Kakashi's Teammate, the Lightning Goddess

The Chunin Exams: P.7

*edited*

Chapter 20: The Chunin Exams: P.7

                Kakashi, it seemed, had a plan.

                Kira (yeah, that’s me), it seemed, did not have much trust in the Kakashi who had a plan.

                Who would? Can you blame me?

                “Here’s what I’m thinking,” said Kakashi, leaning against a tree. I could’ve sworn I saw a flash of orange in one of his hip pouches, and narrowed my eyes. If I saw Melissa today – which wasn’t likely, considering the fact that she was out of the village on missions almost all the time – then I would certainly have to team up with her and destroy Kakashi’s entire stash. Yes, that sounded fun.

                “What are you thinking?” I drawled, mocking him. He glared at me, obviously trying to keep his cool like the “cool” and “mighty” Jonin that he “always was.”

                “As I was saying before I got interrupted, I’d like to leave Naruto’s training to Jiraiya.”

                My eyebrows rose. “Jiraiya? Of the Three Sannin? Naruto is going to be picking up some very nasty habits.”

                “That’s all you can think about? He’ll receive good training, too. Jiraiya was Sensei’s teacher, remember?”

                I resisted the urge to throw something at him. “Naruto is not, and nor will he ever be, someone other than himself. He’s not Minato-sensei, and you know it better than anybody else.”

                “I’m not expecting him to be like Sensei,” said Kakashi patiently, as though he had known I would protest like this. He probably had. “However, I still have relatively strong trust in Jiraiya’s ability to teach Naruto what he needs to know before the third exam begins.”

                I shifted my weight to my other foot and said, “I’m not arguing with you there. But can’t one of us train him?”

                Silence.

                “Oh, no, Kakashi, you aren’t seriously considering – “

                “Meet me at Training Ground 66 tomorrow morning,” he said, simultaneously sending me a wink. “I’m sure Sasuke will have… miraculously recovered by then.”

                “Are you trying to kill him?” I hissed. “Kakashi, he’s thirteen. And he’s not Itachi. I’m all for pushing him to his limits, but don’t you think this is a bit far?”

                “Think on it,” he said. “You always were the smart one.” And with that, he disappeared, leaving me with my own thoughts and a tree. I punched the tree.

                But it was easy to read Kakashi’s thoughts. He was hoping that if Sasuke could become a Chunin under our guidance and perhaps learn some new jutsus, then he wouldn’t have any reason to want to leave and go to Orochimaru. He would always be power-hungry, but if he could see that we could help him with that – I’m not encouraging the whole kill-your-brother thing, of course – then at least he wouldn’t go to Orochimaru.

                The timing was strange. As I thought about Sasuke, Amaterasu became increasingly more uneasy. I frowned, not being able to sense anything wrong. ‘What’s up?’