3
Harry frowned as the sound of cursing reached his ears, which was strange since it was rare for someone to come so near the Senju compound without permission, especially this late at night.
Standing up he raced up the wall, still amazed that the people of his new home were capable of just walking up walls.
Looking down he spotted a blonde boy, his distant cousin Naruto Uzumaki, The son of the fourth and fifth Hokage. His mother Kushina, the current Hokage, would bring Naruto over to play when they were kids.
"Naruto, what are you doing down there?" He called down.
"Huh?!" The blonde boy leaped up and looked around.
"Up here."
Naruto looked up and smiled widely as he saw his cousin, "hey Harry! What are you doing here?"
"Naruto, you're right next to the Senju compound." Harry deadpanned.
"Really? Guess that's why I always felt a little more relaxed in the clearing around here." He mumbled. For some reason, whenever he was around Harry his normally abundant energy was calmed and any anger he had underneath the surface faded away.
"What are you doing Naruto?"
"Trying to figure out the clone technique. You know it's always been my worst technique." Naruto complained.
"That's because you put too much power into it Naruto. Mother always drills into me the importance of good Chakra control for higher techniques.
"Really? Mom never told me that..." he mumbled
"Kushina is the Hokage Naruto. That's a big job, It's not a surprise that some things slipped through the cracks. Come on up here, I'll help. Perhaps we can graduate together."
Naruto had been let into the academy early on in his life for some reason, but he had failed a few different times now due to a teacher who turned out to be a traitor to Konoha, Mitsuki, sabotaging his test scores and making him exit the classroom whenever anything that could be helpful came up.
His friend Ino had told him that due to her father being the head of the Yamanaka clan, they could read minds and the like(causing him to see if he could replicate Occlumency with Chakra) so after even the beating the Hokage had given him he wouldn't talk, he had been called in. Yea, Ino was a bit of a blabbermouth and far more interested in her looks and boys than being a ninja...but she was good people.
Far better than the last time he was eleven and met his first blonde.
Naruto smiled happily and leaped up the trees to the top of the wall, not many other people in the village liked to associate with him. If they didn't outright hate him for some reason then they were scared of the son of two Hokage, but Tsunade, Shizune, and Harry always had time for him, though now that he thought about it, two out of the three were blood-related to two Hokage, just like him so they wouldn't be intimidated by that.
Even his teachers did everything they could to hinder his progress. Particularly Mitsuki before he disappeared for some reason.
Neither noticed the elder Senju smiling happily as she watched her son teach the Jinchuruki about the Chakra control exercises he had been taught his whole life.
Tsunade had been hesitant to stay in Konoha, believing it to be cursed after her whole family had been killed here...and would be family in Dan's case, but she had to bite that shurikan because in town was the safest place for her son. The clans her grandfather had been close to were all here, and were still extremely protective of Harry, he had even become close to new friends like the Yamanaka clan and Hyuuga clan.
She was just glad Kushina had snaked the Hokage position from her sensei because she had a feeling she would've been selected by the bastards on the council if they had been given a choice.
000
"Alright class, as you know this is the final exam." Iruka said as he walked In, actively ignoring the group of girls, mostly from civilian families, fighting over the seat next to Sasuke, or even the disgusted looks of Naruto and Sasuke....and Harry laughing so hard he was rolling around on the ground, "after today's test if you pass you will be fully fledged Gennin. I expect you all to put your best foot forward and pass." That brought the mood down and everyone looked serious...well, everyone but Sakura who was just staring at Sasuke with blind adoration.
000
For the next few hours the only sounds were pencils meeting paper...and the occasional groan of irritation as someone came to a hard question, well...except for Sakura, who whizzed through the test like it was nothing.
That little irritation was a fangirl through and through. She came from a civilian family and only chose to become a ninja to get together with Sasuke. She didn't care about anything other than grades and Sasuke, her test and theoretical scores were near the top of the class...but practically she was very near the bottom since she never worked out and was always severely underweight from dieting.
Even the Hermione he had met in first year would call her trash because though she was a good student...he would bet she'd give it all up if Sasuke married her.
"Alright, everyone. The written portion is now done. We'll take a lunch break and come back for the practical portion." Iruka called out.
"Hey, Harry!" Choji came jogging over...well, Jogging in Choji's terms.
"Hey Choji. What's on the menu today?"
"My mom packed me barbecued pork today, you?" Choji smiled, he liked Harry. He was one of two people in their class who never once called him fat, but he was also the only one in class to understand that because of his clan's body expansion jutsu, they needed to consume far more food than the other clans to support their body's changing shape.
"Oh... Auntie Shizune packed me some sushi made from fish she and Mom got from a village near the old ferry to the ruins of Uzushiogakure." Harry grinned.
"Man..." Choji was practically salivating at the thought, "you're so lucky that your mom takes so many missions to distant lands. You get so many exotic foods."
Harry just smiled, his new mom was not very fond of Konoha. Shizune had told him that every member of her family had been killed in this village, or service of this village and she had grown to think of it as a curse, but when he was born she had to swallow that belief because she knew here was the safest place for him. That's why she would always take healing requests to far-off lands.
"Man...that test was a drag," Shikamaru grumbled as he sat down.
"Finally woke up huh Shikamaru?" He smirked, Shikamaru was top of the class in intelligence, but he was so lazy he tended to only score well on tests so he could use the rare quiet times in class for a nap once he finished.
Shikamaru huffed and snatched a roll from his lunch, "don't know why I bothered. Was a waste of time anyway."
"Because your mom would've beaten you black and blue for failing," Harry smirked. Shikamaru glared at him while Choji chuckled.
The Twins quietly sat down during the laughter, "Hinata. Hanabi."
Hinata was a very shy girl, especially around Naruto, but she was a good friend.
Hanabi was her practical opposite, outgoing, and friendly...unless she got protective of something. He still remembered Kiba's screams of pain when she beat down the Akamichi for some random throwaway comment that Hanabi had taken for him acting lewd towards her sister.
It almost made Harry smile widely that he was close to another set of twins in his life, and was hoping that this one didn't end like the last one....poor George hadn't even been able to look at himself in the mirror without breaking down, not that Hinata and Hanabi were exactly alike. Hanabi had brown hair tied in a ponytail, and Hinata was closer to a blue that was in a moe cut.
"H...hello Harry." Hinata smiled shyly, her face becoming beet red as Naruto sat next to him, which caused Hanabi to chuckle.
000
Kushina grinned as she read over the reports of the school year, her son had finally passed. She knew something was going on, she didn't raise an idiot.
It did help that he had been going over to the Senju compound for tips on Chakra control. She couldn't believe she had been so busy that she had forgotten her problems with that aspect when the nine tails were sealed inside of her as a child, "what do you think Hiruzen?" She passed the sheet of this year's students to her sensei.
"Hmm....a fine strong selection this year. Are you sure about these teams though? Outside of the top and bottom student, you switched it up quite a bit."
"It was something I noticed when Minato was Hokage. Some teams become so focused on one specific aspect they tend to lose out on missions when that aspect isn't needed. Take Kurenai's requested team, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. Three sensory types and two close-range specialists. Not very versatile in the field and wouldn't be able to do much more than information gathering."
Hiruzen puffed on his pipe as he went back over the team assignments again, now considering known abilities. It was genius in a way. He had not considered that the current style mostly found certain teams rise above the rest...and that was because a team was unbalanced and unable to reach its full potential, "true...and Kurenai being a genjutsu expert can't impart that expertise on those students. Hinata could be good, but Hyuuga rarely uses genjutsu...what about the top Shinobi and Kunoichi? I see you changed that up too."
"I didn't actually. True, Sakura Haruno has the top scores...but that was due completely to her textbook knowledge. If you look a little closer you see someone who is barely adequate in the practical portion of being a gennin. If you look around the class closer she's barely mid-rank in class."
He was quite proud of Kushina, he liked that they tended to work together on Hokage duties so neither of them got stuck here super late, perhaps they should bring that up to the council. This was just one instant of an incite he had never considered. At first glance, team 7 should be Naruto, Harry, and Sakura. But by looking closer that wasn't the case. A lot of students got by on book smarts, and though it was a time of Peace and they could afford to help these children...it was a little baffling how much they were weakened by that fact.
He wasn't stupid, he knew a large part of the graduating class had only joined the academy to get closer to the Uchiha and Senju heirs, but he hadn't expected more than half of the females to fail due to that fact. Perhaps it was time to place some restrictions on the current curriculum and reorganize the whole system.
000
Harry entered the classroom for the final time with a bit of pride in his step, his mother and Shizune had both stitched him new clothes for his graduation, now he sported a silvery robe-like shirt like his mother, but his had the classic Senju symbol his great grandfather and granduncle wore on the back and pants that had more pocket than seemed practicle, but they were comfy and fit him far better than Dudleys old cast offs, he would engrave protection runes on them tonight(that he was amazingly impressed could work with Chakra.) He had his new protector wrapped around his neck like a necklace since the metal of the plate tended to chafe his forehead, and finally having a scar-free forehead tended to....make him want to keep it that way.
"I knew you'd make it Harry!" Ino said excitedly, "What do you think the teams are gonna be?"
He shrugged, "not sure...but I can only hope that someone like Sakura isn't on my team."
"Oh? Why not forhead girl?" Ino asked surprised
"Unlike you Ino. She does not know what a true shinobi is, or what it entails, and also unlike you, she isn't trying to keep a hold of the last of her childhood. She only joined to get close to the Uchiha and has done nothing but diet and spit out facts from books. She'll need some major training to get anywhere anytime soon." He grumbled as he sat next to a passed-out Shikimaru...who had probably been here for close to an hour now just to get away from his mother.
Ino had to suppress her blush at being caught like that...but it did please her that someone didn't think she was a love-struck blonde in over her head. It was amazing how often that happened despite being the heiress to her clan.
"Alright, everyone. Sit down." Iruka rushed into the room, his hands filled with papers, "today you graduate from the academy and move on to the next stage of your training. I have here a list of teams, once I'm done your new sensei will come and take you. I am proud of each one of you, and know I will see great things from you in the future." Iruka finished with pride as he began reading the list.
Harry himself mostly tuned out the selection, noting that....a lot of his female classmates hadn't yet even graduated.
Not surprising. Most of Those were the girls who followed Sasuke. He did not doubt that if they had hit puberty they had been leaving puddles behind them.
The rest did the same for him but tried to be much more sneaky about it since they knew he didn't tolerate those facts after having to deal with Ginny in his last life.
"Team 7 will consist of Harrison Senju, Hinata Hyuuga, and Naruto Uzumaki. Led by captain Yammato."
"Yeah!" Naruto jumped for joy, "Let's do this Harry!"
Harry just gave the kid a thumbs-up.
Hinata looked to be on cloud nine, "I'm on the same team as Naruto..." She giggled a little under her breath.
"Team 8 will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sai, and Hanabi Hyuuga. Led by Kakashi Hatake"
Several girls began weeping, none more so than Sakura.
Not Hanabi though, she seemed quite irritated by her team's choice.
Again, not a surprise. Something was off about Sai, it just wasn't natural to be able to so earnestly insult someone with a smile Harry could see was fake.
And Sasuke was the spoilt little bitch who thought he was so much better than anyone else. Harry could see Sasuke latching onto the first person who gave him a chance to get stronger, enemy or not.
"Team 9 will be Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Sakura Haruno. Led by Kurenai Yuhi"
"Team 10 will be Choji Akamichi, Ino Yamanaka, and Shikamaru Nara. Led by Asuma Sarutobi. Good luck to all of you Gennin."
One by one teachers began to take the new teams out of the classroom, leaving just Team 7 and Team 8.
Harry frowned as he felt a slight buzzing and looked around.
"Man...where is this Yammato at?" Naruto grumbled, growing bored he climbed up to the door to prepare a prank.
"I wouldn't bother with that Naruto...one of our teachers is already in this room. Right there"
Everyone turned and stared amazed as a tall man seemed to grow out of the wall, "very good...I was told we shared something in common...but I hadn't believed it until now. Shall we head somewhere else?"
"Oh! What about Ichirakus sensei!!" Naruto bounced up and down.
"I suppose that will be as good a place as any," Yamato nodded, "let's go."
Harry almost had to suppress a smirk as he saw both Sasuke and Sai beginning to get annoyed that they were the last team left, "just so you guys know...I heard Kakashi was notorious for being at least two hours late. I hope you brought a snack."
"Harry!" Hanabi stood with a scowl on her face, but by then he left.
000
Harry stared shocked as Naruto downed his fourth bowl of Ramen, "Man I can't get enough of this! Mom rarely lets me have Ramen for dinner."
Yamato chuckled, "Let us get started, how about we introduce ourselves."
"What do you mean sensei?" Naruto asked confused.
Yamato hummed, "How about telling us the things you like, things you dislike? Dreams for the future and all of that. You first, since you're done with your ramen." He nodded to Naruto.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I love Ramen, and I hate the three minutes it takes for a cup of Ramen. I like my mom, and my dream is to one day become Hokage. That way half the village who openly hate me will respect me, and the half that do show some respect...well, at least I'll earn it." The blonde's smile dipped somewhat.
Yamato nodded, "A lofty goal. But from what I've seen you have the potential." That brought the blonde's smile back in full force, "how about you Hinata?"
"O..oh. my name is Hinata Hyuuga." She said shyly, poking her fingers together, "I like my little sister and I like to press flowers in my free time. My dream is to prove to my father that I'm worthy of being the Hyuuga Heiress."
Yamato didn't show any outward emotions, but he was impressed with the girl. Iruka had told him Hinata was overly shy and reserved due to the harsh upbringing her father had put her through after her mother had passed away, he probably didn't have the whole story, but he was quite happy to see a slight spark in the girls' eyes towards the end.
She hadn't been beaten down by circumstances, and was fully willing to put in that effort, in a way it reminded him of himself when Danzo had his Claws in every part of his life, "What about you?" He turned to easily the most mysterious child he had been given.
The boy had eyes well beyond his years.
"My Name is Harrison Senju, feel free to call me Harry, I like my mom and auntie Shizune and especially her pet pig Tonton. I hate bullies like the Uchiha guy." He scowled, "Just because he's from a big important family doesn't give him bragging rights."
That brought raised eyebrows from everyone but Naruto, who was nodding his head in agreement since he was usually the victim of Sasuke's superiority complex. The other two were wondering about that sentence since he was also from an important clan, arguably the most important one in the village.
"My hobbies...well, I've taken to gardening. Especially since my abilities manifested." He smiled.
Yamato nodded, even as both Hinata and Naruto seemed confused. Not surprising since he had been briefed by the Hokage that Harry had been very low-key about his Kekkai Genkai throughout his childhood since his mother had been super worried about abduction/assassination attempts.
"Yes. I too took to gardening quite a bit." He allowed a slight smile, "My name is Yamato, my likes are Walnuts and growing things, my dislikes are any oily food and those who put their comrades in danger because of their reckless behavior. My hobbies are reading books about architecture and as for dreams I don't particularly have any dreams, to be honest." Yamato nodded, "Very well. Tomorrow we will meet on training ground 8, this will be your true test." His face seemed to sharpen as he stared unblinking at all three of them, both Naruto and Hinata began to shake slightly, a little creeped out, "should you fail, you will be sent back to the academy. Make sure you're ready for the fight of your life."
Naruto seemed to swallow heavily, "We'll be ready Sensei. Believe it."
Narutos' show of confidence seemed to bolster Hinata as she sat up straighter, mentally deciding to ask her father for a training session tonight.
She may hate fighting, but she would become as strong as she could if it meant protecting her friends...and Naruto.
Yamato looked between the three and nodded, "Very well. I shall see you at 9 am sharp. Don't be late." He vanished in a whirlwind of leaves, leaving a couple of bucks on the table.
Paying the remainder of the bill the new team 7 went their separate ways, each to begin preparations for tomorrow in their way.