Summary: An unexpected mission teaches Team 7 a harsh lesson about ninja life and forces Kakashi to relive memories he'd rather forget. Kakashi POV.
AN: I really don't know where this idea came from, but I outlined the plot one day in a really boring class. Kakashi-centric (of course) with Team 7 family dynamic but kind of angsty too! This takes place almost immediately after the death of the 3rd Hokage. Both the manga and anime imply that at least a little time passed before Itachi showed up, so that's when this mission takes place. I really wish that we could have seen more during this time because it's the last time that Team 7 is not dysfunctional. And judging from Sasuke's behavior during the fight with Gaara, he actually began to forget about revenge and was more concerned with his team. So, that's my excuse for Sasuke not being that much of an ass in this. Ok, enough rambling and onto the story!
Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Naruto. :(
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Chapter 1
Kakashi Hatake sat crouched within the branches of an azalea bush, the blooming bright pink buds keeping him well hidden. Completely motionless, he focused on the sounds and scents surrounding him, trying to pinpoint the location of his opponents. Hearing nothing except the light breeze against the leaves, he sniffed experimentally. The sweet aroma of the flowers surrounding him invaded his senses, which normally would induce a pleasant sigh from his masked lips, but right now he needed his keen nose to seek out the distinctive smell of other humans. But, he picked up no trace of anyone, and the flowery scent continued to wash over him.
It took him only a moment to realize what had happened. So, they already know where I am. Pleased that they would at least give him somewhat of a challenge, Kakashi debated his next move. He could release the genjutsu that had been cast and make a break for it, hoping they weren't close enough to have already set up a trap, or he could feign ignorance and force them to attack directly where he would have the advantage.
Smirking to himself, Kakashi decided to let them make the first move. Let's see how well you deal with surprises, shall we? He slipped a kunai from his pouch and shifted his position slightly so he could see through a small gap in the bush's numerous branches. His vision was severely limited though, so he would have to trust his hearing to give him notice of their attack. His nose was obviously out of commission because of the genjutsu, and if he released it, his opponents would know right away that he knew their plan.
A few minutes of tense anticipation passed before he heard the sharp scratch of a kunai being drawn from its holster. Pivoting to his right toward the sound, Kakashi smiled knowingly. What a rookie mistake… now I know exactly where you are. They would be approaching slowly, probably in a wide formation, hoping to encircle his position without alerting him to their presence. Heh, too late for that… you guys are way out of your league here. Not wanting them to get too close, Kakashi sent chakra to his feet in preparation for the leap he was going to make up into a nearby tree where he had a trap of his own ready to be sprung. The timing should be perfect… in three, two, one…
"Hey, Sensei, look behind you."
Eyes widening in disbelief, Kakashi spun around and raised his kunai in defense. What? Sakura? When did she…?
His female student stood not 5 paces from him, smiling innocently. Her hands were forming a seal, undoubtedly the source for the genjutsu that Kakashi had badly underestimated. He had thought that she had simply forced his mind to enhance the smell of the flowers to mask all other scents, but she had cast a much more high level technique. She had somehow gotten him to imagine sounds that weren't real. But, he knew that she didn't have enough skill to completely influence two of his senses, which could only mean that Naruto and Sasuke were keeping their distance in order to remain undetected. However, now that Sakura had succeeded in distracting him, they would be moving in quickly.
Knowing he only had moments before their attack, Kakashi quickly dispelled Sakura's genjutsu and jumped into the tree where his trap was waiting. Less than a second later, the bush where he had been hiding was showered with shuriken. That was actually close mused Kakashi. Now that the genjutsu had been released, his sharp nose picked up Naruto's and Sasuke's distinctive scents. They were close and they definitely had seen him avoid their attack, but they weren't close enough to be caught in his trap. Sakura, on the other hand…
One slash of his kunai later, the ground beneath Sakura's feet turned to shoe sucking mud. Sakura shrieked in dismay as she sunk knee deep in the mire. Thinking she could get free if she sent enough chakra to her feet to propel a leap out of the trap, Sakura only managed to lose her balance and fall backward. Wincing at the sound of her behind plopping into the mud, Kakashi almost felt sorry for her. Almost.
"SENSEI! I can't believe you did this!! You are SO dead!" Sakura was now completely stuck since the mud had hardened almost instantly. Struggling furiously to no avail, the pink haired kunoichi let out another frustrated scream. "SENSEI! I swear if there is mud in my hair, you will pay!!!"
Chuckling evilly, Kakashi leapt down from the tree and strolled over to his upset student. Bending over so he could look into her bright green eyes that were currently wreathed in fury, Kakashi waggled a finger at her. "You know, Sakura, I had meant to trap the boys in my Mud Mire Jutsu, but you just had to sneak up on me like that. Keep in mind, this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't actually succeeded in tricking me." Giving her a cheerful smile, he added, "You should consider this a compliment for your outstanding use of genjutsu!"
Of course, this only infuriated his poor student further. "Why you...!!! SASUKE, NARUTO!!!! Hurry up and beat Kakashi Sensei to a pulp!!"
"Heh, you got it, Sakura!" Naruto's outburst was followed by Sasuke's rebuke, "Wait Naruto, you idiot!"
Kakashi turned away from Sakura to find ten Naruto shadow clones foolishly challenging him. Realizing Naruto's impatience had ended the stealth part of the exercise, Sasuke strolled out from trees, hands in pockets. Instead of joining his battle ready teammate though, Sasuke gave Naruto a look of annoyance and leaned against a tree with his legs crossed.
"C'mon, Sasuke! I can't take him alone!" Naruto yelled out.
Sasuke simply shook his head. "Fool, the exercise was over the moment you showed yourself."
"He's right, Naruto." Kakashi chimed in. "Your assignment was to locate me and then set up an effective trap to prevent me from escaping. Thanks to Sakura here, you pretty much succeeded." Actually, Naruto and Sasuke showing themselves in front of him had opened an avenue of escape behind him where Sakura was trapped. But, they had performed better than expected so Kakashi wanted to let them off the hook. "Anyway, there's no need for a fight… you'll only lose after all."
"Heh, like I could lose to a guy with pink flowers in his hair!" Naruto retorted with an amused chuckle.
What? Flowers in my… Oh, right. That damn azalea bush… Whatever was I thinking when I chose that hiding spot? Indeed, if Kakashi had a mirror he would be able to see dozens of pink buds interlaced in his spiky silver hair. Resisting the strong urge to muss his hair wildly to shake off the offending invaders, he just smiled back at Naruto. "Oh, these? I happen to like flowers, and unlike some people, I'm secure enough in my masculinity to enjoy them!" And yet, inwardly Kakashi was cringing with humiliation. I must look like a total idiot! They'll never let me hear the end of this…
"Whatever you say, Sensei! I'm still going to wipe the floor with you!" Again, Naruto looked to Sasuke, hoping for help. "Hey, Sasuke! Are you just going to let Sensei get away with what he did to Sakura? C'mon!"
Sasuke just smirked. "Nah, it'll be more fun watching you get whipped."
From behind him, Kakashi heard Sakura sigh regretfully, "Aw, why won't Sasuke fight for me? Just once, I wish he would stand up for me like Naruto does."
At least Sasuke's lack of action is making her less mad at me… thought Kakashi. For once Sakura's love fest with Sasuke might actually do him a favor. Returning his attention to Naruto and smiling at his student's hesitation to fight alone against him, Kakashi urged him on with a wave. "Well? Are you attacking or not? We don't have all day." Actually, they had plenty of time. They were currently in the Land of Grass, close to the border with the Land of Earth returning from an escort mission. The mission had ended a day early though so instead of heading straight back to the village, Kakashi had set up this training exercise. The Land of Grass was beautiful country and it was always more fun and challenging to train in unfamiliar territory. Also, Kakashi had no desire to rush back to Konoha where the elders were squabbling over the state of the village and everyone was tense with both worry and grief. Out here, it was easy to forget about life's hardships, even if it was just for a little while.
A challenging growl from Naruto regained Kakashi's attention. With clenched fists Naruto yelled, "You bet I'm attacking!" However, instead of rushing in with all of his clones, Naruto threw down a smoke bomb. Kakashi wasn't sure what his most reckless student was up to, but he was impressed that Naruto seemed to be learning that attacking in full force wasn't the best strategy. With all the smoke, Kakashi couldn't see a thing so he closed his eyes and tried to zero in on Naruto's position by sound. Of course, with ten Naruto clones running around, he couldn't distinguish the real one, but he could at least figure out what the hyperactive blond was up to. The clones had definitely spread out to surround him, but the smoke was also preventing them from attacking since they couldn't see through it either.
Suddenly, Kakashi felt a huge amount of chakra being released from each of the ten clones. He must be making even more clones, but why the smoke bomb when he could have done that from the beginning? Knowing that they would attack as soon as the smoke cleared, Kakashi readied his own chakra in preparation for an earth jutsu that would create a protective barrier around him, which would at least delay the clones from getting to him.
However, before the smoke cleared, Kakashi's keen senses locked onto a more subtle burst of chakra coming from somewhere among the insane number of Naruto's. That could only mean that all the clones were a mere distraction to mask whatever the real Naruto was planning. Obviously, Naruto had hoped that creating all the clones would prevent Kakashi from sensing the real Naruto's chakra. Nice try, kid. Now I know the general location of the real you.
The smoke was only just starting to dissipate, so Kakashi would have to wait at least a little longer before making his move. He would still start with his protection jutsu (there were A LOT of Naruto's after all), but he would make a shadow clone of his own that would stay within the barrier to draw Naruto's attention while his real self used another earth jutsu to travel underground to the real Naruto's location. Kakashi figured he'd be able to take Naruto by surprise before the young ninja had a chance to execute whatever else he was planning.
Unexpectedly, the air around him seemed to shift, and Kakashi quickly dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding a roundhouse kick that had been aimed at his head. There's no way… Naruto can't move that fast! Quickly rolling away from his attacker, Kakashi sprang upright only to come face to face with a smirking Sasuke, the Sharingan blazing in his eyes.
Sasuke? But he said… Realizing he'd been had, Kakashi was furious with himself. That small burst of chakra earlier had been Sasuke hidden among the Naruto clones readying his high speed taijutsu! With his Sharingan, Sasuke had known Kakashi's exact location the moment the jonin had focused his own chakra. If Kakashi had even thought Sasuke would be entering the fight, he would have masked his chakra to avoid detection, but Naruto's and Sasuke's little act earlier had him completely fooled. And Sakura had been the icing on the cake with her typical pining over Sasuke's indifference.
In that moment, Kakashi swore to himself that he would never underestimate his students ever again. To have planned this far ahead, effectively using teamwork and deception truly showed how much they had grown as a team. Of course, the only reason it worked was because they knew Kakashi so well and had learned to anticipate his thinking. It was much harder to trick an unknown enemy who was expecting any sort of deception. But he had to hand it to them, they had him completely convinced that they were simply acting like their usual rash, uncaring, and love-struck selves. Pure genius… they must have been plotting this for weeks.
Returning his thoughts to the present and seeing the challenge in Sasuke's eyes, Kakashi sighed in resignation. This is going to actually take effort. Now that the smoke had cleared, Kakashi would have to defend against both Sasuke and the hundreds of Naruto clones surrounding him. No small feat even for him, especially now that he had been thrown off guard and his original plan was all but useless. It would be a much easier task with his Sharingan, but Kakashi's pride wouldn't let him use it on two genin. Maybe I can worm my way out of this somehow…
"Well, well! You guys actually worked together for once, and you almost had me there." Rubbing the back of his head characteristically, Kakashi put on his best smile. "Actually, you have me completely trapped here, so I suppose you've completed your assignment. Hmm, as a reward we can end training early! We can set up camp, build a nice fire, eat ramen, tell stories… How does that sound, eh?"
Unfortunately, even Naruto wasn't taken in by the thought of ramen. "Hah! There's no way we're going to let this opportunity pass by!" shouted all the clones.
Sasuke just continued to smirk at him. "Naruto's right for once. You're about to see how strong we've gotten!"
Sakura's voice also chimed in from somewhere. "That's right! I am so going to pay you back for that mud trap!" Looking up at the sound of his female student's voice, Kakashi spotted Sakura perched in a nearby tree. Without the sound of her voice, he might have missed her, as her body from neck down was completely covered in dirt and mud giving her perfect camouflage. Unlike him though, her hair had been spared any abuse. Her bright green eyes were filled with a confidence he'd rarely seen.
Oh dear, Sakura too? I guess Naruto helped her get free.
Facing his three determined students, Kakashi couldn't help but feel proud of how far they had come since the genin exam. But, pride wasn't going to help him here. Turning serious, Kakashi fell into a defensive position. "Well, you three have certainly made this interesting. We'll see how far you've truly grown when I don't go easy on you."
Undeterred, the young ninja glanced at each other and nodded in agreement. Naruto spoke for them all. "We won't disappoint you, Sensei. We're coming at you with everything we've got!"
"You know I wouldn't expect anything less." Kakashi calmly replied. Staring down each one of his students, Kakashi found nothing but steely resolve in their eyes. Satisfied that the upcoming fight would be worthwhile, he nodded at them that he was ready. "Your move."
His last thought before his students sprang into action was, Well, I guess we won't be setting up camp anytime soon…
TBC
AN: So, this chapter kind of ran away from me and I didn't get to introduce the actual plot yet (there is one I swear!) It was a lot of fun to write this scene though and it does set up Kakashi's thoughts on his team which will explain some of the decisions that he makes in the following chapters. I don't know when I'll have the next part up though… me being a slow writer and my busy work schedule do not help matters so be patient! Thanks for reading!
