Drunkard's Walk Forums

Because my mind seems to be working overtime whenever it's supposed to take in excessive amounts of information in a short period of time.
Remember a Ranmafic author by the nick of Dark Phoenix? He's on Florestica, or rather, his stories are. He hasn't really posted anything in a while, as far as I know. Anyway, one of his stories - a Ranmafic called 'Can it get any Worse?' has Ranma get adopted by demons and learn magic from them, because he's got a weird demonic aura thing going on (there's an explanation later on, irrelevant right now).
I was wondering what would happen if one were to apply the same plotbunny to Harry Potter. A sardonic, sociopathic and utterly egoistic Boy-Who-Lived is an amusing thought, especially since we could always attribute 'demonic/evil aura' to the curse scar ... Just a weird thought.
It's something I'd like to read almost as much as I'd have liked 'The Boy Who Laughed', which would have had Harrykins raised by none other than the Laughing Magician. The Conman. Y'know. John-boy.
Feel free to ignore the ramblings, they're mostly a bleedover from exam stress and a healthy dose of 'bleah' that came about due to the numerous HBP discussions going on right now.
-Griever
studystudystudystudystudy
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

What if there was a girl who was like Gai and Lee? What if she admired Naruto's brilliant fire of youth? What if she What if she publicly proclaimed herself Hinata's rival in love, and jarred the other girl out of her I'm-so-shy-all-I-can-do-is-stalk-and-stutter routine? Something like Ino and Sakura's friends-but-enemies sort of thing, only crossed with Gai's competition with Kakshi, sorta.
- CD
What, you think Samuel L. Jackson isn't going to survive the zombie apocalypse?

SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

You replace Luna in Sailor Moon with this person from Bleach:
Shihoiun Yourichi....
Ex-commander of the Special Operations Division
Ex-general of the Keikun Brigade of the 1st Division
normally appears as a male-sounding black cat...
In human form...one hot babe!
How big a change would you get? ^^
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

Images from my imagination:
She's tall and skinny (to create opposition to Hinata, who's short and, um, -not-), with long black hair, maybe put up in a bun. She doesn't have the scary, scary round shining eyes, but she -does- have The Eyebrows.
Again, to contrast with Hina-chan, she has absolutely -no- problems being obvious and affectionate - she doesn't quite come out and ask to bear his children, but she does play human barnacle at every opportunity.
Scene fragment (circa sometime just after the end of the Chuunin Exam):
Naruto: I don't know how to deal with her. No one's ever been that nice to me before. *pauses, then brightens up* But, but! Don't worry Sakura-chan - I'll always like you best!
Sakura: *sadly* You shouldn't.
N: Eh?
S: *turns to look at Sasuke, who's out cold on the hospital bed* When we were assigned together, I was happy, because I'd have a chance to get the guy every girl wanted. And then I got to know him, and saw that... he needed someone to show him he wasn't alone. Saw that he was hurting and sad, that he was -real-, rather than just an idol. And more than anything, I wanted - I -want- - to be the one to help him. And that won't change, so I don't want... the boy who's become my little brother... to be sad, waiting for something that won't happen.
N: *crying freely* Sakura-chan... *glomps her*
S: HEY! Get off, you jerk! Leggo!
But written so that it's clear that she knows how big a deal her saying that was to him, but is just trying not to make too big a deal of it.
And I see Hinata's take on the 'cutting down the rival' thing as reflecting the fact that she's the daughter of a major noble house who's had etiquette training slammed into her skull since the day she could walk - showing up the loud crazy girl, in a sort of good-natured way.
Because I can't see any kind of Hinata being loud and splashy - even the version I'm thinking of for TGNH is more the 'Himura Kenshin/Samurai Jack Quiet Zen Badass' type than anything else.
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

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She's tall and skinny (to create opposition to Hinata, who's short and, um, -not-), with long black hair, maybe put up in a bun. She doesn't have the scary, scary round shining eyes, but she -does- have The Eyebrows

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The word is slender. ^^
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

What if Naruto and Lee became friends when they were both at the Ninja Academy?
Picture Lee meditating on his burning passion to become a great ninja (aka: moping because the other kids are teasing him) coming across Naruto practising with his shuriken until he collapses with exhasution and inspires Lee to continue.
Picture the two losers of their respective classes dragging each other up until they graduate together when Naruto is only 11. (because no one can do basics like the fuzzy-eyebrows)
Picture the Green and Orange Beasts of Konoha, taijutsu master and ninjutsu master, proud students of Maito Gai... (well, maybe not. too much spandex)
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

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Picture the Green and Orange Beasts of Konoha, taijutsu master and ninjutsu master, proud students of Maito Gai... (well, maybe not. too much spandex)

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Oh, god. That and the earlier concept are colliding in my head.
I'm seeing this image... A team photo. Fuzzy Brows I and II are standing on either side of the picture, both in green and going all Nice Guy. Naruto has both hands shot up high, giving twin V-signs, and yes, he -is- in orange spandex, and Maito Rikou (who, contrary to my earlier post, should -not- have The Eyebrows - that'd be too cruel), is almost wrapping herself around him, -also- in one of those jumpsuits, this time in shocking pink.
My eyes bleed.
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

... sweet kami, I just about died laughing reading this just now. Team Gai: The Youthful Hurricane of the Leaf! And Nathan, that was pretty much exactly how I saw Hinata responding, though only after imagining slamming Maito Rikou (I like the name, too) into the ground like a railroad spike with a megaton mallet and dismissing it as far too undignified. Basically, replace the 'How cool!" in Gai's camplaints when Kakashi shows him up with "How elegant!" for Rikou. I wonder, would Neji be pleased or angry if his main-house cousin asked him for extra help learning their family style... because you know Hiashi would just say something cold about already giving her all the time he can spare, or some bull like that.
I'd move this to the top of my writing queue, but I just can't do Gai-level enthusiasm for extended periods.
On costumes - I think a green bodyglove for Naruto, but darker than Gai and Lee, and with a vest version of his normal orange jacket... if not green, then a dark orange suit and still the jacket/vest.
The Handsome Green Beast, Maito Guy!
The Beautiful Pink (something, 'Beast' seems a bit much for a kunoichi), Maito Rikou!
The Blazing Orange Fire, Uzumaki Naruto!
The Proud Grean Beast, Rock Lee!
TEAM EXPLOSIVE YOUTH IS READY!What, you think Samuel L. Jackson isn't going to survive the zombie apocalypse?
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

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The Beautiful Pink (something, 'Beast' seems a bit much for a kunoichi), Maito Rikou!

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Tsunami. It's big, it's -not- all dirty and hairy, and it's notoriously unstoppable. Oh, and not pink. Fuschia.
Oh, and you do realize that that surname means that Super Fuzzy-Brows -bred-.
...somehow, I'm picturing Mrs. Maito as the Kasumi-type.
"How elegant!" ...-perfect-. I think that, besides Gai and Kakashi, the actual better comparison would be Ryoko and Ayeka. Only Hinata actually keeps her cool.
Putting Naruto in something other that all-over orange would require him actually having -taste-. Or -moderation-, one of the two.
And trying to think about how this... spectacle... has altered the -other- teams out there has led me to imagining Tenten's expression the first time her team accepts a mission from the Godaime Hokage. Heh.
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

Yeah, "fuschia tsunami" could work. It's better than Honeysouckle, which was all I could come up with.
Naruto with green spandex - I got the impression he'd have at least given it a try when Gi gave him one of the suits after the chuunin exams when he and Jiraya were leaving to look for Tsunade.

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And trying to think about how this... spectacle... has altered the -other- teams out there has led me to imagining Tenten's expression the first time her team accepts a mission from the Godaime Hokage. Heh.

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Sasuke would also probably graduate early, since there's NO WAY he'd let the dobe show him up like that, conveiniently adding a second guy to tam up with Neji and TenTen, but since he would have otherwise graduated normally he'd probably only scrape through after skipping a year, justifying them as a balanced team, and letting him take Lee's place as the guy looking to surpass Neji - not that Lee would STOP, just that without being stuck on the same team it wouldn't be quite so bad. Kakashi would still be talked into taking the team with Sasuke on it, as the only other person who posses a sharingan besides Weaselpants. Sasuke training with Tenten in thrwn weapons has the potentiual to be truly frightening, I think, even more so since she's not one of his fangirls and would take it seriously.
Sakura, being the odd one out in a gradutaing class the next year with the wrong number of students to be evenly divided into three member teams, would probably either get added to Ino's team on the strength of their former freindship, with Sasuke away on missions to keep from coming between them, or under Kurenai to train her strength in genjutsu. Either way, she's still better off than being ignored by Kakashi. My inclination would be to add her to the Ino-Shika-Cho, since they're a bit underpowered compared to the rest of that class and an extra team mate could make up the difference.
- CD
ETA: Nevermind, that would mess up them being assigned together as in the fragment above, which I quite liked. So, instead, everyone pretty much assumes that Naruto dropped out when he doesn't come to classes any more for what would have been his last year if he'd entered normally instead of two years early. Hm... I guess that means a couple more OCs to round out Neji/Tenten and Sasuke/Sakura - and the latter has to be someone pretty tough, who'd have gotten a bad turn in not passing the sensei's test in cannon, or the Wave Country mission would have ended quite badly. Also, I am working on a drawing of the team shot mentioned above, possibly to include an irked Hinata peeking around a corner in the background.What, you think Samuel L. Jackson isn't going to survive the zombie apocalypse?
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

The Tenten thing is funny, see, because in the 'Gai meets his team' flashback, we learn that her driving ambition is to be like Tsunade when she grows up.
So, sure, we know that the Slug Lady can kick ass, take names, and save lives with the best of them, but... can she handle -starry eyed fangirls-? *ominous sting*

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Sasuke would also probably graduate early, since there's NO WAY he'd let the dobe show him up like that, conveiniently adding a second guy to tam up with Neji and TenTen, but since he would have otherwise graduated normally he'd probably only scrape through after skipping a year, justifying them as a balanced team, and letting him take Lee's place as the guy looking to surpass Neji - not that Lee would STOP, just that without being stuck on the same team it wouldn't be quite so bad. Kakashi would still be talked into taking the team with Sasuke on it, as the only other person who posses a sharingan besides Weaselpants. Sasuke training with Tenten in thrwn weapons has the potentiual to be truly frightening, I think, even more so since she's not one of his fangirls and would take it seriously.

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Neji: *sneer*
Sasuke: Hn.
Tenten: Oh, grow the hell up, the both of you! *slams their heads together and storms off*
Sasuke: .oO(...I'm in love.)
Seriously, though, I think that if you throw him into close contact with a girl who's both competent and -not- drooling over him, I think he'd latch on and fall -hard-. Not that he'd ever admit it, or for that matter even have a real clue what he was doing, but... And this is just somebody with their head on right, let alone a kunoichi as dangerous as the reigning queen of All Things Sharp And Pointy.
So here he is, the all-conquering Badass Avenger of the Uchiha (and so -what- if he's all of eleven! That's almost twelve! Old enough!), and he's fetching and carrying for this, this... -girl-, and dammit, why the hell do his ears keep -burning- like that?!

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Sakura, being the odd one out in a gradutaing class the next year with the wrong number of students to be evenly divided into three member teams, would probably either get added to Ino's team on the strength of their former freindship, with Sasuke away on missions to keep from coming between them, or under Kurenai to train her strength in genjutsu. Either way, she's still better off than being ignored by Kakashi. My inclination would be to add her to the Ino-Shika-Cho, since they're a bit underpowered compared to the rest of that class and an extra team mate could make up the difference.

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*twitchtwitch*
Genin cells have three members. -Always-. -Every- time we've seen a standing field team, in fact, it's been three troopers and a commander. No matter -what- village they were from.
And I don't think that she and Ino would end up on the same team, anyway. With her book-skills, and the fact that, overshadowing aside, she's no slouch in practice, I can't see her having a class rank below the top five... Ino, IIRC, was specifically noted as being her class's number 1 kunoichi, so given the way they -tied- later, I'd suspect that she actually only edged Sakura out by a point or two. And a balanced team wouldn't have two high-scoring graduates on it, so...
Sorry. It's just that I think of adding an 'extra' member to a favorite team as such a ff.net, mary-suish, first fanfic trick... Grr.
Anyway, I strongly doubt that -every- graduating class has a number of students which divides evenly into three, so there's got to be a procedure set up to handle them - and I think that handing them off for to a specific Jounin who doesn't have anything better to do would be one of the better options. Granted, they wouldn't be going on missions, and they could only train when their Shishou didn't have a mission of their own, but I think that the one-on-one nature of the instruction would make up for that.
Ja, -n
(Edited to respond to an edit)

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Hm... I guess that means a couple more OCs to round out Neji/Tenten and Sasuke/Sakura - and the latter has to be someone pretty tough, who'd have gotten a bad turn in not passing the sensei's test in cannon, or the Wave Country mission would have ended quite badly.

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...Not neccessarily. Picture this: our new member for Team 7 (I don't have a name for him, yet), is a guy. Stocky, tall for his age, loud, agressive... like Kiba, only less endearing. Probably he has some redeeming traits, although you'll have to suggest which. And he's a -macho- boy. The kind that thinks 'You hit like a girl,' is just cause for a beating, and 'Go home and play with your dolls' a killing offense.
Think about how Sakura would react to being told that, put -down- like that. Ever, actually, but even more so because it's -in front of Sasuke-. Personally, I think that once she gets up a full head of steam, she's quite capable of grabbing Kakashi by the collar and dragging him off to -force- some real training out of him, just to prove THAT DAMNED JERK wrong.
Oh, sure, she'll come out of it eventually, and probably just about -faint- when she realizes what she's done, but by that point she'll have actually penetrated Hatake-baka's thick skull, and he's not irresponsible enough to let things slide once he realizes what's happening.
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

Hmm... Burning-ears Sasuke (batteries sold seperately, not suitable for children under three, free trading card inside!) is fun too...
Okay, how about if Sakura is assigned to study with a medic-nin? She DOES have great chakra control, and with Book/Scroll Research no Jutsu. Shortly before the chuunin exams she and her sensei are sent to a relatively distant civilian village where a team that was heaviliy injured on their last mission is resting, and Kakashi/Sasuke/Neji/Tenten pull escort duty, since the medic-nin is only a chuunin. That way she's still been 'assigned with him' before the hospital incident, and the strict 'commander and three trioops' structure has still been followed. That at least only requires one OC for the medic chuunin.
... now it's twenty minutes later, and I'm back to thinking that two OC genin are better. Grrr. What do you think?
- CD
What, you think Samuel L. Jackson isn't going to survive the zombie apocalypse?

SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

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... now it's twenty minutes later, and I'm back to thinking that two OC genin are better. Grrr. What do you think?

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Crushing Sasuke or Thermonuclear Sakura...
I cannot choose! I must have them BOTH!
Team #6
Maito Gai
Maito Rikou, age 13
Rock Lee, age 13
Uzumaki Naruto, age 12 (graduated early)
Team #7
Hatake Kakashi
Uchiha Sasuke, age 12
Tenten, age 13 (who had the bad luck to be last year's odd girl out)
Haruno Sakura, age 12
Once Sasuke goes head over heels, Sakura'll probably lose her temper with Tenten and get clobbered. Once. Next time around, well, I -don't- think she's one to take that kind of embarrassment lying down. So, once both of them have gotten one win and one loss, I can see them actually sitting down and setting peace terms... Tenten's a lot calmer than Ino, see, and after Neji besides, and Sakura's a sharp cookie when she's not reacting on instinct and conditioning, so probably the only thing that could really keep them at each other's throats would be Hatake-baka doing something truly dumb.
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

Tenten
It occurs to me that Tenten would not be popular with the other kunoichi, what with having the 'number one bishonen boytoy' of two successive classes in her team. I could see Sasuke falling for her under those circumstances, but what does occur to me is that she does seem to be a little hung on Neji. So comparing the dynamic of the team to that of Team 7, Neji is Sasuke, Tenten is Sakura and Sasuke is Naruto, although cooler. I could see serious rivalry between Neji and Sasuke.
Sakura
When the plot-bunny first started bouncing around my head I filled out the teams by having Sasuke and Hinata pass at the same time as Naruto, Lee et al. Sasuke for more or less the reasons suggested above, Hinata because she got sucked into the Lee-Naruto friendship and was the natural person to complete their team. This left Sakura teamed with Kiba and Shino when they graduated. Rikou is funnier though.
Team Gai[/i]
I did do some thinking about the spandex suits (and I agree, were it not for Jiraiya, naruto would have gladly worn Gai's gift). What I came up with was Naruto wearing a sleeveless version under his orange jacket and the girl on the team wearing hers with the legs cropped above the knees and a dress not unlike Ino's.
The other queston would be what sort of test of teamwork would Gai pose to his team - the bell test is a sort of tradition for Kakashi because he went through it under Yondaime, Yondaime went through it under Jiraiya and Jiraya went through it under Sarutobi - but would Gai use the same test or something more... enthusias
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

Nathan: Okay, that works, but where is Neji?
Drakensis: My snap impression was that Gai would probably just make them do a relay race, all three of them versus him, total of ten laps around the villiage, but that doesn't have the "work together or fight over it?" element. Instead, perhaps he takes them to an obstacle course and puts out two batons (or even something fragile, that vigorous fighting over can destroy - boiled eggs?), then tells them that whoever gets one to the end of the course will pass. Of course, that doesn't mean only one person per baton/egg/whatever can pass, only that they have to be 'in possesion' when reaching the end of the course. Of course, whether they figure this out or fail the first attempt ala canon team 7 is another question...
And I like the idea for Rikou's outfit being an abbreviated jumpsuit plus miniskirt. All I'd really come up with for her was a color swap on Lee's outfit, which would be lame. Of course, all three of them get the weight bands, in various colors. This is Gai we're talking about, after all, plus two people scarily similar to him and one who's easily talked into just about anything if you mention that it will get him closer to the goal of becoming Hokage.
- CD
What, you think Samuel L. Jackson isn't going to survive the zombie apocalypse?

SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

An obstacle course perhaps. Set up so that none of them can succeed alone but together they can complete it. (Naruto would presumably not have the Kage Bushin yet since the Mizuki plotline would be at least delayed) And up against a time limit. Last to complete it goes back to the academy.
Of course, they all get stuck somewhere in the course first time around -although possibly doing better than Gai expects. Cue over-emotional reaction from Gai.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

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Nathan: Okay, that works, but where is Neji?

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*shrug* He's just on one of that year's other teams that we never see onscreen. We've got the Hinata connection if we want to bring him into things later.
Hmm. Personally, I wouldn't do this by starting things off when Lee and Naruto meet, or even when they pass the Academy - I'd say, spend a couple of scenes establishing the 'new' Team 7, then toss them into the Chuunin Exam.
Re: Rikou's Outfit - So, she looks like Raven from Teen Titans, in a miniskirt. Only -louder-. Cool.
Oh, and, while I'll grant that Naruto's... impressionable enough to pick up Gai's worse habits, he's also got a serious orange fixation, normal eyebrows, and absolutely uncontrollable hair. So he won't be able to make himself look -too- much like him... And, given his life goals, all it'd take would be a -single- person observing his resemblance to a certain historical figure to give him an entirely different idol... which, personally, I think Gai would approve of.
Also, while Naruto's pretty dense, sometimes, he can also be a lot more sensible than the Spandex Twins - of course, it says something about that team that he'd be the -sane- one, but...
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

On the subject of what happens when you get an odd number of Academy graduates, a number that can't be divided evenly into three-man teams...
I've always figured at least some odd ones out might get assigned to an existing genin team from an earlier Academy year.
Teams are probably always losing members for some reason - promotion or attrition.
I mean, Asuma's team was down one genin after Shikamaru got bumped to chuunin, and if Rock Lee hadn't survived his surgery, Team Gai might have been short a member as well.
Or there might be older genin floating around without teams, and they might be tacked onto Academy groups to round out, say, a team of two that needs a third member...
...well. Those are just assumptions I made for my own fanfic efforts. I'm prolly ramblin' and drastically wrong or somethin', but it sounds plausible to me. >_> It does. Really. Ahem.
-- Acyl

... now give the three dai-kaiju class mecha and you've got a textbook sentai team (odd number of members, spandex wear, token chick in pink ... err, fuchsia).
Humm ... would the fact that Lee specializes in taijutsu and Naruto in ninjutsu mean that Rikou's the token genjutsu specialist? Balance, y'know?
>Oh, and you do realize that that surname means that Super Fuzzy-Brows -bred-.<
... well, he wouldn't have any issues with *ahem* endurance, and somebody must have finally figured that out ...
Or Gai's got a sister/brother whose kid got exposed to their uncle at an impressionable age ... that would actually explain Lee as well. The fuzzy eyebrows are a hereditary curse of all males of that family.
Okay, now the question is, who are we going to annoy into writing this?
-Griever
Naruto-canon? Meh. Naruto-fanon? Hell, yeah!
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

Whoever it is, they must possess the burning fire of YOUTH!
Geh. That must have been a meme in Japan a while back, because I remember a filler episode of Ranma 1/2 that had a gym teacher like that... And he annoyed EVERYONE.... with the burning fire of YOUTH!
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Drakensis mentioned it in passing, which got me wondering - how exactly could we justify Naruto getting his signature technique? Kage bunshin for Naruto is like a jusenkyo curse for Ranma - it's just not Naruto if he doesn't have it. I do think that spending some time (espescially with Gai!) without access to it, so he has to actually develope some taijutsu skill instead of defaulting to the swarm-pound method would do him a world of good, and I can also see Gai forbidding him from using it in most of their practise sessions for the same reason. But, this is supposed to be about getting it in the first place...

Ah! Gai didn't put his team up for the first ChuuninExam after they graduated, instead making them wait a year. I doubt Naruto would have taken this announcement in good grace, so a former academy sensei telling him about this super scroll he could learn from, and that taking it is a secret test that only the best students and rookies are offered, would probably work about as well as in the canon - the objet being to pass this special test to prove to Gai that he, and by extension Lee and Rikou, are ready to thake the exams after all. The main question would be how to handle the second part - my inclination would be to cut immediately to the aftermath with enoguh narration to know it went the same as usual save for Naruto already being a graduate, and Gai's reacton - A solid clout and a ringing shout of "YOU FOOL!" followed by another ode to the irrepressible spirit of youth, which refuses to be denied! Alas, he still cannot allow them to enter this series of exams, BUT!! They shall be entered in the very next exam, at which time the true flowers of the sprigtime of youth will truly have bloomed! They will surely dominate then, with the explosiive power of their impassioned youth!
Sigh. You see what I mean when I say I can't do Gai very well? My point should be clear, though.
Ah, and married-Gai should have a mustache as well. Keiunko-chan likes how it tickles. (keiun = "auspiscous cloud" according to Jeffrey's, a similar-without-becoming-a-fusion-cameo name root for a Kasumi-like character)

- CD
What, you think Samuel L. Jackson isn't going to survive the zombie apocalypse?

SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

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Humm ... would the fact that Lee specializes in taijutsu and Naruto in ninjutsu mean that Rikou's the token genjutsu specialist? Balance, y'know?

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Well, Gai's canon team is pretty much tank+spotter/scrapper+sniper, or at least the ninja world equivalent of a sniper. Lee is still a close-range tank with speed to spare, Naruto is medium to close range, mostly because he can pop cloines in closer than he is, so that means she'd have to have some kind of long range ability to close that gap in thier pattern. I still like the idea of a ninja archer, using chakra threads to guide the arrows after firing. With Maito family strength training... eep. I'm seeing a pickup truck leaf spring with a handgrip and the pulley system of a compound bow, able to shoot through two trees without significant loss of power.
Unfortunately, that doesn't really fit with her in my mind, and comes off as too close to just Tenten in a costume. Either genjutsu or a long-range ninjutsu, then - perhaps Keiunko was originally from the Mist, and taught her some suiton jutsu? The ability to raise a fog and keep enemy long range types from targeting her close-fighter team mates, as well as being a basis for a whiteout sensory deprivation genjutsu (ooh, that WORKS - she makes a bit of a mist, enough to feel damp on the skin and in the nose, and a genjutsu of an impenetrable pea souper, so her teammates can see well enoguh to target and distinguish each other by their bright oufits, but the enemy can't!) and a lesser version of water-blast than the Seiryuudon.
Of course, if Naruto is going to be the ninjutsu specialist of the team but go a year before learning the kage bunshin, he's got to have a new one, too, probably medium-to-short range since (like I said last time) that seems to be where he likes to fight. A fire jutsu would be most obvious, if he's to be The Leaf's Blazing Orange Wildfire... Maybe the basic Katon flamethrower that Jiraya used to ignite Gamabunta's oil when they were fighting Lizardlips and Manda in the Tsunade arc?
ETA: That would make for a possible powerup to the rasengan without just making it bigger but less focussed like the manga oodama rasengan - form a rasengan, then do the one-hand seal for Katon and spit fire into it.
- CD
What, you think Samuel L. Jackson isn't going to survive the zombie apocalypse?

SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

See Sasuke. See Sasuke fume. See Sasuke fume at the fact that the dobe is picking up fire techniques that were supposed to be _his signature damnit!_ like there's no tomorrow.
Can Kage Bushin clones use ninjutsu? If so, combine the knowledge of Katon techniques with that, and Naruto's penchant for overkill in some areas ... kinda scary?
Add in Kyuubi chakra. You saw what that did when he was trying for a frog summon. 'Course, he was in dire straits at the time ...
The fire/water combo techniques he could manage with Rikou would be interesting.
And no, actually, you do a good impression of Gai from where I'm standing.
... hmm ... soooo ... CD ... how about you try scribbling some of it down? Hmm?
There's a shiny nickel for you in it!
-Griever
*scribble*... have CD write Gai */scribble*
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

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Sigh. You see what I mean when I say I can't do Gai very well? My point should be clear, though.

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We could always borrow Elsa's joke about his students always knowing to on their way to victory for the sake of !
We'd have to keep the POV limited to either characters -outside- the team or Naruto when he's shifted into his deadly-serious-asskicking-mode.
Another option would be that, if the Celestial Gates are -Lee's- exclusive trick, then I might not put it past Gai to teach Naruto something particularly cool, so that he wouldn't feel left out of the . And, of course, Daddy's Little Girl will have tricks of her own.
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

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Of course, if Naruto is going to be the ninjutsu specialist of the team but go a year before learning the kage bunshin, he's got to have a new one, too, probably medium-to-short range since (like I said last time) that seems to be where he likes to fight. A fire jutsu would be most obvious, if he's to be The Leaf's Blazing Orange Wildfire... Maybe the basic Katon flamethrower that Jiraya used to ignite Gamabunta's oil when they were fighting Lizardlips and Manda in the Tsunade arc?

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Or something like a Fire Tanker's Blazing Aura power. Hmmm... I'd be surprised if there wasn't a jutsu to let you bind fire chakra to thrown weapons, sort of like a quicker but less powerful version of tying Explosion Notes to them.
And, and, I like the bow idea - mind if I steal^H^H^H^H -borrow- it for Eisha in TGNH?
Griever:

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See Sasuke. See Sasuke fume. See Sasuke fume at the fact that the dobe is picking up fire techniques that were supposed to be _his signature damnit!_ like there's no tomorrow.

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Not so much, I think. I mean, yeah, on the one hand, he does have a jealous streak and Naruto -is- an obnoxious, competitive little idiot - but on the other, in this universe, Naruto -isn't- the Dead Last... he's the hyperactive taijutsu prodigy who graduated a full -year- ahead of schedule - a ninja to respect, even if he -is- a pain in the ass.
Hmmmm.
Rikou likes Naruto likes Sakura likes Sasuke likes Tenten likes Neji likes... Rikou? *evil grin*
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."