In the end, they stood up very well. Kakashi suspected they were made of shinobi quality supplies.


"That cat is evil," Naruto declared the next day before Kakashi deigned to gift them with his presence. Kakashi agreed with that statement.

"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "Sasuke, add eye protection to the grocery shopping list at some point, I do not want my eyes scratched out."

Sasuke nodded absently, carving out another sliver of wood from the chunk in his hand. It was beginning to resemble a sphere, with four indentations on one side that made Kakashi think he was carving a sharingan eye.

Kakashi eyed the flower that had popped up around Naruto, and decided a trip to the Hokage was in order before he graced them with his presence.


Kakashi stood in front of the Hokage. "Hokage-sama. I believe Naruto has Mokuton."

Hiruzen looked up sharply. "What makes you say that?"

"Flowers, they keep blooming around him when he's happy. I have been observing them in the morning, and each time, flowers bloom around them, even though it isn't near the flower season. Tenzo did, and still does, much the same thing. Mokuton reacts to emotions, particularly positive ones."

Hiruzen chewed on his pipe. This was a difficult situation indeed. "And you remember how Tenzo-kun learned Mokuton?"

Kakashi nodded. "If there's anything I'm missing, I can always ask him."

Hiruzen sighed. "Tell no one else. Just your team. I'm taking you off of missions for a few weeks to train him in this, and get his teammates stronger. They'll need to be in the Chuunin Exams, and I want them ready. I'll prepare a C-rank mission for you when you think they are ready."

Kakashi nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." He disappeared in a shunshin, leaving leaves drifting to the ground and the barest puff of smoke.

Hiruzen sighed. Really, sometimes he wished his elite jounin would just walk out of the room. It would be so much easier.


Kakashi, satisfied by how late he was, deigned to make an appearance at the training field. Orange lilies bloomed at his feet, and he frowned at them. Maybe that was a bit mean. Really, hatred?

His genin stared at him from their stretching positions, lazily finished stretching, and stood before him.

"Another D-rank, oh esteemed sensei?" Sakura asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Something a bit more important," Kakashi said gravely. "Sit down." He walked around them, placing silencing seals around them, then layering the area in a genjutsu that meant this was occupied, so don't disturb them. Unless the village was on fire.

They watched him carefully as he sat back down in front of him. "What's this about, sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Naruto, you may not know this, but you have a bloodline."

Naruto blinked at him. "What?"

"Mokuton, specifically," Kakashi added.

Sakura frowned minutely, plucking one of the Bird of Paradise flowers by her feet, and glancing at the orange lilies around Kakashi's. "The flowers. So they're part of a bloodline."

"A very powerful one that hasn't been seen since Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage," Sasuke agreed.

Naruto blinked, dumbfounded at the flower in Sakura's hand. "So that's why flowers keep blooming around me."

Kakashi despaired at his genin. They were not reacting how genin were supposed to react! They never did. Kakashi couldn't wait for the Chuunin Exams. Then he could get them off of his hands, and he wouldn't have to deal with them again unless they went on missions together. He could probably pawn them off on Tenzo a couple of times a week now though. That made him happy.

Sakura sighed loudly, interrupting Kakashi's line of thought. "So, what're we doing today Sensei?"

Kakashi glanced off into the trees. "We're finding a friend of mine. He'll help Naruto with his Mokuton."

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Naruto concentrating on a small tree sapling that had not been there last time. Kakashi's eye twitched. He was so dumping them with Tenzo at least a few times a week.


Tenzo was happy to take them a couple of times, and they clearly liked him far more than they did Kakashi. It did not escape Kakashi's notice that each time he went to go find Tenzo, and found him in his apartment, there were new little wooden statues lining his shelves. And that wasn't counting the scarf Kakashi had noticed Tenzo had taken to wearing. It was a green crochet with brown fabric lining scarf, clearly his student's work.


At first, Sakura hadn't really known what to think of Tenzo. He was a bit awkward, and clearly had no experience teaching people, but he was a good shinobi, and didn't only focus on Naruto, despite the fact that technically, he was only there for Naruto. He set her and Sasuke on chakra control exercises first, and once they had displayed mastery of them, tested their elemental affinities. Sasuke had lightning with a minor fire affinity, and Sakura had water. He set them to elemental chakra control exercises after that.


"What'cha reading Tenzo-sensei?" Sakura asked, startling him slightly, as he hadn't been paying attention.

He tilted the book so she could see. "Iruka-sensei suggested it."

Sakura nodded, dropping down from her spot crouching on the underside of the branch. "Decided to accept that Kakashi is completely useless as a teacher?"

Apparently, the lack of the suffix -sensei did not get past him. "Kakashi-senpai is not used to handling children," he said carefully.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Gosh, I couldn't tell."

Tenzo gave her a flat look for her sarcasm. "Training people who already know the basics and people who still need the basics are two different things. He is used to the first, not the second."

Sakura sighed, placing her hands behind her head and crossing her ankles. "I suppose. And yet, here you are, trying to improve and learn how to teach, and he's sitting across from us in that tree, listening to us and pretending I'm not right."

Tenzo discreetly checked the surrounding area, and there he was. Kakashi was indeed sitting in the tree across from them and listening in.

Sakura snorted softly, standing up. "Well, good luck with the book. If you're wondering, we don't know the shunshin, and would like to learn it." With that, she hopped into a tree, and disappeared into the foliage.


She met up with Sasuke, Naruto, and Shino a few minutes later. "Sorry I'm late, had a chat with Tenzo-sensei."

"That passive-aggressive talk in front of Kakashi-sensei you've been planning since we met him?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sakura smiled innocently. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. Now, were we getting lunch or not? I'm hungry."

"Sure, I believe the Akimichi's barbeque is open today. Why there? Because they do not refuse Naruto."

"And it tastes good!" Sakura chirped in reply, linking her arm through Shino's. "Come! Let us go eat lunch!"


"Oh! Hey Team Asuma!" Sakura said cheerily, waving.

Shikamaru lifted his head lazily, yawning. "Good morning Sakura."

"It is after noon," Shino noted. "Therefore, the appropriate greeting would be 'Good afternoon, Sakura.'"

Sakura merely chuckled. "You'll just have to excuse him for not knowing the time! With how much he sleeps, I'm surprised he ever knows what time it is!"

Shikamaru just yawned in response.

"Well, good afternoon, Team 7 plus Shino," Asuma said, waving a hand. "Come here for lunch often?"

"Only when one of our parents isn't able to cook," Sakura said, shrugging. "Shibi-sama is busy at a clan head meeting thingy, and his wife dragged my mom to a clan matriarch thing, and my dad has a mission."

"Oh, did he put himself back on the roster?" Asuma asked.

Sakura nodded. "He was planning to do it once I became a genin. Now that I'm a genin, he came out of retirement!"

"Right, well, have a nice lunch," Asuma said, waving.

Naruto waved back for them as they sat down in a relatively nearby booth.

(A/N) Aww, cuteness. Maybe Kakashi'll be a better teacher now. Or not. Tenzo's way better with kids anyway. Go vote on the poll, kay?