Academy Arc: A Hokage's Burden

The bi-annual meeting with the academy teachers was one meeting he looked forward to. It was still work, but it was a meeting where he could relax from his stressful life. One where he didn't feel burdened with decision making. One where he didn't have to listen to people argue.

It was a simple meeting. They mostly talked about the progress status of students. How they were learning. What they were learning. Their progression. Talks about areas students progressed in for potential future application. It was important to know what their future looked like as it would matter to the shinobi force and would be taken into consideration when placements were determined for genin teams – even if that mattered more for the older kids. The occasional younger student also required additional support or was deemed high risk of quitting.

The academy was all about learning and finesse. Bettering their hand-eye coordination and building up their core strength.

Sato and Toshi had been sitting next to each other and had been relatively silent throughout the meeting. They wouldn't have progress reports like the others, but there was always something to say about the incoming students. It was an assurance that he had made the right choices in admittance. Even them sitting next to each other was odd, because while they didn't hold open hostility for each other, they had never been close. Now there appeared to be something bonding them together past simple camaraderie.

"What about the first years?" Hiruzen had given them plenty of opportunities to speak, but he needed more from them. If there was a problem it was better to sort it out now before it could grow into a larger issue.

Sato and Toshi looked at each other. Hiruzen thought he would need to ask again when the silence was finally broken by Toshi.

"I'm running out of things to teach Kakashi," said Toshi tiredly with exasperated vigor. He didn't like admitting it, especially not to the Hokage. He was trusted to teach the incoming generation, yet there was one person he couldn't do much for – if he ever taught Kakashi anything. Toshi didn't want the answer to that. It was better to remain ignorant.

That wasn't an answer Hiruzen anticipated. He would have guessed there was a problem with the people who had gotten in off the wait list.

"Can't you give him additional work? Who cares if he learns ahead of the others," said Hiro. First years were always hard because it required handling too many expectations from different people. Hiro could remember the ruckus the first time he had taught a group of first years.

"You think I haven't already?!" Toshi stood, slamming his palm down on the table as he abruptly stood.

Hiruzen sweatdropped. So much for a peaceful meeting. It may not have been as critical, but it was getting rowdy like other meetings.

Toshi's chair scratched against the floor. "If it was someone like Gai I could. He has been rapidly improving his taijutsu, but there are plenty of things I can still teach him. But Kakashi…" Toshi bit his lip and shivered at the string of memories, some of which made him feel amateurish. "There's no way Kakashi isn't at least on par with your student, Yoriko!"

Yoriko's eyes sharpened. She was currently the only women teacher outside kunoichi studies. She was appalled by Toshi assuming it was blatant sexism towards her and her abilities as a teacher. "You might want to clarify that before I tear you limb to limb."

Toshi was frustrated. They didn't get it. They didn't have to deal with him. "Speed, accuracy, strength – they are all fit to standard genin expectations. He already has form control over his chakra, can perform the three standard jutsu. No, the standard three jutsu are a joke to him. He can use the Shadow Clone Jutsu. He even had enough chakra to produce multiple."

"Surely, you jest," said Hiro. Shadow Clones were dangerous to teach. It shouldn't have been taught so freely to those so young.

"Not just that, Kakashi knows a lightning release jutsu, and I had to find someone to teach him another so he would stop questioning me about using elements he doesn't have a natural affinity for." He probably sounded like a buffoon, but Toshi felt amazing getting it off his chest. Until now, it had been just him and Sato ranting over dinner or alcohol when he discovered his colleague suffered a similar fate. "He can count, use the abacus, and his writing is sufficient, even superior to his peers. It's not just abilities, even his temperament is good. Kakashi always follows the rules and is quite practical. I'm grasping at straws here. He needs specialized attention. All I'm good for is to better help him recognized when he's entrapped by genjutsu."

Silence.

If accurate, it was high praise. Hiruzen considered his words. There was no reason to lie, but it was an abnormal achievement. Not impossible, but something people would call once in a generation.

Hiruzen thought back to the students, trying to piece together who Kakashi was. There were other advisors on the board, but he had to personally approve each student joining the academy. It was exhausting learning so many people, but it was essential to know. He remembered sensei entrusting the village to him. He really got the short end of the stick. His sensei never had to learn the names of this many people, though that was because death cut his leadership short. Hiruzen had been in power longer than the other two Hokage.

Kakashi was Sakumo's kid, right? He would have recently turned five. Even by prodigy standards, that was something else. The closest comparison Hiruzen had was how his parents and grandparents grew up. Comparing ages to that time wasn't exactly the same, though, so held no meaning. The world really has changed a lot.

But Sakumo had two kids. Twins, he heard. Hiruzen remembered a passing comment or two when the council wanted to encourage Sakumo to return to active-duty.

That explained Toshi's demeanor, but there was still Sato to hear out. Hiruzen eyed Sato with dread as a foreboding feeling washed over him. What would the other teacher have to say?

"And you Sato?"

Sato peeked at Toshi for his passionate rant. It was venting he had heard endless times over the months. They had even gone to Yakiniku Q outside of work hours and spilled their heart and souls over grilled meat and alcohol. Sato had planned on being more composed when speaking to the Hokage. He may have felt dilapidated, but he was hyperaware of the hierarchal structure. Aside from being his Hokage, his position as a teacher was secured by his reputation.

Still, Sato felt like he was stepping onto a landmine. Asuma was in his class too. It didn't matter that the Hokage's son made a big deal of everything Yuina did. It felt wrong to compare her to him with his dad in front of him. With the same logic, he was wondering if it was wrong to assume the Hokage already knew through Asuma.

"I doubt Yuina is learning much from me." Sato approached the subject more calmly, but was still on edge as his colleagues carefully listened to every word. "If I'm nitpicking, her accuracy can be sharpened a little more, but even that complaint may not hold in a few months' time considering the time of year. A year at most. I've had to spar with her to test her taijutsu. She finishes too swiftly that it became impossible to gauge her level without doing so. It was only by doing so that I discovered she was more comfortable fighting me than her classmates."

Yuina tried to hide it, but would occasionally slip. Sato saw her hesitate before making contact with her opponents, as if she hadn't wanted to hit them. Unlike Mayumi, who took several weeks to become comfortable hitting her friends, Yuina recognized her own hesitancy and immediately steeled herself. It was an area that needed improvement, but he couldn't say it had hindered her outcomes. Yuina was ahead of the curb at the start of the year and something seemed to drive her even further ahead a little over a month in.

"She has a solid foundation, and I'm sure she has a better grasp than me on chakra theory and mathematics at this point." She had seen some of her equations. Some were advanced, but he could follow and then there were calculations he couldn't even guess what they meant. Math may not have been his strong suit, but he felt like a kid again, being shown things beyond his understanding. "If you were to ask what I think her future specialties could be, I would probably recommend R&D, espionage, infiltration, and assassination."

"Oh." Toshi perked up. "She also made her own code. Kakashi was trying to break it but he must have started learning it by now since I saw him practicing." It was beyond their paygrade. Someone would have to be highly specialized to want or need whatever formulas she was using. They weren't part of the intelligence division, though.

Their colleagues listened in disbelief.

"Hokage-sama, you don't believe this do you?" Some of their peers really didn't want to believe them. Sato couldn't blame them. He would have thought the same if he didn't have to deal with it. Toshi was more frustrated as they judged his integrity.

Hiruzen needed a smoke. He was gaining a headache from the idea of the additional work this would require. It wasn't a mere question of knowing the basics. Many academy students knew the basics. The question was whether those expectations were without a doubt surpassed and worth the effort of bending the rules for. They created rules around the age of enlistment for a reason. He tried to pursue his predecessor's teachings when he could.

"You both can write a full report on their standing and activities." Hiruzen would also need to have a look for himself. "Let's finish the meeting for now."

The Sandaime Hokage wouldn't like the outcome regardless of what he was presented with.