"Head, shoulders, knees and toes!" sang Kakashi. He was eye smiling at Sakura from the shade of a large tree. "Knees and toes! Eyes and ears and mouth and nose!"
She snarled, green eyes fierce as sweat trickled down her face and made her eyes sting. Her clothes were clinging uncomfortably, and her hair was plastered to her head. Her hands were screaming in agony, and her body was trembling with effort as she struggled to keep up with Kakashi's asinine sing-song ques. He'd been singing the same damn thing for the past hour and a half, and she was ready to use the last of her energy to chuck a kunai at him with every ounce of flagging chakra and strength she could muster.
Bastard would undoubtedly dodge safely, but just the act alone would give her some vindictive pleasure.
This-was-torture.
She'd been attacking the huge boulder for an hour and a half, striking at a semi crudely drawn silhouette of a person. Kakashi had sung a stupid children's rhyme, informing her it was her job to hit each area he called with absolute precision while expertly thrusting needle thin chakra strikes from her hands. They'd had to move on to a boulder after her rage at her Sensei's childish behavior caused her to splinter the tree trunk and bring it crashing down.
The silhouette was starting to crumble around the areas Kakashi was demanding she strike. She was exhausted, considering she had to dip down low to hit the knees and toes area accurately, on top of the endless attacks her arms were raining down on the impassive rock. It was a nightmare of a full body workout. She knew she needed it. Not only was her chakra control and chakra reserves improving, but she was also physically gaining ground as well. She knew that she was improving in leaps and bounds, and it only reinforced that Kakashi's crazy methods were effective.
But damned if she didn't want to strangle her Sensei.
"Alright!" he called, clapping once to gather her attention.
She dropped limply to the ground, gasping for air and body trembling with fatigue.
He wandered over to her and squatted next to her prone figure. "It's lunch time. Let's go meet up with the boys, hmm?"
Her only answer was a grunt. He simply eye smiled and slipped her onto his back before taking off towards a hidden cave in a forgotten training ground. The cave was the perfect campsite, keeping their gear safely tucked away out of sight as well as letting them sleep out of the weather without the need for a tent. It helped that the cave turned sharply to the side once you got inside, a hidden offshoot leading to a more roomy area with a soft dirt floor. The offshoot cavern also provided a perfect way to hide the glow of their fire, and the smoke was filtered out through various cracks in the cavern ceiling. She groaned at being jostled, but gratefully let him carry her, as she really didn't think she could get back via her own efforts.
When they arrived, Sasuke was scowling at a small fire, watching their lunch cook on a spit. About three feet away from Sasuke, Naruto was sprawled out face down, moaning piteously. Kakashi gently set Sakura on a rock on the other side of Naruto before dashing off to find some more wild berries and nuts for lunch, knowing his cute little genin could use the extra nutrients other than just the wild boar his other clone had caught after dismissing Naruto for lunch.
Now that she was closer, Sakura could see that Sasuke had tremors running through his body as well, his clothes as damp as hers with sweat.
"My everything hurts…" bemoaned Naruto, his voice muffled. His usual jacket was missing, and his black t-shirt looked like it had been wrung out once already.
"Welcome to being normal," muttered Sasuke bitterly.
"This is normal?!" Naruto asked shrilly, his head popping up for just a moment to stare at them incredulously before it flopped back down with a solid *thump!*.
Sakura chuckled weakly. "Yeah, this is what we regularly feel like trying to keep up with your ungodly stamina."
"...point to Kyubi. That is handy." He turned his head to the side so he could look at his teammates.
Kakashi came slouching into the clearing to perch on a rock opposite of Naruto. Though he pretended to be nonchalant, his clothes were also heavy with sweat and there was a sense of weariness clinging to his shoulders. "So," he said in false cheer. "Everyone enjoying their morning?"
"I hate you," intoned Naruto, still prone.
Kakashi just smiled at him, and after a long beat, Naruto groaned. "Okaaaay, fine. You're awesome and we love you for being a kick-ass Sensei." His expression morphed into a pout. "Still hate you," he said mulishly. There was no heat behind the words, so Kakashi simply chuckled good naturedly.
"I'm with Naruto on this one," mumbled Sakura, wincing as she barely remained upright when she shifted to get more comfortable. She looked at Kakashi cautiously. "Are we doing more of the same training after lunch?" There was obvious dread in her voice.
The silver haired man just smiled at her until she dropped her head with a groan.
He chuckled again."Just kidding. Training your body to its fullest is important, but you don't want it to be detrimental by overdoing it. After lunch we'll do an hour meditation session followed by an hour dedicated to honing your other senses. Zabuza is an expert at silent killing, and I want you all to work hard enough you get better at finding a solution if you were to fight him."
"But you told us not to fight him," whined Naruto.
Kakashi hummed in agreement. "You're not, but he isn't the only one to have such skills. It would be wise if you all had a counter measure if you are ever in a situation where you cannot rely on your eyesight." He gave Sasuke a meaningful look. "It would especially benefit someone with Dojutsu. Ninja with Dojutsu tend to rely too heavily on it. It would be wise to find other methods of fighting so that if an enemy manages to exploit the known issue of over reliance on Dojutsu, you will still be able to continue the fight without it." Their Sensei shifted, holding out his hand as his clone dumped some berries in his cupped palm. He watched his genin do the same. "I'm not just saying this. Had we been forced to fight Zabuza and he used his silent killing technique, I would have used my heightened sense of smell to find him. If I couldn't have done it, I would have summoned my hounds."
"So you're going to train us in olfactory?" Sakura looked torn between being interested and being disgusted.
"Depends." He shrugs. "Olfactory is something my clan was good at. I inherited that skill as well. However, what works for me may not work for you. That is why we will be spending an hour trying to hone your other senses. Depending on which is the most potent, we will work on training it up to combat effectiveness."
Sasuke grunted.
"You said it, 'Ke," mumbled Naruto. "That training is gonna be a nightmare."
Sasuke smirked. "And here I thought you would have a harder time trying to sit still for meditation."
Naruto flashed him a crude hand gesture.
Naruto shifted uncomfortably under the dumbfounded looks his team was giving him. "What?"
"Why do you wear the jumpsuit?" demanded Kakashi. "You're literally crippling yourself as a ninja."
Naruto winced, looking down as his toe dug into the grass and dirt. "It was easier. Without it…" he shifted again, gaze darting to the side. He swallowed thickly. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to walk around the village without it?"
Kakashi visibly winced. "Right. Okay." He sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging with the weight of his student's response. He rubbed his face tiredly. "Has it… gotten better?"
The blond did a weird twitchy thing with his shoulder, head, and hands in indecision. "Sort of?" He shrugged. "Because I've been using henged clones for everything, the villagers haven't really seen much of me since I became a genin. They haven't been quite so…" He gestured vaguely. "I dunno."
Kakashi sighed. Naruto's eloquence for words always seemed to fall short when he was trying to explain things that tested his emotional control. Kakashi wasn't really surprised. The whole of Team 7 had that problem. But because they'd been training to read the subtler body language, they all understood what he was trying to express. Kakashi couldn't help but drop a hand on the blond's head and ruffle his hair. "Would you be able to handle it now?"
Naruto squirmed a bit, squinting up at his sensei in uncertainty. "Maybe?" he mumbled, looking away.
"You know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important," Kakashi pressed, feeling guilty when Naruto looked torn between making his sensei happy and fear that had most likely been beaten into him.
"But you said my other senses were pretty enhanced too," murmured the blond, a lilt of hope in his voice.
Kakashi simply kept his hand on the blond's head. "They are, and we will train in them too. But this…" He gestured vaguely at Naruto standing there dressed in just a pair of shorts. "This is a big deal. Your sensitivity with air vibrations is...phenomenal. Do you have any idea how incredibly useful that would be to you? Especially as a wind element?" Kakashi shook his head. "You have the potential to be nigh untouchable, if trained correctly."
Naruto wilted. "Okay."
Kakashi felt a huge weight of pride and guilt as he watched his young genin shuffle towards his teammates. He was proud when Sasuke lightly bumped into Naruto and Sakura outright slung an arm over the blond's shoulders in order to comfort him. The jounin knew he would need to do something to silently apologize for pushing the issue and also to show support.
He cleared his throat and tried to throw in some levity. "Naruto, I heard this rumor about a bet against one of Gai's students?"
Naruto blinked before a devious smile lit his face. "It has been almost a week."
The jounin eye smiled. "And Gai always encourages follow through on challenges, be they won or lost."
"Clones?" asked Sasuke. A grin was threatening to curl his lips.
"Cha!" cheered Sakura, thrusting her fist up in the air. "My chakra should be replenished enough now!" This was followed quickly by a groan of pain for moving so excitedly.
Kakashi chuckled. "Mah, mah, slow down. Did anyone remember to grab a camera?"
All three of his genin snorted. He blinked at them, bemused they'd managed to do so in sync.
"We all have one stored in our gear at all times," began Sasuke.
Sakura nodded sagely. "After all, proof is everything."
"Plus, there's always a need for research," remarked Nartuo, reminding the silver haired jounin eerily of a certain sannin.
Kakashi eyed the blond cautiously. "Research?"
"Of course!" stepped in Sakura. "It's really handy for a disguise if we're playing tourists in a new area and need to scout out a place discreetly."
"We might even get lucky and lift some tricks off ninja from other villages." Sasuke leaned against a tree calmly, arms crossed.
Kakashi hummed. "Sharingan?"
Sasuke shook his head. "Too obvious. A camera is much safer. We've even used a seal to mute any noise it makes, courtesy of that one you used for our bunker."
"You could just get eyewear," remarked Kakashi.
"Most people who wear eyewear are dojutsu users, so still too obvious," remarked Sakura, shaking her head. "We've discussed the idea before. The best idea would be to wear a full facemask that encourages anonymity rather than possible dojutsu. Problem being, however, we're actively trying to keep up Masks. We need people to see us. The only way we could get away with a disguise is one, we all were going anonymous, and two, the hokage allowed us to do secret missions that he personally assigns and keeps out of standard files. Anything else would be pointless."
Kakashi beamed at them, impressed with their thoroughness. "You'd have to be chunin at least," he remarked blithely.
Naruto frowned. "Actually, I wanted to ask about that. Are we taking this shot seriously, or are we trying to fail?"
Kakashi blinked. "What?"
Naruto shifted uneasily, glancing at his teammates for support. Both nodded subtly, so he continued. "You've been stressing the need for Masks, but in order to become chunin, we'd have to ditch them to even be taken seriously during the testing. If it isn't obvious to everyone that we're capable, the council could protest the advancement and cause us to either stagnate or get bumped back down." He lifted a shoulder in a partial shrug. "This is going to be more of an issue for Sakura and I than it will be for Sasuke, but even he might get jilted by other ninja who think he only got the rank because of his clan status." Naruto scratched his head nervously. "So… I guess, do you want us to take this seriously? Or did you want us to wait?"
Sakura took up their line of questioning. "We understand that you might have only entered us to show us a better example of what the life of a ninja was like, maybe even just to get a feel of what other villages techniques are like. We also weren't sure if becoming chunin would separate our team. There have been cases that good teams stay together their whole careers, but we haven't yet proven we're better together than separate. If that was a concern, you might wish us to fail so that we could stick together longer." She shrugged. "We aren't sure what direction you want us to take. We would prefer to stay together. One, we're learning a lot from you and we don't want to give that up. Two, we're the only ones who know how talented we each are and can take full advantage of those skills. Breaking up our team now would be hazardous for both our training and our missions. The fact we've been so effective with our Masks only proves that point further and adds the frustration of having to include other people in the loop. Three, we want to advance together, and advancing does open new options and possibilities for us, but we are willing to wait for advancement if it means we can't stay together as a team. Four…" She shuffled, shooting embarrassed but endearing looks to her teammates, who gave her soft smiles in return. "We're Team 7."
Their following smiles now included him, and he felt his heart twist painfully. Kakashi had no idea how his crazy scheme had managed all of this, but damned if he wasn't super proud of them and touched that all four of them (yes, he's including himself in that) lived up to his expectations of teamwork…and excelled far past them too.
Hell...he didn't want to give them up either. He was going to have to speak with Hiruzen again. This was getting more complex, but in the best way, in his opinion. He'd fight to death and beyond for these three.
"Hmm…" He scratched his jaw, pretending to think about it in order to hide the fact his eye was a little misty. "Give me a couple days to run some things by the Hokage." He gave them an eye smile. "For now, treat it like you want to win." He waved his fingers airily. "After all, there's no better motivation for training than wanting to achieve a high goal such as winning the Chunin Exams."
His cute little genin beamed at him.
"You bet Kakashi!" cheered Naruto, throwing in a fistpump for added emphasis.
"Hey Dotty!" called Naruto, waving wildly.
Tenten, usually one to lash out harshly at such a ridiculous nickname, hardly twitched. She was staring blankly past them, arms hanging limply at her sides.
Naruto shuffled over to stand next to her and follow her line of sight. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Why do you look like you've seen somethin' freaky?" He squinted around again before looking back at her for a response.
She rose a shaky hand and pointed to Neji talking to someone across the street. Neji looked like someone had come up and outright slapped him out of the blue.
The blond tilted his head in confusion. "Dude, Prude always looks like someone stuffed a stick up his butt."
Sakura sighed. "Naruto, you really need to quit calling people by such terrible names."
Naruto huffed. "Hey! We've never been properly introduced! How would I know what their names are?!"
The pinkette groaned. "Naruto, their names were announced in the preliminary matches." When he stared at her blankly, she groaned even longer. "This is why I told you to pay attention!" She bopped him on the head.
"Ow! Sakura-chaaaan! That hurt!" He rubbed his head and pouted while Sasuke hovered a small distance away looking peeved.
"Are you done yet?" grumbled the raven haired teen. "We have places to be."
"Shut up, Bastard!" Naruto held up a threatening fist.
Sakura's eye twitched. She lurched forward and held up her own threatening fist at the blond. "Focus! You said you needed to check on Lee!"
Naruto stared at her blankly. "Who?"
"Lee! The one in the second exams?" Sakura looked like she was ready to outright throttle Naruto and was contemplating where to bury the body as she hissed between her teeth, more so when his uncomprehending gaze didn't change. "Bushy brows!" she blurted. Kami-sama! He'd gotten her to resort to using his stupid nickname for Lee! She wanted to bash her head into a wall.
"Oh! Why didn't you say so?" Naruto perked up and started jerking his head this way and that. "Where's Bushy Brows, Dotty?"
Tenten finally registered what he was calling her and threw an appropriate amount of sharp pointy's in his direction. She internally smirked when she heard him yelp and dive to the ground to avoid getting turned into a pincushion. She also ripped her gaze away from Neji's direction to acknowledge her sudden guests. "He's over there." She pointed again towards Neji.
The blond grumbled something under his breath as he climbed to his feet and squinted across the street once more. He narrowed his eyes further before he huffed. "Where? I don't see him! Is he inside?" He eyed the tea shop warily. It was one of the places that really didn't like him and he avoided unless he was pranking them.
Tenten shuddered. "No. He's talking to Neji." She seemed to be straining not to look over there herself, and her pallor was even more sickly.
Confused, Naruto examined the teen talking to Neji. His black hair was cut and styled in a tamed tousle look, talking animatedly to the very sullen Hyuga. He was wearing fitted black ninja pants taped at the calf to the ankles with a dark green sleeveless tunic and wide belt. His hands were taped up to the elbow, and ninja pouch hung from his belt.
And then he turned, as if feeling the group of four (Tenten had given up trying to avoid looking again, and five if you count a hidden Kakashi on the roofs) staring at him. He blinked and then he grinned widely, his teeth pinging in the afternoon light as he gave them a double thumbs up in greeting.
A shrill shriek of horror escaped Sakura's lips, an automatic response after Lee's initial boisterous greeting and follow up flirting. All she needed to see was the brilliant shine of teeth and she was literally climbing the wall behind Tenten (it had not helped that they had been stalking Lee and Gai since the idea of pranking Gai had blossomed. They had seen those blinging teeth far too often. Because it only helped their Masks, all three of her teammates had encouraged this reaction until it really had become ingrained as a habit).
"YOSH! Your flames of youth are bright as ever Sakura-san! You're training with great enthusiasm is inspiring!" bellowed Lee, crossing the road in a flash to look up as Sakura disappeared over the top of the building and off across the rooftops.
She made it four blocks before she remembered why they'd made a point to search Lee out, and grudgingly, started making her way back to the group.
Naruto was plastered against the wall in shock, openly gaping at Lee as he cheerfully grinned at everyone. Sasuke was twitching in a nice spaztastic fashion, looking ready to bolt at any second.
Kakashi was twitching too, but that was from trying to suppress his laughter at his Genin's reactions.
"WHERE ARE YOUR EYEBROWS?!" blurted Naruto, pointing an accusing finger at Lee's face.
Lee frowned in confusion. "Why, right on my face, Naruto-san!" He ran a finger along the finely trimmed eyebrow that was still broad but looked normal vs what it had looked previously.
Tenten patted Naruto on the shoulder. "Trust me, I can't get over it either." She shuddered. "He looks...normal. And...I don't know how to feel about it." She rolled her eyes. "I threatened him when he was in our training ground because I thought he was a stranger intruding on our space." She shrugged. "But his voice and actions haven't changed, so I haven't completely freaked out and dragged him to T and I."
A slow smirk suddenly crawled across Sasuke's face as he turned to Naruto. "Maybe you should talk to Ino too and do something about that hideous jumpsuit."
"Hey! Bastard! My jumpsuit is awesome!"
"No it's not," remarked Sakura with a roll of her eyes, rejoining the group casually as if she hadn't left screaming for the hills. "Orange is not the new black."
Tenten gave her a funny look but shook her head and also eyed the orange eyesore. "Why are you wearing something so bright? You realize that's a deathtrap, right?"
"Psh! Tell that to the people who couldn't find me after a prank!" Naruto boasted, crossing his arms with a defiant smirk.
Tenten blinked. "Oh. You're that kid."
Everyone gave her a look.
"What the hell does that mean?!" demanded Naruto, looking ready to grab her and shake her for such a comment.
She smirked at him. "When you're ready to be a real ninja, let me know." She held out a high grade kunai. "After all, for ninja, quality is everything." She expertly spun it before it disappeared as quickly as she had produced it.
She sauntered away, grabbing Lee's collar and dragging him behind her as she met up with Neji. They left down the street without a glance backwards, leaving Naruto shrieking a few profanities at them and how awesome a ninja he was.
Forgotten on the roof, Kakashi was about rolling, the whole exchange having gone far better than he expected.
In a hidden campground about fifteen minutes later, a group of four twitched and were all left muted mid conversation.
After an uncomfortably long pause for all of them to really take in what their clones had seen, Kakashi cleared his throat. "Your young friend's talent in attire aside, now would be a good time for such a transition. Such a big change could easily be expected during an event like this." He didn't look at the blond across from him, but all of them knew the comment was targeted towards him.
Sakura blinked. "What about for all of us?"
Naruto perked up, honestly feeling a bit hopeful about the idea as it would make him feel less exposed.
Sasuke shifted and a faint groan escaped it. "You're right. Now would be perfect."
"Oh?" queried the jounin, poking the fire listlessly. He glanced up at his genin.
Sakura and Sasuke smirked, and both Naruto and Kakashi got a shiver down their spines.
