Monday was the worst day. The weather report was talking about an incoming nor'easter that would most likely be clipping their area in the middle of the week, and "clip" wasn't clear enough to expect a delay or a snow day. The kids were all loudly praying for a snow day. It was the day grades were due to be submitted - though for Kakashi this meant nothing as he'd done everything he'd needed over the weekend and just needed to copy his excel sheet to the online gradebook. Report cards were Thursday, and the few students who weren't demanding a snow day were angsting over the upcoming sheets of paper.

When the English teacher came into his room, he saw Naruto and Sasuke again talking with Sakura - something that they were doing with increased frequency for the simple reason that proximity offered protection. Sasuke in particular made it a personal duty to glare at any girl who looked their way with envy or chagrin - a dark reminder that he would not tolerate anyone messing with the only understanding girl in the entire grade.

A quick sweep of the room denoted that Gaara was either again absent or hadn't showed up yet. The black clad boy was known for appearing just a few minutes after announcements, usually with an equally black look in his eyes before he sat at his desk and pulled out his headphones. Hinata was standing by the door, constantly looking out into the hall or glancing at her watch. She was waiting for another latecomer, Inuzuka Kiba.

The boy, at the beginning of the year, was always one of the first in his homeroom. But since Christmas break he'd been arriving later and later, sometimes barely making it before the bell rang. Kakashi wondered, but there were too many directions to wander into, most of them horrific, so he decided to stop wondering and wait to see if the boy went to anybody. He'd been increasingly irritated lately, and his work ethic had taken a distinct nosedive. Hinata and, oddly, Shino tried to cover for it, taking on the extra work and often exchanging worried glances. All Kakashi could do was broadcast approachability and hope one of them would explain what was happening.

Asuma looked distinctly more cheerful as he popped his head into the English room. He actually smiled, and gave a half salute. "Oh, glorious leader mine," he said happily, "Iruka begged me to bother you into arriving on time, today."

"Consider me bothered," the Scarecrow replied. "What's up?"

"He's worried. What else is new?"

"About what? Or should I say whom?"

Asuma leaned in, dropping his voice so that the noisy homeroom wouldn't hear. "Akamichi Chouji."

That raised an eyebrow behind his hitae'ate. "Oh?"

"He'll explain more at Team. My bothering is done, so I'm going to grab my two Homeroom kids and be off." He turned and looked at the two letters of the alphabet that didn't belong in Kakashi's homeroom. "Uzumaki, Uchiha, you're in the wrong room; let's step up and get back where we belong, shall we?" He clapped his hands and ushered the two boys out.

Oh, Monday started off well enough. Kakashi breezed through his first two periods with little trouble. By this time in the year, the students knew the routines and knew the rules, and it was about this time that Kakashi started to subtly let up on his firm hand to see if anyone noticed; if they didn't, then he would be set for the year.

During his prep, he looked up Chouji's grades to see where Iruka might be worried and noticed that the boy, like Kiba, had taken a nosedive in his work. They had had a PPT earlier in the year where the parents (the ever rare Supportive-with-a-capital-S type) about his shoddy work and his absences. His attendance had improved greatly since then, but not his work. Curious now, Kakashi pulled out some of the boy's old work that he still had. It was like there were two Chouji's. One clearly put in an effort, and while the work was half done, what was completed was clearly generated from effort and assistance from his team (i.e. Shikamaru); the other gave half-assed answers, snooty replies, and grotesque doodles. The latter often had only one or two questions done, clearly less than he was capable of.

Frowning, Kakashi remembered Chouji's comments before Christmas, during the Homeroom Challenge, about growing his own mind-altering substances. That was nothing like the Chouji from the Thanksgiving Homeroom Challenge. Kakashi had no idea where his thoughts were going, but didn't want to put anything in stone. He would wait for Team.

It wasn't long after that that the bell rang, and his SSR kids started to filter in. They dutifully pulled out their books and opened them. Some even started to read!

"Kakashi-sensei!"

The English teacher raised a finger to his lips and shushed the ever-loud Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei!" he tried again, this time in a whisper. "Because of the midterms last week I don't have any work to do in resource so I asked Iruka-sensei and he said it was okay if I came here to read - oh and I have a question for Sakura-chan about the new stuff we learned in science but I don't have a question for Sasuke-teme because he's just a--"

Kakashi held up a hand. "Slower, Naruto, slower," he annunciated, controlling his voice to only reach Naruto's ears. "You have no work, so you want to come here, is that right?"

"Yeah."

"Iruka-sensei gave you permission?"

"Yeah."

"Then yes, you may come in here and read."

"ALL RIGHT!"

"Provided," Kakashi said over the boy's enthusiasm, "that you just read. This is SSR, not Resource. You'll have to ask Sakura your questions later."

"Okay, got it, sensei!"

It was a mistake. Naruto had clearly forgotten to take his medication that morning, and within five minutes he'd put down his manga almost as many times to catch a glance at whatever had summoned his attention: a sneeze, an unusually loud flip of the page, someone shifting in his or her seat, etc. It was almost like every part of his body was twitching, the energy pent up inside him desperate for release of some kind. On second thought, maybe it wasn't a mistake, because Iruka was having what was magnanimously called his Demon Resource, and Kakashi could only imaging the horrors that would have happened if Naruto, in the state he was in, was unleashed in that class. So Kakashi did what he could to stave off disaster in his own class, by sitting down directly in front of Naruto and demonstrating how to read silently. He'd done this before on the occasional occurrences when the boy arrived to read to great effect. An authority figure towering in front of him made Naruto squirm and try to do as he was supposed to.

Kakashi heard repeated and various noises coming from across the hall, and silently hoped that Iruka wasn't stiff today.

"Would the Symtex repairman please report to the office."

Kakashi immediately followed his routine. He stuck his head out the door, but there were no students to be seen, so he closed and locked it and put the poster over the glass before moving the bookcase and moving across the room to close his blinds before joining the students behind his desk. He looked at his watch: nineteen seconds because of the blinds, but not bad.

That was how it had started, of course. That hard part was keeping the children quiet.

"Not another stupid drill," a certain blond wined. "We went through this once already, why again?"

Kakashi breathed through his nose in a sigh. He dug into the pocket his beloved book was in and fished out a notepad. He very rarely used it; after having the teachers all learn sign language there was no immediate need for it, but there was always the occasional paraprofessional or someone who didn't know it and he used the notepad for that kind of silent communication.

"This isn't a drill. They didn't say ‘for a test.' This is real." He held the message in front of Naruto and gave him a full fifteen seconds to read it before swiping it away. Sakura, next to Naruto at the time, paled visibly. She curled into herself, wrapping her arms around her waist and bringing her legs up to her chest. Sasuke, too, had at least glimpsed the note, for his ebony eyes hardened and Kakashi saw the boy's jaw clench.

Naruto, however, was squinting at Kakashi, calculating whether or not to believe his teacher. He did see his teammates reactions, however, and brought his voice down to a whisper. "How do you know they didn't say that?" he asked.

"Because it's my job to pay attention to things like that." Kakashi wrote slowly, keeping his pencil scratches to a minimum, and again gave Naruto fifteen seconds to read the reply. "Besides," he added at the last minute, "Sakura and Sasuke know they didn't say ‘for a test.' Believe them."

That seemed to clinch it; Naruto's blue eyes opened completely, and he threw a look to his two teammates. Sasuke nodded, and Naruto threw his hands over his mouth to swallow a shriek of panic.

The other SSR students hadn't seen the notes and therefore didn't know the very real danger they were in. But, after twenty or so minutes of dutifully trying to be quiet, they started to realize it might not be a drill. The principal had yet to walk the halls and unlock the doors, giving the all clear. Besides, this was being held during fourth period, SSR, right before lunch - if this was a drill it was poorly timed, to say the least.

The final nail in the coffin came when the bells didn't ring. Fourth period moved into fifth period - the lunch period - without the concussive proclamation of the bells, and once the students realized that, a wave of panic quickly spread through the ranks.

"Oh, my god! This is real!" a girl whispered. She and a friend were trying to scrunch themselves together into a corner, making themselves a small as possible, as Sakura had done.

"That's so cool!" one of the Sasaki twins said, excited. "I wonder if a gunman is in the school or something?"

"Silence," Kakashi's voice was low, dangerous, and his headband had long ago gone up to watch the class with both eyes. In the grey shades of the room, with no lights and the blinds closed, his scarred red eye looked almost evil, and in combination with his voice three octaves lower than anyone was used to hearing from him, they all dumbly obeyed the command.

There were two mindsets raging for dominance in each student. One was anxiety as the reality of it all sunk in, and various horror movie or newsreel images filtered across their eyes. For some reason, the school was locked down and it had to be serious for that to happen. On the other, however, was sheer boredom. After forty minutes of sitting and doing nothing... well, a twelve year old can only withstand that kind of torture for so long before going nuts. Some had been smart enough to bring their books with them behind Kakashi's desk, and tried to focus their scared minds enough to read until the harrowing moment of flipping the page came, where they tried to do it silently. Others, like Naruto, were not so fortunate, and it almost became a trial of endurance.

For the orange clad youth in particular, with acute ADHD and having forgotten his medication, was constantly struggling. The boy would sit cross legged, before thrusting them straight, before hooking one ankle over the other and visa versa, crossing his arms on his chest or behind his head, playing with his ninja headband, picking at loose threads of his clothes, practicing shadow puppets until he realized he had no shadows to check his work, tugging at his hair and releasing a strangling sound high up in his throat, cracking his knuckles and other joints until Kakashi glared at the noise he was making, swinging his knees back and forth, tapping on the floor or thrumming his fingers on his knees, sighing explosively, etc.

Kakashi finally pulled out his notepad and ordered Naruto, "Count all the tiles on the ceiling you can see and from there estimate the number of ceiling tiles in the room. Then do the same with the floor."

Naruto squinted at him, his eyes just wide enough to glare, before looking up and concentrating on the ceiling.

The seriousness of it all maintained the silence for the most part. There was the occasional burst of whispering, usually asking, "When are the going to let us out?" Later this was joined with growling stomachs and pained proclamations of "I'm getting hungry!" and "They can't keep us from having lunch, can they?" and "I have to go to the bathroom!" When they were bored, there was nothing to do but to talk; but it was, blessedly, always very brief, always (relatively) quiet. The boon to having utter silence was that the hearing became very acute. Kakashi used this to listen for someone coming down the halls, or the jingle of keys that would signify freedom. The occasional cluster of students tried to pass notes, and their pencil scratches became very loud. Only Kakashi could write without making noise.

It was a full two hours later, past all four lunch waves and twenty minutes into F period, when the noise of students and lockers opening and closing. Kakashi dutifully kept all his students silent until he heard the sound of keys in his door.

"Kakashi."

The Scarecrow snapped to attention, standing straight up and looking at the weathered face of the principal.

"All is well," Sandaime said. "The children may go to their lockers--"

"Yay!" they all cried, Naruto the loudest.

"And report to their F period classes."

"Aaawww!"

"What about lunch?"

"I'm hungry!"

"I have to go to the bathroom!"

"Did anybody get killed?"

Kakashi, not quite lightly, pounded his book on that boy's head. "Just get your stuff and go where you were told."

There was some grumbling, but the overriding reaction was relief, both at the declaration of safety and the ability to move.

"Ah! That means I come back here! Aw, man!" That was Naruto, but he did leave the room to go to his locker, leaving the old man and Kakashi alone in his room.

"How does this play out?" Kakashi asked.

"Lunch will be served during F, the grades will be called down one by one via announcement. Lunch will be fifteen minutes each. I've been telling the teachers to let students finish eating in their rooms if it becomes necessary. It was the best we could do on short notice."'

The English teacher frowned, mentally working out how he was going to manage it, but nodded as Sandaime moved on to open the next room. Kakashi followed him out into the hall. Everybody was yelling at everybody else, sharing their experiences and hugging friends when they learned they were fine, etc. Gai and Iruka were out in the hall; Kurenai joining them shortly after.

"How bad were your classes?" she asked.

"Nightmares," Gai and Iruka said in perfect unison. Iruka in particular, looked haggard, unkempt, even sullen.

"One crisis at a time," Kakashi said. In a louder voice he announced, "You all have exactly five minutes from now to show up in your F period classes. And please keep your hands off each other, Ino and Shino." Shino, blushing bright red under his dark glasses, looked grateful while Ino just rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath. He ignored them both and turned back to his collection of teachers. "That should give us enough time to figure out what the heck we're going to say to these kids; because you know classes are all shot to hell now."

"Will there be an announcement?" Kurenai asked.

"Don't know," Asuma said as he finally joined them. "Do we know what it was all about?"

"Not yet," Kakashi said. "I assume there will be a faculty meeting after this explaining it. I'm more concerned about lunch and how that's going to work out."

"The kids will be bitching if they don't get the first wave."

"I suggest," Gai said thoughtfully, "That those that brought lunch immediately beginning eating. For those that did not, we send, say, three at a time and sneak them into the other lunches. No doubt there will be much confusion, and if they are chaperoned it would minimize potential damage."

"Why, Gai, that's unexpectedly devious of you," Kakashi remarked.

The Green Beast flashed a toothy grin and a thumbs up. "I know that such accomplishments of mental fortitude and trickery are normally left to you, my Eternal Rival, but know that I will best you in all areas!"

That was exactly what they did. Iruka, stiff beyond endurance offered to be the adult pass to work out his joints, and slowly collected three students a class and walked them to the cafeteria, where they snuck into what passed for a line and got their lunches. In class, meanwhile, some students proved to be surprisingly considerate. Sakura, for example, had brought her lunch and slowly worked out how to divide it so that Sasuke and more importantly Naruto would have something to tide them over until it was their turn. Hinata donated her lunch to Kiba wholesale, and Shino, too, gave half his sandwich to the boy. He tried to refuse, several times, but finally bowed out to their kindness. As some students brought in lunch from the cafeteria, it was obvious that some deliberately overbought to feed those around them, like Shikamaru for Chouji, and Naruto for Sakura and (because he was such a great guy, he announced) for Sasuke.

Others were not so generous. Ino had brought her lunch and fastidiously guarded against anyone who eyed it, proclaiming that if they were so damn hungry they should have brought a lunch. Kankuro (Kakashi was certain of this) ate his lunch noisily, as if enjoying being the center of envy from the starving students.

For the first half hour, Kakashi just let them talk. Curriculum for the day was shot all to hell, but it was also an opportunity to talk about life issues, and it was best to wait until everyone had a full stomach. Iruka finally came and stayed, feeling much more limber. "I talked with the other teachers and with the cafeteria staff. We'll keep our kids here the whole period, since they've already had lunch, so to speak. I'm sure they'll complain, but it's the price they pay for getting their lunch before the others." He shrugged. "Besides, the cafeteria is thinning out anyway. We weren't the only ones who sent our kids in before they were supposed to."

"Don't you just love mass confusion?" Kakashi grinned. Then, seeing that his class was generally done eating, he walked to the front of the room. "Yo!" he called out, and the thirty odd students quieted.

"Today is going to be a little different than normal," he said lightly. "For starters, you have until the count of seven to makes sure your desk, chair, and floor around you is clear of foodstuffs and that any garbage in the aforementioned area is put in the garbage where it belongs. One..."

They moved quickly. Most of it was taken care of; aside from a stray napkin or chunk of bread, one would never have known that lunch had been held here.

"That's good," Kakashi said lightly. "Today you're going to do a journal entry about what we've just experienced, but I'd like to brainstorm ideas before we begin. Does anyone have something they want to share?"

And that was how it started. A vast array of things were covered, complaints and otherwise, but overall it gave them a chance to talk about how scared they were, how worried they were about their friends in other classes, how painful it was to not know what was happening, jumping at every little noise, etc. Shikamaru probably put it best when he said it was all so "troublesome."

Kakashi and Iruka made some points from the teacher perspective, Kakashi dipping a little bit into how he had thought out his room for these kinds of situations, the responsibility of the adult to keep the kids quiet and - when he heard a few snickers from the special ed students from Iruka's Demon Resource - added that students were responsible not only for their own lives, but those around them. It was one thing to not care about dying, it was another entirely to be responsible for the death of one's entire class because of asinine behavior.

His speech, of course, didn't reach the ears that needed it most. They were too caught up with the word asinine and how it sounded, repeating it and trying to make it sound dirty. Others were openly discussing whom they'd like to see killed, and explaining how they'd happily volunteer to offer them up to a gunman.

Kakashi, suddenly very tired and thoroughly depressed, sighed all the way down and quietly told them to start writing, that it was a quiz grade, and that it would be completed for homework. For the last ten minutes of G period he and Iruka fought to get them to shut up and start writing. Even Kakashi had days when his skills did nothing to control students, this was one of those days, and he felt very old.

G period had been shortened a bit to compensate for the lunches in F period, and this time Iruka took the floor, leading the discussion and then tossing them the journal assignment. While the students worked, Iruka walked over to the forlorn Kakashi and put a hand on the Scarecrow's shoulder. "You can't reach them all," he said softly.

"No, I can't."

"But the ones you do reach..." Iruka started, smiling softly. "Did you see Naruto or Sasuke or Sakura while you were talking? Or Team Eight?" At Kakashi's blank stare the special education teacher only smiled more. "I'm looking forward to their journal entries."

The silver haired man smiled softly, the faintest lifting of the corners of his lips, and Iruka was surprised to see the vulnerability of the (previously believed to be unmovable) teacher.

The kids moved like a river to the buses after that, and the parents who had arrived to pick up their children were bombarded with stories about the lockdown. Meanwhile, the faculty was without question gathering in the library to get their own answers. Kakashi and Iruka grabbed seats together, and were soon joined by Gai. Kurenai, as always, sat with the science departments, and Asuma flittered about the book-strewn room before sitting with the other seventh grade team. Everyone was sharing what had happened to them for the two hours. It was here that Kakashi learned just how demon-like Iruka's Demon Resource really was.

It boiled down to the fact that, even after two hours, some kids just didn't take it seriously. Chouji had tried to sneak into a cabinet so that no one would find him; Takato was utterly unable to speak in a whisper; Kiba kept making nonvocal noises, such as practicing his drumming on the metal of Iruka's desk to stave off boredom. Ryoko, when she realized how serious it all was, started to cry and couldn't be quiet about it; Gaara, who had brought his headphones, kept turning up the volume to the point where others could hear it. And so on and so forth. Gai's room could hear the noise, and several of his students, Ino among them, kept giggling at the noises they were hearing, making them unable to take it seriously.

Between the three of them, they agreed to pick out the boneheads and make them pay, deciding to generate ideas in the next Team.

Finally, Sandaime arrived in the library and the room immediately quieted.

"We went under lockdown today," the old man said, "because a gunman had rather spectacularly robbed one of the supermarkets down the street, and was headed this way. The police contacted us with this information, fearing our safety, and thus we put the school under lockdown while the robber was being chased."

"And it took them two hours to find the fucker?" someone demanded.

"Yes," Sandaime replied. "The culprit, I'm told was hidden and it took some time to find him. I'm sure all the details will be covered in tonight's news report."

Questions fired left and right, and the old man answered them all with patience and diligence that only he was capable of. Several side conversations broke out, but Kakashi, satisfied with knowing the reason for the lockdown, simply got up and left.

"You're late!"

"Sorry, I was getting a haircut and the barber was determined to shave my head completely; there was a valiant fight, of course, because my hair is so sexy, and I accidentally killed him."

"Liar!"

Kakashi took his usual seat and pulled out his book. Actually, it had been the first time he'd sat down all day, and he savored the experience. "The boneheads. What do we do with them?"

"Commit murder?" Asuma asked, half joking.

"I think everyone should get a talking to," Kurenai said, running her hand through her thick locks of hair. "Not just the boneheads, but the entire grade. It was a very scary experience, and I think they need to be reassured. They also need to be reminded of why we practice lockdowns and why it has to be taken so seriously. Then we can take the boneheads and make them do something for each of us. Like have them clean up my room after a lab, that sort of thing, and make certain that it's all taken care of by the end of the week."

"There is merit in that idea," Gai said. "I could make them all take laps!"

"They can have detention with me," Kakashi said, grinning at the idea.

"I was thinking something a little more serious than a detention, Kakashi," Kurenai said uncertainly.

"Oh, that's right, you haven't seen a Kakashi detention, have you?" Iruka said. "He makes them sit with perfect posture; back straight, feet on the floor, hands neatly folded, for the entire detention. It's torture." Kurenai grinned somewhat evilly at the thought, and the special education teacher leaned back. "I could have them write a five paragraph essay on expected behavior for a lockdown," he said thoughtfully. "If nothing else, at least they'd think about it. How about you, Asuma?"

"Oh, I think something nice and painful should do. Calculate the size of the student body based on their class size and then extrapolate how many students were in a room when the lockdown occurred, and then adjusting for things like library trips or gym classes and the like."

"The talks should probably come for next period," Kakashi said slowly, thinking it through. "It's not something to really put off, and it was F period where they did the most talking, because it had all just happened."

"That sounds about right," Asuma said. Iruka was taking it all down. "Now all we need is a list of boneheads."

It was while they were generating a list that a knock came on Asuma's door. When the math teacher opened the door, a pair of parents walked in.

"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Haruno," Kakashi said expansively, getting up. "What brings you two to our humble team meeting?" And with no notice, no less.

"You didn't get our email?" the father asked.

Kakashi blinked. He hadn't been online all day except to submit attendance. Iruka stood up quickly, "I did see an email from you in the inbox, but I didn't get a change to open it. Things have been very busy, as I'm sure you can imagine."

"I got the email," Asuma said, "I was the one that replied. I haven't had a chance to spread the word." He turned to the rest of the team. "They sent an email last night asking if they could stop by. The principal was busy and they were so impressed with us that they figured we'd do." He gave a short barking laugh, a smoker's laugh. "They ought to lobby to get us all promoted."

"It's hardly all that," the mother said, sitting down in the chair that Gai had offered. "You handled Sakura's problems the other week so well. We were planning to drop by anyway to thank you in person."

Kakashi was certain he saw Iruka's eyes water, and the English teacher felt exactly the same way. This type of parent was rare! So rare that this was his first encounter with this kind in his career, he savored it while he could.

"We just wanted to know, from you, if everything is okay," the mother continued. "Sakura was very, very scared about what happened yesterday. She never found out about made the lockdown, and we wanted to know - if you can tell us - what happened."

Gai soberly explained the robbery down the street and the decision to protect the students as a precaution. The Harunos nodded at the right times, asking for details here and there, and asking Kakashi about what had happened in his room. Kakashi calmly explained that she had Naruto and Sasuke with her at the time, and the mother smiled. "They sure pop up at the right time, don't they?" she asked.

"I've never seen a trio of students who became so close so quickly," Kakashi agreed. "They've exceeded all my expectations. Repeatedly." And it was true; beyond the work that they handed in together, which was frankly at a high school level between Sakura's attention to detail, Naruto's insights, and Sasuke's ability to direct it all, individually their work had improved tremendously. Sakura was willing to take more chances, Sasuke had clearer objectives, and Naruto had jumped from third grade to seventh grade writing ability (spelling aside). They could all read at the eighth grade level - given Naruto had some help, and often their work showcased exactly what he wanted for the assignment. Only Teams 5 and 8 came close to their caliber of workmanship. This didn't even include how the three of them had grown emotionally.

"Anyway, you'll probably get a letter in the next day or so explaining the exact reason of the lockdown," Asuma said. "The principal was talking about it this morning."

The bell rang and the Harunos apologized for taking up so much of their time. Kakashi waved it off, saying they were a welcome breath of fresh air, and quickly explained what the team was going to do with their F period, and would they like to sit in on it.

"That's quite alright," the father said. "We'll just pop in and say hi to Sakura, and then we'll get out of your hair."

Kakashi shrugged and the three walked into the room. Sakura's smile was particularly bright, and the parents did exactly as they said. The two took their turns to hug their daughter and offer a few platitudes before excusing themselves and disappearing into the halls. The English teacher walked them out, leaving an irritated Iruka to start the lecture on the lockdown. When the Scarecrow returned, fifteen minutes later, the special education teacher was just about finished. Ah, perfect timing.

After school, Gai took the boneheads and lead them on laps around the gym, and before they could rest, the dozen odd students were thrown to Kurenai where she had them do a meticulous cleaning of her room. It was agreed that they'd serve Kakashi's detention the next day, and the Scarecrow had the time of his life making them sit still for twenty-seven minutes at perfect posture. He wouldn't even tolerate a twitching of the head, and people like Chouji in particular struggled constantly. When the bell rang and the students sprung up to leave, Kakashi held them to remind them about the "assignments" for Iruka and Asuma, and happily grinned at the several glares thrown his way.

Thursday, meanwhile, snuck up on the student body in general, because that was the day report cards were handed out.

"I got an A! I got an A! Kakashi-sensei! You gave me an A!"

"No, Naruto, you gave yourself the A. Try not to be too smug about it."

"Look Sasuke-teme! I got an A in English! Try to beat that!"

The boy in question held up his report card. "A+."

Naruto stood poleaxed, staring at the dark haired boy. "You bastard!"

"Now, now. You don't want a detention for language, do you?"

Naruto flinched and shrank back.

Others were not so happy, however.

"A D?? I worked my a--my butt off in this class! I turned in all the work, what the hell?"

Kakashi turned to Kiba. "You didn't turn in all the work for this class. I gave you a list of missing assignments last week, and you never turned in a single one."

"I did! I da-darn well did! You just lost them!"

Flat stare. Drop the voice an octave. "You really don't want to make that accusation, do you?"

Kiba growled but returned to his group. Shino had gotten a B+ and Hinata a C+. It was about par for their skills. They worked together very well, but certain things were pulling them down. Kiba's discontented attitude for one, Hinata's perpetual fear of bad grades for another; she never made up her failed test, and that more than anything else had pulled her grade down. The girl was looking at her grades with a tight face, and once Kiba rejoined her and Shino leaned in close to talk to her quietly.

"A C?? I'm your hardest working student!" That was Ino. Kakashi only replied with a flat stare. If she spent more time working with her team than flirting with whomever she was going out with, all of their grades would have been at least seven points better. Shikamaru, lazy as ever, only did the bare minimum and had also gotten a C. Chouji had failed miserably, and the Scarecrow was quickly expecting a PPT with his parents. Something was up with him - oh, that was right; Iruka had wanted to talked about him Monday, but the lockdown had happened. Kakashi made a mental not to talk about it Friday if they had a chance.

Team one overall had done well. Temari had matched Sakura and Sasuke with an A+, Kankuro close behind with an A-. Gaara trailed behind with a D, not because of his work but because of his frequent absences and times he was pulled out. He never turned in the missing work, like Kiba.

Friday came and Kakashi again wandered in late.

"You're late!"

"Sorry; I was having a long conversation with a vigilante in red and blue hanging upside down by a thread about the benefits and deficits of spandex. Give me military fatigues any day."

"Liar!"

Formalities taken care of, Kakashi was about to open his mouth when Kurenai cut him off.

"Hinata has a problem."

The English teacher sat up a little straighter - an oxymoron because he was still slouching - as the science teacher continued. "One of the girls, Ryoko, found her crying in the bathroom today and passed it off to me. I went in and took her to my back room, and we had a long talk. She's caving under the pressure at home. Her little sister has already skipped a grade because of how smart she is, and Neji at eighth grade is already taking high school courses in math and science. The entire family is gifted, and they always remind her how unacceptable her average-ness is; her father and Neji in particular.

"Neji, apparently, is always passing her in the halls and giving her dirty looks or a snide smirk. I asked if she was certain of this, and she said that Neji is a boy who never changes his expression, so something like that is obvious. He cornered her in the hall once and said that she would never amount to anything; that it's her destiny to be a failure, etc.

"Her father sits with her every night while she does her homework. He won't help her because he says he shouldn't have to, and just sits and stares at her while she tries to concentrate, which of course she can't because she can feel his disapproving eyes on her. Tack on the fact that he speaks to her if she takes too long on a problem or if she just stares off into space, and it's a miracle that she gets her work done at all."

"On top of that," Iruka said, "I got an email last night from her father. He wants to schedule a PPT and have her tested for any kind of learning disabilities. I think he wants to scare her into getting better grades."

"Could she have an LD?" Asuma asked. "She is more intelligent that her grades dictate, and that's the first sign on LD."

"Except we know why her grades don't reflect her intelligence," Kakashi said. "It's because she's under too much pressure to be brilliant, and she's starting to crack. It only gets worse from here; March brings the state tests, I can only imagine the panic that going to ensue from that."

"Well," Iruka said, writing it all down. "A parent's requested it, so we can't say no. Maybe we can talk about modifications at home, get here away from the stares of her father, something like that."

"I want to be there," Kurenai said. "Hinata is so timid, she might not speak up for herself. I want to see if I can spur her into saying something; if not I can probably speak for her best."

"Agreed," Kakashi said. "Leastwise they won't react well if they see me. Make it for next week, if you can."

"Alright. I'll email them tonight after school."

They talked about other struggling students, and they never got around to talking about Chouji.