Kakashi looked back over his shoulder briefly as they got some distance away from the poles they'd left Naruto tied to, at Ryoko's protests. The girl had started to untie him, so the ropes were weakened. Naruto had had ten minutes to work at the ropes.
Now was probably a good time.
"Ryoko-chan," Kakashi said, calling the girl to come back.
"Hai, Hatake-sama?" she said nervously, pausing.
"I need to talk to you for a moment," Kakashi said, he glanced ahead toward Sasuke. "All right, Sasuke, go on ahead, we'll catch up."
Sasuke looked back over his shoulder and frowned as the girl was pulled aside.
He pretended disdain for a moment and continued down the path toward town until he was out of sight and could come back to see what Kakashi wanted to pull the girl aside for.
Ryoko meanwhile waited politely, in a proper posture, biting her lip and waiting for Kakashi to talk.
The masked ninja looked around a bit and then nodded.
"Ryoko-chan," he said. "Don't be too eager to fall on your sword."
"Ano…"
"Sometimes," Kakashi said. "You'll have to risk yourself for your comrades. Sometimes you might even have to sacrifice yourself. But you make the choice too easy."
"But…if I..I…" she started to say.
"If you were on a mission and Naruto or Sasuke were hurt," Kakashi said. "You'd feel guilty?"
"I…I am th…there to help protect th..the team," Ryoko confirmed quietly.
"And if you were hurt, how do you think they should feel?" Kakashi asked.
"I do n…not think such would matter," Ryoko said. "I am…not im…important."
Kakashi sighed for a moment, deciding not to press further on this issue for now.
"And who would take care of your team next time?" Kakashi asked. "Or your sister?"
Kakashi was rewarded by that last comment with a flash of orange fire that rose and died briefly.
"Injuries happen," Kakashi continued. "But don't make them part of the plan if you can avoid it, understood?"
"H..hai, Hatake-sama," Ryoko said.
"And for goodness sake, stop calling me Hatake-sama," Kakashi said, groaning. "You make me feel like some sort of old man."
"Ano…?"
"Why not just call me Kakashi-sensei and leave it at that?" the jonin asked.
"If you…wish, Kakashi-sensei," Ryoko responded. The look on her face as she said the new appellation was almost pained.
Sasuke watched as Kakashi looked up away from Ryoko towards two seemingly random points and, with a flinch, he noticed Naruto hiding at the other of the two. Obviously their sensei had intended, or at least allowed, them to hear that.
It made some sense.
Sasuke was aware of Naruto's orphaned background, similar to his own in some less painful ways. Likewise, Naruto was aware that Sasuke had grown up alone for the past few years as well. Both knew each other's personalities at least on a glance, but Sasuke had never really paid attention to this outsider before save to note she was always jumping at her own shadow.
Grimacing, he realized that he was going to be expected to get to know his teammates as more than just teammates. As comrades, like Kakashi had said.
Snorting, Sasuke took off out of the trees even as he noted Naruto coming out of cover and moving quickly to join Kakashi and Ryoko. He could already hear Naruto bluntly vowing to make sure Ryoko never got hurt on a mission, as if he had that sort of ability.
Kakashi had left Ryoko and Naruto behind with the blonde exuberantly treating the young martial artist to "all that she could eat" at Ichiraku Ranma, and then unwisely turned the offer into an unofficial sort of eating competition. Kakashi had left while they were on something like their fourth bowl each.
At some point fairly soon, Naruto was going to hit the end of his pocket money.
Kakashi laughed as he imagined the kid's face as he started to realize that and walked into the Hokage's office.
"Oh, you have your first report already?" Sarutobi said as the ninja walked into the office and set a packet of papers down on his desk. "I had thought I'd have to remind you several times at least to get this in."
"Sometimes, I feel like shaking up the patterns," Kakashi said with a resigned sigh.
"Care to give me a summary?" the Hokage asked.
"As expected, individually, they're spectacular," Kakashi said. "Together they're a spectacular flop. Not so expectedly, they each have some basic understanding of teamwork."
"You passed them, then?" the Hokage said with a smirk as he brought his pipe down.
"They're the first to actually break the eating rule," Kakashi admitted. "Every other team had been thoroughly cowed by that point."
"Strengths and weaknesses?"
"Naruto is the least well developed, but has the most potential chakra-wise," Kakashi said. "And despite what you'd guess from his unoriginal pranks, he is actually cunning. It isn't developed yet, but he could be taught to be a very tactical thinker. Ryoko is pure fighting skill, very close to Rock Lee's level, but she's weak against genjutsu, you can piggy back it right in on her chi. A serious weakness even if she does naturally flush her own chakra eventually. Sasuke is the most well-rounded, but he's too sure of himself, and he thinks more directly and on fewer levels than either of the other two."
"I see," the Hokage noted.
"If we can work out the teamwork and the worst of their weaknesses," Kakashi said. "We'll have the makings of a functioning war-team very soon. Including Guy's team, that would bring us to two potential heavy-battle groups."
"I hope that doesn't become necessary," the Hokage said. "And I'd rather the term 'war-team' doesn't leave this room in reference to either team. The other villages might misunderstand the intent."
"Yes, who'd expect preparations of this sort for a mere group of missing-nins," Kakashi asked. "I assume you've heard from that man recently."
The Hokage said nothing, but the silence was almost as good as an answer.
"Well, in any case," Kakashi said. "We'll be babysitting and weeding gardens for a bit now. Nobody's going to think any serious attempt for those sorts of preparations would include D-Rank missions. One other question. What is the status on Sakura Haruno?"
"Her team didn't pass," Sarutobi said. "I'm moving her to the hospital to begin apprenticeship there."
Kakashi sighed, a bit relieved at that. That would keep her occupied and in the village and causing no more trouble for his team.
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:22)
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