"Are you late for everything, Kakashi? We've already done that." Gai scowled at his cards as he'd already folded.
"Oh, did you say something?"
"Yes, yes he is," said Rika to Gai.
"Not everything," said Kakashi.
"Oh?" said Rika. "You remember that time we went back to my place and -"
"Well, now that's old news and water under the bridge and all that," quickly interrupted Kakashi.
"I don't know," said Asuma. "Sounded like it was getting interesting to me."
The Hokage rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly.
"I feel sorry for your young genin team," said Gai. "How many hours a day will they spend waiting for you? Will you train them at all?"
"What I do with my genin team is my business," said Kakashi, pumping a bit of threat out.
Of course, with this particular group, that pretty much was ignored. Except for Rika who snorted and showed him one finger in particular.
"You've got two potentially stellar ninja on your team, and you're going to waste that potential aren't you?" asked Rika.
"You wouldn't know it to look at them now," said Kakashi.
"Exactly," said Gai. "I'll bet that I could make any of them much more impressive with MY training methods."
"Oh? Really?" asked Kakashi with appropriately voiced sarcasm as Rika busied herself dealing cards.
"Why not make it a bet?" asked Rika after she'd finished. "Switch out one member of your teams for awhile, say until after the next Chunin Exams. Both of you train your groups your own way, then compare how much improvement you've made in the transfer student."
"I don't think-" began Kakashi.
"That that's un-doable?" asked the Hokage over the spread of cards in his hands. "Because I think it's an interesting idea. After all, depending on injuries and mission objectives, clan training and other such factors, it isn't unheard of for teams to get mixed up a bit."
Kakashi heard this coming from the Hokage and interpreted it as a very strong suggestion if not an actual order. He winced a bit, then decided to go with it. "Okay, Gai gets Sakura."
"Then I should allow Tenten a chance to work with your team," said Gai, rubbing his chin. "YOSH!"
Present:
"Rika?" asked Kakashi as the memories came forward. "But she's dead. She was an ANBU who went on a mission over a year ago and never came back."
"One of the things about doing a retcon is that there are often unforeseen side-effects," rumbled the cloud. "Looking back, it appears that the difference for her was about three inches."
Kakashi nodded at that. Three inches? Life or death could easily be spelled out in that short a distance.
"So Sakura's actually alive, but on another team?" asked Naruto. "That's better."
"As said, she's currently assisting her parents during a break in training. Her taijutsu skills are much better and she's begun learning some Earth-release techniques under Gai's tutelage. She has vowed to defeat Sasuke during the Chunin Exams in order to prove that she is a suitable candidate for marrying him."
Sasuke made a dismissive noise.
The presence of the Being faded as underbrush crashed, followed by a girl brushing leaves off of her blouse as she joined the group.
"Ah, you must be Tenten," said Kakashi.
"Why wouldn't I be?" asked the girl.
"Oh, yeah," said Naruto. "We were talking about training." Yeah he was sorry to see Sakura go, but this was just another indication that his awesomeness was sure to come.
"I'll start you on some weapon training, just like I promised," said Tenten, rolling her eyes and giving off a long-suffering impression. "Let's worry about getting the client to their house first."
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(Posted Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:51)
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