Naruto Shippuuden Episode 13

[RyougaZell]

According to the Chuunin exams... Chuunins are team leaders.
Yes, they do not lead Genins, but being Chuunin makes them worth being a team leader.
Thus... every Jounin, despite how young/old/new should be capable of directing a Genin team.

Aoba, Shizune, Genma, Anko, Ibiki, Shikato, Chouza, Inochi, Kiba's mom. All are Jounins as well and don't have genins under them.

Ebisu didn't had them for years before Konohamaru Corps.

Thus... Neji is capable of having his team, but hasn't been asigned one. So if the Hokage sends him with his old team she can if she wants to.

[Assassin]

Also, the same applies to gai. It's never been said that once you're team graduates, you get a new team rite away. He could just be a "free" jounin like neji and the others, doing missions (which is what thier real job is).

Not to mention that he could have a team, and still have been sent on this mission because he's uniquely qualified. He's one of the strongest jounin in konoha, he knows his team mates and thier strenghts/weakneses really well, he has experience facing akatsuki members before, as well as experience fighting against the sharingan.

[Mizuchi]

after watching this ep, i felt like rewatching some of the old naruto eps. i watched episodes 49 and 50 which were part of the lee vs gaara chuunin prelims. That's when i realized how bad naruto has become. Sure the story line is good, but the reason i liked it before was because so much happened and it had so much meaning. Now all it is, is whenever naruto hears the word sasuke, he runs off and goes into a DBZ fight, which goes SOO slowly. In eps 49 and 50, the fights were sooo exciting. The creaters of this show have gotten so caught up in not getting back into fillers that without realizing it, they dropped the regular show's quality almost down to filler level. It's like this isn't even naruto anymore.

Like there was so much meaning before. I loved the part in lee vs gaara when they showed young lee training so hard to beat neji. There was like a good story and meaning behind everything. Now its just pointless fights.

P.S. I wonder how sakura became chuunin when both of her teammates were missing...

[DB_Hunter]

I agree, there is something missing in these fights that was there in the orignal Naruto fights. There seemed to be a lot more emotion and meaning behind each fight, and there were twists and turns in the plot. Remember the Zabuza arc? That was gold. Despite the genin involved not having uber-ultra-hardcore-one-hit-instant-death moves, the fights were more entertaining and drew you in to the story. I remember even when Itachi first turned up everyone was like 'wow!'

It all just seems a bit anti-climatic now. The only bit that evoked the same sort of feelings in Shippuden was the very first teaser trailer of the forthcoming Naruto Vs Sasuke fight.

[JaySee]

I disagree. Gaara's fight had purpose and gave depth to his character. The Kankuro fight was just a plot device. That's why it wasn't drawn out in the manga. I've already said how terribly they filled it in. Any fights without Naruto there to give a speech or a flashback of a previous Naruto speech are just fights to move the plot along.

[Assertn]

Also, the same applies to gai. It's never been said that once you're team graduates, you get a new team rite away. He could just be a "free" jounin like neji and the others, doing missions (which is what thier real job is).

Not to mention that he could have a team, and still have been sent on this mission because he's uniquely qualified. He's one of the strongest jounin in konoha, he knows his team mates and thier strenghts/weakneses really well, he has experience facing akatsuki members before, as well as experience fighting against the sharingan.

You can also compare it to team Kakashi...where it's not a team of teacher and pupils, but equally respected shinobi.

[AngryGumball]

You can also compare it to team Kakashi...where it's not a team of teacher and pupils, but equally respected shinobi.

I'm sorry but I don't see it as equally respected Shinobi, its Kakashi leading Sakura and Naruto still.

Its still Gai leading the team, even look at how they stand in the Episode its Gai standing forefront others arrayed to the sides of him, its Kakashi in front.

While everyone is making reasons why Neji and Gai are working in same team, the fact that your making reasons means the storytelling simply is not good enough at this extended lifespan of the entire series.

Are we to assume in the time jump that there haven't been graduating classes, are we to assume that the village only has these ninja that we can all name, and the village really depends on them for security. If so then the story fails by having the same teams exist or same people out together on the same mission.

Don't get me wrong they get very small parts/scenes right, the part where kakashi says blind itachi, then the camera switches to where we see Itachi blink as if in reflective thought was perfect, and well drawn to express the unwritten emotion in Itachi's eyes......however we still should reasonably believe Itachi is gonna open multiple cans of whoopass

[RyougaZell]

So you mean to imply there are so few Jounins so have to disband previous teams, which aren't anymore of teacher - student relationship, but of understanding having worked togeteher for years, so they can teach newbies?

Remember Naruto's graduating class.
30 Genin... from which only 9 remained active according to the 66% rate of failure of the 'equivalent-bell' test.

3 freaking Jounin started teaching. And if the 66% failure rate wasn't real, it would mean it would have been 10 Jounin.

Does Konoha has so few Jounin, as make it seem, that they need to asign a Jounin who previously had a team, a new team?

Answer... NO.

The way I see Kishimoto showing these, is that a Jounin never takes a 2nd team. And before you said Kakashi failed many before... it was because of the same reason. He never teached before, and once he had a team he isn't needed to teach a 2nd one.

Thus, only Neji could have a team currently, as everybody else is Chuunin, and the Jounin already had a team before.

Konohamaru's team graduated, and they were given to a Jounin who most likely never had a team before, Ebisu. Remember he used to 'teach' Konohamaru before, so he didn't have a team.

You do not see Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto as equals? Too bad for you. They were taught by Sannins. And that, in their world, is enough. Maybe not to us, who only see a fraction of their time, but they never mention things lightly in their world.

[animus]

Kakashi was taught by Yondaime, the most powerful ninja Konoha ever produced. Kakashi himself might consider them equals, as he will be relying on them for backup, but truly they still do not rival his skill/and or ability yet.

[Animeniax]

Angrygumball has a good point, it is weak storytelling to keep these teams together, but RyougaZell isn't too far off either.

These are A or S rank missions, going up against Akatsuki S-class villains, so you're not going to see any rookie Genin or even Chuunin in these episodes, even if more Genins and Chuunins have graduated or been promoted in Konoha. Besides, why would Kishimoto introduce even more characters when the current batch is already so under-utilized?