"No, I refuse," Kakashi spoke the second he realized what the third Hokage was holding out to him before the older ninja could get a word in, "if you give me another team, I'll fail them. Just let someone else deal with it."

"The council is quite invested in this team and are hoping for their success under you," the Hokage said explaining what he wanted without words, "They believe there's nobody more qualified, especially considering the special circumstances," the Hokage spoke without any visible change in his expression despite Kakashi's vehement disapproval.

Kakashi didn't know who was on the team, but it was one of two things. Either the council was giving him a group of kids, that they needed pushed through the ranks for political purposes or something much worse and Kakashi had a sinking suspicion.

"Read through and I'm sure you'll see why," The Sandaime slightly shook the folder in his hands as if reminding Kakashi that it was still there. Kakashi took the dossier with exaggerated annoyance, but he knew this wasn't a fight he'd be winning easily.

The Hokage dismissed him and like the loyal ninja he was he began preparations for his new genin team. He considered failing them out of spite, but he decided to do away with the test entirely. If the expectation was that Kakashi would let them pass, then why bother with a test? His new plan of action was to throw all pretenses out the window, he had zero commitment to the team and was planning on giving them the bare minimum. As long as he did the council this favor he would use it as leverage for them not to saddle him with another team.

He wasn't going to let them die because incompetence, he wasn't a horrible person, but he was offering enough direction and attention to succeed and eventually throw them to the Chunin exams. Once they were trained and passed he would try to move away as much as possible, he would probably be a bad influence anyway and he didn't want an emotional connection.

The plan was thrown out the window when he actually looked at who was on his team.

An eraser in the doorway, they clearly thought this was all a big joke, but he wasn't going to play their game. He stepped through the door and moved out of the way of the falling eraser. He did make a point of flicking it out of the air and directly into Naruto's face, he was entirely sure it his idea. "Tomorrow come to training field seven at 0600 hours. Don't be late, I'll be testing you to see if you're actually ninja material."

He didn't wait for a response he simply turned around and left the room though he stayed by the door hidden out of sight to listen in on their conversation.

"I told you it was a stupid idea, Dobe," Sasuke said. Kakashi needed to knock that superior tone right out of him, he didn't want another version of himself on the team. Kakashi was a bit of a jerk as a child, but he had the skills to back it up. This kid might be the top of his class, but compared to his brother or Kakashi at that age, he needed a lot of improvement before he could act so arrogantly. However, Kakashi knew the potential was there, he just needed to draw it out.

"Shut up Teme," Naruto yelled back to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun is right, you need to be more mature," Sakura jumped right on Sasuke's train. Her crush was probably going to be detrimental to the team, young romances tended to be. Looking back at his old team the crushes they had worked against them, eventually they managed to get things together, but it did cause tension. Still among his regrets and wishes of what he could change, emotional issues that came with puberty weren't at the top of the list.

Once he heard the clattering that accompanied Naruto launching himself at Sasuke, Kakashi took his leave. He was going to force those kids into the best team possible whether they wanted to or not. He had multiple reasons for this desire and only a few were rational. Part of it was what he felt he owed his own sensei, his experiences with Naruto as a child while he observed the boy, and a likely misplaced sense of guilt involving Itachi. He was Itachi's superior in Anbu for a time, he always wished he managed to connect more to him.

Possibly most of all was that just by looking at them he could see his own team and he couldn't let history repeat itself.

He was going to make them exceptional because maybe that would finally silence the voices that haunted his dreams and ease the pain he constantly felt.

Plus he'd get a certain amount of satisfaction at shoving the council's face in the success of the team he was expected to babysit. He absolutely knew they had no faith in Naruto and simply needed someone capable to make sure he didn't become a danger, nobody could care less about Sakura, and Sasuke was a bloodline not a person.

As much as it went against his nature he made sure to be on time, give or take a few minutes and arrived in time to see his team gathered on the cusp of another argument. That was another thing he'd need to stomp out, a bit of rivalry never hurt anyone, but if they couldn't cooperate they'd be compromised.

"When I told you we'd be doing a test, I lied. Every time I was assigned a group they took a test and I failed them, but this time it doesn't matter because I have to accept you. For or better or worse we're stuck together which means I'm going to put my best effort into this and I expect the same in return. I'll push you until you achieve greatness, and I won't accept laziness or complaints. From today on your my team, my first team and I won't have you disgracing yourselves or more importantly me. Are we clear?" He knew he was laying it on a bit thick, but if the expressions on their faces were anything to go by the message was getting through.

With a quick sign two shadow clones appeared by his side, "Now I'm going to split you up and talk about what you need for training. We're going to do one week of personal work just to get you in shape and help you understand what I expect, then you'll start training as a group, following that will be basic missions, and we'll proceed from there."

He and his clones split up the genin and took them to separate parts of the training grounds, the clones would disperse and let Kakashi know how the discussions went with the two he didn't personally talk to.

Sakura was going to need the most work even if he ignored the advantages the other two had. She was trained by books which was all well and good, but he knew she didn't have the skills to back up her knowledge.

"Let me be perfectly clear, those two were chosen for exceptional reasons, whatever ninja they chose to be third on the squad was just to round out the numbers. In this case you were deemed the right choice. Compared to those two your analytical skills, genjutsu potential, chakra control, and intelligence are superior. However in actual battle you cannot currently keep up and you won't have the same advantages they have going forward," Kakashi was brutally honest with the girl, because they were very quickly going to pull out in front of her unless she made a serious effort.

"So you're saying I'm useless in battle?" She asked some bite in her tone, but she couldn't entirely reign in the hurt. Kakashi didn't entirely blame her for that, being told by your new mentor that you were a weak link and were tacked onto the team just because you were convenient couldn't feel good.

"I'm saying you're going to need to work twice as hard just to keep up with them, so you can't spend your time mooning over Sasuke," he explained in a slightly more patient tone and before she could get offended he added in a friendlier tone, "As a former child ninja genius heartthrob I can tell you, being committed to the mission is more attractive than anything else."

She took a deep breath and steeled herself answering, "I don't need dating advice from an old man, but I promise I'll work hard. I won't be a burden." She spoke with a resolution that Kakashi expected her to hold to. She looked him in the eye and said, "Tell me what I need to do."

Kakashi knew he needed to let her know exactly where she stood, "Sasuke will eventually unlock the sharingan and Naruto has an overwhelming amount of chakra as well as his own special circumstances, those are natural advantages. Even taking that away, they still are both more capable than you in combat. You're all still children with very limited training so your lack of strength and speed aren't entirely your fault, part of it is biology and part of it is you coming from a civilian background where I'm sure your parents didn't stress the need for working out or training."

Sakura nodded which Kakashi took as agreement and continued, "For the time being you'll be using your chakra to augment your physical abilities while I train you in taijutsu and weapon skills, I understand that you know the theory and basics, but you need to practice the application. I expect you to do general fitness exercises everyday whether or not I'm actively training you, I'll lay out what I expect you to do. What I've mentioned so far is primarily improving physical combat capability by improving your taijutsu, stamina, strength, speed, and it'll help you get used to using your chakra in combat situations. This won't come quickly, but you'll begin to notice the effects over time, once I'm satisfied you'll start focusing on ninjutsu and or genjutsu whichever I deem the best choice. I don't want to overload you with information so we'll discuss things as we get to them."

"Right," she said nodding sharply before asking, "What do I do first?"

"I need to know exactly where you stand in terms of skill, beyond my observations and secondhand knowledge."

"How should I show you?"

"Simple, attack me and don't stop until I tell you that you can."

Naruto was an enigma a boy who could create dozens if not hundreds of shadow clones from his nearly endless chakra supply, but lacked basic skills. He wasn't overly concerned about improving the boy's stamina or chakra reserves, he could thank his Uzumaki heritage for that. Kakashi wasn't going to teach him anything if he couldn't get the basics down first, he couldn't imagine Naruto enjoying that much so just ordering him to run through Academy exercises wouldn't work.

"So what's your dream?" Kakashi asked despite knowing the answer. The boy wanted to be the Hokage and if Kakashi could, he'd help the boy realize his dream, but first he needed to learn to throw a punch.

"I want to be the Hogake and be recognized by everyone," Naruto responded projecting confidence, but Kakashi could see hints of pain of desperation to have others look at him without disdain.

Kakashi nodded, "Alright, if that's you dream then it's my job to help you achieve it." It probably wasn't, he was tasked with helping them begin their journeys to becoming ninjas. Normally he condemned teachers letting their emotions affect students, Gai and his clone Lee was an example, but inevitably all teachers became invested in their students.

Naruto interrupted him jumping in the air and pumping his fist before he could launch into a tirade about his dreams Kakashi continued, "But for this to happen I expect you to follow my orders."

"You got it," Naruto flashed him a grin and a thumbs up.

Kakashi gave him an eye smile, "Perfect, now the first step is for you to master the basics."

"I already know the basics, I graduated," Naruto quickly protested as Kakashi had expected.

"No, you squeaked by, I saw your grades and the reports on your progress. I think you have the talent and potential, but I think you've been holding yourself back with your antics. Naruto I believe in you all I need is for you to believe in me," Kakashi was gentle in a way he knew he was rarely going to be with them, but it was important for them to trust him.

The emotional abuse Naruto faced over the years was clearly worse than Kakashi had predicted because just the knowledge that someone believed in his dream seemed like a revelation to the boy who was staring at Kakashi as if he'd said something foreign. Naruto's voice was much lower when he nodded head and asked, "What's first?"

"Make a shadow clone and have it spar with me, I'll only defend, I want you to watch until you can tell me the weaknesses in your fighting style and what you need to improve. I'll teach you how to follow through on the improvements you think you need, after that you'll repeat the process, but this time you'll be fighting your clone. With each fight you'll slowly improve your style, when I'm happy with your progress your opponent will become me and you'll continue to figure out what you need to change. Each time you adapt to my fighting style, I'll start using a different one and you'll continue to identify your problems," Kakashi gave him a basic walk-through. Kakashi figured he would using fighting styles that would force Naruto to learn what he should already know.

Kakashi didn't plan on directly revealing to Naruto that using clones could speed up the training progress, mainly because he didn't want him getting lazy thinking he could have his clones practice for him. However if Naruto and his clone were doing the same activity at the same time, it could speed things up in the initial stages and hopefully Naruto wouldn't realize exactly what was happening. "Now form a clone and watch closely, this is your very first step towards becoming Hokage."

"Right," Naruto and his newly formed clone answered at the same time.

Kakashi walked next to Sasuke his new little problem child and rather than give orders he waited for Sasuke to talk first. He wanted to know where the young Uchiha's head was, what he was thinking and how Kakashi was going to mold him into a team player. Although all three would have trouble with teamwork due to their personalities and relationships, Sasuke had issues with people in general along with his fierce independence and closed off personality things were going to be troublesome. That wasn't even mentioning his childhood trauma and hatred for his brother, both of which Kakashi felt he wasn't equipped to deal with, but knew would come up.

"So we're training separately?" Sasuke asked seeking clarification.

"For the time being, yes," Kakashi answered keeping his eye on Sasuke.

"Good," Sasuke said simply a bit of satisfaction present, but with no other real tone to his voice.

"Why do you think it's good?" Kakashi

"I'm different from those two, I don't need them holding me back." Kakashi nearly rolled his eye, but Sasuke wasn't entirely wrong.

The reason for the week of personal preparation wasn't really to focus on skills it was to make sure the genin had a basic level of ability that would allow them to work together. Naruto and Sakura weren't going to jump to Sasuke's level over night, but he needed them to be capable enough for him to assign them basic positions within the team and to work cooperatively. If Sasuke was entirely out of their league it was difficult to relegate positions because Sasuke would be expected to take lead in almost all situations, Naruto would be running behind him spamming clones, and Sakura would stare at them unable to do anything.

"I'll admit you're different, but not that different. Honestly a new genin with your level of skill acting so high and mighty, it's a bit embarrassing," Kakashi was choosing to prod at him because breaking down this idea of him being someone on a different level from his teammates was necessary.

"Really and how great were you when you graduated?" Sasuke carried traces of anger, it was nice to see him showing some sort of emotion.

"Fair enough, you're probably stronger than I was when I first graduated," Kakashi shrugged and Sasuke looked remarkably smug until Kakashi added, "but I also graduated in one year, so I'm not too hurt."

Sasuke shook his head like he didn't believe it, "No, that's impossible."

"Not really, we were in a time of war. Once a student mastered everything the school offered you could graduate, twelve was almost more of a cut-off age than anything else. I was a genius considered the greatest in my generation, that sort of thing. Many students graduated a bit early between the ages of nine and twelve, but not in one year like myself. If I feel like telling you my whole history I'll do it as a group so I don't need to repeat myself, but this conversation gave me a fun idea for training," Kakashi gave him a smile that couldn't be seen.

Sasuke was far more deferential when he asked, "What's your plan?"

"I've decided I'll fight you with the body I had when I was your age, every day I'll fight as if I was a year younger and we'll see where you stand compared to me. My chakra will be at one third of it's normal capacity because I need to keep a shadow clone with each of your teammates and I'll only use the strength, speed, and skills I had at each age. Since I'll start at twelve by the end of the week I'll be five again, you'll probably be able to match me by the time I'm seven. Once I lose you'll keep fighting me at around that strength, sounds fun right?" Kakashi asked, knowing the younger ninja would take it as a challenge. He had no chance at any age ten or beyond, but if he got lucky he might win at age eight just because he was more physically developed than Kakashi.

A quick henge and twelve year old Kakashi stood facing Sasuke who launched himself forward the moment Kakashi said, "Go."

The day ended with three exhausted genin heaving on the ground bruised and beaten. "I'll see you tomorrow morning at the same time, don't be late and bring food, it'll be a long day." Three groans were the only response he received and to him it sounded like progress. At this rate they were really going to grow on him, if he didn't break them first.

A/N

This is what happens when I randomly see a Naruto clip on YouTube for the first time in quite some time.

Thanks for reading please let me know what you think.