The Black Plague

Chapter 8 - The Teams

Kakashi's POV
It's been a couple months since I was made a jounin leader. This years graduates were supposed to graduate today, and then would get their teams tomorrow. The graduates this year didn't look all that promising.
I sighed as I walked around town reading my book. Kuro was on a mission that he would be getting back from tonight. Although, he would probably get back sooner. All of his missions were completed well under the expected times. On his solo missions he completed day long missions for regular anbu in mere hours. And week long missions took a day or two at most. He was by far the villages best Shinobi, rivaling the hokage. Team Ro had become the best in silent assasination and teamwork. Kuro was a really good tactician and team Ro was well rounded, so they made a great team. They were so in sync that they only used a few hand signs the entire mission. Makes me seem like a bad captain. I mean I was the captain for so long and then a newbie comes in and suddenly they are an unstoppable force. "My eternal rival! Shall we have an eating contest, or perhaps a test of strength. Oh, or maybe a youthful test of the minds!" "Hello, guy." "So unyouthful..." "look guy, how about we just do Rock Paper Scissors?" "Sure my eternal rival! And if I lose I will do 500 laps around the village on my hands! And if I fail to do that then I will do 1000 push-ups!" "Alright, alright, ready? Rock- paper- scissors- shoot!" I had a paper and he had rock. "Ah, my rival is so youthful! Now I must do 500 laps around the village on my hands! Yos!" I shook my head as he sped off on his hands to go do his crazy workout.
Someone tapped me on the arm and I looked to my right. Black hair and white tips showed at the bottom of my vision and I looked down. Kuro was standing next to me, and looking up at me. "Hello kuro! I didn't expect you back so soon." He cocked his head at me and then looked up at the sun. I looked up as well and realized that it was almost noon. "Oh, must have lost track of time. Anyway, that means that I have to go see the hokage about my team." He tugged on my arm, and I picked him up. I set him on my hip, and then continued walking to the hokages office. He set his head down on my shoulder. Ready for a team "no, I'm honestly scared, but I don't think they will meet my standards." And those are "teamwork. If they can pass Minato-Sensei's bell test than I'll pass them, but if they don't then I'm sending them back to the academy." Kuro nodded. Need help testing them "I don't think so, but an extra pair of eyes won't hurt. Especially if you can listen in on their conversations and see if they try to work together." I'll make clones follow them "that should work. Thanks kuro."
We arrived at the hokage's office door and I knocked. "Come in" I opened the door and walked in. The other jounin Sensei's were there. I saw Asuma and Guy standing off to the left. "Alright, now that everyone is here we can start." "Um, hokage-sama, should there be a little kid here?" "Ah, don't worry. That's kuro. He is an anbu captain and is a co-leader for kakashi." "Hai hokage-sama." The one who had spoken looked a little embarrassed and confused. "Now then, here is everyone's teams files." I got my file and held it with one hand while Kuro helped me flip the pages. They were average, a little below, but ok. Not exceptional at all, but if they have good teamwork they can definitely be a good team. Kuro looked at me and shook his head. I quirked an eyebrow at him and just shook his head again and then laid his head back down. "Now, each one of you should visit their homes." Everyone nodded and started to file out. "Kuro, you coming with, or staying with the hokage?" He pointed a thumb at the hokage and I nodded. "Ok I'll set you down now then." I walked over to the hokages desk and set kuro down. He moved so he was on the other side facing the hokage with his legs dangling. He turned and waved bye. I waved back and then left though the window.
I had just finished visiting all of my team's homes. I walked back to my apartment and opened the door. I saw Kuro's shoes and knew he was home. I walked in to the living room and saw that he wasn't there. I walked into the bedroom next. Kuro was passed out on the bed. I smiled an shook my head. You know some days, I can't believe how much he sleeps. I don't think I've seen him awake for more than 5 hours before. I walked over to the bed and took of my jounin vest. I set it aside and then got into bed. I picked kuro up and then scooted into the middle of the bed with him in my arms. I got on my side and pulled kuro up to my chest like a teddy bear. I pulled the covers over us and then turned the light out. He squirmed a little. I hugged him closer to me and then laid my head down. After a few minutes I fell asleep.