If there is one thing Sasuke hates the most about all of Kakashi's flaws, it's without a doubt, his permanent habit of coming late to every meeting he's had over the time he's worked with team seven (Barring important missions, of course). That and mostly focusing on team exercises and the kind, instead of individual training. Sasuke's known for a long time team seven was the first team his former teacher had ever taken and, now that Sasuke looks back, it clearly showed his lack of experience by how he has taught them.
Kakashi's been used to being a team leader or an Anbu captain—He wasn't a mentor but someone made to lead and guide. He knows how to take charge of a situation and use the advantage of the skills people have to offer to be able to complete a mission in a way that only a few can.
Sasuke begrudgingly agrees that Kakashi is a strategic genius.
So going from that mindset to teaching inexperienced kids must have been difficult for him, especially considering they were the first team he accepted and that he kind of sucks at the nurture aspect of the job.
Sasuke faintly knew and recognized that; he just didn't give it much thought. It was just something Sasuke never really bothered thinking about and just shrugged it off as Kakashi's incompetence and Konoha's lack of ability at assigning teams.
Now, though? Now he thinks about it often. How Sakura screamed like a banshee most of the time and was more interested in how she looked than in training, while Naruto's stubborn and boisterous personality always got them in trouble. He even admits he acted like a brat those times, though he did have the ability to back up most of his boastings.
Separated they were hard to deal with; together, with their constant fights, however, they were a nightmare. Sasuke is somewhat amazed Kakashi hadn't attempted to kill them in their earlier days as a team. Because going from expecting a certain kind of competency to something that's clearly less than academy level if he's trying to be positive, well… it's eye-opening, to say the least.
That, and headache-inducing most of the time. He understands now—because even Suigetsu's idiocy hadn't prepared him enough. Probably because of all his flaws, the Kiri ninja had skill.
He's not entirely sure that he's not going to crumble in relief once he sees Naruto, someone who from all his faults it's an excellent fighter. He hopes that when he demands a spar, he won't lower himself and hug him in relief when he accepts. And he will. Sasuke's going to make sure of it.
Actually, now that he thinks about it, he is kind of terrified he would do something as embarrassing anyways because teaching is screwing him over. He constantly itches for a good fight or something to help him release the tension that's been forming in his muscles since walking wasn't an action painful to accomplish anymore. He really needs to unwind without using his chakra as his coils are still kind of burnt out and his medical skills are almost non-existent. So a spar would probably solve most of his problems and would keep him from annihilating all the people in—
"Wake up, pretty boy, they're coming."
'Well, at least teaching others is increasing my patience', Sasuke thinks as he answers with a grunt, not bothering to inform her he's been meditating and not sleeping, as he opens his eyes and stands up. He follows Rowan's gaze and sees the people slowly coming, no longer jogging as they started, but at least they're not almost crawling as they were the first week Sasuke made them run around Woodbury.
"Is Martinez not coming?" he asks, because is mostly Martinez the one who acts like his guard dog, usually exchanging places with her in teaching how to handle guns and survival in general while Sasuke deals with physical conditioning and hand to hand.
"If you went to the meetings for this stuff you'd know Martinez is preparing for a mission," she says just by the time Sasuke's hearing picks up the conversation going on at the front.
"—and It's not fair he always tells us what to do but always spends all the time relaxing," a breathless boy close to his age says to the ones near to him, thinking Sasuke won't be able to hear him.
Haley, a twenty-year-old, chuckles. "Tell 'im that yourself to see what he does, Patrick."
"If you've got the balls, then I'll support you." Noah, an eighteen-year-old, pats his back before increasing his speed and running all the way to where Rowan waits for them next to the handmade cooler. The children that stay and watch are walking toward them, water bottles in their hands.
After a long groan from Patrick, no one more bothers speaking, choosing to not waste the little breath they have.
"You've got a ten-minute break," Sasuke says when everyone is within earshot.
A guy who's never done any serious exercise in all his twenty-three years of life, groans. "Come on, man, we just came. You used to give us twenty minutes!"
"Stop it, George," Zach says to his friend, knowing the ones who complain are the ones getting the worse beat up.
"Don't worry, just this day you'll rest ten minutes. Then you will return to the twenty minutes break of always."
There's a hopeful surprise on the younger faces as they shout in triumph, while the older ones look suspiciously wary. Sasuke approves of the caution and he makes sure to share that by nodding at the ones who are looking at him in the eye, waiting for what's to come.
Giving a whole minute for the naïve to bask in their joy, he adds, "Net time you'll do two more laps, after all."
The silence that follows mixed with their muted misery as the only loud present is greatly satisfying. Now he understands what Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Kakashi felt whenever they made him do impossible exercises. It almost makes him want to smile.
George stands up, face red from the running and rage. "What about you, huh? You're always there sitting and not doing anything!"
Sasuke pats his leg with the cane he no longer needs but still uses for the easy weapon it provides. However, he knows thanks to the doctor that the injury that took him almost three weeks to completely heal, most people in this world heal up in months. He uses that knowledge to his favor, already made sure he erased that information from the Doctor with his Sharingan.
"Yeah, right, as if you really need that. If you believe that—"
Sasuke stops him from continuing talking by placing the cane under his jaw. Easily erasing the large distance separating them with a quick sealless shunshin.
"If you know I don't need my leg to destroy you, then why provoke me? You forget I'm not making you come; I don't demand you to run, so don't complain. When you die, don't blame me either, you fool."
Sasuke leaves him fuming on his spot, not waiting to see if he'll stay or not.
"How you seem to have recovered, stand up. I'll beat reflexes on you. Be prepared to block."
Holding loosely the cane at his side while making a show of favoring his uninjured leg, Sasuke stands in a loose position while waiting for the others to do the same. Usually, he makes them do physical conditioning at least two times a week for two hours to build stamina, while the other two days are for building their attack and defensive prowess by teaching them the Academy's forms.
And finally, on their last day of training, he always makes them all fight against him so he can see how much they have improved and what he needs to work out.
That's the day they dread the most and the one he patiently waits for. They'll have two free days without him after this; he has to make sure they're going to feel the training even while resting until next Monday comes.
"Ready?" he asks before launching forward.
.
Almost two hours later, Sasuke is once again sitting with his legs crossed and closed eyes, groaning bodies sprawled on the grass laying across from him. They seem to have grasped the importance of teamwork when one is as weak as they are. Their plan was faulty and gave much to be desired but at least he finally got a light work up from them without using chakra.
He's lowered his standards so much is not even funny.
"Here," Rowan voice calls from his left and Sasuke extends his arm to receive the water bottle with only a nod in her direction as recognition of her actions. Rowan huffs but still sits next to him, drinking her own water, her irritation clear in her brusque movements. The slight tremble of her hands was the only hint indicating her uneasiness, as it always happens after these kinds of mock fights.
"You know it's creepy how you barely sweat whenever this 'all against one' happens, right?"
There's no answer coming from him, but he doesn't think Rowan expects one from him. She just continues being silent next to him as both look at the people finally attempting to stand up, looking red in the face and so tired; their heavy breathing accompanying the sweat that falls from their skin. The ones that escaped the worse help the others that are worse and are barely able to move.
"I hope we never find ourselves fighting on opposite sides," Rowan mutters solemnly as they continue to watch. This time Sasuke does bother to look at her from the corner of his eyes, only to find her steadily staring at him. "I was one of the snippers that day you first woke up. You stopped my gun with a pen. I didn't even think that was possible, but the things you can do are really terrifying."
Sasuke gives her a condescending smirk. "Are you afraid of me then?"
She swallows. "I am. You're really frightening for someone so young."
"And yet you're the one who constantly requests to shadow me."
"Someone has to do it." She shrugs, placing the water bottle on the ground next to her before settling against a trunk. "Besides, you kind of remind me of my younger brother."
Sasuke can let the conversation die there, but he still has to wait for the Governor to come from a briefing he sent a clone to spy, so he doesn't currently have anything better to do until it dispels. He mentally shrugs and once again throws her a look. "Does your brother also scares you?"
"Not in the sense you think, but yes. Though I was referring more to your eyes; they're similar." He arches an eyebrow and she rolls her eyes at him. "He had dissociation so he couldn't really feel much of anything. Or understand what he felt, anyways. His anxiety didn't help him much either."
Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke turns his head to glare at her better, the 'explain' on them heavily implied.
She crosses her arms, unimpressed. Though Sasuke can still notice the way her eyes soften and her lips briefly tremble before she sighs. "You look like he always did when no one was looking at him. He was good at imitating other people's emotions but only when he was around people. When he was alone though, it was as if he didn't know how to act. You both look at everyone like they're from a magazine, not real. Maybe it was because emotions didn't come easily to him, or at all."
"It sounds useful," he says, taking a gulp from his bottle.
"He used to say that, too: the pros outweighed the cons. But… I remember the day our dad died. He was nineteen and from when we received the news of the funeral day, he looked lost. He told me he loved our dad and that he knew he should feel sad, but there was nothing. He had to put something in his eyes to cry and to accompany our mom so as to look like a normal grieving son. In the end, he even wondered if he actually loved anyone."
She looks at him with a frown. "When I look at you, it reminds me of him before he went to a doctor. There's a weight on your shoulders it shouldn't be there. Too heavy for someone your age to carry it alone."
Sasuke returns her gaze evenly.
"Are you offering then?" he says, at last, a cruel smirk forming on his lips as his eyes slowly bleed red. "Do you presume yourself strong enough to carry my sins? I can show you if you want. Don't go blaming me if you end up insane though."
There's fear in the tenseness of her shoulders and the smell of cold sweat. She clenches her jaw, her frightened eyes never leaving his mismatched ones. But her determination only lasts a couple of seconds before she's blinking and looking away.
"I already told you: You scare me. I don't think I would be of help."
Sasuke snorts, his eyes returning to normal as he stands up. The Governor wouldn't be in his house, but he can still sneak in and read some of his documents without alerting any guards.
"Do you have someone important in your life, Uchiha?" Rowan asks when he gives his first steps away from her.
No, he wants to answer, as there's no one alive. However, his eyes drift unconsciously to the bandage covering his palm.
"I do," he ends up answering, perhaps because of the personal story she offered.
"Are they alive?"
"He is." Sasuke clenches his hand before turning his head and throwing a nasty smirk at her. "I'm waiting for him to come so I can kill him."
Without looking back, he walks away, leaving the still-exhausted people he's had to teach and his guard behind.