Chapter 90: Team Assignments, Kakashi

The next day.

Ninja Academy.

"Congratulations, everyone. Starting today, you are officially independent shinobi.

"But right now, you’re only rookie Genin. The real test begins from this point onward.

"From now on, you’ll be divided into teams of three and carry out missions under the guidance of a Jonin instructor."

Iruka announced the contents of today’s so-called orientation for the new graduates.

In simple terms, it was the team assignment ceremony.

"Teams of three?"

Ino froze for a moment and turned toward Naruto, who showed no reaction at all.

"Naruto, you already knew we were going to be assigned to teams?"

"Mm."

Naruto gave a soft response.

Ino asked expectantly, "Then do you think we can be on the same team?"

Naruto replied regretfully, "You and the other two members of Ino-Shika-Cho should be assigned together, right?"

"No way..."

Ino’s eyes widened.

She quickly turned toward Shikamaru, then glanced at Choji.

She instantly froze in despair.

Hinata instinctively looked toward Naruto.

Naruto smiled at her.

Hinata’s heart stirred, and she began looking forward to the team assignments.

At the front of the classroom, Iruka announced,

"All right. We’ll begin the team assignments. Team One..."

He continued until Team Six, assigning all the miscellaneous students.

Then Iruka continued.

"Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto..."

Hearing Naruto’s name, Hinata nervously watched Iruka.

Iruka continued.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura, who was standing beside Sasuke, immediately tensed up and looked at Iruka expectantly.

"Hyuga Hinata."

Sakura’s expression instantly fell.

Hinata happily turned toward Naruto.

Hearing that Hinata had been assigned to the same team as Naruto, jealousy immediately burned inside Ino.

Kiba Inuzuka suddenly raised his hand.

"Iruka-sensei, why are they being put together? Isn’t that unfair?"

After graduation, the competition would be between teams.

Not a single member of Naruto’s team was someone Kiba could defeat.

Forget being placed with them.

At the very least, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata shouldn’t have been put together.

If they were separated, there would still be some hope of competing against them.

But with the three of them together, there was really no point thinking about it anymore.

The entire class began complaining.

Iruka explained,

"Considering that the teams graduating in recent years haven’t produced any particularly outstanding results, the Hokage has decided to make an adjustment starting with this class.

"The three students with the best overall scores will form an elite team."

Seeing that the students still wanted to complain, Iruka continued,

"All right, there’s no need to complain anymore. The Hokage naturally has his reasons.

"If you had worked a little harder at the Ninja Academy, you could have been part of the elite team too."

After a brief pause, he looked around at the students whose spirits had fallen.

After giving them a little reality check, Iruka encouraged them.

"There’s no need to be discouraged.

"Your shinobi careers are only just beginning.

"Don’t keep focusing on your grades at the Ninja Academy.

"Learn properly from your instructors.

"I believe that all of you can become outstanding shinobi capable of standing on your own in the future.

"Do your best!"

Seeing that everyone had quieted down, Iruka looked at the team assignment list in his hand.

"Team Eight: Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino."

Sakura, Shino, and Kiba exchanged glances.

It wasn’t bad.

As long as they didn’t compare themselves with Naruto’s team, their team was already quite good.

Seeing that they had no objections, Iruka nodded in satisfaction and continued.

"Team Ten: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji."

"Just as I thought."

Ino looked like she was about to cry.

Why could Hinata be assigned to Naruto’s team while she had to be stuck with a slacker and a fat guy?

It was simply too unfair.

Seeing this, Naruto reached his hand around Ino’s back and gently placed it around her slender waist.

Ino’s face flushed red, and her mind instantly went blank.

In her dazed state, she completely forgot all about her grievances.

After all the teams had been assigned, Iruka announced,

"All right. Come back to the classroom before afternoon classes begin. Your team instructors will come to pick you up then.

"Dismissed."

Afternoon.

"Team Eight, follow me."

Yūhi Kurenai, who had only recently been promoted to Jonin and was serving as a Jonin instructor for the first time, arrived at the classroom.

Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino followed her out.

After that, various Jonin instructors arrived and took their respective teams away.

Sarutobi Asuma also came to the classroom, smoking heavily.

"Team Ten, come with me."

As the second son of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Asuma should have been familiar with the heirs of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans, or at least have met them before.

However, Asuma had previously served as one of the Daimyo’s Guardian Shinobi and had been away from Konoha for many years.

In reality, they barely knew each other.

Seeing that their instructor was a heavy smoker, Ino was even more displeased.

She turned toward Naruto reluctantly.

She had an inexplicable feeling that everything about her life had changed after graduation.

And not for the better.

Naruto comforted her for a while before Ino finally agreed to leave with Shikamaru and Choji.

The classroom was now left with only Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata.

Sasuke looked extremely impatient.

Naruto didn’t care.

He sat beside Hinata and quietly chatted with her.

Sasuke occasionally glanced toward the door, then toward Naruto.

After the team assignments, his worst premonition had finally come true.

He had been isolated.

Naruto was a bastard who valued girls over his friends!

Forget it.

He was used to it by now.

Sasuke could only play by himself in lonely silence.

His hands continuously formed hand seals as he practiced.

His movements were incredibly fast, even slightly faster than four seals per second.

Over the past few years, Naruto had often taken Sasuke to the Sound Village to get beaten up.

Every time, Sasuke would receive a brutal beating and suffer serious injuries.

After returning to Konoha, he would train even harder.

Although Sasuke was still being beaten by Kimimaro to this day, repeatedly getting thrashed had greatly improved his strength.

Kimimaro had become Sasuke’s short-term goal.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t surpassed that goal in several years.

He was still getting beaten.

Sasuke practiced his hand seals until his hands were almost cramping.

Finally, the classroom door opened.

A silver-haired man with spiky hair and a face mask walked in.

Kakashi Hatake.

He glanced around the classroom.

Naruto and Hinata were sitting together, their heads lowered as they quietly talked about something.

They didn’t seem to have noticed him entering at all.

Kakashi froze.

This wasn’t what he had expected.

After being assigned to a team upon graduation, shouldn’t they have been extremely excited?

And then...

Shouldn’t they have been impatiently waiting for their instructor?

Sasuke, sitting at a desk near the door, had gone unnoticed by Kakashi.

His expression was already unhappy.

"You’re our teacher?"

Kakashi turned toward Sasuke and nodded.

"Yo. If you’re Team Seven, then yes."

Finally, this reaction was normal.

Sasuke’s expression darkened even further.

"Who else would we have besides us?

"The other teams were taken away by their instructors a long time ago. You’re late. Don’t you have anything to say about that?"

Hearing this, Kakashi scratched his head and gave an awkward laugh.

"Sorry. A black cat ran across the road in front of me just now, and it startled me."

Sasuke’s face was covered in black lines.

What a completely insincere excuse!

He forcibly suppressed the urge to beat Kakashi senseless.

Then he turned his head and raised his voice slightly.

"Naruto, the teacher’s here. Stop chatting."

Hearing this, Hinata blushed and gently nudged Naruto.

Naruto froze for a moment and turned his head.

He saw Kakashi.

He froze again.

"You got here so quickly?"

Kakashi was speechless.

So fast?

Sasuke was about to go insane.

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