Yo!
Sorry for the delay; life got a lot hectic, but I promise this story will not be dropped.
Guest reviews : Thank you all!
Nithi Velu : Thank you for taking out time and messaging me; it really helped with the motivation.
Now, onto the chapter!
He had made genin — the first official step towards his ambitions. It was a new beginning, and his feelings were soaring with it.
"What do you make of your team?"
Glancing to his left, taking in the crumbs of meat — scattered closely on the rooftop — which were quickly being devoured by the small white owl, Naruto adopted a moment of contemplation.
"Sakura," He began. "-is, to put it bluntly, useless as of now. Though, from yesterday's encounter, she has begun to grasp the truth; a couple of small wake up calls might do the thing."
This would be the best course of action for her. She wasn't ready for the outside world; none of them was, but at least, he and the other two were trained enough.
He continued. "The Uchiha is capable but arrogant, gets jealous of others' skills despite his own potential. I don't care much about him outside the team."
The owl hooted in confirmation before swerving its neck almost 180 degrees. "And the last one?"
Naruto glanced at the small bird, out of the corner of his left eye. He knew what the bird was aiming at. "I don't hate her, Taiki. It… wasn't her fault, and resenting her for that would make me no different from the villagers."
"That's good. Hatred and revenge consume one's happiness and ambitions."
The Uzumaki nodded. "I will treat her no different than Uchiha."
"Indifference; that's acceptable."
A bout of silence descended between when Naruto noticed the slight shift in sunlight. Stretching a bit, he voiced. "Time to go; see ya later, Taiki."
"Later, Naruto," The owl poofed away.
"First sensei, now Naruto; they should've been here three hours—"
Crunch!
The snap of twig drew the three pairs of eyes towards the direction from which Uzumaki Naruto was ambling towards them.
Nobody doubted that the snap of twig was deliberate.
"You are late!" Sakura voiced, the loud tone carrying the voice far and beyond. Yet, the absence of usual shrillness indicated the inner turmoil the girl was brewing with.
Still, the tone was assuaging for his ears, if nothing else.
"So is sensei," Naruto quipped.
The response clearly throwing her away, the girl blinked for a moment before opening her mouth—
"Yo!"
—paused, and immediately whirled towards the masked ninja, whose figure was thinly veiled with slight wisps of remaining smoke. "You are late!"
Kakashi simply waved her while taking in the ostensible vexation present on the visages of others sans Naruto. Huh, that's new.
Mentally shrugging, he lazily cleared his throat. "Mah, a black cat crossed my path, and I had to take the long way around."
An eye smile followed his words.
"For three hours?" Mito deadpanned.
"Yup. It kept finding me and crossing my path again and again; thought I was jinxed," Mock horror paved its way on his face.
Mito sighed, Sasuke's eye twitch augmented, Sakura groaned, and Naruto…
… The Uzumaki stayed impassive. I think I prefer the dumb version. The white haired shinobi mused to himself.
Nevertheless, the expressions were mostly as per the norm. "Now that we are all here, let's start. We are a team now but don't know anything about each other except names."
He didn't miss the slight narrowing of Naruto's eyes.
Better to nip it in the bud. "Naruto, I know it may appear as a tactic to ascertain your secrets, but it isn't. My curiosity besides the point, times will call you to rely on your teammates, formulate plans among other things."
"That will be impossible unless you have a basic idea of your comrades," Concluding, the jonin allowed the Uzumaki to have a moment.
Naruto was aware of what the masked shinobi was insinuating. The owls had although made him mostly independent with respect to skills yet had repeatedly pressed on the point that some times, the situation would force his hand.
Didn't mean he had to like it.
"As a token of trust," Kakashi suddenly added. "I shall begin," Interest blatant on the visages of his cute little genin, he took a breath. "I have copied over a thousand jutsus, earning the moniker 'Copy ninja Kakashi'."
A myriad of emotions made their appearance on the faces of the genin; awe, surprise and even distrust — yup, he still had it! He thought gleefully.
But the biggest reveal was yet to come. He felt conflicted but pushed aside the feelings. Better he revealed it now, than in the middle of the battlefield — that sort of shit would definitely crumble the teamwork or worst, the team itself.
Taking a breath, he lifted his hitai-ate in a go. Confusion and curiosity was immediately directed his way from three of his genin. Their lack of cognizance wasn't surprising though.
After the massacre, the academy syllabus, among other elements, had been specifically curated for the convenience of the sole Uchiha. Whether the efforts had been in vain or productive, was yet to be known.
As for Sasuke…
"Sharingan," the whisper was immediate and obvious, the single word containing a lot of weight behind it.
Similarly expected was the clenched fist and rage flashing through the black irises.
That's my cue. "I didn't steal it, Sasuke. It's a dying—" gift… that sounds weird. Hmmm… "Parting gift from my teammate, my… best friend," He added after a moment of pause.
"There's a reason you are in this team; I am the only one capable of training you when you'll awaken your sharingan."
The internal warfare waging in his mind immediately halted as Sasuke heard the last words. This man... believed he would do justice to his heritage.
He hadn't awakened his sharingan yet; wonder if he ever would…
Itachi was so much younger…
Those villagers… hypocrites, two timers… kissing his shoes in his face and whispering behind his back… as if he wasn't aware… but, clearly, Kakashi Hatake was different -— the sole exception.
The Uchiha decided to give this man a chance. Slowly, tension left his body, and he subtly nodded.
"Good, now, your turn. Let's begin with you, Sasuke, and leave out the taijutsu; you'll spar later with each other."
The Uchiha took a moment, glancing towards the Uzumaki. "I am adept at shurikenjutsu, can recognize and dispel the genjutsu. Lastly, I know a Katon jutsu."
The copy ninja nodded. Though he hadn't tested any of them on genjutsu yesterday, the other skills were spot on. "To-ma-to-chan."
The girl furrowed her brows and shot him a glare which earned her an eye-smile. Huffing, knowing he wouldn't stop it, she carried on. "Regarding the other two, same as Sasuke-kun, but I don't know a ninjutsu coz' a certain masked pervert decided I wasn't ready."
"You remembered!" The jounin wiped his eye before eye-smiling again. "I am glad."
Rolling her eyes, she continued. "But I can use chakra chains," Then, she deflated a bit. "Only two though."
"Everything with time, Mito-chan," Patting her on head, Kakashi nodded towards the other boy, slight curiosity appearing in his sole eye. "Naruto."
The Uzumaki was an enigma; who knew what the boy had in store for them? Still, things wouldn't be boring with him around.
Having already mentally prepared himself, the Uzumaki replied. "I am decent in shurikenjutsu, able to use shadow clones and my special henge. For ninjutsu, I know a futon jutsu, and… my way around fuinjutsu as well. As for genjutsu… "
Mixed feelings once again reared their ugly head. On one hand, his solution to genjutsu was one of his most prized possessions, having been worked over by hundreds of clones for nearly ten months with some of the best genjutsu using owls, hence, the insecurity about sharing it.
On the other hand, the technique couldn't be used against him anyway, and it would help with the trust thing. Besides, as per Taiki, rumours had it that Hatake Kakashi valued his comrades more than his own life.
Being in Anbu as a captain, the man had an impeccable record. No deaths under the white-haired man's leadership was itself a corroboration of his words about 'abandon friends and become worse than trash'.
Such a man could definitively prove to be a useful ally. Pushing his feelings aside, Naruto decided to proceed. "I am… immune to it."
Two pairs of eyes immediately widened whereas the Uchiha's narrowed. Even Kakashi's sole eye twitched.
Though adhering to one of his beliefs, the copy ninja quickly began to look 'underneath the underneath'.
If it were some other brunette, he might have believed the words, but the boy was a jinchuuriki, and that too of the strongest bijuu. Having been a close acquaintance with the previous one, he found it really hard to believe.
Yet, the Uzumaki didn't seem to be the one to lie. So, how… how did one become immune? Naturally? Artificially… Hatake Kakashi paused. Could it be… "Fuinjutsu…?" He voiced the only plausible answer coming to his mind.
The Uzumaki nodded. "I couldn't even do a basic genjutsu like henge; others were definitely a no. It took years, but now, I have a counter to my shortcoming."
"Uzumaki Naruto."
Mito's eye's widened at the name. It was her mother's clan name. Could it be that she wasn't the only survivor of the once fabled clan?
"Here, Sensei."
She immediately whirled around to see the raised hand, following it to a… brown… haired boy… she blinked. Uzumaki's had red hair, then how…?
The Namikaze heir recalled the inception of the academy. With questions filling her mind, she had all but dashed towards the hokage tower.
"He is not an Uzumaki per se, Mito-chan but had been given the name in honour to the clan. It's an age old practice with regard to orphans."
And now, the clanless orphan was carrying the legacy of the Uzumaki. Slight jealousy has made itself known since yesterday, but it was quickly getting replaced by drive — if a non-Uzumaki could do it, so could… no, so would she.
Hmmm… every fuinjutsu trick he has, is to overcome his shortcomings; I can respect that. Impressed, Kakashi replied. "I won't lie, I am really dying to see the seal, but for now, your willingness to share is enough. Maybe some other day."
"Infact—," Kakashi took all of them in at a glance. "—It will be a team secret."
Taking a moment's pause, he explained. "This seal totally nullifies the skills of some shinobis, and also provides a way out to those who are struggling with genjutsu, and trust me, there are alot; I don't want them pestering Naruto."
Now, that would be a can of worms he didn't want to open anytime soon. Jonins like Kurenai would definitely sulk, but it would be the other group he was jittery of.
It wouldn't be a surprise if they somehow managed to rope council into it and pass a law about it being a mandate.
He mentally shuddered.
The disguised blond, on the other hand, found himself relaxing, and lowering his guard around the masked shinobi. The masked shinobi had, apparently, similar intentions to his own.
"Sakura-chan."
The pink-haired girl reacted as if slapped. Uncertainty, blatant on her face, was slowly morphing into guilt and uselessness. She had been shrinking into herself ever since her teammates began listing their skills.
Kakashi mentally sighed. I sure have a team of wayward students. Still, knowing he had to push the girl in the right direction, he crouched near her. "I know what you're feeling, and it's normal. Most students begin just like you."
Sakura blinked in confusion for a moment before realisation dawned upon her. "You know… "
"Read your dossiers, but they were wrong or incomplete in case of your teammates. Still, you should take pride in what you have. Moreover, there's a reason I am here."
After some moments, Sakura hesitantly nodded. "I-I know the basic three," She mentally cringed; the others hadn't even mentioned the basic three. "… I can dispel genjutsu," she lamely concluded.
Immediately, a hand was on her head, ruffling her hair. "That wasn't hard, ne Sakura-chan?"
Without waiting for an answer, Kakashi continued. "Let's proceed to taijutsu; rules are just taijutsu, nothing else. First is Sasuke against Sakura."
Not a moment later, he received a desperate look from the girl in question but didn't react. There was a time to show emotions. The girl was already questioning her beliefs about the Uchiha, but might take a lot of time.
A catalyst was needed.
"Step up, we don't have a day," He added some sternness to his words.
The Uchiha immediately obliged, and after some hesitation, so did Sakura.
Both opponents facing each other, Kakashi voiced. "Hajime!"
A moment passed in which Sasuke continued to gaze indifferently at the pink-haired girl. Taking it as a sign that he was allowing her to commence, she took a deep breath and dashed forward…
… only to halt — after a couple of steps — as she found Sasuke suddenly appearing before her.
Then, pain registered.
The girl coughed, looking down towards the fist implanted into her stomach.
Slowly, she fell down to her knees, clutching the stomach. He hadn't pulled the punch. A couple of moments passed before she, with a lot of effort, looked up into his eyes and mentally recoiled.
'Pathetic' was clearly written in those coal colored irises. And, that was way more painful.
Ashamed, she could only bow her head. No word was said for some moments, the silence getting broken by Kakashi's indifferent voice. "Sasuke, stay there. Naruto, your turn."
Where did it all go wrong?
Just yesterday morning, she had woken up with a dream to impress her Sasuke-kun, and now, here she was – a pathetic sniveling useless girl.
Though, she won't deny that she always had issues present in some deep recesses of her mind. But she had taken solace in her beloved Sasuke-kun and even… even the deadlast Naruto.
Not this Naruto though. This one was almost uncaring towards everything and everyone.
That stung, but what pained her more was that Sasuke-kun had been presented in a new light. Yesterday, he had completely disregarded her, and today… those eyes blatantly expressed what he thought of her.
Pathetic!
Tremors threatened to take her body, and she barely controlled them.
"Hajime."
Both the opponents dashed towards each other, clearing the distance in moments and meeting almost midway, fists flying towards the respective opponents.
Yet, from the couple of feet that the Uzumaki had gained on the Uchiha, reflected that the former was faster.
Sasuke's right fist made it close to Uzumaki's face when the latter's left arm blocked it. At the same time, Naruto's right fist was ducked by the Uchiha.
However, continuing with the motion, Sasuke was already dropping into a crouch, right arm lashing towards the disguised blonde's stomach but no impact followed as the Uzumaki avoided it by stepping backwards.
…and that was what Sasuke was apparently aiming for.
Left hand making purchase on the ground, he brought his right leg in a sweeping motion.
Naruto again avoided by jumping over, but the Uchiha was quick to capitalize. Halting mid sweep, straightening his foot such that the sole was touching the ground, he pushed from his left hand.
The ensuing anti clockwise motion brought the heel of his left foot towards the now-landing Uzumaki who hastily intercepted it with his raised knee, the impact still impelling him to hop a step backwards.
The Uchiha rolled and jumped up, taking his stance once again, a smirk highlighting his face.
Stabilising, Naruto continued with his indifferent gaze. A bout of inactivity followed when both went into motion again.
The disguised blonde's left arm lashed out but Sasuke took a step forward, bending a bit and ducked towards the other direction before pivoting and sending his right leg which closed the distance too quickly.
Again, the hastily put up block in the form of the right arm, though managed to prevent a direct hit, the force still led to the collision of the Uzumaki's own arm against his jaw.
Naruto staggered towards the left, when his foot slipped making him fall towards the ground…
… or he would have, had his left hand not suddenly found purchase on the ground. The disguised blonde attempted a cartwheel, and mid-motion, his right leg collided with the shoulder joint of the Uchiha.
Sasuke tumbled before falling into a crouch, thoughts immediately going into overdrive. That was… good. The earlier stagger and foot slip were deliberate; he can take my hits, definitely when he hits like a bull.
"That's enough."
Kakashi announced, ambling towards the duo. Coming to halt near them, he took in both the boys. "I have a general idea of your skills."
He focused on the Uzumaki. "You are definitely faster on your feet, Naruto, but lack in combat speed. Your balance teeters towards your right hand which is clearly your dominant hand."
"Your legs are balanced though. Lastly, you don't plan much while fighting, but admittedly, the last kick was smart."
Naruto simply nodded. The same flaws had been repeatedly pointed out by the owls, but it couldn't be helped. Owls weren't a taijutsu oriented summon; they had helped by verbally pointing out mistakes and improvements but it still desired more.
"As for you Sasuke, you have the highest combat speed in the team. You're agile and can plan ahead. Good work."
Again, a nod was his answer.
He had a good team, Kakashi mused to himself. Sasuke would become one hell of a close ranged fighter. Mito would too, but once she developed more chains, range wouldn't be a limit for her.
Sakura… he wasn't sure of her yet, but if somehow, she could learn medical jutsus, that would be great.
And, lastly Naruto, that boy had the largest potential in the team… heck, in the village. With his unique skill set, he would be a force to reckon with.
Nodding to himself, he whipped out his precious Icha Icha — it was hard without it but appearances were needed to be kept — and effectively gained the attention of his cute little genin. "Next step: Chakra Control, then, a mission; that'll be our routine for the near future. Alright?"
A chorus of hai was his answer.
"Good. The first thing we gotta learn is—," He let the moment linger, sweeping his narrrowed gaze at his students. "—tree walking!"
Announcing, he waited for the usual reaction; anytime now, one of his cute genins would point out that they knew how to climb a tree.
And, then, being the awesome sensei he was, he would show them.
A few moments passed.
No reaction came.
Kakashi mentally deflated.
Perhaps, if Sakura had been in her right mind, she would have screamed, but now… he sighed. Spoilsports.
"Watch," Kakashi walked towards the tree, and on it, body becoming horizontal to the ground. Standing there for some moments, he back flipped towards the ground.
Taking in the faces of the genin, he eye-smiled.
Now, he had their interest.
"This is an advance technique of chakra control; not only does it help with chakra control but also with tree gliding."
"Tree gliding can be explained as using chakra to stick and push from the tree branches, almost at the same time; it gives you a speed boost."
"Konoha, the entire Fire country and even beyond, trees are present. So, the technique aids us in many ways professionally."
The genins nodded, sans Naruto. Guess he's back to the indifference thing. "The trick is to use just the necessary amount of chakra; a bit more and you fall; a bit less… you… fall too," The jounin finished as if he had an epiphany.
A sigh, an eye twitch, a weak smile and… Kakashi blinked. Did Naruto's lips just twitched from the right upper side?… THEY DID!
The Sensei mentally cheered while chuckling audibly. "You need to stick to the tree, determining the right amount of chakra. Let's proceed to practice."
"Sensei?"
Of course, he had been keeping tabs, but appearances were the bread and butter of a shinobi. Lowering his book just a bit, he let his gaze wander cluelessly before suddenly looking upwards.
There, standing horizontally, was his pink-haired genin, a hopeful look present on her visage.
"Excellent, Sakura-chan."
The girl immediately beamed. "Thank you, sensei."
Kakashi nodded.
"Did you use a rope?"
The girl immediately faltered, barely stopping herself from falling. Stabilising while taking deep breaths, she almost glared. "W-what? No! I didn't!"
Amused, he eye-smiled. This was fun! "It seems congratulations are in order, Sakura-chan. You have a great chakra control implying high inclination towards genjutsu and medical jutsus."
Kakashi didn't believe the crap that many shinobi sprouted that smaller chakra reserves were tantamount to better chakra control.
If that were the case, Senju Tsunade could never have become the best healer in the world.
Also, the chakra amount required to stick to trees was the same for everyone. Reserves, for the most part, had nothing to do with it.
Of course, there were anomalies like Naruto.
No, better chakra control meant the girl was subconsciously utilising the requisite amount of chakra control.
This was an excellent occurrence.
"Keep practising; it will augment your chakra reserves," Voicing and receiving a nod as an answer, he allowed his gaze towards his other students.
Mito and Sasuke were using kunai to mark their progress — standard procedure. This was what he had aimed for by not training Mito in her younger days.
These were peaceful times and children could be children. Besides, it promoted teamwork.
Now, if only one of his students weren't just standing beside a tree and gazing indifferently at him… "Why aren't you doing this, Naruto?"
"I know."
Of course. The brat knew just like everything else. "Let me guess, to improve your chakra control, you looked into advanced techniques?"
The Uzumaki nodded. "Tree walking and water walking; both helped but still not upto the mark."
Water walking too, huh?
At the same time, the jounin didn't miss the look Uchiha threw towards the Uzumaki. Here, he was genuinely stumped, unable to do anything.
"Do you have any other chakra control technique, sensei?"
Pushing aside his thoughts about the Uchiha, he, heeding to the words, nodded after a bit. Picking up a leaf, he placed it on the tip of his finger.
A moment passed.
Then, slowly, the leaf stood up — becoming perpendicular to the finger, only the tip touching it. "This is a very advanced technique; even I am unable to execute it completely."
"After erecting the leaf like this using a very fine strand of chakra, the next step is to slowly levitate it," Explaining, he let his leaf fall before nodding towards the genin who immediately dived into it.
If not the levitate part or even the erection part, the technique would greatly benefit the Uzumaki.
Now…
Oh Tsuki-chan, hehehe!
"Follow me," Directing his now recuperating genin, the copy Ninja began ambling towards the general village, his precious book in his hand.
Slow shuffling brought the students around him in a group.
"Why must you read this? It's trash."
"Talking from experience, Mito-chan? I didn't know you were into such books?"
"Wh-what?! I don't read such stupid books."
"Then, how do you know it's stupid?"
The girl sputtered for a bit. "It's in the very name and… and the stupid picture."
"Hmmm… it means love: the make out tactics which imply that one must love make out tactics and make out tactics imply making tactics to get out of a situation."
"As for the picture, it's just a man chasing a woman; shinobis often partake in such run and chase missions. So, it's a fairly strategic book unless you can prove me otherwise," he finished with an eye-smile.
Mito gaped at the older man like a fish before red began enveloping her face, and she clenched her fists.
Sakura giggled. Even Sasuke and Naruto's lips twitched.
And, the situation was broken.
Mito deflated with a sigh.
The rest of the walk was silent.
No later, they entered the hokage tower. As usual, it was abuzz with activity. Shinobis greeted the copy ninja and he responded in kind, all the while totally immersed in his book.
A couple of steps later, the mission hall was their location.
Behind his desk, flaked by two chunins, the Sandaime Hokage himself was handling the mission scrolls.
"Greetings Hokage-sama/Yo!" Team seven, and even Kakashi, bowed to their leader.
"Ah, team seven; here for a mission, hmmm… give me a moment," Sarutobi Hiruzen began rummaging through the various scrolls placed before him. "So, how are they Kakashi?"
Surprised at the sudden query and that too in their presence, the genin could only look at their sensei.
Kakashi, on the other hand, had a sudden urge to say 'Hmmm… did you say something'? But knowing it wouldn't be prudent, he replied. "They are good, hokage-sama; each of them has potential."
"Oh?" The aged leader's eyes flicked so fast towards the pink haired genin that anyone else would have surely missed it.
"Hai," Kakashi continued in same tone. "Infact, Sakura-chan here has an excellent chakra control; she managed tree walking in her first attempt."
"Splendid, Sakura-chan; I look forward to your development."
The girl beamed and bowed deeply. "Thank you, hokage-sama."
"Now," Without looking, Hiruzen suddenly picked a random scroll as if already aware of its presence. "I believe I have a mission for you," And tossed it towards the jounin.
The white-haired shinobi also caught it deftly. Opening it and skimming through the content in a glance, he rolled it back. "Later, Hokage-sama," he slightly bowed again to the aged leader.
The genin followed the action before tailing their sensei out of the office.
Outside, Kakashi faced his students, all traces of joviality vanished; even his book was gone. "Team Seven!"
The genin immediately stood to attention.
Nodding in approval, he cleared his throat. "We have been presented with a mission of significant importance — the non-accomplishment of which may cripple the economy of not only Konoha but the Fire country as well."
Apprehension immediately dawned over the visages of the 12 year olds. Nevertheless, they totally invested themselves in.
"The mission has some time parameters; in half an hour — commencing three minutes from now — we shall embark on a journey to the edges of Konohagakure no Sato."
The genin nodded at once.
"There, we shall meet an important man by the name Suzuki Kaito-san; he will lead us to the location of the mission where we… " The white haired shinobi took a deep breath, his sole eye turning grave.
The girls glanced at each other in slight nervousness; even the boys, for all their indifference, were tense.
"… will harvest corn!" He finished with an eye-smile, the orange book suddenly appearing in his hand.
A moment passed, then…
The girls face faulted while the boys sweatdropped.
Composing herself, Mito pointed at the white-haired shinobi. "You are so annoying!"
Nodding in support, Sakura also glared. "And harvesting corn?! That's our mission?!"
"Mah, mah, what were you expecting? Saving a country? Rescuing a princess? Be glad, it's not peak winter or you would have been raking snow; or rainy season where it's cleaning sewers; or the worst of all: catching Tora — the fire daimyo's cat."
Though confused as why catching a simple cat would be the worst, none of the genin dared to ask, sure that they would receive an equally insane answer.
"Follow me."
"Here we are," Suzuki Kaito gestured towards the corn fields. "These are ten acres."
Nodding, the jounin motioned to his students. "Get to work, my cute little genin."
They immediately obliged, leaving the sensei alone until he was joined by the owner of the field.
"That's him, right?"
After a moment's pause, Kakashi lowered his book just a bit, eye immediately locking onto the hat wearing man. "He is."
The two words expressed far and beyond.
Kaito immediately raised his hands in a placating manner. "No hard feelings here, Kakashi-san. I moved after the attack; I don't hate him."
Assaying the man for some moments, the Jounin simply nodded.
In a twisted sort of way, Kyuubi's attack, subsequent migration by a chunk of the populace and their replacement had proved a bit beneficial to the Uzumaki.
If he were to assign figures, about a fifth of the populace was either neutral or didn't hate the kid.
Rest, time would tell.
"We did taijutsu in the morning, followed by chakra control exercises and lastly a mission; as mentioned earlier, this will be our routine from now on; don't be late," Giving a two-fingered salute, Kakashi dipped his head. "Ja ne."
And vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Naruto was about to follow but halted, hesitated a bit before glancing at his teammates. "… later," muttering, he vanished in a puff of smoke.
Mito blinked. "Wait! It was a clone?!"
Sakura nodded. "But when did he?"
Kakashi chuckled to himself. The kid was really good with the use of his shadow clones. The switch had been flawless, and this disappearing act was perfectly executed.
Uzumaki Naruto would make things interesting, he was sure of that.