Chapter 12
KAKASHI HATAKE
Kakashi's greatest regret was that he could not help his sensei's son. It was a regret that ate away at him, along with the thousand other regrets that he was burdened with.
His life had been filled with tragedy, and whether it was by design or destiny, he had no desire to burden another soul with it, especially if it was the child of the man who had become like a second father to him.
He had stayed away from the boy to protect him, yet now he wondered if it was really the best choice.
"How could this go unnoticed?" he asked sharply, and the regret and anger on the Sandaime-sama's face were noticeable as the man answered through gritted teeth.
"It was not entirely unnoticed, but mostly we believed his poor grades and performance to be a consequence of his delinquent behavior," and an Academy teacher's job was not so simple, for it fell upon them to help their students make progress whenever they became stuck.
Even geniuses like himself needed guidance and teachings to hammer in techniques and skills that were quite essential to shinobi life, and while most students required little special attention, Naruto was not one such case.
"We do not yet know if this is a result of mal intent or simple incompetence, but it is obvious that Mizuki has failed Naruto-kun," and given that the man was now dead, they might never discover the answer to that question, but the result remained the same.
Naruto's training was severely deficient in some essential areas.
"His chakra reserves are simply too large for him to have any intricate control," and some fault lay in the boy himself, who refused to practise what he was taught.
"I don't think he can perform the Clone jutsus as it is with his reserves," and Kakashi had mastered that technique when he had been half his age, and so it was difficult for him to sympathise with his dilemma.
"Indeed," the Hokage-sama agreed with the assessment, and while most of his peers lacked significant reserves, Naruto's problem was quite the opposite.
The boy had chakra reserves larger than any shinobi within the village. While such a condition was not entirely unique, the lack of guardians paired with his general delinquent behavior had made it so that there was no one to guide him properly in this scenario.
Mizuki, his teacher, was supposed to remedy that, but his dubious loyalties, gross incompetence, and general hatred for the Jinchuriki boy had made it so that the man had done nothing but hamper him further, leaving them in this dire situation.
"What are we going to do now?" and while he could remedy some of it, as his sensei, but the boy had to graduate first.
"Umino Iruka is working with him to cover some of his deficiencies, but I plan on teaching him the Shadow Clone jutsu so that he may pass the Graduation Exam," and that was quite a technique, and while it was fairly well known, few shinobi within the village had the chakra to use it.
Kakashi himself could hardly make around a dozen clones effectively, but for someone with Naruto's reserves. The technique could be really useful.
"That is Nidaime-sama's technique," and the Sandaime-sama nodded.
"It suits his rather blunt nature, I think," and he was right, and it was as useful a technique as any, but the question was, could Naruto even master it?
"Can he master it though?" he questioned, and the Sandaime-sama smiled as he answered.
"He is Minato and Kushina's son," and so he had no lack of talent.
"That he is," Kakashi agreed as he gazed at his sensei's portrait hanging on the sidewall and saw his own reflection in the picture. Now he was around the same age as the man who had died protecting this village, and as strong as Kakashi was, he would be the first to admit that he was nowhere near the level of his sensei.
"Well, if that will be all..."
"Not quite," and aged shinobi stopped him as Kakshi raised a brow, wondering what more was there to discuss.
"I wanted to hear your opinion on your potential genin team," and that was a surprise.
"I believe Naruto will be on the team along with Sasuke Uchiha," and while Itachi's brother was nowhere near his genius, the boy was at the top of his class and was rather well-rounded as a shinobi.
"Indeed, I wanted to hear your opinion regarding the third student," and with that, he slid forward two folders, as Kakashi opened them and was surprised as he saw the first name.
"Hikari Hyuga," and that was an inspired choice, and he had heard quite some tales about the boy from his friends within the ANBU.
'Agent Sparrow' had become rather famous within the ANBU circles, and never before had he heard so much praise for a recruit, except for when Itachi had first joined them years ago, and the tragedy that had followed suit was another one of his failures.
The Hyuga exile's file was impressive and showed him to be a rather impressive shinobi, having a well-rounded skill set, but as he imagined him beside Naruto and Sasuke, he saw a few problems.
"He is a good shinobi, but I believe he will unbalance the team," he gave his opinion, and the Sandaime-sama's lips thinned as he put his pipe in his mouth.
"How?" he asked.
"It is obvious that the boy is ahead of both Naruto and Sasuke when it comes to skill set, and with their unique personalities and baggage, it could lead to resentment in the team in case of Sasuke and a rather dangerous sense of dependence in case of Naruto," and that was just his perspective from the operational point of view.
The Hokage-sama did not speak for a moment before he added.
"You are the second person now to dissuade me from this arrangement," and he wondered who exactly was the first person, and as if reading his mind, the Sandaime-sama continued as he took out the pipe and exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"The first person was Shikaku," and he should have expected nothing less from the Jounin commander.
"Though he gave a different reason than you," and he wondered what that was.
"He believed that each of them holds at least some resentment for the village in their hearts, and so putting three of them on a team could inflame this resentment and lead to rather disastrous consequences," and that was a rather sound assessment.
Naruto had been mistreated by the entire village, and while he never displayed any anger or resentment, it would take but one single push for that anger and desire for validation to turn to resentment.
Sasuke, on the other hand, held little love for the village and was obsessed with wanting to exact revenge upon his brother for the Uchiha clan massacre. Hikari himself did not come from the most stellar circumstances and held great resentment for his clan's archaic practices.
The more Kakashi thought about it, the more Shikaku Nara's words began to make sense.
"He is right," he whispered, after a few seconds of silence.
"Naruto, Sasuke, and Hikari together on a team would not work, for neither has any deeper connection to the village," and that made all three of them flight risks.
"Do you doubt Hikari Hyuga's loyalty to the village?" and there was no sign of him being a flight risk apart from his conflict with his clan, but one could hardly tell in the case of geniuses.
"Did Itachi let us ever have any doubt about his loyalty to the village?" he answered with a question of his own, for that was who he was being compared to.
"Moreover, there is also the matter of compatibility," he added, and that was one more thing.
"The boy primarily relies on Katon and Futon ninjutsu, and while I can use them well, there is little that I can teach him about these two natural affinities given how advances he is in them already," and of course, Kakashi had a thousand jutsu at his disposal that he could pass on, but the boy did not rely on simple ninjutsu and used those affinities in a rather unique way reminiscent of the Explosion Corps of Iwa.
"He needs a mentor who has a mastery in these two natural affinities," and he had just the shinobi in mind, and the way the Hokage-sama's eyes narrowed, he realised the one as well.
"Asuma," and the Sarutobi clan was rather famous for their Katon-based ninjutsu, and Asuma's natural affinities were both fire and wind, just like the boy. And given that he had returned to the village to mentor a team, he was the ideal sensei for him.
"Yes," Kakashi answered, and this was his opinion as the Hokage-sama sighed and took a deep breath.
"You have caused me quite a dilemma now," he whispered with a short smile, "both you and Shikaku," and in the end, the Sandaime-sama had asked for his opinion and he had provided it.
"Can I take my leave now?" he asked, and the aged man nodded.
"You can...."
.
.
.
And as Kakashi Hatake left, the Hokage found himself staring at the file of one Hikari Hyuga once more as he thought of Kakashi's words.
"Asuma..." he whispered as he closed his eyes and saw the wisdom in both his and Shikaku's words.
"It seems like I will have to rethink all of the teams again..."
0000
HIKARI HYUGA
Mizuki's death had been a failure of his, but the chunin's dubious character and obvious betrayal of Konoha had caused a great ruckus within the village.
The ANBU had been ordered to investigate all of his associates, and the Intelligence division was sifting through all of his work at the academy, along with all of his known contacts, to look for any other leaks, but in the end, all of the trails dried up rather quickly, and the matter was put on hold.
Hikari himself found himself busy in the markets as he decided to buy a new set of clothes for his next assignment, and as he returned, he found a note left in his room with the familiar writing of his first mentor.
It took him a few seconds to don the mask and the uniform, as he blurred to the training ground and found her standing there already. He hid himself in a tree, yet Uzuki Yugao was a natural sensor and called out to him.
"You must know by now that you cannot hide from me," and he shook his head as he jumped out of the tree and landed a few paces from her.
"I hate sensors," he whispered as the woman behind the Cat mask chuckled at his predicament, for he had been trying to find a way to evade a sensor's abilities for a year by now, and had yet to make any progress in that regard.
"There is a reason that sensors, especially natural sensors, are so highly regarded in the shinobi world," and that was because it was almost impossible for a regular shinobi to evade their abilities.
The ability was rarer than one would think, and those not born with it had no choice but to either come to terms with this reality or spend years developing an alternative method of replicating this natural talent.
She did not say anything more, and once he had barely reached her waist, Hikari's head reached her shoulders as he saw that gaze look at him with pride and joy.
"You did well in locating that spy," she praised him, and he nodded.
"I should have done better," he answered, and she shook her head.
"There was little that you could do. Under the circumstances, you made the best choice," and he did, but that was all.
"Still, I was told by Hokage-sama that you would be joining a genin team from tomorrow," and he did not know which team it would be, but the Graduation was done, and now the genins would be made into teams of three.
"Yes," and then he saw her reach for her pocket before she threw a scroll towards him.
"Consider this a parting gift from your old sensei," and he caught the scroll and pocketed it.
"Thank you," and with that, she gave him a final glance before she turned away, yet before she left, she spoke one last time.
"And if you are ever in need of any help or guidance, you may seek a kunoichi by the name of Uzuki Yugao," and he smiled as he realised that his guess from a year ago had been on point.
"Thank you, sensei...."
.
.
.
And as the young genins prepared themselves for their new life as shinobi, Shikaku Nara found himself sitting opposite to his son as they played a game of shogi.
"I believe I must talk with you about one of your teammates," and the young Nara clan heir raised a brow at those words.
"About Ino and Choji?" and Shikaku was impressed that he already knew of his most likely teammates.
"No, only one of them will be on the team with you. The third member on your team will be a new face," and the young genin frowned at those words, his curiosity piqued at his father's words.
"Who?"
"You don't know him. He is not from the academy," and those black orbs narrowed, and Shikaku could see the mind behind that gaze race, and it took him a few seconds to figure it all out.
"An ANBU?" and his guess was spot on, as he moved his pawn forward, not answering his question.
"You are to keep an eye on him, secretly, of course," he suggested, for Shikaku would rather die than be blindsided as he had been in the case of Itachi Uchiha.
"Why?" he asked, not refusing the order.
"You will know the reason when you hear his name."
And as the jounin commander mouthed out the name, his son's shoulders sagged as he had predicted.
"What a drag..."
0000
As always, you can read ahead and support me through my Patre 0n. Your support and patronage are what make all this possible. So, drop a sub if you can. It would mean a lot to me. 😉
www.Patre 0n.com/Drkest
Have a fantastic day!