black face mask, and a lazy aura that seemed to drip off him.
"Yo. Nice to meet you." Hatake Kakashi lifted a hand. "Sorry, sorry—I was helping an old lady cross the road, so I'm late."
"Liar!" Naruto and Sakura jabbed fingers at him in unison.
Kakashi ignored it and sat cross-legged. "Alright, let's do introductions. Tell me what you like, what you hate, and your dream for the future."
"Sensei, you first!" Naruto yelled.
"Me?" Kakashi pointed at himself. "Name's Hatake Kakashi. What I like and hate—I don't feel like telling you. As for dreams… nothing special."
All three had the same thought: he didn't say anything.
Naruto went next, standing ramrod straight and announcing: "I'm Naruto! I like Mom's ramen and training with my big bro! I hate the three minutes waiting for instant noodles! My dream is to become Hokage—and surpass my old man!"
Kakashi stared without much ripple in his eye. Another kid who wants to be Hokage—and the son of that lord, no less. Early graduation… probably pulled with family strings.
Sakura's turn was entirely Sasuke-centric, which had Kakashi stifling yawns.
Last was Sasuke. Hands in pockets, voice cold: "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I hate many things. I don't particularly like anything. I have no dream—because my goals will become reality. I will restore the Uchiha… and kill that man."
Kakashi looked at the boy carrying vengeance and sighed inwardly. The Uchiha's orphan—walking that road, as expected.
One connections kid, one fangirl, one avenger. A bundle of problem children.
"Okay, that's that." Kakashi stood. "Tomorrow morning, five o'clock. Meet at Training Ground Three for a survival test. Oh, and a tip—don't eat breakfast. You'll probably puke."
Dawn, next day—Training Ground Three.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stood before three wooden posts, yawning. Their jonin leader, Hatake Kakashi, drifted in close to noon.
"Morning, everyone."
"You're beyond late, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto and Sakura roared again.
Kakashi took out two little bells and jingled them in front of the trio. "Today's task is simple—by noon, take these two bells from me. Whoever fails will be tied to a post to watch the others eat lunch."
He added, "And you'll be sent back to the academy for remedial classes."
All three faces changed. At least one of them would be cut.
"Alright then…" Kakashi pulled out a little orange book, Icha Icha Paradise. "Begin!"
The instant the words left his mouth, Sasuke and Sakura vanished into cover.
Only Naruto stood there like a dummy.
Without lowering the book, Kakashi said, "Compared to those two, you're doing something odd."
"I'm gonna take you head-on, fair and square!" Naruto charged.
Kakashi didn't even bother closing the book. A slight sidestep let Naruto's fist whip past harmlessly.
A lazy kick sent Naruto yelping through the air.
Watching from the shadows, Sasuke curled a lip. Idiot. Charging blind without testing the enemy.
Having swatted Naruto aside, Kakashi returned to his reading. The other two would move soon enough.
Sure enough, a few minutes later the ground under his foot gave way—a simple pit trap. Kakashi hopped free without effort, and Sakura popped from behind a tree, hurling shuriken at his landing point.
Without looking up, Kakashi flicked them all off course with a kunai.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!"
Sasuke attacked from the opposite side, a giant fireball roaring in. Kakashi's form blurred out of sight and reappeared at Sasuke's back.
"A ninja's basics start with hiding your presence. You did that well," Kakashi murmured by his ear.
Shock hit Sasuke. He turned and blocked but still ate a kick that sent him skidding.
With two handled, Kakashi felt bored again. So that was the level this year. He'd hoped for more.
Just as he decided to end the little game, the situation flipped.
Five Narutos rushed him from different angles at once.
"More shadow clones? Boring." Kakashi still couldn't be bothered. "Same trick won't work on me. You're too green, kid."
But these clones moved differently.
One clone charged straight in, drawing his eye.
Another slipped behind and started digging at his feet. Nonsensical—what were they even planning?
A third scrambled up a tree, clearly ready to rain kunai from above.
The fourth and fifth worried him from the flanks.
Their coordination showed real intent—no longer random flailing.
Kakashi's brow creased. He put the book away at last.
He booted the frontal clone apart, slid aside from the high-angle kunai, and still had to mind the trap taking shape underfoot.
Tricky.
These shadow clones didn't feel like one mind pushing all of them—they felt like a trained squad.
Kakashi chose to end it fast.
He seized an opening, flickered to the clone digging the pit, and smashed it into smoke with a single punch.
At the instant he thought the mess was cleared, the clone he'd just kicked away evaporated—wearing a smug grin as it popped.
Not good. A trap!
Alarm bells shrieked in Kakashi's head.
A golden figure appeared in his true blind spot—the gap masked by all the clones' feints.
Naruto's real body.
His right hand cradled a high-speed, screaming sphere of chakra.
Rasengan!
Kakashi's single eye flew wide. That shape… that nature and density of chakra… Impossible!
No time to think. His body moved on its own.
He dropped every guard posture and dumped chakra into his feet.
Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)!
Kakashi vanished.
Naruto's Rasengan scythed past by a hair and slammed into the ground where he'd stood.
BOOM!
The spinning force tore the hard-packed earth to ribbons, gouging a massive crater in an instant.
Kakashi reappeared meters away and glanced down at his jonin vest. The hem had been ripped open by the Rasengan's aftershock.
Cold sweat slid down his temple.
A fraction of a second slower, and it wouldn't be fabric—it would be flesh.
He looked at the blond boy kneeling on one knee, breathing a touch hard from the output, and felt shock thunder through him.
That jutsu… Sensei, are you seeing this?
Your son's come this far.
Hidden at a distance, Sasuke and Sakura had seen it too. Sasuke had already witnessed it once, yet even he was rattled—Naruto's control over that technique was getting cleaner by the day.
Test time.
Facing the three, Kakashi shed the last of his lazy air.
"You…" He looked at Naruto, then at Sasuke and Sakura. "Pass."
"Congratulations. Team Seven is officially in session."
Naruto was about to cheer when a calm voice drifted from the training ground's entrance.
"Looks like I arrived just in time."
All three turned toward it. A black-haired, dark-eyed youth leaned against a tree, smiling at them.
"Big bro!" Naruto cried, delighted.
Namikaze Shinju—under the pretext of "checking in on his little brother"—stood before Team Seven for the first time.
(End of Chapter)
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