One thing before you start reading, I'm not a native speaker and there will be mistakes or awkward sentences. Tell me and I'll fix them as quick as I can :).
chapter 1: September I
73 years before...
"So who do you think is the hottest?"
"What!?"
Sakura and Ino were sitting just outside one of the side buildings of the Hokage tower where all the jonin senseis had been called to half an hour ago. Kakashi-sensei, true to his habits, had entered the building last, almost twenty minutes late but now they could hear the Sandaime's deep and calm voice somewhere inside the building. Supposedly the meeting was about the upcoming chunin exam and the rumor had already reached all the genin and a restless atmosphere had taken hold of the younger ninjas of Konoha. Sasuke and Naruto had run off to the training grounds insulting each other and ready to hone their skills for the exam. Their loud arguing could still be heard almost five minutes after they left.
Sakura had to admit that even her beloved and perfect Sasuke could be terribly irritating if he was left to long in the presence of an excited Naruto. Honestly these two could never stop fighting. She had decided to wait for the end of the debriefing to know as quickly as possible what the news were.
Ino on the other hand was still waiting for the rest of her team who should have met her there. Ino was left muttering and swearing under her breath about stupid lazy-asses and their loyal potato-crisps eating friends next to her friend and rival in love.
After a few minutes of complaining about their respective teammates the subject had shifted to the various jounin who had now all disappeared in the building.
Then Ino had asked that strange question.
"Well? Who do you think is the most attractive out of them."
Sakura' s face scrunched up and she huffed.
"I don' t know! I never really thought about them that way. I mean they are old!And I thought that Sasuke was the most beautiful boy of Konoha."
"Of course he is! He is the most beautiful and flawless and utterly perfect boy of the village. But he is a boy. There is something really special about grown manly men. And they aren't that old. I mean Asuma-sensei is only twenty-eight!"
Sakura seemed to think about it, swinging her feet back and forth.
"Mm. You' re right. They aren't that old and actually Asuma isn't that bad looking."
"That' s what I think to, he has these kinds of rugged good looks."
"And Kurenai is really beautiful."
"True. If one day Asuma-sensei has enough courage to ask her out they could be such a perfect couple."
Sakura turned to her friend.
"Really Asuma's into Kurenai!"
"Completely taken away! 100 percent pure love."
Again the pink haired girl contemplated that fact.
"And what do you think of your sensei."
"Kakashi-sensei. Urgh no idea Ino, this discussion we have is strange."
"Why! I mean we are teenage girls. Hormones are literally screaming at us to look at all these fit, good looking guys."
"Still it's strange. Just think about gai-sensei and, I mean, I don' t want to think about him and love and attractiveness and all..."
A shiver ran down Ino' s back.
"You' re right, no talking about Gai. But what about Kakashi?"
"It' s hard to have an opinion, I don' t know if you noticed but he' s always wearing this mask of his."
"I know smart ass, but don' t you think it adds to his mysterious aura?"
Again her friend was silent for a moment.
"Ne Ino, how old do you think is Kakashi-sensei."
Ino leaned back and let out a contemplative "mm" sound.
"It's difficult to say. I think Gai or Asuma are the oldest and Kurenai seems to be a year or two younger. Also my dad fought with her dad and even if my dad is old, he isn't that old. So I' d say she' s 25 or so. Kakashi-sensei must be somewhere between the two."
Sakura smiled and leaned towards Ino.
"Do you think one day we will be like them, that we will be great jounin and have our own students."
Ino hears the question that her friend wasn't asking: will I be a great kunoichi to? Even though I' m not from a clan, even though I don' t have a kekkei genkai like you, Even though I have less chakra, have been trained less early, will I be able to be a great kunoichi anyway.
Sometimes Ino wants to fight with Sakura. Their rivalry is real when it comes to Sasuke and she really does feel like it' s unfair that she got to be in his team but she also really likes Sakura, trusts her and knows her completely. And she knows that Sakura will be a great kunoichi too.
"Yes, we will be some of the best kunoichi the village has ever seen. At least as strong as Tsunade, the great Sanin. Of course I will still be stronger and sexier than you but you won't be half bad."
And Sakura is giving her her little smirk and the moment of self-doubt has passed. Her determination is back. Exactly the same determination that explains why she's one of only five civilian girls who have passed the academy exam in their class and why on top of that she got the best marks in ninjutzu basics.
"Maybe Ino, but I will be the one that will be protected by my great husband Sasuke."
"Like hell!"
And the two girls, just like the boys half an hour ago, left the place to go to the training ground to "settle it like kunoichis do".
Kakashi had been the last to enter the room and made sure he was the first to leave to. The Hokage had barely finished his sentence when he perched himself on the window still and let himself fall back, rolled and landed on the street bellow with a sigh. He could hear Gai's loud booming voice shouting about "cool and hip" and other such things. Slowly he went to the training fields near the eastern village wall that his students seemed to favor. When he arrived instead of immediately showing himself he masked his chakra and jumped into a nearby tree.
Sasuke and Naruto were fighting. Naruto hadn't shaken the habit of repeatedly materializing a few dozens bunshins as his main strategy. Sauke in his eyes didn' t act any less immaturely. Instead of taking a step back and observing the flow of the attack he settled for blindly attacking the unrelenting waves of blond Uzumakis and became more and more infuriated when his efforts didn't bear fruit.
Sakura on the other hand was rolling around in the dirt with Ino and there was more hair tugging going on than real fighting and the pink haired girl kept getting distracted by swooning over the raven haired Ushiha.
He sighed, had it really been a good idea to enter this bunch of children for the chunin exam. Granted at their age he was working up to his jonin promotion but times were different. These children actually had the time to be children, and would still have hopefully.
Still, this display of half-assed fighting was sad and made all the more frustrating by the fact that he could see their potential, the almost breathtaking possibilities their individual abilities and strength offered. And they were so completely different. Couldn't they see what a potent mix that could be, if one day they were able to work together. But then again, more then for any of the other teams, their personalities clashed constantly and their ambitions were pushing them to fight each other.
"Sensei I pray for your divine help in this matter" he mumbled. Surely they must be a way to make them understand that more than fighting against each other they had to fight with each other, for each other. Konoha was a military force with highly complex administrative structures, dozens of specialized corps but in a lot of ways it relied upon the base on which it was constructed and the base of Konoha' s military power was the three-man cell.
And as long as they couldn't focus on the same goal: protect Konoha and protect each other, they wouldn't succeed.
This time he jumped onto the field and made no effort to hide his presence. Ino and Sakura stopped immediately and looked at him but he had to wait almost a minute before loud pops indicated that Naruto had dissolved his bunchins and the two boys ran up to him.
The three expectant sets of his students eyes plus Ino were looking at him and he took his sweet time before talking.
"So there was a meeting about the chunin exam."
"Yes, yes we know." Naruto interrupted him.
As a punishment he waited another ten seconds before talking again.
"I entered you for the exam."
After a beat of silence Naruto's loud excited voice boomed throughout the training field.
On his way back to the apartment he was interrupted by the feeling of slightly aggressive chakra approaching him quickly. It felt somewhat familiar but Kakashi has been a ninja to long to not tense slightly, move one feet in a discreet fighting stance and hide his sharpened gaze behind a book.
A chunin landed next to him. It was the academy teacher, Iruka-san, which explained the angry flare of chakra. Honestly Kakashi hadn't specially wanted to antagonize the man but the silent criticism in the teachers voice when Kakashi had entered his genin for the exam had irked him. He new that Naruto talked to him often, probably recounted most of their trainings and he could guess what the chunin thought of his teachings. And it made him irrationally angry. Hell, he was aware he wasn't the best teacher and that he struggled with his three charges. It wasn't surprising really. Four month ago he was still an anbu and teamwork mainly consisted of hand signs and quiet injunctions and not this...babysitting.
Still the man approached him respectfully.
"Jonin-san the Hokage is requesting your presence in his office in 20 minutes."
A meeting? Again. That was twice in a day. The Hokage was becoming quite overzealous.
"hmmm. Ok, you can go now."
"He told me to escort you to the tower."
An important meeting then if the Hokage wanted to be sure he was there on time.
He nodded and opened his book again before taking off leisurely in the direction of the tower, Iruka trailing after him a step or two behind him. He didn't know if the academy teacher was doing it on purpose but he was walking on his right side exactly in his blind spot. Well, he could uncover his sharingan but that seemed like overkill. The chunin was angry at him but not enough to kill him. Probably. Still, deeply ingrained instincts told him to move. Step to the right, take out a kunai, throw it at the teachers head, crouch down, spin, take out another kunai, get up behind him, eliminate the threat.
Kakashi let out his breath and forced his tensing muscles to relax, he should be careful with these urges, one day he would decapitate a civilian because he had inadvertently brushed against him.
"So sensei. Is there something that bothers you." He said instead, feeling a little petty.
"No Kakashi-san. Nothing that would be of interest for you."
"Mmm. Ok, then how are your new academy students. Anyone caught your attention. If my genin pass the exam I wouldn't be surprised if the Hokage saddled me with another batch of students as soon as next year." -Instead of sending him back to anbu where he belonged-.
"Yes because clearly you don't enjoy teaching."
Actually and to his biggest surprise that was wrong. He had discovered that in a strange way he actually liked it, or well, he liked teaching them. It made him feel weird and inadequate but it wasn't...unappealing.
"Ma, I do prefer trained shinobies in my team, they don' t give me quite as much headaches." -But also didn't bring him the same warm sense of fulfillment than when his pupils got something right and proved him that they weren't quite as terrible as he first thought-.
The chunin's jaw clenched. It seemed that his dislike was mutual. Finally the chunin stopped. Kakashi turned to him concentrating to look just as disinterested than he usually did.
"Do you really think that they are prepared enough. I know my students even if you want to insinuate the contrary. Sasuke may do it but Naruto and Sakura aren't ready."
"I know."
The man was throwing him an angry and exasperated look.
"I think, Kakashi said calmly, that none of the three will pass the exam."
This time the man was surprised.
"Then why do it, what do you want to achieve."
"Mmm, let' s see, respectively I hope it will teach them humility, confidence and levelheadedness."
The man still looked at him as if he thought that the jonin was pretty stupid but he didn't really look angry anymore. The teacher sighed.
"I understand that sometimes hard lessons can only be understood when they are experienced in a real fight but I hope that it won't come at a price to heavy for them."
Yes, Kakashi thought, that' s exactly why I want them to learn it during the exam and not during a mission that turned bloody.
The academy teacher threw him one last long look before turning away.
"I trust you will find your way to the tower shinobi-san."
Kakashi hummed and looked into his book.
First real chapter. So I really started writing this after I listened to my little sister debate about which one of her teachers was the most attractive. I think that's the kind of things each one of us has done at least once.
I wanted to really keep the characters natural, yes they are shinobi but they are also young teenagers! Here they are twelve or thirteen and they do have interests outside of beeing a shinobi ( except Sasuke but that's actually the issue with him!).
Also Kakashi and Iruka will become friendlier but later, slowly. As far as the manga shows they barely talked with each other so they won't magically become friends.