The Uchiha and The Senju

Team Seven

From the moment that the first member of this potential new team came in, Naruto was analyzing how he'd be. The person in front of him, just how much would he be like his father had been? The person was first and alone, no sign of the others that were supposed to be with him. Would they fail before it even began?

"Tell me, little monkey. What do you see around you."

"I have a name."

"Didn't say you didn't."

"Then why are you calling me that."

Naruto smirked. "Maybe when you earn my respect, I'll call you by your name, little monkey."

"My mom spoke well of you. I don't see it."

Naruto looked at the child, well he was almost a teen but to him, he was a child. Until proven otherwise. "She's a good woman. Your father, an even better man than I." Smiling in a reminiscent way, he sighed. "What do you know of him?"

"That he was clan head, he was a great fighter, friends with the Hokage and Tobirama since they were young."

"Is that all?"

"Mom gets sad when talking about him. But those are the main things I always hear."

Crouching down, Naruto sighed once more. Lighting a cigarette. "Where to begin? Sasuke was one of my closest friends."

"Really?"

"He considered me a rival. As foolish as that idea was."

"You're stronger than him?"

Naruto exhaled a plume of smoke, looking to the sky. "What do you think equates to someone's strength?"

"Your knowledge in jutsu, fighting techniques, chakra. Your knowledge."

"Valid thoughts."

"Am I wrong?"

Chuckling, Naruto stood up. "You shall see. Right now, what do you think of me? No lying, nothing, just your impression."

"Not sure. I don't know you. I asked around when you were announced as the team sensei, no one seemed to have an answer about who you were in my class. It would seem like you're just a normal person, Jonin which is the highest rank for a ninja, that much is clear. Therefore, you should be relatively strong, at least in comparison to that of my class, the senseis we've had over the years."

"Something you should come to think about, is that rank does not matter. I could be a Genin, and still be stronger than a Jonin. A Genin would still lose to a Jonin though, do you know why?"

"Is that just not how it's supposed to be?"

"Most times yes. Sometimes though, it really doesn't. Power does not correlate with age, gender, nothing to do with rank. Experience, outranks everything. You seem smart, but don't rely entirely on everything you've been told, everything you have read. Circumstance plays a large role in the outcomes of many things."

"Then how would you describe such things?"

"Being a strong ninja, a strong warrior is about sixty percent innate talent. It's why those from clans are steps ahead of the rest. Why they tend to be more superior. The resources, and the blood is there. That doesn't mean that you can't be strong despite not being of a clan descent, or that you are guaranteed stronger for being in such. It still takes countless hours of training and effort to reach strength. Someone's forty percent at one hundred percent can be far greater than others, however they are handicapped. Missing sixty percent of what they truly could have been. Make sense? You can train every day for twenty hours each day and still lose to someone with that natural talent. Someone utilizing all one hundred percent of the potential. Just like how someone who trains every day in taijutsu will always beat the naturally gifted who doesn't train in taijutsu. Do you understand what I'm saying?"