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Chapter 31 - The Graduating class of Prophecy!(rewriten)
🕑 Added 2023-07-21 03:57:30 +0000 UTC{Classroom #401, Konoha Academy, Konohagakure}
{7:00 AM, 24th Jan 13 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
"...Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka spoke causing Naruto to glare at the last Uchiha, Ren stared at their interaction in amusement and then looked toward Hinata who was turning an interesting shade of red.
'That's a good team, although, for some weird reason Naruto passed the final exam even though he failed. Though it does make sense, no way he would be allowed to waste that much potential...'
...
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[Name: Uzumaki Naruto]
[Title: Academy Student]
[Level: 11]
[Chakra: 4920]
[STR: 31]
[VIT: 83]
[END: 76]
[DEX: 28]
[INT: 16]
[CHA: 123]
[Control: 17%]
[Titles:]
[Academy Student: +10% additional EXP gains towards quests and enemies slain (Title only effective till Level 20.)]
[Heir to the Uzumaki Clan: +25% additional EXP gains towards Fuinjutsu.]
[Description: Uzumaki Naruto's background is shrouded in mystery. Currently, an academy student with aspirations to become Hokage, Naruto has a long and difficult journey ahead of him before he can even come close to reaching his dream. At the moment many consider Naruto as a shoo-in for the title of Dead Last.]
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...
Ren was a bit envious of Naruto's potential, he had seen Naruto being sabotaged by most of the teachers in the academy so he didn't put much stock in him being the dead last.
'If he could just learn the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu then he could use it 40 times consecutively before getting tired. Although with his abysmal chakra control, he may not be able to use the jutsu without expending almost 3-4 times the chakra I would need to use just one Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu but once he learns the tree walking exercise he should be able to improve a lot quickly then I would be able to increase my total chakra... don't even get me started on his fuinjutsu perk!'
"Team 8, Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino." Iruka continued as Sakura wailed while Ino was laughing at her misfortune.
'Hmm, this one's interesting team two loudmouths with the quietest member of our class, I wonder how this one is going to work out...'
As Ren was lost in his thoughts Iruka looked at possibly his best students, his back was still a little stiff from blocking that fuma shuriken but he couldn't leave his students without a final goodbye.
"Team 10, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamau, and Akimichi Choji." He watched Ino wail in despair and while his students debated whose team was better he could still remember the debate that happened last night.
...
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{Yesterday...}
{3rd Person POV}
"...I heard Uzumaki Naruto passed due to some special circumstances..." Kakashi spoke making Iruka shuffle a little in his place, normally in any other class he would be more engaged in forming teams but he didn't dare to speak up in front of the bigshots right now. As rumors about Ren's performance spread through Konoha Iruka noticed there were quite a lot of jonins here today that didn't attend the last meeting.
"While he does have poor chakra control right now his chakra reserves have already grown to Jonin level, so I'm proposing to make him focus on Ninjutsu. With Sasuke and Naruto using Ninjutsu at longer range, they could provide the perfect cover for Hinata to close down the distance and finish their opponents..." Kakashi continued on to explain Iruka turned to see Kurenai who had stepped forward with an outraged expression on her face but Asuma held her hand stopping her from interfering with Kakashi's explanation.
"...only I can teach Sasuke how to properly wield his Sharingan and also train Naruto to his max potential. I would like to propose a First Response team specializing in conflict resolution with Hyuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto." Kakashi stopped after talking for a while.
'A First response team, those teams haven't been formed for a while.' Hiruzen thought, he was very interested in Kakashi's proposal, and he looked seriously at Kakashi watching for his intentions but Kakashi's laid-back look was nowhere to be found today. The only problem would be if Haishi completely opposed the plan but he hasn't spoken anything to oppose Kakashi's statement.
Hiruzen knew that Kurenai was gunning for Hinata so he turned to her who immediately stepped forward and asked, "Your plan regarding Naruto and Sasuke seems solid but the role of Hinata could be done by anyone who is good at taijutsu, in contrast, I am proposing to form a Search and Capture squad with Hinata, Kiba, and Shino. With their combined bloodlines perfectly integrating together they could cover their tracks and go deep into enemy territory and safely escape even if they somehow get detected."
Kurenai presented her argument, Hiruzen looked at Kakashi for some counter, "and for some reason, You, Jonin Kurenai have been trying from the first day to forcibly form a team around Hinata while she does not show any leadership qualities whatsoever. It seems like you have formed some sort of attachment to this girl which is clouding your judgement. You didn't even include Sakura Haruno in your team even after the academy instructors mentioned her having almost perfect control of her chakra."
Kurenai bit her lips to stop herself from cursing, she got promoted to Jonin just last year, and being questioned for being emotionally immature in front of her peers was embarrassing.
'I can't curse at him, I need to counter his arguments-' Kurenai was thinking of a counter-argument but before she could speak up Hiashi piped up, "A First Response team hasn't been made in the past decade, you know the responsibility of training a first contact team are higher than a normal genin squad right Kakashi-san."
Her arguments died at her lips as Kurenai realized the bastard had already got Hiashi on his side, meanwhile, Kakashi stared at the stoic head of the Hyuga clan. While they had a simple deal Hiashi was making him admit in front of everyone that he would train the squad seriously.
"I was trained by Minato-sensei as a part of the last first contact squad. I know what to do-" Kakashi nodded and a strange silence engulfed the whole room. Hiruzen looked at Kurenai who was looking a little lost so he stared at Asuma who nodded and stepped forward while squeezing Kurenai's shoulders.
...
"Team 10 with Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji, the next generation Ino-Shika-Cho forming a lockdown team." Asuma was concise with his explanation, but then again he didn't have to explain much considering everyone knew what the future of that team would be with an experienced Jonin who would protect them and allow them to grow on their own.
His job as the sensei of team 10 would probably be the easiest and the most difficult, he would have to carefully curate when to teach them rather than what to teach them and allow Shinakamru to accumulate experience with leading a team rather than doing the job himself.
"Kurenai?" Hiruzen finally asked having given enough time for the ruby-eyed genin to collect herself.
"Team 8 would focus on Infiltration/Retrieval missions, focused on moving behind enemy lines under the cover of genjutsu while retreating under the cover of Shino's Kikaichu's and Kiba's enhanced senses," Kurenai responded, she managed to recover in time and still come up with quite a decent team with all of their fundamentals covered.
'Good, she would be fine' Hiruzen nodded towards the kunoichi who saw the nod and finally managed to settle down.
"Hayate?" Hiruzen asked and the tokubetsu jōnin who stepped forwards and spoke, "Ren agreed to an apprenticeship."
The murmurs in the room increased as another Jonin came forwards and asked, "Excuse me Hokage-sama but shouldn't the priority be given to 3-man cells?" Since most of the time, the process of apprenticeship happens after the true genin exams Inuzuka Kita's concern was valid, quite a lot of people nodded along wanting to propose their own team around Ren but Hiruzen put a stop to their plans.
"Yes but Ren already failed the true genin exams last year and according to Kakashi he doesn't have the qualities of being a leader so Hayate was allowed to approach Ren for an apprenticeship proposal which he accepted." Hiruzen declared, the grumblings around the room died down but quite a lot of people seemed dissatisfied.
"Alright, I'll confirm the teams that are accepted as of right now. Team 7 under Hatake Kakashi, a First Response team with Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto. Team 8 under Yuhi Kurenai, an Infiltration/Retrieval team with Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. Team 10 under Sarutobi Asuma with Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji, and finally Ren's apprenticeship under Hayate Gekko. Now are there any other specialized teams that anyone would apply for or should we move on to the generalized-" Hiruzen asked and one by one each participating Jonin took a 3 man cell to give them their version of the true genin test and if the teams pass then they would be back to fill in the team's specialization.
...
{Sometime later...}
After an hour of various debates, the meeting came to an end and Hiruzen ended the meeting by asking Kakashi to stay behind.
"What happened in there Kakashi, a first-contact team needs almost perfect synergy and trust in each other to perform their individual roles even under pressure." Hiruzen's question was quite clear he could see that Kakashi had schemed quite a lot in order to get his team together so something must have happened for him to work his ass off to make these moves.
Kakashi sighed as he explained, "Sasuke was on the verge of depression after the graduation exam, I wasn't there to watch but from what I have heard seeing Ren use the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu almost at a level equal to his own level, and it is quite possible that Ren got that jutsu from him so he should be aware exactly how long it took for Ren to catch up to his level."
Kakashi pulled out the orange book from his pouch again as he continued, "He feels like he is being held back not getting proper training and his goal is getting further and further away from him. Like that, he would not fit into any team so the only solution that would work would be to give him exactly as he desires."
"Non-stop training and making him catch up to Ren while Hayate is focusing on polishing his taijutsu and teaches him kenjutsu." Hiruzen nodded, he guessed Kakashi's plan. Ren while impressive was unpolished at the moment and Hayate would have to work hard in the next half a year to break his bad habits and teach him a new fighting style.
"Yes, I can create an illusion that he is making rapid progress again while the tough training routine should crack up some of his naivety in trying to surpass Uchiha Itachi," Kakashi said with a grim voice and Hiruzen sighed. He had a grim look on his face remembering the dark days but then he moved the topic along.
"So you included Hinata and Naruto, Naruto should make rapid progress motivating Sauske to try harder, and Hinata would be easily able to handle the two boys' progress with her clan's advantage in taijutsu. That way Sasuke wouldn't feel like he was being held back by his teammates and only then could their teamwork and trust start building up..." Kakashi spoke.
"Alright keep me updated on your progress," Hiruzen nodded to Kakashi dismissing it but instead Kakashi asked, "I would like to take my team into the forests of the Land of Fire for a 3 months training trip."
Hiruzen gave him a raised eyebrow but still nodded as the silver-haired Jonin flickered out of the room. Hiruzen sighed as he realized that Kakashi went a bit overboard with making sure Sasuke goes on the right track both due to his order to form a team around him and also because of his misplaced guilt regarding Obito.
'Still, the training would help Naruto and maybe even help the Hyuga girl break out of her shell...' Hiruzen thought as his thoughts flicked back and forth on all the three specialized teams that were in front of him.
He smiled and walked towards the window while smoking his pipe, the sun was shining brightly on top of a happy village as the Third Hokage, Shinobi no kami, watched over it with a kind smile.
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AN- No Hiruzen bashing in this fic, he is a flawed character but I would try to make sense of his decisions in the story.
