"For a tree to grow strong, it is not enough to give it sunlight, water and fertile soil. It must be taught to dream of touching the sky."
- Widely attributed to Hashirama Senju, First Hokage of Konohagakure
-O-
Sasuke was used to the solitude of the Uchiha district. The rows of empty houses kept him focused. Killing Itachi was the only thing that mattered – until he was dead, any new clan could be wiped out as easily as the old one. One day there would be more Uchiha living here, after Itachi's head was placed at the foot of his family's memorial stone. For now, as he wandered through the compound, the silence was-
"Hey! Sasuke!"
Sasuke spun around, a kunai flying out of its holster and into his hand as he took on a defensive stance. People didn't come here. Ever.
"Wow, you walk fast," Ino said as she jogged over.
"What are you doing here?" Sasuke snapped, unhappy at being interrupted. He put the knife away again, though.
"I wanted to bring you a graduation gift, and now seemed like a good time. I can come back later?" Ino was hesitant and seemed willing to leave. Sasuke considered it for a moment. He didn't want company; on the other hand, complete isolation was a well-documented risk to a healthy mind and body, and one crazy Uchiha was quite enough, he thought bitterly.
Sighing internally, he forced a smile on his face, motioning for her to walk beside him. "No, I'm not busy right now. How is your new team?" he asked.
"I have to put up with that slacker Shikamaru, and Choji just agrees with everything he says, but our jonin is really cool! He's called Asuma and I heard he's related to the Hokage. He smokes a lot but he's so strong and fast."
After Ino finished talking, they strolled in silence for a few seconds. Sasuke supposed he should say something too.
"I'm not sure where to begin. Sakura tries to flirt with me all the time and it's off-putting and irritating. She should focus on her own skills – I can't respect anyone who doesn't want to improve herself." He gave Ino a meaningful glance, and she smiled uncertainly. "Naruto's a loudmouth and an idiot, and he only graduated because the instructors took pity on him. He's not even the dead last – he shouldn't even be a genin. He certainly doesn't meet the skill requirements!"
"Um, I probably shouldn't tell you this," Ino said. "You know my dad does some interrogation work sometimes? Apparently the reason Mizuki wasn't at graduation today and Iruka had all those bandages was… well, Mizuki was a traitor, and Iruka together with Naruto caught him. Naruto must have been promoted because of that."
Sasuke stopped walking out of sheer surprise.
If Naruto had fought a chunin and survived, that changed things. Perhaps there were worse people to end up working with. Assuming Naruto had played any part in catching Mizuki, anyway.
"How is your jonin instructor?" Ino asked. She didn't seem comfortable with silence, Sasuke realised. He took a strange pleasure in delaying his answer and watching her squirm.
"He's called Kakashi Hatake. He used to be on a team with Uncle Obito, so I know a little bit about how he fights. He's done some impressive stuff – but it's all from fifteen years ago. He drinks too much, he sleeps around, and he's even been seen reading pornographic novels in public. In front of children! And he's really late to everything. He's a has-been, and I can't wait to beat him into the ground tomorrow."
"I don't think you should attack him, even if he's not a very good teacher," Ino said.
Sasuke laughed. "I probably wouldn't do that. We have a training exercise tomorrow, though, and we're facing off against him. We need to win to become full genin, but I can take him on alone, so I'm not worried. He couldn't even dodge a falling eraser this morning."
"I suppose this is a good time to give you your gift, then." Ino handed him a bundle of cloth, about as long as his forearm. He unwrapped it and pulled out a pair of short swords. They were plain steel, with wooden sheaths covered in a green-and-grey dappled pattern. Functional and deadly, easy to hide, these were ninja weapons.
"They're ideal as starting weapons. I thought you might like something with more reach than a kunai, and these seemed your style." Ino sounded like she was reciting a speech. "If you'd prefer something with a different length, I can exchange them for you, but since you've never used a sword before, that I've seen, I mean, I'm sure you've tried one out before, but it's good to use a short one first, they're easier to hide, and they aren't as heavy..."
"Thank you. It's a very thoughtful gift and I'll remember you fondly when I use them," Sasuke said, stopping her from rambling on. How could he show his gratitude without offering a gift back, which was impossible as he didn't have one ready, or committing to a future meeting? A half-forgotten lesson on manners prompted his next offer. "Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?"
Ino smiled. "I can't stay too long. But, now that we have different teachers, we could maybe train together sometime? We'll probably learn different things, so it would be useful."
"That could be helpful, yes," Sasuke said, trying to keep things vague. As long as she didn't push for a specific meeting time, he could keep putting her off.
"I'm sure you must get lonely here, all by yourself..." Ino trailed off as Sasuke scowled. She waved goodbye as she left. "Good luck for tomorrow."
Sasuke slung the scabbards over his shoulders for the moment. He never felt alone in the Uchiha district. Too many ghosts haunted his memories.
He turned into the lane that held his house. Rows of untended gardens spread out on both sides, and the small one- and two-story houses were starting to break down. Here and there, windows were smashed, and most roofs were missing at least a few tiles. The road was empty and the faint sound of birdsong was all that broke the silence. As always, Sasuke stopped and looked, imagining it rebuilt. There would be a swing-set there, for the children to play on, and that house would be a bakery again, and maybe over there he'd have a tailor or something...
-O-
Sakura was almost never angry. Upset? Sometimes. Annoyed? Frequently, yes. But anger was a feeling she had no practice dealing with. Now that she was definitely very angry, she was also out of her comfort zone, and she didn't like it, which compounded her original feelings. One thing was certain, though – Kakashi would learn what it meant to get between her and her prize. After all, training accidents were known to happen to even the best ninja.
In the hours since he'd casually turned her day from great to awful, her fear and sadness had slowly given way to a deep rage at the unfairness of it all. Sakura had been put in a group with Sasuke. It had all been worth it; years of work, years of struggle.
And now, that was all gone. She had to defeat a master ninja, who'd been on countless missions, killed enemy ninja in combat, and to top it all off was taller and stronger than her. Looking at his public file hadn't let her find a secret weakness; it had just shown her how out of her depth she was.
Her parents were both out, so she was having dinner alone in the kitchen, instead of sitting at the big dining room table. Sakura ate mechanically, one hand shovelling food into her mouth while the other held a scroll. Someone had left it in the letterbox, addressed to her. It was looking like her only chance to pass.
The food lay on her plate, forgotten. The scroll was clutched in a sweaty hand as she excitedly read onwards, thinking, planning, preparing. Practicing.
The comfortable home around her was completely at odds with her thoughts. Leaving behind the hand-knitted tea cosies and porcelain knick-knacks, she went into the garden, mind bent on murder.
One thing was for sure. If Sakura was going to fail, she'd make sure Kakashi had to fucking work for it.
-O-
Naruto sprinted into the clearing two minutes before the test was due to start. The training ground they were meeting at was barely-used and he'd struggled to find it. And no wonder no-one wants to go here, look how far away it is from the village...
Nevertheless, it was a peaceful, relaxing place. A light, airy forest covered most of the area and a stream crossed through on the end nearer the village. The thick carpet of leaves on the ground made it easy to sneak around and the undergrowth left plenty of hiding places, while the shifting shadows could provide cover to moving ninja as well.
Sasuke and Sakura were both already there, standing near each other on the grassy field, and neither looked happy. Sasuke turned his back and stuck his hands in his pockets, although Naruto paid more attention to the new swords slung over his shoulders, while Sakura started angrily whispering about how if Naruto were late, he might make her fail.
Sasuke checked his watch, eyebrows rising. "Now that we're all here, and Kakashi's late again, let's plan," he said, kneeling in the short grass. He gestured for the other two to join him, and Naruto reluctantly followed Sakura's lead in forming a small circle.
"How can we plan when we don't know what the task will be?" Naruto asked. Sakura nodded uncertainly, less willing to openly disagree with Sasuke.
Sasuke smirked, a satisfied gleam in his eyes. "Planning for an unknown task is almost impossible, for sure. Luckily, I've got my hands on something we're definitely not supposed to see before the test, since it could completely ruin it. I found it in the Uchiha Clan archives" He spread a scroll out on the ground between them.
"It's a report about the Fourth Hokage," Naruto said, surprised and a bit awed. All the Hokages were impressive, but the Fourth had always been his personal hero – especially now that Naruto knew he was tasked with carrying out the man's final act.
"More than that," Sasuke said, interrupting his chain of thought, "it's a report about the test he gave his genin team. Three genin candidates called Rin, Obito and Kakashi. Do you see what I'm getting at? There's a good chance he'll base his test on this one, so we can prepare for it until he arrives."
"...our new teacher was trained by the Yondaime?" Naruto shouted, leaping to his feet and striding back and forth. "I need to pass this. I bet he knows all sorts of super secret and powerful techniques that were passed straight down from the last Hokage, and then he'll teach them to me, and..."
"...And you're more likely to pass if you sit down and listen," Sasuke interrupted. "The test Kakashi took was based on teamwork, so we might need to work together. I don't plan to let you two get me failed."
"I have some useful things I brought with me," Sakura said, trying to defuse the situation. She spread a few items out on the grass, and Naruto went over to have a look. There were two strange long gloves made of dark blue cloth, with metal plates running down one side. Sakura gave them to Sasuke and he put them on, wiggling his hands to check he still had a full range of motion. They were fingerless, Naruto noticed.
"Hey, you found my goggles!" he shouted, recognising them by the distinctive swirls he'd carved into the side. He'd lost them after the team meeting yesterday and had resigned himself to just wearing a Konoha headband. Quickly grabbing them, he put them back on and tied his headband around his upper arm, the way he'd seen some other ninja do. Sakura smiled at him and also passed him a set of armoured gloves, but these only covered his hands. Unlike Sasuke, he was already wearing long sleeves. Just another piece of proof he was smarter than the bastard, he decided.
"These are good quality. Where did you get them?" Sasuke asked.
"Just a shop near where I live," she said. "They're gifts, by the way. Consider them graduation presents."
Naruto teared up a little at that. Iruka hadn't been lying when he said Naruto's new team would become his family – not that Naruto had doubted him, he just hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Then he immediately felt bad for not bringing anything of his own. He figured he'd look for something to bring in once they'd passed, so they could celebrate being made a team.
"We have time to prepare until he arrives," Sasuke said, voice full of authority. "Let's scout out the area and set up some traps. That will definitely be useful, no matter what the test is. If it's based on his teacher's test, we'll have time during the actual exam to plan combined attacks."
"Who made you the boss?" Naruto asked, not wanting to follow Sasuke's lead. He obviously preferred to be in charge himself, but his second choice would be Sakura rather than Sasuke.
"Let's not argue now, this test is too important. We can discuss things like that later. Sasuke can be in charge for now, and if we don't pass it won't matter anyway." Sakura was the voice of reason, but it wasn't enough to calm the situation down. Naruto wasn't going to give in without a (verbal, he reminded himself firmly) fight.
"If we want to pass, surely we shouldn't let the quietest guy organise everything? Besides, last time I did group work with him at the Academy he told me to just get out of the way, and said he'd do it best on his own."
Sasuke also struggled to stick to a plan when his temper flared, but Naruto wasn't going to mention that. The last time Sasuke had been that angry, it was because Naruto had hidden frogspawn in his lunch.
"You're just worried that if I do too well, Kakashi will only take me on as a student," Sasuke said, stung. Naruto hadn't been worried about that, or even thought about it. Until now. He opened his mouth, getting ready to say something to really shut down that arrogant prick. To hell with diplomacy, this was war!
He opened his mouth, considering the best plan of attack. Something about Sasuke's hair to start with, he thought. "You do realise-"
"Shut up!" Sakura shouting was strange enough that it shocked Naruto and Sasuke into silence. "Right. Neither of you is competent enough to lead, clearly, if you can't even stop insulting each other for five minutes. I will be in charge, and if we pass, we can have another discussion about who should be the team leader. Now, let's get a solid plan put together while we place some traps..."
-O-
Kakashi wandered into the clearing, wiping the last of the sleep from his eyes. Better ninja than he had been seriously injured or even killed in training accidents, and he didn't plan to die in such an embarrassing way. To make matters sure, he'd gone out of his way to be well rested, with the last traces of his hangover gone.
The three genin were already there, glaring at him. Well, except for Sasuke, who was trying to hide his anger (unsuccessfully, but it was the thought that counted) and instead fidgeting with a comb in his pocket. He'd only been fifteen minutes late today, so he didn't know why they were so upset. Or was he supposed to meet them at eight? Either way, it didn't matter.
"Alright, now that everyone's here, let's get started!" Kakashi pulled a pair of bells out of his pocket. "These are your goal. Whoever gets one by noon gets to pass. If you fail, you go back to the academy for another year. There's two, so one of you is guaranteed to retake the year."
The kids didn't seem as shocked as they should be, but then again they'd probably been on edge for quite a while now. Mental fatigue was just as crippling as physical exhaustion, and it was all the better for him if they didn't put up much of a fight. He'd brought a book along in case they'd failed to show up, like one spectacularly bad potential team, or refused to fight him, like last year's team. Watching genin look for plots within plots and then metaphorically chasing clouds was always amusing for a bit, but got boring quickly.
"This will be a true ninja battle," he continued. "You can come at me with anything, including lethal attacks. There are no other rules."
Instantly, Naruto ran at him, drawing a kunai with one hand and a fistful of shuriken with the other. Kakashi leant to one side and let the thrown weapons pass by. He waited until the last moment and dodged Naruto's wild swing, kicking his legs out from under him and pushing the genin to the floor with one hand.
He didn't expect either the smoke bomb concealed under Naruto's body, or for Naruto to bounce back up in a handspring and try to cave Kakashi's face in with his feet. He still easily stepped out of the way, but as he moved back and out of the smoke he realised that the genin had hatched a plan.
Time to show them just how out of their league they were.
He made a simple clone that stepped out ahead of him. It was almost instantly dispersed by Sasuke's fist, and Kakashi grabbed his arm and threw him onto Naruto. In the smoke, they wouldn't recognise each other quickly and the fight between them would be another sign of their poor teamwork.
Sakura had gone to ground. It was a fact of ninja life that hiding was much easier than finding, and since he wasn't in any particular rush he'd deal with her last. He turned back to the slowly clearing smoke.
Naruto had been kicked out of the cloud by Sasuke and – for a split second Kakashi saw double, before he suppressed his chakra and broke the genjutsu. It was only an illusion, he told himself. It was only an illusion, and Naruto wasn't lying under a pile of rocks.
Only half his face was visible, and blood matted his black hair to his head. No! Naruto's hair was blond, and he was fine, Kakashi could see him starting to get up, supporting himself on the boulder he'd landed next to. Behind Naruto's goggles, his eyes were red with- his eyes were blue, Kakashi corrected himself.
The jounin darted back into the trees, seamlessly leaving behind a simple clone that rolled its visible eye and wandered over to lean against the nearest tree. The facade of boredom was much harder to maintain now.
Time to take them seriously. None of the genin could lay a finger on him, but Kakashi wasn't about to let some wet-behind-the-ears brats mess with his mind. He had quite enough nightmares already.
Kakashi's clone was still distracting the two boys, so the original started searching the forest around them for the third member of the team.
There was a slight disturbance in the way the wind rustled the undergrowth. Kakashi darted over to where Sakura must be hiding. It wasn't a bad spot she'd picked, he had to admit.
"That was a neat little illusion," he told the shocked girl. He loomed over her as he raced through a dozen handseals. "I prefer this one, though," he said as he grabbed the darkness at the back of Sakura's mind and pulled it out. He didn't know what exactly she would see, but it wasn't going to be pleasant.
Sakura screamed, on and on until it cut off as the genjutsu ended. A flicker of movement was all the warning Kakashi got. He blocked the knife before Sakura could plunge it into his stomach.
So, she became vicious when she was cornered. That, he could respect. She was shaking now, drawing in big shuddering gulps of air, and her eyes were so wide that he could see the whites all the way around.
From behind him, he felt Sasuke and Naruto running in. Sasuke drew a sword from over his shoulder, looking the very image of a younger Kakashi, while Naruto's determination to help and relative lack of skills to back it up called up memories of a rescue attempt from long ago. His anger faded and he stood there, watching the team – they were definitely a team now – as they closed on him. Kakashi could see in their eyes that they no longer expected to pass, that their one best shot had already failed, but that they were willing to fight anyway.
He obliged them.
Sasuke dashed in, whipping a pair of shuriken at Kakashi's feet, forcing him to move. Kakashi danced backwards, avoiding every sword blow that rained down on him, occasionally reaching out to slap Sasuke wherever he left his guard open. He was shocked at how enjoyable it was to watch the boy's form slowly improve, his stances firm up and his technique become more controlled and polished.
Naruto needed something slightly different. Kakashi rigged a few traps of his own and tossed Naruto into their midst. By the time the boy freed himself from the tangle, Kakashi had put Sasuke into the ground. Literally.
As Sasuke glared from the pit he'd been buried in – only his head was visible – Naruto went all-out. Kakashi played with the dozens of shadow clones that piled onto him, using only the substitution technique and occasional simple clones to avoid their pincer attacks. He couldn't resist the occasional strike where a shadow clone's stance was sloppy, though.
Sakura was the most straightforward of the genin to handle. All it took to keep her racing through the forest was an occasional illusion or shower of thrown knives. She finally collapsed when her legs couldn't bear her weight any more. The value of being able to run away really fast was hard to put into words, and Kakashi knew it would pay off in the long run.
When the bell rang, none of the three had even managed to touch the bells on his waist, but it didn't matter. Kakashi saw it in the way they glared at him, and the unity in their stances and their mutters; this was a team he could teach.
-O-
Naruto was gesturing to Iruka, one hand holding a pair of chopsticks, as they sat in the ramen booth. Behind him, a row of paper sheets kept out the sights, but not sounds, of the lane. "And then he said that we could all pass! It was a trick all along, and he was just making sure we were good at being on a team together. The bells didn't even matter. We thought it might be a teamwork exercise at the start, but when he didn't pass us after we fought him as a team I panicked. Turns out he was just being a bastard, I guess, and keeping us guessing."
His smile was infectious, and soon the chunin was grinning too. "Ah, let me tell you about my own first genin test. I was on a team with a really weak guy who was decent at ninjutsu, but couldn't even do five pushups, and a girl who used a spiked chain whip thing, but had put her own eye out while practising. We had to find and rescue a lost kitten, and our instructor told us if we didn't find it he'd leave it to die." Naruto was hanging on his every word, and it felt good. He continued telling his story, waving his arms around and really getting into it.
"That turned out to be a lie, luckily, because we all failed and I had to retake the test the year after! None of us realised that it was an information-gathering test, and we were supposed to track it down or try to trick the jounin into telling us something. Instead, we just combed the woods, and we couldn't cover more than a quarter in the time we had – and we weren't very thorough, either.
"Luckily I had a different team the next year, and we passed quite easily. One of them's a jounin now, and the other is retired from active duty and does paperwork all day in the Hokage tower. We still meet up regularly, and stay in touch with our instructor – of course, he has a new team now. Anyway, you're ahead of where I was at your age, already. At this rate I should be watching my back, right?"
"Yeah, you better believe I'm gonna catch you up super fast. I'm going to be the youngest Hokage, even younger than the Fourth, and everyone will respect me!" It was nothing that Naruto hadn't said a million times before, but here, and now, Iruka almost believed it himself.
The two ate and talked long into the night, while the moon looked down.
