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Kakashi watched the blurry surroundings focus around him. His head felt fuzzy and he couldn't manage to grasp onto any proper thoughts. What had last happened?

Zabuza!

Had he been a lesser ninja, he would've shot straight up, but who knew where he was? For all he knew, this could be enemy territory. Instead, he opened his eye minutely, trying to figure out where he was.

Grey walls, a wood ceiling, and was that a futon around him? It was either he was stuck in a genjutsu or he was in friendly company. Kakashi immediately dismissed the first idea; he'd been with his team and Tazuna when he'd collapsed. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto might not have necessarily made the sound decision, but he trusted a war veteran to.

Groaning quietly, he opened his one visible eye fully, noting how much energy it seemed to take to do that one small motion. It seemed that he'd overused his Sharingan.

Kakashi could tell that he was suffering from chakra exhaustion, but somehow he wasn't as tired as he had expected to be.

"Sensei, are you alright?" An unfamiliar voice echoed in the room. Although unknown, the sound was not unlike a female version of Tazuna. Younger though. A daughter, perhaps?

"Not really… It'll be hard just to move for about…" He would've said a week here, but he felt his chakra restoring at a speed twice of what it was normally. Curious. "Four days."

Gradually, he sat up, taking a deep breath before observing the woman beside him. Definitely Tazuna's daughter. She was too young to be his sister and the client had only mentioned a grandson. Kakashi grunted as he shifted his hand to support his weight.

"Well, it would be better if you didn't move for a while," the woman said, putting her hands on her hips. Kakashi supposed she was trying to look intimidating but when compared to Tsunade or Kushina, it was positively docile. Not bad for a civilian though.

Nevertheless, he heeded her words, deciding it took too much energy to sit up. Lying back down he agreed, "Okay."

Thud. Thud. There was a distant clatter of footsteps. By the sound of it… 3 children and an adult. That would be his genin team then.

True enough, Sakura, followed by the rest of the team, clattered in mere moments later.

"Hey! Sensei's awake!" Naruto yelled. Kakashi winced. Or at least it sounded like he'd yelled.

"Come on!" Sakura kneeled beside the futon. "Your Sharingan is fantastic, but if it puts this much of a strain on your body, it may not be worth it!" That was exactly why he covered it most of the time. Still, Kakashi was touched by his student's concern for him.

"Sorry," he apologised. He would've given an eye-smile if it took less energy. Great. He was sounding like a Nara.

"But you know," Tazuna started in a voice that was grating on Kakashi's poor, poor head. "He did take down a real powerful ninja like that! We probably don't have to worry for a while." Meanwhile, Sasuke and Naruto took their seats, one beside Sakura and the other at the foot of the bed. Ichigo seemingly chose to lean against the wall. Kakashi observed that he hadn't put down his sword though his backpack was nowhere to be seen.

"Anyway, that kid with the mask, he was a hunter-nin right?" Sakura questioned. Kakashi was slightly surprised that she'd come across the topic but nodded in confirmation.

"Sakura said they get rid of missing-nin," Naruto piped up. Now that he looked back in hindsight, Kakashi felt like he was missing something. He moved to sit up, hoping that it would clear his thoughts.

What was it? Even though Zabuza was dead, he felt a sense of indescribable uneasiness. It must have meant something very important. In his mind's eye, he looked back to the confrontation… Zabuza sagging against the tree… Two senbon pierced his neck… Hunter-nin collected him… and left!

Apparently, Naruto was less oblivious than people had made him out to be, as he quickly noticed Kakashi's 'thinking face', as he liked to call it. "What's going on, sensei?"

"What?" He asked, Naruto's question having jerked him out of his thought process. Kakashi looked down, thinking about how to phrase it. "I think we may have a problem. Hunter-nin are supposed to take care of the bodies they've killed immediately and on the spot."

"What about that?" Sakura questioned, clearly not seeing it, but Kakashi saw the dawning realization on both Sasuke's and Ichigo's faces before they settled into deep scowls.

"The hunter-nin moved Zabuza to another location, which means that the hunter-nin wasn't doing his job properly. He's either a rookie… or he wasn't a hunter-nin to begin with. In all likelihood, he was a fake," Sasuke concluded. Kakashi blinked. He hadn't pegged them as capable of reading between the lines but it seemed that the training he'd given them before the mission was paying off.

"That's right. However, there's another thing." By this point, Tazuna was looking a little anxious. "The way Zabuza was killed… It was by regular senbon."

"What are you guys clamoring on about?" Tazuna demanded. "He was killed! End of story!"

"Sorry, Tazuna-san. But you may be wrong on that point. Senbon can kill, not easily mind you, but none of the critical areas are in the neck," Kakashi recalled from the classes he'd taken about human anatomy.

"But you checked and he wasn't breathing!" Sakura pointed out, worry showing on her face. Kakashi had expected Naruto to burst out with something but he remained quiet. For the month that he'd trained his team, Naruto had always been a little quieter than expected, but Kakashi had taken it as a blessing. However, he couldn't exactly write it off in this instance; the only way to remain calm is to have encountered something like this before, or to have expected it.

Drawing his attention away from the anomalies in Naruto's behavior, Kakashi turned back to Sakura's point. "True, I did make sure. But, he was probably in a state of near death. I don't know for sure, only a medic-nin or hunter-nin would know that, but it's more than likely, given that we know that the hunter-nin was a fake."

"In conclusion, there are two main points of suspicion. Firstly, he went to the trouble of taking Zabuza's corpse, which was probably heavier than he was. And secondly, he used a senbon, a weapon with a low ability to kill." The room had fallen into an eerie silence as he went through the confrontation.

"Therefore, we can conclude that the youth wasn't aiming to kill Zabuza but to save him," Kakashi finished, feeling his body become heavier just by thinking that he would more than likely have to fight Zabuza. Again.

"Aren't you reading too much into this?" Tazuna asked, looking more than a little doubtful. Kakashi shook his head; it was a ninja's duty to see underneath the underneath.

"No. If something seems fishy, it's best to make preparations before it's too late. That's also an iron clad rule of the shinobi." Finished with his speech, Kakashi looked up to find Naruto vibrating in place.

'Hmph. To hear that Zabuza's alive and to be pleased… Does this kid have mental problems?' Kakashi wondered, oblivious to the true source of Naruto's happiness.

"So, what preparations should we make?" Ichigo asked from his spot against the wall.

"You won't even be able to move for a while…" Sakura noted. Kakashi shrugged.

"We will just continue with training. We are too far away to contact for back-up, and most likely it would just increase the number of ninja we would have to fight," said Kakashi. He heard a throat being cleared before turning towards Ichigo.

"When I reported in to Hokage-sama, he gave me a scroll," Ichigo pulled out a scroll from somewhere on his person, "He wants reports daily. Leeway of 48 hours." The teen tossed the scroll to Kakashi, who barely managed to catch it.

"Chakra messenger, huh?" He muttered, before storing it in his vest. Normally, 48 hours was far too large a gap, but what happened during this mission must've been a significant point for the future.

"Well-"

"Wait a moment," Sakura interrupted, before promptly flushing for interrupting an elder. "Even with training, we're not going to be that strong! Our opponent is a ninja whom even you, with the Sharingan, had a tough fight with." Kakashi could practically hear her screeching, "Are you trying to kill us?"

"Sakura, who was it that saved me during my difficult battle?" Although Kakashi had fixed his eyes on the lone female, he noticed the confused expression on Ichigo's face.

"He got stuck in a water ball and then me and Sasuke had to bust him out," Naruto stage whispered. Kakashi resisted the urge to pummel the blonde; he made the Jounin sound stupid.

Even so, he continued his pep talk. "You've all quickly grown… especially Naruto who has grown the most, even if he does decide to make his sensei sound stupid," Kakashi added with a pointed look at the genin who promptly gave an 'innocent' smile. Innocent, his foot.

Sakura and Sasuke glanced at Naruto. "So you noticed, Kakashi-sensei! Now it's getting interesting!" Naruto said not-so-humbly. He sighed.

"It's not interesting at all," said a quiet voice from the hallway. Kakashi looked up to see a young child, perhaps six or seven, standing in the doorway. So this was Tazuna's grandson.

"Who the heck are you?" Naruto demanded, pointing a finger at him that was instantly put down. "Hey!"

"Don't point! It's rude!" Sakura hissed. Immediately, Tazuna shifted.

"Oi, Inari! Where've you been?" Tazuna smiled and held out his arms for a hug. The boy's mouth stretched into a wide smile.

"Welcome back, Grandpa!" Inari ran into his arms, hugging him tightly, and Kakashi merely tried to stop his heart from throbbing as it always did during these moments.

"Inari, what kind of greeting was that?" Tazuna's daughter (Kakashi still hadn't gotten her name) scolded from the doorway. "These are the ninja who escorted your grandpa!"

"It's okay, right Inari?" Tazuna said, obviously trying to ruffle his grandson's hair but neglecting to take of his hat. Instantly, Inari's childish smile, replaced with a look of what Kakashi could only describe as insolence as the boy took in his genin team… Somehow the boy's gaze excluded both Ichigo and himself.

Turning to face his mother, he claimed, "Mum, these guys will die… There's no way they can oppose Gato and win."

Taking it as an insult, Naruto leapt up, his finger pointing at the kid again. Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh. This was their client's family here!

"Say what, you little brat!" Naruto yelled. "Now, listen up! I'm a superhero who's going to become an awesome ninja, named Hokage in the future!" Kakashi was taken off-guard with the amount of belief that was poured into that phrase. 'Named Hokage in the future'. Kakashi blinked.

In the future.

Now, wasn't that interesting?

"I don't know if it's Gato or Chocolate or Vegetables or whatever; I'm not worried about those guys at all!" The genin announced, his hand pumping out in a fist.

"Huh, a hero," Inari started, face half-covered by his hat. "That's ridiculous! There's no such thing!"

"What did you say?!" Naruto demanded, Sakura having to hold him back from pummeling the kid. Kakashi had to admit, the kid was being a little insulting. Just a little.

"Stop that!" Sakura yelled, struggling to hold the older boy back.

The boy turned to leave, looking back over his shoulder to say one last thing. "If you don't want to die, you'd better hurry up and go home…" Inari walked away, leaving the entire room staring at him.

The door slid shut behind him and Tazuna sighed. "Sorry about that. Its- Just-"

He sighed again. "It's difficult to explain." Tazuna too turned to leave the room, followed closely behind by his daughter (Kakashi still didn't know her name), leaving his genin team behind.

"Okay. I'm getting up, getting something to eat and then we'll head out. Meet up outside in 15," he ordered.

"Hai!"

ナルト—ブリーチ

Naruto walked along the non-existent trail near the back of the group. They'd met up with Kakashi-sensei, and promptly headed into the forest, but not before the Jounin had ordered Naruto to make a few clones to guard the perimeter. He walked close to Ichigo, who also lingered at the back.

"Ne, is your seal expiring?" He whispered, keeping his volume low. Sasuke and Sakura were chatting (more like Sakura was chattering and Sasuke wasn't listening) but Kakashi had very sharp hearing and he'd rather not take any chances.

Ichigo shook his head. "No, but you might need to redo it when we get back."

Suddenly, the three people in front of them stopped, almost causing Naruto to walk smack into Sasuke before he caught himself.

"Right," Kakashi said, taking a glance at the clearing they'd stopped in. "This will do. Now let's begin training."

"Ne, sensei, what are we going to do?" Naruto asked. Normally, he spoke to move along the conversation he knew it was heading in, but this time it was to sate his curiousity. Last time, they'd done chakra control during this period; he distinctly remembered competing against Sasuke to get to the top of the tree, but this time, that wouldn't happen, since they'd already done it before.

"Well, I would say chakra control exercises, but you've already done both tree climbing and water walking, and that just about covers the genin-level exercises. That and strategic thinking exercises are just about the only two things that would help you effective immediately," Kakashi started.

"We will be doing mental exercises?" Sakura asked, perking up. Naruto realised it was her forte, after all.

"Yes, but no." Ichigo's brow furrowed. Naruto could tell that he was getting frustrated with all this ninja 'I'm never going to say it straight to your face' stuff. Naruto would sympathise, but he was a ninja himself.

"You will be acting out a 'scene', so to speak." Kakashi held out his hand in a beckoning manner. "Ichigo, if you would."

Clapping a hand on the teen's shoulder, he continued, "I would play Zabuza but as I can barely move, I wouldn't be a very good opponent. So, imagine Ichigo is Zabuza. His aim is to kill you. You have ten minutes to plan before he reaches your location, which is to say, this clearing. No fatal attacks and if Ichigo manages to strike what would be a killing blow, play dead."

"Basically, we are replaying yesterday's battle with a weaker Zabuza," Sasuke clarified.

"No. You have planning time now." Kakashi gave an eye smile, before dragging Ichigo into the trees. "10 minutes starts now!" He shouted over his shoulder.

The three glanced at each other before putting their heads together. "What do we do?" Sakura asked, a hint of panic showing in each eye.

"Ichigo's way too strong to beat," Naruto murmured, eyebrows furrowed. Even if the other teen would most likely keep to regular kenjutsu and the few jutsu he knew, he was a formidable opponent, especially since Naruto himself would have to hold back.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and it dawned on him that normally he would've shouted something about how they could do it. Well, better late than never. "We can do this! We'll take down Ichigo, I mean, Zabuza. Believe it!" He proclaimed, pumping his fist into the air.

"You're being too loud, dobe. And we've wasted a minute of our time. Wait, does Ichigo have any weaknesses?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"How should I know?" The blonde replied. Sasuke gave him a look that said 'this is not the time'.

"You call him 'Ichi-nii'," Sakura pointed out.

"Point. Well…" Naruto wondered for a moment. "His balls?" This promptly earned him a fist to his head. "OW! Sakura, what was that for?"

"For being stupid!" Sakura said, face flushing brightly.

"Kidding, kidding! Though that was a legitimate po-" At Sakura's raised fist, Naruto quickly backtracked. "I mean, not a legitimate point. Well…" There was one weakness, but Naruto was reluctant to give it out. "I suppose… aim for the chest, but keep that as a last resort. If that area is too badly damaged, he won't be able to recover until we get back to Konoha." Sasuke nodded.

"So, here's the plan…"

ナルト—ブリーチ

Kakashi kept a count in his head, waiting for ten minutes to pass. Kakashi and Ichigo were stationed far away enough from the clearing that his team wouldn't be able to see from which side Ichigo would be coming in from but close enough that one big leap would get them into the clearing.

"Okay. Remember, act like Zabuza," Kakashi reminded. 583, 584,58-

"But I don't know any of his jutsu and I haven't seen any of his sword style," Ichigo pointed out.

"Just act menacing and all that." 599-

"Go!"

With a nod, Ichigo leaped onto the next branch before throwing his sword to cut into the tree bark of a tree at the edge of the clearing. Kakashi resisted the urge to sweat-drop; he hadn't meant it like that.

Kakashi perched on a tree close by, watching as Ichigo tentatively stood on his sword with a muttered 'sorry' before declaring, "I am Mochi Zagiza and I-"

Naruto's gales of laughter broke into Ichigo's speech. Of course, Sakura was giggling too and even Sasuke had let out a snort.

"I didn't even see him do that… You know what, forget that." In the next second, Ichigo was on the floor of the clearing, sword swinging at the three gathered in the center. Kakashi had to give them props for doing that. Standing in the middle, with their backs facing each other was a good way to keep a look out… but what was their plan? The Jounin would've expected a trap or two hidden somewhere.

His team scattered, surrounding Ichigo, who landed in the middle of their circle. For a moment, the whole scene paused, Ichigo assessing how best to get out while the genin simultaneously nodded.

Start!
"Plan B!" Sakura yelled, hooking an explosion tag to a kunai.

Naruto ran towards Ichigo, who prepared his sword in a swing that would've chopped Naruto in half horizontally. In response, the blonde took out a kunai, managing to block the heavy sword by channeling chakra into the weapon. The sword was almost parallel to the ground. Placing his hand on the flat side of the blade, he heaved himself up in an unorthodox move that Kakashi hadn't seen before, trying to flip himself over Ichigo's head.

Ichigo tried to get him off by moving the sword upwards but it was too late; Naruto had already completed the move, standing behind Ichigo… and was that an explosion tag being slapped onto his back?
"NOW!" Naruto shouted, moving away from Ichigo. Kakashi watched Sasuke form the seals for-

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (Great Fireball Jutsu)" Sasuke muttered, his volume so low Kakashi could just barely hear what he'd said.

Normally, ninja shouted their techniques, which Kakashi had to admit, was decidedly not a smart thing to do; it gave their opponents that millisecond of warning they needed to counter the jutsu. By muttering it, Kakashi doubted even he would've been able to get out in time, not knowing what to dodge, especially since he would've been thinking about what Naruto had just slapped onto him. At least, without a Kawamiri, but Ichigo was incapable of that.

Still, the teen somehow noticed the imminent fireball. Kakashi realised that it would slam Ichigo into a tree, one that Sakura was aiming at with a kunai and an explosion tag.

Kakashi gave a low whistle, hoping that Ichigo wouldn't get caught in it. However, either way, they might have a forest fire on their hands.

He blinked.

…What?
One second Ichigo had been in the fireball's way and the next he was on a branch at the edge of the clearing. Kakashi prided himself on his ability to never lose track of what had happened in a battle but it was either Ichigo had teleported… or he was moving faster than Gai.

As it was, Ichigo had avoided the Katon jutsu, and the knife in the back, which fortunately, started a fire that quickly burned out. But-

"Boom!" Naruto yelled, hands in the basic seal for molding chakra.

The explosion tag. There were 3 seconds delay between the chakra activation and the explosion. How was Ichigo going to-

BOOM!

The tag exploded in midair, Ichigo having managed to get it off in some incredible feat of flexibility. His genin braced themselves for any falling debris, but when air just flew past them they started moving again, Ichigo having come down to the forest floor.

"A! A! A! Pla- Woah! Plan A!" Naruto yelled while dodging Ichigo's swings. Somehow, Ichigo liked going after Naruto, though that may have been because the boy was the one who'd set him up previously. During a brief lull where Ichigo pulled back for a particularly big swing, his sensei's son formed the last sign for kawarimi. The sword hit the log, and Naruto reappeared next to Sasuke and Sakura.

"So, we doing plan A or not?" Naruto demanded. His teammates seemed to be reluctant to do so.

"Plan A," Sasuke agreed, starting to form signs again.

"Somehow I prefer Plan C," Sakura grumbled.

Ichigo was running towards the group clustered at the edge. He was running quickly but wasn't showing that insane speed he'd moved at before. How had he done it?

Kakashi noted Naruto discreetly forming the signs for the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu just as Sasuke announced, "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu! (Phoenix Flower Jutsu)"

This jutsu was notoriously hard to avoid, each fireball being directly controlled by the user's chakra. However, it shouldn't pose much of a problem for Ichigo, if he used that insane speed technique again.

Instead of avoiding them by swerving around them, the swordsman leapt up into the air, presumably accounting for the fact that by the time Sasuke made the fireballs go up, there would only be one to avoid, though that single one would be near impossible to evade, given that you couldn't change direction in mid-air.

Kakashi squinted.

Did he just-?

He sighed. Ichigo had just changed direction in mid-air. Kakashi wasn't going to even ask how he did these things any more. With these thoughts distracting him, he almost didn't notice the twin smirks appearing on Sasuke's and Naruto's faces.

Tens upon tens of Kage Bunshin soared out from the treetops, pushing Ichigo towards the one remaining fireball. Kakashi understood that with Ichigo, it was practically impossible to move him but in the air and under the force of gravity, he would have to follow the weight of all the Narutos on top of him.

All the Narutos collided into his back, one on top of another, pushing him towards the fireball that was just starting to dwindle. Kakashi saw Ichigo raise his sword and swing down in a downward motion, shouting, "Getsuga Tenshou!"

That was the energy attack he'd done when Kakashi and Ibiki had tested him. It'd been more powerful than what the teen had expected himself. Kakashi hoped he wouldn't overkill this time as well.

By good luck, it petered out once it cut through the fireball. Cut through the fireball. Kakashi scoffed. As if anyone would believe that Ichigo was a normal genin anymore. Kakashi wasn't sure what he'd do in that situation.

Still, he'd avoided the fireball, but there was no avoiding gravity and the subsequent ground that came with it. Twisting around, Ichigo repeated the attack with the numerous clones weighing him down. Really, they hadn't thought to immobilize his arms?

With the additional weight removed just in time, Ichigo flipped once to slow himself down, his feet skidding backwards as he tried to slow to a stop while maintaining his balance. If the teen was hoping for a break, he didn't get it.

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

The clearing filled with blonde-haired genin wearing orange monstrosities. Kakashi thought that Sasuke's and Sakura's blue and pink respectively would've stood out amongst the sea of orange, but he couldn't see neither hide nor hair. They must have transformed into Naruto to blend in with his clones. He didn't see what that would do, but he supposed it was part of their plan.

Ichigo easily disposed of the bunshin one by one. Apparently, they only had the sense to attack one at a time. The jutsu would be much more effective if an entire circle of Narutos attacked at once.

Almost as if they had heard his thoughts, three rushed at Ichigo, fists raised in a punch. With his attention occupied by 3 of them, Ichigo didn't notice one last one sneaking up behind him, a foot raised about to hit-

Kakashi's eyes widened.

An unmanly squeak filled the silence as all males present winced in sympathy, and Ichigo collapsed face forward, having been hit in an area where no man should have been hit. The Naruto who had done so turned back into a pink-haired genin, who winced, mortification evident on her face as could be told by the red flush in her cheeks. The jutsu collapsed, having done its job as a distraction as Sasuke took up position. He sat on Ichigo's back, kunai poised at the back of his throat.

Instantly, Kakashi formed the ram seal for the Shunshin no jutsu, and promptly appeared next to Sasuke. "That was a… good plan," Kakashi complemented hesitantly, as Sasuke got off Ichigo who flipped onto his back, still groaning.

Sakura winced. "Sorry, Ichigo," she apologised, bowing deeply before straightening. "IT WAS BOTH THEIR FAULTS!" She said, pinning the blame on her male teammates. Quite an unusual phrase for her. Even though her crush on Sasuke had seemingly abated, she was still reluctant to speak ill of him.

"Sorry, Ichi-nii. I feel for ya," said Naruto, offering a hand to help Ichigo up. Sasuke grunted his apologies with a muttered, "Sorry", obviously meaning it but perhaps his pride prevented him from saying it louder.

"Never mind. Hopefully that works for, ugh, Zagiza," Ichigo said, flinching as he stood up.

"Zabuza," Kakashi corrected. "Now," he clapped his hands together, "Time to review."

"What was the problem with the first plan?" Kakashi questioned.

"We didn't account for his superior speed," Sakura answered, recalling how Ichigo had moved away to in time to dodge the fireball.

"Yes, but also it might not have worked on another genin, one of a lesser standard than Ichigo. Can you tell me why?"

This time it was Sasuke who answered. "He could have used Kawarimi."

"Correct. And for your second plan, after the fireball, was the rest improvisation?" Kakashi asked. The only way that could have been planned was if they'd expected Ichigo to be able to change direction in the mid-air.

"No," Sakura responded. "Naruto said that Ichigo might be able to move in the air, so we planned in case he could."

"How did you do that, by the way?" Kakashi demanded, trying his best not to seem to put out about not being able to figure it out. "And that move when avoiding Sasuke's Goukakyuu."

"For the first one, I pushed off from a reiatsu platform and for the second I flash-stepped," Ichigo explained. It wasn't really an explanation. Reiatsu platform? Flash step? From the look Ichigo was giving him, Kakashi realised that it was something to do with that other thing of his.

"…Right. Okay," he said, as if that made perfect sense, ignoring the confused looks from his genin… except that Naruto didn't have a confused look. Had Ichigo explained this to him? Properly?

"To continue, why did the second one work?" Kakashi questioned, somewhat redundantly in his opinion. They all knew why it worked. Sakura was blushing again. It must've been awkward for her as the only girl.

"We took advantage of his weakness," Sasuke stated in a way that made it seem like they'd just taken advantage of a weak arm or a hole in his defense.

"Good. Now, some feedback as a team. Your teamwork has improved. Both plans took advantage of each other's strengths. For example, when you used Naruto's Kage Bunshin to trap Ichigo into hitting Sasuke's fireball. The first plan was a bit shaky, but perhaps with some adjustments, it would succeed better. You all did good on avoiding direct taijutsu; you realised it was one of your opponent's strengths and therefore tried not to give him a chance to use it. On the other hand, I expected the usage of traps. A well-placed trap could have weakened your opponent significantly." His team inclined their heads in acknowledgement.

"Naruto, your taijutsu has improved; it was reflected in your clones. Speaking of your clones, think of how to co-ordinate them so that more than one can attack at a time. Also, your usage of Kawarimi was a bit slow. Revise the basic three." The boy nodded and gave a pleased grin.

"Sakura, you may not feel that you've done much but the fact is… well, you struck a crippling blow. Perhaps you could look up some additional jutsu in your personal training time." After a nod, Kakashi moved onto Sasuke.

"Sasuke, your execution of the jutsu was well-controlled and you didn't waste too much chakra. Well done." Sasuke grunted. There was a note in the sound that unsettled Kakashi for reasons unknown to him but nevertheless, he moved on.

"Ichigo… Am I to assume that you went in there without a plan?" The teen nodded, slightly embarrassed while Kakashi sighed. "The exercise wasn't just for them to plan but also for you to plan an attack. This exercise was against larger numbers, which should've forced you to adjust accordingly. Next time, focus on the exercise. On the other hand, good job not getting killed."

He nodded. "One last thing… out of curiousity, who came up with the plan?" His team exchanged glances before Naruto spoke up, a bit of a sulky look coming up on Sasuke's face.

"Plan B was Sasuke-teme's, that's the first one, you know, and the second one, Plan A was mine. Sakura filled up some of the holes, though. So… does that mean it was all of us?" Naruto ended in an upward lilt, obviously confused as everyone had had a hand in it.

"Maa, it seems so."

Kakashi eye-smiled. Training complete and he'd barely lifted a finger… even if he hadn't read his precious Icha Icha. "Good job everyone! That's enough for today. We'll head back since Tazuna-san said he wanted to go to the bridge after lunch, which should be… about now. Let's go!"

ナルト—ブリーチ

The sky had darkened, dimming not only the sky but also the larger part of background noise down to the occasional chirp of a cricket. Sasuke walked up the stairs to the second floor of the house, the vast majority of his team having been caught up in some chitchat with their client on the schematics of bridge building and whatnot. How pointless.

Naruto had gone out to work on Kakashi's advice earlier that day: to 'revise the basic three'. He'd been blabbering about something about 'mastering them better than the teme'. In his opinion, it was less of a waste of time, at least when compared to his team's redundant conversation, but still showed an ineffective usage of the boy's time in the Academy. They'd had so much free time then! And he'd chosen to spend it on pranks?

While on the topic of Kakashi's advice, Sasuke wasn't sure how to feel about his sensei's words. The Jounin had only given praise to Sasuke, not providing him with any workable points of improvement.

Was he implying that Sasuke was strong enough as he was? Certainly not. Sasuke was aware that some people said he had a large ego, but even he knew that he wouldn't be able to take Kakashi down, even at his best. He wouldn't even be able to take on Ichigo in a straight-up fight, and he was only a genin! So, with 'nothing' to improve on, how was he supposed to become stronger to take down That Man?

Furthermore, even though Kakashi claimed that 'Teamwork was the key', the Uchiha only felt that his team was dragging him down more than multiplying his strength. Perhaps anyone would feel like that, being stuck with the Deadlast and a fangirl. Grudgingly, Sasuke would admit that his teammates had improved slightly since their days at the academy. Slightly.

Sakura seemed to be actually working on her practical skills and the marginal improvement in their spars showed for it. As for his other teammate… Sasuke had to admit that Naruto wasn't just pranks and idiocy. Underneath that stupid grin, there was a brain that showcased itself not only during their exercise that day but also during the genin test. If Sasuke wanted a comparable measuring stick to his growth, perhaps Naruto was the best fit.

The best fit, not a good one.

Still, Sasuke was alarmed to find that he hadn't grown as much as anyone else had. It was like his growth had been stagnant, and he believed that was owing to Kakashi's 'legendary' teachings.

Sasuke resisted the urge to slam his fist into the wall. Thinking about unchangeable things would do nothing; he would have to improve on his own. Perhaps he should join Naruto in his training…

No. What could he possibly learn from the Deadlast?

A sob jolted him out of his musings. He walked up the last few steps, searching for the sound. The corridor was empty, and most of the occupants of the house were downstairs. He walked down the corridor, stopping at the door where the sobs seemed the loudest. Someone hadn't closed the door completely, leaving a crack from which Sasuke could see a small boy sitting on the windowsill, crying.

Wasn't that… Inari?

"Who's there?" He moved away from the door just as the young boy turned around, eyes searching around and Sasuke had to fight not to let an embarrassed flush come up to his face. Maybe he'd accidentally said the boy's name out loud. Well, better make it seem intentional.

"Here," Sasuke said nonchalantly, opening the door. "What are you, stupid? You look at your door, not at your room if someone's there." The boy flushed angrily; he could see it in the narrowing of his eyes.

"Well, what are you, rude?" Inari countered. At least the annoying crying had stopped. "Don't you know it's rude to not respect someone else's piv- prika-"

"Privacy," Sasuke offered. It only seemed to rile the boy up.
"Shut up! I know the word. Piracy!" Inari wiped at his tears, enraged. "Now, get out of my room!" The Uchiha scoffed.

"Whatever. Just try not to cry so loudly next time. It's annoying." Sasuke made to go, opening the door wide. It was a thunder of footsteps that alerted him.

Sasuke whipped back, catching a punch that barely had any strength. Inari had run across the room and had tried to punch him. Really? "What's your problem?" He asked, starting to get more than a little irritated.

"You won't understand!" Inari shouted, pulling back before collapsing onto the floor, a fresh wave of sobs having come up.

"I won't understand what?" Sasuke demanded, crossing his arms. Inari's lip trembled, seemingly gathering courage before losing it again. The cycle repeated for 5 counts, and Sasuke found himself growing impatient, tapping his finger against his arm.

"My dad died, okay?" At the admission, the boy only seemed to wail harder. Distantly, Sasuke was mildly surprised that no one had come up to check on the racket. Still, his words did nothing to invoke sympathy. He crouched down to the boy's height. Startled, Inari stopped crying for a moment, looking at Sasuke expectantly. Instead, Sasuke flicked his forehead, not that hard, in his opinion, but clearly, hard enough to knock the boy backwards.

"What was tha-"

"What, did you expect a hug? Some sympathy maybe? Someone saying 'it'll all get better someday'?" Sasuke stood up from his crouch, reveling in the sudden calm. Maybe he'd stunned the boy into silence.

"I'm not the one who understands? You're wrong. My family died, no, they were killed. And not just my dad, but also my mum and every single relative I know. All of them, murdered by my own brother, the one who I admired the most." The word was sickening on his tongue; he couldn't believe he'd once looked up to That Man.

"You think you have it the worst and so you deserve to cry? You don't. So stop doing something as stupid as crying over it like you're the only one who has a terrible life. It does nothing and will only ever do nothing. Get up and do something about it." Sasuke stomped out of the room. He hadn't meant to blurt out his life story, but goodness, that kid was annoying.

It might have been shock but when Sasuke went into the corridor, he couldn't hear any more sobs. Good for him.

He looked up to see Sakura clattering up the stairs, looking worried but nothing else in particular.

"Sasuke-kun, I heard a noise. Are you-"

"I'm going out to train," Sasuke stated monotonously, not having any more patience to put up with anything. Perhaps a few punches and kicks would solve the problem.

Sakura tried again. "But, Sasuke-kun, dinner is-"

"I'll manage." He brushed past her shocked figure. A sliver of guilt crept into his heart; it was quite rude to be so abrupt with his teammate. His mother would be ashamed.

Sasuke froze, completely still. He hadn't thought of his mother so casually since… that day.

"Sasuke-kun?" He heard Sakura call just behind him.

"Sorry," he muttered quietly, not quite wanting to be heard but definitely meaning it. His mother would be ashamed.

Sasuke made his way out of the house without bumping into anyone (a miracle, really) and stalked into the forest. He had to become stronger.

Yup, I updated four days after the previous chapter. IT'S A MIRACLE! This is the part where I blabber on pointlessly about random stuff, so I'll say this now: Thanks for reading and as always, a review would be much appreciated!

First point: HAPPY NATIONAL DAY, SINGAPORE! #SG50 :D It may have been a year marred by tragedy, but it's still an awesome celebration. Oh yeah, did anyone else notice that the track 'Departure to the Frontlines' from the Naruto soundtrack was playing during the tanks part?! I was screaming sooo loud. :D NARUTO!

And the rest: Guess who Sasuke's going to bump into? Ok.. that should be obvious, really. Writing in Sasuke's POV was really fun, once you get into the mindset. Some people might be upset that I've depicted him as, well, not the best person, but with fanfiction everyone's view of a person will always be biased. Honestly, in Part 1 he was a jerk, but he was cool at the end, after getting over everything. This is the first chapter in a while that I've been happy about, so I hope it was good for you too. :D Until next time.

Ah yes, information on techniques was found on Narutopedia so yeah. BTW, I saw quite a few views from Indonesia so how do people in Indonesia get on?