Chapter – 734 Grouping Teams

Ninja Academy – Class A(Children of Focus)

"The location of the Assessment is going to be in a small part of the Forest of Death… All the trainees will enter the forest from different entrances in teams of three… And you are all going to stay in the forest for half a day. All of you are free to engage in battle against any other team that you may encounter." Explained Iruka, then looked at the trainees and questioned, "Does anyone have any doubt so far?"

Haruno Sakura raised her hand, and asked, "Ano… Iruka-Sensei… how many scrolls will we have?"

Iruka nodded, "I was coming to that point." And added, "All the teams will be given three scrolls, one for each member, and throughout the duration of the assessment, you will have to protect your own scrolls, as well as snatch scrolls of other teams. By the end of the exam, the team that has lost all the scrolls will be eliminated, and the team with the highest number of scrolls in their possession will be considered the winner.

Keep in mind that for any team to win, they must retain at least two of their original scrolls in their possession. Any team with less than two of their original scrolls, although they won't be eliminated, will lose the qualification to become the winner, even if they manage to gather the highest number of scrolls. Also, note that a team can only once defeat another team, this also means that any team is only allowed to take one scroll from any other team, if any team takes more than one scroll from another team, they will be disqualified."

Hearing the rules in regards to gathering scrolls, all the trainees were somewhat surprised, and couldn't help but mutter, "That means to gather more scrolls we will have to defeat more teams. And this is not enough, we have to have at least two of our original scrolls in order to win, otherwise, defeating other teams is pretty much useless."

Iruka nodded lightly, "Yes." and asked, "Does anyone have any other doubt?"

Everyone shook their heads, "No Sensei!"

Iruka nodded, and said, "All right then, since no one has doubts, we can proceed to the next part… which is deciding on the teams. As I already mentioned a team is going to be of three members, so now we have to decide on the team members."

Hearing this, all the trainees became somewhat nervous and excited. If they can form teams with strong trainees, their chances of winning will be higher. Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but look at the top two trainees in their class… Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Neji, anyone who is in their team will have the most chance of winning, and many even went as far as to shout out loud, "Sensei, I want to be in Sasuke-kun's team." "I want to be on the same team as Neji-san!" Among all these shouts, Sakura and Ino were at the top as they even started to argue among themselves about being on Sasuke's team.

Sasuke who was sitting at the back folded his hands over his chest, of course, he noted everyone's eager gaze to form a team with him, however, he didn't care. For him, it doesn't matter who is on his team, Sasuke has the confidence of single-handedly winning against all the other teams, it doesn't matter who they are.

Compared to Sasuke, Neji was a more thoughtful expression.

Neji knows that he and Sasuke have similar levels of strength, so having useful teammates would be very helpful as he can work with them and easily defeat all the other teams. At the same time, he also understood that if his teammates are useless, then his chances of defeating other teams might decrease.

Although not the same level of attention as Sasuke and Neji, Shikamaru, Shino, Sai, and Shin were also targets of attention. All four of them are considered highly skilled in their class, so other trainees were willing to form a team with the four of them too.

Seeing that the classroom was getting more and more chaotic as everyone was trying to form their own team, Iruka announced, "You can not make the team of your own choice, we are going to draw lots… this will also ensure that everything is 'fair' and 'square.'"

Hearing this announcement, many calmed down, and the intellectual ones understood, "So it's going to depend on 'luck.'"

At this time, Shikamaru raised his hand and questioned, "Sensei… but how are you going to allot all the trainees, we are short of one person, at this rate, one team will have only two members."

Hearing Shikarmura's words, most of the class looked at Naruto, almost no one wanted to be on the same team as him, oh, there was one exception, and that was the young and shy Hinata. With blushing red cheeks, she sneaked glances at Naruto from time to time, hoping that she could be on the same team as him.

Of course, Naruto realized everyone's intention and looked down with a lonely expression, "Why does it have to be me?" He was oblivious to Hinata's gaze, which made Shion sigh. She is the biggest NaruHina supporter since Hinata is her best friend, it's a pity that Naruto is so dense and blockheaded that he has never realized Hinata's affection.

Iruka noted the situation getting worse, and immediately said, "Don't worry, all the trainees are going to be in teams… a child from another class is going to be joining you guys, with that trainee here, the number of trainees will be okay, and all teams are going to have three members."

As this news was announced, the entire classroom became noisy, "Who is it?" "Is it a girl or a boy?" "Are they strong?"

Everyone wanted to know the identity of that person.

Iruka turned towards the gate and said, "Shimuzu Mika… you may come in."

At Iruka's call, a girl named Shimuzu Mika walked inside the classroom, she stood on the podium beside Iruka, and introduced herself to everyone, "I am Shimuzu Mika, I like sweets, please treat me well." After that, without caring much about what the trainees thought of her, she walked to the empty seat she could find and sat on it.

Everyone looked at Mika weirdly, given how indifferent she is towards all of them, but then again, if they think about how Mika is from a different class, this is not too surprising.

Iruka coughed lightly to attract everyone's attention to himself, and said, "Well, now that all the trainees are here… we can focus on making the teams. As I said earlier, teams will be made by drawing lots, the trainees who get the same number on the slip they draw will be in the same team." Then added after a pause, "So, all of you, one by one come to the podium and draw a slip from this box."

All the trainees did as asked by Iruka, and drew lots from the box.

After ten minutes the result was displayed, teams are as follows:

Uchiha Sasuke, Kurama Yakumo, Uzumaki Naruto

Hyuga Neji, Uchiha Kiyomi, Rock Lee

Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chōji

Hyuga Hinata, Shion, Shimizu Mika

Shin, Haruno Sakura, Sai

Inuzuka Kiba, Tenten, Aburame Shino

Fu, Kegon, and Yoro.

As the teams were announced, some people were satisfied, and some were neither happy nor unhappy, some were worried, some were sad, and then there was Naruto who stood up, and said in a dissatisfied tone, "Why do I have to be in the same team as Sasuke!?"

Iruka said with a dark face, "Obviously because you drew the same slot as him! Now sit down and let me continue."

Sasuke said mockingly, "Naruto, don't hold me back."

Naruto snorted and sat back, still dissatisfied. Although he had such an expression on the outside, internally, Naruto was actually very happy that he was on the same team as Sasuke, and thought to himself in a determined tone, 'I am definitely going to prove that I am not useless!'

On the other side, after seeing the team, Neji breathed a sigh of relief, "With this team, I am definitely going to win!"

Although Rock Lee is also very weak, he is still very good compared to Naruto, and Uchiha Kiyomi is undoubtedly among the most talented in their class. Overall, Neji believes that their team is the strongest and therefore, has the highest chance of winning.

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