Ch. 21

Old Dogs, New Tricks

The Hokage had given her a treasure trove of old notes to go over after their conversation which had kept her pretty busy for the week. On top of that, Naisho, Sakura, and Sasuke had started showing up asking her for advice or exercises to do for when Kakashi was late in the mornings.

Moriko frowned pausing in her work as she remembered what the children had told her about Kakashi's lack of training and his lax attitude towards it. She knew how Kakashi was and as a friend did not fault him for his eccentricities.

However, when it came to her kids, she was afraid that their friendship was going to suffer if he didn't start being a more active teacher soon. Hinata had been living with them since the incident that had freed her from her family and was doing leaps and bounds better under the tutelage of Kurenai Yuhi. Hinata's cousin had also mellowed greatly and was making tentative gestures of friendship with the shy girl, and Hinata had also started training with her cousin's team. Hinata was well cared for and it was starting to show in the easing of the girl's shoulder and genuine happiness.

Kakashi on the other hand… As much as she cared for her friend, she had enough work to do on top of having to micromanage Kakashi because he didn't know the first thing when it came to teaching or guiding children. She would have to address this, or it would only make more work for her in the long term.

Moriko sighed as she heard the tell-tale noises that indicated that Naisho and his friends had returned after going to the training grounds to find it empty again. She put her brush down and stood as a knock sounded from her study door. She opened it to find the children there, expressions expectant. Moriko shot them a smile as she moved past them and down the hallway into the living room where she had put her gear and the scrolls, she had wanted them to study if they had shown up today. In only a tank top and booty shorts she moved for her gear.

They gazed at her uncertainly as she pulled her battle gear on, a sleeveless dark teal kimono top that had seals inlaid inside. Next was the loose pair or traditional ninja pants that she wound around the calves with black bandages. She pulled on her long fingerless gloves that went to her upper arms, activating the seals that allowed the armor plating that was covered in condensed seals to appear into place covering the back of her hands and her forearms. She took her large sealing scroll and strapped it to her lower back, the gravitational seals keyed to her and making the object light as a feather in her hands. When she began putting on her high ankled ninja shoes in the entryway, the kids were shooting each other uncertain looks but they followed quietly. Moriko breathed deeply as she exited the house, enjoying the morning air.

"Last one to the training ground has to run a lap around the village," Moriko teased with a sneaky grin before taking off the children yelping as they gave chase. When they got to the training ground Moriko started them on a warmup before having them do spars.

After she had them doing calisthenics with her until they dropped. From there she set them up with scrolls to read under the shade of a tree and snacks so that they could recover. As the kids rested, Moriko sent a horde of clones through the training ground to work on the seals the hokage had assigned and a couple to work on her sword fighting, sending fresh clones as the others exploded from seal configurations failing or popped from sword strikes.

Around noon she had the children test their elemental affinity and worked on refining their chakra control by doing water walking while practicing other chakra control exercises. Around this time Kakashi showed up and Moriko motioned for the kids to continue before turning her attention to Kakashi who seemed to be caught flat-footed by the unexpected addition to the group. She gestured for him to join her and they sat in silence as they watched the training kids. She tilted her head finally looking at Kakashi though a slight frown marred her brow.

"How did you learn the ninja arts Kakashi?" she asked, causing Kakashi to withdraw slightly into himself and turn his attention to the children. Never once had she asked such a direct and probing question in regard to his past, picking up on how the others acted that such questions would be unwelcome.

"Mostly on my own." He admitted quietly and Moriko nodded in understanding, remaining quiet, understanding that he needed time to talk about this. After a few minutes, he finally spoke.

"After my father… died… I…" he seemed to trail off and she waited patiently. He swallowed looking down.

"I was given to Minato Namikaze as his apprentice of sorts until I was old enough to operate in a full team with others my age."

She nodded thoughtfully.

"And how did Namikaze-san teach you?" she asked, causing Kakashi to shift uneasily.

"I… rebuffed most of his attempts to teach me directly. It got to the point where I would ask him what I wanted to learn, and he would teach me," he murmured. Moriko nodded, reaching out to take his hand. He seemed uncertain at first before relaxing. They sat in silence, both lost in thought as they watched the kid's train.

"I learned much the same as you did, you know?" Moriko said as she turned to give him a small grin. Kakashi quirked an interested brow and she continued.

"Jiraiya didn't want me as a student." the look Kakashi sent her was one of surprise and her smile was rueful, if a bit sad.

"I could tell as much when we started. He agreed to take us on as a sense of responsibility, but i knew he hated it, try as he might to hide it. It wasn't until I was kidnapped that things started to change. I think he understood how helpless I really was and started going out of his way to teach me. Even then though, I still had to act as a driving force for me to advance to the level I have." She murmured as Kakashi gave her hand a squeeze. It seemed almost incomprehensible to Kakashi that Jiraiya hadn't wanted Moriko and her brother around. He could tell how close the three of them were despite thier antics or thier squables, and he knew how much Jiraiya cared for the two of them. Kakashi seemed to struggle to find words for something and Moriko waited quietly. He could see the parallels in this story with his own regarding the kids.

"You don't think that I've been training the kids to standard," he finally said. Moriko shot him a sad smile.

"There will be threats coming for Naisho one day, threats that will put the whole team and yourself in danger, hence the need for more training than what's been happening. It's part of the reason I was trained for as long as I was. It's also part of why the Hokage is going to send me with your team whenever team seven leaves the village," she said quietly as Kakashi's eyes went wide before narrowing. Moriko gave his hand a squeeze, eyes sad as she smiled.

"It's classified, but if you go ask the Hokage, I'm sure he will tell you," she said as Kakashi's expression became contemplative as he nodded. After a minute she continued speaking.

"I can give you a list of things that will help them grow beyond this level into the next. They will learn options for their training without you having to tell them and they can come ask you about the things that they don't understand." She said pulling a scroll out of her ninja pouch and passing it to him.

"I've written a few team formations and strategies up. There is a small library of Jutsu sealed in that scroll as well," she said as Kakashi took it with a nod.

"Naisho has an abnormally high amount of chakra like me, so using shadow clones as a training aid will be helpful for him. He will be able to spam ninjutsu and I've been teaching him the strategies needed for such a thing. He's also excellent at trapping and stealth as well. Sakura's high chakra control is almost instinctive, and I've already started her on the starter scrolls for being a medic-nin, with a focus on chakra-enhanced taijutsu, poisons, trapping, and explosive tags. Sasuke is going to be excellent at genjutsu and he has a secondary lightning affinity on top of his fire affinity. His family has been teaching him and the other two a great deal since they knew the kids would be on a team together. I'm sure you can talk to Itachi or Fugaku to see if they have any input on their training." He nodded, clearly out of his depth and Moriko gave his hand a squeeze.

"I know it's not much, but you have us, you know? I know it's not in your nature, but you can always come to me Kakashi if you need help. You can come to me even if you don't need help, you know? I would like to think after years of teasing you it's made us friends. If you aren't comfortable voicing it, then here," she said rummaging through her kimono before releasing a couple of scrolls as well as the other notes that the Hokage had given her to go over. She set the notes in her lap before passing him one of two scrolls.

"This is a prototype. You can help me test it! It's supposed to let us communicate over long distances. You key it to yourself with this blood seal right here and a few one-handed hand signs to get it to open. It self-destructs if tampered with," she said, passing the scroll over. Kakashi hesitated before taking it. He keyed it to himself before opening it. He snorted in amusement at the silly scribbles and doodles inside. He pulled out a pen and wrote something. Moriko felt her scroll buzz quietly and opened it before snorting and taking his pen to write back. They continued trading messages for a while longer until Kakashi froze, seeing the handwriting of some of the notes in her lap that had shifted when she had moved.

She paused seeing the wide eye before looking down. She looked up with a wide grin as Kakashi stared at her uncertainly.

"The Hokage gave me a bunch of old notes from previous fuinjutsu masters in the village. Don't tell anyone but he wants me to make a few seals, some that will transport wounded shinobi to the hospital if they get hurt badly enough," she said holding the notes out to Kakashi. He took them, going through them to find it was indeed a mix of different handwriting, but one jumped out as familiar in his mind. He had seen it enough times to be able to identify it.

"These were written by my old teacher, Minato Namikaze," he said sorting a few papers out of the pile. Moriko's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at them with renewed interest.

"Wow, I didn't know your sensei was a sealing master, Kakashi. Did he teach you any seals?" she asked in interest as Kakashi gave a helpless shrug. She didn't push any further, seeing that he didn't want to talk about it. He looked around the training ground with newfound understanding, his eyes homed in on the horde of her clones that were working on sealing. He gave an appreciative low whistle before turning back to his friend.

"Got any prototypes?" he asked hopefully as Moriko grinned slowly.

"A few. I'm only doing clone testing right now if you want to help?" she asked and he nodded, already standing. She chuckled as he helped her to her feet, clearly amused by his sudden enthusiasm. It had been years since Kakashi had seen the flying thunder god in action, but he would be able to tell if Moriko had gotten the fuinjutsu formula correct yet or not by seeing it in action once more.

...

Tsunade frowned as she read over the missive that had been delivered by a carrier ninja this morning. She had spent the better part of an hour decoding it as a nervous but hopeful Shizune flinted around their room. The blond frowned at what she read.

...

Dearest Tsunade,

I hope that you are well. I have some exciting news to share with you that I think you will enjoy.

Jiraiya's apprentice has begun her work in the village, (I am not sure if you two have met,) and we were going over the issue of how many ninjas are being lost in the field. I brought up your previous proposal to have a

medic-nin on every team. She and Jiraiya were able to come up with a few ideas on how to make it possible.

Medics are a treasured resource, so the only way for the council to agree would be if they had the protection and the chakra for such ventures. Those two have already created a chakra storage seal that appears startlingly like your own.

Currently, they are working on a mobile barrier seal that will protect the medic while they work without making them sitting ducks to be entrapped by other ninjas.

Jiraiya has proposed a project to develop a seal that will trigger when one of our ninjas is mortally wounded that will put them in a stasis-like state and transport them to the hospital where the hospital staff can heal them at thier leisure. Moriko will be heading that project since she has a greater resource of time then her teacher with the use of shadow clones.

There have also been changes within the village, especially with the Hyuga and Uchiha clans as of recent. Soon, their doujutsu will be added to the medical field and there will be an influx of promising medics.

Jiraiya has been working to create seals that will ensure the hospitas's structure is impenetrable to foreign forces as well as seals for fresh air, structural stability, among other ideas for the hospital to make it a fortress in the event of an attack, and training programs for certain civilians to help in the case of a crisis, but I want to keep the message brief.

It was pointed out that while I should respect your desire to stay out of the village, your input as our foremost medic is invaluable and a compromise was suggested.

On a more personal note, Jiraiya's student has discovered something startling with her reproductive system and is suitably alarmed at the find. Since she is to be the next head of the Uzumaki Clan, she has come to me privately with her concerns. For the sake of reviving your grandmother's extinct clan, I ask as Hokage and not your mentor that you discover what is happening and help, and if possible devise a way for her to have children.

If you require that it be done outside the village then so be it, but I hope that our vrand new facilities here in Konoha will be up to your liking. Hoping to hear from you soon,

Hiruzen Sarutobi

...

Tsunade slowly rolled up the scroll, mind racing with bewilderment at the loop her sensei had thrown her for. Tsunade had been trying for years to get the Hyuga and the Uchiha into the medical corps, but the clans had refused. She didn't know why after all this time they had decided to agree. Her proposal for medics on the teams had also been shot down during the second shinobi war after she had lost her little brother.

She followed the instructions on the scroll, keying it to her with a little of her spit before opening it. What met her eyes was the plans for the new hospital and she tsked in annoyance, already spotting some areas of mistakes and some areas that were well done. She began scribbling away with a pen, keeping it in English as she wrote to encode the plans. A moment later the scroll buzzed with a message and Tsunade was off scribbling again as she went back and forth with her teacher on his proposed plan.

...

About three days later Tsunade was ready to tear her hair out and inflict copious amounts of pain on whomever was working on the plans for the hospital. The errors kept piling up and driving Tsunade to distraction as she sought to correct the training plans and the hospital's design. She hadn't even gone to the gambling house yesterday, too engrossed in trying to correct the plans.

"That's it! No more! Shizune! Get packed!" Tsunade roared as she broke the table that was in her inn room. Her apprentice meeped in surprise watching her mentor with wide eyes as Tsunade began packing her belongings in a fury.

"Where are we going?" Shizune asked hesitantly as her sensei scowled. Tsunade looked up with snapping amber eyes.

"Konoha! I'm not going to let that old fool mess up my program now that it's finally going to happen!" she snapped to her apprentice's bewilderment. Happily, Shizune began to pack her stuff, confused but pleased at the development.

...

Hiruzen opened the scroll that had sat motionless for most of the day, unsure as to why Tsunade's messages had suddenly stopped. When he read the reply he began laughing uproariously as the other ninja at the missions office shot him worried looks. Hiruzen recalled the conversation with Moriko he had had the other day and doubled over with renewed mirth, positively gleeful.

...

"Tsunade left the village many years ago. Even if we create the program she has always wanted, I don't see how we could get her to come back unless I order her. Even then I'm not sure if she would listen, and taking her by force is unadvisable," Hiruzen said as a sly grin crossed the young woman's face.

"Let her have the space she needs and respect her wishes. You will get nothing with force. This is just a prototype, but these scrolls should allow you both to communicate over long distances. Send her plans for the program and the hospital but with mistakes in them. Keep adding little mistakes here and there.

"Most people who know what they are doing can't stand it and will correct you, and start to help you even if they initially refuse because they can't stand to see something done wrong. Do this enough and she'll be barging into your office of her own volition in no time, Hiruzen-oji," Moriko had said with a wink as the old man gaped at her.

"You can't possibly be serious, there's no way that would work," he sputtered as Moriko laughed her eyes drifting to where Jiraiya sat further down the porch out of hearing range.

"Hey sensei, could you look at this seal? Something doesn't seem to be right," she called loud enough to get the man's attention as she added an error to the seal but didn't add chakra. Jiraiya came over and began looking it over before tsking loudly and shooting Moriko a disapproving look.

"This section is all wrong," he said pointing at the error area and Moriko frowned.

"But in the advanced scrolls, it mentioned that this would be a good stabilizer for nature chakra," she argued making the sage tsk again.

"Yeah, but this section of the seal here isn't going to interact well with an odd-pronged sealing matrix, you need an even matrix or it's going to destabilize," he said. As Moriko shot him a skeptical look, Jiraiya glared taking the paper from her.

"Give me that," he grumbled before redoing the seal properly below as the Hokage watched with growing amusement. Moriko sent him a wink that had the old Hokage coughing to cover up his laughter as Jiraiya continued making the seal.

...

"She was right, worked like a charm," Hiruzen chuckled as he penned a swift reply to the message. The other ninja in his office shot each other bemused looks before getting back to work.