Hatake Kakashi – Resident genius of Konoha

2.

The academy looked exactly like he remembered it; the roof, the color and the snotty children running around or practicing this or that. He was early when he sat down on the roof, distractedly raising two fingers in hello to the teacher who was on his way into the school. Umino Iruka, Chūnin with no ambition to raise further in the ranks, a good teacher with some slight mother-henning tendencies. The children inside was rowdy, but that was to be expected as it was the day of Genin team assignment.

In moments he could pick out his soon-to-be students from the crowd; however he was surprised when he felt the distinctive chakra of a Nara, Hyuuga, Inozuka, Aburame, Yamanaka and an Akimichi in addition to the Uchiha. What was with this class; had someone put aphrodisiac in the food of all the clans the same year without telling him or something? That was simply evil; he could have done with a good laugh.

Jokes aside he guessed that explained the amount of high-level Jōnin getting saddled with kids. Guy being the odd one out again as he had actually asked for a specific student, but then again the man had also gotten the Hyuuga prodigy.

Suddenly Kakashi's senses were on high alert and he was moving towards the gate without making a conscious decision. There had been an ANBU distress signal and the moment Kakashi touched down on the concrete a hail of shuriken and kunai came rushing his way. Drawing a kunai of his own Kakashi deflected the projectiles and looked to the attacker.

"Easy there Shinobi." The Shinobi froze for a moment before putting away – most – of the weapons, yet still keeping them within easy reach; meanwhile Kakashi quickly assessed the situation before turning to the ANBU second in command, the captain being wounded and unconscious beside her. "Situation rapport. Tori?" The female ANBU shifted and relaxed minutely. A shallow nod to gather her wits and then she spoke.

"Two teams from the border to Suna, mission completed, no casualties, two unconscious, all injured. Pursuers: one Jōnin, five Chūnin, half an hour behind." Kakashi could see that the woman was obviously winded; most would have missed it but… yeah, Jōnin and all that.

"Acknowledged, get your people to the hospital captain. Dismissed." Kakashi sighed, he had been hoping for a quiet day.

By the time Kakashi got back to the academy to pick up his students he was more than two hours late. Not bothered by it Kakashi decided to see how his Genin was doing, walking towards the classroom at a civilian pace and making a few sounds when he walked. In addition he let the control of his chakra go a little noting that more than a few signatures that honed in him at once. Hmm, there was a Chūnin on the next floor that had been surprisingly fast at picking up the hints. A little training and the woman could go for Jōnin or Tokubetsu-Jōnin at the least.

Curiously he began listing her personal traits that he remembered from her file and took note of her chakra signature so he could find her again, as well as listing things she would have to brush up on. Satisfied and keeping half his attention on her Kakashi turned the rest of his attention to the three waiting Genin. To his disappointment there was nothing indicating even one of the three had picked up on his presence. The kids would need a lot of training – if he passed them that is. A grin stole over his covered face; the bell-test was waiting.

Kakashi looked down on the three defeated brats in front of him. Immature, was the first thing he thought when he looked at them now, and weak. They were quiet for a moment, Kakashi's statement having obviously shocked them, before Uzumaki (predictably) broke the silence.

"Quit as ninjas?! What does that mean?!" The kid really had a pair of lungs, didn't he? "OK!OK! We couldn't get the bells but…" …and the boy totally missed the point of the exercise. "Why do we have to quit?!" Still screaming his lungs out, hm.

"Because all of you… are just punks who don't deserve to be ninjas." Cool as a cucumber. Uchiha charged and Kakashi couldn't help the small sigh that escaped, though he concealed it. The punch the brat threw was easily deflected and in a flash Kakashi had the brat on the ground; unable to move. "And that is why you are punks." He continued as if nothing had happen at all.

"NO! Don't step on Sasuke-kun!" Haruno's time to shout apparently.

"Are you guys underestimating ninjas? Huh? Why do you think you're divided into teams and are doing this training?" Glaring Kakashi hoped they would get the hint.

"Huh? What does that mean?" So had Haruno become the spokesperson of the group somehow?

"Basically… you guys are not understanding the answer to this test."

"Answer?" Uzumaki echoed. 'What were they, parrots?' Kakashi thought before answering.

"Yes. The answer that helps you pass this test."

"So… when are you going to tell us?" Haruno again.

"…. Geez." They really didn't get it did they? But the previous teams hadn't gotten it either, now had they? Sure Kakashi had gotten it, but he had been a special case… And a Chūnin. So maybe he should give the kids another chance, and if they managed to pass… well he'd make the best out of it.

"Ah! Damn it! What's the answer already!" The brat needed to learn to keep calm.

"It's… teamwork." And of course the kids were stunned. "The three of you working together might have gotten the bells."

"What do you mean teamwork? There are only two bells! Even if we work together and get the bells, one of us would still fail. What teamwork that only makes us fight each other." And that's why Kakashi generally didn't like kids; they were all stupid morons.

"Of course! This testis purposely set up to make you fight amongst yourselves."

"Huh?!" He decided to ignore their 'intelligent' input for now.

"The purpose is to see if you can forget about your own interests…and successfully work together…under these designed circumstances." Kakashi looked up at the Sakura and Naruto, keeping his for pinning the last Uchiha to the ground. "Yet… You guys… Haruno instead of helping Uzumaki, who was right next to you… you was only thinking of Uchiha, who was far away. Uzumaki! You were only running around by yourself. Uchiha! You just assumed the others would get in your way and tried to do everything by yourself. The duties are done by the team. Of course superior individual ability is important to ninja. But what's more important is "teamwork". Individual plays that disrupts the team can put your comrades in danger, and even get you killed. For example;" drawing a Kunai Kakashi decided to give the kids a scare to really make the lesson hit home and put it to Sasuke's throat.

"Haruno! Kill Uzumaki! Or Uchiha dies!" The kids' faces were hilarious, Haruno seemed frantic as she tried to decide what to do and Uzumaki tried his best to get out of the rope tying him to the tree stump. Keeping his face neutral beneath his mask Kakashi continued.

"You see? If a hostage is taken, you will have tough choices and then die. You will be risking your lives in these duties." Standing Kakashi released the Uchiha who got up from his spread eagle position on the ground, sitting up and holding his neck. Kakashi walked over to the memorial stone and for a moment the faces of his loved ones flashed before his eyes, but in less than a second they were gone.

"Look at this. The numerous names carved on this stone. These are ninjas who are recognized as heroes of the village." But his father's name would never join them and for a brief moment grief forced Kakashi to close his eye. He now understood his father's choices. Kakashi didn't agree that a suicide was a good solution, but he understood why his father had acted as he had. The expression on Kakashi's, partly visible, face went unnoticed by the pre-Genin as he had his back towards them.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" Uzumaki again, Kakashi turning slightly back towards the kids' allowing them to see his right eye. "I've decided to get my name carved on that stone too! Hero! Hero! That's what I'll become!" Kakashi noted the kid didn't know what he was speaking about; he'd have to make the kid more cautious with his decisions.

"But…" Kakashi continued. "They aren't just normal heroes…"

"Oh yeah?! What kind are they?!"

"…" Kakashi was undecided for a moment of how he should tell the kids'.

"What?! What?!" 'Oh, fuck it.'

"They are all heroes who died while on duty." The kids' were shocked. Huh, who would have thought that was what was needed to get them quiet. Shifting his concentration back on the stone in front of him Kakashi picked up the thread again. "This is a memorial. My best friends name is also carved here…" Once again the twelve year olds were chocked quiet... or maybe it was the first chock that hadn't left yet – he couldn't tell. Kakashi, who was mildly irritated for no reason in particular – except that the kids were all brats –, looked at them. "You guys… I'll give you one more chance. But after lunch I'll make it even tougher to get the bells. Those who still wish to go through the challenge can eat lunch. But don't give any to Uzumaki."

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

"Huh?" Apparently all three of them were unimaginative when surprised.

"It's punishment for trying to eat by yourself, if anyone gives him food they will fail immediately." Giving them a glare (without killing intent as he didn't think they could handle it at their level) Kakashi hoped they would get the hint unlike all the other teams the Sandaime had tried to saddle him with. "I am the rules here. Got it?" Then he proceeded to leave the kids to their, apparent, own device. Hiding in the woods a short stone throw away Kakashi proceeded to listen in on their conversation and when they actually got their stuff together and fed Uzumaki Kakashi relaxed somewhat. Finally there might be a team he could teach, admitting to himself he actually had wanted to try building Shinobi from scratch for a while, yet getting a little more frustrated and pessimistic each time he had to fail a team. Smiling a true smile beneath his mask Kakashi gave the kids (his kids now) a good scare and the good news.

"… Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash. But you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades… are worse than trash." Kakashi looked to the memorial as the wind rustled. 'Ne, Obito?' Drawing a shuriken Kakashi turned back to His Genin and used it to cut the ropes binding Uzumaki. "That ends the training for today, you all have passed my test and tomorrow we will begin our training as the new team 7. You will be reporting in at the bridge at six o'clock to Pakkun, dismissed." Kakashi gave them an eye-smile and disappeared in a shower of leaves, leaving behind three newly minted Genin.

Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

SMACK! 'Stupid alarm.' Tangled pink tresses hung across her back as Sakura sat up. Looking out the window she found that the sun was just barley rising and for a moment the young woman wondered why she had set her alarm so early. 'Did I… set it for the wrong time?' 'Hello?' A voice said in her head.'Oh, 'morning inner.' She greeted her alter ego. 'Yeah, yeah, 'morning. You do remember we have to get ready right?' 'Wha'? Why?' 'Because we want to look our best today to impress Sasuke-kun!' 'Oh. But why so early, it's still like five in the morning.' 'Yes. And sensei told us to be ready and at the training ground at six. So get your pretty behind from the bed and get moving!' And Sakura shot from bed in a flurry of pink hair and white covers sprinting down the hall she went into the bathroom appearing again in five minutes to get dressed, after which she ate a hurried breakfast and hurried towards training-ground seven.

Once Sakura reached training-ground seven and the bridge where they were supposed to meet, she was surprised to find that she was the only one there. Sure she was a few minutes early but not by much, so she settled down on the bridge railing to wait, making sure not to wrinkle her dress. Satisfied she brought her hand to her hair making sure it still fell in smooth waves down her back without any of it bending the wrong way. After a few minutes Sasuke-kun arrived and Sakura who, had to gather her courage first, was just about to approach her teammate when the idiot in orange arrived; shouting.

"Oi! Sakura-Chan! Sasuke-teme! You better not begin without me!" Spinning around Sakura smacked Naruto's head as he came to a stop beside the Uchiha and her.

"Baka!" She shouted while the dark haired boy looked on and made a disinterested sound.

"Hn." The boy looked around the training-ground trying, and failing, to find their sensei.

"Oi! Sasuke-teme, shouldn't Kakashi-sensei be here by now?" Once more the blond boy got smacked.

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that! But it's true," Sakura looked around the training ground. "Kakashi-sensei told us to be here by six and it's twenty past by now." The preteens waited for another ten minutes, Naruto fidgeting and Sasuke looking around the training-ground. Sakura seeing what her crush was doing tried to do the same but didn't see anything unusual apart from a dog. A brown pug if she was correct she really hadn't seen that many around Konoha, sure they were a rather popular civilian family dog but no one usually let them run around free. Half an hour passed and Sakura was getting bored out of her mind and had taken to studying Sasuke-kun's profile when suddenly she remembered something.

"Hey. Weren't we supposed to report in to someone named Pakkan or something?" Seeing the odd locks she suddenly was getting from her teammates Sakura rushed to explain. "Well that's what Kakashi-sensei said yesterday wasn't it." She closed her eyes to concentrate. "That ends the training for today, you all have passed my test and tomorrow we will begin our training as the new team 7. You will be reporting in at the bridge at six o'clock to Pakk… Pakkun? …Pakkan, dismissed." Stumbling slightly over the name Sakura repeated the instructions they had gotten the day before, then she opened her eyes and turning hopefully to the Uchiha who had half-turned away already.

"Hn." The Uchiha agreed with a small nod.

"Let's find this guy then! Yeah! Hey do you think he will teach us some awesome technique?! Huh?! Huh?!"

"Shut up Naruto!" Face? Meet ground. That introduction done Sakura turned back to Sasuke.

"Ano, Sasuke-kun, do you see anyone?" Only a glance answered her. "Um… do you think we should go looking for the guy? He really should be here by now."

"Finally." A gruff voice hindered the Uchiha from replying. The three looked around, not one of them seeing anyone around.

"Huh?" Sakura and Naruto sounded at the same time.

"…"

"Down here." The three looked down as one only to see the small pug Sakura noticed before looking at them from a few meters distance. "Yo." It raised a paw in greeting.

"AHHH! It's possessed!" Naruto screamed. Sakura took an involuntary step back before raising her hands in a seal.

"Kai." She intoned with a small burst of chakra and then looked back at the pug again. Basic Genjutsu dismissal, it should have done the trick.

"Oi, pups, are you done?" Nope. The dog was still talking. Sakura felt her eyes widening, but she couldn't help it. The pug was TALKING! Sasuke stayed calm, but the boy had noted something the both other members of his team had missed. The dog had a Hitai-ate bound, rather obviously displayed, on its forehead. The dog shook its head before standing and turning away. "Cone on then, let's get started." The Genin followed the dog; Sasuke just behind it, Sakura a few paces after Sasuke and Naruto beside Sakura. The blond boy was still clearly scared and expected the dog to attack them, but followed the team anyway.

Following the dog they ended up at another training-ground, this one cowered in trees and there was a small trail leading to a house. The house, bunker, whatever you wanted to call it was large. Oddly enough there were windows on the second floor, yet the only entrance on the bottom floor was the door.

"Well then, what are you waiting for pups? In you go." Sakura looked uneasily on the house hesitating, Sasuke however didn't need any more prompting and briskly walked forward and opened the door. When nothing happened he stepped inside only to get drenched in water falling from above.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura found herself shouting as she rushed forward, doing so she felt something brushing her ankle and snapping. Then gallons of cold water cascaded down her body drenching her as well.

"Sakura-chan!" And cue the third teammate entering and getting wet as well. Shivering Sakura looked up, seeing the three buckets suspended in the celling. Connected to them there was some kind of wire.

"Really pups? The same thing got all three of you?" She glared at the dog. True it was stupid of Naruto to go barging in after both her and Sasuke-kun had gotten drenched, but she nor Sasuke-kun was hardly at fault!

"Come on, let's continue." Shivering she followed her scowling crush 'Crush?! No way. Sasuke-kun was the love of her Life!' down the corridor as he followed the pug. Behind her Naruto was blessedly quiet for once. The dog stopped before the last door on the right. Nodding to the door the dog began.

"In this room there is a key. Your objective is to fetch it using any and all skills you have. It doesn't matter how, where or from who you learned there skills, the only thing that matters is whether it is useful or not. The only rule is that you go in all at once and all of you come out at the same time." Then the dog proceeded to push the door open and walk in. Sasuke was the first one in this time to, but he was much more cautious this time. Finding no tripwires or anything fastened in the roof the boy walked forward. Only for one of the tiles in the floor to give away from his weight letting lose a few kunai from his right aimed at him.

"Sasuke-kun! Look out!" Her warning was unnecessary however for the boy was already dodging to his left, out of the way of the kunai. Touching down a smirk formed on his face, then another tile shifted under him a few shuriken making him dodge back to the door-opening.

"HA! Take that Teme! Can't even walk into a room without getting targeted." Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch as she turned on her heel towards the blond boy.

"Baka-Naruto!" Smack. "As if you could do better!"

"Sure I can, believe it, just watch the future Hokage, will ya'!" Naruto then proceeded to walk along the wall, using only the tiles closest to the wall and holding a hand on the bricks in the wall for balance, getting further than the Uchiha did. Sakura held her breath. 'No way Baka-Naruto can get further than Sasuke-Kun!' 'Yeah right, there's just no way that could happen. Who does he think he is?!' Then as Naruto took another step and shifted his grip to another brick.

Click.

'Click?' All three of them focused in on the brick Naruto had unintentionally shifted, then on the other side of the room, in the wall, another brick fell lose and a water-canon flushed Naruto backwards.

"Hn. Dobe."

"Shut up Teme! It's not like you did any better yourself." Hmm-fing the two boys turned away from each other and began investigating the room. Sakura, in an effort to help her crush, began looking around the room as well. The boys begun trying to reach the other side of the room, but neither got any further than their first attempts. Adjusting her headband(?) Sakura walked along the wall while keeping an eye on the boys and which tiles hid a trap.

Approaching one of the corners Sakura saw a brick in the wall that was lose, curious she, careful of any traps, removed it from its place 'Can't let my clothes get dirty, how could I look good to Sasuke-kun if I got dirty.' 'You couldn't, so you better not mess up, you hear me?!' There was nothing behind the brick, but Sakura found herself looking down and inspecting it. Really, shouldn't it be heavier than this? Sakura surprised by a crash behind her turned and felt the brick slip from her hand. The crash must have been from Naruto colliding with the wall she realized.

'Geez, that scared me.' She thought before looking down at where she had dropped the brick. Horrified she looked at the mess it had made of her dress. Somehow the brick had contained liquid and when she had dropped it the stone-shell had cracked resulting in the liquid getting out and staining her dress.

"Baka-Naruto!" The boys looked over at her, Sasuke-kun with a 'dreamy!' cool gaze and Naruto hesitant. "Look at what you did!" She gestured threatingly down at her now ruined dress while marching to the doomed boy.

"S-Sakura-chan! I'm sorry!"

Smack.

"Ow." The blond rubbed his head as the pinkette sniffed daintily and brushed of her hands. Looking around when she didn't see the Uchiha Sakura found him investigating the brick she had dropped.

"What are you doing, Sasuke-kun?" She didn't know what to think about the boy investigating the trap. On one hand it was really sweet of him to make sure it wouldn't harm her or some such, but on the other hand it was really icky and someone like Sasuke-kun shouldn't have to get even close to something like it. 'Obviously he's doing it for us. Ino-pig is going to be sooo~ jealous.' Inner Sakura pointed out.

"Oi! What is that, bastard?" Naruto shouted and Sakura turned raising a fist to hit the boy again.

"Don't speak to Sasuke-kun like that!" Turning back to her crush Sakura had her interest piqued as the black-haired boy held something, even as she ignored the blonds whining in the background. "But what is that Sasuke-kun?" The boy held up something flat made out of clay. It looked almost like a triangle, but one of the sides was rounded as if it had originally been part of a circle. Sakura frowned. Obviously it was important somehow, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out how.

"A map? Why do you have a map?" The two of them turned to look at Naruto whose gaze was locked on the clay-piece.

"Are you stupid Naruto? That sure isn't a map, it doesn't even resemble one!" But the blond didn't spare her more than a look for once and Sakura found herself taken aback at the out-of-character behavior. The blond took it as the Uchiha handed it over,

"In the… where I grew up we use maps like these." Naruto turned it over and let his fingers wander over the lumpy surface. "Look. The elevated places represent safe places and the cavities represent traps, but this isn't the whole map, just a part of it…" Sakura didn't know what to say, how often did Naruto know thing she didn't after all? It rankled.¨

"You're making this up aren't you?" The boys looked her way as she scowled at Naruto. "It's just a piece of rock, how could anyone use it as a map?" She turned to Sasuke certain he would back her up only to find him looking between her and Naruto before turning to the wall.

"See if there are more." Was all he said as he begun scanning the walls for lose bricks.

Half an hour or so later the three of them had found five pieces of the supposed "map" there was still one missing but none of them felt like looking for it. The time searching had been filled with pitfalls, ice-water and mud-baths making all three of them look more like half drowned alley-cats than the Genin they were. Sakura was despairing over getting her hair clean again, and she'd be forced to burn her dress. Turning to Naruto she glared.

"So show us how this "map" works and let's get out of here." To her right Sasuke nodded in agreement and Naruto began showing them the places on the map that were safe.

"So each of the small squares represent a tile, and each tile is either a trap or safe. Problem is there are way more trap-tiles than safe ones. Also we are missing one sixth of the tiles." She shook her head. "This isn't going to work."

"But it will! I mean, the tiles missing in the map are mostly at this part of the room, right? And we tried a lot of the tiles in the beginning." Naruto looked up exited. "So we'll just have to remember which tiles we could step on and which ones we couldn't!"

"Hn. I'll do it." The black-haired boy got to his feet and prepared to get to the other side of the room.

"Teme! Why should you be the one to go?!"

"Because Sasuke-kun is the fastest out of all of us." Sakura decided she didn't want to waste energy to hit Naruto, he'd care for all of five seconds and then he'd be just as annoying as before, meaning it just wasn't worth the effort. "Can we just get on with it? I for one want to go home and shower." The blond grumbled but finally agreed, Sasuke going across the room to fetch the key. Thankfully he didn't need more than one attempt.

"Do you have it?" Sakura wanted a shower damn it! Silently The boy held up a paper and Sakura took it.

Good Job!

Now I just want you to remember one thing, my cute little Genin:

Never cross the bridge for water!

P.S. the key is on the doorframe.

It was signed by a henohenomoheji and Sakura felt her brow twitch even as Naruto quietly looked above the doorframe and returned with a medium-sized silver key.

'Bastard.' Was the thought that ran through the mind of all three of them.

An: Right. It felt like this was a good place to stop, now the training will probably continue next chapter as it was getting to long for me to want to put it all in one. Still, thoughts on Sakura-pow anyone? I find her hard to write what with keeping her in character and all. Criticism would be much appreciated. What do you think of inner-Sakura, and should I add more of her(?).

Is there anything specific you want to go into the D-ranks? The wave mission will be included in the chapters, but I'll change it from canon (obviously).

If you have questions, ideas or just want to tell me something do leave a review – they make me update faster.

See ye! (Vi ses!)

DominaNocte

12-03-15