Chapter Two

Kakashi's Evaluation

Kakashi quietly walked with his left hand in his pockets down the dirt road. His right hand was holding the newest book that Jiraiya wrote that he recently purchased, but we wasn't reading. He was thinking of what mess he probably got himself into, being a Jonin for Kurenai's team. The headache wouldn't come from Hinata and Shino, they were mostly quiet for different reasons, but Kiba would be the death of him. The three Genin on his mind were walking behind him. Shino was keeping to himself as he usually does, Hinata was normally silent, and Kiba was playing with his companion Akamaru. Kakshi had something to tell the trio, but it was escaping him as to how to begin conversation. It concerned Shino, because he knew of Kakashi's love for the book's series, but he hadn't turned the page in about a half-hour. Something was deep on Kakashi's mind.

The sun was quickly approaching the top of their heads, and shining through the canopy of the forest in the Land of Fire. They had made great time, approaching the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning before noon.

"Kakashi-Sensei." Shino said, interrupting the train of thought Kakashi was on.

"Yes, Shino?" he asked.

"You're thinking deeply about something and it's bothering me. We aren't even beyond the border." Shino said.

Kakashi stopped walking. Shino froze, Hinata stopped walking and Kiba acted as if someone was attacking the trio. "What's the deal, sensei?"

Kakshi let out a deep sigh. "Well, I'd be lying if there wasn't something on my mind to say to you three, I'm just thinking exactly how to say it."

Kiba didn't like that answer. "Oh just spit it out, Kakashi-Sensei. We can take it."

Kakashi could be seen smiling underneath his mask. "I promise you. You won't like the answer I tell you."

"Oh we can take it!" Kiba exclaimed. Before Kakashi could ask "are you sure?" the entire team leaned in to hear.

Kakashi sighed at what he would be forced to endure from these three. "You three are behind the rest of your classmates, and it's not even close."

They were crushed. They couldn't have been behind their classmates!

"There is no way they're ahead of us! Especially that far!" Kiba yelled.

Kakashi closed his eyes. "There are several areas you're lacking in, and Kurenai hadn't been able to bridge those gaps."

Hinata knew in the back of her mind that other teams appeared to be developing faster than hers. However Kurenai told her this was just her mind taking the "Grass is greener on the other side approach," which Kurenai said to be untrue. However Kakashi was saying this as if it was common knowledge amongst all of the Jonin in the village!

"This can't be!" Kiba yelled.

"I'm going to agree with Kiba on this one." Shino said. "Ino, Shikamaru and Choji are Chunin, and so is Neji, but we are on par with all of them. That includes Naruto and Sasuke as well."

Kakashi continued to speak. "Well, you were on par with your classmates. At the Genin level. However, Lady Tsunade and I are not so sure that you're at the Chunin level quite yet."

Before Shino and Kiba could protest father, Hinata interrupted the each of them. "How, Kakashi-Sensei?" she asked.

Kakashi sighed. "Well Kurenai taught you all the basics of being ninja, but she really just elaborated on techniques that your respective clans initially taught you. You each lack a sufficient level of chakra control, you each lack Chunin-level Nunjutsu outside of your clan's specific techniques, and your lack of team chemistry is a concern."

Hinata knew their team chemistry was a problem! She was just so crushed about how Kakashi-Sensei was just so calm about telling them this. Was this common knowledge in the village? Did Asuma know? Did Guy know? She shuddered at her next question. Did Kurenai-Sensei know this?

Kiba was getting furious. "You can't just go around bad mouthing Kurenai-Sensei!" he yelled as he formed his hands into fists. "She was a great Sensei, and she taught us a whole bunch of stuff! And we're not behind!"

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow. "Really, Kiba?" he took out a Kunai knife and threw it against the trunk of the nearest tree. It was at the highest point of the tree before the trunk split off into its various branches. "Focus your chakra to your feet and climb that tree with no hands. Bring me my knife back."

Kiba accepted the challenge, his anger getting the best of him. "Just watch."

What happened next was pathetic. Kiba took off on a full sprint for the tree, and he hardly made three steps up the tree trunk before he crashed back to the earth. The result infuriated Kakashi. He knew these kids were underdeveloped, but to this extent? He knew Kurenai tried her best, no doubt about it. Yet with her lack of genuine battle experience, that Kakshi, Guy and Asuma were accustomed to on a daily basis, she could only take them so far. It didn't help that she inherited three students from the Leaf's most gifted and proud clans either. Not to mention that they were her first squad to take control of. Ever.

"This is exactly what I meant. If you can't master chakra control you can't even use your clan's jutsu to its full potential. It doesn't matter what your bloodline is, your last name doesn't count for a damn thing in the battlefield. Not only this, has she taught you how to react when a mission turns for the worst?"

He was met with silence, and now his frustration was beginning to show.

"Kiba!" he yelled first. "What happens if Akamaru goes missing? What if he dies?" Akamaru whimpered and sunk to the ground. "What will you do? Could you keep your head level enough to see the mission through to the end? Or will you lose control and forget what you're doing in the first place?"

Kiba rose to his feet, and for the first time in a long time, he was silent.

"Shino!" Kakashi yelled, and threw a kunai knife high in a neighboring tree. "What would you do if the air around you is toxic and you bugs are rendered useless? How would you react if there was an opponent with an armor so strong and thick that your bugs couldn't eat away at? Is your very own Ninjutsu and Taijutsu enough for you to survive?"

Shino looked away from Kakashi. He had no words to offer.

"Hinata!" Hinata was seemingly shaken awake as she put her hands to her lips. Kakashi threw another kunai knife high in the trees. "What if your opponent is a long distance fighter? You can't close the distance between you two. This renders your Gentle Fist useless. What is your next plan of attack? Better yet, Kiba and Shino are dead. Do you know how to react in that situation?"

Hinata's body froze at the thought of Kiba and Shino dead. Just like her two comrades, she offered no words to Kakashi's barrage of questions.

"All three of you need to answer these questions. Not for my knowledge, but for yours. Can you break a Genjutsu? How is your team chemistry? Shino and Kiba, I doubt you know the first thing about the Gentle Fist. Hinata and Shino, what makes Akamaru so special and how can you control him in battle should Kiba die? Kiba and Hinata, how do any of Shino's jutsu works? Do you know how his bugs tend to behave?"

Again, silence only met Kakashi. As he could see the disheartened look on their faces, he realized pointing out their imperfections would only further result in shattering their confidence. He lowered his tone and spoke again. "Look. Kurenai is a good Sensei, it's just a lot that she doesn't know. You were her first squad after all. Think about it from her perspective. She is going to have a child, who is going to train and become a ninja and be faced with death, just as all of us are. Asuma is a high ranking Jonin, and gets the most dangerous missions the village has to offer. She could hear news of his death at any moment. Now you three are faced with a diverse group of ninja all around or above your skill set. Death is probable at every turn. That's why I'm being so hard on you now. So you can return to the village when all of this is over and return to her. But return to her as Chunin."

That last statement struck a chord with the trio in front of him. This seemed to change them. Inspire them. They suddenly saw what Kakashi was trying to teach them.

"Now," Kakashi continued in his speech. "Focus your chakra to your feet and retrieve my kunai."

The three nodded at each other, and sprinted up the trees.

The forest was basked in an orange blanket. Kakashi sat against a rock, happily reading his new novel and turning its pages at a breakneck speed. To his right was Akamaru, playing around with an apple that Kakashi fetched him from one of the nearby trees. Kakashi hadn't paid much attention to the trio of Team Kurenai since he sent them off on the tree climbing exercise hours ago. Every now and then he would hear them fall to the earth, or a cry of "almost had it!"

What did surprise him was that none of them asked for help. This wasn't surprising in Shino or Kiba, who learn moreso by experience, but it was a surprise in Hinata. She was a lot more prideful than she let on, because she hadn't swallowed it and asked for help. Kakashi was ready to set up camp for the night, with the fatigue from all of this traveling finally getting to him. As he closed his book, he looked up and was met with a staggering surprise.

In his face was Hinata, Kiba and Shino. Each of them were bruised and dirty, but each of them had a hand extended to him. To further his surprise, each of those hands had a Kunai knife in it. How did they pick it up so quickly? It took him days to even stick to a tree when he initially went through the exercise. It took Sasuke and Naruto days to get the exercise, and the only person who he saw grasp it so quickly was Sakura. Had they progressed so far as a unit that they were able to assist each other so easily?

"How did-"

Hinata cut him off with a dazzling smile. "We think you misplaced these, so we're bringing them back."