Teamwork is Everything's
In the same training ground that years ago he had received his own test to become a genin, Hatake Kakashi passed his own team of genin, and every fiber of his being told him that it was a terrible idea to have them pass, and maybe he should have simply failed them. To save them from the tragedy that was to befall them. They were like his old team, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto were stark reflections of Rin, himself, and Obito.
They would never work as a team under normal circumstances, he was sure of that, however he had been assured by the Sandiame that he would be allowed to teach them anything within the real of teamwork however he wished, as a compromise we was not allowed to teach them any high level jutsu as the council was afraid of a host with few village ties, and a rage filled Uchiha hellbent on revenge who could care less about forging bonds to others could not be trusted with power.
Had their teacher been anyone but himself, Kakashi would have been in agreeance with the majority belief, however he knew the cure to the ailments that the two young men suffered from, and he would force them to overcome their pain.
"Sasuke." He said in an authoritative tone, the boy needed to learn to listen to his superiors, they all did in fact. It was something that he had seen in the files when he looked passed all the bias that was thrown into them. It was just one more hurdle.
The young Uchiha looked pointedly at him, almost as if he felt Kakashi under his gaze, perhaps he had bruised the boy's ego more then he had thought, that was good, it'd help in the long run. He needed to shed that ego more than anything, and Kakashi knew that. Breaking down as soon as possible was a priority.
"Untie Naruto and follow me, you as well Sakura." With a grumble Sasuke did as he was told and cut Naruto from his bonds. The loud orange brat dropped to the ground with a yelp and a hasty insult to Sasuke, and assurance that he did not need to be saved from his predicament, though they all knew that to be nothing more than a lie.
Sakura for her part was staring between Kakashi and Sasuke with looks of worry, worry that they were still somehow being tested by the silver haired man, and worry that Sasuke was not alright. She followed all the same.
Kakashi led the trio to his own personal spot of mourning, the memorial stone, the stone that held the last remnants of who he was. He put his hand on it, closing his lone eye as he did so.
'Hello Obito, Rin,... Minato-sensei. I passed a Genin team, and I honestly can't say I'm happy. They remind me of us. I'm afraid that I won't be able to handle it, and things will turn out like we did. Minato-sensei, one of them is your son and I know you want him to grow up loved and cared, but he can't. I don't want him to survive by the barest of lessons and abilities... I want him to live. He can't be a child anymore, none of them can.'
Kakashi opened his eye and rounded to face his students. He knew they were not ready for what he had planed for them; he didn't care. He was younger than they when he attained his rank, covered in more blood than they could imagine. They would receive no mercy if they were to reach the level of those like himself and Itachi.
"Do not speak unless spoken to." He let loose a tiny wave of concentrated killing intent laced within his words; there would be no pulled punches. "My name is Hatake Kakashi, and I was born the last son of the once great Hatake clan. My father was a famed warrior, known as Hatake Sakumo the White Fang of Konoha. At the age of four I entered the academy with his legacy upon my shoulders. Shortly after I joined I was at the top of my class and poised to graduate at the age of five... then tragedy struck."
He hated to recall the events that shaped every fabric of his being, yet he had to... these children would only follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, and look where they ended up; dead save for one who was broken beyond any means of repair.
Taking a deep breath to collect himself he began again. "My father failed a key mission, a black ops saboteur mission in Iwa, and with tensions mounting it looked as though it was going to cause a war. I could not believe what I was being told, because my father was a legend, there was absolutely no way that he could have failed-" he swallowed thickly "but he did. My father failed his mission, because he saved his teammates. They were captured and going to be killed, and instead of simply continuing on and letting his teammates die he returned for them."
His voice lost its easy going flow, and white sparks of rage bubbled up and he had to choke them down, but the hiss of his words left belied the truth. "They scorned him for his efforts, and so did I. Eventually he could no longer take it, and on the eve of my ascension to the rank of genin my father preformed seppuku. To restore my honor and remove his stain he gave his life... and I hated him for it."
He felt close to hyperventilating, the influx of emotion was too great. He had not visited these bygone memories, these corrupting mixing pots of weakness. There was nothing here for him but pain, and heartache, horrid plains of loss awash in oceans of agony. All the flowers that should have bloomed wilted and died bar his, the one with the scarecrow's eyes.
Swallowing the misery that welled in his chest he soldiered on. "With his death my hate cemented itself. He left me alone to fend for myself in this world of liars, thieves, and killers. I was a boy among monsters, labeled a prodigy... and in far too deep."He wasn't paying attention to his students as he spoke. He did not care what they had to say about his past, he just hoped they understood what he was doing, barring his soul to these children that he had only just met. He was showing them trust, and now he hoped they'd do the same.
Sakura's face was covered in hot wet tears, she was not even trying to contain her sadness. Her sensei was an orphan like the two boys before her, and to make the situation worse she remembered what she had said to Sasuke about Naruto the other day. Naruto and Sasuke were alike, both of them growing up having to rely on themselves, but they both had their own individual issues that the other would not understand, like how Sasuke had had a family for a short time in his life, and Naruto never had.
None of that mattered in the slightest however, as much as the fact that they were both without family, and she had said it must have been good for him to be without anyone to scold him. She was insensitive to him, just like everyone else around her. Sure he was annoying, her treatment of him went above and beyond punishing him for such, and that was hardly fair on her part. She wanted to blame it on him somehow, but she knew it wasn't true. She would try to be at least a little nicer to the blond.
The blond in question was crying just as she was, he was just doing a better job of hiding the fact. The thought that his sensei was like him left goosebumps on his arms. Loneliness was something that he struggled with for his entire life, it was an aspect of the world that most people never got to see first had. All the people Naruto ever met had a circle, a circle of close friends that they could fall back on, and he lacked that. Yes, he did have the Old Man and Teuchi and Ayame, but they were not real friends, they were older than him, they did not grow as he did; he had no one.
It hurt to think that, and he would never admit it, for if he did it would be as if he were admitting defeat, and he was not where near such. He wanted to reach his goals in life, he doubted himself, however. He knew he was not as good as the others that graduated alongside him, it was saying so that was his problem. Pride, it was the only idol in his pitiful existence that was his own and he cherished it because it was all he had, and now he was crippled by it.
This jonin before him, this Hatake Kakashi was someone that he could rely on, if only this demonstration was all the evidence. To be able to lay your own heart on the table, to share as he did spoke to Naruto's spirit. This man would save him from his loneliness.
For Sasuke Kakashi's words were like arrows tearing through his heart. He knew the agony and sadness, and even if it was only the man's father it was his only family killed by his only family. His sensei knew the feeling of hating the person that had been your idol, the one that you looked up to, expected to be there for you forever. It was a pain unlike any other, a cold heart that froze his vessels and boiled his blood, an antithesis within itself. Hate really just another form of love, a cruel disposition, he wanted to be an optimist at times, the cold water of life turned him from that path. Humans were fragile things that were not meant to last forever, the mind didn't care.
The inability for one to understand a rule of the world that was so logical strengthened agony of their losses. If his mother had survived would his time in this world have been any better, is there a way to achieve better? Were we truly in control of ourselves, or simply put on a path? Was fate set in stone? He needed to answer those question, but first he needed to avenge his family.
"I was put on a genin team much like yours." For a spit second their faces were replaced with the faces of his old team. He squeezed his eye shut willing the phantoms away.
"There was another boy by the name of Uchiha Obito. He was the class clown, always late, dead last, and he was in my eyes unfit to be a shinobi. He proclaimed that one day he would be Hokage to anyone who would listen. He was an outcast in his clan because had yet to activate the sharingan even though he was a shinobi. He had a crush on my other teammate, Rin."
Kakashi smiled as he saw the specter of Obito behind Naruto smiling. They did say the souls of the elders follow the young. His gaze turned toward Sakura. "Rin was a little like you Sakura, she had a slight crush on me, but she was often the only one to put up with Obito's antics, and I would often ask her why; she'd tell me 'Kakashi-kun he's just a lonely boy, with too few people to care for him. I care for him so that he won't fall into that despair,' I never understood it at first...", Kakashi paused.
Awash with the guilt that tugged at his spirit, he contemplated for just a single moment once again whether the sacrifice of his- he was hesitant to say this- friend was worth the burden that followed.
"When I did understand it was far too late. Rin was my rock after what happened, and she saved me from drowning in my own sorrow, but I came to appreciate her only when she was gone. I was a genius prodigy would could pick up ninjutsu like a sponge, but as a person I was an idiot.", his eyes landed on the Uchiha as he continued.
"Kinda like you Sasuke. People bent themselves over backward trying to help me after the death my father, and I rebuffed all efforts, to me teammates and comrades were nothing other than liabilities who would simply hold me back, or worse they would get killed because I would never go back for them. In essence I was better off on my own."
His own shadow hovered over the avenger, filling him with dread. He could not afford the boy to follow in his footsteps, nothing was more important than ensuring this child grew up strong and loyal to the village, no one wanted to see the final death throes of the once mighty Uchiha Clan.
His story would aid him later in his dissection of the boy and his teammates which was a necessity, they needed to become stronger, not just in body, or some type of ninjutsu, they had to become strong in mind, and spirit, the single way that he knew how to do so was to break the spirit, and rebuild.
It was a painful process and any shinobi that lacked the utmost conviction in themselves and what they believed in would not survive it. It was not a trivial exercise, and few would see fit to use it on a team of genin, however beneath their exteriors he could see three gems that only needed a bit of polishing, and the first step in that polishing was to finish his tale.
"Minato-sensei tried to instill teamwork into me, my strength which was a pride of mine was my undoing. I was stronger than my teammates, and thus I assailed the ranks faster than they had. By the time I was your age I was a jonin and they were chuunin."
The children all went wide eyed at his statement, knowing he had no reason to lie to them made it truth, but accepting it as such was more than a slight bit difficult. Sasuke pondered how someone could gain such power so quickly, Sakura was over come with fear, as her sensei was yet to reach his prime, and thus would grow more powerful for a few years, if he had decided to take them seriously during their test they would have become nothing more than stains upon the ground.
Naruto was elated with the news that someone his age could attain such skill, meaning he was sure that he could become a super strong ninja fast than he ever thought possible. He needed to know how to do it, but his sensei was a jonin like that so he was sure the man would make him strong.
Kakashi ignored them and continued. "Shortly after my promotion my team and I were sent on a mission to destroy the Kannabi bridge, the bridge covered a key supply route for Iwa to provide rations and such for their shinobi. I was given charge of my team, my sensei broke off to distract the enemy. During the course of the mission Rin was captured by Iwa shinobi. My first thought was to leave her."
The words sounded so cold coming from his own mouth. Was it like that when he first said it all those years ago. He had always been a cold child after what happened. Perhaps if he were a little warmer he could have saved them, regrets though are not the type of thought that one should dwell on.
"Obito would not allow that. He pursued the enemy to save her, eventually I too followed and we were able to rescue our wayward teammate, and Obito unlocked his sharingan. All seemed to come out well, then tragedy struck once more. An explosion and a cave in. Rin was safe, but I was in danger of being crushed. Obito... Obito saved me, and because of that he died in my stead.
Another pause, a sense of dread, of anger, of disgust, the feral feeling of that day, the cold surreal view... death was not a pretty thing, but it was an art, a fascination for us. Something we hated and at times loved. Sickness rushed forward, the rationalization of killing an enemy and the difference that came with murdering a friend; the problems of the shinobi life.
"The bolder that did the deed only crushed the right side of his body, and he retained the ability to speak for quite a while. He told Rin and I to take his only good sharingan and replace the eye I loss earlier on the mission."
He lifted his headband to show the sharingan eye spinning in the other socket, dealing with the eye was at odds with how it was before. It drained him before, making him strong yet weakening him at the same time, as he trained more though he became use to it, it was a part of him.
"Before we did it though he told me... that those who break the rules are trash, but those who leave teammates behind are worse than trash. I took that to heart."
A breath... he took it to heart and failed, he couldn't save the other. His heart was so heavy with failure, with the inability to keep a promise. Why did he suffer so.
"But I was too weak to live up to my word. Rin was captured by a group of Kiri-nin, and I saved her, however she was made into a jinchuriki with a faulty seal."
They probably didn't know what a jinchuriki was. "A jinchuriki is a human who has one of the tailed beasts sealed within themselves, Naruto is the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi."
Naruto paled, while Sasuke and Sakura gaped, they had not know about Naruto's tenant, and Naruto would have preferred they had not found out, however that would have been detrimental to the development of teamwork. Secrets were not something to be had, even of the Hokage declared it to be an S-rank secret if one of them knew they all had to know.
There was no stoppage in his tale, there was no time for him to let that tidbit of information sink into their tiny skulls. "If she got into the village the seal would have failed and the Sanbi would have been released to run rampant. Instead of allowing that to happen she jumped in front of one of my attacks killing herself."
One more down and the sadness was dampening, still arid and wretched, but slowly dying, more an ember less a flame. "Finally my sensei was the Yondaime Hokage, and therefore he too is dead. I am the last of my team," there was a tear running down his face hot and heavy of a thousand regrets.
"It is a despair unlike any other to be like me. The men and woman that I worked so closely with, and unknowingly opened up my heart to are dead, and I am incomplete. I am broken, and I don't want you to be, because no matter how much you hate each other now, or how much you think you can keep such bonds from forming they will, and when one of you leaves for the other world the others will never be the same."
One more breath, to steady the haze and banish the feeling of angst. "When you arrive home today you will find your training schedule. Be prepared. I will not treat you kindly. You are dismissed."
He vanished in a whirl of leaves leaving the genin to their own thoughts. Contemplations of the heavy variety, emotions that could destroy them, fear of creating those ties or the methods that he would use to do so. The Haruno was his only worry, but if her obsession was as strong as he hoped -and feared- then his worry was misplaced.
TiE
Naruto
Ramen was his go to thing to think, not that he liked doing that kind of thing, but right now he needed to. His new sensei was strange, at least... that was what he thought at first glance, the man did a good job of making himself seem harmless, the sort of shinobi with no edge, the kind that seemed incapable of being harmful... the kind you have to keep an eye on.
Naruto should have realized this, the man was a jonin for a reason, and for some reason the boy could not get it through his head, it was hopeless. It was utterly hopeless, until Kakashi told his story.
He slurped slowly on his noodles making Teuchi and Ayame look at him with worrying eyes, he could feel their gazes. He ignored them, which was unlike himself, and he knew it. He didn't care. He needed to think.
The deaths of the man's teammates was harsh, delivering a powerful emotional blow that was dwarfed only by the feeling of guilt and self loathing he packed into every moment of it. Thinking back he had laid bare to them all of his failings, and now he wanted them to compared themselves to the shadows of his demons.
Naruto felt he was in fact a lot like Obito in demeanor, but he had more of a Kakashi problem; ego. His problem was his ego. It was not a thought that came to mind quickly, though after a sixth bowl of miso it popped out.
He knew he was the dead last of his class, and he understood that he was not improving, but he was so used to failure that when he succeeded little he took it as a lot. Small steps for others turned to giant leaps for him, and he began to want to show off convinced every time he had assailed to the levels of those around him. He never did. If he ever got a win off through sheer luck he would celebrate like no other.
This wasn't so bad but his learning of the Shadow Clone Jutsu, a forbidden technique when to his head, hell he was a prankster, and he didn't even use them to set traps, and what the hell happened to his stealth? He could hide from chuunin and some jonin.
It took a single second for it to click, and he dropped face first into his ramen as he did so, some would say hoping to drown himself in the broth.
When he lifted his head up he paid his bill and left the stand in a huff still mulling over his thoughts. He knew why he did not use any of his normal skills -pranks were a friendly fire non-issue type of trap- to fight Kakashi... it was Sasuke and Sakura-chan. He wanted to prove himself to Sakura by beating Sasuke so bad that instead of actually trying to do it he fantasized about doing it to the point that he could not think about anything else.
He'd never heard of anything like it before, however whenever he was around Sakura-chan he had to prove himself to her by challenging Sasuke because he was the only person the girl liked.
He still wanted to be close to Sakura-chan, but he had to stop challenging the Uchiha, because getting beat into the ground did not make for good confidence, especially when it happens many times in a row. He would find another way to get Sakura's attention.
Naruto was relived when the visage of his apartment came into view. He ran to the door unlocked it and went to take a shower. The steamy water opened his pores and relaxed the muscles he did not even know were aching.
Sighing in pleasure he turned the tap off and dried himself. He made his way into his bedroom and changed into his night clothes. He glanced at his nightstand and cocked a brow at the note left there. Gingerly he picked it up.
Hello my cute genin. This note is standard for all of you. You are now shinobi, usually here in Konoha I would try to build you into your own shinobi, and I will be doing that, however I will be adding in a side of murderous psychopath for measure. I know you all hate the idea of killing, however think of it like this. If that bastard is dead he cant hurt anyone you love. Now for the training schedule.
Light Days: Monday, Friday
Heavy Days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Rest Days: Saturday, Sunday
Light Schedule
3am-4am: Wake up, bathe, eat, get dressed (a standard uniform has been provided for each of you. Wear. It.)
5zm-6am: Stretches and a light morning jog (3.5 kilometers)
7am-10am: Light weight training
11am-12pm light running
12pm-1pm lunch (a prepared lunch provided by me. Nothing else. Eat it all.)
1pm-5pm: Missions
5pm-8pm: Chakra theory
8pm-9pm: Team Dinner
9mp-10pm: Nightly Rituals and Bed. (Failure to be asleep at ten will be punished)
Heavy Schedule
3am-4am: Morning Rituals
4am-5am: Deep stretches
5am-9am: Intense Cardio
9am-12pm: Heavy weight training
12pm-1pm: Lunch
1pm-5pm: Missions
5pm-8pm: Taijutsu and Bukijutsu
8pm-9pm: Team Dinner
9pm-10pm: Nightly Rituals and Bed
TiE
Day One: Monday, Time: 5pm.
"What is chakra?" Kakashi asked his students. They were sitting in an unused academy classroom, and Kakashi had written the word 'Chakra' on the board. Naruto did not know the answer to the question, and Sasuke would not raise his hand on principle. Sakura raised her hand instead.
Kakashi pointed to her. "Chakra is a mixture of physical and mental energies with a person."
He smiled at the girl. She was smart for a genin but nowhere near the level he needed her when she was spying for the village. "Right but wrong. Mental energy is not one of the energies, its spiritual energy."
Sakura huffed. "Isn't mental energy a part of spiritual energy?"
Kakashi nodded. "It is, however knowing half doesn't count, in the life of a shinobi that's the difference between them leaving the battlefield, and you staying."
That shut the girl up. "Now then chakra at its base is a mixture of mental and physical energies, which is why I've set these lessons in a classroom, because they are in fact lessons that will hopefully make you somewhat more knowledgeable."
Naruto groaned, Sakura was gushing inwardly, and Sasuke brooded. Kakashi sighed, he hadn't expected much, but this was getting to be a bit much.
"In order to increase your chakra reserves you need to expend them, and improve both physically and mentally. Those are the only ways. Any of you who do not take my lessons here seriously will be sent back to the academy."
Not a sound hung in the air. "Good. Chakra is neutral when it exits the body, however everyone's chakra has a nature, an element that it will always want to convert to. Today we will be exploring your chakra nature."
He passed each of them a piece of paper. After a little instruction they each channeled chakra into the paper. He was surprised to find that Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were Wind, Lighting, and Earth natured respectively, What really got to him however was the fact they all had intense affinities. Intense affinities were those that were more in tune with the element naturally. This meant they would be able to get the training down quite easily.
Kakashi smiled. Perhaps it would be easier than he had thought.
TiE
Thursday: Day Four, 7:30
Sasuke's arm groaned in pain as the craps kicked in again. When Kakashi forced them into the weight training Sasuke saw it as beneath himself. The wrongness of that statement made itself known the first day of this intense exercise.
They trained different muscle groups each day. The first day they would do the lower body, next would come the mid section and lower abdomen, and finally the upper body would end it. Kakashi said it was to keep their growth even; Sasuke suspected it was really because he wanted the torture to last, and if he trained their entire bodies they wouldn't last long.
Naruto was the sole reason they had not all died. The idiot never gave up, and though he'd begun to back off from challenging his everyday, he was a mountain of encouragement. He radiated energy and it revived them when it got the hardest.
He was beginning to understand somewhat the reverence that Kakashi had for teammates, but he wasn't convinced.
Saturday: Day Six Morning
Kakashi knocked on Naruto's door at the break of dawn, and Naruto was pissed, but he didn't say anything. Kakashi was a vindictive bastard and yelling at him would guarantee some sort of bullshit in the immediate future..
"Good morning sensei how can I help you?"
Being polite was a new one for Naruto and he often wondered how he would keep it up, the boy was proving to be a diligent one and he was sure he would ingrain the practice within himself. Kakashi's eye curled into its famous smile.
"I wanted to speak with you Naruto." Naruto opened the door and allowed Kakashi inside.
The jonin was a fair bit impressed by the sight. The last time that he came into the jinchuriki's dwelling the spoiled milk that was left on the table gave him a bad impression of the child, but that was hardly unexpected when such a lonely child was forced to fend for himself.
Kakashi took a seat on the boy's old couch. He grimaced slightly at the harshness of the piece of furniture, with the ferocity that the frame of the great piece of junk attacked his lower body he was confused as to how Naruto managed with the ragged thing.
"I noticed three little academy students following you around, and calling you boss." Naruto knew in an instant who Kakashi was referring to. Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon. The three followed him whenever they had the chance, and it annoyed him to no end. He tried to tell them off, but he did not have the heart to do so. They were just children that wanted to grow stronger, kinda like him.
"Sensei I'll tell them to leave me alone." Naruto said evenly. He did not want any problems right now. The scarecrow was a slave driver, and he did not want to know what the man had in store for him if he was ever displeased with his efforts.
Kakashi held up his hand. "No, Naruto don't do that. I want them around." Naruto raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing him.
"What do you want a bunch of brats around us for?"
Kakashi chuckled at the blond's attempt to steer him away from the "brats" in question. "Naruto I want the three of you to become chuunin, and jonin as soon as possible. I was a prodigy, and even though all of you might not be the same I know you have what it takes," He was playing on the boy's ego a quite a bit, and he knew it was unfair, results though would not lie; the ends justified the means, even if the means were honor-less.
"One of the main duties of chuunin is to lead teams of genin and other chuunin. Chuunin are squad leaders. If you each take one of the kids and show them what I show you, and perhaps lead them on mock missions then it might go down in your files are reason to promote you all."
A lie and a smidgen of truth. It was true that such teaching ability did go on record it was not toward a combat promotion. Those who showed great skill in teaching were often assigned to the academy, though it was hardly permanent few left the post after being assigned to it; the time without any combat making their skills dull. It was a lifestyle that he was sure his students would avoid.
Naruto wanted to yell, scream, shout at the top of his lungs that he did not want to help those little cretins. His displeasure died at the mention of promotion. Making chuunin was the next goal in becoming Hokage, and if teaching those wannabe pranksters would help him out with it he would gladly do it.
"Fine."
Friday: Day Twelve
Konohamaru thought not too long ago that becoming strong, and attaining the rank of Hokage would be an easy venture for someone like himself. He was the grandson of the man that now wore the title, thus giving him access to more training from qualified individuals. That was an advantage that he loved at first.
His tutors that were prepared for him often offered him secrets if he were willing to pay more. He never understood why they would ask him though, when it was his Grandfather that paid their fees. He could give them more money if he signed their papers, but he had been warned not to do so.
Now he knew why the Old Man gave him that advice. Those people said there was a way to become more powerful quickly, without all the blood sweat and tears, or the broken bones, and endless nights resting after pushing your body to the limit. Training alongside Naruto destroyed the notion that such secrets existed.
When Naruto invited his little group to train with them Konohamaru was elated, filled with joy; he was going to get to work with his Boss! Training was not all fun and games. Naruto and his teammates chose one of them to train with each, Naruto chose to train Konohamaru, Sasuke chose to train Moegi, and Sakura got saddled with Udon.
Konohamaru felt kind of sad when he realized he would not get to spend the day with his friends, Naruto only smiled and told the kid that he'd get to see them when the day was done. Thinking it was going to be easy the grandson of the Sandiame grinned right back.
Konohamaru laid on the ground his arms ablaze, coursing with a heady ache. IT was only his first day with his mentor, yet it seemed more than ten lifetimes. The regimen he tried to follow was hell plain and simple.
Groaning softly the seven year old huffed his face red with concentration. He attempted to stand on shaky legs, toppling to the ground when he reached the zenith of his stance. He rose once more, choosing this time to rest on his knees.
Naruto was watching him from his perch in the trees. "Boss!" he called out to his idol. "Can I take a break!?"
The blond looked at him and shook his head. "Please! Everything aches, and I'm tired!" Konohamaru tried again.
Naruto snorted at the display before him. The last two weeks of training with Kakashi and his team was brutal, in every piece it was brutal, designed to break you and leave nothing. Nothing save for an empty clean slate, something to build upon.
The time Naruto taught Konohamaru came to mind, and Naruto wondered how to motivate the kid. He obviously did not find the training fun, a preposterous idea- the very thought that a person did not mind training fun was appalling- if he ever heard one.
"Do you really want a break?" Naruto asked with a plan formed.
Konohamaru nodded, and Naruto smiled. "Then go home and don't come back." The cheerful tone made it seem as if he were only talking about something as insignificant as the weather.
A stunned silence settled over Konohamaru, his brain trying and failing to process Naruto's words. There was no way that the person he called boss would dismiss him so easily.
"B-boss?"
"Don't call me that. I'm not your boss. You asked to take a break, and I'm giving you one. The only thing is that I don't do breaks where you get to try again tomorrow. You wanna slack find someone else, cause you don't deserve my help."
A dull throb, in the left side of his chest. His heart he thought absently. It hurt. It hurt so much. What was this pang of liquid ice chilling him with a feeling, and emotion that he knew nothing of. No one had ever dismissed him like this.
"You're a little kid wanting to play ninja. I'm a shinobi now Konohamaru, and I don't have time to waste. You're not serious, so just leave."
Anger... a familiar burn, an intensity that he desperately want to feel; he couldn't bring that searing heat to the forefront. Naruto had not said his peace with any malice or for want to hurt his feelings. He was just speaking the truth... the sad truth.
This was likely what his grandfather wanted to tell him. The old man lacked the ability to do such these days, he much preferred to bring joy rather than cause anyone sadness even if it were much needed.
He'd never taken his training seriously, and look where that got him. He was near the bottom of his academy class, and all he did was play pranks. Laziness filled him to the brim, he knew, consuming him. He allowed to fester, and now he had training he could be taking advantage of but all he chose to do was squander it.
He clenched his eyes shut, and bowed his head. "I'm sorry Boss! I don't need a break, I can finish!"
"Are you sure?" Naruto asked to thin air. He stared for a moment, then he frantically moved his head this way and that looking for the child. He was relieved when he saw the boy running once more. There was a resolve there, weak and budding. It would have to be tested and tempered, but everything has to start somewhere.
Monday: Day Twenty-two 5pm
"Fire Release: Grand Fireball" Sasuke took in a huge breath and released it ushering a huge corona of light and heat. Kakashi having no time to dodge it used a quick substitution to interchange himself with a log. Perching in a nearby tree the silver haired jonin waited for the next attack.
He was not forced to wait long as Naruto launched forward. Wind chakra coating his legs boosting his leap. With speed and precision that was lost on the boy mere weeks ago he slammed into Kakashi with a powerful kick.
The blow was blocked by the jonin's forearm. Kakashi grappled the offending appendage and made to throw the blond. With another burst of wind chakra Naruto launched backward in a flip while simultaneously releasing a thick wave of the energy creating a large band of air that rushed his sensei, obscuring the battlefield in a cloud of dust and debris.
Kakashi wasn't hurt by in the exchange, Naruto knew this, and fighting the man head on again was a fool's errand. Using the dust to his advantage he dashed back into the foliage.
When the cloud settled Kakashi was standing unharmed. 'Naruto-kun is getting much better.'
Suddenly Kakashi jumped as the ground gave way beneath his feet, exploding with a ferocious roar. It was a trap that Naruto most likely set. The teamwork exercises they were doing had begun to lessen over the weeks and each of his precious students began to work on their own style of fighting.
Naruto with his background in pranks was a trap user. With his shadow clones he was able to turn any area into a minefield for his opponent.
As Kakashi sailed through the air he quickly threw a kunai with a rope attached to it into a tree and used it to swing out of the path of the blasts of water that were the work of Sakura. Her reserves were increasing at a staggering rate, and now she could use ninjutsu just like Sasuke, though she was lacking in variety with no one to teach her beyond the little he was allowed.
They were all growing more powerful with each passing day, and right now they could give any chuunin or even an unsuspecting jonin a run for their money. They could take pride in their new found strength, but it wasn't enough to defeat him. If he were slacking he might have had trouble, but slacking was not something he believed in when it came to shinobi. Just as they grew so too did he.
Interlude: The Academy
Konohamaru was happy. His training with his Boss was paying off. Naruto wasn't the smartest guy in the world, but he knew how to train, and keep someone motivated. He had a way with words.
Moegi and Udon were doing much better, in fact they all placed in the top three most of the time now, with Udon leading them as Moegi and Konohamaru were not all that interested in books. Udon's love of books and Sakura's style of explanation helped them all greatly as the girl would often go over chakra theory with Udon, giving him notes and telling him tidbits here and there. Udon would then give them his own lectures when the academy was out. They couldn't train with team seven all the time, so they showed each other what they learned from Naruto's squad.
"Konohamaru. I see you and your friends are improving." Iruka-sensei said to the boy one day.
Konohamaru laughed. "Yup, and one day I'm gonna be Hokage."
Iruka rubbed the little leaf's head. "I know you will, but I have a question for you."
"Shoot."
"I have a student that wishes to get some tutoring. If you and your friends do it they're willing to pay you five hundred ryo per session."
Konohamaru mulled it over for a moment. He wasn't exactly hurting for cash, but it would be nice to have his own instead of having to ask for some when he wanted to get things. "Sure."