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Chapter 39

39

The following day.

It was nearing sunset when Akira finally saw the tall, silver-haired man walking casually towards her, whistling a low tune. It took all of her patience to not blast the said man away. Akira forced herself to calm down and ease her breathing. It proved to be more difficult as each of the man's lazy steps neared.

Finally, he was in front her. Akira glared daggers at Kakashi.

"Yo."

"DAMMIT! You said after my class! You said afternoon! It's five-fucking-thirty!" she bellowed, unable to control herself.

Instead of being offended at her rudeness, Kakashi merely nodded. "Yes. Well, I had to assist an old lady— "

"I've already heard of your excuses!"

Kakashi cocked his head to one side. "Oh? How?"

"From Naruto, who else?!"

"Ah."

His nonchalance moved the Satsuna to anger. "I hate late people! I was here on time!"

Behind his mask, Kakashi sighed. He had been briefed by Tsunade and Iruka about the kunoichi's temperament, with Iruka even letting out a defeated sigh and a well-meant 'good luck', so it didn't really surprise him that the Satsuna reacted the way she did. In fact, Kakashi took the opportunity to assess the girl's personality. He had deduced from their previous mission that she had similar traits with Naruto, but back then, the girl was usually polite towards him, even bordering to aloofness.

A stark contrast to the intensity she's showing at the moment. 'Well, that's expected, I suppose,' Kakashi thought. 'She was unfamiliar with my...quirks...after all.'

"Well, since you've been here earlier than me, I assume you used your time wisely," said Kakashi as he pocketed his novel.

Akira frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you didn't just twiddle your thumbs while waiting for me, did you?" he said, voice light with teasing. "Because I'm sure you know, a shinobi is resourceful and is never idle."

This made the kunoichi feel a little uneasy and she shrugged in an attempt to hide it. "Y-yeah," she said. "I mean, I did try some target practice..."

His gaze went to a nearby tree where several kunai were stuck. 'Some target practice. I bet she was merely throwing them mindlessly,' he thought. He sighed and looked up at the sky briefly.

This arrangement by the Hokage proved to be challenging, even before he started with his planned training regimen for the girl. Tsunade insisted to maintain Akira's instructor status in the Academy instead of placing her on temporary leave of some sort. That means Akira still holds classes in the morning and then meets up with Kakashi for training in the afternoon. While it appears to be of no problem, it is actually problematic for both of them. Aside from time constraints—especially for some jutsu that require prolonged concentration in order to grasp even its principles—Kakashi anticipates that by the time the kunoichi arrives for their training, she'll have less stamina and energy left to perform some exercises. Therefore, Kakashi has to come up with some way to hasten the process.

If the kunoichi was anything like Naruto, then the use of kage bunshin will be useful. But then again, Naruto has a timeline to follow, meaning he has to catch up to the ticking bomb that was Sasuke and Orochimaru. Akira meanwhile, is in no hurry, seeing that the next Jounin promotion exams are still months away.