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Kakashi should have known something like this would happen the moment he had approached Iruka the other day.
Training with his team was…certainly something, but he’s never truly been in this position before. No trio has passed his bell test and with how their first official mission went, he knew that he as a teacher needed to learn how to make use of their skills if they were going to survive as a group. They got lucky with how things ended with Zabuza and Haku, but they won’t always have that good fortune.
So, he approached the adult who knew them best: Iruka.
The two had talked for a bit while lunch was in session and Kakashi shared his concerns to his friend about wanting to train the kids more efficiently but not knowing where to begin without playing it off as favoritism (because they’re all so different in terms of skills, how would he teach three separate things at once?) if he did individual lessons. They ended their chat with the brunet stating he had an idea but needed some time to get it together. Despite being confused by that phrasing, Kakashi had simply shrugged and thanked him.
Now he’s standing in the doorway to Iruka’s classroom once more a few days later with the other team captains present and all eager about something.
“Yo.” The former ANBU greeted, waving a hand as he entered.
“I’m glad you came!” Iruka returned as he shuffled some papers together from his desk. He passed one out to the others before getting up to hand the silver haired Jōnin his. “I talked to them about your desire to work on your team’s skills after reviewing my own time as their teacher and they all agreed to help,”
“Iruka sat down with each of us when we were free to see what we could offer that wouldn’t overstep your own lessons,” Kurenai said, a smile forming. “I’ll be taking Naruto off your hands here and there for some sensory-nin training. We have a feeling his senses are stronger than how he’s presenting them right now, he just doesn’t know how to apply them.”
“I’ll be co-teaching strategy and logistics with you to your whole team.” Chimed in Asuma, who was leaning against one of the student tables. “It’ll be beneficial for the three of them to learn that stuff together, since they all have different kinds of ‘smarts’. Sakura being book-smart, Sasuke battle-smart, and Naruto street-smart. We can teach them how to combine those into plans based on the situation and to be adaptable.”
“And Kakashi! How wondrous of you to rely on us, we won’t let you down!!” Guy exclaimed. “I shall take the young Uchiha under my wing to train along with Lee for taijutsu but - this will have to count as a point against you!”
Kakashi shook his head with a sigh at his friend. “Thank you all for taking your time out to help me when you have your own teams to teach. I have some ideas myself for some lessons that I’d like to run by you all while you’re here.”
Putting the list Iruka gave him away into a vest pocket, the Copy Ninja crossed his arms. “Sakura doesn’t have any special lessons planned, and I don’t want her to feel overshadowed by the boys. She has amazing chakra control, so I was considering putting her into medical-nin training. Guy, TenTen uses seals, correct? I was hoping she could teach both Naruto and Sakura the basics. Sakura so she could carry her medical equipment more efficiently and Naruto because of his heritage. I’ll look into proper seal training for him once TenTen approves of his progress. Who knows? He may be a natural at it.”
“So that’s two lessons for Sakura and Naruto…what about Sasuke?” Iruka asked.
“I’ll train him on using the Sharingan.”
“Surely he knows how to use it, his father must have trained him before….” Kurenai trailed off, not really knowing how to tread with this topic considering the ties to the Uchiha the team leader had.
“I’m aware, but he doesn’t have battle training with it. It’ll only get stronger as he grows up, it’s inevitable in this line of work. I may only have the one eye, but even I know the dangers of over-using it. I’ll make sure to drill it into his head that not every situation will call for it, despite what he may have grown up learning. Taijutsu training will be perfect for Sasuke in this regard too, it’ll teach him not to rely solely on his kekkei genkai to win.”
“Two points!” Guy yelled in agreement, striking his signature pose to show he was all for this plan. Asuma chuckled, putting a cigarette in his mouth but not lighting it out of respect for the classroom they were occupying.
“Hey, I have an idea.” Kurenai spoke up, getting the attention of the men. “Why are we stopping with just Kakashi’s team? We should rotate our kids around too for specialty lessons while we’re at it. I think it’ll be a great way for the kids to bond as well, and to get used to different team dynamics.”
“That’s an amazing idea!” Iruka immediately agreed, beaming as he put his hands together. “If you need help planning that, I don’t mind offering my own help. The kids already know they can come here if they’re struggling, so I’ll be sure to keep those in mind as we go forward with this. I think this way of teaching will only make these already outstanding groups of children even better.”
“Ah, the passion of the next generation! You can count myself and my team in, since they’re also the oldest, I’ll see about having them conduct lessons on their own specialties like Kakashi had suggested with TenTen!”
“We should focus on small groups for these extra lessons, especially student run ones,” Asuma interjected thoughtfully. “We shouldn’t overwhelm them and even then, they should feel comfortable enough to run those lessons. But I will agree that this can only be beneficial for everyone in the long run. We may have to fight together in the future, so getting a head start on learning different skills and team combinations while they’re young is the smartest move here.”
Turning to Kakashi, he added, “I’ll look around myself for anything to aid Naruto’s seal training. I agree it’s important that he continues on his clan’s legacy, which means he should actually learn more about his heritage. That’s more of a sit down discussion, though, since… it’s also not the happiest ending. We should see about getting Jiraiya back into the village to help with that at some point, maybe even train him on how to control the Kyūbi.”
Nodding, Kakashi couldn’t agree more. His own sensei’s sensei would be the perfect candidate for that, plus… he was Naruto’s godfather, so it was his duty to discuss those sorts of topics with the blond in place of his parents.
“If we’re going to bring back members of the Legendary Sannin, I recommend Tsunade for Sakura’s training,” Kurenai pointed out. “By the time you hunt her down, we may even have others who want to receive medical-nin training too. I think Ino would be a good candidate, if we’re going off teaching our kids not to rely on just their family’s specialties.”
“I agree, Kurenai. I think we should offer the opportunity to all of them, just in case,” Iruka chimed in before looking at the clock. “This was definitely a productive meeting, and we should have some more in the future to discuss progress and other lessons or ideas we have. For now, I need to continue working on prep for tomorrow’s lessons for my own kids. I’ll discuss with the other teachers about putting in the groundwork for some of these ideas too, especially perhaps internships with the different fields for those interested in exploring new skills.”
“Alright, that sounds good,” Standing upright, Asuma moved to the door first, waving over his shoulder. “I’ll get going first, I’ll start discussing this with my team and the suggestion you had, Kurenai. See ya.”
Squeezing past Kakashi, the Team 10 captain left. Kurenai followed after, with a goodbye and her own promises of passing the information along to Team 8. Guy, not wanting Kakashi to beat him to gather his team up, left very quickly after her to ensure “he would win” which left Kakashi and Iruka alone.
“Thanks again, Iruka,” the white haired male said softly. “I wasn’t expecting a community project to come from this, but I’m not even surprised.”
That got a chuckle from the brunet. “I’m happy I was able to help in some way. I’m also really grateful to you for giving each of your kids a chance to grow, I know how difficult it must be for Sakura being the only one from a civilian family. She’s smart, I agree that medical training is probably the best route for her given her skills. I’m also sure Naruto will be enthusiastic to learn more about his family, I’ll definitely want to be around for that.”
“I’ll make sure of it,” Kakashi agreed, smiling with his visible eye. “I’ll leave next, I have a strong feeling I know where Naruto dragged those two so I should catch them before they all part ways.”
“Good luck!”
With that farewell, the Team 7 captain left the school and made his way to Ichiraku’s. He was correct in assuming that’s where his kids were by the sounds of Naruto’s yelling and Sakura’s exasperation that could be heard from outside.
He’s going to make sure these kids get strong enough to survive to adulthood. He owed it to his sensei and his own former teammates that they did.