[Team 8]

------------2 Days Ago Hokage's Office------------

------------3rd person POV------------

"Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame and Tobi Shou"

"..."

Everyone thought over the team combination and tried to fit the 3 into any sort of traditional team, the problem was the presence of Tobi Shou, he disrupted the team balance in every sense and just didn't fit in… Plus many shinobi hoped to have him in their teams as he was crucial as their team's core… Although the Uchiha kid took the rookie of the year in the end, the baggage he carried made most of them turn away from him towards the genius civilian kid that gave the last Uchiha a run for his money. One of them was Gekko Hayate, a sickly looking tokubetsu jōnin…

"Hokage-sama if I may." Hayate came forward while the other jounin's were still murmuring about the situation.

"Hayate" Hiruzen nodded towards Hayate to proceed.

"With all due respect to Jounin Kurenai, I can't seem to think any way the team fits together, according to the files, Hinata is quiet and shy, Shino is quiet, reserved, and Tobi is quiet and a loner. Although they have a personality trait in common I don't think it meshes well with the team. Also with the addition of Kiba instead of Tobi, she can have a very tracking and scouting team. I on the other hand want to take Tobi as an apprentice, although it is not mentioned in the files because there is no curriculum related to the sword" Hayate hid a slight grimace here before continuing, "I have sparred with him on a few occasions and I can assure you he is above genin level bordering on chunin with a katana..."

The Hokage seemed very interested in Hayate's argument and seeing this Kurenai hurriedly said, "If I may give the reasons for my arguments...Hokage-sama" Hiruzen nodded at her to continue while puffing his pipe silently.

"The reason I chose Tobi is that another of his ability is not mentioned in the files...Hayate did he always knew beforehand when you arrived to spar with him?"

"What are you implying here Kurenai?" Hayate seemed confused at the sudden question thrown his way…

"What I am saying is that Tobi is a sensor! I tried to scout everyone from class 1 in order to know the students before I ask to be assigned to one, what I found was that whenever I tried to sneak too close to Tobi, he always went on alert. I tried it several times and he was able to detect me getting within 50m of him..."

What Kurenai said shocked most of the people present in the room, a sensor shinobi were rare in Konoha, even Hiruzen seemed happier as he was listening to the arguments from both sides, meanwhile, Kurenai continued, "So he easily fits into the team with Hinata's Byakugan and Shino's bugs. Plus with Tobi present in the team, the overall combat power of the team increases and I would like to file for a search and destroy team..."

Hokage-sama's face finally turned serious and he set aside his pipe while sitting up straight and saying, "Are you sure about this Kurenai? Search and destroy teams have been discontinued since the last war, although it was mainly because of the absence of potential, the high mortality rate of search and destroy teams is also the reason they were discontinued from the regular shinobi corps and are only formed in the reserve corps...nobody here doubts your ability to lead a team Kurenai-chan you don't need to prove anyone..." seeing the somewhat soft yet still determined eyes of Kurenai, Hiruzen nodded before finally asking, "Are you sure Jounin Kurenai!"

"Hai Hokage-sama!"

"Very well!" Hiruzen took the files of the three individuals and wrote something on each of them before stamping his seal, seemingly deciding the fate of three unsuspecting teens together.

"It's decided then, Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Tobi Shou will form team 8 under Jounin-Sensei Kurenai Yuhi..."

------------Class A-1------------

------------Tobi's POV------------

'Come on Iruka-sensei...finally...'

Iruka sensei walks into the class exactly at 8 in the morning and was looking around the class. 'Huh! Is it just me or is he looking banged up a little, and where is Mizuki-sensei, isn't a teaching assistant supposed to help Iruka-sensei when he looks like that?'

Iruka-sensei walked towards his table and instead of standing up like he always does the whole class, he sat down on his seat for the first time in a year. 'Yeah, most probably a recently healed injury in his thigh muscle or...yeah maybe on his back by the way he is sitting to avoid putting his body weight on his back muscles...Skin color a little off, probably due to blood loss, sweat rolling down...loss of energy, a major wound most probably on his back...' As I was analyzing Iruka-Sensei he finally settled down and started speaking…

"This is your last day as an academy student, I know I have rambled about this a lot but the reason Konoha is the strongest shinobi nation largely is due to our teamwork, the bonds that we forge through our time in the academy and in the shinobi corps, the trust we place in the hands of our comrades to support our backs while we go face a difficult situation, the reason Konoha still stands tall after years of its foundation. Today all of you will be sorted into teams, your team will be there to support you in your genin days and later too in your genin careers...I hope we can one day work together to defend the village we all cherish, Arigatou everyone."

"Arigatou Sensei!" even though there was no plan after that speech everyone automatically stood up and bowed to Iruka-sensei.

'I was lucky that you were there for us sensei, although I didn't listen to you much during your lectures... from your encouraging smile during the first test to the proud look you had when you handed me my headband. Thank you! Iruka sensei for coming today again even though I know you are suffering from pain, you always come through for us...'

'See Zoey, why can't you be there like that?'

[Because your family and your sensei already spoil you enough!]

'You just don't like me, I know it, well I don't like you either, you are...'

[You best be paying to the last words of Iruka as your sensei]

'Shush you...' Iruka sensei seemed to be overwhelmed with emotion seeing us finally graduate. He nodded and with a smile started to list out the teams.

"Team 1"

"Team 2"

"..."

"..."

"Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura Haruno and Uzumaki Naruto"

'Whoops! Dodged that bullet, man what a troublesome team...no don't be like Shikamaru...anyway Sasuke looks less than pleased with the team, and I won't even describe the looks of the other two...'

"Team 8, Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame and Tobi Shou"

'...'

'...wtf kami-sama why can't you let me live peacefully...'

'...'