By Smertios
Author's Notes: I'm doing my best to get this chapter done in a few short days. It seems to me that by taking so long in between updates, I'm losing people's interest, so I'll make an effort to turn out one chapter a week (even if that ends up monopolizing my weekends for a while).
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Chapter Five: Here We Go Again!
'How
far can you spit
Is your voice like grit
Might seem out of
tune
But you'll love one day soon'
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"I'm sorry to bring you here so early," Said the Sandaime, looking at Kakashi sternly. "But this is exceedingly important."
Kakashi nodded, and pressed a hand to his mouth to cover his yawn. As far as he was concerned it was five hours early. His normal waking time was noon, so having him here at 7:00 (coincidently, the time he had told his team to meet him) was cruel of the old man. "What do you need?"
The old man sighed, and kept his serious expression. "I'm going to be asking quite a bit of you, but it is absolutely necessary that you follow my instructions to the word."
'This can't be good.' Kakashi knew that whenever the Hokage said that he was asking a lot of someone, it was an understatement. 'He's not going to take them away, is he?'
"I am assigning you an X-Rank mission. It will be a training mission of utmost importance."
X-Rank missions were a unique set of missions. They were never assigned to anyone but Sannin, and even then they were rare. If the Hokage were assigning him one, it was likely that he would be killed before it was completed.
"Your team will also be involved in this mission, but they are to be kept unaware of it until its completion. Your assignment is this: You will train Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, and Uchiha Sasuke to be able to replace the Sannin within ten years. This will require the utmost dedication of both you and them. You will have to double, or even triple, normal training time without interrupting their missions in any way."
Kakashi's mouth fell open. This was beyond the absurd. To ask him, Konoha's number one laziest ninja, to train the new Sannin and to spend even more time to do the impossible by teaching them the skills of the greatest shinobi was crazy. "Hokage-sama, with all due respect, you are asking the impossible of me."
"Yes." The old man shrugged, showing no pity to Kakashi. "I am asking you to sacrifice personal time, to give up on your habit of being late, and to commit yourself entirely to the training of a new team. The completion of this mission is of the utmost importance. What do you know about the Sannin?"
Kakashi thought for a moment. "They are wandering Shinobi who take on the most dangerous tasks that their village has to offer. Normally they are committed to the protection of the village, so few of their missions are traditional missions. They are generally assumed to be the next in line for the position of Kage. Beyond that, I don't know much."
"Indeed… We don't tell shinobi all that there is to know about the Sannin. The Sannin are a very secret group. They are nominally the diplomatic and personal envoys of the Hokage. They are also figureheads." Sarutobi gestured at the Hokage Monument. "Essentially, they are more important than any of the faces we carve into our mountains. They are there to be a physical representation of the strength of a Hidden Village's shinobi. If they are weak, the village is seen as being weak. If they are disloyal, the village is seen as being fragmented."
"And we have no Sannin at all."
"Exactly. Jiraiya has retreated into his perversion, and while he stops by the village once every five years with an intelligence report, he has no real interest in Konoha beyond a weak feeling of duty. Tsunade has become dominated by her vices, in her quest to flee from her past. Even if we knew where she was, she would send us away. Orochimaru… Well, the least said of him, the better. He has chosen to stand as Konoha's foe, rather than our friend."
Kakashi felt a sense of inevitability settle on his shoulders. "And so you need a new team as soon as possible."
Sarutobi nodded. "Exactly. It is essential that we show the world that we have the strength to defend ourselves. Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke are our best bet for building a team with the intention of making the Sannin. Our last attempt at making such a team failed when your team collapsed following Obito's death. You are the only Jounin in the village with the power to train these children to the point that they can become our Sannin."
'Sensei… Obito… Rin… We were supposed to be something more, but our ambitions destroyed us all… I won't let that happen again.'
"I'll do it."
The Sandaime smiled broadly, and a weight seemed to fall from his shoulders. "Good. Then you start tomorrow. You will meet your team at 05:00 and you will train until 12:00, when you will take a mission from me. After your mission, you will return to training until 20:00, at which point you will disperse until the next day. Your team will receive Saturday and Sunday off of missions, but they will have training from 1200 to 1800 on those days. You will continue with that schedule for 5 years, not counting times while you are on assignment, and then your students will be apprenticed to the strongest ninja in the village during their training time, and you will be sent on missions together as a jounin-team."
Kakashi's jaw dislocated, and he yelped in pain for a moment. The Hokage was asking for him to not only give up more time, he was asking him to be on time. The old man just laughed. "Sorry Kakashi, but we all have to make sacrifices."
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"Where is he?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto's incessant grumbling was getting on his nerves. "He's late, obviously. What did you expect from him?"
Naruto flushed and looked away. "This really sucks."
"No shit."
Hinata pushed her fingers together nervously. "Ano… M-maybe we could use this time productively?"
Sasuke felt a rush of gratitude to the little Hyuuga. "Hn. That would seem to be the solution to this dilemma."
"That's a good idea, Hinata!" Naruto was grinning, clearly glad that Hinata had diffused the fight "But what can we do?"
Sasuke grinned cruelly. "Do you remember Iruka-sensei's morning exercises?"
The look on Naruto's face made it very difficult for Sasuke to bite back a cackling laugh. Iruka's morning exercises had been hell on earth for Academy Students. Iruka was in charge of textbook learning and technical education, so students were assigned a second teacher for calisthenics. However, Iruka had occasionally taught the workouts, when a teacher was sick or on a mission. He was a harsher taskmaster than any other teacher they had ever had. Students who were in worse shape had dropped out after one of his workouts. Judging from his response, Naruto remembered those from his time in the academy. "W-we are Genin now. We should be able to d-do the exercises."
Sasuke silently thanked Hinata. "Good, it's settled."
"But, But, B-"
"Dimwit, we aren't in our first year of the Academy any more. It won't seem as hard now."
Technically, that wasn't true, since Iruka had ramped up his workouts to fit his students' ages, but Naruto didn't know that. "Now… Windsprints."
The workout routine began with a series of Windsprints that lasted for almost 20 minutes. After the Genin had gotten their pulses up, they switched over to pushups. These exercises, compounded by the requirement that chakra be used to stick the students hand to the ground while they worked, were absolutely exhausting. After that it was time for sit-ups while expelling chakra from the palms at a constant rate. The last part of the workout was thirty more minutes of running, followed by a quick walk to cool down.
As they returned to their meeting place at the bridge, all three Genin were exhausted. Almost as one, they collapsed against the walls of the bridge and panted. "My, my. You lot look fairly tired."
Kakashi's eyes were curved in a smile, and he leaned against a nearby tree. "You should really try to be on time, in the future."
Sasuke glared at the man, and managed to gasp out, "Workout…"
Naruto, however, had an opinion of his own. "Hypocrite."
Kakashi's smile grew even broader. "It is good for a ninja to be motivated to use his time well. You do not need to worry about my being late again. We will meet at 05:00 on weekdays and 12:00 on weekends. I will be on time. However, since you have such motivation, you can show up and hour early and go through your routine before you show up."
"Bastard…"
Sasuke fought down the urge to throttle his teacher. Once his breathing was under control (his temper most certainly was not), he began to question their teacher, "Why are we meeting so early?"
"Remediation." Kakashi shrugged at his students' expressions of horror. "You all graduated early, so we'll be working hard to make up for things. Besides which, I expect only the best from my students. You will be expected to surpass all other teams quickly. I will not waste my time with anything less than the best."
Sasuke nodded, and Naruto and Hinata gave eachother looks of resignation. Kakashi gave them all a look of sheer malicious glee, and continued, "We will spend our mornings sparring and getting hands-on combat experience, to hone our existing techniques. In the early afternoon we will eat and carry out one D-Rank mission. After we have completed our mission, we will return here and work on developing new skills and teamwork. We will be dismissed at 20:00 to sleep and eat."
He clapped his hands, and began to walk across the bridge into the small training ground they had met at. "Any questions?"
Team 3 struggled to their feet and said nothing, clearly shocked by the intensity of their training. Kakashi took that as a negative answer. "Good. Then we will begin immediately. Sasuke, Naruto, please move to the center of the training ground and begin sparring. Taijutsu only, for now."
The two boys quickly acquiesced, and stood three feet from one another in the middle of the large clearing they were training in. Kakashi raised a hand, "Ready?" The hand dropped. "Go!"
Both boys exploded into motion. Sasuke lunged forward, kicking out at Naruto, who sidestepped the kick and chopped a hand down into Sasuke's leg. Sasuke yelped and dealt Naruto a punch across the face. "Ouch! You bastard!"
"Save your breath!"
Naruto stepped behind Sasuke and pulled him over his hip, sending the black-haired boy into the ground. Sasuke hit the ground with an explosion of breath. However, before Naruto could act on his weakness, Sasuke shot two feet into Naruto's stomach. 'Interesting. The moron clearly learned a different variant of Taijutsu than the tekken that we are taught at the Academy.'
Sasuke pulled himself to his feet and Naruto did the same. "Not the same as yesterday at all, eh dumbass?"
Naruto grinned. "It's easier to keep people guessing, bastard."
Sasuke felt something like primal joy rush through his body. Naruto was unquestionably an obnoxious brat, but fighting him was fun. Sasuke rushed towards Naruto, and punched him in the stomach. Naruto took the punch and slid backwards into a tree. With a grunt, he catapulted himself off of the tree towards Sasuke. As he drew nearer, he crouched low, and tackled Sasuke to the ground. They rolled for a time, each fighting for the chance to pin the other and finish the match, but neither was able to gain control. After a minute, they broke apart, and both returned to a corner of the clearing. "I'll get you next time!"
Naruto's animalistic grin showed that he was having as much fun as Sasuke was. "Dream on, moron!"
The two circled now, more cautious, until Naruto charged, an overhand punch heading for Sasuke's chest. Sasuke sidestepped, but Naruto stuck a foot out to trip him. Both went down again, and rolled clear. 'We are evenly matched. I can't beat him this way!'
Both boys began making seals at once. However, before they could progress, Kakashi jumped in the middle of the clearing. "I said Taijutsu only. Step back and cool off, you two."
Both boys bowed, and retreated to the edge of the clearing, where they sat, panting for breath. Kakashi gave them a look of disappointment, and then turned his focus to Hinata. "Hinata, you and I will spar while they rest."
The small girl nodded, and rose to join Kakashi in the middle of the clearing. After they bowed, they began. Kakashi, clearly holding back, sent a roundhouse kick towards Hinata, who shot a hand into his knee, locking his leg in place. He danced back, pain on his face. She pressed her advantage, and pushed two fingers into his shoulder, disabling his shoulder.
Naruto watched raptly, observing the movements of the two combatants carefully. "How is she doing that?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes his teammate, and fought back a feeling of sympathy for Kakashi, who was clutching his arm, which was currently disabled by Hinata's taijutsu. "She's using the Jyuuken. It's the Hyuuga's special taijutsu style. They target the vital points on the chakra network and cause injury by cutting off chakra flow."
"Wow." Naruto seemed mesmerized by the fight. "She's really good."
Sasuke just shrugged, as Hinata was sent skidding along the forest floor by one of Kakashi's kicks. Both fighters circled for a moment, before moving towards one another cautiously. "She'd have to be. The Hyuuga teach their children nothing else in terms of ninja techniques. They focus so strongly on the Byakugan and Jyuuken that even very young Hyuuga are masters of Taijutsu."
"Byakugan?"
"The Hyuuga bloodline. It lets them see 360 degrees, allows them to see through walls, and gives them the ability to see chakra pathways. It's the reason that the Hyuugas are so pre-occupied with Taijutsu."
Naruto turned his attention away from the fight (Kakashi was currently dancing around Hinata, desperately trying not to be hit, while throwing punches and kicks) for the first time and gave Sasuke a puzzled look. "Why would they do that? With that kind of bloodline, they could be amazing at medical ninjutsu."
Sasuke sighed deeply, and struggled to find the words to explain. "Clans are… Traditional. They rarely deviate from one path. The Hyuugas are particularly close-minded to new and different ideas. Hinata, as the heir to the clan, is especially strongly bound to those traditions."
"That's stupid!"
"So are lots of things, dumbass. Clans have always been the way they are, and they always will be. It isn't worth losing sleep over."
Naruto glared at Sasuke. "Well I will! I'll change them, when I become Hokage."
"Right."
Kakashi and Hinata stopped their fight and walked over to the bickering Genin, Kakashi giving Hinata advice. "So synch up your defenses and make more of an effort to replace your blocks with strikes to vital spots. If you can do that, you'll be much more effective."
Hinata nodded. "I-I think that is what my father has been trying to e-explain to me."
Kakashi nodded. "You should also work on your footwork. If you can fade away from attacks, rather than depending on blocks, you can disable larger muscle groups."
Hinata bowed and sat down. Naruto and Sasuke looked up, identical expressions of interest gracing their faces. Sasuke decided that it was best to let Naruto go first, since the prankster was likely to explode if he didn't get information soon. "What about me, sensei?"
Kakashi looked at the hyperactive blonde with amusement. "You have a very interesting style of Taijutsu. If I recognize it properly, it's one of the more active versions of Tai Chi. It makes a very interesting tool against Shinobi who are used to Tekken."
"Yup!"
Kakashi nodded and fell into a stance that looked like the one Naruto had been using. "It would be better if you worked in a few more hard-style attacks, to shake things up. You have a lot of physical strength at your disposal, for someone your size. Try to use more time in the air to your advantage. Also, take advantage of your throws. Don't waste time on pins or submission techniques; go in for the finish. Shinobi do not surrender after ten seconds of being pinned."
Naruto nodded thoughtfully and Kakashi turned to Sasuke. "You are fast, Sasuke, but if you wish for it to be an advantage, you must use more efficient techniques. You spend too much power in every attack. Shorten your movements, and use your attacks sparingly. Sidestep more and try to target specific places with a series of attacks before fading back away. Also, since you are so fast, it is best for you to try and focus on training your speed."
"Hn."
"Since you did not know your schedule would be so demanding, I will let you go today, so that you can make preparations as necessary."
The team broke up, and Sasuke began heading for home, envisioning a number of sticks of Dango and some practice with fire techniques. However, before he could depart, Naruto and Hinata caught up to him. "Ne, Sasuke-Bastard, who is it that you want to kill."
Sasuke felt as though someone had stabbed him. "None of your business, dimwit."
"Sure it is! I'm your teammate!"
"What difference does that make?"
Naruto gave him a look of confusion. "What do you mean, 'what difference does it make?' We're your teammates! We're here to help you."
Sasuke gave Naruto a look of derision. "My life is my business. I am an avenger. I'm bound to carry out my task on my own."
"W-Why?"
Hinata's presence had been forgotten up to this moment, and both boys turned to her in surprise. Sasuke snarled and turned down a street, hoping to lose them. "Avengers take the dark path. I must grow strong enough, gain enough hate to destroy the one who destroyed everything I had."
"S-Serenity is power, Sasuke. In teamwork, our power grows greater than it is separately. Hate is meaningless in the face of a united f-front. Sun Tzu says that a divided force is useless."
Hinata's addition struck right at the core of the issue. "Stay out of this!"
Naruto stepped in between them and glared. "Don't shout at us! We're only trying to help."
"I don't want your help."
"Well too bad! You're going to get it."
Sasuke said nothing and merely left, confusion buzzing around in his head. Who were these people, that they would offer help to someone they had only known for two days? Surely they understand that some burdens could only be borne alone.
The two fell into step with him, saying nothing, but making it clear that they would not depart. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
Both shook their heads. "Hn. Whatever."
He chose to ignore them, and focus on his own issues. Why anyone would ever want to assume his burden wasn't his problem. They'd be dead soon enough anyway. They would get in his way on the way to power and he would be forced to kill them. It was a pity too, since they were such nice people.
Flashback:
"Sasuke, do you know why we are powerful?"
A younger Sasuke stood, looking out over Konohagakure with his father. "Our bloodline is the best!"
His father smiled a gentle smile, perhaps one of the only that he had ever smiled at Sasuke. "No. Although our bloodline is powerful, power itself is meaningless if ill-used. We are powerful because we are a family. We support eachother and work together. Together we are more powerful than our component parts."
The little boy looked at his father with adoration in his eyes. "So we're like Itachi-Nichan's team?"
The old man's face broke out in a grin. "Better. We are family."
"Itachi says your team is like your family."
"Perhaps a good one is, son."
End Flashback:
They reached the gates of the Uchiha compound in silence, eyes cast forward in feigned ignorance of the others' presence. Hinata's face was taught with worry, Naruto's contorted in barely controlled fury, and Sasuke's smooth in contemplation.
He walked through the gate and turned around, to look at his teammates. "Itachi."
"What?
Hinata placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, warning him into silence. "N-Naruto-kun, Uchiha Itachi is Sasuke's brother."
Sasuke nodded darkly. "He slaughtered my family. All of them. If you really want to help me, you had better not get in my way, because I don't like barriers. But we are a team…"
"W-we are. Teams fight together."
Naruto gave a small smile. "Him, eh? I'll be glad to help take him down. We have some old accounts to settle, him and I."
"Huh?"
"Your brother tried to kidnap me," Declared Naruto, eyes blazing in anger. "I owe him some payback."
"Hn."
They stood for a moment, unified in purpose, before Sasuke turned to head inside. "Good afternoon. I'll see you tomorrow."
The other two stood outside for a moment, looking at the door their teammate had just walked through. "Well that was rude! He didn't even invite us in or anything!"
"N-Naruto-kun let it be."
"Later, Hinata!"
"Goodbye."
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(That Night)
Hyuuga Hinabi stared in shock at her unmoving arm, as her sister stood, gasping. "Good match, Hinabi-chan."
Their father, Hiashi, raised his eyebrows. Hinata had not beaten Hinabi in sparring in years. Tonight Hinata's form had been excellent, and she had followed his instructions from the previous months perfectly. "Congratulations Hinata. If you continue to show this progress, you might yet earn your position as clan heir."
The pale girl flushed and turned her eyes downwards. "Yes… Father."
"Your technique was excellent. You struck, rather than blocking, just as I have been advising. Your footwork still needs to improve, but you have mastered an important part of the Jyuuken. Good work."
The girl looked up, a bit more confident than she had been. 'Feh… Too emotional. She should not depend so strongly on my praise.'
"T-Thank you father."
"I will let you go to bed, so that you may awake early for your new training hours tomorrow."
She went off, taking Hinabi with her, and Hiashi was left with his thoughts. His daughter never ceased to frustrate him, but it was clear that his technique of teaching had not been what made her progress. Had her weakness been his fault?
The shadows danced on the dojo walls, reminding him of the real world, and he walked out into the halls of his home, quiet in their solemn reflection. That was how the Hyuuga compound had been since the deaths of Hizashi and… Her.
His wife's death had left a hole in him that had yet to be filled. He feared that he had taken it out on Hinata too much, and that it was his gruff nature that had made her so timid. 'No more…'
He would hinder her no longer. He would build her confidence patiently and gently, and he would make up for years of neglect. 'May as well start now.'
He passed his daughter's door and knocked. "Come in."
He opened the door, and she looked at him in surprise. He never visited her without something to scold her about. "H-hello father."
'That damned stutter… All my fault.'
"Hinata, I wanted you to know that I am very proud of your progress, and that I will attempt to do better by you in your training in the future. I am moving your training to Sunday afternoons, so that you may have more time with your team, since the important part of your growth will happen with them. We will begin working on more advanced techniques on our training days. You… You have made me proud."
They were such difficult words to utter, given that he had not said them in so many years. "T-thank you, Father. I will work to continue to make you proud."
He smiled, and left. The flash of fear in her eyes as she spoke was enough to wrench his insides. Had he become so terrible? Had he truly lost his heart in the raising of his daughter? What had he become?
He entered his own bedroom and sat down at his desk. He would fight to make things better. Little did she know that she had already made him more proud than she could imagine. Not only was she making progress again, today he had received a communiqué from the Hokage which informed him that she was in training to receive the position of Sannin. Her team was slated to become one of the greatest in history. What more could any father ask?
A piece of paper fluttered on his desk and he looked down. The words struck him to the soul. 'I will sacrifice my own honor before I allow this contract to continue forward, if I feel that it will harm you. I will watch more carefully.'
The words on the paper struck him to the soul. "We, the Hyuuga clan, do pledge the hand of our heir to the Frog Sannin's heir, in thanks for his protection in our time in need."
'Such foolishness. What have we become?'
Across Konoha, three young Genin were asking a similar question. Looking out across the village, all three were asking themselves, "What will we become?"
Little did they know that they would shape the future of Konoha for years to become, and that they would become such things as only legends are made of.
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Author's Notes: 3 hours of writing and an hour of editing done, I've finished this. Not bad for one Sunday night, eh? I think that if I'm dedicated I can keep this pace going. I know these chapters aren't very long, but they are what my outline called for. I haven't got the patience to write any more at one time without publishing it and seeing some kind of result. Hopefully as I get more in practice by writing this, I will be able to write longer chapters.
Seeking a Center should run about 25 chapters, through to the same general time as the time-skip. If I feel up to it when I complete this, I will write two sequels to it.
Reviews are appreciated.