Reborn!

37: Keikaku Dōri

"As promised, the three genins of Team Kakashi will be promoted to chūnin."

Asuma nodded and stated solemnly, "All three have the skill to back it up."

"As expected of a team led by my eternal rival!" cried Gai, whose mood has recovered alongside his disciple.

"Nara Shikamaru has the qualities of a team leader," voted Ibiki, flipping through the documents Sōjirō prepared.

"He's rational and coolheaded, able to identify the priorities in any scenario," added Kurenai. "His methods are odd, but they're effective nonetheless."

"If we're talkin' about him, why not that Hyūga brat? He might've gotten his ass kicked in his first match, but he's pretty qualified. Bit of a stickler for the rules, fer sure, but he's gonna need a lil bit o' that as a chūnin anyways," Anko piped up.

"Speak properly, Anko," said Ibiki in exasperation. "I'm guessing half of us didn't get what you were trying to say."

"Hyūga Neji and Nara Shikamaru are fine candidates for chūnin," said Hiruzen approvingly.

Ibiki swallowed his following line of admonishment for this part-time subordinate.

"If we're going there, I think the mutual elimination duo are worth something," Haruto spoke up for his senpai under Naruto's tutelage.

"Yes," said Baki, who had no chance to butt in all this time. "Even I didn't know Kankurō was hiding that card. To send wind chakra into Karasu was a stroke of genius! Besides, it isn't easy to do that with Fūton."

Asuma nodded along in agreement. "I'm a Fūton user, so I can testify to this."

"It was a fast-paced match," concurred Sōjirō, "but they displayed excellent decision-making skills."

"We can't discount Gaara either. Though he only showed his abilities in two of his three matches, he's displayed strategies capable of suppressing Uchiha Sasuke in combat. His reactions to crises are also excellent, allowing him to minimise the damage he incurs," said Yūgao, who was currently off-duty.

"There are..." A hacking cough. "Two others," said Hayate weakly. "Temari and Dosu Kinuta." He coughed again." "I think they're quite good at analysing in real-time -- they have excellent battle sense. This would translate into..." cough, "actual incidents they face as chūnins."

"This year's chūnin candidates are exceptional," Rasa sighed emotionally. "All of them qualify to become chūnins."

"One last thing everyone's forgotten," interjected Kakashi, "Dosu Kinuta is an Oto-nin. He and his teammates are not in our custody, but we've placed them on house arrest. I doubt their group will wish to return to Orochimaru, but they will need to declare their loyalty to either Konoha or Suna before we can grant Dosu Kinuta any sort of title."

"Young people are always the most attentive to such details," HIruzen remarked. "Inform Team Dosu of this condition."

"Ten chūnins? Our gains this year are quite something," cackled Anko.

ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ

"What are they doing with the prisoners-of-war from Otogakure?" asked Sakura as she poured some poisonous substance into a distiller.

"At the moment, nothing. Usually, prisoners of war are returned to the relevant villages with a ransom. However, Otogakure isn't formally recognised as a hidden village, with one of Konoha's notorious missing-nins being its founder," replied Naruto, who was in the middle of creating weapons using the Banbutsu Sōzō no Jutsu.

They were commissioned by Sakura, who saw a whole new scope of abilities appear before her now that she knew what Aoi was capable of.

"Huh. What are the higher-ups doing with Dosu's gang, then?" Sasuke questioned, testing small-scale reactions of the different chakra natures on his palm.