Yo, yo, yo, it's Ro, coming at you with a new fic. The title is generic, I know, but it stuck to me, mostly because I listen to Papa Roach too much. Give it a shot.

000BfG000

"YOU GUYS!... Pass."

The declaration – made days previous – still resonated with him, a burning joy boiling up from the depths of his soul and engulfing the whole of his being whenever he reminisced on that single moment. That moment was something special, it would stand as he first true step towards becoming Hokage, he was sure of it.

Kakashi'd given them a few days to collect their bearings after the test and prepare for the trials to come. He – alongside Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno – would from today forward be considered the proteges of the Jonin with the hair that gravity forgot, Copy Cat Hatake Kakashi.

The excitement was so thick that it deprived him of sleep, leaving him awake for days until his body final gave and he fainted. This would also be the reason why he was running late.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Cuss words descended onto the denizens of Konohagakure no Sato as Naruto desperately leapt from apartment roof, to street post, to billboard, to yet another roof. His movements would at first appear death defying and haphazard, and they were to an extent, but he carried them out with carefully honed precision garnered from years of shinobi training just as well as years of evading those that would see him punished for his misdeeds.

He careened off the edge of a government building that was responsible for something or another and into the trees that signaled the beginning of the training grounds that populated a good portion of Konoha. He dashed from branch to branch; flipping and spinning and clawing his way through each training, ground going largely unnoticed by those shinobi that used them until his destination was in sight.

"Safe!" Naruto cheered landing dead center in the middle of the clearing that was reserved from the squadron.

"Late!" Sakura Haruno, a bundle of fury and pink hair, corrected with an angered shout. Naruto deflated, excepting his new teammate's chiding in stride.

"Only by a few minutes," He whined.

"Not like it matters," Sasuke sighed, sitting under the shade of a tree. "It not like Kakashi is here yet. Don't make such a fuss."

Naruto was left at a loss with Sasuke defending him, though he immediately brushed it off as him just wanting Sakura to be quiet. Crush still withstanding, he could admit that when Sakura decided to start screeching it could become grating.

"I… well, I guess you're right," Sakura attempted to recover, her anger folding in at Sasuke's demand.

"Oh, ho, ho, ho, who isn't here now?" The genin trio 'jumped' a bit as Kakashi suddenly appears before them, this time without the smoke and mirrors as he materialized in the midst of them.

"You're late!" Sakura screeched again, Naruto winced a bit and he took note that Sasuke did much the same, yet Kakashi appeared unfazed.

"No," Kakashi deflected the accusation.

"Yes!" Sakura stuck to her guns.

The cyclops curved a thumb back at a tree not ten feet away from where Sasuke sat. "I was there. Afterall it wouldn't do to deal with your pestering until all of you had arrived."

Team 7, as one, gave their sensei a look that mimicked that of a dead fish's stare, such was their exasperation. "Well then~!" The tall, broad-shouldered ninja clapped his hand with an effeminate perkiness to his voice. "Let's begin."

And so, with a bit of bickering and shuffling Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were soon seated before Kakashi, lounging before him on the grass while he himself sat on a mound of hardened dirt that had risen from the earth after a flash of hand seals on the Jonin's part.

"Well," Kakashi seemed to deflate, his nonchalant, almost childish demeanor vanishing, replaced by eyes of stone and a frown of cold command. "Let's be clear. You all passing was no fluke."

"Well duh!" Naruto's cockiness was on full blast. "We passed, because we're awesome, well Sakura-chan and I-" Naruto would have made a snide comment about how Sasuke was so totally not awesome, but he stopped as he felt a coldness flinching at his heart. He searched for a source and was met with Kakashi's glare. A cold, palpable aura radiated off him, invisible to the eye, yet undoubtedly present.

"You'll be learning plenty of rules while on this teams. Rule Number Fourteen, do not interrupt me during briefings. You will find that I will not be as kind as your academy teachers."

That was saying something, Naruto considered, thinking back to how severe the academy would punish him. Still he had the irking suspicion that Kakashi wouldn't settle on making him stand at the back of class or give him detention.

After another moment of silence Kakashi began again. "As I was saying, you three passing was not a fluke. Not truly. I allowed you to pass, seeing that you were at least capable of grasping a vague concept of what teamwork is… and also because I already knew what the outcome would be had I failed you. The fact is that had that happened, the three of you would be given, at most, a month of remedial courses and then sent back to me. I was to be stuck with you no matter what."

Sakura opened her mouth to voice her disbelief at this turn of events but thought better of it having witnessed how a look from the scarecrow could shut the loud mouth of Naruto of all.

"The three of you are each considered special assets to the village, as much is apparent by the designation of this team. Team 7. Make no mistake about it there is more meaning to that number than it would seem. This squadron designation has been used only four times, the three of you being the fifth iteration. The first Team 7 consisted of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Hamura Mitokado lead by Tobirama Senju and advised by Hashirama Senju. The second team was Tsunade Senju alongside Jiraiya and Orochimaru of Sannin fame with Hiruzen Sarutobi taking lead. Squad 7's third generation considered of Minato Namikaze, Hiashi Hyūga, and Mikoto Uchiha; Jiraiya serving as the captain. The most recent cycle saw Minato Namikaze as its leader, serving under him was Rin Nohara, Obito Uchiha, and myself. You are the newest rendition of this squadron."

Naruto seemed bored by Kakashi's spill – most of those names flying over his head – and Sasuke only perked up at the mention of his mother. Sakura on the other hand…

"T-that can't be!" Her eyes were so wide that they were at threat of falling out.

Kakashi, rather than scold Sakura for speaking out of turn, smirked a bit at her reaction. "It seems that at least one of you are astute enough to catch on."

"What are you on about?" Sasuke's question didn't have a specific target, he did not care who responded to him as long as he got an answer.

"I-it's in the history books. Of the first three teams that Kakashi-sensei named, each and everyone one of them, at one time or another, were prominent mentions for the position of Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi is our third and current Hokage. Minato Namikaze was our fourth. And Jiraiya is rumored at being pressured to take the role of Fifth."

Naruto and Sasuke now joined her in wide-eyed awe.

"That is correct." Kakashi said. "It's a poorly keep secret at this point, but those that belong to Team 7, without exception are those acknowledged by the current Hokage – the man who assigns the teams in the first place – as early contenders from the seat of Hokage. From this day forward, you should all consider yourself as Hokage candidates. Do carry yourselves as such."

"WHAT!? YATTAAAAA!"

Naruto's gleeful scream was heard by very well everyone in Konohagakure no Sato, if not Hi no Kuni.

000BfG000

And done! I'm back into the swing of writing, baby! Or I'm at the very least attempting to get back into it. I've decided to use a very basic premise of 'Kakashi training Team 7 with more hands-on methods', but since this is so basic I'll be to tact sub-premises onto this story rather easily as opposed to when dealing with more solid, linear premises.

Also, I'll ask and answer a question that I may get in the reviews preemptively.

Q: Is it stupid for Kakashi to tell a team of greenhorns that they're practically sure-ins for the greatest position in the village?

A: Yes, but only at face value. I'll elaborate and defend Kakashi's reasoning for doing this in the next chapter and those following it.

I have a solid grasp of how I'm going to develop Naruto's abilities and I will be heavily borrowing from Bleach for him. No swords though. You'll see what I mean

As for Sasuke and Sakura I'm open for suggestions. I've never seriously written for characters other than Naruto Uzumaki in main character roles, so this is just as much of an experiment for me to test my writing chops out on non-shoenen protagonist characters than it is for me to have a bit of fun and get my writing legs back in shape.

As a side note, not super important, but Team Seven will be strong here, not hella supa stronk, but do expect those in their age range to become weary of them as their infamy grows.

Lastly, because this A/N is too long already, I'm on Discord, you can find me and some other writers on this server: discord . gg / bPAX3vJ. Just remove the spaces.

Cya,