Kakashi Hatake knew that Naruto wasn't stupid. He was, in fact, quite the genius. He'd been on the edge of his seat, watching the camera's intently. He wondered what Naruto was really trying to teach his team. He doubted battle strategies were the topic in the blonds mind. Though, his genin could sure use them. After all, frontal assaults didn't normally work; as his genin squad had been learning for the past hour and twelve minutes. Sasuke had shown some promise when he used Sai's diversion to get a block further, but all he really did was abandon his team when he didn't try to take their opponent from behind. As more and more of these instances happened, it was becoming clearer what Naruto was doing. He was blatantly displaying his teams flaws. If they would actually work together always, instead of life or death situations, then they would have probably been done with this exercise already. Kakashi leaned back from the screens he was watching and looked towards Naruto. He was leaned back against the wall, in front of the Uzukage's desk. His eyes were closed and his arms crossed. Kakashi wondered what the blond felt being here again. After all this time, and he knew how he felt being here. Kushina nii chan had brought him here as much as she could. She'd bene proud of her home. they were a powerful Village, a minor one, that could go toe to toe with one of the great five leading shinobi villages. The only reason why they were destroyed was because Three of the Five allied together to destroy such a powerful Village, and Konoha wasn't able to reach it in time to provide aid. Konoha had sent an army. Whirlpool was their ally, and ally before even the founding of either villages. Uzamaki's sides and aided Senju's during the clan wars. He knew this…but the generation coming after him didn't. He had seen Naruto's surprise and then irritation about his genin not having been taught about his home village sacrifice. The only reason why they had been target was because Uzu allies again with the Leaf, and they had shown their true strength and skill on the battlefield. Kakashi knew Naruto never saw his village destroyed, after all, he wasn't even born yet, but Kushina brought him as often as she could and told him about his people and where she came from. She told him all sorts of things, clan secrets, skills, jutsu's, seals…his blood line that no one but he knew the blond had. Not even the Hokage.

"You should take them off the active duty roster when we get back" Naruto announces. Kakashi isn't offended.

"I will, and I'll train them properly" Kakashi promises. Naruto nods.

"We have a week to work on them here for their teamwork skills and then I suggest taking them off for one month there for individual training." Naruto suggests. Kakashi nods. Perhaps he had blinders on this entire time. He passed them because they managed to work as a team for his bell test, and then their C rank turned A rank mission to wave made him think that his team was an actual team. But now he was realizing that his team only worked together when they absolutely had to…they all had their own motives…and none of them were in the interest of the Village. Kakashi sighs.

"Who was this mission really for, Naruto, me or them?" Kakashi asks his all but blood little brother. Naruto opens his eyes. Kakashi felt like Naruto could see his soul.

"Both" Naruto admits before he pauses and sighs.

"What is it?" Kakashi asks.

"Two of my clones have captured Sai and are about three blocks away." Naruto answers.

"Huh, I thought it'd be Sakura captured first" Kakashi admits. Naruto nods his agreement. Sakura, admittedly, was the weak link. It he hadn't seen Sakura high tailing after Sasuke and yelling for him to 'wait for her' then he'd think this to be a trap but in the end it was simply two shinobi retreating after one of them was captured to a superior enemy.

Two clones came into the office dragging a struggling Sai.

"You can stop struggling now, unless one of your team mates can free you, you aren't permitted to leave this office on your own." Naruto commands. Sai stops struggling immediately.

"Your team now had thirty minutes to complete their objective now that you're here" Kakashi sighs dejectedly.

"In the mean time, I think we have something to deal with" Naruto says, moving from the wall.

"What's that?" Sai asks when Naruto stares at him.

"We need to discuss Danzo"

Sai looked to his sensei but only saw him stare at him back, making it clear whom he was backing. Sai smiled widely, trying not to let any emotion cloud his judgement.

o.o o.o

Whatever Sasuke thought of the blond idiot before, he took it all and times it all tenfold. Sasuke his behind a corner of a building, in sight of the Uzukages' tower. He could see six patrolling clones. They weren't in a set pattern of patrol nor was there any gaps to slip through. Abruptly, Sasuke heard the sound of feet hitting the dirt and spun on his heal to face the ally he had snuck into with a kunai in hand. The pink hair gave way to who was there and Sasuke immediately scowls. He wanted to growl at her to go away but he didn't want o give away his position. He supposed it was hopeless now. It was like trying to play hide and go seek with one person always following you and trying to hide with you but they sucked at it and took you down with them. Sasuke grit his teeth. They only had ten minutes left because Sai got himself captured.

"What should we do?" Sakura whispers. Sasuke thought about it. The only thing he could think of was for her to go provide a distraction and hope it attracted enough attention for him to slip through to get inside to find the scroll. Even though Sakura would be undoubtedly captured, if he made it back to the home base, the mission was a success. Sasuke smirks a little before he tells her what to do, unaware of the clone right above them standing on the roof, listening to his plan with an unpleased look.

.o.o. o.o.

Sakura closed her eyes before opening them with a determined look. Sasuke kun was depending on her! She darted in between streets and allys, gaining as much distance from Sasuke kuns location, but not too far as too not get the clones near him attention. She had a rough idea of what she would do.

Sakura rolled up a few kunai with explosive notes, readying herself mentally for what she was doing. Her plans was a basic one, draw attention to herself and last as long as possible. She clenched her jaw and threw the kunai at one of the clones that was just standing in the street near another clone. The kunai exploded and set off the other kunai she had thrown with it, dispelling both clones. Sakura fist pumped the air at her success. Though it was short lived at differently disguised clones descended on her a near minute later.

…

Sasuke darted forward as soon as the two clones move toward Sakura's location. He kept to the corners and shadows before he reached a window and opened it. He jumped inside and re-shut the window. He had to be quick. He knew there had to be clones in here. While the real Naruto nor his sensei could interfere, there was no doubt that there wouldn't be clones in the tower as well. He just needed to find the scroll and get to home base!

-.-

Naruto and Kakashi watched Sasuke search for the scroll he was supposed to retrieve on the screens. Sai was too busy thinking over everything he'd been told. Having the seal on his tongue removed by the blond allowed him to not only speak freely, but his thoughts and emotions were coming quicker. He felt as if a mental block was just lifted, he felt light. Naruto had given him something to think about. Danzo had been his Commander, giving his orders, missions, rules, standards, uniforms, codes of conduct, but how could he if he was not the Hokage. Sai never thought about it before, why would he? It wasn't something he ever questioned, everything was the way it was because it simply was. But, as Naruto stated, how could Danzo do any of it, if he wasn't the Hokage. After all, logically, having a standing army of his own, Danzo was guilty of treason. Especially so, since Naruto and Kakashi sensei both stated that ROOT was disbanded after the last war. Sai hadn't known that. He was trained, given a mask, and told to missions in the name of the Leaf. Was he still loyal to Danzo? He looked up and saw Kakashi sensei and Naruto making observations about how they did and what Sasuke was doing. He hadn't notice Sakura sitting next to him or that she'd been talking to him.

"what did you say, I wasn't listening?" Sai asks. Sakura blinks at him, hearing something in his voice that she'd never heard before. He seemed…different. He used a tone…that wasn't cold or neutral. That had been the difference, she realizes, he spoke with emotion, little emotion, but it was there, and it was strange to hear.

"Er…I was asking if you think Sasuke will find the scroll in time?" Sakura repeats herself. Sai immediately shakes his head. No, they never stood a chance.

"He's almost reached us" Sakura observes, looking at the screens too. Sai looks, and she's that she's right. Sasuke was down the hall from them, and he only had three minutes left.

"Where is the scroll, if I may ask?" Sai questions. Naruto stares at him and Sakura for a moment before shaking his head.

"You'll find out in just a moment" Naruto responds. Kakashi leaned back in his chair and pulled out his book. He was disappointed in his team. Kakashi flips a page as he heard Sasuke disregard secrecy for desperation. It wasn't all his team's fault. It was his. He needed to teach them better. Two minutes left. Kakashi supposed that's what Naruto wanted to work on for this week while they were here. To train them that they were a team. One minute left. Teams didn't abandon team mates when the going got tough. Fifteen seconds. And they certainly didn't use their team mates for a distractions. Kakashi looks up from his book when the door to the office was slammed open to a glaring, red faced, Uchiha. Yeah, he would train his team to actually be a team.

"Where's the damn scroll?!" Sasuke demands angrily. Sai and Sakura wanted to know too.

"Come with me" Naruto orders. Kakashi follows behind his genin squad. He would have wanted to have seen their faces but this was something Naruto wanted to address. After all, this was his lesson he was teaching, at the expense of his village's legacy.

o.o o.o

"When Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju formed an alliance, they did so for two reasons. The first," Naruto declares, "Is because they wanted to end the clan wars. The second, because Hashirama and Madara had become best friends long before the clan wars came close to ending. They build Konoha for the purpose of a bright future. The Uzamaki clan, my clan, was allies with the Senju before the formation and afterwards, we became allies to the Uchiha through their peace. After Konoha was founded, the Uzamaki clan founded it's own small village, this one, the Village of Whirlpool. The Uzamaki's were famous for three things. Their seals, their blood line, and large chakra pools and longevity. When Whirlpool was built, the First Hokage asked for Mito Uzamaki's hand for marriage. He had done so, not for diplomatic reasons, but because he truly loved her, and she, him. So his request was accepted, and she was allowed to move from Uzu to Konoha. This signaled two major things. The first being that Uzu was gifting Konoha with the right to start their own Uzamaki clan. The second is that they were gifting Konoha with a weapon. When this happened, Konoha and Whirlpool created a permanent alliance that neither could break. It was all very political and took over a year to get passed through on both sides, but when it did…" Naruto trailed off and he came to a stop in front of a memorial park. Naruto stopped in front of two statues. They were faceless shinobi, both in standard shinobi gear, hands braced each other's fore arm. One of them wore a swirl on their head band and the other wore the leafs symbol. On top of their clasped forearms was a plain white scroll. It wasn't hidden at all.

"You failed this mission." Naruto states.

"Yeah, we know, we failed to get the scroll." Sasuke growls.

"You failed everything in the mission objective not just getting the scroll. Remember, getting the scroll was only part of it" Naruto comments.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asks. However, it wasn't Naruto that answers, but Kakashi.

"In real life missions like these, you would not have only failed the mission and have been more than probably tortured and killed, but you would have put the village in jeopardy. The mission objective was to retrieve the scroll and not get caught. It would have been unfortunate not to have gotten the scroll, and you would have indeed failed the mission, but it was more important for you not to have been caught. After all, if you cant get in and the enemy didn't know you were there, we could always send a more skilled team in. And a bit more importantly, you failed the mission because you abandoned your team mates, all three of you. Every attack you all did wasn't as a team, but rather three composing individuals after the same target. After one of you was caught, you should have made plans to retrieve your team mate but you didn't." Kakashi informs. It wasn't all of it, but these were the points he felt most strongly about. The three genin pointedly didn't look at their sensei.

"I told you to treat this seriously. Did you not? After all, if you did get the scroll, would you have really left your team mates to die at the hand of your enemy?" Kakashi asks them, "Would you really send your team mate to die as a distractions?" Sakura pales.

"You don't take being shinobi seriously. You don't understand what's at stake. The Village you live in is a Village of shinobi, We go to war, we obey orders, and we're a team through it all. To be honest, unless you suck up your pride and get your priorities straight, I'll be putting in a report suggesting termination of your shinobi careers" Naruto adds.

"WHAT!?" Sakura yells in surprise. Sasuke nodded his agreement and Sai looked just as displeased.

"Your goals don't align with Konoha's interest. For example, Sasuke, you ambition it to kill Itachi. While noble, as he is a missing nin with a decent bounty, is not the objective of interest of Konoha shinobi unless they are hunter nin or bounty hunter, which you are not being trained for. So unless you plan on leaving the village and becoming a missing nin yourself, I suggest you find something different to thrive to. Besides, you're going to have to learn to deal with Itachi as he's coming back to the village. Should be back by the time we get back, in fact" Naruto drops the bomb. Sasuke stares at him wide eyed before looking to Kakashi. Kakashi nods his head in confirmation.

"Itachi Uchiha has been cleared of all charges and is on his way back to Konoha as we speak" Kakashi voices.

"MY BROTHER MURDERED MY ENTIRE CLAN AND THE HOKAGE IS JUST GOING TO TAKE HIM BACK!?" Sasuke yells in rage, before turning and tries to run. Not to run away, but to go confront his brother and kill him where ever he happened to be standing. However, his shirt was was grabbed and he was lifted off the ground.

"Enough!" Sasuke froze at the coldness he heard in his sensei's voice.

"This is the point. If you wish to disobey orders and go rogue, I will not hesitate to strike you down as an enemy of Konoha" Naruto steels his voice. Speaking the words that needed to be spoke.

"My brother is a traitor!" Sasuke growls.

"No, he's a hero. He prevented a war, and took the blame" Naruto snaps. Kakashi let Sasuke down while taking a sigh.

"what are you talking about!" Sasuke yells.

"It'll be public knowledge by the time we get back" Kakashi muses.

"Yeah, but that'll just give him a knew target" Naruto grumbles.

"Yes, but I doubt he's alone on it" Kakashi points out, staring pointedly at Naruto.

"fine, tell him." Naruto throws his hands up.

"Tell me what?" Sasuke asks.

"…" And so Naruto and Kakashi took turns explaining what happened. How Shusui and Itachi chose the village over the coup, and how Itachi was ordered to kill those in the planned coup and that's it. How Danzo and his ROOT went through behind Itachi and killed everyone he left, against the orders of the Hokage. How Itachi took the blame for it without telling the Hokage about Danzo to prevent not only war from his clan but from Danzo as well. After all, his brother's life was at risk. By the time they had finishes all three of the genin looked sick.

"Then, I'll kill Danzo!" Sasuke declares.

"I thought you were supposed to be smart?" Naruto grumbles.

"Danzo is responsible for the death of my clan, and he ruined my brothers life!" Sasuke yells.

"Indeed, he is also an enemy of Konoha" Naruto muses.

"But I thought Lord Danzo was an elder on the council?" Sakura asks. Sai seemed shocked that his superior was considered an enemy.

"He was, but the Hokage was informed of what you three just learned the day before we left. He immediately attempted to arrest Danzo on charges of treason. Unfortunately, he was able to escape. As of now, he is a priority for missing nin. By now, word has reached Itachi from one of our spies that he's been communicating with and he'll be headed back to Konoha." Naruto explains.

"When can is see my brother?" Sasuke asks, almost demandingly.

"When we get back, teme" Naruto mutters.

"What are we waiting for then, let's go!" Sasuke huffs.

"You're forgetting why we're here" Kakashi comments.

"what's that?" Sai asks.

"You're not civilians with dreams of your own. You are shinobi of the leaf, at the command of the Hokage and those to whom at his command. It's time I took your training seriously and treated as your rank and profession. I apologize for seeing you as children and training you accordingly. As this day on, I will be training you seriously." Kakashi promises. Sasuke smirks, pleased to think that now he'll get stronger to achieve his knew goal. Sakura was a little worried, after all, she knew she was the weakest of the three of them. Sai wasn't too worried but he knew that he shouldn't be unwary, after all, Kakashi sensei had a reputation, enough of one for Danzo to have had an active eye on the man.

"What will we be working on first?" Sai asks.

"Before your upcoming near deaths experiences, you'll be resting for the rest of the night. We'll start in the morning." Naruto interrupts. Sakura sagged in relief.

"Where are we supposed to sleep?" Sasuke couldn't help but asks. He needed to train to get stronger, but he also needed time to process everything that had been revealed. He felt numb now. He wondered if he was in some kind of shock.

"Why, Kakashi's house of course" Naruto chirped. Kakashi groans.

"You have a house here?" Sakura asks surprised.

"Kushina chan was very persuasive when she shoved the key and deed into my hand." Kakashi shudders.

"Will it fit all of us?" Sakura asks, doubtfully.

"My mother gave Kakashi a four bedroom house on the outskirts of the village. My mother expected grandkids out of this one" Naruto snickers, very much aware of how young Kakashi had been when she had gifted him the house. Kakashi darkening red cheeks made the three genin not comment.

.o.o

As Kakashi was forced to lead his genin towards his home away from home, Naruto trailed behind them all. He could tell that Sasuke was deeply effected by everything he had just learned and while he wouldn't put it past the genin to do something stupid in the next few days, he believed that the bond he had once shared with his brother could hold Sasuke from being a flight risk. Sakura had one wake up call today, even if she hadn't voiced it. Her pale complexion spoke volumes. Hopefully she'd start taking her training seriously and stop being a fangirl. Sai, Naruto had to admit, was a gamble. He hope that removing the seal Danzo had placed on him would help the genin start to actually find a place on team 7 rather than just being a plant that Danzo sent. It was rather perfect timing, considering what he had planned for the team. Naruto caught Kakashi's gaze and smiled innocently, unaware that he just made the jounin a bit more nervous.