May 7th 996 — Konohagakure

Something seems to have changed between his cute little genin.

Kakashi can see it plain as day in the way the three of them move together, as one unit instead of three different people; while it's not quite seamless, not yet, he can't help the swell of pride in his chest as he watches their clumsy yet clearly practised maneuvers. The three of them must have been spending some time training without him—he'd known about their frequent post-training training sessions, and he also knew they'd spend time sparring while he watched from his perch so that he could show up "late"—and Kakashi has to admit he's impressed at their improvements not just as shinobi, but as a team.

They're all making up for one another's weaknesses, and though Kakashi can tell the three of them are splitting their concentration between enemy and comrade instead of relying solely on instinct, it's actually rather surprising to see. Sasuke comes at Kakashi from an angle, swinging his leg in a kick that's far too wide, but before Kakashi can punish him for the slip-up Sakura's there, a chakra enhanced jab aimed at the arm he'd reached out with in an attempt to snag Sasuke's ankle. Pivoting on his heel to dodge both Uchiha and Haruno, Kakashi swipes out to grab Sakura by her wrist instead, fully intent on showing his most rapidly improving student just what pride can do to her, when her lips curl into a smirk that has Kakashi freezing in place.

Kakashi barely makes the jump in time to avoid a literal army of Naruto's clones crashing against the place he'd just been standing like some sort of orange tidal wave made of migraine-inducing nightmares. Cursing himself for focusing too hard on what he'd assumed to be a fatal flaw of Sakura's, Kakashi sends his cutest student a one-eyed glare that she smiles right back at. A trap of her design, no doubt.

It's a smart strategy, too, he'll give them that. Naruto's clones act as a buffer even as Kakashi disposes of them, effectively separating him from the three of them so that they can back up and regroup. Smiling with pride, Kakashi punches through the last clone in his way, swiping his fingers through the smirking clone and shifting his weight back onto his right leg, watching as his three little genin move into a formation with a nod of Sasuke's head, splitting up as if to surround him.

He's actually kind of offended that they've made so much progress together without him, but the pride that's burning in the pit of his stomach diminishes any kind of sadness at feeling unneeded, its light worming its way up into his head and squeezing. Once, when he'd seen these three brats together, he'd been reminded of his own team. He'd seen so much of Obito in Naruto, had more than once had to blink away brown hair and eyes from Sakura's smile, had seen all the worst things about himself in Sasuke. During Wave, it was all he could think about, that if he'd failed, he would have lost them all over again.

Now, though, he only sees bright blonde spikes framing eyes the same colour of the sky. He only sees a broody kid with eyes shadowed by loss with dark hair instead of his own. He sees Sakura, not Rin, and though he wants to protect them all just as he did before, he wants to protect them by their sides, not by caging them and hiding them away from the world. He finally understands how Minato-sensei felt all those years ago, how his sensei coped with training child soldiers, why he taught the importance of teamwork as he did.

Suddenly, Kakashi's more than grateful for his mask in that moment; it hides a genuine smile from the world, one that he feels like he'd seen on Minato-sensei's face more than once before his team had splintered apart, torn at the seams…

His musings are interrupted by Sasuke sweeping his legs out from under him just as Sakura leaps at him, planting her feet squarely on his shoulders and pushing to send him toppling backwards. His back hits the grass due to nothing but shock, his bewilderment momentarily stunning him, and Kakashi decides that he's definitely just offended that his kids have taken advantage of his emotional breakthrough to win their little spar. Here he is, admitting he's proud and that he loves these little god-forsaken gremlins despite every single one of his valiant efforts to do otherwise, and how do they decide to repay him?

By letting Naruto and all of his clones literally dog-pile on top of him.

"Mah—what happened to my team of cute little genin?" Kakashi mourns loudly, lips twisting into a delighted little grin when he hears a groan that he just knows belong to Sakura in response. He also hears Sasuke scoff, though the sound is more like a laugh than anything else. Hm.

"We're right here, Kaka-sensei!" Several of the Naruto's above him chorus, the others giggling and chattering away about how they've taken down the Legendary Copy Nin. It's like he's lying beneath a wriggling mass of ramen-scented disaster. Minato-sensei… is this your idea of payback from beyond the grave? Kakashi doesn't even realise that the usual lance of pain that would normally go through his chest from even the slightest reminder of his late sensei is notably absent. There's no pain, only mirth. Is this retribution for Obito and I always being such menaces to you?

"Okay, dobe—let him up already." Sasuke sounds more than a little smug, which makes Kakashi silently count down the different ways he could wipe the smirk off of his adorable little avenger face. There's a water source near this training field, isn't there? Oh, yes… "I think we can chalk up seventy-seven as a success, Sakura."

Seventy… seven?

"I don't know about all that, Sasuke." Sakura is definitely his favourite, Kakashi decides. He catches a glimpse of her face as she yanks off yet another Naruto from his prone body, though he notices that the real Naruto isn't even part of the pile—he's just standing off to the side by Sasuke, arms folded up behind his head and that damned grin nearly splitting his face. Sakura pulls another Naruto away and is quick to send an unamused look the blonde's way, and Kakashi notices with no small amount of amusement that apparently it's all the indication Naruto needs to release all of his clones. Sakura nods, apparently pleased, and for some reason that only makes Sasuke's smirk widen even more.

Why on earth is he still lying here again?

"Kakashi-sensei was hardly trying—we should probably save seventy-seven for distracted opponents." Sakura continues, shrugging her shoulders and planting her hands on her hips. Kakashi's eyes snap to her as the implications of her words sink in. That little pink-haired devil. "I wouldn't even really wanna try this one out in the field."

This one. As in, seventy-seven was the number of strategies they'd concocted to use against him. Caught in a war between pride and betrayal, Kakashi turns a wide eye onto his only female student, pouring as much of his disbelief into his stare as he can. He's left wondering just when exactly she'd become so very un-cute when all she does is smile back at him like she didn't just casually reveal she's been plotting against him with the boys behind his back.

Kakashi makes a show of clutching his hands to his chest and writhing on the ground, making sure to give his best performance with a high-pitched whine of imminent death that he refuses to admit sounds distinctly canine. When Sakura simply rolls her eyes at his antics, all Kakashi can do is pout and wonder when his beloved, cutest student had turned against his and forsaken him this way. Oh, the shame…

"Yeah, teme! He isn't even trying!"

"That isn't something to be proud of, dobe."

"Wh—I'm not! I'm just saying!"

Kakashi glances between the two boys and his little pink-haired menace of choice, grateful that at least one of his kids seems to understand that he's always exhausted. She probably gets why, too, given the metamorphosis she's gone through in the past month or so. Naruto and Sasuke have always been like bickering puppies, rolling around in the grass and yipping unintelligible nonsense, but Sakura looks less like the love-stuck pre-teen he'd been initially saddled with and more like an overly fond but long-suffering mother.

She's changed so much since Wave—they all had their struggles with that particular mission, all of them saw something about themselves or the world that they didn't necessarily like or know how to deal with, but with Sakura… well, when they'd initially returned to Tazuna's home, Kakashi fully expected her to tell him she was planning on turning in her hitai-ate. He wouldn't have been surprised if she had chosen to step back from this particularly bloody path after the way he'd watched her fall into an almost fugue-like state, staring blankly at the makeshift graves without making a single sound; she was, after all, a civilian-born girl who was intelligent enough to know when she was in over her head. He wouldn't have blamed her.

Which is probably why he was so surprised to see her meditating the very next day, and the day after that. He'd seen the lingering effects of the mission in her just as he'd seen them in the boys, but while she took much longer to bounce back than they did, Sakura did so with an absolute vengeance. He'd watched her practically inhale the entire genin section of the library, taking notes home from scrolls she couldn't take home, memorising hand-signs and chakra usage, putting that remarkable mind of hers to use in ways she'd never really done before. He'd followed and watched over her even while she practised in the dark, every single night, even when it wasn't mandatory for him to do so.

He's also seen the way her eyes darkened at the slightest reminders of that mission—he's watched her practically cave in on herself, pushed herself into exhaustion, punishing herself for the things she couldn't do before. Gone is the innocent, bright-eyed girl who wore her naïveté like a shield—and doesn't that just bite like a kunai to the gut, seeing that light snuffed out, seeing the way fear darkens the edges of her eyes at random intervals of their day. She hasn't been the same, and it's all his fault. Just another failure to tack onto his ever-growing list of fuck ups.

Kakashi blinks his brooding away just in time to see Sakura's hand extended down to him, a warm smile on her face that makes him wonder if somehow she's added mind-reading to her steadily lengthening list of abilities. Even though he knows she's capable of it, it still startles him when Sakura handles him like he weighs nothing, pulling him up with next to no effort thanks to a little chakra infusion into the muscles of her arms. A man easily twice her size and weight, picked up and set on his feet like he's just a child that she's been asked to look after instead of the man assigned to look after her. Kakashi is apparently staring down at her for a second too long, because Sakura simply reaches out to pat his arm like she's his mother and not his student before turning to wrangle the boys out of their scuffle.

Even after a day of sparring and being no-doubt completely exhausted, she's still pushing herself—to improve, to keep up, to not be left behind—and when Sakura turns to silently order him (him, Kakashi Hatake, the Konoha's Copy Nin—) to follow her and the boys to Ichiraku's to lunch, Kakashi can't suppress the absolutely wicked gleam in his lone eye. That gleam only intensifies when Sasuke and Naruto immediately quiet down and follow after her without any further argument.

Kakashi smiles to himself as he ambles up beside her, practically preening under her questioning gaze, and reaches out to fondly ruffle her hair.

Haruno Sakura is going to be terrifying.

The walk to Ichiraku's is uneventful as always, with Kakashi rolling his eyes as Naruto and Sasuke compete over every little thing and Sakura just laughs and sighs at the proper intervals. While he'd been pretty unenthusiastic about being a jōnin sensei, Kakashi has to admit that he's grateful the Sandaime had given him this team despite his reservations. The four of them are a good fit: Naruto's sunshine balances out Sasuke's darkness, Kakashi bounces between theatrics to lighten a situation and seriousness to command respect, and Sakura's level head and alarmingly maternal instincts keep them all in check. He's aware that they could all be good shinobi either on their own or in any kind of combination, but the fact of the matter remains that if you take any one of them out of the equation, it simply doesn't work the same.

They can be good on their own, sure—but together, they're great.

It's when they're sitting down and waiting for their bowls to come out that Kakashi's reminded of a specific lesson he'd given all of them during a genjutsu session with Sakura. Trust your instincts, he'd told her in regards to breaking out of a genjutsu, they're your greatest natural defense, a built-in tool that all shinobi should learn to respect and master. Kakashi remembers the way the three of them had perked up at the advice, eyes so full of trust in him that he'd found his way to the memorial stone almost immediately afterwards to try and sort out the complicated knot of feelings squeezing in his chest. The pride he'd felt warred with the guilt of their very first mission outside village walls, and the knowledge that they trusted him and could look at him with eyes like those had torn open old wounds Kakashi hadn't even known were there, scabbed over and forgotten.

This particular memory is actually why Kakashi looks up with interest to catch a glimpse of the change in the air. Sasuke and Naruto had frozen in the midst of an argument, tense as they shifted in their stools towards one another—inward, like they were cringing into Sakura's sides as if from an attack. It was minute, so subtle that Kakashi wondered if they'd even realised their movements, especially Sasuke, but the memory of their lesson on instincts makes Kakashi second guess himself. Their hackles are raising, Naruto's expression bordering on rude while Sasuke would look nonchalant if not for the hard lines of his shoulders and the white-knuckled grip he has on the edge of the counter. Even Sakura seems tense, though her expression is polite, if a little confused—probably aimed at both her own reaction and her teammates'.

Intrigued, Kakashi turns his gaze from his students to assess the "threat" himself, eyebrows raised and Obito's eye itching behind his hitai-ate. He'd half expected Ibiki or, heaven forbid, Anko to have approached them, someone who gives off the threatening vibes that would warrant such a reaction from his little genin.

Instead, it's just a boy.

If he were anyone else, Kakashi would have scoffed and used this chance to finish his bowl of ramen without his team's attention fixed on his mask with a borderline-obsessive intensity. If he were anyone else, Kakashi would have just chalked this little event up to two boys not liking another boy talking to their very cute, very female teammate with a smile that's bordering on maybe a little too friendly for a first meeting. Someone else might have looked at this young, unassuming man and written him off as nothing more than another genin scoping out possible competition for the upcoming chūnin exams, or a boy showing interest in a pretty girl.

But he's Hatake Kakashi, and when he sees that Sasuke's own shoulders are taut with unease, Kakashi decides that he's not going to simply write off the silver-haired boy who's staring at Sakura like she's a lot more interesting than Kakashi knows most people think she is.

The only thing unknowing people find distinctive about Haruno Sakura is her colouring—after all, she'd been an intelligent student, a civilian born paper ninja, but she wasn't a student anyone had placed any kind of expectations on—but the way this boy is staring at her doesn't at all lead Kakashi to thinking that he's only here because he'd laid eyes on a pretty girl. There's something in the way he stares at Sakura that sets Kakashi on edge, like he's pressing a kunai to her throat instead of just smiling at her, and Kakashi wonders if the boys reacted this way because of a mere gut feeling or if they too see the same strange gleam in the stranger's eyes.

"I'm Yakushi Kabuto," he introduces himself, all friendly smiles and polite bows of the head. Kakashi frowns minutely, turning the name over in his mind. He doesn't recognise it at all. He doesn't even think he's ever actually seen this boy before in his life, despite the Konohagakure hitai-ate displayed proudly on his forehead. There's always the possibility that he was what the jōnin would jokingly call a career genin—those genin who struggle to get promoted and eventually manage to get promoted to career chūnin with village restriction—but it strikes Kakashi as odd that he doesn't recall seeing him around.

"Haruno Sakura," Sakura's as polite as ever, bowing her head, and Kakashi wonders if he imagines the way Kabuto's dark eyes flicker to Sasuke's face in the instant that Sakura's eyes are down.

Judging by the way Sasuke tenses even more, Kakashi guesses that he didn't.

Kabuto looks from Sakura to Naruto before returning his gaze to Sasuke, but neither boy seems willing to introduce themselves. Kakashi isn't sure how to feel about the way Naruto is outright scowling at the boy, nor the stony silence that seems to have swallowed up his usual boisterous attitude. Normally, Kakashi would have expected Naruto to speak up, or even try to befriend the older boy, so he's a little thrown by the way Naruto and Sasuke seem to rally together in an impressive display of defiance.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi," he finally speaks up, eye curved into a smile with an edge that he hopes Kabuto is able to pick up on. Kakashi's not going to risk it, he decides—if all three of his kids feel uneasy with this boy around, Kakashi is going to do as he instructed them and listen to their instincts. As his sensei had tried to do for them, Kakashi uses his name as a sort of brand, blanketing his name and reputation across the three of them like a shield. He's going to make sure that his kids never forget that he's their sensei, and that while the three of them are watching out for one another, Kakashi will be there to watch out for all of them, too.

All three of them relax and he smiles, ruffling the boys' hair before resting his hand on Sakura's shoulder, so tight with tension that Kakashi's actually minutely worried she's going to snap under the pressure.

"I see," Kabuto seems a little shocked at his display, making Kakashi silently chuckle with glee. He lives for catching people off guard, after all. A tense silence seems to stretch on for several moments before Kabuto clears his throat, scratching sheepishly at his cheek with his index finger before gesturing to the dark maroon scroll sitting next to Sakura's bowl. Kakashi isn't alone in being caught off-guard by its presence, since both Sasuke and Naruto's head snap to look at the scroll when he points it out. "Well, I stopped because of that—you see, I'm a medic… er, well, I suppose I'm more of a nurse, really. Are you interested in the medical field, Sakura-san?"

That's Haruno-san to you, Kakashi almost snaps, but he's more focused on the scroll than he is on listening to Sakura's reply or reprimanding the boy's familiarity with his only female student. Kakashi is swamped with a mixture of old grief and nostalgia—he remembers Rin, so bright and happy, hands aglow with emerald light—but he's also filled with a sense of pride as he catches Sakura glance up at him and smile before she turns her attention back to Kabuto. He'd only mentioned it once in passing that she had the chakra control most medics would kill for, but it never ceases to make his chest fill with warmth when his kids display how much they value his opinions and input

"—sensei says I have pretty good chakra control." The sound of Sakura's voice snaps Kakashi's awareness back to her, and he sees the way she's nervously fidgeting with her fingers in her lap as she says it. Good? As if any one of his students could be described as only good.

The way she downplays her own strengths is just offensive.

"Sakura-chan has the best chakra control ever!" Naruto boasts, wrapping an arm around Sakura's shoulders and pulling her close to him. Sasuke shifts closer to the blonde as well, their movements totally in sync with one another, and Kakashi nearly bursts with pride when he realises his boys are presenting a united front. They're basically screaming look at us without overshadowing Sakura, perhaps even more aware than Kakashi himself of her fragile self-view.

"Sakura is easily the strongest kunoichi of our generation," Sasuke adds with a smooth nod, not even acknowledging Sakura's sharp intake of breath at the praise, instead keeping his disinterested stare locked onto Kabuto's face. Kakashi wonders if Sasuke truly means it as a compliment for Sakura, or if he's just insulting the other kunoichi of their graduating class. He wonders if Sakura is having the same doubts. "My team is not weak."

Kakashi grins and leans his hip against the counter, a gleeful expression plastered in place that carefully masks his watchful stare on Kabuto's reactions. This time he knows he isn't imagining the way the gears seem to be turning in Kabuto's head, nor the way Kabuto seems to be looking at Sakura with a new sort of light in his eyes. He knows he's not the only one who sees blatant interest flicker in the depths of Kabuto's gaze as he looks between his students, eyes lingering on Sasuke longer than the others.

Kakashi's going to inquire about him, that's for damn sure.

"I see!" Kabuto's recovery is completely flawless, and Kakashi narrows his eyes as he regards the young man. Either he's one hell of an actor, or the boy really is being genuine—and after having been a shinobi his entire life, well, Kakashi doesn't believe that for even a second. "Well, Sakura-san, if you decide to apprentice, you should let me know! I'd love to give you some pointers for your exams!"

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind," Sakura murmurs politely, offering a small smile when Kabuto pays for his bowl and leaves with another friendly wave. No one says anything else as he goes, and Kakashi stares after him for several tense seconds before:

"Okay," Naruto says with a loud sigh, practically melting into a boneless heap against the counter. Sasuke and Sakura share a long-suffering glance over his head. "On a scale of one to ten, how suspicious was that guy?"

Kakashi absolutely loves these kids.

May 10th 996 — Konohagakure

It's only after about a month and a half passes that the Hokage assigns them another mission outside of the village.

Kakashi had been adamant that perhaps the kids needed more time—Sakura especially, because Kakashi could see the way she wore trauma around her eyes like the kohl she used to line them with—but the Hokage hadn't seen it his way despite how Sasuke's fists shook in his pockets, or how Naruto's confident smile had seemed so strained that it would fall apart if a breeze had blown through the office. He hadn't seen it Kakashi's way even when Sakura had gone a few noticeable shades paler, a slight tremble the only indicator that something was amiss behind the carefully blank expression she'd plastered on her face.

It should be easy, the Hokage had told them, his words hollow in Kakashi's ears as he remembered the escort mission and the promise of an easy pay-day from it. The mission seemed painless enough: a courier mission to a small township about two days out from Konoha. It doesn't even pass into enemy territory, the Hokage had assured them with that same friendly smile that Kakashi had come to rely on throughout his life.

Nothing in life ever comes easy, and it's on this cut-and-dry mission that his students make their first kill.

They'd been separated—a duo of experienced shinobi whose faces Kakashi vaguely recognised from the bingo books working to keep the notorious Copy Nin from his students. Kakashi doesn't think twice about using his chidori the first chance he gets, doesn't hesitate for even a moment before ramming his fist through the man's chest and making a mad dash for his students. It's like Wave for him all over again, and everything in him is screaming for him to hurry, to not fail them again. Minato-sensei, he finds himself pleading with the ghosts lining the walls of his heart, please lend me your strength.

Kakashi finds them together, backs pressed against one another in the defensive formation he'd taught them, their enemy lying motionless on the ground not even five feet from them. Sakura's face is streaked crimson, a weeping cut across her temple steadily dripping down her cheek, and for a moment he mistakes the blood smeared all over her forearm as a glove, a blood-stained kunai clutched in her shaking fingers. Naruto's front is drenched in blood and he has bruises shaped like fingers around his neck, a few openly bleeding cuts on his cheeks… but it's Sasuke's appearance that tells Kakashi more than enough about what happened in his absence.

Sasuke stares back at Kakashi with a completely blank expression, white shorts splattered with blood and his trembling fist wrapped around a still-dripping kunai, twin sharingan eyes rapidly spinning as he struggles to come down from the battle high.

Guilt nearly swallows him whole at the sight, but years of ANBU have hardened Kakashi enough to keep him from falling apart at the seams in the field. Pushing back the horrible realisation that he'd once again failed the three of them, Kakashi moves to verify the corpse of their enemy without uttering a word. The way they all relax at the sight of him makes something twist painfully in his chest and Kakashi works his jaw, anger coursing through his veins as he flips their attacker over. A small glimmer of pride lights up somewhere deep within him when he sees the wounds on the body—a slashed throat, swift despite the clear hesitation marks at the beginning of the cut, along with a nasty looking gut wound that he can clearly identify as the result of Sakura's enhanced strength and a kunai. He has to admit he's impressed, even if part of him is disgusted with himself for feeling that way.

He has to remind himself that he didn't fail them alone—the system of Konoha is flawed. He knows it even if he doesn't acknowledge it, even if his loyalty never wavers, and he knows that Sakura was unprepared because no one pushed her to try harder, no one warned her about the ugliness of the world or spoke to her upon seeing her obviously misplaced priorities. No one took care of Naruto, leaving him ostracized by his village, feared and looked at with disgust, hardly able to even feed himself without the kindness of someone not blinded by memories of a dark night in history. Sasuke was left alone in that compound, with the ghosts of his family to haunt him, and even if he was treated with high esteem, awed glances and fangirls didn't ebb the quaking in his palms or the blood-caked memories that coated his dreams.

He was a child who struggled with the trauma of a war he was more than prepared for, and here he is trying to care for three children who hadn't even been told to consider the war.

"There's a river about two miles northeast," Kakashi tells them as he works on sealing the body into a scroll, hands moving methodically, eyes focused unseeingly at his work. The three of them are all so quiet that he feels like his voice is an explosion between them, and he nearly cringes at the sheer volume of his normal speaking voice in the middle of the vacuum this situation has seemingly created. Guilt crawls along his skin, pricks at his neck, and he stands on aching knees. "We'll camp nearby there."

None of them voice their confirmation, but Kakashi can't blame them for their reactions either. They hadn't actually killed Haku or Zabuza in Wave, hadn't landed the killing blow on an enemy—they'd only watched, really. It's different when you actually take part in ending someone's life, when you go from observer to executioner. He also knows everyone handles their first kills differently, has seen reactions from all across the spectrum of possibilities, so Kakashi mentally prepares himself for anything as he leads the three of them at a sedate pace to the river that marks their halfway point on their journey home.

The moment they begin setting up camp, Sasuke vanishes toward the water. Kakashi keeps an eye trained on him even as he turns to his other students to assess the situation, and his eyes finally fall on Naruto who drops his pack and then sits down with a soft wheeze that sounds like a mixture of a sob and a disbelieving chuckle. His expression is unbearable to look at, an absent mask with a haunted half smile that doesn't really reach his eyes, lips trembling as if he might cry. Kakashi is used to this one—masking their pain with humour before the tears come. Gai had done the same after his first kill in the field.

A glance toward Sasuke reminds him again too much of himself—the boy is scrubbing at himself so hard his skin is red and raw beneath his fingers, his shoulders so tense that Kakashi's own back aches just by looking at it. Trained ears can't pick up even the slightest sound from the sole Uchiha, and Kakashi knows that Sasuke's wearing the very same mask he'd adopted after the massacre of his family. Kakashi knows the numbness well, and knows that Sasuke will take this experience and bury it so deep that it will never see the light of day again if he can help it.

Meanwhile, Sakura is… frozen, it seems. Shell-shocked and in a daze, staring forward at absolutely nothing, her expression totally blank and uncomprehending.

He's not nearly emotionally equipped to handle this, but Kakashi knows that he still has to. That they need him to. So, with a soft sigh, Kakashi fixes the last trip-wire hidden amidst the underbrush and moves to Naruto's side, patting his head in much the same fashion he usually does to Sakura. The blonde looks up to him with a clearly confused gaze and follows diligently when Kakashi moves him toward the water, a little ways down from Sasuke. His plan of attack is simple: Naruto first, then Sasuke, and then he'll try to deal with Sakura.

"We really let that guy have it, huh, Kaka-sensei?" Naruto laughs unsteadily, a hitch in his voice and his smile wavering. Kakashi can already see tears misting up in his eyes as he sits Naruto down and eases his hands into the chill of the river, rubbing them together to wash away the splatter of blood coating his hands. "It was… it was awesome, d-dattebayo… we were so cool, and—"

"Naruto." Kakashi is swift to cut him off, reaching out to run his wet fingers across the already mending slashes on the younger boy's cheeks. It's painful to watch Naruto, bright and sunny Naruto, fall to pieces this way. His fake smile hurts Kakashi's heart even more than the tears had when Zabuza had died, like glass splintering in his chest. "It's okay to cry, Naruto. It's okay."

Naruto's soft sobs and apologies stuck with him even as he moved to Sasuke's side, standing behind him as the boy cleaned. He watches as Sasuke muscles wind tighter and tighter, his movements jerky and uncertain, and Kakashi knows without a doubt that he's making Sasuke spiral even moreso than he already was just by standing close to him. Had anyone stood with Sasuke while he grieved his parents? Had anyone been by his side? Naruto's soft weeping, muffled by the stream, has Kakashi leaning toward a solid no.

"What do you want?" Sasuke finally snaps, looking back at Kakashi with an expression so raw that it catches him off guard.

"I just wanted to say… good job." It would be insensitive to anyone else, he reasons upon seeing the way Sasuke's shoulders droop and the ferocious light leaves his eyes. Sasuke doesn't need soft words and hands in his hair like Naruto does—he needs to know that he did the right thing, that he's still better than Itachi, and Kakashi is more than willing to remind him of that fact. Sasuke is opening up to them, to all of them, but coddling him would only serve to make Sasuke clam up once again. "You did well, Sasuke."

He leaves both boys at their respective places at the stream, then—one still sniffling softly into his sleeves and the other scrubbing a little less violently than before—so that he can finally deal with the last and probably most fragile piece of their team. Sakura is still exactly where he left her, one hand scratching absently at the drying blood all over her arm, vague eyes staring ahead in a way he's witnessed several times before. She's shut down just like she did with Zabuza, it seems. It sounds as if she's dissociating, Inoichi had told him upon Kakashi's description of her symptoms, which means that in an effort to protect herself from the stress and trauma of what she's endured, her mind is essentially detaching from reality.

Inoichi had stressed that perhaps Sakura needed to speak to a specialist, and Kakashi decides as he coaxes Sakura to the water that he might have to force mandatory sessions for all three of them in the wake of this mission. He pulls her even farther down than the boys, stepping calf-deep in the water without even hesitating, and urges her to sit so that he can wash the blood from her arm first. Though her eyes on on their hands, he can tell she's not really looking at them, and with a lurch in his chest Kakashi brings a hand to her hair in the same affectionate gesture she'd once hated, hoping to pull her back to reality with a delicate nudge.

"Sakura…" Kakashi murmurs, eye curling into a smile as she blinks and looks up at him, seemingly confused but undeniably here in the present instead of retreating. She looks so small, so lost, and Kakashi finds himself cursing every teacher that saw she was so unprepared—that they all were—and let these children become soldiers anyway. "You protected your teammates, didn't you? That's good. You did good, Sakura."

As if he'd spoken the magic words, the tears begin to fall from her eyes… and with the most heart-wrenching wail he has ever heard in his life, Sakura throws her arms around him to convey more gratitude that Kakashi will probably ever know.

July 1st 996 — Konohagakure

It's only been nearly two months since that terrible mission—and still only three months since the absolute disaster that was their mission to Wave—and yet Kakashi can't help but feel like it's been ages.

The growth that his little genin have shown hasn't been lost on him, especially not since their mandatory "shrink sessions," as Naruto had called them. Sasuke has edged his way out of his grief-laden shell with time, has become rather protective of both his teammates despite his perpetual annoyed expression he wears, and he's been actively working with his teammates to strengthen not only himself but them as well. Naruto has been working hard on his studies and his expressions, having taken up with Sasuke to learn how to mask his reactions and stop wearing his heart on his sleeve during missions. (Kakashi hopes Naruto doesn't wear the mask all the time, but he's sure that the others feel the same, because they make sure he stays just as rambunctious as usual.) They've both come so far in their taijutsu and their ninjutsu, as well as their teamwork, and Kakashi is willing to admit to anyone who will listen just how proud he is of them.

But it is Sakura who has come the farthest, and Kakashi can't lie and say he'd ever expected much of anything out of her. He'd expected her to call it quits after Wave, after seeing her staring at the graves and very clearly having a dissociative episode right there in front of him. He'd seen the signs—the flashbacks, the nightmares, the way she'd cringed from everyone those first few nights—and he'd wondered if perhaps Haruno Sakura just wasn't made for the life of a shinobi. Perhaps she'd gracefully step back, rejoin her civilian clan, and do something more suited to a girl with hair like the cherry blossoms and eyes and vivid as the rolling hills of Konoha. Maybe open a bakery…

Instead, he'd found her meditating and actively trying to improve herself. Kakashi had found her passed out on more than one occasion during the last leg of their stay in Wave, and he's brought her home from the training grounds more than she probably knows. He's met her parents quite a few times, now—she'd probably not like that, not at all—because he's had to drop her off at home after seeing her work herself into such exhaustion that she passes out in the middle of the field. He's seen her walk on trees before either of her teammates. He's watched her pick up water walking faster than even he himself had ever managed to learn it. Kakashi has seen her teach herself how to properly throw something as tricky as senbon, has seen her stock her own kits with everything the Academy taught her—and then some more, if those storage scrolls are anything to go by—and has seen her teach the boys more than he had at the time. She learned her own katas, worked on her own taijutsu using clones, had scarred her poor knuckles and legs to hell and back to crawl her way to her teammates' level.

Haruno Sakura isn't from a prestigious clan; she has no name or title to fall back on, she had no child-prodigy brother to help her train. She has no blood-limit, no family to push her, no expectations on her shoulders. She's not the Kyūbi jinchūriki. She has small chakra reserves, an eidetic memory, and a brain that works way faster than even the Hatake Genius can boast. Her biggest strength is her mind and her perfect chakra control, which is more subtle of a gift than her two teammates, something that gets her looked over more often than not, but Haruno Sakura is not a kunoichi to be taken lightly.

Sakura has no handicaps. She has nothing. Haruno Sakura is where she is because of her stubbornness, her strength of will. Not because of Kakashi, not because of her teammates—she did this all on her own.

He can't help but feel a little hurt at that. He hadn't helped her along at all.

The worst part, though, is that Kakashi knows if Sakura could hear him thinking this, she'd shout and scream and hurl logs at him to make him listen to her. She's got a kind of terrifying temper on her despite the almost endless patience she has for her team, one that's hidden behind sweet smiles and a petite frame with the most disarming colouring possible. One minute she's all gentle touches and softly spoken inspirational words, the next she's got her fist down Naruto's throat and is making threats that promise Naruto will never procreate if she has her way. Sakura adores him, looks up to him and gets onto Sasuke for not calling him sensei. She scolds the boys for not being respectful and she always seems to know when his mind isn't in the present, when he sees black hair over Naruto's blonde, and she's always quick to thank him for teaching her even the smallest of things. Every time Sakura's learned a new technique or is interested in learning something, she comes to Kakashi as if for approval, for help, and slowly but surely Naruto and Sasuke have begun to do the exact same. He had never truly felt like a genuine teacher to these kids until she'd basically forced him into the role… and, he has to admit, he kind of loves it.

"What's up, Kaka-sensei?" Naruto's voice snaps him out of his reverie, bringing Kakashi's mind back to the here and now. Naruto's head is sticking out of the ground and Sasuke is gloating from his crouch nearby, though the raven haired boy is definitely panting from exhaustion. Sakura is a little ways away, and Kakashi can't help but beam as he realises she's covered in dirt and sweating because she's finally succeeded in using Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu on her teammate. Pride warms his heart. He taught her that. Sakura flashes him a v for victory, Sasuke's smirk is closer to a grin than Kakashi's really ever seen it, and Kakashi can't help but throw them a thumbs up in return to them both.

He loves these kids.

"I've recommended you three to take the Chūnin Exams," he tells them with a smile, the edges sharp with worry. He'd been reluctant—something is brewing beneath these exams, something big, and the Hokage is obviously on edge—but Kakashi had caved and signed the three of them up after he'd realised they'd throw a fit over not having the chance. They've been training so hard that they deserve a shot at a promotion, even if a selfish piece of Kakashi wants them to stay his little genin team for just a while longer. Forever, preferably, but he can't even acknowledge that to himself.

"What's that?" Naruto asks, wriggling as Sakura and Sasuke both pull him up from his little hole in the ground. Naruto's grateful smile is so happy and bright that Kakashi considers investing in sunglasses, both to hide his definitely manly tears and to keep him from going blind from it all. God, they're just so cute—

"Chūnin is the next rank for us," Sakura explains to her blonde teammate, ever the walking textbook, as she brushes loose dirt and pebbles from his shoulders. Kakashi looks up at the sky and holds up his hands in silent thanks for the Gods being so forgiving and giving him a mini-teacher to take half the work off of him. Sakura pointedly ignores his theatrics. "The exams are how we try to get promoted—this is the first time in a while we've hosted them in Konoha. Right, sensei?"

"That's right!" Kakashi ruffles her hair, raising an eyebrow at the kunai that's tied up in her bun. Did his cute little genin booby-trap her hair? Yikes. "You three have been working hard, so I decided my cute little genin deserved the chance for a promotion!"

"But aren't we supposed to be genin for at least a year before we can take it?" Sasuke pipes up, head tilted silently as he trades glances with his teammates. They're practically speaking with their eyes, Oh, they're adorable. Kakashi can't handle it.

"That's a recommendation, not a regulation." Kakashi tells them with no small amount of glee, watching as plans flick around Sakura's face so quickly that it actually alarms him a little. He watches as her fingers twitch against Naruto's wrist, watches as Naruto's elbow connects with Sasuke's and then slides in a motion that looks so genuine it catches Kakashi off guard, and when he sees recognition flare in Sasuke's eyes, Kakashi realises with a jolt just what he'd watched in front of him.

He takes it back. They're not adorable… they're little monsters.

"My cute little genin have their own code and didn't tell me?"

Sakura squeaks and stumbles back as if she's been burned, Naruto squawks like some sort of dying bird and drops like a rock, and Sasuke literally chokes on his own spit. It'd be absolutely hilarious to watch if Kakashi weren't so offended by this blatant betrayal. Crossing his arms and putting on his best pout, Kakashi aims for the weakest link in the chain.

He points the full force of his hurt expression at Sakura.

Both boys groan, knowing it's a lost cause before the battle had even begun, and Kakashi almost cackles in glee at the way Sakura's lip trembles up at him. He'd feel bad if it weren't for the fact that he knows she would have taught him anyway—he's just caught on early to how they've been coordinating their attacks so skillfully during team sparring sessions. Sneaky little brat.

"Okay, Kakashi-sensei… here's how it works—"

The rest of their afternoon training is spent with them explaining their rather complex system to him, and Kakashi outright lets them know he's impressed with all three of them—both for the creation of such a brilliantly devious code (Sakura) and the clever implementation of it in the form of touch instead of solely verbal cues to remain unnoticed (shockingly, this was entirely Naruto's idea)—as they mull over what else to cover for the afternoon. After all, it's their day to eat out at Ichiraku, and Naruto's excitement has them all rushing along the streets as soon as there's nothing else to claim as training.

"Kakashi-sensei…?"

"Hm?" Kakashi turns on his heel and slips Icha Icha into its delegated pouch on his hip, eyebrow raised in question at his favourite little student. Sakura looks so unsure and bashful that he actually feels a little alarmed, wondering what happened to set her off on another downward spiral so quickly. She'd been in such high spirits all day. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan?"

"Do you…" She swallows and averts her eyes like she's in pain, little fists trembling by her sides, and Kakashi actually scowls behind his mask. He knew from the get-go that Wave would leave scars on all of them, but he wishes that it hadn't left such glaring wounds, open and weeping and festering, on his only female student. He doesn't know how to help, how to point out that she's here and safe and that she's single-handedly helped their team in more ways than he, their teacher, could have ever hoped to. Her therapist had said they were making progress, but had warned it was going slow and that she needed more time. Kakashi doesn't like not knowing how to help.

Kakashi waits for her to continue, but she remains silent. "Do I what, Sakura?"

"Do you think I'm really ready? For… for the Chūnin Exams?"

She doesn't ask if the team is ready. She's not doubting Naruto or Sasuke at all. Kakashi realises with a start that Sakura has been making all these strides to catch up and help her teammates without seeing, without realising for even a second, that she's become such a reliable and competent kunoichi that Kakashi's been making bets on her for a month now. He's even won those bets. Asuma's literally going to skin him alive one day. She has no idea the progress she's made simply because she's constantly belittling herself and holding herself accountable for things she can't control.

Sighing to himself, Kakashi reaches forward to press his palm against her hair, smiling softly at the way she flushes and glances up at him through her lashes. She looks so hopeful and yet so ashamed at the same time that Kakashi thinks she may have well just gutted him with the kunai in her hair and called it a day.

"Sakura-chan, I wouldn't have suggested it to you if I didn't think you were—all three of you have to agree to be allowed to participate. I wouldn't leave you out just for Naruto and Sasuke—they'd never forgive me, and I'd never forgive myself. What's our motto?"

"All of us or none of us." Sakura smiles.

"And don't you forget it." So does he.

"Will you help me with my genjutsu, then?" Kakashi laughs and she beams up at him, little hand slipping into his own, and Kakashi wonders when they went from just annoying brats to his annoying brats. He doesn't let go of her hand the entire walk to the ramen stand.

"Mah… I think I have time."

July 2nd 996 — Konohagakure

"Kaka-sensei! I wanna do that thing too!" Naruto points accusingly at Sakura as she shunshins across the clearing, moving around to try and deflect the kunai that Kakashi leisurely throws in random directions. It's good practice for her, he reasons, even if Naruto and Sasuke are gaping and accusing him of child abuse with their eyes.

She's only missed four and gotten hit with a glancing blow like three times, what's the big deal?

"You need better chakra control, dobe."

"You can't do it either, teme!"

"Boys, boys," Kakashi mutters with a roll of his eyes, totally not wincing when his shuriken catches Sakura's calf before she flickers away to deflect a senbon. Nice. "You two have your physical strength and wider variety of jutsu to use—Sakura-chan here needed speed. She's got to be able to get in, execute your strategies, and get out."

"I mean, I guess… but, do you really have to throw that stuff at her?"

"Just because she can augment her body to move faster and be able to register what she sees at that speed doesn't mean her reaction time is up to par. Sakura can be fast all she likes, but if she can't react fast enough, she could still get hit."

"Which is why we're supposed to be in the front lines, dobe. We draw our enemies attention and Sakura watches our backs."

"Exactly. Now, Sasuke, go after Naruto with everything you have—Naruto, focus on dodging and deflecting."

The two explode into a flurry of motion, and Kakashi isn't at all surprised to see Sakura stop nearby with a look of mild concern on her face. Really, the way she worries after all of them is quite cute—Kakashi's glad that his spiel about teamwork seems to have resounded so strongly in Sakura, not that he thinks for even a moment that it hasn't struck quite the cord in the boys, though. He's simple proud to have passed on that message to her.

"Wanna work on your Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu?" Kakashi slides his gaze to her and smirks, hands already forming the seal even as he smiles at her. She's clever, he'll give her that. Too clever. He's taught her well, it'd seem. "Kai."

"What gave it away, Kakashi-sensei?"

He glances to Sakura, who is now sitting on his other side, staring up at him with an expectant gaze and a little knowing smirk on her lips. She's officially been around Sasuke too long, he decides, fingers sliding back into their seal as he rolls his eyes heavenward. He's going to have a long talk with Minato-sensei later about why it's not fair to exact his revenge from beyond the grave using a pink-haired monster, the final Uchiha boy, and his own son.

"Kai."

He looks down and sees all three of his students directly in front of him. Sakura is positively beaming, hands behind her back and looking quite proud of herself, while Naruto is smiling at her with his hand on her shoulder and Sasuke grins up at him, arms crossed and body angled towards Sakura.

She'd caught him in a secondary illusion without him even noticing.

"Magen: Nijū Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu," Sakura announces with a tiny squee of pleasure, bouncing on the tips of her toes and practically vibrating with ill-concealed glee. She looks so proud of herself and Kakashi's so proud of her and damn it, he's going all soft and mushy in his chest. This is unacceptable. Who gave his students the right to be so great? He doesn't deserve them.

"Mah, Sakura-chan… were you seriously worried about the Chūnin Exams?" Kakashi asks with a smile, reaching out to ruffle her hair. "Because from where I'm standing, no one stands a chance against you three."

July 27th 996 — Konohagakure

The boys can officially walk on water. This is great.

Kakashi is now making all three of the spar on water. This is hilarious.

He's trying so very hard not to outright laugh the third time Sasuke plummets into the water after Kakashi catches him off guard with a spinning kick aimed for his face. He barely chokes down a laugh when he scares Naruto so bad that he flies face-first into the water with a scream. Hell, just to make her feel included, Kakashi literally hurls Sakura in at least once and struggles valiantly not to laugh at her betrayed expression as she spits water from her mouth and pushes her dripping fringe from her eyes.

He's having fun. Loads of it, even. He's really enjoying what the three of them are calling the Month From Hell, the month of preparation that they have before the Chūnin Exams begin. Though they only have four days left now, Kakashi still intends to make full use of their time left together before he hands off his precious students, lets them out of his probably less than capable hands, and has to wait and watch as they prove themselves to the rest of the village.

Kakashi doesn't doubt them as they are now, not in the slightest, but he wants to give them the most solid of foundations that he can before they go. Taijutsu is their focus now. It's Naruto's weakest point, if only because the boy lacks any kind of technique—he just chooses to instead basically hurl himself head-first into every fight, literally with his head if he's allowed to. Sasuke is by far the strongest between the three of them, and he's helped Sakura immensely with her dodging and reaction time.

Naruto and Sasuke have greatly improved their chakra control, but they're still no where near Sakura's level—and with only a few days to keep working like this, Kakashi is simply remaining hopeful that there won't be too much combat on water or trees.

"Thirty-seven!" Sakura bellows from somewhere to his left. On instinct, Kakashi looks to her. A mistake.

He dodges Sasuke's swipe with a kunai and jumps back just as the Uchiha pivots sharply on his foot, swinging out with his leg in an attempt to clip Kakashi's side. Kakashi draws out a kunai just as Naruto comes flying at him, but Naruto ducks under his swipe and swings his arm in an upward arc, attacking Kakashi's weapon to knock it out of his hand. His grip is loosened and Kakashi actually stumbles back a single step in surprise, eye wide.

"Now!"

As if by Naruto's command, Sakura's suddenly there, her foot planted on Naruto's shoulder and hauling herself up and over with a kick swinging toward Kakashi's face. He dips and strikes out to punch Sakura in the stomach, a swift reminder that she's left herself wide open, but he pulls back just as she twists in the air and Sasuke's own fist strikes out to block. it's like the three of them move in perfect synchronisation as Naruto barrels forward, a predictable fist aimed for Kakashi's stomach—but before Kakashi can respond, Sasuke's on him, hands around Kakashi's wrist and then—

And then Sakura literally headbutts him and he goes under.

Kakashi stays under the water for several long seconds, staring up at the sunlight rippling above his head, wondering just when his kids had gotten so good at working together. He and Obito had been an amazing team together by the end of things, but even still… the two of them didn't work quite this well, like a well-oiled machine. His kids fought like they'd been together for decades, not just a few months. Pride burns in his chest as Kakashi's head breaks the surface, blinking away the water and leveling all three of them with his most unimpressed stare. He maintains the expression despite the warm smile hidden beneath the mask, despite how warm their jubilant cheers and laughter make him feel.

Yeah. These kids are gonna do just fine.

12/31/18: Just in time for the new year! Sorry this rewrite took so long, I absolutely added another important scene here and there, and I got whisked away by the characters. I hope I more properly conveyed Kakashi's view on Sakura, as well as his team, and on the system in place in Konoha and how it trains its upcoming shinobi. (Hint: he hates it as much as I do.)

I've had a particular reviewer claim I was holding Sakura accountable for things she didn't do, and so I wish to stress one more time that just because Sakura views herself this way does NOT mean anyone else does. She is holding herself accountable and I do promise a wake-up call coming in the near future. She needs someone to make her realise not everything is her fault, but this is a natural stage of grief.

The original word count on this chapter was 5,662. This revision's word count is now 9,555.

Thank you for reading.