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There were many things that ran through Kakashi’s mind when he first got a genin team assigned to him. The first of which was that he was not ready to deal with the emotional trauma that is training a smaller version of his sensei that has a personality reminiscent of the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero and the emotional trauma of having a demon of hate sealed inside him as an infant. The second was that he was going to have to deal with the many, many fools of the Council as they continuously ask him for updates regarding the Last Uchiha. The amount of paperwork alone for that would be exhausting - if he ever got around to it of course. The final thought he had regarding his team was that he had been assigned a fangirl who cared far too much for one of her teammates and far too little for the other. Great .
---
Meeting his team for their first training session - he still wished he had failed them during their bell test - gave him inspiration for how he would continue training his genin from that point on. Specifically, it was the fangirl who gave him the idea in the first place.
“Kakashi-sensei? What exactly was that attack you used on Naruto? The one that sent him flying?”
Naruto visibly shuddered at the reminder, gripping his forearms tightly and backing away a few paces from him. Kakashi watched, interested at both that reaction as well as the clear confusion - and was that interest? - that was displayed on the other two’s faces.
“Maa~ Sakura-chan. That was a jutsu far too complex for a little genin like yourself to be attempting.”
Which was, of course, a lie. He made up the whole Thousand Years of Death on the spot just to mess with the children. That being said, there’s no way for inexperienced genin to know that for sure and that has just given him ample opportunity to introduce a “training plan” that will get him out of actually having to train them all that much.
“None of you even have the chakra control necessary to try it, so I suppose it will be too difficult for you to ever be able to do.”
“HAH?!?! That’s a lie, Sensei! I can do anything, Believe It! I could do your stupid justu-thingy in my sleep!”
“Give it up, dobe.”
“I could too, teme!”
“Maa, maa~ Why don’t you all just work on your chakra control for now.”
“I already have cat-ra control thing, Believe It!”
“It’s called chakra, idiot! Besides, Sensei, the Academy had us learn how to attach a leaf to our skin using just chakra.”
Instead of verbalizing anything else, Kakashi just turned to a nearby tree and proceeded to walk up it using the chakra he was sending down to his feet. Seeing as how most genin don’t start working too intensively on their chakra control until they're closer to being chunin, he figured this activity would keep them busy for a while. He eye smiled down at them and had them start the exercise. When the fangirl was the first to finish - not too surprising given the low amount of chakra she has, but the control was still impressive for her age - he pointed her in the direction of the nearby river and continued reading.
---
He had gotten about two weeks of relative peace with only brief interruptions by D-ranks before he was approached by his genin. All three of them looked proud of themselves, and Sakura ended up having to put away her medical text that she had taken to studying after Kakashi had given it to her to keep her from bothering him while the boys were training.
“Now, Sensei? Now are we ready, huh?”
“Nope.”
He smiled down at the genin who looked at him with slight traces of anger and confusion.
“But Sensei,” Sakura cut in this time, “we can control our chakra better now, and you said that the reason why we couldn’t do your techniques was because of chakra control!”
“Maa~ For this technique to work properly, you need to use elemental chakra, not just chakra.”
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, “You didn’t use any elemental chakra when you used it on Naruto.”
Kakashi, not at all daunted by a small genin, replied, “Of course not, you’re all genin . If I had used its full power I may have killed him.”
Kakashi is both a terrible person and a terrible teacher. He was just messing with them at this point; really, what was the Hokage thinking when he pulled Kakashi from ANBU to teach a bunch of brats?
Curious to see how long he could pull this particular lie off, Kakashi pulled out three slips of chakra paper and gave one to each genin. Sakura - who seems to be using her brain more often and fangirling less due to the amount of studying she’s been doing - immediately begins channeling a small amount of chakra into her paper. Her paper grew a bit damp before crumbling away as dirt.
Nodding at her, he replies, “water and earth affinities” before turning to the boys and lifting his visible eyebrow.
Sasuke, catching on next, has his paper begin wrinkling into a distorted ball with just a small push of chakra.
“Lightning affinity.”
“Huh? Why did their paper do things? What did you do?!”
Sasuke snorts before looking away with a smirk as Sakura turns on Naruto and smacks him on the back of the head.
“Naruto! You’re supposed to channel chakra into the chakra paper so that it can show which chakra nature you have an affinity for!”
“OH! Why didn't you just say so?!”
A large burst of chakra exploded out from Naruto and into the slip of paper causing it to violently split in half.
“So? What is it, Sensei? Huh? Huh?! Tell me!”
“Maa~ calm down. You have a wind affinity”
He sent his genin off with a few exercises he told them to master before asking him for further guidance. For Naruto, he gave him some exercises he could remember Minato-Sensei talking about whenever his sensei got to mentioning how he mastered his Wind Release. Sasuke was easier since Kakashi just had to recommend him the exercises that had helped him while he was working on his Lightning Release. He recommended some exercises he recalled from a few other Jonin that were working on their Water and Earth Releases to Sakura for her own practice.
As his genin were leaving to find a training ground to practice at, he heard Naruto loudly question his pink-haired teammate about the book she was once again reading. She replied something along the lines of learning more and misdirection, but Kakashi wasn’t all too interested and left to find a more peaceful spot to continue reading his own book.
---
In retrospect, Kakashi should have paid better attention to what Sakura had been saying. Every time he passed his genin, they were either training, reading, or doing some combination of the three. Sakura seems to have pointed Naruto in the direction of sealing books, Sasuke seemed to be reading some of his clan books, and Sakura was still as determined as ever to get through her medical books.
On one hand, that meant his genin were learning more and growing their skill sets. On another, though, he watched as stores carefully hid their Icha Icha Paradise and related books whenever one of his genin walked into their buildings. He’s also not quite sure what to do about the stares he has been getting from a few of his fellow jonin.
It’ll probably be fine.
---
It was not fine. At all. On one of their D-ranks, Sakura showed up wearing a mask that looked identical to Kakashi’s own, complete with going completely down her neck.
“Nee, Nee, Sakura?”
“What is it, Naruto?”
“ Why are you wearing a mask?”
Yes, Kakashi wanted to know that too. As did Sasuke, if the poorly hidden glances he kept taking at her meant anything.
“Oh! Right, well I was doing some research when I found all of the benefits to wearing a mask could raise. For one, it could help filter out airborne poisons, especially when made with a seal like this one was. In that respect, it could also be used to prevent me from catching airborne diseases. The mask also covers a large section of my face, which could help obscure any facial expressions that could give my plans or emotions away to my enemy. I could also take off the mask and use makeup to better sneak into areas where the enemy may be able to sense a genjutsu since they only know what the portion of my face above my mask looks like. There are a few other reasons too, but those are just the main ones.”
Huh, that was a well-thought-out argument that Kakashi agreed to on some levels. Granted Kakashi had his own reasons on top of those to wear a mask as he does, but he can’t deny having used the advantages granted to him from his mask to his advantage.
All that being said, he was still not okay with the contemplating looks Naruto and Sasuke were giving to both her and his own masks. He was even less okay when they showed up to the next D-ranks wearing masks.
---
Kakashi had been slightly dreading this day, the day the chunin pointed to the Hokage’s office to report their latest mission - catching Tora - instead of their normal debriefing station. Normally, this would just be another day for Kakashi. He knew his team was going to be getting extra attention due to having the Kyuubi’s host and the Last Uchiha as his genin, so having a meeting with the Hokage every once in a while was to be expected. He just… didn’t quite know what to do about the books all three of his genin were holding or about the masks they were all sporting. When they arrived at the office, Kakashi made the firm decision to ignore it.
The doors opened and the talking inside sputtered to a stop as both the Hokage and a chunin - Iruka Umino, if he recalled correctly - stopped talking and proceeded to stare at the newly arrived team. A few seconds passed in stunned silence as Kakashi flipped his page and continued to hold to his decision even as he sensed the ANBU in the room try to stifle their amusements. Kakashi was already vindictively planning the “training” traps he was going to put in their walkways once this was all over.
“Ah, Kakashi. It’s good to see you and your team again, though I seem to have… missed a few recent developments.”
Kakashi, deciding if he had to suffer then they did too, replied, “Maa~ What developments?”
Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Really.
“...Regardless, the client is here to pick up her cat.”
Madam Shijimi came in, with heavy makeup and ecstatic to see her demon pet, and proceeded to hug her cat fiercely before leaving, content. His cute little genin watched the proceedings with visible amusement at the suffering of the demonic cat, all while occasionally flipping the page in their respective books and reading. Iruka, who had been shocked into silence earlier, seemed to finally gain his voice back as he turned on Kakashi.
“What have you been teaching them?! They’re supposed to be becoming respectable ninjas, not mini yous! Furthermore, why are you all reading in front of the Hokage?! The disrespect…”
Huh, would you look at that. Megami seems to have fallen for the dastardly plots of Hyami, while both women scheme their way into the bed of-
“ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!”
Kakashi tunes back into the proceedings of the office as all three genin look back up from their own books.
“Of course, Iruka-sensei! Oh! Old Man, we're ready for a real mission now, Believe It!”
Both Sakura and Sasuke nod behind their teammate, more than a little annoyed at the constant barrage of D-ranks that they had been assigned. Before Iruka could get into another rant about respect and the importance of D-ranks, the Hokage chuckled a bit before bringing out a scroll from the corner of his desk.
“Ah, I suppose it’s fine. Would you perhaps prefer a C-rank instead?”
“Totally, Believe It! We’re finally done with all of those awful D-ranks!”
The Hokage chuckled good-naturedly and gave the scroll to Kakashi to look over while he began briefing his genin on what the mission actually was. By the time he got around to telling them about protecting an important client, the client was brought in, much to the visible disappointment to his loudest genin.
The drunkard opened his mouth to say something, but the words were lost as he looked at the genin, back to Kakashi, and then back to the genin. He opened and closed his mouth for a bit before turning to the Hokage.
“...I thought that the whole ninjas-always-wear-masks thing was a bit of a superstition.”
The Hokage just gave him a put-out sigh before muttering under his breath, “so did I.”
---
It was when they clashed with Zabuza Momochi - the Demon of the Hidden Mist - that opportunity struck once again. Every time the genin finished an exercise that he set them out to do, they begged him for his secret techniques. They particularly seemed to be taking interest in his Thousand Years of Death jutsu, especially since they recently finished being able to master at least two basic exercises relating to their elemental affinity.
If he had any true morals to stand on, he would apologize for the lie and teach these children some actual jutsu that will help them in their careers as ninja for the Hidden Leaf. The issue being, he is an awful person who is too far into this lie to go back now. So, he does the next best thing.
Sakura, as always, was the first to catch on as he made the first few hand signs. Her sudden intake of breath encouraged both Sasuke and Naruto to pay close attention and recognize exactly what he was doing. The tension built as Zabuza was visibly confused and the client looked worried about how pale his genin had gotten as they wordlessly stared at their sensei.
“ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!”
Quick usage of the body flicker technique and the benefit of his actions being unpredicted allowed Kakashi all the access he needed to perform his technique, making sure to use the fire element for both the demonstration for his genin and also the additional damage that will help him get out of any wrath the Demon of the Hidden Mist may have after this.
Zabuza went flying as he was set ablaze, landing dozens of feet away from where he was initially standing. Fortunately for the Missing Nin, he landed at the water's edge, so when the Hunter Nin came, he fell in and the fire was put out. Just as quick as the hunter came, they left with the body, a mixture of horror and confusion forever etched onto the man’s face.
---
Kakashi looked at his genin in their make-shift training area. It was the day after they arrived at their client’s house and Kakashi had realized that the Hunter Nin did not destroy the body, meaning that the other ninja was not actually a Hunter Nin and that Zabuza was likely still alive. This meant extra motivation for his genin to learn.
“So, my cute little genin. Who’s ready to learn one of the most dangerous techniques they will ever use?”
His genin, pale in remembrance of Zabuza’s fate, looked at each other in grim determination before nodding and turning back in his direction. At Kakashi’s answering eye smile, they seemed to pale further and got closer to each other in a silent show of support.
---
By the time Team 7 showed up at the bridge - having left some of Naruto’s many clones to keep watch of the house - many days later and found the workers all unconscious, Kakashi had already had the time to teach them how to use the technique with at least their own chakra affinity. His students were wary about practicing it, but with the threat of using them as an example if they don’t, they seemed to pick up the jutsu relatively quickly.
The client, upon hearing about exactly which technique they were practicing, turned an alarming shade of white and proceeded to drink the rest of his alcohol.
Zabuza showed himself, walking out of the mist in stiff movements and keeping a wary eye on Kakashi. Similarly, his acquaintance showed himself more fluidly, still keeping a large distance between them and himself.
The fight itself was abrupt in its starting, with Zabuza reluctantly taking on Kakashi and leaving his own student to take on Kakashi’s two male students. Sakura stood by the client, ensuring the safety of the man. The battle was a bit more difficult this time around with the enemy’s access to even more water and the stress of keeping everyone else safe from him, which left them at somewhat even grounds. Right as Kakashi was contemplating bringing out his ninkin, he heard a shout come from within the ice dome sounding like Naruto.
“Take this! A THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!!!”
Zabuza spun around in alarm to check on his student when Sakura took advantage of having been ignored the entire fight to pull out her own finishing move against him.
“A THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!!!”
He was so proud of his students.
---
As it turns out, Gato had been planning on betraying Zabuza anyway and had come with his own army to “finish off any survivors”. The gathered crowd of villagers were able to easily take care of them, especially since most of them gave up rather quickly after witnessing Kakashi’s genin in battle - particularly after witnessing the final move. After Zabuza awakened, he took Haku and left, the only thing remaining of them being the news of Gato being found dead in his safe house.
A villager in town had offered his students to dye a strip of their hair a pale grey in imitation of Kakashi as a sign of remembrance and victory. Despite Kakashi’s best efforts, his students agreed and all three of them were later seen displaying a strand of silvery-white in their hair afterward.
---
When he arrived back to the Hidden Leaf Village with his genin, the chunin on duty took one glance at his students - dark mask spanning the lower face and neck, silver strand of hairs, and book in hand - before glancing back at Kakashi before whining to themselves.
“Oh No, he bred .”
---
When Kakashi was summoned to an emergency meeting near the end of the second stage of the Chunin Exams, he didn’t know what to expect. Was there another war brewing? A traitor? Another attempt at a clan heir? Despite his multiple ideas, not one of them came close to what actually waited for him when he arrived.
The meeting consisted of several clan elders, other council members, the Hokage, and several respectable jonin, not including the several ANBU guards there to ensure the Hokage’s safety.
“Earlier we received information that led us to believe that Orochimaru may have infiltrated the Village. More specifically, that he may have infiltrated the exam itself. We were unable to find any sign of him until one of the genin teams within the exam - Team Kakashi - dragged him into the tower and handed him off to the summoned chunin - Chunin Iruka Umino - who then proceeded to hand him over to several posted ANBU agents.”
The gathered group of ninjas all glanced around uneasily. That one of the worst Missing Nin in Kohana was able to so easily infiltrate an exam meant to better their relationship with the surrounding hidden villages was an unsettling thought. That a single genin team managed to take him down was confusing even more so.
“Reports from several medical nin came in to describe an extensive amount of damage he had taken recently, most of which seems focused on his lower backside and butt region.”
It took thinking of multiple traumatic events that occurred in Kakashi’s life to prevent himself from showing any expression, much less laughing like he was tempted to do. He suddenly had a feeling he knew exactly what his cute little genin had done to the Missing Nin.
The meeting continued and new precautionary measures were put in place for the event that Orochimaru didn’t come in alone. When the meeting was over, the Hokage took Kakashi aside to privately ask him if he knew what his genin did to be able to take on a Missing Nin the caliber of the Snake Sanin, to which he cheerfully replied to have taught his genin one particularly lifesaving move that was only to be used on enemy nin. He was unable to get out any more details than that.
---
Kakashi and his team were summoned after the end of the Chunin Exams - which was almost canceled part-way through when the Hidden Sand Village lost their Kazekage, only for it to be revealed Orochimaru killed him - to the Hokage’s office.
“So,” the Hokage began, “when we took in Missing Nin Orochimaru, we had to do extreme healing to get him in condition to where he could be interrogated by T&I. Our particular issue is that even once Orochumaru awakens, he turns pale and loses consciousness every time we bring up anything related to the events regarding his capture or regarding any one of the genin on Team 7.”
Kakashi watched as his cute little genin proceeded to eye smile as one and Naruto spoke up for the three of them.
“Don’t worry, Old Man! We took him down using our super technique together! We actually thought we killed him at first…”
Here Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly while Sakura continued on for him.
“Not that he did die, of course. I was able to heal his most life-threatening injuries while we transported him to the tower to be taken care of.”
The Hokage hmmed at that and then spoke once more.
“Do you mind explaining exactly what technique it was that you three used?”
Kakashi slowly brought up his book as Naruto took over explaining and turned his page. He could feel the judgmental stares from the ANBU hidden in the room, and the almost comically wide eyes filled with horror that was growing on his Hokage’s face left little to the imagination. Still, despite all of this, Kakashi was really and truly proud of his students.