Naruto would be a great anime if it was called "Rock Lee."
Hear me out.
A story revolving around a protagonist who is severely inferior to all of his opponents in every way but one and has to gamble on that is WAY cooler-sounding than an OP half-demon kid who becomes a dog every time he gets super mad.
Not to mention it'd lead to a lot of cool perspective choices and super intense fights, and the risks would automatically feel way higher if Rock Lee had to physically PUNCH his enemies rather than summon a magic bullshit attack.
The central protagonist team would be
>Maito Gai
Obviously. Kakashi is a cool teacher and all, but only for Sasuke or maybe Neji, really. He'd basically take on the role of Gai's rival, and his squad would probably be more prevalent than Gai's was in Naruto.
>Rock Lee
Already explained.
>Shikamaru
He didn't graduate in the same year as Lee, but it wouldn't really be surprising if he had. He's a master strategist, highly intelligent, and lazy. and having someone like that around would perfectly contrast with Guy and Lee's simple, straightforward fighting styles.
It also works to their advantage in combat; Shikamaru can plan out every move two steps in advance, and while Rock Lee will probably act apart from the plans, it'd usually end up really well. He's also able to defend himself better than like half of the other genin.
>Tenten
You can't really get away from the twelve-year-old love dodecahedron between Sakura, Rock Lee, Naruto, Sasuke, Ino, Hinata et fucking cetera.
Tenten is the only one who doesn't drag us into that.
She's also an investigator at heart, which could theoretically work well with Shikamaru's strategism and perception for some mystery-oriented arcs. Tenten also foils Gai and Lee, so it balances out fairly nicely.