AN: TW for graphic depiction of a period after the line break in this chapter. Also, this chapter is as always un-beta'd, so if you see a mistake, it just be like that, and I'll get around to fixing it eventually when I actually read this thing through completely. Anyways, I would like to thank everyone who has favorited and commented on this fic so far.

Hope you enjoy!

Kakashi really should have realized something was up with his genin team when they claimed to know how to tree walk and water walk without him having to teach them. It probably wasn't the standard for most twelve year olds, but he wouldn't know those things, as he made chunin as age six. He also should have been more suspicious when they seemed to all have some mastery over their elemental affinity. But, again, he had no reference for how normal genin progressed because of his odd upbringing.

So it was quite a shock to him when he agreed to sit down for dango and tea with his other jōnin instructors and heard them talking about their own students progress.

First of all, he hadn't expected to take up the offer Kurenai and Asuma offered him, as he never had before. But for some reason he did. Perhaps it was because of his students affect on him. Ever since taking them on, he'd gone out more and read less. Well, that wasn't to say he actually read less, he just didn't do it in public as much. And he'd only been going out because they dragged him along to places like Ichiraku's for lunch. He always seemed to end up paying though, so he wasn't too thrilled about that.

But he digressed. The point was, he had taken his friends up on the offer and was now sitting down in Anko's favorite dango shop "enjoying" some sweets and tea. He'd never really been a fan of sweets though, so he was letting Asuma eat his while he stuck with tea.

"So Kakashi," Kurenai started, setting her cup down. "How has teaching been? This is the first time you've ever taken on a team before."

He offered a shrug in response, not really sure what to say. "You know," he offered half-heartedly. "They're genin."

Kurenai chuckled softly, taking a bite of her dango. "That is true," she managed to say around a mouthful of sweets. For reason this made Asuma laugh. Glancing over at him, Kakashi saw the same sappy look in his eyes that Obito always had when looking at Rin. Oh God. He had it bad for Kurenai. Great, even more drama for him to be involved in. Just what he needed.

"So what have you been up to?" Asuma asked, lighting a cigarette he had clamped between his teeth. "I heard you've been pushing them rather hard with those D-ranks."

"That was last month," he said. "Ever since we got back from Wave it's been nothing but training."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that," Kurenai said. "C-rank turned A-rank. I'm sure that must have been scary for them."

Kakashi shrugged. "Honestly, they handled it just fine." A little too fine, he thought to himself. Then, aloud, added "But still, I want them to be prepared if something like that ever happens again." He didn't need to see his students covered in senbon ever again, or keeling over from chakra exhaustion. He'd already lost enough teammates, thank you.

"Right," Asuma said. "Just don't push them too hard. They are still kids after all." Kakashi rolled his eyes at the reminder. Kids, his ass. They were demons. Demons who wanted nothing more than to make his life a living hell.

"Don't worry, I only train them six days out of seven. They still have a day to rest."

Apparently, this was not the right thing to say.

"Are you crazy?" Kurenai exclaimed, slamming her tea on the table. Both Kakashi and Asuma jumped back in surprise, eyeing the kunoichi wearily. "Six days! That's way too much! They need a day off at least every three days. Four if you stretch it. You're going to burn them out on six!"

Kakashi blinked, taken aback by her sudden outburst. "Um…"

Even Asuma looked a little scared. But the traitor still sided with her, turning to give Kakashi an exasperated look.

"I agree with Kurenai on this…" he said with a sigh. "I'm all for pushing your students, but that is a little much."

Kakashi tried to shrug it off, not sure what to say. "They never complain," he offered weakly.

"Because you're their sensei," Kurenai pointed out dryly. "It would be rude of them to do so."

Because they're the peak of politeness and good behavior, he thought sarcastically. Maybe she was coming on to him like this because she didn't know how evil they were. Yes, that must be it. After all, she had a quite, reserved Aburame, and a shy Hyuga. The only thing she had to worry about was that Inuzuka who had a mouth loud enough to rival Naruto's. His students were waking nightmares. She had no idea what he was dealing with.

"Maa, alright," he sighed, raising his hands in a show of surender. He knew he couldn't explain himself to her. She was too stubborn.

"Anyways," Asuma started carefully, eager to change the subject. "How far has your team gotten, Kurenai? I think you mentioned something about genjutsu last time."

Shifting her red eyes from Kakashi, Kurenai's face softened and she replied to the jōnin. "Yes I did. And my team has been making great progress in it. Although I've been running team drills with them for the past week. It was already good, but it can always be improved."

"I just started my team on water walking," Asuma offered, taking a drag of his cigarette. "They already mastered tree walking the other week. I'm sure they'll get this one down in no time."

Next to him, Kakashi choked on his drink. Both Kurenai and Asuma looked at him strangely. He coughed for a bit before speaking.

"What do you mean the other week," he finally managed, staring at Asuma. The other jonin just gave him a confused look, brow pulled tight together.

"Yeah, I hadn't gotten around to it until recently. Too busy working on their taijutsu and missions," he frowned, assuming Kakashi was judging his teaching skills.

"No that's- that's what what I'm saying," the ex-anbu managed, still slightly shocked. "I mean, I thought they already knew that stuff."

Across the table, Kurenai scoffed. "They're taught basic chakra control in the academy, but that's it. Everything else is left up to us." Then, "You wouldn't have known that, of course," she added in a softer voice. "Graduating as early as you did."

Kakashi shifted uncomfortably where he sat, eager to move the conversation along. This was why he didn't socialize much.

"Wait," Asuma cut in. "Do your students already know that stuff?"

Kakashi nodded. "And water walking. Claimed they already knew how to do it a few weeks into teaching them."

Kurenai gawked before pulling herself together, lips then turning down into a frown. "That's odd," she said. "I wonder how they could have learned that." He had no response for that.

Honestly, Kakashi had never really given it much thought before. But pairing his friends' reactions with the fact that they already seemed to have mastered their elemental affinities… it was quite strange. Perhaps he should have looked into it more when the problem had first arisen, but he hadn't. They had been a little busy at the time after all.

So instead of replying, he just shrugged. It was definitely something to looking into later, though.

Accepting that they probably wouldn't get anything more out of him, the other two went back to talking (bragging) about their students and all that they've done. Kakashi decided to stay out of it for the most part. There wasn't really anything for him to add that he thought was noteworthy that they didn't already know. Things like Naruto's chains and Sasuke's sharingan were already old news to the village. No point commenting on it now, even if he was proud of them (not that he'd ever admit it. They were monsters, and that was that).


Puberty. A natural part of child development. Completely normal. After all, it was the just the change of hormone production in the body triggering certain organs and bones to grow and develop more. Oil production in the skin increased, causing acne and other skin blemishes. Hair started to appear all over the body, in the armpits and nether regions respectively, as well as altering the chemicals in the brain to cause things like moods swing and irrational and stupid thinking.

At least, that was the medical standpoint Sakura had adopted on it.

Experiencing it though was a different matter.

When she was seventeen, she had already gotten through the worst of it. No more growing pains in her legs or breasts, no more irregular periods, no more crazy mood swings. No more annoying shit. But now, as a twelve year old, she got to go through it all again.

And the worst part was her first period.

It wasn't so bad the second time around, but boy were the cramps horrible. After she'd left Sasuke's, they'd come on ten-fold. As soon as she'd gotten home, she'd made a beeline for the bathroom and stole one of her moms tampons before rushing off to her room. She'd been stuck there ever since, curled pathetically on her bed in a fetal position. Her parents had called her out for dinner, but she'd declined, saying she wasn't feeling good.

Shit, she still had to tell her mom it was her first period. Just the thought of it sent a shudder down her spine. Oh God, she did not want to relive that talk again. It was bad enough the first time around, hearing it a second time would literally kill her.

At least she knew what to expect, so that was a plus. She knew from experience that her cramps would start to peter out after a year and a half, lessening in intensity. That might change of course because her exercise routine were so much different now than they were when she was actually twelve. She was eating more than she had before, and better food at that (of course, she usually had Ichiraku's at least once a week, but that was Naruto's fault), so that alone was setting her up for an easier time through puberty.

But still, it was puberty. And it fucking sucked.

And all guys have to deal with is voice drops and awkward boners, she thought bitterly as she curled tighter into herself. Fuck them.

AN:I like to imagine that little lunch was basically just a bunch of suburban moms eating salad together and going "Well my daughter Lakelyn is in the honors program" while another mom says "Macailah is in five sports and seven clubs" and so on.

Also, the period thing will have an affect on the next (few?) chapter(s), because hey, this is puberty. It fucking sucks. And I want to highlight that. Thank's for reading!