After passing Kakashi's test, Sasuke was unceremoniously dragged by an overeager Sakura towards the Uchiha compound …
Sasuke thought about protesting and staying there to spy on Jay and Kakashi’s conversation … After all, what could they possibly be talking about …
Sasuke had to admit to himself that, even after having Jay close by and training with Itachi-nii and him … Sasuke didn't quite know Jay …
They trained together with Itachi, Jay then helped Itachi with paperwork while Sasuke went on with his day after resting …
It felt weird thinking about it now but … when did Jay rest ? …
Sasuke was starting to understand what Jay meant when he said his days had more hours on them … Jay didn't need to rest as much as normal people … he quite literally had more hours to use everyday …
And Jay was making use of those extra hours …
Sasuke had his sharingan to absorb everything … Sasuke could extract extra experience out of his training … Jay could simply train more …
This was something of a new constant to Sasuke's life … a constant that recently acquired another variable as Sakura became a part of that routine … It was nice to have someone to train with that wasn't a clanmen.
*** *** ***
Sakura and Sasuke could tell something had changed between Kakashi and Jay after their conversation.
Kakashi seemed to be more open about things and he started to arrive on time to actually train them … thought it took Jay to give them a heads up about what they were doing wrong … and that they should ask Kakashi as a team …
***
[Jay] - Look, I'll be honest guys, Kakashi is getting a bit fed up with you both … especially you Sakura … -
Sasuke had a confused look on his face, but Sakura was furious …
[Sakura] - What do you mean by that ?! He doesn't show up on time, he doesn't teach us anything useful … You and Sasuke-kun are training me better than he is, and yet HE is fed up with ME ?! -
[Jay] - I'll put it this way, why did you put in the effort to graduate in the A1 Class ? -
Sakura narrowed her eyes at the question …
[Sakura] - Because we get the privilege of a Jounin-sensei, of which Kakashi is a very poor showing of one … -
Sakura muttered …
[Jay] - Yes, you got the privilege of being taught by a Jounin, a very experienced one at that, you graduated as the Kunoichi of the year … and received a Jounin instructor as a reward correct ? -
[Sasuke] - Where are you going with this Jay ? Yes, we got a teacher, but he isn't teaching us … -
[Jay] - Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi is a Jounin, he has missions to do, he is way more valuable to the village than a group of has-beens genins, and yet he has been taken out of the roster to teach us … what does that tell you ? -
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Sakura angrily answered.
[Sakura] - I already know that we are an investment, learning under a Jounin is a sure way of fast tracking your career, but we again, we can't do that because Kakashi isn't teaching us, why are you defending him ?! -
[Jay] - Because he is waiting for some goddamn initiative from both of you, especially you Sakura, Sasuke here can afford to not receive his teaching, he has his clan to fill in, he has Fugaku Uchiha a Hokage candidate as a father, whenever he has a Jounin teacher or not, he will be fine … you ? … You're as civilian as they come and yet you clawed your way to the top kunoichi spot … Why the hell are you moping about instead of complaining to your Jounin sensei that you think his training is light work ? Don't you want more missions ?! -
Sakura shrunk into herself because yeah, she had to do all that during the academy to get to the top, she had to brother her teachers for pointers, she had to ask for extra time at the library … but they were chunins teaching at the academy, Kakashi was a Jounin …
[Sakura] - I didn't think I could … -
[Jay] - That's not something a future Jounin would say … Sakura, konoha has a roster of tens of thousand ninjas, and yet, barely a hundred jounins, you know why that is ? -
Sakura shook her head and Sasuke listened attently …
[Jay] - Everyone wants to be strong and successful, but only a fraction of a percent of those people are willing to put in the ungodly amount of effort it requires, are you in that percent ? -
***
Apparently, Kakashi was just waiting for them to take initiative and make use of the resources they had available, Kakashi wasn't an Academy teacher and they weren't at the Academy, there isn't a curriculum to be spoon fed … If they wanted to learn something, they had to seek it out by themselves … that meant actually demanding training from their Jounin sensei …
It was a behavior they had to learn if they wanted to make Jounin themselves … To always be on the lookout for opportunities, Kakashi wasn't going to spoon feed them, because life wasn't either, and between Kakashi and life, they are better off learning it with Kakashi …
***
Team Kakashi became something of a routine, there was friction, especially since Sakura and Sasuke learned that Jay officially became Kakashi's apprentice …
While Jay shut down Sasuke's complaints about unfairness by pointing out that Sasuke had his fancy eyes and his clan to train him … Sakura had to receive a much harsher reality check …
[Jay] - What do you want me to do Sakura ? Stop training in my free time ? … Yeah, my free time, Kakashi is training me after he is done training the team, just like Maito Guy did, after you're already exhausted and needs to REST … -
[Sakura] - It's not fair that you can just keep on training and leave me behind ! … I don't have Sasuke’s fancy eyes to boost my training so I can keep up and I can't train as much as you do … -
[Jay] - And what ? I need to slow down my progress so you can keep up ? Is that really what you’re asking me to do ? Because as you just said, that's not fair is it ? -
***
There was a bit of a somber look on Sakura for a few days, but that did make her try that little bit harder in her training …
Not that they were seeing anything that actually requires their constant exhaustion, because D rank missions were, quite literally … Chores …
***
What every genin dreaded to do, and what every Chunin considered a punishment …
The dreaded D rank missions …
***
[Sasuke] - Why are there so many roofs to fix ?! … -
Sasuke complained as another drop of sweat made its way into his eyes …
They all knew the answer, ninjas traveling and jumping on Konoha's rooftops … they are bound to break some tiles and what better way to fix them, then employing genins ? …
***
[Sakura] - … Why, Why, Why ?! WHY DO WE HAVE TO TAKE ON SEWER CROCS ?! … -
They all knew the answer, a big city like Konoha had a lot of pipes that ended on rivers far from it … Chakra was a ubiquitous thing in a place like Konoha with so many ninjas … The waste of a city like that had an extra problem, because you see, animals exposed to high concentrations of chakra tended to grow and change …
That means it was quite dangerous for civilians to do repairs without someone keeping the pipes safe …
What better way to do that than with some genins ?
***
[Jay] - Come on guys, it's like training or something … okay, I agree that this is ridiculous … -
He tried not to, but even Jay succumbed to the peer pressure of complaining while working as Sakura and Sasuke glared a hole in the back of his head as they went on chopping wood …
See, Konoha had an extremely dense forest surrounding it thanks to Senju Hachirama's wood release …
It served as protection against invaders and also a source of one of the most prized wood in the elemental nations …
But with big, dense and chakra rich forest like that, many animals made their residence there too, and chopping trees with a wood that strong in a forest that dangerous … Well, why make civilians take the risk when there are genins for hire ?
***
A month of doing chore work like that and Team Kakashi was ready to strangle their sensei … they were now at the mission post office to take on their next task …
The Chunin at the front of the desk looked bored as always, but just like Kakashi, he was relishing in the genins suffering …
[Kakashi] - Alright my cute little genins, what will it be this time ? … Let's see … Inuzuca ninken in need of baths … -
Kakashi's smile widened as his genin team squirmed in place …
[Kakashi] - No, too easy … Hmm … Hokage monument maintenance … Hmm … -
[Jay] - … Kakashi-sensei, we just finished our rank D quota, can we do a Rank C ? -
[Sakura] - … Please -
[Sasuke] - We can take it, please Kakashi-sensei, just give us something else … -
[Kakashi] - Well, when you all ask like that … What do you have for me ? -
Kakashi asked the Chunin at the front desk, who gave a sigh and placed a folder on the table.
[Chunin] - Standard Rank C escort mission with a bonus D rank payment for construction help, it's towards the land of waves ‘as soon as convenient’ … -
Kakashi took the folder.
[Kakashi] - Tazuna, bridge builder, bought a pallet of Konoha's iron-wood to be processed on site, it makes sense he asked for protection, ninja help required for hard to reach places … seems reasonable … I'll take it -
Kakashi only smiled at the relief his team had that they weren't going to do another Rank D inside the village …
[Kakashi] - Alright team, go to the armory and get gear for about a week of travel, or take your personal gear if you have, I recommend personal ones, the fees for losing the rentals are not cheap and this will be your first mission out … chop chop … -
Kakashi clapped his hands to the unamused stare of his team …
[Kakashi] - Tough crowd -
Kakashi shrugged while smirking …
*** *** ***
