Chapter 1: The beginning

What's up everyone? This is my second fic as of now. This story actually came to me while I was in the shower. As I said in the summary, it will be an AU Naruto where he is on a three man squad with Shikamaru and their sensei. He will be much stronger than the actual Naruto, but not to strong. He will also have a different outfit eventually. Well enough chit chat let's get this bad boy rolling shally we?

At the academy…

Iruka Amino, the scar faced chunnin academy instructor was facing his students. "From this day forward, you will join the ranks of Konoha's shinobi force. It has truly been an honor to be able to teach you all and I am sure you will all turn into fine shinobi. Now I will call out each of your team's, and when I am done you will wait for your jounin instructor."

The whole class, except a notable few, were literally about to jump out of their seats in anticipation to see who they would be paired with.

Iruka called various names and team numbers. "Team 7 will consist of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno."

"YES!" The whole crowd turned to see a pink haired girl with her fist in the air.

After Iruka sweat dropped he cleared his throat and continued. "The final member of team 7 will be Sai. He is not here as of now but he will meet you along with your sensei in a bit. Anyway continuing on, team 8 shall be Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Aburame."

The man continued on through team nine and he got to team ten. "Team 10 will be Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, and Shamina Nara. Alright everyone now that the teams are called please wait for your sensei's to come for you."

"What just a damn minute!" Again everyone turned to see who had made the outburst. A boy clad in an orange jumpsuit was the perpetrator. "Why didn't I get a team huh? I bet it is because all of these teams are too weak for me right?" Naruto finished with a large smile and a thumbs up.

Iruka just shook his head. "Actually Naruto, you aren't the only one who wasn't put on a team." He then pointed to a form in the back of the room. There passed out on his desk was one Shikamaru Nara.

Iruka looked back at Naruto. "The Hokage has requested to see you two so go wake him up and head over to see him."

Naruto furrowed his brow and went over to the lazy boy. "Hey sleepy head wake the heck up!" He then gave the sleeping one a quick jab to the back of the head.

Shikamaru slowly rose up. "Can I help you?"

Naruto just looked at him. "Yeah, old man hokage wants us to see him." Shikamaru rose up muttering "Troublesome," as the two boy's headed out the door.

At the hokage tower…

"Hokage-sama are you sure it is wise to put them together? You know I don't see the boy as the fox, but they were the two lowest in their class." Shikaku Nara, head of the Nara clan and father to Shikamaru, and Shamina stated.

The man sitting behind his desk took a long drag off of his tobacco pipe. "While that is true, you and I both know your boys true intellectual abilities. Naruto, has also been putting up a bit of a façade of sorts as well and I am the only one who knows what he can really do."

The Nara head's eyes slightly widened at this. "Well sir if what you say is true, then we may have a team for the record books on our hands, may I ask though, who will be their jounin instructor?"

The aged Hokage gave a bit of a sly grin at the question. "You shall see, in due time."

With that Shikaku bowed and left through the door.

On their way to the Hokage tower…

Naruto and Shikamaru were walking in stride with one another. Naruto had his hands intertwined behind his head, while the other was walking with his hands in his pockets.

Naruto was the first to speak. "So, what do you think the old man wants us for?"

Shikamar side and looked up in a thoughtful expression. "Well if I had to guess, seeing as we were the only ones not given a team, then I would say we are getting put on a two man team together and given a sensei that we will meet when we get there."

Naruto's eyes widened a bit. "Really wow that would be kinda neat, we must be really special or something right?"

Shikamaru shook his head, "Doubtful, I have no special qualities and you were even lower in our class than me."

Naruto shook his fist at this. "Whatever! You will see, I will be the next hokage! Believe it!"

Shikamaru just muttered tiresome and they continued on in silence.

After walking through the village, the boys were now standing at the reception desk in front of the Hokage's office.

"Hey reception lady, Iruka-sensei said the old man wanted to see us." Naruto said with a smile on his face.

Scowling at the blonde for his lack of respect she simply pointed to the door.

The two boys entered the large office to see the Hokage smoking his pipe and sitting at his desk.

"Ah Naruto, Shikamaru I was wondering when you two were gonna come." The Hokage stated plainly smiling.

"So gramps, what do you want us for? To give us a super awesome captain and tell us how cool we are?" Naruto said with a mischievous grin.

The hokage didn't take anytime in taking on a very serious demeanor. "First off, Naruto I know you are no dead last. I have been able to watch you in your secret training spot for a long time now and I know what you are capable of."

Shikamaru looked completely stunned at this statement. While Naruto just groaned. "But how did you find me? I made sure that no one could see me from where I was."

The Hokage didn't waste any time. "Well let's just say I have my ways." He then turned to Shikamaru. "I also know that you have an IQ of over 200."

It was Naruto's turn to look surprised.

"Troublesome dad." Was all the Skikamaru said.

The Hokage waited for a moment before continuing. "Alright since the cat is out of the bag about you two so to speak, I will now get down to business. You two will form a special three man team. It will consist of you two along with your new jounin sensei. The reason that you two are the only genin on the team is that you have the potential to be some of the greatest shinobi this village has ever seen."

One boy looked mystified about the last statement, while the other stood there grumbling about too much responsibility.

"Now before I tell you where to go meet your sensei, I have one more thing to add. Naruto will you be so kind to tell Shikamaru about your little secret?" The hokage gave the boy a sincere look.

"But, you said I was never to tell anyone." Naruto said quickly.

The hokage smiled. "True but seeing as you are about to become teammates and given that your master already knows, I feel it only fair that Shikamaru be let in as well."

Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to do it so he turned to the one he thought of as a grandfather. "Would you do it please gramps? You know more about it than I do."

Shikamaru was really confused at this point. Even with his deductive powers, he was at a loss.

"Gladly Naruto." The wise old man then turned to the other boy. "Shikamaru, Naruto here is home to the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Naruto was afraid that his new teammate was gonna hate him now, while Shikamaru was putting all the puzzle pieces together. The adults shunning Naruto, him being an orphan, it all made sense now. He finished his mental puzzle game. "Makes sense."

Naruto was astonished. He accepted him just like that? A big smile appeared on his face as the realization dawned on him. This team would be the best thing to ever happen to him.

"Alright now that we have all of that out of the way, you are to meet your new sensei at training ground seven in about half an hour. Dismissed."

The two gennin turned and exited from where they came.

An hour after had past as the two were at training ground seven…

Naruto was sitting up in a large tree, while his new teammate was leaning against said tree.

"Man this is so troublesome. He is late." The one leaning said.

The boy up top seemed to be thinking the same thing. "This new sensei better be the stuff if he is gonna pull this crap."

As if on cue, a swirl of leaves appeared producing their sensei. He was a fairly tall man with standard jounin clothes. He wore a face mask that covered the lower half, and his ninja headband reached down to cover his left eye.

"Yo." He said while giving a motionless wave.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Was the first thing that came out of the blondes mouth as he jumped from his perch and pointed a scolding finger at the newcomer.

Kakashi proceeded to scratch the back of his head. "Well you see, I was headed here when I had to stop and help this old lady with her groceries."

The two genin jaw dropped and they each formed a large anime sweat drop on the back of their head.

"Well anyway," Kakashi continued. "How about we start by introducing ourselves shall we?"

Neither spoke for a moment. "Why don't you go first?" The orange clad one finally said.

Kakashi thought for a moment. "Alright fine, my name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes and dislikes are my business, I have many hobbies, and I don't really have any particular dream."

The two boys sweat dropped again.

He then pointed at the one that looked as if he had a pineapple for a head. "How about you go first?"

Shikamaru couldn't help but grunt in displeasure. "Fine my name is Shikamaru Nara. I would continue, but that would be too bothersome."

"Well it looks like your up." The elite jounin pointed toward Naruto.

Naruto pumped out his chest and put his fists on his hips. "I am Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, and training, and more ramen. I dislike others who judge people before they get to know them. My dream is to become the greatest hokage the world has ever seen." He finished the last with a thumb in his chest.

"Well now that we know each other a bit more, it is time to take your final test. No team that I have given this test to has passed it, and if you fail you will be sent straight back to the academy." With that he pulled out one bell and held it up. "Now usually I would use two bells for a three man team, but given that you are a special case, we will be using one. Whoever is able to successfully get a bell will get lunch, he who fails will be tied to a post and forced to watch the other as he eats." The semi masked man then returned the bell to his side and looked up from his book. "You may begin."

The moment he said begin, the two boys just stood there. They looked at one another nodded looked back at the older man and crossed there arms.

He looked at the quizzically. "Is there a problem?"

Naruto was the one to answer. "For one, there is no way in hell that we can get a bell from a jounin."

Shikamaru sighed. "What I think my orange friend here is trying to say, rather pathetically I may add, is that this is not a test to get the bell from you. The reason for doing this is to test out teamwork capabilities. Since we realize this, then we obviously pass."

Dumbfounded, Kakashi was amazed. 'No genin had ever been able to figure his true test out, let alone without giving it much thought first.' He threw his hands up in surrender. "Well it looks like you pass, congratulations, but just to amuse me and see your skill; I still want you to come at me."

Naruto smiled at this. Though he knew what the true intention of the test was, he still wanted to see how strong a high caliber jounin was.

He moved his arm ever so slightly and then let loose an array of kunai.

The jounin pulled out his own and quickly blocked them all, and threw the one he blocked with.

Naruto dodged right and raced toward his opponent.

He then crossed his fingers and created three clones. He was about to throw some shuriken with his new clones, when Shikamaru stopped him.

"Hold up idiot, we need to come up with a plan."

"What did you just call me?"

"Look just get over here so I can give you the plan."

Naruto angrily obliged and after a few moments he shook his head and stared down his foe.

'Well it seems they have a plan. Let's see what they came up with.' The silver haired man thought as he still held his book.

Naruto and his three clones spread out and circled Kakashi. They then began to circle him faster and faster, until it gave the impression of one large swirl of orange. After a few moments, Kakashi was forced to block a kunai that emitted from the swirl, then a second and a third until he was getting bombarded with the things from all directions.

'This is getting annoying.' Kakashi thought as he jumped in the air. When he was at the peak of his jump, he noticed another kunai coming from his other pupil's direction, 'crap.' He was barely able to do a mid air summersault to avoid getting pierced.

Arriving back down on the ground, the one eyed man was now ready for anything.

Suddenly one Naruto jumped and threw a kick to the side. Kakashi quickly brought his arm up and blocked it as a second one came with a fist. Ready to grab his fist, Kakashi realized that his body wouldn't respond. As soon as the realization set in, a fist connected with his cheek forcing the frozen mans head to turn ever so slightly.

"Shadow Mimic success." Came a lazy voice from across the field.

Shikamaru was standing looking at the two while holding the rat sign.

"Alright you got me." Kakashi said as he easily broke free of the bind, much to the dumbfounded look of Shikamaru.

'Well they work great together. Naruto has good speed and he is able to think on his feet as well, while Shikamaru sits back and forms a plan attacking from afar.'

"Well even though I wasn't really trying, I still give you praise for passing and at least being able to put me in the shadow jutsu. We will start out training tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp." With that he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Well first chapter is here, I figure I will put it up and see if anyone likes it. I hope I get descent feedback, because I think this could be a great story. Any of you who read it, let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is welcomed and appreciated, along with praise. Thanks!

-Uzu