After Kakashi-Sensei has soundly kicked each of their butts and they've eaten lunch, their tiny teacher surprises them with an offer of a lesson. Sakura is a little leery but Naruto is already invading Kakashi-Sensei's space in his eagerness to learn and Sasuke isn't scowling. She sighs. It's as good as being outvoted.

Sakura grabs Naruto by the back of his orange jacket and pulls him down to sit beside her before Kakashi-Sensei, whose eyes are narrowing, pops up to smack him away. Sasuke settles cross-legged on her other side and they listen with atypical attentiveness as Kakashi-Sensei explains how to create an exploding tag.

When he finishes, he offers his ink, brush, and paper to them to practice creating tags with. "I'll show you how to infuse chakra so you can activate them after you're able to write it well. It's got to be done right or it could go off in your face."

Naruto is quick to grab the supplies but, Sasuke, never to be outdone, snatches them from his hands. The two begin to snipe at one another and she rolls her eyes. Getting to her feet, Sakura joins in on Sasuke's side of the argument and yells at Naruto to wait his turn.

The blond sulks a little at her scolding as Sasuke reorganizes the stuff a few feet from Kakashi-Sensei and gets to work copying their teacher's example. As always, Naruto quickly gives into his better nature and hops over to watch Sasuke practice.

For a moment, Sakura deliberates if she should join her teammates. She then looks at her tiny teacher. He's sitting back in the grass; stubby legs sprawled out in front of him and staring up at the canopies of the trees over their heads. She takes a seat beside him and brings her knees to her chest.

Resting her elbows on her knees and her cheek on her arms, she asks Kakashi-Sensei, "Who taught you how to make exploding tags?"

Kakashi-Sensei lolls his head in her direction and stares at her. Sakura wants to fidget but smiles instead. She's pretty sure Kakashi-Sensei knows they're intimidated by him. Sakura doesn't want him to think they're afraid of him, though.

He's their teacher, even now it seems, and they trust him.

"Kushina taught me," he says.

Sakura feels her smile falter a little. "You've mentioned her before," she remarks while recalling the warning her name had made Asuma voice. "She's your teacher's girlfriend, right?"

He sighs heavily at her words. "Unfortunately," he grumbles before he starts to pull at the grass around his thighs.

Her stomach bottoms out. Kakashi-Sensei really does loath her. Perhaps Kushina doesn't know the veracity of his hate? Or maybe she taught him before they started to feud with each other. Sakura will need to gather more intel to know one way or another.

"Erh," she starts with her mouth shaped into an uncomfortable smile. "And she taught you how to make exploding tags?"

Kakashi-Sensei's eyes grow pinched. "Yeah, I said that already."

"…Does Kushina know you hate her?" she asks after a beat.

The boy crosses his arms and tugs his legs into a loose oval. "Duh," replies Kakashi-Sensei in a tone that is becoming recognizable as one he uses when he thinks someone has asked something stupid. "I told her when I made my mind up."

She nods evenly as her stomach threatens to grow pocked with ulcers. "Okay," she says. "And she taught you how to do this when…?"

The boy, who is fed up with her now, shifts his gaze to Naruto and Sasuke who are still practicing the seals. "After," he answers, clipped.

Sakura leaps to her feet. "Naruto! Sasuke!" she shouts. "Stop practicing those tags right now!"

Kakashi-Sensei clambers to his feet beside her as Naruto looks over his shoulder at her and demands, "Why?"

"They probably won't be any good!" she tells them as she stomps over to take the brush from Sasuke's unresisting fingers. "Kushina taught Kakashi-Sensei after he told her he hates her."

The boys share a look and groan. She bites her lip in sympathy. Sakura is disappointed too. Learning how to make and use exploding tags would have been so cool.

Kakashi-Sensei, at her elbow, stomps his feet and argues, "These are too good!" From a pouch on his pants, he pulls out a few tags. "I've used them before! Kushina didn't teach me badly!"

Sasuke snorts. "She probably hoped you'd mess them up yourself and die," he mutters.

Kakashi-Sensei vehemently shakes his head. "She's not allowed to do things that could get me killed!" he tells them. Ears red with anger, he yells, "Minato-Sensei said so!"

"Oh man," moans Naruto; he runs a hand down the side of his face. "Your teacher has to make rules like that?"

The boy sniffs and turns away. "Only for idiots like Kushina and Crybaby Obito," he mutters.

Sakura looks between the three glum boys and feels bad. This is sort of her fault. Kurenai told them he's a better shinobi than some who are twice his age. Kakashi-Sensei no doubt wouldn't be showing them a skill he isn't competent in himself. It doesn't matter if someone he hates introduced him to explosive tags because the boy surely doublechecked everything he was taught for himself so there would be no accidents in his future.

She lowers her gaze to the brush in her hands. Sakura nods to herself. "Here, Sasuke," she says, offering the brush to Sasuke. Sakura smiles. "Let's try this again."

Sasuke furrows his brows. "…Is this a good idea," he asks as he takes the brush from Sakura.

"Yes," says Sakura with confidence. She steals a glance at Kakashi-Sensei and finds his chin has lifted from where it hung around his chest and there's a hopeful glimmer in his eyes. "Kakashi-Sensei is still our teacher. Even if he's seven right now," she explains. Sakura hesitates but goes with her instincts and puts a hand on the little boy's shoulder. He does not throw her off. "We should trust you still. You've never led us wrong before."

Naruto, of course, is all too happy to agree. "Yeah!" he shouts, throwing his arms in the air. He then gives Sasuke a light push and urges, "C'mon, bastard, hurry up with your tags so I can practice too."

Sasuke looks them all over once before he dips his chin and mutters, "Hn."

He returns to his practice, Naruto watching over his shoulder. Sakura steps forward with plans to kneel next to the boys and join in. However, before she can, a small hand snags the back of her shirt. She turns her head and sees it is Kakashi-Sensei holding onto her. His eyes are averted away from her and his ears a light pink. "Thank you," he mumbles.

Sakura can't help but grin. "Oh, of course, Sensei!" she chirps.

Kakashi-Sensei lets her go. Sakura stays where she is, however, because she can just tell from the way Kakashi-Sensei is scuffing the toe of his sandal in the dirt he has more to say. Briefly, he meets her gaze. "I don't like Kushina and she doesn't like me but she's never really going to try to kill me," he tells her. "She says Minato-Sensei would never forgive her." Kakashi-Sensei fixes a glare at something off in the distance and away from Sakura and her teammates. "She told me that I'm precious to him."

Naruto, who has definitely been listening in, stretches around Sakura's legs to address their teacher. "I'm sure she's right!" he assures Kakashi-Sensei. He laughs. "We care about you too, you know."

Kakashi-Sensei swallows. "You're not… upset I'm your teacher?" he asks in a little, vulnerable tone Sakura didn't know him capable of.

"Why would we be?" questions Sasuke with a frown. He's stopped mid-stroke in his practice and trained his gaze on the boy. They all have. To be fair, it's a strange question. Perhaps their teacher is a sort of annoying at times but Sakura knows none of them have ever hated being Kakashi-Sensei's students.

Their teacher continues to glower at something in the opposite direction from them. "The Hatake name is disgraced," he admits after a silence that's gone on a touch too long.

Sakura and her teammates exchange glances. That's not true, is it? Surely they'd have heard gossip at this point if it is. Maybe, though, back when Kakashi-Sensei was small, his family's name was looked down upon.

The thought makes Sakura sad for her teacher. She also thinks it explains some things. No wonder he's such a prickly boy. He thinks most people hate him.

"Ah, well, I guess not anymore?" she says, tone wavering a little. She wants to be confident but can't. Maybe there are people who look down on him still and she just hasn't met them. Sakura is still just a genin and hasn't spent a lot of time with older, higher-ranked ninjas outside her Academy teachers and her generations' Jōnin teachers yet.

"Yeah! Yeah!" echoes Naruto with a bobbing head. He moves around until he's facing Kakashi-Sensei fully. Smiling at the boy, he explains, "You're an awesome shinobi, Kakashi-Sensei. They call you things like Kakashi of the Sharingan and Copy Nin Kakashi." He snags one of Kakashi-Sensei's tiny fists and squeezes it. Since Naruto started talking, Kakashi-Sensei's eyes have fixed themselves on the blond. "People respect you, us included, you know?"

Kakashi-Sensei furrows his brows. "I don't have the Sharingan," he says, confused.

Sasuke snorts. "We noticed."

The little boy shoots a weak glare at Sakura's teammate before he turns a searching stare on her and Naruto. "I have them later?"

She puts up one finger. "One," she answers. "Your right eye is a Sharingan. Most of the time you keep it covered."

This seems to further perplex Kakashi-Sensei as he tilts his head and mumbles, "Oh."

Naruto starts to drum his fingers on his knee. After a while, when Kakashi-Sensei continues to remain silent, he asks "Do you have any ideas on how you got it?"

Kakashi-Sensei knits his brows together and crosses his arms. "…One," he says at last and Sakura and Naruto lean in. The boy shakes his head and decries, "But it's a dumb idea! Obito would never give me either of his eyes. He hates me." He juts out his little chin and declares like thinks they will argue, "I'd never steal it either! I'mma better ninja than him without any special eyes."

"Of course you wouldn't!" says Naruto, emphatic. "We know you wouldn't take someone's eyes." He scratches the top of his head and scrunches his face. "Maybe it isn't from him?" he suggests. "Or maybe something happened and he had to give it to you?"

Kakashi-Sensei huffs and stamps his feet. "This is stupid," he snaps. Eyes wandering over all of them, he demands, "Do you know Obito? Does he still have both his eyes?"

Sakura and Naruto tense. "Ahhh," Naruto murmurs, filling the charged air as they all dither about what to do.

Oh no. This isn't good. No one's said they can't share stuff about the future with their rejuvenated teachers but surely they wouldn't want them to talk about the Uchiha Massacre? Sakura takes a peek at Sasuke. He's holding the brush in a bone-white grip and, surely, if it were possible, he'd be setting his explosive tag on fire with his eyes.

She hugs herself. Poor Sasuke. What an awful situation they've tripped into. Sakura wonders if she can get away with telling Kakashi-Sensei his teammate is dead without explaining what (probably) happened to him.

Kakashi-Sensei exhales. Then, to her surprise, he mumbles with annoyance (or is that dejection?), "Figures he's still a jealous loser even when we're grownups and doesn't talk to me anymore."

She could just hug her tiny teacher. His sweet, naive pessimism has saved them from having to (re)traumatize everyone this afternoon. She laughs a little, not minding that it's a bit too loud and wild. He probably just thinks she's relieved that her team doesn't have to explain he's still enemies with his old teammate.

"Hey, you know what?" she starts. "It doesn't matter right now." She extends her arm and hooks it around his shoulders. She feels surprised and delighted when he leans into her side instead of pushing away. "Kakashi-Sensei, why don't we continue with the exploding tags," Sakura says. "I know I freaked out for a second but we're all really excited to learn how to make them."

Naruto scrambles back to Sasuke's side. "Sakura's right! Please will you finish showing us how to make them?" he begs, holding his hands shaped in prayer in front of his face.

"Hn," joins Sasuke with widened, almost beseeching dark eyes.

"…Okay," agrees Kakashi-Sensei at last from where he's tucked against Sakura. "I'll finish showing you how to make them."

Thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts!