Team 7; Sensei's, We don't need no stinking Sensei's!

"Come at me with the intent to kill or you have no chance," Kakashi swore.

The three genin exchanged glances.

"You want to die?" Naruto asked carefully, saying what they were all thinking.

"What?" Kakashi asked confused.

"Don't give up; you have a lot to live for!" Sakura exclaimed.

"We don't know that for sure," Sasuke said shaking his head.

"He's got that orange book he likes so much," Naruto said, trying to back Sakura up.

"I have more than that," Kakashi said indignantly.

"That's the spirit," Naruto encouraged him. "Life is worth living and tomorrow is another day!"

"I said come at me with the intent to kill because anything less than going all out against me is worthless."

"It's an order," Sasuke pointed out. "It's our own duty to kill him."

"I…Sasuke's right," Sakura agreed. "If a superior nin gives the order to perform a final mercy it's our duty to do so."

"I… if you say so Sakura," Naruto said sadly.

Kakashi rolled his one visible eye. "On the count of three."

"We need to fall back and plan so we can make it quick and painless," Sasuke said.

"Agreed," Naruto said just as Kakashi got to three. "Shadow clone jutsu!"

The three genin vanished into the forest while dozens of Narutos kept Kakashi busy.

"Anyone have any one shot killing moves?" Sasuke asked. "Because I've got exploding tags and a Katon jutsu."

"I have senbon and some numbing agents," Sakura said.

"I can make a thousand shadow clones and I'm good with traps," Naruto offered.

"Does the shadow clone jutsu duplicate all your gear?" Sasuke asked as an idea hit him.

"Yeah…"

Kakashi actually had to pocket his little orange book to clear out all the clones keeping him in place, as they were very adept at dodging and were fighting defensively to delay, rather than defeat him. As he started to leave the clearing he had to dodge a sudden rain of senbon and not just a few either, there were enough needles raining down to make a Rain-nin jealous, and then the number doubled and tripled.

Kakashi managed to avoid getting stuck anywhere important and most of the needles vanished after a few seconds, but the… extract they were coated with didn't causing a growing numbness and a bit of confusion to his well ordered mind. Kakashi stood and smiled waving gaily at the crowds as confetti rained down on his parade, countless tiny pieces of paper blanketing the clearing and turning the world white.

Sakura and Naruto waved back at him sadly as Sasuke took a deep breath and blew a fireball into the blizzard of explosive tags.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

The Hokage and a full ANBU team reached the crater and started extinguishing any stray fires they found while searching for the cause of the explosion. A downed tree trunk split in half revealing a Team 7 that looked slightly burned around the edges.

The Hokage was there in a second making sure his adopted grandson was ok. "Naruto, are you injured?"

"I'm okay, jiji," Naruto said loudly. "I just can't hear too well yet!"

Med nin took care of Sasuke and Sakura leaving Naruto in the Hokage's capable hands.

Sarutobi healed Naruto's eardrums. "There, now what happened?"

"Our sensei ordered us to give him the final mercy," Naruto said sadly.

"Kakashi…" the Hokage trailed off in shock.

"Naruto nodded sadly. "We tried to tell him he had a lot to live for, but we didn't know him well enough to know what to say to change his mind."

"How did that lead to… that?" the Hokage asked kindly pointing at the massive crater that had replaced the clearing and was at least twenty feet deep.

"He wanted to go out in battle," Sasuke reported, his hearing restored. "He ordered us to come at him with everything we had and lacking any suitable assassination techniques to make it quick, we had to improvise."

"Improvise?" one of the ANBU asked.

"Enough explosive tags to take out the front gates and a large amount of sedative senbon so he wouldn't feel it," Sasuke said gravely.

"He stood in the center and waved cheerfully, before we set them off," Sakura said, before bursting into tears and collapsing into Sasuke's arms.

"We did what we were ordered to do," Sasuke said. "We gave him the final mercy and we ensured it was impressive enough that he could be proud of the manner of his death."

"Meeting a genin team doesn't count as hazardous duty which allows the final mercy. If we put down suicide he won't get his name on the monument," an ANBU member said. "Like his father, he'll be forgotten."

"No," Sakura whimpered in horror as Sasuke's arms tightened around her. All students in the leaf's ninja academy knew what a grave dishonor it was to die and not get one's name on the monument… to be forgotten.

"No!" Naruto growled fiercely. "He told us to come at him with everything we had and he underestimated us. It wasn't suicide; it was a training accident in service to Konoha!"

"Do you really think anyone's going to buy that kid?" a chunin snorted. "That a couple of academy students were dangerous enough to off an elite jounin?"

Sakura stood up tears forgotten and fury in her movements as her hands reached for her senbon. "He will not be forgotten!"

Sasuke nodded. "Training accidents can happen to anyone," he said glaring at the man.

"Please, you couldn't threaten a field mouse," he snorted.

"Naruto," Sasuke called out.

"Shadow clone jutsu," Naruto said in a voice like thunder and the world seemed to pause before a wind rippled through the air staining it orange.

Sasuke, Sakura and countless Narutos glared at the man.

"Are you requesting the final mercy?" Sasuke asked.

The chunin wet himself and passed out.

"This incident is classified," the Hokage announced quickly. "Take him to Ibiki."

"Kakashi Hatake will not be forgotten," Sarutobi said. "If you three are okay with taking the blame… we'll make it the official explanation."

"Thanks jiji," Naruto said and spontaneously formed a group hug involving the Hokage, his team, the medics and nearly all of ANBU.

"We'll have to appear a bit more badass to make it believable," Sasuke said uncomfortably.

"Oh, yeah," Naruto said dismissing his clones and creating enough chakra smoke to resemble a forest fire.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

A grey haired figure surfaced from the water of the lake, most of his clothes missing and covered in light burns. "Ribbit," he said to a very confused frog before pushing him off his lily pad to sit on it himself.

Typing by: Last Primarch!

AN: Just an idea I had for Kakashi really screwing up and the incident drastically changing the way Team 7 came together.