Sensei

I sat next to Neji in the classroom that I had grown familiar with during the past year, ignoring the several annoying glares of the other children that weren't particularly overjoyed by the presence of two younger prodigies that consistently outshone them in any given subject.

Outside, the spring was leaving to let the summer's sun blaze over Hi no Kuni, and I was grateful for the everpresent shades born from the tall trees that grew here and there in Konoha, breaking the city's skyline with the same colors of the vast forest that surrounded the Village.

"Hey." I greeted Neji, who answered with a curt nod, making me sigh in exasperation. I'll make an actual human being out of you one day. I promised myself. Maybe.

I didn't truly listen as the sensei named the teams, but my eyes nevertheless kept track of the kids that were constantly being guided outside the classroom to meet their teacher-to-be. When both the best and the worst kunoichi were led outside, I felt a frown marry my features.

There weren't that many possibilities when it came to the choice of my team: if the Hokage wanted to keep up the trend of having me around people I had somewhat bonded with, it was more than simply likely that Neji and I would be together, and my Sharingan meant that it was almost assured that our sensei would be Hatake Kakashi himself.

Both Neji and I were dangerous in close quarters, and Kakashi would likely teach me how to cast visual genjutsu soon enough. We were young, and that meant that our chakra reserves, even if above average, weren't really anything meaningful when compared to other genin. Taijutsu and genjutsu would be my bread and butter for a while. Neji's taijutsu was insane, and sparring against me as often as he did, he could switch between his clan's signature katas and bastardized improvisations without even blinking, his eyes meant that we had tracking in our pockets, all the while he couldn't be fooled by visual genjutsu. Seeing chakra will do that to someone.

Logically speaking, the third member of our team could be chosen following two lines of thought. First one: complementary. Our third member would be a chakra powerhouse, to cover Neji and my natural deficiency. The second line of thought: specialization. Our third member would be a medic, and a damn good one.

Considering the rate at which my best bets in the classroom were leaving to meet their teachers, and keeping in mind Neji's and my status as prodigies, I started to suspect that our third member would be an experienced genin, if only to have him keep learning stuff while my Hyuga friend and I kept blazing through whatever technique was thrown at us. After all, his talent and my eyes made for unfair learning tools.

Soon enough, Neji and I were the only students left in the classroom, and my theory was confirmed.

"Team 7, under Hatake Kakashi: Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Neji..." the sensei stopped when it came to our names, frowning openly at what was written in front of him, " and Yakushi Kabuto, an experienced genin."

Fuck. Was my first and more prominent thought. Double fuck. Was my second.

"I guess Hokage tower realized that placing you with your other classmates wouldn't be fair." the sensei commented with a serene smile, "From what I read here, Kabuto has been a genin for a while, but at the beginning of this year he was the only one to survive a mission."

Meaning that either Root or himself killed off the others so that he would land here. I grimaced at the thought, earning myself an understanding nod from the meat-shield that was my teacher.

"It won't happen to you." he reassured me, while Neji remained as stoic as he always was.

"And when are we supposed to meet?" I asked, forcing myself to think about how soon I would be able to kill Kabuto in order to keep my eyes inside my head as they were meant to be.

"Uh..." a third voice made me turn my head towards the entrance of the classroom, where a sheepish, grey-haired teen was shyly waiting for the teacher to acknowledge his presence, "I'm Yakushi Kabuto, I've been told to present myself here for the new Team 7?"

"Right you are, genin!" the teacher walked towards the newcomer with a smile full of pity on his features, likely thinking about the 'unfortunate' demise of the bespectacled spy's team, "This is your new team, and... don't worry if you have to wait a while for your sensei to arrive, alright? Use the time to get to know each other."

Once he had gifted us with that pearl of knowledge, the unnamed meat-shield left the classroom, and an awkward silence started reigning supreme.

"Uh... ehm, hello? Nice to meet you?" the grey-haired teen scratched his head sheepishly, "I cannot tell if I'm older than what I remember or if you're younger than you should be."

"We graduated earlier." Neji spoke calmly, eager to remember to the world that we were exceptional, while I nodded faintly, unsure about how to tackle the situation.

I can get away with mistrust towards the new guy, but I can't let it fester into open hostility. I thought furiously: "You've been a genin for a while, have you not? Can you tell us something about what it's like?"

"Oh, well..." he tentatively started explaining about the general expectations for a newly minted team, naming D-ranks and metaphorically being extremely submissive to both Neji and I. Eager to please us to gain himself a spot on the team, likely trying to stroke our egos so that we would let our guard down, he told us about his genin test, and he spoke about the chunin exams, given that he had failed his first attempt just before the beginning of the year.

As he talked, my eyes stilled on the missing pinky and ring fingers on his left hand, as well as on the horrible, gnarly scar that I saw climbing up his arm. That is new.

"I almost died of blood loss with this wound." he explained as he nodded towards the hideous scar he had, likely something he had inflicted on himself in order to sell his part in the demise of his team, or something that he hoped would gain him some sympathy from Neji or me. Wounds that removed your fingers were horrible things, it made learning jutsu a nightmare, since you had to compensate and adapt the imbalance in your hand signs. Orochimaru can likely reattach missing fingers, it shouldn't be that hard. Or will he regrow them like a lizard does its tail? He summons snakes, does he not? If he can spit himself out of a shed skin, he could do the same for his fingers, could he not?

I resisted the impulse of scratching my head while I thought furiously about the current situation. He wasn't promoted along with his team while Neji and I weren't already slotted to skip to the final year. I correctly assumed from his words. I bet that if he and his bosses knew that we would be pushed forward another year, his teammates would have become chunin, and thusly remaining spies for either Danzo or Orochimaru. Instead, one of the two had to kill everyone but Kabuto, while his curriculum vitae says that this freak is perfect to be slotted with Neji and I.

"So, as long as you are in a genin team you follow the jonin-sensei." I summed up his words, "What happens once you're chunin? I mean, how do you get to chose what to specialize in? The Academy wasn't clear on that part."

"Well," Kabuto hesitated as he hunched forward on his seat, "while the Jonin-sensei makes sure that you have all the basics down and that you can work in a team to cover each other weaknesses, ideally you start to figure out what you're good at, and your chunin career starts by either specializing your self-training or taking courses that help you along those lines. I'd like to become a med-nin, you see, but to be chunin you have to be capable of fighting, if just a little, and I'm really weak in that field."

"We'll work on it." I nodded thoughtfully, immediately reassuring both him and those that might have been listening that we were going to work together: "As a hopeful med-nin you must have pinpoint precise chakra-control, and since both Neji and I are so young, with reserves on the smaller side, that's something we share. On the other hand, both Neji and I are quite good in Close Quarter Combat, whipping you into shape won't be pleasurable, but it can be done."

A grunt from my side confirmed that Neji agreed with me, even if the stiffness of his shoulders meant that he resented my comment about us being just 'quite good'.

"Traps, shurikenjutsu, genjutsu, and running." I spoke with determination, "You'll run so much that you'll wish to die, but I'll do that too, stamina isn't really something that a 9 years old kid can have in spades... How along are you with medical studies? I have memorized anatomy and the most common injuries along with the mundane ways to treat them, while Neji can see your bones when needed. I've read about some of the techniques, but only in passing."

"I just got started on the mystical palm..."

He started to answer, feeling that the conversation was getting out of hand, only for me to interrupt again. Like hell I'm going to let him lead me around. "Can you perform the chakra scalpel?"

"Well, yes, but I need a while to focus enough..."

"We'll work on that." I reassured him. I had no idea what kind of sensei Kakashi would make, since he didn't leave ANBU too long before, and the other changes that my presence had caused, he might be actually be teaching us something, but if I could squeeze Kabuto for something, I would: "Let me see you use the chakra scalpel."

I activated my Sharingan, and in the purple tones under which I saw the world, Kabuto was forced to listen to my perhaps forceful taking command of the situation.

He performed the hand signs slowly, making a scene of concentrating his chakra, only for his technique to almost immediately fizzle out.

"It's alright." I reassured him, "Take your time." while my reserves weren't something that allowed me to throw around fireballs like confetti, and likely wouldn't grow to be something meaningful for years still, I had always practiced my chakra control with almost religious zeal, and the familiarity with my bloodline allowed me to keep my eyes lit for a fucking long stretch of time.

At the third attempt, in which Kabuto made a scene of making a great effort, I witnessed success, and immediately learned the technique.

"If you can manage this technique without hand seals, your hands will become as dangerous as Neji's."

Another grunt from my side made me turn my head towards the Hyuga, who had activated his own bloodline: "Our sensei is here."

Somewhere else in Konoha, just as the academy teacher was starting to call out the new teams, a man stood in complete silence, his mind blurring from thought to thought.

In front of this man was a stark black obelisk on which the names of the Dead in Action had been sculpted through the years. Only the ninja with missing bodies didn't get a personal grave, but having a monument where they could be remembered, in the middle of a peaceful expanse of trees, was enough for those that missed them. And for one person in particular.

Kakashi had been many things in his life. Prodigy among them, and it was by far his least favorite title. He had been student, genin, chunin, jonin, ANBU. He had been son, apprentice of sorts, and teammate. He had been team leader, rival, and all-around asshole. Hollow, and trash.

Hatake Kakashi had been many things in his life. And now, he was a sensei. Not that he had yet met an actual team to teach this far. And he didn't particularly care to push kids into the kind of hell that followed him to this day, but it wasn't like he actually had a choice.

Sasuke was talented and driven before the Massacre. The trauma had completely erased whatever innocence he might have had, but he had bounced back soon enough, genuinely befriending people that he had no reason to keep around. It wasn't a mask, no kid could bullshit his way through years under ANBU surveillance, and it had reassured the higher-ups.

ANBU was out of the picture for the kid, talented or not, prodigy or not, nobody wanted to risk a second Itachi. That was a nightmare that remained sharp and pointed at the heads of a lot of people. Itachi had only another Uchiha as something that remotely resembled a friend, while Sasuke seemed to somewhat blossom now that he no longer had the weight of his clan to pressure him.

Someone to look after in a certain Rock Lee, someone to dick around with in the Tenten girl, and a rival in Hyuga Neji. All in all, the Uchiha's file was a confirmation of the kid's resilience, even if the Massacre hadn't been enough to kill the general 'asshole' vibe that the kid let off every time he faced someone he deemed inferior.

Well, we can't have everything. Kakashi sighed, thinking about the other two charges that he was going to put to the test.

In comparison to the Uchiha, Hyuga Neji was a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Superiority complex, hatred for the main branch that he could express only by beating the Heiress herself, and enough talent to keep him from taking a good look at his mistakes.

On one hand, it was good that Sasuke had entered into the Hyuga's life, on the other, the clan really should know better than to push the kid the way they did. Oh, he was exceptional in everything Gentle Fist related, but his tests proved a concerning lack of lateral thinking that Kakashi would need to address.

Finally, the two kids were anomalies on a scale that forced the higher-ups to look for a way to keep them as safe as possible. Both were at least Elite Jonin material, no doubt. There had been talking of placing a disguised ANBU on the team, but that proposal had been shot down: trust was a must in your first genin team.

They were the first to trust you with your life, and you were the first to trust them with yours.

Kakashi grimaced at the phantom pain in that eye, feeling it as raw as it always was when his thoughts trailed back to his first years on the field. It was difficult to not see himself in both of the kids, and he knew that the Hokage was extremely aware of the fact.

Prodigies, prideful, dangerous in their own way, and like all genin to ever skip a year, they were jumped up little shits.

The choice to drop an actual genin as a third member of the team had led the higher-ups to fish for an experienced one, someone that could coast on the knowledge he already had in order to somewhat keep up with the Doujutsu Duo, and someone that could provide immediate assistance if it ever became necessary.

It was also someone that barely survived the demise of his first team, with a permanent, crippling wound that would always stop him from being capable of a variety of ninjutsu. At least he could cover his role as support for the Uchiha and Hyuga, he had a good hand for throwing weapons and chakra control adequate enough to compensate.

Kakashi could fail the lot and spare himself the trouble. The thought came to him without Hatake's say-so, but it was something he couldn't ignore. The silver-haired jonin had toyed with the idea of being Naruto's sensei, but the kid wouldn't graduate anytime soon, and Kakashi knew that turning Sasuke and Neji into chunin wouldn't take more than a couple of years in the worst case.

There was a lot of time for Naruto to grow up.

The silver-haired sensei sighed as he stared at the obelisk on which the names of the Dead in Action were sculpted: "I guess I can test them and see how it goes."

The sensei to be eventually made his way towards the academy, stopping here and there to either avoid a more or less imaginary black cat crossing the street only to retrace his own steps in once he got lost.

The three genin that had been slotted together to be the new team 7 were seated in the classroom where the teams had been announced, and they were busy talking. Comparing their experiences, sharing ideas, and getting acquainted one with another.

The Hyuga wore the traditional robes of his clan, had long and straight brown hair, and used his forehead protector to hide his Caged Bird Seal.

Yakushi Kabuto had grey, shaggy hair and wore a high-collared, short-slived shirt over a white long-sleeved one, dark slacks that were tucked into shinobi sandals, and oval glasses.

The Uchiha wore a dark blue, high collared jacket with his clan's symbol on its back. He wore a mesh shirt under it and long trousers dutifully tucked into his sandals. Instead of the perfectly orderly and pretty figure of his brother, Sasuke kept his hair shoulder length, and they were casually jutting in every direction. Almost to openly separate himself from the image of the brother, he wore his forehead protector as a bandana slung around his neck, the metal protecting the throat, and, tucked away in a pocket of the jacket, Kakashi knew that he also had a couple of sunglasses with mirror lenses that he used when he wanted to spy without being blatant about it.

All three genin wore at least a kunai or senbon pouch.

It is curious that the Uchiha would immediately take the lead into letting the new guy in. Kakashi thought as he observed from a distance, the large windows of the room wide enough to let him read the lips of the talkative grey-haired kid while his mind started planning how to turn the hopeless child into something dangerous, ANBU protocols for training recruits still fresh in his mind.

He listened in for a while, seeing how the Uchiha led the conversation without revealing anything above average about his own skills. There was no mention of the elemental training he underwent on his own, refining his fire affinity to the point that he could start thinking about original ninjutsu. And he kept quiet about any uncommon skill that the Hyuga had picked up during the years in order to deal with Sasuke.

Manipulating the flow of information, giving up little to nothing of his own while reassuring the still traumatized med-nin. Kakashi summed up in the safe confines of his head. Good starting point, but I'll need to push them until they blindly trust each other.

When the Hyuga announced the jonin's presence to the other two, Kakashi slipped in from the open window, faster than the genin could follow, and for an instant he stilled when the single-tomoed Sharingan of Sasuke zeroed in on his presence. I'll need to push it to full maturity.

The shy med-nin almost let out a squawk of fear at the sudden appearance of the extremely lethal jonin, and that stole an eye-smile from Hatake, who spent a few seconds in silence observing the Hyuga, who had straightened imperceptibly.

Still, the first problem of these three was that they believed themselves up to the task. The Doujutsu Duo thought they were better than fresh shit, while the third thought that only because he survived and had a few years of experience over the kids, he had something akin to a chance to not be a genin forever, likely planning on coasting on the Duo's overall skill so that he wouldn't need to cover his own weaknesses.

This won't do. He wanted to shake his head and fail them right there: each of them thought that they knew better than anyone else. Immediately, Kakashi's mind fell to Protocol 3-B for realignment of the recruit's personality. Break them, make them build themselves off each other.

He fixed a stare on each of them, making sure that their eyes met, and then he spoke: "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I am your new instructor."

The pulse of his three students-to-be quickened, and the jonin cleared his throat: "Yakushi Kabuto: above average intelligence and exceptional chakra control, capable of Mystical-Palm jutsu and Chakra Scalpel. Large repository of knowledge about the human body." he eye-smiled, but there was no warmth there, none at all, no sarcasm or levity, "Useless in a fight, too weak to learn how to run for more than half an hour, and given that you're alive and your team not, I'd guess a coward."

He let his words shatter whatever confidence the kid had managed to recover since the death of his team before shifting to the Hyuga, whose jaw was clenched shut as he immediately understood that the Jonin was about to tear them to shreds with mere words: "Hyuga Neji: prodigy of the Gentle Fist, smart enough to learn how to not stab yourself and thusly pass the Academy. Obsessed with a vengeance that you can't take, so you lash out against anyone that can't hit you back, to the point that you pretend to yourself that you tolerate the Uchiha because he pushes you, instead of recognizing that you are completely alone despite belonging to the largest clan of the village. You think yourself somewhat important because of all that: you aren't."

Finally, he turned to the Uchiha, whose red eyes were almost shining with badly hidden rage: "Uchiha Sasuke: above-average intelligence, extremely mature, prodigious in anything chakra-related. Happy that your clan isn't here to remind you of how short you fall in comparison to your brother. You collected a few people to make yourself feel better about yourself, because you're better than them in this or that field, all the while you cannibalize whatever knowledge your clan had, hoping to find something that will make you more threatening than a mosquito when you finally find your balls and target Itachi. And like your Hyuga boyfriend here, you're a jumped up little shit, and you can't conceive being anywhere but at the top of any little group."

The Uchiha's face contorted into an expression that didn't matter at all to his instructor since he was simply following an effective protocol.

"Traditionally, we would be having a nice chat right now, I'd be asking about your likes and dislikes, and about your dreams." Kakashi went ahead as if he hadn't needed to leak a subtle dose of killing intent to keep the Hyuga from attacking him, "But your attitudes aren't just dangerous to yourselves, they're deadly to the rest of the village."

He could see what his students-to-be could become. For the time being, team 7 would never be one for overwhelming offensive with jutsu so large to give pause to large forces, instead of an unstoppable rhino, they could become a relentless hound.

Sasuke would naturally become dangerous in close combat, his eyes promising that much. He could learn how to set traps impossible to evade unless one could make use of the Sharingan, and then bolt away from the danger zone. With the kind of chakra control he had been training on his own, and the elemental training that he managed to undergo, basing it on simple words on paper, he'd be able to spot the enemy tactics with a glance, and effectively lead the team given his controlled demeanor. The Academy affinity tests proved that Sasuke had the classical Uchiha affinity for fire, with a secondary for lightning: training that would be up to Kakashi, and the Chidori was made to be wielded by someone with a Sharingan.

Neji, with his bloodline and talent, promised to become death in taijutsu. When all you need to kill was a single touch, speed was the only other thing you needed. Kakashi would throw Gai at the Hyuga once he proved himself worthy of the attention, and the world would soon see the most deadly taijutsu to ever be created. Tracking was quickly handled when you could see chakra.

Young as they were, it was somewhat reassuring having a med-nin on hand. Given the intelligence of Kabuto, perhaps he could succeed with Fuinjutsu. Poisons, interrogation, extracting secrets with autopsy while on the field, infiltration... if they ever were with their backs to the wall, Yakushi could pretend to be sick of having to be the meat-shield of two of the most coveted bloodlines of the world, and pass to the enemy only to stab them in the back.

All in all, if not because of their bloodline, at least their exceptional chakra control made team 7 practically immune from genjutsu, and an all-around bitch to fight. Ambushes, traps, pursuit. Quick, darting attacks that dealt lethal wounds.

Yes, Kakashi could see that.

"I'll see you tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. training ground 14." Kakashi shook his head, already letting show that he already knew they were going to be a waste of his time: "We've got a lot of work to do."

AN

I murdered canon so hard that I've got the shivers people. I had to somewhat merge a 14 years old genius that spent 10 years in ANBU with Kakashi's instinctive dislike for prodigies that graduate early, and there is no Naruto to soften up the veteran that has been killing people since he was 6.

So we see the merciless killer with a faint scent of actual training.

Yeah, I know I teased the presence of Kabuto only to become a lying liar who lies when I named a random Akimichi. But as I've explained, it was a fat opportunity for his bosses.

At this point in time, Danzo believes him to be a deep-cover agent ready to go wherever the old war hawk commands, while being under the orders of Orochimaru. We are 3 years from canon, considering that roughly 1 year after the beginning of the manga, Orochimaru is already Kage in Otogakure no Sato, I'd say that he already dropped Akatsuki and has started preparing his shit to found a hidden village. This means he's already looking for the Sharingan.

How did it go? Ideas?