บท 5: Chapter 5: Team Placement!

Four days had passed since Naruto took the graduation exam and today was the day, he is supposed to go to the academy for his team placement. In the past three days, Naruto had been up to quite a lot. He had not left the compound at all for the past three days opting to stay inside and train his wood release. His clones had finished reading the majority of the books in the library by the day after his exams. There were still a few books and scrolls left to read, but Naruto figured he would take care of that at a later date. It had only taken him a few minutes to figure out the Wood Clone Technique and an hour to master it the level he had with the Shadow Clone Jutsu. The rest of the three days were spent learning the Wood Dragon Jutsu. Naruto had to admit that it was a bit complex and took a bit of time to figure out, but thanks to his shadow clone he was able to grasp the concept and able to perform the jutsu after two days of trying. It did require a fair amount of chakra to produce a large wooden dragon but that was something he had in spades. He had not mastered the jutsu by any means, but he could perform it well enough to defend himself. The thing that really fascinated him with the jutsu was its ability to blow itself up whenever given the command. Naruto was wondering if he could do that with other wood jutsus, if so then his enemies are in for a world of hurt.

Naruto was currently standing in his room looking at himself in front of the mirror. He had just finished getting dressed and was ready to head to the academy. He adjusted the forehead protector strapped to his left arm before smiling and making his way out of his room and out of his house. Naruto exited the compound and resealed it before making his way to the academy. As he was walking there, he noticed the streets were a lot busier than he had ever seen. Since his return, he had yet to fully explore the village. Most of what he saw of the village was when he was walking with the Hokage and Konohamaru when he took his exam. Now he was seeing the streets of the village in full swing. Shops were opened, vendors had placed out their stalls, and people were busy moving from store to store carrying out their shopping. Naruto simply placed his hands in his pocket and weaved his way through the crowded street while at the same time observing everything. As he was walking through the crowded street, some of the people started to take notice of his presence while others did not notice. Those who did notice however would stop and talk among themselves about him and about rumors they heard about him. Most of which all dealt with suspicions as to whom his parents are, whether or not he was actually a Senju, and if the rumors about him possessing the first Hokage's wood release were true. Naruto for his part simply ignored all the whispering and stares and simply carried on his way to the Academy.

**At the Academy**

Currently standing in front of a class of newly graduated genin was the chunin instructor in charge of the academy, Iruka Umino. He was standing there with a proud smile on his face as he stared at all of his soon-to-be former students all wearing their regulation headbands signifying themselves as shinobis of the Hidden Leaf Village. This year's batch of graduates had quite a lot of potential considering the fact that a lot of those who are sitting in front of him were heirs to a lot of the prominent clans in the village with a few civilian children who have shown some promise. The clan heirs were expected to hold a lot of promise for the future because of the fact that they are the future leaders of their respected clans. As Iruka scanned the class of graduates he could not help frowning slightly when he noticed that there was one particular heir missing.

'Where is Naruto Senju?' Iruka thought to himself with a slight frown. He was there when Hokage told Naruto that he had to be at the Academy in four days for his team placement. So, he could help but wonder why the boy was not here in class with the rest of the graduates. 'Did he forget?' he asked himself. He knew all of the jonin sensei were currently observing the class thanks to the Third Hokage's special jutsu that he uses with his crystal ball to view the village from. It would not be a good look to the jonin senseis if Naruto does not show up here today. It may appear as though he is not taking things seriously because of the fact that he is a Senju. Iruka sighed and shook his head slightly as he got ready to speak to the graduating class. Just as he was about to begin speaking, however, a knock came at the door drawing the attention of everyone in the classroom.

"Enter!" Iruka said loudly so that whoever was behind the door could hear. The door slid open revealing Naruto standing there with a stoic look on his face.

"Hello Iruka-sensei, I'm not late, am I?" Naruto asked as he walked through the door. and walked up to Iruka.

"You are," Iruka replied as he folded his arms and stated at Naruto causing him to grin sheepishly.

"Sorry," Naruto apologized with a slight bow. "The Hokage told me to come here in four days, however, he never mentioned what time I should be here," Naruto explained causing Iruka to nod his head accepting his excuse. Iruka then turned to the class and spoke loudly.

"Class, this is Naruto Senju!" he said loudly as he introduced Naruto to the rest of the class. "He will be joining us today for the team placement," he said causing the children in the room's eyes to widen in shock at who was standing in front of them.

"A Senju!?" one student whispered.

"So, the rumors are true, the Senju clan has returned," another said in a whisper.

"He's so hot!" one girl shouted.

"Do you think he has a girlfriend?" another girl asked. Naruto could only sigh when he heard what the girls were discussing.

"Iruka-sensei!" shouted a boy from the back of the class with a small puppy in his head. Naruto immediately recognized him as a member of the Inuzuka clan because of the fang marks on his cheeks and the ninja hound on his head. "How come he is here for team placement when he didn't even take the graduation exam or attended a single class in the Academy?!" the Inuzuka boy asked in a slightly hostile tone confusing Naruto.

"Well, Kiba, Naruto did take the graduation exam and scored a perfect score on all portions of the exam," Iruka said not surprising Naruto. Even though Iruka had yet to grade his written test he knew he got all the answers right. "If Naruto had attended the academy like you all I am sure he would have been the Rookie of the Year," Iruka added surprising everyone and causing a certain black-haired Uchiha to narrow his eyes at Naruto. "As to why Naruto did not attend a single class in the Academy," Iruka began before turning to Naruto. "That is not for me to say. If Naruto wishes to share that information, he will tell it you all," the chunin said not wanting to overstep his bounds when it comes to Naruto's personal information. Naruto simply shrugged his shoulders before he spoke in a nonchalant tone.

"It's no big deal really," Naruto said as he stared up at the class. "I just lived outside of the village with my grandmother. She trained and taught me everything I know," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"And just who exactly is your grandmother?" Kiba asked in a tone that was really starting to get on Naruto's nerve as he folded his arms.

"Tsunade Senju," Naruto replied as he narrowed his eyes at the boy before flaring his chakra causing all of the newly minted genins in the room to sweat and tremble with fear at the amount of power being released. "Do you have anything you want to say about my grandmother, boy?" Naruto asked in a dangerous tone. Kiba immediately shook his head no. Naruto then claimed his chakra down before turning to Iruka and giving a slight bow before he spoke again. "I apologize, Iruka-sensei," he said apologizing for the commotion he was causing.

"It is no problem, please take a seat so we can begin," Iruka said with a smile. Naruto nodded and walked up the stairs to the only available seat in the class. It was in the third row with only two people sitting on it. One was a boy with his hair tied in a spikey ponytail and an expression on his face as though he had just woken up. The other was a girl with blue eyes and long platinum blonde hair worn in a ponytail, with bangs framing the right side of her face. She was wearing a purple outfit consisting of a high-collared blouse and a matching apron skirt with bandages on her abdomen and legs, small hoop earrings, and her forehead protector worn as a belt around her waist. As Naruto walked up the stairs to the open seat his eyes met the blonde-haired girl's. A small blush crept up onto her face, but Naruto simply ignored it and kept a stoic look on his. When he reached the open seat, he smiled slightly at the girl and spoke.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked politely to which the girl only stared at him and shook her head slowly causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow at her as he sat down.

"Troublesome," the boy sitting on the other side of the girl said as he stared at the two of them with a bored expression on his face. As Naruto sat down, he could feel a lot of people's gaze on him a few of which were hostile. Most of them were coming from the males in the classroom out of jealousy, but there was one in particular that had trace amounts of killing intent. Adverting his gaze to the row in front of him, Naruto could see a black-haired boy in a blue shirt staring at him with a murderous look on his face. Naruto for his part had no idea who the boy was. It was not until he saw the symbol on the back of his shirt did, he realize who it was.

'So, this is the last Uchiha,' Naruto thought as he stared at the boy. 'I expected better,' he added before turning away ignoring the boy's presence only causing the Uchiha boy to become angrier.

"Okay Class, listen up!" he said getting everyone's attention. "As of today, you are all ninjas. To get here you faced difficult trials and hardships but that is nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult," Iruka said as he held both of his hands behind his back and spoke with a warm smile on his face. "Now you are only genins, first-level ninjas. All the genin will be grouped into three-man squads and a join, an elite ninja will lead each squad," he said surprising a lot of people causing Naruto to wonder what exactly was taught at the shinobi academy. "We want each squad to be a balance of strength and ability, so that is how we set them up," he said as he held up a piece of paper. "I will now announce the squads," he said before he began reading out team names and the members of each team.

'I wonder which squad I will place in?" Naruto wondered to himself. He was well ahead of any of these genins, placing him on a squad will not only cause an imbalance but it will also slow his own growth not to mention hinder the growth of his teammates.

"Squad 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and-" he called out before he was interpreted by the pink-haired girl in front of Naruto yelling.

"Cha! Take that Ino, true love conquers all!" Sakura yelled out while turning to look at the girl sitting beside Naruto.

"And Sai. Your jonin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake," Iruka said causing Sakura to turn and look at the pale-faced boy sitting in front of her with a creeped-out look on her face. "Next, Squad 8: Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. You jonin sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi" Iruka said causing a girl with pale eyes and a boy in sunglasses to nod their head along with the Inuzuka clan boy from earlier. "Squad 9 is still in rotation so Squad 10: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akaimichi. Your jonin sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi," Iruka said causing the girl sitting beside Naruto to groan.

"Uhg! How come I get stuck with the two worst students in the class," Ino groaned out as he placed her head down on the desk. Naruto could not help but chuckle at the girl's reaction.

"It can't be helped, they are likely trying to create a new Ino-Shika-Cho formation," Naruto said with a smile as he looked over the girl causing her to feel a bit better.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said as he laid down on his desk.

"And finally, Squad 11," Iruka said getting Naruto's attention once more. "Consisting only of Naruto Senju whit your jonin sensei being Yamato," he said confusing everyone in the room.

"Iruka-sensei! How come he gets to be on a squad by himself?" Sakura stood up and asked the question on everyone's minds.

"Well as I mentioned earlier Sakura," Iruka said with a sigh as he knew this was going to happen. "We built each team with a balance of strength and ability. placing Naruto on a team with any of you will cause an imbalance due to Naruto's training putting him ahead of all of you in terms of both strength and ability," he said surprising a lot of people while angering some. "Another reason why he is on a team by himself is that placing him on one of your squads will not only hinder his growth but the growth of his supposed teammates as well," Iruka explained causing Naruto to nod in agreement. "Lord Hokage personally put all of these teams together, if you have a problem with it then you are free to lodge a complaint with him," he added with a smirk as he watched everyone look down slightly not wanting to challenge the decision of the Hokage. "Good, with that settled. After lunch, you will meet your new jonin senseis. Until then class dismissed," he said as he rolled the pepper with the team placements on it. Just as everyone was about to get up from their dead a puff of smoke appeared in the front of the classroom not too far from Iruka surprising everyone including Iruka. When the smoke cleared a jonin was standing there with a serious look on his face.

The jonin had short brown hair and black, almond-shaped eyes. He was wearing a standard jonin uniform with the only difference being the navy-blue shirt under his flask jacket goes up all the way to his chin. In addition to that, he had a happuri-style forehead protector that framed his face, similar to that of the second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. The jonin scanned the room as if he were looking for someone. When his eyes landed on Naruto he stopped and spoke.

"Naruto Senju, I am your jonin sensei, Yamato," he said while looking at Naruto. "Meet me at training 11, you have fifteen minutes," the man said before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Everyone in the room then turned to Naruto who simply shrugged his shoulders before standing up. He then held up a half ram seal and disappeared from the room in a swirl of cherry blossom leaves.

"He's so cool," one girl said as they all watch the pink cherry blossom leaves fall to the ground.

"Yeah, he might even be cooler than Sasuke," another said causing the Sasuke fangirls all to glare at her.

**Training Ground 11**

Yamato was standing in the center of the training ground waiting for his student to arrive. He was surprised when the Hokage had pulled from his duties in the Anbu to take on a genin squad. At first, he was not pleased with the idea of dealing with a bunch of genins. It was not until he was told that he was going to be getting the Senju boy to help him train his Wood Release that he felt somewhat relieved. He was even more surprised when the Hokage told him that the boy the jinchuriki to the Nine-Tails fox. It was the other reason why he was chosen to be the boy's jonin-sensei. Yamato was knocked out of his reflection when Naruto arrived at the training ground in a swirl of cherry blossom leaves. Yamato raised an eyebrow at the new form of the Body Flicker Technique which he has never seen before.

"That was fast," Yamato commented as he had only been waiting there for five minutes.

"I didn't want to keep you waiting too long," Naruto said as he walked up to his new sensei.

"Well then, let us begin by telling each other a bit about ourselves," Yamato said as he folded his arms. "You know, your name, likes and dislikes, hobbies, and goals for the future," he added causing Naruto to nod his head understanding.

"My name is Naruto Senju. I like ramen, gardening, and my family. I hate anyone who tries to arm my family and those closest to me. My hobbies are training, gardening, and pulling pranks," he said with a grin on his face. "As for my future goals...I want to be the strongest shinobi surpassing both my father and great-great-grandfather," he said with determination written all over his face. Yamato nodded his head as he heard what Naruto said.

"I guess it's my turn," he said as he prepared to introduce himself. "My name is Yamato. I like walnuts and the village. I hate oily foods. My hobbies are reading books about architecture and I don't really have any outlandish goals for the future," he said with a shrug. "I guess my only goal is to have a serious spar against Kakashi-senpai," he added causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow at his future goals, but he did not say anything, it was not his place to question another person's goals.

"So, what are we going today, sensei?" Naruto asked with an excited look on his face.

"This usually the part where the jonin-senseis give a test to see whether or not the genin team actually have what it takes to be a genin," he said causing Naruto to nod his head already knowing that. "The test is usually centered around teamwork but seeing as how it is just the two of us, a test of teamwork would be pointless," he said seriously while Naruto simply stood there nodding his head in agreement.

"So, am I getting a test?" Naruto asked with a curious expression on his face.

"You are getting a test," Yamato said while looking at his student. "We will just be testing for something else," he said causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow at him. "We are going to be testing whether or not you have the strength and the ability to be on a squad by yourself," he said causing Naruto to grin in excitement. "So, we are going to have a little spar and see if you are actually as good as people say you are," he said with a smirk. Yamato was just as excited as Naruto; he only did a better job of hiding it. This would be the first time he would be going up against someone else who passed the Wood Release bloodline. That was not just it however, he wanted to see the difference between someone who is naturally born with Wood Release like Naruto against his own which was artificially gifted.

"Let's do this," Naruto said as he flicked his wrist activating the storage seal on his wrist causing a long black metal staff but 6ft long to appear in his hand. It was a special staff that Shizune had bought for him when he was six. It was made entirely of chakra metal which allows his chakra to flow through it much better than ordinary metal would. Yamato saw that his student was rearing to go and nodded his head. The two of them then stood opposite each other in the center of the training ground. The excited look was gone from both of their faces with a more serious one replacing it.

"You are to come at me with the intention of killing me," Yamato said causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow. In Yamato's mind, Naruto was still a genin. He may be more powerful than your average genin but a genin was genin regardless of who trained them, and he was a jonin/former Anbu captain.

"Be careful wish for, sensei," Naruto said coldly. He was going to take this spar very seriously and he was not planning on holding back. He took the black staff and stabbed it into the ground confusing his sensei. He then made a single hand seal while holding on to the staff before he pulled out of the ground. As he pulled the staff out of the ground, a large rectangular block of the earth attached itself to the end of the staff turning it into a rather large sledgehammer. Naruto then swung the hammer up and rested it on his shoulders before speaking to his sensei. "Shall we begin, sensei?" he asked.

"Yes," the sensei said before bending down and picked up a small pebble from the ground. He tossed it up in the air and both of their eyes became glued to the pebble as it began falling down to the ground. As soon as the pebbled contacted the ground Naruto disappeared in a great show of speed, causing his sensei's eyes to widen in shock.

'He's fast' Yamato said as he looked around for his student. His senses alerted him of a presence above him causing the jonin to look up. When he looked up, he saw Naruto falling towards him with his giant hammer reared back ready to turn the jonin destroy the jonin.

"Earth Style: Seismic Smash!" Naruto yelled while falling. Yamato narrowed his eyes and kicked off the ground dodging the incoming hit. What happened next causing the jonin's eyes to widen in horror. As Naruto's hammer impacted the ground it utterly destroyed the section training ground where Yamato was standing along with the block of the earth which was attached to the staff. Yamato could only stare in shock and horror at the giant crater with Naruto standing in the center staring at him.

'I guess Lady Tsunade really did train him,' Yamato thought to himself as he stared at the boy. 'Well, the Naruto, let us see how you deal with this,' The jonin thought before he flashed through a few hand signs with a smirk on his face.

"Wood Style: Great Forest Technique!" he yelled out as he pointed his right arm at Naruto. Naruto's eyes were the size of dinner plates when he heard the name of the technique that his sensei called out. Before he could even think about what was happening his sensei's right arm transformed into multiple trees all of which were rushing towards Naruto. Acting quickly, Naruto narrowed his eyes and jumped backward dodging the trees that were waking their way towards him. Much to his dismay, the trees followed his every move causing him to flip back a few times. Channeling some wind chakra into his metal staff, Naruto stopped moving backward and turned to face the incoming wave of tree branches. Utilizing the wind chakra rushing through his staff, Naruto began slicing his way through the multiple tree branches with ease, a bit more ease than he expected.

'His trees are not as strong as my own,' Naruto thought while slicing the numerous branches. While cutting the branches with his staff, five clones of Naruto made of wood emerged out of his back and began flashing through hand signs.

"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!" the five clones shouted out simultaneously causing five dragons made of the earth to rise up from the ground and rush towards the jonin. Seeing the five earth dragons rushing towards him Yamato was forced to break off his wood jutsu and deal with the dragons. His right arm broke off from the numerous trees that sprouted from it before he flashed through multiple hand signs.

"Wood Style: Wood Locking Wall!" he yelled before slamming both his hands down on the ground in front of him. Wooden pillars then began to burst up from the ground on either side of Yamato. The pillars then joined together in a dome shape with Yamato in the center. The five dragons all crashed into the dome at the same time creating a huge shockwave. Much to Naruto's surprising the dome held up to the impact. deciding not to give the jonin time to catch his breath, Naruto rushed forward at the dome along with his wood clones. One of the clones charged ahead of the rest and leaped into the air rearing his fist back in the process. Building up a large amount of chakra into its fist, the clone brought it down onto the dome releasing the built-up chakra on contact with the dome utterly destroying the wooden structure along with a good chunk of the ground as well. When the dome collapsed, Naruto and his clones could see that their jonin sensei was no longer there, instead, there was a hole in the ground. Naruto's senses alerted him to danger from below causing the blonde jinchuriki to leap into the air. Just as his feet left the ground six wooden spikes burst out from the ground piercing through the chest of the five clones while Naruto avoided the other.

'That was close' Naruto thought as he landed on the ground. As his feet touched the ground four wooden pillars burst out from the ground around him causing his eyes to widen slightly as he watched the four wooden pillars lock themselves up until it created a cage trapping Naruto inside.

"Wood Style: Four-Pillar Prison Technique!" Yamato said calmly as he walked up to the wooden cage holding Naruto.

"I guess you are not as good as they say you are," Yamato said sounding slightly disappointed mainly due to the fact that Naruto had yet to use a single wood jutsu other than the wood clone.

"Oh sensei," Naruto said in a calm voice putting his sensei on edge. "This is cute," he said as he walked over and touched one of the wooden pillars. "But all me to show you the difference in our Wood Release," he said as he narrowed his eyes and flared his chakra. As his chakra came in contact with Yamato's wood it began sprouting branches with leaves. Naruto then formed the snake hand seal and stared at Yamato. Two seconds later, tree branches and wooden pillars burst out from the wooden cage and rushed towards the jonin.

'He took control of my wood jutsu!' Yamato screamed in his mind as he began backflipping away from the assault of trees and wooden pillars. He then heard the sound of something breaking apart causing him to look at the cage while he was dodging the assault. When he looked over, he saw the wooden cage had broken itself apart allowing Naruto to calmly walk out of it. Naruto then flashed through numerous hand signs before ending with a snake hand seal.

"Wood Style: Wood-Dragon Jutsu!" Naruto yelled out as he pumped a lot of chakra into the jutsu. As he did this the branches and pillars that were chasing aster Yamato stopped and the ground began to tremble causing Yamato to look around for the oncoming attack. From the left of Naruto, a giant serpentine dragon made of wood burst out from the ground and began encircling the area around Yamato. Yamato stared in shock at the share size of the dragon that was circling him. The dragon's body created a circle about 25ft wide with the jonin sensei in the center. Yamato for his part was confused about what was happening. The dragon was just circling him, it made no attempts to attack him.

"Yamato-sensei, I really hope you survive this because we need to have a long talk about that wood release of yours!" Naruto called out confusing his jonin sensei further.

"Now Explode!" Naruto yelled causing his sensei to quickly flash through some hand signs. The eyes of the dragon glowed white for one second before the entire dragon exploded destroying everything inside that 25ft circle and creating a shock wave that leveled all the trees and wooden pillars Naruto and Yamato had created. The explosion shook the entire training ground and probably sent a small tremor through the village. Naruto had been standing some distance away, so he did not feel the brunt of the shock wave only a bit of strong wind. Deciding to check if his sensei was still alive, he began making his way over. The explosion had kicked up bite a bit of dust creating a large dust cloud over the area. While walking Naruto channeled some wind chakra into his staff and swiped the air in front of him blowing away some of the dust revealing the damage he had done. In front of Naruto was a 25ft wide crater with a half-broken wooden dome in the center. It would appear as though his sensei had managed to create a dome to shield himself from the brunt of the blast, however, it would also appear as though the blast broke apart a small part of the dome.

"You alive, sensei?" Naruto asked hoping the man was still alive.

"Yeah, I'm here," came the voice of his sensei from inside the dome sounding pretty tired. Jumping into the crater Naruto made his way to the dome. Using his chakra like what he did with the wooden prison, Naruto took control of the wood around the dome causing them to open up revealing his sensei hunched over on the ground breathing heavily with a few burns and bruises on his body. Silently creating a shadow clone, Naruto gave it the order to heal his sensei who seems to be suffering from chakra exhaustion.

"That was some attack," Yamato said between breaths. The attack would have killed him if he had not pumped the majority of the chakra, he had left into the wooden dome to strengthen it, but even then, part of it still broke apart.

"Yes, with you being in the center of the circle the dragon created, the explosion came from the outside rushing in towards the center," Naruto explained as he sealed away his staff. "The shockwave impacted you from all directions at the same time doubling the force you would normally feel from an explosion of that size," he added as he stared at the man being held by his clone.

"I guess you pass," Yamato said as he started to feel a bit better. Naruto grinned happily as he stared at his sensei. "We start our first mission tomorrow bright and early. Be here at training ground 11 by 7 a.m.!" Yamato ordered causing Naruto to salute him.

"Yes, sensei!" Naruto replied with a salute. "Now, about this wood release of yours," Naruto said as he looked at his sensei with curiosity written all over his face.

**Chapter End**

That's another chapter in the books!

Author's Note: I'll admit that the fight in this chapter did not turn out the way I wanted to. I apologize for it and I do promise that future fight scenes will be better! Once again sorry about the fight scene I'll do better next time but I am just happy to get it out of the way so we can move on to the more exciting stuff.

Please leave a review!