Chapter 4: How To Train Your Genin

Lunch ended and the newly graduated genin all filed back inside of the classroom to find that there was a group of adults already there waiting on them. Team 10 decided that now was as good a time as any to start working like a team and sat in the same row next to each other while most of the others were still spread out around the classroom. After everyone reentered, Iruka took the front of the class again.

"Alright everyone." Iruka started, "The men and women standing before you are your jounin sensei for your duration as genin. Remember to work hard and remember everything you've learned through your time here in the Academy." With that, the jounin started going down the line taking their teams away by the number indicated.

"Team 8?" A beautiful raven-haired woman with remarkable red eyes said. She had on a mesh blouse with one long sleeve and a missing other underneath a broad, bandage looking material that had a pattern of thorns on it. She had bandages wrapped around her upper thighs and her hands up to her elbows, "I'm your jounin instructor, Yuhi Kurenai, come with me and we'll get started."

Kiba, Hinata, and Shino all stood up and walked out of the room with the woman when Sakura stood up, "Um, you skipped Team 7. What about our sensei?"

All of the remaining jounin shook their heads with amusement etched on their faces as the next man stepped forward, "You guys are going to be waiting a while for him to show up. Anyway, Team 10? I'm Sarutobi Asuma and I'm your sensei, so follow me."

Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru stood up and followed him out with Shikamaru giving a small wave to Chouji before they left for luck to him and how he would fare on his own team. Shikamaru was still worried about leaving his oldest friend like that all on his own, but he had to worry about himself at the moment and how he was going to do on his own team.

Naruto looked at the bearded man they were following oddly, as if he were supposed to be familiar or something, "Hey, have we met before?" Naruto asked with his eyes closed in confusion. The man chuckled at the diminutive blonde, "Hey, what's funny?"

"You must not have a very good short term memory eh kid?" The man said as they started walking outside. When he saw Naruto's face scrunch up in thought, "We met yesterday kid. You were outside of the Hokage Tower and ran into me after messing with my nephew."

"Huh?" Naruto was still confused before he started piecing together what Asuma had just said along with his last name, "Wait, you're Konohamaru's uncle? Then that means you're the Hokage's son right?"

Asuma sighed, "Well that's not what we were really talking about but yes, I am the Hokage's son."

"Wow." Naruto said with a grin on his face, "So you must be like a younger, more awesome version of Hokage-jiji right?"

Asuma broke into laughter at hearing that. If nothing else Naruto was going to be entertaining to have around on his team, "Well I don't really know about that. I don't even fight anything like the old man to be quite honest with you, but I do in my own humble opinion think I'm quite strong."

Ino gave Naruto a chiding look, "Naruto why would you call Hokage-sama that? That's disrespectful to his status in the village."

Naruto shrugged, "It's just what I've always called him. Ever since I was a little kid I've been calling him Hokage-jiji whenever he came to see me and he never corrected me on it so I guess he liked it or something."

Now Shikamaru and Ino had something else to think about. Why did the Hokage spend that much time with Naruto when he was little? Sure he was an orphan and everything, but for Naruto to be comfortable about calling the man such a familiar name in passing… that's a whole different level of acquaintance.

The newly minted Team 10 kept following their jounin commander as he walked them about all the way to a training field where he instructed them to sit down in the grass under the shade of a tree while he leaned against the trunk. Shikamaru acquiesced far too easily for Ino's tastes when he plopped right down on his back and looked up at the sun poking through the leaves vacantly. Naruto swiftly did as he was told as well, just staying seated normally on the ground. Ino did so reluctantly and sat with her knees pulled to her chest as they all looked at their sensei reach into one of his flak jacket's pockets and pull out a cigarette.

Ino watched him distastefully as he stuck the cigarette in his mouth, "Those will kill you, you know."

Asuma smirked and pulled out a lighter to spark his cigarette up, "Girl I think you'll find after you've been doing this for a while that compared to being a ninja, a little smoke can't even come close to being anywhere near as dangerous." He took a moment to enjoy his cigarette for a moment, taking in the expressions his genin all wore.

Ino was calm, yet she had an air of annoyance about her; apparently she wasn't as pleased with her team selection, or her sensei if the way she was lightly glaring at him and his cigarette was any indication, as she would have liked to be but she was willing to deal, that was good.

Shikamaru didn't seem to care either way. He was just waiting for whatever it was he was supposed to do apparently before he decided whether or not it was worth the trouble of actually doing it. This kid would need some serious motivation if he was to end up any good kind of ninja. He didn't appear to be as out of it as he looked while gazing up at the clouds. It was clear he was still paying attention.

Naruto was barely able to hide his excitement. He was hardly able to sit still and every few moments you could see a huge grin threatening to peek through his already happy expression. Well there was clearly no lack of motivation in him and he didn't seem to have any problems with the way the teams panned out, he was just happy as a clam to even be there at all. 'Alright.' Asuma thought to himself, 'Enough of the silent contemplation.'

Asuma tapped the ashes off of the end of his cigarette, "From this day forward I'll be your jounin sensei. You will train under me, take missions under me, and I will be responsible for all of your well-beings from this point forward." He saw a their faces receive that information, 'And now for the fun part.' He thought with a smirk, "That is, after you pass your final test to become genin."

Ino looked at him with a cocked brow, "Wait, I thought we already did that? We just got through with graduation didn't we?"

Asuma chuckled, "Come on. Anyone can reel off a few memorized test answers and crank out the most basic level jutsu that pretty much any ninja can do right?" After he said that, a sweatdrop formed on his head when Ino's eyes turned to Naruto and Shikamaru who laughed nervously and muttered 'troublesome' respectively, "Right. Nevermind. Well regardless that was just to scout out prospective candidates that actually end up being ninja. The truth is that there's a 66% average failure rate for kids at your level.

Naruto's eyes widened, "That's why Shiho-chan almost ended up not being a real ninja after all! Why didn't she tell me?" Both Shikamaru and Ino looked at him in surprise after his outburst, 'As a matter of fact why didn't Tenten tell me? Gah, I'm pissed!'

Asuma nodded, "You say almost, so I assume she was one of the lucky ones that didn't end up having to be sent back somehow. She must have gotten someone to actively apprentice her. But most shinobi don't have the time for that, or they don't have anyone they're actually interested in enough to go through that pain in the ass process for so the failed ones usually end up heading back to the Academy or in a lot of cases washing out altogether."

He let silence settle over the field before sighing, getting the full attention of the group of kids, "You know, I talked about it with Hokage-sama beforehand and I have to tell you all, just to be fair to you, I don't really want a team." He surprised them, "I have the freedom to make the test to pass you as tough or as easy as I want it to be, and I'm going to come up with something you'll never be able to pass. A task a full-fledged jounin would have to take a second thought at accepting." He exuded the minutest trace of killing intent he could to enforce his threat, and seeing Ino's eyes quiver he had to hold himself back from breaking his straight face.

"That's not fair!" Naruto said loudly from the ground, "You can't do that to us just because you're a lazy ass!"

Hearing Naruto say something brought something out of Ino, "Yeah, even Shikamaru wouldn't be lazy enough to do something like that!"

"Tough." Asuma said, shutting them both down, "I'm a jounin, an elite. I've earned my spot ten times over and I'd much rather not have to spend the next five years wiping noses and powdering bottoms." Even Shikamaru was fully attentive by this point.

The normally lazy pineapple-haired boy sat up and stared Asuma down, "So you're going to just drop us? You led us all the way out here just to tell us you're failing us like that? Just getting rid of all of us."

"No." Asuma said to him, "I never said I was going to just get rid of you. I said I never wanted a team, not that I never wanted to train anyone. I'm willing to take only one of you as an apprentice. The others are out of luck."

All three of them looked at each other before Ino spoke up, "Which one of us?"

Asuma smirked, "That's up to all of you. I don't know the first thing about either one of you so how would I know? All I know is that I don't want any weak little tag-along. I want the best."

Ino smirked back at him and flipped her ponytail back, "Well I can tell you that I am the best. My Academy grades were twice as good as both of theirs were, probably combined."

"Yeah…" Asuma said dryly, "That doesn't really mean a damn thing to me. You could pass with flying colors and still be shit for a shinobi, just like you could have barely graduated by the skin of your teeth and wind up being the best there ever was. What happened there doesn't mean anything to me now."

Ino shirked back at that. Naruto spoke next, "So… what happens now?"

Asuma started walking away, "Meet me back here in three hours. In that time I'll come up with a way to determine which out of all of you is worth being a genin." With that he vanished from the training field in a whirlwind of leaves, leaving three bewildered youngsters on their own.

XxX

(Meanwhile – Konohagakure Ninja Academy)

The only team still remaining in the room was the group of Team 7, who were getting increasingly agitated by the wait for their sensei. Sasuke and Sakura were absurdly bored and could have actually been doing stuff with their time, and Chouji was running out of food to munch on this guy was taking so long.

The door finally slid open, "Sorry I'm late, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around to get here." A man with gravity defying silver hair in regular jounin garb and a facemask with his headband covering one eye stuck his head in the door with an expression that appeared to be him smiling. He opened his one eye and looked at the three with a bored expression on his face, "Hmm, my first impression of this group: You all are not quite what I was expecting. Meet me on the roof in five minutes." With that he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The faces upon hearing his lame excuse twisted in confusion once they processed his later words. Sakura looked at both of her teammates, "What did he mean we're not what he expected?"

Chouji simply shrugged before Sasuke stood up, "Hm." Sasuke said before putting his hands in his pockets, "Let's just go." Chouji nodded and put up his snacks before following Sasuke out while Sakura sat there, still puzzled at her new sensei's first words to the team.

XxX

"What the hell?" Naruto wondered as he walked the streets by himself to wait out Asuma's timeframe, "Did this kind of thing happen to Shiho-chan? Did her jounin sensei not want to do this either and just got rid of the whole team because they could? I can't let it end like this! I can't just go back to the Academy because of this!'

Naruto clinched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white, 'Maybe… Maybe he'll take me as his apprentice. Maybe if I show I'm more awesome than the others he'll take me as a student? He has to! It's my only chance! But how am I supposed to prove it?'

Naruto kept walking for a moment before he steeled his eyes and headed back towards the training field they had met with Asuma on.

XxX

Naruto returned to the field to find Ino and Shikamaru already there, the former glaring at the latter as he sat against a tree with his eyes closed, "Naruto." Shikamaru said before yawning, "We've been waiting on you to show up."

Naruto gulped before he began walking towards the tree, "Yeah. I'm here." He looked from Shikamaru to Ino who was splitting her time from glaring at Shikamaru to glaring at Naruto, "I thought I'd get here early and get some time to think before everyone else showed up… I guess that plan was good enough for everybody to use too huh?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "Well I never really left. I just waited until you guys all did and then I came back. This is a good spot. Ino stomped back here a few minutes before you did actually."

"So how are we going to do this?" Naruto asked more to himself than to anyone else as he made his way under the tree with the others, but Ino heard and picked up on it.

"There's no way I'm going back to the Academy now. Not after all I've done to get out of there. If this is how it's got to be, then I'm not just letting this pass me by." Ino said, voice full of determination, "So if I have to prove it, I will."

"No you're not." Shikamaru said, his voice having lost the disinterested tone from before to take on a more hardened one that showed he was actually serious, "Neither of you are actually." He said, directing his gaze to Naruto to make sure he got the message.

Ino smirked, "So what are you going to do? Beat us both and take it for yourself Shikamaru? That seems like too much work for someone like you."

Naruto tensed up his muscles and spoke animatedly, "I'm not going to fail, I can't. Not now, not after all of this, dattebayo! I won't go back! If I have to fight you guys I will!"

Shikamaru stood up from his spot on the tree, "Well you see, no one's going to be fighting anyone at all." He made a gesture of antlers on the top of his head and let a smile cross his face when he saw Naruto and Ino mimic his action, "Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Jutsu) complete."

Ino's eyes had panic in them, "What is this Shikamaru?" She said frantically.

Naruto struggled but couldn't move an inch, "I… can't move."

Shikamaru put his hands down, "This is my jutsu, now listen up. We're not going to be fighting. None of us are. Why would they give that guy a team if he could just fail us for something stupid like 'he didn't want a team?' Just because he has tenure or something doesn't mean he can just ruin someone's career before they even start."

"But what if he can?" Ino said, "I can't fail. My entire family would be totally ashamed of me."

Naruto's eyes widened, "He never said he would flat out fail us though! He said he would give us an exam we couldn't pass, but he didn't say anything about failing anyone just like that!"

"Exactly." Shikamaru said, smiling at Naruto for pulling that answer out, "So, as troublesome as it is, all we have to do is pass his exam and that should be that."

Ino wasn't convinced, "But what if we can't? He said that a jounin would have trouble with what he was going to end up making us do. How can you be so sure we'll get through it?"

Shikamaru let go of his jutsu, "Because there are three of us. A single jounin might have trouble with whatever he makes us do, but three of us can more than likely handle anything he'll make us do." He kept looking between them in case anyone planned on attacking anyway, but calmed down when no one did after a minute.

"Okay." Naruto finally said, "We're Team 10 aren't we?" Naruto said with a slight laugh, "We're not supposed to be fighting anyway, and Shikamaru's right, we can take whatever that chain smoking teme has planned for us."

Ino sighed in resignation, "Alright sure… we'll work together, but if we end up all being sent back to the Academy for this I'm going to spend the next year making your lives a living hell. Got that?" Her tough façade dropped as she slinked down against the tree that Shikamaru had been sitting against for the longest time, "So what are we going to do?"

Shikamaru kneeled down in the shade of the tree in a weird position with his hands forming a circle with his fingers with his eyes closed. Naruto and Ino looked at him strangely before looking at each other. Naruto whispered to his fellow blonde loudly, "What is he doing?"

Ino shook her head, "I don't have a clue. Just wait."

Naruto's whispers grew harsher, "We don't have time to wait! That Asuma guy is going to be here in ten minutes, he's a jounin, and he's Hokage-jiji's son. That has to mean he's strong as hell!"

"Well what do you want me to do?" Ino whispered back just as harshly, still trying to whisper though so as not to disturb whatever Shikamaru was doing, "I don't know the first thing about the guy! Or any of you for that matter!"

"Oh man!" Naruto continued to whisper as he moved around in place nervously, "We're going to get our asses killed by this guy and then we're going to go back to the Academy, and I'm going to have to sit through those boring lectures for another year! I don't think I can do it!"

Ino started crying anime tears, "I don't either! I can't be the only one of my friends this year to go back to the Academy, that's a popularity killer for sure! I'll be a social untouchable Naruto, just like you! …No offense."

"No, I don't blame you!" Naruto said, crying just as equally as Ino was, "I wouldn't want that either, and if that would happen to you what would happen to me? I don't think I can sink much lower Ino and I don't feel like finding out if I can either!"

"What are we going to do Naruto?" Ino grabbed the collar of his jacket tightly.

"I don't know!" Naruto replied just as desperately. Both of them hugged the other and started sobbing loudly.

Shikamaru's eyes opened up, "Alright I have a plan." He almost had his eyes bug out of his head when he noticed Ino and Naruto holding each other and crying inconsolably, "Guys." Shikamaru said, not getting a single response from them, "Guys." He said a bit louder before muttering troublesome and trying again, "Guys!"

Naruto and Ino noticed he was finally back to paying attention and proceeded to let go of each other nonchalantly as if nothing had happened. Shikamaru stood up, "Alright, if we're going to do this then we need to know what the others are good at, so I'll go first. I'm not really much for fighting, I'd rather sleep or play shogi than do something so troublesome but if I had to I would say that my best thing is-."

XxX

(Hokage Tower – Hokage's Office)

A knock came at the door of the Hokage's office, "Enter." Hiruzen said, placing some paperwork to the side to pay attention to his guest. The door opened to reveal Kakashi poking his head in, "Ah, Kakashi, I was actually expecting you to come here at some point, but don't tell me you finished your test this early?"

Kakashi gave the man an eye-smile, "No Hokage-sama, I decided I would wait until tomorrow, let them sweat it out a bit… also it seemed like more fun to let them dangle than to get it over with."

Hiruzen shook his head at the masked man's relaxed attitude, "Are you actually going to pass your team this year Kakashi? You have a lot you could actually pass down to the youngsters if you ever actually chose to."

Kakashi made a noise of neutrality, "Maybe. It's up to them whether or not they pass so who knows. Speaking of my team, I thought I was supposed to get Naruto Uzumaki to even out the team with Sasuke and Sakura."

Hiruzen nodded, "You were, until Asuma personally requested him yesterday. He hadn't made a request and you didn't really ask for Naruto, he was to be placed there to balance things out. I know you didn't bother to ask for him since he was placed here, but you could have asked for him yourself to keep him. Hell, Sasuke was already guaranteed to be on your team regardless so you could have reserved Naruto." A smirk then crossed the grizzled old warrior's face, "You could have even shown up today before teams were being announced like all of the others and probably would have ended up with Naruto when you found out he was on Asuma's squad."

Kakashi face-faulted on the ground, damn habit of showing up late. He quickly picked himself up and cleared his throat, "Well I don't really have issues with my squad. And as long as he's with Asuma, Naruto should be just fine as long as he passes."

"Oh he'll pass Kakashi." Hiruzen assured his masked jounin, "Of that I have no doubts, so you shouldn't even worry about that."

XxX

(Training Ground 24)

'Okay, time to break some genin.' Asuma thought to himself upon entering the training field. He looked around and saw all three of the kids sitting under the tree he had left them at. He walked over to them and crossed his arms once he got close enough for the three to take notice of him, "So have you come to a decision on which of you are going to be my apprentice civilly, or will I have to fail all three of you and be done with it?"

Naruto stood up and dusted off his pants, "You're not going to be failing any of us at all. We're not going to let a jerk like you just tell us he doesn't feel like being a sensei and kill our dreams like that."

"So we're going to give you a choice." Ino said, backing her teammate up as she got up to stand beside Naruto.

Shikamaru stood up with a groan, "As troublesome as it's going to be; you either pass us, or we'll make you pass us. And you really don't want us to do that."

Asuma let out a derisive snort, "And how exactly is a group of green-as-grass genin going to pull that off? You'd be better off hedging your bets and fighting between yourselves for the one guaranteed spot. You know that you all have a snowball's chance in hell of actually beating me right?"

Naruto grinned, "Just pass us, and you don't have to find out."

Asuma smirked, "Well that's fun! Because I was needing a workout anyway. You brats can try, by all means feel free to."

Naruto smirked, "That's just what we wanted to hear. Let's do this!" As he said that, Shikamaru placed his hands in the rat seal, "Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possesion Jutsu)!"

Asuma smirked and jumped back away from the shadow the tree was casting over the field, "I know about the Nara clan's signature jutsu. I'm not taking students I don't know anything about!" He said before finding himself frozen in place, "What?" He looked at the ground and there was no shadow stretching from the tree, "What happened?"

Naruto smirked as did all of the others as they transformed in puffs of smoke to all take on the appearance of Naruto, "What's the matter sensei? I thought you knew about your students?" With that the extra Naruto's disappeared leaving only one original Naruto in place, "It worked Shikamaru!"

"Yeah I can see that Naruto." Shikamaru said as he walked out of some brush from behind Asuma. Asuma turned his head when Shikamaru allowed him the motion to do so, "Ino if you would be so kind as to finish this."

Ino sauntered out in front of Asuma in a showy fashion, prompting the man to speak, "You all set this up? What was the plan?"

Shikamaru elaborated. "Naruto was to distract you with his Kage Bunshin henged into us… that was good by the way, you even had our mannerisms down perfectly."

Naruto shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Basics kill."

Ino smiled over at him, "Yeah, solid clones Naruto? I don't even know where you would learn something like that." Prompting Naruto to blush more under the praise.

"Anyway." Shikamaru picked up where he left off, "After Naruto distracted you and feigned my jutsu I would catch you with the real one from your blind spot. You would be dodging what you thought was the real one so you would be on alert… just at the wrong one." A mischievous smirk crossed Shikamaru's face, "And finally we were going to have Ino hit you with her jutsu and walk you right to Hokage-sama's office to pass us so you couldn't screw us over." Ino waved from her place in front of Asuma before making the hand-seal needed for the jutsu she intended to use.

Naruto chuckled after that, drawing attention back to him, "And then for all of the crap you put us through today, we're going to do something humiliating that you'll never live down in your body. Something like make you look like an idiot in front of that Kurenai lady. Shikamaru said you were standing awfully close to her for anything less than just a passing work relationship or something which kind of brought up our second way to beat you… but somebody didn't want me to use that way."

Ino glared at Naruto, "You're damn right I don't want you using that way. You'd better never use that… that jutsu, around me or else, got it?" Ino said to Naruto threateningly before turning back to Asuma with a victorious look, "Get ready to get used to us sensei. We're not going anywhere." Asuma had a look of terror on his face before he started laughing raucously, "What's so funny? Fine, Shintenshin no Jut-!"

Before Ino could complete her jutsu, Asuma disappeared suddenly. The genin all looked around, Naruto felt familiar seeing Asuma just disappear like that, "No way, he knows that too? How could he have-?"

"It's a high level skill kid, but I'm a high level ninja." Asuma said as he walked into the clearing. He looked at all three in a pleased manner, "That was good. I liked that." His face turned grave, "But seriously, if you ever try pulling any crap around Kurenai I'm going to make you all pay dearly, don't even think about it. Ever." He then noticed that they all were still ready to fight, "Oh, by the way you pass."

All three of them blinked before standing up out of their fighting stances, two of them with confused looks, the other just slouched, yawned, and placed his hands in his pockets "Um, what?" Naruto said, conveying the thought he and Ino shared at the moment.

"Yeah." Asuma said with a laugh, "That was just to see if you would all turn on each other and fight over the single spot or work together. I was actually expecting you all to fight with Miss Bossy and the Airhead Kid over there, Lazy-Ass would have ended up getting dragged into it, and I would have failed your miserable asses and sent you back. Didn't really expect you all to turn on me though, that was entertaining."

"Damn…" Naruto said as he slouched his shoulders, "I swear I only sensed the first Asuma-sensei that entered the area." Naruto then told himself whenever he was doing anything like that again he needed to send out a pulse every once in a while, they had wasted all that time with a clone when the other entered the area right after the clone did. He knew Asuma was coming, too bad it was the wrong Asuma.

Asuma placed a cigarette in his mouth, "I was going to scare you all shitless one more time and then give you the option to fight over the apprenticeship, and if you turned that down I was going to make you fight the clone anyway seeing as how the point of all this was to ensure that you all act as a team, so all you really did was rush it all along." He finished and lit his cigarette.

"Knew it." Shikamaru said offhandedly, "Are we done? We pass so we're done right?"

Asuma sighed. Shikamaru straight killed his momentum. Damn kid just didn't understand the concept of cool, he was trying to be a role model here, "Yeah… we're done. Meet me back here tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp for your first actual day as Konoha genin. Good work Team 10." With that he once again disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Shikamaru heaved a sigh at his day finally being over, "Finally. I'm going straight home and taking a nap. See you guys tomorrow." He began to walk away from the field.

Ino smiled, "Well that worked out better than I thought it would. I'm going to tell dad I passed. Later guys!" Ino ran off in her own direction.

Naruto just stood still watching them both walk away before a smile crossed his face and he jumped into the air excitedly, "Yatta! I'm finally an actual ninja now!" He landed and looked around for anyone that might have seen that before shrugging and walking away.

"That seriously wasn't cool Naruto!" He heard Ino say from a distance away.

"Damn it!" Naruto said to himself before walking off with a proverbial raincloud over his head.

XxX

Tenten was simply doing target practice on bulls-eyes she painted on trees at the edge of the training field. She felt someone tap her on the shoulder and she abruptly turned around and unloaded every shuriken in her hand at the person that had surprised her. She looked down oddly when she saw a log riddled with the weaponry she had just unleashed.

"You're so lucky I knew you were going to do that." Naruto said as he walked up beside her looking at the log she had murdered.

"How did you even sneak up on me?" Tenten asked. She had been alert the entire time in case one of her team members came looking for her to help them train.

"I wasn't trying to. I just walked up to you and tapped you on the shoulder." Naruto said honestly. Tenten frowned. She guessed she had to chalk it up to her not being used to Naruto's presence. It was still something she needed to work on, being surprised by someone that wasn't even trying to do it wasn't a good indicator of her awareness. Naruto glared at her, surprising her, "You could have told me there was a second test. I almost looked stupid out there today."

Tenten smiled apologetically, "Sorry, that would have been cheating. But you said almost so that means you passed right?"

"Yeah you bet!" Naruto said with a huge grin before he took on a pondering expression, complete with squinted eyes, "But are you leaving anything else out that I need to know? Because I'm supposed to start missions tomorrow too."

'Should I tell him about the D-ranked missions?' She asked herself. On one hand knowing would soften the blow of the wind being taken out of his sails. It was better to see a punch coming than to be hit with one you had no clue was there. However on the other hand why should she? No one fucking told her she would be picking up dog shit and painting fences for 'missions' when she started, 'Nah, he'll be fine.' She figured, "Nope! You're all set!" She chirped happily, confident in her decision to pass on the suffering to the next class of genin.

Naruto kept grinning at her, "Want to spar?" He asked spontaneously, "I haven't really done anything today."

Tenten shook her head, "No, but thanks anyway. This is the time of day where our sensei has us work on our own things, one of my team should be here any minute to get me. Or do you want a repeat of what happened the first time with Lee?"

Naruto paled and made a hand-self to send out a random pulse to check if anyone was coming. "Getting kicked in the face once out of the blue is enough thanks. I just wanted to see if I'm any better yet."

Tenten frowned and placed a hand on her hip, "It's been a week. How good could you expect to get in a week Naruto? You haven't even had a day under your sensei yet." Tenten began pulling her weapons from the bulls-eyes in the trees.

"But I've been training super-hard!" He assured her, "Something's got to have changed right? I still might not beat you, but I might do better than last time."

Tenten let out a laugh, "Unless you have a new trick like the one you used the first time, if we fight I don't think you will. I'm ready for your little surprises and you don't have anything new to get close to me. Just wait some more and make sure you actually improve or else you won't be any better than my teammate Lee repeatedly challenging my other one Neji."

"What?" Naruto said, "Lee loses? To your other teammate? He hasn't beaten him once?"

Tenten shook her head and sighed as she picked up the last of her weapons, "No. He works hard and he's clearly far better than he was last year when we became a team, but he still hasn't beaten Neji. He sees him as his 'eternal rival' and challenges him every chance he gets. The thing is though, he does it every chance he gets, everyday if Neji is willing, which means that he isn't giving himself much time to actually get better before trying again. I'm getting tired of watching him get beat up but he doesn't listen to me."

Naruto was surprised by that, "Wow, your other teammate is stronger than Lee?"

Tenten nodded, "Well, it doesn't hurt that Lee can only use taijutsu, and going up against Neji with just taijutsu is pretty much suicide if you aren't Gai-sensei good at it. He was the rookie of the year in our class… everyone calls him a natural genius."

"Oh." Naruto said dejectedly. That meant that there was someone else out there way stronger than him too. He perked back up somewhat, "Well enough of that, what about us? What's going on with you and me?"

Tenten gave him an odd look with a raised eyebrow begging him to repeat himself, "What? Care to try again with how you worded that or were you actually trying to hit on me?"

Naruto gave her a clueless look in reply, "Huh? I was wondering when we actually can spar again. If you say it won't matter until I get really, really better, then how will I know?"

"Oh, good." Tenten replied in a relieved voice. It would have been really weird if Naruto had started to have a crush on her, the him being shorter than her by so much thing was seriously noticeable, "Well, I'm going to need to see how I do against actual ninja in combat in a few months. Tell you what, if you're any better come back here in five months and challenge me and I'll see if you're any better."

"Five months…" Naruto whined, "That's a long time. I can't come back here for five months?"

Tenten giggled, "No Naruto, I didn't say you can't come back, I just said you can't challenge me like you have been for five months. You can still come back and ask me stuff. I mean I have been a genin longer than you and it's my responsibility to be a useful senpai to a rookie like you isn't it?" She said, ruffling his hair and getting a laugh out of his facial expression from it.

"Fine!" Naruto shouted, "In five months I'll knock your block of Tenten, just you wait."

"Like I would actually let you catch up to me and pull that miracle off." Tenten flicked Naruto's nose, "If you actually beat me in five months of training alone I'll… I don't know yet, we'll figure that out later."

Naruto held his nose and glared at her, "Alright then, it's a bet. For… something five months from now that I can beat you."

"Someone like you will never beat someone like Tenten." A cool voice said.

Both turned to see the boy with Tenten the other day standing at the edge of the field with his arms crossed, "Neji." Tenten said expectantly, "Is it time to meet back up with Gai-sensei?"

Neji wordlessly nodded before turning his attention back to Naruto, "From what I've been told by Tenten and by my other teammate Rock Lee, you are a dropout just like he is."

"Hey!" Naruto barked indignantly, "I didn't wind up a dropout in the end! I graduated, and then I finished the other genin test! I'm a ninja just like you!"

Neji simply smirked, "And you're absolutely wrong there as well. Fate has already decreed that I would be better than you from the beginning. It clearly showed itself based on our respective positions in life at this point, and it clearly showed from our respective performances in the Academy as well. Tenten was top kunoichi of our year as well, do you really believe that five months will be enough to defeat someone on her level?"

"Absolutely I believe it!" Naruto shouted at Neji. So that's what it was when he saw him the other day, that look on his face while Tenten was helping him, the prick just thought he was better than him. Well he wasn't taking that crap from someone he had a shot at proving it wrong against, "So what if she's better than me and wiped the floor with me the first time? I'll just get better so she doesn't do it next time! I'll get stronger than Tenten somehow, and I'll get stronger than you so I can shut your damn mouth, and that's all I really need to know about that."

Neji actually laughed momentarily. The only thing keeping Naruto from heading over there and decking Neji in the face was the fact that he was trying to stay out of fights like he promised the Hokage and the fact that he would have needed to run over there, and head-on charges didn't have a good track-record for him, "From what I've seen and been told you have no skills, no redeeming traits valuable to a shinobi, and no inherent talent. I'll tell you this once since if it doesn't get through the first time it simply won't at all; once a failure, always a failure. You can't change that." With that he turned to leave, "Gai-sensei is waiting for us Tenten, it's time to go."

Tenten glared at Neji for speaking to Naruto that way, "Bastard." She muttered under her breath when he got out of earshot. She placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "If you really want to get stronger just remember what I said. Don't measure yourself by day-to-day. Do it over time. I'll be here to give you advice okay? So don't worry about it, you'll be just fine." She didn't want to leave him like that after Neji said all of those things, but she had to get back to her own sensei. Who knows what the man would do if she were late.

Naruto just walked away out of the field. That guy… Naruto couldn't rightfully call Sasuke a bastard ever again. Sasuke was just anti-social, especially compared to Neji. At least Sasuke wouldn't verbally come out and say he was better than you without that not even being the point at hand. As a matter of fact, Sasuke never really said anything about how much better he was until you called him out on it. Neji just did it for the sake of doing it.

"I'm definitely going to beat that guy." Naruto said to himself.

XxX

(Konoha Archive Library)

Shiho was laughing uncomfortably as Naruto sat across from her at a table, glaring at her lightly over the book he had in his hands that she had prompted him to read over the course of his last few visits, "You aren't mad I didn't tell you about the test are you Uzumaki-kun?" His silence spoke volumes as the only answer she needed, "But I couldn't just tell you, it's an important indicator of if a student is ready to become a genin or not!"

Naruto's glare faded and he put the book down with a sigh, "I'm not really that mad Shiho-chan, it's just been a really long day. Have you found a jutsu in here yet?" He asked her. He knew Hokage-jiji wouldn't lie to him about something like that. There had to be some really cool stuff in this library somewhere, there just had to be. He would find them, and then he would stomp a mudhole in Neji's pompous ass and walk it dry.

Shiho shook her head, "I haven't had the time to actively look. Atsuto-sensei keeps me really busy logging the books back in and all of the other things I have to do. I haven't had time to thoroughly go through the catalogue and see where they are. There aren't that many, sensei told me, and it isn't like there's a 'cool jutsu' section of the library."

Naruto's face fell, that would be so cool if there was. Then this wouldn't be such an issue. Didn't jiji know like a thousand jutsu? Why didn't he just make some scrolls in his spare time and fill this place up so there could be one? That was what he'd do when he was Hokage and knew even more jutsu than the old man did, fill a section in this place up with them so a down on his luck genin could learn some cool stuff. There was cooler stuff in the Scroll of Seals… hey, it was easy the first time, maybe he could take that again and get something? Nah, even if he could, was he really supposed to be causing that kind of trouble?

"I guess I'll keep on coming back and going through this place until I hit the mother lode then." Naruto said with an encouraging smile before a frown took over, "Oh yeah. I'm supposed to start with my team tomorrow. Well I guess I can still come by here sometimes. I'm not going to be busy all the time."

Shiho gave Naruto a smile of her own, "I'll help you Uzumaki-kun. I'll keep looking for stuff to help you out, I'm holding you to your promise of being Hokage, and running the village with me helping you when you get there. I should start helping you now right?"

Naruto looked at her in awe for a time. She was actually saying she believed in him? He thought she was just messing with him when she alluded to it on the day they met, but she was serious. Someone actually thought he could do it. Naruto gave her a grateful look, "Thank you Shiho-chan."

"And then when I help you get to the top I can institute a change in curriculum for the Ninja Academy the way I always wanted!" She said, changing the tone of the moment, "I mean, if I could end up getting the dead-last graduate of his year up to snuff enough to get to Hokage that would be incredible!" Naruto face-faulted out of his seat, not slowing her down one bit, "And if I actually end up being head of the department one day that would be all the stroke I needed to get it across! Yes, you will be Hokage Uzumaki-kun, I won't settle for anything less!"

Naruto picked himself up off of the ground by the table, "Um, yeah Shiho-chan. I'll definitely be Hokage." He said, giving her a thumbs up with a sweatdrop on his head, "Dattebayo." He said weakly, without enthusiasm. Shiho started laughing like a mad-scientist and started talking to him rapid speed about all of the things he would be going over for her 'project' as she so called it, 'Sakura-chan, Ino, hell even Tenten when she's fighting… Why are girls in this village so scary?' He thought to himself.

XxX

(The Next Day)

Asuma led his team to the foot of the Hokage Tower and looked at all of them. Shikamaru still had the same lazy expression on his face as always and there was no outside indication of how he was feeling other than not particularly wanting to be there. Ino was looking rather energized and cheerful for what they would be doing today, and that wasn't even comparing to Naruto.

Naruto looked like a squirrel on caffeine and amphetamines running around an active artillery field. His every motion was jerky and twitchy and full of vigor. He wasn't even sure if the kid had even slept the night before, hell it didn't look like he even needed it all things considered. He had a feeling if anyone tried to lay a hand on the boy he'd bite it off out of pure reflex. Talk about being wired.

He led his bright-eyed… well, except for Shikamaru of course, genin inside to the mission distribution area where he saw his father the Sandaime Hokage sitting to greet the genin and give them their first mission, "Hello Hokage-sama. Team 10 is here to receive their first mission as a squad."

Hiruzen smiled warmly at all three of them who smiled after Asuma said that. He started reaching for mission scrolls, "Well I have to say to each of you; good luck, work hard, and make Konoha proud to have trained such fine shinobi as you. Now for your first mission you actually have a choice."

Naruto's face lit up, 'What? What? Is it rescuing a princess? Taking down an enemy fortress? Ooh, is it rescuing a princess while taking out an enemy fortress?' He thought to himself. Asuma had to bite his fist to keep from laughing when he saw Naruto's face.

Hiruzen smiled gleefully, "You have the choice of walking the dogs from the Inuzuka Clan kennel, pulling weeds from the garden of an old lady, cleaning out the storage area of a general store, or helping an old man who lives at the edge of the village chop and stack firewood."

The expectant looks of the three genin froze on their faces somewhere between the anticipation of the notion of their first mission, and the horror of the abject reality of it. Asuma looked at their faces and quickly tossed a camera to his father who caught it, "Oh yeah, that's the look. Take the picture dad." Hiruzen did as asked by his son before throwing the camera back, "Yeah… that's definitely going to be the team picture for sure. Do you want a copy?" He asked the old man.

"Bring it by once you get it developed." Hiruzen replied, "Now which one will it be?"

Asuma stroked his chin, "Do you guys like dogs?" He got three near lifeless nods, "We'll take that one then." Hiruzen handed him the scroll and Asuma pocketed it before pushing his shell-shocked youngsters out of the room, "Come on guys, the work of a ninja doesn't do itself now."

After Asuma had physically herded them all out of the room, Hiruzen leaned back in his chair and lit up his pipe before taking a relaxing inhale of it with a wistful sigh, "Sometimes I really, really love my job." A few seconds later, Naruto's yells of resentment echoed into the room, "Ahh, the cycle continues."

Omake

Asuma let out a derisive snort, "And how exactly is a group of green-as-grass genin going to pull that off? You'd be better off hedging your bets and fighting between yourselves for the one guaranteed spot. You know that you all have a snowball's chance in hell of actually beating me right?"

Naruto grinned, "Just pass us, and you don't have to find out."

Asuma smirked, "Well that's fun! Because I was needing a workout anyway. You brats can try, by all means feel free to."

Shikamaru and Naruto smirked, "Fine, your funeral. Naruto, you're on, go." Ino scowled deeply, confusing Asuma. Wasn't she supposed to be behind her teammate? She was with them firmly just a moment ago.

Naruto made a cross hand-seal, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" Fifty clones surrounded Asuma, getting him to lift his eyebrow in interest, "One more chance sensei, pass us and I won't have to do this."

Asuma rolled his eyes, "Whatever kid, I'll be the judge of how bad this is." He absently noticed Shikamaru holding his nose, and Ino was trying to burn a hole in the back of Naruto's head with her eyes.

"You asked for it." Naruto said, "Harem no Jutsu: Kata no Kurenai (Harem Jutsu: Kurenai Style)!" In a massive puff of smoke, all of the Naruto clones transformed into a mass of Kurenais… all naked and hanging off of Asuma.

'Asuma' dispelled before the memories of it actually hit the real one. Asuma held his composure for as long as he could, which was roughly 0.0375 seconds before he flew back over the trees from the power of his forced nosebleed, "You paaaaaaasssssss!" His voice carried as he flew away.

All of the clones dispelled leaving one Naruto standing by himself. He turned around to his teammates with a smug grin on his face, "You see how easy that was? Didn't even need the dialogue to keep him distracted for it."

Shikamaru spoke in a nasally voice as he held back his own nosebleed, "Good work Naruto. Troublesome bastard…"

Ino was gritting her teeth trying to melt Naruto's brain with her own mental powers, "Don't you ever, ever, ever do that again… Ever."

Naruto shrugged at the blonde girl, "Whatever works."

XxX

In the middle of her team's final genin test, Yuhi Kurenai stopped in the middle of the forest she was running through and looked up at the sky, "Why do I want to cause physical bodily harm to that blonde Uzumaki kid right now?"

"Sensei."

She heard a stoic voice call out only to find herself surrounded by bugs inching towards her and a small white puppy growling as it slowly advanced on her. Shino walked into sight, "There is nowhere for you to go. My bugs have cut off any retreat you could take."

"Yahoo!" Kiba shouted as he stood next to Akamaru, "I knew we could find her boy!"

"S-Sensei, is there something the matter?" Hinata asked, as she noticed Kurenai's side-tracked expression from before.

Kurenai sighed, "I'm not sure. But anyway, Team 8 passes."

How To Train Your Genin: Tip 1

Determine your genin's intelligence level

Intelligence is extremely important in the development of a shinobi and their skills. That is why an actual test of their knowledge is crucial to knowing exactly how to go about figuring out what exactly to teach them. If the genin is of low-quality level of knowledge this can be fixed... if it is caught early enough. If it is too late there is almost nothing you can do to remedy the problem. The timespan varies from person to person so be sure to work fast to correct this if at all possible. If it is not possible to improve on the genin's mental prowess than do your best to patch the problem and teach according to their strengths, doing all you can to hide the weaknesses... and there will be many.

Sometimes you can teach an ignorant ninja more than a worldly one since you would be working with a blank slate. If the intelligence is low make sure that the information given to the genin in question is short enough to keep their attention, yet long and elaborate enough so that they at least get the gist of the lesson being taught.

Another important caveat that needs to be addressed is how you teach your genin. Each ninja is different just like each person is different and in the early years especially, it is very important to tailor a genin's learning to fit their own unique way of assimilating information.

Some geniuses can be given the base knowledge of what they need to know and can work out the solutions from there, this is the easiest and most desired by the vast majority of teachers (*cough cough* Lazy).

Others won't get things on the first few tries, but with some prodding it won't take too long for them to find an effective way to perform the task instructed without too much clarification needed. Most are like this.

Then there is the kind that cannot seem to get what you try to tell them no matter how you verbally beat it into their head. No matter how many different ways you attempt to word it, or try to alter ways of explaining things to them it seems the equivalent of attempting to teach a brick wall how to cook an omelet, it just doesn't work. Do not fret, do not worry, and most importantly do not strangle said genin until their fingers stop moving (No matter how appealing this option may be, it doesn't work out. Trust me.). Chances are that they are more of a kinesthetic learner. They learn by actually doing things and failing until they get it right. No matter if it upsets them or you, it is learning, and you must make sure that they understand it as such lest you lose them in the midst of teaching them.

Remember, there are slow learners, but no one is hopeless. Do not give up if teaching seems hard, just alter your teaching style accordingly and your genin will respond in kind.

-Shiho