Chapter 9 – Homeward Bound! Or Not?
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do not belong to me
Previously on Secret Keeper: Having somehow managed to survive their encounter on the Bridge, and taken down the infamous Gato, Team 7 are now preparing to head back home...
The time had come for Team 7 to say goodbye to Tazuna-san and the village of Wave. Zabuza and Haku (his young apprentice) had declined coming with them to Konoha, preferring instead to remain, and help Wave heal. In the case of Gato, it was probably the less said, the better. Needless to say, the villagers had had their deserved revenge.
By the time Team 7 had reached the bridge, a large crowd had gathered to send them off. Naturally, Tazuna-san and co managed to get front seats – by simply following on the shinobis' heels as the crowd parted. But, then again, it was to be expected, since Team 7 had only really come to Wave to help the bridge-builder.
And so, tearful goodbye's and promises to visit exchanged, Team 7 set off back home. Normally, once an escort mission was finished the return trip was a lot faster, however, Kakashi decided they would take their time, and continue training. He quite liked what his cute little genin had achieved in Wave.
Sasuke's speed, and accuracy while moving, had vastly improved, as had his chakra control – although it wasn't up to Sakura's level just yet.
Sakura, he had found, had little chakra, but her control was near-perfect. It took time, to increase your chakra, but she was making decent progress. The main issue seemed to stem from the Academy, but that, with time and the correct resources, could be rectified. At least he now knew where to start!
Naruto – he sighed internally – as an Uzumaki, the blond already had a massive amount of chakra, as evidenced by his use of the Shadow Clones, but little to no control. Or so he had thought. Seals and, especially, Hirashin, required exact amounts of chakra. Where did the blond stand? Did he only have such control when he was 'ultra-focussed'?
For now, though, the trip back would focus on his genin's survival knowledge, what plants were edible in this area, food traps, various ways to find water, how to pick good campsites, etc. Training decided, Kakashi chuckled evilly while eyeing up his unsuspecting genin, getting some suspicious looks in the process.
He started slowly, pointing at a plant and asking one of his genin a question about it. What was it called? Was it edible? Name one use for it. When was it available? That sort of thing, just to get an idea of what they knew.
By the time they stopped for lunch, Kakashi had realised the awful truth. Sakura had virtually no knowledge, aside from a few (very few) general bits from a field guide – the Academy field guide, which, apparently, only gave a very rough sketch of a plant and it's name. Sasuke was a little better, having been taught a small amount by his clan before the Massacre. Naruto had the best knowledge out of the three, no doubt due to being an orphan and needing said knowledge to survive.
Ok, Kakashi told himself, trying to stop the panic taking hold, it's all ok. We just have to go back to basics, and not take any more missions out of Village, until they have the basic knowledge required to ensure they don't get themselves killed! He took a deep breath.
"Ok, team. It would appear that the Academy is even worse than I thought. So, first, I want you to walk me through a basic day at the Academy, and then tell me any variations, so I know where to begin?" he requested.
The startled genin exchanged looks, as if they were having a silent conversation (it was great to see them finally beginning to act like a team, Kakashi thought), before Sakura nodded.
"Well, on a normal day, classes started at 8 o'clock, or there abouts," she began, slightly hesitantly. "The class sensei would take role, then we would have lectures on the various subjects. Most of it was just the sensei reading from the books, with key points getting marked up on the board. Sometimes there'd be a written test." she shrugged.
"Wait a moment. When you say the sensei read from the books, do you mean, straight from the text, or did they add more information?" Kakashi asked, frowning.
"Straight from the text." Sakura nodded. "You have no idea how annoying it was. They didn't really answer questions, and the Academy library only had the course books!" she cried, her frustration at the lack of available knowledge showing.
"What about the Village Library?" Kakashi asked, horrified at the picture being painted before him.
Sakura huffed.
"What about it? Until you graduate the Academy, the Library classifies you as Civilian. So, unless you're from a Clan, or you can persuade a shinobi to help, you've got no chance!"
"I see." Kakashi nodded grimly. "Alright, let's continue."
Sakura nodded, calming down slightly.
"Right. Well, um, morning class finishes at 12, and we have an hour break for lunch. Then, the afternoon is spent either working on the Academy Three, weapons training, or Taijutsu." she finished.
Kakashi frowned (he seemed to be doing that a lot toady).
"The Academy Three?" he asked, confused.
"Yes, the Bunshin, Henge and Kawarimi Jutsus. They're all that's needed to graduate, and chosen at random by the senseis' in the Exam." Sakura explained. "Sensei, are you alright?!" she cried hurriedly, watching as he paled.
"You mean to tell me, that the only jutsus taught in the Academy, are three measly E-ranks?!" Kakashi exploded, horror growing as his genin all nodded.
"Well, it's not that bad if you come from a Clan," Naruto hedged.
Kakashi groaned, rubbing a hand over his face.
"Ok, what about the other stuff?" he asked, only to get blank looks.
"What other stuff?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, wondering what he'd missed.
Kakashi stared.
"What other stuff?" he repeated, slightly hysterical. "Traps, evasion tactics, agility, speed, survival, common codes, the basics?" At the continued blank looks, he groaned again. "These morning lectures, what were they on?" he asked desperately.
"The Village's history, mostly," Naruto shrugged.
"What?" Kakashi asked faintly.
"Yes, we know a lot of, well, pretty useless facts about the Village, like when it was founded, and the Shodaime's favourite food." Sakura snorted.
Kakashi nodded slowly.
"Ok, so we'll start at the bottom, and work our way up. If it's something you already know, think of this as a revision."
His genin nodded eagerly. Finally, they were getting somewhere!
Kakashi spent the rest of the afternoon Planning. The first thing to do when they got back to the Village, was to check-in at the Academy and Library, just to see what information his genin had had access to. Given what he'd heard during lunch, there was a large chance that the information taught wasn't correct – or at least – missing some important fundamentals. Obviously, they wouldn't be leaving the Village again any time soon, as they desperately needed training.
The dynamics of the team certainly didn't help. Sakura viewed Naruto as an idiot, while trying to impress Sasuke. Sasuke, from what he'd observed, saw Sakura as just another fan-girl with little to no drive or self-esteem, and was surprisingly protective of the blond, while taking every opportunity to fight (although he'd calmed down considerably since the Battle of the Bridge). Naruto, up until the Battle, he thought he had the blond figured out, now, he wasn't so sure?
While their sensei was busy Planning, the genin of Team 7 were otherwise engaged. Sasuke was mentally running over his weapons inventory, while simultaneously making a list of Things He Needed Training In. Sakura was Plotting, now that she'd got a C-rank under her belt, the Library had to allow her access! Naruto was collecting various herbs and other greens for dinner.
Realising what their blond teammate was up to, the other two genin started paying closer attention, before Sakura lost her internal battle, and sidled up to the blond.
"What'cha doing?" she asked curiously.
Naruto blinked up at her, before holding out his handful of green stalks.
"Wild celery," he announced.
Sakura frowned down at it.
"How do you tell it from the other plants?"
Naruto grinned at her.
"Easy. For one, there's the smell, see?" He moved it closer, letting her smell the stalks. "Wild celery tends to prefer wetter conditions, like meadows and river-banks, um, it tends to grow to about two feet, has these small, white flowers, a thin, solid stem which tends to branch multiple times, and fan-shaped leaves." he finished, pointing out each feature as he described it.
Sakura nodded eagerly.
"Cool, thanks! Umm," she paused for a moment, before brightening. "I could carry them for you?" she offered, before happily accepting the bundle, and practically skipping along beside her blond teammate as he continued his foraging, occasionally pointing out various features of his haul to the eager pinket.
It was when they stopped for the night, that Kakashi made his first move, showing and explaining to his genin the reasons for choosing that particular spot, and quizzing them on standard procedures. However, before they could settle down to eat, a small monkey appeared with a puff of smoke, holding a message-scroll.
"Jounin Hatake Kakashi, Sensei of Team 7?" the monkey asked, causing Sakura's jaw to drop.
"Yo!" Kakashi raised his chopsticks lazily.
The monkey nodded.
"Urgent message from Sarutobi-sama." he reported, hopping over.
Kakashi frowned, accepting the scroll. Instantly the monkey popped away.
"What was that?!" Sakura cried, still staring at the now monkey-less space.
"Summons, you'll be learning about them later," Kakashi muttered, scanning the message, before sighing. "Well, Team, looks like we've got a change of plans, we're being sent north, to Mura Kazan, apparently we're the closest team, and the flood-season's early. Rest up, we leave in the morning." he ordered.