Title: Are You Ready?
Chapter: 5 – Twice Shy?
Author: Killaurey
Rating: T
Word Count: 3448
Summary: AU. Sakura gives up on Kakashi as a teacher after Team 7 falls apart. Too bad fate, enemy ninja, and sheer bad luck have other plans.
Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. It's Kishimoto's and I just play with it. Part 6 of ? Unbeta'd.
Like she promised Sakura, Ino thinks about her request to join another team. She thinks about it all through helping out at the shop, through supper and through the clean up after. Then, once her dad says he's heading out to the greenhouses, she follows him. They walk along the streets of Konoha, not at a rush, not in a hurry to get anywhere, and Ino still thinks about it.
There's a lot to think about, when it comes to Sakura's offer. Hatake-sensei hasn't been around long enough to show his faults (and she's sure he's got them, when he's just Kakashi-sensei, de-aged or from a different time or something) and while Sakura's bubbling over with enthusiasm now, who is to say that'll last a week, or two, or three?
On the other hand, Ino had watched the way Sakura had moved when she'd staggered into her room. She'd been totally wrung out.
Ino can't remember the last time she's been wrung out from training with Asuma-sensei and the boys.
It makes her violently, terribly jealous. She wants that. She wants it badly.
She just doesn't know if Hatake-sensei can give it to her. How good can he really be? He's the man that Kakashi-sensei was and if it was a toss-up between Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-sensei, Ino knows which one she'd pick in a heartbeat.
(Ino loves Asuma-sensei, she does, but he doesn't force her past her limits.)
But, really, no one else is offering. Only Hatake-sensei. Ino stews over this silently.
When they're in the greenhouse and she's occupied with weeding-there is always weeding to do-while her father inspects his experimental hybrids, that's when Ino decides that she really should get a second opinion. Sakura is right anyhow. If she really wants to do this then she's got to make sure that her dad at least knows about it.
"Dad," she says, not looking up from her weeding. He doesn't look up from his hybrids, but she knows he's listening. Her daddy always listens to her. "What would you say if I wanted to join another team?"
He's silent for a long moment. Ino spends that time biting her lip and pulling out more weeds, just to give her hands something to do.
"What brings this on?" he asks. "It's not because you're still upset about Shikamaru not picking you for that mission, are you?"
That's a good question.
Ino grimaces. She is still upset about it. She's aware that she's not a powerhouse type of ninja but it offends her on a deep level that Shikamaru assumed that power was the only way to beat the enemy. And it hurts that he left her behind because he thought she'd be useless.
Even if his goal had been to protect her, well, Ino doesn't want to be protected.
"No," she says, because she hadn't really considered the idea of a transfer in that light. "It's not about that." Though now she wonders if Shikamaru and Chouji and Asuma-sensei will assume that it is, if she does this. That's uncomfortable. It makes her seem really childish.
(But is it so very childish to go after what's the best for her?)
"Why would you consider a transfer then?" Her father might have sounded like he was being dismissive to anyone else but Ino knows him nearly as well as she knows herself and knows that he is giving her the chance to convince him of her reasoning.
She takes a deep breath, looking up to meet his eyes. They're the same shade as hers, neither of them with pupils-a mark of their Clan. "Have you heard about what happened to Hatake Kakashi?" That's the place to start.
"Yes," he says evenly. "I've been called in to consult on his case. What do you have to do with it, princess?"
"He's training Sakura," she blurts. "Actually, like, paying attention to her. She was dead on her feet when she got home tonight and she's learning a lot and he's actually paying attention to her this time instead of ignoring her." Being her father, he's well aware of her complaints about Sakura's sensei. He's heard them more than anyone.
"Go on."
"Asuma-sensei doesn't train me," Ino says. They both know it's true. She's heard her father gripe about it to Shikaku-san and Chouza-san before, when she wasn't supposed to hear it. "He barely trains Chouji and his idea of training Shikamaru is playing board games with him. Sakura told me that Hatake-sensei wants me for his team. He wants to train me. Sakura needs another Genin to work off of and push her further. I can do that."
To her surprise, as she talks, she realizes that not only can she do that (which isn't a surprise) but that she wants to do it, which rather is. Ino doesn't like Kakashi-sensei.
What she's seen and heard so far about Hatake-sensei, she likes a lot better. Even when she'd barged in on him and spent hours explaining exactly why he needed to smarten up, he'd listened to her and hadn't talked down to her.
Grudgingly, she counts that as a point in his favour.
"Do you want to do that?" Her dad sets his hybrid seedling down in its tray and looks at her. "Ino, switching teams is going to cause tensions between you and Shikamaru and Chouji. It's going to make Asuma-sensei look bad."
"I want to do it," she says firmly, making up her mind. "I can handle Shikamaru and Chouji and if Asuma-sensei had actually bothered to pay attention to me then I'd never have wanted to leave. I don't think he even knows my goals. He never even asked, Dad."
It's an old complaint.
"If he looks bad for that, then it's his own fault." Ino believes that, entirely. "Though-will transferring teams be a problem with the Nara and Akimichi Clans? I don't want to cause problems for you, Dad."
He thinks about it. Ino appreciates that he doesn't just flat out tell her yes or no without considering the situation from all angles. He hasn't even told her if she can do this or if he's entirely against it. There's no one in the world Ino loves more than her father. He's never let her down, even when they disagree.
"It will help that it would be to Sakura-chan's team. I can pass it off as girlish friendship and a desire to help out. I don't think Shikaku or Chouza will like it but Shikamaru's already a Chuunin and there's going to be times when your team would be split anyway…"
Ino holds her breath, waiting for his verdict.
The next morning, Ino is waiting for both of them. She's got her hair tied back and is armed to the teeth.
Hatake-sensei smiles.
Sakura squeals and flings her arms around Ino.
"My father says that if I don't show improvement under your hands, that I'm to go back to my old team," Ino tells Hatake-sensei.
"How long a trial period has he given me?"
"Three weeks."
Hatake-sensei nods. "That's enough time to make a noticeable difference if you're willing to work hard."
"You'll find my work ethic to be impeccable," Ino says with utmost confidence.
Sakura agrees with Ino's assessment of herself. Ino has never been one to shirk her duties or her training. It's just that no one has ever bothered to give her all of their attention before.
Asuma-sensei will have no idea what he's missed, Sakura gloats. Because Ino is hers now and the only person she has to share her with is Hatake-sensei.
Things are looking up. Way, way up.
Kakashi looks over his two students and knows this is the right thing to do. He's even pleased about the Yamanaka having agreed and gotten permission to be here! It will help Sakura and Sakura had been absolutely determined that Ino be her teammate the moment that he'd floated the idea of getting one at her.
They'll need a third. Eventually. But right now, Kakashi thinks, he's going to have enough trouble just dealing with the two of them. Sakura is below where she ought to be. He needs to find out where Ino is.
But that is what they are at Training Area Seventeen for.
"Ino," he says, "has all the paperwork for your transfer been signed?"
She nods. "On my part," Ino says. "Signed and delivered to the Hokage's office this morning. Dad signed off on it too, so no one can countermand it unless those orders come straight from Hokage-sama herself." She considers that. "Or you, Hatake-sensei."
Sakura looks vaguely anxious.
"I'm not going to countermand them," he says, which makes both the girls relax. "We'll go after training today and finish them up officially." Kakashi hates paperwork. It leaves him feeling a bit bemused that he's actually looking forward to doing this bit of it. "Have you told your old team yet?"
Ino shakes her head. "Chouji's got personal training with his dad right now and Shikamaru and Asuma-sensei are out on a mission that I'm not ranked high enough to go on."
He takes a moment to admire the fact that she can say that so bluntly, without any bitterness clouding her voice. Internally, he winces at how fragmented their team must be that telling them of her transfer isn't even the first thing on her mind.
"Okay," he says, "but when you can, tell them. Or else tell me that they're all in town and we'll tell them."
As he had half-suspected, she looks relieved at the offer. Kakashi doesn't blame her. Even when a transfer is a good thing for the transferee, it's a hard thing to do when faced with the disapproval of everyone else.
"Yes, Hatake-sensei."
Sakura beams at him.
Kakashi wonders how he's going to survive two teenaged girls and their dramas. Boys aren't any better, drama-wise, but he's more used to it from boys. It makes a difference.
"All right," he says, refusing to dwell on it. "Sakura, today you're going to be doing conditioning. Ino, you're with me today. I need to see exactly where you are. Sakura, if you need help or have any questions, don't hesitate to ask."
Both girls nod.
Pleased with their willingness-and he hopes to god that Sakura doesn't think he's ignoring her for the day because that isn't the case at all and that's the last thing her fragile trust in him needs-he has Ino go and stretch out while he sets Sakura to her practice and then crooks his fingers at Ino and gestures her over to the other side of the training area.
She looks apprehensive but determined.
"This isn't about winning," he says. "This is about seeing everything you can do."
"Clan jutsu?" she asks.
Kakashi thinks that over. "Not today," he decides. "That's something we'll go over later, of course, but I want to see your fundamentals."
"Got it."
He slides into a ready stance. "Whenever you're ready."
Her eyes gleam with the challenge in his words.
Physically, Ino is better than Sakura.
Which is what he'd suspected. Her taijutsu are of a higher level, her chakra reserves are larger (probably, he thinks, from her training with her Clan jutsu) and she's physically stronger and faster.
Sakura relies more on traps and jutsu. Ino eschews the both of them in favour of trying to kick the shit out of him. As Kakashi blocks a Chuunin mid-level kick with one arm and feels the power of it travel up to his shoulder and resonate in his bones-he'll have a bruise later-he has to admit he's impressed. Her speed is quite good for a Genin too, probably because her legs are so strong.
But she doesn't like to use her arms in combat (and when he forces her to, she's far weaker there than with her legs) and her ninjutsu repertoire is practically non-existent. Even Sakura had known a few extra ninjutsu. Ino knows the basics they teach in the Academy and nothing else. When it comes to genjutsu, she doesn't even know a simple kai.
It makes Kakashi's blood boil.
Both girls are walking liabilities. Even with Ino's Clan jutsu, it's only useful in certain circumstances and only then if backed up appropriately.
What the hell is wrong with Konoha that this level of training for the kunoichi is acceptable? In the few days he's been here, Kakashi has had his ear to the ground and what he's heard horrifies and alarms him in equal measures.
Of the Genin girls, it's widely considered that Ino is exceptional for her age and rank.
Kakashi thinks of all the girls he's known and wonders what happened. Even Rin, who had been so hyper-focused on her medical training that the rest of her capabilities had taken a hit would have been able to take both Sakura and Ino out when she'd been a Genin.
By the end of training, Ino can barely stand, though she's still trying her hardest to do so and look combat-ready, and his temper is being held in check only through sheer force of will. It is bad enough admitting that he'd been a piss-poor teacher and that he was going to have to work hard to undo the damage he'd managed to cause his Genin.
It is ugly and shocking to be confronted with the fact that he is not the only piss-poor teacher who'd been put in charge of Genin. What is Asuma thinking? And if Ino is this flawed, how are her teammates faring?
He's tempted to ask.
He refrains mostly because he wants Ino to believe he's focused on her training, not on her teammates. Asking now would be a blow to her self-confidence and while she's far and away more confident than Sakura is that would be needlessly cruel at this stage.
Later. He can ask later. He's not sure his temper can take any more disappointments in Konoha today.
Right now he's got to give his second student a critique of her abilities. That's the most important thing. Kakashi takes a breath and thinks about what Minato-sensei would say.
"I'm sure you've heard from Sakura what I said to her," he says.
Ino straightens up, her hair a tangled mess, her clothes filthy and her legs trembling despite her best efforts to control them. Her arms are bruised. "Yes," she says and her eyes flare with that. "I can handle it, Hatake-sensei."
Kakashi finds that he believes her. The look in her eyes tells him that. He strongly suspects that where he had to be careful of Sakura's self-esteem in critiquing her, Ino is the sort of girl that will take everything he'll say as a personal affront and work at it until it's no longer an issue. Sakura, he thinks, will be like that eventually. She's just not there yet.
And no wonder considering everything.
"You'd better be able to handle it," he says, just to have her eyes narrow at him. Yanking her chain is juvenile of him but he suspects that she works best with some challenge in her life to throw herself against. Right now he needs for her to see him as the biggest challenge or else she'll never learn exactly what he wants her to learn. "Who taught you taijutsu? Why don't you use your arms more?"
"Because my Clan jutsu requires that my arms be free," she says. "It's easier to just attack with my legs rather than juggling weapons and jutsu. Dad taught me a lot of my taijutsu."
He nods. That's about what he expected. Clan shinobi have more strengths than the first generation ninja, but they have their own weaknesses too.
"Your dad is a Jounin," Kakashi says bluntly. "He can get away with stylistic choices like choosing not to use a weapon unless absolutely necessary. You're a Genin. You cannot. You will be learning to properly use your arms in a fight-we'll build your strength up there until they match your legs. You've got good, strong legs. You need good, strong arms. From what I saw, your forms aren't the problem. You've got excellent technique-just none of the strength required to back it up. In a fight, that's a liability."
Ino looks determined as she nods and doesn't complain.
"Furthermore," he continues, "your knowledge of genjutsu is nonexistent. We're fixing that. Your control is fine enough that you should be able to pick up an array of genjutsu that will aid you in fights. When I dismiss you and Sakura tonight, get her to teach you the basic counter to a genjutsu. Asuma should have taught you that months ago."
"He didn't teach me anything," Ino bursts out. "That's why I'm here!"
That earns her a grim smile. "And so you're going to be learning a lot-we've got to make up for your deficiencies."
She flushes, eyes sparkling with anger.
Pride, he thinks, is something the Yamanaka Clan have never lacked. But I can work with it.
Out-loud he says, "And beyond that, your ninjutsu repertoire is painfully barren. At the moment you're a one-trick pony, Ino. You will get killed in a battle because you have zero versatility."
Sakura, he sees, is drawing closer, probably to leap to Ino's defense if it looks like her friend needs it. As she's finished her conditioning, Kakashi lets her come closer with a nod. She slips up to stand beside Ino, giving her teammate a concerned look.
Ino, rather than angry, has gone expressionless. Kakashi wonders if he's pushed her too far.
"Both of you are walking liabilities," he says blandly. Sakura flinches, Ino's expression doesn't change. "That's not your fault. You've both done your best to keep up and your attempts show. I appreciate them. Sakura, your control and ability to use textbook jutsu under trying circumstances is extraordinary. Ino, your lower body strength and skill is that of a Chuunin easily and you're quick on your feet to take advantage of openings. Neither of you give up easily. All of these things are very good and I'm proud of you."
Sakura relaxes. Ino still doesn't move.
He wonders what she's thinking. It's probably a good thing he can't read minds.
"Your problems are not what you are," he says. "Both of you have the potential to be very, very good shinobi." He believes that, which makes it far easier to say forcefully. "Right now, however, neither of you is fit for anything over a D rank mission. Maybe the Hokage would send you on missions higher than that, maybe your teams would take you on missions higher than that, but as far as I'm concerned, you are not ready and neither of you should even try to become Chuunin yet."
And here's the most important part, the one he wants them to remember like it is stamped on their foreheads:
"This is not your fault."
That gets a reaction out of Ino. "It's our previous sensei who are at fault," she says flatly. "That's what you're getting at."
Sakura looks between him and Ino, obviously worried about where this is going to go. "That's not fair to Hatake-sensei, Ino..."
"It's fine, Sakura," he says. Compared to the things that Ino has said to him in private, this is nothing. "She is talking about Kakashi-sensei, not myself. And she's right. What Kakashi-sensei and what Asuma have done to the two of you is criminal in my eyes. In my time they'd both be raked over the coals by the Hokage for not training either of you properly. Ino!"
Her head snaps up savagely. He's glad to see that reaction from her. "Yes, Hatake-sensei?"
"What did Asuma do to train your team?"
She scowls at him. "We'd go for yakitori and while Chouji ate, he'd play shougi with Shikamaru."
Internally, Kakashi winces. Shikamaru's a Chuunin now. That's hideous to contemplate.
"Sakura," he says, "how did Kakashi-sensei train your team?"
Sakura hitches one shoulder up in a half-shrug. "He'd teach Sasuke something and Naruto would butt in and demand to learn something too and I got left with whatever I could pick up by watching them. The only compliment I ever got was so the boys would try harder." That sounds bitter.
Ino's hand reaches over to hold Sakura's. Kakashi pretends he doesn't see that for all their sakes.
He gauges the time, gives them a few moments to comfort each other, and then smiles. "Well, then," he says, "now that we know where both of you are… let's get back to training."