So just that you know, Sakura's parents are NOT Canon.
To InARealPickle,
…, what should I say to this? … Hhm? Good for you? You don't like my story than go ahead and DON'T read it!
On another note Nyght elf has asked me if she could use my ideas (Academy situation/ Danzo) for her story Blood ties and I gave her permission. :D
Chapter 50
Hokage office
"Put Anko also on the team." Hiruzen said after reading through the list of potential candidates for the new command of the Root division.
",… Mitarashi Anko?" Inoichi said thoughtfully while he recalled everything he knew about the kunoichi and subordinate before slowly beginning to smile, that could work.
"Yes, she has proven to be more than loyal to Konoha and now that the seal has been removed there is nothing in the way of a promotion. Though that will probably have to wait, first she will need to rebuild her chakra control before she can be tested. So she is off the active duty list anyway which makes her a very convenient choice. She can do paperwork and give orders without chakra control, furthermore this is will be a part of her promotion test, if she shows enough skill in leading I will arrange a fight against a Jounin and promote her as soon as she has her control back." the Hokage explained.
"Very well." Inoichi said.
Secretly the Yamanaka was more than pleased that Anko was finally receiving her due. She had been an invaluable member of T&I for years on end but all attempts on both his and Ibiki's side to promote her had been shut down as soon as they had been mentioned. Even after all these years people had concerns that she would defect because of the brand on her neck, well it was gone now, nobody would be able to say anything substantial against the promotion.
"Good, now did you find somebody to be Danzo for the next months maybe even years?" the Hokage enquired while checking off another point of his list.
The Sarutobi clan head was pleased of the fast work his subordinates were doing and that the pace at which decisions were reached had picked up, additionally everything was happening without the usual frustrating arguing and blocking.
Hiruzen was now seriously asking himself what he had been doing wrong until now; his subordinates were clearly not at fault at the lack of speed concerning decisions. Oh right,… Danzo,… and now that he thought about it also Homura and Koharu. He loved his teammates, he really did,… they had been with him since he was a young boy but they were getting detrimental for the bureaucratic process because they always argued, no matter what and frankly Hiruzen had enough. It was time for a new Elder council and maybe even a new Hokage. He was sick and tired of all the scheming and crises happening around him; it was clearly long past time to put somebody else on the Hokage seat.
He should be spoiling Konohamaru and Naruto and leave the politicking to the younger generation!
"Yes, he is a Root agent that was trained to be Danzo's double, he already went through every mind scanning jutsu we have available and he is clean and just like the others fanatically loyal to Konoha, he will play Danzo for as long as he has to." Inoichi confirmed while he thought about that particular Root agent.
The male called Tera was in his mid twenties and apparently used a technique similar to Tsunade's transformation technique to play Danzo's part; he even had picked up Danzo's speech pattern and thought processes to better emulate the Elder's behavior.
"Good, now let's talk about my teammates. I have a great deal of affection for those two, they have kept me alive during the last three wars but I'm not sure if I can trust them concerning Konoha's bureaucracy, I want somebody to keep an eye on them, preferably Root." The Sandaime stated with a grave face.
"Of course, Hokage-sama. Danzo had the same idea, we have found a file for each on them and what they are up to,… but it is relative minor in comparison to Danzo and none of it goes directly against Konoha's interest or subjects, as much as I would like to interrogate them we have bigger fishes to fry, especially now that the Chunin exams will take place in two months." the Yamanaka-clan head answered while putting two files in front of his leader.
Sarutobi just nodded in approval before saying, "You are right Inoichi, very well what have you in mind."
"Well Hokage-sama,…" the blonde shinobi said with while he slowly started to smile.
Inoichi and Shikaku had come to the conclusion that the nepotism and corruption needed to be brought to an end as fast as possible for Konoha to return to its former strength and he had just the right idea for that.
XXXXXX
Rumors about a thwarted infiltration hit the shinobi circles within an hour after Danzo had been executed. When Homura and Koharu stood in his office just minutes after the information had hit the Jounin office Hiruzen had to applaud the T&I division for the clever distribution of the false information. This made it a lot easier to find those ninja that gave his old teammates heads up.
"Hiruzen, what is this that we hear about an attack on Danzo?" Koharu wanted to know after the door had closed behind the two.
"Ah yes, that. Please sit down,… we have a lot to discuss." Hiruzen said in a grave voice.
"What is going on Hiruzen?" Homura now asked confused.
"Things have come to my attention that couldn't be tolerated anymore. Danzo was committing high treason on the scale of Orochimaru, if not worse." the Sandaime then explained while he looked gravely at his teammates.
Both of them stiffened first in outrage then in horror, another traitor in the Leaf and this time it was somebody they had trusted implicitly to have the best of Konoha in mind.
The Sarutobi clan head simply continued without letting the two other elders come to word, "I had him executed after the T&I division broke him but this will be kept from most of Konoha's population we really don't need that kind of tumult right before the Chunin exams. Now there are some things that we have to discuss. Be assured that I won't tolerate your unchecked interference anymore, your advice is noted and considered but what I say in the end goes and there will be no interference behind my back anymore, no matter what you think is the best. We recently found out that the Uchiha rebellion was orchestrated by Danzo to get his hands on their eyes. It seems like I really can't trust anyone but myself, not even you,... Don't even think about trying to deny it, the T&I division has informed me about some very interesting things and believe me there WILL be consequences!"
Both Koharu and Homura listened stunned while Hiruzen laid down the law and could only nod stiffly before they were more or less thrown out of the office. They hadn't seen their old teammate in such a mood since the last Great Shinobi war.
Hospital
"Kakashi? I need a favor." Asuma said after the nurse that had checked in on him had left the room once more.
"Hhm?" came the Hatake's reply.
He had already visited Anko in the T&I division and other than being frustrated about the amount of paperwork she was doing astonishingly well. Their encounter had turned slightly awkward on both sides when the snake summoner had out of the blue hugged him before hemming and hawing and hiding behind her desk. Had this happened a few years ago Kakashi probably would have had no idea how to handle that and more than likely avoided the purple haired woman for some time. Now though he simply pushed his embarrassment aside, Shiori would not be happy if he somehow upset her friend just because he felt awkward. Instead he had nodded at her seriously and told her that she was welcome, after that he had left as fast as possible.
"My team is falling behind in training and missions with every day that I'm in the hospital and Shikamaru and Chouji will probably use it to laze off even more,... would you take over their training? It's only for a week until I can move around again." the smoker continued.
Kakashi sighed before considering it for a moment and then nodded, it wasn't like he had a good excuse other than being lazy, "Right, I will add your kids to mine."
"Thank you." Asuma said relieved.
"Don't worry about it Asuma, it isn't like you are dumping them on me without a good reason." the silver haired Jounin said with a slightly sadistic smile before he turned to leave.
"Please don't break them." the Sarutobi called jokingly after his colleague.
"Hhm,… we will see." Kakashi answered amused over his shoulder.
Hatake compound
With the Danzo situation taken care of Kakashi could finally concentrate back on teaching his ragtag group things that would probably save their lives. This morning he had begun to incorporate chakra control exercises in their routine. To his surprise Sakura had turned out to be more than exceptionally talented at chakra control.
Of course he had had an inkling that hers would be better than the boys but that was more because of her smaller reserves and the fact that her chakra control had been noted in her Academy profile. Still, the small pink haired girl was already working on Water Walking on Shiori's koi pond unlike the boys who were still struggling with Tree Walking. On a side note he really hoped that she would master it quickly and NOT accidently kill of any of Shiori's koi, his wife wouldn't be happy about this.
His thoughts returned back to his team, thankfully he had not been able to detect any kind of bad feelings between the three because of their various talents in chakra control or other ninja arts. For a short amount of time Kakashi had played with the thought of motivating the three with a small rivalry but then had quickly dismissed this thought. Sakura was only playing confident and the rejection of her teammates would only hurt her growing process, Sasuke had a well hidden inferior complex and would take it as a sign that he wasn't good enough in comparison to his elder brother and lastly Naruto, the knucklehead would probably just become unfocused.
Shaking his head inwardly Kakashi was glad that he had dodged this bulled, had he known his students even a little less this could have created a giant mess that would have been a right chore to fix. Instead he gave them a common goal to motivate them, the silver haired Jounin had promised them that he would begin to develop their main element after all three had mastered both chakra exercises. Kakashi didn't think that it would hurt them to experiment under supervision, the three had become a lot more focused and cohesive and just like with his ninken he planned to reward that kind of behavior.
Coming out of his thoughts Kakashi called the three Genin over and smiled at their sweaty and red faces, seeing them working so hard was surprisingly satisfying,… and funny now that he thought about it.
„So, my cute little students." Kakashi said while he sat down beside the three panting Genin.
As an answer all three of them groaned, they knew their sensei now well enough to fear sentences that started like this.
"Mou, I haven't even said anything yet." the silver haired Jounin pouted to which he just received three glares, "We will have to meet at Training ground three for the next week."
"What? Why?" Naruto pouted.
He liked spending his time at Kakashi's home, it made him feel like he belonged somewhere.
"Because Team Ten is going to join us for the next few days and I don't particular want them to meet Shiori and Hinako." the Hatake explained.
"Why that?" Naruto curiously wanted to know.
"Asuma-sensei was hurt yesterday and I promised to take care of them until he is released from the hospital. And I don't trust them right now."
"That's Ino-pig's Team." Sakura suddenly realized.
"Hah that means Shikamaru and Chouji. Good luck at getting them to move sensei!" Naruto laughed gleefully.
"Don't worry Naruto; I have a few motivational techniques that will animate those two." Their sensei stated cheerfully before continuing to speak, "Well I think you guys had enough time to catch your breath, let's start with missions."
All three Genin sighed again before getting up to follow their Team Leader, behind his back they were trading excited and downright mischievous glances, Team Ten had no idea what they were in for. Since Kakashi had started to take their training seriously they had been doing nothing else but eat, sleep and train. Their sensei had turned out to be a hardass with pretty creative training ideas.
XXXXX
Team Seven completed the two D-Rank missions Kakashi had picked out for them at the same time relatively quick but it was already late in the afternoon and so Kakashi dismissed his two male students before turning to Sakura.
"You have been growing by leaps and bounds since becoming my Genin Sakura; I want you to know that I'm proud of you." Kakashi told the pink haired girl warmly.
Said kunoichi's eyes lit up and she blushed a bit at the praise, "Thank you Kakashi-sensei." was her shy answer.
"We are going to visit your parents now." The silver haired Jounin then stated neutrally.
"I don't think that is necessary sensei." Sakura said with wide eyes while she tried to find a reason for this NOT to happen.
"Oh but I do Sakura-chan, I want to know why your parents are starving you, intentionally or not." the Jounin stated firmly before putting his hand on her shoulder.
"You don't have to live with them after this conversation." Sakura whispered quietly.
With two hand motions Kakashi gently spun the girl beside him so that she was looking him directly into the eyes, "Sakura I don't think you have really realized what a Genin promotion is. You are considered an adult and have every right to leave your parents house should they become unbearable… Furthermore do you really think Shiori and I would just let you fend for yourself?"
"…, just please, they are my parents,…" Sakura then pleaded.
"I will try to keep it civil should they do this intentionally,… do you believe it is intentional?" Kakashi asked curiously before moving her along.
"I,… I don't know. I want to say no, but what if,… they have never liked my decision to become a kunoichi." Sakura tried to explain, her voice becoming smaller and smaller to the end.
"Hhm, we will see." Kakashi said while he gave Sakura's shoulder a short but reassuring squeeze.
The two arrived at a row house in the suburbs of Konoha; the house looked just like the rest on that street. They were greeted by the door by a white blonde woman in her late thirties or early forties; she had green eyes a tad darker than Sakura's and a smile on her face that was clearly artificial.
"Oh, Sakura I didn't know you were bringing a guest,… is something wrong?" the civilian woman asked curious.
"Mum this is Kakashi-sensei, Hatake Kakashi-sensei this is my mother Haruno Hanako." Sakura just introduced the two.
"It's nice to meet you Haruno-san." Kakashi stated with a smile that was just as fake as Haruno-san's.
"Likewise Hatake-sensei." the woman greeted back, her smile had become somewhat strained.
"I would like to talk to you and your husband Haruno-san." The silver haired Jounin continued uncaring that he made the woman in front of hi uncomfortable.
"Oh,… well you are in luck, Koichi is at home early today. Please come in." Hanako said before she hastily retreated into her home.
"Thank you." Kakashi said pleasantly before he followed his student inside her childhood home.