They said their goodbyes on the rooftop with a simple nod. Kurenai vanished in a swirl of crimson leaves, heading to her apartment to prepare. Kakashi, however, stayed a moment longer. His gaze swept over the flickering lights of the village, his mind spinning at a speed he rarely let others see.
An extended training regimen, he thought as he leaped across the rooftops. Kurenai's words turned over in his head. It's a good cover story. Elegant, even. But I'm not leading an unauthorized mission of this caliber, with these kids, based on blind faith. Kurenai trusts them, but I don't know what I'm protecting.
His mind went over the facts. The pieces didn't fit.
Spontaneous regeneration of a fatal wound. Unexplained power boosts that leave half the team without a trace of fatigue. Sakura's strange healing energy. Naruto's monstrous stamina.
He landed softly on the balcony of his own apartment. He didn't turn on the lights.
I can't protect a secret if I don't know its limits. If I don't know the cost. I need an answer. I need a shinobi's truth.
He decided dawn was too far away. He needed answers now. He crossed the dark room and performed a series of hand seals with practiced fluidity.
"Summoning: Fang Pursuit Jutsu."
A cloud of white smoke filled the small space, and as it cleared, eight small pugs, each wearing a standard issue Konoha vest, appeared at his feet. The smallest, Pakkun, looked up with his wise, drooping eyes.
"What's up, Kakashi? It's late," his voice was a deep, sleepy growl. "I was having an excellent dream. There was a pork chop the size of my head."
"Duty calls, Pakkun. I have a job for you," Kakashi said, already unrolling three small scrolls on his low table and dipping a brush in ink. "Three messages. Urgent."
"They're always urgent," grumbled Bull, the pug with the spiked collar. "Who do we have to find this time?"
"No one. It's a delivery," Kakashi explained, his brush moving swiftly. "Pakkun, this one is for Kurenai Yuhi. Bull, yours is for Sakura Haruno. And Urushi, the last one is for Naruto Uzumaki."
He handed them the rolled scrolls. Pakkun sniffed his.
"What's going on, Kakashi? It's not like you to arrange midnight meetings, unless someone is about to die or you've run out of your adult literature," the small dog commented.
"Let's just say I'm confirming a hunch," Kakashi replied, his single visible eye narrowing. "Just deliver them. And be discreet."
"We're ninja. Discretion is our middle name," Pakkun said with a yawn. With a final reproachful look, he and the other two dogs disappeared in clouds of smoke, leaving Kakashi alone in the darkness.
****
Meanwhile, in different parts of Konoha, the rest of the team was preparing. Kiba shoved soldier rations into his pack with more force than necessary. Akamaru, sitting beside him, whimpered softly, tilting his head.
"I don't get it, Akamaru," Kiba complained in a frustrated whisper. "How can they all be so calm? A training session? Right now? We just got back from a mission that nearly killed us!"
Akamaru barked quietly, as if in agreement.
"And Naruto and the girls... did you see them? They didn't look tired at all. They looked... I don't know. Weird." Kiba yanked his pack shut. "Something doesn't add up. And I don't like being left out of the loop."
****
In the Aburame clan compound, silence was the norm. Shino methodically checked his gear on a tatami mat. Every kunai was inspected, every smoke bomb weighed in his hand. His insects buzzed softly beneath his clothes. He could feel the tension in the village, the subtle shift in his teammates' chakra patterns. His father, Shibi, appeared in the doorway, a figure as silent and imposing as he was.
"You're leaving again." It wasn't a question.
"It's an order from our jōnin-sensei," Shino replied, not looking up from his task. "A training exercise."
"Training after a mission is... questionable," Shibi observed, his voice a deep murmur. "Your chakra levels, and Inuzuka's, have not yet fully recovered."
"That is why the training is necessary," Shino retorted. "To improve our endurance, we must train."
His father remained silent for a moment. "Be careful, Shino. Sometimes, the most logical reason presented is the one that hides the most illogical truth."
Shino finally looked up. "Understood."
***
At the Hyuga residence, Hinata prepared her medical supplies with a new, quiet determination that did not go unnoticed. Her younger sister, Hanabi, watched her from the threshold, arms crossed.
"Another mission, sister?" Hanabi asked, her tone more curious than critical. "You haven't rested."
"It's training," Hinata answered. "Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai-sensei consider it vital."
"You seem different," Hanabi commented, narrowing her eyes. "Since you got back. You no longer apologize for breathing."
Hinata paused, a roll of bandages in her hand. A small smile touched her lips. "Perhaps I've found something worth not apologizing for."
The answer puzzled Hanabi, who simply nodded and retreated, leaving Hinata to her thoughts and her newfound resolve.
*****
Training Ground 7 was exactly as they remembered it. The three wooden posts, scarred and worn from countless kunai and punches, stood as a reminder of their first failure and their first victory as a team.
Naruto was the first to arrive, landing with a dull thud that betrayed his impatience. He looked around, his brow furrowed.
"A meeting? Now?" he muttered to himself. "Kakashi-sensei is weird, but this is a new level of weird. Maybe he wants to teach me a super cool jutsu?"
A few seconds later, Sakura landed silently beside him. They looked at each other, the same question in their eyes.
"Any idea what this is about?" she whispered.
"Not a clue," he replied. "Maybe he forgot to tell us something important. Like there's a test tomorrow and he forgot to give us the notes."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Naruto, this is serious. Kakashi-sensei's message was... blunt."
Before they could speculate further, Kurenai appeared. Her movement was so silent they didn't realize she was there until she spoke from the shadows of the trees.
"This is unusual, even for him."
"Kakashi-sensei is already here, right?" Naruto asked, scanning the darkness.
"Yes," a quiet voice said.
Kakashi was already there. They hadn't seen him. He was leaning against the central memorial post, the one bearing the names of fallen heroes, his arms crossed.
A fourth figure landed as softly as a falling leaf. Hinata. She looked at Kurenai, confused.
"Kurenai-sensei, you told me to come..." she began, her voice faltering.
"I did," Kakashi said, his sharp voice making them all stiffen. "I asked her to."
The tension in the clearing skyrocketed, becoming almost palpable. Naruto swallowed hard. Sakura clenched her fists. This was not a training session.
Kakashi didn't waste time with pleasantries. He got straight to the point, and his tone sent a shiver down Sakura's spine.
"We are not going anywhere. Not to find Tsunade, not on some other stupid 'survival training'," he said. "Not until you tell me what's going on. And I don't want the version from the report you gave the Hokage. I want the truth."
He stepped forward, out of the shadows and into the moonlight. His gaze moved from one to the next, lingering on each of them, making them feel completely exposed.
"Fact number one," he began, his voice that of a prosecutor presenting his case. "Kurenai, you suffered a wound to your side that should have killed you. I know a fatal wound when I see one."
Kurenai kept her composure, but her eyes betrayed her surprise at the bluntness of the attack.
Kakashi's gaze fell on Sakura. "Fact number two. Sakura, your chakra was found all over Sasuke's body, performing a type of healing jutsu that not even the best medical-nin in the hospital can identify. A skill that, conveniently, looks a lot like the one you used to 'heal' Kurenai. Where did that ability come from?"
Sakura flinched but didn't look away.
His eyes moved to Naruto and Hinata. "Fact number three. The four of you are fresh, recovered, and overflowing with chakra after the hardest mission of your lives. Meanwhile, Kiba and Shino, two excellent shinobi of the same age, can barely stand from exhaustion. A disparity… that is far too obvious."
The silence that followed was absolute, so thick it seemed to have weight. He had them cornered. There was no escape. There was no lie they could construct that he wouldn't see through.
Naruto looked at Sakura, who looked at Kurenai. The hierarchy was clear. It was Kurenai, as a jōnin of equal rank, who had to answer. She was the only one who could speak to Kakashi as an equal.
She took a deep breath, her expression a mask of forced calm. She knew denial was pointless.
"You're right, Kakashi. We didn't tell you the whole truth," she admitted. "But we didn't lie to you. We simply omitted the part that would make you treat us like threats or lab rats."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Try me."
Kurenai gave him the only version of the truth a man like him could accept. Not the literal truth, full of systems, stats, and blue screens that would sound like madness. She gave him a shinobi's truth.
"It's a Kinjutsu," she said, her voice low and serious, heavy with gravity. "A forbidden jutsu. A Linking Jutsu, which Naruto has manifested innately. We don't know its origin. We believe it's a consequence of his... special condition."
"A Kinjutsu?" Kakashi repeated, skeptical. "What kind of Kinjutsu? And why wasn't it reported to the Hokage immediately?"
"Because we don't fully understand it," Kurenai answered. It was the only framework that could explain something so far outside the norm. "And reporting an unknown forbidden jutsu manifested by the Kyubi's jinchūriki... can you imagine how the Council would react? Or Danzō?"
Danzō's name hung in the air, heavy with sinister implications. Kakashi frowned. She had a point.
"Explain it to me," he ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument.
"It doesn't create power from nothing," Kurenai continued, framing the Falna in terms a ninja of his caliber would understand and respect. "It takes a shinobi's accumulated experience, every mission, every hour of training, every drop of sweat, every injury, and unlocks it all at once. It turns it into tangible, real potential. We call it an 'awakening'."
Kakashi listened, his single eye narrowed, processing the information. The explanation was strange, almost fantastic, but it had an internal logic. It wasn't magic. It was a jutsu.
"And the cost?" Kakashi asked, his voice still skeptical. He knew better than anyone that in the shinobi world, there was no such thing as free power. "Every jutsu has a cost. Especially a Kinjutsu. What does it take from Naruto? His life force? His memories?"
"It leaves me exhausted," Naruto said, stepping forward. His voice was serious, stripped of its usual bravado. "It's like I run a hundred marathons in a row. The stronger the person I use it on, the more chakra it consumes. After using it on Kurenai-sensei and Sakura the first time, I could barely stand for hours."
"And it requires absolute trust," Kurenai added, her tone growing graver. "The jutsu creates a direct link between Naruto's chakra and the receiver's. If the receiver struggles, if they feel fear or mistrust, the conflict between the two chakra signatures could be… catastrophic."
"How catastrophic?" Kakashi pressed.
"It could shatter the receiver's chakra network from the inside," Kurenai explained, her medical knowledge giving weight to her words. "It would cause a chain reaction that could permanently paralyze a shinobi, or even kill them. That's why it's a Kinjutsu. It's incredibly powerful. And incredibly dangerous."
Kakashi was silent for a long moment, his gaze shifting from one to the next. The explanation, however wild it seemed, fit. It explained Kurenai's miraculous healing, Sakura's sudden and precise chakra control, and the energy disparity in the team. Most importantly, it respected the laws of chakra he knew: equivalent exchange and an inherent, deadly risk. It wasn't magic. It was a high-level forbidden jutsu. It was a truth he could work with.
Finally, he let out a long, tired sigh, the sound of a man who has accepted a massive complication he didn't want but couldn't ignore.
"A Linking Kinjutsu..." he repeated, testing the words. He ran a hand through his silver hair. "Alright."
The tension in the clearing completely dissipated. Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
"I don't need to know the technical details. Frankly, I don't want to know them," Kakashi continued, his tone slowly returning to that of their sensei, though with a new edge of steel. "I just needed to know I wasn't leading a team with secrets that could get us killed in the middle of a fight. I needed to know there wasn't a traitor or an outside influence."
His gaze became incredibly serious, sweeping over all of them.
"But you have to understand what you have here," he said, gesturing to Naruto. "This isn't just a jutsu. It's an S-rank strategic asset. And a secret that could get Danzō to lock you in a lab for life if he ever finds out. Forget the village. Entire countries would go to war to get their hands on a power like that."
Kakashi was now part of the circle of trust. And with that acceptance, he took on his share of the burden.
"From now on, protecting this secret is a permanent S-rank mission for all of us," he declared, his voice leaving no room for doubt. "No one outside this circle is to know."
His gaze landed on Hinata, who stood up straighter under his scrutiny.
"That includes you with Kiba and Shino," Kakashi said, his tone softening slightly but losing none of its firmness. "I know they're your team. I know you trust them. But this secret dies with the five of us. Understood?"
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," Hinata replied, her voice a whisper, but her determination was steel. There was no hesitation in her eyes.
Kakashi nodded, satisfied. "Good. Now that we're all on the same page… and I've lost a valuable hour of sleep… let's go to our team meeting."
****
The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, painting the sky in shades of pink and gold. At Konoha's North Gate, Kiba and Shino waited, their arms crossed and their faces a mixture of boredom and confusion. Akamaru was curled up at Kiba's feet, dozing.
"Where are they?" Kiba complained for the tenth time, kicking at a loose stone. "Why the hell did they tell us to meet at a different time?"
Just then, the rest of the group arrived, walking together from inside the village.
"You're late," Kiba said accusingly.
"We arrived exactly when we were supposed to," Kakashi replied without missing a beat. "Attention."
His official sensei tone made Kiba and Shino snap to attention instantly, their irritation replaced by instinctual training.
"As you know, the Hokage's decision is final," Kakashi began. "The search for Tsunade has not been authorized as an official mission."
Kiba clenched his fists, his jaw tight. He was ready to protest again, the frustration from the previous night resurfacing.
"However..." Kurenai interjected, a small, almost imperceptible smile playing on her lips, "after evaluating your combat performance and the considerable post-traumatic stress from the mission, we have decided that both teams require an 'extended survival training regimen outside the village'. It's an order."
Understanding slowly dawned on Kiba's and Shino's faces. Kiba's mouth opened, then closed. A muscle twitched in Shino's cheek. Finally, Kiba's face broke into the biggest, most genuine grin he had shown in days.
"A... 'training session'," Kiba repeated, savoring the word. "I see. I love this training! It's the best training ever! When do we start?"
"We start now," Kakashi answered.
He and Kurenai exchanged a knowing look over their students' heads.
"Our first training module will be 'Advanced Tracking and Intelligence in Hostile Territory'," Kakashi explained, his tone now that of a teacher about to give an exciting lesson. "And as it happens, by complete coincidence, I have intelligence that a 'valuable source of information' with legendary medical knowledge and a terrible gambling addiction was last seen heading in the direction of Tanzaku Town."
Kiba's grin grew even wider. Even Shino seemed to understand, giving a nearly imperceptible nod.
"Our training objective..." Kakashi continued, pausing for effect, "will be to track that source. Interrogate them. And convince them to return to the village for a 'consultation'."
He turned and pointed down the road leading out of the village, toward the rising sun that was now shining brightly.