"Sensei...I'm tired of gardening!" Naruto whined, throwing his kunai onto the ground and promptly sitting next to it.
"Aren't we all?" Sakura collapsed into the dust next to Naruto. Sasuke looked as though he would join them, but recomposed his expression and stared at Kakashi, appropriately moody.
"This is the worst mission ever," Naruto announced dramatically. "Even for a D class mission."
Kakashi spared them a glance, then went back to Icha Icha paradise. "Kakashi sensei! Are you even LISTENING!" Naruto looked indignant.
"Maa...if you keep sitting there, the bushes will stay the same shape and you won't have dinner till even later, so keep that in mind." Kakashi looked too happy for Team 7's taste.
"Hey, easy for YOU to say, you've been sitting there, in the shade, while the rest of us have been working our butts off!" Naruto argued.
Their teacher fixed all three gennin with a level gaze. The humid weather was suddenly frigid, and even Sasuke shivered. A little bit. Oh, man. Now we're in for it, Naruto thought, unnerved by an unusually still Kakashi. Their teacher drew breath to speak, and the gennin froze apprehensively.
"...finish quickly, ne? I'm hungry."
Sasuke frowned further and crossed his arms, as soon as Naruto yelled in uncomprehendingly, pointing at the bushes.
"...!"
"Sensei! Sensei! There's something...alive in there..." Sasuke backed up, drawing out two shuriken.
"Those would be plants, Naruto, " said Sakura sarcastically.
Naruto ignored a disparaging comment, for once. "Kakashi sensei...i think it's human..."
Kakashi sat up slowly and put Icha Icha away. "What?"
"SENSEI!"
"Maa, i heard you the first time..." Kakashi lazily drew his kunai, and bent down to the bushes, probing them roughly with his free left hand.
"...!"
Naruto got to his feet, alarmed by his teacher's sudden urgency. "What is it, Kakashi sensei?" asked Sakura nervously.
"Hmm...interesting...:
"What is it!" Sakura sat up straight.
"Chakra signature." Kakashi sensei made a few ninjutsu hand signs in rapid succesion. Though his students couldn't see it, he was far more alert than usual, relaxed slouch straightening into what may be called a decent posture. "Well, it's not quite developed... either that, or..."
"What?" asked Sasuke tensely. "Or, what?"
"...or it's an extremely powerful form of raw chakra." Kakashi sounded too unaffected for his words. "Ah. There it is."
"Sensei...is that...a...hand!"
"Yeah." Kakashi sheathed his kunai and reached deep into the bushes, pulling out a limp form.
Naruto scrunched his face up. "Dude, that thing looks gross."
Kakashi set the small figure on the ground, uncharacteristically gentle. He observed it quietly. Then he stood up, and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen from his back pocket, scribbling a quick note, and trapping it to the bush nearest to the house with a shuriken.
"Let's go." Team 7 looked at their teacher curiously as he stooped once again to pick up the small body.
"You can go home." With the dismissal, Kakashi sped off toward the centre of the village, leaving his students behind, blinking into the dust.