I don't own Naruto, though it would be fun.

Light The Darkness

Chapter 5

It's said that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and in a way it did. You never know quite what you have until its gone.

The village was beautiful, bustling with villagers and children laughing running through the streets. My last visit had been brief, only to pay my respects to Sarutobi, my only regret not being their before his death, to speak to him in person instead of by letter, but I knew he had understood.

So here I am smiling like a fool standing on the old water tower looking over the village, taking in all the changes. Lady Tsunade was good for this village; when I last was here, goodness, the place was in serious disarray, destroyed more like it, but I was trying to look at the bright side.

It had definitely been a while since I had graced the Leaf village with my presence, I almost felt guilty. Now don't get me wrong I kept in touch via letter with multiple friends here, but, it just wasn't the same as being in person.

"Perhaps three years is a bit too long to be away, what do you think Sarutobi?" I whispered as the wind embraced my return. I looked toward the sky, I wasn't incredibly spiritual mind you, but he had an unforgettably strong spirit. Up there he was definitely looking over the village, I was sure of that.

Well, enough scanning the village, I had someone awaiting my presence, my favorite ninja actually. I had missed him more than words could express, and while I planned on coming back to visit him after my reprieve, I didn't expect it to be this soon as a request.

Meanwhile Katsu was about fifteen minutes away from the village, bags and puppy in hand.

"So… I feel as though I forgot to mention something," Pakkun muttered.

Raising an eyebrow Katsu continued on, jumping rhythmically from branch to branch. "Really now? Must be your memory going, old age and all, if I were you I'd get that checked."

"And if I were you, I'd be more respectful toward your elders," he growled out.

"Huh, good thing your not me then," Katsu smirked. "I must admit though, I'd probably be there by now, chilling with Kakashi and Moriko if I didn't have to carry your lard ass."

"Fuck you!" Pakkun managed to growl out from his position on Katsu's shoulder, only to be struck dumbfounded, "Wait, that's it!" he announced.

"What's it?"

"I remember now, I forgot to tell Moriko where to meet him, I can't believe it slipped my mind like that," he looked pensive, lost in thought before asking, "You think she'll find him anyway?"

Katsu almost, just almost, stopped running and slapped a hand over his face in complete disbelief; instead he managed to keep pace and instead gave him the "are you fuckin' kidding me?" look. "You do realize that she's a jonin right? And not just any Jonin, no, she's Moriko, all she has to do is scan the area and she'll recognize his chakra signature, she won't have a problem finding him, if anything he'd have trouble finding her."

"Who ever this person is Kakashi sensei, she's late!" a blond haired boy exclaimed.

"Naruto, calm down, if she's a friend of Kakashi's then we can't expect her to be time efficient," a young woman with a head of pink hair responded.

Kakashi briefly scratched the back of his head, honestly that assumption had far too many flaws in realms of logic to be corrected. If it were any other person that was late he wouldn't have cared, but Moriko was never more than a minute or two late, and when it seriously counted her timing was more than impeccable. So, he thought, what could the real hold up be?

5... None of them have noticed.

4... I looked at the gathering of students.

3... My attention pulled toward my old instructor, Tsunade.

2... Kakashi.

1... Time to make my debut

Before Kakashi could answer, Moriko swept through the training field and had tackled him in a hug, the impact almost knocking them both down, but luckily Kakashi had always been quick on his feet and the flow of chakra stabilized them both. Moriko was too busy rapping her arms and legs around him laughing to notice.

"Kakashi darling, I've missed your adorable butt!" If there wasn't such a large audience I would have copped a feel. Mind you, it's not molestation if the recipient is a giant perv and your best friend, or at least that's what I tell myself. I couldn't help but notice that he seemed more built than when we last saw one another, if I recall correctly it had been a whole five years. Letters kept us updated and in contact.

"I would think you would miss more than my butt, Moriko," he chuckled lightly and returned the embrace.

"Well, if we had less of an audience I'd rip off this restricting uniform and show you what I missed the most, but that would be incredibly un-lady like," I grinned, while he did have a nice backside, I missed the easy banter we shared more than anything else.

"Now-now Moriko, this is neither the time nor the place for such conversation, perhaps tonight after dinner," he smiled easily, not a fake one, no this was the real deal. If anyone else truly knew him they'd know that he rarely gave a real smile, but when his past was briefly forgotten, his eyes sparked with life and that's when you knew he was smiling.

I gave him another hug before dropping to the ground and rushing to give Tsunade a quick hug.

Now that I was content with greetings I looking towards the students, yup, my job was going to be more difficult than I originally thought. Ninety percent of them were shocked, eyes wide mouth slightly agape. Either their shocked that I suddenly appeared giving Kakashi a hug, or their shocked that I appeared at all. I was really thinking it was the later, which meant that Kakashi still had his books instead of a real girlfriend.

Well, he wasn't gay and he read porn, so things must be working right. He was incredibly handsome, built and toned, yet wasn't disgustingly huge. So why wasn't he hitched up with a set of twins by now?

"So you're the chick that's suppose to help train us?" the blond exclaimed again. I briefly considered if I should answer the blatantly obvious question, but before I could Kakashi spoke up again.

"Where's Katsu?"

"Good question, while I don't condone splitting up, he stayed behind a few extra minutes to pack a couple bags. If I'm right then he already entered the village stopped at your place and is on his way here with Pakkun," I grinned when Katsu made his way leisurely to my side a few seconds later.

"Kakashi, long time no see, mind taking your puppy back?"

"It's been too long."

I briefly heard the rest of the conversation but my attention was on the students. By no means was I cocky about my abilities, but I was confident and knew what I was doing. I had learned over the years that people in general were incredibly easy to read, all with certain habits and features that distinguished them into categories. Stature was a good place to start, you could always tell whom were the cautious or impatient ones, and then if I had them walk I'm sure that I could weed out abilities in battle and ways to improve. Simple really, but it was how I was going to start this shindig.

"Well I believe intro's are in order, so I'm Moriko and this is my partner Katsu. Obviously I'm here to help train you, and while I'll be training you I'll mostly give pointers. You all seem capable of being Jonin level. I have my own way of doing things so if you could all spread out a distance from one another," all of them listened and moved a bit away from one another "Oh, and I'd prefer peace and quiet as I make my rounds."

The students would probably think I was a fruit cake, but I wanted results, so I began from left to right walking around each student, each giving me their name as I jotted down details on my observations. A also marked which ones stood out to me the most.

Neji Hyuuga would take any kind of training I gave, accept it, and complete it flawlessly. Since he was going to be easy I'd give him pointers and maybe secret techniques that I'd read about over the years pertaining to the gentle fist. Because he is flawless in his reproduction of techniques, he'll need to work on making the techniques his own.

Shikamaru Nara was incredibly calm, and while I liked calm and quiet people, I knew from experience that while he'd master what was given, he'd only do what was required and no more than that. I would need to motivate him.

If I'm right Ino Yamanaka is weak in a close face battle and easily angered, I'll have to push her a bit, but in no time she'll improve.

Hinata Hyuuga, she seems to want to improve and will take criticism well, seems a bit soft hearted but we'll see as we go on.

Naruto Uzumaki, a bit loud and not as easily trained but has determination and with the right teaching I'm sure he'll improve.

Surprisingly all of them were unique in their own way. The teams were well balanced which was good, especially on a mission. I'll just have to give separate training regiments. When I'm comfortable with that I'll pare them up with each other and change pairs every other day. From what I understood from the letter, the reason for my coming here was because everyone wanted these kids ready for a group mission. This means that as a group they need to understand one another as a whole.

After I finished observing the last student, I made my way towards the awaiting Kakashi and Katsu, briefly highlighting certain aspects of each student as I walked. Kakashi looked a bit surprised when I handed over my observations.

"I briefly added personality traits and what I believe to be certain students weaknesses, look through it and add anything you want, tonight and tomorrow I'll make a beginning training regiment." I smiled as he looked it over.

"All you did was walk around us, how do you know what training needs to be done when you haven't seen us move?" Neji stepped forward his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"You all stand how you fight. Honestly it sounds strange to you, but if you observe one another you can see each others traits and personality. If you know a persons traits you can deduce their fighting style," each student looked around at one another questioning my sanity I'm sure.

"But if you must know I didn't just walk around observing, I was also testing chakra flares, each time I silently and slowly let my chakra flow around each of you, seeing which parts you caught on and which you didn't, I also got to see reaction time and your ability to respond to chakra. None of you knew what I was doing, so none of you could cover your flaws."

Some of the students looked panicked and I almost laughed. None of them should be worried, they all responded subconsciously, and while some needed work, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had originally thought. "No reason to panic, you all did fine. I'd test a few of you now, but it's been a long day and I'd rather take a day or two to review my observations and write a training regiment," deciding I should warn them I added "make sure you all rest up tonight and tomorrow, eat plenty of vegetables and meat. I'll be pushing you all way past your breaking points, take rest while you can. You all are dismissed."

There was a shocked silence before the students all dispersed. I may have said that I'd never take on a student, but I couldn't help but mildly enjoy the experience.

"You sure you've never had students before?" Kakashi asked lightly.

"Pretty sure, though if I had them I'm almost positive that they'd wipe the floor with yours," I added laughing outright. "Just kidding hun, your going to have to tell me what's been going on and all about these students of yours."

"Well then I'll be off, this place isn't going to run itself. It's good to see you back Moriko," Tsunade interrupted gruffly before making her way towards her office.

"Later Tsunade," I said as I turned my attention back to a thoughtful Kakashi. "What's on your mind sweet cheeks?"

Kakashi grinned, "You know, all of these references to my ass are going to make me wonder if you really only showed up for my body, not my students."

"Your first clue was that she's never had a student," Katsu chirped in.

Laughing the trio made their way to Kakashi's apartment.