Copycat Kitsune

Ch. 13

"So, are there any complaints about your assigned genin?" Hiruzen asked the three assembled Jonin standing in front of his desk as he leaned back in his chair, pulled a lit match from gods know where and lit the tobacco in his pipe.

The first Jonin to speak was a newer one. Kurenai Yuhi, who had only become a Jonin a couple months ago. She stepped forward and shook her head.

"I have no objection to my team, Lord Hokage." She answered. "I'm excited to train Hinata and Shino but I fear that I may need to be more strict with Kiba." She frowned. "His clan is well known to be... a little wild." That was putting it mildly. She had seen, first hand, Kiba's mother Tsume, claw a bandits eyes out with her bare hands once.

It was a little unsettling.

Next to speak up was the Hokages own son, Asuma Sarutobi. He shrugged his shoulders and took a small drag from his cigarette. "I get the next iteration of the famous Ino-Shika-Cho formation. It should prove interesting." He blew a cloud of smoke out while promptly ignore the annoyed look Kurenai was sending him. It was no secret that she hated his smoking habits and she had been quite vocal about the downsides to the addiction on more than one occasion.

"Though, I will admit that I'm a little jealous." Asuma turned and sent Kakashi a smirk. "You're getting all the heavy hitters this year. You got the Uchiha brat, the pink one and last but not least, Naruto." He spoke, crossing his arms over his chest.

  "I do agree somewhat." Kurenai added as she turned her red eyes onto the silver haired ninja who had his hands stuffed in his pockets and was leaning back a little, his only exposed eye was staring right back at the two Jonin.

"Young Sasuke is quite skilled for his age, he is the rookie of the year. Sakura, while not as physically inclined as her fellow genin, makes up for that with her brain." She tilted her head. "And let's not forget Naruto. She was after all, Itachi's student before she fell under your tutelage to learn how to use her sharingan." She pointed out.

"Hmm." Kakashi hummed. "Truth be told, besides showing her how to use her sharingan, I hadn't really trained her in anything else. After Itachi, she pretty much taught herself most of what she knows. I only answered some questions when she asked." He gave them a lazy eye smile when he saw Asuma, Kurenai and the Hokage himself send him a deadpanned stare.

"Dude," Asuma began. "Iruka said she used the water dragon jutsu to counter Mizuki's fire dragon." He stated with a sweat drop. "There's no way she taught herself that jutsu." He refused to believe that. She had to have had at least some help. Elemental manipulation alone was pretty difficult to achieve, even if you were training your natural element.

And really, at this point in time, it was unknown how many jutsu Naruto really knew and how she gained access to them. Though Asuma had a feeling his father had turned a blind eye more than once when Naruto broke into the villages jutsu vault.

"Eh." Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and that seemed to be the only reply the other Jonin we're gonna receive from him regarding the matter.

"Naruto isn't just Ninjutsu inclined." Hiruzen spoke up, gaining the attention of the three Jonin. He sat back and rubbed at his goatee with one hand while his other held his smoking pipe. "She has shown the ability to wield her genjutsu's through her sharingan quite well and contrary to her academy performance, her taijutsu is much, much more advanced than her classmates." He added calmly, nodding his head in absolution.

"Then why is she the dead last?" Kurenai questioned as she crossed one arm over her stomach, unintentionally pushing up her chest, while using her other hand to rub her chin. "You make her out to be some sort of prodigy?" She wondered.