Sorry this took soooooo long. THere are probably still a few errors, but I will edit it again, I just wanted to get it up. I know it now sounds like Team Seven is stealing Kakashi's curriculum, but don't worry, he bugs them for it. And I KNOW it's not cannon anymore, but I'm writing it anyway. Reviews appreciated! Enjoy!
"All ready to set out then?" Naruto surveyed the camp, or lack there of. The students groaned painfully. "What are you moping about?"
"Please, teach us how to jump through the trees, running is too slow," Raito looked pleadingly at the senseis.
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura exchanged glances. Naruto sighed and brought his hands up and laced his fingers behind his head. "Well, that takes a long time-"
"Unless you're me," Sakura interjected proudly.
He glared at her. "As I was saying. That takes chakra control."
"We know, we know, we learned about it in the Academy, that's why we can make bunshin." Kumari sounded bored, or maybe more like disheartened?
"This is different. Tell you all what, today you'll be running for . . . let's say six hours, half of what we did yesterday, then we'll teach you chakra control," Sakura offered. Naruto's head snapped to her.
"We don't have that kind of time," his growl was hidden by cheers from the genin, but he knew Sakura had heard him.
He pulled her aside as the genin destroyed the last remnants of camp, leaving behind no trail. "We can't afford to cut our travel time in half! What are you thinking?" he demanded.
She brought her green gaze to his cerulean. "Naruto, this is not a retrieval mission, this is an investigation mission. Had it been retrieval, we wouldn't have had a chance at landing it. Investigations, this one in particular, are more lenient in time frames. Are you forgetting that training your students is in fact important?"
He was silent.
Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a look of deep understanding. "Naruto, do you care about your students?"
His breath caught in his throat. "What?" he asked in a quiet, disbelieving tone.
"Konohamaru is important, I get that, we all do, but so are your students. We have to teach them to work as teams, that includes their sensei."
He averted his gaze. "I . . . I understand."
"This is going to be one of the most hellish missions they endure. Some might even experience their first kill. You need to focus. You must remember how avidly Kakashi protected us. That's what this will take."
He sighed. "I know, I really do. It's just . . . hard."
She smiled. "The soon-to-be Great Rukodaime Hokage finds a mere B-rank mission challenging?" she laughed.
Naruto laughed. "It can't be helped," he chortled. "Let's go. And thanks, Sakura-chan."
She smiled brightly, her eyes closed in content, brushing a piece of hair back behind her forehead protector.
"Oi, Naruto, Sakura! Let's move!" Sasuke called in a bland voice, but Naruto knew him well enough to hear the faint smile that was being fought from his lips.
"Sasuke, let's make a bet," Naruto said once he caught up to his companion.
"I can beat you in anything, moron, what could you possibly bet against me in?" Sasuke smirked, giving a cocky tilt of his head as the jonin leapt through the trees above their pupils.
"I bet that my students can master the chakra control before yours."
"Good luck with that one. Katsu already has great control, and Raito, assuming I can get him to stay on his feet and not on his face, can master this in about three seconds flat."
"Well, I believe both of those present a challenge. You'll have to motivate Katsu somehow, and rather than three seconds, I believe it will take about three hours to keep Raito from doing face plants." Naruto mulled over Sasuke's words. "Don't you believe that Ayami-chan can do this?"
For a moment Sasuke acted as though Naruto hadn't asked a question, but he finally sighed. "I have no idea. She seems so driven, but I've yet to see anything real from her."
"What are you talking about? During the bell training she could use the Byakugan flawlessly, not to mention the gentle fist."
Sasuke closed his eyes briefly. "She also has the will and reason to succeed, but her physical strength is lacking. What you saw during the bell training was the result of one minute and twelve seconds of the Byakugan. I don't know if she can handle the physical strain of a shinobi."
"Bastard! You don't believe in you own student?" Naruto hissed under his breath.
"Don't say that!" Sasuke protested, a fairly pained expression staining his normally impassive features. "I do, and I want to think she will be a ninja, but if her body can't handle it, her body can't handle it."
"You never know, sometimes the weakest ninja can become strong with training," Naruto and Sasuke were surprised to see Sakura just behind them.
"Eavesdropping?" Naruto taunted.
Sakura ignored him. "I think Ayami-chan can handle it, don't underestimate her, she just needs some tough love."
Naruto and Sasuke regarded Sakura a moment, knowing this was a touchy topic close to her heart.
"Sakura, not everyone can end up like you," Sasuke said.
"Ayami-chan can! She's stronger than I was, not to mention equally as smart, and twice as determined!"
"Sakura, is she really stronger than you were?" Naruto's voice was quiet but firm.
Sakura glared at both of them. "You two can't always count out the physically weakest! She's a good person!"
"We know, Sakura, but that's not the issue. Can she handle it?" Naruto asked.
"She can do it, dammit! Why would you doubt that?!" Sakura glared at both of them.
"Sakura, we know you're plenty strong but-"
"It's not me, it's Ayami! She can do this, don't you dare count her out!"
"Sakura, why are you so passionate about this?"
"Because being weak is the worst hell there is to endure. No one needs to go through that when I can help it."
"Sakura . . . " Naruto muttered, but she smiled in return to him.
"Just please, don't count her out."
Naruto smiled, and gave a thumbs-up over his shoulder. "Even so, my students will beat Sasuke's. Seiya and Hideki have incredible chakra reserves, and the motivation to win."
"What's their motivation?" Sakura asked curiously, innocently.
Naruto smirked in Sasuke-like fashion. "Watch them once in a while, you'll see." Behind him Sakura blinked and looked below her to the genin.
"Sakura, you haven't noticed?" Sasuke taunted.
She didn't respond immediately, instead she watched them for another moment, and smiled back up at Naruto. "I'm just surprised you caught on, you were never good with the opposite sex."
"Oi! I was plenty good with them! What are you-!" Naruto began but Sasuke cut him off.
"Look," he nodded to the sky. Naruto's gaze followed the Uchiha's dark one to the faint shadow of a messenger hawk. The jonin stopped.
"Yo, guys! Matte!" Naruto called, stopping the genin in their tracks.
"What?" Kumari called back, but paused to watch as Sasuke reached out an arm for the avifauna.
Naruto glanced over Sasuke's shoulder as the raven's eyes swiftly drifted across the paper. There was a moment of pure silence before Naruto exploded, stealing the paper away from his friend
"What!? Sunagakure?" He shouted.
"What is it, Naruto?" Sakura asked.
"New orders from Tsunade-sama," Sasuke explained, stealing back the scroll. "We're to go to Sunagakure first, and search the surrounding area. On the corpse, they found some extremely complex clue that has narrowed down the location to either the outskirts of the Sand Village, or the Star Village. How in Kami's name Tsunade-sama could come up with that, I'll never know."
"She's a medical ninja, she has to be able to do that," Sakura noted.
"There's more. We are to stop where we are and wait for the other ninja platoon that was deployed to discuss plans," Sasuke added.
Naruto looked to the sky and gritted his teeth. Only three hours of travel, one fourth of the ground they'd covered yesterday.
"We've got no choice but to wait, Naruto, we might as well train them now anyway," Sasuke said, logically.
Naruto sighed. "Yeah, alright. Listen up!" he jumped down in front of the genin. "We've got a lot of time now for training, I'm expecting one hundred percent the entire time!"
"Naruto, you sound like Lee," Sakura giggled.
"Hey, he's a little out there, but he's got the right work ethic," Naruto winked at his pink haired friend, striking Lee's signature 'nice guy pose,' causing her to break into a fit of hysterics. He turned back to the genin. "Now-"
"Let me explain this, dobe, you'll just end up confusing them, not to mention yourself," Sasuke landed lithely beside Naruto. He scowled a moment, but subsided and allowed the Uchiha to go about explaining.
"This exercise is based on the control of the chakra you have within your body. You don't need incredible amount; instead, you need to be able to regulate the flow. As you have seen, this allows for safe travel through the tree branches, because the chakra focus is similar to a spider's legs, you can "stick" to the surface of nearly anything by doing this correctly. You've all seen us," he indicated himself, Naruto and Sakura, "walk on trees. That is how you'll train."
"How do you mean, Sasuke-sensei? Could you demonstrate?" Raito asked, curiously cocking his head.
"Well, you've seen it before, how should I demonstrate?"
"I dunno, show us how we'll be doing it," he suggested. "Please," he added as an after thought.
Naruto and Sasuke instantly locked eyes and simultaneously ran at two trees side-by-side. It was second nature, now, for Naruto to summon the chakra to his feet, just as it was second nature for him to instinctively take a demonstration and turn it into a challenge against Sasuke. They perched on the tops at the exact same time, then lazily walked back down to their students.
"Beat you," Naruto muttered.
"You wish."
"Bastard."
"Obviously," Sasuke continued as the genin listened eagerly. "You won't be able to do this on your first try, so we want you to mark your progress with a kunai. Observe," he indicated Sakura, who ran a few steps up a tree, then leapt off, slashing the tree bark with a kunai.
She smiled upon hitting the ground. "Sasuke, you make it sound like it's impossible to make it on the first try," she said pleasantly.
"It is, isn't it?" Ayami asked curiously.
"Maybe for your senseis, but not for me!" she proclaimed brightly.
Naruto felt great dejection weighing on his shoulders, and he could have sworn he saw Sasuke's high-and-mighty pose falter just the slightest as the genin all giggled.
"Anyway," the Uchiha explained through clenched teeth. "This is a race, but not in the same way the bells were."
"How so then?" Hideki asked in a cold, calculating tone.
"Beat your teammates."
"Doesn't that revoke the lesson learned in the bell training?" Seiya asked, not to be outdone by Hideki.
"Well, alright then," Naruto added in. "Are you willing to admit you are inferior to everyone else here?"
"Hell no!" Seiya roared.
"Then beat them," Sasuke said simply.
The looks passing between the genin were between nervous and challenging.
"Alright then, begin!"