Chapter 3: Chapter III: Genin Training
Lunch ended and the newly graduated genin all filed back inside of the classroom to find that there was a group of adults already there 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 reentered, Iruka took the front of the class again.
"Alright everyone." Iruka started, "The men and women standing before you are your jounin sensei 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 taking 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 other underneath a broad, bandage looking material that had a pattern of thorns 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, "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, Menma, and Shikamaru stood up and followed him out with Shikamaru giving a small wave to Chouji before they left for luck to him and how he would fare on his own 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 own 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, "Hey, what's funny?"
"You must not have a very good short term memory eh kid?" The man said as they started walking outside. When he saw Naruto's face scrunch up in thought, "You're that kid that my nephew is always following."
"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 were really talking about but yes, I am the Hokage'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 really 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."
Now Shikamaru and Ino had something else to think about. Why did the Hokage spend that much time with Naruto when he was little? Sure he was an orphan and everything, but for Naruto to be comfortable about calling the man such a familiar name in passing... that's a whole different level of acquaintance.
The newly minted Team 10 kept following their jounin commander as he walked them about all the way to a training field where he instructed them to sit down in the grass under the shade of a tree while he leaned against the trunk. Shikamaru acquiesced far too easily for Ino's tastes when he plopped right down on his back and looked up at the sun poking through the leaves vacantly. Naruto swiftly did as he was told as well, just staying seated normally on the ground. Ino did so reluctantly and sat with her knees pulled to her chest as they all looked at their sensei reach into one of his flak jacket's pockets and pull out a cigarette. Menma while reading his book that he seemed way to ingrossed in sat down leaning on the tree trunk.
Then Asuma glanced at the book that Menma was reading.
'Kakashi would've loved you as a student.' Asuma thought with a smirk on his face.
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, "Well, 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 for a moment, taking in the expressions his genin all wore.
Ino was calm, yet she had an air of annoyance about her; apparently she wasn't as pleased with her team selection, or her sensei if the way she was lightly glaring at him and his cigarette was any indication, as she would have liked to be but she was willing to deal, that was good.
Shikamaru didn't seem to care either way. He was just waiting for whatever it was he was supposed to do apparently before he decided whether or not it was worth the trouble of actually doing it. This kid would need some serious motivation if he was to end up any good kind of ninja. He didn't appear to be as out of it as he looked while gazing up at the clouds. It was clear he was still paying attention.
Naruto was barely able to hide his excitement. He was hardly able to sit still and every few moments you could see a huge grin threatening to peek through his already happy expression. Well there was clearly no lack of motivation in him and he didn't seem to have any problems with the way the teams panned out, he was just happy as a clam to even be there at all.
Menma seemed to act unseemingly calm, and acted like a 'go with the flow' kind of guy. And for Naruto and Menma being twins they were nothing alike Naruto was more of a firecracker that could go shooting off to the skies from the littlest things, Menma was more calm and nonchalant. He is perverted which makes people underestimate him as a ninja, yet it seemed as though he could snap and become serious in a way that would make you glad to be on his side. And the way his eyes looked it seemed like he had killed before like at least a dozen times.
'Alright.' Asuma thought to himself, 'Enough of the silent contemplation.'
Asuma tapped the ashes off of the end of his cigarette, "From this day forward I'll be your jounin sensei. You will train under me, take missions under me, and I will be responsible for all of your well-beings from this point forward." He saw a their faces receive that information, 'And now for the fun part.' He thought with a smirk, "That is, after you pass your final test to become genin."
Ino looked at him with a cocked brow, "Wait, I thought we already did that? We just got through with graduation didn't we?"
Asuma chuckled, "Come on. Anyone can reel off a few memorized test answers and crank out the most basic level jutsu that pretty much any ninja can do right?" After he said that, a sweatdrop formed on his head when Ino's eyes turned to Naruto and Shikamaru who laughed nervously and muttered 'troublesome' respectively, "Right. Nevermind. Well regardless that was just to scout out prospective candidates that actually end up being ninja. The truth is that there's a 66% average failure rate for kids at your level."
He let silence settle over the field before sighing, getting the full attention of the group of kids, "You know, I talked about it with Hokage-sama beforehand and I have to tell you all, just to be fair to you, I don't really want a team." He surprised them, "I have the freedom to make the test to pass you as tough or as easy as I want it to be, and I'm going to come up with something you'll never be able to pass. A task a full-fledged jounin would have to take a second thought at accepting." He exuded the minutest trace of killing intent he could to enforce his threat, and seeing Ino's eyes quiver he had to hold himself back from breaking his straight face.
"That's not fair!" Naruto said loudly from the ground, "You can't do that to us just because you're a lazy ass!"
Hearing Naruto say something brought something out of Menma, "Yeah, even Shikamaru wouldn't be lazy enough to do something like that!"
"Tough." Asuma said, shutting them both down, "I'm a jounin, an elite. I've earned my spot ten times over and I'd much rather not have to spend the next five years wiping noses and powdering bottoms." Even Shikamaru was fully attentive by this point.
The normally lazy pineapple-haired boy sat up and stared Asuma down, "So you're going to just drop us? You led us all the way out here just to tell us you're failing us like that? Just getting rid of all of us."
"No." Asuma said to him, "I never said I was going to just get rid of you. I said I never wanted a team, not that I never wanted to train anyone. I'm willing to take only one of you as an apprentice. The others are out of luck."
All four of them looked at each other before Ino spoke up, "Which one of us?"
Asuma smirked, "That's up to all of you. I don't know the first thing about either one of you so how would I know? All I know is that I don't want any weak little tag-along. I want the best."
Ino smirked back at him and flipped her ponytail back, "Well I can tell you that I am the best. My Academy grades were at the top of the class."
"Yeah..." Asuma said dryly, "That doesn't really mean a damn thing to me. You could pass with flying colors and still be shit for a shinobi, just like you could have barely graduated by the skin of your teeth and wind up being the best there ever was. What happened there doesn't mean anything to me now."
Ino shirked back at that. Naruto spoke next, "So... what happens now?"
Asuma started walking away, "Meet me back here in three hours. In that time I'll come up with a way to determine which out of all of you is worth being a genin." With that he vanished from the training field in a whirlwind of leaves, leaving three bewildered youngsters on their own.
XxX
(Meanwhile - Konohagakure Ninja Academy)
The only team still remaining in the room was the group of Team 7, who were getting increasingly agitated by the wait for their sensei. Sasuke and Sakura were absurdly bored and could have actually been doing stuff with their time, and Chouji 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 facemask 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 bored 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, "What did he mean we're not what he expected?"
Chouji simply shrugged before Sasuke stood up, "Hm." Sasuke said before putting his hands in his pockets, "Let's just go." Chouji 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.
XxX
Naruto returned to the field to find Ino and Shikamaru already there, the former glaring at the latter as he sat against a tree with his eyes closed, "Naruto." Shikamaru said before yawning, "We've been waiting on you to show up."
Naruto gulped before he began walking towards the tree, "Yeah. I'm here." He looked from Shikamaru to Ino who was splitting her time from glaring at 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 was 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 actually."
"So how are we going to do this?" Naruto asked more to himself than to anyone else as he made his way under the tree with the others, but Ino heard 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." Memma said, his voice having lost the disinterested tone from before to take on a more hardened one that showed he was actually serious, "Neither of you are actually." He said, directing his gaze to Naruto to make sure he got the message.
Ino smirked, "So what are you going to do? Beat us both and take it for yourself Menma?"
Naruto tensed up his muscles and spoke animatedly, "I'm not going to fail, I can't. Not now, not after all of this, dattebayo! I won't go back! If I have to fight you guys I will!"
"It was a bluff, the whole thing, he just wanted to get a reaction out of us the test is real though, but I doubt he just going to take an apprentice, he'll take all of us." Menma said.
"I hope your right." Shikamaru said with a sigh.
(At the Hokage Tower)
A knock came at the door of the Hokage's office, "Enter." Hiruzen said, placing some paperwork to the side to pay attention to his guest. The door opened to reveal Kakashi poking his head in, "Ah, Kakashi, I was actually expecting you to come here at some point, but don't tell me you finished your test this early?"
Kakashi gave the man an eye-smile, "No Hokage-sama, I decided I would wait until tomorrow, let them sweat it out a bit... also it seemed like more fun to let them dangle than to get it over with."
Hiruzen shook his head at the masked man's relaxed attitude, "Are you actually going to pass your team this year Kakashi? You have a lot you could actually pass down to the youngsters if you ever actually chose to."
Kakashi made a noise of neutrality, "Maybe. It's up to them whether or not they pass so who knows. Speaking of my team, I thought I was supposed to get Naruto and Menma to even out the team with Sasuke and Sakura."
Hiruzen nodded, "You were, until Asuma personally requested them yesterday. He hadn't made a request and you didn't really ask for Naruto or Menma, he was to be placed there to balance things out. I know you didn't bother to ask for him since he was placed here, but you could have asked for him yourself to keep him. Hell, Sasuke was already guaranteed to be on your team regardless so you could have reserved for them." A smirk then crossed the grizzled old warrior's face, "You could have even shown up today before teams were being announced like all of the others and probably would have ended up with Menma and Naruto when you found out he was on Asuma's squad."
Kakashi face-faulted on the ground, damn habit of showing up late. He quickly picked himself up and cleared his throat, "Well I don't really have issues with my squad. And as long as he's with Asuma, they should be just fine as long as they pass."
"Oh they'll pass Kakashi." Hiruzen assured his masked jounin, "Of that I have no doubts, so you shouldn't even worry about that."
XxX
(A couple hours later)
"Okay, here is how the genin test are going to work, since they're four you'll be partnered up into team of two and you will fight each other." Asuma said.
Menma and Naruto glanced at each other then smirked.
"But I will be choosing who you partner up, Naruto you're with Shikamaru, Menma you're with Ino. You will be fighting in this forest while I watch from above in that tree. This forest is pretty big so feel free to use wide ranged attacks." Asuma said.
"You may now begin!" He finished.
The two groups scattered into the forest in two different directions.
(With Naruto and Shikamaru)
"Okay, Naruto I want you to hide in the bushes when Menma comes I'll trap him with my clan jutsu then you should easily be able to handle Ino." Shikamaru said as Naruto walked over to the bushes.
(With Menma and Ino)
"Okay so how are we supposed to beat Naruto and Shikamaru?" Ino asked.
"Well first I'm going to try and stop Shikamaru's clan jutsu." Menma answered with a smile.
Menma quickly made some hand seals.
(Lightning style: lightning clone jutsu) Menma said.
Then they both went towards where Shikamaru and Naruto were.
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Naruto heard a swift sound move through the air.
'Shit I think they're here.' Naruto thought.
Suddenly a lightning style shuriken came flying towards Naruto. Naruto quickly dodge it as the blades whizzed past his face slicing into a tree near him. Before Naruto could regain his balance from Menma's attack Menma sprung out of the bushes and balled his hand into a fist. Naruto caught the punch, then Menma decided to throw a left handed punch at Naruto caught it again. Deciding to create some space between the two Naruto head-butted. Naruto quickly followed his attack with a roundhouse kick forcing Menma to take a defensive approach to their battle. Naruto soon followed his kick with a barrage of punches. Menma was able to defend most of them but because of Naruto's brute force he was still sent aback by the attack. Menma was ready to counter the attack when he realized he couldn't move.
Shadow possession jutsu!

"Don't forget that your fighting two people Menma." Shikamaru said smirking.
Suddenly Ino appeared she made a hand sign as she was about to use mind transfer jutsu. Shikamaru thinking quickly on his feet he threw a frog in front of her sight of vision.
'WHAT THE HELL!? Why am I in the mind of a frog!?' Ino thought panicking.
"It's over guys, you lost." Shikamaru said.
"Not yet." Menma said.
As soon as those words left his mouth 50 lightning clones came out of nowhere and were about to attack Shikamaru and Naruto.
"Alright that's enough." Asuma said as they all stopped and turned their attention to him. Ino then used her jutsu to go back to her body.
"You all pass!" Asuma said grinning.
"Knew it." Menma said offhandedly, "Are we done? We pass so we're done right?"
Asuma sighed. Menma straight killed his momentum. Damn kid just didn't understand the concept of cool, he was trying to be a role model here, "Yeah... we're done. Meet me back here tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp for your first actual day as Konoha genin. Good work Team 10." With that he once again disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Shikamaru heaved a sigh at his day finally being over, "Finally. I'm going straight home and taking a nap. See you guys tomorrow." He began to walk away from the field.
Ino smiled, "Well that worked out better than I thought it would. I'm going to tell dad I passed. Later guys!" Ino ran off in her own direction.
Naruto just stood still watching them both walk away before a smile crossed his face and he jumped into the air excitedly, "Yatta! I'm finally an actual ninja now!" He landed and looked around for anyone that might have seen that before shrugging and walking away.
"That seriously wasn't cool Naruto!" He heard Ino say from a distance away.
"Damn it!" Naruto said to himself as Menma laughed at him.
"Well, anyways see you later Menma." Naruto said waving walking towards the Library.
"Yeah see ya!" Menma answered back.
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Shiho was laughing uncomfortably as Naruto sat across from her at a table, glaring at her lightly over the book he had in his hands that she had prompted him to read over the course of his last few visits, "You aren't mad I didn't tell you about the test are you Uzumaki-kun?" His silence spoke volumes as the only answer she needed, "But I couldn't just tell you, it's an important indicator of if a student is ready to become a genin or not!"
Naruto's glare faded and he put the book down with a sigh, "I'm not really that mad Shiho-chan, it's just been a really long day. Have you found a jutsu in here yet?" He asked her. He knew Hokage-jiji wouldn't lie to him about something like that. There had to be some really cool stuff in this library somewhere, there just had to be. He would find them, and then he would stomp a mudhole in Neji's pompous ass and walk it dry.
Shiho shook her head, "I haven't had the time to actively look. Atsuto-sensei keeps me really busy logging the books back in and all of the other things I have to do. I haven't had time to thoroughly go through the catalogue and see where they are. There aren't that many, sensei told me, and it isn't like there's a 'cool jutsu' section of the library."
Naruto's face fell, that would be so cool if there was. Then this wouldn't be such an issue. Didn't jiji know like a thousand jutsu? Why didn't he just make some scrolls in his spare time and fill this place up so there could be one? That was what he'd do when he was Hokage and knew even more jutsu than the old man did, fill a section in this place up with them so a down on his luck genin could learn some cool stuff. There was cooler stuff in the Scroll of Seals... hey, it was easy the first time, maybe he could take that again and get something? Nah, even if he could, was he really supposed to be causing that kind of trouble?
"I guess I'll keep on coming back and going through this place until I hit the mother lode then." Naruto said with an encouraging smile before a frown took over, "Oh yeah. I'm supposed to start with my team tomorrow. Well I guess I can still come by here sometimes. I'm not going to be busy all the time."
Shiho gave Naruto a smile of her own, "I'll help you Uzumaki-kun. I'll keep looking for stuff to help you out, I'm holding you to your promise of being Hokage, and running the village with me helping you when you get there. I should start helping you now right?"
Naruto looked at her in awe for a time. She was actually saying she believed in him? He thought she was just messing with him when she alluded to it on the day they met, but she was serious. Someone actually thought he could do it. Naruto gave her a grateful look, "Thank you Shiho-chan."
"And then when I help you get to the top I can institute a change in curriculum for the Ninja Academy the way I always wanted!" She said, changing the tone of the moment, "I mean, if I could end up getting the dead-last graduate of his year up to snuff enough to get to Hokage that would be incredible!" Naruto face-faulted out of his seat, not slowing her down one bit, "And if I actually end up being head of the department one day that would be all the stroke I needed to get it across! Yes, you will be Hokage Uzumaki-kun, I won't settle for anything less!"
Naruto picked himself up off of the ground by the table, "Um, yeah Shiho-chan. I'll definitely be Hokage." He said, giving her a thumbs up with a sweatdrop on his head, "Dattebayo." He said weakly, without enthusiasm. Shiho started laughing like a mad-scientist and started talking to him rapid speed about all of the things he would be going over for her 'project' as she so called it, 'Sakura-chan, Ino, Why are girls in this village so scary?' He thought to himself.
(The next day)
Asuma led his team to the foot of the Hokage Tower and looked at all of them. Shikamaru still had the same lazy expression on his face as always and there was no outside indication of how he was feeling other than not particularly wanting to be there. Menma was quiet as usually except for a few giggles and blushes from reading that icha-icha paradise book. Ino was looking rather energized and cheerful for what they would be doing today, and that wasn't even comparing to Naruto.
Naruto looked like a squirrel on caffeine and amphetamines running around an active artillery field. His every motion was jerky and twitchy and full of vigor. He wasn't even sure if the kid had even slept the night before, hell it didn't look like he even needed it all things considered. He had a feeling if anyone tried to lay a hand on the boy he'd bite it off out of pure reflex. Talk about being wired.
He led his team of blue-eyed... well, except for Shikamaru of course, genin inside to the mission distribution area where he saw his father the Sandaime Hokage sitting to greet the genin and give them their first mission, "Hello Hokage-sama. Team 10 is here to receive their first mission as a squad."
Hiruzen smiled warmly at all three of them who smiled after Asuma said that. He started reaching for mission scrolls, "Well I have to say to each of you; good luck, work hard, and make Konoha proud to have trained such fine shinobi as you. Now for your first mission you actually have a choice."
Naruto's face lit up, 'What? What? Is it rescuing a princess? Taking down an enemy fortress? Ooh, is it rescuing a princess while taking out an enemy fortress?' He thought to himself. Asuma had to bite his fist to keep from laughing when he saw Naruto's face.
Hiruzen smiled gleefully, "You have the choice of walking the dogs from the Inuzuka Clan kennel, pulling weeds from the garden of an old lady, cleaning out the storage area of a general store, or helping an old man who lives at the edge of the village chop and stack firewood."
The expectant looks of the four genin froze on their faces somewhere between the anticipation of the notion of their first mission, and the horror of the abject reality of it. Asuma looked at their faces and quickly tossed a camera to his father who caught it, "Oh yeah, that's the look. Take the picture dad." Hiruzen did as asked by his son before throwing the camera back, "Yeah... that's definitely going to be the team picture for sure. Do you want a copy?" He asked the old man.
"Bring it by once you get it developed." Hiruzen replied, "Now which one will it be?"
Asuma stroked his chin, "Do you guys like dogs?" He got three near lifeless nods, "We'll take that one then." Hiruzen handed him the scroll and Asuma pocketed it before pushing his shell-shocked youngsters out of the room, "Come on guys, the work of a ninja doesn't do itself now."
After Asuma had physically herded them all out of the room, Hiruzen leaned back in his chair and lit up his pipe before taking a relaxing inhale of it with a wistful sigh, "Sometimes I really, really love my job." A few seconds later, Naruto's yells of resentment echoed into the room, "Ahh, the cycle continues."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone