Team Harmony

Chuunin Exams 29: Nominations

A week later, Minato stood before ninja officials and every Jonin that had a team—Kakashi Hatake, Kunerai Yuhi, and Asuma Sarutobi—in his official Hokage robes that he rarely donned. They stood in a dark room that was sealed with a jutsu to prevent secrets from getting out.

"As I'm sure you're all aware, Konoha will be hosting the chunin exams this year," he announced. "As such, we must be prepared for any possible infiltrations that are not related to the event as well as showing hospitality to those who still see our village as less than pleasant for our part in the war."

The group stayed silent, agreeing with their Hokage and waiting for the true nature of their order to be announced.

"This year's Jonin sensei, please step forward." Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma stepped up. "This is your chance to nominate your students for the exam if you feel they are ready for it."

Asuma nodded. "Yes, sir. I nominate Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka for the chunin exams."

Kurenai went next. "I nominate Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Sakura Haruno for the chunin exams."

"I nominate Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga, and Sasuke Uchiha for the chunin exams," Kakashi said, this group surprised everyone the least as they had all heard about the A-Rank mission they took on as a group of fresh genin. And after they had trained under the Hokage himself, they had no doubts this team would dominate the exams this year.

"Very well. Teams 7, 8, and 10 as well as Team 3 from the previous year will be officially entered into the chunin exams. They will take place in one week, on July 1. Prepare your teams well," he said. "You're all dismissed."

Guy went up to the three jonin. "Are you sure you don't want to wait another year before putting them through this?" He asked.

Kakashi leveled a look at him. "I have faith in my team, Guy. They probably would've been ready for this exam last year, maybe even sooner."

"I know the Hokage took a special interest in your team, but that training doesn't mean anything until they're up against real enemies," Asuma pointed out.

"Sure," Kakashi said. "They only defeated the Demon Brothers as well as Zabuza Momochi and his partner, not real enemies at all. Tell that to my student who almost died to protect the client." Sure, he bragged a bit about how strong his team was, but they were not empty words and he took offense to those who thought they weren't as good as he's seen them be.

Asuma held his hands up defensively. "I'm just saying," he said. "Powerful teachers don't mean anything if they can't back it up."

"They back it up just fine, don't you think? Or why else did you decline to train with our team after seeing how easily they beat Kurenai's?" Kakashi smirked at the frown on Asuma's face at the mention of the situation that had happened just a few days ago.

Kakashi had thought it would be a great idea to have the teams mingle a bit more and wanted to use training to do so. He asked Kurenai first, who eagerly jumped at the idea. The next day, Sasuke slammed Kiba into the ground and then back into a tree, Shino had been bombarded with clones of Naruto, and Sakura had been too distracted by Hinata's doujutsu and Sasuke's eyes watching her that she tripped herself up quite a bit and Hinata took her down with a swipe to her legs and a palm to the lower back, numbing her legs. It was all over rather quickly. Asuma had been watching from a distance but he hadn't escaped the eyes of Kakashi, Kurenai, and Hinata. Even Sasuke had sensed someone there and Naruto knew his teammates well enough to know someone was watching them.

When he asked Asuma the next morning, the man declined with a poor excuse but it amused Kakashi. No doubt the other Jonin wanted to work closer with his team before setting them up against his own team. He felt pride at that.