Ch291. Teams 4

"Team 8, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Kurama Yakumo under the tutelage of Kurenai Yuhi." Shikaku read aloud from the file before looking at Tsunade, "Are you sure about letting Kurenai lead a team? She is your apprentice so wouldn't this take a big chunk of her training time?"

In reply, Tsunade could only helplessly smile, "Kurenai has a special past with the Yakumo Heiress and she spent the past two months begging me for this team. It was annoying me beyond reason."

"I guess not even you are exempt from problems with pupils." Shikaku amusedly quipped, understanding the problem. It was almost like some unspoken rule that high-ranking people usually trained people with high potential. These people, however, were most of the time quite problematic.

The three Sannin were the best example where even the Third Hokage couldn't do much about their behavior. The Fourth Hokage had Kakashi Hatake. And now, Tsunade had Kurenai and Anko.

Anko was... well, Anko. She was obsessed with her revenge against Orochimaru and that was a problem in itself. Then there was her usual behavior and honestly, Shikaku didn't envy Tsunade. Anko's behavior might have improved drastically since she became a part of the Senju clan but she still wasn't a good 'representative'. She was one of those people parents told their children to never imitate. Despite that, Shikaku had to admit that since Tsunade started seriously training Anko a few years ago, the Snake Mistress became one of the most valued secret assets of the village. Her potential was astonishing. Shikaku didn't delude himself into thinking he knew the full picture either. He was only aware of what Tsunade allowed him to know and even that was enough to raise Anko's value quite high and make sure nobody found out about it.

As for Kurenai... 'I still remember how annoyed Tsunade was when she had to beat feminism out of Kurenai.' Shikaku mirthfully thought.

Kurenai had major hidden inferiority issues, believing she had to show the worth of kunoichi to the world. This helped her to gain motivation to reach a high chunin level but after that, this kind of mental state was mostly just a hindrance. From Jonin and up the power scale shot towards the sky and male or female, ninja or kunoichi, gender didn't matter anymore.

Knowing that, Tsunade had to set Kurenai's mentality straight and decided to do so in a Tsunade-like manner. By beating Kurenai up until her head understood the lesson.

Well, Kurenai still hated perverts but at least she now didn't think every male except Sarutobi Asuma was a pig. Shikaku could actually put Kurenai on a team that was not solely composed of females these days and took it as a major improvement in the girl's temperament.

Sometimes, Shikaku wondered why the most talented people were also the most eccentric ones. Why couldn't everyone just realize the greatness of sleep and lazing around? Wouldn't it be best if instead of wars, the nations solved their problems with shogi matches?

Shikaku sighed, 'Maybe I should conquer the world and show the people the correct path?' His face then thoughtfully scrunched for a second before slacking into his usual lazy and tired expression, 'Naaaah~. Too troublesome.'

"I think it will be a good experience for Kurenai. Yakumo is also a budding genius in genjutsu so they might be a good inspiration for each other." Tsunade dryly said, having enough of this topic. Kurenai at first saw Yakumo as a daughter and her motherly instincts were messing up with her head so much that Tsunade had to step in otherwise the Yakumo Heiress would not be trained properly but pampered. If she didn't have to deal with any problem pertaining to Team 8 in the immediate future, Tsunade would be delighted. 'One can dream...' She wistfully thought. 'Was this how Rei and Konan felt when they trained Ringo and Mei?'

"I don't see any major problem with Team 8. Kiba Inuzuka will probably try to become the Alpha of the team as is commonly seen in Inuzuka ninjas. The file stated he is quite... unrestrained with his behavior but Kurenai with her special brand of dislike for... his kind... will probably rein him in quite fast." Shikaku shuddered and pitied the young boy who liked to let his instinct decide his actions. "Shino Aburame is calm and level-headed with a great analytical mind. His insects will also fit right in with two genjutsu users and one taijutsu-oriented fighter." It was a good composition. A bit lacking in ninjutsu but if used correctly, they would be superior in subtle warfare. "Neither Yakumo nor Shino should clash with Kiba personality-wise either." Shikaku nodded and stamped his approval on the file.

Tsunade watched in distaste as that happened. In the whole roster of the new teams, Team 8 was the only one that irked her. In an ideal world, Tsunade would forbid Kurenai from taking a team and focus on improving her strength. The woman had the potential to reach the level of the Second Mizukage with her genjutsu and Tsunade wanted her to be the next Hokage. She had no delusions that Shikaku would stay in the office for a long time. The Nara Clan head clearly disliked his current place in life and most likely only went along with Tsunade's plans because of the respect he had for her and the Senju clan.

That meant, Tsunade had to prepare for the day when he had had enough. Unfortunately for Tsunade, she had only two choices as of now. Anko and Kurenai. There had to be no discussion about Anko. As long as that woman never came anywhere close to the Hokage seat, the citizens of Konoha could live happily. That left only Kurenai and while there were many issues with her, Tsunade had to admit that every ninja had their own special quirks. Letting Kurenai take in a team was actually also a way to train her and that's why Tsunade relented in the end.

Shikaku and Tsunade then spent the next few hours coursing through more teams. Unlike the time when the Third Hokage was in the office, the concept of 'dropping' out of the academy was almost nonexistent. There were three graduating classes and everyone graduated.

While only half of these kids were assigned to a team with a jonin sensei, that was still enough to create around fifteen teams. It took time to sort through all of them and discuss the compatibility of the kids while suggesting reshuffling and improvements.

That was not even mentioning the other half of the graduates that were directly assigned to a department. These were the kids that ended up like Sakura Haruno and their career was mostly decided as they were sent to be apprenticed under specific departments due to their talents. These were not supposed to be field ninjas. If these kids wanted to be a part of Konoha's ninja force, they had to train in their spare time and request a trainer or reassignment when they got competent enough.

Still, six years ago, from these three graduating classes, barely three to five teams would be passed. Now there were fifteen and all the graduates were actually trained enough to be competent. Shikaku had to admit that Konoha improved quite a lot during the time Tsunade was in charge.

His eyes trailed to a file in the trash bin, the same file that Hiruzen Sarutobi 'politely' handed him. It was a team setup the old man thought would be best for the village. Hiruzen didn't have much, if any, political influence in the village nowadays but nobody could say the old man didn't try to influence certain things. That's actually where his joke of putting Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto together came from. Shikaku knew most would pay the document a lot of attention because, despite everything, the former Third Hokage still held a lot of respect in the village. But he also knew Tsunade would bash his head through his office table if he tried to implement Hiruzen's team setup so Shikaku did the smart thing and threw it away the second the door closed behind Hiruzen.

'Better not think about it. Getting mixed up in the silent war between these old foggies will just reduce my nap time.'