Team training
This has been beta’d by Ankaa Sage! Thank-you so much!
.
.
.
Team 7 were waiting for their jounin sensei at the bridge when a very loud and childish voice called out, "Boss!"
All three of them turned and saw a boy with a very long red scarf and goggles as well two other kids with the same goggles. Konohamaru Sarutobi and his two friends Moegi and Udon. Not that Sasuke and Sakura knew that. "Konohamaru. Are these your friends?" Asked the blonde as soon as she got up and crouched down to their level.
Konohamaru shook his head vigorously, yes. "They sure are boss! This is Moegi and Udon!"
Said children shyly introduced themselves politely so Naruto gave a smile and introduced herself and her team, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. These are my teammates; Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. Guys this is the old man's grandson. Anyway, Konohamaru, what are you doing here?"
"Hiding from Ebisu-sensei!"
Raising a brow, she picked the boy up and put him on her hip, "And why are you doing that? Hmm?" Konohamaru knew Naruto was a girl but also knew she was pretending to be a boy, so he also knew to keep it a secret.
Sakura watched wondering what Naruto was doing, whereas Sasuke had a small smile on his face. If cousin Shisui hadn't killed himself, Naruto and he would have been very happy together, after all, she's a natural with kids. "He keeps yelling!" he started to wail and to hide in Naruto's neck and soon they could all hear the distinct sound of Ebisu-sensei.
"Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon! Just where do you think you are-" he stopped mid-sentence when he saw them all around Naruto Uzumaki, except Konohamaru, who was on her hip.
"Oh, Ebisu-sensei! Long time no see! Were you looking for these three?" Naruto asked coyly.
Moving his glasses up he said, "As a matter of fact, yes, I was. We have training to do so if you don't mind-"
"Oh, Konohamaru was very much hoping to see me and my team train. It might just motivate him and the others to train properly if they saw us, 'tebayo. And if you don't like that idea, we could help them train as well, giving pointers here and there?"
Next thing Ebisu knew, he was face-to-face with three sets puppy dog eyes, however before he could speak up a very familiar pop sounded, "Yo! I see Konohamaru and his friends are here. Well done. Now then, where should we start, Ebisu-sensei?" asked Kakashi.
"Uh- umm, I think we should work on their chakra control."
There were quite a few groans, Naruto, however, gave a small smile and tried to motivate them, "Well I do need training in that area. After all, I've got a bottomless pit of chakra and Sasuke himself sure does have a lot of chakra as well."
Kakashi gave her a look over the side and ruffled her and Sasuke's hair, "My team can demonstrate how to balance a leaf on their foreheads, giving some pointers and then we can work on tree walking. Does that sound alright to you, Ebisu-san?"
"Y-yes. Quite alright. Right! Come along you three, time to train."
The eight of them made their way to a nearby training ground and sat down with a leaf each. Naruto spoke up first, "It's really easy when you get the hang of it. I'd suggest meditating first in order to find and feel your chakra and when that's done try and let it out. Not too much or the leaf will fly away and not too little cause it won't stay. Here, I'll show you." she took out her hand and closed her eyes, making a show of reaching her chakra and letting some out. Orange tinged her hand as she opened her eyes again, "My chakra is different to your average person. Most likely due to my Uzumaki blood, so don't mind to color. See how I've only let out a little?" when she received three nods she continued, "This is all you need, maybe even less but I can't condense my chakra anymore than this." she placed the leaf onto her chakra and it absorbed it. She willed it to move and it did. Then she put a lot of chakra into it and it flew a few feet away. "That's what happens when you put in too much chakra. Why don't you guys have a go?" everyone had a go at doing it besides Kakashi and Ebisu. Leaning over Naruto whispered into Kakashi's ear, "I can already walk up trees and water, but I'm going to pretend I can't." he nodded and they watched as the three kids tried to get their leaves to stick but weren't able to get out their chakra.
"Why don't you three try meditating to feel your chakra before letting it all out, like Naruto suggested earlier?" asked Kakashi.
"Because boss didn't meditate!"
This earned a chuckle from the blonde, "You're right, I didn't. But I know where my chakra is, what it looks like, what it feels like, how potent it is and what it can do when touched by others. Can you say the same?" when she received three no's she continued, "Meditate then let it out. When you can do at least two of things I said I can do, then you can move on, okay? And when you can I'll make you all your favorite dishes and we can eat together, how's that?" Sasuke, Kakashi, Sakura, and Konohamaru all looked at her, trying to resist the urge to drool. They all had some of her cooking and it tasted exquisite. If she quit being a kunoichi, she should go into cooking, she'd make a killing. (pun intended)
Team 7 left the four of them to work on finding their chakra, going down the field to some trees, when Kakashi spoke up, "Okay so we're gonna be working on climbing trees."
"But sensei, we already know how to climb trees," whined Sakura when she saw no one else was going to.
"He means walking up trees without your hands," replied Naruto.
"What are you blabbing on about now?"
"Naruto isn't blabbing. Look, I'll show you." with that Kakashi walked up the tree, shocking Sakura whilst Assume and Naruto looked as if it was normal, and it was. "Now all you have to do is fuse some chakra into your feet. Not too much or you'll blow up part of the tree and not too less or you won't be able to stick with it. Okay, you all have a go." with that he jumped down with bent knees and took out his book.
"You complain yet you've read all of them yourself."
"I'm not complaining, but I know all he's going to do is read and Ebisu sensei is going to get annoyed for Kakashi being a pervert in front of kids."
Sakura reached the top of the tree first due to her small chakra reserves and she looked rather smug about it. She wouldn't be so smug if she knew why she was so good at it. Maybe I should shove her on water and see what happens then.
"Which one of us is the evil one?"
"You. I'm the sadist."
.
.
.
Sakura was gleeful.
Naruto had been grating on her nerves since the day of team placements, his behavior seemed so strange. He wasn't acting like his old, goofy, dead last self. No, he was more smart, stronger and deadlier. Even she could see that. Yet she ignored it. Naruto was and always will be the dead last in her eyes and nothing will change that.
She was gleeful because she finally got one up on Naruto, she was able to do something her blonde teammate couldn't do, and that made her better than him. She paid no mind to Sasuke not being to climb the tree yet because the Uchiha had a lot of chakra. She never paused to think that that was also the reason the blonde was unable to get up.
Her gleeful mood went down, however, when she saw Naruto go to Kakashi. What is he doing?
She decided to eavesdrop on them, she fused some chakra into her ear and listened in, pretending to be reading the scroll in front of her, "-you in far less than that, Kakashi. No need to be shy." with that the blonde went back to climbing up the tree. She didn't understand the part of the conversation that she had heard.
Naruto usually calls him sensei, so where did the honorific go? Why didn't sensei call him out on it? It's disrespectful to use it! And why did the idiot call him shy?!
She paid no mind to the fact Sasuke never calls Kakashi, sensei, or to the fact that it was none of her business, or to the fact she had intruded in on a private conversation. What she did pay mind to, was when Sasuke went up to the blonde and asked for help. I'm right here! Ask me for help! Not the blonde idiot that still can't get up the tree!
Inner Sakura was agreeing with her. However, she didn't have much time to think about the two of them as Kakashi came her way with a look that chilled her to the bone.
Naruto did the same as she had happened last time, compete with Sasuke. At some point, she called Kakashi over to talk in the corner and said, "I've developed this seal that allows us to transfer thoughts. I made it back in my original time and you were rather creative with your thoughts. But, anyway, this will help us talk to each other without raising too many questions. If they ask why I came up to you now, it's because I asked you for advice. Do you want me to put it on you, or do you think you could manage?"
"I have very little skill in fuinjutsu and would prefer it not to blow up in my face."
"Alright, remind me later because I need you shirtless to do it." That caused him to raise a brow which in turn made her chuckle, "I've seen you in far less than that Kakashi. No need to be shy." with that she walked up the tree and made it past Sasuke, yet making it close enough for him to not get frustrated.
An hour later Sasuke came to her and asked, "Hey Naruto? What were you and Kakashi talking about earlier?"
"Hmm? Oh! I asked him for some advice on how to walk up trees 'tebayo!"
After some time of not hearing a reply Sasuke's patience snapped, "Well? What did he say?"
"He just said to make sure you stabilize your chakra and not let it fade, keep the flow steady and continuous."
.
.
.
Kakashi wasn't annoyed. No that was too tame a word. He was pissed. Not that he allowed himself to show that.
Instead, as he approached the pink haired female he gave her a chilly smile and was pleased when her spine stiffens with a slight quiver. "Sakura," he said. He was trying to get her to break by staring with no words.
"Y-yes Kakashi s-sensei?" she squeaked out, as she unconsciously nudged back a bit. She was afraid yet did not want to show it. She wasn't doing very good at that.
He gave her a bigger, yet faker, smile and asked, "Hmm, I was wondering why were you listening in on the conversation Naruto and I were having? I thought I asked you to study the scroll?"
She gulped so loud Kakashi entertained the idea that his ninken could hear it from his home. "W-well I uh don't know?"
His fake smile never wavered, "You don't know why you stopped studying, fused chakra into your ear, and listened into a private conversation?" he tilted his head and released a tiny bit of KI for good measure. She once again moved backward and looked around for someone or something to help. She saw none and still gave him no reply. "Well?" she looked back at her teacher, fear showing in her eyes, "If you won't tell me why, I expect you to tell me what you heard." The last thing he needed was for Sakura to have heard Naruto saying he needed to take off his upper clothing. And that she had seen him in far less.
Not that student-teacher relationships were looked down on when one became a genin, no, it was only looked down on when they were still in the academy. There is no cheating when it comes to raising in the ranks. However, this student-teacher relationship would cause lots and lots of eyes to be on them. The jailer of the nine tail fox demon and the copy ninja who was her father's student. Not that many people knew that little detail, but still. He feared what Itachi would do for laying a hand on his favorite cousin's fiance or what Sasuke would do, he held back a shiver.
"J-just something about less a-and uh about you not needing to-to be shy!" her voice quivered as she spoke, so he decided to remove his KI and she stopped shaking, but the fear was still in her eyes.
He mentally let out a sigh of relief, they were okay. "Right, now tell me, why you eavesdropped and why you thought you could get away with it?"
"I-I-I wanted to know what he was saying-" Kakashi blanked out the rest. All he heard was a bunch of excuses anyway. The part he heard clearly was that Sakura thought Naruto was a boy, he would have to work around that in the future.
"Well I want you to do five laps around Konoha, no stopping in between, and I will know if you do, I know everyone in Konohagakure and they know me. And if you do it again," he leaned in and whispered into her ear, "I'll have your rank stripped and make sure you never become or go near a shinobi or kunoichi again. Am I clear?" He leaned back when she nodded her head vigorously and stopped his interrogation-mode giving her a pointed look that told her to start her laps.
.
.
.
Nodding the two rivals went back to it, this time Sasuke managed to go quite a bit higher so Naruto went even higher and unlike last time, it only took him eleven hours to get it, Naruto making sure they tied it reaching the top of the tree.
"Well done you three! Tomorrow we will be taking a mission to be here at six and we'll go to the office together." he raised a hand and poofed to his apartment, Naruto bade the others goodbye and shunshined to Kakashi.
He was standing in his corridor after having just changed his shoes for sandals when Naruto decided to tease him a little, "Alright Kakashi, time to strip!"
He jumped up when he heard her, he hadn't sensed her come and had also forgotten their earlier discussion. "Is there any need to make it sound so-"
Raising a brow she walked through the corridor of his apartment and sat down on the table again, pointing for Kakashi to sit across her, "No matter what you think, you're not a pedo. That'll be Orochimaru. Now sit and take off your upper clothing!"
As she said that Pakkun entered the living-room, "Hey Kakashi! Who's this? Wasn't she here the other day?" he jumped onto her lap and smelt her, "Yup, definitely. So why do you have a girl here? Are you finally going to-?"
Kakashi cut him off before he could continue, "NO! Naruto do you want to explain?"
Shrugging, she started to pet the ninken, "I'm basically from the future and need a person to confide in that can help me with multiple things, so Kakashi and I were close, I chose him to help. Right now, I'm here to place a seal on him." As she spoke Kakashi started to take off his vest and shirt, leaving on his mask before she continued, "Take the mask off Kakashi, I already know what you look like underneath it. And whenever we're in private, just take it off, I know it snags at your skin at times." he sighed and did as she said.
Despite wearing a mask for a majority of his life, he still felt irritated at times wearing it, especially in winter and summer. Naruto used some wind to move Kakashi and the sofa closer to her since she didn't want to move with Pakkun on her lap, who had fallen asleep in less than ten seconds. "Right, whereabouts would you prefer the seal to be?" he thought about it for a few moments before pointing to the area above his lift armpit. Nodding to herself she bit her thumb and placed it where he had pointed and envisioned the seal and soon after, the blood that was dripping onto Kakashi turned into the seal.
Removing her hand she licked the excess blood as Kakashi asked, "How does it work?"
"Well think something and think of me as you do, it can be a pain sometimes when you're thinking and accidentally send them to me, so to avoid that, think of a wall that has a locked door on it, when you want to talk to me via this link, open the door and when you're done, lock it again. We will both be able to tell when the other has 'locked the door' so if it's an urgent thought we can force our way through. Does that make sense?" he gave a small nod.
It makes sense but at the same time sounds complicated. He thought.
"I guess."
"He looked startled, "Did I-?"
"No. You didn't say that out loud. I heard your thoughts. Now try making your wall and door."
He tried to do so, however, Naruto kept saying it wasn't strong enough to keep his private thoughts to himself so it took them about forty minutes to get it. Once he did, Naruto bade him goodnight and left via hiraishin, forgetting to take her shoes.
.
.
.
Sasuke was once again confused. Straight after training both Kakashi and Naruto had gone, again. It seemed whenever they had a training or just doing normal D rank missions, once they were done, they would share a brief look and leave separately simultaneously.
What he couldn't understand was where they would go. Were they doing extra training on their own? Was usually something he thought of a lot but thought against it. Naruto would always insist on doing things together or at least have the same amount of attention given to each member of Team 7.
There were very little other things they could get up to. However once or twice he had entertained the idea that they had a less conventional relationship. One that was hidden behind closed doors.
But then he remembered the grief on Naruto's face as she cried herself to sleep when the knowledge of Shisuis suicide reached her. She had come all the way to the main house, not believing the UPF when they had told her the news. His mother had tried to console her but she wouldn't allow her to. She hadn't allowed anyone besides himself and his brother near her that day.
The weeks that came after were a blur as the both were mourning the dead, yet she had been his rock during that time. Cooking him food that his mother had taught her, bringing him his clothes to change into. She had even looked for an apartment for him and moved his things into it so he wouldn't have to see the blood everywhere.
He never gave it much thought before, but she had done a lot. She had gone into the district on her own, for him. And she had asked for nothing in return.
He banished the thought of Kakashi and her being together. He knew she would go to him before starting such a relationship.
The next time he sees her, he would ask where she always went. And where Kakashi went as well.
TILL NEXT TIME! :)