Kakashi
"It's time you resigned from Anbu Kakashi," the hokage told him as he handed him a folder.
Kakashi rubbed his temple when he saw the genin reports inside. The hokage had been pressuring him lately to become a Jonin sensei and assumed he had gotten away with declining for so long because he had been persistant about wanting to help find Naruto Uzumaki.
He always felt his guilt rise to swallow him whole when he thought about the son of his dead sensei. He sometimes wondered if Minato looked down on them all in disappointment for failing his only son. The son he sacrificed for the village. The son he died for.
It seemed like yesterday that he arrived at the bloody Uchiha compound. Of all the things he had to come late to that moment seemed to be the worst of all. The bodies of the famous clan were already cold and stiff as his team made their way through the area. They ended up only finding one survivor - Sasuke Uchiha.
The boy was traumatized and frozen in front of his parents bodies when they found him.
It was as they were leaving that he felt his own blood run cold in his veins. The wind had shifted for a slight moment but it was enough to catch the scent of sunshine, cut grass and mildew. It was his smell.
The smell that lingered in the air as Kakashi watched a certain small blonde boy lay in the grass and stare at the sky. Naruto frequented a particular grassy hill that always seemed to be deserted. He would always watch the boy lay on that hill but never gathered enough courage to approach. Oh, how he wished he had.
But he was too late when he barked out orders and used jutsu to appear in front of Naruto's apartment. The trail had gone cold and they ended up not being able to find him.
"Is this about Sasuke Uchiha?" Kakashi muttered as the picture of the gloomy boy stared back at him.
"Actually it is," the old man replied as he took a drag from his pipe, "You may not be an Uchiha but you know how to use that eye of yours. The council suggested that I should at least attempt to give you his team. You may test them as you wish but if you fail them just know that you will still have to train the boy, he'll just be given a different team sensei."
"Maa- I guess I'll have to give them a chance then."
There was no use in arguing. He would simply rejoin the Anbu once he was done with this task. The hokage was crazy to believe he could teach or even have the patience to deal with children. He hardly spoke to other shinobi in general!
It was easier to hide behind his books than it was to get closer to anyone. The friend killer, they called him. It hurt to see the blood on his hands. It hurt to come back to the village after a mission knowing there was no one waiting for him. That there was no one left. Not even Naruto.
He resented the thought of becoming sensei to genin brats who would likely die before they finished puberty.
Kakashi couldn't help but think the genin were worse than he thought after meeting them for the first time. He had a love sick girl with no ambition, a revenge driven boy obsessed with his brother and an emotionless boy with no purpose.
He watched from behind his favorite orange book as they tried to snatch the bells from his waist. He internally sighed as the three lunged at him from each side and snapped his book shut. He dodged all three attacks and kicked them aside with ease, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he watched them tumble into the dirt.
The bell timer rang loudly and he gave them an eyed smile.
"It looks like none of you pass," he said merrily as he walked over to them.
The pink haired genin glared at him, "could you at least try not to sound happy about it."
He decided against his better judgement to throw them a bone since they did use teamwork during the bell test. Even if it was poor teamwork. He didn't feel like doing the whole tree drama so he pulled out 3 pieces of paper and handed them one each.
"If all of you can write what the purpose of my test was and get it correct without talking to each other, I will let all of you pass," he said with a lazy shrug, "I only have one pencil so play nice."
He could see the nervous expressions of Sasuke and Sakura as they handed in their slips. Sai looked expressionless but he could smell his fear of failure.
"Lets see," Kakashi gasped dramatically as he stared down at the slips of paper, "Looks like....."
They all leaned forward expectantly.
"Seems like....."
He could see the beads of sweat drip down their foreheads.
"I think.... you passed."
He could see the relief on their innocent little faces and he tried to push back the feeling of dread as he gave them his eyed smile once again. He hoped that he wouldn't have to bury their bodies. That he wouldn't have to carry their mangled limbs and bloodied skin back to the village. He prayed to whatever beings existed in the universe that he wouldn't have to watch them die.
It didn't take long for team Kakashi to receive their first mission outside of the village. He knew they weren't ready for it but logically it was all he could do to try to prepare them. It rubbed him the wrong way that he had to rush to get them a bit of experience before the Chunin exams - which the council insisted Sasuke had to be a part of. He tried not to feel resentful with the way the village was run, with the way the hokage failed the orphans who couldn't defend themselves. That was a battle that he always lost yet he knew that way of thinking would get him no where.
Kakashi knew better than to give into emotions like those. They often led him nowhere and tended to add to his growing list of issues.
He tried to do better instead hence why he stood waiting next to his half drunk client at 6 in the morning with Bento boxes stacked in hand.
"There's my cute genin," he sang as his team approached, "I brought breakfast."
"Sensei it is too early for you to have this much energy," Sakura said as she rubbed her weary eyes.
Sasuke grunted in agreement but looked curiously at the bento boxes.
"You know what they say, the early bird gets the worm," Kakashi smiled as the three looked at him in disbelief.
Sai muttered with a slight head tilt,"You are not a bird nor are you usually early."
The silver haired jonin decided to ignore the comment and handed out the boxes he made for his team. He remembered wide blue eyes peering down at an apple he left on a certain grassy hill for a boy that looked way too small. It wasn't enough to leave little snacks but he wouldn't make that mistake again.
It was annoying enough that his client was drunk and jumpy. It started to pass annoying when he saw the puddle in the middle of their path. Yet he pretended not to notice and continued to hold his little orange book in front of his face. When they struck, he struck harder. It filled him with pride to see his genin protect their client. He hid his surprise at the way Sai killed with ease, it seemed as if it wasn't his first time.
"You haven't been honest with us," Sai stated as he turned towards the Tazuna, "Why are ninjas trying to kill you?"
Tazuna looked at Kakashi with a pleading expression, having sobered up during the attack.
He raised an eyebrow, "I would actually like to know that as well. This would have never been a C rank mission if we'd known there were ninjas after you."
"The truth is that my country's economy has been taken over by a wealthy businessman named Gato. Since he's taken over my people have become extremely poor as we aren't allowed to trade or get any imports. It's why I have to complete the bridge. Once the bridge is created we will have a chance to finally prosper. Since I am the only one who can create the bridge, Gato has been threatening to kill me. This is the first time any ninja has gone this far," Tazuna sighed, "Please don't leave me."
Kakashi narrowed his eye.
"This is the first time any ninja has gone this far," he repeated, "So you have encountered ninja yet you seem slightly surprised that they attacked today. Hell, you managed to leave your country and make it all the way to the hidden leaf on your own despite these threats to your life. Tell me how that makes sense."
He could feel his team tensing up beside him. Sasuke and Sakura gripped their weapons tighter while Sai looked at Tazuna with a calculating gaze.
Tazuna started to sweat at the reactions from the genin. The man looked suspicious enough that Kakashi's snot-nosed kids were looking at him as if he were the enemy. He would have to praise them for that later - it never hurt to be on guard.
"Okay, okay! Stop looking at me like I'm the enemy here. I was surprised that they attacked because I already have someone that is supposed to be taking care of the shinobi. I really only need you guys as bodyguards because he refused to do that part. He doesn't care much for the bridge, just the ninja and Gato."
"Why not build the bridge when Gato and his people are dead?"
"Gato may control the village but he isn't always there. You guys defending me would give him a reason to personally make sure I'm taken care of," Tazuna dropped to his knees in front of them, "Please my people are starving to death and my own son in law was executed for standing up to Gato. We need you. You won't have to deal with the ninja once we're in my country. I'll do anything, just please don't go."
Kakashi weighed his options. This mission could either be extremely risky or easy as reading his novel if the person Tazuna had was any good. He turned to his genin.
"What do you guys think?"
"It could be a trap," Sakura said but Sasuke shook his head at that.
"There was no gurantee that we'd even be put on this mission. The real question is whether we can trust Tazuna's assassin to actually get rid of Gato and his people," the gloomy boy responded.
"We have a slightly higher chance of completing the mission with the assassin aiding us though," Sai stated quietly, "Who is your assassin?"
They all looked over at Tazuna who was still kneeling in the dirt, looking at them with puppy eyes.
"His name is Kurama."