Puppies

Hatake Kakashi was convinced it was none of his business. Even when summoned by Godaime to discuss the Academy's early graduation plans, he preferred to think she was simply mistaken. Pressed into Gai's shoulder, Kakashi shifted uncomfortably on the lounge room's spacious sofa, ensuring he didn't accidentally brush against Kurenai. She had changed out of yesterday's new, stiff flak jacket and was now wearing a dress that seemed to be made more of bandages and mesh than actual fabric. Kakashi gulped and focused on his teacup, grasping it with both hands. D-damn women, anyway. Across from him, Godaime was sitting too close, eyeing their group with an unpleasant smirk. The news had been delivered, cloaked as a casual "I just came to talk to you" rather than a direct order. Kakashi set down his empty teacup and picked up a peculiar, foil-wrapped sweet. The cloying sugar and chocolate made his teeth ache so much that he couldn't help but grimace. What a rare piece of trash! He had nothing to say, and in the unpleasant, oppressive silence, broken only by the rustling of paper, he carefully smoothed out a piece of foil with his nail. Kakashi raised his gaze again to the two sheets of paper in front of him, re-reading the tiny lines of information about his future students for the tenth time. Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, had passed their written exams for the first course of the basic program. But thay would be facing graduated early from the academy and instead of struggling with multiplication and memorizing kanji, thay would be stuck with endless harvest collection missions and night patrols. It was now impossible to separate them, as the Uchiha with the Sharingan had to be paired with the jinchuriki. The Uchiha clan was now down to one, and without the clan's dojutsu, the loyal Sharingan was also down to one - his. Now, he and his comrades were "recommended" (a thinly veiled order) to observe the practical exams and decide the children's fates—whether to graduate them or advance them several classes. Doing nothing was not an option - among the first-year students, six were children of active clan heads. Leaving them to regular study would mean sparking a rebellion among the clans, and it would be impossible to explain why "my little boy has to work, while your child from the main family, who is much better prepared than mine, gets to slack off in the academy?" Kakashi suspected that it was due to similar pressure that his own father had allowed him to become a genin at the age of five. "Okay, couldn't he just say 'No'?" When the first-year students were led out into the courtyard, Kakashi winced in pain - the shrieking, chattering balls of unbridled energy filled the entire courtyard. They reminded him of the annoying, crazy flock of small birds that lived outside his window. Those creatures would start chirping as early as January, around 5 am, when he was trying to sleep. The troublemakers were counted again (could they really get lost inside the Academy? what a punishment...) and led out to the training grounds. Kakashi quickly spotted his own boys. Sasuke tried to act independently, but when the younger students were brought face to face with the aggressive upperclassmen, who were still pumped up from the pre-exam competition, he nervously swallowed, widened his eyes, and took a step back behind the "reliable" back of a teenager who was listed as the sensei of the first group of first-year students. Naruto was in a different group - under the guidance of an elderly kunoichi who had once taught Kakashi himself, even before his official enrollment in the Academy. During the skill test, the selected eight potential genins demonstrated confident skills in throwing blades into a shield. Apart from them, only five or six children showed similar average skills, and that was out of a huge group of almost a hundred kids who had managed to be born between the end of the Third Great Ninja War and the Nine-Tails' attack. "They'll pass," Asuma muttered gloomily from a nearby branch. "They'll pass," Kurenai echoed in agreement, "if they don't get scared during the sparring matches. They haven't gone that far yet." Kakashi wanted to scold them, shut them up, and not disturb him from choosing the third girl. The cheerful little Inuzuka girl with a firm hand had already received a ninken, but had failed all the written exams. Naruto, if Kakashi closed his eye, could be called semi-literate, then she still hadn't mastered the alphabets. There was also the Sarutobi girl, who was average in everything, but during the training sparring match, she had frozen up so much. "I'll take that Hyuga boy as my third," Gai exclaimed, landing on his branch with a burst of energy, "he'll have the unstoppable flame of Youth Power shining within him!" "Good luck," Kakashi said. Gai's eyes sparkled with excitement as he envisioned the possibilities. "And what will you do, my eternal rival?" he asked, his enthusiasm still evident. "Let them get transferred to the third class. They're not ready," Kakashi replied. Gai's face lit up with an inspired look. "What a wonderful idea to join us now and simultaneously take on the challenging path of a jonin-sensei! Just think of the adventures we'll have, the battles we'll win, the bonds we'll form! Are you closing the team with that little pink-haired kid?" Kakashi raised his head in surprise, pausing from cleaning his kunai. He hadn't planned on taking a civilian girl. Highest scores on the written exams, smooth palms and unscathed knees. If he be hones, Kakashi even had no choice but to select Sakura for the team. While her skills were not outstanding, she was the only one who met the minimum requirements and showed potential for growth under proper guidance. She would be a burden for a long time, only to retire at thirteen without accomplishing anything more dangerous than a C-rank mission. Best of the worst. "Yes, she." Sending these kids for a psychological evaluation was pure sadism. Kakashi himself remembered his first one at the age of ten, and despite the relatively gentle treatment, he still cried himself to sleep for several nights, comforted by his sensei. Even now, when adults tested his resolve, he would summon his ninken and sleep, oppressed by their presence. Godaime had decided to conduct the evaluation herself, and without waiting for the students to complete all the exam stages, she took both younger classes to a room that was used as a kindergarten during the war. Falling asleep immediately after eating was unacceptable behavior for a shinobi, but almost everyone's eyes were drooping. Naruto was rubbing his eyes by dirty hands, stained with rust and grass, next to him, Shikaku's son let out a yawn into his fist and rested his head on his hands. "Pups," Kakashi snorted. "They're so small, so cute. They should be playing instead..." Kurenai pulled her knees close, wrapping her arms around them. "Damn this politics! What's the point of these genins?" "You're not right," Asuma said, sitting down beside them, and Kakashi wrinkled his nose in distaste. Asuma's posture straightened, his shoulders broadened, and his usual scent took on an unpleasant, adult tone during last year. "They'll be used to fill the gaps in low-ranking missions, freeing up hands. Consider every kunai in your pouch paid for by these kids. And at the same time, they'll keep potentially very strong jonin away from the front lines, right, Kakashi?" The classroom downstairs was emptying, with parents taking their children one by one, leaving only those selected for the graduation. Naruto looked around carefully, poked the cheek of the sleeping boy next to him a few times, got up, and arise to Godaime, who was wearing a light henge, and tugged on the hem of her green haori: "Ano, nee-chan," Godaime's eyebrows rose in surprise, but she still crouched down to the bouncing Naruto. "Let me go home! Nowbody take me." Tsunade-sama caught Naruto's wrist, turned him around, and said something to him, but Kakashi missed it, distracted by Asuma's low voice. She picked up the spinning Inuzuka and sat both boys down, offering them a chance to draw while they waited for their parents. Sasuke nervously lifted his head, tried to squirm away, but Godaime had already pressed his back against her knees, placed both hands on his shoulders, and gently rocked him back and forth on the chair. She handed out pencils; stuck sheets of paper to the table; forbade picking brushes in girls' ears; brought over the "no longer little" Hyuga boy; forbade them from licking the paints, even though they were labeled "honey"; helped everyone decide what to draw; caught Naruto's hand, helped him hold the pencil correctly; asking him one question, then another; sat the troublesome Inuzuka on her lap. Then, Hyuga-hime accidentally spilled water, and despite Tsunade-sama's quick reaction, both her drawing and her cousin's paper got wet. The girl either became embarrassed or started crying, covering her face with her hands, and despite the mess being quickly cleaned up, she sniffled, blurted out that she was a clumsy shame and that she always ruined everything, that she shouldn't have been called, and that she didn't deserve a break. Before Godaime could help or comfort her, Naruto rushed to hug her. Akimichi, sitting beside her, reassured her that everything was okay, offering her sweets. What she said to calm the little ones remained a mystery to Kakashi. They were able to draw quietly for a while, but Godaime asked question after question. Meaningless, unimportant little things that made no sense to Kakashi. What she was learning was unclear, as was how a favourite book or colour could decide if these children were ripe to be shinobi. But these questions meant a lot to the brats, and at some point they burst into an endless stream of words. They chattered and squealed, sharing all their little problems and worries, clinging to hands, offering their tousled heads, and reveling in the sudden attention and affection. Kakashi desperately wanted to turn himself inside out, rid himself of the unpleasant thoughts. Kurenai biting her lower lip, crumpling the edge of Asuma's flak jacket. Kakashi felt like an outsider, pulled off his glove from his wet palm, dug his nails into his skin, and heard: "What a beautiful butterfly! Good job, Shino-kun." The tone was too familiar, the words too familiar, and he had heard them too often about himself: "That was a very difficult mission, good job, Kakashi-kun." Did Godaime see the difference between him, a nearly twenty-year-old jounin and ANBU captain, and a six-year-old boy? Thanks to her, at least she didn't praise him for his drawings.