Chapter Text
Kakashi had no idea what happened.
Last night, when he left, Sasuke hadn’t been making any progress and was likely going to burn himself out until he ran out of chakra and still not make it up the tree.
But this morning, when Kakashi arrived at the training grounds, Sasuke was already there.
And he was stood at the top of the tree.
Naruto was in disbelief when he saw it too, sputtering and protesting. “What!? H-How did you make it up so far!?” He accused.
Sasuke merely looked down at him smugly. “Get to the top yourself and maybe I’ll tell you.”
The look of pure rage on Naruto’s face was admittedly pretty funny, not that Kakashi would say that out loud. Somebody had to be the adult here.
“Now, now, Sasuke get down here.” Kakashi told him.
Sasuke leapt off the tree and landed nearby before walking over.
Kakashi sighed and looked down at him and Naruto. “Listen, there’s nothing wrong with being competitive, in fact it can usually make you stronger to have a good rivalry. But you know what else can make you stronger? Having teammates who celebrate each other’s achievements.”
The disgust on their faces was comical.
“I’m glad you two are open to this,” Kakashi told them cheerfully. “Now I want you two to compliment each other on successfully completing the tree climbing.”
“What!? I’m not complimenting that bastard!” Naruto protested in an instant with a scowl.
Sasuke scoffed, arms crossed. “Forget it, I’d rather fall off the tree than praise this loser.”
“What was that?” Naruto hissed.
Sasuke glared at him. “Hard of hearing?”
Kakashi sighed heavily and cut in. “I understand, I do. You both want to be superior. You both want to be the best, am I right?”
The boys didn’t reply, continuing to glare at each other, but it was obvious Kakashi was right.
“And there’s nothing wrong with that. But see, the thing you two are failing to understand is that neither of you are the best right now. Sakura completed the tree climbing long before either of you, and if you two keep acting like stubborn fools, she’s going to leave you in the dust.”
Their eyes widened, and the two suddenly found their feet fascinating, soft pouts resting on their faces.
Kakashi resisted the urge to smirk behind his mask. He crossed his arms and kept up a strict stance. “That’s what I thought. Now I want you to compliment each other on catching up to your teammate, and mean it. And you’re not starting training until you do.”
The two were silent for a few long moments, stubborn to a fault.
But then, Naruto side-eyed Sasuke, and grumbled a little. He crossed his arms, turning his body away so there was no chance of seeing Sasuke’s expression. “…It was cool. That you got to the top.” He muttered.
Sasuke’s eyes flickered to him briefly, and Kakashi saw the genuine surprise cross his face.
‘Well, the easy part is done…’ Kakashi noted, before his gaze went to Sasuke.
Sasuke met his eyes as Kakashi gave him an expectant, stern gaze. He was pleasantly surprised when Sasuke lowered his head in submission.
And then, in a mutter that could barely be heard, Sasuke spoke. “…I guess you’re not a total loser if you were able to climb the tree so high.”
It was strained, but Kakashi knew it was the best he was gonna get out of the stubborn Uchiha.
Naruto didn’t look impressed, but he gave a shrug of acceptance.
“Very good.” Kakashi stated pleasantly, and reached his hands out to ruffle their hair. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Neither boy replied, but they grew flustered under the praise.
Kakashi removed his hands from their heads and smiled behind his mask. “Now, my cute little pups, continue working on your tree climbing for the next hour until Sakura gets here.”
“Where is Sakura?” Naruto frowned. “I thought we were supposed to all be here at five?”
But before Kakashi could even start to worry, a familiar voice called out. “I’m here! I’m here!”
The boys turned to see Sakura running over to them. She finally came to a stop and set her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. “Sorry…Sorry, I’m late, sensei.”
“No problem. Is everything alright?” Kakashi asked kindly.
Sakura sighed. “Yeah, I just…overslept.” She had faint circles under her eyes.
Kakashi noticed Sasuke shift almost uncomfortably, and was able to put the pieces together from there. ‘I wonder how late they stayed here last night…’
He was glad that Sakura had obviously helped Sasuke with the tree climbing, but he didn’t want Sakura to be taken advantage of.
“Right, well, the important thing is that we’re all here. Practice your tree climbing for the next hour, but this time there’s a twist. I want you three to occasionally attack each other.” He explained.
The trio looked at him with rightful confusion. “Attack each other?” Naruto questioned.
“When you’re tree climbing, you’ll likely be in the middle of combat. The entire point is to learn to control your chakra without thinking about it; it should be like second nature to you. So your goal is to catch each other by surprise while you’re climbing.” He gave them an eye closed smile. “Careful not to let the chakra leave your feet, I’d hate for any of my cute little pups to break their backs from falling off the trees.”
A look of determination crossed their faces at Kakashi’s taunting words, and they quickly went to the trees and got started.
Running up the tree was no problem for Sakura, but she had no idea how she was going to disrupt Naruto and Sasuke.
Even back in the academy, Sakura was never good at the combat aspect. When she’d have to spar with another classmate she always lost because she lacked the stamina and interest in hurting another student; not to mention she was almost always running on empty.
And that statement was true for today as well. She’d skipped dinner last night and breakfast this morning. It was easy to blame it on having stayed out at the training field with Sasuke so late, and then waking up late in the morning, but Sakura knew that even without those factors she wouldn’t have eaten.
‘You’re too tired for this, let me handle it.’ Inner insisted.
Sakura let out a small huffed as she nearly reached the top of the tree. ‘I got this!’
But just before Sakura reached the top, a kunai was thrown right in her back. Sakura gasped as she struggled to a stop, wobbling as she fought to keep her chakra control steady. She looked over to see Sasuke had thrown the kunai.
He bristled, obviously disappointed he hadn’t knocked her down.
‘DID HE JUST THROW A KUNAI AT US!? HOW DARE HE!’ Inner exploded in Sakura’s mind, giving her a headache. ‘LET ME AT HIM!’
‘He’s supposed to attack us!’ Sakura reasoned. ‘Stop trying to move to the front!’
“Hey Sasuke, what the hell!? You can’t just throw a kunai at Sakura!” Naruto fumed.
Sasuke tsked. “Kakashi-sensei told us to attack each other. I’m not holding back. Her chakra control is great; she can take it.”
His words were biting, but Sakura realized that, in his own way, Sasuke just paid her a compliment.
She never thought she’d see the day.
“He’s right, Naruto. Don’t hold back on my account!” Sakura smiled wide, and threw her own kunai down towards Naruto.
Naruto yelped and scrambled to dodge, losing his footing and falling back to the ground with a loud shriek.
Sasuke smirked. “Hmph. What a loser.”
But just as Sasuke was enjoying himself, shuriken flew by his head. His eyes widened and he jolted to try and dodge them on instinct, which made him lose his footing too. He fell down and landed on Naruto with a hard thud, making Naruto gasp on in pain.
Sakura grinned down at them. “Better get back on the tree guys, or you’ll never catch up!”
A competitive spark flooded the boys as they scrambled up from the ground, thoroughly ticked off but also excited at the challenge. They shot up the trees with a new goal in mind: Make Sakura fall.
An hour passed and the trio was exhausted, covered in dirt and grime from the number of times they’d been knocked out of the trees by each other. But, by the end of it, tree climbing really was becoming like second nature, and each time they were knocked down they were able to recover faster and faster.
Kakashi snapped his book shut. “Good. You’ve all gotten much better at chakra control. Actually, you’re making progress faster than I’d anticipated.”
Naruto grinned tiredly. “Believe it, sensei! What’s next? I’m ready for more!”
“That’s a good attitude, but you all need to take a break and replenish your chakra. However, if you’re really set on doing something else, go ahead and take one of these.” Kakashi took out three slips of paper from his pocket, and held them out to the trio.
They each took one curiously. It looked like a plain, square piece of paper. “Um…what is it?” Sakura asked.
“These papers will show us your chakra natures. You see, everyone has different natures and those natures will allow you to use different types of jutsu. For example, Sasuke can use the fireball jutsu because he had a fire chakra nature. This will help me know what kinds of jutsu’s I can teach you going forward. Just focus your chakra into the paper and we’ll see how the paper reacts. Sasuke, even though we know you have a fire nature, you might have other natures as well, so you’re going to do this too.” Kakashi explained.
The Genin looked down at the little papers skeptically, before focusing their chakra.
Kakashi watched as the three papers reacted differently.
Sasuke’s paper wrinkled, before catching on fire.
Sakura’s paper crumbled up and also grew damp, making a kind of mud mixture.
Naruto’s paper split in two down the center.
‘Interesting… we’ve got a bit of everything on the team then. Yet another example of just how dangerous this team could be.’ Kakashi thought to himself. ‘Sasuke could be a candidate for Chidori then, and maybe I could teach Sakura a few jutsu…but Naruto…’
While he might be able to use wind style, it wasn’t a chakra nature Kakashi relied on often. He might not be able to teach Naruto how to hone it very well.
‘But that doesn’t mean I can’t teach him at all. In fact…’ Kakashi’s eyes narrowed at the split paper Naruto held in his hand. ‘I wonder if-‘
Just as Kakashi was starting to get some good ideas in his head, Naruto spoke up awkwardly. “Uh…sensei? You’re kind of just…staring at us.”
Kakashi snapped out of his thoughts and realized all of his pups were eyeing him uncomfortably, waiting for him to give some form of approval or acknowledgement for their chakra natures.
He cleared his throat. “Right. Sorry about that. Okay, so it looks like Sasuke as lightning and fire, Sakura has earth and water, and Naruto has wind. This is good, we’ve got all five chakra natures on our team.”
“So now that we know what we are, what do we do with it?” Sasuke asked impatiently.
Kakashi hummed. “That’s a good question. I have a few ideas, but it’s going to take me a little time to get everything together.” He gave them an eye closed smile. “So for now, working on your chakra natures is going to have to wait.” Before they could moan and groan, Kakashi continued, “However, there’s still something else we can work on in the meantime.”
“What’s that?” Sakura asked curiously.
“Walking on water.”
Their eyes widened in surprise. “Walking on water? You mean like how we walk on trees?” Naruto asked in awe.
Kakashi nodded. “That’s right. Starting tomorrow, we’re going to practice walking on water. Don’t be cocky, it’s much harder than walking on land. Rest up, eat a proper dinner, and meet here again at five a.m. sharp. Understood?”
The trio nodded, eyes determined and eager to continue.
“You’re dismissed. Scatter.” Kakashi told them cheerily.
The trio darted away as commanded, and Kakashi had to resist the urge to chuckle. He may or may not be teaching them more animalistic terms, but hey, whatever works.
It wasn’t until later that evening that Kakashi realized he might be in over his head.
Three Genin, all with different potential, all needing his attention and guidance.
‘I bet you’d know exactly what to do. You’d figure out how to teach all of them at once.’ Kakashi thought to himself as he eyed his old team photo on his desk, specifically Obito’s grumpy expression.
But there was nothing for it. Kakashi wasn’t Obito, and if he was going to turn these pups into wolves, he needed some help.
Taking out his paintbrush and ink, Kakashi began writing out his letter to an old acquaintance. They were close in the sense that they’d be close to the same people, versus close to each other. But Kakashi was confident that if he called for him, he’d get an answer.
‘Dear Master Jiraiya…’
Already sitting on his desk, written out and ready to be delivered, was a scroll addressed to Tenzo as well.
“Okay. You three have gotten the hang of tree climbing. You’re able to keep yourselves up fairly well, and it’s getting easier and easier. We want to keep up this momentum while we can.” Kakashi explained the next morning at one of the local bridges. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were listening to his words with great intent, waiting for their next training assignment. “So this time, we’re going to walk on water.”
Their eyes widened. “Walk on water? Is that…really possible?” Sakura had to ask.
Kakashi nodded his head towards the river. “See for yourselves.” With that, he focused his chakra into his feet and stepped onto the water.
The three watched in awe, gazes a little disbelieving. “No way…you’re actually on the water!” Naruto exclaimed.
“That’s right. It’s essentially the same as climbing a tree, in the sense that you focus the chakra into your feet. However, because water moves and is constantly changing, your need to change your chakra amount along with it. If you just keep the same amount of chakra in your feet, you’ll fall right into the water.” Kakashi explained simply as he stepped back onto land.
“So we have to flow with the water…” Sakura muttered under her breath thoughtfully, and then nodded to herself determinedly. “Alright then.”
Before Kakashi could even tell them to start, Sakura stepped onto the water, focusing her chakra into her feet and moving with the water to keep from falling.
Naruto, and even Sasuke, couldn’t help staring in awe, mouths falling agape at how effortlessly Sakura walked on the water.
‘As expected, her chakra control is even better than Rin’s.’ Kakashi thought to himself with approval. ‘If I could teach her some advance genjutsus…she’d be a terrifying force.’
“Aren’t you guys gonna try?” Sakura asked her teammates with a smile.
That snapped Naruto and Sasuke out of their awe, and they quickly grew determined to walk on water too.
Rushing forward with vigor, Naruto and Sasuke ran onto the water, focusing their chakra into their feet.
And they promptly fell right in.
Sakura stared down at their soaked forms, before bursting out into laughter. The boys went red with embarrassment, scowling.
“Hm. You’d think after the tree climbing, you two would learn that you are not very good at this.” Kakashi chimed in helpfully.
“Y-You guys look like drowned rats.” Sakura cackled.
But then hands grabbed her ankles, and Sakura shrieked as she was pulled down into the water.
When she sat up, she sputtered and spat out water, now just as soaked. Sasuke and Naruto smirked victoriously.
“Guess you’re not perfect at it, Sakura!” Naruto taunted.
Sakura growled, but there was a playful glimmer in her eyes. “Now you’ve done it! Messing up my hair!” She shoved his head under the water.
Sasuke looked away, hiding an amused smile as Naruto struggled and sputtered.
But Sakura wasn’t about to let Sasuke get away unscathed. She lifted her foot and kicked him right in the chest, making him cry out and plunge back into the water.
Kakashi watched the Genin with amusement as they fought to see who could dunk who next. He felt a warm rush of affection in his chest. ‘Like pups playing in a bath…’
Eventually, when they were done rough housing, the Genin focused hard on staying on the water steadily. Naruto and Sasuke were still trying to work on staying still, while Sakura was trying to walk around.
‘Focus…focus…’ Sakura thought to herself as she took shaky steps around.
But then, a familiar voice scoffed in her head.
‘You’re too shaky, let me do this.’
Sakura’s eyes narrowed. ‘I have to be able to do this without you.’
‘Why? I’m a part of you. I already held back turning the tree climbing. It’s my turn!’
‘I said no. Stop it.’
‘What? Are you scared to let them see me? Don’t you think I’m something your sensei should know about? You never let me do anything!’
Sakura began to sweat, pausing her steps as she struggled to keep up her chakra control while internally arguing with Inner.
Kakashi noticed her pause, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. ‘That’s interesting…’
Sakura gritted her teeth, putting her hands together in a sign to try and focus her chakra further, sweat slipping down her face.
‘You shouldn’t even be training right now, you skipped breakfast.’
‘Stop…’
‘I should’ve taken over earlier and crammed that food down your throat.’
‘Stop.’
‘Why won’t you let me help you!? That’s what I’m for!’
“Would you let me do this on my own!?” Sakura shouted out loud, startling Naruto and Sasuke so bad they lost their concentration. Sakura’s own focus over her chakra broke, and the trio plunged back into the river water.
Kakashi frowned deeply behind his mask. Something wasn’t right. He was tempted to lift up his headband and take a look at Sakura’s chakra system with his Sharingan, but he hadn’t had the chance to sit down with Sasuke and talk about the Sharingan yet and it felt cruel to drop a bomb like that on him without any explanation.
When Naruto managed to stumble out of the river, with Sakura and Sasuke not far behind him, he turned to Sakura with a scowl. “What the hell, Sakura!?”
“Why did you shout?” Sasuke demanded to know, irritated that she broke his focus.
Sakura winced as they both snapped at her, shoulders sinking. “I-I’m sorry…I guess I…was thinking too much.” It wasn’t a total lie.
Kakashi could see the boys weren’t satisfied, but decided to cut in before things could get out of hand. “Now, now, no use getting upset. Naruto, Sasuke, get back to training. Sakura, can I speak with you for a moment?”
Though reluctant, the boys did as told and focused on walking back onto the water, while a hunched over Sakura shuffled her way over to Kakashi, keeping her head down and waiting to be scolded.
Kakashi hummed, speaking in a soft tone so the boys wouldn’t overhear. “What happened, Sakura? I noticed you started to lose your concentration.”
“I…I’m sorry, sensei.” Sakura mumbled, looking down.
“I don’t need an apology, Sakura. I just want to know what happened. Why did you yell that? You said…’would you let me do this on my own’, who were you talking to?” Kakashi asked, trying not to let his suspicion seep into his tone.
Sakura shuffled uncomfortably, unable to look him in the eye. “It…just myself, you know? I um, I got to thinking too much and it just…broke my concentration, that’s all. I meant to say that in my head. It’s really nothing, sensei.”
Her body language gave away that she was lying in at least twenty-seven different ways, but Kakashi didn’t want to push. His students had to be comfortable coming to him on their own, and he’d get nowhere by pushing and prodding.
“Very well. Just try not to do it again, alright? You gave the boys a good startle.” He told her kindly, ruffling her hair with his hand.
Sakura nodded sheepishly at that, finally lifting her head to meet his eye. “Yes, sensei. I’ll get back to training right away.”
Kakashi watched as Sakura hurried back over to the river, stepping onto it with little to no trouble.
The Genin worked for hours on their chakra control, and Kakashi was pleased with their progress. A few more days of intense training like this, and they might be ready for missions.
‘But then again…there might be one more thing to address before I clear them to start missions…’ Kakashi thought to himself as his eye followed his pups’ movements.
Specifically, his eye focused on their outfits. Their atrocious, not at all ninja-like outfits.
Kakashi would be damned if he let them start doing ninja missions in clothes completely unsuited for it.
Call the Genin crazy, but they sort of thought when they’d finished water walking training that they might get a reward.
This was not a reward.
“I don’t understand. What’s wrong with our clothes?” Naruto asked grumpily as he trailed behind Kakashi along with Sasuke and Sakura through town.
“Oh, I think an easier would question would be the ask what’s right with them,” Kakashi noted casually. “And the answer is: nothing.”
Sasuke scowled. “Would you like to explain in any more detail?”
Kakashi sighed and turned to look at them. “All of your clothing is bright. Bright colors will get you caught quickly when trying to hide from an enemy. Not to mention, Sakura's dress is far too long and could get caught on things."
“Well gee, that’s great and all but I seriously doubt any where’s gonna sell me any new clothes. Gramps is the one who gave me this jumpsuit and that was years ago.” Naruto huffed.
Kakashi frowned at the mention of Hiruzen. How could he possibly provide Naruto with an outfit not suited to a ninja whatsoever? Probably because he didn’t expect Naruto to pass the Genin exam… “I already told you, Naruto, when you’re with me you don’t need to worry about that sort of thing.”
“I’m not getting new clothes.” Sasuke snapped defensively. “These have my clan symbol tailored onto them and I refuse to walk around without it.”
“Nobody is saying you have to.” Kakashi held back a sigh. “I’ll be paying for your new clothes, and we’ll be getting them tailored to carry your clan symbols.” He assured them before looking at Sakura. “We can even get the Haruno’s circle symbol on your clothes if you’d like, Sakura.”
Sakura’s eyes widened as she was addressed. She hesitated and looked down. “I just…the thing is sensei…” She knew she was going to sound stupid, and it was embarrassing to say this in front of Naruto and Sasuke, but she had to say something. “My parents…they won’t approve of me wearing something that isn’t…feminine, you know?”
Like pink. Or a dress. Both things unrealistic for a ninja’s attire, but that she was stuck wearing.
Kakashi should’ve figured. Of course Sakura’s parents would control her clothing.
“You’re a Genin on my squad now, and I’m ordering you to get new clothing for missions. If your parents have a problem, they’ll have to talk to me.” Kakashi explained to her gently.
Sakura hesitated. It made sense. And if Kakashi was making it an order…surely her parents couldn’t expect her to go against her sensei, right?
Finally, she nodded. “I understand, sensei.” She hoped he could see the gratefulness in her eyes.
Kakashi gave them all an eye-closed smile. “Now then, we that out of the way, let’s get shopping, shall we?”
Though still skeptical, the Genin didn’t put up anymore of an argument, and went to look for their new mission clothes.