Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, favorites and follows! So glad you like this story. Keep it up and I will too, I promise.
Here's the continuation of The Four Seasons – The Unlucky Formation of Team 7
Disclaimer: I still don't own. Anything.
Chapter 2 - The Tragic Failure of Hatake Kakashi
Spring.
Uzumaki Naruto had always been a bright boy. Ever since he could remember (not that he had a very good memory), he'd been pulling pranks on several higher-ranking shinobi and never once had they failed him. So when a certain someone said that their jounin instructor would not fall for the classic prank of the chalk eraser on the edge of the door frame, he was reasonably pissed off.
And his anger had nothing to do with who was the idiot who insulted his art and his need of getting that cocky smirk off his face and showing him who was the boss.
The blond sniggered as he distracted himself, placing the eraser slowly and gently on the top of the frame, making sure the precarious balance was just so. He had a lot of experience with this, anyway, so of course it would work. It always did.
He quickly jumped back down from the desk he'd been using to reach that far up, and noisily rearranged it into its place in the classroom. He busied himself by giggling and rubbing his hands until he realized that the teacher wasn't coming any time soon. Then he sat on a chair directly in front of the door and waited.
And waited. And waited. And waited.
The 2 minutes Naruto had been sitting in that chair had just become the two most agonizing minutes in his life. He was dying! This won over any bruise he'd ever sported.
When before it had been a joke to him, the thought was sobering now that he knew the reason for their abuse.
He awkwardly tapped his hands on the table. After walking home the day Mizuki-sensei had told him the truth and after a heart-felt talk with Iruka-sensei he had showered to get out all the grim in his hair and skin and looked down while rubbing his golden locks with the frigid water. He had never given two thoughts on the conditions of his apartment: most of it was his own fault, because he never cleaned and had ramen cups thrown all over the place. But now, simple things like the lack of hot water, the cold in the wintertime when the heater didn't work…
It made more sense than he cared to admit, especially when the kids of 401c always laughed sharply and taunted him about his living conditions whenever he saw them in the hallway. They lived next door and not once had a complaining sound been moaned about their water or their electricity, and they complained about everything, from the hookers outside to the apparently horrible food their mother prepared for them. The walls were thin, and Naruto had always had good hearing.
He thought they were lucky. They had a mother and nice homemade food and the hookers weren't bad people, he actually found them really funny when he could get away with listening into their conversations without being seen.
He learned really quickly not to repeat what he heard, though.
Naruto leaned back, swinging his feet over onto the desk and balancing on two feet of his chair. He spied Sasuke-teme rolling his eyes at him and Sakura looking almost pensive.
He figured he had to deal with his feelings on the Kyuubi issue pretty quick. Experience told him that the more he let things build the more they would explode outwards and he learned early on that was not an acceptable thing, especially when survival depended on keeping his cool in matters of getting food and supplies for the Academy. Jiji never minded his tempers, but it just seemed like disrespect in the face of the man who gave him everything. He'd seen children get spanked for less than what he'd said sometimes, and he rather not try his luck.
(Sakura-chan flicked her hair back, a determined look on her face.)
But Naruto just could not… process it all, which was saying something. He adapted pretty quickly, he knew, but the idea of having a demon, the demon who attacked and killed half of his village locked inside of him… That every hateful look sent his way had reason, had meaning and value…
(The Teme shuffling his knuckles under his chin.)
He felt a gut-wrenching twist in his belly and wondered, for the first time but not the last in his life, if the Kyuubi was hungry.
Click. The door to the room was swung open and a mop of silver hair popped through. Dirty white chalk fell directly onto it seconds later.
Silence.
"HAHAHAHA! WHAT DID I TELL YOU, SASUKE-TEME! HE FELL FOR IT!"
"I'm so sorry, I tried to stop him, really!" Naruto-baka!
"Hn." This is a jounin?
"My first impression of you guys… " Pause. Eye smile. "I hate you all."
.
Sharingan Kakashi had a very unflappable personality.
It took a lot to ruffle his feathers or in his case, his shiny silver hair of which he took great care but tried his mighty hardest to seem effortlessly unaware about. He walked with a conscious slowness that had taken years to perfect and the lazy swagger of his head when he bothered to look up from his porn was a study in uninterested attention. He even flipped the pages of his pocketbook with a pleasurable pause to feel the coarseness of the grain.
Sharingan Kakashi did not stutter. Copy Cat Kakashi did not stumble or stare.
But when the lowly chunin that was Umino Iruka told him to "look further than what they seem to be", it was Hatake Kakashi, the man who tried his hardest to find a team worthy of his memories, whom reacted with a stunned stare.
When he continued with "they will be in your care. You will be responsible for them", it was Kakashi, the boy who had lost his three most precious people years ago, whom reacted with a choked intake of breathe after the shinobi had left him alone.
For however much he had buried his broken pieces under his savvy persona of half pervert and half shinobi genius (both of which he was, no doubt), there were still certain things that brought it all back like it was yesterday that Minato-sensei was saying goodbye before his sacrifice to the village, yesterday that Rin was dying in his arms, yesterday that Obito was smiling at him from below a boulder.
And the drums. The songs lifting the air around him.
Hatake Kakashi sighed softly, shaking his head away from the bad thoughts. It was probably the composition of his team, he thought, looking at the three of them trudging up the stairs onto the roof of the Academy where he was waiting for them, so tiny and weak.
Uzumaki Naruto had his father's sky blue eyes and his mother's ecstatic smile. He was full of energy even then, shuffling his legs as he sat and bouncing off the balls of his feet. He was also very much aware of his surroundings, Kakashi noticed, if he was to take the constant glances to his teammates to be and to himself seriously. That Hokage-sama had decided to put him on his team, though… was he hoping he would finally bow down and chose the team without putting them through the wringer? He hoped the old man wasn't because he would be severely disappointed.
"I want you guys to introduce yourselves. Your dreams, aspirations, likes, dislikes, etc." He started, and then sighed when they looked at him blankly.
"Um… Why don't you start first, sensei? So as to give us an example!"
Haruno Sakura, who had just spoken to his left, had the air of a child-model put into a poster promoting kunoichi recruitment. She looked sufficiently skinny to appease the aesthetics of the civilian masses and had the quirky sort of looks that could work well for mothers inscribing their civilian children. Most of all, she looked like a joke of a shinobi, all shiny combed hair and well-kept constricting clothes; a mock-up of what real kunoichi were about.
He wondered about The Council's choice of putting her in his team.
"All right: Well, my name's Hatake Kakashi and I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. Dreams of the future, hm… I have lots of hobbies."
Silence. In the distance, a bird began to sing.
"Ok! Your turn."
Naruto leapt at the chance to speak about himself. "Yosh! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like cup Ramen, and Iruka-sensei! I like them both even more when Iruka-sensei pays for my ramen! I dislike the three minutes that it takes for ramen to boil and my dream is…"
Kakashi wanted to cry. What? Ramen? Is this that all Minato's sacrifice boils down to?
But Naruto had gone silent for seconds; long seconds, enough for Sakura to notice in her effort of being more aware of her teammates and for Sasuke to have a moment of bliss in the silence; seconds in which Naruto made an important decision concerning his life from then on.
"And my dream is to surpass the Hokage and then… have the people of this village acknowledge my existence!" He scratched his head while wearing a grin. "Hobbies… pranks, I guess."
Kakashi stared at the blond child, imagining the man he might turn into with some luck. How funny your son's turned out to be, Minato-sensei, he thought, shifting his attention towards the only girl in their group. "And you, pinky?"
A vein popped on her head, and he gave her props for holding her temper; if the reports were correct, it took a lot less for her to fire off. She started, and then stopped. And started again. And stopped.
Kakashi sighed. "I'll come back to you when you figure out your life." With a nod towards Sasuke, he silently asked him to begin.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are lots of things I dislike and I don't really like anything. And… I can't really call it a dream… But I have an ambition."
The jounin felt he knew where this was going.
"The resurrection of my clan and… to kill a certain man."
He's twelve years old, he thought, and already conspiring murder. Kakashi had hoped they had left all this behind with the war and the Kyuubi, but it seemed demons would always plague the unluckiest.
He knew he would end up with the last Uchiha on his team whether he wanted him or not. Before, there were not many shinobi who could teach someone how to properly use the Sharingan outside of the Uchiha Clan– after Obito's death, Kakashi had been left alone to figure out all the kinks of his new eye, and it had cost him many wounds and precious time. He had been very much banned from entering the Uchiha Compound and the little Shisui could explain to him was severely limited by the rules of his clan. After the Uchiha Massacre, there was currently no one with a better working knowledge of this eye of his than he, and it ached to know the wealth of knowledge the child in front of him had about the Sharingan in his abandoned family compound. Maybe if he taught him, when the time came he would be able to steal some information for himself; specially how to deactivate it. There had to be a way…
With a sigh, he turned towards Sakura. "And you?"
She started. "My name is Haruno Sakura. I like… someone," Blush. "And reading books and studying. I dislike pigs and flowers. And Naruto." At this, the blond face dropped onto the floor. "I don't have any hobbies… and my dreams involve… someone." Again, blush.
Kakashi wanted to face-palm. Honestly, whatever strength Umino said she had would be no good if she simply didn't care about her training. He wondered if he could drop her and keep the other two…?
Never mind, I'll still end up with the Uchiha and Naruto will end up in better care somewhere else.
So Sharingan Kakashi explained the rules and prepared to fail them all the next day. He was good at that, at failing people.
It always worked.
.
Sakura did not understand their sensei-to-be.
One look at his gravity-defying hair and she knew they had gotten the cool package, the savvy, almost lazy intelligence that was Hatake Kakashi. Her father had spoken to her about him, on the days when she was bored and he had more than enough stories to share. Her mother had always sighed when they mentioned him and that was weird and Sakura knew very improper, but she had never asked and nor did she have any plans to do so soon.
So her teacher was hot, for an older dude. Deal with it, mom.
What was more interesting to her, who already had her heart stolen by Sasuke-kun, was how she was going to beat the odds on this survival training. Every time her father spoke about his accomplishments, he never once mentioned him as a good teacher, or even having a genin team. Sakura had done some research after she had left the Academy rooftop – Mori-obasan was such a kind lady and she always tried her best to help her find what she needed. This time her method of information gathering was no different, even if it yielded different results.
"Kakashi-kun?" The old woman's eyes widened like orbs.
"Uh…"
"Oh my! How the time flies by! It feels like yesterday he was sitting right there with his team…" Her wizened eyes crinkled at the edges, soft and sad.
After an inordinate amount of silence, which Sakura had already accepted as the lady's remembrance time, she cleared her throat. "Um… Mori-san?"
"Oh!" She looked at the twelve-year-old girl before her. "Of course! Well, seems to me they still teach at the Academy like they used to in the old days…"
Sakura was stunned. Never in her six years of coming to the library had she imagined Mori-san as anything more than a decrepit old lady, with a small walking stick that reached Sakura's hip to help her maneuver through out the gigantic library, who helped both shinobi and civilians alike to search through her books. Technically they were not really hers; they were the village's, but she had been the librarian since many shinobi of her generation could remember, and it was generally accepted that Mori-obasan had the right to shoo anyone she wanted from her library and prohibit certain books – and on occasion certain people – to leave the premises.
To be honest, she'd never seen the point of asking her about her life at all. Surely an old woman who practically lived in the library wasn't all that special?
After all, she thought, many children go to the Academy. Only a few of them pass onto genin teams!
"Tell me, Sakura-chan." Too brown eyes, faded with age, stared at the pink haired girl. "Do you know how many genin cross through these halls? How many Academy ninja?"
"Um… I imagine – a lot?"
"BuaHAHAHA!" The woman tilted her head to the roof and Sakura gave a startled jump. "You don't even know the half of it! I know the faces of almost every shinobi in this village. They've all crossed these halls, one way or another." She smiled. "They always need something from Mori obaa-san. And I always listen.
"You're not the first child to come to me asking about Kakashi-kun."
Her greens eyes grew wide. "I'm not? So he did have a genin team? That's why they were asking right? How to pass his test?"
"Calm down, child; always so impatient. Yes, they wanted to know how to pass his test. Yes, they wanted to ask about it, and…"
Mori-san, for the first time in Sakura's life, stared at her with such a piercing gaze that she felt dissected to her bones. No one had looked at her like that ever, and the closest she could think of it was earlier today, when Sasuke-kun was so frigid.
But this felt like a bullet to the brain. She felt her inside turn to mush while her then weak shinobi instincts ordered her to run, to run away from that woman as fast as she could.
It came just as quickly as it left, the feeling, and Sakura was once again staring impatiently at the kind, old lady who'd helped her all those years.
"…And no, Kakashi-kun has never had a genin team under his wing."
"Say what?"
"Yes, quite an appropriate response, I guess." She laughed, and Sakura blushed. She thought she hadn't vocalized it.
"But I thought Kakashi-san had been jounin for a long time! And my father told me he's been an instructor for some years now!"
"And why do you think he doesn't have a squad now?"
"Well!... I!" Sakura had always thought he was just so good they promoted them quickly into chunin.
It seemed that was not the case.
"I can't tell you anything about the exam Sakura-chan, those are the rules. I'm sorry." But Mori-san did not look apologetic.
"It- It's ok. I'll figure it out."
She was already walking out of the library when she heard, "Don't you mean we will figure it out?"
But by the time she'd turned, Mori Obaa-san was nowhere to be found.
.
"Who where you talking to, Mori-san?"
"No one very important, not yet."
"…Yet?"
Mori Kogata saw the glimmer of interest enter her way-ward son's eyes before he was even aware of it. He was such a bore, never letting flowers bloom alone.
No, she wouldn't expose Sakura-chan to him unless with good reason.
"No – nothing you'd be very excited about. Now, you brat, you better make sure you eat that soup I made; it's getting cold!"
Sigh. "I'm eating, Mori-san, I really am."
"And what did I tell you about calling mi Mori-san? You out of all people…!"
"Wha-? But, Mori-san, you-"
"I wanna hear ya' say it! Okaasan. O-kaa-san!"
He felt this was going to be a long day.
.
Naruto was lost like a baby reindeer looking for his mom – not that he knew what that meant, he'd just heard it on the streets.
In any case, he had been rocking out sooo much in front of Sakura-chan until that idiot-sensei stuck his fingers up in ass! He knew he had him right where he wanted him and so that's why he'd used that technique. It was the lousiest trick in the book, and Naruto had practically written it.
(Which actually won a few points towards his sensei, but Naruto was too angry at the moment to tally the points in his "Important People to Be Aware of and Hold On To" list.)
But to think that he would actually out-prank him and he'd be hanging from his feet from a tree… That just broke Naruto's prankster heart.
Changes had to be made. Plans set in motion.
So when he finally got out of the damn ropes, he set of to find the only other person he could trust would throw a mean punch and whom he didn't absolutely abhor.
"SAKURA-CHAN! WHERE ARE YOU?"
Naruto had already been searching for a good 20 minutes before he found a strand of pink hair on the floor. Checking quite quickly for traps – he wasn't about to be taken the micky out of a second time – he searched the bushes until he spotted the telltale scrunch marks of a ninja-sandal. Not only ninja-sandals but female sandals, where the heel dug more prominently than the sole and was a little bit narrower at the front and back. The grass was fresh and the marking very recent and that could only mean…
"Sakura-chan! I FOUND YOU! HOLD ON, let me just-"
Crack. "Idiot!" Hushed whisper. "You're going to get us killed!"
"Bu- But, Sakura-chan! Listen!"
"And why would I listen to you, baka?" Haruno Sakura said as she dragged him down into the bushed with her. He blushed at the proximity, but she bonked him on the head again and he quickly got over it. "You're the one who was tied up to a tree in the first place!"
Naruto wrinkled his nose, not happy to be reminded of that. "About that, I was just unwares Sakura-chan, I swear! Next time we'll get him good!"
"Unwar- do you mean unaware? Where did you learn to speak so badly? Never mind, I don't care." Sakura shifted to look away from him, missing the cringe Naruto tried to conceal badly.
No one taught him; not exactly.
"And what the hell do you mean by we?"
Naruto grinned. "You, Sakura-chan, are gonna have the honor of helping me prank the idiot-sensei!"
The silence that followed was the longest in Naruto's life.
.
Oh, this is going to be SICK!
Shut up, Inner.
Sakura massaged her brows, trying to make sense of Naruto's plan. "So, let me get this straight: you want to steal Kakashi-san's book? Because he embarrassed you?"
"Yeah!" He was grinning so loudly she was sure the instructor could hear it stretching miles away. "Bastard has it coming…"
"Naruto! Focus! This is a test, not a game!"
The Uzumaki was stunned. He'd been yelled at many times by Sakura-chan, but not once had she had that shrill, desperate tone to her voice. It was loud and it was painful to hear.
Sakura slumped against the trunk of a large almond tree. So far, her day had not been good at all. She'd arrived at the training grounds, bento for Sasuke-kun in hand, ready to apologize for her words (or actions, she hadn't quite figured out what she'd done wrong, but she was sure there was a more prominent reason for Sasuke-kun's fury than just her being her) and to offer the food as a present for when he inevitably succeeded with her. Naruto would obviously fail because, as the boy had so beautifully shown before, he was an idiot.
Also, she didn't want to make bento for him. Yuck.
But then she was in front of the boy and she got nervous and practically shoved the bento into his face. He'd seemed so annoyed, sounding anything but grateful when he said "Thanks, but I already have mine."
Seems he had the same idea of bringing his own lunch. No one knew how long the whole thing would last, so better be prepared!
But Sakura had been genuinely upset when Naruto was struck with the weird invented technique. What sort of ninja does that? Hand-signs aren't to play around with, and if her days at the academy had taught her anything it was that any small mistake could cost someone's life. She didn't think Copy Cat Kakashi (of whom her father had spoken so much about) would actually make that mistake, but her mind painted a very nasty picture of Naruto holding his scorched backside with third-degree burns…
Sakura shivered. After the image the jonin had sent her in the genjutsu, her mind had been adding very vivid images to her train of thought and none of them where pleasant. Now, Sakura acknowledged that a week ago – no. Even a day ago, the genjutsu would have caught her and she would have been trapped in it for a very long time, had it not knocked her out in the first place.
But for the four godforsaken hours they'd been waiting for that idiot-sensei, as Naruto had very appropriately named him, yesterday, Sakura had been stuck with Sasuke-kun and Naruto alone, with nothing to do. And after being very much fooled by Naruto's illusion before (for which she still owed him a beat up and would have carried it out by now, had she not more important things to do) she decided she'd figure out how to never fall for something like that again.
It had been the most embarrassing moment in her life, thankyouverymuch.
She'd love to think that all her staring yesterday and all the familiarization with both of their chakras (four hours, four damnable hours) had resulted in her discovering the genjutsu quickly. Even her skills, which the teachers always praised, should have helped her figure it out.
But Sakura believed the illusion up until she saw Sasuke-kun bleeding: Sasuke-kun, bleeding onto the ground, missing one arm, knee bent backwards and trembling. Never had she seen Sasuke tremble.
For the first time in her life, Sakura was so afraid she couldn't move.
When she finally came to, she was lying on the ground, knees up and jerking inside rope bindings. When she finally realized it was an illusion she'd been under, she'd very much screamed all the things she hadn't screamed before.
So by now, having been freed by Naruto and taken in like an idiot into his plan, she had some pretty strong reasons for hating her sensei. Kami knew what that man has for a brain, if his idea of survival training for genin involved childish pranks and first-rate war trauma.
Naruto's plan is sounding better and better, right?
Shut up. Just, shut up.
She couldn't deal with this right now. She wanted to go home and cuddle into her bed, maybe read a nice story or even a history book, anything but this: being huddle close to Naruto under a bush, of all places, waiting to ambush a jonin, blocking the annoying voice in her head while searching for Sasuke-kun with her senses. She'd never thought she'd be a good sensor type – she'd never tried before, it wasn't an Academy requirement – and she was halfway right. So much of her strength with chakra lay in her spiritual energy and focusing it inwards that the process of expanding it outwards was a foreign concept for her body and her chakra coils. It hurt, a little bit, but with her control she got the hang of it quite quickly – she wouldn't get very far, anyway, with her small reserves.
And with the way this is going, none of us are going to get very far.
The sun was already high up in the sky and, by her estimation, they had about half and hour before the clock rang.
"Listen up, Naruto."
"Huh? Sakura-chan?"
"This isn't going to work." She ignored his sputtering remarks and silenced him. "He's probably busy with Sasuke-kun. We know he's confronted the both of us, so he must definitely be with him. I say we split up and search for him." She honestly just wanted to find Sasuke-kun first, and with her small field of sensing she'd find him faster. She hoped.
Naruto frowned. "How do I know you're not just gonna leave me?"
"I…! I won't." Sakura tried to hide her pause, but Naruto saw right through it. As she watched his eyes turn watery, she hurriedly added. "Just-! Make one of your clone-thingies scout for Sasuke-kun on the east side, and we'll go together."
Sakura sighed even as his eyes brightened. Damn those baby blue eyes.
Seems she was weak to her father's and Ino's and anyone else's. She never thought it would include Naruto, though.
.
When Naruto's clone found Sasuke, his head was already deep in the ground.
…
"HAHAHAHAHA! LOOK! SASUKE'S DECAPATED!"
"Dope, just help me get out of here, I don't want to listen to your idiocy!"
"OI! If I'm your only hope then you better fucking be nice to me!"
You have to be kidding me.
"…Just get me out of here, Naruto."
"I didn't hear pleaaaase, Sasuke-chan!"
"…!"
Giggle.
Glare.
Chuckle.
This is going to take a while.
.
"Ha≈aah, Sasuke-kun isn't here either! And I haven't seen Kakashi-san in a while…"
"Hey! Sakura-chan! There are some bento over there!"
"Wha≈ Nani?! Naruto don-"
Crack. Sweep.
"AAHH! FUCK!"
"DAMMIT NARUTO!"
Ring. Ring. Ring.
.
"Mah… that wasn't very good, was it?"
Kakashi looked at the three genin in front of him from over the edge of his book. He wanted to sigh and shake his head and scream, dammit.
He'd expected too much from them: Minato-sensei's hated son and an orphan Uchiha and a clan-less girl.
"They'll be in your care, then. They'll answer to you."
Just for once, for once in his life what he would give for them to be more than they were, to be great and passionate and so full of potential he would have no choice but to accept them. He wanted to be surprised, even a little. But all he'd gotten handed back where broken dreams and idiots who thought they could take him on their own. Idiots who didn't know what team even meant.
These were what they wanted him to turn into legends? Loners with nothing better but their own selfish desires? What was he supposed to do with that?
Kakashi wanted to take the Uchiha and leave running. Out of the three of them, that kid was something. Such strength at an age… he reminded him of his brother, ironically. He'd work well with him, if he had to. And then he wouldn't be given genin team's to fail like it was paperwork.
He felt the leaves rushing behind him, the soft whispers of wind on his nape. Turning away from the three children, one tied inevitably to the log, he breathed out a sigh while he contemplated the KIA stone.
However, after all those years, all those failures…
"I beg of you…"
Obito… One last time, just for you.
.
Sakura heard Naruto's stomach growling beside her. Sasuke-kun and her had their packed lunches, but Kakashi-san had emptied all of the other bentos onto the ground in front of them.
"If the two who are allowed to eat have their own, you don't need any more."
She sighed. They had another chance; they could make this work! Had she listened to Naruto, or even Mori-san when she mumbled in the library… Sakura felt so stupid. Teamwork! Really.
A groan for Naruto's belly interrupted her thinking. She frowned. He kept saying that he was fine, and he could go so long without eating…. But didn't he run towards the food boxes in the first place? And why hadn't he thought to bring his own food, though? Not that it would do him much good now…
"All alone... It's nothing getting scolded by your parents can compare with."
"I hate the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook!"
… Homemade bento for Sasuke-kun…
So when did you grow a conscience?
Her arm reacted automatically and before she knew it, her hand was outstretched and the bento she'd been nibbling on was thrust in front of Naruto's face. It took her two full seconds before she realized that Sasuke-kun's hand had extended at the same time as hers. Naruto reacted quite wildly, thrusting his legs in the air and staring to and fro from Sasuke to Sakura like he couldn't decided where too look.
"Idiot. Just eat."
"Wha- …Sasuke-teme?"
Sasuke sighed. "I need you in full strength to help me get those bells. We're not going to work well together if you're starving."
Then Naruto and Sasuke-kun where staring at her. Sakura blushed. She'd reacted more because of the pity, but it really was a good idea… she resigned to tell the truth, anyway. Maybe it would show Sasuke-kun how good a person she was.
"Umm… yeah, that. And, well – you didn't bring any bento and I'm not really hungry at all, I'm on a diet, you know, so anyway just eat it beforeIchangemymind!"
"…I don't have how to hold the chopsticks." Timid gaze.
"…" Glare.
"…" Green eyes widening.
Puppy eyes to the right.
Hn. No, idiot.
Puppy eyes to the left.
… Dammit.
.
Kakashi wasn't sure what had just happened. He'd left them with the warning, expecting them to fail their second test before it even started. If they took his words as law (as they would, because he's Hatake Kakashi and of course those kids would not disobey direct orders) they would not feed Uzumaki and fail.
And then Kakashi had observed the most unusual behavior from the three. First, Sakura and Sasuke thrusting their arms out like a coordinated dance routine. Then, Naruto tap dancing on the air and suddenly a flurry of conversation he hadn't been able to listen so far away. Then huge teary eyes had appeared and the girl had succumbed to them as if they'd come straight from the Uchiha, proceeding to feed the boy, of whom before she cringed from having too near, with her chopsticks.
Then the tornado and drama and histrionics, and the two unbound children were standing in front of the third like a shield.
Sharingan Kakashi was blasé, if a little shocked.
Hatake Kakashi was outright stunned and quite a bit more excited about the children in front of him.
Kakashi-the-boy wanted to cry.
He'd found a team again, and he'd be damned if that didn't mean he'd make them grow into legends.
TBC
Author's Notes:
Sorry for any spelling mistakes! English is not my first language and I'm very much without a Beta. Any takers?
A lot of dialogues without nicely laid out sentences. Is that ok? I sort of love it. Tell me what you think. Also, someone please explain to me the right way to write Jonin, Chunin, Genin, Obasan, Okaasan, etc. Is the way I've written them ok?
Not much to explain… If Kakashi seems a little harsh with them, it's because I want to make him a little rough around the edges – like he's staring at his reflection in a broken mirror. The pieces don't all fit together right.
A few more mentions about Naruto's past and his living conditions, Sakura grows a heart (is that even… what?) and Sasuke accepts help! Woop!
(He doesn't have to know that he would have gotten Kakashi anyway. I don't think anyone will run over anyone else in efforts to inform him.)
And yes, in my universe, Sakura's dad has blue eyes. Deal with it. Genetically it works and even if it didn't… well, I really wouldn't care.
Also, Mori-san is such a cute little old lady!... Or isn't she?
Review please and all the other lovely things you can do on this page! I'll try to answer through PM's or through next chapter's Author Notes if you'd just please help me out with a review.
I fell like that is sufficient groveling
Love,
Chrys