Story Ideas!

Steamy: Hello everyone. This will be an AU story as of the Bell Test where I will be changing small things regarding the actual Bell Test, but it’ll mostly stay the same as canon. This story is inspired by the beginning of the fanfic Birth of a Ninja and me wondering what would happen if Naruto got a fair assessment from Kakashi and learned more than just Teamwork tactics; along with knowing how to utilize the Kage Bunshin to its full potential. There will be some things from one other story in here, the fanfic is by Maxfic and is called Naruto: Shinobi institute of Performance Analysis but this story won’t be like that one, it’ll just have a very specific thing in it from that story.

Disclaimer: I don’t own the things the other peeps made up, nor do I own Naruto (sadly…)

Chapter one: How to Build a Team

“You three!?” Kakashi’s voice boomed; his mask covered face darkening menacingly. Naruto nearly screamed while Sakura did scream. Sasuke grit his teeth, trying not to yelp in surprise at the sudden appearance of the Jonin.

“You three broke the rule! Are you ready for punishment?!” Kakashi bellowed, swiftly doing hand seals that seemed to cause black storm clouds to appear, lightning flashing threateningly above them all.

“B-b-but,” Naruto tried to yell, stammering horribly, his teeth almost chattering as he spoke,

“Huh?” was the menacing grunt from Kakashi.

“Y-you s-said t-that we a-are a team!” Naruto managed between stutters,

“Right, and as a team, we will face you together!” Sasuke added, readying himself for a fight. Sakura looked at her teammates before raising her head,

“That’s right!” she agreed.

“Well, if that’s so, then I guess you really deserve this,” Kakashi muttered darkly, before the lightning and dark clouds disappeared, leaving an eye smiling silver haired man behind.

“You all pass.” He announced cheerfully.

“Huh?” was the ever eloquent response from the preteens.

…

After explaining to his team why he had passed them and what time to meet him the next morning Kakashi headed towards the Hokage Tower, ready to make his report. And though it wasn’t in his nature, he decided to be on time for once.

So as it was all the Jonin in the Hokage’s office nearly had heart attacks when Kakashi got there on time. It took a full minute for the Hokage to snap out of his shock. Shaking his head with a resigned sigh he cleared his throat; bringing everyone back to the present.

After he had everyone’s attention the Sandaime started speaking,” alright, since we’re all here, why not get started? Team 1 goes first.” Hiruzen gestured toward one of the Jonin, who nodded and straightened before beginning,

“Team 1, fail,” the aged Hokage nodded and looked to the next Jonin,

“Team 2, fail.”

“Team 3, fail.”

“Team 4, fail.”

“Team 5, fail.”

“Team 6, fail.”

“Team 7, pass.” Everyone stopped and stared at Kakashi, who just looked back at everyone with a bored expression. Hiruzen cleared his throat and gestured for Team Eight’s Jonin sensei, Kurenai, to continue. She did after getting over her own shock, cleared her throat and began,

“Uh, Team 8, pass.”

“Team 10, pass.” Nodding his head, Hiruzen then looked out at the rest of the Jonin,

“All of those whose teams did not pass are dismissed. The ones whose teams did please remain.” A chorus of “hai” permeated the air before the six other Jonin left the room.

After they were alone the Sandaime looked at the three remaining Jonin,” please give a summary of your first meeting and the tests.” They all remained silent before Asuma; the sensei of Team 10 sighed and spoke,

“Well, guess I’ll go first,” he paused to gather his thoughts before starting again,” to start with, my team consists of Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino. They are going to make a perfect team, especially as the new Ino-Shika-Cho, but their personalities… Well it’ll take a little work so that they don’t clash. Shikamaru is lazy and has no motivation whatsoever and prefers cloud watching and lazing around to training, or anything really. Chouji follows Shikamaru’s example and tries to do the least amount of work he can while succeeding in his tasks. He also eats constantly, but since that is more or less a necessity in his clan I’m not too worried; he also lacks any type of motivation.

“Now, Ino is another thing all-together. She’s incredibly bossy and was whining about not being on the same team as the Uchiha,” everyone sighed at this,” but she was able to give her team some motivation, in the form of doing as she says so she would shut up.” Asuma sighed again. The Hokage nodded his head as he asked,

“And their skills?” 

“I was getting to that. They all know the basic three Academy jutsu as well as one clan jutsu, each. Shikamaru is a natural genius, which is probably why he’s so lazy, and is able to figure out and put together a plan in no time at all. He’s the main reason they were able to beat me, he conjured up a plan and they all worked well enough together to execute it-as expected of a Nara-as well as being rather physically weaker but because of his lazy nature he probably hasn’t put the time into strengthening his body more than absolutely necessary, while Chouji is the strongest physically, and tends to depend on Shikamaru for any plans, opting to simply be a support that doesn’t contribute anything more than brute strength.

“Now the worst off is by far Ino. She is underweight, apparently to “impress” the Uchiha with a slim body, and is more concerned with her appearances than being a ninja. The only good thing is that since she’s from a ninja clan her father hasn’t let her fall too far in her physical fitness. Ino’s main problem is her battle smarts. She doesn’t have any. Period. She didn’t utilize any of the Academy jutsu and instead opted to use only her clan’s jutsu. I’ll have to make her realize that as a ninja, you need to utilize everything you have. That’s about it. I think I’ll have my plate full for a while.” Asuma chuckled while lighting up a cigarette. 

Hiruzen nodded his head, letting the information settle as he looked to Kurenai, tilting his head slightly to let her know to go. The woman nodded before straightening and spoke,

“My team consists of Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata. They will be a very good tracking team, and their personalities aren’t too contradicting. Kiba is pretty brash and a loudmouth but he knows how to work with others well. Shino is quiet and calm and very logical, the planner of the group, while Hinata is very shy, quiet and tries to be the peacemaker in the team. They are very comfortable with each other and work very well together. Now in my test I took two bells with green string tied to them as well as covered them in a particular scent and hid them on the training grounds. I also planted many other bells with different colored strings and scents then gave them a set amount of time to find the correct bells, while also attacking them at random intervals to keep them on their toes.”

“And how did they do?” the aged Hokage asked. Kurenai sighed lightly, 

“They were able to find them with three minutes to spare. It took them awhile to get comfortable with each other and to depend on each-others abilities. The one who took the longest was Kiba, as he thought he just needed to have Akamaru and he’d be fine. But once they worked together it was smooth sailing for them. As far as their skills go, they have a good balance between the Academy three and clan jutsu. They are all healthy physically and do have some, as Asuma put it, battle smarts. They utilized everything that they needed in their arsenal and came out victorious. Like I said before, they will make a wonderful tracking team.”

Hiruzen nodded,” what about their weaknesses?” Kurenai thought about that for a moment before replying,

“There aren’t many, but the biggest weakness I see is Hinata’s shyness. She’s so shy it’s almost painful, and she is very under-confident, no doubt from constantly being put down by her clan. Kiba is, again, very brash and tends to be overconfident, thinking he was better than the rest of his team before Hinata and Shino were able to, excuse my language, pull his head out of his ass,” Asuma snickered while the Hokage chuckled lowly,” and Shino just has a problem with communicating verbally and sometimes expected them to know what he was thinking when they were planning. It took a bit for him to realize that they weren’t his kikaichū and therefore didn’t know what he was thinking or feeling. I have my work cut out for me, but it probably won’t be as much as Asuma’s, since he has a lazy ass and a fangirl.” 

Kurenai sent a smirk Asuma’s way while the bearded man sighed dejectedly. The Sandaime chuckled good naturedly before turning his attention to Kakashi.

“And finally, Team 7,” he murmured. Kakashi nodded his head; then straightened much like Kurenai had before starting.

“My team consists of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. I used the Bell test to test them-“

“Aw man, not that horrible test! How did they even make it?” Asuma interrupted. Kakashi sent a sharp glance his way but otherwise didn’t react,

“Yes it was that test, now as I was saying, I used the Bell test to test them and I was disappointed,” Kakashi frowned at the old leader,” it would seem the Academy doesn’t have any type of high standards. I was led to believe that Sasuke was overly talented for an Academy student, that he was at the level of a Chūnin, but I disagree. He was just barely mid genin, and while he may have large reserves for someone his age and size, he isn’t all that great, not to mention his head has been filled with hot air, probably by the villagers. He thought that he could take on me, an Elite Jonin, all by himself because he’s, and I quote “an Uchiha, the Elite of the Elite and no one can beat me",he said that to one of his teammates after they attempted to team up with him after helping him out of the ground when I performed the decapitating jutsu on him.

“Sakura is worse off than Ino. She has no muscle on her at all, she’s skinnier than Ino and since she’s on the same team as Sasuke, is worse off. All she cares about is Sasuke and her appearance, she even abandoned Naruto when he was in trouble and right in front of her to go search for Sasuke to help him-“

“Was it Sakura Sasuke said he didn’t need help from then?” Kurenai asked. Kakashi sighed,

“I was getting to that, show a little patience will you?” Kurenai scowled but kept her mouth shut. After a moment Kakashi began again,

“Anyway, the Academy lied about Sakura too. They said she had an affinity for genjutsu, but she fell for a D-ranked one on my first try. She didn’t realize it was a genjutsu and simply screamed and fainted.”

The Hokage hummed before asking,” and what did you show her?” 

“It was the Demonic Illusion: Hell viewing Jutsu. I showed an image of Sasuke pretty banged up, a couple cuts here and there, a few kunai in his shoulder and a broken leg. I’m almost more upset that she didn’t even attempt to help him, she just screamed and fainted,” Kakashi sighed,” the worst part is that when she woke up, or rather, was woken up, by Naruto, she just punched him, told him to get out of her way and ran into the woods in search of Sasuke.” Kakashi sighed again,

“Now Naruto. He’s definitely unpredictable that one. When the whole thing started Naruto-rather than hide and think up a plan-stayed out and demanded a fight. After I beat him I left and took care of first Sakura, and then Sasuke. I left a Kage bunshin with each of them so that I would know what happened. The clone saw Sakura hurt Naruto. The clone I left with Sasuke saw Naruto help Sasuke out of the ground, he dug him out, and after he was out Sasuke whirled on him and told him he didn’t need help, after Naruto suggested they work together because, two is better than one. You know how that worked out. After that Naruto left and seemed to be trying to come up with a plan, but started heading for the lunches I left for after the test. He got caught in one of my traps. None of them got a bell, and while Sasuke got close, that was only because I was going easy on him,” Kakashi sighed once more,” after the time was up I tied Naruto to one of the posts-“

“Wait, why did you tie Naruto up? Shouldn’t you have tied Sakura or Sasuke?” Asuma asked. Kakashi looked at him tiredly before answering.

“All in due time, just be patient. Then I told them the purpose of the test. After a bit of talking I got them to work together.”

“How?” Asuma asked. 

Kakashi smirked,

“It’s another part of the test. I let both Sakura and Sasuke have the bentos then told them not to give anything to Naruto. It took a minute or two but Sasuke relented and offered his food to Naruto, saying that Naruto would be no good hungry. Sakura offered her own food after that. After that I scared the living shit out of them, just to make sure that they would stick together. And they, surprisingly, did, and said they would fight me because they were a team. I passed them and told them to meet me at the bridge tomorrow at eight.” Kakashi took a deep breath then let it out, turning to Asuma,

“I had to tie Naruto up. Everyone in the village knows Naruto has a crush on Sakura, and that practically every girl Sasuke’s age has crushes on him, so if I tied up Sakura or Sasuke, Naruto or Sakura wouldn’t have hesitated to help them, respectively, and it would have made the second test pointless. By picking Naruto, someone both Sasuke and Sakura dislike, it made it a harder decision and thus tested their resolve and if they were truly paying attention when I told them the purpose of the test.”  Kakashi let out a final sigh as he was finished.

Asuma nodded thoughtfully.

The Hokage nodded his head as well, and then sat silently as he mulled everything he was told over. A couple minutes passed when the Hokage opened his eyes, his face filled with resolve.

“Well, it would seem that you all have your work cut out for you. All of you work on bringing them up to snuff on their skills and anything else they might need help with. Asuma, you are not to let them go at their own pace, be rough, shape them up, make them earn any and all of their breaks, am I clear?” Asuma nodded,” good, now, Kurenai, you seem to already know what you’re going to be doing. Start on it right away, and also have them interact with other people, make them feel comfortable with others, as a tracking team, they will work with others a lot.” Kurenai nodded and uttered a quiet ‘hai’.

Finally, Hiruzen turned to Kakashi,” Kakashi, you have the hardest team of all. You first need to work on their skills-“

“Hokage-sama, if I may?” Kakashi interrupted. The aged man looked at him for a moment before nodding his ascent. Kakashi took a deep breath and began.

“I have come up with my own training schedule, may I continue?” he asked, the old man nodded once more and so Kakashi moved forward,” I have decided, for their first month as Genin, I’m going to be working on their individual skills by helping them master what they already know and teamwork, we’ll most likely be taking at least one D-ranked mission a day. After that first month, I would like to ask for a month off from active duty.” The Hokage and the jonin in the room looked shocked, Kakashi held up a hand,

“I know it sounds outrageous, but allow for me to explain. Sasuke and Naruto need isolation from the village, Sasuke because all they do is fill his head with hot air, and Naruto because they hate on him all the time. Sakura would benefit from some isolation so that she can work better with her teammates, and so that I can pound what a real Shinobi is into her mind, actually, Kurenai? If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you have a talk with her? You are an accomplished Kunoichi, and if she sees you then she might be more willing to think like a proper one,” Kurenai looked up in thought for a moment before nodding,

“Yes, I believe I could do that. We can talk more tomorrow after I take my team for their first mission and training; at about five, would that be okay?” She asked. Kakashi eye-smiled,

“Perfect,” he turned to the Hokage,” now, as I was saying, I will also be using this month to expand on their skills, since they should have mastered all of their current skills by then, and work on their affinities-“

“Wait, are you saying that you’ll be buying Affinity paper? Isn’t that expensive?” Asuma once again interrupted. Kakashi let out an agitated sigh,

“Maa, maa, yes; that is what I’m saying, now please stop interrupting. Anyway, I will check their affinities and help them in any way I can; if they have an affinity that I can’t help them with then I will give them scrolls or people to help them with them. I will also be helping them with anything they show an interest in, if I am, again, able to. That’s just about it. What do you think of this, Hokage-sama?” Kakashi finished. The Hokage pursed his lips in thought, before nodding his head with a grin,

“I believe that that is a wonderful idea, Kakashi. When the time comes for their one month off time I will grant it. Please don’t waste any of your time and try to be on time for your team?” Kakashi chuckled,

“Eh, I’ll only be thirty minutes late, they need to learn patience after all,” he eye-smiled once again while everyone shook their heads with resignation. The aged Hokage sighed before shaking his head with a chuckle,

“I guess that is fine. If none of you have anything else to say or add you are all dismissed.” 

[Next day; 8:12 AM]

Let it never be said that Naruto had the patience of Buddha, because while he wasn’t as impatient as most thought him to be, he wasn’t the most patient person in the world. The fact that he had gotten hit in the head for being two minutes late by his crush and being insulted by his other teammate for “being an idiot” made him even more agitated and impatient than normal.

And that was only the icing on the cake.

First, his alarm had broken sometime during the night so Naruto ended up waking up forty-five minutes later than usual, plus his toilet was broken again which meant he couldn’t flush it which meant his apartment would have smelt gross when he got back home which led to him opening a window which would result in the apartment being really cold with a high possibility of bugs when he returned. He also had to take a cold shower because his landlord had shut off the hot water heater to his apartment, again.

He had also run out of ramen that morning and so had to go buy some more, but the store he usually went to was closed for some reason so he had to go to another one that he knows charged him three times the normal price and then some because he “caused trouble” in the store. 

On his way home he had been tripped by some random guy who acted all like it was Naruto’s fault and tried to rough him up. Naruto had shown the civilian his forehead protector and told him if he hit him then he was allowed to hit back without repercussions, and so he left him alone, but only after smashing a couple cups of ramen, and so Naruto lost about two-thirds of his food, and worse still, he wasn’t getting his orphan stipend which meant he had close to no money and would have to wait to be paid after they took a mission, which they wouldn’t be able to do if their tardy sensei never showed up! 

Naruto took a deep breath before letting it out. It would not do to be pissy, especially since his two teammates wouldn’t appreciate that, because apparently, only they were allowed to have bad days, not Naruto.

After finding that his little breathing exercise wasn’t working Naruto walked a little ways away from the bridge they were standing on and started doing some stretches. Hopefully he would be able to work out his agitation through physical means. 

But alas, it would appear he wasn’t even allowed that because it didn’t take long for-

“Naruto-baka! What are you doing you idiot?”

-That to happen. 

Naruto glanced at his temperamental teammate before looking forward, continuing his light work-out.

“Hn, if you keep that up you’ll be too tired to do any training with Kakashi-sensei,” Sasuke scoffed, condescension dripping from his words. Naruto didn’t answer at first, opting to instead finish his stretches before moving on to push-ups,

“It’s called a warm-up, idiot, it’s what you do before training,” Naruto quipped, a sarcastic edge to his voice.

Sakura saw red,

“Don’t you dare call Sasuke-kun an idiot, Naruto-baka!” she screeched. Naruto sighed but didn’t respond, changing his push-ups into pull-ups. Sakura, not liking being ignored, shoved up one of her sleeves threateningly while advancing on him,” Na-ru-to!” she all but screeched. 

But before she could do anything, there was a puff of smoke, briefly obscuring her view of the blonde haired boy. The smoke cleared to reveal their sensei in all his glory.

“Yo!” was the ever elegant greeting, his eye-smile in place. Sakura and Sasuke glared at him while Naruto climbed to his feet,

“YOU’RE LATE!!?” Sakura yelled. Kakashi held his hands up in a placating manner,

“Maa, maa, you see a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way-“

“LIAR!” the pink haired girl interrupted him. Kakashi sighed lightly before producing a scroll from his ninja pouch,

“Well, moving on we will be starting our training-” Kakashi was cut off by shouts of excitement at that statement, and felt complete glee as he crushed their joy,

“-at the basics since you all suck!” He gleefully exclaimed, which caused all of his students to make sounds of indignation. 

Sakura decided to voice her displeasure.

“Sensei, what do you mean we all suck? I mean, I would get it if you said Naruto-baka sucks, but me and Sasuke-kun?” Naruto deflated slightly at the jab at his abilities by his crush while Kakashi’s eye narrowed ever so slightly, before he answered,

“Even if that were true, one thing you need to know is in a team, you’re only as powerful as your weakest link, which happens to be, from what I observed yesterday, you Sakura.” The pink haired girl looked appalled at this,

“W-what do you mean sensei?” she asked.

“You fainted when I showed you an basic genjutsu yesterday, and just looking at you I know you aren’t physically close to Naruto or Sasuke, you are terrible at hiding, even Naruto was better than you (though Naruto is able to hide from ANBU in his orange jumpsuit; Kakashi thought) and you didn’t pay any attention to your surroundings during the test. I’d say you’re the weakest link.” Kakashi said causing the twelve year old to sigh dejectedly, and for Sasuke to snort in contempt and mock, though he withered slightly under Kakashi’s sharp glance,

“Since it’s apparently amusing to hear about someone’s weaknesses, let’s move onto your weaknesses, Sasuke,” Sasuke glared at this,

“What are you talking about? I’m an Uchiha! An elite, I don’t have weaknesses!” Naruto snorted this time,

“You mean besides your stupidly huge ego and your obsession with revenge?” he asked sarcastically. Sasuke’s glare snapped toward the orange clad boy,

“You shut up! You don’t know what you’re-“

“No, he’s right.” Kakashi cut in, causing for Sasuke to glare at him again; Kakashi just stared back blankly.

“Sasuke, you’re full of yourself, arrogant and obsessed with revenge against your brother,” Sasuke stiffened,” yes, I know who you want to kill, and considering how strong you are right now, I’d say you should spend more time training than thinking about him and anything he might have said.” Sasuke seemed to bristle as Kakashi spoke,” also, I am your best bet at getting strong enough to beating him; you shouldn’t throw that chance away just because of your pride and anger.” That seemed to catch the ebony haired boy, who started calming down after that. Kakashi eye-smiled at that,

“Good, now, onto your other weaknesses,” Sasuke twitched,” the fact that you can use an elemental jutsu is impressive, but your use of it was less than so,” Sasuke twitched again,” when you fired your jutsu, that was all you did, you didn’t start another jutsu afterwards or plan anything farther, you shot it and just expected me to be hit by it, like I was really going to just stand there and get hit by a giant flame of death,” Sasuke turned his head away at that, feeling stupid for even thinking that Kakashi would have done just that. 

“You lack strategy. From what I saw your strategy was “say I’m an Uchiha, fire a jutsu and win” that won’t work in the real world, maybe against a genin, but only a newly minted one and only if they didn’t have the tact to get out of the way. You are going to be fighting people who don’t care about your Uchiha name in the future, and they will tear into you all the same. Mostly only people from Konoha care enough about the Uchiha name to stop in place if they find out who you are, so you announcing you’re an Uchiha is a bad idea, especially against enemies, wouldn’t want other villages to find out about Uchiha jutsu, now would you?” Sasuke huffed and looked away

“Okay, you made your point….” He grumbled grumpily. Kakashi eye-smiled once again,

“But, besides that, I didn’t see much wrong with you, though I also didn’t test you on everything, which is what we’ll be doing today, so I’ll have more to say on that later.” Kakashi then turned towards his last student,” and last, but certainly not least, Naruto.”  After saying his name, said boy seemed to pay rapt attention to the silver-haired man, which surprised Kakashi; obviously he was going to be talking about his weaknesses, but Naruto seemed to want to hear all the same. There wasn’t any false hope or belief that he was the only one without weaknesses in his eyes or expression. He evidently believed Kakashi would be honest in his evaluation.

‘Which would be different from the constant mockery and pointing out of his failures at every turn, or being called a failure even when he did something right.’  He thought irritably. He quickly shook the thought away; eye-smiling down at the twelve year old as he started up again,

“Naruto; you were the best out of the three of you yesterday-“

“WHAT?!” Sakura screeched, cutting off Kakashi. The Jonin sighed in agitation, sending a light glare the girl’s way. Sakura suddenly felt pressure around her forcing sweat to start appearing on her body as she started breathing a little faster,

“Sakura,” Kakashi said in an even tone; the girl gulped,” Naruto isn’t as bad as you claim or think him to be. I was just saying he was the best yesterday. Like I said to Sasuke, I haven’t tested you in everything yet, but the skills Naruto showed me yesterday were better than yours. Also, never interrupt your superior’s when they are speaking. I’ll let it go this time but the next time you do it, there will be repercussions. Do I make myself clear?” he asked steadily. Sakura rapidly nodded her head, feeling close to fainting.

Kakashi eye-smiled,

”Good.” and the pressure surrounding the pinkett disappeared.

Sakura breathed deeply as it left while Kakashi turned back to Naruto, who looked surprised.

The man eye-smiled again,” now, as I was saying, Naruto; you were the best out of the three of you yesterday. This doesn’t mean that you are the best ninja out there, but you were better than these two,” Kakashi gestured towards Sasuke and Sakura,” you displayed skills that I was looking for. You, for the most part, didn’t underestimate me. You listened to what I said about never letting an enemy get behind you and somehow got behind me; good job by the way,” Naruto grinned while scratching at his neck at the praise,” though you were easily pushed into fighting me, and you simply stood out in the middle of the field to fight me one on one; most ninja fights don’t end up like that so you shouldn’t make it a habit,” Naruto grinned sheepishly this time.

“Anyway, you also caught on to the reason behind the test, even if you didn’t realize it, by helping and trying to team up with your teammates; overall, you were the best, you realized you couldn’t take me, an Elite Jonin, on by yourself so you tried to recruit your teammates; you distracted me and lead me to believe you didn’t know what you were doing before springing a trap on me, you also tried helping your teammates when you saw they were in trouble, something someone disregarded in favor of chasing their crush,” Kakashi looked Sakura’s way, which caused for her to wither under his gaze again. The silver-haired man then turned back to Naruto,

“Now, onto your weaknesses and mistakes,” Naruto grimaced,” you were, again, easily riled up by me. I get why you were upset, what I said wasn’t the kindest thing in the world, but when you fight, your enemies will say worse things than me, and will use it to make you mess up so that they can kill you,” Naruto gulped,” you need to learn to keep your anger in check, that goes for you too, Sasuke, Sakura,” the two huffed quietly in frustration,” also, you, again, just stood out in the open and challenged me to a fight; that’s one of the ways newly minted genin get themselves killed during missions, keep that in mind the next time the urge to do that comes along.” Naruto nodded. Kakashi eye-smiled again,

“Good, now, you also fell for my trap easily. I thought you were the Prankster King of Konoha? You need to be more aware of your surroundings at all times; that could have been a deadly trap set to seriously injure or kill you. Always be aware, alright?” Naruto nodded again,” good, you also lack coordination. Your Taijutsu was subpar at best,” Naruto flinched away at that,” it was sloppy and all over the place. You pack quite the punch for someone your age, but because you don’t have any coordination, that doesn’t matter; no matter how strong you are if you can’t hit your target, then your strength is pointless. Do you understand?” Naruto mumbled something,

“What was that?” Kakashi asked. Naruto looked up at his Jonin sensei,

“I said, I understand, but Mizuki was the one that taught me how to fight….” Understanding entered Kakashi’s eye,

“Ah, that makes sense,” he placed a hand on the blondes shoulder,” don’t worry, we’ll work on it.” He eye-smiled down at the boy, and Naruto smiled back. The other two members of Team 7 had the distinct feeling that they knew something that they did not. Before either of them could question them, Kakashi spoke up again,

“Well, that’s all I have for now. That is all I’ve been able to observe of your abilities,” Kakashi then held up the scroll again,” in here is a list of tests that I will be giving each of you. It will help me see exactly where you are and what we really need to work on,” Kakashi eye-smiled at the genin. Naruto grinned back while Sasuke grunted and Sakura nervously looked at the scroll.

Kakashi opened the scroll a little and looked at the list briefly, before closing it again,” okay, first up, ninjutsu,” they started raising their hands to perform hand seals but Kakashi stopped them,” no, put your hands down.” They all sent him confused looks,” you will be doing other tests that require the use of chakra, so for now, just tell me what ninjutsu you know; starting with Sasuke,” Kakashi pointed to the ebony haired preteen.

Sasuke smirked,” I know Kawarimi, Henge, Bunshin no Jutsu, the escape from bounds Jutsu and three fire jutsu.” Kakashi nodded, then turned to Sakura,

“You next.” Sakura nodded a little hesitantly before starting,

“I know the Academy three and the basic escape jutsu.” Kakashi nodded again before turning to Naruto,

“Your turn,” Naruto grinned before stating,

“I know Kawarimi, Henge, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Orioke no Jutsu, Harem no Jutsu,” Naruto snickered at that, while Kakashi raised his visible brow,” and, ah, a secret jutsu that I don’t want anyone to know about yet; I’m still working out the kinks.” Kakashi looked surprised at that; Naruto had another jutsu? What could it be? Kakashi shook his thoughts away again before eye-smiling down at his students,

“Well, that is a very interesting array of jutsu. Now, onto the next one,” Kakashi looked at the scroll again,” Genjutsu; do any of you know any genjutsu besides Henge?” he asked. Naruto opened his mouth to ask something, and then snapped it shut; a confused look on his face before he shook his head no. Kakashi was confused by that so sent a questioning look the blond boy’s way. Naruto caught the look before giving his own back.

Kakashi understood; they would talk later. He nodded then turned to the other two. Sakura said she knew one as well as Sasuke. Kakashi nodded to that before he eye-smiled again,” okay, I’m now going to test you on how good you are at detecting Genjutsu. I’m going to cast an illusion on you and you’re going to break out of it, but I won’t tell when I cast it. If any of you take longer than one minute to break it I’ll break you out of it, alright?” they all nodded,” good.” Then the clearing fell silent.

After waiting a couple minutes, Kakashi first cast an illusion on Sakura, then Naruto and then Sasuke; and then he waited.

It took Sakura about forty seconds to realize she was in a genjutsu. Putting her hands together, she shouted ‘kai!’ and broke it. Kakashi nodded to that. He had a feeling it would be like that, Sakura was someone who seemed to have the thinking of “what you see is what you get” meaning she only saw what was right in front of her, making it hard for her to notice small or subtle changes.

He had placed her in a genjutsu of color. He changed the color of the world around her, turning everything off from its original color. She wasn’t as observant as he would have liked, because it took her so long to notice what had changed around her, something that they would definitely have to work on.

Sasuke took about thirty seconds to break out of his. Kakashi frowned at that.

He had put Sasuke in a world similar to Sakura’s, only difference being that the world had shifted colors from their normal ones to darker and darker greys. It had happened pretty fast, so that told Kakashi that either Sasuke wasn’t all that observant, or, more worryingly, he often saw the world that way on the daily. He would need to contact the Hokage about getting the boy a Psych evaluation.

It took Naruto the longest, nearly a minute, but it wasn’t for the reason Kakashi thought it was.

“Hey, when are you gonna put me in a genjutsu?” he asked, perturbed. Kakashi narrowed his eye in confusion,

“I already did.” He replied. Naruto looked at him weirdly, which surprised Kakashi,

“You did? If you did then what am I supposed to be seeing?” Kakashi raised his silver eyebrow before responding,

“You were supposed to not be able to smell or hear anything; you were supposed to see animals coming out of the forest and fish swimming in the lake; your shoes were supposed to be black and your jumpsuit was supposed to seem like it had turned into a green leotard. You didn’t see any of that?” the man asked. Naruto shook his head,

“No. I could still smell and I could hear you guys just fine. Sakura-chan said Kai about a minute ago and Sasuke said it right after her. I didn’t see any animals coming out of the forest and I wasn’t looking at the lake. My jumpsuit didn’t turn into a green leotard and my shoes stayed blue. Kaka-sensei-“Kakashi started at the way Naruto said his name,”-what does that mean?” Naruto asked.

Kakashi looked at him for a moment before an idea came to mind,” I think I may know why, wait one moment,” Naruto nodded and Kakashi swiftly, and secretly, placed a C-ranked Genjutsu on him that was supposed to make him see everything in black and white; he didn’t react, then he put Naruto into a low B-ranked Genjutsu that was supposed to make him see the world in darkness and hear growling all around him; Naruto didn’t even flinch, he just kept looking at Kakashi expectantly.

Kakashi then cast an A-ranked Genjutsu that was supposed to make Naruto feel the earth shaking and heat touching him from the direction of the village and hear screaming and crying, smell something burning and taste blood.

That got a reaction.

Naruto jumped back while looking around him wildly. He then suddenly spat at the ground while he rubbed at his nose, still looking around himself, looking confused. 

Kakashi smirked under his mask before adding one more thing to the illusion, and there would be one of two results. Naruto would either see it or not, giving Kakashi two possible reasons why the other Genjutsu didn’t work. 

The Jonin made Naruto see the village on fire.

He was not expecting the reaction Naruto had to it.

The blond squinted his eyes in the direction of the village, blinked a couple times before bringing his hands up,” Kai!” left his mouth. He then turned to Kakashi, a scowl on his face,” the hell Kaka-sensei?!” Kakashi again jerked at the odd-was it a nickname?-Naruto had given him. He was about to reply when Naruto started up again,” why’d you make me taste blood, or feel fire burning nearby or the ground shaking or hear people screaming?! The hell sensei!”  

Kakashi eye-smiled at him,” because, Naruto, I was testing something, and I have come to a conclusion.” Naruto looked just as confused as his teammates,

“A conclusion? Whaddaya mean?” he asked.

“What I mean is, the entire time after I told you to wait I was casting Genjutsu on you,” Naruto’s eyes widened,” and you didn’t react to any of them. I finally put you through what you just experienced. I’ve come to the conclusion that you, Naruto, are somewhat immune to Genjutsu, for some reason you aren’t as affected by it as much as others are. The last Genjutsu was an A-ranked one,” Naruto’s, and his teammates’, eyes widened even further,” I’m really surprised. I wouldn’t have guessed it.” 

Naruto started to grin, and Kakashi had the feeling he was going to shout about how great he was, so he cut him off,” I have no idea why you’re immune to lower level Genjutsu, I’ll have to look into it, might be some sort of Kekkei Genkai.” Kakashi wasn’t just spouting out nonsense; he didn’t know all that much about the Uzumaki clan so it was possible that they were immune to genjutsu to a degree; he’d have to look into it.

Meanwhile Sasuke and Sakura started in surprise. Was it possible Naruto had a kekkei genkai? Could the dead last really have one? Their thoughts were interrupted by Kakashi.

“Alright, now with that out of the way we’ll be moving on!” Kakashi opened the scroll again before shutting it; the genin all had the sinking feeling he was only doing that to aggravate them. Kakashi looked to his students and eye-smiled again,” next up is Taijutsu, but we’ll be skipping that for the moment, so we’ll be doing the next test, checking the size of your chakra coils!” Kakashi was way too happy for such a simple sounding test, maybe he was going to throw kunai at them while they did whatever it was you did when checking the size of your coils. Naruto took a small step back from the man, just in case.

Kakashi then told them what to do,” put your hands in the release seal and bring up all the chakra you can then send it out of your body for as long as you can, alright?” the genin nodded and started doing as told. They all started pushing out their chakra at around the same time.

The first to stop was Sakura; she just barely held out for three seconds, the second was Sasuke, who held out for twelve; the two were surprised when they turned to look at Naruto.

It was as if blue fire were surrounding the blond; it was rippling around him like a protective field and seemed to grow larger by the second; they could even see hints of what appeared to be gold shimmering within its’ midst. Kakashi told Naruto to stop after holding on for fifty seconds, and then he turned to all three of them,

“Right then, next test is chakra control. Each of you go grab a leaf and stick it to your head, try to do it for twenty seconds; ready? Go,” they were confused as to why Kakashi didn’t talk about the previous test, but decided not to question him; the way he had responded to Sakura interrupting him coming to their minds.

They all went and got a leaf then stuck it to their heads with chakra; the twenty seconds went by differently for each genin. 

Sakura’s leaf didn’t fall once and she seemed to be doing it effortlessly, Sasuke seemed to be in deep concentration to keep the leaf on his head, but it stayed all the same, not once falling.

Now Naruto, his would stay on for a couple seconds before falling off. Actually, it shot off like a rocket, then he’d sigh and go get it before doing it again. After doing this a couple times Kakashi stopped him before moving on to the next test.

The morning slowly went to afternoon as Kakashi put his students through various tests.

He put them through three different obstacle courses-that he had evidently set up that morning-and made them run around the clearing twice, the first time they ran five laps, which they finished rather quickly, the second time they ran twenty laps. Naruto finished first with Sasuke a couple laps behind him, Sakura took the longest but Kakashi made her finish them even though she was tired.

After that Kakashi let them rest, but while they rested he asked various questions of things they learned while in the Academy. Sakura was able to answer nearly every question; the only thing keeping her from answering all of them was the fact that she was still tired from running. Sasuke answered almost all of his questions as well, while Naruto answered about half of them right.

Sakura and Sasuke made a go at Naruto’s intelligence, but Kakashi wouldn’t have it and stopped them, telling them if they tried to degrade anyone on the team again they would be punished, he made sure Naruto understood it went for him too. They all nodded and then Kakashi told them the break was over and put them through some more tests.

He had them use Morse code to talk to each other for about ten minutes and they all did well, none of them did perfectly, just okay; it was what one should expect from newly minted genin, the Academy after all only taught the basics of Morse code.

From there Kakashi tested their Taijutsu, of which Sasuke was the best-of course-though Naruto was surprisingly a close second; Kakashi had a feeling it was because Naruto was throwing everything Mizuki had taught him to the wind and was just going on his instincts, which luckily for the blond were very good.

Sakura had good coordination and even good hits, but she was too slow to be able to properly fight even Naruto who was much faster than both of his teammates, just less coordinated. After Taijutsu was Ninjutsu, actually performing it this time; it ended as Kakashi predicted.

Sasuke was able to successfully complete most of his Jutsu, Sakura was barely able to finish all of hers and Naruto was able to do every single one of his except for his secret one since he again said it wasn’t finished yet (Sakura tried to pummel him to the ground when he did his Orioke no Jutsu; but Kakashi stopped her before she could). Naruto was even able to do Kawarimi and Henge better, though Kakashi got the feeling that his Henge was far more different than the one taught at the Academy-they would definitely be talking later.

Then came Genjutsu; Naruto sat out for that one since he didn’t know any, and Sasuke and Sakura did pretty average in it, though Sakura was slightly better at it since she had better chakra control-Sasuke wasn’t all that happy about that considering he was stronger than the girl.

After that Kakashi, being curious about their physical strength, had them all squat against a tree and had them hold special Chakra weights that would steadily become heavier, going from fifteen pounds on.

And that is where we are now.

Naruto and Sasuke were both leaning against a tree with the Chakra weight in their laps; five minutes had already passed, which meant that the weights had gained at least twenty more pounds-Kakashi was barely able to keep himself from chuckling in glee-and both of them were sweating to some degree, Sakura had been sweating the most, and, as he predicted, was only able to handle it to about twenty seconds, which for a civilian was okay, but a trained ninja-regardless of rank-was just sad.

He shook his head while taking the weight from the exhausted girl, placing it back in the scroll he had produced it from then watched as Naruto and Sasuke continued on. Every once in a while the boys would glance in the others direction and glare a bit before turning their attention back to the task at hand.

Soon enough twenty minutes had passed, and they were both sweating profusely-the weight was probably over a hundred pounds now-Kakashi mused in both amusement and awe, surprised they were able to keep going.

But after a full forty minutes had passed Kakashi put a stop to it, knowing that the two were refusing to lose to the other and were surviving almost entirely out of stubbornness and willpower. 

He moved over and took Sasuke’s weight first, the boy immediately fell to the ground, out of breath and gasping for air; his tired body shaking and twitching. Sakura rushed over to him and started to fuss over him as Kakashi placed the weight into the scroll and moved on to Naruto whose eyes were tightly screwed shut, his breathing was even and controlled though it shook on the way out.

Kakashi stopped, watching the blond boy holding onto the weights, suspended over his legs like Kakashi had instructed them to do, since he was seeing how strong their bodies were overall, he watched how his legs shook but not as much as they should have been, how his feet were firmly planted in the ground, his feet an even length from each other and his legs perfectly bent at just the right angle to hold him up, his hands in an upright angle to be able to hold up his load in such a way that it didn’t put too much stress on his wrists.

In other words, Naruto was very good at doing this, making Kakashi wonder if he had done this before....

Shaking his head Kakashi carefully pulled the weight-which if Kakashi had to tell from simply holding it, was about 160 lbs.-and stepped away. As the weight left him Naruto’s body slowly lost its tension, his breathing came out a little harsher and less controlled and he forced his shaking body to stand with his eyes still screwed shut. Once he was finished standing fully he blinked open his eyes, looking confused for some reason..... Had he placed himself in some sort of trance to keep him focused? Kakashi wondered curiously as he put away the final weight.

Shaking his head he decided that he would question the boy later when they had their talk and walked over to him, placing his hand on his shoulder,” it’s alright if you’re tired Naruto, you can take a quick rest!” he cheerfully told him. 

Naruto looked up at him, his breathing even heavier though he wasn’t quite gasping; looking straight into Kakashi’s visible eye,” no,” he breathed, took a deep breath then let it out, his breathing even once again and stared right into his eye again,” I’m ready for more!” he said in determination.

Kakashi was pleased by this, at least one of the evaluations in Naruto’s file had been correct-he is stubborn and determined no matter the challenge-good thing Iruka had become the blond’s teacher otherwise that probably wouldn’t have been in there at all.

Smiling again Kakashi shook his head,” no, you’re fine Naruto!” he turned to address the rest of them as he continued,” Besides, since it’s almost 1 o’clock we’ll be taking a quick break for lunch-“the three genin all heaved a sigh of relief, Kakashi eye-smiled again as he went on,” then when we’re done with that; since I’ve mostly finished my evaluation of you guys we’ll be taking on our first mission!” there was some excitement at that, though most of it came from Naruto, the other two, particularly Sakura, didn’t seem all that enthused by the announcement.

Kakashi chuckled, knowing that the other two of the team were tired and that at least Sakura didn’t want to do anything else for the rest of the day; he was filled with gleeful abandon at the notion of giving her a reality check of how the real world worked.

The three genin all began to move from the trees, apparently deciding it was best to eat by the posts near the KIA monument; and Kakashi followed them.

Sasuke and Sakura both went to their bags they had left near the posts and rummaged through them, bringing out their lunches and began to eat, Sakura sidling closer to the ebony haired boy while batting her lashes in a cute way; the Uchiha completely ignored her and turned away from her to eat his food.

Sakura slumped at this and too started to eat, but in her case it was in dejection.

Kakashi’s eye was then drawn to the blond of the group, noticing that he didn’t have any sort of bag that he could have kept his lunch in nor did he start digging inside of his hip pouch. He just sat down, a ways away from his teammates at the base of a tree, stretched then leaned back on it. His head tilted up as his eyes slid shut, one arm lightly resting on his stomach while the other was casually placed near his leg; a motion, Kakashi noticed, which would make it easier for him to draw weapons from his holster.

Kakashi felt a bit impressed but pushed it away in favor of moving over to him; Sasuke and Sakura were both too exhausted and too concerned with their own lunches to take notice.

Reaching Naruto’s tree, Kakashi looked down at him a moment as the blond continued to breathe softly, as if he were asleep, he didn’t twitch in any indication that he was still awake, making Kakashi wonder if the blond really was asleep.....

“Whadaya want, Kaka-sensei?” a young voice cut into his thoughts. The silver-haired man refocused on the one before him, catching the twitch of his nose that seemed to indicate his annoyance; a moment later one eye opened to peer up at him,” well?” he questioned.

Kakashi eye-smiled down at his new student, reached into his hip pouch and brought out a bento before sitting next to Naruto,” just gonna have some lunch, mind if I join you?” Naruto looked over his new sensei for a moment before shrugging,

“Sure, whatever, even if I said no you’d probably stay anyway,” he shrugged again before leaning back in the same position as before.

Kakashi again just stared at the blond, this caused for a blond eyebrow to start twitching.

“Somethin’ I can do for you Kaka-sensei?” Naruto sounded irritated; the cyclopean ninja decided it was best to just dive right in, so without another thought he asked,

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Naruto’s eyes snapped open and he stared at Kakashi for a long moment, before,

“No.” he stated firmly, looking to be moving to lean back again.

Kakashi pushed on,”why not? Aren’t you hungry?” he was genuinely curious as to why Naruto wasn’t eating-he has a large and nearly insatiable appetite-he remembered reading in Iruka’s notes.

“It doesn’t matter, I don’t have any lunch. I stopped getting my orphan stipend last week which was right when I had to pay my bills so I don’t have much money left.....” shaking his head Naruto turned away,” anyway, I said it doesn’t matter, I’ll eat when I get home,” he fell silent again.  

Kakashi just stared at him, shocked. He had no idea that Naruto actually paid his own bills, for some reason he had thought that the Hokage had done that, which made no sense considering Naruto was an orphan that lived by himself in an apartment; even he himself had paid his own bills once he became an orphan.

Mentally shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Kakashi eye-smiled again while holding up his lunch,” would you like some then?” he asked with a cheerful tone.

Naruto, for some reason, sat up sharply, a look of absolute shock on his face as he stared at his sensei. A moment passed before he shook his head,” you-you’re sure?” he asked hesitantly; Kakashi smiled, wishing that that look of shock, uncertainty and what looked to be distrust would vanish from that whiskered face that was supposed to be grinning gleefully, and nodded.

Naruto audibly gulped before bowing his head,” th-thank you Kaka-sensei....” he gulped again as he turned his body to face Kakashi, the Jonin doing the same while rummaging about in his hip pouch, looking for another set of chopsticks, hopefully he had some-there we go! He grinned in triumph to himself while holding up the chopsticks; then handed them to Naruto,

“Here you go!”

“Thanks....”

Carefully, Naruto took them and waited as Kakashi opened the bento. Inside was onigiri, Yakitori cut into slices, a fried fish (that looked like it could be a sardine) and some sliced cucumbers. 

“Don’t worry,” Kakashi started, catching Naruto’s attention,” I didn’t make it! Just between you and me, I can’t cook to save my life!” Naruto snickered at that causing for Kakashi to smile; he had hoped that would be the blond’s reaction. 

Just before they started eating Naruto turned his back to Kakashi; at first the Jonin didn’t understand but then Naruto spoke,” you’re wearing a mask, so I’m guessing you don’t want anyone to see your face.... So, I’ll just face this way, I can also make sure Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan don’t look either!”

Kakashi found it endearing that Naruto was so concerned for his own privacy and chuckled softly,” thank you Naruto,” he murmured quietly as he turned his back to Naruto, facing the other half of the clearing and the woods; setting the bento right between them and to the side, so that they could both reach it without having to turn much.

After that they both called out “Itadekimasu” before digging in, carefully picking at the food and not getting in the others way. Kakashi noticed that it took Naruto a moment to be able to successfully reach the bento, considering he had shorter arms than Kakashi and had probably never done this before, but he got it after a couple more tries. 

Smiling Kakashi continued to eat in peaceful silence, allowing time to pass them by as Team 7 ate their lunch.

About thirty minutes passed when they all finished.

Putting away their bento boxes that were now empty, Naruto and Kakashi moved over to where Sasuke and Sakura were, and once he got there he spoke,” well now, since we’ve all eaten let’s head on to the Mission Assignment room, shall we?” eye-smiling down at his students, Kakashi made his way out of the training grounds, his little Genin following behind him.

It didn’t take them all that long to get there, especially since Naruto had been pushing (not literally; Sakura would’ve killed him if he had touched her or her precious “Sasuke-kun”) and tugging at his team to move faster, eventually running most of the way there by himself; this prompted Kakashi to sigh internally, though he wasn’t all that upset. After all, how could he be when Naruto wanted a mission so that he could get money in order to eat?

He urged his other two Genin to move faster and they got to the Missions desks fairly quickly, running into some old classmates on both parts at the same time.

“Shikamaru, Chouji; hey!” Naruto’s cheerful voice resonated in the room, causing for the named Ninja to turn around, both waving to the orange clad blond,

“Hey Naruto,” Chouji munched with a smile,

“How troublesome, hey Naruto.....” Shikamaru replied with a look of minor annoyance on his face.

Turning, Kakashi saw the slightly exasperated look on Asuma’s face as the man shook his head in mirth, grinning at Kakashi when he finished. The Cyclops nodded back but kept his Icha Icha right in front of him, where it belonged, and moved with his team to stand before a Chūnin, who just so happened to be Kotetsu.

But before Kakashi could request a mission, the inevitable happened-

“Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuun!!!!” a feminine voice nearly screeched as a pale blond grappled onto the ebony-haired boys’ arm causing for him to grunt.

“Oi! Let go of him, Ino-pig!” Kakashi’s pink-haired student screeched; grabbing hold of Sasuke’s other arm. Ino stuck her tongue out at her, grinning impishly,

“Ne, if it isn’t Billboard-brow herself! I don’t have to listen to anything you say!” she stuck her tongue out again; Sakura’s face went red, Kakashi sighed,

“Pfft, as if Sasuke-kun would want a pig like you anywhere near him!” everyone winced at the high pitched noise, especially those with sensitive hearing like Kakashi.

“Hmph, Billboard-brow!” Ino retaliated, seeming to not be able to come up with anything other than that,

“Grr, Ino-pig!”

“Billboard-brow!?”

“Ino-pig!?”

“Baka, Billboard-brow!?!?!”

“Ugly, Ino-pig!?!?”

They continued to yell at each other, Sasuke just standing there with an extremely annoyed look on his face, but still doing absolutely nothing to stop the fighting.

“Eh, stop fighting you guys! We need to take a mission, Dattebayo!” Naruto’s voice overpowered the two girls’, effectively shushing them. Though it did not bode well for Naruto, as the two glared twin glares of death, eyes glinting maliciously,

“Na-ru-to!” they both started, letting go of Sasuke at the same time and making a motion of pushing up their sleeves, though Ino had none, and advanced on the blond.

Naruto gulped, holding up his hands in minor defense, his face paling;

“Crap....” he muttered just as they raised their fists into the air-

“SHUT THE HELL UP!?!!?” tightly shutting his eyes, Naruto waited for impact, only for nothing to happen.

Blinking open his eyes, they widened upon seeing what happened.

Ino was stuck in place, her arm raised over her head, not moving an inch, and Sakura’s arm was being held by Kakashi; the pinkette looked surprised-she had never been grabbed before when she was about to hit Naruto, even earlier Kakashi hadn’t touched her, he had simply reprimanded her and settled his too calm stare on her which had forced her to stop so that she could breathe again-but now, she felt like it was harder to breathe than normal, and realized right away that she had angered Kakashi again; gulping she looked up at her sensei-he had that too calm expression on his face again-she flinched back and looked down in guilt, though it was only guilt at being caught misbehaving for a third time, when not even Naruto hadn’t gotten into any trouble yet.

Naruto looked to his sensei in surprise then his eyes moved to the face of Asuma, who looked equally surprised as he stared at one of his students, Shikamaru, who was using his Kage Mane to hold Ino in place,

“Ah,” the Nara sighed loudly, bringing everyone back to the present,” how troublesome,” he shook his head, thus causing for Ino’s head to shake as well, before he pulled his hands away; which caused for Ino to stumble forwards.

After regaining her balance, Ino turned to glare harshly at the brunet, opening her mouth-

“Don’t you even dare,” Asuma’s voice cut in before she could utter a sound. Ino looked to her sensei before backing away slightly, looking completely cowed at his reprimanding expression. The man sighed tiredly, turning towards Kakashi,” sorry ‘bout my student Kakashi,” said man merely shrugged,

“Maa, maa, sorry about mine as well,” he glanced down at Sakura who flinched back and looked away again. Kakashi sighed and shook his head, letting go of her wrist, turning to Kotetsu again.

“Maa, I would like a mission for Team 7 please,” the Chūnin seemed to come back to himself, nodding to Kakashi and briefly looking through the scrolls on his desk, grabbed one and handed it to Kakashi,

“Here you go, Kakashi-san!” he smiled cheerfully. Kakashi nodded his thanks before turning around, gesturing for his students to follow behind, all of them doing as told silently, though Naruto waved back at Kotetsu as the man waved at him with a grin, and then to Shikamaru and Chouji who both waved back; he also sent a look of gratitude in the Nara’s direction, which just caused for said Nin to shrug nonchalantly and smile faintly in return.

After that Naruto turned around and scampered after his teammates and sensei.

They all walked for a while through the building, it taking Naruto only a moment to realize that Kakashi was leading them towards the roof, no doubt he wanted to have a talk with them....

Once getting to the roof as Naruto predicted the cyclopean man directed his students to sit down as he stood over them, his face seemingly blank, it was hard to tell his emotion since his face was almost entirely covered with his mask.

Then, his eye sharpened as he looked at Sakura,” Sakura, what did I say about how we treat our teammates?” he questioned softly, as if he were talking to a small child. 

Biting back the impulse to yell at her sensei for speaking to her in such a manner, the pinkette raised her eyes and unsteadily looked to Kakashi,

“You said that we weren’t allowed to gang up on any of our teammates unfairly and unless we were in a duel, or the situation demanded it, we were not to bring purposeful physical harm on each other.....” Kakashi nodded, angered that she had completely disregarded his words in favor of continuing her abuse of Naruto.

“That’s correct; and what were you just about to do to Naruto?” he asked again. Sakura gritted her teeth,

“I was going to hit him..... Buuuut sensei! He was-“

“No!” Kakashi cut her off firmly, his voice still uncannily calm,” I told you my rules, rules that you are to follow while under my tutelage and you fully disregarded them while being fully aware of them! You can’t just pick and choose which teammate the rules apply to, Sakura. Sasuke and Naruto are your teammates, the rules apply to them both!” he firmly stated, his voice not quite as calm as before.

Sakura turned her head away, a pout forming on her lips. Kakashi ignored her as he looked to Sasuke,

“And Sasuke, why didn’t you do anything?” he asked, actually genuinely curious, but still a bit annoyed that he had done nothing but stand there while the two girls had literally fought over him.

Snorting, Sasuke turned away, attempting to ignore Kakashi. Said silver-haired man did not appreciate this and so said in a low tone,

“I have the authority to have you sent back to the Academy you know.” Sasuke’s head snapped up at that and he glared harshly at the man before him-you wouldn’t- his eyes said; Kakashi leveled his own eye onto him-oh, I would- he made certain that Sasuke understood him perfectly.

The Uchiha’s eyes widened in disbelief before another scowl overtook his face,” there wasn’t any point in doing it, they would have gone on anyway like the hopeless idiots they are,” he huffed, causing Sakura to deflate. Naruto was oddly silent, as if he knew that jumping into the conversation would just make things worse, so he bit his tongue and kept quiet as the other three of Team 7 talked.

“What did I say, not one minute ago, about putting down your teammates?” Kakashi asked in a deathly calm tone. He could tell that Sasuke was trying to force himself not to back down, but his body wouldn’t listen, knowing better than to challenge Kakashi even though his brain refused to listen to reason.

“Not to do it,” the preteen spoke through gritted teeth, his body winning out in the battle, and Kakashi nodded,

“Yes, and what did you just do?” Kakashi made sure to use his most condescending tone, making certain that Sasuke knew exactly where he stood on the authority level-the bottom.

“I did it, okay?!” Sasuke, losing his temper, shouted, glaring up at Kakashi, his very being shaking with anger. Kakashi nodded again,

“Yes, you did do it, and you knew you weren't allowed to do it, but you did it anyway. You and Sakura have no excuse for the actions you have taken in the last few minutes; you are acting like little children-I thought you were Ninja?-have you even tried telling them to leave you alone?” Kakashi asked at the end of his lecture.

Sasuke turned away, which was answer enough,” if you don’t want to be bothered, try actually saying something. There are a lot of people in the world and especially in this career that will take a persons’ silence as an allowance-you didn’t say no so you must mean yes-that can get you in a lot of trouble. So, Sasuke, if you want Sakura, or anyone for that matter, to leave you alone, you need to tell them, not just stand there looking annoyed. Understood?” Sasuke nodded sharply before turning to face Sakura,

“Leave me alone.” he stated simply. Sakura looked surprised, as if it hadn’t even crossed her mind that Sasuke wouldn’t want to be smothered by her “love” and “affections”.

“B-b-b-but, Sasuke-kuuun-!” she desperately pleaded, trying to convey her feelings but being unable to,

“No, Sasuke has the right to tell you to leave him alone, Sakura,” Kakashi cut in before she could utter another word. Frustration filled Sakura’s face, so, in a bid to get that frustration out, yelled,

“Then I have the right to tell Naruto-baka to leave me alone!” she looked over at the blond, anger and malicious intent within her eyes,” leave me alone and stop asking me out on dates, you freak!?” she screeched.

Naruto flinched back from her, extreme hurt filling his features before it went completely blank and he looked away from the girl.

“Okay, Sakura-chan.....” he demurely murmured in reply, not looking at anyone.

Kakashi felt anger fill him,” Sakura!” he called out harshly. Sakura looked at him, anger still in her features but feigned innocence was also there,

“What? I just told him to leave me alone like Sasuke-kun did,” she spoke, trying to sound innocent but not succeeding in the least. Kakashi shook his head,

“No, you were taking your anger and frustration at not being allowed to bother Sasuke the same way Naruto bothered you on Naruto,” Sakura looked up sharply at him,

“I do not act like-“

“Yes, you do,” he cut in before she could finish,” from what I observed yesterday and the day before you’ve done nothing but dote on Sasuke, incessantly asking him out on dates and gushing over him non-stop, wouldn’t leave him alone when he was obviously ignoring you-though he still should have said something especially since he has never said anything. You also act as if the two of you are already going out, when you very much aren’t, Sakura; you are a Ninja now. Act. Like. It.” He punctuated each word seriously and carefully so that Sakura would understand how serious he was. Sighing heavily the man shook his head,

“Isn’t that what Naruto does to you? The main difference between you two is that Sasuke doesn’t say anything and you punch Naruto, other than that, you act pretty much the same, except, of course, for the fact that Naruto doesn’t go around punching people just because he’s been rejected by someone.”

Sakura looked to be seething much like Sasuke had been,” Sensei! Why aren’t you lecturing Naruto?” she whined immaturely,

“Because,” Kakashi started,” Naruto hasn’t done anything wrong yet. I’m sure at some point Naruto will do something wrong like you. You may be Ninja but you’re also only twelve, and when that time comes I’ll discipline him, but for now Naruto hasn’t done anything wrong; and no,” he cut in before Sakura could finish opening her mouth,” Naruto cutting in and telling you and Asuma’s student to be quiet wasn’t wrong of him, he actually did the right thing by interrupting you two. You were yelling at each other in the Missions room, many Ninja go there to get their missions which meant you two were disturbing and holding them up from doing missions that help keep this village safe and financially stable.”

Tilting his head to the side, Kakashi looked down on Sakura, his one visible brow raised in mock of a question.

“You wouldn't want to distract from that, would you?”

Turning her head away so that she wouldn’t have to look at him, Sakura ridgedly shook her head, her shoulders shaking from the effort to keep herself in check. 

Nodding his head, Kakashi then turned his attention to the other two of his team. Sasuke was still seething while Naruto’s face remained carefully blank, no sign of his usual grin anywhere on his features, something that pulled on Kakashi’s heartstrings and made his anger grow at the pink haired girl on his team. How could she act in such a way towards Naruto, the literal embodiment of sunshine? Yes, he understood that having someone hound on you for dates was no doubt annoying, but considering the fact that she did the exact same thing to Sasuke, the man couldn’t bring himself to feel much pity for her; especially since there was an easy solution to getting Naruto to stop asking for dates.

All she had to do was offer friendship to the blond or make a deal with the blond that if he didn’t stop asking her out that she wouldn’t even think about being his friend when they were younger and the level of hounding Naruto had turned to would no doubt have not occured. Kakashi noticed the way Naruto looked at Sakura, and it wasn’t the way one looked at a lover or even a crush-Naruto’s expression wasn’t anywhere near Obito’s when he looked at Rin-which led Kakashi to believe that Naruto didn’t really have a crush on the girl, that instead he was just looking for a friend and because he no doubt found the pink haired girl pretty, he misinterpreted his feelings for a crush.

But, for now they needed to get to their mission, which meant bringing them all back to the present, so, with a shake of his own head to refocus himself, Kakashi cleared his throat, catching the attention of his genin.

“We’ll talk in more detail on your attitudes towards each other tomorrow, but for now it’s time that we head out and start on your very first mission!”

Forcing a happy lilt to his voice, Kakashi closed his eye in his signature eye-smile, happy that his countenance seemed to have affected his team as the preteens all nodded to that and started getting up. After the three of them finished brushing themselves off and fixing up their clothes, the four made their way off the roof and out of the building so that they could start on their very first D-rank mission.

…

Kakashi let out a sigh as he led his small team back to Training Grounds 7.

They had just gotten their pay for their mission, which had been weeding a garden for an older couple that lived a little ways from the main sector of the village, and he was taking them back to their training grounds to explain what would be happening the next day before dismissing them.

The mission had gone smoothly, for the most part. Kakashi had had to actively tell Sakura that she wasn’t allowed to talk to Sasuke or Naruto for the time being while the two boys had apparently made the deal to just ignore each other which had worked out fine for him. It didn’t take them too long to finish the job and they had even made a little extra on account of the fact that Naruto apparently knew something about gardening, which led to the old couple cooing over him and giving him a bonus for his hard work.

Kakashi closed his singular eye again, feeling the tenseness inside of him ease as he recalled the look of contentment that had finally melted the blank look off of Naruto’s face, the boy finally smiling again. Kakashi didn’t understand why such a thing brought about the feeling of peace of mind it did, but the man couldn’t say that it wasn’t nice. 

Realizing it was happening again, Kakashi mentally shook his head. He really shouldn’t be feeling that level of peace from a smile, especially a smile that was coming from his own student. It felt as if he were favoring him and Kakashi didn’t want to show any sort of favoritism towards any of his students; the fact that the Civilian Council would get all up in his business and try and keep him from training Naruto in order to focus on Sasuke being one of the reasons for this.

“Kaka-sensei? Is something wrong?”

Eyes snapping open Kakashi whirled on his blond student, surprised at having been caught so off guard at his voice. But he was quick to catch himself, only smiling back at Naruto in response,” maa, nothing’s wrong Naruto, why do you ask?” opening his eye to look at Naruto, Kakashi was a bit surprised that the boy didn’t seem to be taking his cheerfulness seriously. Naruto squinted up at him for a full on minute before he shook his head, mumbling about it being nothing and going quiet once again.

Kakashi had to wonder if Naruto was somehow able to read him, which would be weird and impossible.

If his long-time friend and “rival”,Might Gai, still had a hard time reading his true emotions and intentions, then there was no way a twelve-year old brat would be able to read him… Right?

"We're here sensei, Dattebayo! What did you want to talk about, ttebayo?"

Kakashi halted once again and realized that they had arrived. Mentally shaking his head he turned to face his little genin, man, I'm losing my touch, need to work on that! He thought while eye-smiling at them.

"Hmm. Well, tomorrow we'll be doing basically the same, only difference being I'll be giving you different tests to complete, I haven't finished my evaluation on you guys yet, but we should be done before we go on another D-rank. Also, Sakura? From now until I say, you are not allowed to talk informally with Naruto or Sasuke unless they speak to you first, or I tell you to speak to them."

Sakura looked stricken, and like she wanted to protest, but the words died in her throat and all she did was nod sullenly.

'And for good measure…' Kakashi made sure his voice was filled to the brim with cheer as he continued," and if you have another outburst like you did today, you will be suspended from Team 7! And if you have an even bigger outburst then you will be sent back to the Academy!"

Again, Sakura looked stricken," b-b-b-but-!" A look from Kakashi was all it took for her to clamp her mouth shut and nod her head again. She looked like she was about to cry.

Nodding back Kakashi looked at Naruto and Sasuke with a tilt of his head, before eye-smiling at them,

"And you two, keep up that professionalism, knowing how to keep your true thoughts to yourself is vital for a ninja." Nodding his head at them he cast his eye over them all," tomorrow, here at 0700, you are dismissed!"

And with that Sakura and Sasuke made it out of there like bats out of hell while Naruto remained where he was, seemingly staring off into space.

Once the other two were out of sight Kakashi turned to his final student with a tilt of his head. Naruto raised his cerulean eyes and stared at the man for a long moment, Kakashi staring right on back.

"So, are you ready for our talk?" Kakashi asked softly. Naruto just nodded his head, features turning uneasy. Kakashi didn't want that so he reached a hand out and gently placed it on his small shoulder. "Don't worry," he murmured gently," you're not in any sort of trouble. I just want to confirm some things with you and ask a couple questions, alright?"

Letting out a gust of breath, Naruto nodded again and allowed himself to be led to a tree where they sat under its shade.