15 Tora the Jounin Assistant

Tora was hiding right outside the window of the classroom where the new genin were waiting for their Jounin squad leaders. Tsunade gave him extra instructions to observe the genin squads as well as their jounin and submit a report based on his findings. He was trying his best to be remain discreet as to not pressure the genin, however, unbeknownst to him, a certain Taijutsu expert would later blow his cover.

Speaking of which, something that made him curious was the presence of Lee, Tenten, and Neji. They had graduated a year after him, in the same batch as Yakumo, Sai, and Shin, and were definitely accepted by Guy as his genin squad.

'Hmm... I dunno, my best guess is Guy wanted them to observe this new batch of genin. If he wanted to see if they could notice me they already pass, Neji nodded at me a few minutes ago after he noticed a few of the Jounin suddenly getting tense, and then started investigating his surroundings with Byakugan.'

Afterwards, many Jounin came to pick up their squad, a majority of them, as stated, noticeably froze when they noticed Tora. The first of the notable jounin to arrive was Kurenai; who noticed Tora and unlike the others was able to give a subtle acknowledgement of his presence. She came to pick-up Shino, Hinata, and Kiba; who together were likely the best trackers/scouts among the genin squads. When she saw that they did not yet notice Tora, she gave them an intimidating look.

"Find out what's suspicious without alerting anyone else in the room and causing a scene." She immediately put them all in genjutsu and asked, before releasing it.

Shino, who had the best head on their shoulders among them understood what Kurenai wanted them to do and quietly asked Hinata and Kiba to see if they noticed anything odd. Shino knew that the presence of Neji, Tenten, and Lee were likely just a red herring and not what she wanted them to point out. Kiba began sniffing the air and smelled the faint traces of Tora, he subtlety pointed Tora's general direction and quietly signaled at Hinata. Hinata understood and activated her byakugan, once she looked, she saw Tora waving at her and smiling behind the window-side wall.

He wrote down something on a piece of paper and showed it.

'Congrats and good luck! Be sure to invite me to your wedding with Naruto!' Tora teased, though mentally older, he was still a bit childlike at times.

Hinata immediately blushes before deactivating her Byakugan and nodding at Kurenai to indicate she found what was suspicious. Kurenai, who witnessed everything her squad did, nodded and told them to follow her and left the room.

A few more minutes later, Asuma arrived to pick-up Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. Like Kurenai and a few other more skilled jounin before him, he subtly acknowledged Tora before turning to his genin squad. Unlike, Kurenai who had a squad suited for scouting, he was mentoring the assumed heirs of the Yamananka, Nara, and Akimichi clan. Thus, he simply called them to follow him outside the classroom before asking them a question.

"Quick question, outside the room you were waiting in, there was a ninja personally assigned by the Hokage to watch and observe all the genin squads and jounins. Who was it?"

Choji was still eating, though he was pondering the answer. Ino who was observing everything that happened in the classroom tried to recount all the information she remembered.

"Hmm... this is almost unfair. I noticed that sometimes the newer looking Jounin who entered would freeze for a seconds before talking to their genin squad. Aside from that... I saw that Hinata activated her byakugan a bit after Kurenai-sensei arrived and started blushing for some reason. What do you guys think?"

Choji pondered for a moment.

"What about Kiba, he probably could sniff the ninja out if he was aware of their presence. Did he do anything?" He then asked.

Ino tried to recall what had happened.

"Wait... I think so, he sniffed the air for a bit and then looked like he recognized the scent before pointing it out to Hinata." Ino realized.

Asuma nods at their deduction. He then looks at Shikamaru who looked like he was still half-asleep.

"Haaagh... Sounds like it might be Tora then" Shikamaru replied after yawning.

"Oh? What makes you say that Shikamaru." Asuma asks.

"We're still genins who aren't fit for information gathering so you wouldn't ask a question that had an answer that would rely too much on guess work Asuma-sensei. It had to be someone we all had to at least be familiar with and reasonably expected to guess. Next, you said that the Hokage personally assigned the ninja with the mission. On its own that means nothing, but in the current case where we have to grasp at straws, that statement could mean that the ninja is someone Lady Tsunade trusts... like one of her disciples." Shikamaru points his thumb at Ino when he says this. Recently, Ino and Sakura had gotten called to the Hokage office by Shizune to receive personal instruction from her in regards to medical ninjutsu in preparation for becoming disciples under Tsunade.

"A good idea, but it still feels a bit incomplete." Asuma smirked before asking Shikarmaru to further expound.

"Sigh... Right, I wasn't so sure either. But I became more confident when Ino and Choji talked about Kiba and Hinata's reaction. It was there I was sure that it was someone we knew like Tora. The fact that Hinata reacted liked that makes me think that someone teased her about Naruto probably, which I've seen Tora do before. Putting everything together, Tora is the one who best fits the bill. Of course, I could be wrong but that's the best guess I have with what we know." Shikamaru replied.

Asuma smiled.

"Good, lets head out. I have to look at your Ino–Shika–Chō formation and see if it's good." Asuma acknowledged their answer and then ordered them to follow him.

After about an hour, the classroom was almost empty. The only ones remaining were Neji, Tenten, lee and Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. The two remaining genin squads were getting bored.

"Where's our sensei?" Naruto asked, beginning to get annoyed by their Sensei's tardiness.

"Calm down Naruto, their probably just running late." Sakura tried to calm him down, though she was also inwardly irritated.

On the other side, Lee, who saw Sakura, was getting ready to confess to her. However, it was at that moment, Might Guy entered the classroom.

"GOOD MORNING MY STUDENTS! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW BATCH OF GENIN. I HOPE SEEING THEM CAN IGNITE YOUR BURNING SPIRIT OF YOUTH." Guy excitedly yelled.

(Authors Note: As much as this was fun to capitalize everything, I'll probably stop doing it in the future. I've seen it done before too and it can eventually get tiring for the eyes.)

"Yes! Guy-sensei! Seeing the new genin has awoken my youthful spirit!" Lee then shouted back.

"Sigh...This is why the other squads don't like talking to us." Tenten could only sigh.

Meanwhile, Naruto and the others started to quietly move away from the eccentric Jounin and his genin squad.

"There are definitely some, strong genin in this batch Guy-sensei. However, I'm more interested in the one outside watching us." Neji then spoke.

"Oh so you noticed it." Guy said.

"Noticed what Guy-sensei?" Lee said with wonder for his sensei's next words.

Guy then looked towards Tora's position and then raised his hand gave a thumb's up.

"GOOD WORK YOUNG MAN! I'M SURE THAT THE POWER OF YOUTH MUST BURN STRONGLY WITHIN YOU!" Guy yelled out, breaking Tora's cover.

"Sigh... Hello Guy-sensei, would you please not blow my cover next time." Tora climbed inside the room and said exasperatedly.

"Ah you are the Hoshi boy Kakashi was talking about. It seems his praise of you was true as expected!" Guy exclaimed with his trademark smile.

"Thank you, Guy-sensei." Tora then bowed simply.

"Alright, now that you have seen the next crop of genin. Let us go to your next mission, I've already accepted it from the Hokage.If we start running now, we can make it there early and train." Guy then informs his squad before departing.

After Guy and his team left, Tora approached Naruto and the others. Who were surprised by his arrival.

"Hey guys. Well, it looks like your Jounin got lost on the path of life, sorry about that. But he is really good though." Tora opened their conversation.

"You were here the whole time?!" Naruto asked, completely ignoring Tora's statement.

"Yeah... Hokage-sama asked me to watch over you guys. Don't feel bad for not spotting me, the only genins who we're able to notice were Neji, Hinata, and Kiba." Tora explained.

"Hmm... I see. I take it you know who our Jounin is?" Sasuke then asked.

"Yeah, the guy is really strong like I said, a pain to deal with though." Tora further elaborated.

"Well, do you know when he could arrive?" Sakura then asked.

"Hmm... The official meeting time was over an hour go, so he should be arriving soon if we use his standard for time." Tora answered.

"Grr... He deserves to get pranked for this." Naruto said and proceeded to do the board eraser over door prank. Naruto was still a prankster in this timeline, however due to already having love and friendship, he didn't go overboard to get attention to the point where he was committing crimes like vandalism.

"Sigh... that's not going to work Naruto. A jounin wouldn't fall for that." Sasuke then said as Naruto was walking back to them.

"Well... " Tora started to say something, however he was interrupted by the door opening and Kakashi entering with the eraser falling on his head.

"Gotcha!" Naruto shouted in success.

Tora looked at how Sasuke and Sakura reacted, a surprising difference from the story is that both of them actually quietly chuckled at Naruto's prank. Their team chemistry was starting higher than in the original story.

Afterwards he was playfully bonked on the head by Sakura. However, to the visual surprise of everyone aside from Kakashi. Naruto disappeared, and a few seconds later he entered the classroom holding his head where he was bonked. Kakashi looked at Tora with a questioning look.

"I was still going to teach it to him, looks someone else beat me to it." Tora shrugged his shoulders.

'Damn, so Tsunade did let him learn shadow clones. Over the years of using it myself, I've learnt that he's made for that masochistic jutsu. It's not even chakra that's the problem, the fatigue I get from 6 shadow clones training can knock-me out, believe me I tried. I never understood how he could train with so many clones and still be fresh. Must be a jinchuuriki/uzumaki thing, broken AF; fair play to his willpower though... And Konohamaru too, that kid should still be a monster even doing just half of what Naruto does.' Tora innerly let's out his grievances regarding the shadow clone jutsu.

It was only after feeling the exhaustion and pain it caused did he realize why most people only used a few shadow clones at a time. Since he learnt the jutsu and experienced its backlash effects, Tora would only use 3-4 clones to train at a time.

Kakashi then examined his genin squad for a few seconds.

"It seems, you all are acquainted well enough with each other. Introduce yourselves a tell me what are your likes/dislikes and dreams?" Kakashi finally asked.

"Hey, what about you sensei?" Naruto wanted Kakashi to introduce himself first.

"Me? Hmm... My name is Kakashi Hatake, I don't want to tell you my likes and dislikes, I haven't really thought of my dream, and I have many hobbies." He said.

"He really didn't tell us anything aside from his name." Sakura remarked.

"Sigh... Well my name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen, my hobby is eating and comparing ramen, my dream is to surpass Granny Tsunade and become the hokage!" Naruto said with excitement.

'Lmao, I wish I could see Hokage-sama's face whenever he says that. He's probably the only who can get away with it.' Tora smiled slightly.

He observed Kakashi and noticed that his eyes were showing signs of held-in laughter.

"Hey Naruto, don't call Hokage-sama like that." Despite what she said, Sakura was also trying to hold-in laughter. Although she and Ino were still mainly learning the basics from Shizune, they would occasionally have evasion training with Tsunade.

Sasuke could only slightly smirk after observing his two teammates reactions.

"It's alright Sakura. He basically is her adopted grandson after all." Tora was smiling even wider trying to hold-in his laugh.

Kakashi nodded in agreement.

"Sigh, your right, I keep forgetting that. Anyway, my Name is Sakura Haruno. I like competing with Ino, my hobbies are playing trivia games and memorizing medical information, my dream is to learn more under Lady Tsunade and prove that more civilian ninja can be great ninja too." She said happily.

'Huh, pretty cool.' Tora said with pleasant surprise, he remembered the original writing and was happy with how it turned out.

"Alright.. How about you Sasuke?" Kakashi then asked.

"Hmm, I like eating the riceballs my mom makes with fish and tomatoes and training with my brother Itachi. I dislike eating nattō (a traditional Japanese dish made from fermented soybeans) and sweets. My hobbies are training with my brother and taking walks." Sasuke answered.

"Alright, all your answers are interesting. Tomorrow we'll have a survival exercise. "

"Survival Exercise?" Naruto asked.

"Mhm... Meet me tomorrow morning at 5am at the training ground 12. I have a test for you three... Don't bother eating anything, you'll throw-up." Kakashi finally stated before disappearing.

Tora looked at the three.

"Good luck guys, I'm sure you'll do fine." Tora didn't want to spoil the surprise so he only wished them luck.

Tora then body flickered away.

The following morning, he was hiding in the bushes and was tasked to watch over Team 7's survival exercise.

'Alright... let's see if they can make Kakashi put down his book this time.'

Author's Note

Hey Guys!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

We had a bit of set-up for some action. As you may have noticed, a few of the character's have already started to develop differently compared to their original counterparts. Hopefully, this shows that the timeline and people are different in this story.

Also, I'm here in university right now so the uploads might slow down or get infrequent.

Thanks for reading!