Sorry for posting the chapter twice... I screwed it up the first time, 'cause I forgot to add something!
A New Sensei
Team 7 met at the bridge and then walked to the Hokage Tower together. Naruto felt like a traitor. Team 7 had gotten rid of Kakashi because he was more harm than good, and now Naruto was sleeping with him. He tried to forget about it, but his teammates noticed that he was acting weird and asked him about it. He wouldn't answer. There was no way in hell that he'd let them know... the tentative friendship they'd finally made would be fractured if they knew. Naruto hadn't ever had friends before, and now that he did he didn't want to lose them - even if that meant hiding his relationship with Kakashi from them.
"I've found you a new sensei," the Hokage said after they entered his office. "This is Shiranui Genma. He will be your new sensei."
"Hey kids!" Genma-sensei greeted patronizingly with a wave.
They shared a look before returning the wave, "Hi, Genma-sensei!"
"Hm. Well, see ya later, Hokage-sama! Come on, kids, let's go see where you're at in your training. Then maybe we'll take a mission or something."
Team 7 followed him to their usual training spot and then stood before him as he thought about how best to determine their strengths. Eventually he decided to see how well they were at taijutsu and teamwork by having them spar him. Genma was pleasantly surprised with his new students. Team 7 worked in perfect harmony and while their taijutsu could use a bit of work, their teamwork was near-flawless. They'd even managed to get a couple of hits on him. "Okay, stop!"
"How'd we do, Genma-sensei?" Sakura asked.
"I'm impressed. I thought the Hokage said Kakashi-san didn't teach you anything?"
"He did teach us some things," Sakura said, "But we only really got better when we practiced on our own, when he left us for three weeks."
"He left you for three weeks? Was he on a mission or something?" Genma wondered. He hadn't been told much about why he needed to substitute for Kakashi, only that he had to.
"No," Sasuke said.
"He might have been," Sakura allowed, "but he didn't tell us. We didn't know where he was or what he was doing – we didn't see him at all, so we just trained on our own."
"Hm. Well, let's see where you are with chakra control and ninjutsu."
They showed him their tree-walking, water-walking, all the jutsu they knew, and then went on to tell him about their elemental affinities and where they were at with their training there.
"Wait, wait!" he stopped them. "You trained yourselves in elemental chakra without a jounin around? Are you stupid? You could have killed each other, or yourselves!"
"Heh, we nearly did a few times!" Naruto laughed. "But we're fine. We got it!"
"Lucky is what you are. That's not the sort of thing you go learning on your own - chakra manipulation at such a high level is dangerous until you reach a certain level of efficiency. You're all in one piece, so that's good, but I'm going to want to test you all separately on that to see where you're at. Not today, though. You've already used up a lot of chakra with the jutsu you guys showed me. What about genjutsu?"
"Ehh..." Naruto said.
Sakura blushed, "We didn't think about that."
"Okay. I'll put an easy genjutsu on you guys. I want you to figure out what it's doing, dispel it, and then tell me what you noticed. I won't tell you when I put it on you guys, so turn around."
It took Sakura three seconds to figure out she was under a genjutsu, Sasuke took half a minute, and Naruto stood there impatiently under the jutsu without realizing it. Genma sighed. "Somebody whack him for me, will you?"
Naruto shouted when a hand came out of nowhere and hit him. He stared in confusion as Sasuke, who had been standing three feet away from him, magically appeared beside him. "Huh?"
"You were under a genjutsu, idiot."
"Oh," he said sheepishly. "Heh, sorry, sensei! Didn't notice!"
"Yeah... Okay, I know what I want to work on first. Sakura, you were the first to notice. Sasuke, it took you a bit longer to notice, but you eventually did. And Naruto... well, we're going to work on it. See, genjutsu isn't always going to be scary shit like huge monsters or haunted houses; it's usually going to be something simple, like making it look like your teammates aren't doing anything, or switching the victim's depth perception."
"Then how do you know you're under a genjutsu?" Naruto wondered.
Genma motioned to Sakura and Sasuke. "I felt the shift in foreign chakra around me," Sakura said.
"Same. And Naruto wasn't moving – he never stands still."
"So you didn't feel anything, Naruto?"
Naruto shook his head.
"I guess you haven't worked on chakra sensing. That's not unusual, for genin, but I think it's the best place to start with you guys. Knowing how to get out of genjutsu is a required skill. Naruto, I'm guessing that you have so much chakra that you just can't tell when someone adds a little bit to your own."
Naruto shrugged.
"Probably," Genma decided. "So here's what we're going to do. It'll be boring, I warn you, but you guys are going to learn to meditate. That's how my sensei taught me, and that's how I'll teach you. So sit down and close your eyes."
Team 7 sat down and closed their eyes, waiting for further instruction. Naruto squirmed a bit, hating this already. He didn't mind meditating after his runs, when he was tired and alone (except for when Kakashi joined him... but that was different!), but it was hard to focus knowing that Sasuke and Sakura were nearby. And the way Genma-sensei stared at them made him uncomfortable.
"Naruto, stop moving. I know it's hard to keep still when you have a lot of energy, but this'll be worth it. Now, I want you three to focus on your breathing. Feel the air enter your nose and expand your chest. Let it out and feel your chest fall and the air leave your lungs. Try not to think about anything but your breath. This exercise is good for more than just chakra sensing. Meditation is a useful tool to control your emotions, and I want you guys to do it at least an hour each day outside of team practice. It's good for your mental and emotional health, so don't slack.
"When you start to feel calm, I want you to turn your attention toward your body. Feel your heart beat. Feel the blood rush through your veins. Be aware of your body Try to let go of any tension and relax into the grass."
The three genin breathed slowly and paid attention to their bodies, feeling them tingle strangely.
"Good. Now, Sasuke and Naruto, I want you to focus on your stomach near the solar plexus. Sakura, focus a couple of inches beneath your naval. These are the roots of your chakra. This is where it's formed. You should feel that your body's a bit warmer there than anywhere else. You should feel your chakra pulsing there and flowing out of that region into the rest of your chakra system. Can you feel it?"
The three nodded, eyebrows slightly scrunched as they focussed on their chakra like this for the first time. They'd never just experienced it. They'd always just used it, knowing it was there but not experiencing it.
"Good. Get to know it. Notice how it feels different from the rest of your body. This is going to help you, Naruto. You should be able to tell the difference between your chakra and someone else's because they feel different. No two persons have the same chakra. Then, when you think you understand the feeling, I want you to turn your focus outwards. Try to feel the ground. Notice how it has its own feeling. This is called natural chakra. Don't try to mimic this chakra or take it into your body, because you'll turn into an animal or an amphibian if you do. It's dangerous without the right teacher, and I'm pretty sure only the Sannin Jiraiya knows how to do it properly. So just notice that it's different. Notice that it has a different feeling from your own. Then go even further. Try to feel each other's chakra. You should be able to tell the difference between the natural chakra of the grass and the chakra of your team-mates."
They did as told, turning their attention towards each other. Their brows smoothed as they felt each other's chakra for the first time, a warm sense of familiarity hitting each of them.
"Great, now go back into yourselves. Take a deep breath, feeling the air enter your lungs. Exhale and feel it exit. Now open your eyes."
They opened their eyes, all looking extremely calm and happy.
Genma grinned at them. "Great! Now talk to me about it. I've never taught this to anyone before."
They explained how their own chakra felt to them, then how the grass felt, and finally how their team-mates felt. Sakura couldn't help but shout: "That was incredible, sensei!"
"Hn," Sasuke agreed.
"Yeah, yeah! That was awesome! I don't think I've ever sat still in my whole life without needing to move!"
Genma smiled at them. "I'm proud of you. It usually take a few tries to get all that. Alright, let's end it here for the day. I'll set up your training regimen tomorrow – we'll work on different things on different days, though I think we'll start with chakra sensing each day – and then we'll go on a mission or two in the afternoon. Sound good?"
"Yeah!" Naruto shouted. "Genma-sensei, you're the best!"
Genma laughed, bade them farewell, and was off toward the Hokage Tower to report his findings. The Hokage would be interested to know that Team 7 was so advanced – especially in elemental chakra manipulation. No genin was really supposed to know that, especially not recent graduates.
"I like him," Sasuke said when Genma-sensei was out of earshot.
"Me too," said Naruto.
"He's a good sensei," Sakura said. "I think we're actually going to learn things with him – we won't have to figure everything out on our own anymore."
The smiled at each other hopefully and then waved each other goodbye.
Naruto had been home for a few hours, resting up and reading a C-rank jutsu scroll that Sakura had gotten for him from the shinobi library, when he heard the faint sound of Kakashi knocking on Hisoka's door. The smile that had been on his face dropped. He sighed, rubbing his forehead. He left a Kage Bunshin behind to finish his reading and pretend to be Naruto while he was gone, Henged into Hisoka, threw on a female shinobi uniform, and climbed into Hisoka's apartment. When she opened the door, Kakashi greeted her with a smile and held up a steaming box of take-out. "I thought you might be hungry," he said sheepishly.
Hisoka smiled at him and waved him in. "I just got back," she said.
"So you're hungry, then?" he asked.
Naruto had eaten a few hours ago, but he was a growing boy and had trained for a number of hours after his new sensei had released his team from practice. "I'm hungry," she smiled.
Kakashi kissed her gently on the lips and then took out some plates, motioning for her to sit at the table as he got everything ready to eat. "What kind of tea?"
"I think I could go for some camomile," she said.
Kakashi nodded and set the kettle going, then prepared the tea and brought it to the table. She sighed happily and breathed in the comforting scent before taking a sip. "Thanks, Kakashi."
They ate a quiet dinner, filled with light chatter, and then did the dishes together. "Hisoka, I wanted to apologize."
"Why?" she wondered.
"Well, I... I haven't acted responsibly since we stopped... But that's going to change! I'm going to be better. I'm going to apologize to my genin and set things right!"
"I think they already have a new sensei, Kakashi. Naruto was talking about it."
His shoulders slumped. "You think he's better than me?"
Hisoka pursed her lips, wanting to tell him that Genma was better than him at teaching. Team Seven had learned a ton, and it was only the first day! She settled for a more comforting version, though: "Kakashi, I think their new sensei is going to be good for them. From what Naruto told me, they seemed to enjoy their first training session with him. I do think you should apologize to them, but I don't think you should fight to get them back. You aren't suited to teaching genin, I don't think. You didn't even want to pass this team – and you said so yourself that you wouldn't have if you'd had a choice in the matter."
"I know, but I just feel... like I failed. I was supposed to teach them, and the only reason I taught them anything was to make you happy."
"I suspected so... I think you're more suited to taking missions and directing a team of experienced higher-ranking ninja than green genin. Genin require a lot of attention, a bit of babying, and a ton of protecting. Not everyone can provide that, and the reason you've never taken a team before them was that you knew you wouldn't make a good sensei, not for genin anyway. It's not your fault that the Council and the Hokage pressured you into taking Team Seven. You might still have to help Sasuke with his Sharingan if he asks for it, and you'll still be able to give them pointers if you're ever put on a mission together or wandering by. They're in better hands now, so don't dwell on it."
"You're right," he sighed.
"Of course I'm right!" she teased.
"Maa, you're always right, Soka-chan!"
They laughed together for a while before Kakashi pounced. They wound up in bed again. Hisoka had suspected that he'd want to have sex again, but she hadn't figured he'd want so much of it. When they collapsed for the third and final time that night, Hisoka was left panting in exhaustion (though she couldn't deny that she didn't mind too terribly... the sex was pretty great, after all). "That's some stamina you've got," she said.
Kakashi laughed at her, nuzzling her neck, and then whispered tiredly, "What, you aren't ready for another round?"
"Good god! Kakashi, I think if I have sex again I won't be able to wake up tomorrow morning!"
"Mmm, then you could skip your mission and spend the day with me in bed."
She laughed. "I wouldn't be able to walk after a day like that."
"And then we could spend even more time in bed!"
She smacked him, rolling her eyes as he laughed at her.
AN: So there's the new chapter (two in one week, even though they were both short... but I had two exams this week and I've got three next week, so you can't really blame me!). Hopefully you all like the teacher I've chosen for them - it was hard to pick one that I felt would suit the team, but Genma's such a laid-back and lovable guy that I couldn't help myself - and enjoyed that last scene... I thought it was really sweet, even though it was a bit bitter as well. Dark chocolate, I guess. Yes, I said it... even though I hate dark chocolate. Eh...