This story is based on Naruto written by Masashi Kishimoto
A/N: thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews. I'm going to try and increase the pace of the story, hopefully it works out. And more of my headcanons are going to be used, not all of the lore and jutsu I use are going to be canon, i'll pick and choose for the most part. Anyway, I hope you guys like how it's going.
Enjoy :)
The next morning Sakura and her teammates stood at their training ground, staring dumbfounded at their sensei.
The sensei who has so far been hours late until now. Is only 30 minutes late.
It's still late, but it's a drastic improvement, really.
Sakura and Shino are both knocked out of their stooper by Kiba's loud exclamation, "You're almost on time sensei!"
Kakashi dramatically clutched at his chest. "You should have more faith in your sensei."
All three of them gave him identical deadpan looks. He waves them off cheerfully, before he suddenly straightens his posture slightly.
Sensing his sudden seriousness, they snap to attention.
"Now." Kakashi crinkles an eye. "Before we can start on training and missions, we need to start at the basics. There's no point in learning new things with a poor foundation." He waits for them to nod before continuing, cheerful again. "Empty your pouches, all of them."
They only hesitate a second before uncliping and emptying their thigh and hip pouches.
They sorted the supplies out on the ground for Kakashi's inspection. Sakura noticed they have an almost identical amount, with Shino and Kiba sporting a few extras.
Each pile consisted of 10 shuriken, 10 kunai, a standard pack of 15 explosive tags, 2 smoke bombs, 1 roll of bandages, 5 feet of wire, and 1 pack of rations.
Kiba had some extra smoke bombs and explosive tags with the addition of flash bombs. Shino included a first aid kit and extra wire.
Kakashi hummed to himself. "Not the worst I've seen, tell me, why this amount?"
Sakura frowned. "It's what the academy recommended for genin."
He nodded. "It is true that these would be fine for D-ranks since they are restricted to within the village walls, but you won't have those forever, and I prefer to stop any bad habits early." He then unclips his own pouches, which are double the size of theirs, and empties them.
They stare, speechless.
Kakashi's pouch consists of 25 shuriken, 20 kunai, 20 senbon, 10 smoke and flash bombs each, what seems to be at least 30 feet of wire, soldier pills, a sizeable first aid kit, 4 scrolls that probably had things stored in them, and an old looking tanto that was strapped to the top of his pack.
Kiba makes an awed sound as all of them stared in admiration.
Sakura turned her wide eyes onto Kakashi. "Do all jounin carry this much?"
"Ahah." He might sound mildly embarrassed? "Some do, most think it's excessive." But he shrugs. "Being over prepared is better than underprepared, I would think."
The fact that one lead to a higher chance of death while on a mission went unsaid.
Kakashi claps his hands, gaining their attention. "I'm going to introduce you to your warm up routine, it's designed to build stamina and strength, me and a fellow jounin development it together, based on the strong fist fighting style."
Suddenly, with a brush and ink well seemingly pulled out of nowhere, he's kneeling next to kiba and lifting up his pant leg to start painting a seal on his ankle. Kiba calls out a startled 'hey!' But for the most part remains quiet as he quickly inked the rest of his limbs.
He repeated the process on Sakura and Shino before standing back.
Sakura was in awe over his speed and skill in sealing.
She hoped that could be her one day.
Kakashi crinkles his eye at their confused faces and raises a hand seal.
Sakura looks down at her wrists and ankles as they start to tingle with what was probably Kakashi's chakra. They darken for a second before fading to a tone slightly darker than her own skin. If you know what to look for, you could still see faint pink lines, but it was subtle enough.
Her eyes widened, none of the book she read on seals mentioned that trick. She thought the ink stayed black. Could she draw her own seals on herself? Instead of scrolls, she could store things on her body. The possibilities!
And Is it just her or do her limbs feel a few pounds heavier?
In her excitement she didn't notice, but they do, in fact, feel heavier. "Weight seals?"
Kakashi chuckles quietly. "That's right, usually, they are written on fabric that you can strap on as training weights, some use them as extra storage. I find this more convenient."
Sakura couldn't help but agree. That's one less thing for her to worry about taking off and putting back on.
It seems all of them went back to inspecting their seals because Kakashi clapped to get their attention again.
"To start you off, each seal is 5 pounds, I will be adding on 5 more every other day." Kakashi chuckles at their annoyed groans. "You will be doing your warm ups every morning while you wait for me." He plows ahead as they groan louder. "And if you don't finish before I get here, you'll be doing extra."
That shut them up, though they made their displeasure known through their glares.
If they could see through his mask he'd probably be giving them a wide grin. "After I walk you through the warm up, we'll go pick out a mission, take a lunch break, and then go shopping."
All of them sighed in resignation before adopting a look of determination.
Sakura, Shino and Kiba all leaned on each other for support as they walked towards the market in search of food, Akamaru passed out in Kiba's jacket.
They were even tired enough not to notice Kakashi steering them towards a restaurant.
He was able to get them into a round booth and they were coherent enough to sip on the water when it was placed in front of them.
Kakashi would think he was pushing them too hard, but they needed to get used to it as soon as possible if they were going to survive at higher ranked missions.
It took him the whole night trying to decide on what to do. How was he going to protect a team of genin? All of his teammates and some comrades have died, either around him or because of him.
In just two days these genin have left an impression on him.
He would not let his munchkins meet the same fate.
So he decided on the only answer that made sense. Train them, teach them everything he knew.
He'll protect them to the best of his ability. But when that isn't enough, when he isn't there.
They'll be able to protect themselves.
Kakashi shook himself out of his musings and asked what they wanted to order. He got a bunch of mumbles in reply that he translated to vegetable tempura for Sakura, sushi for Kiba, rare steak for Akamaru, and onigiri for Shino.
And well, if Kakashi ordered two more servings of vegetable tempura for Shino and Kiba and a bowl of rice with sashimi for Sakura, they were too tired and hungry to notice.
Once they managed to finish all of the food and chug down a few more glasses of water, they were significantly more alert.
Kakashi decided to take the opportunity and ruffle their hair with lightning speed.
"Alright little sprouts, we'll be going to the market." They grumbled while fixing their hair but listened anyway. "I'll show you the stalls to go to for the best quality and I'll help you pick out the items you need."
Sakura smiled brightly. "Thanks Kakashi-sensei, my parents taught me about most of the stalls in the market, but they haven't taught me about the ninja specialty ones in as much depth."
"Not to worry Saku-chan, that's what I'm here for." Kakashi waved to the waiter for the bill.
"Hey!" Kiba whined. "Why is Sakura the only one with a nickname?"
Kakashi's eye crinkled in amusement. "Your and Shino-kun's names are already short enough." Akamaru interrupted him with a whine of his own. "Of course you have a nickname Maru-chan."
Akamaru barked happily and Kiba glowered down at him. "Traitor." Then he sent Kakashi a sly grin. "Fine, but that means you're Kaka-sensei."
Shino hummed. "I like it." The slight curve of a smile peeked out above his high collar. "Kaka-sensei."
Sakura sighed in contentment and tried it out herself. "Kaka-sensei."
He couldn't contain himself and leaned forward, ruffling their hair again and giving Akamaru a pat on the head. He sat back and savored their indignant squawks as they tried to straighten their hair again.
He would protect his pups.
Without fail.
Akamaru lifted his head higher to enjoy the breeze as Kiba and the rest of their pack walked through the market. It was one of his favorite things to do thanks to all of the delicious food and spices he could smell in the air.
He decided he needed a higher vantage point after a few minutes of lounging. Akamaru climbed out of Kiba's jacket and jumped onto Kaka-sensei's shoulder before climbing the rest of the way to the top of his head. His hair is comfy, and from the smell of his clothes and hair, he's not the only ninken to think so.
Akamaru barked, asking him when they would get to meet the others.
Kaka-sensei chuckled and gave him scratches. "I was planning on introducing you after we're finished shopping. Don't tell the others it's a surprise."
Akamaru melted into his hair and sighed in agreement. Thoroughly enjoying himself.
He had the best pack ever.
Kakashi's plan is to help them pickout the supplies for their pouches and which first aid kit would be best for them. Then they would take everything to the shop owner, who would hopefully, like him enough to give them a discount. Allowing them to pay with the money from their mission earlier.
That part of the plan goes off without a hitch, and while they are walking out of the shop, Kakashi picks up 3 replicas of his hip pouch in forest green and pays for them himself.
They're more expensive than the standard pack, due to the larger size and the dividers sewn in for organization. None of his cute students would have enough for them.
Next was the weapons shop.
The shop had a display of any weapon you could imagine. And they were for display purposes only. Once you picked out the ones you want, you would then put in your order for that weapon to be custom made.
Walking into the shop, his little minions started making ooh and aww noises at all of the displays.
Akamaru finally started squirming on his perch, so Kakashi picked him up off his head and transferred him back to Kiba.
"Alright minions, Browse the items, Shino-kun, Saku-chan, you will pick out one so choose carefully. Kiba-kun, you will choose 3 for now, any more before you become chunin would be too taxing. Try to pick a variety of ranges."
There was a chorus of, "Yes Kaka-sensei!" And they were off peering excitedly at all the weapons.
He strolled over to the owner while keeping an eye on his students.
The owner greeted him with a smile. "Ah, Hatake-san, I see you finally have your own genin."
He eye smiled politely. "So it would seem Kobayashi-san, put whatever they choose on my tab, and have them forged out of chakra blade metal."
Kobayashi goggled at him for a moment. "That's very generous of you."
It's true that Kakashi has a well earned reputation as a cheapskate. But if he's going to do this sensei thing, he might as well go all in.
What can he say? His student's cuteness won him over.
On the outside he just shrugged. "I'm in a generous mood."
That earned him a sceptical look, but he ignored it and focused back on his students.
Sakura seemed to have gravitated towards the bladed staff and spear section, which were generally mid range. Though spears are considered long range when you throw them. Other, shorter staffs could be considered short range, mainly for stabbing.
Kakashi nodded to himself, decent choice and it should pair well with a fuinjutsu focus.
Kiba has already picked out a pair of trench knives for his short range, and is now wandering around for his next too. Over the next few minutes Kiba proceeded to pick out a Kusarigama, which is a kama attached to a weighted chain, and steel tonfas.
Kakashi sighed to himself and pointed the choices out to the owner. "The trench knives are fine at their length, but make the tonfas longer, they need to be less short range and closer to mid range. And lengthen the chain on the kusarigama by 10 feet."
That should do it.
While he was preoccupied with Kiba, Sakura finally decided on a naginata. The staff length ended at around her shoulder, where the blade started, and it ended about 6 inches above her head. It was a solid mid range, mostly for slashing and stabbing since throwing with it wouldn't really work out well. It's a curved blade after all, not like the straight blades on spears.
After taking down her order, Kobayashi came around the counter and started taking her measurements to adjust the height of the staff.
Then Kakashi finally turned his attention to Shino.
Huh.
Who had apparently decided to pick out a bow and arrows to go with it.
While they are used by some, bows aren't very popular among ninja. But for Shino, who is predominantly a long ranged fighter, this is a very good choice, he wouldn't be limited to shuriken and kunai as his long ranged weapons.
Once he was done with Sakura, Kobayashi came over and took Shino's measurements for the bows size adjustments. And then finally took Kiba's hand measurements for the trench knives.
Once everything was ordered Kobayashi smiled. "It's nice to see genin pick something other than tantos and katanas for once. Will these be individual items or part of a set."
They all huddled together and whispered for a moment before nodding.
Awww his students were bonding so fast.
Sakura, as the chosen spokesperson, responds. "As a set, with our clan symbols engraved into them on a spot of your choosing." She looks back at the other two before continuing. "And we all like green, purple and blue. So surprise us." She finished with a smile.
With the order finished, they say their goodbyes and walk out of the shop.
Kakashi didn't even walk a few feet before he was bombarded from all sides.
Kiba hugged him around his middle, face squished into his stomach. "You're the best Kaka-sensei!" Akamaru barked in agreement from Kiba's hood.
Sakura hugged him from the side, just as tightly. "Thanks Kaka-sensei."
Shino leaned into his other side. "Thank you Kaka-sensei."
Kakashi put one arm around Sakura and Kiba, the other arm pulled Shino further into the hug. They were so small that Kakashi's arms were long enough to go around all three of them.
Really.
His pups were just too cute.
Once they reached the training ground for the second time that day Sakura, Shino and Kiba all started on their stretches. Although they had been there that morning, their tired muscles needed to be woken back up after their mission of tending an old woman's garden, and shopping soon after.
Right when they finished Kakashi clapped to get their attention. "For this afternoon and most of the days following we'll be concentrating on jutsu and chakra manipulation."
"Kaka-sensei?" Sakura interrupted quickly. "What is our schedule?"
His eye crinkled. "I'm glad you asked. You meet here in the morning at 0800, same as today, you all do your warm ups, once I get here we will do taijutsu and weapons training. Then we'll go pick out at least one mission. After our lunch break we'll alternate between jutsu/chakra manipulation training, which is what we're doing now, and team training, which we will do tomorrow."
He hummed to himself. "That's the plan for the first 4 days starting today, then 2 days with the same morning routine, but those afternoons will be up to you, clan training, independent study, practicing what you already know, whatever you want."
Shino tilted his head in seeming confusion. "And the last day?"
Kakashi's eye closed completely. "your rest day of course, do whatever you want all day." He opened his eye to stare at them seriously. "When I say rest I mean rest, it's nice getting more practice but your bodies need rest."
All of them nodded just as seriously.
Kakashi clapped, cheerful again. "Back to what I was saying, today we'll start with the basics, the academy three!" they all groaned, "by the time we're done, you should be able to do them in your sleep." His eye gained a particularly sadistic gleem.
Sakura and her teammates sighed in defeat, took their bags from shopping, and placing them to the side.
"Let's start with the henge."
By the time they were finished they had done each of the academy three at least 30 times. Sakura only had the tiniest trickle of chakra left in her body.
"That's a good start." The gleam in Kakashi's eye is seeming less sadistic and more demonic. "Aside from that I have some surprises for you."
All of them sat up from their laying positions, with curious expressions.
He pulled out one of his storage scrolls and unsealed three identical forest green packs.
Sakura was speechless, Kakashi had gotten them packs that were just like his.
Kiba made a move to tackle hug him but Kakashi lifted a hand just in time. "Hold on, there's more, so take your packs and organize them how you like, then we can move on to the next one."
Kiba pouted but took his pack and sat down, Sakura and Shino followed suit.
Sakura grabbed her bag and unclipped her smaller hip pouch.
She places the first aid kit in the biggest section, from there she placed every type of item in it's own section. She then takes her new shuriken and kunai, and tries to fit as many as she can into her thigh pouch, the extras go into the last sections in her new hip pouch.
She clips on the pouch, and it's big enough to go all the way across her lower back.
The others finished around the same time and they all ended up staring at Kakashi expectantly.
"Ma ma." He reached into his pouch and pulled out 4 square pieces of paper. "Do you know what these are?"
Shino answered. "Chakra paper." Sakura and Kiba nodded in agreement.
"Great!" Kakashi passed them out and held up the remaining one. "How the paper reacts to your chakra determines what element you have the closest affinity to."
He held the paper closer to them and added a small amount of chakra, causing it to wrinkle. "That means I have lightning."
Practically shaking in his excitement, Kiba sends some chakra into the paper. A small corner burns off before the rest crumbles into dirt.
"Woohoo! I have two affinities!" Kiba picked Akamaru up from the ground and tossed him up in the air.
Only for Kakashi to rain on his parade. "Not quite, the fire was just a small corner so while fire would be easier for you to learn than wind, water and lightning, earth will be by far, the easiest."
While Kiba sat down to pout, both Sakura and Shino sent chakra to theirs.
They both crumbled to the ground.
Kakashi hummed, "A whole team of earth elements, not uncommon. Although fire is the norm in Konoha, earth is a close second."
Sakura frowns. "Wouldn't a variety be better?"
"While combos between different elements like fire and wind can have devastating effects, and having earth elements makes all of you vulnerable to lightning." His eye crinkles reassuringly. "All three of you working on an earth jutsu can make it over three times as strong."
"Besides!" He finishes cheerfully. "There's nothing wrong with learning more elements later on in your careers to compensate."
He reaches into a pocket on his flack jacket, and pulls out a scroll they hadn't seen before. "Now for the last surprise."
Kakashi bites down on his thumb and smears blood across the, now open, scroll. There's a giant poof of smoke that takes a few moments to clear away.
When it does, they see Kakashi, who is now surrounded by a pack of ninken.
Kiba's jaw dropped at the sight, Sakura and Shino were speechless for a moment, before Sakura lifted her arms and started making grabby hands. "So many."
The smallest dog, A pug, spoke in a surprisingly deep voice. "What's the big idea Kakashi? Making us wait this long to meet the pups."
"Ahah." Kakashi ruffled his hair, embarrassed. "I got a little side tracked."
The pug just snorts at him.
"Oh!" It looked like a literal light bulb went off in Kiba's head. "That's what the smell is. I couldn't really tell because your regular lightning smell is so overpowering, the dog smell on your clothes is almost covered up." He looks down to the puppy sitting next to him accusingly. "Akamaru can smell better than I can, but he decided not to tell me, the traitor."
With a huff Akamaru stands up and walks over to the ninken, sniffing and being sniffed as he goes, to familiarize themselves.
Sakura looks like she's about to follow Akamaru into the frey when Shino speaks up. "What are your names?"
Sakura slaps her forehead. "My Kami, that's rude of us, sorry, thanks Shino."
The pug chuckles. "My name is Pakkun."
The tan one wearing sunglasses, that look suspiciously similar to Shino's, raises a paw. "Akino."
From there, if they can talk, they introduce themselves. If not, Pakkun translates for them. They're introduced as Bisuke, Guruko, Shiba, Uhei, Urushi, and finally…
Pakkun pats the head of the dog he's perched on. "This is Bull." Said huge dog barked in greeting.
Sakura bowed. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Haruno Sakura, and these are my teammates Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba."
Kiba grinned broadly. "Hey." He chuckled as Akamaru struggled to climb Bull so he could sit with Pakkun. Eventually Bull leaned down a little to help him out.
"Hello." Shino greeted them in a softer tone of voice, which is what Sakura has started to recognize as him being happy or content.
Sakura didn't bother stalling any longer. "Can I please pet you?"
Pakkun's expression didn't change. "Ma, so polite." He leaned to the side, dodging Akamaru's affectionate tackle. "If you must."
The rest of the ninken are visibly excited, unlike Pakkun. So when Sakura jumps at them with a squeal, they converge around her in turn. Akino seemingly reaching her first.
Kiba jumped in soon after.
Shino hesitantly shuffled forward to peek into the pile. Only for two hands to shoot out and drag him in too.
They're enjoying themselves when they hear Kakashi chuckle. Looking up, they see him sit back and reach into his pouch, probably for his book.
Sakura, Shino and Kiba share a sly glance.
Kakashi pulls out his book just in time to take three genin to the chest, landing on the ground with an, 'oof.'
They knew he could have dodged them, but he didn't and they appreciated it.
Kakashi groaned dramatically. "My pups are so mean to me Pakkun."
Pakkun, who is still sitting on Bulls head, snorts at him. "Good, it builds character."
He throws his head back and groans louder.
Sakura didn't really see any significance to his new nickname for them. He's been calling them by different endearments since they met him. Minions, munchkins, sprouts, and cute students, are just a few of them, pups doesn't seem weird either.
Any thoughts on it were interrupted when Bull plopped down on all of them followed by the rest of the ninken.
Pakkun chuckled at their misfortune.
Sakura decided to make a stop on the way home. On the independent study days she would need something to work on.
The plan is to search the library for everything it had on fuinjutsu, some taijutsu katas, and katas for the naginata Kakashi ordered her, if she can find any.
If she was going to get better, she would have to use her undeniable strength, studying.
And if she is going to master fuinjutsu she's going to have to learn everything about it. The academy only ever taught them how to recognize explosive tags.
Sakura has a lot to do.
Kurenai sighed to herself as she dispelled Naruto's 20th clone. What he doesn't have in skill or any evidence of formal training, he makes up for in sheer stamina.
She glances over at Sasuke and Hinata, both still in their taijutsu spar.
It's been a few days since they had passed their test and started training.
Sasuke still refuses to spar with Naruto. Only accepting Hinata or Kurenai herself as opponents.
Because of this, their spars bring out a certain viciousness in Hinata, due to Sasuke's attitude towards Naruto. Hinata's spars with Naruto have the opposite effect, which doesn't help either of them improve so Kurenai has been taking advantage of Hinata's current distaste with Sasuke.
Sasuke is able to get past her guard by feinting a punch to the face. When she dodges his fist continues until his elbow is in line with her temple. He elbows her faster then she can block, knocking her to the ground and ending the spar.
As this is their 5th round, Hinata being the winner of 2 out of 5. It probably has more to do with exhaustion than a show of skill level. And if Hinata allowed herself to use chakra it would be at least 3 out of 5.
Her irritation has proven to be a great motivator.
Sasuke gets back into a ready stance after catching his breath. "Again."
Hinata slowly tries to get back up.
Since they've been going for a few hours after their mission, Kurenai decides to call it there.
She tosses one more Naruto clone over her shoulder before clapping, getting their attention. "Alright, that's enough for today, rest, eat dinner, get some sleep." She smiles kindly at them. "See you in the morning."
They all say their goodbyes, Naruto walks to another part of the training ground to continue, Hinata follows at a distance to keep an eye on him, and Sasuke starts to head back to his compound to continue training there.
These kids never listen to her.
Kurenai glances at Sasuke's retreating figure, that boy really needs to treat his teammates better.
Well, no time like the present.
"Sasuke, do you mind having a chat?"
He turns around at her voice, his face clearly showing he would rather swallow lava. He turns and walks back over anyway.
Kurenai takes a seat on the ground and waits for Sasuke to do the same, which he does, reluctantly.
Kurenai starts. "We need to talk about your feelings toward Naruto." His face twists into a scowl. "Is there a reason you refuse to spar with him?"
Sasuke scoffs. "He's dead last, he doesn't challenge me."
"Clearly you haven't seen how many clones he can throw around." She leans forward, expression serious. "You shouldn't underestimate your teammates."
"They need to be treated with respect, while you are genin you will be spending all your time with them, share memories with them." She gave him a significant look. "Share dreams with them, and more often than not they will be the thing standing between you and death."
She could tell her words had some impact but his expression broadcasted denial. "They will have no part in my dream."
Kurenai decided not to push it with that subject and took the next subject opening. "You mentioned it earlier, 'to kill a certain man'." Sasuke flinched. "Do you know how?"
Sasuke looks about ready to storm off. "By getting stronger."
"Ok, and?" When he just growled in reply, she continued. "Itachi was a prodigy, you can't hope to beat him by just, 'getting stronger' you need a method. Then you take your choice and master it, become so good that there's no way he could win."
Sasuke had started to calm down and listen when she mentioned beating him. "And how would I know what to master?" Probably half expecting her to not have an answer.
She allows herself a small smile. "Well, any ninjutsu you can use he will be able to, due to his sharingan. That doesn't mean you can ignore those, just know they won't give you an edge, same with him predicting taijutsu moves and seeing through most genjutsu."
Sasuke seems to be losing interest again. "And what does that leave?"
Kurenai decides to answer him with another question. "Besides copying ninjutsu, seeing through patterns in taijutsu, and being unaffected by genjutsu, what can the sharingan do?"
He actually takes a minute to think. "Cast their own genjutsu."
She nods. "Good enough genjutsu to catch anyone 100% of the time, when mastered, even other sharingan users." She leans forward more to try and convey the importance. "The mind is far easier to tear apart than the body." Kurenai sat back with a smile. "So genjutsu seems like the best route for you, even if you don't activate your own sharingan. And lucky for you that your sensei is a genjutsu mistress."
As soon as Sasuke started to smirk she held up a finger. "But, if you want extra training from me, you will put real effort into getting along with your teammates, I'm serious about what I said earlier."
He clenches his jaw before forcing out. "Fine."
He proceeds to stand up and storm off in the direction that Naruto and Hinata went earlier.
Well, that went better than expected.
She'll work on his attitude later.
Sasuke sulked as he walked towards his teammates.
Why doesn't Kurenai understand that they aren't worth wasting his time.
He could be training right now.
But the way Kurenai talked about the usefulness of genjutsu was convincing.
Thinking back to what he saw that night… what he was shown…
He couldn't say she was wrong.
If he wanted to learn from her, he would have to do what she says, for now.
Sasuke reached Hinata first, sitting against a tree while watching Naruto beat up his own clones.
If he had to interact with them, might as well get some training out of it.
He stopped next to Hinata. "Spar with me."
Hinata looks up at him apprehensively. "II'm going to be mmeditating for the night."
While she's become less timid over the last few days, her stutter hasn't gone away completely, and it becomes stronger around Naruto, causing her to become flustered.
Hinata continued speaking while he was thinking. "You could ask Naruto-kun."
Sasuke scoffed. "I'm not going to waste my time on the dobe."
Like every other time he's insulted Naruto, Hinata sits up straighter in reaction. "Naruto-kun isn't a waste."
Using that tactic, getting a rise out of her isn't hard. "Hn, fine, spar with me, anything goes, last one standing wins." He smirks at her. "If you win, I'll spar the dobe whenever he wants. If I win you spar with me when I ask, deal?"
She's been a decent sparring partner so far, might as well secure her cooperation. Taking the risk of her winning instead is worth it.
Hinata hasn't used chakra while using her gentle fist taijutsu at all, nor has she used her byakugan. And Sasuke wanted that challenge.
Her expression gains an impressive amount of determination. "Deal."
They move away from where Naruto is still training, and get into ready positions. Hand up in the seal of confrontation.
They nod at each other.
Sasuke lunges forward.
"Byakugan!"
The only sound that could be heard in that clearing was heavy panting.
Hinata and Sasuke stood opposite each other, the clearing around them littered with scorch marks and shuriken. Both of them are covered in cuts and bruises, ready to collapse from exhaustion.
They had been going at it for 30 minutes, and neither of them had the stamina of their 3rd teammate.
Sasuke falls to his knees. His vital, though not fatal, chakra points closed.
Hinata releases a shaky sigh before slowly making her way toward him.
She stops right in front of him, forming the seal of reconciliation.
He slowly looks up and stares at her hand. Smirking, he completes the sign.
His hand drops back down, energy spent.
"I can unblock your chakra points." At his nod she motions for him to sit instead of kneel.
She's only able to unblock two of them when she gets interrupted by a loud shout.
"That was awesome Hinata-chan! You were like zoom! Pow! Bam! Please spar with me, it'll be so cool!"
At Naruto's exclamation Hinata's face turned bright red, ruining any concentration she had.
Seeing this, Sasuke groaned.
Naruto smirked at him. "Don't worry Sasuke, I haven't forgotten about you, we can spar too."
He resigns himself to waiting for Hinata to snap out of it so she can finish. "Whatever dobe."
"Teme!"
A jumble of unintelligible noises come out of Hinata's mouth.
Kurenai smiles foldly down at them from up in a tree.
They're getting there.
"Get up you lazy bum!"
Shikamaru groaned and rolled over. "Damn it Ino." The sun isn't too bright and there's a nice breeze, perfect for cloud watching.
"There's no time for lazing around. I just saw Sakura and her team roof hopping while a pack of ninken chased them. If they're training, we're training." She kicked him in the side. "So get up!"
He sighed to himself. "Then why don't we just go join them and the ninken."
Shikamaru cringed as he heard Ino gasp. He just had to say something.
"That's a great idea!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him up forcefully, pulling him along as she ran. "Choji! Let's go find Sakura!"
"Ok!"
Shikamaru resigned himself, maybe this way Sakura will take up all of Ino's attention.
The sound of barking was getting closer.
At least they're rest day was tomorrow.
Kakashi sighed, finally allowing himself to lounge on his couch for first time all week.
It was finally rest day.
Admittedly, a genin team is far more exhausting than he expected.
But his pups have grown on him, so he can't really complain.
He sighs again and turns his head to glance down the hallway.
In the first week of training they have improved their stamina, strength, taijutsu spars, academy three, and shurikenjutsu.
Next week he'll teach them tree walking, if they succeed, he'll have them improve the academy three further.
But a thought has been bothering him. He wants to teach them everything he can, prepare them as much as possible.
That has brought up memories of the Hatake family scrolls he brought with him when he moved out of that house.
Before they settled in Konoha, the Hatake were well travelled. They weren't nomads by any means but they moved around often. They picked up scrolls and artifacts of all kinds. The civilian part of the family took it upon themselves to collect things, that's how most of it was acquired.
Kakashi got up from the couch and walked down the hallway, stopping in front of a sealed door. He bites his thumb and wipes the blood across it.
The door unlocks and he steps inside.
He doesn't bother looking around at the various items and just goes straight to the three scrolls he had in mind.
One of which was once used by his father.
Ignoring those thoughts, he picks them up and looks them over, not noticing any damage.
He really is doing this sensei thing isn't he.
A small smile appeared on his face.
He'll give them the scrolls as a reward later on. maybe after their first c-rank? That should work.