"But why?!" Sakura yelled as her fists tightened. Although she knew she wouldn't stand a chance against their sensei, none of them would.
Kakashi sighed and rubbed his forehead to lessen his growing headache. "Why are you getting worked up?" He questioned once he finally looked down at his kids.
"Why? What's to say you won't do that to us? to me?" Sakura snapped, disbelief in her tone.
"Well, I would've done that by now." Kakashi rolled his eye before narrowing it at the three looking at him as if he were suddenly an enemy "A ninja shouldn't assume without knowing the whole story. It could cost you your life" He finished. He meant it as advice for the future but realized it may have come off as a threat as the genin stiffened.
"Then tell us" Sasuke quipped.
Kakashi glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Tell us the whole story" The Uchiha cleared up, calmness in his tone and eyes.
Naruto remained silent although agreed with Sasuke as he waited for all the details.
Kakashi looked at them and sighed "It was for a mission."
"Were you still Anbu then?" Sakura quietly questioned as he didn't continue.
Upon receiving a nod, the trio looked down with disappointment. Kakashi noticed their reactions and sighed before looking around. He waved hand signs and before anyone could question him further, the four found themselves deep within the woods near an old, run-down, cottage.
"What is this place?" Naruto questioned as he looked around at the thick coverage of bushes and trees hanging over each other. Hardly any sunlight shone through the small spaces of the tree leaves.
Sakura looked on at the cottage with skepticism as vines covered the building inside and out. The windows were broken and the door barely hung off its hinges.
Sasuke didn't much care where he was, he was simply curious about what his Sensei had done to this mystery girl.
"This is an old Andu recovery station. It was abandoned during the war when enemies discovered it and set traps. Many died but the area has since been excavated" Kakashi looked around with a bored look in his eye.
"Although..." He continued, looking down at the three with a playful but serious expression "Try not to move around too much. They may not have removed everything".
The trio rolled their eyes at his attempt to make them scared although still took heed to his caution.
"Now, about this mission." Kakashi began, though his voice was strict.
"What I'm about to tell you, I tell you only because you three need to understand the kind of missions you'll face in the future."
The genin leaned forward, anxious to hear what he had to say.
"I was tasked with a retrieval mission. A high-paying customer had lost his ten-year-old daughter to the trade-"
"The trade?" Naruto questioned, a confused look on his face.
"The black market" Kakashi cleared before moving on as if he'd talked about the weather.
The three looked at each other with shock. They had no idea the black market actually existed.
"I had tracked her down after a week of searching near her hometown but when I found her, they'd been keeping her underground in conditions that were sickening." Kakashi took a moment to pause as he remembered that day.
"While I had either killed or incapacitated everyone nearby, she was still so afraid to leave the cell...It wasn't until I had carried her halfway to her home that I found out why." Kakashi's eye hardened.
"They had experimented on her, altered her DNA and combined it with something else. It was a demon sealing jutsu gone wrong. It wasn't supposed to merge with her cells." Kakashi trailed off, looking off into the distance.
Sakura wondered if he'd grown close to the girl during their short time together. Naruto looked down with shame and disgust at what the girl went through, feeling relatable on many levels. Sasuke couldn't feel much about the situation, he wasn't there, but he did feel truly sad at the wickedness of the world.
"I couldn't contain her quick enough when she became the other half. She laid waste to her homeland and...killed everyone. Whole villages gone." Kakashi shook his head "Eventually when she had regained control, her cells were too far merged with the other being that she couldn't feel anything for what she did. I remember her saying how good it felt to feel the blood on her hands" Kakashi sighed.
"Sensei..." Sakura whispered, feeling ashamed for accusing her sensei of killing an innocent girl.
Kakashi looked down at Sakura with a faraway look in his eye "While she was still recovering from the power she used, I struck. I brought her body to the Bounty Station to be sealed away properly." Kakashi finished with a sigh.
"If she hadn't been so exhausted, I probably wouldn't have survived either" He said in afterthought with a small chuckle.
Sakura could understand that joking about it was a way of coping and worried about her sensei.
"Gomen Sensei" Naruto muttered "We shouldn't have jumped to conclusions" The blonde looked up into his sensei's eye with a sincere look.
Kakashi shook his head "It's your job to be suspicious." The Jounin waved off "In any case, we've still got a report to hand in and you three need to learn how to do this yourselves as well so let's go" Before anyone had a moment to react, Kakashi transported them all to the Hokage building.
"Let's go" The Jounin said as he walked ahead of them.
Sakura worried about how quick her sensei deflected from the vulnerability he had shown them moments ago.
"Lady Hokage" Kakashi greeted as he stepped into her office with his genin close behind.
"Kakashi, I take it the mission was a success?" She questioned as placed a bottle of sake back into her drawer that she'd planned to drink from a second before the group arrived.
"Hai" Kakashi confirmed before glancing down at his charges, signaling for them to speak up.
Naruto stepped forward "We intercepted the target on the main road of the affected village. While Sakura distracted him, Sasuke snuck up behind him and attempted a quick-kill but it was only after I used my Rasengan on him that we realized he couldn't be so easily killed. Kakashi-sensei then informed us that he was a Jashinist. Our attack managed to knock him out so we took him to the Bounty Command Post before reporting back"
Tsunade stared at the blonde for a moment before nodding "It sounds like you all worked well while dealing with a new unknown enemy. I'll be sure to add extra onto your pay for the completed bounty as well" She praised.
The three continued to look ahead when Tsunade thought they'd at least look at each other with victorious grins as the other teams usually do.
The Fifth Hokage cleared her throat "Which is why I've made a decision on something that should have been done a while ago"
At this, the three did look at each other but in confusion but upon glancing at their sensei, it seemed he knew what she was referring to as he looked down at them with a knowing glint in his eye.
Just then, a knock sounded on her door and she yelled to come in.
"Congratulations, you've been promoted to Chuunin" She grinned as the three turned to see a shinobi coming in carrying three vests.
The gen-chuunin were shocked. They hadn't expected this at all.
Kakashi smiled softly as the three excitedly tugged on their new vests before they bowed to Tsunade, muttering their thanks.
"There's still the matter of assignments" Tsunade began "You can choose to either stay in your current team-"
"We want to stay where we are regarding teams, Granny Tsunade" Naruto smiled as his teammates did as well.
A moment passed as Tsunade studied each of them with a small smile "Very well. In that case, you're dismissed but expect higher-ranked missions from now on"
"Hai!" the three chorused before the group left.
"You knew Kashi-Sensei?" Sakura questioned as they walked out of the building.
The Jounin gave a nod and a smile "You three deserve it. You've worked harder than any team in your generation but since you've decided to stay in this team, you'll also be worked a lot harder."
"Wait. Does that mean you are finally going to train us in T&I?" Naruto grinned excitedly.
Kakashi sighed and shook his head at the blonde "Yes".
"YES!" Naruto bellowed as he pumped a fist in the air. Sasuke rolled his eyes at him and Sakura giggled along with him.
"Alright, knucklehead. That will come. For now, we need a new team name." Kakashi explained. Things were happening so quickly that the Jounin wondered if his charges felt even a little as overwhelmed as he did.
"Of course, we can't stay team 7 forever." Sasuke muttered as he realized along with his teammates.
"That sucks." Naruto grumbled, his good mood suddenly gone.
"Well, the future generation will need a team number one day" Sakura mused as she smiled softly at the group.
"Which is why we will be known at Team Kakashi from now on" The Jounin interrupted their little mutters.
A moment of silence followed as Kakashi looked down at the three with a twitch in his eye.
Naruto puffed his cheeks out to keep from laughing. Sasuke looked away as to feign innocence and Sakura blatantly gave her sensei a 'are you serious' look.
"I didn't choose it...Imbeciles" Kakashi muttered.
Sasuke cleared his throat "It's fine." His teammates nodding in confirmation with grins on their faces.
Kakashi sighed "Now, we're far behind on training. You three will be climbing the cliff and going for a run around the village three times before going home" He smiled.
The genin sweatdropped at the sudden training session. They were meant to go home after reporting back but the Jounin was known by them to change his mind frequently. They would never get used to it.
___
"Kakashi!" The sound of Gai's boisterous voice called as the man popped out of nowhere.
Kakashi looked at the man with a raised brow "I'm busy, Gai"
Gai stopped and stared at the man with a perplexed expression "What are you doing?"
Kakashi sighed as he loosened the bandages on his exposed arm. He flexed his fingers to encourage circulation to go through easier.
"I was training my chakra circulation through restraints so that It's easier to use if I am captured in the future" The Jounin explained casually as he put the bandages away and rolled his sleeve down.
Gai nodded understandingly before grinning at the Jounin "Let's spar!"
Kakashi was about to respond when he noticed his chuunin sneaking up before the self-proclaimed green beast of Konoha.
"I don't think I'll have time for that today"
"Wha-" Gai questioned but was interrupted as Naruto swiped his legs from under him. The green beast was surprised as he was caught off-guard but quickly caught himself on his hands.
He looked at Naruto with a grin which quickly fell as he felt a hard punch to his side, sending him off-balance and into a pile of crates.
"Wha?" Gai muttered as he shook himself to focus in on Sakura, standing with a small smug smile.
"Such youth..." Gai muttered as he fell backward in a daze.
The chuunin knew he was faking it but it still made them feel good about taking down an unsuspecting Jounin.
Sasuke simply rolled his eyes as he watched his surrogate siblings.
"Alright, you two. Let him be, we've got things to do" Kakashi called as he stood next to Sasuke.
Naruto and Sakura quickly made their way over "Since Gai is already here..." Kakashi trailed off to look at a, still, unconscious Gai. He cleared his throat before continuing "Once he comes to, we'll warm up with him"
The chuunin grimaced as they knew training with Gai was hard on their bodies. He was encouraged to go hard on the trio to which the green beast was all too happy to oblige.
"After, I'll take you to the T&I Post where you'll be strapped in and..." Kakashi cleared his throat "Well...Tortured" Kakashi smiled.
"Finally!"
Sakura gave a dubious glance at Naruto before looking up at their sensei "Why do we have to go through physical training then, sensei?"
"So that you don't struggle" He simply said before walking over to Gai and kicking him awake.
Sasuke smirked, anxious to get more training in and feeling ready. As per their usual startups with Gai, Sasuke immediately went to attack the recovering man who saw him coming last minute.
The green Jounin dodged perfectly with a grin "What youth! Give it your all!" Gai yelled as he prepared himself for their barrage of attacks.
He knew to be more cautious than what he'd be with his own team. Kakashi's team tended to favor surprise attac-
"Ah!" Gai yelled as he was hit from the back with Naruto's Mizu Tama (Aqua Bullet) jutsu.
"Oof!" Gai huffed as Sakura slammed her fist into him from above.
"When-" Gai muttered before his feet were pulled out from under him by wires. Gai glanced back at Sasuke with a determined glare.
Gai quickly used his strength to break the wires and got up just in time to block another of Sakura's punches. A grin broke free on his face before it quickly fell as Sakura followed through with another punch, to which the Jounin caught as well.
Sakura scowled before using Gai's grip on her to launch herself off the ground, enough to land a chakra filled kick in the stomach. Gai stumbled away, his grip on Sakura loosened and she jumped away.
Naruto came up behind Gai and readied his Rasengan as Sasuke came at the Jounin from the other side with his Chidori. Meanwhile, Sakura had hidden beneath the ground and held Gai's feet in place to which the Jounin only realized when the boys began running at him.
"Enough." Kakashi called.
A drop of sweat rolled down the Beast of Konoha's temple. He stared down the arm that held a ball of lighting and into the eyes of a trained killer. In that moment, Gai couldn't recognize Kakashi's student but someone that had only one goal in mind: Kill.
The Chuunin backed away slowly, their guard still up as they eyed Gai who looked more serious than normal.
He glanced at the ground next to him as it crumpled and Sakura stood up from it. Gai was worried.
"Kakashi, we need to talk" Gai announced while crossing his arms and glancing at the chuunin "Privately..."
Kakashi eyed the glimmering hairstyled man before giving a nod to his charges, who left with confusion on their features.
"What is it?" Kakashi questioned.
"Be honest with me." Gai cleared his throat as the Jounin came closer.
"Depends on what" Kakashi smiled. Gai shook his head, understand he was bound to secrecy with some things.
"Your team are quite formidable. They're getting stronger every day" Gai praised but Kakashi knew there was more to it and therefore stayed quiet.
"It's no secret that your team have had hard experiences in their life...Including you" Gai continued, sounding more hesitant as he went on.
"What are you saying, Gai?" Kakashi inquired, a feeling of dread running through him as he had an idea where this want heading.
Gai sighed before looking Kakashi in the eye "Do you harbor ill feelings toward the village?"
Kakashi closed his eye with a sigh, not wanting to answer "Gai, I was recommended to be the next Hoka-"
"Yet you turned it down" Gai narrowed his eyes.
"Of all people... I expected this from everyone but you" Kakashi muttered as he scowled in the direction of the village.
Gai sighed "I'm not against you, Kakashi but your actions as of recent have been suspicious and ever since that time with the old ladies-"
"Maybe I do hold ill feelings. Maybe I hate the villagers of this village because of how they treat someone whose different but make no mistake Gai." Kakashi glared at the man.
"I love this village. I would die for it. I just can't say the same for the villagers"
"Kakashi..." Gai muttered with a shocked expression.
"I've got training to do" Kakashi cut the conversation off and walked away without another word.
Gai watched him go and berated himself for being so harsh. He had never doubted his friend before but he couldn't stop the feeling of dread that took refuge in his stomach.