The Everlasting Leaves

With war on the horizon, the Third Hokage assigns a bespectacled Jōnin a peculiar Genin-Team: The "black sheep" of a Noble Clan, a prospective apprentice of a Legendary Sannin, and a civilian with a penchant for Genjutsu. Can he strive to assist in establishing a positive future despite his previous failures and self-doubts? AU. Set two years before the Third Shinobi War.