Kakashi skidded to a stop on the back of his heels, freaking Jiraiya out and breaking his concentration, his face contorting into toad-like features before Fukasaku beat him over the head with the stick in his hand.
"Aghhh! Kakashi, what the hell is your problem?! You broke my concentration!"
Jiraiya shouted in indignation, a vein throbbing at the side of his head.
"Maa, sorry."
Kakashi apologized lamely, avoiding looking at Jiraiya as he appeared ready to throw hands.
"I was coming to help. I have a way to help you balance the natural energy with the chakra within you."
Jiraiya's annoyance was briefly forgotten, and he was willing to take any help he could get if it meant getting hit less with a stick.
"How do you plan on helping me? And won't that cut into the time for your own training?"
Kakashi shook his head before remaining perfectly still, drawing in the natural energy and entering sage mode within four seconds.
Jiraiya's mouth opened, closed, opened, and closed again before flaring his chakra like he was attempting to break a genjutsu. Seeing that this was in fact reality, Jiraiya felt like crying.
'Not even a week! That's not fair!'
Fukasaku, who had been about to scold Jiraiya for slacking, noticed it too.
"Already? And it's perfect Sage mode as well. Jiraiya-boy, you've brought another talented one, such a shame that you've been surpassed by Minato-boy's student as well, what's next, your Godson? Truly embarrassing for you, 'Toad Sage', I'd bury myself in shame if I were you."
Jiraiya flinched as if stabbed in the heart, crying silent tears.
"Hey! It's not my fault that Minato, Kakashi, and even Naruto are freaks of nature! I'm talented too, you know! I'm the strongest Sanin!"
"Hmph, you got that title by losing to a salamander."
*Whack
"Now, back to work, let this young lad help you, you're clearly in need of it."
Kakashi awkwardly stood there, trying his best not to laugh as Fukasaku continued to threaten Jiraiya with the stick.
"Ok, fine."
Jiraiya replied, grumbling under his breath about annoying geniuses and painful sticks as he once more got into position to gather the natural energy.
Taking a few deep breaths, Jiraiya calmed his mind and went motionless, the natural energy once more being absorbed into him at a rate a bit too fast to manage.
Kakashi observed this, waiting until Jiraiya couldn't handle it before interveining with his haki.
Fukasaku lowered his stick, having been ready to smack it over Jiraiya's head again.
'What is this?'
Fukasaku shivered; the feeling he got from the pressure exuding from Kakashi was overwhelming in a way that he couldn't quite define right at this moment.
'And this isn't even focused on me, I can only imagine what Jiraiya-boy must be feeling.'
For his part, Jiraiya wasn't having much trouble; in fact, the intervention of Kakashi was helping him resist the wild natural energy better. If before Jiraiya was fighting a bear without chakra and no fighting experience, he was now armed with a sword and knowledge of how to use it. Still not easy, but a hell of a lot less taxing.
Now, with Kakashi's Haki as a buffer, Jiraiya was able to handle the natural energy better, far from perfect or proper Sage mode, but with each attempt, and each time Kakashi helped him suppress it a bit, Fukasaku noticed incremental improvements in how steadily Jiraiya gathered and balanced the natural energy.
It was hours later that they stopped for the day, Jiraiya and Kakashi both satisfied, having benefited from the training in different ways.
"That was good progress, Jiraiya-boy, I'll have Ma cook up some good grub to celebrate."
Fukasaku smiled happily, proud of his student as he hopped back to his house, missing the green hue of Jiraiya's face and Kakashi's twinkling, amused eyes.
"Ah, actually, Kakashi brought food for us all, we can't exactly free-load from you and Ma, that'd be wrong."
Jiraiya hurriedly replied, sweating a little.
"Since when have you gotten so polite?"
Fukasaku paused and turned to question, wondering if Jiraiya was perhaps sick and dying.
"Are you ok, Jiraiya-boy?"
Jiraiya could see the honest concern, and he felt a mix of annoyance and warmth.
"I'm perfectly healthy, I promise, but Kakashi brought tons of food, and we can't exactly let food waste, that's not good."
Jiraiya lied smoothly. The food Kakashi brought was mostly canned goods and protein bars; only a portion was meat, and even that was stored in scrolls to keep it fresh.
Fukasaku nodded in understanding, agreeing that it's wrong to let food waste.
"I understand, but Ma will be upset. She'll force you to come eat with us the next time you visit."
Fukasaku said before looking over at Kakashi.
"That includes you, too, Kakashi-boy, and Naruto-boy when you bring him, especially that young Uzumaki girl, Ma will be happy to have another girl here."
The amusement Kakashi had felt shriveled and died as he nodded silently, ignoring the chuckle and look Jiraiya gave him, which seemed to say. 'Now who's laughing?'
Fukasaku smiled happily, missing the silent exchange between them as he wished them a good night and hopped back home to eat Ma's bug dinner.
"Not so funny now, is it?"
Jiraiya smirked.
"Maa, who just got done helping you manage natural energy for hours?"
Kakashi replied with an eye smile.
"Let's not act like that didn't help you in some way."
Kakashi shrugged, neither confirming nor denying it, as he turned and walked away to find Naruto and Karin, Jiraiya following along behind him, the smirk still on his face.
Finding Naruto and Karin in a clearing, Kakashi and Jiraiya didn't approach yet, as they watched Naruto hold kunai between the fingers of both hands.
"Shurikenjutsu looks advanced too."
Jiraiya smiled as he recalled the hours upon hours Minato practiced with his heavier Flying-Raijin kunai.
Naruto, oblivious to the observers that weren't Karin, threw all the kunai in a tight formation, and what he did next stunned Kakashi and Jiraiya.
Dissappearing from his spot, Naruto flashed from kunai to kunai. Naruto would grab them and flash to the next, catching and storing them all in his ninja pouch before they hit the ground. Only then did he turn and see Kakashi and Jiraiya staring at him with wide eyes.
*Ding
Kakashi ignored the soft chime for now, walking up to Naruto with Jiraiya and taking in the clearing where Karin sat, the spread of fuinjutsu notes from Minato, and the designs that Kakashi recognized as the personalized markers that were needed to teleport.
"You've been working hard."
Kakashi smiled proudly.
"It would appear that you've surpassed me in Fuinjutsu."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a modest smile.
"Only because you've been focused on more than fuinjutsu lately, Sensei. Fuinjutsu has been my only focus, aside from the Rasenshuriken and Wind Rasengan."
Kakashi blinked again, having not been told about this, looking over to Jiraiya with a raised brow.
"I thought the kid would tell you."
Jiraiya raised his hands in surrender.
"As long as you use them responsibly, then I won't make an issue with you not telling me."
Kakashi said, eventually, after sighing at Naruto's awkward and guilty expression, reaching over to ruffle his blonde hair affectionately before leaving him to talk to Jiraiya as he sat in front of Karin.
"May I?"
Kakashi asked, gesturing to a few beginner seals that she made.
Karin nodded, handing them over a bit nervously, even though Naruto said they were great.
Kakashi observed each ink stroke on every seal, going over them and recognizing them instantly.
"The fact that I can identify them all so quickly means that these are already at standard issue."
Kakashi tested the seals before rewording his assessment.
"They're perhaps better than most standard-issue seals."
Kakashi complimented before picking up a brush and blank scroll in front of him, slowly drawing the seals that she needed more practice on.
"See this bit here? This should be connected to this part. Your seal wasn't wrong, but if it's like this, then it's more efficient and requires less chakra to power."
Kakashi slowly taught, then watched her copy what he did perfectly on only her fourth try.
"You're very talented, I'm sure you'll not only surpass me in the future, but surpass Naruto in this art as well."
Karin blushed at the praise, feeling warm inside, as she had when her mother was still alive.
Kakashi observed, but acted as if he was still looking at the work in front of him.
"Ready for the next seal?"
"Yeah."
Karin replied enthusiastically, ready to throw herself into the art and eager to improve.
The corner of Kakashi's lips curved under the mask.
"That's the spirit."
- Chapter End -
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I've tried to deepen the bonds between Kakashi and the others in this chapter. While Kakashi already has a deep, almost paternal relationship with Naruto, Kakashi is slowly but surely developing the same fatherly or big brother attitude to Karin. I think Kakashi and Jiraiya already had a good relationship, but I'm trying to deepen their bond as well. As mentioned in a review, I'm planning to work on and improve the development between Kakashi and the rest of his team as well. So, hope you look forward to that and the other twists and turns.