Chapter 44 44: Team 7

At this time, all the students were buzzing with anticipation, discussing who their jonin instructor might be. Some even speculated about famous Konoha jonin. "Kaito! Do you think we'll be in the same team?" Hinata asked, her eyes hopeful as soon as they sat down. "I really hope the three of us are grouped together!" Ino added eagerly. "Who knows? That's up to the Hokage," Kaito replied casually. In the original timeline, Hinata was grouped with Kiba and Shino—all of them being sensory-type ninja. Their jonin instructor was the calm and composed Yuhi Kurenai. As for Ino, she, Shikamaru, and Choji were always together—the traditional Ino-Shika-Cho trio. With Shikamaru's intelligence, he'd probably already figured it out. Their jonin was none other than Asuma Sarutobi, the youngest son of Hiruzen Sarutobi—who died prematurely in the original story. This grouping was also a way for Hiruzen to reinforce the alliance between the three clans. Kaito, on the other hand, had already been taken in as Tsunade's personal disciple. That fact alone gave him the reputation of being a direct inheritor of Hiruzen's will—basically a "Hokage candidate in the making." Given that, it didn't take a genius to guess who his jonin would be. Among the current batch of instructors, Kakashi was the only direct disciple of the Third Hokage. In terms of generation, Kaito was technically a senior to Kakashi, as he stood on the same level as Minato Namikaze. Just then, Naruto burst into the room, excited and grinning from ear to ear. "Surprise! Bet you didn't expect me to pass the exam!" he declared proudly. "Tch. Naruto, didn't you fail?" Kiba asked, genuinely confused. "Hmph! I passed the make-up exam last night! This forehead protector was Iruka-sensei's. He gave it to me personally!" Naruto said, proudly tapping his forehead protector. "What's so great about that?" Kiba muttered with disdain. "Right, Akamaru?" "Woof! Woof!" After showing off to Kiba, Naruto turned toward his eternal rival—Sasuke. Kaito watched silently. In the original story, this was the moment where those two... accidentally kissed. He patted Hinata and Ino's shoulders, pointing toward Naruto. "Look over there. Something interesting is about to happen." The girls were confused but followed his gaze. What they saw next completely broke their sense of reality. There it was—Naruto and Sasuke... lips touching in an accidental kiss. It was too much. Their eyes widened in horror. Ino nearly gagged. "That damn Sasuke... he ignores every girl in class, and now I know why!" Ino thought in disbelief. At that moment, Kaito frowned. He could sense someone watching him. Without needing to guess, he knew—Hiruzen was playing with his crystal ball again. --- Hokage's Office Several jonin stood opposite Hiruzen Sarutobi, watching everything unfold in the classroom via the crystal ball. "That kid... is that Ayanami Kaito? Top of this year's class?" "And that's the Uchiha orphan, Sasuke." "Uzumaki Naruto. It's him..." "This group is going to be tough to handle," one of the jonin muttered. Hiruzen waved his pipe and closed the crystal ball, his expression turning serious. "You all probably know why I called you here," he said. "This generation of graduates will be under your guidance. Here's the list of students you'll be leading." He handed out the already-prepared documents to each jonin. "Why is there a four-man squad this time?" Asuma asked, puzzled. "We had one extra graduate. We couldn't just ignore him, could we?" Hiruzen said, shrugging helplessly. "If that's the case, Kakashi's going to have his hands full," someone joked. "It's fine. As long as they're obedient," Kakashi said nonchalantly. "You should probably look at who's on your team," Kurenai said, handing Kakashi the list with a smirk. Kakashi took the paper and scanned it. His eyes widened slightly behind his mask. "Uzumaki Naruto... Uchiha Sasuke... Haruno Sakura... and Ayanami Kaito. You're really testing me, Lord Hokage." "Now that you've seen your lists, head over to the Academy and meet your students. That's all. Dismissed." With that, the crowded office emptied out in an instant. --- At the Ninja Academy Iruka stood before the class, calling out the team assignments. "Team One: Npc A, B, and C..." As he continued, emotions rippled through the classroom—some students cheered while others sighed. Then came the announcement that made Kaito raise an eyebrow. "Team Seven: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Ayanami Kaito." "Sensei! I object!" Naruto slammed his hand on the desk. "Why am I grouped with this arrogant guy? I'm way more amazing than him!" "Shut up, Naruto!" Iruka shouted, his voice booming. "Do you even know how badly you scored? Sasuke placed second, and Kaito was first! You're in this team so you can learn from them!" Naruto grumbled but stayed quiet. --- (^▽^) Become a patron to get access to chapters in advance. [email protected]/Zphyr_ Change @ to a.