Number Seven: Fu - 4

He left Shibuki's office not long later, sans Fu. It seemed he wanted to, take the time to explain to her that the summoning technique, especially one linked to Rainemaru, was not a toy and she had to be careful with it.

Fu had already half tuned him out as soon as he started, instead focusing on hugging the ever loving daylights out of Daiki and telling him to come back and visit soon and winking at him while wishing him luck on increasing his chakra capacity.

Shibuki had sputtered and went bright red at her words. He thought it was innuendo apparently, and didn't coin on to the real meaning behind her words at all.

"So, ready to go?" he found Kakashi leaning on the wall of the mansion beside the door.

"Are you a clone or the real one?" Daiki asked instead.

"Not a clone," Kakashi shrugged, "I left a few clones to keep an eye on you while I escorted my team back, then rushed back once they were back in the village."

Daiki shrugged and walked on, the older shinobi pushing off the mansion and quickly catching up and walking beside him in a few strides.

"I've got another question." he asked.

"I may have the answer." Kakashi didn't even look up from his book.

"If you were around," the teen began, narrowing his eyes at the man by his side, "Why did you let that guy kick the shit out of us? You could have taken care of him at any point, couldn't you?"

"Actions have consequences," Kakashi shrugged, actually looking up from his book to stare at Daiki seriously, "You and those three other idiot chibi's jumped right into a mission you were never given, you aren't samurai, it isn't your job to defend the innocent, you're a shinobi."

The man stopped walking, forcing Daiki to do the same, "You were never in any real danger, the second he went for a full on killing blow, I would have ripped his head off before he even knew what happened," Kakashi continued, directing his full attention to Daiki, and the boy felt, something akin to a pressure force down upon his shoulders, rooting him to the spot, "But what if I wasn't here? Being a Jonin-sensei isn't about holding your hands, you should be trusted to make your way back to the village. If I wasn't here, and you didn't have that water as a crutch, all of you would have died for your pure ignorance of the situation and utter arrogance in your own ability."

Daiki found he couldn't utter a word to refute the Sharingan wielder, "This is why I told the Hokage I didn't want to bring my team with me," Kakashi sighed, running a hand through his hair and looking away from Daiki, "I knew exactly that Naruto and Sasuke couldn't be trusted to act as they should have, I wasn't sure about you and I knew Sakura would tag along with whatever Sasuke decided." he outright grumbled.

Daiki found himself releasing a huge breath he hadn't known he'd been holding when the man looked away, "…Tch…" it grated him, that every single word the man said, struck true.

They had been arrogant. He'd been especially arrogant because of his own knowledge. He thought after fighting those first Rain scrubs, that they could handle it, even knowing there was a Jonin-class enemy running the show.

Clearly, he needed to grind more than just his muscle and chakra power.

"Well, whatever," Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, "Treat this is as a learning experience."

"I will." Daiki promised.

He clearly didn't have the strength yet to act as he pleased.

They resumed walking, and not long later arrived at the shore of the lake, where to Daiki's slight surprise, a familiar figure was waiting.

A small, cute little girl, who positively lit up when she saw them, "Daiki-nii!" Shizuku shouted and quickly rushed over to him.

Slamming into his stomach and wrapping her thin arms around his waist, "You're okay, I'm so glad!"

Daiki was touched by her worry for him, "I'm fine," he pat her on the head and assured her, "Besides I told you didn't I? That I'd kick all those guys asses."

"Mmm!" Shizuku nodded against his stomach, "You were super cool."

Damn right he was.

He kneeled down after a moment when she pulled back and smiled at her, "It's time for me to head back home, but I'll come back and visit sometime," he promised her, "So until then, you be a good girl and look after your mom okay?"

"Mmm, I will!" she nodded, then surprised him by leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek, "I love you Daiki-nii!" she declared, as she bid him goodbye.

She ran off a moment later, waving him goodbye as she went, to which he returned as he stood up, right up until she disappeared behind a few houses.

"My, aren't you quite the ladies man?" Kakashi giggled, "I wonder how the cute little Hyuga Heiress will feel about you attracting Fu and little Shizuku."

Daiki rolled his eyes, "Stuff it up your ass." he retorted.

"Not my kink kid," Kakashi shrugged, "Oh, by the way, here." suddenly, there was a scroll in his hand and he tossed it at him.

Daiki caught it and raised his eyebrow at the man, "And this is?" he asked. It was a sealing scroll, he could tell that much, but not what was in it.

"Mission pay, for a B-rank, divided four ways between you Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura," he explained, "Oh, and the bounty for that Rain kunoichi you killed and a little extra I found on her body that I'm sure you'll like."

"…It better not be her underwear." Daiki deadpanned.

Kakashi scoffed, "As if a kid like you could appreciate the underwear of a mature, sexy lady."

"I don't want to hear that from an obvious virgin who turned to smut cuz he can't pull a girl." Daiki shot back.

And that was how the return trip went back to Konoha.

____________________________________

"Quite the spiral of events I see." The Sandaime mused, leaning back in his chair.

"I'm beginning to think my team are cursed to be honest," Kakashi shrugged, "Our missions tend to spiral like this a lot, don't they?"

"It's only been twice." Sarutobi deadpanned at the younger man.

"That's practically a dozen," Kakashi shrugged, "But yes, you don't need to worry about the girl, she seems perfectly stable, honestly, it's a wonder she's so upbeat with her situation."

"And the seal?" the older man pressed.

"Seems to be holding strong," the copy ninja replied, "Though, you'd be better asking Daiki, seems he has an interest in sealing quite a bit, he caught on that she was a jinchuuriki at some point during the mission and got her to show him her seal, from what I gather, he copied it down to study."

Sarutobi chortled, shaking his head in amusement, "He sounds like another promising young man I once knew," he said, "The similarities are quite astounding really, the innate talent they both have with the sealing arts, coming to the rescue of a female jinchuuriki, even studying their seals."

"I suppose he resembles Minato-sensei a bit," Kakashi nodded in agreement, "Though the attitude is all wrong, he's like some weird horrifying cross of Minato-sensei, Jiraiya-sama and Gai."

Honestly, it sounded like some form of horrifying monster to Kakashi. He wondered how he was at writing smut?

The chortle turned into a full bellied laugh at the comparison.

"Hopefully though, they learn a bit from this," Kakashi sighed, scratching the back of his head, "It won't be long now before they start doing missions without me, they need to understand just how wrong things can go if you don't consider things properly."

"Mmm, they are young still, but some perspective is always good to have," the Hokage pointed out, "Still, it's not like you don't approve of what they did in the end."

Kakashi didn't refute the older mans words, because he was right, he wouldn't have written down the instructions for that lightning jutsu for the kid and pretended he looted it from that chicks body otherwise. But, he stood by his decision in the end to let things play out as they did. Tough love like this, was better than them dying.

At least here, he could give them that experience with an opponent in a controlled environment, where he could have ended things in an instant if they got truly dangerous.