Chapter 1 - The Talk

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Thank you Naruto for protecting Iruka and the Forbidden Scroll," said the Sandaime Hokage to the boy, who still had a wide grin plastered to his face.

"You know I would Jiji, I'm an awesome ninja now," replied Naruto.

The Hokage just chuckled, glad to see that Naruto was happy. "How about I treat you to ramen at Ichiraku's?"

"Really? Yes, yes, yes!" cheered Naruto while thinking of all the ramen he could eat. Seeing this, the Hokage started to dread the hit that his wallet would take after Naruto was done.

"Let me just finish up here for a minute and we can be on our way." After he finished tidying up his nemesis, the never ending stack of papers, he was prepared to leave when Naruto asked a question that would lead to supplying his nemesis with even more strength, more papers.

"Hey Jiji, what team will I be on?" asked Naruto, curious who his teammates would be.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that early Naruto, you will just have to wait patiently for a week and find out along with the rest of your classmates," replied the Hokage.

Naruto frowned at that answer. "That's, okay Jiji, as long as my teammates aren't Sasuke or Sakura I will be happy," replied Naruto, getting his smile back at the end at the thought of finally being away from those two.

The Hokage however went into deep thought after hearing Naruto's reply, as he had in fact placed Naruto with both Sasuke and Sakura. And from all the reports that he received as well as the use of his crystal ball, Naruto still displayed a crush on Sakura and a rivalry with Sasuke. So why is he so against having those two as his teammates? It didn't make sense. "Oh, and why don't you want Sasuke and Sakura as your teammates? From what Iruka has told me, you like to compete against Sasuke and have a crush on Sakura" asked the Hokage, hoping to find out Naruto's true opinion of his soon to be teammates.

"Um, can you keep a secret Jiji?" asked Naruto.

"Of course Naruto, I won't tell your classmates what you think about them, I am just curious why you dislike Sasuke and Sakura," replied the Hokage.

"Well, my 'crush' on Sakura only really lasted about a week. She is really mean and constantly hit me, so I continued to ask her out to get back at her because it annoys her so much. If she ever said 'yes', I would then tell her 'no' and see how she likes it," replied Naruto. "And Sasuke is also mean. He always calls me dobe, so I started to call him teme to annoy and get back at him. There's no way I would want to be on a team with him though, he only cares about himself. In fact, if I ever was in danger of dying on a mission, I'm sure the teme would let me, or at the very least wouldn't care if I did or not. The same is true of Sakura."

The Hokage started to sweat upon hearing this response. He had already set the teams, but it appeared that he didn't understand the mindset behind why Naruto acted the way he did towards his classmates. "I see. Then, who are you hoping to have as teammates?" asked Hokage, wanting to find out who Naruto had a positive opinion of.

"Hmm," thought Naruto. "I'm not really sure Jiji," said Naruto sadly looking down. "I don't really have a friend at the academy. If I had to pick, I would be okay with Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Kiba, or Hinata."

Naruto missed the dark look that crossed the Hokage's face when he heard that he didn't have a friend, but he managed to hold in his killing intent so as not scare Naruto. "And what's different about Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Kiba, and Hinata?" asked the Hokage.

"Well, they're never mean to me. Shikamaru just sleeps in class, but the few times we did talk, he's never said anything mean to me or about me. The same is true about Choji, Shino, and Hinata," said Naruto. "Well, I don't think Shino speaks much of anything. Kiba is a bit rude, but his ninken Akamaru is really awesome. Plus, unlike Sasuke, he'd actually protect his teammates," replied Naruto.

The Hokage nodded to Naruto in response, "that's good to know Naruto. Now how about we get to Ichiraku's before they close down for the day? It is getting pretty late."

"You're right Jiji! Come on, let's go. I don't want to miss ramen, plus I want to show Ayame-neechan and Old Man Teuchi that I graduated and am a ninja now" said Naruto with a smile wide across his face.

Internally however, the Hokage was groaning at the new information he received. He was glad that he found out early that the team 7 he put together would not work out and that he had time to rearrange the teams, but he also knew that the paperwork involved would be a nightmare.

As it turned out, he was also right about his wallet taking a hit with Naruto consuming 20 bowls of miso ramen as he told Teuchi and Ayame about becoming a ninja and learning an amazing jutsu. He was starting to think that it was true that Naruto was eating ramen both for himself and for the Kyuubi, as that was the only explanation for the Kami-like proportions of ramen that Naruto devoured. After walking with Naruto back to his apartment and parting ways, the Hokage called "Boar".

An Anbu with the mask of a boar appeared asking "yes, Hokage-sama?"

"I want you to inform jounin sensei's Sarutobi, Yuhi, and Hatake of an emergency meeting tomorrow morning at 7 am. Also, when you inform Hatake, relay that you have been authorized to use deadly force to ensure that he arrives on time."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," replied the Anbu captain before leaving to execute the order.

The Meeting

The Hokage was sitting behind his desk. Kurenai and Asuma had both arrived early and were waiting as Kakashi still had not arrived. At precisely 6:59 am, the door to the Hokage's office opened and Kakashi strolled in.

Seeing the eyes of the other two jounin and the Hokage on him he asked "I'm not late, am I?"

The Hokage just sighed before responding "No Kakashi, you're just on time. Take a seat so we can begin this meeting."

After Kakashi sat down, Asuma finally asked "what is this meeting about dad?"

"This meeting is about the teams that you will be leading," replied the Hokage.

"Has there been a change since we formalized the teams at the last meeting?" asked Kurenai.

"Yes. New information that I received yesterday indicates that team 7 would not be functional, as a result we need to reorganize the teams," the Hokage answered.

Upon hearing this answer, Kakashi perked up and got serious before asking "why would team 7 not be functional?"

"The team chemistry would not work. Yesterday evening Naruto told me that he only hoped he wouldn't be on a team with Sasuke or Sakura. When I asked him why, he revealed information that we were not aware of. First, his crush on Sakura had only lasted for about a week. After that he only continued to ask her out to get back at her by annoying her. Like Sakura, he considers Sasuke to be mean and has implied that he believes that neither of them would care if he died or not. Upon reviewing their interactions with Naruto, I can't find myself disagreeing with Naruto's logic."

"Maybe it would be a rough start," began Kakashi, "but I'm sure those three would learn to care about each other as teammates."

"This is not up for debate, Kakashi. I have already decided that Naruto will be moved to a different team. The question is to which team he will go, or if we need to completely reorganize the structure of all three teams," said the Hokage.

"But Hokage-sama," said Kakashi heatedly, "Naruto is my -"

"- SILENCE," yelled the Hokage, surprising both Kurenai and Asuma. "That is an SS secret Kakashi and if you speak another word on the matter you will be put to death."

The eyes of both Kurenai and Asuma widened at hearing how serious the conversation had turned and wondered what this SS secret could be.

Kakashi clamped his mouth shut as soon as he heard the yell. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Now, what ideas do any of you have on new team formations?" asked the Hokage. The silence that he received in response seemed to stretch endlessly as no one answered. "Any ideas at all?" he tried again.

"Well, I don't know if we can alter the Ino-Shika-Cho team," said Asuma. "You know how close those 3 clans are and what kind of problems you'd get in council meetings if you split up their children."

"A valid point," agreed the Hokage. "Kurenai, what do you think?"

"My team was designed to be a stealth and tracking team with Hinata's Byakugan, Shino's kikaichū, and Kiba's sense of smell. I don't think we would be able to function as such with Naruto's orange suit painting a target on him from a mile away and his loud behavior," replied Kurenai.

Thinking about Kurenai's response, the Hokage noticed at least some similarity between Naruto and Kiba as both are loud and boastful. "That is true," began the Hokage, "but Kiba is also quite loud and boastful, similar to Naruto. As far as the orange suit, Naruto can simply get a new outfit that doesn't, as you put it, paint a target on him. Something else to consider, Naruto is very proficient at stealth from all the pranks that he pulls despite wearing a neon orange suit. That stealth should also translate to missions."

Hearing the Hokage's response, she had to agree with what he said. The clothes that Naruto wears could be changed to not draw attention and much like Naruto, Kiba was also loud. The downside is that the team would lose Kiba's sense of smell. "I think that exchange could work, Hokage-sama. The team should still be able to function as a stealth and tracking team with minimal loss in capacity upon the removal of Kiba's sense of smell."

"Very good then. In that case Naruto will join team 8 while Kiba will join team 7," replied the Hokage. "Kurenai, you should also know that Naruto has learned kage bunshin and is quite proficient at the jutsu. I believe he made at least 200 when he graduated."

This information actually got Kurenai's jaw to drop at the implication of the amount of chakra Naruto had. If she had tried, she would likely hit chakra exhaustion at 4 or 5 kage bunshin.

"I do not know if Naruto realized this when he learned the jutsu, but you should inform him that the original will get all the memories that the clones received. This should actually add more versatility to your team to function as a stealth, tracking, and information gathering team, though you will need to work with Naruto to develop his henge and acting skills," said the Hokage.

In response, Kurenai could only nod her head, already thinking of what her team could be capable of if she also had Naruto train with kage bunshin. She knew that Hinata had a huge crush on the blonde that caused her to faint whenever Naruto tried to talk to her. Once she breaks out of that habit, having Naruto on the team should increase Hinata's self confidence and make her a stronger kunoichi as well.

"I don't suppose there's any way I could lead team 8?" voiced Kakashi, breaking Kurenai's thoughts. Before she could respond however, she heard the Hokage let out a sigh.

"Kakashi," said the Hokage, "the council is forcing me to assign you the team with Sasuke due to your Sharingan."

"I understand Hokage-sama," replied a dejected Kakashi as he wouldn't be able to train his sensei's son.

"Then, this meeting is over. You will be picking up your teams from the academy next week at noon," said the Hokage, dismissing the 3 jounin.

Omake

"Kakashi Hatake," stated Boar, interrupting the reading of his precious Icha Icha book.

The Cyclop's eye grew wide as he noticed that the enemy, Boar-san, was after his treasure. "What do you want? Are you after my Precious?" he asked, cradling the Icha Icha in his arms and close to his chest.

"No," deadpanned Boar at seeing Kakashi's reaction. "I'm here with a message from Hokage-sama about an emergency meeting tomorrow at 7 am."

Kakashi returned to reading his Precious.

"That you, Kurenai Yuhi, and Asuma Sarutobi must attend."

Kakashi didn't take his eye away from his Precious.

"And that I have been authorized-"

Kakashi began to tune out the background noise.

"-to use deadly force to get you to that meeting on time," finished Boar.

Kakashi then started to alternate his gaze from his Precious to Boar, his one eye opened wide. After a minute, he finally replied "understood". With that Boar left the Cyclop's lair.

Meanwhile, the Cyclops was cooing "don't worry my Precious, I would never leave you. You will be with me at all times. Yes, my Precious…"

So yeah... team 8 Naruto!