Naruto: Legacy of the Rasengan

By: Tellemicus Sundance

Chapter 7—Kakashi-sensei

The first impressions went as smoothly as scraping sandpaper across butter. But thanks to each of the kids' reactions to one another, he got a clear estimate on what they thought of one another.


"He's late," Naruto whined as the second hour passed. He had his head stuck out through the door, continuously glancing down the hallway impatiently. Sasuke and Sakura, though their pride would never although them to admit it, both were silently complaining and agreeing with the blonde.

"Naruto, just sit down," Sakura said, quite bored.

"I don't want to," he said, turning back inside the room.

Sasuke ignored the blonde's ranting and wandered yet again how it could've happened. He was best student in class and Naruto was the worst. The outcome should've been obvious. But where the dobe couldn't even do a simple bunshin only two days ago, he now knew how to do the kinjutsu Kage Bunshin. It just didn't make sense to him. How could the dobe not be able to perform the Bunshin at all, yet pull several kage bunshins out of his ass without dropping from chakra depletion?

His silent musings were cut short as Naruto grabbed an eraser and chair toward the doorway. Wedging the eraser between the door frame and the door, the blonde's chuckles sounded a tab bit like an evil crackle.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Sakura demanded, moving closer for a better view.

"That's what he gets for coming late," Naruto announced proudly. Hopping off the chair, he let out a triumphant yell of "Surprise!" and quickly placed the chair back in its original spot.

"You're asking for trouble," Sakura said, very much like a goody-goody. "You know you shouldn't do that."

That's what she said to Naruto, but inside it was a totally different story. Her inner and aggressive side was cringing with anticipation. "I LOVE STUFF LIKE THIS!"

Though he really didn't care, Sasuke felt he should state the obvious to his oblivious teammate. "Our sensei is a jounin, an elite shinobi. Do you really think that he'll fall for that?"

"Yeah," Sakura said, agreeing with her crush instantly. "You're so clueless, Naruto."

At that moment, the door slid open…and the eraser landed solidly on the clump of silver hair. There was a second of total silence as the four of them realized what had happened. Then, all hell broke loose.

The next instant Naruto's loud laughter erupted with a victory cheer. "I got him! He totally fell for it! Hehehehehehe!"

"Gomen, sensei!" Sakura said trying to appear innocent and thoroughly embarrassed for him. "I told him not to do it, but he wouldn't listen. I'd never do something like that!"

"PERFECT SHOT!" Inner Sakura cheered, giving Naruto two thumbs-up.

Even Sasuke was found himself questioning the man's ability.

Picking up the eraser, the man stared at it for moment before entering a thinking pose. Then, more to himself than the genin team, he said, "My first impression of this group…you're a bunch of idiots."


The pink-haired girl was obviously openly smitten with the last Uchiha. She clearly held him in the highest regard, and would probably support him whether he was right or wrong on any issue. Yet, at the same time, she seemed to have inherited the village's disgust of her blonde teammate. Though it seemed that her disgust was directed more toward him being a clueless idiot than what the village hated him for.

The Uchiha was aloof and quiet. He didn't seem to care what happened around him or his new teammates, or what anyone thought of him. His focus, as Kakashi had guessed long ago, was entirely on killing his older brother. Of course, he did seem to be unusually aggressive to the blonde, like he was taking their unofficial rivalry seriously despite him having the clear advantage. Almost like a sibling rivalry.

The blonde seemed unusually easy to decipher at a first glance. He wore a happy-go-lucky grin at all times, had a crush on Sakura, and seemed to take his rivalry with Sasuke just as 'seriously.' Yet, as he introduced himself, Kakashi felt something was out of place; this perspective was largely thanks to years of seeing 'underneath the underneath.'

Sure, what the blonde was saying was no doubt true, but it seemed like he was either withholding information or playing a role like an actor. This second assumption of his only increased when Sakura declared her disgust of him; it had taken him nearly a second to react, like he was taking in the information, processing it, then remembering how he needed to act or react.

Deciding to put off openly asking the blonde right then and there, after all the answers would come eventually right, Kakashi had explained to them the 'survival exercise' they'd be having. No matter how many genin teams he'd explained this part to; he'd never get over the hilarity of their reactions.

It was now nine in the morning. Kakashi was hidden in the tree cover near the training field his genin team was to report to. He'd been there from the start, watching them as they arrived. Okay, maybe he wasn't watching them exactly but reading his newest volume of Icha Icha Paradise.

Besides, it certainly was fun to be terminally late all the time, like Obito always was. After years of copying his dead teammate, Kakashi could finally proclaim with heartfelt honesty that it was very fun to be late and make horrible excuses. Especially the way it always, without fail, irritated everyone around him.

Glancing at the sun and deciding that he was sufficiently late, he replaced the book back into his pouch. With a poof of smoke, he appeared on the field near his waiting team.

"Yo," he called, with a raised hand.

"YOU'RE LATE!" two angry genin yelled at him while the third glared.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path," Kakashi said, not bothering trying to hide his smile. Oh, he loved this part. "So I had to take the long way."

All the kids just glared at him, instantly seeing through the lie. Naruto and Sakura growled dangerously at him, just itching to beat him into pulp. Oh, he loved his job!


Shinobi must be able to conceal their movements and hide effectively. That was one of the most ingrained teachings of the academy into their students. That class was covered more thoroughly than the class of learning to throw kunai or shuriken. After a week long training session, the academy students were given the task of sneaking from one side of Konoha to the other without being caught by the shinobi planted in among the ranks of the civilians. Many students were eventually caught because they grew careless or reckless.

But not Sakura or Sasuke. They now demonstrated how well they'd been taught as they followed Kakashi as he moved to a new clearing by a river. While he could easily detect their chakra levels, he couldn't see them at all. They had indeed been very well trained.

Too bad Naruto didn't seem to be in the mind frame of hiding. He appeared in front of Kakashi in a blur and stood proudly on the other end of the field. He had his arms crossed over his chest in what he obviously thought of as his 'cool' pose.

"You and me, right now, fair and square!" the blonde yelled out. "Let's go!"

Kakashi threw him an exasperated look. His opinion on the blonde's behavior was summed up perfectly by Sasuke's muttered comment. "Fool."

"You know?" Kakashi said. "Compared to the others, you're a little weird."

Huffing arrogantly, Naruto snapped, "Oh yeah? The only thing weird here is your haircut."

With that being said, he rushed at the man. Lazily reaching into his bag, Kakashi sighed. This was going to be boring, he was sure. So he might as well do something worthwhile with his time.

Seeing his sensei reaching into his pouch had the blonde stop dead in his tracks, giving the man a suspicious gaze. This look intensified as it became clear he had grabbed something.

"Shinobi Battle Tactics: Part One," Kakashi said, sounding like a textbook. "Taijutsu, the physical part."

Taijutsu...? Then why's he reaching for a weapon? Naruto wondered as he prepared to snatch a kunai to defend him. But he wasn't prepared for what his sensei finally pulled out…a book?

"What the?" was Naruto's ever-so intelligent remark.

"What are you waiting for?" Kakashi said as he started reading, ignoring the blonde. "Make a move."

Stuttering slightly as he tried to sum up his thoughts, Naruto found he recognized that book that Kakashi was reading. It was Icha Icha Paradise, a perverted adult book. The fact that his sensei was openly reading it in front of them confounded him slightly. Finally he managed to get out, "Why are you reading that book?"

"Why?" the silver haired man repeated. "To find out what happens in the story, of course…Don't let it bother you. With your weak attacks, it really wouldn't matter if I were reading or…whatever."

That struck a nerve.

Kakashi-sensei didn't respect him huh? Well he'd just have to make him respect him; especially when he was going to become Hokage in a few years! The anger at being immediately being labeled as 'weak' before his sensei even took a single punch from him really pissed him off. Far more than Sasuke could've hoped to, that was for sure.

"I'M GONNA CRUSH YOU!" he screamed as he charged forward and leapt. Despite throwing a punch with all his might, he was stopped cold by Kakashi's hand. What really ticked him off was the fact that he didn't even look up from his book!

Landing lightly, he was quick to jump up and throw a powerful kick at his sensei's waist. The jounin merely crouched down swiftly and the kicked sailed over his head, barely touching his hair. And he still didn't look up!

Backing up, Naruto crouch down for a second and formed the tori handseal. Nothing appeared to have happened until he rushed forward again, this time his image was hazy. Out of the corner of his eye all Kakashi saw was an orange haze quickly approaching him.

From their hiding places, Sakura and Sasuke stared in surprise at this. What was it that the baka had just done? They'd been far from impressed when the fight initially started, now they were quite interested. Sakura, from her vantage point, had been the only one to see the handseal that Naruto formed so she knew why his body was hazy. But how could he do that? She didn't know of any jutsus that could do that!

"Now you're mine!" Naruto yelled as his fist closed in on Kakashi. But that was a mistake.

Using his voice as a means of figuring his exact location, Kakashi darted around behind him. He got a small grin on his face as he formed the tora seal. He had to suppress a chuckle as Naruto stopped dead and stared at the spot where he used to be.

"Don't let your enemy get behind you all the time," Kakashi said quietly.

Recognizing the danger of the tora seal, Sakura threw stealth to the winds as she yelled out, "Naruto! Get out of there! Quick! He's going to destroy you!"

Looking over the direction that he'd heard her voice, he heard another voice directly behind him, "Too late."

All the blonde could do was glance back in time to see Kakashi bringing the tora seal up and thrusting it up his butt. "Konohagakure Furui Taijutsu no Ougi: Sennen Goroshi!"

With a burst of chakra and Naruto's own natural reflex, the blonde was sent flying through the air with an undignified scream of pain and embarrassment. This 'jutsu' had Sakura and Sasuke staring at Kakashi with disgust as they realized the 'handseal' wasn't even a handseal. The man merely returned to reading his book.

Then a pair of shuriken erupted from the water and raced at Kakashi. As the man made to catch the weapons, they suddenly exploded and were replaced by a pair of kage bunshins.

Glancing up in surprise, Kakashi was rewarded with a fist in the face and another in the gut. But before the bunshins could do more damage, he swept his leg up and around and crushed them. Walking over to the river as a blonde head surfaced, he absently rubbed his aching jaw. That had actually hurt!

Sputtering as he climbed onto shore, Naruto glared up his sensei. But that glare died as he saw him rubbing his jaw. Standing up weakly, he grinned viciously. "That was for nailing me the butt!"

"You're looking awfully confident for someone can barely stand," Kakashi observed. "I suppose using Kage Bunshin drains your reserves much quicker than I thought."

"What do you expect when I'm starving to death, baka-sensei!" he yelled. "But that's not going to stop me…because I'm going to be Hokage one day, believe it!"

Then six more orange blurs leapt out of the river and shouted at the same time, emphasizing the point, "I will become a shinobi!"

The fact that the blonde was using the same jutsu saddened Kakashi somewhat. He'd always been hearing of how the blonde was an ingenious prankster. But it didn't seem like that part of him carried over into his shinobi skills. Still, genin or not, he was forced to put his book back in his bag with a defeated sigh since he would likely need both hands.

"You can't beat me with this jutsu, Naruto," he said as the seven blondes charged him.

Then something happened that truly caught him by surprise. Something jumped onto him from behind! Glancing back he caught sight a clump of blonde hair. An eight clone? Then six others grabbed onto his legs as he was distracted by the Naruto on his back.

"Didn't you say 'don't let your enemy get behind you'?" the blondes' asked as he watched the final Naruto jump high into the air. "Good advice, sensei!"

"Get ready to see my best creations!" the Naruto in the air yelled as all of them formed the tora seal.

What was going on? Kakashi wondered. No way that they can use a fire jutsu, even a low level one, when they so close! But he watched in surprise as all the Narutos took a huge breath of air. Okay…maybe he will…

Just as he was ready to use the kawarimi jutsu, he saw the Naruto exhale…a cloud of smoke? The smoke wasn't toxic but he couldn't see anything. Not even when something hit him hard in the stomach. Utilizing his superior strength, Kakashi broke free of the bunshins and leapt high and far from the smokescreen.

"Gotcha!" three voices yelled from around him. The three Naruto's were converging on him and since he was suspended in the air, he couldn't necessarily react to dodge them. So he did the only thing he could do.

Kawarimi no Jutsu.

From his new vantage point in a tree, he watched as the three Naruto destroyed the clone he'd switched with. Dropping to the ground, the Naruto looked amongst one another and then silently the bunshin disappeared.

"KUSO!" Naruto yelled to the sky, trying to vent his frustration.

So the prankster has a temper problem? This thought brought a smirk to the jounin's face as a devious idea came to him. Using his incredible speed, he quickly set up a double layered snare trap using one of the bells as bait.

The gleam of the bell caught the blonde's attention easily. Kakashi's smirk grew as he watched the blonde jump to conclusions and run for the bell. But just as he was about to trip the first trap, the blonde hesitated for a second. Then he merely placed his foot three inches to left of where it would've landed and snatched up the bell.

This surprised Kakashi; the blonde had seen the double layered trap!

"Nice try, baka-sensei!" Naruto called out, looking directly at him despite him being hidden. "But you can't prank the Prank Master!"

Stepping out from behind the tree and the genjutsu, Kakashi looked quizzically at him. He had seriously underestimated this dobe, this boy. That didn't happen often to him. But just because of his own error, he couldn't simply pass the blonde. Not when that was not the point of the exercise.

"Very true, Naruto," Kakashi said. "I'll remember that next time."

"I'll keep this, Kakashi-sensei!" The blonde closed his eyes as his foxy grin grew very large. He held up the bell victoriously. But it was this instant that was all the former ANBU needed.

"Keep what?" the jounin asked, curiously.

"The bell," the blonde said as he looked at...where it used to be. "Huh? The bell!"

"What? You mean this bell?" Kakashi asked as he held up the item with same victorious gesture that Naruto had used.

The blonde stared up at it, quite surprised. But that surprise was slaughtered as anger boiled over. "That's not fair, sensei!" he screamed. "I got that bell fair and square! Now give it back!"

"No, Naruto," Kakashi said with a finality in his voice. "You have to take the bell from me. Not pick it up off the ground after a failed trap."

"FINE!" Naruto yelled as he rushed forward. "THEN I'LL TAKE IT FROM YOU AGAIN!"

With one punch, the blonde was sent flying across the field. He hit a tree and slumped to ground, apparently unconscious.

Well, that was certainly a unique experience, he thought as he replaced the bell with the other and made to pull out his book. However the sound of kunai whizzing through the air, attracted his attention. It could only be the Uchiha.

Sighing in annoyance, he did the kawarimi again. As he caught sight of where the weapons had come from, the jounin couldn't help but wonder. Do the rest of this genin team would have as unique and surprising abilities as Naruto?


Author's Note: Huh, I suppose a lot of you guys don't appreciate my using the series as a backbone do you? Even if you don't want to admit it, I'm sure that's how you feel. I promise that I am (and continue will) try to stay as original as possible while staying close to the series. However, in my defense, the story isn't really suppose to be all that different from the series until the Wave Country arc. Things are finally going to start changing from the series.

So, on another note, how did you like the fight scene? I've always wondered on how Kakashi would react if he'd underestimated Naruto in such a fashion this early into the series. What do you think? I hope that I've kept him in character but I really don't know what kind of character he really is. I mean, he's always struck me as an aloof fellow like Sasuke but far more 'warm' than that icecube. Any pointers you people have on his personality would be very much appreciated.