A Different Team Assignment / The New Team Seven

Amidst this prosperous situation, the sixty-third year of Leaf Village arrived.

This was a significant year for Uchiha Shingen.

Because this year marks the graduation of Naruto Uzumaki and Uchiha Sasuke, two overpowered characters, from the Ninja Academy.

In this timeline, there is no longer the underdog Naruto, nor the melancholic Uchiha Sasuke.

However, two more troublemakers have appeared.

As graduation approaches, following tradition, the Hokage will arrange for the Jonin to undergo a final test.

Just being tested doesn't guarantee becoming Jonin's direct subordinate. For example, Haku, Karin, and Neji Hyuga were all tested by Uchiha Shingen, and he did indeed mentor them for a period of time, but they weren't officially Uchiha Shingen's direct subordinates.

After the transition period, they were reassigned and placed in different departments with new superiors.

Karin joined the Sealing Squad, Neji Hyuga and Haku joined the Police Force. It's worth mentioning that Haku and Neji Hyuga's superior was Uchiha Tekka.

And now another group of students is facing graduation.

On this day, Namikaze Minato, following his usual practice, summoned the relatively free Jonin from the Jonin Council.

Unfortunately, Uchiha Shingen was also quite free lately, and as a result, he was summoned by Namikaze Minato.

It has to be said that the lineup they called up this time was quite impressive.

It's absolutely impossible to say that the Hokage and his assistant had no intention of using the Hokage's physique to benefit their son.

The meeting point is the Jonin Council's activity room.

Every Jonin Leaf Village came. All the Jonin with high appearance rates from the original timeline were present, plus Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi.

Volume 9

Chapter 1: Different Grouping Results

The activity room of the Leaf Village Jonin Council hasn't been this lively in a long time.

This place was originally established to allow the village's Jonin to connect and build relationships.

But the actual results were terrible.

After all, everyone is very busy after becoming Jonin. The so-called "free time" just means that there are no missions at hand. But does not having missions mean there is nothing to do?

For networking and building relationships, isn't a commercial street a better option? Your activity room is just a bunch of tables and chairs, nothing else.

As a result, the activity room was practically deserted most of the time, with only a few Jonin duty spending their time there.

This place only gets a bit lively when graduates are divided into classes, but it's rare to see it this lively as it is today.

The reason is clear to everyone: this year's graduates are of very high quality.

The Fourth Hokage, his son who assisted Hokage, and the grandson of the Third Hokage are all in there.

In addition, there is the Main Family daughter of the Hyuga Clan's main branch, the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, as well as the most valued children of the Inuzuka Clan and Aburame Clan in this generation.

How to divide students into classes and who will lead them are all matters that require careful consideration.

Everyone in the village knows exactly which teachers are "famous".

To be considered a renowned teacher, one must first have exceptional personal skills, then possess strong teaching abilities, and finally be a good fit with the students.

The Aburame Clan's children are practically nonexistent in this regard. If you take care of the Aburame Clan child, you can't teach them many Ninjutsu techniques, and the entire system doesn't fit together.

The children of the Inuzuka Clan and Hyuga Clan also have their own independent Ninjutsu system, which other families simply don't know, so naturally they can't receive in-depth instruction from them.

Fortunately, those who are unconventional are ultimately in the minority.

In the activity room, the extra tables and chairs had been moved out, leaving only a long table and five chairs at the front.

Jonin waiting for their boss, the Jonin chatted excitedly, and considering today's topic, their conversation inevitably touched on the students' situation.

Those who are more familiar with these situations are naturally the Jonin who attend Ninja Academy.

Unfortunately, some of the graduating students were family members of the Jonin.

One of the family members was particularly noisy.

"Brother Shingen, is Sasuke always paying close attention in class?"

"Brother Shingen, is Sasuke usually very caring towards his classmates?"

"Brother Shingen, is Sasuke...?"

"Stop right there!"

Ever since Uchiha Shingen left the clan compound, he hadn't had a moment's peace. The instigator was his brother-obsessed brother who kept talking, reciting everything up to the point of mentioning his strength. His head was buzzing.

"Why are there so many questions? If a child isn't mischievous at school, is he still a child?"

"Ah! Has Sasuke been naughty?" Uchiha Itachi anxiously. "Do the teachers and classmates dislike him?"

No, they actually quite enjoy watching him practice calligraphy.

Mikoto's Iron Sand should have been nearly perfected by now.

"Hey, stop thinking about all that nonsense. Graduation is today, isn't it?"

"Okay..." Uchiha Itachi wanted to ask more, but seeing that Uchiha Shingen had already quickly squeezed into a Hyuga Clan of Hyuga ninjas, he had no choice but to give up.

After all, Uchiha Itachi had no friends in the Hyuga Clan, and he felt embarrassed to try and squeeze in.

Unlike Uchiha Shingen, who had friends everywhere.

"Itachi, don't worry, Sasuke such a good boy, he must get along well with everyone."

A gentle voice rang in Uchiha Itachi's ear; Uchiha Shisui patted him on the shoulder, offering a soft word of comfort.

However, he was also internally complaining.

It's not that Shingen wanted to run away; Uchiha Itachi had been talking about it ever since they left the clan's territory.

Even Uchiha Shisui himself was finding it hard to stand.

Isn't this spoiling the younger brother way too much?

Although Sasuke is very well-behaved and cute, he's gone too far and might spoil the child.

Looking towards Uchiha Shingen's direction, he was chatting and laughing with a group of the Hyuga Clan.

Uchiha Shisui was very envious of this. Although he had also tried hard to cultivate good interpersonal relationships with the Hyuga Clan, he found that there was always a barrier between them.

They started from the same point; they went to the Hidden Mist Village Battlefield together. Could it be that a few drinks with courtesans have such a powerful effect?

That's the only thing he really can't learn.

Suddenly, the surroundings quieted down. Uchiha Shingen, having finished greeting his friends from the Hyuga Clan, returned and stood next to Uchiha Shisui.

Uchiha Shisui quickly tugged at Uchiha Itachi, who was standing to the side, and told him to stop muttering.

The Hokage has arrived.

The door to the activity room was opened, Namikaze Minato walked in first, followed by Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Next came Uchiha Fugaku and two advisors.

The Leaf Five sat down in their places, while the Jonin had already lined up in their respective ranks.

The seating arrangement was uniformly assigned by the Jonin Council.

Uchiha Shingen and Uchiha Shisui were both placed in the first row. This row consisted of people who were either exceptionally strong or had great influence, and were known as the "military leaders."

Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi, and others stood in the second row; they were considered elites Jonin the current Leaf Village.

"Thank you all for gathering here today; I'm sure you all know why."

After making an opening remark, Namikaze Minato looked around.

Nearly two hundred Jonin gathered together—it was quite a spectacular sight in the Ninja World.

The number of Jonin Leaf Village now exceeded three hundred.

In this era, only the Hidden Leaf Village has reached this scale of Jonin. Among the five great ninja villages, the Kirigakure currently Jonin, with less than one hundred.

Looking at the Jonin before him, Namikaze Minato recalled the beginning of his tenure and then looked at the present, feeling a surge of excitement.

More than ten years of working overtime, that's really not easy!

Sarutobi Hiruzen also felt a pang of emotion. When he stepped down, Hidden Leaf Village was truly badly damaged and could no longer fight.

Thirteen years later, Leaf Village is now more powerful than when he was in power.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze fell on the location of the Jonin Uchiha Clan. The Uchiha Clan now has more than ten Jonin have entered the Jonin Council, and five of them are present today.

Both Uchiha Shingen and Uchiha Shisui, the two strongest fighters of the Uchiha Clan, have arrived.

The first newcomer Uchiha Itachi, was also there.

Sarutobi Hiruzen Uchiha Shingen couldn't pretend he hadn't seen him, so he could only return an awkward but polite smile.

Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't embarrassed at all; he smiled kindly.

Meanwhile, on the stage, Namikaze Minato took out the student roster.

"Everyone is familiar with the process, so I won't go into too much detail. Let me first announce the group assignments," he said to the several Ministry of Education staff members who were already waiting by the door. "Please, Ministry of Education of Education staff, distribute the group assignment lists first."

"Yes, Lord Hokage."

The Ministry of Education's ninjas responded and began distributing the materials.

It's called data, but it's just a single page, merely the result of grouping.

After obtaining it, Uchiha Shingen first looked for the names of the two overpowered boys.

As he expected, Sasuke and Naruto were still in the same group, but their teammates had changed.

Chapter Two: The New Team 7

Uchiha Shingen glanced at the one-page group list in just a few glances.

In the original timeline, Leaf Village was nicknamed the "Konoha 12," referring to the twelve early Genin of similar age who appeared most frequently in the original storyline.

Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, and Tenten are one year ahead of the other nine.

However, it's clearly impossible to say that there are no other talented people in this age group besides these twelve.

Take Sai, who only appeared in Naruto: Shippuden, as an example. At the age of fifteen, he had already defeated Jonin. At that time, Shimura Danzō also believed that Sai was the best ninja among his peers.

Of course, this isn't from the perspective of blowing up mountains and demolishing buildings, but rather from the perspective of infiltration, intelligence gathering, and assassination—which were the main tasks of ninjas in this era.

Uchiha Shingen also saw Sai's name on the list, but he was certain he hadn't met this person at the Ninja Academy.

Without a doubt, this is the style of the ANBU.

It's understandable, given that there are quite a few sensitive figures among this year's students, it's normal for the Hokage to send some people in through the ANBU.

However, it's unclear who came up with the name "Sai".

However, Leaf Village follows a principle of balance in grouping students for the Ninja Academy.

Each group strives for a mix of strong and weak members, and the overall strength of each group also aims for a balance.

In the original timeline, in Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke was the top student in martial arts, Sakura Haruno was the top student in humanities, Naruto Uzumaki was the bottom student in both subjects.

Although Naruto Uzumaki had already learned the Multiple Shadow Clone and beaten up Mizuki before that, his classmates were unaware of it.

Therefore, the original Team 7 was grouped together according to their ranking in the school records.

However, according to this principle, Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto Uzumaki in this timeline should not be in the same group, because the top three in their year of martial arts were the two of them plus Konohamaru Sarutobi. It would be unbalanced for the first and second place finishers of martial arts to be in the same team.

However, Uchiha Shingen didn't speak, because he knew that this grouping was done by the five people above... no, it was the grouping of Namikaze Minato, Uchiha Fugaku, and Sarutobi Hiruzen.

But even if he doesn't ask, someone else will.

"Lord Hokage," the questioner, from the Aburame Clan, said, "I remember the grouping was intended to ensure that each group was of similar strength, but judging from the students' abilities, it seems that some groups haven't achieved that goal."

"There are many outstanding students this time, so it's definitely more difficult to manage the group assignments," Namikaze Minato said.

The grouping results can never be perfectly balanced.

The Ino-Shika-Cho is a typical example.

Historically, the children from these three families have always been grouped together, which is inherently unfair to the other groups.