…Where Kakashi Meets Team 7 (Chapter 3 - 4)
Kakashi wasn't just any ninja. He had long accepted, for better or worse, that he was different. Being different meant being alone at many stages of life. Often, he found himself alone even in the most mundane situations:
"Hey, Kakashi! Want to grab a drink with us?" one of his fellow ninja invited him.
"Forget it, he probably has something important to do," said another before he could open his mouth.
"That's right. Sorry, Kakashi."
That scene repeated itself over and over. He knew part of it was his fault. At first, when they invited him for the first few times, he wasn't in the best place mentally speaking, so he just made excuses or requested another mission to avoid dealing not only with his trauma but also with society. Unfortunately, due to his antisocial attitude, the invitations gradually stopped coming, and he, introverted and emotionally burdened, didn't know how to face the distance he had largely created himself. It was a vicious cycle that he didn't seem to be able to escape.
Until those three academy brats came along.
When the Hokage told him it was time to leave anbu and fully return to being a jonin, Kakashi reluctantly agreed. It wasn't that he was loyal to the beliefs of the anbu sect, but the full-face mask gave him something he couldn't get as a jonin. Solitude, privacy, a purpose. Every time he put on the mask, he wasn't Kakashi Hatake but just another anbu of Konoha. He lived on the edge every time he wielded his ninjatō to kill someone or defend his life with his weapon. The adrenaline had turned him into an addict like few other things had before. Not even sex, alcohol, or friends were necessary when he put on the porcelain mask.
But in anbu not everything was perfect. Everything always has its good and bad sides. He didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to think about it, but more than once, he had wished he wasn't fast enough to stop a stab. His blood boiled, caught in the excitement, thinking that every time he left, it could be the last time he saw his village alive. He didn't want to think of the perfect word to describe his behaviour because that would mean admitting he had a problem, and he was smart enough to know that once he admitted it, there was no going back.
His commander knew it, the Third knew it, and he knew it. They all avoided talking about it, preferring to act rather than use words to support him. The best thing the Hokage could do was pull him out of anbu and return him to the ranks of jonin full-time, and with that, back to society. It took him a while to adjust, avoiding leaving the house except for missions and to buy necessary supplies. Overcoming trauma from the victim's perspective without external help is hard, but Kakashi managed. He had been managing since he was four years old.
Then came the next piece of bad news.
"I want you to teach a team of genin."
Kakashi stood still and silent, as he always did when he needed to process something or think of a strategy. The Hokage looked at him, smoking calmly from his tobacco pipe, and knew he wouldn't back down. So, Kakashi did the only thing he could. He bargained.
"I'll only accept the ones who pass my test."
"That's fine," the Hokage conceded, "but you have to give them a real chance, understand?"
Kakashi nodded. Fortunately, the teams they gave him were all pathetic. He didn't even have to make excuses to reject them. None of them had the potential to be real ninjas—at least not his kind of ninja. He didn't want hysterical fangirls, diet-obsessed people, bullies, arrogant fools, geniuses who only thought they were geniuses, or kids with ridiculous illusions about what being a ninja meant, who would end up dead within a few years. He didn't want more deaths on his conscience.
Until those three academy brats came along.
When he saw the ninja files on the Hokage's desk, he felt the urge to cry. He saw the photos of Seina and Naruto Namikaze, one smiling calmly and the other energetically, and he knew the moment had come that he didn't want to think about. After they removed him from watching them, before he could even see them, Kakashi decided to distance himself from them. What was the point of thinking about his master's children if he couldn't protect them or even say a simple hello on the street without getting reprimanded by those above? That didn't stop him from thinking about them repeatedly over the years. He barely recognized their faces after so many years in anbu, but Minato's golden blonde hair and blue eyes, along with Kushina's violet eyes, were unmistakable.
"What would you think about having one of them on your team along with Sasuke Uchiha?"
"Which one?"
"If we follow the formula of the top male and female ninja of their class along with the worst, we'd have a team with Sasuke Uchiha, Seina Namikaze, and a civilian you don't know."
"And Naruto?"
"He's the fourth-best ninja in his class, so he wouldn't be on the team, obviously."
"Sorry, but I can't accept one of Minato's children while the other is on another team. It wouldn't be fair to them or to me."
"I know, that's why I consulted Shikaku, and he believes the best option, considering... everything, would be a team with both jinchuriki and Sasuke Uchiha. What do you think?"
"..."
Kakashi would never have thought of that. It went against protocol to put close family members on the same team, so he had never considered having both of Minato and Kushina's children on his team. In the end, he nodded.
"They'll have to pass my test," he warned again.
He didn't want to accept them out of sentimentality only to send them to their deaths.
When the day of the team graduation came, even before the officially prepared teams were announced, Kakashi took a stroll through Konoha, taking advantage of the fact that all his future genin, if they passed his test, were at the academy. First, he went to the Uchiha household. Just passing by the door, he felt sorry for Sasuke for living there, but he knew the conditions that pushed him to continue living in his parents' house, who had been murdered by his brother's hand. Kakashi understood, but that didn't mean he didn't hate the council for trying to evict him from his own house through manipulation and abuse.
He observed how most of the house was unused. Clearly, Sasuke only used his room, the kitchen, the bathroom, and the dining room. Everything else was covered in dust and stained with blood that hadn't been cleaned. An invisible and ghostly hand seemed to squeeze his heart when he realized they had allowed a child of almost seven years to decide whether or not to clean his parents' blood from the floor. He found it supremely ironic that they later said he was emotionally compromised.
He left, seeing that there was nothing he could do for Sasuke. Still, he thought that, all things considered, Sasuke was taking care of himself quite well. He had food in the fridge, the rooms he used were clean, his room was tidy, his clothes were clean... What more could he ask for?
After that, he headed to Seina and Naruto's apartment. The difference between both homes was stark. The apartment, though small, was well-kept by the twins. There wasn't a speck of dust, no scratches on the furniture, no limescale on the taps. Nothing. Someone had obsessively cleaned the place, and from what he'd heard of Naruto, he didn't believe it was his doing. As soon as he opened the closet to check if they had everything they needed, he knew he was right. Without even pulling out the clothes, he could tell which part of the closet belonged to Seina and which part to Naruto. Her side was immaculate, organized with hangers, storage for different types of clothes, etc. Naruto's... Well, it was clear that Seina tried to instil order in him, but it didn't seem to be something her brother appreciated. Still, judging by Naruto's neatly arranged drawers, which hadn't been touched in weeks, he knew Seina must have forced him to tidy up from time to time.
The fridge was also full, spotless, and organized. There were even glass containers with leftovers that looked delicious, to be honest. There wasn't a single dirty item of clothing to wash, nor dishes in the sink or drying. Everything was in its place. The almost military precision of the rest of the apartment, except for Naruto's side of the closet, made him smile. He was starting to form an idea of who they each were.
Sasuke seemed to be the typical smart kid, capable of taking care of himself, perhaps too independent. Naruto, on the other hand, depended on his sister and leaned on her, though he surely brought spontaneity and energy to their sibling dynamic. Seina, to conclude, seemed to be the smartest of them all because, despite rummaging through their apartment, he knew almost nothing about her. All he knew was that she was neat, clean, and knew how to take care of herself and her brother, but what could he say about her personality? Cleaning wasn't a personality trait. Some people cleaned reluctantly because it was socially unacceptable not to, even though, if it were up to them, they would hardly ever clean.
Maybe one could think that she was the most responsible, seeing how she took care of both, the most organized and adaptable, considering her precarious situation in the village, the kunoichi with the most ninja potential because she was the best in the class and seemed not to be on a diet… but all that didn't tell him much about who she really was. Was she independent like Sasuke? Exuberant like Naruto? The only clear thing he gathered from investigating her home was that Seina was the type of person who did what she had to do, regardless of whether she liked it or not. Otherwise, she wouldn't have taken care of her brother and herself, nor would she have cleaned, bought food, cooked, etc., etc.
As soon as they passed the graduation exam, putting aside the mess with Mizuki, and he was named as their jonin sensei, he moved on to the next step of his plan. He took advantage of the bustle of parents, students, chunin teachers, and jonin senseis to go unnoticed and perched on a hidden branch of a tree that looked directly into the classroom of his new team. He silently observed as the new genin left the academy, following their teachers.
He also took the opportunity to analyse the other genins of the promotion. Some were going to fail very soon and others who, if they didn't wake up, would end up failing in the same way. One of these potential failures was the pink-haired girl who had caused a ruckus for not being on the same team as Sasuke, looking at him with teary eyes, the same sadness as if someone had told her that her mother had died. Pathetic. Luckily Iruka scolded her, and Hayate took her away, silently sniffling as she walked out of the academy, ignoring her teammates.
"Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Seina Uzumaki, and Naruto Uzumaki. Your jonin sensei is Kakashi Hatake."
He observed with a slight smile as the siblings turned to look at each other in surprise. Naruto, of course, started to smile while Seina remained silent with a calculating expression. Without a doubt, she was wondering why they had been put together when it was against protocol. Kakashi continued to watch her frown as she contemplated her new situation. He was amused to see, stifling a laugh, her irritated expression when she noticed he was nearly 30 minutes late. Still, she didn't complain. He had to admit he was surprised.
"I'm sure he will arrive soon, guys. Don't get discouraged. You can stay here in the meantime," Iruka told them, clearly feeling pity for their team because he knew he always tried to arrive late.
"WHAT!?" Naruto exclaimed, annoyed. "Do we really have to wait for someone so unpunctual? Who is this Kakashi Hatake?"
From his branch, where he had a frontal view of the three genins, he saw Sasuke stifle a quiet sigh while Naruto, unable to contain himself, demanded explanations from Iruka. Seina remained silent. For a couple of hours, they waited patiently for him. Sasuke with boredom, Naruto with irritation, and Seina with more boredom. He wondered how long they would wait or if they planned to go look for him one of these days.
To his amazement, he watched as Seina blinked, losing her notable bored expression, and how suddenly Naruto turned around, after having been glaring at the blackboard for a while, to face his sister sitting to his right. Naruto's back blocked his view of Seina, who seemed to be leaning over to sleep on the desk. A few minutes later, she got up again, as if she had thought better of it, and after a couple of minutes in silence, pulled out an oversized bento from the fanny pack she apparently always carried with her.
That had caught his attention. He watched as she called Sasuke, offering him to eat with them while they waited. That was already a point in favour of their new team. Luckily, Seina seemed to have no special affection for Sasuke, so he ruled out the possibility that she was one of his fans. Thank God! Sasuke, seeing the same thing as him, accepted to eat with them. It was no surprise; it was practically noon, and they must have been starving.
He let them eat for almost an hour. Observing them a bit more, he realized that it could work. Naruto and Sasuke had very strong opposing personalities, but Seina was the perfect neutral part. She was Naruto's sister whom Naruto listened to, and a competent kunoichi with a mature demeanour that softened Sasuke's wounds without him wanting to run away. Moreover, and this was the most important thing, she didn't let either Sasuke or her brother walk all over her, so she could perfectly maintain the harmony of the team.
He climbed down from the tree and headed towards the academy. It took him a few minutes to appear at the door.
"Team 7. Follow me," he told them, pointing to the rooftop with a finger and disappearing from there with the shunshin.
They didn't take long to appear, but he scolded them like a hypocrite with the most serious face he could muster.
"Finally, you're here, team 7. You took your time."
He looked at them one by one. First at Sasuke, who seemed irritated, then at an angry Naruto, and finally at Seina, who raised an eyebrow with a piercing look from those violet eyes. He didn't need to read her mind because he could hear the silent "Seriously?" as if she had said it out loud. A smile escaped him before he could control his face.
"Well, since we're here, why don't we get to know each other a little? Introduce yourselves and tell me what you like, what you hate, and your future dreams."
"Why don't you start?" Sasuke asked, extremely irritated.
"Alright. My name is Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate… I don't feel like telling you that. My future dreams… I've never thought about it," he told them, being honest.
Seina laughed in disbelief while her brother, comically, seemed about to leap at him to strangle him. Maa. Maybe he had gone a bit far making them wait hours and then messing with them? Nah.
"BUT YOU HAVEN'T TOLD US ANYTHING!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, hurting Kakashi's eardrums.
He saw Seina shake with laughter, clearly understanding that he was doing it on purpose, while Sasuke looked at him with a poker face, so he started with him, ignoring Naruto's shouting. He had taken after his mother.
"You, the emo, it's your turn. We don't have all day."
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. What I have is not a dream because I am going to make it a reality. I am going to kill a certain person and restore my clan."
More or less what he imagined from Sasuke. Although his distant gaze was a bit dramatic for his taste. He saw out of the corner of his eye as Seina rolled her eyes openly while her brother looked on with some horror at Sasuke. As soon as their eyes connected, he could read another phrase in them: "Can you believe this guy?" as she shook her head slowly. He ignored Sasuke's drama to focus on his kunoichi.
"My name is Seina Uzumaki. I like many things. I hate prejudiced and intolerant people. As for dreams… Mmm… To have a Pokémon in real life."
Kakashi blinked. She hadn't told him much he didn't know. Although the Pokémon thing… He had no idea what that was. Sasuke didn't seem to either. Naruto nodded. Clearly, he knew what the hell a Pokémon was. A stuffed animal? He raised an eyebrow, but Seina didn't explain anything else.
"And finally, the other blonde."
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like my sister, ramen, and learning new techniques. I hate food prep time and stupid people. My dream is to become Hokage so that people have to swallow their words."
Again, nothing he didn't know. He would have to teach Naruto to talk less about himself in front of unknown ninjas. He had all the makings of a scatterbrain.
"Alright. Tomorrow you will have a test to see if you are capable of being genin. If you fail, you will return to the academy. If you pass, you will become my genin."
He waited for Naruto's reaction, knowing he would start yelling again, when Seina squeezed his arm. His single eye immediately focused on that. Hm… It was clear that Seina had some power over her brother. Good to know. When he saw that they weren't going to complain, he stood up to initiate the next part of his plan. He leaned over them with a threatening air.
"I expect you tomorrow at 5 in the morning at training field 33. If I were you, I wouldn't have breakfast, or you'll vomit it up."
He left from there, appearing relatively close to be able to spy on them. He wanted to see what they would do now that they had all interacted for the first time as a team and how they acted thinking he wasn't there to punish them.
"Is anyone going to listen to him?" Seina asked. "I plan to eat. It's better to throw up than to starve. Besides, don't they say in the academy that you should always eat?"
"You think he's testing us?" Ah, Sasuke understood it too.
"I think so. Look. So far, he's been testing the fundamentals they teach us in the academy: being patient before entering combat, knowing how to keep secrets and confidential information, the fact of eating... Even, depending on how you look at it, he's testing whether we're capable of disobeying an order from a superior."
"Then shouldn't we listen to him?" Naruto still didn't quite get it. Not surprising.
"Naruto, we're ninjas, but we still have free will. If they told you to jump off a bridge for no apparent reason and without any need, would you do it?" Seina rolled her eyes. "Kakashi-sensei doesn't seem like a very ordinary person. I have a feeling he wants us to think for ourselves instead of following his orders like sheep."
He heard Sasuke verbally agree with her words, assuring that they would meet in the training field. Seina and Naruto also left while he stayed hidden on a nearby rooftop, thoughtful. He was going to pass them. He knew it then. Even if they didn't ring a single bell, they had what a decent team should have. He didn't know how they would manage to work as a team, but he knew that as long as Seina was present, Naruto and Sasuke would cooperate one way or another.
He almost fell off the rooftop, looking like a fool, when he realized that starting tomorrow, he would be a jonin sensei. Unable to help it, he started to smile. He wanted to stop smiling, but the new Team 7 had given him something he had lost years ago and had been desperately searching for, unknowingly, in bu. He had regained hope.