Habits are funny things, Kakashi thinks as he stares dispassionately at his own reflection. Or, more accurately, at the whirling red eye staring back.

He'd spent the vast majority of his life half-blind, but for rare bursts of brilliant focus and clarity in the midst of hard battles. Had spent nearly every moment of every day with his left eye closed, the Sharingan he'd been gifted hidden away beneath his slanted headband. It just became rote, instinct, a piece of his daily routine that he'd never even had to think about for nearly two decades.

And yet, after only a single year of having the ability to use his left eye, free of the Sharingan and the high risks of chakra exhaustion that came with it, those instincts had seemingly vanished.

It took only twenty-one days to break a habit, according to the Yamanaka who'd been assigned to him after Obito's death and his subsequent personality changes, while it could take upwards of sixty-six to form a new one.

Kakashi truly hoped that it didn't take quite that long, otherwise the next two months were going to be very long indeed. Because the Sharingan is an enormous drain on his chakra reserves, regardless of the fact that it was nowhere near as bad as it had been when he'd originally been this age.

And you would think that, being the massive drain that it was, he'd notice it immediately. Or, at the very least, that he'd notice how everything was suddenly, startlingly clear.

But no. This was the second day in a row that he'd gone through almost the entirety of his morning routine before noticing that his left eye was both uncovered and open, and only then because of the flash of red he'd caught in the mirror.

Really, and they'd tried to make him Hokage.

With a sigh, he tugged his Hitai-ate down and made his way out of his apartment, absently reengaging his various traps as he went. Those, at the very least, had stayed the same, though he'd added a few more that he'd had in the future.

It was a good thing his students had been reduced to their younger skill level as well, he decided as he gauged his chakra reserves and the fatigue that was already wearing on him, because if they'd still been in their future bodies, the fight that was about to take place probably would've ended embarrassingly quickly and he would've only had himself to blame.

Thankfully, while their chakra reserves and overall knowledge had remained, their bodies were about as out of shape as one could get without being a civilian. Their muscle memory would no longer be there and no matter how quickly their brains worked, their bodies would never be able to keep up.

In that, at least, Kakashi had a definite advantage. Against their future selves, he's proud to admit that he likely would have stood no chance unless it was truly an all-out battle. Against them now? He might work up a bit of a sweat, if he was being generous.

His students had quite a ways to go, to catch up to their former (future?) glory, and it would likely take them quite a while. Less time than it originally had, maybe, but the three of them were still barely teenagers at the moment.

As lacking as they were physically, though, they could probably make up for it at least partly with skill. They each had a veritable library of jutsus at their disposal, though Sasuke arguably had the most varied thanks to his Kekkei Genkai, and the Uchiha still had the Mangekyo on top of that. Sakura had her mastery of medical jutsu and Tsunade's strength technique combined with her ironclad chakra control. Naruto had his rasengan, his sealing and his control over the Kyuubi's chakra.

That was the question, though, Kakashi pondered as he ambled down the street in the direction of Training Ground Three, nonchalantly avoiding collisions with civilians even with his nose buried in his book. Did the three of them still have those things, at least to the point that they'd be usable in a fight right now?

He knew from experience just how taxing the use of Mangekyo could be on the body, though it was arguably worse for him since his hadn't ever been meant for him. Even if he could access it, it was extremely likely that Sasuke would be unable to do much with it for the time being, not without causing more damage than it was worth. Plus, it hadn't escaped Kakashi's notice that the Uchiha no longer possessed his Sage-given Rinnegan. (which Kakashi was honestly thankful for, because how would they have explained that?) Meaning it was probably safe to assume that, given Itachi's current status as still alive, Sasuke no longer had an Eternal Mangekyo, either, without which the threat of blindness was a very dangerous possibility. So, even if Sasuke could use Mangekyo freely, should he?

And at this point in time, Naruto's younger body had only ever been introduced to the bare minimum of demonic chakra. Even with the seal now open and the two working as partners, that much potent chakra running through his system without the chance to build up his tolerance was likely to be... damaging. As far as Kakashi knew, Sage Mode should still be fully attainable to the Uzumaki at the moment, since he still knew how to balance Nature chakra within himself, but would he be affected by the fact that he technically no longer held the Toad contact? Or did he? After all, summon animals were beings that lived in their own dimension and only came to this one when called, who was to say that such a thing could be affected by a seal that rewound time? After all, wasn't time just another dimension when you really thought about it?

There were so many unknown variables to take into consideration and, until they tested it out, it was impossible to say, one way or another.

Sakura would probably be the one most unaffected of his students by their current obstacle, skill-wise, but she was also the one who would suffer the most physically. Most of her skills came from her precise and total control over her chakra which was something she still had the ability to do, along with the reserves to still make use of it. But, comparatively, her body was worse than out of shape. In this time, the girl had spent the last few months, at least, on a so-called diet, which in fact had left her body weak and practically half-starved. It was no wonder that she'd been so abysmal at taijutsu at the start, since it had probably taken everything she had not to simply black out at the strain of exercise. And until she built up a respectable amount of muscle, using the Legendary Sucker's strength technique would probably cause her more damage than it was worth, in the long run. Likely, the only reason she'd been able to get away with it when they'd first arrived in this time was the fact that she could heal the worst of the consequences.

Kakashi himself could admit that he had a bit of training to do, too, to build up the strength and skill that had dulled in this body since his retirement from ANBU, but he still had the reflexes of a jounin, still had his Sharingan and Mangekyo and the knowledge and chakra reserves to use both, though he was out of practice. All in all, he'd likely be back up to his future level - or better - within just a few short months.

His students, on the other hand, would likely take years for their bodies to fully catch up.

At least they had that time, he mused to himself as he took a quick glance at the sky, noting that it was about three hours passed the time he'd given his students to meet and that he should probably make his appearance soon, lest they decide their annoyance was enough to collaborate on a suitable payback together.

(And Kakashi had to resist the urge to shiver at just the thought. Naruto was definitely an Uzumaki, through and through, something that was all too obvious when it came to his more dangerous pranks. Combine his creativity with Sasuke's aggressive need to get even and Sakura's quite frankly terrifying level of unsympathetic vindictiveness, and it made an absolute recipe for complete disaster. Kakashi's apartment hadn't ever been the same, after that last time, and Tsunade hadn't been able to look him in the eye for months afterwards without breaking down into gleeful snickering.)

They would use today to assess where their abilities stood, which ones they could still dependably use and which would have to be trained or put on hold until their bodies could withstand the strain of them. And then they'd be able to start making plans on how to go from there. They had a few months yet until the disaster that was the Chunin Exams and everything that had subsequently followed. And, after, they would hopefully have a few years, at least, until Akatsuki began truly making their move. It should hopefully be plenty of time to come up with plans and contingencies and to work on what needed to be worked on so that they'd actually be capable of carrying them out.

Yes, Kakashi decided, that was what they would do. Until they knew what their current limits were, speculation would only get them so far.

With that, he finally acquiesced and shunshined to his final destination, arriving in his usual flurry of leaves with a guileless smile and a ridiculous excuse already on his lips, only to pause.

Because the three genin before him looked almost nothing like the ones he had supposedly only met the day before.

All three of them had traded in the outfits they'd worn yesterday for much more sensible attire. They were now mostly clothed in grays and blacks, though Naruto and Sakura hadn't given up their signature colors completely. Sasuke had clearly decided to replicate the ANBU's outfit, sans white body armor, which truthfully looked a bit silly on his twelve-year-old frame, but it wasn't like Kakashi could judge; it'd taken him months to get used to the looser-fitting clothes that most shinobi usually wore. Sakura had even taken the time to visit a salon, apparently, her bubblegum pink hair trimmed into a bob that framed her face, her bangs now styled to lay over her forehead much like they had in the future.

If this really was only the second time he'd met them, he likely would've been reluctantly impressed. It took most until they reached chunin to realize that they really didn't have the skill necessary for the freedom of dressing as conspicuously as they wanted. It was partly the reason those who reached that rank were often required to wear the vest; they were now of higher rank and thus carrying out missions far more dangerous than they had previous experience with. To stick out when they didn't have the power to back it up was a death sentence for most.

As it was, he simply felt exasperated, especially when he focused on what they were doing instead of just how they appeared. Because all three of them were sitting peacefully side by side, obviously comfortable in each other's company. Sasuke was inspecting his weaponry, Sakura was idly flipping through a massive medical tome and Naruto was almost frantically scribbling away in a notebook, the look of complete concentration on his face so much like Minato-sensei's that it almost made Kakashi's heart ache.

Really, he didn't know what he'd been expecting. None of them had ever been what you'd call subtle.

"You're very lucky the Sandaime was content to wait for my verdict instead of spying in," he informed them dryly. Not a one of them bothered to look up or even acknowledge his presence, which, rude. "Or else the sight of you three now would be more than a little suspicious."

"We could've just said that we'd taken your threat yesterday seriously," Sakura shrugged, finally glancing up at him. Her unimpressed expression told him exactly what she thought of his tardiness. "None of us want to be sent back to the academy. Now, we can just say that you told us to take it seriously. We're the first team you've ever passed. Nobody knows just how you'd act as a teacher to genin. The only prier experience you have is with ANBU, right?"

He grudgingly admitted that she had a point. "And Naruto's new fervor for note-taking?"

"I just happened to mention that I'd seen the name Uzumaki in a history book and that they'd apparently been seal masters. No one can blame him for wanting to be closer to his family in any way he can, right?" She asked innocently, head cocked to the side in seeming obliviousness, and Kakashi decided to admit defeat in this case. There'd still likely be questions, especially from the Sandaime and Iruka, but it probably wouldn't present too much of a problem.

Besides, at the moment that wasn't actually what they were supposed to be focusing on.

"Alright then, you three," Kakashi clapped his hands together lightly and instantly had their attention. Within moments their things had been put away and they had fallen into line before him, ready to receive orders from their team captain. Honestly, the change in them was so much more jarring when paired with their youthful appearance. "Today, we're gonna test out our limits and find where they are. We need to know what we can do and, more importantly, what we can't. You're going to come at me with all you've got. You already know your objective."

He pat the two bells tied to his belt loop gently, fondly, and watched his students nod, their faces set in determination. They'd been unable to get even one the first time around, working separately and blind to the true nature of the test. The second time, Naruto and Sakura had used deviously underhanded tactics to get one over on him, which he'd been a little sore about at the time even as he'd commended them whole-heartedly for it.

This time, all three of them were together, were a true team, and there was no chance of having the ending of one of his precious books spoiled, even if they'd decided to try the same tactic twice, which was extremely unlikely.

It would be interesting to see just what they came up with this time.

"Well?" He asked, smiling at them cheerfully. "Get to it."

Within seconds, he was standing alone in the clearing.

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Naruto stopped after a few long moments of running, landing to crouch noiselessly on the ground about a mile and a half downwind of the clearing their sensei still occupied, and waited.

Sasuke might have better reflexes, right now, but the Uchiha had never been able to beat him in flat-out speed. Almost nobody could in the future, really, but for now at least he knew that he had all of the Rookie 9 beaten.

He didn't have to wait for long, though, before Sasuke was landing next to him without a sound. They shared a commiserating look - Sakura was still a ways out and was likely to be Extremely Angry in the face of her obvious physical weakness - before directing their attention and senses towards the area around them instead. Just because it felt like Kakashi-sensei was still in the clearing didn't mean he actually was, something they'd all learned the hard way. In fact, if they didn't already know just what their teacher was expecting to glean from this particular test, they never would've risked stopping in one place for this long, let alone long enough to come up with any sort of plan.

He wasn't testing their situational awareness, though, or their ability to plan on the fly or to cope with unexpected situations. He wasn't concerned about making sure they could work together as a well-oiled machine even without the chance to speak with each other. Today, the biggest concern was just what they'd be able to accomplish now, physically, severely weakened as they were.

Naruto couldn't help but grimace, honestly. It wasn't that he hadn't trained at this age, because he had, but he hadn't known how to do so correctly. He'd known that most of his teachers at the Academy disliked him - beyond being the Jinchuuriki to the beast that had destroyed their village, slaughtered their comrades and killed their Hokage, he'd also been just plain loud, obnoxious and ill-behaved - but at the time he hadn't caught on to the fact that some of them had been outright sabotaging him.

It wasn't anything big, not anything easily noticeable, otherwise he knew Iruka-sensei at the very least would have never let it pass, even before he'd grown close to Naruto. Just a taijutsu kata corrected wrongly here, a question "accidentally" ignored there, but after years those small things very quickly added up. And it wasn't like he'd had anyone to turn to, to ask for help from, when he'd been younger. Other kids could ask parents, siblings or friends for help with their homework but Naruto hadn't had the option. And by the time Iruka-sensei had become his teacher, he'd simply stopped trying to get help from anyone, since it clearly didn't work, and hadn't even thought to try again.

Hell, he hadn't even really known just how badly his writing and reading-comprehension skills had been until he'd gone on his training trip with Ero-sennin and the man had tried to conscript him into helping edit his manuscripts. But he'd never had anyone to teach him those things before being entered into the Academy and it was something all the other kids had already learned.

The point was, at this age, Naruto had no base. His taijutsu had been more bar-brawl than anything, with little to no finesse, and he had no muscle-memory for his future style, nor the strength to really back it up. He knew a fair number of ninjutsu but his younger hands couldn't keep up properly, making his seals slow and clumsy. His brain now moved far faster than his body could ever hope to keep up with, regardless of what speed and stamina he might have still possessed.

As if all of that weren't bad enough, Kurama had already gravely warned him away from trying to access any of his Tailed Beast chakra. Not only would it be felt throughout the village and send everyone into a panic, but it was also extremely likely to... erode away at him. A lot like it had before the seal had been opened, apparently, but much worse because his body now hadn't ever had to handle more than negligible amounts of the demonic chakra before.

So, that pretty much left Naruto with Sage Mode, something he knew he could still access, thank the Sage, but which probably wouldn't be all too helpful in the grand scheme of things. It would make him faster, stronger, more durable, sure, but it was unlikely to be enough to make a huge difference with his body being this lacking.

There were a lot of reasons why time travel was a bad idea. Being stuck in his younger, weaker body was definitely near the top of the list.

Glancing back and catching sight of the ugly scowl on Sasuke's face, he knew he wasn't the only one who thought so.

Still, Naruto couldn't help but try to turn his thoughts towards the positive, as he always did. There wasn't much point to sulking about it. What was done was done and no amount of bemoaning it would change anything. Instead, he'd just have to work twice as hard, three times as hard if he had to. He'd managed it last time, with all the odds stacked against him, and this time he had a major head start, had others that he could whole-heartedly depend on.

They weren't starting with nothing. They were Team 7, would always be Team 7, and they had each other. That was enough. Until they built up their individual strength once more, that was more than enough.

Sakura crashed through the underbrush at that moment, bangs sticking to the sweat on her face and chest hitching as she worked to regulate her breathing, her movements jerky and containing none of the finesse they usually did.

The look on her face was practically apocalyptic and usually meant that someone was about to get punted through a wall hard enough to bring down the entire building.

(And that wasn't just an over-exaggeration, either. He was pretty sure that one guy had ended up with almost all of his bones broken, though even Naruto had a hard time dredging up sympathy when it had come as a result of him - at the height of stupidity - attempting to drug Sakura's drink in a bar in Kiri. What could have once culminated into an international incident had instead ended with Terumi Mei high-fiving her. Which had been terrifying to witness.)

Thankfully, none of that wrath seemed to be aimed at either of them, at the moment, and Naruto just hoped they could keep it that way.

"I hate this," Sakura snarled, stomping forward to stand next to them, angry past the point of caring if her movements were announcing their position like a neon sign. Usually, such a thing would result in Kakashi descending upon them like a wraith, and Naruto and Sasuke were both tensed in preparation for it, but it still appeared that their teacher was content to let them come to him for once. "Kakashi-sensei wasn't even out of sight and I was already tired. What in the hell was I thinking at this age? I have no stamina at all, whatever muscle I built up in the Academy has been burned away, likely to make up for the fact that I've clearly been starving myself, and this isn't a new development! This has to have been going on for months! How could our teachers see prospective kunoichi doing this and not set us straight immediately? How could they let anyone graduate in this condition?"

Naruto remained quiet as she ranted, less out of fear of calling himself to her attention and more because he really didn't know what to say to her that wouldn't just feed her anger. Because there really were no good excuses to be made. A lot of the teachers right now hadn't been in a fight in years, if they were shinobi at all, with the exception of a rare few. And those few tried, they really did, but they couldn't be everywhere at once, couldn't cover all the bases.

"After this, we're going out for ramen for lunch," she announced, head held high even as they snapped theirs around to stare at her, Sasuke in betrayed disbelief and him in hopeful excitement. "It'll replace the sodium we lose, and I need the carbohydrates. And for dinner, we'll go to Yakiniku Q. Tomorrow, after training and missions, we'll go shopping to stock up on food. Training won't do us any good if we're not eating right."

"But... ramen for lunch?" Naruto asked, just to be sure.

"Ramen for lunch," Sakura nodded. "And Kakashi's paying."

Naruto let a grin split his face. He wasn't at all looking forward to another shopping trip; just the one had been excruciating enough, honestly. Granted, he'd been henge'd the entire time, so he hadn't had to deal with angry civilians or ridiculously unfair prices, but it had still taken him a while to find something he was happy enough to wear. He'd stuck to darker shades, like he'd taken to doing in the future, and found a dark grey sleeveless shirt, equipped with a tall neck that he could duck his face into, to hide the marks on his cheeks, and a large hood that he could cover his bright blond hair with. The lining was edged with a dark orange, only noticeable in the light, and he'd taken the time the night before to painstakingly stitch a dark blue Uzumaki spiral into the back. He'd been tempted to make it orange, or red to match the majority, but had ultimately decided against it. Something like that would be a pretty big bulls-eye and would only make all his other efforts go to waste.

Sakura had followed his lead, directing her attention towards darker clothes instead of the bright pinks and reds she'd always favored. The top she'd decided on had born a resemblance to what she'd worn before they'd been sent back, though with shorter tails and a bit more modest, but in a medium grey with dark red lining, and she had added her clan symbol to the sleeves sometime before this morning . She'd chosen a pair of black shorts to wear underneath, reaching down to her knees, and had added a belt with pouches on either side to hold the medicines and poisons she'd be stocking up on.

Sasuke had gone the simple route, opting to get as close to the ANBU outfit he'd worn practically nonstop since joining their ranks as he could, because he was a boring stick in the mud even at the best of times. He'd apparently decided to add the Uchiha fan to the back of it, though it probably had been a very grudging allowance. Sasuke at this age had held a lot of pride in his clan and, while that hadn't completely changed, it had definitely lessened after everything he'd learned about them. And part of what he'd liked so much about ANBU was the option to just... fade into the background, to become one of the many, even as he was raised through the ranks. Here, now, that wasn't an option for him.

Still, they'd all made their changes, and had come out of the trip satisfied with what they'd accomplished.

That didn't mean Naruto wanted to experience it again, though.

But Sakura was staring them down, eyes burning with barely withheld rage and just daring them to argue, to give her a reason to unleash all her pent-up frustration on them, and neither of them were stupid enough to say a word in the face of that.

Besides, ramen was a pretty good motivator when it came to getting Naruto to agree to something he otherwise would've outright refused, and he wasn't at all ashamed of blatantly falling for it.

Sasuke glanced between the two of them, calculated his odds of changing their minds, and then sighed and gave in with bad grace.

"Whatever," he grumbled. "We have to get through this first. Plan?"

"I'll have to be relegated to support," Sakura concluded after a moment of silence. Naruto could tell by the look on her face that she hated having to admit it. "I can use the Strength Technique once, maybe twice before the damage will be too much to heal quickly. I can still use jutsu and I can steal heal you if I need to, but I won't be able to for long. Having enough chakra and control won't do me a lot of good if my body gives out."

"And we can't trap the area if Kakashi-sensei isn't moving," Naruto murmured, hand held up to his chin in thought. "Jutsu and Sage Mode are all I've got to work with. Kurama said I'm not allowed to use his chakra for a while, not until my body has more of a resistance to it. Sasuke?"

The Uchiha grimaced. "I'm pretty sure I still have my Mangekyo but it's probably just that. Not the Eternal Mangekyo. So, I don't know how using it will go. Beyond that... I have jutsu. My taijutsu was almost chunin-level at this point, but that's not really saying much."

They all shared a discouraged look. They'd already known it, from the moment they realized they were in their pre-genin bodies, but to hear it laid out like that... They were all in a bad way, far behind their own standards. It was going to take a colossal amount of work to whip their bodies into any kind of shape.

"Well," Naruto chirped, trying to interject as much cheer into his voice as possible, "we gotta start somewhere, yeah? Might as well be now, 'ttebayo!"

Sakura and Sasuke shared a look, exasperated and fond beyond measure, and then nodded, their gazes hardening with determination. This was a challenge and no member of Team 7 had ever been good at turning away from a challenge.

"Right. Let's do this."

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A/N: This chapter was so difficult and not at all what I had wanted. It just feels very clunky to me. But it's been a while since I last updated so I want to get at least something out. Sorry to any of you who are disappointed with it.

Kakashi definitely seems like the type of person that would get lost in his own thoughts a lot, would try to map everything out mentally and would have to force himself to stop when he started going in pointless circles. Hence why he ended up always losing time at the Memorial.

This chapter isn't as light or as playful as the previous ones. And they won't always be. I have a lot of problems with canon and I want to see them actually addressed. And so they will be. Because the members of Team 7 have absolutely no time for anyone's shit anymore and it's glorious.

Honestly, if there's anything along those lines that any of you would like to suggest, I'm all ears. Who knows what might spark my inspiration.

Also: I've gotten a question regarding Sasuke's Rinnegan and why he no longer has it. And it's along the same reasoning as to why his Mangekyo is no longer Eternal. To develop a Rinnegan, you need both Uchiha and Senju DNA. It has nothing to do with chakra, not really. And, while Sasuke's future body had the required DNA via the Sage, younger!Sasuke obviously does not. Ergo, no Rinnegan. Just like he no longer has an Eternal Mangekyo because younger!Sasuke only has his own eyes, not Itachi's. Hopefully that makes sense to all of you! And sorry for any confusion I might have inadvertently caused for not explaining it outright from the get-go.

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading! Please follow, favorite or leave a review to let me know what you think!