Team Dead-Last

Ch.1: A Team of Losers

Iruka Umino, Chunin instructor at the Konohagakure Shinobi Academy, walked steadily down the hallway of the academy toward his waiting classroom. Within said classroom, he knew, more than two dozen newly christened Genin awaited his arrival, anticipating the announcement that would have a huge impact on their lives, and careers, going forward.

Today was the day.

Just a week ago the young then-trainees had taken and (mostly) passed the examination to become Genin, been granted their hitai-ate, and proclaimed true shinobi of Konohagakure. Today though, was a day just as significant, the day their careers truly began. Today the new Genin would be split up into groups of three and placed on their first teams along with their Jonin instructors. Not many Genin squads stayed together for their entire careers, and some didn't even stay together particularly long, but even so, as their first taste of real shinobi life, who one's teammates and sensei were, and what sort of team you formed, almost inevitably had a profound impact on their entire futures as ninja.

And that was precisely why Iruka was so troubled.

Once again he glanced down at the paper resting on the clipboard in his hand. The team assignments listed on the sheet were not at all what he had been expecting. Of course, it wasn't his job to make the assignments. The instructors at the academy very carefully noted the strengths, weaknesses, and overall skills of each of their students, and on occasion would make a recommendation as to which students they thought worked well together, but in the end the job of choosing the teams and assigning Jonin sensei went to the Hokage and the Elder Council. It was, of course, an incredibly important duty, and that was why each student was carefully reviewed, each team carefully constructed to create the optimal environment for each Genin to grow and reach their maximum potential as shinobi of Konoha.

Unfortunately, that knowledge served only to confuse Iruka further at this point. Unlike in previous years, he couldn't follow the logic of these team assignments at all. Not that he thought that all of those placed together were completely incompatible, but it seemed as though the elders had chosen to completely ignore the traditions and customs that had been followed when creating teams in years past.

For instance, he knew that members of the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans were often placed on teams together, and when three members of said clans all graduated together, they were practically guaranteed to be placed in a genin squad together, so that they could continue the tradition of the infamous Ino-Shika-Cho formation that had been proven effective time and again over the years. For that matter, the fathers of the three in his class were known as having formed the most legendary instance of that trio in the village's history. And yet, in spite of that, all three had been placed on completely different teams from one another.

Not only that, but the long-held tradition of placing the highest scoring graduate of the genin exam on a team with the lowest scoring graduate had also been broken. Not that he had a huge problem with that tradition being skipped in this particular case. Knowing who the two said students in question were, he shuddered to think what sort of team they would have formed.

Even so, though. In the past, the goal when forming teams had always been for them to be roughly even in terms of talent when leaving the Academy. Those who struggled were deliberately paired with those who excelled, in order to balance them out. This year, though, a completely different paradigm had evidently been followed. He saw a few teams, in fact, that seemed very heavily stacked with talent, while certain others were filled with students who ranked low in their Academy scores.

The Hokage wouldn't deliberately sacrifice the low-ranking students to give the others a chance to get even further ahead, would he? Iruka's mind buzzed worriedly. No, not the Sandaime. If he formed these teams, he must have a plan for them.

Regardless, that was neither here nor there. It wasn't his job to question the Hokage's decisions. His last remaining duty for this class was to inform them of their new teams. After that, they would cease to be his students any longer.

Shaking his head to clear away these thoughts, Iruka focused on what was ahead of him. Arriving at the door to his classroom, wherein he could hear the chatter from the anxiously awaiting genin inside, he pushed open the door and stepped into the room.

His eyes swept over the room, taking in the sight of the twenty-seven graduates one last time. He paused for moment as his gaze settled on a brightly orange-garbed genin seated in the middle of the room, and he briefly allowed a small, proud smile to grace his features. Said genin, Naruto Uzumaki, smiled back widely, and proudly adjusted the forehead protector perched on his head, Iruka's own former headband.*1

Refocusing on the task at hand, Iruka cleared his throat and addressed the rest of the class. "Alright everyone, quiet down." The class settled down very quickly, all eyes in the room turning to the man who had instructed them in the ways of the shinobi for the past several years. "As you all know, today is your last day here at the academy. From here on you are all full-fledged ninjas of the Hidden Leaf Village. That said, you're only genin, you still have a lot left to learn. Today you will be assigned into squads of three, and placed under the command of a jonin sensei. This jonin will be both your teacher and your commanding officer. You will carry out missions in service to the village alongside your commander and your fellow genin teammates. It is vital that you not only continue to sharpen your individual skills, but that you also learn to effectively collaborate with your fellow Leaf shinobi!"

At this, all the young ninjas began glancing around the room at their fellow genins. Within their minds, each of them was already imagining their ideal teammates.

Hm, the first would definitely be Sakura-chan. As for the other… I don't really care, so long as it's not Sasuke!*2

Troublesome. I have a feeling I already know who my teammates are, anyway.

Tch, groups of three? They'll just get in my way.

CHA! I have definitely got to be in a group with Sasuke-kun! (A variation of this was thought by nearly every girl in the room, except one.)

Having paused for a moment to let the point sink in, Iruka continued, arriving at the critical point of the meeting. "And with that, I will now announce the team assignments." Raising the clipboard up in front of him, he began reading the names of the first team listed on the page, "First off, Team One will be Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shikamaru Nara. Your jonin-sensei will be Kurenai Yuuhi."

This announcement was met immediately with a wide range of reactions from the three whose names had been called first.

Shikamaru's eyebrows rose minutely in an expression of surprise. Well, I honestly didn't see that one coming. It was rare for him to be wrong about something like this. He had been fairly certain he would be teamed up with the children of his father's own former teammates. He, Ino Yamanaka, and his childhood friend Chouji Akimichi, had known one another for years, and even been trained by their fathers on how to combine their clan's jutsu to form the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho formation. It seemed almost odd that that would be disregarded now. It tickled the inquisitive part of Shikamaru's brain that there was information here he was missing, while the sentimental part of his mind was saddened that he wouldn't be on a team with Chouji.

Shaking himself from these thoughts, Shikamaru refocused on the current situation. I'll have to worry about that later, he thought. For now, I should focus on who my teammates actually are. Glancing around the room he caught sight of his two new squadmates. Kiba was an alright guy, if a bit noisy and a braggart. Sakura, on the other hand… Ino's best friend. Or I guess I should say former best friend. Smart, but in many ways just as troublesome as Ino is. Not likely to be well disposed toward either me or Kiba. And Kiba doesn't take well to people disrespecting him. Hm… That could be trouble. He put his head down on the desk and continued to think the situation through as Iruka droned on announcing the names of other teams.

Kiba, for his part, was fairly neutral overall about his new teammates. Shikamaru's alright, even if he is a bit of a lazy dick. Sakura though, she's one of the idiots in the Sasuke fan-club. Lame.

Sakura's reaction was by far the worst of the three. NOOOO! How can I not be on a team with Sasuke-kun!? Even worse, I'm on a team with the lazy slacker and the dog boy! Shikamaru and Kiba, she knew, were among the few students in class to occasionally hang out with Naruto, and that, as far as she was concerned, automatically made them almost as bad by association. She paused on thinking that. On the other hand, at least I'm not on a team with Naruto himself, so I'm not on the worst team here. Silver lining, Sakura, silver lining!

Though most were focused on the names that Iruka continued to call, a few other students also reacted to the first team to be named.

Ha! Forehead girl got put on a team with Shikamaru and Kiba? That's priceless!

Aw man! Now I won't be able to be on a team with Sakura-chan.

Continuing through the list of teams steadily, Iruka announced the next set of squad mates, "Team Five will be Shino Aburame, Ino Yamanaka, and Sasuke Uchiha. Your jonin-sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

This announcement was met with no outward reaction from the two boys in question. Meanwhile, Ino leapt out of her chair and pumped both fists into the air, "YES! True love conquers all!" She said, completely ignoring the glares being sent her way from the majority of the class's females.

NOOO! Inner Sakura wailed. It's not fair! Why her and not me!?

Oh well, at least that means I definitely won't be on a team with that jerk Sasuke. Silver lining, Naruto, silver lining!

As Iruka continued listing the names of the teams, Naruto's expression slowly turned to a frown. His name still hadn't been called yet. After a while, Iruka finished calling the names of the first eight teams, leaving only one team remaining. Naruto looked around the room at all his fellow genin. The fact that his name hadn't been called yet meant that he would have to be on this final team. Unfortunately, he hadn't been paying close enough attention to all the names being called to know which of his former classmates were left to be on his team.

"Finally, Team Nine will be Chouji Akimichi, Naruto Uzumaki, and Hinata Hyuuga. Your jonin-sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi. "

Naruto looked around again as he thought about his teammates' names. Chouji he knew, and could easily see sitting at the front of the class merrily eating his way through another bag of chips, but who was that other person, again? He was certain he knew them, but couldn't quite recall off the top of his head.

As he searched over the room Naruto's gaze was briefly met by a pair of pale, white eyes. Immediately after, the owner of said white eyes broke eye contact quickly, snapping her head down towards the desk she was sitting at and not meeting Naruto's gaze, her face rapidly turning crimson. At once the name clicked in Naruto's mind. Oh right, that shy, dark, weird girl. Naruto couldn't recall much else about the girl in question aside from that. He had seen her around plenty, but had never really interacted with her much.

Meanwhile Chouji, having had time to get over his disappointment at not being put on a team with his best friend Shikamaru, was sufficiently pleased with his team assignment. Naruto and Hinata, huh? They're both pretty nice. This seems like a good team.

From her place in the middle row, Sakura turned to look from Naruto, to Chouji, and then finally to Hinata. Naruto had his usual dopey, clueless expression on his goofy face as he looked about the room. Chouji, in the meantime, was busily stuffing yet another bag of chips into his mouth, his face and shirt dusted with a fine layer of potato chip crumbs. At the moment Hinata was staring straight down at her desk, her eyes obscured by her bangs, apparently too shocked and horrified by her team assignment to do anything more than curl up in on herself. All at once Sakura felt a rush of pity for the shy girl. Poor Hinata! Bad enough she gets stuck on a team with Naruto, but her only other teammate is that gross fatty? That's almost too cruel! Subconsciously Sakura was also beginning to feel a little better about her own team. Kiba and Shikamaru weren't great, but they weren't that bad by a long shot!*3

Unbeknownst to Sakura, Hinata's feelings on her team were anything but what she suspected. Currently Hinata's emotions were fluctuating very rapidly, in fact, unable to quite settle on whether to be happy or afraid. I got put on a team with Naruto-kun! That means we'll be spending a lot of time together! But what if he doesn't want to be on a team with me? We'll get to go on missions together! But what if I end up getting in the way? Maybe we'll become friends! But what if he ends up thinking I'm weird…

As Hinata's thoughts were bouncing back and forth between joy and trepidation, Iruka proceeded to wrap up the meeting. "Alright, and with that, you all have your team assignments. We'll reconvene here in one hour to be introduced to your new senseis. Feel free to use this time to eat lunch and get to know your new teams. Class dismissed!"

With that, the class broke up, the students all moving to meet up with their new teammates, the people they would be spending the majority of their time with for the foreseeable future.

Not to be bothered with such things, Sasuke got up from his seat and left the room, not sparing so much as a glance for his squad mates. Spotting him just before he exited the room, Ino quickly got up from her seat and chased after him, intent on spending her lunch hour getting closer to her new favorite teammate.

Shino rose more slowly from his seat, and cast about the room for the other members of Team Five, only to realize that they had both already left him behind. He let out a sigh that went unheard by all but himself. This didn't bode well.

As the other genin were moving around her, meeting with their new teams and heading out to lunch, Hinata was busily working up her courage. Okay, time to meet with Naruto for the first time as teammates. I want to make a good impression, but I don't want to seem like I'm acting strange. I guess all I really need to do is act casual. That should be easy… right? And with that, Hinata raised her head up and prepared to stand and go meet with the boy she most admired…only to jump back and nearly fall out of her chair in shock. While she had been caught up in her own thoughts, Naruto had approached and was now standing directly in front of her.

"Ummm, so…hey," Naruto began awkwardly, attempting to strike up conversation with the strange girl. "I guess we're teammates now."

Hinata, still thrown off balance by Naruto's sudden appearance, could only stammer out a reply. "I...um...uh...y-yes."

"Hey guys!" Fortunately for both of them, Chouji chose that moment to arrive, a pleasant smile across his face. "So I guess we're teammates, huh? This seems like a pretty good team."

Naruto turned and reflected Chouji's smile back at him. Chouji, at least, was someone he knew how to get along with. "Yeah, you know it!" he said, more for the sake of agreeing than based on what he really thought, which he hadn't fully decided yet anyway.

Hinata, not wanting the others to think she disapproved, nodded her head vigorously in agreement.

"So anyway, since we have an hour, why don't we all go out to eat together? We can get barbecue!" Chouji said, smiling at his own cleverness. What better way to become friends than with food?

"No way, it's gotta be ramen! What could be better for a first team lunch?" Naruto countered immediately.

"Are you kidding me? Everybody knows barbecue is great for groups. It's delicious, and cooking and eating together is great for being social!"

"That may be so, but ramen is ramen! You can't beat that!"

Turning sharply suddenly, Chouji addressed the third member of the team. "Think about it, Hinata...Warm, juicy slices of beef and pork, slowly sizzling over a hot grill. The smell of meat being cooked to perfection. Tender meat and fat that just melts in your mouth the moment you take your first bite!"

Not to be outdone, Naruto turned to his female teammate as well. "Picture this Hinata! Warm, slippery noodles bathing in a bowl of thick, savory broth! The meat: beef, pork, chicken, or whatever you want, both adding to and absorbing flavor from the soup. All the ingredients, mixed together in one perfect bowl of complete deliciousness!"

Wait...They...They expect me to decide!? Hinata, suddenly finding herself the center of attention as the deciding vote, was close to panicking. On the one hand, she very much wanted to go with what Naruto wanted, but at the same time it wouldn't be fair at all to poor Chouji if she was always agreeing with Naruto just because she idolized him. She didn't know what to do!

Before Hinata could even begin to come to a decision, Chouji's hands suddenly slammed down onto the table. "RAMEN IT IS!"

Naruto's fist pumped into the air. "Alright!"

Huh? He convinced him!?

"Okay then, let's go to Ichiraku Ramen! Team Nine, ho!" Already marching towards the door, Naruto belatedly realized that he and Chouji had essentially made the decision of where to eat without getting their other teammate's input at all. Turning back around, he saw the girl still sitting down, wide-eyed and apparently still processing what was going on. "Oh, uh, I mean, is that alright with you, Hinata?"

Quickly standing up from her seat, Hinata rushed to respond in the affirmative, stumbling over her words a bit in the process. "Oh, I...no...I mean, yes...uh...that is, ramen is fine!"

"Alright then, it's settled," Chouji said, passing Naruto and making for the door, eager to get to lunch. The other two quickly followed.

Walking down the road toward Ichiraku Ramen stand, Hinata trailed slightly behind her two new teammates. Watching from behind, Hinata saw that Naruto had a big grin plastered on his face as he and Chouji happily discussed the fine points of ramen. Seeing that, Hinata couldn't help but grin a little too. She was glad to be on a team with Naruto, but more than that she was happy that Naruto was on a team with people who liked him. All too many of their classmates disparaged Naruto for the smallest of things, she would have hated to see Naruto be placed on a team with people who treated him poorly.

Arriving at the ramen stand, Naruto quickly hopped up onto one of the stools and called out for the owners. "Hey, Ayame-nee-san! Old man! You've got three customers here!"

Appearing from the back of the shop, the head chef's daughter, Ayame, greeted their favorite customer. "Hello Naruto-kun. Oh, Chouji-kun and Hinata-san are here too, how about that? Welcome."

This brought Naruto up short. "Wait, you know these two already?"

Ayame laughed at this. "We have other customers besides you Naruto. I see Chouji-kun in here all the time with his father, and Hinata-san drops by occasionally as well."

Though she didn't remember every customer she served, Chouji and Hinata were easy enough for Ayame to remember. Every restaurant in the village always did their best when catering to members of the Akimichi clan. They were loyal customers and always ate a lot, it was just good for business. The Hyuuga clan, on the other hand, rarely ever graced the likes of a humble ramen stand like theirs, so it was easy to remember the shy girl who occasionally dropped by for a bowl. Now that she thought about it, she had also subconsciously begun associating Hinata with Naruto, as the quiet girl for some reason always seemed to show up shortly after Naruto had left. Speaking of which…

"Now that I think about it, though," Ayame continued, "I don't think I've ever seen the three of you here together before."

"We just got put into a shinobi squad together," Chouji replied. "We're going to be teammates from now on."

"Ah, I see," Ayame responded. "Congratulations on becoming ninjas then, all of you. Anyway, what can I get for you three?"

"One bowl of pork ramen, one bowl of beef ramen, and one bowl of miso ramen please!" Naruto replied eagerly, before turning to his teammates, "What'll you guys have?"

"I'll have the same as Naruto," Chouji replied.

"Um, one bowl of miso ramen, please," Hinata said softly.

With a smile, Ayame turned to go find her father and fill the order. "Alright, coming right up!"

As they waited for their ramen to arrive, chatting about various topics to pass the time, Naruto felt his mood steadily getting better and better. He was impressed to find out that his two teammates had such good tastes. Anyone who liked ramen, especially Ichiraku ramen, was okay in his book. This team might turn out okay after all.

As team nine was enjoying their first team lunch together, another team lunch was not going nearly as well.

"I'm serious you guys! You better not slack off anymore!" Sakura's loud voice was already grating on her two teammates nerves.

"Shut up pinky!" Kiba snapped back at her between bites of his lunch. "No one cares what you think."

Sakura sighed in exasperation. "I'm honestly just trying to help. I can forgive a little goofing off in the academy, but we're shinobi now! You two can't afford to continue on like you have been."

Kiba sneered. "Shikamaru and I can handle ourselves. I'm more worried about how some stupid fangirl is going to make it in the real world."

Sakura's eyes widened in anger. "Why you…!"

Shikamaru sighed, doing his best to ignore his two loud teammates bickering and focus on his lunch. Sometimes it sucked being right so often. Just as he had predicted Sakura had taken it upon herself to try to take control and "straighten out" her two less studious teammates. And just as he had expected, Kiba was having none of it.

"Are you listening Shikamaru?" Somewhere in the midst of Shikamaru's musings the argument between Sakura and Kiba had come to a temporary halt, and Sakura had apparently resumed lecturing.

"Hm?" Shikamaru turned slightly to glance at the pink-haired girl.

"I was saying that the real shinobi world is completely different from class, you two need to understand that!" Sakura said, shaking her head. "If you two don't keep up with your training we'll end up in serious trouble!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes but replied resignedly. "Yes, yes. Whatever you say el-capitán."

Sakura sighed deeply once more. "I swear Shikamaru, sometimes it's like you take pride in being the laziest person around."

"I do take pride in it."

Sakura groaned. She definitely had her work cut out for her.

An hour after they had been dismissed, the newly promoted genin reassembled in their old classroom, this time sitting together with their new teammates. Some teams were already looking very friendly with one another, while others openly bickered or else sat in awkward silence.

Seated in the middle of the room Ino was doing her best to try to get Sasuke's attention. She had been unable to catch up to him at lunch, as he had vanished immediately after leaving the room, and she was determined to make up for lost time. For his part, Sasuke continued to ignore her.

Off to the side, Shino sat in disgruntled silence. He was by no means the most sociable of people, but even so, being so completely disregarded by both of his teammates didn't sit well with him at all. If nothing else it was insulting to say the least.

When the door to the room suddenly opened the conversations came to a stop and all eyes turned to the front. Iruka-sensei reentered the room, followed by several older ninjas wearing an assortment of shinobi gear. These, clearly, were the jonin they had been told to expect.

Getting the classes attention one final time, Iruka spoke up. "Alright everyone, this is it. When your commanding officer calls for your team you will leave with them. Best of luck to you all."

Immediately after Iruka finished speaking one of the jonin, a beautiful woman with dark hair and piercing red eyes, stepped forward and spoke. "Team one, you're with me. Let's go."

Not wasting any time, the woman turned and walked towards the door. Forcing down the trepidation they felt at finally really beginning their shinobi careers, Sakura, Kiba and Shikamaru rose and followed their sensei from the room.

One by one each team was called for and left along with their jonin-sensei, until eventually only two teams remained, Team Five and Team Nine. Curiously there was only one jonin left in the room: a large, gruff looking man with a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Stepping forward the man spoke to the remaining genin. "Alright Team Nine, let's go. Oh, and Team Five..." he said, turning back briefly to address the remaining three with a small smirk. "...best settle in. You're in for a bit of a wait."

Rising from their seats, Naruto, Hinata, and Chouji shared brief looks of hesitation, the gravity of the moment finally fully dawning on them, before turning and quickly following their new sensei. Their lives as students had ended, and their lives as shinobi were about to begin.

As he led his new subordinates through the streets of Konoha towards the meeting place he had chosen, Asuma Sarutobi thought over his situation, and his new students, once more. When he had first received the packet of files detailing the team he would be leading he had been surprised and briefly suspicious, wondering if his father, the Hokage, was finally getting back at him for his years of obstinance in his youth.

He knew for a fact that when the Hokage and the elder council assigned new genin into teams, they always made an effort to place high-ranking and low-ranking students on teams together, in order to create teams that were roughly balanced with one another. In spite of this, all three of the students that had been assigned to him were ranked in the bottom third of class, not to even mention Naruto Uzumaki, the "special case" graduate, who had literally failed the graduation exam. At first glance it seemed as though the team he had been handed was composed of the left-overs of the class.

He sighed. On the other hand, he had reason to believe there was more to these kids than met the eye.

Both Hinata and Chouji had had the same note appended to the bottom of their files from the academy: "Does not perform according to potential". This implied that more than one instructor at the academy thought that they were capable of far more, but that one thing or another was holding both of them back from achieving their full potential.

As for Naruto, though, no such note had been attached to his file, and even the one teacher who thought that he was capable of more had freely admitted that Naruto deserved the grades he had got. That said, there was clearly something fishy about his situation as well. Asuma wasn't completely sure he believed all of the story that was currently making the rounds amongst the village's jonin, about how Naruto had somehow snuck into the Hokage's office and stolen a forbidden scroll, and then learned an A-rank forbidden jutsu in a single night, which he then proceeded to use to defeat a chunin level ninja. But if even some of it were true, if the kid really could use the multi-shadow-clone jutsu, then it was definitely a strong indication that the boy's real potential was not accurately measured by his academy scores.

After a little more walking Asuma led his team up to the roof of a nearby building. Letting the three genin sit down, he turned to address them. "Alright, so from today on the four of us will be Team 9. For starters I'd like the three of you to introduce yourselves."

Sharing an uncertain glance with his teammates, Chouji was the first to respond. "Introduce ourselves? You mean like, just tell you our names?"

Taking a cigarette and lighter from out of his flak jacket, Asuma shrugged. "Your names, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies...stuff like that." Lighting up, he took a drag on the cigarette and then exhaled the smoke right into his student's faces, which left all three of them coughing and attempting to wave away the smoke.

After recovering somewhat, Hinata spoke up. "Um, S-Sensei...m-maybe you should go first, so we know what to say, and since we don't really...know you…"

"Hey yeah!" Naruto interjected, pointing at Asuma. "You're supposed to introduce yourself first!"

"Me? Alright, fine. My name is Asuma Sarutobi. My likes are…" he trailed off, picturing a beautiful kunoichi with blood-red eyes. "...Uh, my dislikes are…" his mind conjured up an image of his father and older brother staring at him disapprovingly.*4 "...My dreams for the future…" the same red-eyed kunoichi dressed in a snow-white dress and veil. "Uhh...Oh! My hobbies include playing shogi and go."

The three genin stared back at their teacher blankly. All he told us was his name and that he likes playing board games!

"Anyway, one of you go next," Asuma said as prepared to listen to his student's introductions. While he had read all the materials about his students the academy had provided him with, it was one thing to read an evaluation about someone and another to actually get to know that person. These introductions would help him to learn a little bit about his student's personalities. "How about you orange-boy?"

"Alright, fine!" Naruto responded enthusiastically, "My name's Naruto Uzumaki. I like eating instant ramen, but I really like eating the ramen from Ichiraku Ramen Stand. I dislike waiting the three minutes it takes for instant ramen to heat up. My hobbies include trying and comparing different kinds of ramen. My dream for the future is to become the greatest of all the hokages! So I'm going to get the entire village to respect me and acknowledge my existence!"

Asuma's eyebrow went up minutely. So the village outcast wants to become Hokage, huh? Interesting. On a certain level it made sense. He knew that the typical response most people in the village had to the jinchuuriki was to shun him, so becoming the most recognized ninja in the village probably seemed like the ideal goal. On the other hand it was also possible he had that goal due to his relationship with the current Hokage. Asuma knew that his father had taken a special interest in the boy. Whatever the case, it certainly wasn't the worst way he could think of for the boy to deal with his isolation.

More interesting though was the reaction of his teammates to his proclamation. Normally such a bold claim being made by the dead-last in the class would be an invitation for mockery and ridicule, but neither of Naruto's teammates seemed interested in doing so. For his part Chouji did look a bit skeptical, but didn't say anything to demean Naruto's goals. Hinata though didn't seem skeptical at all. Instead she stared at Naruto, seemingly enraptured. Her eyes, which usually tended to look down at the ground, were raised and her face was clearly visible. The corners of her lips were twitching up in a small smile and her gaze was filled with genuine admiration. Asuma filed away that interesting little tidbit for future reference.

Moving right along, Asuma turned to Hinata. "Okay, you next."

As soon as the attention of the entire team was on her, Hinata immediately began shrinking in on herself. "Uh, um...M-my name is Hinata Hyuuga. Um, I like...c-cinnamon rolls and... people who never give up. Um, I dislike people who are mean to others for no reason. My hobby is flower pressing...and my dream for the future is to be a worthwhile shinobi." By the time she had finished speaking her voice had weakened to the point where it could just barely be heard by the others present. Her head tilted forward such that her bangs covered her eyes and she had begun pressing her index fingers together in what looked like a nervous motion.

Asuma sighed. This was going to be trouble, he was sure of it. Her goal for the future was very telling. She aimed to be a "worthwhile" shinobi. Her highest aspiration was not to be great, but simply someone who was worthwhile. This girl's confidence is shot, and her sense of self-worth is practically non-existent. Pretty sure I know why that is too…

As it happened, Hinata Hyuuga was the one of the three he knew the most about already. This was due to his girlfriend Kurenai, who had been assigned as a caretaker to the girl many years earlier as a chunin. During that time Kurenai had developed a sisterly relationship with the erstwhile Hyuuga heiress. He knew for a fact that Kurenai had been most disappointed not to get the girl on her team, and she had made him promise that he would take care of her, something easier said than done in his opinion.

Hinata's treatment by the rest of her clan was a subject that Kurenai was wont to rant about angrily when she was in a bad mood. Not that Asuma couldn't understand that. She had told him the story of her first meeting with the girl wherein her father, Hiashi Hyuuga, the leader of the Hyuuga clan, had openly stated that he didn't care what became of his eldest daughter. He went on to say that since she was useless to the Hyuuga clan she may as well try to make some use for herself by serving the village as a standard shinobi. Worst of all was the fact that he said all of this fully within the hearing of Hinata herself. While Asuma didn't exactly have the best relationship with his own father, he couldn't even begin to imagine being treated in such a way by his own family. It was no wonder the girl had zero confidence.

That was a problem for another day though. For the time being his only response was to nod and move on down the line. "And, finally…" he said, looking at Chouji.

Chouji's face broke into another smile. "Hey, I'm Chouji Akimichi. I like my family, barbecue, ramen, sushi…" he then proceeded to name a dozen different kinds of food, "...and my friend, Shikamaru. My dislikes are waiting to be served at a restaurant and people who make fun of others. My favorite hobby is trying out new foods and new ways of cooking meat. My dream for the future is to become a good man like my dad!"

Asuma couldn't help but notice how himself and his two other students winced slightly at the same time on Chouji's last statement. He held back another sigh. Well, at least one person on this team has a good relationship with his father.

As he thought about Chouji's responses, Asuma's mind wandered back to the note in Chouji's academy file. Hm, unlike Hinata he doesn't seem to be completely lacking in confidence. On the other hand he did mention not liking people who made fun of others. Some self-confidence issues due to being teased in his childhood over his weight? Possibly.

Asuma took another long drag from his cigarette before speaking once more. "So, to summarize, my students are a glutton, a wallflower, and an idiot, huh?"

Naruto's face screwed up in confusion. "What's a wallflower?"

Chouji replied. "It's someone who's way too shy and doesn't get along well in public."

"Oh, I see..." Naruto responded. Based on that, sensei had to be talking about Hinata. "...Hey! Wait a minute! Just because I eat a lot of ramen doesn't mean I'm a glutton!" he said angrily.

"Um, I, I think Sensei was talking about Chouji-kun, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata interjected softly.

"Oh…" Naruto was quiet for several seconds, before leaping to his feet and pointing angrily at Asuma. "HEY! Who are you calling an idiot!?"

Asuma rolled his eyes. That took way too long for him to figure out.

Chouji was also on his feet at this point. "A glutton, huh? Are you calling me...Fat!?"

Sighing, Asuma walked up to his students, put his hands on top of their heads, and with just a little bit of force easily forced them back into a sitting position. "Easy kiddies. I'm the jonin here, that means I can say what I want about you three, and you just have to deal with it. Got it?"

Naruto and Chouji, though still annoyed, both silently nodded their heads. They had both felt the immense amount of power behind their sensei's push. At that moment, the same thought was going through both their heads. This guy is insanely strong!

Naruto though, being Naruto, was not about to let the situation go completely without saying something. "Aren't you supposed to be our sensei, though? What kind of teacher talks smack about his students?"

Asuma puffed on his cigarette some more, "The me kind of teacher does. In any case, I'm still not completely sure I'm going to be you guy's sensei at all. You still haven't passed the final hurdle to becoming genin just yet."

All three of his student's attention was caught immediately by this statement. They stared at him wide-eyed with shock and confusion.

Naruto, of course, was the first to speak up. "Huh!? What are you talking about? We already passed the genin exam!"

Asuma shook his head. "The academy exam is just to determine who has the potential to become genin. It's up to the jonin-sensei themselves to decide whether or not the teams they were given have what it takes to become real shinobi. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not confident in you guys at all."

Naruto responded to this passionately. "What!? We totally have what it takes! What's wrong with us?"

"Well, for starters all three of you were ranked near the bottom of your graduating class. Especially a certain someone who was dead-last."

The three genin all reacted differently to this. Hinata put her head down once more and stared at the ground in shame, her bangs falling forward to cover her eyes. Chouji looked chagrined, and Naruto looked caught somewhere between embarrassment and anger, either way his face was very red.

Asuma took the used cigarette from his mouth and dropped it to the ground. "So anyway, if I wanted to I could send you all back to the academy right now on my authority. That's my prerogative as jonin-sensei."

His students all looked highly alarmed at this point, and Naruto looked like he might jump up again.

"That said, I'm going to give you guys a chance to prove yourselves and change my mind."

Naruto finally settled down, and stared back at Asuma grimly. "What exactly do we have to do?"

Asuma stepped on his dropped cigarette to put it out, and replied casually. "We have a mission tomorrow. A sort of...exercise. Meet me tomorrow at the south gate of the village at 8 am. Bring standard mission gear, and don't be late."

With this final proclamation, Asuma put his hands together in a seal and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Chapter End

A/N:

Thanks for reading this far. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review. Even just a few words would be highly appreciated.

You may have noticed I left a few note markers throughout the chapter. Any points within the story that I feel I want to clarify outside the narrative itself will be included in notes at the bottom of the chapter as follows:

(*1). Everything that happened prior to the start of this fic can be assumed to align with canon.

(*2). There are multiple points in this chapter where we hear a character's thoughts, but I don't specify every time who is thinking. I tried to use certain queues within the thoughts themselves to clue in the reader as to whose thoughts are being revealed (like "troublesome" and such). Please let me know if it's not clear enough, though.

(*3). Sakura acts like a bit of a bitch in this chapter. Just to be clear, this will most definitely not be a bashing fic. This is just my honest interpretation of this character at this stage in the story. At the start of the series Sakura is, in my view, simply a naive, shallow little girl (much the same could probably be said for Ino). She grows later, obviously, but it requires a series of wakeup calls.

(*4). Asuma doesn't hate his family, he just has a bit of a rocky relationship with them. Asuma's backstory in the series shows that he was sort of the rebellious child of his family.

Regards,

MD