ANOTHER TEAM FAILS

"I dread today…" Kakashi groaned, not really wanting to get out of bed. He'd had a rough night, some of his old nightmares returning for the first time in months, and he didn't really feel like going to test the students that Lord Hokage wanted him to teach. "Can't I just skip today and just play with my son…?"

"No you can't! These kids are part of your sixth team in as many as a year!" Aoi said firmly, shaking her husband's shoulder as they both lay in bed.

"... They're spoiled Academy brats… Satoshi behaves better than them, and he's only a year old!" Kakashi said, burying his face in his pillow, "And I really don't feel like going out of the house today…"

"Unless you came down with some ancient civilization bug-"

"Flashbacks." Kakashi said simply, just wanting to lay in the bed until the residual images from his nightmare faded away completely… eventually…

"Even if they're brats, as their teacher it's your job to whip them into proper shinobi this village would be proud to have… now come on and get ready… Unless you want me to summon Ginko again…."

"... You wouldn't." Ginko was one of his wife's swan summons who absolutely hated him for whatever reason. Every time the fowl saw him, she'd try to pluck every strand of hair he had on his head. "... Don't you love me? That bird is evil incarnate…"

Then, with a smile that scared Kakashi a little, Aoi leaned in and said, "Then get up and go meet your students."

"... Fine, you win…" Kakashi said, reluctantly dragging himself out of bed, "But it's your fault if I have a panic attack because of the flashbacks… again." The flashbacks that Kakashi was referring to were old memories that had plagued Kakashi since he was a child, most likely starting when his father had committed suicide and continuing upon the guilt he felt about his teammates deaths…

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"... You all fail," Kakashi said, his tone stern, as he looked at the three idiots he had been assigned to. Their looks of disbelief, anger, shock and betrayal were plain to see on their faces as their wide eyes looked at him. Oh, how he wished at this moment that he could've stayed home and played with his son… it would've been better than having to see their expressions…

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Yet again, I was assigned a group of complete idiots…" Kakashi fumed, as he walked down the streets of the Hidden Leaf Village. "Do they not teach them the basic fundamentals of teamwork in that academy anymore?" Feeling himself in a particularly foul mood, Kakashi found a good sized tree as he pulled out a book he had recently started reading after a old friend of his in Anbu had recommended to him. The plot could do with a bit of help, and there was a bit of material that wouldn't be suitable for children or young teens, but what he found most interesting was the romantic plotline involved…

'Oh who am I kidding… Aoi would never go along with half of what they talk about in here…' Kakashi thought to himself, knowing his wife would summon that demonic bird in a heartbeat and lock him out of the house if she even caught him reading this around their son. "Well, better head home and face the music…"

"Kakashi, is that…" a female voice said, and he looked up to see Kurenai looking at him with a shocked expression, Anko and Asuma with her. "Are you reading Icha Icha?!"

"... It's a good romantic series…" Kakashi said, slowly hiding the book in his vest. "Why do you ask?"

"You do know who writes it, right Kakashi?" Kurenai's tone of voice was unamused as his obvious ploy to distract her.

"... I've been having a bad day, ok?" he snapped, his exposed eye narrowed. "You wouldn't understand…"

"Another bad bunch?" Asuma asked, having been a supporting shoulder for Kakashi after the second team of students who had failed.

"And flashbacks last night when I was sleeping…" Kakashi said softly, looking down at the grass. "My dreams always twist them into something worse that it actually was…" The three winced at this, knowing that Kakashi had been through a lot and had their fair share of 'bad dreams'... "It was… Obito… and Rin…" Kakashi didn't have to say any more after mentioning his female teammates' name, Asuma putting a comforting hand on the man's shoulder as Kurenai and Anko gave knowing looks at each other, having heard enough of that story to know it would've haunted anyone for years.

"Alright, I'll drop it about the book," Kurenai said, raising her hands in a backing-off motion as her ruby eyes looked in worry at her friend. "Were you about to head home to Aoi?"

"... Yeah…. Hopefully she doesn't sic that demon bird on me again…."

"Hey, don't go calling Ginko a 'demon bird'... that fowl can hold her liquor, and for that she has my respect." Anko said, pointing one of her painted nails at Kakashi.

"... That thing hates me, and I don't know why…" Kakashi growled, then froze. "Wait, did you challenge a swan to a drinking competition?!"

"Yup… we hung out that one time when you and Aoi were on your anniversary, and now she and I are friends."

"... I'm not even going to ask who won…" Kakashi groaned, standing up with a hand to his forehead. "I'm going home… Hopefully my cute little son can help me distract myself from my past… and calm down Aoi enough..."

"Good luck man…"

"Tell Lord Third I'll be unavailable this week, would you?" Kakashi asked Asuma over his shoulder, "I'll need some time to get my head back on straight…" His response was a thumbs up as Asuma and the two female kunoichi watched their friend walk off.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"I'm home!" Kakashi called out, as he opened the door to the small house that he and his family had called home for the past three years.

"Daddy!" Satoshi's small toddling feet pitter-pattering down the short hallway as he ran greeted his father's ears as the one-year old ran into his open arms. "'Oo 'ome!"

"I missed you too, 'Toshi," Kakashi said, smiling for the first time since he woke up that morning. His son was always a surefire way to cheer him up after a bad day.

"U hav fun?"

"Not really," Kakashi admitted, still smiling as he settled his son on one of his shoulders, keeping one arm up to keep the child balanced, "The students I was assigned to were not very good, so they're back in the Academy."

"Aga?" Satoshi was surprisingly very understanding of what he heard he and Aoi talk about, so his young mind knew that his father had a hard time finding a team of students.

"Yes, again," Kakashi chuckled, carrying his son to the living room, "They just aren't as good as you are, Satoshi. You behave a lot better than the kids in the Academy."

"Toshi sma'wt!"

"Yes, you are!" Kakashi agreed, laughing as his son started to play with his hair. "You are much smarter than those older kids."

"So I take it that they failed your test.." Aoi's voice asked, appearing in the doorway of the kitchen when she heard her husband come home.

"Yes… Yet again, two of them abandoned their third teammate even when I gave them a hint about teamwork, and that's unacceptable…" Kakashi said, sitting down on the floor with his son. "It's like they don't even teach the basics of how teams are supposed to work anymore…" Aoi sighed at this, knowing the subject was a touchy one around Kakashi, especially when he had another one of his dreams…

The story of Obito and their team had been one of the first things Kakashi told her about when they had started dating after she had woken up in the middle of the night to him screaming in his sleep, crying as he spoke their names and asked for them to forgive him, and because of that she never dug into him about it. It had also been the night she learned about the story behind what he had told Osamu when she had first found Kakashi all those years ago…

'... Like your friend using you to commit suicide?' He had asked Osamu this when the Hebi Tribe Leader had told him to only feel the way he did when he had something to truly regret. Nobody had asked him what he had been talking about then… she had only learned about the entire story about a year and a half after he had asked that question. It was also when she learned that people used to call her love "Friend Killer Kakashi."

Bringing Kakashi into a hug, his head nuzzled into her chest like a child, she said, "I know you keep on getting disappointed by all those kids, but I know one of these days you'll find a team of students who meet every expectation of yours, and even further than that. I know it…"

0o0o0o0o0( A Few Months Later…)0o0o0o0o0

That year, Kakashi stood in the Hokage's office as he was handed the folder of his new potential students, and as he opened it, his heart was caught in his throat as the first thing he saw was what seemed like a younger version of his old Sensei's face with three whisker-like markings on each cheek as bright blue eyes stared at him. Instantly, images and memories of his Sensei flashed through his mind, as he stood there, frozen in place by the past.

"Is there a problem, Kakashi?" The old Hokage's voice was enough to snap him out of it as he looked to the old man.

"Oh! Uh… No, it's just…" Kakashi turned the folder to show the picture of the boy, and comprehension dawned in Lord Third's eyes.

"Ah, yes…. The son of your Sensei, Minato…"

"And I still can't tell him… can I?" Kakashi asked dejectedly, remembering how it had been told not to reveal Naruto's heritage to him.

"... No you cannot…" The old man took a deep breath of smoke from his pipe as he looked at the ninja, knowing it was hard for him.

"I just wish… I could have been there for him…" Kakashi said softly, staring at the picture of his Sensei's only son, "If only I could have protected him from the civilians…"

Another puff of smoke left the Hokage's lips as he smiled knowingly at Kakashi. "If he and the other two pass your unbeatable test, you will be there for him… as his sensei and the one who will make a fine Shinobi out of him."

"And Sasuke Uchiha…" Kakashi said softly, finally turning Naruto's page over to reveal that of the Uchiha Heir. "Another child who is just like me… Like I was at their age…"

"Yes, well that one should be obvious since you are the only other individual with the Sharingan to show him how to come into his own when it awakens-"

"I'm not talking about the Sharingan…" Kakashi said, sighing, "I'm talking about experiences we've had during our childhood. Both of these boys have experienced loss and pain… just as I had. At least this time… they won't be left to fend for themselves for the rest of their childhoods…"

"I know what you meant, Kakashi... now beat it; I'm sure Aoi would love to hear the news."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Aoi, Satoshi, I'm home!" Kakashi called out as he entered his small house. Instantly, the familiar sound of tiny little feet met his ears as he knelt down with his arms open for his son, the folder held in one hand.

"Daddy!"

"Welcome home dear- Is that the next batch?" Aoi asked curiously, eyeing the manila folder in his hand. Kakashi was grinning as he scooped up his son in his arms and walked over to his wife.

"Yeah, and I have high hopes for this group," he said, and it was more praise than he had ever given any other team without meeting them first. "Sensei's son is in it…"

"Minato's?! Gimme!" Aoi said, trying to reach for the folder as Kakashi held it above her head.

"Hey now, I haven't gotten my welcome home kiss yet!"

"You'll get it after you give me the folder!" Aoi exclaimed, jumping again for the folder only for it to be beyond her reach.

"Kiss first?" Kakashi asked, and then immediately regretted it.

Because Aoi had summoned the demon bird.