Excuse in Accomplishment
- - -
Kakashi slowly made his way out of the hospital. Sasuke would be ready for training soon. And it would be more than necessary.
He sighed, the boy was so impatient, worse than Naruto even.
Speaking of him...
"Hello Naruto!" he greeted his student.
"Kakashi-sensei!" shouted the blond. "I need you to train me!"
Kakashi sighed again, more impatient? Sure Sasuke was, but not by much. Hmm, now, should he just tell Naruto that he would have another trainer or... he looked at Naruto's face, eyes radiating hope and excitement. Damn, now he felt guilty.
"Sorry Naruto, but ill have to train Sasuke," he leaned down to Naruto conspiratorially, "after all, I have to make sure he doesn't embarrass us, when fighting Gaara." He finished with a wink.
Naruto's expression went from disappointment, to outrage to an evil grin. However the effect of the joke didn't last long, as Naruto's expression soured again.
"But what about me? I'm also fighting. And well don't I need training too?" he asked, pouting.
Kakashi looked at him considering his options, on the one hand, not explaining would be easy and not cause too much damage, on the other explaining would maybe calm him down considerably and would maybe make him realize, just how far he had already come, towards his dream... or it might just swell his head. Eh, worth the risk.
"Honestly? No you don't need more training," he said.
Naruto stared at him doing his best imitation of a fish.
"Though I admit your chances of beating Neji with training rise significantly. But then, they are already far higher than Sasukes chances of beating Gaara without training." He shrugged. "Not that Sasuke needs more training, well he wouldn't need more training if he wasn't facing Gaara, but..." He trailed off, waiting for Naruto to gather his wits again.
Which the boy did pretty fast. "What do you mean we don't need more training?" he shouted, "I mean yeah we are awesome, but there were so many stronger Ninja in the exam! Hell, Neji and Thickbrows were simply amazing! Thickbrows beat Sasuke easily! And what about Sakura? Doesn't she need more training? She didn't even make it into the finals!"
Kakashi looked around, luckily for Naruto, Sakura wasn't any were near them. He smiled slightly under his mask, a pity really, it would have gotten him out of explaining.
"Are you saying Sakura is weak?" he asked.
Naruto's eyes widened, as she shook his head. "That isn't what I meant, she's awesome and..."
Kakashi nodded lazily. "True she is. She's pretty strong really."
Naruto once again mimed a fish. A weak "Huh?" was all he managed to get out.
Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. "Of course, compared to you and Sasuke she isn't really all that good, even compared to Hinata, who is the weakest female Genin in your age group, since she suffers from her complete lack of confidence, she falls short. But then, Sasuke has his eyes, early clan training and some strong impulses to train like a madman. You have, " he pointed at Naruto's stomach, causing the boy to squirm uncomfortable, "and more chakra than I have ever seen in one person. Hinata has the byakuuan and clan training, even if she isn't quite up to the clan's unreasonable expectations."
He looked at Naruto. "What does Sakura have? Above average intelligence and hard work. And she is able to fight a girl, with a clan to train, her to a draw." He smiled fondly, "I would say that's pretty damn strong."
Naruto nodded slowly, but then frowned. "But... isn't Ino also..." he looked around for any hint of the female in question. "err, pretty weak?"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, shaking his head. "Again she's only weak if you compare her to yourself, or the enemies you have faced." He chuckled. "Do you know who enters the Chunin exams? Only those who have at least some qualities to become Chunin." He frowned. "To be honest I didn't expect you to actually become a Chunin."
Naruto squeaked in outrage, but Kakashi ignored it and continued.
"But then I fully expected you to learn something from the exams. And you were ready for them." He looked Naruto in the eyes. "Most Jonin enter their students after around two years of active duty. Gai entered his students after one year. What does that tell you about you and your classmates?" He asked the boy.
Naruto stared at him looking confused. Honestly, it got somewhat old... then again, that wasn't exactly fair. He was telling the boy many things he wasn't supposed to know after all.
"It means you and your classmates are as far beyond the average Genin as the average Jonin is beyond the average Chunin. Every single one of you is an elite ninja already."
Naruto looked down. Then looked at Kakashi challenging. "But you said my chakra control is horrible, some people in the exam said the same." He looked away, face slightly red.
Kakashi chuckled. "Yes your control is horrible, for a Chunin. You taijutsu is barely passable, for a Chunin. You chakra reserves though are... beyond Jonin level, you have a ninjutsu beyond Jonin level. Naruto, you aren't measured as a Genin anymore. You are measured against the requirements for Chunin. The same as Sakura and Sasuke." He slowly shook his head.
"It started with the tree walking. Do you know when Genin are usually taught treewalking? After about one year of active service. You and your classmates learned it after a few months."
He sighed. "It's different in war of course, then we train Genins as fast as possible. However we aren't in a war situation, thankfully. So we are taking our time teaching you. Letting you grow at your pace as much as possible." He paused. "Even so you guys are the best we have to offer, which is another reason the other Genin didn't pass their Jonin's tests. They would have to compare themselves to you guys, which just wouldn't be fair."
Naruto looked at him with wide eyes and a huge grin. "Man, we are awesome!" But his expression soured again. "Still, why would you train Sasuke but not me? I need training to beat Neji too?"
Kakashi nodded. "And you will get it. I know somebody who will train you in the basics, for Chunin of course. Besides, if I don't train Sasuke he might die. I'm pretty certain you won't have that problem even against Gaara. Your... guest at the very least should make sure of that." He paused as Naruto's face fell.
Forcing a chuckle, to distract his student, he went on.
"You know Naruto? Out of you three Sakura deserved least to become a Chunin."
Naruto growled.
"Even if she had the best chances to become one."
Naruto gaped.
"And she learned by far the most in this exam."
Naruto held his head in confusion, moaning. "Ahh I don't get it! What has that to do with anything? And if she did learn so much why not train her more?" He asked, previous line of though forgotten.
Kakashi shrugged. "Nothing much, just an interesting thought..." he said, also, it was amusing to see Naruto run in circles. "And well, I wanted to give all of you a little vacation, after your mission in wave. But then you had to go and ruin it by getting into the final round." He tsked shaking his finger in Narutos direction.
"But honestly, she has learned the right mindset to be a Chunin, to never give up, fight for what's important to you. To value all your comrades. She was getting there after wave, but in the exam she really learned those things...."
He looked over Naruto's shoulder; ah, Ebisu finally arrived.
"Anyways, I got some stuff to do in preparation. And since your teacher is here..." He trailed off, pointing at Ebisu.
Naruto turned around and immediately started shouting. "Ahh! It's the closet pervert!"
Grinning Kakashi moved to greet the poor sap he roped into teaching Naruto.