How he became the person he is
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 8:
Arashi asked Jiraiya to come to his house, where he was going to prepare for the training.
"Sensei, you should come and see. You'll be surprised. Haha." Arashi smiled to his sensei.
"I'm impressed that Sakumo's brat is taking the chuunin exam at the age of five."
"Well, he's gonna be 6 by then. Anyway... I was wondering where you were, sensei. I wanted some advice from you when I first started. The first few days, it was awful. I had a difficult time. But now, I'm glad that I'm his sensei."
"Well, I guess that's a little different from me. I was never glad to be your sensei, Arashi." commented Jiraiya in a tone that let Arashi know that he was just kidding. Both started laughing. "I'm glad that you are liking your task as sensei."
"Sensei, would you mind helping me out for tonight? I would like Kakashi to be ready for the chuunin exams. He has never fought or trained at night, so I thought it would be a good idea to do so for the next few weeks before the exam."
"I see. That's good. What do you need?" asked Jiraiya.
"Um... would you attack him in the middle of the night? I'm gonna spar with him for some time, and then you come and knock me unconscious. Please, just act as though you're doing so, sensei. I want to see what he is capable of doing when he is confronting someone who knocked me out. I want to test his mental strength. And if by any chance he starts attacking you, let him do so."
"That's a smart idea. And if I get hurt by any chance, you will not be responsible, right?" Arashi smiled, glad that his sensei was helping him. He couldn't test that part of the "being suddenly attacked by a stranger" by himself, because he was no stranger to Kakashi.
"Sensei, stay watching us, until I give you the sign to appear on the scene. I'm sure it will be once it gets really dark. Just be prepared, please." Arashi smiled to his sensei.
"Boy, I can't believe you've grown this much. Time does fly by, ne?" said Jiraiya remembering the old times, when he used to train Arashi.
Both of them stayed there, talking about how things have been, and what they have been doing for the time they didn't see each other.
At 6:30, they headed to the training grounds. Kakashi was already there, preparing his weapons. Arashi nodded to his sensei, and Jiraiya jumped up to one of the trees to watch them.
"I thought I told you to not spend your day training?" Arashi asked, and Kakashi was surprised to find his sensei that early.
"Ne, sensei. I came a few minutes ago." said Kakashi, and Arashi smiled at the boy.
"Good. Today we aren't going through your daily training, as you might have guessed already." said Arashi looking at Kakashi's weapons lying on the grass. "We're going to spar for most of the night. It will be like the time you had to take the bell. Just that you don't need to take anything from me. Is just sparring. Of course, you will need to intend to kill me. That's the point of the training. We're going to keep going on it until one of us is down. Got it?"
"Yes." answered Kakashi, a little nervous.
'Mmm... let's see what the prodigy can do.' thought Jiraiya as he was observing them getting ready.
Arashi mumbled a silent "Start", and Kakashi decided that this time he would go and hide.
'Let's see... I don't think he will let his guard down, so I'll have to use some bunshins to attack the first time...' Kakashi was planning on how to begin his attack on his sensei.
Kakashi made 5 bunshins and sent them out silently to other branches in different directions. Then, all six Kakashis threw a couple of shurikens to the man standing in the middle. After Arashi dodged them, the real Kakashi appeared behind his sensei, performing the Goukakyuu no Jutsu. The flames weren't as big, because he didn't want to waste his chakra in a meaningless attack. He knew that his sensei would dodge it as well. Arashi hid in one of the bushes, and a kunai thrown by one of the bunshins almost got him on the eye.
'So, he knows that I'm here, heh.' Arashi decided that he would go and give Kakashi a surprise.
He appeared in front of the boy, and tried to punch him on the face. Kakashi dodged it although he was surprised that his sensei decided on attacking him. Next, Arashi hit Kakashi's legs making him fall on his back, and tried to hit him on the stomach. Kakashi was fast, though, and rolled backwards a few feet away. Arashi hit on plane grass. As soon as Kakashi lifted his head up, he threw a kunai at his sensei. Arashi threw a shuriken as well at the kunai which fell on its way. Kakashi had already come to Arashi's front and started attacking him with taijutsu. Kakashi tried to kick Arashi's left side, but his sensei blocked it with his right hand, and with his right foot pulled Kakashi's right foot, and made him once again, fall on his back. However, Kakashi hit the back of Arashi's kness, making him fall as well. Then Kakashi kicked Arashi's chest, and got up in a jump. He was already breathing a little heavily. Arashi looked surprised that his student landed an attack on him, but was satisfied.
'Damn. It is getting dark. I guess this is what Arashi-sensei wanted to do. I'll have to get used to this in some way...' thought Kakashi noticing how different it felt fighting at night. They took a minute to take a breath.
Arashi initiated the second attack, throwing two shurikens. Kakashi avoided them by leaning down, and he threw some at his sensei as well. Arashi had already thrown a second pair of shurikens, and Kakashi had to jump to his right to dodge them. He made two bunshin, and one sprinted towards his sensei, ready to attack. The other one, he made it into a huge shuriken and threw it at Arashi. He started sprinting towards him as well, ready to attack him from behind. His first bunshin tried to attack him from the front, but Arashi got rid of it. As soon as he was done with that, he felt the huge shuriken coming, and he bowed to the air to dodge it. He also felt his student coming on his way, and thought that it was about time to start the second training. He gave a sign, and turned around to block Kakashi's attack, and sent him off a few feet. Kakashi got ready for his next attack, but Jiraiya appeared between the trees.
"Who are you, you little brats, who disturb this peaceful night?" Jiraiya hand-motioned to the sky, pointing at the stars, while speaking with his loud voice.
Both Arashi and Kakashi had sweat drops; one thinking 'Sensei, can't you be more serious?', and the other thinking 'Is he drunk, or what?'.
"Um... sir. I think you're misunderstanding..." started Arashi, but was cut out.
"What? You want a fight? Then you will have it!" Jiraiya attacked Arashi, but he just dodged it. Then Jiraiya began attacking with powerful and fast punches, which all were being dodged by Arashi. One of the punches hit Arashi on the face and sent him off at least 60 feet away. Of course, they were acting it out. Kakashi couldn't tell because of the distance and angle in which he was watching this happen.
"What about you, kid? You got some guts?" said Jiraiya to provoke the little kid. "Why? Now that your guardian is knocked you'll just sneak away? What a..." he couldn't finish his sentence, because Kakashi appeared in front of him and was trying to kick him in the face. Arashi laid down on the grass, and held his head on his hand, with his elbow supporting it, watching the scene. This was going to be funny.
Jiraiya stepped back to avoid being kicked, but Kakashi came to him and hit Jiraiya's chest with his palm, and it made Jiraiya fall. Then Kakashi performed the Kekkai Doroutoumu, and Jiraiya's head was sticking out from the earth.
'Damn, Arashi. Look at what I have to go through because of you! If it wasn't because of the letting him attack me I woudn't be in this state.' Jiraiya was grunting.
"Sir, you shouldn't go around like that at night. Drink at home." said Kakashi, very innocently. "Sensei, when are you coming over here? I just saw you moving."
"Ehem, ehem... good job, Kakashi." said Arashi as he was walking towards his student. He couldn't help but be surprised at how much his student was capable of doing.
"Um... sensei... are you okay?" asked Arashi sheepishly, once he arrived.
"Is that what you think, boy?" a rather angry Jiraiya shouted.
"I'm sorry. Kakashi, this is Jiraiya-sensei. My genin sensei and mentor. He's one of the Three Legendary Sannin. You heard about him, right?" asked Arashi trying to make Jiraiya feel respected.
"Uh... sensei, are you sure? He didn't escape from my jutsu..." a vein popped out from Jiraiya's forehead, showing his ire.
"He was just... uh... helping me out with your training. You know, to see how accustomed you were to fighting in the dark, and fighting with strangers..." Arashi smiled to the boy, and tried to avoid eye contact with his sensei.
"I see. I'm sorry for what just happened, Jiraiya-sama." said Kakashi, and bowed to the head sticking out from the earth.
"Oi! Is good to know that you have good morals at your age, Kakashi." said Jiraiya as he pulled himself up, and glared at Arashi.
"Well, sensei. Thank you for your help." said Arashi, trying to change the subject. "We're taking a rest, Kakashi. It will be like this for the next two weeks. This way, you'll get used to fighting in the dark. Of course, I won't get my sensei to do the same thing as today." Arashi smiled. Kakashi nodded, and sat on the grass. He wasn't tired, but thought that it would be wise to rest now for the next spar.
Jiraiya remained there to see Arashi and Kakashi sparring. He thought what the new generations would bring next. 'A 3 year-old chuunin? Haha.'
At sunrise, Kakashi was exhausted and he had a few cuts. Arashi was glad that his student didn't get any major injuries. He sent Kakashi home, and he went to his house with Jiraiya. They slept until lunch time, and went to the Hokage's office.
"That Hatake boy has some skills, ne? I don't think you were like that at his age. I guess he has it in the blood. Haha." commented Jiraiya on their way.
"Yeah, he's talented. Plus, he has the will to get stronger." said Arashi and smiled.
The two of them entered the office, and saw the 3rd Hokage exhaling his pipe.
"Good afternoon, you two." said the Hokage.
"Good afternoon, Hokage-sama." said Arashi and bowed.
"Last night I had a meeting with the councils. We decided to make the chuunin exam just in two parts, because of the war. We shouldn't spend a whole lot of time on this. And... teams won't be necessary. It will be more like a survival thing. The first test will be a written one. The problems will be about common knowledge for chuunins. The second one will be a tournament. Only those who passed the written test will participate in it. Me, and some elite jounins will judge their capacity. You're in it, Jiraiya." said the Hokage, and gave a look at Jiraiya that said "you aren't getting out of this one, boy."
"That's good to hear, Hokage-sama. I was wondering how would Kakashi take the exam." Arashi smiled.
"Haha. Make sure you don't say anything about the exam."
"Yes, sir." assured Arashi.
A/N:
I didn't want to make a special kind of test for Kakashi... I thought that it would make more sense to have the test among the leaf ninjas only, because if they were at war, of course the villages wouldn't take tests together... right? Now, the question is: should I write about the chuunin exam, or should I just skip it, and say that Kakashi passed...? Help, please!