Natsume felt a little guilty for poaching Kakashi's student.
But practically speaking, Kakashi didn't have much left to teach.
In the original, Naruto apprenticed under Jiraiya, and Sasuke defected to study in the Sound.
Kakashi was basically a tool character early on.
If not for Obito's Mangekyō sharingan, he'd have been a background extra at the end.
Before long, all graduates were present.
Mizuki began sorting teams.
Kakashi quickly took three nobodies.
They looked excited, but Natsume knew they'd be sent back for remedial.
Kakashi's standards are strict.
He only officially started as a team leader with Team 7.
Before that, he was coasting.
"Ninth Squad, Uzumaki Naruto."
Mizuki glanced at Naruto, then continued, "Uchiha Sasuke."
"Sasuke, looking forward to working together."
Naruto grinned.
He hadn't expected Minato to be right—they were in the same team.
Sasuke nodded impassively.
He was satisfied with the arrangement.
At least he knew Naruto's strength; he wouldn't be dead weight.
Which annoyed him, actually.
Even after learning Chidori, he still couldn't beat Naruto.
Because Naruto had somehow learned Rasengan.
"And Hyūga Hinata."
Mizuki paused. "The three of you, step forward. Your team leader is Lord Natsume."
"Big bro?"
Naruto lit up with excitement. "Nice!"
Hinata already knew, so she was calm, though still very happy inside.
Only Sasuke frowned.
Natsume's reputation had soared in recent years, but he was still too young.
As a teacher, he couldn't compare to Kakashi.
At least Kakashi and he both had Sharingan—same lineage.
Natsume, as far as Sasuke knew, specialized in Water Release, which clashed with his Fire Release.
Still, his two teammates were fine.
Sasuke rose calmly.
"Hey, wait for me."
Naruto hurried after.
Hinata walked with graceful poise, then quickened her steps when she saw Natsume.
[Because of your actions, the fates of Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Hatake Kakashi, and Haruno Sakura have changed. You gain a total of 370 Fate Points.]
As expected of the protagonist group.
Just taking on students nets a nice haul.
"Come with me."
Natsume patted Hinata's head.
Naruto blinked.
He hadn't known they were so close.
But that was fine.
"Long time no see, big bro."
Naruto was warm and friendly.
"From now on, call me sensei."
Natsume corrected him.
He'd wanted to change Naruto's form of address for a while.
He preferred being called "big brother" by cute girls.
Like Hinata.
"Oh."
Naruto switched instantly. "Natsume-sensei."
Natsume nodded, then looked at Sasuke.
But Sasuke seemed reluctant.
Given his personality, Natsume could guess why.
Yeah—he wanted a beating.
Natsume would be happy to oblige.
…
The four of them arrived at Training Ground 4 next to the Forest of Death.
"Everyone, introduce yourselves."
Natsume clapped. "I'm Natsume. I like sharing cooking tips, don't care much for work, and my dream is to live freely. Oh, and I don't really eat cilantro."
"I'll go first!"
Naruto shot his hand up.
"Go ahead."
Natsume pointed at him.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I love Ichiraku Ramen—super tasty! I'll treat you all later!"
Naruto immediately went off-topic. "Especially the tonkotsu—ambrosial!"
"Stay on track."
Natsume cut him off in time.
Say "Ichiraku" and he could talk for hours.
No idea why he loves it so much.
To Natsume, it's good, but not shirt-bustingly good.
"My dream is to become Hokage!"
Naruto clenched his fist. "I want to protect everyone!"
In the original, this came from Hiruzen's influence; now it was Minato's.
Natsume thought: Sunshine, hot-blooded boy?
If it's Naruto, no problem.
"Hinata."
Natsume called.
"I'm Hyūga Hinata. I like…"
Hinata glanced at Natsume. "Pressed flowers and chicken drumsticks. My dream is to become a strong shinobi who can protect the people I want to protect."
Pressed flowers.
Dehydrating, color-preserving, pressing, and drying plant material into flat florals, then making them into decorative art.
That hobby comes from Hinata's original setting.
Still unchanged.
"Your turn, Sasuke."
Naruto patted his shoulder, curious.
"Uchiha Sasuke. Don't have likes. I want to defeat… that man."
He kept it curt.
"That man" was Uchiha Itachi.
The other three understood and didn't pry.
"Introductions done—time for a test."
Natsume smiled. "We don't know each other well yet. A test helps build rapport."
"What kind of test?"
Naruto shot up, loud as ever.
"The Bell Test."
Natsume shamelessly copied Kakashi's test.
Not really plagiarism—it's a Hokage-line tradition.
He's Tsunade's student; he can use it.
"I'll hang three bells on a tree. If you can snatch them, you pass."
He even lowered the difficulty.
If it were him against a proper team, it'd be nearly impossible.
Unless he threw the match.
"What if we don't get them?"
Naruto targeted the key detail.
"Then you repeat the year."
Natsume spooked them. "So give it your all."
"Yes!"
Naruto and Hinata answered together.
Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded, cool as ever.
"Take a good look at the bells."
Natsume showed them three bells, waited a moment, then casually tossed them onto the tree behind him.
"Can we start?"
Sasuke eyed the bells.
"Wait, Sasuke—let's make a plan."
Naruto hurried. "Natsume-sensei's strong. We can't rush in."
Hinata nodded.
She knew Natsume's strength best—she'd felt it.
Naruto knew through the Nine-Tails and Minato.
Natsume felt the role reversal was strong.
In the original, Naruto charged in headlong.
Sasuke was the more measured one.
Now that Sasuke was stronger, he was the one pushing forward.
"Begin."
Natsume leapt up onto the trunk. "Good luck."
Then he sat, pulling out Icha Icha Paradise.
Say what you will—there's a reason it sells.
Two words: brutally honest.
Jiraiya wrote his own exploits.
Thanks to it, Natsume had a decent knowledge of brothels across nations.
Though compared to his past life, the "playstyles" were still tame.
Sasuke flicked six kunai without hesitation.
Natsume arched a brow—interesting.
A stringed-kunai technique.
The six weren't aimed at him.
Sasuke intended to cut the branch and drop the bells using elastic cords.
Natsume casually flicked a kunai, knocking all six away.
One try failed.
Sasuke didn't mind. He glanced at Naruto and formed seals.
Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!
Fist-sized fireballs bloomed like flowers.
Naruto vanished from sight.
A torrent of water surged up, forming a wall to block the flames.
Steam billowed.
Sasuke's lips curved slightly; that was deliberate.
They had Sharingan and Byakugan—mist was a boon.
"Haaah!"
Countless Narutos charged through the fog.
Sasuke leapt for the bells.
"Careful!"
Hinata's Byakugan flared as she struck with a single palm.
Her chakra became an invisible shockwave.
Sasuke's heart lurched at her warning; then he saw a giant hand dropping from above.
What the hell?
He retreated at once.
The hand slammed down, kicking up dust.
Natsume dispelled part of his Multi-Size Technique, raised his left hand, and caught Hinata's strike.
His palm tingled slightly.
"Nice power."
He shot Hinata a look.
She flushed a little.
"Natsume-sensei!"
A mob of Narutos swarmed again.
No plan. Just hoping a thousand haymakers could KO a master.
Natsume didn't move from his spot—one punch, one kid.
But then his fist was caught.
The Naruto before him morphed into Sasuke.
Sasuke's two-tomoe Sharingan trembled.
Built-in genjutsu fired.
Natsume froze, then got decked by Naruto and sent flying.
"Eh?"
Naruto blinked.
He hadn't expected that to work.
"Back!"
Hinata rushed forward, chakra flooding her hands, forming lion heads.
Though Natsume had advised ranged options, she was still young; she'd prioritized Gentle Fist.
Naruto obeyed and jumped back.
But Sasuke was a hair slow.
More precisely, he believed his Sharingan's genjutsu wouldn't be shrugged off so easily—even by a jōnin.
In his view, Natsume turned into a puddle upon landing.
His pupils shrank.
Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!
A water dragon crashed down while Sasuke hesitated.
Hinata struck with both fists.
But before it even touched the dragon, it veered, arcing over her head to blast Sasuke away.
"Sasuke!"
Naruto ran to him.
Shadow clones popped one after another in the torrent.
The real Naruto caught Sasuke at last.
Both were drenched.
Natsume ignored them and appeared before Hinata.
He took both her wrists, severing her chakra flow.
The lion heads vanished.
Her reaction was quick—a sharp whip kick.
"Very good."
Natsume released her hands and caught her ankle.
He'd expected Hinata to hold back against him.
But she had no problem going hard.
Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!
Hinata took her stance, palms lashing out like a storm.
"Naruto."
Sasuke shoved Naruto away. "You get the bells."
He sprinted for Natsume, forming seals.
A piercing chirp filled the air.
He gripped his right wrist as lightning gathered in his palm.
Natsume looked up at him.
The world spun for Sasuke.
When he focused again, Uchiha Itachi stood before him.
His pupils shrank violently; he slashed with Chidori without hesitation.
Moments later, regret crossed his eyes.
A genjutsu.
He hadn't struck Itachi, but a tree.
"Sasuke, what are you doing?"
Naruto was about to nab the bells when Sasuke reversed course, sprinted back, and—without a word—became a lumberjack.
The tree toppled.
Natsume halted his bout with Hinata and flicked a kunai, knocking the bells far away.
Sasuke's mouth twitched, but his expression was grim.
He'd fallen into a genjutsu so easily?
Unbelievable.
The Uchiha are natural genjutsu masters.
Others avoid eye contact with the Sharingan for fear of illusions.
He hadn't expected it to be turned on him.
"Watch for genjutsu."
Sasuke warned tersely.
"I'll cover."
Naruto understood but wasn't cowed.
Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!
In a blink, the training ground was jam-packed with Narutos.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
Every Naruto shouted in unison.
A thousand tops began spinning.
Sasuke was impressed.
As expected of Naruto.
Simple, brutish, effective.
Genjutsu is usually cast through eye contact—and there were so many eyes now.
Hard to pick out the real one.
Sasuke used Transformation and slipped into the crowd.
Hinata used Byakugan to locate the bells and ran for them.
She knew no attack would work on Natsume.
Hinata scooped up the bells. When she turned, a massive waterfall crashed down from the sky, pooling into a lake.
Pop, pop, pop.
Naruto's clones burst in rapid succession.
Only the real Naruto and Sasuke remained.
But both were waterlogged and out of options.
"Congratulations, you pass."
Natsume clapped, looking at Hinata in the distance, who waved the bells with a smile.
Naruto and Sasuke were still busy spitting out water.