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~ I'm planning to increase the number of advanced chapters to +18 this weekend!
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Naruto, on the other hand, was delighted. He had Asuma for his sensei AND Sakura-chan as his teammate. He let out a whoop of joy. Best. Squad. EVER!
"Why am I with Sasuke!?" Kiba demanded.
"You lack discipline, Kiba." Iruka explained. "Sasuke doesn't subordinate well and Shino isn't sociable. You'll be forced to work on these aspects together."
"And, before anyone else asks, Hinata, Chōji and Shikamaru are together because the first two lack confidence, while Shikamaru lacks a drive to succeed, all of which can be worked on." Iruka added. "Naruto lacks the ability to work with genjutsu, while Ino and Sakura need to work on their taijutsu and ninjutsu outside of the Academy Three and Travelling Ten. Their team was put together to try and teach each other their strong points."
Despite the grumbles, most of the graduates seemed resigned to the team makeups.
"Your Jonin-sensei will pick you up here after lunch, so be sure to return in time." He said severely before he smiled. "You all dismissed, and I wish you all the best of luck in your careers as Shinobi of the Leaf."
As the kids filed out of the class in their teams, Naruto looked over and saw Sakura and Ino glowering at each other. Wincing, he decided to drag the pair of them to Ichiraku's to maybe bond over food or something. Anything was better than this silent cold war going on between them.
"Lunch is on me." He said as he latched onto an arm apiece as he walked past them. "You don't mind ramen, do you?"
"Wha-?! Hey, let go, Naruto!" Sakura yelped in surprise as she was dragged behind him.
"What she said!" Ino added, trying in vain to get him to let go of her.
"Nope. If I do that, you'll just go back to scowling at each other." The blond boy shook his head firmly, dragging both along. There were some advantages to having two female teammates that were very lightly built. "I could swear I heard a rumour about your face sticking like that if the wind changed or something? And that would be a crying shame."
"That's a saying, Naruto." The pinkette corrected him, giving up on getting him to let her go. The blonde menace was surprisingly strong for such a shrimp. "Parents say that to their kids to get them to stop pulling faces."
"Looks like it didn't work with you two, what with the scowling you were both doing a minute ago." He shot back easily.
Keeping up the back-and-forth banter as he dragged them to his favourite eatery in the entire village, Naruto knew that getting these two to get along wouldn't be easy.
Same Time
Hokage's Office
"Well that was unexpected." Asuma remarked. The former Guardian Ninja 12 member stood in his father's office, watching as two members of his future team were dragged by the last one through Konoha. "I half expected the girls to start a catfight or something."
"Naruto-kun has been something of a stabilising influence on those two over the last few months." Hiruzen answered as Team 10 reached Ichiraku's. Cancelling his Tōmegane no Jutsu as Naruto started to order, the old Hokage activated the security seals. "So, have you managed to suspend your disbelief regarding Naruto-kun's 'power' yet?"
"Somewhat." The bearded man admitted reluctantly. "It would explain how he's improved by leaps and bounds over the last eight months, and how he's learned so many jutsu. I…it's just…a power that treats the world like an RPG? Seriously?!"
'So he's not progressed as far as I would like, but further than I anticipated.' His father concluded. Initially, when the Hokage had told Asuma about Naruto's [Gamer] power, the other man had thought that his father had been putting him on as some form of payback. Understandable, really, considering that Hiruzen himself would have had a hard time believing it in the other man's place had he not had the ANBU reports regarding Naruto somehow absorbing scrolls and books.
"Yes, Asuma, I am being serious here." He sighed. "Naruto-kun showed it to me directly and I used every trick in the book to break genjutsu, along with several that have never been physically recorded; only for them to have absolutely no effect. Either Naruto-kun has discovered or developed an SSS-Rank genjutsu of the same sort as those cast by the Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan (Kaleidoscope Copy-Wheel Eye) and has somehow mastered it without anyone in the village noticing, or he is legitimately in possession of a power that allows him to act as an RPG character in one of those new-fangled electronic games."
Despite himself, Asuma had to laugh. Konohamaru, his nephew and the Hokage's grandson, had crowed for days about beating his grandfather in some kind of one-on-one fighting game on the console called the Nin-Tendo (Ninja Way of Heaven).
"Yeah, well, it's still hard to swallow, Oyaji." The bearded man grumbled. "And why me? I thought you would give Naruto to Kakashi."
"Because Kakashi would either ignore the power and try to make Naruto-kun ignore it as well, or he would try to get Naruto to share the benefits with his teammates in the name of teamwork, neither of which is a good idea." Sarutobi said seriously. "Danzō already sent men after Naruto-kun earlier on this year and that was simply because of his status as the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi; news of this latest power of his could make my old teammate lose any restraint he has left in order to acquire the boy."
Asuma grimaced. "Yeah, Gai was telling me a while back about Naruto standing beside Tenten 'in a most Youthful manner' against those 'Nuke-nin' that made it inside Konoha. Why would ignoring it be a bad idea?"
"Naruto-kun showed me the introduction message that his power showed him when he first got a handle on it." Hiruzen replied. "It stated that those who ignored the power usually didn't last very long. Or something along those lines, anyway. That isn't something I'd like to take a chance with regarding Naruto-kun. Adding to that, ignoring such an advantageous ability would not only be wasteful but the height of folly." Hiruzen huffed on his pipe slightly. "'A ninja is one who uses every advantage at their disposal.' That was one of the first lesson Tobirama-sensei taught us. I can accept Kakashi's desire to maintain equality among his students, but I will not allow it to hinder one of my shinobi's growth."
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