Chapter 4: Word gets out

Skikamaru opened his eyes and shut them quickly as the sun was peaking through his window. Today was the day they got their team placements and he could already hear his mom working on breakfast. This was going to suck.

People called him lazy and if he was being honest that was a fair assessment, he didn't like going out of his way to do things and if he could get by doing the bare minimum, he would. It was just easier that way, but days like this he really regretting following in his father's footsteps. He knew the end goal but man that was a long way away. His father was a respected clan leader, had a wife who cooked and cleaned, and he spent most days doing whatever he wanted.

He made the classic blunder of idolizing his dad and now he was paying the price. It was troublesome but the payoff would be a dream come true. Life as a shinobi was always short and only ended in 2 ways. Death being the most common end and the hold grail, early retirement. When he hit that life would be good.

Just when he was at his most comfortable and at the point where you drift off to sleep his blinds were wrenched open and he was blinded. He rubbed his eyes and tried in vain to block the sun when he mother scolded him. "Shikamaru, would you get up, you're getting too old for your mother to wake you up for the day."

"Troublesome." He muttered under his breath.

His mother hadn't lived with a Nara for the better part of her life so she had grown accustomed to listening for those kind of whispers. "Shikamaru dear, if you don't get up and be on time today I'll be sure to tell your class that your mother still dresses you."

Shikamaru looked at his mom in horror. "You wouldn't."

"Try me." And with that she left eh room as he scrambled to get out of bed. He wouldn't put it past his mom to actually follow through with that threat.

"This is going to be a long ass day." He got dressed and headed off towards the academy grounds. Last night his father had the weekly gathering of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio so that meant he got to hand out with Choji and had to put up with Ino. Surprisingly Ino wasn't as bad as usual, which was out of character for her. Ever since they all started the academy together and she caught sight of Sasuke, she was unbearable to be around. But last night she was quiet. Naturally Choji had to poke the bear and ask her why she was so quiet, why couldn't he just enjoy it while they could. Turns out Naruto managed to pass, good for him but that shouldn't have shut her up. In fact, she should've been louder, complaining about the injustice of it all.

Today was going to be an interesting day at least so he shouldn't be as bored as usual. He could try and figure it out before he got there but meh, he could wait. Maybe he could get a nap in before everything started if he was lucky.

Scene break

Naruto, on the other hand, could barely keep himself contained. Going to sleep last night was a fool's errand so he was running on about 3 hours of sleep but he was still wired. He couldn't wait to meet his sensei and begin taking on dangerous missions to all parts of the world, maybe even meet a girl or two. The only thing that was souring his mood was the fact he was probably going to be on the fancy smancy Uchiha's team. Being dead last meant he was going to be on the rookie of the year's team so that sucked. But before that he still couldn't wait to see the looks on all his doubters' faces when they learned he did in fact pass the academy.

He really hoped he got the most badass sensei because he was struggling with the newest training he was taking on. He had gotten exactly nowhere with the seed training he was doing. He could make freaking clones of himself out of wood but he couldn't make a seed grow without dying or exploding. After the slight mishap in Ino's flower shop he headed to the many training grounds the next day to really get started.

In the span of a few hours he had gone through most of his seeds. Half drying up in his hands and the other half going off like a bomb right in his face. Plant muck was nasty but plant muck in your underwear and in between your unmentionables, that was not fun at all. He couldn't even tell if he was making any progress because all his concentration was on the seed. He had a lot of questions for that Yamato guy but he hadn't seen hide nor hair of the guy since that day.

He got to the academy more than an hour early to make sure he could see everyone's faces as they walked in and saw him. He patted his pocket to check again that he brought a camera. There was no way he as going to miss this. Walking into the classroom he saw Choji and Shikamaru were even earlier than him and were in their usual spots.

"Hey Naruto, I see that Ino wasn't lying, congrats on passing." Shikamaru barely even looked up but that wasn't anything unusual.

"Congratulations Naruto, want a piece of beef jerky?" Choji offered him the bag he was currently snacking on.

Choji and Shikamaru were probably the closest things to friends he had in the academy. While everyone else treated him like the plague Shikamaru was the first one treat him like a person. He didn't know whether he was a good person or just too lazy to bother but it still counted. Choji was just a good person and tried to make friends with everybody, him included.

Naruto grabbed a piece of jerky and bit into it. "Thanks Choji. Do you guys have any idea on what the teams are gonna be?"

Shikamaru just shrugged. "Choji and I are probably going to be on a team with Ino if history repeats itself. Though I pray to God that she doesn't get put with us, I couldn't think of anything more troublesome."

Slowly but surely the classroom gradually began to fill up as people arrived. Bets were starting to get placed on why it was delayed or who would be on whose team. Sasuke arrived and the noise level dropped, as usual he was walking like he owned the place and when he spotted Naruto he gave him a disgusted look. Not that it wasn't entirely undeserved. Naruto was dead last and Sasuke was on the top of the class. Like the other kids from clans he got training years before he even entered the academy. His jutsu and throwing skills were far above the rest of the class and he knew it. But it didn't give him the right to act like an ass all the time.

Like clockwork right after he entered the room the entire class of girls rushed in behind him, momentarily getting stuck at the door. Naruto could've sworn he saw a guy classmate get trampled underneath them as they rushed to grab a seat next to their crush, poor guy. Naturally there was only 1 seat left next to Sasuke as he snagged a seat against the wall so a bickering war broke out as to who would sit next to him. He with Shikamaru and Choji covered their ears as the nose level grew. He spotted Hinata, Kiba, and Shino enter the room as Iruka herded the rest of them inside.

The noise stopped as Sakura and Ino sat pretty much on top of each other next to Sasuke and the rest grabbed a seat so they could hear if they managed to get on Sasuke's team.

"Welcome back everyone and congratulations again for passing the exam. Today you will all meet your sensei's and your teams. From here on out I'm am no longer your teacher, so I hope you'll give them the same respect you gave me. Yes Sakura?"

Sakura put her hand down and gave Naruto a dirty look. "Iruka sensei, why is Naruto here. He failed the exam, this meeting is for those who managed to pass." Naruto's reputation meant that he was not a popular dude. In fact when Sakura mentioned that he was there the rest of the class voiced their agreement that he shouldn't be there. This would have hurt if this was a normal day but today he was going to wipe the smirk off their faces.

Iruka was about to respond but Naruto spoke up first. 'This is going to be a disaster'.

"Iver got this Iruka sensei, for your information Sakura-chan, I managed to get A clone jutsu down and since that was the only part I failed, the Hokage saw fit to pass me." He proudly displayed his protector on his head.

Kiba caught the emphasis in his sentence. "Naruto, what do you mean by 'A' clone jutsu, we were only taught one in the academy." He knew there were tons of others but the academy only taught the most basic one. He was taught the man beast clone and he knew Shino was taught another clan specific one but Naruto want a part of any clan he knew of and learning an advanced clone jutsu in less than a day was impossible.

"That's the good news I wanted to tell everyone in person. As of a few days ago I can be considered part of the Senju clan."

The silence was deafening, no one except Naruto and Iruka were even moving. Iruka was shaking his head, he should've known that Naruto would pull something like this. It was supposed to be kept a secret for as long as possible but obviously he didn't get the memo.

Kiba was the first to break the silence. "HA, good one Naruto, you almost had me there. Better luck next time." While Kiba was laughing the rest of the class bar Ino were scowling at him. He was disrespecting the founder of Konoha and 2 of its Hokages.

"That's not something you joke about JACKASS." Someone shouted.

Iruka decided he needed to step in now before it went any further. He really didn't feel like dealing with a classroom brawl in his last moments with this class. "Everyone, as Naruto just announced to the class, he might be part of the Senju clan. A few days ago he showed the ability to use the Mokuton, or wood release as we all learned."

Lots of thoughts were running rampant in the classroom as they digested this information. Choji was happy for his friend because Naruto seemed very happy at the fact. Shikamaru didn't understand why he would care about that stuff, it just meant a whole lot of more work as the Senju held a seat on the council. Kiba was on guard as he had already written Naruto off as an Omega but now he might creep on his territory as second strongest. Ino still found it hard to believe but since she had already seen him in action accepted it as fact. Hinata was surprised, with Naruto coming from such a respected clan maybe her father would put her down for wanting to associate with him anymore. Sakura was on a see it to believe it state of mind. Even if the Hokage himself said it she wouldn't buy it until he proved it. Shino thought it was only logical that he was a Senju if he could use the Mokuton, it was after all common sense to make a connection there.

Sasuke was a different story, because it was well documented that the Senju and the Uchiha had a complicated past. Sasuke grew up on stories about how the Senju punished hand prosecuted his clan. His father always cursed Tobirama Senju for pushing them to the outskirts of the village they helped found. The legends of Madara were always talked about with how Hashirama pushed him out of the decisions of the village. After all generations of war didn't go away that fast. Sasuke would prove with this generation that the Uchiha were the strongest clan in the Hidden Leaf. And now that the dead last had the Mokuton, it would actually be a fair fight. The Uchiha and the Senju could both control a tailed beast and Sasuke was determined to prove that the Uchiha were the real founders.

When everyone's brains started to work again the room exploded with noise. Many of the civilian genin were backpedaling hard and asking Naruto to sit next to them. But Iruka cut them off "QUIET! Now listen carefully for your team placements. Team 7, your team leader will be Kakashi Hatake, the members are Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Kiba Inuzuka. Sakura squealed in delight while Ino scowled. Of course, the forehead would be on his team, now all she could hope for was a team that wasn't going to be miserable. Team 8, your leader will be Kurenai Yuhi, its members are Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Choji Akimichi. Ino's scowl deepened, of course she would get the worst 2 teammates in the academy. Dead last and second to last, she dropped her head on the desk cursing fate and waited for the hammer to nail her fate in. Team 10, your leader is Asuma Sarutobi, its members are Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Naruto Uzumaki. Ino's heart died in her chest and she started to cry on the inside. Shikamaru was shook awake by his friend Choji who told him he was on team 10 and promptly went back to sleep. Naruto was excited, this was the beginning, the day he would look back on as the day he started.

And with Iruka's announcement ending 2 Jonin entered the room. "Now will team 10 follow your new sensei Asuma and will team 8 follow Ms Yuhi. Team 7, your sensei will come to get you so just sit tight." He pitied team 7, they were going be here for a while. Hopefully they wouldn't be sent back to him but Kakashi seemed to like doing that. After he got through the clan children he finished up the rest of the civilian shinobi. It was usually the civilian's turned shinobi that had to repeat so he knew most of them would be back.

BREAK

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Ino followed their new sensei as he led them to an empty classroom. Asuma looked at his new students and sized them up. From the academy records they were severely below par. The Yamanaka scored slightly above average in the classroom but was ranked low when it came to skills and hand to hand fighting. The Nara was just above failing on everything but he knew that wasn't right. He knew his father and if he had to guess, he was scoring that low on purpose for some reason. And then there was Naruto, dead last on paper tests and dead last on sparing as well. But since the incident nothing could be trusted anymore on him. He was always placed with the Uchiha for sparing for some reason and Mizuki was responsible for grading everything he turned in. It seemed like a test was in order to see where each of them really was.

"Alright squirts, the names Asuma Sarutobi. I assume you all know each other but I don't. Starting with you Nara, explain why you became a ninja."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I became a ninja to have a quiet life. It was either this or finding a job and that's too much work. Asuma chuckled, hell of a career path for a quiet life.

"You're up next blondie."

Naruto and Ino looked at each other not sure who he was talking about. Ino decided to go first to get it over with bit her voice died in her throat. She had never thought about why she wanted to be a shinobi. She knew that her father might've influenced her and she knew for a fact she didn't wat to run a flower shop for the rest of her life but was that it? Was it just to get out of running the flower store, no she was going to make her own way. She wanted more than running a shop and looking for a husband, that wouldn't be her life. "I became a ninja to prove to myself that I'm strong and to make my own path in life." If that path included a raven-haired boy as a husband even better. She looked down to hide her blush at the thought.

"Good choice, now other blonde."

"I became a ninja to become Hokage and make everyone in the village acknowledge me." He yelled out proudly.

'This kids gonna be a handful.' He thought. "Becoming Hokage is a lofty goal but think about why. Now that that's out of the way we are meeting tomorrow at 8 AM at training field 10, I've got to see if you all have the stuff to become ninja."

Ino and Naruto had a shocked look on their faces. "What do you mean, we passed the academy. We're already ninja?" Ino pointed out.

Asuma smiled. "Not yet you're not. I can send your asses right back to the academy if I want too so don't be late and be ready." He disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"He can't do that, can he?" Naruto asked his teammates.

Shikamaru stretched as he got up. "I wouldn't doubt that he can, either way its too early to know. See you tomorrow."

"Do yall want to go get some ramen, I mean we are teammates now we might as well get to know each other some more." Naruto was hoping they would come.

"Like that's going to happen. I don't know what's worse, going back to the academy or being on a team with you two." And with that Ino left the building enraged that Sakura got the better part of the deal. Shikamaru merely replied to Naruto with another see you tomorrow and went home.

Naruto sighed maybe they would warm up tomorrow. He made his way back to his apartment and showered and ate. He was going to sleep early because tomorrow would be a make-or-break day. No way could he go back to the academy, he had to pass and would do anything to make sure he would. Nervous, he drifted off to sleep wondering what the test could be.