A ninja must see underneath the underneath

Chapter 32 - Senpai!

Authors note:

(*) Senpai = someone you look up to. Often a senior, teacher or superior.

(*) Tenzo = an ANBU shinobi from Konoha. Kakashi used to be his captain. ANBU know him as Tenzo, non-ANBU know him as Yamato.

Kakashi awoke at sunrise the following day. He fondly looked over at his lover, who was still asleep and snoring softly. He carefully untangled his limbs from Naruto's body and started to stretch them out. As quietly as possible, the silver-haired shinobi crawled out of the tent and headed for a nearby tree to relieve himself. Afterward, he walked over to the lake to wash up, yawning heavily while doing so.

Not long after, his lover awoke as well. Naruto pouted as he discovered his boyfriend missing from the tent. He tried to sense the Jonin, and found his chakra signature near the lake. "Not such a bad idea." He mused while touching his stomach, which was still a little sticky. He grabbed his towel and sauntered towards the lake.

"Good morning..." Kakashi said as he saw his lover carefully entering the cold water.

The blond hissed at the water's temperature and folded his arms over his chest. "G-good m-morning." He said shakily.

"Aww. Cold? Come here." Kakashi said sympathetically as he waved the teen over only to envelop in him his strong arms.

"Slightly better," Naruto said with a slight shiver.

Kakashi snickered. "How come you're awake already? It's not like you to not sleep-in."

"Woke up because you had left I guess."

"Sorry about that then. Wasn't sleepy anymore."

"So what do you want to do?" Naruto said as he playfully rubbed himself against Kakashi's member.

"I was actually planning on eating something and then get back to training."

"That's fine too. I'm actually still a little sore from last night."

Kakashi comforted the teen by planting a kiss on his mouth.

After both men had washed up and consumed their breakfast, they headed over to a nearby field large enough to do some sparring.

"Alright Naruto. You've mastered close combat techniques and you have developed some great techniques for long-range fighting. However, neither will do you any good if you're up against a very fast opponent. Even your Rasenshuriken won't always be able to hit a target moving at incredible speed. So, what do you do then?" Kakashi asked in his sensei tone.

"Either increase my own speed, for example with Sage mode, or stop the target from moving," Naruto said as he tapped a finger against his chin.

"Right. What if the target is too fast for you even in Sage mode?"

"Stop it from moving."

"How?" Kakashi asked sternly.

"Hmm. Maybe with a trap? Or some strategy?"

"Yes. You want to be able to think a few steps ahead of your enemy, for example with strategy. When you were younger, you sometimes had to catch a chicken, dog, or cat that had run away from its owner as D or E-ranked missions. Correct?"

"Right," Naruto said thinking back.

"How did you catch it?"

"By steering it towards a dead-end alley, or by using teamwork."

"Both those things are strategies. When you're up against a very fast enemy. You can do two things. One, you can try and trap them so they become immobile. Something Shikamaru for example uses frequently. Or, you can send them in a direction that profits you. In other words, you guide them or lure them to a certain advantageous position to balance things out. Which is what we will be practicing today. I'm going to be fighting you at high speed. I want you to either stop me or defeat me. Understood?" Kakashi asked seriously.