Chapter Three

Hidden from view, Kakashi watched as Naruto and Sasuke attempted the new jutsu.

Sasuke focused with a single-minded determination, sweat beading on his forehead as he tried again and again. Creating a wave of fire was more difficult than it looked. The technique required concentrating the chakra to create the flames while simultaneously spreading the fire outwards. Sasuke had already managed a weak spread of fire, though it was not nearly as powerful as it should be.

Naruto seemed to be having more difficulty. "Argh!" he cried out after another failed attempt. He kicked a stone into the river beside them. "I keep trying to make my chakra thin like it says, but it isn't working!"

"Idiot, that's because you're doing the hand signs wrong." Sasuke finally looked at his teammate. "It's bird, not rat."

"Oh. I knew that!"

Kakashi stilled as he felt chakra flare in a pattern. He flared his own in response, and an ANBU operative appeared beside him.

'Presence requested at base.'

Kakashi nodded shortly. 'Acknowledged.' He stood up on the branch, barely suppressing a wince as his injury acted up again. The sharp-eyed operative wasn't fooled. The ANBU member glanced around, then spoke in a whisper.

"Commander, are you—"

"I am fine." He shot the mouse-masked man a look that ended that line of questioning. The silver-haired jounin ran through the signs for a shadow clone. "Watch over the kids," he ordered his doppelganger. The clone nodded, and the commander and his soldier disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"It's not fair! How come you can do it but I can't? Your jutsu must be easier!" complained Naruto. The wind jutsu was easy enough, but the water one was basically impossible.

"Hn." Sasuke smirked. "It's not easier. I'm just better."

"Shut up!" Naruto watched enviously as Sasuke created a wide arc of flames. Suddenly, the Uchiha frowned.

"What's wrong?" muttered Naruto. "Fire not pretty enough for you?"

Sasuke shot Naruto a vaguely annoyed look. "The flames aren't spreading out far enough. It's supposed to span fifteen feet, but my fire barely reaches eight feet."

"So what? Just put more chakra."

The other boy hesitated. "I don't know if that's a good idea." The amount of chakra mattered, but the control was equally important.

A grin spread across Naruto's face. "Hah! You're just embarrassed that you can't do it right! See? You're not so perfect, are you? Looks like the genius can't do everything, huh?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Fine. I'll show you how it really works." Sasuke went through the seals and breathed in. "Katon: Fire Spread!" He pumped chakra into the technique, creating an unchecked seventeen-foot-long wave of flames—and causing the surrounding trees to catch on fire.

The boys looked at the blaze for a few moments in silence.

"Crap!" Naruto turned around frantically, freezing as an idea struck. "I got it!" Carefully performing the seals, Naruto forced as much chakra as he could. "Fūton: Wind Gale!"

"You idiot!" shouted Sasuke. A gigantic burst of wind howled through the entire forest, carrying the flames even further. "Wind doesn't put out fire!"

"Uh . . . what do we do?" Naruto started panicking. "Maybe we can try that water jutsu? Someone! Help!"

"Do you really think we can learn a water technique in a few minutes?"

"Do you have any better ideas?"

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other. "Let's do it."

Shadow Clone Kakashi watched in horror as the entire forest was set ablaze.

"Dammit." The clone didn't have enough chakra to put out the fire, and attempting a rescue mission would probably dispel him anyway. The shadow clone clenched his teeth and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

" . . . leading to the current status," finished the solemn women.

Commander Hound looked impassively at the three captains. "In other words, the situation has become worse."

"Yes, sir."

The commander spoke. "I will—" He cut off mid-sentence. All the ANBU operatives in the room stilled.

"Sir?" asked one. Everyone immediately went on high alert.

"Commander!" A cat-masked ANBU operative rushed to his side. "Are you alright? Is your wound bothering you?"

"I am fine." Slight irritation leaked into his voice. "I simply have urgent business to attend to. Vice-Commander, take charge in my absence. I will return shortly."

'Tenzo, come with me,' communicated the commander. The cat-masked operative affirmed the order and followed him out.

"Commander?" asked the agent hesitantly. "What are we—that is, so . . ." He fumbled over his words.

"Change out of your uniform. We cannot appear as ANBU operatives. Hurry." The operative quickly shrugged off his cloak and mask before flickering out of the building.

"Uh . . . sir, where are we going?" he asked, keeping pace with his leader.

"Call me Kakashi out of uniform."

"K-Kakashi, um, senpai. So, if you don't mind—"

"We're rescuing my stupid genin."

Tenzo almost ran into a tree branch. "You have a genin team?"

"Yes." Tenzo could sense his senpai's directionless glower. He decided not to pursue that line of questioning any further. Quickly, they arrived at the forest near one of the training fields.

"What the hell!" Tenzo gaped at the roaring fire. "What happened here?"

"My team did."

Kakashi flashed through over a dozen seals. "Suiton: Great Waterfall Technique," he muttered. The water rose up from the river and slammed into the burning trees. Gracefully, Kakashi jumped down into the no-longer burning forest, Tenzo right behind him.

When Kakashi found those kids, he was going to kill them.

"Suiton: Cloud Drain!" shouted Naruto, focusing his chakra. The flames simply grew stronger. "Suiton: Cloud Drain!" he shouted desperately.

"Naruto. Run." Naruto turned around so quickly he almost fell over.

"What!?"

Sasuke clenched his haw. "I can probably make a path through the trees. It'll only last long enough for one person. You should go."

"And leave you to burn!? Are you crazy? No!" Naruto's eyes blazed with determination. "Suiton: Cloud Drain!"

Out of nowhere, a giant wave crashed into the fire. Naruto and Sasuke stared at the soaked trees around them.

"See!" crowed Naruto to a shocked and dripping Sasuke. "It worked! I told you I could do the jutsu! Believe it!"

"Actually," said a voice from behind them. "That was me." Their teacher's eye crinkled as he crossed his arms.

They both flinched and looked guiltily at him.

"Uh, hi sensei! How's it going?" asked Naruto nervously, backing away.

"Oh, it was going perfectly fine until I found out that my students were burning down a forest!" The atmosphere changed completely. They didn't feel the heavy, crushing feeling of usual killing intent. Instead, they felt the cold feeling of walking along a razor-edged knife. "Please do tell me why you wandered away from the river while practicing fire jutsu."

"Uh . . ." Naruto looked at his feet. He hadn't noticed leaving the riverside. Apparently, Sasuke hadn't either.

"I left you with a shadow clone for one minute. One minute!" Kakashi-sensei's eye narrowed, and the tension grew infinitely sharper. "You almost got yourselves killed," hissed their teacher. The jounin's control broke. For one frightening second, Naruto was completely paralyzed. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't even think.

The pressure drained away abruptly, and Kakashi-sensei wasn't terrifying anymore. Instead, he simply seemed tired.

"I-I'm sorry, sensei," whispered Naruto.

"We're both sorry," said Sasuke, finally. The dark-haired boy glanced up and caught their teacher's gaze.

Kakashi-sensei just looked at them. The silence stretched on for a few minutes until Naruto was suppressing the urge to fidget. Suddenly, their teacher smiled. It was a small one, barely noticeable, but a smile nonetheless.

"I know," said the older man softly. Naruto hesitantly smiled back. Kakashi-sensei stepped closer and ruffled their hair. Both boys relaxed, not even remembering to protest.

"Maa, don't think that this won't have consequences. Three extra hours of training for both of you, and double the D-ranks." Kakashi-sensei's grin grew savage. "Not to mention some little . . . special exercises I have in mind."

Naruto started sweating. That did not sound good.

"Now," continued their teacher, "you're done training for today. I expect you to be at Training Ground Seven tomorrow at six o'clock in the morning. Think you can go there by yourself without burning anything down?"

"Course we can! Believe it!"

"Good. Dismissed." The two genin took the opportunity to flee as fast as they can. The more distance between them and their sensei, the better.

At ANBU headquarters, Commander Hound examined the map with distaste.

"He has been spotted in these areas?" he asked, gesturing at the marked sections.

"Yes sir."

"He's covered much ground since his appearance near Konoha," remarked one of his operatives. "And he's completely avoided every team we send after him.

"It's as if he knows our every move," murmured another.

The commander glanced at his trusted captains and agents. ROOT, he thought darkly. Hound hid his irritation and anger. Danzo continued to plant operatives in the main ANBU—his ANBU—and despite their best efforts to neutralize the infiltrators, inevitably, a few slipped through. Hound frowned briefly behind his mask. He had suspicions, but until they had proof, they would remain just that.

"Send a team to scout this area." He pointed to the sector, briefly outlining it. "There have been reports of missing children near our border with Sound." He glanced at the hawk-masked operative, subtly signing more-detailed orders.

'Acknowledged.' The head of Reconnaissance vanished from the room.

Commander Hound felt the beginnings of a headache and gritted his teeth. Something was very wrong about this situation. He just couldn't figure out what.

Exhausted after a long day of brutal training in chakra control, Naruto and Sasuke collapsed on the floor.

"Maa," drawled Kakashi. "What are you two doing? We still have more work to do."

"More work?" Naruto said with worry and irritation. "What kinda work?"

Kakashi's eye crinkled. "Oh, you'll find out after Sakura arrives."

Naruto brightened. "Sakura-chan? I haven't seen her in ages!"

"Idiot," muttered Sasuke. "It's only been two weeks."

"Yeah, but we've barely seen her!"

Kakashi watched idly, amused that they still had the energy to bicker. After that disastrous training session in the forest, Kakashi had once again been reminded of his teaching skills—or rather, his lack thereof. Apparently, giving two genin scrolls and telling them to learn the techniques was not an effective method. He had immediately rectified the situation; after consulting (threatening) the Academy Teachers and ANBU trainers, he had created a proper ninjutsu training regimen for the two boys.

It seemed to be working. Their control and overall ability had increased dramatically in the past two weeks. Gai, of course, had been drilling Sakura mercilessly in the meantime. Kakashi had seen her improve tremendously as well.

"You're back!" shouted Naruto at the newcomer. "And you… look different."

The pink-haired girl blushed lightly. "Yeah, I guess I do."

Kakashi glanced at his other student. Sending her to Gai had been the right thing to do. Apparently, the training and that Twotwo girl had been a good influence on her. Sakura certainly had changed—mentally and physically. She had become a bit more confident, and her attitude towards training seemed to have altered for the better. Sakura had traded her impractically-long dress for a shorter version. The red was too bright for his taste, but the outfit was definitely more reasonable. And—

"Sakura-chan, your hair!"

Her blush grew deeper. "I decided to put it up. It's kind of hard to fight with long hair." Sakura looked at Sasuke, who seemed rather bored with it all. "D-don't worry, Sasuke-kun! It's still long!" She reached up, plucked the senbon out, and let her hair loose. "See?"

Right, they still had to work on the 'fangirl' tendencies. Sasuke's expression turned a bit confused as he wondered why she was telling him about her hairstyle and why she thought he cared.

"Woah, what's that?" asked Naruto, eyeing the metal objects in her hand.

"Senbon," answered Sakura. "It keeps my hair up and it's practical."

Sasuke scoffed. "Isn't it dangerous to keep lethal weaponry in your hair?"

Sakura laughed coyly, fluttering her eyelashes. "Aw, don't worry about me, Sasuke-kun. They're blunt."

"Then they're useless," said Sasuke. He turned away dismissively.

A strange glint came into her eyes. "Not exactly. I did learn a nice trick with them." With careful aim, Sakura threw the senbon. Instead of bouncing of the tree like the others expected the blunt weapon to do, the senbon embedded itself deep inside the wood.

The boys' eyes widened.

"That was awesome, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

"How did you do that?" Sasuke demanded.

"Tenten-senpai taught me!" bragged Sakura. "All you need to do is mold the chakra inside the weapon to give it extra power."

"Excellent work, Sakura." Kakashi glanced up from his book. "It takes precise chakra control in order to manipulate such a small weapon." He looked pointedly at the two other genin.

"Cool! I wanna try!" Naruto was practically beaming.

Sasuke simply grunted, eyes dark.

"Not now, kiddies." Kakashi closed the Icha Icha. "I have something else planned for you."

"Sensei? Why are we in front of the Hokage Residence?" Sakura nervously said.

"Because we're going to see the Hokage, of course." Kakashi's eye crinkled innocently.

"Uh… how're we gonna do that? The door's that way." Naruto pointed in the opposite direction.

"Right, but the window's this way."

"Huh?"

Kakashi patted the wall. "Boys, do you remember that tree-climbing exercise we did?"

Sasuke and Naruto nodded warily. Of course they remembered that. Kakashi-sensei had drilled that exercise until they could do it in their sleep. In fact, they had practiced it earlier today.

"Great! Now, I want you to climb the Hokage Residence using the same technique. Do you see that window? That's our destination."

The genin stared at him.

"Are you crazy!?" shrieked Naruto. "You want us to climb the Hokage Residence? Why not just use the door!?"

Kakashi stared back. "Are you questioning me?" he said sweetly, though with a dangerous undertone.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances. "No," replied Naruto, grudgingly.

"Then get started."

After exchanging disgruntled looks again, the boys began their careful ascent.

"U-um, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura with a hint of hesitation. "I . . . I don't know that exercise." Why had Kakashi-sensei trained Naruto and Sasuke personally? She did have fun with Tenten-senpai, but apparently Sakura wasn't skilled enough for her own sensei.

Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh as Sakura's insecurity reared its ugly head. He'd read about it in the files, but it posed a greater problem than he had initially thought. According to the people he had . . . asked, compliments were a valuable way of raising self-esteem. Unfortunately, Kakashi wasn't very good at being nice, but he'd have to try.

"Listen, Sakura," Kakshi paused for a moment. "Do you know why I sent you to train with Gai while I worked with the boys?"

She shook her head.

"Because unlike you, Naruto and Sasuke have poor chakra control. I had to work with them personally because of that. You didn't need the extra training, so I asked Gai to train you in taijutsu instead. It took Sasuke several hours and Naruto several days to master this technique." He caught her gaze and held it. "I bet you can learn this in a few minutes."

Sakura's eyes widened.

Quickly, he explained the theory behind tree-climbing—or in this case, wall-climbing. Kakashi watched through lidded eyes as Sakura determinedly placed one foot then another on the wall. Her confidence grew, and steadily, she climbed up the building.

Kakashi felt the faint flickers of alarm as the stationed ANBU watched the three genin ascend the wall. It was only his presence that kept them from doing anything.

With a sigh, Kakashi flared his chakra in the all-clear pattern. There was the slightest hesitation as the ANBU registered his command and stood down.

Ah, messing with his little ANBU operatives was so much fun, even out of uniform.

He glanced at his team. They had almost reached the top. With ease, Kakashi appeared on the windowsill, causing his genin to flinch.

"What the—" Naruto lost his focus and his balance. Timely intervention by Sasuke and Sakura prevented him from plummeting down.

"Idiot," muttered Sasuke.

"Naruto! You can't just stop concentrating! Do you want to die?" shouted Sakura.

Kakashi ignored their bickering and opened the window, gracefully jumping in.

"Well? Are you coming?" he called out.

Grumbling, the three managed to climb in to the Hokage's office.

The Sandaime watched the spectacle with a raised eyebrow.

"Hatake-san," said the Hokage politely. "You are aware of the door."

Kakashi shrugged. "The window is better, Hokage-sama." The Copy Nin gestured at his nervous students. "This is my genin team. I'm sure you know them already." The slightest hint of sarcasm entered his tone.

"Of course. To what do I owe this visit?" asked Sarutobi, nodding kindly at the pre-teens.

"Maa . . . my genin team knows nothing about politics. I was wondering if you could help them."

Kakashi had put serious consideration into the choice for their teacher. As entertaining it would have been to ask the Hyuuga to teach them, thus making the late Uchiha clan roll in their graves, politics would have made the aftermath too difficult to deal with. Besides, the Hyuuga would sieze the opportunity to twist his cute genin's minds to their advantage. A relatively neutral teacher would be needed. And the Hokage still owed him a few favors, so he made the perfect choice.

"Hm?" Sarutobi glanced at Kakashi. Explain, his gaze said.

"Being politically competent is important for a ninja, especially ones that want to be Hokage or run a clan." Here, he glanced meaningfully at his students. "Since you're skilled at politics, I thought you might be able to help, Hokage-sama." Kakashi looked hopefully at his leader.

Sarutobi hid his amusement. He hadn't been described as "skilled at politics" before. Regardless, the Hokage put an unconvinced expression on his face.

"They could help you with paperwork," hedged Kakashi. "They're all really good with paperwork."

A sudden gleam entered the leader's eyes. "I don't see why not. I always have time to help the future of our village."

"Great!" Kakashi smiled at the trembling genin. "Have fun!"

"Form C-4 . . ." mumbled Naruto. His head still hurt from the ridiculous amount of paperwork he had suffered through. Who knew that the Hokage did so much boring stuff?

Despite being half-asleep, Naruto jumped out of bed the second he felt the flare of chakra from outside. After stumbling around, he pushed open the window.

"Hound-sens—" Naruto cut himself off. It was one thing to think of the commander as Hound-sensei , but another thing to actually call him that. "Commander," he said instead. "Where have you—" Again, Naruto stopped. 'Reason for absence?' he signed. Where had Hound-sensei been? He hadn't trained them for a whole week!

The commander instead replied, 'Meet me at training field.'

Biting back a grumble, Naruto hurried after Hound-sensei. Stupid cryptic ANBU leader. Really, it was like he only existed to make his life difficult. And to think he had ever been worried about the man…

As usual, Naruto was the last to reach the field. The blonde pouted. His apartment was the furthest from the grounds, so it wasn't fair! It wasn't his fault! He smiled at a tired-looking Sakura and glared at a sullen Sasuke.

Naruto and his teammates immediately straightened when Hound appeared before them.

'Commander,' they greeted, uniform and synchronized.

The commander examined them, noting their rigid posture and formation. 'At ease.' The three relaxed but remained alert. A ninja was never truly at ease, after all. Suddenly, he felt a brief jolt of hesitation. The children were—no, they were his operatives. They had become soldiers the second they earned the hitai-ate. And he wasn't really one to talk; he had killed his first man at age six. While Konoha was no longer at war, they still had to be prepared for it. Unbidden, a saying of his father's flitted through his mind. A good shinobi is always prepared for war.

Pushing his emotional attachments away, Commander Hound spoke.

"In one week, the three of you will be assigned your first mission."

AN: So, with this chapter, the story has ended. This was my first foray into the Naruto fandom, and while it was fun to write, I don't plan on continuing this. It's not a new idea, but you're welcome to write your own version. Thanks for all your support!