Book 1

Awakening

Chapter 8 - "D Rank"

A/N: Well hello again, readers. First, I guess I'm glad that the majority of you seemed to really like what I did with the little 'initiation'. However, I'm sad that not that many of you even seemed to care that I brought good ol' Ishika back—I thought you'd all be excited! Whatever though, *shrug*, I guess you win some and lose some. Another thing I noticed was that the 'dream' seemed to go right over all of your heads. That's unfortunate, but hopefully it'll all become clear in the future for those of you who didn't understand it, and, later, you can go back and have that "Ohhhhh!" moment.

Now, for all of you new readers and various passersby, I'd highly appreciate it if you left your opinion (review); I'm curious to see what other demographics have to say (assuming a range of you even read this story). Follow firetemplar415's fine example, and tell me what you think! Well, that aside, there isn't too much to say this time around. So, please enjoy Chapter 8.

Note: I must apologize for two things. Firstly, I'm sorry that this is so late; what has it been, ten days? And, secondly, I have to apologize that this chapter isn't really anything that would justify the long wait; it's just a regular old chapter, no, actually, it's not even quite that! For one, it's a lot shorter (not even one line break! oh no!), and for two, it's the conclusion chapter of the first arc. Good news comes with bad, I suppose. Chapter 9-17 marks the second arc, and 17-22/23 marks the third—just so you all know. Now, enough stalling, let's begin the chapter.

He breathed in the fresh air; it was another fine day in Konoha. Hatake Kakashi squinted against the the sun's rays, wishing that he'd picked a shadier place to have his team meet. As he turned his gaze to look out over the field of their designated Training Ground, he couldn't help but admire the odd rhythm to his students' motions; after so many years of observing others—despite it being in a drastically different context—he'd come to have a subtle appreciation for the finer patterns of things, whether it be of human, animal, insect or plant.

Though it may seem that he wasn't paying careful, or consistent attention to what exactly his students were doing, he, in fact, was. While making his way to the bordering trees, seeking shade, he kept a watchful eye on his students, scrutinizing their form as they ran through the drills that he had come to establish in the past week.

First, they would go through rudimentary physical conditioning exercises, then, following that, they'd engage in light sparring which he would, typically, supervise. Today, though, he was content to observe them from afar; he'd made it clear to them the day before that they should be familiar enough with the routine to critique each other's work from time to time. Although he was confident that they could handle the routine, coupled with missions, he did find himself questioning their dynamic. 'Was my squad ever like that?' he wondered.

He eventually reached a suitable tree, and let himself steadily recline against it. He let out a sigh of relief, feeling his body temperature significantly drop with the introduction of the shade. With his top priority—cooling himself down—successfully checked off of his psuedo-to-do list, he returned his sights to his hard-working squad. What he saw was not unusual: Naruto was insistent in his voicing of his desire to spar with the aloof Sasuke, and as usual, Sasuke was attempting to physically distance himself from the orange-clad, harbinger of clamor, wanting to spare himself the 'time,' and 'effort.' Didn't he realize that by avoiding Naruto, he was missing the entire point of these exercises? 'Probably.' Kakashi mentally sighed.

In observing Sasuke, snootily sauntering away from his fellow squad-mates, Kakashi couldn't help but be drawn back to some of the vague, fragmented memories of his own beginnings.

"I am here for a reason..." he faintly heard Sasuke's voice begin.

"I am here for a reason. My goal, and purpose, is to grow into an upstanding Shinobi that may follow in my Father's footsteps and become a valuable asset to Konohagakure. I do not have time for games," a young Kakashi recited firmly, lazily, but steadily, eyeing the indignant boy who stood before him.

"What?!" Uchiha Obito shouted. "All I asked for was your name!" he followed up, jabbing an accusing finger in Kakashi's direction.

"It was the way you asked. This improptu assembly is to make us aware of the teammates that we've been assigned, and nothing more," Kakashi responded.

"I'm on your team! What's wrong with me knowing your name, huh?!"

"I don't know that," he said, before pausing. "For all I know, you could be a spy." He turned to face Obito fully, levelly regarding him with both eyes. "I'm content to wait here a legitimate instructor can validate your claim."

Obito let out a low growl as he tried to contain his frustration. The sight of Kakashi's plain stare only served to further aggravate him, though, to a point of him furiously grasping at his hair, trying to rip it out.

For a moment, Kakashi raised an intrigued eyebrow. 'I do hope he's a spy. Being on a squad with him would be difficult.' A faint call of 'Hey!' drew Kakashi's attention over his shoulder. The sight that greeted him was that of girl, who was seemingly a few years older than him.

Kakashi had entered and graduated the Ninja Academy at a surprisingly young age. At the age where most prospective ninja would consider joining, Kakashi had graduated. In doing this, he'd graduated with a class that was several years ahead of him—perhaps as many as 5—and so, he expected to be younger than his assigned squad. At the moment, he was on the brink of turning six. This girl, who was still currently approaching at a mild jog, appeared to be about 9.

She had smooth, chin-length mahogany-brown hair that framed her face, as well as two distinctive purple, rectangular markings that came up across her cheeks—Kakashi could only assume that these were traditional for her family. Looking into her eyes, he was greeted with a pleasantly happy glow, that her dark irises seemed to exude. Kakashi couldn't help but smile, albeit barely.

As she neared, the girl came to a slow walk. She stopped, finding herself drawn to the—admittedly short—kind and official face that observed her. "Hi!" she greeted, extending a hand to the boy in front of her. "I am Nohara Rin."

Without much thought, Kakashi quickly accepted the hand and proceeded to shake it firmly. "Hello," he paused for a moment, "Hatake Kakashi," he finished.

Obito had since calmed himself, but now he found that he had an entirely new reason to be upset. "Hey!" he exclaimed, drawing curious looks from both Kakashi and Rin to himself. "You gave her your name!"

"It's because of how she asked," Kakashi simply replied.

"Psh, yeah right! She didn't even ask!" he retorted.

"Exactly."

As interruption to Obito's recurring fit of rage, Rin interjected, peering around Kakashi for a better look at the young Uchiha, "Hey... Is that you, Obito?"

Obito's mood instantly changed direction. He blushed lightly, not able to make eye contact with his (obvious) crush. "Y-Yeah. Hey, Rin."

She smiled, before turning to look back to Kakashi. "So, is this our team?"

As Kakashi was about to respond, a voice emanated from behind them, causing them all to jump. "I can confirm that," a flak-jacket wearing blond man answered, jumping down from the tree he'd been waiting in.

He looked the three of them over. "So, we're all here, then?"

'This should be interesting...'

Withdrawing from the memory, Kakashi found his eyes still following Sasuke. 'Hmm,' he considered, as he watched the Uchiha, 'I guess we are alike... in more ways than I'd like to accept.'

Sasuke was now seated, defiantly, beneath the shady cover of a tree that was situated to the side of the training field, with his eyes closed and arms folded about his chest.

Kakashi squinted slightly, trying to focus his view. 'I've had years to learn from my mistakes, and, luckily, I'm different in the ways that I am. Perhaps I'll have to suppress my tendancy to make bad decisions, in order to help him.'

With a sigh, he let his gaze drift to the still-active Naruto and Hinata. He found Hinata to be tending to a wound that Naruto had apparently sustained during his vigorous self-instated routine. He admired the gentle interaction. 'I don't know what I'm trying to do, though. Comparing my old life to this new one that I'm trying to create; things cannot be the same, if they were, there would be no meaning to trying to escape... Maybe that's what I want.'

"Kakashi-kun, you really shouldn't train so intensely!" his mother gently admonished. She was currently meticulously tending to his numerous wounds, rubbing a medicinal salve over each of them before gently covering them with a patch of gauze.

As she finished with the last scrape, she placed her hands against his slight shoulders, bringing him to look her in the eyes. "Promise me you'll take it easy, alright?" she nearly pleaded.

Kakashi held her gaze for a moment, before doing his meager best to look over her shoulder. "Tō-sama," he called, drawing a peacable drawl of "Hmm...?" from his otherwise occupied father. "Please, Tō-sama, ask Mother to be reasonable."

Hatake Sakumo lifted his eyes, just barely, from his book to look between his two precious family members. Catching Kakashi's eye, he let his own eyes scan over the four year-old's slight frame, littered with bandages. He chuckled, before turning to his wife, "Yumi, please, let the boy train; he's just motivated, he won't hurt himself too bad," he paused to turn to Kakashi, "Will you, Kakashi?"

"No, Tō-sama," Kakashi simply responded.

She let out a subdued groan of frustration, "Sakumo! I can't win when you guys team up on me like tha-," she paused, as a shocked expression came over her face. Desperately gasping for breath, she doubled over.

"Yumi!" Sakumo exclaimed, jumping to his feet, he rushed to his wife's side. Placing his hand on her back, he skillfully patted and massaged it, trying to coerce breath from her body. "Breathe, Yumi, breathe!"

Kakashi stepped back. He would have been stunned, but this had been happening for as long as he could remember. He wanted his mother to be alright; Kakashi was not cold-hearted, and he held a deep love for his family, even to the point of idolizing his father. But... he was four, what could he do? He did not know. What he would not do, though, was cry. He looked on, stiffly waiting for it to be over. Unknowingly, he retreated further into the inadequate cover of his mask.

Yumi eventually sucked in a shaky stream of oxygen. The oxygen was a shock to her system, though, and she instantly began to cough in spasms.

Sakumo brought his free hand to rest against the side of her neck, attempting to soothe her strained larynx and esophagus. "It's okay, love," he whispered to her, "it'll be alright, just hold on... please..." It was evident to Kakashi that his father was trying to coax himself through the pain of watching his mother, more than he was trying to reassure her. She knew that it would not be alright. Truth be told, anyone who looked upon her heavy eyes, pale skin and rapidly weakening form could tell: it would not be alright.

Kakashi looked up to see his father returning with a glass of water, which he shakily extended to his wife, praying that she would take it. Yumi reached out for the glass, but upon gripping it, another seizure of coughing overtook her. Kakashi watched as the glass fell to the ground and shattered; Kakashi knew—despite his being unaware of it at the time—that this was likened to what was happening to his father's heart at the moment, as he watched his once resplendent wife deteriorating before his eyes.

"Kakashi," he heard; his father's voice brought him from his daze, "go... go get your mother a t-towel," his father weakly requested.

He nodded, before turning to depart.

In truth, Sakumo didn't want his son to witness the bloody mess of tissue and skin that his mother held in her hands. A bloody mess that she only continued to add to as Kakashi walked away, trying to block out the sound.

'Later on, I joined the Anbu so that I could perfect that mask that I'd unknowingly developed over the years...' Kakashi felt a surge of old emotion attacking his heart once again. 'There's a reason I buried everything, but was it really for the best?' He looked up, upon hearing a distant chorus of laughter, to see Naruto joyously laughing at a downed, brooding Sasuke. Kakashi gave a weak smile, "At least he seems happy."

Kakashi felt a dim glow of chakra emanating from just beyond his side-peripheral. He didn't react, though, as he knew who it was.

"Indeed he does, Kakashi," Sarutobi Hiruzen observed, as he placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi greeted.

"So, it would seem that you passed them, they're official Genin of Konoha now!" he said, happily.

Kakashi nodded; his eyes were still fixed on his team, in a sort of longing stare.

"Kakashi..." Hiruzen began, "what seems to be troubling you? I would think that you would be excited to have a more active role in the field, and with a team at that. It's a new experience; you have always taken well to your work."

"I suppose I do," Kakashi admitted, before adding, "I was just deep in thought, is all, Hokage-sama. I am not neglecting my responsibilities, I assure you."

The elderly Hokage coughed out an amused chuckle. "No one has accused you of neglect, Kakashi. I am simply concerned for your well-being; are you sure that you're alright?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No, I'm not. It's..."

"Are you unsure of your team selection, Kakashi?"

Kakashi immediately responded, "No!" Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, surprised—though not upset—by Kakashi's tone. "I mean... no, Hokage-sama. I'm certain that this team is perfectly balanced, and, that it is essential that they stay together," he clarified.

"Then what is it that bothers you?" he further inquired. "You are usually relatively calm and self-assured."

"Uncertainty..."

Hiruzen brought a hand forward to stroke his beard, as he lowered his head in contemplation. He steadily stroked, running his fingers against the coarse, brittle hair. "Kakashi..."

Kakashi lightly stiffened under the man's touch, he'd been all but unaware of it, before now. With a sharp exhale, he turned to regard him with his visible eye, with the shade of the tree hiding the growing weariness carving itself about Kakashi's complexion. "I'm uncertain about myself..." he admitted.

Hiruzen opened one eye, relieving himself of stressful thought. He held Kakashi's unsteady gaze.

Team Minato stood around their recently promoted co-commander, Kakashi, observing in varying degrees of awe as the air around Kakashi popped and snapped as a result of the bright lightning crackling to life in Kakashi's braced, open palm. The energy sizzled, drawing out Kakashi's focus along with his chakra—it was clear that it took a great amount of control to even sustain the technique.

Minato stood slightly to the side, observing Kakashi's newest technique. He'd already reasoned that this was no time to be demonstrating proto-techniques, but this was Kakashi's special day, and, he was here: he had to relent. At the moment, they were in densely guarded forests, trying to take out the Iwagakure spies that they all could sense, but not see, openly. They needed to proceed past this virtual barricade before they could proceed to their real mission. Kakashi's objective was to take down the spies, if anything, he figured, this would draw them out. With that thought in mind, he kept a hand clenched on his nearest on-hand kunai, ready to strike should Kakashi's attempt fail.

"Woah," Obito commented, wide-eyed, "what's that technique called!"

Kakashi spared him no answer, and payed him no mind. His question was answered, however, when Kakashi decided to begin his charge.

"It's a technique I created for Raiton-users, by studying you,"—he turned to Minato—"sensei."

Kakashi turned back to the gaping maw of the dense tree cover, his hand was poised to strike as he finished charging the technique. He swung his arm to the side, gripping it as it flew, before promptly burying it in the ground in conjunction with starting a mild run. "Chidori" he shouted, before rapidly increasing his speed with the drop of the last letter.

He tore through the forest, shredding ground and trees alike as he sped through like a torrential hurricane. He stepped, swerved and ducked under branches and around stones, before beginning his ascent into the trees, hoping for better vision and more accurate sensory from a higher position. He was in luck. Detecting presence of chakra to his immediate right, he veered off course, nearly falling, before plunging his hand straight through the unseen enemy and the tree. When he extracted his still lightning-covered hand from the tree, the 'enemy' he had 'killed' fell into a sizzling stew of mud. Kakashi shifted his vision between the charred tree and the Doton: Kage Bunshin, before swiveling his head around to scan the area. "That doesn't make sense..." he whispered to himself.

Out of the pile of mud, two hands formed and latched on to his ankles, making him snap his head back. 'Shit,' he thought, 'it still had chakra in it! How could I have...'

Seemingly out of thin air, an obvious Iwagakure ninja seemed to manifest, having dropped his basic supplementary jutsu. "Hah, nice try, kid. I was on the branch right above us..." Kakashi's eyes widened, he could feel the Chidori rapidly dissipating—that technique had used over one-third of his chakra. 'How could I have been so ignorant...'

The enemy ninja continued, "Lucky I didn't get hit with that technique, too. Even if I'd survived, it would have diffused any Earth-natured chakra that I molded; I would be a sitting du—," he said, before being cut off by a silencing slash to his jugular vein.

"You were anyway," Minato spoke, almost inaudibly, from behind the man. He watched as the man crumpled to the ground, motionless, before turning back to Kakashi, "Kakashi... That was a dangerous move that I advise you not to use again unless you have a perfect shot with it. Your body can't react to the rapid changes in direction and angle that, that technique requires to remain stable in motion; therefore, it makes you far too easy to hit and/or predict..."

Kakashi regarded his sensei with stunned eyes. He was caught between feeling respectful, indebted, honored... happy or, feeling vulnerable, angry, weak and foolish.

Minato watched him with an accepting gaze; he knew how Kakashi was feeling right now. As much as he wanted to give the boy space, though, he had to make his point clear. It was his responsibility as a sensei.

Too conflicted to speak, Kakashi merely nodded, before annoyedly kicking, to break the grip of the lifeless mud-hands still clasped around his ankles. With one last glance at Minato, he deftly leapt off of the high branch, wanting to simply continue the mission, and move on.

Minato gave a sad frown; if there was on part of being someone's mentor that he didn't like, it was surely this part.

Kakashi's eyes regained their focus as his mind returned to the present. Noticing that Hiruzen was still steadily observing him, he continued his previous line of thought, "I'm uncertain about myself, but, it doesn't matter. I have to try," he looked to his students, and saw that Sasuke had finally slunk his way back into the light of the day, "they deserve it."

Hiruzen smiled at Kakashi. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Kakashi. I admit that I don't know everything, but Minato spoke to me a lot; whatever happened in the past, Kakashi... whatever it may be, know that the blame does not solely fall on your shoulders."

Kakashi eyed him curiously. "What do you mean by that, H-Hokage-sama."

The Hokage contorted his face into a wizened smile. "What I mean, Kakashi, is that people make mistakes. You have had a hard life, a harder life than most men should have to live, but, if you ever want to truly move forward and make your life one worth living, you have to do the same thing that nature does."

He shuffled his free hand out of the confines of his robe, reaching it out to catch a falling leaf. The leaf had signs of decay: it had a noticeable hole in it, forming an oddly crusted 'C,' as well as several signs of yellowing. "Nature sheds its skin and begins again, Kakashi." His smile widened as he held the leaf up for Kakashi to view, "This tree has probably been here for years, but the ground it lives on has existed for thousands. The land has been through so much struggle, Kakashi, yet it keeps moving forward and grows beyond all of that."

He let out a soft chuckle as he let the leaf fall from his loose grasp; he watched as it continued its cascade down to the inviting bed of green grass. "You do not have to forget; the land always remembers, and it grows from those memories... But, let them make you better. Find your own process Kakashi. Grow."

Hiruzen turned to watch the Genin again. What he saw made him smile even more sincerely: they were working together again, training each other as a unit. What really caught Hiruzen's wise eye, though, was Naruto's vibrant grin: he was happy, regardless of the earlier situation. "It's what he does, you know..."

Kakashi turned at the sound of the warm laugh, to be met with a smile that personified the sun. He couldn't help but let out a sigh as he smiled back at the scene. 'Maybe they are getting it...'

"It would certainly seem so, Hokage-sama," he said. It was clear that his spirits had been lifted, though. It poured off of him in copious amounts. Kakashi carefully nestled his hand into his pocket, only to bring it out delicately clutching his prized, orange pocket-book.

"Oh! Is that the new one?" Hiruzen inquired, his interest piqued.

Kakashi chuckled. 'Perhaps we're the ones that need the training.'

Next Time: Chapter 9 - Hazed Prospect