"Time to split into teams again… I wonder if I'll be in the same squad as Sasuke."
Haruno Sakura glanced at Uchiha Sasuke, eyes full of hope.
"I want to be with Sasuke too, so we can keep our youth-filled rivalry going!" Naruto stuck out a thumbs-up.
"I refuse," Sasuke cut in flatly.
If Naruto was on his team, he'd steal the spotlight and mess with Sasuke's score.
"Huh?" Naruto scratched his head.
"What about me?" Sakura blurted.
"You're fine," Sasuke said calmly with a nod.
Sakura wasn't a threat to his standing—and she was a medical ninja, which might be useful in a pinch.
"Really?" Sakura's eyes went wide. It was the first time Sasuke had answered her affirmatively.
"Who you get is up to Kitazawa-sensei," Nara Shikamaru yawned. "Talking about it won't change anything."
Hyūga Hinata instinctively looked over at Kitazawa in the distance. She figured it would be hard to be in his squad again this exam—she'd noticed he rarely took the same student twice in a row. Still, there would be a next time; she'd find a way to hint at it then.
"Tayuya, whose squad leader do you want?" Ino turned, curious.
"Anyone but Kitazawa-sensei!" Tayuya snorted.
"I've been meaning to ask—why do you have a problem with Kitazawa-sensei?" Ino frowned. In her mind, it'd be hard to find a better teacher in the whole shinobi world.
"I—" Tayuya suddenly stalled.
If she had to give a reason… was it because Kitazawa beat Orochimaru? Beyond that, she couldn't name any other flaw. At most he liked to use Orochimaru to threaten her—but that was always in response, since she was usually the one poking him first.
"I've got a problem, period. Don't need a reason!" she huffed, looking away.
"What about Kimimaro and Jūgo?" Ino smiled and asked.
"Either is fine," Jūgo said.
"The Third," Kimimaro answered after thinking.
Because Sarutobi Hiruzen had taught Orochimaru. Kimimaro's loyalty to Orochimaru ran deep; he'd give anything for him. So he was curious about Orochimaru's teacher. He'd seen Hiruzen a few times this month but hadn't had much contact.
"I don't think teammates are the key—the mission is," Kiba said, suddenly inspired. "High-difficulty missions are the easiest way to rack up points."
"Rare for you to hit the point," his sister Hana agreed.
"I'm smart, you know!" Kiba shot back.
"But if it's too hard, it can hurt your evaluation," Shikamaru warned, shaking his head. "The best mission is the one that matches your strength."
"Kitazawa-sensei's here!" Kiba perked up.
The others stopped chatting and looked toward Kitazawa. Missions mattered most, but your teammates and squad leader still had a big impact. Some wanted stronger teammates, some preferred close friends, some hoped for Kitazawa as leader. Everyone had their own wish.
"Same as last time—six teams. Try to finish within two weeks," Kitazawa said. He paused. "Team One will be led by me. Members: Tenten, Akimichi Chōji, and Tayuya."
"What?" Tayuya shot bolt upright.
Tenten and Chōji didn't react much—they were fine with any leader. Hinata felt a little disappointed, but she'd expected it.
"Lucky you—first mission and you're with Kitazawa-sensei," Ino said enviously.
"More like rock-bottom luck," Tayuya muttered.
"Team Two will be led by the Third," Kitazawa went on, glancing at Tayuya. "Members: Nara Shikamaru, Kimimaro, and Jūgo."
Jūgo hadn't made the third round, but his strength was decent—he'd placed seventeenth. Kitazawa assigned him to Hiruzen because of his special constitution. If they ran into a place thick with natural energy and he went berserk, Hiruzen could suppress him easily.
"This mission's going to be a headache," Shikamaru groaned. Their leader was Hiruzen, and both teammates were transfers from Otogakure.
Jūgo, on the other hand, was pleased to be with Kimimaro. Kimimaro was satisfied too: with Hiruzen leading, he and Orochimaru could be said to share a teacher in a way.
"Team Three will be led by Maruboshi-senpai," Kitazawa continued. "Members: Uchiha Sasuke, Yamanaka Ino, and Hyūga Hinata."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. How to put it… both teammates were good, though weaker than Naruto and Kurama Yakumo. Overall, acceptable.
"How could this happen?" Sakura groaned. "There goes my spot as Sasuke-kun's teammate!"
"Too bad, Sakura," Ino nudged her, grinning.
"Hmph, don't gloat!" Sakura bristled. "I'll score high on the mission and pass you in the rankings!"
"Yeah?" Ino blinked. "My teammates are Sasuke and Hinata. I like our odds better."
"Ugh!" Sakura froze, then snapped. With a lineup of Ino, Sasuke, and Hinata, they'd probably draw a high-difficulty mission—she might really score big. At least Ino wasn't competing for Sasuke's affection anymore, or she'd go nuts.
"Team Four will be led by Kakashi," Kitazawa said evenly. "Members: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Rock Lee."
"…?" A question mark practically appeared on Hatake Kakashi's face.
Why would you put Naruto and Lee together? Did I offend you?
Kakashi suddenly felt the urge to resign.
"Naruto and Lee?" Sakura's expression froze. Two teammates who talk about "youth" all day? She could already hear the word echoing a hundred times… and picture them bawling into each other's arms.
"Sakura, Naruto and Lee are both great," Ino patted her shoulder. They really were great—just… a touch of mental degradation.
"Haha! Naruto, we're finally teammates!" Lee jumped up, thrilled. "We must give our all so we don't betray our youth!"
"Real youth leaves nothing in reserve!" Naruto flashed a gleaming grin. "Let our enemies be shocked by our youth!"
"As expected… it's starting. Good luck, Sakura," Ino said, now more sympathetic than competitive.
"…" In that moment, Sakura and Kakashi shared the same dead-fish stare.
"Team Five will be led by Maruboshi-senpai," Kitazawa said, fighting a smile. "Members: Kurama Yakumo, Haku, and Inuzuka Hana."
Haku hadn't learned Ice Release yet, but he'd mastered the Three Basic Techniques and Leaf-Style Taijutsu; with solid talent, he'd placed eighteenth.
"With Yakumo on the team, this should be smooth," Hana smiled, satisfied. She wasn't worried about Yakumo stealing the spotlight—her own role was sensing and reconnaissance. Haku had no strong opinion; this was his first mission outside the village, and he was here to learn.
"Team Six will be led by Kakashi," Kitazawa announced the last lineup. "Members: Hyūga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino."
"My teammates are too strong—there's no room to shine," Kiba grumbled, scratching his head. Both Neji and Shino were versatile—sensing and combat. By comparison, without a ninja hound he was a bit lacking; surpassing them in points would take luck.
Then Kitazawa noticed something: the current top eighteen of the Advanced Class were all named characters from the original story—no more unknowns like before. He felt a strange sense of achievement, like completing a full compendium in a game.
"Konoha Twelve" could be "Konoha Eighteen." Add Karin and it'd be "Konoha Nineteen." If all thirty-four students in the class were… ahem, that was unlikely. Konoha had already scraped the bottom of the barrel for this age group—unless he started poaching geniuses from other villages.
"Teams are set. The first four teams, meet here tomorrow morning—then we head out on missions," Kitazawa said with a smile. "Good work today. Go home and rest."
The remaining two teams would go with Kakashi and Maruboshi after they finished these two, continuing next weekend.
"Goodbye, Kitazawa-sensei," the students chimed and headed off.
There had been a planned segment where another class challenged the bottom ten of the Advanced Class, but after thinking it through, Kitazawa canceled it. The Advanced Class's advantage was too large; the segment had lost its purpose. He kept the advisor system, though—it still motivated other classes.
Of course, the Advanced Class system wasn't perfectly rational. Kitazawa wanted to remodel the academy along the lines of his previous life—like founding a Konoha University. But that kind of reform couldn't be done overnight, and a university needed peace. The ninja academy was only six years because the shinobi world was too turbulent; Konoha needed a constant flow of fresh forces to protect itself and the Land of Fire. A "university" would mean roughly sixteen years in school. In the current climate, ninja couldn't sit in class that long.
After saying a few words to Hiruzen and the others, Kitazawa went home. Kakashi, however, was giving him a look—and Kitazawa could guess why. Pairing Naruto and Lee had given Kakashi a headache.
Truth was, he hadn't thought that hard when making the teams—he leaned toward random. Only after did he realize Naruto and Lee had ended up together; too late to change it, so Kakashi would have to suffer a bit. At least he didn't throw Might Guy in too.
He had once considered making Guy a Advanced Class teacher, but decided against it. With so many prodigies, you couldn't let them all grow crooked—Naruto and Lee were quite enough.
"You're back?" Kurenai heard the door and came to the entryway.
"Guess who took first today?" Kitazawa's eyes fell on her. The smooth silk nightgown traced her silhouette perfectly.
"Naruto, I'd say," Kurenai thought for a moment. "He's taken first the most."
"Correct." Kitazawa walked with her into the living room. "If Naruto ever brings up his theory scores, there'd be zero suspense about who's first in the class."
"Good thing he doesn't," Kurenai laughed. "Otherwise Sasuke and the rest would be devastated."
With her movement, delicate ripples ran through the silk. She knew too well what it felt like to have a peer who was a once-in-a-generation genius—she'd had Kakashi in her cohort.
He'd made jōnin at twelve and still held the record. But Kitazawa's rise hit even harder for her—he'd gone from an unremarkable academy teacher to a Konoha executive and the current Hokage's student in the blink of an eye.
"Where are we going for tomorrow's mission?" Kurenai clenched a fist. "Let's try our Composite Ninjutsu: Typhoon Water Vortex Technique."
"The Land of the Sea," Kitazawa smiled. "I promise we'll make your wish come true this time."
"Good," Kurenai said, eyes bright with anticipation.
After a few minutes of small talk, they started on lunch. After eating, Kitazawa headed to the Anbu base. He was the Anbu Commander; even if he didn't micromanage, he stopped by daily to check for important intel.
Anbu intel came in two types. One was internal—key shinobi movements in Konoha, like Jiraiya's. The other was external—operatives planted in other villages were managed by Anbu.
"Kitazawa." Konan stood and greeted him. She usually shadowed him, but if he told her not to, she stayed in his office at the base.
"I'll be out on a mission tomorrow," Kitazawa said, settling at his desk. "Use the chance to go back to Akatsuki and bring that member in. Meet next Tuesday."
"Understood," Konan nodded.
Kitazawa picked up a file on the desk and raised an eyebrow. The intel was from Hōzuki Castle in the Land of Grass—Blood Prison. It was a prison commissioned by the great nations, not owned solely by Grass—a kind of international prison.
Some Konoha/Fire Country offenders were sent there too. The warden was Mui, a Fire Style specialist most known for Fire Release: Heavenly Prison and Fire Release: Great Fire Heavenly Prison—fire techniques with sealing effects. Solid stuff; Kitazawa had already acquired them via the system.
The plot tied to Hōzuki Castle was the Box of Ultimate Bliss—supposedly a Sage of Six Paths tool that granted any wish. In reality, it was like a corrupted Holy Grail; after a wish, a monster called Satori appeared. In the original, it could briefly stand up to Naruto and Killer B's Eight-Tails—pretty strong.
The file said a Konoha inmate had died there two days ago. Mui's explanation was that the prisoner tried to escape and resisted, so the guards killed him. Since it involved a Konoha shinobi, a report was sent over.
But… something smelled off to Kitazawa. In the original, Mui had been draining prisoners' chakra to feed the Box of Ultimate Bliss, which needed a massive amount of chakra to open. Mui's goal was to save his son, Muku. In his youth, he'd craved power and tried to open the box, and it swallowed Muku. He'd then sought to revive him.
Kitazawa suspected the inmate had died from chakra extraction. Normally, he might ignore it—but the box made him want in. He thought of Sasuke's system mission to awaken his three-tomoe Sharingan. From the original story, Satori was a Yin Release monster—immortal, ultimately sealed. Yin Release creates form from nothing, which fit the wish-granting mechanism. What if Sasuke made a wish?
As for unleashing Satori, Kitazawa wasn't too worried—beat it down and seal it. He had plenty of sealing techniques now.
[Current Mission: Defeat Satori.]
[Reward: Contract Seal.]
[Accept?]
Kitazawa blinked at the sudden prompt. How timely. Looked like he really did need to go. He already disliked Grass because of Karin and her mother—confiscating the Box of Ultimate Bliss would be "compensation." No rush, though. Naruto and Sasuke had just been assigned teams and would depart tomorrow; he was leading a team to the Land of Sea.
He decided to send Anbu to scout Hōzuki Castle first; once confirmed, he'd go himself. He didn't mind strong-arm tactics, but Tsunade was Hokage now—if he was going to seize the box, he needed to give her a reason. A Konoha inmate dying from chakra extraction by the box was perfect.
After thinking it over, he chose Uchiha Itachi to lead the recon. Blood Prison was a heavily guarded place—average Anbu might not be able to gather intel on the box.
~~~
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