Kakashi: Disclosure

Kakashi woke up on a futon with Naruto sitting level with his knee, writing in a notebook with the tip of his tongue gripped between his teeth. What the... oh, chakra exhaustion. I remember now. And what feels like water in my lungs as well.

"Welcome back, Sensei," the blond boy said quietly, waving his calligraphy brush at the journin, "you didn't miss much. This is the old drunk's house. He lives here with his very pretty daughter Tsunami-san and her son, who is a miserable brat. Kinda reminds me of how Konohamaru used to be before I beat some sense into him but moodier. Sasuke is supervising my clones which are setting up a seal perimeter and Sakura is helping Tsunami-san with dinner."

Kakashi processed this, sparing a moment's thought to what the ever-arrogant village council would say if they learned that the so-called dead last was a competent team leader who the last Uchiha deferred to. Oh, the shrieks of outrage and roars of protest, civilian music to my ninja ears. Which reminds me, he said 'seal perimeter'.

"Fuuinjutsu, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto shuffled slightly. "Ame-kaa-san found me some Uzumaki sealing books. I'm good with perimeter seals -they aren't that hard- and I use 'em on my place in Konoha," he explained. "It keeps people from trashing my apartment because the key seal is set to stop people with less chakra in their coils than me getting through. That keeps everyone except me, the hokage and a few ANBU out."

Kakashi's only visible eye widened. "You have that much chakra?" I knew he was a jinchuuriki -to the Kyuubi no less- but knowing and understanding are two different things altogether.

"Yeah. Kaa-san says my reserves are growing constantly. Anyway, the perimeter seals Sasuke is helping my clones with will keep out -and in- anyone capable of moulding chakra, so we shouldn't be interrupted by ninja after they are up. Bandits and mercenaries maybe, but they aren't as much of an issue."

How far out are you setting the perimeter?"

"Half a mile; I'm anchoring it with some of the kunai I took off the Demon Brothers."

"How long have you been studying fuuinjutsu Naruto-kun?"

The blond shifted. "Six months? About that. Basic perimeter seals are fairly easy to set up; they are mostly time-consuming. Mine are still fairly crude: I can't programme them to specific chakra signatures yet or tweak them to respond to intent. They only respond to chakra coil capacity and chakra movement. A ninja like Rock Lee who can't mould chakra could walk right through without so much as a twinge -which is a major flaw- but I've barely started book three of the Uzumaki seals. The standard Konoha fuuinjutsu manual is difficult to work with because it just provides the basic seals and how to draw them, not how they function and why."

"I never figured you for a seal enthusiast, Naruto."

Naruto grinned. "Seals are cool. You can do anything at all with them." His face fell a little. "Sakura called me a freak. She said I was as obsessive over boring seals as Chouji is over food."

Kakashi couldn't help but snigger at the mental picture that conjured. "Maa, don't let her get to you Naruto-kun. It takes a special kind of mind to truly master fuuinjutsu. I won't make you stop so long as you let Ame supervise any experiments and let me oversee anything likely to be explosive."

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei! Arigatou!"

"Which reminds me; Naruto, which ninja arts were you taught at the Mitsusha?" the copy-nin asked, having finally gotten around to vocalizing the question that had been bouncing around inside his head for the past month.

"Other than taijutsu, Sensei?"

"Aa."

"Ano... well first there was chi-mon, or geography, geology, botany, entomology and zoology of the elemental nations. Landscape, terrain, plant life, insects and animals both common and rare and their habitats and uses. Second is hensoujutsu which is disguise, infiltration and impersonation without the use of chakra in any form. Simple yet surprisingly effective and very hard to get right. I spent quite a while with kabuki actors that year. Third is shinobi-iri, the five methodologies of silent movement for infiltration which are also the basis of the Muon Satsujin -silent homicide- that Zabuza uses. Fourth nawajutsu, the art of capturing and restraining opponents with ropes as well as how to properly secure captives for interrogation or execution. Fifth kyuujustu, how to wield and fire a bow. That was barely touched on though; I can use a bow, but not very quickly or very accurately. Sixth sui-ren, water training: how to move unobtrusively though water, take advantage of water on the battlefield and change the direction of rivers or break dams." Naruto paused, as if he hadn't just listed more than double the subjects taught at the academy. "Seventh, kayakujutsu which is chemical explosives. I'm good at those. Eighth and last is tenmon, forecasting the weather and using it against your opponents, which I am not good at. Not enough practice, I guess."

Kakashi's jaw dropped. His education hadn't been that thorough at twelve and he'd been groomed to be a ninja from the moment he could walk. At Naruto's age he'd been a chunnin for a few years and well on his way to a promotion to journin, which had come not long after he turned thirteen. In fact, he still didn't know know kyuujutsu or kayakujutsu and his nawajutsu was extremely limited.

"The geisha taught you all of that?"

"Hai, alongside the softer subjects. Himitsu-okaa-san says that no knowledge is ever wasted and that a ninja must always be willing to learn, no matter how difficult the lesson or how humble the teacher." Naruto pouted briefly. "She says I'm still too young to be learning shibari, though."

Kakashi choked. "I should think you are," he managed to wheeze. "What were the 'softer subjects' you mentioned, Naruto-kun?"

The blond tapped the handle of his calligraphy brush against his jaw. "All sorts. I know all the minarai stuff like gambling games, formal dress and speech -male and female- and the meanings of colours, flowers and motifs and their respective seasons. I can cut and style hair, make my own clothing, grow plants and prepare various herbal salves and cosmetics, sketch recognisably, and so on. I am very good at reading body language, know how to perform acupuncture and give any kind of body massage. Given those last two skills, it follows that I have a concise understanding of anatomy.

I am aware of classical poetical forms and various authors thereof, literature, politics and enough economics to make polite conversation. I also know enough about stimulants and depressants -legal or otherwise- to kill with if I so choose. Other odds and ends include calligraphy, basic woodworking skills, animal care, cooking, first aid and codes. Oh and I can dance and sing, too."

Kakashi stared at his most unpredictable genin. "You are probably the best educated ninja in the history of Konoha," the silver haired journin eventually managed to say. "I don't know most of that and I'm twice your age and was a chunnin at eleven."

Naruto blushed slightly. "I'd teach the others but I really don't want to find out how Sakura would react to my knowing more 'girly stuff' than she does," he admitted. "Chi-mon and sui-ren would help them both generally and make them more aware of their surroundings, which would in turn improve the quality of their genjutsu. I'd like the opportunity to do more with kayakujutsu but I'm sure you would rather I not experiment with explosives, Sensei."

"Definitely no playing with explosives," Kakashi said firmly. "It seems it would be quicker for me to ask what you don't know."

"Weapons of any kind other than kunai, shuriken and my sword, kugutsu -puppetry- and anything else involving chakra rather than skill and intelligence," Naruto said promptly. "Not to mention that of the chakra arts I have no talent for either ijutsu or genjutsu."

Kakashi sighed. He is right; his education, while far-reaching, is sadly lacking in the chakra arts. At least I am a ninjutsu specialist; the field he needs my help in is the one I am most proficient in. "Naruto, all you really lack is experience. You will easily be on par with most journin in a few years provided you get a variety of missions under your belt and learn a few dozen ninjutsu to even up your education."

Naruto smiled shyly. "I want to be hokage. I have to be the best to achieve that goal."

"You'll get there. Just take your time. Now, what time is it?"

"Nearly dinner. You keeled over as soon as we lifted you off the ground but you only slept for four hours or so."

"Right. Tomorrow I'll teach you all a new chakra control exercise. It will take you and Sasuke longer than Sakura since her reserves are smaller than yours. I want you to make a shadow clone to start teaching her rope techniques in the time between her finishing and you finishing."

"Hai, Sensei. What about chi-mon and sui-ren?"

"I'll start them on both once we get back to Konoha. Probably by assigning reading homework." the journin paused. "I can teach tenmon in the day-to-day, between other things. You really wasted your time at the academy, didn't you Naruto?"

The whisker-marked blond grinned evilly. "I treated it as an infiltration assignment after my first week, Sensei. How inaccurate was my profile?"

Kakashi glared. "Brat. The only accurate bit was your love of pranks and decent taijutsu."

Naruto shrugged, unrepentant. "If you show people what they want to see they will take it as truth. They wanted me to be an incompetent moron so when I acted like I was one they accepted it as fact."

Blinded by their own prejudice," the copy-nin mused, "how ironic. You are more qualified to teach than most chunnin are."

Naruto shook his head firmly. "Iie. What I have learned is all thanks to my teachers. If Himitsu-okaa-san had taught at the academy there would have been more than three half-decent kunoichi graduating this year. She would have killed the fangirl movement dead in the first week of lessons."

"I'll mention having geisha teach non-chakra-related studies at the Academy to the Sandaime," Kakashi said, amused. "It's a sad day for the village when its geisha are more educated in the ninja arts than the shinobi."

"Takemaru-nii would be a good ninja. He's incredibly brilliant at passing unnoticed. Didn't the first ninja work entirely without chakra?" Naruto asked as his eyes abruptly unfocused.

"The perimeter's finished, Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke should be back in five minutes or so," he added a little more loudly than necessary.

"Good," Sakura replied from the other side of the rice paper screen door, "because dinner is ready now."

Notes

Six of the skills Naruto has learned are part of the Ninja Jūhakkei, the eighteen shinobi disciplines, specifically those not involving weapons. The other non-combat orientated diciplines are Bajutsu or horsemanship, Bouryaku or tactics, Chouhou which is espionage and Intonjutsu or ecape and concealment. Taijutsu is also one of the eighteen, as are shurikenjutsu (techniques involving thrown weapons such as kunai shuriken and senbon) and kenjutsu. Chakra skills could come under the heading of one of the other disciplines, the rather generic Seishinteki kyoukou which means spiritual refinement.

Naruto could therefore be considered the recipient of a truely traditional shinobi education, as the only weapons skills he lacks of the eighteen are Boujutsu -staff techniques- Soujutsu -spear techniques- Naginatajutsu -naginata techniques (which Benihime actually does know)- and Kusarigamajutsu, use of kusarigama. Considering that his basic archery could be considered to make up for one of these and his tessen skills as Benihime for another, Naruto is capable of thirteen out of eighteen skills considered neccessary to a well-rounded shinobi, fourteen if you consider fuuinjutsu which is an entirely seperate discipline to the other chakra related jutsu types as control and handseals are not required.

As Naruto is unlikely to need horsemanship, to be considered a 'graduate' of Himitsu-san's education programme he only needs to learn tactics, espionage, escape and concealment plus one other. This may be taken from the Bugei Juhappan, the eighteen samurai skills as these include extra disciplines useful to shinobi.

A/N: And the frankly ridiculous extent of Naruto's education is revealed. I always felt that the academy in the series was vastly inadequate in training the students. History is pointless for ninja unless as part of tactics or espionage training, for example.