Title: Butterfly Wings

Summary: In a world where team placements went very differently from how they did in canon nations will shudder with the changes. This Team 8 becomes a very different kind of team and they sow chaos in their wake. While the focus is on Team 8, which has only one of the original members, I touch on the other rookie teams and what happens to them too.

This was actually inspired by a fanfic called "The Eyes Have It" by Shana the Short, where Sakura and Hinata are switched because Sakura starts developing a dojutsu. There's a line in there where Sakura contemplates different team arrangements and she considers that she, Shino, and Shikamaru could have been pretty great (but she's happy with her teammates Shino and Kiba). Which made me think about how much delicious chaos those three could cause as a team. I highly recommend that fic, it's general and not romance, which is nice since they're 12 and all, with believable characters and character development. Also it's complete, which is always a bonus, and though the sequel is not complete it is 24 chapters of awesome. I added it to the top of my favorites so go check it out.

Fandom: Naruto (manga/anime)

Characters: Sakura, Shino, Shikamaru, Kurenai, Choji, Ino, Kiba, Hinata, Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Asuma, other people from Naruto.

Pairings:

WARNING: Ninjas, secrets, political espionage.

Disclaimer: Neither Naruto nor anything else worth anything belongs to me, I currently live in a small town in rural Zambia, Africa, I don't even have most of what I do own.

AN: None of this is Betaed; I'm the only one who's edited it so sorry for any mistakes. Also all my Naruto fics are old, mostly from even before Shippuden came out in the USA, and my mother found the flash drive they're on and sent it to me thinking it was a different flash so now I'm posting them, mostly without many/any edits.

Butterfly Wings

Chapter 1: Teams Are Formed

It has been said that when a butterfly flutters its wings on one side of the world a hurricane breaks out on the other. With how little breeze a butterfly can make, so quickly dissipating against any obstacles between this most slight of winds and its potential future as a destructive force, it's hard to imagine that the two events could actually be directly connected. However even the slightest of changes can in some opinions branch off new realities. So in one reality the genin teams were chosen and events progressed in a manner we're all familiar with. But this reality is not that one. In this world, the night before team placements, someone made a decision that would alter the course of history.

It's true they try to balance the new genin teams, however balance is far more than just grades. First there is Sasuke, he's an easy one. He has to go to the only other Sharingan user in the village. But Kakashi hates teaching. He's terrible at it too. Kakashi is the kind of teacher who pushes you over a waterfall and waits to step in until moments before you drown, just to teach you how to swim. (In fact this example is not hypothetical; Kakashi did just this to one of his ANBU subordinates when he found out the man could only barely 'doggie paddle.' Although this could be because he took offense at the implication that any of his ninken were as poor swimmers as his fellow ANBU was. There are several ANBU squads, several, who if asked are quite willing to testify to Kakashi's horrible teaching abilities, atrocious bedside manner on either side of the equation, terrible seduction skills, and in fact all around failure at anything involving any kind of interpersonal interaction or intimacy. Other than plunging his fist through your chest to obliterate your heart of course.)

It's only to be expected from someone who was out slitting throats by the age of five, which might be an exaggeration but the kid was a genin by that time and they were at war. Someone who lost every single loved one, family, friends and mentor, before his fifteenth birthday and then spent the next twelve years almost exclusively in ANBU can't be expected to be good with kids of any age. And for the most part this is fine; no one really needs an elite killer to be in touch with his emotions or good at making friends. But the council sees the best of the best, and the Sharingan, and demands Kakashi teach their prized 'Last Uchiha' with no consideration to the fact that being the best at something does not automatically include the best teaching skills as well.

So Kakashi has to teach. But he won't if given a choice. Which means that aside from Sasuke he also needs Naruto on his team, and not just because Naruto is last in the class standings. Most wouldn't think that Naruto Uzumaki could ever be used to 'sweeten the deal' but most people don't realize that Naruto is also Minato Namikaze's son. Or Minato-sensei to Kakashi. There is no way that Kakashi would ever mistreat Naruto or be willing to watch the boy come to any harm. And they can't be nearly as certain about the other potential teachers; Kurenai's father died fighting the Kyuubi, so did the parents, aunts, uncles, and even elder siblings of many of their generation so how certain can it be that not even a little dislike will seep over into their interactions with Naruto.

Naruto and Sasuke were the only ones that really took much thought. The rest of the teams just fall naturally into place. The traditional Ino-Shika-Cho team and the other three would make a good hunter squad.

Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha under Kakashi Hatake.

Team 8: Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga, and Kiba Inuzuka under Kurenai Yuuhi.

Team 10: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi under Asuma Sarutobi.

For a moment a pen hovers. A pause. A frown. Has he really considered these students as much as he has Naruto? One cannot play favorites in this position.

Sure it's tradition but Shikamaru and Choji are not a good combination. They work together well, almost too well, because all they work together for is getting out of participating in class. For years their teachers have been reporting the way Choji's reluctance and unwillingness to spar grows, and the way Shikamaru uses his own laziness as an excuse to indulge his friend. Neither of them have tried in class in far too long. Won't putting them together allow them to just feed off one another and grow more and more lazy? Especially put with such a laid-back man as Asuma has grown to be, all that time meditating with monks. Might allowing the two best friends to indulge in their 'do the least possible amount of work' attitude get them killed sooner rather than later? Perhaps it's time to break tradition, at least until they become chunin and have grown up a bit. Besides it's a well known tradition, it could be a surprise to their enemies to shake things up every couple generations or so.

All these reports of Ino and Sakura fighting over Sasuke and distracting the class! Is it really the best plan to put one of them with the boy she likes, (and Naruto who she frequently hits when angry) and the other with a teacher who won't really push her all that hard to focus on something other than her looks? Is that really fair to either of those girls? Ino would be the only motivated person involved in Team 10, and she is not really motivated to improve her skills in anything other than flirting at the moment. Sakura, while book smart, is a bit behind her fellow kunoichi physically speaking and would probably be disinclined to work hard and get dirty if put on a team with her crush. No. Neither of those girls will truly shine as the teams are.

There's nothing really wrong with Team 8, is there? Well, nothing other than putting the two quietest and shyest kids together on a team with one of the loudest most rambunctious troublemakers. Might as well start calling them Team Kiba now. And perhaps that is also unfair. With two unassertive teammates there will be no one to teach him how to compromise, or to correct him if he's wrong, no one to really challenge Kiba. And if Kiba overshadows his teammates how much longer will it take them to reach their own potential? Perhaps this team too could do with a second thought.

Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, ?, and Sasuke Uchiha under Kakashi Hatake.

Team 8: ? under Kurenai Yuuhi.

Team 10: ? under Asuma Sarutobi.

If Shikamaru and Choji are to be separated and tradition spurned perhaps putting the lazy Nara with a teacher who is motivated, who won't let him slack off, would be best.

Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, ?, and Sasuke Uchiha under Kakashi Hatake.

Team 8: Shikamaru Nara, ? under Kurenai Yuuhi.

Team 10: Choji Akimichi, ? under Asuma Sarutobi.

And then if neither Ino nor Sakura would fare well on a team with Sasuke where their focus would be more on love than shinobi skills, Hinata Hyuuga might do well on that team. Kakashi has a dojutsu, in the most technical of terms, and could mentor the Hyuuga in some way. (Surely he isn't just grasping at straws here.) If nothing else Kakashi is obsessive about keeping his teammates safe so the Hyuuga can be assured that they won't lose the main branch heir under his watch. Aha, Sakura has excellent chakra control on her records and that lends itself well to genjutsu. Surely it makes sense to send a potential budding genjutsu master to be taught by a genjutsu master.

Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga, and Sasuke Uchiha under Kakashi Hatake.

Team 8: Shikamaru Nara, Sakura Haruno, and ? under Kurenai Yuuhi.

Team 10: Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and ? under Asuma Sarutobi.

Which leaves the final problem. How to distribute those last two boys. It would make sense to send the Aburame to Asuma; his kikaichu could be used in place of the Nara shadow techniques to immobilize opponents. Indeed being unable to move from chakra exhaustion might be even better than being held still for only as long as a Nara's chakra stores hold up. But is that really fair to just stuff him into another's place? To tell him here is an established combination and this is the role you are replacing? Once again they are left with the problem of only one outspoken person on Team 10; even if Shino is nowhere near as lazy as Shikamaru he still isn't know for asserting himself in class.

Shino's grades are quite high, second only to Sasuke, both Kiba and Choji hover in the middle of the class, Kiba a bit higher than Choji in rankings due to his efforts in the taijutsu practicals, but Shikamaru barely passed. Only Naruto scored lower than him, which is actually quite suspicious seeing as there are multiple notes of refusal to participate in practicals and sleeping through entire lessons, tests included on the Nara's record; Naruto at least attempted the assignments and was more than enthusiastic in his attempts at taijutsu.

With a frown a note to look into the Academy Instructors' treatment of Naruto and/or clan heirs is made and set aside. They must have been either unfairly favorable to one or unfavorable to the other. It's just not possible to do nothing, never touch pen to paper, and score higher than someone who at least attempted the assignments, no matter how poorly they did. Naruto is notorious for his pranking and getting away with them; at the very least he should have scored well on the trap making and evasion portions of the curriculum.

Well some attempt at balance should be made, no matter how one dimensional or useless the classroom scores often end up being.

Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga, and Sasuke Uchiha under Kakashi Hatake.

Team 8: Shikamaru Nara, Sakura Haruno, and Shino Aburame under Kurenai Yuuhi.

Team 10: Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and Kiba Inuzuka under Asuma Sarutobi.

Alterations made pen touches paper and signs off on the new genin teams. The third Hokage leans back in his chair and smiles, content that he has made the best decisions for all of these children, not just Naruto.

Though he won't know it nations will tremble in the wake of these teams. Monsters, gods, and legends will be tamed. Regimes will fall and be remade. Nuke-nin will shiver at the sight of a leaf hitai-ate.

Armies will tremble when even just one member of this Team 7 steps on a battlefield.

This Team 8 will be the stuff of nightmares, though none will know who they are or what they have done.

No one will escape this Team 10's grasp once they are set after a target, and no target will be able to keep a secret from them.

A butterfly flutters its wings. A small change sends ripples through the future for years.

AN: I never finished this as a real story. It was more a series of drabbles based in the universe where the teams went like this. With most of the drabbles based around Team 8, or as I like to think of them Team S.