AN: The bell test occurred as normal – no need to rehash something if I'm not making major changes. Please review!

'thinking'

"speaking"

Chapter 1: Let the Training Begin

Kakashi's first impressions of his new team were not complimentary. Everything from attitude to abilities was a disappointment. Despite that they did eventually muster up enough teamwork for him to pass them.

'What did I get myself into here? Kami I better get started or they'll be annihilated on their first real mission.'

Kakashi gave his new team an eye smile. They were all pleased that they had passed the test. But it was no time to celebrate, their training was to begin.

"Congratulations you are all shinobi ready to take missions on behalf of the village."

He allowed them to bask in their satisfaction for a bit and then continued.

"Starting tomorrow you will be given a "D" ranked mission. It might mean walking dogs, weeding, or maybe even…"

Naruto interrupted with a jump and a yell, "WHAT? Give us a real mission!"

Kakashi blazed forward with a speed that none of his team could even follow. His fist collided with Naruto's stomach and doubled him over. Kakashi had pulled the punch; he didn't want to kill the kid after all. Naruto gasped for air as he collapsed on the ground.

"You do not make demands of me genin. We are shinobi. I give orders, you follow them. When you are ready to take on more strenuous missions I will give them to you. But first you have to prove that ALL of you are capable of handling it."

Sasuke grimaced. He couldn't do real missions until the dead last and the stupid fan girl got up to the right level? This would hold him back. This would interfere with his development. When he first learned his sensei was Kakashi he had been pleased. Kakashi was one of the elites of the village. He held the record for most "A" ranked missions completed and he was still in his prime! Other than the Sanin or the Hokage himself no one could match him. It was only fitting that he, an Uchiha would have such a competent instructor. And now he was going to be held back before of his team. Sasuke was furious.

Kakashi saw the anger in Sasuke's eyes.

"Problem Uchiha?"

Sasuke glared, "I will follow your orders sensei," he glanced at Naruto who was still on the ground groaning before continuing, "but this is foolish. I need to get stronger and these two are going to hold me back."

Sakura shouted, "Yeah we are just going to hold Sasuke-kun back…" she trailed off when she realized she was included in Sasuke's frustration.

Kakashi chuckled.

"Well then you know what you have to do then."

Sasuke looked confused.

"You'll have to help train them up to your level, and then we can go on advanced missions."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "I could get further on my own! Why should I waste time training the dead last!"

Kakashi moved and Sasuke was now the one on the ground.

"Because you little baka this is a team. A team is only as strong as its weakest link. Success or failure on missions will be determined by how well a team works together. On the road while you sleep someone on your team will be watching over you just as you will watch over them as they sleep. Do you want to be protected by a weakling? By someone incompetent?"

Sakura saw her beloved Sasuke-kun on the ground and shrieked at her sensei. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why did you hurt my Sasuke-kun?"

Kakashi sighed and didn't even bother hitting Sakura. He just unleashed a healthy dose of his killer intent and she was soon curled in a ball on the ground. He paced back and forth while he waited for his team to recover.

'Hmm this team needs a lot of work and they need to get their heads on straight. Strict obedience is going to be required but it wouldn't hurt to throw in a carrot or two.'

Kakashi made a mental list of what needed to be done first for each of his students.

'Naruto is a mess. He has stamina and drive but is too impulsive. His taijutsu forms are abominable and he has no chakra control. On the other hand he has mastered the Kage Bunshin. He can be brought up to speed fairly quickly if it was used as a training technique.'

'With Sasuke I need to drill in teamwork and to care for his comrades. He's too arrogant to work with them right now. I'll have to hold out additional training as a reward for working with his team. He is a genius; he will pick up things quickly. His conditioning is good but it's not where it needs to be in order to be the best.'

Kakashi thought about his 'eternal rival's' training techniques and decided to incorporate them.

'And finally Sakura.'

Kakashi inwardly sighed. She was toxic to their team dynamic.

'I'll need to use her crush for the Uchiha boy as a means of motivating her. It feels wrong but a shinobi uses what he has available. Right now she is hopeless however the academy reports were glowing about her chakra control. Genjutsu training would be just the thing, both Naruto and Sasuke will be power houses in direct combat, a more subtle flair will help round the team out.'

As his three students finally recovered they eyed their sensei nervously.

"I have just passed you and you have already made me regret my decision. Let me make this clear. We are a team and I am your leader. You will follow my instructions, you will not mouth off, and you will respect me. More over you will respect your team. You are no longer in the Academy you are shinobi. You are part of the military arm of taijutsu and I expect you to compose yourself as such. Is that clear?"

All three genin hastily responded with "Hai sensei."

Kakashi nodded firmly.

"Tomorrow we will begin rank "D" missions however the rest of today will be training. Kakashi brought his hands together and performed the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu creating one clone.

The clone said, "Sakura, Sasuke over here, we will work on taijutsu."

The original Kakashi turned to Naruto, "Your scores at the academy were abysmal in everything so we need to do remedial work."

Naruto flushed and almost said something but his gut was still sore from the vicious punch.

'Good he's learning to keep his mouth shut.'

Kakashi touched Naruto's shoulder, "But don't worry I am your sensei so before you know it you will surpass all the other genin in Konoha."

Naruto shouted out in joy, "Yeah and then I'll be the Hokage, BELIEVE IT!"

Kakashi let out a groan. "Not so loud Naruto, you are shinobi."

Naruto was literally hopping up and down ready for his training.

"First make 10 clones using Kage Bunshin," Kakashi ordered.

Naruto concentrated and shouted, "Kage Bunshin" and 20 clones appeared.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Uh oops."

Kakashi shook his head, "Your chakra control is awful but for now this works just as well."

Kakashi pulled out four books from a storage seal. He handed one book to the clone and told him to read a paragraph. The clone started to read, "The village hidden in the leaves was founded in…"

Kakashi shook his head.

"Stop… read it to yourself."

The clone obeyed and after a minute Kakashi asked the real Naruto, "Do you know when the village was founded?"

Naruto flushed, "Um no I guessed I missed that part of the lecture in the academy but who needs to know about all that boring stuff anyway?"

Kakashi twitched. Did the academy teach him nothing at all?

"Naruto, to shinobi information is life. Knowledge is more powerful than any jutsu, I have seen comrades die due to a lack of information and I have killed to suppress information."

Naruto looked ready to argue but Kakashi let out a small burst of killing intent quickly shutting the boy up.

"I expect you to learn Naruto; you will be the team's knowledge base and tactician. You will memorize the bingo book and know everything there is to know about the five major hidden villages."

Naruto's jaw dropped open, "T-that's impossible. I c-can't do it. Let Sakura-chan do it, she's super smart!"

The famous copy cat ninja smiled underneath his mask, "Naruto while she may be more intelligent then you, you have something that she cannot replicate."

"Like what?"

Kakashi demonstrated by kicking the clone who had read the passage on the founding date. Naruto blinked, the clone's memory of reading came back and he knew the date. Naruto looked dumbstruck for a moment and then the light bulb went on.

"Wait anything my clones read I will know?"

Kakashi nodded, his pupil wasn't so foolish after all.

"Yatta! That means I never have to read anything again!"

Kakashi's eye twitched.

'Must not murder my genin. Must not murder my genin. Must not murder my genin,' Kakashi silently repeated in his head over and over again.

"More importantly Naruto, your chakra reserves allow you to read books faster than the quickest most intelligent shinobi. You will be a font of information to your team, you will be able to quickly identify threats and relay information to your team about what to on watch for. This will be one of the key roles on the team, can you handle it?"

Naruto shouted his response, "You bet I can! Believe it!"

Kakashi feared he would develop a facial tic, why couldn't the boy act like a shinobi? Suppressing a sigh he handed out the rest of the books to the clones.

One was a book on the history of the Leaf village. The 2nd book was actually a bingo book that the real Naruto was oohing over before Kakashi ripped it out of his hands and gave it to a clone. The third book was a book chakra control and finally the last book was a field manual on how to care for shinobi implements like kunai, ninja wire, kunai, scrolls and supplies.

After Kakashi handed out the books he had the clones start to read them while he turned to the real Naruto.

"All right Naruto up first is perfecting your chakra control."

Naruto grumbled, "When am I going to learn a cool jutsu?"

Kakashi had the urge to punch the blond haired brat again but he had learned how to control his emotions back when he joined ANBU.

"Naruto you cannot learn powerful jutsu without control. Once you have completed the tree walking exercise I will teach you a jutsu."

Naruto jumped, "Well then let's get started, I'm going to be the best tree walker ever!"

Naruto paused for a second and looked up at his sensei, "What do you mean tree walking?"

The older shinobi put his hands up, "First things first, the basic chakra control exercise, the leaf concentration exercise."

Naruto gave a heavy sigh, "That stupid exercise Iruka-Sensei tried to teach us in the academy? I'm a ninja not a little kid!"

Kakashi struck instantly, this time a brutal snap kick to his face. Naruto crashed into a tree.

"You are a shinobi Naruto that means obeying your military commander, me your jōnin instructor. Act like a shinobi or you will learn no jutsu from me."

Naruto growled and stared up angrily with his blue eyes focused on the one exposed eye Kakashi had.

"Yes Kakashi-Sensei, I'll act like a shinobi."

Kakashi helped the boy up.

"All right then Naruto its time to do the leaf exercise, let me show you."

He took a leaf and placed it on his forehead. The leaf began to spin slowly in a circle.

"Now you try."

The young orphan took a leaf and placed it on his head and concentrated on it. The leaf did not move.

"Imagine your head has energy. Slowly concentrate on that energy and imagine it slowly spinning like water down a drain," Kakashi's voice spoke slowly and almost hypnotically.

Naruto concentrated and then felt the leaf leave his forehead. Kakashi saw the leaf blown away with quite a bit of force.

Kakashi gave an eye smile and said, "Now that you've felt the energy you know what to do. Next time focus on control and imagine the energy moving slower."

Naruto picked up another leaf and Kakashi shook his head.

"Remember Naruto everything your clones learn – you learn. Have your clones all work on the leaf exercise."

Naruto's clones quickly got to work and leaves were flying all over the place. Kakashi beckoned Naruto to follow him away from the whirlwind of leaves.

"All right Naruto two final items to your training that we will go over today. The first is your taijutsu. It reminds me of a drunken civilian brawl. Its sloppy, wasteful and the opposite of how my team will operate. We will spend the next two hours correcting your forms."

Naruto stifled a groan, Kakashi-sensei hit hard and he did not want to get hit again.

While Kakashi had gone over the training with Naruto his clone was working with Sasuke and Sakura.

"All right while the real me works with Naruto I will work with you two. First I want to see a taijutsu spar; first one down on the ground loses. Don't break any bones we'll be doing several spars in a row."

Sasuke smirked at the fan girl, this would be easy. Sakura raised her hands and took a hesitant step back. She had to fight her Sasuke-kun?

The clone raised its hand and brought it down .

"Begin."

Sasuke immediately rushed forward and sent a hard punch streaking towards Sakura's face. Sakura dodged to the right and tried to grab the arm but Sasuke quickly followed the forward motion of his punch with his body flipping forward and around causing his heel to smash into the kunoichi's head.

Sakura collapsed on to the ground clutching her head. 'Pathetic,' Sasuke thought to himself.

Kakashi agreed with Sasuke's internal thoughts.

"All right Sasuke why did she lose?"

"Because she is weak."

Sakura felt a stab of hurt in her heart.

"No, describe for me the physical mistakes she made in the spar."

Sasuke quickly analyzed what had occurred.

"She was slow on her dodge, if she was quicker she might have been able to grab my arm and throw me. And then when I flipped around she should have seen the move and jumped back."

Kakashi nodded, "Good that was a sound analysis of the spar. Again."

Sasuke readied himself as Sakura got up on wobbly legs.

"Begin!"

Sasuke surged forward again this time striking towards the abdomen with a kick. Sakura managed to block the blow with her arm but winced from the contact. She was shoved back a foot and lost her balance, catching herself right as Sasuke fired a kick towards her head. She barely had time to duck. Sasuke spun and fired another kick. Sakura still off balance could do nothing else but block and again she stumbled backward.

Sasuke sneered in disgust. This was pathetic. Even the dobe could do better than her. Sakura got back her balance and watched Sasuke wait for her attack. She tried a palm strike to his head which he deflected with an upward rising block and struck out with the same hand that blocked, catching Sakura in the throat with stiffened fingers. Sakura collapsed onto the ground struggling to breathe.

Kakashi frowned, "If you injure her so she cannot continue the training stops until tomorrow."

Sasuke scowled, while he had learned nothing yet he knew Kakashi could teach him.

Kakashi again had Sasuke analyze the fight. Sasuke went over the fight pointing out Sakura's mistakes.

"When you unlock your sharingan you will see even deeper than what you are pointing out now. This is good practice and by watching every movement closely it's theorized that you could unlock it sooner."

Kakashi saw Sakura struggle to her feet, "Again."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows in surprise. So that was the point of this little exercise, preparing him for the sharingan. Sasuke smirked a bit; maybe his sensei did know what he was talking about. They sparred and analyzed another five bouts. At the end Sakura could barely stand. She was bruised, exhausted and dispirited. The Kakashi clone looked at her and shook his head.

"Haruno your stamina is pitiful. What is your typical workout routine?"

"Kakashi-sensei I only worked out at during academy."

The clone twitched.

"Do you have any desire at all to be a shinobi?"

Sakura's inner voice shouted, "HAI, I need to be a shinobi to be close to Sasuke!"

Sakura wisely did not repeat those words out loud.

"Hai I do sensei… I just… I… didn't know I needed to."

Kakashi glared at her, "Before we meet in the mornings you are to get up stretch and run three miles. Every day – after we are done with training here you will work on taijutsu forms for one hour."

"Hai."

"I can do nothing else physically with you right now so take this leaf and work on your chakra control."

The clone went over what he wanted her to do and was surprised when she could rotate it on her first try.

"Add another leaf and rotate one clockwise and the other counter clockwise, keep working at it until it becomes difficult for you to move the leaves, at that point your chakra will be depleted and you will need to stop. Do not continue working this exercise once it becomes difficult, if you suffer chakra exhaustion you'll be useless for days."

Sakura went over to a nearby tree and begin to spin leaves.

The clone turned to Sasuke, "Walk with me."

They walked a bit away and Sasuke wondered what his next training was going to be.

"Sasuke you are no doubt this year's most gifted Academy student."

Sasuke didn't change his facial expression but inwardly he smirked.

"And as you said before the team is just going to hold you back."

Sasuke nodded and responded in a way that he thought Kakashi would want him to respond.

"You are right sensei that was my thought but I see the wisdom in having strong allies when a mission incorporates multiple objectives in separate locations. As well as when they are at watch during their shift at night."

Kakashi clapped his hands.

"You said exactly what you thought I wanted to hear. But I am not an academy instructor, I am not a chūnin, I am an elite jōnin. I am honed in the arts of deception. I can detect lies and half truths through minute movements in your breathing, your pulse and your speech mannerisms. And all of that tells me is that you are a liar."

A massive wave of killing intent forced Sasuke to back up before he tripped over his own feet.

"Right now I don't care if you feel they are holding you back or not, it is important for you to help them become stronger. I will not hurt you for having rational discussion on the subject but I will not put up with a false front. Tell me how you really feel."

Sasuke relaxed as the killing intent left. And then he grew angry. What right did this man have to lecture him! He was the last Uchiha and he had to avenge his clan!

"Fine sensei I'll tell you I feel. I'm stuck with dead last and a pathetic fan girl. She doesn't even do a minimal amount of conditioning! I am strong and they are weak and I must sacrifice my time and energy fixing their incompetence. The strong should not have to teach the weak!"

The Kakashi clone chuckled.

"If I follow your logic correctly then because you are stronger than they are you shouldn't have to teach them."

Sasuke nodded.

"So since I am stronger then you I shouldn't teach you then?"

Sasuke froze and then said, "That's different."

Kakashi shook his head, "No it is not. This is Konoha, here the strong help and support our weaker members. Our Hokage allows civilians to make decisions in this village even though they have no power. We are strong so we can protect others."

Kakashi could see he hadn't gotten through to the boy but hopefully this discussion would make him think.

"Your beliefs are your own Sasuke but if you want to learn the jutsu I have then you will help me bring them up to par."

Sasuke nodded, he had no choice he had to get more powerful, "Hai Kakashi-Sensei.

"Good now let's talk about your own conditioning."

Sasuke frowned, "I run plenty, I practice my taijutsu daily for hours and I even practice ninjutsu."

Kakashi stopped by the tree where he had placed the weights. Sasuke was a little unnerved that their conversation finished at the exact spot where the clone pulled out a package from behind the tree. That kind of planning was impressive.

"These are leg weights and a weighted vest. The vest weighs 20 pounds and each leg weight weighs 5 pounds. This is just a start but this will make your workouts more strenuous and will improve your speed when they are removed. I will caution you to be precise while you work with them. Fractures are more likely to occur when wearing additional weights."

Sasuke gave his trade mark smirk, "And I guess Sakura might last a bit longer if I'm slowed down by this."

Kakashi moved on to the next subject, "For the rest of today I want you to work on chakra control."

Sasuke frowned when he was not able to twirl the leaves in opposite directions on his first try.

Kakashi grinned under his mask, "Found something Sakura can do better then you?"

Sasuke scowled and redoubled his efforts.

"Meet in front of the Hokage tower at 8:00 AM. We'll do our first mission as a team and then it's back to training."

Sakura thought about the sparring matches. She had gotten destroyed by Sasuke and that was with him holding back. Sakura shivered, was she really that weak? She had seen the contempt that Sasuke had for her taijutsu. Sakura felt tears coming in but forced them back. She would not cry. She was a shinobi. She would do the conditioning and get stronger. For her team, for her Sasuke-kun… and for herself.

Naruto finished the taijutsu forms training. His stance and form had improved considerably but he had yet to even spar with it. Kakashi froze for a split second while his clone popped finished with Sakura and Sasuke. '

These genin are so frustrating! I'm going to have to report to hokage that the academy is failing this generation utterly.'

"All right Naruto dispel your clones."

Naruto complied and froze for two seconds as the collected memories and knowledge filled him. Kakashi lightly did a leg sweep knocking Naruto on the ground.

"In a battle you would have been more than dead, anything more than a fraction of a second is too long. Don't dwell on the clone's memories – you have the knowledge."

Naruto picked himself up, "Hai Sensei."

The former ANBU caption then had Naruto try to the leaf exercise again. This time the leaf stayed on his head and started to twirl around.

Naruto shouted with glee, "Yatta! I did it! Now I can learn some truly awesome Jutsu!"

"What did I tell you earlier Naruto?"

Naruto thought frantically for several seconds, "Oh I need to do the tree walking thing before I learn jutsu."

"Correct. We will begin that tomorrow after our first "D" rank mission. In the mean time I have something for you."

Kakashi pulled out a set of weights.

"These are 10 pound leg weights and a 40 pound vest. Wear these at all times, when you can move smoothly without them then we will increase their weights."

Naruto tried them on and struggled to move with them.

"Also you'll likely hurt yourself if you move around in your normal rambunctious way so don't go crazy with them."

Kakashi looked at the boy's height and began to question him on his meals. Kakashi's eye twitched at the amount of ramen he ate to the exclusion of almost everything else.

'No wonder the boy's growth has been stunted.'

Kakashi proceeded to lecture Naruto on the proper food he should eat. Naruto complained about how he hated vegetables. Kakashi eyed the boy, while his statement was true he could sense more than that going on.

'Ah the villagers must not be selling the boy food.'

"Naruto you are a shinobi. I will go shopping with you today for food."

Naruto flushed, "Sensei I don't have money right now I spent it all on the gear I needed for today's test."

Kakashi eye flashed with rage for an instant, those kunai were new? They were rusted and damaged. Who the hell had been sabotaging a shinobi of the leaf?

"Where did you buy your kunai from Naruto?"

"Um the weapon sales man near the training ground."

Kakashi knew the place, not the best but typically they sold appropriate gear.

"All right Naruto I'll pay for groceries this time but we will be getting you proper food. Without proper food you cannot be a proper shinobi."

Naruto was gloomy, he did not want to eat vegetables and he did not want to be chased out of a store in front of his new sensei.

"Thank you Kakashi-sensei but its fine I'll manage."

"I wasn't making a request."

Naruto gulped and nodded. His sensei was scary, and had no qualms about beating his students when they refused orders. Kakashi sensing a learning opportunity walked Naruto back into the village proper.

"Naruto I trust you are familiar with the Henge no Jutsu?"

"Hai Kakashi-sensei."

"Use it to turn into Sasuke."

Naruto was in fact not stupid. He was emotionally, physically and mentally stunted from the abuse the village had given him. However beyond the handicaps his environment had provided him he was the son of Minato, widely considered the most powerful shinobi the leaf had ever produced. Naruto showed his lineage by slamming his palm into his forehead.

"I am so stupid," Naruto shouted.

"I could have used a Henge this entire time to go anywhere I wanted, I could have used it to get away from the mobs I could have…"

Tears began to leak from his piercing blue eyes. Kakashi felt a surge of rage, how could this village be so monstrous to one of their own? Kakashi vowed not to fail Naruto the way the village has.

Kakashi stopped walking and Naruto turned toward his sensei desperately trying to wipe his tears away.

"Naruto, I am your sensei it is my responsibility and privilege to teach you. I will not condemn you for your past failures; all I expect you to do is learn from them. You have the potential to be Hokage, never doubt that. "

Naruto shivered, so few people had ever helped him. Iruka-Sensei, Teuchi, Ayame and jiji had been the only ones. And here was another. Naruto felt adrenaline surge though his body. He had hope for the future, true hope not just blind defiance in the face of utter despair.

"Thank you Kakashi-sensei. I won't let you down." Naruto's voice was filled with conviction.

"Good – now let's get you some food."