A/N – Another Naruto story that I write. Hopefully this one finally gets finished one day. Anyways, stays relatively close to canon and doesn't diverge until a certain point. But you will find out one day.

o-0-o

Kakashi looked at the memorial stone and thought. The mission to Nami no Kuni, one that was supposed to bring some order and calm to his team turned out to be a mess. Naruto used Kyubi's chakra for the first time, while Sasuke unlocked the Sharingan. It also showed that while their teamwork was decent, they didn't know much actual knowledge, a very bitter thing for Kakashi to swallow.

"Perhaps they need individual training," someone said and Kakashi's head jerked when he identified the person as Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage. "It wasn't unheard of for the team to be temporarily broken, with each of its members receiving individual tutoring."

Kakashi turned and looked at the aged leader who walked towards him in the pristine white and red robes of the reigning Hokage. Kakashi was aware that Sarutobi Hiruzen was one of the most deadly shinobi around, but in the robes he wore he looked like an elder or a sage. A relatively harmless, yet wise person.

"I read your report about the mission," Hiruzen continued and paused, looking at the onyx black surface of the stone. "And I know that what you wrote in it isn't entirely correct. That you think that they need some kind of a shock or maybe a change before you allow them to participate in the chunin exams we will host."

"It's not that," Kakashi said and his fist clenched. "I failed them as a sensei and a leader. I should have prepared them before the mission and make sure they are ready for it. The only one that has some skills is Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura lack skills or the knowledge how to use them."

The Hokage stood there watching the monument and Kakashi followed the gaze of the elder leader. Just to notice him focus on the name Namikaze Minato before slipping towards the rest of the ones killed when Kyuubi broke free.

"We all learn from our mistakes, Kakashi," Sandaime Hokage said and gave him a look. "You are calmer and more analytical than some of your fellow jonin. I know jonin that have years more of experience and aren't that keen to acknowledge that they failed their team." The Hokage allowed himself a small smile, a thing that shocked Kakashi. Of all things he didn't expect the Hokage to smile. "Tell me, Kakashi, you know that they lack training and need to develop. What would you do or better, what would your sensei do?"

Kakashi averted his gaze from the monument and focused on the Hokage. "Minato-sensei would have tried to assign each of them a teacher that could help them overcome their problems and let them develop as shinobi."

"And what stops you from doing exactly that?"

The question was pointed and it stung Kakashi badly. He closed his eye and took several long breaths before opening it and looking at his leader and commander. "Because I believed, foolishly thought, that they could learn that on their own and allow me to focus on their teamwork and team cohesion."

"Not everybody is a prodigy," the Hokage said quietly and walked away from the memorial stone. "Walk with me, Kakashi."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Sandaime Hokage walked into the woods and headed deeper into the forest, into the part that was as old as the village itself. If not older. "You know the Will of Fire," the Sandaime said and Kakashi only nodded. "Then you know that sheer power is not everything and you should know that not many are geniuses that develop their own jutsu before the age of thirteen. Most needs careful nurturing and training to let their talent grow and flourish. Of all of your genin, Sasuke-kun is maybe not a genius, but he had some clan training before Itachi-kun murdered his clan, and since then he strives to be better than Itachi. While Naruto and Sakura..."

"While Sakura is from a civilian family and never had the support nor the opportunities Sasuke or even Naruto had and have," Kakashi said and wanted to berate himself mentally, but then stopped and looked at the Sandaime. "She's incredibly smart, a useful trait, but lacks the mental toughness of a shinobi, as well as skills that are useful on the battlefield. On the other hand Naruto is a genin that has all the potential in the world and drive to be the best shinobi, yet was pulled down at the Academy and nobody rectified those mistakes."

"It was partially your duty," the Sandaime said gently and Kakashi only nodded, no matter how the words stung he couldn't say much. "It's not only Naruto that struggles after they graduate from the Academy, some others also skipped classes or weren't fairly treated. One of your tasks as a jonin and their sensei was to notice what was taught badly and correct it."

"Yet the Council and you pushed me to focus on Sasuke," Kakashi said and glared at his leader. "Even if everybody knows that Sasuke is the one that needs the attention the least. Lack of it could have been good for him."

The Sandaime nodded and for once Kakashi could see the weight of the ages and experience on the shoulders of his leader. "We all made mistakes," Sarutobi Hiruzen said quietly, but then Kakashi heard steel to this voice. Steel he rarely heard in the voice of the aged Kage. "Now is the time for you to fix them, Kakashi. As long as you will bring results, I'm willing to bend the rules for you and the team, but you need to give me the results by the time of the chunin exams."

Kakashi closed his eye and did the math. There were five to seven months before the first round of the exams and that ought to be plenty of time to turn the cute and sorely lacking in skill genin of his into a somewhat comptent team that had a good chance in the exams.

"I will have two requests," Kakashi said and then frowned as Hokage looked at him. "No, three. One, Mitarashi Anko will be pulled from the roster of ninja that can go on missions. Two, ANBU Tora will be pulled out of the ANBU and finally I can tell Naruto something about his parents."

"Mitarashi Anko will be made available for you," the Hokage said and then added looking pointedly at Kakashi. "As much as her schedule will allow for. She's one of the best intelligence gathering people we have. So I fear anything more you will need to discuss with Ibiki."

"That I can live with," Kakashi said. "But I also have other choices in mind, Inuzuka Hana or Yuuhi Kurenai. However, Anko-chan will be the best person for the job."

"And I assume that she should oversee the training of the sole kunoichi of your team," the Hokage said with some faint smile. "Yes, that will be a good idea." The gaze of the aged leader focused on Kakashi. "As for Naruto, no, you can't tell him quite yet. Maybe when he makes chunin. Now I don't think he can be entrusted with the knowledge."

"The knowledge might push him to his limits," Kakashi said quietly. "Sensei is his idol."

"And the one who sealed Kyuubi inside of him," the Hokage added grimly. "No, he needs to get ready for it. I don't think we want to have a horde of Iwa assassins in the village. All of them wanting to murder Naruto because of Minato."

Kakashi nodded and pulled out his Icha Icha book and started to read it, ignoring his leader for a second. "What about the Uzumaki clan heritage of his, then?"

Hokage jerked at this and glared at him. "You don't think that it is much wiser?"

"Everybody assumes that Uzumaki are dead," Kakashi said in his defense. "And I don't think anybody outside of Uchiha Mikoto who is dead and Jiraiya-sama can tell that there is a connection between Kushina-sama, Naruto and Minato-sensei."

"That is true," Hiruzen mused and looked at the Hokage monument visible in the distance. "I will need to think on it and decide what can be safely disclosed to him. Now, however, why do you want Tenzo?"

"Sasuke," Kakashi said and allowed himself a smile under his mask. "For once that spoiled brat needs a good beating or two and I am sick of his avenger mentality. I get that he wants to kill Itachi, good for him, but as of now he is more of Orochimaru than anything."

"Itachi did something to the boy," the Hokage said and shook his head. "Danzo, why did you make me do this? But that is a matter that can't be addressed now. I will have Tenzo be given new identity and pulled out of ANBU."

Kakashi nodded and the next moment the aged leader was gone in a swirl of leaves. Leaving the silver-haired jonin to ponder upon the content of their talk and the consequences it would have for the future of him and the team. He didn't want to fail them and now he felt that he had a decent chance of achieving just that.

o-0-o

A certain Sage in a far away land sneezed violently. He somehow thought about his godson and the fact that perhaps he should have considered checking on him. He was away from Konoha for close to ten years by now. The world was strangely silent, no new plots and no new threats outside of a certain snake lurking in the sand.

The Sage grimaced at that. Was his former teammate that foolish and arrogant? A pale and dark-haired individual was hard not to be spotted in the sand and even harder not to be seen when they were a wanted criminal. A criminal that had the biggest total bounty on their head since a really, really long time.

"The sensei might be getting senile," the sage said and sighed, shaking his head sadly. "But Ibiki or Shikaku should have been able to spot this plot." He paused and his eyes widened for a second. "Unless someone is running interferences and there is a skilled spy inside of Konoha. One that eluded everybody's attention."

He finished his sake and with a heavy heart walked out of the inn he was staying in. The time to come home and check what was going on was upon him and in far grimmer times than he originally hoped for. Checking on Naruto and maybe teaching the kid a thing or two moved down the list of to do things to the very bottom. With Orochimaru plotting and hoping to kick Konoha in the crotch during the exams he needed to act fast and prevent some of the damage.

o-0-o

Sarutobi Hiruzen poured himself sake and drank it before sitting down and looking at the village visible from the windows of his office. It looked so calm and peaceful, yet underneath that quiet and kind outer skin there was the darkness he didn't want to admit. Danzo, his estranged teammate was a criminal that acted in the shadows for what he believed was good of the village. A thing with which Hiruzen couldn't agree and disagree at the same time. Some of his actions were good and useful, but the vast majority was a risk to the village and its inhabitants. It wasn't the time to pluck that weed out of the forest, but perhaps it was a time to scare Danzo a bit and remind him that the Hokage was the one who controlled the village, not Danzo.

"Fetch me Shikaku and Tora," Hokage said and then added after a moment. "And Ibiki."

It wasn't the most subtle or safe of moves, but without the latter two the chance to mess with Danzo was almost non-existent and Shikaku was needed for a certain adjustment to the plans. Even if some were fooled by his appearance as a gentle and kind shinobi he steel had the intelligence and ruthlessness that let him steer Konoha through two wars and it seemed that some forgot that there was a reason why he was called Shinobi no Kami.

With that done the Hokage poured himself more sake and slowly sipped, his mind going over possibly alliances and villages that could be coerced or convinced to attack Konoha. Kiri was out of question since they still had their bloody war going on and Yagura wasn't keen on giving up easily. Kumo was watching and waiting and had their issues with Iwa. And Iwa was still licking its wounds after Kiiroi Senko massacred them and Onoki didn't want second slaughter.

"So Suna, Kusa, Taki or Ame," Sandaime muttered and looked out of the window. "I expected more flair from you, Orochimaru. You were a genius, a prodigy, and now you can't play the game of politics with an old monkey."

Those musings were cut short by Shikaku, Tora and Ibiki arriving in the office. The Hokage looked at them and then signed at his guards to leave the room. There was no need for onlookers to be present when he wanted to plan the strategy. He trusted his ANBU, but there was no such thing as too much security. Especially when dealing with his rogue teammates and students.

"Hokage-sama," Shikaku said in bored voice and Sandaime looked at him. "Why did your ANBU needed to pull me away from my nap?"

"Chunin exams," the Hokage said and he could feel all three of them tense. Even if Tora was an ANBU and knew how to hide emotions. Summoning three high-ranking ninja to discuss chunin exams was unheard of. "First thing, Tora, since now you are pulled out of ANBU and transfered to the normal forces. Kakashi-kun requested your help with training one of his genin and I can see a benefit of it."

"Which one?" Shikaku asked and the boredom was gone from his face.

"Uchiha Sasuke," the Hokage said and waved his hand to silence protests from Shikaku and Tora. "Yes, he is a spoiled brat and yes, Kakashi is supposed to train him, but he wants someone to knock some sense into the thick skull of that boy." Then the Hokage looked at Tora. "You served with Kakashi in the same team and since you knew Itachi I believe you can deal with boy's issues and get him to think."

"It has some merits," Morino Ibiki of all people said and Hokage inclined his head towards the scarred leader of their Torture and Interrogation division. "The brat is used to people handling him everything on a silver platter. I took a look at his Academy reports and had one of the Yamanakas take a look at him..."

"And he is becoming like Orochimaru," the Hokage finished and Ibiki only nodded.

"Breaking him might be the only option then," Tora said and winced. "I will do what I can, Hokage-sama."

Hokage nodded and dismissed the ANBU before looking at the remaining shinobi. "How much can we bend the rules and get away with it?"

"Depends what do you want to achieve," Shikaku said and shrugged. "Danzo or your two other teammates aren't stupid."

"Kakashi wants peace when training his team and as little distractions as possible," the Hokage said. "No missions, no pesky requests and as little politics as possible."

"Missions will be the easiest to avoid," Shikaku said and frowned. "However, keeping the curious eyes off them will be a challenge. Root is very much alive, no matter what we pretend and your teammates have their own spies and agents."

"Ah, yes," the Hokage said and smiled. "Root, the soulless agents of Danzo." Then the gaze of the old leader hardened and he focused on Ibiki. "Can you rattle them a bit? I believe my old teammate forgot a bit his proper place and needs a pointed lesson."

"Should I arrest and interrogate them?" Ibiki asked with a grim smile. "Or just scare them."

"Do as you see fit. The freedom of movements the agents of Danzo and our enemies have is troubling." The Kage looked out of the window, ignoring the two ninja. "I don't want to start another war and Kami help me, but I will do everything to prevent it. Even if it means permanently removing the agents working inside of Konoha. And even if it means killing my rogue student."

"Hokage-sama..." Shikaku started to say and Hiruzen looked at him. "You look worried."

Hiruzen snorted at this, allowing himself to behave more like a normal, kind human. "I'm not worried," he said amused. "Tell me, Shikaku. Which of the villages that is close to us can pose a threat to us?"

"Possibly Suna," Shikaku said and frowned. "Yondaime Kazekage has a potent Kekkei Genkai that would be a hard thing to counter. The rest lacks either the manpower or the firepower to be more than an annoyance that makes us consider them a bug to squeeze."

The Hokage nodded, he heard the same statement over and over again. After all one that had maybe a thousand ninja in total couldn't pose a serious threat to someone who had close to twenty thousand ninja and could mobilize few thousand more if pressed. However that was for a pitched battle, an event like the chunin exams were a different scenario.

"What if they attacked us during the exams?" The Hokage wondered aloud and Shikaku's eyes widened.

"We would have a problem," was the only answer from Nara patriarch. "There are dozens of nobles, dozens of feudal lords, each of them requiring some protection. Not to mention masses of civilians and foreign genin and their sensei."

"Hokage-sama, are you implying that we might be attacked during the exams?" Ibiki asked, making Hokage look in his direction. "It all suggests as if you were expecting such an attack."

"I'm not expecting such an attack," the Hokage said and shifted, hiding his unease. "I'm merely trying to understand the logic behind certain actions of a rogue student of mine... Well, him and a certain teammate of mine. Both of them are up to something and I want to have your opinions and thoughts on the issue."

"Do you assume that Orochimaru and Danzo are working together?" Ibiki asked, voicing a question Shikaku wanted to ask, but wasn't too sure.

"I wouldn't put it past them, but I don't think they want to draw more attention than necessary," the Hokage said and frowned. "Besides, Orochimaru's mind is so twisted and warped that I think he would have died first than asked Danzo for help. Danzo would be more willing to acquire help as long as the end result was him being the Hokage, but, but he is clever and knows well that I'm not a senile old man many think I am."

"None of them has the manpower to attack Konoha alone or carry out a coup when nobody sees it," Shikaku mused aloud. "But if they use a third party like one of the nearby villages that have a grudge against us, then maybe they have a chance."

o-0-o

Team Seven was one of the most famous or infamous teams of Konohagakure no Sato, in some villages names of the shinobi from those teams was used by the mothers to scare their kids into obedience. In Konoha however it was seen as the best and the most prestigious one. Being a sensei of it was a honor or that was what Kakashi heard when he received it.

Since then he doubted it, while the original Team Seven, with the current Hokage as a part of it and under the tutelage of the Shodaime and Nidaime was great. Same as the next generation, this one taught by the Sandaime Hokage, they were the Sannin. The three best ninja of their generation who won their fame and glory on the blood soaken fields of the last war.

Then came the team of Jiraiya of the Sannin, from which came Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato and under his tutelage Kakashi's team was the previous generation. A dysfunctional team, yet it somehow worked and their sensei managed to keep it together. Kakashi wished his sensei was back as the team he was now given was a troublesome and even more dysfunctional.

They were bickering and in some cases disobedient, not to mention their rebellious streak and the complete lack of respect for him. Which didn't bothered him too much, but was an annoyance and other jonin pointed it out. He shrugged and with that cheerful image he walked to the border of the Training Ground Forty-four.

It was the main venue of the chunin exams and the home of Mitarashi Anko, a person feared even inside of Konoha. Kakashi winced at that, it wasn't entirely her fault that Orochimaru was her former sensei and even less that she was given the seal he developed. But for once Kakashi was glad that she was so feared in Konoha, Sakura needed a pointed lesson or two and who was better at that then a crazed snake summoner? He couldn't find any other suitable shinobi outside of few ANBU that were too precious to drag away from their duties.

He stopped at the outskirts of the forest and dodged a kunai that appeared out of nowhere. "Yo, Anko!" he yelled, after a second the trees shuddered and Mitarashi Anko dropped onto the ground in front of Kakashi.

"What do you want, Kakashi-kun?" Anko asked as she approached him. "Coming to find me in my domain. Brave of you."

"A favor," he said and smiled. "A student of mine, one Haruno Sakura would have some use of your tutelage."

Anko paused and a snake slithered out of the sleeve of her coat. "Why should I babysit a genin?" she asked cheerfully. "I have better things to take care of than a genin of yours."

"She has potential," Kakashi said and eye-smiled. "She's from a civilian family and needs someone like you to realize that the world of shinobi is less than the stories she heard and more grim."

"Ohhh," Anko purred as she moved closer to Kakashi who didn't even blink at this. He served in ANBU and that made him see even more obvious attempts at seduction. "Now, Kaka-kun, why you didn't mention this before? She sounds much more interesting than you initially said."

Kakashi eye-smiled and ignored her behavior. He was here on business and for more pleasant things he had time when the duty was done. "Because you would have kidnapped her and dragged back to your home before letting me explain," he said and looked at Anko. "Can you restrain yourself a bit?" he asked and then went on, ignoring her protests. "While I appreciate your methods you will control yourself and don't go too wild on her. She might not survive your more crazy ideas and I don't want to fill out paperwork for a killed in action genin."

Anko pouted at this and shoved her body against Kakashi, only to be coldly shoved back by him. The gaze of his eye telling her that enough was enough and she should remember her place. "Fiiine... I will try to restrain myself," she said and smiled. "But you pay for all the dango I will eat until she's my student."

Pay... For all of the dango?"

"Yes," Anko said and smiled. "It isn't that expensive and you want your kunoichi trained, dont you?" Kakashi only nodded at this, making Anko smile turn into a grin. "Tell me, where your team usually meets and when?"

"Training Ground Three," Kakashi said and then added. "At nine."

Before he finished those words Anko was gone and he stared only at a slowly disappearing cloud of smoke and dust. He blinked and bit down on his lip, hard enough to end any possible genjutsu. He never saw her move so fast or be so excited at the idea of meeting a genin. A genin of all fucking people.

o-0-o

The next morning one Uzumaki Naruto arrived at the Training Ground Three blissfully unaware of the evil plans of his so far laid back sensei. The couple of clouds moving across the sky and the sun above didn't herald any world shattering events, in fact it was as ordinary of a day as one could imagine. Even his teammates seemed unaware of the changes that were about to happen to their lives and team.

"What a lovely team you have, Kakashi," Tenzo also known as Tora and Yamato muttered from his perch on one of the lower branches of an ancient oak. "Naruto's clothing screams kill me, Sakura's hair even more so. Only the broody, I assume Sasuke, is somewhat more aware of his surroundings and less obvious."

"Sakura's dress isn't much better," Anko commented cheerfully as a snake slid out of the sleeve of her coat. "Yes, yes, I will have a lot of fun with her..."

o-0-o

A/N – And cut, I'm mean, but cliffhangers are nice. Yes, Anko gets Sakura and Tora gets Sasuke while Kakashi handles Naruto. Much pain, suffering and blood will come from this. Hopefully none of them will end murdered or killed, but maimed, there is a chance.