Hey, new chapter after xmas! It's a little present. I am working on my other stories "Other worlds, Starting Small, and the Waves of time." I'll try to update them all before the end of my winter break. Happy holidays to you all! I hope you all have a great time. Please if you don't mind, check out my story "starting small's. It's good. Check it please.

Chapters on all my stories may be shorter than anticipated, I'm sorry, but I am working on four stories and I have very little time on my hand. This is me taking half a week out of my winter break to crank these out when I should be relaxing after months of ap works so…. Yea…

As always read and review please. I do read all reviews.

xxx-Authors Note-xxx

They danced.

Their bodies swung and swayed, lithe forms that danced to an unheard rhythm. Every punch Naruto threw was anticipated, every kick was seen. They were blocked or dodged, and mistakes were punished, though not harshly. When he truly messed up, completely butchering a stance Kakashi would force them to stop, correct his stance, and then continue the onslaught.

Kakashi taught in a strange way, lecturing while also giving physical, practical, near instant examples. He liked it.

"No. Your stance is too wide. Bring your legs closer. If you stand like that…" Kakashi's leg swung out and swept him off his feet. He landed face first.

"Get back up. Were far from done."

Naruto nodded and stood up, a small smile on his face. He love this, he was learning. Actually learning, it wasn't boring, it wasn't slow. It was practical. He stood up, a wide toothed grin on his face.

"The flowing lotus is a style that I think fits you well Naruto-kun. It's based on quick sharp turns, and flowing, arching body movements."

Kakashi dashed forward, driving a jab into his chest throwing him back. "Your stance is now too rigid. Stand in a comfortable firm position, but not overly so. Keep your muscles relaxed. Too much tension and you won't be able to make the sharp turns to change your momentum."

"Like this?" He relaxed his stance, placed his arms in front of him, and relaxed his muscles.

"Yes. That's good. Now attack me, I want to see if you've gotten down those kata or not."

Naruto dashed forward, throwing his arm in an arch, then driving down his center of gravity in order to come up with a sharp quick kick to Kakashi's jaw. Kakashi caught it with ease, a slight frown on his face. Then his face light up, into a warm smile.

"That was good, you've gotten the sequence down, but it was slow, and you almost lost your balance when shifting your weight. Otherwise good job. Keep practicing Naruto-kun."

Naruto beamed. Over the past two weeks he had learned one thing, Kakashi was sparse with his compliments. He was knocked out of his thoughts when he was swept off his feet.

"Were not done sparing Naruto-kun. Please don't lose focus. A slip like that in a battle would have gotten you killed. Don't get lost in your thoughts, always keep your mind on the battle, even if it appears to be over. Many ninja use faints to trick their opponents into a false sense of security." He was smiling beneath his mask and Naruto had to fight down a scowl.

Kakashi seemed to take a somewhat sick joy in knocking the various members of team seven off the high horses they were on. Naruto stood up with a groan, wiped the sweat from his face and smiled. He took his stance again.

And once more, they danced.

This time his form was looser, his body more relaxed as he followed his sensei's quick shuffling movements. Kakashi was light on his feat, fast, and had no problems switching between a dozen or so of the fighting styles he knew.

"Pay attention to your opponent's entire body. Their eyes will trick you, their hands and feet can trick you. Focusing on one part of the body will trick you." Kakashi dashed forward, his body contorting and twisting into a on one leg to pivot forward with a kick. Naruto leaned back to dodge it, only to feel the harsh earth once more when an elbow drove into his sternum.

He coughed then, weakly stood back up.

"You were focusing on my legs too much. Again."

Naruto nodded took his stance once more and attacked.

He liked the way Kakashi thought things.

xxx-Sasuke-xxxx

Sasuke looked at Kakashi with a scowl marking his face. His onyx eyes staring with vehement hate at his teacher. Black hair swaying in the wind. He resisted the urge to look around and see if they saw. His teammates. He didn't know how he felt about them seeing him like this…weak…

Not that Kakashi didn't make them all feel weak. The man was just that powerful, no matter how much progress you made was always there to show you that in truth, you had gone nowhere. H

He spit out a glob of blood, then retook his stance.

"One does not simply throw ninjutsu out like they are toys Sasuke. You don't seem to understand that. Most ninja don't have massive chakra reserves, most ninja can't use A or S-ranked jutsu. For that reason most ninja battles rarely employ the ninjutsu. You have to find the appropriate time to use them. That's why we're doing this. When you use them at the wrong time i'll swat you awake like a fly."

He rushed forward once more sending out a left hook, Kakashi ducked under it, swung around and used his momentum to throw him to the ground. His hands flashed and he replaced himself with a log. He found himself in the woods, his hand flashing through a second set of hand sequences.

He felt his chest fill with air as he took a deep breath, he pooled chakra around his lips, and breathed out, sparking the chakra and sending it flying with his breath of air.

"Fire Style: Grand fire ball jutsu!"

A hand slapped into his face and he went soaring. A few seconds he crashed into the ground, his head cracking against the earth.

"Too predictable. I saw it coming a mile away Sasuke. What part of learn to use jutsu at the proper time and conserve your chakra don't you understand. A double replacement would have been fine. Hiding you deeper in the forest giving you time to set a trap. Clans tend to have larger than average reserves, but these rules still apply. Its what makes a good ninja. You think someone like the Sandaime just runs around tossing out A-rank jutsu like they're candy?" Sasuke leered up at his teacher through foggy vision. "He became the Hokage for mastering all fields of ninja. He can take down jounin ranked ninja with a handful of well-timed and planned c- and d- ranked jutsu. Someone like my old teacher the Yondaime was famous for the hiraishin, he rarely used it in combat, most of the time he used c and b-ranked jutsu to fight his opponents."

"People like the Yondaime, the Sandaime, the other-Kage, hell other A- and S-ranked ninja, even him, they don't use high ranked jutsu unless they're facing someone that absolutely warrants the use of those techniques. And even then they don't just throw them out so casually. Let's try this again huh?"

He stood up again, shook his head to clear his mind. He took his stance once more, and dove in to attack his teacher. This time he swung his foot low, Kakashi leaned back, and Sasuke smirked when his motion finished and he twisted into a high kick. Kakashi caught it and threw him back. He disappeared in a puff of smoke, and a rain of kunai started to hail from the forests. Kakashi dodged each one, leaning left and right, and just deflection those that got too close. His movements were quick, and he rolled from place to place with the grace of a cat, dancing around the blades in smooth fluid movements.

"Fire style: Dragon Fire technique." Flames danced down the wire lines, Kakashi lifted an eyebrow in anticipation, then, the place he stood exploded into a fireball.

Sasuke turned and leapt back when he felt a hand pressed against his back. "Good Sasuke that's what I'm talking about."

Sasuke smiled, a small smile.

"Why don't we go back and meet your teammates?" Kakashi cast a look at the sky. "Its lunch time." He smiled a wayward smile, then clapped a hand on Sasuke's back ushering him to get moving.

xxx-Sakura-xxx

For the past two weeks team seven had followed a monotonous schedule, and she, during this strict schedule had found out she was the least physically capable of her entire team. Her taijutsu was just barely passable, and Naruto had already caught up to her in the two weeks they had been here, and no doubt would soon exceed her in every way. Her chakra reserves were pitiful, her stamina was nonexistent, and she had very little muscle mass, lean or otherwise.

And through her reading she had learned it was all her fault. She didn't exercise enough, she didn't get enough food or at least good food, she didn't do enough training to build up natural lean, touch muscle. She didn't run so she had no cardiac or lymphatic endurance. She was…

"Sakura?!" She jumped in recognition when she realized Naruto was calling her.

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"Just thinking…" Her voice trailed off in a dejected sigh. She caught Kakashi raising an eyebrow in her direction before returning to his book.

"About what?"

"I'm the most useless person on the team."

"What? NO!" Naruto seemed…angry? At her. The look that appeared on his face was one of annoyance and displeasure. Sasuke seemed to cast her a look, though she wasn't sure if it was consolidation with the truth or disagreement, and Kakashi-sensei…put down his book?

"Don't sell yourself short my cute little genin. You're quite talented, it'll just take longer for you to bud then your teammates. For you to flourish you need extensive technical knowledge. That'll take a while for you to develop, but once you have it you'll be a force to be wary of on the battlefield." He eye smiled at her, grabbed another stick of dango, and then went back to his book.

"I just…i'm the weakest on the team. I'm the slowest, I can't run too long, the only thing I have on me is my brains."

"You're great Sakura-chan! You're the smartest person I know. And you're nice, plus you can kick ass when you want. "

"Thanks Naruto…" She smiled a small smile then went back to looking at her dango. She picked up the stick with hesitance and took a bite. She didn't feel like eating…but she did anyway, she'd need the energy for the evening training session.

"Sakura." She turned to Sasuke, a slight look of surprise on her face. "You're on this team, you've trained with us. I haven't heard you complain yet, and no matter what you've completed what's been assigned to you. If you didn't belong here you wouldn't be on this team."

"Sasuke's right Sakura. All of you have the chance to be great, no just great but some of the greatest. If I didn't think you would be I would have turned down this team. You belong here, and by the end of the month you'll see what I mean."

"I bet you'll be the scariest of us all!"

She smiled at Naruto. Then took a more enthusiastic bite of her dango.

xxx-Kakashi-xxx

While his cute little genin were at their various shrinks for the next few hours Kakashi indulged himself in the drink. Asuma was there again, like he had been for the past few weeks, once again mooching off of him.

"Asuma…remind me again why I pay for your drinks when you're one of the richest Jounin in the village?"

"Simple, because you're one of those rich Jounin too, except you have more money than me. It's that wealthy man's guilt getting to you." His words came out slightly slurred, and Kakashi had to suppress a groan.

"You should still be able to afford your own drinks you mooch. And why the hell are you getting drunk at noon? You know that's a sign of alcoholism right?"

"I drink because I want too, and can! And because if I didn't those kids…those fucking kids. I'd kill them…especially the blond one."

"Are yours really that bad?"

"Oh god, the lazy one doesn't want to do anything and he's smart enough to come up with valid reasons not to. The chubby one just goes along with it, and the blond one spends all her time berating the other two not doing the thing I told them too…while also not doing them herself. But shit, at least I don't live with mine like you do."

"They're not too bad. My blond ones loud too, though that's been toning down over the past few weeks with light reminders. The moody one seems to be getting better, and the pink one is slowly shaping up. I sat them down and told them if they weren't civil to one another I'd make all their lives hell. They get along well now."

"Ugh."

"I wish I could send mine to the shrinks…but you can't send a capture and interrogation team to the psyche ward.

Kakashi laughed. "Cant you?"

"Well I could, but there wouldn't be any benefit."

They both laughed. Then took another swig of the sake.

"So any progress on your brats?" Ausma raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah like I'm just going to blurt out my cute little genin's secrets to you."

"You could have. Was worth a shot."

"You can't even be arsed to try and pry information from my properly. You do realize how bad you're making us competent jounin look right?"

"You?" Asuma laughed. "Competent? I mean sure, in a mission you're fine…outside of a mission. I'd be surprised if your students don't pick up your laissez faire attitude. The fact that you read smut in public…"

"Hey, if people had a problem with it they'd tell me." Kakashi drawled out, a bored look suddenly on his face. Ausma had to stifle a laugh.

"They tell you all the time Kakashi!"

"What? Im sorry…I wasn't paying attention." He smirked underneath his mask as both of them broke out into a fit of laughter.

xxx-Team Seven-xxx

They trained.

For a month they trained. For a month they bonded. Kakashi lead them, he thought them, and in that month he became their leader, their commander, and they became a team. They learned to support one another. To be there for one another. They learned to be a team.

They bonded.

They ate together. They trained together. Sometimes they passed out and slept together. They came to get used to the presence of each other, and the lack of that presence unsettled them. For a month they were the only company they had, and by the end of that month they liked it that way. For a month team seven was just that…team seven. And when that was over, they would always be team seven. When Sakura would return home she'd find the lack of her teammates unsettling. Sasuke and Naruto would stay in the same home as Kakashi.

They were team seven.

The best of the best. Untouched potential that had started to be honed. They were destined to be elite no matter what happened. They would have always been a cut above the rest. But now…now…they had no top. They would climb higher and higher. As a team, and eventually as a family.

xxx-Authors note-xxx

That last part…ugh. It screams of rushed ending and it was. I just…couldn't find a way to end that chapter, and I didn't want to draw this out. The meat of the story isn't this part. It's the rest of it. And I just kind of wanted to get there. This chapter is stupid short too, 2560 words without my author's notes added in. This is also short because i'm working on three other stories at the same time. My stories "Other worlds, The Waves of times, and Starting small." I'm going to end up releasing short chapter for all of them sometime before my winter break is over, or at least that's my plan. This is done, and starting small is almost done.

Waves of time i'm about 1k words in and other worlds is about 500 words. I don't know, other worlds is a bitch to write. I need to be in a certain mood to keep that writing style constant and its draining on me. Of all my stories starting small and elite are easier to write. Just because I'm using a different writing style(not as grand or detailed, focusing more on dialog and character interaction then on landscapes and grand schemes). Other worlds is...grand, its focus is world building more than character development and that's something I think people like.

And I may have to change the writing style on that for the next few chapters. "Waves of time" is like a middle ground between "Other Worlds" and "Elite/Starting small" that's easier to write than other worlds too. But that's not to say. Plus I see lots of little plot holes in other words I'm trying to figure on how to fix. I might have to rewrite some chapters in order to make things flow better, but I'm not too sure, maybe I could retcon this? I don't fucking know. I might just leave it as a learning experience.