Kakashi had been trained from his earliest childhood to disguise or at least dissemble his emotional responses, a habit that had only been built upon during years as an ANBU. As a result, much as he felt like sighing in exasperation at the less admirable qualities of the genin he'd been lumbered with, only a skilled observer would have realised that his attention was not on the copy of Icha Icha Paradise that he was reading to his comrades at the memorial stone.
No chakra worth the mention and too much chakra to control. Hotheaded and nervous. Obsessed and distracted. Fractious and naive.
He'd told them that they should just quit as ninja but the minute he'd relented and passed them he was sure that the criticism had gone straight out of their empty little heads.
If there was even a single flaw that could cripple a ninja then he was sure that at least one of the three had it. None of them even wanted to serve Konoha as ninja, although they might not admit it even to themselves. Sakura wanted to be with Sasuke no matter where he was. Sasuke wanted to kill his brother no matter what it cost him. Naruto wanted attention from the village no matter what he had to do.
If Sasuke hadn't shared his food with Naruto at the last minute, Sakura certainly wouldn't have. Just like the other morons he'd failed over the years. Would Naruto have shared if the situation had been reversed? For Sakura, perhaps. Not for Sasuke.
Team Seven. Hah. What a team. Naruto and Sakura, between the two of them, might possibly add up to a single half-decent ninja. Sasuke... Sasuke might be salvagable. He had been willing to compromise just a little.
Kakashi frowned. If Sasuke could be salvaged as a ninja, was it possible to make something of Naruto and Sakura? Not if they were around Sasuke, he thought. Sasuke was a distraction to Sakura and without him she would either have to find another motivation or, better, quit. Naruto was just as distracted by the other boy, although for other reasons - his intense rivalry would be corrosive to teamwork. And there wasn't really much that they would benefit from learning from Kakashi - they both needed to get the basics down: strength, both chakra and physical, for Sakura; control, both chakra and physical, for Naruto. Sasuke was the only one who was really ready to learn the more advanced lessons that Kakashi could provide.
For a moment Kakashi tried to envisage a training session of him making Sakura and Naruto work on the basics while he taught Sasuke advanced jutsu. Yeah, right. Like that would work.
No, the only way to manage it would be to split them up. Sasuke wouldn't learn very much from D-rank missions anyway but they would be just the thing to settle Naruto and Sakura down and give them a wake up call about what the life of a ninja was really like. The only tricky part would be talking them around to it.
Behind his mask, Kakashi smiled. One jounin against three pre-teen ninja-only-by-technicality? He'd seen how that worked last night. The first rule was to divide them...
.oOo.
"...Sasuke, I'm making plans for training the three of you and I'd appreciate your opinion. Based off the performance of each of you in the Bell Test, it's clear that you are the strongest genin in the team and ready for training that the other two couldn't handle yet. Now, I don't think it would be wise to have them around while I'm training you - they would just be distractions and you'll need to focus on your training if you want to be able to kill Itachi..."
"Oh yes, I knew Itachi for years. He was my subordinate in the ANBU so I trained with him and fought alongside him. I learnt about using the Sharingan from him. But going back to what I was talking about, do you agree that Naruto and Sakura shouldn't be around while I'm training you up to your real potential...?"
.oOo.
"...Sakura, as you know Sasuke has powerful enemies. His entire family was wiped out years ago and he's given himself the mission of hunting down the man responsible, an S-rank Missing-Nin more dangerous than even I am. There are others, like Hidden Cloud, who would stop at nothing to secure control of his family's Bloodline Limit. Because of that I need to make sure that he's able to defend himself from those enemies, which means concentrating on his training."
"We need to keep this a secret and he's told me that you can be relied upon, so I'm going to trust you with playing an important role in protecting Sasuke. You're going to take charge of Naruto and make it appear as if Team Seven is just doing the normal D-rank missions that any new team does when they start out. I don't think that Naruto's mature enough to be trusted with the truth so you'll have to keep him from making a mess of things. Do you think that you can do this for Sasuke?"
.oOo.
"...Naruto, I was quite impressed by your Kage Bunshin during the Bell Test. Most genin couldn't even begin to use a powerful technique like that. Obviously Sasuke and Sakura are going to have to work very hard to catch up with you. Now, I've decided to split them up so that they aren't distracted, and I'd like you to help with training Sakura. However, I don't think it would be wise to tell them why we're doing this, you know how proud Sasuke is and Sakura's feelings would be hurt. So while I'm putting Sasuke through the extra training that he needs, what I'd like you to do is go on some simple missions with Sakura. I'm going to tell her that she's in charge but you've got to make sure that she does her fair share of the work, alright?"
.oOo.
"Hi," Kakashi said brightly from the rail of the bridge where he'd told the three genin of Team Seven to wait for him. It really was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, there were just enough clouds in the sky to keep it from being too warm and he'd not been interupted while he read the next three chapters to Obito and his old teacher. He was sure that they appreciated that, wherever they had gone to.
"YOU'RE LATE!" shouted Sakura and Naruto in unison.
Little brats. At least Kakashi's student wasn't shouting at him like that - it might mean that it was a bit more peaceful for him once he'd got rid of the deadweight. "Oh, not at all," the jounin assured them brightly. "I got here exactly when I intended to." He pulled a small scroll out of his jacket and tossed it to Sakura. "But I guess if you kids are in a hurry, I'll just give you this now."
Sakura caught the scroll and cracked the seal on it. Her face paled. "But Kakashi-sensei, this says we should have started an hour ago!"
"Well chop-chop, then," Kakashi smiled brightly behind his mask. "No time for dilly-dallying."
In what might have been the first sign of professionalism that Kakashi had ever seen in her, Sakura decided against throwing more verbal abuse at the jounin-sensei. "Naruto! We've got to hurry!" she shouted and started to run (pitifully slowly in Kakashi's opinion) back towards the residential area of Konoha.
"I'm coming, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted back and chased after her at a slightly more reputable pace.
"What will they be doing?" Sasuke asked, watching the other two ninja recede into the distance.
"Painting fences," Kakashi replied laconically. "Not really as useful for you as it will be for the two of them. Now then, how much do you know about katon jutsu?"