"Sakura!" Naruto clearly looked relieved as he opened the door for them, Sasuke sitting at the table with a half-eaten bowl of instant ramen in front of him, Naruto's chair indicated by the impressive stack of empty ramen cups. "Do you want any ramen? Tea?"
"Both, please," Sakura replied immediately, apparently deciding that the idea of real food (Kakashi scoffed mentally, ramen was decent enough, but much less nutritious than what they'd been eating in the forest) was worth being polite for.
"Sensei?" Naruto asked, Kakashi shutting the door behind them and adding a security jutsu almost absent-mindedly. "Tea, please, Naruto-kun," he replied, taking a seat across from Sasuke, who refused to meet his eyes and instead glared at his ramen cup.
Kakashi let the silence rest, until Naruto came back with their ramen and tea, taking his own seat with yet another cup of ramen. It wasn't until Sakura had started eating that Kakashi finally spoke, saying flatly, "Explain."
Sasuke's shoulders tensed – he would say hunched, but the Uchiha remembered enough of his clans stoicism to refrain from being that clearly defensive – and he replied stiffly, "I was trying to improve our teamwork and get us out of the forest faster."
Fuck. That made sense, Kakashi realized, face and body-language giving nothing of his surprise away. Mentally reviewing what he had observed personally and witnessed through his clones, that fit rather well with the assessment he had of Sasuke at this stage. He was still confident enough in his position as top-dog within the genin hierarchy of their team to not feel threatened to the point of affirming his authority with a stupid stunt, it was one of the reasons Kakashi had been so angry at Sasuke's decision. He hadn't expected anything like this until one of the others showed significant progress and risked challenging Sasuke's position.
"How the fuck was that going to improve our teamwork?!" Naruto demanded, Sakura scolding him for language (she was ignored).
"Kakashi-sensei did the same thing!" Sasuke snapped back, "Setting us against a superior opponent and forcing us to rely on one another to defeat them! It was the only time we actually worked together, even this whole time in the Forest we only worked together when he forced us to with threats! I thought if we proved we could work together to take down an opponent we would prove we'd learned our lesson and get out of the forest faster!"
He clearly hesitated before continuing reluctantly, "I also assumed that Kakashi-sensei had actually sent the foreign-nin into our sphere of influence as a test and I didn't want to fail."
…Fuck. He actually would do something like that too, if not with an actual escaped prisoner, Kakashi reluctantly admitted, almost ruefully amused, since the consequences of this misunderstanding had been so relatively mild. He had a hell of a lot to learn about being a sensei it seemed, because while they had managed to work together (and in such a way he could easily list the prisoner death as a genin-team effort and provide some proof positive that he wasn't obeying the council) this level of miscommunication was not something that could continue.
"And you couldn't have said something?" Sakura demanded, Naruto agreeing and adding, "Kakashi-sensei was observing the whole time, probably. If you'd said something he could have stopped us and said it wasn't some weird stupid test!"
Before the argument could erupt and make this situation worse, Kakashi interrupted and said calmly, "It appears, then, that I owe you all an apology."
All three genin silenced at that and turned to look at him, Naruto at least going gratifyingly bug-eyed at his now empty tea-cup.
"Naruto," he started, looking over at him, "First, I wanted to acknowledge that you had the right idea, taking your teammates and going to ground and waiting for orders. It is not a move I expected you to make at this point in time, so it is a very good sign. Well done."
Naruto blinked at him for a few moments before giving a small, brilliant smile at the acknowledgement that Kakashi took heart in even while cursing the laws that kept his tongue tied with his sensei's son. Turning next to Sasuke, he continued, "To you, Sasuke, I must first apologize for not hearing you out immediately after the incident was concluded. I can only offer that I was stressed, angry, and worried for your and your teammates' safety and health."
The Uchiha heir paused briefly before acknowledging the apology with a short nod. Kakashi made a mental note to keep an eye on him because this would be a potential source of bitterness (damn and blast the Sandaime was going to be pissed).
Finally he turned to Sakura and said, "For you Sakura, I can only offer a blanket apology that my clones did not interfere immediately when you all took off for the shinobi. It was deemed unlikely all three of you would stop without the clone dispelling, leaving you with no back-up whatsoever until I got there with no means of easily finding you."
He made a mental note to give them tracking seals, he should have thought of that sooner.
Turning so he could capture all three of them in his limited field of vision, he said, "Now, so that this will not happen again. I will never unexpectedly set you against a foreign ninja within Konoha. If you are encountered by a foreign-nin with hostile intent in Konoha itself, immediately assume they are truly hostile and determine the appropriate course of action from there, the end goal at this stage in your training being your own survival."
There, that should clear the air somewhat. Now for the next piece, which was difficult for him to admit to them but they needed to hear.
"Also, you three need to realize that I did not pass any genin team before you, not only because they were not acting as a team, but because I did not want to be a sensei," he said bluntly, "I did not, and do not, think that I would be the best sensei. I am considered something of a genius myself, I am not particularly good at explaining things which I find nearly instinctive. I was assigned students repeatedly in the hopes that I would pass on my talents and abilities, which I would not mind doing, but not to genin. Few of my techniques and tactics are appropriate for genin-level shinobi and none are appropriate for students straight out of the Academy. Of the teams which I failed, three have passed other sensei's exam and are doing rather well."
He wanted to grit his teeth around this last secret, this last fact, but knew that if it came to light in some other way, the potential bitterness in Sasuke would explode forward and he'd never get the boy back.
The genin, at least, did not interrupt and waited the few moments it took him to come to terms with so blatantly stating his shortcomings as a sensei.
"The last person I taught in any formal manner was Uchiha Itachi," he finally said, watching Sasuke carefully as he said this and unsurprised when the boy went completely rigid, staring at him with wide, almost hurt eyes, "It has… somewhat ruined me, for teaching anyone, after what he did with my teachings."
"Err…" Naruto said into the silence that had fallen, "Not to be – uh – stupid, or anything, but… who's Uchiha Itachi? Besides a relative of Sasuke, I mean. That's kind of obvious."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Sasuke, indicating that it was up to him to answer. He didn't think the boy would react well to Kakashi handing out secrets he'd held close to his chest, and he needed to get the Uchiha to at least somewhat trust him again after he'd apparently completely botched this entire affair.
Maybe he could get a clone to report to the Sandaime?
"…He is my brother," Sasuke admitted reluctantly, "And he killed my family."
"What an asshole. He the guy you want to kill?" Naruto said immediately, Sasuke nodding shortly, entire body tense.
"Well we'll help if we can," Naruto promised, turning to Sakura and asking, "Right Sakura-chan?"
"Right," Sakura said, voice surprisingly firm as she spoke directly to her crush, before turning to look up at Kakashi and saying, "And we'll tell you if we don't get something, sensei. And we can help explain things to each other – I helped these guys with the tree-climbing exercise, and Sasuke was really good at explaining taijutsu to Naruto, and Naruto taught us traps. We can teach each other too. And you're not a bad sensei, you taught me that genjutsu really fast!"
"Genjutsu?" both boys perked up, eyeing Sakura curiously, "What genjutsu?" Naruto asked.
Sakura hesitated before nodding determinedly and dropping the jutsu, both boys blanching at the blatant scar crossing her face. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried, truly distressed, but apparently unable to think of anything to say.
"…Sorry," Sasuke mumbled, Kakashi counting that as a definite win. Even if Sasuke hadn't been the moron he'd thought initially, he at least acknowledged that his plan had consequences and not the type he'd wanted, and was willing to accept responsibility for them.
"It's okay, Sasuke-kun, Naruto," Sakura raised her chin, continuing, "The genjutsu's just until we get a mission out of the village. I didn't want my parents to know I'd gotten permanently scarred while in training."
"Right," Kakashi finally said, dragging the conversation back on track, "So. I will report this encounter as a successful team-mission for Team 7. That should give us some breathing room with the council, but the threat is by no means over. You will report to training ground 7 tomorrow at six. When I arrive later, I expect you to have warmed up, worked on what you learned in the forest, and worked out at least one team attack strategy for the Iwa shinobi."
He waited for them to nod before continuing, "Then, we will do team training until lunch. During lunch, expect a theory lecture of some sort. You will be expected to intelligently discuss the topic after we conclude the afternoon's D-rank missions, which are little more than glorified chores. In the ones which allow for conversation, you can discuss and debate those topics depending on appropriateness in preparation for the concluding discussion. Any questions?"
They all exchanged looks, before Sasuke spoke up, "Not right now sensei. Can we ask tomorrow?"
"You can always ask me questions, on anything. However, you will need to accept that some answers will be along the lines of 'classified', and even 'I don't want to tell you'. Understood?"
"Yes sensei," they chorused. Kakashi was satisfied. With any luck, this policy of frank discussion of reality would keep the team grounded and united, and prevent misunderstandings of the sort that had started this whole mess.
"Good. Sakura, Sasuke, I or my clone will escort you home," he informed them, nodding to Naruto, "Naruto, have a good night, and I will see you tomorrow morning."
"See you then, sensei, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme," Naruto replied, light tone on the insult echoed in Sasuke's smirking nod and returned, "Dobe."
Kakashi was tempted to roll his eye, but refrained and simply created a shadow clone, that clone accompanying Sakura, recently applied genjutsu and all, to her parent's home, while he decided to escort Sasuke personally. He needed to give the boy a chance to respond to what had happened without his teammates as witnesses and even though shadow clones really were perfect reflections, people still had a tendency to prefer to talk to the 'real' person.
They had made it back to the Uchiha compound itself when Sasuke finally spoke, "Sensei, did you really train Itachi?"
"He was my subordinate in ANBU," Kakashi replied, knowing that Sasuke had known of Itachi's position within the elite unit and that his own presence in the group was something of an open secret within the shinobi forces of Konoha. "He was then promoted at my recommendation and my colleague. We frequently worked together."
He decided to keep firmly behind his teeth any and all of his suspicions and doubts regarding the massacre. He had been on a long-term undercover mission for a few months leading up to and after the massacre, so he couldn't say if something had changed and caused the relatively balanced and endlessly loyal Itachi to snap, but something in his gut told him that there was more to it. But not enough to bring anything up to the understandably traumatized and deeply involved Sasuke.
"Do you think I will ever be able to kill him?" Sasuke finally asked, very obviously having to force himself to admit to any doubts as to his ability to accomplish his goal.
Kakashi crouched down next to him, the pair of them now standing in front of the house Sasuke used as his primary residence in the depressing place, before saying firmly, "Yes. It will take time. Time and a lot of work. Itachi is brilliant and he will not have stopped strengthening himself in the years before you meet again. You will have to catch up to him at a truly ridiculous rate if you want to beat him alone. But if you accept the help that Naruto and Sakura offered you, if you accept the help I offer you, as someone who failed to see the signs and was also betrayed by him, then the time can be cut down and the odds in your favor be improved."
Sasuke's jaw tightened and he looked away, Kakashi resting a hand on the boy's shoulder and saying, "Think about it."
He rose to his full height and started to walk away before remembering something he had forgotten to apologize for, and truly regretted now, "Sasuke," he said, turning and catching the boy just before he opened his door, the genin clearly shocked at the deep bow Kakashi offered him, "I apologize for throwing that man's words in your face. I misread the situation and hurt you for it."
"…Thank you, sensei," Sasuke whispered, returning the bow shortly and finally retreating to his home. Kakashi straightened and briefly debated leaving a clone or summon behind to monitor the situation, before deciding that it would violate his student's privacy too much this early in the game, and leaving to his own home to finish outlining a training plan for the next few days.
And to develop an injury-minimizing strategy for explaining his failure to the Sandaime.
A/N: This twist goes to gwenhyfar - she pointed out some common problems with Sasuke characterization that I had indulged in previously and let me bounce ideas off her until this popped out :)