#i wish neji and gai’s dynamic was explored more in canon :( he was the positive adult figure who genuinely believed in him that he needed

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Rin Kakashi switch Au

So instead of Kakashi killing Rin, she accidentally kills kakashi. Gai wouldn’t go evil like Obito did but he would totally acquire the darkness to join anbu. And I feel like Obito would somehow get Rin out of the village and turn her to his side.

Without Kakashi leading team 7 leader (it would probs be Yamato) I would exchange Tenten for Sasuke. Since Taijutsu is the best way to combat the sharingan, and Gai trained w kakashi, so he has positive thoughts about the Uchiha and would boost Sasuke’s defense. Plus the rivalry between him and Neji never got fully explored and we only see Lee whip sasuke’s ass once.

Sakura would totally benefit from having TenTen on the team. Without sasuke she would be able to focus on her ninja skills and having another girl on the team would totally force her get better faster. And Sakura gets to train w Tsunade which is something tenten wants but can’t (not enough chakra control) so that would definitely turn into an interesting dynamic.

It would kind of ruin the bond between Naruto and Sasuke. The two were already wishing they could reach out to each other, but it was Kakashi’s emphasis on teamwork (which Yamato wouldn’t have to Kakashi’s level) and them being on the same team that forced them to be close enough to bond.

Without at least being on the same team Naruto would never bond with Sasuke in the same way and would thus never go after him when he left the village (and he would leave the village. He’d still want to kill Itachi if the massacre happened and Orochimaru would still do anything he can to get his hands on Sasuke so he can ultimately steal his body)

I do love the idea of Sakura and Tenten on a team together as well because they would be able to bond and Sakura could actually find a support in tenten to push her to work on her skills rather than only doing it to ‘keep up’ with the boys. She’d also be separated from sasuke which, as you said, would be good for her. A lot of her training took second place to her focus on Sasuke.

Gai would be a good teacher for Sasuke, but i’m not sure if he’d be the best tbh because as with Canon Lee would take his focus. Honestly, gai is a good sensei but he also has a bad habit of ignoring his other students for Lee sometimes (like leaving Neji to train on his own for the chunin exams). I also think he feels like a ‘genius’ doesn’t need as much help so he’d focus even more on Lee. He would help Sasuke excel at reading the movements of another sharingan user (like itachi) without having to look in their eyes which would be perfect knowledge for Sasuke to have given his goals of facing Itachi. So Sasuke would have that knowledge to lead him into his ultimate show down against Itachi which would really help him avoid being put into a Genjutsu as soon as he walks into the room.