Third POV

The three genin of team 7 make their way to the training grounds like their teacher asked them to. However, none of them knew of where the others were, as the sensei assigned each of the different training ground. It was 8 in the morning and each of them had time to rest the day before from the strenuous events that took place. Naruto surprisingly arrived way too early, he had been so excited to start missions or even training with Kakashi, he woke up at 4:30 and immediately made his way to the training grounds, arriving at around 6:20. While waiting he had started sparring and playing games with a few of his clones to pass the time.

Sakura arrived at her designated grounds on time while panting, as she planned her usual morning jog with the meeting like she did with the academy days, she woke up at 5:00 changed, had breakfast and started her run an hour later with a route long enough to reach the training grounds in time with ending her run. She only started this training about two weeks ago and she still felt tired afterwards. Once she rested for 15 minutes she realised her sensei was late, she predicted this might happen (if the two previous days were an indication to his habits), so she started strength and stamina exercises.

The raven also arrived in time to his training grounds, he looked around and sighed. This sensei was annoying and took timeless serious than a child. The Uchiha started doing something he had been thinking about for a while. He started meditating and paying attention to his surroundings while having his eyes closed. His senses needed to be heightened, he wanted to always be on high alert and be able to spot things when out of place, without his Sharingan. He knew he can use it but somehow it just won't work, he felt his eyes sting when he put his chakra into using them but no Sharingan.

Every time he tried, the memories of the massacre flashed before him and he always ended up either so angry or cried so uncontrollably. He thought after all this time, he was able to look past it but no, it was not something he could relive without the same emotions flooding him with the same power. So he depended on getting his emotions under control for now, while enhancing his senses.

Kakashi and his clones arrived at each student while staying hidden. It was now 9:30, he sent clones to Sakura and Naruto while keeping his real self for Sasuke. It may seem unfair but the Uchiha looked far more threatening than the others so it may be trouble for a clone to deal with him.

Sakura

The clone saw the girl pushing her limits in exercises, she collapsed half an hour later from exhaustion. The clone saw that she fell asleep on the ground, so he went to her and placed his jacket on top of her. He would give her an hour of sleep, he didn't think it wise for the girl to do such rigorous training before meeting her sensei, without knowing what he plans to do. He smiled in appreciation at her determination to increase her ability but he needed to talk to her about the right timing.

Naruto

The clone with Naruto smiled fondly at the boy, the kid kept playing games with his clones and arguing. He understood what it was like to have no friends, the clones must be a great help to the kid now. He made himself appear at 10:00 to which All the clones screamed at him for being so late and explaining how they were waiting from 6:30 for him. He was shocked to hear this but knew the kid was very excited to start missions and training. He smiled at him and lead him to a wide space of the training grounds.

"Alright Naruto, today I am going to see how strong you are." He explained with the simplest word possible. Naruto looked at him confused.

"What about yesterday?" The boy asked.

"Yesterday was a test of teamwork, today I want to see all your ninja abilities displayed." He replied. Naruto bit his lip knowingly, he had not been a good student at the academy. He had found it very difficult to pay attention in class while also not understanding Iruka-sensei most of the time. He knew the chuunin tried his hardest to teach them so he didn't say anything, besides he was way too stubborn and prideful to admit such embarrassing things.

Finally sighing he started to demonstrate what he knew, first taijutsu; he wasn't really bad at it, his stance wasn't the best and he had no technique to his punches and kicks but they were all strong blows. The clone easily dodged the messy attacks of the boy but felt slight pain due to the power. Naruto also seemed to have endless stamina, which the sensei knew was due to his large chakra reserve as an Uzumaki and also thanks to the Kyuubi.

"Alright that wasn't so bad, you just need to think about how you want to approach your opponent before attacking, next..."

"Sensei, in exchange for showing you what I've got, please answer some of my questions," the boy asked giving him a respectful bow. Kakashi was taken aback, the kid never showed signs of politeness before so this must be important to him.

"Alright, you get to ask two questions after every display" he announced. Naruto lit up with a smile.

"Please don't count this question but you know I have the nine tails right?" The boy asked. Kakashi sighed and nodded, he wasn't sure what the questions were going to entail but he wasn't going to spill out everything he knew.

"My first question is; did the Kyuubi kill, my parents, the second is; was there no other child beside me that can have the Kyuubi inside?"

Kakashi looked blankly at Naruto, "Yes to both" he replied calmly, he saw that the boy already predicted the answer but still found it hard to take in. "Alright ninjutsu next," he said to clear the mood.

Naruto started performing all the jutsus he knew, substitution, paper cloning, transformation and shadow cloning. He was good at only shadow clones and transformation, the others were horrible. His paper clones were still dead while his substitution was too late or didn't work.

"Hmm, you seem to struggle with your chakra control for the jutsus" Kakashi stated, the boy looked confused.

"What's chakra?" He asked. This made Kakashi drop to the ground in shock, what the hell?

"Naruto you don't know what chakra is?" He asked with surprise, no wonder the boy struggled so much with jutsu if he didn't know what the hell he used to perform them. Naruto shook his head in reply. Kakashi took a deep breath, Iruka better makes good on his promise from yesterday and then buy him 10 rounds of drinks for this. "Naruto you have a lot of energy to play and train right?" He asks calmly, the boy nods. "This energy comes from your body strength and soul strength, that's what we call chakra." Kakashi knew it was a very simplified and slightly flawed explanation but it had to do.

"Wait so my energy is chakra? So if I have this much energy does that mean I have a lot of chakra?" The boy seemed excited about the notion.

Kakashi was surprised by the boy's good intuition, he nodded with a smile, "Yes, now this energy is what you need to control to perform your jutsus. Since you have a lot it's a little more difficult to control but we'll work on that" He says.

"Kakashi sensei, does the nine tails effect my chakra and how I control it?"

How is this kid stupid when it comes to books and logic, yet comes up with such intelligent predictions? "Listen Naruto you will most likely never be able to have perfect chakra control because of the Kyuubi chakra but you can still train to obtain the best possible control and I'm here to help you," Kakashi announced.

"My second question is, sensei?" The boy paused then looked down at his feet with sadness in his eyes, "will the Kyuubi take over my boy and attack the village?" Kakashi paused for a few seconds, he placed both hands on the boy's shoulders.

"Naruto, the nine tails was sealed by the fourth Hokage himself, it is a strong seal, but if anything happens I will be right there to prevent it. I will never let anything happen to you." Kakashi said with determination, it was more of a promise to himself than to the boy, but it did not matter he was planning to make keep his promise.

Next was target practice mixed with genjutsu since neither required much time. Naruto was acceptable at target practice but terrible at genjutsu. The blonde had no idea how to spot the simplest genjutsu, nor feel them and worst of all, no idea how to break hem. Kakashi knew the two things he needed to work with Naruto on, his chakra control and genjutsu. It didn't seem too hopeless for the first, on the other hand, the latter looked close to impossible to train him on.

"Kakashi sensei, I have just one more question, more of a request." The blonde stated, Kakashi was curious as to what the boy wanted. "Please tell me something that you think I should know." He said. The sensei hummed, it took a few minutes to say the following.

"You shadow clones have three facts you should know; they drain chakra more than any other jutsu genins and chuunins know. They accumulate experience for you and many jonin can perform them but only in very small limited numbers and for a small period of time." He explained, he knew that this was not what the boy was hoping to learn about, yet would be grateful for. Which was correct, Naruto had felt the energy drain from the clones before, he also had a feeling that others may perform them but now understood how dangerous the jutsu might be for others without his chakra reserve."

"Sensei what does accumulate experience mean?" he asked, as that was the only thing he didn't understand. Kakashi laughed, he proceeded to tell Naruto that if he trains he gets stronger, but if he also trains with a clone he will be twice as strong because what the clone learn, Naruto himself will learn ones the clone disappears. This excited the blonde the most, this means he can learn faster and more efficiently. Kakashi's clone then said goodbye to Naruto, explaining that he needs the boy to meet him tomorrow at 7:00 in training grounds 12 again, before dispersing to the blondes shock.

Sasuke

The raven felt a presence approaching his body and immediately went into a guard stance, he saw the silver-haired shinobi and gritted his teeth, "Why are we here? and why are you always so late?" He bombarder the sensei with questions. The sensei just ignored his questions and kept going into a clearer space in the area.

"Alright, I want you to come at me with the best taijutsu you have, no weapons or ninjutsu." He simply stated. The raven didn't say anything back but just did as he was told, he was going to show this jonin what he was capable of, maybe then he would agree to his request. After 20 munites of sparring where Sasuke was losing rather badly, the sensei stopped him. "Your execution and technique are good, speed is excellent but you lack the strength of the punch," he said.

Sasuke rolled his eyes begrudgingly, what was this?

"Now show me all the ninjutsu you know but with no attacking," Kakashi stated. Once again the raven complied, he showed the basic academy jutsus then the fireball and another jutsu he created; the fire blossom shuriken. The sensei was impressed with the perfect execution of each jutsu and praised the kid for his hard work and dedication. Sasuke ignored the compliments but felt a slight sense of pride and satisfaction that this sensei praised him.

The other exercise went slightly different, even though his target shooting was good his throws seemed to be based on strength rather than precision. His genjutsu was also rather lacking for an Uchiha, the kid was on high alert but he doesn't notice small details that may be the end of him in battle. He also kind of slacked on performing them due to that the genjutsu he performed lacked refine and were easily spotted.

Kakashi laughed internally at the difference between brothers, Itachi was a prodigy but struggled with taijutsu a little, even if he was good, he needed more practice. Since he was talented he didn't put much effort into his ninjutsu and to the trained eye, it wasn't very hard to spot (not that it was easy).

Meanwhile, his genjutsu was unmatched in the Anbu and his target shooting had such precision he could place a weapon a hair away from the enemy vital point, in order to injure them badly, but not mortally. Now looking at Sasuke who didn't have his brother's eyes but a determination, and lust for perfection and power that pushed him to hone his skills this much.

"Teach me a new jutsu." Sasuke suddenly stated as Kakashi was fully analysing his student. The sensei predicted this but knew better than to give the boy something he wasn't ready for. He had a much better idea and he knew Sasuke would be both stunned and happy with it.

"No, I'll teach you to use your Sharingan" he simply stated. Sasuke's jaw dropped, was the sensei serious? He had known about the rumours but were they actually true? To answer the boy's sceptical look, Kakashi lifted his headband. The raven then started bombarding him with the usual questions, how? Where? Whom? When?

Kakashi simply said that they were entrusted to him by his close friend who was indeed an Uchiha, this calmed Sasuke down a bit as he saw both the agony and frustration of his sensei. This must have been his friend's dying wish, also it looked like Kakashi had lost an eye due to the scar, so Sasuke put two-and-two together.

"You have your Sharingan right?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke sighed and explained how for the first 24 hours after the massacre his eyes had the Sharingan, one eye with an immature Sharingan and the other with a semi-mature Sharingan. However, no matter how hard he tried to access them they wouldn't appear again. Instead, he seemed to lose his mental state and just go back to that day witnessing flashbacks.

"Is that why you were meditating?" Kakashi asked as he saw the student doing it before he approached him, Sasuke confirmed it. "Alright, how about you face that again then?" Kakashi asked? The raven looked at him confused. "The Sharingan is triggered through strong emotion usually negative. You said your mental state is confused and that you had different levels of the Sharingan." Kakashi said. "This means that you have different emotions contributing to your Sharingan, one being stronger than the other." He explained further.

Sasuke seemed to understand where the jonin was coming from and confirmed this, he had both anger and sadness plaguing him but he wasn't sure which he felt stronger and his Sharingan must not know which to depend on. After a few minutes of more suggestions, Sasuke asked the sensei for something important. "Please place me under a strong genjutsu to make me relive that day."

Kakashi was shocked and horrified, he refused. However, the Uchiha was not taking no for an answer, pleading with him. Kakashi was not going to budge, he was not going to be responsible for showing the boy the same trauma. Instead, he suggested that Sasuke try to meditate more and while he is doing that, he can start to recall the events bit by bit of that day to sort out through each emotion.

After a little more arguing from Sasuke, the boy sighed in frustration. Kakashi told him the same thing he told Naruto about tomorrow's meeting and left the boy.

Kakashi returned home exhausted, the memory from each clone hitting him, Naruto and Sasuke needed help in very different ways. Sakura seemed to be the easiest to deal with but weakest compared to her teammates. The girl had explained in detail how she spent her time during the last year in the academy, how she perfected chakra control, taught herself how to detect genjutsu and perform six different genjutsu. How she and her best friend would spar during weekends and that's why her stance and execution were perfect but she was not strong nor fast.

Her ninjutsu was more than okay but once again needed a bit more perfecting in order to trick a keen and trained eye. But the chakra drawbacks were close to none which was excellent in Kakashi's eyes. This team was interesting and actually well balanced in terms of ability, they did need a lot of work to become balanced themselves and their teamwork looked like it would be a pain in the ass until they got their heads together. Overall he was happy with today, he knows what to do for tomorrow and how to handle their schedule when it comes.

Naruto made his way to the grocery store to buy some more ramen when he headed home Iruka met him with a grin. Naruto was really confused but ecstatic to see is the previous sensei. They talked about the boy's day when the topic of Iruka's day came up. "Actually that's why I am here, Naruto I am no longer your sensei but I've always thought of you as more than a student to me," Iruka said with a slight blush and a nervous look.

The blonde grew more confused but retorted with him feeling the same as his sensei, he saw Iruka as an older brother or even father at times. Iruka smiled widely, "It was suggested to me that now I can be of more use to you" Iruka stated. Naruto was growing a bit impatient with the indirect talk. "I asked the Hokage and he agreed but now I need your agreement Naruto," Iruka continued, then took a deep breath, "Will you come live with me? the Hokage will pay for the difference and we can be a family."

Naruto felt shocked, then he felt tears run down his eyes he wailed rather loudly and ugly and jumped on his former sensei. With loud 'yes's and 'please's. So Naruto and Iruka spent that night packing what little belongings the blonde had and went to the Iruka's two-bedroom apartment. Where Naruto found a room ready for him and very organised, a new bed with new sheets and covers. A wardrobe that wasn't broken.

The boy dropped to the floor and cried grateful for all that has happened for the past three days, he has a new team with good teammates. A sensei willing to make his training better and a former sensei wanting to take him under his wing. That day he cried himself to sleep but for the first time it was in pure joy, his stomach also full with healthy and tasty homemade food.

This was truly a new beginning for him and he was not going to waste this opportunity.

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Hope you enjoyed.