Standing between Sakura and Naruto, Sasuke wonders what's going to happen next. "Please unfold the piece of paper that you selected from the box," the proctor says as he reseals the box into a storage scroll. Sasuke quickly unfolds the paper, noting that on one side there are instructions and times, but largely focussing on the giant number on one side. "You will find that each of you have a number," the proctor continues. "These numbers will pair you with your opponent for the first round of the third trial. The third trial will take place here in a month's time. You all have the details in your hand. Now, if you all hold up your numbers, I will announce the matches."

Holding up his number, Sasuke glances around, trying to spot who he's fighting. "Shino Aburame of Konohagakure versus Kankurō of Sunagakure; Shikamaru Nara of Konohagakure versus Neji Hyūga of Konohagakure; Sasuke Uchiha of Konohagakure versus Temari of Sunagakure; Nobu Sasaki of Kumogakure versus Yui Yoshida of Takigakure; Kiba Inuzuka of Konohagakure versus Lee of Konohagakure; Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure versus Mao Fujita of Kusagakure; Chōji Akimichi of Konohagakure versus Gaara of Sunagakure; Rokurou Ueda of Kusagakure versus Fuyuko Kurosawa of Shimogakure; and Sakura Haruno of Konohagakure versus Akio Chinoike of Kumogakure." After that, the proctor disappears in a body flicker.

Instantly, Team Kakashi bunch together, on edge with the proctor's abrupt disappearance, but feel calmer when Kakashi appears in front of them. "Follow me," he says as other jōnin teachers appear in front of their respective genins. Without questioning, Team Kakashi following their teacher out of the arena.

Sasuke sees the person waiting for them first, and only waits for a brief nod from Kakashi to go flying forward, pausing just in front of Toru. The older Uchiha laughs, smiling, "Hey kiddos, how'd you all go?"

"We all passed," Naruto crows, tackling Toru in a hug. The older boy rocks with the movement but doesn't actually shift his feet and laughs, hugging Naruto back before placing the genin back onto his feet.

"Congratulations," Toru says, ruffling Sasuke's hair and smiling at Sakura. He glances up at Kakashi, "and now you have a month to train, correct?"

"Was it the same for you?" Sakura asks.

Toru shakes his head, "Nah, we had a ten-day break in which we could train. My team and I had our chūnin exam in Sunagakure. Now, I suppose you're all hungry and want some food?"

Takuma barks, just as Naruto's stomach growls loudly, and Toru laughs, clicking his fingers. Haruto detaches himself from the darkness and comes to stand beside Toru, (and for a moment, Toru considers himself without Haruto; because despite how often they are together within Konoha, Haruto doesn't come on missions with Toru and is largely used for his activities with Kakumau). His gaze moves from the genins to Kakashi, who has remained, (hesitating and slightly unsure, but has remained with them). "I have some food back home, if you are all willing to go there? You can stay for the night." He gazes at the trio of genins as he says this, but glances at Kakashi to include him.

Tilting his head, Kakashi agrees and says, "It'll be good to figure out a training plan as well." The only response is Sakura pulling a face, but no one says anything as they head towards the Uchiha apartment, (and maybe if they hadn't known Toru or Kakashi the genins would complain, not seeing a need to figure out training the second after they'd finished fighting, but Kakashi is a wartime ninja and knows not to waste time and Toru is Toru).

The door unlocks easily, the smell of food clear. "Iruka," Toru calls out, surprised, as he waits for the others to enter. "I see you made yourself at home."

Placing a bowl down on the dining room table, Iruka smiles at Toru and turns to the genins. "Congratulations on getting to the third trial," he says simply. "Feel free to help yourself, I'll set up another placemat for...?"

"Kakashi Hatake," Toru says, "and Kakashi-san, this is Iruka Umino."

"Greetings, Hatake-san," Iruka says. "I'm afraid I wasn't prepared for another person, but there will be plenty of food regardless. I hope you don't mind leftovers."

"You didn't have to cook more," Toru says, rolling his eyes as he takes a seat at the head of the table, Sasuke on his left and Iruka on his right. "There was plenty."

"You cooked everyone else's favourites but your own," Iruka returns sharply. "And there were one or two things left to do and I was here, so there was no reason not to."

Toru smiles, shaking his head, and knows full well he didn't have the ingredients that Iruka had needed. "Are you going to come to the final match, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asks as he takes a seat next to Iruka and across from Sakura. "Surely, you're coming, everyone's going to be participating!"

"Not everyone," Sakura hastens to add, nudging Sasuke a plate closer to him. "Neither Ino nor Hinata will be fighting, but they dropped out due to medical reasons. Everyone else made it through, although I expect Chōji won't end up competing in the third round. He's facing some insane redhead from Sunagakure."

"Poor Tenten-chan," Naruto says, pausing. "I hope I face that bastard in the third round so I can smash him to a pulp."

"I suppose you'll have to plan what tactics to use against your opponents," Iruka says. "Regardless, I am proud of all of you. And yes, Naruto, I do plan to come to the final match, as long as I don't have an active mission."

"Eh, you're still on the roster?" Naruto says loudly as he slurps some more of his ramen. "Thought you don't go on missions 'cause you're an Academy instructor!"

"Manners, Naruto," Toru says, "and Academy's on break for the third trial of the chūnin exam, so it's understandable that Iruka is on the active mission rosters. Kakashi-san, please help yourself to some food. You can use a genjutsu if you desire to keep your mask up."

"As long as no one minds my rudeness," Kakashi replies and his genins snort in unison. The jōnin then flickers through a set of hand seals and finally starts putting food on his plate.

"When did you ever start caring about how rude you appear?" Naruto asks, "Because it doesn't seem like anything's ever changed."

"Just because you lack manners," Sasuke begins hotly, "doesn't mean that everyone else is always rude."

"You're just saying that because of that one D-rank mission with the noble's children!" Naruto says, pointing with his chopsticks. "Otherwise, you'd be on my side!"

"Your side was teaching the children to burp the alphabet!" Sasuke snarls back. "That's not manners! You don't even know what manners are! Toru just reminded you before."

"That's not–" There's a thump and Naruto falls silent, scowling at Sakura. "That hurt," he says with a pout.

"Serves you ri–" Sasuke cuts himself off and scoots his chair away from Sakura, rubbing his ribs.

"No fighting at the table," Sakura says calmly as she picks up an umeboshi. "That is rude, and you shouldn't comment on Kakashi-sensei's manners. It's not his fault he probably has some massive disfiguration or scar that he desires to keep hidden from everyone."

"Thank you, Sakura," Toru says, an amused tilt to his lips as he stares down at the only jōnin in the room, who currently is staring at their only female genin with something like shock in their eyes.

"He might not be disfigured," Iruka adds in the pause that follows. "Maybe he's just shy."

Once again, Kakashi pauses in eating, staring at the older chūnin in the room, because really, him – shy? He's a jōnin with numerous Bingo Book entries and is well known amongst Konoha civilians and ninjas, not to mention ninjas from outside the village. He's known for his deadly jutsus – he's not shy!

"A possibility," Toru says, "have there been any changes to the odds?"

"Not recently," Iruka returns, "but if any of Team Kakashi make chūnin, there are going to be so many queries over whether or not they know."

"Is this some secret knowledge only chūnin can know?" Naruto asks, tilting his head in question.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura shakes her head. "It's the general betting that the Chūnin Corps have," she explains. "Some of the jōnins henge themselves as chūnin to place their own bets. I'm fairly certain there are bets on everything. Iruka-sensei, Toru, are there are any bets in regards to the chūnin exam?"

"None that we know of," Toru answers.

"Tend to stray away from those when you've taught those who are entered," Iruka explains. "Hatake-san, are you okay?"

The jōnin finally looks up from his plate, "Does everyone assume I have a disfigurement?"

"You mean you don't?" Naruto asks, leaning over the table and angling himself towards his sensei. "But I was sure you did!"

"What are you hiding then, if not a disfigurement?" Sakura asks. "Although, even a disfigurement raises its own questions, since we are ninjas and such a thing is not an issue."

"Could be for infiltration purposes," Sasuke points out. "However, even that doesn't make sense because he has the sharingan eye, which is pretty obvious."

"Training plans!" Kakashi interrupts, looking panicked. "Let's talk about those!"

Chuckling, Iruka stands up and collects a few plates. "I best be going. I promised Genma, I'd swing past and tell him how your brats did," he says, directing his words at Toru. "You should meet up with him at some point, since you had a mission last time. And Hatake-san, it was nice meeting you. Good luck to you and your team with the chūnin exam." With that said, the chūnin places his dishes in the kitchen and leaves through a window.

"Training plans?" Toru echoes at long last, as he stacks a few plates, carolling the genins into helping him. Even Kakashi helps, grabbing a few and turning the kitchen tap on, (it all feels rather domestic, and like the grief and hardness of life cannot reach them here; Toru wonders what a life like that would be – one where the hardness didn't reach you and you aren't always nervous or paranoid).

As Kakashi starts washing the cooking equipment, dishes, and utensils, along with Sakura, he starts speaking, "I'm thinking that each genin has a day spent training with me and one day spent training with you."

"Barring active missions," Toru interjects, collecting one dried pot from Naruto and putting it away before grabbing a dried plate from Sasuke.

"Barring active missions," Kakashi allows. "Then, three days of training with a specific teacher, I was thinking. I'm sure you three wish to meet up with your fellow rookies?"

"We could maybe rope Lee-kun and Neji-kun," Naruto adds. "Friday tends to be the day everyone is free. Sakura?"

"Yeah, I can probably organise that tomorrow morning through Ino in regards to the rookies. Will Lee-kun and Neji-kun want to train with Tenten-chan in the hospital?"

"We could visit Tenten-chan and maybe ask," Sasuke points out. "We should visit her either way."

"Sounds like a plan," Toru says smoothly. "Kakashi-san, did you have any thoughts on teachers?"

There are a few minutes of silence as the final washing and drying takes place, when everything is put away in its place, Kakashi finally hums. "Team, is there anything you want to work on personally?"

"I think… poison?" Sakura asks, before nodding firmly to herself. "Working on a taijutsu style that incorporates medical jutsus is something that will take time and can't be finetuned in a month, so I can practise that as normal. However, poison is an area that I definitely want to work on and will help in regards to my medical techniques and my medical knowledge as well."

"Ninjutsu, probably," Sasuke decides. "I've been working almost exclusively on my skills with Takuma, and I can only practise what I've currently got rather than anything new in the month break. But the few ninjutsus I know aren't helpful because they only endanger Takuma when he goes up close."

Naruto pauses, "I'm not sure what to work on," he says. "Genjutsu is still beyond my control and my taijutsu just needs more practise and I've got a few good ninjutsus up my sleeve."

"You've got more chakra than you need, though," Sakura points out.

Sasuke nods in agreement, "Picking up some more ninjutsus would be good for us as a team, as well."

Kakashi claps his hands, instantly gaining the attention of his genins. "Here's the plan – Sakura, I'm going to introduce you to an old friend of mine who owes me a favour. Sasuke, I have some ninjutsus that you can learn and we can work on some ninken stuff as well. And Naruto, I've heard some rumours about someone I kind of know being in-village, and he should be able to teach you. Only, he won't agree if I ask, so that's going to be on you. If he refuses, speak to Toru or me and we can teach you."

(Sometimes Toru finds it strange, to wake up and realise he's looking out for two genins, two children although they would protest that they are not. It's strange because once he had been responsible for an ANBU team who'd breathed and lived together, for a village that was always going to fall. Now he could say he's part of ANBU team and not responsible for them, and now looks out for two genins who almost-but-not-quite need him.)

Upon sensing someone's chakra approaching, Genma speeds through the rest of his kata, finishing just as the ninja appears over the peak of the crag that forms most of Training Ground Twelve. Raising an eyebrow at Kakashi, Genma settles his weight into his heels a bit more, (he trusts Kakashi will not attack him, even if they haven't spoken for years, even if it seemed their friendship had meant nothing to the younger shinobi).

"Kakashi-san," he greets. "This is a bit out of your way."

"Genma-san," Kakashi says after a pause. "It's… good to see you."

"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Genma replies, tone mild, but Kakashi clearly winces, catching Genma's disapproval and irritation.

Dipping his head in a nod, Kakashi acknowledges, "It has. That is on me, I will admit it."

Humming, Genma tilts his head in askance. "Did you want something Kakashi-san? I take it you did not come here from nothing."

"Maybe not," Kakashi admits with a twist of his hidden lips. "I was wondering if you would be willing to train one of my genins for their match in the chūnin exam. She wishes to work on poison. She's currently practising on strengthening her taijutsu by combining medical techniques and chakra-powered attacks."

Frowning, Genma asks, "You want me to do this to repay my favour?"

"Yes," Kakashi says, "but I'm also asking as a friend. Sakura has potential to be amazing, but I don't have the ability to teach her to achieve her potential."

"Very well," Genma eventually says, and Kakashi sighs in relief. "Where do I meet her?"

"Training ground three; she'll miss training on Fridays. I train her on Mondays and Toru-san trains her on Tuesdays," Kakashi adds.

"Fine," Genma says, setting into a new starting position for a kata. "I will see her tomorrow morning."

Kakashi nods, and hesitates again, "When… when do you and Raidō-san go out for drinks?"

Genma gives him a sharp glance, and Kakashi reminds himself that despite his appearance as a tokubetsu jōnin, Genma is remarkably well connected and respected, (and Genma may not be a genius or a prodigy, but he had been the guard of an Hokage before he was seventeen). "We will go out Thursday night, meet up at seven. If you don't come, this is your last chance." Kakashi nods and vanishes in a whirlwind of chakra and leaves.

(Genma is not giving Kakashi one last chance, despite how it seems. He would keep trying to reach out to Kakashi as he has done through the years, even though Kakashi doesn't reciprocate, because he owes it to Kakashi and to those long gone. And to see Kakashi now, reaching out and doing it without any prompting, makes him glad. He thinks, now, that Kakashi's isolation is ending and is grateful to the genins that did it – against all odds.)

"What do you know about Jiraiya-san?" Toru asks Naruto.

The other boy yawns, rubbing his eyes. "Too early," he mutters. "Jiraiya-san is one of the sannin, and hasn't been in the village in years. Abandoned Konoha during one of the wars briefly and eventually returned once Tsundane-san had also left. He trained the Yondaime Hokage, was taught by the Sandaime Hokage, and has toad summons… I think. He's known for his prowess in the sealing arts, although the Yondaime surpassed him. He wrote the Icha Icha series, although that series dropped in popularity in the past few years. That's all… I think Shika mentioned something about being a spymaster? Not sure."

"Did you go over this with Sakura and Sasuke?" Toru guesses, and Naruto nods. "Good work on putting everything together. Don't worry about what Shikamaru-kun said for now. You can investigate that in your own time."

"The fact Kakashi-sensei said to check the bathhouse reflects that Jiraiya-san hasn't been in Konoha for a while… since before the massive campaign the police launched," Naruto adds, and there's something hidden in his voice, (Naruto is a loyal ninja of Konoha, of course he would be angry that someone had dared to abandon it).

Toru pauses, "Alright, let's go see whether I need to take someone to the police station before your training finishes."

Laughing, Naruto keeps pace as Toru drops from the rooftop to the first fence surrounding the bathhouse. "Kakashi-san's assumption held true," Toru murmurs to Naruto, upon spying the white-haired sannin. Raising his voice, Toru calls out, "If you're attempting to breach the fence in front of you, you will find yourself on the wrong side of the law, shinobi-san. The police force will take action."

"Eh?" The sannin says, reacting comically and flailing backwards. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Drop the act, Jiraiya-san," Toru says, "Don't bother with it. There's no way you'll get passed the seal work without people knowing."

"You know who made the seal then," Jiraiya responds, a question in his tone.

"Jiraiya-san, I'm here on Kakashi-san's behalf to ask you to train Naruto here for the chūnin exam. Kakashi-san said you're likely to and that it is owed," Toru says, not answering Jiraiya. Beside him, Naruto frowns.

"That brat can't make me do anything, I don't want to," Jiraiya laughs. "Besides, I'm not here for him, I have actual business to attend to."

Toru's eyes narrow, (and he has fought for Naruto for years, against teachers who despise him, against teachers who will sabotage him, against teachers who don't care and don't know how to teach; and he has always fought because Naruto deserves all of it and more, and he is not about to lie down here and take it; it would not be fair to have Naruto train without a single teacher whilst Sasuke is trained by Kakashi and Sakura by Genma). "Help train Naruto or I'll report this to the police," he says decisively, (and this is a threat and a promise, and he does not mind standing up to this ninja who abandons his village).

(Toru is an Uzukage, whether he died as one and now doesn't hold the position, he still is an Uzukage. He has hesitated to show his power before, but never to fight for those he loves and cares about, and he will continue to do it. He is a position where he can do it now, as well.)

"Who are you again?" Jiraiya says, finally turning away from the fence.

Inclining his head with a polite smile, Toru answers, "Toru Uchiha, Clan Head of the Uchiha Clan, founder of the Uchiha Police Force, chūnin of Konohagakure."

(He is important and powerful both politically and in other manners; he will see Naruto taught whether it is by someone powerful or by a friend.)

"I am a sannin boy, you really think you could stand against me?" Jiraiya replies with a boastful laugh.

Naruto's a scowling figure at Toru's side, and Toru smiles, (bares his teeth and everyone who knows him understands that this is not a smile). "A sannin who has abandoned Konoha in all but name. Meanwhile, I am the Uchiha Clan Head and allied to Kurama Clan, Inuzuka Clan, and Hyūga Clan. However, you will find that every clans do not owe me or will not help if I ask them to. Besides, isn't Icha Icha out of publishing now? What power do you have that I cannot defeat?"

"You're making an enemy out of someone you can't afford to," Jiraiya says, finally dropping his act and reminding Toru that he is facing a powerful ninja.

"You abandoned Konoha!" Naruto shouts, at long last, and Toru doesn't silent him. "Toru has been here all his life and has never abandoned Konoha despite everything! Toru's way better than you and everyone in Konoha knows it! In our lives, you need to trust and we can't trust someone who has abandoned their village, whether you're the spymaster or not. You should've reported in to Konoha, but no one has seen you in over a decade."

"How do you know of that? That's meant to be a secret," Jiraiya says, glaring at Naruto.

"You can know all sorts of things when you are friends with seven Clan Heirs," Naruto answers. "Toru, I don't want to be taught by this loser, are you sure you can't find anyone else?"

"I can," Toru decides, "but it'll be a mix of teachers."

"Wa- wait!" Jiraiya calls out as they turn their backs. "Hang on, I'll teach him – Naruto-kun. It's… fitting."

"Why is it fitting?" Naruto asks as they turn back around.

Jiraiya visibly panics, "Well, I taught Hatake-brat's teacher so I should teach his student. It's a cycle!"

"Cycles aren't necessarily good," Naruto points out, "that's why you should try to break out of them and change things."

"I can teach you some powerful techniques," Jiraiya promises, and it's now that Toru realises something more is occurring – something that both Kakashi and Jiraiya know about Naruto, but Toru doesn't.

(And he's never really thought about it, but both Jiraiya and Kakashi are connected by the Yondaime who looks a lot like Naruto who had a relationship with an Uzumaki – it all makes sense now, and there's going to be some law that prevents him from telling Naruto, he just knows it. However, it's not going to be too difficult to point the kids in the right direction and let them figure it out for themselves.)

Making a decision, Toru crouches down. "Might as well take what this guy can teach you," he says quietly to Naruto. "He's powerful, even if he isn't a good person. And I'm sure he's got one or two cool things you can learn."

"Fine," Naruto announces before pointing at Jiraiya, "but if you do anything I don't like, I'm gonna tell Toru and everyone else!" Deciding that the two would carry on fine without him, he leaves with a body-flicker and heads towards the training ground where Sasuke waits.

(And so, Toru thinks, Naruto takes a step out of his reach.)

"Today, you're going to be learning water walking!" Jiraiya announces after leading Naruto to a nearby training ground.

Naruto blinks. "I already know how to do that," he counters. "I'm looking to expand my arsenal of ninjutsus. I have a massive chakra pool and don't have many ninjutsus that will hit hard and take people out. The only techniques I know, aside from the Academy Three, are the water clone and shadow clone jutsus."

"Fine then! What's your chakra affinity?" Jiraiya demands.

"Wind," Naruto answers. "Know any wind techniques?"

Jiraiya nods. "We'll start basic, then, with Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. The hand seals are tiger, ox, dog, rabbit, and snake. While you practise, I'm going to check up on some people and speak with the Hokage. I'll be back later."

With that said, the sannin disappears in a swirl of leaves. Naruto scowls, he knows well enough that he needs more instruction before he begins to start practising the jutsu, but he can't get that instruction alone. Then again, Jiraiya is the spymaster, so maybe he's tricking Naruto into not following him and really wanting Naruto follow him to work on his tracking skills?

Shrugging, Naruto decides to try and follow. It doesn't make sense since the next trial will be one-on-one fights, but maybe there's another lesson here. Thus, Naruto channels chakra to his nose and starts going through the hand seals for the henge; he has a sannin to catch, after all.

"Mmkay, so today's the day we train together," Toru says to Sasuke and Takuma. "Kakashi-san will actually work on ninken stuff, since I don't have that kind of capability. However, I can get Takuma to work more on fighting." He whistles, resulting in Haruto and Takumi to appear from opposing directions. "Takuma, your task will be to find Haruto while Takumi hunts you. Sound good?" Takuma barks. "Haruto, hide!"

The dog nods and leaps into the undergrowth surrounding them, promptly disappearing from sight. After a minute, Takuma follows him. Letting the dogs do their own training, Toru turns to face Sasuke. "We know you're fairly fast for your age and experience," he begins. "We also know that I've focussed on training you to be fast, for two reasons. One is that it's helpful to be fast when opponents are older than you and are therefore stronger. Two is that it's helpful for the sharingan, which improves your eyesight beyond what you currently have and gives you the ability to see where someone will move – essentially predicting their movements.

"However, whilst speed is helpful and very important, you also need your reflexes to be as good. Today, we'll be working on your reflexes and your kenjutsu and taijutsu skills. You're going to get exhausted when you fight, so you need to be able to keep going and not slow down too much. The good news is that I'll not be using chakra or anything and just use kenjutsu and taijutsu. The bad news is that you can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu and will be fighting for a few hours. Any questions?"

Sasuke shakes his head and settles into a defensive position. Grinning, Toru speeds forward. However, Sasuke dodges at the last possible second, fingers brushing past his shoulder. He swings to the side. Except, Toru is already there and lands a blow hard enough to hurt but not enough to bruise on Sasuke's ribs.

"Arms by your sides! Don't let them get too far away that they're useless as a guard," Toru advises as they disengage briefly. In a blur of colour, he lands three more blows on Sasuke, who finally pulls out his sword and takes up a new stance.

Rather then even the odds by using his katana, Toru dives forward, leaping over the sword to flip sideways and land a kick between Sasuke's shoulder blades. The boy stumbles forward but turns, blade cutting Toru's forearm. Despite the injury, Toru doesn't disengage, instead sweeping out with his leg and causing the younger Uchiha to fall, sword held out in front of him to defend.

"Good hold on your blade, but remember to keep your centre of gravity low, even with kenjutsu. If your legs are too straight, you're either too rooted in your stance or too weak to remain standing if someone goes after your legs," Toru says and waits for Sasuke to stand once more. Pushing himself onto his feet, Sasuke settles into a kenjutsu stance once again, sword raised and ready. A snarl fixes itself onto his face.

(Seeing this, Toru knows that Sasuke is a capable ninja and will succeed in his life. He doesn't need Toru to continue training him. He will do well.)

Sakura stands in front Kakashi, waiting for him to explain their plan for the day. "With me, we're going to be working on improving your chakra reserves and ability to multitask," he says. "Can you make a guess as to what we're going to be doing?"

Considering they're standing beside a river, she has a very good guess, and tells her teacher that. She adds, "Expanding on that, we're probably going to spar on the river."

"Very good!" Kakashi replies. "You're going to be fighting with your new style, not just taijutsu – use your medical techniques as well. Splitting your attention in regards to chakra will be good for you. But first, I figured I'd introduce you to the pack, since they've been wanting to meet my team for a while."

"The pack?" Sakura echoes. "Your ninken?"

Kakashi hums. "Correct! I considered having them meet all three of you at once, but I think that I would be overwhelmed by that and figured that it'd be better that you all meet one on one." He flicks through a set of hand seals, "Summoning Technique: Pakkun."

A miniature pug appears in front of Sakura in a cloud of smoke. Immediately, Sakura leans down. "Hello, I am Sakura Haruno."

"I am Pakkun," the pug responds, before twisting to look up at his summoner. "I am glad to see you have finally had pups. Are there more?"

"Pakkun!" Kakashi protests, and Sakura smiles and crosses her legs, settling onto the ground.

"There are two others," she tells Pakkun quickly, with a sly glance sideways at Kakashi. "Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. Kakashi-sensei is our teacher, do you have any embarrassing stories?"

"That's enough," Kakashi says quickly, grabbing Sakura by the collar and throwing her onto the river. "Nice to see you again, Pakkun, feel free to stick around while we train!"

Sakura catches herself on the water, letting only her ankles get wet, and snarls at Kakashi, launching herself forward. Back on land, Pakkun smiles as he lays down, (he never thought he'd see the day where his summoner took an active role in teaching pups).

And so, the first day of training for the third trial of the Konoha chūnin exam begins. As those preparing start training in earnest, Toru comes to the realisation that neither Sasuke nor Naruto truly need him anymore for training and can, in fact, rely on their own skills and alliances. It is a feeling he has come to accept over the past few years, having equipped himself for it. Meanwhile, a revelation makes itself known to Toru, who isn't so much as shocked by it as he is dumbfounded by the fact he never realised in the first place.

Iruka and Kakashi finally met face-to-face, and Toru has everyone over for dinner with a table that just fits all of them. Kakashi's characterisation is a bit iffy because I'm still a bit unsure about how to write him. Especially in his interactions with Toru. However, I will admit, he doesn't eat at first because he's trying to figure out whether it counts as rude to hide his face and whether he can eat without anyone seeing his face. Which is why Toru mentions the genjutsu thing. Also, I had some fun with the reason why Kakashi has a mask. Because there would so be people who wonder about it, and I reckon the genins are bound to know what's going on, even if it's only in vague notions. Also Sakura is totally just digging for information there (and later as well).

Also, Genma is great and I'm glad I got to include him in the writing. I'm working on the assumption that Genma and Kakashi became kind-of friends through both ANBU (assuming Genma was an ANBU member at some stage) and also because Kakashi and Genma both knew Minato (Namikaze) and so probably knew each other through that link as well.

Here you get to see Naruto meeting Jiraiya and something that clicks in Toru's head. I don't have much to say, but Naruto's echoing Toru's own disapproval in regards to Jiraiya, which is why he clearly doesn't like Jiraiya. It's also got to do with the fact Jiraiya is behind Icha Icha and the hypersexualising of women which is not okay in Naruto's book (and also Toru's). Remember, there's no Sexy jutsu in this series as Naruto doesn't want attention and has no reason to create it (although, I'm kinda working on the basis that the technique was a henge with a genjutsu aspect, but I don't really need to explore that, so I'm not going to).

Sasuke is just getting beaten down there, but Toru is also showing where there are holes in his guard so he's aware of it. Meanwhile, Takuma is both the hunter and the hunted. I don't have much to say, since it's pretty much training.

Sakura's own training only gets a small bit because I didn't know what to write for hers. She's trying to get Kakashi to reveal more about himself and stop hiding away as well, and also just get along with Kakashi's ninken, all of which Kakashi clearly cares about.

That's all I really have to say. I expect the next chapter will probably be another training chapter, and the following chapter is where we'll hit the chunin exams again.