Before the Timeskip, Naruto just isn't team leader material. He's a good independent agent, and when it's with people he trusts and is used to working with, he agrees to cooperates, but he tends to either overprotect his tammates or just go and do his own thing if no one stops him. If there's no jounin sensei around, he would probably work best with Neji, whom he respects, or Shino, who kind of creeps him out; he listens to Shikamaru easily enough, though there's no sense of hierarchy and he mostly goes with Shikamaru's plans because they seem like to work, not so much because he acknowledges Shikamaru's higher rank.
In one anime arc, the team is Naruto, Hinata and Chouji. No team leader; granted, the mission wasn't supposed to be important, and it ends up with them all running in separate directions anyway. At the same time, it was a very bad idea; Naruto does whatever he wants because he Knows Best, Hinata can't say no to Naruto, and Chouji, while at least considerate enough to ask Hinata for her opinion, is too nice and too used to following Shikamaru blindly; he can't take control from Naruto either.
Before the timeskip, Naruto isn't mature enough to stop and listen to the two of them, and he has a very strong tendency to just do his own thing impulsively. He's not worried about Hinata or Chouji the way he would be over Sakura (because he has a crush on Sakura, and also because he doesn't consider her very strong at all and thus needing his protection); sadly, while Hinata and Chouji have a strong kickass potential, they're not Sasuke either, and they're not good at taking the initiative. Post-timeskip, he's wizened up on the importance of a good strategy and allies in the right spots, Chouji's reaction time has become faster and his techniques stronger, Hinata presumably progressed as well, and eventually they might work passably well together, though they're not the best combination either. As kids, it wasn't the kind of team you should give anything but D-ranks to.
In another arc (around episode 175), the temporary team is Kiba, Hinata and Naruto. No team leader, and more importantly no Shino. The very idea makes me cringe. If there's one team that I can't see working ... XD
I don't think Naruto or Kiba makes a good team leader so long as the other one's around -- they compete over everything, and not in a good way. They bicker, they undermine each other, they don't try to work together -- I can see them so eager to prove themselves as the alpha male that they will disregard each other's opinion on the basis that it's the other guy's opinion and therefore must be proven wrong. Kiba is slightly more mature in general, but around Naruto, eventually, that maturity tends to get blasted out of the window.
They haven't been teamed up enough to learn to balance. In Team 8, Shino is level-headed, and he knows to pay attention to what Hinata can see or what she thinks, so he makes a better leader when they have to be discreet. Kiba is brash and powerful and aggressive, which makes him good in all-out conflict. Shino and Kiba know how to defer to each other when they're in each other's field of expertise. Naruto and Kiba... nope, doesn't work. Naruto's too prideful to admit that Kiba would know better than him at anything, and as Kiba wouldn't back down and allow Naruto the alpha position.
Naruto and Kiba both fit the "brawler" bill; I see Enemy, I Smash Enemy. They both can be rather calculating when they really need to be, though it's not usually their choice -- but when it's about showing the other up? Hah.
If the third member was Shino, it would work -- he would just tell them clearly to stop being children and if need be, take control. But Hinata can't stand up to either Naruto or Kiba; she's a follower, not team leader material.
In the episode, I thought it fairly IC that Hinata SAW a flash of something, but the other two were too busy fighting to notice her reaction, and then she had to run after them to catch up and didn't dare bring it up at all. Hinata has awesome abilities, but she has to be invited, encouraged, flattered, otherwise she doesn't dare presume to use them. And when Kiba and Naruto are around each other, they're too busy squabbling and yelling and posturing to even notice her, except maybe as another bone of contention. Separately, they would be physically protective of her; but not together.
Shino is more considerate of her feelings and ego. He pauses to ask for her opinion, and never gets so busy bragging about his own abilities that he forgets to ask her to use her own for the good of the team. He takes the time to nurture her self confidence. Kiba is more physically protective of her, though he admits readily and with much pride that she can fight when she needs to. Kiba and Shino, while both suited, for different reasons, to be team leader at all times, seem to take turns in leadership, and they are united in their desire to shield and nurture Hinata's growth.
(*waves ShinoHinaKiba flag* That's one threesome where I personally don't see the male/male on screen, but allied to protect Hinata? OH YEAH. (also they read so straight to my gaydar XD especially Kiba) I can see each one giving her up to the other, in a "I know you love her and she could be happy with you" way. And then they'd fight over it. XD Kiba would yell obscenities -- "JUST FUCKING TAKE HER AND MAKE HER HAPPY GODDAMN IT" and Shino would be all "No. All analyses point that you would be best suited. My way or the highway." It would be so fun. XD oh goddamn it I'm getting bunnies.)
Their dynamic is very very different from Team Seven. We haven't seen Team7 without Kakashi to act as a leader all that much, but there are definite differences, however similar Naruto/Kiba and even Shino/Sasuke might appear on the surface.
Sakura at least would impose her views better, even though -- pre-timeskip -- she would probably end up aligning her positions onto Sasuke's. But then she doesn't have Hinata's huge natural advantages -- mostly the boys tend to share the fighting between them and leave her in the dust. u_u; (though that dynamic would probably change with post-timeskip Sakura, who is smart and finally doing something with it, and more than willing to smash her fist into people's face if they don't listen. mmmh. *__*)
Sasuke would make an okay leader -- cool-headed (so long as there's no personal stake) and calculating ahead during fights -- but he tends to fly solo because he can do it better than anyone and of course he would never need help; he's not that good with fighting in a team.
As for Naruto... As he has demonstrated a few times, he CAN plan ahead, but he rarely fights in tandem with Sasuke or even with Sakura, not that we've seen. (though Sasuke and Naruto will band together seamlessly if they really, really have to.) But then Team Seven is the kind of team where you should overpower your opponent, not necessarily overthink him, and Naruto is his own army anyway.
Anyway, Team Seven doesn't seem to have been built for tracking like Team Eight; it's mostly comprised of two powerhouses who more often than not end up fighting in solo, or at best in relay. They're more of a frontal assault kind of team in the end. (which is why even without Tsunade it would have made sense to make Sakura a field medic at least, since she's never going to have Naruto's raw power or Sasuke's array of techniques and talent; but we didn't get to see any of her own decision to become a healer, it seemed to be thrust upon her because she had the fine chakra manipulation ability and Tsunade wanted to pass down all of her stuff. All Sakura asked for was to be made kick-ass so she could keep up, really. Hnn. That's some opportunity for character growth wasted, that. Not everything Sakura-as-a-kickass-ninja is should be copied from Tsunade -- but that's a different rant.)
Team Ten's (InoShikaCho) leadership is. Hah. Well, now that Shika is a Chuunin, it seems to fall to him, but somehow it doesn't feel like that's always the case. Shikamaru is a great leader, tactically speaking. Chouji is a loyal follower, hopelessly devoted, so very not leader material. Ino is impulsive, sentimental, and probably doesn't plan well -- not compared to Shika anyway. But she has motivation, which Shika often doesn't. In short, Shika is the brain, Chouji the muscles and Ino the foot up their ass. XD
Somehow, though, they fit so well as a team. Even if separately they're not
that strong, and they're, frankly, one-trick ponies, as a team they work like
a well-oiled machine. They trust each other and they're used to knowing what
the others will do and how best to help them. Of course it helps that they probably
all knew each other from childhood, and that their parents are friends; Ino,
Shikamaru and Chouji aren't professional in any way together. Team10 is very
close in a way that makes them family.
I don't see that kind of closeness between the members of team Gai.
Lee and Neji have this polite, distant rivalry, which seems to have been born mostly because Lee and Gai felt that it was important for Lee to have a rival to measure himself again, and that Neji never really took as anything but a source of faint annoyance and yet another proof that his theory on life and Fate was true. It's almost a professional relationship, not really personal -- nothing as passionate and confusing as the Naruto/Sasuke friendship/jealousy/rivalry/lovehate. Contrary to Naruto and Sasuke, Lee and Neji's most important bonds are with people outside their trio (Gai-sensei, Hiashi and Hinata and the Hyuugas.) Tenten, sort of a blander copy of Sakura, is the cheerful supporting cast -- knocks some sense into Lee's head, but likes him too, and admires Neji's talent, but not to fangirly heights. She seems a hard-working sort, cheerful and competent; some talent maybe, but not a genius. And no real depth to speak of. We don't know much about her motives, or her friends and family, or her past.
In the end, Team Gai's dynamics are like a milder, passionless version of team Seven.
Some of these characters, as good friends as they are, will never ever work as part of another team than theirs. And while there seems to be a pattern at first glance -- the (HotHeaded) Brawler, the Cool Tactician and the (supporting cast )Girl -- it's really only in surface that the teams are identical.
Some teams also seem to be put together with a goal in mind -- Team Seven is more of a battlefields and frontal assaults team, unable to be discreet but right there with the wanton destruction; Team Eight is more of a tracking/capture team, with the dog and the bugs and the Byakugan eyes; Team Ten seems to be aimed toward information gathering, with a tactician/analyst and a kunoichi who both have somewhat underhanded/non-violent control jutsu, and their cavalry in case things go wrong. Team Gai's dynamics once again reminds of Team Seven's, with two dangerous wielders of Taijutsu; the close-range aspect of both Lee and Neji's styles in comparison to Sasuke's ninjutsu somewhat compensated by Tenten's marksmanship.
Of course, the individuals in each team have more than one use and don't entirely fit in their little boxes, and they can be put together in other combinations to emphasize these other abilities; but it doesn't mean that personality incompatibilities should be discarded.
And there are combinations that should never, ever be attempted unless there is extreme necessity -- the genins can all band together under stress, but as a functioning team for any length of time, it would need careful consideration and handling of the new dynamics.
... Something the Naruto fillers don't seem to care all that much about. Oh well. =__=;