Kakashi made his way to the bridge at 9 sharp the next morning. He hoped his team appreciated how much reading he was giving up to be there almost on time, but somehow he doubted it.

He masked his chakra as he approached the training ground through the trees. He wanted to see how they dealt with waiting and wasn't quite surprised to see no one on the bridge.

Did they already leave? Doesn't speak very well to their ability to take orders from a commanding officer.

He was about to drop to the ground when he felt three chakra signatures running up the river toward the bridge. Kakashi stayed put and watched his team racing on top of the water, with Sakura in the lead. It was clear this was partially due to the fact that the boys were slip-sliding around as their control wavered. She slapped a hand on wooden supports and crowed, "I win! That means its you both have to do dishes tonight."

Sasuke was bent over panting while Naruto just collapsed on the riverbank. "Sakura-chan, we always do dishes, because you won't let us cook!"

"Do you remember what happened when I did? Because I don't want to relive that night."

They both made a disgusted face and Naruto muttered to himself, "Well, natto sardine ramen sounded like a good idea at the time."

"Whatever. Up, up! I'm sure Kakashi-sensei is going to be here soon and we don't want him to think we've just been standing around." Sakura pointedly looked at the tree he was perched in, shocking him as she met his one exposed eye with her knowing green ones.

"Like we could possibly stand around with you here, Sakura-chan! You're obsessed with training."

"Hn."

"See, even Sasuke agrees!"

Apparently they had worked out a way to decipher the Uchiha's series of grunts. If he was going to keep this team, Kakashi would need a crash course. Since Sakura was aware of his presence he decided to vacate the tree.

"Yo."

"Kakashi-sensei! You're late!" Naruto leapt to his feet, pointing accusingly. "We've been here for two hours already!"

"Maa, I'm sorry. I just got lost on the road of life …"

Sasuke snorted. "That's the worst lie I have ever heard."

Kakashi pretended to be offended. "Lie? I would never lie to my cute little genin!" Naruto made a face at being called cute, while Sasuke struggled valiantly with his irritation in an attempt to keep his face blank. Sakura, as usual, laughed at him.

"Let's go over to the training ground, kids."

He surveyed them as they walked over together in the same formation as yesterday. Sakura was wearing the same red vest and black shorts, but now she had senbon poking through her pink bun, a dull blue tanto strapped across her back and a pack fastened around her waist. Her black weighted leg warmers were armor plated over knee high boots.

Sasuke was wearing another dark blue shirt with the Uchiha crest, but he had added a kunai pack to his leg. Naruto's orange pants seemed even brighter than the ones he had ruined with ink the day before. He had one pack strapped to each leg.

"Sakura, you seemed to be dressed for war. Are you that worried about simple training?"

Naruto scoffed at his question. "Sakura-chan always looks like that. She just didn't wear it to meet you yesterday because she didn't want to scare you away."

Sasuke smirked at Sakura's rapidly reddening face. "That is not what I said, Naruto!"

"I'm pretty sure that's exactly-" he was cut off as she slapped her hand over his mouth. She smiled at Kakashi toothily and said, "Please, sensei. Feel free to ignore him. I'm sure we have a lot to cover today."

He was already starting to feel very out of his depth. Sakura was nothing like Rin and he didn't have any other point of reference for girls of her age. Was this normal? Naruto was struggling against her grip and Sasuke just stood to her left like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Kakashi soldiered on into his prepared speech.

He set a timer on one of the training posts and held up one bell.

"Today's object will be to get this bell from me. Those who fail don't get to eat lunch. I'm going to tie you there and eat it in front of you."

Kakashi heard Naruto loudly whisper to Sasuke, "It's a good thing Sakura-chan made us eat breakfast at her house, eh?" He narrowed his eyes as she smiled innocently at him, looking for all the world like she hadn't heard a thing.

"Hey, hey! Why is there only one bell?"

"The two who don't get the bell will fail the mission. They go back to the Academy."

Naruto scowled at him and sat down. "Nope. Not gonna happen." Sasuke and Sakura nodded in unison, sitting down next to him. "We all pass or we all go back, Kakashi-sensei."

"You know that you'll have to wait another year to graduate if you go back, right?"

Sasuke shrugged, but said nothing. Sakura idly played with the senbon in her hair as she said, "That just means we'll have another year of practice before they unleash us onto the world. We are a team and that's non-negotiable."

I don't think I even need to talk to them about teamwork. Clearly they have a better idea of it than most adult shinobi.

"Fine. You all … PASS!"

He threw his hands up in simulated theatrical enthusiasm that he didn't feel. Now he was stuck with them, damn it all.

The three genin looked at him with varying degrees of disbelief. Kakashi sighed. "While those who break the rules of the shinobi world are trash, those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. It was my intention to teach this to you, but it seems unnecessary under these circumstances."

Naruto jumped up with glee. "Does this mean you're gonna train us for real, Kaka-sensei? Will you show us all one thousand jutsu you know?"

"One thousand jutsu? Where did you hear that?"

"Thanks to Gai-sensei, we probably know more about you than you know about us, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura waggled her fingers at him and grinned insolently.

He felt that familiar sense of dread creep up on him again. Gai was his oldest living friend, but there were things he knew about Kakashi that would make him very uncomfortable if his team found out. He was sure that Gai was trustworthy, but these children looked sneaky …

"Maa, I can't teach you guys before I know what you're capable of. I want to spar each of you individually so I can be familiar with your abilities."

He knew that the each had to be capable of performing the Academy basics. He was expecting the most out of Sasuke, who had been consistently considered the "Top Rookie" in his file, but Naruto's jinchuriki status would give him an unreasonable amount of stamina and chakra. Kakashi had no idea what Sakura's talents might be, as her file had only the standard high marks required of an early graduate. Her abundance of weaponry might be her way of overcompensating

"Okay, Sasuke, you first. Come at me with the intent to kill or you'll never get anywhere."

To his credit, the Uchiha didn't hesitate. He immediately flung himself at Kakashi, striking with a with his right foot and twisting to kick with his left when it was blocked. Sasuke drew a kunai out of his pouch as he backflipped out of Kakashi's hold, tossing it at him with unerring accuracy. He made three quick hand seals before drawing in air for a katon jutsu that he should not have had the ability to produce.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Kakashi nimbly avoided the enormous fireball, impressed despite himself. He used the fiery distraction as a way to hide his own seals, weaving a quick genjutsu that would effect his opponent's sense of where he was by seconds and inches. He felt Sasuke coming at him again through the smoke and blocked the incoming kick, surprised that he had connected even through the illusion. Sasuke smirked at him, three tomoe swirling in his bright red eyes.

He's gained control over his Sharingan already? This was not in his files. Why did he keep it a to himself?

Lightning quick, Kakashi grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind him. "Okay! So we know what Sasuke can do. Let's try not to burn down the entire training ground."

The Uchiha stopped struggling as Kakashi spoke, realizing that his fight was over. When Kakashi let his arm go, he deactivated his Sharingan and slumped over to Naruto and Sakura. She fussed over him, putting her hands up to his forehead as Kakashi called out for Naruto to go next.

Looks like he doesn't have enough chakra for continuous usage of it yet.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

He can barely walk on water, but he can make shadow clones?! What a weird kid.

Three Narutos immediately charged at him and were destroyed easily, though Kakashi noted their exceptional taijutsu forms - his was just faster and better. He spun around to see four more Narutos trying the same tactics, though they managed to duck a bit better and were gone nearly as quickly. The original Naruto was holding back, fiddling with something in his hands as he constantly made more and more shadow clones to keep Kakashi from reaching him.

After a minute of this, Kakashi was getting bored and substituted himself out of the melee. He shunshined behind the real Naruto, only to have him throw a kunai laced net to a clone rushing toward them, in an attempt to snag him.

Ah, he did say he liked traps. This was a good attempt. Not very subtle, though.

Kakashi laid another genjutsu, one that showed him getting caught in the wires and pierced by kunai in a suitably gory fashion. Naruto's clone burst out of existence as he looked down in horror at what he had done to fake-Kakashi.

Not great at genjutsu, I see.

He released the illusion and clapped. "That was a good try, Naruto. But you're way too obvious about your traps."

"Kaka-sensei! You're not dead!"

Kakashi looked up at the sky wistfully. It was such a nice day for reading. "This is true. You might be, though, if you keep yourself out in the open while being attacked."

"It almost worked, didn't it?!"

"Not even remotely."

Naruto made a rude gesture and ran over to his teammates, where Sakura was removing glowing green hands from Sasuke's temple. His face was much less strained than it had been prior to Naruto's fight.

"Sakura! You're the last."

He thought he heard her mutter, "like always," but he couldn't be sure. Kakashi thought that maybe she would have appreciated not having to go first and being shown up by her more powerful teammates, which is why he chose the order he did. Now he wasn't so sure. Kids were too complicated, he never even understood them when he was one.

She stood in front of him. "Should I remove my weights?" Naruto and Sasuke both whipped their heads toward the two of them when they heard this, but Sakura smiled at Kakashi innocently. He was beginning to distrust that look.

"Maa, I need to see what your true potential is. It would be a good idea."

Her smile widened to a grin as she unstrapped the metal plates, letting them fall to the ground with a solid thump. Before he could say anything else, she flickered into his personal space and threw a flurry of blows at him, adjusting minutely as he blocked each one. He bent backwards to avoid a punch and felt the wind from her fist blow by his mask. Unbelievably, the fabric on his cheek split, just a hair.

Her speed is incredible for her age. Even if this is all she has, we can work with it.

Sakura's fist lashed out again and he thought she had miscalculated the punch when she dove toward the ground, but changed his mind when he felt the earth tremble beneath his feet. She created a perfect crater right underneath them and flipped upward immediately, trying to land a kick at his face as he moved to more stable ground.

They faced each other across the hole she left in the training ground. Kakashi was feeling a little faint at the level of destruction his cute little genin was capable of.

Sakura was just flushed and grinning.

"You don't have a bloodline talent you're hiding, do you?"

She scowled at him. "All I have is chakra control, Kakashi-sensei. I'd thank you not to assume I didn't work for it."

That level of control at this age is ridiculous. No wonder the Hokage had such a smug look on his face when he gave me this team. They all have absurd power.

"I … see. How did you learn to use it like that?"

She shrugged. "I've read about the Sannin and Hokage-sama has told me a little about Tsunade when I asked about her strength. She has Senju levels of chakra, though. I'll never make it to her level."

He smiled at her through the mask. "Now, now. There's no need to put yourself down."

"Ah yes, because comparing myself unfavorably to a legendary woman is really badly done of me. My apologies, Kakashi-sensei."

"No apology necessary. When I'm done with you three, the Elemental Countries won't know what hit them."