Konoha's Next Generation

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Kakumei – Arc 3: Naruto Next Generation

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Chapter 63 – Konoha's next generation

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In the evening, after completing his daily tasks at the office, Naruto Uzumaki took Kurama's advice, and went to visit the elder's council, only composed of the 2 previous Hokage, Tsunade and Kakashi, nowadays. Once there, he addressed them with a pretty uncharacteristic request.

"Mind to go out for a drink?" he told them.

The 5th and 6th Hokage stared at each other in confusion at first, but both agreed and accepted the current Hokage's invitation.

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About 20 minutes later, the three Hokage are sitting together in a bar, quietly. After a few drinks, The two former Hokage insistently look at Naruto, excepting him to finally mention the reason for this sudden improvised, but chill, council. The 7th doesn't notice it. He's lost in his thoughts, staring deep into his cup of sake.

"Naruto?" asks Kakashi to get his attention.

Having heard his name, the above-named slowly raises his head and looks interrogatively at his former sensei who, like Tsunade, gives him the same look.

"You didn't get us here just to drink in an awkward silence. Did something happen?" asks Kakashi, not reassured by the vibe of this meeting. "Is it about Sasuke's missions?"

Naruto stays silent, not knowing how to put his problem into words without sounding ridiculous or desperate. Tsunade, who pushed a little more on the drinks than her colleagues, makes a more intimate guess.

"Or maybe, things aren't going well with Hinata?" she suggests.

"What? No!" exclaims Naruto, finally speaking. "Everything's fine between us. There's no reason for this to ever change… About Sasuke, still no update about him, though it's been 5 years now. But it's not about him."

"So what? Thinking about those visions of the future that the Daitengu showed you?" Kakashi tries to guess.

"Still no. We're prepared to handle them with Shikamaru. No issues." answers the 7th. "No. The actual reason is way less of an emergency. I'm doubting if bothering you about it is worth it…"

"Why not?" says Tsunade, who leans over from her seat to put her elbows on the table. "Look at us, Kakashi and I. We're nothing more than dinosaurs now. We spend the whole day sitting in a council that is barely asked about. Still, our purpose is to offer our help, experience and wisdom to the current Hokage, as former occupants of the role… There ain't no stupid questions, Naruto. So what is this all about?"

Kakashi looks at Tsunade and nods in agreement. He then stares at Naruto and asks.

"If it was about one of the other Kage or something that happened during the summit, you would have come sooner." he suggests. "So it has to be about the new genins."

"That's right." says Naruto, ready to ask his questions. "… Is it okay if I forcibly assign a jonin to lead a team?"

"Forcibly? You mean not give them a choice?" says Tsunade. "Why not? Back in my days, Every jonin was affected to his team without his opinion being asked."

"Yes but,… Times have changed." Naruto argues.

"If you don't want to do it, then don't." answers Kakashi. "It's all about how you feel it."

"Doesn't really answer my question…" says Naruto. "What about taking a jonin that's already been teaching a team for many years, and that are now all chunin."

"The chunin team still needs a teacher until at least one of them graduates to Jonin or until they all become of age." answers Tsunade.

"So it's not okay, huh?" wonders Naruto. "So I can't choose Konohamaru…"

"You know, if you told us precisely what's going on, we'd be of greater help." adds the 5th Hokage. "Our experience can't help you if you don't ask for it."

"Ok then… Tomorrow is the day every new genin gets introduced to his team, but three of them, Izuna Uchiha, Boruto, and Inoue Yamanaka, still don't have any teacher." he explains. "So, in a few hours, they're gonna stay sitting in a classroom while all their friends leave with their teachers, but not them."

"Ah, I see." exclaims Kakashi. "The problem is Boruto isn't it? No one wants to handle him."

"Nobody wants Boruto for many reasons. Nobody wants Izuna for different reasons. And the same goes for Inoue." answer Naruto.

"The problem is him being your son." says Tsunade. "As the granddaughter of the Shodai, I too was difficult to put in a team for Lord 3rd. Same went for Nawaki, my little brother."

"It's not only that, Lady 5th." says Kakashi. "Boruto is the son of the Hokage, but he's also the greatest prodigy of this generation. In my case, Lord 3rd solved the problem by putting me in a team led by someone who was at least as much of a genius as me at the academy. And it worked. Same went for Sasuke. But for Boruto, it's different. There's the fact that he's your son, but also that finding a Jonin that was as good as him isn't possible. I don't think anyone ever had better results at the Academy than Boruto. He surpassed even Lord 4th and Itachi Uchiha's scores."

"Then… How did Lord 3rd get Pervy-sage to handle my father?" asks Naruto.

"Forcibly I guess." says Tsunade. "As he did for Itachi Uchiha. Or maybe Jiraya gladly accepted. He always was a curious dude, who could see great things in people."

"Well I don't have a pervy-sage in Konoha right now, so what do I do?" complains the current Hokage.

They all go silent for a long moment, thinking about it, until a clone of Naruto, who was helping the owners of the bar with stock issues, comes to the table after seeing notable faces.

"Kakashi-sensei! Granny Tsunade! And a me?" says the clone. "What are you doing here? Why did the original send one of us to chill and drink while everyone's working?"

"I am the original." answers Naruto to his clone.

"You are? Why aren't you at the office then?" argues the other Naruto.

"I'm working right now. Don't you see it?" angrily says Naruto.

"Yeah. Working really hard, as I can see." ironically answers the clone who takes the cup of sake off his original's hand.

"Come on dude, we're speaking of the Boruto situation right here." says Naruto. "If you were me, and you are, you'd handle it the same way at this point."

The clone looks at the original right in the eyes, unable to counter this argument. He then gazes across the table, at the former Hokage, and nods before giving the cup back to Naruto. Out of comprehensiveness, he leaves them alone and goes back to his duty. Kakashi, to avoid a new awkward silence, brings up what went through his mind earlier after Naruto's last phrase.

"A Jiraya in the village today?" he says. "There is a former Root ninja who happens to have been taught by the Toad sage for a while… but he's around my age, so too old for this job. Moreover, his problem would be more about Izuna than Boruto."

"What do you mean?" asks Naruto, about that last remark.

"He's an old-school guy originally formed by Danzo Shimura himself." explains Kakashi. "So it's not hard to guess how he feels about the Uchiha clan."

Naruto sighs, and shrugs his shoulders, as to show he doesn't understand this way of thinking. If the village's people, elder just like younger generations, could change their minds about him and Kurama, why can't they do the same about the Uchiha clan and Sasuke?

"I may have an idea." says Tsunade, who's pouring herself her 16th cup.

Naruto turns his body to face the 5th Hokage and takes the bottle from her hands, to stop her from getting any more drunk. Tsunade looks at him meanly, waiting for him to justify himself or to apologize. Naruto doesn't say anything and just stares back in a very serious manner, ready to listen to her ideas. She waits a moment, looks at the bottle, then at her cup. Giving up, she sighs, hurries to finish her half cup and goes on with her tale.

"As I told you, it was troublesome to put me in a team, being the 1st Hokage's descendant." she says. "Orochimaru, at the same time, was the genius of the generation, the best of all the kids, way too mature for his age. And Jiraya was a problem kid that nobody wanted."

"Kinda like you." comment Kakashi to Naruto.

"Yeah yeah, I get it." says the 7th. "So how did he manage to still get y'all a jonin?"

"He didn't." promptly says Tsunade. "Naruto, do you have any time to spare as the Hokage?"

Naruto squints his eyes, seeing exactly what she means. He stays there sitting and thinking, unable to decide whether he should accept this solution or not. Lost in his thoughts, He doesn't see Tsunade bending over the table and grabbing the bottle from his hands again. When she tries to pour sake in her cup again, the bottle suddenly turns into a pair of chopsticks. Confused, she looks around and sees the bottle in Kakashi's hands.

The 6th Hokage, while Tsunade was telling her story, discreetly replaced the bottle in Naruto's hands with his sticks, to make sure that Lady 5th won't get her hand on it again.

"Lord 6th, You're such a kid!" mocks Tsunade. "Give me that bottle!"

"Lady Tsunade, you should really stop drinking, for obvious health reasons." answers Kakashi.

"Oh, I'm a medic-nin, and not a bad one. So trust me I know a thing or two about health." argues Tsunade, already half wasted.

"Ok, then what will Sakura say about that?" threatens Kakashi.

"Come on, Kakashi, don't be such a killjoy." asks Tsunade. "You know how annoyingly motherly she acts toward me now."

"Yes, I do. And I know it's for your greater good that she does so." answers Kakashi who stands up to get next to Tsunade, showing his back to her.

He gets on a knee and offers to carry her on his back.

"Let's bring you home." he says.

More tired and wasted than she'd like to admit, Tsunade complies. She grabs the crutches that she always has around to help her walk, and lets herself fall aside to the 6th Hokage's back. Kakashi gets back on his feet and prepares to leave with her

"You're leaving?" asks Naruto who wakes up from his daydreams.

"Yes. And you should too." says Kakashi. "What are people gonna think of the Lord Hokage if they see him wasted in a bar alone?"

"… You're right." answers Naruto while standing up, before Kakashi stops him.

"Wait there. Someone's gotta pay, and you probably know what an invitation means, don't you?" says the 6th Hokage.

Naruto stares at him stupidly, and sits back. Kakashi nods to say goodbye and leaves the bottle on the table. He then leaves, bringing Tsunade with him.

"Why don't you bring me to your place?" she suggests. "It's been a while since I've last seen Shizune."

"You saw her yesterday, Tsunade." answers Kakashi, who already decided to leave her at Sakura's house.

Naruto looks at the two of them leaving, and smiles. He reaches for his purse and gets the money to pay, before leaving the bar as well.

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Next day, at the ninja academy of Konoha, all the newly graduated genins are sitting in their classroom. In front of the class, Miss Hanaka, their academy teacher, is waiting for everyone to calm down and let her start her goodbye and congratulations speech.

She's a short woman with pale skin, long brown reddish hair loosely tied toward her right shoulder, pale brown eyes and a tired looking face with visible freckles above the cheeks. She's wearing the classic Konoha flak jacket over a long dress with an assorted color.

"Is everyone listening?" she asks.

Nobody in the room says a word. Hanaka quickly looks at Boruto who sits in the middle of the room and seems to be the most attention grabbing, directly followed by Rebekka Tabiki, who sits in the last row, but is way older than any other student. The teacher then goes on.

"Great. So, first of all, congratulations to all of you for your graduation!" she says, before making a brief pause for everyone to congratulate each other. "Then, It is the last time we see each other in a classroom, and maybe the last time we see each other at all. In the following hour, or hours depending on their availability, elite ninjas will come and call the name of their 3 students. The 3 genin who'll be with the same jonin will be a team from now on, and this until they all become chunin at least. So I hope you'll be happy with your teammates and your sensei. I won't be staying in the room all along, and will be leaving right now. I just wanted to tell you all… Thank you. Most of you have been great and pleasant students. And all of you deserve your graduation. I hope to see as many of you as possible in the future. Don't hesitate to come visit once you reach my level, which is chunin."

All the class applauds their teacher who, to most of them, has been very efficient and gentle all these years. Once the class goes silent again, Hanaka shares one last thought.

"Before I leave, I want to warn you about what's coming." she adds. "The ninjas that will come and call your names aren't genin or chunin, but Jonin. They're the highest ranked ninjas after the staff of the Hokage's mansion. They're wiser, stronger, and essentially less indulgent than me. Make sure to be up to their expectations, because they'll certainly surpass yours… With that, have a good day, and keep going with your projects. Don't ever give up."

The teacher steps away from the front of the class and gets to the door. She salutes everyone one last time before leaving, and goes.

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For about 5 minutes, the classroom stays completely quiet after her departure. To break this silence, Rebekka makes a little remark.

"I'll surely miss her. And all this." she says, a bit nostalgic of the many years she's spent in this place, with her sensei whom she knows she annoyed very much, but who always kept a solid affection for her.

Nobody in the class answers. They're just surprised that one saying it is the older girl who always acted so bored and unhappy. Some of the kids nod in agreement, but stay quiet. After another few minutes, Metal Lee decides to ask a question to the whole class.

"So do y'all have any wishes for your teams and sensei?" he says.

"A wish, huh?" says Misora Shojo, the popular girl of the class. "Um… I'd like to be with Izuna and Boruto. And I don't care about the sensei."

"Uh? What about me?" exclaims Megane, her best friend.

"Well what about you?" answers Misora. "Get with whoever you want, but I'm taking these two with me."

"I thought you'd want to be with me…" sadly adds the girl with glasses.

"Pfffft! Come on, Megane!" laughs Misora. "You're my friend and all, but when it comes to a team, I gotta choose strong people."

"Well then, I sure hope I won't end up with you." promptly says Boruto, with a slight smile on his face.

Misora rapidly turns to see Boruto and makes a terrified face. She then dramatically lets herself fall back on her seat and hides her face, ashamed, voluntarily overreacting..

"That was totally rude, Boruto!" complains Izuna,. "Apologize now!"

In the last 5 years, after meeting his father and getting to see what he was really doing for the world, village, and Hokage, Izuna Uchiha became a way more conscious, comprehensive and altruist person. He lost all his grumpy and sassy habits and became more reserved and serious.

"Come on, dude. It's a joke. Can't you take a joke?" answers Boruto. "Misora, you're not even weak. It's just that I thought saying this now would make you get back to your seat. And I was right."

Misora stops hiding her face and smiles at Boruto.

"Oh… Don't worry, Honorable 7th's son." she replies. "I know that, I just wanted to see how some would react if I acted hurt."

"Who do you wish to be with, Boruto?" asks Metal, in an attempt to still get an interesting answer to his question.

"Honestly… Anybody. I'm more curious about my sensei." answers Boruto. "Since Aoki got her dad's bodyguard, and Shinki got his uncle, I should get either Lord 6th or Shikamaru."

"Um… I doubt that Uncle Shikamaru would accept such a task." says Inoue Yamanaka. "He's a busy man. And to him, a bunch of teenagers, would just be a 'drag'."

"Hmm… And Lord 6th is definitely too old for this…" thinks Boruto. "Well I don't know them."

The room goes silent again, but everyone keeps looking at Boruto after he didn't answer the question, as if they were still expecting him to say something. To get everyone's attention somewhere else, Boruto asks it to someone else.

"And you, Rebekka-sis?" he says, as he turns around to look at the back of the room. "Any wishes?"

Rebekka is sitting on the table with her feet on the seat, back to the class. She's pulled out of her thoughts, who were still stuck on her nostalgia, by her name being called and looks at everyone, staring at her.

"What's up?" she says, unaware of what they were saying.

"I just hope I won't be with her." says Namonaki, the kid that Rebekka punched in the face when he insulted Izuna's clan.

"Dude still hasn't gotten over what happened 4 years ago." says Misora.

"How about I punch you in the nose right now in front of the whole class?" he answers meanly to the girl. "We'll see if you'll forget it."

"What if she insults your family out loud in front of everyone first?" says Boruto, referring to the reason why Rebekka had hit Namonaki years ago.

Izuna looks up to Boruto, embarrassed. He just wants to forget about this day. It was awkward, and he had stupidly spelled his most secret ambition out loud to everyone right before. If everyone could forget this, he'd be glad. Rebekka looks at Namonaki, in the middle of all the kids.

"I'd definitely do it again." she says, provocatively.

"Next person who gets a broken nose is you!" yells Namonaki.

Rebekka suddenly stands up, turns around and walks down the desks of each row like they're stairs, by taking big steps from one to the next. She stops once she stands on the desk right above Namonaki. There she gets down and sits in a slavic squat position to get her face right in front of the 3 years younger boy.

"Wanna try me?" she says, in a totally serious tone.

At this moment, all their attention is brought to the front door of the classroom, where someone comes in. Anko Mitarashi steps in and analyzes the scene. Nobody changed its position, they're just all staring in the same direction at the same time. Anko looks at Rebekka who's sitting in a very masculine manner on a desk, and smirks. She guesses what scene was happening and what she interrupted, and identifies the main actors.

"Well, this is gonna be fun!" she thinks to herself before addressing the class. "I'd like Metal Lee, Namonaki, and… Rebekka Tabiki to follow me."

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" yell Rebekka and Namonaki together.

Despite their disagreements, these two will have to work as a team for the next few years, and Metal Lee will have to endure being in the middle, which he doesn't realize now. Anko Mitarashi, having volunteered to direct this intriguing squad, sees it as not only an interesting challenge, but also a potential source of mockery and fun that will be all to her amusement. Together, they are Konoha's team 14.

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A while after the first squad left with their master, the room stood silent, as the one who started the conversation was Metal Lee, and those entertaining it were Rebekka and Namonaki. Nobody said a word and just waited until a new jonin came in. This time, it's Udon Ise who comes in and immediately calls the names of his students without wasting a second.

"Misora Shojo, Megane Fuma, Shiba Inuzuka." he calls.

"Yes!" exclaims Megane, happily. "See, Misora. We're on the same squad!"

Misora stares desperately at Boruto and Izuna who are quietly sitting and waiting in the room with all the others. She looks down, disappointed, before going to join her sensei and teammates. Shiba Inuzuka is a more quiet and timid young boy who generally stays sitting in the back of the class and doesn't get involved with the others. Being put with the most talkative girl kind of surprises him, but doesn't displease him.

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Other team leaders keep coming one after another, each bringing 3 of the new genins with them. The room gets emptier and emptier until only 3 kids remain. Boruto, Inoue and Izuna. It's now been twice the longest time lapse they had to wait between two jonins since the last one came in. And the three remaining kids are still waiting.

Boruto, bored, sighs and looks down to see Izuna. He sees him trembling like a kid, looking down with his long hair hiding his face. Boruto can't tell if his friend is stressed or excited. But he doesn't feel negative about the situation.

Just finding it weird, he looks at Inoue instead, and finds her doing the exact same thing, also with her hair over her face. The Hyuga heir awkwardly gazes around, to know if there's something he's not seeing, but doesn't find anything. He shrugs with his shoulders and ignores these two's quiet excitement.

"At least, we can safely deduce that we're on the same team." he says.

Inoue and Izuna both shake, raise their head to look at Boruto sitting behind them, then accidentally cross gazes for barely half a second. They both hurry to look away and go back to timidly hide behind their hair. Both of them are just mixed between embarrassment and happiness for being on the same squad.

After many more minutes, someone finally comes into the room, and Boruto jumps up with enthusiasm… before landing back on his seat in disappointment when he realizes it's just the academy's janitor.

"Oh,… Hi, Mister Doroku" he says, sadly.

"7th's son? What are you brats still doing here?" answers the janitor. "If it's late enough for me to be here, it's too late for you."

"We're waiting for our squad teacher…" says Inoue.

"Squad teacher? Ah it's true that it's that day." thinks mister Doroku aloud. "Guess your sensei overslept."

The janitor gets back to his job, whistling an annoyingly catchy jingle and acting as if the three genins weren't there. Boruto, who's not at his first meeting with this man and hears him whistling the same rhythm every time, covers his ears. He activates his Byakugan and angrily looks through the walls to see the hallway, expecting to see someone walk in any minute.

"Say, Hokage's brat…" the janitor speaks to Boruto. "You're kind of a celeb among kids, aren't you?"

"Sir, I have a name. It's Boruto, not Brat, nor 7th's son." complains Boruto who takes his attention off the hallway.

"Say… I have a brat girl that's about your age at home." adds mister Doroku, ignoring Boruto's remark. "Would it bother you to write a word or just sign an autograph for her?"

"Yes it would!" angrily yells Boruto, for whom the wait is getting painfully long.

"Hello, Inaka!" suddenly says someone who's standing outside the classroom, right before the door.

The janitor raises his head and sees who just called him. He makes a surprised face and quickly bows to salute him. Boruto, assuming this is his extremely late jonin, activates his Byakugan again to see through the wall, and makes a disgusted face.

Through the door frame, Naruto Uzumaki comes in walking, embarrassed.

"Lord Hokage!" exclaims Izuna who jumps off his seat and bows down to salute the 7th Hokage.

"What are you doing here?" yells Boruto, who also jumps off his seat.

Inoue raises her head and looks at Naruto who stands awkwardly at the door. The Hokage gazes through the room and sees it completely empty. He sees the janitor take his stuff and get ready to leave the room.

"Oh, no need to leave. We're heading out right now." says Naruto.

"We're heading out? With you?" asks Inoue.

"What? No! Don't tell me?" says Boruto.

"What? Oh Yes! Please tell me!" says Izuna right after Boruto, breaking his usual reserved behavior out of excitement.

"Yes, we can leave." says Naruto, now with a smile. "Boruto Hyuga, Inoue Yamanaka, Izuna Uchiha. I'll be your team sensei!"

At this information, Boruto slaps his own face with both his hands. Izuna exclaims his excitement and satisfaction. Inoue just widely opens her eyes in surprise, waiting for an explanation to this particular situation. And Inaka Doroku, the janitor, just boringly looks at the kid's reaction, and gets back to his whistles and job. Naruto crosses his arms and analyzes his new students, who all did react as he expected.

Boruto Hyuga, the greatest prodigy that this village has known and heir of the Hyuga clan. Izuna Uchiha, heir of the cursed red-eyed clan and offspring of the most powerful couple in the world. Inoue Yamanaka, the disinherited heiress of her clan. And Naruto Uzumaki, the 7th Hokage, New Rikudo Sennin, God of Shinobi, Savior of the World and Jinchuriki of the Kyubi. From now on, these individuals are Konoha's team 1.

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End of Chapter 63 – Next Chapter: Naruto's Team 1