Chapter 37
Beta'd by Black Sparrow
It took some time before everyone, aka Naruto, had calmed down once again but then they all worked themselves through lunch while Shiori kept up a light conversation with all of the Genins.
"Your cooking is fantastic, nee-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he stuffed his face with seconds, very intent on getting thirds if possible.
"Naruto is right, Hatake-san. It is delicious," Sakura agreed while she took another heap of the fried rice.
Beside them Sasuke just nodded before he continued to slurp the Miso soup with eggplants, one of Kakashi's favorite foods.
"Thank you, you three. Sakura-chan you can call me Shiori if you want. Oh and you are always welcome to drop by at any time and eat here," the black haired civilian assured them while she took a bite out of the Gyoza dumpling.
While the Genins had been occupied with washing up she had a quick conversation with her husband about their diet and Kakashi had agreed somewhat pained that it probably was a good idea to have them over as often as possible to check their calorie intake.
There went his safe haven from his obnoxious students.
"We couldn't…" Sakura tried to protest but her eyes had a hopeful shine in them, maybe like this she could avoid the confrontation with her mother about her increased food intake.
"Of course you can, it will also make things a lot easier because we will meet here from now on in the mornings. The training area and dojo are big enough for what I have planned to show you in the next few weeks. In the afternoons we will run missions like always," Kakashi added after he finished eating.
"Thanks Kakashi-sensei, Shiori-neechan!" Naruto exclaimed, surprisingly in a moderate voice, he seemed to have taken Kakashi's reprimand about loud noises in Hinako's vicinity to heart.
"… Thank you," Sasuke said while he stared at his empty plate, he wasn't sure what to make of this situation but his heart clenched slightly, he hadn't had homemade food for a very long time.
"This is very generous Shiori-san, Kakashi-sensei but isn't that going to strain your household budget?" Sakura asked worriedly.
She knew that groceries weren't that cheap, even if you bought them in bulk at the market and ninja seemed to need a lot more than civilians and she didn't want to become a burden for Kakashi-sensei and his wife.
Kakashi chuckled slightly while he reached over the table and ruffled his female student's hair, which elicited a slight blush from her; maybe the question had been a bit too personal. But to be honest she quite liked the fact that Kakashi-sensei was treating her so affectionately, her father was a lot cooler and didn't spend a lot of time with his only child and so Sakura grew up mostly under the overbearing thumb of her mother.
"Both Shiori and me earn enough to support you guys, don't worry," Kakashi's voice had a very warm undertone while he told his students this.
As a result all three of them blushed and looked down. Especially for Naruto and Sasuke this form of reassurance was something they had rarely received. Throughout his life Naruto only got it from the Hokage and Iruka-sensei, while Sasuke suddenly painfully missed his mother and loath he admit it, his brother.
"A-ano, you work Shiori-san?" Sakura asked tentatively.
The pink haired teenager found it a bit strange that her sensei's wife worked, Shiori was clearly a civilian and even more so she had a young child at home. Her own mother had been a stay-at-home-wife and later mother right from the beginning of her marriage and she still only took care of the household now that Sakura was already a Genin.
"Yes Sakura-chan, I own Mariko's tea house across from the stadium," Shiori explained kindly to the confused civilian born, she knew that married civilian women normally stayed at home and let their husband take care of them.
"O-oh… oh wow, the sweets there are really good!" the now excited thirteen year old exclaimed.
"Thank you," Shiori laughed before their conversation then changed to their favorite desserts.
While the two females talked animatedly about the sugary treats, Kakashi silently stood up and started to carry the plates to the kitchen, after a quick glance at each other Naruto and Sasuke followed his example.
"What are we going to do now, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked after they had filled up the newly acquired dishwasher, a new invention from Snow Country that had arrived a few months prior and was in hot demand in the ninja village right now.
"Well before we do anything else I will help you seal your notebooks so that only you can access them, leaving information like that lying around is just stupid and more than a bit dangerous. After that I thought that we could complete at least two D-Rank missions to practice your teamwork before you guys can go home," Kakashi answered.
Both adolescent males nodded at that before turning back to their pink haired teammate who was looking with sparkling eyes at Shiori, it seemed as if she had found a new role model. Kakashi felt some satisfaction at that, he really would have to investigate her home situation soon, but until then his wife would hopefully help him steer Sakura into the right direction. The girl wasn't stupid, far from it and she had her moments in which she was quite mature and insightful, but then those were destroyed by sudden bursts of immaturity that frankly flabbergasted Kakashi. He would have to keep watching her maybe this behavior had a reason.
The silver haired Jounin was ripped out of his thoughts when Hinako toddled closer to him and tiredly lifted her arms while yawning. He chuckled warmly while he carried her into the next room where her after lunch nap bed stood.
"Goodnight daddy," she mumbled tiredly, Hinako always swallowed parts of her words when she was close to sleep.
"Goodnight sweetheart," he answered her while he pulled the day blanket over her form and shaded the room.
All three of his Genin looked more or less fascinated while they watched him handle Hinako and then followed him as silently as possible out of the house and returned to the training area beside the dojo.
There Kakashi showed them the seal with which they could seal their notebook into a scroll and then added the signs for the blood security seal that was used by Tokubetsu Jounin and above.
"This seal is normally not shown to Genin because most of them don't need it. Your notebooks will contain a lot of information about yourself, so better safe than sorry in my opinion. It will take quite a bit more chakra than a normal seal, about three times as much but the price is definitely worth it. Sakura, Sasuke this will also help you increase your chakra capacity, the more often you use your chakra the bigger your reserves will get. Sakura I advise you to NOT reseal this book more often than four times a day, simply because you will need the rest of your chakra for training and missions. Sasuke fifteen times is okay, seventeen will push it," the silver haired Jounin further explained.
All three Genin nodded to what he was saying and then watched fascinated as the written Fuinjutsu texts vanished alongside their notebooks when they put their bloody finger in the middle and pushed chakra into it. Left behind was the curved word Seal.
All three Genin put their scrolls away before they turned to Kakashi to fulfill their daily quota of D-Rank missions.
They hadn't left the compound yet when Kakashi addressed his students once more, "I hope I don't have to tell you that the knowledge about my family has to remain between us."
All three teens looked at him confused before Sasuke's eyes widened and he asked tentatively, "Is that because of the kidnappings?"
"Yes. Just like you I was the last of my bloodline. No one of my enemies knows that I have a family. No one of my peers knows that I have a family," Kakashi said while he looked straight ahead, "Only the Hokage and a few of my closest friends and you three know about them, it's safer this way."
"Are kidnappings that common?" Sakura asked shocked.
"Yes, even the big clans like the Hyuuga, Aburame and Uchiha had countless attempts throughout the years," Kakashi said while closing the gate behind them.
The Jounin than looked around and tested the area for hidden chakra signatures, nobody was around… good.
"Is that why people were keeping an eye on me?" Sasuke finally interrupted the stunned silence that hung between them for two streets.
"Yes, well it was a mix of things, protection from kidnappings from other villages, from Itachi but also to make sure that you aren't poisoned, that you didn't commit suicide or start killing people," Kakashi said somewhat airy.
Naruto and Sakura gaped at their dark haired teammate while said Uchiha just took it all in before hhning unsurely.
"So no talking?" Sakura asked desperately to change the topic once more.
"No talking," Kakashi confirmed dead serious before entering the mission office.
XXXXXXX
It was interesting how a few explanations changed so much in his Genins team dynamic, Kakashi thought idly while he slowly made his way to the meeting with Iruka at the Academy. They were still not working together as well as he hoped but at least they were trying. He would have to watch if they kept this improvement up or fell back into their old habits in the next few days and weeks.
With a tired sigh Kakashi entered the building and searched for Iruka-sensei's chakra signature, he had asked the chunin for a meeting after collecting the second D-Rank for his team.
With a lazy walk he entered the classroom on his left and found the Academy teacher bent over his desk, working his way through what looked like mission reports.
"Iruka-sensei," he greeted lazily.
"Oh, Kakashi-sensei… you are… right on time," the Chunin said somewhat lost.
"Oh really, I thought I was too early," the silver haired Jounin answered nonchalant.
He was perfectly aware that he was right on time and he wasn't happy about this but he had a date with a storybook and his cute daughter later on, so he had to hurry. But there was no way he was ever going to admit this to the younger man in front of him.
"… Eh right," Iruka-sensei sweatdropped and tried to regain his composure. "So what did you want to talk about?" he finally asked curious.
"All my students, but mostly Sakura and Naruto," Kakashi said and became a lot more serious.
"Is there something wrong?" Iruka asked concerned, his students were important to him, especially Naruto.
"Yes, Sakura-chan had no idea how much a Genin needed to eat and even dieted because her mother told her she would get fat if she ate too much," came Kakashi's reply while he concentrated on the other's body language.
Iruka nearly fell off his chair when he heard that. "WHAT? But, but… the parents were told in the first year about this. It is in the curriculum, along with an optional dietary plan…" Iruka said aghast.
"That's what I thought too," Kakashi said somewhat relieved, he had always thought that Umino Iruka was one of the more competent Chunin and he was glad that he hadn't been mistaken.
"I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei. I can't tell you a lot about their education through the first three years. I got them when they entered their fourth year after Kirihara-sensei died during a mission," Iruka further explained.
"Now this is very interesting, can you tell me what they should have learned during those three years?" Kakashi asked curious, he had a vague suspicion.
"Sure. I can even give you the syllabus," the scarred Chunin agreed and fished out a stack of papers out of one of his drawers.
With a curious look Kakashi started to flip through the stack of papers and his eyebrow rose and rose. The written out curriculum wasn't that different from the one he had and all the gaping holes that he found in his students education happened mostly throughout the first three years.
"This is very interesting," Kakashi finally concluded.
"Did you find something?" Iruka asked curious.
"Since I got my team I noticed certain knowledge gaps. Gaps that all three of them had not only Naruto… and I have been wondering for some time now," Kakashi explained.
The silver haired Jounin then put the syllabuses for the first three years under Iruka's nose and pointed out certain topics that he had found missing in his kids education.
"Most of them should have been taught in the first three years. Especially the do's and don'ts about jutsus. I had to EXPLAIN to my three thirteen year old Genin why Genin normally weren't allowed to do Jounin level jutsus and the repercussions of not heeding this advice," his incredulousness shined through his normal aloofness.
Iruka looked sick while it dawned to him what had happened. "B-but they have been USING jutsus already when I took them over… I just presumed… oh god."
"And because a third of your students came from clans and most likely knew most of these things through their families it didn't shine up so glaringly. But for the one's from civilian families..."
"… were left behind and that's probably why so many failed the Genin and Team test. I think I'm going to be sick! Kirihara-sensei didn't teach only one class… if he did that with more than one generation, or if it was more than one sensei that was so irresponsible…" Iruka's face turned chalk white; they could have sent unprepared children to their death if they hadn't already done it.
"We need to tell the Hokage about this. This is a sabotage on the shinobi forces and could seriously hurt not only this graduation year but also Konoha's reputation," Kakashi now said dead serious, "Who is in charge of the Sensei-Academy?"
"Noboue-sensei but he is nothing more than a face for Elder Danzo. Everybody knows that if you want to become a sensei you better not have pissed off Elder Danzo," Iruka said with distaste he didn't like the fact that the system was so corrupt.
"Interesting, that's… very interesting," the silver haired Jounin said before turning back to the curriculum and pointing out the knowledge gaps to Iruka-sensei.
Shiori would have to read to Hinako today, Kakashi thought somewhat mournfully before concentrating back on the stacks of paper Iruka brought from the records room. They would be working through the night to present everything to Sarutobi-sama on the next morning.