White Rabbit

four !

Team Seven sat in a circle at training ground three, an open picnic basket in front of them as they ate the breakfast Tsume had made for them.

"Your mom," Aina spoke in between bites of the watermelon Tsume had packed, "Is literally a blessing."

"Only when you don't live with her," Kiba snarked back, biting into his own breakfast wrap of beef and egg.

"We should do some training before he comes," Sasuke proposed as he ate the plain rice Tsume had packed, "It'll help us warm-up."

"Sure, just let finish this watermelon first, it'd be a shame to the gods if I let it go to waste."

Sasuke shook his head, amusement dancing in the depths of his eyes, "I'm sure that's what the gods would focus on."

Aina stuck out her tongue and tossed the melon rinds into the container the slices had come in, "Okay, let's go through warm-ups first to help us digest our food then we can do some actual training."

"Hell yeah," Kiba grinned as he finished his breakfast wrap, "Kakashi will come out here and won't expect it when we beat his ass!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he packed away the now empty bowl and stood up, "Hurry up idiots, Kakashi could appear at any time."

The two other children squawked in mock annoyance, pointing at Sasuke in exaggerated gestures as they pushed and shoved at each other.

Kakashi stared at them from beyond the treeline, a heavy weight in his chest as he watched the three children move through identical stretches even if they weren't timed together properly. They were trying to be a team and Kakashi hadn't even started teaching them.

"Obito," He breathed out, "What would you say in this situation?"

—

"Yo," Kakashi drawled out four hours after he had officially arrived, "You all look busy."

"You're four hours late asshole!" Kiba yelled from his position on the ground, Kakashi had startled him and he had lost focus of his one-handed handstand. 

"Am I?" Kakashi mused, a finger on his masked lips. "Well you see, I came across a little old lady who needed help with her groceries and who am I to ignore an elderly woman in peril."

Sasuke scoffed, "The only thing in peril is our time."

Aina laughed at his words and slung an arm around Kiba, who had finally gotten to his feet, "Alright Hatake-Sensei, next time you help an elderly lady bring back some cookies okay? They make the best ones. Oh! And what are we doing today, for our survival exercise?"

Kakashi hummed as he held up two bells, "You're going to have to retrieve these two bells from me."

"Hah, that'll be easy," Kiba said, he grabbed onto Sasuke's arm and tugged him under his arm. "We'll have those bells in no time!"

"Really? Well then you'll be on a time limit, you'll have until twelve to get the bells." Kakashi shrugged, "Oh, and I forgot to mention, the one without a bell at the end of this is getting sent back to the academy."

The three almost genin narrowed their eyes at his words but they didn't shift away from each other. It was interesting, Kakashi thought to himself, because he could definitely see the apprehension in the Uchiha boy's form and the anxiety swimming just beyond in the Inuzuka boy's eyes. The girl though had a confident look on her face and Kakashi frowned. 

She was an Usagi brat, the clan heir too. He had heard rumours of the Usagi clan back when he had been in ANBU. They had fled from Kirigakure in hopes of avoiding the massacre of clans with kekkei genkai. The main branch of the family was said to produce daughters who could see the future, soothsayers they called them. It was one of the reasons they were a matriarchal clan because the daughters of the main branch were always blessed.