"My first impression of you all," he said as he wiped the water off his face and raked his fingers through his drenched silver hair. "Is that I hate you all." His black eyes bore into the head of the blonde girl who smiled sheepishly.
"Um, hi Uncle Kakashi," Chiharu mumbled apologetically, "I didn't know that you were our new sensei." She looked around, desperately searching for a place to hide from her new sensei's sharp eyes.
He might have lost his Sharingan in the last war, but his eyes were still as sharp as hawks' and he still never missed anything. Well, almost anything, with the exception of the bucket of water that emptied its contents on his head, courtesy of Chiharu, who wanted to teach their sensei a lesson for being two hours late. There was something about the way he looked right at her that told her he wasn't the least bit surprised. Is this your fault, Papa?
The things I do for you, Naruto. Kakashi sighed as he shook his head in exasperation. I'm getting too old for this. "You lot, meet me on the roof," he said, before turning and disappearing in a cloud of smoke. The three fresh-graduates looked at each other with a mixture of emotions, Michio glaring at Chiharu while Hitomi nervously tugged at her sleeve. This was going to be a long day indeed.
Five minutes later found the three new gennin seated in front of their sensei, visibly shrinking under the weight of his scrutinising gaze. He hadn't said a word since they'd joined him on the roof, but the silence seemed to say everything for them. Michio took the lead in breaking the silence, albeit not in the best way.
"I told you that laying that trap was a bad idea," he hissed, dark eyes flashing dangerously at his newly-christened teammate. He'd evidently had his fair share of disagreements with the whiskered blonde, and had no problem showing that to their new sensei.
"I didn't know a fucking jōnin would fall for a booby trap," Chiharu snapped back angrily. "And I didn't know it was the fucking Sixth Hokage!"
"I can hear you, you know?" A deep voice cut through their heated argument and snapped them back to attention. He definitely had his work cut out for him. "You've got awfully foul language for someone so young. I'm sure your mother will love to know what sort of lips kiss her at night," he raised his eyebrow suggestively. That quickly shut her up.
"Please don't tell my mother…" She whispered quickly and softly, eyes wide with fear.
Ignoring her, Kakashi pinched his eyebrows and sighed audibly. "Alright, let's start with introductions. Tell me something about yourselves - your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, that sort of jazz."
"Uncle Kakashi," Chiharu piped up, obviously having forgotten her sensei's rage. Inwardly, Kakashi smiled at the resemblance between his new student and her father. The apple clearly didn't fall far from the tree. "Why don't you start? I don't think these guys know much about you."
"Firstly," he cleared his throat patiently. A dull ache was already forming on the side of his head and it was sure to get worse. As nice as the trip down the memory lane was, dealing with the same problem didn't make it any more pleasant. "I'm Hatake Kakashi, your jōnin instructor. From now on you will refer to me as Kakashi-sensei. Understand?" His eyes, again, rested threateningly on the little head of blonde hair. A light pink dusted her cheeks and her wide green eyes darted around guiltily, trying to look anywhere but at him.
"My likes," he mused, looking up. "Not too many. My dislikes...too many. My dream," a mischievous gleam sparkled in his eyes. "Oh it's a very nice dream. Blondie, your turn." The look on their faces showed that they were clearly not satisfied. So all we learned is his name?
"Um… Ok," Chiharu started. "My name is Uzumaki Chiharu, my favourite things are ramen and sushi and manga. The things I don't like include vegetables, snakes, perverts...and Michio." She finished by pointing at the boy on her left.
The boy in question glared back at her. "It's not like I like you or your wide forehead, you damn blonde," he snapped at her.
"Fuck you, you fucking ass hat," Chiharu shot back. "I'll fucking wipe the floor with your blood after I crush you."
"And your dream?" Kakashi interrupted, rubbing the side of his head before his headache got worse. He had no idea where on earth she could have learned such foul language from. Both her parents had had reputations for being loud and hot-headed, but never being vulgar.
Chiharu thought for a minute. This was something she'd never thought of before. She knew her father had wanted to be the Hokage, but never had enough time. Her mother wanted to be strong, and become the best medic in the entire world, so Chiharu found herself pretty much living in the shadow of two very powerful characters. Besides, she was content with where she was. She had friends, family, no hardships; her life was pretty much perfect. "Nope," she said finally. "No dreams."
I'll admit, Kakashi thought to himself. I didn't see that coming. "Alright, kiddo. Next, Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Let's go."
Michio glowered at the jibe at his hair. "I'm Hayashi Michio, and I dislike anyone who makes fun of my hair. My likes are ninja weaponry, history and..." He mumbled that last bit.
"What was that?" Kakashi asked, straining his ear.
"Nothing! I said nothing!" Michio quickly denied, regretting that he had even opened his mouth in the first place.
"Oh! Oh!" Chiharu suddenly seemed very interested. "Is it a girl?"
The bright red blush that adorned his cheeks showed that the little vixen had hit the nail on the spot. "Shut up!" He cried. "Goddammit you're annoying!"
"Oh, it must be a guy!" She countered cheekily.
"SHUT UP!" Why couldn't the ground just open up and swallow him already?
"Ahem," Kakashi decided to save the poor boy from the now snickering blonde. "Your dreams?"
At this the boy smiled, all traces of embarrassment gone from his cheeks. "That's easy," he smirked. "I want to travel the world, go to places that are outside the elemental countries, and explore that which has not been explored before."
"Okay, nice." Kakashi acknowledged. "Lastly, the quiet one."
"Um," Hitomi looked up, revealing her lavender pupils. "My name is Hyūga Hitomi, and I like flowers and animals. There's not a lot of things I don't like, and my dream is to..." She hesitated a little, "...to be as strong as Uncle Neji was."
Kakashi smiled. "That's a fine dream," he encouraged. "Neji was a very strong Shinobi." Hitomi nodded her head in embarrassment. He remembered the odd relationship between Naruto and Neji, and he could never forget the absolute look of distraught on Naruto's face when the Hyūga stood, impaled, bleeding and smiling in front of the war hero. After the war, everybody had reason to mourn, and everybody was particularly saddened by Neji's passing, but no one knew how much Naruto blamed himself.
Kakashi had often found Naruto sitting in front of Neji's grave hugging his knees and sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm a failure," the blonde had said. "I can't do anything I promise." Kakashi had stayed silent, comforting Naruto with his presence. "I couldn't bring Sasuke back, and I couldn't free Neji from his shackles. I can't do anything! It should be me in that grave, not him!" They had then stayed in a long moment of silence, occasionally nterrupted by Naruto's sniffs. Eventually Naruto stopped breaking down, and seemed more emotionally stable, but Kakashi knew that he never stopped blaming himself.
"Okay!" The wizened Shinobi clapped his hands together. "Tomorrow will be your Shinobi survival skills test. Unless you pass this test, you won't be recognised as real Shinobi."
"Um, sensei?" Hitomi squeaked. "Didn't we become Shinobi after graduating from the academy?"
"Half-correct," Kakashi replied with a smirk. He loved this part of the induction. "Graduating from the academy means that you are now armed with the knowledge that any Shinobi should have. However, tomorrow's test is a true testament to whether or not you know how to use it properly. If it so happens that none of you pass tomorrow's test, you will be sent straight back to the academy, and start as though you have never graduated before." His dark eyes fixed on the three in front of him. "In fact, 66 percent of your friends will be doing just that."
He continued to watch in amusement as the colour drained from their faces. "Okay, so, your instructions are to meet me at training ground 7 at 5 in the morning to begin your test. Don't be late." He turned to leave before pausing. "Also, don't eat breakfast," he smiled again. "Or you'll just puke it up."
::::::
"Fucking Kakashi sensei and his fucking test!" Chiharu fumed as her fist cracked against the trunk of another poor tree. "It's fucking 7 in the morning! And he's nowhere to be seen! I'm not sorry I poured water on his head! Actually wait, I am! It shoulda been a bucket of kunai or shuriken!" Her fist landed on the tree trunk again and the wood groaned, threatening to topple over.
"Shut up, blondie," Michio grumbled while massaging his ears. "It's too early for such a racket."
"You shut up!" Came the furious reply, followed by another crack. "I'll do whatever the fuck I want!" Another crack, and the tall tree did indeed fall, scaring the life out of a nearby Hitomi.
"U-um, Chiharu-chan," she urged. "Maybe you should save your energy for when Sensei arrives?"
"I'm gonna take a walk," Michio huffed as he stood up. "I'd be careful around the idiot if I were you," he told Hitomi.
"What the fuck did you call me?!" Chiharu roared, ready to leap at the boy to strangle him, only to be held back by the other female on the team. "Fucking tomato head! Asshat! Red piss! That's right you better fucking run!"
Unbeknownst to them, their new sensei had been watching them for the entire duration, hidden behind some trees that were safely out of Chiharu's range. His reputation for tardiness wasn't borne out of genuine laziness. He often enjoyed coming on time just to see the chemistry between the members of his team. As he was an outsider to three ninja that, by right, had known each other for the past few years, observing them in stealth brought a different truth to his eyes.
"Your kid has quite the mouth on her, huh?" He said aloud, thoughtfully. "Just like you when you were her age. Clearly an Uzumaki." The wind rustled gently, teasing the old man's grey locks as he watched Hitomi calm her teammate down. Eventually the blonde huffed and took a seat on the floor, legs and arms crossed.
"Chiharu-chan," the Hyūga said gently, sitting down next to the blonde. "I think you sh-should save your anger for when sensei is actually here…"
"Yeah yeah..." Chiharu looked away, still peeved at her sensei and her teammate. Suddenly she heard resounding growl. Thinking that a wild animal had appeared, she spun around, only to find the blushing face of her friend. Was that her stomach?
"I'm sorry, Chiharu-chan! I'm just..." The poor girl dipped her head in embarrassment, allowing her long dark hair to cover her face. "I-I'm just really hungry..."
Chiharu looked down with a mixture of shame and awkwardness. She had been so focused on her sensei's tardiness that she failed to remember her friends. "Hitomi," she said softly. "C'mere."
The Hyūga looked up, puzzled, but scooted closer anyway. She watched as the whiskered girl reached into her pack and pulled out a lunch box. "My mum threatened to pummel me into the ground if I didn't eat anything," she mumbled while opening the lunch boxes to reveal two sandwiches. "Then she made me bring these sandwiches just in case." She pulled them out one by one. "I even told her that Uncle Kakashi told us not to eat, but she said he could talk to her if he wasn't happy. Here, there's peanut butter and jelly, and there's an egg sandwich. Which do you want?"
"But..." Her pale eyes were wide with worry. "But sensei-"
"Just shut up and eat," her friend grumbled. "And don't tell the fucker Michio. Or sensei. Or I'll fucking kill you."
Hitomi looked at Chiharu with reverence fit for a Goddess before leaping forward and encasing her in a hug. "Chiharu-chaaan!" She cried. "I knew you didn't hate me!" The flustered blonde quickly shoved her away and unceremoniously dumped the egg sandwich in her lap.
"This doesn't fucking mean I like you, you hear?" There was a growing redness on Chiharu's face. "I just don't want my teammate dying on me on our first mission. Now hurry up and eat!" Hitomi happily munched on her sandwich, choosing wisely not to point out that Michio was their teammate too.
"And here we see the first signs of teamwork," Kakashi observed happily, still completely concealed. "You should be really proud, Naruto. I'll make my appearance after the last kid comes back." He slowly stood up and walked away.
::::::
"So you've finally quietened down huh?" The redhead asked, strolling back to their meeting point.
"Shut up, dickbag," Chiharu growled, all evidence of food meticulously stowed away in her bag.
"Yo!" A familiar voice rang out and all three turned their head to their masked sensei.
"You're 3 fucking hours late, sensei!" Chiharu growled, her whiskers bristling.
"Calm down," Kakashi brought his hands up defensively. "There was a black cat that crossed my path, so I had to walk the long way round."
"Fuck you!" The girl launched herself and the seasoned ninja, ready to land a hit on him. However, before she knew it, she was sprawled out on the floor, her sensei sitting on her back.
"Now now," he teased. "Are you that eager to get close to me, Chiharu-chan?"
"Get the fuck offa me, you damn pervert!" She tried pushing him off, but his weight was more than she could handle.
"We really need to work on that foul language of yours," he sighed, standing up and picking her up by the scruff of her shirt and throwing her back to her wide-eyed teammates. It was widely known that Chiharu was one of the best at hand to hand combat in the academy, but Kakashi had picked her off as though she were just a child.
"Alright team," he clapped his hand to catch their attention. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out a pair of bells. "Your objective is to get these two bells from me. You have until noon, which leaves you 4 hours. Unless you come at me with the intention to kill," his eyes locked into theirs with a deadly seriousness. "You'll never make it."
The three hesitantly nodded their heads, starting to understand the gravity of the situation. After seeing how easily he handled Chiharu, they knew his abilities were nothing to be made little of.
"Questions?" He asked, finally.
"Sensei," Michio asked. "How are the three of us going to pass if there are only 2 bells?"
"Good question, Tomato Ketchup," Kakashi smiled. His student fumed at the jab at his hair. "One of you won't pass. It's as simple as that." He watched in amusement as they looked around, silently sizing each other up. What will you do when you're in a corner, little fox? What will you do?
"On my mark," he called out, pulling out an alarm clock.
"Get set." The three crouched down, ready to move.
"Go."
A/N: YES! Kakashi is their new sensei ^^ I tried to think of an alternative, but this was the only way I could see my story unfolding. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! On the not so joyful side of today's news, I've got to go for hand surgery tomorrow, cos of some stupid fall I had a couple weeks back Don't worry, though, I'll still try to update as soon as I can!