Kakashi Hatake: A New Man

by PinkDragonGuy

Kakashi Hatake is changed forever by a different Team 7, and orders from the Third Hokage to turn Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Hinata Hyuuga into the next generation of the Sannin. Left with no choice but to finally move forward from his past, he strives to teach his students and become the man Minato Namikaze had thought he could be.

10. Chapter 10: The First Day of Training I

Chapter 10: The First Day of Training Part I - Confronting the Truth with a Sensei's Wisdom

"I know what it is to feel unloved, to want revenge, to make mistakes, to suffer disappointment, yet also to find the courage to go forward in life."

Tim O'Brien

"To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root."

Chinese Proverb

Kakashi blinked the sleep out of his eyes as he awoke in his home. The sun wasn't quite up yet, but the sky had a purplish hue that indicated it was not far from coming over the horizon.

Realizing he had a bit of a gap in his memory, he tried to recall how the prior evening had ended. He remembered Hiashi and Hiruzen coming up to his team, the agreement between Naruto and the Hyuga clan head, everyone agreeing to depart from the night… Each of his students were going to their respective homes to get a good night's rest before their first day of training… As he had been leaving, Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, Inoichi, Chouza, and Tsume - as well as a reluctant Shibi - had talked him into a bar crawl as a chance to cut loose before beginning their journeys as teachers the next day…

He felt a form shift next to him, and lifted his head to see some with purple hair snuggling into his bare chest.

'... Goddammit Gai.' Kakashi thought to himself as the memories of the prior evening came rushing back to him. At the last bar they had gone to, the one he had been drinking at just a couple of days ago while wallowing in self-pity, Gai had challenged him to another contest… This time one to see who could take the most shots without passing out.

Kakashi actually felt himself swaying a bit - which made sense, considering he was holding what would be his thirty-second shot of alcohol of the evening. He directed his uncovered, bloodshot eye at his friend and rival, who was also swaying on his feet as he tried to hold his own shot in such a way that it did not spill.

"Kak… Kakashi…" The man slurred, placing his hand on the table between them to steady himself. "My youthful fl…" He was cut off by a foul-sounding burp. "Flames, will burn through this alcohol and see me to victory…"

The group of ninja surrounding the competing rivals, many of whom Kakashi recognized, looked back to him for a rebuttal. In response, the cyclops raised an eyebrow before tossing back his shot, stumbling backwards a little bit with the motion but regaining his feet. The crowd drunkenly cheered at this action before looking expectantly at Gai.

The man grimaced as he lifted his shot, before tossing it back as Kakashi had. Unfortunately he did not manage to catch his balance as his rival had, falling straight backwards onto the floor, snoring before he hit the ground.

There was a cheer from the surrounding crowd and the cyclops felt several hard pats on his back as he was congratulated for winning the competition. As he stumbled back to the bar, he felt a soft body hug him from behind.

"Your constitution is impressive as always, Ka-ka-shi…" A familiar voice said, sounding out his name as she ran her hands down his sides.

The cyclops, inhibitions lowered by the alcohol, only tensed up slightly under her touch before melting into her. "Hello Anko. I see you're in a certain kind of mood tonight."

"Aren't I always with you around?" She purred.

He turned and met her eyes, the low lighting of the bar letting shadows dance on her face and increase the allure she held for his drunken mind. "News to me. You only seem to get this way when we're both drunk."

"Oh, is that so? I hadn't noticed." She shot back, leaning into him and placing her head on his chest. "Besides, since when have you complained?"

"Oh, I'm not complaining." The copy-nin replied, placing his hand on the back of her neck, his fingers playing with a loose strand of her hair. She laughed lightly as she leaned further into him, the mesh bodysuit she wore under her signature trench coat - not a thread of which was between the two - allowing him to feel every bit of her body against him.

She smiled mischievously up at him. "I heard you're a proper sensei now - it's a cause for celebration, no?"

"We've been celebrating all night, Anko." Kakashi pointed out, gesturing to the bar at large. The two scanned the room together, the grey-haired jonin noting where the group he had come with had ended up. Chouza and Inoichi were passed out in a heap on the ground, with Chouza serving as the big spoon. Asuma and Kurenai had wandered off in the direction of the bathroom after the conclusion of the drinking contest, hopefully finally ready to stop dancing around each other with lower inhibitions. Gai was still on the floor, now snoring loudly, as other patrons began drawing on his face. Finally there was Shibi and Tsume - evidently the feral woman had succeeded in getting her old teammate a bit "buzzed", as he now sat with his tan jacket open, showing a surprisingly well-defined chest that the Inuzuka clan head was running her hands all over as she sat in his lap, her own black shirt opened up and showing a remarkable amount of cleavage.

"... Are Shibi and Tsume a thing?" Anko asked curiously, her flirty tone interrupted by confusion.

"She certainly seems to be trying to make them a thing." Kakashi replied blithely, curious where that would go.

"I like her style." Anko purred as she once more attempted to melt into Kakashi. He felt her hand go in and then out of his pocket as she stood on her tiptoes, nibbling lightly on his ear before whispering, "I'll be waiting at your place."

The jonin watched as she turned and left the bar. He reached into his pocket and, as expected, was no longer in possession of his house key. He did feel soft fabric, and pulled out a black thong with a picture of a small pug on the crotch.

"... Lucky bastard." The bartender grumbled good-naturedly from behind him.

"Very rarely, but it certainly seems so tonight. Make sure nobody robs Gai?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

Back in the present moment, the silver-haired man sighed as he appraised the sleeping form of one Anko Mitarashi. This was not the first time he had woken up with the snake mistress in his bed after a night of drinking, but it was the first time since he had gotten his new team and his priorities in life had shifted.

"Mrmmm…" She moaned as she snuggled deeper into his chest, a small and, dare the copy-nin say, adorable smile of pure contentedness on her face.

While the man might have been content to enjoy the physical proximity for a time, this particular morning had plenty of things to be accomplished, and so he gently shook the woman awake.

"Anko… Wake up…" He whispered softly, not wanting to risk her being startled awake - he had learned the first time this had happened to never assume she didn't have a kunai on her person, regardless of whether or not she reasonably had a place to hide one while stark-naked.

She slowly cracked open her own eyes, her smile growing wider as she realized where she was. The purple-haired woman rolled over on top of him, straddling his waist as she gently ran her nails down his chest. "Good morning, Kakashi." She purred, leaning forward and leaving only an inch of space between her lips and his own unmasked face. "I will never get tired of seeing your face when I wake up after a night of debauchery."

"I have to admit, we certainly do have fun when you catch me in a loose mood." The copy-nin agreed amicably. Anko was probably the only person in the village who knew what his face looked like - ever since the first time this had happened and he had drunkenly discarded his mask to use his tongue for… debauchery, as Anko had described it.

She snorted in response, leaning back and grabbing a half-empty bottle of sake from the bedside table, taking a quick swig before holding out the bottle to him. "I just wish it would happen when we're less drunk so I could remember it better."

"Careful now Anko. When you put it that way, it sounds like we're taking advantage of each other." Kakashi joked, accepting the bottle and taking a drink himself. The familiar rush of heat down his throat was as good a way of waking himself up as coffee, after all.

The woman rolled her eyes, climbing off of him and taking the blanket with her. "As if there's enough alcohol in the world to get either of us to do something we didn't want to." She shot back.

It was an ongoing dance of theirs - they would inevitably find each other out on the town on the rare occasion Kakashi's peers actually got him to go out, and use their intoxication to justify going home with each other and attaching no meaning to it the next day, blaming it on the alcohol. They were good friends after all, and despite her reputation, Anko was not the type to sleep around. She trusted him not to go around town bragging about bagging the "Snake Slut" as some called her, and he was able to trust her to keep quiet about the fact that yes, Kakashi Hatake was more than an enthusiastic theorist when it came to carnal matters. An easy way for the two emotionally-stunted adults to scratch their physiological itches without having to truly be intimate, a situation that had worked fine for almost five years now.

The cyclops blinked his good eye - his Sharingan left eye closed out of habit despite the fact that it was not currently covered by his headband - as he realized he had just put into words why their relationship was the way it was when beforehand he had never considered it. Evidently, his intention to no longer lie to himself about some things had extended to everything… Including the ways in which their dynamic was an unhealthy coping mechanism. If there were any chance there was more here than carnal companionship, he might've said something to her right then and there, but he knew the odds of anyone feeling that way about him, what with his grating personality and history of torpid behavior, were less than good.

He almost missed when things were simple and none of his actions required further consideration or introspection.

"You feel up to round two in the shower?" Anko asked him, turning to him with a suggestive smirk on her face. "Well actually I think it'll be round eight, but semantics."

Kakashi bit the inside of his cheek as his body reacted to her insinuation. 'Must be responsible.' He thought to himself. "I have to meet my new genin team for our first day of training at eight, Anko." He said aloud, sitting up so as to not leave a very noticeable tent in the sheets.

"Oh yeah, I heard you finally passed some brats." She tilted her head to the side, before smiling sadistically. "I wanna meet 'em."

The cyclops raised an eyebrow at this. "You've never struck me as someone who has the patience for fresh genin, Anko."

She shrugged, her shoulder becoming bare as the blanket slipped a bit with the motion. "If they're good enough for you to pass after all the teams you've failed over the years, they're probably more worthwhile than newbies usually are."

"Fair point." Kakashi conceded. "And you're correct. This group is going to be something special."

"Well isn't that a ringing endorsement from Kakashi "can't-be-fucked-to-care" Hatake." The woman replied with a roll of her eyes. "Now I really need to meet them. Might even show them a thing or two if they're as impressive as you say."

"I didn't agree that you could come with me." The scarecrow reminded his friend and sometimes lover.

"Did you not?" She replied in a tone that was far too innocent to suit her. She smiled deviously. "I'm sure I could convince you." Releasing the blanket, she let it fall to the floor, showing her very attractive body and striking a suggestive pose.

Taking in her form and checking the clock - six in the morning, two hours until he had to meet his team - the Hatake gave her a crooked smile. 'I can have a shadow clone drop of the pieces of the White Light Chakra Sabre.' The jonin decided as he seamlessly body-flickered behind her, pulling her into the bathroom as she started giggling mischievously.

---

Naruto blinked the sleep out of his eyes as he awoke, still fully-clothed from the evening before. He was hanging half off of his bed, the large, leather-bound tome containing the history of multiple clans on the ground under his outstretched hand. He blurrily remembered that he had decided to begin reading about the history of his apparent clan.

Looking at his clock he saw it was ten minutes until seven - just enough time to get in a shower and breakfast before meeting his team at eight for their first day of training. Hauling himself out of bed and going through his morning routine, it wasn't long before he was eating eggs and toast, still remembering his teacher's words about the importance of a healthy breakfast.

As he worked through his meal, he kept the book on clans on the table, opened to the last section relating to the Uzumaki clan. The blonde had learned a great deal about them - they were notable seals masters who had established their village, Uzushiogakure, five years before Konoha was founded by the Senju and Uchiha clans. During the second shinobi war, their ability to effortlessly seal tailed beasts compared to even the best seal masters from other villages had led to them being attacked by a combined force consisting of troops from Iwa, Mizu, and Kumo.

The boy had also found it exceptionally interesting to discover that the First Hokage's wife had been an Uzumaki by the name of Mito. While it glossed over the fact that she had been a highly successful shinobi during the Warring States period, it focused more on what she had done for Konoha. Apparently she had founded the first orphanages in the city, along with Konoha's first library, and had been the first headmistress of the academy when it had been established under Lord Second early in his reign.

He had come upon a statement from Mito, taken shortly after the downfall of Uzushio and just a month before her death.

'I will always regret that I was not able to make a difference for my family as they fought and ultimately fell defending our home. The only thing that grants me any semblance of peace with the events that cost me my homeland is the survival of my young grandniece, Kushina, who will carry the Uzumaki name and legacy here in Konoha.'

Naruto paused his chewing as he read the passage, eyes going wide as he realized what the words of his deceased ancestor meant - it meant he had a lead!

'Kushina Uzumaki, huh? If this book was written around when the second war ended, then that may mean…' The boy cut off his own train of thought. It would only hurt more if he got too excited and ended up being wrong, but still, this was the most solid lead he had ever had. 'I'll ask sensei if he ever heard of Kushina Uzumaki growing up.' The young boy determined, closing the book and scarfing the rest of his breakfast down before grabbing his coat and heading out the door.

Soon he was on his way to the training grounds, touching down in front of his teammates, already present. Hinata smiled gently at him while Sasuke gave a nod of acknowledgement.

"Hey guys!" He exclaimed exuberantly, smiling wide despite the early hour.

"G-good morning, Naruto." The Hyuga heiress greeted. She held out a container to him. "Have you eaten this morning? I made some cinnamon rolls and had leftovers after breakfast."

The boy's eyes widened. "Oh wow - you can cook, Hinata?!"

The girl's cheeks were tinged pink as she looked bashfully to the side. "A b-bit. Cinnamon rolls are my favorite - my mother taught me how to make them. Are they something you enjoy?"

The blonde shrugged haplessly. "I dunno - never had one before."

Much as he had acted when Hinata had told him she had never had ramen, the girl's eyes went wide as she took a horrified expression. "You've n-never…" She then held out the container, her expression firm. "Try one, please!"

Naruto was a bit surprised by her passion, but shrugged, never one to turn down free food. Cracking open the lid, his nostrils were immediately hit with the sweet smell of cinnamon and vanilla. Feeling his mouth water, he took one of the pastries and ate a small bite - and almost immediately felt his soul leave his body.

'... This… This is like the ramen of desserts…' The blonde thought to himself in shock, almost feeling sacreligious as he put the pastry on the same level as his favorite food. "This is so good, Hinata!" He exclaimed, tears prickling the corner of his eyes. "You must be the best cook ever next to Old Man Teuchi! Sasuke, you gotta try one of these!"

"Hn." The boy grunted disapprovingly. "She already offered. I don't like sweets."

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "But how do you know if you don't try it?"

"I've had cinnamon rolls before, idiot. The girls in the academy made me sweets all the time thinking I would go out with them because they could bake, when all they proved is that they didn't know me at all." The dark-haired boy replied, rolling his eyes. "Like all pastries, I don't have a taste for them."

"But you haven't tried these cinnamon rolls, right?!" The blonde probed. "C'mon, Hinata went through the trouble of bringing them, you could at least try them!"

Groaning in annoyance, Sasuke swiped one from the still open container. "Fine, if it'll shut you up." Grimacing and fully expecting to dislike what he was about to do greatly, he took a nibble of the confection…

And then promptly had his eyebrows hit his hairline as, for the first time in his young life, he was not immediately revolted by the taste of a dessert. There was complexity to this, not just overwhelmingly saccharine sweetness. He tasted hints of vanilla, almonds, and rich dark chocolate mixed in with the cinnamon. Not too sweet, in fact maybe a touch savory… Had she slightly salted them?

"... Not bad." He said, turning and leaning back against the tree as he took a larger bite. "Not bad at all."

"T-thank you both." Hinata said, her face growing a shade redder at the praise from her teammates.

"Seriously Hinata, that's the best thing I've ever had that isn't ramen!" Naruto exclaimed, licking the frosting off his fingers. "I bet you'd make the best wife and mother with cooking like that!" Of course this reflected the blonde's understanding of what a wife and mother did, which was limited to being nice and sometimes scary as well as a good cook.

Naturally he didn't understand in the slightest why Hinata's face immediately went atomic red and her eyes rolled back into her head as she fainted as his words.

"Hinata! Sasuke, she's sick again - why are you laughing, asshole?!"

---

'Alright, so this is definitely going to be a recurring theme.' Kakashi mentally sighed to himself as he arrived at the training grounds, seeing Naruto fanning Hinata's face as she laid with her head in his lap, Sasuke suppressing very un-Sasuke-like giggles as he leaned up against a nearby tree, nibbling a cinnamon roll of all things.

"Sensei, I'm glad you're here, Hinata got sick again - wait, who is that?" The blonde lost focus on his teammate as he pointed to Anko, who had landed behind his teacher.

"This is a friend of mine, Anko Mitarashi." The cyclops explained. "We… ran into each other this morning and she was curious about meeting my team."

She snorted at his description of how they met this morning. "Ran into each other, yeah." The special jonin said derisively, rolling her eyes before striking a victory pose. "Nice to meet you brats - Anko Mitarashi, sexy and badass Snake Mistress of Konoha!" She peered a bit closer at the team. "Why the hell is the girl knocked out?"

"I don't know!" Naruto exclaimed, looking at the girl with cerulean eyes full of concern. "She brought these cinnamon rolls that me and Sasuke tried and I told her they were really good and that she'd probably be a great wife and mom since she can cook so good and then she got all red and fainted! Should we go to the hospital?"

"Won't be necessary Naruto, just give her a bit of space." Kakashi sighed. The blonde backed off, wringing his hands in concern for his teammate as the jonin leaned down next to her. He bent over and whispered something into her ear, causing the girl to shoot up straight.

"SASUKE TOLD HIM WHAT?!" The heiress exclaimed, her face filled with actual panic.

"That he liked the cinnamon rolls. Welcome back to the land of the living Hinata. This is my friend Anko, she'll be helping a bit with your training today." Kakashi replied in his signature laissez-faire manner.

"Oh, er…" The girl began poking her fingers together as was her usual nervous habit. "That's good to hear. Would you like one, sensei?"

"I'm good. Anko?"

"Give the sweets to mama."

After a couple minutes for everyone to catch up and get settled, during which Anko inhaled the remaining rolls like they were ambrosia from the gods, the three rookies stood before their sensei, ready to begin their journey as ninja.

"So first off, we're going to start every morning of training with physical conditioning. I'll be getting some help from Gai starting next week once this business with Neji is over and done with, so we'll start with some lighter versions of his standard workouts." The jonin explained.

"Come on sensei, you ain't gotta go easy on us, we can take it!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes burning with enthusiasm for the opportunity to show what he could do. "We ain't gonna beat Neji doing light work!"

Kakashi nodded approvingly. "You make a good point Naruto, I shouldn't take it easy on you all - we'll do half of what Gai normally does instead of a quarter as I had planned. Alright, fifty laps around the village, do fifty squats, push-ups, and sit-ups between laps!"

The three genin stared at their sensei with pure bewilderment on their faces. "Uh, hey sensei, maybe we're fine with your original plan…" Naruto said nervously, ignoring Sasuke, who had switched from staring at their teacher to glaring daggers at his blonde teammate.

"Nonsense! You're right in thinking that I should push you as hard as possible." Kakashi replied cheerily. After a beat, the teacher clapped his hands together with faux enthusiasm. "Perhaps it'll help you all get motivated if we simulate the mortal danger you may have to run from in the field! Anko?"

The woman paused her consumption of the leftover cinnamon rolls, looking at him with her cheeks comically puffed out like a squirrel. Swallowing loudly, she shrugged and then turned her face into a terrifyingly wicked smile. "Sure, why not?" The woman bit her thumb, running through handsigns before slamming her bloodied palm upon the ground.

As the smoke cleared, the woman was now standing next to a snake that was roughly fifteen meters long and two meters in width.

"How may I be of ssservice, lady Anko?" The snake asked in perfect English, surprising the now terrified genin.

"Light work today, Misaki. These are my friend Kakashi's new students - could you motivate them with their training, make sure they run all their laps around the village? Don't forget to pause between laps to let them do exercises too." The woman explained as she nibbled at another cinnamon roll. "Oh and make sure not to kill the girl. The boys you can play rough with if they're dragging ass, but these rolls are too damn good to risk never having again."

The snake gave the best exasperated expression her reptilian features would allow. "Really, lady Anko?"

"... I'll give you a whole deer." The special jonin replied lamely.

"... Fine." The snake replied, rearing back and hissing ferally at the three children, who only spared a moment to look at their sensei with fear and betrayal in their eyes before they took off running, girlish screams sounding in the distance as Misaki took off after them in hot pursuit.

"Nothing like the sound of genin running off screaming in terror to start the day." Anko chuckled manically. "Damn, didn't think that Hyuga girl could scream that loud."

"Fairly certain that was Naruto screaming, actually. I don't think that he likes snakes very much." Kakashi noted in a bored tone. He started going through a series of high level stretches to warm himself up. "Well, better get a move on if I want to be done when they are."

Anko quirked an eyebrow at him in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

The copy-nin sighed - he really wasn't looking forward to this. "I'll be doing Gai's full workout in the time it takes them to finish a half-session." And with that, he took off at such a fast launch speed that a small cloud of dust was kicked up behind him, leaving a wide-eyed Anko staring at his disappearing figure.

---

It took about an hour for all three members of Team Seven to collapse at the starting line, the first part of their training completed.

"That… Was… Terrible…" Naruto said, panting as he stood hunched over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He may have had insane stamina compared to most, but an equally insane workout was still enough to exhaust him.

He was in better shape than Sasuke, who was laying fully spread-eagle on the ground. "For once… Idiot… We're in agreement…" He gasped out, not even lifting his head to look at the blonde. "Next time… He says… we're going to… have light physical conditioning… shut… the fuck… up…"

"Yeah, you got a point there. How are you holding up Hinata?" Naruto asked, straightening up as his abnormally fast recovery kicked in. Looking in the direction they had come from for his female teammate, he spotted her leaning against a nearby tree, vomiting in the bushes.

"Sensei… Is not well… Nobody mentally well… Would consider that light…" Hinata panted out as she tried to get her stomach under control. She was so out of breath she couldn't even waste the oxygen to stutter in embarrassment from throwing up in front of Naruto.

"Well done kids!" Kakashi congratulated jovially, appearing in the center of the three without warning. Each of the group jumped to their feet, smoothly falling into their combat stances with various levels of nervous ticks - the cyclops was actually a bit impressed at how fast Sasuke's eye was twitching. "You managed to beat me back to the starting line."

"Whaddaya mean beat you? You weren't running with us!" Naruto said, pointing an accusing finger at their teacher.

"An astute observation Naruto - I was running pretty fast past you all, I'm not shocked you didn't notice me while trying to avoid Anko's summon. Had to if I was going to complete the full workout by the time you all were done with a half load." The jonin explained, keeping his chipper tone. In reality he was fairly worn out himself - he really had been slacking on his physical conditioning recently if that was the case. Still, it was good to present himself as if the workout wasn't too bad if he wanted them to not cry when he upped their load."I expect you all to be able to keep up with the full set sometime this month."

Naruto's arm fell slowly as he, along with his teammates, looked at their sensei in abject horror. After soaking in their expressions for a moment - after all, just because he was trying to do better as a teacher didn't change the fact that he was a bit of an ass who delighted in the suffering of others as a source of amusement - the cyclops continued. "Now, since we have a week before you all face Neji, I have individual training planned for each of you that should make it well within your capabilities to defeat him."

It was as he said this that Anko walked up to the group, Misaki the snake trailing behind her. "Nice job brats - Misaki said she was actually trying to catch you all around lap twenty-two and you still managed to get away."

The snake gave what could only be described as a giggle made of hissing noises. "You all must have been quite afraid of me - I was able to sneak away and have that deer while you finished your last ten laps and you didn't even notice."

Anko smiled fondly at her familiar. "Good work Misaki - get some rest. Kakashi might want your help tomorrow too."

"Oh goodie - I had far more fun than I expected. I'll be more than happy to continue providing motivation." The snake giggled again before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"... I hate everything." Naruto declared confidently, getting weary nods of agreement from both of his teammates.

"Let that hatred fuel you!" Kakashi replied with what sounded like genuine encouragement in his tone, forming the ram sign and spawning three shadow clones. " Time for individual training. Sasuke, I have no concerns about your basics, so you'll be working on refining your fire element. Normally I would suggest training with your dominant element first, but since you've already been working with fire style we might as well keep that up before starting on lightning." The avenger nodded, following the clone to a secluded part of the training grounds next to a creek, for obvious reasons.

Kakashi then turned to Hinata with an encouraging eye-smile. "Hinata, I need to check something before we progress too far, and I'll need a bit of help for that. Anko, this is where you come in."

"Say what now?" Anko deadpanned, clearly expecting to be an observer in their training rather than an active participant. One of the Kakashi clones leaned over her shoulder and briefly whispered in her ear, her annoyed expression morphing into one of sadistic delight. "Well when you put it that way, how can a girl say no?" She and the clone began walking off, a nervous-looking Hinata following closely behind.

"And Naruto, that'll leave your training." The jonin said, rounding on his last student, his last clone at his side.

"Awesome, whaddaya got planned for me sensei? Am I gonna start learning badass wind jutsu or are we gonna start with fire? Earth could be cool too! Or-"

"Easy there, Naruto." Kakashi cut him off, holding up his hands in surrender to the boy's torrent of questions. "For now, your training won't be that exciting. We're going to work on your basics."

The blonde visibly deflated. "Oh…" He clearly wanted to protest after seeing Sasuke get taken off to work on his fire ninjutsu, but with a maturity gained from the last couple of days with his team, he just heaved a sigh and accepted his fate. "Okay sensei, you've been studying and everything so you know best I guess. So whaddaya mean by basics?"

Kakashi eye-smiled, pleased by his student's response. "Well, first I want to ask you, Naruto, what do you know about shadow clones?"

The child's face screwed up in confusion. "Well, I mean they're solid and I can make a lot of them, right?"

The silver-haired jonin nodded patiently. "Both of those things are true. Anything else?" The boy looked at him askance, so Kakashi decided to speed things up. "Tell you what, why don't you form a clone for me?"

The blonde shrugged and did so. His teacher then took the doppelganger off to the side behind some trees. After a moment, Naruto's face screwed up in annoyance as Kakashi reappeared in front of him. "Hey sensei, that's not true at all! Ramen is way better than sushi!"

Raising an eyebrow, the man responded, "And how do you know I said that Naruto? I was speaking to your clone."

The Uzumaki heir stared at him in confusion for a moment before a look of comprehension dawned on his face. "Holy crap, are you saying I remember what my clones do?!" He asked, excitement written all over his face. That was why he had so much trouble keeping track of what he did when he sparred with them!

"Exactly, Naruto. And we will be abusing that to whip you into shape." The jonin confirmed sagely.

The boy's expression grew a bit annoyed. "What do you mean whip me into shape, sensei?"

Kakashi sighed. This was going to be the hardest part. "Naruto, as your teacher, I will never lie to you. So keep in mind I am being truthful and trying to help when I say that your basics, everything the academy should have had drilled into you before you graduated, are an utter trainwreck. You're barely passable with kunai and shuriken, your taijutsu is more like a drunk at a bar fight than a shinobi, and your chakra control is absolutely pitiful."

The boy seemed to shrink a bit more at every criticism until he was hunched over, poking his fingers together like a certain pale-eyed heiress. In a different world Naruto might have pushed back against these observations, but here and now the blonde respected his sensei and knew the man wanted what was best for him, so he was able to honestly acknowledge his sensei had a valid point. Several of them, in fact.

"Now all that said," Kakashi continued, "none of that is irreparable, especially not if we accelerate your training with clones. Make one hundred clones for me."

Perking up at his sensei's encouragement, Naruto formed the familiar ram seal and spawned a small sea of orange clones. "Alright," Kakashi said, "I want twenty of you working on shuriken and twenty on kunai. The goal is to have you able to hit one-hundred out of one-hundred with both tools by the end of the week." The group all gave a cheer as forty of them split off towards target posts on the other end of the training grounds. "I want another twenty practicing chakra control with the leaf exercise. Once you can balance leaves on your forehead for ten minutes without it dropping, we'll move on to another exercise. As for the rest of you, you'll be practicing kata with my shadow clone so your taijutsu has more of a cohesive style."

As the groups of twenty and forty went off to begin on their tasks, the real Naruto was left alone with his teacher. "Hey sensei, what kinda taijutsu will my clones be doing?"

"Excellent question, Naruto. I managed to dig up some scrolls for a style that hasn't been practiced in the village for over a decade - it's known as the Whirlpool Fist. I felt it was only right that you learn it." The man explained. He had actually had the scrolls in his possession for some time, one of the handful of trinkets and artifacts he had received after Minato and Kushina's deaths. He might have forgotten he had them were it not for the fact that he had been trying to figure out a style of taijutsu for the blonde to learn.

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Well that sounds cool, but how can it be strong if nobody uses it?"

'Moment of truth time.' The copy-nin thought, bracing himself for a dozen possible reactions. "Well Naruto, nobody has had a right to use it in over a decade, given that it was the signature style of the Uzumaki clan. I figured you would appreciate the opportunity to receive some kind of inheritance."

The boy went still, looking pensive, as if he were struggling with something to say.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, not at all used to having to coax questions out of his blonde student.

"... I got this book from the bookstore that had some stuff on the Uzumaki clan yesterday, when you went to report to the old man. Read it all last night." He said, his voice wavering as if he was afraid. "Do you know anything about Kushina Uzumaki?"

---

"Sensei, what will you and Jonin Mitarashi be teaching me?" Hinata asked, a bit nervous at how Anko had been convinced to aid in her training. They had just come into a small clearing on the other side of the training grounds, secluded from her teammates.

"That's a great question Hinata. This week, I won't be teaching you any new jutsu or techniques." The jonin's clone replied. "No, instead we're going to focus on you mastering what you already are."

The girl looked at him in confusion, biting her lips slightly. "W-what do you mean, sensei?"

"A demonstration is the best way to explain. I'd like you and Anko to spar for a moment. Don't hold back - Anko here is very talented when it comes to hand-to-hand combat." The clone replied, taking a step back.

Anko stood across from Hinata, looking remarkably unimpressed. "By the way kid, I'm a special jonin and you can just call me Anko. You nobles and your formalities annoy me."

The girl shrank a bit at Anko's harsh words before taking a deep breath, straightening out her back, and sliding into her combat stance. "Very well, Anko. Good luck."

The purple-haired woman snorted derisively. "Won't need luck for an ankle-biter like you, girlie." Without a bow, the woman shot forward, immediately on the offensive.

Kakashi's clone noted that while Hinata was a bit caught off guard by the speed with which the battle started, she did a good job reacting, ducking beneath Anko's initial right cross and sliding around behind the woman with remarkably crisp footwork. She threw a quick palm forward, which Anko avoided with a tight contortion of her body.

The snake summoner used her momentum from the twist to seamlessly transition into a roundhouse kick, but missed Hinata due to the smaller girl bending backwards perfectly, her torso going parallel to the ground below. She then rocketed back up, throwing another palm strike and actually getting in a glancing blow on Anko's shoulder as the woman fell to the side in an attempt to avoid the strike.

Anko clicked her tongue against her teeth in annoyance as she threw a series of quick jabs and crosses at Hinata, all of which the girl did an admirable avoiding or deflecting, until finally the snake mistress successfully got Hinata to bite on a feint, overextending herself as she went to deflect another uppercut and catching the spinning heel kick Anko transitioned to with her momentum full on.

'Time to see if my theory is correct.' The clone thought to himself as Hinata landed heavily on her back, her head clearly spinning from the impact of Anko's foot as her eyes tried to regain their focus. "Good job Hinata - you did well avoiding Anko's attacks considering the disparity in skill and physical capabilities between you both. Now if you could stand up and go again."

The girl looked at her sensei, a sense of defeat written all over her face, before shakily rising to her feet and taking her Gentle Fist stance again. Immediately the difference was obvious - her stance was less firm, her head slightly downwards even with her eyes trained on Anko.

The snake mistress gave a contemptuous snort as she rushed forward again, this time opening with a heavy straight kick aimed at the smaller girl's gut. Hinata did well enough to sidestep and avoid the blow, but unlike the first attempt, she hesitated in throwing a counter strike. This left her open when Anko spun, planting her shin into the smaller girl's torso and launching her back a few feet before she painfully landed on the ground.

Kakashi pursed his lips, seeing exactly what he was fearing he would. This time he simply said, "Again, when you're ready."

Hinata breathed heavily on the ground, clearly trying to regain her wind. After about a half minute, she stood, shakily resuming her combat stance. Anko looked at her with pity before rushing in again, this time landing her first blow, a cross to Hinata's jaw that sent the girl sprawling to the floor.

Kakashi heaved a sad sigh. "Alright, time for a break. Hinata, come over here for a minute once you've recovered."

The girl lay on the floor for a moment before she shakily got to her feet and came to sit next to her sensei. Anko watched the two impassively from the side. After a moment, the heiress broke the silence. "I'm sorry, sensei."

The cyclops raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

"I… I'm a f-failure." The girl replied, her stutter returning as tears began pooling in the corners of her eyes. "I thought I w-would be different today… I felt so sure of myself last n-night, but I'm still weak-"

"Hinata." Kakashi cut her off, his tone serious. "Stop doing this to yourself." She looked at him in askance, her eyes searching for him to explain his words, so he continued. "You are a failure so far sparring with a special jonin, but so am I in all things far more important. Hell, the only other jonin in this village I consider an equal, Gai, failed more than just about anyone else when we were kids. Failure is an inevitability, it's how you respond to it that shows your true strength."

She stayed quiet, so he continued. "You know, I actually told Anko to be harsh with you, and there was a reason for that. I didn't do it to be needlessly cruel, or to make you feel like you were with your family, but to show you that the world is full of powerful people who will enjoy your failure. Their goal is to see you lose confidence in yourself, to stop getting back up again. And that's exactly what you did - you actually did better than I expected in the first round, but after that first loss you kept doubting yourself until your indecision was leaving massive openings."

The girl looked in surprise at Anko, who shrugged and smiled awkwardly. "Yeah, no hard feelings, right girlie? Orders from my superior."

'Anko, you and I both know I didn't need to twist your arm.' Kakashi thought, giving his sadistic friend a dry look. He then continued. "Do you think less of Naruto for all the times he failed in the academy?"

"No!" The girl objected, looking at him with the most certainty he had seen from her so far that day. "No, it's because of that that I, l-" she cut herself off, looking away with a red blush on her face. "... It's because he can get back up and keep smiling that I admire him." She said quieter, looking away. "I just… When I fail I…"

"It feels like everything your clan, Neji, and even your father have told you about yourself is true." The cyclops finished for her. He waited until she looked up at him to continue. "Hinata, people who think one failure is an eternal condemnation are weak. They never grow to be more than they are."

He inhaled and exhaled to calm himself down. This was going to be tough, but he had asked for a great deal of vulnerability from the girl. The least he could do is return it in kind. "I've spent my whole life failing. I failed to provide my father a reason to live. I failed to protect either of my teammates. I failed to be of use to my sensei on the night he died."

She looked at him with wide eyes as he took another deep breath. "I used to think like you, that those failures were an indictment on me as a person. But they made me who I am today - an elite jonin, the Copy Ninja, your sensei." He looked at her, the girl fighting back tears and anxiety - he caught Anko out of the corner of his eye, looking at him in shock, and he couldn't blame her. They had been friends for years, and he had never opened up to her as he was to Hinata right now.

"But sensei… What if I fail on a mission? And you get hurt, or Sasuke, or…" She trailed off.

"It'll hurt. You'll blame yourself. But know Hinata, no matter how much of a failure you think you might be, I am certain of trusting you with my life and theirs in the field. I hope that counts for something - I don't trust lightly." He replied, meaning every word. "So when you next fail, try to trust yourself like I do."

The girl still looked uncertain - it would be unreasonable to expect one speech to overcome a lifetime of degradation, much like it had been unreasonable of her to expect one night of confidence to change her into someone always certain - but the smile on her face said that she heard him. "Understood, sensei - I'll do my best!"

"That's all I ask." The gray-haired man said with an eye-smile, standing up and being followed by the girl. "Anko, would you mind continuing to spar with Hinata? No need to play up the aggression, just try to help her improve."

The snake mistress shrugged. "Eh sure, why not? I don't have to be anywhere." As the two knelt into their combat stances, the woman threw a barb his way. "Shouldn't you be training your own student a bit though?"

"Well," Kakashi replied with his own shrug as the sounds of a fireball exploding in the distance went off with impeccable timing, "I think the clone training Sasuke decided to be blunt and upfront and may need some backup." As he finished these words, a malevolent aura washed over them only briefly before dissipating. It was not a sensation Hinata knew, but she caught the sharp and alarmed glance shared between her two teachers.

"Kakashi, that was-" Anko began, her voice tense.

"I know. The original will handle it." The clone replied before forming a hand sign and disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

---

Sasuke stared impatiently at his teacher, while the man returned his gaze impassively. After a few moments of the stare-off, the Uchiha boy groaned. "Fine, I give. What do you want me to do?"

"Oh, we'll get there." The cyclops replied. "But first, I have something I want to be honest with you about."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke questioned, genuine confusion coloring his features. One of the things he had enjoyed about his new teacher so far had been the fact that the man shot fairly straight with him.

Instead of saying anything, the copy-nin replied by reaching up and pulling up his headband. Instead of an empty socket or a damaged eye, a three-tomoe Sharigan spun into focus on the dark-haired boy.

Sasuke took a step back as if struck, his face contorting into an ugly expression as his mind raced back to the conversation he had overheard at the bookstore the previous day - 'that eye you got from Obito', the old bookseller had said.

While his immediate instinct was to lash out, to feel anger, Sasuke took a deep breath instead. "Who is Obito?" He asked, his voice calm but anger simmering, ready to burst forward. The young Uchiha didn't remember any cousins with that name.

"Ah, I thought you overheard Ryuji and I talking yesterday." The jonin noted as he pulled his headband back down. "He was my teammate. On my first mission as a jonin, my left eye was damaged due to my own carelessness. When Obito was crushed under a falling boulder pushing me out of the way," Kakashi's voice got a bit choked as he spoke of the history behind his donated left eye, but he pushed on, "he insisted our other teammate, Rin, transfer his undamaged left eye to me."

"... I take it my clan wasn't too thrilled with that." Sasuke said, putting the question as a statement. He felt his fists uncurl and some of his anger ebb away: now that it was confirmed the eye had not been stolen, curiosity was becoming his dominant feeling towards this revelation.

"No, they weren't." Kakashi replied. Sasuke heard anger in his tone as he continued to offer context. "Your father denied him the traditional Uchiha funeral rites and had his name stricken from most, if not all clan records. He did this despite the fact that the mission that cost Obito his life proved integral to Konoha coming out of the third war as well as we did. I still think that to this day, his actions towards my teammate is why he and Lord Fourth never saw eye to eye."

Sasuke grimaced at this. The Uchiha funeral rites were sacred in his clan - it was believed that any Uchiha that did not receive them would be denied the ability to join their ancestors in the afterlife. Considering the body of the deceased was not required for the rites, denying them to a member of the clan was the ultimate shame, something that only happened to those the clan head would consider the scum of their bloodline.

"I felt it better you know now and we deal with any problems that arise from it in the village instead of during a mission." Kakashi's good eye narrowed a bit. "Do we have any problems?"

The Uchiha scion closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on making his breathing regular. When he opened them, he was calm. "No, no problem. It's probably a good thing. When I unlock my Sharingan, it'll be nice to have someone alive to teach me how to use it."

"Good." Kakashi said. "Now, let's get on with your training. Before we get too far, I want to ask you something - you are determined to kill your brother, correct?"

Sasuke tensed again, every fiber of his being growing hot with anger at the mere mention of that man. "Yes." He replied tersely, not sure why the jonin had brought the topic up.

"Do you plan to do this alone?" Kakashi asked, his eye narrowing again.

"Yes." Sasuke answered once more, his muscles flexing as he grew angrier. Why was this being brought up?

The cyclops shook his head, disappointment clear in his features. "Then you're a damned fool, Sasuke."

A feeling like cracking glass overcame the youth as anger boiled over in his core. "You have no right to say that to me." He hissed, his face contorting into that ugly, enraged expression again.

"Oh but I do. You see, as your sensei, your life is my responsibility, and I won't see you throw it away on a fool's errand." Kakashi shot back, his tone firm.

"... Shut up." The boy whispered. "... Shut the hell up!" He launched himself forward, fury clouding his judgment, fully intent on dispelling the clone of his teacher and then possibly going to the real Kakashi to shove a kunai in his chest too.

The clone effortlessly dodged a flurry of blows, looking bored with the ease that he avoided the assault. "I'll do no such thing - you need to hear this Sasuke." He ducked under a spinning kick. "Itachi is, in all likelihood, stronger than me. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if the only ninja in the village who has a chance against him is Lord Third, and there's no guarantee that he would be able to defeat your brother."

Sasuke's face and mind went absolutely feral at the mention of his brother's name, something he avoided even in his own thoughts. He pulled out several shuriken and tossed them at the clone with deadly accuracy. "Shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP!" The avenger screamed, his pupils dilating as he fell further into his borderline psychosis.

The clone easily weaved between the shuriken, quickly withdrawing one of kunai in his pouch - the contents of which had also been cloned from the original - and cutting the three strands on ninja wire drawn taut between the shuriken that would have ensnared him had he done nothing. "You have talent, but you have to know that you are leagues behind Itachi when he was your age. I would know - I was appointed his ANBU commander when he was eleven years old."

"So what, I have you to thank for his skill with a tanto? The skills he used to kill my FUCKING PARENTS?!" Sasuke accused, spittle flying from his mouth as he charged in again, throwing another series of strikes.

"Not really. Your brother would have been able to kill a jonin with a pair of nail clippers." Kakashi replied, easily ducking and side-stepping the sloppy, emotion-driven assault. "No, if anything, I hold myself accountable for what happened to your family, not for what I taught Itachi, but for what I clearly didn't."

Sasuke was caught off guard by this admission and actually tripped over his feet, Kakashi sliding by him and gently pushing his back, causing the boy to fall flat on his face. "I was his mentor in ANBU, closer to him than most, and I completely failed to spot the evil in him that led to the massacre. I've wondered many times, if I had done something differently, would Obito's family still be alive? Wide as their rift was, I know he would've cried like a baby if he had been around to see his parents die."

Sasuke turned over, spitting out some dirt and leveling his teacher a murderous glare. "So what, I should blame you?!" He demanded.

Kakashi simply shrugged indifferently. "Sure, if you want. I blame myself anyway. But that's not my point. My point is it's as likely that you'll never be able to defeat Itachi alone as it is that you will, despite the fact that you are exceptionally talented. You probably could have made genin by ten if we hadn't been at peace for so long… You know, the same age Itachi made chunin."

At his name being said again, the glass went from cracked to shattered. "Stop it…" He growled. "Stop saying that…"

"Saying what specifically, Sasuke? Much of what I have said likely doesn't sit well with you." The jonin replied, looking bored. Kakashi wasn't enjoying this by any means, but he knew he had to break the boy if he wanted him to have a future different from the last Uchiha he had trained.

Faster than the jonin could have believed the young avenger was capable of, Sasuke surged to his feet and began flashing through handseals. "Stop saying his fucking NAME - AND STOP CALLING THAT DAMNED MONSTER MY BROTHER! FIREBALL JUTSU!"

The fireball came out of his mouth with more chakra than the cyclops had seen Sasuke pour into it before, immediately meeting the size of the fireball the boy had created the day before and then continuing to swell further, the core burning so hot the flame was more white than red.

The jonin's response was to simply use the replacement technique, watching from behind the enraged child as the fireball incinerated the log he had switched with and several trees before it combusted in a veritable hellstorm. 'Thank Kami the village has groundskeepers on retainer who are used to clearing charred land.' The scarecrow thought to himself before speaking out loud. "Do you feel better now, Sasuke?"

The boy spun around, heaving exhausted and ragged breaths as he hunched over, clearly having used the lion's share of his chakra on the technique. "I said shut the hell up!"

"You do realize, since I didn't authorize the use of the lethal force here, that I could have you court-martialed and thrown in prison for that, right?" The jonin continued in a casual tone, as if they were discussing the weather and not Sasuke's attempted immolation of his sensei.

In response, the young avenger began running through hand signs again, only for another Kakashi clone to appear behind him and knock him out with a quick chop to the back of his neck before the boy could even register that he had been flanked.

Pulling out a spool of ninja wire, the copy-ninja sighed. "Oddly enough, that still went better than I was expecting."

---

Kakashi took another deep breath, remembering his orders from Hiruzen on what to do when Naruto started asking questions. "Yes Naruto, I knew Kushina Uzumaki… Your mother."

Naruto recoiled as if struck at these words, looking at him with confusion and maybe a hint of betrayal in his eyes. "She… She is my mom… And you knew?" The boy asked, his voice quivering and already sounding like he was on the edge of tears.

"I more than knew your mother, Naruto. I was assigned by Lord Fourth to be her bodyguard throughout her pregnancy with you. Being the last Uzumaki - at least as far as we knew at the time and still know - it was considered very important that she had a successful pregnancy. After a while, she… She was like the mother I never had." The jonin explained. While he hated continuing to lie to the child in any capacity with the half-truth, it was still an S-ranked secret that she had also been the jinchuriki of the Kyubi.

The boy's eyes went wide before he looked away, squeezing them shut as if to hold back tears. After a moment to collect himself, he looked back at his sensei. "If… If you know, does that mean gramps knows?"

Taking the boy to mean Hiruzen, Kakashi hesitated a moment before answering. "I… Can't say for certain. He wasn't in office at the time." Another lie, but it was neither the scarecrow's right nor responsibility to come clean to the blonde boy about what the Third had held back from him.

The boy looked down again, and Kakashi felt as if his heart was breaking in two. He wanted to explain everything that Kushina meant to him - after all, while Minato had done an amazing job of supporting him after Obito's death, it had been watching over the pregnant Kushina that had truly saved the younger Hatake from himself after Rin's death. It had been her that held him as he cried, fully breaking down when he came back from that cursed mission that led to the death of maybe the only woman the copy ninja had ever loved. But he had to keep his story consistent for now.

Finally, he looked up again, tears pooling in his eyes with only the Uzumaki child's willpower holding them back. "Why… Why didn't you tell me? Did you… Did you not care about me or my mom?"

Kakashi definitely felt his heart rip in two at those words. "No!" He exclaimed, grabbing the boy by his shoulders. "No I… Naruto, I was a wreck after the Kyubi attack. I had lost the last few people I truly loved in my life and I just… I wasn't of use for anything beyond missions."

The boy shrugged off his sensei's hands. "But what about a year after? Or two? Or three?" The blonde's face screwed up in anger as the tears finally started falling. "Do you know how often people told me my parents were just some drunks who died? That they didn't want me or love me?" He balled up his fists so hard that his palms were cut, Kakashi noticing the blood seeping from between his fingers. "And I've always figured they might be right because I just didn't know!" He turned and punched a tree - and the trunk promptly exploded in a shower of bark and wood chips.

When Naruto rounded back on Kakashi, the scarecrow's blood ran cold as he saw the blonde's normally cerulean eyes flash red. "If she was like the mother you never had, why didn't you find me and tell me about her?! You coulda done at least that much because I NEVER HAD HER AT ALL!"

The boy's eyes were flickering back and forth from red and blue now, the Kyubi's chakra managing to seep through as he underwent emotional turmoil. While Kakashi had expected and been prepared for the idea that the young Uzumaki could be resentful, he had not thought it would get this bad. Then again, that was the reason he had chosen to stay with Naruto instead of going with Sasuke, so maybe he had been vainly hoping it wasn't that bad.

"... You're right Naruto. I'm… I'm sorry. I can't change the past - Kami knows I've wished I could - but I can promise that I'll tell you anything you want to know about her." Kakashi accepted his mea culpa, not knowing what else to say. All the years he had spent feeling sorry for himself when the only son of his surrogate parents needed him felt even more wasted now, in this moment, staring at what might have happened if Naruto wasn't such a truly goodhearted person.

The scorned child glared at him, anger in his expression, before slowly but surely the red faded back to blue. His expression fell from anger to something eerily empty on his normally happy face, and his shoulders drooped as he fell to his knees.

"... Naruto," he chanced after a moment, his tone touched with warmth. "Do you remember when you asked me last night if I really knew how to teach?"

The blonde child nodded shallowly, looking to possibly be in shock.

"Well, like I said last night, I don't. I also don't know how to take care of someone. People I care about. Even myself." The copy-nin took a step forward and knelt down, placing his hands on Naruto's shoulders, causing the child to meet his eyes. "But I'm trying to figure that out. I wish I had been there for you sooner, but if you'll give me the chance, I want to try and make up for lost time as best I can." Kakashi tried to pour as much of the sincere contrition he felt into his eye.

Naruto bit his lip, looking to be at war with himself. Then finally, it seemed like the dam broke, and the blonde pitched himself forward, hugging Kakashi around the neck and burying his face into his shoulder. "I'm sorry sensei. I shouldn't have yelled at you." He murmured through the jonin's vest.

Kakashi was once again initially thrown off by the contact, but recovered a bit quicker as he returned the hug. "You don't have to apologize. You had a right to be mad."

The child stepped back, wiping his eyes and smiling again. "Kushina Uzumaki. Sensei, can you tell me a bit about her now, before we start to train?"

Kakashi wanted to indulge his student, but there was something important about what had just happened that needed to be discussed now. "Naruto, I don't know if you remember, but you just punched through a tree."

The blonde's face flashed to confusion then shock as he spun around, gaping at the fallen tree behind him. "... How did I do that?!" He exclaimed.

'His anger caused him to tap into the fox's chakra, and it seems like he wasn't fully aware of his actions - how much influence did the fox have in just that brief moment?' Kakashi thought, a bit of wariness creeping into his mind. It wasn't that he didn't trust Naruto - he'd simply be a fool to trust the demon fox. "I'm fairly certain you tapped into the fox's chakra."

Naruto turned back to his sensei, his expression morphing from confusion to fear. "I… I didn't know I could do that. Iruka told me it was stuck in the seal." He stressed, looking to the side.

"He is, but it appears you have some ability to tap into his powers when you're angry." The cyclops theorized. "Just in case, would you mind if I took a quick look at your seal?"

The blonde nodded hesitantly, seemingly deciding to place his trust in his teacher despite his uncertainty. He quickly removed his jacket and undershirt, leaving his chest bare to the older man. "Alright, now just channel chakra toward your gut and the seal should become fully visible."

The boy did so, and the spiral seal of the Shinigami became available. As when he had first seen it on his student as a crying newborn, the seal looked alien yet familiar to the copy-nin. He was by no means a seal master, but he was fairly capable in the art and knew what to look for that would indicate structural instability, and was thankful to see none of the signs he would usually look for.

"It's as sound in design as ever." Kakashi said, feeling a ball of tension that had formed in his gut dissipate with this assurance. Naruto's features relaxed as he exhaled a sigh of relief, quickly redressing. "That said, I want you to keep this in mind if you're ever feeling any particularly strong emotions. If you can channel the fox's chakra under these circumstances, then that means there's a chance those emotions could also serve as a window for the demon to influence you."

A touch of fear returned to the boy's eyes, so Kakashi added to his warning. "Don't worry, I trust you. I know you'll be able to resist the fox's influence if push comes to shove in the field."

The boy closed his eyes and swallowed heavily before opening, that hint of fear gone. "Right. Thanks, sensei."

"Of course." The cyclops replied with his signature eye-smile. "Now, I believe you wanted to hear some stories about your mother?"

The blonde gave one of his soft, true smiles before nodding vigorously. "Yeah, if we have time I mean."

"I'll always make time to tell you about Kushina - we'll let the clones get started on some kata with my clone so that way you can still technically be training while we talk. I guess I can start with the first day I met her." Kakashi said, placing a hand under his chin as if remembering something that happened long ago. In reality, he was editing the day she found out that he would be guarding her around the clock as if it were the first time they had met, but regardless of the damage that could be done, there were still some secrets that needed to be kept from the boy. 'At least, for now.'

---

Hinata ducked another blow from Anko, and then another, and then another. She was trying to keep an eye out for an opening to attack, but her mind was distracted by what she had seen in the distance with her active Byakugan right after the clone of her sensei had left.

'What was that red chakra I saw in Naruto?' She thought to herself, trying to find a rational reason such a malevolent energy would be present in one of the kindest people she knew. Unfortunately, her contemplations distracted her just enough that she misjudged where a blow was coming from, leading to her taking the full force of a kick to her side and sending her crashing into the dirt.

"Come on girlie, focus on me, not on the blonde kid." Anko admonished, resting her hands on her hips.

'A real Hyuga would've been able to dodge that.' An insidious, defeatist voice spoke to the girl. However this time, unlike her usual response when she wilted, she remembered her resolve from the night before to live up to her mother's legacy, as well as her sensei's words from earlier, so she promptly quashed the personification of her own self doubt and stood back up, falling back into her combat stance despite the new ache in her side. "Sorry, sensei."

The woman raised an eyebrow now. "Sensei, huh?"

Hinata gave the older woman a small smile. "Well, since you are training me, it is only right that I show you respect as my teacher."

The snake mistress rolled her eyes, but the grin on her face took the edge off the action. "Nobles and their formalities. Whatever works for you, kid. Speaking of which, good job springing back up that time. You're actually pretty impressive for your age."

"Thank you, sensei." The girl expressed her gratitude for the compliment, then promptly had to reach as Anko threw something she had grabbed from her trench coat at the girl - a water bottle.

"Ten minute break, girlie, then we're back to it." The woman ordered, pulling from another one of her pockets a stick of dango and beginning to chow down.

Hinata took a seat on the grass, taking a sip from the bottle and enjoying the moment of relief. It had been almost an hour since Kakashi's clone had left, and they had been relentlessly sparring. If the girl had given Anko any suspicion that her performance was slipping due to losing their matches - and she had lost every single one - then the special jonin would ask her if she learned anything from the loss. Every time the answer had been yes, and so the woman would point out that it wasn't a failure but rather a learning experience, and then they would start up again.

Pausing between sips, the heiress looked at her impromptu sensei and decided to strike up a conversation. "So, how do you and sensei know each other?"

If the girl had known Anko better, she might've been ready for the woman's response based on the slightly sadistic smile on her face at the question. "Oh, we drink together sometimes, always end up fucking afterwards."

Hinata promptly did a textbook spit take, spraying water in a fine mist in front of her as she devolved into a full coughing fit, the special jonin cackling with delight at her reaction.

"Ah, I love screwing with nobles and exploiting their sheltered upbringings and prudish natures." Anko sighed, wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of her eye. "It's truly the peak of comedy."

Getting her airway cleared, Hinata managed to speak, now atomic red. "T-that is m-more information t-than I n-n-needed." She protested, unable to help but stutter, this time out of second-hand embarrassment for someone who couldn't have less shame instead of her own bashfulness.

"Hey, you asked, I answered honestly." The snake mistress shrugged. "Besides, you're at that age. I'm sure you've had a crush at some point."

The girl promptly turned somehow even redder, pushing her fingers together in her usual nervous habit. "M-maybe…" She squeaked, turning her head away in embarrassment. Two days ago she wouldn't have managed to accomplish that much with the bold and brash snake mistress.

"Ha, knew it!" The woman exclaimed, pointing at her accusingly. "It's the blonde brat, isn't it?"

A noise that sounded vaguely like a rabbit being strangled escaped Hinata as she tried to disappear into her coat like a turtle into its shell. "I-I-I…" She tried to speak and throw off the elder kunoichi, but it was in vain.

"Yeah, totally blondie." Anko concluded, nodding with plenty of surety before a mischievous smile broke out onto her face. "You're gonna want to move quickly on him. With those eyes and this training, he'll be a looker when he gets older, I guarantee it."

"P-p-please stop." The heiress asked meekly, her sheer embarrassment overwhelming her.

Sensing that she should let up, the snake mistress relented. "Fine, fine, relax Stutters. You really got to work on that by the way: nobody will take a ninja with a speech impediment seriously." She sighed wistfully. "Besides, it's not like I know much about having a boyfriend either."

Her embarrassment was pushed to the side as the demure Hyuga latched onto that statement, which directly contradicted an assumption she had made. "B-but I thought you s-said you and sensei were… W-well…"

"I said we fucked sometimes. Doesn't mean we're dating." The woman replied sharply. A short time ago Hinata would have shrunk from the slightly hostile tone and looked down, but she instead kept her eyes on Anko and noticed a bit of sadness in her expression at the admission.

"... Anko, do you want to be sensei's girlfriend?" She asked curiously. The woman promptly had her jaw drop, gaping at Hinata like a fish out of water, a light dusting of pink coloring her cheeks. "You do!" The heiress declared, feeling a bit of pleasure from not being the one on her back foot this time.

"I, t-that's not - don't be fucking stupid!" Anko sputtered, trying to defend herself as her blush darkened, undermining her protests.

"Nobody will take a ninja with a speech impediment seriously, Sensei Stutters." The small girl shot back, feeling a burst of confidence as she caught the older woman off guard.

"Oh you sassy little bitch!" Anko yelled, her left eye twitching. For a moment the heiress was worried she had gone too far, but then the snake mistress seemed to deflate in front of her eyes. "... That was good though. I'm really starting to like you, kid." The woman sighed. She took a seat next to the small girl and began drawing circles in the dirt.

The two sat in silence for a moment before Anko groaned, flopping down against the ground and splaying out her limbs. "Yeah so what, I have a big fat fucking crush on Kakashi Hatake, I've had it for years, and nothing is gonna ever come of it and I can't believe I'm telling a teenage girl this when I haven't even told Kurenai or Yugao."

Tucking away the fact that Anko knew Kurenai, Hinata's heart went out to the poor woman. After all, as far as teenage girls go, there was a better one to pick if you were trying to get empathy on the topic of unrequited love. "Why do you say nothing will ever come of it? It seems like you've made some progress if you two have been doing… T-that." She couldn't help but blush and stutter a bit at referring to the act of sex, even if she wasn't doing so directly.

The snake mistress threw her an exasperated look. "Kid, your teacher is a lot of things, but being good with emotions isn't one of them." Her expression grew wistful again as she looked at the treetops above them. "The first time it happened, he apologized the next morning because he was worried he took advantage of me. After I told him that it was more accurate to say I took advantage of him, he still apologized and told me that it didn't change the way he looked at me or felt about me."

Hinata grimaced as the woman kept ranting - that was likely the exact opposite of what Anko had wanted to hear. "After the next couple of times he seemed to believe I wanted him physically at least, but now that's all he thinks I want and I'm terrified if I tell him how I really feel, he won't feel the same way and I won't even get to see his face anymore." Angry, frustrated tears had started rolling out of Anko's eyes now, the entire situation clearly causing her a great deal of emotional turmoil.

"... Maybe I can help." Hinata mused, the thought not fully formed even as she said the words.

Anko's head snapped in her direction, eyes wide with disbelief. "How?!" She demanded. "Because I can tell you right now, if he didn't fall for me after seeing me naked, then I don't know what could work."

Hinata blushed slightly at the crudeness of the statement but forged on. "Well, I c-could help you spend more time together. You've helped me with my confidence… Maybe I can tell sensei I want to keep getting your help training? That way you see him outside of… um… Bedroom activities."

The woman continued to stare at her for a moment. "... Did you just refer to sex as 'bedroom activities'? What are you, eighty? Or five? I'm not sure which fits better."

Actually feeling a touch of annoyance, the girl leveled a glare at the woman. "Do you want my help or not, sensei?"

Anko chuckled disbelievingly in response. "Oh look, your spine. I wasn't sure if it existed." Standing up, she offered a hand to the girl. "You got a deal - and I'll help you get noticed by the blonde brat as a woman on top of the training, too."

"O-oh, you d-don't need to-" Hinata began, but was cut off by the snake mistress grabbing her by the forearm and lifting her to her feet.

"Too late, I've already decided, I'm gonna be your wingwoman if you're gonna be mine, end of discussion." Anko decreed, amusement dancing in her brown eyes. "Now come on, I gotta kick your ass some more!"

Accepting defeat, Hinata sighed and then smiled, blushing slightly. "Sensei, before we get started, I'm curious… What does he look like under the mask?"

The snake mistress looked surprised for a moment at the question before she smiled like the cat that had caught the canary. "Utter. Fucking. Dreamboat."

---

Sasuke slowly began to stir, briefly being blinded by daylight as he cracked open his eyes. After a moment, he opened them fully and took in his surroundings. He was in the middle of the training ground, two posts on either side of him. A quick attempt at standing made him realize he was tied to the post in the middle.

"Glad to see you're up." A familiar, bored voice said from in front of him. The Uchiha's eyes focused on his sensei, or rather the two clones of his sensei before him, both of which were reading the romance novel he had picked up the day before. "You know, I was actually pretty disappointed I didn't get an excuse to tie one of you to that post. Thanks for making it up to me."

The young avenger went to strain against his bondage but quickly realized he was tied with ninja wire - if he struggled too much, he would undoubtedly deal with potentially significant lacerations. "Untie me, Kakashi." He growled, his voice low.

Both clones closed their books simultaneously, placing them in their pouches. "Now why would I do that?" One of the clones, likely the one Sasuke had been dealing with the whole time, asked condescendingly. "So you can try to kill me again for pointing out that maybe, just maybe, it's a bad idea to try and take on an S-Class missing nin solo?"

"Fuck you!" Sasuke spat, his eyes going wild again at the mention of his brother while he spasmed again against his restrictions, not really noticing as slight cuts formed on his arms.

"This is going very well." The clone sighed. "Sasuke, listen closely. You have to let it go. Forget about revenge."

The boy went stark still as Kakashi finally got to the point he had been dancing around since they separated from the rest of the team. "What?" He said, his voice filled with the boiling rage that had been present the whole time.

"Well, in this business I've seen a lot of guys like you." The jonin explained. His tone wasn't far off from the usual, but there was a steely undercurrent to it. "The final days of those who speak of revenge are never good. They're tragic." He turned his eyes towards the sky for a moment, thinking of when he burst out of the cave after Obito's death, hellbent on killing as many Iwa shinobi as he could. "You'll only hurt yourself, and agonize more than now. Even if you succeed in revenge, all that will remain is emptiness."

Sasuke bristled again, leveling a hateful glare at his sensei. "Shut up! What do you know? Don't talk to me as if you know!"

"Well, calm down now…" The clone advised, but his words fell entirely on deaf ears.

"If you like, how about I kill all the people most important to you?" The boy continued, a smile filled with sick satisfaction now on his face, as if he felt that he had cornered his sensei. "You'll be able to realize how far off you are on what you just said."

Kakashi looked back at the boy, tilting his head to the side and speaking as if he were explaining a concept to a particularly slow child. "Did you not listen to a word I said yesterday, Sasuke? I wouldn't mind if you did that, just to prove your point. But I don't even really have one person like that… Everyone's already been killed."

Sasuke, who had been tensed across every muscle, every part of his body, went slack as he remembered his sensei's words from the day prior. "My team - my sensei Minato, my teammates Rin and Obito - they were my family. I've outlived all of them, and it has haunted me everyday for a long time. I want being your sensei to be my chance to finally accept their deaths and move on… Have some new people to consider as family, even."

"I've lived longer than you, kid. Times were never really good, not for me. I know all too well the agony of losing something." He sighed heavily, looking the last of the Uchiha in the eyes, completely unmoved by the boy's rage. "If you remember what I said yesterday about the people I care about, then you'll remember what I said about this team… That I may have the chance to have some new people to consider as family. This team offers the same chance for you."

Feeling as if the energy had been drained out of his body, Sasuke snorted disdainfully. "As if… Naruto is an idiot and Hinata is weak." Even as he said the words, the boy knew they were hollow, that he didn't really think that anymore, not after the last couple of days.

As if hearing his thoughts, Kakashi said them out loud. "You don't really believe that. At least, if you still do, you're even more delusional than I thought. Admit it kid… No matter how much you hate it, being on this team has made you happy the last couple of days."

"... Tch." It was the only response the child could give. He couldn't admit to being happy, not when… "I don't deserve happiness. I won't be happy, not until I've avenged my clan."

The cyclops sighed again. "I thought that way for a long time. Why should I be happy, have a life, if those I loved could not? It's only recently that I realized I was spitting on their memory living in it. Think, Sasuke. Would your mother and father want that for you? To live as a tool of revenge instead of as a person?"

Sasuke felt anger rise once again at the mention of his parents, but anger had gotten him nowhere so far. He took a deep breath to calm himself. "I hear their voices every day, Kakashi. All of them, every member of my family, crying out for revenge." He felt hot tears percolating in the corners of his eyes, the moisture making him feel weak. "You know he had a girlfriend - her name was Izumi Uchiha, a distant cousin of ours. He'd told me before that she was the most beautiful, perfect girl in the world. That he would marry her one day, no matter what our father thought. Yet he killed her the night of the massacre, just like everyone else. I hear her voice too, begging me to avenge her. I can't… I can't live my life for myself while I hear them." The tears finally spilled, running down his cheeks in hot streams.

For the first time since he had shown him his gifted Sharingan left eye, Kakashi looked to be at a loss for words. Finally, he seemed to decide on what to say, even if he still looked uncertain. "Sasuke… You know those voices aren't real. I won't handle you with kid gloves - too many people have, I think. They're dead, Sasuke, and life, your life, is for the living."

The child, for in this moment he was the child he appeared to be, sucked in a ragged breath. "It doesn't matter if they're real or not." He hissed. "I still hear them."

"Have you talked to Inoichi about this during your therapy sessions? I know they've been mandated since the massacre."

Sasuke snorted disdainfully at the question. "I don't talk during my therapy sessions. He couldn't understand: nobody really can, even if you come close."

Kakashi scratched the back of his head, sighing in frustration. "And how do you know he can't understand if you don't talk to him?"

"What, do you go to therapy to deal with your shit? Cry on a couch while some specialist with a clipboard tells you how to feel?" The boy sighed, the heat gone from his voice as his tears dried.

"... No, I don't. So I think we both need to change." The cyclops replied after a moment.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" The boy questioned, for once simply confused with no anger.

"It's never fair for a commander to ask his subordinates to do something he isn't willing to do himself." The jonin explained resolutely. "So, I'll make you a deal. I'll sign up for therapy with the Yamanaka if you start taking your sessions more seriously. We'll both go together, every Sunday, and get help working out our issues. Is that a fair deal?"

Sasuke stared at him in stark disbelief for a moment before, in spite of himself, he began chuckling. "You're as weird as Hinata." He told the man. At his sensei's quirked eyebrow and expectant stare, the avenger relented. "Tch, fine. I'll go and I'll actually talk to Ino's dad about my fucking feelings. You just better be there too."

"I promise I will." The jonin responded with an eye-smile. He withdrew a shuriken and with a flick of his wrist, Sasuke felt the wire binding him to the post fall away. Standing, he noted the slight lacerations on his arms - a bit uncomfortable, but they were inconsequential flesh wounds.

"... I'm not giving up on revenge." The boy said plainly, leveling a glare at his sensei as if daring the man to question that again.

"Fine. I didn't expect to get through to you on that anyway. But think through how you plan to go about it a bit more at least." The copy-nin replied glibly, surprising his student with his casual acceptance of a goal he clearly didn't approve of.

"What do you mean not going it alone? I doubt Naruto and Hinata will make a huge difference, even if they're more competent than I would have guessed." Sasuke grumbled.

Kakashi responded by bopping Sasuke lightly on the head. "Check your ego Sasuke. In case you've forgotten, this team as whole caught the attention of Lord Third, not just you. Just remember what I said, and when the time comes, don't turn away help if it's offered."

As the Uchiha rubbed his head, he thought for a moment before his eyes widened as a revelation hit him. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in his team - well, he didn't, but that's besides the point - rather, it was that he didn't want his teammates to meet a grim fate against his brother. He remembered the resolution he made yesterday, that he would keep his team away from his showdown with his brother, whenever it happened. 'I don't want to lose them too.' As the thought entered his mind, a strangled, disbelieving chuckle escaped his lips. 'Kami above, I care about them, at least a little bit. And what's more, I don't hate that I care.'

"Now that that's out of the way, time to work on your fire affinity. That fireball was impressive - let's get you to that level every time."

---

Alright, and here we have chapter 10. I swear the training was supposed to be one chapter, but this thing took on a life of it's own while I was writing it and I'd rather not double the usual chapter length, so training is now two chapters.

A lot of development here, hope everyone likes how I handled it. I don't see enough KakashixAnko out there, and the way I've set it up is gonna be fun to write. Naruto knows about Kushina now, and a lot more will come from that than you may expect. Kakashi got real direct with Sasuke - I feel like that's the best approach with the kid instead of dancing around shit, especially for someone like Kakashi, who can actually go blow-for-blow with Sasuke in terms of childhood trauma.

Not much else to mention beyond throw a shout-out to my new beta, iluvbowling3. Kudos to him for being there to tell me the chapter was good, otherwise I would need to spend a few days second-guessing everything before publishing.

Also if we hit 100 reviews this chapter I might actually cry. Just wanted y'all to know that. See you in chapter 11, which will be this month probably maybe!