Kakashi / Ino's POV (Team Seven Training Ground - Hidden Leaf Village)
Kakashi resisted the urge to scoff as the two began a spirited round of Taijutsu. The Hyuga was arrogant; working with the other two was the best method, and judging someone for being blindsided when you had nearly three hundred and sixty degrees of vision was easy.
Neji began his assault with a flurry of finger taps. The advantage of the Hyuga was their deadly hand-to-hand style. Merely a tap of their finger could inject chakra within you, causing all sorts of damage. But Kakashi deflected each finger jab with his own finger before interrupting the barrage with a lightning-fast jab. Neji blinked dumbly, stunned, before Kakashi kicked him roughly in the chest, forcing him back.
"Taijutsu is arguably the most vital tool of a shinobi." Kakashi lectured as Neji climbed back to his feet. "However, when facing a superior opponent, it is safe to assume they can overwhelm you. Even if you were more skilled, I'm simply too fast and strong for it to matter."
"I'll be the judge of that!" Neji bitterly roared as he dropped into a low stance.
'Oh, he's being serious.' Kakashi decided, locking in slightly before Neji lunged forward at an even greater speed. 'Suppose I could humble him…'
Neji launched forward with a palm thrust most Chunin would've been helpless against. But Kakashi merely slapped it away with ease. "Two Palms!" Two misses. "Four Palms!" Four misses. "Eight Palms!" Kakashi smacked each of these away and poked Neji's forehead for each attempt. "Sixteen Palms!" Neji roared, moving even faster, but Kakashi kept up with ease. The spot he tapped on Neji's head turned red from the repeated poke.
"I'd stop now I have my target…" Kakashi attempted. "Thirty-Two Palm-" Kakashi dodged these before growing bored and unleashing a head kick at Neji that rocked him senseless and sent him sprawling away. "For a genius, that was shockingly stupid."
Neji didn't bother responding as he dizzily rose to his knees. Naruto and Ino returned from the river as well, soaked and looking pissed at themselves. The three did not attack again, their rage being tempered by Kakashi's efficient handling of each of them.
Kakashi let the three stew in their shame momentarily before breaking the silence. "Don't worry about attacking me like that," Kakashi assured them first. "Plenty of people have tried that before, and I doubt you'll be the last. Besides, I did intend to make you all react like that. Wanted to see how the three of you would work together if motivated against me."
"You're insufferable." Ino chimed in.
"The worst." Naruto agreed.
"Why, thank you!" Kakashi said with a smile. "However, there was a method for my madness."
"To supplement your ego by beating around Genin." Neji spat at the man.
"No, to show you all the flaws with your act." Kakashi countered. "It's true you all didn't pick this team. It may be true you all don't like one another one bit, or even me somehow. But you are Genin now. You are the official shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village; all Genin are a part of a Genin Squad regularly used in operations. This means that regardless of how you feel about or how much you like it, you need to be a unit regardless. It's not about agreeing with one another or being right; it's about empowering and working together. If the three of you had worked together, perhaps I wouldn't have had such an easy time embarrassing you. And that's more than attacking together but being on the same page…"
The three stared at each other quietly, Ino and Naruto nodding, but Neji merely shook his head. Kakashi sighed heavily but nodded; he was sure it would take more. "No matter, we're not done today yet. Naruto, you are the freshest; you and I will have a Taijutsu sparring match now. Ino and Neji, the two of you will offer feedback after . We will do this for each of the main three facets of Jutsu, a final review of where each of us is at. At this point, we'll be done today and meet tomorrow shortly before noon. Assuming none of you three perish, you can consider yourself a fully vetted member of Team Seven."
"Time for revenge, you damn creep!" Naruto swore as he gingerly stood. "That attack was across the line; prepare to eat Riptide!"
"Rip his head off Blondie~!" Ino roared sounding bloodthirsty,
"That's the spirit~!" Kakashi sang. It was good to see Naruto share Kushina's indomitable spirit. And to see some fire under Ino, his students were so cute.
X-X
Ino's POV
Ino already missed the Academy. The easy days were spent studying and practicing their skills within the safety and comfort of their peers. The social pecking order, the juicy gossip and secrets, the days when she was convinced she was a shinobi on equal footing with her peers.
This training session had been a barrage of new information, personalities, and trying exercises. That, along with Neji's constant snipes and Naruto's resulting bickering, left the whole day feeling exhausting, only for the worst of it to appear now.
The running, quizzing, and impromptu sparring had all been hard for the Team. The grueling tasks and grating personalities made it to where the group somewhat shouldered the exertion. Now, in these solo spars with Kakashi, the man seems to see what they are made of. And as they stood alone, it made their weaknesses all the more obvious.
Ino was glad Naruto had gone first, for Kakashi had proved an expert at Taijutsu and a shockingly harsh teacher. Her fellow blonde, predictably, had taken the spar head-on and with gusto. While his form was rough, and he was well slower than Kakashi, the blonde proved creative, attacking from angles and in ways most would never dare. To augment such an odd style, the blonde was tireless and absurdly strong, his stronger blows having managed to crack the ground. Furthermore, Naruto simply was able to take a punch.
Ino had cringed, and Neji openly laughed as Kakashi mercilessly beat back Naruto. The man wasn't aggressive, letting Naruto go on the offensive, but defended and evaded all strikes and throws without fail. Whenever the blonde made a crucial error, a series of brutal counter attacks would serve as a reminder. Ino was genuinely amazed at how much abuse Naruto could be absorb. The spar went on for a full, painful ten minutes. Naruto ate punches, slaps, kicks, knees, elbows, pokes, and stomps. But all the same, came back at Kakashi with unbreakable resolve. Even Neji, who had thus far only insulted the blonde, seemed shocked at his never-say-die attitude and just how far he'd take it. Naruto, desperate to land a single blow, began to sling around Riptide in earnest not concerning himself with drawing blood, but even the weapon did nothing to close the gap between the two. Thankfully, Naruto's body did not have the same plan, and the blonde stayed down despite complaints after Kakashi swept him off his feet for nearly the dozenth time.
It had been the beginning of the end, Ino supposed. Seeing Naruto fight had shattered her own idea of her strength. The endless drive, seemingly heedless of the pain, with the aid of a sword and clones, would be a fighter Ino could not hope to oppose. And from one of the lowest-ranked students, something was made clear to Ino. She was behind. Between the absurd level of skill and heart shown by both Kakashi and Naruto, it was clear she wasn't of the same caliber.
Neji had commented on Naruto's lack of form and proper technique. Naruto often puts himself in challenging spots in relentless offense and is hardly worried about defense. Then voiced an open concern. Naruto wasn't even sure how to use Riptide, which nearly led to a fight.
Ino had been tempted to spare Naruto's feelings. But she knew better than to baby the blonde. They were adults, and more than that shinobi, they had to accept how things were. While she was not as harsh as Neji and chose not to continue to harp on his same failures, she did point out what Naruto could do to incorporate a particular Taijutsu style, recommending some from the Library he could study.
Ino was impressed by how Naruto took criticism, even from Neji, in stride. He nodded along quietly and jokingly cursed himself for his performance. From what Ino had heard, Naruto was a bit of a clown, seeking attention in the early years of the Academy. But she approved of this more humble side of the blonde.
Neji demanded to go next. Perhaps the Hyuga hoped to redeem his earlier loss against Kakashi. Maybe he believed he had gained insight from Naruto's battle and sought to use it. Though Ino personally suspected he wanted to outclass Naruto here and now.
And as much as Ino didn't like the guy, he somewhat did. Neji did not land a true blow against Kakashi, though the Jounin blocked much more than he had against Naruto. In fact, Neji had not lasted nearly as long; he lacked the super-powered chin of Naruto nor his endless reserves. Despite this, Neji clearly pushed their sensei harder in a shorter time.
The two began a viscous round of trading blows. Kakashi somehow managed to deflect Neji's, all while pounding away at the Hyuga. When it became clear to Neji that his speed was not nearly enough, he began a long string of complex combinations. The speed at which both moved was absurd, outpacing Naruto healthily and almost too fast for Ino to see. Neji attacked with fingers and blunt crushing blows alike, from up top and below, changing angles and even lashing out with kunai in hopes of making Kakashi trip up. However, the Jounin easily met each of these exchanges head-on, slowly bruising Neji as the Hyuga stubbornly pushed on. It had been a body shot that sounded brutal and felled Neji. The Hyuga collapsed with a wheeze as Kakashi chuckled at him. Naruto and Ino looked on fearfully as Kakashi joyously kicked Neji away and gestured for their input.
Naruto perhaps felt somewhat petty after the dressing down Neji had offered and saw the chance for vengeance as harsh. He pointed out that Neji had seriously believed he could outpace Jounin and commented that his approach was much too simple. Ino agreed with the feedback, once again surprised by Naruto's burst of insight.
Ino's perspective wasn't all that different, though she believed a defensive approach may have worked better. However, Kakashi gleefully responded that she could try it herself.
Ino had gulped a small amount of fear pooling within her. Seeing Kakashi thrash two of her peers easily made her hesitant. But she was the heir of the Yamanaka and wouldn't refuse a challenge like this. It was for her own good!
Such optimistic thoughts were ground to dust early on the shortest spar of the three. Ino had always settled on a kick-heavy style from the Academy, a basic but more relaxed and defensive style, which Ino thought was perfect for her abilities.
However, it seemed that going on the defensive of Kakashi was the worst choice. The Jounin, forced to go on the offense, crushed Ino handily. Her guard seemed nothing more than a joke to the silver-haired Jounin. His blows were elusive, for every time she dodged or deflected one, another three would hit her hard enough to make her flinch as she held back cries of pain.