"Naruko, how long are you going to wear that?" Sakura asked, looking at the coat that hung loosely on Naruko's shoulders, as she currently wasn't wearing the sleeves the way she should. something to do with them being too long to be comfortable yet.
"Well, I don't have another jacket, and Satchan told me I'm no longer allowed to wear my shirts without a jacket. I don't know what's wrong with them, but Satchan said she'll hit me if I don't wear something to cover them," she said, frowning.
"They're all white and get transparent when wet. We're on a boat," she said, gesturing to the empty expanse of the ocean and the distant land as Kakashi rowed to get them back to land. Their mission had been a success, and they'd gotten a massive bonus for stopping the threat. Kakashi in particular, as most nobles had been incredibly impressed by his performance. To him, it was just another day on the job, but it did feel like he was back as a lone jounin with his pay instead of being forced to survive on genin squad leader pay.
Fortunately, he was cheap in all tastes, so it's not like he was smarting for money, but he liked complaining about things he had no reason to complain about. He liked annoying people, and that had a way of annoying people like crazy.
"I dunno, the practice of taking trophies from the opponents we defeat fell from grace some years back, but it used to be really popular," Kakashi commented, as he rowed slowly, in the laziest way he could, which was lengthening the trip. Served his team right for forcing him to row.
"Still…" Sakura said, shivering. "That man almost—"
"Almost nothing, Sakura," Satsuki said, growling a little. "That man defeated us without even trying. To me, that's just a reminder of what I have to do," she said, gesturing to where Naruko was polishing the sword she'd taken from the man with an old rag. It was clear Naruko was supremely bored, and they'd already told her to shut up unless she was spoken to, so she was also kind of offended.
Of course, Naruko was upset for all of twelve minutes, and then she was simply calmed by the monotony of an action as simple and repetitive as cleaning a sword.
"That's what you're taking offense to!?" Sakura nearly screeched.
"Yes. We signed up for this. You knew this could happen when you signed your Genin contract, didn't you?" Satsuki asked.
"Yes, but… To experience it is completely different," Sakura said, looking at the brown, wet planks that made the floor below her. At least they'd lent Team 7 one of the lifeboats that was in better state. For a boat full of nobles, the lifeboats just plain sucked.
"Well, Satsuki is right. You should've received counseling for this already. Just be glad. When I was at the academy to receive those same lectures, I was five years old," stated Kakashi, rolling his sole visible eye. "And I was sent on my first lipstick mission not too long after that. Ah, I was such a cute little kid back then, I was popular for these, you know?"
Sakura paled considerably. "S-Sensei-!?"
"It happens, Sakura, and you just have to deal with it," Kakashi said. "Contrary to civilian popular belief, it does get easier with time, and you guys are more resilient than you give yourself credit for," he said, waving off her concerns. "I just thought of something… why am I not using a Shadow Clone to row for me?" he asked himself, sounding mystified.
He stood up and walked so he had enough space to summon a clone, which he then proceeded to do. The clone groaned, but sat down to dutifully row.
"Okay, now that it's dealt with, I can use this time to give you guys an important lesson: Shit happens," he said, leaning against his clone's back and using it as a mutual backrest.
"That's it?" Satsuki asked.
"I'd prefer a new jutsu, really. Maybe that clone jutsu?"
Kakashi snorted. "It'll fry your pretty little brain, Naru-chan!" Kakashi said, reaching out and messing up her hair, using a little more strength to force her to look elsewhere. He wasn't certain he'd be capable of resisting the puppy dog eyes that she would certainly resort to in order to get her way. "When those dispel, they give you all their memories. And if they live too long, or you use too many at a time, it'll give you an aneurysm—"
"What's one of those?" Naruko asked.
"Let's just say it'll melt your brain and leave it at that," Sakura said, "I'm not in the mood to explain it," she said.
Satsuki was pensive for a second, before her cheeks were colored pink and she shook her head, slapping her own cheeks in order to make the heat in them go away.
"Well, that must've been one fun mental image," Kakashi said, grinning underneath his mask. "Anyhow, might as well relax."
"Can I go for a swim? I'm bored," Naruko said, pouting at Kakashi.
Kakashi knew resistance was futile. "Okay, but don't go too far out. Actually, this sounds like it'd be good exercise… I got an idea. All of you will go swimming. Do three dozen laps around the boat, on a ten foot radius from the boat itself, and then you can swim freely," he said. "And yes, that's an order."
"None of us has clothes to swim in," Sakura pointed out.
"Sakura, I assure you, we're alone here, and I have absolutely no interest in your prepubescent girl bodies. Plus, these days, bathing suits barely cover any more than your underwear," Kakashi said, rolling his eyes. "You're a ninja now. I technically have the authority to order you to dance naked in the middle of Konoha if I want to. Of course, I'd also get slapped with a fine for Public Indecency, but if you didn't do it, you'd get slapped with a fine and a black mark for insubordination."
"That's… that's just awful!" Sakura cried.
Satsuki scoffed. "Sakura, we're soldiers under Sensei's command. My mother once told me that her teacher had the authority to order her team to perform sexual favors for her. And that hasn't changed in the last twenty years, has it?"
"Actually, it has. The Yondaime made laws against the abuse of genin by their jounin teachers, but even then, the correct justification can still let a jounin get away with doing that. If I were to place an application to train you for seduction, for instance, all I'd need is you signing off on a waiver and then you'd have no legal recourse to prevent it. If I wanted to do it with Sakura, I'd have to make her parents sign it. Naruko's guardian as a ward of the village is the Hokage, so all I'd need is his own signature on it," of course Kakashi wasn't telling them that it was incredibly rare for a jounin teacher to do this, and the ones that did were usually the chunin teachers of the bulk of the shinobi forces, as the elite forces rarely engaged in such practice. Kakashi himself was an exception, and one of the very few, due to his career choice of infiltration and assassination.
"I thought we were adults and able to make such decisions by ourselves the moment we graduated as genin," Sakura said, frowning.
"For most things, you are. You could go to a bar and the only identification you need is your headband, and you could actually go into strip clubs and casinos with no problem. However, certain matters, most involving what your jounin teacher can or can't do with you, require parental or clan input, depending on your situation. Minato-sensei made it this way because of the possibility of abuse," Kakashi continued to explain, looking at the distant horizon, almost wistful and nostalgic, "he was a great man."
Sakura nodded, seeing the wisdom in the Fourth Hokage's actions. "But wait, you said you'd need Satsuki-san's signature for her… wouldn't that defeat the point?"
"Technically, she is her own Clan Head, which supersedes her status as a genin in legal situations like this one," Kakashi explained. "Even though she's not managing her clan's affairs…"
"You aren't?" Sakura asked.
"Of course I am not. I have things far more important to do. I asked Hokage-sama to appoint a curator for my state," replied Satsuki, looking at Sakura as if she'd just asked something incredibly stupid. "Even if I wanted to, I never received my father's training to manage the clan's affairs, so I have no idea what to do, or how to do it, to manage it."
"Anyhow, these limitations are removed when, and if, you make chunin," Kakashi said, leaning back against his clone's back. "By then, you're expected to be mature enough to make your own decisions. Most of you have already faced death and hopefully come out better for it by that time. Anyway, you really should get to doing your forty eight laps around the boat, or I'll make it sixty," he said.
"What!? I thought—" Sakura protested.
"You thought wrong. Chop chop!"
Satsuki blinked. "Wait, where is Naruko?" she asked, looking around, before looking down, seeing all of Naruko's clothes. She groaned. "Of course," she said, shaking her head.
Sakura blinked and lifted a small piece of white fabric. "Naruko is…"
Satsuki groaned. "Goddammit, Naruko," she said, seeing the pair of panties Sakura held in her hand.
Kakashi rolled his eyes. "I told you, nobody is going to be looking at you. Trust me, your bodies do absolutely nothing for me, and if I wanted to get laid, I don't need to force my students into anything to do it. If you wear your underwear while swimming, you'll have to take it off to put on the rest of your clothes back on again until it dries."
Sakura frowned, and seemed to be frustrated in the extreme.
"Comeon, Satchan, Sakura-chan!"
"Naruko, I counted only twenty six! Get back to it!" Kakashi yelled.
"'Kay!"
Kakashi then turned back to his other two students. "Though, if you wanna swim with the jutsu Naruko taught you, then…"
Sakura threw Naruko's panties right in Kakashi's face. He was not fazed.
"Pervert," Satsuki said under her breath.
"Well, it'd be a chakra control exercise… Maintain that technique while also concentrating on swimming," Kakashi said, rubbing his chin. They did not see him grin underneath his mask. "Naruko! Get back here for a minute! I've changed my mind on this exercise!"
"But I'm almost done!" Naruko whined.