AN: Light fluffy chapter before we get to the meatier bits of the arc. And as always, team 7 just loves to mess with Kakashi. Thank you guys for your reviews and kudos, they mean so much to a writer. Enjoy!
EDIT: Beta'd as of 7/29
"Hey, should I pull his mask down?"
"What, why?"
"Because then we would finally get to see what he's hiding under there!"
"Naruto, you can't just take advantage of someone like that while they're unconscious."
"I'm not taking advantage! You want to see it too. I know you do!"
He felt a hand reaching forward to grab at the fabric and immediately his senses went into high alert. His hand shot out and grabbed the offender's wrist.
"Try it again, and you'll be doing D ranks until you're twenty," Kakashi threatened, eyes still shut.
His student let out a loud nervous gulp before yanking his hand back.
"As I thought…"
He painstakingly opened his eyes and saw two of his students staring at him with their own, clearly shocked. Hm. Good. Sakura was seated behind Naruto, legs folded beneath her properly while Naruto was hovering by him, having escaped the possible wrath of lowering his mask. So that was two students accounted for. Now where was the third?
"Sasuke is taking watch right now," Sakura reported, noticing what he was thinking. "We're at Tazuna's house with his daughter, and grandchild. You've only been out for a day."
Kakashi sighed internally in relief. After the battle they had just endured, he didn't want his genin to be left without guidance for too long. They were shinobi, yes, but they were still scared little kids, Genin who weren't prepared to handle an A rank mission against rogue ninja assassins and crime lords. Though sometimes he did wonder…
"Also," Sakura piped up, bringing him back to the present. "We were thinking about that hunter ninja, and how he just took Zabuza. It was really weird."
Yes, it was, Kakashi agreed internally. He knew there was something off about that exchange. But he'd been too out of it to realize what.
"You're right, Sakura," he told her. She perked up at the affirmation. "Hunter ninja usually desecrate their mark on the spot. And rarely do they use senbon to kill, as they're more so used as poisoning and for targeting the nervous system."
Naruto and Sakura blinked, appearing to take in the knowledge.
He continued on. "That is why it is my belief that Zabuza may still be alive."
Immediately, Naruto exploded in a disbelieving outburst. "What! Alive? How is that possible? You checked his pulse and everything. You said he was dead!" He barely noticed it, but he saw Sakura refrain from rolling her eyes. Only just. Hm. Odd.
"Senbon, when used correctly, can make it appear as if the victim has died. I'll admit that the fake hunter ninja fooled me."
"Wow, a jonin was fooled," a new voice said, breaking into the conversation. "How often does that happen, I wonder." Looking up towards the doorway of the small room, Kakashi spotted Sasuke leaning against the doorframe, looking thoroughly bored. But when he looked closer, he saw a glimmer of mirth twinkling in his onyx eyes. So the Uchiha did have a lighter side. He made a mental note of that.
"We shinobi aren't perfect," he replied easily. "We're only human after all." The Uchiha rolled his eyes, but said nothing.
With some effort, Kakashi managed to sit up on his futon, much to Sakura's displeasure ("You should be resting, sensei!") and beckoned Sasuke in. The boy did as requested and joined them on the floor. Soon all his genin were sitting in a semi-circle facing him, ready to hear whatever he had to say.
"So, as I said before, and I'll repeat for Sasuke, Zabuza is most likely alive." Before any of them could get another word in, he pressed on. "But, given the nature of how he lost the battle, he'll likely be on bedrest for the next week. Which means Tazuna will most likely not be in harm's way." A sigh of relief escaped all three genin. "Unfortunately I will also need about a week to recover from chakra exhaustion." All three let out a groan. "Fortunately, this also gives you three a week to get in some extra training so you're all more prepared for when he does show up again."
Naruto was the first one to speak up. "So like, what exactly do you have planned for us, y'know?" He asked skeptically.
"Maa, I'm glad you asked Naruto," he eye-smiled. The three leaned in eagerly. "I'll tell you what it is…"
They leaned in further.
"…Tomorrow"
Had he a camera to capture the expressions they'd made, he would have had it framed and hanging on his wall for the rest of time. He loved messing with them.
All three of his students were standing around in the clearing when he finally arrived on his crutches. Sasuke was brooding, as usual, Naruto was pacing impatiently, and Sakura was reading one of the book's she'd brought along. Well, at one of them was being productive, he thought.
"Finally!" Naruto cried, turning to face him. "Are you gonna tell us what we're doing or what!"
"Maa, maa, patience Naruto," he said, waving him off. The blonde merely huffed loudly before folding his arms in a defiant motion.
"Fine," he sighed. "I'll be teaching you how to walk up a tree." Wait for it… "Without using your hands!"
The reaction he got was not the one he was expecting at all. All three of his genin sweatdropped and gave him the most unimpressed looks in the world. More so than the one's he'd given Obito back in the genin days.
"Really, sensei?" Sakura deadpanned. "We already know how to do that."
What? Last he checked they didn't teach that at the academy.
"Hm, interesting," he said, trying to play off how surprised he was. "You wouldn't mind showing me then, would you?"
All three seemed to let out a sigh of varying inflection before choosing a tree.
And walking straight up it like they were just out for a casual stroll. Okay, not what he was expecting. Nevertheless, he could work around this.
"How about water walking?" He challenged. Surely they couldn't do that, could they?
"Easy," Naruto declared, flipping back down to the ground.
Kakashi felt his eye twitch in annoyance. Good Lord, what was with these kids?
"Alright, fine," he finally said, voice straining. "You're going to learn your elemental affinity, and work on perfecting a jutsu that matches that affinity over the course of the next week. I don't care if you already know some." Because at the rate they're going they just might, he thought bitterly. "You're going to find a new one and master it."
"Easy enough," Sasuke said, jumping back to the ground as well. He was followed shortly after by Sakura, who also didn't seem overly impressed with the assignment.
"Well, we all know our affinities, right?" She asked, looking around the group. The boys both nodded. Right, because why wouldn't they know their affinities. Why not have insane genin that can do crazy things like that.
What did Kakashi ever do to deserve this?
Actually, he'd rather that question not be answered.
"Alright then," he sighed, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. "List them off. You first broody."
"Lightning and fire."
Two. Okay, well, he was an Uchiha after all. It was almost expected of him.
"Blondy."
"Wind!" Naruto announced excitedly. That wasn't surprising. His mother was an Uzumaki, it was a common affinity among their clan. And one of Minato-sensei's as well. Of course their son would get it.
"Pinky, your turn."
"Water and earth," she reported.
Wait, what? The daughter of civilians, a girl with possibly less chakra than the average genin, had two affinities. And rare affinities at that. Or at least in the land of fire.
"You three," he announced, glaring at them all with one eye. "Are monsters."
While messing with Kakashi-sensei had been fun, it might not have been worth it considering what he had them do next.
"Sensei, how are we supposed to master a whole new jutsu in a week?" Naruto complained, looking up from the scroll said sensei had handed him. It was a scroll for the air bullet technique. An A rank jutsu no genin should be learning no matter how skilled they were. Then again, he wasn't really a genin. But even so, it would still take forever to learn. Especially when he had to learn it from a scroll. He was better with one on one work, not reading, thank you very much.
"Maa, I'm sure you'll figure it out, Naruto," his sadistic sensei said, giving him one of his trademark eye-smiles. But not a nice one. One that meant he was going to do or say something incredibly awful to the recipient.
Instead of responding, Naruto just scowled and went back to his scroll. They were still sitting in the same clearing from earlier, but now they were all just sitting around in a loose circle, all reading their respective scrolls. Sakura had actually already finished hers and was working on hand signs. She was learning one Kakashi-sensei had copied from an Iwa ninja some years ago. And it was perfect for her. Earth style: rock fist was just the jutsu for her. It incorporated raw strength and chakra control. Like medical ninjutsu – except that it had the opposite effect on the recipient. Actually, it really wasn't like medical ninjutsu, Naruto thought in retrospect. But it suited Sakura all the same.
In fact, speaking of which…
"Earth style: rock fist!"
The shout echoed through the forest right before the sound of a tree splitting in half did. Naruto watched with mild horror as his teammate literally punched a tree clean through with her new jutsu, falling the two pieces in opposite directions. There was utter silence for about ten seconds before Kakashi-sensei said, "Good work Sakura. You get the rest of the week off."
"WHAT!" Naruto cried, jumping to his feet. "Seriously sensei?"
"Well, she did master the jutsu. There would be no point in her doing so for the rest of the week."
"Yeah but," Naruto struggled to come up with a counter argument. "She's Sakura!" As if that explained everything.
"My statement still stands," the man responded, with a rather cool edge to his tone. Naruto had to bite his tongue to keep from swearing out loud. How could this be the same man that taught him the Rasenshuriken? Or even the same one who was about to be promoted to sixth Hokage? He was so damn petty!
"Hmph, fine," he finally grumbled, pouting for extra effect. That was something twelve year old him did, right? "But I'll master my jutsu before the bastard does," he said, despite knowing full well the Uchiha was easily jōnin level and could probably learn his fire jutsu just as fast as Sakura had. But Naruto ignored that little detail and exclaimed, "Even if it takes me all week!"
"Whatever," came the dry reply.
"Well, have fun you two," Kakashi-sensei waved, eye crinkled in a cheery smile. "Sakura and I will be at the house when you two finish up." And with that, the two turned and started heading out of the forest. Before they left however, Sakura shot a smirk over her shoulder at the boys, waving her fingers in a condescending goodbye.
Rude.
