Arc I: Cultivation
Chapter IV: Bukijutsu
Summary: A year before they were set to graduate, Kakashi takes on Naruto and Sasuke as his students, Tenten joins them as the third member. Immediately after becoming a team, Kakashi starts teaching them, as efficiently as can be expected of one of Konoah's bests.
"The Village Hidden in the Sky waged three wars. After the first one it was still powerful. After the second it was still habitable. After the third it could not longer be found."
- Burehito, advisor of the 32th Daimyō of the Land of Fire
"That looks very good Tenten, through you have to correct this line." Kakashi explained to the young Kunoichi. He had started educating his Genin on the basics of sealing a few evenings ago and this afternoon they had started to create their first own seals, and while they could only produce smoke tags, this was already more than most Chūnin would be able to do.
Tenten beamed at the praise and instantly begun to create the seal again, focusing her attention on correctly drawing the lines Kakashi had pointed out. She truly had done better than Kakashi would have expected, he himself was more skilled than most Jōnin, something that was expect given his rank, but Fūinjutsu was one of the things he couldn't claim to be a genius in. Truthfully without Minato-sensei he would have most likely never amounted to anything in the field.
"Look Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted excited, presenting his first attempt at sealing, it was… odd. Kakashi knew that it would do what it was supposed to do but it was as if Naruto was using a completely different language from the standard procedure Konoha used. He had only seen one other person do this, and this was exactly the cue he had waited for. "Very unconventional, but it does what it should do nonetheless, though I should have expected that much." The silver-haired Jōnin had to restrain himself from smiling all three of them had noted Kakashi's "slip up" and were now intensely staring at him.
"Uhm, what, why?" Naruto stuttered out, with barley contained hope in his voice.
"Because your mother was one of the best Fūinjutsu users Konoha ever had." Kakashi answered.
"My Mother?" the blonde asked, tears swelling up in his eyes.
"Kushina Uzumaki, the wife of my sensei, an amazing Kunoichi, she was called the Red Death and Uzu's Flame and Kiri's Bane , she was so feared that no one could know about your connection, that's why you weren't given her surname. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner." and Kakashi really was, it had been one of his demands, yes demand, from the Hokage that Naruto would be told. It was borderline psychotic to demand something from your superior who could have you executed any moment he wanted, who could do so himself with ease, but Kakashi would sooner die than to prolong Naruto's suffering. Fortunately for Kakashi, who really didn't want to die if it could be prevented, the Hokage was a lot more open to the idea than he had suspected. He guessed that the old man was even happy that Kakashi would be the one to deal with the questions Naruto would undoubtedly ask, like why he wasn't told sooner.
The ex-Anbu stopped his thought process when he saw that Tenten and Sasuke were leaving the campfire to give their teammate some privacy.
And so Kakashi continued telling Naruto all kind of stories about Kushina, enough that the boy was satisfied with a "someone else will tell you about your father", when Naruto asked. The joy in Naruto's eyes about the discovery of his mother would have been worth the Sandaime's wrath in Kakashi's opnion.
"Wasn't she in the hospital when I was born? Why did she die?" Naruto suddenly asked.
"Your mother was the second Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi" Kakashi answered electing a gaps of surprise from the boy. "Because a Jinchūriki seals weaken during childbirth special measure were taken to make sure the Kyūbi wouldn't break free, we don't know what and how it exactly happened, but somehow this was discovered. A man attacked the safehouse you were born in, the only thing Sandaime-sama was able to unravel was that you had been taken hostage for a short amount of time and that whoever attacked, freed the Kyūbi and commanded it to attack. We don't know who he was because the Yondaime's technique obliterated his head, but he was able to tell that attacker was the only one responsible before he died."
o0o0o
On the next day Kakashi had a grin on his face that instantly filled his students with fear, that just couldn't mean anything good.
"Good morning sensei, can we start with the usual warm up or do you have something else in mind?" Tenten asked visibly unease, she regretted asking in the first place because her sensei's expression seemed to become even more sadistic.
"No, no, Tenten. Today we will run a few test runs."
"What kind of test runs?" Sasuke asked worried.
"The informative kind. Now come here so I can deactivate your seals, afterwards we begin the physical assessment.
True to his words, the four spent the whole morning with various strength, speed, flexibility, endurance tests alongside of various Shurikenjutsu tests. So much that they were completely spend at the time they began to eat lunch.
"So how did we do, sensei?" Naruto asked rather curious about his results.
"All of you are in rather good physical form, most of your stats have improved drastically from the last assessment you had in the academy, especially you Naruto."
The blonde puffed his chest out and was about to begin his boasting, but was beaten to the punch by Sasuke who flatly said that he had the most room for improvement. Naruto quickly deflated and Kakashi would have sworn that, for a moment, a rain cloud materialized about the boy.
"So, what's for the afternoon sensei?" Tenten asked eager, feeling rather relaxed after the lunch.
"Next we are going to test your Chakra Capacity, would you be so kind to push your chakra into this", he said and handed each of them a piece of paper that began to change his appearance in various degrees.
"Sasuke do you see this," Kakashi asked an pointed at the stain that had appeared on his paper, it was rather small, only covering about a tenth of the paper, but unlike Tenten's, which covered at least a sixth, if not more, was clearly distinguishable as a circle, through it had rather undefined edges. "You have the smallest Chakra Capacity but the best control over it. Tenten," he said and point at the mark that looked more like a square than a circle, "has more Chakra than you but less control. Naruto… well we can't see the shape, but if I had to guess it is some kind of blob."
Sasuke bit his lip, not directly angry that the other had more chakra, they were his teammates and he had the better control, but that changed nothing at the fact that it was only a tenth.
"Don't beat yourself up Sasuke, you have the best control." Naruto tired to encourage his teammate and even got an, barley visible, smile of gratitude from his teammate.
"Maa, you really shouldn't. Those papers are made for Special Jōnin, or better B-Rank ninja, while there are some that drastically fall out of average, most cover roughly a half of the paper and only have a shape that is a bit clearer than yours Sasuke." He said and to proof his point he pushed his chakra into the third paper, resulting in a clear circle that was a bit beyond average. What his Genin didn't need to know, it was fun messing with them and their expression if someone ultimately started talking about him after he had trained them for a longer time would be way worth the effort, was that he, himself, was actually using paper designed for those that were actually considered S-Rank ninja in the village intern filing system instead of the rank they had in the bingo books, those after all were given based on facts like fame, threat level to the security of the village and if they were actually wanted, next to their actual skill.
"So, Naruto has more chakra than you?" Tenten asked bewildered. "Yes, I would suspect four times as much as I do." Kakashi said, again Naruto also had the privilege of paper for S-Rank Shinobi, Kakashi wanted to see if it would give an actual measurement on that scalar.
"But how?!" all three exclaimed in union.
"The Uzumaki are renowed to have abnormal Chakra, the have more Chakra than most, you could called it their Kekkei Genkai" he explained. "Now for the last test," Kakashi said and lead them to a cage in which a bird was that he had captured yesterday. "I want you to tell me how often he flaps with his wings in a minute, ready?"
He got three nods and pulled up the cloth the had kept the bird in the dark.
"Uhm, 231?" Naruto asked, truthfully the blonde had lost count after three, likewise Tenten didn't have a clue either and just guessed. Sasuke thanks to his Sharingan that even if he hadn't activated increased his recognition skill, was able to pinpoint the number with an accuracy of only 7 flaps to few.
"We will do this sort of test again in the future, but now I have got another surprise of you."
All three of them groaned, Kakashi's surprise usually were rather unpleasant. "Uhh, my cute little Genin don't like my surprise and would rather not start on Bukijutsu (Weapons Technique), I'm hurt." Kakashi said with a fake sob. He was a bit unnerved because Tenten practically started whooping and jumping like Naruto when he said Bukijutsu.
"So why do we use weapons in combat." Kakashi asked prompting Tenten to rattle down her thoughts instantly, talking about the pros of a longer reach, that they could be used without chakra, that the looked super cool and a whole bunch of other reasons. Kakashi had to interrupt her, otherwise they could have spent a few hours to listening to Tenten. "Yes, yes, Tenten very good. Whatever weapon you prefer to use is up to you, but no Genin of mine will be insufficient at Bukijutsu. The most likely most important field for us will be Kenjutsu (Sword Technique), in addition to that we will have some Bōjutsu(Staff Technique), Kyūjutsu (Bow Technique), Tessenjutsu (Iron-Fan Technique), Kusarigamajutsu (Sickle and Chain Technique), Naginatajutsu (Naginata Technique) and… well we will go about every weapon inside here" Kakashi said and cut his listing of weapons short and instead pulled out a sealing scroll from his vest.
"If you go on missions you will come across various things that could be an advantage for you in the future, like weapons, remember that you should always use any opportunity to gain such an advantage as long as Konoha or one of your allies doesn't suffer from it. This can make the difference between live and death, and even if something may seem gruesome to you, that shouldn't stop you from gaining something that could help you and your comrades in the future."
With this very important lessons told, Kakashi began to educate his Genin about all kind of weapons, their pros-and-cons, their usage, their history, and all kind of other stuff. And while his Genin always paid much attention to Kakashi's lectures, Naruto had learned early that doing not was not a good idea, they seemed to be enchanted by the weapons, especially Tenten.
o0o0o
Since… that day, people had always told Sasuke to forget his revenge, because it would destroy him. He never bothered to tell them to go fuck themselves, because in his mind that was the only possible answer, the answer that everyone should already be aware of. Kakashi had been the first to not do so. He not once told him to give up on the revenge or that it would bring him no closure. And that simple fact bothered Sasuke more than he would ever admit. Despite his friendly and lazy attitude, the Uchiha was aware that Kakashi was one of the best ninja in the village, he didn't know his exact track record, but the small clues, his father had talked about so long ago, were painfully visible. But it was also obvious that it wasn't a lack of interest that had kept Kakashi silent, nor was that the copy-Nin believed in revenge. Hell even Sasuke could admit that it wasn't the healthiest thing to do, though he cared little for the long-term effects on himself.
Kakashi knew that revenge would destroy someone and he cared for Sasuke, still he did nothing. All of this only left Sasuke with two possible explanation, that frankly confused him. Either the silver-haired man believed that he would overcome it himself, or that he wasn't looking for revenge. And again this claims would seems ridiculous from everyone, but Kakashi had proven himself to be a master of the human mind again and again.
So what were his feelings?
o0o0o
"Aim, keep steady and don't make a sound," Kakashi advised. Sasuke took a deep breath and let go. The arrow hit the deer directly into the eye, an impressive shot considering the distance and the fact that it was Sasuke's first hunt.
The Uchiha, much to Tenten's annoyance, had proven to be an incredible talented hunter, or to be precise he was way better at Kyujutsu than both his teammates.
"Sensei, we got one." Naruto came barging into the clearing, proudly presenting a dead rabbit to Kakashi, it reminded him of a cat bringing someone a mouse for a moment.
While Sasuke was good at arching, Tenten was rather skilled with traps so Kakashi wasn't surprised when she came into the clearing with another two rabbits in her hands, with a proud expression on her face.
"Good work," the silver-haired Jōnin congratulated them, "Now let's get back to the camp, so I can show you how to prepare game to be eaten."
Kakashi nodded in approval at the excited expression of his students, while skinning a deer was rather bloody, dried meat was a good food source, and some stew or other sorts of freshly cooked meat would be a good reward for them. While many ninja's tended to practice those survival skills only partly, most would always have enough rations in storage seals, Kakashi would be damned if his team wouldn't be able to survive any given situation, including eating if they were completely out of resources. Maybe he would go over crafting basic weapons for those rare cases tomorrow.
o0o
Kakashi had to hide an smile at Sasuke's prodigal use of the Iron-Fans, ironically enough the one with the lowest affinity to wind, considering that he had a primary affinity for lightning and a secondary for fire, both elements that clashed with wind, had taken best to using the weapon that main purpose was in canceling Wind Release Techniques. Though Kakashi didn't really saw this as bad, after all his not telling his Genin which affinity they had, actually had a purpose. The copy cat had the intention that they would be at least proficient with D-Rank, maybe even some C-Rank Techniques of each basic element before they could start to really apply themselves on their main affinity. Sasuke would have the most difficult with wind and Naruto, who was the one with the wind affinity, would most likely be able to throw around powerful without the help of any conductor anyways.
"Maa, Maa my cute little ducklings you are doing very well, we will make a pause now to talk about your roles on the team."
"What do you mean sensei?" Naruto asked curious.
"A normal ninja cell consists of four Chūnin that are proficient in Taijutsu and a mix of Genjutsu and Ninjutsu, now tell me why might I think that this won't be sufficient for you three."
"Because we are the most awesome team ever," Naruto boasted.
"Maa, but why should the most awesome team ever do things differently and how?"
"Well, sensei, if your training up to this point is any indication you want all three of us to be somewhat proficient in every ninja skill. Now judging from us three Tenten will most likely be better in Bukijutsu, Naruto in Elemental Manipulation and I in Genjutsu. That would be the best fit not only for our preferences but also our predisposition. Though that would leave us without a Taijutsu specialist between the three of us."
"Very well said Sasuke, but you got one thing wrong" the Jōnin started with a sadistic expression, "I expect all of you to be Taijutsu specialists on top of your other specialization," he finished in a happy tone, while simultaneously pushing chakra in their training weights to make their training more efficient.
"Now, chop chop," Kakashi said and started to throw various shuriken at them.
o0o
After Kakashi had them running a few laps he started questioning them on things he had explained, why normally this would bore the three, it wasn't any better than a regular academy lesson, the thrown weapons that would come their way every time the slacked of in the various sit-ups, push-ups or whatever else Kakashi had do them.
"How many great nations are there?"
"Four." Naruto said before quickly dodging a kunai, "I mean five, the Land of Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth and Water."
"Good. How big is the Land of Fire?"
"Approximately 540.000km with more than 20 million inhabitants." Tenten answered.
"Correct. What are the six ranks a Konoha nin can achieve?"
"Genin. Chūnin. Elite Chūnin. Special Jōnin. Jōnin. Elite Jōnin" Sasuke answered between Sit-ups.
"Why aren't ANBU or medic-Nin not considered ranks?"
"Because they are occupations ninjas of every rank can fulfill." Sasuke answered
"What are the specifications, qualifications, duties and privileges of Genin?"
"Genin are mostly E to D-Rank in strength, there are around 1.300 Genin most of the time in Konoha. around 100 are tutored by Jōnin, the rest are lead by Elite Chūnin Captains. Most Genin advanced to Chūnin after four years of service, only around 200 stay Genin for a longer time. While nearly everyone can become a Chūnin, further advancement aren't nearly as common. Approximately five percent of the active Jōnin haven't been taught by a Jōnin." Sasuke said.
"When Genin taught by Jōnin are so effective why aren't more people taught by them?"
"That was tried, but the main reason for this is that the people that are taught by Jōnin are carefully handpicked long before graduation."
"Correct. The same for Chūnin."
"Chūnin are the main body of the military, most have a C-Rank with a few occasional D or B-Ranks. Chūnin unlike other ranks don't work in teams but cells, they are essential the same, mostly three Chūnin lead by an Elite Chūnin, but named differently to minimize the possible confusion in sorting. Elite Chūnin have mostly the same skills, duties etc. as Chūnin but are allowed to lead teams." Naruto said.
"Good. Jōnin?"
"Around 400 Special Jōnin. Most B-Rank and some A-Rank. Can teach Genin teams if they have a matching specialization. Like Elite Chūnin, they have nearly the same privileges and duties as the normal rank. The pay is the same and they can be in command of one or more cells of Chūnin." Tenten pressed out between deep breaths, trying to rest for a moment. Before she could continue a Senbon were flying her way, making her start his exercises again.
"Around a hundred Jōnin, nearly all of them A-Rank, it's expected that a Jōnin has knowledge in nearly every field, therefore most of the, more than average ninja, make it to the rank of special Jōnin, because they aren't capable to become full-fledged Jōnin. They exclusively vote the Jōnin-Commander and are, despite their low number, the group with the most influence on village matters." Sasuke overtook for the exhausted Tenten, who had her hands full with dodging the flying Needles.
"And Elite Jōnin?" Kakashi asked
"You haven't told us anything Sensei," Naruto defended his Teammates. Kakashi smiled and answered, "True. Konoha only has three Elite Jōnin at the moment, four if you count Hokage-sama, all of them are S-Rank, they have some privileges most ninja can only dream of, but that's for another time. You can stop now."
All three collapsed on the ground, totally exhausted. After five minutes Kakashi kicked one of them, he thought it could be Sasuke but you couldn't really tell because they were laying in a heap, "Now we continue with the departments," Tenten was in the process of recalling the things Kakashi had explained, before the silver haired Jōnin gave them a sweet smile "and get back to working out."
#1 Shuriken: Despite what many think, Shuriken aren't an exclusive name for throwing stars, but for most thrown weapons, meaning needles, knives, etc.. For convenience sake I'm simply going to call throwing stars Shuriken and vice versa. This only doesn't apply if I'm writing about Shurikenjutsu in that case I mean every category of throwable weapons.
#2 Jōnin: If I'm talking about Jōnin as a group that can mean Special Jōnin, regular ones and Elite Jōnin. If I'm talking bout a specific character having the rank of Jōnin, the character is a regular Jōnin.