There are certain expectations that everyone must follow in life. Some are expected to not crack under any pressure, others are meant to be caring and willing to give all that they have at a drop of a hat. For many in Konaha, they were expected to give their very lives over for their village, for their comrades, for the Will of Fire.
For Kakashi, everyone expected him to be late.
So, why exceed their expectations by being on time for once?
Even if it was a meeting with Minato-sensei and the other jonnin sensei, they were no doubt happily complaining about him being late and would jokingly scold him for his expectant tardiness. Instead, Kakashi was determined to figure out what this meeting was about before it had even occurred. He had happily been standing in front of the Memorial Stone and keeping his students waiting when he had been summoned to the Hokage's tower. He had waved away the younger Anbu before turning back to the memorial.
Walking leisurely across the rooftops of Konaha, he pondered on this situation.
The chunin exams had only taken place two weeks ago, and no matter how impressive Naruto and Sasuke had been, Kakashi knew without a doubt that none of his team were being promoted. However, he was certain this meeting was connected to the exam. Why else would Minato-sensei also summon Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai? This had to be connected to their students.
Perhaps some of the genin had passed and now the teams had to be rearranged? Normally, if a team was split up, the team would be dissolved, with members either being put on a new team or sent to the Genin Corps. On the other hand, their had never been a generation with so many clan heirs, so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that the rules would be bent for certain individuals. And while Minato-sensei might to keep it from happening, Naruto most definitely enjoyed the perks of being the Hokage's son. Most evident was his own tutor sessions with Jiraiya right before the Chunin Exams.
Looking up at the clear skies, Kakashi let his feet drag underneath him. He was already an hour late, a few more minutes wouldn't be noticed. Or at least, that's what he thought when he slipped into Minato-sensei's office window and was greeted by many glaring faces.
"Yo!" He gave them a cheery eye smile and a lazy wave.
"You're late, Kakashi-kun," Minato-sensei sighed almost exasperatedly. He sat rigidly in his chair, a stern and serious look on his face as he waved the younger man inside to stand alongside his fellow jonin sensei. Taking his place next to an equally looking grim Gai, Kakashi finally let his eyes settle on the most unexpected face in the room.
Orochimaru.
Now, while he hadn't expected the other shinobi to be at the meeting, Kakashi didn't hold any ill will towards him. However, that didn't mean his presence was necessarily invited. If one of the Legendary Sannin was summoned to a meeting of Konaha's strongest, then this must be a serious matter. Maybe Kakashi shouldn't have spent those extra few minutes strolling through the village.
As for the Snake Sannin, he looked nonplussed at Kakashi's lateness, instead standing calmly next to Minato-sensei with an emotionless expression. He was wearing a simple purple kimono with his arms hidden in the sleeves, and his hair was twisted up into a bun, showing off his handsome face. Which meant he wasn't battle ready. So, maybe this wasn't about the start of the Fourth Shinobi War.
"Now that we're all here," Minato-sensei began. "I want to start this meeting off with congratulations to your teams. Each one of your students fought valiantly in the exams and all of them tried their hardest. You all have done an exceptional job at training them."
"But?" Kurenai raised an eyebrow.
"Only Nara Shikamaru has been considered for a promotion to chunin."
"That's normal of genin," Asuma pointed out. "We don't expect them to move up to chunin after only a few months out of the academy!"
"I am not saying there is anything wrong with those results," Minato-sensei soothed. "However, the Council has decided that with so much talent in our youngest genin, that one of them should be offered an apprenticeship."
While it went unsaid, all eyes trained on Orochimaru, who didn't so much as twitch at the sudden scrutiny. None of them would say it, but it was obvious in the way the tension in the room shifted that all the jonin sensei were thinking the same thing. Were they not enough for their students, so they had to be taken away and given to someone much more experienced? He wouldn't admit it, but even Kakashi felt the sharp sting of anger at the thought of losing his students.
"How youthful!" Gai may have sounded just as boisterous as normal, but Kakashi could feel how tense he was. "Has the Council decided on which student?"
"No," Minato glanced at Orochimaru for barely a second before continuing. "It has been decided that the remaining eleven students will be tested to see who will be accepted for this apprenticeship."
"Maa, sensei," Kakashi drawled. "They just went through the chunin exams. You want to put them through that again?"
The last part was more focused towards Orochimaru, but the other didn't react at all. As expected.
"These tests will have a similar nature, but will not be as intensive as the exams. This will simply be a way for myself to assess their skills and their worthiness to become my apprentice." Orochimaru said coolly, eyes meeting each jonin sensei with a piercing stare. They fell silent as they processed the information.
Each of their students would be assessed on all of their skills by one of the most powerful shinobi in Konaha, which indirectly reflected their teachings. If any of them fell short, then it would be a failing of the teacher. Silent, Kakashi felt his own heart stop for a short second as the realization hit him.
His team wasn't remotely ready for a serious C rank mission, let alone to be assessed by the Legendary Snake Sannin. Sure, Naruto and Sasuke were powerhouses in their own right, but their teamwork was still in shambles, while Sakura hadn't made more progress than growing an inch taller and learning how to tree walk. Even from the very beginning, Kakashi had tried to avoid becoming a sensei, he had to admit that he didn't want his students being torn apart by Orochimaru's high expectations and scathing comments.
"Your teams will have three days before your students will be assessed, so if there are any skills you wish to hone, then feel free. However, please don't over work your students. They are still children after all." Minato-sensei smiled warmly at them, while Orochimaru simply stared back indifferently. "You may inform your teams of this opportunity. Dismissed."
Thoughts an absolute mess, Kakashi pointedly ignored the door his fellow jonin were leaving through to escape out the same window he had come from originally. He also pretended not to hear the long-suffering sigh from his old sensei as he did so.
Landing roughly on a roof below and pulling out his copy of Icha-Icha, Kakashi let his mind wander.
Three days.
He only had three days to prepare his students for Orochimaru's scrutiny.
They were all screwed.
Idly wandering towards training ground three, Kakashi began to assess his students.
Out of the three, Naruto had been the one to grow the most. He was most definitely a mixture of his parents in the way he struggled to keep his voice at a decent speaking level but was very quick to catch onto new concepts once shown. Most would have expected Naruto to be more like his father, but it was obvious he was more of his mother. Kakashi wasn't talented in fuuinjustu, but he had a feeling that if he handed a scroll over to Naruto, the boy would begin to understand it in no time.
On top of all that, it had almost been written in stone at Naruto's birth that Jiraiya would be the one to teach the boy. There was little chance the Sannin would fight over a student, especially since it made more sense that a master in fuuinjustu should be the one to stay close to the Kyuubi jinchuriki.
However, it was Sasuke that had the best chance of the three to actually become Orochimaru's apprentice.
The young Uchiha didn't have the same intelligence as his brother, but that didn't mean he didn't also inherit the same kind of stubbornness and cunning from their parents. Sasuke was a bright student who showed the most initiative to become better than his peers. It was with that attitude, however, that made it difficult for him to get along with others and work in a coherent team. But, Kakashi had a feeling that small detail wouldn't persuade Orochimaru from choosing the boy.
There was no doubt in Kakashi's mind that Sasuke would be the one chosen to for this apprenticeship. He was smart, strong, and had a drive to become better.
Yes, the other Rookies had some of the same traits, but Kakashi knew that none of the other clan heirs had what it would take to deal with the intensity of training with one of the Sannin. Kurenai's students were smart and resourceful in their own right, but none of them would be able to keep up with Orochimaru. The same went with Asuma's remaining two students. The Yamanaka had potential to be ruthless, but something told Kakashi the heiress didn't have the same hunger for learning. Gai's students had much more potential overall, but with a student who couldn't use chakra and another with a destiny wrapped around his clan, they didn't have a much better chance. The girl did, with her skills in bukijustu, but that would only take her so far.
No, the obvious choice was Sasuke.
So, why all the fanfare? Why not simply tell Kakashi that he would be losing another student to a different Sannin this time?
Pursing his lips in thought, he almost didn't notice he had reached his destination until he heard the twin cries of Naruto and Sakura. Both looked even more upset than usual at his tardiness. Waving at them in greeting, Kakashi's eyes landed on bright, pink hair.
Sakura hadn't even come to mind during his musings.
Looking her up and down, Kakashi knew the reason for that. Plain and simple, the girl was not suited to be a ninja.
Sakura had clawed her way to the top of her class in all things theoretical, however, when it comes to anything physical, she had scored as low as Naruto had. Unfortunately, it was the physical that would keep her behind all of her peers if did not put effort into increasing her stamina. Which she hadn't shown any drive to do so.
In short, even though Kakashi knew Sakura could become a decent shinobi, even making it to chunin, it was her attitude that would force her to stay a genin. She spent too much time on her appearance than putting extra time into her training, paid more attention to Sasuke than her own performance, and she had shown no interest in furthering her own skills. Over all, Haruno Sakura was a lazy girl who would rather stay closer to her civilian roots than really delve into her shinobi career.
Now, that isn't to say Kakashi dislikes Sakura. Rather, he had a rather large soft spot for her. Whenever he looked into her sparkling eyes, all he could see was a small, civilian who needed protection and only had a passing interest in the shinobi world. Sad to say, Kakashi had never seen her as a genin, more of someone to look after in an escort mission. Even during their wave mission, he had classified her as yet another civilian to protect alongside Tazuna.
Ultimately, it was the raw innocence in her eyes that had Kakashi hesitant to push her. She was too young, too small, too weak to be pushed into the life of a loneliness and bloody hands only a true killer could have. Sakura was too kind hearted for Kakashi to allow her to become someone like that. Someone like him.
She was smart, had even figured out how to tree walk on her first try—something even Kakashi hadn't been able to do—so he was confident she would enjoy being a paper ninja. Unlike Naruto and Sasuke, she wasn't meant to be a fighter. Simply a placeholder on their team until both the boys got their apprenticeships. Which was coming much sooner than he expected.
"You're late again, Kaka-sensei!" Naruto shouted and stomped his feet. "Two hours later than usual!"
Chuckling at the red faced Uzumaki, Kakashi looked at his team and wished they wouldn't be separated in three days. Might as well enjoy it as much as he could.
"Well, you see, I had been summoned away by your own father, Naruto."
"Wait, what? The Hokage?" Sakura asked, eyes wide in awe.
"Yes." Kakashi nodded sagely. "In three days, the Rookie Twelve will be assessed on their skills."
"Why?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Yeah, yeah! We just did those stupid exams, why do we need to do this too?" Naruto whined.
"Let me ask you this instead," Kakashi looked at them critically. "What do you know about the Legendary Sannin?"
"Huh? Who?" Naruto was predictably confused.
"Naruto!" Sakura snapped and looked ready to beat the poor boy over the head. "You trained with one of them!"
"Wait, you mean Pervy Sage?"
Kakashi almost couldn't hold back his snort of surprise at the nickname. While the boy wasn't too far off, it was highly disrespectful to call someone of Jiraiya's position something like that.
"Yes, Naruto!" Sakura hissed. "Didn't you pay attention in class? We covered them every time we talked about the Shinobi Wars!"
"Knowing him, he slept right through it," Sasuke sneered.
"Shut up, teme!"
"Make me, dobe."
Pulling the two boys away from each other before they could start brawling, Kakashi nodded to Sakura to continue, who immediately lit up.
"The Legendary Sannin are Jiraiya-sama, Senju Tsunade-hime, and Orochimaru-sama. They were given their name by Hanzo the Salamander during the Second Shinobi War. They were the only students of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and have gone on to contribute in their chosen fields of study. Tsunade-hime is known to be one of the most legendary medical ninja in Konaha's history, while Jiraiya-sama is known to have the same master of seals like those from Uzushiogakure. Finally, Orochimaru-sama has helped make huge scientific strides through his research."
"Thank you, Sakura-chan." Kakashi smiled at her.
"So what?" Sasuke questioned. "What do we care about some old war heroes?"
"Maa, Sasuke, you really should be more respectful," Kakashi scolded lightly. "After all, Orochimaru-sama is looking for a new apprentice."
All three of his cute genin stared at him wide-eyed.
"In three days, you'll be tested against the other Rookies to see who is worthy of being Orochimaru-sama's apprentice."
Naruto's gasp of surprise was loud, while Sasuke's mouth simply dropped open in shock. Smiling at the reactions, Kakashi's expression slipped slightly when he saw how pale Sakura had become. Quickly, his attention was caught by a wave of questions from both boys, and soon enough, the easy smile had returned to Sakura's face.
Maybe two of his students would be soon whisked away by two legendary shinobi, and maybe he should be preparing them for the tests that have yet to come. But, his students already had their expectations of him, and starting to really teach them something now wouldn't only exceed those expectations. It wouldn't be in character for him to suddenly run them into the ground with training just because of some test. He hadn't done it for the chunin exams, and he most certainly wasn't going to start now.
After all, if he was going to lose his team, then why put any more effort into them? He could only be expected to do so much for students he didn't want in the first place.