“It's been awhile. What brings you here Rin?”
She sat across from him at the little table in his apartment. “You finally past a team and one of them is the son of our sensei. I'm curious did you lower your standards for him?”
Kakashi shot a glare at his old friend before answering, “Do you really think I would dishonor our sensei’s memory by playing favorites with his son. He would never forgive me for that.”
“True but I had to ask.” She smiled showing she meant no harm. “What do you think of them?”
“Naruto is interesting. He wants to prove himself but he's impatient.”
“So he's a typical twelve-year-old.”
Despite the moment he felt his eye curve up in amusement “Not quite. Even Obito didn't have his energy.” For a moment the mood darkened at the mention of their absent friend and teammate. He pushed on “Sakura is fairly immature compared to you-”
“I had a war to mature me. It's a good sign that girls can be like that nowadays. Now what about the Uchiha?”
“He's very serious. I'm a little concerned about him but, given his history he's pretty much what you would expect.”
“So he's like you were at that age? He'll probably grow out of it.”
“Hopefully,” Kakashi agreed.” At first he was pretty much what you would expect but, then he stayed with Sakura after she fainted.”
“I take it back. Maybe it's not a good thing that girls are like that nowadays.” Smiling facetiously she rose to leave, “get some sleep and try to be on time tomorrow for your new team.”
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“At what point did you think it was a good idea to continue the mission?” Team seven had just returned from their mission to Wave country and Rin was angry with him. Her righteous rage was only tempered by the knowledge that everyone was safe.
“It was the right thing to do. Tazuna wasn't just building a bridge but saving his country. It was a worthy mission even if the pay didn't represent the risk.” Despite his words Kakashi couldn't look up from the table he sat at.
“That would've made an interesting argument if one of them had died.” She made a dismissive gesture, “forget it. How do you think they did?”
Picking his words cautiously but knowing he couldn't lie to Rin he began slowly. “They were surprising. Sasuke pretty much handled the first battle on his own but given his history two chunin wouldn't scare him. However, Naruto froze and that surprised me.”
“He's not his father and it's unfair to compare him to our sensei. Remember he was battle hardened by the time we met him.”
“You're right.” For the first time that night Kakashi was able to meet her eyes, “but during the second fight I saw a flash of genius in Naruto.” He paused dramatically. “Of course then he walked right into a trap so I'm not sure if he's an idiot or a genius.”
Rin’s laughter filled the apartment. “Well, time will tell but, the girl. You haven't mentioned her.”
“She followed every order she was given without fail.”
“And yet you're worried about her.”
Kakashi was not the least surprised that she could read through him so easily. “She didn't fail her teammates and she didn't fail the client. By any measure she performed perfectly but, that doesn't mean she is going to see it that way.”
“Kids have stupid ideas of what it means to be a hero. They'll learn that coming home with your teammates alive and well with a completed mission is the best thing that can happen.”
For a moment there was silence before he spoke again, “I'm nominating them for the Chunin Exams.
“Do you think they're really ready to be chunin?”
“No,” he didn't hesitate. “If they make it to the finals I'll personally see to it that they are not promoted.”
“Then why?”
There were a lot of legitimate reasons for his course of action but he settled on the truth. “Sakura is stronger than she thinks and even if she just agrees to take the exam it will be a big step forward for her. Sasuke has to learn that he can trust his teammates and part of the exam will test that. As for Naruto it will be a good experience for him.”
“They could die you know.”
Kakashi winced at the words. “Those three are stronger than we think. None of them are leaders yet but, they can take any genin and I think they will look out for each other.”
“If you say so,” she hesitated giving him one of her gentle smiles. “It was a lot easier back in our day. If you survived enough missions you got promoted.”
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“Naruto is going to think you're playing favorites.” It was a day after the preliminaries had ended and they were sitting at his table again.
“I'm not. If Naruto was going to fight Gaara first, I would teach him exclusively.” He paused, “Ebisu is a great teacher. It's his specialty.”
“He wants to learn from you.”
“I know,” Kakashi rubbed his one visible eye.
“Are you regretting your decision?”
Kakashi considered that for a moment. “Knowing what I know now, yes.”
“It's a shame we can't relive the past. If we could I would dodge right instead of left." She laughed without humor. "Anyway at least you don't have to worry about Sakura.”
“It was just bad luck that she fought who she fought in the preliminaries." He paused before adding "I'll have to teach her something to keep her spirits up. Still I think she changed a little for the better.”
“Let's hope that it was worth it.” Rin’s eyes held all the doubt he was feeling.
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Naruto had left for his training trip with Jiraiya a day ago and Kakashi found himself sitting at his table with Rin again.
“I've lost all my students, Sakura to Tsunade, Naruto to Jiraiya and Sasuke to Orochimaru. I failed as a teacher.”
“There's more to being a ninja than Jutsu’s. Naruto and Sakura will become stronger because of what you taught them. As for Sasuke there wasn't anything you could do. Part of him will always be that eight-year-old boy who is scared and angry. In that way you two are a lot alike. The only difference is you chose not to live in the shadow of your past.”
“Obito pulled me out,” he corrected her.
“You wanted out.” Her voice was barely audible, “that the single biggest difference between you and Sasuke. Where he rejected you accepted.”
Kakashi looked at her really taking in her appearance for the first time. “What are you exactly?” Rin was exactly as he remembered her before her last mission. Beautiful, confident and not a day passed fifteen.
She shrugged. “Maybe I'm a ghost. Maybe you're a little crazy. Does it really matter?”
He had to agree, it didn't matter. She would never leave him, could never leave him.
“They're not leaving you. You're just going to be separated for a while.” Then she was gone and for the first time in a long time he thought about the future and wondered if she could be right.
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Story notes: Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Chapter notes: Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto