Misleading chapter title, I thought the hokage was getting serious, this just sounds more like "lets look and see"... Nothing really... I HATE stories that authors think have to have "big crescendos", it's my main problem with vfsnake... His stories are all the same! The characters should be fixing things THE ENTIRE TIME, not some "big deal" at the end, that makes no sense.

Hiruzen hasn't done a DAMN THING other then wring his hands in worry, Naruto needs bonds? THEN MAKE THEM! Tell the clan heads who he is (because they seem to need spoon-fed any information) and FORCE their kids to interact with him...Naruto is essentially an ARMED NUKE.. Sasuke is a "firecracker" in comparison... He DOESN'T MATTER AT ALL... Let the stupid uchiha KNOW for a fact, his existence doesn't matter AT ALL to anyone in power, only to those that can't help him anymore... Naruto can get along with BASICALLY everyone in his class EXCEPT sasuke (and in some cases kiba) so what BRAIN-DEAD idea does the hokage do?.. Put them on the same team..How does that forge "bonds"? That's IDIOTIC! Forging a bond with kakashi is OKAY I guess, but the main problem I have.. The hokage, kakashi ALL of the jounin should understand, is eventually they are gonna be DEAD... And the newest generation has to stand on their own... (especially naruto who is an uzumaki, their life-span is CENTURIES)... You want him forging bonds NOW! And it ISN'T going to happen with sakura (as she is) or sasuke. They SHOULD kinda know all this already!

As stated in MANY other fics... The akutski's "goals" aren't that DIFFICULT to figure out... There are only two reasons to want bijuu! Make other jinchuriki... Which seems kinda REDUNDANT... and create the juubi... There really isn't any other reason to collect them, duh!

If naruto already knows the hirashin and the rasengan (which you stated during chapter 3 and 4) then he can ALREADY kill the entire village, and any other... He has no reason to have a team (except to create bonds, which he already said ISN'T going to happen with the uchiha and apparently the haruno.. so I fail to see how the hokage has done ANYTHING to improve any situation!) The third just seems determined to "DIG THAT GRAVE DEEPER". Personally I'd think of naruto as "the hand of god"... AKA, I'd BEND the village in half to fix everything (regardless of deaths).

Hiruzen is going to "correct" the problems made with them? HOW? We're in chapter 8 and he hasn't... He needs to separate the the boys, sasuke needs KEPT AWAY from everyone and Naruto needs IMMERSED IN clan heirs (naruto NEEDS to make bonds) and sasuke needs CUT away from the idiotic civilians! So far, I haven't seen EITHER/OR... Naruto needs his heritage KNOWN and sasuke needs his heritage shown as the pack of lies it is! They need POLAR OPPOSITES of how they are treated! Quit saying the hokage is "trying" because HE ISN'T! He still seems as INCOMPETENT as ever! (if he was a REAL leader, he'd have already disbanded the "council" and possibly put them to death! After all, they can't DO anything... He needs the money?... TAKE IT!)

I'd love to know where the old toad's famous "spy network" comes into action... I mean if it's such an asset, why didn't he know about the invasion? Why didn't he know orochimaru had KILLED the kage of an "allied village"? How does he not know kabuto is not only a traitor/spy but ALSO orochi's "right hand"?... Why didn't he know that suna sent a unstable jinchuriki to the exams? Why doesn't he know where orochimaru's basses are? (considering everybody ELSE in rice COUNTRY seems to know) How does he NOT know who the members of the akutski are OR where they are located? How did he not know about the kidnapping attempt on the hyuuga before? How does he not know about princess koyuki? How does he not know about sora and what a risk he will be?... For a "spy network" it seems awful SHITTY! It's just a (rather badly written) plot device to make sure someone that strong isn't in the village!

You know... A yammanaka should go into the hokage's mind(such as it is) and remove the the entire definition of the word "proof" from it! I am SO SICK of stories saying "needs proof"... The proof is he NOTICED!

"did he find out about root? Improbable"... How is that improbable? It's an organization of IDIOT ninja that run around with masks that actually have ":ROOT" stamped on their foreheads! It's about as secret as a chainsaw! Only a deaf AND blind person could possibly miss them! Seriously NOBODY in this series is good with "subtle" and NONE of them are really "ninja". Even danzo is a MORON... "lets remove all identifying marks from my nins and then put a featureless mask on them and STAMP the organization's name on them all ... Nobody will ever figure that out!"... SO STUPID!

I still don't see the reason for the "skills test" in this story, if he was taken out of team seven, if it meant anything, if was for absolutely ANY reason.. BUT IT DID NOTHING...

"who could know the circumstances?" how about anyone paying attention... OR I dunno a LEADER of the morons that are trying anything?.. Hmmm "who could that be?" With this many STUPID people, you'd want SOMEONE to kinda make sure none of their idocy would be passed on to others... Like a real LEADER of some kind that knew better.. Hmm OH WAIT that's SUPPOSED TO BE THE HOKAGE!

Naruto and shino never spared.. THUS my contempt on most earlier chapters... He never interacted with ANYONE... How the hell is he supposed to "form bonds" if he is never AROUND anyone? The hokage for "having his eyes opened" really isn't much of a help! In fact he's kinda USELESS.. Which is really PATHETIC for the "god of the shinobi" and the ABSOLUTE DICTATOR of the village! He belongs more in a nursing home then a seat of power!

How exactly is this the "dark phoenix of konoha"? Because it just seems a NORMAL naruto story... ABSOLUTELY nothing has changed... He's STILL on team "suicide", he still likes the village for absolutely ILLOGICAL reasons... He still has apparently NO BONDS or FRIENDS that would justify the village still existing... AND sasuke's "ABOUT FACE"? YEAH that's no good... His FAMILY is SHIT-STAINS... He is GARBAGE...

I don't really know why sasuke is still a ninja... They gotta know he's just gonna be shit-sucking-sewage for his entire career! A bane to konoha(at BEST, a new enemy, like orochimaru at worst *except he isn't that good at even being bad*)... My advice is just kill him and put him outta everyone's misery! I really, truly, don't understand the reason to keep him alive.

Naruto seemed a LOT cooler and more powerful, BEFORE, not only that, why would he ACCEPT being put with these two "load-stones"? What does it get him? (NOTHING)...What has he gotten out of kakashi's training?(NOTHING)... Isn't the PURPOSE of training, to become stronger? You kinda can't do that while waiting for the retards of the class to "catch up"... So basically kakashi is BURNING THE BRIDGE he's supposed to be "forming"? I know, why doesn't naruto wait until the next council meeting and seal EVERYONE in the room and then BURN IT DOWN!? There is one logistical FLAW you have had for SEVERAL chapters... If naruto needs to form "new emotional bonds", how the hell is he supposed to do that, when the team isn't around anyone else? (because sasuke needs CUT OFF from everyone!) Naruto and sasuke are essentially "OIL AND WATER" look similar at face value, but two COMPLETELY opposite things... and you cannot treat them both the same... and regardless of what you do... NOTHING can make them mix together very long. So basically kakashi is HARMING BOTH OF THEM by trying to get them to work together! (and he's STILL a shit teacher, because naruto ISN'T LEARNING ANYTHING!) Given what was revealed last chapter.. I'd think the village would be better off just saying "TO HELL WITH THE UCHIHA" and getting rid of him!

So why exactly hasn't sasuke been bounced out of the ninja program after this newest revelation?

Kakashi's speech is VERY funny about how "if it was like that there would be no reason for ninjas to think" when it's kinda obvious that MOST of the ninja in the leaf, do NOT think at all!(kinda shooting himself in the mouth there isn't he?)...

HUH? Naruto already had this test figured out, you said in chapter 1! That naruto knew about kakashi's teamwork shtick and he'd have to get the emo and whomever to go along with it...Not "something is fishy". And not "he figured it out" he stated SEVERAL TIMES that he'd have to either convince or trick the "team-mates" into helping him... chapters 1 and 2... he even plotted to be on this team because he KNOWS FOR A FACT that they are not "allowed" to fail!

Kill naruto... You release the fox, and only another uzumaki can hold it, so your screwed, so I'd just take that whole "killing naruto" off the table in my mind COMPLETELY if I were hiruzen... It's just not an option, the village is DOOMED, if naruto doesn't stay loyal... JUST RAW FACTS.

Yeah sakura is a mess, but so is sasuke... He has an inferiority complex AND a superiority complex, narcissism, and A SLEW of other mental ILLNESSES (not exactly what you'd want around a jinchuriki that already hates the village's guts..)... Also the best way to fix sasuke is to practically isolate him from the village, but naruto has to form bonds with said village?... Kinda impossible to do the two OPPOSITE things, if they have to stay together as a team isn't it? Also I still do not get the whole "testing of naruto's skills" chapter, what was the POINT? To show that the team really WOULD weigh him down?

This makes NO SENSE, why the test? For one... Two.. The hokage knows FOR A FACT that naruto hates sasuke and isn't going to form ANY "good bonds" with either of his teammates... So that doesn't help the village at all... If he's already got 100 jutsus then even kakashi isn't going be much of a help as a sensei... And to try to make them "bond" is almost laughable... I don't get the reason for ANY of this chapter.

WTF is the point to testing his "skills" if he's just going to be a gennin? Isn't that KINDA MORE THEN A LITTLE redundant? AND DUMB.