Indra smirked. Kakashi was following him. Likely on the Hokage's orders. And he was being stealthy, but Indra knew his former Sensei's chakra signature very, very well. The man couldn't hide from him. Not anymore. Not unless he suppressed his chakra signature entirely, and even then.

Shaking his head, he turned back to his current task of preparing for his mission to find and completely obliterate Zetsu. For the first time since he'd come back in time, he walked through the market without bothering to use a henge. So many people just stared at him as he passed by or approached to buy things. He was, very obviously, an Uchiha after all.

This was just so… amusing.

Once he got home, he really would have to do more of this trolling.

(His Kakashi had created a monster, he suspected, and was thoroughly looking forward to the expressions on everyone's faces when they realized.)

(The Rokudaime would never be safe from Sakura's fists again.)

He was glad he made a habit of carrying enough of Konoha's money around, and that it was good even in this day and age. Otherwise, he would have had to resort to less… ethical resource management. He didn't want to steal from his younger self, though (even if the brat had more than enough money), so he decided to be frugal and bought the supplies he would need and only those before heading back to the training ground he'd more or less made his home base in this time period.

About half-way there, he decided to get the necessary confrontation out of the way. Knowing very well that Kakashi wouldn't give him the time of day if he called out or tried to approach a confrontation nicely, he simply shunshin-ed right behind where he knew his former Sensei to be.

"Yo," he said as soon as he landed, then pulled a kunai to block Kakashi's, which had been aimed for his neck. Eh, you surprise a ninja, you had to be prepared. He would have done the same thing.

Kakashi's one eye widened in surprise when he saw who it was, then narrowed. Oh, so Indra would have to deal with serious Kakashi. Well, more serious than normal in any case. He knew what his sensei was capable of when it got down to the wire, and while he still knew he could win, that didn't mean it would be a clean or easy win. This was Hatake Kakashi, after all, even if he wasn't the sixth Hokage yet.

True to form, the former ANBU captain didn't so much as utter a sound, simply staring at Indra warily.

"Here," Indra said, holding up a scroll and then opening it to show that it wasn't booby trapped before closing it and throwing it to the other man.

Kakashi caught it, looking slightly more puzzled and wary than before. "What's this?"

"The training schedule I had for the kids. Also some projections, ideas to explore for each of them and a little bit about all of them from the future. I also have some notes about Kyuubi on there, under the name 'Kurama' as an FYI."

Instead of opening the scroll, Kakashi made a kage bunshin and handed it over. The bunshin took it and began to read while the original kept his eye on the time-traveler.

Well, it was good to know that he could still be sharp when he needed to be. Ninja paranoia never really went away, after all.

The two shinobi spent the next few minutes in silence. The kage bunshin read the scroll quickly and after re-wrapping it, tossed it to the original and dispelled. Kakashi caught the scroll again without taking his eye off Indra and asked, "You put all that together in a week?"

Indra shrugged, "I've had a lot of time to think about it and a lot of foundational information on the three of us."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed again, but he didn't say anything.

Indra shrugged and turned to walk out of the bushes the silver-haired man had been hiding in.

"You don't have as much listed for Sasuke."

Indra paused and looked over his shoulder. "He has training resources. Have him go through the Uchiha manuals and scrolls. Those are all open to him and while he'll likely need some guidance to learn them correctly, he should be able to figure out what he needs to learn on his own. Just… keep an eye on him. He can be… overly-ambitious.

"The other two, though, don't have nearly as much when it comes to accessible material. You are their best resource and you need to realize that. They can't just find things on their own. Not if you want them to be as good as they need to be to not die before they're sixteen."

Kakashi snorted. "You all survived, according to you."

Indra shook his head. "Barely. And for the most part, I wouldn't attribute that to you." He shrugged. It was harsh but true. "All three of us had to find other teachers to teach us and… not all of us found reputable ones. Yes, we survived, but after going through a lot of issues we didn't need to go through. Both Naruto and I lost an arm because we were fighting each other… after the war finished. I can't say that wouldn't have happened if you would have stepped up and treated everyone like equals, but I can say it wouldn't have hurt."

The time traveler paused and took a calming breath. He… hadn't quite meant to go there. He'd forgiven his Sensei once he'd figured out exactly what Kakashi had been going through at the time… but that didn't mean it was okay. Apparently he still had some anger and resentment over how they'd been treated as genin, though.

"Look," he settled on, "they're not ANBU. I'm sure you've been told to not treat them like ANBU. But honestly, a watered down version of boot camp wouldn't be amiss. They can handle it. Maybe not immediately, but within a couple of weeks, if you keep conditioning them and pushing them—all of them. Sakura and Naruto will learn how harsh ninja life can be soon enough. You don't have to teach them that. Just… be there for them when they do learn it. You don't have to be nice about it or hug them or whatever—I know you're allergic to that," he rolled his eyes (not that he had room to talk, but he wasn't about to say that), "but just explain it to them and let them know you're there to talk. It can be uncomfortable, but they really don't need much.

"If you teach them well enough, all of them will pass the Chunin Exam when it's in Konoha next."

Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose. "That's in seven months."

Sasuke shrugged. "They have the natural talent if you bring it out."

The two fell into silence for several seconds before Sasuke turned to walk away again. "This is your legacy, Hatake, whether you want it to be or not. Your choice what to do with it."

Kakashi didn't speak with him again as he slowly made his way back to camp, although he also didn't leave Indra alone after that.

Eh. Fair.

xXx

Kakashi-sensei met team Seven the next day.

On time.

They'd only met him a little over a week before and even they knew that was a big deal. He still stood there on the bridge smiling that eye-smile and reading his little, orange book (what even was that?), but he was there.

Sasuke automatically went on guard. Sakura, who showed up not seconds later, audibly gasped. Naruto, the loudmouth, took one look and just stalked up to the jounin.

"Nee, Kakashi-sensei! You're on time! I'm proud of you, dattebayo!"

Sasuke inwardly groaned. Sakura outwardly groaned and dropped her face in her hands.

Kakashi-sensei just eye-smiled (again) and put his book away. "Thank you, Naruto. Now, hurry to training ground three. You have five minutes."

With that, he disappeared, letting leaves drift in the wind behind him. The three genin stared at said leaves before glancing at each other.

"Guess we'd better hurry," Sakura said, shooting one last look at Sasuke before taking off at a jog. "We should be able to get there within five minutes."

"Easy!" Naruto said, taking off after her. Sighing, Sasuke joined his teammates. They had to run two kilometers or so to get to the training ground. Yeah, it wouldn't be too difficult.

He didn't really expect Kakashi-sensei to be there when they got there, but he was. That just put Sasuke more on edge. Even Naruto was beginning to look uneasy. Either not seeing or not caring about his genin's unease, the jounin eye-smiled at them yet again.

"Good job. I'll make it four minutes tomorrow." Beside Sasuke, Sakura gulped. She was already breathing hard, though not as hard as she had days before. Huh.

"Today we're going to see how far you've come," Kakashi said. "So I want each of you to spar with me one on one. The other two will stay off to the side and take notes."

Before he could go on, Naruto raised his hand. "Oo! Oo! Kakashi-sensei!"

The silver-haired man blinked. "Yes, Naruto?"

"Can I make a kage bunshin to watch from different angles?"

More blinking (with one eye, but Sasuke was pretty sure). "That is an excellent idea."

"Indra-nii said it would help me!"

"Indeed it will. Now, how about you first, then?"

"Yes!" the orange-clad boy pumped the air. "I'll show you how much better I am!"

Kakashi eye-smiled again. "I don't doubt it." Then he turned to his other two teammates. "Sasuke, Sakura, why don't you sit near the tree over there?"

Sasuke nodded, assuming Sakura did too, as they both turned and sat under the tree in the middle of the field, soon joined by two Naruto clones. Sasuke gave them the side eye, but otherwise said nothing.

"Alright, Naruto. Lesson number one: Taijutsu only."

The blond pouted. "So no clones?"

"No clones."

He sighed. "Fine. But I can use weapons, right?"

"Hmm. Later. I want to see what you can do with just your taijutsu."

The blond nodded. "Okay." He fell back into the basic academy stance. It was a solid stance. He didn't charge, waiting patiently but watching their teacher warily.

Huh. He really had grown.

"Start," Kakashi-sensei said, and Naruto rushed forward.

Sasuke hadn't actively watched to see how different Naruto had become, but watching him now… if he hadn't known any better, he would have thought Naruto had been using the academy style—correctly—for years. Those kage bunshin were cheats and Sasuke wasn't jealous. (He wasn't.)

Kakashi-sensei still outmatched and outpaced the jinchuuriki at every step, but he also seemed very pleased. Especially as there were points, several times actually, where Naruto would duck differently than the academy style called for, or he'd use a kick where a punch should be. One time, he rolled sideways and even Kakashi-sensei seemed surprised at the move.

"Okay," the jounin said after a few minutes. "You can use weapons now."

Naruto grinned and began to throw kunai and shuriken. He had decent aim, albeit with fewer shuriken than Sasuke or even Sakura could throw. Sasuke preened a little at that, but he still noted a marked improvement in how Naruto threw and used his weapons. He also managed to set a couple of traps, albeit simple ones that Kakashi-sensei could avoid easily, but traps nonetheless.

"Ninjutsu," Kakashi said. Suddenly, there were dozens of Naruto's clones attacking.

"Indra-sensei said if I tried to make one of those clones, I'd die," Sakura said quietly. "Because it requires so much chakra."

Sasuke took his eyes off of the battle to stare at his pink-haired teammate. She sat with her arms wrapped around her legs, eyes staring out at the fight currently taking place. After a moment, Sasuke looked back out at the field in front of him, unable to keep his new found respect and shock off of his face. Next to them, the clones snickered.

Kakashi was using kawarimi to flash all around the field. Frustrated (by the looks on the clones' faces), several Narutos kept following him, only seconds behind as multiple clones were taken out of action.

"Genjutsu," Kakashi-sensei called out, and Naruto froze in his tracks. Then he frowned and looked around.

"Wait… why am I in here again? Where's…" his eyes went wide and he looked up. Even from where he sat, Sasuke saw his face go pale. "No… no it can't be… the seal…" His clones disappeared in puffs of smoke as Naruto took several steps back.

"Kai," Kakashi-sensei shouted just as Naruto tripped, scrambling away from something. A second later, Naruto looked around, breathing heavily.

Kakashi (did he seem a little shaken? Surely not) walked over to Naruto. "Good job. You've improved a lot. How about you make more clones to watch and go sit by Sakura. We'll be working on your genjutsu resistance in the future."

Shaken, Naruto nodded, holding his stomach as he walked towards his teammate.

"Sasuke," their sensei called. "Your turn."

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke stood and strode past Naruto, not so much as glancing his way. If Sasuke looked like that, he wouldn't want anyone staring at him either.

Sasuke didn't do as well as he would have liked with taijutsu, weapons, or ninjutsu, but he still did better than the dobe, he thought.

At least, until Kakashi put him under a genjutsu.

Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by the Uchiha compound, silent and dark. He could smell blood in the air. His feet took him towards the house at the top of the hill without his permission…

No!

"KAI!" he yelled, putting as much chakra and effort into breaking the jutsu as he could. Immediately, the compound vanished, melting into training ground three's bright, grass-covered field.

"Good job, Sasuke," Kakashi-sensei said. He stood near, but didn't try to touch him. Sasuke was grateful for that.

It didn't feel like a good job.

"Go ahead and sit down by Naruto."

Sasuke nodded and stiffly made his way back to his oddly quiet teammate.

"Are you okay, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

He just nodded and sat in the spot she'd vacated. She watched him unsurely for a couple of seconds before turning around and hurrying towards Kakashi-sensei.

The two boys watched her start out with the academy style of taijutsu, and while she was definitely the worst of the three of them at it, Sasuke could still see some pretty significant improvement.

"That genjutsu," Naruto said quietly.

Sasuke didn't answer, his throat constricting.

"Your brother?"

"Close enough," Sasuke muttered, forcing himself to not wince. "The fox?" he asked Naruto, not looking over at him.

Naruto hunched down a little. "Yeah."

Neither one of them said anything else.

Sakura did better than Naruto with weapons, but worse than Sasuke (of course), pretty decent with ninjutsu, although she only really had the academy three to depend on, and the best by far with genjutsu.

"Kai!" she said, a little too fast, but she jumped right back at Kakashi afterwards. Sasuke felt a stab of jealousy.

After a couple more minutes of sparring, a very out-of-breath Sakura collapsed besides the boys, and Kakashi-sensei walked over to them.

"You three," he growled, practically emanating a dark aura. The next second, it brightened significantly, "Have improved. I'm proud of you, my cute little genin."

Sasuke felt himself relax a little, though that annoyed him because Kakashi seemed to like to do that a lot. The troll.

"It's all thanks to Indra-nii!" Naruto said happily.

"Hmm," Kakashi-sensei said, nodding. "I see. Although you all did the work. Don't sell yourselves short."

Sasuke almost scoffed. What work? He'd hardly been able to actually train at all this week (except for that torture session Indra called training). He did feel like he'd made some progress though. And he had a clearer goal—or a couple—to work towards. Figure out what was going on with Itachi, with Indra, and train with his teammates. By himself as well, but they had a lot to work out if they wanted to be able to take Itachi down.

(Funny, he'd seemed to kind of just accept that the three of them would be going up against his brother after all. When had that happened?)

He wondered if Kakashi-sensei had some information about the massacre. He wondered if he could bring himself to ask…

Coward. Itachi's voice rang through his head. Sasuke grit his teeth.

"Well," Kakashi-sensei replied. "Now that you've all had your warm-up week—" wait, what?! "—it's time for the real training to begin."

Sasuke would never admit he regretted accepting his hitai-ate at those words… because if the last week had been a warm up… No, he just had to be exaggerating.

Hatake Kakashi is more of a prodigy than your brother…

"Sakura," the pink-haired girl went white, even as Kakashi-sensei smiled at her. "You'll be walking up and down trees until lunch. Every tree within a kilometer. I've already marked them with an x. Also, I hear you have scrolls to study. Well, this is a great time to study them! After lunch, you'll be running laps around the pond… on top of the water, of course, and I can quiz you. There will be consequences for wrong answers."

"W-walk on… A-all day, Kakashi-sensei?"

"We need to get those reserves up. Stretch and get going. If you don't hit all of the x-es at least twice, I'll know."

With a shaky breath, Sakura started stretching.

"Naruto, Sasuke, you both get to learn tree walking today. We'll focus on that until lunch. After that I have a list of exercises you'll need to finish before you can go home." He pulled out a scroll, unlatched it and… it fell to the ground. He was still holding the other end.

Sasuke knew both he and Naruto blanched.

"I hope you don't feel left out, Sakura-chan. We'll be working up to allowing you to do all of these on water."

She whimpered.

"Uh… Sensei…" Naruto said slowly, "can I use my kage bunshin for these?"

Sasuke whipped his head to stare at the blond. The cheater!

"Hmm," Kakashi-sensei said, tapping his chin. "For the tree-walking, sure. As long as you don't get in Sakura or Sasuke's way. For the exercises? No. Your clones affect your nervous system when they return your memories, so they can help you build muscle memory as those are pathways in your brain you get used to activating. They can't help you build actual muscle."

Naruto nodded and slumped a little. "Hai, sensei."

It still felt like cheating.

"Well, you all have a lot to work on! You'd better get to it! Tomorrow you'll have to do all of this again, on top of a D-rank mission."

Sasuke expected Naruto to be excited about that. It would be just like him to not know what a D-rank mission entailed. Sasuke did. He'd looked it up earlier that week, after Team 8. Apparently, though, Naruto knew too as he cringed, but nodded. Sakura did much the same.

"Well, get stretching," Kakashi said happily.

Naruto groaned and began to stretch. Silently, although no less annoyed, Sasuke joined him. Then they got started climbing trees with just their feet.

"Oh, it helps if you take it at a bit of a run," Kakashi-sensei called out, sitting in a tree and reading his orange book. "And you may want to take a kunai and mark wherever you make it to. Keep track of your progress."

Sasuke frowned and ran at the tree he'd chosen. His foot imploded on the bark and he flipped back. Naruto fell right off.

"Well, that's exactly opposite of what I expected," their sensei said with a chuckle. He went on to explain the mechanics of tree walking. Sasuke listened with half an ear as he looked over to see Sakura calmly—if hurriedly—walking up and down trees like it was nothing.

He never thought he'd be jealous of her.

"Now, why don't you two get back to work!" Kakashi said happily.

"Hai, Kakashi-Sensei," Naruto and Sasuke muttered simultaneously and went back to trying to climb their respective trees.

Naruto got it by lunch. Stupid cheating shadow clones. Sasuke only got to about a third of his tree before falling right back down. He could get on a tree. He could stick to it. He just couldn't keep it constant.

"Good job, Naruto. Tomorrow you'll start on water walking. You too, Sakura. Tomorrow, we'll add the leaf control technique to your tree and water walking. Don't worry, I won't make you do it today."

"Leaf technique?" Naruto asked, tipping his head to one side and… kind of looking like a fox. Okay, how much of that had he gotten from the Kyuubi?

"It's an academy basic," Sakura muttered, "where you use your chakra to stick leaves to yourself."

"Oh, that. I was never very good at that. The leaves always blew away from me or didn't stick on at all."

"Hmm," Kakashi-sensei said. "In any case, learning to control your chakra on different points of your body simultaneously can only be beneficial in the future. Now, how about lunch!"

He took them to a barbecue. Then he left them to pay for themselves. Sasuke was beginning to think the word 'troll' wasn't harsh enough to describe their teacher. At least he wasn't sadistic like Indra had been… he shuddered at that thought.

When he got back to the training ground and saw the list of exercises he and Naruto had to get started on, though, he revisited that thought.

This… would be a long week.

(He was wrong. His personal torture would last far longer than a week.)

xXx

AN: Another more serious chapter, but don't worry, we get back to more trolling soon. Sasuke is just a beginner, after all. LOL

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