"Very good control. It seems you got the technique down-packed." Kakashi said, looking at Sasuke perform the necessary seals and the lightning bolts cackle in his hands lethally. Sasuke's chakra control was a point it was easy to teach Sasuke this technique. And with the Sharingan's copy capabilities, Sasuke cut down the learning time by half.

It had been eight months with Kakashi and Sasuke training out in the wilderness, and Sasuke was making very good progress indeed. Sasuke hadn't fully developed his Sharingan power and yes, Sasuke still needed more lesson and such, but he was well above the normal genin level. Kakashi's guess was that his pupil was at least still between a low-ranked chunnin and a mid-level chunnin.

Kakashi watched in pleasure as Sasuke drove the lighting blade into a discarded dead tree. Sasuke took his hand out the bark, breathing a little hard, as his chakra was next to nothing now. He turned off his Sharingan and looked at Kakashi for a breather.

"Hmm, just as I expected: your limiter of the Chidori (One Thousand Birds) technique is three before being left with next to nothing chakra." Kakashi silently gave Sasuke a solider pill to replenish his chakra. Sasuke felt the pill forcing chakra into him, helping him recover lost chakra. "We'll have to work on that with increasing your chakra reserves." Kakashi then eye-smiled, "You know what you gotta do, right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke groaned – taijutsu/ninjutsu battle with Kakashi was not fun at all. It was always so damn one sided, even if he got a few bumps on Kakashi but what could be expected of Konohagakure's best?

Sasuke had wondered what was happening in the village as of now. Kakashi had said the Chunnin Exams were about to start up again, which got Sasuke into a bad hiss; damn, he wanted to be a chunnin!

Kakashi shook his head at the onyx-haired boy and said, "Training was much more important than moving up in ranks you couldn't get as of yet." Kakashi knew that was really more of a lie, as Sasuke could probably take on the whole damn force of these current genin now of days. However, Kakashi knew Sasuke didn't quite know the real reason why chunnin became chunnin. They were tactical leaders, leaders of other ninjas below, civilians – regular officers before they became lieutenants, and then in turn the lieutenants can become sergeants. Leadership was the reason chunnins became chunnins and Sasuke, despite calming down a little, was still in the flash of the techniques then the point of them.

Another reason why Kakashi told him he was not participating in the exams was this: Kakashi knew simply Sasuke needed a team. A real team. Team 7 was no more and no new teams were out there, ready for Sasuke to be on. The Uchiha was a real special case for those reasons. The death of Naruto was a troublesome matter. Kakashi truly didn't know how would Sasuke achieve the rank of Chunnin anyway without a team; he didn't truly think Hokage-sama was gonna pull a genin-aspirer out his team to put the Uchiha in place and even if he did, wouldn't their teamwork be out of balance. Never mind Sasuke knew how to work in teams – the rest of the team wouldn't know how to work someone they had no prior relation to. More adjusting that would take months, and the exams would have been long and done with. Sasuke would probably half to wait until he was personally, by the Hokage himself, rewarded with the rank.

Finally, Kakashi had reported back into the village every once in the end of the week, usually on Fridays, and had learned that Orochimaru have been lurching around apparently – his scent was a signature in the noses of the local Inuzuka tractors. His decaying smell was around the village. And the Chunnin Exams was here also. Kakashi and the Hokage himself, with no doubt, thought Orochimaru will be in the exams. Why? They predicted the Sharingan was behind Orochimaru's reason. That, and the acute hatred placed in Orochimaru's heart for the village that apparently "forsaken" him. Orochimaru needed to go, with all the abominations of experiments they found him doing under the noses of Konohagakure. Orochimaru was an evil being that needed to be killed on the spot. But Hokage-sama didn't move at all with changing the dates of the Chunnin Exams, for that would cause suspicion and scare off the snake. Sometimes, in order to kill the animal, one must feed it small helpings of its favorite food. In that case, Kakashi was glad Sasuke had been training with him for almost a year. If Orochimaru tempted Sasuke at an earlier age without any prior experience, no doubt the Leaf would loose another soldier. Kakashi was not having that. Simple.

Sasuke had grown to a good ninja from where he was almost one solar year ago. So much has happened in the outside world of their training, yet, not much. Naruto's death finally silenced the last murmurs and the last celebrations. Funny how that happened so damn quick. Too long for his own taste. Sakura didn't keep much contact with Kakashi, as he didn't he. She deserved a regular life – he didn't need to see her on a regular scheduled time of the day. 'Sides, they were ninjas – what time would he even have in the day besides taking a break from training Sasuke would he have to see the girl? The rest of the Rookie... Seven were, according to Kurenai and Asuma were doing good, and they were going to be entered in the Chunnin Exams. Gai was too, much to Gai's displeasure, when he heard Kakashi wasn't entering his team. Kakashi wished the best.

Sasuke tried to lob a punch at Kakashi, but Kakashi whisked away. However, not before Sasuke surprising Kakashi by getting a swipe at his chest with a clean kick. Sasuke quickly followed up wordlessly with the Great Fireball Technique. Three medium-size plumes of fire launched at the gray haired jounin. The speed and strength increased, as the amount of chakra Sasuke used in that technique was next to nothing – yes, a textbook example of how good Sasuke's chakra was. Within a few years, Sasuke would be able to prevail completely and eclipse Kakashi in power, or at the very least match up with him. Just because Kakashi was training Sasuke didn't mean he wasn't training his own self. A good ninja was strong and he knew he was, a better ninja was strong but he knew he knew to get better until he could not anymore. Kakashi was starting to get swipes and little moves on him and last much longer. Still, stamina Sasuke needed more, and yes his chakra control was good in all, but he could still easily waste his chakra. With the Chidori being one of his strongest moves in his arsenal, Kakashi was still not pleased Sasuke could not use it more than three times a day. Not the Chidori would be the only thing he'll learn, as Kakashi knew stronger techniques in mind but Sasuke needed to master the Chidori more until he could do at a point he didn't even have to worry about being limited to such.

Ah well, more training the boy. Simple.

It wasn't going to be easy, but he had faith the boy would pass him away in years time. Now, if he could snap him out of the Itachi phase he was still in, he would be happy. Right now, this will have to do. Maybe in a week or two's time, he could snap him out of it.

Sasuke grinned, breathing hard as he fell to the grass ground. A smile lightened his face, "Come on Kakashi-sensei, can't ever give me a break here?"

"You did good kid, I'll give you that." Kakashi grinned back, "You finally got a few scratches on me, and surprised me a few times. You still need more training but we'll see to it that you're better than me in no time."

"Hehe, looking forward to it."

End.