Hey there guys! Yes this story is not dead. I'm as shocked as you are. I won't offer any excuses as I simply don't have any good ones. Moving on to the story itself, from here on out we finally catch up to the show, and we'll finally take off with the main arcs, with s couple of extras that I want to put in.

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Naruto. I only own the original characters.

Showstarter

*1 Year later*

Jumping out of bed with excitement practically radiating off him, Naruto rushed through his morning routine. Minato sat at the table observing his son with a coffee in hand and a smile on his face. Academy graduation is a big deal after all.

Up at the Uchiha household the scene was similar, but just a little dialed down. Sasuke was rushing through his morning routine as well but still trying to look cool doing it. His parents were watching the scene with the same amusement as Minato, but didn't show it.

Both the kids met halfway to the academy and grinned at each other before racing to the academy, which had a lot of noise coming from it. Excitement was evident on every person who was headed towards it.

The scene inside the building was quite the same. Kids everywhere were either laughing or smiling. Naruto and Sasuke entered the class and immediately headed to their group, consisting of the other clan head's children.

"Excited?" Kina, son of the Inuzuka Clan head, spoke to the incoming pair. He grinned as they first bumped him and sat.

"You bet. I just can't wait to see who's the rookie of the year." Naruto said while eyeing Sasuke.

"You can say hi to him already, you're looking at him." Sasuke spoke up.

"Weird I don't see a mirror anywhere" Naruto feigned confusion. Some of the others snickered.

"Alright don't get so worked up. The important thing is the teams. You guys do realize that since you're both so close to the top that either of you could become the rookie of the year, that it's almost impossible for you both to be on the same team right?" Shikamaru, The son of the Nara clan head, spoke up from his almost sleeping position.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other for a moment and thought about it before shrugging. "I don't plan on remaining a Genin for a long time. When I'm Jounin soon I'll come and take you guys out on actual missions." Sasuke smirked.

"Oh please we'll all be stuck with Genin rank for a while. No one's even going to let us take the Chuunin exams any time soon." Ino commented. She was the daughter of the Yamanaka Clan head and the lead information gatherer in their little group.

"It-it's true." Hinata stuttered. The Hyuuga heiress was still a bit shy around people, but was getting rid of that habit. "My brother Neji is still a Genin despite graduating last year and being the prodigy of the Clan."

"Well we will just be so awesome on the missions that they will have to promote us!" Choji, The son of the Akimichi Clan head finally made his presence known, with the munching of his ever present bag of chips being his afterthought.

"That seems highly unlikely. The nature of the missions given to Genin starting out are-" Shino, The son of the Aburame Clan head was interrupted by Naruto shushing him with his signature prankster gleam in his eye. Shino knew better than to ask anymore. People learnt quickly to stay away from Naruto and his pranks. Very far.

"What? Naruto let him finish!" Sakura, one of the few civilian born ninjas in her group shouted.

"Nope! Shino was about to ruin the best thing about being a Genin! Why would you do that Shino?" Naruto replied with an extremely sweet tone, fooling no one.

Sasuke groaned. That couldn't be good. Naruto being happy usually ended up not being fun for anyone. "Well whatever. I'll be Jounin soon as I can."

The group continued to bicker back and forth for a little while before Iruka and surprisingly Hiroshi walked in. The group looked at Hiroshi and nodded who nodded back and smiled at the group.

"Alright kids settle down. Today's the academy graduation and is a very important…." Iruka proceeded to ramble on about the ninja way and the importance of ideals, while Hiroshi was standing stoic.

After the long speech the kids were given a long written test to test their academic knowledge.

After the test, the students were taken out to do the physical portion of the exam which consisted on kunai and shuriken throwing, a mock spar and some timed physical exercises.

Finally, the students were escorted back and made to wait in their classes for the final part of the exam. The ninjutsu section. Each of the students were called on by name and taken to another room to perform the academy 3 ninjutsu. Name by name, the students kept leaving the room and the academy after that, most adorning a new accessory on them.

"Namikaze Naruto!" Came the shout from the Chuunin overseeing the class. Naruto shot from his seat and ran out but not before saluting his remaining classmates and laughing.

Arriving at the next room over he saw Iruka, Mizuki and Hiroshi all sitting there behind a desk.

"Good morning Naruto-kun" Iruka smiled at him. "Please come in."

Naruto walked in and bowed before his teachers before settling in front of them. "Alright. Naruto we need you to perform the 3 academy techniques taught to you. We will start with the Henge."

Naruto nodded and made a handseal, immediately transforming into a copy of Minato with his Hokage Robes on. He grinned at the teachers before dispelling the technique. "Very good Naruto that was a perfect copy!" Iruka commended him. Mizuki too smiled at him while Hiroshi just looked on.

"Next is the Kawarimi." Iruka spoke. Naruto immediately made a handseal and swapped places with a chair on the far corner of the room, made a peace sign there and then swapped back, grinning like a madman.

Iruka couldn't help but smile. "Perfect again Naruto, finally it's the Bunshin jutsu you need to perform." It was at this moment that Mizuki sat upright and paid a lot more attention. Hiroshi too looked on at Naruto.

Naruto nodded and then smirked again. He made a handseal and then immediately 2 clones popped into existence next to him. Mizuki looked dumbfounded while Hiroshi was noticing Iruka instead of Naruto, who too looked dumbfounded.

"Very good Naruto! I'm so happy you finally managed to the Bunshin right! You've passed with perfect score Naruto, come here and collect your headband." Iruka beamed with pride.

Mizuki looked at Naruto with the slightest amount of hate before immediately turning sickly sweet, unnoticed by Naruto. He was fuming from within. How had the boy suddenly mastered the clone technique? It was preposterous!

Naruto practically teleported from his spot, to right in front of Iruka, truly mimicking the Yellow Flash in all his glory, and was hungrily eyeing the headband in front of Iruka. Iruka and Hiroshi cracked a smile while Mizuki nodded. Iruka motioned for Hiroshi to go ahead, who nodded and presented Naruto with his very own headband, which Naruto quickly tied around his forehead and jumped in the air, "I'm finally a ninja! Woohoo!"

He ran out of the academy, only to find Minato and Kakashi standing in the park and talking to a few people, almost all of them accompanying kids with headbands. Noticing his arrival it was Kakashi who eye-smiled at him first and then nudged Minato who looked upon Naruto with the biggest smile he could muster.

"Dad! Dad! I graduated! I'm a Genin!" Naruto excitedly shouted while tackling Minato in a hug.

"Good job Naruto! I'm really happy for you! Let's go out to celebrate. I wonder where we could go?" Minato thought with an exaggerated finger tapping his head.

"What are you talking about? We're going to Ichiraku! I can't wait to tell Ayame-nee and Ichiraku-san about my graduation!" Naruto screamed.

"I'm sure they've already figured it out already, Naruto." Mused Kakashi while ruffling Naruto's hair. "But yes Ichiraku's is the way to celebrate, especially your graduation."

"YAY!" Naruto had begun deciding on his humongous order already.

"You seem happier about going to Ichiraku's than graduating." Sasuke's voice came from behind the trio. He sported a new headband and was smiling ear-to-ear.

Naruto stuck out his tongue at him while Minato just laughed." I wouldn't be surprised even if that was true."

"Ramen is the food of the Gods themselves! Of course I'm happy" Naruto exclaimed.

Minato grinned at the new entry and the family trailing behind. "Fugaku-Kun! Sasuke! It's nice to see you. I'm glad to see you graduated as well Sasuke. Congratulations!"

Sasuke bowed towards the Hokage, "Thank you Hokage-sama."

"No need to be so formal, Sasuke. You've done well. Now, I need to get going back to the office. Naruto, take everyone you want to Ichiraku's later and I'll join you in 3-4 hours okay? See ya!" Minato said and then flashed away.

"I suppose we should head back soon too. Sasuke you would like to join Naruto I assume?" Fugaku asked.

"Yes father." Sasuke answered.

"Very well, and Naruto, congratulations on passing the test as well, be sure to visit with your father sometime." Fugaku smiled at Naruto.

"Sure thing Uchiha-Sama!" Naruto excitedly replied. "Hey Sasuke, let's go meet the others and head out."

Sasuke nodded and they both ran off to the courtyard, where they were trying to find their friends. They suddenly felt hands on both their shoulders and stopped, turning around to spot Mizuki.

"Hello Naruto, Sasuke" he said calmly. "I have something important to discuss with you two, if you would follow me."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other and shrugged before following Mizuki into the academy building into an empty classroom. Mizuki took the seat at the table and motioned for Naruto and Sasuke to sit in front of him.

"You both have graduated from the academy today, with some of the highest numbers we've ever seen in the recent past. The teachers are quite happy with your potential and look forward to seeing you do great things." Mizuki explained to them in a sweet tone.

Naruto grinned and Sasuke just smirked.

"The teachers are content with just being pleased with your performance. However, I'm not. I see great potential in you both and hence want to offer you a special test, with which you can prove your worth and then be promoted to an apprentice instead of a Genin." Mizuki explained. The kids looked at him with confusion, while Mizuki just laughed. "I take it you don't know what an apprentice is?" Seeing the boys shake their heads he continued. "An apprentice is a Genin who is assigned to a single Jounin for special training. That is, you won't be placed into a 3-man cell, but alone with a Jounin. This is a huge chance to further your ninja career and become as strong as you can, with one single Jounin focusing on only your growth."

Mizuki sat back and let his words sink in. The kids had their brains running miles a minute to understand just how lucrative a single Jounin teacher would be. Naruto was practically giddy and even Sasuke couldn't keep up his indifferent facade and was cracking a smile.

"What do we do?" Sasuke asked with a glint in his eye.

X-BREAK-X

'Crap crap crap crap crap CRAP CRAP CRAP!' were the thoughts in Kira's mind as he raced through the forest.

'It's ingenious how you manage to fuck up even the most basic things' came a very pleased voice from within his mind. Juubi was having the time of his life watching Kira shit his pants while blazing through the forest.

'How was I supposed to know that they'd fall for it?! They received special training and had 2 S-Class people to nurture them since birth. How could they be so stupid?!' Came Kira's frantic reply.

'To be fair, he is you.' Juubi answered.

Kira's silence was all he answer Juubi needed to burst out laughing.

Meanwhile

Mizuki was running through the forest accompanied by two hooded men. The trio weren't in a rush, as seen from their low speed and Mizuki was grinning ear-to-ear.

They landed in a small clearing where two figures were huddled around an open scroll.

"There you are, Naruto, Sasuke." Mizuki said. The kids looked up to see Mizuki approaching them with two figures trailing behind him with hoods covering their faces. The figures wore cloaks to hide their body and their only visible feature were their legs with ninja sandals and black trousers.

"Mizuki-sensei! We did it! We got both the scrolls you asked for. Does this mean we pass?" Naruto asked, while rolling up the scroll that was open. Sasuke was behind him, eyeing the two stationary figures.

Mizuki started laughing loudly. He signalled the two men and they immediately charged forward at the startled Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke had a moment's grace in he was actually focusing on them, but it was for nothing as they both were simply too fast to follow. The figures immediately placed two seals on both the kids who were thrown away from the force of the palm strike that accompanied the seals.

The seals glowed for a second before disappearing and Naruto and Sasuke stood up, ready for a fight. Mizuki smirked and charged forward himself, appearing in front of Naruto and trying to kick him, only for Naruto to dodge and fall back, Sasuke threw kunai at the Chuunin who jumped back himself. The hooded figures didn't intervene and just stood there.

"What the hell?! Mizuki-sensei why are you attacking us? Is this a part of the test as well?" Naruto yelled.

"Oh god, how stupid can you be? You guys are seriously dense. It's a wonder how you passed the exam at all." Mizuki said. "You've been set up, idiots. I'm escaping this village with the forbidden scroll and the Uchiha Clan fire style scroll and you guys have helped me to. I couldn't possibly steal those myself, so I had you steal them for me! And well, now I escape. Of course I'm taking you with me, you'll love the new village we're going to." Mizuki had an evil glint in his eyes.

Sasuke grit his teeth in frustration while Naruto stood shell-shocked."But.. But why would you do that? Mizuki-sensei please tell me this is a joke!"

"The only joke here is that you're still calling him sensei, Naruto. We need to dash. Now" Sasuke said through gritted teeth.

Naruto had tears forming in his eyes as he gripped his kunai as tightly as he could, his knuckles turning white with the force in them. Naruto screamed as he threw that kunai with deadly force at Mizuki who just sidestepped it and continued laughing. Naruto had pure rage in his eyes which flashed red for just a second before returning to blue.

"Don't be stupid Naruto, we have to run and notify someone!" Sasuke muttered under his breath.

Naruto didn't look up from the ground, but his tears stopped. He quietly looked up to reveal a completely stoic face which was focusing on Mizuki and Mizuki alone.

"Oh? You're not even gonna fight? Come on, now. Make this fun for me! I even had my accomplices hang back so I could give you guys a small fighting chance!" Mizuki said, calmly walking towards the frozen Naruto.

As soon as he got within striking distance, Naruto lashed out with a hidden kunai, aiming to stab Mizuki in the heart. Mizuki caught his hand and scoffed while twisting his hand causing Naruto to drop the kunai in pain. A swift kick to the ribs and Naruto was thrown back. Sasuke came rushing in, trying to charge at Mizuki while he was overextended and tried to kick him but Mizuki used his hands to grab Sasuke's oncoming leg and push him back. Sasuke landed and tried to engage him in a taijutsu battle but was quickly thrown back. Mizuki was laughing at the pair of fresh Genin trying to take him on, unaware that they were buying time.

It was during one of the close quarters skirmishes when Naruto summoned a bunch of clones who all rushed towards Mizuki, keeping him distracted and toying with them, when Sasuke launched a fireball right at the group. Mizuki, who was too surprised at the sudden fire style technique and crowded with the clones around him took the fireball head on, and was consumed by the flames.

The two masked ninjas behind him stood unmoving, and Naruto and Sasuke ran in the opposite direction.

No sooner had they turned to run, than a half burnt Mizuki appeared right in front of them, kicking them both hard.

"You…. You bastards…. What the fuck did you do!" He roared at the downed Genin.

"Naruto! Now!" Sasuke yelled at him seeing the manic man walking towards them with rage in his eyes.

Naruto quickly withdrew a tri-pronged kunai and launched it at the ground between them and smirked. They had planned to summon Minato as soon as they slowed him down so they could escape.

Only, kunai was not accompanied by any yellow flashes or the arrival of Minato.

"Ha.. Ha ha ha" Mizuki laughed in between pained breaths. "What do you think those seals were for in the beginning? Those were designed by Orochimaru himself, to counter the tagging of the Hiraishin. It's not a perfect counter but it does subdue the markers for about a day, which is more than enough for me to take you both to him."

The sheer look of horror in the face of Naruto and Sasuke was a delight for Mizuki, who laughed even harder. There was even a snicker from the two masked men behind them. Their situation hopeless as it could be. Mizuki rushed at them again and began to beat the two Genin, who tried their best to fight back.

Kicks and punches were traded with ferocity, but Mizuki was not letting up in the slightest. After a monumental clash with the Mizuki, Naruto and Sasuke fell back again, only to be assaulted by the two men behind them. A simple hit with the kunai handle knocked their tired selves out cold.

"Ah come on! I was having fun with them!" Mizuki shouted at the two masked ninjas.

"There's already been an explosion and Anbu or worse could be coming. We need to leave. Now." One of the masked men said.

Mizuki let up finally and walked towards them, "Fine, but I get to take another crack at them back at the hideou-" his words were cut short when he noticed a tanto embedded in his stomach, attached to the hand of the masked ninja front of him. "Wha-What is the meaning of thi-this?" He gurgled out with blood flowing from his mouth.

"Orochimaru-sama has no use for weaklings who can't even bring in two Genin by themselves. You've done your part, now we part ways." The assailant twisted his tanto inside Mizuki, who screamed and then succumbed to his pain, falling down lifeless.

The two men drew their hoods down and picked up the unconscious kids and threw them in bags they unsealed, then slung them over themselves and took to the trees.

X-BREAK-X

Few moments earlier

Kira's mad dash across the forest was getting madder every second with no results. His senses were dialed up to eleven for any minute detail he could pick up and save both Naruto and Sasuke… And himself from when his major fuckup comes to light.

A small explosion on his right finally gave him some hope and he pushed himself to go even faster towards it. Jumping through trees he soon arrived at the clearing where he saw a half-dead Mizuki bleeding out.

"Where are they?!" Kira asked as soon as he landed.

Mizuki could barely look up at him and just coughed blood when he opened his mouth. He pointed a shaky finger towards the direction the men took off in and before he could even look at Kira to see his acknowledgement, Kira had already disappeared.

He let his hand fall down.

One last time.

Kira ran again through the jungle but this time he could see a trail that was getting hotter by the second. He turned off all his chakra output and moved as silently as he could while tracking the two men. They were still a good bit from the village borders and he knew he would catch up to them. The only problem was that he had to incapacitate them together and without a chance to use their hostages. Kira soon could hear them running, perfectly controlled breath and heartbeat and uniform movement with no sense of urgency. They were probably high chuunin to low jounin level. This was going to be tough.

'You know that Orochimaru would never kill Sasuke or Naruto. Just get in range and blast your 1 tail state to take them down before they even register what hit them.'

Kira took a deep breath and relaxed a little. 'That's actually helpful.'

'Don't act surprised. You think I'm going to let you fuck up my chance of bullying a Kyuubi?'

Kira smirked.

Then disappeared.

The hooded men were grinning underneath their hoods. They were too excited at how smoothly things had gone to even notice the tiny shape that crossed over them, and then noticed too late the dark and malevolent chakra that washed over them making them feel dread.

As soon as they landed below to ready themselves, both of them found hands plunged into their chests and the dead eyes of a blond man staring into them. With his other hand covering their mouths, Kira then flushed the pure Juubi chakra his cloak was made of, directly into their bodies. They couldn't even scream and died before they could register what had happened.

Kira made two clones took Naruto and Sasuke out of their bags and checked them for any injuries. Apart from minor battle injuries they seemed to be fine and Kira finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Splashing them both with a little bit of water he woke them up. "Wakey wakey sleepyheads. We have a long night ahead of us."

Naruto and Sasuke groggily woke up to see Kira standing over them, cleaning his hands and looking over them.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked first.

"You guys were being kidnapped by some weird dudes so I stepped in." Kira said nonchalantly.

Naruto broke down and hugged Kira who hugged him back. Sasuke was still mulling over his emotions when he was pulled into the hug by Naruto anyway.

"Shush guys. It's okay. It's all over now." Kira consoled the kids.

"Why… Why would Mizuki sen- Mizuki…. Do this?" Naruto asked in between sobs.

"I don't know. Really. Bastard got off easy though. Your overeager would-be kidnappers stabbed him and ran right off." Kira answered.

The three of them were just about to break apart when a yellow flash appeared behind them. Minato appeared behind Kira who motioned to the two kids with him, figuring out that the stealing of the Scrolls had finally been noticed and was what Minato was about to ask about.

Minato noticed the two dead ninjas behind them and his eyes darkened. He held out his hand and the three ninjas held on to it, and were immediately teleported back to his office.

Minato eyed Kira first who nodded. A single handseal later all the extra shadows left the room, leaving just the 4 of them in the office.

"Full disclosure. From the starting. Now." Minato growled at them.

Naruto and Sasuke told him the entire story of how Mizuki set them up and how he tried to kidnap them and then how they were saved by Kira. Minato had been eyeing Kira this entire time, who looked highly uncomfortable throughout this whole recollection of events.

"Kira, I'll only ask this once. Are you hiding something from me?" Minato asked with his eyes boring into Kira's.

Kira looked downward at the floor and hung his head low.

"Dad why are you mad at Kira? He saved us! We're lucky he could arrive when he did!" Naruto said to his father, noticing the death glare.

"That's the thing Naruto. Kira was right there, at the exact time, at the exact place. Almost like he knew this would happen." Minato said.

Kira didn't even bother defending himself. His silence was all the answer Minato needed. "You better have a damn good explanation for that Kira. You're pushing a lot of buttons in this village, and not everyone is a part of your game. My son, and my best friend's son are NOT pawns in your grand plan to do whatever the fuck you want. Do you understand that?" Minato said with an icy glare fixed at Kira.

"I apologize Hokage-sama. I had indeed gotten Intel that Mizuki would be trying to kidnap Naruto after the exams but then my Intel turned out to be incomplete and unreliable. My location was correct but my targets were off and therefore the timings were changed. I had planned to simply beat Mizuki and follow him to whatever safe path he chooses out of the village to secure that area and it's access." Kira said, on one knee and head bowed.

Minato didn't outwardly show any change in emotions but calmed down a little. "Pray tell why you couldn't let me in on this little mission of yours?"

"I...I planned to follow him a little outside the village and ambush everyone involved in this operation. If I'd told you about it you wouldn't have let me go." Kira said shamefully.

"You endangered the life of 2 Genin, just so you cause a little bloodshed?" Minato was seething at this point.

"Naruto, Sasuke, You're dismissed. Head on home and rest up."

The kids bowed at the Hokage and walked away.

"Now then.. Kira...I really want to believe there is more to this that you aren't telling me. This was not just a simple matter of killing people was it..?" Minato asked.

"This… Was not." Kira sighed. "This was about Mizuki. I wanted the bastard to pay for ruining my entire academy life, my childhood, and that bastard was about to do it again. No redemption was enough for him. I wanted to make sure he was personally dealt with, and if in dealing with him, I got a little dirt on the snake then that's just an added bonus." Kira locked eyes with Minato for the first time during the entire conversation, his resolve clear.

Minato looked at him for a good few moments and then closed his eyes in thought.

"Your heart might've been in the right place but your actions endangered the life of 2 children in this village. What do you have to say about that?" Minato asked.

"I'd planned to ambush him on the way to the meeting, having my clones meet up with Naruto and Sasuke and explain the whole situation to them and recover them and the Scrolls safely, far away from the action. That's why I was not at the clearing but on the path I knew Mizuki would take. What I didn't know was that he would be smuggling in two other ninjas and thus would be coming from the other side of the village, and avoiding me entirely." Kira explained.

"I never planned for Naruto or Sasuke to get hurt. That's my mistake and I'll take full responsibility for it. I'd expected Naruto to use your Kunai if everything went to shit, like it did, but apparently Orochimaru had thought ahead. It's ingenious that seal of his."

Minato crossed his fingers and thought patiently. On one hand Kira had planned for everything and things had just literally happened in the worst way possible. On the other hand, by keeping him out of the loop he had fucked over marginally. Sighing in defeat Minato finally stood up. "While you were trying to do the right thing, your methods were wrong. You should've informed me or ensured backup for the kids, but you didn't. For that, a punishment will be given to you at the next meeting. Fugaku will have a say in deciding what it will be since Sasuke was at risk as well.". Kira visibly flinched.

"And Kira, I've accepted you with open arms, given my full support to you. I can't excuse this sort of behaviour. I know you can't fully disclose all information you have, but you need to trust me more and not act like a lone wolf. Remember, you came to me for support, and I can't do that if you don't give me a chance." Minato reached out and pat Kira's shoulder. Kira gave him a weak smile.

"Right! That was the Hokage side of the speech done! Now," Kira suddenly felt his entire body seize up and paralyze. Minato looked at him glowing eyes and a manic grin. " Namikaze Minato, father of Namikaze Naruto, has to give you a lesson."

The limits of how much a silencing seal can silence were put to the test, by Kira's screams of mercy and pleas. Even after being the fastest man in the Elemental Nations, Minato took his sweet time explaining to Kira his mistakes.

X-BREAK-X

The academy was abuzz once again with excited kids. All around the academy, kids were discussing the same thing, the team arrangements.

Everyone had their own theories and guesses and kids everywhere were trying to make up the best teams they could. It was a loud classroom that housed Naruto and his group but they were all quiet soon as Iruka walked in, half out of respect and half out of nostalgia for seeing their academy instructor for the last time.

Iruka gave his big speech about the responsibility of finally being a ninja of the village and about the importance of teamwork, and then finally got to the team divisions.

After a long list of names, sitting through which Naruto was growing more and more impatient, he finally heard his name come up,

"Team 7 will be Namikaze Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura! Your sensei will be Natale Kakashi!" Iruka yelled. No sooner had he finished saying the name of the sensei, than Naruto and jumped on his table and yelled, "KAKASHI SENSEI!? AWESOME!"

"SETTLE DOWN NARUTO OR I WILL KEEP YOU BACK IN MY CLASS FOR ANOTHER YEAR!" Iruka screamed at the hyperactive blond, who immediately retracted back in his seat and made the motion of locking his mouth shut. Everyone snickered at him. Sasuke was happy at being in a team with his best friend, and he thought Sakura would be fine too, her chakra control was very good and she could make traps that were really helpful. The best thing was was their sensei, Sasuke had heard a lot about Kakashi from his Clan. They were mostly divided on their views on him, either they hated him for being an outsider with the Sharingan, or they commended him to be able to wield the Sharingan even after being an outsider. What both the parties agreed upon was that he was a damn good ninja, and one of the best Konoha had.

Iruka continued naming the other teams and watching more and more people shout in joy and excitement. It was a fun moment for him as well, watching all his students grow up and finally graduate.

"Alright that concludes the team divisions! Wait here you sensei will come and collect you from this room now. Good luck students and remember, You're all ninja, Make Konoha proud!." Iruka smiled at the class and they all bowed to him, he bowed back and walked out the door, already noticing some Jounin walking towards the class to pick up their new teams.

One by one all the teams had left the class, and only Team 7 remained. Naruto had propped his leg up on the table and was reading a book while Sasuke was fiddling with his Kunai. Sakura was pacing around the room, anxious as she could be. "Why isn't he here yet?! All the other teams left already! This isn't fair that we have to wait for so long!" She wailed.

"Thinking about it will only make it seem longer Sakura, pick up something to do, we're going to be here a while." Naruto replied not talking his eyes off the book.

"What? Why do you say that?"

"Let me explain the enigma that is Kakashi. He's a very lazy, very unmotivated and very laid back guy. He's so laid back that unless it's a matter of life and death, he will always be at least 2-3 hours late for everything. Not even the Hokage is exempt from this, trust me, I've seen it happen more than enough times to count." Naruto explained to Sakura was twitching with irritation.

"Why did we get the worst, laziest sensei?" Sakura sat down huffing.

"Actually he's the best sensei out of anyone who's name was called out today." It was Sasuke who spoke up this time. " Well I can't say much for the sensei part, but he's certainly way more popular and arguably stronger than any names called out today."

Sakura calmed down by now and eased into a book she took from her bag. The waiting turned from minutes to simply an hour and then another. It was finally after 2 and a half hours that the door the the room opened up and a masked Jounin with silver spiky hair poked his head in.

"Yo" his single visible eye seemed to smile on it's own.

The kids all looked up at him and then ignored him.

Kakashi sweatdropped. "Ah forgive me I was actually headed straight here but an old lady needed help crossing the road and then I got lost coming back here."

"At least use a new excuse Kakashi sensei!" Naruto smirked at him.

"Oh I forgot you'd heard that one before Naruto, I'll make sure to come up with something better next time. For now meet me at the rooftop in 5 minutes." Kakashi smiled at them and disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other before continuing to read their books. 10 minutes later Kakashi poked his head in again, "Alright alright very funny. We'll just do the introductions here seeing as no one will disturb us anyhow. Let's go with pinky here first, tell me your name, likes dislikes and dreams."

Sakura finally closed her book and stood up, "My name is Haruno Sakura. I like to read and spend time with my family. I dislike people who put others down. My dreams for the future is to be a good ninja and represent my family in the council."

Kakashi nodded at her, "Next is you Uchiha."

Sasuke stood up and began, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I like training and my friends. I dislike narrow minded people. My dream is to be Clan head like my father, and bring my brother to justice."

Kakashi nodded again. He looked over to Naruto who stood up and began, "My name is Namikaze Naruto. I like training and RAMEN!. I dislike people who judge others without knowing them. My dream is to be the greatest Hokage ever!" He happily sat back down.

Kakashi nodded one last time and clapped his hands together, "Alright, with that out of the way, let's get to why we're here. You guys just graduated from the ninja academy. You've all been given headbands and told that you're now ninjas of the Hidden Leaf. Well I'm here to disillusion you. You're not Genin, not yet. There's one more exam you have to pass now."

Team 7 looked dumbstruck.

Kakashi looked ecstatic. 'This is for making me wait on the roof.'

"I'll take that exam tomorrow morning at 6AM, on training ground 7. I strongly suggest you skip breakfast." Kakashi began to walk away from the stunned group of kids.

As soon as he was out the door he turned around, "Oh and one last thing. The failure rate for the test is 67%. Good luck!" He closed the door.

Chaos ensued inside.