The Joint Shinobi Selection

"TODAY'S THE DAY!" Naruto exclaimed proudly, standing on the rooftop of his apartment. He shouted to the world that he was now a certified Konoha shinobi. Gone were the goggles he used to wear; he now sported the Konoha headband. It was all thanks to that Mizuki-teme. Yes, Mizuki had manipulated Naruto into stealing the forbidden scroll and hurt Iruka-sensei, but Naruto got a cool jutsu out of it and graduated!

Naruto woke up refreshed, had a large ramen breakfast at Ichiraku, and played with Konohamaru and his gang before barging into his classroom. He boasted to Shikamaru, Chouji, and Dog Breath (a.k.a. Kiba Inuzuka) that he was finally a shinobi.

"Yeah, right. There's no way you graduated!" Kiba said, with Akamaru barking in agreement. "You stole that headband. Return it!"

"I did not, dog breath!"

Naruto was now an official Konoha shinobi, and no one was going to tell him otherwise. The only blemish on his day was Sasuke-teme hogging all the girls. Upset over the attention, Naruto stood by Sasuke's desk and glared at him. Sasuke glared back. One accidental push later, and Naruto and Sasuke's lips crashed into each other. The girls, infuriated, began beating Naruto up. He spent the entire time in agony, thinking about how crazy the girls were over that teme.

Bruised and battered, Naruto sat next to Sakura, who was too busy fawning over the stoic Sasuke. The dark-haired boy continued to ignore the pink-haired girl. He wasn't even paying attention to Iruka-sensei's speech about the expectations of being a shinobi.

"...All the genin will be grouped into three-man squads. Each squad will have a jounin-sensei as your guide on your journey to becoming full-fledged shinobi," Iruka-sensei explained.

A three-man squad? Sakura thought excitedly. I hope I'll be on the same team as Sasuke! Cha! I'd better be on Sasuke's team or heads are going to roll.

Great. Sasuke rolled his eyes. More people in my way.

Anybody but him on my team! Naruto glared at Sasuke. Hopefully, I'll get to be on the same team as Sakura-chan!

"But there is something else you should know," Iruka continued. "Some of you may have noticed several foreign shinobi in the village." This caught the attention of some of the genin, especially those from shinobi clans like Shikamaru (because his dad is the jounin commander and he hears updates) and Sasuke (who saw the new foreign shinobi as potential rivals).

"This is because of the new joint shinobi selection program that is being hosted in our village. There will be a team of genin from different villages."

Wait, what?

"Sensei, you mean there will be a team where a genin might have teammates who are not from the village?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, Sakura," Iruka-sensei answered. "And one of you was chosen to be part of the program."

"Wait? Is it Sasuke-kun?" one of the girls asked, making everyone look at Sasuke. Some of them screamed excitedly, much to Sasuke's annoyance. Sasuke, remaining stoic, wanted to join. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to get stronger. The others thought his representing the village was amazing, while the other girls whined about not being on Sasuke's team.

"No," Iruka answered. "Shinobi from prominent families like the Hyuuga and Uchiha are forbidden by the Hokage to participate, mostly for safety and security reasons. This is also an experimental program, and there is no guarantee of success yet. The genin who will join this program is Naruto."

"WHHHHAAAAAATTTTTTT?????"

"Huh?" Naruto looked perplexed.

"What?"

"No way!"

"The dead last of all people?"

"He's going to ruin our village's reputation!"

"I feel sorry for the team that's going to get Naruto," Kiba chuckled.

"What's that, teme?!" Naruto growled, almost pouncing on the dog-nin. Iruka-sensei managed to grab his favorite knucklehead away before a fight escalated.

"Sit down, Naruto. Ebisu will be here shortly to take you to the other room."

"What? That pervert?"

"Naruto!" Iruka glared at him, making the orange-clad genin sit back down and behave. Pervert or not, Ebisu was a respected shinobi, so Iruka had to reprimand Naruto to be more respectful.

"Anyway, while we wait, I will be announcing the teams..."

Iruka started calling out their names and which teams they belonged to.

"...Team Seven: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke (the girls in the room groaned, and Sakura cried in happiness, muttering to Ino about how true love prevails), and the third teammate is Sai."

"Who?" Sakura asked.

"He's right behind you, Sakura." Iruka pointed at the pale boy, who smiled at Sakura when she turned around.

"Domo!" the pale boy greeted.

Everyone else looked confused. Who was this guy, and how come they never saw him before?

Wait. He looks cute, Ino thought. Dammit. Why does Sakura get two cute boys on her team?

"...Team Eight: Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyuga Hinata. Your jounin-sensei is Yuhei Kurenai."

"...Team Ten: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru (What?! Ino screamed), and Akimichi Chouji (Ino slammed her forehead on the desk) ... Your jounin-sensei is Sarutobi Asuma."

"Why are you surprised? Our families have always been part of a team for generations," Shikamaru muttered to Ino, who was scowling.

"Shut up, Shikamaru!" Ino hissed at him.

Man, girls are bothersome. Shikamaru thought before yawning and contemplating taking a nap.

*****

"Listen here, Naruto. The Joint Shinobi Selection is a very important program, and you will be representing the village." Ebisu said condescendingly towards the famous village prankster.

Naruto groaned. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I have to behave, not act out, and listen to my sensei. Iruka-sensei already gave me the speech."

"Such insolence!" Ebisu growled. "Do you not understand what would happen if you do something wrong? You could ruin the village's reputation! I don't know what the Hokage is thinking by putting you in this program. Such an idiotic knucklehead..." Ebisu never got to finish his sentence as Naruto pushed the glasses-wearing teacher out of the way. "WHA-HEY!"

Naruto burst into the classroom, surprising everyone inside. He paused as all eyes turned towards him. Without warning, the orange-clad genin immediately proclaimed, "ALRIGHT! LISTEN UP! MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO – FUTURE HOKAGE! NICE TO MEET YA, DATTEBAYO!"

Almost everyone had sweat drops on their heads. Some looked at the orange-clad genin with confusion, others with disgust; some thought he was an idiot, while one or two simply ignored him. Naruto was annoyed when none of them responded and immediately went to talk with their fellow shinobi.

"Uhh..." the female Suna shinobi with brown hair, purple markings on her face, and a white hat stared at the vibrant Konoha shinobi in confusion. This is a shinobi? That's a bright orange. She had never seen anyone wear such a bright, scalding color before. In Suna, most people wore darker tones like brown, black, and maroon. The closest she had seen to orange was during sunsets, but they were never really that bright—almost a vivid red-orange. Her name is Maki, and she is one of the two Suna genins sent to participate in the program.

The other Suna shinobi sat farthest from everyone else, isolating himself. He chose to ignore the blonde. His name is Gaara, and he has spiky red hair, pale skin, green eyes, wore black training clothes and a white scarf, and carried a large gourd on his back. His distinctive features were his lack of eyebrows and a kanji tattoo on his forehead.

"Is this a joke or something? Did that guy just burst in here and declare he is the future Hokage?" Suigetsu, a young Kiri shinobi, commented. He had shoulder-length pale blue hair, sharp teeth, and carried a sword on his back. "His clothes are orange. Orange, Chojuro! What shinobi wears orange? Is he an idiot?"

"Just let him be, Suigetsu. We don't want to cause a scene," his fellow Kiri shinobi, Chojuro, said nervously. He knew Suigetsu could react negatively, which had resulted in a lot of fights back in the village. Like Suigetsu, Chojuro had sharp teeth, but his blue hair was short and spiky. He also wore a pair of glasses and large metallic earmuffs.

The two Iwa genins were among the only groups wearing their shinobi uniforms, the popular maroon, reds, and browns. The young girl, with short black hair and pale skin, was frowning at the blonde, while the other was a very tall boy with tanned skin and black hair. "If this is the type of shinobi this village is producing, Konoha will have trouble in the future," the girl named Kurotsuchi commented.

"Or, there is a chance that the villages are also sending their unwanted genins due to a lack of faith in the program, Kurotsuchi-sama?" the Iwa boy whose name was Ittan mumbled.

Kurotsuchi scoffed. "You'd think they should at least send us some decent shinobi. Guess grandfather was right about Konoha. They would never let them show their power. And how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me 'sama'?"

"He does have blonde hair. You think he's related to him, Kurotsuchi-sama?"

"Urgg," Kurotsuchi groaned. The guy just wouldn't listen. "We have seen a lot of blondes here, Ittan. I saw ten of them before we even entered the village." Being blonde, after all, was not exactly an uncommon hair color.

The two other genin who were wearing shinobi uniforms were from Kumo. Their uniform is a combination of gray, white, and navy blue. One had shoulder-length blonde hair, and the other had shoulder-length black hair and wore his village's forehead protector with a purple line under his left eye. They are Atsui and Tenga (A/N: Atsui is Samui's younger brother. Tenga was part of the intelligence division under Inoichi during the 4th Shinobi War). The two genin chuckled at the sight of the orange-clad genin. They both agreed he was an idiot.

"He's an Uzumaki?" Uzumaki Karin, whose vibrant red hair carried the symbol of Kusa, stared at the young blonde. She had heard stories about the Uzumakis from her late mother. Ironically, even the Uzumaki surname was similar to Karin's last name. But don't they usually have red hair? Why is he blonde, though?

The other remaining genin was from Taki, who had completely ignored what was happening in the room and was roaming around, looking at the crooks and crannies. She had dark skin, wore white battle clothes with mesh, and carried a large red bag on her back. She was oblivious to the outbursts of the blonde.

Naruto huffed. They didn't even react. What weirdos. He wanted to do something crazy—a prank, maybe? But pranks took planning, and he didn't have much time or the necessary equipment. Besides, Iruka-sensei told him to behave, and for once, Naruto decided to do it. He sat nonchalantly next to the other Konoha genin in the room. He looked older, with brown hair and bangs on both sides of his head.

"Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto," the blonde immediately introduced himself.

The other Konoha genin chuckled. "Yeah, I know. You practically declared your name to the room. I'm Saji."

"Hehe," Naruto laughed apologetically while rubbing the back of his head. "By the way, did you graduate this year? I never noticed you." Wasn't there a student in his class he didn't know too? What was his name again? Sai?

Saji stared at Naruto thoughtfully. "Hmmm. I believe you are a rookie if you graduated this year. I graduated two years ahead of you, but both my teammates were promoted to Chuunin, and my sensei wanted to specialize in interrogation and joined the torture team. So, I was recommended for the program."

"ATTENTION!" Ebisu called to the genin.