THE FIRST TEAM TO MAKE IT
Kakashi was grinning when he left the training area, a slight bounce to his step as he made his way home.
'They did it! They actually did it!' he was thinking to himself, feeling almost like he was flying. 'They actually worked as a team is supposed to, supporting each other even when it got tough… though they did so only after Naruto got tied to the post...'
His demeanor was so much more cheerful than he normally was after evaluating a team that his friends took notice, Asuma quickly pulling him aside and holding a kunai to his throat.
"Ok, who are you, and what did you do with Kakashi?!" Asuma had never seen his friend in such a good mood since he got married and Satoshi was born….
"It's me, Asuma," Kakashi chuckled, pushing the kunai away, "The team I was evaluating actually passed!"
"Really? You mean, you didn't just feel sorry for them and gave up?"
"I'm completely serious! They actually functioned as a team, unlike those others that I tested…" Kakashi was still grinning, obvious even through his mask, as he resisted the temptation to just jump around like a lunatic. "My faith in the Academy has now been restored."
"Well that's good, I guess. I just got done evaluating my own team, and I'm just gonna say it's gonna take some effort with two of them…" Asuma said, rubbing the back of his head slightly.
"Oh, I'm not saying that my own team won't have it's own challenges," Kakashi admitted, "Naruto and Sasuke don't really get along all too well, and Sakura is just a Sasuke fangirl, but I know that they have great potential… deep down at least."
"Are my ears deceiving me, or did Kakashi finally get a team?" a dark haired woman asked from the shadows of a tree, her red eyes looking at Asuma in disbelief.
"Apparently so…" Asuma said, his eyes still showing that he was trying to process this, "Should we throw a party?"
"Please no… the last time we threw a party at my house, Anko somehow sneaked in a bottle of Sake and Aoi accused me of letting her…. And she knows I can't make that crazy woman do anything!"
"Who said it had to be your place?" Asuma asked, now looking mischievous as he pulled out a set of keys, "We could throw the party at Lord Third's, since he'll probably be just as surprised to hear that your reign of terror among the graduates is at an end."
"... Did you seriously steal your dad's house keys!?" Kurenai asked in shock, having not seen this side of her friend since he was in his rebellious phase as a teenager.
"No… I just… borrowed them." Asuma said, smiling, "Without permission."
"You're as bad as Anko sometimes, you know that Asuma?" Kakashi asked and then sighed, "I'm gonna go home; tell Aoi the good news. Let me know when the party is, ok?"
"Will do!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Aoi, Satoshi, I'm-" Kakashi was cut off by his little boy tackling his legs, his sentence breaking off into laughter as he pried his son off to pick him up. "Well, someone's excited today, isn't he?"
"I wa pacratising sneke skills!"
"I see that!" Kakashi laughed as he settled Satoshi on his hip as he made his way to the kitchen, where he could smell his wife cooking something, "Hello, my Utsukushi Tori…"
"Welcome home, dear! You're in an awfully good mood! What's the occasion?"
"The team passed, Aoi!" Kakashi said, laughing happily, "They passed my test! I am now Sensei to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, A.K.A Team 7!"
"Ahh! Congrats!- oh sorry baby, did I squish you?"
"Mama!"
0o0o0o0o0(Break POV to team 7)0o0o0o0o0
"Naruto, are you sure this is a good idea?" A pink haired girl asked as her emerald green eyes worriedly looked at the 'ground' beneath her and her blonde teammate as another boy with them, one who had dark hair and clothing, tsked in annoyance.
"For once, I'm in agreement with Naruto. I want to learn more about our Sense too; he didn't give us much info other than his name in the introductions." That and he had sat on him during their test to become Genin, using him as an example of a point he had been trying to get to them. No one sat on a Uchiha and got away with it.
"I'm sure Sakura! I've been on tons of roofs in the past and nothing bad has ever happened- Woah!" Both Naruto and the other two fell through a weak part in the roof, landing in what seemed to be a living room after the dust and debris had settled… and their Sensei was sitting on a nearby couch with a white-haired, ice-blue-eyed toddler in his lap.
"Hi, guys," Kakashi said calmly, raising one eyebrow at the Genin, as his wife came in to see what the commotion was.
"Kakashi, what on earth was that racket-" Aoi's speech cut off when she saw the three Genin in her living room covered in dust and rubble and the hole in her ceiling, making the connection easily to what had happened… and absolutely stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the corn yellow blonde head of hair and sapphire blue eyes look up at her in confusion. "Oh…"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"...and what have I been telling you? That spot on the roof has been needing to get repaired since we moved here, but no... You said you would get to it later." Aoi said as she got onto her husband while Team Seven watched the couple interact, Satoshi oblivious to his mother's rant as he sat in Sasuke's lap playing with his arm warmers. The only reason Sasuke's hair wasn't the victim at the moment was because everytime the child reached for his hair, Sasuke would lean his head the other way.
"Um… Kakashi-Sensei….?" Sakura asked hesitantly for her teacher's attention, fidgeting when his coal black eye met her wondering gaze. "Uh… I'm sorry about your roof….I tried telling Naruto it was a bad idea, but you know how he is; he just doesn't listen."
"It's alright Sakura. I've been needing to get that taken care of for a while, so this is just the world's way of telling me I can't put it off anymore…" Kakashi told his female student, his visible eye squinting into his notable 'eye smile' as she relaxed at his comfort.
"Hey… do I know you, lady?" Sakura and Kakashi looked around to see Naruto looking closely at Aoi with an unreadable expression. "'Cause I feel like I do…"
"No… I don't believe we've met before…" Aoi said, smiling at the boy. "Have you hung around the markets before? I tend to do a lot of my shopping in that tiny store where-"
"-Where that old bald guy sells just about everything! Yeah, I've been in there before!" Naruto's head then dropped as a small frown marred his face. "Though he doesn't like me going in his shop… none of the grown ups around there do…"
"And that's one of the things I intend to change," Kakashi said, coming over from where he had been cleaning up the fallen parts of the roof. "I don't like having to watch kids like you being cast out; it's not right."
"Aw, it's alright Kakashi-Sensei, I'm used to it! Besides, I stopped hanging out around there after I pranked that butcher guy by pouring neon yellow paint all over his stall; his stuff wasn't all that good anyway." Naruto said good heartedly, putting his hands behind his head as a fox-like grin broke out across his face.
"Used to it or not, I've seen your apartment, as is customary for a Jounin assigned to a new team," Kakashi said sternly, shaking his head, "With the stipend the Hokage is giving you, you should be able to buy more food than that… I have a suspicion that the market sellers are overpricing you."
"You let me worry about those people, Kakashi." Aoi said confidently, the look in her eyes causing a shiver to run down Kakashi's spine; whenever he saw that look, he knew someone was about to get hurt.
"They're breaking the law, Aoi…" Kakashi said, looking just as angry as his wife did. "As a Leaf Village Shinobi, I cannot let this go unpunished…"
"And they won't go unpunished…. Like I said, leave it to me. For now, you be a good role model for your students… and eat your food before it gets cold. You too, Team Seven. Being a ninja is hard work, so you'll need to keep up your strength."
There was a collective 'Yes Ma'am' in the room as they ate what was on their plates that Aoi had set in front of them, having also seen the look in her eye that warned them not to go against her words. Aoi might've been a housewife, but she was also a Jounin, and these kids were the first team to pass her husband's test, so she would make sure they were well taken care of.
And God help anyone who messed with her family.