The next couple of days were very hectic for Hiruzen. Grouping the fresh genins and assigning them their sensei involved a lot of paperwork and analysis. A lot of discussion had to be done with the academy teachers as well as with the decided sensei.

He first started by forming teams of three. He thought, 'In all 135 students became genin this year. Over 200 from 6th year failed and they will be added to the genin reserve forces. As for the ones that passed this year, the 94 from the 6th year don't have much hope. We had already graduated the talented people from their year earlier. Even if just a quarter of them became chuunin, then that will be enough. So I will just assign chuunins to guide them.

As for the 41 who graduated early, all have good potential. They all should at least become chuunin, and around half have the potential to become a special jounin. So I'll have to arrange 14 jounin sensei for them. Even though Konoha's numbers have almost recovered, we are still weaker than before the 3rd Great Ninja War when it comes to high-end power. So we need to train all 41 of them with the intention of raising them to jounin rank. Even if not everyone becomes a special jounins, becoming an elite chuunin will be sufficient. As for becoming jounin, it's hard to say. I'm confident that Uchiha Mieko will become a jounin, just like Senju Teru from the previous year. Just like him, she has the potential to become an elite Jounin. But I can't comment on the others. Sigh, I hope that we get at least 10-12 jounin from this batch. The Kyubi attack killed a lot of our jounins.'

He then called the academy teachers to begin forming the teams and got busy with the required paperwork. After the academy teachers prepared a rough draft, however there were a few disagreements like every year. They approached the Hokage to discuss it.

Hiruzen said, "So which are the top teams you formed?"

Genki replied immediately, "According to their performance, Hatake Rei, Uchiha Mieko, Suzuki Fujin, Hyuga Hoka and Hyuga Hana show the highest potential. However, Rei's performance was high due to his conditions back home. Now that his mother has been treated, we can't be sure if he'll train with the same gusto. And the two Hyuga can't be on the same team. So I propose forming a team of Uchiha Mieko, Suzuki Fujin and Hyuga Hoka."

However, soon another teacher, who was the class teacher to Hatake Rei spoke, "I disagree. In a mere half year, Rei has made huge progress. In fact, his talent can be considered even above Mieko. He should be placed within the top squad. I suggest making a squad consisting of Mieko, Rei and Fujin."

Another teacher commented, "Actually, Fujin is just a civilian orphan. His future won't be as smooth as the children from shinobi clans. Even his Great Breakthrough jutsu was provided to him by Genki. So I think that a squad of Rei, Mieko and Hoka might be more optimal."

Genki rebutted him, "I disagree. Even though Fujin is just a civilian with no background, his performance has been the most consistent in my class. He deserves to be on that squad. Not to mention, he is also a sensor and has wind affinity. Being a sensor, he'll compliment the Byakugan. And his wind release jutsus would assist Mieko's fire release jutsus and make them more lethal. Also, both him and Hoka kind of have a rivalry in Taijutsu. So their teamwork would be much better." He secretly thought, 'Not to mention that they are so aloof that they barely had any other friendships. So I have no idea whether they can cooperate with others.'

The previous teacher was about to rebuke him again, "But…." However, he was cut by Hiruzen, "Alright that's enough. I have decided. The squad will be made of Mieko, Fujin and Hoka."

Rei's class teacher was visibly upset over this. He was about to speak, when Hiruzen said, "Their jounin sensei will be Senju Renjiro." The teachers were confused by this revelation. One asked, "But Lord Hokage, we hadn't selected him to be a sensei, had we?"

Hiruzen shook his head and said, "No. This change was due to Fujin requesting guidance on Samurai Saber Techniques. Renjiro had trained under a Samurai. Also he is an expert in fighting against Sharingan and uses Water and Earth jutsus. So it'll provide Mieko an opportunity to understand how she can be countered and would help her develop more. And Hoka could learn water release jutsus from him. And his Taijutsu is strong enough to handle Hoka's obsession with it." He then looked at Rei's class teacher and said, "Sadly Hatake Rei doesn't practice his clan's Kenjutsu, or else I'd have put him on the squad instead of Hoka."

Everyone was satisfied with this explanation. They moved onto the remaining students. It took over 13 hours for them to form all the squads and decide their sensei. Once that was done, Hiruzen sent an Anbu to deliver the news to all the ones selected to be a sensei. If they had any issues, they could approach him the next day.

The next day, many approached Hiruzen to meet him. At noon, Renjiro visited him. On entering, he greeted Hiruzen and said, "Old man, I didn't agree to become a sensei to snorty little brats. Besides, I have already raised one genin squad."

Renjiro was a bit close to him while growing up. Which is why Hiruzen didn't mind his words. Hiruzen looked at Renjiro. He was dressed casually and hence Hiruzen could see all the scars on his face and arms that he had gotten over his career. Hiruzen sighed and said, "You've been doing missions almost non-stop since the end of the war. This assignment is for a couple of reasons. One, for you to get some rest. And secondly, as one of those genins wants to learn the Samurai Saber Techniques."

Renjiro looked skeptically at Hiruzen and asked, "You do know that I can't teach it lightly to anyone. So, is there any reason for me to teach it to him?"

Hiruzen sighed and said, "He ranked first in his class. And asked for this as his reward." Renjiro asked, "Eh, what reward?" Hiruzen replied, "It's an initiative I took to encourage the students and get them to train harder."

Hearing that, Renjiro nodded. He knew the shortage of ninjas that Konoha faced. He sighed and said, "Couldn't you get him to ask for anything else?" Hiruzen didn't reply, but his sweat dropped thinking about what the 'something else' was that Fujin had asked for. After discussing a bit more and getting to know a bit more about the students, Renjiro left. He wasn't surprised by the fact that his squad was the one with highest potential. After all, he has been an Elite Jounin for over a decade!

Later that day, Fujin went to buy new clothes at a shop that sold clothes to ninjas. He bought a completely black attire. He noticed that the cloth used for these clothes was a lot sturdier. The shopkeeper said that it is harder to cut, has some resistances to fire and lightning, and is harder to get wet or dusty. He put one on and checked himself in the mirror. His whole attire, i.e., boots, trousers and shirt were completely black. It suited his fair skin-tone, black eyes and black spiky hair well. He thought, 'I guess I should get a black mask sometime, maybe then I could play hiding in shadow, haha.' He looked at himself again. He wasn't bulky, but his muscles were properly toned. There was barely any trace of any fat on his body. He was around 4 feet, 9 inches tall. He thought, 'Alright, it fits properly, and also looks good.'

He bought 3 sets of the attire. He also bought a pair of gloves with metal plates on the backhand. He also inscribed a 'Hard' seal in the interior of the glove. While it didn't do much, Fujin felt that there was no harm in even slightly increasing its defenses. He did wish that he could take the metal plates out, inscribe them with Hard seal instead of the whole glove and then put it back. But he knew that he wouldn't be able to put the metal plate back in properly.

Next day, at 7:30 am, the graduated students reported to the academy. The classroom used wasn't the regular classroom that Fujin went to. 42 students were present here. The teachers took attendance, and then gave a scroll to each of the students. Genki called his students one by one and gave it to them. The class teachers of other students did the same. When Fujin's turn came, he noticed that Genki was incredibly happy. He wasn't sure why, but since he didn't particularly care, he went back. Genki was happy because Hiruzen had allowed him to take the Jounin exam!

After distributing it to everyone, a teacher announced, "The storage scroll provided to you has a First-aid kit, 24 shurikens, 6 kunais, 12 senbon needles, 1 ninja rope and 100 metres long ninja wire." He then smiled and said, "This is the final gift from the academy to you. Congratulations on graduating. We will now announce your genin squads."

When Fujin's squad was announced, he sighed and thought, 'An aloof guy who doesn't care about anything apart from Taijutsu, and a stuck-up brat who probably thinks herself to be as talented as Madara. Fuck our teamwork! Sigh, makes me wonder if I should have graduated last year. Teru was the only one matured enough.'

He analyzed a bit more, 'Anyways, it ain't exactly bad. Taijutsu spars with Hoka have always been very helpful. And Mieko should give me a bit of practice against the Sharingan. Granted that she ain't nowhere near Obito or Madara, but neither am I.'

He then looked at Mieko and thought, 'Also, since she'll die after around 2 more years, it'll mean that I won't be restricted in this squad for very long. Now then, I wonder who my jounin sensei will be. I really hope that it ain't Kakashi. Also what of my rewards? Genki didn't talk about it, and Hiruzen didn't call me to meet him.'

After the genin squads were announced, the teacher said that the jounin sensei would come and pick them up from the class and then they all left.

While they were leaving, Fujin had a thought and sighed, 'Naruto and his gang should start the academy next year. And I won't be here. What's with me meeting so few canon characters?'

Soon jounins started entering the class and called out for their teams. A couple of minutes after the academy teachers left, a tall muscular guy entered and announced, "Team 3, come with me." Fujin, Hoka and Mieko followed him. Renjiro moved to the terrace of the academy. A few seconds later, all 3 genins arrived.

When he reached there, Fujin observed his new sensei. He was around 6 feet 6 inches tall, very muscular, looked middle-aged and had 3 scars on his face, one going right across his right eye, but his eye was fine. His hair was black and very long, a bit similar to Madara's. He held two swords on his waist. From the symbol on his clothes, Fujin understood that he was from the Senju clan. Actually, there was another thing that allowed Fujin to know that he was from the Senju clan. He had massive amounts of chakra! For obvious reasons, Fujin never tried to sense Hiruzen's chakra, so this was the highest chakra level he had measured so far. It was around 7 times that of Genki.

When Fujin tried to measure his chakra, Renjiro noticed. He looked at Fujin and stared at him. Fujin merely smiled. Renjiro thought, 'So this is the kid who wants to learn the Samurai Saber Techniques and the kid who asked for swords made of chakra metal. Not bad, he seems to be a good enough sensor. And even after I stared at him, he merely smiled back. I wonder if that makes him foolish, brave or just shameless.' He then looked at his remaining 2 genins and thought, 'The Hyuga has the same stoic face as their whole clan and just looking at the Uchiha's face showed how much pride she has in her.' He sighed thinking, 'This is gonna take a while.'