Stuck Together

Meeting the Team

"No, I refuse," Kakashi spoke the second he realized what the third Hokage was holding out to him before the older ninja could get a word in, "if you give me another team, I'll fail them. Just let someone else deal with it."

"The council is quite invested in this team and are hoping for their success under you." the Hokage said. There were clear undertones despite not saying anything directly about the expectations, "They believe there's nobody more qualified, especially considering the special circumstances." the Hokage spoke without any visible change in his expression despite Kakashi's vehement disapproval.

Kakashi didn't know who was on the team, but it was one of two things. Either the council was giving him a group of kids, that they needed pushed through the ranks for political purposes or something much worse and Kakashi had a sinking suspicion that it was the latter.

"Read through and I'm sure you'll see why," The Sandaime slightly shook the folder in his hands as if reminding Kakashi that it was still there. Kakashi took the dossier with exaggerated annoyance, but he knew this wasn't a fight he'd be winning easily.

The Hokage dismissed him and like the loyal ninja he was he began preparations for his new genin team. He considered failing them out of spite, but he decided to do away with the test entirely. If the expectation was that Kakashi would let them pass, then why bother with a test? His new plan of action was to throw all pretenses out the window, he had zero commitment to the team and was planning on giving them the bare minimum. As long as he did the council this favor he would use it as leverage for them not to saddle him with another team.

He wasn't going to let them die because incompetence, he wasn't a horrible person, but he was offering enough direction and attention to succeed and eventually throw them to the Chunin exams. Once they were trained and passed he would try to move away as much as possible, he would probably be a bad influence anyway and he didn't want an emotional connection.

The plan was thrown out the window when he actually looked at who was on his team.

An eraser in the doorway, they clearly thought this was all a big joke, but he wasn't going to play their game. He stepped through the door and moved out of the way of the falling eraser. He did make a point of flicking it out of the air and directly into Naruto's face, he was entirely sure it his idea. "Tomorrow come to training field seven at 0600 hours. Don't be late, I'll be testing you to see if you're actually ninja material."

He didn't wait for a response he simply turned around and left the room though he stayed by the door hidden out of sight to listen in on their conversation.

"I told you it was a stupid idea, Dobe," Sasuke said. Kakashi needed to knock that superior tone right out of him, he didn't want another version of himself on the team. Kakashi was a bit of a jerk as a child, but he had the skills to back it up. This kid might be the top of his class, but compared to his brother or Kakashi at that age, he needed a lot of improvement before he could act so arrogantly. However, Kakashi knew the potential was there, he just needed to draw it out.

"Shut up Teme," Naruto yelled back to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun is right, you need to be more mature," Sakura jumped right on Sasuke's train. Her crush was probably going to be detrimental to the team, young romances tended to be. Looking back at his old team the crushes they had worked against them, eventually they managed to get things together, but it did cause tension. Still among his regrets and wishes of what he could change, emotional issues that came with puberty weren't at the top of the list.

Once he heard the clattering that accompanied Naruto launching himself at Sasuke, Kakashi took his leave. He was going to force those kids into the best team possible whether they wanted to or not. He had multiple reasons for this desire and only a few were rational. Part of it was what he felt he owed his own sensei, his experiences with Naruto as a child while he observed the boy, and a likely misplaced sense of guilt involving Itachi. He was Itachi's superior in Anbu for a time, he always wished he managed to connect more to him.