Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it belongs to its writers, animators, and producers. I gain nothing but writing and editing experience from writing this.

Summary: After waking up from a horrible dream Sakura's life takes a turn for the...well something? She only hopes it will be good and will end better than her dream suggests her life will. The secret family trade is hers to learn, and in the process she will become a stronger kunoichi. Sometimes all it takes is a little wake up call.

A/N: As promised, here is a slight time jump, plus some of the pieces are coming together. I apologize in advance for how much Kakashi worries in this chapter; it is probably getting annoying. Anyways, hope you enjoy, and thank you to those who review, or put this on alert or favorite ~ with love, depressedchildren Edited 5/11/2016

Chapter 26: Reviewing the Week

Kakashi landed outside the Hokage's office but noted the formidable shinobi was currently in a conference with Councilman Danzo. Hokage-sama motioned him to go speak with his secretary, and Kakashi quickly followed those orders as he entered the waiting room via window. The secretary looked over in his direction in surprise but otherwise did not comment.

"Good day Kakashi-san, here to debrief with Hokage-sama?" the secretary asked politely as she efficiently sorted through various piles of paperwork. Kakashi shoved his hands in his pockets and made his way over to her desk.

When he got there, he found that he couldn't seem to speak and so only nodded. His throat was tight in nervousness, and he was trying his best to remain calm. In a way, he would be debriefing with the Hokage so he wasn't lying, but it felt like there was much more to his meeting than just that.

The secretary nodded her head. "What rank?" she asked, and Kakashi swallowed thickly.

"Ah, no rank," he shifted slightly in his discomfort, and the woman looked at him quizzically for a moment.

"Well, I'm afraid Hokage-sama has several back-to-back meetings, and without a rank…" she couldn't move the meetings around. Kakashi nodded, and the woman gave him a sympathetic grimace-like smile.

"I understand. Hokage-sama will know when best for the debriefing," Kakashi looked around the waiting area and stiffly moved to sit down.

"Ah, Kakashi-san?" the secretary addressed him, normally civilians around her age called him Hatake-san, but she knew he did not appreciate being called by his last name.

He looked over at the woman and put on an eye-smile, but did not speak; he was too nervous to speak. What was this meeting going to be about? The whole week he had been scrambling to correct any faults in his teaching methods, and to try to incorporate himself better into his team, but what was the Hokage going to say to him? Were his genin going to be taken from him?!

The past week he had barely slept because he was running through different lesson plans or going over that day's training session. Because he would be up half the night worrying about his teaching, he would then arrive at the training ground excessively early, and then by sunset he would try to stand in front of the memorial stone and ask his teammates what he should. What would they have done? What would sensei have done? But he received no answers and no solace; instead, he just began stressing over his teaching and the cycle continued. Even when he tried going to the memorial stone in the morning before training, he could do nothing but agonize over the upcoming meeting.

Kakashi was forced from his spiraling, panicked thoughts by the secretary, "Would you like any tea while you wait? Or perhaps a bird can be sent for you when Hokage-sama is able to meet with you?"

Kakashi's hands were curled into tight fists within his pockets, as he continued to put on his eye-smile. He was close to pacing the length of the waiting room, but his nails digging into his palms stopped him. "Ah, no, I can wait."

"Tea perhaps?" the woman offered again, perhaps she could tell he was nervous.

He just made his eye-smile more pronounced and shook his head. "I'm fine at the moment," he then slowly took one hand out from his pockets and forced it to relax against his leg. He then reached for his Icha Icha book and pretended to read it. The secretary looked away from him in disgust and shook her head before she got back to her filing.

His genin were assigned to him exactly three weeks ago, and had officially been his team for twenty days. Tomorrow would be their third day off, though technically it would feel like their second day off. Thinking objectively like this helped him calm down slightly, and so he continued to rattle off numerical values related to his team.

They completed five D-rank missions their first week. His genin were on a commission based salary, yet the boys also had a reduced orphan's stipend; hence his team needed to complete more D-rank missions than most other teams due to their unique status. The boys' equipment and food was paid for through their commission at the moment, but both of them would lose their orphan's stipend within another year.

Grimacing, Kakashi realized they would have to complete more missions, perhaps even do one every day to ensure the boys had money saved away for when their respective stipends end. Hopefully by that point they will be doing more C-rank missions and thus would have a higher commission to bring in to make up for the lack of a stipend. The boys' budgets were probably stretched very thin after the last two weeks.

They had only completed three missions the previous week when he had been training with them, and that included the weeding mission they received after the week of training with them had ended. And this week they had only done two: covering the graffiti tags in the eleventh district, and cosmetic repairs to the outer wall surrounding Konohagakure.

He had just been so…anxious about his upcoming meeting with the Hokage that missions had been pushed to the background as he tried to cover all the skills his genin needed. The ever growing list of what the kids needed to know had driven all thoughts of doing missions out of his mind, and his genin were so tired by the end of most training sessions they just forgot to ask about missions. Though, admittedly, they all had a part-time job at the teahouse now…so maybe the boys weren't hurting as much as they might have otherwise been with only two missions completed.

The day after the boys received the "okay" from Hokage-sama to work there, Sasuke had gone to the teahouse as Mikoto and had explained that "she" and "Kushina" would be love to work for Sato-san, but a family emergency had come up and it looked like a younger cousin would be living with them indefinitely. Just as Naruto had suggested earlier that day, Sakura would be posing as a younger, male cousin. Mikoto and Kushina couldn't ask their aunt to look after their father and the child while they worked at the teahouse, but Sato-san was always a sucker for a sob story and actually said it would be alright if the younger cousin came with them to work, and perhaps he could help out a little too, with compensation of course. Pakun had been quite impressed with Sasuke's performance.

However, while Sasuke had been securing a job for his team's disguises, Naruto had been teaching Sakura the technique. The girl's reserves had increased from the first day she came onto his team, but they were not large enough to sustain the henge for long periods of time. Learning the jutsu alone had nearly exhausted the girl, though that may have been in part due to their training that day.

Kakashi shook his head, as if responding to the characters in his novel, and sighed. That day had been interesting, but almost wasted day—perhaps he had been a little too hard on his genin.

Kakashi was at the training grounds well before his genin even showed up. He was trying to think about what they would go over that day, but it felt as if there were a million things they should be doing.

He had been drilling basic skills, though they were mostly acrobatic in nature, for the past week, and they had rush formations to work with too. They could continue working on those, he supposed, but what about taijutsu? Sakura had pointed out the night before that Naruto's taijutsu was…flawed, and they may have rush formations down but what about actually engaging their opponent?

Then there were also other skills he had been pushing to the side as he worked on increasing his students' speed, agility, strength, and chakra. Stealth, they all blundered around the training field as if they had never heard of the word. Although Kakashi knew Naruto could be very stealthy when he wanted to, it did not change the fact that Kakashi had let stealth fall to the wayside as he focused on the kids' physical abilities

If his genin were going to be infiltration experts, they would have to know how to not only infiltrate an organization or village as other people, but also how to infiltrate buildings for reconnaissance. That required stealth, and he had let it fall down in priority. If his cute little genin were to be an infiltration team, they had to be able to move like shadows, pick locks, and bypass traps with everyone being none the wiser. They needed to be experts at slipping into buildings unseen, unfelt, and leave without a trace of their presence.

Admittedly, their specializations would actually work toward this end, with Sasuke being the most obvious as the genjutsu specialist. But Naruto could potentially make seals that acted as bugs, or could also hold illusions in them, which Sasuke would likely help the boy with. Sakura, she would be able to incapacitate anyone if something goes wrong without alerting anyone because of a chakra flare, and if she did truly want to pursue the medical arts, there were many viscous things she could do to her enemies with such an intimate knowledge of the human body. Hell! Naruto could, as a fuinjutsu specialist, come up with a seal that stored memories or took memories, so that if they were compromised they could get away. Though most of that was for years down the road, perhaps even decades.

Kakashi was also concerned about when he was supposed to start helping his genin with their specializations. Moreover, should each have a weapon of choice beyond kunai, but when was he going to train them all in that?!

He had to address their taijutsu and stealth immediately, he had been letting that go when he should have been stressing that the most. Then there were weapons, and he still had to learn what sword Sakura had seen Sasuke using that had frightened her so much. Then there were infiltration skills the kids needed to know: pick-locking, evading traps, spotting traps, disrupting any security seals, etc. Not to mention each students' individual skills for their specializations.

Sasuke was going to be a weapons master to balance the vulnerability of being a genjutsu specialist, and so the boy would have to be well versed in at least five different kinds of weapons, for now. His chakra control would also have to increase drastically before he could begin to even learn any genjutsu, plus there was the theory the boy would have to study in depth along with readings in psychology and the mind. That wasn't even considering the possibility of expanding on the boy's ninjutsu repertoire; he had a fire affinity that should be looked at more closely for at least combative purposes.

Sakura needed her chakra reserves to be increased greatly if she was to ever sustain a henge for a long period of time. Then there was her physical strength and speed, which would need to be increased as well for her to become a taijutsu specialist. Plus the girl wanted to learn advanced first aid, and he should at least provide her with readings on the human body to help the girl on the long road to becoming a medic. He should also give her ninjutsu so that she would have something else to fall back on if taijutsu proves to be inadequate against her opponent.

Then there was Naruto who desperately needed corrections to his taijutsu, and if he was going to be the fuinjutsu specialist, he needed something to counter his supplementary position on the team. Not to mention, it would be a shame for the boy to not learn ninjtutsu with the size of his reserves, which admittedly might help the boy counter his supplementary position if he did take on a ninjutsu specialization, but what if he can't access as much of his chakra; he would need something else to fall back onto too—like taijutsu or a weapon, two skills he was not very gifted with.

What was Kakashi supposed to do? By having both a genjutsu and fuinjutsu specialist on the team, it made them support heavy; although, that was excluding Kakashi, who was a ninjutsu specialist himself. He supposed if he included himself that would balance out the team and leave him and Sakura as the main attack force of the team while the boys offered up support, but they also had so much potential to be very active and combative parts of the team. Not to mention that during the chuunin exam it would just be the three of them, which would leave Sakura taking the brunt of the damage and doing the most damage while they boys offered support. Though…if each of them learned a decent array of ninjutsu, that could make up for him not being on their team, but then…he thought back to what Sakura had said the night before, where would I fit? He was their Jounin instructor, their team leader, yet he didn't fit.

Kakashi felt like he was going crazy trying to think over team balance, and the list of what his genin needed to learn felt like…well for lack of an equally daunting and terrifying task, it felt like facing down the Kyuubi during its rampage. He didn't know when this war was going to break out. He had no time-line to work with, just this great looming danger that could take his cute, little genin from him before they really had a chance to do anything.

He wasn't going to throw them out to the wolves; he had to have them prepared, but how much time did he have?!

Fortunately, Kakashi was saved from his thoughts by the arrival of his genin. They came from different directions within minutes of each other, and he waited patiently as they each arrived to stare at him nervously. Yes, he was early again; he was waiting for them, again. Why did they have to look at him like he had two heads? Perhaps because arriving early was always associated with a strict, severe lesson, or a grueling training session?

Kakashi examined his genin, who had lined up nervously in front of him. "Let's get your test over with first," he sighed and Naruto instantly paled and began to shift nervously. Sakura and Sasuke looked confident until they glanced over at the blonde standing between them—funny how the blonde was now the mediator between Sasuke and Sakura—and the confidence was replaced with sheepish expressions mixed with regret and shame.

Kakashi could tell by the bags under Naruto's eyes that the blonde had not forgotten, but had stayed up to study and perhaps had not done as well as he might have wished. Perhaps because the blonde had been trying to look up the meanings of the various characters, and his team had temporarily forgotten his lacking vocabulary and had not helped him the night before. It was understandable after the week he had put his genin through; they had been so tired they hadn't even had time to practice hand signs, so why would they have remembered to help Naruto with his literacy?

Kakashi sighed, "How much do you think you understood, Naruto-kun?"

The blonde looked down at the planks in shame and the other two followed suit; they were supposed to help the blonde but they had essentially abandoned him.

"I had to keep looking up words, and it all got really fuzzy in my head, 'tebayo," the boy started morosely, "but I really did try!" He looked up at Kakashi with his clearly sleep deprived expression of desperation.

Kakashi nodded and turned to his two teammates, "And did either of you try to help Naruto with his reading and learning of the shinobi rules?" They didn't look up at him but flinched when he said this.

"I'm sorry Naruto-san, I should have—"Sakura began but Naruto began flailing his arms around and shaking his head.

"It's my fault, I should have been studying the dictionary more and—"

"We're your teammates—we're supposed to help you," Sasuke snapped and his teammates turned to look at him surprised. He looked away from them, and Kakashi just shook his head.

Kakashi had so much he needed to go over with his genin that he didn't want to waste time going over shinobi laws and conduct or have them run laps. But, if they didn't learn the laws they'd end up endangering each other or botching a part of the mission. The laps wouldn't harm them either; in fact, the genin still needed to increase their speed and stamina, but…he didn't want to be focusing so much time onto this. There was so much he needed to get through, and without knowing how far into the future these looming threats were…well, Kakashi was trying to get them on the fast track to elite Jounin or ANBU—though the latter was more like Sasuke than the other two.

"If this happens again, you're running the number of laws and rules there are in the manual," They looked up at him in surprise and paled. "For today, you'll just run the number of pages. One-hundred laps around the village, no chakra." They nodded curtly and began jogging toward the perimeter. "If it takes you past noon you may as well keep running until sunset." That kicked the kids into gear.

They hadn't finished the one-hundred laps before noon; they weren't even close enough for him to even considering saying that it was good enough. So his panting, trembling genin had collapsed to the ground, ate their lunches, and continued running until sunset with water breaks every hour. He couldn't go back on his threat; he wanted his genin to know he was serious and held them to things; if he just let them off of the hook, did that tell them he was a dedicated and serious instructor, not really.

So after their literal day of running, Sakura had learned Naruto's modified henge, and had to be helped home before she passed out from exhaustion. It had been established that after Sasuke had learned what he needed to about the teahouse job, he was to go over to Sakura's and they would have a dinner as a team and would help Naruto learn more characters.

However, Sasuke had been sitting awkwardly in the Haruno household for about a half hour before Sakura and Naruto had arrived. The boy had been under intense scrutiny and had been given several cups of tea over guided conversations on his team and how he felt about Konoha. Somehow this assuaged some of Ayumu and Mebuki's fears about the boy, though Sakura had looked like she was going to have a panic attack when she had learned that Sasuke had been alone with her parents for so long. Her father had had to take her aside and talk to her for a little while, while the boys had helped Mebuki with the table. Sakura had only given Sasuke a suspicious but thoughtful look the rest of the night.

Thankfully, the next team meeting had gone a little better and Kakashi had been able to focus on some of those areas he had been concerned with.

Kakashi watched from a tree as his genin ran ten laps around the village for the ten laws they had incorrectly listed off. If Kakashi was to be honest, the ten rules his cute, little genin had gotten wrong were very similar to each other and more often than not one of them mixed up the answer with another one, though the brunt of the incorrect questions did fall on Naruto's shoulders. Fortunately, Sasuke was the only one marginally pissed off at the boy, and both genin had offered to help him study for tomorrow.

Kakashi imagined that once his genin had all the laws down by heart, he would be able to start testing them randomly once a week, that way it wouldn't be such a huge drain on his time with them. Kakashi was also fortunate they had yet to run into Gai and his team training around this area; though, if Kakashi recalled correctly, Team 9 (or Team Gai) was on a mission.

Once his genin finished their ten laps, he landed in front of them, and they stood there panting slightly in front of him. Well, it looked like the strenuous running had finally paid off. "I want each of you to do two-hundred flips and back flips each on your way back to the training field, four-hundred crunches, three-hundred push-ups, three laps around the training field in a hand stand," by this point his cute little genin had paled and were staring at him with slight fear, "two-hundred more flips with recovery rolls at the end of each one, and then you will all meditate at least an hour on your chakra before lunch to focus on your chakra output.

"It may be easy at the moment to hold a certain output, but the longer you attempt to hold it the harder it will become." Kakashi looked at the boys intently, "Naruto-kun, you could probably hold your civilian output for two-three hours tops. Sasuke-kun, about four to five hours, though you won't be able to hold your henge that long. Sakura-chan," he turned to the lone girl who nodded her head to show she was listening, "you will have no problem holding a civilian or animal level of chakra output for any length of time, but your henge will last two-three hours tops; Sasuke yours about four hours at the most," Sakura and Naruto were at opposite ends of the spectrum while Sasuke balanced them both.

"I'm telling you all this because of your infiltration exercise, you will have to be able to time things accordingly and keep in mind your current limitations." They nodded their heads seriously, and Kakashi clapped his hands together as he gave them an eye-smile. "Good, now start doing your basics. I'll be waiting for you," he pretended to shunshin back to their training field, when in actuality he was hiding in one of the trees to observe how his genin navigated through the forests while doing flips. This was a practical lesson in being aware of their surroundings, for they may have to flip out of the way of attacks while in a wooded area. However, Kakashi wasn't the only one watching his genin.

Kakashi practically flickered out of existence to land next to the pale boy observing Team 7 from the trees. The boy instantly tensed and his hand had gone to a tanto holstered at his hip, but he let his hand fall away when he realized Kakashi had landed beside him. The boy turned to look at Kakashi apprehensively and almost…guiltily—as if he had been caught doing something he should be ashamed of. Granted, the boy had a good handle on his emotions, but Kakashi could still recognize the few emotions flitting across the boy's face. ``

"Hatake-san," the boy greeted with a slight inclination of his head; his eyes quickly strayed over to Kakashi's little genin who had accidentally collided with each other. Sakura was laughing with Naruto, and even Sasuke was smirking slightly as he dusted himself off.

"Okay, one at a time" Sakura laughed before calling each off them off to flip through the narrow gap between some very closely grown trees.

Kakashi turned away from his genin to look at the boy closely. Sai was his name on file, though whether that was really his name or not, Kakashi couldn't say. Why was this boy hanging around his genin, especially after Sakura had led the boy to Kakashi because he was suspicious? Did the boy have something planned? Worse, was her here on his commander's orders?

"Sai-kun, would you care to explain why you're observing my team?"

The boy looked like he was expecting this question and there was a slight nervousness in how he held himself, which tipped Kakashi off to his next words being a lie. "I am your team's reserve genin, and am just observing them."

Kakashi stared at the boy for a long moment, but the boy held his stare without becoming more nervous—at least until Kakashi spoke up, "Now why don't you really tell me why you're spying on my team, or should I ask your superior?"

The boy tensed up in fear and shook his head. Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "Well, I'm waiting," Kakashi threatened the boy as he began to move through the seals to summon Pakun.

"I had an hour free; I wasn't ordered!" the boy's words were quick and monotone, but his sincerity was clear, and Kakashi could hear the plea the boy had left out of his words, please don't tell my commander.

His genin were moving farther away and soon they wouldn't be able to see the genin through the trees anymore, but Kakashi wasn't going to leave this Sai kid alone until he got his answers. Was it about Naruto? Sasuke? What had this boy wanting to observe another team without his commander's orders?

Kakashi knew the boy's fear well; the jounin could tell the boy had been trained to kill his heart and had only recently come away from the main trials—his emotions showed through in raw bursts, so he had very recently finished his trials. If he developed an attachment to his genin…he would be required to kill his heart of that attachment which would mean… Kakashi doubted anyone would actually order the boy to kill the jinchuuriki or last Uchiha, but…

"Why are you observing my team?" Kakashi asked one more time, his gaze narrowed on the boy who looked away in shame.

"She is so kind to the Kyuubi jinchuuriki," the boy whispered confusedly, "and though she is afraid of the Uchiha, she tolerates him too." The boy was frowning now, and Kakashi felt his stomach drop.

Sai was not interested in his team for Naruto or Sasuke, but Sakura. Kakashi knew Hokage-sama would never allow anyone to harm her; she was too important now, but they were the only ones who knew that. They couldn't risk anyone else finding out.

Kakashi forced himself to eye-smile at the boy, "Mah, Sai-kun, it's completely natural to find a girl your age attractive—"

"Haruno-san is ugly," the boy interrupted, and Kakashi dropped his act to stare at the boy who was looking at him with his brow furrowed as if Kakashi was the incomprehensible one.

"Then why are you so interested in her?" Kakashi asked lowly; has the boy been watching her for a long time, did he oversee her doing or saying something psychic?

The boy looked back down at the tree branch in shame, and Kakashi found his patience fraying. "Answer me," he growled out, but the boy only bowed his head further.

"She…" the boy began, much to Kakashi's surprise, "She knew…"

"Knew what?" Kakashi asked sharply, and the boy glanced up at him before looking a way again in shame again—though, to an outsider, it would look like the boy was merely trying to ignore him.

"A comrade died," the boy began in a low voice. "She knew he was…special to me."

Kakashi was silent for a moment before he found the perfect opportunity to suggest the girl's importance to the village. "Sakura-chan is very intuitive," Kakashi stated while nodding his head. "Sometimes it's as if she can see who people will be rather than are; a very good skill to have as a ninja, wouldn't you say?"

The boy looked at him for a moment before nodding his head. He looked up at the sun before speaking again, "I should leave."

Kakashi nodded his head and the boy moved to launch himself to the next tree when Kakashi spoke again, "I'd appreciate if you'd stop spying on me team." The boy paused, his leg muscles tensed and ready to spring.

"Yes, Hatake-san," the boy intoned before jumping away.

Undoubtedly this incident would not slip the notice of the boy's handler, and Kakashi would be damned if anyone tried to harm his team because they were trying to make that boy into an emotionless weapon.

Kakashi hadn't seen that boy again the rest of the week, and he was one of the issues he wanted to discuss with Hokage-sama. He would have brought up the incident sooner, but the rest of the day had driven the boy from his thoughts. After lunch, Kakashi had begun correcting the genin's taijutsu stances, which had been daunting.

Sasuke had mixed the academy taijutsu with the Uchiha taijutsu form, which was really only efficient when one had a sharingan. So Kakashi had had to correct both forms and stress when to use one over the other, which had left him with a very unhappy Uchiha punching angrily at a post.

Naruto had apparently never learned how to throw a punch correctly and was close to breaking his thumbs or wrenching his shoulder. So Kakashi had spent a lot of time working with the blonde on his taijutsu form so that it looked less like a wild brawl and more like an appropriate fighting style. Sakura was a godsend in this endeavor, for she did have a perfect academy taijutsu form and had been helping Naruto correct his taijutsu while he worked with Sasuke.

However, what Sakura lacked was a style that accentuated her heavy hitting and worked with her natural ability to channel chakra into her strikes. So her academy taijutsu form was weak because it didn't lend itself toward her strengths. Unfortunately, with having to correct the boys' taijutsu forms, he needed Sakura's help in that process and therefore did not have time to teach her a new form that would work toward her strengths.

Once the boy's forms had become half-way decent, they had done rushing drills until sunset, at which point his cute, little genin went to their teahouse job disguised. Kakashi had stopped in for a drink and had been surprised at how well Naruto was doing.

The energetic blonde had been chipper with clients and had moved around the room almost gracefully with a smile for each patron. Sasuke had assumed a more amiable disposition as he too had glided around the teahouse taking down orders. Whereas her teammates had assumed graceful movements, Sakura had pretended to stumble around as she had run to clear tables as a little, ten-year-old boy. She had acted remarkably like Naruto at team meetings with broad smiles, loud laughs, and an almost destructive energy. Her disguise had mousy brown hair and unremarkable features that vaguely resembled "Mikoto" and "Kushina." It was the nose, Kakashi decided. Overall, his genin had done a very good job, and he had left Pakun to watch them until closed.

Pakun had reported that Sasuke had taken a "tuckered out" Sakura into the back room to "rest" (drop her henge0, and had stayed back there for a little while as he too dropped his henge. Naruto had stood guard, in a sense, though his chakra output began to climb as he had lost control over it, too mentally fatigued to hold it much longer. Pakun had explained to the few shinobi who had stopped by that it was a training exercise, he had even presented the missive Hokage-sama had given him that cleared Team 7 for this. Fortunately, these shinobi were sympathetic to the blonde's condition.

Yesterday had started in much the same way as the day before had. They missed five of the rules so ran five laps around the village. They then did their basics, practiced their taijutsu, and then meditated before eating lunch. After lunch, Kakashi addressed more of his concerns.

Kakashi's cute, little genin eyed him almost warily as they finished up their lunches. It was almost as if they expected the worst from him! (Not that he could blame them…) Mentally shaking his head, Kakashi pulled out a storage scroll which contained a plethora of locks and pad locks. The genin stared at the heap of metal dumbfounded.

"If you three intend to be an infiltration team, you'll need to know how not only to blend into a village, but also steal into buildings to gain information. More civilian based organizations will have these types of locks, but even among ninja forces, these types of locks will be the last line of defense you will have to break through."

"But normally ninja use seals, right?" Sakura asked as she picked up a lock and began to examine it.

"Yes," Kakashi answered quickly, "but we will discuss how to break seals later, and as I said before, ninja will often have locks as a secondary defense to a seal." Each of his little genin had picked up a lock by this point and were examining them. Most of the locks had come off of a door or drawers, while others were just padlocks and handcuffs.

"I want each of you to know these locks inside and out," he stated as the kids continued to examine the locks with their brows furrowed. They had done some pick-locking during the academy, but most of these locks would be new to them. "Unlock fifty of them without making a scratch, and we'll move on to disarming traps."

Naruto had been the only one to succeed in this endeavor, while Sasuke and Sakura had both been struggling. Sakura had accepted the blonde's help readily, but Sasuke had been stubborn too; though he listened in on the advice nonetheless. It took much longer than Kakashi would have liked until they had each unlocked fifty of the locks without a scratch—he had even made it easy by taking the locks off of what they had locked, they just had to move all the tumblers correctly so the bolts were retracted back in or turned in another direction.

As for the traps…Naruto had been the only one to successfully disarm ten, while his teammates only disarmed two and destroyed countless others along with the blonde. Their goal had been to disarm thirty and then rearm them as if they had never been there. Maybe he should just train them to evade traps without setting them off? But no…they should learn how to disarm traps too and rearm them just as they had been.

Today they had worked on traps and locks part of the afternoon, and had done more taijutsu before going on that mission to do superficial repairs to the outer wall. Sakura had tried wall walking for some of it, and the boys would have tried if Kakashi hadn't vetoed the idea—they didn't have near enough chakra control to do it without damaging their current mission more.

"But why can't we, dattebayo!?" Naruto whined, and Kakashi glared at the boy over the top of his book. Sasuke was acting just as petulant as Naruto was, though of course in his own Uchiha way.

Sakura looked down at her teammates from the wall and brushed some of the hair that had escaped her braid to the side before adding more of the cement putty and smoothing the surface with a type of spackling knife—why the civilians called it a knife was beyond Kakashi, sure it was sort of sharp at one end, but no one could cut anyone with it. Sakura looked over at her work before directing her gaze back at the boys. "Think about it, Naruto-san," she called, "you're using chakra to stick to a surface. If you use too little you fall off, if you use too much…"

"You damage the wall," Sasuke gritted out and turned away from Kakashi to start working on spreading more of the cement putty over the holes. Naruto looked at Sakura with a frown but nodded his head slowly.

"Fine," he pouted and turned back to the project at hand.

Sakura pushed herself off the wall, likely feeling exhaustion creeping up on her, and landed in a crouch. "It's okay Naruto-san," She started as she stood up, "I'm sure you'll get to do this soon, and the same to you too, Sasuke-san."

The boy just hummed in response, though Kakashi was relieved that they were finally starting to get along. Kakashi looked at his genin for a moment before sighing and closing his book. "Alright," he addressed them and they turned around quickly with wide, almost hopeful eyes—is he going to teach us something, was what their looks screamed. "I asked for this mission for another reason," Kakashi pulled out a scroll and unrolled it to show them an array.

"This is a seal the great and gallant Jiraiya-sama made," each of his genin looked at it with wide eyes and even began to approach him slightly. Though Sakura furrowed her brow in confusion for a moment, perhaps she recognized his name from Kakashi's Icha Icha books. Ah…well, he better hurry on before she reacted violently. "Once upon a time, he placed this seal on every section of the outer walls, but they have since lost their effectiveness."

"So we're going to be adding new ones?!" Naruto asked and even jumped up in the air excitedly, "This is the coolest, 'tebayo! We're gonna—"

"I am the one doing the sealing, but you three can observe." Naruto deflated instantly and looked at Kakashi like he had been tricked and then kicked. The blonde was likely going to protest with some explanation of how if he was going to be the fuin-expert he should be doing this as practice.

"Dobe!" Sasuke interjected before the blonde could say anything. The blonde turned toward Sasuke ready to retort, but the Uchiha spoke up before him, "You can't just copy seals, you have to actually know what they do when you're making them." He mumbled something to the effect of "I've told you this before, idiot."

Ignoring that addition, Kakashi nodded his head. "Exactly," Kakashi stated as he moved toward the first blind spot on the wall that would be most likely attacked, "One slip up and the whole seal becomes unstable and dangerous. Although almost anyone, with the right affinity, can use a seal once it's been made; it's another thing to make them."

Naruto frowned but nodded his head, and Kakashi moved toward the wall his genin had just covered in cement putty. Kakashi pulled out a vial of sealing ink and began to carefully paint the array while his genin watched. "This seal is keyed in toward fire ninjutsu," Kakashi explained over his shoulder as he began to write the symbols for fire along the edge of what would become a circle. "What this specific seal does, is reflect back at fire ninjutsu attack." That was the simplified answer anyways. The seal could remain active for up to a year given the right amount of chakra.

"Whoa," Naruto murmured while his teammates made equally surprised noises.

"Neh, Kaka-sensei," Naruto called for his attention and Kakashi just hummed, though he wasn't sure how he felt about the nickname. "Couldn't a seal, ah, absorb the attack too?"

Kakashi paused in his transcribing and turned to look over at the blonde. "I'm sure it could, maybe you could figure that out as you all work on your specialization?" In actuality, that was what this seal did but instead of storing the ninjutsu indefinitely, it released the absorbed attack back along the same trajectory. The blonde would probably figure out how this seal worked once he learned that all seals absorb or store, though all of his genin still needed to take the test.

After he had put up and activated a few seals in key target areas and layered a slight genjutsu over them, they had finished their mission and his genin had received their pay—he had received a slightly larger pay for adding defenses to the wall. He then had headed over here. And now he was waiting, and waiting, and shit he needed something to distract him!

He was really trying to get this teaching thing down, he was! He just hoped Hokage-sama would give him a chance to make any suggested corrections. Though Kakashi didn't think he could keep showing up to training so early, he didn't feel…right or well, grounded. He needed time in front of the memorial stone to collect his thoughts, to focus himself because at the moment he felt like he nothing was really mooring him and…it was a terrifying feeling. His thoughts were racing and couldn't seem to get enough sleep.

Kakashi felt like someone was watching him, and so he turned to see Councilman Danzo regarding him with his usual closed off expression. "Councilman," Kakashi greeted curtly as he tried to push down his nervousness over the impending conference with Hokage-sama. He looked at the man over his book and waited to see if he was going to try to start a conversation with him.

"Hatake-kun," the man was saying that to get a rise out of him, or perhaps to shame him. Kakashi met the man's gaze regardless, and they stared at each other for a few minutes. Then Danzo turned away from him and addressed the secretary. "Would you get Hatake-kun and I some tea?" he asked in an unassuming tone, but the secretary shot up like he had threatened her life. She nervously nodded and hurried to get them tea.

Danzo sat down across from Kakashi and exaggeratedly leaned on his cane, an obvious prop. So it was to be a conversation then; Kakashi refrained from sighing, but put away his book. "I'm assuming Hokage-sama's next appointment arrived?" Kakashi began calmly.

"Yes," Danzo replied calmly, "Nara Shikaku." Kakashi nodded his head as if in understanding and Danzo gave a thin smile, "You'll learn what this is about soon enough."

Was he being replaced by Nara-san? No…that seemed a little…well, there was no reason for Nara to teach; he had his own child to train and duties as the Jounin commander. So what could Nara-san be meeting Hokage-sama about? Shinobi Council business? Why was Kakashi assuming every meeting pertained to what he was going to meet Hokage-sama about? It was irrational thinking.

"How is training going?" the bandaged man asked with a sharp gleam to his eye. Kakashi narrowed his gaze slightly before he replied.

"I'm focusing on making them a balanced team," Kakashi kept his tone neutral, but Danzo just found this amusing.

"You can be honest with me, Hatake-kun." It was as if the man knew he was having troubles. He held the man's stare for a moment longer before sighing. What good would withholding information do him? Danzo would just send someone to spy on his team if he did not satisfy his curiosity, and that was almost more dangerous than just answering the man's questions.

"I confess," Kakashi began slowly, "I have much more work cut out for me than I initially thought."

Danzo faked shock, "Even the Uchiha?"

"Especially Sasuke-kun," Kakashi sighed in exasperation, humoring the older man. At this point, the secretary returned and they both did checks for poison—Kakashi still needed to teach his genin about that.

"Anger issues?" Danzo asked as he took a sip of his tea, resuming the conversation.

"Partially." Kakashi inclined his head slightly, "More so his superiority and inferiority complex." Danzo frowned at this, perhaps he had not been informed of this aspect of Sasuke, which admittedly could lead to the boy defecting if someone else offered a better deal than they did. "He's made leaps and bounds though in the last few weeks," Kakashi added in case the old council member took things the wrong way.

Kakashi smiled against the lip of his cup—Danzo had allowed the minor illusion so that he could drink his tea in peace. "I suppose getting punched by a former fangirl helps," he still found it slightly amusing, especially given how others reacted to the news.

Danzo raised an eyebrow but did not comment right away. "Do you think he will be on the fast track to ANBU?" the bandaged man asked instead.

"Most likely," Kakashi conceded. "Though I believe Team 7 hopes to become an infiltration team."

Danzo brought down his cup and actually stared at Kakashi for a long moment. He was genuinely shocked it seemed, and Kakashi knew that was as blatant an expression of it as the man could make. "Infiltration?" he asked at last.

Kakashi smiled against the lip of his cup again as he took a sip, "Yes."

The man seemed to be thinking for a long moment before he spoke again, "And the Uzumaki?"

"Naruto-kun…" Kakashi sighed. "I will be blunt; it looks like his training had been sabotaged, and I've been doing my best to correct the damage."

Danzo frowned but nodded his head in understanding; he was purposely expressing these things to show his disappointment over this predicament. There was another beat of silence before the old man spoke again, "And he's acclimated himself into the team nicely?"

Kakashi gave the man an eye-smile and nodded, "Very well, actually. He's recently been acting as a mediator between his teammates, and they are actively helping him in areas he needs additional help in." He was trying to play up the blonde's peacekeeper skills to show the old man that Naruto had a very important role on their team that was not just that of a weapon.

Danzo nodded after a long moment, perhaps satisfied with what he had learned, "And there is a civilian girl, yes?"

Kakashi broadened his smile, "She was a real diamond in the ruff; I don't think the boys could be a functioning team without her." So just try to take her away from them, Kakashi thought. "She's shown great tactical leadership, intuition, and potential. With the right guidance she could be a very deadly kunoichi."

Kakashi met the other man's gaze for a long moment, and he could tell that Danzo was trying to see if he was lying. When he deemed Kakashi was being genuine, he smiled thinly and nodded his head as he drained the rest of his cup. Kakashi suspected someone would be observing their lessons soon, but he just hoped no one tried to watch his genin at their homes. He'd have to warn the Haruno family to act normally until Kakashi was certain no one was watching them, and he would probably shadow their house for a little while.

"Thank you, Hatake-kun for the company," Danzo stated as he stood up and nodded his head slightly.

"Thank you, Councilman," Kakashi replied, and he hoped he had made it clear that each member of Team 7 was crucial to its success, though now Kakashi was left with his thoughts again.

He was getting tired of having half their day wasted in doing basics; Kakashi wanted to start focusing on their specializations, but…frowning Kakashi stared down at the cup. Were his cute, little genin ready to start specializing? The boys needed to increase their chakra control, Sakura needed to increase her reserves, and he still had to test them with Minato-sensei's book. Then there was their stealth training, and at some point he would need them to train at night and practice breaking into different buildings, but they were currently working at the teahouse in the evenings… He couldn't make it look suspicious either with their civilian work schedule…

Maybe he should actually make a training schedule? But what would be on it? What if he wasn't teaching them after today? Should he bother trying to think of one without knowing if they were going to be transferred?

Kakashi looked up as the door opened and Nara left the room. He looked over at Kakashi for a moment and slowed in his walk, as if prepared to say something. However, a familiar tan and purple blur crashed through the window and stood up from a recovery roll. Anko… She smiled at Kakashi with her hands on her hips.

"Hatake," she sneered.

"Mitarashi," he sneered back.

The crazy bitch flashed Nara a broad smile. "Hey Nara-san," she greeted civilly, but Kakashi noted the other man was not comfortable with such a greeting. Anko then turned on her heel and entered the Hokage's office. Kakashi froze, and his heart thudded loudly in his chest.

Hokage-sama wouldn't replace him with her would he? No… she was just meeting with the Hokage to debrief. Yes, that was it…

Nara was eyeing Kakashi for a moment before sighing and slumping into the nearest chair and staring at Kakashi again. "It's difficult isn't it?" he asked, and Kakashi looked at the genius man with an eyebrow raised. "Teaching genin," the man elaborated.

Oh…Kakashi slowly nodded his head, and Nara nodded his head in return but he didn't say anything else for a very long moment. Kakashi was half tempted to get out his Icha Icha book again, but then the Nara spoke up.

"It's hard remembering how much genin are supposed to know outside of their specialization. Even then, specializations have their limitations with the genin rank. What with precautions for defection," Nara stated slowly in a bored drawl. Kakashi nodded his head again and stared at the man for a moment. "Technically," the jounin commander added, "you're not even allowed to teach them anything past C rank unless cleared by Hokage-sama."

What was Nara getting at? He hadn't taught them anything beyond C rank. "Now, if we were at war then you could teach them any rank of skill but…" Nara shrugged, and Kakashi looked at the man for a long time. What was he getting at? Why was he saying all of this? Kakashi already knew all of the limitations and restrictions on what could be taught. "Though sometimes it's very tempting, right?" the Nara asked with a slight smirk on his lips.

"I haven't taught them anything beyond C rank if that is what you're implying," Kakashi's tone was low and partially defensive.

Nara's smirk changed into a lazy smile, "Oh I know that. You're a Jounin instructor, you're not allowed to, but still somehow Haruno-chan learned advance tells and lying skills. Those are certainly about her clearance level."

Kakashi felt something cold settle in his stomach, "I did not—" Nara held up his hand.

"I know that," the man mumbled something like troublesome under his breath and shook his head, "but whoever did could get in big trouble for teaching genin techniques and skills beyond their clearance level.

"Pretty nice, if not a big hassle, of whoever's doing it, right?" and it sank in what the man was saying. Sakura was learning the more advance skills she would need that he couldn't teach her until she achieved chuunin in rank. Whoever was teaching her was risking suspension and fines costing at least five A rank missions, along with a serious examination from the Shinobi Council.

Nara yawned and stood up before shoving his hands in his pockets. "Take care, Kakashi-san," the man drawled before ambling out of the room. Kakashi sat there for a long moment just staring at the chair Nara had been in. He felt…sick for some reason. The door suddenly opened and Anko was actually walking out of the room, not bursting out…just walking out. There was a frown distorting her features before she shook her head and directed a smirk at Kakashi.

"Kage's ready to see you now, cheater," she then left the waiting room via the busted window. Kakashi stood up slowly and brought his cup to the secretary who thanked him for returning the dish. He then moved into the office almost numbly, and closed the door after him.

Hokage-sama was looking down at his desk for a long moment, as if collecting his thoughts. Kakashi stood as casually as he could in front of his commanding officer, but he felt so anxious—more anxious than he had ever felt before in his life. Would his genin be taken from him?!

Hokage-sama looked up suddenly and nodded his head in greeting before gesturing to a chair. "I apologize for keeping you waiting, usually I am the one left waiting," he smiled pleasantly and laughed a little at his joke, though the older man was clearly concerned; after all, Kakashi had showed up as soon as practice was over, and the older man had likely booked meetings so as to occupy his time while waiting for the notoriously late Hatake Kakashi. The Jounin's behavior was unusual and a cause for concern.

There was a beat of silence wherein Kakashi just eye-smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Hokage-sama frowned and looked down at his hands for a moment, "Kakashi-kun, how do you find teaching?"

Kakashi found himself swallowing thickly before he could reply. "I wouldn't want any other students," he started, "they have so much potential and have really started to bond as a team."

Hokage-sama continued to frown, "That is fine and all, but I asked how you found teaching."

"Ah…" Kakashi shifted slightly. He didn't want to his cute, little genin removed from him.

Hokage-sama stared at him for a moment before gesturing to a seat. "This isn't an interrogation. Sit down and relax a little."

Kakashi almost gave the man an incredulous look but caught himself and sat down uneasily. Hokage-sama waited for him to pick up where he had trailed off. Kakashi briefly licked his lips but regretted the action due to the mask fibers now on his tongue. Grimacing slightly in discomfort, he hurried on, "Ah, well, Hokage-sama…" he sighed as his words faltered. Pausing, the jounin collected his thoughts, "I'm still working out how to teach them. I really do mean what I said about my genin, but I just have been…struggling." Kakashi noted Hokage-sama nodded his head as if expecting that.

"It is a learning process, that is for certain; however," the old man began, and Kakashi held his breath in anticipation of some reprimand, "you must set an example for your genin. Yes, they are as much of a representation of Konoha as Konoha is of its self, but as are you. I know punctuality has always been an issue and we've let it slide due to, well…" due to his psychological issues.

"I've been trying, Hokage-sama!" it came out more desperate than he intended.

"I know," his tone was neutral which did not assuage Kakashi's fears. "Do you think you will be able to keep up your current training schedule?" He was talking about this week, Kakashi realized.

"Honestly?" Kakashi asked, and Hokage-sama nodded. "No…" Kakashi whispered as he looked down at his lap. He had even tried going to the memorial stone before he went to the training ground, but he would be so concerned about making it there on time that…well, he wasn't able to center himself or really reflect on anything. He just felt more wound up. If he didn't have that pressure to be there right on time, he might have been able to focus himself and sort out his thoughts but…at the moment he felt like he was constantly running.

"Kakashi-kun, you are usually late to functions because of the memorial stone, yes?" Kakashi nodded. "What do you gain from your time in front of it?'

He almost sighed in relief at this question, "I used to just reflect on the past on how…" they died, was left hanging in the air between them and Hokage-sama nodded understandingly. "But that's changed…" Kakashi pressed his lips together as he thought about how he could articulate this. "It's become a place where I can focus my thoughts," sometimes through imagining conversations with his teammates, "where I can reflect on things, not just the past…" He wasn't sure how to describe the sense of calm he would come away from the memorial stone with, or how stable he felt after standing there for hours just thinking and reflecting on his actions and plans.

Hokage-sama frowned, "Have you had time to really visit the memorial stone this week?" Kakashi slowly shook his head.

"I…I've been…" he grimaced at his failing words. "I confess, I've been nervous about this meeting and how I have been training them," Kakashi managed to get it all out in the open and Hokage-sama nodded his head slowly.

"And you haven't had time visit, so you're unsteady because of it," Kakashi haltingly nodded his head and Hokage-sama sighed but nodded again. "Your mental health comes first before your genin, Kakashi-kun. If you were to snap…" Kakashi paled and nodded quickly.

"I would never want to hurt them," it went without saying that this was outside of training or a lesson, and even in those scenarios he didn't want to hurt them.

"You will have to be open with your genin if you expect their respect, at least in regard to lateness" Kakashi nodded, but Hokage-sama wasn't finished, "There are other people interested in your genin, all of them." Kakashi felt like ice water had been dumped onto him and a sick feeling began to form in his stomach. "If you are not careful, they will be taken from you, not physically unless they request a team leader transfer," but emotionally they wouldn't be his students, Kakashi finished the thought. His cute, little genin wouldn't look to him for advice or really even trust him, which could then lead to a transfer request.

"You know who…?" Hokage-sama nodded in response to Kakashi's failed question.

"Mitarashi Anko is one of them, and she has already begun to teach one of your genin." Kakashi was out of his chair and moving toward the door before he could even process the full sentence, and then he froze. Sakura… Anko had been teaching her lying and perhaps other skills. Skills that could get Anko suspended if anyone knew, but Hokage-sama knew and he was letting it happen.

"You've been letting her teach Sakura…" Why?!

Hokage-sama made a sign and soon all the ANBU stationed left and a seal was activated to deter eavesdroppers. Kakashi moved unsteadily toward the Hokage and sat heavily down in a seat. Hokage-sama laced his fingers together and set them in front of his lips.

"I have been working on establishing an international chuunin exam, not just an exam with allied countries, but also hostile countries. Danzo and Shikaku came in today to hear the final stipulations and agreement." What the hell did this have to do with Sakura being taught by that psychotic snake bitch!?

"It will be held in the samurai village, and each of the major countries will present five genin teams while smaller countries will present three each. Each genin team will be given the same clothing and face masks; however, each cell will have a symbol or name that identifies them. The first test will still be information gathering, the second survival, and the third will be team tournament held a month later and open to the public.

"This last test well be an attempt to draw out Akatsuki and reveal their intentions to the rest of the world so that we can create a united front against them." And for that, jinchuuriki would have to be present, which meant Naruto…his team was supposed to compete in this international chuunin exam. They would have to hold their own at least for a little while against S-class ninja and other genin who may or may not be supercharged.

Hokage-sama seemed to know he understood all the implications and nodded his head slowly. "And Mitarashi is a loop hole to ensure Team 7 can possibly hold its own against…" he couldn't finish the sentence; the odds felt impossible.

"If you want to teach them any B rank jutsu you will have to fill out the proper forms, and possibly have them denied by the more suspicious members of the shinobi council. But Anko-chan…" The old man probably remembered the little girl his favorite former student had begun to train, but Hokage-sama didn't know her like Kakashi did. "We'll be sure to monitor her closely, but she will be more free with what she can teach them."

"And if she tries to hurt them?" Kakashi gritted out. "If she tries to take them?" from him, corrupt them, torment them?! What was he supposed to do?! What if it was a situation like Seiko?! His fists clenched tightly and the old Hokage frowned.

"As I said before, we will be watching her very closely, and you will have to gain your team's respect on your own." Kakashi dropped his head and nodded his head slowly. He wouldn't let her take his genin.

"Obviously, discretion is advised, no one must know we are allowing Anko-chan to do this, and there must be no tie back to you." And the crazy bitch will take all the fall when it was discovered his genin knew more than they should know.

"She agreed to this?" he couldn't believe it; either she was crazier than he thought or over-confident it wouldn't be pinned back onto her.

Hokage-sama smiled slightly behind his laced fingers. "She believes she'll win over your genin, and that is, in itself, worth any repercussions."

She was over-confident and crazy. Kakashi shook his head and looked away. He didn't like this, but he needed his genin to be safe. "What if… Hisao Seiko, what if she does the same thing as back then?"

The old Hokage frowned more. "Hisao-san has recovered—" Kakashi scoffed, "—and that was an unfortunate an isolated incident. We now enforce stricter break schedules for T&I so that there will be no repeats." Kakashi shook his head and looked away. The old Hokage his head too, "You've also snapped under the pressure of this life, Kakashi-kun; do not judge so harshly."

"She treated a civilian like some sort of psychology test subject!" Kakashi shot back before closing his eyes and looking away.

"Which is why Anko-chan will be watched very closely while with your genin."

It was all decided, and there was nothing more he could do with the Hokage. All Kakashi could do for his team was repair his relationship with his genin and ensure they never are in a vulnerable position with that woman.

"How much time do I have?" Kakashi gritted out.

"The international exams will take place a month after our chuunin exams, so almost six months, but I would like your genin to have as much of an advantage as possible. Therefore, they will be participating in the chuunin exams in five months, but they will quit during the second phase." Kakashi nodded, it would give his genin the needed experience to at least anticipate what the other chuunin exam would be like.

There was a pause of silence as Kakashi worked through what he had to work with now. "Hokage-sama, may I ask your opinion on a training schedule that would accommodate Mitarashi and their infiltration exercise?"

The old man looked at him stonily for a long moment before a slow, grim smile broke across his face. "Only because of these troubling times."

TBC

A/N: So, as I've edited these last several chapters, I've felt like the genin's acting is too good and too natural. In the previous chapter (or perhaps the chapter before that?), Kakashi talked about how some people find infiltration freeing, and in part that is why the boys have an easier time with it. I'll have them talk about it in the next chapter (after I've edited it), but I guess I'm just thinking about how roleplaying and acting can be truly freeing for people. Anyways, hope you have all enjoyed the chapter ~ with love, depressedchildren