Kakashi: Improvement

Kakashi was grateful that Gatou's thugs were not trying to kill the bridge builder just yet. Attempting to kill Zabuza had probably put a significant dent in both their numbers and their pride, so today they were likely lying low and licking their wounds.

This was fortunate; Sakura may have improved her attitude dramatically over the past week -seeing her team-mates kill had probably sped the process along- but her skills were still fairly poor and he himself was not anywhere near healed. The journin had done his best to cough up the water in his lungs but breathing still burned. The lingering weakness of his slowly recovering chakra reserves did not help in the slightest.

Sakura is far better than she was though. She actually practices now and her clothing is more practical than decorative. Shame about the hair, but at least she keeps it tied up in a bun now. That bright red cheongsam is still ridiculous for a genin, although the slits do go high enough for her to run properly.

Had Ame not gotten through to his kunoichi student Kakashi would probably resorted to the tried-and-tested method of beating the the need for rigorous training into her. He was still considering whether or not he should beat the need for teamwork into team seven as a whole. I'll see how they do on this mission then decide.

The day was blessedly uneventful; quite delightfully dull. Sakura patrolled along the sides and underside of the bridge in the morning while Kakashi dozed under the watchful eye of a Naruto clone. In the afternoon Kakashi had hovered around Tazuna with his clone escort while another Naruto clone taught Sakura more Nawanuke. Sakura was less quick to learn this than the chakra exercises and genjutsu generally; she was clearly more of a theoretical learner than a practical one. She was nonetheless determined: the idea of Naruto knowing something she did not goaded her in persisting until she was tired and sweating.

Despite this peacefulness Kakashi was relieved when Tazuna decided to call it a day. The impossibility of getting to actually rest was severely slowing his recovery. Couldn't Ame have warned me?

Well, she did say that all enemies would be within my team's ability to defeat, which the Demon Brothers were and Gatou's thugs will be, to be perfectly honest. Zabuza is well above their level but Ame would not consider him to be an enemy. More like a concerned older brother or cousin.

I'll remember this for next time: She only reassured me only that there would be no-one we would be unable to match, not how difficult or inconvenient matching them would be. Or how badly the mission was misclassified. I'll have to pay attention to what she doesn't say next time.

Life is so complicated.

"Hatake-san?"

The copy-nin blinked. "Hai, Tazuna-san?"

The bridge builder looked worried. "I've hit some kind of invisible wall, Hatake-san."

"Oh?" Has Naruto changed the barrier around already? "Sakura, you try."

Sakura had no difficulty waling forwards, even after taking off the seal tag Naruto had given her that morning.

"Boss switched the barrier around at lunchtime," the lone surviving Naruto clone volunteered. "I'll disperse so he knows to sent Tazuna a key seal."

Ten minutes after the clone had dispersed another Naruto ran up to them from the direction of the house. "Gomen Sensei, Tazuna-san. I forgot you wouldn't be able to get in, the old drunk being a civilian and all. Here," the blond held out a seal tag, "wrap this around your arm or something."

The tag got the bridge builder through the barrier without a hitch.

"Oh, your tags aren't compatible with the new field, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, so you don't need to wear them any more; they're inert so don't worry about destroying them. Any ninja could pass through now but luckily for us Gatou doesn't have any more ninja on his payroll."

"Good to know," Kakashi acknowledged. "Where are our other guests?"

"Tsunami-san set up a bed for No-Brows in your room Sensei and Haku is tending to his injuries. Haku says 'Zabuza-sama'-" the blond rolled his eyes at the honorific "-will be mobile tomorrow and combat ready the day after. He's also agreed to examine you, Sensei, so don't dawdle."

"I do not dawdle, Naruto."

The Naruto grinned evilly. "Your timekeeping says otherwise!" it singsonged, bouncing cheerily.

"Brat," Kakashi retorted gently with an eyesmile. It was good to see Naruto -even just a clone of him- back to his usual ebullient self. The blond hadn't been this boisterous since he'd first caught the kid gardening with Ame-koi. While the immediate aftermath of Naruto's second kill had been over fairly quickly, Kakashi had noticed how severely the boy's spirit had been dampened by the experience. It was a relief to see that the loss of that spark of life had not been a permanent change.

The Naruto grinned at him -a real grin, not the forced squinty smile he used when he was teasing Sakura or hiding something- and bounced ahead towards the house that had just appeared through the trees. Oh. That was the original, real Naruto.

He's getting very good with that jutsu. Will he be Naruto 'the Horde' when he reaches journin and gets a bingo book nickname, I wonder?

As Naruto had predicted, once back inside the house Kakashi was waylaid by someone who matched Naruto's ah, vivid description of Haku.

Discreetly high chakra reserves, check; About fourteen or fifteen years old, check; Prettiest boy ever, even lovelier than a Hyuuga -thankyou for that mental image Naruto, I'm going to be imagining Hiashi in a skirt for months- check. Kakashi allowed himself to be bustled onto his futon and lay still while the other ninja performed a diagnostic jutsu.

"If you will allow me to heal you and rest until late tomorrow, Hatake-san, you will be combat ready by the morning after that," the young medic-nin pronounced finally.

"Are you Haku?"

The young nin blushed, looking even more feminine. "Gomen, Hatake-san; I am indeed Haku. I am most grateful to you for allowing Zabuza-sama and me to shelter here."

"Maa, I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't: Momochi-san is a member of my fiancée's extended family. And I would be most grateful for your care, Haku-kun," the copy-nin added.

Haku smiled sweetly -if Naruto hadn't warned me I really would have believed he was a girl- and set glowing green hands on the jounin's torso, channelling healing chakra into his abused lungs. "Lie still so I can work, Hatake-san."

Oblivion swallowed the silver-haired ninja before he could form a response.

It spat him out again to the sound of Sakura's penetrating tones:

"Sensei? Sensei! You said he was awake!"

"He is awake, Sakura-chan, but he's a journin: I'm not letting you near him because the body wakes before the brain. Realising he's slit your throat in his sleep would upset him."

Kakashi opened his eye to see his pink-haired student pinned to the floor by Naruto. The blond noticed the movement and relaxed: "Sensei; Thank goodness."

"Kakashi-sensei would never hurt his students Naruto-baka!" the kunoichi shrieked furiously, trying to land a hit on the blond and failing miserably as he dodged.

"True, Hatake Kakashi wouldn't but his body has been trained to kill for at least twenty years and accidents happen," Naruto retorted calmly as he avoided each hit. "Isn't that right Sensei?"

"Aa, they do indeed," Kakashi croaked. "Water?"

Naruto slipped past Sakura towards the water pitcher in the corner as the kunoichi froze, face scarlet as she realised her sensei had caught her attacking her team-mate. Again.

"Here Sensei: one glass of water." Naruto handed it over after the journin pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Arigatou Naruto. Sakura, I'm disappointed. One hundred sit-ups; tell Sasuke I want him to supervise."

"Hai Sensei," Sakura whispered ashamedly. "Gomen Naruto."

She left the room. Kakshi had instated this punishment after the third time the kunoichi had allowed her temper to rule her and lashed out at Naruto. Sasuke would ensure Sakura didn't shirk and add his own disapproval on top of the official punishment. It worked very nicely to teach the pinkette self control.

"Haku put you under, Kakashi-sensei, so your body would have a chance to recover properly," Naruto explained in swift, low tones as the jounin sipped the water, "but he warned me privately that your brain might be a little behind when you woke up." The blond paused thoughtfully: "I've seen what a half-asleep jounin can do to the woman they wake up next to if the woman makes sudden movements."

Kakashi had never actually killed anyone in that kind of accident but there had been a few near misses and he knew colleagues who had slain incautious lovers in the seconds between sleep and waking. That kind of incident often prompted retirement from ANBU and occasionally from life.

"Geisha have a protocol for ninja who stay the night," Naruto said with a soft smile, "which boils down to 'don't move until they get out of bed', Sensei."

Kakashi almost smiled. Naruto's unconventional education had come through to great advantage once more.

"Status?" he inquired.

"It's lunchtime and Tazuna didn't go to the bridge this morning," Naruto supplied promptly. "Some kind of local holy day. Zabuza is mobile but not yet recovered enough to fight. Sasuke can tree-walk, change trees without pausing to adjust his chakra levels and has worked out how to channel chakra to his legs to boost his speed. Haku watched him do various jutsu and pronounced them less wasteful. Sakura has learnt enough ropework to inconvenience most non-ninja, although a samurai would flatten her. She also needs to practice more to improve speed and accuracy. Haku is in perfect health and tells me that his specialities are assassination, capture and healing, in that order. He's a genuine Yukimaki with the Hyouton kekkai genkai."

"An ice user?" Kakashi remembered Ame telling him about that particular Mizu clan. They sounded like the Kiri version of the Hyuuga with an elemental bloodline rather than a doujutsu.

"Hai. As for me, I can tree-walk now but I have to concentrate. No-Brows suggested Haku escort Sakura and the Teme to guard Tazuna this afternoon while you stay here and keep an eye on Tsunami-san and her bratty son."

"And what will you and Zabuza be doing?"

Naruto grinned evilly. "He's agreed to teach me the basics of Muon Satsujin; says it will blend nicely with my combat style. Oh, and the Kirigakure no jutsu since I have enough reserves to do it effortlessly."

Kakashi knew that any other Konoha shinobi -even gentle Umino Iruka- would have laughed at the idea of the hyperactive orange-wearing dead-last being suited to the subtle art of silent killing. The copy-nin however understood that it really did suit Uzumaki Naruto. The boy was admittedly rather loud, but never when silence counted. His stealth was on par with that of an experienced chunnin and even then the journin suspected the blond held himself back a little. The jinchuuriki was infamous for evading ANBU after all.

"Good. Anything else?"

"Since Tsunami and the brat are trapped inside my seal perimeter two of us ninja will have to go shopping for her this evening," Naruto informed him. "Me an' Haku would be best: Sakura is too distinctive with her hair and has never seriously haggled in her life -I checked- Sasuke is too taciturn and you and Zabuza are both too, too... too overkill. Plus, Haku and I can dress as girls to offset suspicion."

Kakashi stilled.

"... You crossdress?"

"Nobody civilian in Konoha will sell me anything worth having Sensei. I dressed as a girl in the okiya for my minarai training so as to fit in and I shop as a girl to avoid getting overcharged. I even get discounts and the shopkeepers are tremendously helpful." The blond smiled bitterly, eyes staring into the middle distance. "I never realised how badly I was treated until I started shopping incognito."

"Henge?" Kakashi asked, firmly locking the image of a girl Naruto out of his head. No matter how unbelievably cute any daughter of Minato-sensei's would be, the idea of Naruto in a dress is just wrong.

"Just different clothes, a wig and makeup to hide the whiskers. I haven't hit puberty yet so there isn't much to disguise."

Kakashi closed his eye as a new wave of exhaustion hit. "Yes to everything. Now go away and get me something to eat before I fall asleep again."

"Hai, Sensei!"

Minato-sensei, your precious son has to dress as a girl in order to survive the prejudice of the village you sacrificed the both of you to save. Your last wishes have not been honoured by any save a few of the older ninja.

I pray Jiraya-sama never, ever find out.

A/N: Spellcheck doesn't work for foreign words, so it may occasionally say Journin rather than the correct spelling of Jounin. Other than that, Kakashi is collecting more and more puzzle pieces of Naruto's past. He's rather unwilling to put them all together though.

Thankyou everyone for your encouraging reviews and special thanks to Muroshi for your intriguing suggestion. Rest assured that they will meet, but much will happen between now and then.