Author's note: Two chapters in two days! That's a record for me. No idea when chapter five will be though, it might take awhile.

Arc 1: Sakura

Chapter 4: Kakashi Gets a C-Rank

D-ranks, Kakashi decided, are the best kind of mission. No need to assassinate anyone on a D-rank, or get chased by hunter-nin, or go through sleep deprivation on nothing but rations and caffeine pills. No fear of dying or getting his teammates killed. Yes, Kakashi would milk the D-ranks for all they were worth. Plus his cute little puppy ninken were so funny when they complained about lame missions after a full morning of intense training. The other jounin-sensei didn't share his opinion.

"D-ranks may be useful teaching tools but they're boring as hell." Kurenai's fingers tapped against the table in an irritated beat.

"D-ranks," Asuma insisted as he lit a cigarette, "are the gods' way of punishing us."

"I always knew you were a masochist, sensei. But I never once pegged you for a sadist." Older Sakura sat on his left, Asuma his right, and Kurenai directly across. Together, they were a united force on this controversial topic. Kakashi idly wondered if making Little Sakura pro D-rank would change Older Sakura's opinion on the matter. It would be an interesting experiment.

"You shouldn't smoke Asuma-san, it'll tar up your lungs. And it's not a good example for Team Ten." Sakura tutted. Kakashi was now well used to the medical chidings of his loop de loop student. Sometimes he listened and heeded her advice. Usually he didn't. Still, it was nice to see it directed at someone else for once.

Asuma snorted. "None of my genin are stupid enough to pick up my habit."

"Shikamaru was smoking a pack a day before I came here."

Asuma contemplated the cigarette in his hand for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.

"I'll deal with it when it happens. Anyway, have you even actually done a D-rank Kakashi?"

Kakashi thought back to twenty years before. His memories from when he was five and a newly minted genin were hazy. But he must have done quite a few due to the lack of missions available for five year olds standing just over three feet. Ah, that's right. He'd done quite a few D-ranks when sensei took on Rin and Obito. But he'd acted as more of a supervisor than a participant so sensei could spend more time with Kushina-hime. He'd received quite a few useful jutsu in exchange.

"Everyone does D-ranks, Asuma-san. I must have done one at some point in my career."

The waitress arrived with more coffee and their breakfast. Asuma mumbled something about prodigies under his breath as the four shinobi discretely checked their orders for poison (it would be rude to be obvious about it). All new jounin sensei were expected to be in communication with each other for at least one year and were expected to discuss training regimens and the individual progression of their gennin. There were two main benefits to this system. The first benefit was that it allowed inexperienced teachers to receive advice and tips from their colleagues. The second benefit was that these discussions acted as a kind of oversight for the Academy. If the sensei noticed that all or most of the new graduates were lacking in an area they should have been competent the jounin could then report their findings to the Academy teachers or Hokage. Jounin sensei communication would be especially important this year, given that one of the Academy teachers was found to be a traitor.

The next hour or so was spent discussing their genin's progress and subtly interrogating Sakura for their pupils' strengths and weaknesses. She gamely went along with it, though she remained vague on details.

"If you want Hinata to be more confident try having a joint training session with Team Seven."

Or

"Shino often feels like a fly on the wall. Try to increase his interaction with his comrades outside of missions."

Or

"Shikamaru's dating a Sand-nin. There's a betting pool on if he'll move to Suna or if Temari-san will move here."

Asuma spit out his drink.

"What? He's going to date who? That doesn't even make any sense! Suna and Konoha are barely civil to each other!"

Sakura nodded her head in acknowledgment as she sipped her coffee. Her nonchalant expression, the steam from her cup, the diamond seal on her forehead, and the simple fact she was from the future made her seem particularly wise on the subject of discussion.

"They'll meet at the next chunin exams. She'll call him lazy. He'll call her troublesome. Love at first sight, really. It's all very romantic."

Kurenai snorted. "Well, at least one good thing will come out of our treaty with Suna. Can we get back to the topic at hand? Kiba told me he never had a unit on nutrition at the Academy and Hinata and Shino confirmed. If they weren't so high in their clan's hierarchy I fear their physical state would be much weaker."

"Chouji has some problems with overeating, but the Akimichi are generally good about nutritional intake. I have noticed Ino eats far less than Shikamaru, but she's within a healthy weight range so I didn't think much about it."

"Maa, Naruto's diet is fairly unbalanced but I took it to be an individual quirk of his. He's quite fond of ramen."

"Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I was on a diet when I graduated from the Academy. I know for sure I didn't learn about proper nutritional intake for a shinobi lifestyle until I started my medical studies."

The four jounin looked at each other before slumping their shoulders. There will be a lot of paperwork involved for fixing this problem at the Academy.

After paying the bill and waving goodbye to his fellow sensei, Sakura was summoned by yet another sparrowhawk. A foreboding feeling crept up his spine but he shrugged it off. He trusted Sakura enough to know what she was doing with Danzo. He just hoped she'd come to him if she got in over her head.

After arriving at the training grounds and brushing off his genin's accusations of being late with a handy excuse (I saw lightning strike a tree and decided to wait and see if it would strike the same place twice) he started them on an obstacle course ANBU hopefuls had to complete. It was a bit difficult for them but he was fully confident they'd succeed in completing it eventually. Afterwards he split the three up to work on individual abilities. Naruto was practicing his chakra control with his shadow clones, Sakura was doing strength and stamina exercises on top of a nearby pond, and Sasuke was working on his speed and agility. An hour later, Kakashi clapped his hands to grab the attention of his cute little ninken who came rushing at his beckoning.

"Alright, time for the best part of the day! Let's go see what D-Ranks Hokage-sama has for us!"

The three genin groaned and Kakashi heard Little Sakura mumble under her breath about how she'd rather do more pushups. Hmm, he really needs to get her on his side about D-Ranks so he could test his hypothesis.

The "Capture Tora the Daimyo's wife's cat" mission was a success! And quite entertaining, though slightly disappointing, to see the three twelve year olds almost lose to a house cat. Still, their teamwork was good so he had no complaints. Despite the extra paperwork he'd acquired in the morning, it had been a good day. So, of course, Naruto just had to ruin it.

"Argh! I'm sick of all these baby missions, Oji-san! I'm not a little kid anymore, I can handle a better mission!"

The Hokage was going to reprimand Kakashi on mission office protocol and instilling discipline in his subordinates. Kakashi internally sighed. It was his fault. He should have lectured Naruto about the proper procedure a while ago. Oh, well. Nothing like a nice D-Rank to set a rambunctious genin straight.

"Alright, then. I'll give you a C-Rank"

What.

"In fact, I have just the client. Let him in would you?"

No.

A man in his mid-fifties and alcohol on his breath walked into the room. It wasn't fair. His cute little genin were too young and innocent for the big bad world of C-Ranks where absolutely anything can go wrong. And knowing Kakashi's luck, they'll probably run into some missing-nin and get the mission bumped up to a B-Rank.

"Also, another jounin will accompany you to Wave country before separating to complete their own mission. Don't worry about the extra cost, Tazuna-san. Her mission is being paid for by Konoha, not you. It's merely convenience that has you going the same way." The Hokage handed Kakashi the mission scroll and Kakashi returned to his apartment with some despondence after ordering his genin to meet at the north gate in an hour.

Kakashi took his time putting together his mission pack since the mission wasn't time sensitive. He threw in some basic genjutsu scrolls and a book on nutrition for Little Sakura, some basic lightning scrolls and some novels Kakashi himself had enjoyed as a child for Sasuke, and finally a book on chakra theory as well as Kushina's handwritten notes on the basics of fuinjutsu for Naruto. Kakashi arrived at the gate a half hour late and was surprised to see two heads of pink hair instead of one. Little Sakura was gazing curiously at her older self with no small amount of wonder. Even Sasuke was glancing curiously at the eighteen year old look alike of his teammate.

"Hey sensei, your girlfriend's going on the mission with us!" Older Sakura bonked the blonde on the head.

"What did I say about making assumptions out loud?!"

"So, you're NOT sensei's girlfriend?" Little Sakura asked herself.

"No, we're just comrades. You can call me Sarada, and I look forward to accompanying you on part of this mission."

Kakashi glanced curiously at his loop de loop student. He wondered what was so important in Wave, if it was actually Wave she was heading, that she would leave the village and risk missing Jiraiya.

"Alright team, it will take us about a week to reach Konoha's border so let's get moving."

And so Team 7's first C-Rank began.