Guiding
Hope
Kakashi
watched silently as nine of his fellow Jounin entered the Ninja Academy and
then left through various exits, each with a trio of recent graduates close on
their heels. His own trio was still waiting in their classroom; no doubt
wondering just where the Jounin assigned to Team Seven was, but he wasn’t ready
to go in and meet them in person just yet.
For the
last six years the Sandaime would relieve him of his
regular Jounin duties and assign him a team of Genin to test. Yet not once in
all the six years he’d filled these duties had a team passed his trial. The
very same challenge he had passed with his own team when he was only five years
old.
“Yondaime-sensei…”
He whispered to himself in memory. Kakashi was the last left alive of those
days. Both his Academy sensei and the Yondaime, who was also his Genin Team
sensei, had been lost in the fight against the nine-tailed demon fox twelve
years earlier. His two teammates, also lost in missions since then. All those
he had held truly precious to him had been lost and yet over the past six years
he tested newly graduated teams and risked having more precious people that
could be lost. His mind drifted to when the Hokage had first convinced him to
take the role of Jounin-sensei.
“I’m relieving you of regular duties for awhile Kakashi.”
The Third Hokage stated as he set aside the scroll he had been reading and
lifted his head to face Kakashi.
“Hokage-sama I don’t understand—”
“I’m assigning you a team of graduates. The orientation is
tomorrow.”
“Hokage-sama… I can’t do that.”
The Third settled back and took a deep breath.
“Kakashi, why do you think the Yondaime took on a
team—even after he had already accepted the position of the Fourth?”
Kakashi remained silent for a few moments before he spoke.
“He told me that he felt his true duty was to guide Konoha’s
Hope.”
“And do you know what he meant by Konoha’s
Hope?” The third then asked, a smile reaching his lips.
Kakashi turned his gaze to see the portrait of the
Yondaime that hung on the wall, and then snapped his focus back to the Third.
“The children.”
“Correct. No matter how many Anbu, Elite Jounin, Jounin or
any other rank ninja that Konoha boasts, it is the children that are the heart
of the village. They are the hope that will always keep Konoha alive, and they
are Konoha’s future. It is the Hokages’
most important duty to help guide and protect that hope. That is what I’m
asking you to do.”
Kakashi turned to study the portrait once more. “I will
accept the assignment of Jounin-sensei.”
The Third nodded. “Report back to my office tomorrow
morning with the other Jounin assigned sensei duty.”
Kakashi
smiled as he remembered Gai’s reaction when he had arrived at that meeting, for
that had been the first year Gai had been appointed as a sensei as well.
Neither of their teams had passed that first initial test—the test of teamwork
and sacrificing individual gain for the team.
Both he
and Gai had been disappointed that the teams assigned to them had failed their
test. Even so, they returned to their normal duties for another year until the
next group of graduates emerged. Then last year Gai’s assigned team had passed
and Kakashi had no doubts about that team needing all the guidance Gai could
give them. The girl of the group wasn’t too much of a problem, fairly average
as far as shinobi went, but the others: a member of the Hyuuga
branch family and a boy who had no talent in chakara
techniques but had a passion to succeed. He had wished Gai luck with them and
gone on with his normal duties—until this year.
Unlike
previous years, the Hokage had relieved him of his normal duties several weeks
earlier. The reason, the particular students he was to be assigned. First, Uchiha Sasuke– the survivor of a massacre—and the only other
left in Konoha beside himself to carry the Sharingan. The Sharingan alone was
enough reason for Kakashi to be assigned as his team’s sensei, but the dark
haired boy had other issues as well that would need his attention. Kakashi knew
from first hand experience that seeking revenge was only a way to kill both
yourself and the one you sought vengeance on, and he was pretty sure that
revenge is what the boy was working so hard for.
The
second student, Haruno Sakura, would be the female
member of the team and once they began to work together, he knew both the
Hokage and the boy’s other sensei hoped that she would help ground Sasuke in
the here and now rather then on his self assigned mission. He had been watching
both her and Sasuke for the past few weeks and was already quite familiar with
most of their quirks. Including Sakura’s obvious crush on Sasuke and her pride
in her high marks. It would be interesting to work with the two of them; he had
no doubts about that.
The last
student, however, was not yet a guarantee. For unlike the other two who would
graduate without a doubt, Uzumaki Naruto was a wild
card. The loud and hyperactive boy had joined the academy at a slightly younger
age then most and had failed the final graduation exam twice. The Hokage seemed
to believe that this year the boy would make it. Kakashi wasn’t so sure, at
least according to the boy’s current marks. However, there was something about
the blond-haired blue-eyed youth that made Kakashi smile. The kid had already
survived much and had come a long way in his struggle to be recognized in a
village that only saw a demon’s shadow. Kakashi himself didn’t hold the boy
responsible for the demon, but instead saw the bright spirit that refused to
give up despite the invisible battles both within and without. Upon hearing
that Naruto was to be assigned to his team pending graduation, he had asked the
Hokage about the seal and was somewhat surprised at the answer.
“Hokage-sama, if I am to become
his sensei, I need to know about that seal.” Kakashi stated, leaving the rest
of his request unstated, knowing that the Hokage knew what he meant. If during
their missions, the seal became unstable, or started to break, Kakashi would
need to know how to try and stop it, or if possible fix it.
“Kakashi, the seal was designed carefully for two
purposes. The first to seal the nine tails within Naruto—the second, to protect
Naruto from those who would attack him because of the demon he carries. As
Naruto grows older, the power of the nine-tails begins to blend and mix with
his. It reacts to his emotions, his pain, his spirit, and eventually he will be
able to call upon that sleeping power within him. It is also that tremendous
power that causes Naruto so much trouble in mastering the simpler techniques.”
Kakashi’s visible eyebrow arched up in surprise. If the
boy had as much chakara as the Hokage was hinting
at—it was no wonder he’d failed the last two years. It would take incredible
control to be able to adequately control and use that—and advanced control
training didn’t come until students were Genin.
“Thank you Hokage-sama.”
The Hokage nodded, and then Kakashi turned to leave his
office, much on his mind concerning the students he would be assigned.
Kakashi
smiled to himself as his mind returned to the present. Uzumaki
Naruto had indeed passed the graduation exam, though it had been brought about
by other outstanding circumstances that he had not fully learned about yet. And
now Team Seven was assigned to his care and his judgment, and for once he truly
hoped that they passed his test. He had found each of them unique and
interesting in the last few weeks he had observed them and if they could work
together as a team…Konoha’s hope would shine that
much brighter.
He glanced lazily up at the sun, now well on its’ way towards the western horizon and mused that he’d made them wait long enough. It was time for Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto to meet Hatake Kakashi.